Project Gutenberg's The Grammar of English Grammars, by Goold Brown This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Grammar of English Grammars Author: Goold Brown Release Date: March 17, 2004 [EBook #11615] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS *** Produced by Karl Hagen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team Transcriber's Notes: Despite the severity with which the author of this work treats those who depart from his standard of correctness, the source text does contain a small number of typographical errors. Missing punctuation has been supplied silently, but all other errors have been left uncorrected. To let the reader distinguish such problems from any inadvertent transcription errors that remain, I have inserted notes to flag items that appear errors by Brown's own standard. Spellings that are simply different from current practice, e.g., 'Shakspeare' are not noted. Special characters: vowels with macrons are rendered with an equals sign (=) before the vowel. Vowels with breve marks are rendered with tildes (~) before the vowels.--KTH. THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS, WITH AN INTRODUCTION HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL; THE WHOLE METHODICALLY ARRANGED AND AMPLY ILLUSTRATED; WITH FORMS OF CORRECTING AND OF PARSING, IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION, EXAMPLES FOR PARSING, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, EXERCISES FOR WRITING, OBSERVATIONS FOR THE ADVANCED STUDENT, DECISIONS AND PROOFS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTED POINTS, OCCASIONAL STRICTURES AND DEFENCES, AN EXHIBITION OF THE SEVERAL METHODS OF ANALYSIS, AND A KEY TO THE ORAL EXERCISES: TO WHICH ARE ADDED FOUR APPENDIXES, PERTAINING SEPARATELY TO THE FOUR PARTS OF GRAMMAR. BY GOOLD BROWN, AUTHOR OF THE INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, THE FIRST LINES OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, ETC. "So let great authors have their due, that Time, who is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which is, farther and farther to discover truth."--LORD BACON. SIXTH EDITION--REVISED AND IMPROVED. ENLARGED BY THE ADDITION OF A COPIOUS INDEX OF MATTERS. BY SAMUEL U. BERRIAN, A. M. PREFACE The present performance is, so far as the end could be reached, the fulfillment of a design, formed about twenty-seven years ago, of one day presenting to the world, if I might, something like a complete grammar of the English language;--not a mere work of criticism, nor yet a work too tame, indecisive, and uncritical; for, in books of either of these sorts, our libraries already abound;--not a mere philosophical investigation of what is general or universal in grammar, nor yet a minute detail of what forms only a part of our own philology; for either of these plans falls very far short of such a purpose;--not a mere grammatical compend, abstract, or compilation, sorting with other works already before the public; for, in the production of school grammars, the author had early performed his part; and, of small treatises on this subject, we have long had a superabundance rather than a lack. After about fifteen years devoted chiefly to grammatical studies and exercises, during most of which time I had been alternately instructing youth in four different languages, thinking it practicable to effect some improvement upon the manuals which explain our own, I prepared and published, for the use of schools, a duodecimo volume of about three hundred pages; which, upon the presumption that its principles were conformable to the best usage, and well established thereby, I entitled, "The Institutes of English Grammar." Of this work, which, it is believed, has been gradually gaining in reputation and demand ever since its first publication, there is no occasion to say more here, than that it was the result of diligent study, and that it is, essentially, the nucleus, or the groundwork, of the present volume. With much additional labour, the principles contained in the Institutes of English Grammar, have here been not only reaffirmed and rewritten, but occasionally improved in expression, or amplified in their details. New topics, new definitions, new rules, have also been added; and all parts of the subject have been illustrated by a multiplicity of new examples and exercises, which it has required a long time to amass and arrange. To the main doctrines, also, are here subjoined many new observations and criticisms, which are the results of no inconsiderable reading and reflection. Regarding it as my business and calling, to work out the above-mentioned purpose as circumstances might permit, I have laid no claim to genius, none to infallibility; but I have endeavoured to be accurate, and aspired to be useful; and it is a part of my plan, that the reader of this volume shall never, through my fault, be left in doubt as to the origin of any thing it contains. It is but the duty of an author, to give every needful facility for a fair estimate of his work; and, whatever authority there may be for anonymous copying in works on grammar, the precedent is always bad. The success of other labours, answerable to moderate wishes, has enabled me to pursue this task under favourable circumstances, and with an unselfish, independent aim. Not with vainglorious pride, but with reverent gratitude to God, I acknowledge this advantage, giving thanks for the signal mercy which has upborne me to the long-continued effort. Had the case been otherwise,--had the labours of the school-room been still demanded for my support,--the present large volume would never have appeared. I had desired some leisure for the completing of this design, and to it I scrupled not to sacrifice the profits of my main employment, as soon as it could be done without hazard of adding another chapter to "the Calamities of Authors." The nature and design of this treatise are perhaps sufficiently developed in connexion with the various topics which are successively treated of in the Introduction. That method of teaching, which I conceive to be the best, is also there described. And, in the Grammar itself, there will be found occasional directions concerning the manner of its use. I have hoped to facilitate the study of the English language, not by abridging our grammatical code, or by rejecting the common phraseolgy [sic--KTH] of its doctrines, but by extending the former, improving the latter, and establishing both;--but still more, by furnishing new illustrations of the subject, and arranging its vast number of particulars in such order that every item may be readily found. An other important purpose, which, in the preparation of this work, has been borne constantly in mind, and judged worthy of very particular attention, was the attempt to settle, so far as the most patient investigation and the fullest exhibition of proofs could do it, the multitudinous and vexatious disputes which have hitherto divided the sentiments of teachers, and made the study of English grammar so uninviting, unsatisfactory, and unprofitable, to the student whose taste demands a reasonable degree of certainty. "Whenever labour implies the exertion of thought, it does good, at least to the strong: when the saving of labour is a saving of thought, it enfeebles. The mind, like the body, is strengthened by hard exercise: but, to give this exercise all its salutary effect, it should be of a reasonable kind; it should lead us to the perception of regularity, of order, of principle, of a law. When, after all the trouble we have taken, we merely find anomalies and confusion, we are disgusted with what is so uncongenial: and, as our higher faculties have not been called into action, they are not unlikely to be outgrown by the lower, and overborne as it were by the underwood of our minds. Hence, no doubt, one of the reasons why our language has been so much neglected, and why such scandalous ignorance prevails concerning its nature and history, is its unattractive, disheartening irregularity: none but Satan is fond of plunging into chaos."--_Philological Museum_, (Cambridge, Eng., 1832,) Vol. i, p. 666. If there be any remedy for the neglect and ignorance here spoken of, it must be found in the more effectual teaching of English grammar. But the principles of grammar can never have any beneficial influence over any person's manner of speaking or writing, till by some process they are made so perfectly familiar, that he can apply them with all the readiness of a native power; that is, till he can apply them not only to what has been said or written, but to whatever he is about to utter. They must present themselves to the mind as by intuition, and with the quickness of thought; so as to regulate his language before it proceeds from the lips or the pen. If they come only by tardy recollection, or are called to mind but as contingent afterthoughts, they are altogether too late; and serve merely to mortify the speaker or writer, by reminding him of some deficiency or inaccuracy which there may then be no chance to amend. But how shall, or can, this readiness be acquired? I answer, By a careful attention to such _exercises_ as are fitted to bring the learner's knowledge into practice. The student will therefore find, that I have given him something to _do_, as well as something to _learn_. But, by the formules and directions in this work, he is very carefully shown how to proceed; and, if he be a tolerable reader, it will be his own fault, if he does not, by such aid, become a tolerable grammarian. The chief of these exercises are the _parsing_ of what is right, and the _correcting_ of what is wrong; both, perhaps, equally important; and I have intended to make them equally easy. To any real proficient in grammar, nothing can be more free from embarrassment, than the performance of these exercises, in all ordinary cases. For grammar, rightly learned, institutes in the mind a certain knowledge, or process of thought, concerning the sorts, properties, and relations, of all the words which can be presented in any intelligible sentence; and, with the initiated, a perception of the construction will always instantly follow or accompany a discovery of the sense: and instantly, too, should there be a perception of the error, if any of the words are misspelled, misjoined, misapplied,--or are, in any way, unfaithful to the sense intended. Thus it is the great end of grammar, to secure the power of apt expression, by causing the principles on which language is constructed, if not to be constantly present to the mind, at least to pass through it more rapidly than either pen or voice can utter words. And where this power resides, there cannot but be a proportionate degree of critical skill, or of ability to judge of the language of others. Present what you will, grammar directs the mind immediately to a consideration of the sense; and, if properly taught, always creates a discriminating taste which is not less offended by specious absurdities, than by the common blunders of clownishness. Every one who has any pretensions to this art, knows that, to _parse_ a sentence, is but to resolve it according to one's understanding of its import; and it is equally clear, that the power to _correct_ an erroneous passage, usually demands or implies a knowledge of the author's thought. But, if parsing and correcting are of so great practical importance as our first mention of them suggests, it may be well to be more explicit here concerning them. The pupil who cannot perform these exercises both accurately and fluently, is not truly prepared to perform them at all, and has no right to expect from any body a patient hearing. A slow and faltering rehearsal of words clearly prescribed, yet neither fairly remembered nor understandingly applied, is as foreign from parsing or correcting, as it is from elegance of diction. Divide and conquer, is the rule here, as in many other cases. Begin with what is simple; practise it till it becomes familiar; and then proceed. No child ever learned to speak by any other process. Hard things become easy by use; and skill is gained by little and little. Of the whole method of parsing, it should be understood, that it is to be a critical exercise in utterance, as well as an evidence of previous study,--an exhibition of the learner's attainments in the practice, as well as in the theory, of grammar; and that, in any tolerable performance of this exercise, there must be an exact adherence to the truth of facts, as they occur in the example, and to the forms of expression, which are prescribed as models, in the book. For parsing is, in no degree, a work of invention; but wholly an exercise, an exertion of skill. It is, indeed, an exercise for all the powers of the mind, except the inventive faculty. Perception, judgement, reasoning, memory, and method, are indispensable to the performance. Nothing is to be guessed at, or devised, or uttered at random. If the learner can but rehearse the necessary definitions and rules, and perform the simplest exercise of judgement in their application, he cannot but perceive what he _must say_ in order to speak the truth in parsing. His principal difficulty is in determining the parts of speech. To lessen this, the trial should commence with easy sentences, also with few of the definitions, and with definitions that have been perfectly learned. This difficulty being surmounted, let him follow the forms prescribed for the several praxes of this work, and he shall not err. The directions and examples given at the head of each exercise, will show him exactly the number, the order, and the proper phraseology, of the particulars to be stated; so that he may go through the explanation with every advantage which a book can afford. There is no hope of him whom these aids will not save from "plunging into chaos." "Of all the works of man, language is the most enduring, and partakes the most of eternity. And, as our own language, so far as thought can project itself into the future, seems likely to be coeval with the world, and to spread vastly beyond even its present immeasurable limits, there cannot easily be a nobler object of ambition than to purify and better it."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 665. It was some ambition of the kind here meant, awakened by a discovery of the scandalous errors and defects which abound in all our common English grammars, that prompted me to undertake the present work. Now, by the bettering of a language, I understand little else than the extensive teaching of its just forms, according to analogy and the general custom of the most accurate writers. This teaching, however, may well embrace also, or be combined with, an exposition of the various forms of false grammar by which inaccurate writers have corrupted, if not the language itself, at least their own style in it. With respect to our present English, I know not whether any other improvement of it ought to be attempted, than the avoiding and correcting of those improprieties and unwarrantable anomalies by which carelessness, ignorance, and affectation, are ever tending to debase it, and the careful teaching of its true grammar, according to its real importance in education. What further amendment is feasible, or is worthy to engage attention, I will not pretend to say; nor do I claim to have been competent to so much as was manifestly desirable within these limits. But what I lacked in ability, I have endeavored to supply by diligence; and what I could conveniently strengthen by better authority than my own, I have not failed to support with all that was due, of names, guillemets, and references. Like every other grammarian, I stake my reputation as an author, upon "a certain set of opinions," and a certain manner of exhibiting them, appealing to the good sense of my readers for the correctness of both. All contrary doctrines are unavoidably censured by him who attempts to sustain his own; but, to grammatical censures, no more importance ought to be attached than what belongs to grammar itself. He who cares not to be accurate in the use of language, is inconsistent with himself, if he be offended at verbal criticism; and he who is displeased at finding his opinions rejected, is equally so, if he cannot prove them to be well founded. It is only in cases susceptible of a rule, that any writer can be judged deficient. I can censure no man for differing from me, till I can show him a principle which he ought to follow. According to Lord Kames, the standard of taste, both in arts and in manners, is "the common sense of mankind," a principle founded in the universal conviction of a common nature in our species. (See _Elements of Criticism_, Chap, xxv, Vol. ii, p. 364.) If this is so, the doctrine applies to grammar as fully as to any thing about which criticism may concern itself. But, to the discerning student or teacher, I owe an apology for the abundant condescension with which I have noticed in this volume the works of unskillful grammarians. For men of sense have no natural inclination to dwell upon palpable offences against taste and scholarship; nor can they be easily persuaded to approve the course of an author who makes it his business to criticise petty productions. And is it not a fact, that grammatical authorship has sunk so low, that no man who is capable of perceiving its multitudinous errors, dares now stoop to notice the most flagrant of its abuses, or the most successful of its abuses? And, of the quackery which is now so prevalent, what can be a more natural effect, than a very general contempt for the study of grammar? My apology to the reader therefore is, that, as the honour of our language demands correctness in all the manuals prepared for schools, a just exposition of any that are lacking in this point, is a service due to the study of English grammar, if not to the authors in question. The exposition, however, that I have made of the errors and defects of other writers, is only an incident, or underpart, of the scheme of this treatise. Nor have I anywhere exhibited blunders as one that takes delight in their discovery. My main design has been, to prepare a work which, by its own completeness and excellence, should deserve the title here chosen. But, a comprehensive code of false grammar being confessedly the most effectual means of teaching what is true, I have thought fit to supply this portion of my book, not from anonymous or uncertain sources, but from the actual text of other authors, and chiefly from the works of professed grammarians. "In what regards the laws of grammatical purity," says Dr. Campbell, "the violation is much more conspicuous than the observance."--See _Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 190. It therefore falls in with my main purpose, to present to the public, in the following ample work, a condensed mass of special criticism, such as is not elsewhere to be found in any language. And, if the littleness of the particulars to which the learner's attention is called, be reckoned an objection, the author last quoted has furnished for me, as well as for himself, a good apology. "The elements which enter into the composition of the hugest bodies, are subtile and inconsiderable. The rudiments of every art and science exhibit at first, to the learner, the appearance of littleness and insignificancy. And it is by attending to such reflections, as to a superficial observer would appear minute and hypercritical, that language must be improved, and eloquence perfected."--_Ib._, p. 244. GOOLD BROWN. LYNN, MASS., 1851. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY MATTERS. Preface to the Grammar of English Grammars This Table of Contents Catalogue of English Grammars and Grammarians INTRODUCTION. Chapter I. Of the Science of Grammar Chapter II. Of Grammatical Authorship Chapter III. Of Grammatical Success and Fame Chapter IV. Of the Origin of Language Chapter V. Of the Power of Language Chapter VI. Of the Origin and History of the English Language Chapter VII. Changes and Specimens of the English Language Chapter VIII. Of the Grammatical Study of the English Language Chapter IX. Of the Best Method of Teaching Grammar Chapter X. Of Grammatical Definitions Chapter XI. Brief Notices of the Schemes of certain Grammars THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. Introductory Definitions General Division of the Subject PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY. Chapter I. Of Letters I. Names of the Letters II. Classes of the Letters III. Powers of the Letters IV. Forms of the Letters Rules for the use of Capitals Errors concerning Capitals Promiscuous Errors of Capitals Chapter II. Of Syllables Diphthongs and Triphthongs Rules for Syllabication Observations on Syllabication Errors concerning Syllables Chapter III. Of Words Rules for the Figure of Words Observations on Figure of Words On the Identity of Words Errors concerning Figure Promiscuous Errors in Figure Chapter IV. Of Spelling Rules for Spelling Observations on Spelling Errors in Spelling Promiscuous Errors in Spelling Chapter V. Questions on Orthography Chapter VI Exercises for Writing PART II. ETYMOLOGY. Introductory Definitions Chapter I. Of the Parts of Speech Observations on Parts of Speech Examples for Parsing, Praxis I Chapter II. Of the Articles Observations on the Articles Examples for Parsing, Praxis II Errors concerning Articles Chapter III. Of Nouns Classes of Nouns Modifications of Nouns Persons Numbers Genders Cases The Declension of Nouns Examples for Parsing, Praxis III Errors concerning Nouns Chapter IV. Of Adjectives Classes of Adjectives Modifications of Adjectives Regular Comparison Comparison by Adverbs Irregular Comparison Examples for Parsing, Praxis IV Errors concerning Adjectives Chapter V. Of Pronouns Classes of the Pronouns Modifications of the Pronouns The Declension of Pronouns Examples for Parsing, Praxis V Errors concerning Pronouns Chapter VI. Of Verbs Classes of Verbs Modifications of Verbs Moods Tenses Persons and Numbers The Conjugation of Verbs I. Simple Form, Active or Neuter First Example, the verb _LOVE_ Second Example, the verb _SEE_ Third Example, the verb _BE_ II. Compound or Progressive Form Fourth Example, to _BE READING_ Observations on Compound Forms III. Form of Passive Verbs Fifth Example, to _BE LOVED_ IV. Form of Negation V. Form of Question VI. Form of Question with Negation Irregular Verbs, with Obs. and List Redundant Verbs, with Obs. and List Defective Verbs, with Obs. and List Examples for Parsing, Praxis VI Errors concerning Verbs Chapter VII. Of Participles Classes of Participles Examples for Parsing, Praxis VII Errors concerning Participles Chapter VIII. Of Adverbs Classes of Adverbs Modifications of Adverbs Examples for Parsing, Praxis VIII Errors concerning Adverbs Chapter IX. Of Conjunctions Classes of Conjunctions List of the Conjunctions Examples for Parsing, Praxis IX Errors concerning Conjunctions Chapter X. Of Prepositions List of the Prepositions Examples for Parsing, Praxis X Errors concerning Prepositions Chapter XI. Of Interjections List of the Interjections Examples for Parsing, Praxis XI Errors concerning Interjections Chapter XII. Questions on Etymology Chapter XIII. Exercises for Writing PART III. SYNTAX. Introductory Definitions Chapter I. Of Sentences The Rules of Syntax General or Critical Obs. on Syntax The Analyzing of Sentences The several Methods of Analysis Observations on Methods of Analysis Examples for Parsing, Praxis XII Chapter II. Of the Articles Rule I. Syntax of Articles Observations on Rule I Notes to Rule I; 17 of them False Syntax under Notes to Rule I Chapter III. Of Cases, or Nouns Rule II. Of Nominatives Observations on Rule II False Syntax under Rule II Rule III. Of Apposition Observations on Rule III False Syntax under Rule III Rule IV. Of Possessives Observations on Rule IV Notes to Rule IV; 5 of them False Syntax under Notes to Rule IV Rule V. Of Objectives after Verbs Observations on Rule V Notes to Rule V; 8 of them False Syntax under Rule V Rule VI. Of Same Cases Observations on Rule VI Notes to Rule VI; 2 of them False Syntax under Rule VI Rule VII. Of Objectives after Prepositions Observations on Rule VII Note to Rule VII; 1 only False Syntax under Rule VII Rule VIII. Of Nominatives Absolute Observations on Rule VIII False Syntax under Rule VIII Chapter IV. Of Adjectives Rule IX. Of Adjectives Observations on Rule IX Notes to Rule IX; 16 of them False Syntax under Rule IX Chapter V. Of Pronouns Rule X. Pronoun and Antecedent Observations on Rule X Notes to Rule X; 16 of them False Syntax under Rule X Rule XI. Pronoun and Collective Noun Observations on Rule XI Notes to Rule XI; 2 of them False Syntax under Rule XI Rule XII. Pronoun after AND Observations on Rule XII False Syntax under Rule XII Rule XIII. Pronoun after OR or NOR Observations on Rule XIII False Syntax under Rule XIII Chapter VI. Of Verbs Rule XIV. Verb and Nominative Observations on Rule XIV Notes to Rule XIV; 10 of them False Syntax under Rule XIV Rule XV. Verb and Collective Noun Observations on Rule XV Note to Rule XV; 1 only False Syntax under Rule XV Rule XVI. The Verb after AND Observations on Rule XVI Notes to Rule XVI; 7 of them False Syntax under Rule XVI Rule XVII. The Verb with OR or NOR Observations on Rule XVII Notes to Rule XVII; 15 of them False Syntax under Rule XVII Rule XVIII. Of Infinitives with TO Observations on Rule XVIII False Syntax under Rule XVIII Rule XIX. Of Infinitives without TO Observations on Rule XIX False Syntax under Rule XIX Chapter VII. Of Participles Rule XX. Syntax of Participles Observations on Rule XX Notes to Rule XX; 13 of them False Syntax under Rule XX Chapter VIII. Of Adverbs Rule XXI. Relation of Adverbs Observations on Rule XXI Notes to Rule XXI; 10 of them False Syntax under Rule XXI Chapter IX. Of Conjunctions Rule XXII. Use of Conjunctions Observations on Rule XXII Notes to Rule XXII; 8 of them False Syntax under Rule XXII Chapter X. Of Prepositions Rule XXIII. Use of Prepositions Observations on Rule XXIII Notes to Rule XXIII; 5 of them False Syntax under Rule XXIII Chapter XI. Of Interjections Rule XXIV. For Interjections Observations on Rule XXIV False Syntax Promiscuous Examples for Parsing, Praxis XIII Chapter XII. General Review False Syntax for a General Review Chapter XIII. General Rule of Syntax Critical Notes to the General Rule General Observations on the Syntax False Syntax under the General Rule False Syntax under the Critical Notes Promiscuous Examples of False Syntax Chapter XIV. Questions on Syntax Chapter XV. Exercises for Writing PART IV. PROSODY. Introductory Definitions and Observations Chapter I. Punctuation Obs. on Pauses, Points, Names, &c. Section I. The Comma; its 17 Rules Errors concerning the Comma Section II. The Semicolon; its 3 Rules Errors concerning the Semicolon Mixed Examples of Error Section III. The Colon; its 3 Rules Errors concerning the Colon Mixed Examples of Error Section IV. The Period; its 8 Rules Observations on the Period Errors concerning the Period Mixed Examples of Error Section V. The Dash; its 3 Rules Observations on the Dash Errors concerning the Dash Mixed Examples of Error Section VI. The Eroteme; its 3 Rules Observations on the Eroteme Errors concerning the Eroteme Mixed Examples of Error Section VII. The Ecphoneme; its 3 Rules Errors concerning the Ecphoneme Mixed Examples of Error Section VIII. The Curves; and their 2 Rules Errors concerning the Curves Mixed Examples of Error Section IX. The Other Marks Mixed Examples of Error Bad English Badly Pointed Chapter II. Of Utterance Section I. Of Articulation Article I. Of the Definition Article II. Of Good Articulation Section II. Of Pronunciation Article I. Powers of Letters Article II. Of Quantity Article III. Of Accent Section III. Of Elocution Article I. Of Emphasis Article II. Of Pauses Article III. Of Inflections Article IV. Of Tones Chapter III. Of Figures Section I. Figures of Orthography Section II. Figures of Etymology Section III. Figures of Syntax Section IV. Figures of Rhetoric Section V. Examples for Parsing, Praxis XIV Chapter IV. Of Versification Section I. Of Verse Definitions and Principles Observations on Verse Section II. Of Accent and Quantity Section III. Of Poetic Feet Critical Observations on Theories Section IV. Of the Kinds of Verse Order I. Iambic Verse; its 8 Measures Order II. Trochaic Verse; its Nature Observations on Trochaic Metre Trochaics shown in their 8 Measures Order III. Anapestic Verse; its 4 Measures Observations on the Short Anapestics Order IV. Dactylic Verse; its 8 Measures Observations on Dactylics Order V. Composite Verse Observations on Composites Section V. Improprieties for Correction Chapter V. Questions on Prosody Chapter VI. Exercises for Writing KEY TO THE ORAL EXERCISES. THE KEY.--PART I.--ORTHOGRAPHY. Chapter I. Of Letters; Capitals Corrections under each of the 16 Rules Promiscuous corrections of Capitals Chapter II. Of Syllables Corrections of False Syllabication Chapter III. Of the Figure of Words Corrections under each of the 6 Rules Promiscuous corrections of Figure Chapter IV. Of Spelling Corrections under each of the 15 Rules Promiscuous corrections of Spelling THE KEY.--PART II--ETYMOLOGY. Chapter I. Of the Parts of Speech Remark concerning False Etymology Chapter II. Of Articles; 5 Lessons Chapter III. Of Nouns; 3 Lessons Chapter IV. Of Adjectives; 3 Lessons Chapter V. Of Pronouns; 3 Lessons Chapter VI. Of Verbs; 3 Lessons Chapter VII. Of Participles; 3 Lessons Chapter VIII. Of Adverbs; 1 Lesson Chapter IX. Of Conjunctions; 1 Lesson Chapter X. Of Prepositions; 1 Lesson Chapter XI. Of Interjections; 1 Lesson THE KEY.--PART III.--SYNTAX. Chapter I. Of Sentences; Remark Chapter II. Of Articles. Corrections under the 17 Notes to Rule 1 Chapter III. Of Cases, or Nouns Cor. under Rule II; of Nominatives Cor. under Rule III; of Apposition Cor. under Rule IV; of Possessives Cor. under Rule V; of Objectives Cor. under Rule VI; of Same Cases Cor. under Rule VII; of Objectives Cor. under Rule VIII; of Nom. Absolute Chapter IV. Of Adjectives. Corrections under the 16 Notes to Rule IX Chapter V. Of Pronouns. Corrections under Rule X and its 16 Notes Corrections under Rule XI; of Pronouns Cor. under Rule XII; of Pronouns Cor. under Rule XIII; of Pronouns Chapter VI. Of Verbs. Corrections under Rule XIV and its 10 Notes Cor. under Rule XV and its Note Cor. under Rule XVI and its 7 Notes Cor. under Rule XVII and its 15 Notes Cor. under Rule XVIII; of Infinitives Cor. under Rule XIX; of Infinitives Chapter VII. Of Participles. Corrections under the 13 Notes to Rule XX Chapter VIII. Of Adverbs. Corrections under the 10 Notes to Rule XXI Chapter IX. Of Conjunctions. Corrections under the 8 Notes to Rule XXII Chapter X. Of Prepositions. Corrections under the 5 Notes to Rule XXIII Chapter XI. Promiscuous Exercises. Corrections of the 8 Lessons Chapter XII. General Review. Corrections under all the preceding Rules and Notes; 18 Lessons Chapter XIII. General Rule. Corrections under the General Rule; 16 Lessons Corrections under the Critical Notes Promiscuous Corrections of False Syntax; 5 Lessons, under Various Rules THE KEY.--PART IV.--PROSODY. Chapter I. Punctuation Section I. The Comma; Corrections under its 17 Rules Section II. The Semicolon; Corrections under its 8 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section III. The Colon; Corrections under its 8 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section IV. The Period; Corrections under its 8 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section V. The Dash; Corrections under its 8 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section VI. The Eroteme; Corrections under its 3 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section VII. The Ecphoneme; Corrections under its 3 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section VIII. The Curves; Corrections under their 2 Rules Mixed Examples Corrected Section IX. All Points; Corrections Good English Rightly Pointed Chapter II. Utterance; no Corrections Chapter III. Figures; no Corrections Chapter IV. Versification. False Prosody, or Errors of Metre, Corrected THE FOUR APPENDIXES. Appendix I. (To Orthography.) Of the Sounds of the Letters Appendix II. (To Etymology.) Of the Derivation of Words Appendix III. (To Syntax.) Of the Qualities of Style Appendix IV. (To Prosody.) Of Poetic Diction; its Peculiarities INDEX OF MATTERS. A DIGESTED CATALOGUE OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS AND GRAMMARIANS, WITH SOME COLLATERAL WORKS AND AUTHORITIES, ESPECIALLY SUCH AS ARE CITED IN THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. ADAM, ALEXANDER, LL. D.; "Latin and English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 302: Edinburgh, 1772; Boston, 1803. ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, LL. D.; "Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory;" 2 vols., 8vo: Cambridge, N. E., 1810. ADAMS, Rev. CHARLES, A. M.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 172: 1st Edition, Boston, 1838. ADAMS, DANIEL, M. B.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 103: 3d Edition, Montpelier, Vt., 1814. ADAMS, E.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 143. Leicester, Mass., 1st Ed., 1806; 5th Ed., 1821. AICKIN, JOSEPH; English Grammar, 8vo: London, 1693. AINSWORTH, ROBERT; Latin and English Dictionary, 4to: 1st Ed., 1736; revised Ed., Lond., 1823. AINSWORTH, LUTHER; "A Practical System of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 144: 1st Ed., Providence, R. I., 1837. ALDEN, ABNER, A. M.; "Grammar Made Easy;" 12mo, pp. 180: 1st Ed., Boston, 1811. ALDEN, Rev. TIMOTHY, Jun.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 36: 1st Ed., Boston, 1811. ALDRICH, W.; "Lectures on English Grammar and Rhetoric, for Common Schools, Academies," &c.; 18mo, pp. 68: 11th Ed., Boston, 1847. ALEXANDER, CALEB, A. M.; (1.) "Grammatical Elements," published before 1794. (2.) "A Grammatical Institute of the Latin Language;" 12mo, pp. 132: Worcester, Mass., 1794. (3.) "A Grammatical System of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 96; written at Mendon, Mass., 1795: 10th Ed., Keene, N. H., 1814. Also, (4.) "An Introduction to Latin," 1795; and, (5.) "An Introduction to the Speaking and Writing of English." ALEXANDER, SAMUEL; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 216: 4th Edition, London, 1832. ALGER, ISRAEL, Jun., A. M.; "Abridgement of Murray's E. Gram.," &c.; 18mo, pp. 126: Boston, 1824 and 1842. ALLEN, Rev. WILLIAM, M. A.; "Grammar of the English Language," &c.; 18mo: London. Also, "The Elements of English Grammar." &c.; 12mo, pp. 457: London, 1813; 2d Ed., ALLEN and CORNWELL; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 162: 3d Edition, London, 1841. ALLEN, D. CAVERNO; "Grammatic Guide, or Common School Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 94: Syracuse, N. Y., 1847. ANDREW, JAMES, LL. D.; English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 129: London, 1817. ANDREWS & STODDARD; "A Grammar of the Latin Language;" 12mo, pp. 328: Boston, 1836; 11th Ed., 1845. ANGELL, OLIVER, A. M.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 90: 1st Edition, Providence, R. I., 1830. ANGUS, WILLIAM, M. A.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 255: 2d Edition, Glasgow, Scotland, 1807. ANON.; "The British Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 281: London, 1760, or near that date. Boston, Mass., 1784. ANON.; "A Comprehensive Grammar," &c.; 18mo, pp. 174: 3d Ed., Philadelphia, T. Dobson, 1789. ANON.; "The Comic Grammar," &c,: London, 1840. ANON.; "The Decoy," an English Grammar with Cuts; 12mo, pp. 33: New York, S. Wood & Sons, 1820. ANON.: E. Gram., "By T. C.;" 18mo, pp. 104: London, 1843. ANON.; Grammar and Rhetoric; 12mo, pp. 221: London, 1776. ANON.; "The English Tutor;" 8vo: London, 1747. ANON.; English Grammar, 12mo: London, Boosey, 1795. ANON.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 161: London, 1838. ANON.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 85: London, 1838. ANON.; An English Grammar, with Engravings; 18mo, pp. 16: London, 1820. ANON.; English Grammar, pp. 84: 1st Ed., Huddersfield, 1817. ANON.: "The Essentials of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 108: 3d Edition, London, 1821. ANON.; "A Plain and Comprehensive Grammar," in "The Complete Letter-Writer;" 12mo, pp. 31;--pages of the whole book, 215: London, 1811. ANON.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 131: Albany, N. Y., 1819. ANON.; (A. H. Maltby & Co. pub.;) Murray's Abridgement, "with Additions;" 18mo, pp. 120: Newhaven, Ct., 1822. ANON.; (James Loring, pub.;) Murray's Abridgement, "with Alterations and Improvements; by a Teacher of Youth;" (Lawson Lyon;) 18mo, pp. 72: 14th Ed., Boston, 1821. ANON.; "The Infant School Grammar;" (said to have been written by Mrs. Bethune;) 18mo, pp. 182: New York, 1830. Jonathan Seymour, proprietor. ANON.; Pestalozzian Grammar; 12mo, pp. 60: Boston, 1830. ANON.; Interrogative Grammar; 12mo, pp. 70: Boston, 1832. ANON.; Grammar with Cuts; 18mo, pp. 108: Boston, 1830. ANON.; "The Juvenile English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 89: Boston, 1829. B. Perkins & Co., publishers and proprietors. ANON.; "The Little Grammarian;" 18mo, pp. 108: 2d Edition, Boston, 1829. ANON.; An Inductive Grammar; 12mo, pp. 185: Windsor, Vt., 1829. ANON.; "A Concise Grammar of the English Language, attempted in Verse;" 18mo, pp. 63: 1st Edition, New York, 1825. ANON.; "Edward's First Lessons in Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 108: 1st Ed., Boston, T. H. Webb & Co., 1843. ANON.; "The First Lessons in English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 90: 1st Edition, Boston, 1842. ANON.; "A New Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 124: New York, 1831; 2d Ed., Boston, 1834. ANON.; "Enclytica, or the Principles of Universal Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 133: London, J. Booth, 1814. ANON.; "The General Principles of Grammar, edited by a few Well-Wishers to Knowledge;" 18mo, pp. 76: Philadelphia, Lea & Blanchard, 1847. ANON.; "English School Grammar;" small 12mo, pp. 32: London, 1850. A meagre sketch, published by "the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge." ANON.; "An English Grammar, together with a First Lesson in Reading;" 18mo, pp. 16: James Burns, London; 2d Ed., 1844. Not worth a pin. ARISTOTLE; his Poetics;--the Greek text, with Goulston's Latin Version, and Winstanley's Notes;--8vo, pp. 320: Oxford, England, 1780. ARNOLD, T. K., M. A.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 76: 2d Edition, London, 1841. ASH, JOHN, LL. D.; "Grammatical Institutes;" 18mo, pp. 142: London, first published about 1763; New York, "A New Edition, Revised and Corrected," 1799. BACON, CALEB, Teacher; "Murray's English Grammar Put into Questions and Answers;" 18mo, pp. 108: New York, 1st Edition, 1818; 5th Edition, 1823, 1827, and 1830. BADGLEY, JONATHAN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 200: 1st Edition, Utica, N. Y., 1845. Suppressed for plagiarism from G. Brown. BALCH, WILLIAM S.; (1.) "Lectures on Language;" 12mo, pp. 252: Providence, 1838. (2.) "A Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp, 140: 1st Edition, Boston, 1839. BALDWIN, EDWARD; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 148: London, 1810; 2d Ed., 1824. BARBER, Dr. JONATHAN; "A Grammar of Elocution;" 12mo; Newhaven, 1830. BARNARD, FREDERICK A. P., A. M.; "Analytic Grammar; with Symbolic Illustration;" 12mo, pp. 264: New York, 1836. This is a curious work, and remarkably well-written. BARNES, DANIEL H., of N. Y.; "The Red Book," or Bearcroft's "Practical Orthography," Revised and Enlarged; 12mo, pp. 347: New York, 1828. BARNES, WILLIAM, B. D.; (1.) English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 120: London, 1842. (2.) "A Philological Grammar, grounded upon English, and formed from a Comparison of more than Sixty Languages;" 8vo, pp. 312: London, 1854. BARRETT, JOHN; "A Grammar of the English Language;" 18mo, pp. 214: 2d Ed., Boston, 1819. BARRETT, SOLOMON, Jun.; (1.) "The Principles of Language;" 12mo, pp. 120: Albany, 1837. (2.) "The Principles of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 96; "Tenth Edition, Revised:" Utica, 1845. (3.) "The Principles of Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 407: "Revised Edition;" Cambridge, 1854. BARRIE, ALEXANDER; English Grammar; 24to, pp. 54: Edinburgh, 9th Ed., 1800. BARTLETT, MONTGOMERY R.; "The Common School Manual;" called in the Third or Philadelphia Edition, "The _National_ School Manual;"--"in Four Parts," or Separate Volumes, 12mo: I, pp. 108; II, 302; III, 379; IV, promised "to consist of 450 or 500 pages." First three parts, "Second Edition," New York, 1830. A miserable jumble, in the successive pages of which, Grammar is mixed up with Spelling-columns, Reading-lessons, Arithmetic, Geometry, and the other supposed daily tasks of a school-boy! BAILEY, N., Schoolmaster; "English and Latin Exercises;" 12mo, pp. 183: London. 18th Ed., 1798. BAILEY, Rev. R. W., A. M.; "English Grammar," or "Manual of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 240: 2d Ed., Philadelphia, 1854. BAYLEY, ANSELM, LL. D.; English Grammar, 8vo: London, 1772. BEALE, SOLON; English Grammar, 18mo, pp. 27: Bangor, Maine, 1833. BEALL, ALEXANDER; English Grammar, 12mo: 1st Ed., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1841. BEATTIE, JAMES, LL. D.; "Theory of Language:" London, 1783; Philadelphia, 1809. "Elements of Moral Science;" 12mo, pp. 572; Baltimore, 1813. See, in Part 1, the sections which treat of "The Faculty of Speech," and the "Essentials of Language;" and, in Part IV, those which treat of "Rhetorick, Figures, Sentences, Style, and Poetry." BECK, WILLIAM; "Outline of English Grammar;" very small, pp. 34: 3d Ed., London, 1829. BEECHER, CATHARINE E.; English Grammar, 12mo, pp. 74. 1st Ed., Hartford, Ct., 1829. BELL, JOHN; English Grammar, 12mo, pp. 446: (2 vols.:) 1st Ed., Glasgow, 1769. BELLAMY, ELIZABETH; English Grammar, 12mo: London, 1802. BENEDICT,--------; English Grammar, 12mo, pp. 192: 1st Ed., Nicholasville, Ky., 1832. BETTESWORTH, JOHN; English Grammar, 12mo: London, 1778. BICKNELL, ALEXANDER, Esq.; "The Grammatical Wreath; or, a Complete System of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 804: London, 1790. BINGHAM, CALEB, A. M.; "The Young Lady's Accidence;" 18mo, pp. 60: Boston, 1804; 20th Ed., 1815. BLAIR, HUGH, D. D., F. B. S.; "Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres;" 8vo, pp. 500: London, 1783; New York, 1819. BLAIR, JOHN, D. D.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 145: 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1831. BLAIR, DAVID, Rev.; "A Practical Grammar of the English Language;" 18mo, pp. 167: 7th Ed., London, 1815. BLAISDALE, SILAS; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 88: 1st Ed., Boston, 1831. BLISS, LEONARD Jun.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 73: 1st Ed., Louisville, Ky., 1839. BOBBITT, A.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 136: 1st Ed., London, 1833. BOLLES, WILLIAM; (1.) "A Spelling-Book;" 12mo, pp. 180: Ster. Ed., N. London, 1831. (2.) "An Explanatory and Phonographic Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language;" royal octavo, pp. 944; Ster. Ed., New London, 1845. BOOTH, DAVID; Introd. to Analytical Dict.; 8vo, pp. 168: London, 1814. Analytical Dictionary of the English Language: London, 1835. E. Grammar, 12mo: London, 1837. BRACE, JOAB; "The Principles of English Grammar;" (vile theft from Lennie;) 18mo, pp. 144: 1st Edition, Philadelphia, 1839. BRADLEY, JOSHUA, A. M.; "Youth's Literary Guide;" 12mo, pp. 192: 1st Ed., Windsor, Vt., 1815. BRADLEY, Rev. C.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 148: York, Eng., 1810; 3d Ed., 1813. BRIDIL, EDMUND, LL. D.; E. Gram., 4to: London, 1799. BRIGHTLAND, JOHN, _Pub._; "A Grammar of the English Tongue;" 12mo, pp. 800: 7th Ed., London, 1748. BRITTAIN, Rev. LEWIS; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 156: 2d Edition, London, 1790. BROMLEY, WALTER; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 104: 1st Ed., Halifax, N. S., 1822. BROWN, GOOLD; (1.) "The Institutes of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 220-312: New York, 1st Ed., 1823; stereotyped in 1832, and again in 1846. (2.) "The First Lines of English Grammar;" early copies 18mo, late copies 12mo, pp. 108: New York, 1st Ed., 1823; stereotyped in 1827, and in 1844. (3.) "A Key to the Exercises for Writing, contained in the Institutes of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 51: New York, 1825. (4.) "A Catechism of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 72: New York, 1827. (5.) "A Compendious English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 22: (in Part I of the Treasury of Knowledge:) New York, 1831. (6.) "The Grammar of English Grammars;" 8vo, pp. 1028; first printed in Boston in 1850 and 1851. BROWN, JAMES; (1.) An Explanation of E. Grammar as taught by an Expensive Machine; 8vo, pp. 40: 1st Ed., Boston, 1815. (2.) "The American Grammar;" a Pamphlet; 12mo, pp. 48: Salem, N. Y., 1821. (3.) "An American Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 162: New York, 1821. (4.) "An Appeal from the British System of English Grammar to Common Sense;" 12mo, pp. 336: Philadelphia, 1837. (5.) "The American System of English Syntax;" 12mo, pp. 216: Philad., 1838. (6.) "An Exegesis of English Syntax;" 12mo, pp. 147: Philad., 1840. (7.) "The First Part of the American System of English Syntax;" 12mo, pp. 195: Boston, 1841. (8.) "An English Syntascope," a "Chart," and other fantastical works. BROWN, J. H., A. M.; (with Gengemhre;) "Elements of English Grammar, on a Progressive System;" 12mo, pp. 213: Philad., 1855. BROWN, RICHARD; English Grammar, 12mo: London, 1692. BUCHANAN, JAMES; "A Regular English Syntax;" 12mo, pp. 196: 5th American Ed., Philad., 1792. BUCKE, CHARLES; "A Classical Grammar of the E. Language;" 18mo, pp. 152: London, 1829. BULLEN, Rev. H. ST. JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 140: 1st Edition, London, 1797. BULLIONS, Rev. PETER, D. D.; (1.) "Elements of the Greek Language;" (now called, "The Principles of Greek Grammar;") mostly a version of Dr. Moor's "Elementa Linguae Graecae:" 1st Ed., 1831. (2.) "The Principles of English Grammar;" (mostly copied from Lennie;) 12mo, pp. 187; 2d Ed., New York, 1837; 5th Ed., Revised, pp. 216, 1843, (3.) "The Principles of Latin Grammar;" (professedly, "upon the foundation of Adam's Latin Grammar;") 12mo, pp. 312: Albany, 1841: 12th Ed., New York, 1846. (4.) "Practical Lessons in English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 132: New York, 1844. (5.) "An Analytical and Practical Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 240: 1st Ed., New York, 1849. BULLOKAR, WILLIAM; (1.) "Booke at Large for the Amendment of Orthographie for English Speech." (2.) "A Bref Grammar for English:" London, 1586. BURHANS, HEZEKIAH; "The Critical Pronouncing Spelling-Book;" 12mo, pp. 204: 1st Ed., Philad., 1823. BURLES, EDWARD; E. Gram., 12mo: Lond., 1652. BURN, JOHN; "A Practical Grammar of the E. Lang.;" 12mo, pp. 275: Glasgow, 1766; 10th Ed., 1810. BURR, JONATHAN, A. M.; "A Compendium of Eng. Gram.;" 18mo, pp. 72: Boston, 1797,--1804,--1818. BUTLER, CHARLES; E. Gram., 4to: Oxford, Eng., 1633. BUTLER, NOBLE, A. M.; (1.) "A Practical Grammar of the E. Lang.;" 12mo, pp. 216: 1st Ed., Louisville, Ky., 1845. (2.) "Introductory Lessons in E. Grammar," 1845. CAMPBELL, GEORGE, D. D., F. R. S.; "The Philosophy of Rhetoric;" 8vo, pp. 445: London, 1776: Philad., 1818. CARDELL, WM. S.; (1.) An "Analytical Spelling-Book;" (with Part of the "Story of Jack Halyard;") 12mo, pp. 192: (published at first under the fictitious name of "John Franklin Jones:") New York, 1823; 2d Ed., 1824. (2.) An "Essay on Language;" 12mo, pp. 203: New York, 1825. (3.) "Elements of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 141: New York, 1826; 3d Ed., Hartford, 1827. (4.) "Philosophic Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 236: Philadelphia, 1827. CAREY, JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 220: 1st Ed., London, 1809. CARTER, JOHN; E. Gram., 8vo: Leeds, 1773. CHANDLER, JOSEPH R.; "A Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 180: Philad., 1821. Rev. Ed., pp. 208, stereotyped, 1847. CHAPIN, JOEL; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 252: 1st Edition, Springfield, Mass., 1842. CHAUVIER, J. H., M. A.; "A Treatise on Punctuation;" translated from the French, by J. B. Huntington; large 18mo, pp. 112: London, 1849. CHESSMAN, DANIEL, A. M.; Murray Abridged; 18mo, pp. 24: 3d Ed., Hullowell, Me., 1821. CHILD, PROF. F. J.; "Revised Edition" of Dr. Latham's "Elementary English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 236: Cambridge, N. E., 1852. CHURCHILL, T. O.; "A New Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 454: 1st Ed., London, 1823. CLAPHAM, Rev. SAMUEL; E. Grammar: London, 1810. CLARK, HENRY; E. Grammar; 4to: London, 1656. CLARK, SCHUYLER; "The American Linguist, or Natural Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 240: Providence, 1830. CLARK, S. W., A. M.; "A Practical Grammar," with "a System of Diagrams;" 12mo, pp. 218; 2d Ed., New York, 1848. CLARK, WILLIAM; E. Gram.; 18mo: London, 1810. CLARKE, R.; "Poetical Grammar of the English Language, and an Epitome of Rhetoric;" 12mo, pp. 172; price, 2s. 6d.: London, 1855. COAR, THOMAS; "A Grammar of the English Tongue;" 12mo, pp. 276: 1st Ed., London, 1796. COBB, ENOS; "Elements of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 108: 1st Ed., Boston, 1820. COBB, LYMAN, A. M.; (1.) A Spelling-Book according to J. Walker; "Revised Ed.:" Ithaca, N. Y., 1825. (2.) "Abridgment of Walker's Crit. Pron. Dict.:" Hartford, Ct., 1829. (3.) "Juvenile Reader, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and Sequel:" New York, 1831. (4.) "The North American Reader;" 12mo, pp. 498: New York, 1835. (5.) "New Spelling-Book, in Six Parts;" 12mo, pp. 168: N. Y., 1843. (6.) An "Expositor," a "Miniature Lexicon," books of "Arithmetic, &c., &c." COBBETT, WILLIAM; "A Grammar of the E. Language;" 12mo, New York and Lond., 1818; 18mo, N. Y., 1832. COBBIN, Rev. INGRAM, M. A.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 72: 20th Edition, London, 1844. COCHRAN, PETER, A. B.: English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 71: 1st Ed., Boston, 1802. COLET, Dr. John, Dean of St. Paul's; the "English Introduction" to Lily's Grammar; dedicated to Lily in 1510. See _Gram. of E. Gram., Introd._, Chap. XI, 3, 4, and 5. COMLY, JOHN; "English Grammar Made Easy;" 18mo, pp. 192: 6th Ed., Philad., 1815; 15th Ed., 1826. COMSTOCK, ANDREW, M. D.; "A System of Elocution;" 12mo, pp. 364: Philadelphia, 1844. "A Treatise on Phonology;" 12mo, 1846: &c. CONNEL, ROBERT; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 162: Glasgow, 1831; 2d Ed., 1834. CONNON, C. W., M. A.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 168: Edinburgh, 1845. COOPER, Rev. JOAB GOLDSMITH, A. M.; (1.) "An Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar;" (largely stolen from G. Brown;) 12mo, pp. 200: Philadelphia, 1828. (2.) "A Plain and Practical English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 210: Philad., 1831. COOTE, C., LL. D.; on the English Language; 8vo, pp. 281: 1st Edition, London, 1788. CORBET, JAMES; English Grammar; 24to, pp. 153: 1st Edition, Glasgow, 1743. CORBET, JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo: Shrewsbury, England, 1784. CORNELL, WILLIAM M.; English Grammar; 4to, pp. 12: 1st Edition, Boston, 1840. COVELL, L. T.; "A Digest of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 219: 3d Ed., New York, 1853. Much indebted to S. S. Greene, H. Mandeville, and G. Brown. CRANE, GEORGE; "The Principles of Language;" 12mo, pp. 264: 1st Ed., London, 1843. CROCKER, ABRAHAM; English Grammar, 12mo: Lond., 1772. CROMBIE, ALEXANDER, LL. D., F. R. S.; "A Treatise on the Etymology and Syntax of the English Language;" 8vo, pp. 425: London, 2d Ed., 1809; 4th Ed., 1836. CUTLER, ANDREW, A. M.; "English Grammar and Parser;" 12mo, pp. 168: 1st Ed., Plainfield, Ct., 1841. DALE, W. A. T.; a small "English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 72: 1st Ed., Albany, N. Y., 1820. DALTON, JOHN; "Elements of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 122: London, 1st Ed., 1801. DAVENPORT, BISHOP; "English Grammar Simplified;" 18mo, pp. 139: 1st Ed., Wilmington, Del., 1830. DAVIDSON, DAVID; a Syntactical Treatise, or Grammar; 12mo: London, 1823. DAVIS, Rev. JOHN, A. M.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 188: 1st Ed., Belfast, Ireland, 1832. DAVIS, PARDON; (1.) An Epitome of E. Gram.; 12mo, pp. 56: 1st Ed., Philad., 1818. (2.) "Modern Practical E. Gram.;" 12mo, pp. 175: 1st Ed., Philad., 1845. DAY, PARSONS E.; "District School Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 120: 2d Ed., Ithaca, N. Y., 1844. DAY, WILLIAM; "Punctuation Reduced to a System;" 18mo, pp. 147: 3d Ed., London, 1847. DEARBORN, BENJAMIN; "Columbian Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 140: 1st Ed., Boston, 1795. DEL MAR, E.; Treatise on English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 115: 1st Ed., London, 1842. D'ORSEY, ALEXANDER J. D.; (1.) A Duodecimo Grammar, in Two Parts; Part I, pp. 153; Part II, pp. 142: 1st Ed., Edinburgh, 1842. (2.) An Introduction to E. Gram.; 18mo, pp. 104: Edin., 1845. DE SACY, A. J. SYLVESTRE, Baron; "Principles of General Grammar;" translated from the French, by D. Fosdick, Jun.; 12mo, pp. 156: 1st American, from the 5th French Edition; Andover and New York, 1834. "DESPAUTER, JOHN, a Flemish grammarian, whose books were, at one time, in great repute; he died in 1520."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ Despauter's Latin Grammar, in Three Parts,--Etymology, Syntax, and Versification,--comprises 858 octavo pages. Dr. Adam says, in the "Preface to the Fourth Edition" of his Grammar, "The first complete edition of Despauter's Grammar was printed at Cologne, anno 1522; his _Syntax_ had been published anno 1509." G. Brown's copy is a "complete edition," printed partly in 1517, and partly in 1518. DEVIS, ELLEN; E. Gram.; 18mo, pp. 130: London and Dublin; 1st Ed., 1777; 17th Ed., 1825. [Fist] Devis's Grammar, spoken of in D. Blair's Preface, as being too "comprehensive and minute," is doubtless an other and much larger work. DILWORTH, THOMAS; "A New Guide to the English Tongue;" 12mo, pp. 148: London; 1st Ed., 1740: 26th Ed., 1764; 40th Ed., (used by G. B.,) undated. DOHERTY, HUGH; a Treatise on English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 240; 1st Ed., London, 1841. DRUMMOND, JOHN; English Grammar; 8vo: London, 1767. DYCHE, THOMAS; English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 10: London, 1st Ed., 1710; 12th Ed., 1765. EARL, MARY; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 36: 1st Ed., Boston, 1816. EDWARDS, Mrs. M. C.; English Grammar; 8vo: Brentford. England, 1796. EGELSHEM, WELLS; English Grammar; 12mo: London, 1781. ELMORE, D. W., A. M.; "English Grammar, or Natural Analysis;" 18mo, pp. 18: 1st Ed., Troy, N. Y., 1830. A mere trifle. ELPHINSTON, JAMES; on the English Language; 12mo, pp. 298: 1st Ed., London, 1796. EMERSON, BENJAMIN D.; "National Spelling-Book;" 12mo, pp. 168: Boston, 1828. EMERY, J., A. B.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 39: 1st Ed., Wellsborough, Pa., 1829. EMMONS, S. B.; "The Grammatical Instructer;" 12mo, pp. 160: 1st Ed., Boston, 1832. Worthless. ENSELL, G.; "A Grammar of the English Language;" in English and Dutch; 8vo, pp. 612: Rotterdam, 1797. EVEREST, Rev. CORNELIUS B.; "An English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 270: 1st Ed., Norwich, Ct., 1835. Suppressed for plagiarism from G. Brown. EVERETT, ERASTUS, A. M.; "A System of English Versification;" 12mo, pp. 198: 1st Ed., New York, 1848. FARNUM, CALEB, Jun., A. M.; "Practical Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 124: 1st Edition, (suppressed for petty larcenies from G. Brown,) Providence, R. I., 1842; 2d Edition, (altered to evade the charge of plagiarism,) Boston, 1843. FARBO, DANIEL; "The Royal British Grammar and Vocabulary;" 12mo, pp. 344: 1st Ed., London. 1754. FELCH, W.; "A Comprehensive Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 122: 1st Edition, Boston, 1837. This author can see others' faults better than his own. FELTON, OLIVER C.; "A Concise Manual of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 145: Salem, Mass., 1843. FENNING, DANIEL; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 224: 1st Ed., London, 1771. FENWICK, JOHN; an English Grammar, 12mo.: London, 1811. FISHER, A.; "A Practical New Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 176: London: 1st Ed., 1753; 28th Ed., 1795; "A New Ed., Enlarged, Improved, and Corrected," (used by G. B.,) 1800. FISK, ALLEN; (1.) Epitome of E. Gram.; 18mo, pp. 124: Hallowell, Me., 1821; 2d Ed., 1828. (2.) "Adam's Latin Grammar Simplified;" 8vo, pp. 190: New York, 1822; 2d Ed., 1824. (3.) "Murray's English Grammar Simplified;" 8vo, pp. 178: 1st Ed., Troy, N. Y., 1822. FLEMING, Rev. CALEB; an English Grammar, 12mo: London, 1765. FLETCHER, LEVI; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 83: 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1834. FLETCHER, Rev. W.; English Gram.; 18mo, pp. 175: London; 1st Ed., 1828; 2d Ed., 1833. FLINT, ABEL, A. M., and D. D.; "Murray's English Grammar Abridged;" 12mo, pp. 204: Hartford, Ct.; 1st Ed., 1807; 6th Ed., pp. 214, 1826. FLINT, JOHN; "First Lessons in English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 107: 1st Ed., New York, 1834. FLOWER, M. and W. B.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 170: 1st Ed., London, 1844. FOLKER, JOSEPH; "An Introduction to E. Gram.;" 12mo, pp. 34: Savannah, Ga., 1821. FORMEY, M., M. D., S. E., &c., &c.; "Elementary Principles of the Belles-Lettres;"--"Translated from the French, by the late Mr. Sloper Forman;" 12mo, pp. 224: Glasgow, 1767. FOWLE, WILLIAM BENTLEY; (1.) "The True English Grammar," (Part I;) 18mo, pp. 180: Boston, 1827. (2.) "The True English Grammar, Part II;" 18mo, pp. 97: Boston, 1829. (3.) "The Common School Grammar, Part I;" 12mo, pp. 46: Boston, 1842. (4.) "The Common School Grammar, Part II;" 12mo, pp. 108: Boston, 1842. FOWLER, WILLIAM C.; "English Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 675: 1st Ed., New York, 1850. FRAZEE, Rev. BRADFORD; "An Improved Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 192: Philad., 1844; Ster. Ed., 1845. FRENCH, D'ARCY A.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 168: Baltimore, 1st Ed., 1831. FROST, JOHN, A. M.; (1.) "Elements of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 108: 1st Ed., Boston, 1829. (2.) "A Practical English Grammar;" (with 89 cuts;) 12mo, pp. 204: 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1842. FULLER, ALLEN; "Grammatical Exercises, being a plain and concise Method of teaching English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 108: 1st Ed., Plymouth, Mass., 1822. A book of no value. GARTLEY, G.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 225: 1st Edition, London, 1830. GAY, ANTHELME; "A French Prosodical Grammar;" for English or American Students; 12mo, pp. 215: New York, 1795. GENGEMBRE, P. W.; "Brown and Gengembre's English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 213: Philad., 1855. (See J. H. Brown.) GIBBS, Prof. J. W., of Yale C.; on Dialects, Sounds, and Derivations. See about 126 pages, credited to this gentleman, in Prof. Fowler's large Grammar, of 1850. GILBERT, ELI; a "Catechetical Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 124: 1st Ed., 1834; 2d Ed., New York, 1835. GILCHRIST, JAMES; English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 269: 1st Ed., London, 1815. GILES, JAMES; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 152: London, 1804; 2d Ed., 1810. GILES, Rev. T. A., A. M.; English Grammar; 12mo, London, 2d Ed., 1838. GILL, ALEXANDER; English Grammar, treated in Latin; 4to: London, 1621. GILLEADE, G.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 206: London; 1st Ed., 1816. GIRAULT Du VIVIER, Ch. P.; (1.) "La Grammaire des Grammaires;" two thick volumes, 8vo: Paris; 2d Ed., 1814. (2.) "Traite des Participes;" 8vo, pp. 84: 2d Ed., Paris, 1816. GOLDSBURY, JOHN, A. M.; (1.) "The Common School Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 94: 1st Ed., Boston, 1842. (2.) "Sequel to the Common School Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 110: 1st Ed., Boston, 1842. GOODENOW, SMITH B.; "A Systematic Text-Book of English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 144: 1st Edition, Portland, 1839; 2d Edition, Boston, 1843. GOUGH, JOHN and JAMES; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 212: 2d Ed., Dublin, 1760. GOULD, BENJAMIN A.; "Adam's Lat. Gram., with Improvements;" 12mo, pp. 300: Boston, 1829. GRAHAM, G. F.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 134: 1st Ed., London, 1843. GRANT, JOHN, A. M.; (1.) "Institutes of Latin Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 453: London, 1808. (2.) A Comprehensive English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 410: 1st Ed., London, 1813. GRANVILLE, GEO.; English Grammar, 12mo: London, 1827. GRAY, JAMES, D. D.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 144: 1st Ed., Baltimore, 1818. GREEN, MATTHIAS; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 148: 1st Ed., London, 1837. GREEN, RICHARD W.; "Inductive Exercises in English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 108: 1st Ed., New York, 1829; 5th Ed., Phila., 1834. GEEENE, ROSCOE G.; (1.) E. Gram.; 12mo, pp. 132: Hallowell, Me.; 1st Ed., 1828; Ster. Ed., 1835. (2.) "A Practical Grammar for the English Language;" (with Diagrams of Moods;) 12mo: Portland, 1829. (3.) "A Grammatical Text-Book, being an Abstract of a Practical Gram., &c.;" 12mo, pp. 69: Boston, 1833. GREENE, SAMUEL S.; (1.) "Analysis of Sentences;" 12mo, pp. 258: 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1848. (2.) "First Lessons in Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 171: 1st Ed., Philad., 1848. GREENLEAF, JEREMIAH; "Grammar Simplified;" 4to, pp. 48: New York; 3d Ed., 1821; 20th Ed., 1837. GREENWOOD, JAMES; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 315: London, 1711; 2d Ed., 1722. GEENVILLE, A. S.; "Introduction to English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 63: 1st Ed., Boston, 1822. GRISCOM, JOHN, LL. D.; "Questions in English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 42: 1st Ed., New York, 1821. GURNEY, DAVID. A. M.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 72: Boston, 1801; 2d Ed., 1808. GUY, JOSEPH, Jun.; "English School Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 143: 4th Ed., London 1816. HALL, Rev. S. R.; "The Grammatical Assistant;" 12mo, pp. 131: 1st Ed., Springfield, Mass., 1832. HALL, WILLIAM; "Encyclopedia of English Grammar;" (by report;) Ohio, 1850. HALLOCK, EDWARD J., A. M.; "A Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 251: 1st Ed., New York, 1842. A very inaccurate book, with sundry small plagiarisms from G. Brown. HAMLIN, LORENZO F.; "English Grammar in Lectures;" 12mo, pp. 108: New York, 1831; Ster. Ed., 1832. HAMMOND, SAMUEL; English Grammar; 8vo: Lond., 1744. HARRIS, JAMES, Esq.; "Hermes; or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 468; London, 1751: 6th Ed., 1806. HARRISON, Mr.; "Rudiments of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 108: 9th American Ed., Philad., 1812. HARRISON, Rev. MATTHEW, A. M.; "The Rise, Progress, and Present Structure of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 393: Preface dated Basingstoke, Eng., 1848; 1st American Ed., Philad., 1850. HART, JOHN S., A. M.; "English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 192; 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1845. HARVEY, J.; English Grammar: London, 1841. HAZEN, EDWARD, A. M.; "A Practical Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 240: New York, 1842. HAZLITT, WILLIAM; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 205: London, 1810. HENDRICK, J. L., A. M.; "A Grammatical Manual;" 18mo, pp. 105: 1st Ed., Syracuse, N. Y., 1844. HEWES, JOHN, A. M.; English Grammar; 4to: London, 1624. HEWETT, D.; English Grammar; folio, pp. 16: 1st Edition, New York, 1838. HIGGINSON, Rev. T. E.; E. Gram.; 12mo; Dublin, 1803. HILEY, RICHARD; "A Treatise on English Grammar," &c.; 12mo, pp. 269: 3d Ed., London, 1840. Hiley's Grammar Abridged; 18mo, pp. 196: London, 1843: 4th Ed., 1851. HILL, J. H.; "On the Subjunctive Mood;" 8vo, pp. 63: 1st Ed., London, 1834. HODGSON, Rev. ISAAC; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 184: 1st Ed., London, 1770. HOME, HENRY, Lord Kames; "Elements of Criticism;" 2 volumes 8vo, pp. 836: (3d American, from the 8th London Ed.:) New York, 1819. Also, "The Art of Thinking;" 12mo, pp. 284: (from the last London Ed.:) New York, 1818. HORNSEY, JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 144; York, England, 1798: 6th Ed., 1816. HORT, W. JILLARD; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 219: 1st Ed., London, 1822. HOUGHTON, JOHN; English Grammar; 8vo: London, 1766. HOUSTON, SAMUEL, A. B.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 48: 1st Ed., Harrisburgh, Pa., 1818. HOWE, S. L.; English Grammar; 18mo; 1st Ed., Lancaster, Ohio, 1838. HOWELL, JAMES; English Grammar; 12mo: London, 1662. HULL, JOSEPH HERVEY; "E. Gram., by Lectures;" 12mo, pp. 72: 4th Ed., Boston, 1828. HUMPHREY, ASA; (1.) "The English Prosody;" 12mo, pp. 175: 1st Ed., Boston, 1847. (2.) "The Rules of Punctuation;" with "Rules for the Use of Capitals;" 18mo, pp. 71: 1st Ed., Boston, 1847. HURD, S. T.; E. Gram.: 2d Ed., Boston, 1827. HUTHERSAL, JOHN; English Grammar; 18mo: England, 1814. INGERSOLL, CHARLES M.; "Conversations on English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 296: New York, 1821. JAMIESON, ALEXANDER; "A Grammar of Rhetoric and Polite Literature;" 12mo, pp. 345: "The first American, from the last London Edition;" Newhaven, 1820. JAUDON, DANIEL; "The Union Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 216: Philadelphia; 1st Ed., 1812; 4th, 1828. JENKINS, AZARIAH; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 256; 1st Ed., Rochester, N. Y., 1835. JOEL, THOMAS; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 78: 1st Ed., London, 1775. JOHNSON, RICHARD; "Grammatical Commentaries;" (chiefly on Lily;) 8vo, pp. 436: London, 1706. JOHNSON, SAMUEL, LL. D.; "A Dictionary of the English Language;" in two thick volumes, 4to: 1st American, from the 11th London Edition; Philadelphia, 1818. To this work, are prefixed Johnson's "History of the English Language," pp. 29; and his "Grammar of the English Tongue," pp. 14. JONES, JOSHUA; E. Gram.; 18mo: Phila., 1841. JONSON, BEN;--see, in his Works, "The English Grammar, made by Ben Jonson, for the Benefit of all Strangers, out of his Observation of the English Language, now spoken and in use:" London, 1634: 8vo, pp. 94; Lond., 1816. JUDSON, ADONIRAM, Jun., A. B.; E. Grammar; 12mo, pp. 56: 1st Ed., Boston, 1808. KENNION, CHARLOTTE; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 157: 1st Ed., London, 1842. KILSON, ROGER; English Grammar; 12mo: England, 1807. KING, WALTER W.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 76: 1st Ed., London, 1841. KIRKHAM, SAMUEL; "English Grammar in familiar Lectures;" 12mo, pp. 141--228: 2d Ed., Harrisburgh, Pa., 1825; 12th Ed., New York, 1829. KNOWLES, JOHN; "The Principles of English Grammar;" 12mo: 3d Ed., London, 1794. KNOWLTON, JOSEPH; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 84: Salem, Mass., 1818; 2d Ed., 1832. LATHAM, ROBERT GORDON, A. M., M. D., F. R. S. (1.) "The English Language;" 8vo, pp. 418: 1st Ed., London, 1841. (2.) "English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 214: 1st Ed., London, 1843. (3.) "A Hand-Book of the English Language;" large 12mo, pp. 898: New York, 1852. LEAVITT, DUDLEY; English Grammar; 24to, pp. 60: 1st Ed., Concord, N. H., 1826. LENNIE, WILLIAM; "The Principles of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 142: 5th Ed., Edinburgh, 1819; 13th Ed., 1831. LEWIS, ALONZO; "Lessons in English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 50: 1st Ed., Boston, 1822. LEWIS, JOHN; (1.) English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 48: 1st Ed., New York, 1828. (2.) "Tables of Comparative Etymology; or, The Student's Manual of Languages;" 4to, pp. 108: Philad., 1828. LEWIS, WILLIAM GREATHEAD; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 204: 1st Ed., London, 1821. LILY, WILLIAM; "Brevissima Institutio, seu Ratio Grammatices cognoscendae;" large 18mo, pp. 140: London, 1793. LINDSAY, Rev. JOHN, A. M.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 88: 1st Ed., London. 1842. LOCKE, JOHN, M. D.; small English Grammar; 18mo: 1st Ed., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1827. LOUGHTON, WILLIAM; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 194: 3d Ed., London, 1739. LOVECHILD, Mrs.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 72: 40th Ed., London, 1842. LOWTH, ROBERT, D. D.; "A Short Introduction to English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 132: London, 1763;--Philadelphia, 1799;--Cambridge, Mass., 1838. LYNDE, JOHN; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 10: 1st Ed., Woodstock, Vt., 1821. MACK, EVERED J.; "The Self-Instructor, and Practical English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 180: 1st Ed., Springfield, Mass., 1835. An egregious plagiarism from G. Brown. MACGOWAN, Rev. JAMES; "English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 248: London, 1825. MACKINTOSH, DUNCAN; "An Essay on English Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 239: Boston, 1797. MACKILQUHEM, WILLIAM; English Grammar; 12mo: Glasgow, 1799. MAITTAIRE, MICHAEL; English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 272: London, 1712. MANDEVILLE, HENRY, D. D.; (1.) "Elements of Reading and Oratory;" large 12mo: Utica, N. Y., 1845. (2.) "A Course of Reading for Schools;" 12mo, pp. 377: Improved Ed.; New York, 1851. MARCET, Mrs.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 331: 7th Ed., London, 1843. MARTIN, BENJ.; English Grammar; 12mo: London, 1754. MATHESON, JOHN; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 138: 2d Ed., London, 1821. MAUNDER, SAMUEL; Grammar prefixed to Dict.; 12mo, pp. 20: 1st Ed., London, 1830. MAVOR, WILLIAM; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 70: 1st Ed., London, 1820. M'CREADY, F.; 12mo Grammar: Philad., 1820. M'CULLOCH, J. M., D. D.; "A Manual of English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 188: 7th Ed., Edinburgh, 1841. M'ELLIGOTT, JAMES N.; "Manual, Analytical and Synthetical, of Orthography and Definition;" 8vo, pp. 223: 1st Ed., New York, 1846. Also, "The Young Analyzer:" 12mo, pp. 54: New York, 1846. MEILAN, MARK A.; English Grammar; 12mo: London, 1803. MENDENHALL, WILLIAM; "The Classification of Words;" 12mo, pp. 36: Philad., 1814. MENNYE, J.: "English Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 124: 1st Ed., New York, 1785. MERCEY, BLANCHE; English Grammar; 12mo, 2 vols., pp. 248: 1st Ed., London, 1799. MERCHANT, AARON M.; Murray's Small Grammar, Enlarged; 18mo, pp. 216: N. Y., 1824. This "Enlarged Abridgement" became "The American School Grammar" in 1828. MILLER, ALEXANDER; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 119: 1st Ed., New York, 1795. MILLER, The Misses; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 63: 1st Ed., London, 1830. MILLER, FERDINAND H.; "The Ready Grammarian;" square 12mo, pp. 24: Ithaca, New York, 1843. MILLER, TOBIAS HAM; Murray's Abridgement, with Questions; 12mo, pp. 76: Portsmouth, N. H., 1823. MILLIGAN, Rev. GEORGE; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 72: Edin., 1831; 2d Ed., 1839. MOORE, THOMAS; "Orthography and Pronunciation;" 12mo, pp. 176: London, 1810. MORGAN, JONATHAN, Jun., A. B.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 405: 1st Ed., Hallowell, Me., 1814. MORLEY, CHARLES, A. B.; "School Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 86: (with Cuts:) 1st Ed., Hartford, Ct., 1836. MOREY, AMOS C.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 106: Albany, N. Y., 1829. MULKEY, WILLIAM; "An Abridgment of Walker's Rules on the Sounds of the Letters;" 18mo, pp. 124: Boston. 1834. Fudge! MULLIGAN, JOHN, A. M.; (1.) "Exposition of the Grammatical Structure of the English Language;" small 8vo, pp. 574: New York, 1852. (2.) Same Abridged for Schools; 12mo, pp. 301: N. Y., 1854. MURRAY, ALEXANDER, D. D.; "The History of European Languages;" in two vols., 8vo.; pp. 800. MURRAY, ALEXANDER, Schoolmaster; "Easy English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 194: 3d Ed., London, 1793. MURRAY, LINDLEY; (1.) "English Grammar, Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners;" 12mo, pp. 284: York, Eng., 1795; 2d Ed., 1796; 23d Ed., 1816. (2.) "Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 105: "From the 30th English Ed.," New York, 1817. (3.) "An English Grammar;" in two volumes, octavo; pp. 684: 4th American from the last English Ed.; New York, 1819. (4.) A Spelling-Book; 18mo, pp. 180: New York, 1819. MYLINS, WM. F.; Gram., 12mo: England, 1809. MYLNE, Rev. A., D. D.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 180: 11th Ed., Edinburgh, 1832. NESBIT, A.; "An Introd. to English Parsing;" 18mo, pp. 213: 2d Ed., York, England, 1823. NEWBURY, JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 152: 5th Ed., London, 1787. NIGHTINGALE, Rev. J.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 96: 1st Ed., London, 1822. NIXON, H.; (1.) "The English Parser;" 12mo, pp. 164: 1st Ed., London, 1826. (2.) "New and Comprehensive English Grammar;" 12mo: 1st Ed., London, 1833. NUTTING, RUFUS, A. M.; "A Practical Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 144: 3d Ed., Montpelier, Vt., 1826. ODELL, J., A. M.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 205: 1st Ed., London, 1806. OLIVER, EDWARD, D. D.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 178: 1st Ed., London, 1807. OLIVER, SAMUEL; English Grammar; 8vo, pp. 377: 1st Ed., London, 1825. PALMER, MARY; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 48: New York, 1803. PARKER, RICHARD GREEN; (1.) "Exercises in Composition;" 12mo, pp. 106: 3d Ed., Boston, 1833. (2.) "Aids to English Composition;" 12mo, pp. 418: 1st Ed., Boston, 1844. 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Grammar; 12mo, pp. 188: 1st Ed., West Brookfleld, Mass., 1845. PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH, LL. D.; "The Rudiments of E. Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 202: 3d Ed., London, 1772. PUE, HUGH A.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 149: 1st Ed., Philadelphia, 1841. PULLEN, P. H.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 321: London, 1820; 2d Ed., 1822. PUTNAM, J. M.; "English Grammar;" (Murray's, Modified;) 18mo, pp. 162: Concord, N. H., 1825; Ster., 1831. PUTNAM, SAMUEL; "Putnam's Murray;" 18mo, pp. 108: Improved Ster. Ed.; Dover, N. H., 1828. PUTSEY, Rev. W.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 211: London, 1821; 2d Ed., 1829. QUACKENBOS, GEO. PAYN; (1.) "First Lessons in Composition." (2.) "Advanced Course of Composition and Rhetoric;" 12mo, pp. 455: New York, 1854. RAND, ASA; "Teacher's Manual," &c.; 18mo, pp. 90: 1st Ed., Boston, 1832. REED, CALEB, A. M.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 30: 1st Ed., Boston, 1821. REID, A.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 46: 2d Ed., London, 1839. REID, JOHN, M. D.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 68: 1st Ed., Glasgow, 1830. RICORD, F. W., A. M.; "The Youth's Grammar; or, Easy Lessons in Etymology;" 12mo, pp. 118: 1st Ed., N. Y., 1855. RIGAN, JOHN; Grammar, 12mo: Dublin, 1823. ROBBINS, MANASSEH; "Rudimental Lessons in Etym. and Synt.;" 12mo, pp. 70: Prov., R. I., 1826. ROBINSON, JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 95: 1st Ed., Maysville, 1830. ROOME, Rev. T.; Gram.; 12mo: England, 1813. ROSS, ROBERT; an American Grammar; 12mo, pp. 199: 7th Ed., Hartford, Ct., 1782. ROTHWELL, J.; English Grammar; 12mo: 2d Ed., London, 1797. ROZZELL, WM.; English Grammar in Verse; 8vo: London, 1795. RUSH, JAMES, M. D.; "Philosophy of the Human Voice;" 8vo: Philadelphia, 1833. RUSSELL, Rev. J., D. D.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 168: London, 1835; 10th Ed., 1842. RUSSELL, WILLIAM; (1.) "A Grammar of Composition;" 12mo, pp. 150: Newhaven, 1823. (2.) "Lessons in Enunciation:" Boston, 1841. (3.) "Orthophony; or the Cultivation of the Voice;" 12mo, pp. 300: improved Ed., Boston, 1847. RUSSELL, WILLIAM E.: "An Abridgment of Murray's Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 142: Hartford, 1819. RYLAND, JOHN; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 164: 1st Ed., Northampton, Eng., 1767. SABINE, H., A. M.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 120: 1st Ed., London, 1702. SANBOBN, DYER H.; "An Analytical Grammar of the English Language;" 12mo, pp. 299: 1st Ed., Concord, N. H., 1836. SANDERS, CHARLES W. and J. C.; "The Young Grammarian;" 12mo, pp. 120: Rochester, N. Y., 1847. SARGENT, EPES; "The Standard Speaker; a Treatise on Oratory and Elocution;" small 8vo, pp. 558: Philadelphia, 1852. SCOTT, WILLIAM; Grammar, 12mo: Edinb., 1797. Dictionary, with Grammar prefixed; square, pp. 492: Cork, 1810. SEARLE, Rev. THOMAS; Grammar in Verse; 18mo, pp. 114: 1st Ed., London, 1822. SHATFORD, W.; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 104: 1st Ed., London, 1834. SHAW, Rev. JOHN; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 259: 4th Ed., London, 1793. 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(2.) "Elements of Elocution;" 8vo, pp. 379: Boston, 1810. (3.) Rhyming Dict., 12mo; (4.) Pronouncing Dict., 8vo; and other valuable works. WALKER, WILLIAM, B. D.; (1.) "A Treatise of English Particles;" 12mo, pp. 488: London, 1653; 10th Ed., 1691. (2.) "The Art of Teaching Grammar;" large 18mo, pp. 226: 8th Ed., London, 1717. WALLIS, JOHN, D. D.; E. Gram. in Latin; 8vo, pp. 281:. Lond., 1653; 6th Ed., 1765. WARD, H.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 151: Whitehaven, England, 1777. WARD, JOHN, LL. D.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 238: London, 1768. WARD, WILLIAM, A. M.; "A Practical Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 192: York, England, 1765. WARE, JONATHAN, Esq.; "A New Introduction to English Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 48: Windsor, Vt., 1814. WASE, CHRISTOPHER, M. A.; "An Essay of a Practical Gram.," 12mo, pp. 79: Lond., 1660. WATT, THOMAS, A. M.; "Gram. Made Easy;" 18mo, pp. 92: Edinburgh, 1708.; 5th Ed., 1742. WEBBER, SAMUEL, A. M., M. D.; "An Introd. to E. Grammar;" 12mo, pp. 116: Cambridge, Mass., 1832. 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M.; English Grammar; 12mo: Detroit, 1845. WHITWORTH, T.; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 216: 1st Ed., London, 1819. WICKES, EDWARD WALTER; English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 106: 2d Ed., London, 1841. WILBER & LIVINGSTON; "The Grammatical Alphabet;" (with a Chart;) 18mo, pp. 36: 2d Ed., Albany, 1815. WILBUR, JOSIAH; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 132: Bellows Falls, N. H., 1815; 2d Ed., 1822. WILCOX, A. F.; "A Catechetical and Practical Grammar;" 18mo, pp. 110: 1st Ed., Newhaven, Ct., 1828. WILLARD, SAMUEL: English Grammar; 18mo, pp. 54: 1st Ed., Greenfield, Mass., 1816. WILLIAMS, MRS. HONORIA; English Grammar; 12mo, pp. 226: London, 1823; 3d Ed., 1826. WILSON, CHARLES, D. D.; "Elements of Hebrew Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 398: 3d Ed., London, 1802. WILSON, GEORGE; English Grammar; 18mo; London, 1777. WILSON, JAMES P., D. D.: "An Essay on Grammar;" 8vo, pp. 281: Philadelphia, 1817. WILSON, JOHN; "A Treatise on English Punctuation;" 12mo, pp. 204: Boston, 1850. WILSON, Rev. 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[Asterism] The _Names_, or _Heads_, in the foregoing alphabetical Catalogue, are 452; the _Works_ mentioned are 548; the _Grammars_ are 463; the _other Books_ are 85. END OF THE CATALOGUE. INTRODUCTION HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL CHAPTER I. OF THE SCIENCE OF GRAMMAR. "Haec de Grammatica quam brevissime potui: non ut omnia dicerem sectatus, (quod infinitum erat,) sed ut maxima necessaria."--QUINTILIAN. _De Inst. Orat._, Lib. i, Cap. x. 1. Language, in the proper sense of the term, is peculiar to man; so that, without a miraculous assumption of human powers, none but human beings can make words the vehicle of thought. An imitation of some of the articulate sounds employed in speech, may be exhibited by parrots, and sometimes by domesticated ravens, and we know that almost all brute animals have their peculiar natural voices, by which they indicate their feelings, whether pleasing or painful. But _language_ is an attribute of reason, and differs essentially not only from all brute voices, but even from all the chattering, jabbering, and babbling of our own species, in which there is not an intelligible meaning, with division of thought, and distinction of words. 2. Speech results from the joint exercise of the best and noblest faculties of human nature, from our rational understanding and our social affection; and is, in the proper use of it, the peculiar ornament and distinction of man, whether we compare him with other orders in the creation, or view him as an individual preeminent among his fellows. Hence that science which makes known the nature and structure of speech, and immediately concerns the correct and elegant use of language, while it surpasses all the conceptions of the stupid or unlearned, and presents nothing that can seem desirable to the sensual and grovelling, has an intrinsic dignity which highly commends it to all persons of sense and taste, and makes it most a favourite with the most gifted minds. That science is Grammar. And though there be some geniuses who affect to despise the trammels of grammar rules, to whom it must be conceded that many things which have been unskillfully taught as such, deserve to be despised; yet it is true, as Dr. Adam remarks, that, "The study of Grammar has been considered an object of great importance by the wisest men in all ages."--_Preface to Latin and English Gram._, p. iii. 3. Grammar bears to language several different relations, and acquires from each a nature leading to a different definition. _First_, It is to language, as knowledge is to the thing known; and as doctrine, to the truths it inculcates. In these relations, grammar is a science. It is the first of what have been called the seven sciences, or liberal branches of knowledge; namely, grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. _Secondly_, It is as skill, to the thing to be done; and as power, to the instruments it employs. In these relations, grammar is an art; and as such, has long been defined, "_ars recte scribendi, recteque loquendi_" the art of writing and speaking correctly. _Thirdly_, It is as navigation, to the ocean, which nautic skill alone enables men to traverse. In this relation, theory and practice combine, and grammar becomes, like navigation, a practical science. _Fourthly_, It is as a chart, to a coast which we would visit. In this relation, our grammar is a text-book, which we take as a guide, or use as a help to our own observation. _Fifthly_, It is as a single voyage, to the open sea, the highway of nations. Such is our meaning, when we speak of the grammar of a particular text or passage. 4. Again: Grammar is to language a sort of self-examination. It turns the faculty of speech or writing upon itself for its own elucidation; and makes the tongue or the pen explain the uses and abuses to which both are liable, as well as the nature and excellency of that power, of which, these are the two grand instruments. From this account, some may begin to think that in treating of grammar we are dealing with something too various and changeable for the understanding to grasp; a dodging Proteus of the imagination, who is ever ready to assume some new shape, and elude the vigilance of the inquirer. But let the reader or student do his part; and, if he please, follow us with attention. We will endeavour, with welded links, to bind this Proteus, in such a manner that he shall neither escape from our hold, nor fail to give to the consulter an intelligible and satisfactory response. Be not discouraged, generous youth. Hark to that sweet far-reaching note: "Sed, quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, Tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla." VIRGIL. Geor. IV, 411. "But thou, the more he varies forms, beware To strain his fetters with a stricter care." DRYDEN'S VIRGIL. 5. If for a moment we consider the good and the evil that are done in the world through the medium of speech, we shall with one voice acknowledge, that not only the faculty itself, but also the manner in which it is used, is of incalculable importance to the welfare of man. But this reflection does not directly enhance our respect for grammar, because it is not to language as the vehicle of moral or of immoral sentiment, of good or of evil to mankind, that the attention of the grammarian is particularly directed. A consideration of the subject in these relations, pertains rather to the moral philosopher. Nor are the arts of logic and rhetoric now considered to be properly within the grammarian's province. Modern science assigns to these their separate places, and restricts grammar, which at one period embraced all learning, to the knowledge of language, as respects its fitness to be the vehicle of any particular thought or sentiment which the speaker or writer may wish to convey by it. Accordingly grammar is commonly defined, by writers upon the subject, in the special sense of an art--"the _art_ of speaking or writing a language with propriety or correctness."--_Webster's Dict._ 6. Lily says, "Grammatica est recte scribendi atque loquendi ars;" that is, "Grammar is the art of writing and speaking correctly." Despauter, too, in his definition, which is quoted in a preceding paragraph, not improperly placed writing first, as being that with which grammar is primarily concerned. For it ought to be remembered, that over any fugitive colloquial dialect, which has never been fixed by visible signs, grammar has no control; and that the speaking which the art or science of grammar teaches, is exclusively that which has reference to a knowledge of letters. It is the certain tendency of writing, to improve speech. And in proportion as books are multiplied, and the knowledge of written language is diffused, local dialects, which are beneath the dignity of grammar, will always be found to grow fewer, and their differences less. There are, in the various parts of the world, many languages to which the art of grammar has never yet been applied; and to which, therefore, the definition or true idea of grammar, however general, does not properly extend. And even where it has been applied, and is now honoured as a popular branch of study, there is yet great room for improvement: barbarisms and solecisms have not been rebuked away as they deserve to be. 7. Melancthon says, "Grammatica est certa loquendi ac scribendi ratio, Latinis Latine." Vossius, "Ars bene loquendi eoque et scribendi, atque id Latinis Latine." Dr. Prat, "_Grammatica est recte loquendi atque scribendi ars._" Ruddiman also, in his Institutes of Latin Grammar, reversed the terms _writing_ and _speaking_, and defined grammar, "_ars rece loquendi scribendique_;" and, either from mere imitation, or from the general observation that speech precedes writing, this arrangement of the words has been followed by most modern grammarians. Dr. Lowth embraces both terms in a more general one, and says, "Grammar is the art of _rightly expressing_ our thoughts by words." It is, however, the province of grammar, to guide us not merely in the expression of our own thoughts, but also in our apprehension of the thoughts, and our interpretation of the words, of others. Hence, Perizonius, in commenting upon Sanctius's imperfect definition, "_Grammatica est ars recte loquendi_," not improperly asks, "_et quidni intelligendi et explicandi_?" "and why not also of understanding and explaining?" Hence, too, the art of _reading_ is virtually a part of grammar; for it is but the art of understanding and speaking correctly that which we have before us on paper. And Nugent has accordingly given us the following definition: "Grammar is the art of reading, speaking, and writing a language by rules."--_Introduction to Dict._, p. xii.[1] 8. The word _recte_, rightly, truly, correctly, which occurs in most of the foregoing Latin definitions, is censured by the learned Richard Johnson, in his Grammatical Commentaries, on account of the vagueness of its meaning. He says, it is not only ambiguous by reason of its different uses in the Latin classics, but destitute of any signification proper to grammar. But even if this be true as regards its earlier application, it may well be questioned, whether by frequency of use it has not acquired a signification which makes it proper at the present time. The English word _correctly_ seems to be less liable to such an objection; and either this brief term, or some other of like import, (as, "with correctness"--"with propriety,") is still usually employed to tell what grammar is. But can a boy learn by such means what it is, _to speak and write grammatically_? In one sense, he can; and in an other, he cannot. He may derive, from any of these terms, some idea of grammar as distinguished from other arts; but no simple definition of this, or of any other art, can communicate to him that learns it, the skill of an artist. 9. R. Johnson speaks at large of _the relation_ of words to each other in sentences, as constituting in his view the most essential part of grammar; and as being a point very much overlooked, or very badly explained, by grammarians in general. His censure is just. And it seems to be as applicable to nearly all the grammars now in use, as to those which he criticised a hundred and thirty years ago. But perhaps he gives to the relation of words, (which is merely their dependence on other words according to the sense,) an earlier introduction and a more prominent place, than it ought to have in a general system of grammar. To the right use of language, he makes four things to be necessary. In citing these, I vary the language, but not the substance or the order of his positions. _First_, That we should speak and write words according to the significations which belong to them: the teaching of which now pertains to lexicography, and not to grammar, except incidentally. "_Secondly_, That we should observe _the relations_ that words have one to another in sentences, and represent those relations by such variations, and particles, as are usual with authors in that language." _Thirdly_, That we should acquire a knowledge of the proper sounds of the letters, and pay a due regard to accent in pronunciation. _Fourthly_, That we should learn to write words with their proper letters, spelling them as literary men generally do. 10. From these positions, (though he sets aside the first, as pertaining to lexicography, and not now to grammar, as it formerly did,) the learned critic deduces first his four parts of the subject, and then his definition of grammar. "Hence," says he, "there arise Four Parts of Grammar; _Analogy_, which treats of the several parts of speech, their definitions, accidents, and formations; _Syntax_, which treats of the use of those things in construction, according to their relations; _Orthography_, which treats of spelling; and _Prosody_, which treats of accenting in pronunciation. So, then, the true definition of Grammar is this: Grammar is the art of _expressing the relations_ of things in construction, with due accent in speaking, and orthography in writing, according to the custom of those whose language we learn." Again he adds: "The word _relation_ has other senses, taken by itself; but yet the _relation of words one to another in a sentence_, has no other signification than what I intend by it, namely, of cause, effect, means, end, manner, instrument, object, adjunct, and the like; which are names given by logicians to those relations under which the mind comprehends things, and therefore the most proper words to explain them to others. And if such things are too hard for children, then grammar is too hard; for there neither is, nor can be, any grammar without them. And a little experience will satisfy any man, that the young will as easily apprehend them, as _gender, number, declension_, and other grammar-terms." See _R. Johnson's Grammatical Commentaries_, p. 4. 11. It is true, that the _relation of words_--by which I mean that connexion between them, which the train of thought forms and suggests--or that dependence which one word has on an other according to the sense--lies at the foundation of all syntax. No rule or principle of construction can ever have any applicability beyond the limits, or contrary to the order, of this relation. To see what it is in any given case, is but to understand the meaning of the phrase or sentence. And it is plain, that no word ever necessarily agrees with an other, with which it is not thus connected in the mind of him who uses it. No word ever governs an other, to which the sense does not direct it. No word is ever required to stand immediately before or after an other, to which it has not some relation according to the meaning of the passage. Here then are the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences; and these make up the whole of syntax--but not the whole of grammar. To this one part of grammar, therefore, the relation of words is central and fundamental; and in the other parts also, there are some things to which the consideration of it is incidental; but there are many more, like spelling, pronunciation, derivation, and whatsoever belongs merely to letters, syllables, and the forms of words, with which it has, in fact, no connexion. The relation of words, therefore, should be clearly and fully explained in its proper place, under the head of syntax; but the general idea of grammar will not be brought nearer to truth, by making it to be "the art of _expressing the relations_ of things in construction," &c., according to the foregoing definition. 12. The term _grammar_ is derived from the Greek word [Greek: gramma], a letter. The art or science to which this term is applied, had its origin, not in cursory speech, but in the practice of writing; and speech, which is first in the order of nature, is last with reference to grammar. The matter or common subject of grammar, is language in general; which, being of two kinds, _spoken_ and _written_, consists of certain combinations either of sounds or of visible signs, employed for the expression of thought. Letters and sounds, though often heedlessly confounded in the definitions given of vowels, consonants, &c., are, in their own nature, very different things. They address themselves to different senses; the former, to the sight; the latter, to the hearing. Yet, by a peculiar relation arbitrarily established between them, and in consequence of an almost endless variety in the combinations of either, they coincide in a most admirable manner, to effect the great object for which language was bestowed or invented; namely, to furnish a sure medium for the communication of thought, and the preservation of knowledge. 13. All languages, however different, have many things in common. There are points of a philosophical character, which result alike from the analysis of any language, and are founded on the very nature of human thought, and that of the sounds or other signs which are used to express it. When such principles alone are taken as the subject of inquiry, and are treated, as they sometimes have been, without regard to any of the idioms of particular languages, they constitute what is called General, Philosophical, or Universal Grammar. But to teach, with Lindley Murray and some others, that "Grammar may be considered as _consisting of two species_, Universal and Particular," and that the latter merely "applies those general principles to a particular language," is to adopt a twofold absurdity at the outset.[2] For every cultivated language has its particular grammar, in which whatsoever is universal, is necessarily included; but of which, universal or general principles form only a part, and that comparatively small. We find therefore in grammar no "two species" of the same genus; nor is the science or art, as commonly defined and understood, susceptible of division into any proper and distinct sorts, except with reference to different languages--as when we speak of Greek, Latin, French, or English grammar. 14. There is, however, as I have suggested, a certain science or philosophy of language, which has been denominated Universal Grammar; being made up of those points only, in which many or all of the different languages preserved in books, are found to coincide. All speculative minds are fond of generalization; and, in the vastness of the views which may thus be taken of grammar, such may find an entertainment which they never felt in merely learning to speak and write grammatically. But the pleasure of such contemplations is not the earliest or the most important fruit of the study. The first thing is, to know and understand the grammatical construction of our own language. Many may profit by this acquisition, who extend not their inquiries to the analogies or the idioms of other tongues. It is true, that every item of grammatical doctrine is the more worthy to be known and regarded, in proportion as it approaches to universality. But the principles of all practical grammar, whether universal or particular, common or peculiar, must first be learned in their application to some one language, before they can be distinguished into such classes; and it is manifest, both from reason and from experience, that the youth of any nation not destitute of a good book for the purpose, may best acquire a knowledge of those principles, from the grammatical study of their native tongue. 15. Universal or Philosophical Grammar is a large field for speculation and inquiry, and embraces many things which, though true enough in themselves, are unfit to be incorporated with any system of practical grammar, however comprehensive its plan. Many authors have erred here. With what is merely theoretical, such a system should have little to do. Philosophy, dealing in generalities, resolves speech not only as a whole into its constituent parts and separable elements, as anatomy shows the use and adaptation of the parts and joints of the human body; but also as a composite into its matter and form, as one may contemplate that same body in its entireness, yet as consisting of materials, some solid and some fluid, and these curiously modelled to a particular figure. Grammar, properly so called, requires only the former of these analyses; and in conducting the same, it descends to the thousand minute particulars which are necessary to be known in practice. Nor are such things to be despised as trivial and low: ignorance of what is common and elementary, is but the more disgraceful for being ignorance of mere rudiments. "Wherefore," says Quintilian, "they are little to be respected, who represent this art as mean and barren; in which, unless you faithfully lay the foundation for the future orator, whatever superstructure you raise will tumble into ruins. It is an art, necessary to the young, pleasant to the old, the sweet companion of the retired, and one which in reference to every kind of study has in itself more of utility than of show. Let no one therefore despise as inconsiderable the elements of grammar. Not because it is a great thing, to distinguish consonants from vowels, and afterwards divide them into semivowels and mutes; but because, to those who enter the interior parts of this temple of science, there will appear in many things a great subtilty, which is fit not only to sharpen the wits of youth, but also to exercise the loftiest erudition and science."--_De Institutione Oratoria_, Lib. i, Cap. iv. 16. Again, of the arts which spring from the composition of language. Here the art of logic, aiming solely at conviction, addresses the understanding with cool deductions of unvarnished truth; rhetoric, designing to move, in some particular direction, both the judgement and the sympathies of men, applies itself to the affections in order to persuade; and poetry, various in its character and tendency, solicits the imagination, with a view to delight, and in general also to instruct. But grammar, though intimately connected with all these, and essential to them in practice, is still too distinct from each to be identified with any of them. In regard to dignity and interest, these higher studies seem to have greatly the advantage over particular grammar; but who is willing to be an ungrammatical poet, orator, or logician? For him I do not write. But I would persuade my readers, that an acquaintance with that grammar which respects the genius of their vernacular tongue, is of primary importance to all who would cultivate a literary taste, and is a necessary introduction to the study of other languages. And it may here be observed, for the encouragement of the student, that as grammar is essentially the same thing in all languages, he who has well mastered that of his own, has overcome more than half the difficulty of learning another; and he whose knowledge of words is the most extensive, has the fewest obstacles to encounter in proceeding further. 17. It was the "original design" of grammar, says Dr. Adam, to facilitate "the acquisition of languages;" and, of all practical treatises on the subject, this is still the main purpose. In those books which are to prepare the learner to translate from one tongue into another, seldom is any thing else attempted. In those also which profess to explain the right use of vernacular speech, must the same purpose be ever paramount, and the "original design" be kept in view. But the grammarian may teach many things incidentally. One cannot learn a language, without learning at the same time a great many opinions, facts, and principles, of some kind or other, which are necessarily embodied in it. For all language proceeds from, and is addressed to, the understanding; and he that perceives not the meaning of what he reads, makes no acquisition even of the language itself. To the science of grammar, the _nature of the ideas_ conveyed by casual examples, is not very essential: to the learner, it is highly important. The best thoughts in the best diction should furnish the models for youthful study and imitation; because such language is not only the most worthy to be remembered, but the most easy to be understood. A distinction is also to be made between use and abuse. In nonsense, absurdity, or falsehood, there can never be any grammatical authority; because, however language may be abused, the usage which gives law to speech, is still that usage which is founded upon the _common sense_ of mankind. 18. Grammar appeals to reason, as well as to authority, but to what extent it should do so, has been matter of dispute. "The knowledge of useful arts," says Sanctius, "is not an invention of human ingenuity, but an emanation from the Deity, descending from above for the use of man, as Minerva sprung from the brain of Jupiter. Wherefore, unless thou give thyself wholly to laborious research into the nature of things, and diligently examine the _causes and reasons_ of the art thou teachest, believe me, thou shalt but see with other men's eyes, and hear with other men's ears. But the minds of many are preoccupied with a certain perverse opinion, or rather ignorant conceit, that in grammar, or the art of speaking, there are no causes, and that reason is scarcely to be appealed to for any thing;--than which idle notion, I know of nothing more foolish;--nothing can be thought of which is more offensive. Shall man, endowed with reason, do, say, or contrive any thing, without design, and without understanding? Hear the philosophers; who positively declare that nothing comes to pass without a cause. Hear Plato himself; who affirms that names and words subsist by nature, and contends that language is derived from nature, and not from art." 19. "I know," says he, "that the Aristotelians think otherwise; but no one will doubt that names are the signs, and as it were the instruments, of things. But the instrument of any art is so adapted to that art, that for any other purpose it must seem unfit; thus with an auger we bore, and with a saw we cut wood; but we split stones with wedges, and wedges are driven with heavy mauls. We cannot therefore but believe that those who first gave names to things, did it with design; and this, I imagine, Aristotle himself understood when he said, _ad placitum nomina significare._ For those who contend that names were made by chance, are no less audacious than if they would endeavour to persuade us, that the whole order of the universe was framed together fortuitously." 20. "You will see," continues he, "that in the first language, whatever it was, the names of things were taken from Nature herself; but, though I cannot affirm this to have been the case in other tongues, yet I can easily persuade myself that in every tongue a reason can be rendered for the application of every name; and that this reason, though it is in many cases obscure, is nevertheless worthy of investigation. Many things which were not known to the earlier philosophers, were brought to light by Plato; after the death of Plato, many were discovered by Aristotle; and Aristotle was ignorant of many which are now everywhere known. For truth lies hid, but nothing is more precious than truth. But you will say, 'How can there be any certain origin to names, when one and the same thing is called by different names, in the several parts of the world?' I answer, of the same thing there may be different causes, of which some people may regard one, and others, an other. * * * There is therefore no doubt, that of all things, even of words, a reason is to be rendered: and if we know not what that reason is, when we are asked; we ought rather to confess that we do not know, than to affirm that none can be given. I know that Scaliger thinks otherwise; but this is the true account of the matter." 21. "These several observations," he remarks further, "I have unwillingly brought together against those stubborn critics who, while they explode reason from grammar, insist so much on the testimonies of the learned. But have they never read Quintilian, who says, (Lib. i, Cap. 6,) that, 'Language is established by reason, antiquity, authority, and custom?' He therefore does not exclude reason, but makes it the principal thing. Nay, in a manner, Laurentius, and other grammatists, even of their fooleries, are forward to offer _reasons_, such as they are. Moreover, use does not take place without reason; otherwise, it ought to be called abuse, and not use. But from use authority derives all its force; for when it recedes from use, authority becomes nothing: whence Cicero reproves Coelius and Marcus Antonius for speaking according to their own fancy, and not according to use. But, 'Nothing can be lasting,' says Curtius, (Lib. iv,) 'which is not based upon reason.' It remains, therefore, that of all things the reason be first assigned; and then, if it can be done, we may bring forward testimonies; that the thing, having every advantage, may be made the more clear."--_Sanctii Minerva_, Lib. i, Cap. 2. 22. Julius Caesar Scaliger, from whose opinion Sanctius dissents above, seems to limit the science of grammar to bounds considerably too narrow, though he found within them room for the exercise of much ingenuity and learning. He says, "Grammatica est scientia loquendi ex usu; neque enim constituit regulas scientibus usus modum, sed ex eorum statis frequentibusque usurpatiombus colligit communem rationem loquendi, quam discentibus traderet."--_De Causis L. Latinae_, Lib. iv, Cap. 76. "Grammar is the science of speaking according to use; for it does not establish rules for those who know the manner of use, but from the settled and frequent usages of these, gathers the common fashion of speaking, which it should deliver to learners." This limited view seems not only to exclude from the science the use of the pen, but to exempt the learned from any obligation to respect the rules prescribed for the initiation of the young. But I have said, and with abundant authority, that the acquisition of a good style of writing is the main purpose of the study; and, surely, the proficients and adepts in the art can desire for themselves no such exemption. Men of genius, indeed, sometimes affect to despise the pettiness of all grammatical instructions; but this can be nothing else than affectation, since the usage of the learned is confessedly the basis of all such instructions, and several of the loftiest of their own rank appear on the list of grammarians. 23. Quintilian, whose authority is appealed to above, belonged to that age in which the exegesis of histories, poems, and other writings, was considered an essential part of grammar. He therefore, as well as Diomedes, and other ancient writers, divided the grammarian's duties into two parts; the one including what is now called grammar, and the other the explanation of authors, and the stigmatizing of the unworthy. Of the opinion referred to by Sanctius, it seems proper to make here an ampler citation. It shall be attempted in English, though the paragraph is not an easy one to translate. I understand the author to say, "Speakers, too, have their rules to observe; and writers, theirs. Language is established by reason, antiquity, authority, and custom. Of reason the chief ground is analogy, but sometimes etymology. Ancient things have a certain majesty, and, as I might say, religion, to commend them. Authority is wont to be sought from orators and historians; the necessity of metre mostly excuses the poets. When the judgement of the chief masters of eloquence passes for reason, even error seems right to those who follow great leaders. But, of the art of speaking, custom is the surest mistress; for speech is evidently to be used as money, which has upon it a public stamp. Yet all these things require a penetrating judgement, especially analogy; the force of which is, that one may refer what is doubtful, to something similar that is clearly established, and thus prove uncertain things by those which are sure."--QUINT, _de Inst. Orat._, Lib. i, Cap. 6, p. 48. 24. The science of grammar, whatever we may suppose to be its just limits, does not appear to have been better cultivated in proportion as its scope was narrowed. Nor has its application to our tongue, in particular, ever been made in such a manner, as to do _great_ honour to the learning or the talents of him that attempted it. What is new to a nation, may be old to the world. The development of the intellectual powers of youth by instruction in the classics, as well as the improvement of their taste by the exhibition of what is elegant in literature, is continually engaging the attention of new masters, some of whom may seem to effect great improvements; but we must remember that the concern itself is of no recent origin. Plato and Aristotle, who were great masters both of grammar and of philosophy, taught these things ably at Athens, in the fourth century _before_ Christ. Varro, the grammarian, usually styled the most learned of the Romans, was _contemporary_ with the Saviour and his apostles. Quintilian lived in the _first_ century of our era, and before he wrote his most celebrated book, taught a school twenty years in Rome, and received from the state a salary which made him rich. This "consummate guide of wayward youth," as the poet Martial called him, being neither ignorant of what had been done by others, nor disposed to think it a light task to prescribe the right use of his own language, was at first slow to undertake the work upon which his fame now reposes; and, after it was begun, diligent to execute it worthily, that it might turn both to his own honour, and to the real advancement of learning. 25. He says, at the commencement of his book: "After I had obtained a quiet release from those labours which for twenty years had devolved upon me as an instructor of youth, certain persons familiarly demanded of me, that I should compose something concerning the proper manner of speaking; but for a long time I withstood their solicitations, because I knew there were already illustrious authors in each language, by whom many things which might pertain to such a work, had been very diligently written, and left to posterity. But the reason which I thought would obtain for me an easier excuse, did but excite more earnest entreaty; because, amidst the various opinions of earlier writers, some of whom were not even consistent with themselves, the choice had become difficult; so that my friends seemed to have a right to enjoin upon me, if not the labour of producing new instructions, at least that of judging concerning the old. But although I was persuaded not so much by the hope of supplying what was required, as by the shame of refusing, yet, as the matter opened itself before me, I undertook of my own accord a much greater task than had been imposed; that while I should thus oblige my very good friends by a fuller compliance, I might not enter a common path and tread only in the footsteps of others. For most other writers who have treated of the art of speaking, have proceeded in such a manner as if upon adepts in every other kind of doctrine they would lay the last touch in eloquence; either despising as little things the studies which we first learn, or thinking them not to fall to their share in the division which should be made of the professions; or, what indeed is next to this, hoping no praise or thanks for their ingenuity about things which, although necessary, lie far from ostentation: the tops of buildings make a show, their foundations are unseen."--_Quintiliani de Inst. Orat., Prooemium._ 26. But the reader may ask, "What have all these things to do with English Grammar?" I answer, they help to show us whence and what it is. Some acquaintance with the history of grammar as a science, as well as some knowledge of the structure of other languages than our own, is necessary to him who professes to write for the advancement of this branch of learning--and for him also who would be a competent judge of what is thus professed. Grammar must not forget her origin. Criticism must not resign the protection of letters. The national literature of a country is in the keeping, not of the people at large, but of authors and teachers. But a grammarian presumes to be a judge of authorship, and a teacher of teachers; and is it to the honour of England or America, that in both countries so many are countenanced in this assumption of place, who can read no language but their mother tongue? English Grammar is not properly an indigenous production, either of this country or of Britain; because it is but a branch of the general science of philology--a new variety, or species, sprung up from the old stock long ago transplanted from the soil of Greece and Rome. 27. It is true, indeed, that neither any ancient system of grammatical instruction nor any grammar of an other language, however contrived, can be entirely applicable to the present state of our tongue; for languages must needs differ greatly one from an other, and even that which is called the same, may come in time to differ greatly from what it once was. But the general analogies of speech, which are the central principles of grammar, are but imperfectly seen by the man of one language. On the other hand, it is possible to know much of those general principles, and yet be very deficient in what is peculiar to our own tongue. Real improvement in the grammar of our language, must result from a view that is neither partial nor superficial. "Time, sorry artist," as was said of old, "makes all he handles worse." And Lord Bacon, seeming to have this adage in view, suggests: "If Time of course alter all things to the worse, and Wisdom and Counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?"--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 64. 28. Hence the need that an able and discreet grammarian should now and then appear, who with skillful hand can effect those corrections which a change of fashion or the ignorance of authors may have made necessary; but if he is properly qualified for his task, he will do all this without a departure from any of the great principles of Universal Grammar. He will surely be very far from thinking, with a certain modern author, whom I shall notice in an other chapter, that, "He is bound to take words and explain them as he finds them in his day, _without any regard to their ancient construction and application_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 28. The whole history of every word, so far as he can ascertain it, will be the view under which he will judge of what is right or wrong in the language which he teaches. Etymology is neither the whole of this view, nor yet to be excluded from it. I concur not therefore with Dr. Campbell, who, to make out a strong case, extravagantly says, "It is _never from an attention to etymology_, which would frequently mislead us, but from custom, the only infallible guide in this matter, that the meanings of words in present use must be learnt."--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 188. Jamieson too, with an implicitness little to be commended, takes this passage from Campbell; and, with no other change than that of "_learnt_" to "_learned_" publishes it as a corollary of his own.--_Grammar of Rhetoric_, p. 42. It is folly to state for truth what is so obviously wrong. Etymology and custom are seldom at odds; and where they are so, the latter can hardly be deemed infallible. CHAPTER II. OF GRAMMATICAL AUTHORSHIP. "Respondeo, dupliciter aliquem dici grammaticum, arte et professione. Grammatici vera arte paucissimi sunt: et hi magna laude digni sunt, ut patuit: hos non vituperant summi viri; quia ipse Plinius ejusmodi grammaticus fuit, et de arte grammatica libelos edidit. Et Grellius verae grammaticae fuit diligentissimus doctor; sic et ipse Datus. Alii sunt grammatici professione, et ii plerumque sunt inceptissimi; quia scribimus indocti doctique, et indignissimus quisque hanc sibi artem vindicat:----hos mastigias multis probris docti summo jure insectantur."--DESPAUTER. _Syntaxis_, fol. 1. 1. It is of primary importance in all discussions and expositions of doctrines, of any sort, to ascertain well the _principles_ upon which our reasonings are to be founded, and to see that they be such as are immovably established in the nature of things; for error in first principles is fundamental, and he who builds upon an uncertain foundation, incurs at least a _hazard_ of seeing his edifice overthrown. The lover of _truth_ will be, at all times, diligent to seek it, firm to adhere to it, willing to submit to it, and ready to promote it; but even the truth may be urged unseasonably, and important facts are things liable to be misjoined. It is proper, therefore, for every grammarian gravely to consider, whether and how far the principles of his philosophy, his politics, his morals, or his religion, ought to influence, or actually do influence, his theory of language, and his practical instructions respecting the right use of words. In practice, grammar is so interwoven with all else that is known, believed, learned, or spoken of among men, that to determine its own peculiar principles with due distinctness, seems to be one of the most difficult points of a grammarian's duty. 2. From misapprehension, narrowness of conception, or improper bias, in relation to this point, many authors have started wrong; denounced others with intemperate zeal; departed themselves from sound doctrine; and produced books which are disgraced not merely by occasional oversights, but by central and radical errors. Hence, too, have sprung up, in the name of grammar, many unprofitable discussions, and whimsical systems of teaching, calculated rather to embarrass than to inform the student. Mere collisions of opinion, conducted without any acknowledged standard to guide the judgement, never tend to real improvement. Grammar is unquestionably a branch of that universal philosophy by which the thoroughly educated mind is enlightened to see all things aright; for philosophy, in this sense of the term, is found in everything. Yet, properly speaking, the true grammarian is not a philosopher, nor can any man strengthen his title to the former character by claiming the latter; and it is certain, that a most disheartening proportion of what in our language has been published under the name of Philosophic Grammar, is equally remote from philosophy, from grammar, and from common sense. 3. True grammar is founded on the authority of reputable custom; and that custom, on the use which men make of their reason. The proofs of what is right are accumulative, and on many points there can be no dispute, because our proofs from the best usage, are both obvious and innumerable. On the other hand, the evidence of what is wrong is rather demonstrative; for when we would expose a particular error, we exhibit it in contrast with the established principle which it violates. He who formed the erroneous sentence, has in this case no alternative, but either to acknowledge the solecism, or to deny the authority of the rule. There are disputable principles in grammar, as there are moot points in law; but this circumstance affects no settled usage in either; and every person of sense and taste will choose to express himself in the way least liable to censure. All are free indeed from positive constraint on their phraseology; for we do not speak or write by statutes. But the ground of instruction assumed in grammar, is similar to that upon which are established the maxims of _common law_, in jurisprudence. The ultimate principle, then, to which we appeal, as the only true standard of grammatical propriety, is that species of custom which critics denominate GOOD USE; that is, present, reputable, general use. 4. Yet a slight acquaintance with the history of grammar will suffice to show us, that it is much easier to acknowledge this principle, and to commend it in words, than to ascertain what it is, and abide by it in practice. Good use is that which is neither ancient nor recent, neither local nor foreign, neither vulgar nor pedantic; and it will be found that no few have in some way or other departed from it, even while they were pretending to record its dictates. But it is not to be concealed, that in every living language, it is a matter of much inherent difficulty, to reach the standard of propriety, where usage is various; and to ascertain with clearness the decisions of custom, when we descend to minute details. Here is a field in which whatsoever is achieved by the pioneers of literature, can be appreciated only by thorough scholars; for the progress of improvement in any art or science, can be known only to those who can clearly compare its ruder with its more refined stages; and it often happens that what is effected with much labour, may be presented in a very small compass. 5. But the knowledge of grammar may _retrograde_; for whatever loses the vital principle of renovation and growth, tends to decay. And if mere copyists, compilers, abridgers, and modifiers, be encouraged as they now are, it surely will not advance. Style is liable to be antiquated by time, corrupted by innovation, debased by ignorance, perverted by conceit, impaired by negligence, and vitiated by caprice. And nothing but the living spirit of true authorship, and the application of just criticism, can counteract the natural tendency of these causes. English grammar is still in its infancy; and even bears, to the imagination of some, the appearance of a deformed and ugly dwarf among the liberal arts. Treatises are multiplied almost innumerably, but still the old errors survive. Names are rapidly added to our list of authors, while little or nothing is done for the science. Nay, while new blunders have been committed in every new book, old ones have been allowed to stand as by prescriptive right;. and positions that were never true, and sentences that were never good English, have been published and republished under different names, till in our language grammar has become the most ungrammatical of all studies! "Imitators generally copy their originals in an inverse ratio of their merits; that is, by adding as much to their faults, as they lose of their merits."--KNIGHT, _on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 117. "Who to the life an exact piece would make, Must not from others' work a copy take."--_Cowley_. 6. All science is laid in the nature of things; and he only who seeks it there, can rightly guide others in the paths of knowledge. He alone can know whether his predecessors went right or wrong, who is capable of a judgement independent of theirs. But with what shameful servility have many false or faulty definitions and rules been copied and copied from one grammar to another, as if authority had canonized their errors, or none had eyes to see them! Whatsoever is dignified and fair, is also modest and reasonable; but modesty does not consist in having no opinion of one's own, nor reason in following with blind partiality the footsteps of others. Grammar unsupported by authority, is indeed mere fiction. But what apology is this, for that authorship which has produced so many grammars without originality? Shall he who cannot write for himself, improve upon him who can? Shall he who cannot paint, retouch the canvass of Guido? Shall modest ingenuity be allowed only to imitators and to thieves? How many a prefatory argument issues virtually in this! It is not deference to merit, but impudent pretence, practising on the credulity of ignorance! Commonness alone exempts it from scrutiny, and the success it has, is but the wages of its own worthlessness! To read and be informed, is to make a proper use of books for the advancement of learning; but to assume to be an author by editing mere commonplaces and stolen criticisms, is equally beneath the ambition of a scholar and the honesty of a man. "'T is true, the ancients we may rob with ease; But who with that mean shift himself can please?" _Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham_. 7. Grammar being a practical art, with the principles of which every intelligent person is more or less acquainted, it might be expected that a book written professedly on the subject, should exhibit some evidence of its author's skill. But it would seem that a multitude of bad or indifferent writers have judged themselves qualified to teach the art of speaking and writing well; so that correctness of language and neatness of style are as rarely to be found in grammars as in other books. Nay, I have before suggested that in no other science are the principles of good writing so frequently and so shamefully violated. The code of false grammar embraced in the following work, will go far to sustain this opinion. There have been, however, several excellent scholars, who have thought it an object not unworthy of their talents, to prescribe and elucidate the principles of English Grammar. But these, with scarcely any exception, have executed their inadequate designs, not as men engaged in their proper calling, but as mere literary almoners, descending for a day from their loftier purposes, to perform a service, needful indeed, and therefore approved, but very far from supplying all the aid that is requisite to a thorough knowledge of the subject. Even the most meritorious have left ample room for improvement, though some have evinced an ability which does honour to themselves, while it gives cause to regret their lack of an inducement to greater labour. The mere grammarian can neither aspire to praise, nor stipulate for a reward; and to those who were best qualified to write, the subject could offer no adequate motive for diligence. 8. Unlearned men, who neither make, nor can make, any pretensions to a knowledge of grammar as a study, if they show themselves modest in what they profess, are by no means to be despised or undervalued for the want of such knowledge. They are subject to no criticism, till they turn authors and write for the public. And even then they are to be treated gently, if they have any thing to communicate, which is worthy to be accepted in a homely dress. Grammatical inaccuracies are to be kindly excused, in all those from whom nothing better can be expected; for people are often under a necessity of appearing as speakers or writers, before they can have learned to write or speak grammatically. The body is more to be regarded than raiment; and the substance of an interesting message, may make the manner of it a little thing. Men of high purposes naturally spurn all that is comparatively low; or all that may seem nice, overwrought, ostentatious, or finical. Hence St. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, suggests that the design of his preaching might have been defeated, had he affected the orator, and turned his attention to mere "excellency of speech," or "wisdom of words." But this view of things presents no more ground for neglecting grammar, and making coarse and vulgar example our model of speech, than for neglecting dress, and making baize and rags the fashionable costume. The same apostle exhorts Timothy to "hold fast the form of sound _words_," which he himself had taught him. Nor can it be denied that there is an obligation resting upon all men, to use speech fairly and understandingly. But let it be remembered, that all those upon whose opinions or practices I am disposed to animadvert, are either professed grammarians and philosophers, or authors who, by extraordinary pretensions, have laid themselves under special obligations to be accurate in the use of language. "The _wise in heart_ shall be called prudent; and _the sweetness of the lips_ increaseth learning."--_Prov._, xvi, 21. "The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom [is] as a flowing brook."--_Ib._, xviii, 4. "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul."--_Ib._, xviii, 7. 9. The old maxim recorded by Bacon, "_Loquendum ut vulgus, sentiendum ut sapientes_,"--"We should speak as the vulgar, but think as the wise," is not to be taken without some limitation. For whoever literally speaks as the vulgar, shall offend vastly too much with his tongue, to have either the understanding of the wise or the purity of the good. In all untrained and vulgar minds, the ambition of speaking well is but a dormant or very weak principle. Hence the great mass of uneducated people are lamentably careless of what they utter, both as to the matter and the manner; and no few seem naturally prone to the constant imitation of low example, and some, to the practice of every abuse of which language is susceptible. Hence, as every scholar knows, the least scrupulous of our lexicographers notice many terms but to censure them as "_low_," and omit many more as being beneath their notice. Vulgarity of language, then, ever has been, and ever must be, repudiated by grammarians. Yet we have had pretenders to grammar, who could court the favour of the vulgar, though at the expense of all the daughters of Mnemosyne. 10. Hence the enormous insult to learning and the learned, conveyed in the following scornful quotations: "Grammarians, go to your _tailors_ and _shoemakers_, and learn from them the _rational_ art of constructing your grammars!"--_Neef's Method of Education_, p. 62. "From a labyrinth without a clew, in which the _most enlightened scholars_ of Europe have mazed themselves and misguided others, the author ventures to turn aside."--_Cardell's Gram._, 12mo, p. 15. Again: "The _nations_ of _unlettered men_ so adapted their language to philosophic truth, that all physical and intellectual research can find no essential rule to reject or change."--_Ibid._, p. 91. I have shown that "the nations of unlettered men" are among that portion of the earth's population, upon whose language the genius of grammar has never yet condescended to look down! That people who make no pretensions to learning, can furnish better models or instructions than "the most enlightened scholars," is an opinion which ought not to be disturbed by argument. 11. I regret to say, that even Dr. Webster, with all his obligations and pretensions to literature, has well-nigh taken ground with Neef and Cardell, as above cited; and has not forborne to throw contempt, even on grammar as such, and on men of letters indiscriminately, by supposing the true principles of every language to be best observed and kept by the illiterate. What marvel then, that all his multifarious grammars of the English language are despised? Having suggested that the learned must follow the practice of the populace, because they cannot control it, he adds: "Men of letters may revolt at this suggestion, but if they will attend to the history of our language, they will find the fact to be as here stated. It is commonly supposed that the tendency of this practice of unlettered men is _to corrupt the language_. But the fact is directly the reverse. I am prepared to prove, were it consistent with the nature of this work, that nineteen-twentieths of _all the corruptions_ of our language, for five hundred years past, have been introduced by _authors_--men who have made alterations in particular idioms _which they did not understand_. The same remark is applicable to the _orthography_ and _pronunciation_. The tendency of unlettered men is to _uniformity_--to _analogy_; and so strong is this disposition, that the common people have actually converted some of our irregular verbs into regular ones. It is to unlettered people that we owe the disuse of _holpen, bounden, sitten_, and the use of the regular participles, _swelled, helped, worked_, in place of the ancient ones. This popular tendency is not to be contemned and disregarded, as some of the learned affect to do;[3] for it is governed by _the natural, primary principles of all languages_, to which we owe all their regularity and all their melody; viz., a love of uniformity in words of a like character, and a preference of an easy natural pronunciation, and a desire to express the most ideas with the smallest number of words and syllables. It is a fortunate thing for language, that these natural principles generally prevail over arbitrary and artificial rules."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 119; _Improved Gram._, p. 78. So much for _unlettered erudition!_ 12. If every thing that has been taught under the name of grammar, is to be considered as belonging to the science, it will be impossible ever to determine in what estimation the study of it ought to be held; for all that has ever been urged either for or against it, may, upon such a principle, be _proved_ by reference to different authorities and irreconcilable opinions. But all who are studious to know, and content to follow, _the fashion_ established by the concurrent authority of _the learned_,[4] may at least have some standard to refer to; and if a grammarian's rules be based upon this authority, it must be considered the exclusive privilege of the unlearned to despise them--as it is of the unbred, to contemn the rules of civility. But who shall determine whether the doctrines contained in any given treatise are, or are not, based upon such authority? Who shall decide whether the contributions which any individual may make to our grammatical code, are, or are not, consonant with the best usage? For this, there is no tribunal but the mass of readers, of whom few perhaps are very competent judges. And here an author's reputation for erudition and judgement, may be available to him: it is the public voice in his favour. Yet every man is at liberty to form his own opinion, and to alter it whenever better knowledge leads him to think differently. 13. But the great misfortune is, that they who need instruction, are not qualified to choose their instructor; and many who must make this choice for their children, have no adequate means of ascertaining either the qualifications of such as offer themselves, or the comparative merits of the different methods by which they profess to teach. Hence this great branch of learning, in itself too comprehensive for the genius or the life of any one man, has ever been open to as various and worthless a set of quacks and plagiaries as have ever figured in any other. There always have been some who knew this, and there may be many who know it now; but the credulity and ignorance which expose so great a majority of mankind to deception and error, are not likely to be soon obviated. With every individual who is so fortunate as to receive any of the benefits of intellectual culture, the whole process of education must begin anew; and, by all that sober minds can credit, the vision of human perfectibility is far enough from any national consummation. 14. Whatever any may think of their own ability, or however some might flout to find their errors censured or their pretensions disallowed; whatever improvement may actually have been made, or however fondly we may listen to boasts and felicitations on that topic; it is presumed, that the general ignorance on the subject of grammar, as above stated, is too obvious to be denied. What then is the remedy? and to whom must our appeal be made? Knowledge cannot be imposed by power, nor is there any domination in the republic of letters. The remedy lies solely in that zeal which can provoke to a generous emulation in the cause of literature; and the appeal, which has recourse to the learning of the learned, and to the common sense of all, must be pressed home to conviction, till every false doctrine stand refuted, and every weak pretender exposed or neglected. Then shall Science honour them that honour her; and all her triumphs be told, all her instructions be delivered, in "sound speech that cannot be condemned." 15. A generous man is not unwilling to be corrected, and a just one cannot but desire to be set right in all things. Even over noisy gainsayers, a calm and dignified exhibition of true docrine [sic--KTH], has often more influence than ever openly appears. I have even seen the author of a faulty grammar heap upon his corrector more scorn and personal abuse than would fill a large newspaper, and immediately afterwards, in a new edition of his book, renounce the errors which had been pointed out to him, stealing the very language of his amendments from the man whom he had so grossly vilified! It is true that grammarians have ever disputed, and often with more acrimony than discretion. Those who, in elementary treatises, have meddled much with philological controversy, have well illustrated the couplet of Denham: "The tree of knowledge, blasted by disputes, Produces sapless leaves in stead of fruits." 16. Thus, then, as I have before suggested, we find among writers on grammar two numerous classes of authors, who have fallen into opposite errors, perhaps equally reprehensible; the visionaries, and the copyists. The former have ventured upon too much originality, the latter have attempted too little. "The science of philology," says Dr. Alexander Murray, "is not a frivolous study, fit to be conducted by ignorant pedants or visionary enthusiasts. It requires more qualifications to succeed in it, than are usually united in those who pursue it:--a sound penetrating judgement; habits of calm philosophical induction; an erudition various, extensive, and accurate; and a mind likewise, that can direct the knowledge expressed in words, to illustrate the nature of the signs which convey it."--_Murray's History of European Languages_, Vol. ii, p. 333. 17. They who set aside the authority of custom, and judge every thing to be ungrammatical which appears to them to be unphilosophical, render the whole ground forever disputable, and weary themselves in beating the air. So various have been the notions of this sort of critics, that it would be difficult to mention an opinion not found in some of their books. Amidst this rage for speculation on a subject purely practical, various attempts have been made, to overthrow that system of instruction, which long use has rendered venerable, and long experience proved to be useful. But it is manifestly much easier to raise even plausible objections against this system, than to invent an other less objectionable. Such attempts have generally met the reception they deserved. Their history will give no encouragement to future innovators. 18. Again: While some have thus wasted their energies in eccentric flights, vainly supposing that the learning of ages would give place to their whimsical theories; others, with more success, not better deserved, have multiplied grammars almost innumerably, by abridging or modifying the books they had used in childhood. So that they who are at all acquainted with the origin and character of the various compends thus introduced into our schools, cannot but desire to see them all displaced by some abler and better work, more honourable to its author and more useful to the public, more intelligible to students and more helpful to teachers. Books professedly published for the advancement of knowledge, are very frequently to be reckoned, among its greatest impediments; for the interests of learning are no less injured by whimsical doctrines, than the rights of authorship by plagiarism. Too many of our grammars, profitable only to their makers and venders, are like weights attached to the heels of Hermes. It is discouraging to know the history of this science. But the multiplicity of treatises already in use, is a reason, not for silence, but for offering more. For, as Lord Bacon observes, the number of ill-written books is not to be diminished by ceasing to write, but by writing others which, like Aaron's serpent, shall swallow up the spurious.[5] 19. I have said that some grammars have too much originality, and others too little. It may be added, that not a few are chargeable with both these faults at once. They are original, or at least anonymous, where there should have been given other authority than that of the compiler's name; and they are copies, or, at best, poor imitations, where the author should have shown himself capable of writing in a good style of his own. What then is the middle ground for the true grammarian? What is the kind, and what the degree, of originality, which are to be commended in works of this sort? In the first place, a grammarian must be a writer, an author, a man who observes and thinks for himself; and not a mere compiler, abridger, modifier, copyist, or plagiarist. Grammar is not the only subject upon which we allow no man to innovate in doctrine; why, then, should it be the only one upon which a man may make it a merit, to work up silently into a book of his own, the best materials found among the instructions of his predecessors and rivals? Some definitions and rules, which in the lapse of time and by frequency of use have become a sort of public property, the grammarian may perhaps be allowed to use at his pleasure; yet even upon these a man of any genius will be apt to set some impress peculiar to himself. But the doctrines of his work ought, in general, to be expressed in his own language, and illustrated by that of others. With respect to quotation, he has all the liberty of other writers, and no more; for, if a grammarian makes "use of his predecessors' labours," why should any one think with Murray, "it is scarcely necessary to apologize for" this, "or for _omitting_ to _insert_ their names?"--_Introd. to L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 7. 20. The author of this volume would here take the liberty briefly to refer to his own procedure. His knowledge of what is _technical_ in grammar, was of course chiefly derived from the writings of other grammarians; and to their concurrent opinions and practices, he has always had great respect; yet, in truth, not a line has he ever copied from any of them with a design to save the labour of composition. For, not to compile an English grammar from others already extant, but to compose one more directly from the sources of the art, was the task which he at first proposed to himself. Nor is there in all the present volume a single sentence, not regularly quoted, the authorship of which he supposes may now be ascribed to an other more properly than to himself. Where either authority or acknowledgement was requisite, names have been inserted. In the doctrinal parts of the volume, not only quotations from others, but most examples made for the occasion, are marked with guillemets, to distinguish them from the main text; while, to almost every thing which is really taken from any other known writer, a name or reference is added. For those citations, however, which there was occasion to repeat in different parts of the work, a single reference has sometimes been thought sufficient. This remark refers chiefly to the corrections in the Key, the references being given in the Exercises. 21. Though the theme is not one on which a man may hope to write well with little reflection, it is true that the parts of this treatise which have cost the author the most labour, are those which "consist chiefly of materials selected from the writings of others." These, however, are not the didactical portions of the book, but the proofs and examples; which, according to the custom of the ancient grammarians, ought to be taken from other authors. But so much have the makers of our modern grammars been allowed to presume upon the respect and acquiescence of their readers, that the ancient exactness on this point would often appear pedantic. Many phrases and sentences, either original with the writer, or common to everybody, will therefore be found among the illustrations of the following work; for it was not supposed that any reader would demand for every thing of this kind the authority of some great name. Anonymous examples are sufficient to elucidate principles, if not to establish them; and elucidation is often the sole purpose for which an example is needed. 22. It is obvious enough, that no writer on grammar has any right to propose himself as authority for what he teaches; for every language, being the common property of all who use it, ought to be carefully guarded against the caprices of individuals; and especially against that presumption which might attempt to impose erroneous or arbitrary definitions and rules. "Since the matter of which we are treating," says the philologist of Salamanca, "is to be verified, first by reason, and then by testimony and usage, none ought to wonder if we sometimes deviate from the track of great men; for, with whatever authority any grammarian may weigh with me, unless he shall have confirmed his assertions by reason, and also by examples, he shall win no confidence in respect to grammar. For, as Seneca says, Epistle 95, 'Grammarians are the _guardians_, not the _authors_, of language.'"--_Sanctii Minerva_, Lib. ii, Cap. 2. Yet, as what is intuitively seen to be true or false, is already sufficiently proved or detected, many points in grammar need nothing more than to be clearly stated and illustrated; nay, it would seem an injurious reflection on the understanding of the reader, to accumulate proofs of what cannot but be evident to all who speak the language. 23. Among men of the same profession, there is an unavoidable rivalry, so far as they become competitors for the same prize; but in competition there is nothing dishonourable, while excellence alone obtains distinction, and no advantage is sought by unfair means. It is evident that we ought to account him the best grammarian, who has the most completely executed the worthiest design. But no worthy design can need a false apology; and it is worse than idle to prevaricate. That is but a spurious modesty, which prompts a man to disclaim in one way what he assumes in an other--or to underrate the duties of his office, that he may boast of having "done all that could reasonably be expected." Whoever professes to have improved the science of English grammar, must claim to know more of the matter than the generality of English grammarians; and he who begins with saying, that "little can be expected" from the office he assumes, must be wrongfully contradicted, when he is held to have done much. Neither the ordinary power of speech, nor even the ability to write respectably on common topics, makes a man a critic among critics, or enables him to judge of literary merit. And if, by virtue of these qualifications alone, a man will become a grammarian or a connoisseur, he can hold the rank only by courtesy--a courtesy which is content to degrade the character, that his inferior pretensions may be accepted and honoured under the name. 24. By the force of a late popular example, still too widely influential, grammatical authorship has been reduced, in the view of many, to little or nothing more than a mere serving-up of materials anonymously borrowed; and, what is most remarkable, even for an indifferent performance of this low office, not only unnamed reviewers, but several writers of note, have not scrupled to bestow the highest praise of grammatical excellence! And thus the palm of superior skill in grammar, has been borne away by a _professed compiler_; who had so mean an opinion of what his theme required, as to deny it even the common courtesies of compilation! What marvel is it, that, under the wing of such authority, many writers have since sprung up, to improve upon this most happy design; while all who were competent to the task, have been discouraged from attempting any thing like a complete grammar of our language? What motive shall excite a man to long-continued diligence, where such notions prevail as give mastership no hope of preference, and where the praise of his ingenuity and the reward of his labour must needs be inconsiderable, till some honoured compiler usurp them both, and bring his "most useful matter" before the world under better auspices? If the love of learning supply such a motive, who that has generously yielded to the impulse, will not now, like Johnson, feel himself reduced to an "humble drudge"--or, like Perizonius, apologize for the apparent folly of devoting his time to such a subject as grammar? 25. The first edition of the "Institutes of English Grammar," the doctrinal parts of which are embraced in the present more copious work, was published in the year 1823; since which time, (within the space of twelve years,) about forty new compends, mostly professing to be abstracts of _Murray_, with improvements, have been added to our list of English grammars. The author has examined as many as thirty of them, and seen advertisements of perhaps a dozen more. Being various in character, they will of course be variously estimated; but, so far as he can judge, they are, without exception, works of little or no real merit, and not likely to be much patronized or long preserved from oblivion. For which reason, he would have been inclined entirely to disregard the petty depredations which the writers of several of them have committed upon his earlier text, were it not possible, that by such a frittering-away of his work, he himself might one day seem to some to have copied that from others which was first taken from him. Trusting to make it manifest to men of learning, that in the production of the books which bear his name, far more has been done for the grammar of our language than any single hand had before achieved within the scope of practical philology, and that with perfect fairness towards other writers; he cannot but feel a wish that the integrity of his text should be preserved, whatever else may befall; and that the multitude of scribblers who judge it so needful to remodel Murray's defective compilation, would forbear to publish under his name or their own what they find only in the following pages. 26. The mere rivalry of their authorship is no subject of concern; but it is enough for any ingenuous man to have toiled for years in solitude to complete a work of public utility, without entering a warfare for life to defend and preserve it. Accidental coincidences in books are unfrequent, and not often such as to excite the suspicion of the most sensitive. But, though the criteria of plagiarism are neither obscure nor disputable, it is not easy, in this beaten track of literature, for persons of little reading to know what is, or is not, original. Dates must be accurately observed; and a multitude of minute things must be minutely compared. And who will undertake such a task but he that is personally interested? Of the thousands who are forced into the paths of learning, few ever care to know, by what pioneer, or with what labour, their way was cast up for them. And even of those who are honestly engaged in teaching, not many are adequate judges of the comparative merits of the great number of books on this subject. The common notions of mankind conform more easily to fashion than to truth; and even of some things within their reach, the majority seem contend to take their opinions upon trust. Hence, it is vain to expect that that which is intrinsically best, will be everywhere preferred; or that which is meritoriously elaborate, adequately appreciated. But common sense might dictate, that learning is not encouraged or respected by those who, for the making of books, prefer a pair of scissors to the pen. 27. The fortune of a grammar is not always an accurate test of its merits. The goddess of the plenteous horn stands blindfold yet upon the floating prow; and, under her capricious favour, any pirate-craft, ill stowed with plunder, may sometimes speed as well, as barges richly laden from the golden mines of science. Far more are now afloat, and more are stranded on dry shelves, than can be here reported. But what this work contains, is candidly designed to qualify the reader to be himself a judge of what it _should_ contain; and I will hope, so ample a report as this, being thought sufficient, will also meet his approbation. The favour of one discerning mind that comprehends my subject, is worth intrinsically more than that of half the nation: I mean, of course, the half of whom my gentle reader is not one. "They praise and they admire they know not what, And know not whom, but as one leads the other."--_Milton_. CHAPTER III. OF GRAMMATICAL SUCCESS AND FAME. "Non is ego sum, cui aut jucundum, aut adeo opus sit, de aliis detrahere, et hac via ad famara contendere. Melioribus artibus laudem parare didici. Itaque non libenter dico, quod praesens institutum dicere cogit."--Jo. AUGUSTI ERNESTI _Praef. ad Graecum Lexicon_, p. vii. 1. The real history of grammar is little known; and many erroneous impressions are entertained concerning it: because the story of the systems most generally received has never been fully told; and that of a multitude now gone to oblivion was never worth telling. In the distribution of grammatical fame, which has chiefly been made by the hand of interest, we have had a strange illustration of the saying: "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath." Some whom fortune has made popular, have been greatly overrated, if learning and talent are to be taken into the account; since it is manifest, that with no extraordinary claims to either, they have taken the very foremost rank among grammarians, and thrown the learning and talents of others into the shade, or made them tributary to their own success and popularity. 2. It is an ungrateful task to correct public opinion by showing the injustice of praise. Fame, though it may have been both unexpected and undeserved, is apt to be claimed and valued as part and parcel of a man's good name; and the dissenting critic, though ever-so candid, is liable to be thought an envious detractor. It would seem in general most prudent to leave mankind to find out for themselves how far any commendation bestowed on individuals is inconsistent with truth. But, be it remembered, that celebrity is not a virtue; nor, on the other hand, is experience the cheapest of teachers. A good man may not have done all things ably and well; and it is certainly no small mistake to estimate his character by the current value of his copy-rights. Criticism may destroy the reputation of a book, and not be inconsistent with a cordial respect for the private worth of its author. The reader will not be likely to be displeased with what is to be stated in this chapter, if he can believe, that no man's merit as a writer, may well be enhanced by ascribing to him that which he himself, for the protection of his own honour, has been constrained to disclaim. He cannot suppose that too much is alleged, if he will admit that a grammarian's fame should be thought safe enough in his _own keeping_. Are authors apt to undervalue their own performances? Or because proprietors and publishers may profit by the credit of a book, shall it be thought illiberal to criticise it? Is the author himself to be disbelieved, that the extravagant praises bestowed upon him may be justified? "Superlative commendation," says Dillwyn, "is near akin to _detraction_." (See his _Reflections_, p. 22.) Let him, therefore, who will charge detraction upon me, first understand wherein it consists. I shall criticise, freely, both the works of the living, and the doctrines of those who, to us, live only in their works; and if any man dislike this freedom, let him rebuke it, showing wherein it is wrong or unfair. The amiable author just quoted, says again: "Praise has so often proved an _impostor_, that it would be well, wherever we meet with it, to treat it as a vagrant."--_Ib._, p. 100. I go not so far as this; but that eulogy which one knows to be false, he cannot but reckon impertinent. 3. Few writers on grammar have been more noted than WILLIAM LILY and LINDLEY MURRAY. Others have left better monuments of their learning and talents, but none perhaps have had greater success and fame. The Latin grammar which was for a long time most popular in England, has commonly been ascribed to the one; and what the Imperial Review, in 1805, pronounced "the best English grammar, beyond all comparison, that has yet appeared," was compiled by the other. And doubtless they have both been rightly judged to excel the generality of those which they were intended to supersede; and both, in their day, may have been highly serviceable to the cause of learning. For all excellence is but comparative; and to grant them this superiority, is neither to prefer them now, nor to justify the praise which has been bestowed upon their authorship. As the science of grammar can never be taught without a book, or properly taught by any book which is not itself grammatical, it is of some importance both to teachers and to students, to make choice of the best. Knowledge will not advance where grammars hold rank by prescription. Yet it is possible that many, in learning to write and speak, may have derived no inconsiderable benefit from a book that is neither accurate nor complete. 4. With respect to time, these two grammarians were three centuries apart; during which period, the English language received its most classical refinement, and the relative estimation of the two studies, Latin and English grammar, became in a great measure reversed. Lily was an Englishman, born at Odiham,[6] in Hampshire, in 1466. When he had arrived at manhood, he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and while abroad studied some time at Rome, and also at Paris. On his return he was thought one of the most accomplished scholars in England. In 1510, Dr. John Colet, dean of St. Paul's church, in London, appointed him the first high master of St. Paul's School, then recently founded by this gentleman's munificence. In this situation, Lily appears to have taught with great credit to himself till 1522, when he died of the plague, at the age of 56. For the use of this school, he wrote and published certain parts of the grammar which has since borne his name. Of the authorship of this work many curious particulars are stated in the preface by John Ward, which may be seen in the edition of 1793. Lily had able rivals, as well as learned coadjutors and friends. By the aid of the latter, he took precedence of the former; and his publications, though not voluminous, soon gained a general popularity. So that when an arbitrary king saw fit to silence competition among the philologists, by becoming himself, as Sir Thomas Elliott says, "the chiefe authour and setter-forth of an introduction into grammar, for the childrene of his lovynge subjects," Lily's Grammar was preferred for the basis of the standard. Hence, after the publishing of it became a privilege patented by the crown, the book appears to have been honoured with a royal title, and to have been familiarly called King Henry's Grammar. 5. Prefixed to this book, there appears a very ancient epistle to the reader, which while it shows the reasons for this royal interference with grammar, shows also, what is worthy of remembrance, that guarded and maintained as it was, even royal interference was here ineffectual to its purpose. It neither produced uniformity in the methods of teaching, nor, even for instruction in a dead language, entirely prevented the old manual from becoming diverse in its different editions. The style also may serve to illustrate what I have elsewhere said about the duties of a modern grammarian. "As for the diversitie of grammars, it is well and profitably taken awaie by the King's Majesties wisdome; who, foreseeing the inconvenience, and favorably providing the remedie, caused one kind of grammar by sundry learned men to be diligently drawn, and so to be set out, only every where to be taught, for the use of learners, and for the hurt in changing of schoolemaisters." That is, to prevent the injury which schoolmasters were doing by a whimsical choice, or frequent changing, of grammars. But, says the letter, "The varietie of teaching is divers yet, and alwaies will be; for that every schoolemaister liketh that he knoweth, and seeth not the use of that he knoweth not; and therefore judgeth that the most sufficient waie, which he seeth to be the readiest meane, and perfectest kinde, to bring a learner to have a thorough knowledge therein." The only remedy for such an evil then is, to teach those who are to be teachers, and to desert all who, for any whim of their own, desert sound doctrine. 6. But, to return. A law was made in England by Henry the Eighth, commanding Lily's Grammar only, (or that which has commonly been quoted as Lily's,) to be everywhere adopted and taught, as the common standard of grammatical instruction.[7] Being long kept in force by means of a special inquiry, directed to be made by the bishops at their stated visitations, this law, for three hundred years, imposed the book on all the established schools of the realm. Yet it is certain, that about one half of what has thus gone under the name of Lily, ("because," says one of the patentees, "he had _so considerable a hand_ in the composition,") was written by Dr. Colet, by Erasmus, or by others who improved the work after Lily's death. And of the other half, it has been incidentally asserted in history, that neither the scheme nor the text was original. The Printer's Grammar, London, 1787, speaking of the art of type-foundery, says: "The Italians in a short time brought it to _that_ perfection, that in the beginning of the year 1474, they cast a letter not much inferior to the best types of the present age; as may be seen in a Latin Grammar, written by Omnibonus Leonicenus, and printed at Padua on the 14th of January, 1474; _from whom our grammarian, Lily, has taken the entire scheme of his Grammar, and transcribed the greatest part thereof, without paying any regard to the memory of this author_." The historian then proceeds to speak about types. See also the same thing in the History of Printing, 8vo, London, 1770. This is the grammar which bears upon its title page: "_Quam solam Regia Majestas in omnibus scholis docendam prcaecipit_." 7. Murray was an intelligent and very worthy man, to whose various labours in the compilation of books our schools are under many obligations. But in original thought and critical skill he fell far below most of "the authors to whom," he confesses, "the grammatical part of his compilation is _principally indebted for its materials_; namely, Harris, Johnson, Lowth, Priestley, Beattie, Sheridan, Walker, Coote, Blair, and Campbell."--_Introd. to Lindley Murray's Gram._, p. 7. It is certain and evident that he entered upon his task with a very insufficient preparation. His biography, which was commenced by himself and completed by one of his most partial friends, informs us, that, "Grammar did not particularly engage his attention, until a short time previous to the publication of his first work on that subject;" that, "His Grammar, as it appeared in the first edition, was completed in rather less than a year;" that, "It was begun in the spring of 1794, and published in the spring of 1795--though he had an intervening illness, which, for several weeks, stopped the progress of the work;" and that, "The Exercises and Key were also composed in about a year."--_Life of L. Murray_, p. 188. From the very first sentence of his book, it appears that he entertained but a low and most erroneous idea of the duties of that sort of character in which he was about to come before the public.[8] He improperly imagined, as many others have done, that "little can be expected" from a modern grammarian, or (as he chose to express it) "from a _new compilation_, besides a careful selection of the most useful matter, and some degree of improvement in the mode of adapting it to the understanding, and the gradual progress of learners."--_Introd. to L. Murray's Gram._; 8vo, p. 5; 12mo, p. 3. As if, to be master of his own art--to think and write well himself, were no part of a grammarian's business! And again, as if the jewels of scholarship, thus carefully selected, could need a burnish or a foil from other hands than those which fashioned them! 8. Murray's general idea of the doctrines of grammar was judicious. He attempted no broad innovation on what had been previously taught; for he had neither the vanity to suppose he could give currency to novelties, nor the folly to waste his time in labours utterly nugatory. By turning his own abilities to their best account, he seems to have done much to promote and facilitate the study of our language. But his notion of grammatical authorship, cuts off from it all pretence to literary merit, for the sake of doing good; and, taken in any other sense than as a forced apology for his own assumptions, his language on this point is highly injurious towards the very authors whom he copied. To justify himself, he ungenerously places them, in common with others, under a degrading necessity which no able grammarian ever felt, and which every man of genius or learning must repudiate. If none of our older grammars disprove his assertion, it is time to have a new one that will; for, to expect the perfection of grammar from him who cannot treat the subject in a style at once original and pure, is absurd. He says, "The greater part of an English grammar _must necessarily be a compilation _;" and adds, with reference to his own, "originality belongs to but a small portion of it. This I have acknowledged; and I trust _this acknowledgement_ will protect me from all attacks, grounded on any supposed unjust and irregular assumptions." This quotation is from a letter addressed by Murray to his American publishers, in 1811, after they had informed him of certain complaints respecting the liberties which he had taken in his work. See "_The Friend_," Vol. iii, p. 34. 9. The acknowledgement on which he thus relies, does not appear to have been made, till his grammar had gone through several editions. It was, however, at some period, introduced into his short preface, or "Introduction," in the following well-meant but singularly sophistical terms: "In _a work_ which professes itself to be a _compilation_, and which, _from the nature and design of it_, must consist chiefly of materials selected from the writings of others, _it is scarcely necessary to apologise_ for the use which the Compiler has made of his predecessors' labours, or for _omitting to insert_ their names. _From the alterations_ which have been frequently made in the sentiments and the language, to suit the connexion, and to adapt them to the particular purposes for which they are introduced; and, in many instances, _from the uncertainty to whom_ the passages originally belonged, the insertion of names _could seldom be made with propriety_. But if this could have been generally done, a work of this nature _would derive no advantage from it_, equal to the inconvenience of crowding the pages with a repetition of names and references. It is. however, proper to acknowledge, in general terms, that the authors to whom the grammatical part of this compilation is principally indebted for its materials, are Harris, Johnson, Lowth, Priestley, Beattie, Sheridan, Walker, and Coote."--_Introd.; Duodecimo Gram._, p. 4; _Octavo_, p. 7. 10. The fallacy, or absurdity, of this language sprung from necessity. An impossible case was to be made out. For compilation, though ever so fair, is not grammatical authorship. But some of the commenders of Murray have not only professed themselves satisfied with this general acknowledgement, but have found in it a candour and a liberality, a modesty and a diffidence, which, as they allege, ought to protect him from all animadversion. Are they friends to learning? Let them calmly consider what I reluctantly offer for its defence and promotion. In one of the recommendations appended to Murray's grammars, it _is_ said, "They have nearly superseded every thing else of the kind, by concentrating the remarks of the best authors on the subject." But, in truth, with several of the best English grammars published previously to his own, Murray appears to have been totally unacquainted. The chief, if not the only school grammars which were largely copied by him, were Lowth's and Priestley's, though others perhaps may have shared the fate of these in being "superseded" by his. It may be seen by inspection, that in copying these two authors, the compiler, agreeably to what he says above, omitted all names and references--even such as they had scrupulously inserted: and, at the outset, assumed to be himself the sole authority for all his doctrines and illustrations; satisfying his own mind with making, some years afterwards, that general apology which we are now criticising. For if he so mutilated and altered the passages which he adopted, as to make it improper to add the names of their authors, upon what other authority than his own do they rest? But if, on the other hand, he generally copied without alteration; his examples are still anonymous, while his first reason for leaving them so, is plainly destroyed: because his position is thus far contradicted by the fact. 11. In his later editions, however, there are two opinions which the compiler thought proper to support by regular quotations; and, now and then, in other instances, the name of an author appears. The two positions thus distinguished, are these: _First_, That the noun _means_ is necessarily singular as well as plural, so that one cannot with propriety use the singular form, _mean_, to signify that by which an end is attained; _Second_, That the subjective mood, to which he himself had previously given all the tenses without inflection, is not different in form from the indicative, except in the present tense. With regard to the later point, I have shown, in its proper place, that he taught erroneously, both before and after he changed his opinion; and concerning the former, the most that can be proved by quotation, is, that both _mean_ and _means_ for the singular number, long have been, and still are, in good use, or sanctioned by many elegant writers; so that either form may yet be considered grammatical, though the irregular can claim to be so, only when it is used in this particular sense. As to his second reason for the suppression of names, to wit, "the _uncertainty to whom_ the passages originally belonged,"--to make the most of it, it is but partial and relative; and, surely, no other grammar ever before so multiplied the difficulty in the eyes of teachers, and so widened the field for commonplace authorship, as has the compilation in question. The origin of a sentiment or passage may be uncertain to one man, and perfectly well known to an other. The embarrassment which a _compiler_ may happen to find from this source, is worthy of little sympathy. For he cannot but know from what work he is taking any particular sentence or paragraph, and those parts of a _grammar_, which are new to the eye of a great grammarian, may very well be credited to him who claims to have written the book. I have thus disposed of his second reason for the omission of names and references, in compilations of grammar. 12. There remains one more: "A work of this nature _would derive no advantage from it_, equal to the inconvenience of crowding the pages with a repetition of names and references." With regard to a small work, in which the matter is to be very closely condensed, this argument has considerable force. But Murray has in general allowed himself very ample room, especially in his two octavoes. In these, and for the most part also in his duodecimoes, all needful references might easily have been added without increasing the size of his volumes, or injuring their appearance. In nine cases out of ten, the names would only have been occupied what is now blank space. It is to be remembered, that these books do not differ much, except in quantity of paper. His octavo Grammar is but little more than a reprint, in a larger type, of the duodecimo Grammar, together with his Exercises and Key. The demand for this expensive publication has been comparatively small; and it is chiefly to the others, that the author owes his popularity as a grammarian. As to the advantage which Murray or his work might have derived from an adherence on his part to the usual custom of compilers, _that_ may be variously estimated. The remarks of the best grammarians or the sentiments of the best authors, are hardly to be thought the more worthy of acceptance, for being concentrated in such a manner as to merge their authenticity in the fame of the copyist. Let me not be understood to suggest that this good man sought popularity at the expense of others; for I do not believe that either fame or interest was his motive. But the right of authors to the credit of their writings, is a delicate point; and, surely, his example would have been worthier of imitation, had he left no ground for the foregoing objections, and carefully barred the way to any such interference. 13. But let the first sentence of this apology be now considered. It is here suggested, that because this work is a compilation, even such an acknowledgement as the author makes, is "scarcely necessary." This is too much to say. Yet one may readily admit, that a compilation, "from the nature and design of it, must consist chiefly"--nay, _wholly_--"of materials selected from the writings of others." But what able grammarian would ever willingly throw himself upon the horns of such a dilemma! The nature and design _of a book_, whatever they may be, are matters for which the author alone is answerable; but the nature and design _of grammar_, are no less repugnant to the strain of this apology, than to the vast number of errors and defects which were overlooked by Murray in his work of compilation. It is the express purpose of this practical science, to enable a man to write well himself. He that cannot do this, exhibits no excess of modesty when he claims to have "done all that could reasonably be expected in a work of this nature."--_L. Murray's Gram., Introd._, p. 9. He that sees with other men's eyes, is peculiarly liable to errors and inconsistencies: uniformity is seldom found in patchwork, or accuracy in secondhand literature. Correctness of language is in the mind, rather than in the hand or the tongue; and, in order to secure it, some originality of thought is necessary. A delineation from new surveys is not the less original because the same region has been sketched before; and how can he be the ablest of surveyors, who, through lack of skill or industry, does little more than transcribe the field-notes and copy the projections of his predecessors? 14. This author's oversights are numerous. There is no part of the volume more accurate than that which he literally copied from Lowth. To the Short Introduction alone, he was indebted for more than a hundred and twenty paragraphs; and even in these there are many things obviously erroneous. Many of the best practical notes were taken from Priestley; yet it was he, at whose doctrines were pointed most of those "positions and discussions," which alone the author claims as original. To some of these reasonings, however, his own alterations may have given rise; for, where he "persuades himself he is not destitute of originality," he is often arguing against the text of his own earlier editions. Webster's well-known complaints of Murray's unfairness, had a far better cause than requital; for there was no generosity in ascribing them to peevishness, though the passages in question were not worth copying. On perspicuity and accuracy, about sixty pages were extracted from Blair; and it requires no great critical acumen to discover, that they are miserably deficient in both. On the law of language, there are fifteen pages from Campbell; which, with a few exceptions, are well written. The rules for spelling are the same as Walker's: the third one, however, is a gross blunder; and the fourth, a, needless repetition. 15. Were this a place for minute criticism, blemishes almost innumerable might be pointed out. It might easily be shown that almost every rule laid down in the book for the observance of the learner, was repeatedly violated by the hand of the master. Nor is there among all those who have since abridged or modified the work, an abler grammarian than he who compiled it. Who will pretend that Flint, Alden, Comly, Jaudon, Russell, Bacon, Lyon, Miller, Alger, Maltby, Ingersoll, Fisk, Greenleaf, Merchant, Kirkham, Cooper, R. G. Greene, Woodworth, Smith, or Frost, has exhibited greater skill? It is curious to observe, how frequently a grammatical blunder committed by Murray, or some one of his predecessors, has escaped the notice of all these, as well as of many others who have found it easier to copy him than to write for themselves. No man professing to have copied and improved Murray, can rationally be supposed to have greatly excelled him; for to pretend to have produced an _improved copy of a compilation_, is to claim a sort of authorship, even inferior to his, and utterly unworthy of any man who is able to prescribe and elucidate the principles of English grammar. 16. But Murray's grammatical works, being extolled in the reviews, and made common stock in trade,--being published, both in England and in America, by booksellers of the most extensive correspondence, and highly commended even by those who were most interested in the sale of them,--have been eminently successful with the public; and in the opinion of the world, success is the strongest proof of merit. Nor has the force of this argument been overlooked by those who have written in aid of his popularity. It is the strong point in most of the commendations which have been bestowed upon Murray as a grammarian. A recent eulogist computes, that, "at least five millions of copies of his various school-books have been printed;" particularly commends him for his "candour and liberality towards rival authors;" avers that, "he went on, examining and correcting his Grammar, through all its forty editions, till he brought it to a degree of perfection which will render it as permanent as the English language itself;" censures (and not without reason) the "presumption" of those "superficial critics" who have attempted to amend the work, and usurp his honours; and, regarding the compiler's confession of his indebtedness to others, but as a mark of "his exemplary diffidence of his own merits," adds, (in very bad English,) "Perhaps there never was an author whose success and fame were more _unexpected by himself than Lindley Murray_."--_The Friend_, Vol. iii, p. 33. 17. In a New-York edition of Murray's Grammar, printed in 1812, there was inserted a "Caution to the Public," by Collins & Co., his American correspondents and publishers, in which are set forth the unparalleled success and merit of the work, "as it came _in purity_ from the pen of the author;" with an earnest remonstrance against the several _revised editions_ which had appeared at Boston, Philadelphia, and other places, and against the unwarrantable liberties taken by American teachers, in altering the work, under pretence of improving it. In this article it is stated, "that _the whole_ of these mutilated editions _have been seen_ and examined by Lindley Murray himself, and that they, have met with _his decided disapprobation_. Every rational mind," continue these gentlemen, "will agree with him, that, 'the _rights of living authors_, and the _interests of science and literature_, demand the abolition of this _ungenerous practice_.'" (See this also in _Murray's Key_, 12mo, N. Y., 1811, p. iii.) Here, then, we have the feeling and opinion of Murray himself, upon this tender point of right. Here we see the tables turned, and other men judging it "scarcely necessary to apologize for the use which _they have made_ of their predecessors' labours." 18. It is really remarkable to find an author and his admirers so much at variance, as are Murray and his commenders, in relation to his grammatical authorship; and yet, under what circumstances could men have stronger desires to avoid apparent contradiction? They, on the one side, claim for him the highest degree of merit as a grammarian; and continue to applaud his works as if nothing more could be desired in the study of English grammar--a branch of learning which some of them are willing emphatically to call "_his_ science." He, on the contrary, to avert the charge of plagiarism, disclaims almost every thing in which any degree of literary merit consists; supposes it impossible to write an English grammar the greater part of which is not a "compilation;" acknowledges that originality belongs to but a small part of his own; trusts that such a general acknowledgement will protect him from all censure; suppresses the names of other writers, and leaves his examples to rest solely on his own authority; and, "contented with the great respectability of his private character and station, is satisfied with being _useful_ as an author."--_The Friend_, Vol. iii, p. 33. By the high praises bestowed upon his works, his own voice is overborne: the trumpet of fame has drowned it. His liberal authorship is profitable in trade, and interest has power to swell and prolong the strain. 19. The name and character of Lindley Murray are too venerable to allow us to approach even the errors of his grammars, without some recognition of the respect due to his personal virtues and benevolent intentions. For the private virtues of Murray, I entertain as cordial a respect as any other man. Nothing is argued against these, even if it be proved that causes independent of true literary merit have given him his great and unexpected fame as a grammarian. It is not intended by the introduction of these notices, to impute to him any thing more or less than what his own words plainly imply; except those inaccuracies and deficiencies which still disgrace his work as a literary performance, and which of course he did not discover. He himself knew that he had not brought the book to such perfection as has been ascribed to it; for, by way of apology for his frequent alterations, he says, "Works of this nature admit of repeated improvements; and are, perhaps, never complete." Necessity has urged this reasoning upon me. I am as far from any invidious feeling, or any sordid motive, as was Lindley Murray. But it is due to truth, to correct erroneous impressions; and, in order to obtain from some an impartial examination of the following pages, it seemed necessary first to convince them, _that it is possible_ to compose a better grammar than Murray's, without being particularly indebted to him. If this treatise is not such, a great deal of time has been thrown away upon a useless project; and if it is, the achievement is no fit subject for either pride or envy. It differs from his, and from all the pretended amendments of his, as a new map, drawn from actual and minute surveys, differs from an old one, compiled chiefly from others still older and confessedly still more imperfect. The region and the scope are essentially the same; the tracing and the colouring are more original; and (if the reader can pardon the suggestion) perhaps more accurate and vivid. 20. He who makes a new grammar, does nothing for the advancement of learning, unless his performance excel all earlier ones designed for the same purpose; and nothing for his own honour, unless such excellence result from the exercise of his own ingenuity and taste. A good style naturally commends itself to every reader--even to him who cannot tell why it is worthy of preference. Hence there is reason to believe, that the true principles of practical grammar, deduced from custom and sanctioned by time, will never be generally superseded by any thing which individual caprice may substitute. In the republic of letters, there will always be some who can distinguish merit; and it is impossible that these should ever be converted to any whimsical theory of language, which goes to make void the learning of past ages. There will always be some who can discern the difference between originality of style, and innovation in doctrine,--between a due regard to the opinions of others, and an actual usurpation of their text; and it is incredible that these should ever be satisfied with any mere compilation of grammar, or with any such authorship as either confesses or betrays the writer's own incompetence. For it is not true, that, "an English grammar must necessarily be," in any considerable degree, if at all, "a compilation;" nay, on such a theme, and in "the grammatical part" of the work, all compilation beyond a fair use of authorities regularly quoted, or of materials either voluntarily furnished or free to all, most unavoidably implies--not conscious "ability," generously doing honour to rival merit--nor "exemplary diffidence," modestly veiling its own--but inadequate skill and inferior talents, bribing the public by the spoils of genius, and seeking precedence by such means as not even the purest desire of doing good can justify. 21. Among the professed copiers of Murray, there is not one to whom the foregoing remarks do not apply, as forcibly as to him. For no one of them all has attempted any thing more honourable to himself, or more beneficial to the public, than what their master had before achieved; nor is there any one, who, with the same disinterestedness, has guarded his design from the imputation of a pecuniary motive. It is comical to observe what they say in their prefaces. Between praise to sustain their choice of a model, and blame to make room for their pretended amendments, they are often placed in as awkward a dilemma, as that which was contrived when grammar was identified with compilation. I should have much to say, were I to show them all in their true light.[9] Few of them have had such success as to be worthy of notice here; but the names of many will find frequent place in my code of false grammar. The one who seems to be now taking the lead in fame and revenue, filled with glad wonder at his own popularity, is SAMUEL KIRKHAM. Upon this gentleman's performance, I shall therefore bestow a few brief observations. If I do not overrate this author's literary importance, a fair exhibition of the character of his grammar, may be made an instructive lesson to some of our modern literati. The book is a striking sample of a numerous species. 22. Kirkham's treatise is entitled, "English Grammar _in familiar Lectures_, accompanied by a _Compendium_;" that is, by a folded sheet. Of this work, of which I have recently seen copies purporting to be of the "SIXTY-SEVENTH EDITION," and others again of the "HUNDRED AND FIFTH EDITION," each published at Baltimore in 1835, I can give no earlier account, than what may be derived from the "SECOND EDITION, enlarged and much improved," which was published at Harrisburg in 1825. The preface, which appears to have been written for his _first_ edition, is dated, "Fredericktown, Md., August 22, 1823." In it, there is no recognition of any obligation to Murray, or to any other grammarian in particular; but with the modest assumption, that the style of the "best philologists," needed to be retouched, the book is presented to the world under the following pretensions: "The author of this production has endeavoured to condense _all the most important subject-matter of the whole science_, and present it in so small a compass that the learner can become familiarly acquainted with it in a _short time_. He makes but small pretensions to originality in theoretical matter. Most of the principles laid down, have been selected from our _best modern philologists_. If his work is entitled to any degree of _merit_, it is not on account of a judicious selection of principles and rules, but for the easy mode adopted of communicating _these_ to the mind of the learner."--_Kirkham's Grammar_, 1825, p. 10. 23. It will be found on examination, that what this author regarded as _"all the most important subject-matter of the whole science" of grammar_, included nothing more than the most common elements of the orthography, etymology, and syntax, of the English tongue--beyond which his scholarship appears not to have extended. Whatsoever relates to derivation, to the sounds of the letters, to prosody, (as punctuation, utterance, figures, versification, and poetic diction,) found no place in his "comprehensive system of grammar;" nor do his later editions treat any of these things amply or well. In short, he treats nothing well; for he is a bad writer. Commencing his career of authorship under circumstances the most forbidding, yet receiving encouragement from commendations bestowed in pity, he proceeded, like a man of business, to profit mainly by the chance; and, without ever acquiring either the feelings or the habits of a scholar, soon learned by experience that, "It is much better to _write_ than [to] _starve_."--_Kirkham's Gram., Stereotyped_, p. 89. It is cruel in any man, to look narrowly into the faults of an author who peddles a school-book for bread. The starveling wretch whose defence and plea are poverty and sickness, demands, and must have, in the name of humanity, an immunity from criticism, if not the patronage of the public. Far be it from me, to notice any such character, except with kindness and charity. Nor need I be told, that tenderness is due to the "young;" or that noble results sometimes follow unhopeful beginnings. These things are understood and duly appreciated. The gentleman was young once, even as he says; and I, his equal in years, was then, in authorship, as young--though, it were to be hoped, not quite so immature. But, as circumstances alter cases, so time and chance alter circumstances. Under no circumstances, however, can the artifices of quackery be thought excusable in him who claims to be the very greatest of modern grammarians. The niche that in the temple of learning belongs to any individual, can be no other than that which his own labours have purchased: here, his _own merit_ alone must be his pedestal. If this critical sketch be unimpeachably _just_, its publication requires no further warrant. The correction has been forborne, till the subject of it has become rich, and popular, and proud; proud enough at least to have published his utter contempt for me and all my works. Yet not for this do I judge him worthy of notice here, but merely as an apt example of some men's grammatical success and fame. The ways and means to these grand results are what I purpose now to consider. 24. The common supposition, that the world is steadily advancing in knowledge and improvement, would seem to imply, that the man who could plausibly boast of being the most successful and most popular grammarian of the nineteenth century, cannot but be a scholar of such merit as to deserve some place, if not in the general literary history of his age, at least in the particular history of the science which he teaches. It will presently be seen that the author of "English Grammar in Familiar Lectures," boasts of a degree of success and popularity, which, in this age of the world, has no parallel. It is not intended on my part, to dispute any of his assertions on these points; but rather to take it for granted, that in reputation and revenue he is altogether as preeminent as he pretends to be. The character of his alleged _improvements_, however, I shall inspect with the eyes of one who means to know the certainty for himself; and, in this item of literary history, the reader shall see, in some sort, _what profit_ there is in grammar. Is the common language of two of the largest and most enlightened nations on earth so little understood, and its true grammar so little known or appreciated, that one of the most unscholarly and incompetent of all pretenders to grammar can have found means to outrival all the grammarians who have preceded him? Have plagiarism and quackery become the only means of success in philology? Are there now instances to which an intelligent critic may point, and say, "This man, or that, though he can scarcely write a page of good English, has patched up a grammar, by the help of Murray's text only, and thereby made himself rich?" Is there such a charm in the name of _Murray_, and the word _improvement_, that by these two implements alone, the obscurest of men, or the absurdest of teachers, may work his passage to fame; and then, perchance, by contrast of circumstances, grow conceited and arrogant, from the fortune of the undertaking? Let us see what we can find in Kirkham's Grammar, which will go to answer these questions. 25. Take first from one page of his "hundred and fifth edition," a few brief quotations, as a sample of his thoughts and style: "They, however, who introduce _usages which depart from the analogy and philosophy_ of a language, _are conspicuous_ among the number of those who _form that language_, and have power to control it." "PRINCIPLE.--A principle in grammar is a _peculiar construction_ of the language, sanctioned by good usage." "DEFINITION.--A definition in grammar is a _principle_ of language expressed in a _definite form_." "RULE.--A rule describes _the peculiar construction_ or circumstantial relation of words, _which_ custom has established for our observance."--_Kirkham's Grammar_, page 18. Now, as "a rule describes a peculiar construction," and "a principle is a peculiar construction," and "a definition is a principle;" how, according to this grammarian, do a principle, a definition, and a rule, differ each from the others? From the rote here imposed, it is certainly not easier for the learner to conceive of all these things _distinctly_, than it is to understand how a departure from philosophy may make a man deservedly "_conspicuous_." It were easy to multiply examples like these, showing the work to be deficient in clearness, the first requisite of style. 26. The following passages may serve as a specimen of the gentleman's taste, and grammatical accuracy; in one of which, he supposes the neuter verb _is_ to express an _action_, and every _honest man_ to be _long since dead!_ So it stands in all his editions. Did his praisers think so too? "It is correct to say, _The man eats, he eats_; but we cannot say, _The man dog eats, he dog eats_. Why not? Because the man _is here represented_ as the possessor, and dog, the property, or thing possessed; and the genius of our language requires, that when we add _to the possessor_, the _thing_ which _he_ is represented as possessing, _the possessor_ shall take a particular form to show ITS case, or relation to the property."--_Ib._, p. 52. THE PRESENT TENSE.--"This tense is sometimes applied to represent the _actions_ of persons _long since dead_; as, 'Seneca _reasons_ and _moralizes_ well; An HONEST MAN IS the noblest work of God.'"--_Ib._, p. 138. PARTICIPLES.--"The term _Participle_ comes from the Latin word _participio_,[10] which signifies to _partake_."--"Participles are formed by adding to the verb the termination _ing, ed_, or _en_. _Ing_ signifies the same thing as the noun _being_. When _postfixed_ to the _noun-state_ of the verb, the _compound word_ thus formed expresses a continued state of the _verbal denotement_. It implies that what is meant by the verb, is _being_ continued."--_Ib._, p. 78. "All participles _are compound_ in their meaning and office."--_Ib._, p. 79. VERBS.--"Verbs express, not only _the state_ or _manner of being_, but, likewise, all the different _actions_ and _movements_ of all creatures and things, whether animate or inanimate."--_Ib._, p. 62. "It can be easily shown, that from the noun and verb, all the other parts of speech have sprung. Nay, more. _They_ may even be reduced to _one_. _Verbs do not, in reality, express actions_; but they are intrinsically _the mere_ NAMES _of actions_."--_Ib._, p. 37. PHILOSOPHICAL GRAMMAR.--"I have thought proper to intersperse through the pages of this work, under the head of '_Philosophical Notes_,' an entire system of grammatical principles, as deduced from what _appears[11] to me_ to be the _most rational and consistent_ philosophical investigations."-- _Ib._, p. 36. "Johnson, and Blair, and Lowth, _would have been laughed at_, had they essayed to thrust _any thing like our_ modernized philosophical grammar _down the throats of their cotemporaries_."--_Ib._, p. 143. Is it not a pity, that "more than one hundred thousand children and youth" should be daily poring over language and logic like this? 27. For the sake of those who happily remain ignorant of this successful empiricism, it is desirable that the record and exposition of it be made brief. There is little danger that it will long survive its author. But the present subjects of it are sufficiently numerous to deserve some pity. The following is a sample of the gentleman's method of achieving what he both justly and exultingly supposes, that Johnson, or Blair, or Lowth, could not have effected. He scoffs at his own grave instructions, as if they had been the production of some _other_ impostor. Can the fact be credited, that in the following instances, he speaks of _what he himself teaches_?--of what he seriously pronounces _"most rational and consistent?"_--of what is part and parcel of that philosophy of his, which he declares, "will _in general be found to accord_ with the _practical theory_ embraced in the body of his work?"--See _Kirkham's Gram._, p. 36. "Call this '_philosophical parsing_, on reasoning principles, according to the original laws of nature and of thought,' and _the pill will be swallowed_, by pedants and their dupes, with the greatest ease imaginable."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 144. "For the _satisfaction_ of those teachers who prefer it, and _for their adoption, too_, a modernized philosophical theory of the moods and tenses is here presented. If it is not quite so convenient and useful as the old one, they need not hesitate to adopt it. It has the advantage of being _new_; and, moreover, it sounds _large_, and will make the _commonalty stare_. Let it be distinctly understood that you teach '[_Kirkham's_] _philosophical grammar_, founded on reason and common sense,' and you will pass for a very learned man, and make all the good housewives wonder at the rapid march of intellect, and the vast improvements of the age."--_Ib._, p. 141. 28. The _pretty promises_ with which these "Familiar Lectures" abound, are also worthy to be noticed here, as being among the peculiar attractions of the performance. The following may serve as a specimen: "If you _proceed according to my instructions_, you will be sure to acquire a practical knowledge of Grammar in _a short time_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 49. "If you have sufficient _resolution to do this_, you will, in a short time, _perfectly understand_ the nature and office of the different parts of speech, their various properties and relations, and the rules of syntax that apply to them; _and, in a few weeks_, be able to speak and write accurately."--_Ib._, p. 62. "You will please to turn back and read over again _the whole five lectures_. You must exercise _a little_ patience."--_Ib._, p. 82. "By studying these lectures with attention, you will acquire _more grammatical_ knowledge in three months, than is commonly obtained in _two years_."--_Ib._, p. 82. "I will conduct you _so smoothly through the moods and tenses_, and the conjugation of verbs, that, instead of finding yourself involved in obscurities and deep intricacies, you will scarcely find _an obstruction to impede your progress_."--_Ib._, p. 133. "The supposed Herculean task of learning to conjugate verbs, will be transformed into _a few hours of pleasant pastime_."--_Ib._, p. 142. "_By examining carefully_ the conjugation of the verb through this mood, you will find it _very easy_."--_Ib._, p. 147. "By pursuing the following direction, you can, _in a very short time_, learn to conjugate any verb."--_Ib._, p. 147. "Although this mode of procedure _may, at first, appear to be laborious_, yet, as it is necessary, I trust you will not hesitate to adopt it. _My confidence in your perseverance_, induces me to recommend _any course_ which I know will tend to facilitate your progress."--_Ib._, p. 148. 29. The grand boast of this author is, that he _has succeeded_ in "pleasing himself and the public." He trusts to have "gained the latter point," to so great an extent, and with such security of tenure, that henceforth no man can safely question _the merit_ of his performance. Happy mortal! to whom that success which is the ground of his pride, is also the glittering aegis of his sure defence! To this he points with exultation and self-applause, as if the prosperity of the wicked, or the popularity of an imposture, had never yet been heard of in this clever world![12] Upon what merit this success has been founded, my readers may judge, when I shall have finished this slight review of his work. Probably no other grammar was ever so industriously spread. Such was the author's perseverance in his measures to increase the demand for his book, that even the attainment of such accuracy as he was capable of, was less a subject of concern. For in an article designed "to ward off some of the arrows of criticism,"--an advertisement which, from the eleventh to the "one hundred and fifth edition," has been promising "to the _publick another and a better_ edition,"--he plainly offers this urgent engagement, as "an apology for its defects:" "The author is apprehensive that his work is _not yet as_ accurate and as much simplified as it _may be_. If, however, the disadvantages of lingering under a broken constitution, and of being able to devote to this subject _only a small portion of his time_, snatched from the _active pursuits of a business life_, (active as far as imperfect health permits him to be,) are any apology for his defects, he hopes that the candid will set down _the apology to his credit_.--Not that he would beg a truce with the gentlemen _criticks_ and reviewers. Any compromise with them would betray a want of _self-confidence_ and _moral courage_, which he would by no means, be willing to avow."--_Kirkham's Gram._, (Adv. of 1829,) p. 7. 30. Now, to this painful struggle, this active contention between business and the vapours, let all _credit_ be given, and all _sympathy_ be added; but, as an aid to the studies of healthy children, what better is the book, for any forbearance or favour that may have been won by this apology? It is well known, that, till _phrenology_ became the common talk, the author's principal business was, to commend his own method of teaching _grammar_, and to turn this publication to profit. This honourable industry, aided, as himself suggests, by "not much _less_ than one thousand written recommendations," is said to have wrought for him, in a very few years, a degree of success and fame, at which both the eulogists of Murray and the friends of English grammar may hang their heads. As to a "_compromise_" with any critic or reviewer whom he cannot bribe, it is enough to say of that, it is morally impossible. Nor was it necessary for such an author to throw the gauntlet, to prove himself not lacking in "_self-confidence_." He can show his "_moral courage_," only by daring do right. 31. In 1829, after his book had gone through ten editions, and the demand for it had become so great as "to call forth twenty thousand copies during the year," the prudent author, intending to veer his course according to the _trade-wind_, thought it expedient to retract his former acknowledgement to "our best modern philologists," and to profess himself a modifier of the Great Compiler's code. Where then holds the anchor of his praise? Let the reader say, after weighing and comparing his various pretensions: "Aware that there is, in the _publick_ mind, a strong predilection for the doctrines contained in Mr. Murray's grammar, he has thought proper, not merely from motives of policy, but from choice, _to select his principles chiefly from that work_; and, moreover, to adopt, as far as consistent with his own views, _the language of that eminent philologist_. In no instance has he varied from him, unless he conceived that, in so doing, _some practical advantage_ would be gained. He hopes, _therefore_, to escape the censure so frequently and so justly awarded to those _unfortunate innovators_ who have not scrupled to alter, mutilate, and torture the text of that able writer, merely to gratify an itching propensity to figure in the world _as authors_, and gain an ephemeral popularity by arrogating to themselves _the credit due to another_." [13]--_Kirkham's Gram._, 1829, p. 10. 32. Now these statements are either true or false; and I know not on which supposition they are most creditable to the writer. Had any Roman grammatist thus profited by the name of Varro or Quintilian, he would have been filled with constant dread of somewhere meeting the injured author's frowning shade! Surely, among the professed admirers of Murray, no other man, whether innovator or copyist, unfortunate or successful, is at all to be compared to this gentleman for the audacity with which he has "not scrupled to alter, mutilate, and torture, the text of that able writer." Murray simply intended to do good, and good that might descend to posterity; and this just and generous intention goes far to excuse even his errors. But Kirkham, speaking of posterity, scruples not to disavow and to renounce all care for them, or for any thing which a coming age may think of his character: saying, "My pretensions reach not so far. To the _present generation only_, I present my claims. Should it lend me a listening ear, and grant me its suffrages, _the height of my ambition_ will be attained."--_Advertisement, in his Elocution_, p. 346. His whole design is, therefore, upon the very face of it, a paltry scheme of present income. And, seeing his entered classes of boys and girls must soon have done with him, he has doubtless acted wisely, and quite in accordance with his own interest, to have made all possible haste in his career. 33. Being no rival with him in this race, and having no personal quarrel with him on any account, I would, for his sake, fain rejoice at his success, and withhold my criticisms; because he is said to have been liberal with his gains, and because he has not, like some others, copied me instead of Murray. But the vindication of a greatly injured and perverted science, constrains me to say, on this occasion, that pretensions less consistent with themselves, or less sustained by taste and scholarship, have seldom, if ever, been promulgated in the name of grammar. I have, certainly, no intention to say more than is due to the uninformed and misguided. For some who are ungenerous and prejudiced themselves, will not be unwilling to think me so; and even this freedom, backed and guarded as it is by facts and proofs irrefragable, may still be ingeniously ascribed to an ill motive. To two thirds of the community, one grammar is just as good as an other; because they neither know, nor wish to know, more than may be learned from the very worst. An honest expression of sentiment against abuses of a literary nature, is little the fashion of these times; and the good people who purchase books upon the recommendations of others, may be slow to believe there is no merit where so much has been attributed. But facts may well be credited, in opposition to courteous flattery, when there are the author's own words and works to vouch for them in the face of day. Though a thousand of our great men may have helped a copier's weak copyist to take "some practical advantage" of the world's credulity, it is safe to aver, in the face of dignity still greater, that testimonials more fallacious have seldom mocked the cause of learning. They did not read his book. 34. Notwithstanding the author's change in his professions, the work is now essentially the same as it was at first; except that its errors and contradictions have been greatly multiplied, by the addition of new matter inconsistent with the old. He evidently cares not what doctrines he teaches, or whose; but, as various theories are noised abroad, seizes upon different opinions, and mixes them together, that his books may contain something to suit all parties. "_A System of Philosophical Grammar_," though but an idle speculation, even in his own account, and doubly absurd in him, as being flatly contradictory to his main text, has been thought worthy of insertion. And what his title-page denominates "_A New System of Punctuation_," though mostly in the very words of Murray, was next invented to supply a deficiency which he at length discovered. To admit these, and some other additions, the "comprehensive system-of grammar" was gradually extended from 144 small duodecimo pages, to 228 of the ordinary size. And, in this compass, it was finally stereotyped in 1829; so that the ninety-four editions published since, have nothing new for history. 35. But the publication of an other work designed for schools, "_An Essay an Elocution_" shows the progress of the author's mind. Nothing can be more radically opposite, than are some of the elementary doctrines which this gentleman is now teaching; nothing, more strangely inconsistent, than are some of his declarations and professions. For instance: "A consonant is a letter that cannot be perfectly sounded without the help of a vowel."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 19. Again: "A consonant is not only capable of being perfectly sounded without the help of a vowel, but, moreover, of forming, like a vowel, a separate syllable."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 32. Take a second example. He makes "ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS" a _prominent division_ and _leading title_, in treating of the pronouns proper; defines the term in a manner peculiar to himself; prefers and uses it in all his parsing; and yet, by the third sentence of the story, the learner is conducted to this just conclusion: "Hence, such a thing as an _adjective-pronoun_ cannot exist."--_Grammar_, p. 105. Once more. Upon his own rules, or such as he had borrowed, he comments thus, and comments _truly_, because he had either written them badly or made an ill choice: "But some of these rules are foolish, trifling, and unimportant."--_Elocution_, p. 97. Again: "Rules 10 and 11, rest on a sandy foundation. They appear not to be based on the principles of the language."--_Grammar_, p. 59. These are but specimens of his own frequent testimony against himself! Nor shall he find refuge in the impudent falsehood, that the things which I quote as his, are not his own.[14] These contradictory texts, and scores of others which might be added to them, are as rightfully his own, as any doctrine he has ever yet inculcated. But, upon the credulity of ignorance, his high-sounding certificates and unbounded boasting can impose any thing. They overrule all in favour of cue of the worst grammars extant;--of which he says, "it is now studied by more than one hundred thousand children and youth; and is more extensively used than _all other English grammars_ published in the United States."--_Elocution_, p. 347. The booksellers say, he receives from his publishers _ten cents a copy_, on this work, and that he reports the sale of _sixty thousand copies per annum_. Such has of late been his public boast. I have once had the story from his own lips, and of course congratulated him, though I dislike the book. Six thousand dollars a year, on this most miserable modification of Lindley Murray's Grammar! Be it so--or double, if he and the public please. Murray had so little originality in his work, or so little selfishness in his design, that he would not take any thing; and his may ultimately prove the better bargain. 36. A man may boast and bless himself as he pleases, his fortune, surely, can never be worthy of an other's envy, so long as he finds it inadequate to his own great merits, and unworthy of his own poor gratitude. As a grammarian, Kirkham claims to be second only to Lindley Murray; and says, "Since the days of Lowth, no other work on grammar, Murray's only excepted, has been so favourably received by the _publick_ as his own. As a proof of this, he would mention, that within the last six years it has passed through _fifty_ editions."--_Preface to Elocution_, p. 12. And, at the same time, and in the same preface, he complains, that, "Of all the labours done under the sun, the labours _of the pen_ meet with the poorest reward."--_Ibid._, p. 5. This too clearly favours the report, that his books were not written by himself, but by others whom he hired. Possibly, the anonymous helper may here have penned, not his employer's feeling, but a line of his own experience. But I choose to ascribe the passage to the professed author, and to hold him answerable for the inconsistency. Willing to illustrate by the best and fairest examples these fruitful means of grammatical fame, I am glad of his present success, which, through this record, shall become yet more famous. It is the only thing which makes him worthy of the notice here taken of him. But I cannot sympathize with his complaint, because he never sought any but "the poorest reward;" and more than all he sought, he found. In his last "Address to Teachers," he says, "He may doubtless be permitted emphatically to say with Prospero, '_Your breath has filled my sails_.'"--_Elocution_, p. 18. If this boasting has any truth in it, he ought to be satisfied. But it is written, "He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase." Let him remember this.[15] He now announces three or four other works as forthcoming shortly. What these will achieve, the world will see. But I must confine myself to the Grammar. 37. In this volume, scarcely any thing is found where it might be expected. "The author," as he tells us in his preface, "has not followed the common 'artificial and unnatural arrangement adopted by most of his predecessors;' _yet he_ has endeavoured to pursue a more judicious one, namely, '_the order of the understanding_.'"--_Grammar_, p. 12. But if this is the order of his understanding, he is greatly to be pitied. A book more confused in its plan, more wanting in method, more imperfect in distinctness of parts, more deficient in symmetry, or more difficult of reference, shall not easily be found in stereotype. Let the reader try to follow us here. Bating twelve pages at the beginning, occupied by the title, recommendations, advertisement, contents, preface, hints to teachers, and advice to lecturers; and fifty-four at the end, embracing syntax, orthography, orthoepy, provincialisms, prosody, punctuation, versification, rhetoric, figures of speech, and a Key, all in the sequence here given; the work consists of fourteen chapters of grammar, absurdly called "Familiar Lectures." The first treats of sundries, under half a dozen titles, but chiefly of Orthography; and the last is three pages and a half, of the most common remarks, on Derivation. In the remaining twelve, the Etymology and Syntax of the ten parts of speech are commingled; and an attempt is made, to teach simultaneously all that the author judged important in either. Hence he gives us, in a strange congeries, rules, remarks, illustrations, false syntax, systematic parsing, exercises in parsing, two different orders of notes, three different orders of questions, and a variety of other titles merely occasional. All these things, being additional to his main text, are to be connected, in the mind of the learner, with the parts of speech successively, in some new and inexplicable catenation found only in the arrangement of the lectures. The author himself could not see through the chaos. He accordingly made his table of contents a mere meagre alphabetical index. Having once attempted in vain to explain the order of his instructions, he actually gave the matter up in despair! 38. In length, these pretended lectures vary, from three or four pages, to eight-and-thirty. Their subjects run thus: 1. Language, Grammar, Orthography; 2. Nouns and Verbs; 3. Articles; 4. Adjectives; 5. Participles; 6. Adverbs; 7. Prepositions; 8. Pronouns; 9. Conjunctions; 10. Interjections and Nouns; 11. Moods and Tenses; 12. Irregular Verbs; 13. Auxiliary, Passive, and Defective Verbs; 14. Derivation. Which, now, is "more judicious," such confusion as this, or the arrangement which has been common from time immemorial? Who that has any respect for the human intellect, or whose powers of mind deserve any in return, will avouch this jumble to be "the order of the understanding?" Are the methods of science to be accounted mere hinderances to instruction? Has grammar really been made easy by this confounding of its parts? Or are we lured by the name, "_Familiar Lectures_,"--a term manifestly adopted as a mere decoy, and, with respect to the work itself, totally inappropriate? If these chapters have ever been actually delivered as a series of lectures, the reader must have been employed on some occasions eight or ten times as long as on others! "People," says Dr. Johnson, "have now-a-days got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by _lectures_. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do so much good as a private reading of the books from which the lectures are taken. I know of nothing that can be best taught by lectures, except where experiments are to be shown. You may teach chymistry by lectures--you _might_ teach the making of shoes by lectures." --_Boswell's Life of Johnson_. 39. With singular ignorance and untruth, this gentleman claims to have invented a better method of analysis than had ever been practised before. Of other grammars, his preface avers, "They have _all overlooked_ what the author considers a very important object; namely, _a systematick order of parsing_."--_Grammar_, p. 9. And, in his "Hints to Teachers," presenting himself as a model, and his book as a paragon, he says: "By pursuing this system, he can, with less labour, advance a pupil _farther_ in the practical knowledge of this _abstruse science_, in _two months_, than he could in _one year_, when he taught in the _old way_."--_Grammar_, p. 12. What his "_old way_" was, does not appear. Doubtless something sufficiently bad. And as to his new way, I shall hereafter have occasion to show that _that_ is sufficiently bad also. But to this gasconade the simple-minded have given credit--because the author showed certificates that testified to his great success, and called him "amiable and modest!" But who can look into the book, or into the writer's pretensions in regard to his predecessors, and conceive the merit which has made him--"preeminent by so much odds?" Was Murray less praiseworthy, less amiable, or less modest? In illustration of my topic, and for the sake of literary justice, I have selected that honoured "_Compiler_" to show the abuses of praise; let the history of this his vaunting _modifier_ cap the climax of vanity. In general, his amendments of "that eminent philologist," are not more skillful than the following touch upon an eminent dramatist; and here, it is plain, he has mistaken two nouns for adjectives, and converted into bad English a beautiful passage, the sentiment of which is worthy of an _author's_ recollection: "The evil _deed_ or _deeds_ that men do, _lives_ after them; The good _deed_ or _deeds is_ oft interred with their bones." [16] _Kirkham's Grammar_, p. 75. 40. Lord Bacon observes, "Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person as his letter; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so much out of his reputation." It is to this mischievous facility of recommendation, this prostituted influence of great names, that the inconvenient diversity of school-books, and the continued use of bad ones, are in a great measure to be attributed. It belongs to those who understand the subjects of which authors profess to treat, to judge fairly and fully of their works, and then to let the _reasons_ of their judgement be known. For no one will question the fact, that a vast number of the school-books now in use are either egregious plagiarisms or productions of no comparative merit. And, what is still more surprising and monstrous, presidents, governors, senators, and judges; professors, doctors, clergymen, and lawyers; a host of titled connoisseurs; with incredible facility lend their names, not only to works of inferior merit, but to the vilest thefts, and the wildest absurdities, palmed off upon their own and the public credulity, under pretence of improvement. The man who thus prefixes his letter of recommendation to an ill-written book, publishes, out of mere courtesy, a direct impeachment of his own scholarship or integrity. Yet, how often have we seen the honours of a high office, or even of a worthy name, prostituted to give a temporary or local currency to a book which it would disgrace any man of letters to quote! With such encouragement, nonsense wrestles for the seat of learning, exploded errors are republished as novelties, original writers are plundered by dunces, and men that understand nothing well, profess to teach all sciences! 41. All praise of excellence must needs be comparative, because the thing itself is so. To excel in grammar, is but to know better than others wherein grammatical excellence consists. Hence there is no fixed point of perfection beyond which such learning may not be carried. The limit to improvement is not so much in the nature of the subject, as in the powers of the mind, and in the inducements to exert them upon a theme so humble and so uninviting. Dr. Johnson suggests, in his masterly preface, "that a whole life cannot be spent upon syntax and etymology, and that even a whole life would not be sufficient." Who then will suppose, in the face of such facts and confessions as have been exhibited, that either in the faulty publications of Murray, or among the various modifications of them by other hands we have any such work as deserves to be made a permanent standard of instruction in English grammar? With great sacrifices, both of pleasure and of interest, I have humbly endeavoured to supply this desideratum; and it remains for other men to determine, and other times to know, what place shall be given to these my labours, in the general story of this branch of learning. Intending to develop not only the principles but also the history of grammar, I could not but speak of its authors. The writer who looks broadly at the past and the present, to give sound instruction to the future, must not judge of men by their shadows. If the truth, honestly told, diminish the stature of some, it does it merely by clearing the sight of the beholder. Real greatness cannot suffer loss by the dissipating of a vapour. If reputation has been raised upon the mist of ignorance, who but the builder shall lament its overthrow? If the works of grammarians are often ungrammatical, whose fault is this but their own? If _all_ grammatical fame is little in itself, how can the abatement of what is undeserved of it be much? If the errors of some have long been tolerated, what right of the critic has been lost by nonuser? If the interests of Science have been sacrificed to Mammon, what rebuke can do injustice to the craft? Nay, let the broad-axe of the critic hew up to the line, till every beam in her temple be smooth and straight. For, "certainly, next to commending good writers, the greatest service to learning is, to expose the bad, who can only in that way be made of any use to it." [17] And if, among the makers of grammars, the scribblings of some, and the filchings of others, are discreditable alike to themselves and to their theme, let the reader consider, how great must be the intrinsic worth of that study which still maintains its credit in spite of all these abuses! CHAPTER IV. OF THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. "Tot fallaciis obrutum, tot hallucinationibus demersum, tot adhuc tenebris circumfusum studium hocce mihi visum est, ut nihil satis tuto in hac materia praestari posse arbitratus sim, nisi nova quadam arte critica praemissa."--SCIPIO MAFFEIUS: _Cassiod. Complexiones_, p. xxx. 1. The origin of things is, for many reasons, a peculiarly interesting point in their history. Among those who have thought fit to inquire into the prime origin of speech, it has been matter of dispute, whether we ought to consider it a special gift from Heaven, or an acquisition of industry--a natural endowment, or an artificial invention. Nor is any thing that has ever yet been said upon it, sufficient to set the question permanently at rest. That there is in some words, and perhaps in some of every language, a natural connexion between the sounds uttered and the things signified, cannot be denied; yet, on the other hand, there is, in the use of words in general, so much to which nature affords no clew or index, that this whole process of communicating thought by speech, seems to be artificial. Under an other head, I have already cited from Sanctius some opinions of the ancient grammarians and philosophers on this point. With the reasoning of that zealous instructor, the following sentence from Dr. Blair very obviously accords: "To suppose words invented, or names given to things, in a manner purely arbitrary, without any ground or reason, is to suppose an effect without a cause. There must have always been some motive which led to the assignation of one name rather than an other."--_Rhet._, Lect. vi, p. 55. 2. But, in their endeavours to explain the origin and early progress of language, several learned men, among whom is this celebrated lecturer, have needlessly perplexed both themselves and their readers, with sundry questions, assumptions, and reasonings, which are manifestly contrary to what has been made known to us on the best of all authority. What signifies it[18] for a man to tell us how nations rude and barbarous invented interjections first,[19] and then nouns, and then verbs,[20] and finally the other parts of speech; when he himself confesses that he does not know whether language "can be considered a human invention at all;" and when he believed, or ought to have believed, that the speech of the first man, though probably augmented by those who afterwards used it, was, essentially, the one language of the earth for more than eighteen centuries? The task of inventing a language _de novo_, could surely have fallen upon no man but Adam; and he, in the garden of Paradise, had doubtless some aids and facilities not common to every wild man of the woods. 3. The learned Doctor was equally puzzled to conceive, "either how society could form itself, previously to language, or how words could rise into a language, previously to society formed."--_Blair's Rhet._, Lect. vi, p. 54. This too was but an idle perplexity, though thousands have gravely pored over it since, as a part of the study of rhetoric; for, if neither could be previous to the other, they must have sprung up simultaneously. And it is a sort of slander upon our prime ancestor, to suggest, that, because he was "_the first_," he must have been "_the rudest_" of his race; and that, "consequently, those first rudiments of speech," which alone the supposition allows to him or to his family, "must have been poor and narrow."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 54. It is far more reasonable to think, with a later author, that, "Adam had an insight into natural things far beyond the acutest philosopher, as may be gathered from his giving of names to all creatures, according to their different constitutions."--_Robinson's Scripture Characters_, p. 4. 4. But Dr. Blair is not alone in the view which he here takes. The same thing has bean suggested by other learned men. Thus Dr. James P. Wilson, of Philadelphia, in an octavo published in 1817, says: "It is difficult to discern how communities could have existed without language, and equally so to discover how language could have obtained, in a peopled world, prior to society."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 1. I know not how so many professed Christians, and some of them teachers of religion too, with the Bible in their hands, can reason upon this subject as they do. We find them, in their speculations, conspiring to represent primeval man, to use their own words, as a "_savage_, whose 'howl at the appearance of danger, and whose exclamations of joy at the sight of his prey, reiterated, or varied with the change of objects, were probably the origin of language.'--_Booth's Analytical Dictionary_. In the dawn of society, ages may have passed away, with little more converse than what these efforts would produce."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 31. Here Gardiner quotes Booth with approbation, and the latter, like Wilson, may have borrowed his ideas from Blair. Thus are we taught by a multitude of guessers, grave, learned, and oracular, that the last of the ten parts of speech was in fact the first: "_Interjections_ are exceedingly interesting in one respect. They are, there can be little doubt, _the oldest words_ in all languages; and may be considered the elements of speech."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 78. On this point, however, Dr. Blair seems not to be quite consistent with himself: "Those exclamations, therefore, which by grammarians are called _interjections_, uttered in a strong and passionate manner, were, _beyond doubt_, the first elements or beginnings of speech."--_Rhet._, Lect. vi, p. 55. "The _names_ of sensible objects were, _in all languages_, the words most early introduced."--_Rhet._, Lect. xiv, p. 135. "The _names of sensible objects_," says Murray too, "were the words most early introduced."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 336. Bat what says the Bible? 5. Revelation informs us that our first progenitor was not only endowed with the faculty of speech, but, as it would appear, actually incited by the Deity to exert that faculty in giving _names_ to the objects by which he was surrounded. "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him."--_Gen._, ii, 19, 20. This account of the first naming of the other creatures by man, is apparently a parenthesis in the story of the creation of woman, with which the second chapter of Genesis concludes. But, in the preceding chapter, the Deity is represented not only as calling all things into existence _by his Word_; but as _speaking to the first human pair_, with reference to their increase in the earth, and to their dominion over it, and over all the living creatures formed to inhabit it. So that the order of the events cannot be clearly inferred from the order of the narration. The manner of this communication to man, may also be a subject of doubt. Whether it was, or was not, made by a voice of words, may be questioned. But, surely, that Being who, in creating the world and its inhabitants, manifested his own infinite wisdom, eternal power, and godhead, does not lack words, or any other means of signification, if he will use them. And, in the inspired record of his work in the beginning, he is certainly represented, not only as naming all things imperatively, when he spoke them into being, but as expressly calling the light _Day_, the darkness _Night_, the firmament _Heaven_, the dry land _Earth_, and the gatherings of the mighty waters _Seas_. 6. Dr. Thomas Hartwell Horne, in commending a work by Dr. Ellis, concerning the origin of human wisdom and understanding, says: "It shows satisfactorily, that religion _and language_ entered the world by divine revelation, without the aid of which, man had not been a rational or religious creature."--_Study of the Scriptures_, Vol. i, p. 4. "Plato attributes the primitive words of the _first language_ to a divine origin;" and Dr. Wilson remarks, "The transition from silence to speech, implies an effort of the understanding too great for man."--_Essay on Gram._, p. 1. Dr. Beattie says, "Mankind must have spoken in all ages, the young constantly learning to speak by imitating those who were older; and, if so, our first parents must have received this art, as well as some others, by inspiration."--_Moral Science_, p. 27. Horne Tooke says, "I imagine that it is, _in some measure_, with the vehicle of our thoughts, as with the vehicles for our bodies. Necessity produced both."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 20. Again: "Language, it is true, _is an art_, and a glorious one; whose influence extends over all the others, and in which finally all science whatever must centre: but an art _springing from necessity_, and originally invented by artless men, who did not sit down like philosophers to invent it."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 259. 7. Milton imagines Adam's first knowledge of speech, to have sprung from the hearing of his own voice; and that voice to have been raised, instinctively, or spontaneously, in an animated inquiry concerning his own origin--an inquiry in which he addresses to unintelligent objects, and inferior creatures, such questions as the Deity alone could answer: "Myself I then perused, and limb by limb Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran With supple joints, as lively vigor led: But who I was, or where, or from what cause, Knew not; _to speak I tried, and forthwith spake; My tongue obeyed, and readily could name Whatever I saw_. 'Thou Sun,' said I, 'fair light, And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay, Ye Hills and Dales, ye Rivers, Woods, and Plains; And ye that live and move, fair Creatures! tell, Tell, if ye saw, how came I thus, how here? Not of myself; by some great Maker then, In goodness and in power preeminent: Tell me how I may know him, how adore, From whom I have that thus I move and live, And feel that I am happier than I know.'" _Paradise Lost_, Book viii, l. 267. But, to the imagination of a poet, a freedom is allowed, which belongs not to philosophy. We have not always the means of knowing how far he _literally_ believes what he states. 8. My own opinion is, that language is partly natural and partly artificial. And, as the following quotation from the Greek of Ammonius will serve in some degree to illustrate it, I present the passage in English for the consideration of those who may prefer ancient to modern speculations: "In the same manner, therefore, as mere motion is from nature, but dancing is something positive; and as wood exists in nature, but a door is something positive; so is the mere utterance of vocal sound founded in nature, but the signification of ideas by nouns or verbs is something positive. And hence it is, that, as to the simple power of producing vocal sound--which is as it were the organ or instrument of the soul's faculties of knowledge or volition--as to this vocal power, I say, man seems to possess it from nature, in like manner as irrational animals; but as to the power of using significantly nouns or verbs, or sentences combining these, (which are not natural but positive,) this he possesses by way of peculiar eminence; because he alone of all mortal beings partakes of a soul which can move itself, and operate to the production of arts. So that, even in the utterance of sounds, the inventive power of the mind is discerned; as the various elegant compositions, both in metre, and without metre, abundantly prove."--_Ammon. de Interpr._, p. 51.[21] 9. Man was made for society; and from the first period of human existence the race were social. Monkish seclusion is manifestly unnatural; and the wild independence of the savage, is properly denominated a state of nature, only in contradistinction to that state in which the arts are cultivated. But to civilized life, or even to that which is in any degree social, language is absolutely necessary. There is therefore no danger that the language of any nation shall fall into disuse, till the people by whom it is spoken, shall either adopt some other, or become themselves extinct. When the latter event occurs, as is the case with the ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the language, if preserved at all from oblivion, becomes the more permanent; because the causes which are constantly tending to improve or deteriorate every living language, have ceased to operate upon those which are learned only from ancient books. The inflections which now compose the declensions and conjugations of the dead languages, and which indeed have ever constituted the peculiar characteristics of those forms of speech, must remain forever as they are. 10. When a nation changes, its language, as did our forefathers in Britain, producing by a gradual amalgamation of materials drawn from various tongues a new one differing from all, the first stages of its grammar will of course be chaotic and rude. Uniformity springs from the steady application of rules; and polish is the work of taste and refinement. We may easily err by following the example of our early writers with more reverence than judgement; nor is it possible for us to do justice to the grammarians, whether early or late, without a knowledge both of the history and of the present state of the science which they profess to teach. I therefore think it proper rapidly to glance at many things remote indeed in time, yet nearer to my present purpose, and abundantly more worthy of the student's consideration, than a thousand matters which are taught for grammar by the authors of treatises professedly elementary. 11. As we have already seen, some have supposed that the formation of the first language must have been very slow and gradual. But of this they offer no proof, and from the pen of inspiration we seem to have testimony against it. Did Adam give names to all the creatures about him, and then allow those names to be immediately forgotten? Did not both he and his family continually use his original nouns in their social intercourse? and how could they use them, without other parts of speech to form them into sentences? Nay, do we not know from the Bible, that on several occasions our prime ancestor expressed himself like an intelligent man, and used all the parts of speech which are now considered _necessary_? What did he say, when his fit partner, the fairest and loveliest work of God, was presented to him? "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." And again: Had he not other words than nouns, when he made answer concerning his transgression: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself?" What is it, then, but a groundless assumption, to make him and his immediate descendants ignorant savages, and to affirm, with Dr. Blair, that "their speech must have been poor and narrow?" It is not possible now to ascertain what degree of perfection the oral communication of the first age exhibited. But, as languages are now known to improve in proportion to the improvement of society in civilization and intelligence, and as we cannot reasonably suppose the first inhabitants of the earth to have been savages, it seems, I think, a plausible conjecture, that the primeval tongue was at least sufficient for all the ordinary intercourse of civilized men, living in the simple manner ascribed to our early ancestors in Scripture; and that, in many instances, human speech subsequently declined far below its original standard. 12. At any rate, let it be remembered that the first language spoken on earth, whatever it was, originated in Eden before the fall; that this "one language," which all men understood until the dispersion, is to be traced, not to the cries of savage hunters, echoed through the wilds and glades where Nimrod planted Babel, but to that eastern garden of God's own planting, wherein grew "every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food;" to that paradise into which the Lord God put the new-created man, "to dress it and to keep it." It was here that Adam and his partner learned to speak, while yet they stood blameless and blessed, entire and wanting nothing; free in the exercise of perfect faculties of body and mind, capable of acquiring knowledge through observation and experience, and also favoured with immediate communications with their Maker. Yet Adam, having nothing which he did not receive, could not originally bring any real knowledge into the world with him, any more than men do now: this, in whatever degree attained, must be, and must always have been, either an acquisition of reason, or a revelation from God. And, according to the understanding of some, even in the beginning, "That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual."--_1 Cor., xv, 46_. That is, the spirit of Christ, the second Adam, was bestowed on the first Adam, after his creation, as the life and the light of the immortal soul. For, "In _Him_ was life, and the life was the light of men," a life which our first parents forfeited and lost on the day of their transgression. "It was undoubtedly in the light of this pure influence that Adam had such an intuitive discerning of the creation, as enabled him to give names to all creatures according to their several natures."--_Phipps, on Man_, p. 4. A lapse from all this favour, into conscious guilt and misery; a knowledge of good withdrawn, and of evil made too sure; followed the first transgression. Abandoned then in great measure by superhuman aid, and left to contend with foes without and foes within, mankind became what history and observation prove them to have been; and henceforth, by painful experience, and careful research, and cautious faith, and humble docility, must they gather the fruits of _knowledge_; by a vain desire and false conceit of which, they had forfeited the tree of life. So runs the story "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our wo, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat." 13. The analogy of words in the different languages now known, has been thought by many to be sufficiently frequent and clear to suggest the idea of their common origin. Their differences are indeed great; but perhaps not greater, than the differences in the several races of men, all of whom, as revelation teaches, sprung from one common stock. From the same source we learn, that, till the year of the world 1844, "The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech."--_Gen._, xi, 1.[22] At that period, the whole world of mankind consisted only of the descendants of the eight souls who had been saved in the ark, and so many of the eight as had survived the flood one hundred and eighty-eight years. Then occurred that remarkable intervention of the Deity, in which he was pleased to confound their language; so that they could not understand one an other's speech, and were consequently scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. This, however, in the opinion of many learned men, does not prove the immediate formation of any new languages. 14. But, whether new languages were thus immediately formed or not, the event, in all probability, laid the foundation for that diversity which subsequently obtained among the languages of the different nations which sprung from the dispersion; and hence it may be regarded as the remote cause of the differences which now exist. But for the immediate origin of the peculiar characteristical differences which distinguish the various languages now known, we are not able with much certainty to account. Nor is there even much plausibility in the speculations of those grammarians who have attempted to explain the order and manner in which the declensions, the moods, the tenses, or other leading features of the languages, were first introduced. They came into use before they could be generally known, and the partial introduction of them could seldom with propriety be made a subject of instruction or record, even if there were letters and learning at hand to do them this honour. And it is better to be content with ignorance, than to form such conjectures as imply any thing that is absurd or impossible. For instance: Neilson's Theory of the Moods, published in the Classical Journal of 1819, though it exhibits ingenuity and learning, is liable to this strong objection; that it proceeds on the supposition, that the moods of English verbs, and of several other derivative tongues, were invented in a certain order by persons, not speaking a language learned chiefly from their fathers, but uttering a new one as necessity prompted. But when or where, since the building of Babel, has this ever happened? That no dates are given, or places mentioned, the reader regrets, but he cannot marvel. 15. By what successive changes, our words in general, and especially the minor parts of speech, have become what we now find them, and what is their original and proper signification according to their derivation, the etymologist may often show to our entire satisfaction. Every word must have had its particular origin and history; and he who in such things can explain with certainty what is not commonly known, may do some service to science. But even here the utility of his curious inquiries may be overrated; and whenever, for the sake of some favourite theory, he ventures into the regions of conjecture, or allows himself to be seduced from the path of practical instruction, his errors are obstinate, and his guidance is peculiarly deceptive. Men fond of such speculations, and able to support them with some show of learning, have done more to unsettle the science of grammar, and to divert ingenious teachers from the best methods of instruction, than all other visionaries put together. Etymological inquiries are important, and I do not mean to censure or discourage them, merely as such; but the folly of supposing that in our language words must needs be of the same class, or part of speech, as that to which they may be traced in an other, deserves to be rebuked. The words _the_ and _an_ may be articles in English, though obviously traceable to something else in Saxon; and a learned man may, in my opinion, be better employed, than in contending that _if, though_, and _although_, are not conjunctions, but verbs! 16. Language is either oral or written; the question of its origin has consequently two parts. Having suggested what seemed necessary respecting the origin of _speech_, I now proceed to that of _writing_. Sheridan says, "We have in use _two kinds of language_, the spoken and the written: the one, the gift of God; the other, the invention of man."--_Elocution_, p. xiv. If this ascription of the two things to their sources, were as just as it is clear and emphatical, both parts of our question would seem to be resolved. But this great rhetorician either forgot his own doctrine, or did not mean what he here says. For he afterwards makes the former kind of language as much a work of art, as any one will suppose the latter to have been. In his sixth lecture, he comments on the gift of speech thus: "But still we are to observe, that nature did no more than furnish the power and means; _she did not give the language_, as in the case of the passions, but left it to the industry of men, to find out and agree upon such articulate sounds, as they should choose to make the symbols of their ideas."--_Ib._, p. 147. He even goes farther, and supposes certain _tones of the voice_ to be things invented by man: "Accordingly, as she did not furnish the _words_, which were to be the symbols of his ideas; neither did she furnish the _tones_, which were to manifest, and communicate by their own virtue, the internal exertions and emotions, of such of his nobler faculties, as chiefly distinguish him from the brute species; but left them also, like words, to the care and invention of man."--_Ibidem_. On this branch of the subject, enough has already been presented. 17. By most authors, alphabetic writing is not only considered an artificial invention, but supposed to have been wholly unknown in the early ages of the world. Its antiquity, however, is great. Of this art, in which the science of grammar originated, we are not able to trace the commencement. Different nations have claimed the honour of the invention; and it is not decided, among the learned, to whom, or to what country, it belongs. It probably originated in Egypt. For, "The Egyptians," it is said, "paid divine honours to the Inventor of Letters, whom they called _Theuth_: and Socrates, when he speaks of him, considers him as a god, or a god-like man."--_British Gram._, p. 32. Charles Bucke has it, "That the first inventor of letters is supposed to have been _Memnon_; who was, in consequence, fabled to be the son of Aurora, goddess of the morning."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 5. The ancients in general seem to have thought Phoenicia the birthplace of Letters: "Phoenicians first, if ancient fame be true, The sacred mystery of letters knew; They first, by sound, in various lines design'd, Express'd the meaning of the thinking mind; The power of words by figures rude conveyed, And useful science everlasting made." _Rowe's Lucan_, B. iii, l. 334. 18. Some, however, seem willing to think writing coeval with speech. Thus Bicknell, from Martin's Physico-Grammatical Essay: "We are told by Moses, that Adam _gave names to every living creature_;[23] but how those names were written, or what sort of characters he made use of, is not known to us; nor indeed whether Adam ever made use of a written language at all; since we find no mention made of any in the sacred history."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 5. A certain late writer on English grammar, with admirable flippancy, cuts this matter short, as follows,--satisfying himself with pronouncing all speech to be natural, and all writing artificial: "Of how many primary kinds is language? It is of two kinds; natural or spoken, and artificial or written."--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 15. "Natural language is, to a limited extent, (the representation of the passions,) common to brutes as well as man; but artificial language, being the work of invention, is peculiar to man."--_Ib._, p. 16.[24] 19. The writings delivered to the Israelites by Moses, are more ancient than any others now known. In the thirty-first chapter of Exodus, it is said, that God "gave unto Moses, upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, _written with the finger of God_." And again, in the thirty-second: "The tables were the work of God, and the writing was _the writing of God_, graven upon the tables." But these divine testimonies, thus miraculously written, do not appear to have been the first writing; for Moses had been previously commanded to write an account of the victory over Amalek, "for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua."--_Exod._, xvii, 14. This first battle of the Israelites occurred in Rephidim, a place on the east side of the western gulf of the Red Sea, at or near Horeb, but before they came to Sinai, upon the top of which, (on the fiftieth day after their departure from Egypt,) Moses received the ten commandments of the law. 20. Some authors, however, among whom is Dr. Adam Clarke, suppose that in this instance the order of the events is not to be inferred from the order of the record, or that there is room to doubt whether the use of letters was here intended; and that there consequently remains a strong probability, that the sacred Decalogue, which God himself delivered to Moses on Sinai, A. M. 2513, B. C. 1491, was "the first writing _in alphabetical characters_ ever exhibited to the world." See _Clarke's Succession of Sacred Literature_, Vol. i, p. 24. Dr. Scott, in his General Preface to the Bible, seems likewise to favour the same opinion. "Indeed," says he, "there is some probability in the opinion, that the art of writing was first communicated by revelation, to Moses, in order to perpetuate, with certainty, those facts, truths, and laws, which he was employed to deliver to Israel. Learned men find no traces of _literary_, or alphabetical, writing, in the history of the nations, till long after the days of Moses; unless the book of Job may be regarded as an exception. The art of expressing almost an infinite variety of sounds, by the interchanges of a few letters, or marks, seems more like a discovery to man from heaven, than a human invention; and its beneficial effects, and almost absolute necessity, for the preservation and communication of true religion, favour the conjecture."--_Scott's Preface_, p. xiv. 21. The time at which Cadmus, the Phoenician, introduced this art into Greece, cannot be precisely ascertained. There is no reason to believe it was antecedent to the time of Moses; some chronologists make it between two and three centuries later. Nor is it very probable, that Cadmus invented the sixteen letters of which he is said to have made use. His whole story is so wild a fable, that nothing certain can be inferred from it. Searching in vain for his stolen sister--his sister Europa, carried off by Jupiter--he found a wife in the daughter of Venus! Sowing the teeth of a dragon, which had devoured his companions, he saw them spring up to his aid a squadron of armed soldiers! In short, after a series of wonderful achievements and bitter misfortunes, loaded with grief and infirm with age, he prayed the gods to release him from the burden of such a life; and, in pity from above, both he and his beloved Hermione were changed into serpents! History, however, has made him generous amends, by ascribing to him the invention of letters, and accounting him the worthy benefactor to whom the world owes all the benefits derived from literature. I would not willingly rob him of this honour. But I must confess, there is no feature of the story, which I can conceive to give any countenance to his claim; except that as the great progenitor of the race of authors, his sufferings correspond well with the calamities of which that unfortunate generation have always so largely partaken. 22. The benefits of this invention, if it may be considered an invention, are certainly very great. In oral discourse the graces of elegance are more lively and attractive, but well-written books are the grand instructors of mankind, the most enduring monuments of human greatness, and the proudest achievements of human intellect. "The chief glory of a nation," says Dr. Johnson, "arises from its authors." Literature is important, because it is subservient to all objects, even those of the very highest concern. Religion and morality, liberty and government, fame and happiness, are alike interested in the cause of letters. It was a saying of Pope Pius the Second, that, "Common men should esteem learning as silver, noblemen value it as gold, and princes prize it as jewels." The uses of learning are seen in every thing that is not itself useless.[25] It cannot be overrated, but where it is perverted; and whenever that occurs, the remedy is to be sought by opposing learning to learning, till the truth is manifest, and that which is reprehensible, is made to appear so. 23. I have said, learning cannot be overrated, but where it is perverted. But men may differ in their notions of what learning is; and, consequently, of what is, or is not, a perversion of it. And so far as this point may have reference to theology, and the things of God, it would seem that the Spirit of God alone can fully show us its bearings. If the illumination of the Spirit is necessary to an understanding and a reception of scriptural truth, is it not by an inference more erudite than reasonable, that some great men have presumed to limit to a verbal medium the communications of Him who is everywhere His own witness, and who still gives to His own holy oracles all their peculiar significance and authority? Some seem to think the Almighty has never given to men any notion of Himself, except by words. "Many ideas," says the celebrated Edmund Burke, "have never been at all presented to the senses of any men _but by words_, as God,[26] angels, devils, heaven, and hell, all of which have however a great influence over the passions."--_On the Sublime and [the] Beautiful_, p. 97. That God can never reveal facts or truths except by words, is a position with which I am by no means satisfied. Of the great truths of Christianity, Dr. Wayland, in his Elements of Moral Science, repeatedly avers, "All these being _facts_, can never be known, except _by language_, that is, by revelation."--_First Edition_, p. 132. Again: "All of them being of the _nature of facts_, they could be made known to man _in no other way than by language_."--_Ib._, p. 136. But it should be remembered, that these same facts were otherwise made known to the prophets; (1 Pet., i, 11;) and that which has been done, is not impossible, whether there is reason to expect it again or not. So of the Bible, Calvin says, "No man can have the least knowledge of true and sound doctrine, without having been a disciple of the Scripture."-- _Institutes_, B. i, Ch. 6. Had Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, then, no such knowledge? And if such they had, what Scripture taught them? We ought to value the Scriptures too highly to say of them any thing that is _unscriptural_. I am, however, very far from supposing there is any _other doctrine_ which can be safely substituted for the truths revealed of old, the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: "Left only in those written records pure, Though not but by the Spirit understood." [27]--_Milton_. CHAPTER V. OF THE POWER OF LANGUAGE. "Quis huic studio literarum, quod profitentur ii, qui grammatici vocantur, penitus se dedidit, quin omnem illarum artium paene infinitam _vim_ et _materiam_ scientiae cogitatione comprehenderit?"--CICERO. _De Oratore_, Lib. i, 3. 1. The peculiar _power_ of language is another point worthy of particular consideration. The power of an instrument is virtually the power of him who wields it; and, as language is used in common, by the wise and the foolish, the mighty and the impotent, the candid and the crafty, the righteous and the wicked, it may perhaps seem to the reader a difficult matter, to speak intelligibly of its _peculiar power_. I mean, by this phrase, its fitness or efficiency to or for the accomplishment of the purposes for which it is used. As it is the nature of an agent, to be the doer of something, so it is the nature of an instrument, to be that with which something is effected. To make signs, is to do something, and, like all other actions, necessarily implies an agent; so all signs, being things by means of which other things are represented, are obviously the instruments of such representation. Words, then, which represent thoughts, are things in themselves; but, as signs, they are relative to other things, as being the instruments of their communication or preservation. They are relative also to him who utters them, as well as to those who may happen to be instructed or deceived by them. "Was it Mirabeau, Mr. President, or what other master of the human passions, who has told us that words are things? They are indeed things, and things of mighty influence, not only in addresses to the passions and high-wrought feelings of mankind, but in the discussion of legal and political questions also; because a just conclusion is often avoided, or a false one reached, by the adroit substitution of one phrase or one word for an other."--_Daniel Webster, in Congress_, 1833. 2. To speak, is a moral action, the quality of which depends upon the motive, and for which we are strictly accountable. "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement; for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."--_Matt._, xii, 36, 37. To listen, or to refuse to listen, is a moral action also; and there is meaning in the injunction, "Take heed what ye hear."--_Mark_, iv, 24. But why is it, that so much of what is spoken or written, is spoken or written in vain? Is language impotent? It is sometimes employed for purposes with respect to which it is utterly so; and often they that use it, know not how insignificant, absurd, or ill-meaning a thing they make of it. What is said, with whatever inherent force or dignity, has neither power nor value to him who does not understand it;[28] and, as Professor Duncan observes, "No word can be to any man the sign of an idea, till that idea comes to have a real existence in his mind."--_Logic_, p. 62. In instruction, therefore, speech ought not to be regarded as the foundation or the essence of knowledge, but as the sign of it; for knowledge has its origin in the power of sensation, or reflection, or consciousness, and not in that of recording or communicating thought. Dr. Spurzheim was not the first to suggest, "It is time to abandon the immense error of supposing that words and precepts are sufficient to call internal feelings and intellectual faculties into active exercise."--_Spurzheim's Treatise on Education_, p. 94. 3. But to this it may be replied, When God wills, the signs of knowledge are knowledge; and words, when he gives the ability to understand them, may, in some sense, become--"spirit and life." See _John_, vi, 63. Where competent intellectual faculties exist, the intelligible signs of thought do move the mind to think; and to think sometimes with deep feelings too, whether of assent or dissent, of admiration or contempt. So wonderful a thing is a rational soul, that it is hard to say to what ends the language in which it speaks, may, or may not, be sufficient. Let experience determine. We are often unable to excite in others the sentiments which we would: words succeed or fail, as they are received or resisted. But let a scornful expression be addressed to a passionate man, will not the words "call internal feelings" into action? And how do feelings differ from thoughts?[29] Hear Dr. James Rush: "The human mind is the place of representation of all the existences of nature which are brought within the scope of the senses. The representatives are called ideas. These ideas are the simple passive pictures of things, or [else] they exist with an activity, capable of so affecting the physical organs as to induce us to seek the continuance of that which produces them, or to avoid it. This active or vivid class of ideas comprehends the passions. The functions of the mind here described, exist then in different forms and degrees, from the simple idea, to the highest energy of passion: and the terms, thought, sentiment, emotion, feeling, and passion, are but the verbal signs of these degrees and forms. Nor does there appear to be any line of classification, for separating thought from passion: since simple thoughts, without changing their nature, do, from interest or incitement, often assume the colour of passion."--_Philosophy of the Human Voice_, p. 328. 4. Lord Kames, in the Appendix to his Elements of Criticism, divides _the senses_ into external and internal, defining _perception_ to be the act by which through the former we know outward objects, and _consciousness_ the act by which through the latter we know what is within the mind. An _idea_, according to his definition, (which he says is precise and accurate,) is, "That _perception_ of a real object which _is raised_ in the mind by the power of _memory_." But among the real objects from which memory may raise ideas, he includes the workings of the mind itself, or whatever we remember of our former passions, emotions, thoughts, or designs. Such a definition, he imagines, might have saved Locke, Berkley, and their followers, from much vain speculation; for with the ideal systems of these philosophers, or with those of Aristotle and Des Cartes, he by no means coincides. This author says, "As ideas are the chief materials employed in reasoning and reflecting, it is of consequence that their nature and differences be understood. It appears now that ideas may be distinguished into three kinds: first, Ideas derived from original perceptions, properly termed _ideas of memory_; second, Ideas communicated _by language_ or other signs; and third, Ideas _of imagination_. These ideas differ from each other in many respects; but chiefly in respect to their _proceeding from different causes_. The first kind is derived from real existences that have been objects of our senses; _language is the cause of the second_, or any other sign that has the same power with language; and a man's imagination is to himself the cause of the third. It is scarce [ly] necessary to add, that an idea, originally of imagination, being conveyed to others by language or any other vehicle, becomes in their mind an idea of the second kind; and again, that an idea of this kind, being afterwards recalled to the mind, becomes in that circumstance an idea of memory."--_El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 384. 5. Whether, or how far, language is to the mind itself _the instrument of thought_, is a question of great importance in the philosophy of both. Our literature contains occasional assertions bearing upon this point, but I know of no full or able discussion of it.[30] Cardell's instructions proceed upon the supposition, that neither the reason of men, nor even that of superior intelligences, can ever operate independently of words. "Speech," says he, "is to the mind what action is to animal bodies. Its improvement is the improvement of our intellectual nature, and a duty to God who gave it."--_Essay on Language_, p. 3. Again: "An attentive investigation will show, that there is no way in which the individual mind can, within itself, to any extent, _combine its ideas_, but by the intervention of words. Every process of the reasoning powers, beyond the immediate perception of sensible objects, depends on the structure of speech; and, in a great degree, according to the excellence of this _chief instrument of all mental operations_, will be the means of personal improvement, of the social transmission of thought, and the elevation of national character. From this, it may be laid down as a broad principle, that no individual can make great advances in intellectual improvement, beyond the bounds of a ready-formed language, as the necessary means of his progress."--_Ib._, p. 9. These positions might easily be offset by contrary speculations of minds of equal rank; but I submit them to the reader, with the single suggestion, that the author is not remarkable for that sobriety of judgement which gives weight to opinions. 6. We have seen, among the citations in a former chapter, that Sanctius says, "Names are the signs, and as it were _the instruments, of things_." But what he meant by "_instrumenta rerum_" is not very apparent. Dr. Adam says, "The principles of grammar may be traced from the progress of the mind in the acquisition of language. Children first express their feelings by motions and gestures of the body, by cries and tears. _This is_[31] the language of nature, and therefore universal. _It fitly represents_[32] the quickness of sentiment and thought, which are as instantaneous as the impression of light on the eye. Hence we always express our stronger feelings by these natural signs. But when we want to make known to others the particular conceptions of the mind, we must represent them by parts, we must divide and analyze them. We express _each part by certain signs_,[33] and join these together, according to the order of their relations. Thus words are _both the instrument and signs[34] the division_ of thought."--_Preface to Latin Gram._ 7. The utterance of words, or the making of signs of any sort, requires time;[35] but it is here suggested by Dr. Adam, that sentiment and thought, though susceptible of being retained or recalled, naturally flash upon the mind with immeasurable quickness.[36] If so, they must originate in something more spiritual than language. The Doctor does not affirm that words are the instruments of thought, but of _the division_ of thought. But it is manifest, that if they effect this, they are not the only instruments by means of which the same thing may be done. The deaf and dumb, though uninstructed and utterly ignorant of language, can think; and can, by rude signs of their own inventing, manifest a similar division, corresponding to the individuality of things. And what else can be meant by "_the division of thought_," than our notion of objects, as existing severally, or as being distinguishable into parts? There can, I think, be no such division respecting that which is perfectly pure and indivisible in its essence; and, I would ask, is not simple continuity apt to exclude it from our conception of every thing which appears with uniform coherence? Dr. Beattie says, "It appears to me, that, as all things are individuals, all thoughts must be so too."--_Moral Science_, Chap, i, Sec. 1. If, then, our thoughts are thus divided, and consequently, as this author infers, have not in themselves any of that generality which belongs to the signification of common nouns, there is little need of any instrument to divide them further: the mind rather needs help, as Cardell suggests, "to combine its ideas." [37] 8. So far as language is a work of art, and not a thing conferred or imposed upon us by nature, there surely can be in it neither division nor union that was not first in the intellect for the manifestation of which it was formed. First, with respect to generalization. "The human mind," says Harris, "by an energy as spontaneous and familiar to its nature, as the seeing of colour is familiar to the eye, discerns at once what in many is one, what in things dissimilar and different is similar and the same."--_Hermes_, p. 362. Secondly, with respect to division. Mechanical separations are limited: "But the mind surmounts all power of concretion; and can place in the simplest manner every attribute by itself; convex without concave; colour without superficies; superficies without body; and body without its accidents: as distinctly each one, as though they had never been united. And thus it is, that it penetrates into the recesses of all things, not only dividing them as wholes, into their more conspicuous parts, but persisting till it even separate those elementary principles which, being blended together after a more mysterious manner, are united in the minutest part as much as in the mightiest whole."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 307. 9. It is remarkable that this philosopher, who had so sublime conceptions of the powers of the human mind, and who has displayed such extraordinary acuteness in his investigations, has represented the formation of words, or the utterance of language, as equalling in speed the progress of our very thoughts; while, as we have seen, an other author, of great name, avers, that thought is "as instantaneous as the impression of light on the eye." Philosophy here too evidently nods. In showing the advantage of words, as compared with pictures, Harris says, "If we consider the ease and speed with which words are formed,-an ease which knows no trouble or fatigue, and a _speed which equals the progress of our very thoughts_,[38]--we may plainly perceive an answer to the question here proposed, Why, in the common intercourse of men with men, imitations have been rejected, and symbols preferred."--_Hermes_, p. 336. Let us hear a third man, of equal note: "Words have been called _winged_; and they well deserve that name, when their abbreviations are compared with the progress which speech could make without these inventions; but, compared with the rapidity of thought, they have not _the smallest claim to that title_. Philosophers have calculated the difference of velocity between sound and light; but who will attempt to calculate the difference between speech and thought!"--_Horne Tooke's Epea Pteroenta_, Vol. i, p. 23. 10. It is certain, that, in the admirable economy of the creation, natures subordinate are made, in a wonderful manner, subservient to the operations of the higher; and that, accordingly, our first ideas are such as are conceived of things external and sensible. Hence all men whose intellect appeals only to external sense, are prone to a philosophy which reverses the order of things pertaining to the mind, and tends to materialism, if not to atheism. "But"--to refer again to Harris--"the intellectual scheme which never forgets Deity, postpones every thing corporeal to the primary mental Cause. It is here it looks for the origin of intelligible ideas, even of those which exist in human capacities. For though sensible objects may be the destined medium to awaken the dormant energies of man's understanding, yet are those energies themselves no more contained, in sense, than the explosion of a cannon, in the spark which gave it fire. In short, all minds that are, are similar and congenial; and so too are their ideas, or intelligible forms. Were it otherwise, there could be no intercourse between man and man, or (what is more important) between man and God."--_Hermes_, p. 393. 11. A doctrine somewhat like this, is found in the Meditations of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, though apparently repugnant to the polytheism commonly admitted by the Stoics, to whom he belonged: "The world, take it all together, is but one; there is but one sort of matter to make it of, one God to govern it, and one law to guide it. For, run through the whole system of rational beings, and you will find reason and truth but single and the same. And thus beings of the same kind, and endued with the same reason, are made happy by the same exercises of it."--Book vii, Sec. 9. Again: "Let your soul receive the Deity as your blood does the air; for the influences of the one are no less vital, than those of the other. This correspondence is very practicable: for there is an ambient omnipresent Spirit, which lies as open and pervious to your mind, as the air you breathe does to your lungs: but then you must remember to be disposed to draw it."--Book viii, Sec. 54; _Collier's Translation_. 12. Agreeably to these views, except that he makes a distinction between a natural and a supernatural idea of God, we find Barclay, the early defender of the Quakers, in an argument with a certain Dutch nobleman, philosophizing thus: "If the Scripture then be true, there is in men a supernatural idea of God, which altogether differs from this natural idea--I say, in all men; because all men are capable of salvation, and consequently of enjoying this divine vision. Now this capacity consisteth herein, that they have such a supernatural idea in themselves.[39] For if there were no such idea in them, it were impossible they should so know God; for whatsoever is clearly and distinctly known, is known by its proper idea; neither can it otherwise be clearly and distinctly known. _For the ideas of all things are divinely planted in our souls_; for, as the better philosophy teacheth, they are not begotten in us by outward objects or outward causes, but only are by these outward things excited or stirred up. And this is true, not only in supernatural ideas of God and things divine, and in natural ideas of the natural principles of human understanding, and conclusions thence deduced by the strength of human reason; but even in the ideas of outward objects, which are perceived by the outward senses: as that noble Christian philosopher Boethius hath well observed; to which also the Cartesian philosophy agreeth." I quote only to show the concurrence of others, with Harris's position. Barclay carries on his argument with much more of a similar import. See _Sewell's History_, folio, p. 620. 13. But the doctrine of ideas existing primarily in God, and being divinely planted in our souls, did not originate with Boethius: it may be traced back a thousand years from his time, through the philosophy of Proclus, Zeno, Aristotle,[40] Plato, Socrates, Parmenides, and Pythagoras. It is absurd to suppose any production or effect to be more excellent than its cause. That which really produces motion, cannot itself be inert; and that which actually causes the human mind to think and reason, cannot itself be devoid of intelligence. "For knowledge can alone produce knowledge." [41] A doctrine apparently at variance with this, has recently been taught, with great confidence, among the professed discoveries of _Phrenology_. How much truth there may be in this new "_science_," as it is called, I am not prepared to say; but, as sometimes held forth, it seems to me not only to clash with some of the most important principles of mental philosophy, but to make the power of thought the result of that which is in itself inert and unthinking. Assuming that the primitive faculties of the human understanding have not been known in earlier times, it professes to have discovered, in the physical organization of the brain, their proper source, or essential condition, and the true index to their measure, number, and distribution. In short, the leading phrenologists, by acknowledging no spiritual substance, virtually deny that ancient doctrine, "It is not in flesh to think, or bones to reason," [42] and make the mind either a material substance, or a mere mode without substantial being. 14. "The doctrine of _immaterial substances_," says Dr. Spurzheim, "is not sufficiently amenable to the test of observation; it is founded on belief, and only supported by hypothesis."--_Phrenology_, Vol. i, p. 20. But it should be remembered, that our notion of material substance, is just as much a matter of hypothesis. All accidents, whether they be qualities or actions, we necessarily suppose to have some support; and this we call _substance_, deriving the term from the Latin, or _hypostasis_, if we choose to borrow from the Greek. But what this substance, or hypostasis, is, independently of its qualities or actions, we know not. This is clearly proved by Locke. What do we mean by _matter_? and what by _mind_? _Matter_ is that which is solid, extended, divisible, movable, and occupies space. _Mind_ is that which thinks, and wills, and reasons, and remembers, and worships. Here are qualities in the one case; operations in the other. Here are two definitions as totally distinct as any two can be; and he that sees not in them a difference of _substance_, sees it nowhere: to him all natures are one; and that one, an absurd supposition. 15. In favour of what is urged by the phrenologists, it may perhaps be admitted, as a natural law, that, "If a picture of a visible object be formed upon the retina, and the impression be communicated, by the nerves, to the brain, the _result_ will be an act of perception."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 4. But it does not follow, nor did the writer of this sentence believe, that perception is a mere act or attribute of the organized matter of the brain. A material object can only occasion in our sensible organs a corporeal motion, which has not in it the nature of thought or perception; and upon what principle of causation, shall a man believe, in respect to vision, that the thing which he sees, is more properly the cause of the idea conceived of it, than is the light by which he beholds it, or the mind in which that idea is formed? Lord Kames avers, that, "Colour, which appears to the eye as spread upon a substance, has no existence but in the mind of the spectator."--_Elements of Criticism_, i, 178. And Cicero placed the perception, not only of colour, but of taste, of sound, of smell, and of touch, in the mind, rather than in the senses. "Illud est album, hoc dulce, canorum illud, hoc bene olens, hoc asperum: animo jam haec tenemus comprehensa, non sensibus."--_Ciceronis Acad._ Lib. ii, 7. Dr. Beattie, however, says: "Colours inhere not in the coloured body, but in the light that falls upon it; * * * and the word _colour_ denotes, an external thing, and never a sensation of the mind."--_Moral Science_, i, 54. Here is some difference of opinion; but however the thing may be, it does not affect my argument; which is, that to perceive or think is an act or attribute of our immaterial substance or nature, and not to be supposed the effect either of the objects perceived or of our own corporeal organization. 16. Divine wisdom has established the senses as the avenues through which our minds shall receive notices of the forms and qualities of external things; but the sublime conception of the ancients, that these forms and qualities had an abstract preexistence in the divine mind, is a common doctrine of many English authors, as Milton, Cowper, Akenside, and others. For example: "Now if _Ens primum_ be the cause of _entia a primo_, then he hath the idea of them in him: for he made them by counsel, and not by necessity; for then he should have needed them, and they have a parhelion of that wisdom that is in his Idea."--_Richardson's Logic_, p. 16: Lond. 1657. "Then the Great Spirit, whom his works adore, Within his own deep essence view'd the forms, The forms eternal of created things."--AKENSIDE. _Pleasures of the Imagination_, Book i. "And in the school of sacred wisdom taught, To read his wonders, in whose thought the world, Fair as it is, existed ere it was."--COWPER. _Task: Winter Morning Walk_, p. 150. "Thence to behold this new-created world, The addition of his empire, how it show'd In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea."--MILTON. _Paradise Lost_, Book vii, line 554. "Thought shines from God as shines the morn; Language from kindling thought is born." ANON.: _a Poem in imitation of Coleridge_. 17. "Original Truth," [43] says Harris, "having the most intimate connection with the _Supreme Intelligence_, may be said (as it were) to shine with unchangeable splendor, enlightening throughout the universe every possible subject, by nature susceptible of its benign influence. Passions and other obstacles may prevent indeed its efficacy, as clouds and vapours may obscure the sun; but itself neither admits diminution, nor change, because the darkness respects only particular percipients. Among _these_ therefore we must look for ignorance and error, and for that _subordination of intelligence_ which is their natural consequence. Partial views, the imperfections of sense; inattention, idleness, the turbulence of passions; education, local sentiments, opinions, and belief; conspire in many instances to furnish us with ideas, some too partial, and (what is worse than all this) with many that are erroneous, and contrary to truth. These it behoves us to correct as far as possible, by cool suspense and candid examination. Thus by a connection perhaps little expected, the cause of _Letters_, and that of _Virtue_, appear to coincide; it being the business of both, to examine our ideas, and to amend them by the standard of nature and of truth."--See _Hermes_, p. 406. 18. Although it seems plain from our own consciousness, that the mind is an active self-moving principle or essence, yet capable of being moved, after its own manner, by other causes outward as well as inward; and although it must be obvious to reflection, that all its ideas, perceptions, and emotions, are, with respect to itself, of a spiritual nature--bearing such a relation to the spiritual substance in which alone they appear, as bodily motion is seen to bear to material substances; yet we know, from experience and observation, that they who are acquainted with words, are apt to think in words--that is, mentally to associate their internal conceptions with the verbal signs which they have learned to use. And though I do not conceive the position to be generally true, that words are to the mind itself the necessary instruments of thought, yet, in my apprehension, it cannot well be denied, that in some of its operations and intellectual reaches, the mind is greatly assisted by its own contrivances with respect to language. I refer not now to the communication of knowledge; for, of this, language is admitted to be properly the instrument. But there seem to be some processes of thought, or calculation, in which the mind, by a wonderful artifice in the combination of terms, contrives to prevent embarrassment, and help itself forward in its conceptions, when the objects before it are in themselves perhaps infinite in number or variety. 19. We have an instance of this in numeration. No idea is more obvious or simple than that of unity, or one. By the continual addition of this, first to itself to make two, and then to each higher combination successively, we form a series of different numbers, which may go on to infinity. In the consideration of these, the mind would not be able to go tar without the help of words, and those peculiarly fitted to the purpose. The understanding would lose itself in the multiplicity, were it not aided by that curious concatenation of names, which has been contrived for the several parts of the succession. As far as _twelve_ we make use of simple unrelated terms. Thenceforward we apply derivatives and compounds, formed from these in their regular order, till we arrive at a _hundred_. This one new word, _hundred_, introduced to prevent confusion, has nine hundred and ninety-nine distinct repetitions in connexion with the preceding terms, and thus brings us to a _thousand_. Here the computation begins anew, runs through all the former combinations, and then extends forward, till the word _thousand_ has been used nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand times; and then, for ten hundred thousand, we introduce the new word _million_. With this name we begin again as before, and proceed till we have used it a million of times, each combination denoting a number clearly distinguished from every other; and then, in like manner, we begin and proceed, with _billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions, etc._, to any extent we please. 20. Now can any one suppose that words are not here, in some true sense, the instruments of thought, or of the intellectual process thus carried on? Were all these different numbers to be distinguished directly by the mind itself, and denominated by terms destitute of this artificial connexion, it may well be doubted whether the greatest genius in the world would ever be able to do what any child may now effect by this orderly arrangement of words; that is, to distinguish exactly the several stages of this long progression, and see at a glance how far it is from the beginning of the series. "The great art of knowledge," says Duncan, "lies in managing with skill the capacity of the intellect, and contriving such helps, as, if they strengthen not its natural powers, may yet expose them to no unnecessary fatigue. When ideas become very complex, and by the multiplicity of their parts grow too unwieldy to be dealt with in the lump, we must ease the view of the mind by taking them to pieces, and setting before it the several portions separately, one after an other. By this leisurely survey we are enabled to take in the whole; and if we can draw it into such an orderly combination as will naturally lead the attention, step by step, in any succeeding consideration of the same idea, we shall have it ever at command, and with a single glance of thought be able to run over all its parts."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 37, Hence we may infer the great importance of method in grammar; the particulars of which, as Quintilian says, are infinite.[44] 21. Words are in themselves but audible or visible signs, mere arbitrary symbols, used, according to common practice and consent, as significant of our ideas or thoughts.[45] But so well are they fitted to be made at will the medium of mental conference, that nothing else can be conceived to equal them for this purpose. Yet it does not follow that they who have the greatest knowledge and command of words, have all they could desire in this respect. For language is in its own nature but an imperfect instrument, and even when tuned with the greatest skill, will often be found inadequate to convey the impression with which the mind may labour. Cicero, that great master of eloquence, frequently confessed, or declared, that words failed him. This, however, may be thought to have been uttered as a mere figure of speech; and some may say, that the imperfection I speak of, is but an incident of the common weakness or ignorance of human nature; and that if a man always knew what to say to an other in order to persuade or confute, to encourage or terrify him, he would always succeed, and no insufficiency of this kind would ever be felt or imagined. This also is plausible; but is the imperfection less, for being sometimes traceable to an ulterior source? Or is it certain that human languages used by perfect wisdom, would all be perfectly competent to their common purpose? And if some would be found less so than others, may there not be an insufficiency in the very nature of them all? 22. If there is imperfection in any instrument, there is so much the more need of care and skill in the use of it. Duncan, in concluding his chapter about words as signs of our ideas, says, "It is apparent, that we are sufficiently provided with the means' of communicating our thoughts one to another; and that the mistakes so frequently complained of on this head, are wholly owing to ourselves, in not sufficiently defining the terms we use; or perhaps not connecting them with clear and determinate ideas."--_Logic_, p. 69. On the other hand, we find that some of the best and wisest of men confess the inadequacy of language, while they also deplore its misuse. But, whatever may be its inherent defects, or its culpable abuses, it is still to be honoured as almost the only medium for the communication of thought and the diffusion of knowledge. Bishop Butler remarks, in his Analogy of Religion, (a most valuable work, though defective in style,) "So likewise the imperfections attending the only method by which nature enables and directs us to communicate our thoughts to each other, are innumerable. Language is, in its very nature, inadequate, ambiguous, liable to infinite abuse, even from negligence; and so liable to it from design, that every man can deceive and betray by it."--Part ii, Chap. 3. Lord Kames, too, seconds this complaint, at least in part: "Lamentable is the imperfection of language, almost in every particular that falls not under external sense. I am talking of a matter exceedingly clear in the perception, and yet I find no small difficulty to express it clearly in words."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 86. "All writers," says Sheridan, "seem to be under the influence of one common delusion, that by the help of words alone, they can communicate all that passes in their minds."--_Lectures on Elocution_, p. xi. 23. Addison also, in apologizing for Milton's frequent use of old words and foreign idioms, says, "I may further add, that Milton's sentiments and ideas were so wonderfully sublime, that it would have been impossible for him to have represented them in their full strength and beauty, without having recourse to these foreign assistances. _Our language sunk under him_, and was unequal to that greatness of soul which furnished him with such glorious conceptions."--_Spectator_, No. 297. This, however, Dr. Johnson seems to regard as a mere compliment to genius; for of Milton he says, "The truth is, that both in prose and verse, he had formed his style by a perverse and pedantick principle." But the grandeur of his thoughts is not denied by the critic; nor is his language censured without qualification. "Whatever be the faults of his diction, he cannot want the praise of copiousness and variety: he was master of his language in its full extent; and has selected the melodious words with such diligence, that from his book alone the Art of English Poetry might be learned."-- _Johnson's Life of Milton_: _Lives_, p. 92. 24. As words abstractly considered are empty and vain, being in their nature mere signs, or tokens, which derive all their value from the ideas and feelings which they suggest; it is evident that he who would either speak or write well, must be furnished with something more than a knowledge of sounds and letters. Words fitly spoken are indeed both precious and beautiful--"like apples of gold in pictures of silver." But it is not for him whose soul is dark, whose designs are selfish, whose affections are dead, or whose thoughts are vain, to say with the son of Amram, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."--_Deut._, xxxii, 2. It is not for him to exhibit the true excellency of speech, because he cannot feel its power. It is not for him, whatever be the theme, to convince the judgement with deductions of reason, to fire the imagination with glowing imagery, or win with graceful words the willing ear of taste. His wisdom shall be silence, when men are present; for the soul of manly language, is the soul that thinks and feels as best becomes a man. CHAPTER VI. OF THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. "Non mediocres enim tenebrae in sylva, ubi haec captanda: neque eon, quo pervenire volumus semitae tritae: neque non in tramitibus quaedam objecta, quae euntem retinere possent."--VARRO. _De Lingua Latina_, Lib. iv, p. 4. 1. In order that we may set a just value upon the literary labours of those who, in former times, gave particular attention to the culture of the English language, and that we may the better judge of the credibility of modern pretensions to further improvements, it seems necessary that we should know something of the course of events through which its acknowledged melioration in earlier days took place. For, in this case, the extent of a man's knowledge is the strength of his argument. As Bacon quotes Aristotle, "Qui respiciunt ad pauca, de facili pronunciant." He that takes a narrow view, easily makes up his mind. But what is any opinion worth, if further knowledge of facts can confute it? 2. Whatsoever is successively varied, or has such a manner of existence as time can affect, must have had both an origin and a progress; and may have also its particular _history_, if the opportunity for writing it be not neglected. But such is the levity of mankind, that things of great moment are often left without memorial, while the hand of Literature is busy to beguile the world with trifles or with fictions, with fancies or with lies. The rude and cursory languages of barbarous nations, till the genius of Grammar arise to their rescue, are among those transitory things which unsparing time is ever hurrying away, irrecoverably, to oblivion. Tradition knows not what they were; for of their changes she takes no account. Philosophy tells us, they are resolved into the variable, fleeting breath of the successive generations of those by whom they were spoken; whose kindred fate it was, to pass away unnoticed and nameless, lost in the elements from which they sprung. 3. Upon the history of the English language, darkness thickens as we tread back the course of time. The subject of our inquiry becomes, at every step, more difficult and less worthy. We have now a tract of English literature, both extensive and luminous; and though many modern writers, and no few even of our writers on grammar, are comparatively very deficient in style, it is safe to affirm that the English language in general has never been written or spoken with more propriety and elegance, than it is at the present day. Modern English we read with facility; and that which was good two centuries ago, though considerably antiquated, is still easily understood. The best way, therefore, to gain a practical knowledge of the changes which our language has undergone, is, to read some of our older authors in retrograde order, till the style employed at times more and more remote, becomes in some degree familiar. Pursued in this manner, the study will be less difficult, and the labour of the curious inquirer, which may be suspended or resumed at pleasure, will be better repaid, than if he proceed in the order of history, and attempt at first the Saxon remains. 4. The value of a language as an object of study, depends chiefly on the character of the _books_ which it contains; and, secondarily, on its connexion with others more worthy to be thoroughly known. In this instance, there are several circumstances which are calculated soon to discourage research. As our language took its rise during the barbarism of the dark ages, the books through which its early history must be traced, are not only few and meagre, but, in respect to grammar, unsettled and diverse. It is not to be expected that inquiries of this kind will ever engage the attention of any very considerable number of persons. Over the minds of the reading public, the attractions of novelty hold a much greater influence, than any thing that is to be discovered in the dusk of antiquity. All old books contain a greater or less number of obsolete words, and antiquated modes of expression, which puzzle the reader, and call him too frequently to his glossary. And even the most common terms, when they appear in their ancient, unsettled orthography, are often so disguised as not to be readily recognized. 5. These circumstances (the last of which should be a caution to us against innovations in spelling) retard the progress of the reader, impose a labour too great for the ardour of his curiosity, and soon dispose him to rest satisfied with an ignorance, which, being general, is not likely to expose him to censure. For these reasons, ancient authors are little read; and the real antiquary is considered a man of odd habits, who, by a singular propensity, is led into studies both unfashionable and fruitless--a man who ought to have been born in the days of old, that he might have spoken the language he is so curious to know, and have appeared in the costume of an age better suited to his taste. 6. But _Learning_ is ever curious to explore the records of time, as well as the regions of space; and wherever her institutions flourish, she will amass her treasures, and spread them before her votaries. Difference of languages she easily overcomes; but the leaden reign of unlettered Ignorance defies her scrutiny. Hence, of one period of the world's history, she ever speaks with horror--that "long night of apostasy," during which, like a lone Sibyl, she hid her precious relics in solitary cells, and fleeing from degraded Christendom, sought refuge with the eastern caliphs. "This awful decline of true religion in the world carried with it almost every vestige of civil liberty, of classical literature, and of scientific knowledge; and it will generally be found in experience that they must all stand or fall together."--_Hints on Toleration_, p. 263. In the tenth century, beyond which we find nothing that bears much resemblance to the English language as now written, this mental darkness appears to have gathered to its deepest obscuration; and, at that period, England was sunk as low in ignorance, superstition, and depravity, as any other part of Europe. 7. The English language gradually varies as we trace it back, and becomes at length identified with the Anglo-Saxon; that is, with the dialect spoken by the Saxons after their settlement in England. These Saxons were a fierce, warlike, unlettered people from Germany; whom the ancient Britons had invited to their assistance against the Picts and Scots. Cruel and ignorant, like their Gothic kindred, who had but lately overrun the Roman empire, they came, not for the good of others, but to accommodate themselves. They accordingly seized the country; destroyed or enslaved the ancient inhabitants; or, more probably, drove the remnant of them into the mountains of Wales. Of Welsh or ancient British words, Charles Bucke, who says in his grammar that he took great pains to be accurate in his scale of derivation, enumerates but one hundred and eleven, as now found in our language; and Dr. Johnson, who makes them but ninety-five, argues from their paucity, or almost total absence, that the Saxons could not have mingled at all with these people, or even have retained them in vassalage. 8. The ancient languages of France and of the British isles are said to have proceeded from an other language yet more ancient, called the _Celtic_; so that, from one common source, are supposed to have sprung the present Welsh, the present Irish, and the present Highland Scotch.[46] The term _Celtic_ Dr. Webster defines, as a noun, "The language of the Celts;" and, as an adjective, "Pertaining to the primitive inhabitants of the south and west of Europe, or to the early inhabitants of Italy, Gaul, Spain, and Britain." What _unity_, according to this, there was, or could have been, in the ancient Celtic tongue, does not appear from books, nor is it easy to be conjectured.[47] Many ancient writers sustain this broad application of the term _Celtae_ or _Celts_; which, according to Strabo's etymology of it, means horsemen, and seems to have been almost as general as our word _Indians_. But Caesar informs us that the name was more particularly claimed by the people who, in his day, lived in France between the Seine and the Garonne, and who by the Romans were called _Galli_, or _Gauls_. 9. The _Celtic_ tribes are said to have been the descendants of Gomer, the son of Japhet. The English historians agree that the first inhabitants of their island owed their origin and their language to the _Celtae_, or Gauls, who settled on the opposite shore. Julius Caesar, who invaded Britain about half a century before the Christian era, found the inhabitants ignorant of letters, and destitute of any history but oral tradition. To this, however, they paid great attention, teaching every thing in verse. Some of the Druids, it is said in Caesar's Commentaries, spent twenty years in learning to repeat songs and hymns that were never committed to writing. These ancient priests, or diviners, are represented as having great power, and as exercising it in some respects beneficially; but their horrid rites, with human sacrifices, provoked the Romans to destroy them. Smollett says, "Tiberius suppressed those human sacrifices in Gaul; and Claudius destroyed the Druids of that country; but they subsisted in Britain till the reign of Nero, when Paulus Suetonius reduced the island of Anglesey, which was the place of their retreat, and overwhelmed them with such unexpected and sudden destruction, that all their knowledge and tradition, conveyed to them in the songs of their predecessors, perished at once."--_Smollett's Hist. of Eng._, 4to, B. i, Ch. i, Sec.7. 10. The Romans considered Britain a province of their empire, for a period of about five hundred years; but the northern part of the island was never entirely subdued by them, and not till Anno Domini 78, a hundred and thirty-three years after their first invasion of the country, had they completed their conquest of England. Letters and arts, so far at least as these are necessary to the purposes of war or government, the victors carried with them; and under their auspices some knowledge of Christianity was, at a very early period, introduced into Britain. But it seems strange, that after all that is related of their conquests, settlements, cities, fortifications, buildings, seminaries, churches, laws, &c., they should at last have left the Britons in so helpless, degraded, and forlorn a condition. They _did not sow among them the seeds_ of any permanent improvement. 11. The Roman government, being unable to sustain itself at home, withdrew its forces finally from Britain in the year 446, leaving the wretched inhabitants almost as savage as it found them, and in a situation even less desirable. Deprived of their native resources, their ancient independence of spirit, as well as of the laws, customs, institutions, and leaders, that had kept them together under their old dynasties, and now deserted by their foreign protectors, they were apparently left at the mercy of blind fortune, the wretched vicissitudes of which there was none to foresee, none to resist. The glory of the Romans now passed away. The mighty fabric of their own proud empire crumbled into ruins. Civil liberty gave place to barbarism; Christian truth, to papal superstition; and the lights of science were put out by both. The shades of night gathered over all; settling and condensing, "till almost every point of that wide horizon, over which the Sun of Righteousness had diffused his cheering rays, was enveloped in a darkness more awful and more portentous than that which of old descended upon rebellious Pharaoh and the callous sons of Ham."--_Hints on Toleration_, p. 310. 12. The Saxons entered Britain in the year 449. But what was the form of their language at that time, cannot now be known. It was a dialect of the _Gothic_ or _Teutonic_; which is considered the parent of all the northern tongues of Europe, except some few of Sclavonian origin. The only remaining monument of the Gothic language is a copy of the Gospels, translated by Ulphilas; which is preserved at Upsal, and called, from its embellishments, _the Silver Book_. This old work has been three times printed in England. We possess not yet in America all the advantages which may be enjoyed by literary men in the land of our ancestors; but the stores of literature, both ancient and modern, are somewhat more familiar to us, than is there supposed; and the art of printing is fast equalizing, to all nations that cultivate learning, the privilege of drinking at its ancient fountains. 13. It is neither liberal nor just to argue unfavourably of the intellectual or the moral condition of any remote age or country, merely from our own ignorance of it. It is true, we can derive from no quarter a favourable opinion of the state of England after the Saxon invasion, and during the tumultuous and bloody government of the heptarchy. But I will not darken the picture through design. If justice were done to the few names--to Gildas the wise, the memorialist of his country's sufferings and censor of the nation's depravity, who appears a solitary star in the night of the sixth century--to the venerable Bede, the greatest theologian, best scholar, and only historian of the seventh--to Alcuin, the abbot of Canterbury, the luminary of the eighth--to Alfred the great, the glory of the ninth, great as a prince, and greater as a scholar, seen in the evening twilight of an age in which the clergy could not read;--if justice were done to all such, we might find something, even in these dark and rugged times, if not to soften the grimness of the portrait, at least to give greater distinctness of feature. 14. In tracing the history of our language, Dr. Johnson, who does little more than give examples, cites as his first specimen of ancient English, a portion of king [sic--KTH] Alfred's paraphrase in imitation of Boethius. But this language of Alfred's is not English; but rather, as the learned doctor himself considered it, an example of the Anglo-Saxon in its highest state of purity. This dialect was first changed by admixture with words derived from the Danish and the Norman; and, still being comparatively rude and meagre, afterwards received large accessions from the Latin, the French, the Greek, the Dutch--till, by gradual changes, which the etymologist may exhibit, there was at length produced a language bearing a sufficient resemblance to the present English, to deserve to be called English at this day. 15. The formation of our language cannot with propriety be dated earlier than the thirteenth century. It was then that a free and voluntary amalgamation of its chief constituent materials took place; and this was somewhat earlier than we date the revival of learning. The English of the thirteenth century is scarcely intelligible to the modern reader. Dr. Johnson calls it "a kind of intermediate diction, neither Saxon nor English;" and says, that Sir John Gower, who wrote in the latter part of the fourteenth century, was "the first of our authors who can be properly said to have written English." Contemporary with Gower, the father of English poetry, was the still greater poet, his disciple Chaucer; who embraced many of the tenets of Wickliffe, and imbibed something of the spirit of the reformation, which was now begun. 16. The literary history of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is full of interest; for it is delightful to trace the progress of great and obvious improvement. The reformation of religion and the revival of learning were nearly simultaneous. Yet individuals may have acted a conspicuous part in the latter, who had little to do with the former; for great learning does not necessarily imply great piety, though, as Dr. Johnson observes, "the Christian religion always implies or produces a certain degree of civility and learning."--_Hist. Eng. Lang. before his 4to Dict._ "The ordinary instructions of the clergy, both philosophical and religious, gradually fell into contempt, as the Classics superseded the one, and the Holy Scriptures expelled the other. The first of these changes was effected by _the early grammarians_ of Europe; and it gave considerable aid to the reformation, though it had no immediate connexion with that event. The revival of the English Bible, however, completed the work: and though its appearance was late, and its progress was retarded in every possible manner, yet its dispersion was at length equally rapid, extensive, and effectual."--_Constable's Miscellany_, Vol. xx, p. 75. 17. Peculiar honour is due to those who lead the way in whatever advances human happiness. And, surely, our just admiration of the character of the _reformers_ must be not a little enhanced, when we consider what they did for letters as well as for the church. Learning does not consist in useless jargon, in a multitude of mere words, or in acute speculations remote from practice; else the seventeen folios of St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelical doctor of the thirteenth century, and the profound disputations of his great rival, Duns Scotus the subtle, for which they were revered in their own age, had not gained them the contempt of all posterity. From such learning the lucid reasoning of the reformers delivered the halls of instruction. The school divinity of the middle ages passed away before the presence of that which these men learned from the Bible, as did in a later age the Aristotelian philosophy before that which Bacon drew from nature. 18. Towards the latter part of the fourteenth century, Wickliffe furnished the first entire translation of the Bible into English. In like manner did the Germans, a hundred and fifty years after, receive it in their tongue from the hands of Luther; who says, that at twenty years of age, he himself had not seen it in any language. Wickliffe's English style is elegant for the age in which he lived, yet very different from what is elegant now. This first English translation of the Bible, being made about a hundred years before the introduction of printing into England, could not have been very extensively circulated. A large specimen of it may be seen in Dr. Johnson's History of the English Language. Wickliffe died in 1384. The art of printing was invented about 1440, and first introduced into England, in 1468; but the first printed edition of the Bible in English, was executed in Germany. It was completed, October 5th, 1535. 19. "Martin Luther, about the year 1517, first introduced metrical psalmody into the service of the church, which not only kept alive the enthusiasm of the reformers, but formed a rallying point for his followers. This practice spread in all directions; and it was not long ere six thousand persons were heard singing together at St. Paul's Cross in London. Luther was a poet and musician; but the same talent existed not in his followers. Thirty years afterwards, Sternhold versified fifty-one of the Psalms; and in 1562, with the help of Hopkins, he completed the Psalter. These poetical effusions were chiefly sung to German melodies, which the good taste of Luther supplied: but the Puritans, in a subsequent age, nearly destroyed these germs of melody, assigning as a reason, that music should be so simplified as to suit all persons, and that all may join."--_Dr. Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 283. 20. "The schools and colleges of England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were not governed by a system of education which would render their students very eminent either as scholars or as gentlemen: and the monasteries, which were used as seminaries, even until the reformation, taught only the corrupt Latin used by the ecclesiastics. The time however was approaching, when the united efforts of Stanbridge, Linacre, Sir John Cheke, Dean Colet, Erasmus, William Lily, Roger Ascham, &c., were successful in reviving the Latin tongue in all its purity; and even in exciting a taste for Greek in a nation the clergy of which opposed its introduction with the same vehemence which characterized their enmity to a reformation in religion. The very learned Erasmus, the first who undertook the teaching of the Greek language at Oxford, met with few friends to support him; notwithstanding Oxford was the seat of nearly all the learning in England."--_Constable's Miscellany_, Vol. xx, p. 146. 21. "The priests preached against it, as a very recent invention of the arch-enemy; and confounding in their misguided zeal, the very foundation of their faith, with the object of their resentment, they represented the New Testament itself as 'an impious and dangerous book,' because it was written in that heretical language. Even after the accession of Henry VIII, when Erasmus, who had quitted Oxford in disgust, returned under his especial patronage, with the support of several eminent scholars and powerful persons, his progress was still impeded, and the language opposed. The University was divided into parties, called Greeks and Trojans, the latter being the strongest, from being favoured by the monks; and the Greeks were driven from the streets, with hisses and other expressions of contempt. It was not therefore until Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey gave it their positive and powerful protection, that this persecuted language was allowed to be quietly studied, even in the institutions dedicated to learning."--_Ib._, p. 147. 22. These curious extracts are adduced to show the _spirit of the times_, and the obstacles then to be surmounted in the cause of learning. This popular opposition to Greek, did not spring from a patriotic design to prefer and encourage English literature; for the improvement of this was still later, and the great promoters of it were all of them classical scholars. They wrote in English, not because they preferred it, but because none but those who were bred in colleges, could read any thing else; and, even to this very day, the grammatical study of the English language is shamefully neglected in what are called the higher institutions of learning. In alleging this neglect, I speak comparatively. Every student, on entering upon the practical business of life, will find it of far more importance to him, to be skillful in the language of his own country than to be distinguished for any knowledge which the learned only can appreciate. "Will the greatest Mastership in Greek and Latin, or [the] translating [of] these Languages into English, avail for the Purpose of acquiring an elegant English Style? No--we know just the Reverse from woeful Experience! And, as Mr. Locke and the Spectator observe, Men who have threshed hard at Greek and Latin for ten or eleven years together, are very often deficient in their own Language."--_Preface to the British Gram._, 8vo, 1784, p. xxi. 23. That the progress of English literature in early times was slow, will not seem wonderful to those who consider what is affirmed of the progress of other arts, more immediately connected with the comforts of life. "Down to the reign of Elizabeth, the greater part of the houses in considerable towns, had no chimneys: the fire was kindled against the wall, and the smoke found its way out as well as it could, by the roof, the door, or the windows. The houses were mostly built of wattling, plastered over with clay; and the beds were only straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow. In this respect, even the king fared no better than his subjects; for, in Henry the Eighth's time, we find directions, 'to examine every night the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed therein.' A writer in 1577, speaking of the progress of luxury, mentions three things especially, that were 'marvellously altered for the worse in England;' the multitude of chimneys lately erected, the increase of lodgings, and the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver and tin; and he complains bitterly that oak instead of willow was employed in the building of houses."--REV. ROYAL ROBBINS: _Outlines of History_, p. 377. 24. Shakspeare appeared in the reign of Elizabeth; outlived her thirteen years; and died in 1616 aged 52. The English language in his hands did not lack power or compass of expression. His writings are now more extensively read, than any others of that age; nor has any very considerable part of his phraseology yet become obsolete. But it ought to be known, that the printers or editors of the editions which are now read, have taken extensive liberty in modernizing his orthography, as well as that of other old authors still popular. How far such liberty is justifiable, it is difficult to say. Modern readers doubtless find a convenience in it. It is very desirable that the orthography of our language should be made uniform, and remain permanent. Great alterations cannot be suddenly introduced; and there is, in stability, an advantage which will counterbalance that of a slow approximation to regularity. Analogy may sometimes decide the form of variable words, but the concurrent usage of the learned must ever be respected, in this, as in every other part of grammar. 25. Among the earliest of the English grammarians, was Ben Jonson, the poet; who died in the year 1637, at the age of sixty-three. His grammar, (which Horne Tooke mistakingly calls "the _first_ as well as the _best_ English grammar,") is still extant, being published in the several editions of his works. It is a small treatise, and worthy of attention only as a matter of curiosity. It is written in prose, and designed chiefly for the aid of foreigners. Grammar is an unpoetical subject, and therefore not wisely treated, as it once very generally was, in verse. But every poet should be familiar with the art, because the formal principles of his own have always been considered as embraced in it. To its poets, too, every language must needs be particularly indebted; because their compositions, being in general more highly finished than works in prose, are supposed to present the language in its most agreeable form. In the preface to the Poems of Edmund Waller, published in 1690, the editor ventures to say, "He was, indeed, the Parent of English Verse, and the first that shewed us our Tongue had Beauty and Numbers in it. Our Language owes more to Him, than the French does to Cardinal Richelieu and the whole Academy. * * * * The Tongue came into His hands a rough diamond: he polished it first; and to _that_ degree, that all artists since him have admired the workmanship, without pretending to mend it."--_British Poets_, Vol. ii, Lond., 1800: _Waller's Poems_, p. 4. 26. Dr. Johnson, however, in his Lives of the Poets, abates this praise, that he may transfer the greater part of it to Dryden and Pope. He admits that, "After about half a century of forced thoughts and rugged metre, some advances towards nature and harmony had been already made by Waller and Denham;" but, in distributing the praise of this improvement, he adds, "It may be doubted whether Waller and Denham could have over-born [_overborne_] the prejudices which had long prevailed, and which even then were sheltered by the protection of Cowley. The new versification, as it was called, may be considered as owing its establishment to Dryden; from whose time it is apparent that English poetry has had no tendency to relapse to its former savageness."--_Johnson's Life of Dryden: Lives_, p. 206. To Pope, as the translator of Homer, he gives this praise: "His version may be said to have tuned the English tongue; for since its appearance no writer, however deficient in other powers, has wanted melody."--_Life of Pope: Lives_, p. 567. Such was the opinion of Johnson; but there are other critics who object to the versification of Pope, that it is "monotonous and cloying." See, in Leigh Hunt's Feast of the Poets, the following couplet, and a note upon it: "But ever since Pope spoil'd the ears of the town With his cuckoo-song verses half up and half down." 27. The unfortunate Charles I, as well as his father James I, was a lover and promoter of letters. He was himself a good scholar, and wrote well in English, for his time: he ascended the throne in 1625, and was beheaded in 1648. Nor was Cromwell himself, with all his religious and military enthusiasm, wholly insensible to _literary_ merit. This century was distinguished by the writings of Milton, Dryden, Waller, Cowley, Denham, Locke, and others; and the reign of Charles II, which is embraced in it, has been considered by some "the Augustan age of English literature." But that honour, if it may well be bestowed on any, belongs rather to a later period. The best works produced in the eighteenth century, are so generally known and so highly esteemed, that it would be lavish of the narrow space allowed to this introduction, to speak particularly of their merits. Some grammatical errors may be found in almost all books; but our language was, in general, written with great purity and propriety by Addison, Swift, Pope, Johnson, Lowth, Hume, Horne, and many other celebrated authors who flourished in the last century. Nor was it much before this period, that the British writers took any great pains to be accurate in the use of their own language; "Late, very late, correctness grew our care, When the tir'd nation breath'd from civil war."--_Pope_. 28. English books began to be printed in the early part of the sixteenth century; and, as soon as a taste for reading was formed, the press threw open the flood-gates of general knowledge, the streams of which are now pouring forth, in a copious, increasing, but too often turbid tide, upon all the civilized nations of the earth. This mighty engine afforded a means by which superior minds could act more efficiently and more extensively upon society in general. And thus, by the exertions of genius adorned with learning, our native tongue has been made the polished vehicle of the most interesting truths, and of the most important discoveries; and has become a language copious, strong, refined, and capable of no inconsiderable degree of harmony. Nay, it is esteemed by some who claim to be competent judges, to be the strongest, the richest, the most elegant, and the most susceptible of sublime imagery, of all the languages in the world. CHAPTER VII. CHANGES AND SPECIMENS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. "Quot enim verba, et nonnunquam in deterius, hoc, quo vivimus, saeculo, partim aliqa, partim nulla necessitate cogente, mutata sunt?"--ROB. AINSWORTH: _Lat. Dict., 4to_; Praef., p. xi. 1. In the use of language, every one chooses his words from that common stock which he has learned, and applies them in practice according to his own habits and notions. If the style of different writers of the same age is various, much greater is the variety which appears in the productions of different ages. Hence the date of a book may often be very plausibly conjectured from the peculiarities of its style. As to what is best in itself, or best adapted to the subject in hand, every writer must endeavour to become his own judge. He who, in any sort of composition, would write with a master's hand, must first apply himself to books with a scholar's diligence. He must think it worth his while to inform himself, that he may be critical. Desiring to give the student all the advantage, entertainment, and satisfaction, that can be expected from a work of this kind, I shall subjoin a few brief specimens in illustration of what has been said in the foregoing chapter. The order of time will be followed _inversely_; and, as Saxon characters are not very easily obtained, or very apt to be read, the Roman letters will be employed for the few examples to which the others would be more appropriate. But there are some peculiarities of ancient usage in English, which, for the information of the young reader, it is proper in the first place to explain. 2. With respect to the letters, there are _several changes_ to be mentioned. (1.) The pages of old books are often crowded with capitals: it was at one time the custom to distinguish all nouns, and frequently verbs, or any other important words, by heading them with a great letter. (2.) The letter Ess, of the lower case, had till lately two forms, the long and the short, as [tall-s] and s; the former very nearly resembling the small f, and the latter, its own capital. The short _s_ was used _at the end of words_, and the long _[tall-s]_, in other places; but the latter is now laid aside, in favour of the more distinctive form. (3.) The letters _I_ and _J_ were formerly considered as one and the same. Hence we find _hallelujah_ for _halleluiah, Iohn_ for _John, iudgement_ for _judgement_, &c. And in many dictionaries, the words beginning with _J_ are still mixed with those which begin with _I_. (4.) The letters _U_ and _V_ were mixed in like manner, and for the same reason; the latter being a consonant power given to the former, and at length distinguished from it by a different form. Or rather, the figure of the capital seems to have been at last appropriated to the one, and that of the small letter to the other. But in old books the forms of these two letters are continually confounded or transposed. Hence it is, that our _Double-u_ is composed of two _Vees_; which, as we see in old books, were sometimes printed separately: as, VV, for W; or vv, for w. 3. The _orthography_ of our language, rude and unsettled as it still is in many respects, was formerly much more variable and diverse. In books a hundred years old or more, we often find the most common words spelled variously by the same writer, and even upon the very same page. With respect to the forms of words, a few particulars may here be noticed: (1.) The article _an_, from which the _n_ was dropped before words beginning with a consonant sound, is often found in old books where _a_ would be more proper; as, _an heart, an help, an hill, an one, an use_. (2.) Till the seventeenth century, the possessive case was written without the apostrophe; being formed at different times, in _es, is, ys, or s_, like the plural; and apparently without rule or uniformity in respect to the doubling of the final consonant: as _Goddes, Godes, Godis, Godys_, or _Gods_, for _God's_; so _mannes, mannis, mannys_ or _mans_, for _man's_. Dr. Ash, whose English Grammar was in some repute in the latter part of the eighteenth century, argued against the use of the apostrophe, alleging that it was seldom used to distinguish the possessive case till about the beginning of that century; and he then prophesied that the time would come, when _correct writers would lay it aside again_, as a strange corruption, an improper "departure from the original formation" of that case of English nouns. And, among the speculations of these latter days, I have somewhere seen an attempt to disparage this useful sign, and explode it, as an unsightly thing _never well established_. It does not indeed, like a syllabic sign, inform the ear or affect the sound; but still it is useful, because it distinguishes to the eye, not only the _case_, but the _number_, of the nouns thus marked. Pronouns, being different in their declension, do not need it, and should therefore always be written without it. 4. The common usage of those who have spoken English, has always inclined rather to brevity than to melody; contraction and elision of the ancient terminations of words, constitute no small part of the change which has taken place, or of the difference which perhaps always existed between the solemn and the familiar style. In respect to euphony, however, these terminations have certainly nothing to boast; nor does the earliest period of the language appear to be that in which they were the most generally used without contraction. That degree of smoothness of which the tongue was anciently susceptible, had certainly no alliance with these additional syllables. The long sonorous endings which constitute the declensions and conjugations of the most admired languages, and which seem to chime so well with the sublimity of the Greek, the majesty of the Latin, the sweetness of the Italian, the dignity of the Spanish, or the polish of the French, _never had_ any place in English. The inflections given to our words never embraced any other vowel power than that of the short _e_ or _i_; and even, this we are inclined to dispense with, whenever we can; so that most of our grammatical inflections are, to the ear, nothing but consonants blended with the final syllables of the words to which they are added. _Ing_ for the first participle, _er_ for the comparative degree, and _est_ for the superlative, are indeed added as whole syllables; but the rest, as _d_ or _ed_ for preterits and perfect participles, _s_ or _es_ for the plural number of nouns, or for the third person singular of verbs, and _st_ or _est_ for the second person singular of verbs, nine times in ten, fall into the sound or syllable with which the primitive word terminates. English verbs, as they are now commonly used, run through their entire conjugation without acquiring a single syllable from inflection, except sometimes when the sound of _d, s_, or _st_ cannot be added to them. 5. This simplicity, so characteristic of our modern English, as well as of the Saxon tongue, its proper parent, is attended with advantages that go far to compensate for all that is consequently lost in euphony, or in the liberty of transposition. Our formation of the moods and tenses, by means of a few separate auxiliaries, all monosyllabic, and mostly without inflection, is not only simple and easy, but beautiful, chaste, and strong. In my opinion, our grammarians have shown far more affection for the obsolete or obsolescent terminations _en, eth, est_, and _edst_, than they really deserve. Till the beginning of the sixteenth century, _en_ was used to mark the plural number of verbs, as, _they sayen_ for _they say_; after which, it appears to have been dropped. Before the beginning of the seventeenth century, _s_ or _es_ began to dispute with _th_ or _eth_ the right of forming the third person singular of verbs; and, as the Bible and other grave books used only the latter, a clear distinction obtained, between the solemn and the familiar style, which distinction is well known at this day. Thus we have, _He runs, walks, rides, reaches_, &c., for the one; and, _He runneth, walketh, rideth, reacheth_, &c., for the other. About the same time, or perhaps earlier, the use of the second person singular began to be avoided in polite conversation, by the substitution of the plural verb and pronoun; and, when used in poetry, it was often contracted, so as to prevent any syllabic increase. In old books, all verbs and participles that were intended to be contracted in pronunciation, were contracted also, in some way, by the writer: as, "_call'd, carry'd, sacrific'd;" "fly'st, ascrib'st, cryd'st;" "tost, curst, blest, finisht_;" and others innumerable. All these, and such as are like them, we now pronounce in the same way, but usually write differently; as, _called, carried, sacrificed; fliest, ascribest, criettst; tossed, cursed, blessed, finished_. Most of these topics will be further noticed in the Grammar. I. ENGLISH OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 6. _Queen Victoria's Answer to an Address.--Example written in 1837_. "I thank you for your condolence upon the death of his late Majesty, for the justice which you render to his character, and to the measures of his reign, and for your warm congratulations upon my accession to the throne. I join in your prayers for the prosperity of my reign, the best security for which is to be found in reverence for our holy religion, and in the observance of its duties."--VICTORIA, _to the Friends' Society_. 7. _From President Adams's Eulogy on Lafayette.--Written in 1834_. "Pronounce him one of the first men of his age, and you have yet not done him justice. Try him by that test to which he sought in vain to stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit of Napoleon; class him among the men who, to compare and seat themselves, must take in the compass of all ages; turn back your eyes upon the records of time; summon from the creation of the world to this day the mighty dead of every age and every clime; and where, among the race of merely mortal men, shall one be found, who, as the benefactor of his kind, shall claim to take precedence of Lafayette?"--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 8. _From President Jackson's Proclamation against Nullification.--1832_. "No, we have not erred! The Constitution is still the object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defence in danger, the source of our prosperity in peace. It shall descend, as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, to our posterity: and the sacrifices of local interest, of State prejudices, of personal animosities, that were made to bring it into existence, will again be patriotically offered for its support."--ANDREW JACKSON. 9. _From a Note on one of Robert Hall's Sermons.--Written about 1831_. "After he had written down the striking apostrophe which occurs at about page 76 of most of the editions--'Eternal God! on what are thine enemies intent! what are those enterprises of guilt and horror, that, for the safety of their performers, require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye of Heaven must not _penetrate_!'--he asked, 'Did I say _penetrate_, sir, when I preached, it?' 'Yes.' 'Do you think, sir, I may venture to alter it? for no man who considered the force of the English language, would use a word of three syllables there, but from absolute necessity.' 'You are doubtless at liberty to alter it, if you think well.' 'Then be so good, sir, as to take your pencil, and for _penetrate_ put _pierce_; _pierce_ is the word, sir, and the only word to be used there.'"--OLINTHUS GREGORY. 10. _King William's Answer to an Address.--Example written in 1830_. "I thank you sincerely for your condolence with me, on account of the loss which I have sustained, in common with my people, by the death of my lamented brother, his late Majesty. The assurances which you have conveyed to me, of loyalty and affectionate attachment to my person, are very gratifying to my feelings. You may rely upon my favour and protection, and upon my anxious endeavours to promote morality and true piety among all classes of my subjects."--WILLIAM IV, _to the Friends_. 11. _Reign of George IV, 1830 back to 1820.--Example written in 1827_. "That morning, thou, that slumbered[48] not before, Nor slept, great Ocean I laid thy waves to rest, And hushed thy mighty minstrelsy. No breath Thy deep composure stirred, no fin, no oar; Like beauty newly dead, so calm, so still, So lovely, thou, beneath the light that fell From angel-chariots sentinelled on high, Reposed, and listened, and saw thy living change, Thy dead arise. Charybdis listened, and Scylla; And savage Euxine on the Thracian beach Lay motionless: and every battle ship Stood still; and every ship of merchandise, And all that sailed, of every name, stood still." ROBERT POLLOK: _Course of Time_, Book VII, line 634-647. II. ENGLISH OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 12. _Reign of George III, 1820 back to 1760.--Example written in 1800_. "There is, it will be confessed, a delicate sensibility to character, a sober desire of reputation, a wish to possess the esteem of the wise and good, felt by the purest minds, which is at the farthest remove from arrogance or vanity. The humility of a noble mind scarcely dares approve of itself, until it has secured the approbation of others. Very different is that restless desire of distinction, that passion for theatrical display, which inflames the heart and occupies the whole attention of vain men. * * * The truly good man is jealous over himself, lest the notoriety of his best actions, by blending itself with their motive, should diminish their value; the vain man performs the same actions for the sake of that notoriety. The good man quietly discharges his duty, and shuns ostentation; the vain man considers every good deed lost that is not publickly displayed. The one is intent upon realities, the other upon semblances: the one aims to _be_ virtuous, the other to _appear_ so."--ROBERT HALL: _Sermon on Modern Infidelity_. 13. _From Washington's Farewell Address.--Example written in 1796_. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and publick felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of a peculiar structure; reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."--GEORGE WASHINGTON. 14. _From Dr. Johnson's Life of Addison.--Example written about 1780_. "That he always wrote as he would think it necessary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his instructions were such as the character of his readers made proper. That general knowledge which now circulates in common talk, was in his time rarely to be found. Men not professing learning, were not ashamed of ignorance; and in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured. His purpose was to infuse literary curiosity, by gentle and unsuspected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy; he therefore presented knowledge in the most alluring form, not lofty and austere, but accessible and familiar. When he shewed them their defects, he shewed them likewise that they might easily be supplied. His attempt succeeded; inquiry was awakened, and comprehension expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited, and from this time to our own, life has been gradually exalted, and conversation purified and enlarged."--SAMUEL JOHNSON: _Lives_, p. 321. 15. _Reign of George II, 1760 back to 1727.--Example written in 1751_. "We Britons in our time have been remarkable borrowers, as our _multiform_ Language may sufficiently shew. Our Terms in _polite Literature_ prove, that this came from _Greece_; our terms in _Music_ and _Painting_, that these came from Italy; our Phrases in _Cookery_ and _War_, that we learnt these from the French; and our phrases in _Navigation_, that we were taught by the _Flemings_ and _Low Dutch_. These many and very different Sources of our Language may be the cause, why it is so deficient in _Regularity_ and _Analogy_. Yet we have this advantage to compensate the defect, that what we want in _Elegance_, we gain in _Copiousness_, in which last respect few Languages will be found superior to our own."--JAMES HARRIS: _Hermes_, Book iii, Ch. v, p. 408. 16. _Reign of George I, 1727 back to 1714.--Example written about 1718_. "There is a certain coldness and indifference in the phrases of our European languages, when they are compared with the Oriental forms of speech: and it happens very luckily, that the Hebrew idioms ran into the English tongue, with a particular grace and beauty. Our language has received innumerable elegancies and improvements from that infusion of Hebraisms, which are derived to it out of the poetical passages in holy writ. They give a force and energy to our expressions, warm and animate our language, and convey our thoughts in more ardent and intense phrases, than any that are to be met with in our tongue."--JOSEPH ADDISON: _Evidences_, p. 192. 17. _Reign of Queen Anne, 1714 to 1702.--Example written in 1708_. "Some by old words to Fame have made pretence, Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense; Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd, and make the learned smile." "In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastick, if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are try'd, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." ALEXANDER POPE: _Essay on Criticism_, l. 324-336. III. ENGLISH OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 18. _Reign of William III, 1702 to 1689.--Example published in 1700_. "And when we see a Man of _Milton's_ Wit _Chime_ in with such a _Herd_, and Help on the _Cry_ against _Hirelings_! We find How Easie it is for _Folly_ and _Knavery_ to Meet, and that they are Near of Kin, tho they bear Different Aspects. Therefor since _Milton_ has put himself upon a _Level_ with the _Quakers_ in this, I will let them go together. And take as little Notice of his _Buffoonry_, as of their _Dulness_ against _Tythes_. Ther is nothing worth _Quoting_ in his _Lampoon_ against the _Hirelings_. But what ther is of _Argument_ in it, is fully Consider'd in what follows."--CHARLES LESLIE: _Divine Right of Tithes, Pref._, p. xi. 19. _Reign of James II, 1689 back to 1685.--Example written in 1685._ "His conversation, wit, and parts, His knowledge in the noblest useful arts, Were such, dead authors could not give; But habitudes of those who live; Who, lighting him, did greater lights receive: He drain'd from all, and all they knew; His apprehension quick, his judgment true: That the most learn'd with shame confess His knowledge more, his reading only less." JOHN DRYDEN: _Ode to the Memory of Charles II; Poems_, p. 84. 20. _Reign of Charles II, 1685 to 1660.--Example from a Letter to the Earl of Sunderland, dated, "Philadelphia, 28th 5th mo. July, 1683."_ "And I will venture to say, that by the help of God, and such noble Friends, I will show a Province in seven years, equal to her neighbours of forty years planting. I have lay'd out the Province into Countys. Six are begun to be seated; they lye on the great river, and are planted about six miles back. The town platt is a mile long, and two deep,--has a navigable river on each side, the least as broad as the Thames at Woolwych, from three to eight fathom water. There is built about eighty houses, and I have settled at least three hundred farmes contiguous to it."--WILLIAM PENN. _The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 179. 21. _From an Address or Dedication to Charles II.--Written in 1675_. "There is no [other] king in the world, who can so experimentally testify of God's providence and goodness; neither is there any [other], who rules so many free people, so many true Christians: which thing renders thy government more honourable, thyself more considerable, than the accession of many nations filled with slavish and superstitious souls."--ROBERT BARCLAY: _Apology_, p. viii. 22. The following example, from the commencement of _Paradise Lost_, first published in 1667, has been cited by several authors, to show how large a proportion of our language is of Saxon origin. The thirteen words in Italics are the only ones in this passage, which seem to have been derived from any other source. "Of man's first _disobedience_, and the _fruit_ Of that forbidden tree, whose _mortal_ taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of _Eden_; till one greater Man _Restore_ us, and _regain_ the blissful _seat_, Sing, heav'nly _Muse_, that on the _secret_ top Of _Oreb_, or of _Sinai_, didst _inspire_ That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning, how the Heav'ns and Earth Rose out of _Chaos_."--MILTON: _Paradise Lost_, Book I. 23. _Examples written during Cromwell's Protectorate, 1660 to 1650_. "The Queene was pleased to shew me the letter, the seale beinge a Roman eagle, havinge characters about it almost like the Greeke. This day, in the afternoone, the vice-chauncellor came to me and stayed about four hours with me; in which tyme we conversed upon the longe debates."--WHITELOCKE. _Bucke's Class. Gram._, p. 149. "I am yet heere, and have the States of Holland ingaged in a more than ordnary maner, to procure me audience of the States Generall. Whatever happen, the effects must needes be good."--STRICKLAND: _Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 149. 24. _Reign of Charles I, 1648 to 1625.--Example from Ben Jonson's Grammar, written about 1634; but the orthography is more modern_. "The second and third person singular of the present are made of the first, by adding _est_ and _eth_; which last is sometimes shortened into _s_. It seemeth to have been poetical licence which first introduced this abbreviation of the third person into use; but our best grammarians have condemned it upon some occasions, though perhaps not to be absolutely banished the common and familiar style." "The persons plural keep the termination of the first person singular. In former times, till about the reign of Henry the eighth, they were wont to be formed by adding _en_; thus, _loven, sayen, complainen_. But now (whatever is the cause) it hath quite grown out of use, and that other so generally prevailed, that I dare not presume to set this afoot again: albeit (to tell you my opinion) I am persuaded that the lack hereof well considered, will be found a great blemish to our tongue. For seeing _time_ and _person_ be, as it were, the right and left hand of a verb, what can the maiming bring else, but a lameness to the whole body?"--Book i, Chap. xvi. 25. _Reign of James I, 1625 to 1603.--From an Advertisement, dated 1608_. "I svppose it altogether needlesse (Christian Reader) by commending M. _VVilliam Perkins_, the Author of this booke, to wooe your holy affection, which either himselfe in his life time by his Christian conversation hath woon in you, or sithence his death, the neuer-dying memorie of his excellent knowledge, his great humilitie, his sound religion, his feruent zeale, his painefull labours, in the Church of God, doe most iustly challenge at your hands: onely in one word, I dare be bold to say of him as in times past _Nazianzen_ spake of _Athanasius_. His life was a good definition of a true minister and preacher of the Gospell."--_The Printer to the Reader_. 26. _Examples written about the end of Elizabeth's reign--1603_. "Some say, That euer 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's Birth is celebrated, The Bird of Dawning singeth all night long; And then, say they, no Spirit dares walk abroad: The nights are wholsom, then no Planets strike, No Fairy takes, nor Witch hath pow'r to charm; So hallow'd and so gracious is the time." SHAKSPEARE: _Hamlet_. "The sea, with such a storme as his bare head In hell-blacke night indur'd, would haue buoy'd up And quench'd the stelled fires. Yet, poore old heart, he holpe the heuens to raine. If wolues had at thy gate howl'd that sterne time, Thou shouldst haue said, Good porter, turne the key." SHAKSPEARE: _Lear_. IV. ENGLISH OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 27. _Reign of Elizabeth, 1603 back to 1558.--Example written in 1592_. "As for the soule, it is no accidentarie qualitie, but a spirituall and inuisible essence or nature, subsisting by it selfe. Which plainely appeares in that the soules of men haue beeing and continuance as well forth of the bodies of men as in the same; and are as wel subiect to torments as the bodie is. And whereas we can and doe put in practise sundrie actions of life, sense, motion, vnderstanding, we doe it onely by the power and vertue of the soule. Hence ariseth the difference betweene the soules of men, and beasts. The soules of men are substances: but the soules of other creatures seeme not to be substances; because they haue no beeing out of the bodies in which they are."--WILLIAM PERKINS: _Theol. Works, folio_, p. 155. 28. _Examples written about the beginning of Elizabeth's reign.--1558_. "Who can perswade, when treason is aboue reason; and mighte ruleth righte; and it is had for lawfull, whatsoever is lustfull; and commotioners are better than commissioners; and common woe is named common weale?"--SIR JOHN CHEKE. "If a yong jentleman will venture him selfe into the companie of ruffians, it is over great a jeopardie, lest their facions, maners, thoughts, taulke, and dedes, will verie sone be over like."--ROGER ASCHAM. 29. _Reign of Mary the Bigot, 1558 to 1553.--Example written about 1555_. "And after that Philosophy had spoken these wordes the said companye of the musys poeticall beynge rebukyd and sad, caste downe their countenaunce to the grounde, and by blussyng confessed their shamefastnes, and went out of the dores. But I (that had my syght dull and blynd wyth wepyng, so that I knew not what woman this was hauyng soo great aucthoritie) was amasyd or astonyed, and lokyng downeward, towarde the ground, I began pryvyle to look what thyng she would save ferther."--COLVILLE: _Version from Boethius: Johnson's Hist. of E. L._, p. 29. 30. _Example referred by Dr. Johnson to the year 1553_. "Pronunciation is an apte orderinge bothe of the voyce, countenaunce, and all the whole bodye, accordynge to the worthinea of such woordes and mater as by speache are declared. The vse hereof is suche for anye one that liketh to haue prayse for tellynge his tale in open assemblie, that hauing a good tongue, and a comelye countenaunce, he shal be thought to passe all other that haue not the like vtteraunce: thoughe they have muche better learning."--DR. WILSON: _Johnson's Hist. E. L._, p. 45. 31. _Reign of Edward VI, 1553 to 1547.--Example written about 1550._ "Who that will followe the graces manyfolde Which are in vertue, shall finde auauncement: Wherefore ye fooles that in your sinne are bolde, Ensue ye wisdome, and leaue your lewde intent, Wisdome is the way of men most excellent: Therefore haue done, and shortly spede your pace, To quaynt your self and company with grace." ALEXANDER BARCLAY: _Johnson's Hist. E. L._, p. 44. 32. _Reign of Henry VIII, 1547 to 1509.--Example dated 1541_. "Let hym that is angry euen at the fyrste consyder one of these thinges, that like as he is a man, so is also the other, with whom he is angry, and therefore it is as lefull for the other to be angry, as unto hym: and if he so be, than shall that anger be to hym displeasant, and stere hym more to be angrye."--SIR THOMAS ELLIOTT: _Castel of Helthe_. 33. _Example of the earliest English Blank Verse; written about 1540_. The supposed author died in 1541, aged 38. The piece from which these lines are taken describes the death of _Zoroas_, an Egyptian astronomer, slain in Alexander's first battle with the Persians. "The Persians waild such sapience to foregoe; And very sone the Macedonians wisht He would have lived; king Alexander selfe Demde him a man unmete to dye at all; Who wonne like praise for conquest of his yre, As for stoute men in field that day subdued, Who princes taught how to discerne a man, That in his head so rare a jewel beares; But over all those same Camenes,[49] those same Divine Camenes, whose honour he procurde, As tender parent doth his daughters weale, Lamented, and for thankes, all that they can, Do cherish hym deceast, and sett hym free, From dark oblivion of devouring death." _Probably written by SIR THOMAS WYAT._ 34. _A Letter written from prison, with a coal._ The writer, _Sir Thomas More_, whose works, both in prose and verse, were considered models of pure and elegant style, had been Chancellor of England, and the familiar confidant of Henry VIII, by whose order he was beheaded in 1535. "Myne own good doughter, our Lorde be thanked I am in good helthe of bodye, and in good quiet of minde: and of worldly thynges I no more desyer then I haue. I beseche hym make you all mery in the hope of heauen. And such thynges as I somewhat longed to talke with you all, concerning the worlde to come, our Lorde put theim into your myndes, as I truste he doth and better to by hys holy spirite: who blesse you and preserue you all. Written wyth a cole by your tender louing father, who in hys pore prayers forgetteth none of you all, nor your babes, nor your nources, nor your good husbandes, nor your good husbandes shrewde wyues, nor your fathers shrewde wyfe neither, nor our other frendes. And thus fare ye hartely well for lacke of paper. THOMAS MORE, knight."--_Johnson's Hist. E. Lang._, p. 42. 35. _From More's Description of Richard III.--Probably written about 1520._ "Richarde the third sonne, of whom we nowe entreate, was in witte and courage egall with either of them, in bodye and prowesse farre vnder them bothe, little of stature, ill fetured of limmes, croke backed, his left shoulder much higher than his right, hard fauoured of visage, and such as is in states called warlye, in other menne otherwise, he was malicious, wrathfull, enuious, and from afore his birth euer frowarde. * * * Hee was close and secrete, a deep dissimuler, lowlye of counteynaunce, arrogant of heart--dispitious and cruell, not for euill will alway, but after for ambicion, and either for the suretie and encrease of his estate. Frende and foo was muche what indifferent, where his aduauntage grew, he spared no mans deathe, whose life withstoode his purpose. He slew with his owne handes king Henry the sixt, being prisoner in the Tower."--SIR THOMAS MORE: _Johnson's History of the English Language_, p. 39. 36. _From his description of Fortune, written about the year 1500._ "Fortune is stately, solemne, prowde, and hye: And rychesse geueth, to haue seruyce therefore. The nedy begger catcheth an half peny: Some manne a thousaude pounde, some lesse some more. But for all that she kepeth euer in store, From euery manne some parcell of his wyll, That he may pray therefore and serve her styll. Some manne hath good, but chyldren hath he none. Some manne hath both, but he can get none health. Some hath al thre, but vp to honours trone, Can he not crepe, by no maner of stelth. To some she sendeth chyldren, ryches, welthe, Honour, woorshyp, and reuerence all hys lyfe: But yet she pyncheth hym with a shrewde wife." SIR THOMAS MORE. V. ENGLISH OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 37. _Example for the reign of Henry VII, who was crowned on Bosworth field, 1485, and who died in 1509._ "Wherefor and forasmoche as we haue sent for our derrest wif, and for our derrest moder, to come unto us, and that we wold have your advis and counsail also in soche matters as we haue to doo for the subduying of the rebelles, we praie you, that, yeving your due attendaunce vppon our said derrest wif and lady moder, ye come with thaym unto us; not failing herof as ye purpose to doo us plaisir. Yeven undre our signett, at our Castell of Kenelworth, the xiii daie of Maye."--HENRY VII: _Letter to the Earl of Ormond: Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 147. 38. _Example for the short reign of Richard III,--from 1485 to 1483._ "Right reverend fader in God, right trusty and right wel-beloved, we grete yow wele, and wol and charge you that under oure greate seale, being in your warde, ye do make in all haist our lettres of proclamation severally to be directed unto the shirrefs of everie countie within this oure royaume."--RICHARD III: _Letter to his Chancellor._ 39. _Reign of Edward IV,--from 1483 to 1461.--Example written in 1463._ "Forasmoche as we by divers meanes bene credebly enformed and undarstand for certyne, that owr greate adversary Henry, naminge hym selfe kynge of England, by the maliceous counseyle and exitacion of Margaret his wife, namynge hir selfe queane of England, have conspired," &c.--EDWARD IV: _Letter of Privy Seal_. 40. _Examples for the reign of Henry VI,--from 1461 back to 1422._ "When Nembroth [i.e. _Nimrod_] by Might, for his own Glorye, made and incorporate the first Realme, and subduyd it to hymself by Tyrannye, he would not have it governyd by any other Rule or Lawe, but by his own Will; by which and for th' accomplishment thereof he made it. And therefor, though he had thus made a Realme, holy Scripture denyd to cal hym a Kyng, _Quia Rex dicitur a Regendo_; Whych thyng he did not, but oppressyd the People by Myght."--SIR JOHN FORTESCUE. 41. _Example from Lydgate, a poetical Monk, who died in 1440._ "Our life here short of wit the great dulnes The heuy soule troubled with trauayle, And of memorye the glasyng brotelnes, Drede and vncunning haue made a strong batail With werines my spirite to assayle, And with their subtil creping in most queint Hath made my spirit in makyng for to feint." JOHN LYDGATE: _Fall of Princes_, Book III, Prol. 42. _Example for the reign of Henry V,--from 1422 back to 1413._ "I wolle that the Duc of Orliance be kept stille withyn the Castil of Pontefret, with owte goyng to Robertis place, or to any other disport, it is better he lak his disport then we were disceyved. Of all the remanant dothe as ye thenketh."--_Letter of_ HENRY V. 43. _Example for the reign of Henry IV,--from 1413 back to 1400._ "Right heigh and myghty Prynce, my goode and gracious Lorde,--I recommaund me to you as lowly as I kan or may with all my pouer hert, desiryng to hier goode and gracious tydynges of your worshipful astate and welfare."--LORD GREY: _Letter to the Prince of Wales: Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 145. VI. ENGLISH OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 44. _Reign of Richard II, 1400 back to 1377.--Example written in 1391._ "Lytel Lowys my sonne, I perceve well by certaine evidences thyne abylyte to lerne scyences, touching nombres and proporcions, and also well consydre I thy besye prayer in especyal to lerne the tretyse of the _astrolabye_. Than for as moche as a philosopher saithe, he wrapeth hym in his frende, that condiscendeth to the ryghtfull prayers of his frende: therefore I have given the a sufficient astrolabye for oure orizont, compowned after the latitude of Oxenforde: vpon the whiche by meditacion of this lytell tretise, I purpose to teche the a certame nombre of conclusions, pertainynge to this same instrument."--GEOFFREY CHAUCER: _Of the Astrolabe_. 45. _Example written about 1385--to be compared with that of 1555, on p. 87_. "And thus this companie of muses iblamed casten wrothly the chere dounward to the yerth, and shewing by rednesse their shame, thei passeden sorowfully the thresholde. And I of whom the sight plounged in teres was darked, so that I ne might not know what that woman was, of so Imperial aucthoritie, I woxe all abashed and stonied, and cast my sight doune to the yerth, and began still for to abide what she would doen afterward."--CHAUCER: _Version from Boethius: Johnson's Hist. of E. L._, p. 29. 46. _Poetical Example--probably written before 1380_. "O Socrates, thou stedfast champion; She ne might nevir be thy turmentour, Thou nevir dreddist her oppression, Ne in her chere foundin thou no favour, Thou knewe wele the disceipt of her colour, And that her moste worship is for to lie, I knowe her eke a false dissimulour, For finally Fortune I doe defie."--CHAUCER. 47. _Reign of Edward III, 1377 to 1327.--Example written about 1360_. "And eke full ofte a littell skare Vpon a banke, er men be ware, Let in the streme, whiche with gret peine, If any man it shall restreine. Where lawe failleth, errour groweth; He is not wise, who that ne troweth."--SIR JOHN GOWER. 48. _Example from Mandeville, the English traveller--written in 1356_. "And this sterre that is toward the Northe, that wee clepen the lode sterre, ne apperethe not to hem. For whiche cause, men may wel perceyve, that the lond and the see ben of rownde schapp and forme. For the partie of the firmament schewethe in o contree, that schewethe not in another contree. And men may well preven be experience and sotyle compassement of wytt, that zif a man fond passages be schippes, that wolde go to serchen the world, men mighte go be schippe all aboute the world, and aboven and benethen. The whiche thing I prove thus, aftre that I have seyn. * * * Be the whiche I seye zou certeynly, that men may envirowne alle the erthe of alle the world, as wel undre as aboven, and turnen azen to his contree, that hadde companye and schippynge and conduyt: and alle weyes he scholde fynde men, londes, and yles, als wel as in this contree."--SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE; _Johnson's Hist. of E. L._, p. 26. 49. _Example from Rob. Langland's "Vision of Pierce Ploughman," 1350_. "In the somer season, When hot was the Sun, I shope me into shroubs, As I a shepe were; In habit as an harmet, Vnholy of werkes, Went wyde in this world Wonders to heare." 50. _Description of a Ship--referred to the reign of Edward II: 1327-1307_. "Such ne saw they never none, For it was so gay begone, Every nayle with gold ygrave, Of pure gold was his sklave, Her mast was of ivory, Of samyte her sayle wytly, Her robes all of whyte sylk, As whyte as ever was ony mylke. The noble ship was without With clothes of gold spread about And her loft and her wyndlace All of gold depaynted was." ANONYMOUS: _Bucke's Gram._, p. 143. 51. _From an Elegy on Edward I, who reigned till 1307 from 1272_. "Thah mi tonge were made of stel, Ant min herte yzote of bras, The goodness myht y never telle, That with kyng Edward was: Kyng, as thou art cleped conquerour, In uch battaille thou hadest prys; God bringe thi soule to the honour, That ever wes ant ever ys. Now is Edward of Carnavan Kyng of Engelond al aplyght; God lete him never be worse man Then his fader, ne lasse myht, To holden his pore men to ryht, Ant understonde good counsail, Al Engelond for to wysse and dyht; Of gode knyhtes darh him nout fail." ANON.: _Percy's Reliques_, Vol. ii, p. 10. VII. ENGLISH OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 52. _Reign of Henry III, 1272 to 1216.--Example from an old ballad entitled Richard of Almaigne_; which Percy says was "made by one of the adherents of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought, May 14, 1264."--_Percy's Reliques_, Vol. ii. "Sitteth alle stille, and herkneth to me; The kyng of Almaigne, bi mi leaute, Thritti thousent pound askede he For te make the pees in the countre, Ant so he dude more. Richard, thah thou be ever trichard, Trichten shalt thou never more." 53. In the following examples, I substitute Roman letters for the Saxon. At this period, we find the characters mixed. The style here is that which Johnson calls "a kind of intermediate diction, neither Saxon nor English." Of these historical rhymes, by _Robert of Gloucester_, the Doctor gives us more than two hundred lines; but he dates them no further than to say, that the author "is placed by the criticks in the thirteenth century."--_Hist. of Eng. Lang._, p. 24. "Alfred thys noble man, as in the ger of grace he nom Eygte hondred and syxty and tuelue the kyndom. Arst he adde at Rome ybe, and, vor ys grete wysdom, The pope Leo hym blessede, tho he thuder com, And the kynges croune of hys lond, that in this lond gut ys: And he led hym to be kyng, ar he kyng were y wys. An he was kyng of Engelond, of alle that ther come, That vorst thus ylad was of the pope of Rome, An suththe other after hym of the erchebyssopes echon." "Clere he was god ynou, and gut, as me telleth me, He was more than ten ger old, ar he couthe ys abece. Ac ys gode moder ofte smale gyftes hym tok, Vor to byleue other pie, and loky on ys boke. So that by por clergye ys rygt lawes he wonde, That neuere er nere y mad to gouerny ys lond." ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER: _Johnson's Hist. of E. L._, p. 25. 54. _Reign of John_, 1216 _back to_ 1199.--_Subject of Christ's Crucifixion_. "I syke when y singe for sorewe that y se When y with wypinge bihold upon the tre, Ant se Jhesu the suete ys hert blod for-lete For the love of me; Ys woundes waxen wete, thei wepen, still and mete, Marie reweth me." ANON.: _Bucke's Gram._, p. 142. VIII. ENGLISH, OR ANGLO-SAXON, OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 55. _Reign of Richard I, 1199 back to 1189.--Owl and Nightingale_. "Ich was in one sumere dale, In one snive digele pale, I herde ich hold grete tale, An hule and one nightingale. That plait was stif I stare and strong, Sum wile softe I lud among. An other again other sval I let that wole mod ut al. I either seide of otheres custe, That alere worste that hi wuste I hure and I hure of others songe Hi hold plaidung futhe stronge." ANON.: _Bucke's Gram._, p. 142. 56. _Reign of Henry II, 1189 back to 1154.--Example dated 1180_. "And of alle than folke The wuneden ther on folde, Wes thisses landes folke Leodene hendest itald; And alswa the wimmen Wunliche on heowen." GODRIC: _Bucke's Gram._, p. 141. 57. _Example from the Saxon Chronicle, written about 1160_. "Micel hadde Henri king gadered gold & syluer, and na god ne dide me for his saule thar of. Tha the king Stephne to Engla-land com, tha macod he his gadering aet Oxene-ford, & thar he nam the biscop Roger of Seres-beri, and Alexander biscop of Lincoln, & te Canceler Roger hife neues, & dide aelle in prisun, til hi jafen up here castles. Tha the suikes undergaeton that he milde man was & softe & god, & na justise ne dide; tha diden hi alle wunder." See _Johnson's Hist. of the Eng. Language_, p. 22. 58. _Reign of Stephen, 1154 to 1135.--Example written about this time_. "Fur in see bi west Spaygne. Is a lond ihone Cokaygne. There nis lond under heuenriche. Of wel of godnis hit iliche. Thoy paradis be miri and briyt. Cokaygne is of fairer siyt. What is ther in paradis. Bot grasse and flure and greneris. Thoy ther be ioi and gret dute. Ther nis met bot aenlic frute. Ther nis halle bure no bench. Bot watir manis thurst to quench." ANON.: _Johnson's Hist. Eng. Lang._, p. 23. 59. _Reign of Henry I, 1135 to 1100.--Part of an Anglo-Saxon Hymn_. "Heuene & erthe & all that is, Biloken is on his honde. He deth al that his wille is, On sea and ec on londe. He is orde albuten orde. And ende albuten ende. He one is eure on eche stede, Wende wer thu wende. He is buuen us and binethen, Biuoren and ec bihind. Se man that Godes wille deth, He mai hine aihwar uinde. Eche rune he iherth, And wot eche dede. He durh sighth eches ithanc, Wai hwat sel us to rede. Se man neure nele don god, Ne neure god lif leden, Er deth & dom come to his dure, He mai him sore adreden. Hunger & thurst, hete & chele, Ecthe and all unhelthe, Durh deth com on this midelard, And other uniselthe. Ne mai non herte hit ithenche, Ne no tunge telle, Hu muchele pinum and hu uele, Bieth inne helle. Louie God mid ure hierte, And mid all ure mihte, And ure emcristene swo us self, Swo us lereth drihte." ANON.: _Johnson's Hist. Eng. Lang._, p. 21. IX. ANGLO-SAXON OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, COMPARED WITH ENGLISH. 60. _Saxon,--11th Century_.[50] LUCAE, CAP. I. "5. On Herodes dagum Iudea cynincges, waes sum sacred on naman Zacharias, of Abian tune: and his wif waes of Aarones dohtrum, and hyre nama waas Elizabeth. 6. Sothlice hig waeron butu rihtwise beforan Gode, gangende on eallum his bebodum and rihtwisnessum, butan wrohte. 7. And hig naefdon nan bearn, fortham the Elizabeth waes unberende; and hy on hyra dagum butu forth-eodun. 8. Sothlice waes geworden tha Zacharias hys sacerdhades breac on his gewrixles endebyrdnesse beforan Gode, 9. AEfter gewunan thaes sacerdhades hlotes, he eode that he his offrunge sette, tha he on Godes tempel eode. 10. Eall werod thaes folces waes ute gebiddende on thaere offrunge timan. 11. Tha aetywde him Drihtnes engel standende on thaes weofodes swithran healfe. 12. Tha weard Zacharias gedrefed that geseonde, and him ege onhreas. 13. Tha cwaeth se engel him to, Ne ondraed thu the Zacharias; fortham thin ben is gehyred, and thin wif Elizabeth the sunu centh, and thu nemst hys naman Johannes."--_Saxon Gospels_. _English.--14th Century_. LUK, CHAP. I. "5. In the dayes of Eroude kyng of Judee ther was a prest Zacarye by name, of the sort of Abia: and his wyf was of the doughtris of Aaron, and hir name was Elizabeth. 6. And bothe weren juste bifore God, goynge in alle the maundementis and justifyingis of the Lord, withouten playnt. 7. And thei hadden no child, for Elizabeth was bareyn; and bothe weren of greet age in her dayes. 8. And it befel that whanne Zacarye schould do the office of presthod in the ordir of his course to fore God, 9. Aftir the custom of the presthood, he wente forth by lot, and entride into the temple to encensen. 10. And al the multitude of the puple was without forth and preyede in the our of encensying. 11. And an aungel of the Lord apperide to him, and stood on the right half of the auter of encense. 12. And Zacarye seyinge was afrayed, and drede fel upon him. 13. And the aungel sayde to him, Zacarye, drede thou not; for thy preier is herd, and Elizabeth thi wif schal bere to thee a sone, and his name schal be clepid Jon." _Wickliffe's Bible_, 1380. _English.--17th Century_. LUKE, CHAP. I. "5. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. 7. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren; and they both were now well stricken in years. 8. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, 9. According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. 11. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias; for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John." _Common Bible_, 1610. See Dr. Johnson's History of the English Language, in his Quarto Dictionary. X. ANGLO-SAXON IN THE TIME OF KING ALFRED. 61. Alfred the Great, who was the youngest son of Ethelwolf, king of the West Saxons, succeeded to the crown on the death of his brother Ethelred, in the year 871, being then twenty-two years old. He had scarcely time to attend the funeral of his brother, before he was called to the field to defend his country against the Danes. After a reign of more than twenty-eight years, rendered singularly glorious by great achievements under difficult circumstances, he died universally lamented, on the 28th of October, A. D. 900. By this prince the university of Oxford was founded, and provided with able teachers from the continent. His own great proficiency in learning, and his earnest efforts for its promotion, form a striking contrast with the ignorance which prevailed before. "In the ninth century, throughout the whole kingdom of the West Saxons, no man could be found who was scholar enough to instruct the young king Alfred, then a child, even in the first elements of reading: so that he was in his twelfth year before he could name the letters of the alphabet. When that renowned prince ascended the throne, he made it his study to draw his people out of the sloth and stupidity in which they lay; and became, as much by his own example as by the encouragement he gave to learned men, the great restorer of arts in his dominions."--_Life of Bacon_. 62. The language of eulogy must often be taken with some abatement: it does not usually present things in their due proportions. How far the foregoing quotation is true, I will not pretend to say; but what is called "the revival of learning," must not be supposed to have begun at so early a period as that of Alfred. The following is a brief specimen of the language in which that great man wrote; but, printed in Saxon characters, it would appear still less like English. "On thaere tide the Gotan of Siththiu maegthe with Romana rice gewin upahofon. and mith heora cyningum. Raedgota and Eallerica waeron hatne. Romane burig abraecon. and eall Italia rice that is betwux tham muntum and Sicilia tham ealonde in anwald gerehton. and tha aegter tham foresprecenan cyningum Theodric feng to tham ilcan rice se Theodric waes Amulinga. he wass Cristen. theah he on tham Arrianiscan gedwolan durhwunode. He gehet Romanum his freondscype. swa that hi mostan heora ealdrichta wyrthe beon."--KING ALFRED: _Johnson's Hist. of E. L., 4to Dict._, p. 17. CHAPTER VIII. OF THE GRAMMATICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. "Grammatica quid est? ars recte scribendi recteque loquendi; poetarum enarrationem continens; omnium Scientiarum fons uberrimus. * * * Nostra aetas parum perita rerum veterum, nimis brevi gyro grammaticum sepsit; at apud antiques olim tantum auctoritatis hic ordo habuit, ut censores essent et judices scriptorum omnium soli grammatici; quos ob id etiam Criticos vocabant."--DESPAUTER. _Praef. ad Synt_, fol. 1. 1. Such is the peculiar power of language, that there is scarcely any subject so trifling, that it may not thereby be plausibly magnified into something great; nor are there many things which cannot be ingeniously disparaged till they shall seem contemptible. Cicero goes further: "Nihil est tam incredibile quod non dicendo fiat probabile;"--"There is nothing so incredible that it may not by the power of language be made probable." The study of grammar has been often overrated, and still oftener injuriously decried. I shall neither join with those who would lessen in the public esteem that general system of doctrines, which from time immemorial has been taught as grammar; nor attempt, either by magnifying its practical results, or by decking it out with my own imaginings, to invest it with any artificial or extraneous importance. 2. I shall not follow the footsteps of _Neef_, who avers that, "Grammar and incongruity are identical things," and who, under pretence of reaching the same end by better means, scornfully rejects as nonsense every thing that others have taught under that name; because I am convinced, that, of all methods of teaching, none goes farther than his, to prove the reproachful assertion true. Nor shall I imitate the declamation of _Cardell_; who, at the commencement of his Essay, recommends the general study of language on earth, from the consideration that, "The faculty of speech is the medium of social bliss for superior intelligences in an eternal world;" [51] and who, when he has exhausted censure in condemning the practical instruction of others, thus lavishes praise, in both his grammars, upon that formless, void, and incomprehensible theory of his own: "This application of words," says he, "in their endless use, by one plain rule, to all things which nouns can name, instead of being the fit subject of blind cavil, _is the most sublime theme presented to the intellect on earth. It is the practical intercourse of the soul at once with its God, and with all parts of his works!_"--_Cardell's Gram._, 12mo, p. 87; _Gram._, 18mo, p. 49. 3. Here, indeed, a wide prospect opens before us; but he who traces science, and teaches what is practically useful, must check imagination, and be content with sober truth. "For apt the mind or fancy is to rove Uncheck'd, and of her roving is no end."--MILTON. Restricted within its proper limits, and viewed in its true light, the practical science of grammar has an intrinsic dignity and merit sufficient to throw back upon any man who dares openly assail it, the lasting stigma of folly and self-conceit. It is true, the judgements of men are fallible, and many opinions are liable to be reversed by better knowledge: but what has been long established by the unanimous concurrence of the learned, it can hardly be the part of a wise instructor now to dispute. The literary reformer who, with the last named gentleman, imagines "that the persons to whom the civilized world have looked up to for instruction in language were all wrong alike in the main points," [52] intends no middle course of reformation, and must needs be a man either of great merit, or of little modesty. 4. The English language may now be regarded as the common inheritance of about fifty millions of people; who are at least as highly distinguished for virtue, intelligence, and enterprise, as any other equal portion of the earth's population. All these are more or less interested in the purity, permanency, and right use of that language; inasmuch as it is to be, not only the medium of mental intercourse with others for them and their children, but the vehicle of all they value, in the reversion of ancestral honour, or in the transmission of their own. It is even impertinent, to tell a man of any respectability, that the study of this his native language is an object of great importance and interest: if he does not, from these most obvious considerations, feel it to be so, the suggestion will be less likely to convince him, than to give offence, as conveying an implicit censure. 5. Every person who has any ambition to appear respectable among people of education, whether in conversation, in correspondence, in public speaking, or in print, must be aware of the absolute necessity of a competent knowledge of the language in which he attempts to express his thoughts. Many a ludicrous anecdote is told, of persons venturing to use words of which they did not know the proper application; many a ridiculous blunder has been published to the lasting disgrace of the writer; and so intimately does every man's reputation for sense depend upon his skill in the use of language, that it is scarcely possible to acquire the one without the other. Who can tell how much of his own good or ill success, how much of the favour or disregard with which he himself has been treated, may have depended upon that skill or deficiency in grammar, of which, as often as he has either spoken or written, he must have afforded a certain and constant evidence.[53] 6. I have before said, that to excel in grammar, is but to know better than others wherein grammatical excellence consists; and, as this excellence, whether in the thing itself, or in him that attains to it, is merely comparative, there seems to be no fixed point of perfection beyond which such learning may not be carried. In speaking or writing to different persons, and on different subjects, it is necessary to vary one's style with great nicety of address; and in nothing does true genius more conspicuously appear, than in the facility with which it adopts the most appropriate expressions, leaving the critic no fault to expose, no word to amend. Such facility of course supposes an intimate knowledge of all words in common use, and also of the principles on which they are to be combined. 7. With a language which we are daily in the practice of hearing, speaking, reading, and writing, we may certainly acquire no inconsiderable acquaintance, without the formal study of its rules. All the true principles of grammar were presumed to be known to the learned, before they were written for the aid of learners; nor have they acquired any independent authority, by being recorded in a book, and denominated grammar. The teaching of them, however, has tended in no small degree to settle and establish the construction of the language, to improve the style of our English writers, and to enable us to ascertain with more clearness the true standard of grammatical purity. He who learns only by rote, may speak the words or phrases which he has thus acquired; and he who has the genius to discern intuitively what is regular and proper, may have further aid from the analogies which he thus discovers; but he who would add to such acquisitions the satisfaction of knowing what is right, must make the principles of language his study. 8. To produce an able and elegant writer, may require something more than a knowledge of grammar rules; yet it is argument enough in favour of those rules, that without a knowledge of them no elegant and able writer is produced. Who that considers the infinite number of phrases which words in their various combinations may form, and the utter impossibility that they should ever be recognized individually for the purposes of instruction and criticism, but must see the absolute necessity of dividing words into classes, and of showing, by general rules of formation and construction, the laws to which custom commonly subjects them, or from which she allows them in particular instances to deviate? Grammar, or the art of writing and speaking, must continue to be learned by some persons; because it is of indispensable use to society. And the only question is, whether children and youth shall acquire it by a regular process of study and method of instruction, or be left to glean it solely from their own occasional observation of the manner in which other people speak and write. 9. The practical solution of this question belongs chiefly to parents and guardians. The opinions of teachers, to whose discretion the decision will sometimes be left, must have a certain degree of influence upon the public mind; and the popular notions of the age, in respect to the relative value of different studies, will doubtless bias many to the adoption or the rejection of this. A consideration of the point seems to be appropriate here, and I cannot forbear to commend the study to the favour of my readers; leaving every one, of course, to choose how much he will be influenced by my advice, example, or arguments. If past experience and the history of education be taken for guides, the study of English grammar will not be neglected; and the method of its inculcation will become an object of particular inquiry and solicitude. The English language ought to be learned at school or in colleges, as other languages usually are; by the study of its grammar, accompanied with regular exercises of parsing, correcting, pointing, and scanning; and by the perusal of some of its most accurate writers, accompanied with stated exercises in composition and elocution. In books of criticism, our language is already more abundant than any other. Some of the best of these the student should peruse, as soon as he can understand and relish them. Such a course, pursued with regularity and diligence, will be found the most direct way of acquiring an English style at once pure, correct, and elegant. 10. If any intelligent man will represent English grammar otherwise than as one of the most useful branches of study, he may well be suspected of having formed his conceptions of the science, not from what it really is in itself, but from some of those miserable treatises which only caricature the subject, and of which it is rather an advantage to be ignorant. But who is so destitute of good sense as to deny, that a graceful and easy conversation in the private circle, a fluent and agreeable delivery in public speaking, a ready and natural utterance in reading, a pure and elegant style in composition, are accomplishments of a very high order? And yet of all these, the proper study of English grammar is the true foundation. This would never be denied or doubted, if young people did not find, under some other name, better models and more efficient instruction, than what was practised on them for grammar in the school-room. No disciple of an able grammarian can ever speak ill of grammar, unless he belong to that class of knaves who vilify what they despair to reach. 11. By taking proper advantage of the ductility of childhood, intelligent parents and judicious teachers may exercise over the studies, opinions, and habits of youth a strong and salutary control; and it will seldom be found in experience, that those who have been early taught to consider grammatical learning as worthy and manly, will change their opinion in after life. But the study of grammar is not so enticing that it may be disparaged in the hearing of the young, without injury. What would be the natural effect of the following sentence, which I quote from a late well-written religious homily? "The pedagogue and his dunce may exercise their wits correctly enough, in the way of grammatical analysis, on some splendid argument, or burst of eloquence, or thrilling descant, or poetic rapture, to the strain and soul of which not a fibre in their nature would yield a vibration."--_New-York Observer_, Vol. ix, p. 73. 12. Would not the bright boy who heard this from the lips of his reverend minister, be apt the next day to grow weary of the parsing lesson required by his schoolmaster? And yet what truth is there in the passage? One can no more judge of the fitness of language, without regard to the meaning conveyed by it, than of the fitness of a suit of clothes, without knowing for whom they were intended. The grand clew to the proper application of all syntactical rules, is _the sense_; and as any composition is faulty which does not rightly deliver the author's meaning, so every solution of a word or sentence is necessarily erroneous, in which that meaning is not carefully noticed and literally preserved. To parse rightly and fully, is nothing else than to understand rightly and explain fully; and whatsoever is well expressed, it is a shame either to misunderstand or to misinterpret. 13. This study, when properly conducted and liberally pursued, has an obvious tendency to dignify the whole character. How can he be a man of refined literary taste, who cannot speak and write his native language grammatically? And who will deny that every degree of improvement in literary taste tends to brighten and embellish the whole intellectual nature? The several powers of the mind are not so many distinct and separable agents, which are usually brought into exercise one by one; and even if they were, there might be found, in a judicious prosecution of this study, a healthful employment for them all. The _imagination_, indeed, has nothing to do with the elements of grammar; but in the exercise of composition, young fancy may spread her wings as soon as they are fledged; and for this exercise the previous course of discipline will have furnished both language and taste, as well as sentiment. 14. The regular grammatical study of our language is a thing of recent origin. Fifty or sixty years ago, such an exercise was scarcely attempted in any of the schools, either in this country or in England.[54] Of this fact we have abundant evidence both from books, and from the testimony of our venerable fathers yet living. How often have these presented this as an apology for their own deficiencies, and endeavoured to excite us to greater diligence, by contrasting our opportunities with theirs! Is there not truth, is there not power, in the appeal? And are we not bound to avail ourselves of the privileges which they have provided, to build upon the foundations which their wisdom has laid, and to carry forward the work of improvement? Institutions can do nothing for us, unless the love of learning preside over and prevail in them. The discipline of our schools can never approach perfection, till those who conduct, and those who frequent them, are strongly actuated by that disposition of mind, which generously aspires to all attainable excellence. 15. To rouse this laudable spirit in the minds of our youth, and to satisfy its demands whenever it appears, ought to be the leading objects with those to whom is committed the important business of instruction. A dull teacher, wasting time in a school-room with a parcel of stupid or indolent boys, knows nothing of the satisfaction either of doing his own duty, or of exciting others to the performance of theirs. He settles down in a regular routine of humdrum exercises, dreading as an inconvenience even such change as proficiency in his pupils must bring on; and is well content to do little good for little money, in a profession which he honours with his services merely to escape starvation. He has, however, one merit: he pleases his patrons, and is perhaps the only man that can; for they must needs be of that class to whom moral restraint is tyranny, disobedience to teachers, as often right as wrong; and who, dreading the expense, even of a school-book, always judge those things to be cheapest, which cost the least and last the longest. What such a man, or such a neighbourhood, may think of English grammar, I shall not stop to ask. 16. To the following opinion from a writer of great merit, I am inclined to afford room here, because it deserves refutation, and, I am persuaded, is not so well founded as the generality of the doctrines with which it is presented to the public. "Since human knowledge is so much more extensive than the opportunity of individuals for acquiring it, it becomes of the greatest importance so to economize the opportunity as to make it subservient to the acquisition of as large and as valuable a portion as we can. It is not enough to show that a given branch of education is useful: you must show that it is the most useful that can be selected. Remembering this, I think it would be expedient to dispense with the formal study of English grammar,--a proposition which I doubt not many a teacher will hear with wonder and disapprobation. We learn the grammar in order that we may learn English; and we learn English whether we study grammars or not. Especially we _shall_ acquire a competent knowledge of our own language, if other departments of our education were improved." 17. "A boy learns more English grammar by joining in an hour's conversation with educated people, than in poring for an hour over Murray or Horne Tooke. If he is accustomed to such society and to the perusal of well-written books, he will learn English grammar, though he never sees a word about syntax; and if he is not accustomed to such society and such reading, the 'grammar books' at a boarding-school will not teach it. Men learn their own language by habit, and not by rules: and this is just what we might expect; for the grammar of a language is itself formed from the prevalent habits of speech and writing. A compiler of grammar first observes these habits, and then makes his rules: but if a person is himself familiar with the habits, why study the rules? I say nothing of grammar as a general science; because, although the philosophy of language be a valuable branch of human knowledge, it were idle to expect that school-boys should understand it. The objection is, to the system of attempting to teach children formally that which they will learn practically without teaching."--JONATHAN DYMOND: _Essays on Morality_, p. 195. 18. This opinion, proceeding from a man who has written upon human affairs with so much ability and practical good sense, is perhaps entitled to as much respect as any that has ever been urged against the study in question. And so far as the objection bears upon those defective methods of instruction which experience has shown to be inefficient, or of little use, I am in no wise concerned to remove it. The reader of this treatise will find their faults not only admitted, but to a great extent purposely exposed; while an attempt is here made, as well as in my earlier grammars, to introduce a method which it is hoped will better reach the end proposed. But it may easily be perceived that this author's proposition to dispense with the formal study of English grammar is founded upon an untenable assumption. Whatever may be the advantages of those purer habits of speech, which the young naturally acquire from conversation with educated people, it is not true, that, without instruction directed to this end, they will of themselves become so well educated as to speak and write grammatically. Their language may indeed be comparatively accurate and genteel, because it is learned of those who have paid some attention to the study; but, as they cannot always be preserved from hearing vulgar and improper phraseology, or from seeing it in books, they cannot otherwise be guarded from improprieties of diction, than by a knowledge of the rules of grammar. One might easily back this position by the citation of some scores of faulty sentences from the pen of this very able writer himself. 19. I imagine there can be no mistake in the opinion, that in exact proportion as the rules of grammar are unknown or neglected in any country, will corruptions and improprieties of language be there multiplied. The "general science" of grammar, or "the philosophy of language," the author seems to exempt, and in some sort to commend; and at the same time his proposition of exclusion is applied not merely to the school-grammars, but _a fortiori_ to this science, under the notion that it is unintelligible to school-boys. But why should any principle of grammar be the less intelligible on account of the extent of its application? Will a boy pretend that he cannot understand a rule of English grammar, because he is told that it holds good in all languages? Ancient etymologies, and other facts in literary history, must be taken by the young upon the credit of him who states them; but the doctrines of general grammar are to the learner the easiest and the most important principles of the science. And I know of nothing in the true philosophy of language, which, by proper definitions and examples, may not be made as intelligible to a boy, as are the principles of most other sciences. The difficulty of instructing youth in any thing that pertains to language, lies not so much in the fact that its philosophy is above their comprehension, as in our own ignorance of certain parts of so vast an inquiry;--in the great multiplicity of verbal signs; the frequent contrariety of practice; the inadequacy of memory; the inveteracy of ill habits; and the little interest that is felt when we speak merely of words. 20. The grammatical study of our language was early and strongly recommended by Locke,[55] and other writers on education, whose character gave additional weight to an opinion which they enforced by the clearest arguments. But either for want of a good grammar, or for lack of teachers skilled in the subject and sensible of its importance, the general neglect so long complained of as a grievous imperfection in our methods of education, has been but recently and partially obviated. "The attainment of a correct and elegant style," says Dr. Blair, "is an object which demands application and labour. If any imagine they can catch it merely by the ear, or acquire it by the slight perusal of some of our good authors, they will find themselves much disappointed. The many errors, even in point of grammar, the many offences against purity of language, which are committed by writers who are far from being contemptible, demonstrate, that a _careful study_ of the language is previously requisite, in all who aim at writing it properly."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, Lect. ix, p. 91. 21. "To think justly, to write well, to speak agreeably, are the three great ends of academic instruction. The Universities will excuse me, if I observe, that both are, in one respect or other, defective in these three capital points of education. While in Cambridge the general application is turned altogether on speculative knowledge, with little regard to polite letters, taste, or style; in Oxford the whole attention is directed towards classical correctness, without any sound foundation laid in severe reasoning and philosophy. In Cambridge and in Oxford, the art of speaking agreeably is so far from being taught, that it is hardly talked or thought of. _These defects_ naturally produce dry unaffecting compositions in the one; superficial taste and puerile elegance in the other; ungracious or affected speech in both."--DR. BROWN, 1757: _Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 44. 22. "A grammatical study of our own language makes no part of the ordinary method of instruction, which we pass through in our childhood; and it is very seldom we apply ourselves to it afterward. Yet the want of it will not be effectually supplied by any other advantages whatsoever. Much practice in the polite world, and a general acquaintance with the best authors, are good helps; but alone [they] will hardly be sufficient: We have writers, who have enjoyed these advantages in their full extent, and yet cannot be recommended as models of an accurate style. Much less then will, what is commonly called learning, serve the purpose; that is, a critical knowledge of ancient languages, and much reading of ancient authors: The greatest critic and most able grammarian of the last age, when he came to apply his learning and criticism to an English author, was frequently at a loss in matters of ordinary use and common construction in his own vernacular idiom."--DR. LOWTH, 1763: _Pref. to Gram._, p. vi. 23. "To the pupils of our public schools the acquisition of their own language, whenever it is undertaken, is an easy task. For he who is acquainted with several grammars already, finds no difficulty in adding one more to the number. And this, no doubt, is one of the reasons why English engages so small a proportion of their time and attention. It is not frequently read, and is still less frequently written. Its supposed facility, however, or some other cause, seems to have drawn upon it such a degree of neglect as certainly cannot be praised. The students in those schools are often distinguished by their compositions in the learned languages, before they can speak or write their own with correctness, elegance, or fluency. A classical scholar too often has his English style to form, when he should communicate his acquisitions to the world. In some instances it is never formed with success; and the defects of his expression either deter him from appearing before the public at all, or at least counteract in a great degree the influence of his work, and bring ridicule upon the author. Surely these evils might easily be prevented or diminished."--DR. BARROW: _Essays on Education_, London, 1804; Philad., 1825, p. 87. 24. "It is also said that those who know Latin and Greek generally express themselves with more clearness than those who do not receive a liberal education. It is indeed natural that those who cultivate their mental powers, write with more clearness than the uncultivated individual. The mental cultivation, however, may take place in the mother tongue as well as in Latin or Greek. Yet the spirit of the ancient languages, further is declared to be superior to that of the modern. I allow this to be the case; but I do not find that the English style is improved by learning Greek. It is known that literal translations are miserably bad, and yet young scholars are taught to translate, word for word, faithful to their dictionaries. Hence those who do not make a peculiar study of their own language, will not improve in it by learning, in this manner, Greek and Latin. Is it not a pity to hear, what I have been told by the managers of one of the first institutions of Ireland, that it was easier to find ten teachers for Latin and Greek, than one for the English language, though they proposed double the salary to the latter? Who can assure us that the Greek orators acquired their superiority by their acquaintance with foreign languages; or, is it not obvious, on the other hand, that they learned ideas and expressed them in their mother tongue?"--DR. SPURZHEIM: _Treatise on Education_, 1832, p. 107. 25. "Dictionaries were compiled, which comprised all the words, together with their several definitions, or the sense each one expresses and conveys to the mind. These words were analyzed and classed according to their essence, attributes, and functions. Grammar was made a rudiment leading to the principles of all thoughts, and teaching by simple examples, the general classification of words and their subdivisions in expressing the various conceptions of the mind. Grammar is then the key to the perfect understanding of languages; without which we are left to wander all our lives in an intricate labyrinth, without being able to trace back again any part of our way."--_Chazotte's Essay on the Teaching of Languages_, p. 45. Again: "Had it not been for his dictionary and his grammar, which taught him the essence of all languages, and the natural subdivision of their component parts, he might have spent a life as long as Methuselah's, in learning words, without being able to attain to a degree of perfection in any of the languages."--_Ib._, p. 50. "Indeed, it is not easy to say, to what degree, and in how many different ways, both memory and judgement may be improved by an intimate acquaintance with grammar; which is therefore, with good reason, made the first and fundamental part of literary education. The greatest orators, the most elegant scholars, and the most accomplished men of business, that have appeared in the world, of whom I need only mention Caesar and Cicero, were not only studious of grammar, but most learned grammarians."--DR. BEATTIE: _Moral Science_, Vol. i, p. 107. 26. Here, as in many other parts of my work, I have chosen to be liberal of quotations; not to show my reading, or to save the labour of composition, but to give the reader the satisfaction of some other authority than my own. In commending the study of English grammar, I do not mean to discountenance that degree of attention which in this country is paid to other languages; but merely to use my feeble influence to carry forward a work of improvement, which, in my opinion, has been wisely begun, but not sufficiently sustained. In consequence of this improvement, the study of grammar, which was once prosecuted chiefly through the medium of the dead languages, and was regarded as the proper business of those only who were to be instructed in Latin and Greek, is now thought to be an appropriate exercise for children in elementary schools. And the sentiment is now generally admitted, that even those who are afterwards to learn other languages, may best acquire a knowledge of the common principles of speech from the grammar of their vernacular tongue. This opinion appears to be confirmed by that experience which is at once the most satisfactory proof of what is feasible, and the only proper test of what is useful. 27. It must, however, be confessed, that an acquaintance with ancient and foreign literature is absolutely necessary for him who would become a thorough philologist or an accomplished scholar; and that the Latin language, the source of several of the modern tongues of Europe, being remarkably regular in its inflections and systematic in its construction, is in itself the most complete exemplar of the structure of speech, and the best foundation for the study of grammar in general. But, as the general principles of grammar are common to all languages, and as the only successful method of learning them, is, to commit to memory the definitions and rules which embrace them, it is reasonable to suppose that the language most intelligible to the learner, is the most suitable for the commencement of his grammatical studies. A competent knowledge of English grammar is also in itself a valuable attainment, which is within the easy reach of many young persons whose situation in life debars them from the pursuit of general literature. 28. The attention which has lately been given to the culture of the English language, by some who, in the character of critics or lexicographers, have laboured purposely to improve it, and by many others who, in various branches of knowledge, have tastefully adorned it with the works of their genius, has in a great measure redeemed it from that contempt in which it was formerly held in the halls of learning. But, as I have before suggested, it does not yet appear to be sufficiently attended to in the course of what is called a _liberal education_. Compared with, other languages, the English exhibits both excellences and defects; but its flexibility, or power of accommodation to the tastes of different writers, is great; and when it is used with that mastership which belongs to learning and genius, it must be acknowledged there are few, if any, to which it ought on the whole to be considered inferior. But above all, it is _our own_; and, whatever we may know or think of other tongues, it can never be either patriotic or wise, for the learned men of the United States or of England to pride themselves chiefly upon them. 29. Our language is worthy to be assiduously studied by all who reside where it is spoken, and who have the means and the opportunity to become critically acquainted with it. To every such student it is vastly more important to be able to speak and write well in English, than to be distinguished for proficiency in the learned languages and yet ignorant of his own. It is certain that many from whom better things might be expected, are found miserably deficient in this respect. And their neglect of so desirable an accomplishment is the more remarkable and the more censurable on account of the facility with which those who are acquainted with the ancient languages may attain to excellence in their English style. "Whatever the advantages or defects of the English language be, as it is our own language, it deserves a high degree of our study and attention. * * * Whatever knowledge may be acquired by the study of other languages, it can never be communicated with advantage, unless by such as can write and speak their own language well."--DR. BLAIR: _Rhetoric_, Lect. ix, p. 91. 30. I am not of opinion that it is expedient to press this study to much extent, if at all, on those whom poverty or incapacity may have destined to situations in which they will never hear or think of it afterwards. The course of nature cannot be controlled; and fortune does not permit us to prescribe the same course of discipline for all. To speak the language which they have learned without study, and to read and write for the most common purposes of life, may be education enough for those who can be raised no higher. But it must be the desire of every benevolent and intelligent man, to see the advantages of literary, as well as of moral culture, extended as far as possible among the people. And it is manifest, that in proportion as the precepts of the divine Redeemer are obeyed by the nations that profess his name, will all distinctions arising merely from the inequality of fortune be lessened or done away, and better opportunities be offered for the children of indigence to adorn themselves with the treasures of knowledge. 31. We may not be able to effect all that is desirable; but, favoured as our country is, with great facilities for carrying forward the work of improvement, in every thing which can contribute to national glory and prosperity, I would, in conclusion of this topic, submit--that a critical knowledge of our common language is a subject worthy of the particular attention of all who have the genius and the opportunity to attain it;--that on the purity and propriety with which American authors write this language, the reputation of our national literature greatly depends;--that in the preservation of it from all changes which ignorance may admit or affectation invent, we ought to unite as having one common interest;--that a fixed and settled orthography is of great importance, as a means of preserving the etymology, history, and identity of words;--that a grammar freed from errors and defects, and embracing a complete code of definitions and illustrations, rules and exercises, is of primary importance to every student and a great aid to teachers;--that as the vices of speech as well as of manners are contagious, it becomes those who have the care of youth, to be masters of the language in its purity and elegance, and to avoid as much as possible every thing that is reprehensible either in thought or expression. CHAPTER IX. OF THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING GRAMMAR. "Quomodo differunt grammaticus et grammatista? Grammaticus est qui diligenter, acute, scienterque possit aut dicere aut scribere, et poetas enarrare: idem literatus dicitur. Grammatista est qui barbaris literis obstrepit, cui abusus pro usu est; Graecis Latinam dat etymologiam, et totus in nugis est: Latine dicitur literator."--DESPAUTER. _Synt._, fol. 1. 1. It is hardly to be supposed that any person can have a very clear conviction of the best method of doing a thing, who shall not at first have acquired a pretty correct and adequate notion of the thing to be done. Arts must be taught by artists; sciences, by learned men; and, if Grammar is the science of words, the art of writing and speaking well, the best speakers and writers will be the best teachers of it, if they choose to direct their attention to so humble an employment. For, without disparagement of the many worthy men whom choice or necessity has made schoolmasters, it may be admitted that the low estimation in which school-keeping is commonly held, does mostly exclude from it the first order of talents, and the highest acquirements of scholarship. It is one strong proof of this, that we have heretofore been content to receive our digests of English grammar, either from men who had had no practical experience in the labours of a school-room, or from miserable modifiers and abridgers, destitute alike of learning and of industry, of judgement and of skill. 2. But, to have a correct and adequate notion of English grammar, and of the best method of learning or teaching it, is no light attainment. The critical knowledge of this subject lies in no narrow circle of observation; nor are there any precise limits to possible improvement. The simple definition in which the general idea of the art is embraced, "Grammar is the art of writing and speaking correctly," however useful in order to fix the learner's conception, can scarcely give him a better knowledge of the thing itself, than he would have of the art of painting, when he had learned from Dr. Webster, that it is "the art of representing to the eye, by means of figures and colors, any object of sight, and sometimes emotions of the mind." The first would no more enable him to write a sonnet, than the second, to take his master's likeness. The force of this remark extends to all the technical divisions, definitions, rules, and arrangements of grammar; the learner may commit them all to memory, and know but very little about the art. 3. This fact, too frequently illustrated in practice, has been made the basis of the strongest argument ever raised against the study of grammar; and has been particularly urged against the ordinary technical method of teaching it, as if the whole of that laborious process were useless. It has led some men, even of the highest talents, to doubt the expediency of that method, under any circumstances, and either to discountenance the whole matter, or invent other schemes by which they hoped to be more successful. The utter futility of the old accidence has been inferred from it, and urged, even in some well-written books, with all the plausibility of a fair and legitimate deduction. The hardships of children, compelled to learn what they did not understand, have been bewailed in prefaces and reviews; incredible things boasted by literary jugglers, have been believed by men of sense; and the sympathies of nature, with accumulated prejudices, have been excited against that method of teaching grammar, which after all will be found in experience to be at once the easiest, the shortest, and the best. I mean, essentially, the ancient positive method, which aims directly at the inculcation of principles. 4. It has been already admitted, that definitions and rules committed to memory and not reduced to practice, will never enable any one to speak and write correctly. But it does not follow, that to study grammar by learning its principles, or to teach it technically by formal lessons, is of no real utility. Surely not. For the same admission must be made with respect to the definitions and rules of every practical science in the world; and the technology of grammar is even more essential to a true knowledge of the subject, than that of almost any other art. "To proceed upon principles at first," says Dr. Barrow, "is the most compendious method of attaining every branch of knowledge; and the truths impressed upon the mind in the years of childhood, are ever afterwards the most firmly remembered, and the most readily applied."--_Essays_, p. 84. Reading, as I have said, is a part of grammar; and it is a part which must of course precede what is commonly called in the schools the study of grammar. Any person who can read, can learn from a book such simple facts as are within his comprehension; and we have it on the authority of Dr. Adam, that, "The principles of grammar are the first abstract truths which a young mind can comprehend."--_Pref. to Lat. Gram._, p. 4. 5. It is manifest, that, with respect to this branch of knowledge, the duties of the teacher will vary considerably, according to the age and attainments of his pupils, or according to each student's ability or inclination to profit by his printed guide. The business lies partly between the master and his scholar, and partly between the boy and his book. Among these it may be partitioned variously, and of course unwisely; for no general rule can precisely determine for all occasions what may be expected from each. The deficiencies of any one of the three must either be supplied by the extraordinary readiness of an other, or the attainment of the purpose be proportionably imperfect. What one fails to do, must either be done by an other, or left undone. After much observation, it seems to me, that the most proper mode of treating this science in schools, is, to throw the labour of its acquisition almost entirely upon the students; to require from them very accurate rehearsals as the only condition on which they shall be listened to; and to refer them to their books for the information which they need, and in general for the solution of all their doubts. But then the teacher must see that he does not set them to grope their way through a wilderness of absurdities. He must know that they have a book, which not only contains the requisite information, but arranges it so that every item of it may be readily found. That knowledge may reasonably be required at their recitations, which culpable negligence alone could have prevented them from obtaining. 6. Most grammars, and especially those which are designed for the senior class of students, to whom a well-written book is a sufficient instructor, contain a large proportion of matter which is merely to be read by the learner. This is commonly distinguished in type from those more important doctrines which constitute the frame of the edifice. It is expected that the latter will receive a greater degree of attention. The only successful method of teaching grammar, is, to cause the principal definitions and rules to be committed thoroughly to memory, that they may ever afterwards be readily applied. Oral instruction may smoothe the way, and facilitate the labour of the learner; but the notion of communicating a competent knowledge of grammar without imposing this task, is disproved by universal experience. Nor will it avail any thing for the student to rehearse definitions and rules of which he makes no practical application. In etymology and syntax, he should be alternately exercised in learning small portions of his book, and then applying them in parsing, till the whole is rendered familiar. To a good reader, the achievement will be neither great nor difficult; and the exercise is well calculated to improve the memory and strengthen all the faculties of the mind. 7. The objection drawn from the alleged inefficiency of this method, lies solely against the practice of those teachers who disjoin the principles and the exercises of the art; and who, either through ignorance or negligence, impose only such tasks as leave the pupil to suppose, that the committing to memory of definitions and rules, constitutes the whole business of grammar.[56] Such a method is no less absurd in itself, than contrary to the practice of the best teachers from the very origin of the study. The epistle prefixed to King Henry's Grammar almost three centuries ago, and the very sensible preface to the old British Grammar, an octavo reprinted at Boston in 1784, give evidence enough that a better method of teaching has long been known. Nay, in my opinion, the very best method cannot be essentially different from that which has been longest in use, and is probably most known. But there is everywhere ample room for improvement. Perfection was never attained by the most learned of our ancestors, nor is it found in any of our schemes. English grammar can be better taught than it is now, or ever has been. Better scholarship would naturally produce this improvement, and it is easy to suppose a race of teachers more erudite and more zealous, than either we or they. 8. Where invention and discovery are precluded, there is little room for novelty. I have not laboured to introduce a system of grammar essentially new, but to improve the old and free it from abuses. The mode of instruction here recommended is the result of long and successful experience. There is nothing in it, which any person of common abilities will find it difficult to understand or adopt. It is the plain didactic method of definition and example, rule and praxis; which no man who means to teach grammar well, will ever desert, with the hope of finding an other more rational or more easy. This book itself will make any one a grammarian, who will take the trouble to observe and practise what it teaches; and even if some instructors should not adopt the readiest means of making their pupils familiar with its contents, they will not fail to instruct by it as effectually as they can by any other. A hope is also indulged, that this work will be particularly useful to many who have passed the ordinary period allotted to education. Whoever is acquainted with the grammar of our language, so as to have some tolerable skill in teaching it, will here find almost every thing that is true in his own instructions, clearly embraced under its proper head, so as to be easy of reference. And perhaps there are few, however learned, who, on a perusal of the volume, would not be furnished with some important rules and facts which had not before occurred to their own observation. 9. The greatest peculiarity of the method is, that it requires the pupil to speak or write a great deal, and the teacher very little. But both should constantly remember that grammar is the art of speaking and writing well; an art which can no more be acquired without practice, than that of dancing or swimming. And each should ever be careful to perform his part handsomely--without drawling, omitting, stopping, hesitating, faltering, miscalling, reiterating, stuttering, hurrying, slurring, mouthing, misquoting, mispronouncing, or any of the thousand faults which render utterance disagreeable and inelegant. It is the learner's diction that is to be improved; and the system will be found well calculated to effect that object; because it demands of him, not only to answer questions on grammar, but also to make a prompt and practical application of what he has just learned. If the class be tolerable readers, and have learned the art of attention, it will not be necessary for the teacher to say much; and in general he ought not to take up the time by so doing. He should, however, carefully superintend their rehearsals; give the word to the next when any one errs; and order the exercise in such a manner that either his own voice, or the example of his best scholars, may gradually correct the ill habits of the awkward, till all learn to recite with clearness, understanding well what they say, and making it intelligible to others. 10. Without oral instruction and oral exercises, a correct habit of speaking our language can never be acquired; but written rules, and exercises in writing, are perhaps quite as necessary, for the formation of a good style. All these should therefore be combined in our course of English grammar. And, in order to accomplish two objects at once, the written doctrines, or the definitions and rules of grammar, should statedly be made the subject of a critical exercise in utterance; so that the boy who is parsing a word, or correcting a sentence, in the hearing of others, may impressively realize, that he is then and there exhibiting his own skill or deficiency in oral discourse. Perfect forms of parsing and correcting should be given him as models, with the understanding that the text before him is his only guide to their right application. It should be shown, that in parsing any particular word, or part of speech, there are just so many things to be said of it, and no more, and that these are to be said in the best manner: so that whoever tells fewer, omits something requisite; whoever says more, inserts something irrelevant; and whoever proceeds otherwise, either blunders in point of fact, or impairs the beauty of the expression. I rely not upon what are called "_Parsing Tables_" but upon the precise forms of expression which are given in the book for the parsing of the several sorts of words. Because the questions, or abstract directions, which constitute the common parsing tables, are less intelligible to the learner than a practical example; and more time must needs be consumed on them, in order to impress upon his memory the number and the sequence of the facts to be stated. 11. If a pupil happen to be naturally timid, there should certainly be no austerity of manner to embarrass his diffidence; for no one can speak well, who feels afraid. But a far more common impediment to the true use of speech, is carelessness. He who speaks before a school, in an exercise of this kind, should be made to feel that he is bound by every consideration of respect for himself, or for those who hear him, to proceed with his explanation or rehearsal, in a ready, clear, and intelligible manner. It should be strongly impressed upon him, that the grand object of the whole business, is his own practical improvement; that a habit of speaking clearly and agreeably, is itself one half of the great art of grammar; that to be slow and awkward in parsing, is unpardonable negligence, and a culpable waste of time; that to commit blunders in rehearsing grammar, is to speak badly about the art of speaking well; that his recitations must be limited to such things as he perfectly knows; that he must apply himself to his book, till he can proceed without mistake; finally, that he must watch and imitate the utterance of those who speak well, ever taking that for the best manner, in which there are the fewest things that could be _mimicked_.[57] 12. The exercise of parsing should be commenced immediately after the first lesson of etymology--the lesson in which are contained the definitions of the ten parts of speech; and should be carried on progressively, till it embraces all the doctrines which are applicable to it. If it be performed according to the order prescribed in the following work, it will soon make the student perfectly familiar with all the primary definitions and rules of grammar. It asks no aid from a dictionary, if the performer knows the meaning of the words he is parsing; and very little from the teacher, if the forms in the grammar have received any tolerable share of attention. It requires just enough of thought to keep the mind attentive to what the lips are uttering; while it advances by such easy gradations and constant repetitions as leave the pupil utterly without excuse, if he does not know what to say. Being neither wholly extemporaneous nor wholly rehearsed by rote, it has more dignity than a school-boy's conversation, and more ease than a formal recitation, or declamation; and is therefore an exercise well calculated to induce a habit of uniting correctness with fluency in ordinary speech--a species of elocution as valuable as any other.[58] 13. Thus would I unite the practice with the theory of grammar; endeavouring to express its principles with all possible perspicuity, purity, and propriety of diction; retaining, as necessary parts of the subject, those technicalities which the pupil must needs learn in order to understand the disquisitions of grammarians in general; adopting every important feature of that system of doctrines which appears to have been longest and most generally taught; rejecting the multitudinous errors and inconsistencies with which unskillful hands have disgraced the science and perplexed the schools; remodelling every ancient definition and rule which it is possible to amend, in respect to style, or grammatical correctness; supplying the numerous and great deficiencies with which the most comprehensive treatises published by earlier writers, are chargeable; adapting the code of instruction to the present state of English literature, without giving countenance to any innovation not sanctioned by reputable use; labouring at once to extend and to facilitate the study, without forgetting the proper limits of the science, or debasing its style by puerilities. 14. These general views, it is hoped, will be found to have been steadily adhered to throughout the following work. The author has not deviated much from the principles adopted in the most approved grammars already in use; nor has he acted the part of a servile copyist. It was not his design to introduce novelties, but to form a practical digest of established rules. He has not laboured to subvert the general system of grammar, received from time immemorial; but to improve upon it, in its present application to our tongue. That which is excellent, may not be perfect; and amendment may be desirable, where subversion would be ruinous. Believing that no theory can better explain the principles of our language, and no contrivance afford greater facilities to the student, the writer has in general adopted those doctrines which are already best known; and has contented himself with attempting little more than to supply the deficiencies of the system, and to free it from the reproach of being itself ungrammatical. This indeed was task enough; for, to him, all the performances of his predecessors seemed meagre and greatly deficient, compared with what he thought needful to be done. The scope of his labours has been, to define, dispose, and exemplify those doctrines anew; and, with a scrupulous regard to the best usage, to offer, on that authority, some further contributions to the stock of grammatical knowledge. 15. Having devoted many years to studies of this nature, and being conversant with most of the grammatical treatises already published, the author conceived that the objects above referred to, might be better effected than they had been in any work within his knowledge. And he persuades himself, that, however this work may yet fall short of possible completeness, the improvements here offered are neither few nor inconsiderable. He does not mean to conceal in any degree his obligations to others, or to indulge in censure without discrimination. He has no disposition to depreciate the labours, or to detract from the merits, of those who have written ably upon this topic. He has studiously endeavoured to avail himself of all the light they have thrown upon the subject. With a view to further improvements in the science, he has also resorted to the original sources of grammatical knowledge, and has not only critically considered what he has seen or heard of our vernacular tongue, but has sought with some diligence the analogies of speech in the structure of several other languages. If, therefore, the work now furnished be thought worthy of preference, as exhibiting the best method of teaching grammar; he trusts it will be because it deviates least from sound doctrine, while, by fair criticism upon others, it best supplies the means of choosing judiciously. 16. Of all methods of teaching grammar, that which has come nearest to what is recommended above, has doubtless been the most successful; and whatever objections may have been raised against it, it will probably be found on examination to be the most analogous to nature. It is analytic in respect to the doctrines of grammar, synthetic in respect to the practice, and logical in respect to both. It assumes the language as an object which the learner is capable of conceiving to be one whole; begins with the classification of all its words, according to certain grand differences which make the several parts of speech; then proceeds to divide further, according to specific differences and qualities, till all the classes, properties, and relations, of the words in any intelligible sentence, become obvious and determinate: and he to whom these things are known, so that he can see at a glance what is the construction of each word, and whether it is right or not, is a good grammarian. The disposition of the human mind to generalize the objects of thought, and to follow broad analogies in the use of words, discovers itself early, and seems to be an inherent principle of our nature. Hence, in the language of children and illiterate people, many words are regularly inflected even in opposition to the most common usage. 17. It has unfortunately become fashionable to inveigh against the necessary labour of learning by heart the essential principles of grammar, as a useless and intolerable drudgery. And this notion, with the vain hope of effecting the same purpose in an easier way, is giving countenance to modes of teaching well calculated to make superficial scholars. When those principles are properly defined, disposed, and exemplified, the labour of learning them is far less than has been represented; and the habits of application induced by such a method of studying grammar, are of the utmost importance to the learner. Experience shows, that the task may be achieved during the years of childhood; and that, by an early habit of study, the memory is so improved, as to render those exercises easy and familiar, which, at a later period, would be found very difficult and irksome. Upon this plan, and perhaps upon every other, some words will be learned before the ideas represented by them are fully comprehended, or the things spoken of are fully understood. But this seems necessarily to arise from the order of nature in the development of the mental faculties; and an acquisition cannot be lightly esteemed, which has signally augmented and improved that faculty on which the pupil's future progress in knowledge depends. 18. The memory, indeed, should never be cultivated at the expense of the understanding; as is the case, when the former is tasked with ill-devised lessons by which the latter is misled and bewildered. But truth, whether fully comprehended or not, has no perplexing inconsistencies. And it is manifest that that which does not in some respect surpass the understanding, can never enlighten it--can never awaken the spirit of inquiry or satisfy research. How often have men of observation profited by the remembrance of words which, at the time they heard them, they did not "_perfectly understand!_" We never study any thing of which we imagine our knowledge to be perfect. To learn, and, to understand, are, with respect to any science or art, one and the same thing. With respect to difficult or unintelligible phraseology alone, are they different. He who by study has once stored his memory with the sound and appropriate language of any important doctrine, can never, without some folly or conceit akin to madness, repent of the acquisition. Milton, in his academy, professed to teach things rather than words; and many others have made plausible profession of the same thing since. But it does not appear, that even in the hands of Milton, the attempt was crowned with any remarkable success. See _Dr. Barrow's Essays_, p. 85. 19. The vain pretensions of several modern simplifiers, contrivers of machines, charts, tables, diagrams, vincula, pictures, dialogues, familiar lectures, ocular analyses, tabular compendiums, inductive exercises, productive systems, intellectual methods, and various new theories, for the purpose of teaching grammar, may serve to deceive the ignorant, to amuse the visionary, and to excite the admiration of the credulous; but none of these things has any favourable relation to that improvement which may justly be boasted as having taken place within the memory of the present generation. The definitions and rules which constitute the doctrines of grammar, may be variously expressed, arranged, illustrated, and applied; and in the expression, arrangement, illustration, and application of them, there may be room for some amendment; but no contrivance can ever relieve the pupil from the necessity of committing them thoroughly to memory. The experience of all antiquity is added to our own, in confirmation of this; and the judicious teacher, though he will not shut his eyes to a real improvement, will be cautious of renouncing the practical lessons of hoary experience, for the futile notions of a vain projector. 20. Some have been beguiled with the idea, that great proficiency in grammar was to be made by means of a certain fanciful method of _induction._ But if the scheme does not communicate to those who are instructed by it, a better knowledge of grammar than the contrivers themselves seem to have possessed, it will be found of little use.[59] By the happy method of Bacon, to lead philosophy into the common walks of life, into the ordinary business and language of men, is to improve the condition of humanity; but, in teaching grammar, to desert the plain didactic method of definition and example, rule and praxis, and pretend to lead children by philosophic induction into a knowledge of words, is to throw down the ladder of learning, that boys may imagine themselves to ascend it, while they are merely stilting over the low level upon which its fragments are cast. 21. The chief argument of these inductive grammarians is founded on the principle, that children cannot be instructed by means of any words which they do not perfectly understand. If this principle were strictly true, children could never be instructed by words at all. For no child ever fully understands a word the first time he hears or sees it; and it is rather by frequent repetition and use, than by any other process, that the meaning of words is commonly learned. Hence most people make use of many terms which they cannot very accurately explain, just as they do of many _things_, the real nature of which they do not comprehend. The first perception we have of any word, or other thing, when presented to the ear or the eye, gives us some knowledge of it. So, to the signs of thought, as older persons use them, we soon attach some notion of what is meant; and the difference between this knowledge, and that which we call an understanding of the word or thing, is, for the most part, only in degree. Definitions and explanations are doubtless highly useful, but induction is not definition, and an understanding of words may be acquired without either; else no man could ever have made a dictionary. But, granting the principle to be true, it makes nothing for this puerile method of induction; because the regular process by definitions and examples is both shorter and easier, as well as more effectual. In a word, this whole scheme of inductive grammar is nothing else than a series of _leading_ questions and _manufactured_ answers; the former being generally as unfair as the latter are silly. It is a remarkable tissue of ill-laid premises and of forced illogical sequences. 22. Of a similar character is a certain work, entitled, "English Grammar on the _Productive System_: a method of instruction recently adopted in Germany and Switzerland." It is a work which certainly will be "_productive_" of no good to any body but the author and his publishers. The book is as destitute of taste, as of method; of authority, as of originality. It commences with "the _inductive_ process," and after forty pages of such matter as is described above, becomes a "_productive_ system," by means of a misnamed "RECAPITULATION;" which jumbles together the etymology and the syntax of the language, through seventy-six pages more. It is then made still more "_productive_" by the appropriation of a like space to a reprint of Murray's Syntax and Exercises, under the inappropriate title, "GENERAL OBSERVATIONS." To Prosody, including punctuation and the use of capitals, there are allotted six pages, at the end; and to Orthography, four lines, in the middle of the volume! (See p. 41.) It is but just, to regard the _title_ of this book, as being at once a libel and a lie; a libel upon the learning and good sense of Woodbridge;[60] and a practical lie, as conveying a false notion of the origin of what the volume contains. 23. What there is in Germany or Switzerland, that bears _any resemblance_ to this misnamed system of English Grammar, remains to be shown. It would be prodigal of the reader's time, and inconsistent with the studied brevity of this work, to expose the fallacy of what is pretended in regard to the origin of this new method. Suffice it to say, that the anonymous and questionable account of the "Productive System of Instruction," which the author has borrowed from a "valuable periodical," to save himself the trouble of writing a preface, and, as he says, to "_assist_ [the reader] in forming an opinion of the comparative merits of _the system_" is not only destitute of all authority, but is totally irrelevant, except to the whimsical _name_ of his book. If every word of it be true, it is insufficient to give us even the slightest reason to suppose, that any thing analogous to his production ever had existence in either of those countries; and yet it is set forth on purpose to convey the idea that such a system "_now predominates_" in the schools of both. (See _Pref._, p. 5.) The infidel _Neef_, whose new method of education has been tried in our country, and with its promulgator forgot, was an accredited disciple of this boasted "productive school;" a zealous coadjutor with Pestalozzi himself, from whose halls he emanated to "teach the offspring of a free people"--to teach them the nature of things sensible, and a contempt for all the wisdom of _books_. And what similarity is there between his method of teaching and that of _Roswell C. Smith_, except their pretence to a common parentage, and that both are worthless? 24. The success of Smith's Inductive and Productive Grammars, and the fame perhaps of a certain "Grammar in Familiar Lectures," produced in 1836 a rival work from the hands of a gentleman in New Hampshire, entitled, "An Analytical Grammar of the English Language, embracing the _Inductive and Productive Methods of Teaching_, with _Familiar Explanations in the Lecture Style_" &c. This is a fair-looking duodecimo volume of three hundred pages, the character and pretensions of which, if they could be clearly stated, would throw further light upon the two fallacious schemes of teaching mentioned above. For the writer says, "This grammar professes _to combine_ both the _Inductive_ and _Productive_ methods of imparting instruction, of which much has been said within a few years _past_"--_Preface_, p. iv. And again: "The inductive and productive methods of instruction contain the essence of modern improvements."--_Gram._, p. 139. In what these modern improvements consist, he does not inform us; but, it will be seen, that he himself claims the _copyright_ of _all_ the improvements which he allows to _English grammar_ since the appearance of Murray in 1795. More than two hundred pretenders to such improvements, appear however within the time; nor is the grammarian of Holdgate the least positive of the claimants. This new purveyor for the public taste, dislikes the catering of his predecessor, who poached in the fields of Murray; and, with a tacit censure upon _his productions_, has _honestly bought_ the rareties which he has served up. In this he has the advantage. He is a better writer too than some who make grammars; though no adept at composition, and a total stranger to method. To call his work a "_system_" is a palpable misnomer; to tell what it is, an impossibility. It is a grammatical chaos, bearing such a resemblance to Smith's or Kirkham's as one mass of confusion naturally bears to an other, yet differing from both in almost every thing that looks like order in any of the three. 25. The claimant of the combination says, "this new system of English grammar now offered to the public, embraces _the principles_ of a 'Systematic Introduction to English Grammar,' by John L. Parkhurst; and the _present author_ is indebted to Mr. Parkhurst for a knowledge of _the manner_ of applying the principles involved in _his peculiar method_ of teaching grammatical science. He is also under obligations to Mr. Parkhurst for many useful hints received several years since while under his instruction.--The _copy right_ of Parkhurst's Grammar has been purchased by the writer of this, who alone is responsible for the present application of _its definitions._ Parkhurst's Systematic Introduction to English Grammar has passed through two editions, and is _the first improved system_ of English grammar that has appeared before the public _since the first introduction_ of Lindley Murray's English Grammar."--_Sanborn's Gram., Preface_, p. iii. What, then, is "THE PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM?" and with whom did it originate? The thousands of gross blunders committed by its professors, prove at least that it is no system of writing grammatically; and, whether it originated with Parkhurst or with Pestalozzi, with Sanborn or with Smith, as it is confessedly a method but "recently adopted," and, so far as appears, never fairly tested, so is it a method that needs only to be _known_, to be immediately and forever exploded. 26. The best instruction is that which ultimately gives the greatest facility and skill in practice; and grammar is best taught by that process which brings its doctrines most directly home to the habits as well as to the thoughts of the pupil--which the most effectually conquers inattention, and leaves the deepest impress of shame upon blundering ignorance. In the language of some men, there is a vividness, an energy, a power of expression, which penetrates even the soul of dullness, and leaves an impression both of words unknown and of sentiments unfelt before. Such men can teach; but he who kindly or indolently accommodates himself to ignorance, shall never be greatly instrumental in removing it. "The colloquial barbarisms of boys," says Dr. Barrow, "should never be suffered to pass without notice and censure. Provincial tones and accents, and all defects in articulation, should be corrected whenever they are heard; lest they grow into established habits, unknown, from their familiarity, to him who is guilty of them, and adopted by others, from the imitation of his manner, or their respect for his authority."--_Barrow's Essays on Education_, p. 88. 27. In the whole range of school exercises, there is none of greater importance than that of parsing; and yet perhaps there is none which is, in general, more defectively conducted. Scarcely less useful, as a means of instruction, is the practice of correcting false syntax orally, by regular and logical forms of argument; nor does this appear to have been more ably directed towards the purposes of discipline. There is so much to be done, in order to effect what is desirable in the management of these things; and so little prospect that education will ever be generally raised to a just appreciation of that study which, more than all others, forms the mind to habits of correct thinking; that, in reflecting upon the state of the science at the present time, and upon the means of its improvement, the author cannot but sympathize, in some degree, with the sadness of the learned Sanctius; who tells us, that he had "always lamented, and often with tears, that while other branches of learning were excellently taught, grammar, which is the foundation of all others, lay so much neglected, and that for this neglect there seemed to be no adequate remedy."--_Pref. to Minerva_. The grammatical use of language is in sweet alliance with the moral; and a similar regret seems to have prompted the following exclamation of the Christian poet: "Sacred Interpreter of human thought, How few respect or use thee as they ought!"--COWPER. 28. No directions, either oral or written, can ever enable the heedless and the unthinking to speak or write well. That must indeed be an admirable book, which can attract levity to sober reflection, teach thoughtlessness the true meaning of words, raise vulgarity from its fondness for low examples, awaken the spirit which attains to excellency of speech, and cause grammatical exercises to be skillfully managed, where teachers themselves are so often lamentably deficient in them. Yet something may be effected by means of better books, if better can be introduced. And what withstands?--Whatever there is of ignorance or error in relation to the premises. And is it arrogant to say there is much? Alas! in regard to this, as well as to many a weightier matter, one may too truly affirm, _Multa non sunt sicut multis videntur_--Many things are not as they seem to many. Common errors are apt to conceal themselves from the common mind; and the appeal to reason and just authority is often frustrated, because a wrong head defies both. But, apart from this, there are difficulties: multiplicity perplexes choice; inconvenience attends change; improvement requires effort; conflicting theories demand examination; the principles of the science are unprofitably disputed; the end is often divorced from the means; and much that belies the title, has been published under the name. 29. It is certain, that the printed formularies most commonly furnished for the important exercises of parsing and correcting, are either so awkwardly written or so negligently followed, as to make grammar, in the mouths of our juvenile orators, little else than a crude and faltering jargon. Murray evidently intended that his book of exercises should be constantly used with his grammar; but he made the examples in the former so dull and prolix, that few learners, if any, have ever gone through the series agreeably to his direction. The publishing of them in a separate volume, has probably given rise to the absurd practice of endeavouring to teach his grammar without them. The forms of parsing and correcting which this author furnishes, are also misplaced; and when found by the learner, are of little use. They are so verbose, awkward, irregular, and deficient, that the pupil must be either a dull boy or utterly ignorant of grammar, if he cannot express the facts extemporaneously in better English. They are also very meagre as a whole, and altogether inadequate to their purpose; many things that frequently occur in the language, not being at all exemplified in them, or even explained in the grammar itself. When we consider how exceedingly important it is, that the business of a school should proceed without loss of time, and that, in the oral exercises here spoken of, each pupil should go through his part promptly, clearly, correctly, and fully, we cannot think it a light objection that these forms, so often to be repeated, are so badly written. Nor does the objection lie against this writer only: "_Ab uno disce omnes_." But the reader may demand some illustrations.[61] 30. First--from his etymological parsing: "O Virtue! how amiable thou art!" Here his form for the word _Virtue_ is--"_Virtue_ is a _common substantive, of_ the _neuter_ gender, _of the third_ person, _in the_ singular number, _and the_ nominative case."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. 2. It should have been--"_Virtue_ is a common _noun_, personified _proper_, of the _second_ person, singular number, _feminine_ gender, and nominative case." And then the definitions of all these things should have followed in regular numerical order. He gives the class of this noun wrong, for virtue addressed becomes an individual; he gives the gender wrong, and in direct contradiction to what he says of the word in his section on gender; he gives the person wrong, as may be seen by the pronoun _thou_, which represents it; he repeats the definite article three times unnecessarily, and inserts two needless prepositions, making them different where the relation is precisely the same: and all this, in a sentence of two lines, to tell the properties of the noun _Virtue!_--But further: in etymological parsing, the definitions explaining the properties of the parts of speech, ought to be regularly and rapidly rehearsed by the pupil, till all of them become perfectly familiar; and till he can discern, with the quickness of thought, what alone will be true for the full description of any word in any intelligible sentence. All these the author omits; and, on account of this omission, his whole method of etymological parsing is, miserably deficient.[62] 31. Secondly--from his syntactical parsing: "_Vice_ degrades us." Here his form for the word _Vice_ is--"_Vice_ is a common substantive, _of_ the third person, _in the_ singular number, _and the_ nominative case."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. 9. Now, when the learner is told that this is the syntactical parsing of a noun, and the other the etymological, he will of course conclude, that to advance from the etymology to the syntax of this part of speech, is merely, _to omit the gender_--this being the only difference between the two forms. But even this difference had no other origin than the compiler's carelessness in preparing his octavo book of exercises--the gender being inserted in the duodecimo. And what then? Is the syntactical parsing of a noun to be precisely the same as the etymological? Never. But Murray, and all who admire and follow his work, are content to parse many words by halves--making, or pretending to make, a necessary distinction, and yet often omitting, in both parts of the exercise, every thing which constitutes the difference. He should here have said--"_Vice_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is the subject of _degrades_; according to the rule which says, 'A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a verb, must be in the nominative case.' Because the meaning is--_vice degrades_." This is the whole description of the word, with its construction; and to say less, is to leave the matter unfinished. 32. Thirdly--from his "Mode of verbally correcting erroneous sentences:" Take his first example: "The man is prudent which speaks little." (How far silence is prudence, depends upon circumstances: I waive that question.) The learner is here taught to say, "This sentence is incorrect; because _which_ is a pronoun _of the neuter gender, and does not agree in gender_ with its antecedent _man_, which is masculine. But a pronoun should agree with its antecedent in gender, &c. according to the fifth rule of syntax. _Which_ should _therefore_ be _who_, a relative pronoun, agreeing with its antecedent _man_; and the sentence should stand thus: 'The man is prudent _who_ speaks little.'"--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 18; _Exercises_, 12mo, p. xii. Again: "'After I visited Europe, I returned to America.' This sentence," says Murray, "_is not correct_; because the verb _visited_ is in the imperfect tense, and yet used here to express an action, not only past, but prior to the time referred to by the verb _returned_, to which it relates. By the thirteenth rule of syntax, when verbs are used that, in point of time, relate to each other, the order of time should be observed. The imperfect tense _visited_ should therefore have been _had visited_, in the pluperfect tense, representing the action of _visiting_, not only as past, but also as prior to the time of _returning_. _The sentence corrected would stand thus_: 'After I _had visited_ Europe, I returned to America.'"--_Gr._, ii, p. 19; _and Ex._ 12mo, p. xii. These are the first two examples of Murray's verbal corrections, and the only ones retained by Alger, in his _improved, recopy-righted edition_ of Murray's Exercises. Yet, in each of them, is the argumentation palpably false! In the former, truly, _which_ should be _who_; but not because _which_ is "of the _neuter gender_;" but because the application of that relative to _persons_, is now nearly obsolete. Can any grammarian forget that, in speaking of brute animals, male or female, we commonly use _which_, and never _who_? But if _which_ must needs be _neuter_, the world is wrong in this.--As for the latter example, it is right as it stands; and the correction is, in some sort, tautological. The conjunctive adverb _after_ makes one of the actions subsequent to the other, and gives to the _visiting_ all the priority that is signified by the pluperfect tense. "_After_ I _visited_ Europe," is equivalent to "_When_ I _had visited_ Europe." The whole argument is therefore void.[63] 33. These few brief illustrations, out of thousands that might be adduced in proof of the faultiness of the common manuals, the author has reluctantly introduced, to show that even in the most popular books, with all the pretended improvements of revisers, the grammar of our language has never been treated with that care and ability which its importance demands. It is hardly to be supposed that men unused to a teacher's duties, can be qualified to compose such books as will most facilitate his labours. Practice is a better pilot than theory. And while, in respect to grammar, the consciousness of failure is constantly inducing changes from one system to another, and almost daily giving birth to new expedients as constantly to end in the same disappointment; perhaps the practical instructions of an experienced teacher, long and assiduously devoted to the study, may approve themselves to many, as seasonably supplying the aid and guidance which they require. 34. From the doctrines of grammar, novelty is rigidly excluded. They consist of details to which taste can lend no charm, and genius no embellishment. A writer may express them with neatness and perspicuity--their importance alone can commend them to notice. Yet, in drawing his illustrations from the stores of literature, the grammarian may select some gems of thought, which will fasten on the memory a worthy sentiment, or relieve the dullness of minute instruction. Such examples have been taken from various authors, and interspersed through the following pages. The moral effect of early lessons being a point of the utmost importance, it is especially incumbent on all those who are endeavouring to confer the benefits of intellectual culture, to guard against the admission or the inculcation of any principle which may have an improper tendency, and be ultimately prejudicial to those whom they instruct. In preparing this treatise for publication, the author has been solicitous to avoid every thing that could be offensive to the most delicate and scrupulous reader; and of the several thousands of quotations introduced for the illustration or application of the principles of the science, he trusts that the greater part will be considered valuable on account of the sentiments they contain. 35. The nature of the subject almost entirely precludes invention. The author has, however, aimed at that kind and degree of originality which are to be commended in works of this sort. What these are, according to his view, he has sufficiently explained in a preceding chapter. And, though he has taken the liberty of a grammarian, to think for himself and write in a style of his own, he trusts it will be evident that few have excelled him in diligence of research, or have followed more implicitly the dictates of that authority which gives law to language. In criticising the critics and grammatists of the schools, he has taken them upon their own ground--showing their errors, for the most part, in contrast with the common principles which they themselves have taught; and has hoped to escape censure, in his turn, not by sheltering himself under the name of a popular master, but by a diligence which should secure to his writings at least the humble merit of self-consistency. His progress in composing this work has been slow, and not unattended with labour and difficulty. Amidst the contrarieties of opinion, that appear in the various treatises already before the public, and the perplexities inseparable from so complicated a subject, he has, after deliberate consideration, adopted those views and explanations which appeared to him the least liable to objection, and the most compatible with his ultimate object--the production of a work which should show, both extensively and accurately, what is, and what is not, good English. 36. The great art of meritorious authorship lies chiefly in the condensation of much valuable thought into few words. Although the author has here allowed himself ampler room than before, he has still been no less careful to store it with such information as he trusted would prevent the ingenious reader from wishing its compass less. He has compressed into this volume the most essential parts of a mass of materials in comparison with which the book is still exceedingly small. The effort to do this, has greatly multiplied his own labour and long delayed the promised publication; but in proportion as this object has been reached, the time and patience of the student must have been saved. Adequate compensation for this long toil, has never been expected. Whether from this performance any profit shall accrue to the author or not, is a matter of little consequence; he has neither written for bread, nor on the credit of its proceeds built castles in the air. His ambition was, to make an acceptable book, by which the higher class of students might be thoroughly instructed, and in which the eyes of the critical would find little to condemn. He is too well versed in the history of his theme, too well aware of the precarious fortune of authors, to indulge in any confident anticipations of extraordinary success: yet he will not deny that his hopes are large, being conscious of having cherished them with a liberality of feeling which cannot fear disappointment. In this temper he would invite the reader to a thorough perusal of these pages. 37. A grammar should speak for itself. In a work of this nature, every word or tittle which does not recommend the performance to the understanding and taste of the skillful, is, so far as it goes, a certificate against it. Yet if some small errors shall have escaped detection, let it be recollected that it is almost impossible to compose and print, with perfect accuracy, a work of this size, in which so many little things should be observed, remembered, and made exactly to correspond. There is no human vigilance which multiplicity may not sometimes baffle, and minuteness sometimes elude. To most persons grammar seems a dry and difficult subject; but there is a disposition of mind, to which what is arduous, is for that very reason alluring. "Quo difficilius, hoc praeclarius," says Cicero; "The more difficult, the more honourable." The merit of casting up a high-way in a rugged land, is proportionate not merely to the utility of the achievement, but to the magnitude of the obstacles to be overcome. The difficulties encountered in boyhood from the use of a miserable epitome and the deep impression of a few mortifying blunders made in public, first gave the author a fondness for grammar; circumstances having since favoured this turn of his genius, he has voluntarily pursued the study, with an assiduity which no man will ever imitate for the sake of pecuniary recompense. CHAPTER X. OF GRAMMATICAL DEFINITIONS. "Scientiam autem nusquam esse censebant, nisi in animi motionibus atque rationibus: qua de causa _definitiones_ rerum probabant, et has ad omnia, de quibus disceptabatur, adhibebant."--CICERONIS _Academica_, Lib. i, 9. 1. "The first and highest philosophy," says Puffendorf, "is that which delivers the most accurate and comprehensive _definitions_ of things." Had all the writers on English grammar been adepts in this philosophy, there would have been much less complaint of the difficulty and uncertainty of the study. "It is easy," says Murray, "to advance plausible objections against almost every definition, rule, and arrangement of grammar."--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 59. But, if this is true, as regards his, or any other work, the reason, I am persuaded, is far less inherent in the nature of the subject than many have supposed.[64] Objectionable definitions and rules are but evidences of the ignorance and incapacity of him who frames them. And if the science of grammar has been so unskillfully treated that almost all its positions may be plausibly impugned, it is time for some attempt at a reformation of the code. The language is before us, and he who knows most about it, can best prescribe the rules which we ought to observe in the use of it. But how can we expect children to deduce from a few particulars an accurate notion of general principles and their exceptions, where learned doctors have so often faltered? Let the abettors of grammatical "_induction_" answer. 2. Nor let it be supposed a light matter to prescribe with certainty the principles of grammar. For, what is requisite to the performance? To know certainly, in the first place, what is the _best usage_. Nor is this all. Sense and memory must be keen, and tempered to retain their edge and hold, in spite of any difficulties which the subject may present. To understand things exactly as they are; to discern the differences by which they may be distinguished, and the resemblances by which they ought to be classified; to know, through the proper evidences of truth, that our ideas, or conceptions, are rightly conformable to the nature, properties, and relations, of the objects of which we think; to see how that which is complex may be resolved into its elements, and that which is simple may enter into combination; to observe how that which is consequent may be traced to its cause, and that which is regular be taught by rule; to learn from the custom of speech the proper connexion between words and ideas, so as to give to the former a just application, to the latter an adequate expression, and to things a just description; to have that penetration which discerns what terms, ideas, or things, are definable, and therefore capable of being taught, and what must be left to the teaching of nature: these are the essential qualifications for him who would form good definitions; these are the elements of that accuracy and comprehensiveness of thought, to which allusion has been made, and which are characteristic of "the first and highest philosophy." 3. Again, with reference to the cultivation of the mind, I would add: To observe accurately the appearances of things, and the significations of words; to learn first principles first, and proceed onward in such a manner that every new truth may help to enlighten and strengthen the understanding; and thus to comprehend gradually, according to our capacity, whatsoever may be brought within the scope of human intellect:--to do these things, I say, is, to ascend by sure steps, so far as we may, from the simplest elements of science--which, in fact, are our own, original, undefinable notices of things--towards the very topmost height of human wisdom and knowledge. The ancient saying, that truth lies hid, or in the bottom of a well, must not be taken without qualification; for "the first and highest philosophy" has many principles which even a child may understand. These several suggestions, the first of which the Baron de Puffendorf thought not unworthy to introduce his great work on the Law of Nature and of Nations, the reader, if he please, may bear in mind, as he peruses the following digest of the laws and usages of speech. 4. "Definitions," says Duncan, in his Elements of Logic, "are intended to make known the meaning of words standing for _complex ideas_;[65] and were we always careful to form those ideas exactly in our minds, and copy our definitions from that appearance, much of the confusion and obscurity complained of in languages might be prevented."--P. 70. Again he says: "The writings of the mathematicians are a clear proof, how much the advancement of human knowledge depends upon a right use of definitions."--P. 72. Mathematical science has been supposed to be, in its own nature, that which is best calculated to develop and strengthen the reasoning faculty; but, as speech is emphatically _the discourse of reason_, I am persuaded, that had the grammarians been equally clear and logical in their instructions, their science would never have been accounted inferior in this respect. Grammar is perhaps the most comprehensive of all studies; but it is chiefly owing to the unskillfulness of instructors, and to the errors and defects of the systems in use, that it is commonly regarded as the most dry and difficult. 5. "Poor Scaliger (who well knew what a definition should be) from his own melancholy experience exclaimed--'_Nihil infelicius grammatico definitore!_' Nothing is more unhappy than the grammatical definer."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 238. Nor do our later teachers appear to have been more fortunate in this matter. A majority of all the definitions and rules contained in the great multitude of English grammars which I have examined, are, in some respect or other, erroneous. The nature of their multitudinous faults, I must in general leave to the discernment of the reader, except the passages be such as may be suitably selected for examples of false syntax. Enough, however, will be exhibited, in the course of this volume, to make the foregoing allegation credible; and of the rest a more accurate judgement may perhaps be formed, when they shall have been compared with what this work will present as substitutes. The importance of giving correct definitions to philological terms, and of stating with perfect accuracy whatsoever is to be learned as doctrine, has never been duly appreciated. The grand source of the disheartening difficulties encountered by boys in the study of grammar, lies in their ignorance of the meaning of words. This cause of embarrassment is not to be shunned and left untouched; but, as far as possible, it ought to be removed. In teaching grammar, or indeed any other science, we cannot avoid the use of many terms to which young learners may have attached no ideas. Being little inclined or accustomed to reflection, they often hear, read, or even rehearse from memory, the plainest language that can be uttered, and yet have no very distinct apprehension of what it means. What marvel then, that in a study abounding with terms taken in a peculiar or technical sense, many of which, in the common manuals, are either left undefined, or are explained but loosely or erroneously, they should often be greatly puzzled, and sometimes totally discouraged? 6. _Simple ideas_ are derived, not from teaching, but from sensation or consciousness; but _complex ideas_, or the notions which we have of such things as consist of various parts, or such as stand in any known relations, are definable. A person can have no better definition of _heat_, or of _motion_, than what he will naturally get by _moving_ towards a _fire_. Not so of our complex or general ideas, which constitute science. The proper objects of scientific instruction consist in those genuine perceptions of pure mind, which form the true meaning of generic names, or common nouns; and he who is properly qualified to teach, can for the most part readily tell what should be understood by such words. But are not many teachers too careless here? For instance: a boy commencing the process of calculation, is first told, that, "Arithmetic is the art of computing by numbers," which sentence he partly understands; but should he ask his teacher, "What is a _number_, in arithmetic?" what answer will he get? Were Goold Brown so asked, he would simply say, "_A number, in arithmetic, is an expression that tells how many_;" for every expression that tells how many, is a number in arithmetic, and nothing else is. But as no such definition is contained in _the books_,[66] there are ten chances to one, that, simple as the matter is, the readiest master you shall find, will give an erroneous answer. Suppose the teacher should say, "That is a question which I have not thought of; turn to your dictionary." The boy reads from Dr. Webster: "NUMBER--the designation of a unit in reference to other units, or in reckoning, counting, enumerating."--"Yes," replies the master, "that is it; Dr. Webster is unrivalled in giving definitions." Now, has the boy been instructed, or only puzzled? Can he conceive how the number _five_ can be a _unit_? or how the word _five_, the figure 5, or the numeral letter V, is "the designation of a _unit_?" He knows that each of these is a number, and that the oral monosyllable _five_ is the same number, in an other form; but is still as much at a loss for a proper answer to his question, as if he had never seen either schoolmaster or dictionary. So is it with a vast number of the simplest things in grammar. 7. Since what we denominate scientific terms, are seldom, if ever, such as stand for ideas simple and undefinable; and since many of those which represent general ideas, or classes of objects, may be made to stand for more or fewer things, according to the author's notion of classification; it is sufficiently manifest that the only process by which instruction can effectually reach the understanding of the pupil and remove the difficulties spoken of, is that of delivering accurate definitions. These are requisite for the information and direction of the learner; and these must be thoroughly impressed upon his mind, as the only means by which he can know exactly how much and what he is to understand by our words. The power which we possess, of making known all our complex or general ideas of things by means of definitions, is a faculty wisely contrived in the nature of language, for the increase and spread of science; and, in the hands of the skillful, it is of vast avail to these ends. It is "the first and highest philosophy," instructing mankind, to think clearly and speak accurately; as well as to know definitely, in the unity and permanence of a general nature, those things which never could be known or spoken of as the individuals of an infinite and fleeting multitude. 8. And, without contradiction, the shortest and most successful way of teaching the young mind to distinguish things according to their proper differences, and to name or describe them aright, is, to tell in direct terms what they severally are. Cicero intimates that all instruction appealing to reason ought to proceed in this manner: "Omnis enim quse a ratione suscipitur de re aliqua institutio, debet a _definitione_ proficisci, ut intelligatur quid sit id, de quo disputetur."--_Off_. Lib. i, p. 4. Literally thus: "For all instruction which from reason is undertaken concerning any thing, ought to proceed from a _definition_, that it may be understood what the thing is, about which the speaker is arguing." Little advantage, however, will be derived from any definition, which is not, as Quintilian would have it, "Lucida et succincta rei descriptio,"--"a clear and brief description of the thing." 9. Let it here be observed that scientific definitions are of _things_, and not merely of _words_; or if equally of words _and_ things, they are rather of nouns than of the other parts of speech. For a definition, in the proper sense of the term, consists not in a mere change or explanation of the verbal sign, but in a direct and true answer to the question, What is such or such a thing? In respect to its extent, it must with equal exactness include every thing which comes under the name, and exclude every thing which does not come under the name: then will it perfectly serve the purpose for which it is intended. To furnish such definitions, (as I have suggested,) is work for those who are capable of great accuracy both of thought and expression. Those who would qualify themselves for teaching any particular branch of knowledge, should make it their first concern to acquire clear and accurate ideas of all things that ought to be embraced in their instructions. These ideas are to be gained, either by contemplation upon the things themselves as they are presented naturally, or by the study of those books in which they are rationally and clearly explained. Nor will such study ever be irksome to him whose generous desire after knowledge, is thus deservedly gratified. 10. But it must be understood, that although scientific definitions are said to be _of things_, they are not copied immediately from the real essence of the things, but are formed from the conceptions of the author's mind concerning that essence. Hence, as Duncan justly remarks, "A mistaken idea never fails to occasion a mistake also in the definition." Hence, too, the common distinction of the logicians, between definitions of the _name_ and definitions of the _thing_, seems to have little or no foundation. The former term they applied to those definitions which describe the objects of pure intellection, such as triangles, and other geometrical figures; the latter, to those which define objects actually existing in external nature. The mathematical definitions, so noted for their certainty and completeness, have been supposed to have some peculiar preeminence, as belonging to the former class. But, in fact the idea of a triangle exists as substantively in the mind, as that of a tree, if not indeed more so; and if I define these two objects, my description will, in either case, be equally a definition both of the name and of the thing; but in neither, is it copied from any thing else than that notion which I have conceived, of the common properties of all triangles or of all trees. 11. Infinitives, and some other terms not called nouns, may be taken abstractly or substantively, so as to admit of what may be considered a regular definition; thus the question, "What is it _to read?_" is nearly the same as, "What is _reading?_" "What is it _to be wise?_" is little different from, "What is _wisdom?_" and a true answer might be, in either case, a true definition. Nor are those mere translations or explanations of words, with which our dictionaries and vocabularies abound, to be dispensed with in teaching: they prepare the student to read various authors with facility, and furnish him with a better choice of terms, when he attempts to write. And in making such choice, let him remember, that as affectation of _hard_ words makes composition ridiculous, so the affectation of _easy_ and _common_ ones may make it unmanly. But not to digress. With respect to grammar, we must sometimes content ourselves with such explications of its customary terms, as cannot claim to be perfect definitions; for the most common and familiar things are not always those which it is the most easy to define. When Dr. Johnson was asked, "What is _poetry_?" he replied, "Why, sir, it is easier to tell what it is not. We all know what _light_ is: but it is not easy _to tell what it is_."--_Boswell's Life of Johnson_, Vol. iii, p. 402. This was thought by the biographer to have been well and ingeniously said. 12. But whenever we encounter difficulties of this sort, it may be worth while to seek for their _cause_. If we find it, the understanding is no longer puzzled. Dr. Johnson seemed to his biographer, to show, by this ready answer, the acuteness of his wit and discernment. But did not the wit consist in adroitly excusing himself, by an illusory comparison? What analogy is there between the things which he compares? Of the difficulty of defining _poetry_, and the difficulty of defining _light_, the reasons are as different as are the two things themselves, _poetry_ and _light_. The former is something so various and complex that it is hard to distinguish its essence from its accidents; the latter presents an idea so perfectly simple and unique that all men conceive of it exactly in the same way, while none can show wherein it essentially consists. But is it true, that, "We all know _what light is_?" Is it not rather true, that we know nothing at all about it, but what it is just as easy to tell as to think? We know it is that reflexible medium which enables us to see; and this is definition enough for all but the natively blind, to whom no definition perhaps can ever convey an adequate notion of its use in respect to sight. 13. If a person cannot tell what a thing is, it is commonly considered to be a fair inference, that he does not know. Will any grammarian say, "I know well enough what the thing is, but I cannot tell?" Yet, taken upon this common principle, the authors of our English grammars, (if in framing their definitions they have not been grossly wanting to themselves in the exercise of their own art,) may be charged, I think, with great ignorance, or great indistinctness of apprehension; and that, too, in relation to many things among the very simplest elements of their science. For example: Is it not a disgrace to a man of letters, to be unable to tell accurately what a letter is? Yet to say, with Lowth, Murray, Churchill, and a hundred others of inferior name, that, "_A letter_ is _the first principle_ or _least part_ of a word," is to utter what is neither good English nor true doctrine. The two articles _a_ and _the_ are here inconsistent with each other. "_A_ letter" is _one_ letter, _any_ letter; but "_the first principle_ of a word" is, surely, not one or any principle taken _indefinitely_. Equivocal as the phrase is, it must mean either _some particular principle_, or some particular _first_ principle, of a word; and, taken either way, the assertion is false. For it is manifest, that in _no sense_ can we affirm of _each_ of the letters of a word, that it is "_the first principle_" of that word. Take, for instance, the word _man_. Is _m_ the first principle of this word? You may answer, "Yes; for it is the first _letter_." Is _a_ the first principle? "No; it is the _second_." But _n_ too is a letter; and is _n_ the first principle? "No; it is the _last_!" This grammatical error might have been avoided by saying, "_Letters_ are the first principles, or least parts, of words." But still the definition would not be true, nor would it answer the question, What is a letter? The true answer to which is: "A letter is an alphabetic _character_, which commonly represents some elementary sound of human articulation, or speech." 14. This true definition sufficiently distinguishes letters from the marks used in punctuation, because the latter are not alphabetic, and they represent silence, rather than sound; and also from the Arabic figures used for numbers, because these are no part of any alphabet, and they represent certain entire words, no one of which consists only of one letter, or of a single element of articulation. The same may be said of all the characters used for abbreviation; as, & for _and_, $ for _dollars_, or the marks peculiar to mathematicians, to astronomers, to druggists, &c. None of these are alphabetic, and they represent significant words, and not single elementary sounds: it would be great dullness, to assume that a word and an elementary sound are one and the same thing. But the reader will observe that this definition embraces _no idea_ contained in the faulty one to which I am objecting; neither indeed could it, without a blunder. So wide from the mark is that notion of a letter, which the popularity of Dr. Lowth and his copyists has made a hundred-fold more common than any other![67] According to an other erroneous definition given by these same gentlemen, "_Words_ are articulate _sounds_, used by common consent, as signs of our ideas."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 22; _Kirkham's_, 20; _Ingersoll's_, 7; _Alger's_, 12; _Russell's_, 7; _Merchant's_, 9; _Fisk's_, 11; _Greenleaf's_, 20; and many others. See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 6; from which almost all authors have taken the notion, that words consist of "_sounds_" only. But letters are no principles or parts of _sounds_ at all; unless you will either have visible marks to be sounds, or the sign to be a principle or part of the thing signified. Nor are they always principles or parts of _words_: we sometimes write what is _not a word_; as when, by letters, we denote pronunciation alone, or imitate brute voices. If words were formed of articulate sounds only, they could not exist in books, or be in any wise known to the deaf and dumb. These two primary definitions, then, are both false; and, taken together, they involve the absurdity of dividing things acknowledged to be indivisible. In utterance, we cannot divide consonants from their vowels; on paper, we can. Hence letters are the least parts of written language only; but the least parts of spoken words are syllables, and not letters. Every definition of a consonant implies this. 15. They who cannot define a letter or a word, may be expected to err in explaining other grammatical terms. In my opinion, nothing is well written, that can possibly be misunderstood; and if any definition be likely to _suggest_ a wrong idea, this alone is enough to condemn it: nor does it justify the phraseology, to say, that a more reasonable construction can be put upon it. By Murray and others, the young learner is told, that, "A _vowel_ is an articulate _sound_, that can be perfectly _uttered by itself_;" as if a vowel were nothing but a sound, and that a sort of echo, which can _utter itself_; and next, that, "A _consonant_ is an articulate _sound_, which cannot be perfectly uttered _without the help of_ a vowel." Now, by their own showing, every letter is either a vowel or a consonant; hence, according to these definitions, all the letters are articulate _sounds_. And, if so, what is a "silent letter?" It is a _silent articulate sound!_ Again: ask a boy, "What is a _triphthong?_" He answers in the words of Murray, Weld, Pond, Smith, Adams, Kirkham, Merchant, Ingersoll, Bacon, Alger, Worcester, and others: "A triphthong is the union of three vowels, _pronounced in like manner_: as _eau_ in beau, _iew_ in view." He accurately cites an entire paragraph from his grammar, but does he well conceive how the three vowels in _beau_ or _view_ are "pronounced _in like manner?_" Again: "A _syllable_ is a _sound_, either simple or _compound_, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 22. This definition resolves syllables into _sounds_; whereas their true elements are _letters_. It also mistakes the participle _compounded_ for the adjective _compound_; whereas the latter only is the true reverse of _simple_. A _compound sound_ is a sound composed of others which may be separated; a _sound compounded_ is properly that which is made an ingredient with others, but which may itself be simple. 16. It is observable, that in their attempts to explain these prime elements of grammar, Murray, and many others who have copied him, overlook all _written_ language; whereas their very science itself took its origin, name, and nature, from the invention of writing; and has consequently no bearing upon any dialect which has not been written. Their definitions absurdly resolve letters, vowels, consonants, syllables, and words, all into _sounds_; as if none of these things had any existence on paper, or any significance to those who read in silence. Hence, their explanations of all these elements, as well as of many other things equally essential to the study, are palpably erroneous. I attribute this to the carelessness with which men have compiled or made up books of grammar; and that carelessness to those various circumstances, already described, which have left diligence in a grammarian no hope of praise or reward. Without alluding here to my own books, no one being obliged to accuse himself, I doubt whether we have any school grammar that is much less objectionable in this respect, than Murray's; and yet I am greatly mistaken, if nine tenths of all the definitions in Murray's system are not faulty. "It was this sort of definitions, which made _Scaliger_ say, _'Nihil infelicius definitore grammatico_.'"--See _Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 351; also _Paragraph_ 5th, above. 17. Nor can this objection be neutralized by saying, it is a mere matter of opinion--a mere prejudice originating in rivalry. For, though we have ample choice of terms, and may frequently assign to particular words a meaning and an explanation which are in some degree arbitrary; yet whenever we attempt to define things under the name which custom has positively fixed upon them, we are no longer left to arbitrary explications; but are bound to think and to say that only which shall commend itself to the understanding of others, as being altogether true to nature. When a word is well understood to denote a particular object or class of objects, the definition of it ought to be in strict conformity to what is known of the real being and properties of the thing or things contemplated. A definition of this kind is a proposition susceptible of proof and illustration; and therefore whatsoever is erroneously assumed to be the proper meaning of such a term, may be refuted. But those persons who take every thing upon trust, and choose both to learn and to teach mechanically, often become so slavishly habituated to the peculiar phraseology of their text-books, that, be the absurdity of a particular expression what it may, they can neither discover nor suspect any inaccuracy in it. It is also very natural even for minds more independent and acute, to regard with some reverence whatsoever was gravely impressed upon them in childhood. Hence the necessity that all school-books should proceed from skillful hands. Instruction should tell things as they are, and never falter through negligence. 18. I have admitted that definitions are not the only means by which a general knowledge of the import of language may be acquired; nor are they the only means by which the acquisition of such knowledge may be aided. To exhibit or point out _things_ and tell their names, constitutes a large part of that instruction by which the meaning of words is conveyed to the young mind; and, in many cases, a mere change or apposition of terms may sufficiently explain our idea. But when we would guard against the possibility of misapprehension, and show precisely what is meant by a word, we must fairly define it. There are, however, in every language, many words which do not admit of a formal definition. The import of all definitive and connecting particles must be learned from usage, translation, or derivation; and nature reserves to herself the power of explaining the objects of our simple original perceptions. "All words standing for complex ideas are definable; but those by which we denote simple ideas, are not. For the perceptions of this latter class, having no other entrance into the mind, than by sensation or reflection, can be acquired only by experience."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 63. "And thus we see, that as our simple ideas are the materials and foundation of knowledge, so the names of simple ideas may be considered as the elementary parts of language, beyond which we cannot trace the meaning and signification of words. When we come to them, we suppose the ideas for which they stand to be already known; or, if they are not, experience alone must be consulted, and not definitions or explications."--_Ibid._, p. 69. 19. But this is no apology for the defectiveness of any definition which might be made correct, or for the effectiveness of our English grammars, in the frequent omission of all explanation, and the more frequent adoption of some indirect form of expression. It is often much easier to make some loose observation upon what is meant by a given word or term in science, than to frame a faultless definition of the thing; because it is easier to refer to some of the relations, qualities, offices, or attributes of things, than to discern wherein their essence consists, so as to be able to tell directly and clearly what they are. The improvement of our grammatical code in this respect, was one of the principal objects which I thought it needful to attempt, when I first took up the pen as a grammarian. I cannot pretend to have seen, of course, every definition and rule which has been published on this subject; but, if I do not misjudge a service too humble for boasting, I have myself framed a greater number of new or improved ones, than all other English grammarians together. And not a few of them have, since their first publication in 1823, been complimented to a place in other grammars than my own. This is in good keeping with the authorship which has been spoken of in an other chapter; but I am constrained to say, it affords no proof that they were well written. If it did, the definitions and rules in Murray's grammar must undoubtedly be thought the most correct that ever have been given: they have been more frequently copied than any others. 20. But I have ventured to suggest, that nine tenths of this author's definitions are bad, or at least susceptible of some amendment. If this can be shown to the satisfaction of the reader, will he hope to find an other English grammar in which the eye of criticism may not detect errors and deficiencies with the same ease? My object is, to enforce attention to the proprieties of speech; and this is the very purpose of all grammar. To exhibit here all Murray's definitions, with criticisms upon them, would detain us too long. We must therefore be content to take a part of them as a sample. And, not to be accused of fixing only upon the worst, we will take a _series_. Let us then consider in their order his definitions of the nine parts of speech;--for, calling the participle a verb, he reduces the sorts of words to that number. And though not one of his nine definitions now stands exactly as it did in his early editions, I think it may be said, that not one of them is now, if it ever has been, expressed grammatically. 21. FIRST DEFINITION:--"An Article is a word _prefixed_ to substantives, _to point them out_, and to show how far their[68] signification extends."--_Murray, and others, from, Lowth's Gram._, p. 10. This is obscure. In what manner, or in what respect, does an article point out substantives? To point them out _as such_, or to show which words are substantives, seems at first view to be the meaning intended; but it is said soon after, "_A_ or _an_ is used in a vague sense, to _point out_ one single _thing_ of the kind, in other respects _indeterminate_; as, 'Give me _a_ book;' 'Bring me _an_ apple.'"--_Lowth_, p. 11; _Murray_, p. 31. And again: "It is _of the nature_ of both the articles to determine or limit _the thing_ spoken of."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170. Now to point out _nouns_ among the parts of speech, and to point out _things_ as individuals of their class, are very different matters; and which of these is the purpose for which articles are used, according to Lowth and Murray? Their definition says the former, their explanations imply the latter; and I am unable to determine which they really meant. The term _placed before_ would have been better than "_prefixed_;" because the latter commonly implies junction, as well as location. The word "_indeterminate_" is not a very easy one for a boy; and, when he has found out what it means, he may possibly not know to which of the four preceding nouns it ought to be referred:--"in a vague _sense_, to point out one single _thing_ of the _kind_, in other _respects_ indeterminate." What is this "vague sense?" and what is it, that is "indeterminate?" 22. SECOND DEFINITION:--"A Substantive or Noun is the name of any thing _that_ exists, or of _which_ we have any notion."--_Murray, and others_. According to his own syntax, this sentence of Murray's is wrong; for he himself suggests, that when two or more relative clauses refer to the same antecedent, the same pronoun should be used in each. Of clauses connected like these, this is true. He should therefore have said, "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of any thing _which_ exists, or of _which_ we have any notion." His rule, however, though good against a text like this, is utterly wrong in regard to many others, and not very accurate in taking _two_ for a "_series_" thus: "Whatever relative is used, in one of a _series_ of clauses relating to the same antecedent, the same relative ought, generally to be used in _them all_. In the following sentence, _this rule is violated_: 'It is remarkable, that Holland, against _which_ the war was undertaken, and _that_, in the very beginning, was reduced to the brink of destruction, lost nothing.' The clause ought to have been, 'and _which_ in the very beginning.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 155. But both the rule and the example, badly as they correspond, were borrowed from Priestley's Grammar, p. 102, where the text stands thus: "Whatever relative _be_ used, in one of a _series_ of clauses, relating to the same antecedent, the same ought to be used in _them all_. 'It is remarkable, that Holland,'" &c. 23. THIRD DEFINITION:--"An Adjective is a word added to a substantive, to express _its_ quality."--_Lowth, Murray, Bullions, Pond, and others_. Here we have the choice of two meanings; but neither of them is according to truth. It seems doubtful whether "_its_ quality" is the _adjective's_ quality, or the _substantive's_; but in either sense, the phrase is false; for an adjective is added to a noun, not to express any quality either of the adjective or of the noun, but to express some quality of the _thing signified_ by the noun. But the definition is too much restricted; for adjectives may be added to pronouns as well as to nouns, nor do they always express _quality_. 24. FOURTH DEFINITION:--"A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to _avoid the too frequent_ repetition of _the same word_."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 25; _Murray's_, 28 and 50; _Felton's_, 18; _Alger's_, 13; _Bacon's_, 10; _and others_. The latter part of this sentence is needless, and also contains several errors. 1. The verb _avoid_ is certainly very ill-chosen; because it implies intelligent agency, and not that which is merely instrumental. 2. The article _the_ is misemployed for _a_; for, "_the_ too frequent repetition," should mean _some particular_ too frequent repetition--an idea not intended here, and in itself not far from absurdity. 3. The phrase, "_the same word_" may apply to the pronoun itself as well as to the noun: in saying, "_I_ came, _I_ saw, _I_ conquered," there is as frequent a repetition of _the same word_, as in saying, "_Caesar_ came, _Caesar_ saw, _Caesar_ conquered." If, therefore, the latter part of this definition must be retained, the whole should be written thus: "A Pronoun is a word used _in stead_ of a noun, to _prevent_ too frequent _a_ repetition of _it_." 25. FIFTH DEFINITION:--"A Verb is a word which signifies _to be, to do_, or _to suffer_"--_Lowth, Murray, and others_. NOTE:--"A verb may generally be distinguished by _its making sense_ with any of the personal pronouns, or the word _to_ before it."--_Murray, and others_. It is confessedly difficult to give a perfect definition of a _verb_; and if, with Murray, we will have the participles to be verbs, there must be no small difficulty in forming one that shall be tolerable. Against the foregoing old explanation, it may be objected, that the phrase _to suffer_, being now understood in a more limited sense than formerly, does not well express the nature or import of a passive verb. I have said, "A Verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_." Children cannot readily understand, how every thing that is in any way _acted upon_, may be said _to suffer_. The participle, I think, should be taken as a distinct part of speech, and have its own definition. The note added by Murray to his definition of a verb, would prove the participle not to be included in this part of speech, and thus practically contradict his scheme. It is also objectionable in respect to construction. The phrase "_by its making sense_" is at least very questionable English; for "_its making_" supposes _making_ to be a noun, and "_making sense_" supposes it to be an active participle. But Lowth says, "Let it be either the one or the other, and abide by its own construction." Nay, the author himself, though he therein contradicts an other note of his own, virtually condemns the phrase, by his caution to the learner against treating words in _ing_, "as if they were of an _amphibious species_, partly nouns and partly verbs."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 193. 26. SIXTH DEFINITION:--"_An_ Adverb is _a part of speech joined_ to a verb, an adjective, _and sometimes to_ another adverb, to express some _quality_ or _circumstance_ respecting _it_."--_Murray's Gram._, pp. 28 and 114. See _Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 47. This definition contains many errors; some of which are gross blunders. 1. The first word, "_An_," is erroneously put for _The: an_ adverb is _one_ adverb, not the whole class; and, if, "_An_ adverb is a part of speech," any and every adverb is a _part of speech_; then, how many parts of speech are there? 2. The word "_joined_" is not well chosen; for, with the exception of _not_ in _cannot_, the adverb is very rarely _joined_ to the word to which it relates. 3. The want of a comma before _joined_, perverts the construction; for the phrase, "_speech joined_ to a verb," is nonsense; and to suppose _joined_ to relate to the noun _part_, is not much better. 4. The word "_and_" should be _or_; because no adverb is ever added to three or four different terms at once. 5. The word "_sometimes_" should be omitted; because it is needless, and because it is inconsistent with the only conjunction which will make the definition true. 6. The preposition "_to_" should either be inserted before "_an adjective_," or suppressed before the term which follows; for when several words occur in the same construction, uniformity of expression is desirable. 7. For the same reason, (if custom may be thus far conformed to analogy,) the article "_an_" ought, in cases like this, if not always, to be separated from the word _other_; thus, "An adverb is a word added to _a_ verb, _a_ participle, _an_ adjective, or _an_ other adverb." Were the eye not familiar with it, _another_ would be thought as irregular as _theother_. 8. The word "_quality_" is wrong; for no adverb ever expresses any _quality_, as such; qualities are expressed by _adjectives_, and never, in any direct manner, by adverbs. 9. The "_circumstances_" which we express by adverbs never belong to the _words_, as this definition avers that they do, but always to the _actions_ or _qualities_ which the words signify. 10. The pronoun _it_, according to Murray's second rule of syntax, ought to be _them_, and so it stands in his own early editions; but if _and_ be changed to _or_, as I have said it should be, the pronoun _it_ will be right. 27. SEVENTH DEFINITION:--"Prepositions serve to connect words with _one another_, and to show the relation _between them_."--_Lowth, Murray, and others_. This is only an observation, not a definition, as it ought to have been; nor does it at all distinguish the preposition from the conjunction. It does not reach the thing in question. Besides, it contains an actual solecism in the expression. The word "_between_" implies but _two_ things; and the phrase "_one another_" is not applicable where there are but two. It should be, "to connect words with _each other_, and to show the _relation between_ them;"--or else, "to connect words with _one an other_, and to show the _relations among_ them." But the latter mode of expression would not apply to prepositions considered severally, but only to the whole class. 28. EIGHTH DEFINITION:--"A Conjunction is _a part of speech_ that is _chiefly_ used to connect sentences; so as, out of two _or more_ sentences, to make but one: it sometimes connects only words."--_Murray, and others_. Here are more than thirty words, awkwardly and loosely strung together; and all that is said in them, might be much better expressed in half the number. For example: "A Conjunction is a word which connects other terms, and commonly of two sentences makes but one." But verbosity and want of unity are not the worst faults of this definition. We have three others to point out. 1. "A conjunction is" not "_a part of speech_;" because _a_ conjunction is _one_ conjunction, and a part of speech is a whole class, or sort, of words. A similar error was noticed in Murray's definition of an adverb; and so common has this blunder become, that by a comparison of the definitions which different authors have given of the parts of speech, probably it will be found, that, by some hand or other, every one of the ten has been commenced in this way. 2. The words "_or more_" are erroneous, and ought to be omitted; for no one conjunction can connect more than two terms, in that consecutive order which the sense requires. Three or more simple sentences may indeed form a compound sentence; but, as they cannot be joined in a _cluster_, they must have two or more connectives. 3. The last clause erroneously suggests, that any or every conjunction "_sometimes connects only words_;" but the conjunctions which may connect only words, are not more than five, whereas those which connect only sentences are four times as many. 29. NINTH DEFINITION:--"Interjections are words _thrown in between the parts of a sentence_, to express the passions or emotions of the _speaker_; as, 'O Virtue! how amiable thou art!'"--_Murray, and many others_. This definition, which has been copied from grammar to grammar, and committed to memory millions of times, is obviously erroneous, and directly contradicted by the example. Interjections, though often enough thrown in between the parts of a _discourse_, are very rarely "thrown in between the parts of a _sentence_." They more frequently occur at the beginning of a sentence than any where else; and, in such cases, they do not come under this narrow definition. The author, at the head of his chapter on interjections, appends to this definition two other examples; both of which contradict it in like manner: "_Oh_! I have alienated my friend."--"_Alas_! I fear for life." Again: Interjections are used occasionally, in _written_, as well as in _oral_ discourse; nor are they less indicative of the emotions of the _writer_, than of those "of the _speaker_." 30. I have thus exhibited, with all intentional fairness of criticism, the entire series of these nine primary definitions; and the reader may judge whether they sustain the praises which have been bestowed on the book,[69] or confirm the allegations which I have made against it. He will understand that my design is, here, as well as in the body of this work, to teach grammar practically, by _rectifying_, so far as I may, all sorts of mistakes either in it or respecting it; to compose a book which, by a condensed exposition of such errors as are commonly found in other grammars, will at once show the need we have of a better, and be itself a fit substitute for the principal treatises which it censures. Grammatical errors are universally considered to be small game for critics. They must therefore be very closely grouped together, to be worth their room in this work. Of the tens of thousands who have learned for grammar a multitude of ungrammatical definitions and rules, comparatively few will ever know what I have to say of their acquisitions. But this I cannot help. To the readers of the present volume it is due, that its averments should be clearly illustrated by particular examples; and it is reasonable that these should be taken from the most accredited sources, whether they do honour to their framers or not. My argument is only made so much the stronger, as the works which furnish its proofs, are the more esteemed, the more praised, or the more overrated. 31. Murray tells us, "There is no necessary connexion between words and ideas."--_Octavo Gram._, Vol. i, p. 139. Though this, as I before observed, is not altogether true, he doubtless had very good reason to distinguish, in his teaching, "between _the sign_ and _the thing signified_." Yet, in his own definitions and explanations, he frequently _confounds_ these very things which he declares to be so widely different as not even to have a "necessary connexion." Errors of this kind are very common in all our English grammars. Two instances occur in the following sentence; which also contains an error in doctrine, and is moreover obscure, or rather, in its literal sense, palpably absurd: "To substantives belong gender, number, and case; and _they_ are _all of_ the third person _when spoken of_, and of the second person _when spoken to_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 38; _Alger's Murray_, 16; _Merchant's_, 23; _Bacon's_, 12; _Maltby's_, 12; _Lyon's_, 7; _Guy's_, 4; _Ingersoll's_, 26; _S. Putnam's_, 13; _T. H. Miller's_, 17; _Rev. T. Smith's_, 13. Who, but a child taught by language like this, would ever think of _speaking to a noun_? or, that a noun of the second person _could not be spoken of_? or, that a noun cannot be put in the _first person_, so as to agree with _I_ or _we_? Murray himself once taught, that, "Pronouns _must always agree_ with their antecedents, _and_ the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number, and _person_;" and he departed from a true and important principle of syntax, when he altered his rule to its present form. But I have said that the sentence above is obscure, or its meaning absurd. What does the pronoun "_they_" represent? "_Substantives_," according to the author's intent; but "_gender, number_, and _case_," according to the obvious construction of the words. Let us try a parallel:" To scriveners belong pen, ink, and paper; and _they_ are all of primary importance when there is occasion to use them, and of none at all when they are not needed." Now, if this sentence is _obscure_, the other is not less so; but, if this is perfectly _clear_, so that what is said is obviously and only what is intended, then it is equally clear, that what is said in the former, is gross absurdity, and that the words cannot reasonably be construed into the sense which the writer, and his copyists, designed. 32. All Murray's grammars, not excepting the two volumes octavo, are as _incomplete_ as they are _inaccurate_; being deficient in many things which are of so great importance that they should not be excluded from the very smallest epitome. For example: On the subject of the _numbers_, he attempted but one definition, and that is a fourfold solecism. Ho speaks of the _persons_, but gives neither definitions nor explanations. In treating of the _genders_, he gives but one formal definition. His section on the _cases_ contains no regular definition. On the _comparison_ of adjectives, and on the _moods_ and _tenses_ of verbs, he is also satisfied with a very loose mode of teaching. The work as a whole exhibits more industry than literary taste, more benevolence of heart than distinctness of apprehension; and, like all its kindred and progeny, fails to give to the principles of grammar that degree of clearness of which they are easily susceptible. The student does not know this, but he feels the effects of it, in the obscurity of his own views on the subject, and in the conscious uncertainty with which he applies those principles. In grammar, the terms _person, number, gender, case, mood, tense_, and many others, are used in a technical and peculiar sense; and, in all scientific works, the sense of technical terms should be clearly and precisely defined. Nothing can be gained by substituting other names of modern invention; for these also would need definitions as much as the old. We want to know the things themselves, and what they are most appropriately called. We want a book which will tell us, in proper order, and in the plainest manner, what all the elements of the science are. 33. What does he know of grammar, who cannot directly and properly answer such questions as these?--"What are numbers, in grammar? What is the singular number? What is the plural number? What are persons, in grammar? What is the first person? What is the second person? What is the third person? What are genders, in grammar? What is the masculine gender? What is the feminine gender? What is the neuter gender? What are cases, in grammar? What is the nominative case? What is the possessive case? What is the objective case?"--And yet the most complete acquaintance with every sentence or word of Murray's tedious compilation, may leave the student at a loss for a proper answer, not only to each of these questions, but also to many others equally simple and elementary! A boy may learn by heart all that Murray ever published on the subject of grammar, and still be left to confound the numbers in grammar with numbers in arithmetic, or the persons in grammar with persons in civil life! Nay, there are among the professed _improvers_ of this system of grammar, _men_ who have actually confounded these things, which are so totally different in their natures! In "Smith's New Grammar on the Productive System," a work in which Murray is largely copied and strangely metamorphosed, there is an abundance of such confusion. For instance: "What is the meaning of the word _number_? Number means _a sum that may be counted_."--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 7. From this, by a tissue of half a dozen similar absurdities, called _inductions_, the novice is brought to the conclusion that the numbers are _two_--as if there were in nature but two sums that might be counted! There is no end to the sickening detail of such blunders. How many grammars tell us, that, "The first person is the _person who speaks_;" that, "The second person is the _person spoken to_;" and that, "the third person is the _person spoken of_!" As if the three persons of a verb, or other part of speech, were so many _intelligent beings_! As if, by exhibiting a word in the three persons, (as _go, goest, goes_,) we put it first _into the speaker_, then _into the hearer_, and then _into somebody else_! Nothing can be more abhorrent to grammar, or to sense, than such confusion. The things which are identified in each of these three definitions, are as unlike as Socrates and moonshine! The one is a thinking being; the other, a mere form peculiar to certain words. But Chandler, of Philadelphia, ("the Grammar King," forsooth!) without mistaking the grammatical persons for rational souls, has contrived to crowd into his definition of _person_ more errors of conception and of language,--more insult to common sense,--than one could have believed it possible to put together in such space. And this ridiculous old twaddle, after six and twenty years, he has deliberately re-written and lately republished as something "adapted to the schools of America." It stands thus: "_Person is a distinction which is made in a noun between its representation of its object, either as spoken to, or spoken of_."--Chandler's E. Grammar; Edition of 1821, p. 16; Ed. 1847, p. 21. 34. Grammarians have often failed in their definitions, because it is impossible to define certain terms in the way in which the description has been commonly attempted. He who undertakes what is impossible must necessarily fail; and fail too, to the discredit of his ingenuity. It is manifest that whenever a generic name in the singular number is to be defined, the definition must be founded upon some property or properties common to all the particular things included under the term. Thus, if I would define a _globe_, a _wheel_, or a _pyramid_, my description must be taken, not from what is peculiar to one or an other of these things, but from those properties only which are common to all globes, all wheels, or all pyramids. But what property has _unity_ in common with _plurality_, on which a definition of _number_ may be founded? What common property have the _three cases_, by which we can clearly define _case_? What have the _three persons_ in common, which, in a definition of _person_, could be made evident to a child? Thus all the great classes of grammatical modifications, namely, _persons, numbers, genders, cases, moods_, and _tenses_, though they admit of easy, accurate, and obvious definitions in the plural, can scarcely be defined at all in the singular. I do not say, that the terms _person, number, gender, case, mood_, and _tense_, ia their technical application to grammar, are all of them equally and absolutely undefinable in the singular; but I say, that no definition, just in sense and suitable for a child, can ever be framed for any one of them. Among the thousand varied attempts of grammarians to explain them so, there are a hundred gross solecisms for every tolerable definition. For this, as I have shown, there is a very simple reason in the nature of the things. 35. But this reason, as well as many other truths equally important and equally clear, our common grammarians, have, so far as I know, every man of them, overlooked. Consequently, even when they were aiming at the right thing, they frequently fell into gross errors of expression; and, what is still more surprising, such errors have been entailed upon the very art of grammar, and the art of authorship itself, by the prevalence of an absurd notion, that modern writers on this subject can be meritorious authors without originality. Hence many a school-boy is daily rehearsing from his grammar-book what he might well be ashamed to have written. For example, the following definition from Murray's grammar, is found in perhaps a dozen other compends, all professing to teach the art of speaking and writing with propriety: "_Number_ is the _consideration of an object_, as _one_ or _more_." [70] Yet this short sentence, as I have before suggested, is a fourfold solecism. _First_, the word "_number_" is wrong; because those modifications of language, which distinguish unity and plurality, cannot be jointly signified by it. _Secondly_, the word "_consideration_" is wrong; because _number_ is not _consideration_, in any sense which can be put upon the terms: _condition, constitution, configuration_, or any other word beginning with _con_, would have done just as well. _Thirdly_, "the consideration of _an_ object as _one_," is but idle waste of thought; for, that one thing is one,--that _an_ object is _one_ object,--every child knows by _intuition_, and not by "_consideration_." _Lastly_, to consider "_an_ object as _more_" than one, is impossible; unless this admirable definition lead us into a misconception in so plain a case! So much for the art of "the grammatical definer." 36. Many other examples, equally faulty and equally common, might, be quoted and criticised for the further proof and illustration of what I have alleged. But the reader will perhaps judge the foregoing to be sufficient. I have wished to be brief, and yet to give my arguments, and the neglected facts upon which they rest, their proper force upon the mind. Against such prejudices as may possibly arise from the authorship of rival publications, or from any interest in the success of one book rather than of an other, let both my judges and me be on our guard. I have intended to be fair; for captiousness is not criticism. If the reader perceives in these strictures any improper bias, he has a sort of discernment which it is my misfortune to lack. Against the compilers of grammars, I urge no conclusions at which any man can hesitate, who accedes to my preliminary remarks upon them; and these may be summed up in the following couplet of the poet Churchill: "To copy beauties, forfeits all pretence To fame;--to copy faults, is want of sense." CHAPTER XI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE SCHEMES OF CERTAIN GRAMMARS. "Sed ut perveniri ad summa nisi ex principiis non potest: ita, procedente jam opere, minima incipiunt esse quae prima sunt."--QUINTILIAN. _De Inst. Orat._, Lib. x, Cap. 1, p. 560. 1. The _history_ of grammar, in the proper sense of the term, has heretofore been made no part of the study. I have imagined that many of its details might be profitable, not only to teachers, but to that class of learners for whose use this work is designed. Accordingly, in the preceding pages, there have been stated numerous facts properly historical, relating either to particular grammars, or to the changes and progress of this branch of instruction. These various details it is hoped will be more entertaining, and perhaps for that reason not less useful, than those explanations which belong merely to the construction and resolution of sentences. The attentive reader must have gathered from the foregoing chapters some idea of what the science owes to many individuals whose names are connected with it. But it seems proper to devote to this subject a few pages more, in order to give some further account of the origin and character of certain books. 2. The manuals by which grammar was first taught in English, were not properly English Grammars. They were translations of the Latin Accidence; and were designed to aid British youth in acquiring a knowledge of the Latin language, rather than accuracy in the use of their own. The two languages were often combined in one book, for the purpose of teaching sometimes both together, and sometimes one through the medium of the other. The study of such works doubtless had a tendency to modify, and perhaps at that time to improve, the English style of those who used them. For not only must variety of knowledge have led to copiousness of expression, but the most cultivated minds would naturally be most apt to observe what was orderly in the use of speech. A language, indeed, after its proper form is well fixed by letters, must resist all introduction of foreign idioms, or become corrupted. Hence it is, that Dr. Johnson avers, "The great pest of speech is frequency of translation. No book was ever turned from one language into another, without imparting something of its native idiom; this is the most mischievous and comprehensive innovation."--_Preface to Joh. Dict._, 4to, p. 14. Without expressly controverting this opinion, or offering any justification of mere metaphrases, or literal translations, we may well assert, that the practice of comparing different languages, and seeking the most appropriate terms for a free version of what is ably written, is an exercise admirably calculated to familiarize and extend grammatical knowledge. 3. Of the class of books here referrred [sic--KTH] to, that which I have mentioned in an other chapter, as Lily's or King Henry's Grammar, has been by far the most celebrated and the most influential. Concerning this treatise, it is stated, that its parts were not put together in the present form, until eighteen or twenty years after Lily's death. "The time when this work was completed," says the preface of 1793, "has been differently related by writers. Thomas Hayne places it in the year 1543, and Anthony Wood, in 1545. But neither of these accounts can be right; for I have seen a beautiful copy, printed upon vellum, and illuminated, anno 1542, in quarto. And it may be doubted whether this was the first edition."--_John Ward, Pref._, p. vii. In an Introductory Lecture, read before the University of London in 1828, by Thomas Dale, professor of English literature, I find the following statement: "In this reign,"--the reign of Henry VIII,--"the study of grammar was reduced to a system, by the promulgation of many grammatical treatises; one of which was esteemed of sufficient importance to be honoured with a royal name. It was called, 'The Grammar of King Henry the Eighth;' and to this, 'with other works, the young Shakspeare was probably indebted for some learning and much loyalty.' But the honour of producing the first English grammar is claimed by William Bullokar, who published, in the year 1586, 'A Bref Grammar for English,' being, to use his own words, 'the first Grammar for English that ever waz, except my Grammar at large.'" 4. Ward's preface to Lily commences thus: "If we look back to the origin of our common _Latin Grammar_, we shall find it was no hasty performance, nor the work of a single person; but composed at different times by several eminent and learned men, till the whole was at length finished, and by the order of _King Henry_ VIII.[,] brought into that form in which it has ever since continued. The _English introduction_ was written by the reverend and learned Dr. _John Colet_, Dean of St. _Paul's_, for the use of the school he had lately founded there; and was dedicated by him to _William Lily_, the first high master of that school, in the year 1510; for which reason it has usually gone by the name of _Paul's Accidence_. The substance of it remains the same, as at first; though it has been much altered in the manner of expression, and sometimes the order, with other improvements. The _English syntax_ was the work of _Lily_, as appears by the title in the most ancient editions, which runs thus: _Gulielmi Lilii Angli Rudimenta_. But it has been greatly improved since his time, both with, regard to the method, and an enlargement of double the quantity." 5. Paul's Accidence is therefore probably the oldest grammar that can now be found in our language. It is not, however, an English grammar; because, though written in antique English, and embracing many things which are as true of our language as of any other, it was particularly designed for the teaching of _Latin_. It begins thus: "In speech be these eight parts following: Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Participle, declined; Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, Interjection, undeclined." This is the old platform of the Latin grammarians; which differs from that of the Greek grammars, only in having no Article, and in separating the Interjection from the class of Adverbs. Some Greek grammarians, however, separate the Adjective from the Noun, and include the Participle with the Verb: thus, "There are in Greek eight species of words, called Parts of Speech; viz. Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction."--_Anthon's Valpy_, p. 18. With respect to our language, the plan of the Latin Accidence is manifestly inaccurate; nor can it be applied, without some variation, to the Greek. In both, as well as in all other languages that have _Articles_, the best amendment of it, and the nearest adherence to it, is, to make the Parts of Speech _ten_; namely, the Article, the Noun, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Verb, the Participle, the Adverb, the Conjunction, the Preposition, and the Interjection. 6. The best Latin grammarians admit that the Adjective ought not to be called a Noun; and the best Greek grammarians, that the Interjections ought not to be included among Adverbs. With respect to Participles, a vast majority of grammarians in general, make them a distinct species, or part of speech; but, on this point, the English grammarians are about equally divided: nearly one half include them with the verbs, and a few call them adjectives. In grammar, it is wrong to deviate from the old groundwork, except for the sake of truth and improvement; and, in this case, to vary the series of parts, by suppressing one and substituting an other, is in fact a greater innovation, than to make the terms ten, by adding one and dividing an other. But our men of nine parts of speech innovated yet more: they added the Article, as did the Greeks; divided the Noun into Substantive and Adjective; and, without good reason, suppressed the Participle. And, of latter time, not a few have thrown the whole into confusion, to show the world "the order of [their] understanding." What was grammar fifty years ago, some of these have not thought it worth their while to inquire! And the reader has seen, that, after all this, they can complacently talk of "the censure so frequently and so justly awarded to _unfortunate innovators_."--KIRKHAM'S _Gram._, p. 10. 7. The old scheme of the Latin grammarians has seldom, if ever, been _literally_ followed in English; because its distribution of the parts of speech, as declined and undeclined, would not be true with respect to the English participle. With the omission of this unimportant distinction, it was, however, scrupulously retained by Dilworth, by the author of the British Grammar, by William Ward, by Buchanan, and by some others now little known, who chose to include both the article and the adjective with the noun, rather than to increase the number of the parts of speech beyond eight. Dr. Priestley says, "I shall adopt the _usual distribution_ of words into eight classes; viz. Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections.[71] I do this in compliance with the practice of most Grammarians; and because, _if any number, in a thing so arbitrary, must be fixed upon_, this seems to be as comprehensive and distinct as any. All the innovation I have made hath been to throw out the _Participle_, and substitute the _Adjective_, as more evidently a distinct part of speech."--_Rudiments of English Gram._, p. 3. All this comports well enough with Dr. Priestley's haste and carelessness; but it is not true, that he either adopted, "the usual distribution of words," or made an other "as comprehensive and distinct as any." His "_innovation_," too, which has since been countenanced by many other writers, I have already shown to be greater, than if, by a promotion of the article and the adjective, he had made the parts of speech ten. Dr. Beattie, who was Priestley's coeval, and a much better scholar, adopted this number without hesitation, and called every one of them by what is still its right name: "In English there are _ten_ sorts of words, which are all found in the following short sentence; 'I now see the good man coming; but, alas! he walks with difficulty.' _I_ and _he_ are pronouns; _now_ is an adverb; _see_ and _walks_ are verbs; _the_ is an article; _good_, an adjective; _man_ and _difficulty_ are nouns, the former substantive, the latter abstract; _coming_ is a participle; _but_, a conjunction; _alas!_ an interjection; _with_, a preposition. That no other sorts of words are necessary in language, will appear, when we have seen in what respects these are necessary."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, Vol. i, p. 30. This distribution is precisely that which the best _French_ grammarians have _usually_ adopted. 8. Dr. Johnson professes to adopt the division, the order, and the terms, "of the common grammarians, without inquiring whether a fitter distribution might not be found."--_Gram. before 4to Dict._, p. 1. But, in the Etymology of his Grammar, he makes no enumeration of the parts of speech, and treats only of articles, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs; to which if we add the others, according to the common grammarians, or according to his own Dictionary, the number will be _ten_. And this distribution, which was adopted by Dr. Ash about 1765, by Murray the schoolmaster about 1790, by Caleb Alexander in 1795, and approved by Dr. Adam in 1793, has since been very extensively followed; as may be seen in Dr. Crombie's treatise, in the Rev. Matt. Harrison's, in Dr. Mandeville's reading-books, and in the grammars of Harrison, Staniford, Alden, Coar, John Peirce, E. Devis, C. Adams, D. Adams, Chandler, Comly, Jaudon, Ingersoll, Hull, Fuller, Greenleaf, Kirkham, Ferd. H. Miller, Merchant, Mack, Nutting, Bucke, Beck, Barrett, Barnard, Maunder, Webber, Emmons, Hazen, Bingham, Sanders, and many others. Dr. Lowth's distribution is the same, except that he placed the adjective after the pronoun, the conjunction after the preposition, and, like Priestley, called the participle a verb, thus making the parts of speech _nine_. He also has been followed by many; among whom are Bicknell, Burn, Lennie, Mennye, Lindley Murray, W. Allen, Guy, Churchill, Wilson, Cobbett, Davis, David Blair, Davenport, Mendenhall, Wilcox, Picket, Pond, Russell, Bacon, Bullions, Brace, Hart, Lyon, Tob. H. Miller, Alger, A. Flint, Folker, S. Putnam, Cooper, Frost, Goldsbury, Hamlin, T. Smith, R. C. Smith, and Woodworth. But a third part of these, and as many more in the preceding list, are confessedly mere modifiers of Murray's compilation; and perhaps, in such a case, those have done best who have deviated least from the track of him whom they professed to follow.[72] 9. Some seem to have supposed, that by reducing the number of the parts of speech, and of the rules for their construction, the study of grammar would be rendered more easy and more profitable to the learner. But this, as would appear from the history of the science, is a mere retrogression towards the rudeness of its earlier stages. It is hardly worth while to dispute, whether there shall be nine parts of speech or ten; and perhaps enough has already been stated, to establish the expediency of assuming the latter number. Every word in the language must be included in some class, and nothing is gained by making the classes larger and less numerous. In all the artificial arrangements of science, distinctions are to be made according to the differences in things; and the simple question here is, what differences among words shall be at first regarded. To overlook, in our primary division, the difference between a verb and a participle, is merely to reserve for a subdivision, or subsequent explanation, a species of words which most grammarians have recognized as a distinct sort in their original classification. 10. It should be observed that the early period of grammatical science was far remote from the days in which _English_ grammar originated. Many things which we now teach and defend as grammar, were taught and defended two thousand years ago, by the philosophers of Greece and Rome. Of the parts of speech, Quintilian, who lived in the first century of our era, gives the following account: "For the ancients, among whom were Aristotle[73] and Theodectes, treated only of verbs, nouns, and conjunctions: as the verb is what we say, and the noun, that of which we say it, they judged the power of discourse to be in _verbs_, and the matter in _nouns_, but the connexion in _conjunctions_. Little by little, the philosophers, and especially the Stoics, increased the number: first, to the conjunctions were added _articles_; afterwards, _prepositions_; to nouns, was added the _appellation_; then the _pronoun_; afterwards, as belonging to each verb, the _participle_; and, to verbs in common, _adverbs_. Our language [i. e., the _Latin_] does not require articles, wherefore they are scattered among the other parts of speech; but there is added to the foregoing the _interjection_. But some, on the authority of good authors, make the parts only eight; as Aristarchus, and, in our day, Palaemon; who have included the vocable, or appellation, with the noun, as a species of it. But they who make the noun one and the vocable an other, reckon nine. But there are also some who divide the vocable from the appellation; making the former to signify any thing manifest to sight or touch, as _house, bed_; and the latter, any thing to which either or both are wanting, as _wind, heaven, god, virtue_. They have also added the _asseveration_ and the _attrectation_, which I do not approve. Whether the vocable or appellation should be included with the noun or not, as it is a matter of little consequence, I leave to the decision of others."--See QUINTIL. _de Inst. Orat._, Lib. i, Cap. 4, Sec.24. 11. Several writers on English grammar, indulging a strange unsettlement of plan, seem not to have determined in their own minds, how many parts of speech there are, or ought to be. Among these are Horne Tooke, Webster, Dalton, Cardell, Green, and Cobb; and perhaps, from what he says above, we may add the name of Priestley. The present disputation about the sorts of words, has been chiefly owing to the writings of Horne Tooke, who explains the minor parts of speech as mere abbreviations, and rejects, with needless acrimony, the common classification. But many have mistaken the nature of his instructions, no less than that of the common grammarians. This author, in his third chapter, supposes his auditor to say, "But you have not all this while informed me _how many parts of speech_ you mean to lay down." To whom he replies, "That shall be as you please. Either _two_, or _twenty_, or _more_." Such looseness comported well enough with his particular purpose; because he meant to teach the derivation of words, and not to meddle at all with their construction. But who does not see that it is impossible to lay down rules for the _construction_ of words, without first dividing them into the classes to which such rules apply? For example: if a man means to teach, that, "A verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number," must he not first show the learner _what words are verbs?_ and ought he not to see in this rule a reason for not calling the participle a verb? Let the careless followers of Lowth and Priestley answer. Tooke did not care to preserve any parts of speech at all. His work is not a system of grammar; nor can it be made the basis of any regular scheme of grammatical instruction. He who will not grant that the same words may possibly be used as different parts of speech, must make his parts of speech either very few or very many. This author says, "I do not allow that _any_ words change their nature in this manner, so as to belong sometimes to one part of speech, and sometimes to another, from the different ways of using them. I never could perceive any such fluctuation in any word whatever."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 68. 12. From his own positive language, I imagine this ingenious author never well considered what constitutes the sameness of words, or wherein lies the difference of the parts of speech; and, without understanding these things, a grammarian cannot but fall into errors, unless he will follow somebody that knows them. But Tooke confessedly contradicts, and outfaces "_all other Grammarians_" in the passage just cited. Yet it is plain, that the whole science of grammar--or at least the whole of etymology and syntax, which are its two principal parts--is based upon a division of words into the parts of speech; a division which necessarily refers, in many instances, the same words to different sections according to the manner in which they are used. "Certains mots repondent, ainsi au meme temps, a diverses parties d'oraison selon que la grammaire les emploie diversement."--_Buffier_, Art. 150. "Some words, from the different ways in which they are used, belong sometimes to one part of speech, sometimes to another."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 37. "And so say all other Grammarians."--_Tooke, as above_. 13. The history of _Dr. Webster_, as a grammarian, is singular. He is remarkable for his changeableness, yet always positive; for his inconsistency, yet very learned; for his zeal "to correct popular errors," yet often himself erroneous; for his fertility in resources, yet sometimes meagre; for his success as an author, yet never satisfied; for his boldness of innovation, yet fond of appealing to antiquity. His grammars are the least judicious, and at present the least popular, of his works. They consist of four or five different treatises, which for their mutual credit should never be compared: it is impossible to place any firm reliance upon the authority of a man who contradicts himself so much. Those who imagine that the last opinions of so learned a man must needs be right, will do well to wait, and see what will be his last: they cannot otherwise know to what his instructions will finally lead: Experience has already taught him the folly of many of his pretended improvements, and it is probable his last opinions of English grammar will be most conformable to that just authority with which he has ever been tampering. I do not say that he has not exhibited ingenuity as well as learning, or that he is always wrong when he contradicts a majority of the English grammarians; but I may venture to say, he was wrong when he undertook to disturb the common scheme of the parts of speech, as well as when he resolved to spell all words exactly as they are pronounced. 14. It is not commonly known with how rash a hand this celebrated author has sometimes touched the most settled usages of our language. In 1790, which was seven years after the appearance of his first grammar, he published an octavo volume of more than four hundred pages, consisting of Essays, moral, historical, political, and literary, which might have done him credit, had he not spoiled his book by a grammatical whim about the reformation of orthography. Not perceiving that English literature, multiplied as it had been within two or three centuries, had acquired a stability in some degree corresponding to its growth, he foolishly imagined it was still as susceptible of change and improvement as in the days of its infancy. Let the reader pardon the length of this digression, if for the sake of any future schemer who may chance to adopt a similar conceit, I cite from the preface to this volume a specimen of the author's practice and reasoning. The ingenious attorney had the good sense quickly to abandon this project, and content himself with less glaring innovations; else he had never stood as he now does, in the estimation of the public. But there is the more need to record the example, because in one of the southern states the experiment has recently been tried again. A still abler member of the same profession, has renewed it but lately; and it is said there are yet remaining some converts to this notion of improvement. I copy literally, leaving all my readers and his to guess for themselves why he spelled "_writers_" with a _w_ and "_riting_" without. 15. "During the course of ten or twelv yeers, I hav been laboring to correct popular errors, and to assist my yung brethren in the road to truth and virtue; my publications for theze purposes hav been numerous; much time haz been spent, which I do not regret, and much censure incurred, which my hart tells me I do not dezerv." * * * "The reeder wil observ that the _orthography_ of the volum iz not uniform. The reezon iz, that many of the essays hav been published before, in the common orthography, and it would hav been a laborious task to copy the whole, for the sake of changing the spelling. In the essays, ritten within the last yeer, a considerable change of spelling iz introduced by way of experiment. This liberty waz taken by the writers before the age of queen Elizabeth, and to this we are indeted for the preference of modern spelling over that of Gower and Chaucer. The man who admits that the change of _hoasbonde, mynde, ygone, moneth_ into _husband, mind, gone, month_, iz an improovment, must acknowlege also the riting of _helth, breth, rong, tung, munth_, to be an improovment. There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors."--_Noah Webster's Essays, Preface_, p. xi. 16. But let us return, with our author, to the question of the parts of speech. I have shown that if we do not mean to adopt some less convenient scheme, we must count them _ten_, and preserve their ancient order as well as their ancient names.[74] And, after all his vacillation in consequence of reading Horne Tooke, it would not be strange if Dr. Webster should come at last to the same conclusion. He was not very far from it in 1828, as may be shown by his own testimony, which he then took occasion to record. I will give his own words on the point: "There is great difficulty in devising a correct classification of the several sorts of words; and probably no classification that shall be simple and at the same time philosophically correct, can be invented. There are some words that do not strictly fall under any description of any class yet devised. Many attempts have been made and are still making to remedy this evil; but such schemes as I have seen, do not, in my apprehension, correct the defects of the old schemes, nor simplify the subject. On the other hand, all that I have seen, serve only to obscure and embarrass the subject, by substituting new arrangements and new terms which are as incorrect as the old ones, and less intelligible. I have attentively viewed these subjects, in all the lights which my opportunities have afforded, and am convinced that the distribution of words, most generally received, _is the best that can be formed_, with some slight alterations adapted to the particular construction of the English language." 17. This passage is taken from the advertisement, or preface, to the Grammar which accompanies the author's edition of his great quarto Dictionary. Now the several schemes which bear his own name, were doubtless all of them among those which he had that he had "_seen_;" so that he here condemns them all collectively, as he had previously condemned some of them at each reformation. Nor is the last exempted. For although he here plainly gives his vote for that common scheme which he first condemned, he does not adopt it without "some slight alterations;" and in contriving these alterations he is inconsistent with his own professions. He makes the parts of speech _eight_, thus: "1. The name or noun; 2. The pronoun or substitute; 3. The adjective, attribute, or attributive; 4. The verb; 5. The adverb; 6. The preposition; 7. The connective or conjunction; 8. The exclamation or interjection." In his Rudiments of English Grammar, published in 1811, "to unfold the _true principles_ of the language," his parts of speech were _seven_; "viz. 1. Names or nouns; 2. Substitutes or pronouns; 3. Attributes or adjectives; 4. Verbs, with their participles; 5. Modifiers or adverbs; 6. Prepositions; 7. Connectives or conjunctions." In his Philosophical and Practical Grammar, published in 1807, a book which professes to teach "the _only legitimate principles_, and established usages," of the language, a twofold division of words is adopted; first, into two general classes, primary and secondary; then into "_seven species_ or parts of speech," the first two belonging to the former class, the other five to the latter; thus: "1. Names or nouns; 2. Verbs; 3. Substitutes; 4. Attributes; 5. Modifiers; 6. Prepositions; 7. Connectives." In his "Improved Grammar of the English Language," published in 1831, the same scheme is retained, but the usual names are preferred. 18. How many different schemes of classification this author invented, I know not; but he might well have saved himself the trouble of inventing any; for, so far as appears, none of his last three grammars ever came to a second edition. In the sixth edition of his "Plain and Comprehensive Grammar, grounded on the _true principles_ and idioms of the language," a work which his last grammatical preface affirms to have been originally fashioned "on the model of Lowth's," the parts of speech are reckoned "_six_; nouns, articles, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and abbreviations or particles." This work, which he says "was extensively used in the schools of this country," and continued to be in demand, he voluntarily suppressed; because, after a profitable experiment of four and twenty years, he found it so far from being grounded on "true principles," that the whole scheme then appeared to him incorrigibly bad. And, judging from this sixth edition, printed in 1800, the only one which I have seen, I cannot but concur with him in the opinion. More than one half of the volume is a loose _Appendix_ composed chiefly of notes taken from Lowth and Priestley; and there is a great want of method in what was meant for the body of the work. I imagine his several editions must have been different grammars with the same title; for such things are of no uncommon occurrence, and I cannot otherwise account for the assertion that this book was compiled "on _the model of Lowth's_, and on the same principles as [those on which] Murray has constructed his."--_Advertisement in Webster's Quarto Dict., 1st Ed._ 19. In a treatise on grammar, a bad scheme is necessarily attended with inconveniences for which no merit in the execution can possibly compensate. The first thing, therefore, which a skillful teacher will notice in a work of this kind, is the arrangement. If he find any difficulty in discovering, at sight, what it is, he will be sure it is bad; for a lucid order is what he has a right to expect from him who pretends to improve upon all the English grammarians. Dr. Webster is not the only reader of the EPEA PTEROENTA, who has been thereby prompted to meddle with the common scheme of grammar; nor is he the only one who has attempted to simplify the subject by reducing the parts of speech to _six_. John Dalton of Manchester, in 1801, in a small grammar which he dedicated to Horne Tooke, made them six, but not the same six. He would have them to be, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions. This writer, like Brightland, Tooke, Fisher, and some others, insists on it that the articles are _adjectives_. Priestley, too, throwing them out of his classification, and leaving the learner to go almost through his book in ignorance of their rank, at length assigns them to the same class, in one of his notes. And so has Dr. Webster fixed them in his late valuable, but not faultless, dictionaries. But David Booth, an etymologist perhaps equally learned, in his "Introduction to an Analytical Dictionary of the English Language," declares them to be of the same species as the _pronouns_; from which he thinks it strange that they were ever separated! See _Booth's Introd._, p. 21. 20. Now, what can be more idle, than for teachers to reject the common classification of words, and puzzle the heads of school-boys with speculations like these? It is easy to admit all that etymology can show to be true, and still justify the old arrangement of the elements of grammar. And if we depart from the common scheme, where shall we stop? Some have taught that the parts of speech are only _five_; as did the latter stoics, whose classes, according to Priscian and Harris, were these: articles, nouns appellative, nouns proper, verbs, and conjunctions. Others have made them _four_; as did Aristotle and the elder stoics, and, more recently, Milnes, Brightland, Harris, Ware, Fisher, and the author of a work on Universal Grammar, entitled Enclytica. Yet, in naming the four, each of these contrives to differ from _all the rest!_ With Aristotle, they are, "nouns, verbs, articles, and conjunctions;" with Milnes, "nouns, adnouns, verbs, and particles;" with Brightland, "names, qualities, affirmations, and particles;" with Harris, "substantives, attributives, definitives, and connectives;" with Ware, "the name, the word, the assistant, the connective;" with Fisher, "names, qualities, verbs, and particles;" with the author of Enclytica, "names, verbs, modes, and connectives." But why make the classes so numerous as four? Many of the ancients, Greeks, Hebrews, and Arabians, according to Quintilian, made them _three_; and these three, according to Vossius, were nouns, verbs, and particles. "Veteres Arabes, Hebraei, et Graeci, tres, non amplius, classes faciebant; l. Nomen, 2. Verbum, 3. Particula seu Dictio."--_Voss. de Anal._, Lib. i, Cap. 1. 21. Nor is this number, _three_, quite destitute of modern supporters; though most of these come at it in an other way. D. St. Quentin, in his Rudiments of General Grammar, published in 1812, divides words into the "three general classes" last mentioned; viz., "1. Nouns, 2. Verbs, 3. Particles."--P. 5. Booth, who published the second edition of his etymological work in 1814, examining severally the ten parts of speech, and finding what he supposed to be the true origin of all the words in some of the classes, was led to throw one into an other, till he had destroyed seven of them. Then, resolving that each word ought to be classed according to the meaning which its etymology fixes upon it, he refers the number of classes to _nature_, thus: "If, then, each [word] has a _meaning_, and is capable of raising an idea in the mind, that idea must have its prototype in nature. It must either denote an _exertion_, and is therefore a _verb_; or a _quality_, and is, in that case, an _adjective_; or it must express an _assemblage_ of qualities, such as is observed to belong to some individual object, and is, on this supposition, the _name_ of such object, or a _noun_. * * * We have thus given an account of the different divisions of words, and have found that the whole may be classed under the three heads of Names, Qualities, and Actions; or Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs."--_Introd. to Analyt. Dict._, p. 22. 22. This notion of the parts of speech, as the reader will presently see, found an advocate also in the author of the popular little story of Jack Halyard. It appears in his Philosophic Grammar published in Philadelphia in 1827. Whether the writer borrowed it from Booth, or was led into it by the light of "nature," I am unable to say: he does not appear to have derived it from the ancients. Now, if either he or the lexicographer has discovered in "nature" a prototype for this scheme of grammar, the discovery is only to be proved, and the schemes of all other grammarians, ancient or modern, must give place to it. For the reader will observe that this triad of parts is not that which is mentioned by Vossius and Quintilian. But authority may be found for reducing the number of the parts of speech yet lower. Plato, according to Harris, and the first inquirers into language, according to Horne Tooke, made them _two_; nouns and verbs, which Crombie, Dalton, M'Culloch, and some others, say, are the only parts essentially necessary for the communication of our thoughts. Those who know nothing about grammar, regard all words as of _one_ class. To them, a word is simply a word; and under what other name it may come, is no concern of theirs. 23. Towards this point, tends every attempt to simplify grammar by suppressing any of the _ten_ parts of speech. Nothing is gained by it; and it is a departure from the best authority. We see by what steps this kind of reasoning may descend; and we have an admirable illustration of it in the several grammatical works of William S. Cardell. I shall mention them in the order in which they appeared; and the reader may judge whether the author does not ultimately arrive at the conclusion to which the foregoing series is conducted. This writer, in his Essay on Language, reckons seven parts of speech; in his New-York Grammar, six; in his Hartford Grammar, three principal, with three others subordinate; in his Philadelphia Grammar, three only--nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Here he alleges, "The unerring plan of _nature_ has established three classes of perceptions, and consequently three parts of speech."--P. 171. He says this, as if he meant to abide by it. But, on his twenty-third page, we are told, "Every adjective is either a noun or a participle." Now, by his own showing, there are no participles: he makes them all adjectives, in each of his schemes. It follows, therefore, that all his adjectives, including what others call participles, are nouns. And this reduces his three parts of speech to two, in spite of "the unerring plan of _nature!_" But even this number is more than he well believed in; for, on the twenty-first page of the book, he affirms, that, "All other terms are but derivative forms and new applications of _nouns_." So simple a thing is this method of grammar! But Neef, in his zeal for reformation, carries the anticlimax fairly off the brink; and declares, "In the grammar which shall be the work of my pupils, there shall be found no nouns, no pronouns, no articles, no participles, no verbs, no prepositions, no conjunctions, no adverbs, no interjections, no gerunds, not even one single supine. Unmercifully shall they be banished from it."--_Neef's Method of Education_, p. 60. 24. When Cardell's system appeared, several respectable men, convinced by "his powerful demonstrations," admitted that he had made "many things in the _established doctrines_ of the expounders of language appear sufficiently ridiculous;" [75] and willingly lent him the influence of their names, trusting that his admirable scheme of English grammar, in which their ignorance saw nothing but new truth, would be speedily "perfected and generally embraced." [76] Being invited by the author to a discussion of his principles, I opposed them _in his presence_, both privately and publicly; defending against him, not unsuccessfully, those doctrines which time and custom have sanctioned. And, what is remarkable, that candid opposition which Cardell himself had treated with respect, and parried in vain, was afterwards, by some of his converts, impeached of all unfairness, and even accused of wanting common sense. "No one," says Niebuhr, "ever overthrew a literary idol, without provoking the anger of its worshipers."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 489. The certificates given in commendation of this "set of opinions," though they had no extensive effect on the public, showed full well that the signers knew little of the history of grammar; and it is the continual repetition of such things, that induces me now to dwell upon its history, for the information of those who are so liable to be deceived by exploded errors republished as novelties. A eulogist says of Cardell, "He had adopted a set of opinions, which, to most of his readers, appeared _entirely new."_ A reviewer proved, that all his pretended novelties are to be found in certain grammars now forgotten, or seldom read. The former replies, Then he [Cardell,] is right--and the man is no less stupid than abusive, who finds fault; for here is proof that the former "had highly respectable authority for almost every thing he has advanced!"--See _The Friend_, Vol. ii, pp. 105 and 116, from which all the quotations in this paragraph, except one, are taken. 25. The reader may now be curious to know what these doctrines were. They were summed up by the reviewer, thus: "Our author pretends to have drawn principally from his own resources, in making up his books; and many may have supposed there is more _novelty_ in them than there really is. For instance: 1. He classes the _articles_ with _adjectives_; and so did Brightland, Tooke, Fisher, Dalton, and Webster. 2. He calls the _participles, adjectives_; and so did Brightland and Tooke. 3. He make the _pronouns_, either _nouns_ or _adjectives_; and so did Adam, Dalton, and others. 4. He distributes the _conjunctions_ among the other parts of speech; and so did Tooke. 5. He rejects the _interjections_; and so did Valla, Sanctius, and Tooke. 6. He makes the _possessive case_ an _adjective_; and so did Brightland. 7. He says our language has _no cases_; and so did Harris. 8. He calls _case, position_; and so did James Brown. 9. He reduces the adjectives to two classes, _defining_ and _describing_; and so did Dalton. 10. He declares all _verbs_ to be _active_; and so did Harris, (in his Hermes, Book i, Chap. ix,) though he admitted the _expediency_ of the common division, and left to our author the absurdity of contending about it. Fisher also rejected the class of _neuter verbs_, and called them all _active_. 11. He reduces the _moods_ to _three_, and the _tenses_ to _three_; and so did Dalton, in the very same words. Fisher also made the _tenses three_, but said there _are no moods_ in English. 12. He makes the _imperative mood_ always _future_; and so did Harris, in 1751. Nor did the doctrine originate with him; for Brightland, a hundred years ago, [about 1706,] ascribed it to some of his predecessors. 13. He reduces the whole of our _syntax_ to about _thirty lines_; and two thirds of these are useless; for Dr. Johnson expressed it quite as fully in _ten_. But their explanations are both good for nothing; and Wallis, more wisely, omitted it altogether."--_The Friend_, Vol. ii, p. 59. 26. Dr. Webster says, in a marginal note to the preface of his Philosophical Grammar, "Since the days of _Wallis_, who published a Grammar of the English Language, in Latin, in the reign of Charles II.[,] from which Johnson and Lowth borrowed most of their rules, _little improvement_ has been made in English grammar. Lowth supplied some valuable criticisms, most of which however respect obsolete phrases; but many of his criticisms are extremely erroneous, and they have had an ill effect, in perverting the true idioms of our language. Priestley furnished a number of new and useful observations on the peculiar phrases of the English language. To which may be added some good remarks of Blair and Campbell, interspersed with many errors. Murray, not having mounted to the original sources of information, and professing only to select and arrange the rules and criticisms of preceding writers, has furnished little or nothing new. Of the numerous compilations of inferior character, it may be affirmed, that they have added nothing to the stock of grammatical knowledge." And the concluding sentence of this work, as well as of his Improved Grammar, published in 1831, extends the censure as follows: "It is not the English language only whose history and principles are yet to be illustrated; but the grammars and dictionaries of _all other_ languages, with which I have any acquaintance, must be revised and corrected, before their elements and true construction can be fully understood." In an advertisement to the grammar prefixed to his quarto American Dictionary, the Doctor is yet more severe upon books of this sort. "I close," says he, "with the single remark, that from all the observations I have been able to make, I am convinced the dictionaries and grammars which have been used in our seminaries of learning for the last forty or fifty years, are _so incorrect and imperfect_ that they have introduced or sanctioned more errors than they have amended; in other words, had the people of England and of these States been left to learn the pronunciation and construction of their vernacular language solely by tradition, and the reading of good authors, the language would have been spoken and written with more purity than it has been and now is, by those who have learned to adjust their language by the rules which dictionaries prescribe." 27. Little and much are but relative terms; yet when we look back to the period in which English grammar was taught only in Latin, it seems extravagant to say, that "little improvement has been made" in it since. I have elsewhere expressed a more qualified sentiment. "That the grammar of our language has made considerable progress since the days of Swift, who wrote a petty treatise on the subject, is sufficiently evident; but whoever considers what remains to be done, cannot but perceive how ridiculous are many of the boasts and felicitations which we have heard on that topic." [77] Some further notice will now be taken of that progress, and of the writers who have been commonly considered the chief promoters of it, but especially of such as have not been previously mentioned in a like connexion. Among these may be noticed _William Walker_, the preceptor of Sir Isaac Newton, a teacher and grammarian of extraordinary learning, who died in 1684. He has left us sundry monuments of his taste and critical skill: one is his "Treatise of English Particles,"--a work of great labour and merit, but useless to most people now-a-days, because it explains the English in Latin; an other, his "Art of Teaching Improv'd,"--which is also an able treatise, and apparently well adapted to its object, "the Grounding of a Young Scholar in the Latin Tongue." In the latter, are mentioned other works of his, on "_Rhetorick_, and _Logick_" which I have not seen. 28. In 1706, _Richard Johnson_ published an octavo volume of more than four hundred pages, entitled, "Grammatical Commentaries; being an Apparatus to a New National Grammar: by way of animadversion upon the falsities, obscurities, redundancies and defects of Lily's System now in use." This is a work of great acuteness, labour, and learning; and might be of signal use to any one who should undertake to prepare a new or improved Latin grammar: of which, in my opinion, we have yet urgent need. The English grammarian may also peruse it with advantage, if he has a good knowledge of Latin--and without such knowledge he must be ill prepared for his task. This work is spoken of and quoted by some of the early English grammarians; but the hopes of the writer do not appear to have been realized. His book was not calculated to supply the place of the common one; for the author thought it impracticable to make a new grammar, suitable for boys, and at the same time to embrace in it proofs sufficient to remove the prejudices of teachers in favour of the old. King Henry's edict in support of Lily, was yet in force, backed by all the partiality which long habit creates; and Johnson's learning, and labour, and zeal, were admired, and praised, and soon forgot. 29. Near the beginning of the last century, some of the generous wits of the reign of Queen Anne, seeing the need there was of greater attention to their vernacular language, and of a grammar more properly English than any then in use, produced a book with which the later writers on the same subjects, would have done well to have made themselves better acquainted. It is entitled "A Grammar of the English Tongue; with the Arts of Logick, Rhetorick, Poetry, &c. Illustrated with useful Notes; giving the Grounds and Reasons of Grammar in General. The Whole making a Compleat System of an English Education. _Published by_ JOHN BRIGHTLAND, for the Use of the Schools of Great Britain and Ireland." It is ingeniously recommended in a certificate by Sir Richard Steele, or the Tattler, under the fictitious name of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., and in a poem of forty-three lines, by Nahum Tate, poet laureate to her Majesty. It is a duodecimo volume of three hundred pages; a work of no inconsiderable merit and originality; and written in a style which, though not faultless, has scarcely been surpassed by any English grammarian since. I quote it as Brightland's:[78] who were the real authors, does not appear. It seems to be the work of more than one, and perhaps the writers of the Tattler were the men. My copy is of the seventh edition, London, printed for Henry Lintot, 1746. It is evidently the work of very skillful hands; yet is it not in all respects well planned or well executed. It unwisely reduces the parts of speech to four; gives them new names; and rejects more of the old system than the schools could be made willing to give up. Hence it does not appear to have been very extensively adopted. 30. It is now about a hundred and thirty years, since _Dr. Swift_, in a public remonstrance addressed to the Earl of Oxford, complained of the imperfect state of our language, and alleged in particular, that "in many instances it offended against every part of grammar." [79] Fifty years afterward, _Dr. Lowth_ seconded this complaint, and pressed it home upon the polite and the learned. "Does he mean," says the latter, "that the English language, as it is spoken by the politest part of the nation, and as it stands in the writings of the most approved authors, often offends against every part of grammar? _Thus far, I am afraid the charge is true_."--_Lowth's Grammar, Preface_, p. iv. Yet the learned Doctor, to whom much praise has been justly ascribed for the encouragement which he gave to this neglected study, attempted nothing more than "A Short Introduction to English Grammar;" which, he says, "was calculated for the learner _even of the lowest class_:" and those who would enter more deeply into the subject, he referred to _Harris_; whose work is not an English grammar, but "A Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar." Lowth's Grammar was first published in 1758. At the commencement of his preface, the reverend author, after acknowledging the enlargement, polish, and refinement, which the language had received during the preceding two hundred years, ventures to add, "but, whatever other improvements it may have received, it hath made _no advances_ in grammatical accuracy." I do not quote this assertion to affirm it literally true, in all its apparent breadth; but there is less reason to boast of the correctness even now attained, than to believe that the writers on grammar are not the authors who have in general come nearest to it in practice. Nor have the ablest authors always produced the best compends for the literary instruction of youth. 31. The treatises of the learned doctors Harris, Lowth, Johnson, Ash, Priestley, Horne Tooke, Crombie, Coote, and Webster, owe their celebrity not so much to their intrinsic fitness for school instruction, as to the literary reputation of the writers. Of _Harris's Hermes_, (which, in comparison with our common grammars, is indeed a work of much ingenuity and learning, full of interesting speculations, and written with great elegance both of style and method,) _Dr. Lowth_ says, it is "the most beautiful and perfect example of analysis, that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle."--_Preface to Gram._, p. x. But these two authors, if their works be taken together, as the latter intended they should be, supply no sufficient course of English grammar. The instructions of the one are too limited, and those of the other are not specially directed to the subject. 32. _Dr. Johnson_, who was practically one of the greatest grammarians that ever lived, and who was very nearly coetaneous with both Harris and Lowth, speaks of the state of English grammar in the following terms: "I found our speech copious without order, and energetick _without rules_: wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated."--_Preface to Dict._, p. 1. Again: "Having therefore _no assistance but from general grammar_, I applied myself to the perusal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumulated in time the materials of a dictionary."--_Ibid._ But it is not given to any one man to do every thing; else, Johnson had done it. His object was, to compile a dictionary, rather than to compose a grammar, of our language. To lexicography, grammar is necessary, as a preparation; but, as a purpose, it is merely incidental. Dr. Priestley speaks of Johnson thus: "I must not conclude this preface, without making my acknowledgements to Mr. _Johnson_, whose admirable dictionary has been of the greatest use to me in the study of our language. It is pity he had not formed as just, and as extensive an idea of English grammar. Perhaps this very useful work may still be reserved for his distinguished abilities in this way."--_Priestley's Grammar, Preface_, p. xxiii. Dr. Johnson's English Grammar is all comprised in fourteen pages, and of course it is very deficient. The syntax he seems inclined entirely to omit, as (he says) Wallis did, and Ben Jonson had better done; but, for form's sake, he condescends to bestow upon it ten short lines. 33. My point here is, that the best grammarians have left much to be done by him who may choose to labour for the further improvement of English grammar; and that a man may well deserve comparative praise, who has not reached perfection in a science like this. Johnson himself committed many errors, some of which I shall hereafter expose; yet I cannot conceive that the following judgement of his works was penned without some bias of prejudice: "Johnson's merit ought not to be denied to him; but his dictionary is the most imperfect and faulty, and the least valuable _of any_[80] of his productions; and that share of merit which it possesses, makes it by so much the more hurtful. I rejoice, however, that though the least valuable, he found it the most profitable: for I could never read his preface without shedding a tear. And yet it must be confessed, that his _grammar_ and _history_ and _dictionary_ of what _he calls_ the English language, are in all respects (except the bulk of the _latter_[81]) most truly contemptible performances; and a reproach to the learning and industry of a nation which could receive them with the slightest approbation. Nearly one third of this dictionary is as much the language of the Hottentots as of the English; and it would be no difficult matter so to translate any one of the plainest and most popular numbers of the _Spectator_ into the language of this dictionary, that no mere Englishman, though well read in his own language, would he able to comprehend one sentence of it. It appears to be a work of labour, and yet is in truth one of the most idle performances ever offered to the public; compiled by an author who possessed not one single requisite for the undertaking, and (being a publication of a set of booksellers) owing its success to that very circumstance which alone must make it impossible that it should deserve success."--_Tooke's Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 182. 34. _Dr. Ash's_ "Grammatical Institutes, or Easy Introduction to Dr. Lowth's English Grammar," is a meagre performance, the ease of which consists in nothing but its brevity. _Dr. Priestley_, who in the preface to his third edition acknowledges his obligations to Johnson, and also to Lowth, thought it premature to attempt an English grammar; and contented himself with publishing a few brief "Rudiments," with a loose appendix consisting of "Notes and Observations, for the use of those who have made some proficiency in the language." He says, "With respect to our own language, there seems to be a kind of claim upon all who make use of it, to do something for its improvement; and the best thing we can do for this purpose at present, is, to exhibit its actual structure, and the varieties with which it is used. When these are once distinctly pointed out, and generally attended to, the best forms of speech, and those which are most agreeable to the analogy of the language, will soon recommend themselves, and come into general use; and when, by this means, the language shall be written with sufficient uniformity, we may hope to see a complete grammar of it. At present, _it is by no means ripe for such a work_;[82] but we may approximate to it very fast, if all persons who are qualified to make remarks upon it, will give a little attention to the subject. In such a case, a few years might be sufficient to complete it."--_Priestley's Grammar, Preface_, p. xv. In point of time, both Ash and Priestley expressly claim priority to Lowth, for their first editions; but the former having allowed his work to be afterwards entitled an Introduction to Lowth's, and the latter having acknowledged some improvements in his from the same source, they have both been regarded as later authors. 35. The great work of the learned etymologist _John Horne Tooke_, consists of two octavo volumes, entitled, "EPEA PTEROENTA, or the Diversions of Purley." This work explains, with admirable sagacity, the origin and primitive import of many of the most common yet most obscure English words; and is, for that reason, a valuable performance. But as it contains nothing respecting the construction of the language, and embraces no proper system of grammatical doctrines, it is a great error to suppose that the common principles of practical grammar ought to give place to such instructions, or even be modelled according to what the author proves to be true in respect to the origin of particular words. The common grammarians were less confuted by him, than many of his readers have imagined; and it ought not to be forgotten that his purpose was as different from theirs, as are their schemes of Grammar from the plan of his critical "Diversions." In this connexion may be mentioned an other work of similar size and purpose, but more comprehensive in design; the "History of European Languages," by that astonishing linguist the late _Dr. Alexander Murray_. This work was left unfinished by its lamented author; but it will remain a monument of erudition never surpassed, acquired in spite of wants and difficulties as great as diligence ever surmounted. Like Tooke's volumes, it is however of little use to the mere English scholar. It can be read to advantage only by those who are acquainted with several other languages. The works of _Crombie_ and _Coote_ are more properly essays or dissertations, than elementary systems of grammar. 36. The number of English grammars has now become so very great, that not even a general idea of the comparative merits or defects of each can here be given. I have examined with some diligence all that I have had opportunity to obtain; but have heard of several which I have never yet seen. Whoever is curious to examine at large what has been published on this subject, and thus to qualify himself to judge the better of any new grammar, may easily make a collection of one or two hundred bearing different names. There are also many works not called grammars, from which our copyists have taken large portions of their compilations. Thus Murray confessedly copied from ten authors; five of whom are Beattie, Sheridan, Walker, Blair, and Campbell. Dr. Beattie, who acquired great celebrity as a teacher, poet, philosopher, and logician, was well skilled in grammar; but he treated the subject only in critical disquisitions, and not in any distinct elementary work adapted to general use. Sheridan and Walker, being lexicographers, confined themselves chiefly to orthography and pronunciation. Murray derived sundry principles from the writings of each; but the English Grammar prepared by the latter, was written, I think, several years later than Murray's. The learned doctors Blair and Campbell wrote on rhetoric, and not on the elementary parts of grammar. Of the two, the latter is by far the more accurate writer. Blair is fluent and easy, but he furnishes not a little false syntax; Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric is a very valuable treatise. To these, and five or six other authors whom I have noticed, was Lindley Murray "principally indebted for his materials." Thus far of the famous contributors to English grammar. The Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, delivered at Harvard University by John Quincy Adams, and published in two octavo volumes in 1810, are such as do credit even to that great man; but they descend less to verbal criticism, and enter less into the peculiar province of the grammarian, than do most other works of a similar title. 37. Some of the most respectable authors or compilers of more general systems of English grammar for the use of schools, are the writer of the British Grammar, Bicknell, Buchanan, William Ward, Alexander Murray the schoolmaster, Mennye, Fisher, Lindley Murray, Penning, W. Allen, Grant, David Blair, Lennie, Guy, Churchill. To attempt any thing like a review or comparative estimate of these, would protract this introduction beyond all reasonable bounds; and still others would be excluded, which are perhaps better entitled to notice. Of mere modifiers and abridgers, the number is so great, and the merit or fame so little, that I will not trespass upon the reader's patience by any further mention of them or their works. Whoever takes an accurate and comprehensive view of the history and present state of this branch of learning, though he may not conclude, with Dr. Priestley, that it is premature to attempt a complete grammar of the language, can scarcely forbear to coincide with Dr. Barrow, in the opinion that among all the treatises heretofore produced no such grammar is found. "Some superfluities have been expunged, some mistakes have been rectified, and some obscurities have been cleared; still, however, that all the grammars used in our different schools, public as well as private, are disgraced by errors or defects, is a complaint as just as it is frequent and loud."--_Barrow's Essays_, p. 83. 38. Whether, in what I have been enabled to do, there will be found a remedy for this complaint, must be referred to the decision of others. Upon the probability of effecting this, I have been willing to stake some labour; how much, and with what merit, let the candid and discerning, when they shall have examined for themselves, judge. It is certain that we have hitherto had, of our language, no complete grammar. The need of such a work I suppose to be at this time in no small degree felt, especially by those who conduct our higher institutions of learning; and my ambition has been to produce one which might deservedly stand along side of the Port-Royal Latin and Greek Grammars, or of the Grammaire des Grammaires of Girault Du Vivier. If this work is unworthy to aspire to such rank, let the patrons of English literature remember that the achievement of my design is still a desideratum. We surely have no other book which might, in any sense, have been called "_the Grammar of English Grammars_;" none, which, either by excellence, or on account of the particular direction of its criticism, might take such a name. I have turned the eyes of Grammar, in an especial manner, upon the conduct of her own household; and if, from this volume, the reader acquire a more just idea of _the grammar_ which is displayed in _English grammars_, he will discover at least one reason for the title which has been bestowed upon the work. Such as the book is, I present it to the public, without pride, without self-seeking, and without anxiety: knowing that most of my readers will be interested in estimating it _justly_; that no true service, freely rendered to learning, can fail of its end; and that no achievement merits aught with Him who graciously supplies all ability. The opinions expressed in it have been formed with candour, and are offered with submission. If in any thing they are erroneous, there are those who can detect their faults. In the language of an ancient master, the earnest and assiduous _Despauter_, I invite the correction of the candid: "Nos quoque, quantumcunque diligentes, cum a candidis tum a lividis carpemur: a candidis interdum juste; quos oro, ut de erratis omnibus amice me admoneant--erro nonnunquam quia homo sum." GOOLD BROWN. _New York_, 1836. THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. Grammar, as an art, is the power of reading, writing, and speaking correctly. As an acquisition, it is the essential skill of scholarship. As a study, it is the practical science which teaches the right use of language. _An English Grammar_ is a book which professes to explain the nature and structure of the English language; and to show, on just authority, what is, and what is not, good English. ENGLISH GRAMMAR, in itself, is the art of reading, writing, and speaking the English language correctly. It implies, in the adept, such knowledge as enables him to avoid improprieties of speech; to correct any errors that may occur in literary compositions; and to parse, or explain grammatically, whatsoever is rightly written. _To read_ is to perceive what is written or printed, so as to understand the words, and be able to utter them with their proper sounds. _To write_ is to express words and thoughts by letters, or characters, made with a pen or other instrument. _To speak_ is to utter words orally, in order that they may be heard and understood. Grammar, like every other liberal art, can be properly taught only by a regular analysis, or systematic elucidation, of its component parts or principles; and these parts or principles must be made known chiefly by means of definitions and examples, rules and exercises. A _perfect definition_ of any thing or class of things is such a description of it, as distinguishes that entire thing or class from every thing else, by briefly telling _what it is_. An _example_ is a particular instance or model, serving to prove or illustrate some given proposition or truth. A _rule of grammar_ is some law, more or less general, by which custom regulates and prescribes the right use of language. An _exercise_ is some technical performance required of the learner in order to bring his knowledge and skill into practice. LANGUAGE, in the primitive sense of the term, embraced only vocal expression, or human speech uttered by the mouth; but after letters were invented to represent articulate sounds, language became twofold, _spoken_ and _written_, so that the term, _language_, now signifies, _any series of sounds or letters formed into words and employed for the expression of thought._ Of the composition of language we have also two kinds, _prose_ and _verse_; the latter requiring a certain number and variety of syllables in each line, but the former being free from any such restraint. The _least parts_ of written language are letters; of spoken language, syllables; of language significant in each part, words; of language combining thought, phrases; of language subjoining sense, clauses; of language cooerdinating sense, members; of language completing sense, sentences. A discourse, or narration, of any length, is but a series of sentences; which, when written, must be separated by the proper points, that the meaning and relation of all the words may be quickly and clearly perceived by the reader, and the whole be uttered as the sense requires. In extended compositions, a sentence is usually less than a paragraph; a paragraph, less than a section; a section, less than a chapter; a chapter, less than a book; a book, less than a volume; and a volume, less than the entire work. The common order of _literary division_, then, is; of a large work, into volumes; of volumes, into books; of books, into chapters; of chapters, into sections; of sections, into paragraphs; of paragraphs, into sentences; of sentences, into members; of members, into clauses; of clauses, into phrases; of phrases, into words; of words, into syllables; of syllables, into letters. But it rarely happens that any one work requires the use of all these divisions; and we often assume some natural distinction and order of parts, naming each as we find it; and also subdivide into articles, verses, cantoes, stanzas, and other portions, as the nature of the subject suggests. Grammar is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. Orthography treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling. Etymology treats of the different _parts of speech_, with their classes and modifications. Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement of words in sentences. Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In the Introduction to this work, have been taken many views of the study, or general science, of grammar; many notices of its history, with sundry criticisms upon its writers or critics; and thus language has often been presented to the reader's consideration, either as a whole, or with broader scope than belongs to the teaching of its particular forms. We come now to the work of _analyzing_ our own tongue, and of laying down those special rules and principles which should guide us in the use of it, whether in speech or in writing. The author intends to dissent from other grammarians no more than they are found to dissent from truth and reason; nor will he expose their errors further than is necessary for the credit of the science and the information of the learner. A candid critic can have no satisfaction merely in finding fault with other men's performances. But the facts are not to be concealed, that many pretenders to grammar have shown themselves exceedingly superficial in their knowledge, as well as slovenly in their practice; and that many vain composers of books have proved themselves _despisers_ of this study, by the abundance of their inaccuracies, and the obviousness of their solecisms. OBS. 2.--Some grammarians have taught that the word _language_ is of much broader signification, than that which is given to it in the definition above. I confine it to speech and writing. For the propriety of this limitation, and against those authors who describe the thing otherwise, I appeal to the common sense of mankind. One late writer defines it thus: "LANGUAGE is _any means_ by which one _person_ communicates his _ideas_ to _another_."--_Sanders's Spelling-Book_, p. 7. The following is the explanation of an other slack thinker: "One may, by speaking or by writing, (and sometimes _by motions_,) communicate his thoughts to others. _The process_ by which this is done, is called LANGUAGE.--_Language_ is _the expression_ of thought _and feeling_."--_S. W. Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 7. Dr. Webster goes much further, and says, "LANGUAGE, in its most extensive sense, is the instrument or means of communicating ideas _and affections_ of the mind _and body_, from one _animal to another_. In this sense, _brutes possess the power of language_; for by various inarticulate sounds, they make known their wants, desires, and sufferings."-- _Philosophical Gram._, p. 11; _Improved Gram._, p. 5. This latter definition the author of that vain book, "_the District School_," has adopted in his chapter on Grammar. Sheridan, the celebrated actor and orthoepist, though he seems to confine language to the human species, gives it such an extension as to make words no necessary part of its essence. "The first thought," says he, "that would occur to every one, who had not properly considered the point, is, that language is composed of words. And yet, this is so far from being an adequate idea of language, that the point in which most men think its very essence to consist, is not even a necessary property of language. For language, in its full extent, means, any way or method whatsoever, by which _all that passes in the mind of one man_, may be manifested to another."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 129. Again: "I have already _shown_, that words are, in their own nature, _no essential part of language_, and are only considered so through custom."--_Ib._ p. 135. OBS. 3.--According to S. Kirkham's notion, "LANGUAGE, in its most extensive sense, implies those signs by which _men and brutes_, communicate _to each other_ their thoughts, affections and desires."--_Kirkham's English Gram._, p. 16. Again: "_The language of brutes_ consists in the use of those inarticulate sounds by which they express _their thoughts and affections_."--_Ib._ To me it seems a shameful abuse of speech, and a vile descent from the dignity of grammar, to make the voices of "_brutes_" any part of language, as taken in a literal sense. We might with far more propriety raise our conceptions of it to the spheres above, and construe literally the metaphors of David, who ascribes to the starry heavens, both "_speech_" and "_language_," "_voice_" and "_words_," daily "_uttered_" and everywhere "_heard_." See _Psalm_ xix. OBS. 4.--But, strange as it may seem, Kirkham, commencing his instructions with the foregoing definition of language, proceeds to divide it, agreeably to this notion, into two sorts, _natural_ and _artificial_; and affirms that the former "is common both to man and brute," and that the language which is peculiar to man, the language which consists of _words_, is altogether an _artificial invention_:[83] thereby contradicting at once a host of the most celebrated grammarians and philosophers, and that without appearing to know it. But this is the less strange, since he immediately forgets his own definition and division of the subject, and as plainly contradicts himself. Without limiting the term at all, without excluding his fanciful "_language of brutes_," he says, on the next leaf, "_Language_ is _conventional_, and not only _invented_, but, in its progressive advancement, _varied for purposes of practical convenience_. Hence it assumes _any and every form_ which those who make use of it, choose to give it."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 18. This, though scarcely more rational than his "_natural language of men and brutes_," plainly annihilates that questionable section of grammatical science, whether brutal or human, by making all language a thing "_conventional_" and "_invented_." In short, it leaves no ground at all for any grammatical science of a positive character, because it resolves all forms of language into the irresponsible will of those who utter any words, sounds, or noises. OBS. 5.--Nor is this gentleman more fortunate in his explanation of what may really be called language. On one page, he says, "_Spoken language_ or _speech_, is made up of articulate sounds uttered by the human voice."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 17. On the next, "The most important use of _that faculty called speech_, is, to convey our thoughts to others."--_Ib._, p. 18. Thus the grammarian who, in the same short paragraph, seems to "defy the ingenuity of man to give his words any other meaning than that which he himself intends _them to express_," (_Ib._, p. 19,) either writes so badly as to make any ordinary false syntax appear trivial, or actually conceives man to be the inventor of one of his own _faculties_. Nay, docs he not make man the contriver of that "natural language" which he possesses "in common with the brutes?" a language "_The meaning of which_," he says, "_all the different animals perfectly understand_?"--See his _Gram._, p. 16. And if this notion again be true, does it not follow, that a horse knows perfectly well what horned cattle mean by their bellowing, or a flock of geese by their gabbling? I should not have noticed these things, had not the book which teaches them, been made popular by _a thousand_ imposing attestations to its excellence and accuracy. For grammar has nothing at all to do with inarticulate voices, or the imaginary languages of _brutes_. It is scope enough for one science to explain all the languages, dialects, and speeches, that lay claim to _reason_. We need not enlarge the field, by descending "To beasts, whom[84] God on their creation-day Created mute to all articulate sound."--_Milton_.[85] PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY. ORTHOGRAPHY treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling. CHAPTER I.--OF LETTERS. A _Letter_ is an alphabetic character, which commonly represents some elementary sound of the human voice, some element of speech. An elementary sound of the human voice, or an element of speech, is one of the simple sounds which compose a spoken language. The sound of a letter is commonly called its _power_: when any letter of a word is not sounded, it is said to be _silent_ or _mute._ The letters in the English alphabet, are twenty-six; the simple or primary sounds which they represent, are about thirty-six or thirty-seven. A knowledge of the letters consists in an acquaintance with these _four sorts of things_; their _names_, their _classes_, their _powers_, and their _forms_. The letters are written, or printed, or painted, or engraved, or embossed, in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes; and yet are always _the same_, because their essential properties do not change, and their names, classes, and powers, are mostly permanent. The following are some of the different sorts of types, or styles of letters, with which every reader should be early acquainted:-- 1. The Roman: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z. 2. The Italic: _A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z._ 3. The Script: [Script: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z.] 4. The Old English: [Old English: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z.] OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--A letter _consists_ not in the figure only, or in the power only, but in the figure and power united; as an ambassador consists not in the man only, or in the commission only, but in the man commissioned. The figure and the power, therefore, are necessary to constitute the letter; and a name is as necessary, to call it by, teach it, or tell what it is. The _class_ of a letter is determined by the nature of its power, or sound; as the ambassador is plenipotentiary or otherwise, according to the extent of his commission. To all but the deaf and dumb, written language is the representative of that which is spoken; so that, in the view of people in general, the powers of the letters are habitually identified with their sounds, and are conceived to be nothing else. Hence any given sound, or modification of sound, which all men can produce at pleasure, when arbitrarily associated with a written sign, or conventional character, constitutes what is called _a letter_. Thus we may produce the sounds of _a, e, o_, then, by a particular compression of the organs of utterance, modify them all, into _ba, be, bo_, or _fa, fe, fo_; and we shall see that _a, e_, and _o_, are letters of one sort, and _b_ and _f_ of an other. By _elementary_ or _articulate_ sounds,[86] then, we mean not only the simple tones of the voice itself, but the modifying stops and turns which are given them in speech, and marked by letters: the real voices constituting vowels; and their modifications, consonants. OBS. 2.--A mere mark to which no sound or power is ever given, cannot be a letter; though it may, like the marks used for punctuation, deserve a name and a place in grammar. Commas, semicolons, and the like, represent _silence_, rather than sounds, and are therefore not letters. Nor are the Arabic figures, which represent entire _words_, nor again any symbols standing for _things_, (as the astronomic marks for the sun, the moon, the planets,) to be confounded with letters; because the representative of any word or number, of any name or thing, differs widely in its power, from the sign of a simple elementary sound: i. e., from any constituent _part_ of a written word. The first letter of a word or name does indeed sometimes stand for the whole, and is still a letter; but it is so, as being the first element of the word, and not as being the representative of the whole. OBS. 3.--In their definitions of vowels and consonants, many grammarians have resolved letters into _sounds only_; as, "A Vowel is an articulate _sound_," &c.--"A Consonant is an articulate _sound_," &c.--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 7. But this confounding of the visible signs with the things which they signify, is very far from being a true account of either. Besides, letters combined are capable of a certain mysterious power which is independent of all sound, though speech, doubtless, is what they properly represent. In practice, almost all the letters may occasionally happen to be _silent_; yet are they not, in these cases, necessarily useless. The deaf and dumb also, to whom none of the letters express or represent sounds, may be taught to read and write understandingly. They even learn in some way to distinguish the accented from the unaccented syllables, and to have some notion of _quantity_, or of something else equivalent to it; for some of them, it is said, can compose verses according to the rules of prosody. Hence it would appear, that the powers of the letters are not, of necessity, identified with their sounds; the things being in some respect distinguishable, though the terms are commonly taken as synonymous. The fact is, that a word, whether spoken or written, is of itself _significant_, whether its corresponding form be known or not. Hence, in the one form, it may be perfectly intelligible to the illiterate, and in the other, to the educated deaf and dumb; while, to the learned who hear and speak, either form immediately suggests the other, with the meaning common to both. OBS. 4.--Our knowledge of letters rises no higher than to the forms used by the ancient Hebrews and Phoenicians. Moses is supposed to have written in characters which were nearly the same as those called Samaritan, but his writings have come to us in an alphabet more beautiful and regular, called the Chaldee or Chaldaic, which is said to have been made by Ezra the scribe, when he wrote out a new copy of the law, after the rebuilding of the temple. Cadmus carried the Phoenician alphabet into Greece, where it was subsequently altered and enlarged. The small letters were not invented till about the seventh century of our era. The Latins, or Romans, derived most of their capitals from the Greeks; but their small letters, if they had any, were made afterwards among themselves. This alphabet underwent various changes, and received very great improvements, before it became that beautiful series of characters which we now use, under the name of _Roman letters_. Indeed these particular forms, which are now justly preferred by many nations, are said to have been adopted after the invention of printing. "The Roman letters were first used by Sweynheim and Pannartz, printers who settled at Rome, in 1467. The earliest work printed wholly in this character in England, is said to have been Lily's or Paul's Accidence, printed by Richard Pinson, 1518. The Italic letters were invented by Aldus Manutius at Rome, towards the close of the fifteenth century, and were first used in an edition of Virgil, in 1501."--_Constables Miscellany_, Vol. xx, p. 147. The Saxon alphabet was mostly Roman. Not more than one quarter of the letters have other forms. But the changes, though few, give to a printed page a very different appearance. Under William the Conqueror, this alphabet was superseded by the modern Gothic, Old English, or Black letter; which, in its turn, happily gave place to the present Roman. The Germans still use a type similar to the Old English, but not so heavy. OBS. 5.--I have suggested that a true knowledge of the letters implies an acquaintance with their _names_, their _classes_, their _powers_, and their _forms_. Under these four heads, therefore, I shall briefly present what seems most worthy of the learner's attention at first, and shall reserve for the appendix a more particular account of these important elements. The most common and the most useful things are not those about which we are in general most inquisitive. Hence many, who think themselves sufficiently acquainted with the letters, do in fact know but very little about them. If a person is able to read some easy book, he is apt to suppose he has no more to learn respecting the letters; or he neglects the minute study of these elements, because he sees what words they make, and can amuse himself with stories of things more interesting. But merely to understand common English, is a very small qualification for him who aspires to scholarship, and especially for a _teacher_. For one may do this, and even be a great reader, without ever being able to name the letters properly, or to pronounce such syllables as _ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy_, without getting half of them wrong. No one can ever teach an art more perfectly than he has learned it; and if we neglect the _elements_ of grammar, our attainments must needs be proportionately unsettled and superficial. I. NAMES OF THE LETTERS. The _names_ of the letters, as now commonly spoken and written in English, are _A, Bee, Cee, Dee, E, Eff, Gee, Aitch, I, Jay, Kay, Ell, Em, En, O, Pee, Kue, Ar, Ess, Tee, U, Vee, Double-u, Ex, Wy, Zee_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--With the learning and application of these names, our literary education begins; with a continual rehearsal of them in spelling, it is for a long time carried on; nor can we ever dispense with them, but by substituting others, or by ceasing to mention the things thus named. What is obviously indispensable, needs no proof of its importance. But I know not whether it has ever been noticed, that these names, like those of the days of the week, are worthy of particular distinction, for their own nature. They are words of a very peculiar kind, being nouns that are at once _both proper and common_. For, in respect to rank, character, and design, each letter is a thing strictly individual and identical--that is, it is ever one and the same; yet, in an other respect, it is a comprehensive sort, embracing individuals both various and numberless. Thus every B is a _b_, make it as you will; and can be nothing else than that same letter b, though you make it in a thousand different fashions, and multiply it after each pattern innumerably. Here, then, we see individuality combined at once with great diversity, and infinite multiplicity; and it is _to this combination_, that letters owe their wonderful power of transmitting thought. Their _names_, therefore, should always be written with capitals, as proper nouns, at least in the singular number; and should form the plural regularly, as ordinary appellatives. Thus: (if we adopt the names now most generally used in English schools:) _A, Aes; Bee, Bees; Cee, Cees; Dee, Dees; E, Ees; Eff, Effs; Gee, Gees; Aitch, Aitches; I, Ies; Jay, Jays; Kay, Kays; Ell, Ells; Em, Ems; En, Ens; O, Oes; Pee, Pees; Kue, Kues; Ar, Ars; Ess, Esses; Tee, Tees; U, Ues; Vee, Vees; Double-u, Double-ues; Ex, Exes; Wy, Wies; Zee, Zees._ OBS. 2.--The names of the letters, as expressed in the modern languages, are mostly framed _with reference_ to their powers, or sounds. Yet is there in English no letter of which the name is always identical with its power: for _A, E, I, O_, and _U_, are the only letters which can name themselves, and all these have other sounds than those which their names express. The simple powers of the other letters are so manifestly insufficient to form any name, and so palpable is the difference between the nature and the name of each, that did we not know how education has been trifled with, it would be hard to believe even Murray, when he says, "They are frequently confounded by writers on grammar. Observations and reasonings on the _name_, are often applied to explain the _nature_ of a consonant; and by this means the student is led into error and perplexity."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 8. The confounding of names with the things for which they stand, implies, unquestionably, great carelessness in the use of speech, and great indistinctness of apprehension in respect to things; yet so common is this error, that Murray himself has many times fallen into it.[87] Let the learner therefore be on his guard, remembering that grammar, both in its study and in its practice, requires the constant exercise of a rational discernment. Those letters which name themselves, take for their names those sounds which they usually represent at the end of an accented syllable; thus the names, _A, E, I, O, U_, are uttered with the sounds given to the same letters in the first syllables of the other names, _Abel, Enoch, Isaac, Obed, Urim_; or in the first syllables of the common words, _paper, penal, pilot, potent, pupil_. The other letters, most of which can never be perfectly sounded alone, have names in which their powers are combined with other sounds more vocal; as, _Bee, Cee, Dee,--Ell, Em, En,--Jay, Kay, Kue_. But in this respect the terms _Aitch_ and _Double-u_ are irregular; because they have no obvious reference to the powers of the letters thus named. OBS. 3.--Letters, like all other things, must be learned and spoken of _by their names_; nor can they be spoken of otherwise; yet, as the simple characters are better known and more easily exhibited than their written names, the former are often substituted for the latter, and are read as the words for which they are assumed. Hence the orthography of these words has hitherto been left too much to mere fancy or caprice. Our dictionaries, by a strange oversight or negligence, do not recognize them as words; and writers have in general spelled them with very little regard to either authority or analogy. What they are, or ought to be, has therefore been treated as a trifling question: and, what is still more surprising, several authors of spelling-books make no mention at all of them; while others, here at the very threshold of instruction, teach falsely--giving "_he_" for _Aitch_, "_er_" for _Ar_, "_oo_" or "_uu_" for _Double-u_, "_ye_" for _Wy_, and writing almost all the rest improperly. So that many persons who think themselves well educated, would be greatly puzzled to name on paper these simple elements of all learning. Nay, there can be found a hundred men who can readily write the alphabetic names which were in use two or three thousand years ago in Greece or Palestine, for one who can do the same thing with propriety, respecting those which we now employ so constantly in English:[88] and yet the words themselves are as familiar to every school-boy's lips as are the characters to his eye. This fact may help to convince us, that _the grammar_ of our language has never yet been sufficiently taught. Among all the particulars which constitute this subject, there are none which better deserve to be everywhere known, by proper and determinate names, than these prime elements of all written language. OBS. 4.--Should it happen to be asked a hundred lustrums hence, what were the names of the letters in "the Augustan age of English literature," or in the days of William the Fourth and Andrew Jackson, I fear the learned of that day will be as much at a loss for an answer, as would most of our college tutors now, were they asked, by what series of names the Roman youth were taught to spell. Might not Quintilian or Varro have obliged many, by recording these? As it is, we are indebted to Priscian, a grammarian of the sixth century, for almost all we know about them. But even the information which may be had, on this point, has been strangely overlooked by our common Latin grammarians.[89] What, but the greater care of earlier writers, has made the Greek names better known or more important than the Latin? In every nation that is not totally illiterate, custom must have established for the letters a certain set of names, which are _the only true ones_, and which are of course to be preferred to such as are local or unauthorized. In this, however, as in other things, use may sometimes vary, and possibly improve; but when its decisions are clear, no feeble reason should be allowed to disturb them. Every parent, therefore, who would have his children instructed to read and write the English language, should see that in the first place they learn to name the letters as they are commonly named in English. A Scotch gentleman of good education informs me, that the names of the letters, as he first learned them in a school in his own country, were these: "A, Ib, Ec, Id, E, Iff, Ig, Ich, I, Ij, Ik, Ill, Im, In, O, Ip, Kue, Ir, Iss, It, U, Iv, Double-u, Ix, Wy, Iz;" but that in the same school the English names are now used. It is to be hoped, that all teachers will in time abandon every such local usage, and name the letters _as they ought to be named_; and that the day will come, in which the regular English _orthography_ of these terms, shall be steadily preferred, ignorance of it be thought a disgrace, and the makers of school-books feel no longer at liberty to alter names that are a thousand times better known than their own. OBS. 5.--It is not in respect to their _orthography_ alone, that these first words in literature demand inquiry and reflection: the _pronunciation_ of some of them has often been taught erroneously, and, with respect to three or four of them, some writers have attempted to make an entire change from the customary forms which I have recorded. Whether the name of the first letter should be pronounced "_Aye_," as it is in England, "_Ah_," as it is in Ireland, or "_Aw_," as it is in Scotland, is a question which Walker has largely discussed, and clearly decided in favour of the first sound; and this decision accords with the universal practice of the schools in America. It is remarkable that this able critic, though he treated minutely of the letters, naming them all in the outset of his "Principles" subsequently neglected the names of them all, except the first and the last. Of _Zee_, (which has also been called _Zed, Zad, Izzard, Uzzard, Izzet_, and _Iz_,)[90] he says, "Its common name is _izzard_, which Dr. Johnson explains into _s hard_; if, however, this is the meaning, it is a gross misnomer; for the _z_ is not the hard, but the soft _s_;[91] but as it has a less sharp, and therefore not so audible a sound, it is not impossible _but_ it may mean _s surd_. _Zed_, borrowed from the French, is the more fashionable name of this letter; but, in my opinion, _not to be admitted, because the names of the letters ought to have no diversity._"--_Walker's Principles_, No. 483. It is true, the name of a letter ought to be one, and in no respect diverse; but where diversity has already obtained, and become firmly rooted in custom, is it to be obviated by insisting upon what is old-fashioned, awkward, and inconvenient? Shall the better usage give place to the worse? Uniformity cannot be so reached. In this country, both _Zed_ and _Izzard_, as well as the worse forms _Zad_ and _Uzzard_, are now fairly superseded by the softer and better term _Zee_; and whoever will spell aloud, with each of these names, a few such words as _dizzy, mizzen, gizzard_, may easily perceive why none of the former can ever be brought again into use. The other two, _Iz_ and _Izzet_, being localisms, and not authorized English, I give up all six; _Zed_ to the French, and the rest to oblivion. OBS. 6.--By way of apology for noticing the name of the first letter, Walker observes, "If a diversity of names to vowels did not confound us in our spelling, or declaring to each other the component letters of a word, it would be entirely needless to enter into _so trifling a question_ as the mere name of a letter; but when we find ourselves unable to convey signs to each other on account of this diversity of names, and that words themselves are endangered by an improper utterance of their component parts, it seems highly incumbent on us to attempt a uniformity in this point, which, insignificant as it may seem, is undoubtedly the foundation of a just and regular pronunciation."--_Dict., under A_. If diversity in this matter is so perplexing, what shall we say to those who are attempting innovations without assigning reasons, or even pretending authority? and if a knowledge of these names is the basis of a just pronunciation, what shall we think of him who will take no pains to ascertain how he ought to speak and write them? He who pretends to teach the proper fashion of speaking and writing, cannot deal honestly, if ever he silently prefer a suggested improvement, to any established and undisturbed usage of the language; for, in grammar, no individual authority can be a counterpoise to general custom. The best usage can never be that which is little known, nor can it be well ascertained and taught by him who knows little. Inquisitive minds are ever curious to learn the nature, origin, and causes of things; and that instruction is the most useful, which is best calculated to gratify this rational curiosity. This is my apology for dwelling so long upon the present topic. OBS. 7.--The names originally given to the letters were not mere notations of sound, intended solely to express or make known the powers of the several characters then in use; nor ought even the modern names of our present letters, though formed with special reference to their sounds, to be considered such. Expressions of mere sound, such as the notations in a pronouncing dictionary, having no reference to what is meant by the sound, do not constitute words at all; because they are not those acknowledged signs to which a meaning has been attached, and are consequently without that significance which is an essential property of words. But, in every language, there must be a series of sounds by which the alphabetical characters are commonly known in speech; and which, as they are the acknowledged names of these particular objects, must be entitled to a place among _the words_ of the language. It is a great error to judge otherwise; and a greater to make it a "trifling question" in grammar, whether a given letter shall be called by one name or by an other. Who shall say that _Daleth, Delta_, and _Dee_, are not three _real words_, each equally important in the language to which it properly belongs? Such names have always been in use wherever literature has been cultivated; and as the forms and powers of the letters have been changed by the nations, and have become different in different languages, there has necessarily followed a change of the names. For, whatever inconvenience scholars may find in the diversity which has thence arisen, to name these elements in a set of foreign terms, inconsistent with the genius of the language to be learned, would surely be attended with a tenfold greater. We derived our letters, and their names too, from the Romans; but this is no good reason why the latter should be spelled and pronounced as we suppose they were spelled and pronounced in Rome. OBS. 8.--The names of the twenty-two letters in Hebrew, are, without dispute, proper _words_; for they are not only significant of the letters thus named, but have in general, if not in every instance, some other meaning in that language. Thus the mysterious ciphers which the English reader meets with, and wonders over, as he reads the 119th Psalm, may be resolved, according to some of the Hebrew grammars, as follows:-- [Hebrew: Aleph] Aleph, A, an ox, or a leader; [Hebrew: Beth] Beth, Bee, house; [Hebrew: Gimel] Gimel, Gee, a camel; [Hebrew: Dalet] Daleth, Dee, a door; [Hebrew: he] He, E, she, or behold; [Hebrew: vav] Vau, U, a hook, or a nail; [Hebrew: zajin] Zain, Zee, armour; [Hebrew: het] Cheth, or Heth, Aitch, a hedge; [Hebrew: tet] Teth, Tee, a serpent, or a scroll; [Hebrew: jod] Jod, or Yod, I, or Wy, a hand shut; [Hebrew: kaf] Caph, Cee, a hollow hand, or a cup; [Hebrew: lamed] Lamed, Ell, an ox-goad; [Hebrew: mem] Mem, Em, a stain, or spot; [Hebrew: nun] Nun, En, a fish, or a snake; [Hebrew: samekh] Samech, Ess, a basis, or support; [Hebrew: ayin] Ain, or Oin, O, an eye, or a well; [Hebrew: pe] Pe, Pee, a lip, or mouth; [Hebrew: tsadi] Tzaddi, or Tsadhe, Tee-zee, (i. e. tz, or ts,) a hunter's pole; [Hebrew: qof] Koph, Kue, or Kay, an ape; [Hebrew: resh] Resch, or Resh, Ar, a head; [Hebrew: shin] Schin, or Sin, Ess-aitch, or Ess, a tooth; [Hebrew: tav] Tau, or Thau, Tee, or Tee-aitch, a cross, or mark. These English names of the Hebrew letters are written with much less uniformity than those of the Greek, because there has been more dispute respecting their powers. This is directly contrary to what one would have expected; since the Hebrew names are words originally significant of other things than the letters, and the Greek are not. The original pronunciation of both languages is admitted to be lost, or involved in so much obscurity that little can be positively affirmed about it; and yet, where least was known, grammarians have produced the most diversity; aiming at disputed sounds in the one case, but generally preferring a correspondence of letters in the other. OBS. 9.--The word _alphabet_ is derived from the first two names in the following series. The Greek letters are twenty-four; which are formed, named, and sounded, thus:-- [Greek: A a], Alpha, a; [Greek: B, b], Beta, b; [Greek: G g], Gamma, g hard; [Greek: D d], Delta, d; [Greek: E e], Epsilon, e short; [Greek: Z z], Zeta, z; [Greek: AE ae], Eta, e long; [Greek: TH Th th], Theta, th; [Greek: I i], Iota, i; [Greek K k], Kappa, k; [Greek: L l], Lambda, l; [Greek: M m], Mu, m; [Greek: N n], Nu, n; [Greek: X x], Xi, x; [Greek: O o], Omicron, o short; [Greek: P p], Pi, p; [Greek: R r] Rho, r; [Greek: S s s], Sigma, s; [Greek: T t], Tau, t; [Greek: Y y], Upsilon, u; [Greek: PH ph], Phi, ph; [Greek: CH ch], Chi, ch; [Greek: PS ps], Psi, ps; [Greek: O o], Omega, o long. Of these names, our English dictionaries explain the first and the last; and Webster has defined _Iota_, and _Zeta_, but without reference to the meaning of the former in Greek. _Beta, Delta, Lambda_, and perhaps some others, are also found in the etymologies or definitions of Johnson and Webster, both of whom spell the word _Lambda_ and its derivative _lambdoidal_ without the silent _b_, which is commonly, if not always, inserted by the authors of our Greek grammars, and which Worcester, more properly, retains. OBS. 10.--The reader will observe that the foregoing names, whether Greek or Hebrew, are in general much less simple than those which our letters now bear; and if he has ever attempted to spell aloud in either of those languages, he cannot but be sensible of the great advantage which was gained when to each letter there was given a short name, expressive, as ours mostly are, of its ordinary power. This improvement appears to have been introduced by the Romans, whose names for the letters were even more simple than our own. But so negligent in respect to them have been the Latin grammarians, both ancient and modern, that few even of the learned can tell what they really were in that language; or how they differed, either in orthography or sound, from those of the English or the French, the Hebrew or the Greek. Most of them, however, may yet be ascertained from Priscian, and some others of note among the ancient philologists; so that by taking from later authors the names of those letters which were not used in old times, we can still furnish an entire list, concerning the accuracy of which there is not much room to dispute. It is probable that in the ancient pronunciation of Latin, _a_ was commonly sounded as in _father_; _e_ like the English _a_; _i_ mostly like _e_ long; _y_ like _i_ short; _c_ generally and _g_ always hard, as in _come_ and _go_. But, as the original, native, or just pronunciation of a language is not necessary to an understanding of it when written, the existing nations have severally, in a great measure, accommodated themselves, in their manner of reading this and other ancient tongues. OBS. 11.--As the Latin language is now printed, its letters are twenty-five. Like the French, it has all that belong to the English alphabet, except the _Double-u_. But, till the first Punic war, the Romans wrote C for G, and doubtless gave it the power as well as the place of the Gamma or Gimel. It then seems to have slid into K; but they used it also for S, as we do now. The ancient Saxons, generally pronounced C as K, but sometimes as Ch. Their G was either guttural, or like our Y. In some of the early English grammars the name of the latter is written _Ghee_. The letter F, when first invented, was called, from its shape, Digamma, and afterwards Ef. J, when it was first distinguished from I, was called by the Hebrew name Jod, and afterwards Je. V, when first distinguished from U, was called Vau, then Va, then Ve. Y, when the Romans first borrowed it from the Greeks, was called Ypsilon; and Z, from the same source, was called Zeta; and, as these two letters were used only in words of Greek origin, I know not whether they ever received from the Romans any shorter names. In Schneider's Latin Grammar, the letters are named in the following manner; except Je and Ve, which are omitted by this author: "A, Be, Ce, De, E, Ef, Ge, Ha, I, [Je,] Ka, El, Em, En, O, Pe, Cu, Er, Es, Te, U, [Ve,] Ix, Ypsilon, Zeta." And this I suppose to be the most proper way of writing their names _in Latin_, unless we have sufficient authority for shortening Ypsilon into Y, sounded as short _i_, and for changing Zeta into Ez. OBS. 12.--In many, if not in all languages, the five vowels, A, E, I, O, U, name themselves; but they name themselves differently to the ear, according to the different ways of uttering them in different languages. And as the name of a consonant necessarily requires one or more vowels, that also may be affected in the same manner. But in every language there should be a known way both of writing and of speaking every name in the series; and that, if there is nothing to hinder, should be made conformable to _the genius of the language_. I do not say that the names above can be regularly declined in Latin; but in English it is as easy to speak of two Dees as of two trees, of two Kays as of two days, of two Exes as of two foxes, of two Effs as of two skiffs; and there ought to be no more difficulty about the correct way of writing the word in the one case, than in the other. In Dr. Sam. Prat's Latin Grammar, (an elaborate octavo, all Latin, published in London, 1722,) nine of the consonants are reckoned mutes; b, c, d, g, p, q, t, j, and v; and eight, semivowels; f, l, m, n, r, s, x, z. "All the mutes," says this author, "are named by placing _e_ after them; as, be, ce, de, ge, except _q_, which ends in _u_." See p. 8. "The semivowels, beginning with _e_, end in themselves; as, ef, _ach_, el, em, en, er, es, _ex_, (or, as Priscian will have it, _ix_,) _eds_." See p. 9. This mostly accords with the names given in the preceding paragraph; and so far as it does not, I judge the author to be wrong. The reader will observe that the Doctor's explanation is neither very exact nor quite complete: K is a mute which is not enumerated, and the rule would make the name of it _Ke_, and not _Ka_;--H is not one of his eight semivowels, nor does the name Ach accord with his rule or seem like a Latin word;--the name of Z, according to his principle, would be _Ez_ and not "_Eds_," although the latter may better indicate the _sound_ which was then given to this letter. OBS. 13.--If the history of these names exhibits diversity, so does that of almost all other terms; and yet there is some way of writing every word with correctness, and correctness tends to permanence. But Time, that establishes authority, destroys it also, when he fairly sanctions newer customs. To all names worthy to be known, it is natural to wish a perpetual uniformity; but if any one thinks the variableness of these to be peculiar, let him open the English Bible of the fourteenth century, and read a few verses, observing the names. For instance: "Forsothe whanne _Eroude_ was to bringynge forth hym, in that nigt _Petir_ was slepynge bitwixe tweyno knytis."--_Dedis_, (i. e., _Acts_,) xii, 6. "_Crist Ihesu_ that is to demynge the quyke and deed."--_2 Tim._, iv, 1. Since this was written for English, our language has changed much, and at the same time acquired, by means of the press, some aids to stability. I have recorded above the _true_ names of the letters, as they are now used, with something of their history; and if there could be in human works any thing unchangeable, I should wish, (with due deference to all schemers and fault-finders,) that these names might remain the same forever. OBS. 14.--If any change is desirable in our present names of the letters, it is that we may have a shorter and simpler term in stead of _Double-u_. But can we change this well known name? I imagine it would be about as easy to change _Alpha, Upsilon, or Omega_; and perhaps it would be as useful. Let Dr. Webster, or any defender of his spelling, try it. He never named the _English_ letters rightly; long ago discarded the term _Double-u_; and is not yet tired of his experiment with "_oo_;" but thinks still to make the vowel sound of this letter its name. Yet he writes his new name wrong; has no authority for it but his own; and is, most certainly, reprehensible for the _innovation_.[92] If W is to be named as a vowel, it ought to _name itself_, as other vowels do, and not to take _two Oes_ for its written name. Who that knows what it is, to name a letter, can think of naming _w_ by double _o_? That it is possible for an ingenious man to misconceive this simple affair of naming the letters, may appear not only from the foregoing instance, but from the following quotation: "Among the thousand mismanagements of literary instruction, there is at the outset in the hornbook, _the pretence to represent elementary sounds_ by syllables composed of two or more elements; as, _Be, Kay, Zed, Double-u_, and _Aitch_. These words are used in infancy, and through life, as _simple elements_ in the process of synthetic spelling. If the definition of a _consonant_ was made by the master from the practice of the child, it might suggest pity for the pedagogue, but should not make us forget the realities of nature."--_Dr. Push, on the Philosophy of the Human Voice_, p. 52. This is a strange allegation to come from such a source. If I bid a boy spell the word _why_, he says, "Double-u, Aitch, Wy, _hwi_;" and knows that he has spelled and pronounced the word correctly. But if he conceives that the five syllables which form the three words, _Double-u_, and _Aitch_, and _Wy_, are the three simple sounds which he utters in pronouncing the word _why_, it is not because the hornbook, or the teacher of the hornbook, ever made any such blunder or "pretence;" but because, like some great philosophers, he is capable of misconceiving very plain things. Suppose he should take it into his head to follow Dr. Webster's books, and to say, "Oo, he, ye, _hwi_;" who, but these doctors, would imagine, that such spelling was supported either by "the realities of nature," or by the authority of custom? I shall retain both the old "definition of a consonant," and the usual names of the letters, notwithstanding the contemptuous pity it may excite in the minds of _such_ critics. II. CLASSES OF THE LETTERS. The letters are divided into two general classes, _vowels_ and _consonants_. A _vowel_ is a letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered alone; as, _a, e, o_. A _consonant_ is a letter which cannot be perfectly uttered till joined to a vowel; as, _b, c, d_.[93] The vowels are _a, e, i, o, u_, and sometimes _w_ and _y._ All the other letters are consonants. _W_ or _y_ is called a consonant when it precedes a vowel heard in the same syllable; as in _wine, twine, whine; ye, yet, youth_: in all other cases, these letters are vowels; as in _Yssel, Ystadt, yttria; newly, dewy, eyebrow._ CLASSES OF CONSONANTS. The consonants are divided, with respect to their powers, into _semivowels_ and _mutes._ A _semivowel_ is a consonant which can be imperfectly sounded without a vowel, so that at the end of a syllable its sound may be protracted; as, _l, n, z_, in _al, an, az._ A _mute_ is a consonant which cannot be sounded at all without a vowel, and which at the end of a syllable suddenly stops the breath; as, _k, p, t_, in _ak, ap, at._ The semivowels are, _f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, w, x, y, z_, and _c_ and _g_ soft: but _w_ or _y_ at the end of a syllable, is a vowel; and the sound of _c, f, g, h, j, s_, or _x_, can be protracted only as an _aspirate_, or strong breath. Four of the semivowels,--_l, m, n_, and _r_,--are termed _liquids_, on account of the fluency of their sounds; and four others,--_v, w, y_, and _z_,--are likewise more vocal than the aspirates. The mutes are eight;--_b, d, k, p, q, t_, and _c_ and _g_ hard: three of these,--_k, q_, and _c_ hard,--sound exactly alike: _b, d_, and _g_ hard, stop the voice less suddenly than the rest. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The foregoing division of the letters is of very great antiquity, and, in respect to its principal features sanctioned by almost universal authority; yet if we examine it minutely, either with reference to the various opinions of the learned, or with regard to the essential differences among the things of which it speaks, it will not perhaps be found in all respects indisputably certain. It will however be of use, as a basis for some subsequent rules, and as a means of calling the attention of the learner to the manner in which he utters the sounds of the letters. A knowledge of about three dozen different elementary sounds is implied in the faculty of speech. The power of producing these sounds with distinctness, and of adapting them to the purposes for which language is used, constitutes perfection of utterance. Had we a perfect alphabet, consisting of one symbol, and only one, for each elementary sound; and a perfect method of spelling, freed from silent letters, and precisely adjusted to the most correct pronunciation of words; the process of learning to read would doubtless be greatly facilitated. And yet any attempt toward such a reformation, any change short of the introduction of some entirely new mode of writing, would be both unwise and impracticable. It would involve our laws and literature in utter confusion, because pronunciation is the least permanent part of language; and if the orthography of words were conformed entirely to this standard, their origin and meaning would, in many instances, be soon lost. We must therefore content ourselves to learn languages as they are, and to make the best use we can of our present imperfect system of alphabetic characters; and we may be the better satisfied to do this, because the deficiencies and redundancies of this alphabet are not yet so well ascertained, as to make it certain what a perfect one would be. OBS. 2.--In order to have a right understanding of the letters, it is necessary to enumerate, as accurately as we can, the elementary _sounds_ of the language; and to attend carefully to the manner in which these sounds are enunciated, as well as to the characters by which they are represented. The most unconcerned observer cannot but perceive that there are certain differences in the sounds, as well as in the shapes, of the letters; and yet under what heads they ought severally to be classed, or how many of them will fall under some particular name, it may occasionally puzzle a philosopher to tell. The student must consider what is proposed or asked, use his own senses, and judge for himself. With our lower-case alphabet before him, he can tell by his own eye, which are the long letters, and which the short ones; so let him learn by his own ear, which are the vowels, and which, the consonants. The processes are alike simple; and, if he be neither blind nor deaf, he can do both about equally well. Thus he may know for a certainty, that _a_ is a short letter, and _b_ a long one; the former a vowel, the latter a consonant: and so of others. Yet as he may doubt whether _t_ is a long letter or a short one, so he may be puzzled to say whether _w_ and _y_, as heard in _we_ and _ye_, are vowels or consonants: but neither of these difficulties should impair his confidence in any of his other decisions. If he attain by observation and practice a clear and perfect pronunciation of the letters, he will be able to class them for himself with as much accuracy as he will find in books. OBS. 3.--Grammarians have generally agreed that every letter is either a vowel or a consonant; and also that there are among the latter some semivowels, some mutes, some aspirates, some liquids, some sharps, some flats, some labials, some dentals, some nasals, some palatals, and perhaps yet other species; but in enumerating the letters which belong to these several classes, they disagree so much as to make it no easy matter to ascertain what particular classification is best supported by their authority. I have adopted what I conceive to be the best authorized, and at the same time the most intelligible. He that dislikes the scheme, may do better, if he can. But let him with modesty determine what sort of discoveries may render our ancient authorities questionable. Aristotle, three hundred and thirty years before Christ, divided the Greek letters into _vowels, semivowels_, and _mutes_, and declared that no syllable could be formed without a vowel. In the opinion of some neoterics, it has been reserved to our age, to detect the fallacy of this. But I would fain believe that the Stagirite knew as well what he was saying, as did Dr. James Rush, when, in 1827, he declared the doctrine of vowels and consonants to be "a misrepresentation." The latter philosopher resolves the letters into "_tonics, subtonics_, and _atonics_;" and avers that "consonants alone may form syllables." Indeed, I cannot but think the ancient doctrine better. For, to say that "consonants alone may form syllables," is as much as to say that consonants are not consonants, but vowels! To be consistent, the attempters of this reformation should never speak of vowels or consonants, semivowels or mutes; because they judge the terms inappropriate, and the classification absurd. They should therefore adhere strictly to their "tonics, subtonics, and atonics;" which classes, though apparently the same as vowels, semivowels, and mutes, are better adapted to their new and peculiar division of these elements. Thus, by reforming both language and philosophy at once, they may make what they will of either! OBS. 4.--Some teach that _w_ and _y_ are always vowels: conceiving the former to be equivalent to _oo_, and the latter to _i_ or _e_. Dr. Lowth says, "_Y_ is always a vowel," and "_W_ is either a vowel or a diphthong." Dr. Webster supposes _w_ to be always "a vowel, a simple sound;" but admits that, "At the beginning of words, _y_ is called an _articulation_ or _consonant_, and _with some propriety perhaps_, as it brings the root of the tongue in close contact with the lower part of the palate, and nearly in the position to which the close _g_ brings it."--_American Dict., Octavo_. But I follow Wallis, Brightland, Johnson, Walker, Murray, Worcester, and others, in considering both of them sometimes vowels and sometimes consonants. They are consonants at the beginning of words in English, because their sounds take the article _a_, and not _an_, before them; as, _a wall, a yard_, and not, _an wall, an yard_. But _oo_ or the sound of _e_, requires _an_, and not _a_; as, _an eel, an oozy bog_.[94] At the end of a syllable we know they are vowels; but at the beginning, they are so squeezed in their pronunciation, as to follow a vowel without any hiatus, or difficulty of utterance; as, "_O worthy youth! so young, so wise!_" OBS. 5.--Murray's rule, "_W_ and _y_ are consonants when they begin a word or syllable, but in every other situation they are vowels," which is found in Comly's book, _Kirkham's_, Merchant's, Ingersoll's, Fisk's. Hart's, Hiley's, Alger's, Bullions's, Pond's, S. Putnam's, Weld's, and in sundry other grammars, is favourable to my doctrine, but too badly conceived to be quoted here as authority. It _undesignedly_ makes _w_ a consonant in _wine_, and a vowel in _twine_; and _y_ a consonant when it _forms_ a syllable, as in _dewy_: for a letter that _forms_ a syllable, "begins" it. But _Kirkham_ has lately learned his letters anew; and, supposing he had Dr. Rush on his side, has philosophically taken their names for their sounds. He now calls _y_ a "_diphthong_." But he is wrong here by his own showing: he should rather have called it a _triphthong_. He says, "By pronouncing in a very deliberate and perfectly natural manner, the letter _y_, (which is a _diphthong_,) the _unpractised_ student will perceive, that the sound produced, is compound; being formed, at its opening, of the obscure sound of _oo_ as heard in _oo_-ze, which sound rapidly slides into that of _i_, and then advances to that of _ee_ as heard in _e_-ve, _and_ on which it gradually passes off into silence."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 75. Thus the "unpractised student" is taught that _b-y_ spells _bwy_; or, if pronounced "very deliberately, _boo-i-ee_!" Nay, this grammatist makes _b_, not a labial mute, as Walker, Webster, Cobb, and others, have called it, but a nasal subtonic, or semivowel. He delights in protracting its "guttural murmur;" perhaps, in assuming its name for its sound; and, having proved, that "consonants are capable of forming syllables," finds no difficulty in mouthing this little monosyllable _by_ into _b-oo-i-ee!_ In this way, it is the easiest thing in the world, for such a man to outface Aristotle, or any other divider of the letters; for he _makes_ the sounds by which he judges. "Boy," says the teacher of Kirkham's Elocution, "describe the protracted sound of _y_."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 110. The pupil may answer, "That letter, sir, has no longer or more complex sound, than what is heard in the word _eye_, or in the vowel _i_; but the book which I study, describes it otherwise. I know not whether I can make you understand it, but I will _tr-oo-i-ee_." If the word _try_, which the author uses as an example, does not exhibit his "protracted sound of _y_," there is no word that does: the sound is a mere fiction, originating in strange ignorance. OBS. 6.--In the large print above, I have explained the principal classes of the letters, but not all that are spoken of in books. It is proper to inform the learner that the _sharp_ consonants are _t_, and all others after which our contracted preterits and participles require that _d_ should be sounded like _t_; as in the words faced, reached, stuffed, laughed, triumphed, croaked, cracked, houghed, reaped, nipped, piqued, missed, wished, earthed, betrothed, fixed. The _flat_ or _smooth_ consonants are _d_, and all others with which the proper sound of _d_ may be united; as in the words, daubed, judged, hugged, thronged, sealed, filled, aimed, crammed, pained, planned, feared, marred, soothed, loved, dozed, buzzed. The _labials_ are those consonants which are articulated chiefly by the lips; among which, Dr. Webster reckons _b, f, m, p_, and _v_. But Dr. Rush says, _b_ and _m_ are nasals, the latter, "purely nasal." [95] The _dentals_ are those consonants which are referred to the teeth; the _nasals_ are those which are affected by the nose; and the _palatals_ are those which compress the palate, as _k_ and hard _g_. But these last-named classes are not of much importance; nor have I thought it worth while to notice _minutely_ the opinions of writers respecting the others, as whether _h_ is a semivowel, or a mute, or neither. OBS. 7.--The Cherokee alphabet, which was invented in 1821, by See-quo-yah, or George Guess, an ingenious but wholly illiterate Indian, contains eighty-five letters, or characters. But the sounds of the language are much fewer than ours; for the characters represent, not simple tones and articulations, but _syllabic sounds_, and this number is said to be sufficient to denote them all. But the different syllabic sounds in our language amount to some thousands. I suppose, from the account, that _See-quo-yah_ writes his name, in his own language, with three letters; and that characters so used, would not require, and probably would not admit, such a division as that of vowels and consonants. One of the Cherokees, in a letter to the American Lyceum, states, that a knowledge of this mode of writing is so easily acquired, that one who understands and speaks the language, "can learn to read in a day; and, indeed," continues the writer, "I have known some to acquire the art in a single evening. It is only necessary to learn the different sounds of the characters, to be enabled to read at once. In the English language, we must not only first learn the letters, but to spell, before reading; but in Cherokee, all that is required, is, to learn the letters; for they have _syllabic sounds_, and by connecting different ones together, a word is formed: in which there is no art. All who understand the language can do so, and both read and write, so soon as they can learn to trace with their fingers the forms of the characters. I suppose that more than one half of the Cherokees can read their own language, and are thereby enabled to acquire much valuable information, with which they otherwise would never have been blessed."--_W. S. Coodey_, 1831. OBS. 8.--From the foregoing account, it would appear that the Cherokee language is a very peculiar one: its words must either be very few, or the proportion of polysyllables very great. The characters used in China and Japan, stand severally for _words_; and their number is said to be not less than seventy thousand; so that the study of a whole life is scarcely sufficient to make a man thoroughly master of them. Syllabic writing is represented by Dr. Blair as a great improvement upon the Chinese method, and yet as being far inferior to that which is properly _alphabetic_, like ours. "The first step, in this new progress," says he, "was the invention of an alphabet of syllables, which probably preceded the invention of an alphabet of letters, among some of the ancient nations; and which is said to be retained to this day, in Ethiopia, and some countries of India. By fixing upon a particular mark, or character, for every syllable in the language, the number of characters, necessary to be used in writing, was reduced within a much smaller compass than the number of words in the language. Still, however, the number of characters was great; and must have continued to render both reading and writing very laborious arts. Till, at last, some happy genius arose, and tracing the sounds made by the human voice, to their most simple elements, reduced them to a very few _vowels and consonants_; and, by affixing to each of these, the signs which we now call letters, taught men how, by their combinations, to put in writing all the different words, or combinations of sound, which they employed in speech. By being reduced to this simplicity, the art of writing was brought to its highest state of perfection; and, in this state, we now enjoy it in all the countries of Europe."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, Lect. VII, p. 68. OBS. 9.--All certain knowledge of the sounds given to the letters by Moses and the prophets having been long ago lost, a strange dispute has arisen, and been carried on for centuries, concerning this question, "Whether the Hebrew letters are, or are not, _all consonants_:" the vowels being supposed by some to be suppressed and understood; and not written, except by _points_ of comparatively late invention. The discussion of such a question does not properly belong to English grammar; but, on account of its curiosity, as well as of its analogy to some of our present disputes, I mention it. Dr. Charles Wilson says, "After we have sufficiently known the figures and names of the letters, the next step is, to learn to enunciate or to pronounce them, so as to produce articulate sounds. On this subject, which appears at first sight very plain and simple, numberless contentions and varieties of opinion meet us at the threshold. From the earliest period of the invention of written characters to represent human language, however more or less remote that time may be, it seems absolutely certain, that the distinction of letters into _vowels and consonants_ must have obtained. All the speculations of the Greek grammarians assume this as a first principle." Again: "I beg leave only to premise this observation, that I absolutely and unequivocally deny the position, that all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are consonants; and, after the most careful and minute inquiry, give it as my opinion, that of the twenty-two letters of which the Hebrew alphabet consists, five are vowels and seventeen are consonants. The five vowels by name are, Aleph, He, Vau, Yod, and Ain."--_Wilson's Heb. Gram._, pp. 6 and 8. III. POWERS OF THE LETTERS. The powers of the letters are properly those elementary sounds which their figures are used to represent; but letters formed into words, are capable of communicating thought independently of sound. The simple elementary sounds of any language are few, commonly not more than _thirty-six_;[96] but they may be variously _combined_, so as to form words innumerable. Different vowel sounds, or vocal elements, are produced by opening the mouth differently, and placing the tongue in a peculiar manner for each; but the voice may vary in loudness, pitch, or time, and still utter the same vowel power. The _vowel sounds_ which form the basis of the English language, and which ought therefore to be perfectly familiar to every one who speaks it, are those which are heard at the beginning of the words, _ate, at, ah, all, eel, ell, isle, ill, old, on, ooze, use, us_, and that of _u_ in _bull_. In the formation of syllables, some of these fourteen primary sounds may be joined together, as in _ay, oil, out, owl_; and all of them may be preceded or followed by certain motions and positions of the lips and tongue, which will severally convert them into other terms in speech. Thus the same essential sounds may be changed into a new series of words by an _f_; as, _fate, fat, far, fall, feel, fell, file, fill, fold, fond, fool, fuse, fuss, full_. Again, into as many more with a _p_; as, _pate, pat, par, pall, peel, pell, pile, pill, pole, pond, pool, pule, purl, pull_. Each of the vowel sounds may be variously expressed by letters. About half of them are sometimes words: the rest are seldom, if ever, used alone even to form syllables. But the reader may easily learn to utter them all, separately, according to the foregoing series. Let us note them as plainly as possible: eigh, ~a, ah, awe, =eh, ~e, eye, ~i, oh, ~o, oo, yew, ~u, u. Thus the eight long sounds, _eigh, ah, awe, eh, eye, oh, ooh, yew_, are, or may be, words; but the six less vocal, called the short vowel sounds, as in _at, et, it, ot, ut, put_, are commonly heard only in connexion with consonants; except the first, which is perhaps the most frequent sound of the vowel A or _a_--a sound sometimes given to the word _a_, perhaps most generally; as in the phrase, "twice _~a_ day." The simple _consonant sounds_ in English are twenty-two: they are marked by _b, d, f, g hard, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, sh, t, th sharp, th flat, v, w, y, z_, and _zh_. But _zh_ is written only to show the sound of other letters; as of _s_ in _pleasure_, or _z_ in _azure_. All these sounds are heard distinctly in the following words: _buy, die, fie, guy, high, kie, lie, my, nigh, eying, pie, rye, sigh, shy, tie, thigh, thy, vie, we, ye, zebra, seizure_. Again: most of them may be repeated in the same word, if not in the same syllable; as in _bibber, diddle, fifty, giggle, high-hung, cackle, lily, mimic, ninny, singing, pippin, mirror, hissest, flesh-brush, tittle, thinketh, thither, vivid, witwal, union,[97] dizzies, vision_. With us, the consonants J and X represent, not simple, but complex sounds: hence they are never doubled. J is equivalent to _dzh_; and X, either to _ks_ or to _gz_. The former ends no English word, and the latter begins none. To the initial X of foreign words, we always give the simple sound of Z; as in _Xerxes, xebec_. The consonants C and Q have no sounds peculiar to themselves. Q has always the power of _k_. C is hard, like _k_, before _a, o_, and _u_; and soft, like _s_, before _e, i_, and _y_: thus the syllables, _ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy_, are pronounced, _ka, se, si, ko, ku, sy_. _S_ before _c_ preserves the former sound, but coalesces with the latter; hence the syllables, _sca, sce, sci, sco, scu, scy_, are sounded, _ska, se, si, sko, sku, sy_. _Ce_ and _ci_ have sometimes the sound of _sh_; as in _ocean, social_. _Ch_ commonly represents the compound sound of _tsh_; as in _church_. G, as well as C, has different sounds before different vowels. G is always hard, or guttural, before _a, o_, and _u_; and generally soft, like _j_, before _e, i_, or _y_: thus the syllables, _ga, ge, gi, go, gu, gy_, are pronounced _ga, je, ji, go, gu, jy_. The possible combinations and mutations of the twenty-six letters of our alphabet, are many millions of millions. But those clusters which are unpronounceable, are useless. Of such as may be easily uttered, there are more than enough for all the purposes of useful writing, or the recording of speech. Thus it is, that from principles so few and simple as about six or seven and thirty plain elementary sounds, represented by characters still fewer, we derive such a variety of oral and written signs, as may suffice to explain or record all the sentiments and transactions of all men in all ages. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--A knowledge of sounds can be acquired, in the first instance, only by the ear. No description of the manner of their production, or of the differences which distinguish them, can be at all intelligible to him who has not already, by the sense of hearing, acquired a knowledge of both. What I here say of the sounds of the letters, must of course be addressed to those persons only who are able both to speak and to read English. Why then attempt instruction by a method which both ignorance and knowledge on the part of the pupil, must alike render useless? I have supposed some readers to have such an acquaintance with the powers of the letters, as is but loose and imperfect; sufficient for the accurate pronunciation of some words or syllables, but leaving them liable to mistakes in others; extending perhaps to all the sounds of the language, but not to a ready analysis or enumeration of them. Such persons may profit by a written description of the powers of the letters, though no such description can equal the clear impression of the living voice. Teachers, too, whose business it is to aid the articulation of the young, and, by a patient inculcation of elementary principles, to lay the foundation of an accurate pronunciation, may derive some assistance from any notation of these principles, which will help their memory, or that of the learner. The connexion between letters and sounds is altogether _arbitrary_; but a few positions, being assumed and made known, in respect to some characters, become easy standards for further instruction in respect to others of similar sound. OBS. 2.--The importance of being instructed at an early age, to pronounce with distinctness and facility all the elementary sounds of one's native language, has been so frequently urged, and is so obvious in itself, that none but those who have been themselves neglected, will be likely to disregard the claims of their children in this respect.[98] But surely an accurate knowledge of the ordinary powers of the letters would be vastly more common, were there not much hereditary negligence respecting the manner in which these important rudiments are learned. The utterance of the illiterate may exhibit wit and native talent, but it is always more or less barbarous, because it is not aided by a knowledge of orthography. For pronunciation and orthography, however they may seem, in our language especially, to be often at variance, are certainly correlative: a true knowledge of either tends to the preservation of both. Each of the letters represents some one or more of the elementary sounds, exclusive of the rest; and each of the elementary sounds, though several of them are occasionally transferred, has some one or two letters to which it most properly or most frequently belongs. But borrowed, as our language has been, from a great variety of sources, to which it is desirable ever to retain the means of tracing it, there is certainly much apparent lack of correspondence between its oral and its written form. Still the discrepancies are few, when compared with the instances of exact conformity; and, if they are, as I suppose they are, unavoidable, it is as useless to complain of the trouble they occasion, as it is to think of forcing a reconciliation. The wranglers in this controversy, can never agree among themselves, whether orthography shall conform to pronunciation, or pronunciation to orthography. Nor does any one of them well know how our language would either sound or look, were he himself appointed sole arbiter of all variances between our spelling and our speech. OBS. 3.--"Language," says Dr. Rush, "was long ago analyzed into its alphabetic elements. Wherever this analysis is known, the art of teaching language has, with the best success, been conducted upon the rudimental method." * * * "The art of reading consists in having all the vocal elements under complete command, that they may be properly applied, for the vivid and elegant delineation of the sense and sentiment of discourse."--_Philosophy of the Voice_, p. 346. Again, of "the pronunciation of the alphabetic elements," he says, "The least deviation _from the assumed standard_ converts the listener into the critic; and I am surely speaking within bounds when I say, that for every miscalled element in discourse, ten succeeding words are lost to the greater part of an audience."--_Ibid._, p. 350. These quotations plainly imply both the practicability and the importance of teaching the pronunciation of our language analytically by means of its present orthography, and agreeably to the standard assumed by the grammarians. The first of them affirms that it has been done, "with the best success," according to some ancient method of dividing the letters and explaining their sounds. And yet, both before and afterwards, we find this same author complaining of our alphabet and its subdivisions, as if sense or philosophy must utterly repudiate both; and of our orthography, as if a ploughman might teach us to spell better: and, at the same time, he speaks of softening his censure through modesty. "The deficiencies, redundancies, and confusion, of the system of alphabetic characters in this language, prevent the adoption of its subdivisions in this essay."--_Ib._, p. 52. Of the specific sounds given to the letters, he says, "The first of these matters is under the rule of every body, and therefore is very properly to be excluded from the discussions of that philosophy which desires to be effectual in its instruction. How can we hope to establish a system of elemental pronunciation in a language, when great masters in criticism condemn at once every attempt, in so simple and useful a labour as the correction of its orthography!"--P. 256. Again: "I _deprecate noticing_ the faults of speakers, in the pronunciation of the alphabetic elements. It is better for criticism to be modest on this point, till it has the sense or independence to make our alphabet and its uses, look more like the work of what is called--wise and transcendent humanity: till the pardonable variety of pronunciation, and the _true spelling by the vulgar_, have satirized into reformation that pen-craft which keeps up the troubles of orthography for no other purpose, as one can divine, than to boast of a very questionable merit as a criterion of education."--_Ib._, p. 383. OBS. 4.--How far these views are compatible, the reader will judge. And it is hoped he will excuse the length of the extracts, from a consideration of the fact, that a great master of the "pen-craft" here ridiculed, a noted stickler for needless Kays and Ues, now commonly rejected, while he boasts that his grammar, which he mostly copied from Murray's, is teaching the old explanation of the alphabetic elements to "more than one hundred thousand children and youth," is also vending under his own name an abstract of the new scheme of "_tonicks, subtonicks_, and _atonicks_;" and, in one breath, bestowing superlative praise on both, in order, as it would seem, to monopolize all inconsistency. "Among those who have successfully laboured in the philological field, _Mr. Lindley Murray_ stands forth in bold relief, as undeniably at the head of the list."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 12. "The modern candidate for oratorical fame, stands on very different, and far more advantageous, ground, than that occupied by the young and aspiring Athenian; especially since a _correct analysis of the vocal organs_, and a faithful record of their operations, have been given to the world by _Dr. James Rush_, of Philadelphia--a name that will _outlive_ the unquarried marble of our mountains."--_Ibid._, p. 29. "But what is to be said when presumption pushes itself into the front ranks of elocution, and thoughtless friends undertake to support it? The fraud must go on, till presumption quarrels, as often happens, with its own friends, or with itself, and thus dissolves the spell of its merits."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 405. OBS. 5.--The question respecting the _number_ of simple or elementary sounds in our language, presents a remarkable puzzle: and it is idle, if not ridiculous, for any man to declaim about the imperfection of our alphabet and orthography, who does not show himself able to solve it. All these sounds may easily be written in a plain sentence of three or four lines upon almost any subject; and every one who can read, is familiar with them all, and with all the letters. Now it is either easy _to count_ them, or it is difficult. If difficult, wherein does the difficulty lie? and how shall he who knows not what and how many they are, think himself capable of reforming our system of their alphabetic signs? If easy, why do so few pretend to know their number? and of those who do pretend to this knowledge, why are there so few that agree? A certain verse in the seventh chapter of Ezra, has been said to contain all the letters. It however contains no _j_; and, with respect to the sounds, it lacks that of _f_, that of _th sharp_, and that of _u_ in _bull_. I will suggest a few additional words for these; and then both all the letters, and all the sounds, of the English language, will be found in the example; and most of them, many times over: "'And I, even I, Artaxerxes, the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers' who 'are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily' and faithfully, according to that which he shall enjoin." Some letters, and some sounds, are here used much more frequently than others; but, on an average, we have, in this short passage, each sound five times, and each letter eight. How often, then, does a man speak all the elements of his language, who reads well but one hour! OBS. 6.--Of the number of elementary sounds in our language, different orthoepists report differently; because they cannot always agree among themselves, wherein the identity or the simplicity, the sameness or the singleness, even of well-known sounds, consists; or because, if each is allowed to determine these points for himself, no one of them adheres strictly to his own decision. They may also, each for himself, have some peculiar way of utterance, which will confound some sounds which other men distinguish, or distinguish some which other men confound. For, as a man may write a very bad hand which shall still be legible, so he may utter many sounds improperly and still be understood. One may, in this way, make out a scheme of the alphabetic elements, which shall be true of his own pronunciation, and yet have obvious faults when tried by the best usage of English speech. It is desirable not to multiply these sounds beyond the number which a correct and elegant pronunciation of the language obviously requires. And what that number is, it seems to me not very difficult to ascertain; at least, I think we may fix it with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes. But let it be remembered, that all who have hitherto attempted the enumeration, have deviated more or less from their own decisions concerning either the simplicity or the identity of sounds; but, most commonly, it appears to have been thought expedient to admit some exceptions concerning both. Thus the long or diphthongal sounds of _I_ and _U_, are admitted by some, and excluded by others; the sound of _j_, or soft _g_, is reckoned as simple by some, and rejected as compound by others; so a part, if not all, of what are called the long and the short vowels, as heard in _ale_ and _ell, arm_ and _am, all_ and _on, isle_ or _eel_ and _ill, tone_ and _tun, pule_ or _pool_ and _pull_, have been declared essentially the same by some, and essentially different by others. Were we to recognize as elementary, no sounds but such as are unquestionably simple in themselves, and indisputably different in quality from all others, we should not have more sounds than letters: and this is a proof that we have characters enough, though the sounds are perhaps badly distributed among them. OBS. 7.--I have enumerated _thirty-six_ well known sounds, which, in compliance with general custom, and for convenience in teaching. I choose to regard as the oral elements of our language. There may be found some reputable authority for adding four or five more, and other authority as reputable, for striking from the list seven or eight of those already mentioned. For the sake of the general principle, which we always regard in writing, a principle of universal grammar, _that there can be no syllable without a vowel_, I am inclined to teach, with Brightland, Dr. Johnson, L. Murray, and others, that, in English, as in French, there is given to the vowel _e_ a certain very obscure sound which approaches, but amounts not to an absolute suppression, though it is commonly so regarded by the writers of dictionaries. It may be exemplified in the words _oven, shovel, able_;[99] or in the unemphatic article _the_ before a consonant, as in the sentence, "Take the nearest:" we do not hear it as "_thee nearest_," nor as "_then carest_," but more obscurely. There is also a feeble sound of _i_ or _y_ unaccented, which is equivalent to _ee_ uttered feebly, as in the word _diversity_. This is the most common sound of _i_ and of _y_. The vulgar are apt to let it fall into the more obscure sound of short _u_. As elegance of utterance depends much upon the preservation of this sound from such obtuseness, perhaps Walker and others have done well to mark it as _e_ in _me_; though some suppose it to be peculiar, and others identify it with the short _i_ in _fit_. Thirdly, a distinction is made by some writers, between the vowel sounds heard in _hate_ and _bear_, which Sheridan and Walker consider to be the same. The apparent difference may perhaps result from the following consonant _r_, which is apt to affect the sound of the vowel which precedes it. Such words as _bear, care, dare, careful, parent_, are very liable to be corrupted in pronunciation, by too broad a sound of the _a_; and, as the multiplication of needless distinctions should be avoided, I do not approve of adding an other sound to a vowel which has already quite too many. Worcester, however, in his new Dictionary, and Wells, in his new Grammar, give to the vowel A _six_ or _seven_ sounds in lieu of _four_; and Dr. Mandeville, in his Course of Reading, says, "_A_ has _eight_ sounds."--P. 9. OBS. 8.--Sheridan made the elements of his oratory _twenty-eight_. Jones followed him implicitly, and adopted the same number.[100] Walker recognized several more, but I know not whether he has anywhere told us _how many there are_. Lindley Murray enumerates _thirty-six_, and the same thirty-six that are given in the main text above. The eight sounds not counted by Sheridan are these: 1. The Italian _a_, as in _far, father_, which he reckoned but a lengthening of the _a_ in _hat_; 2. The short _o_, as in _hot_, which he supposed to be but a shortening of the _a_ in _hall_; 3. The diphthongal _i_, as in _isle_, which he thought but a quicker union of the sounds of the diphthong _oi_, but which, in my opinion, is rather a very quick union of the sounds _ah_ and _ee_ into _ay, I_;[101] 4. The long _u_, which is acknowledged to be equal to _yu_ or _yew_, though perhaps a little different from _you_ or _yoo_,[102] the sound given it by Walker; 5. The _u_ heard in _pull_, which he considered but a shortening of _oo_; 6. The consonant _w_, which he conceived to be always a vowel, and equivalent to _oo_; 7. The consonant _y_, which he made equal to a short _ee_; 8. The consonant _h_, which he declared to be no letter, but a mere breathing, In all other respects, his scheme of the alphabetic elements agrees with that which is adopted in this work, and which is now most commonly taught. OBS. 9.--The effect of _Quantity_ in the prolation of the vowels, is a matter with which every reader ought to be experimentally acquainted. _Quantity_ is simply the _time_ of utterance, whether long or short. It is commonly spoken of with reference to _syllables_, because it belongs severally to all the distinct or numerable impulses of the voice, and to these only; but, as vowels or diphthongs may be uttered alone, the notion of quantity is of course as applicable to them, as to any of the more complex sounds in which consonants are joined with them. All sounds imply time; because they are the transient effects of certain percussions which temporarily agitate the air, an element that tends to silence. When mighty winds have swept over sea and land, and the voice of the _Ocean_ is raised, he speaks to the towering cliffs in the deep tones of a _long_ quantity; the rolling billows, as they meet the shore, pronounce the long-drawn syllables of his majestic elocution. But see him again in gentler mood; stand upon the beach and listen to the rippling of his more frequent waves: he will teach you _short_ quantity, as well as long. In common parlance, to avoid tediousness, to save time, and to adapt language to circumstances, we usually utter words with great rapidity, and in comparatively short quantity. But in oratory, and sometimes in ordinary reading, those sounds which are best fitted to fill and gratify the ear, should be sensibly protracted, especially in emphatic words; and even the shortest syllable, must be so lengthened as to be uttered with perfect clearness: otherwise the performance will be judged defective. OBS. 10.--Some of the vowels are usually uttered in longer time than others; but whether the former are naturally long, and the latter naturally short, may be doubted: the common opinion is, that they are. But one author at least denies it; and says, "We must explode the pretended natural epithets _short_ and _long_ given to our vowels, independent on accent: and we must observe that our silent _e_ final lengthens not its syllable, unless the preceding vowel be accented."--_Mackintosh's Essay on E. Gram._, p. 232. The distinction of long and short vowels which has generally obtained, and the correspondences which some writers have laboured to establish between them, have always been to me sources of much embarrassment. It would appear, that in one or two instances, sounds that differ only in length, or time, are commonly recognized as different elements; and that grammarians and orthoepists, perceiving this, have attempted to carry out the analogy, and to find among what they call the long vowels a parent sound for each of the short ones. In doing this, they have either neglected to consult the ear, or have not chosen to abide by its verdict. I suppose the vowels heard in _pull_ and _pool_ would be necessarily identified, if the former were protracted or the latter shortened; and perhaps there would be a like coalescence of those heard in _of_ and _all_, were they tried in the same way, though I am not sure of it. In protracting the _e_ in _met_, and the _i_ in _ship_, ignorance or carelessness might perhaps, with the help of our orthoepists, convert the former word into _mate_ and the latter into _sheep_; and, as this would breed confusion in the language, the avoiding of the similarity may perhaps be a sufficient reason for confining these two sounds of _e_ and _i_, to that short quantity in which they cannot be mistaken. But to suppose, as some do, that the protraction of _u_ in _tun_ would identify it with the _o_ in _tone_, surpasses any notion I have of what stupidity may misconceive. With one or two exceptions, therefore, it appears to me that each of the pure vowel sounds is of such a nature, that it may be readily recognized by its own peculiar quality or tone, though it be made as long or as short as it is possible for any sound of the human voice to be. It is manifest that each of the vowel sounds heard in _ate, at, arm, all, eel, old, ooze, us_, may be protracted to the entire extent of a full breath slowly expended, and still be precisely the same one simple sound;[103] and, on the contrary, that all but one may be shortened to the very minimum of vocality, and still be severally known without danger of mistake. The prolation of a pure vowel places the organs of utterance in that particular position which the sound of the letter requires, and then _holds them unmoved_ till we have given to it all the length we choose. OBS. 11.--In treating of the quantity and quality of the vowels, Walker says, "The first distinction of sound that seems to obtrude itself upon us when we utter the vowels, is a long and a short sound, according to the greater or less duration of time taken up in pronouncing them. This distinction is so obvious as to have been adopted in all languages, and is that to which we annex _clearer ideas than to any other_; and though the short sounds of some vowels have not in our language been classed with sufficient accuracy with their parent long ones, yet this has bred but little confusion, as vowels long and short are always sufficiently distinguishable."--_Principles_, No. 63. Again: "But though the terms long and short, as applied to vowels, are pretty generally understood, an accurate ear will easily perceive that these terms do not always mean the long and short sounds of the respective vowels to which they are applied; for, if we choose to be directed by the ear, in denominating vowels long or short, we must certainly give these appellations to those sounds only which have _exactly the same radical tone_, and differ only in the long or short emission of that tone."--_Ib._, No. 66. He then proceeds to state his opinion that the vowel sounds heard in the following words are thus correspondent: _tame, them; car, carry; wall, want; dawn, gone; theme, him; tone_, nearly _tun; pool, pull_. As to the long sounds of _i_ or _y_, and of _u_, these two being diphthongal, he supposes the short sound of each to be no other than the short sound of its latter element _ee_ or _oo_. Now to me most of this is exceedingly unsatisfactory; and I have shown why. OBS. 12.--If men's notions of the length and shortness of vowels are the clearest ideas they have in relation to the elements of speech, how comes it to pass that of all the disputable points in grammar, this is the most perplexed with contrarieties of opinion? In coming before the world as an author, no man intends to place himself clearly in the wrong; yet, on the simple powers of the letters, we have volumes of irreconcilable doctrines. A great connoisseur in things of this sort, who professes to have been long "in the habit of listening to sounds of every description, and that with more than ordinary attention," declares in a recent and expensive work, that "in every language we find the vowels _incorrectly classed_"; and, in order to give to "the simple elements of English utterance" a better explanation than others have furnished, he devotes to a new analysis of our alphabet the ample space of twenty octavo pages, besides having several chapters on subjects connected with it. And what do his twenty pages amount to? I will give the substance of them in ten lines, and the reader may judge. He does not tell us _how many_ elementary sounds there are; but, professing to arrange the vowels, long and short, "in the order in which they are naturally found," as well as to show of the consonants that the mutes and liquids form correspondents in regular pairs, he presents a scheme which I abbreviate as follows. VOWELS: 1. _A_, as in _=all_ and _wh~at_, or _o_, as in _orifice_ and _n~ot_; 2. _U--=urn_ and _h~ut_, or _l=ove_ and _c~ome_; 3. _O--v=ote_ and _ech~o_; 4. _A--=ah_ and _h~at_; 5. _A--h=azy_, no short sound; 6. _E--=e=el_ and _it_; 7. _E--m=ercy_ and _m~et_; 8. _O--pr=ove_ and _ad~o_; 9. _OO--t=o=ol_ and _f~o~ot_; 10. _W--vo=w_ and _la~w_; 11. _Y_--(like the first _e_--) _s=yntax_ and _dut~y_. DIPHTHONGS: 1. _I_--as _ah-ee_; 2. _U_--as _ee-oo_; 3. _OU_--as _au-oo_. CONSONANTS: 1. Mutes,--_c_ or _s, f, h, k_ or _q, p, t, th sharp, sh_; 2. Liquids,--_l_, which has no corresponding mute, and _z, v, r, ng, m, n, th flat_ and _j_, which severally correspond to the eight mutes in their order; 3. Subliquids,--_g hard, b_, and _d_. See "Music of Nature," by _William Gardiner_, p. 480, and after. OBS. 13.--Dr. Rush comes to the explanation of the powers of the letters as the confident first revealer of nature's management and wisdom; and hopes to have laid the foundation of a system of instruction in reading and oratory, which, if adopted and perfected, "will beget a similarity of opinion and practice," and "be found to possess an excellence which must grow into sure and irreversible favour."--_Phil. of the Voice_, p. 404. "We have been willing," he says, "_to believe, on faith alone_, that nature is wise in the contrivance of speech. Let us now show, by our works of analysis, how she manages the _simple elements_ of the voice, in the production of their unbounded combinations."--_Ibid._, p. 44. Again: "Every one, with peculiar self-satisfaction, thinks he reads well, and yet all read differently: there is, however, _but one mode_ of reading well."--_Ib._, p. 403. That one mode, some say, his philosophy alone teaches. Of that, others may judge. I shall only notice here what seems to be his fundamental position, that, on all the vocal elements of language, nature has stamped duplicity. To establish this extraordinary doctrine, he first attempts to prove, that "the letter _a_, as heard in the word _day_," combines two distinguishable yet inseparable sounds; that it is a compound of what he calls, with reference to vowels and syllables in general, "the radical and the vanishing movement of the voice,"--a single and indivisible element in which "two sounds are heard continuously successive," the sounds of _a_ and _e_ as in _ale_ and _eve_. He does not know that some grammarians have contended that _ay_ in _day_ is a proper diphthong, in which both the vowels are heard; but, so pronouncing it himself, infers from the experiment, that there is no simpler sound of the vowel a. If this inference is not wrong, the word _shape_ is to be pronounced _sha-epe_; and, in like manner, a multitude of other words will acquire a new element not commonly heard in them. OBS. 14.--But the doctrine stops not here. The philosopher examines, in some similar way, the other simple vowel sounds, and finds a beginning and an end, a base and an apex, a radical and a vanishing movement, to them all; and imagines a sufficient warrant from nature to divide them all "into two parts," and to convert most of them into diphthongs, as well as to include all diphthongs with them, as being altogether as simple and elementary. Thus he begins with confounding all distinction between diphthongs and simple vowels; except that which he makes for himself when he admits "the radical and the vanish," the first half of a sound and the last, to have no difference in quality. This admission is made with respect to the vowels heard in _ooze, eel, err, end_, and _in_, which he calls, not diphthongs, but "monothongs." But in the _a_ of _ale_, he hears _=a'-ee_; in that of _an, ~a'-~e_; (that is, the short _a_ followed by something of the sound of _e_ in _err_;) in that of _art, ah'~-e_; in that of _all, awe'-~e_; in the _i_ of _isle, =i'-ee_; in the _o_ of _old, =o'-oo_; in the proper diphthong _ou, ou'-oo_; in the _oy_ of _boy_, he knows not what. After his explanation of these mysteries, he says, "The seven radical sounds with their vanishes, which have been described, include, as far as I can perceive, all the elementary diphthongs of the English language."--_Ib._, p. 60. But all the sounds of the vowel _u_, whether diphthongal or simple, are excluded from his list, unless he means to represent one of them by the _e_ in _err_; and the complex vowel sound heard in _voice_ and _boy_, is confessedly omitted on account of a doubt whether it consists of two sounds or of three! The elements which he enumerates are thirty-five; but if _oi_ is not a triphthong, they are to be thirty-six. Twelve are called "_Tonics_; and are heard in the usual sound of the separated _Italics_, in the following words: _A_-ll, _a_-rt, _a_-n, _a_-le, _ou_-r, _i_-sle, _o_-ld, _ee_-l, _oo_-ze, _e_-rr, _e_-nd, _i_-n,"--_Ib._, p. 53. Fourteen are called "_Subtonics_; and are marked by the separated Italics, in the following words: _B_-ow, _d_-are, _g_-ive, _v_-ile, _z_-one, _y_-e, _w_-o, _th_-en, a-_z_-ure, si-_ng_, _l_-ove, _m_-ay, _n_-ot, _r_-oe."--_Ib._, p. 54. Nine are called "_Atonics_; they are heard in the words, U-_p_, ou-_t_, ar-_k_, i-_f_, ye-_s, h_-e, _wh_-eat, _th_-in, pu-_sh_."--_Ib._, p. 56. My opinion of this scheme of the alphabet the reader will have anticipated. IV. FORMS OF THE LETTERS. In printed books of the English language, the Roman characters are generally employed; sometimes, the _Italic_; and occasionally, the [Font change: Old English]: but in handwriting, [Font change: Script letters] are used, the forms of which are peculiarly adapted to the pen. Characters of different sorts or sizes should never be _needlessly mixed_; because facility of reading, as well as the beauty of a book, depends much upon the regularity of its letters. In the ordinary forms of the Roman letters, every thick stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right downwards, except the middle stroke in Z; and every thin stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right upwards. Italics are chiefly used to distinguish emphatic or remarkable words: in the Bible, they show what words were supplied by the translators. In manuscripts, a single line drawn under a word is meant for Italics; a double line, for small capitals; a triple line, for full capitals. In every kind of type or character, the letters have severally _two forms_, by which they are distinguished as _capitals_ and _small letters_. Small letters constitute the body of every work; and capitals are used for the sake of eminence and distinction. The titles of books, and the heads of their principal divisions, are printed wholly in capitals. Showbills, painted signs, and short inscriptions, commonly appear best in full capitals. Some of these are so copied in books; as, "I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD."--_Acts_, xvii, 23. "And they set up over his head, his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS."--_Matt._, xxvii, 37. RULES FOR THE USE OF CAPITALS. RULE I.--OF BOOKS. When particular books are mentioned by their names, the chief words in their titles begin with capitals, and the other letters are small; as, "Pope's Essay on Man"--"the Book of Common Prayer"--"the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments." [104] RULE II.--FIRST WORDS. The first word of every distinct sentence, or of any clause separately numbered or paragraphed, should begin with a capital; as, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."--_1 Thess._, v, 16--21. "14. He has given his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: 15. _For_ quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: 16. _For_ protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for murders: 17. _For_ cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: 18. _For_ imposing taxes on us without our consent:" &c. _Declaration of American Independence._ RULE III.--OF THE DEITY. All names of the Deity, and sometimes their emphatic substitutes, should begin with capitals; as, "God, Jehovah, the Almighty, the Supreme Being, Divine Providence, the Messiah, the Comforter, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Lord of Sabaoth." "The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee."--_Moore_. RULE IV.--PROPER NAMES. Proper names, of every description, should always begin with capitals; as, "Saul of Tarsus, Simon Peter, Judas Iscariot, England, London, the Strand, the Thames, the Pyrenees, the Vatican, the Greeks, the Argo and the Argonauts." RULE V.--OF TITLES. Titles of office or honour, and epithets of distinction, applied to persons, begin usually with capitals; as, "His Majesty William the Fourth, Chief Justice Marshall, Sir Matthew Hale, Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, Lewis the Bold, Charles the Second, James the Less, St. Bartholomew, Pliny the Younger, Noah Webster, Jun., Esq." RULE VI.--ONE CAPITAL. Those compound proper names which by analogy incline to a union of their parts without a hyphen, should be so written, and have but one capital: as, "Eastport, Eastville, Westborough, Westfield, Westtown, Whitehall, Whitechurch, Whitehaven, Whiteplains, Mountmellick, Mountpleasant, Germantown, Germanflats, Blackrock, Redhook, Kinderhook, Newfoundland, Statenland, Newcastle, Northcastle, Southbridge, Fairhaven, Dekalb, Deruyter, Lafayette, Macpherson." RULE VII.--TWO CAPITALS. The compounding of a name under one capital should be avoided when the general analogy of other similar terms suggests a separation under two; as, "The chief mountains of Ross-shire are Ben Chat, _Benchasker_, Ben Golich, Ben Nore, Ben Foskarg, and Ben Wyvis."--_Glasgow Geog._, Vol. ii, p. 311. Write _Ben Chasker_. So, when the word _East, West, North_, or _South_, as part of a name, denotes relative position, or when the word _New_ distinguishes a place by contrast, we have generally separate words and two capitals; as, "East Greenwich, West Greenwich, North Bridgewater, South Bridgewater, New Jersey, New Hampshire." RULE VIII.--COMPOUNDS. When any adjective or common noun is made a distinct part of a compound proper name, it ought to begin with a capital; as, "The United States, the Argentine Republic, the Peak of Teneriffe, the Blue Ridge, the Little Pedee, Long Island, Jersey City, Lower Canada, Green Bay, Gretna Green, Land's End, the Gold Coast." RULE IX.--APPOSITION. When a common and a proper name are associated merely to explain each other, it is in general sufficient, if the proper name begin with a capital, and the appellative, with a small letter; as, "The prophet Elisha, Matthew the publican, the brook Cherith, the river Euphrates, the Ohio river, Warren county, Flatbush village, New York city." RULE X.--PERSONIFICATIONS. The name of an object personified, when it conveys an idea strictly individual, should begin with a capital; as, "Upon this, _Fancy_ began again to bestir herself."--_Addison_. "Come, gentle _Spring_, ethereal mildness, come."--_Thomson_. RULE XI.--DERIVATIVES. Words derived from proper names, and having direct reference to particular persons, places, sects, or nations, should begin with capitals; as, "Platonic, Newtonian, Greek, or Grecian, Romish, or Roman, Italic, or Italian, German, or Germanic, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese, Genoese, French, Dutch, Scotch, Welsh:" so, perhaps, "to Platonize, Grecize, Romanize, Italicize, Latinize, or Frenchify." RULE XII.--OF I AND O. The words _I_ and _O_ should always be capitals; as, "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion."--_Psalm_ cxlvii. "O wretched man that I am!"--"For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I."--_Rom._, vii, 24 and 15. RULE XIII.--OF POETRY. Every line in poetry, except what is regarded as making but one verse with the line preceding, should begin with a capital; as, "Our sons their fathers' failing language see, And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be."--_Pope_. Of the exception, some editions of the Psalms in Metre are full of examples; as, "Happy the man whose tender care relieves the poor distress'd! When troubles compass him around, the Lord shall give him rest." _Psalms with Com. Prayer, N. Y._, 1819, Ps. xli. RULE XIV.--OF EXAMPLES. The first word of a full example, of a distinct speech, or of a direct quotation, should begin with a capital; as, "Remember this maxim: 'Know thyself.'"--"Virgil says, 'Labour conquers all things.'"--"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?"--_John_, x, 34. "Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother."--_Luke_, xviii, 20. RULE XV.--CHIEF WORDS. Other words of particular importance, and such as denote the principal subjects treated of, may be distinguished by capitals; and names subscribed frequently have capitals throughout: as, "In its application to the Executive, with reference to the Legislative branch of the Government, the same rule of action should make the President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any discretionary authority which can be regulated by Congress."--ANDREW JACKSON, 1835. RULE XVI.--NEEDLESS CAPITALS. Capitals are improper wherever there is not some special rule or reason for their use: a century ago books were disfigured by their frequency; as, "Many a Noble _Genius_ is lost for want of _Education_. Which wou'd then be Much More Liberal. As it was when the _Church_ Enjoy'd her _Possessions_. And _Learning_ was, in the _Dark Ages_, Preserv'd almost only among the _Clergy_."--CHARLES LESLIE, 1700; _Divine Right of Tythes_, p. 228. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The letters of the alphabet, read by their names, are equivalent to words. They are a sort of universal signs, by which we may mark and particularize objects of any sort, named or nameless; as, "To say, therefore, that while A and B are both quadrangular, A is more or less quadrangular than B, is absurd."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 50. Hence they are used in the sciences as symbols of an infinite variety of things or ideas, being construed both substantively and adjectively; as, "In ascending from the note C to D, the interval is equal to an inch; and from D to E, the same."--_Music of Nature_, p. 293. "We have only to imagine the G clef placed below it."--_Ib._ Any of their forms may be used for such purposes, but the custom of each science determines our choice. Thus Algebra employs small Italics; Music, Roman capitals; Geometry, for the most part, the same; Astronomy, Greek characters; and Grammar, in some part or other, every sort. Examples: "Then comes _answer_ like an ABC book."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 97. "Then comes _question_ like an _a, b, c_, book.--_Shakspeare_." See A, B, C, in _Johnson's quarto Dict._ Better:--"like an _A-Bee-Cee_ book." "For A, his magic pen evokes an O, And turns the tide of Europe on the foe."--_Young_. OBS. 2.--A lavish use of capitals defeats the very purpose for which the letters were distinguished in rank; and carelessness in respect to the rules which govern them, may sometimes misrepresent the writer's meaning. On many occasions, however, their use or disuse is arbitrary, and must be left to the judgement and taste of authors and printers. Instances of this kind will, for the most part, concern _chief words_, and come under the fifteenth rule above. In this grammar, the number of rules is increased; but the foregoing are still perhaps too few to establish an accurate uniformity. They will however tend to this desirable result; and if doubts arise in their application, the difficulties will be in particular examples only, and not in the general principles of the rules. For instance: In 1 Chron., xxix, 10th, some of our Bibles say, "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." Others say, "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever." And others, "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our Father, for ever and ever." The last is wrong, either in the capital F, or for lack of a comma after _Israel_. The others differ in meaning; because they construe the word _father_, or _Father_, differently. Which is right I know not. The first agrees with the Latin Vulgate, and the second, with the Greek text of the Septuagint; which two famous versions here disagree, without ambiguity in either.[105] OBS. 3.--The innumerable discrepancies in respect to capitals, which, to a greater or less extent, disgrace the very best editions of our most popular books, are a sufficient evidence of the want of better directions on this point. In amending the rules for this purpose, I have not been able entirely to satisfy myself; and therefore must needs fail to satisfy the very critical reader. But the public shall have the best instructions I can give. On Rule 1st, concerning _Books_, it may be observed, that when particular books or writings are mentioned by other terms than their real titles, the principle of the rule does not apply. Thus, one may call Paradise Lost, "Milton's _great poem_;" or the Diversions of Purley, "the _etymological investigations_ of Horne Tooke." So it is written in the Bible, "And there was delivered unto him _the book of the prophet_ Esaias."--_Luke_, iv, 17. Because the name of Esaias, or Isaiah, seems to be the only proper title of his book. OBS. 4.--On Rule 2d, concerning _First Words_, it may be observed, that the using of other points than the period, to separate sentences that are totally distinct in sense, as is sometimes practised in quoting, is no reason for the omission of capitals at the beginning of such sentences; but, rather, an obvious reason for their use. Our grammarians frequently manufacture a parcel of puerile examples, and, with the formality of apparent quotation, throw them together in the following manner: "He is above disguise;" "we serve under a good master;" "he rules over a willing people;" "we should do nothing beneath our character."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 118. These sentences, and all others so related, should, unquestionably, begin with capitals. Of themselves, they are distinct enough to be separated by the period and a dash. With examples of one's own making, the quotation points may be used or not, as the writer pleases; but not on their insertion or omission, nor even on the quality of the separating point, depends in all cases the propriety or impropriety of using initial capitals. For example: "The Future Tense is the form of the verb which denotes future time; as, John _will come_, you shall go, they will learn, the sun will rise to-morrow, he will return next week."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, p. 38; _Old Edition_, 35. To say nothing of the punctuation here used, it is certain that the initial words, _you, they, the_, and _he_, should have commenced with capitals. OBS. 5.--On Rule 3d, concerning _Names of Deity_, it may be observed, that the words _Lord_ and _God_ take the nature of proper names, only when they are used in reference to the Eternal Divinity. The former, as a title of honour to men, is usually written with a capital; but, as a common appellative, with a small letter. The latter, when used with reference to any fabulous deity, or when made plural to speak of many, should seldom, if ever, begin with a capital; for we do not write with a capital any common name which we do not mean to honour: as, "Though there be that are called _gods_, whether in heaven or in earth--as there be _gods_ many, and _lords_ many."--_1 Cor._, viii, 5. But a diversity of design or conception in respect to this kind of distinction, has produced great diversity concerning capitals, not only in original writings, but also in reprints and quotations, not excepting even the sacred books. Example: "The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all _Gods_."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 88. Perhaps the writer here exalts the inferior beings called gods, that he may honour the one true God the more; but the Bible, in four editions to which I have turned, gives the word _gods_ no capital. See _Psalms_, xcv, 3. The word _Heaven_ put for God, begins with a capital; but when taken literally, it commonly begins with a small letter. Several nouns occasionally connected with names of the Deity, are written with a very puzzling diversity: as, "The Lord of _Sabaoth_;"--"The Lord God of _hosts_;"--"The God of _armies_;"--"The Father of _goodness_;"--"The Giver of all _good_;"--"The Lord, the righteous _Judge_." All these, and many more like them, are found sometimes with a capital, and sometimes without. _Sabaoth_, being a foreign word, and used only in this particular connexion, usually takes a capital; but the equivalent English words do not seem to require it. For "_Judge_," in the last example, I would use a capital; for "_good_" and "_goodness_," in the preceding ones, the small letter: the one is an eminent name, the others are mere attributes. Alger writes, "_the Son of Man_," with two capitals; others, perhaps more properly, "_the Son of man_," with one--wherever that phrase occurs in the New Testament. But, in some editions, it has no capital at all. OBS. 6.--On Rule 4th, concerning _Proper Names_, it may be observed, that the application of this principle supposes the learner to be able to distinguish between proper names and common appellatives. Of the difference between these two classes of words, almost every child that can speak, must have formed some idea. I once noticed that a very little boy, who knew no better than to call a pigeon a turkey because the creature had feathers, was sufficiently master of this distinction, to call many individuals by their several names, and to apply the common words, _man, woman, boy, girl_, &c., with that generality which belongs to them. There is, therefore, some very plain ground for this rule. But not all is plain, and I will not veil the cause of embarrassment. It is only an act of imposture, to pretend that grammar _is easy_, in stead of making it so. Innumerable instances occur, in which the following assertion is by no means true: "The distinction between a common and a proper noun is _very obvious_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p 32. Nor do the remarks of this author, or those of any other that I am acquainted with, remove any part of the difficulty. We are told by this gentleman, (in language incorrigibly bad,) that, "_Nouns_ which denote the genus, species, or variety of beings or things, are always common; as, _tree_, the genus; _oak, ash, chestnut, poplar_, different species; and _red oak, white oak, black oak_, varieties."--_Ib._, p. 32. Now, as it requires _but one noun_ to denote either a genus or a species, I know not how to conceive of _those_ "_nouns_ which denote _the genus_ of things," except as of other confusion and nonsense; and, as for the three varieties of oak, there are surely no "_nouns_" here to denote them, unless he will have _red, white_, and _black_ to be nouns. But what shall we say of--"the Red sea, the White sea, the Black sea;" or, with two capitals, "Red Sea, White Sea, Black Sea," and a thousand other similar terms, which are neither proper names unless they are written with capitals, nor written with capitals unless they are first judged to be proper names? The simple phrase, "the united states," has nothing of the nature of a proper name; but what is the character of the term, when written with two capitals, "the United States?" If we contend that it is not then a proper name, we make our country anonymous. And what shall we say to those grammarians who contend, that "_Heaven, Hell, Earth, Sun_, and _Moon_, are proper names;" and that, as such, they should be written with capitals? See _Churchill's Gram._, p. 380. OBS. 7.--It would seem that most, if not all, proper names had originally some common signification, and that very many of our ordinary words and phrases have been converted into proper names, merely by being applied to particular persons, places, or objects, and receiving the distinction of capitals. How many of the oceans, seas, lakes, capes, islands, mountains, states, counties, streets, institutions, buildings, and other things, which we constantly particularize, have no other proper names than such as are thus formed, and such as are still perhaps, in many instances, essentially appellative! The difficulties respecting these will be further noticed below. A proper noun is the name of some particular individual, group, or people; as, _Adam, Boston_, the _Hudson_, the _Azores_, the _Andes_, the _Romans_, the _Jews_, the _Jesuits_, the _Cherokees_. This is as good a definition as I can give of a proper noun or name. Thus we commonly distinguish the names of particular persons, places, nations, tribes, or sects, with capitals. Yet we name the sun, the moon, the equator, and many other particular objects, without a capital; for the word the may give a particular meaning to a common noun, without converting it into a proper name: but if we say _Sol_, for the sun, or _Luna_, for the moon, we write it with a capital. With some apparent inconsistency, we commonly write the word _Gentiles_ with a capital, but _pagans, heathens_, and _negroes_, without: thus custom has marked these names with degradation. The names of the days of the week, and those of the months, however expressed, appear to me to partake of the nature of proper names, and to require capitals: as, _Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday_; or, as the Friends denominate them, _Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, Fourthday, Fifthday, Sixthday, Seventhday_. So, if they will not use _January, February_, &c., they should write as proper names their _Firstmonth, Secondmonth_, &c. The Hebrew names for the months, were also proper nouns: to wit, Abib, Zif, Sivan, Thamuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marchesvan, Chisleu, Tebeth, Shebat, Adar; the year, with the ancient Jews, beginning, as ours once did, in March. OBS. 8.--On Rule 5th, concerning _Titles of Honour_, it may be observed, that names of office or rank, however high, do not require capitals merely as such; for, when we use them alone in their ordinary sense, or simply place them in apposition with proper names, without intending any particular honour, we begin them with a small letter: as, "the emperor Augustus;"--"our mighty sovereign, Abbas Carascan;"--"David the king;"--"Tidal king of nations;"--"Bonner, bishop of London;"--"The sons of Eliphaz, the first-born you of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek."--_Gen._, xxxvi, 15. So, sometimes, in addresses in which even the greatest respect is intended to be shown: as, "O _sir_, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food."--_Gen._, xliii, 20. "O my _lord_, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my _lord's_ ears."--_Gen._, xliv, 18. The Bible, which makes small account of worldly honours, seldom uses capitals under this rule; but, in some editions, we find "Nehemiah the _Tirshatha_," and "Herod the _Tetrarch_," each with a needless capital. Murray, in whose illustrations the word _king_ occurs early one hundred times, seldom honours his Majesty with a capital; and, what is more, in all this mawkish mentioning of royalty, nothing is said of it _that is worth knowing_. Examples: "The _king_ and the queen had put on their robes."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 154. "The _king_, with his life-guard, has just passed through the village."--_Ib._, 150. "The _king_ of Great Britain's dominions."--_Ib._, 45. "On a sudden appeared the _king_."--_Ib._, 146. "Long live the _King_!"--_Ib._, 146. "On which side soever the _king_ cast his eyes."--_Ib._, 156. "It is the _king_ of Great Britain's."--_Ib._, 176. "He desired to be their _king_."--_Ib._, 181. "They desired him to be their _king_."--_Ib._, 181. "He caused himself to be proclaimed _king_."--_Ib._, 182. These examples, and thousands more as simple and worthless, are among the pretended quotations by which this excellent man, thought "to promote the cause of virtue, as well as of learning!" OBS. 9.--On Rule 6th, concerning _One Capital for Compounds_, I would observe, that perhaps there is nothing more puzzling in grammar, than to find out, amidst all the diversity of random writing, and wild guess-work in printing, the true way in which the compound names of places should be written. For example: What in Greek was "_ho Areios Pagos_," the _Martial Hill_, occurs twice in the New Testament: once, in the accusative case, "_ton Areion Pagan_," which is rendered _Areopagus_; and once, in the genitive, "_tou Areiou Pagou_," which, in different copies of the English Bible is made _Mars' Hill, Mars' hill, Mars'-hill, Marshill, Mars Hill_, and perhaps _Mars hill_. But if _Mars_ must needs be put in the possessive case, (which I doubt,) they are all wrong: for then it should be _Mars's Hill_; as the name _Campus Martins_ is rendered "_Mars's Field_," in Collier's Life of Marcus Antoninus. We often use nouns adjectively; and _Areios_ is an adjective: I would therefore write this name _Mars Hill_, as we write _Bunker Hill_. Again: _Whitehaven_ and _Fairhaven_ are commonly written with single capitals; but, of six or seven _towns_ called _Newhaven_ or _New Haven_, some have the name in one word and some in two. _Haven_ means a _harbour_, and the words, _New Haven_, written separately, would naturally be understood of a harbour: the close compound is obviously more suitable for the name of a city or town. In England, compounds of this kind are more used than in America; and in both countries the tendency of common usage seems to be, to contract and consolidate such terms. Hence the British counties are almost all named by compounds ending with the word _shire_; as, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, &c. But the best books we have, are full of discrepancies and errors in respect to names, whether foreign or domestic; as, "_Ulswater_ is somewhat smaller. The handsomest is _Derwentwater_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 212. "_Ulswater_, a lake of England," &c. "_Derwent-Water_, a lake in Cumberland," &c.--_Univ. Gazetteer_, "_Ulleswater_, lake, Eng. situated partly in Westmoreland," &c.--_Worcester's Gaz._ "_Derwent Water_, lake, Eng. in Cumberland."--_Ibid._ These words, I suppose, should be written _Ullswater_ and _Derwentwater_. OBS. 10.--An affix, or termination, differs from a distinct word; and is commonly understood otherwise, though it may consist of the same letters and have the same sound. Thus, if I were to write _Stow Bridge_, it would be understood of a _bridge_; if _Stowbridge_, of a _town_: or the latter might even be the name of a _family_. So _Belleisle_ is the proper name of a _strait_; and _Belle Isle_ of several different _islands_ in France and America. Upon this plain distinction, and the manifest inconvenience of any violation of so clear an analogy of the language, depends the propriety of most of the corrections which I shall offer under Rule 6th. But if the inhabitants of any place choose to call their town a creek, a river, a harbour, or a bridge, and to think it officious in other men to pretend to know better, they may do as they please. If between them and their correctors there lie a mutual charge of misnomer, it is for the literary world to determine who is right. Important names are sometimes acquired by mere accident. Those which are totally inappropriate, no reasonable design can have bestowed. Thus a fancied resemblance between the island of Aquidneck, in Narraganset Bay, and that of Rhodes, in the AEgean Sea, has at length given to a _state_, or _republic_, which lies _chiefly on the main land_, the absurd name of _Rhode Island_; so that now, to distinguish Aquidneck itself, geographers resort to the strange phrase, "_the Island of Rhode Island_."--_Balbi_. The official title of this little republic, is, "_the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations_." But this name is not only too long for popular use, but it is doubtful in its construction and meaning. It is capable of being understood in four different ways. 1. A stranger to the fact, would not learn from this phrase, that the "Providence Plantations" are included in the "State of Rhode Island," but would naturally infer the contrary. 2. The phrase, "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," may be supposed to mean "Rhode Island [Plantations] and Providence Plantations." 3. It may be understood to mean "Rhode Island and Providence [i.e., two] Plantations." 4. It may be taken for "Rhode Island" [i.e., as an island,] and the "Providence Plantations." Which, now, of all these did Charles the Second mean, when he gave the colony this name, with his charter, in 1663? It happened that he meant the last; but I doubt whether any man in the state, except perhaps some learned lawyer, can _parse_ the phrase, with any certainty of its true construction and meaning. This old title can never be used, except in law. To write the popular name "_Rhodeisland_," as Dr. Webster has it in his American Spelling-Book, p. 121, would be some improvement upon it; but to make it _Rhodeland_, or simply _Rhode_, would be much more appropriate. As for _Rhode Island_, it ought to mean nothing but the island; and it is, in fact, _an abuse of language_ to apply it otherwise. In one of his parsing lessons, Sanborn gives us for good English the following tautology: "_Rhode Island_ derived its name from the _island of Rhode Island_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 37. Think of that sentence! OBS. 11.--On Rules 7th and 8th, concerning _Two Capitals for Compounds_, I would observe, with a general reference to those _compound terms_ which designate particular places or things, that it is often no easy matter to determine, either from custom or from analogy, whether such common words as may happen to be embraced in them, are to be accounted parts of compound proper names and written with capitals, or to be regarded as appellatives, requiring small letters according to Rule 9th. Again the question may be, whether they ought not to be joined to the foregoing word, according to Rule 6th. Let the numerous examples under these four rules be duly considered: for usage, in respect to each of them, is diverse; so much so, that we not unfrequently find it contradictory, in the very same page, paragraph, or even sentence. Perhaps we may reach some principles of uniformity and consistency, by observing the several different kinds of phrases thus used. 1. We often add an adjective to an old proper name to make a new one, or to serve the purpose of distinction: as, Now York, New Orleans, New England, New Bedford; North America, South America; Upper Canada, Lower Canada; Great Pedee, Little Pedee; East Cambridge, West Cambridge; Troy, West Troy. All names of this class require two capitals: except a few which are joined together; as _Northampton_, which is sometimes more analogically written _North Hampton_. 2. We often use the possessive case with some common noun after it; as, Behring's Straits, Baffin's Bay, Cook's Inlet, Van Diemen's Land, Martha's Vineyard, Sacket's Harbour, Glenn's Falls. Names of this class generally have more than one capital; and perhaps all of them should be written so, except such as coalesce; as, Gravesend, Moorestown, the Crowsnest. 3. We sometimes use two common nouns with _of_ between them; as, the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of Man, the Isles of Shoals, the Lake of the Woods, the Mountains of the Moon. Such nouns are usually written with more than one capital. I would therefore write "the Mount of Olives" in this manner, though it is not commonly found so in the Bible. 4. We often use an adjective and a common noun; as, the Yellow sea, the Indian ocean, the White hills, Crooked lake, the Red river; or, with two capitals, the Yellow Sea, the Indian Ocean, the White Hills, Crooked Lake, the Red River. In this class of names the adjective is the distinctive word, and always has a capital; respecting the other term, usage is divided, but seems rather to favour two capitals. 5. We frequently put an appellative, or common noun, before or after a proper name; as, New York city, Washington street, Plymouth county, Greenwich village. "The Carondelet canal extends from the city of New Orleans to the bayou St. John, connecting lake Pontchartrain with the Mississippi river."--_Balbi's Geog._ This is apposition. In phrases of this kind, the common noun often has a capital, but it seldom absolutely requires it; and in general a small letter is more correct, except in some few instances in which the common noun is regarded as a permanent part of the name; as in _Washington City, Jersey City_. The words _Mount, Cape, Lake_, and _Bay_, are now generally written with capitals when connected with their proper names; as, Mount Hope, Cape Cod, Lake Erie, Casco Bay. But they are not always so written, even in modern books; and in the Bible we read of "mount Horeb, mount Sinai, mount Zion, mount Olivet," and many others, always with a single capital. OBS. 12.--In modern compound names, the hyphen is now less frequently used than it was a few years ago. They seldom, if ever, need it, unless they are employed as adjectives; and then there is a manifest propriety in inserting it. Thus the phrase, "the New London Bridge," can be understood only of a new bridge in London; and if we intend by it a bridge in New London, we must say, "the New-London Bridge." So "the New York Directory" is not properly a directory for New York, but a new directory for York. I have seen several books with titles which, for this reason, were evidently erroneous. With respect to the ancient Scripture names, of this class, we find, in different editions of the Bible, as well as in other books, many discrepancies. The reader may see a very fair specimen of them, by comparing together the last two vocabularies of Walker's Key. He will there meet with an abundance of examples like these: "Uz'zen Sherah, Uzzen-sherah; Talitha Cumi, Talithacumi; Nathan Melech, Nathan'-melech; A'bel Meholath, Abel-meholah; Hazel Elponi, Hazeleponi; Az'noth Tabor, Asnoth-tabor; Baal Ham'on, Baal-hamon; Hamon Gog, Ham'ongog; Baal Zebub, Baeal'zebub; Shethar Boz'naei, Shether-boz'naei; Merodach Bal'adan, Merodach-bal'adan." All these glaring inconsistencies, and many more, has Dr. Webster restereotyped from Walker, in his octavo Dictionary! I see no more need of the hyphen in such names, than in those of modern times. They ought, in some instances, to be joined together without it; and, in others, to be written separately, with double capitals. But special regard should be had to the ancient text. The phrase, "Talitha, cumi,"--i. e., "Damsel, arise,"--is found in some Bibles, "Talitha-cumi;" but this form of it is no more correct than either of those quoted above. See _Mark_, v, 41st, in _Griesbach's Greek Testament_, where a comma divides this expression. OBS. 13.--On Rule 10th, concerning _Personifications_, it may be well to observe, that not every noun which is the name of an object personified, must begin with a capital, but only such as have a resemblance to _proper nouns_; for the word _person_ itself, or _persons_, or any other common noun denoting persons or a person, demands no such distinction. And proper names of persons are so marked, not with any reference to personality, but because they are _proper nouns_--or names of individuals, and not names of sorts. Thus, AEsop's viper and file are both personified, where it is recorded, "'What ails thee, fool?' says the _file_ to the _viper_;" but the fable gives to these names no capitals, except in the title of the story. It may here be added, that, according to their definitions of personification, our grammarians and the teachers of rhetoric have hitherto formed no very accurate idea of what constitutes the figure. Lindley Murray says, "PERSONIFICATION [,] or PROSOPOPOEIA, is that figure by which we attribute _life_ and _action_ to _inanimate_ objects."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 346; _Duodecimo_, p. 211. Now this is all wrong, doubly wrong,--wrong in relation to what personification is, and wrong too in its specification of the objects which may be personified. For "_life and action_" not being peculiar to _persons_, there must be something else than these ascribed, to form the figure; and, surely, the objects which _Fancy_ thinks it right to personify, are not always "_inanimate_." I have elsewhere defined the thing as follows: "_Personification_ is a figure by which, in imagination, we ascribe intelligence and personality to unintelligent beings or abstract qualities."--_Inst._, p. 234. OBS. 14.--On Rule 11th, concerning _Derivatives_, I would observe, that not only the proper adjectives, to which this rule more particularly refers, but also nouns, and even verbs, derived from such adjectives, are frequently, if not generally, written with an initial capital. Thus, from _Greece_, we have _Greek, Greeks, Greekish, Greekling, Grecise, Grecism, Grecian, Grecians, Grecianize_. So Murray, copying Blair, speaks of "_Latinised English_;" and, again, of style strictly "_English_, without _Scotticisms_ or _Gallicisms_."--_Mur. Gram._, 8vo, p. 295; _Blair's Lect._, pp. 93 and 94. But it is questionable, how far this principle respecting capitals ought to be carried. The examples in Dr. Johnson's quarto Dictionary exhibit the words, _gallicisms, anglicisms, hebrician, latinize, latinized, judaized_, and _christianized_, without capitals; and the words _Latinisms, Grecisms, Hebraisms_, and _Frenchified_, under like circumstances, with them. Dr. Webster also defines _Romanize_, "To _Latinize_; to conform to _Romish_ opinions." In the examples of Johnson, there is a manifest inconsistency. Now, with respect to adjectives from proper names, and also to the nouns formed immediately from such adjectives, it is clear that they ought to have capitals: no one will contend that the words _American_ and _Americans_ should be written with a small _a_. With respect to _Americanism, Gallicism_, and other similar words, there may be some room to doubt. But I prefer a capital for these. And, that we may have a uniform rule to go by, I would not stop here, but would write _Americanize_ and _Americanized_ with a capital also; for it appears that custom is in favour of thus distinguishing nearly all verbs and participles of this kind, so long as they retain an obvious reference to their particular origin. But when any such word ceases to be understood as referring directly to the proper name, it may properly be written without a capital. Thus we write _jalap_ from _Jalapa, hermetical_ from _Hermes, hymeneal_ from _Hymen, simony_, from _Simon, philippic_ from _Philip_; the verbs, to _hector_, to _romance_, to _japan_, to _christen_, to _philippize_, to _galvanize_; and the adverbs _hermetically_ and _jesuitically_, all without a capital: and perhaps _judaize, christianize_, and their derivatives, may join this class. Dr. Webster's octavo Dictionary mentions "the _prussic_ acid" and "_prussian_ blue," without a capital; and so does Worcester's. OBS. 15.--On Rule 12th, concerning _I_ and _O_, it may be observed, that although many who occasionally write, are ignorant enough to violate this, as well as every other rule of grammar, yet no printer ever commits blunders of this sort. Consequently, the few erroneous examples which will be exhibited for correction under it, will not be undesigned mistakes. Among the errors of books, we do not find the printing of the words _I_ and _O_ in small characters; but the confounding of _O_ with the other interjection _oh_, is not uncommon even among grammarians. The latter has no concern with this rule, nor is it equivalent to the former, as a sign: _O_ is a note of wishing, earnestness, and vocative address; but _oh_ is, properly, a sign of sorrow, pain, or surprise. In the following example, therefore, a line from Milton is perverted:-- "_Oh_ thou! that with surpassing glory crowned!" --_Bucke's Gram._, p. 88. OBS. 16.--On Rule 13th, concerning _Poetry_, it may be observed, that the principle applies only to regular versification, which is the common form, if not the distinguishing mark, of poetical composition. And, in this, the practice of beginning every line with a capital is almost universal; but I have seen some books in which it was whimsically disregarded. Such poetry as that of Macpherson's Ossian, or such as the common translation of the Psalms, is subjected neither to this rule, nor to the common laws of verse. OBS. 17.--On Rule 14th, concerning _Examples, Speeches_, and _Quotations_, it may be observed, that the propriety of beginning these with a capital or otherwise, depends in some measure upon their form. One may suggest certain words by way of example, (as _see, saw, seeing, seen_,) and they will require no capital; or he may sometimes write one half of a sentence in his own words, and quote the other with the guillemets and no capital; but whatsoever is cited as being said with other relations of what is called _person_, requires something to distinguish it from the text into which it is woven. Thus Cobbett observes, that, "The French, in their Bible, say _Le Verbe_, where we say _The Word_."--_E. Gram._, p. 21. Cobbett says _the whole_ of this; but he here refers one short phrase to the French nation, and an other to the English, not improperly beginning each with a capital, and further distinguishing them by Italics. Our common Bibles make no use of the quotation points, but rely solely upon capitals and the common points, to show where any particular speech begins or ends. In some instances, the insufficiency of these means is greatly felt, notwithstanding the extraordinary care of the original writers, in the use of introductory phrases. Murray says, "When a quotation is brought in obliquely after a comma, a capital is unnecessary: as, 'Solomon observes, "that pride goes before destruction."'"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 284. But, as the word '_that_' belongs not to Solomon, and the next word begins his assertion, I think we ought to write it, "Solomon observes, that, '_Pride goeth_ before destruction.'" Or, if we do not mean to quote him literally, we may omit the guillemets, and say, "Solomon observes that pride goes before destruction." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING CAPITALS. [Fist][The improprieties in the following examples are to be corrected orally by the learner, according to the formules given, or according to others framed from them with such slight changes as the several quotations may require. A correct example will occasionally he admitted for the sake of contrast, or that the learner may see the quoted author's inconsistency. It will also serve as a block over which stupidity may stumble and wake up. But a full explanation of what is intended, will be afforded in the Key.] UNDER RULE I.--OF BOOKS. "Many a reader of the bible knows not who wrote the acts of the apostles."--_G. B._ [FORMULE OF CORRECTION.--Not proper, because the words, _bible, acts_, and _apostles_, here begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 1st, "When particular books are mentioned by their names, the chief words in their titles begin with capitals, and the other letters are small." Therefore, "Bible" should begin with a capital B; and "Acts" and "Apostles," each with a large A.] "The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Neh._, xii, 23. "Are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?"--SCOTT, ALGER: I _Kings_, xi, 41. "Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?"--ALGER: _1 Kings_, xxii, 39. "Are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"--SCOTT: _ib._, ver. 45. "Which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms."--SCOTT: _Luke_, xxiv, 44. "The narrative of which may be seen in Josephus's History of the Jewish wars."--_Scott's Preface_, p. ix. "This history of the Jewish war was Josephus's first work, and published about A. D. 75."--_Note to Josephus_. "'I have read,' says Photius, 'the chronology of Justus of Tiberias.'"--_Ib., Jos. Life_. "A philosophical grammar, written by James Harris, Esquire."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 34. "The reader is referred to Stroud's sketch of the slave laws."--_Anti-Slavery Mag._, i, 25. "But God has so made the bible that it interprets itself."--_Ib._, i, 78. "In 1562, with the help of Hopkins, he completed the psalter."--_Music of Nature_, p. 283. "Gardiner says this of _Sternhold_; of whom the universal biographical dictionary and the American encyclopedia affirm, that he died in 1549."--_Author_. "The title of a Book, to wit: 'English Grammar in familiar lectures,'" &c.--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 2. "We had not, at that time, seen Mr. Kirkham's 'Grammar in familiar Lectures.'"--_Ib._, p. 3. "When you parse, you may spread the Compendium before you."--_Ib._, p. 53. "Whenever you parse, you may spread the compendium before you."--_Ib._, p. 113. "Adelung was the author of a grammatical and critical dictionary of the German language, and other works."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ "Alley, William, author of 'the poor man's library,' and a translation of the Pentateuch, died in 1570."--_Ib._ UNDER RULE II.--OF FIRST WORDS. "Depart instantly: improve your time: forgive us our sins."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 61. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the words _improve_ and _forgive_ begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 2nd, "The first word of every distinct sentence should begin with a capital." Therefore, "Improve" should begin with a capital I; and "Forgive," with a capital F.] EXAMPLES: "Gold is corrupting; the sea is green; a lion is bold."--_Mur. Gram._, p. 170; _et al_. Again: "It may rain; he may go or stay; he would walk; they should learn."--_Ib._, p. 64; _et al_. Again: "Oh! I have alienated my friend; alas! I fear for life."--_Ib._, p. 128; _et al_. Again: "He went from London to York;" "she is above disguise;" "they are supported by industry."--_Ib._, p. 28; _et al_. "On the foregoing examples, I have a word to say. they are better than a fair specimen of their kind, our grammars abound with worse illustrations, their models of English are generally spurious quotations. few of their proof-texts have any just parentage, goose-eyes are abundant, but names scarce. who fathers the foundlings? nobody. then let their merit be nobody's, and their defects his who could write no better."--_Author_. "_goose-eyes_!" says a bright boy; "pray, what are they? does this Mr. Author make new words when he pleases? _dead-eyes_ are in a ship, they are blocks, with holes in them, but what are goose-eyes in grammar?" ANSWER: "_goose-eyes_ are quotation points, some of the Germans gave them this name, making a jest of their form, the French call them _guillemets_, from the name of their inventor."--_Author. "it_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person singular."--_Comly's Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 126. "_ourselves_ is a personal pronoun, of the first person plural."--_Ib._, 138. "_thee_ is a personal pronoun, of the second person singular."--_Ib._, 126. "_contentment_ is a noun common, of the third person singular."--_Ib._, 128. "_were_ is a neuter verb, of the indicative mood, imperfect tense."--_Ib._, 129. UNDER RULE III.--OF DEITY. "O thou dispenser of life! thy mercies are boundless."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 449. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _dispenser_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 3d, "All names of the Deity, and sometimes their emphatic substitutes, should begin with capitals." Therefore, "Dispenser" should here begin with a capital D.] "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"--SCOTT: _Gen._, xviii, 25. "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 330. "It is the gift of him, who is the great author of good, and the Father of mercies."--_Ib._, 287. "This is thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt."--SCOTT, ALGER: _Neh._, ix, 18. "For the lord is our defence; and the holy one of Israel is our king."--See _Psalm_ lxxxix, 18. "By making him the responsible steward of heaven's bounties."--_Anti- Slavery Mag._, i, 29. "Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."--SCOTT, FRIENDS: 2 _Tim._, iv, 8. "The cries of them * * * entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth."--SCOTT: _James_, v, 4. "In Horeb, the deity revealed himself to Moses, as the eternal I am, the self-existent one; and, after the first discouraging interview of his messengers with Pharaoh, he renewed his promise to them, by the awful name, jehovah--a name till then unknown, and one which the Jews always held it a fearful profanation to pronounce."--_Author_. "And god spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of god almighty; but by my name jehovah was I not known to them."--See[106] _Exod._, vi, 2. "Thus saith the lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no god."--See _Isa._, xliv, 6. "His impious race their blasphemy renew'd, And nature's king through nature's optics view'd."--_Dryden_, p. 90. UNDER RULE IV.--OF PROPER NAMES. "Islamism prescribes fasting during the month ramazan."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 17. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _ramazan_ here begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 4th, "Proper names, of every description, should always begin with capitals." Therefore, "Ramazan" should begin with a capital R. The word is also misspelled: it should rather be _Ramadan_.] "Near mecca, in arabia, is jebel nor, or the mountain of light, on the top of which the mussulmans erected a mosque, that they might perform their devotions where, according to their belief, mohammed received from the angel gabriel the first chapter of the Koran."--_Author_. "In the kaaba at mecca, there is a celebrated block of volcanic basalt, which the mohammedans venerate as the gift of gabriel to abraham, but their ancestors once held it to be an image of remphan, or saturn; so 'the image which fell down from jupiter,' to share with diana the homage of the ephesians, was probably nothing more than a meteoric stone."--_Id._ "When the lycaonians, at lystra, took paul and barnabas to be gods, they called the former mercury, on account of his eloquence, and the latter jupiter, for the greater dignity of his appearance."--_Id._ "Of the writings of the apostolic fathers of the first century, but few have come down to us; yet we have in those of barnabas, clement of rome, hermas, ignatius, and polycarp, very certain evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament, and the New Testament is a voucher for the old."--_Id._ "It is said by tatian, that theagenes of rhegium, in the time of cambyses, stesimbrotus the thracian, antimachus the colophonian, herodotus of halicarnassus, dionysius the olynthian, ephorus of cumae, philochorus the athenian, metaclides and chamaeleon the peripatetics, and zenodotus, aristophanes, callimachus, erates, eratosthenes, aristarchus, and apollodorus, the grammarians, all wrote concerning the poetry, the birth, and the age of homer." See _Coleridge's Introd._, p. 57. "Yet, for aught that now appears, the life of homer is as fabulous as that of hercules; and some have even suspected, that, as the son of jupiter and alcmena, has fathered the deeds of forty other herculeses, so this unfathered son of critheis, themisto, or whatever dame--this melesigenes, maeonides, homer--the blind schoolmaster, and poet, of smyrna, chios, colophon, salamis, rhodes, argos, athens, or whatever place--has, by the help of lycurgus, solon, pisistratus, and other learned ancients, been made up of many poets or homers, and set so far aloft and aloof on old parnassus, as to become a god in the eyes of all greece, a wonder in those of all Christendom."--_Author_. "Why so sagacious in your guesses? Your _effs_, and _tees_, and _arrs_, and _esses_?"--_Swift_. UNDER RULE V.--OF TITLES. "The king has conferred on him the title of duke."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 193. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _duke_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 5th, "Titles of office or honour, and epithets of distinction, applied to persons, begin usually with capitals." Therefore, "Duke" should here begin with a capital D.] "At the court of queen Elizabeth."--_Murray's Gram._; 8vo, p. 157; 12mo, p. 126; _Fisk's_, 115; _et al_. "The laws of nature are, truly, what lord Bacon styles his aphorisms, laws of laws."--_Murray's Key_, p. 260. "Sixtus the fourth was, if I mistake not, a great collector of books."--_Ib._, p. 257. "Who at that time made up the court of king Charles the second."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 314. "In case of his majesty's dying without issue."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 181. "King Charles the first was beheaded in 1649."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 45. "He can no more impart or (to use lord Bacon's word,) _transmit_ convictions."--_Kirkham's Eloc._, p. 220. "I reside at lord Stormont's, my old patron and benefactor."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 176. "We staid a month at lord Lyttleton's, the ornament of his country."--_Ib._, p. 177. "Whose prerogative is it? It is the king of Great Britain's;" "That is the duke of Bridgewater's canal;" "The bishop of Llandaff's excellent book;" "The Lord mayor of London's authority."--_Ib._, p. 176. "Why call ye me lord, lord, and do not the things which I say?"--See GRIESBACH: _Luke_, vi, 46. "And of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles."--SCOTT: _Luke_, vi, 13. "And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him."--See _the Greek: Matt._, xxvi, 49. "And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent."--_Luke_, xvi, 30. UNDER RULE VI.--OF ONE CAPITAL. "Fall River, a village in Massachusetts, population 3431."--See _Univ. Gaz._, p. 416. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the name _Fall River_ is here written in two parts, and with two capitals. But, according to Rule 6th, "Those compound proper names which by analogy incline to a union of their parts without a hyphen, should be so written, and have but one capital." Therefore, _Fallriver_, as the name of a _town_, should be one word, and retain but one capital.] "Dr. Anderson died at West Ham, in Essex, in 1808."--_Biog. Dict._ "Mad River, [the name of] two towns in Clark and Champaign counties, Ohio."--_Williams's Universal Gazetteer_. "White Creek, town of Washington county, N. York."--_Ib._ "Salt Creek, the name of four towns in different parts of Ohio."--_Ib._ "Salt Lick, a town of Fayette county, Pennsylvania."--_Ib._ "Yellow Creek, a town of Columbiana county, Ohio."--_Ib._ "White Clay, a hundred of New Castle county, Delaware."--_Ib._ "Newcastle, town and halfshire of Newcastle county, Delaware."--_Ib._ "Sing-Sing, a village of West Chester county, New York, situated in the town of Mount Pleasant."--_Ib._ "West Chester, a county of New York; also a town in Westchester county."--_Ib._ "West Town, a village of Orange county, New York."--_Ib._ "White Water, a town of Hamilton county, Ohio."--_Ib._ "White Water River, a considerable stream that rises in Indiana, and flowing southeasterly, unites with the Miami, in Ohio."--_Ib._ "Black Water, a village of Hampshire, in England, and a town in Ireland."--_Ib._ "Black Water, the name of seven different rivers in England, Ireland, and the United States."--_Ib._ "Red Hook, a town of Dutchess county, New York, on the Hudson."--_Ib._ "Kinderhook, a town of Columbia county, New York, on the Hudson."--_Ib._ "New Fane, a town of Niagara county, New York."--_Ib._ "Lake Port, a town of Chicot county, Arkansas."--_Ib._ "Moose Head Lake, the chief source of the Kennebeck, in Maine."--_Ib._ "Macdonough, a county of Illinois, population (in 1830) 2,959."--_Ib._, p. 408. "Mc Donough, a county of Illinois, with a courthouse, at Macomb."--_Ib._, p. 185. "Half-Moon, the name of two towns, in New York and Pennsylvania; also of two bays in the West Indies."--See _Worcester's Gaz._ "Le Boeuf, a town of Erie county, Pennsylvania, near a small lake of the same name."--_Ib._ "Charles City, James City, Elizabeth City, names of counties in Virginia, not cities, nor towns."--See _Univ. Gaz._ "The superior qualities of the waters of the Frome, here called Stroud water."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 223. UNDER RULE VII.--TWO CAPITALS. "The Forth rises on the north side of Benlomond, and runs easterly."--_Glas. Geog_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the name "_Benlomond_" is compounded under one capital, contrary to the general analogy of other similar terms. But, according to Rule 7th, "The compounding of a name under one capital should be avoided when the general analogy of other similar terms suggests a separation under two." Therefore, "Ben Lomond" should be written with two capitals and no hyphen.] "The red granite of Ben-nevis is said to be the finest in the world."--_Ib._, ii, 311. "Ben-more, in Perthshire, is 3,915 feet above the level of the sea."--_Ib._, 313. "The height of Benclough is 2,420 feet."--_Ib._. "In Sutherland and Caithness, are Ben Ormod, Ben Clibeg, Ben Grin, Ben Hope, and Ben Lugal."--_Ib._, 311. "Benvracky is 2,756 feet high; Ben-ledi, 3,009; and Benvoirlich, 3,300."--_Ib._, 313. "The river Dochart gives the name of Glendochart to the vale through which it runs."--_Ib._, 314. "About ten miles from its source, the Tay diffuses itself into Lochdochart."--_Geog. altered_. LAKES:--"Lochard, Loch-Achray, Loch-Con, Loch-Doine, Loch-Katrine, Loch-Lomond, Loch-Voil."--_Scott's Lady of the Lake_. GLENS:--"Glenfinlas, Glen Fruin, Glen Luss, Ross-dhu, Leven-glen, Strath-Endrick, Strath-Gartney, Strath-Ire."--_Ib._ MOUNTAINS:--"Ben-an, Benharrow, Benledi, Ben-Lomond, Benvoirlich, Ben-venue, and sometimes Benvenue."--_Ib._ "Fenelon died in 1715, deeply lamented by all the inhabitants of the Low-countries."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 322. "And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king."--SCOTT, FRIENDS: 2 _Kings_, xxiii, 34. "Those who seem so merry and well pleased, call her _Good Fortune_; but the others, who weep and wring their hands, _Bad-fortune_."--_Collier's Tablet of Cebes_. UNDER RULE VIII.--OF COMPOUNDS. "When Joab returned, and smote Edom in the valley of salt."--SCOTT: _Ps._ lx, _title_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the words _valley_ and _salt_ begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 8th, "When any adjective or common noun is made a distinct part of a compound proper name, it ought to begin with a capital." Therefore, "Valley" should here begin with a capital V, and "Salt" with a capital S.] "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill and said," &c.--SCOTT: _Acts_, xvii, 22. "And at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives."--_Luke_, xxi, 37. "Abgillus, son of the king of the Frisii, surnamed Prester John, was in the Holy land with Charlemagne."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ "Cape Palmas, in Africa, divides the Grain coast from the Ivory coast."--_Dict. of Geog._, p. 125. "The North Esk, flowing from Loch-lee, falls into the sea three miles north of Montrose."--_Ib._, p. 232. "At Queen's ferry, the channel of the Forth is contracted by promontories on both coasts."--_Ib._, p. 233. "The Chestnut ridge is about twenty-five miles west of the Alleghanies, and Laurel ridge, ten miles further west."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 65. "Washington City, the metropolis of the United States of America."--_W.'s Univ. Gaz._, p. 380. "Washington city, in the District of Columbia, population (in 1830) 18,826."--_Ib._, p. 408. "The loftiest peak of the white mountains, in new Hampshire, is called mount Washington."--_Author_. "Mount's bay, in the west of England, lies between the land's end and lizard point."--_Id._ "Salamis, an island of the Egean Sea, off the southern coast of the ancient Attica."--_Dict. of Geog_. "Rhodes, an island of the Egean sea, the largest and most easterly of the Cyclades."--_Ib._ "But he overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea."--BRUCE'S BIBLE: _Ps._ cxxxvi, 15. "But they provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea."--SCOTT: _Ps._ cvi, 7.[107] UNDER RULE IX.--OF APPOSITION. "At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus."--ALGER: _Matt._, xiv, 1. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word Tetrarch begins with a capital letter. But, according to Rule 8th, "When a common and a proper name are associated merely to explain each other, it is in general sufficient, if the proper name begin with a capital, and the appellative, with a small letter." Therefore, "tetrarch" should here begin with a small _t_.] "Who has been more detested than Judas the Traitor?"--_Author_. "St. Luke, the Evangelist, was a physician of Antioch, and one of the converts of St. Paul."--_Id._ "Luther, the Reformer, began his bold career by preaching against papal indulgences."--_Id._ "The Poet Lydgate was a disciple and admirer of Chaucer: he died in 1440."--_Id._ "The Grammarian Varro, 'the most learned of the Romans,' wrote three books when he was eighty years old."--_Id._ "John Despauter, the great Grammarian of Flanders, whose works are still valued, died in 1520."--_Id._ "Nero, the Emperor and Tyrant of Rome, slew himself to avoid a worse death."--_Id._ "Cicero the Orator, 'the Father of his Country,' was assassinated at the age of 64."--_Id._ "Euripides, the Greek Tragedian, was born in the Island of Salamis, B. C. 476."--_Id._ "I will say unto God my Rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?"--SCOTT: _Ps._ xlii, 9. "Staten Island, an island of New York, nine miles below New York City."--_Univ. Gaz._ "When the son of Atreus, King of Men, and the noble Achilles first separated."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 83. "Hermes, his Patron-God, those gifts bestow'd, Whose shrine with weaning lambs he wont to load." --POPE: _Odys._, B. 19. UNDER RULE X.--OF PERSONIFICATIONS. "But wisdom is justified of all her children."--SCOTT, ALGER: _Luke_, vii, 35. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _wisdom_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 10th, "The name of an object personified, when it conveys an idea strictly individual, should begin with a capital." Therefore, "Wisdom" should here begin with a capital W.] "Fortune and the church are generally put in the feminine gender."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 37. "Go to your natural religion; lay before her Mahomet, and his disciples."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 157: see also _Murray's Gram._, i, 347. "O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 55; _Murray's Gram._, p. 348; _English Reader_, 31; _Merchant's Gram._, 212. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."--SCOTT, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Matt._, vi, 24. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."--IIDEM: _Luke_, xvi, 13. "This house was built as if suspicion herself had dictated the plan."--See _Key_. "Poetry distinguishes herself from prose, by yielding to a musical law."--See _Key_. "My beauteous deliverer thus uttered her divine instructions: 'My name is religion. I am the offspring of truth and love, and the parent of benevolence, hope, and joy. That monster, from whose power I have freed you, is called superstition: she is the child of discontent, and her followers are fear and sorrow.'"--See _Key_. "Neither hope nor fear could enter the retreats; and habit had so absolute a power, that even conscience, if religion had employed her in their favour, would not have been able to force an entrance."--See _Key_. "In colleges and halls in ancient days, There dwelt a sage called discipline."--_Wayland's M. Sci._, p. 368. UNDER RULE XI.--OF DERIVATIVES. "In English, I would have gallicisms avoided."--FELTON: _Johnson's Dict._ [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _gallicisms_ here begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 11th, "Words derived from proper names, and having direct reference to particular persons, places, sects, or nations, should begin with capitals." Therefore, "Gallicisms" should begin with a capital G.] "Sallust was born in Italy, 85 years before the christian era."--_Murray's Seq._, p. 357. "Dr. Doddridge was not only a great man, but one of the most excellent and useful christians, and christian ministers."--_Ib._, 319. "They corrupt their style with untutored anglicisms."--MILTON: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Albert of Stade, author of a chronicle from the creation to 1286, a benedictine of the 13th century."--_Universal Biog. Dict._ "Graffio, a jesuit of Capua in the 16th century, author of two volumes on moral subjects."--_Ib._ "They frenchify and italianize words whenever they can."--See _Key_. "He who sells a christian, sells the grace of God."--_Anti-Slavery Mag._, p. 77. "The first persecution against the christians, under Nero, began A. D. 64."--_Gregory's Dict._ "P. Rapin, the jesuit, uniformly decides in favour of the Roman writers."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 171. "The Roman poet and epicurean philosopher Lucretius has said," &c.--_Cohen's Florida_, p. 107. Spell "calvinistic, atticism, gothicism, epicurism, jesuitism, sabianism, socinianism, anglican, anglicism, anglicize, vandalism, gallicism, romanize."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, 130-133. "The large ternate bat."--_Webster's Dict. w_. ROSSET; _Bolles's Dict., w_. ROSET. "Church-ladders are not always mounted best By learned clerks, and latinists profess'd."--_Cowper_. UNDER RULE XII.--OF I AND O. "Fall back, fall back; i have not room:--o! methinks i see a couple whom i should know."--_Lucian, varied._ [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _I_, which occurs three times, and the word _O_, which occurs once, are here printed in letters of the lower case.[108] But, according to Rule 12th, "The words _I_ and _O_ should always be capitals." Therefore, each should be changed to a capital, as often as it occurs.] "Nay, i live as i did, i think as i did, i love you as i did; but all these are to no purpose: the world will not live, think, or love, as i do."--_Swift, varied_. "Whither, o! whither shall i fly? o wretched prince! o cruel reverse of fortune! o father Micipsa! is this the consequence of thy generosity?"--_Sallust, varied_. "When i was a child, i spake as a child, i understood as a child, i thought as a child; but when i became a man, i put away childish things."--_1 Cor._, xiii, 11, _varied_. "And i heard, but i understood not: then said i, o my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?"--_Dan._, xii, 8, _varied_. "Here am i; i think i am very good, and i am quite sure i am very happy, yet i never wrote a treatise in my life."--_Few Days in Athens, varied_. "Singular, Vocative, _o master_; Plural, Vocative, _o masters_."--_Bicknell's Gram._, p. 30. "I, i am he; o father! rise, behold Thy son, with twenty winters now grown old!"--See _Pope's Odyssey_. UNDER RULE XIII.--OF POETRY. "Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, lie in three words--health, peace, and competence; but health consists with temperance alone, and peace, O Virtue! peace is all thy own." _Pope's Essay on Man, a fine London Edition_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the last three lines of this example begin with small letters. But, according to Rule 18th, "Every line in poetry, except what is regarded as making but one verse with the preceding line, should begin with a capital." Therefore, the words, "Lie," "But," and "And," at the commencement of these lines, should severally begin with the capitals L, B, and A.] "Observe the language well in all you write, and swerve not from it in your loftiest flight. The smoothest verse and the exactest sense displease us, if ill English give offence: a barbarous phrase no reader can approve; nor bombast, noise, or affectation love. In short, without pure language, what you write can never yield us profit or delight. Take time for thinking, never work in haste; and value not yourself for writing fast." See _Dryden's Art of Poetry:--British Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 74. UNDER RULE XIV.--OF EXAMPLES. "The word _rather_ is very properly used to express a small degree or excess of a quality: as, 'she is _rather_ profuse in her expenses.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 47. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _she_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 14th, "The first word of a full example, of a distinct speech, or of a direct quotation, should begin with a capital." Therefore, the word "She" should here begin with a capital S.] "_Neither_ imports _not either_; that is, not one nor the other: as, 'neither of my friends was there.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 56. "When we say, 'he is a tall man,' 'this is a fair day,' we make some reference to the ordinary size of men, and to different weather."--_Ib._, p. 47. "We more readily say, 'A million of men,' than 'a thousand of men.'"--_Ib._, p. 169. "So in the instances, 'two and two are four;' 'the fifth and sixth volumes will complete the set of books.'"--_Ib._, p. 124. "The adjective may frequently either precede or follow it [the verb]: as, 'the man is _happy_;' or, '_happy_ is the man:' 'The interview was _delightful_;' or, '_delightful_ was the interview.'"--_Ib._, p. 168. "If we say, 'he writes a pen,' 'they ran the river, 'the tower fell the Greeks,' 'Lambeth is Westminster-abbey,' [we speak absurdly;] and, it is evident, there is a vacancy which must be filled up by some connecting word: as thus, 'He writes _with_ a pen;' 'they ran _towards_ the river;' 'the tower fell _upon_ the Greeks;' 'Lambeth is _over against_ Westminster-abbey.'"--_Ib._, p. 118. "Let me repeat it;--he only is great, who has the habits of greatness."--_Murray's Key_, 241. "I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times seven."--See _Matt._, xviii, 22. "The Panther smil'd at this; and when, said she, Were those first councils disallow'd by me?"--_Dryden_, p. 95. UNDER RULE XV.--OF CHIEF WORDS. "The supreme council of the nation is called the divan."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 360. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _divan_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 15th, "Other words of particular importance, and such as denote the principal subjects treated of, may be distinguished by capitals." Therefore, "Divan" should here begin with a capital D.] "The British parliament is composed of kings, lords, and commons."--_Murray's Key_, p. 184. "A popular orator in the House of Commons has a sort of patent for coining as many new terms as he pleases."--See _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 169; _Murray's Gram._, 364. "They may all be taken together, as one name; as, the _house of commons_."-- _Merchant's School Gram._, p. 25. "Intrusted to persons in whom the parliament could confide."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 202. "For 'The Lords' house,' it were certainly better to say, 'The house of lords;' and, in stead of 'The commons' vote,' to say, 'The votes of the commons.'"--See _ib._, p. 177, 4th _Amer. Ed._; also _Priestley's Gram._, p. 69. "The house of lords were so much influenced by these reasons."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 152; _Priestley's Gram._, 188. "Rhetoricians commonly divide them into two great classes; figures of words, and figures of thought. The former, figures of words, are commonly called tropes."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 132. "Perhaps figures of imagination, and figures of passion, might be a more useful distribution."--_Ib._, p. 133. "Hitherto we have considered sentences, under the heads of perspicuity, unity, and strength."--_Ib._, p. 120. "The word is then depos'd, and in this view, You rule the scripture, not the scripture you."--_Dryden_, p. 95. UNDER RULE XVI.--OF NEEDLESS CAPITALS. "Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--ALGER: _Matt._, xiv, 27. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _It_ begins with a capital _I_, for which there appears to be neither rule nor reason. But, according to Rule 16th, "Capitals are improper wherever there is not some special rule or reason for their use." Therefore, 'it' should here begin with a small letter, as Dr. Scott has it.] "Between passion and lying, there is not a Finger's breadth."--_Murray's Key_, p. 240. "Can our Solicitude alter the course, or unravel the intricacy, of human events?"--_Ib._, p. 242. "The last edition was carefully compared with the Original M. S."--_Ib._, p. 239. "And the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews?"--ALGER: _Matt._, xxvii, 11. "Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame, that say, Aha, Aha!"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Ps._, lxx, 3. "Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha, aha!"--IB.: _Ps._, xl, 15. "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in Spirit call him Lord?"--SCOTT: _Matt._, xxii, 42, 43. "Among all Things in the Universe, direct your Worship to the Greatest; And which is that? 'T is that Being which Manages and Governs all the Rest."--_Meditations of M. Aurelius Antoninus_, p. 76. "As for Modesty and Good Faith, Truth and Justice, they have left this wicked World and retired to Heaven: And now what is it that can keep you here?"--_Ib._, p. 81. "If Pulse of Terse, a Nation's Temper shows, In keen Iambics English Metre flows."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 151. PROMISCUOUS ERRORS RESPECTING CAPITALS. LESSON I.--MIXED. "Come, gentle spring, Ethereal mildness, come."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 411. [FORMULES.--1. Not proper, because the word _spring_ begins with a small letter. But, according to Rule 10th, "The name of an object personified, when it conveys an idea strictly individual, should begin with a capital." Therefore "Spring" should here begin with a capital S. 2. Not proper again, because the word _Ethereal_ begins with a capital E, for which there appears to be neither rule nor reason. But, according to Rule 16th. "Capitals are improper whenever there is not some special rule or reason for their use." Therefore, "ethereal" should here begin with a small letter.] As, "He is the Cicero of his age; he is reading the lives of the Twelve Caesars."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 36. "In the History of Henry the fourth, by father Daniel, we are surprized at not finding him the great man."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 151. "In the history of Henry the fourth, by Father Daniel, we are _surprised_ at not finding him the great man."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 172; _Ingersoll's_, 187; _Fisk's_, 99. "Do not those same poor peasants use the Lever and the Wedge, and many other instruments?"--_Murray_, 288; from _Harris_, 293. "Arithmetic is excellent for the gauging of Liquors; Geometry, for the measuring of Estates; Astronomy, for the making of Almanacks; and Grammar, perhaps, for the drawing of Bonds and Conveyances."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 295. "The wars of Flanders, written in Latin by Famianus Strada, is a book of some note."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 364. "_William_ is a noun.--why? _was_ is a verb.--why? _a_ is an article.--why? _very_ is an adverb.--why?" &c.--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 20. "In the beginning was the word, and that word was with God, and God was that word."--_Gwilt's Saxon Gram._, p. 49. "The greeks are numerous in thessaly, macedonia, romelia, and albania."--_Balbi, varied_. "He is styled by the Turks, Sultan (Mighty) or Padishah (lord)."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 360. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues;[109] O grave, I will be thy destruction."--SCOTT, ALGER, ET AL.: _Hosea_, xiii, 14. "Silver and Gold have I none; but such as I have, give I unto thee."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 321. "Return, we beseech thee, O God of Hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine."--_Ib._, p. 342. "In the Attic Commonwealth, it was the privilege of every citizen to rail in public."--_Ib._, p. 316. "They assert that, in the phrases, 'give me _that_,' '_this_ is John's,' and '_such_ were _some_ of you,' the words in italics are pronouns: but that, in the following phrases, they are not pronouns; '_this_ book is instructive,' '_some_ boys are ingenious,' '_my_ health is declining,' '_our_ hearts are deceitful,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 58. "And the coast bends again to the northwest, as far as Far Out head."--_Glasgow Geog._, Vol. ii, p. 308. Dr. Webster, and other makers of spelling-books, very improperly write "sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday," without capitals.--See _Webster's Elementary Spelling-Book_ p. 85. "The commander in chief of the Turkish navy is styled the capitan-pasha."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 360. "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, and live?"--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Heb._, xii, 9. "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live?"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Heb._, xii, 9. "He was more anxious to attain the character of a Christian hero."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 308. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion."--_Psalms_, xlviii, 2. "The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."--SCOTT: _Heb._, xiii, 6. "Make haste to help me, O LORD my Salvation."--SCOTT: _Ps._, xxxviii, 22. "The City, which Thou seest, no other deem Than great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth." _Harris's Hermes_, p. 49. LESSON II.--MIXED. "That range of hills, known under the general name of mount Jura."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 110. "He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up."--SCOTT: _Ps._, cvi, 9. "Jesus went unto the mount of Olives."--_John_, viii, 1. "Milton's book, in reply to the _Defence of the king_, by Salmasius, gained him a thousand pounds from the parliament, and killed his antagonist with vexation."--See _Murray's Sequel_, 343. "Mandeville, sir John, an Englishman, famous for his travels, born about 1300, died in 1372."--_Biog. Dict._ "Ettrick pen, a mountain in Selkirkshire, Scotland, height 2,200 feet."--_Glasgow Geog._, Vol. ii, p. 312. "The coast bends from Dungsbyhead in a northwest direction to the promontory of Dunnet head."--_Ib._, p. 307. "Gen. Gaines ordered a detachment of near 300 men, under the command of Major Twiggs, to surround and take an Indian Village, called Fowl Town, about fourteen miles from fort Scott."--_Cohen's Florida_, p. 41. "And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha Cumi."--ALGER: _Mark_, v, 4. "On religious subjects, a frequent recurrence of scripture-language is attended with peculiar force."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 318. "Contemplated with gratitude to their Author, the Giver of all Good."--_Ib._, p. 289. "When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth."--_Ib._, p. 171; _Fisk_, 98; _Ingersoll_, 186. "See the lecture on verbs, rule XV. note 4."--_Fisk's E. Gram._, p. 117. "At the commencement of lecture II. I informed you that Etymology treats, 3dly, of derivation."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 171. "This VIII. lecture is a very important one."--_Ib._, p. 113. "Now read the XI. and XII. lectures _four_ or _five_ times over."--_Ib._, p. 152. "In 1752, he was advanced to the bench, under the title of lord Kames."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 331. "One of his maxims was, 'know thyself.'"--_Lempriere's Dict., n. Chilo._ "Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"--See _Matt._, xix, 16. "His best known works, however, are 'anecdotes of the earl of Chatham,' 2 vols. 4to., 3 vols. 8vo., and 'biographical, literary, and political anecdotes of several of the most eminent persons of the present age; never before printed,' 3 vols. 8vo. 1797."--_Univ. Biog. Dict., n. Almon_. "O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee?"--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 172. "O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse," &c.--SINGER'S SHAK. _Sec. Part of Hen. IV_, Act iii. "Sleep, gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse," &c.--_Dodd's Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 129. "And Peace, O, Virtue! Peace is all thy own."--_Pope's Works_, p. 379. "And peace, O virtue! peace is all thy own."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 16. LESSON III.--MIXED. "Fenelon united the characters of a nobleman and a Christian pastor. His book entitled 'An explication of the Maxims of the Saints concerning the interior life,' gave considerable offence to the guardians of orthodoxy."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 321. "When natural religion, who before was only a spectator, is introduced as speaking by the centurion's voice."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 157. "You cannot deny, that the great mover and author of nature constantly explaineth himself to the eyes of men, by the sensible intervention of arbitrary signs, which have no similitude, or connexion, with the things signified."--_Berkley's Minute Philosopher_, p. 169. "The name of this letter is double U, its form, that of a double V."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 19. "Murray, in his spelling book, wrote 'Charles-Town' with a Hyphen and two Capitals."--See p. 101. "He also wrote 'european' without a capital."--See p. 86. "They profess themselves to be pharisees, who are to be heard and not imitated."--_Calvin's Institutes, Ded._, p. 55. "Dr. Webster wrote both 'Newhaven' and 'Newyork' with single capitals."--See his _American Spelling-Book_, p. 111. "Gayhead, the west point of Martha's Vineyard."--_Williams's Univ. Gaz._ Write "Craborchard, Eggharbor, Longisland, Perthamboy, Westhampton, Littlecompton, Newpaltz, Crownpoint, Fellspoint, Sandyhook, Portpenn, Portroyal. Portobello, and Portorico."--_Webster's American Spelling-Book_, 127-140. Write the names of the months: "january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, october, november, december."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book_, 21-40. Write the following names and words properly: "tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, saturn;--christ, christian, christmas, christendom, michaelmas, indian, bacchanals;--Easthampton, omega, johannes, aonian, levitical, deuteronomy, european."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book, sundry places_. "Eight Letters in some Syllables we find, And no more Syllables in Words are joined." _Brightland's Gram._, p. 61. CHAPTER II.--OF SYLLABLES. A _Syllable_ is one or more letters pronounced in one sound; and is either a word, as, _a, an, ant_; or a part of a word, as _di_ in _dial_. In every word there are as many syllables as there are distinct sounds, or separate impulses of the voice; as, _gram-ma-ri-an_. A word of one syllable is called a _monosyllable_; a word of two syllables, a _dissyllable_; a word of three syllables, a _trissyllable_; and a word of four or more syllables, a _polysyllable_. Every vowel, except _w_, may form a syllable of itself; but the consonants belong to the vowels or diphthongs; and without a vowel no syllable can be formed. DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS. A _diphthong_ is two vowels joined in one syllable; as, _ea_ in _beat, ou_ in _sound_. In _oe_ or _ae_, old or foreign, the characters often unite. A _proper diphthong_ is a diphthong in which both the vowels are sounded; as, _oi_ in _voice, ow_ in _vow_. An _improper diphthong_ is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels is sounded; as, _oa_ in _loaf, eo_ in _people_. A _triphthong_ is three vowels joined in one syllable; as, _eau_ in beau, _iew_ in _view, oeu_ in _manoeuvre_. A _proper triphthong_ is a triphthong in which all the vowels are sounded; as, _uoy_ in _buoy_. An _improper triphthong_ is a triphthong in which only one or two of the vowels are sounded; as, _eau_ in _beauty, iou_ in _anxious_. The diphthongs in English are twenty-nine; embracing all but six of the thirty-five possible combinations of two vowels: _aa, ae, ai, ao, au, aw, ay,--ea, ee, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey,--ia, ie_, (_ii_,) _io_, (_iu, iw, iy_,)--_oa, oe, oi, oo, ou, ow, oy,--ua, ue, ui, uo_, (_uu, uw_,) _uy_. Ten of these diphthongs, being variously sounded, may be either proper or improper; to wit, _ay,--ie,--oi, ou, ow,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_. The proper diphthongs appear to be thirteen; _ay,--ia, ie, io,--oi, ou, ow, oy,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_: of which combinations, only three, _ia, io_, and _oy_, are invariably of this class. The improper diphthongs are twenty-six; _aa, ae, ai, ao, au, aw, ay,--ea, ee, ei, eo, eu, ew, ey,--ie,--oa, oe, oi, oo, ou, ow,--ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_. The only proper triphthong in English is _uoy_, as in _buoy, buoyant, buoyancy_; unless _uoi_ in _quoit_ may be considered a parallel instance. The improper triphthongs are sixteen; _awe, aye,--eau, eou, ewe, eye,--ieu, iew, iou,--oeu, owe,--uai, uaw, uay, uea, uee_. SYLLABICATION. In dividing words into syllables, we are to be directed chiefly by the ear; it may however be proper to observe, as far as practicable, the following rules. RULE I.--CONSONANTS. Consonants should generally be joined to the vowels or diphthongs which they modify in utterance; as, _An-ax-ag'-o-ras, ap-os-tol'-i-cal_.[110] RULE II.--VOWELS. Two vowels, coming together, if they make not a diphthong, must be parted in dividing the syllables; as, _A-cka'-i-a, A-o'-ni-an, a-e'-ri-al_. RULE III.--TERMINATIONS. Derivative and grammatical terminations should generally be separated from the radical words to which they have been added; as, _harm-less, great-ly, connect-ed_: thus _count-er_ and _coun-ter_ are different words. RULE IV.--PREFIXES. Prefixes, in general, form separate syllables; as, _mis-place, out-ride, up-lift_: but if their own primitive meaning be disregarded, the case may be otherwise; thus, _re-create_, and _rec'-reate, re-formation_, and _ref-ormation_, are words of different import. RULE V.--COMPOUNDS. Compounds, when divided, should be divided into the simple words which compose them; as, _boat-swain, foot-hold, never-the-less_. RULE VI.--LINES FULL. At the end of a line, a word may be divided, if necessary; but a syllable must never be broken. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The doctrine of English syllabication is attended with some difficulties; because its purposes are various, and its principles, often contradictory. The old rules, borrowed chiefly from grammars of other languages, and still retained in some of our own, are liable to very strong objections.[111] By aiming to divide on the vowels, and to force the consonants, as much as possible, into the beginning of syllables, they often pervert or misrepresent our pronunciation. Thus Murray, in his Spelling-Book, has "_gra-vel, fi-nish, me-lon, bro-ther, bo-dy, wi-dow, pri-son, a-va-rice, e-ve-ry, o-ran-ges, e-ne-my, me-di-cine, re-pre-sent, re-so-lu-tion_," and a multitude of other words, divided upon a principle by which the young learner can scarcely fail to be led into error respecting their sounds. This method of division is therefore particularly reprehensible in such books as are designed to teach the true pronunciation of words; for which reason, it has been generally abandoned in our modern spelling-books and dictionaries: the authors of which have severally aimed at some sort of compromise between etymology and pronunciation; but they disagree so much, as to the manner of effecting it, that no two of them will be found alike, and very few, if any, entirely consistent with themselves. OBS. 2.--The object of syllabication may be any one of the following four; 1. To enable a child to read unfamiliar words by spelling them; 2. To show the derivation or composition of words; 3. To exhibit the exact pronunciation of words; 4. To divide words properly, when it is necessary to break them at the ends of lines. With respect to the first of these objects, Walker observes, "When a child has made certain advances in reading, but is ignorant of the sound of many of the longer words, it may not be improper to lay down the common general rule to him, that a consonant between two vowels must go to the latter, and that two consonants coming together must be divided. _Farther than this it would be absurd to go with a child_."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 539. Yet, as a caution be it recorded, that, in 1833, an itinerant lecturer from the South, who made it his business to teach what he calls in his title-page, "An _Abridgment_ of Walker's Rules on the Sounds of the Letters,"--an _Abridgement_, which, he says in his preface, "will be found to contain, it is believed, all the important rules that are established by Walker, and to carry his principles _farther_ than he himself has _done_"--befooled the Legislature of Massachusetts, the School Committee and Common Council of Boston, the professor of elocution at Harvard University, and many other equally wise men of the east, into the notion that English pronunciation could be conveniently taught to children, in "four or five days," by means of some three or four hundred rules of which the following is a specimen: "RULE 282. When a single consonant is preceded by a vowel under the preantepenultimate accent, and is followed by a vowel that is succeeded by a consonant, it belongs to the accented vowel."--_Mulkey's Abridgement of Walker's Rules_, p. 34. OBS. 3.--A grosser specimen of literary quackery, than is the publication which I have just quoted, can scarcely be found in the world of letters. It censures "the principles laid down and illustrated by Walker," as "so elaborate and so verbose as to be wearisome to the scholar and useless to the child;" and yet declares them to be, "for the most part, the true rules of pronunciation, according to the analogy of the language."--_Mulkey's Preface_, p. 3. It professes to be an abridgement and simplification of those principles, especially adapted to the wants and capacities of children; and, at the same time, imposes upon the memory of the young learner twenty-nine rules for syllabication, similar to that which I have quoted above; whereas Walker himself, with all his verbosity, expressly declares it "_absurd_," to offer more than one or two, and those of the very simplest character. It is to be observed that the author teaches nothing but the elements of reading; nothing but the sounds of letters and syllables; nothing but a few simple fractions of the great science of grammar: and, for this purpose, he would conduct the learner through the following particulars, and have him remember them all: 1. _Fifteen distinctions_ respecting the "classification and organic formation of the letters." 2. _Sixty-three rules_ for "the sounds of the vowels, according to their relative positions." 3. _Sixty-four explanations_ of "the different sounds of the diphthongs." 4. _Eighty-nine rules_ for "the sounds of the consonants, according to position." 5. _Twenty-three heads_, embracing a hundred and fifty-six principles of accent. 6. _Twenty-nine_ "_rules_ for dividing words into syllables." 7. _Thirty-three "additional principles;"_ which are thrown together promiscuously, because he could not class them. 8. _Fifty-two pages_ of "irregular Words," forming particular exceptions to the foregoing rules. 9. _Twenty-eight pages_ of notes extracted from Walker's Dictionary, and very prettily called "The Beauties of Walker." All this is Walker simplified for children! OBS. 4.--Such is a brief sketch of Mulkey's system of orthoepy; a work in which "he claims to have devised what has heretofore been a _desideratum_--a mode by which children in our common schools may be taught _the rules_ for the pronunciation of their mother tongue."--_Preface_, p. 4. The faults of the book are so exceedingly numerous, that to point them out, would be more toil, than to write an accurate volume of twice the size. And is it possible, that a system like this could find patronage in the metropolis of New England, in that proud centre of arts and sciences, and in the proudest halls of learning and of legislation? Examine the gentleman's credentials, and take your choice between the adoption of his plan, as a great improvement in the management of syllables, and the certain conclusion that great men may be greatly duped respecting them. Unless the public has been imposed upon by a worse fraud than mere literary quackery, the authorities I have mentioned did extensively patronize the scheme; and the Common Council of that learned city did order, November 14th, 1833, "That the School Committee be and they are hereby authorized to employ Mr. William Mulkey to give a course of Lectures on Orthoepy _to the several instructors of the public schools_, and that the sum of five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose, and that the same amount be withdrawn from the reserved fund."--See _Mulkey's Circular_. OBS. 5.--Pronunciation is best taught to children by means of a good spelling-book; a book in which the words are arranged according to their analogies, and divided according to their proper sounds. Vocabularies, dictionaries, and glossaries, may also be serviceable to those who are sufficiently advanced to learn how to use them. With regard to the first of the abovenamed purposes of syllabication, I am almost ready to dissent even from the modest opinion of Walker himself; for ignorance can only guess at the pronunciation of words, till positive instruction comes in to give assurance; and it may be doubted whether even the simple rule or rules suggested by Walker would not about as often mislead the young reader as correct him. With regard to the second purpose, that of showing the derivation or composition of words, it is plain, that etymology, and not pronunciation, must here govern the division; and that it should go no further than to separate the constituent parts of each word; as, _ortho-graphy, theo-logy_. But when we divide for the third purpose, and intend to show what is the pronunciation of a word, we must, if possible, divide into such syllabic sounds as will exactly recompose the word, when put together again; as, _or-thog-ra-phy, the-ol-o-gy_. This being the most common purpose of syllabication, perhaps it would be well to give it a general preference; and adopt it whenever we can, not only in the composing of spelling-books and dictionaries, but also in the dividing of words at the ends of lines. OBS. 6.--Dr. Lowth says, "The best and easiest rule, for dividing the syllables in spelling, is, to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation; without regard to the derivation of words, or the possible combination of consonants at the beginning of a syllable."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 5. And Walker approves of the principle, with respect to the third purpose mentioned above: "This," says that celebrated orthoepist, "is the method adopted by those who would convey the whole sound, by giving distinctly every part; and, when this is the object of syllabication, Dr. Lowth's rule is certainly to be followed."--_Walker's Principles_,--No. 541. But this rule, which no one can apply till he has found out the pronunciation, will not always be practicable where that is known, and perhaps not always expedient where it is practicable. For example: the words _colonel, venison, transition, propitious_, cannot be so divided as to exhibit their pronunciation; and, in such as _acid, magic, pacify, legible, liquidate_, it may not be best to follow the rule, because there is some reasonable objection to terminating the first syllables of these words with _c, g_, and _q_, especially at the end of a line. The rule for terminations may also interfere with this, called "Lowth's;" as in _sizable, rising, dronish_. OBS. 7.--For the dividing of words into syllables, I have given six rules, which are perhaps as many as will be useful. They are to be understood as general principles; and, as to the exceptions to be made in their application, or the settling of their conflicting claims to attention, these may be left to the judgement of each writer. The old principle of dividing by the eye, and not by the ear, I have rejected; and, with it, all but one of the five rules which the old grammarians gave for the purpose. "The divisions of the letters into syllables, should, unquestionably, be the same in written, as in spoken language; otherwise the learner is misguided, and seduced by false representations into injurious errors."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 37. Through the influence of books in which the words are divided according to their sounds, the pronunciation of the language is daily becoming more and more uniform; and it may perhaps be reasonably hoped, that the general adoption of this method of syllabication, and a proper exposition of the occasional errors of ignorance, will one day obviate entirely the objection arising from the instability of the principle. For the old grammarians urged, that the scholar who had learned their rules should "strictly conform to them; and that he should industriously avoid _that random Method of dividing by the Ear_, which is subject to mere jumble, as it must be continually fluctuating according to the various Dialects of different Countries."--_British Grammar_, p. 47. OBS. 8.--The important exercise of oral spelling is often very absurdly conducted. In many of our schools, it may be observed that the teacher, in giving out the words to be spelled, is not always careful to utter them with what he knows to be their true sounds, but frequently accommodates his pronunciation to the known or supposed ignorance of the scholar; and the latter is still more frequently allowed to hurry through the process, without putting the syllables together as he proceeds; and, sometimes, without forming or distinguishing the syllables at all. Merely to pronounce a word and then name its letters, is an exceedingly imperfect mode of spelling; a mode in which far more is lost in respect to accuracy of speech, than is gained in respect to time. The syllables should not only be distinctly formed and pronounced, but pronounced as they are heard in the whole word; and each should be successively added to the preceding syllables, till the whole sound is formed by the reunion of all its parts. For example: _divisibility_. The scholar should say, "Dee I, de; Vee I Ess, viz, de-viz; I, de-viz-e; Bee I Ell, bil, de-viz-e-bil; I, de-viz-e-bil-e; Tee Wy, te, de-viz-e-bil-e-te." Again: _chicanery_. "Cee Aitch I, she; Cee A, ka, she-ka; En E Ar, nur, she-ka-nur; Wy, she-ka-nur-e." One of the chief advantages of oral spelling, is its tendency to promote accuracy of pronunciation; and this end it will reach, in proportion to the care and skill with which it is conducted. But oral spelling should not be relied on as the sole means of teaching orthography. It will not be found sufficient. The method of giving out words for practical spelling on slates or paper, or of reading something which is to be written again by the learner, is much to be commended, as a means of exercising those scholars who are so far advanced as to write legibly. This is called, in the schools, _dictation_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS IN SYLLABICATION. LESSON I.--CONSONANTS. 1. Correct the division of the following words of two syllables: "ci-vil, co-lour, co-py, da-mask, do-zen, e-ver, fea-ther, ga-ther, hea-ven, hea-vy, ho-ney, le-mon, li-nen, mea-dow, mo-ney, ne-ver, o-live, o-range, o-ther, phea-sant, plea-sant, pu-nish, ra-ther, rea-dy, ri-ver, ro-bin, scho-lar, sho-vel, sto-mach, ti-mid, whe-ther."--_Murray's Spelling-Book_, N. Y., 1819, p. 43-50. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the _v_ in _ci-vil_, the _l_ in _co-lour_, the _p_ in _co-py_, &c., are written with the following vowel, but spoken with that which precedes. But, according to Rule 1st, "Consonants should generally be joined to the vowels or diphthongs which they modify in utterance." Therefore, these words should be divided thus: _civ-il, col-our, cop-y_, &c.] 2. Correct the division of the following words of three syllables: "be-ne-fit, ca-bi-net, ca-nis-ter, ca-ta-logue, cha-rac-ter, cha-ri-ty, co-vet-ous, di-li-gence, di-mi-ty, e-le-phant, e-vi-dent, e-ver-green, fri-vo-lous, ga-ther-ing, ge-ne-rous, go-vern-ess, go-vern-or, ho-nes-ty, ka-len-dar, la-ven-der, le-ve-ret, li-be-ral, me-mo-ry, mi-nis-ter, mo-dest-ly, no-vel-ty, no-bo-dy, pa-ra-dise, po-ver-ty, pre-sent-ly, pro-vi-dence, pro-per-ly, pri-son-er, ra-ven-ous, sa-tis-fy, se-ve-ral, se-pa-rate, tra-vel-ler, va-ga-bond;--con-si-der, con-ti-nue, de-li-ver, dis-co-ver, dis-fi-gure, dis-ho-nest, dis-tri-bute, in-ha-bit, me-cha-nic, what-e-ver;--re-com-mend, re-fu-gee, re-pri-mand."--_Murray: ib._, p. 67-83. 3. Correct the division of the following words of four syllables: "ca-ter-pil-lar, cha-ri-ta-ble, di-li-gent-ly, mi-se-ra-ble, pro-fit-a-ble, to-le-ra-ble;--be-ne-vo-lent, con-si-der-ate, di-mi-nu-tive, ex-pe-ri-ment, ex-tra-va-gant, in-ha-bi-tant, no-bi-li-ty, par-ti-cu-lar, pros-pe-ri-ty, ri-di-cu-lous, sin-ce-ri-ty;--de-mon-stra-tion, e-du-ca-tion, e-mu-la-tion, e-pi-de-mic, ma-le-fac-tor, ma-nu-fac-ture, me-mo-ran-dum, mo-de-ra-tor, pa-ra-ly-tic, pe-ni-ten-tial, re-sig-na-tion, sa-tis-fac-tion, se-mi-co-lon."--_Murray: ib._, p. 84-87. 4. Correct the division of the following words of five syllables: "a-bo-mi-na-ble, a-po-the-ca-ry, con-sid-e-ra-ble, ex-pla-na-to-ry, pre-pa-ra-to-ry;--a-ca-de-mi-cal, cu-ri-o-si-ty, ge-o-gra-phi-cal, ma-nu-fac-to-ry, sa-tis-fac-to-ry, me-ri-to-ri-ous;--cha-rac-te-ris-tic, e-pi-gram-ma-tic, ex-pe-ri-ment-al, po-ly-syl-la-ble, con-sid-e-ra-tion." --_Murray: ib._, p. 87-89. 5. Correct the division of the following proper names: "He-len, Leo-nard, Phi-lip, Ro-bert, Ho-race, Tho-mas;--Ca-ro-line, Ca-tha-rine, Da-ni-el, De-bo-rah, Do-ro-thy, Fre-de-rick, I-sa-bel, Jo-na-than, Ly-di-a, Ni-cho-las, O-li-ver, Sa-mu-el, Si-me-on, So-lo-mon, Ti-mo-thy, Va-len-tine;--A-me-ri-ca, Bar-tho-lo-mew, E-li-za-beth, Na-tha-ni-el, Pe-ne-lo-pe, The-o-phi-lus."--_Murray: ib._, p. 98-101. LESSON II.--MIXED. 1. Correct the division of the following words, by Rule 1st: "cap-rice, es-teem, dis-es-teem, ob-lige;--az-ure, mat-ron, pat-ron, phal-anx, sir-en, trait-or, trench-er, barb-er, burn-ish, garn-ish, tarn-ish, varn-ish, mark-et, musk-et, pamph-let;--brave-ry, knave-ry, siave-ry, eve-ning, scene-ry, bribe-ry, nice-ty, chi-cane-ry, ma-chine-ry, im-age-ry;-- as-y-lum, hor-i-zon,--fi-nan-cier, he-ro-ism,--sar-don-yx, scur-ril-ous,-- com-e-di-an, post-e-ri-or."--_Webster's Spelling-Books_. 2. Correct the division of the following words by Rule 2d: "oy-er, fol-io, gen-ial, gen-ius, jun-ior, sa-tiate, vi-tiate;--am-bro-sia, cha-mel-ion, par-hel-ion, con-ven-ient, in-gen-ious, om-nis-cience, pe-cul-iar, so-cia-ble, par-tial-i-ty, pe-cun-ia-ry;--an-nun-ciate, e-nun-ciate, ap-pre-ciate, as-so-ciate, ex-pa-tiate, in-gra-tiate, in-i-tiate, li-cen-tiate, ne-go-tiate, no-vi-ciate, of-fi-ciate, pro-pi-tiate, sub-stan-tiate."--_Webster: Old Spelling-Book_, 86-91; _New_, 121-128. 3. Correct the division of the following words by Rule 3d: "dres-ser, has-ty, pas-try, sei-zure, rol-ler, jes-ter, wea-ver, vam-per, han-dy, dros-sy, glos-sy, mo-ver, mo-ving, oo-zy, ful-ler, trus-ty, weigh-ty, noi-sy, drow-sy, swar-thy."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book_. Again: "eas-tern, full-y, pull-et, rill-et, scan-ty, nee-dy."--_Webster_. 4. Correct the division of the following words by Rule 4th: "aw-ry,"--_Webster's Old Book_, 52; "ath-wart,"--_Ib._, 93; "pros-pect-ive,"--_Ib._, 66; "pa-renth-e-sis,"--_Ib._, 93; "res-ist-i-bil-ity,"--_Webster's New Book_, 93; "hem-is-pher-ic,"--_Ib._, 130; "mo-nos-tich, he-mis-tick," [112]--_Walker's Dict._, 8vo; _Cobb_, 33; "tow-ards,"--_Cobb_, 48. 5. Correct the division of the following words by Rule 5th: "E'n-gland,"--_Murray's Spelling-Book_, p. 100; "a-no-ther,"--_Ib._, 71; "a-noth-er,"--_Emerson_, 76; "Be-thes-da, Beth-a-ba-ra,"--_Webster_, 141; _Cobb_, 159. LESSON III.--MIXED. 1. Correct the division of the following words, according to their derivation: "ben-der, bles-sing, bras-sy, chaf-fy, chan-ter, clas-per, craf-ty, cur-dy, fen-der, fil-my, fus-ty, glas-sy, graf-ter, gras-sy, gus-ty, ban-ded, mas-sy, mus-ky, rus-ty, swel-ling, tel-ler, tes-ted, thrif-ty, ves-ture."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book_. 2. Correct the division of the following words, so as to give no wrong notion of their derivation and meaning: "barb-er, burn-ish, brisk-et, cank-er, chart-er, cuck-oo, furn-ish, garn-ish, guil-ty, hank-er, lust-y, port-al, tarn-ish, test-ate, test-y, trait-or, treat-y, varn-ish, vest-al, di-urn-al, e-tern-al, in-fern-al, in-tern-al, ma-tern-al, noc-turn-al, pa-tern-al."--_Webster's Elementary Spelling-Book_. 3. Correct the division of the following words, so as to convey no wrong idea of their pronunciation: "ar-mo-ry, ar-te-ry, butch-er-y, cook-e-ry, eb-o-ny, em-e-ry, ev-e-ry, fel-o-ny, fop-pe-ry, flip-pe-ry, gal-le-ry, his-to-ry, liv-e-ry. lot-te-ry, mock-e-ry, mys-te-ry, nun-ne-ry, or-re-ry, pil-lo-ry, quack-e-ry, sor-ce-ry, witch-e-ry."--_Ib._, 41-42. 4. Correct the division of the following words, and give to _n_ before _k_ the sound of _ng_: "ank-le, bask-et, blank-et, buck-le, cack-le, crank-le, crink-le, east-er, fick-le, freck-le, knuck-le, mark-et, monk-ey, port-ress, pick-le, poult-ice, punch-eon, qua-drant, qua-drate, squa-dron, rank-le, shack-le, sprink-le, tink-le, twink-le, wrink-le."--_Cobb's Standard Spelling-Book_. 5. Correct the division of the following words, with a proper regard to Rules 1st and 3d: "a-scribe, bland-ish, bran-chy, clou-dy, dus-ty, drea-ry, eve-ning, faul-ty, fil-thy, fros-ty, gau-dy, gloo-my, heal-thy, hear-ken, hear-ty, hoa-ry, lea-ky, loung-er, mar-shy, migh-ty, mil-ky, naugh-ty, pas-sing, pit-cher, rea-dy, roc-ky, spee-dy, stea-dy, stor-my, thirs-ty, thor-ny, trus-ty, ves-try, wes-tern, weal-thy."--_Emerson's Spelling-Book_, 17-44. CHAPTER III.--OF WORDS. A _Word_ is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some idea, or of some manner of thought. Words are distinguished as _primitive_ or _derivative_, and as _simple_ or _compound_. The former division is called their _species_; the latter, their _figure_. A _primitive_ word is one that is not formed from any simpler word in the language; as, _harm, great, connect_. A _derivative_ word is one that is formed from some simpler word in the language; as, _harmless, greatly, connected, disconnect, unconnected_. A _simple_ word is one that is not compounded, not composed of other words; as, _watch, man, house, tower, never, the, less_. A _compound_ word is one that is composed of two or more simple words; as, _watchman, watchhouse, watchtower, nevertheless_. Permanent compounds are consolidated; as, _bookseller, schoolmaster_: others, which may be called temporary compounds, are formed by the hyphen; as, _good-natured, negro-merchant_. _RULES FOR THE FIGURE OF WORDS_. RULE I.--COMPOUNDS. Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart. Thus, _steamboat, railroad, red-hot, well-being, new-coined_, are preferable to the phrases, _steam boat, rail road, red hot, well being, new coined_; and _toward us_ is better than the old phrase, _to us ward_. RULE II.--SIMPLES. When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided. Thus, the compound _instead_ is not to be commended, because the simple phrase, _in stead of_, is exactly like the other phrases, _in lieu of, in place of, in room of_, in which we write no compound. RULE III.--THE SENSE. Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require. Thus, a _glass house_ is a house made of glass, but a _glasshouse_ is a house in which glass is made; so a _negro merchant_ is a coloured trader, but a _negro-merchant_ is a man who buys and sells negroes. RULE IV.--ELLIPSES. When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word. Thus, "_six or seventeen_" should not be said for "_sixteen or seventeen_;" nor ought we to say, "_calf, goat, and sheepskins_" for "_calfskins, goatskins, and sheepskins_" In the latter instance, however, it might be right to separate all the words; as in the phrase, "_soup, coffee_, and _tea_ houses."--_Liberator_, x, 40. RULE V.--THE HYPHEN. When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, as _to-day, to-night, to-morrow_; or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, as _first-born, hanger-on, laughter-loving, garlic-eater, butterfly-shell_, the hyphen should be inserted between them. RULE VI.--NO HYPHEN. When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as _watchword, statesman, gentleman_, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them. Churchill, after much attention to this subject, writes thus: "The practical instruction of the _countinghouse_ imparts a more thorough knowledge of _bookkeeping_, than all the fictitious transactions of a mere _schoolbook_, however carefully constructed to suit particular purposes."--_New Gram._, p. vii. But _counting-house_, having more stress on the last syllable than on the middle one, is usually written with the hyphen; and _book-keeping_ and _school-book_, though they may not need it, are oftener so formed than otherwise. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Words are the least parts of significant language; that is, of language significant in each part; for, to syllables, taken merely as syllables, no meaning belongs. But, to a word, signification of some sort or other, is essential; there can be no word without it; for a sign or symbol must needs represent or signify something. And as I cannot suppose words to represent external things, I have said "A _Word_ is one or more syllables spoken or written as the sign of some _idea_." But of _what_ ideas are the words of our language significant? Are we to say, "Of _all_ ideas;" and to recognize as an English word every syllable, or combination of syllables, to which we know a meaning is attached? No. For this, in the first place, would confound one language with an other; and destroy a distinction which must ever be practically recognized, till all men shall again speak one language. In the next place, it would compel us to embrace among our words an infinitude of terms that are significant only of _local_ ideas, such as men any where or at any time may have had concerning any of the individuals they have known, whether persons, places, or things. But, however important they may be in the eyes of men, the names of particular persons, places, or things, because they convey only particular ideas, do not properly belong to what we call _our language_. Lexicographers do not collect and define proper names, because they are beyond the limits of their art, and can be explained only from history. I do not say that proper names are to be excluded from grammar; but I would show wherein consists the superiority of general terms over these. For if our common words did not differ essentially from proper names, we could demonstrate nothing in science: we could not frame from them any general or affirmative proposition at all; because all our terms would be particular, and not general; and because every individual thing in nature must necessarily be for ever itself only, and not an other. OBS. 2.--Our common words, then, are the symbols neither of external particulars, nor merely of the sensible ideas which external particulars excite in our minds, but mainly of those general or universal ideas which belong rather to the intellect than to the senses. For intellection differs from sensation, somewhat as the understanding of a man differs from the perceptive faculty of a brute; and language, being framed for the reciprocal commerce of human minds, whose perceptions include both, is made to consist of signs of ideas both general and particular, yet without placing them on equal ground. Our general ideas--that is, our ideas conceived as common to many individuals, existing in any part of time, past, present, or future--such, for example, as belong to the words _man, horse, tree, cedar, wave, motion, strength, resist_--such ideas, I say, constitute that most excellent significance which belongs to words primarily, essentially, and immediately; whereas, our particular ideas, such as are conceived only of individual objects, which arc infinite in number and ever fleeting, constitute a significance which belongs to language only secondarily, accidentally, and mediately. If we express the latter at all, we do it either by proper names, of which but very few ever become generally known, or by means of certain changeable limitations which are added to our general terms; whereby language, as Harris observes, "without wandering into infinitude, contrives how to denote things infinite."--_Hermes_, p. 345. The particular manner in which this is done, I shall show hereafter, in Etymology, when I come to treat of articles and definitives. OBS. 3.--If we examine the structure of proper names, we shall find that most of them are compounds, the parts of which have, in very many instances, some general signification. Now a complete phrase commonly conveys some particular notion or conception of the mind; but, in this case, the signification of the general terms is restricted by the other words which are added to them. Thus _smith_ is a more general term than _goldsmith_; and _goldsmith_ is more general than a _goldsmith_; _a goldsmith_, than _the goldsmith_; _the goldsmith_, than _one Goldsmith_; _one Goldsmith_, than _Mr. Goldsmith_; _Mr. Goldsmith_, than _Oliver Goldsmith_. Thus we see that the simplest mode of designating particular persons or objects, is that of giving them _proper names_; but proper names must needs be so written, that they may be known as proper names, and not be mistaken for common terms. I have before observed, that we have some names which are both proper and common; and that these should be written with capitals, and should form the plural regularly. It is surprising that _the Friends_, who are in some respects particularly scrupulous about language, should so generally have overlooked the necessity there is, of _compounding_ their numerical names of the months and days, and writing them uniformly with capitals, as proper names. For proper names they certainly are, in every thing but the form, whenever they are used without the article, and without those other terms which render their general idea particular. And the compound form with a capital, is as necessary for _Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday_, &c., as for _Sunday, Monday, Tuesday_, &c. "The first day of the week,"--"The seventh day of the month,"--"The second month of summer,"--"The second month in the year," &c., are good English phrases, in which any compounding of the terms, or any additional use of capitals, would be improper; but, for common use, these phrases are found too long and too artificial. We must have a less cumbersome mode of specifying the months of the year and the days of the week. What then? Shall we merely throw away the terms of particularity, and, without substituting in their place the form of proper names, apply general terms to particular thoughts, and insist on it that this is right? And is not this precisely what is done by those who reject as heathenish the ordinary names of the months and days, and write "_first day_," for _Sunday_, in stead of "the first day of the week;" or "_second month_," for _February_, in stead of "the second month in the year;" and so forth? This phraseology may perhaps be well understood by those to whom it is familiar, but still it is an abuse of language, because it is inconsistent with the common acceptation of the terms. Example: "The departure of a ship will take place _every sixth day_ with punctuality."--_Philadelphia Weekly Messenger_. The writer of this did not mean, "_every Friday_;" and it is absurd for the Friends so to understand it, or so to write, when that is what they mean. OBS. 4.--In the ordinary business of life, it is generally desirable to express our meaning as briefly as possible; but legal phraseology is always full to the letter, and often redundant. Hence a merchant will write, "Nov. 24, 1837," or, "11 mo. 24th, 1837;" but a conveyancer will have it, "On the twenty-fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven;"--or, perhaps, "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven." Accordingly we find that, in common daily use, all the names of the months, except _March, May, June_, and _July_, are abbreviated; thus, _Jan., Feb., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec_. And sometimes even the Arabic number of the year is made yet shorter; as '37 for 1837; or 1835-6-7, for 1835, 1836, and 1837. In like manner, in constructing tables of time, we sometimes denote the days of the week by the simple initials of their names; as, S. for Sunday, M. for Monday, &c. But, for facility of abbreviation, the numerical names, whether of the months or of the days, are perhaps still more convenient. For, if we please, we may put the simple Arabic figures for them; though it is better to add _d_. for _day_, and _mo._ for _month_: as, 1 d., 2 d., 3 d., &c.;--1 mo., 2 mo., 3 mo., &c.:--or more compactly thus: 1d., 2d., 3d., &c.;--1mo., 2mo., 3mo., &c. But, take which mode of naming we will, our ordinary expression of these things should be in neither extreme, but should avoid alike too great brevity and too great prolixity; and, therefore, it is best to make it a general rule in our literary compositions, to use the full form of proper names for the months and days, and to denote the years by Arabic figures written in full. OBS. 5.--In considering the nature of words, I was once a little puzzled with a curious speculation, if I may not term it an important inquiry, concerning the _principle of their identity_. We often speak of "_the same words_," and of "_different words_;" but wherein does the sameness or the difference of words consist? Not in their pronunciation; for the same word may be differently pronounced; as, _p=at'ron_ or _p=a'tron, m=at'ron_ or _m=a'tron_. Not in their orthography; for the same word may be differently spelled; as, _favour_ or _favor, music_ or _musick, connexion_ or _connection_. Not in their form of presentation; for the same word may be either spoken or written; and speech and writing present what we call _the same words_, in two ways totally different. Not in their meaning; for the same word may have different meanings, and different words may signify precisely the same thing. This sameness of words, then, must consist in something which is to be reconciled with great diversity. Yet every word is itself, and not an other: and every word must necessarily have some property peculiar to itself, by which it may be easily distinguished from every other. Were it not so, language would be unintelligible. But it _is_ so; and, therefore, to mistake one word for an other, is universally thought to betray great ignorance or great negligence, though such mistakes are by no means of uncommon occurrence. But that the question about the identity of words is not a very easy one, may appear from the fact, that the learned often disagree about it in practice; as when one grammarian will have _an_ and _a_ to be two words, and an other will affirm them to be only different forms of one and the same word. OBS. 6.--Let us see, then, if amidst all this diversity we can find that principle of sameness, by which a dispute of this kind ought to be settled. Now, although different words do generally differ in orthography, in pronunciation, and in meaning, so that an entire sameness implies one orthography, one pronunciation, and one meaning; yet some diversity is allowed in each of these respects, so that a sign differing from an other only in one, is not therefore a different word, or a sign agreeing with an other only in one, is not therefore the same word. It follows thence, that the principle of verbal identity, the principle which distinguishes every word from every other, lies in neither extreme: it lies in a narrower compass than in all three, and yet not singly in any one, but jointly in any two. So that signs differing in any two of these characteristics of a word, are different words; and signs agreeing in any two, are the same word. Consequently, if to any difference either of spelling or of sound we add a difference of signification everybody will immediately say, that we speak or write different words, and not the same: thus _dear_, beloved, and _deer_, an animal, are two such words as no one would think to be the same; and, in like manner, _use_, advantage, and _use_, to employ, will readily be called different words. Upon this principle, _an_ and _a_ are different words; yet, in conformity to old usage, and because the latter is in fact but an abridgement of the former, I have always treated them as one and the same article, though I have nowhere expressly called them the same word. But, to establish the principle above named, which appears to me the only one on which any such question can be resolved, or the identity of words be fixed at all, we must assume that every word has one right pronunciation, and only one; one just orthography, and only one; and some proper signification, which, though perhaps not always the same, is always a part of its essence. For when two words of different meaning are spelled or pronounced alike, not to maintain the second point of difference, against the double orthography or the double pronunciation of either, is to confound their identity at once, and to prove by the rule that two different words are one and the same, by first absurdly making them so. OBS. 7.--In no part of grammar is usage more unsettled and variable than in that which relates to the _figure of words_. It is a point of which modern writers have taken but very little notice. Lily, and other ancient Latin grammarians, reckoned both species and figure among the grammatical accidents of nearly all the different parts of speech; and accordingly noticed them, in their Etymology, as things worthy to be thus made distinct topics, like numbers, genders, cases, moods, tenses, &c. But the manner of compounding words in Latin, and also in Greek, is always by consolidation. No use appears to have been made of the _hyphen_, in joining the words of those languages, though the name of the mark is a Greek compound, meaning "_under one_." The compounding of words is one principal means of increasing their number; and the arbitrariness with which that is done or neglected in English, is sufficient of itself to make the number of our words a matter of great uncertainty. Such terms, however, having the advantage of explaining themselves in a much greater degree than others, have little need of definition; and when new things are formed, it is very natural and proper to give them new names of this sort: as, _steamboat, railroad_. The propriety or impropriety of these additions to the language, is not to be determined by dictionaries; for that must be settled by usage before any lexicographer will insert them. And so numerous, after all, are the discrepancies found in our best dictionaries, that many a word may have its day and grow obsolete, before a nation can learn from them the right way of spelling it; and many a fashionable thing may go entirely out of use, before a man can thus determine how to name it. _Railroads_ are of so recent invention that I find the word in only one dictionary; and that one is wrong, in giving the word a hyphen, while half our printers are wrong, in keeping the words separate because _Johnson_ did not compound them. But is it not more important, to know whether we ought to write _railroad_, or _rail-road_, or _rail road_, which we cannot learn from any of our dictionaries, than to find out whether we ought to write _rocklo_, or _roquelo_, or _roquelaur_, or _roquelaure_, which, in some form or other, is found in them all? The duke of Roquelaure is now forgotten, and his cloak is out of fashion. OBS. 8.--No regular phrase, as I have taught in the second rule above, should be needlessly converted into a compound word, either by tacking its parts together with the hyphen, or by uniting them without a hyphen; for, in general, a phrase is one thing, and a word is an other: and they ought to be kept as distinct as possible.[113] But, when a whole phrase takes the relation of an _adjective_, the words must be compounded, and the hyphen becomes necessary; as, "An inexpressibly apt _bottle-of-small-beer_ comparison."--_Peter Pindar_. The occasions for the compounding of words, are in general sufficiently plain, to any one who knows what is intended to be said; but, as we compound words, sometimes with the hyphen, and sometimes without, there is no small difficulty in ascertaining when to use this mark, and when to omit it. "Some settled rule for the use of the hyphen on these occasions, is much wanted. Modern printers have a strange predilection for it; using it on almost every possible occasion. Mr. L. Murray, who has only three lines on the subject, seems inclined to countenance this practice; which is, no doubt, convenient enough for those who do not like trouble. His words are: 'A Hyphen, marked thus - is employed in connecting compounded words: as, Lap-dog, tea-pot, pre-existence, self-love, to-morrow, mother-in-law.' Of his six examples, Johnson, our only acknowledged standard, gives the first and third without any separation between the syllables, _lapdog, preexistence_; his second and fifth as two distinct words each, _tea pot, to morrow_; and his sixth as three words, _mother in law_: so that only his fourth has the sanction of the lexicographer. There certainly can be no more reason for putting a hyphen after the common prefixes, than before the common affixes, _ness, ly_, and the rest."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 374. OBS. 9.--Again: "While it would be absurd, to sacrifice the established practice of all good authors to the ignorance of such readers [as could possibly mistake for a diphthong the two contiguous vowels in such words as _preexistence, cooperate_, and _reenter_]; it would unquestionably be advantageous, to have some principle to guide us in that labyrinth of words, in which the hyphen appears to have been admitted or rejected arbitrarily, or at hap-hazard. Thus, though we find in Johnson, _alms-basket, alms-giver_, with the hyphen; we have _almsdeed, almshouse, almsman_, without: and many similar examples of an unsettled practice might be adduced, sufficient to fill several pages. In this perplexity, is not the pronunciation of the words the best guide? In the English language, every word of more than one syllable is marked by an accent on some particular syllable. Some very long words indeed admit a secondary accent on _another_ syllable; but still this is much inferior, and leaves one leading accent prominent: as in _expos'tulatory_. Accordingly, when a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as _night'cap, bed'stead, broad'sword_, the two words have coalesced completely into one, and no hyphen should be admitted. On the other hand, when each of the radical words has an accent, as _Chris'tian-name', broad'-shoul'dered_, I think the hyphen should be used. _Good'-na'tured_ is a compound epithet with two accents, and therefore requires the hyphen: in _good nature, good will_, and similar expressions, _good_ is used simply as an adjective, and of course should remain distinct from the noun. Thus, too, when a noun is used adjectively, it should remain separate from the noun it modifies; as, a _gold ring_, a _silver buckle_. When two numerals are employed to express a number, without a conjunction between them, it is usual to connect them by a hyphen; as, _twenty-five, eighty-four_: but when the conjunction is inserted, the hyphen is as improper as it would be between other words connected by the conjunction. This, however, is a common abuse; and we often meet with _five-&-twenty, six-&-thirty_, and the like."--_Ib._, p. 376. Thus far Churchill: who appears to me, however, too hasty about the hyphen in compound numerals. For we write _one hundred, two hundred, three thousand_, &c., without either hyphen or conjunction; and as _five-and-twenty_ is equivalent to _twenty-five_, and virtually but one word, the hyphen, if not absolutely necessary to the sense, is certainly not so very improper as he alleges. "_Christian name_" is as often written without the hyphen as with it, and perhaps as accurately. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS IN THE FIGURE, OR FORM, OF WORDS. UNDER RULE I.--OF COMPOUNDS. "Professing to imitate Timon, the man hater."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 161. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the compound term _manhater_ is here made two words. But, according to Rule 1st, "Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart." Therefore, _manhater_ should be written as one word.] "Men load hay with a pitch fork."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 40. "A pear tree grows from the seed of a pear."--_Ib._, p. 33. "A tooth brush is good to brush your teeth."--_Ib._, p. 85. "The mail is opened at the post office."--_Ib._, p. 151. "The error seems to me two fold."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 230. "To pre-engage means to engage before hand."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 82. "It is a mean act to deface the figures on a mile stone."--_Ib._, p. 88. "A grange is a farm and farm house."--_Ib._, p. 118. "It is no more right to steal apples or water melons, than money."--_Ib._, p. 118. "The awl is a tool used by shoemakers, and harness makers."--_Ib._, p. 150. "Twenty five cents are equal to one quarter of a dollar."--_Ib._, p. 107. "The blowing up of the Fulton at New York was a terrible disaster."--_Ib._, p. 54. "The elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu."--SCOTT: 2 _Kings_, x, 5. "Not with eye service, as men pleasers."--_Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 64. "A good natured and equitable construction of cases."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 138. "And purify your hearts, ye double minded."--_Gurney's Portable Evidences_, p. 115. "It is a mean spirited action to steal; i. e. to steal is a mean spirited action."--_Grammar of Alex. Murray, the schoolmaster_, p. 124. "There is, indeed, one form of orthography which is a kin to the subjunctive mood of the Latin tongue."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 71. "To bring him into nearer connexion with real and everyday life."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 459. "The common place, stale declamation of its revilers would be silenced."--_Ib._, i, 494. "She formed a very singular and unheard of project."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 160. "He had many vigilant, though feeble talented, and mean spirited enemies."--ROBERTS VAUX: _The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 74. "These old fashioned people would level our psalmody," &c.--_Music of Nature_, p. 292. "This slow shifting scenery in the theatre of harmony."--_Ib._, p. 398. "So we are assured from Scripture it self."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 300. "The mind, being disheartened, then betakes its self to trifling."--_R. Johnson's Pref. to Gram. Com._ "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them."--_Beacon_, p. 115: SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: _John_, xx, 23. "Tarry we our selves how we will."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 161. "Manage your credit so, that you need neither swear your self, nor want a voucher."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 33. "Whereas song never conveys any of the above named sentiments."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 424. "I go on horse back."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 54. "This requires _purity_, in opposition to barbarous, obsolete, or new coined words."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 242; _Gould's_, 234. "May the Plough share shine."--_White's Eng. Verb_, p. 161. "Which way ever we consider it."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 83. "Where e'er the silent (e) a Place obtains, The Voice foregoing, Length and softness gains." --_Brightland's Gr._, p. 15. UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLES. "It qualifies any of the four parts of speech abovenamed."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 83. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because _abovenamed_ is here unnecessarily made a compound. But, according to Rule 2d, "When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided." Therefore, _above_ and _named_ should here have been written as two words.] "After awhile they put us out among the rude multitude."--_Fox's Journal_. Vol. i, p. 169. "It would be ashame, if your mind should falter and give in."--_Collier's Meditations of Antoninus_, p. 94. "They stared awhile in silence one upon another."--_Rasselas_, p. 73. "After passion has for awhile exercised its tyrannical sway."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 135 and 267. "Though set within the same general-frame of intonation."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 339. "Which do not carry any of the natural vocal-signs of expression."--_Ib._, p. 329. "The measurable constructive-powers of a few associable constituents."--_Ib._, p. 343. "Before each accented syllable or emphatic monosyllabic-word."--_Ib._, p. 364. "One should not think too favourably of oneself."--See _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 154. "Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 355. "I judge not my ownself, for I know nothing of my ownself."-- _Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 84. "Though they were in such a rage, I desired them to tarry awhile."--_Josephus_, Vol. v, p. 179. "_A_ instead of _an_ is now used before words beginning with _a_ long."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 31. "John will have earned his wages the next new-year's day."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 82. "A new-year's-gift is a present made on the first day of the year."--See _Johnson, Walker, Webster, et al._ "When he sat on the throne, distributing new-year's-gifts."--STILLINGFLEET, _in Johnson's Dict._ "St. Paul admonishes Timothy to refuse old-wives'- fables."--_Author_. "The world, take it altogether, is but one."-- _Collier's Antoninus_, B. vii, Sec. 9. "In writings of this stamp we must accept of sound instead of sense."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 298. "A male-child, A female-child, Male-descendants, Female-descendants."-- _Goldsbury's C. S. Gram._, p. 13; _Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 15. "Male-servants, Female-servants. Male-relations, Female-relations."-- _Felton's Gram._, p. 15. "Reserved and cautious, with no partial aim, My muse e'er sought to blast another's fame."--_Lloyd_, p. 162. UNDER RULE III.--THE SENSE. "Our discriminations of this matter have been but four footed instincts."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 291. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the term _four footed_ is made two words, as if the instincts were four and footed. But, according to Rule 3d, "Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together, or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require." Therefore, _four-footed_, as it here means _quadruped_, or _having four feet_, should be one word.] "He is in the right, (says Clytus,) not to bear free born men at his table."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 128. "To the short seeing eye of man, the progress may appear little."--_The Friend_, Vol. ix, p. 377. "Knowledge and virtue are, emphatically, the stepping stone to individual distinction."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 5. "A tin peddler will sell tin vessels as he travels."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 44. "The beams of a wood-house are held up by the posts and joists."--_Ib._, p. 39. "What you mean by _future tense adjective_, I can easily understand."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. ii, p. 450. "The town has been for several days very well behaved."--_Spectator_, No. 532. "A _rounce_ is the handle of a printing press."--_Webster's' Dict._; also _El. Spelling-Book_, p. 118. "The phraseology we call _thee and thouing_ is not in so common use with us, as the _tutoyant_ among the French."--_Walker's Dict., w. Thy._ "Hunting, and other out door sports, are generally pursued."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 227. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden."--SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: _Matt._, xi, 28. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to save it."--_Barclay's Works_, i, p. 71. See SCOTT'S BIBLE: _John_, iii, 16. "Jehovah is a prayer hearing God: Nineveh repented, and was spared."--_N. Y. Observer_, Vol. x, p. 90. "These are well pleasing to God, in all ranks and relations."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 73. "Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle."--_Numb._, xvii, 13. "The words coalesce, when they have a long established association."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 169. "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them."--OLD BIBLE: _Ps._, cxviii, 19. "He saw an angel of God coming into him."--See _Acts_, x, 3. "The consequences of any action are to be considered in a two fold light."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 108. "We commonly write two fold, three fold, four fold, and so on up to ten fold, without a hyphen; and, after that, we use one."--_Author._ See _Matt._, xiii, 8. "When the first mark is going off, he cries _turn!_ the glass holder answers _done!_"--_Bowditch's Nav._, p. 128. "It is a kind of familiar shaking hands with all the vices."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 170. "She is a good natured woman;" "James is self opinionated;" "He is broken hearted."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 147. "These three examples apply to the _present tense_ construction only."--_Ib._, p. 65. "So that it was like a game of hide and go seek."--_Edward's First Lessons in Grammar_, p. 90. "That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his face."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 97. UNDER RULE IV.--OF ELLIPSES. "This building serves yet for a school and a meeting-house." [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the compound word _schoolhouse_ is here divided to avoid a repetition of the last half. But, according to Rule 4th, "When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word." Therefore, "_school_" should be "_schoolhouse_;" thus, "This building serves yet for a _schoolhouse_ and a meeting-house."] "Schoolmasters and mistresses of honest friends [are] to be encouraged."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. xv. "We never assumed to ourselves a faith or worship-making-power."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 83. "Pot and pearl ashes are made from common ashes."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 69. "Both the ten and eight syllable verses are iambics."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 121. "I say to myself, thou, he says to thy, to his self; &c."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii p. 121. "Or those who have esteemed themselves skilful, have tried for the mastery in two or four horse chariots."--_Zenobia_, Vol. i, p. 152. "I remember him barefooted and headed, running through the streets."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 68. "Friends have the entire control of the school and dwelling-houses."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 231. "The meeting is held at the first mentioned place in the first month, at the last in the second, and so on."--_Ib._, p. 167. "Meetings for worship are held at the same hour on first and fourth days."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Every part of it, inside and out, is covered with gold leaf."--_Ib._, p. 404. "The Eastern Quarterly Meeting is held on the last seventh day in second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh month."--_Ib._, p. 87. "Trenton Preparative Meeting is held on the third fifth day in each month, at ten o'clock; meetings for worship at the same hour on first and fifth days."--_Ib._, p. 231. "Ketch, a vessel with two masts, a main and mizzen-mast."--_Webster's Dict._, "I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether nature has enlisted herself as a Cis or Trans-Atlantic partisan?"-- _Jefferson's Notes_, p. 97. "By large hammers, like those used for paper and fullingmills, they beat their hemp."--MORTIMER: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Ant-hill, or Hillock, _n. s._ The small protuberances of earth, in which ants make their nests."--_Ib._ "It became necessary to substitute simple indicative terms called _pro-names_ or _nouns._"--_Enclytica_, p. 16. "Obscur'd, where highest woods, impenetrable To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad."--_Milton._ UNDER RULE V.--THE HYPHEN. "_Evilthinking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _thinking_; singular number;" &c.--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 180. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the word _evilthinking_, which has more than one accented syllable, is here compounded without the hyphen. But, according to Rule 5th, "When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, the hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, the hyphen should be used in this word; thus, _evil-thinking._] "_Evilspeaking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _speaking._"--_Ib._ "I am a tall, broadshouldered, impudent, black fellow."--SPECTATOR: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Ingratitude! thou marblehearted fiend."--SHAK.: _ib._ "A popular licence is indeed the manyheaded tyranny."--SIDNEY: _ib._ "He from the manypeopled city flies."--SANDYS: _ib._ "He manylanguaged nations has surveyed."--POPE: _ib._ "The horsecucumber is the large green cucumber, and the best for the table."--MORTIMER: _ib._ "The bird of night did sit, even at noonday, upon the market-place."--SHAK.: _ib._ "These make a general gaoldelivery of souls, not for punishment."--SOUTH: _ib._ "Thy air, thou other goldbound brow, is like the first."--SHAK.: _ib._ "His person was deformed to the highest degree; flatnosed, and blobberlipped."--L'ESTRANGE: _ib._ "He that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a bloodshedder."--ECCLUS., xxxiv, 22: _ib._ "Bloodyminded, _adj._ from _bloody_ and _mind._ Cruel; inclined to blood-shed."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "Bluntwitted lord, ignoble in demeanour."--SHAK.: _ib._ "A young fellow with a bobwig and a black silken bag tied to it."--SPECTATOR: _ib._ "I have seen enough to confute all the boldfaced atheists of this age."--BRAMHALL: _ib._ "Before milkwhite, now purple with love's wound."--SHAK: _ib._ "For what else is a redhot iron than fire? and what else is a burning coal than redhot wood?"--NEWTON: _ib._ "Pollevil is a large swelling, inflammation, or imposthume in the horse's poll, or nape of the neck just between the ears."--FARRIER: _ib._ "Quick-witted, brazenfac'd, with fluent tongues, Patient of labours, and dissembling wrongs."--DRYDEN: _ib._ UNDER RULE VI.--NO HYPHEN. "From his fond parent's eye a tear-drop fell."--_Snelling's Gift for Scribblers_, p. 43. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the word _tear-drop_, which has never any other than a full accent on the first syllable, is here compounded with the hyphen. But, according to Rule 6th, "When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, _teardrop_ should be made a close compound.] "How great, poor jack-daw, would thy sufferings be!"--_Ib._, p. 29. "Placed like a scare-crow in a field of corn."--_Ib._, p. 39. "Soup for the alms-house at a cent a quart."--_Ib._, p. 23. "Up into the watch-tower get, and see all things despoiled of fallacies."--DONNE: _Johnson's Dict., w. Lattice._ "In the day-time she sitteth in a watchtower, and flieth most by night."--BACON: _ib., w. Watchtower._ "In the daytime Fame sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most by night."--ID.: _ib., w. Daytime._ "The moral is the first business of the poet, as being the ground-work of his instruction."--DRYDEN: _ib., w. Moral._ "Madam's own hand the mouse-trap baited."--PRIOR: _ib., w. Mouse-trap._ "By the sinking of the air-shaft the air hath liberty to circulate."--RAY: _ib., w. Airshaft._ "The multiform and amazing operations of the air-pump and the loadstone."--WATTS: _ib., w. Multiform._ "Many of the fire-arms are named from animals."--_Ib., w. Musket._ "You might have trussed him and all his apparel into an eel-skin."--SHAK.: _ib., w. Truss._ "They may serve as land-marks to shew what lies in the direct way of truth."--LOCKE: _ib., w. Landmark._ "A pack-horse is driven constantly in a narrow lane and dirty road."--_Id. ib., w. Lane._ "A mill-horse, still bound to go in one circle."--SIDNEY: _ib., w. Mill-horse._ "Of singing birds they have linnets, goldfinches, ruddocks, Canary-birds, black-birds, thrushes, and divers others."--CAREW: _ib., w. Goldfinch._ "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers others."--ID.: _ib., w. Blackbird._ "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, ruddocks, canary birds, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers other."--ID.: _ib., w. Canary bird._ "Cartrage, or Cartridge, a case of paper or parchment filled with gun-powder."--_Johnson's Dict._, 4to. "Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire, The tune when screech-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl." SHAKSPEARE: _ib., w. Silent._ "The time when screech-owls cry, and bandogs howl." IDEM.: _ib., w. Bandog._ PROMISCUOUS ERRORS IN THE FIGURE OF WORDS. LESSON I.--MIXED. "They that live in glass-houses, should not throw stones."--_Old Adage._ "If a man profess Christianity in any manner or form soever."--_Watts_, p. 5. "For Cassius is a weary of the world."--SHAKSPEARE: _in Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 67. "By the coming together of more, the chains were fastened on."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 223. "Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."--_Jer._, i, 3. "And the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad."--_Numbers_, xxxiv, 8. "And the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan."--_Ib._, ver. 9. "For the taking place of effects, in a certain particular series."--_Dr. West, on Agency_, p. 39. "The letting go of which was the occasion of all that corruption."--_Dr. J. Owen._ "A falling off at the end always hurts greatly."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 126. "A falling off at the end is always injurious."--_Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 127. "As all holdings forth were courteously supposed to be trains of reasoning."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 333. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."-- _Micah_, v, 2. "Some times the adjective becomes a substantive."-- _Bradley's Gram._, p. 104. "It is very plain, I consider man as visited a new."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 331. "Nor do I any where say, as he falsely insinuates."--_Ib._, p. 331. "Every where, any where, some where, no where."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 55. "The world hurries off a pace, and time is like a rapid river."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 58. "But to now model the paradoxes of ancient skepticism."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. i, p. 102. "The south east winds from the ocean invariably produce rain."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 369. "North west winds from the high lands produce cold clear weather."--_Ib._ "The greatest part of such tables would be of little use to English men."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 155. "The ground floor of the east wing of Mulberry street meeting house was filled."--_The Friend_, vii, 232. "Prince Rupert's Drop. This singular production is made at the glass houses."--_Red Book_, p. 131. "The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife Gives all the strength and colour of our life." --_Murray's Gram._, p. 54; _Fisk's_, 65. LESSON II.--MIXED. "In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah."--_1 Kings_, xvi, 15. "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel."--_Ib._, xvi, 23. "He cannot so deceive himself as to fancy that he is able to do a rule of three sum."--_Foreign Quarterly Review_. "The best cod are those known under the name of Isle of Shoals dun fish."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 26. "The soldiers, with down cast eyes, seemed to beg for mercy."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 142. "His head was covered with a coarse worn out piece of cloth."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Though they had lately received a reinforcement of a thousand heavy armed Spartans."--_Ib._, p. 38. "But he laid them by unopened; and, with a smile, said, 'Business to morrow.'"--_Ib._, p. 7. "Chester monthly meeting is held at Moore's town, the third day following the second second day."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 124. "Eggharbour monthly meeting is held the first second day."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Little Egg Harbour Monthly Meeting is held at Tuckerton on the second fifth day in each month."--_Ib._, p. 231. "At three o'clock, on first day morning the 24th of eleventh month, 1834," &c.--_Ib._, p. 64. "In less than one-fourth part of the time usually devoted."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 4. "The pupil will not have occasion to use it one-tenth part as much."--_Ib._, p. 11. "The painter dips his paint brush in paint, to paint the carriage."--_Ib._, p. 28. "In an ancient English version of the New-Testament."--_Ib._, p. 74. "The little boy was bare headed."--_Red Book_, p. 36. "The man, being a little short sighted, did not immediately know him."--_Ib._, p. 40. "Picture frames are gilt with gold."--_Ib._, p. 44. "The park keeper killed one of the deer."--_Ib._, p. 44. "The fox was killed near the brick kiln."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Here comes Esther, with her milk pail."--_Ib._, p. 50. "The cabinet maker would not tell us."--_Ib._, p. 60. "A fine thorn hedge extended along the edge of the hill."--_Ib._, p. 65. "If their private interests should be ever so little affected."--_Ib._, p. 73. "Unios are fresh water shells, vulgarly called fresh water clams."--_Ib._, p. 102. "Did not each poet mourn his luckless doom, Jostled by pedants out of elbow room."--_Lloyd_, p. 163. LESSON III.--MIXED. "The captive hovers a-while upon the sad remains."--PRIOR: _in Johnson's Dict., w. Hover._ "Constantia saw that the hand writing agreed with the contents of the letter."--ADDISON: _ib., w. Hand_. "They have put me in a silk night-gown, and a gaudy fool's cap."--ID.: _ib., w. Nightgown_. "Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"--ARBUTHNOT: _ib., w. Ninnyhammer_. "A noble, that is, six, shillings and eightpence, is, and usually hath been paid."--BACON: _ib., w. Noble_. "The king of birds thick feather'd and with full-summed wings, fastened his talons east and west."--HOWELL: _ib., w. Full-summed_. "To morrow. This is an idiom of the same kind, supposing _morrow_ to mean originally _morning_: as, _to night, to day_."--_Johnson's Dict._, 4to. "To-day goes away and to-morrow comes."--_Id., ib., w. Go_, No. 70. "Young children, who are try'd in Go carts, to keep their steps from sliding."--PRIOR: _ib., w. Go-cart_. "Which, followed well, would demonstrate them but goers backward."--SHAK.: _ ib., w. Goer_. "Heaven's golden winged herald late he saw, to a poor Galilean virgin sent."--CRASHAW: _ib., w. Golden_. "My penthouse eye-brows and my shaggy beard offend your sight."--DRYDEN: _ib., w. Penthouse_. "The hungry lion would fain have been dealing with good horse-flesh."-- L'ESTRANGE: _ib., w. Nag_. "A broad brimmed hat ensconced each careful head."--_Snelling's Gift_, p. 63. "With harsh vibrations of his three stringed lute."--_Ib._, p. 42. "They magnify a hundred fold an author's merit."--_Ib._, p. 14. "I'll nail them fast to some oft opened door."--_Ib._, p. 10. "Glossed over only with a saint-like show, still thou art bound to vice."--DRYDEN: in _Johnson's Dict., w. Gloss_. "Take of aqua-fortis two ounces, of quick-silver two drachms."--BACON: _ib., w. Charge_. "This rainbow never appears but when it rains in the sun-shine."--NEWTON: _ib., w. Rainbow_. "Not but there are, who merit other palms; Hopkins and Stern hold glad the heart with Psalms." _British Poets_, Lond., 1800, Vol. vi, p. 405. CHAPTER IV.--OF SPELLING. _Spelling_ is the art of expressing words by their proper letters. This important art is to be acquired rather by means of the spelling-book or dictionary, and by observation in reading, than by the study of written rules; because what is proper or improper, depends chiefly upon usage. The orthography of our language is attended with much uncertainty and perplexity: many words are variously spelled by the best scholars, and many others are not usually written according to the analogy of similar words. But to be ignorant of the orthography of such words as are spelled with uniformity, and frequently used, is justly considered disgraceful. The following rules may prevent some embarrassment, and thus be of service to those who wish to be accurate. _RULES FOR SPELLING._ RULE I.--FINAL F, L, OR S. Monosyllables ending in _f, l_, or _s_, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as _staff, mill, pass--muff, knell, gloss--off, hiss, puss_. EXCEPTIONS.--The words _clef, if_, and _of_, are written with single _f_; and _as, gas, has, was, yes, his, is, this, us, pus_, and _thus_, with single _s_. So _bul_, for the flounder; _nul_, for _no_, in law; _sol_, for _sou_ or _sun_; and _sal_, for _salt_, in chemistry, have but the single _l_. OBS.--Because _sal, salis_, in Latin, doubles not the _l_, the chemists write _salify, salifiable, salification, saliferous, saline, salinous, saliniform, salifying_, &c., with single _l_, contrary to Rule 3d. But in _gas_ they ought to double the _s_; for this is a word of their own inventing. Neither have they any plea for allowing it to form _gases_ and _gaseous_ with the _s_ still single; for so they make it violate two general rules at once. If the singular cannot now be written _gass_, the plural should nevertheless be _gasses_, and the adjective should be _gasseous_, according to Rule 3d. RULE II.--OTHER FINALS. Words ending in any other consonant than _f, l_, or _s_, do not double the final letter; as, _mob, nod, dog, sum, sun, cup, cur, cut, fix, whiz_. EXCEPTIONS.--We double the consonant in _abb, ebb, add, odd, egg, jagg, ragg, inn, err, burr, purr, butt, buzz, fuzz, yarr_, and some proper names. But we have also _ab_ (_from_) and _ad_ (_to_) for prefixes; and _jag, rag, in, bur_, and _but_, are other words that conform to the rule. RULE III.--DOUBLING. Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, or by a vowel after _qu_, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel: as, _rob, robbed, robber; fop, foppish, foppery; squat, squatter, squatting; thin, thinner, thinnest; swim, swimmer, swimming; commit, committeth, committing, committed, committer, committees; acquit, acquittal, acquittance, acquitted, acquitting, acquitteth_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. X final, being equivalent to _ks_, is never doubled: thus, from _mix_, we have _mixed, mixing_, and _mixer_. 2. When the derivative retains not the accent of the root, the final consonant is not always doubled: as, _prefer', pref'erence, pref'erable; refer', ref'erence, ref'erable_, or _refer'rible; infer', in'ference, in'ferable_, or _infer'rible; transfer'_, a _trans'fer, trans'ferable_, or _transfer'rible_. 3. But letters doubled in Latin, are usually doubled in English, without regard to accent, or to any other principle: as, Britain, _Britan'nic, Britannia_; appeal, _appel'lant_; argil, _argil'laus, argilla'ceous_; cavil, _cav'illous, cavilla'tion_; excel', _ex'cellent, ex'cellence_; inflame', _inflam'mable, inflamma'tion_. See Observations 13 and 14, p. 199. RULE IV.--NO DOUBLING. A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable: as, _toil, toiling; oil, oily; visit, visited; differ, differing; peril, perilous; viol, violist; real, realize, realist; dial, dialing, dialist; equal, equalize, equality; vitriol, vitriolic, vitriolate_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. The final _l_ of words ending in _el_, must be doubled before an other vowel, lest the power of the _e_ be mistaken, and a syllable be lost: as, _travel, traveller; duel, duellist; revel, revelling; gravel, gravelly; marvel, marvellous_. Yet the word _parallel_, having three Ells already, conforms to the rule in forming its derivatives; as, _paralleling, paralleled_, and _unparalleled_. 2. Contrary to the preceding rule, the preterits, participles, and derivative nouns, of the few verbs ending in _al, il_, or _ol_, unaccented,--namely, _equal, rival, vial, marshal, victual, cavil, pencil, carol, gambol_, and _pistol_,--are usually allowed to double the _l_, though some dissent from the practice: as, _equalled, equalling; rivalled, rivalling; cavilled, cavilling, caviller; carolled, carolling, caroller_. 3. When _ly_ follows _l_, we have two Ells of course, but in fact no doubling: as, _real, really; oral, orally; cruel, cruelly; civil, civilly; cool, coolly; wool, woolly_. 4. Compounds, though they often remove the principal accent from the point of duplication, always retain the double letter: as, _wit'snapper, kid'napper,[114] grass'hopper, duck'-legged, spur'galled, hot'spurred, broad'-brimmed, hare'-lipped, half-witted_. So, _compromitted_ and _manumitted_; but _benefited_ is different. RULE V.--FINAL CK. Monosyllables and English verbs end not with _c_, but take _ck_ for double _c_; as, _rack, wreck, rock, attack_: but, in general, words derived from the learned languages need not the _k_, and common use discards it; as, _Italic, maniac, music, public_. EXCEPTIONS.--The words _arc_, part of a circle; _orc_, the name of a fish; _lac_, a gum or resin; and _sac_, or _soc_, a privilege, in old English law, are ended with _c_ only. _Zinc_ is, perhaps, better spelled _zink_; _marc, mark_; _disc, disk_; and _talc, talck_. RULE VI.--RETAINING. Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double before any additional termination, not beginning with the same letter;[115] as in the following derivatives: _wooer, seeing, blissful, oddly, gruffly, equally, shelly, hilly, stiffness, illness, stillness, shrillness, fellness, smallness, drollness, freeness, grassless, passless, carelessness, recklessness, embarrassment, enfeoffment, agreement, agreeable_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. Certain irregular derivatives in _d_ or _t_, from verbs ending in _ee, ll_, or _ss_, (as _fled_ from _flee, sold_ from _sell, told_ from _tell, dwelt_ from _dwell, spelt_ from _spell, spilt_ from _spill, shalt_ from _shall, wilt_ from _will, blest_ from _bless, past_ from _pass_,) are exceptions to the foregoing rule. 2. If the word _pontiff_ is properly spelled with two Effs, its eight derivatives are also exceptions to this rule; for they are severally spelled with one; as, _pontific, pontifical, pontificate_, &c. 3. The words _skillful, skillfully, willful, willfully, chillness, tallness, dullness_, and _fullness_, have generally been allowed to drop the second _l_, though all of them might well be made to conform to the general rule, agreeably to the orthography of Webster. RULE VII.--RETAINING. Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double in all derivatives formed from them by means of prefixes: as, _see, foresee_; _feoff, enfeoff_; _pass, repass_; _press, depress_; _miss, amiss_; _call, recall_; _stall, forestall_; _thrall, inthrall_; _spell, misspell_; _tell, foretell_; _sell, undersell_; _add, superadd_; _snuff, besnuff_; _swell, overswell_. OBSERVATION.--The words _enroll, unroll, miscall, befall, befell, bethrall, reinstall, disinthrall, fulfill_, and _twibill_, are very commonly written with one _l_, and made exceptions to this rule; but those authors are in the right who retain the double letter. RULE VIII.--FINAL LL. Final _ll_ is peculiar to monosyllables and their compounds, with the few derivatives formed from such roots by prefixes; consequently, all other words that end in _l_, must be terminated with a single _l_: as, _cabal, logical, appal, excel, rebel, refel, dispel, extol, control, mogul, jackal, rascal, damsel, handsel, tinsel, tendril, tranquil, gambol, consul_. OBSERVATION.--The words _annul, until, distil, extil_, and _instil_, are also properly spelled with one _l_; for the monosyllables _null, till_, and _still_ are not really their roots, but rather derivatives, or contractions of later growth. Webster, however, prefers _distill, extill_, and _instill_ with _ll_; and some have been disposed to add the other two. RULE IX.--FINAL E. The final _e_ of a primitive word, when this letter is mute or obscure, is generally omitted before an additional termination beginning with a vowel: as, _remove, removal_; _rate, ratable_; _force, forcible_; _true, truism_; _rave, raving_; _sue, suing_; _eye, eying_; _idle, idling_; _centre, centring_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. Words ending in _ce_ or _ge_, retain the _e_ before _able_ or _ous_, to preserve the soft sounds of _c_ and _g_: as, _trace, traceable_; _change, changeable_; _outrage, outrageous_. 2. So, from _shoe_, we write _shoeing_, to preserve the sound of the root; from _hoe, hoeing_, by apparent analogy; and, from _singe, singeing_; from _swinge, swingeing_; from _tinge, tingeing_; that they may not be confounded with _singing, swinging_, and _tinging_. 3. To compounds and prefixes, as _firearms, forearm, anteact, viceagent_, the rule does not apply; and final _ee_ remains double, by Rule 6th, as in _disagreeable, disagreeing_. RULE X.--FINAL E. The final _e_ of a primitive word is generally retained before an additional termination beginning with a consonant: as, _pale, paleness_; _edge, edgeless_; _judge, judgeship_; _lodge, lodgement_; _change, changeful_; _infringe, infringement_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. When the _e_ is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omitted; as in _duly, truly, awful, argument_; but much more frequently retained; as in _dueness, trueness, blueness, bluely, rueful, dueful, shoeless, eyeless_. 2. The word _wholly_ is also an exception to the rule, for nobody writes it _wholely_. 3. Some will have _judgment, abridgment_, and _acknowledgment_, to be irreclaimable exceptions; but I write them with the _e_, upon the authority of Lowth, Beattie, Ainsworth, Walker, Cobb, Chalmers, and others: the French "_jugement_," _judgement_, always retains the _e_. RULE XI--FINAL Y. The final _y_ of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into _i_ before an additional termination: as, _merry, merrier, merriest, merrily, merriment_; _pity, pitied, pities, pitiest, pitiless, pitiful, pitiable_; _contrary, contrariness, contrarily_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. This rule applies to derivatives, but not to compounds: thus, we write _merciful_, and _mercy-seat_; _penniless_, and _pennyworth_; _scurviness_, and _scurvy-grass_; &c. But _ladyship_ and _goodyship_, being unlike _secretariship_ and _suretiship_; _handicraft_ and _handiwork_,[116] unlike _handygripe_ and _handystroke_; _babyship_ and _babyhood_, unlike _stateliness_ and _likelihood_; the distinction between derivatives and compounds, we see, is too nice a point to have been always accurately observed. 2. Before _ing_ or _ish_, the _y_ is retained to prevent the doubling of _i_: as, _pity, pitying_; _baby, babyish_. 3. Words ending in _ie_, dropping the _e_ by Rule 9th, change the _i_ into _y_, for the same reason: as, _die, dying_; _vie, vying_; _lie, lying_. RULE XII--FINAL Y. The final _y_ of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into _i_ before any additional termination: as, _day, days_; _key, keys_; _guy, guys_; _valley, valleys_; _coy, coyly_; _cloy, cloys, cloyed_; _boy, boyish, boyhood_; _annoy, annoyer, annoyance_; _joy, joyless, joyful_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. From _lay, pay, say_, and _stay_, are formed _laid, paid, said_, and _staid_; but the regular words, _layed, payed, stayed_, are sometimes used. 2. _Raiment_, contracted from _arrayment_, is never written with the _y_. 3. _Daily_ is more common than the regular form _dayly_; but _gayly, gayety_, and _gayness_, are justly superseding _gaily_ and _gaiety_. RULE XIII.--IZE AND ISE. Words ending in _ize_ or _ise_ sounded alike, as in _wise_ and _size_, generally take the _z_ in all such as are essentially formed by means of the termination; and the _s_ in monosyllables, and all such as are essentially formed by means of prefixes: as, _gormandise, apologize, brutalize, canonize, pilgrimize, philosophize, cauterize, anathematize, sympathize, disorganize_, with _z_;[117] _rise, arise, disguise, advise, devise, supervise, circumcise, despise, surmise, surprise, comprise, compromise, enterprise, presurmise_, with _s_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. _Advertise, catechise, chastise, criticise_,[118] _exercise, exorcise_, and _merchandise_, are most commonly written with _s_ and _size, assize, capsize, analyze, overprize, detonize_, and _recognize_, with _z_. How many of them are real exceptions to the rule, it is difficult to say. 2. _Prise_, a thing taken, and _prize_, to esteem; _apprise_, to inform, and _apprize_, to _value_, or _appraise_, are often written either way, without this distinction of meaning, which some wish to establish. 3. The want of the foregoing rule has also made many words _variable_, which ought, unquestionably, to conform to the general principle. RULE XIV.--COMPOUNDS. Compounds generally retain the orthography of the simple words which compose them: as, _wherein, horseman, uphill, shellfish, knee-deep, kneedgrass, kneading-trough, innkeeper, skylight, plumtree, mandrill_. EXCEPTIONS.--1. In permanent compounds, or in any derivatives of which, they are not the _roots_, the words _full_ and _all_ drop one _l_; as, _handful, careful, fulfil, always, although, withal_; in temporary compounds, they retain both; as, _full-eyed, chock-full_,[119] _all-wise, save-all_. 2. So the prefix _mis_, (if from _miss_, to err,) drops one _s_; but it is wrong to drop them both, as in Johnson's "_mispell_" and "_mispend_," for _misspell_ and _misspend_. 3. In the names of days, the word _mass_ also drops one _s_; as, _Christmas, Candlemas, Lammas_. 4. The possessive case often drops the apostrophe; as in _herdsman, kitesfoot_. 5. One letter is dropped, if three of the same kind come together: as, _Rosshire, chaffinch_; or else a hyphen is used: as, _Ross-shire, ill-looking, still-life_. 6. _Chilblain, welcome_, and _welfare_, drop one _l_. 7. _Pastime_ drops an _s_. 8. _Shepherd, wherever_, and _whosever_, drop an _e_; and _wherefore_ and _therefore_ assume one. RULE XV.--USAGE. Any word for the spelling of which we have no rule but usage, is written wrong if not spelled according to the usage which is most common among the learned: as, "The brewer grinds his malt before he _brues_ his beer."--_Red Book_, p. 38. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The foregoing rules aim at no wild and impracticable reformation of our orthography; but, if carefully applied, they will do much to obviate its chief difficulties. Being made variable by the ignorance of some writers and the caprice of others, our spelling is now, and always has been, exceedingly irregular and unsettled. Uniformity and consistency can be attained in no other way, than by the steady application of rules and principles; and these must be made as few and as general as the case will admit, that the memory of the learner may not be overmatched by their number or complexity. Rules founded on the analogy of similar words, and sanctioned by the usage of careful writers, must be taken as our guides; because common practice is often found to be capricious, contradictory, and uncertain. That errors and inconsistencies abound, even in the books which are proposed to the world as _standards_ of English orthography, is a position which scarcely needs proof. It is true, to a greater or less extent, of all the spelling-books and dictionaries that I have seen, and probably of all that have ever been published. And as all authors are liable to mistakes, which others may copy, general rules should have more weight than particular examples to the contrary. "The right spelling of a word may be said to be that which agrees the best with its pronunciation, its etymology, and with the analogy of the particular class of words to which it belongs."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 647. OBS. 2.--I do not deny that great respect is due to the authority of our lexicographers, or that great improvement was made in the orthography of our language when Dr. Johnson put his hand to the work. But sometimes one man's authority may offset an other's; and he that is inconsistent with himself, destroys his own: for, surely, his example cannot be paramount to his principles. Much has been idly said, both for and against the adoption of Johnson's Dictionary, or Webster's, as _the criterion_ of what is right or wrong in spelling; but it would seem that no one man's learning is sufficiently extensive, or his memory sufficiently accurate, to be solely relied on to furnish _a standard_ by which we may in all cases be governed. Johnson was generally right; but, like other men, he was sometimes wrong. He erred sometimes in his _principles_, or in their application; as when he adopted the _k_ in such words as _rhetorick_, and _demoniack_; or when he inserted the _u_ in such words as _governour, warriour, superiour_. Neither of these modes of spelling was ever generally adopted, in any thing like the number of words to which he applied them; or ever will be; though some indiscreet compilers are still zealously endeavouring to impose them upon the public, as the true way of spelling. He also erred sometimes _by accident_, or _oversight_; as when he spelled thus: "_recall_ and _miscal, inthrall_ and _bethral, windfall_ and _downfal, laystall_ and _thumbstal, waterfall_ and _overfal, molehill_ and _dunghil, windmill_ and _twibil, uphill_ and _downhil_." This occasional excision of the letter _l_ is reprehensible, because it is contrary to general analogy, and because both letters are necessary to preserve the sound, and show the derivation of the compound. Walker censures it as a "ridiculous irregularity," and lays the blame of it on the "_printers_," and yet does not venture to correct it! See Johnson's Dictionary, first American edition, quarto; Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary, under the word _Dunghil_; and his Rhyming Dictionary, Introd., p. xv. OBS. 3.--"Dr. Johnson's Dictionary" has been represented by some as having "nearly fixed the external form of our language." But Murray, who quotes this from Dr. Nares, admits, at the same time, that, "The orthography of a great number of English words, is far from being uniform, even amongst writers of distinction."--_Gram._, p. 25. And, after commending this work of Johnson's, as A STANDARD, from which, "it is earnestly to be hoped, that no author will henceforth, on light grounds, be tempted to innovate," he adds, "This Dictionary, however, contains some orthographical inconsistencies which ought to be rectified: such as, _immovable, moveable; chastely, chastness; fertileness, fertily; sliness, slyly; fearlessly, fearlesness; needlessness, needlesly_."--_Ib._ In respect to the final _ck_ and _our_, he also _intentionally departs from_ THE STANDARD _which he thus commends_; preferring, in that, the authority of _Walker's Rhyming Dictionary_, from which he borrowed his rules for spelling. For, against the use of _k_ at the end of words from the learned languages, and against the _u_ in many words in which Johnson used it, we have the authority, not only of general usage now, but of many grammarians who were contemporary with Johnson, and of more than a dozen lexicographers, ancient or modern, among whom is Walker himself. In this, therefore, Murray's practice is right, and his commended standard dictionary, wrong. OBS. 4.--Of words ending in _or_ or _our_, we have about three hundred and twenty; of which not more than forty can now with any propriety be written with the latter termination. Aiming to write according to the best usage of the present day, I insert the _u_ in so many of these words as now seem most familiar to the eye when so written; but I have no partiality for any letters that can well be spared; and if this book should ever, by any good fortune, happen to be reprinted, after _honour, labour, favour, behaviour_, and _endeavour_, shall have become as unfashionable as _authour, errour, terrour_, and _emperour_, are now, let the proof-reader strike out the useless letter not only from these words, but from all others which shall bear an equally antiquated appearance. OBS. 5.--I have suggested the above-mentioned imperfections in _Dr. Johnson's_ orthography, merely to justify the liberty which I take of spelling otherwise; and not with any view to give a preference to that of _Dr. Webster_, who is now contending for the honour of having furnished a more correct _standard_. For the latter author, though right in some things in which the former was wrong, is, on the whole, still more erroneous and inconsistent. In his various attempts at reformation in our orthography, he has spelled many hundreds of words in such a variety of ways, that he knows not at last which of them is right, and which are wrong. But in respect to _definitions_, he has done good service to our literature; nor have his critics been sufficiently just respecting what they call his "innovations." See Cobb's Critical Review of the Orthography of Webster. To omit the _k_ from such words as _publick_, or the _u_ from such as _superiour_, is certainly _no innovation_; it is but ignorance that censures the general practice, under that name. The advocates for Johnson and opponents of Webster, who are now so zealously stickling for the _k_ and the _u_ in these cases, ought to know that they are contending for what was obsolete, or obsolescent, when Dr. Johnson was a boy. OBS. 6.--I have before observed that some of the grammarians who were contemporary with Johnson, did not adopt his practice respecting the _k_ or the _u_, in _publick, critick, errour, superiour_, &c. And indeed I am not sure there were any who did. Dr. Johnson was born in 1709, and he died in 1784. But Brightland's Grammar, which was written during the reign of Queen Anne, who died in 1714, in treating of the letter C, says, "If in any Word the harder Sound precedes (_e_), (_i_), or (_y_), (_k_) is either added or put in its Place; as, _Skill, Skin, Publick_: And tho' the additional (_k_) in the foregoing Word be an _old Way_ of Spelling, yet it is now very justly left off, as being a superfluous Letter; for (_c_) at the End is always hard."--Seventh Edition, Lond., 1746, p. 37. OBS. 7.--The three grammars of Ash, Priestley, and Lowth, all appeared, in their first editions, about one time; all, if I mistake not, in the year 1763; and none of these learned doctors, it would seem, used the mode of spelling now in question. In Ash, of 1799, we have such orthography as this: "Italics, public, domestic, our traffic, music, quick; error, superior, warrior, authors, honour, humour, favour, behaviour." In Priestley, of 1772: "Iambics, dactyls, dactylic, anapaestic, monosyllabic, electric, public, critic; author, emperor's, superior; favour, labours, neighbours, laboured, vigour, endeavour; meagre, hillock, bailiwick, bishoprick, control, travelling." In Lowth, of 1799: "Comic, critic, characteristic, domestic; author, _favor, favored, endeavored, alledging_, foretells." Now all these are words in the spelling of which Johnson and Webster contradict each other; and if they are not all right, surely they would not, on the whole, be made more nearly right, by being conformed to either of these authorities exclusively. For THE BEST USAGE is the ultimate rule of grammar. OBS. 8.--The old British Grammar, written before the American Revolution, and even before "_the learned Mr. Samuel Johnson_" was doctorated, though it thus respectfully quotes that great scholar, does not follow him in the spelling of which I am treating. On the contrary, it abounds with examples of words ending in _ic_ and _or_, and not in _ick_ and _our_, as he wrote them; and I am confident, that, from that time to this, the former orthography has continued to be _more common than his_. Walker, the orthoepist, who died in 1807, yielded the point respecting the _k_, and ended about four hundred and fifty words with _c_ in his Rhyming Dictionary; but he thought it more of an innovation than it really was. In his Pronouncing Dictionary, he says, "It has been a custom, _within these twenty years_, to omit the _k_ at the end of words, when preceded by _c_. This has introduced a _novelty_ into the language, which is that of ending a word with an unusual letter," &c. "This omission of _k_ is, however, too general to be counteracted, even by the authority of Johnson; but it is to be hoped it will be confined to words from the learned languages."-- _Walker's Principles of Pronunciation_, No. 400. The tenth edition of Burn's Grammar, dated 1810, says, "It has become customary to omit _k_ after _c_ at the end of dissyllables and trisyllables, &c. as _music, arithmetic, logic_; but the _k_ is retained in monosyllables; as, _back, deck, rick_, &c."--P. 25. James Buchanan, of whose English Syntax there had been five American editions in 1792, added no _k_ to such words as _didactic, critic, classic_, of which he made frequent use; and though he wrote _honour, labour_, and the like, with _u_, as they are perhaps most generally written now, he inserted no _u_ in _error, author_, or any of those words in which that letter would now be inconsistent with good taste. OBS. 9.--Bicknell's Grammar, of 1790, treating of the letter _k_, says, "And for the same reason we have _dropt_ it at the end of words after _c_, which is there always hard; as in _publick, logick_, &c. which are more elegantly written _public, logic_."--Part ii, p. 13. Again: "It has heretofore joined with _c_ at the end of words; as _publick, logick_; but, as before observed, being there quite superfluous, it is now left out"--_Ib._, p. 16. Horne Tooke's orthography was also agreeable to the rule which I have given on this subject. So is the usage of David Booth: "Formerly a _k_ was added, as, _rustick, politick, Arithmetick_, &c. but this is now in disuse."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, Lond., 1814, p. 80. OBS. 10.--As the authors of many recent spelling-books--Cobb, Emerson, Burhans, Bolles, Sears, Marshall, Mott, and others--are now contending for this "_superfluous letter_," in spite of all the authority against it, it seems proper briefly to notice their argument, lest the student be misled by it. It is summed up by one of them in the following words: "In regard to _k_ after _c_ at the end of words, it may be sufficient to say, that its omission has never been attempted, except in a _small portion_ of the cases _where_ it occurs; and that _it_ tends to an erroneous pronunciation of derivatives, as in _mimick, mimicking_, where, if the _k_ were omitted, _it_ would read mimicing; and as _c_ before _i_ is always sounded like _s, it_ must be pronounced _mimising_. Now, since _it_ is never omitted in monosyllables, _where it_ most frequently occurs, as in _block, clock_, &c., and _can be in a part only_ of polysyllables, it is thought better to preserve it in all cases, by _which_ we have one general rule, in place of several irregularities and exceptions that must follow its partial omission."--_Bolles's Spelling-Book_, p. 2. I need not tell the reader that these two sentences evince great want of care or skill in the art of grammar. But it is proper to inform him, that we have in our language eighty-six monosyllables which end with _ck_, and from them about fifty compounds or derivatives, which of course keep the same termination. To these may be added a dozen or more which seem to be of doubtful formation, such as _huckaback, pickapack, gimcrack, ticktack, picknick, barrack, knapsack, hollyhock, shamrock, hammock, hillock, hammock, bullock, roebuck_. But the verbs on which this argument is founded are only six; _attack, ransack, traffick, frolick, mimick_, and _physick_; and these, unquestionably, must either be spelled with the k, or must assume it in their derivatives. Now that useful class of words which are generally and properly written with final _c_, are about _four hundred and fifty_ in number, and are all of them either adjectives or nouns of regular derivation from the learned languages, being words of more than one syllable, which have come to us from Greek or Latin roots. But what has the doubling of _c_ by _k_, in our native monosyllables and their derivatives, to do with all these words of foreign origin? For the reason of the matter, we might as well double the _l_, as our ancestors did, in _naturall, temporall, spirituall_, &c. OBS. 11.--The learner should observe that some letters incline much to a duplication, while gome others are doubled but seldom, and some, never. Thus, among the vowels, _ee_ and _oo_ occur frequently; _aa_ is used sometimes; _ii_, never--except in certain Latin words, (wherein the vowels are separately uttered,) such as _Horatii, Veii, iidem, genii_. Again, the doubling of _u_ is precluded by the fact that we have a distinct letter called _Double-u_, which was made by joining two Vees, or two Ues, when the form for _u_ was _v_. So, among the consonants, _f, l, and s_, incline more to duplication, than any others. These letters are double, not only at the end of those monosyllables which have but one vowel, as _staff, mill, pass_; but also under some other circumstances. According to general usage, final _f_ is doubled after a single vowel, in almost all cases; as in _bailiff, caitiff, plaintiff, midriff, sheriff, tariff, mastiff_: yet not in _calif_, which is perhaps better written _caliph_. Final _l_, as may be seen by Rule 8th, admits not now of a duplication like this; but, by the exceptions to Rule 4th, it is frequently doubled when no other consonant would be; as in _travelling, grovelling_; unless, (contrary to the opinion of Lowth, Walker, and Webster,) we will have _fillipping, gossipping_, and _worshipping_, to be needful exceptions also. OBS. 12.--Final _s_ sometimes occurs single, as in _alas, atlas, bias_; and especially in Latin words, as _virus, impetus_; and when it is added to form plurals, as _verse, verses_: but this letter, too, is generally doubled at the end of primitive words of more than one syllable; as in _carcass, compass, cuirass, harass, trespass, embarrass_. On the contrary, the other consonants are seldom doubled, except when they come under Rule 3d. The letter _p_, however, is commonly doubled, in some words, even when it forms a needless exception to Rule 4th; as in the derivatives from _fillip, gossip_, and perhaps also _worship_. This letter, too, was very frequently doubled in Greek; whence we have, from the name of Philip of Macedon, the words _Philippic_ and _Philippize_, which, if spelled according to our rule for such derivatives, would, like _galloped_ and _galloper, siruped_ and _sirupy_, have but one _p_. We find them so written in some late dictionaries. But if _fillipped, gossipped_, and _worshipped_, with the other derivatives from the same roots, are just and necessary exceptions to Rule 4th, (which I do not admit,) so are these; and for a much stronger reason, as the classical scholar will think. In our language, or in words purely English, the letters _h, i, j, k, q, v, w, x_, and _y_, are, properly speaking, never doubled. Yet, in the forming of _compounds_, it may possibly happen, that two Aitches, two Kays, or even two Double-ues or Wies, shall come together; as in _withhold, brickkiln, slowwoorm, bayyarn_. OBS. 13.--There are some words--as those which come from _metal, medal, coral, crystal, argil, axil, cavil, tranquil, pupil, papil_--in which the classical scholar is apt to violate the analogy of English derivation, by doubling the letter _l_, because he remembers the _ll_ of their foreign roots, or their foreign correspondents. But let him also remember, that, if a knowledge of etymology may be shown by spelling metallic, metalliferous, metallography, metallurgic, metallurgist, metallurgy, medallic, medallion, crystallize, crystalline, argillous, argillaceous, axillar, axillary, cavillous, cavillation, papillate, papillous, papillary, tranquillity, and pupillary, with double _l_, ignorance of it must needs be implied in spelling metaline, metalist, metaloid, metaloidal, medalist, coralaceous, coraline, coralite, coralinite, coraloid, coraloidal, crystalite, argilite, argilitic, tranquilize, and pupilage, in like manner. But we cannot well double the _l_ in the former, and not in the latter words. Here is a choice of difficulties. Etymology must govern orthography. But what etymology? our own, or that which is foreign? If we say, both, they disagree; and the mere English scholar cannot know when, or how far, to be guided by the latter. If a Latin diminutive, as _papilla_ from _papula_ or _papa, pupillus_ from _pupus_, or _tranquillus_ from _trans_ and _quietus_, happen to double an _l_, must we forever cling to the reduplication, and that, in spite of our own rules to the contrary? Why is it more objectionable to change _pupillaris_ to _pupilary_, than _pupillus_ to _pupil_? or, to change _tranquillitas_ to _tranquility_, than _tranquillus_ to _tranquil_? And since _papilous, pupilage_, and _tranquilize_ are formed from the English words, and not directly from the Latin, why is it not as improper to write them with double _l_, as to write _perilous, vassalage_, and _civilize_, in the same manner? OBS. 14.--If the practice of the learned would allow us to follow the English rule here, I should incline to the opinion, that all the words which I have mentioned above, ought to be written with single _l_. Ainsworth exhibits the Latin word for _coral_ in four forms, and the Greek word in three. Two of the Latin and two of the Greek have the _l_ single; the others double it. He also spells "_coraliticus_" with one _l_, and defines it "A sort of white marble, called _coraline_." [120] The Spaniards, from whose _medalla_, we have _medal_; whose _argil_[121] is _arcilla_, from the Latin _argilla_; and to whose _cavilar_, Webster traces _cavil_; in all their derivatives from these Latin roots, _metallum_, metal--_coralium, corallium, curalium_, or _corallum_, coral--_crystallus_ or _crystallum_, crystal--_pupillus_, pupil--and _tranquillus_, tranquil--follow their own rules, and write mostly with single _l_: as, _pupilero_, a teacher; _metalico_, metalic; _corolina_ (_fem_.) coraline; _cristalino_, crystaline; _crystalizar_, crystalize; _traquilizar_, tranquilize; and _tranquilidad_, tranquility. And if we follow not ours, when or how shall the English scholar ever know why we spell as we do? For example, what can he make of the orthography of the following words, which I copy from our best dictionaries: equip', eq'uipage; wor'ship, wor'shipper;--peril, perilous; cavil, cavillous;[122]--libel, libellous; quarrel, quarrelous;--opal, opaline; metal, metalline;[123]--coral, coralliform; crystal, crystalform;--dial, dialist; medal, medallist;--rascal, rascalion; medal, medallion;--moral, moralist, morality; metal, metallist, metallurgy;--civil, civilize, civility; tranquil, tranquillize, tranquillity;--novel, novelism, novelist, novelize; grovel, grovelling, grovelled, groveller? OBS. 15.--The second clause of Murray's or Walker's 5th Rule for spelling, gives only a single _l_ to each of the derivatives above named.[124] But it also treats in like manner many hundreds of words in which the _l_ must certainly be doubled. And, as neither "the Compiler," nor any of his copiers, have paid any regard to their own principle, neither their doctrine nor their practice can be of much weight either way. Yet it is important to know to what words the rule is, or is not, applicable. In considering this vexatious question about the duplication of _l_, I was at first inclined to admit that, whenever final _l_ has become single in English by dropping the second _l_ of a foreign root, the word shall resume the _ll_ in all derivatives formed from it by adding a termination beginning with a vowel; as, _beryllus, beryl, berylline_. This would, of course, double the _l_ in nearly all the derivatives from _metal, medal_, &c. But what says Custom? She constantly doubles the _l_ in most of them; but wavers in respect to some, and in a few will have it single. Hence the difficulty of drawing a line by which we may abide without censure. _Pu'pillage_ and _pu'pillary_, with _ll_, are according to _Walker's Rhyming Dictionary_; but Johnson spells them _pu'pilage_ and _pu'pilary_, with single _l_; and Walker, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, has _pupilage_ with one _l_, and _pupillary_ with two. Again: both Johnson's and the Pronouncing Dictionary, give us _medallist_ and _metallist_ with _ll_, and are sustained by Webster and others; but Walker, in his Rhyming Dictionary, writes them _medalist_ and _metalist_, with single _l_, like _dialist, formalist, cabalist, herbalist_, and twenty other such words. Further: Webster doubles the _l_ in all the derivatives of _metal, medal, coral, axil, argil_, and _papil_; but writes it single in all those of _crystal, cavil, pupil_, and _tranquil_--except _tranquillity_. OBS. 16.--Dr. Webster also attempts, or pretends, to put in practice the hasty proposition of Walker, to spell with single _l_ all derivatives from words ending in _l_ not under the accent. "No letter," says Walker, "seems to be more frequently doubled improperly than _l_. Why we should write _libelling, levelling, revelling_, and yet _offering, suffering, reasoning_, I am totally at a loss to determine; and, unless _l_ can give a better plea than any other letter in the alphabet, for being doubled in this situation, I must, in the style of Lucian, in his trial of the letter _T_, declare for an expulsion."--_Rhyming Dict._, p. x. This rash conception, being adopted by some men of still less caution, has wrought great mischief in our orthography. With respect to words ending in _el_, it is a good and sufficient reason for doubling the _l_, that the _e_ may otherwise be supposed servile and silent. I have therefore made this termination a general exception to the rule against doubling. Besides, a large number of these words, being derived from foreign words in which the _l_ was doubled, have a second reason for the duplication, as strong as that which has often induced these same authors to double that letter, as noticed above. Such are bordel, chapel, duel, fardel, gabel, gospel, gravel, lamel, label, libel, marvel, model, novel, parcel, quarrel, and spinel. Accordingly we find, that, in his work of expulsion, Dr. Webster has not unfrequently contradicted himself, and conformed to usage, by doubling the _l_ where he probably intended to write it single. Thus, in the words bordeller, chapellany, chapelling, gospellary, gospeller, gravelly, lamellate, lamellar, lamellarly, lamelliform, and spinellane, he has written the _l_ double, while he has grossly corrupted many other similar words by forbearing the reduplication; as, _traveler, groveling, duelist, marvelous_, and the like. In cases of such difficulty, we can never arrive at uniformity and consistency of practice, unless we resort to _principles_, and such principles as can be made intelligible to the _English_ scholar. If any one is dissatisfied with the rules and exceptions which I have laid down, let him study the subject till he can furnish the schools with better. OBS. 17.--We have in our language a very numerous class of adjectives ending in _able_ or _ible_, as _affable, arable, tolerable, admissible, credible, infallible_, to the number of nine hundred or more. In respect to the proper form and signification of some of these, there occurs no small difficulty. _Able_ is a common English word, the meaning of which is much better understood than its origin. Horne Tooke supposes it to have come from the Gothic noun _abal_, signifying _strength_; and consequently avers, that it "has nothing to do with the Latin adjective _habilis, fit_, or _able_, from which our etymologists erroneously derive it."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 450. This I suppose the etymologists will dispute with him. But whatever may be its true derivation, no one can well deny that _able_, as a suffix, belongs most properly, if not exclusively, to _verbs_; for most of the words formed by it, are plainly a sort of verbal adjectives. And it is evident that this author is right in supposing that English words of this termination, like the Latin verbals in _bilis_, have, or ought to have, such a signification as may justify the name which he gives them, of "_potential passive adjectives_;" a signification in which the English and the Latin derivatives exactly correspond. Thus _dis'soluble_ or _dissolv'able_ does not mean _able to dissolve_, but _capable of being dissolved_; and _divisible_ or _dividable_ does not mean _able to divide_, but _capable of being divided_. OBS. 18.--As to the application of this suffix to nouns, when we consider the signification of the words thus formed, its propriety may well be doubted. It is true, however, that nouns do sometimes assume something of the nature of verbs, so as to give rise to adjectives that are of a participial character; such, for instance, as _sainted, bigoted, conceited, gifted, tufted_. Again, of such as _hard-hearted, good-natured, cold-blooded_, we have an indefinite number. And perhaps, upon the same principle, the formation of such words as _actionable, companionable, exceptionable, marketable, merchantable, pasturable, treasonable_, and so forth, may be justified, if care be taken to use them in a sense analogous to that of the real verbals. But, surely, the meaning which is commonly attached to the words _amicable, changeable, fashionable, favourable, peaceable, reasonable, pleasurable, seasonable, suitable_, and some others, would never be guessed from their formation. Thus, _suitable_ means _fitting_ or _suiting_, and not _able to suit_, or _capable of being suited_. OBS. 19.--Though all words that terminate in _able_, used as a suffix, are properly reckoned derivatives, rather than compounds, and in the former class the separate meaning of the parts united is much less regarded than in the latter; yet, in the use of words of this formation, it would be well to have some respect to the general analogy of their signification as stated above; and not to make derivatives of the same fashion convey meanings so very different as do some of these. Perhaps it is from some general notion of their impropriety, that several words of this doubtful character have already become obsolete, or are gradually falling into disuse: as, _accustomable, chanceable, concordable, conusable, customable, behoovable, leisurable, medicinable, personable, powerable, razorable, shapable, semblable, vengeable, veritable_. Still, there are several others, yet currently employed, which might better perhaps, for the same reason, give place to more regular terms: as, _amicable_, for _friendly_ or _kind_; _charitable_, for _benevolent_ or _liberal_; _colourable_, for _apparent_ or _specious_; _peaceable_, for _peaceful_ or _unhostile_; _pleasurable_, for _pleasing_ or _delightful_; _profitable_, for _gainful_ or _lucrative_; _sociable_, for _social_ or _affable_; _reasonable_, for _rational_ or _just_. OBS. 20.--In respect to the orthography of words ending in _able_ or _ible_, it is sometimes difficult to determine which of these endings ought to be preferred; as whether we ought to write _tenable_ or _tenible, reversable_ or _reversible, addable_ or _addible_. In Latin, the termination is _bilis_, and the preceding vowel is determined by the _conjugation_ to which the verb belongs. Thus, for verbs of the first conjugation, it is _a_; as, from _arare_, to plough, _arabilis, arable_, tillable. For the second conjugation, it is _i_; as, from _doc=ere_, to teach, _docibilis_, or _docilis, docible_ or _docile_, teachable. For the third conjugation, it is _i_; as, from _vend=ere_, to sell, _vendibilis, vendible_, salable. And, for the fourth conjugation, it is _i_; as, from _sepelire_, to bury, _sepelib~ilis, sep'elible_,[125] buriable. But from _solvo_ and _volvo_, of the third conjugation, we have _ubilis, uble_; as, _solubilis, sol'uble_, solvible or solvable; _volubilis, vol'uble_, rollable. Hence the English words, _rev'oluble, res'oluble, irres'oluble, dis'soluble, indis'soluble_, and _insol'uble_. Thus the Latin verbals in _bilis_, are a sufficient guide to the orthography of all such words as are traceable to them; but the mere English scholar cannot avail himself of this aid; and of this sort of words we have a much greater number than were ever known in Latin. A few we have borrowed from the French: as, _tenable, capable, preferable, convertible_; and these we write as they are written in French. But the difficulty lies chiefly in those which are of English growth. For some of them are formed according to the model of the Latin verbals in _ibilis_; as _forcible, coercible, reducible, discernible_; and others are made by simply adding the suffix _able_; as _traceable, pronounceable, manageable, advisable, returnable_. The last are purely English; and yet they correspond in form with such as come from Latin verbals in _abilis_. OBS. 21.--From these different modes of formation, with the choice of different roots, we have sometimes two or three words, differing in orthography and pronunciation, but conveying the same meaning; as, _divis'ible_ and _divi'dable, des'picable_ and _despi'sable, ref'erable_ and _refer'rible, mis'cible_ and _mix'able, dis'soluble, dissol'vible_, and _dissol'vable_. Hence, too, we have some words which seem to the mere English scholar to be spelled in a very contradictory manner, though each, perhaps, obeys the law of its own derivation; as, _peaceable_ and _forcible, impierceable_ and _coercible, marriageable_ and _corrigible, damageable_ and _eligible, changeable_ and _tangible, chargeable_ and _frangible, fencible_ and _defensible, pref'erable_ and _referrible, conversable_ and _reversible, defendable_ and _descendible, amendable_ and _extendible, bendable_ and _vendible, dividable_ and _corrodible, returnable_ and _discernible, indispensable_ and _responsible, advisable_ and _fusible, respectable_ and _compatible, delectable_ and _collectible, taxable_ and _flexible_. OBS. 22.--The American editor of the _Red Book_, to whom all these apparent inconsistencies seemed real blunders, has greatly exaggerated this difficulty in our orthography, and charged Johnson and Walker with having written all these words and many more, in this contradictory manner, "_without any apparent reason_!" He boldly avers, that, "The perpetual contradictions of the same or like words, _in all the books_, show that the authors had no distinct ideas of what is right, and what is wrong;" and ignorantly imagines, that, "The use of _ible_ rather than _able, in any case_, originated in the necessity of keeping the soft sound of _c_ and _g_, in the derivatives; and if _ible was confined_ to that use, it would be an easy and simple rule."--_Red Book_, p. 170. Hence, he proposes to write _peacible_ for _peaceable, tracible_ for _traceable, changible_ for _changeable, managible_ for _manageable_; and so for all the rest that come from words ending in _ce_ or _ge_. But, whatever advantage there might be in this, his "easy and simple rule" would work a revolution for which the world is not yet prepared. It would make _audible audable, fallible fallable, feasible feasable, terrible terrable, horrible horrable_, &c. No tyro can spell in a worse manner than this, even if he have no rule at all. And those who do not know enough of Latin grammar to profit by what I have said in the preceding observation, may console themselves with the reflection, that, in spelling these difficult words entirely by guess, they will not miss the way more than some have done who pretended to be critics. The rule given by John Burn, for _able_ and _ible_, is less objectionable; but it is rendered useless by the great number of its exceptions. OBS. 23.--As most of the rules for spelling refer to the final letters of our primitive words, it may be proper for the learner to know and remember, that not all the letters of the alphabet can assume that situation, and that some of them terminate words much more frequently than others. Thus, in Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, the letter _a_ ends about 220 words; _b_, 160; _c_, 450; _d_, 1550; _e_, 7000; _f_, 140; _g_, 280; _h_, 400; _i_, 29; _j_, none; _k_, 550; _l_, 1900; _m_, 550; _n_, 3300; _o_, 200; _p_, 450; _q_, none; _r_, 2750; _s_, 3250; _t_, 3100; _u_, 14; _v_, none; _w_, 200; _x_, 100; _y_, 5000; _z_, 5. We have, then, three consonants, _j, q_, and _v_, which never end a word. And why not? With respect to _j_ and _v_, the reason is plain from their history. These letters were formerly identified with _i_ and _u_, which are not terminational letters. The vowel _i_ ends no pure English word, except that which is formed of its own capital _I_; and the few words which end with _u_ are all foreign, except _thou_ and _you_. And not only so, the letter _j_ is what was formerly called _i consonant_; and _v_ is what was called _u consonant_. But it was the initial _i_ and _u_, or the _i_ and _u_ which preceded an other vowel, and not those which followed one, that were converted into the consonants _j_ and _v_. Hence, neither of these letters ever ends any English word, or is ever doubled. Nor do they unite with other consonants before or after a vowel: except that _v_ is joined with _r_ in a few words of French origin, as _livre, manoeuvre_; or with _l_ in some Dutch names, as _Watervleit. Q_ ends no English word, because it is always followed by _u_. The French termination _que_, which is commonly retained in _pique, antique, critique, opaque, oblique, burlesque_, and _grotesque_, is equivalent to _k_; hence we write _packet, lackey, checker, risk, mask_, and _mosk_, rather than _paquet, laquey, chequer, risque, masque_, and _mosque_. And some authors write _burlesk_ and _grotesk_, preferring _k_ to _que_. OBS. 24.--Thus we see that _j, q_, and _v_, are, for the most part, initial consonants only. Hence there is a harshness, if not an impropriety, in that syllabication which some have recently adopted, wherein they accommodate to the ear the division of such words as _maj-es-ty, proj-ect, traj-ect,--eq-ui-ty, liq-ui-date, ex-cheq-uer_. But _v_, in a similar situation, has now become familiar; as in _ev-er-y, ev-i-dence_: and it may also stand with _l_ or _r_, in the division of such words as _solv-ing_ and _serv-ing_. Of words ending in _ive_, Walker exhibits four hundred and fifty--exactly the same number that he spells with _ic_. And Horne Tooke, who derives _ive_ from the Latin _ivus_, (q. d. _vis_,) and _ic_ from the Greek [Greek: _ikos_], (q. d. [Greek: _ischus_]) both implying _power_, has well observed that there is a general correspondence of meaning between these two classes of adjectives--both being of "a potential active signification; as _purgative, vomitive, operative_, &c.; _cathartic, emetic, energetic_, &c."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 445. I have before observed, that Tooke spelled all this latter class of words without the final _k_; but he left it to Dr. Webster to suggest the reformation of striking the final _e_ from the former. OBS. 25.--In Dr. Webster's "Collection of Essays and _Fugitiv Peeces_," published in 1790, we find, among other equally ingenious improvements of our orthography, a general omission of the final _e_ in all words ending in _ive_, or rather of all words ending in _ve_, preceded by a short vowel; as, "_primitiv, derivativ, extensiv, positiv, deserv, twelv, proov, luv, hav, giv, liv_." This mode of spelling, had it been adopted by other learned men, would not only have made _v_ a very frequent final consonant, but would have placed it in an other new and strange predicament, as being subject to reduplication. For he that will write _hav, giv_, and _liv_, must also, by a general rule of grammar, write _havving, givving_, and _livving_. And not only so, there will follow also, in the solemn style of the Bible, a change of _givest, livest, giveth_, and _liveth_, into _givvest, livvest, givveth_, and _livveth_. From all this it may appear, that a silent final _e_ is not always quite so useless a thing as some may imagine. With a levity no less remarkable, does the author of the _Red Book_ propose at once two different ways of reforming the orthography of such words as _pierceable, manageable_, and so forth; in one of which, the letter _j_ would be brought into a new position, and subjected sometimes to reduplication. "It would be a useful improvement to change this _c_ into _s_, and _g_ into _j_;" as, _piersable, manajable_, &c. "Or they might assume _i_;" as, _piercibe, managible_, &c.--_Red Book_, p. 170. Now would not this "useful improvement" give us such a word as _allejjable_? and would not one such monster be more offensive than all our present exceptions to Rule 9th? Out upon all such tampering with orthography! OBS. 26.--If any thing could arrest the folly of innovators and dabbling reformers, it would be the history of former attempts to effect improvements similar to theirs. With this sort of history every one would do well to acquaint himself, before he proceeds to disfigure words by placing their written elements in any new predicament. If the orthography of the English language is ever reduced to greater regularity than it now exhibits, the reformation must be wrought by those who have no disposition either to exaggerate its present defects, or to undertake too much. Regard must be had to the origin, as well as to the sounds, of words. To many people, all silent letters seem superfluous; and all indirect modes of spelling, absurd. Hence, as the learner may perceive, a very large proportion of the variations and disputed points in spelling, are such as refer to the silent letters, which are retained by some writers and omitted by others. It is desirable that such as are useless and irregular should be always omitted; and such as are useful and regular always retained. The rules which I have laid down as principles of discrimination, are such as almost every reader will know to be generally true, and agreeable to present usage, though several of them have never before been printed in any grammar. Their application will strike out some letters which are often written, and retain some which are often omitted; but, if they err on either hand, I am confident they err less than any other set of rules ever yet formed for the same purpose. Walker, from whom Murray borrowed his rules for spelling, declares for an expulsion of the second _l_ from _traveller, gambolled, grovelling, equalling, cavilling_, and all similar words; seems more willing to drop an _l_ from _illness, stillness, shrillness, fellness_, and _drollness_, than to retain both in _smallness, tallness, chillness, dullness_, and _fullness_; makes it one of his orthographical aphorisms, that, "Words taken into composition often drop those letters which were superfluous in their simples; as, _Christmas, dunghil, handful_;" and, at the same time, chooses rather to restore the silent _e_ to the ten derivatives from _move_ and _prove_, from which Johnson dropped it, than to drop it from the ten similar words in which that author retained it! And not only so, he argues against the principle of his own aphorism; and says, "It is certainly to be feared that, if this pruning of our words of all the superfluous letters, as they are called, should be much farther indulged, we shall quickly antiquate our most respectable authors, and irreparably maim our language."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, p. xvii. OBS. 27.--No attempt to subject our orthography to a system of phonetics, seems likely to meet with general favour, or to be free from objection, if it should. For words are not mere sounds, and in their _orthography_ more is implied than in _phonetics_, or _phonography_. Ideographic forms have, in general, the advantage of preserving the identity, history, and lineage of words; and these are important matters in respect to which phonetic writing is very liable to be deficient. Dr. Johnson, about a century ago, observed, "There have been many schemes offered for the emendation and settlement of our orthography, which, like that of other nations, being formed by chance, or according to the fancy of the earliest writers in rude ages, was at first very various and uncertain, and [is] as yet sufficiently irregular. Of these reformers some have endeavoured to accommodate orthography better to the pronunciation, without considering that this is to measure by a shadow, to take that for a model or standard which is changing while they apply it. Others, less absurdly indeed, but with equal unlikelihood of success, have endeavoured to proportion the number of letters to that of sounds, that every sound may have its own character, and every character a single sound. Such would be the orthography of a new language to be formed by a synod of grammarians upon principles of science. But who can hope to prevail on nations to change their practice, and make all their old books useless? or what advantage would a new orthography procure equivalent to the confusion and perplexity of such an alteration?"--_Johnson's Grammar before Quarto Dict._, p. 4. OBS. 28.--Among these reformers of our alphabet and orthography, of whose schemes he gives examples, the Doctor mentions, first, "_Sir Thomas Smith_, secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, a man of real learning, and much practised in grammatical disquisitions;" who died in 1597;--next, "_Dr. Gill_, the celebrated master of St. Paul's School in London;" who died in 1635;--then, "_Charles Butler_, a man who did not want an understanding which might have qualified him for better employment;" who died in 1647;--and, lastly, "_Bishop Wilkins_, of Chester, a learned and ingenious critic, who is said to have proposed his scheme, without expecting to be followed;" he died in 1672. OBS. 29.--From this time, there was, so far as I know, no noticeable renewal of such efforts, till about the year 1790, when, as it is shown above on page 134 of my Introduction, _Dr. Webster_, (who was then only "_Noah Webster, Jun._, attorney at law,") attempted to spell all words as they are spoken, without revising the alphabet--a scheme which his subsequent experience before many years led him to abandon. Such a reformation was again attempted, about forty years after, by an other young lawyer, the late lamented _Thomas S. Grimke_, of South Carolina, but with no more success. More recently, phonography, or phonetic writing, has been revived, and to some extent spread, by the publications of _Isaac Pitman_, of Bath, England, and of _Dr. Andrew Comstock_, of Philadelphia. The system of the former has been made known in America chiefly by the lectures and other efforts of _Andrews and Boyle_, of _Dr. Stone_, a citizen of Boston, and of _E. Webster_, a publisher in Philadelphia. OBS. 30.--The pronunciation of words being evidently as deficient in regularity, in uniformity, and in stability, as is their orthography, if not more so, cannot be conveniently made the measure of their written expression. Concerning the principle of writing and printing by sounds alone, a recent writer delivers his opinion thus: "Let me here observe, as something not remote from our subject, but, on the contrary, directly bearing upon it, that I can conceive no [other] method of so effectually defacing and barbarizing our English tongue, no [other] scheme that would go so far to empty it, practically at least and for us, of all the hoarded wit, wisdom, imagination, and history which it contains, to cut the vital nerve which connects its present with the past, as the introduction of the scheme of 'phonetic spelling,' which some have lately been zealously advocating among us; the principle of which is, that all words should be spelt according as they are sounded, that the writing should be, in every case, subordinated to the speaking. The tacit assumption that it ought so to be, is the pervading error running through the whole system."--_R. C. Trench, on the Study of Words_, p. 177. OBS. 31.--The phonographic system of stenography, tachygraphy, or short-hand writing, is, I incline to believe, a very great improvement upon the earlier methods. It is perhaps the most reliable mode of taking down speeches, sermons, or arguments, during their delivery, and reporting them for the press; though I cannot pronounce upon this from any experience of my own in the _practice_ of the art. And it seems highly probable, if it has not been fully proved, that children may at first be taught to read more readily, and with better articulation, from phonetic print, or _phonotypy_, as it has been called, than from books that exhibit words in their current or established orthography. But still it is questionable whether it is not best for them to learn each word at first by its peculiar or ideographic form--the form in which they must ultimately learn to read it, and which indeed constitutes its only _orthography_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS IN SPELLING. UNDER RULE I.--OF FINAL F, L, OR S. "He wil observe the moral law, in hiz conduct."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 320. [FORMULES--1. Not proper, because the word "_wil_" is here spelled with one _l_. But, according to Rule 1st, "Monosyllables ending in _f, l_, or _s_, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant." Therefore, this _l_ should be doubled; thus, _will_. 2. Not proper again, because the word "_hiz_" is here spelled with _z_. But, according to the exceptions to Rule 1st, "The words _as, gas, has, was, yes, his_, &c., are written with single _s_." Therefore, this _z_ should be _s_; thus, _his_.] "A clif is a steep bank, or a precipitous rock."--See _Rhyming Dict._ "A needy man's budget is ful of schemes."--_Old Adage_. "Few large publications in this country wil pay a printer."--_Noah Webster's Essays_, p. x. "I shal, with cheerfulness, resign my other papers to oblivion."--_Ib._, p. x. "The proposition waz suspended til the next session of the legislature."--_Ib._, p. 362. "Tenants for life wil make the most of lands for themselves."--_Ib._, p. 366. "While every thing iz left to lazy negroes, a state wil never be wel cultivated."--_Ib._, p. 367. "The heirs of the original proprietors stil hold the soil."--_Ib._, p. 349. "Say my annual profit on money loaned shal be six per cent."--_Ib._, p. 308. "No man would submit to the drudgery of business, if he could make money az fast by lying stil."--_Ib._, p. 310. "A man may az wel feed himself with a bodkin, az with a knife of the present fashion."--_Ib._, p. 400. "The clothes wil be ill washed, the food wil be badly cooked; and you wil be ashamed of your wife, if she iz not ashamed of herself."--_Ib._, p. 404. "He wil submit to the laws of the state, while he iz a member of it."--_Ib._, p. 320. "But wil our sage writers on law forever think by tradition?"--_Ib._, p. 318. "Some stil retain a sovereign power in their territories."--_Ib._, p. 298. "They sel images, prayers, the sound of bels, remission of sins, &c."--_Perkins's Theology_, p. 401. "And the law had sacrifices offered every day for the sins of al the people."--_Ib._, p. 406. "Then it may please the Lord, they shal find it to be a restorative."--_Ib._, p. 420. "Perdition is repentance put of til a future day."--_Old Maxim_. "The angels of God, which wil good and cannot wil evil, have nevertheless perfect liberty of wil."--_Perkins's Theology_, p. 716. "Secondly, this doctrine cuts off the excuse of al sin."--_Ib._, p. 717. "Knel, the sound of a bell rung at a funeral."--_Johnson_ and _Walker_. "If gold with dros or grain with chaf you find, Select--and leave the chaf and dros behind."--_Author_. UNDER RULE II.--OF OTHER FINALS. "The mobb hath many heads, but no brains."--_Old Maxim_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_mobb_" is here spelled with double _b_. But, according to Rule 2d, "Words ending in any other consonant than _f, l_, or _s_, do not double the final letter." Therefore, this _b_ should be single: thus, _mob_.] "Clamm, to clog with any glutinous or viscous matter."--_Johnson's Dict._ "Whurr, to pronounce the letter _r_ with too much force."--_Ib._ "Flipp, a mixed liquor, consisting of beer and spirits sweetened."--_Ib._ "Glynn, a hollow between two mountains, a glen."--_Churchill's Grammar_, p. 22. "Lamm, to beat soundly with a cudgel or bludgeon."--_Walker's Dict._ "Bunn, a small cake, a simnel, a kind of sweet bread."--See _ib._ "Brunett, a woman with a brown complexion."--_Ib._ and _Johnson's Dict._ "Wad'sett, an ancient tenure or lease of land in the Highlands of Scotland."--_Webster's Dict._ "To _dodd_ sheep, is to cut the wool away about their tails."--_Ib._ "_In aliquem arietare_, CIC. To run full but at one."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 95. "Neither your policy nor your temper would permitt you to kill me."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 427. "And admitt none but his own offspring to fulfill them."--_Ib._, i, 437. "The summ of all this Dispute is, that some make them Participles," &c.--_Johnson's Gram._ _Com._, p. 352. "As, the _whistling_ of winds, the _buz_ and _hum_ of insects, the _hiss_ of serpents, the _crash_ of falling timber."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 129; _Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 247; _Gould's_, 238. "Vann, to winnow, or a fan for winnowing."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._ "Creatures that buz, are very commonly such as will sting."--_Author_ "Begg, buy, or borrow; butt beware how you find."--_Id._ "It is better to have a house to lett, than a house to gett."--_Id._ "Let not your tongue cutt your throat."--_Old Precept_. "A little witt will save a fortunate man."--_Old Adage_. "There is many a slipp 'twixt the cup and the lipp."--_Id._ "Mothers' darlings make but milksopp heroes."--_Id._ "One eye-witness is worth tenn hearsays."--_Id._ "The judge shall jobb, the bishop bite the town, And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown."--POPE: _in Joh. Dict., w. Pack._ UNDER RULE III.--OF DOUBLING. "Friz, to curl; frized, curled; frizing, curling."--_Webster's Dict._, 8vo. Ed. of 1829. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the words "_frized_" and "_frizing_" are here spelled with the single _z_, of their primitive _friz_. But, according to Rule 3d, "Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel." Therefore, this _z_ should be doubled; thus, _frizzed, frizzing_.] "The commercial interests served to foster the principles of Whigism."--_Payne's Geog._, Vol. ii, p. 511. "Their extreme indolence shuned every species of labour."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 341. "In poverty and stripedness they attend their little meetings."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 256. "In guiding and controling[126] the power you have thus obtained."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 15. "I began, Thou beganest, He began; We began, You began, They began."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 92. "Why does _began_ change its ending; as, I began, Thou beganest?"--_Ib._, p. 93. "Truth and conscience cannot be controled by any methods of coercion."--_Hints on Toleration_, p. xvi. "Dr. Webster noded, when he wrote 'knit, kniter, and knitingneedle' without doubling the _t_."--See _El. Spelling-Book_, 1st Ed., p. 136. "A wag should have wit enough to know when other wags are quizing him."--_G. Brown_. "Bon'y, handsome, beautiful, merry."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._ "Coquetish, practicing coquetry; after the manner of a jilt."--_Webster's Dict._ "Potage, a species of food, made of meat and vegetables boiled to softness in water."--See _ib._ "Potager, from potage, a porringer, a small vessel for children's food."--See _ib._, and _Worcester's_. "Compromit, compromited, compromiting; manumit, manumitted, manumitting."--_Webster_. "Inferible; that may be inferred or deduced from premises."--_Red Book_, p. 228. "Acids are either solid, liquid, or gaseous."--_Gregory's Dict., art. Chemistry_. "The spark will pass through the interrupted space between the two wires, and explode the gases."--_Ib._ "Do we sound _gases_ and _gaseous_ like _cases_ and _caseous?_ No: they are more like _glasses_ and _osseous_."--_G. Brown_. "I shall not need here to mention _Swiming_, when he is of an age able to learn."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 12. "Why do lexicographers spell _thinnish_ and _mannish_ with two Ens, and _dimish_ and _ramish_ with one Em, each?"--See _Johnson_ and _Webster_. "_Gas_ forms the plural regularly, _gases_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 38. "Singular, Gas; Plural, Gases."--_S. W. Clark's Gram._, p. 47. "These are contractions from _sheded, bursted_."--_Hiley's Grammar_, p. 45. "The Present Tense denotes what is occuring at the present time."--_Day's Gram._, p. 36, and p. 61. "The verb ending in _eth_ is of the solemn or antiquated style; as, he loveth, he walketh, he runeth."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 34. "Thro' freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings, Degrading nobles and controling kings."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 292. UNDER RULE IV.--NO DOUBLING. "A bigotted and tyrannical clergy will be feared."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 78. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the final _t_ of _bigot_ is here doubled in "_bigotted_." But, according to Rule 4th, "A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable." Therefore, this _t_ should be single; thus, _bigoted_.] "Jacob worshipped his Creator, leaning on the top of his staff."--_Key in Merchant's Gram._, p. 185. "For it is all marvelously destitute of interest."--_Merchant's Criticisms_. "As, box, boxes; church, churches; lash, lashes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebusses."--_Murray's Gram._, 12mo, p. 42. "Gossipping and lying go hand in hand."--_Old Maxim_. "The substance of the Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley was, with singular industry, gossipped by the present precious secretary of war, in Payne the bookseller's shop."--See _Key_. "Worship makes worshipped, worshipper, worshipping; gossip, gossipped, gossipper, gossipping; fillip, fillipped, fillipper, fillipping."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 72. "I became as fidgetty as a fly in a milk-jug."--_Blackwood's Mag._, Vol. xl, p. 674. "That enormous error seems to be rivetted in popular opinion."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 364. "Whose mind iz not biassed by personal attachments to a sovereign."--_Ib._, p. 318. "Laws against usury originated in a bigotted prejudice against the Jews."--_Ib._, p. 315. "The most criticcal period of life iz usually between thirteen and seventeen."--_Ib._, p. 388. "Generallissimo, the chief commander of an army or military force."--See _El. Spelling-Book_, p. 93. "Tranquillize, to quiet, to make calm and peaceful."--_Ib._, p. 133. "Pommeled, beaten, bruised; having pommels, as a sword or dagger."--_Webster_ and _Chalmers_. "From what a height does the jeweler look down upon his shoemaker!"--_Red Book_, p. 108. "You will have a verbal account from my friend and fellow traveler."--_Ib._, p. 155. "I observe that you have written the word _counseled_ with one _l_ only."--_Ib._, p. 173. "They were offended at such as combatted these notions."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 437. "From libel, come libeled, libeler, libeling, libelous; from grovel, groveled, groveler, groveling; from gravel, graveled and graveling."--See _Webster's Dict._ "Wooliness, the state of being woolly."--_Ib._ "Yet he has spelled chappelling, bordeller, medallist, metalline, metallist, metallize, clavellated, &c. with _ll_, contrary to his rule."--_Cobb's Review of Webster_, p. 11. "Again, he has spelled cancelation and snively with single _l_, and cupellation, pannellation, wittolly, with _ll_."--_Ib._ "Oilly, fatty, greasy, containing oil, glib."--_Rhyming Dict._ "Medallist, one curious in medals; Metallist, one skilled in metals."--_Johnson, Webster, Worcester, Cobb, et al._ "He is benefitted."--_Town's Spelling-Book_, p. 5. "They traveled for pleasure."--_S. W. Clark's Gram._, p. 101. "Without you, what were man? A groveling herd, In darkness, wretchedness, and want enchain'd." --_Beattie's Minstrel_, p. 40. UNDER RULE V.--OF FINAL CK. "He hopes, therefore, to be pardoned by the critick."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 10. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_critick_" is here spelled with a final _k_. But, according to Rule 5th, "Monosyllables and English verbs end not with _c_, but take _ck_ for double _c_; as, rack, wreck, rock, attack: but, in general, words derived from the learned languages need not the _k_, and common use discards it." Therefore, this _k_ should be omitted; thus, _critic_.] "The leading object of every publick speaker should be to persuade."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 153. "May not four feet be as poetick as five; or fifteen feet, as poetick as fifty?"--_Ib._, p. 146. "Avoid all theatrical trick and mimickry, and especially all scholastick stiffness."--_Ib._, p. 154. "No one thinks of becoming skilled in dancing, or in musick, or in mathematicks, or logick, without long and close application to the subject."--_Ib._, p. 152. "Caspar's sense of feeling, and susceptibility of metallick and magnetick excitement were also very extraordinary."--_Ib._, p. 238. "Authorship has become a mania, or, perhaps I should say, an epidemick."--_Ib._, p. 6. "What can prevent this republick from soon raising a literary standard?"--_Ib._, p. 10. "Courteous reader, you may think me garrulous upon topicks quite foreign to the subject before me."--_Ib._, p. 11. "Of the Tonick, Subtonick, and Atoniek elements."--_Ib._, p. 15. "The subtonick elements are inferiour to the tonicks in all the emphatick and elegant purposes of speech."--_Ib._, p. 32. "The nine atonicks, and the three abrupt subtonicks cause an interruption to the continuity of the syllabick impulse."--_Ib._, p. 37. "On scientifick principles, conjunctions and prepositions are but one part of speech."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 120. "That some inferior animals should be able to mimic human articulation, will not seem wonderful."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 2. "When young, you led a life monastick, And wore a vest ecelesiastick; Now, in your age, you grow fantastick."--_Johnson's Dict._ UNDER RULE VI.--OF RETAINING. "Fearlesness, exemption from fear, intrepidity."--_Johnson's Dict._ [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_fearlesness_" is here allowed to drop one _s_ of _fearless_. But, according to Rule 6th, "Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double before any additional termination not beginning with the same letter." Therefore, the other _s_ should be inserted; thus, _fearlessness_.] "Dreadlesness; fearlesness, intrepidity, undauntedness."--_Johnson's Dict._ "Regardlesly, without heed; Regardlesness, heedlessness, inattention."--_Ib._ "Blamelesly, innocently; Blamlesness, innocence."--_Ib._ "That is better than to be flattered into pride and carelesness."--TAYLOR: _Joh. Dict._ "Good fortunes began to breed a proud recklesness in them."--SIDNEY: _ib._ "See whether he lazily and listlesly dreams away his time."--LOCKE: _ib._ "It may be, the palate of the soul is indisposed by listlesness or sorrow."--TAYLOR: _ib._ "Pitilesly, without mercy; Pitilesness, unmercifulness."--_Johnson_. "What say you to such as these? abominable, accordable, agreable, &c."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. ii, p. 432. "Artlesly; naturally, sincerely, without craft."--_Johnson_. "A chilness, or shivering of the body, generally precedes a fever."--_Murray's Key_, p. 167. "Smalness; littleness, minuteness, weakness."--_Rhyming Dict._ "Gall-less, a. free from gall or bitterness."--_Webster's Dict._ "Talness; height of stature, upright length with comparative slenderness."--See _Johnson et al_. "Wilful; stubborn, contumacious, perverse, inflexible."--_Id._ "He guided them by the skilfulness of his hands."--_Psal._ lxxviii, 72. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof."--_Murray's Key_, p. 172. "What is now, is but an amasment of imaginary conceptions."--GLANVILLE: _Joh. Dict._ "Embarrasment; perplexity, entanglement."--See _Littleton's Dict._ "The second is slothfulness, whereby they are performed slackly and carelesly."--_Perkins's Theology_, p. 729. "Instalment; induction into office; part of a large sum of money, to be paid at a particular time."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "Inthralment; servitude, slavery."--_Ib._ "I, who at some times spend, at others spare, Divided between carelesness and care."--_Pope_. UNDER RULE VII.--OF RETAINING. "Shall, on the contrary, in the first person, simply foretels."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 88; _Ingersoll's_, 136; _Fisk's_, 78; _Jaudon's_, 59; _A. Flint's_, 42; _Wright's_, 90; _Bullions's_, 32. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_foretels_" does not here retain the double _l_ of _tell_. But, according to Rule 7th, "Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double in all derivatives formed from them by means of prefixes." Therefore, the other _l_ should be inserted; thus, _foretells_.] "There are a few compound irregular verbs, as _befal, bespeak_, &c."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 46. "That we might frequently recal it to our memory."--_Calvin's Institutes_, p. 112. "The angels exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befal us."--_Ib._, p. 107. "Inthral; to enslave, to shackle, to reduce to servitude."--_Walker's Dict._ "He makes resolutions, and fulfils them by new ones."--_Red Book_, p. 138. "To enrol my humble name upon the list of authors on Elocution."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 12. "Forestal; to anticipate, to take up beforehand."--_Walker's Rhym. Dict._ "Miscal; to call wrong, to name improperly."--_Johnson_. "Bethral; to enslave, to reduce to bondage."--See _id._ "Befal; to happen to, to come to pass."--_Rhym. Dict._ "Unrol; to open what is rolled or convolved."--_Johnson_. "Counterrol; to keep copies of accounts to prevent frauds."--See _id._ "As Sisyphus uprols a rock, which constantly overpowers him at the summit."--_Author_. "Unwel; not well, indisposed, not in good health."--See _Red Book_, p. 336. "Undersel; to defeat by selling for less, to sell cheaper than an other."--See _id._, p. 332. "Inwal; to enclose or fortify with a wall."--See _id._, p. 295. "Twibil; an instrument with two bills, or with a point and a blade; a pickaxe, a mattock, a halberd, a battle-axe."--See _Dict._ "What you miscal their folly, is their care."--_Dryden_. "My heart will sigh when I miscal it so."--_Shakspeare_. "But if the arrangement recal one set of ideas more readily than another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 130. "'Tis done; and since 'tis done, 'tis past recal; And since 'tis past recal, must be forgotten."--_Dryden_. UNDER RULE VIII.--OF FINAL LL. "The righteous is taken away from the evill to come."--_Perkins's Works_, p. 417. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_evill_" is here written with final _ll_. But, according to Rule 8th, "Final _ll_ is peculiar to monosyllables and their compounds, with the few derivatives formed from such roots by prefixes; consequently, all other words that end in _l_, must be terminated with a single _l_." Therefore, one _l_ should be here omitted; thus, _evil_.] "Patroll; to go the rounds in a camp or garrison, to march about and observe what passes."--_Webster's Amer. Dict._, 8vo. "Marshall; the chief officer of arms, one who regulates rank and order."--See _Bailey's Dict._ "Weevill; a destructive grub that gets among corn."--See _Rhym. Dict._ "It much excells all other studies and arts."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 217. "It is essentiall to all magnitudes, to be in one place."--_Perkins's Works_, p. 403. "By nature I was thy vassall, but Christ hath redeemed me."--_Ib._, p. 404. "Some, being in want, pray for temporall blessings."--_Ib._, p. 412. "And this the Lord doth, either in temporall or spirituall benefits."--_Ib._, p. 415. "He makes an idoll of them, by setting his heart on them."--_Ib._, p. 416. "This triall by desertion serveth for two purposes."--_Ib._, p. 420. "Moreover, this destruction is both perpetuall and terrible."--_Ib._, p. 726. "Giving to severall men several gifts, according to his good pleasure."--_Ib._, p. 731. "Untill; to some time, place, or degree, mentioned."--See _Red Book_, p. 330. "Annull; to make void, to nullify, to abrogate, to abolish." "Nitric acid combined with argill, forms the nitrate of argill."--_Gregory's Dict., art. Chemistry_. "Let modest Foster, if he will, excell Ten Metropolitans in preaching well."--_Pope_, p. 414. UNDER RULE IX.--OF FINAL E. "Adjectives ending in _able_ signify capacity; as, _comfortable, tenable, improvable_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 33. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_improveable_" here retains the final _e_ of _improve_. But, according to Rule 9th, "The final _e_ of a primitive word is generally omitted before an additional termination beginning with a vowel." Therefore, this _e_ should be omitted; thus, _improvable_.] "Their mildness and hospitality are ascribeable to a general administration of religious ordinances."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 336. "Retrench as much as possible without obscureing the sense."--_James Brown's Amer. Gram._, 1821, p. 11. "Changable, subject to change; Unchangeable, immutable."--_Walker's Rhym. Dict._ "Tameable, susceptive of taming; Untameable, not to be tamed."--_Ib._ "Reconcileable, Unreconcileable, Reconcileableness; Irreconcilable, Irreconcilably, Irreconcilableness."--_Johnson's Dict._ "We have thought it most adviseable to pay him some little attention."-- _Merchants Criticisms_. "Proveable, that may be proved; Reprovable. blameable, worthy of reprehension."--_Walker's Dict._ "Moveable and Immovable, Moveably and Immovably, Moveables and Removal, Moveableness and Improvableness, Unremoveable and Unimprovable, Unremoveably and Removable, Proveable and Approvable, Irreproveable and Reprovable, Unreproveable and Improvable, Unimproveableness and Improvably."--_Johnson's Dict._ "And with this cruelty you are chargable in some measure yourself."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 94. "Mothers would certainly resent it, as judgeing it proceeded from a low opinion of the genius of their sex."--_British Gram., Pref._, p. xxv. "Titheable, subject to the payment of tithes; Saleable, vendible, fit for sale; Loseable, possible to be lost; Sizeable, of reasonable bulk or size."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._ "When he began this custom, he was puleing and very tender."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 8. "The plate, coin, revenues, and moveables, Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd."--_Shak._ UNDER RULE X.--OF FINAL E. "Diversly; in different ways, differently, variously."--_Rhym. Dict._, and _Webster's_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_Diversly_" here omits the final _e_ of its primitive word, _diverse_. But, according to Rule 10th, "The final _e_ of a primitive word is generally retained before an additional termination beginning with a consonant." Therefore, this _e_ should be retained; thus, _Diversely_.] "The event thereof contains a wholsome instruction."--_Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients_, p. 17. "Whence Scaliger falsly concluded that articles were useless."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 94. "The child that we have just seen is wholesomly fed."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 187. "Indeed, falshood and legerdemain sink the character of a prince."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 5. "In earnest, at this rate of managment, thou usest thyself very coarsly."--_Ib._, p. 19. "To give them an arrangment and diversity, as agreeable as the nature of the subject would admit"--_Murray's Pref. to Ex._, p. vi. "Alger's Grammar is only a trifling enlargment of Murray's little Abridgment."--_Author_. "You ask whether you are to retain or omit the mute _e_ in the word judgment, abridgment, acknowledgment, lodgment, adjudgment, and prejudgment."--_Red Book_, p. 172. "Fertileness, fruitfulness; Fertily, fruitfully, abundantly."--_Johnson's Dict._ "Chastly, purely, without contamination; Chastness, chastity, purity."--_Ib._, and _Walker's_. "Rhymster, _n._ One who makes rhymes; a versifier; a mean poet."--_Johnson_ and _Webster_. "It is therefore an heroical achievment to dispossess this imaginary monarch."--_Berkley's Minute Philos._, p. 151. "Whereby, is not meant the Present Time, as he imagins, but the Time Past."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 344 "So far is this word from affecting the noun, in regard to its definitness, that its own character of definitness or indefinitness, depends upon the name to which it is prefixed."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 20. "Satire, by wholsome Lessons, wou'd reclaim, And heal their Vices to secure their Fame." --_Brightland's Gr._, p. 171. UNDER RULE XI.--OF FINAL Y. "Solon's the veryest fool in all the play."--_Dryden, from Persius_, p. 475. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_veryest_" here retains the final _y_ of its primitive _very_. But, according to Rule 13th, "The final _y_ of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into _i_ before an additional termination." Therefore, this _y_ should be changed to _i_; thus, _veriest_.] "Our author prides himself upon his great slyness and shrewdness."--_Merchant's Criticisms_. "This tense, then, implys also the signification of _Debeo_."--_B. Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 300. "That may be apply'd to a Subject, with respect to something accidental."--_Ib._, p. 133. "This latter accompanys his Note with a distinction."--_Ib._, p. 196. "This Rule is defective, and none of the Annotators have sufficiently supply'd it."--_Ib._, p. 204. "Though the fancy'd Supplement of Sanctius, Scioppius, Vossius, and Mariangelus, may take place."--_Ib._, p. 276. "Yet as to the commutableness of these two Tenses, which is deny'd likewise, they are all one."--_Ib._, p. 311. "Both these Tenses may represent a Futurity implyed by the dependence of the Clause."--_Ib._, p. 332. "Cry, cries, crying, cried, crier, decrial; Shy, shyer, shyest, shyly, shyness; Fly, flies, flying, flier, high-flier; Sly, slyer, slyest, slyly, slyness; Spy, spies, spying, spied, espial; Dry, drier, driest, dryly, dryness."--_Cobb's Dict._ "Cry, cried, crying, crier, cryer, decried, decrier, decrial; Shy, shyly, shily, shyness, shiness; Fly, flier, flyer, high-flyer; Sly, slily, slyly, sliness, slyness; Ply, plyer, plying, pliers, complied, compiler; Dry, drier, dryer, dryly, dryness."--_Webster's Dict._, 8vo. "Cry, crier, decrier, decrial; Shy, shily, shyly, shiness, shyness; Fly, flier, flyer, high-flier; Sly, slily, slyly, sliness, slyness; Ply, pliers, plyers, plying, complier; Dry, drier, dryer, dryly, dryness."--_Chalmers's Abridgement of Todd's Johnson_. "I would sooner listen to the thrumming of a dandyzette at her piano."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 24. "Send her away; for she cryeth after us."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 140. "IVYED, _a._ Overgrown with ivy."--_Todd's Dict._, and _Webster's_. "Some dryly plain, without invention's aid, Write dull receipts how poems may be made."--_Pope_. UNDER RULE XII.--OF FINAL Y. "The gaiety of youth should be tempered by the precepts of age."--_Mur. Key_, p. 175. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_gaiety_" does not here retain the final _y_ of the primitive word _gay_. But, according to Rule 12th, "The final _y_ of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into _i_ before an additional termination." Therefore, this _y_ should be retained; thus, _gayety_.] "In the storm of 1703, two thousand stacks of chimnies were blown down, in and about London."--See _Red Book_, p. 112. "And the vexation was not abated by the hacknied plea of haste."--_Ib._, p. 142. "The fourth sin of our daies is lukewarmness."--_Perkins's Works_, p. 725. "God hates the workers of iniquity, and destroies them that speak lies."--_Ib._, p. 723. "For, when he laies his hand upon us, we may not fret."--_Ib._, p. 726. "Care not for it; but if thou maiest be free, choose it rather."--_Ib._, p. 736. "Alexander Severus saith, 'He that buieth, must sell: I will not suffer buyers and sellers of offices.'"--_Ib._, p. 737. "With these measures fell in all monied men."--SWIFT: _Johnson's Dict._ "But rattling nonsense in full vollies breaks."--POPE: _ib., w. Volley_. "Vallies are the intervals betwixt mountains."--WOODWARD: _ib._ "The Hebrews had fifty-two journies or marches."--_Wood's Dict._ "It was not possible to manage or steer the gallies thus fastened together."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 106. "Turkies were not known to naturalists till after the discovery of America."--_See Gregory's Dict._ "I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkies."--See _Key_. "Men worked at embroidery, especially in abbies."--_Constable's Miscellany_, Vol. xxi, p. 101. "By which all purchasers or mortgagees may be secured of all monies they lay out."--TEMPLE: _Johnson's Dict._ "He would fly to the mines and the gallies for his recreation."--SOUTH: _Ib._ "Here pullies make the pond'rous oak ascend."--GAY: _ib._ ------------"You need my help, and you say, Shylock, we would have monies."--SHAKSPEARE: _ib._ UNDER RULE XIII.--OF IZE AND ISE. "Will any able writer authorise other men to revise his works?"--_Author._ [FORMULES.--1. Not proper, because the word "_authorise_" is here written with _s_ in the last syllable, in stead of _z_. But, according to Rule 13th, "Words ending in _ize_ or _ise_ sounded alike, as in _wise_ and _size_, generally take the _z_ in all such as are essentially formed by means of the termination." Therefore, this _s_ should be _z_; thus, _authorize_. 2. Not proper again, because the word "_revize_" is here written with _z_ in the last syllable, in lieu of _s_. But, according to Rule 13th, "Words ending in _ize_ or _ise_ sounded alike, as in _wise_ and _size_, generally take the _s_, in monosyllables, and all such as are essentially formed by means of prefixes." Therefore, this _z_ should be _s_; thus, _revise_.] "It can be made as strong and expressive as this Latinised English."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 295. "Governed by the success or the failure of an enterprize."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, pp. 128 and 259. "Who have patronised the cause of justice against powerful oppressors."--_Ib._, pp. 94 and 228; _Merchant_, p. 199. "Yet custom authorises this use of it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 148. "They surprize myself, * * * and I even think the writers themselves will be surprized."--_Ib._, Pref., p. xi. "Let the interest rize to any sum which can be obtained."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 310. "To determin what interest shall arize on the use of money."--_Ib._, p. 313. "To direct the popular councils and check a rizing opposition."--_Ib._, p. 335. "Five were appointed to the immediate exercize of the office."--_Ib._, p. 340. "No man ever offers himself [as] a candidate by advertizing."--_Ib._, p. 344. "They are honest and economical, but indolent, and destitute of enterprize."--_Ib._, p. 347. "I would however advize you to be cautious."--_Ib._, p. 404. "We are accountable for whatever we patronise in others."--_Murray's Key_, p. 175. "After he was baptised, and was solemnly admitted into the office."--_Perkins's Works_, p. 732. "He will find all, or most of them, comprized in the Exercises."--_British Gram._, Pref., p. v. "A quick and ready habit of methodising and regulating their thoughts."--_Ib._, p. xviii. "To tyrannise over the time and patience of his reader."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. iii. "Writers of dull books, however, if patronised at all, are rewarded beyond their deserts."--_Ib._, p. v. "A little reflection, will show the reader the propriety and the _reason_ for emphasising the words marked."--_Ib._, p. 163. "The English Chronicle contains an account of a surprizing cure."--_Red Book_, p. 61. "Dogmatise, to assert positively; Dogmatizer, an asserter, a magisterial teacher."--_Chalmers's Dict._ "And their inflections might now have been easily analysed."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 113. "Authorize, disauthorise, and unauthorized; Temporize, contemporise, and extemporize."--_Walkers Dict._ "Legalize, equalise, methodise, sluggardize, womanise, humanize, patronise, cantonize, gluttonise, epitomise, anatomize, phlebotomise, sanctuarise, characterize, synonymise, recognise, detonize, colonise."--_Ibid._ "This BEAUTY Sweetness always must comprize, Which from the Subject, well express'd will rise." --_Brightland's Gr._, p. 164. UNDER RULE XIV.--OF COMPOUNDS. "The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward."--COMMON BIBLES: _Isa._, lviii, 8. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the compound word "_rereward_" has not here the orthography of the two simple words _rear_ and _ward_, which compose it. But, according to Rule 14th, "Compounds generally retain the orthography of the simple words which compose them." And, the accent being here unfixed, a hyphen is proper. Therefore, this word should be spelled thus, _rear-ward_.] "A mere vaunt-courier to announce the coming of his master."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 49. "The parti-coloured shutter appeared to come close up before him."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 233. "When the day broke upon this handfull of forlorn but dauntless spirits."--_Ib._, p. 245. "If, upon a plumbtree, peaches and apricots are ingrafted, no body will say they are the natural growth of the plumbtree."--_Berkley's Minute Philos._, p. 45. "The channel between Newfoundland and Labrador is called the Straits of Bellisle."--_Worcester's Gaz._ "There being nothing that more exposes to Headach." [127]--_Locke, on Education_, p. 6. "And, by a sleep, to say we end the heartach."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "He that sleeps, feels not the toothach."--ID., _ibid._ "That the shoe must fit him, because it fitted his father and granfather."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 431. "A single word, mispelt, in a letter, is sufficient to show, that you have received a defective education."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 3. "Which mistatement the committee attributed to a failure of memory."--_Professors' Reasons_, p. 14. "Then he went through the Banquetting-House to the scaffold."-- _Smollett's England_, Vol. iii, p. 345. "For the purpose of maintaining a clergyman and skoolmaster."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 355. "They however knew that the lands were claimed by Pensylvania."--_Ib._, p. 357. "But if you ask a reason, they immediately bid farewel to argument."--_Red Book_, p. 80. "Whom resist stedfast in the faith."--SCOTT: 1 _Peter_, v, 9. "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine."--_Acts_, ii, 42. "Beware lest ye also fall from your own stedfastness."--_2 Peter_, iii, 17. "_Galiot_, or _galliott_, a Dutch vessel, carrying a main-mast and a mizen-mast."--_Web. Dict._ "Infinitive, to overflow; Preterit, overflowed; Participle, overflown."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, (1818,) p. 61. "After they have mispent so much precious Time."--_British Gram._, p. xv. "Some say, two _handsfull_; some, two _handfulls_; and others, two _handfull_."-- _Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 106. "Lapfull, as much as the lap can contain."--_Webster's Octavo Dict._ "Darefull, full of defiance."-- _Walker's Rhym. Dict._ "The road to the blissfull regions, is as open to the peasant as to the king."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 167. "Mis-spel is _mis-spell_ in every Dictionary which I have seen."--_Barnes's Red Book_. p. 303. "Downfal; ruin, calamity, fall from rank or state."--_Johnson's Dict._ "The whole legislature likewize acts az a court."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 340. "It were better a milstone were hanged about his neck."--_Perkins's Works_, p. 731. "Plum-tree, a tree that produces plums; Hog-plumbtree, a tree."--_Webster's Dict._ "Trisyllables ending in _re_ or _le_, accent the first syllable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 238. "It happen'd on a summer's holiday, That to the greenwood shade he took his way." --_Churchill's Gr._, p. 135. UNDER RULE XV.--OF USAGE. "Nor are the modes of the Greek tongue more uniform."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 112. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_modes_" is here written for _moods_, which is more common among the learned, and usually preferred by Murray himself. But, according to Rule 15th, "Any word for the spelling of which we have no rule but usage, is written wrong if not spelled according to the usage which is most common among the learned." Therefore, the latter form should be preferred; thus, _moods_, and not _modes_.] "If we analize a conjunctive preterite, the rule will not appear to hold."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 118. "No landholder would have been at that expence."--_Ib._, p. 116. "I went to see the child whilst they were putting on its cloaths."--_Ib._, p. 125. "This stile is ostentatious, and doth not suit grave writing."--_Ib._, p. 82. "The king of Israel, and Jehosophat the king of Judah, sat each on his throne."--_Mur. Gram._, p. 165, _twice_; _Merchant's_, 89; _Churchill's_, 300. "The king of Israel, and Jehosaphat the king of Judah, sat each on his throne."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 90; _Harrison's_, 99; _Churchill's_, 138; _Wright's_, 148. "Lisias, speaking of his friends, promised to his father, never to abandon them."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, pp. 121 and 253. "Some, to avoid this errour, run into it's opposite."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 199. "Hope, the balm of life, sooths us under every misfortune."--_Merchants Key_, p. 204. "Any judgement or decree might be heerd and reversed by the legislature."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 340. "A pathetic harang wil skreen from punishment any knave."--_Ib._, p. 341. "For the same reezon, the wimen would be improper judges."--_Ibid._ "Every person iz indulged in worshiping az he pleezes."--_Ib._, p. 345. "Most or all teechers are excluded from genteel company."--_Ib._, p. 362. "The Kristian religion, in its purity, iz the best institution on erth."--_Ib._, p. 364. "Neether clergymen nor human laws hav the leest authority over the conscience."--_Ib._, p. 363. "A gild is a society, fraternity, or corporation."--_Red Book_, p. 83. "Phillis was not able to unty the knot, and so she cut it."--_Ib._, p. 46. "An aker of land is the quantity of one hundred and sixty perches."--_Ib._, p. 93. "Oker is a fossil earth combined with the oxid of some metal."--_Ib._, p. 96. "_Genii_, when denoting aerial spirits: _Geniuses_, when signifying persons of genius."--_Mur.'s Gram._, i, p. 42. "_Genii_, when denoting aeriel spirits; _Geniuses_, when signifying persons of genius."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 9. "_Genius_, Plu. _geniuses_, men of wit; but _genii_, aerial beings."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 18. "Aerisius, king of Argos, had a beautiful daughter, whose name was Danae."--_Classic Tales_, p. 109. "Phaeton was the son of Apollo and Clymene."--_Ib._, p. 152. "But, after all, I may not have reached the intended Gaol."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, Pref., p. xxvii. "'Pitticus was offered a large sum.' Better: 'A large sum was offered to Pitticus.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 187. "King Missipsi charged his sons to respect the senate and people of Rome."--See _ib._, p. 161. "For example: Gallileo invented the telescope."--_Ib._, pp. 54 and 67. "Cathmor's warriours sleep in death."--_Ib._, p. 54. "For parsing will enable you to detect and correct errours in composition."--_Ib._, p. 50. "O'er barren mountains, o'er the flow'ry plain, Extends thy uncontroul'd and boundless reign."--_Dryden_. PROMISCUOUS ERRORS IN SPELLING. LESSON I.--MIXED. "A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critick."--POPE: _Johnson's Dict., w. Former_. "Produce a single passage superiour to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, delivered to Lord Dunmore, when governour of Virginia."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 247. "We have none synonimous to supply its place."--_Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 48. "There is a probability that the effect will be accellerated."--_Ib._, p. 48. "Nay, a regard to sound hath controuled the public choice."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Though learnt from the uninterrupted use of gutterel sounds."--_Ib._, p. 5. "It is by carefully filing off all roughness and inequaleties, that languages, like metals, must be polished."--_Ib._, p. 48. "That I have not mispent my time in the service of the community."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, Pref., p. xxviii. "The leaves of maiz are also called blades."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 43. "Who boast that they know what is past, and can foretel what is to come."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 360. "Its tasteless dullness is interrupted by nothing but its perplexities."-- _Abbott's Teacher_, p. 18. "Sentences constructed with the Johnsonian fullness and swell."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 130. "The privilege of escaping from his prefatory dullness and prolixity."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. iv. "But in poetry this characteristick of dulness attains its full growth."--_Ib._, p. 72. "The leading characteristick consists in an increase of the force and fullness."--_Ib._, p. 71. "The character of this opening fulness and feebler vanish."--_Ib._, p. 31. "Who, in the fullness of unequalled power, would not believe himself the favourite of heaven?"--_Ib._, p. 181. "They marr one another, and distract him."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 433. "Let a deaf worshipper of antiquity and an English prosodist settle this."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 140. "This phillipic gave rise to my satirical reply in self-defence."-- _Merchant's Criticisms_. "We here saw no inuendoes, no new sophistry, no falsehoods."--_Ib._ "A witty and humourous vein has often produced enemies."--_Murray's Key_, p. 173. "Cry holla! to thy tongue, I pr'ythee: it curvetts unseasonably."--_Shak._ "I said, in my slyest manner, 'Your health, sir.'"--_Blackwood's Mag._, Vol. xl, p. 679. "And attornies also travel the circuit in pursute of business."--_Red Book_, p. 83. "Some whole counties in Virginia would hardly sel for the valu of the dets du from the inhabitants."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 301. "They were called the court of assistants, and exercized all powers legislativ and judicial."--_Ib._, p. 340. "Arithmetic is excellent for the guaging of liquors."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 288. "Most of the inflections may be analysed in a way somewhat similar."--_Ib._, p. 112. "To epithets allots emphatic state, Whilst principals, ungrac'd, like lacquies wait." --_C. Churchill's Ros._, p. 8. LESSON II.--MIXED. "Hence it [less] is a privative word, denoting destitution; as, fatherless, faithless, pennyless."--_Webster's Dict., w. Less._ "_Bay_; red, or reddish, inclining to a chesnut color."--_Same._ "_To mimick_, to imitate or ape for sport; _a mimic_, one who imitates or mimics."--_Ib._ "Counterroil, a counterpart or copy of the rolls; Counterrolment, a counter account."--_Ib._ "Millenium, the thousand years during which Satan shall be bound."--_Ib._ "Millenial, pertaining to the millenium, or to a thousand years."--_Ib._ "Thraldom; slavery, bondage, a state of servitude."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "Brier, a prickly bush; Briery, rough, prickly, full of briers; Sweetbriar, a fragrant shrub."--See _Johnson, Walker, Chalmers, Webster, and others_. "_Will_, in the second and third Persons, barely foretels."--_British Gram._, p. 132. "And therefor there is no Word false, but what is distinguished by Italics."--_Ib._, Pref., p. v. "What should be repeted is left to their Discretion."--_Ib._, p. iv. "Because they are abstracted or seperated from material Substances."--_Ib._, p. ix. "All Motion is in Time, and therefor, where-ever it exists, implies Time as its Concommitant."--_Ib._, p. 140. "And illiterate grown persons are guilty of blameable spelling."--_Ib._, Pref., p. xiv. "They wil always be ignorant, and of ruf uncivil manners."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 346. "This fact wil hardly be beleeved in the northern states."--_Ib._, p. 367. "The province however waz harrassed with disputes."--_Ib._, p. 352. "So little concern haz the legislature for the interest of lerning."--_Ib._, p. 349. "The gentlemen wil not admit that a skoolmaster can be a gentleman."--_Ib._, p. 362. "Such absurd qui-pro-quoes cannot be too strenuously avoided."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 205. "When we say, 'a man looks _slyly_;' we signify, that he assumes a _sly look_."--_Ib._, p. 339. "_Peep_; to look through a crevice; to look narrowly, closely, or slyly."--_Webster's Dict._ "Hence the confession has become a hacknied proverb."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 110. "Not to mention the more ornamental parts of guilding, varnish, &c."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 20. "After this system of self-interest had been rivetted."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 136. "Prejudice might have prevented the cordial approbation of a bigotted Jew."--SCOTT: _on Luke_, x. "All twinkling with the dew-drop sheen, The briar-rose fell in streamers green."--_Lady of the Lake_, p. 16. LESSON III.--MIXED. "The infinitive mode has commonly the sign _to_ before it."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 25. "Thus, it is adviseable to write _singeing_, from the verb to _singe_, by way of distinction from _singing_, the participle of the verb to _sing_."--_Ib._, p. 27. "Many verbs form both the preterite tense and the preterite participle irregularly."--_Ib._, p. 28. "Much must be left to every one's taste and judgment."--_Ib._, p. 67. "Verses of different lengths intermixed form a Pindarick poem."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 44. "He'll surprize you."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 88. "Unequalled archer! why was this concealed?"--KNOWLES: _ib._, p. 102. "So gaily curl the waves before each dashing prow."--BYRON: _ib._, p. 104. "When is a dipthong called a proper dipthong?"--_Infant School Gram._, p. 11. "How many _ss_ would goodness then end with? Three."--_Ib._, p. 33. "_Q._ What is a tripthong? _A._ A tripthong is the union of three vowels, pronounced in like manner."--_Bacon's Gram._, p. 7. "The verb, noun, or pronoun, is referred to the preceding terms taken seperately."--_Ib._, p. 47. "The cubic foot of matter which occupies the center of the globe."--_Cardell's Gram._, 18mo, p. 47. "The wine imbibes oxigen, or the acidifying principle, from the air."--_Ib._, p. 62. "Charcoal, sulphur, and niter, make gun powder."--_Ib._, p. 90. "It would be readily understood, that the thing so labeled, was a bottle of Madeira wine."--_Ib._, p. 99. "They went their ways, one to his farm, an other to his merchandize."--_Ib._, p. 130. "A dipthong is the union of two vowels, sounded by a single impulse of the voice."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 7. "The professors of the Mahommedan religion are called Mussulmans."--_Maltby's Gram._, p. 73. "This shews that _let_ is not a sign of the imperative mood, but a real verb."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Those preterites and participles, which are first mentioned in the list, seem to be the most eligible."--_Ib._, p. 47. "Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared by _er_ and _est_; and dyssyllables by _more_ and _most_."--_Ib._, p. 19. "This termination, added to a noun, or adjective, changes it into a verb: as _modern_, to _modernise_; a _symbol_, to _symbolize_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 24. "An Abridgment of Murray's Grammar, with additions from Webster, Ash, Tooke, and others."--_Maltby's title-page_. "For the sake of occupying the room more advantagously, the subject of Orthography is merely glanced at."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 5. "So contended the accusers of Gallileo."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, 12mo, 1839, p. 380. "Murray says, 'They were _traveling past_ when _we_ met them.'"--_Peirce, ib._, p. 361. "They fulfil the only purposes for which they are designed."--_Ib._, p. 359. "On the fulfillment of the event."--_Ib._, p. 175. "Fullness consists in expressing every idea."--_Ib._, p. 291. "Consistently with fulness and perspicuity."--_Ib._, p. 337. "The word _verriest_ is a gross corruption; as, 'He is the _verriest_ fool on earth.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 202. "The sound will recal the idea of the object."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 142. "Formed for great enterprizes."--_Bullions's Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 153. "The most important rules and definitions are printed in large type, _italicised_."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 3. "HAMLETTED, _a._ Accustomed to a hamlet; countrified."-- _Bolles's Dict._, and _Chalmers's_. "Singular, _spoonful, cup-full, coach-full, handful_; plural, _spoonfuls, cup-fulls, coach-fulls, handfuls_."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 27. "Between Superlatives and following Names, OF, by Grammatick Right, a Station claims." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 146. CHAPTER V.--QUESTIONS. ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION. [Fist][The student ought to be able to answer with readiness, and in the words of the book, all the following questions on grammar. And if he has but lately commenced the study, it may be well to require of him a general rehearsal of this kind, before he proceeds to the correction of any part of the false grammar quoted in the foregoing chapters. At any rate, he should be master of so many of the definitions and rules as precede the part which he attempts to correct; because this knowledge is necessary to a creditable performance of the exercise. But those who are very quick at reading, may perform it _tolerably_, by consulting the book at the time, for what they do not remember. The answers to these questions will embrace all the main text of the work; and, if any further examination be thought necessary, extemporaneous questions may be framed for the purpose.] LESSON I.--GRAMMAR. 1. What is the name, or title, of this book? 2. What is Grammar? 3. What is an English Grammar? 4. What is English Grammar, in itself? and what knowledge does it imply? 5. If grammar is the art of reading, writing, and speaking, define these actions. What is it, _to read_? 6. What is it, _to write_? 7. What is it, _to speak_? 8. How is grammar to be taught, and by what means are its principles to be made known? 9. What is a perfect definition? 10. What is an example, as used in teaching? 11. What is a rule of grammar? 12. What is an exercise? 13. What was language at first, and what is it now? 14. Of what two kinds does the composition of language consist? and how do they differ? 15. What are the least parts of language? 16. What has discourse to do with sentences? or sentences, with points? 17. In extended compositions, what is the order of the parts, upwards from a sentence? 18. What, then, is the common order of literary division, downwards, throughout? 19. Are all literary works divided exactly in this way? 20. How is Grammar divided? 21. Of what does Orthography treat? 22. Of what does Etymology treat? 23. Of what does Syntax treat? 24. Of what does Prosody treat? PART FIRST, ORTHOGRAPHY. LESSON II.--LETTERS. 1. Of what does Orthography treat? 2. What is a letter? 3. What is an elementary sound of human voice, or speech? 4. What name is given to the sound of a letter? and what epithet, to a letter not sounded? 5. How many letters are there in English? and how many sounds do they represent? 6. In what does a knowledge of the letters consist? 7. What variety is there in the letters? and how are they always the same? 8. What different sorts of types, or styles of letters, are used in English? 9. What are the names of the letters in English? 10. What are their names in both numbers, singular and plural? 11. Into what general classes are the letters divided? 12. What is a vowel? 13. What is a consonant? 14. What letters are vowels? and what, consonants? 15. When are _w_ and _y_ consonants? and when, vowels? 16. How are the consonants divided? 17. What is a semivowel? 18. What is a mute? 19. What letters are reckoned semivowels? and how many of these are aspirates? 20. What letters are called liquids? and why? 21. What letters are reckoned mutes? and which of them are imperfect mutes? LESSON III.--SOUNDS. 1. What is meant, when we speak of the powers of the letters? 2. Are the sounds of a language fewer than its words? 3. How are different vowel sounds produced? 4. What are the vowel sounds in English? 5. How may these sounds be modified in the formation of syllables? 6. Can you form a word upon each by means of an _f_? 7. Will you try the series again with a _p_? 8. How may the vowel sounds be written? and how uttered when they are not words? 9. Which of the vowel sounds form words? and what of the rest? 10. How many and what are the consonant sounds in English? 11. In what series of words may all these sounds be heard? 12. In what series of words may each of them be heard two or three times? 13. What is said of the sounds of _j_ and _x_? 14. What is said of the sounds of _c_ and _g_? 15. What is said of _sc_, or _s_ before _c_? 16. What, of _ce, ci_, and _ch_? 17. What sounds has the consonant _g_? 18. In how many different ways can the letters of the alphabet be combined? 19. What do we derive from these combinations of sounds and characters? LESSON IV.--CAPITALS. 1. What characters are employed in English? 2. Why should the different sorts of letters be kept distinct? 3. What is said of the slanting strokes in Roman letters? 4. For what purpose are _Italics_ chiefly used? 5. In preparing a manuscript, how do we mark these things for the printer? 6. What distinction of form belongs to each of the letters? 7. What is said of small letters? and why are capitals used? 8. What things are commonly exhibited wholly in capitals? 9. How many rules for capitals are given in this book? and what are their titles? 10. What says Rule 1st of _books_? 11. What says Rule 2d of _first words_? 12. What says Rule 3d of _names of Deity_? 13. What says Rule 4th of _proper names_? 14. What says Rule 5th of _titles_? 15. What says Rule 6th of _one capital_? 16. What says Rule 7th of _two capitals_? 17. What says Rule 8th of _compounds_? 18. What says Rule 9th of _apposition_? 19. What says Rule 10th of _personifications_? 20. What says Rule 11th of _derivatives_? 21. What says Rule 12th of _I and O_? 22. What says Rule 13th of _poetry_? 23. What says Rule 14th of _examples_? 24. What says Rule 15th of _chief words_? 25. What says Rule 16th of _needless capitals_? [Now turn to the first chapter of Orthography, and correct the improprieties there quoted for the practical application of these rules.] LESSON V.--SYLLABLES. 1. What is a syllable? 2. Can the syllables of a word be perceived by the ear? 3. Under what names are words classed according to the number of their syllables? 4. Which of the letters can form syllables of themselves? and which cannot? 5. What is a diphthong? 6. What is a proper diphthong? 7. What is an improper diphthong? 8. What is a triphthong? 9. What is a proper triphthong? 10. What is an improper triphthong? 11. How many and what are the diphthongs in English? 12. How many and which of these are so variable in sound that they may be either proper or improper diphthongs? 13. How many and what are the proper diphthongs? 14. How many and what are the improper diphthongs? 15. Are proper triphthongs numerous in our language? 16. How many and what are the improper triphthongs? 17. What guide have we for dividing words into syllables? 18. How many special rules of syllabication are given in this book? and what are their titles, or subjects? 19. What says Rule 1st of _consonants_? 20. What says Rule 2d of _vowels_? 21. What says Rule 3d of _terminations_? 22. What says Rule 4th of _prefixes_? 23. What says Rule 5th of _compounds_? 24. What says Rule 6th of _lines full_? [Now turn to the second chapter of Orthography, and correct the improprieties there quoted for the practical application of these rules.] LESSON VI.--WORDS. 1. What is a word? 2. How are words distinguished in regard to _species_ and _figure_? 3. What is a primitive word? 4. What is a derivative word? 5. What is a simple word? 6. What is a compound word? 7. How do permanent compounds differ from others? 8. How many rules for the figure of words are given in this book? and what are their titles, or subjects? 9. What says Rule 1st of _compounds_? 10. What says Rule 2d of _simples_? 11. What says Rule 3d of _the sense_? 12. What says Rule 4th of _ellipses_? 13. What says Rule 5th of _the hyphen_? 14. What says Rule 6th of _no hyphen_? [Now turn to the third chapter of Orthography, and correct the improprieties there quoted for the practical application of these rules.] LESSON VII.--SPELLING. 1. What is spelling? 2. How is this art to be acquired? and why so? 3. Why is it difficult to learn to spell accurately? 4. Is it then any disgrace to spell words erroneously? 5. What benefit may be expected from the rules for spelling? 6. How many rules for spelling are given in this book? and what are their titles, or subjects? 7. What says Rule 1st of _final f, l_, or _s_? 8. Can you mention the principal exceptions to this rule? 9. What says Rule 2d of _other finals_? 10. Are there any exceptions to this rule? 11. What says Rule 3d of the _doubling_ of consonants? 12. Under what three heads are the exceptions to this rule noticed? 13. What says Rule 4th _against the doubling_ of consonants? 14. Under what four heads are the apparent exceptions to this Rule noticed? 15. What says Rule 5th of _final ck_? 16. What monosyllables, contrary to this rule, end with _c_ only? 17. What says Rule 6th of the _retaining_ of double letters before affixes? 18. Under what three heads are the exceptions to this rule noticed? 19. What says Rule 7th of the _retaining_ of double letters after prefixes? 20. What observation is made respecting exceptions to this rule? LESSON VIII.--SPELLING. 21. What says Rule 8th of _final ll_, and of _final l single_? 22. What words does this rule claim, which might seem to come under Rule 7th? and why? 23. What says Rule 9th of _final e omitted_? 24. Under what three heads are the exceptions, real or apparent, here noticed? 25. What says Rule 10th of _final e retained?_ 26. Under what three heads are the exceptions to this rule noticed? 27. What says Rule 11th of _final y changed?_ 28. Under what three heads are the limits and exceptions to this rule noticed? 29. What says Rule 12th of _final y unchanged?_ 30. Under what three heads are the exceptions to this rule noticed? 31. What says Rule 13th of the terminations _ize_ and _ise?_ 32. Under what three heads are the apparent exceptions to this rule noticed? 33. What says Rule 14th of _compounds?_ 34. Under what seven heads are the exceptions to this rule noticed? 35. What says Rule 15th of _usage_, as a law of spelling? [Now turn to the fourth chapter of Orthography, and correct the improprieties there quoted for the practical application of these rules and their exceptions.] CHAPTER VI.--FOR WRITING. EXERCISES IN ORTHOGRAPHY. [Fist] [The following examples of false orthography are inserted here, and not explained in the general Key, that they may he corrected by the pupil _in writing_. Some of the examples here quoted are less inaccurate than others, but all of them, except a few shown in contrast, are, in some respect or other, erroneous. It is supposed, that every student who can answer the questions contained in the preceding chapter, will readily discern wherein the errors lie, and be able to make the necessary corrections.] EXERCISE I.--CAPITALS. "Alexander the great killed his friend Clitus."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 68. "The words in italics are parsed in the same manner."--_Maltby's Gram._, p. 69. "It may be read by those who do not understand latin."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 262. "A roman _s_ being added to a word in italics or small capitals."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 215. "This is not simply a gallicism, but a corruption of the French _on_; itself a corruption."-- _Ib._, p. 228. "The Gallicism, '_it is me_,' is perpetually striking the ear in London."--_Ib._, p. 316. "'Almost nothing,' is a common Scotticism, equally improper: it should be, 'scarcely any thing.'"--_Ib._, p. 333. "To use _learn_ for _teach_, is a common Scotticism, that ought to be carefully avoided."--See _ib._, p. 261. "A few observations on the subjunctive mood as it appears in our English bible."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 40. "The translators of the bible, have confounded two tenses, which in the original are uniformly kept distinct."--_Ib._, p. 40. "More like heaven on earth, than the holy land would have been."--_Anti-Slavery Mag._, Vol. i, p. 72. "There is now extant a poetical composition, called the golden verses of Pythagoras."-- _Lempriere's Dict._ "Exercise of the Mind upon Theorems of Science, like generous and manly Exercise of the Body, tends to call forth and strengthen Nature's original Vigour."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 295. "O that I could prevail on Christians to melt down, under the warm influence of brotherly love, all the distinctions of methodists, independents, baptists, anabaptists, arians, trinitarians, unitarians, in the glorious name of christians."--KNOX: _Churchill's Gram._, p. 173. "Pythagoras long ago remarked, 'that ability and necessity dwell near each other.'"--_Student's Manual_, p. 285. "The Latin Writers Decency neglect, But modern Readers challenge more Respect." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 172. EXERCISE II.--SYLLABLES. 1. Correct _Bolles_, in the division of the following words: "Del-ia, Jul-ia, Lyd-ia, heigh-ten, pat-ron, ad-roit, worth-y, fath-er, fath-er-ly, mar-chi-o-ness, i-dent-ic-al, out-ra-ge-ous, ob-nox-i-ous, pro-di-gi-ous, tre-mend-ous, ob-liv-i-on, pe-cul-i-ar."--_Revised Spelling-Book_: New London, 1831. 2. Correct _Sears_, in the division of the following words: "A-quil-a, hear-ty, drea-ry, wor-my, hai-ry, thor-ny, phil-os-o-phy, dis-cov-e-ry, re-cov-e-ry, ad-diti-on, am-biti-on, au-spici-ous, fac-titi-ous, fla-giti-ous, fru-iti-on, sol-stiti-al, ab-o-liti-on."--_Standard Spelling-Book_: "New Haven," 1826. 3. Correct _Bradley_, in the division of the following words: "Jes-ter, rai-ny, forg-e-ry, fin-e-ry, spic-e-ry, brib-e-ry, groc-e-ry, chi-can-e-ry, fer-riage, line-age, cri-ed, tri-ed, su-ed, slic-ed, forc-ed, pledg-ed, sav-ed, dup-ed, strip-ed, touch-ed, trounc-ed."--_Improved Spelling-Book_: Windsor, 1815. 4. Correct _Burhans_, in the division of the following words: "Boar-der, brigh-ten, cei-ling, frigh-ten, glea-ner, lea-kage, suc-ker, mos-sy, fros-ty, twop-ence, pu-pill-ar-y, crit-i-call-y, gen-er-all-y, lit-er-all-y, log-i-call-y, trag-i-call-y, ar-ti-fici-al, po-liti-call-y, sloth-full-y, spite-full-y, re-all-y, sui-ta-ble, ta-mea-ble, flumm-er-y, nesc-i-ence, shep-her-dess, trav-ell-er, re-pea-ter, re-pressi-on, suc-cessi-on, un-lear-ned."--_Critical Pronouncing Spelling-Book_:[128] Philadelphia, 1823. 5. Correct _Marshall_, in the division of the following words: "Trench-er, trunch-eon, dros-sy, glos-sy, glas-sy, gras-sy, dres-ses, pres-ses, cal-ling, chan-ging, en-chan-ging, con-ver-sing, mois-ture, join-ture, qua-drant, qua-drate, trans-gres-sor, dis-es-teem."--_New Spelling-Book_: New York, 1836. 6. Correct _Emerson_, in the division of the following words: "Dus-ty mis-ty, mar-shy, mil-ky, wes-tern, stor-my, nee-dy, spee-dy, drea-ry, fros-ty, pas-sing, roc-ky, bran-chy, bland-ish, pru-dish, eve-ning, a-noth-er."--_National Spelling-Book_: Boston, 1828. "Two Vowels meeting, each with its full Sound, Always to make Two Syllables are bound."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 64. EXERCISE III.--FIGURE OF WORDS. "I was surprised by the return of my long lost brother."--_Parker's Exercises in English Composition_, p. 5. "Such singular and unheard of clemency cannot be passed over by me in silence."--_Ib._, p. 10. "I perceive my whole system excited by the potent stimulus of sun-shine."--_Ib._, p. 11. "To preserve the unity of a sentence, it is sometimes necessary to employ the case absolute, instead of the verb and conjunction."--_Ib._, p. 17. "Severity and hard hearted opinions accord with the temper of the times."--_Ib._, p. 18. "That poor man was put into the mad house."--_Ib._, p. 22. "This fellow must be put into the poor house."--_Ib._ p. 22. "I have seen the breast works and other defences of earth, that were thrown up."--_Ib._, p. 24. "Cloven footed animals are enabled to walk more easily on uneven ground."--_Ib._, p. 25. "Self conceit blasts the prospects of many a youth."--_Ib._, p. 26. "Not a moment should elapse without bringing some thing to pass."--_Ib._, p. 36. "A school master decoyed the children of the principal citizens into the Roman camp."--_Ib._, p. 39. "The pupil may now write a description of the following objects. A school room. A steam boat. A writing desk. A dwelling house. A meeting house. A paper mill. A grist mill. A wind mill."--_Ib._, p. 45. "Every metaphor should be founded on a resemblance which is clear and striking; not far fetched, nor difficult to be discovered."--_Ib._, p. 49. "I was reclining in an arbour overhung with honey suckle and jessamine of the most exquisite fragrance."--_Ib._, p. 51. "The author of the following extract is speaking of the slave trade."--_Ib._, p. 60. "The all wise and benevolent Author of nature has so framed the soul of man, that he cannot but approve of virtue."--_Ib._, p. 74. "There is something of self denial in the very idea of it."--_Ib._, p. 75. "Age therefore requires a well spent youth to render it happy."--_Ib._, p. 76. "Pearl-ash requires much labour in its extraction from ashes."--_Ib._, p. 91. "_Club_, or _crump, footed_, Loripes; _Rough_, or _leather, footed_, Plumipes."--_Ainsworth's Dict._ "The honey-bags steal from the humble bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs." --SHAK.: _Joh.'s Dict., w. Glowworm._ "The honeybags steal from the bumblebees, And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs." --SHAK.: _Joh.'s Dict., w. Humblebee._ "The honey bags steal from the humble-bees, And, for night tapers crop their waxen thighs." --_Dodd's Beauties of Shak._, p. 51. EXERCISE IV.--SPELLING. "His antichamber, and room of audience, are little square chambers wainscoted."--ADDISON: _Johnson's Dict., w. Antechamber_. "Nobody will deem the quicksighted amongst them to have very enlarged views of ethicks."--LOCKE: _Ib., w. Quicksighted_. "At the rate of this thick-skulled blunderhead, every plow-jobber shall take upon him to read upon divinity."--L'ESTRANGE: _Ib., m. Blunderhead_. "On the topmast, the yards, and boltsprit would I flame distinctly."--SHAK.: _Ib., w. Bowsprit_. "This is the tune of our catch plaid by the picture of nobody."--ID.: _Ib., w. Nobody_. "Thy fall hath left a kind of blot to mark the fulfraught man."--ID.: _Ib., w. Fulfraught_. "Till blinded by some Jack o'Lanthorn sprite."--_Snelling's Gift_, p. 62. "The beauties you would have me eulogise."--_Ib._, p. 14. "They rail at me--I gaily laugh at them."--_Ib._, p. 13. "Which the king and his sister had intrusted to him withall."--_Josephus_, Vol. v, p. 143. "The terms of these emotions are by no means synonimous."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 336. "Lillied, _adj._ Embellished with lilies."--_Chalmers's Dict._ "They seize the compendious blessing without exertion and without reflexion."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 428. "The first cry that rouses them from their torpour, is the cry that demands their blood."--_Ib._, p. 433. "It meets the wants of elementary schools and deserves to be patronised."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 5. "Whose attempts were paralysed by the hallowed sound."--_Music of Nature_, p. 270. "It would be an amusing investigation to analyse their language."--_Ib._, p. 200. "It is my father's will that I should take on me the hostess-ship of the day."--SHAK.: _in Johnson's Dict._ "To retain the full apprehension of them undiminisht."--_Phil. Museum._, Vol. i, p. 458. "The ayes and noes were taken in the House of Commons."--_Anti-Slavery Mag._, Vol. i, p. 11. "Derivative words are formed by adding letters or syllables to primatives."--_Davenport's Gram._, p. 7. "The minister never was thus harrassed himself."--_Nelson, on Infidelity_, p. 6. "The most vehement politician thinks himself unbiassed in his judgment."--_Ib._, p. 17. "Mistress-ship, _n._ Female rule or dominion."--_Webster's Dict._ "Thus forced to kneel, thus groveling to embrace, The scourge and ruin of my realm and race." --POPE: _Ash's Gram._, p. 83. EXERCISE V.--MIXED ERRORS. "The quince tree is of a low stature; the branches are diffused and crooked."--MILLER: _Johnson's Dict._ "The greater slow worm, called also the blindworm, is commonly thought to be blind, because of the littleness of his eyes."--GREW: _ib._ "Oh Hocus! where art thou? It used to go in another guess manner in thy time."--ARBUTHNOT: _ib._ "One would not make a hotheaded crackbrained coxcomb forward for a scheme of moderation."--ID.: _ib._ "As for you, colonel huff-cap, we shall try before a civil magistrate who's the greatest plotter."--DRYDEN: _ib., w. Huff._ "In like manner, Actions co-alesce with their Agents, and Passions with their Patients."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 263. "These Sentiments are not unusual even with the Philosopher now a days."--_Ib._, p. 350. "As if the Marble were to fashion the Chizzle, and not the Chizzle the Marble."--_Ib._, p. 353. "I would not be understood, in what I have said, to undervalue Experiment."--_Ib._, p. 352. "How therefore is it that they approach nearly to Non-Entity's?"--_Ib._, p. 431. "Gluttonise, modernise, epitomise, barbarise, tyranise."--_Churchill's Gram._, pp. 31 and 42. "Now fair befal thee and thy noble house!"--SHAK.: _ib._, p. 241. "Nor do I think the error above-mentioned would have been so long indulged," &c.--_Ash's Gram._, p. 4. "The editor of the two editions above mentioned was pleased to give this little manuel to the public," &c.--_Ib._, p. 7. "A Note of Admiration denotes a modelation of the voice suited to the expression."--_Ib._, p. 16. "It always has some respect to the power of the agent; and is therefore properly stiled the potential mode."--_Ib._, p. 29. "Both these are supposed to be synonomous expressions."--_Ib._, p. 105. "An expence beyond what my circumstances admit."--DODDRIDGE: _ib._, p. 138. "There are four of them: the _Full-Point_, or _Period_; the _Colon_; the _Semi-Colon_; the _Comma_."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, N. Y., 1818, p. 77. "There are many men, who have been at Latin-Schools for years, and who, at last, cannot write six sentences in English correctly."--_Ib._, p. 39. "But, figures of rhetorick are edge tools, and two edge tools too."--_Ib._, p. 182. "The horse-chesnut grows into a goodly standard."--MORTIMER: _Johnson's Dict._ "Whereever _if_ is to be used."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 175. "Peel'd, patch'd, and pyebald, linsey-woolsey brothers." --POPE: _Joh. Dict., w., Mummer_. "Peel'd, patch'd, and piebald, linsey-woolsey brothers." --_ID.: ib., w. Piebald_. EXERCISE VI.--MIXED ERRORS. "Pied, _adj._ [from _pie._] Variegated; partycoloured."--_Johnson's Dict._ "Pie, [_pica_, Lat.] A magpie; a party-coloured bird."--_Ib._ "Gluy, _adj._ [from _glue._] Viscous; tenacious; glutinous."--_Ib._ "Gluey, _a._ Viscous, glutinous. Glueyness. _n._ The quality of being gluey."--_Webster's Dict._ "Old Euclio, seeing a crow-scrat[129] upon the muck-hill, returned in all haste, taking it for an ill sign."--BURTON: _Johnson's Dict._ "Wars are begun by hairbrained[130] dissolute captains."--ID.: _ib._ "A carot is a well known garden root."--_Red Book_, p. 60. "Natural philosophy, metaphysicks, ethicks, history, theology, and politicks, were familiar to him."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 209. "The words in Italicks and capitals, are emphatick."--_Ib._, p. 210. "It is still more exceptionable; Candles, Cherrys, Figs, and other sorts of Plumbs, being sold by Weight, and being Plurals."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 135. "If the End of Grammar be not to save that Trouble, and Expence of Time, I know not what it is good for."--_Ib._, p. 161. "_Caulce_, Sheep Penns, or the like, has no Singular, according to Charisius."--_Ib._, p. 194. "These busibodies are like to such as reade bookes with intent onely to spie out the faults thereof"--_Perkins's Works_, p. 741. "I think it every man's indispensible duty, to do all the service he can to his country."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 4. "Either fretting it self into a troublesome Excess, or flaging into a downright want of Appetite."--_Ib._, p. 23. "And nobody would have a child cramed at breakfast."--_Ib._, p. 23. "Judgeship and judgment, lodgable and alledgeable, alledgement and abridgment, lodgment and infringement, enlargement and acknowledgment."--_Webster's Dict._, 8vo. "Huckster, _n. s._ One who sells goods by retail, or in small quantities; a pedler."--_Johnson's Dict._ "He seeks bye-streets, and saves th' expensive coach." --GAY: _ib., w. Mortgage._ "He seeks by-streets, and saves th' expensive coach." --GAY: _ib., w. By-street._ EXERCISE VII.--MIXED ERRORS. "Boys like a warm fire in a wintry day."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 62. "The lilly is a very pretty flower."--_Ib._, p. 62. "The potatoe is a native plant of America."--_Ib._, p. 60. "An anglicism is a peculiar mode of speech among the English."--_Ib._, p. 136. "Black berries and raspberries grow on briars."--_Ib._, p. 150. "You can broil a beef steak over the coals of fire."--_Ib._, p. 38. "Beef'-steak, _n._ A steak or slice of beef for broiling."--_Webster's Dict._ "Beef'steak, _s._ a slice of beef for broiling."--_Treasury of Knowledge._ "As he must suffer in case of the fall of merchandize, he is entitled to the corresponding gain if merchandize rises."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 258. "He is the worshipper of an hour, but the worldling for life."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 424. "Slyly hinting something to the disadvantage of great and honest men."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 329. "'Tis by this therefore that I Define the Verb; namely, that it is a Part of Speech, by which something is apply'd to another, as to its Subject."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 255. "It may sometimes throw a passing cloud over the bright hour of gaiety."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 178. "To criticize, is to discover errors; and to crystalize implies to freeze or congele."--_Red Book_, p. 68. "The affectation of using the preterite instead of the participle, is peculiarly aukward; as, he has came."--_Priestley's Grammar_, p. 125. "They are moraly responsible for their individual conduct."--_Cardell's El. Gram._, p. 21. "An engine of sixty horse power, is deemed of equal force with a team of sixty horses."--_Red Book_, p. 113. "This, at fourpence per ounce, is two shillings and fourpence a week, or six pounds, one shining and four pence a year."--_Ib._, p. 122. "The tru meening of _parliament_ iz a meeting of barons or peers."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 276. "Several authorities seem at leest to favor this opinion."--_Ib._, p. 277. "That iz, az I hav explained the tru primitiv meening of the word."--_Ib._, p. 276. "The lords are peers of the relm; that iz, the ancient prescriptiv judges or barons."--_Ib._, p. 274. "Falshood is folly, and 'tis just to own The fault committed; this was mine alone." --_Pope, Odys._, B. xxii, l. 168. EXERCISE VIII--MIXED ERRORS. "A second verb so nearly synonimous with the first, is at best superfluous."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 332. "Indicate it, by some mark opposite [to] the word misspelt."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 74. "And succesfully controling the tendencies of mind."--_Ib._, p. 24. "It [the Monastick Life] looks very like what we call Childrens-Play."--[LESLIE'S] _Right of Tythes_, p. 236. "It seems rather lik Playing of Booty, to Please those Fools and Knaves."--_Ib._, Pref., p. vi. "And first I Name Milton, only for his Name, lest the Party should say, that I had not Cousider'd his Performance against Tythes."--_Ib._, p. iv. "His Fancy was too Predominant for his Judgment. His Talent lay so much in Satyr that he hated Reasoning."--_Ib._, p. iv. "He has thrown away some of his Railery against Tythes, and the Church then underfoot."--_Ib._, p. v. "They Vey'd with one another in these things."--_Ib._, p. 220. "Epamanondas was far the most accomplished of the Thebans."--_Cooper's New Gram._, p. 27. "_Whoever_ and _Whichever_, are thus declined. Sing. and Plur. _nom._ whoever, _poss._ whoseever, _obj._ whomever. Sing. and Plu. _nom._ whichever, _poss._ whoseever, _obj._ whichever."--_Ib._, p. 38. "WHEREEVER, _adv._ [_where_ and _ever_.] At whatever place."--_Webster's Dict._ "They at length took possession of all the country south of the Welch mountains."--_Dobson's Comp. Gram._, p. 7. "Those Britains, who refused to submit to the foreign yoke, retired into Wales."--_Ib._, p. 6. "Religion is the most chearful thing in the world."--_Ib._, p. 43. "_Two_ means the number two compleatly, whereas _second_ means only the last of two, and so of all the rest."--_Ib._, p. 44. "Now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose sirname is Peter."--_Ib._, p. 96. (See _Acts_, x, 5.) "In French words, we use _enter_ instead of _inter_; as, entertain, enterlace, enterprize."--_Ib._, p. 101. "Amphiology, i. e. a speech of uncertain or doubtful meaning."--_Ib._, p. 103. "Surprize; as, hah! hey day! what! strange!"--_Ib._, p. 109. "Names of the letters: ai bee see dee ee ef jee aitch eye jay kay el em en o pee cue ar ess tee you voe double u eks wi zed."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, p. 3. "I, O, and U, at th' End of Words require, The silent (e), the same do's (va) desire." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 15. EXERCISE IX.--MIXED ERRORS. "_And_ is written for _eacend_, adding, ekeing."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 222. "The Hindus have changed _ai_ into _e_, sounded like _e_ in _where_."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 121. "And therefor I would rather see the cruelest usurper than the mildest despot."-- _Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 430. "Sufficiently distinct to prevent our marveling."--_Ib._, i, 477. "Possessed of this preheminence he disregarded the clamours of the people."--_Smollett's England_, Vol. iii, p. 222. "He himself, having communicated, administered the sacrament to some of the bye-standers."--_Ib._, p. 222. "The high fed astrology which it nurtured, is reduced to a skeleton on the leaf of an almanac."--_Cardell's Gram._, p. 6. "Fulton was an eminent engineer: he invented steam boats."--_Ib._, p. 30. "Then, in comes the benign latitude of the doctrine of goodwill."--SOUTH: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Being very lucky in a pair of long lanthorn-jaws, he wrung his face into a hideous grimace."--SPECTATOR: _ib._ "Who had lived almost four-and-twenty years under so politick a king as his father."--BACON: _ib., w. Lowness_. "The children will answer; John's, or William's, or whose ever it may be."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 32. "It is found tolerably easy to apply them, by practising a little guess work."--_Cardell's Gram._, p. 91. "For between which two links could speech makers draw the division line?"--_Ib._, p. 50. "The wonderful activity of the rope dancer who stands on his head."--_Ib._, p. 56. "The brilliancy which the sun displays on its own disk, is sun shine."--_Ib._, p. 63. "A word of three syllables is termed a trisyllable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 23; _Coar's_, 17; _Jaudon's_, 13; _Comly's_, 8; _Cooper's, New Gr._, 8; _Kirkham's_, 20; _Picket's_, 10; _Alger's_, 12; _Blair's_, 1; _Guy's_, 2; _Bolles's Spelling-Book_, 161. See _Johnson's Dict._ "A word of three syllables is termed a trissyllable."--_British Gram._, p. 33; _Comprehensive Gram._, 23; _Bicknell's_, 17; _Allen's_, 31; _John Peirce's_, 149; _Lennie's_, 5; _Maltby's_, 8; _Ingersoll's_, 7; _Bradley's_, 66; _Davenport's_, 7; _Bucke's_, 16; _Bolles's Spelling-Book_, 91. See _Littleton's Lat. Dict._ (1.) "_Will_, in the first Persons, promises or threatens: But in the second and third Persons, it barely foretells."--_British Gram._, p. 132. (2.) "_Will_, in the first Persons, promises or threatens; but in the second and third Persons, it barely foretells."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 41. (3.) "_Will_, in the first person, promises, engages, or threatens. In the second and third persons, it merely foretels."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 59. (4.) "_Will_, in the first person singular and plural, promises or threatens; in the second and third persons, only foretells."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 41. (5.) "_Will_, in the first person singular and plural, intimates resolution and promising; in the second and third person, only foretels."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 88; _Ingersoll's_, 136; _Fisk's_, 78; _A. Flint's_, 42; _Bullions's_, 32; _Hamlin's_, 41; _Cooper's Murray_, 50. [Fist] _Murray's Second Edition_ has it "_foretells_." (6.) "_Will_, in the first person singular and plural, expresses resolution and promising. In the second and third persons it only foretells."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 38; _E. Devis's_, 51; _Lennie's_, 22. (7.) "_Will_, in the first person, promises. In the second and third persons, it simply foretels."--_Maltby's Gram._, p. 24. (8.) "_Will_, in the first person implies resolution and promising; in the second and third, it foretells."--_Cooper's New Gram._, p. 51. (9.) "_Will_, in the first person singular and plural, promises or threatens; in the second and third persons, only foretels: _shall_, on the contrary, in the first person, simply foretels; in the second and third persons, promises, commands, or threatens."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 83. (10.) "In the first person shall _foretels_, and will _promises_ or _threatens_; but in the second and third persons _will_ foretels, and _shall_ promises or threatens."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 65. "If Maevius scribble in Apollo's spight, There are who judge still worse than he can write."--_Pope_. EXERCISE X.--MIXED ERRORS. "I am liable to be charged that I latinize too much."--DRYDEN: in _Johnson's Dict._ "To mould him platonically to his own idea."--WOTTON: _ib._ "I will marry a wife as beautiful as the houries, and as wise as Zobeide."--_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 148. "I will marry a wife, beautiful as the Houries."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 65. "The words in italics are all in the imperative mood."--_Maltby's Gram._, p. 71. "Words Italicised, are emphatick, in various degrees."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 173. "Wherever two gg's come together, they are both hard."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 5. "But these are rather silent (_o_)'s than obscure (_u_)'s."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 19. "That can be Guest at by us, only from the Consequences."--_Right of Tythes_, p. viii. "He says he was glad that he had Baptized so few; And asks them, Were ye Baptised in the Name of Paul?"--_Ib._, p. ix. "Therefor he Charg'd the Clergy with the Name of Hirelings."--_Ib._, p. viii. "On the fourth day before the first second day in each month."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 230. "We are not bound to adhere for ever to the terms, or to the meaning of terms, which were established by our ancestors."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 140. "O! learn from him to station quick eyed Prudence at the helm."--_Frosts El. of Gram._, p. 104. "It pourtrays the serene landscape of a retired village."--_Music of Nature_, p. 421. "By stating the fact, in a circumlocutary manner."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 33. "Time as an abstract being is a non-entity."--_Ib._, p. 29. "From the difficulty of analysing the multiplied combinations of words."--_Ib._, p. 19. "Drop those letters that are superfluous, as: handful, foretel."--_Cooper's Plain & Pract. Gram._, p. 10. "_Shall_, in the first person, simply foretells."--_Ib._, p. 51. "And the latter must evidently be so too, or, at least, cotemporary, with the act."--_Ib._, p. 60. "The man has been traveling for five years."--_Ib._, p. 77. "I shall not take up time in combatting their scruples."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 320. "In several of the chorusses of Euripides and Sophocles, we have the same kind of lyric poetry as in Pindar."--_Ib._, p. 398. "Until the Statesman and Divine shall unite their efforts in _forming_ the human mind, rather than in loping its excressences, after it has been neglected."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 26. "Where conviction could be followed only by a bigotted persistence in error."--_Ib._, p. 78. "All the barons were entitled to a seet in the national council, in right of their baronys."--_Ib._, p. 260. "Some knowledge of arithmetic is necessary for every lady."--_Ib._, p. 29. "Upon this, [the system of chivalry,] were founded those romances of night-errantry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 374. "The subject is, the atchievements of Charlemagne and his Peers, or Paladins."--_Ib._, p. 374. "Aye, aye; this slice to be sure outweighs the other."--_Blair's Reader_, p. 31. "In the common phrase, _good-bye, bye_ signifies _passing, going_. The phrase signifies, a good going, a prosperous passage, and is equivalent to _farewell_."--_Webster's Dict._ "Good-by, _adv_.--a contraction of _good be with you_--a familiar way of bidding farewell."--See _Chalmers's Dict._ "Off he sprung, and did not so much as stop to say good bye to you."--_Blair's Reader_, p. 16. "It no longer recals the notion of the action."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 69. "Good-nature and good-sense must ever join; To err, is human; to forgive, divine."--_Pope, Ess. on Crit._ EXERCISE XI.--MIXED ERRORS. "The practices in the art of carpentry are called planeing, sawing, mortising, scribing, moulding, &c."--_Blair's Reader_, p. 118. "With her left hand, she guides the thread round the spindle, or rather round a spole which goes on the spindle."--_Ib._, p. 134. "Much suff'ring heroes next their honours claim."--POPE: _Johnson's Dict., w. Much_. "Vein healing verven, and head purging dill."--SPENSER: _ib., w. Head_. "An, in old English, signifies _if_; as, '_an_ it please your honor.'"--_Webster's Dict._ "What, then, was the moral worth of these renouned leaders?"--_M'Ilvaine's Lect._, p. 460. "Behold how every form of human misery is met by the self denying diligence of the benevolent."--_Ib._, p. 411. "Reptiles, bats, and doleful creatures--jackalls, hyenas, and lions--inhabit the holes, and caverns, and marshes of the desolate city."--_Ib._, p. 270. "ADAYS, _adv_. On or in days; as, in the phrase, now _adays_."--_Webster's Dict._ "REFEREE, one to whom a thing is referred; TRANSFERREE, the person to whom a transfer is made."--_Ib._ "The Hospitallers were an order of knights who built a hospital at Jerusalem for pilgrims."--_Ib._ "GERARD, Tom, or Tung, was the institutor and first grand master of the knights hospitalers: he died in 1120."--_Biog. Dict._ "I had a purpose now to lead our many to the holy land."--SHAK.: _in Johnson's Dict._ "He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants."--_Psalms_, cv, 25. "In Dryden's ode of Alexander's Feast, the line, '_Faln, faln, faln, faln_,' represents a gradual sinking of the mind."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 71. "The first of these lines is marvelously nonsensical."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 117. "We have the nicely chiseled forms of an Apollo and a Venus, but it is the same cold marble still."--_Christian Spect._, Vol. viii, p. 201. "Death waves his mighty wand and paralyses all."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 35. "Fear God. Honor the patriot. Respect virtue."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 216. "Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee."--_Ib._, p. 189. See _Luke_, iii, 1. "AUCTIONEER, _n. s_. The person that manages an auction."--_Johnson's Dict._ "The earth put forth her primroses and days-eyes, to behold him."--HOWEL: _ib._ "_Musselman_, not being a compound of _man_, is _musselmans_ in the plural."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 9. "The absurdity of fatigueing them with a needless heap of grammar rules."--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. i, p. 147. "John was forced to sit with his arms a kimbo, to keep them asunder."--ARBUTHNOT: _Joh. Dict._ "To set the arms a kimbo, is to set the hands on the hips, with the elbows projecting outward."--_Webster's Dict._ "We almost uniformly confine the inflexion to the last or the latter noun."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 2. "This is all souls day, fellows! Is it not?"--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "The english physicians make use of troy-weight."--_Johnson's Dict._ "There is a certain number of ranks allowed to dukes, marquisses, and earls."--PEACHAM: _ib., w. Marquis_. "How could you chide the young good natur'd prince, And drive him from you with so stern an air." --ADDISON: _ib., w. Good_, 25. EXERCISE XII.--MIXED ERRORS. "In reading, every appearance of sing-song should be avoided."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 75. "If you are thoroughly acquainted with the inflexions of the verb."--_Ib._, p. 53. "The preterite of _read_ is pronounced _red_."--_Ib._, p. 48. "Humility opens a high way to dignity."--_Ib._, p. 15. "What is intricate must be unraveled."--_Ib._, p. 275. "Roger Bacon invented gun powder, A. D. 1280."--_Ib._, p. 277. "On which ever word we lay the emphasis."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 243; 12mo, p. 195. "Each of the leaders was apprized of the Roman invasion."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 123. "If I say, 'I _gallopped_ from Islington to Holloway;' the verb is intransitive: if, 'I _gallopped_ my _horse_ from Islington to Holloway;' it is transitive."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 238. "The reasonableness of setting a part one day in seven."--_The Friend_, Vol. iv, p. 240. "The promoters of paper money making reprobated this act."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 196. "There are five compound personal pronouns, which are derived from the five simple personal pronouns by adding to some of their cases the syllable _self_; as, my-self, thy-self, him-self, her-self, it-self."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 16. "Possessives, my-own, thy-own, his-own, her-own, its-own, our-own, your-own, their-own."--_Ib., Declensions_. "Thy man servant and thy maid servant may rest, as well as thou."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 160. "How many right angles has an acute angled triangle?"--_Ib._, p. 220. "In the days of Jorum, king of Israel, flourished the prophet Elisha."--_Ib._, p. 148. "In the days of Jorum, king of Israel, Elisha, the prophet flourished."--_Ib._, p. 133. "Lodgable, _a_. Capable of affording a temporary abode."--_Webster's Octavo Dict._--"Win me into the easy hearted man."--_Johnson's Quarto Dict._ "And then to end life, is the same as to dye."--_Milnes's Greek Gram._, p. 176. "Those usurping hectors who pretend to honour without religion, think the charge of a lie a blot not to be washed out but by blood."--SOUTH: _Joh. Dict._ "His gallies attending him, he pursues the unfortunate."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 91. "This cannot fail to make us shyer of yielding our assent."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 117. "When he comes to the Italicised word, he should give it such a definition as its connection with the sentence may require."--_Claggett's Expositor_, p. vii. "Learn to distil from your lips all the honies of persuasion."--_Adams's Rhetoric_, Vol. i, p. 31. "To instill ideas of disgust and abhorrence against the Americans."--_Ib._, ii, 300. "Where prejudice has not acquired an uncontroled ascendency."--_Ib._, i, 31. "The uncontrolable propensity of his mind was undoubtedly to oratory."--_Ib._, i, 100. "The Brutus is a practical commentary upon the dialogues and the orator."--_Ib._, i, 120. "The oratorical partitions are a short elementary compendium."--_Ib._, i, 130. "You shall find hundreds of persons able to produce a crowd of good ideas upon any subject, for one that can marshall them to the best advantage."--_Ib._, i, 169. "In this lecture, you have the outline of all that the whole course will comprize."--_Ib._, i, 182. "He would have been stopped by a hint from the bench, that he was traveling out of the record."--_Ib._, i, 289. "To tell them that which should befal them in the last days."--_Ib._, ii, 308. "Where all is present, there is nothing past to recal."--_Ib._, ii, 358. "Whose due it is to drink the brimfull cup of God's eternal vengeance."--_Law and Grace_, p. 36. "There, from the dead, centurions see him rise, See, but struck down with horrible surprize!"--_Savage_. "With seed of woes my heart brimful is charged."--SIDNEY: _Joh. Dict._ "Our legions are brimful, our cause is ripe."--SHAKSPEARE: _ib._ PART II. ETYMOLOGY. ETYMOLOGY treats of the different parts of speech, with their classes and modifications. The _Parts of Speech_ are the several kinds, or principal classes, into which words are divided by grammarians. _Classes_, under the parts of speech, are the particular sorts into which the several kinds of words are subdivided. _Modifications_ are inflections, or changes, in the terminations, forms, or senses, of some kinds of words. CHAPTER I.--PARTS OF SPEECH. The Parts of Speech, or sorts of words, in English, are ten; namely, the Article, the Noun, the Adjective, the Pronoun, the Verb, the Participle, the Adverb, the Conjunction, the Preposition, and the Interjection. 1. THE ARTICLE. An Article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification: as, _The_ air, _the_ stars; _an_ island, _a_ ship. 2. THE NOUN. A Noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned: as, _George, York, man, apple, truth_. 3. THE ADJECTIVE. An Adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality: as, A _wise_ man; a _new_ book. You _two_ are _diligent_. 4. THE PRONOUN. A Pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun: as, The boy loves _his_ book; _he_ has long lessons, and _he_ learns _them_ well. 5. THE VERB. A Verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_: as, I _am_, I _rule_, I _am ruled_; I _love_, thou _lovest_, he _loves_. 6. THE PARTICIPLE. A Participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb: thus, from the verb _rule_, are formed three participles, two simple and one compound; as, 1. _ruling_, 2. _ruled_, 3. _having ruled_. 7. THE ADVERB. An Adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner: as, They are _now here_, studying _very diligently_. 8. THE CONJUNCTION. A Conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected: as, "Thou _and_ he are happy, _because_ you are good."--_L. Murray_. 9. THE PREPOSITION. A Preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun; as, The paper lies _before_ me _on_ the desk. 10. THE INTERJECTION. An Interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of the mind: as, _Oh! alas! ah! poh! pshaw! avaunt! aha! hurrah!_ OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The first thing to be learned in the study of this the second part of grammar, is the distribution of the words of the language into those principal sorts, or classes, which are denominated _the Parts of Speech_. This is a matter of some difficulty. And as no scheme which can be adopted, will be in all cases so plain that young beginners will not occasionally falter in its application, the teacher may sometimes find it expedient to refer his pupils to the following simple explanations, which are designed to aid their first and most difficult steps. How can we know to what class, or part of speech, any word belongs? By learning the definitions of the ten parts of speech, and then observing how the word is written, and in what sense it is used. It is necessary also to observe, so far as we can, with what other words each particular one is capable of making sense. 1. Is it easy to distinguish an ARTICLE? If not always easy, it is generally so: _the, an_, and _a_, are the only English words called articles, and these are rarely any thing else. Because _an_ and _a_ have the same import, and are supposed to have the same origin, the articles are commonly reckoned two, but some count them as three. 2. How can we distinguish a NOUN? By means of the article before it, if there is one; as, _the house, an apple, a book_; or, by adding it to the phrase, "_I mentioned_;" as, "I mentioned _peace_;"--"I mentioned _war_;"--"I mentioned _slumber_." Any word which thus makes complete sense, is, in that sense, a noun; because a noun is the _name_ of any thing which can thus be mentioned _by a name_. Of English nouns, there are said to be as many as twenty-five or thirty thousand. 3. How can we distinguish an ADJECTIVE? By putting a noun after it, to see if the phrase will be sense. The noun _thing_, or its plural _things_, will suit almost any adjective; as, A _good_ thing--A _bad_ thing--A _little_ thing--A _great_ thing--_Few_ things--_Many_ things--_Some_ things--_Fifty_ things. Of adjectives, there are perhaps nine or ten thousand. 4. How can we distinguish a PRONOUN? By observing that its noun repeated makes the same sense. Thus, the example of the pronoun above, "The boy loves _his_ book; _he_ has long lessons, and _he_ learns _them_ well,"--very clearly means, "The boy loves _the boy's_ book; _the boy_ has long lessons, and _the boy_ learns _those lessons_ well." Here then, by a disagreeable repetition of two nouns, we have the same sense without any pronoun; but it is obvious that the pronouns form a better mode of expression, because they prevent this awkward repetition. The different pronouns in English are twenty-four; and their variations in declension are thirty-two: so that the number of _words_ of this class, is fifty-six. 5. How can we distinguish a VERB? By observing that it is usually the principal word in the sentence, and that without it there would be no assertion. It is the word which expresses what is affirmed or said of the person or thing mentioned; as, "Jesus _wept_."--"Felix _trembled_."--"The just _shall live_ by faith." It will make sense when inflected with the pronouns; as, I _write_, thou _writ'st_, he _writes_; we _write_, you _write_, they _write_.--I _walk_, thou _walkst_, he _walks_; we _walk_, you _walk_, they _walk_. Of English verbs, some recent grammarians compute the number at eight thousand; others formerly reckoned them to be no more than four thousand three hundred.[131] 6. How can we distinguish a PARTICIPLE? By observing its derivation from the verb, and then placing it after _to be_ or _having_; as, To be _writing_, Having _written_--To be _walking_, Having _walked_--To be _weeping_, Having _wept_--To be _studying_, Having _studied_. Of simple participles, there are twice as many as there are of simple or radical verbs; and the possible compounds are not less numerous than the simples, but they are much less frequently used. 7. How can we distinguish an ADVERB? By observing that it answers to the question, _When? Where? How much?_ or _How_?--or serves to ask it; as, "He spoke fluently." _How_ did he speak? _Fluently_. This word _fluently_ is therefore an adverb: it tells _how_ he spoke. Of adverbs, there are about two thousand six hundred; and four fifths of them end in _ly_. 8. How can we distinguish a CONJUNCTION? By observing what words or terms it joins together, or to what other conjunction it corresponds; as, "_Neither_ wealth _nor_ honor can heal a wounded conscience."--_Dillwyn's Ref._, p. 16. Or, it may be well to learn the whole list at once: _And, as, both, because, even, for, if, that, then, since, seeing, so: Or, nor, either, neither, than, though, although, yet, but, except, whether, lest, unless, save, provided, notwithstanding, whereas._ Of conjunctions, there are these twenty-nine in common use, and a few others now obsolete. 9. How can we distinguish a PREPOSITION? By observing that it will govern the pronoun _them_, and is not a verb or a participle; as, _About_ them--_above_ them--_across_ them--_after_ them--_against_ them--_amidst_ them--_among_ them--_around_ them--_at_ them--_Before_ them--_behind_ them--_below_ them--_beneath_ them--_beside_ them--_between_ them--_beyond_ them--_by_ them--_For_ them--_from_ them--_In_ them--_into_ them, &c. Of the prepositions, there are about sixty now in common use. 10. How can we distinguish an INTERJECTION? By observing that it is an independent word or sound, uttered earnestly, and very often written with the note of exclamation; as _Lo! behold! look! see! hark! hush! hist! mum!_ Of interjections, there are sixty or seventy in common use, some of which are seldom found in books. OBS. 2.--An accurate knowledge of words, and of their changes, is indispensable to a clear discernment of their proper combinations in sentences, according to the usage of the learned. Etymology, therefore, should be taught before syntax; but it should be chiefly taught by a direct analysis of entire sentences, and those so plainly written that the particular effect of every word may be clearly distinguished, and the meaning, whether intrinsic or relative, be discovered with precision. The parts of speech are usually named and defined with reference to the use of words _in sentences_; and, as the same word not unfrequently stands for several different parts of speech, the learner should be early taught to make for himself the proper application of the foregoing distribution, without recurrence to a dictionary, and without aid from his teacher. He who is endeavouring to acquaint himself with the grammar of a language which he can already read and understand, is placed in circumstances very different from those which attend the school-boy who is just beginning to construe some sentences of a foreign tongue. A frequent use of the dictionary may facilitate the progress of the one, while it delays that of the other. English grammar, it is hoped, may be learned directly from this book alone, with better success than can be expected when the attention of the learner is divided among several or many different works. OBS. 3.--Dr. James P. Wilson, in speaking of the classification of words, observes, "The _names_ of the distributive parts should either express, distinctly, the influence, which each class produces on sentences; or some other characteristic trait, by which the respective species of words may be distinguished, without danger of confusion. It is at least probable, that no distribution, sufficiently minute, can ever be made, of the parts of speech, which shall be wholly free from all objection. Hasty innovations, therefore, and crude conjectures, should not be permitted to disturb that course of grammatical instruction, which has been advancing in melioration, by the unremitting labours of thousands, through a series of ages."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 66. Again: "The _number_ of the parts of speech may be reduced, or enlarged, at pleasure; and the rules of syntax may be accommodated to such new arrangement. The best grammarians find it difficult, in practice, to distinguish, in some instances, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions; yet their effects are generally distinct. This inconvenience should be submitted to, since a less comprehensive distribution would be very unfavourable to a rational investigation of the meaning of English sentences."--_Ib._, p. 68. Again: "_As_ and _so_ have been also deemed substitutes, and resolved into other words. But if all abbreviations are to be restored to their primitive parts of speech, there will be a general revolution in the present systems of grammar; and the various improvements, which have sprung from convenience, or necessity, and been sanctioned by the usage of ancient times, must be retrenched, and anarchy in letters universally prevail."--_Ib._, p. 114. OBS. 4.--I have elsewhere sufficiently shown why _ten_ parts of speech are to be preferred to any other number, in English; and whatever diversity of opinion there may be, respecting the class to which some particular words ought to be referred, I trust to make it obvious to good sense, that I have seldom erred from the course which is most expedient. 1. _Articles_ are used with appellative nouns, sometimes to denote emphatically the species, but generally to designate individuals. 2. _Nouns_ stand in discourse for persons, things, or abstract qualities. 3. _Adjectives_ commonly express the concrete qualities of persons or things; but sometimes, their situation or number. 4. _Pronouns_ are substitutes for names, or nouns; but they sometimes represent sentences. 5. _Verbs_ assert, ask, or say something; and, for the most part, express action or motion. 6. _Participles_ contain the essential meaning of their verbs, and commonly denote action, and imply time; but, apart from auxiliaries, they express that meaning either adjectively or substantively, and not with assertion. 7. _Adverbs_ express the circumstances of time, of place, of degree, and of manner; the _when_, the _where_, the _how much_, and the _how_. 8. _Conjunctions_ connect, sometimes words, and sometimes sentences, rarely phrases; and always show, either the manner in which one sentence or one phrase depends upon an other, or what connexion there is between two words that refer to a third. 9. _Prepositions_ express the correspondent relations of things to things, of thoughts to thoughts, or of words to words; for these, if we speak truly, must be all the same in expression. 10. _Interjections_ are either natural sounds or exclamatory words, used independently, and serving briefly to indicate the wishes or feelings of the speaker. OBS. 5.--In the following passage, all the parts of speech are exemplified, and each is pointed out by the figure placed over the word:-- 1 2 9 2 5 1 2 3 9 2 1 2 6 "The power of speech is a faculty peculiar to man; a faculty bestowed 9 4 9 4 3 2 9 1 3 8 7 3 on him by his beneficent Creator, for the greatest and most excellent 2 8 10 7 7 5 4 5 4 9 1 3 9 uses; but, alas! how often do we pervert it to the worst of 2 purposes!"--See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 1. In this sentence, which has been adopted by Murray, Churchill, and others, we have the following parts of speech: 1. The words _the, a_, and _an_, are articles. 2. The words _power, speech, faculty, man, faculty, Creator, uses_, and _purposes_, are nouns. 3. The words _peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent_, and _worst_, are adjectives. 4. The words _him, his, we_, and _it_, are pronouns. 5. The words _is, do_, and _pervert_, are verbs. 6. The word _bestowed_ is a participle. 7. The words _most, how_, and _often_, are adverbs. 8. The words _and_ and _but_ are conjunctions. 9. The words _of, on, to, by, for, to_, and _of_, are prepositions. 10. The word _alas!_ is an interjection. OBS. 6.--In speaking or writing, we of course bring together the different parts of speech just as they happen to be needed. Though a sentence of ordinary length usually embraces more than one half of them, it is not often that we find them _all_ in so small a compass. Sentences sometimes abound in words of a particular kind, and are quite destitute of those of some other sort. The following examples will illustrate these remarks. (1) ARTICLES: "_A_ square is less beautiful than _a_ circle; and _the_ reason seems to be, that _the_ attention is divided among _the_ sides and angles of _a_ square, whereas _the_ circumference of _a_ circle, being _a_ single object, makes one entire impression."--_Kames, Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 175. (2.) NOUNS: "A _number_ of _things_ destined for the same _use_, such as _windows, chairs, spoons, buttons_, cannot be too uniform; for, supposing their _figure_ to be good, _utility_ requires _uniformity_."--_Ib._, i, 176. (3.) ADJECTIVES: "Hence nothing _just, proper, decent, beautiful, proportioned_, or _grand_, is _risible_."--_Ib._, i, 229. (4.) PRONOUNS: "_I_ must entreat the courteous reader to suspend _his_ curiosity, and rather to consider _what_ is written than _who they_ are _that_ write it."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 556. (5.) VERBS: "The least consideration _will inform_ us how easy it _is_ to _put_ an ill-natured construction upon a word; and what perverse turns and expressions _spring_ from an evil temper. Nothing _can be explained_ to him who _will_ not _understand_, nor _will_ any thing _appear_ right to the unreasonable."--_Cecil_. (6.) PARTICIPLES: "The Scriptures are an authoritative voice, _reproving, instructing_, and _warning_ the world; and _declaring_ the only means _ordained_ and _provided for escaping_ the awful penalties of sin."--_G. B._ (7.) ADVERBS: "The light of Scripture shines _steadily, purely, benignly, certainly, superlatively_."--_Dr. S. H. Cox._ (8.) CONJUNCTIONS: "Quietness and silence _both_ become _and_ befriend religious exercises. Clamour _and_ violence often hinder, _but_ never further, the work of God."--_Henry's Exposition._ (9.) PREPOSITIONS: "He has kept _among us_, in times of peace, standing armies, _without_ the consent of our legislatures."--_Dec. of Indep._ (10.) INTERJECTIONS: "_Oh_, my dear strong-box! _Oh_, my lost guineas! _Oh_, poor, ruined, beggared old man! _Boo! hoo! hoo!_"--MOLIERE: _Burgh's Art of Speaking_, p. 266. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. _Parsing_ is the resolving or explaining of a sentence, or of some related word or words, according to the definitions and rules of grammar. Parsing is to grammar what ciphering is to arithmetic. A _Praxis_ is a method of exercise, or a form of grammatical resolution, showing the learner how to proceed. The word is Greek, and literally signifies action, doing, practice, or formal use. PRAXIS I--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the first Praxis, it is required of the pupil--merely to distinguish and define the different parts of speech. The definitions to be given in the First Praxis, are one, and only one, for each word, or part of speech. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "The patient ox submits to the yoke, and meekly performs the labour required of him." _The_ is an article. 1.[132] An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. _Patient_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Ox_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Submits_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon._ _To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _The_ is an article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. _Yoke_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _And_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Meekly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Performs_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon._ _The_ is an article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. _Labour_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Required_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Him_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. LESSON I.--PARSING. "A nimble tongue often trips. The rule of the tongue is a great attainment. The language of truth is direct and plain. Truth is never evasive. Flattery is the food of vanity. A virtuous mind loathes flattery. Vain persons are an easy prey to parasites. Vanity easily mistakes sneers for smiles. The smiles of the world are deceitful. True friendship hath eternal views. A faithful friend is invaluable. Constancy in friendship denotes a generous mind. Adversity is the criterion of friendship. Love and fidelity are inseparable. Few know the value of a friend till they lose him. Justice is the first of all moral virtues. Let justice hold, and mercy turn, the scale. A judge is guilty who connives at guilt. Justice delayed is little better than justice denied. Vice is the deformity of man. Virtue is a source of constant cheerfulness. One vice is more expensive than many virtues. Wisdom, though serious, is never sullen. Youth is the season of improvement."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, pp. 4-27. "Oh! my ill-chang'd condition! oh, my fate! Did I lose heaven for this?"--_Cowley's Davideis._ LESSON II.--PARSING. "So prone is man to society, and so happy in it, that, to relish perpetual solitude, one must be an angel or a brute. In a solitary state, no creature is more timid than man; in society, none more bold. The number of offenders lessens the disgrace of the crime; for a common reproach is no reproach. A man is more unhappy in reproaching himself when guilty, than in being reproached by others when innocent. The pains of the mind are harder to bear than those of the body. Hope, in this mixed state of good and ill, is a blessing from heaven: the gift of prescience would be a curse. The first step towards vice, is to make a mystery of what is innocent: whoever loves to hide, will soon or late have reason to hide. A man who gives his children a habit of industry, provides for them better than by giving them a stock of money. Our good and evil proceed from ourselves: death appeared terrible to Cicero, indifferent to Socrates, desirable to Cato."--Home's Art of Thinking, pp. 26-53. "O thou most high transcendent gift of age! Youth from its folly thus to disengage."--_Denham's Age_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "Calm was the day, and the scene, delightful. We may expect a calm after a storm. To prevent passion is easier than to calm it."--_Murray's Ex._, p. 5. "Better is a little with content, than a great deal with anxiety. A little attention will rectify some errors. Unthinking persons care little for the future."--See _ib._ "Still waters are commonly deepest. He laboured to still the tumult. Though he is out of danger, he is still afraid."--_Ib._ "Damp air is unwholesome. Guilt often casts a damp over our sprightliest hours. Soft bodies damp the sound much more than hard ones."--_Ib._ "The hail was very destructive. Hail, virtue! source of every good. We hail you as friends."--_Ib._, p. 6. "Much money makes no man happy. Think much, and speak little. He has seen much of the world."--See _ib._ "Every being loves its like. We must make a like space between the lines. Behave like men. We are apt to like pernicious company."--_Ib._ "Give me more love, or more disdain."--_Carew_. "He loved Rachel more than Leah."--_Genesis_. "But how much that more is; he hath no distinct notion."--_Locke_. "And my more having would be as a sauce To make me hunger more."--_Shakspeare_. CHAPTER II.--ARTICLES. An Article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification: as, _The_ air, _the_ stars; _an_ island, _a_ ship. _An_ and _a_, being equivalent in meaning, are commonly reckoned _one and the same_ article. _An_ is used in preference to _a_, whenever the following word begins with a vowel sound; as, _An_ art, _an_ end, _an_ heir, _an_ inch, _an_ ounce, _an_ hour, _an_ urn. _A_ is used in preference to _an_, whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound; as, _A_ man, _a_ house, _a_ wonder, _a_ one, _a_ yew, _a_ use, _a_ ewer. Thus the consonant sounds of _w_ and _y_, even when expressed by other letters, require _a_ and not _an_ before them. A common noun, when taken in its _widest sense_, usually admits no article: as, "A candid temper is proper for _man_; that is, for _all mankind_."--_Murray_. In English, nouns without any article, or other definitive, are often used in a sense _indefinitely partitive_: as, "He took _bread_, and gave thanks."--_Acts_. That is, "_some bread_." "To buy _food_ are thy servants come."--_Genesis_. That is, "_some food_." "There are _fishes_ that have wings, and are not strangers to the airy region."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 322. That is, "_some fishes_." "Words in which nothing but the _mere being_ of any thing is implied, are used without articles: as, 'This is not _beer_, but _water_;' 'This is not _brass_, but _steel_.'"--See _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 5. _An_ or _a_ before the genus, may refer to _a whole species_; and _the_ before the species, may denote that whole species emphatically: as, "_A certain bird_ is termed _the cuckoo_, from _the sound_ which it emits."--_Blair_. But _an_ or _a_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _unknown_, or as not specially distinguished from others: as, "I see _an object_ pass by, which I never saw till now; and I say, 'There goes _a beggar_ with _a long beard_.'"--_Harris_. And _the_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _known_, or as specially distinguished from others: as, "_The man_ departs, and returns a week after; and I say, 'There goes _the beggar_ with _the long beard_.'"--_Id._ The article _the_ is applied to nouns of cither number: as, "_The_ man, _the_ men;" "_The_ good boy, _the_ good boys." _The_ is commonly required before adjectives that are used by ellipsis as nouns: as, "_The young_ are slaves to novelty; _the old_, to custom."--_Ld. Kames._ The article _an_ or _a_ implies _unity_, or _one_, and of course belongs to nouns of the singular number only; as, _A_ man,--_An_ old man,--_A_ good boy. _An_ or _a_, like _one_, sometimes gives a collective meaning to an adjective of number, when the noun following is plural; as, _A few days,--A hundred men,--One hundred pounds sterling_. Articles should be _inserted_ as often as the sense requires them; as, "Repeat the preterit and [_the_] perfect participle of the verb _to abide_."--Error in _Merchant's American School Grammar_, p. 66. _Needless articles_ should be omitted; they seldom fail to pervert the sense: as, "_The_ Rhine, _the_ Danube, _the_ Tanais, _the_ Po, _the_ Wolga, _the_ Ganges, like many hundreds of similar _names_, rose not from any obscure jargon or irrational dialect."--Error in _Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 327. The articles can seldom be put _one for the other_, without gross impropriety; and of course either is to be preferred to the other, as it better suits the sense: as, "_The_ violation of this rule never fails to hurt and displease _a_ reader."--Error in _Blair's Lectures_, p. 107. Say, "_A_ violation of this rule never fails to displease _the_ reader." CLASSES. The articles are distinguished as the _definite_ and the _indefinite_. I. The _definite article_ is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things; as, _The_ boy, _the_ oranges. II. The _indefinite article_ is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one; as, _A_ boy, _an_ orange. MODIFICATIONS.[133] The English articles have no modifications, except that _an_ is shortened into _a_ before the sound of a consonant; as, "In _an_ epic poem, or _a_ poem upon _an_ elevated subject, _a_ writer ought to avoid raising _a_ simile on _a_ low image."--_Ld. Kames._ OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--No other words are so often employed as the articles. And, by reason of the various and very frequent occasions on which these definitives are required, no words are oftener misapplied; none, oftener omitted or inserted erroneously. I shall therefore copiously illustrate both their _uses_ and their _abuses_; with the hope that every reader of this volume will think it worth his while to gain that knowledge which is requisite to the true use of these small but important words. Some parts of the explanation, however, must be deferred till we come to Syntax. OBS. 2.--With the attempts of Tooke, Dalton, Webster, Cardell, Fowle, Wells,[134] Weld, Butler Frazee, Perley, Mulligan, Pinneo, S. S. Greene, and other writers, to _degrade_ the article from its ancient rank among the parts of speech, no judicious reader, duly acquainted with the subject, can, I think, be well pleased. An article is not properly an "_adjective_," as they would have it to be; but it is a word of a peculiar sort--a _customary index_ to the sense of nouns. It serves not merely to show the extent of signification, in which nouns are to be taken, but is often the principal, and sometimes the only mark, by which a word is known to have the sense and construction of a noun. There is just as much reason to deny and degrade the Greek or French article, (or that of any other language,) as the English; and, if those who are so zealous to reform our _the, an_, and _a_ into _adjectives_, cared at all to appear consistent in the view of Comparative or General Grammar, they would either set about a wider reformation or back out soon from the pettiness of this. OBS. 3.--First let it be understood, that _an_ or _a_ is nearly equivalent in meaning to the numeral adjective _one_, but less emphatic; and that _the_ is nearly equivalent in meaning to the pronominal adjective _that_ or _those_, but less emphatic. On _some_ occasions, these adjectives may well be substituted for the articles; but _not generally_. If the articles were generally equivalent to adjectives, or even if they were generally _like_ them, they would _be_ adjectives; but, that adjectives may occasionally supply their places, is no argument at all for confounding the two parts of speech. Distinctions must be made, where differences exist; and, that _a, an_, and _the_, do differ considerably from the other words which they most resemble, is shown even by some who judge "the distinctive name of _article_ to be useless." See _Crombie's Treatise_, Chap. 2. The articles therefore must be distinguished, not only from adjectives, but from each other. For, though both are _articles_, each is an index _sui generis_; the one definite, the other indefinite. And as the words _that_ and _one_ cannot often be interchanged without a difference of meaning, so the definite article and the indefinite are seldom, if ever, interchangeable. To put one for the other, is therefore, in general, to put one _meaning_ for an other: "_A_ daughter of _a_ poor man"--"_The_ daughter of _the_ poor man"--"_A_ daughter of _the_ poor man"--and, "_The_ daughter of _a_ poor man," are four phrases which certainly have four different and distinct significations. This difference between the two articles may be further illustrated by the following example: "That Jesus was _a_ prophet sent from God, is one proposition; that Jesus was _the_ prophet, _the_ Messiah, is an other; and, though he certainly was both _a_ prophet and _the_ prophet, yet _the_ foundations of _the_ proof of these propositions are separate and distinct."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 105. OBS. 4.--Common nouns are, for the most part, names of large classes of objects; and, though what really constitutes the species must always be found entire in every individual, the several objects thus arranged under one general name or idea, are in most instances susceptible of such a numerical distribution as gives rise to an other form of the noun, expressive of plurality; as, _horse, horses_. Proper nouns in their ordinary application, are, for the most part, names of particular individuals; and as there is no plurality to a particular idea, or to an individual person or thing as distinguished from all others, so there is in general none to this class of nouns; and no room for _further restriction by articles_. But we sometimes divert such nouns from their usual signification, and consequently employ them with articles or in the plural form; as, "I endeavoured to retain it nakedly in my mind, without regarding whether I had it from _an Aristotle_ or _a Zoilus, a Newton_ or _a Descartes_."--_Churchill's Gram._, Pref., p. 8. "It is not enough to have _Vitruviuses_, we must also have _Augustuses_ to employ them."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 61. "_A Daniel_ come to judgment! yea, _a Daniel_!" --SHAK. _Shylock_. "Great Homer, in _th' Achilles_, whom he drew, Sets not that one sole Person in our View." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 183. OBS. 5.--The article _an_ or _a_ usually denotes one out of several or many; one of a sort of which there are more; any one of that name, no matter which. Hence its effect upon a particular name, or proper noun, is _directly the reverse_ of that which it has upon a common noun. It varies and fixes the meaning of both; but while it restricts that of the latter, it enlarges that of the former. It reduces the general idea of the common noun to any one individual of the class: as, "_A man_;" that is, "_One man_, or _any man_." On the contrary, it extends the particular idea of the proper noun, and makes the word significant of a class, by supposing others to whom it will apply: as, "_A Nero_;" that is, "_Any Nero_, or _any cruel tyrant_." Sometimes, however, this article before a proper name, seems to leave the idea still particular; but, if it really does so, the propriety of using it may be doubted: as, "No, not by _a John the Baptist_ risen from the dead."--_Henry's Expos., Mark_, vi. "It was not solely owing to the madness and depravity of _a Tiberius, a Caligula, a Nero_, or _a Caracalla_, that a cruel and sanguinary spirit, in their day, was so universal."--_M'Ilvaine's Evid._, p. 398. OBS. 6.--With the definite article, the noun is applied, sometimes specifically, sometimes individually, but always _definitely_, always distinctively. This article is demonstrative. It marks either the particular individual, or the particular species,--or, (if the noun be plural,) some particular individuals of the species,--as being distinguished from all others. It sometimes refers to a thing as having been previously mentioned; sometimes presumes upon the hearer's familiarity with the thing; and sometimes indicates a limitation which is made by subsequent words connected with the noun. Such is the import of this article, that with it the singular number of the noun is often more comprehensive, and at the same time more specific, than the plural. Thus, if I say, "_The horse_ is a noble animal," without otherwise intimating that I speak of some particular horse, the sentence will be understood to embrace collectively _that species_ of animal; and I shall be thought to mean, "Horses are noble animals." But if I say, "_The horses_ are noble animals," I use an expression so much more limited, as to include only a few; it must mean some particular horses, which I distinguish from all the rest of the species. Such limitations should be made, whenever there is occasion for them; but needless restrictions displease the imagination, and ought to be avoided; because the mind naturally delights in terms as comprehensive as they may be, if also specific. Lindley Murray, though not uniform in his practice respecting this, seems to have thought it necessary to use the plural in many sentences in which I should decidedly prefer the singular; as, "That _the learners_ may have no doubts."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, Vol. i, p. 81. "The business will not be tedious to _the scholars_."--_Ib._, 81. "For the information of _the learners_."--_Ib._, 81. "It may afford instruction to _the learners_."--_Ib._, 110. "That this is the case, _the learners_ will perceive by the following examples."--_Ib._, 326. "Some knowledge of it appears to be indispensable to _the scholars_."--_Ib._, 335. OBS. 7.--Proper names of a plural form and signification, are almost always preceded by the definite article; as, "_The Wesleys_,"--"_The twelve Caesars_,"--"_All the Howards_." So the names of particular nations, tribes, and sects; as, _The Romans, the Jews, the Levites, the Stoics_. Likewise the plural names of mountains; as, _The Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees, the Andes_. Of plural names like these, and especially of such as designate tribes and sects, there is a very great number. Like other proper names, they must be distinguished from the ordinary words of the language, and accordingly they are always written with capitals; but they partake so largely of the nature of common nouns, that it seems doubtful to which class they most properly belong. Hence they not only admit, but require the article; while most other proper names are so definite in themselves, that the article, if put before them, would be needless, and therefore improper. "_Nash, Rutledge, Jefferson_, in council great, And _Jay_, and _Laurens_ oped the rolls of fate; _The Livingstons_, fair freedoms generous band, _The Lees, the Houstons_, fathers of the land."--_Barlow_. OBS. 8.--In prose, the definite article is always used before names of rivers, unless the word _river_, be added; as, _The Delaware, the Hudson, the Connecticut_. But if the word _river_ be added, the article becomes needless; as, _Delaware river, Hudson river, Connecticut river_. Yet there seems to be no impropriety in using both; as, _The Delaware river, the Hudson river, the Connecticut river_. And if the common noun be placed before the proper name, the article is again necessary; as, _The river Delaware, the river Hudson, the river Connecticut_. In the first form of expression, however, the article has not usually been resolved by grammarians as relating to the proper name; but these examples, and others of a similar character, have been supposed elliptical: as, "_The_ [river] _Potomac_"--"_The_ [ship] _Constitution_,"--"_The_ [steamboat] _Fulton_." Upon this supposition, the words in the first and fourth forms are to be parsed alike; the article relating to the common noun, expressed or understood, and the proper noun being in apposition with the appellative. But in the second form, the apposition is reversed; and, in the third, the proper name appears to be taken adjectively. Without the article, some names of rivers could not be understood; as, "No more _the Varus_ and _the Atax_ feel The lordly burden of the Latian keel."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i. l. 722. OBS. 9.--The definite article is often used by way of eminence, to distinguish some particular individual emphatically, or to apply to him some characteristic name or quality: as, "_The Stagirite_,"--that is, Aristotle; "_The Psalmist_," that is, David; "_Alexander the Great_,"--that is, (perhaps,) Alexander the Great _Monarch_, or Great _Hero_. So, sometimes, when the phrase relates to a collective body of men: as, "_The Honourable, the Legislature_,"--"_The Honourable, the Senate_;"--that is, "The Honourable _Body_, the Legislature," &c. A similar application of the article in the following sentences, makes a most beautiful and expressive form of compliment: "These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, O Lyttleton, _the friend_."--_Thomson_. "The pride of swains Palemon was, _the generous_ and _the rich_."--_Id._ In this last example, the noun _man_ is understood after "_generous_," and again after "_rich_;" for, the article being an index to the noun, I conceive it to be improper ever to construe two articles as having reference to one unrepeated word. Dr. Priestley says, "We sometimes _repeat the article_, when the epithet precedes the substantive; as He was met by _the_ worshipful _the_ magistrates."--_Gram._, p. 148. It is true, we occasionally meet with such fulsome phraseology as this; but the question is, how is it to be explained? I imagine that the word _personages_, or something equivalent, must be understood after _worshipful_, and that the Doctor ought to have inserted a comma there. OBS. 10.--In Greek, there is no article corresponding to our _an_ or _a_, consequently _man_ and _a man_ are rendered alike; the word, [Greek: anthropos] may mean either. See, in the original, these texts: "There was _a man_ sent from God," (_John_, i, 6,) and, "What is _man_, that thou art mindful of him?"--_Heb._, ii, 6. So of other nouns. But the _definite_ article of that language, which is exactly equivalent to our _the_, is a declinable word, making no small figure in grammar. It is varied by numbers, genders, and cases; so that it assumes more than twenty different forms, and becomes susceptible of six and thirty different ways of _agreement_. But this article in English is perfectly simple, being entirely destitute of grammatical modifications, and consequently incapable of any form of grammatical agreement or disagreement--a circumstance of which many of our grammarians seem to be ignorant; since they prescribe a rule, wherein they say, it "_agrees_," "_may agree_," or "_must agree_," with its noun. Nor has the indefinite article any variation of form, except the change from _an_ to _a_, which has been made for the sake of brevity or euphony. OBS. 11.--As _an_ or _a_ conveys the idea of unity, of course it applies to no other than nouns of the singular number. _An eagle_ is one eagle, and the plural word _eagles_ denotes more than one; but what could possibly be meant by "_ans eagles_," if such a phrase were invented? Harris very strangely says, "The Greeks have no article correspondent to _an_ or _a_, but _supply its place by a NEGATION of their article_. And even in English, _where_ the article _a_ cannot be used, as _in_ plurals, _its force is exprest by the same_ NEGATION."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 218. What a sample of grammar is this! Besides several minor faults, we have here a _nonentity_, a NEGATION _of the Greek article_, made to occupy a place in language, and to express _force!_ The force of what? Of a plural _an_ or _a,!_ of such a word as _ans_ or _aes!_ The error of the first of these sentences, Dr. Blair has copied entire into his eighth lecture. OBS. 12.--The following rules of agreement, though found in many English grammars, are not only objectionable with respect to the sense intended, but so badly written as to be scarcely intelligible in any sense: 1. "The article _a_ or _an agrees_ with nouns _in_ the singular number _only, individually, or collectively_: as, A Christian, an infidel, a score, a thousand." 2. "The definite article _the_ may _agree_ with nouns _in the singular_ AND[135] _plural number_: as, The garden, the houses, the stars."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170; 12mo, 139; _Fish's Murray_, 98; _a Teacher's_, 45. For the purpose of preventing any erroneous construction of the articles, these rules are utterly useless; and for the purpose of syntactical parsing, or the grammatical resolution of this part of speech, they are awkward and inconvenient. The syntax of the articles may be much better expressed in this manner: "_Articles relate to the nouns which they limit_," for, in English, the bearing of the articles upon other words is properly that of simple _relation_, or dependence, according to the sense, and not that of _agreement_, not a similarity of distinctive modifications. OBS. 13.--Among all the works of earlier grammarians, I have never yet found a book which taught correctly the _application_ of the two forms of the indefinite article _an_ or _a_. Murray, contrary to Johnson and Webster, considers _a_ to be the original word, and _an_ the euphonic derivative. He says: "_A_ becomes _an_ before a vowel, and before a silent _h_. But if _the h be_ sounded, _the a only_ is to be used."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 31. To this he adds, in a marginal note, "_A instead of an_ is _now_ used before words beginning with _u_ long. It is used before _one. An_ must be used before _words_ WHERE _the h_ is not silent, if the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an heroic action, an historical account_."--_Ib._ This explanation, clumsy as it is, in the whole conception; broken, prolix, deficient, and inaccurate as it is, both in style and doctrine; has been copied and copied from grammar to grammar, as if no one could possibly better it. Besides several other faults, it contains a palpable misuse of the article itself: "_the h_" which is specified in the second and fifth sentences, is the "_silent h_" of the first sentence; and this inaccurate specification gives us the two obvious solecisms of supposing, "_if the [silent] h be sounded_," and of _locating "words WHERE the [silent] h is not silent!_" In the word _humour_, and its derivatives, the _h_ is silent, by all authority except Webster's; and yet these words require _a_ and not _an_ before them. OBS. 14.--It is the _sound_ only, that governs the form of the article, and not the _letter_ itself; as, "Those which admit of the regular form, are marked with _an_ R."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 101. "_A_ heroic poem, written by Virgil."--_Webster's Dict._ "Every poem of the kind has no doubt _a_ historical groundwork."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 457. "A poet must be _a_ naturalist and _a_ historian."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 111. Before _h_ in an unaccented syllable, either form of the article may be used without offence to the ear; and either may be made to appear preferable to the other, by merely aspirating the letter in a greater or less degree. But as the _h_, though ever so feebly aspirated has _something_ of a consonant sound, I incline to think the article in this case ought to conform to the general principle: as, "_A historical_ introduction has, generally, _a happy_ effect to rouse attention."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "He who would write heroic poems, should make his whole life _a heroic_ poem."--See _Life of Schiller_, p. 56. Within two lines of this quotation, the biographer speaks of "_an_ heroic multitude!" The suppression of the sound of _h_ being with Englishmen a very common fault in pronunciation, it is not desirable to increase the error, by using a form of the article which naturally leads to it. "How often do we hear _an air_ metamorphosed into _a hair_, a _hat_ into a _gnat_, and a _hero_ into _a Nero!_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 205. Thus: "Neither of them had that bold and adventurous ambition which makes a conqueror _an hero._"--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 174. OBS. 15.--Some later grammarians are still more faulty than Murray, in their rules for the application of _an_ or _a_. Thus Sanborn: "The vowels are _a, e, i, o_, and _u_. _An_ should be used before words beginning with _any of these letters_, or with a silent _h._"--_Analytical Gram._, p. 11. "_An_ is used before words beginning with _u_ long or with _h not silent_, when the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an united_ people, _an historical_ account, _an heroic_ action."--_Ib._, p. 85. "_A_ is used when the next word begins with a _consonant; an_, when it begins with a _vowel_ or silent _h_."--_lb._, p. 129. If these rules were believed and followed, they would greatly multiply errors. OBS. 16.--Whether the word _a_ has been formed from _an_, or _an_ from _a_, is a disputed point--or rather, a point on which our grammarians dogmatize differently. This, if it be worth the search, must be settled by consulting some genuine writings of the twelfth century. In the pure Saxon of an earlier date, the words _seldom occur_; and in that ancient dialect _an_, I believe, is used only as a declinable numerical adjective, and _a_ only as a preposition. In the thirteenth century, both forms were in common use, in the sense now given them, as may be seen in the writings of Robert of Gloucester; though some writers of a much later date--or, at any rate, _one_, the celebrated Gawin Douglas, a Scottish bishop, who died of the plague in London, in 1522--constantly wrote _ane_ for both _an_ and _a_: as, "Be not ouer studyous to spy _ane_ mote in myn E, That in gour awin _ane_ ferrye bot can not se." --_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 124. "_Ane_ uthir mache to him was socht and sperit; Bot thare was _nane_ of all the rout that sterit." --_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 160. OBS. 17.--This, however, was a _Scotticism_; as is also the use of _ae_ for _a_: Gower and Chaucer used _an_ and _a_ as we now use them. The Rev. J. M. M'Culloch, in an English grammar published lately in Edinburgh, says, "_A_ and _an_ were originally _ae_ and _ane_, and were probably used at first simply to convey the idea of unity; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Manual of E. Gram._, p. 30. For this idea, and indeed for a great part of his book, he is indebted to Dr. Crombie; who says, "To signify unity, or one of a class, our forefathers employed _ae_ or _ane_; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 53. These authors, like Webster, will have _a_ and _an_ to be _adjectives_. Dr. Johnson says, "_A_, an _article_ set before nouns of the singular number; as, _a_ man, _a_ tree. This article has no plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written _an_; as, _an_ ox, _an_ egg; of which _a_ is the contraction."--_Quarto Dict., w. A_. OBS. 18.--Dr. Webster says, "_A_ is also an abbreviation of the Saxon _an_ or _ane, one_, used before words beginning with an articulation; as, _a_ table, _instead_ of _an_ table, or one table. _This is a modern change_; for, in Saxon, _an_ was used before articulations as well as vowels; as, _an tid, a_ time, _an gear_, a year."--_Webster's Octavo Dict., w. A_. A modern change, indeed! By his own showing in other works, it was made long before the English language existed! He says, "_An_, therefore, is the original English adjective or ordinal number _one_; and was never written _a_ until after the Conquest."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 20; _Improved Gram._, 14. "_The Conquest_," means the Norman Conquest, in 1066; but English was not written till the thirteenth century. This author has long been idly contending, that _an_ or _a_ is not an _article_, but an _adjective_; and that it is not properly distinguished by the term "_indefinite_." Murray has answered him well enough, but he will not be convinced.[136] See _Murray's Gram._, pp. 34 and 35. If _a_ and _one_ were equal, we could not say, "_Such a one_,"--"_What a one_,"--"_Many a one_,"--"_This one thing_;" and surely these are all good English, though _a_ and _one_ here admit no interchange. Nay, _a_ is sometimes found before _one_ when the latter is used adjectively; as, "There is no record in Holy Writ of the institution of _a one_ all-controlling monarchy."--_Supremacy of the Pope Disproved_, p. 9. "If not to _a one_ Sole Arbiter."--_Ib._, p. 19. OBS. 19.--_An_ is sometimes a _conjunction_, signifying _if_; as, "Nay, _an_ thou'lt mouthe, I'll rant as well as thou."--_Shak._ "_An_ I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to fifty tunes, may a cup of sack be my poison."--_Id., Falstaff_. "But, _an_ it were to do again, I should write again."--_Lord Byron's Letters_. "But _an_ it be a long part, I can't remember it."--SHAKSPEARE: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 136. OBS. 20.--In the New Testament, we meet with several such expressions as the following: "And his disciples were _an hungred_."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Matt_, xii, 1. "When he was _an hungred._"--_Ib._ xii, 3. "When he had need and was _an hungered._"--_Ib. Mark_, ii, 25. Alger, the improver of Murray's Grammar, and editor of the Pronouncing Bible, taking this _an_ to be the indefinite article, and perceiving that the _h_ is sounded in _hungered_, changed the particle to _a_ in all these passages; as, "And his disciples were _a hungered_." But what sense he thought he had made of the sacred record, I know not. The Greek text, rendered word for word, is simply this: "_And his disciples hungered_." And that the sentences above, taken either way, are _not good English_, must be obvious to every intelligent reader. _An_, as I apprehend, is here a mere _prefix_, which has somehow been mistaken in form, and erroneously disjoined from the following word. If so, the correction ought to be made after the fashion of the following passage from Bishop M'Ilvaine: "On a certain occasion, our Saviour was followed by five thousand men, into a desert place, where they were _enhungered_."--_Lectures on Christianity_, p. 210. OBS. 21.--The word _a_, when it does not denote one thing of a kind, is not an article, but a genuine _preposition_; being probably the same as the French a, signifying _to, at, on, in_, or _of_: as, "Who hath it? He that died _a_ Wednesday."--_Shak_. That is, _on_ Wednesday. So sometimes before plurals; as, "He carves _a_ Sundays."--_Swift_. That is, _on_ Sundays. "He is let out _a_ nights."--_Id._ That is, _on_ nights--like the following example: "A pack of rascals that walk the streets _on_ nights."--_Id._ "He will knap the spears _a_ pieces with his teeth."--_More's Antid._ That is, _in_ pieces, or _to_ pieces. So in the compound word _now-a-days_, where it means _on_; and in the proper names, Thomas _a_ Becket, Thomas _a_ Kempis, Anthony _a_ Wood, where it means _at_ or _of_. "Bot certainly the daisit blude _now on dayis_ Waxis dolf and dull throw myne unwieldy age."--_Douglas._ OBS. 22.--As a preposition, _a_ has now most generally become a _prefix_, or what the grammarians call an inseparable preposition; as in _abed_, in bed; _aboard_, on board; _abroad_, at large; _afire_, on fire; _afore_, in front; _afoul_, in contact; _aloft_, on high; _aloud_, with loudness; _amain_, at main strength; _amidst_, in the midst; _akin_, of kin; _ajar_, unfastened; _ahead_, onward; _afield_, to the field; _alee_, to the leeward; _anew_, of new, with renewal. "_A-nights_, he was in the practice of sleeping, &c.; but _a-days_ he kept looking on the barren ocean, shedding tears."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 162. Compounds of this kind, in most instances, follow verbs, and are consequently reckoned adverbs; as, _To go astray,--To turn aside,--To soar aloft,--To fall asleep_. But sometimes the antecedent term is a noun or a pronoun, and then they are as clearly adjectives; as, "Imagination is like to work better upon sleeping men, than _men awake_."--_Lord Bacon._ "_Man alive_, did you ever make a _hornet afraid_, or catch a _weasel asleep?_" And sometimes the compound governs a noun or a pronoun after it, and then it is a preposition; as, "A bridge is laid _across_ a river."--_Webster's Dict._, "To break his bridge _athwart_ the Hellespont."--_Bacon's Essays._ "Where Ufens glides _along_ the lowly lands, Or the black water of Pomptina stands."--_Dryden._ OBS. 23.--In several phrases, not yet to be accounted obsolete, this old preposition _a_ still retains its place as a separate word; and none have been more perplexing to superficial grammarians, than those which are formed by using it before participles in _ing_; in which instances, the participles are in fact governed by it: for nothing is more common in our language, than for participles of this form to be governed by prepositions. For example, "You have set the cask _a_ leaking," and, "You have set the cask _to_ leaking," are exactly equivalent, both in meaning and construction. "Forty and six years was this temple _in_ building."--_John, ii, 20._ _Building_ is not here a noun, but a participle; and _in_ is here better than _a_, only because the phrase, _a building_, might be taken for an article and a noun, meaning _an edifice_.[137] Yet, in almost all cases, other prepositions are, I think, to be preferred to _a_, if others equivalent to it can be found. Examples: "Lastly, they go about to apologize for the long time their book hath been _a coming_ out:" i.e., _in_ coming out.--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 179. "And, for want of reason, he falls _a railing_::" i.e., _to_ railing.--_Ib._, iii, 357. "That the soul should be this moment busy _a thinking_:" i.e., _at_ or _in_ thinking.--_Locke's Essay_, p. 78. "Which, once set _a going_, continue in the same steps:" i.e., _to_ going.--_Ib._, p. 284. "Those who contend for four per cent, have set men's mouths _a watering_ for money:" i.e., _to_ watering.--LOCKE: _in Johnson's Dict._ "An other falls _a ringing_ a Pescennius Niger:" i.e., _to_ ringing.--ADDISON: _ib._ "At least to set others _a thinking_ upon the subject:" i.e., _to_ thinking.--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 300. "Every one that could reach it, cut off a piece, and fell _a eating_:" i.e., _to_ eating.--_Newspaper._ "To go _a mothering_,[138] is to visit parents on Midlent Sunday."--_Webster's Dict., w. Mothering._ "Which we may find when we come _a fishing_ here."--_Wotton._ "They go _a begging_ to a bankrupt's door."--_Dryden._ "_A hunting_ Chloe went."--_Prior._ "They burst out _a laughing_."--_M. Edgeworth._ In the last six sentences, _a_ seems more suitable than any other preposition would be: all it needs, is an accent to distinguish it from the article; as, _a_. OBS. 24.--Dr. Alexander Murray says, "To be _a_-seeking, is the relic of the Saxon to be _on_ or _an_ seeking. What are you a-seeking? is _different_ from, What are you seeking? It means more fully _the going on_ with the process."--_Hist. Europ. Lang_,, Vol. ii, p. 149. I disapprove of the hyphen in such terms as "_a_ seeking," because it converts the preposition and participle into I know not what; and it may be observed, in passing, that the want of it, in such as "_the going on_," leaves us a loose and questionable word, which, by the conversion of the participle into a noun, becomes a nondescript in grammar. I dissent also from Dr. Murray, concerning the use of the preposition or prefix _a_, in examples like that which he has here chosen. After a _neuter verb_, this particle is unnecessary to the sense, and, I think, injurious to the construction. Except in poetry, which is measured by syllables, it may be omitted without any substitute; as, "I am _a walking_."--_Johnson's Dict., w. A_. "He had one only daughter, and she lay _a_ dying."--_Luke_, viii, 42. "In the days of Noah, while the ark was _a_ preparing."--_1 Pet._, iii, 20. "Though his unattentive thoughts be elsewhere _a_ wandering."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 284. Say--"be wandering elsewhere;" and omit the _a_, in all such cases. "And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is _a_ ripening--nips his root."--_Shak_. OBS. 25.--"_A_ has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one thing to an other. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred _a_ year; the ship's crew gained a thousand pounds _a_ man."--_Johnson's Dict._ "After the rate of twenty leagues _a_ day."--_Addison_. "And corn was at two sesterces _a_ bushel."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 82. Whether _a_ in this construction is the article or the preposition, seems to be questionable. Merchants are very much in the habit of supplying its place by the Latin preposition _per_, by; as, "Board, at $2 _per_ week."--_Preston's Book-Keeping_, p. 44. "Long lawn, at $12 _per_ piece."--_Dilworth's_, p. 63. "Cotton, at 2s. 6d. _per_ pound."--_Morrison's_, p. 75. "Exchange, at 12d. _per_ livre."--_Jackson's_, p. 73. It is to be observed that _an_, as well as _a_, is used in this manner; as, "The price is one dollar _an_ ounce." Hence, I think, we may infer, that this is not the old preposition _a_, but the article _an_ or _a_, used in the distributive sense of _each_ or _every_, and that the noun is governed by a preposition understood; as, "He demands a dollar _an_ hour;" i. e., a dollar _for each_ hour.--"He comes twice _a_ year:" i. e., twice _in every_ year.--"He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand _a_ month by courses:" (_1 Kings_, v, 14:) i. e., ten thousand, _monthly_; or, as our merchants say, "_per month_." Some grammarians have also remarked, that, "In mercantile accounts, we frequently see _a_ put for _to_, in a very odd sort of way; as, 'Six bales marked 1 _a_ 6.' The merchant means, 'marked _from_ 1 to 6.' This is taken to be a relic of the Norman French, which was once the law and mercantile language of England; for, in French, _a_, with an accent, signifies _to_ or _at_."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 73. Modern merchants, in stead of accenting the _a_, commonly turn the end of it back; as, @. OBS. 26.--Sometimes a numeral word with the indefinite article--as _a few, a great many, a dozen, a hundred, a thousand_--denotes an aggregate of several or many taken collectively, and yet is followed by a plural noun, denoting the sort or species of which this particular aggregate is a part: as, "A few small fishes,"--"A great many mistakes,"--"A dozen bottles of wine,"--"A hundred lighted candles,"--"A thousand miles off." Respecting the proper manner of explaining these phrases, grammarians differ in opinion. That the article relates not to the plural noun, but to the numerical word only, is very evident; but whether, in these instances, the words _few, many, dozen, hundred_, and _thousand_, are to be called nouns or adjectives, is matter of dispute. Lowth, Murray, and many others, call them _adjectives_, and suppose a peculiarity of construction in the article;--like that of the singular adjectives _every_ and _one_ in the phrases, "_Every_ ten days,"--"_One_ seven times more."--_Dan._, iii, 19. Churchill and others call them _nouns_, and suppose the plurals which follow, to be always in the objective case governed by _of_, understood: as, "A few [of] years,"--"A thousand [of] doors;"--like the phrases, "A _couple of_ fowls,"--"A _score of_ fat bullocks."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. Neither solution is free from difficulty. For example: "There are a great many adjectives."--_Dr. Adam_. Now, if _many_ is here a singular nominative, and the only subject of the verb, what shall we do with _are_? and if it is a plural adjective, what shall we do with _a_ and _great?_ Taken in either of these ways, the construction is anomalous. One can hardly think the word "_adjectives_" to be here in the objective case, because the supposed ellipsis of the word _of_ cannot be proved; and if _many_ is a noun, the two words are perhaps in apposition, in the nominative. If I say, "_A thousand men_ are on their way," the men _are the thousand_, and the thousand _is nothing but the men_; so that I see not why the relation of the terms may not be that of _apposition_. But if _authorities_ are to decide the question, doubtless we must yield it to those who suppose the whole numeral phrase to be taken _adjectively_; as, "Most young Christians have, in the course of _half a dozen_ years, time to read _a great many_ pages."--_Young Christian_, p. 6. "For harbour at _a thousand doors_ they knock'd; Not one of all _the thousand_ but was lock'd."--_Dryden_. OBS. 27.--The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such in the examples which have been cited. _Dozen_, or _hundred_, or _thousand_, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often speak of _dozens, hundreds_, and _thousands_. _Few_ and _many_ never assume the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and _a few_ or _a great many_ is not a collection so definite that we can well conceive of _fews_ and _manies_; but both are sometimes construed substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of _the judicious few_ is an ample compensation for the neglect of _the illiterate many_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word _many_ is remarkable in Saxon for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal _many_ ran."--_Spenser_. "O thou fond _many_."--_Shakspeare_. "A care-craz'd mother of a _many_ children."--_Id._ "And for thy sake have I shed _many_ a tear."--_Id._ "The vulgar and the _many_ are fit only to be led or driven."--_South_. "He is liable to a great _many_ inconveniences every moment of his life."--_Tillotson_. "Seeing a great _many_ in rich gowns, he was amazed."--_Addison_. "There parting from the king, the chiefs divide, And wheeling east and west, before their _many_ ride."--_Dryden_. OBS. 28.--"On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar use of the article with the adjective _few_, and some other diminutives. In saying, 'A _few_ of his adherents remained with him;' we insinuate, that they constituted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an aggregate: while, if the article be omitted, as, '_Few_ of his adherents remained with him;' this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up. A similar difference occurs between the phrases: 'He exhibited _a little_ regard for his character;' and 'He exhibited _little_ regard for his character.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. The word _little_, in its most proper construction, is an adjective, signifying _small_; as, "He was _little_ of stature."--_Luke_. "Is it not a _little_ one?"--_Genesis_. And in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or perhaps it may be taken as relating to them both: "Yet _a little_ sleep, _a little_ slumber, _a little_ folding of the hands to sleep."--_Prov._, vi, 10; xxiv, 33. But by a common ellipsis, it is used as a noun, both with and without the article; as, "_A little_ that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked."--_Psalms_, xxxvii, 16. "Better is _little_ with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith."--_Prov._, xv, 16. "He that despiseth little things, shall perish by _little_ and _little_."--_Ecclesiasticus_. It is also used adverbially, both alone and with the article _a_; as, "The poor sleep _little_."--_Otway_. "Though they are _a little_ astringent."--_Arbuthnot_. "When he had gone _a little_ farther thence."--_Mark_, i, 19. "Let us vary the phrase [in] _a very little_" [degree].--_Kames_, Vol. ii, p. 163. OBS. 29.--"As it is the nature of the articles to limit the signification of a word, they are applicable only to words expressing ideas capable of being individualized, or conceived of as single things or acts; and nouns implying a general state, condition, or habit, must be used without the article. It is not vaguely therefore, but on fixed principles, that the article is omitted, or inserted, in such phrases as the following: 'in terror, in fear, in dread, in haste, in sickness, in pain, in trouble; in _a_ fright, in _a_ hurry, in _a_ consumption; _the_ pain of his wound was great; her son's dissipated life was _a_ great trouble to her."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 127. OBS. 30.--Though _the, an_, and _a_, are the only articles in our language, they are far from being the only definitives. Hence, while some have objected to the peculiar distinction bestowed upon these little words, firmly insisting on throwing them in among the common mass of adjectives; others have taught, that the definitive adjectives--I know not how many--such as, _this, that, these, those, any, other, some, all, both, each, every, either, neither_--"are much more properly articles than any thing else."--_Hermes_, p. 234. But, in spite of this opinion, it has somehow happened, that these definitive adjectives have very generally, and very absurdly, acquired the name of _pronouns_. Hence, we find Booth, who certainly excelled most other grammarians in learning and acuteness, marvelling that the _articles_ "were ever separated from the class of _pronouns_." To all this I reply, that _the, an_, and _a_, are worthy to be distinguished as _the only articles_, because they are not only used with much greater _frequency_ than any other definitives, but are specially restricted to the limiting of the signification of nouns. Whereas the other definitives above mentioned are very often used to supply the place of their nouns; that is, to represent them understood. For, in general, it is only by ellipsis of the noun after it, and not as the representative of a noun going before, that any one of these words assumes the appearance of a pronoun. Hence, they are not pronouns, but adjectives. Nor are they "more properly articles than any thing else;" for, "if the essence of an article be to define and ascertain" the meaning of a noun, this very conception of the thing necessarily supposes the noun to be used with it. OBS. 31.--The following example, or explanation, may show what is meant by definitives. Let the general term be _man_, the plural of which is _men: A man_--one unknown or indefinite; _The man_--one known or particular; _The men_--some particular ones; _Any man_--one indefinitely; _A certain man_--one definitely; _This man_--one near; _That man_--one distant; _These men_--several near; _Those men_--several distant; _Such a man_--one like some other; _Such men_--some like others; _Many a man_--a multitude taken singly; _Many men_--an indefinite multitude taken plurally; _A thousand men_--a definite multitude; _Every man_--all or each without exception; _Each man_--both or all taken separately; _Some man_--one, as opposed to none; _Some men_--an indefinite number or part; _All men_--the whole taken plurally; _No men_--none of the sex; _No man_--never one of the race. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS II--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Second Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and to explain the_ ARTICLES _as definite or indefinite. The definitions to be given in the Second Praxis, are two for an article, and one for a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent class, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road."--_G. Brown_. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Task_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _A_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one. _Schoolmaster_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Laboriously_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Prompting_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _And_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Urging_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _An_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one. _Indolent_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Class_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Worse_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Than_ is a conjunction. 1, A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _He_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. _Who_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. _Drives_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Lazy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Horses_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. _Along_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _A_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one. _Sandy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Road_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. LESSON I.--PARSING. "The Honourable, the Corporation of the city, granted the use of the common council chamber, for holding the Convention; generously adding the privilege of occupying the rotunda, or the new court-room, if either would better suit the wishes of the committee."--_Journal of Literary Convention_, N. Y., 1830. "When the whole is put for a part, or a part for the whole; the genus for a species, or a species for the genus; the singular number for the plural, or the plural for the singular; and, in general, when any thing less, or any thing more, is put for the precise object meant; the figure is called a Synecdoche."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 141. "The truth is, a representative, as an individual, is on a footing with other people; but, as a representative of a State, he is invested with a share of the sovereign authority, and is so far a governor of the people."--See _Webster's Essays_, p. 50. "Knowledge is the fruit of mental labour--the food and the feast of the mind. In the pursuit of knowledge, the greater the excellence of the subject of inquiry, the deeper ought to be the interest, the more ardent the investigation, and the dearer to the mind the acquisition of the truth."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 15. "Canst thou, O partial Sleep! give thy repose To the wet seaboy in an hour so rude?"--_Shakspeare_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "Every family has a master; (or a mistress--I beg the ladies' pardon;) a ship has a master; when a house is to be built, there is a master; when the highways are repairing, there is a master; every little school has a master: the continent is a great school; the boys are numerous, and full of roguish tricks; and there is no master. The boys in this great school play truant, and there is no person to chastise them."--See _Webster's Essays_, p. 128. "A man who purposely rushes down a precipice and breaks his arm, has no right to say, that surgeons are an evil in society. A legislature may unjustly limit the surgeon's fee; but the broken arm must be healed, and a surgeon is the only man to restore it."--See _ib._, p. 135. "But what new sympathies sprung up immediately where the gospel prevailed! It was made the duty of the whole Christian community to provide for the stranger, the poor, the sick, the aged, the widow, and the orphan."--_M'Ilvaine's Evi._, p. 408. "In the English language, the same word is often employed both as a noun and as a verb; and sometimes as an adjective, and even as an adverb and a preposition also. Of this, _round_ is an example."--See _Churchill's Gram._, p. 24. "The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket, arose from the well."--_Woodworth_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "Most of the objects in a natural landscape are beautiful, and some of them are grand: a flowing river, a spreading oak, a round hill, an extended plain, are delightful; and even a rugged rock, and a barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole."--See _Kames's El. of Crit._, i, 185. "An animal body is still more admirable, in the disposition of its several parts, and in their order and symmetry: there is not a bone, a muscle, a blood-vessel, a nerve, that hath not one corresponding to it on the opposite side; and the same order is carried through the most minute parts."--See _ib._, i, 271. "The constituent parts of a plant, the roots, the stem, the branches, the leaves, the fruit, are really different systems, united by a mutual dependence on each other."--_Ib._, i, 272. "With respect to the form of this ornament, I observe, that a circle is a more agreeable figure than a square, a globe than a cube, and a cylinder than a parallelopipedon. A column is a more agreeable figure than a pilaster; and, for that reason, it ought to be preferred, all other circumstances being equal. An other reason concurs, that a column connected with a wall, which is a plain surface, makes a greater variety than a pilaster."--See _ib._, ii, 352. "But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee! Go, count the busy drops that swell the sea."--_Rogers_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING ARTICLES. LESSON I.--ADAPT THE ARTICLES. "Honour is an useful distinction in life."--_Milnes's Greek Grammar_, p. vii. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is used before _useful_, which begins with the sound of _yu_. But, according to a principle expressed on page 225th, "_A_ is to be used whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound." Therefore, _an_ should here be changed to _a_; thus, "Honour is _a_ useful distinction in life."] "No writer, therefore, ought to foment an humour of innovation."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 55. "Conjunctions require a situation between the things of which they form an union."--_Ib._, p. 83. "Nothing is more easy than to mistake an _u_ for an _a_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 130. "From making so ill an use of our innocent expressions."--_Wm. Penn_. "To grant thee an heavenly and incorruptible crown of glory."--_Sewel's Hist., Ded._, p. iv. "It in no wise follows, that such an one was able to predict."--_Ib._, p. viii. "With an harmless patience they have borne most heavy oppressions,"--_Ib._, p. x. "My attendance was to make me an happier man."--_Spect._, No. 480. "On the wonderful nature of an human mind."--_Ib._, 554. "I have got an hussy of a maid, who is most craftily given to this."--_Ib._, No. 534. "Argus is said to have had an hundred eyes, some of which were always awake."--_Classic Stories_, p. 148. "Centiped, an hundred feet; centennial, consisting of a hundred years."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 19. "No good man, he thought, could be an heretic."--_Gilpin's Lives_, p. 72. "As, a Christian, an infidel, an heathen."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 50. "Of two or more words, usually joined by an hyphen."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 7. "We may consider the whole space of an hundred years as time present."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, p. 69. "In guarding against such an use of meats and drinks."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 138. "Worship is an homage due from man to his Creator."--_Annual Monitor for_ 1836. "Then, an eulogium on the deceased was pronounced."--_Grimshaw's U. S._, p. 92. "But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."--_Gen._, ii, 20. "My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth."--_Psalms_, cii, 3. "A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof"--_Exod._, xii, 45. "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill, as the hill of Bashan."--_Psalms_, lxviii, 15. "But I do declare it to have been an holy offering, and such an one too as was to be once for all."--_Wm. Penn_. "An hope that does not make ashamed those that have it."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 15. "Where there is not an unity, we may exercise true charity."--_Ib._, i, 96. "Tell me, if in any of these such an union can be found?"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16. "Such holy drops her tresses steeped, Though 'twas an hero's eye that weeped."--_Sir W. Scott_. LESSON II.--INSERT ARTICLES. "This veil of flesh parts the visible and invisible world."--_Sherlock_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is omitted before _invisible_, where the sense requires it. But, according to a suggestion on page 225th, "Articles should be inserted as often as the sense requires them." Therefore, _the_ should be here supplied; thus, "This veil of flesh parts the visible and the invisible world."] "The copulative and disjunctive conjunctions operate differently on the verb."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 286. "Every combination of a preposition and article with the noun."--_Ib._, i, 44. "_Either_ signifies, 'the one or the other;' _neither_ imports _not either_, that is, 'not one nor the other.'"--_Ib._, i, 56. "A noun of multitude may have a pronoun, or verb, agreeing with it, either of the singular or plural number."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 90. "Copulative conjunctions are, principally, and, as, both, because, for, if, that, then, since, &c."--See _ib._, 28. "The two real genders are the masculine and feminine."--_Ib._, 34. "In which a mute and liquid are represented by the same character, _th_."--_Music of Nature_, p. 481. "They said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee."--_Luke_, vii, 20. "They indeed remember the names of abundance of places."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Which created a great dispute between the young and old men."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 127. "Then shall be read the Apostles' or Nicene Creed."--_Com. Prayer_, p. 119. "The rules concerning the perfect tenses and supines of verbs are Lily's."--_King Henry's Gram._, p. iv. "It was read by the high and the low, the learned and illiterate."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. "Most commonly, both the pronoun and verb are understood."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. viii. "To signify the thick and slender enunciation of tone."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 9. "The difference between a palatial and guttural aspirate is very small."--_Ib._, p. 12. "Leaving it to waver between the figurative and literal sense."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 154. "Whatever verb will not admit of both an active and passive signification."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 31. "_The_ is often set before adverbs in the comparative or superlative degree."--_Ib._, p. 15; _Kirkham's Gram._, 66. "Lest any should fear the effect of such a change upon the present or succeeding age of writers."--_Fowle's Common School Gram._, p. 5. "In all these measures, the accents are to be placed on even syllables; and every line is, in general, more melodious, as this rule is more strictly observed."--_L. Murray's Octavo Gram_, p. 256; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 307. "How many numbers do nouns appear to have? Two, the singular and plural."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8. "How many persons? Three persons--the first, second, and third."--_Ib._, p. 10. "How many cases? Three--the nominative, possessive and objective."--_Ib._, p. 12. "Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, Who lost my heart while I preserv'd sheep." POPE'S WORKS: _British Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 309: Lond., 1800. LESSON III.--OMIT ARTICLES. "The negroes are all the descendants of Africans."--_Morse's Geog_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ before _descendants_, is useless to the construction, and injurious to the sense. But, according to a principle on page 225th, "Needless articles should be omitted; they seldom fail to pervert the sense." Therefore, _the_ should be here omitted; thus, "The negroes are all _descendants_ of Africans."] "A Sybarite was applied as a term of reproach to a man of dissolute manners."--_Morse's Ancient Geog._, p. 4. "The original signification of knave was a boy."--_Webster's El. Spell._, p. 136. "The meaning of these will be explained, for the greater clearness and precision."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 58. "What Sort of a Noun is Man? A Noun Substantive common."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 166. "Is _what_ ever used as three kinds of a pronoun?"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 117. "They delighted in the having done it, as well as in the doing of it."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 344. "Both the parts of this rule are exemplified in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 174. "He has taught them to hope for another and a better world."--_S. L. Knapp_. "It was itself only preparatory to a future, a better, and perfect revelation."--_Keith's Evid._, p. 23. "_Es_ then makes another and a distinct syllable."-- _Brightland's Gram._, p. 17. "The eternal clamours of a selfish and a factious people."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 74. "To those whose taste in Elocution is but a little cultivated."--_Kirkham's Eloc._, p. 65. "They considered they had but a Sort of a Gourd to rejoice in."--_Bennet's Memorial_, p. 333. "Now there was but one only such a bough, in a spacious and shady grove."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 75. "Now the absurdity of this latter supposition will go a great way towards the making a man easy."--_Collier's Antoninus_ p. 131. "This is true of the mathematics, where the taste has but little to do."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 331. "To stand prompter to a pausing, yet a ready comprehension."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 251. "Such an obedience as the yoked and the tortured negro is compelled to yield to the whip of the overseer."--_Chalmers's Serm._, p. 90. "For the gratification of a momentary and an unholy desire."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 288. "The body is slenderly put together; the mind a rambling sort of a thing."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 26. "The only nominative to the verb, is, _the officer_."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 22. "And though in the general it ought to be admitted, &c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 376. "Philosophical writing admits of a polished, a neat, and elegant style."--_Ib._, p. 367. "But notwithstanding this defect, Thomson is a strong and a beautiful describer."--_Ib._, p. 405. "So should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved."--SHAK.: _Hen._ v. "Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took the alarm, Appeal'd to Law, and Justice lent her arm."--_Pope_, p. 406. LESSON IV.--CHANGE ARTICLES. "To enable us to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word."--_Bucke's Gr._, p, 52. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is used to limit the meaning of "repetition," or "too frequent repetition," where _a_ would better suit the sense. But, according to a principle on page 225th, "The articles can seldom be put one for the other, without gross impropriety; and either is of course to be preferred to the other, as it better suits the sense." Therefore, "_the_" should be _a_, which, in this instance, ought to be placed after the adjective; thus, "To enable us to avoid _too frequent a repetition_ of the same word."] "The former is commonly acquired in the third part of the time."--_Burn's Gram._, p. xi. "Sometimes the adjective becomes a substantive, and has another adjective joined to it: as, 'The chief good.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, 169. "An articulate sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech."--_Ib._, i, 2; _Lowth's Gram._, 2; _T. Smith's_, 5. "Tense is the distinction of time: there are six tenses."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 6. "In this case, the ellipsis of the last article would be improper."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 218. "Contrast has always the effect to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the stronger light."--_Ib._, i, 349; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 167. "These remarks may serve to shew the great importance of the proper use of the article."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 12; _Murray's_, i, 171. "'Archbishop Tillotson,' says an author of the History of England, 'died in this year.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107. "Pronouns are used instead of substantives, to prevent the too frequent repetition of them."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 22. "_That_, as a relative, seems to be introduced to save the too frequent repetition of _who_ and _which_."--_Ib._, p. 23. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 28. "_That_ is often used as a relative, to prevent the too frequent repetition of _who_ and _which_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 109; _L. Murray's_, i, 53; _Hiley's_, 84. "His knees smote one against an other."--_Logan's Sermons_. "They stand now on one foot, then on another."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 259. "The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another."--_Gen._, xxxi, 49. "Some have enumerated ten [parts of speech], making a participle a distinct part."--_L. Murray's Gram_, i, p. 29. "Nemesis rides upon an Hart, because a Hart was a most lively Creature."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 50. "The transition of the voice from one vowel of the diphthong to another."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 29. "So difficult it is to separate these two things from one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 92. "Without the material breach of any rule."--_Ib._, p. 101. "The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of those words termed synonymous."--_Ib._, p. 97. "The great source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of the words termed _synonymous_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 302. "Sometimes one article is improperly used for another."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 197. "Satire of sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"--_Pope_, p. 396. LESSON V.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "He hath no delight in the strength of an horse."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 311. "The head of it would be an universal monarch."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 98. "Here they confound the material and formal object of faith."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 57. "The Irish and Scotish Celtic are one language; the Welsh, Cornish, and Armorican, are another."--_Dr. Murray's Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 316. "In an uniform and perspicuous manner."--_Ib._, i, 49. "SCRIPTURE, _n._ Appropriately, and by way of distinction, the books of the Old and New Testament; the Bible."--_Webster's Dict._ "In two separate volumes, entitled the Old and the New Testaments."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 139. "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation."--_Ib._ "Q has ever an u after it; which is not sounded in words derived from the French."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 32. "What should we say of such an one? That he is regenerate? No."--_Hopkins's Prim. Ch._, p. 22. "Some grammarians subdivide vowels into the simple and the compound."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 8. "Emphasis has been further distinguished into the weaker and stronger emphasis."--_Ib._, i, 244. "Emphasis has also been divided into superior and the inferior emphasis."--_Ib._, i, 245, "Pronouns must agree with their antecedents, or nouns which they represent, in gender, number, and person."--_Merchant's Gram._, pp. 86, 111, and 130. "The adverb _where_, is often improperly used, for the relative pronoun and preposition."--_Ib._, 94. "The termination _ish_ imports diminution, or lessening the quality."--_Ib._, 79. "In this train all their verses proceed: the one half of the line always answering to the other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 384. "To an height of prosperity and glory, unknown to any former age."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 352. "HWILC, who, which, such as, such an one, is declined as follows."--_Gwilt's Saxon Gram._, p. 15. "When a vowel precedes _y_, an _s_ only is required to form a plural."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 40. "He is asked what sort of a word each is, whether a primitive, derivative, or compound."--_British Gram._, p. vii. "It is obvious, that neither the 2d, 3d, nor 4th chapter of Matthew is the first; consequently, there are not _four first_ chapters."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 306. "Some thought, which a writer wants art to introduce in its proper place."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 109. "Groves and meadows are most pleasing in the spring."--_Ib._, p. 207. "The conflict between the carnal and spiritual mind, is often long."--_Gurney's Port. Ev._, p. 146. "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful."--_Burke's Title-page_. "Silence, my muse! make not these jewels cheap, Exposing to the world too large an heap."--_Waller_, p. 113. CHAPTER III.--NOUNS. A Noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned: as, _George, York, man, apple, truth_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--All words and signs taken _technically_, (that is, independently of their meaning, and merely as things spoken of,) are _nouns_; or, rather, are _things_ read and construed _as nouns_; because, in such a use, they temporarily assume the _syntax_ of nouns: as, "For this reason, I prefer _contemporary_ to _cotemporary_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 175; _Murray's Gram._, i, p. 368. "I and J were formerly expressed by the same character; as were U and V."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 3. "_Us_ is a personal pronoun."--_Murray_. "_Th_ has two sounds."--_Ib._ "The _'s_ cannot be a contraction of _his_, because _'s_ is put to _female_ [feminine] nouns; as, _Woman's beauty, the Virgin's delicacy_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._ "_Their_ and _theirs_ are the possessives likewise of _they_, when _they_ is the plural of _it_."--_Ib._ "Let B be a _now_ or instant."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 103. "In such case, I say that the instant B is the end of the time A B."--_Ib._, 103. "_A_ is sometimes a noun: as, a great _A_."--_Todd's Johnson_. "Formerly _sp_ was cast in a piece, as _st's_ are now."--_Hist. of Printing_, 1770. "I write to others than he will perhaps include in his _we_."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 455. "Here are no fewer than eight _ands_ in one sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112; _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 319. "Within this wooden _O_;" i. e., circle.--_Shak._ OBS. 2.--In parsing, the learner must observe the sense and use of each word, and class it accordingly. Many words commonly belonging to other parts of speech are occasionally used as nouns; and, since it is the manner of its use, that determines any word to be of one part of speech rather than of an other, whatever word is used directly as a noun, must of course be parsed as such. 1. Adjectives made nouns: "The _Ancient_ of days did sit."--_Bible_. "Of the _ancients_."--_Swift_. "For such _impertinents_."--_Steele_. "He is an _ignorant_ in it."--_Id._ "In the luxuriance of an unbounded _picturesque_."--_Jamieson_. "A source of _the sublime_;" i. e., of sublimity.--_Burke_. "The vast _immense_ of space:" i. e., immensity.--_Murray_. "There is none his _like._"--_Job_, xli, 33. "A _little_ more than a _little_, is by _much_ too _much_."--_Shakspeare_. "And gladly make _much_ of that entertainment."--_Sidney_. "A covetous man makes _the most_ of what he has."--_L'Estrange_. "It has done _enough_ for me."--_Pope_. "He had _enough_ to do."--_Bacon_. "_All_ withers here; who _most_ possess, are losers by their gain, Stung by full proof, that bad at best, life's idle _all_ is vain." --_Young_. "Nor grudge I thee _the much_ the Grecians give, Nor murm'ring take _the little_ I receive." --_Dryden_. 2. Pronouns made nouns: "A love of seeing the _what_ and _how_ of all about him."--STORY'S LIFE OF FLAXMAN: _Pioneer_, Vol. i, p. 133. "The nameless HE, whose nod is Nature's birth."--_Young_, Night iv. "I was wont to load my _she_ with knacks."--_Shak. Winter's Tale_. "Or any _he_, the proudest of thy sort."--_Shak_. "I am the happiest _she_ in Kent."--_Steele_. "The _shes_ of Italy."--_Shak_. "The _hes_ in birds."--_Bacon_. "We should soon have as many _hes_ and _shes_ as the French."--_Cobbet's E. Gram._, Para. 42. "If, for instance, we call a nation a _she_, or the sun a _he_."--_Ib._, Para. 198. "When I see many _its_ in a page, I always tremble for the writer."--_Ib._, Para. 196. "Let those two questionary petitioners try to do this with their _whos_ and their _whiches_."--SPECT: _Ash's Gr._, p. 131. "Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law Is death to any _he_ that utters them."--_Shak_. 3. Verbs made nouns: "Avaunt all attitude, and _stare_, and _start_ theatric."--_Cowper_. "A _may-be_ of mercy is sufficient."--_Bridge_. "Which _cuts_ are reckoned among the fractures."--_Wiseman_. "The officer erred in granting a _permit_."--"Feel darts and charms, _attracts_ and flames."--_Hudibras_. "You may know by the falling off of the _come_, or sprout."--_Mortimer_. "And thou hast talk'd of _sallies_ and _retires_."--_Shak_. "For all that else did come, were sure to fail; Yet would he further none, but for _avail_."--_Spenser_. 4. Participles made nouns: "For the _producing_ of real happiness."--_Crabb_. "For the _crying_ of the poor and the _sighing_ of the needy, I will arise."--_Bible_. "Surely the _churning_ of milk bringeth forth butter, and the _wringing_ of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the _forcing_ of wrath bringeth forth strife."--_Prov._, xxx, 33. "_Reading, writing_, and _ciphering_, are indispensable to civilized man."--"Hence was invented the distinction between _doing_ and _permitting_."--_Calvin's Inst._, p. 131. "Knowledge of the _past_ comes next."--_Hermes_, p. 113. "I am my _beloved's_, and his desire is toward me."--_Sol. Song_, vii, 10. "Here's--a simple _coming-in_ for one man."--_Shak_. "What are thy rents? What are thy _comings-in_? O Ceremony, show me but thy worth."--_Id._ 5. Adverbs made nouns: "In these cases we examine the _why_, the _what_, and the _how_ of things."--_L'Estrange_. "If a point or _now_ were extended, each of them would contain within itself infinite other points or _nows_."--_Hermes_, p. 101. "The _why_ is plain as way to parish church."--_Shak_. "'Tis Heaven itself that points out _an hereafter_."--_Addison_. "The dread of _a hereafter_."--_Fuller_. "The murmur of the deep _amen_."--_Sir W. Scott_. "For their _whereabouts_ lieth in a mystery."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 14. Better: "Their _whereabout_ lieth," or, "Their _whereabouts lie_," &c. "Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind; Thou losest _here_, a better _where_ to find."--_Shak_. 6. Conjunctions made nouns: "The _if_, which is here employed, converts the sentence into a supposition."--_Blair's Rhet._ "Your _if_ is the only peacemaker; much virtue is in _if_."--_Shak_. "So his Lordship decreed with a grave solemn tone, Decisive and clear, without one _if_ or _but_-- That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By daylight or candlelight--Eyes should be shut."--_Cowper_. 7. Prepositions made nouns: "O, not like me; for mine's beyond _beyond_."--_Shakspeare: Cymb._, iii, 2. "I. e., her longing is _further than beyond_; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be beyond."--_Singer's Notes_. "You whirled them to the back of _beyont_ to look at the auld Roman camp."--_Antiquary_, i. 37. 8. Interjections or phrases made nouns: "Come away from all the _lo-heres_! and _lo-theres_!"--_Sermon_. "Will cuts him short with a '_What then_?'"--_Addison_. "With _hark_ and _whoop_, and wild _halloo_."--_Scott_. "And made a _pish_ at chance and sufferance."--_Shak_. "A single look more marks th' internal wo, Than all the windings of the lengthen'd _oh_."--_Lloyd_. CLASSES. Nouns are divided into two general classes; _proper_ and _common_. I. A _proper noun_ is the name of some particular individual, or people, or group; as, _Adam, Boston_, the _Hudson_, the _Romans_, the _Azores_, the _Alps_. II. A _common noun_ is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things; as, _Beast, bird, fish, insect,--creatures, persons, children_. The particular classes, _collective, abstract_, and _verbal_, or _participial_, are usually included among common nouns. The name of a thing _sui generis_ is also called common. 1. A _collective noun_, or _noun of multitude_, is the name of many individuals together; as, _Council, meeting, committee, flock_. 2. An _abstract noun_ is the name of some particular quality considered apart from its substance; as, _Goodness, hardness, pride, frailty_. 3. A _verbal_ or _participial noun_ is the name of some action, or state of being; and is formed from a verb, like a participle, but employed as a noun: as, "The _triumphing_ of the wicked is short."--_Job_, xx, 5. 4. A thing _sui generis_, (i. e., _of its own peculiar kind_,) is something which is distinguished, not as an individual of a species, but as a sort by itself, without plurality in either the noun or the sort of thing; as, _Galvanism, music, geometry_. OBS. 1.--Through the influence of an article, a proper name sometimes acquires the import of a common noun: as, "He is _the Cicero_ of his age;" that is, _the great orator_. "Many _a fiery Alp_;" that is, _high volcanic mountain_. "Such is the following application of famous names; a Solomon for a wise man, a Croesus for a rich man, a Judas for a traitor, a Demosthenes for an orator, and a Homer for a poet."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 326. "Consideration, like an angel, came, And whipp'd _th' offending Adam_ out of him."--_Shak_. OBS. 2.--A common noun, with the definite article before it, sometimes becomes proper: as, _The Park; the Strand; the Gharmel; the Downs; the United States_. OBS. 3.--The common name of a thing or quality personified, often becomes proper; our conception of the object being changed by the figure of speech: as, "My power," said _Reason_, "is to advise, not to compel."--_Johnson_. "Fair _Peace_ her olive branch extends." For such a word, the form of parsing should be like this: "_Peace_ is a _common noun, personified proper_; of the third person, singular number, feminine gender, and nominative case." Here the construction of the word as a proper noun, and of the _feminine gender_, is the result of the personification, and contrary to the literal usage. MODIFICATIONS. Nouns have modifications of four kinds; namely, _Persons, Numbers, Genders_, and _Cases_. PERSONS. Persons, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish the speaker, the hearer, and the person or thing merely spoken of. There are three persons; the _first_, the _second_, and the _third_. The _first person_ is that which denotes the speaker or writer; as, "_I Paul_ have written it." The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed; as, "_Robert_, who did this?" The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of; as, "_James_ loves his book." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The distinction of persons is founded on the different relations which the objects mentioned in any discourse may bear to the discourse itself. The speaker or writer, being the mover and maker of the communication, of course stands in the nearest or _first_ of these relations. The hearer or hearers, being personally present and directly addressed, evidently sustain the next or _second_ of these relations; this relation is also that of the reader, when he peruses what is addressed to himself in print or writing. Lastly, whatsoever or whosoever is merely mentioned in the discourse, bears to it that more remote relation which constitutes the _third_ person. The distinction of persons belongs to nouns, pronouns, and finite verbs; and to these it is always applied, either by peculiarity of form or construction, or by inference from the principles of concord. Pronouns are like their antecedents, and verbs are like their subjects, in person. OBS. 2.--Of the persons, numbers, genders, cases, and some other grammatical modifications of words, it should be observed that they belong not exclusively to any one part of speech, but jointly and equally, to two or three. Hence, it is necessary that our _definitions_ of these things be such as will apply to each of them in full, or under all circumstances; for the definitions ought to be as general in their application as are the things or properties defined. Any person, number, gender, case, or other grammatical modification, is really but one and the same thing, in whatever part of speech it may be found. This is plainly implied in the very nature of every form of syntactical agreement; and as plainly contradicted in one half, and probably more, of the definitions usually given of these things. OBS. 3.--Let it be understood, that _persons, in grammar_, are not _words_, but mere forms, relations, or modifications of words; that they are things, thus named by a _figure_; _things_ of the neuter gender, and not living souls. But persons, in common parlance, or in ordinary life, are _intelligent beings_, of one or the other sex. These objects, different as they are in their nature, are continually confounded by the makers of English grammars: as, "The _first_ person is _the person who speaks_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 17. So Bicknell, of London: "The _first person_ speaks of _himself_; as, _I John take thee Elizabeth_. The _second_ person has the speech directed to _him_, and is supposed to be present; as, _Thou Harry art a wicked fellow_. The _third_ person is spoken of, or described, and supposed to be _absent_; as, _That Thomas is a good man_. And in the same manner the plural pronouns are used, when more than one are spoken of."--_Bicknell's Grammatical Wreath_, p. 50. "The person speaking is the first person; the person spoken to, the second; and the person spoken of, the third."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 16. "The first person is the speaker."--_Parker & Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 6. "Person is that, which distinguishes a noun, that speaks, one spoken to, or one spoken about."--_S. B. Hall's Gram._, p. 6. "A noun that speaks!" A noun "spoken to!" If ever one of Father Hall's nouns shall speak for itself, or answer when "spoken to," will it not reprove him? And how can the _first person_ be "the _person_ WHO _speaks_," when every word of this phrase is of the _third_ person? Most certainly, _it is not_ HE, nor any one of his sort. If any body can boast of being "_the first person in grammar_," I pray, _Who_ is it? Is it not _I_, even _I_? Many grammarians say so. But nay: such authors know not what the first person in grammar is. The Rev. Charles Adams, with infinite absurdity, makes the three persons in grammar to be never any thing but _three nouns_, which hold a confabulation thus: "Person is defined to be _that_ which distinguishes a _noun that speaks, one spoken to, or one spoken of_. The _noun_ that speaks [,] is the first person; as, _I, James_, was present. The _noun_ that is spoken to, is the second person; as, _James_, were you present? The _noun_ that is spoken of is the third person; as, _James_ was present."--_Adams's System of English Gram._, p. 9. What can be a greater blunder, than to call the first person of a verb, of a pronoun, or even of a noun, "_the noun that speaks?_" What can be more absurd than are the following assertions? "_Nouns_ are _in_ the first person when _speaking_. Nouns are _of_ the second person when _addressed_ or _spoken to_."--_O. C. Felton's Gram._, p. 9. OBS. 4.--An other error, scarcely less gross than that which has just been noticed, is the very common one of identifying the three grammatical persons with certain _words_, called personal pronouns: as, "_I_ is the first person, _thou_ the second, _he, she_ or _it_, the third."--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 53. "_I_ is the first person, singular. _Thou_ is the second person, singular. _He, she_, or _it_, is the third person, singular. _We_ is the first person, plural. _Ye_ or _you_ is the second person, plural. _They_ is the third person, plural."--_L. Murray's Grammar_, p. 51; _Ingersoll's_, 54; _D. Adams's_, 37; _A. Flint's_, 18; _Kirkham's_, 98; _Cooper's_, 34; _T. H. Miller's_, 26; _Hull's_, 21; _Frost's_, 13; _Wilcox's_, 18; _Bacon's_, 19; _Alger's_, 22; _Maltby's_, 19; _Perley's_, 15; _S. Putnam's_, 22. Now there is no more propriety in affirming, that "_I is the first person_," than in declaring that _me, we, us, am, ourselves, we think, I write_, or any other word or phrase _of_ the first person, _is_ the first person. Yet Murray has given us no other definitions or explanations of the persons than the foregoing erroneous assertions; and, if I mistake not, all the rest who are here named, have been content to define them only as he did. Some others, however, have done still worse: as, "There are _three_ personal pronouns; so called, because they denote the three persons, _who_ are the subjects of a discourse, viz. 1st. _I, who is_ the person _speaking_; 2d _thou, who is_ spoken to; 3d _he, she_, or _it, who_ is spoken of, and their plurals, _we, ye_ or _you, they_."--_Bingham's Accidence_, 20th Ed., p. 7. Here the two kinds of error which I have just pointed out, are jumbled together. It is impossible to write _worse English_ than this! Nor is the following much better: "Of the personal pronouns there are five, viz. _I_, in the first person, speaking; _Thou_, in the second person, spoken to; and _He, she, it_, in the third person, spoken of."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 25. OBS. 5.--In _written_ language, the _first person_ denotes the writer or author; and the _second_, the reader or person addressed: except when the writer describes not himself, but some one else, as uttering to an other the words which he records. This exception takes place more particularly in the writing of dialogues and dramas; in which the first and second persons are abundantly used, not as the representatives of the author and his reader, but as denoting the fictitious speakers and hearers that figure in each scene. But, in discourse, the grammatical persons may be changed without a change of the living subject. In the following sentence, the three grammatical persons are all of them used with reference to one and the same individual: "Say ye of _Him whom_ the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, _Thou blasphemest_, because _I said I am_ the _Son_ of _God?_"--_John_, x, 36. OBS. 6.-The speaker seldom refers to himself _by name_, as the speaker; and, of the objects which there is occasion to name in discourse, but comparatively few are such as can ever be supposed to speak. Consequently, _nouns_ are rarely used in the first person; and when they do assume this relation, a pronoun is commonly associated with them: as, "_I John_,"--"_We Britons_." These words I conceive to agree throughout, in person, number, gender, and case; though it must be confessed, that agreement like this is not always required between words in apposition. But some grammarians deny the first person to nouns altogether; others, with much more consistency, ascribe it;[140] while very many are entirely silent on the subject. Yet it is plain that both the doctrine of concords, and the analogy of general grammar, require its admission. The reason of this may be seen in the following examples: "_Themistocles ad te veni_." "I Themistocles have come to you."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 72. "_Adsum Troius AEneas_."--_Virgil_. "_Romulus Rex regia arma offero_."--Livy. "_Annibal peto pacem_."--Id. "_Callopius recensui._"--See _Terence's Comedies, at the end_. "_Paul_, an apostle, &c., unto Timothy, _my_ own son in the faith."--_1 Tim._, i, 2. Again, if the word _God_ is of the second person, in the text, "_Thou, God_, seest me," why should any one deny that _Paul_ is of the first person, in this one? "_I Paul_ have written it."--_Philemon_, 19. Or this? "The salutation by the hand of _me Paul_."--_Col._, iv, 18. And so of the plural: "Of _you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, 11. "Of _us the apostles_."--_2 Pet._, iii, 2. How can it be pretended, that, in the phrase, "_I Paul_," _I_ is of the first person, as denoting the speaker, and _Paul_, of some other person, as denoting something or somebody that is _not_ the speaker? Let the admirers of Murray, Kirkham, Ingersoll, R. C. Smith, Comly, Greenleaf, Parkhurst, or of any others who teach this absurdity, answer. OBS. 7.--As, in the direct application of what are called Christian names, there is a kind of familiarity, which on many occasions would seem to indicate a lack of proper respect; so in a frequent and familiar use of the second person, as it is the placing of an other in the more intimate relation of the hearer, and one's self in that of the speaker, there is a sort of assumption which may seem less modest and respectful than to use the third person. In the following example, the patriarch Jacob uses both forms; applying the term _servant_ to himself, and to his brother Esau the term _lord_: "Let _my lord, I_ pray _thee_, pass over before _his servant_: and _I_ will lead on softly."--_Gen._, xxxiii, 14. For when a speaker or writer does not choose to declare himself in the _first_ person, or to address his hearer or reader in the _second_, he speaks of both or either in the _third_. Thus Moses relates what _Moses_ did, and Caesar records the achievements of _Caesar_. So Judah humbly beseeches Joseph: "Let _thy servant_ abide in stead of the lad a bondman to _my lord_."--_Gen._, xliv, 33. And Abraham reverently intercedes with God: "Oh! let not _the Lord_ be angry, and I will speak."--_Gen._, xviii, 30. And the Psalmist prays: "_God_ be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause _his_ face to shine upon us."--_Ps._, lxvii, 1. So, on more common occasions:-- "As will the rest, so _willeth Winchester_."--_Shak_. "Richard of York, how _fares_ our dearest _brother_?"--_Id._[141] OBS. 8.--When inanimate things are spoken to, they are _personified_; and their names are put in the second person, because by the figure the objects are _supposed_ to be capable of hearing: as, "What ailed thee, _O thou sea_, that thou fleddest? _thou Jordan_, that thou wast driven back? _Ye mountains_, that ye skipped like rams; and _ye little hills_, like lambs? Tremble, _thou earth_, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob."--_Psalms_, cxiv, 5-7. NUMBERS. Numbers, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish unity and plurality. There are two numbers; the _singular_ and the _plural_. The _singular number_ is that which denotes but one; as, "The _boy learns_." The _plural number_ is that which denotes more than one; as, "The _boys learn_." The plural number _of nouns_ is regularly formed by adding _s_ or _es_ to the singular: as, _book, books; box, boxes; sofa, sofas; hero, heroes_. When the singular ends in a sound which will unite with that of _s_, the plural is generally formed by adding _s only_, and the number of syllables is not increased: as, _pen, pens; grape, grapes_. But when the sound of _s_ cannot be united with that of the primitive word, the regular plural adds _s_ to final _e_, and _es_ to other terminations, and forms a separate syllable: as, _page, pages; fox, foxes_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The distinction of numbers serves merely to show whether we speak of one object, or of more. In some languages, as the Greek and the Arabic, there is a _dual_ number, which denotes _two_, or a _pair_; but in ours, this property of words, or class of modifications, extends no farther than to distinguish unity from plurality, and plurality from unity. It belongs to nouns, pronouns, and finite verbs; and to these it is always applied, either by peculiarity of form, or by inference from the principles of concord. Pronouns are like their antecedents, and verbs are like their subjects, in number. OBS. 2.--The most common way of forming the plural of English nouns, is that of simply adding to them an _s_; which, when it unites with a sharp consonant, is always sharp, or hissing; and when it follows a vowel or a flat mute, is generally flat, like _z_: thus, in the words, _ships, skiffs, pits, rocks, depths, lakes, gulfs_, it is sharp; but in _seas, lays, rivers, hills, ponds, paths, rows, webs, flags_, it is flat. The terminations which always make the regular plural in _es_, with increase of syllables, are twelve; namely, _ce, ge, ch_ soft, _che_ soft, _sh, ss, s, se, x, xe, z_, and _ze_: as in _face, faces; age, ages; torch, torches; niche, niches; dish, dishes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebuses; lens, lenses; chaise, chaises; corpse, corpses; nurse, nurses; box, boxes; axe, axes; phiz, phizzes; maze, mazes._ All other endings readily unite in sound either with the sharp or with the flat _s_, as they themselves are sharp or flat; and, to avoid an increase of syllables, we allow the final _e_ mute to remain mute after that letter is added: thus, we always pronounce as monosyllables the words _babes, blades, strifes, tithes, yokes, scales, names, canes, ropes, shores, plates, doves_, and the like. OBS. 3.--Though the irregular plurals of our language appear considerably numerous when brought together, they are in fact very few in comparison with the many thousands that are perfectly simple and regular. In some instances, however, usage is various in writing, though uniform in speech; an unsettlement peculiar to certain words that terminate in vowels: as, _Rabbis_, or _rabbies; octavos_, or _octavoes; attornies_, or _attorneys_. There are also some other difficulties respecting the plurals of nouns, and especially respecting those of foreign words; of compound terms; of names and titles; and of words redundant or deficient in regard to the numbers. What is most worthy of notice, respecting all these puzzling points of English grammar, is briefly contained in the following observations. OBS. 4.--It is a general rule of English grammar, that all singular nouns ending with a vowel preceded by an other vowel, shall form the plural by simply assuming an _s_: as, _Plea, pleas; idea, ideas; hernia, hernias; bee, bees; lie, lies; foe, foes; shoe, shoes; cue, cues; eye, eyes; folio, folios; bamboo, bamboos; cuckoo, cuckoos; embryo, embryos; bureau, bureaus; purlieu, purlieus; sou, sous; view, views; straw, straws; play, plays; key, keys; medley, medleys; viceroy, viceroys; guy, guys._ To this rule, the plurals of words ending in _quy_, as _alloquies, colloquies, obloquies, soliloquies_, are commonly made exceptions; because many have conceived that the _u_, in such instances, is a mere appendage to the _q_, or is a consonant having the power of _w_, and not a vowel forming a diphthong with the _y_. All other deviations from the rule, as _monies_ for _moneys, allies_ for _alleys, vallies_ for _valleys, chimnies_ for _chimneys_, &c., are now usually condemned as errors. See Rule 12th for Spelling. OBS. 5.--It is also a general principle, that nouns ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant, change the _y_ into _i_, and add _es_ for the plural, without increase of syllables: as, _fly, flies; ally, allies; city, cities; colony, colonies_. So nouns in _i_, (so far as we have any that are susceptible of a change of number,) form the plural regularly by assuming _es_: as, _alkali, alkalies; salmagundi, salinagundies._ Common nouns ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant, are numerous; and none of them deviate from the foregoing rule of forming the plural: thus, _duty, duties_. The termination added is _es_, and the _y_ is changed into _i_, according to the general principle expressed in Rule 11th for Spelling. But, to this principle, or rule, some writers have supposed that _proper nouns_ were to be accounted exceptions. And accordingly we sometimes find such names made plural by the mere addition of an _s_; as, "How come the _Pythagoras'_, [it should be, _the Pythagorases_,] the _Aristotles_, the _Tullys_, the _Livys_, to appear, even to us at this distance, as stars of the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. i, p. 131. This doctrine, adopted from some of our older grammars, I was myself, at one period, inclined to countenance; (see _Institutes of English Grammar_, p. 33, at the bottom;) but further observation having led me to suspect, there is more _authority_ for changing the _y_ than for retaining it, I shall by-and-by exhibit some examples of this change, and leave the reader to take his choice of the two forms, or principles. OBS. 6.--The vowel _a_, at the end of a word, (except in the questionable term _huzza_, or when silent, as in _guinea_,) has always its Italian or middle sound, as heard in the interjection _aha!_ a sound which readily unites with that of _s_ flat, and which ought, in deliberate speech, to be carefully preserved in plurals from this ending: as, _Canada, the Canadas; cupola, cupolas; comma, commas; anathema, anathemas_. To pronounce the final _a_ flat, as _Africay_ for _Africa_, is a mark of vulgar ignorance. OBS. 7.--The vowel _e_ at the end of a word, is generally silent; and, even when otherwise, it remains single in plurals from this ending; the _es_, whenever the _e_ is vocal, being sounded _eez_, or like the word _ease_: as, _apostrophe, apostrophes; epitome, epitomes; simile, similes_. This class of words being anomalous in respect to pronunciation, some authors have attempted to reform them, by changing the _e_ to _y_ in the singular, and writing _ies_ for the plural: as, _apostrophy, apostrophies; epitomy, epitomies; simily, similies_. A reformation of some sort seems desirable here, and this has the advantage of being first proposed; but it is not extensively adopted, and perhaps never will be; for the vowel sound in question, is not exactly that of the terminations _y_ and _ies_, but one which seems to require _ee_--a stronger sound than that of _y_, though similar to it. OBS. 8.--For nouns ending in open _o_ preceded by a consonant, the regular method of forming the plural seems to be that of adding _es_; as in _bilboes, umboes, buboes, calicoes, moriscoes, gambadoes, barricadoes, fumadoes, carbonadoes, tornadoes, bravadoes, torpedoes, innuendoes, viragoes, mangoes, embargoes, cargoes, potargoes, echoes, buffaloes, volcanoes, heroes, negroes, potatoes, manifestoes, mulattoes, stilettoes, woes_. In words of this class, the _e_ appears to be useful as a means of preserving the right sound of the _o_; consequently, such of them as are the most frequently used, have become the most firmly fixed in this orthography. In practice, however, we find many similar nouns very frequently, if not uniformly, written with _s_ only; as, _cantos, juntos, grottos, solos, quartos, octavos, duodecimos, tyros_. So that even the best scholars seem to have frequently doubted which termination they ought to regard as the _regular_ one. The whole class includes more than one hundred words. Some, however, are seldom used in the plural; and others, never. _Wo_ and _potato_ are sometimes written _woe_ and _potatoe_. This may have sprung from a notion, that such as have the _e_ in the plural, should have it also in the singular. But this principle has never been carried out; and, being repugnant to derivation, it probably never will be. The only English appellatives that are established in _oe_, are the following fourteen: seven monosyllables, _doe, foe, roe, shoe, sloe, soe, toe_; and seven longer words, _rockdoe, aloe, felloe, canoe, misletoe, tiptoe, diploe_. The last is pronounced _dip'-lo-e_ by Worcester; but Webster, Bolles, and some others, give it as a word of two syllables only.[142] OBS. 9.--Established exceptions ought to be enumerated and treated as exceptions; but it is impossible to remember how to write some scores of words, so nearly alike as _fumadoes_ and _grenados, stilettoes_ and _palmettos_, if they are allowed to differ in termination, as these examples do in Johnson's Dictionary. Nay, for lack of a rule to guide his pen, even Johnson himself could not remember the orthography of the common word _mangoes_ well enough to _copy_ it twice without inconsistency. This may be seen by his example from King, under the words _mango_ and _potargo_. Since, therefore, either termination is preferable to the uncertainty which must attend a division of this class of words between the two; and since _es_ has some claim to the preference, as being a better index to the sound; I shall make no exceptions to the principle, that common nouns ending in _o_ preceded by a consonant take _es_ for the plural. Murray says, "_Nouns which_ end in _o_ have sometimes _es_ added, to form the plural; as, cargo, echo, hero, negro, manifesto, potato, volcano, wo: and sometimes only _s_; as, folio, nuncio, punctilio, seraglio."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 40. This amounts to nothing, unless it is to be inferred from his _examples_, that others like them in form are to take _s_ or _es_ accordingly; and this is what I teach, though it cannot be said that Murray maintains the principle. OBS. 10.--Proper names of _individuals_, strictly used as such, have no plural. But when several persons of the same name are spoken of, the noun becomes in some degree common, and admits of the plural form and an article; as, "_The Stuarts, the Caesars_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 41. These, however, may still be called _proper nouns_, in parsing; because they are only inflections, peculiarly applied, of certain names which are indisputably such. So likewise when such nouns are used to denote character: as, "_Solomons_, for wise men; _Neros_, for tyrants."--_Ib._ "Here we see it becomes a doubt which of the two _Herculeses_, was the monster-queller."--_Notes to Pope's Dunciad_, iv, 492. The proper names of _nations, tribes_, and _societies_, are generally plural; and, except in a direct address, they are usually construed with the definite article: as, "_The Greeks, the Athenians, the Jews, the Jesuits_." But such words may take the singular form with the indefinite article, as often as we have occasion to speak of an individual of such a people; as, "_A Greek, an Athenian, a Jew, a Jesuit_." These, too, may be called _proper nouns_; because they are national, patrial, or tribal names, each referring to some place or people, and are not appellatives, which refer to actual sorts or kinds, not considered local. OBS. 11.--Proper names, when they form the plural, for the most part form it regularly, by assuming _s_ or _es_ according to the termination: as, _Carolina_, the _Carolinas_; _James_, the _Jameses_. And those which are only or chiefly plural, have, or ought to have, such terminations as are proper to distinguish them as plurals, so that the form for the singular may be inferred: as, "The _Tungooses_ occupy nearly a third of Siberia."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 379. Here the singular must certainly be _a Tungoose_. "The principal tribes are the _Pawnees_, the _Arrapahoes_, and the _Cumanches_, who roam through the regions of the Platte, the Arkansaw, and the Norte."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here the singulars may be supposed to be a _Pawnee_, an _Arrapaho_, and a _Cumanche_. "The Southern or Floridian family comprised the _Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles_, and _Natchez_."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here all are regular plurals, except the last; and this probably ought to be _Natchezes_, but Jefferson spells it _Natches_, the singular of which I do not know. Sometimes foreign words or foreign terminations have been improperly preferred to our own; which last are more intelligible, and therefore better: as, _Esquimaux_, to _Esquimaus_; _Knistenaux_, to _Knistenaus_, or _Crees; Sioux_, to _Sious_, or _Dahcotahs; Iroquois_, to _Iroquoys_, or _Hurons_. OBS. 12.--Respecting the plural of nouns ending in _i, o, u_, or _y_, preceded by a consonant, there is in present usage much uncertainty. As any vowel sound may be uttered with an _s_, many writers suppose these letters to require for plurals strictly regular, the _s_ only; and to take _es_ occasionally, by way of exception. Others, (perhaps with more reason,) assume, that the most usual, regular, and proper endings for the plural, in these instances, are _ies, oes, and ues_: as, _alkali, alkalies; halo, haloes; gnu, gnues; enemy, enemies_. This, I think, is right for common nouns. How far proper names are to be made exceptions, because they are proper names, is an other question. It is certain that some of them are not to be excepted: as, for instance, _Alleghany_, the _Alleghanies_; _Sicily_, the Two _Sicilies_; _Ptolemy_, the _Ptolemies_; _Jehu_, the _Jehues_. So the names of tribes; as, The _Missouries_, the _Otoes_, the _Winnebagoes_. Likewise, the _houries_ and the _harpies_; which words, though not strictly proper names, are often written with a capital as such. Like these are _rabbies, cadies, mufties, sophies_, from which some writers omit the _e_. Johnson, Walker, and others, write _gipsy_ and _gipsies_; Webster, now writes _Gipsey_ and _Gipseys_; Worcester prefers _Gypsy_, and probably _Gypsies_: Webster once wrote the plural _gypsies_; (see his _Essays_, p. 333;) and Johnson cites the following line:-- "I, near yon stile, three sallow _gypsies_ met."--_Gay_. OBS. 13.--Proper names in _o_ are commonly made plural by _s_ only. Yet there seems to be the same reason for inserting the _e_ in these, as in other nouns of the same ending; namely, to prevent the _o_ from acquiring a short sound. "I apprehend," says Churchill, "it has been from an erroneous notion of proper names being unchangeable, that some, feeling the necessity of obviating this mispronunciation, have put an apostrophe between the _o_ and the _s_ in the plural, _in stead of an e_; writing _Cato's, Nero's_; and on a similar principle, _Ajax's, Venus's_; thus using the possessive case singular for the nominative or objective plural. Harris says very properly, 'We have our _Marks_ and our _Antonies_: _Hermes_, B. 2, Ch. 4; for which those would have given us _Mark's_ and _Antony's_."--_New Gram._, p. 206. Whatever may have been the motive for it, such a use of the apostrophe is a gross impropriety. "In this quotation, ['From the Socrates's, the Plato's, and the Confucius's of the age,'] the proper names should have been pluralized like common nouns; thus, From the _Socrateses_, the _Platoes_, and the _Confuciuses_ of the age."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 126; _Bullions's_, 142. OBS. 14.--The following are some examples of the plurals of proper names, which I submit to the judgement of the reader, in connexion with the foregoing observations: "The Romans had their plurals _Marci_ and _Antonii_, as we in later days have our _Marks_ and our _Anthonies_."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 40. "There seems to be more reason for such plurals, as the _Ptolemies, Scipios, Catos_: or, to instance in more modern names, the _Howards, Pelhams, and Montagues_."--_Ib._, 40. "Near the family seat of the _Montgomeries_ of Coil's-field."--_Burns's Poems_, Note, p. 7. "Tryphon, a surname of one of the _Ptolemies_."--_Lempriere's Dict._ "Sixteen of the _Tuberos_, with their wives and children, lived in a small house."--_Ib._ "What are the _Jupiters_ and _Junos_ of the heathens to such a God?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, i, 234. "Also when we speak of more than one person of the same name; as, the _Henries_, the _Edwards_."--_Cobbetts E. Gram._, 40. "She was descended from the _Percies_ and the _Stanleys_."--_Loves of the Poets_, ii, 102. "Naples, or the _Two Sicilies_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 273. The word _India_, commonly makes the plural _Indies_, not _Indias_; and, for _Ajaxes_, the poets write _Ajaces_. But Richard Hiley says, "Proper nouns, when pluralized, follow the same rules as common nouns; as, Venus, the _Venuses_; Ajax, the _Ajaxes_; Cato, the _Catoes_; Henry, the _Henries_."--_Hiley's E. Gram._, p. 18. "He ev'ry day from King to King can walk, Of all our _Harries_, all our Edwards talk."--_Pope's Satires_, iv. OBS. 15.--When a name and a title are to be used together in a plural sense, many persons are puzzled to determine whether the name, or the title, or both, should be in the plural form. For example--in speaking of two young ladies whose family name is Bell--whether to call them the _Miss Bells_, the _Misses Bell_, or the _Misses Bells_. To an inquiry on this point, a learned editor, who prefers the last, lately gave his answer thus: "There are two young ladies; of course they are 'the Misses.' Their name is Bell; of course there are two 'Bells.' Ergo, the correct phrase, in speaking of them, is--'the Misses Bells.'"--_N. Y. Com. Adv_. This puts the words in apposition; and there is no question, that it is _formally_ correct. But still it is less agreeable to the ear, less frequently heard, and less approved by grammarians, than the first phrase; which, if we may be allowed to assume that the two words may be taken together as a sort of compound, is correct also. Dr. Priestley says, "When a name has a title prefixed to it, as _Doctor, Miss, Master_, &c., the plural termination affects only the latter of the two words; as, 'The two _Doctor Nettletons_'--'The two _Miss Thomsons_;' though a strict analogy would plead for the alteration of the former word, and lead us to say, 'The two _Doctors Nettleton_'--'The two _Misses Thomson_.'"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 59. The following quotations show the opinions of some other grammarians: "Two or more nouns in concordance, and forming one complex name, or a name and a title, have the plural termination annexed to the last only; as, 'The _Miss Smiths_'--'The three _Doctor Simpsons_'--'The two _Master Wigginses_.' With a few exceptions, and those not parallel to the examples just given, we almost uniformly, in complex names, confine the inflection to the last or the latter noun."--_Dr. Crombie_. The foregoing opinion from Crombie, is quoted and seconded by Maunder, who adds the following examples: "Thus, Dr. Watts: 'May there not be _Sir Isaac Newtons_ in every science?'--'You must not suppose that the world is made up of _Lady Aurora Granvilles_.'"--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 2. OBS. 16.--These writers do not seem to accord with W. L. Stone, the editor above quoted, nor would his reasoning apply well to several of their examples. Yet both opinions are right, if neither be carried too far. For when the words are in apposition, rather than in composition, the first name or title must be made plural, if it refers to more than one: as, "The _Misses Bell and Brown_,"--"_Messrs. Lambert and Son_,"--"The _Lords Calthorpe and Erskine_,"--"The _Lords Bishops_ of Durham and St. David's,"--"The _Knights Hospitalers_,"--"The _Knights Templars_,"--"The _Knights Baronets_." But this does not prove the other construction, which varies the last word only, to be irregular; and, if it did, there is abundant authority for it. Nor is that which varies the first only, to be altogether condemned, though Dr. Priestley is unquestionably wrong respecting the "_strict analogy_" of which he speaks. The joining of a plural title to one singular noun, as, "_Misses Roy_,"--"_The Misses Bell_,"--"_The two Misses Thomson_," produces a phrase which is in itself the _least analogous_ of the three; but, "_The Misses Jane and Eliza Bell_," is a phrase which nobody perhaps will undertake to amend. It appears, then, that each of these forms of expression may be right in some cases; and each of them may be wrong, if improperly substituted for either of the others. OBS. 17.--The following statements, though erroneous in several particulars, will show the opinions of some other grammarians, upon the foregoing point: "Proper nouns have the plural only when they refer to a race or family; as, _The Campbells_; or to several persons of the same name; as, _The eight Henrys; the two Mr. Sells; the two Miss Browns_; or, without the numeral, _the Miss Roys._ But in addressing letters in which both or all are equally concerned, and also when the names are different, we pluralize the _title_, (Mr. or Miss,) and write, _Misses_ Brown; _Misses_ Roy; _Messrs_, (for Messieurs, Fr.) Guthrie and Tait."_--Lennie's Gram._, p. 7. "If we wish to distinguish the _unmarried_ from the _married_ Howards, we call them _the Miss Howards._ If we wish to distinguish these Misses from other Misses, we call them the _Misses Howard_."--_Fowle's Gram._ "To distinguish several persons of the same name and family from others of a different name and family, the _title_, and not the _proper name_, is varied to express the distinction; as, the _Misses_ Story, the _Messrs._ Story. The elliptical meaning is, the Misses and Messrs, _who are named_ Story. To distinguish _unmarried_ from _married_ ladies, _the proper name_, and not the _title_, should be varied; as, the _Miss_ Clarks. When we mention more than one person of different names, the title should be expressed before each; as, _Miss_ Burns, _Miss_ Parker, and _Miss_ Hopkinson, were present."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 79. In the following examples from Pope's Works, the last word only is varied: "He paragons himself to two _Lord Chancellors_ for law."--Vol. iii, p. 61. "Yearly panegyrics upon the _Lord Mayors_."--_Ib._, p. 83. "Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris Of wrongs from Duchesses and _Lady Maries_."_--Dunciad_, B. ii, L 135. OBS. 18.--The following eleven nouns in _f_, change the _f_ into _v_ and assume _es_ for the plural: _sheaf, sheaves; leaf, leaves; loaf, loaves; leaf, beeves; thief, thieves; calf, calves; half, halves; elf, elves; shelf, shelves; self, selves; wolf, wolves_. Three others in _fe_ are similar: _life, lives; knife, knives; wife, wives._ These are specific exceptions to the general rule for plurals, and not a series of examples coming under a particular rule; for, contrary to the instructions of nearly all our grammarians, there are more than twice as many words of the same endings, which take _s_ only: as, _chiefs, kerchiefs, handkerchiefs, mischiefs, beliefs, misbeliefs, reliefs, bassreliefs, briefs, feifs, griefs, clefs, semibrefs, oafs, waifs, coifs, gulfs, hoofs, roofs, proofs, reproofs, woofs, califs, turfs, scarfs, dwarfs, wharfs, fifes, strifes, safes._ The plural of _wharf_ is sometimes written _wharves_; but perhaps as frequently, and, if so, more accurately, _wharfs_. Examples and authorities: "_Wharf, wharfs_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 80; _Ward's_, 24; _Goar's_, 26; _Lennie's_, 7; _Bucke's_, 39. "There were not in London so many _wharfs_, or _keys_, for the landing of merchants' goods."--CHILD: _in Johnson's Dict._ "The _wharfs_ of Boston are also worthy of notice."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 37. "Between banks thickly clad with dwelling-houses, manufactories, and _wharfs_."_--London Morn. Chronicle_, 1833. Nouns in _ff_ take _s_ only; as, _skiffs, stuffs, gaffs_. But the plural of _staff_ has hitherto been generally written _staves_; a puzzling and useless anomaly, both in form and sound: for all the compounds of _staff_ are regular; as, _distaffs, whipstaffs, tipstaffs, flagstaffs, quarterstaffs_; and _staves_ is the regular plural of _stave_, a word now in very common use with a different meaning, as every cooper and every musician knows. _Staffs_ is now sometimes used; as, "I saw the husbandmen bending over their _staffs_."--_Lord Carnarvon_. "With their _staffs_ in their hands for very age."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 16. "To distinguish between the two _staffs_."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 43. In one instance, I observe, a very excellent scholar has written _selfs_ for _selves_, but the latter is the established plural of _self_: "Self-love would cease, or be dilated, when We should behold as many _selfs_ as men."_--Waller's Poems_, p. 55. OBS. 19.--Of nouns purely English, the following thirteen are the only simple words that form distinct plurals not ending in _s_ or _es_, and four of these are often regular: _man, men; woman, women; child, children; brother, brethren_ or _brothers; ox, oxen; goose, geese; foot, feet; tooth, teeth; louse, lice; mouse, mice; die, dice_ or _dies; penny, pence_ or _pennies; pea, pease_ or _peas_. The word _brethren_ is now applied only to fellow-members of the same church or fraternity; for sons of the same parents we always use _brothers_; and this form is sometimes employed in the other sense. _Dice_ are spotted cubes for gaming; _dies_ are stamps for coining money, or for impressing metals. _Pence_, as _six pence_, refers to the amount of money in value; _pennies_ denotes the corns themselves. "We write _peas_, for two or more individual seeds; but _pease_, for an indefinite number in quantity or bulk."_--Webster's Dict._ This last anomaly, I think, might well enough "be spared; the sound of the word being the same, and the distinction to the eye not always regarded." Why is it not as proper, to write an order for "a bushel of _peas_," as for "a bushel of _beans_?" "_Peas_ and _beans_ may be severed from the ground before they be quite dry."_--Cobbett's E. Gram._, 31. OBS. 20.--When a compound, ending with any of the foregoing irregular words, is made plural, it follows the fashion of the word with which it ends: as, _Gentleman, gentlemen; bondwoman, bondwomen; foster-child, foster-children; solan-goose, solan-geese; eyetooth, eyeteeth; woodlouse, woodlice_;[143] _dormouse, dormice; half-penny, halfpence, half-pennies_. In this way, these irregularities extend to many words; though some of the metaphorical class, as _kite's-foot, colts-foot, bear's-foot, lion's-foot_, being names of plants, have no plural. The word _man_, which is used the most frequently in this way, makes more than seventy such compounds. But there are some words of this ending, which, not being compounds of _man_, are regular: as, _German, Germans; Turcoman, Turcomans; Mussulman, Mussulmans; talisman, talismans; leman, lemans; caiman, caimans_. OBS. 21.--Compounds, in general, admit but one variation to form the plural, and that must be made in the principal word, rather than in the adjunct; but where the terms differ little in importance, the genius of the language obviously inclines to a variation of the last only. Thus we write _fathers-in-law, sons-in-law, knights-errant, courts-martial, cousins-german, hangers-on, comings-in, goings-out, goings-forth_, varying the first; and _manhaters, manstealers, manslayers, maneaters, mandrills, handfuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls, pailfuls, outpourings, ingatherings, downsittings, overflowings_, varying the last. So, in many instances, when there is a less intimate connexion of the parts, and the words are written with a hyphen, if not separately, we choose to vary the latter or last: as, _fellow-servants, queen-consorts, three-per-cents, he-goats, she-bears, jack-a-dandies, jack-a-lanterns, piano-fortes_. The following mode of writing is irregular in two respects; first, because the words are separated, and secondly, because both are varied: "Is it unreasonable to say with John Wesley, that '_men buyers_ are exactly on a level with _men stealers_?"--GOODELL'S LECT. II: _Liberator_, ix, 65. According to analogy, it ought to be: "_Manbuyers_ are exactly on a level with _manstealers_." J. W. Wright alleges, that, "The phrase, 'I want two _spoonfuls_ or _handfuls_,' though common, is improperly constructed;" and that, "we should say, 'Two _spoons_ or _hands full_.'"--_Philos. Gram._, p. 222. From this opinion, I dissent: both authority and analogy favour the former mode of expressing the plural of such quantities. OBS. 22.--There is neither difficulty nor uncertainty respecting the proper forms for the plurals of compound nouns in general; but the two irregular words _man_ and _woman_ are often varied at the beginning of the looser kind of compounds, contrary to what appears to be the general analogy of similar words. Of the propriety of this, the reader may judge, when I shall have quoted a few examples: "Besides their _man-servants_ and their _maid-servants_."--_Nehemiah_, vii, 67. "And I have oxen and asses, flocks, and _men-servants_, and _women-servants_."--_Gen._, xxxii, 5. "I gat me _men-singers_, and _women-singers_, and the delights of the sons of men."--_Ecclesiastes_, ii, 8. "And she brought forth a _man-child_, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron."--_Rev._, xii, 5.--"Why have ye done this, and saved the _men-children_ alive?"--_Exod._, i, 18. Such terms as these, if thought objectionable, may easily be avoided, by substituting for the former part of the compound the separate adjective _male_ or _female_; as, _male child, male children_. Or, for those of the third example, one might say, "_singing men_ and _singing women_," as in _Nehemiah_, vii, 67; for, in the ancient languages, the words are the same. Alger compounds "_singing-men_ and _singing-women_." OBS. 23.--Some foreign compound terms, consisting of what are usually, in the language from which they come, distinct words and different parts of speech, are made plural in English, by the addition of _e_ or _es_ at the end. But, in all such cases, I think the hyphen should be inserted in the compound, though it is the practice of many to omit it. Of this odd sort of words, I quote the following examples from Churchill; taking the liberty to insert the hyphen, which he omits: "_Ave-Maries, Te-Deums, camera-obscuras, agnus-castuses, habeas-corpuses, scire-faciases, hiccius-docciuses, hocus-pocuses, ignis-fatuuses, chef-d'oeuvres, conge-d'elires, flower-de-luces, louis-d'-ores, tete-a-tetes_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 62. OBS. 24.--Some nouns, from the nature of the things meant, have no plural. For, as there ought to be no word, or inflection of a word, for which we cannot conceive an appropriate meaning or use, it follows that whatever is of such a species that it cannot be taken in any plural sense, must naturally be named by a word which is singular only: as, _perry, cider, coffee, flax, hemp, fennel, tallow, pitch, gold, sloth, pride, meekness, eloquence_. But there are some things, which have in fact neither a comprehensible unity, nor any distinguishable plurality, and which may therefore be spoken of in either number; for the distinction of unity and plurality is, in such instances, merely verbal; and, whichever number we take, the word will be apt to want the other: as, _dregs_, or _sediment; riches_, or _wealth; pains_, or _toil; ethics_, or _moral philosophy; politics_, or _the science of government; belles-lettres_, or _polite literature_. So _darkness_, which in English appears to have no plural, is expressed in Latin by _tenebrae_, in French by _tenebres_, which have no singular. It is necessary that every noun should be understood to be of one number or the other; for, in connecting it with a verb, or in supplying its place by a pronoun, we must assume it to be either singular or plural. And it is desirable that singulars and plurals should always abide by their appropriate forms, so that they may be thereby distinguished with readiness. But custom, which regulates this, as every thing else of the like nature, does not always adjust it well; or, at least, not always upon principles uniform in themselves and obvious to every intellect. OBS. 25.--Nouns of multitude, when taken collectively, generally admit the regular plural form; which of course is understood with reference to the individuality of the whole collection, considered as one thing: but, when taken distributively, they have a plural signification without the form; and, in this case, their plurality refers to the individuals that compose the assemblage. Thus, a _council_, a _committee_, a _jury_, a _meeting_, a _society_, a _flock_, or a _herd_, is singular; and the regular plurals are _councils, committees, juries, meetings, societies, flocks, herds_. But these, and many similar words, may be taken plurally without the _s_, because a collective noun is the name of many individuals together. Hence we may say, "The _council were_ unanimous."--"The _committee are_ in consultation."--"The _jury were_ unable to agree."--"The _meeting have shown their_ discretion."--"The _society have settled their_ dispute."--"The _flock are_ widely scattered."--"The whole _herd were drowned_ in the sea." The propriety of the last example seems questionable; because _whole_ implies unity, and _were drowned_ is plural. Where a purer concord can be effected, it may be well to avoid such a construction, though examples like it are not uncommon: as, "Clodius was acquitted by _a corrupt jury_, that had palpably taken shares of money before _they gave their_ verdict."--_Bacon_. "And the _whole multitude_ of the people _were praying_ without, at the time of incense."--_Luke_, i, 10. OBS. 26.--Nouns have, in some instances, a unity or plurality of meaning, which seems to be directly at variance with their form. Thus, _cattle_, for beasts of pasture, and _pulse_, for peas and beans, though in appearance singulars only, are generally, if not always, plural; and _summons, gallows, chintz, series, superficies, molasses, suds, hunks, jakes, trapes_, and _corps_, with the appearance of plurals, are generally, if not always, singular. Dr. Webster says that _cattle_ is of both numbers; but wherein the oneness of cattle can consist, I know not. The Bible says, "God made--_cattle after their kind_."--_Gen._, i, 25. Here _kind_ is indeed singular, as if _cattle_ were a natural genus of which one must be _a cattle_; as _sheep_ are a natural genus of which one is _a sheep_: but whether properly expressed so or not, is questionable; perhaps it ought to be, "and cattle after their _kinds_." Dr. Gillies says, in his History of Greece, "_cattle was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value." This seems to me to be more inaccurate and unintelligible, than to say, "_Sheep was regarded_ as the most convenient _measure_ of value." And what would this mean? _Sheep_ is not singular, unless limited to that number by some definitive word; and _cattle_ I conceive to be incapable of any such limitation. OBS. 27.--Of the last class of words above cited, some may assume an additional _es_, when taken plurally; as, _summonses, gallowses, chintses_: the rest either want the plural, or have it seldom and without change of form. _Corps_, a body of troops, is a French word, which, when singular, is pronounced _c=ore_, and when plural, _c=ores_. But _corpse_, a dead body, is an English word, pronounced _k~orps_, and making the plural in two syllables, _corpses_. _Summonses_ is given in Cobb's Dictionary as the plural of _summons_; but some authors have used the latter with a plural verb: as, "But Love's first _summons_ seldom _are_ obey'd."--_Waller's Poems_, p. 8. Dr. Johnson says this noun is from the verb _to summon_; and, if this is its origin, the singular ought to be _a summon_, and then _summons_ would be a regular plural. But this "singular noun with a plural termination," as Webster describes it, more probably originated from the Latin verb _submoneas_, used in the writ, and came to us through the jargon of law, in which we sometimes hear men talk of "_summonsing_ witnesses." The authorities for it, however, are good enough; as, "_This_ present _summons_."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict._ "_This summons_ he resolved to disobey."--FELL: _ib._ _Chints_ is called by Cobb a "substantive _plural_" and defined as "cotton _cloths_, made in India;" but other lexicographers define it as singular, and Worcester (perhaps more properly) writes it _chintz_. Johnson cites Pope as speaking of "_a charming chints_," and I have somewhere seen the plural formed by adding es. "Of the Construction of single Words, or _Serieses_ of Words."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 114. Walker, in his Elements of Elocution, makes frequent use of the word "_serieses_," and of the phrase "_series of serieses_." But most writers, I suppose, would doubt the propriety of this practice; because, in Latin, all nouns of the fifth declension, such as _caries, congeries, series, species, superficies_, make their nominative and vocative cases alike in both numbers. This, however, is no rule for writing English. Dr. Blair has used the word _species_ in a plural sense; though I think he ought rather to have preferred the regular English word _kinds_: "The higher _species_ of poetry seldom _admit_ it."--_Rhet._, p. 403. _Specie_, meaning hard money, though derived or corrupted from _species_, is not the singular of that word; nor has it any occasion for a plural form, because we never speak of _a specie_. The plural of _gallows_, according to Dr. Webster, is _gallowses_; nor is that form without other authority, though some say, _gallows_ is of both numbers and not to be varied: "_Gallowses_ were occasionally put in order by the side of my windows."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 369. "Who would not guess there might be hopes, The fear of _gallowses_ and ropes, Before their eyes, might reconcile Their animosities a while?"--_Hudibras_, p. 90. OBS. 28.--Though the plural number is generally derived from the singular, and of course must as generally imply its existence, we have examples, and those not a few, in which the case is otherwise. Some nouns, because they signify such things as nature or art has made plural or double; some, because they have been formed from other parts of speech by means of the plural ending which belongs to nouns; and some, because they are compounds in which a plural word is principal, and put last, are commonly used in the plural number only, and have, in strict propriety, no singular. Though these three classes of plurals may not be perfectly separable, I shall endeavour to exhibit them in the order of this explanation. 1. Plurals in meaning and form: _analects, annals,[144] archives, ashes, assets, billiards, bowels, breeches, calends, cates, chops, clothes, compasses, crants, eaves, embers, estovers, forceps, giblets, goggles, greaves, hards_ or _hurds, hemorrhoids, ides, matins, nippers, nones, obsequies, orgies,[145] piles, pincers_ or _pinchers, pliers, reins, scissors, shears, skittles, snuffers, spectacles, teens, tongs, trowsers, tweezers, umbles, vespers, victuals_. 2. Plurals by formation, derived chiefly from adjectives: _acoustics, aeronautics, analytics, bitters, catoptrics, commons, conics, credentials, delicates, dioptrics, economics, ethics, extraordinaries, filings, fives, freshes, glanders, gnomonics, goods, hermeneutics, hustings, hydrodynamics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, hysterics, inwards, leavings, magnetics, mathematics, measles, mechanics, mnemonics, merils, metaphysics, middlings, movables, mumps, nuptials, optics, phonics, phonetics, physics,[146] pneumatics, poetics, politics, riches, rickets, settlings, shatters, skimmings, spherics, staggers, statics, statistics, stays, strangles, sundries, sweepings, tactics, thanks, tidings, trappings, vives, vitals, wages,[147] withers, yellows_. 3. Plurals by composition: _backstairs, cocklestairs, firearms,[148] headquarters, hotcockles, spatterdashes, self-affairs_. To these may be added the Latin words, _aborigines, antipodes, antes, antoeci, amphiscii, anthropophagi, antiscii, ascii, literati, fauces, regalia_, and _credenda_, with the Italian _vermicelli_, and the French _belles-lettres_ and _entremets_. OBS. 29.--There are several nouns which are set down by some writers as wanting the singular, and by others as having it. Of this class are the following: _amends,[149] ancients, awns, bots, catacombs, chives, cloves, cresses, dogsears, downs, dregs,[150] entrails, fetters, fireworks, greens, gyves, hatches, intestines, lees,[151] lungs, malanders, mallows, moderns, oats, orts, pleiads, premises, relics, remains, shackles, shambles,[152] stilts, stairs, tares, vetches_. The fact is, that these words have, or ought to have, the singular, as often as there is any occasion to use it; and the same may, in general terms, be said of other nouns, respecting the formation of _the plural_.[153] For where the idea of unity or plurality comes clearly before the mind, we are very apt to shape the word accordingly, without thinking much about the authorities we can quote for it. OBS. 30.--In general, where both numbers exist in common use, there is some palpable oneness or individuality, to which the article _a_ or _an_ is applicable; the nature of the species is found entire in every individual of it; and a multiplication of the individuals gives rise to plurality in the name. But the nature of a mass, or of an indefinite multitude taken collectively, is not found in individuals as such; nor is the name, whether singular, as _gold_, or plural, as _ashes_, so understood. Hence, though every noun must be of one number or the other, there are many which have little or no need of both. Thus we commonly speak of _wheat, barley, or oats_, collectively; and very seldom find occasion for any other forms of these words. But chafferers at the corn-market, in spite of Cobbett,[154] will talk about _wheats_ and _barleys_, meaning different kinds[155] or qualities; and a gardener, if he pleases, will tell of an _oat_, (as does Milton, in his Lycidas,) meaning a single seed or plant. But, because _wheat_ or _barley_ generally means that sort of grain in mass, if he will mention a single kernel, he must call it a _grain of wheat_ or a _barleycorn_. And these he may readily make plural, to specify any particular number; as, _five grains of wheat_, or _three barleycorns_. OBS. 31.--My chief concern is with general principles, but the illustration of these requires many particular examples--even far more than I have room to quote. The word _amends_ is represented by Murray and others, as being singular as well as plural; but Webster's late dictionaries exhibit _amend_ as singular, and _amends_ as plural, with definitions that needlessly differ, though not much. I judge "_an amends_" to be bad English; and prefer the regular singular, _an amend_. The word is of French origin, and is sometimes written in English with a needless final _e_; as, "But only to make a kind of honourable _amende_ to God."--_Rollin's Ancient Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 24. The word _remains_ Dr. Webster puts down as plural only, and yet uses it himself in the singular: "The creation of a Dictator, even for a few months, would have buried every _remain_ of freedom."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 70. There are also other authorities for this usage, and also for some other nouns that are commonly thought to have no singular; as, "But Duelling is unlawful and murderous, a _remain_ of the ancient Gothic barbarity."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. "I grieve with the old, for so many additional inconveniences, more than their small _remain_ of life seemed destined to undergo."--POPE: _in Joh. Dict._ "A disjunctive syllogism is one whose major _premise_ is disjunctive."--_Hedge's Logic_. "Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender _ort_ of his remainder."--SHAK.: _Timon of Athens_. OBS. 32.--There are several nouns which are usually alike in both numbers. Thus, _deer, folk, fry, gentry, grouse, hose, neat, sheep, swine, vermin_, and _rest_, (i. e. _the rest_, the others, the residue,) are regular singulars, but they are used also as plurals, and that more frequently. Again, _alms, aloes, bellows, means, news, odds, shambles_, and _species_, are proper plurals, but most of them are oftener construed as singulars. _Folk_ and _fry_ are collective nouns. _Folk_ means _people_; _a folk, a people_: as, "The ants are _a people_ not strong;"--"The conies are but _a feeble folk_."--_Prov._, xxx, 25, 26. "He laid his hands on a few sick _folk_, and healed _them_."--_Mark_, vi, 5. _Folks_, which ought to be the plural of _folk_, and equivalent to _peoples_, is now used with reference to a plurality of individuals, and the collective word seems liable to be entirely superseded by it. A _fry_ is a swarm of young fishes, or of any other little creatures living in water: so called, perhaps, because their motions often make the surface _fry_. Several such swarms might properly be called _fries_; but this form can never be applied to the individuals, without interfering with the other. "So numerous _was the fry_."--_Cowper_. "The _fry betake themselves_ to the neighbouring pools."--_Quarterly Review_. "You cannot think more contemptuously of _these gentry_ than _they_ were thought of by the true prophets."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 93. "_Grouse_, a heathcock."--_Johnson_. "The 'squires in scorn will fly the house For better game, and look for _grouse_."--_Swift_. "Here's an English tailor, come hither for stealing out of _a_ French _hose_."--_Shak_. "He, being in love, could not see to garter his _hose_."--_Id._ Formerly, the plural was _hosen_: "Then these men were bound, in their coats, their _hosen_, and their hats."--_Dan._, iii, 21. Of _sheep_, Shakspeare has used the regular plural: "Two hot _sheeps_, marry!"--_Love's Labour Lost_, Act ii, Sc. 1. "Who both by his calf and his lamb will be known, May well kill _a neat_ and _a sheep_ of his own."--_Tusser_. "His droves of asses, camels, herds of _neat_, And flocks of _sheep_, grew shortly twice as great."--_Sandys_. "As a jewel of gold in _a swine's_ snout."--_Prov._, xi, 22. "A herd of _many swine_, feeding."--_Matt._, viii, 30. "An idle person only lives to spend his time, and eat the fruits of the earth, like a _vermin_ or a wolf."--_Taylor_. "The head of a wolf, dried and hanged up, will scare away _vermin_."--_Bacon_. "Cheslip, _a small vermin_ that lies under stones or tiles."--SKINNER: in _Joh. and in Web. Dict._ "This is flour, the _rest is_ bran."--"And the _rest were_ blinded."--_Rom._, xi, 7. "The poor beggar hath a just demand of _an alms_."--_Swift_. "Thine _alms are_ come up for a memorial before God."--_Acts_, x, 4. "The draught of air performed the function of _a bellows_."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 223. "As the _bellows do_."--_Bicknell's Gram._, ii, 11. "The _bellows are_ burned."--_Jer._, vi, 29. "Let _a gallows_ be made."--_Esther_, v, 14. "_Mallows are_ very useful in medicine."--_Wood's Dict._ "_News_," says Johnson, "is without the singular, unless it be considered as singular."--_Dict._ "So _is_ good _news_ from a far country."--_Prov._, xxv, 25. "Evil _news rides_ fast, while good _news baits_."--_Milton_. "When Rhea heard _these news_, she fled."--_Raleigh_. "_News were brought_ to the queen."--_Hume's Hist._, iv, 426. "The _news_ I bring _are_ afflicting, but the consolation with which _they_ are attended, ought to moderate your grief."--_Gil Blas_, Vol. ii, p. 20. "Between these two cases there _are_ great _odds_."--_Hooker_. "Where the _odds is_ considerable."--_Campbell_. "Determining on which side the _odds lie_."--_Locke_. "The greater _are the odds_ that he mistakes his author."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 1. "Though thus _an odds_ unequally they meet."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iv, l. 789. "Preeminent by so _much odds_."--_Milton_. "To make a _shambles_ of the parliament house."--_Shak_. "The earth has been, from the beginning, a great Aceldama, _a shambles_ of blood."--_Christian's Vade-Mecum_, p. 6. "_A shambles_" sounds so inconsistent, I should rather say, "_A shamble_." Johnson says, the etymology of the word is _uncertain_; Webster refers it to the Saxon _scamel_: it means _a butcher's stall, a meat-market_; and there would seem to be no good reason for the _s_, unless more than one such place is intended. "Who sells his subjects to the _shambles_ of a foreign power."--_Pitt_. "A special idea is called by the schools _a species_."--_Watts_. "He intendeth the care of _species_, or common natures."--_Brown_. "ALOE, (al~o) _n.; plu._ ALOES."--_Webster's Dict._, and _Worcester's_. "But it was _aloe_ itself to lose the reward."-- _Tupper's Crock of Gold_, p. 16. "But high in amphitheatre above, _His_ arms the everlasting _aloes_ threw." --_Campbell_, G. of W., ii, 10. OBS. 33.--There are some nouns, which, though really regular in respect to possessing the two forms for the two numbers, are not free from irregularity in the manner of their application. Thus _means_ is the regular plural of _mean_; and, when the word is put for mediocrity, middle point, place, or degree, it takes both forms, each in its proper sense; but when it signifies things instrumental, or that which is used to effect an object, most writers use _means_ for the singular as well as for the plural:[156] as, "By _this means_"--"By _those means_," with reference to one mediating cause; and, "By _these means_,"--"By _those means_," with reference to more than one. Dr. Johnson says the use of _means_ for _mean_ is not very grammatical; and, among his examples for the true use of the word, he has the following: "Pamela's noble heart would needs gratefully make known the valiant _mean_ of her safety."--_Sidney._ "Their virtuous conversation was a _mean_ to work the heathens' conversion."--_Hooker._ "Whether his wits should by that _mean_ have been taken from him."--_Id._ "I'll devise a _mean_ to draw the Moor out of the way."--_Shak._ "No place will please me so, no _mean_ of death."--_Id._ "Nature is made better by no _mean_, but nature makes that _mean._"--_Id._ Dr. Lowth also questioned the propriety of construing _means_ as singular, and referred to these same authors as authorities for preferring the regular form. Buchanan insists that _means_ is right in the plural only; and that, "The singular should be used as perfectly analogous; by this _mean_, by that _mean_."--_English Syntax_, p. 103. Lord Kames, likewise, appears by his practice to have been of the same opinion: "Of this the child must be sensible intuitively, for it has no other _mean_ of knowledge."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 357. "And in both the same _mean_ is employed."--_Ib._ ii, 271. Caleb Alexander, too, declares "_this means_," "_that means_." and "_a means_," to be "ungrammatical."--_Gram._, p. 58. But common usage has gone against the suggestions of these critics, and later grammarians have rather confirmed the irregularity, than attempted to reform it. OBS. 34.--Murray quotes sixteen good authorities to prove that means may be singular; but whether it _ought_ to be so or not, is still a disputable point. Principle is for the regular word _mean_, and good practice favours the irregularity, but is still divided. Cobbett, to the disgrace of grammar, says, "_Mean_, as a noun, is _never used in the singular_. It, like some other words, has broken loose from all principle and rule. By universal consent, it _is become always a plural_, whether used with _singular or plural_ pronouns and articles, _or not_."--_E. Gram._, p. 144. This is as ungrammatical, as it is untrue. Both mean and means are sufficiently authorized in the singular: "The prospect which by this mean is opened to you."--_Melmoth's Cicero_. "Faith in this doctrine never terminates in itself, but is _a mean_, to holiness as an end."--_Dr. Chalmers, Sermons_, p. v. "The _mean_ of basely affronting him."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 19. "They used every _mean_ to prevent the re-establishment of their religion."--_Dr Jamieson's Sacred Hist._, i, p. 20. "As a necessary _mean_ to prepare men for the discharge of that duty."-- _Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 153. "Greatest is the power of a _mean_, when its power is least suspected."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "To the deliberative orator the reputation of unsullied virtue is not only useful, as a _mean_ of promoting his general influence, it is also among his most efficient engines of persuasion, upon every individual occasion."--_J. Q. Adams's Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory_, i, 352. "I would urge it upon you, as the most effectual _mean_ of extending your respectability and usefulness in the world."--_Ib._, ii, 395. "Exercise will be admitted to be a necessary _mean_ of improvement."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 343. "And by _that means_ we have now an early prepossession in their favour."--_Ib._, p. 348. "To abolish all sacrifice by revealing a better _mean_ of reconciliation." --_Keith's Evidences_, p. 46. "As a _mean_ of destroying the distinction." --_Ib._, p. 3. "Which however is by no _mean_ universally the case."-- _Religious World Displayed_, Vol. iii, p. 155. OBS. 35.--Again, there are some nouns, which, though they do not lack the regular plural form, are sometimes used in a plural sense without the plural termination. Thus _manner_ makes the plural _manners_, which last is now generally used in the peculiar sense of behaviour, or deportment, but not always: it sometimes means methods, modes, or ways; as, "At sundry times and in divers _manners_."--_Heb._, i, 1. "In the _manners_ above mentioned."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 100. "There be three _manners_ of trials in England."--COWELL: _Joh. Dict., w. Jury_. "These two _manners_ of representation."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 15. "These are the three primary modes, or _manners_, of expression."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 83. "In arrangement, too, various _manners_ suit various styles."--_Campbell's Phil. of Rhet._, p. 172. "Between the two _manners_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 35. "Here are three different _manners_ of asserting."-- _Barnard's Gram._, p. 59. But _manner_ has often been put for _sorts_, without the _s_; as, "The tree of life, which bare _twelve manner_ of fruits."--_Rev._, xxii, 2. "All _manner_ of men assembled here in arms."--_Shak_. "_All manner_ of outward advantages."--_Atterbury_. Milton used _kind_ in the same way, but not very properly; as, "_All kind_ of living creatures."--_P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 286. This irregularity it would be well to avoid. _Manners_ may still, perhaps, be proper for modes or ways; and _all manner_, if allowed, must be taken in the sense of a collective noun; but for sorts, kinds, classes, or species, I would use neither the plural nor the singular of this word. The word _heathen_, too, makes the regular plural _heathens_, and yet is often used in a plural sense without the _s_; as, "Why do the _heathen_ rage?"--_Psalms_, ii, 1. "Christianity was formerly propagated among the _heathens_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 217. The word _youth_, likewise, has the same peculiarities. OBS. 36.--Under the present head come names of fishes, birds, or other things, when the application of the singular is extended from the individual to the species, so as to supersede the plural by assuming its construction: as, Sing. "A great _fish_."--_Jonah_, i, 17. Plur. "For the multitude of _fishes_'."--_John_, xxi, 6. "A very great multitude of _fish_."--_Ezekiel_, xlvii, 9.[157] The name of the genus being liable to this last construction, men seem to have thought that the species should follow; consequently, the regular plurals of some very common names of fishes are scarcely known at all. Hence some grammarians affirm, that _salmon, mackerel, herring, perch, tench_, and several others, are alike in both numbers, and ought never to be used in the plural form. I am not so fond of honouring these anomalies. Usage is here as unsettled, as it is arbitrary; and, if the expression of plurality is to be limited to either form exclusively, the regular plural ought certainly to be preferred. But, _for fish taken in bulk_, the singular form seems more appropriate; as, "These vessels take from thirty-eight to forty-five quintals of _cod_ and _pollock_, and six thousand barrels of _mackerel_, yearly."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 28. OBS. 37.--The following examples will illustrate the unsettled usage just mentioned, and from them the reader may judge for himself what is right. In quoting, at second-hand, I generally think it proper to make double references; and especially in citing authorities after Johnson, because he so often gives the same passages variously. But he himself is reckoned good authority in things literary. Be it so. I regret the many proofs of his fallibility. "Hear you this Triton of the _minnows?_"--_Shak_. "The shoal of _herrings_ was of an immense extent."--_Murray's Key_, p. 185. "Buy my _herring_ fresh."--SWIFT: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the fisheries of Maine, _cod, herring, mackerel alewives, salmon_, and other _fish_, are taken."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 23. "MEASE, _n._ The quantity of 500; as, a _mease_ of _herrings_."--_Webster's Dict._ "We shall have plenty of _mackerel_ this season."--ADDISON: _in Joh. Dict._ "_Mackarel_ is the same in both numbers. Gay has improperly _mackarels_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 208. "They take _salmon_ and _trouts_ by groping and tickling them under the bellies."--CAREW: _in Joh. Dict._ "The pond will keep _trout_ and _salmon_ in their seasonable plight."--_Id., ib., w. Trout_. "Some _fish_ are preserved fresh in vinegar, as _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Turbot_. "Some _fish_ are boiled and preserved fresh in vinegar, as _tunny_ and _turbot_."--_Id., ib., w. Tunny_. "Of round _fish_, there are _brit, sprat, barn, smelts_."--_Id., ib., w. Smelt._ "For _sprats_ and _spurlings_ for your house."--TUSSEE: _ib., w. Spurling_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _pilchards, herrings_, and _haddock_."--CAREW: _ib., w. Haddock_. "The coast is plentifully stored with round _fish, pilchard, herring, mackerel_, and _cod_"--_Id., ib., w. Herring_. "The coast is plentifully stored with _shellfish, sea-hedgehogs, scallops, pilcherd, herring_, and _pollock_."--_Id., ib., w. Pollock_. "A _roach_ is _a fish_ of no great reputation for his dainty taste. It is noted that _roaches_ recover strength and grow a fortnight after spawning."--WALTON: _ib., w. Roach_. "A friend of mine stored a pond of three or four acres with _carps_ and _tench_."--HALE: _ib., w. Carp_. "Having stored a very great pond with _carps, tench_, and other _pond-fish_, and only put in two small _pikes_, this pair of tyrants in seven years devoured the whole."--_Id., ib., w. Tench_. "Singular, _tench_; plural, _tenches_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 78. "The polar bear preys upon _seals, fish_, and the carcasses of _whales_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 172. "_Trouts_ and _salmons_ swim against the stream."--BACON: _Ward's Gram._, p. 130. "'Tis true no _turbots_ dignify my boards, But _gudgeons, flounders_, what my Thames affords."--_Pope_. OBS. 38.--Prom the foregoing examples it would seem, if fish or fishes are often spoken of without a regular distinction of the grammatical numbers, it is not because the words are not susceptible of the inflection, but because there is some difference of meaning between the mere name of the sort and the distinct modification in regard to number. There are also other nouns in which a like difference may be observed. Some names of building materials, as _brick, stone, plank, joist_, though not destitute of regular plurals, as _bricks, stones, planks, joists_, and not unadapted to ideas distinctly singular, as _a brick, a stone, a plank, a joist_, are nevertheless sometimes used in a plural sense without the _s_, and sometimes in a sense which seems hardly to embrace the idea of either number; as, "Let us make _brick_, and burn _them_ thoroughly."--_Gen._, xi, 3. "And they had _brick_ for _stone_."--_Ib._ "The tale of _bricks_."--_Exod._, v, 8 and 18. "Make _brick_."--_Ib._, v, 16. "From your _bricks_."--_Ib._, v, 19. "Upon altars of _brick_."--_Isaiah_. lxv, 3. "The _bricks_ are fallen down."--_Ib._, ix, 10. The same variety of usage occurs in respect to a few other words, and sometimes perhaps without good reason; as, "Vast numbers of sea _fowl_ frequent the rocky cliffs."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 231. "Bullocks, sheep, and _fowls_."--_Ib._, p. 439. "_Cannon_ is used alike in both numbers."--_Everest's Gram._, p. 48. "_Cannon_ and _shot_ may be used in the singular or plural sense."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 37. "The column in the Place Vendome is one hundred and thirty-four feet high, and is made of the brass of the _cannons_ taken from the Austrians and Prussians."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 249. "As his _cannons_ roar."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 81. "Twenty _shot_ of his greatest cannon."--CLARENDON: _Joh. Dict._ "Twenty _shots_" would here, I think, be more proper, though the word is not made plural when it means _little balls of lead_. "And _cannons_ conquer armies."--_Hudibras_, Part III, Canto iii, l. 249. "Healths to both kings, attended with the roar Of _cannons_ echoed from th' affrighted shore."--_Waller_, p. 7. OBS. 39.--Of foreign nouns, many retain their original plural; a few are defective; and some are redundant, because the English form is also in use. Our writers have laid many languages under contribution, and thus furnished an abundance of irregular words, necessary to be explained, but never to be acknowledged as English till they conform to our own rules. 1. Of nouns in _a, saliva_, spittle, and _scoria_, dross, have no occasion for the plural; _lamina_, a thin plate, makes _laminae_; _macula_, a spot, _maculae_; _minutia_, a little thing, _minutiae_; _nebula_, a mist, _nebulae_; _siliqua_, a pod, _siliqiuae_. _Dogma_ makes _dogmas_ or _dogmata_; _exanthema, exanthemas_ or _exanthemata_; _miasm_ or _miasma, miasms_ or _miasmata_; _stigma, stigmas_ or _stigmata_. 2. Of nouns in _um_, some have no need of the plural; as, _bdellium, decorum, elysium, equilibrium, guaiacum, laudanum, odium, opium, petroleum, serum, viaticum_. Some form it regularly; as, _asylums, compendiums, craniums, emporiums, encomiums, forums, frustums, lustrums, mausoleums, museums, pendulums, nostrums, rostrums, residuums, vacuums_. Others take either the English or the Latin plural; as, _desideratums_ or _desiderata, mediums_ or _media, menstruums_ or _menstrua, memorandums_ or _memoranda, spectrums_ or _spectra, speculums_ or _specula, stratums_ or _strata, succedaneums_ or _succedanea, trapeziums_ or _trapezia, vinculums_ or _vincula_. A few seem to have the Latin plural only: as, _arcanum, arcana; datum, data; effluvium, effluvia; erratum, errata; scholium, scholia_. 3. Of nouns in _us_, a few have no plural; as, _asparagus, calamus, mucus_. Some have only the Latin plural, which usually changes _us_ to _i_; as, _alumnus, alumni; androgynus, androgyni; calculus, calculi; dracunculus, dracunculi; echinus, echini; magus, magi_. But such as have properly become English words, may form the plural regularly in _es_; as, _chorus, choruses_: so, _apparatus, bolus, callus, circus, fetus, focus, fucus, fungus, hiatus, ignoramus, impetus, incubus, isthmus, nautilus, nucleus, prospectus, rebus, sinus, surplus_. Five of these make the Latin plural like the singular; but the mere English scholar has no occasion to be told which they are. _Radius_ makes the plural _radii_ or _radiuses_. _Genius_ has _genii_, for imaginary spirits, and _geniuses_, for men of wit. _Genus_, a sort, becomes _genera_ in Latin, and _genuses_ in English. _Denarius_ makes, in the plural, _denarii_ or _denariuses_. 4. Of nouns in _is_, some are regular; as, _trellis, trellises_: so, _annolis, butteris, caddis, dervis, iris, marquis, metropolis, portcullis, proboscis_. Some seem to have no need of the plural; as, _ambergris, aqua-fortis, arthritis, brewis, crasis, elephantiasis, genesis, orris, siriasis, tennis_. But most nouns of this ending follow the Greek or Latin form, which simply changes _is_ to _=es_: as, _amanuensis, amanuenses; analysis, analyses; antithesis, antitheses; axis, axes; basis, bases; crisis, crises; diaeresis, diaereses; diesis, dieses; ellipsis, ellipses; emphasis, emphases; fascis, fasces; hypothesis, hypotheses; metamorphosis, metamorphoses; oasis, oases; parenthesis, parentheses; phasis, phases; praxis, praxes; synopsis, synopses; synthesis, syntheses; syrtis, syrtes; thesis, theses_. In some, however, the original plural is not so formed; but is made by changing _is_ to _~ides_; as, _aphis, aphides; apsis, apsides; ascaris, ascarides; bolis, bolides; cantharis, cantharides; chrysalis, chrysalides; ephemeris, ephemerides; epidermis, epidermides_. So _iris_ and _proboscis_, which we make regular; and perhaps some of the foregoing may be made so too. Fisher writes _Praxises_ for _praxes_, though not very properly. See his _Gram_, p. v. _Eques_, a Roman knight, makes _equites_ in the plural. 5. Of nouns in _x_, there are few, if any, which ought not to form the plural regularly, when used as English words; though the Latins changed _x_ to _ces_, and _ex_ to _ices_, making the _i_ sometimes long and sometimes short: as, _apex, apices_, for _apexes; appendix, appendices_, for _appendixes; calix, calices_, for _calixes_; _calx, calces_, for _calxes; calyx, calyces_, for _calyxes; caudex, caudices_, for _caudexes; cicatrix, cicatrices_, for _cicatrixes; helix, helices_, for _helixes; index, indices_, for _indexes; matrix, matrices_, for _matrixes; quincunx, quincunces_, for _quincunxes; radix, radices_, for _radixes; varix, varices_, for _varixes; vertex, vertices_, for _vertexes; vortex, vortices_, for _vortexes_. Some Greek words in _x_ change that letter to _ges_; as, _larynx, larynges_, for _larinxes; phalanx, phalanges_, for _phalanxes_. _Billet-doux_, from the French, is _billets-doux_ in the plural. 6. Of nouns in _on_, derived from Greek, the greater part always form the plural regularly; as, _etymons, gnomons, ichneumons, myrmidons, phlegmons, trigons, tetragons, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, enneagons, decagons, hendecagons, dodecagons, polygons_. So _trihedrons, tetrahedrons, pentahedrons_, &c., though some say, these last may end in _dra_, which I think improper. For a few words of this class, however, there are double plurals in use; as, _automata_ or _atomatons, criteria_ or _criterions, parhelia_ or _parhelions_; and the plural of _phenomenon_ appears to be always _phenomena_. 7. The plural of _legumen_ is _legumens_ or _legumina_; of _stamen, stamens_ or _stamina_: of _cherub, cherubs_ or _cherubim_; of _seraph, seraphs_ or _seraphim_; of _beau, beaus_ or _beaux_; of _bandit, bandits_ or _banditti_. The regular forms are in general preferable. The Hebrew plurals _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, being sometimes mistaken for singulars, other plurals have been formed from them; as, "And over it the _cherubims_ of glory."--_Heb_. ix, 5. "Then flow one of the _seraphims_ unto me."--_Isaiah_, vi, 6. Dr. Campbell remarks: "We are authorized, both by use and by analogy, to say either _cherubs_ and _seraphs_, according to the English idiom, or _cherubim_ and _seraphim_, according to the oriental. The former suits better the familiar, the latter the solemn style. I shall add to this remark," says he, "that, as the words _cherubim_ and _seraphim_ are plural, the terms _cherubims_ and _seraphims_, as expressing the plural, are quite improper."--_Phil. of Rhet._, p. 201. OBS. 40.--When other parts of speech become nouns, they either want the plural, or form it regularly,[158] like common nouns of the same endings; as, "His affairs went on at _sixes_ and _sevens_."--_Arbuthnot_. "Some mathematicians have proposed to compute by _twoes_; _others_, by _fours_; _others_, by _twelves_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 81. "Three _fourths_, nine _tenths_."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Time's _takings_ and _leavings_."-- _Barton_. "The _yeas_ and _nays_."--_Newspaper_. "The _ays_ and _noes_."--_Ib._ "_Oes_ and _spangles_."--_Bacon_. "The _ins_ and the _outs_."--_Newspaper_."--We find it more safe against _outs_ and _doubles_."--_Printer's Gram._ "His _ands_ and his _ors_."--_Mott_. "One of the _buts_."--_Fowle_. "In raising the mirth of _stupids_."--_Steele_. "_Eatings, drinkings, wakings, sleepings, walkings, talkings, sayings, doings_--all were for the good of the public; there was not such a things as a secret in the town."--LANDON: _Keepsake_, 1833. "Her innocent _forsooths_ and _yesses_."--_Spect._, No. 266. "Henceforth my wooing mind shall be expressed In russet _yeas_ and honest kersey _noes_." --SHAK. See _Johnson's Dict., w. Kersey_. GENDERS. Genders, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish objects in regard to sex. There are three genders; the _masculine_, the _feminine_, and the _neuter_. The _masculine gender_ is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind; as, _man, father, king_. The _feminine gender_ is that which denotes persons or animals of the female kind; as, _woman, mother, queen_. The _neuter gender_ is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female; as, _pen, ink, paper_. Hence, names of males are masculine; names of females, feminine; and names of things inanimate, literally, neuter. Masculine nouns make regular feminines, when their termination is changed to _ess_: as, _hunter, huntress_; _prince, princess_; _lion, lioness_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The different genders in grammar are founded on the natural distinction of sex in animals, and on the absence of sex in other things. In English, they belong only to nouns and pronouns; and to these they are usually applied, not arbitrarily, as in some other languages, but agreeably to the order of nature. From this we derive a very striking advantage over those who use the gender differently, or without such rule; which is, that our pronouns are easy of application, and have a fine effect when objects are personified. Pronouns are of the same gender as the nouns for which they stand. OBS. 2.--Many nouns are equally applicable to both sexes; as, _cousin, friend, neighbour, parent, person, servant_. The gender of these is usually determined by the context; and they are to be called masculine or feminine accordingly. To such words, some grammarians have applied the unnecessary and improper term _common gender_. Murray justly observes, "There is no such gender belonging to the language. The business of parsing can be effectually performed, without having recourse to a _common gender_."--_Gram._, 8vo. p. 39. The term is more useful, and less liable to objection, as applied to the learned languages; but with us, whose genders _distinguish objects in regard to sex_, it is plainly a solecism. OBS. 3.--A great many of our grammars define gender to be "_the distinction of sex_," and then speak of a _common gender_, in which the two sexes are left _undistinguished_; and of the _neuter gender_, in which objects are treated as being of _neither sex_. These views of the matter are obviously inconsistent. Not genders, or a gender, do the writers undertake to define, but "gender" as a whole; and absurdly enough, too; because this whole of gender they immediately distribute into certain _other genders_, into genders of gender, or kinds of gender, and these not compatible with their definition. Thus Wells: "Gender is _the distinction_ of objects, with regard to sex. There are four genders;--the _masculine_, the _feminine_, the _common_, and the _neuter_."--_School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 49. [Those] "Nouns which are applicable _alike to both sexes_, are of the _common_ gender."--_Ib._ This then is manifestly no gender under the foregoing definition, and the term _neuter_ is made somewhat less appropriate by the adoption of a third denomination before it. Nor is there less absurdity in the phraseology with which Murray proposes to avoid the recognition of the _common gender_: "Thus we may say, _Parents_ is a noun of the _masculine and feminine_ gender; _Parent_, if doubtful, is of the _masculine or feminine_ gender; and _Parent_, if the gender is known by the construction, is of the gender so ascertained."--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 39. According to this, we must have _five genders_, exclusive of that which is called _common_; namely, the _masculine_, the _feminine_, the _neuter_, the _androgynal_, and the _doubtful_. OBS. 4.--It is plain that many writers on grammar have had but a confused notion of what a gender really is. Some of them, confounding gender with sex, deny that there are more than two genders, because there are only two sexes. Others, under a like mistake, resort occasionally, (as in the foregoing instance,) to an _androgynal_, and also to a _doubtful_ gender: both of which are more objectionable than the _common gender_ of the old grammarians; though this _common_ "distinction with regard to sex," is, in our language, confessedly, no distinction at all. I assume, that there are in English the three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter, and no more; and that every noun and every pronoun must needs be of some gender; consequently, of some one of these three. A gender is, literally, a sort, a kind, a sex. But genders, _in grammar_, are attributes of words, rather than of persons, or animals, or things; whereas sexes are attributes, not of words, but of living creatures. He who understands this, will perceive that the absence of sex in some things, is as good a basis for a grammatical distinction, as the presence or the difference of it in others; nor can it be denied, that the neuter, according to my definition, is a gender, is a distinction "in _regard_ to sex," though it does not embrace either of the sexes. There are therefore three genders, and only three. OBS. 5.--Generic names, even when construed as masculine or feminine, often virtually include both sexes; as, "Hast thou given _the horse_ strength? hast thou clothed _his_ neck with thunder? Canst thou make _him_ afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of _his_ nostrils is terrible."--_Job_, xxxix, 19. "Doth _the hawk_ fly by thy wisdom, and stretch _her_ wings toward the south? Doth _the eagle_ mount up at thy command, and make _her_ nest on high?"--_Ib._, ver. 26. These were called, by the old grammarians, _epicene_ nouns--that is, _supercommon_; but they are to be parsed each according to the gender of the pronoun which is put for it. OBS. 6.--The gender of words, in many instances, is to be determined by the following principle of universal grammar. Those terms which are equally applicable to both sexes, (if they are not expressly applied to females,) and those plurals which are known to include both sexes, should be called masculine in parsing; for, in all languages, the masculine gender is considered the most worthy,[159] and is generally employed when both sexes are included under one common term. Thus _parents_ is always masculine, and must be represented by a masculine pronoun, for the gender of a word is a property indivisible, and that which refers to the male sex, always takes the lead in such cases. If one say, "Joseph took _the young child and his mother_ by night, and fled with _them_ into Egypt," the pronoun _them_ will be masculine; but let "_his_" be changed to _its_, and the plural pronoun that follows, will be feminine. For the feminine gender takes precedence of the neuter, but not of the masculine; and it is not improper to speak of a young child without designating the sex. As for such singulars as _parent, friend, neighbour, thief, slave_, and many others, they are feminine when expressly applied to any of the female sex; but otherwise, masculine. OBS. 7.--Nouns of multitude, when they convey the idea of unity or take the plural form, are of the neuter gender; but when they convey the idea of plurality without the form, they follow the gender of the individuals which compose the assemblage. Thus a _congress_, a _council_, a _committee_, a _jury_, a _sort_, or a _sex_, if taken collectively, is neuter; being represented in discourse by the neuter pronoun _it_: and the formal plurals, _congresses, councils, committees, juries, sorts, sexes_, of course, are neuter also. But, if I say, "The committee disgraced _themselves_," the noun and pronoun are presumed to be masculine, unless it be known that I am speaking of a committee of females. Again: "The _fair sex, whose_ task is not to mingle in the labours of public life, have _their_ own part assigned _them_ to act."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 132. Here _sex_, and the three pronouns which have that word for their antecedent, are all feminine. Again: "_Each sex_, dressing _themselves_ in the clothes of the other."--_Wood's Dictionary_, v. _Feast of Purim_. Here _sex_, and the pronoun which follows, are masculine; because, the male sex, as well as the female, is here spoken of plurally. OBS. 8.--To _persons_, of every description, known or unknown, real or imaginary, we uniformly ascribe sex.[160] But, as personality implies intelligence, and sex supposes some obvious difference, a _young child_ may be spoken of with distinction of sex or without, according to the notion of the speaker; as, "I went to see the _child_ whilst they were putting on _its cloaths_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 125. "Because the _child_ has no idea of any nurse besides _his_ own."--_Ib._, p. 153. To _brute animals_ also, the same distinction is generally applied, though with less uniformity. Some that are very small, have a gender which seems to be merely occasional and figurative; as, "Go to the _ant_, thou sluggard; consider _her_ ways, and be wise."--_Prov._, vi, 6. "The _spider_ taketh hold with _her_ hands, and is in kings' palaces."--_Prov._, xxx, 28. So the _bee_ is usually made feminine, being a little creature of admirable industry and economy. But, in general, irrational creatures whose sex is unknown, or unnecessary to be regarded, are spoken of as neuter; as, "And it became a _serpent_; and Moses fled from before _it_. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take _it_ by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught _it_, and _it_ became a rod in his hand."--_Exod._, iv, 3, 4. Here, although the word _serpent_ is sometimes masculine, the neuter pronoun seems to be more proper. So of some imaginary creatures: as, "_Phenix_, the fowl which is said to exist single, and to rise again from _its_ own ashes."--_Webster's Dict._ "So shall the _Phoenix_ escape, with no stain on _its_ plumage."--_Dr. Bartlett's Lect._, p. 10. OBS. 9.--But this liberty of representing animals as of no sex, is often carried to a very questionable extent; as, "The _hare_ sleeps with _its_ eyes open."--_Barbauld_. "The _hedgehog_, as soon as _it_ perceives _itself_ attacked, rolls _itself_ into a kind of ball, and presents nothing but _its_ prickles to the foe."--_Blair's Reader_, p. 138. "The _panther_ is a ferocious creature: like the tiger _it_ seizes _its_ prey by surprise."--_Ib._, p. 102. "The _leopard_, in _its_ chace of prey, spares neither man nor beast."--_Ib._, p. 103. "If a man shall steal an _ox_, or a _sheep_, and kill _it_, or sell _it_."--_Exod._, xxii, 1. "A _dog_ resists _its_ instinct to run after a hare, because _it_ recollects the beating _it_ has previously received on that account. The _horse_ avoids the stone at which _it_ once has stumbled."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 3. "The _racehorse_ is looked upon with pleasure; but it is the _warhorse_, that carries grandeur in _its_ idea."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 30. OBS. 10.--The sexes are distinguished _by words_, in four different ways. First, by the use of different terminations: as, _Jew, Jewess; Julius, Julia; hero, heroine_. Secondly, by the use of entirely different names: as, _Henry, Mary; king, queen_. Thirdly, by compounds or phrases including some distinctive term: as, _Mr. Murray, Mrs. Murray; Englishman, Englishwoman; grandfather, grandmother; landlord, landlady; merman, mermaid; servingman, servingmaid; man-servant, maid-servant; schoolmaster, schoolmistress; school-boy, school-girl; peacock, peahen; cock-sparrow, hen-sparrow; he-goat, she-goat; buck-rabbit, doe-rabbit; male elephant, female elephant; male convicts, female convicts_. Fourthly, by the pronouns _he, his, him_, put for nouns masculine; and _she, her, hers_, for nouns feminine: as, "Ask _him_ that fleeth, and _her_ that escapeth, and say, What is done?"--_Jer._, xlviii, 19. "O happy _peasant!_ Oh unhappy _bard!_ _His_ the mere tinsel, _hers_ the rich reward."--_Cowper_. OBS. 11.--For feminine nouns formed by inflection, the regular termination is _ess_; but the manner in which this ending is applied to the original or masculine noun, is not uniform:-- 1. In some instances the syllable _ess_ is simply added: as, _accuser, accuseress; advocate, advocatess; archer, archeress; author, authoress; avenger, avengeress; barber, barberess; baron, baroness; canon, canoness; cit, cittess;[161] coheir, coheiress; count, countess; deacon, deaconess; demon, demoness; diviner, divineress; doctor, doctoress; giant, giantess; god, goddess; guardian, guardianess; Hebrew, Hebrewess; heir, heiress; herd, herdess; hermit, hermitess; host, hostess; Jesuit, Jesuitess; Jew, Jewess; mayor, mayoress; Moabite, Moabitess; monarch, monarchess; pape, papess_; or, _pope, popess; patron, patroness; peer, peeress; poet, poetess; priest, priestess; prior, prioress; prophet, prophetess; regent, regentess; saint, saintess; shepherd, shepherdess; soldier, soldieress; tailor, tailoress; viscount, viscountess; warrior, warrioress_. 2. In other instances, the termination is changed, and there is no increase of syllables: as, _abbot, abbess; actor, actress; adulator, adulatress; adulterer, adulteress; adventurer, adventuress; advoutrer, advoutress; ambassador, ambassadress; anchorite, anchoress_; or, _anachoret, anachoress; arbiter, arbitress; auditor, auditress; benefactor, benefactress; caterer, cateress; chanter, chantress; cloisterer, cloisteress; commander, commandress; conductor, conductress; creator, creatress; demander, demandress; detractor, detractress; eagle, eagless; editor, editress; elector, electress; emperor, emperess_, or _empress; emulator, emulatress; enchanter, enchantress; exactor, exactress; fautor, fautress; fornicator, fornicatress; fosterer, fosteress_, or _fostress; founder, foundress; governor, governess; huckster, huckstress_; or, _hucksterer, hucksteress; idolater, idolatress; inhabiter, inhabitress; instructor, instructress; inventor, inventress; launderer, launderess_, or _laundress; minister, ministress; monitor, monitress; murderer, murderess; negro, negress; offender, offendress; ogre, ogress; porter, portress; progenitor, progenitress; protector, protectress; proprietor, proprietress; pythonist, pythoness; seamster, seamstress; solicitor, solicitress; songster, songstress; sorcerer, sorceress; suitor, suitress; tiger, tigress; traitor, traitress; victor, victress; votary, votaress_. 3. In a few instances the feminine is formed as in Latin, by changing _or_ to _rix_; but some of these have also the regular form, which ought to be preferred: as, _adjutor, adjutrix; administrator, administratrix; arbitrator, arbitratrix; coadjutor, coadjutrix; competitor, competitress_, or _competitrix; creditor, creditrix; director, directress_, or _directrix; executor, executress_, or _executrix; inheritor, inheritress_, or _inheritrix; mediator, mediatress_, or _mediatrix; orator, oratress_, or _oratrix; rector, rectress_, or _rectrix; spectator, spectatress_, or _spectatrix; testator, testatrix; tutor, tutoress_, or _tutress_, or _tutrix; deserter, desertress_, or _desertrice_, or _desertrix_. 4. The following are irregular words, in which the distinction of sex is chiefly made by the termination: _amoroso, amorosa: archduke, archduchess; chamberlain, chambermaid; duke, duchess; gaffer, gammer; goodman, goody; hero, heroine; landgrave, landgravine; margrave, margravine; marquis, marchioness; palsgrave, palsgravine; sakeret, sakerhawk; sewer, sewster; sultan, sultana; tzar, tzarina; tyrant, tyranness; widower, widow_. OBS. 12.--The proper names of persons almost always designate their sex; for it has been found convenient to make the names of women different from those of men. We have also some appellatives which correspond to each other, distinguishing the sexes by their distinct application to each: as, _bachelor, maid; beau, belle; boy, girl; bridegroom, bride; brother, sister; buck, doe; boar, sow; bull, cow; cock, hen; colt, filly; dog, bitch; drake, duck; earl, countess; father, mother; friar, nun; gander, goose; grandsire, grandam; hart, roe; horse, mare; husband, wife; king, queen; lad, lass; lord, lady; male, female; man, woman; master, mistress_; Mister, Missis; (Mr., Mrs.;) _milter, spawner; monk, nun; nephew, niece; papa, mamma; rake, jilt; ram, ewe; ruff, reeve; sire, dam; sir, madam; sloven, slut; son, daughter; stag, hind; steer, heifer; swain, nymph; uncle, aunt; wizard, witch; youth, damsel; young man, maiden_. OBS. 13.--The people of a particular country are commonly distinguished by some name derived from that of their country; as, _Americans, Africans, Egyptians, Russians, Turks_. Such words are sometimes called _gentile names_. There are also adjectives, of the same origin, if not the same form, which correspond with them. "Gentile names are for the most part considered as masculine, and the feminine is denoted by the gentile adjective and the noun _woman_: as, a _Spaniard_, a _Spanish woman_; a _Pole_, or _Polander_, a _Polish woman_. But, in a few instances, we always use a compound of the adjective with _man_ or _woman_: as, an _Englishman_, an _Englishwoman_; a _Welshman_, a _Welshwoman_; an _Irishman_, an _Irishwoman_; a _Frenchman_, a _Frenchwoman_; a _Dutchman_, a _Dutchwoman_: and in these cases the adjective is employed as the collective noun; as, _the Dutch, the French_, &c. A _Scotchman_, and a _Scot_, are both in use; but the latter is not common in prose writers: though some employ it, and these generally adopt the plural, _Scots_, with the definite article, as the collective term."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 70. OBS. 14.--The names of things without life, used literally, are always of the neuter gender: as, "When Cleopatra fled, Antony pursued her in a five-oared galley; and, coming along side of her _ship_, entered _it_ without being seen by her."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 160. "The _sun_, high as _it_ is, has _its_ business assigned; and so have the stars."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 138. But inanimate objects are often represented figuratively as having sex. Things remarkable for power, greatness, or sublimity, are spoken of as masculine; as, the _sun, time, death, sleep, fear, anger, winter, war_. Things beautiful, amiable, or prolific, are spoken of as feminine; as, a _ship_, the _moon_, the _earth, nature, fortune, knowledge, hope, spring, peace_. Figurative gender is indicated only by the personal pronouns of the singular number: as, "When we say of the _sun, He_ is setting; or of a _ship, She_ sails well."--_L. Murray_. For these two objects, the _sun_ and a _ship_, this phraseology is so common, that the literal construction quoted above is rarely met with. OBS. 15.--When any inanimate object or abstract quality is distinctly personified, and presented to the imagination in the character of a living and intelligent being, there is necessarily a change of the gender of the word; for, whenever personality is thus ascribed to what is literally neuter, there must be an assumption of one or the other sex: as, "_The Genius of Liberty_ is awakened, and springs up; _she_ sheds her divine light and creative powers upon the two hemispheres. A great _nation_, astonished at seeing _herself_ free, stretches _her_ arms from one extremity of the earth to the other, and embraces the first nation that became so."--_Abbe Fauchet_. But there is an inferior kind of personification, or of what is called such, in which, so far as appears, the gender remains neuter: as, "The following is an instance of personification and apostrophe united: 'O _thou sword_ of the Lord! how long will it be ere _thou_ be quiet? put _thyself_ up into _thy_ scabbard, rest, and be still! How can _it_ be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given _it_ a charge against Askelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed _it_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 348. See _Jer._, xlvii, 6. OBS. 16.--If what is called personification, does not always imply a change of gender and an ascription of sex, neither does a mere ascription of sex to what is literally of no sex, necessarily imply a personification; for there may be sex without personality, as we see in brute animals. Hence the gender of a brute animal personified in a fable, may be taken literally as before; and the gender which is figuratively ascribed to the _sun_, the _moon_, or a _ship_, is merely metaphorical. In the following sentence, _nature_ is animated and made feminine by a metaphor, while a lifeless object bearing the name of _Venus_, is spoken of as neuter: "Like that conceit of old, which declared that the _Venus of Gnidos_ was not the work of Praxiteles, since _nature herself_ had concreted the boundary surface of _its_ beauty."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. xxv. OBS. 17.--"In personifications regard must be had to propriety in determining the gender. Of most of the passions and moral qualities of man the ancients formed deities, as they did of various other things: and, when these are personified, they are usually made male or female, according as they were gods or goddesses in the pagan mythology. The same rule applies in other cases: and thus the planet Jupiter will be masculine; Venus, feminine: the ocean, _Oce=anus_, masculine: rivers, months, and winds, the same: the names of places, countries, and islands, feminine."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 71. OBS. 18.--These suggestions are worthy of consideration, but, for the gender which ought to be adopted in personifications, there seems to be no absolute general rule, or none which English writers have observed with much uniformity. It is well, however, to consider what is most common in each particular case, and abide by it. In the following examples, the sex ascribed is not that under which these several objects are commonly figured; for which reason, the sentences are perhaps erroneous:-- "_Knowledge_ is proud that _he_ has learn'd so much; _Wisdom_ is humble that _he_ knows no more."--_Cowper_. "But hoary _Winter_, unadorned and bare, Dwells in the dire retreat, and freezes there; There _she_ assembles all her blackest storms, And the rude hail in rattling tempests forms."--_Addison_. "_Her_ pow'r extends o'er all things that have breath, A cruel tyrant, and _her_ name is _Death_."--_Sheffield_. CASES. Cases, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish the relations of nouns or pronouns to other words. There are three cases; the _nominative_, the _possessive_, and the _objective_. The _nominative case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb: as, The _boy_ runs; _I_ run. The subject of a finite verb is that which answers to _who_ or _what_ before it; as, "The boy runs."--_Who_ runs? "The _boy_." Boy is therefore here in the _nominative_ case. The _possessive case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the relation of property: as, The _boy's_ hat; _my_ hat. The possessive case of nouns is formed, in the singular number, by adding to the nominative _s preceded by an apostrophe_; and, in the plural, when the nominative ends in _s_, by adding _an apostrophe only_: as, singular, _boy's_; plural, _boys'_;--sounded alike, but written differently. The _objective case_ is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition: as, I know the _boy_, having seen _him_ at _school_; and he knows _me_. The object of a verb, participle, or preposition, is that which answers to _whom_ or _what_ after it; as, "I know the boy."--I know _whom_? "The boy." _Boy_ is therefore here in the _objective_ case. The nominative and the objective of nouns, are always alike in form, being distinguishable from each other only by their place in a sentence, or by their simple dependence according to the sense. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The cases, in grammar, are founded on the different relations under which things are represented in discourse; and from which the words acquire correspondent relations; or connexions and dependences according to the sense. In Latin, there are six cases; and in Greek, five. Consequently, the nouns and pronouns of those languages, and also their adjectives and participles, (which last are still farther inflected by the three genders,) are varied by many different terminations unknown to our tongue. In English, those modifications or relations which we call cases, belong only to nouns and pronouns; nor are there ever more than three. Pronouns are not necessarily like their antecedents in case. OBS. 2.--Because the infinitive mood, a phrase, or a sentence, may in some instances be made the subject of a verb, so as to stand in that relation in which the nominative case is most commonly found; very many of our grammarians have deliberately represented all terms used in this manner, as being "_in the nominative case_:" as if, to sustain any one of the relations which are usually distinguished by a particular case, must necessarily constitute that modification itself. Many also will have participles, infinitives, phrases, and sentences, to be occasionally "_in the objective case_:" whereas it must be plain to every reader, that they are, all of them, _indeclinable_ terms; and that, if used in any relation common to nouns or pronouns, they assume that office, as participles, as infinitives, as phrases, or as sentences, and not as _cases_. They no more take the nature of cases, than they become nouns or pronouns. Yet Nixon, by assuming that _of_, with the word governed by it, constitutes a _possessive case_, contrives to give to participles, and even to the infinitive mood, _all three of the cases_. Of the infinitive, he says, "An examination of the first and second methods of parsing this mood, must naturally lead to the inference that _it is a substantive_; and that, if it has the nominative case, it must also have the possessive and objective cases of a substantive. The fourth method proves its [capacity of] being in the possessive case: thus, 'A desire _to learn_;' that is, '_of learning_.' When it follows a participle, or a verb, as by the fifth or [the] seventh method, it is in the objective case. Method sixth is analogous to the Case Absolute of a substantive."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 83. If the infinitive mood is really a _declinable substantive_, none of our grammarians have placed it in the right chapter; except that bold contemner of all grammatical and literary authority, Oliver B. Peirce. When will the cause of learning cease to have assailants and underminers among those who profess to serve it? Thus every new grammatist, has some grand absurdity or other, peculiar to himself; and what can be more gross, than to talk of English infinitives and participles as being in the _possessive case_? OBS. 3.--It was long a subject of dispute among the grammarians, what number of cases an English noun should be supposed to have. Some, taking the Latin language for their model, and turning certain phrases into cases to fill up the deficits, were for having _six_ in each number; namely, the nominative, the genitive, the dative, the accusative, the vocative, and the ablative. Others, contending that a case in grammar could be nothing else than a terminational inflection, and observing that English nouns have but one case that differs from the nominative in form, denied that there were more than two, the nominative and the possessive. This was certainly an important question, touching a fundamental principle of our grammar; and any erroneous opinion concerning it, might well go far to condemn the book that avouched it. Every intelligent teacher must see this. For what sense could be made of parsing, without supposing an objective case to nouns? or what propriety could there be in making the words, _of_, and _to_, and _from_, govern or compose three different cases? Again, with what truth can it be said, that nouns have _no cases_ in English? or what reason can be assigned for making more than three? OBS. 4.--Public opinion is now clear in the decision, that it is _expedient_ to assign to English nouns three cases, and no more; and, in a matter of this kind, what is expedient for the purpose of instruction, is right. Yet, from the works of our grammarians, may be quoted every conceivable notion, right or wrong, upon this point. Cardell, with Tooke and Gilchrist on his side, contends that English nouns have _no cases_. Brightland averred that they have neither cases nor genders.[162] Buchanan, and the author of the old British Grammar, assigned to them _one_ case only, the possessive, or genitive. Dr. Adam also says, "In English, nouns have _only one case_, namely, the genitive, or possessive case."--_Latin and Eng. Gram._, p. 7. W. B. Fowle has two cases, but rejects the word _case_: "We use the simple term _agent_ for a _noun that acts_, and _object_ for the object of an action."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, Part II, p. 68. Spencer too discards the word _case_, preferring "_form_," that he may merge in one the nominative and the objective, giving to nouns _two_ cases, but neither of these. "Nouns have _two Forms_, called the _Simple_ and [the] _Possessive_."--_Spencer's E. Gram._, p. 30. Webber's Grammar, published at Cambridge in 1832, recognizes but _two_ cases of nouns, declaring the objective to be "altogether superfluous."--P. 22. "Our substantives have no more cases than two."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 14. "A Substantive doth not properly admit of more than two cases: the Nominative, and the Genitive."--_Ellen Devis's Gram._, p. 19. Dr. Webster, in his Philosophical Grammar, of 1807, and in his Improved Grammar, of 1831, teaches the same doctrine, but less positively. This assumption has also had the support of Lowth, Johnson, Priestley, Ash, Bicknell, Fisher, Dalton, and our celebrated Lindley Murray.[163] In Child's or Latham's English Grammar, 1852, it is said, "The cases in the present English are three:--1. Nominative; 2. Objective; 3. Possessive." But this seems to be meant of pronouns only; for the next section affirms, "The _substantives_ in English _have only two_ out of the three cases."--See pp. 79 and 80. Reckless of the current usage of grammarians, and even of self-consistency, both author and reviser will have no objective case of nouns, because this is like the nominative; yet, finding an objective set after "the adjective _like_," they will recognize it as "_a dative_ still existing in English!"--See p. 156. Thus do they forsake their own enumeration of cases, as they had before, in all their declensions, forsaken the new order in which they had at first so carefully set them! OBS. 5.--For the _true_ doctrine of _three_ cases, we have the authority of Murray, in his later editions; of Webster, in his "Plain and Comp. Grammar, grounded on _True Principles_," 1790; also in his "Rudiments of English Grammar," 1811; together with the united authority of Adams, Ainsworth, Alden, Alger, Bacon, Barnard, Bingham, Burr, Bullions, Butler, Churchill, Chandler, Cobbett, Cobbin, Comly, Cooper, Crombie, Davenport, Davis, Fisk, A. Flint, Frost, Guy, Hart, Hiley, Hull, Ingersoll, Jaudon, Kirkham, Lennie, Mack, M'Culloch, Maunder, Merchant, Nixon, Nutting, John Peirce, Perley, Picket, Russell, Smart, R. C. Smith, Rev. T. Smith, Wilcox, and I know not how many others. OBS. 6.--Dearborn, in 1795, recognized _four_ cases: "the nominative, the possessive, the objective, and the absolute."--_Columbian Gram._, pp. 16 and 20. Charles Bucke, in his work misnamed "A Classical Grammar of the English Language," published in London in 1829, asserts, that, "Substantives in English do not vary their terminations;" yet he gives them _four_ cases; "the nominative, the genitive, the accusative, and the vocative." So did Allen, in a grammar much more classical, dated, London, 1813. Hazen, in 1842, adopted "four cases; namely, the nominative, the possessive, the objective, and the independent."--_Hazen's Practical Gram._, p. 35. Mulligan, since, has chosen these four: "Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative."--_Structure of E. Lang._, p. 185. And yet his case after _to_ or _for_ is _not_ "_dative_," but "_accusative!_"-- _Ib._, p. 239. So too, Goodenow, of Maine, makes the cases four: "the _subjective_,[164] the _possessive_, the _objective_, and the _absolute_."--_Text-Book_, p. 31. Goldsbury, of Cambridge, has also four: "the Nominative, the Possessive, the Objective, and the Vocative."--_Com. S. Gram._, p. 13. Three other recent grammarians,--Wells, of Andover,-- Weld, of Portland,--and Clark, of Bloomfield, N. Y.,--also adopt "_four_ cases;--the _nominative_, the _possessive_, the _objective_, and the _independent_."--_Wells's Gram._, p. 57; _Weld's_, 60; _Clark's_, 49. The first of these gentlemen argues, that, "Since a noun or pronoun, used _independently_, cannot at the same time be employed as 'the subject of a verb,' there is a manifest impropriety in regarding it as a _nominative_." It might as well be urged, that a nominative after a verb, or in apposition with an other, is, for this reason, not a _nominative_. He also cites this argument: "'Is there not as much difference between the _nominative_ and [the] _independent_ case, as there is between the _nominative_ and [the] _objective?_ If so, why class them together as _one_ case?'--_S. R. Hall_."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 51. To this I answer, No. "The nominative is that case which _primely denotes the name_ of any person or thing;" (_Burn's Gram._, p. 36;) and _this only_ it is, that can be absolute, or independent, in English. This scheme of four cases is, in fact, a grave innovation. As authority for it, Wells cites Felton; and bids his readers, "See also Kennion, Parkhurst, Fowle, Flint, Goodenow, Buck, Hazen, Goldsbury, Chapin, S. Alexander, and P. Smith."--Page 57. But is the fourth case of these authors _the same_ as his? Is it a case which "has usually the nominative form," but admits occasionally of "_me_" and "_him_," and embraces objective nouns of "_time, measure, distance, direction_, or _place_?" No. Certainly one half of them, and probably more, give little or no countenance to _such_ an independent case as he has adopted. Parkhurst admitted but three cases; though he thought _two others_ "might be an improvement." What Fowle has said in support of Wells's four cases, I have sought with diligence, and not found. Felton's "independent case" is only what he absurdly calls, "_The noun or pronoun addressed_."-- Page 91. Bucke and Goldsbury acknowledge "_the nominative case absolute_;" and none of the twelve, so far as I know, admit any objective word, or what others call objective, to be independent or absolute, except perhaps Goldsbury. OBS. 7.--S. R. Hall, formerly principal of the Seminary for Teachers at Andover, (but no great grammarian,) in 1832, published a manual, called "The Grammatical Assistant;" in which he says, "There are _at least five cases_, belonging to English nouns, differing as much from _each_ other, as the cases of Latin and Greek nouns. They may be called Nominative, Possessive, Objective, Independent and Absolute."--P. 7. O. B. Peirce will have both nouns and pronouns to be used in _five cases_, which he thus enumerates: "Four simple cases; the Subjective, Possessive, Objective, and the Independent; and the Twofold case."--_Gram._, p. 42. But, on page 56th, he speaks of a "twofold _subjective_ case," "the twofold _objective_ case," and shows how the _possessive_ may be twofold also; so that, without taking any of the Latin cases, or even all of Hall's, he really recognizes as many as seven, if not eight. Among the English grammars which assume all the _six cases_ of the Latin Language, are Burn's, Coar's, Dilworth's, Mackintosh's, Mennye's, Wm. Ward's, and the "Comprehensive Grammar," a respectable little book, published by Dobson of Philadelphia, in 1789, but written by somebody in England. OBS. 8.--Of the English grammars which can properly be said to be _now in use_, a very great majority agree in ascribing to nouns three cases, and three only. This, I am persuaded, is the best number, and susceptible of the best defence, whether we appeal to authority, or to other argument. The disputes of grammarians make no small part of the _history of grammar_; and in submitting to be guided by their decisions, it is proper for us to consider what _degree of certainty_ there is in the rule, and what difference or concurrence there is among them: for, the teaching of any other than the best opinions, is not the teaching of science, come from what quarter it may. On the question respecting the objective case of nouns, Murray and Webster _changed sides with each other_; and that, long after they first appeared as grammarians. Nor was this the only, or the most important instance, in which the different editions of the works of these two gentlemen, present them in opposition, both to themselves and to each other. "What cases are there in English? The _nominative_, which usually stands before a verb; as, the _boy_ writes: The _possessive_, which takes an _s_ with a _comma_, and denotes property; as, _John's_ hat: The _objective_, which follows a verb or preposition; as, he honors _virtue_, or it is an honor to _him_."--_Webster's Plain and Comp. Gram., Sixth Edition_, 1800, p. 9. "But for convenience, the two positions of nouns, one _before_, the other _after_ the verb, are called _cases_. There are then three cases, the _nominative, possessive_, and _objective_."--_Webster's Rudiments of Gram._, 1811, p. 12. "In English therefore names have two cases only, the _nominative_ or simple name, and the _possessive_."-- _Webster's Philosoph. Gram._, 1807, p. 32: also his _Improved Gram._, 1831, p. 24. OBS. 9.--Murray altered his opinion after the tenth or eleventh edition of his duodecimo Grammar. His instructions stand thus: "In English, substantives have but two cases, the nominative, and [the] possessive or genitive."--_Murray's Gram. 12mo, Second Edition_, 1796, p. 35. "For the assertion, that there are in English but two cases of nouns, and three of pronouns, we have the authority of Lowth, Johnson, Priestley, &c. _names which are sufficient_ to decide this point."--_Ib._, p. 36. "In English, substantives have three cases, the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."--_Murray's Gram., 12mo, Twenty-third Edition_, 1816, p. 44. "The author of this work _long doubted_ the propriety of assigning to English substantives an _objective case_: but a renewed critical examination of the subject; an examination to which he was prompted by the extensive and increasing demand for the grammar, has produced in his mind _a full persuasion_, that the nouns of our language are entitled to this comprehensive objective case."--_Ib._, p. 46. If there is any credit in changing one's opinions, it is, doubtless, in changing them for the better; but, of all authors, a grammarian has the most need critically to examine his subject before he goes to the printer. "This case was adopted in the _twelfth edition_ of the Grammar."--_Murray's Exercises_, 12mo, N. Y., 1818, p. viii. OBS. 10.--The _possessive case_ has occasioned no less dispute than the objective. On this vexed article of our grammar, custom has now become much more uniform than it was a century ago; and public opinion may be said to have settled most of the questions which have been agitated about it. Some individuals, however, are still dissatisfied. In the first place, against those who have thought otherwise, it is determined, by infinite odds of authority, that there _is such a case_, both of nouns and of pronouns. Many a common reader will wonder, who can have been ignorant enough to deny it. "The learned and sagacious Wallis, to whom every English grammarian owes a tribute of reverence, calls this modification of the noun an _adjective possessive_; I think, with no more propriety than he might have applied the same to the Latin genitive."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 5. Brightland also, who gave to _adjectives_ the name of _qualities_, included all possessives among them, calling them "_Possessive Qualities_, or _Qualities of Possession_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 90. OBS. 11.--This exploded error, William S. Cardell, a few years ago, republished as a novelty; for which, among other pretended improvements of a like sort, he received the ephemeral praise of some of our modern literati. William B. Fowle also teaches the same thing. See his _Common School Gram._, Part II, p. 104. In Felch's Grammar, too, published in Boston in 1837, an attempt is made, to revive this old doctrine; but the author takes no notice of any of the above-named authorities, being probably ignorant of them all. His _reasoning_ upon the point, does not appear to me to be worthy of a detailed answer.[165] That the possessive case of nouns is not an adjective, is demonstrable; because it may have adjectives of various kinds, relating to it: as, "_This old man's_ daughter."--_Shak._ It may also govern an other possessive; as, "_Peter's wife's_ mother."--_Bible_. Here the former possessive is governed by the latter; but, if both were adjectives, they would both relate to the noun _mother_, and so produce a confusion of ideas. Again, nouns of the possessive case have a distinction of number, which adjectives have not. In gender also, there lies a difference. Adjectives, whenever they are varied by gender or number, _agree with their nouns_ in these respects. Not so with possessives; as, "In the _Jews'_ religion."--_Gal._, i. 13. "The _children's_ bread."--_Mark_, vii, 27. "Some _men's_ sins."--_1 Tim._, v, 24. "Other _men's_ sins."--_Ib._, ver. 22. OBS. 12.--Secondly, general custom has clearly determined that the possessive case of _nouns_ is always to be written _with an apostrophe_: except in those few instances in which it is not governed singly by the noun following, but so connected with an other that both are governed jointly; as, "_Cato the Censor's_ doctrine,"--"_Sir Walter Scott's_ Works,"--"_Beaumont_ and _Fletcher's Plays._" This custom of using the apostrophe, however, has been opposed by many. Brightland, and Buchanan, and the author of the British Grammar, and some late writers in the Philological Museum, are among those who have successively taught, that the possessive case should be formed _like the nominative plural_, by adding _s_ when the pronunciation admits the sound, and _es_ when the word acquires an additional syllable. Some of these approve of the apostrophe, and others do not. Thus Brightland gives some examples, which are contrary to his rule, adopting that strange custom of putting the _s_ in Roman, and the name in Italic; "as, King _Charles_'s _Court_, and St. _James_'s _Park._"--_Gram. of the English Tongue_, p. 91. OBS. 13.--"The genitive case, in my opinion," says Dr. Ash, "might be much more properly formed by adding _s_, or when the pronunciation requires it, _es_, without an Apostrophe: as, _men, mens; Ox, Oxes; Horse, Horses; Ass, Asses._"--_Ash's Gram._, p. 23. "To write _Ox's, Ass's, Fox's_, and at the same time pronounce it _Oxes, Asses, Foxes_, is such a departure from the original formation, at least in writing, and such an inconsistent use of the Apostrophe, as cannot be equalled perhaps in any other language."--_Ib._ Lowth, too, gives some countenance to this objection: "It [i.e., _'God's grace'_] was formerly written _'Godis grace;'_ we now always shorten it with an apostrophe; often _very improperly_, when we are obliged to pronounce it fully; as, _'Thomas's_ book,' that is, '_Thomasis_ book,' not '_Thomas his_ book,' as it is commonly supposed."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 17. Whatever weight there may be in this argument, the objection has been overruled by general custom. The convenience of distinguishing, even to the eye alone, the numbers and cases of the noun, is found too great to be relinquished. If the declension of English nouns is ever to be amended, it cannot be done in this way. It is understood by every reader, that the _apostrophic s_ adds a syllable to the noun, whenever it will not unite with the sound in which the nominative ends; as, _torch's_, pronounced _torchiz_. "Yet time ennobles or degrades each line; It brightened _Craggs's_, and may darken thine."--_Pope._ OBS. 14.--The English possessive case unquestionably originated in that form of the Saxon genitive which terminates in _es_, examples of which may be found in almost any specimen of the Saxon tongue: as, "On _Herodes_ dagum,"--"In _Herod's_ days;"--"Of _Aarones_ dohtrum,"--"Of _Aaron's_ daughters."--_Luke_, i, 5. This ending was sometimes the same as that of the plural; and both were changed to _is_ or _ys_, before they became what we now find them. This termination added a syllable to the word; and Lowth suggests, in the quotation above, that the apostrophe was introduced to shorten it. But some contend, that the use of this mark originated in a mistake. It appears from the testimony of Brightland, Johnson, Lowth, Priestley, and others, who have noticed the error in order to correct it, that an opinion was long entertained, that the termination _'s_ was a contraction of the word _his_. It is certain that Addison thought so; for he expressly says it, in the 135th number of the Spectator. Accordingly he wrote, in lieu of the regular possessive, "My paper is _Ulysses his_ bow."--_Guardian_, No. 98. "Of _Socrates his_ rules of prayer."--_Spect._, No. 207. So Lowth quotes Pope: "By _young Telemachus his_ blooming years."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 17.[166] There is also one late author who says, "The _'s_ is a contraction of _his_, and was formerly written in full; as, William Russell _his_ book."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 32. This is undoubtedly bad English; and always was so, however common may have been the erroneous notion which gave rise to it. But the apostrophe, whatever may have been its origin, is now the acknowledged distinctive mark of the possessive case of English nouns. The application of the _'s_, frequently to feminines, and sometimes to plurals, is proof positive that it is _not a contraction_ of the pronoun _his_; as, "Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, Weighs the _men's_ wits against the _Lady's_ hair." --_Pope_, R. of L., C. v, l. 72. OBS. 15.--Many of the old grammarians, and Guy, Pinneo, and Spencer, among the moderns, represent the regular formation of the possessive case as being the same in both numbers, supposing generally in the plural an abbreviation of the word by the omission of the second or syllabic _s_. That is, they suppose that such terms as _eagles' wings, angels' visits_, were written for _eagles's wings, angels's visits_, &c. This odd view of the matter accounts well enough for the fashion of such plurals as _men's, women's, children's_, and makes them regular. But I find no evidence at all of the fact on which these authors presume; nor do I believe that the regular possessive plural was ever, in general, a syllable longer than the nominative. If it ever had been so, it would still be easy to prove the point, by citations from ancient books. The general principle then is, that _the apostrophe forms the possessive case, with an s in the singular, and without it in the plural_; but there are some exceptions to this rule, on either hand; and these must be duly noticed. OBS. 16.--The chief exceptions, or irregularities, in the formation of the possessive _singular_, are, I think, to be accounted mere poetic licenses; and seldom, if ever, to be allowed in prose. Churchill, (closely copying Lowth,) speaks of them thus: "In poetry the _s_ is frequently omitted after proper names ending in _s_ or _x_ as, 'The wrath of _Peleus'_ son.' _Pope._ This is scarcely allowable in prose, though instances of it occur: as, '_Moses'_ minister.' _Josh._, i, 1. _'Phinehas'_ wife.' _1 Sam._, iv, 19. 'Festus came into _Felix'_ room.' _Acts_, xxiv, 27. It was done in prose evidently to avoid the recurrence of a sibilant sound at the end of two following syllables; but this may as readily be obviated by using the preposition _of_, which is now commonly substituted for the possessive case in most instances."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 215. In Scott's Bible, Philadelphia, 1814, the texts here quoted are all of them corrected, thus: "_Moses's_ minister,"--"_Phinehas's_ wife,"--"_Felix's_ room." But the phrase, "for _conscience_ sake," (_Rom._, xiii, 5,) is there given without the apostrophe. Alger prints it, "for _conscience'_ sake," which is better; and though not regular, it is a common form for this particular expression. Our common Bibles have this text: "And the weaned child shall put his hand on the _cockatrice'_ den."--_Isaiah_, xi, 8. Alger, seeing this to be wrong, wrote it, "on the _cockatrice-den_."--_Pronouncing Bible._ Dr. Scott, in his Reference Bible, makes this possessive regular, "on the _cockatrice's_ den." This is right. The Vulgate has it, "_in caverna reguli_;" which, however, is not classic Latin. After _z_ also, the poets sometimes drop the _s_: as, "Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day, When first from _Shiraz'_ walls I bent my way."--_Collins._ OBS. 17.--A recent critic, who, I think, has not yet learned to speak or write the possessive case of _his own name_ properly, assumes that the foregoing occasional or poetical forms are the only true ones for the possessive singular of such words. He says, "When the name _does end_ with the sound of _s_ or _z_, (no matter what letter represents the sound,) the possessive form _is made_ by annexing only an apostrophe."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 44. Agreeably to this rule, he letters his work, "_Peirce' Grammar_," and condemns, as bad English, the following examples and all others like them: "James _Otis's_ letters, General _Gates's_ command, General _Knox's_ appointment, Gov. _Meigs's_ promptness, Mr. _Williams's_ oration, The _witness's_ deposition."--_Ib._, p. 60. It is obvious that this gentleman's doctrine and criticism are as contrary to the common practice of all good authors, as they are to the common grammars, which he ridicules. Surely, such expressions as, "_Harris's_ Hermes, _Philips's_ Poems, _Prince's_ Bay, _Prince's_ Island, _Fox's_ Journal, King _James's_ edict, a _justice's_ warrant, _Sphinx's_ riddle, the _lynx's_ beam, the _lass's_ beauty," have authority enough to refute the cavil of this writer; who, being himself wrong, falsely charges the older grammarians, that," their theories vary from the principles of the language correctly spoken or written."--_Ib._, p. 60. A much more judicious author treats this point of grammar as follows: "When the possessive noun is singular, and terminates with an _s_, another _s_ is requisite after it, and the apostrophe must be placed between the two; as, '_Dickens's_ works,'--'_Harris's_ wit.'"--_Day's Punctuation, Third London Edition_, p. 136. The following example, too, is right: "I would not yield to be your _house's_ guest."--_Shakespeare_. OBS. 18.--All _plural_ nouns that differ from the singular without ending in _s_, form the possessive case in the same manner as the singular: as, _man's, men's; woman's, women's j child's, children's; brother's, brothers' or brethren's; ox's, oxen's; goose, geese's_. In two or three words which are otherwise alike in both numbers, the apostrophe ought to follow the _s_ in the plural, to distinguish it from the singular: as, the _sheep's_ fleece, the _sheeps'_ fleeces; a _neat's_ tongue, _neats'_ tongues; a _deer's_ horns, a load of _deers'_ horns. OBS. 19.--Dr. Ash says, "Nouns of the plural number that end in _s_, will not very properly admit of the genitive case."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 54. And Dr. Priestley appears to have been of the same opinion. See his _Gram._, p. 69. Lowth too avers, that the sign of the possessive case is "never added to the plural number ending in _s_."--_Gram._, p. 18. Perhaps he thought the plural sign must involve an other _s_, like the singular. This however is not true, neither is Dr. Ash's assertion true; for the New Testament speaks as properly of "the _soldiers'_ counsel," as of the "_centurion's_ servant;" of "the scribes that were of the _Pharisees'_ part," as of "_Paul's sister's_ son." It would appear, however, that the possessive plural is less frequently used than the possessive singular; its place being much oftener supplied by the preposition _of_ and the objective. We cannot say that either of them is absolutely necessary to the language; but they are both worthy to be commended, as furnishing an agreeable variety of expression. "Then shall _man's_ pride and dulness comprehend His _actions', passions', being's_ use and end."--_Pope_. OBS. 20.--The apostrophe was introduced into the possessive case, at least for the singular number, in some part of the seventeenth century. Its adoption for the plural, appears to have been later: it is not much used in books a hundred years old. In Buchanan's "Regular English Syntax," which was written, I know not exactly when, but near the middle of the eighteenth century, I find the following paragraph: "We have certainly a Genitive Plural, though there has been no Mark to distinguish it. The Warriors Arms, i. e. the Arms of the Warriors, is as much a Genitive Plural, as the Warrior's Arms, for the Arms of the Warrior is a Genitive Singular. To distinguish this Genitive Plural, especially to Foreigners, we might use the Apostrophe reversed, thus, the Warrior`s Arms, the Stone`s End, for the End of the Stones, the Grocer`s, Taylor`s, Haberdasher`s, &c. Company; for the Company of Grocers, Taylors, &c. The Surgeon`s Hall, for the Hall of the Surgeons; the Rider`s Names, for the Names of the Riders; and so of all Plural Possessives."--See _Buchan. Synt._, p. 111. Our present form of the possessive plural, being unknown to this grammarian, must have had a later origin; nor can it have been, as some imagine it was, an abbreviation of a longer and more ancient form. OBS. 21.--The apostrophic _s_ has often been added to nouns _improperly_; the words formed by it not being intended for the possessive singular, but for the nominative or objective plural. Thus we find such authors as Addison and Swift, writing _Jacobus's_ and _genius's_, for _Jacobuses_ and _geniuses_; _idea's, toga's_, and _tunica's_, for _ideas, togas_, and _tunicas_; _enamorato's_ and _virtuoso's_, for _enamoratoes_ and _virtuosoes_. Errors of this kind, should be carefully avoided. OBS. 22.--The apostrophe and _s_ are sometimes added to mere characters, to denote plurality, and not the possessive case; as, two _a_'s, three _b_'s, four 9's. These we cannot avoid, except by using the _names_ of the things: as, two _Aes_, three _Bees_, four _Nines_. "Laced down the sides with little _c_'s."--_Steele_. "Whenever two _gg_'s come together, they are both hard."--_Buchanan_. The names of _c_ and _g_, plural, are _Cees_ and _Gees_. Did these authors _know_ the words, or did they not? To have learned the _names_ of the letters, will be found on many occasions a great convenience, especially to critics. For example: "The pronunciation of these two consecutive _s's_ is hard."--_Webber's Gram._, p. 21. Better: "_Esses_." "_S_ and _x_, however, are exceptions. They are pluralyzed by adding _es_ preceded by a hyphen [-], as the _s-es_; the _x-es_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 40. Better, use the _names, Ess_ and _Ex_, and pluralize thus: "the _Esses_; the _Exes_." "Make Q's of answers, to waylay What th' other party's like to say." --_Hudibras_, P. III, C. ii, l. 951. Here the cipher is to be read _Kues_, but it has not the meaning of this name merely. It is put either for the plural of _Q._, a _Question_, like D. D.'s, (read _Dee-Dees_,) for _Doctors of Divinity_; or else, more erroneously, for _cues_, the plural of _cue_, a turn which the next speaker catches. OBS. 23.--In the following example, the apostrophe and _s_ are used to give the sound of a _verb's_ termination, to words which the writer supposed were not properly verbs: "When a man in a soliloquy reasons with himself, and _pro's_ and _con's_, and weighs all his designs."--_Congreve_. But here, "_proes_ and _cons_," would have been more accurate. "We put the ordered number of _m's_ into our composing-stick."--_Printer's Gram._ Here "_Ems_" would have done as well. "All measures for _folio's_ and _quarto's_, should be made to _m's_ of the English body; all measures for _octavo's_, to Pica _m's_."--_Ibid._ Here regularity requires, "_folios, quartoes, octavoes_," and "_pica Ems_." The verb _is_, when contracted, sometimes gives to its nominative the same form as that of the possessive case, it not being always spaced off for distinction, as it may be; as, "A _wit's_ a feather, and a chief a rod; An honest _man's_ the noblest work of God." --_Pope, on Man_, Ep. iv, l. 247. OBS. 24.--As the _objective case of nouns_ is to be distinguished from the nominative, only by the sense, relation, and position, of words in a sentence, the learner must acquire a habit of attending to these several things. Nor ought it to be a hardship to any reader to understand that which he thinks worth reading. It is seldom possible to mistake one of these cases for the other, without a total misconception of the author's meaning. The nominative denotes the agent, actor, or doer; the person or thing that is made the subject of an affirmation, negation, question, or supposition: its place, except in a question, is commonly _before_ the verb. The objective, when governed by a verb or a participle, denotes the person on whom, or the thing on which, the action falls and terminates: it is commonly placed _after_ the verb, participle, or preposition, which governs it. Nouns, then, by changing places, may change cases: as, "_Jonathan_ loved _David_;" "_David_ loved _Jonathan_." Yet the case depends not entirely upon position; for any order in which the words cannot be misunderstood, is allowable: as, "Such tricks hath strong imagination."--_Shak._ Here the cases are known, because the meaning is plainly this: "Strong imagination hath such tricks." "To him give all the prophets witness."--_Acts_, x, 43. This is intelligible enough, and more forcible than the same meaning expressed thus: "All the prophets give witness to him." The _order_ of the words never can affect the explanation to be given of them in parsing, unless it change the sense, and form them into a different sentence. THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS. The declension of a noun is a regular arrangement of its numbers and cases. Thus:-- EXAMPLE I.--FRIEND. Sing. Nom. friend, Plur. Nom. friends, Poss. friend's, Poss. friends', Obj. friend; Obj. friends. EXAMPLE II.--MAN. Sing. Nom. man, Plur. Nom. men, Poss. man's, Poss. men's, Obj. man; Obj. men. EXAMPLE III.--FOX. Sing. Nom. fox, Plur. Nom. foxes, Poss. fox's, Poss. foxes', Obj. fox; Obj. foxes. EXAMPLE IV.--FLY. Sing. Nom. fly, Plur. Nom. flies, Poss. fly's, Poss. flies', Obj. fly; Obj. flies. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS III.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Third Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the ARTICLES and NOUNS. The definitions to be given in the Third Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, and one for an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "The writings of Hannah More appear to me more praiseworthy than Scott's." _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Writings_ is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Hannah More_ is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, feminine gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A proper noun is the name of some particular individual, or people, or group. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The feminine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the female kind. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Appear_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Me_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. _More_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Praiseworthy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. _Than_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Scott's_ is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and possessive case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A proper noun is the name of some particular individual, or people, or group. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The possessive case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the relation of property. LESSON I.--PARSING. "The virtue of Alexander appears to me less vigorous than that of Socrates. Socrates in Alexander's place I can readily conceive: Alexander in that of Socrates I cannot. Alexander will tell you, he can subdue the world: it was a greater work in Socrates to fulfill the duties of life. Worth consists most, not in great, but in good actions."--_Kames's Art of Thinking_, p. 70. "No one should ever rise to speak in public, without forming to himself a just and strict idea of what suits his own age and character; what suits the subject, the hearers, the place, the occasion."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 260. "In the short space of little more than a century, the Greeks became such statesmen, warriors, orators, historians, physicians, poets, critics, painters, sculptors, architects, and, last of all, philosophers, that one can hardly help considering that golden period, as a providential event in honour of human nature, to show to what perfection the species might ascend."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 417. "Is genius yours? Be yours a glorious end, Be your king's, country's, truth's, religion's friend."--_Young_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also, he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant."--_1 Cor._, vii, 22. "What will remain to the Alexanders, and the Caesars, and the Jenghizes, and the Louises, and the Charleses, and the Napoleons, with whose 'glories' the idle voice of fame is filled?"--_J. Dymond_. "Good sense, clear ideas, perspicuity of language, and proper arrangement of words and thoughts, will always command attention."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 174. "A mother's tenderness and a father's care are nature's gifts for man's advantage.--Wisdom's precepts form the good man's interest and happiness."--_Murray's Key_, p. 194. "A dancing-school among the Tuscaroras, is not a greater absurdity than a masquerade in America. A theatre, under the best regulations, is not essential to our happiness. It may afford entertainment to individuals; but it is at the expense of private taste and public morals."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 86. "Where dancing sunbeams on the waters played, And verdant alders form'd a quivering shade."--_Pope_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "I have ever thought that advice to the young, unaccompanied by the routine of honest employments, is like an attempt to make a shrub grow in a certain direction, by blowing it with a bellows."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 247. "The Arabic characters for the writing of numbers, were introduced into Europe by Pope Sylvester II, in the eleventh century."--_Constable's Miscellany_. "Emotions raised by inanimate objects, trees, rivers, buildings, pictures, arrive at perfection almost instantaneously; and they have a long endurance, a second view producing nearly the same pleasure with the first."--_Kames's Elements_, i, 108. "There is great variety in the same plant, by the different appearances of its stem, branches, leaves, blossoms, fruit, size, and colour; and yet, when we trace that variety through different plants, especially of the same kind, there is discovered a surprising uniformity."--_Ib._, i, 273. "Attitude, action, air, pause, start, sigh, groan, He borrow'd, and made use of as his own."--_Churchill_. "I dread thee, fate, relentless and severe, With all a poet's, husband's, father's fear!"--_Burns_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS OF NOUNS. LESSON I.--NUMBERS. "All the ablest of the Jewish Rabbis acknowledge it."--_Wilson's Heb. Gram._, p. 7. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _Rabbi_ is here made plural by the addition of _s_ only. But, according to Observation 12th on the Numbers, nouns in _i_ ought rather to form the plural in _ies_. The capital _R_, too, is not necessary. Therefore, _Rabbis_ should be _rabbies_, with _ies_ and a small _r_.] "Who has thoroughly imbibed the system of one or other of our Christian rabbis."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 378. "The seeming singularitys of reason soon wear off."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 47. "The chiefs and arikis or priests have the power of declaring a place or object taboo."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 460. "Among the various tribes of this family, are the Pottawatomies, the Sacs and Foxes, or Saukis and Ottogamis."--_Ib._, p. 178. "The Shawnees, Kickapoos, Menomonies, Miamis and Delawares, are of the same region."--_Ib._, p. 178. "The Mohegans and Abenaquis belonged also to this family."--_Ib._, p. 178. "One tribe of this family, the Winnebagos, formerly resided near lake Michigan."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The other tribes are the Ioways, the Otoes, the Missouris, the Quapaws."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The great Mexican family comprises the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Tarascos."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The Mulattoes are born of negro and white parents; the Zambos, of Indians and negroes."--_Ib._, p. 165. "To have a place among the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Lewis', or the Charles', the scourges and butchers of their fellow-creatures."--_Burgh's Dignity_, i, 132. "Which was the notion of the Platonic Philosophers and Jewish rabbii."--_Ib._, p. 248. "That they should relate to the whole body of virtuosos."--_Gobbett's E. Gram._, 212. "What thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them."--_Luke_, vi, 32. "There are five ranks of nobility; dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 228. "Acts, which were so well known to the two Charles's."--_Payne's Geog._, ii, 511. "Court Martials are held in all parts, for the trial of the blacks."--_Observer_, No. 458. "It becomes a common noun, and may have a plural number; as, the two _Davids_; the two _Scipios_, the two _Pompies_."--_Staniford's Gram._, p. 8. "The food of the rattlesnake is birds, squirrels, hare, rats, and reptiles."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 177. "And let fowl multiply in the earth."--_Genesis_, i, 22. "Then we reached the hill-side where eight buffalo were grazing."--_Martineau's Amer._, i, 202. "_Corset, n._ a pair of bodice for a woman."--_Worcester's Dict._, 12mo. "As the _be's_; the _ce's_, the _doubleyu's_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 40. "Simplicity is the means between ostentation and rusticity."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "You have disguised yourselves like tipstaves."--_Gil Blas_, i, 111. "But who, that hath any taste, can endure the incessant quick returns of the _also_'s, and the _likewise_'s, and the _moreover_'s, and the _however_'s, and the _notwithstanding_'s?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 439. "Sometimes, in mutual sly disguise, Let Aye's seem No's, and No's seem Aye's."--_Gay_, p. 431. LESSON II.--CASES. "For whose name sake, I have been made willing."--_Wm. Penn_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the noun _name_, which is here meant for the possessive case singular, has not the true form of that case. But, according to a principle on page 258th, "The possessive case of nouns is formed, in the singular number, by adding to the nominative _s preceded by an apostrophe_; and, in the plural, when the nominative ends in _s_, by adding _an apostrophe only_." Therefore, name should be _name's_; thus, "For whose _name's_ sake, I have been made willing."] "Be governed by your conscience, and never ask anybodies leave to be honest."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 105. "To overlook nobodies merit or misbehaviour."--_Ib._, p. 9. "And Hector at last fights his way to the stern of Ajax' ship."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 91. "Nothing is lazier, than to keep ones eye upon words without heeding their meaning."-- _Philological Museum_, i, 645. "Sir William Joneses division of the day."--_Ib., Contents_. "I need only refer here to Vosses excellent account of it."--_Ib._, i, 465. "The beginning of Stesichoruses palinode has been preserved."--_Ib._, i, 442. "Though we have Tibulluses elegies, there is not a word in them about Glycera."--_Ib._, p. 446. "That Horace was at Thaliarchuses country-house."--_Ib._, i, 451. "That Sisyphuses foot-tub should have been still in existence."--_Ib._, i, 468. "How every thing went on in Horace's closet, and in Mecenases antechamber."--_Ib._, i, 458. "Who, for elegant brevities sake, put a participle for a verb."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 42. "The countries liberty being oppressed, we have no more to hope."--_Ib._, p. 73. "A brief but true account of this peoples' principles."--_Barclay's Pref._ "As, the Churche's Peace, or the Peace of the Church; Virgil's Eneid, or the Eneid of Virgil"--_British Gram._, p. 93. "As, Virgil's AEneid, for the AEneid of Virgil; the Church'es Peace, for the Peace of the Church."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 18. "Which, with Hubner's Compend, and Wells' Geographia Classica, will be sufficient."-- _Burgh's Dignity_, i, 155. "Witness Homer's speaking horses, scolding goddesses, and Jupiter enchanted with Venus' girdle."--_Ib._, i, 184. "Dr. Watts' Logic may with success be read and commented on to them."--_Ib._, p. 156. "Potter's Greek, and Kennet's Roman Antiquities, Strauchius' and Helvicus' Chronology."--_Ib._, p. 161. "_Sing_. Alice' friends, Felix' property; _Plur._ The Alices' friends, The Felixes' property."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 46. "Such as Bacchus'es company,"--"at Bacchus'es festivals."--_Ainsworth's Dict., w. Thyrsus._ "Burn's inimitable _Tam o'Shanter_ turns entirely upon such a circumstance."--_Scott's Lay, Notes_, p. 201. "Nominative, Men. Genitive, Mens. Objective, Men."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 20. "Mens Happiness or Misery is most part of their own making."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 1. "That your Sons Cloths be never made strait, especially about the Breast."--_Ib._, p. 15. "Childrens Minds are narrow and weak."--_Ib._, p. 297. "I would not have little Children much tormented about Punctilio's, or Niceties of Breeding."--_Ib._, p. 90. "To fill his Head with suitable Idea's."--_Ib._, p. 113. "The Burgusdiscius's and the Scheiblers did not swarm in those Days, as they do now."--_Ib._, p. 163. "To see the various ways of dressing--a calve's head!"--_Shenstone_, Brit. Poets, Vol. vii, p. 143. "He puts it on, and for decorum sake Can wear it e'en as gracefully as she."--_Cowper's Task_. LESSON III.--MIXED. "Simon the witch was of this religion too."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 123. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the feminine name _witch_ is here applied to a man. But, according to the doctrine of genders, on page 254th, "Names of males are masculine; names of females, feminine;" &c. Therefore, _witch_ should be _wizard_; thus, "Simon the _wizard_," &c.] "Mammodis, n. Coarse, plain India muslins."--_Webster's Dict._ "Go on from single persons to families, that of the Pompeyes for instance."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 142. "By which the ancients were not able to account for phaenomenas."--_Bailey's Ovid_, p. vi. "After this I married a wife who had lived at Crete, but a Jew by birth."--_Josephus's Life_, p. 194. "The very heathen are inexcusable for not worshipping him."--_Student's Manual_, p. 328. "Such poems as Camoen's Lusiad, Voltaire's Henriade, &c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 422. "My learned correspondent writes a word in defence of large scarves."--SPECT.: in _Joh. Dict._ "The forerunners of an apoplexy are dulness, vertigos, tremblings."--ARBUTHNOT: _ib._ "_Vertigo_ changes the _o_ into _~in=es_, making the plural _vertig~in=es_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 59. "_Noctambulo_ changes the _o_ into _=on=es_, making the plural _noctambul=on=es_."--_Ib._, p. 59. "What shall we say of noctambulos?"--ARBUTHNOT: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the curious fretwork of rocks and grottos."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 220. "_Wharf_ makes the plural _wharves_."--_Smith's Gram._, p. 45; _Merchant's_, 29; _Picket's_, 21; _Frost's_, 8. "A few cent's worth of maccaroni supplies all their wants."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 275. "C sounds hard, like _k_, at the end of a word or syllables."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 4. "By which the virtuosi try The magnitude of every lie."--_Hudibras_. "Quartos, octavos, shape the lessening pyre."--_Pope's Dunciad_, B. i, l. 162. "Perching within square royal rooves."--SIDNEY: _in Joh. Dict._ "Similies should, even in poetry, be used with moderation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 166. "Similies should never be taken from low or mean objects."--_Ib._, p. 167. "It were certainly better to say, 'The house of lords,' than 'the Lord's house.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 177. "Read your answers. Unit figure? 'Five.' Ten's? 'Six.' Hundreds? 'Seven.'"--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 79. "Alexander conquered Darius' army."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 58. "Three days time was requisite, to prepare matters."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 156. "So we say that Ciceros stile and Sallusts, were not one, nor Cesars and Livies, nor Homers and Hesiodus, nor Herodotus and Theucidides, nor Euripides and Aristophanes, nor Erasmus and Budeus stiles."--_Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie_, iii, 5. "_Lex_ (i.e. _legs_) is no other than our ancestors past participle _laeg, laid down_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 7. "Achaia's sons at Ilium slain for the Atridae' sake."--_Cowper's Iliad_. "The corpse[167] of half her senate manure the fields of Thessaly."--_Addison's Cato_. "Poisoning, without regard of fame or fear: And spotted corpse are frequent on the bier."--_Dryden_. CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES. An Adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality: as, A _wise_ man; a _new_ book. You _two_ are _diligent_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Adjectives have been otherwise called attributes, attributives, qualities, adnouns; but none of these names is any better than the common one. Some writers have classed adjectives with verbs; because, with a neuter verb for the copula, they often form logical predicates: as, "Vices _are contagious_." The Latin grammarians usually class them with nouns; consequently their nouns are divided into nouns substantive and nouns adjective. With us, substantives are nouns; and adjectives form a part of speech by themselves. This is generally acknowledged to be a much better distribution. Adjectives cannot with propriety be called _nouns_, in any language; because they are not _the names_ of the qualities which they signify. They must be _added_ to nouns or pronouns in order to make sense. But if, in a just distribution of words, the term "_adjective nouns_" is needless and improper, the term "_adjective pronouns_" is, certainly, not less so: most of the words which Murray and others call by this name, are not pronouns, but adjectives. OBS. 2.--The noun, or substantive, is a _name_, which makes sense of itself. The adjective is an adjunct to the noun or pronoun. It is a word added to denote quality, situation, quantity, number, form, tendency, or whatever else may characterize and distinguish the thing or things spoken of. Adjectives, therefore, are distinguished _from_ nouns by their _relation to_ them; a relation corresponding to that which qualities bear to things: so that no part of speech is more easily discriminated than the adjective. Again: English adjectives, as such, are all indeclinable. When, therefore, any words usually belonging to this class, are found to take either the plural or the possessive form, like substantive nouns, they are to be parsed as nouns. To abbreviate expression, we not unfrequently, in this manner, convert adjectives into nouns. Thus, in grammar, we often speak of _nominatives, possessives_, or _objectives_, meaning nouns or pronouns of the nominative, the possessive, or the objective case; of _positives, comparatives_, or _superlatives_, meaning adjectives of the positive, the comparative, or the superlative degree; of _infinitives, subjunctives_, or _imperatives_, meaning verbs of the infinitive, the subjunctive, or the imperative mood; and of _singulars, plurals_, and many other such things, in the same way. So a man's _superiors_ or _inferiors_ are persons superior or inferior to himself. His _betters_ are persons better than he. _Others_ are any persons or things distinguished from some that are named or referred to; as, "If you want enemies, excel _others_; if you want friends, let _others_ excel you."--_Lacon_. All adjectives thus taken substantively, become _nouns_, and ought to be parsed as such, unless this word _others_ is to be made an exception, and called a "_pronoun_." "Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke Our _stronger_, some worse way his wrath may find." --_Milton, P. L._, B. ii, l. 82. OBS. 3.--Murray says, "Perhaps the words _former_ and _latter_ may be properly ranked amongst the demonstrative pronouns, _especially in many of their applications_. The following sentence may serve as an example: 'It was happy for the state, that Fabius continued in the command with Minutius: the _former's_ phlegm was a check upon the _latter's_ vivacity.'"--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 57. This I take to be bad English. _Former_ and _latter_ ought to be adjectives only; except when _former_ means _maker_. And, if not so, it is too easy a way of multiplying pronouns, to manufacture two out of one single anonymous sentence. If it were said, "The deliberation of _the former_ was a seasonable chock upon the fiery temper of _the latter_" the words _former_ and _latter_ would seem to me not to be pronouns, but adjectives, each relating to the noun _commander_ understood after it. OBS. 4.--The sense and relation of words in sentences, as well as their particular form and meaning, must be considered in parsing, before the learner can say, with certainty, to what class they belong. Other parts of speech, and especially nouns and participles, by a change in their construction, may become adjectives. Thus, to denote the material of which a thing is formed, we very commonly make the name of the substantive an adjective to that of the thing: as, A _gold chain_, a _silver spoon_, a _glass pitcher_, a _tin basin_, an _oak plank_, a _basswood slab_, a _whalebone rod_. This construction is in general correct, whenever the former word may be predicated of the latter; as, "The chain is gold."--"The spoon is silver." But we do not write _gold beater_ for _goldbeater_, or _silver smith_ for _silversmith_; because the beater is not gold, nor is the smith silver. This principle, however, is not universally observed; for we write _snowball, whitewash_, and many similar compounds, though the ball is snow and the wash is white; and _linseed oil_, or _Newark cider_, may be a good phrase, though the former word cannot well be predicated of the latter. So in the following examples: "Let these _conversation_ tones be the foundation of public pronunciation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 334. "A _muslin_ flounce, made very full, would give a very agreeable _flirtation_ air."--POPE: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 79. "Come, calm Content, serene and sweet, O gently guide my _pilgrim_ feet To find thy _hermit_ cell."--_Barbauld_. OBS. 5.--Murray says, "Various nouns placed before other nouns assume the nature of adjectives: as, sea fish, wine vessel, corn field, meadow ground, &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 48. This is, certainly, very lame instruction. If there is not palpable error in all his examples, the propriety of them all is at least questionable; and, to adopt and follow out their principle, would be, to tear apart some thousands of our most familiar compounds. "_Meadow ground_" may perhaps be a correct phrase, since the ground is meadow; it seems therefore preferable to the compound word meadow-ground. What he meant by "_wine vessel_" is doubtful: that is, whether a ship or a cask, a flagon or a decanter. If we turn to our dictionaries, Webster has _sea-fish_ and _wine-cask_ with a hyphen, and _cornfield_ without; while Johnson and others have _corn-field_ with a hyphen, and _seafish_ without. According to the rules for the figure of words, we ought to write them _seafish, winecask, cornfield_. What then becomes of the thousands of "adjectives" embraced in the "&c." quoted above? OBS. 6.--The pronouns _he_ and _she_, when placed before or prefixed to nouns merely to denote their gender, appear to be used adjectively; as, "The male or _he_ animals offered in sacrifice."--_Wood's Dict., w. Males_. "The most usual term is _he_ or _she, male_ or _female_, employed as an adjective: as, a _he bear_, a _she bear_; a _male elephant_, a _female elephant_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 69. Most writers, however, think proper to insert a hyphen in the terms here referred to: as, _he-bear, she-bear_, the plurals of which are _he-bears_ and _she-bears_. And, judging by the foregoing rule of predication, we must assume that this practice only is right. In the first example, the word _he_ is useless; for the term "_male animals_" is sufficiently clear without it. It has been shown in the third chapter, that _he_ and _she_ are sometimes used as nouns; and that, as such, they may take the regular declension of nouns, making the plurals _hes_ and _shes_. But whenever these words are used adjectively to denote gender, whether we choose to insert the hyphen or not, they are, without question, indeclinable, like other adjectives. In the following example, Sanborn will have _he_ to be a noun in the _objective_ case; but I consider it rather, to be an adjective, signifying _masculine_: "(_Philosophy_, I say, and call _it He_; For, whatsoe'er the painter's fancy be, It a male-virtue seems to me.")--_Cowley_, Brit. Poets, Vol. ii, p. 54. OBS. 7.--Though verbs give rise to many adjectives, they seldom, if ever, become such by a mere change of construction. It is mostly by assuming an additional termination, that any verb is formed into an adjective: as in _teachable, moveable, oppressive, diffusive, prohibitory_. There are, however, about forty words ending in _ate_, which, without difference of form, are either verbs or adjectives; as, _aggregate, animate, appropriate, articulate, aspirate, associate, complicate, confederate, consummate, deliberate, desolate, effeminate, elate, incarnate, intimate, legitimate, moderate, ordinate, precipitate, prostrate, regenerate, reprobate, separate, sophisticate, subordinate_. This class of adjectives seems to be lessening. The participials in _ed_, are superseding some of them, at least in popular practice: as, _contaminated_, for _contaminate_, defiled; _reiterated_, for _reiterate_, repeated; _situated_, for _situate_, placed; _attenuated_, for _attenuate_, made thin or slender. _Devote, exhaust_, and some other verbal forms, are occasionally used by the poets, in lieu of the participial forms, _devoted, exhausted_, &c. OBS. 8.--Participles, which have naturally much resemblance to this part of speech, often drop their distinctive character, and become adjectives. This is usually the case whenever they stand immediately _before_ the nouns to which they relate; as, A _pleasing_ countenance, a _piercing_ eye, an _accomplished_ scholar, an _exalted_ station. Many participial adjectives are derivatives formed from participles by the negative prefix _un_, which reverses the meaning of the primitive word; as, _undisturbed, undivided, unenlightened_. Most words of this kind differ of course from participles, because there are no such verbs as _to undisturb, to undivide_, &c. Yet they may be called participial adjectives, because they have the termination, and embrace the form, of participles. Nor should any participial adjective be needlessly varied from the true orthography of the participle: a distinction is, however, observed by some writers, between _past_ and _passed, staid_ and _stayed_; and some old words, as _drunken, stricken, shotten, rotten_, now obsolete as participles, are still retained as adjectives. This sort of words will be further noticed in the chapter on participles. OBS. 9.--Adverbs are generally distinguished from adjectives, by the form, as well as by the construction, of the words. Yet, in instances not a few, the same word is capable of being used both adjectively and adverbially. In these cases, the scholar must determine the part of speech, by the construction alone; remembering that adjectives belong to nouns or pronouns only; and adverbs, to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs, only. The following examples from Scripture, will partially illustrate this point, which will be noticed again under the head of syntax: "Is your father well?"--_Gen._, xliii, 27. "Thou hast well said."--_John_, iv, 17. "He separateth very friends."--_Prov._, xvii, 9. "Esaias is _very_ bold."--_Rom._, x, 20. "For a pretence, ye make _long_ prayer."--_Matt._, xxiii, 14. "They that tarry _long_ at the wine."--_Prov._, xxiii, 30. "It had not _much_ earth."--_Mark_, iv, 5. "For she loved _much_."--_Luke_, vii, 47. OBS. 10.--Prepositions, in regard to their _construction_, differ from adjectives, almost exactly as active-transitive participles differ syntactically from adjectives: that is, in stead of being mere adjuncts to the words which follow them, they govern those words, and refer back to some other term; which, in the usual order of speech, stands before them. Thus, if I say, "A spreading oak," _spreading_ is an adjective relating to oak; if, "A boy spreading hay," _spreading_ is a participle, governing _hay_, and relating to _boy_, because the boy is the agent of the action. So, when Dr. Webster says, "The _off_ horse in a team," _off_ is an adjective, relating to the noun _horse_; but, in the phrase, "A man _off_ his guard," _off_ is a preposition, showing the relation between _man_ and _guard_, and governing the latter. The following are other examples: "From the _above_ speculations."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 194. "An _after_ period of life."--MARSHALL: _in Web. Dict._ "With some other of the _after_ Judaical rites."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 86. "Whom this _beneath_ world doth embrace and hug."--_Shak._ "Especially is _over_ exertion made."--_Journal of Lit. Conv._, p. 119. "To both the _under_ worlds."--_Hudibras_. "Please to pay to A. B. the amount of the _within_ bill." Whether properly used or not, the words _above, after, beneath, over, under, and within_, are here unquestionably made _adjectives_; yet every scholar knows, that they are generally prepositions, though sometimes adverbs. CLASSES. Adjectives may be divided into six classes; namely, _common, proper, numeral, pronominal, participial_, and _compound_. I. A _common adjective_ is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation; as, _Good, bad, peaceful, warlike--eastern, western, outer, inner_. II. A _proper adjective_ is an adjective formed from a proper name; as, _American, English, Platonic, Genoese_. III. A _numeral adjective_ is an adjective that expresses a definite number; as, _One, two, three, four, five, six_, &c. IV. A _pronominal adjective_ is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun, or represent it understood; as, "_All_ join to guard what _each_ desires to gain."--_Pope_. That is, "_All men_ join to guard what _each man_ desires to gain." V. A _participial adjective_ is one that has the form of a participle, but differs from it by rejecting the idea of time; as, "An _amusing_ story,"--"A _lying_ divination." VI. A _compound adjective_ is one that consists of two or more words joined together, either by the hyphen or solidly: as, _Nut-brown, laughter-loving, four-footed; threefold, lordlike, lovesick_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--This distribution of the adjectives is no less easy to be applied, than necessary to a proper explanation in parsing. How many adjectives there are in the language, it is difficult to say; none of our dictionaries profess to exhibit all that are embraced in some of the foregoing classes. Of the Common Adjectives, there are probably not fewer than six thousand, exclusive of the common nouns which we refer to this class when they are used adjectively. Walker's Rhyming Dictionary contains five thousand or more, the greater part of which may be readily distinguished by their peculiar endings. Of those which end in _ous_, as _generous_, there are about 850. Of those in _y_ or _ly_, as _shaggy, homely_, there are about 550. Of those in _ive_, as _deceptive_, there are about 400. Of those in _al_, as _autumnal_, there are about 550. Of those in _ical_, as _mechanical_, there are about 350. Of those in _able_, as _valuable_, there are about 600. Of those in _ible_, as _credible_, there are about 200. Of those in _ent_, as _different_, there are about 300. Of those in _ant_, as _abundant_, there are about 170. Of those in _less_, as _ceaseless_, there are about 220. Of those in _ful_, as _useful_, there are about 130. Of those in _ory_, as _explanatory_, there are about 200. Of those in _ish_, as _childish_, there are about 100. Of those in _ine_, as _masculine_, there are about 70. Of those in _en_, as _wooden_, there are about 50. Of those in _some_, as _quarrelsome_, there are about 30. These sixteen numbers added together, make 4770. OBS. 2.--The Proper Adjectives are, in many instances, capable of being converted into declinable nouns: as, _European, a European, the Europeans; Greek, a Greek, the Greeks; Asiatic, an Asiatic, the Asiatics_. But with the words _English, French, Dutch, Scotch, Welsh, Irish_, and in general all such as would acquire an additional syllable in their declension, the case is otherwise. The gentile noun has frequently fewer syllables than the adjective, but seldom more, unless derived from some different root. Examples: _Arabic, an Arab, the Arabs; Gallic, a Gaul, the Gauls; Danish, a Dane, the Danes; Moorish, a Moor, the Moors; Polish, a Pole_, or _Polander, the Poles; Swedish, a Swede, the Swedes; Turkish, a Turk, the Turks_. When we say, _the English, the French, the Dutch, the Scotch, the Welsh, the Irish_,--meaning, _the English people, the French people_, &c., many grammarians conceive that _English, French_, &c., are _indeclinable nouns_. But in my opinion, it is better to reckon them _adjectives_, relating to the noun _men_ or _people_ understood. For if these words are nouns, so are a thousand others, after which there is the same ellipsis; as when we say, _the good, the great, the wise, the learned_.[168] The principle would involve the inconvenience of multiplying our nouns of the singular form and a plural meaning, indefinitely. If they are nouns, they are, in this sense, plural only; and, in an other, they are singular only. For we can no more say, _an English, an Irish_, or _a French_, for _an Englishman, an Irishman_, or _a Frenchman_; than we can say, _an old, a selfish_, or _a rich_, for _an old man, a selfish man_, or _a rich man_. Yet, in distinguishing the _languages_, we call them _English, French, Dutch, Scotch, Welsh, Irish_; using the words, certainly, in no plural sense; and preferring always the line of adjectives, where the gentile noun is different: as, _Arabic_, and not _Arab_; _Danish_, and not _Dane_; _Swedish_, and not _Swede_. In this sense, as well as in the former, Webster, Chalmers, and other modern lexicographers, call the words _nouns_; and the reader will perceive, that the objections offered before do not apply here. But Johnson, in his two quarto volumes, gives only two words of this sort, _English_ and _Latin_; and both of these he calls _adjectives_: "ENGLISH, _adj._ Belonging to England; hence English[169] is the language of England." The word _Latin_, however, he makes a noun, when it means a schoolboy's exercise; for which usage he quotes, the following inaccurate example from Ascham: "He shall not use the common order in schools for making of _Latins_." OBS. 3.--Dr. Webster gives us explanations like these: "CHINESE, _n. sing._ and _plu._ A native of China; also the language of China."--"JAPANESE, _n._ A native of Japan; or the language of the inhabitants."--"GENOESE, _n. pl._ the people of Genoa in Italy. _Addison_."--"DANISH, _n._ The language of the Danes."--"IRISH, _n._ 1. A native of Ireland. 2. The language of the Irish; the Hiberno-Celtic." According to him, then, it is proper to say, _a Chinese, a Japanese_, or _an Irish_; but not, _a Genoese_, because he will have this word to be plural only! Again, if with him we call a native of Ireland _an Irish_, will not more than one be _Irishes?_[170] If a native of Japan be _a Japanese_, will not more than one be _Japaneses?_ In short, is it not plain, that the words, _Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Maltese, Genoese, Milanese_, and all others of like formation, should follow one and the same rule? And if so, what is that rule? Is it not this;--that, like _English, French_, &c., they are always _adjectives_; except, perhaps, when they denote _languages_? There may possibly be some real authority from usage, for calling a native of China _a Chinese_,--of Japan _a Japanese_,--&c.; as there is also for the regular plurals, _Chineses, Japaneses_, &c.; but is it, in either case, good and sufficient authority? The like forms, it is acknowledged, are, on some occasions, mere adjectives; and, in modern usage, we do not find these words inflected, as they were formerly. Examples: "The _Chinese_ are by no means a cleanly people, either in person or dress."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 415. "The _Japanese_ excel in working in copper, iron, and steel."--_Ib._, p. 419. "The _Portuguese_ are of the same origin with the Spaniards."--_Ib._, p. 272. "By whom the undaunted _Tyrolese_ are led."--_Wordsworth's Poems_, p. 122. Again: "Amongst the _Portugueses_, 'tis so much a Fashion, and Emulation, amongst their Children, to _learn_ to _Read_, and Write, that they cannot hinder them from it."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 271. "The _Malteses_ do so, who harden the Bodies of their Children, and reconcile them to the Heat, by making them go stark Naked."--_Idem, Edition of_ 1669, p. 5. "CHINESE, _n. s_. Used elliptically for the language and people of China: plural, _Chineses. Sir T. Herbert_."--_Abridgement of Todd's Johnson_. This is certainly absurd. For if _Chinese_ is used _elliptically_ for the people of China, it is an _adjective_, and does not form the plural, _Chineses_: which is precisely what I urge concerning the whole class. These plural forms ought not to be imitated. Horne Tooke quotes some friend of his, as saying, "No, I will never descend with him beneath even _a Japanese_: and I remember what Voltaire remarks of _that country_."--_Diversions of Purley_, i, 187. In this case, he ought, unquestionably, to have said--"beneath even _a native of Japan_;" because, whether _Japanese_ be a noun or not, it is absurd to call _a Japanese_, "_that country_." Butler, in his Hudibras, somewhere uses the word _Chineses_; and it was, perhaps, in his day, common; but still, I say, it is contrary to analogy, and therefore wrong. Milton, too, has it: "But in his way lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses[171] drive With sails and wind their cany _waggons_ light." --_Paradise Lost_, B. iii, l. 437. OBS. 4.--The Numeral Adjectives are of three kinds, namely, _cardinal, ordinal_, and _multiplicative_: each kind running on in a series indefinitely. Thus:-- 1. _Cardinal_; One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, &c. 2. _Ordinal_; First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, &c. 3. _Multiplicative_; Single or alone, double or twofold, triple or threefold, quadruple or fourfold, quintuple or fivefold, sextuple or sixfold, septuple or sevenfold, octuple or eightfold, &c. But high terms of this series are seldom used. All that occur above decuple or tenfold, are written with a hyphen, and are usually of round numbers only; as, thirty-fold, sixty-fold, hundred-fold. OBS. 5.--A cardinal numeral denotes the whole number, but the corresponding ordinal denotes only the last one of that number, or, at the beginning of a series, the first of several or many. Thus: "_One_ denotes simply the number _one_, without any regard to more; but _first_ has respect to more, and so denotes only the first one of a greater number; and _two_ means the number _two_ completely; but _second_, the last one of _two_: and so of all the rest."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 54. A cardinal number answers to the question, "_How many_?" An ordinal number answers to the question, "_Which one_?" or, "_What one_?" All the ordinal numbers, except _first, second, third_, and the compounds of these, as _twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third_, are formed directly from the cardinal numbers by means of the termination _th_. And as the primitives, in this case, are many of them either compound words, or phrases consisting of several words, it is to be observed, that the addition is made to the last term only. That is, of every compound ordinal number, the last term only is ordinal in form. Thus we say, _forty-ninth_, and not _fortieth-ninth_; nor could the meaning of the phrase, _four hundred and fiftieth_, be expressed by saying, _fourth hundredth and fiftieth_; for this, if it means any thing, speaks of three different numbers. OBS. 6.--Some of the numerals are often used as _nouns_; and, as such, are regularly declined: as, _Ones, twoes, threes, fours, fives_, &c. So, _Fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, tenths_, &c. "The _seventy's_ translation."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 32. "I will not do it for _forty's_ sake."--_Gen._, xviii, 29. "I will not destroy it for _twenty's_ sake."--_Ib._, ver. 31. "For _ten's_ sake."--_Ib._, ver. 32. "They sat down in ranks, by _hundreds_, and by _fifties_."--_Mark_, vi, 40. "There are _millions_ of truths that a man is not concerned to know."--_Locke_. With the compound numerals, such a construction is less common; yet the denominator of a fraction may be a number of this sort: as, seven _twenty-fifths_. And here it may be observed, that, in stead of the ancient phraseology, as in 1 Chron., xxiv, 17th, "The _one and twentieth_ to Jachin, the _two and twentieth_ to Gamul, the _three and twentieth_ to Delaiah, the _four and twentieth_ to Maaziah," we now generally say, _the twenty-first, the twenty-second_, &c.; using the hyphen in all compounds till we arrive at _one hundred_, or _one hundredth_, and then first introducing the word _and_; as, _one hundred and one_, or _one hundred and first_, &c. OBS. 7.--The Pronominal Adjectives are comparatively very few; but frequency of use gives them great importance in grammar. The following words are perhaps all that properly belong to this class, and several of these are much oftener something else: _All, any, both, certain, divers, each, either, else, enough, every, few, fewer, fewest, former, first, latter, last, little, less, least, many, more, most, much, neither, no_ or _none, one, other, own, only, same, several, some, such, sundry, that, this, these, those, what, whatever, whatsoever, which, whichever, whichsoever_.[172] Of these forty-six words, seven are always singular, if the word _one_ is not an exception; namely, _each, either, every, neither, one, that, this_: and nine or ten others are always plural, if the word _many_ is not an exception; namely, _both, divers, few, fewer, fewest, many, several, sundry, these, those_. All the rest, like our common adjectives, are applicable to nouns of either number. _Else, every, only, no_, and _none_, are definitive words, which I have thought proper to call pronominal adjectives, though only the last can now with propriety be made to represent its noun understood. "Nor has Vossius, or _any else_ that I know of, observed it."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 279. Say, "or any _one_ else." Dr. Webster explains this word _else_ thus: "ELSE, _a._ or _pron._ [Sax. _elles_] Other; one or something _beside_; as, Who _else_ is coming?"--_Octavo Dict._ "Each and _every_ of them," is an old phrase in which _every_ is used pronominally, or with ellipsis of the word to which it refers; but, in common discourse, we now say, _every one, every man_, &c., never using the word _every_ alone to suggest its noun. _Only_ is perhaps most commonly an adverb; but it is still in frequent use as an adjective; and in old books we sometimes find an ellipsis of the noun to which it belongs; as, "Neither are they the _only_ [verbs] in which it is read."--_Johnson's Grammatical Commentaries_, p. 373. "But I think he is the _only_ [one] of these Authors."--_Ib._, p. 193. _No_ and _none_ seem to be only different forms of the same adjective; the former being used before a noun expressed, and the latter when the noun is understood, or not placed after the adjective; as, "For _none_ of us liveth to himself, and _no_ man dieth to himself."--_Romans_, xiv, 7. _None_ was anciently used for _no_ before all words beginning with a vowel sound; as, "They are sottish children; and they have _none_ understanding."--_Jeremiah_, iv, 22. This practice is now obsolete. _None_ is still used, when its noun precedes it; as, "Fools! who from hence into the notion fall, That _vice_ or _virtue_ there is _none_ at all."--_Pope_. OBS. 8.--Of the words given in the foregoing list as pronominal adjectives, about one third are sometimes used _adverbially_. They are the following: _All_, when it means _totally; any_, for _in any degree; else_, meaning _otherwise; enough_, signifying _sufficiently; first_, for _in the first place; last_, for _in the last place; little_, for _in a small degree; less_, for _in a smaller degree; least_, for _in the smallest degree; much_, for _in a great degree; more_, for _in a greater degree; most_, for _in the greatest degree; no_, or _none_, for _in no degree; only_, for _singly, merely, barely; what_, for _in what degree_, or _in how great a degree_.[173] To these may perhaps be added the word _other_, when used as an alternative to _somehow_; as, "_Somehow_ or _other_ he will be favoured."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 89. Here _other_ seems to be put for _otherwise_; and yet the latter word would not be agreeable in such a sentence. "_Somewhere or other_," is a kindred phrase equally common, and equally good; or, rather, equally irregular and puzzling. Would it not be better, always to avoid both, by saying, in their stead, "_In some way or other_,"--"_In someplace or other?_" In the following examples, however, _other_ seems to be used for _otherwise_, without such a connection: "How is THAT used, _other_ than as a Conjunction?"--_Ainsworth's Gram._, p. 88. "Will it not be receiv'd that they have done 't? --Who dares receive it _other?_"--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict., w. Other_. OBS. 9.--_All_ and _enough, little_ and _much, more_ and _less_, sometimes suggest the idea of quantity so abstractly, that we can hardly consider them as adjuncts to any other words; for which reason, they are, in this absolute sense, put down in our dictionaries as _nouns_. If nouns, however, they are never inflected by cases or numbers; nor do they in general admit the usual adjuncts or definitives of nouns.[174] Thus, we can neither say, _the all_, for _the whole_, nor _an enough_, for _a sufficiency_. And though _a little, the more_, and _the less_, are common phrases, the article does not here prove the following word to be a noun; because the expression may either be elliptical, or have the construction of an adverb: as, "Though _the more_ abundantly I love you, _the less_ I be loved."--_2 Cor._, xii, 15. Dr. Johnson seems to suppose that the partitive use of these words makes them nouns; as, "They have _much of the poetry_ of Mecaenas, but _little of his liberality_."--DRYDEN: _in Joh. Dict._ Upon this principle, however, adjectives innumerable would be made nouns; for we can just as well say, "_Some of the poetry_,"--"_Any of the poetry_,"--"_The best of Poetry_," &c. In all such expressions, the name of the thing divided, is understood in the partitive word; for a part of any thing must needs be of the same species as the whole. Nor was this great grammarian sufficiently attentive to adjuncts, in determining the parts of speech. _Nearly all, quite enough, so little, too much, vastly more, rather less_, and an abundance of similar phrases, are familiar to every body; in none of which, can any of these words of quantity, however abstract, be very properly reckoned nouns; because the preceding word is an adverb, and adverbs do not relate to any words that are literally nouns. All these may also be used partitively; as, "_Nearly all of us_." OBS. 10.--The following are some of Dr. Johnson's "_nouns_;" which, in connexion with the foregoing remarks, I would submit to the judgement of the reader: "'Then shall we be news-crammed.'--'_All_ the better; we shall be the more remarkable.'"--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "_All_ the fitter, Lentulus; our coming is not for salutation; we have business."--BEN JONSON: _ib._ "'Tis _enough_ for me to have endeavoured the union of my country."--TEMPLE: _ib._ "Ye take too _much_ upon you."--NUMBERS: _ib._ "The fate of love is such, that still it sees too _little_ or too _much_."--DRYDEN: _ib._ "He thought not _much_ to clothe his enemies."--MILTON: _ib._ "There remained not so _much_ as one of them."--_Ib., Exod._, xiv, 28. "We will cut wood out of Lebanon, as _much_ as thou shalt need."--_Ib._, _2 Chronicles_. "The matter of the universe was created before the flood; if any _more_ was created, then there must be as _much_ annihilated to make room for it."--BURNET: _ib._ "The Lord do so, and much _more_, to Jonathan."--1 SAMUEL: _ib._ "They that would have _more_ and _more_, can never have _enough_; no, not if a miracle should interpose to gratify their avarice."--L'ESTRANGE: _ib._ "They gathered some _more_, some _less_."--EXODUS: _ib._ "Thy servant knew nothing of this, _less_ or _more_."--1 SAMUEL: _ib._ The first two examples above, Johnson explains thus: "That is, '_Every thing is the better_.'--_Every thing is the fitter_."--_Quarto Dict._ The propriety of this solution may well be doubted; because the similar phrases, "_So much_ the better,"--"_None_ the fitter," would certainly be perverted, if resolved in the same way: _much_ and _none_ are here, very clearly, adverbs. OBS. 11.--Whatever disposition may be made of the terms cited above, there are instances in which some of the same words can hardly be any thing else than nouns. Thus _all_, when it signifies _the whole_, or _every thing_, may be reckoned a noun; as, "Our _all_ is at stake, and irretrievably lost, if we fail of success."--_Addison_. "A torch, snuff and _all_, goes out in a moment, when dipped in the vapour."--_Id._ "The first blast of wind laid it flat on the ground; nest, eagles, and _all_."--_L'Estrange_. "Finding, the wretched _all_ they here can have, But present food, and but a future grave."--_Prior_. "And will she yet debase her eyes on me; On me, whose _all_ not equals Edward's moiety?"--_Shak_. "Thou shalt be _all_ in _all_, and I in thee, Forever; and in me all whom thou lov'st."--_Milton_. OBS. 12.--There are yet some other words, which, by their construction alone, are to be distinguished from the pronominal adjectives. _Both_, when it stands as a correspondent to _and_, is reckoned a conjunction; as, "For _both_ he that sanctifieth, _and_ they who are sanctified, are all of one."--_Heb._, ii, 11. But, in sentences like the following, it seems to be an adjective, referring to the nouns which precede: "Language and manners are _both_ established by the usage of people of fashion."--_Amer. Chesterfield_, p. 83. So _either_, corresponding to _or_, and _neither_, referring to _nor_, are conjunctions, and not adjectives. _Which_ and _what_, with their compounds, _whichever_ or _whichsoever, whatever_ or _whatsoever_, though sometimes put before nouns as adjectives, are, for the most part, relative or interrogative pronouns. When the noun is used after them, they are adjectives; when it is omitted, they are pronouns: as, "There is a witness of God, _which witness_ gives true judgement."--_I. Penington_. Here the word _witness_ might be omitted, and _which_ would become a relative pronoun. Dr. Lowth says, "_Thy, my, her, our, your, their_, are pronominal adjectives."--_Gram._, p. 23. This I deny; and the reader may see my reasons, in the observations upon the declension of pronouns. OBS. 13.--The words _one_ and _other_, besides their primitive uses as adjectives, in which they still remain without inflection, are frequently employed as nouns, or as substitutes for nouns; and, in this substantive or pronominal character, they commonly have the regular declension of nouns, and are reckoned such by some grammarians; though others call them indefinite pronouns, and some, (among whom are Lowth and Comly,) leave them with the pronominal adjectives, even when they are declined in both numbers. Each of them may be preceded by either of the articles; and so general is the signification of the former, that almost any adjective may likewise come before it: as, _Any one, some one, such a one, many a one, a new one, an old one, an other one, the same one, the young ones, the little ones, the mighty ones, the wicked one, the Holy One, the Everlasting One_. So, like the French _on_, or _l'on_, the word _one_, without any adjective, is now very frequently used as a general or indefinite term for any man, or any person. In this sense, it is sometimes, unquestionably, to be preferred to a personal pronoun applied indefinitely: as, "Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep _himself_ [better, _one's self_] unspotted from the world."--_James_, i, 27. But, as its generality of meaning seems to afford a sort of covering for egotism, some writers are tempted to make too frequent a use of it. Churchill ridicules this practice, by framing, or anonymously citing, the following sentence: "If _one_ did but dare to abide by _one's_ own judgement, _one's_ language would be much more refined; but _one_ fancies _one's_ self obliged to follow, whereever the many choose to lead _one_."--See _Churchill's Gram._, p. 229. Here every scholar will concur with the critic in thinking, it would be better to say: "If _we_ did but dare to abide by _our_ own judgement, _our_ language would be much more refined; but _we_ fancy _ourselves_ obliged to follow wherever the many choose to lead _us_."--See _ib._ OBS. 14.--Of the pronominal adjectives the following distribution has been made: "_Each, every_, and _either_, are called _distributives_; because, though they imply all the persons or things that make up a number, they consider them, not as one whole, but as taken separately. _This, that, former, latter, both, neither_, are termed _demonstratives_; because they point out precisely the subjects to which they relate. _This_ has _these_ for its plural; _that_ has _those_. _This_ and _that_ are frequently put in opposition to each other; _this_, to express what is nearer in place or time; _that_, what is more remote. _All, any, one, other, some, such_, are termed _indefinite_. _Another_ is merely _other_ in the singular, with the indefinite article not kept separate from it.[175] _Other_, when not joined with a noun, is occasionally used both in the possessive case, and in the plural number: as, 'Teach me to feel _an other's_ wo, to hide the fault I see; That mercy I to _others_ show, that mercy show to me.'--_Pope_. _Each other_ and _one another_, when used in conjunction, may be termed _reciprocals_; as they are employed to express a reciprocal action; the former, between two persons or things; the latter, _between_[176] more than two. The possessive cases of the personal pronouns have been also ranked under the head of pronominal adjectives, and styled possessives; but for this I see no good reason."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 76. OBS. 15.--The reciprocal terms _each other_ and _one an other_ divide, according to some mutual act or interchangeable relation, the persons or things spoken of, and are commonly of the singular number only. _Each other_, if rightly used, supposes two, and only two, to be acting and acted upon reciprocally; _one an other_, if not misapplied, supposes more than two, under like circumstances, and has an indefinite reference to all taken distributively: as, "Brutus and Aruns killed _each other_." That is, _Each combatant_ killed _the other_. "The disciples were commanded to love _one an other_, and to be willing to wash _one an other's_ feet." That is, _All_ the disciples were commanded to love _mutually_; for both terms, _one_ and _other_, or _one disciple_ and _an other disciple_, must be here understood as taken indefinitely. The reader will observe, that the two terms thus brought together, if taken substantively or pronominally in parsing, must be represented as being of _different cases_; or, if we take them adjectively the noun, which is twice to be supplied, will necessarily be so. OBS. 16.--Misapplications of the foregoing reciprocal terms are very frequent in books, though it is strange that phrases so very common should not be rightly understood. Dr. Webster, among his explanations of the word _other_, has the following: "Correlative to _each_, and applicable to _any number_ of individuals."--_Octavo Dict._ "_Other_ is used as a substitute for a noun, and in this use has the plural number and the sign of the possessive case."--_Ib._ Now it is plain, that the word _other_, as a "correlative to _each_," may be so far "a substitute for a noun" as to take the form of the possessive case singular, and perhaps also the plural; as, "Lock'd in _each other's_ arms they lay." But, that the objective _other_, in any such relation, can convey a plural idea, or be so loosely applicable--"to _any number_ of individuals," I must here deny. If it were so, there would be occasion, by the foregoing rule, to make it plural in form; as, "The ambitious strive to excel _each others_." But this is not English. Nor can it be correct to say of more than two, "They all strive to excel _each other_." Because the explanation must be, "_Each_ strives to excel _other_;" and such a construction of the word _other_ is not agreeable to modern usage. _Each other_ is therefore not equivalent to _one an other_, but nearer perhaps to _the one the other_: as, "The two generals are independent _the one of the other_."--_Voltaire's Charles XII_, p. 67. "And these are contrary _the one to the other_."--_Gal._, v, 17. "The necessary connexion _of the one with the other_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 304. The latter phraseology, being definite and formal, is now seldom used, except the terms be separated by a verb or a preposition. It is a literal version of the French _l'un l'autre_, and in some instances to be preferred to _each other_; as, "So fellest foes, whose plots have broke their sleep, To take _the one the other_, by some chance."--_Shak_. OBS. 17.--The Greek term for the reciprocals _each other_ and _one an other_, is a certain plural derivative from [Greek: allos], _other_; and is used in three cases, the genitive, [Greek: allaelon], the dative, [Greek: allaelois], the accusative, [Greek: allaelous]: these being all the cases which the nature of the expression admits; and for all these we commonly use the _objective_;--that is, we put _each_ or _one_ before the objective _other_. Now these English terms, taken in a reciprocal sense, seldom, if ever, have any plural form; because the article in _one an other_ admits of none; and _each other_, when applied to two persons or things, (as it almost always is,) does not require any. I have indeed seen, in some narrative, such an example as this: "The two men were ready to cut _each others' throats_." But the meaning could not be, that each was ready to cut "_others' throats_;" and since, between the two, there was but one throat for _each_ to cut, it would doubtless be more correct to say, "_each other's throat_." So Burns, in touching a gentler passion, has an inaccurate elliptical expression: "'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair, In _others'_ arms, breathe out the tender tale." --_Cotter's Sat. Night_. He meant, "In _each other's_ arms;" the apostrophe being misplaced, and the metre improperly allowed to exclude a word which the sense requires. Now, as to the plural of _each other_, although we do not use the objective, and say of many, "They love _each others_," there appear to be some instances in which the possessive plural, _each others'_, would not be improper; as, "Sixteen ministers, who meet weekly at _each other's_ houses."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. Here the singular is wrong, because the governing noun implies a plurality of owners. "The citizens of different states should know _each others characters_."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 35. This also is wrong, because no possessive sign is used. Either write, "_each others' characters_," or say, "_one an other's character_." OBS. 18.--_One_ and _other_ are, in many instances, terms relative and partitive, rather than reciprocal; and, in this use, there seems to be an occasional demand for the plural form. In French, two parties are contrasted by _les uns--les autres_; a mode of expression seldom, if ever imitated in English. Thus: "Il les separera _les uns_ d'avec _les autres_." That is, "He shall separate them _some_ from _others_;"--or, literally, "_the ones_ from _the others_." Our version is: "He shall separate them _one from an other_."--_Matt._, xxv, 32. Beza has it: "Separabit eos _alteros ab alteris_." The Vulgate: "Separabit eos _ab invicem_." The Greek: "[Greek: Aphoriei autous ap allaelon]." To separate many "_one from an other_," seems, literally, to leave none of them together; and this is not, "as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." To express such an idea with perfect propriety, in our language, therefore, we must resort to some other phraseology. In Campbell's version, we read: "And _out of them_ he will separate _the good from the bad_, as a shepherd separateth _the_ sheep from the goats." Better, perhaps, thus: "And he shall separate them, _the righteous from the wicked_, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." OBS. 19.--Dr. Bullions says, "_One_ and _other_ refer to _the singular only_."--_Eng. Gram._, p. 98. Of _ones_ and _others_ he takes no notice; nor is he sufficiently attentive to usage in respect to the roots. If there is any absurdity in giving a _plural_ meaning to the singulars _one_ and _other_, the following sentences need amendment: "_The one_ preach Christ of contention; but _the other_, of love."--_Philippians_, i, 16. Here "_the one_" is put for "the one _class_," and "_the other_" for "the other _class_;" the ellipsis in the first instance not being a very proper one. "The confusion arises, when _the one_ will put _their_ sickle into _the other's_ harvest."--LESLEY: _in Joh. Dict._ This may be corrected by saying, "_the one party_," or, "_the one nation_," in stead of "_the one_." "It is clear from Scripture, that Antichrist shall be permitted to work false miracles, and that they shall so counterfeit the true, that it will be hard to discern _the one_ from _the other_."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 93. If in any ease we may adopt the French construction above, "_the ones_ from the _others_," it will be proper here. Again: "I have seen _children_ at a table, who, whatever was there, never asked for any thing, but contentedly took what was given them: and, at an other place, I have seen _others_ cry for every thing they saw; they must be served out of every dish, and that first too. What made this vast difference, but this: That _one was_ accustomed to have what _they_ called or cried for; _the other_ to go without it?"--_Locke, on Education_, p. 55. Here, (with _were_ for _was_,) the terms of contrast ought rather to have been, _the ones--the others_; _the latter--the former_; or, _the importunate--the modest_. "Those nice shades, by which _virtues and vices_ approach _each one another_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 350. This expression should be any thing, rather than what it is. Say, "By which _virtue_ and _vice_ approach _each other_." Or: "By which certain virtues and vices _approximate-- blend--become difficult of distinction_." OBS. 20.--"Most authors have given the name of _pronoun adjectives_, ['pronouns adjective,' or 'pronominal adjectives,'] to _my, mine; our, ours; thy, thine; your, yours; his, her, hers; their, theirs_: perhaps because they are followed by, or refer to, some substantive [expressed or understood after them]. But, were they adjectives, they must either express the quality of their substantive, or limit its extent: adjectives properly so called, do the first; definitive pronouns do the last. All adjectives [that are either singular or plural,] agree with their substantives in _number_; but I can say, 'They are _my books_:' _my_ is singular, and _books_ plural; therefore _my_ is not an adjective. Besides, _my_ does not express the _quality_ of the books, but only ascertains the possessor, the same as the genitive or substantive does, to which it is similar. Examples: 'They are _my_ books;'--'They are _John's_ books;' &c."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 108. OBS. 21.--To the class of Participial Adjectives, should be referred all such words as the following: (1.) The simple participles made adjectives by position; as. "A _roaring_ lion,"--"A _raging_ bear,"--"A _brawling_ woman,"--"A _flattering_ mouth,"--"An _understanding_ heart,"--"_Burning_ coals,"--"The _hearing_ ear, and the _seeing_ eye."--_Bible_. "A _troubled_ fountain,"--"A _wounded_ spirit,"--"An _appointed_ time."--_Ib._ (2.) Words of a participial appearance, formed from nouns by adding _ed_; as, "The eve thy _sainted_ mother died."--_W. Scott_. "What you write of me, would make me more _conceited_, than what I scribble myself."--_Pope_. (3.) Participles, or participial adjectives, reversed in sense by the prefix _un_; as, _unaspiring, unavailing, unbelieving, unbattered, uninjured, unbefriended_. (4.) Words of a participial form construed elliptically, as if they were nouns; as, "Among the _dying_ and the dead."--"The _called_ of Jesus Christ."--_Rom._, i, 6. "Dearly _beloved_, I beseech you."--_1 Pet._, ii, 11. "The _redeemed_ of the Lord shall return."--_Isaiah_, li, 11. "They talk, to the grief of thy _wounded_."--_Psalms_, lxix, 26: _Margin_. OBS. 22.--In the text, Prov., vii, 26, "She hath cast down many wounded," _wounded_ is a participle; because the meaning is, "_many men wounded_," and not, "_many wounded men_." Our Participial Adjectives are exceedingly numerous. It is not easy to ascertain how many there are of them; because almost any simple participle may be set before a noun, and thus become an adjective: as, "Where _smiling_ spring its earliest visit paid, And _parting_ summer's _ling'ring_ blooms delay'd."--_Goldsmith_. OBS. 23.--Compound Adjectives, being formed at pleasure, are both numerous and various. In their formation, however, certain analogies may be traced: (1.) Many of them are formed by joining an adjective to its noun, and giving to the latter the participial termination _ed_; as, _able-bodied, sharp-sighted, left-handed, full-faced, flat-nosed, thick-lipped, cloven-footed, high-heeled_. (2.) In some, two nouns are joined, the latter assuming _ed_, as above; as, _bell-shaped, hawk-nosed, eagle-sighted, lion-hearted, web-footed_. (3.) In some, the object of an active participle is placed before it; as, _money-getting, time-serving, self-consuming, cloud-compelling, fortune-hunting, sleep-disturbing_. (4.) Some, embracing numerals, form a series, though it is seldom carried far; as, _one-legged, two-legged, three-legged, four-legged_. So, _one-leaved, two-leaved, three-leaved, four-leaved_: or, perhaps better as Webster will have them, _one-leafed, two-leafed, &c_. But, upon the same principle, _short-lived_, should be _short-lifed_, and _long-lived, long-lifed_. (5.) In some, there is a combination of an adjective and a participle; as, _noble-looking, high-sounding, slow-moving, thorough-going, hard-finished, free-born, heavy-laden, only-begotten_. (6.) In some, we find an adverb and a participle united; as, _ever-living, ill-judging, well-pleasing, far-shooting, forth-issuing, back-sliding, ill-trained, down-trodden, above-mentioned_. (7.) Some consist of a noun and a participle which might be reversed with a preposition between them; as, _church-going, care-crazed, travel-soiled, blood-bespotted, dew-sprinkled_. (8.) A few, and those inelegant, terminate with a preposition; as, _unlooked-for, long-looked-for, unthought-of, unheard-of_. (9.) Some are phrases of many words, converted into one part of speech by the hyphen; as, "Where is the _ever-to-be-honoured_ Chaucer?"--_Wordsworth_. "And, with _God-only-knows-how-gotten_ light, Informs the nation what is wrong or right." --_Snelling's Gift for Scribblers_, p. 49. OBS. 24.--Nouns derived from compound adjectives, are generally disapproved by good writers; yet we sometimes meet with them: as, _hard-heartedness_, for hardness of heart, or cruelty; _quick-sightedness_, for quickness of sight, or perspicacity; _worldly-mindedness_, for devotion to the world, or love of gain; _heavenly-mindedness_, for the love of God, or true piety. In speaking of ancestors or descendants, we take the noun, _father, mother, son, daughter_, or _child_; prefix the adjective _grand_; for the second generation; _great_, for the, third; and then, sometimes, repeat the same, for degrees more remote: as, _father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather_. "What would my _great-grandmother_ say, thought I, could she know that thou art to be chopped up for fuel to warm the frigid fingers of her _great-great-great-granddaughters_!"--_T. H. Bayley_. MODIFICATIONS. Adjectives have, commonly, no modifications but the forms of _comparison_. Comparison is a variation of the adjective, to express quality in different degrees: as, _hard, harder, hardest; soft, softer, softest._ There are three degrees of comparison; the _positive_, the _comparative_, and the _superlative_. The _positive degree_ is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form: as, "An elephant is _large_; a mouse, _small_; a lion, _fierce, active, bold_, and _strong_." The _comparative degree_ is that which is _more_ or _less_ than something contrasted with it: as, "A whale is _larger_ than an elephant; a mouse is a much _smaller_ animal than a rat." The _superlative degree_ is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it: as, "The whale is the _largest_ of the animals that inhabit this globe; the mouse is the _smallest_ of all beasts."--_Dr. Johnson._ Those adjectives whose signification does not admit of different degrees, cannot be compared; as, _two, second, all, every, immortal, infinite._ Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs; as, fruitful, _more_ fruitful, _most_ fruitful--fruitful, _less_ fruitful, _least_ fruitful. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--"Some scruple to call the positive a degree of comparison; on the ground, that it does not imply either comparison, or degree. But no quality can exist, without existing in some degree: and, though the positive is very frequently used without reference to any other degree; as it is _the standard_, with which other degrees of the quality are compared, it is certainly an essential object of the comparison. While these critics allow only two degrees, we might in fact with more propriety say, that there are five: 1, the quality in its standard state, or positive degree; as _wise_: 2, in a higher state, or the comparative ascending; _more wise_: 3, in a lower, or the comparative descending; _less wise_: 4, in the highest state, or superlative ascending; _most wise_: 5, in the lowest state, or superlative descending; _least wise._ All grammarians, however, agree about the things themselves, and the forms used to express them; though they differ about the names, by which these forms should be called: and as those names are practically best, which tend least to perplex the learner, I see no good reason here for deviating from what has been established by long custom."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 231. OBS. 2.--Churchill here writes plausibly enough, but it will be seen, both from his explanation, and from the foregoing definitions of the degrees of comparison, that there are but three. The comparative and the superlative may each be distinguishable into the ascending and the descending, as often as we prefer the adverbial form to the regular variation of the adjective itself; but this imposes no necessity of classing and defining them otherwise than simply as the comparative and the superlative. The assumption of two comparatives and two superlatives, is not only contrary to the universal practice of the teachers of grammar; but there is this conclusive argument against it--that the regular method of comparison has no degrees of diminution, and the form which has such degrees, is _no inflection_ of the adjective. If there is any exception, it is in the words, _small, smaller, smallest_, and _little, less, least_. But of the smallness or littleness, considered abstractly, these, like all others, are degrees of increase, and not of diminution. _Smaller_ is as completely opposite to _less small_, as _wiser_ is to _less wise_. _Less_ itself is a comparative descending, only when it diminishes some _other_ quality: _less little_, if the phrase were proper, must needs be nearly equivalent to _greater_ or _more_. Churchill, however, may be quite right in the following remark: "The comparative ascending of an adjective, and the comparative descending of an adjective expressing the opposite quality, are often considered synonymous, by those who do not discriminate nicely between ideas. But _less imprudent_ does not imply precisely the same thing as _more prudent_; or _more brave_, the same as _less cowardly_."--_New Gram._, p. 231. OBS. 3.--The definitions which I have given of the three degrees of comparison, are new. In short, I know not whether any other grammarian has ever given what may justly be called a _definition_, of any one of them. Here, as in most other parts of grammar, loose _remarks_, ill-written and untrue assertions, have sufficed. The explanations found in many English grammars are the following: "The positive state expresses the quality of an object, without any increase or diminution; as, good, wise, great. The comparative degree increases or lessens the positive in signification; as, wiser, greater, less wise. The superlative degree increases or lessens the positive to the highest or [the] lowest degree; as, wisest, greatest, least wise. The simple word, or positive, becomes [the] comparative by adding _r_ or _er_; and the superlative by adding _st_ or _est_, to the end of it. And the adverbs _more_ and _most_, placed before the adjective, have the same effect; as, wise, _more_ wise, _most_ wise."--_Murray's Grammar_, 2d Ed., 1796, p. 47. If a man wished to select some striking example of bad writing--of thoughts ill conceived, and not well expressed--he could not do better than take the foregoing: provided his auditors knew enough of grammar to answer the four simple questions here involved; namely, What is the positive degree? What is the comparative degree? What is the superlative degree? How are adjectives regularly compared? To these questions I shall furnish _direct answers_, which the reader may compare with such as he can derive from the foregoing citation: the last two sentences of which Murray ought to have credited to Dr. Lowth; for he copied them literally, except that he says, "the adverbs _more_ AND _most_," for the Doctor's phrase, "the adverbs _more_ OR _most_." See the whole also in _Kirkham's Grammar_, p. 72; in _Ingersoll's_, p. 35; in _Alger's_, p. 21; in _Bacon's_, p. 18; in _Russell's_, p. 14; in _Hamlin's_, p. 22; in _J. M. Putnam's_, p. 33; in _S. Putnam's_, p. 20; in _R. C. Smith's_, p. 51; in _Rev. T. Smith's_, p. 20. OBS. 4.--In the five short sentences quoted above, there are more errors, than can possibly be enumerated in ten times the space. For example: (1.) If one should say of a piece of iron, "It grows cold or hot very rapidly," _cold_ and _hot_ could not be in the "_positive state_," as they define it: because, either the "quality" or the "object," (I know not which,) is represented by them as "without any increase or diminution;" and this would not, in the present case, be true of either; for iron changes in bulk, by a change of temperature. (2.) What, in the first sentence, is erroneously called "the positive _state_," in the second and the third, is called, "the positive _degree_;" and this again, in the fourth, is falsely identified with "the simple _word_." Now, if we suppose the meaning to be, that "the positive state," "the positive degree," or "the simple word," is "without any increase or diminution;" this is expressly contradicted by three sentences out of the five, and implicitly, by one of the others. (3.) Not one of these sentences is _true_, in the most obvious sense of the words, if in any other; and yet the doctrines they were designed to teach, may have been, in general, correctly gathered from the examples. (4.) The phrase, "_positive in signification_," is not intelligible in the sense intended, without a comma after _positive_; and yet, in an armful of different English grammars which contain the passage, I find not one that has a point in that place. (5.) It is not more correct to say, that the comparative or the superlative degree, "increases or lessens the positive," than it would be to aver, that the plural number increases or lessens the singular, or the feminine gender, the masculine. Nor does the superlative mean, what a certain learned Doctor understands by it--namely, "_the greatest or least possible degree_." If it did, "the _thickest_ parts of his skull," for example, would imply small room for brains; "the _thinnest_," protect them ill, if there were any. (6.) It is improper to say, "_The simple word becomes_ [the] _comparative by adding r or er_; and _the superlative by adding st or est_." The thought is wrong; and nearly all the words are misapplied; as, _simple_ for _primitive, adding_ for _assuming_, &c. (7.) Nor is it very wise to say, "the adverbs _more_ and _most_, placed before the adjective, _have the same effect_:" because it ought to be known, that the effect of the one is very different from that of the other! "_The same effect_," cannot here be taken for any effect previously described; unless we will have it to be, that these words, _more_ and _most_, "become comparative by adding _r_ or _er_; and the superlative by adding _st_ or _est_, to the end of them:" all of which is grossly absurd. (8.) The repetition of the word _degree_, in saying, "The superlative _degree_ increases or lessens the positive to the highest or lowest _degree_," is a disagreeable tautology. Besides, unless it involves the additional error of presenting the same word in different senses, it makes one degree swell or diminish an other _to itself_; whereas, in the very next sentence, this singular agency is forgotten, and a second equally strange takes its place: "The positive _becomes_ the superlative by adding _st_ or _est_, to the end of it;" i. e., to the end of _itself_. Nothing can be more ungrammatical, than is much of the language by which grammar itself is now professedly taught! OBS. 5.--It has been almost universally assumed by grammarians, that the positive degree is _the only standard_ to which the other degrees can refer; though many seem to think, that the superlative always implies or includes the comparative, and is consequently inapplicable when only two things are spoken of. Neither of these positions is involved in any of the definitions which I have given above. The reader may think what he will about these points, after observing the several ways in which each form may be used. In the phrases, "_greater_ than Solomon,"--"_more_ than a bushel,"--"_later_ than one o'clock," it is not immediately obvious that the positives _great, much_, and _late_, are the real terms of contrast. And how is it in the Latin phrases, "_Dulcior melle_, sweeter than honey,"--"_Praestantior auro_, better than gold?" These authors will resolve all such phrases thus: "_greater_, than Solomon _was great_,"--"_more_, than a bushel _is much_," &c. As the conjunction _than_ never governs the objective case, it seems necessary to suppose an ellipsis of some verb after the noun which follows it as above; and possibly the foregoing solution, uncouth as it seems, may, for the English idiom, be the true one: as, "My Father is _greater than I_."--_John_, xiv, 28. That is, "My Father is greater _than I am_;"--or, perhaps, "than I am _great_." But if it appear that _some_ degree of the same quality must always be contrasted with the comparative, there is still room to question whether this degree must always be that which we call the positive. Cicero, in exile, wrote to his wife: "Ego autem hoc _miserior_ sum, quam tu, quae es _miserrima_, quod ipsa calamitas communis est utriusque nostrum, sed culpa mea propria est."--_Epist. ad Fam._, xiv, 3. "But in this I am _more wretched_, than thou, who art _most wretched_, that the calamity itself is common to us both, but the fault is all my own." OBS. 6.--In my Institutes and First Lines of English Grammar, I used the following brief definitions: "The _comparative degree_ is that which exceeds the positive; as, _harder, softer, better_." "The _superlative degree_ is that which is not exceeded; as, _hardest, softest, best_." And it is rather for the sake of suggesting to the learner the peculiar _application_ of each of these degrees, than from any decided dissatisfaction with these expressions, that I now present others. The first, however, proceeds upon the common supposition, that the comparative degree of a quality, ascribed to any object, must needs be contrasted with the positive in some other, or with the positive in the same at an other time. This idea may be plausibly maintained, though it is certain that the positive term referred to, is seldom, if ever, allowed to appear. Besides, the comparative or the superlative _may_ appear, and in such a manner as to be, or seem to be, in the point of contrast. Thus: "Objects near our view are apt to be thought _greater than those of a larger size_, that are more remote."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 186. Upon the principle above, the explanation here must be, that the meaning is--"_greater_ than those of a larger size _are thought great._" "The _poor_ man that loveth Christ, is _richer than the richest man_ in the world, that hates him."--_Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 86. This must be "_richer_ than the richest man _is rich_." The riches contemplated here, are of different sorts; and the comparative or the superlative of one sort, may be exceeded by either of these degrees of an other sort, though the same epithet be used for both. So in the following instances: "He that is _higher than the highest_ regardeth; and there be _higher than they_."--_Eccl._, v, 8. That is, "He that is higher than the highest _earthly dignitaries_, regardeth; and there are higher _authorities_ than _these._" "_Fairer_ than aught imagined else _fairest_."--_Pollok_. "_Sadder than saddest_ night."--_Byron_. It is evident that the superlative degree is not, in general, that which _cannot be_ exceeded, but that which, in the actual state of the things included, "_is_ not exceeded." Again, as soon as any given comparative or superlative is, by a further elevation or intension of the quality, surpassed and exceeded, that particular degree, whatever it was, becomes merely positive; for the positive degree of a quality, though it commonly includes the very lowest measure, and is understood to exceed nothing, may at any time _equal_ the very highest. There is no paradox in all this, which is not also in the following simple examples: "_Easier_, indeed, I was, but far from _easy_."--_Cowper's Life_, p. 50. "Who canst the _wisest wiser_ make, And babes _as wise_ as they."--_Cowper's Poems_. OBS. 7.--The relative nature of these degrees deserves to be further illustrated. (1.) It is plain, that the greatest degree of a quality in one thing, may be less than the least in an other; and, consequently, that the least degree in one thing, may be greater than the greatest in an other. Thus, the _heaviest_ wood is _less heavy_ than the _lightest_ of the metals; and the _least valuable_ of the metals is perhaps of _more value_ than the _choicest_ wood. (2.) The comparative degree may increase upon itself, and be repeated to show the gradation. Thus, a man may ascend into the air with a balloon, and rise _higher_, and _higher_, and _higher_, and _higher_, till he is out of sight. This is no uncommon form of expression, and the intension is from comparative to comparative. (3.) If a ladder be set up for use, one of its rounds will be _the highest_, and one other will be _the lowest_, or _least high._ And as that which is _highest_, is _higher_ than all the rest, so every one will be _higher_ than all below it. _The higher rounds_, if spoken of generally, and without definite contrast, will be those in the upper half; _the lower rounds_, referred to in like manner, will be those in the lower half, or those not far from the ground. _The highest rounds_, or _the lowest_, if we indulge such latitude of speech, will be those near the top or the bottom; there being, absolutely, or in _strictness_ of language, but _one_ of each. (4.) If _the highest_ round be removed, or left uncounted, the next becomes the _highest_, though not _so high_ as the former. For every one is _the highest_ of the number which it completes. All admit this, till we come to _three_. And, as the third is _the highest of the three_, I see not why the second is not properly _the highest of the two_. Yet nearly all our grammarians condemn this phrase, and prefer "_the higher of the two_." But can they give a _reason_ for their preference? That the comparative degree is implied between the positive and the superlative, so that there must needs be three terms before the latter is applicable, is a doctrine which I deny. And if the second is _the higher of the two_, because it is _higher than the first_; is it not also _the highest of the two_, because it _completes the number?_ (5.) It is to be observed, too, that as our ordinal numeral _first_, denoting the one which begins a series, and having reference of course to more, is an adjective of the superlative degree, equivalent to _foremost_, of which it is perhaps a contraction; so _last_ likewise, though no numeral, is a superlative also. (6.) These, like other superlatives, admit of a looser application, and may possibly include more than one thing at the beginning or at the end of a series: as, "_The last years_ of man are often helpless, like _the first_." (7.) With undoubted propriety, we may speak of _the first two, the last two, the first three, the last three_, &c.; but to say, _the two first, the two last_, &c., with this meaning, is obviously and needlessly inaccurate. "_The two first men_ in the nation," may, I admit, be good English; but it can properly be meant only of _the two most eminent._ In specifying any part of a _series_, we ought rather to place the cardinal number after the ordinal. (8.) Many of the foregoing positions apply generally, to almost all adjectives that are susceptible of comparison. Thus, it is a common saying, "Take _the best first_, and _all_ will be _best_." That is, remove that degree which is now superlative, and the epithet will descend to an other, "_the next best._" OBS. 8.--It is a common assumption, maintained by almost all our grammarians, that the degrees which add to the adjective the terminations _er_ and _est_, as well as those which are expressed by _more_ and _most_, indicate an _increase_, or heightening, of the quality expressed by the positive. If such must needs be their import, it is certainly very improper, to apply them, as many do, to what can be only an approximation to the positive. Thus Dr. Blair: "Nothing that belongs to human nature, is _more universal_ than the relish of beauty of one kind or other."--_Lectures_, p. 16. "In architecture, the Grecian models were long esteemed _the most perfect_."--_Ib._, p. 20. Again: In his reprehension of Capernaum, the Saviour said, "It shall be _more tolerable_ for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgement, than for thee."--_Matt._, xi, 24. Now, although [Greek: anektoteron], _more tolerable_, is in itself a good comparative, who would dare infer from this text, that in the day of judgement Capernaum shall fare _tolerably_, and Sodom, _still better_? There is much reason to think, that the essential nature of these grammatical degrees has not been well understood by those who have heretofore pretended to explain them. If we except those few approximations to sensible qualities, which are signified by such words as _whitish, greenish, &c._, there will be found no actual measure, or inherent degree of any quality, to which the simple form of the adjective is not applicable; or which, by the help of intensive adverbs of a positive character, it may not be made to express; and that, too, without becoming either comparative or superlative, in the technical sense of those terms. Thus _very white, exceedingly white, perfectly white_, are terms quite as significant as _whiter_ and _whitest_, if not more so. Some grammarians, observing this, and knowing that the Romans often used their superlative in a sense merely intensive, as _altissimus_ for _very high_, have needlessly divided our English superlative into two, "_the definite_, and the _indefinite_;" giving the latter name to that degree which we mark by the adverb _very_, and the former to that which alone is properly called the superlative. Churchill does this: while, (as we have seen above,) in naming the degrees, he pretends to prefer "what has been established by long custom."--_New Gram._, p. 231. By a strange oversight also, he failed to notice, that this doctrine interferes with his scheme of _five_ degrees, and would clearly furnish him with _six_: to which if he had chosen to add the "_imperfect degree_" of Dr. Webster, (as _whitish, greenish, &c._,) which is recognized by Johnson, Murray, and others, he might have had _seven_. But I hope my readers will by-and-by believe there is _no need_ of more than _three_. OBS. 9.--The true nature of the Comparative degree is this: it denotes either some _excess_ or some _relative deficiency_ of the quality, when one thing or party is compared with an other, in respect to what is in both: as, "Because the foolishness of God is _wiser_ than men; and the weakness of God is _stronger_ than men."--_1 Cor._, i, 25. "Few languages are, in fact, _more copious_ than the English."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 87. "Our style is _less compact_ than that of the ancients."--_Ib._, p. 88. "They are counted to him _less_ than nothing and vanity."--_Isaiah_, xl, 17. As the comparatives in a long _series_ are necessarily many, and some of them _higher_ than others, it may be asked, "How can the comparative degree, in this case, be merely 'that which exceeds the positive?'" Or, as our common grammarians prompt me here to say, "May not the comparative degree increase or lessen _the comparative_, in signification?" The latter form of the question they may answer for themselves; remembering that the comparative _may advance from the comparative_, step by step, from the second article in the series to the utmost. Thus, three is a higher or greater number than two; but four is higher than three; five, than four; and so on, _ad infinitum_. My own form of the question I answer thus: "The _highest_ of the _higher_ is not _higher_ than the rest are _higher_, but simply _higher_ than they are _high_." OBS. 10.--The true nature of the Superlative degree is this: it denotes, in a quality, _some extreme_ or _unsurpassed extent_. It may be used either absolutely, as being without bounds; or relatively, as being confined within any limits we choose to give it. It is equally applicable to that which is naturally unsurpassable, and to that which stands within the narrowest limits of comparison. The _heaviest_ of _three feathers_ would scarcely be thought a _heavy_ thing, and yet the expression is proper; because the weight, whatever it is, is relatively _the greatest_. The _youngest_ of three persons, may not be _very young_; nor need we suppose the _oldest_ in a whole college to have arrived at _the greatest conceivable age_. What then shall be thought of the explanations which our grammarians have given of this degree of comparison? That of Murray I have already criticised. It is ascribed to him, not upon the supposition that he invented it; but because common sense continues to give place to the authority of his name in support of it. Comly, Russell, Alger, Ingersoll, Greenleaf, Fisk, Merchant, Kirkham, T. Smith, R. C. Smith, Hall, Hiley, and many others, have copied it into their grammars, as being better than any definition they could devise. Murray himself unquestionably took it from some obscure pedagogue among the old grammarians. Buchanan, who long preceded him, has nearly the same words: "The Superlative increases or diminishes the Positive in Signification, to the highest or [the] lowest Degree of all."--_English Syntax_, p. 28. If this is to be taken for a grammatical definition, what definition shall grammar itself bear? OBS. 11.--Let us see whether our later authors have done better. "The _superlative_ expresses a quality in the greatest or [the] least _possible_ degree; as, _wisest, coldest, least wise_."--_Webster's Old Gram._, p. 13. In his later speculations, this author conceives that the termination _ish_ forms the _first_ degree of comparison; as, "Imperfect, _dankish_," Pos. _dank_, Comp. _danker_, Superl. _dankest_. "There are therefore _four_ degrees of comparison."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._ p. 65. "The _fourth_ denotes the utmost or [the] least degree of a quality; as, _bravest, wisest, poorest, smallest_. This is called the _superlative_ degree."--_Ib._; also his _Improved Gram._, 1831, p. 47. "This degree is called the Superlative degree, from its raising the amount of the quality above that of all others."--_Webber's Gram._, 1832, p. 26. It is not easy to quote, from any source, a worse sentence than this; if, indeed, so strange a jumble of words can be called a sentence. "_From its raising the amount_," is in itself a vicious and untranslatable phrase, here put for "_because it raises the amount_;" and who can conceive of the superlative degree, as "_raising the amount of the quality_ above that of _all other qualities_?" Or, if it be supposed to mean, "above the amount of all other _degrees_," what is this amount? Is it that of one and one, the _positive_ and the _comparative_ added numerically? or is it the sum of all the quantities which these may indicate? Perhaps the author meant, "above the amount of all other _amounts_." If none of these absurdities is here taught, nothing is taught, and the words are nonsense. Again: "The _superlative degree_ increases or diminishes the positive to the highest or [the] lowest degree _of which it is susceptible_."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 49. "The superlative degree is generally formed by adding _st_ or _est_ to the positive; and denotes _the greatest excess_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 33. "The Superlative increases or diminishes the Signification of the Positive or Adjective, to a _very high_ or a _very low_ Degree."--_British Gram._, p. 97. What _excess_ of skill, or what _very high degree_ of acuteness, have the _brightest_ and _best_ of these grammarians exhibited? There must be some, if their definitions are _true_. OBS. 12.--The common assertion of the grammarians, that the superlative degree is not applicable to two _objects_,[177] is not only unsupported by any reason in the nature of things, but it is contradicted in practice by almost every man who affirms it. Thus Maunder: "When only two persons or things are spoken of comparatively, to use the superlative is improper: as, 'Deborah, my dear, give those two boys a lump of sugar each; and let Dick's be the largest, because he spoke first.' This," says the critic, "should have been 'larger.'"--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 4. It is true, the comparative _might_ here have been used; but the superlative is clearer, and more agreeable to custom. And how can "_largest_" be wrong, if "_first_" is right? "Let Dick's be the _larger_, because he spoke _sooner_," borders too much upon a different idea, that of _proportion_; as when we say, "_The sooner the better_,"--"_The more the merrier_." So Blair: "When only two things are compared, the comparative degree should be used, and not the superlative."--_Practical Gram._, p. 81. "A Trochee has the _first_ syllable accented, and the _last_ unaccented."--_Ib._, p. 118. "An Iambus has the first syllable unaccented, and the _last_ accented."--_Ibid._ These two examples are found also in _Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 305; _Murray's Gram._, p. 253; _Kirkham's_, 219; _Bullions's_, 169; _Guy's_, 120; _Merchant's_, 166. So Hiley: "When _two_ persons or things are compared, the _comparative_ degree must be employed. When _three or more_ persons or things are compared, the _superlative_ must be used."--_Treatise on English Gram._, p. 78. Contradiction in practice: "Thomas is _wiser_ than his brothers."--_Ib._, p. 79. Are not "_three or more persons_" here compared by "the comparative" _wiser_? "In an _Iambus_ the _first_ syllable is unaccented."--_Ib._, p. 123. An iambus has but _two_ syllables; and this author expressly teaches that "_first_" is "superlative."--_Ib._, p. 21. So Sanborn: "The _positive_ degree denotes the _simple_ form of an adjective _without_ any variation of meaning. The _comparative_ degree increases or lessens the meaning _of the positive_, and denotes a comparison _between two_ persons or things. The _superlative_ degree increases or lessens the positive _to the greatest extent_, and denotes a comparison _between more than two_ persons or things."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 30 and p. 86. These pretended definitions of the degrees of comparison embrace not only the absurdities which I have already censured in those of our common grammars, but several new ones peculiar to this author. Of the inconsistency of his doctrine and practice, take the following examples: "Which of two bodies, that move with the same velocity, will exercise the _greatest_ power?"--_Ib._, p. 93; and again, p. 203, "'I was offered a _dollar_;'--'A _dollar_ was offered (to) _me_.' The _first_ form should always be avoided."--_Ib._, p. 127. "Nouns in apposition generally annex the sign of the possessive case to the _last_; as, 'For David my _servant's_ sake.'--'John the _Baptist's_ head.' _Bible_."--_Ib._, p. 197. OBS. 13.--So Murray: "We commonly say, 'This is the _weaker of the two_;' or, 'The _weakest_ of the two;'[178] but the former is the regular mode of expression, because there are _only two_ things compared."--_Octavo Gram._, i, 167. What then of the following example: "Which of _those two persons_ has _most_ distinguished himself?"--_Ib., Key_, ii, 187. Again, in treating of the adjectives _this_ and _that_, the same hand writes thus: "_This_ refers to the _nearest_ person or thing, and _that_ to the _most distant_: as, '_This_ man is _more intelligent_ than _that_.' _This_ indicates the _latter_, or _last_ mentioned; _that_, the _former_, or _first_ mentioned: as, 'Both wealth and poverty are temptations; _that_ tends to excite pride, _this_, discontent.'"--_Murray's Gram._, i, 56. In the former part of this example, the superlative is twice applied where only two things are spoken of; and, in the latter, it is twice made equivalent to the comparative, with a like reference. The following example shows the same equivalence: "_This_ refers to the _last_ mentioned or _nearer_ thing, _that_ to the _first_ mentioned or _more_ distant thing."--_Webber's Gram._, p. 31. So Churchill: "The superlative should not be used, when only two persons or things are compared."--_New Gram._, p. 80. "In the _first_ of these two sentences."--_Ib._, p. 162; _Lowth_, p. 120. According to the rule, it should have been, "In the _former_ of these two sentences;" but this would be here ambiguous, because _former_ might mean _maker_. "When our sentence consists of two members, the _longest_ should, generally, be the concluding one."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 117: and _Jamieson's_, p. 99. "The _shortest_ member being placed _first_, we carry it _more readily_ in our memory as we proceed to the second."--_Ib._, & _Ib._ "Pray consider us, in this respect, as the _weakest_ sex."--_Spect._, No. 533. In this last sentence, the comparative, _weaker_, would perhaps have been better; because, not an absolute, but merely a comparative weakness is meant. So Latham and Child: "It is better, in speaking of only two objects, to use the comparative degree rather than the superlative, even, where we use the article _the_. _This is the better of the two_, is preferable to _this is the best of the two_."--_Elementary Gram._, p. 155. Such is their rule; but very soon they forget it, and write thus: "In this case the relative refers to the _last_ of the two."--_Ib._, p. 163. OBS. 14.--Hyperboles are very commonly expressed by comparatives or superlatives; as, "My _little finger_ shall be _thicker_ than my _father's loins_."--_1 Kings_, xii, 10. "Unto me, who am _less than the least_ of all saints, is this grace given."--_Ephesians_, iii, 8. Sometimes, in thus heightening or lowering the object of his conception, the writer falls into a catachresis, solecism, or abuse of the grammatical degrees; as, "Mustard-seed--which is _less than all the seeds_ that be in the earth."--_Mark_, iv, 31. This expression is objectionable, because mustard-seed is a seed, and cannot be less than itself; though that which is here spoken of, may perhaps have been "_the least of all seeds_:" and it is the same Greek phrase, that is thus rendered in Matt, xiii, 32. Murray has inserted in his Exercises, among "unintelligible and inconsistent words and phrases," the following example from Milton: "And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide."--_Exercises_, p. 122. For this supposed inconsistency, ho proposes in his Key the following amendment: "And, in the _lower_ deep, _another_ deep Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide."--_Key_, p. 254. But, in an other part of his book, he copies from Dr. Blair the same passage, with commendation: saying, "The following sentiments of _Satan in Milton_, as strongly as they are described, _contain nothing_ but what is _natural and proper_: 'Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And in the lowest _depth_, a lower deep, Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.' _P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 73." _Blair's Lectures_, p. 153; _Murray's Grammar_, p. 352. OBS. 15.--Milton's word, in the fourth line above, is _deep_, and not _depth_, as these authors here give it: nor was it very polite in them, to use a phraseology which comes so near to saying, the devil was in the poet. Alas for grammar! accuracy in its teachers has become the most rare of all qualifications. As for Murray's correction above, I see not how it can please any one who chooses to think Hell a place of great depth. A descent into his "_lower_ deep" and "_other_ deep," might be a plunge less horrible than two or three successive slides in one of our western caverns! But Milton supposes the arch-fiend might descend to the lowest _imaginable_ depth of Hell, and there be liable to a still further fall of more tremendous extent. Fall whither? Into the horrid and inconceivable profundity of the _bottomless pit_! What signifies it, to object to his language as "_unintelligible_" if it conveys his idea better than any other could? In no human conception of what is infinite, can there be any real exaggeration. To amplify beyond the truth, is here impossible. Nor is there any superlation which can fix a limit to the idea of more and more in infinitude. Whatever literal absurdity there may be in it, the duplication seems greatly to augment what was even our greatest conception of the thing. Homer, with a like figure, though expressed in the positive degree, makes Jupiter threaten any rebel god, that he shall be thrown down from Olympus, to suffer the burning pains of the Tartarean gulf; not in the centre, but, "As _deep_ beneath th' infernal centre hurl'd, As from that centre to th' ethereal world." --_Pope's Iliad_, B. viii, l. 19. REGULAR COMPARISON. Adjectives are regularly compared, when the comparative degree is expressed by adding _er_, and the superlative, by adding _est_ to them: as, Pos., _great_, Comp., _greater_, Superl., _greatest_; Pos., _mild_, Comp., _milder_, Superl., _mildest_. In the variation of adjectives, final consonants are doubled, final _e_ is omitted, and final _y_ is changed to _i_, agreeably to the rules for spelling: as, _hot, hotter, hottest; wide, wider, widest; happy, happier, happiest_. The regular method of comparison belongs almost exclusively to monosyllables, with dissyllables ending in _w_ or _y_, and such others as receive it and still have but one syllable after the accent: as, _fierce, fiercer, fiercest; narrow, narrower, narrowest; gloomy, gloomier, gloomiest; serene, serener, serenest; noble, nobler, noblest; gentle, gentler, gentlest_. COMPARISON BY ADVERBS. The two degrees of superiority may also be expressed with precisely the same import as above, by prefixing to the adjective the adverbs _more_ and _most_: as, _wise, more wise, most wise; famous, more famous, most famous; amiable, more amiable, most amiable_. The degrees of inferiority are expressed, in like manner, by the adverbs _less_ and _least_: as, _wise, less wise, least wise; famous, less famous, least famous; amiable, less amiable, least amiable_. The regular method of comparison has, properly speaking, no degrees of this kind. Nearly all adjectives that admit of different degrees, may be compared by means of the adverbs; but, for short words, the regular method is generally preferable: as, _quick, quicker, quickest_; rather than, _quick, more quick, most quick_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The genius of our language is particularly averse to the lengthening of long words by additional syllables; and, in the comparison of adjectives, _er_ and _est_ always add a syllable to the word, except it end in _le_ after a mute. Thus, _free, freer, freest_, increases syllabically; but _ample, ampler, amplest_, does not. Whether any particular adjective admits of comparison or not, is a matter of reasoning from the sense of the term; by which method it shall be compared, is in some degree a matter of taste; though custom has decided that long words shall not be inflected, and for the shorter, there is generally an obvious bias in favour of one form rather than the other. Dr. Johnson says, "The comparison of adjectives is very uncertain; and being much regulated by commodiousness of utterance, or agreeableness of sound, is not easily reduced to rules. Monosyllables are commonly compared. Polysyllables, or words of more than two syllables, are seldom compared otherwise than by _more_ and _most_. Dissyllables are seldom compared if they terminate in _full, less, ing, ous, ed, id, at, ent, ain, or ive_."--_Gram. of the English Tongue_, p. 6. "When the positive contains but one syllable, the degrees are usually formed by adding _er_ or _est_. When the positive contains two syllables, it is matter of taste which method you shall use in forming the degrees. The ear is, in this case, the best guide. But, when the positive contains more than two syllables, the degrees must be formed by the use of _more_ and _most_. We may say, _tenderer_ and _tenderest, pleasanter_ and _pleasantest, prettier_ and _prettiest_; but who could endure _delicater_ and _delicatest_?"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, p. 81. _Quiet, bitter, clever, sober_, and perhaps some others like them, are still regularly compared; but such words as _secretest, famousest, virtuousest, powerfullest_, which were used by Milton, have gone out of fashion. The following, though not very commonly used, are perhaps allowable. "Yet these are the two _commonest_ occupations of mankind."--_Philological Museum_, i, 431. "Their _pleasantest_ walks throughout life must be guarded by armed men."--_Ib._, i, 437. "Franklin possessed the rare talent of drawing useful lessons from the _commonest_ occurrences."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 323. "Unbidden guests are often _welcomest_ when they are gone."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "There was a lad, th' _unluckiest_ of his crew, Was still contriving something bad, but new."--KING: _ib._ OBS. 2.--I make a distinction between the regular comparison by _er_ and _est_, and the comparison by adverbs; because, in a grammatical point of view, these two methods are totally different: the meaning, though the same, being expressed in the one case, by an inflection of the adjective; and in the other, by a phrase consisting of two different parts of speech. If the placing of an adverb before an adjective is to be called a grammatical modification or variation of the latter word, we shall have many other degrees than those which are enumerated above. The words may with much more propriety be parsed separately, the degree being ascribed to the adverb--or, if you please, to both words, for both are varied in sense by the inflection of the former. The degrees in which qualities may exist in nature, are infinitely various; but the only degrees with which the grammarian is concerned, are those which our variation of the adjective or adverb enables us to express--including, as of course we must, the state or sense of the primitive word, as one. The reasoning which would make the positive degree to be no degree, would also make the nominative case, or the _casus rectus_ of the Latins, to be no case. OBS. 3.--Whenever the adjective itself denotes these degrees, and is duly varied in form to express them, they properly belong to it; as, _worthy, worthier, worthiest_. (Though no apology can be made for the frequent error of confounding the _degree of a quality_, with the _verbal sign_ which expresses it.) If an adverb is employed for this purpose, that also is compared, and the two degrees thus formed or expressed, are properly its own; as, worthy, _more_ worthy, _most_ worthy. But these same degrees may be yet otherwise expressed; as, worthy, _in a higher degree_ worthy, _in the highest degree_ worthy. Here also the adjective _worthy_ is virtually compared, as before; but only the adjective _high_ is grammatically modified. Again, we may form three degrees with several adverbs to each, thus: Pos., _very truly_ worthy; Comp., _much more truly_ worthy; Sup., _much the most truly_ worthy. There are also other adverbs, which, though not varied in themselves like _much, more, most_, may nevertheless have nearly the same effect upon the adjective; as, worthy, _comparatively_ worthy, _superlatively_ worthy. I make these remarks, because many grammarians have erroneously parsed the adverbs _more_ and _most, less_ and _least_, as parts of the adjective. OBS. 4.--Harris, in his Hermes, or Philosophical Inquiry concerning Universal Grammar, has very unceremoniously pronounced the doctrine of three degrees of comparison, to be _absurd_; and the author of the British Grammar, as he emotes the whole passage without offering any defence of that doctrine, seems to second the allegation. "Mr. Harris observes, that, 'There cannot well be more than two degrees; one to denote simple excess, and one to denote superlative. Were we indeed to introduce more degrees, we ought perhaps to introduce infinite, which is absurd. For why stop at a limited number, when in all subjects, susceptible of intension, the intermediate excesses are in a manner infinite? There are infinite degrees of _more white_ between the first simple _white_ and the superlative _whitest_; the same may be said of _more great, more strong, more minute_, &c. The doctrine of grammarians about _three_ such degrees, which they call the Positive, the Comparative, and the Superlative, must needs be absurd; both because in their Positive there is no comparison at all, and because their Superlative is a Comparative as much as their Comparative itself.' _Hermes_, p. 197."--_Brit. Gram._, p. 98. This objection is rashly urged. No comparison can be imagined without bringing together as many as two terms, and if the positive is one of these, it is a degree of comparison; though neither this nor the superlative is, for that reason, "_a Comparative_." Why we stop at three degrees, I have already shown: we have three _forms_, and only three. OBS. 5.--"The termination _ish_ may be accounted in some sort a degree of comparison, by which the signification is diminished below the positive, as _black, blackish_, or tending to blackness; _salt, saltish_, or having a little taste of salt:[179] they therefore admit of no comparison. This termination is seldom added but to words expressing sensible qualities, nor often to words of above one syllable, and is scarcely used in the solemn or sublime style."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._ "The _first_ [degree] denotes a slight degree of the quality, and is expressed by the termination _ish_; as, _reddish, brownish, yellowish_. This may be denominated the _imperfect_ degree of the attribute."--_Dr. Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 47. I doubt the correctness of the view taken above by Johnson, and dissent entirely from Webster, about his "_first degree_ of comparison." Of adjectives in _ish_ we have perhaps a hundred; but nine out of ten of them are derived clearly from _nouns_, as, _boyish, girlish_; and who can prove that _blackish, saltish, reddish, brownish_, and _yellowish_, are not also from the _nouns, black, salt, red, brown_, and _yellow_? or that "a _more reddish_ tinge,"--"a _more saltish_ taste," are not correct phrases? There is, I am persuaded, no good reason for noticing this termination as constituting a degree of comparison. All "double comparisons" are said to be ungrammatical; but, if _ish_ forms a degree, it is such a degree as may be compared again: as, "And seem _more learnedish_ than those That at a greater charge compose."--_Butler_. OBS. 6.--Among the degrees of comparison, some have enumerated that of _equality_; as when we say, "It is _as sweet as_ honey." Here is indeed a comparison, but it is altogether in the _positive_ degree, and needs no other name. This again refutes Harris; who says, that in the positive there is no comparison at all. But further: it is plain, that in this degree there may be comparisons of _inequality_ also; as, "Molasses is _not so sweet_ as honey."--"Civility is _not so slight_ a matter as it is commonly thought."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 92. Nay, such comparisons may equal any superlative. Thus it is said, I think, in the Life of Robert Hall: "Probably no human being ever before suffered _so much_ bodily pain." What a preeminence is here! and yet the form of the adjective is only that of the positive degree. "Nothing _so uncertain_ as general reputation."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 50. "Nothing _so nauseous_ as undistinguishing civility."--_Ib._, p. 88. These, likewise, would be strong expressions, if they were correct English. But, to my apprehension, every such comparison of equality involves a solecism, when, as it here happens, the former term includes the latter. The word _nothing_ is a general negative, and _reputation_ is a particular affirmative. The comparison of equality between them, is therefore certainly improper: because _nothing_ cannot be equal to _something_; and, reputation being something, and of course equal to itself, the proposition is evidently untrue. It ought to be, "Nothing _is more uncertain than_ general reputation." This is the same as to say, "General reputation is _as uncertain as any thing_ that can be named." Or else the former term should exempt the latter; as. "_Nothing else_"--or, "No _other_ thing, is _so uncertain_ as" _this popular honour, public esteem_, or "_general reputation_." And so of all similar examples. OBS. 7.--In all comparisons, care must be taken to adapt the terms to the degree which is expressed by the adjective or adverb. The superlative degree requires that the object to which it relates, be one of those with which it is compared; as, "_Eve_ was _the fairest_ of women." The comparative degree, on the contrary, requires that the object spoken of be not included among those with which it is compared; as, "_Eve_ was _fairer_ than any of _her daughters_." To take the inclusive term here, and say, "_Eve_ was _fairer_ than any _woman_," would be no less absurd, than Milton's assertion, that "Eve was _the fairest_ of _her daughters_:" the former supposes that she was _not a woman_; the latter, that she was _one of her own daughters_. But Milton's solecism is double; he makes Adam _one of his own sons_:-- "Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."--_P. Lost_, B. iv, l. 324. OBS. 8.--"Such adjectives," says Churchill, "as have in themselves a superlative signification, or express qualities not susceptible of degrees, do not properly admit either the comparative or [the] superlative form. Under this rule may be included _all adjectives with a negative prefix_."--_New Gram._, p. 80. Again: "As _immediate_ signifies instant, present with regard to time, Prior should not have written '_more_ immediate.' _Dr. Johnson_."--_Ib._, p. 233. "Hooker has _unaptest_; Locke, _more uncorrupted_; Holder, _more undeceivable_: for these the proper expressions would have been the opposite signs without the negation: _least apt, less corrupted, less deceivable_. Watts speaks of 'a _most unpassable_ barrier.' If he had simply said 'an unpassable barrier,' we should have understood it at once in the strongest sense, as a barrier impossible to be surmounted: but, by attempting to express something more, he gives an idea of something less; we perceive, that his _unpassable_ means _difficult to pass_. This is the mischief of the propensity to exaggeration; which, striving after strength, sinks into weakness."--_Ib._, p. 234. OBS. 9.--The foregoing remarks from Churchill appear _in general_ to have been dictated by good sense; but, if his own practice is right, there must be some exceptions to his rule respecting the comparison of adjectives with a negative prefix; for, in the phrase "_less imprudent_," which, according to a passage quoted before, he will have to be different from "_more prudent_," he himself furnishes an example of such comparison. In fact, very many words of that class are compared by good writers: as, "Nothing is _more unnecessary_."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. v. "What is yet _more unaccountable_."--ROGERS: _in Joh. Dict._ "It is hard to determine which is _most uneligible_."--_Id., ib._ "Where it appears the _most unbecoming_ and _unnatural_."--ADDISON: _ib._ "Men of the best sense and of the _most unblemished_ lives."--_Id., ib._ "March and September are the _most unsettled_ and _unequable_ of seasons."--BENTLEY: _ib._ "Barcelona was taken by a _most unexpected_ accident."--SWIFT: _ib._ "The _most barren_ and _unpleasant_."--WOODWARD: _ib._ "O good, but _most unwise_ patricians!"--SHAK.: _ib._ "_More unconstant_ than the wind."--_Id., ib._ "We may say _more_ or _less imperfect_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 168. "Some of those [passions] which act with the _most irresistible_ energy upon the hearts of mankind, are altogether omitted in the catalogue of Aristotle."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 380. "The wrong of him who presumes to talk of owning me, is _too unmeasured_ to be softened by kindness."--_Channing, on Emancipation_, p. 52. "Which, we are sensible, are _more inconclusive_ than the rest."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 319. "Ere yet the salt of _most unrighteous_ tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes."--_Shak._ OBS. 10.--Comparison must not be considered a general property of adjectives. It belongs chiefly to the class which I call common adjectives, and is by no means applicable to all of these. _Common adjectives_, or epithets denoting quality, are perhaps more numerous than all the other classes put together. Many of these, and a few that are pronominal, may be varied by comparison; and some _participial_ adjectives may be compared by means of the adverbs. But adjectives formed from _proper names_, all the numerals, and most of the compounds, are in no way susceptible of comparison. All nouns used adjectively, as an _iron_ bar, an _evening_ school, a _mahogany_ chair, a _South-Sea_ dream, are also incapable of comparison. In the title of "His _Most Christian_ Majesty," the superlative adverb is applied to a _proper adjective_; but who will pretend that we ought to understand by it "_the highest degree_" of Christian attainment? It might seem uncourtly to suggest that this is "an abuse of the king's English," I shall therefore say no such thing. Pope compares the word Christian, in the following couplet:-- "Go, purified by flames ascend the sky, My better and _more Christian_ progeny."--_Dunciad_, B. i, l. 227. IRREGULAR COMPARISON. The following adjectives are compared irregularly: _good, better, best; bad, evil_, or _ill, worse, worst; little, less, least; much, more, most; many, more, most_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In _English_, and also in _Latin_, most adjectives that denote _place_ or _situation_, not only form the superlative irregularly, but are also either defective or redundant in comparison. Thus: I. The following nine have more than one superlative: _far, farther, farthest, farmost_, or _farthermost; near, nearer, nearest_ or _next; fore, former, foremost_ or _first; hind, hinder, hindmost_ or _hindermost; in, inner, inmost_ or _innermost; out, outer_, or _utter, outmost_ or _utmost, outermost_ or _uttermost; up, upper, upmost_ or _uppermost; low, lower, lowest_ or _lowermost; late, later_ or _latter, latest_ or _last_. II. The following five want the positive: [_aft_, adv.,] _after, aftmost_ or _aftermost_; [_forth_, adv., formerly _furth_,[180]] _further, furthest_ or _furthermost; hither, hithermost; nether, nethermost; under, undermost_. III. The following want the comparative: _front, frontmost; rear, rearmost; head, headmost; end, endmost; top, topmost; bottom, bottommost; mid_ or _middle, midst,[181] midmost_ or _middlemost; north, northmost; south, southmost; east, eastmost; west, westmost; northern, northernmost; southern, southernmost; eastern, easternmost; western, westernmost_. OBS. 2.--Many of these irregular words are not always used as adjectives, but oftener as nouns, adverbs, or prepositions. The sense in which they are employed, will show to what class they belong. The terms _fore_ and _hind, front_ and _rear, right_ and _left, in_ and _out, high_ and _low, top_ and _bottom, up_ and _down, upper_ and _under, mid_ and _after_, all but the last pair, are in direct contrast with each other. Many of them are often joined in composition with other words; and some, when used as adjectives of place, are rarely separated from their nouns: as, _in_land, _out_house, _mid_-sea, _after_-ages. Practice is here so capricious, I find it difficult to determine whether the compounding of these terms is proper or not. It is a case about which he that inquires most, may perhaps be most in doubt. If the joining of the words prevents the possibility of mistaking the adjective for a preposition, it prevents also the separate classification of the adjective and the noun, and thus in some sense destroys the former by making the whole a noun. Dr. Webster writes thus: "FRONTROOM, _n._ A room or apartment in the _forepart_ of a house. BACKROOM, _n._ A room behind the _front room_, or in the _back part_ of the house."--_Octavo Dict._ So of many phrases by which people tell of turning things, or changing the position of their parts; as, _in_side out, _out_side _in; up_side _down, down_side _up_; _wrong_ end _foremost, but_-end _foremost_; _fore_-part _back, fore_-end _aft_; _hind_ side _before, back_side _before_. Here all these contrasted particles seem to be adjectives of place or situation. What grammarians in general would choose to call them, it is hard to say; probably, many would satisfy themselves with calling the whole "_an adverbial phrase_,"--the common way of disposing of every thing which it is difficult to analyze. These, and the following examples from Scott, are a fair specimen of the uncertainty of present usage: "The herds without a keeper strayed, The plough was in _mid-furrow_ staid."--_Lady of the Lake_. "The eager huntsman knew his bound, And in _mid chase_ called off his hound."--_Ibidem_. OBS. 3.--For the chief points of the compass, we have so many adjectives, and so many modes of varying or comparing them, that it is difficult to tell their number, or to know which to choose in practice. (1.) _North, south, east_, and _west_, are familiarly used both as nouns and as adjectives. From these it seems not improper to form superlatives, as above, by adding _most_; as, "From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild of _southmost_ Abarim."--_Milton_. "There are no rivulets or springs in the island of Feror, the _westmost_ of the Canaries."--_White's Nat. Hist._ (2.) These primitive terms may also be compared, in all three of the degrees, by the adverbs _farther_ and _farthest_, or _further_ and _furthest_; as, "Which is yet _farther west_."--_Bacon_. (3.) Though we never employ as separate words the comparatives _norther, souther, easter, wester_, we have _northerly, southerly, easterly_, and _westerly_, which seem to have been formed from such comparatives, by adding _ly_; and these four may be compared by the adverbs _more_ and _most_, or _less_ and _least_: as, "These hills give us a view of the _most easterly, southerly_, and _westerly_ parts of England."--GRAUNT: _in Joh. Dict._ (4.) From these supposed comparatives likewise, some authors form the superlatives _northermost, southermost, eastermost_, and _westermost_; as, "From the _westermost_ part of Oyster bay."--_Dr. Webster's Hist. U. S._, p. 126. "And three miles southward of the _southermost_ part of said bay."--_Trumbull's Hist. of Amer._, Vol. i, p. 88. "Pockanocket was on the _westermost_ line of Plymouth Colony."--_Ib._, p. 44. "As far as the _northermost_ branch of the said bay or river."--_Ib._, p. 127. The propriety of these is at least questionable; and, as they are neither very necessary to the language, nor recognized by any of our lexicographers, I forbear to approve them. (5.) From the four primitives we have also a third series of positives, ending in _ern_; as, _northern, southern, eastern, western_. These, though they have no comparatives of their own, not only form superlatives by assuming the termination _most_, but are sometimes compared, perhaps in both degrees, by a separate use of the adverbs: as, "_Southernmost, a_. Furthest towards the south."--_Webster's Dict._ "Until it shall intersect the _northernmost_ part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude."--_Articles of Peace_. "To the _north-westernmost_ head of Connecticut river."--_Ib._ "Thence through the said lake to the _most north-western_ point thereof."--_Ib._ OBS. 4.--It may be remarked of the comparatives _former_ and _latter_ or _hinder, upper_ and _under_ or _nether, inner_ and _outer_ or _utter, after_ and _hither_; as well as of the Latin _superior_ and _inferior, anterior_ and _posterior, interior_ and _exterior, prior_ and _ulterior, senior_ and _junior, major_ and _minor_; that they cannot, like other comparatives, be construed with the conjunction _than_. After all genuine English comparatives, this conjunction may occur, because it is the only fit word for introducing the latter term of comparison; but we never say one thing is _former_ or _latter, superior_ or _inferior, than_ an other. And so of all the rest here named. Again, no real comparative or superlative can ever need an other superadded to it; but _inferior_ and _superior_ convey ideas that do not always preclude the additional conception of _more_ or _less_: as, "With respect to high and low notes, pronunciation is still _more inferior_ to singing."--_Kames, Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 73. "The mistakes which the _most superior_ understanding is apt to fall into."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 117. OBS. 5.--Double comparatives and double superlatives, being in general awkward and unfashionable, as well as tautological, ought to be avoided. Examples: "The Duke of Milan, and his _more braver_ daughter, could control thee."--_Shak., Tempest_. Say, "his _more gallant_ daughter." "What in me was purchased, falls upon thee in a _more fairer_ sort."--_Id., Henry IV_. Say, "_fairer_," or, "_more honest_;" for "_purchased_" here means _stolen_. "Changed to a _worser_ shape thou canst not be."--_Id., Hen. VI_. Say, "a _worse_ shape"--or, "an _uglier_ shape." "After the _most straitest_ sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee."--_Acts_, xxvi, 5. Say, "the _strictest_ sect." "Some say he's mad; others, that _lesser_ hate him, do call it valiant fury."--_Shak_. Say, "others, that hate him _less_." In this last example, _lesser_ is used adverbially; in which construction it is certainly incorrect. But against _lesser_ as an adjective, some grammarians have spoken with more severity, than comports with a proper respect for authority. Dr. Johnson says, "LESSER, _adj_. A barbarous corruption of _less_, formed by the vulgar from the habit of terminating comparatives in _er; afterward adopted by poets, and then by writers of prose, till it has all the authority which a mode originally erroneous can derive from custom_."--_Quarto Dict._ With no great fairness, Churchill quotes this passage as far as the semicolon, and there stops. The position thus taken, he further endeavours to strengthen, by saying, "_Worser_, though _not more barbarous_, offends the ear in a much greater degree, because it has not been so frequently used."--_New Gram._, p. 232. Example: "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the _lesser_ light to rule the night."--_Gen._, i, 16. Kirkham, after making an _imitation_ of this passage, remarks upon it: "_Lesser_ is _as incorrect_ as _badder, gooder, worser_."--_Gram._, p. 77. The judgement of any critic who is ignorant enough to say this, is worthy only of contempt. _Lesser_ is still frequently used by the most tasteful authors, both in verse and prose: as, "It is the glowing style of a man who is negligent of _lesser_ graces."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 189. "Athos, Olympus, AEtna, Atlas, made These hills seem things of _lesser_ dignity."--_Byron_. OBS. 6.--The adjective _little_ is used in different senses; for it contrasts sometimes with _great_, and sometimes with _much_. _Lesser_ appears to refer only to size. Hence _less_ and _lesser_ are not always equivalent terms. _Lesser_ means _smaller_, and contrasts only with _greater_. _Less_ contrasts sometimes with _greater_, but oftener with _more_, the comparative of _much_; for, though it may mean _not so large_, its most common meaning is _not so much_. It ought to be observed, likewise, that _less_ is not an adjective of _number_,[182] though not unfrequently used as such. It does not mean _fewer_, and is therefore not properly employed in sentences like the following: "In all verbs, there are no _less_ than three things implied at once."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 81. "_Smaller_ things than three," is nonsense; and so, in reality, is what the Doctor here says. _Less_ is not the proper opposite to _more_, when _more_ is the comparative of _many: few, fewer, fewest_, are the only words which contrast regularly with _many, more, most_. In the following text, these comparatives are rightly employed: "And to the _more_ ye shall give the _more_ inheritance, and to the _fewer_ ye shall give the _less_ inheritance."--_Numbers_, xxxiii, 54. But if writers will continue to use _less_ for _fewer_, so that "_less cattle_," for instance, may mean "_fewer cattle_;" we shall be under a sort of _necessity_ to retain _lesser_, in order to speak intelligibly: as, "It shall be for the sending-forth of oxen, and for the treading of _lesser_ cattle."--_Isaiah_, vii, 25. I have no partiality for the word _lesser_, neither will I make myself ridiculous by flouting at its rudeness. "This word," says Webster, "is a corruption, but [it is] too well established to be discarded. Authors always write the _Lesser_ Asia."--_Octavo Dict._ "By the same reason, may a man punish the _lesser_ breaches of that law."--_Locke_. "When we speak of the _lesser_ differences among the tastes of men."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 20. "In greater or _lesser_ degrees of complexity."--_Burke, on Sublime_, p. 94. "The greater ought not to succumb to the _lesser_."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 128. "To such productions, _lesser_ composers must resort for ideas."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 413. "The larger here, and there the _lesser_ lambs, The new-fall'n young herd bleating for their dams."--_Pope_. OBS. 7.--Our grammarians deny the comparison of many adjectives, from a false notion that they are already superlatives. Thus W. Allen: "Adjectives compounded with the Latin preposition _per_, are already superlative: as, _perfect, perennial, permanent_, &c."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p. 52. In reply to this, I would say, that nothing is really superlative, in English, but what has the form and construction of the superlative; as, "The _most permanent_ of all dyes." No word beginning with _per_, is superlative by virtue of this Latin prefix. "Separate spirits, which are beings that have _perfecter_ knowledge and greater happiness than we, must needs have also a _perfecter_ way of communicating their thoughts than we have."--_Locke's Essay_, B. ii, Ch. 24, Sec.36, This mode of comparison is not now good, but it shows that _perfect_ is no superlative. Thus Kirkham: "The _following_ adjectives, and _many others_, are _always in the superlative degree_; because, by expressing a quality _in the highest degree_, they carry in themselves a superlative signification: _chief, extreme, perfect, right, wrong, honest, just, true, correct, sincere, vast, immense, ceaseless, infinite, endless, unparalleled, universal, supreme, unlimited, omnipotent, all-wise, eternal_." [183]--_Gram._, p. 73. So the Rev. David Blair: "The words _perfect, certain, infinite, universal, chief, supreme, right, true, extreme, superior_, and some others, which express a perfect and superlative sense in themselves, do not admit of comparison."--_English Gram._, p. 81. Now, according to Murray's definition, which Kirkham adopts, none of these words can be at all in the superlative degree. On the contrary, there are several among them, from which true superlatives are frequently and correctly formed. Where are the positives which are here supposed to be "_increased to the highest degree_?" Every real superlative in our language, except _best_ and _worst, most_ and _least, first_ and _last_, with the still more irregular word _next_, is a derivative, formed from some other English word, by adding _est_ or _most_; as, _truest, hindmost_. The propriety or impropriety of comparing the foregoing words, or any of the "_many others_" of which this author speaks, is to be determined according to their meaning, and according to the usage of good writers, and not by the dictation of a feeble pedant, or upon the supposition that if compared they would form "_double superlatives_." OBS. 8.--_Chief_ is from the French word _chef_, the _head: chiefest_ is therefore no more a double superlative than _headmost_: "But when the _headmost_ foes appeared."--_Scott_. Nor are _chief_ and _chiefest_ equivalent terms: "Doeg an Edomite, the _chiefest_ of the herdsmen."--_1 Samuel_, xxi, 7. "The _chief_ of the herdsmen," would convey a different meaning; it would be either the _leader_ of the herdsmen, or the _principal part_ of them. _Chiefest_, however, has often been used where _chief_ would have been better; as, "He sometimes denied admission to the _chiefest_ officers of the army."--_Clarendon_, let us look further at Kirkham's list of _absolute_ "_superlatives_." OBS. 9.--_Extreme_ is from the Latin superlative _extremus_, and of course its literal signification is not really susceptible of increase. Yet _extremest_ has been used, and is still used, by some of the very best writers; as, "They thought it the _extremest_ of evils."--_Bacon_. "That on the sea's _extremest_ border stood."--_Addison_. "How, to _extremest_ thrill of agony."--_Pollok_, B. viii, l. 270. "I go th' _extremest_ remedy to prove."--_Dryden_. "In _extremest_ poverty."--_Swift_. "The hairy fool stood on th' _extremest_ verge of the swift brook, augmenting it with tears."--_Shak_. "While the _extremest_ parts of the earth were meditating submission."--_Atterbury_. "His writings are poetical to the _extremest_ boundaries of poetry."--_Adams's Rhetoric_, i, 87. In prose, this superlative is not now very common; but the poets still occasionally use it, for the sake of their measure; and it ought to be noticed that the simple adjective is _not partitive_. If we say, for the first example, "the _extreme_ of evils;" we make the word a _noun_, and do not convey exactly the same idea that is there expressed. OBS. 10.--_Perfect_, if taken in its strictest sense, must not be compared; but this word, like many others which mean most in the positive, is often used with a certain latitude of meaning, which renders its comparison by the adverbs not altogether inadmissible; nor is it destitute of authority, as I have already shown. (See Obs. 8th, p. 280.) "From the first rough sketches, to the _more perfect_ draughts."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 152. "The _most perfect_."--_Adams's Lect. on Rhet._, i, 99 and 136; ii, 17 and 57: _Blair's Lect._, pp. 20 and 399. "The most _beautiful and perfect_ example of analysis."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. 10. "The plainest, _most perfect_, and most useful manual."--_Bullions's E. Gram., Rev._, p. 7. "Our sight is the _most perfect_, and the most delightful, of all our senses."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 411; _Blair's Lect._, pp. 115 and 194; _Murray's Gram._, i, 322. Here Murray anonymously copied Blair. "And to render natives _more perfect_ in the knowledge of it."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 171; _Murray's Gram._, p. 366. Here Murray copied Campbell, the most accurate of all his masters. Whom did he copy when he said, "The phrases, _more perfect_, and _most perfect_, are improper?"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 168. But if these are wrong, so is the following sentence: "No poet has ever attained a _greater perfection_ than Horace."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 398. And also this: "Why are we brought into the world _less perfect_ in respect to our nature?"--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 220. OBS. 11.--_Right_ and _wrong_ are not often compared by good writers; though we sometimes see such phrases as _more right_ and _more wrong_, and such words as _rightest_ and _wrongest_: "'Tis always in the _wrongest_ sense."--_Butler_. "A method of attaining the _rightest_ and greatest happiness."--PRICE: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 78. "It is no _more right_ to steal apples, than it is to steal money."--_Webster's New Spelling-Book_, p. 118. There are equivalent expressions which seem preferable; as, _more proper, more erroneous, most proper, most erroneous_. OBS. 12.--_Honest, just, true, correct, sincere_, and _vast_, may all be compared at pleasure. Pope's Essay on Criticism is _more correct_ than any thing this modest pretender can write; and in it, he may find the comparative _juster_, the superlatives _justest, truest, sincerest_, and the phrases, "_So vast_ a throng,"--"_So vast_ is art:" all of which are contrary to his teaching. "_Unjuster_ dealing is used in buying than in selling."--_Butler's Poems_, p. 163. "_Iniquissimam_ pacem _justissimo_ bello antefero."--_Cicero_. "I prefer the _unjustest_ peace before the _justest_ war."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 68. The poet Cowley used the word _honestest_; which is not now very common. So Swift: "What _honester_ folks never durst for their ears."--_The Yahoo's Overthrow_. So Jucius: "The _honestest_ and ablest men."--_Letter XVIII_. "The sentence would be _more correct_ in the following form."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 223. "Elegance is chiefly gained by studying the _correctest_ writers."--_Holmes's Rhetoric_, p. 27. _Honest_ and _correct_, for the sake of euphony, require the adverbs; as, _more honest_, "_most correct_."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. iv. _Vast, vaster, vastest_, are words as smooth, as _fast, faster, fastest_; and _more vast_ is certainly as good English as _more just_: "Shall mortal man be _more just_ than God?"--_Job_, iv, 17. "Wilt thou condemn him that is _most just_?"--_Ib._, xxxiv, 17. "More wise, more learn'd, _more just_, more-everything."--_Pope. Universal_ is often compared by the adverbs, but certainly with no reenforcement of meaning: as, "One of the _most universal_ precepts, is, that the orator himself should feel the passion."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 379. "Though not _so universal_."--_Ib._, ii, 311. "This experience is general, though not _so universal_, as the absence of memory in childhood."--_Ib._, ii, 362. "We can suppose no motive which would _more universally_ operate."--_Dr. Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "Music is known to have been _more universally_ studied."--_Ib._, p. 123. "We shall not wonder, that his grammar has been _so universally_ applauded."--_Walker's Recommendation in Murray's Gram._, ii, 306. "The pronoun _it_ is the _most universal_ of all the pronouns."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 66. Thus much for one half of this critic's twenty-two "_superlatives_." The rest are simply adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison: they are not "superlatives" at all. A man might just as well teach, that _good_ is a superlative, and not susceptible of comparison, because "_there is none good but one_." OBS. 13.--Pronominal adjectives, when their nouns are expressed, simply relate to them, and have no modifications: except _this_ and _that_, which form the plurals _these_ and _those_; and _much, many_, and a few others, which are compared. Examples: "Whence hath _this_ man _this_ wisdom, and _these_ mighty works?"--_Matt._, xiii, 54. "But _some_ man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with _what_ body do they come?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 35. "The _first_ man Adam was made a living soul; the _last_ Adam was made a quickening spirit."--_Ib._, 45. So, when one pronominal adjective "precedes an other, the former _must be taken_ simply as an adjective;" as, "Those suns are set. O rise _some other_ such!" --_Cowper's Task_, B. ii, l. 252. OBS. 14.--Pronominal adjectives, when their nouns are not expressed, may be parsed as representing them in _person, number, gender_, and _case_; but those who prefer it, may supply the ellipsis, and parse the adjective, _simply as an adjective_. Example: "He threatens _many_, who injures _one_."--_Kames_. Here it may be said, "_Many_ is a pronominal adjective, meaning _many persons_; of the third person, plural number, masculine gender, and objective case." Or those who will take the word simply as an adjective, may say, "_Many_ is a pronominal adjective, of the positive degree, compared _many, more, most_, and relating to _persons_ understood." And so of "_one_," which represents, or relates to, _person_ understood. Either say, "_One_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared," and give the _three definitions_ accordingly; or else say, "One is a pronominal adjective, relating to _person_ understood; of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and objective case," and give the _six definitions_ accordingly. OBS. 15.--_Elder_ for _older_, and _eldest_ for _oldest_, are still frequently used; though the ancient positive, _eld_ for _old_, is now obsolete. Hence some have represented _old_ as having a two-fold comparison; and have placed it, not very properly, among the irregular adjectives. The comparatives _elder_ and _better_, are often used as _nouns_; so are the Latin comparatives _superior_ and _inferior, interior_ and _exterior, senior_ and _junior, major_ and _minor_: as, The _elder's_ advice,--One of the _elders_,--His _betters_,--Our _superiors_,--The _interior_ of the country,--A handsome _exterior_,--Your _seniors_,--My _juniors_,--A _major_ in the army,--He is yet a _minor_. The word _other_, which has something of the nature of a comparative, likewise takes the form of a noun, as before suggested; and, in that form, the reader, if he will, may call it a noun: as, "What do ye more than _others_?"--_Bible_. "God in thus much is bounded, that the evil hath he left unto _an other_; and _that Dark Other_ hath usurped the evil which Omnipotence laid down."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 45. Some call it a pronoun. But it seems to be pronominal, merely by ellipsis of the noun after it; although, unlike a mere adjective, it assumes the ending of the noun, to mark that ellipsis. Perhaps therefore, the best explanation of it would be this: "'_Others_ is a pronominal adjective, having the form of a noun, and put for _other men_; in the third person, plural number, masculine gender, and nominative case." The gender of this word varies, according to that of the contrasted term; and the case, according to the relation it bears to other words. In the following example, it is neuter and objective: "The fibres of this muscle act as those of _others_."--_Cheyne_. Here, "as _those of others_," means, "as _the fibres_ of _other muscles_." OBS. 16.--"Comparatives and superlatives seem sometimes to part with their relative nature, and only to retain their _intensive_, especially those which are formed by the superlative adverb _most_; as, 'A _most learned_ man,'--'A _most brave_ man:' i. e. not the bravest or the most learned man that ever was, but a man possessing bravery or learning in a very eminent degree."--See _Alexander Murray's Gram._, p. 110. This use of the terms of comparison is thought by some not to be very grammatical. OBS. 17.--Contractions of the superlative termination _est_, as _high'st_ for _highest, bigg'st for biggest_, though sometimes used by the poets, are always inelegant, and may justly be considered grammatically improper. They occur most frequently in doggerel verse, like that of _Hudibras_; the author of which work, wrote, in his droll fashion, not only the foregoing monosyllables, but _learned'st_ for _most learned, activ'st_ for _most active, desperat'st_ for _most desperate, epidemical'st_ for _most epidemical_, &c. "And _th' activ'st_ fancies share as loose alloys, For want of equal weight to counterpoise."--_Butler's Poems_. "Who therefore finds the _artificial'st_ fools Have not been chang'd _i th'_ cradle, but the schools."--_Ib._, p. 143. OBS. 18.--Nouns used adjectively are not varied in number to agree with the nouns to which they relate, but what is singular or plural when used substantively, is without number when taken as an adjective: as, "One of the nine _sister_ goddesses."--_Webster's Dict., w. Muse_. "He has money in a _savings_ bank." The latter mode of expression is uncommon, and the term _savings-bank_ is sometimes compounded, but the hyphen does not really affect the nature of the former word. It is doubtful, however, whether a plural noun can ever properly assume the character of an adjective; because, if it is not then really the same as the possessive case, it will always be liable to be thought a false form of that case. What Johnson wrote "_fullers earth_" and "_fullers thistle_;" Chalmers has "_fullers earth_" and "_fuller's thistle_;" Webster, "_fuller's-earth_" and "_fuller's-thistle_;" Ainsworth, "_fuller's earth_" and "_fuller's thistle_;" Walker has only "_fullers-earth_;" Worcester, "_fuller's-earth_;" Cobb, "_fullers earth_;" the Treasury of Knowledge, "_fullers'-earth_." So unsettled is this part of our grammar, that in many such cases it is difficult cult to say whether we ought to use the apostrophe, or the hyphen, or both, or neither. To insert neither, unless we make a close compound, is to use a plural noun adjectively; which form, I think, is the most objectionable of all. See "_All souls day_,"--"_All-fools-day_,"--"_All-saints'-day_," &c., in the dictionaries. These may well be written "_All Souls' Day_" &c. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS IV.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Fourth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, _and_ ADJECTIVES. _The definitions to be given in the Fourth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, and one for a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "The best and most effectual method of teaching grammar, is precisely that of which the careless are least fond: teach learnedly, rebuking whatsoever is false, blundering, or unmannerly."--_G. Brown_. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Best_ is a common adjective, of the superlative degree; compared irregularly, _good, better, best_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it. _And_, is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in constructing, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Most_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Effectual_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _effectual, more effectual, most effectual_; or, _effectual, less effectual, least effectual_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs. _Method_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person, is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Teaching_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _Grammar_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Precisely_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _That_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared; standing for _that method_, in the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. [See OBS. 14th,] 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun or represent it understood. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Which_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Careless_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _careless, more careless, most careless_; or, _careless, less careless, least careless_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs. _Are_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Least_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Fond_ is a common adjective, compared regularly, _fond, fonder, fondest_; but here made superlative by the adverb _least_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 8. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it. _Teach_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Learnedly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Rebuking_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _Whatsoever_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. _Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _False_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared regularly, _false, falser, falsest_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form. _Blundering_ is a participial adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _blundering, more blundering, most blundering_; or, _blundering, less blundering, least blundering_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A participial adjective is one that has the form of a participle, but differs from it by rejecting the idea of time. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs. _Or_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Unmannerly_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _unmannerly, more unmannerly, most unmannerly_; or, _unmannerly, less unmannerly, least unmannerly_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs. LESSON I.--PARSING. "The noblest and most beneficial invention of which human ingenuity can boast, is that of writing."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. II, p. 193. "Charlemagne was the tallest, the handsomest, and the strongest man of his time; his appearance was truly majestic, and he had surprising agility in all sorts of manly exercises."--_Stories of France_, p. 19. "Money, like other things, is more or less valuable, as it is less or more plentiful."--_Beanie's Moral Science_, p. 378. "The right way of acting, is, in a moral sense, as much a reality, in the mind of an ordinary man, as the straight or the right road."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. Lang._, i, 118. "The full period of several members possesses most dignity and modulation, and conveys also the greatest degree of force, by admitting the closest compression of thought."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 79. "His great master, Demosthenes, in addressing popular audiences, never had recourse to a similar expedient. He avoided redundancies, as equivocal and feeble. He aimed only to make the deepest and most efficient impression; and he employed for this purpose, the plainest, the fewest, and the most emphatic words."--_Ib._, p. 68. "The high eloquence which I have last mentioned, is always the offspring of passion. A man actuated by a strong passion, becomes much greater than he is at other times. He is conscious of more strength and force; he utters greater sentiments, conceives higher designs, and executes them with a boldness and felicity, of which, on other occasions, he could not think himself capable."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 236. "His words bore sterling weight, nervous and strong, In manly tides of sense they roll'd along."--_Churchill_. "To make the humble proud, the proud submiss, Wiser the wisest, and the brave more brave."--_W. S. Landor_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "I am satisfied that in this, as in all cases, it is best, safest, as well as most right and honorable, to speak freely and plainly."--_Channing's Letter to Clay_, p. 4. "The gospel, when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, through the wonder-working power of God, can make the proud humble, the selfish disinterested, the worldly heavenly, the sensual pure."--_Christian Experience_, p. 399. "I am so much the better, as I am the liker[184] the best; and so much the holier, as I am more conformable to the holiest, or rather to Him who is holiness itself."--_Bp. Beneridge_. "Whether any thing in Christianity appears to them probable, or improbable; consistent, or inconsistent; agreeable to what they should have expected, or the contrary; wise and good, or ridiculous and useless; is perfectly irrelevant."--_M'Ilvaine's Evidences_, p. 523. "God's providence is higher, and deeper, and larger, and stronger, than all the skill of his adversaries; and his pleasure shall be accomplished in their overthrow, except they repent and become his friends."--_Cox, on Christianity_, p. 445. "A just relish of what is beautiful, proper, elegant, and ornamental, in writing or painting, in architecture or gardening, is a fine preparation for the same just relish of these qualities in character and behaviour. To the man who has acquired a taste so acute and accomplished, every action wrong or improper must be highly disgustful: if, in any instance, the overbearing power of passion sway him from his duty, he returns to it with redoubled resolution never to be swayed a second time."--_Kames, Elements of Criticism_, Vol. i, p. 25. "In grave Quintilian's copious work, we find The justest rules and clearest method join'd."--_Pope, on Crit._ LESSON III.--PARSING. "There are several sorts of scandalous tempers; some malicious, and some effeminate; others obstinate, brutish, and savage. Some humours are childish and silly; some, false, and others, scurrilous; some, mercenary, and some, tyrannical."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 52. "Words are obviously voluntary signs: and they are also arbitrary; excepting a few simple sounds expressive of certain internal emotions, which sounds being the same in all languages, must be the work of nature: thus the unpremeditated tones of admiration are the same in all men."--_Kames, Elements of Crit._, i, 347. "A stately and majestic air requires sumptuous apparel, which ought not to be gaudy, nor crowded with little ornaments. A woman of consummate beauty can bear to be highly adorned, and yet shows best in a plain dress."--_Ib._, p. 279. "Of all external objects a graceful person is the most agreeable. But in vain will a person attempt to be graceful, who is deficient in amiable qualities."--_Ib._, p. 299. "The faults of a writer of acknowledged excellence are more dangerous, because the influence of his example is more extensive; and the interest of learning requires that they should be discovered and stigmatized, before they have the sanction of antiquity bestowed upon them, and become precedents of indisputable authority."--_Dr. Johnson, Rambler_, Vol. ii, No. 93. "Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident; above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 145. "The wisest nations, having the most and best ideas, will consequently have the best and most copious languages."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 408. "Here we trace the operation of powerful causes, while we remain ignorant of their nature; but everything goes on with such regularity and harmony, as to give a striking and convincing proof of a combining directing intelligence."--_Life of W. Allen_, Vol. i, p. 170. "The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever Timorous and loth, with novice modesty, Irresolute, unhardy, unadventurous."--_Milton_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS OF ADJECTIVES. LESSON I.--DEGREES. "I have the real excuse of the honestest sort of bankrupts."--_Cowley's Preface_, p. viii. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _honestest_ is harshly compared by _est_. But, according to a principle stated on page 283d concerning the regular degrees, "This method of comparison is to be applied only to monosyllables, and to dissyllables of a smooth termination, or such as receive it and still have but one syllable after the accent." Therefore, _honestest_ should be _most honest_; thus, "I have real excuse of the _most honest_ sort of bankrupts."] "The honourablest part of talk, is, to give the occasion."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 90. "To give him one of his own modestest proverbs."-- _Barclay's Works_, iii, 340. "Our language is now certainly properer and more natural, than it was formerly."--_Bp. Burnet_. "Which will be of most and frequentest use to him in the world."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 163. "The same is notified in the notablest places in the diocese."--_Whitgift_. "But it was the dreadfullest sight that ever I saw."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 70. "Four of the ancientest, soberest, and discreetest of the brethren, chosen for the occasion, shall regulate it."--_Locke, on Church Gov_. "Nor can there be any clear understanding of any Roman author, especially of ancienter time, without this skill."--_Walker's Particles_, p. x. "Far the learnedest of the Greeks."--_Ib._, p. 120. "The learneder thou art, the humbler be thou."--_Ib._, p. 228. "He is none of the best or honestest."-- _Ib._, p. 274. "The properest methods of communicating it to others."-- _Burn's Gram._, Prof, p. viii. "What heaven's great King hath powerfullest to send against us."--_Paradise Lost_. "Benedict is not the unhopefullest husband that I know."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "That he should immediately do all the meanest and triflingest things himself."--RAY: _in Johnson's Gram._, p. 6. "I shall be named among the famousest of women."--MILTON'S _Samson Agonistes: ib._ "Those have the inventivest heads for all purposes."--ASCHAM: _ib._ "The wretcheder are the contemners of all helps."--BEN JONSON: _ib._ "I will now deliver a few of the properest and naturallest considerations that belong to this piece."--WOTTON: _ib._ "The mortalest poisons practised by the West Indians, have some mixture of the blood, fat, or flesh of man."--BACON: _ib._ "He so won upon him, that he rendered him one of the faithfulest and most affectionate allies the Medes ever had."--_Rollin_, ii, 71. "'You see before you,' says he to him, 'the most devoted servant, and the faithfullest ally, you ever had.'"--_Ib._, ii, 79. "I chose the flourishing'st tree in all the park."--_Cowley_. "Which he placed, I think, some centuries backwarder than Julius Africanus thought fit to place it afterwards."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 53. "The Tiber, the notedest river of Italy."--_Littleton's Dict._ "To fartherest shores the ambrosial spirit flies." --_Cutler's Gram._, p. 140. ----"That what she wills to do or say, Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best." --_Milton_, B. viii, l. 550. LESSON II.--MIXED. "During the three or four first years of its existence."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 27. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the cardinal numbers, _three_ and _four_ are put before the ordinal _first_. But, according to the 7th part of Obs. 7th, page 280th, "In specifying any part of a series, we ought to place the cardinal number after the ordinal." Therefore the words _three_ and _four_ should be placed after _first_; thus, "During the _first three_ or _four_ years of its existence."] "To the first of these divisions, my ten last lectures have been devoted."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 391. "There are in the twenty-four states not less than sixty thousand common schools."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 38. "I know of nothing which gives teachers so much trouble as this want of firmness."--_Ib._, p. 57. "I know of nothing that throws such darkness over the line which separates right from wrong."--_Ib._, p. 58. "None need this purity and simplicity of language and thought so much as the common school instructor."--_Ib._, p. 64. "I know of no periodical that is so valuable to the teacher as the Annals of Education."--_Ib._, p. 67. "Are not these schools of the highest importance? Should not every individual feel the deepest interest in their character and condition?"--_Ib._, p. 78. "If instruction were made a profession, teachers would feel a sympathy for each other."--_Ib._, p. 93. "Nothing is so likely to interest children as novelty and change."--_Ib._, p. 131. "I know of no labour which affords so much happiness as that of the teacher's."--_Ib._, p. 136. "Their school exercises are the most pleasant and agreeable of any that they engage in."--_Ib._, p. 136. "I know of no exercise so beneficial to the pupil as that of drawing maps."--_Ib._, p. 176. "I know of nothing in which our district schools are so defective as they are in the art of teaching grammar."--_Ib._, p. 196. "I know of nothing so easily acquired as history."--_Ib._ p. 206. "I know of nothing for which scholars usually have such an abhorrence, as composition."--_Ib._, p. 210. "There is nothing in our fellow-men that we should respect with so much sacredness as their good name."--_Ib._, p. 307. "Sure never any thing was so unbred as that odious man."--CONGREVE: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the dialogue between the mariner and the shade of the deceast."--_Philological Museum_, i, 466. "These master-works would still be less excellent and finisht"--_Ib._, i, 469. "Every attempt to staylace the language of polisht conversation, renders our phraseology inelegant and clumsy."--_Ib._, i, 678. "Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words that ever blotted paper."--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "With the most easy, undisobliging transitions."--BROOME: _ib._ "Fear is, of all affections, the unaptest to admit any conference with reason."--HOOKER: _ib._ "Most chymists think glass a body more undestroyable than gold itself."--BOYLE: _ib._ "To part with unhackt edges, and bear back our barge undinted."--SHAK.: _ib._ "Erasmus, who was an unbigotted Roman Catholic, was transported with this passage."--ADDISON: _ib._ "There are no less than five words, with any of which the sentence might have terminated."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 397. "The one preach Christ of contention; but the other, of love."--_Philippians_, i, 16. "Hence we find less discontent and heart-burnings, than where the subjects are unequally burdened."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 56. "The serpent, subtil'st beast of all the field, I knew; but not with human voice indu'd." --MILTON: _Joh. Dict., w. Human._ "How much more grievous would our lives appear, To reach th' eighth hundred, than the eightieth year?" --DENHAM: B. P., ii, 244. LESSON III.--MIXED. "Brutus engaged with Aruns; and so fierce was the attack, that they pierced one another at the same time."--_Lempriere's Dict._ [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase _one another_ is here applied to two persons only, the words _an_ and _other_ being needlessly compounded. But, according to Observation 15th, on the Classes of Adjectives, _each other_ must be applied to two persons or things, and _one an other_ to more than two. Therefore _one another_ should here be _each other_; thus, "Brutus engaged with Aruns; and so fierce was the attack, that they pierced _each other_ at the same time."] "Her two brothers were one after another turned into stone."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 194. "Nouns are often used as adjectives; as, A _gold_-ring, a _silver_-cup."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 14. "Fire and water destroy one another."--_Wanostrocht's Gram._, p. 82. "Two negatives in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 94; _E. Devis's_, 111; _Mack's_, 147; _Murray's_, 198; _Churchill's_, 148; _Putnam's_, 135; _C. Adams's_, 102; _Hamlin's_, 79; _Alger's_, 66; _Fisk's_, 140; _Ingersoll's_, 207; and _many others_. "Two negatives destroy one another, and are generally equivalent to an affirmative."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 191; _Felton's_, 85. "Two negatives destroy one another and make an affirmative."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 79. "Two negatives destroy one another, being equivalent to an affirmative."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 48. "Two objects, resembling one another, are presented to the imagination."--_Parker's Exercises in Comp._, p. 47. "Mankind, in order to hold converse with each other, found it necessary to give names to objects."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 42. "Words are derived from each other[185] in various ways."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 108. "There are many other ways of deriving words from one another."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 131. "When several verbs connected by conjunctions, succeed each other in a sentence, the auxiliary is usually omitted except with the first."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 91. "Two or more verbs, having the same nominative case, and immediately following one another, are also separated by commas." [186]--_Murray's Gram._, p. 270; _C. Adams's_, 126; _Russell's_, 113; and others. "Two or more adverbs immediately succeeding each other, must be separated by commas."--_Same Grammars_. "If, however, the members succeeding each other, are very closely connected, the comma is unnecessary."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 273; _Comly's_, 152; _and others_. "Gratitude, when exerted towards one another, naturally produces a very pleasing sensation in the mind of a grateful man."--_Mur._, p. 287. "Several verbs in the infinitive mood, having a common dependence, and succeeding one another, are also divided by commas."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 153. "The several words of which it consists, have so near a relation to each other."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 268; _Comly's_, 144; _Russell's_, 111; _and others_. "When two or more verbs have the same nominative, and immediately follow one another, or two or more adverbs immediately succeed one another, they must be separated by commas."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 145. "Nouns frequently succeed each other, meaning the same thing."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 63. "And these two tenses may thus answer one another."--_Johnson's Gram._ _Com._, p. 322. "Or some other relation which two objects bear to one another."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 149. "That the heathens tolerated each other, is allowed."--_Gospel its own Witness_, p. 76. "And yet these two persons love one another tenderly."--_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 112. "In the six hundredth and first year."--_Gen._, viii, 13. "Nor is this arguing of his but a reiterate clamour."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 250. "In severals of them the inward life of Christianity is to be found."--_Ib._, iii, 272. "Though Alvarez, Despauterius, and other, allow it not to be Plural."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 169. "Even the most dissipate and shameless blushed at the sight."--_Lemp. Dict., w. Antiochus_. "We feel a superior satisfaction in surveying the life of animals, than that of vegetables."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, 172. "But this man is so full fraughted with malice."--_Barclay's Works_, i11, 205. "That I suggest some things concerning the properest means."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 337. "So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair That ever since in love's embraces met." --_Milton_, P. L., B., iv, l. 321. "Aim at the high'est, without the high'est attain'd Will be for thee no sitting, or not long." --_Id._, P. R., B. iv, l. 106. CHAPTER V.--PRONOUNS. A Pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun: as, The boy loves _his_ book; _he_ has long lessons, and _he_ learns _them_ well. The pronouns in our language are twenty-four; and their variations are thirty-two: so that the number of _words_ of this class, is fifty-six. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The word for which a pronoun stands, is called its _antecedent_, because it usually precedes the pronoun. But some have limited the term _antecedent_ to the word represented by a _relative_ pronoun. There can be no propriety in this, unless we will have every pronoun to be a relative, when it stands for a noun which precedes it; and, if so, it should be called something else, when the noun is to be found elsewhere. In the example above, _his_ and _he_ represent _boy_, and _them_ represents _lessons_; and these nouns are as truly the antecedents to the pronouns, as any can be. Yet _his, he_, and _them_, in our most approved grammars, are not called relative pronouns, but personal. OBS. 2.--Every pronoun may be explained as standing for the _name_ of something, for the _thing itself_ unnamed, or for a _former pronoun_; and, with the noun, pronoun, or thing, for which it stands, every pronoun must agree in person, number, and gender. The exceptions to this, whether apparent or real, are very few; and, as their occurrence is unfrequent, there will be little occasion to notice them till we come to syntax. But if the student will observe the use and import of pronouns, he may easily see, that some of them are put _substantively_, for nouns not previously introduced; some, _relatively_, for nouns or pronouns going before; some, _adjectively_, for nouns that must follow them in any explanation which can be made of the sense. These three modes of substitution, are very different, each from the others. Yet they do not serve for an accurate division of the pronouns; because it often happens, that a substitute which commonly represents the noun in one of these ways, will sometimes represent it in an other. OBS. 3.--The pronouns _I_ and _thou_, in their different modifications, stand immediately for persons that are, in general, sufficiently known without being named; (_I_ meaning _the speaker_, and _thou, the hearer_;) their antecedents, or nouns, are therefore generally _understood_. The other personal pronouns, also, are sometimes taken in a general and demonstrative sense, to denote persons or things not previously mentioned; as, "_He_ that hath knowledge, spareth his words."--_Bible_. Here _he_ is equivalent to _the man_, or _the person_. "The care of posterity is most in _them_ that have no posterity."--_Bacon_. Here _them_ is equivalent to _those persons_. "How far do you call _it_ to such a place?"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 85. Here _it_, according to Priestley, is put for _the distance_. "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and _they_ should seek the law at his mouth."--_Malachi_, ii, 7. Here _they_ is put indefinitely for _men_ or _people_. So _who_ and _which_, though called relatives, do not always relate to a noun or pronoun going before them; for _who_ may be a direct substitute for _what person_; and _which_ may mean _which person_, or _which thing_: as, "And he that was healed, wist not _who_ it was."--_John_, v, 13. That is, "_The man who_ was healed, knew not _what person_ it was." "I care not _which_ you take; they are so much alike, one cannot tell _which_ is _which_." OBS. 4.--A pronoun with which a question is asked, usually stands for some person or thing unknown to the speaker; the noun, therefore, cannot occur before it, but may be used after it or in place of it. Examples: "In the grave, _who_ shall give thee thanks?"--_Ps._, vi, 5. Here the word _who_ is equivalent to _what person_, taken interrogatively. "Which of you convinceth me of sin?"--_John_, viii, 46. That is, "_Which man_ of you?" "Master, _what_ shall we do?"--_Luke_, iii, 12. That is, "_What act_, or _thing_?" These solutions, however, convert _which_ and _what_ into _adjectives_: and, in fact, as they have no inflections for the numbers and cases, there is reason to think them at all times essentially such. We call them pronouns, to avoid the inconvenience of supposing and supplying an infinite multitude of ellipses. But _who_, though often equivalent (as above) to an adjective and a noun, is never itself used adjectively; it is always a pronoun. OBS. 5.--In respect to _who_ or _whom_, it sometimes makes little or no difference to the sense, whether we take it as a demonstrative pronoun equivalent to _what person_, or suppose it to relate to an antecedent understood before it: as, "Even so the Son quickeneth _whom_ he will."--_John_, v, 21. That is--"_what persons_ he will," or, "_those persons_ whom he will;" for the Greek word for _whom_, is, in this instance, plural. The former is a shorter explanation of the meaning, but the latter I take to be the true account of the construction; for, by the other, we make _whom_ a double relative, and the object of two governing words at once. So, perhaps, of the following example, which Dr. Johnson cites under the word _who_, to show what he calls its "_disjunctive_ sense:"-- "There thou tellst _of_ kings, and _who_ aspire; _Who_ fall, _who_ rise, _who_ triumph, _who_ do moan."--_Daniel_. OBS. 6.--It sometimes happens that the real antecedent, or the term which in the order of the sense must stand before the pronoun, is not placed antecedently to it, in the order given to the words: as, "It is written, To _whom_ he was not spoken of, _they_ shall see; and they that have not heard, shall understand."--_Romans_, xv, 21. Here the sense is, "_They_ to _whom_ he was not spoken of, shall see." Whoever takes the passage otherwise, totally misunderstands it. And yet the same order of the words might be used to signify, "They shall see _to whom_ (that is, _to what persons_) he was not spoken of." Transpositions of this kind, as well as of every other, occur most frequently in poetry. The following example is from an Essay on Satire, printed with Pope's Works, but written by one of his friends:-- "_Whose_ is the crime, the scandal too be _theirs_; The knave and fool are their own libellers."--_J. Brown._ OBS. 7.--The personal and the interrogative pronouns often stand in construction as the antecedents to other pronouns: as, "_He_ also _that_ is slothful in his work, is brother to _him that_ is a great waster."--_Prov._, xviii. 9. Here _he_ and _him_ are each equivalent to _the man_, and each is taken as the antecedent to the relative which follows it. "For both _he that_ sanctifieth, and _they who_ are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause, _he_ is not ashamed to call _them_ brethren."--_Heb._, ii, 11. Here _he_ and _they_ may be considered the antecedents to _that_ and _who_, of the first clause, and also to _he_ and _them_, of the second. So the interrogative _who_ may be the antecedent to the relative _that_; as, "_Who that_ has any moral sense, dares tell lies?" Here _who_, being equivalent to _what person_, is the term with which the other pronoun agrees. Nay, an interrogative pronoun, (or the noun which is implied in it,) may be the antecedent to a _personal_ pronoun; as, "_Who_ hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to _him_ again?"--_Romans_, xi, 35. Here the idea is, "_What person_ hath first given _any thing_ to _the Lord_, so that it ought to be repaid _him_?" that is, "so that _the gift_ ought to be recompensed from Heaven to _the giver_?" In the following example, the first pronoun is the antecedent to all the rest:-- "And _he that_ never doubted of _his_ state, _He_ may perhaps--perhaps _he_ may--too late."--_Cowper_. OBS. 8.--So the personal pronouns of the _possessive_ case, (which some call adjectives,) are sometimes represented by relatives, though less frequently than their primitives: as, "How different, O Ortogrul, is _thy_ condition, _who_ art doomed to the perpetual torments of unsatisfied desire!"--_Dr. Johnson_. Here _who_ is of the second person, singular, masculine; and represents the antecedent pronoun _thy_: for _thy_ is a pronoun, and not (as some writers will have it) an adjective. Examples like this, disprove the doctrine of those grammarians who say that _my, thy, his, her, its_, and their plurals, _our, your, their_, are adjectives. For, if they were mere adjectives, they could not thus be made antecedents. Examples of this construction are sufficiently common, and sufficiently clear, to settle that point, unless they can be better explained in some other way. Take an instance or two more: "And they are written for _our_ admonition, upon _whom_ the ends of the world are come."--_1 Cor._, x, 11. "Be thou the first true merit to befriend; _His_ praise is lost, _who_ stays till all commend."--_Pope_. CLASSES. Pronouns are divided into three classes; _personal, relative_, and _interrogative_. I. A _personal pronoun_ is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is; as, "Whether _it_[187] were _I_ or _they_, so _we_ preach, and so _ye_ believed."--_1 Cor._, xv, 11. The simple personal pronouns are five: namely, _I_, of the first person; _thou_, of the second person; _he, she_, and _it_, of the third person. The compound personal pronouns are also five: namely, _myself_, of the first person; _thyself_, of the second person; _himself, herself_, and _itself_, of the third person. II. A _relative pronoun_ is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence; as, "No people can be great, _who_ have ceased to be virtuous."--_Dr. Johnson._ The relative pronouns are _who, which, what, that, as_, and the compounds _whoever_ or _whosoever, whichever_ or _whichsoever, whatever_ or _whatsoever_.[188] _What_ is a kind of _double relative_, equivalent to _that which_ or _those which_; and is to be parsed, first as antecedent, and then as relative: as, "This is _what_ I wanted; that is to say, _the thing which_ I wanted."--_L. Murray_. III. An _interrogative pronoun_ is a pronoun with which a question is asked; as, "_Who_ touched my clothes?"--_Mark_, v, 30. The interrogative pronouns are _who, which_, and _what_; being the same in form as relatives. _Who_ demands a person's name; _which_, that a person or thing be distinguished from others; _what_, the name of a thing, or a person's occupation and character. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The pronouns _I_ and _myself, thou_ and _thyself_, with their inflections, are literally applicable to persons only; but, _figuratively_, they represent brutes, or whatever else the human imagination invests with speech and reason. The latter use of them, though literal perhaps in every thing _but person_, constitutes the purest kind of personification. For example: "The _trees_ went forth on a time to anoint a king over them: and they said unto the _olive-tree_, 'Reign _thou_ over _us_.' But the _olive-tree_ said unto them, 'Should _I_ leave _my_ fatness, wherewith by _me_ they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?'" See _Judges_, ix, from 8 to 16. OBS. 2.--The pronouns _he_ and _himself, she_ and _herself_, with their inflections, are literally applicable to persons and to brutes, and to these only; if applied to lifeless objects, they animate them, and are figurative _in gender_, though literal perhaps in every other respect. For example: "A _diamond_ of beauty and lustre, observing at _his_ side in the same cabinet, not only many other gems, but even a _loadstone_, began to question the latter how _he_ came there--_he, who_ appeared to be no better than a mere flint, a sorry rusty-looking pebble, without the least shining quality to advance _him_ to such honour; and concluded with desiring _him_ to keep _his_ distance, and to pay a proper respect to _his_ superiors."--_Kames's Art of Thinking_, p. 226. OBS. 3.--The pronoun _it_, as it carries in itself no such idea as that of personality, or sex, or life, is chiefly used with reference to things inanimate; yet the word is, in a certain way, applicable to animals, or even to persons; though it does not, in itself, present them as such. Thus we say, "_It_ is _I_;"--"_It_ was _they_;"--"_It_ was _you_;"--"_It_ was your _agent_;"--"_It_ is your _bull_ that has killed one of my oxen." In examples of this kind, the word _it_ is simply demonstrative; meaning, _the thing or subject spoken of_. That subject, whatever it be in itself, may be introduced again after the verb, in any person, number, or gender, that suits it. But, as the verb agrees with the pronoun _it_, the word which follows, can in no sense be made, as Dr. Priestley will have it to be, the _antecedent_ to that pronoun. Besides, it is contrary to the nature of what is primarily demonstrative, to represent a preceding word of any kind. The Doctor absurdly says, "Not only things, but persons, may be the _antecedent_ to this pronoun; as, _Who is it_? _Is it not Thomas_? i. e. _Who is the person_? _Is not he Thomas?_"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 85. In these examples, the terms are transposed by interrogation; but that circumstance, though it may have helped to deceive this author and his copiers, affects not my assertion. OBS. 4.--The pronoun _who_ is usually applied only to persons. Its application to brutes or to things is improper, unless we mean to personify them. But _whose_, the possessive case of this relative, is sometimes used to supply the place of the possessive case, otherwise wanting, to the relative _which_. Examples: "The mutes are those consonants _whose_ sounds cannot be protracted."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 9. "Philosophy, _whose_ end is, to instruct us in the knowledge of nature."--_Ib._, p. 54; _Campbell's Rhet._, 421. "Those adverbs are compared _whose_ primitives are obsolete."--_Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 150. "After a sentence _whose_ sense is complete in itself, a period is used."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 124. "We remember best those things _whose_ parts are methodically disposed, and mutually connected."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 59. "Is there any other doctrine _whose_ followers are punished?"--ADDISON: _Murray's Gram._, p. 54; _Lowth's_, p. 25. "The question, _whose_ solution I require, Is, what the sex of women most desire."--DRYDEN: _Lowth_, p. 25. OBS. 5.--Buchanan, as well as Lowth, condemns the foregoing use of _whose_, except in grave poetry: saying, "This manner of _personification_ adds an air of dignity to the higher and more solemn kind of poetry, but it is highly improper in the lower kind, or in prose."--_Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 73. And, of the last two examples above quoted, he says, "It ought to be _of which_, in both places: i. e. The followers _of which_; the solution _of which_."--_Ib._, p. 73. The truth is, that no personification is here intended. Hence it may be better to avoid, if we can, this use of _whose_, as seeming to imply what we do not mean. But Buchanan himself (stealing the text of an older author) has furnished at least one example as objectionable as any of the foregoing: "Prepositions are naturally placed betwixt the Words _whose_ Relation and Dependence each of them is to express."--_English Syntax_, p. 90; _British Gram._, p. 201. I dislike this construction, and yet sometimes adopt it, for want of another as good. It is too much, to say with Churchill, that "this practice is now discountenanced by all correct writers."--_New Gram._, p. 226. Grammarians would perhaps differ less, if they would read more. Dr. Campbell commends the use of _whose_ for _of which_, as an improvement suggested by good taste, and established by abundant authority. See _Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 420. "WHOSE, the possessive or genitive case of _who_ or _which_; applied to persons or things."--_Webster's Octavo Dict._ "_Whose_ is well authorized by good usage, as the possessive of _which_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 69. "Nor is any language complete, _whose_ verbs have not tenses."--_Harris's Hermes_. "--------'Past and future, are the wings On _whose_ support, harmoniously conjoined, Moves the great spirit of human knowledge.'--MS." _Wordsworth's Preface to his Poems_, p. xviii. OBS. 6.--The relative _which_, though formerly applied to persons and made equivalent to _who_, is now confined to brute animals and inanimate things. Thus, "Our Father _which_ art in heaven," is not now reckoned good English; it should be, "Our Father _who_ art in heaven." In this, as well as in many other things, the custom of speech has changed; so that what was once right, is now ungrammatical. The use of _which_ for _who_ is very common in the Bible, and in other books of the seventeenth century; but all good writers now avoid the construction. It occurs seventy-five times in the third chapter of Luke; as, "Joseph, _which_ was the son of Heli, _which_ was the son of Matthat," etc. etc. After a personal term taken by metonymy for a thing, _which_ is not improper; as, "Of the particular _author which_ he is studying."--_Gallaudet_. And as an interrogative or a demonstrative pronoun or adjective, the word _which_ is still applicable to persons, as formerly; as, "_Which_ of you all?"--"_Which_ man of you all?"--"There arose a reasoning among them, _which_ of them should be the greatest."--_Luke_, ix, 46. "Two fair twins--the puzzled Strangers, _which_ is _which_, inquire."--_Tickell_. OBS. 7.--If _which_, as a direct relative, is inapplicable to persons, _who_ ought to be preferred to it in all personifications: as, "The seal is set. Now welcome thou dread power, Nameless, yet thus omnipotent, _which_ here Walk'st in the shadow of the midnight hour." BYRON: _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_, Cant, iv, st. 138. What sort of personage is here imagined and addressed, I will not pretend to say; but it should seem, that _who_ would be more proper than _which_, though less agreeable in sound before the word _here_. In one of his notes on this word, Churchill has fallen into a strange error. He will have _who_ to represent a _horse!_ and that, in such a sense, as would require _which_ and not _who_, even for a person. As he prints the masculine pronoun in Italics, perhaps he thought, with Murray and Webster, that _which_ must needs be "of the _neuter gender_." [189] He says, "In the following passage, _which_ seems to be used _instead_ of _who_:-- 'Between two horses, _which_ doth bear him best; I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment' SHAKS., 1 Hen. VI."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 226. OBS. 8.--The pronoun _what_ is usually applied to things only. It has a twofold relation, and is often used (by ellipsis of the noun) both as antecedent and as relative, in the form of a single word; being equivalent to _that which_, or _the thing which,--those which_, or _the things which_. In this double relation, _what_ represents two cases at the same time: as, "He is ashamed of _what_ he has done;" that is, "of what [_thing_ or _action_] he has done;"--or, "of _that_ [thing or action] _which_ he has done." Here are two objectives. The two cases are sometimes alike, sometimes different; for either of them may be the nominative, and either, the objective. Examples: "The dread of censure ought not to prevail _over what is_ proper."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 252. "The public ear will not easily _bear what is_ slovenly and incorrect."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 12. "He who buys _what_ he does not need, will often need _what_ he cannot buy."--_Student's Manual_, p. 290. "_What_ is just, is honest; and again, _what_ is honest, is just."--_Cicero_. "He that hath an ear, let him hear _what_ the Spirit saith unto the churches."--_Rev._, ii, 7, 11, 17, 29; iii, 6, 13, 22. OBS. 9.--This pronoun, _what_, is usually of the singular number, though sometimes plural: as, "I must turn to the faults, or _what appear_ such to me."--_Byron_. "All distortions and mimicries, as such, are _what raise_ aversion instead of pleasure."--_Steele_. "Purified indeed from _what appear_ to be its real defects."--_Wordsworth's Pref._, p. xix. "Every single impression, made even by the same object, is distinguishable from _what_ have gone before, and from _what_ succeed."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 107. "Sensible people express no thoughts but _what_ make some figure."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 399. The following example, which makes _what_ both singular and plural at once, is a manifest solecism: "_What has_ since followed _are_ but natural consequences."--J. C. CALHOUN, _Speech in U. S. Senate_, March 4, 1850. Here _has_ should be _have_; or else the form should be this: "What has since followed, _is_ but _a_ natural _consequence_." OBS. 10.--The common import of this remarkable pronoun, _what_, is, as we see in the foregoing examples, twofold; but some instances occur, in which it does not appear to have this double construction, but to be simply declaratory; and many, in which the word is simply an adjective: as, "_What_ a strange run of luck I have had to-day!"--_Columbian Orator_, p. 293. Here _what_ is a mere adjective; and, in the following examples, a pronoun indefinite:-- "I tell thee _what_, corporal, I could tear her."--_Shak._ "He knows _what's what_, and that's as high As metaphysic wit can fly."--_Hudibras_. OBS. 11.--_What_ is sometimes used both as an adjective and as a relative at the same time, and is placed before the noun which it represents; being equivalent to the adjective _any_ or _all_, and the simple relative _who, which_[190] or _that_: as, "_What_ money we had, was taken away." That is, "_All the_ money _that_ we had, was taken away." "_What_ man but enters, dies." That is, "_Any_ man _who_ enters, dies." "It was agreed that _what_ goods were aboard his vessels, should be landed."--_Mickle's India_, p. 89. "_What_ appearances of worth afterwards succeeded, were drawn from thence."--_Internal Policy of Great Britain_, p. 196. That is, "_All the_ appearances of worth, _which_ afterwards succeeded."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 93. Indeed, this pronoun does not admit of being construed after a noun, as a simple relative: none but the most illiterate ever seriously use it so. _What_ put for _who_ or _which_, is therefore a ludicrous vulgarism; as, "The aspiring youth _what_ fired the Ephesian dome."--_Jester_. The word used as above, however, does not always preclude the introduction of a personal pronoun before the subsequent verb; as,[191] "_What_ god but enters yon forbidden field, Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield, Back to the skies with shame _he_ shall be driven, Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven."--_Pope's Homer_. OBS. 12.--The compound _whatever_ or _whatsoever_ has the same peculiarities of construction as has the simpler word _what_: as, "Whatever word expresses an affirmation, or assertion, is a verb; or thus, _Whatever_ word, with a noun or pronoun before or after it, makes full sense, is a verb."--_Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 78. That is, "_Any_ word _which_ expresses," &c. "We will certainly do _whatsoever_ thing goeth forth out of our own mouth."--_Jeremiah_, xliv, 17. That is--"_any_ thing, or _every_ thing, _which_." "_Whatever_ sounds are difficult in pronunciation, are, in the same proportion, harsh and painful to the ear."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 121; _Murray's Gram._, p. 325. "_Whatsoever_ things were written aforetime, were written for our learning."--_Romans_, xv, 4. In all these examples, the word _whatever_ or _whatsoever_ appears to be used both adjectively and relatively. There are instances, however, in which the relation of this term is not twofold, but simple: as, "_Whatever_ useful or engaging endowments we possess, virtue is requisite in order to their shining with proper lustre."--_English Reader_, p. 23. Here _whatever_ is simply an adjective. "The declarations contained in them [the Scriptures] rest on the authority of God _himself_; and there can be no appeal from them to any other authority _whatsoever_."--_London Epistle_, 1836. Here _whatsoever_ may be parsed either as an adjective relating to _authority_, or as an emphatic pronoun in apposition with its noun, like _himself_ in the preceding clause. In this general explanatory sense, _whatsoever_ may be applied to persons as well as to things; as, "I should be sorry if it entered into the imagination _of any person whatsoever_, that I was preferred to all other patrons."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 11. Here the word _whomsoever_ might have been used. OBS. 13.--But there is an other construction to be here explained, in which _whatever_ or _whatsoever_ appears to be a _double relative_, or a term which includes both antecedent and relative; as, "_Whatever_ purifies, fortifies also the heart."--_English Reader_, p. 23. That is. "_All that purifies_--or, _Everything which_ purifies--fortifies also the heart." "_Whatsoever_ he doeth, shall prosper."--_Psal._, i, 3. That is, "_All that_ he doeth--or, _All the things which he doeth_--shall prosper." This construction, however, may be supposed elliptical. The Latin expression is, "_Omnia quaecumque faciet prosperabuntur_."--_Vulgate_. The Greek is similar: [Greek: "Kai panta hosa an poiaei kateuodothaesetai."]-- _Septuagint_. It is doubtless by some sort of ellipsis which familiarity of use inclines us to overlook, that _what, whatever_, and _whatsoever_, which are essentially adjectives, have become susceptible of this double construction as pronouns. But it is questionable what particular ellipsis we ought here to suppose, or whether any; and certainly, we ought always to avoid the supposing of an ellipsis, if we can.[192] Now if we say the meaning is, "Whatsoever _things_ he doeth, shall prosper;" this, though analogous to other expressions, does not simplify the construction. If we will have it to be, "Whatsoever _things_ he doeth, _they_ shall prosper;" the pronoun _they_ appears to be pleonastic. So is the word _it_, in the text, "_Whatsoever_ he saith unto you, do _it_."--_John_, ii, 5. If we say the full phrase is, "_All things_ whatsoever he doeth, shall prosper;" this presents, to an English ear, a still more obvious pleonasm. It may be, too, _a borrowed idiom_, found nowhere but in translations; as, "_All things whatsoever_ ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."--_Matt._, xxi, 22. From these views, there seems to be some objection to any and every method of parsing the above-mentioned construction as _elliptical_. The learner may therefore say, in such instances, that _whatever_ or _whatsoever_ is a double relative, including both antecedent and relative; and parse it, first as antecedent, in connexion with the latter verb, and then as relative, in connexion with the former. But let him observe that the order of the verbs may be the reverse of the foregoing; as, "Ye are my friends, if ye _do_ whatsoever I _command_ you."--_John_, xv, 14. That is, according to the Greek, "If ye do whatsoever I command _to_ you;" Though it would be better English to say, "If ye do whatsoever I command you _to do_." In the following example, however, it seems proper to recognize an ellipsis; nay, the omissions in the construction of the last line, are as many as three or four;-- "Expatiate with glad step, and choose at will Whate'er bright spoils the florid earth contains, Whate'er the waters, or the liquid air."--_Akenside_. OBS. 14.--As the simple word _who_ differs from _which_ and _what_, in being always a declinable pronoun; so its compounds differ from theirs, in being incapable of either of the double constructions above described. Yet _whoever_ and _whoso_ or _whosoever_, as well as _whichever_ and _whichsoever, whatever_ and _whatsoever_, derive, from the affix which is added, or from the peculiarity of their syntax, an unlimited signification--or a signification which is limited only by the following verb; and, as some general term, such as _any person_, or _all persons_, is implied as the antecedent, they are commonly connected with other words as if they stood for two cases at once: as, "_Whoever_ seeks, shall find." That is, "_Any person who_ seeks, shall find." But as the case of this compound, like that of the simple word _who, whose_, or _whom_, is known and determined by its form, it is necessary, in parsing, to treat this phraseology as being elliptical. The compounds of _who_ do not, therefore, actually stand for two cases, though some grammarians affirm that they do.[193] Example: "The soldiers made proclamation, that they would sell the empire to _whoever_ would purchase it at the highest price."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 231. That is--"to _any man who_ would purchase it." The affix _ever_ or _soever_ becomes unnecessary when the ellipsis is supplied; and this fact, it must be confessed, is a plausible argument against the supposition of an ellipsis. But the supposing of an antecedent understood, is here unavoidable; because the preposition _to_ cannot govern the nominative case, and the word _whoever_ cannot be an objective. And so in all other instances in which the two cases are different: as, "He bids _whoever_ is athirst, to come."--_Jenks's Devotions_, p. 151. "Elizabeth publicly threatened, that she would have the head of _whoever_ had advised it."--HUME: _in Priestley's Gram._, p. 104. OBS. 15.--If it is necessary in parsing to supply the antecedent to _whoever_ or _whosoever_, when two _different_ cases are represented, it is but analogous and reasonable to supply it also when two similar cases occur: as, "_Whoever_ borrows money, _is bound_ in conscience to repay it."--_Paley_. "_Whoever_ is eager to find excuses for vice and folly, _will find_ his own backwardness to practise them much diminished."-- _Chapone_. "_Whoever_ examines his own imperfections, _will cease_ to be fastidious; _whoever_ restrains humour and caprice, _will cease_ to be squeamish."--_Crabb's Synonymes_. In all these examples, we have the word in the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. And here it is most commonly found. It is always of the third person; and, though its number _may_ be plural; its gender, feminine; its case, possessive or objective; we do not often use it in any of these ways. In some instances, the latter verb is attended with an other pronoun, which represents the same person or persons; as, "And _whosoever_ will, let _him_ take of the water of life freely."--_Rev._, xxii, 17. The case of this compound relative always depends upon what follows it, and not upon what precedes; as, "Or ask of _whomsoever_ he has taught."--_Cowper_. That is--"of _any person whom_ he has taught." In the following text, we have the possessive plural: "_Whosesoever_ sins ye remit, they are remitted unto _them_."--_John_, xx, 23. That is, "_Whatever persons'_ sins." OBS. 16.--In such phraseology as the following, there is a stiffness which ought to be avoided: "For _whomever_ God loves, he loves _them_ in Christ, and no otherways."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 215. Better: "For _all whom_ God loves, he loves in Christ, and no _otherwise_." "When the Father draws, _whomever_ he draws, may come."--_Penington_. Better: "When the Father draws, _all whom_ he draws, (or, _every one whom_ he draws.) may come." A modern critic of immense promise cites the following clause as being found in the Bible: "But he loveth _whomsoever_ followeth after righteousness."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 72. It is lamentable to see the unfaithfulness of this gentleman's quotations. About half of them are spurious; and I am confident that this one is neither Scripture nor good English. The compound relative, being the subject of _followeth_, should be in the nominative case; for the object of the verb _loveth_ is the antecedent _every one_, understood. But the idea may be better expressed, without any ellipsis, thus: "He loveth _every one who_ followeth after righteousness." The following example from the same hand is also wrong, and the author's rule and reasoning connected with it, are utterly fallacious: "I will give the reward to _whomsoever_ will apprehend the rogue."--_Ib._, p. 256. Much better say, "_to any one who_;" but, if you choose the compound word, by all analogy, and all good authority, it must here be _whoever_ or _whosoever_. The shorter compound _whoso_, which occurs very frequently in the Bible, is now almost obsolete in prose, but still sometimes used by the poets. It has the same meaning as _whosoever_, but appears to have been confined to the nominative singular; and _whatso_ is still more rare: as, "_Whoso_ diggeth a pit, shall fall therein."--_Prov._, xxvi, 27. "Which _whoso_ tastes, can be enslaved no more."--_Cowper_. "On their intended journey to proceed, And over night _whatso_ thereto did need."--_Hubbard_. OBS. 17.--The relative _that_ is applied indifferently to persons, to brute animals, and to inanimate things. But the word _that_ is not always a relative pronoun. It is sometimes a pronoun, sometimes an adjective, and sometimes a conjunction. I call it not a demonstrative pronoun and also a relative; because, in the sense in which Murray and others have styled it a "demonstrative adjective _pronoun_," it is a pronominal _adjective_, and it is better to call it so. (1.) It is a _relative pronoun_ whenever it is equivalent to _who, whom_, or _which_: as, "There is not a _just man_ upon earth, _that_ doeth good, and sinneth not"--_Eccl._, vii, 20. "It was diverse from all the _beasts that_ were before it."--_Dan._, vii, 7. "And he had a _name_ written, _that_ no man knew but he himself."--_Rev._, xix, 12. (2.) It is a _pronominal adjective_ whenever it relates to a noun expressed or understood after it: as, "Thus with violence shall _that_ great _city_, Babylon, be thrown down."--_Rev._, xviii, 21. "Behold _that_ [thing] which I have seen."--_Eccl._, v, 18. "And they said, 'What is _that_[194] [matter] to us? See thou to _that_' [matter]."--_Matt._, xxvii, 4. (3.) In its other uses, it is a _conjunction_, and, as such, it most commonly makes what follows it, the purpose, object, or final cause, of what precedes it: as, "I read _that_ I may learn."--_Dr. Adam._ "Ye men of Athens, I perceive _that_ in all things ye are too superstitious."--_St. Paul._ "Live well, _that_ you may die well."--_Anon._ "Take heed _that_ thou speak not to Jacob."--_Genesis._ "Judge not, _that_ ye be not judged."--_Matthew._ OBS. 18.--The word _that_, or indeed any other word, should never be so used as to leave the part of speech uncertain; as, "For in the day _that_ thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."--_Gen._, ii, 17. Here _that_ seems to be a relative _pronoun_, representing _day_, in the third person, singular, neuter; yet, in other respects, it seems to be a _conjunction_, because there is nothing to determine its case. Better: "For in the day _on which_ thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." This mongrel construction of the word _that_, were its justification possible, is common enough in our language to be made good English. But it must needs be condemned, because it renders the character of the term ambiguous, and is such a grammatical difficulty as puts the parser at a dead nonplus. Examples: (1.) "But _at the same time_ THAT men are giving their orders, God on his part is likewise giving his."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 106. Here the phrase, "_at the same time that_," is only equivalent to the adverb _while_; and yet it is incomplete, because it means, "_at the same time at which_," or, "_at the very time at which._" (2.) "The author of this work, _at the same time_ THAT he has endeavoured to avoid a plan, _which may be_ too concise or too extensive, defective in its parts or irregular in the disposition of them, has studied to render his _subject_ sufficiently easy, intelligible, and _comprehensive._"--_Murray's Gram., Introd._, p. 1. This sentence, which is no unfair specimen of its author's original style, needs three corrections: 1. For "_at the same time that_," say _while_: 2. Drop the phrase, "_which may be_," because it is at least useless: 3. For "_subject_," read _treatise_, or _compilation._ You will thus have tolerable diction. Again: (3.) "The participles of active verbs _act upon objects_ and govern them in the objective case, in the same manner _that_ the verbs _do_, from which they are derived. _A participle_ in the nature of an adjective, belongs or refers to _nouns_ or _pronouns_ in the same manner _that_ adjectives do; and _when it will admit_ the degrees of comparison, _it is called_ a participial _adjective_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 38. This is the style of a gentleman of no ordinary pretensions, one who thinks he has produced the best grammar that has ever appeared in our language. To me, however, his work suggests an abundance of questions like these; each of which would palpably involve him in a dilemma: What is here meant by "_objects_," the _words_, or the _things?_ if the former, how are they acted upon? if the latter, how are they governed? If "a _participle_ is called an _adjective_," which is it, an adjective, or a participle? If "_a_ participle refers to _nouns_ or _pronouns_," _how many_ of these are required by the relation? When does a _participle_ "admit the degrees of comparison?" How shall we parse the word _that_ in the foregoing sentences? OBS. 19.--The word _as_, though usually a conjunction or an adverb, has sometimes the construction of a relative pronoun, especially after _such, so many_, or _as many_; and, whatever the antecedent _noun_ may be, this is the _only fit relative_ to follow any of these terms in a restrictive sense. Examples: "We have been accustomed to repose on its veracity with _such_ humble confidence _as_ suppresses curiosity."--_Johnson's Life of Cowley._ "The malcontents made _such_ demands _as_ none but a tyrant could refuse."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, Let. 7. "The Lord added to the church daily _such_ [persons] _as_ should be saved."--_Acts_, ii, 47. "And _as many as_ were ordained to eternal life, believed."--_Acts_, xiii, 48. "_As many as_ I love, I rebuke and chasten."--_Rev._, iii, 19. "Know ye not, that _so many_ of us _as_ were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?"--_Rom._, vi, 3. "For _as many_ of you _as_ have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."--_Gal._, iii, 27. "A syllable is _so many_ letters _as_ are spoken with one motion of the voice."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 8. "The compound tenses are _such as_ cannot be formed without an auxiliary verb."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 91. "Send him _such_ books _as_ will please him."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 37. "In referring to _such_ a division of the day _as_ is past, we use the imperfect."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 70. "Participles have _the same_ government _as_ the verbs from which they are derived."--_Ib._, Rule xiv. "Participles have _the same_ government _as_ the verbs _have_ from which they are derived."-- _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 94. In some of these examples, _as_ is in the nominative case, and in others, in the objective; in some, it is of the masculine gender, and in others, it is neuter; in some, it is of the plural number, and in others, it is singular: but in all, it is of the third person; and in all, its person, number, gender, and case, are as obvious as those of any invariable pronoun can be. OBS. 20.--Some writers--(the most popular are Webster, Bullions, Wells, and Chandler--) imagine that _as_, in such sentences as the foregoing, can be made a conjunction, and not a pronoun, if we will allow them to consider the phraseology elliptical. Of the example for which I am indebted to him, Dr. Webster says, "_As_ must be considered as the nominative to _will please_, or we must suppose an ellipsis of several words: as, 'Send him such books as _the books which_ will please him, or as _those which_ will please him.'"--_Improved Gram._, p. 37. This pretended explanation must be rejected as an absurdity. In either form of it, _two_ nominatives are idly imagined between _as_ and its verb; and, I ask, of what is the first one the subject? If you say, "Of _are_ understood," making the phrase, "such books _as the books are_;" does not _as_ bear the same relation to this new verb _are_, that is found in the pronoun _who_, when one says, "Tell him _who_ you _are?_" If so, _as_ is a pronoun still; so that, thus far, you gain nothing. And if you will have the whole explanation to be, "Send him such books _as the books are books which_ will please him;" you multiply words, and finally arrive at nothing, but tautology and nonsense. Wells, not condescending to show his pupils what he would supply after this _as_, thinks it sufficient to say, the word is "followed by an ellipsis of one or more words required to complete the construction; as, 'He was the father of all such as [] handle the harp and organ.'--_Gen._ 4: 21."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 164; 3d Ed., p. 172. OBS. 21.--Chandler exhibits the sentence, "_These are not such as are worn_;" and, in parsing it, expounds the words _as_ and _are_, thus; the crotchets being his, not mine: "_as_.... is an _adverb, connecting_ the two sentences in comparing them, [_It is a fault_ of some, that they make _as_ a pronoun, when, in a comparative sentence, it corresponds with _such_, and is immediately followed by a verb, as in the sentence now given. This is probably done _from an ignorance_ of the real nominative to the verb. The sentence _should stand thus_: 'These (_perhaps_ bonnets) are not such (bonnets) _as_ (those bonnets) are (which are) worn.' Then] _are_ .... is the substantive verb, third person, plural number, indicative mood, present tense, and agrees with the noun _bonnets_, understood."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 162. All this bears the marks of shallow flippancy. No part of it is accurate. "_Are worn_," which the critic unwarrantably divides by his misplaced curves and uncouth impletions, is a passive verb, agreeing with the pronoun _as_. But the text itself is faulty, being unintelligible through lack of a noun; for, of things that _may be_ "_worn_," there are a thousand different sorts. Is it not ridiculous, for a great grammarian to offer, as a model for parsing, what he himself, "_from an ignorance_ of the real nominative," can only interpret with a "_perhaps?_" But the noun which this author supplies, the meaning which he guesses that he had, he here very improperly stows away within a pair of _crotchets_. Nor is it true, that "the sentence _should stand_" as above exhibited; for the tautological correction not only has the very extreme of awkwardness, but still makes _as_ a pronoun, a nominative, belonging after _are_: so that the phrase, "_as are worn_," is only encumbered and perverted by the verbose addition made. So of an other example given by this expounder, in which _as_ is an objective: "He is exactly such a man _as_ I saw."--_Chandler's Com. Sch. Gram._, p. 163. Here _as_ is the object of _saw_. But the author says, "The sentence, however, _should stand_ thus: 'He is exactly such a man _as_ that person _was_ whom I saw.'"--_Ibid._ This inelegant alteration makes _as_ a nominative dependent on _was._ OBS. 22.--The use of _as_ for a relative pronoun, is almost entirely confined to those connexions in which no other relative would be proper; hence few instances occur, of its absolute equivalence to _who, which_, or _that_, by which to establish its claim to the same rank. Examples like the following, however, go far to prove it, if proof be necessary; because _who_ and _which_ are here employed, where _as_ is certainly now required by all good usage: "It is not only convenient, but absolutely needful, that there be certain meetings at certain places and times, _as_ may best suit the convenience of _such, who_ may be most particularly concerned in them."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 495. "Which, no doubt, will be found obligatory upon all _such, who_ have a sense and feeling of the mind of the Spirit."--_Ib._, i, p. 578. "Condemning or removing _such_ things, _which_ in themselves are evil."--_Ib._, i, p. 511. In these citations, not only are _who_ and _which_ improperly used for _as_, but the _commas_ before them are also improper, because the relatives are intended to be taken in a restrictive sense. "If there be _such that_ walk disorderly now."--_Ib._, i, p. 488. Here _that_ ought to be _as_; or else _such_ ought to be _persons_, or _those._ "When such virtues, _as which_ still accompany the truth, are necessarily supposed to be wanting."--_Ib._, i, p. 502. Here _which_, and the comma before _as_, should both be expunged. "I shall raise in their minds the same course of thought _as_ has taken possession of my own."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 61. "The pronoun must be in the same case _as_ the antecedent would be _in_, if substituted for it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 181. "The verb must therefore have the same construction _as_ it has in the following sentence."--_Murray's Key_, p. 190. Here _as_ is exactly equivalent to the relative _that_, and either may be used with equal propriety. We cannot avoid the conclusion, therefore, that, as the latter word is sometimes a conjunction and sometimes a pronoun, so is the former. OBS. 23.--The relatives _that_ and _as_ have this peculiarity; that, unlike _whom_ and _which_, they never follow the word on which their case depends; nor indeed can any simple relative be so placed, except it be governed by a preposition or an infinitive. Thus, it is said, (John, xiii, 29th,) "Buy those things _that_ we have need _of_;" so we may say, "Buy such things _as_ we have need of." But we cannot say, "Buy those things _of that_ we have need;" or, "Buy such things _of as_ we have need." Though we may say, "Buy those things _of which_ we have need," as well as, "Buy those things _which_ we have need _of_;" or, "Admit those persons of whom we have need," as well as, "Admit those persons _whom_ we have need _of._" By this it appears that _that_ and _as_ have a closer connexion with their antecedents than the other relatives require: a circumstance worthy to have been better remembered by some critics. "Again, _that_ and _as_ are used rather differently. When _that_ is used, the verb must be repeated; as, 'Participles _require_ the same government, _that_ their verbs _require_.'--'James _showed_ the same credulity, _that_ his minister _showed_.' But when _as_ is used, the verb generally may, or may not be repeated; as, 'Participles _require_ the same government _as_ their verbs;' or, '_as_ their verbs _require_.'--'James _showed_ the same credulity as his minister;' or, '_as_ his minister _showed_:' the second nominative _minister_ being parsed as the nominative to the same verb _showed_ understood."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 140.[195] OBS. 24.--The terminating of a sentence with a preposition, or other small particle, is in general undignified, though perhaps not otherwise improper. Hence the above-named inflexibility in the construction of _that_ and _as_, sometimes induces an ellipsis of the governing word designed; and is occasionally attended with some difficulty respecting the choice of our terms. Examples: "The answer is always in the same case _that_ the interrogative word _is_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 70. Here is a faulty termination; and with it a more faulty ellipsis. In stead of ending the sentence with _is in_, say, "The answer always _agrees in case with_ the interrogative word." Again: "The relative is of the same person _with_ the antecedent."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 101. This sentence is wrong, because the person of the relative is not really _identical with_ the antecedent. "The relative is of the same person _as_ the antecedent."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 154. Here the writer means--"_as_ the antecedent _is of_." "A neuter verb becomes active, when followed by a noun of the same signification _with_ its own."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 127. Here same is wrong, or else the last three words are useless. It would therefore be improper to say--"of _the same_ signification _as_ its own." The expression ought to be--"of a signification _similar to_ its own." "Ode is, _in Greek_, the same _with_ song or hymn."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 396. _Song_ being no Greek word, I cannot think the foregoing expression accurate, though one might say, "Ode is _identical with_ song or hymn." Would it not be better to say, "Ode is the same _as_ song or hymn?" That is, "Ode is, _literally_, the same _thing that_ song or hymn _is_?" "Treatises of philosophy, ought not to be composed in the same style _with_ orations."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 175. Here neither _with_ nor _as_ can be proper; because _orations_ are not _a style_. Expunge _same_; and say--"in the style _of_ orations." OBS. 25.--Few writers are sufficiently careful in their choice and management of relatives. In the following instance, Murray and others violate a special rule of their own grammars, by using _whom_ for _that_ "after an adjective of the superlative degree:" "Modifying them according to the genius of that tongue, and the established practice of _the best_ speakers and writers _by whom_ it is used."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 1; _Fisk's_, p. 11; _et al._ According to Priestley and himself, the great Compiler is here in an error. The rule is perhaps too stringent; but whoever teaches it, should keep it. If he did not like to say, "_the best_ speakers and writers _that_ it is used _by_;" he ought to have said, "_the best_ speakers and writers _that use it_." Or, rather, he ought to have said _nothing_ after the word "writers;" because the whole relative clause is here weak and useless. Yet how many of the amenders of this grammar have not had perspicacity enough, either to omit the expression, or to correct it according to the author's own rule! OBS. 26.--Relative pronouns are capable of being taken in two very different senses: the one, restrictive of the general idea suggested by the antecedent; the other, _resumptive_ of that idea, in the full import of the term--or, in whatever extent the previous definitives allow. The distinction between these two senses, important as it is, is frequently made to depend solely upon the insertion or the omission of _a comma_. Thus, if I say, "Men who grasp after riches, are never satisfied;" the relative _who_ is taken restrictively, and I am understood to speak _only of the avaricious_. But, if I say, "Men, who grasp after riches, are never satisfied;" by separating the terms _men_ and _who_, I declare _all men_ to be covetous and unsatisfied. For the former sense, the relative _that_ is preferable to _who_; and I shall presently show why. This example, in the latter form, is found in Sanborn's Grammar, page 142d; but whether the author meant what he says, or not, I doubt. Like many other unskillful writers, he has paid little regard to the above-mentioned distinction; and, in some instances, his meaning cannot have been what his words declare: as, "A prism is a solid, whose sides are all parallelograms."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 142. This, as it stands, is no definition of a prism, but an assertion of two things; that a prism is a solid, and that all the sides of a solid are parallelograms. Erase the comma, and the words will describe the prism as a peculiar kind of solid; because _whose_ will then be taken in the restrictive sense. This sense, however, may be conveyed even with a comma before the relative; as, "Some fictitious histories yet remain, _that_ were composed during the decline of the Roman empire."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 374. This does not suggest that there are no other fictitious histories now extant, than such as were composed during the decline of the Roman empire; but I submit it to the reader, whether the word _which_, if here put for _that_, would not convey this idea. OBS. 27.--Upon this point, many philologists are open to criticism; and none more so, than the recent author above cited. By his own plain showing, this grammarian has no conception of the difference of meaning, upon which the foregoing distinction is founded. What marvel, then, that he falls into errors, both of doctrine and of practice? But, if no such difference exists, or none that is worthy of a critic's notice; then the error is mine, and it is vain to distinguish between the restrictive and the resumptive sense of relative pronouns. For example: "The boy that desires to assist his companions, deserves respect."--_G. Brown._ "That boy, who desires to assist his companions, deserves respect."--_D. H. Sanborn._ According to my notion, these two sentences clearly convey two very different meanings; the relative, in the former, being restrictive, but, in the latter, resumptive of the sense of the antecedent. But of the latter example this author says, "The clause, 'who desires to assist his companions,' with the relative who at its head, _explains or tells what boy deserves respect_; and, like a conjunction, connects this clause to the noun _boy_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 69. He therefore takes it in a restrictive sense, as if this sentence were exactly equivalent to the former. But he adds, "A relative pronoun is resolvable into a personal pronoun and a conjunction. The sentence would then read, 'That boy desires to assist his companions, _and_ he deserves respect.' The relative pronoun governs the nearer verb, and the antecedent the more distant one."--_Ib._, p. 69. Now, concerning the restrictive relative, this doctrine of equivalence does not hold good; and, besides, the explanation here given, not only contradicts his former declaration of the sense he intended, but, with other seeming contradiction, joins the antecedent to the nearer verb, and the substituted pronoun to the more distant. OBS. 28.--Again, the following principles of this author's punctuation are no less indicative of his false views of this matter: "RULE xiv.--Relative pronouns in the nominative or [_the_] objective case, are preceded by commas, when the clause which the relative _connects_ [,] ends a sentence; as, 'Sweetness of temper is a quality, which reflects a lustre on every accomplishment'--B. Greenleaf.' Self [-] denial is the sacrifice [,] which virtue must make.' [_--L. Murray._] The comma is omitted before the relative, when the verb which the antecedent governs, follows the relative clause; as, 'He that suffers by imposture, has too often his virtue more impaired than his fortune.'--_Johnson_." See _Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 269. Such are some of our author's principles--"the essence of modern improvements." His practice, though often wrong, is none the worse for contradicting these doctrines. Nay, his proudest boast is ungrammatical, though peradventure not the less believed: "_No_ [other] _grammar in the language_ probably contains so great a quantity of _condensed and_ useful matter with so little superfluity."--_Sanborn's Preface_, p. v. OBS. 29.--Murray's rule for the punctuation of relatives, (a rule which he chiefly copied from Lowth,) recognizes virtually the distinction which I have made above; but, in assuming that relatives "_generally_" require a comma before them, it erroneously suggests that the resumptive sense is more common than the restrictive. Churchill, on the contrary, as wrongly makes it an essential characteristic of _all_ relatives, "to limit or explain the words to which they refer." See his _New Gram._, p. 74. The fact is, that relatives are so generally restrictive, that not one half of them are thus pointed; though some that do restrict their antecedent, nevertheless admit the point. This may be seen by the first example given us by Murray: "Relative pronouns are connective words, and _generally admit_ a comma before them: as, 'He preaches sublimely, who lives a sober, righteous, and pious life.' But when two members, or _phrases_, [say _clauses_,] are closely connected by a relative, restraining the general notion of the antecedent to a particular sense, _the comma should be omitted_: as, '_Self-denial_ is the _sacrifice which_ virtue must make;' 'A _man who_ is of a detracting spirit, will misconstrue the most innocent _words that_ can be put together.' In the latter example, the assertion is not of 'a man in general,' but of 'a man who is of a detracting spirit;' and therefore _they_ [say _the pronoun and its antecedent_] should not be separated."--_Murray's Gram., Octavo_, p. 273; _Ingersoll's_, 285; _Comly's_, 152. This reasoning, strictly applied, would exclude the comma before _who_ in the first example above; but, as the pronoun does not "closely" or immediately follow its antecedent, the comma is allowed, though it is not much needed. Not so, when the sense is resumptive: as, "The _additions, which_ are very considerable, are chiefly _such as_ are calculated to obviate objections." See _Murray's Gram._, p. ix. Here the comma is essential to the meaning. Without it, _which_ would be equivalent to _that_; with it, which is equivalent to _and they_. But this latter meaning, as I imagine, cannot be expressed by the relative _that_. OBS. 30.--Into the unfortunate example which Sanborn took from Murray, I have inserted the comma for him; not because it is necessary or right, but because his rule requires it: "_Self-denial_ is the _sacrifice_," &c. The author of "a complete system of grammar," might better contradict even Murray, than himself. But why was this text admired? and why have _Greene, Bullions, Hiley, Hart_, and others, also copied it? A _sacrifice_ is something devoted and lost, for the sake of a greater good; and, _if Virtue sacrifice self-denial_, what will she do, but run into indulgence? The great sacrifice which she demands of men, is rather that of their _self-love_. Wm. E. Russell has it, "_Self defence_ is the sacrifice which virtue must make!"--_Russell's Abridgement of Murray's Gram._, p. 116. Bishop Butler tells us, "It is indeed _ridiculous_ to assert, that _self-denial is essential to virtue and piety_; but it would have been nearer the truth, though not strictly the truth itself, to have said, that it is essential to discipline and improvement."--_Analogy of Religion_, p. 123. OBS. 31.--The relative _that_, though usually reckoned equivalent to _who_ or _which_, evidently differs from both, in being more generally, and perhaps more appropriately, taken in the restrictive sense. It ought therefore, for distinction's sake, to be preferred to _who_ or _which_, whenever an antecedent not otherwise limited, is to be restricted by the relative clause; as, "_Men that_ grasp after riches, are never satisfied."--"I love _wisdom that_ is gay and civilized."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 34. This phraseology leaves not the limitation of the meaning to depend solely upon the absence of a pause after the antecedent; because the relative _that_ is seldom, if ever, used by good writers in any other than a restrictive sense. Again: "A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures _that_ the vulgar are not capable of receiving."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 411. Here, too, according to my notion, _that_ is obviously preferable to _which_; though a great critic, very widely known, has taken some pains to establish a different opinion. The "many pleasures" here spoken of, are no otherwise defined, than as being such as "the vulgar are not capable of receiving." The writer did not mean to deny that the vulgar are capable of receiving a great many pleasures; but, certainly, if _that_ were changed to _which_, this would be the meaning conveyed, unless the reader were very careful to avoid a pause where he would be apt to make one. I therefore prefer Addison's expression to that which Dr. Blair would substitute. OBS. 32.--The style of Addison is more than once censured by Dr. Blair, for the frequency with which the relative _that_ occurs in it, where the learned lecturer would have used which. The reasons assigned by the critic are these: "_Which_ is a much more definitive word than that, being never employed in any other way than as a relative; whereas _that_ is a word of many senses; sometimes a demonstrative pronoun, often a conjunction. In some cases we are indeed obliged to use _that_ for a relative, in order to avoid the ungraceful repetition of _which_ in the same sentence. But when we are laid under no necessity of this kind, _which_ is always the preferable word, and certainly was so in this sentence: '_Pleasures which_ the vulgar are not capable of receiving,' is much better than '_pleasures that_ the vulgar are not capable of receiving.'"--_Blair's Rhetoric_, Lect. xx, p. 200. Now the facts are these: (1.) That _that_ is the more definitive or restrictive word of the two. (2.) That the word _which_ has as many different senses and uses as the word _that_. (3.) That not the repetition of _which_ or _who_ in a series of clauses, but a _needless change_ of the relative, is ungraceful. (4.) That the necessity of using _that_ rather than _which_ or _who_, depends, not upon what is here supposed, but upon the different senses which these words usually convey. (5.) That as there is always some reason of choice, _that_ is sometimes to be preferred; _which_, sometimes; and _who_, sometimes: as, "It is not the man _who_ has merely taught, or _who_ has taught long, or _who_ is able to point out defects in authors, _that_ is capable of enlightening the world in the respective sciences _which_ have engaged his attention; but the man _who_ has taught well."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 7. OBS. 33.--Blair's Rhetoric consists of forty-seven lectures; four of which are devoted to a critical examination of the style of Addison, as exhibited in four successive papers of the Spectator. The remarks of the professor are in general judicious; but, seeing his work is made a common textbook for students of "Belles Lettres," it is a pity to find it so liable to reprehension on the score of inaccuracy. Among the passages which are criticised in the twenty-first lecture, there is one in which the essayist speaks of the effects of _novelty_ as follows: 'It is this _which_ bestows charms on a monster, and makes even the imperfections of nature please us. It is this _that_ recommends variety, where the mind is every instant called off to something new, and the attention not suffered to dwell too long and waste itself on any particular object. It is this, likewise, _that_ improves what is great or beautiful, and makes it afford the mind a double entertainment.'--_Spectator_, No. 412. This passage is deservedly praised by the critic, for its "perspicuity, grace, and harmony;" but, in using different relatives under like circumstances, the writer has hardly done justice to his own good taste. Blair's remark is this: "His frequent use of _that_, instead of _which_, is another peculiarity of his style; but, on this occasion in particular, [it] cannot be much commended, as, 'It is this _which_,' seems, in every view, to be better than, 'It is this _that_,' three times repeated."--_Lect._ xxi, p. 207. What is here meant by "_every view_," may, I suppose, be seen in the corresponding criticism which is noticed in my last observation above; and I am greatly deceived, if, in this instance also, the relative _that_ is not better than _which_, and more agreeable to polite usage. The direct relative which corresponds to the introductory pronoun _it_ and _an other antecedent_, should, I think, be _that_, and not _who_ or _which_: as, "It is not ye _that_ speak."--_Matt._, x, 20. "It is thou, Lord, _who_ hast the hearts of all men in thy hands, _that_ turnest the hearts of any to show me favour."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 278. Here _who_ has reference to _thou_ or _Lord_ only; but _that_ has some respect to the pronoun _it_, though it agrees in person and gender with _thou_. A similar example is cited at the close of the preceding observation; and I submit it to the reader, whether the word _that_, as it there occurs, is not the _only fit_ word for the place it occupies. So in the following examples: "There are _Words, which_ are _not Verbs, that_ signify actions and passions, and even things transient."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 100. "It is the universal taste of mankind, which is subject to no such changing modes, _that_ alone is entitled to possess any authority."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 286. OBS. 34.--Sometimes the broad import of an antecedent is _doubly restricted_, first by one relative clause, and then by an other; as, "And all _that dwell upon the earth_, shall worship him, _whose names are not written in the book of life_."--_Rev._, xiii, 8. "And then, like true Thames-Watermen, they abuse every man _that_ passes by, _who_ is better dressed than themselves."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 10. Here _and_, or _if he_, would be as good as "_who_;" for the connective only serves to carry the restriction into narrower limits. Sometimes the limit fixed by one clause is _extended_ by an other; as, "There is no evil _that you may suffer_, or _that you may expect to suffer, which_ prayer is not the appointed means to alleviate."--_Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 16. Here _which_ resumes the idea of "_evil_," in the extent last determined; or rather, in that which is fixed by either clause, since the limits of both are embraced in the assertion. And, in the two limiting clauses, the same pronoun was requisite, on account of their joint relation; but the clause which assumes a different relation, is rightly introduced by a different pronoun. This is also the case in the following examples: "For there is no condemnation to those _that_ are in Christ Jesus, _who_ walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 432. "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast _that_ carrieth her, _which_ hath the seven heads and ten horns."--_Rev._, xvii, 7. Here the restrictive sense is well expressed by one relative, and the resumptive by an other. When neither of these senses is intended by the writer, _any_ form of the relative must needs be improper: as, "The greatest genius _which runs_ through the arts and sciences, takes a kind of tincture from them, and falls unavoidably into imitation."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 160. Here, as I suppose, _which runs_ should be _in running_. What else can the author have meant? OBS. 35.--Having now, as I imagine, clearly shown the difference between the restrictive and the resumptive sense of a relative pronoun, and the absolute necessity of making such a choice of words as will express that sense only which we intend; I hope the learner will see, by these observations, not merely that clearness requires the occasional use of each of our five relatives, _who, which, what, that_, and _as_; but that this distinction in the meaning, is a very common principle by which to determine what is, and what is not, good English. Thus _that_ and _as_ are appropriately our _restrictive_ relatives, though _who_ and _which_ are sometimes used restrictively; but, in a _resumptive_ sense, _who_ or _which_ is required, and required even after those terms which usually demand _that_ or _as_: thus, "We are vexed at the unlucky chance, and go away dissatisfied. _Such_ impressions, _which_ ought not to be cherished, are a sufficient reason for excluding stories of that kind from the theatre."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 279. Here _which_ is proper to the sense intended; but _such_ requires _as_, when the latter term limits the meaning of the former. In sentences like the following, _who_ or _which_ may be used in lieu of _that_; whether with any advantage or not, the reader may judge: "You seize the critical moment _that_ is favorable to emotion."--_Bair's Rhet._, p. 321. "_An_ historian _that_ would instruct us, must know when to be concise."--_Ib._, p. 359. "Seneca has been censured for the affectation _that_ appears in his style."--_Ib._, p. 367. "Such as the prodigies _that_ attended the death of Julius Caesar."--_Ib._, p. 401. "By unfolding those principles _that_ ought to govern the taste of every individual."--_Kames's Dedication to El. of Crit._ "But I am sure he has that _that_ is better than an estate."--_Spect._, No. 475. "There are two properties, _that_ characterize and essentially distinguish relative pronouns."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 74. By these examples, it may be seen, that Dr. Blair often forgot or disregarded his own doctrine respecting the use of this relative; though he was oftener led, by the error of that doctrine, to substitute _which_ for _that_ improperly. OBS. 36.--_Whether_ was formerly used as an interrogative pronoun, in which sense it always referred to one of two things; as, "Ye fools and blind! for _whether_ is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?"--_Matt._, xxiii, 17. This usage is now obsolete; and, in stead of it, we say, "_Which_ is greater?" But as a disjunctive conjunction, corresponding to _or_, the word _whether_ is still in good repute; as, "Resolve _whether_ you will go _or_ not."--_Webster's Dict._ In this sense of the term, some choose to call _whether_ an _adverb_. OBS. 37.--In the view of some writers, interrogative pronouns differ from relatives chiefly in this; that, as the subject referred to is unknown to the speaker, they do not relate to a _preceding_ noun, but to something which is to be expressed in the answer to the question. It is certain that their _person, number_, and _gender_, are not regulated by an antecedent noun; but by what the speaker supposes or knows of a subject which may, or may not, agree with them in these respects: as, "_What_ lies there?" Answer, "Two _men_ asleep." Here _what_, standing for _what thing_, is of the third person, singular number, and neuter gender; but _men_, which is the term that answers to it, is of the third person, plural, masculine. There is therefore no necessary agreement between the question and the answer, in any of those properties in which a pronoun usually agrees with its noun. Yet some grammarians will have interrogatives to agree with these "_subsequents_," as relatives agree with their _antecedents_. The answer, it must be granted, commonly contains a noun, corresponding in some respects to the interrogative pronoun, and agreeing with it _in case_; but this noun cannot be supposed to control the interrogation, nor is it, in any sense, the word for which the pronoun stands. For every pronoun must needs stand for something that is uttered or conceived by the same speaker; nor can any question be answered, until its meaning is understood. Interrogative pronouns must therefore be explained as direct substitutes for such other terms as one might use in stead of them. Thus _who_ means _what person_? "_Who_ taught that heav'n-directed spire to rise? _The Man of Ross_, each lisping babe replies."--_Pope_. OBS. 38.--In the classification of the pronouns, and indeed in the whole treatment of them, almost all our English grammars are miserably faulty, as well as greatly at variance. In some forty or fifty, which I have examined on this point, the few words which constitute this part of speech, have more than twenty different modes of distribution. (1.) Cardell says, "There is but one kind of pronouns"--_Elements of Gram._, p. 30. (2.) D. Adam's, Greenleaf, Nutting, and Weld, will have two kinds; "_personal_ and _relative_." (3.) Dr. Webster's "Substitutes, or pronouns, are of two kinds:" the one, "called _personal_;" the other, without name or number. See his _Improved Gram._, p. 24. (4.) Many have fixed upon three sorts; "_personal, relative_, and _adjective_;" with a subdivision of the last. Of these is Lindley Murray, in his late editions, with his amenders, Ainsworth, Alger, Bacon, Bullions, Fisk, A. Flint, Frost, Guy, Hall, Kirkham, Lennie, Merchant, Picket, Pond, and S. Putnam. (5.) Kirkham, however, changes the order of the classes; thus, "_personal, adjective_, and _relative_;" and, with ridiculous absurdity, makes _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours_, and _theirs_ to be "_compounds_." (6.) Churchill adopts the plan of "_personal, relative_, and _adjective_ pronouns;" and then destroys it by a valid argument. (7.) Comly, Wilcox, Wells, and Perley, have these three classes; "_personal, relative_, and _interrogative_:" and this division is right. (8.) Sanborn makes the following bull: "The _general_ divisions of pronouns are _into personal, relative, interrogative_, and _several sub-divisions_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 91. (9.) Jaudon has these three kinds; "_personal, relative_, and _distributive_." (10.) Robbins, these; "_simple, conjunctive_, and _interrogative_." (11.) Lindley Murray, in his early editions, had these four; "_personal, possessive, relative_, and _adjective_." (12.) Bucke has these; "_personal, relative, interrogative_, and _adjective_." (13.) Ingersoll, these; "_personal, adjective, relative_, and _interrogative_." (14.) Buchanan; "_personal, demonstrative, relative_, and _interrogative_." (15.) Coar; "_personal, possessive_ or _pronominal adjectives, demonstrative_, and _relative_." (16.) Bicknell; "_personal, possessive, relative_, and _demonstrative_." (17.) Cobbett; "_personal, relative, demonstrative_, and _indefinite_." (18) M'Culloch; "_personal, possessive, relative_, and _reciprocal_." (19.) Staniford has five; "_personal, relative, interrogative, definitive_, and _distributive_." (20.) Alexander, six; "_personal, relative, demonstrative, interrogative, definitive_, and _adjective_." (21.) Cooper, in 1828, had five; "_personal, relative, possessive, definite_, and _indefinite_." (22.) Cooper, in 1831, six; "_personal, relative, definite, indefinite, possessive_, and _possessive pronominal adjectives_." (23.) Dr. Crombie says: "Pronouns may be divided into _Substantive_, and _Adjective; Personal_, and _Impersonal; Relative_, and _Interrogative_." (24.) Alden has seven sorts; "_personal, possessive, relative, interrogative, distributive, demonstrative_, and _indefinite_." (25.) R. C. Smith has many kinds, and treats them so badly that nobody can count them. In respect to definitions, too, most of these writers are shamefully inaccurate, or deficient. Hence the filling up of their classes is often as bad as the arrangement. For instance, four and twenty of them will have interrogative pronouns to be relatives; but who that knows what a relative pronoun is, can coincide with them in opinion? Dr. Crombie thinks, "that interrogatives are strictly relatives;" and yet divides the two classes with his own hand! MODIFICATIONS. Pronouns have the same modifications as nouns; namely, _Persons, Numbers, Genders_, and _Cases_. Definitions universally applicable have already been given of all these things; it is therefore unnecessary to define them again in this place. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In the personal pronouns, most of these properties are distinguished by the words themselves; in the relative and the interrogative pronouns, they are ascertained chiefly by means of the antecedent and the verb. Interrogative pronouns, however, as well as the relatives _which, what, as_, and all the compounds of _who, which_, and _what_, are always of the third person. Even in etymological parsing, some regard must be had to the syntactical relations of words. By _modifications_, we commonly mean actual changes in the forms of words, by which their grammatical properties are inherently distinguished; but, in all languages, the distinguishable properties of words are somewhat more numerous than their actual variations of form; there being certain principles of universal grammar, which cause the person, number, gender, or case, of some words, to be inferred from their relation to others; or, what is nearly the same thing, from the sense which is conveyed by the sentence. Hence, if in a particular instance it happen, that some, or even all, of these properties, are without any index in the form of the pronoun itself, they are still to be ascribed in parsing, because they may be easily and certainly discovered from the construction. For example: in the following text, it is just as easy to discern the _genders_ of the pronouns, as the _cases_ of the nouns; and both are known and asserted to be what they are, upon principles of mere inference: "For what knowest _thou_, O _wife_, whether _thou_ shalt save _thy husband_? or how knowest _thou_, O _man_, whether _thou_ shalt save _thy wife_?"--_1 Cor._, vii, 16. Again: "_Who_ betrayed _her_ companion? Not _I_."--_Murray's Key_, p. 211. Here _her_ being of the feminine gender, it is the inference of every reader, that _who_ and _I_ are so too; but whether the word _companion_ is masculine or feminine, is not so obvious. OBS. 2.--The personal pronouns of the first and second persons, are equally applicable to both sexes; and should be considered masculine or feminine, according to the known application of them. [See _Levizac's French Gram._, p. 73.] The speaker and the hearer, being present to each other, of course know the sex to which they respectively belong; and, whenever they appear in narrative or dialogue, we are told who they are. In _Latin_, an adjective or a participle relating to these pronouns, is varied _to agree_ with them in _number, gender_, and _case_. This is a sufficient proof that _ego, I_, and _tu, thou_, are not destitute of gender, though neither the Latin words nor the English are themselves varied to express it:-- "_Miserae_ hoc tamen unum Exequere, Anna, _mihi: solam_ nam perfidus ille _Te_ colere, arcanos etiam tibi credere sensus; _Sola_ viri molles aditus et tempora noras."--_Virgil_. OBS. 3.--Many English grammarians, and Murray at their head, deny the first person of nouns, and the gender of pronouns of the first and second persons; and at the same time teach, that, "Pronouns must always agree with their antecedents, _and_ the nouns for which they stand, in _gender, number_, and _person_:" (_Murray's Gr., 2d Ed._, p. 111; _Rev. T. Smith's_, p. 60:) and further, with redundance of expression, that, "The relative is of the same person _with_ the antecedent, and the verb agrees with it accordingly."--_Same_. These quotations form Murray's fifth rule of syntax, as it stands in his early editions.[196] In some of his revisings, the author erased the word _person_ from the former sentence, and changed _with_ to _as_ in the latter. But other pronouns than relatives, agree with their nouns in person; so that his first alteration was not for the better, though Ingersoll, Kirkham, Alger, Bacon, J. Greenleaf, and some others, have been very careful to follow him in it. And why did he never discern, that the above-named principles of his etymology are both of them contradicted by this rule of his syntax, and one of them by his rule as it now stands? It is manifest, that no two words can possibly _agree_ in any property which belongs not to both. Else what _is_ agreement? Nay, no two things in nature, can in any wise agree, accord, or be alike, but by having some quality or accident in common. How strange a contradiction then is this! And what a compliment to learning, that it is still found in well-nigh all our grammars! OBS. 4.--If there were truth in what Murray and others affirm, that "Gender has respect only to the third person singular of the pronouns, _he, she, it_," [197] no two words could ever agree in gender; because there can be no such agreement between any two of the words here mentioned, and the assertion is, that gender has respect to no others. But, admitting that neither the author nor the numerous copiers of this false sentence ever meant to deny that gender has respect to _nouns_, they do deny that it has respect to any other _pronouns_ than these; whereas I affirm that it ought to be recognized as a property of _all_ pronouns, as well as of all nouns. Not that the gender of either is in all instances invariably fixed by the _forms_ of the particular words; but there is in general, if not in every possible case, some principle of grammar, on which the gender of any noun or pronoun in a sentence may be readily ascertained. Is it not plain, that if we know who speaks or writes, who hears or is addressed, we know also the gender of the pronouns which are applied to these persons? The poet of The Task looked upon his mother's picture, and expressed his tender recollections of a deceased parent by way of _address_; and will any one pretend, that the pronouns which he applied to himself and to her, are either of the same gender, or of no gender? If we take neither of these assumptions, must we not say, they are of different genders? In this instance, then, let the parser call those of the first person, masculine; and those of the second, feminine:-- "_My_ mother! when _I_ learned that _thou_ wast dead, Say, wast _thou_ conscious of the tears _I_ shed?"--_Cowper_. OBS. 5.--That the pronouns of the first and second persons are sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine, is perfectly certain; but whether they can or cannot be neuter, is a question difficult to be decided. To things inanimate they are applied only _figuratively_; and the question is, whether the figure always necessarily changes the gender of the antecedent noun. We assume the general principle, that the noun and its pronoun are always of the same gender; and we know that when inanimate objects are personified in the third person, they are usually represented as masculine or feminine, the gender being changed by the figure. But when a lifeless object is spoken to in the second person, or represented as speaking in the first, as the pronouns here employed are in themselves without distinction of gender, no such change can be proved by the mere words; and, if we allow that it would be needless to _imagine_ it where the words do not prove it, the gender of these pronouns must in such cases be neuter, because we have no ground to think it otherwise. Examples: "And Jesus answered and said unto _it_, [the barren _figtree_,] No man eat fruit of _thee_ hereafter forever."--_Mark_, xi, 14. "O _earth_, cover not _thou_ my blood."--_Job_, xvi, 18. "O _thou sword_ of the Lord, how long will it be ere _thou_ be quiet?"--_Jeremiah_, xlvii, 6. In these instances, the objects addressed do not appear to be figuratively invested with the attribute of sex. So likewise with respect to the first person. If, in the following example, _gold_ and _diamond_ are neuter, so is the pronoun _me_; and, if not neuter, of what gender are they? The personification indicates or discriminates no other. "Where thy true treasure? Gold says, 'Not in _me_; And, 'Not in _me_,' the diamond. Gold is poor."--_Young_. THE DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS. The declension of a pronoun is a regular arrangement of its numbers and cases. I. SIMPLE PERSONALS. The simple personal pronouns are thus declined:-- I, _of the_ FIRST PERSON, _any of the genders_.[198] Sing. Nom. I, Plur. Nom. we, Poss. my, _or_ mine,[199] Poss. our, _or_ ours, Obj. me; Obj. us. THOU, _of the_ SECOND PERSON, _any of the genders_. Sing. Nom. thou,[200] Plur. Nom. ye, or you, Poss. thy, _or_ thine, Poss. your, _or_ yours, Obj. thee; Obj. you, or ye.[201] HE, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _masculine gender_. Sing. Nom. he, Plur. Nom. they, Poss. his, Poss. their, _or_ theirs, Obj. him; Obj. them. SHE, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _feminine gender_. Sing. Nom. she, Plur. Nom. they, Poss. her, _or_ hers, Poss. their, _or_ theirs, Obj. her; Obj. them. IT, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _neuter gender_. Sing. Nom, it, Plur. Nom. they, Poss. its, Poss. their, _or_ theirs, Obj. it; Obj. them. II. COMPOUND PERSONALS. The word _self_, added to the simple personal pronouns, forms the class of _compound personal pronouns_; which are used when an action reverts upon the agent, and also when some persons are to be distinguished from others: as, sing, _myself_, plur. _ourselves_; sing, _thyself_, plur. _yourselves_; sing, _himself_, plur. _themselves_; sing, _herself_, plur. _themselves_; sing, _itself_, plur. _themselves_. They all want the possessive case, and are alike in the nominative and objective. Thus:-- MYSELF, _of the_ FIRST PERSON,[202] _any of the genders_. Sing. Nom. myself, Plur. Nom. ourselves, Poss. ------, Poss. ---------, Obj. myself; Obj. ourselves. THYSELF, _of the_ SECOND PERSON, _any of the genders_. Sing. Nom. thyself,[203] Plur. Nom. yourselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. thyself; Obj. yourselves. HIMSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _masculine gender_. Sing. Nom. himself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. himself; Obj. themselves. HERSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _feminine gender_. Sing. Nom. herself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. herself; Obj. themselves. ITSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _neuter gender_. Sing. Nom. itself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. ------, Poss. ----------, Obj. itself; Obj. themselves. III. RELATIVES AND INTERROGATIVES. The relative and the interrogative pronouns are thus declined:-- WHO, _literally applied to persons only_. Sing. Nom. who, Plur. Nom. who, Poss. whose, Poss. whose, Obj. whom; Obj. whom. WHICH, _applied to animals and things_. Sing. Nom. which, Plur. Nom. which, Poss. [204]--, Poss. -----, Obj. which; Obj. which. WHAT, _applied ordinarily to things only_.[205] Sing. Nom. what, Plur. Nom. what, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. what; Obj. what. THAT, _applied to persons, animals, and things_. Sing. Nom. that, Plur. Nom. that, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. that; Obj. that. AS, _applied to persons, animals, and things_. Sing. Nom. as, Plur. Nom. as, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. as; Obj. as. IV. COMPOUND RELATIVES. The compound relative pronouns, _whoever_ or _whosoever, whichever_ or _whichsoever_, and _whatever_ or _whatsoever_[206] are declined in the same manner as the simples, _who which, what_. Thus:-- WHOEVER or WHOSOEVER, _applied only to persons_. Sing. Nom. whoever, Plur. Nom. whoever, Poss. whosever, Poss. whosever, Obj. whomever; Obj. whomever. Sing. Nom. whosoever, Plur. Nom. whosoever, Poss. whosesoever, Poss. whosesoever, Obj. whomsoever; Obj. whomsoever. WHICHEVER or WHICHSOEVER, _applied to persons, animals, and things_. Sing. Nom. whichever, Plur. Nom. whichever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whichever; Obj. whichever. Sing. Nom. whichsoever, Plur. Nom. whichsoever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whichsoever; Obj. whichsoever. WHATEVER or WHATSOEVER, _applied ordinarily to things only_. Sing. Nom. whatever, Plur. Nom. whatever, Poss. --------, Poss. --------, Obj. whatever; Obj. whatever. Sing. Nom. whatsoever, Plur. Nom. whatsoever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whatsoever; Obj. whatsoever. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Most of the personal pronouns have two forms of the possessive case, in each number: as, _my_ or _mine, our_ or _ours_; _thy_ or _thine, your_ or _yours_; _her_ or _hers, their_ or _theirs_. The former is used before a noun expressed, or when nothing but an adjective intervenes; the latter, when the governing noun is understood, or is so placed that a repetition of it is implied in or after the pronoun: as, "_My_ powers are _thine_; be _thine_ alone The glory of my song."--_Montgomery_. "State what _mine_ and _your_ principles are."--_Legh Richmond, to his Daughters_. Better, perhaps: "State what _my_ principles and _yours_ are;"--"State what _your_ principles and _mine_ are;"--or, "State what are _my_ principles and _your own_." "Resign'd he fell; superior to the dart That quench'd its rage in _yours_ and _Britain's_ heart."--_J. Brown_. "Behold! to _yours_ and _my_ surprise, These trifles to a volume rise."--_Lloyd_, p. 186. OBS. 2.--Possibly, when the same persons or things stand in a joint relation of this kind to different individuals or parties, it may be proper to connect two of the simple possessives to express it; though this construction can seldom, if ever, be necessary, because any such expression as _thy and her sister, my and his duty_, if not erroneous, can mean nothing but _your sister, our duty, &c_. But some examples occur, the propriety of which it is worth while to consider: as, "I am sure it will be a pleasure to you to hear that she proves worthy of her father, worthy of you, and of _your and her_ ancestors."--_Spectator_, No. 525. This sentence is from a version of Pliny's letter to his wife's aunt; and, as the ancestors of the two individuals are here the same, the phraseology may be allowable. But had the aunt commended her niece to Pliny, she should have said, "worthy of you and of _your_ ancestors and _hers_." "Is it _her_ or _his_ honour that is tarnished? It is not _hers_, but _his_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 175. This question I take to be bad English. It ought to be, "Is it _her_ honour or _his_, that is tarnished?" Her honour and his honour cannot be one and the same thing. This example was framed by Murray to illustrate that idle and puzzling distinction which he and some others make between "possessive adjective pronouns" and "the genitive case of the personal pronouns;" and, if I understand him, the author will here have _her_ and _his_ to be of the former class, and _hers_ and _his_ of the latter. It were a better use of time, to learn how to employ such words correctly. Unquestionably, they are of the same class and the same case, and would be every way equivalent, if the first form were fit to be used elliptically. For example: "The same phrenzy had hindered the Dutch from improving to _their_ and to the common advantage the public misfortunes of France."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 309. Here the possessive case _their_ appears to be governed by _advantage_ understood, and therefore it would perhaps be better to say, _theirs_, or _their own_. But in the following instance, _our_ may be proper, because both possessives appear to be governed by one and the same noun:-- "Although 'twas _our_ and _their_ opinion Each other's church was but a Rimmon."--_Hudibras_. OBS. 3.--_Mine_ and _thine_ were formerly preferred to _my_ and _thy_, before all words beginning with a vowel sound; or rather, _mine_ and _thine_ were the original forms,[207] and _my_ and _thy_ were first substituted for them before consonants, and afterwards before vowels: as, "But it was thou, a man _mine_ equal, _my_ guide, and _mine_ acquaintance."--_Psalms_, lv, 13. "_Thy_ prayers and _thine_ alms are come up for a memorial before God."--_Acts_, x, 4. When the Bible was translated, either form appears to have been used before the letter _h_; as, "Hath not _my hand_ made all these things?"--_Acts_, vii, 50. "By stretching forth _thine hand_ to heal."--_Acts_, iv, 30. According to present practice, _my_ and _thy_ are in general to be preferred before all nouns, without regard to the sounds of letters. The use of the other forms, in the manner here noticed, has now become obsolete; or, at least, antiquated, and peculiar to the poets. We occasionally meet with it in modern verse, though not very frequently, and only where the melody of the line seems to require it: as, "Time writes no wrinkle on _thine_ azure brow."--_Byron_. "Deign on the passing world to turn _thine_ eyes."--_Johnson_. "_Mine_ eyes beheld the messenger divine."--_Lusiad_. "_Thine_ ardent symphony sublime and high."--_Sir W. Scott_. OBS. 4.--The possessives _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs_, usually denote possession, or the relation of property, with an _ellipsis_ of the name of the thing possessed; as, "My sword and _yours_ are kin."--_Shakspeare_. Here _yours_ means _your sword_. "You may imagine what kind of faith _theirs_ was."--_Bacon_. Here _theirs_ means _their faith_. "He ran headlong into his own ruin whilst he endeavoured to precipitate _ours_."--_Bolingbroke_. Here _ours_ means _our ruin_. "Every one that heareth these saying of _mine_."--_Matt._, vii, 26. Here _mine_ means _my sayings_. "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of _his_."--_Psalms_, xxx, 4. Here _his_ means _his saints_. The noun which governs the possessive, is here _understood_ after it, being inferred from that which precedes, as it is in all the foregoing instances. "And the man of _thine_, whom I shall not cut off from _mine_ altar, shall be to consume _thine_ eyes, and to grieve _thine_ heart."--_1 Samuel_, ii, 33. Here _thine_, in the first phrase, means _thy men_; but, in the subsequent parts of the sentence, both _mine and thine_ mean neither more nor less than _thy_ and _my_, because there is no ellipsis. _Of_ before the possessive case, governs the noun which is understood after this case; and is always taken in a _partitive_ sense, and not as the sign of the possessive relation: as, "When we say, 'a soldier _of the king's_', we mean, '_one of_ the king's _soldiers_.'"--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 29. There is therefore an ellipsis of the word _soldiers_, in the former phrase. So, in the following example, _mine_ is used elliptically for _my feet_; or rather, _feet_ is understood after _mine_, though _mine feet_ is no longer good English, for reasons before stated:-- "Ere I absolve thee, stoop I that on thy neck Levelled with earth tins _foot of mine_ may tread."--_Wordsworth_. OBS. 5.--Respecting the _possessive case_ of the simple personal pronouns, there appears among our grammarians a strange diversity of sentiment. Yet is there but one view of the matter, that has in it either truth or reason, consistency or plausibility. And, in the opinion of any judicious teacher, an erroneous classification of words so common and so important as these, may well go far to condemn any system of grammar in which it is found. A pronoun agrees in person, number, and gender, with the noun _for which it is a substitute_; and, if it is in the possessive case, it is usually governed by _an other noun_ expressed or implied after it. That is, if it denotes possession, it stands for the name of the possessor, and is governed by the name of the thing possessed. Now do not _my, thy, his, her, our, your, their_, and _mine, thine, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_, all equally denote possession? and do they not severally show by their forms the person, the number, and sometimes also the gender, of whomever or whatever they make to be the possessor? If they do, they are all of them _pronouns_, and nothing else; all found in the _possessive case_, and nowhere else. It is true, that in Latin, Greek, and some other languages, there are not only genitive cases corresponding to these possessives, but also certain declinable adjectives which we render in English by these same words: that is, by _my_ or _mine, our_ or _ours; thy_ or _thine, your_ or _yours_; &c. But this circumstance affords no valid argument for considering any of these English terms to be mere adjectives; and, say what we will, it is plain that they have not the signification of adjectives, nor can we ascribe to them the construction of adjectives, without making their grammatical agreement to be what it very manifestly is not. They never agree, in any respect, with the nouns which _follow_ them, unless it be by mere accident. This view of the matter is sustained by the authority of many of our English grammars; as may be seen by the declensions given by Ash, C. Adams, Ainsworth, R. W. Bailey, Barnard, Buchanan, Bicknell, Blair, Burn, Butler, Comly, Churchill, Cobbett, Dalton, Davenport, Dearborn, Farnum, A. Flint, Fowler, Frost, Gilbert, S. S. Green, Greenleaf, Hamlin, Hiley, Kirkham, Merchant, Murray the schoolmaster, Parkhurst, Picket, Russell, Sanborn, Sanders, R. C. Smith, Wilcox. OBS. 6.--In opposition to the classification and doctrine adopted above, many of our grammarians teach, that _my, thy, this, her, our, your, their_, are adjectives or "adjective pronouns;" and that _mine, thine, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_, are personal pronouns in the possessive case. Among the supporters of this notion, are D. Adams, Alden, Alger, Allen, Bacon, Barrett, Bingham, Bucke, Bullions, Cutler, Fisk, Frost, (in his small Grammar,) Guy, Hall, Hart, Harrison, Ingersoll, Jaudon, Lennie, Lowth, Miller, L. Murray, Pond, T. Smith, Spear, Spencer, Staniford, Webber, Woodworth. The authority of all these names, however, amounts to little more than that of one man; for Murray pretended to follow Lowth, and nearly all the rest copied Murray. Dr. Lowth says, "_Thy, my, her, our, your, their_, are pronominal adjectives; but _his_, (that is, _he's_,) _her's, our's, your's, their's_, have evidently the form of the possessive case: And, by analogy, _mine, thine_, may be esteemed of the same rank."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 23.[208] But why did he not see, that by the same analogy, and also by the sense and meaning of the words, as well as by their distinctions of person, number, and gender, all the other six are entitled to "the same rank?" Are not the forms of _my, thy, her, our, your, their_, as fit to denote the relation of property, and to be called the possessive case, as _mine, thine, his_, or any others? In grammar, all needless distinctions are reprehensible. And where shall we find a more blamable one than this? It seems to have been based merely upon the false notion, that the possessive case of pronouns ought to be formed like that of nouns; whereas custom has clearly decided that they shall always be different: the former must never be written with an apostrophe; and the latter, never without it. Contrary to all good usage, however, the Doctor here writes "_her's, our's, your's, their's_," each with a needless apostrophe. Perhaps he thought it would serve to strengthen his position; and help to refute what some affirmed, that all these words are adjectives. OBS. 7.--Respecting _mine, thine_, and _his_, Lowth and L. Murray disagree. The latter will have them to be sometimes "_possessive pronouns_," and sometimes "_possessive cases_." An admirable distinction this for a great author to make! too slippery for even the inventor's own hold, and utterly unintelligible to those who do not know its history! In short, these authors disagree also concerning _my, thy, her, our, your, their_; and where two leaders of a party are at odds with each other, and each is in the wrong, what is to be expected from their followers? Perceiving that Lowth was wrong in calling these words "_pronominal adjectives_," Murray changed the term to "_possessive pronouns_," still retaining the class entire; and accordingly taught, in his early editions, that, "There are _four kinds_ of pronouns, viz., the personal, _the possessive, the_ relative, and _the_ adjective pronouns."--_Murray's Gram._, 2d Edition, p. 37. "The Possessive Pronouns are such as principally relate to possession or property. There are seven of them; viz. _my, thy, his, her, our, your, their_. The possessives _his, mine, thine_, may be accounted either _possessive pronouns_, or the _possessive cases_ of their respective personal pronouns."--_Ib._, p. 40. He next idly demonstrates that these seven words may come before nouns of any number or case, without variation; then, forgetting his own distinction, adds, "When they are separated from the noun, all of them, except _his_, vary _their terminations_; as, this hat is _mine_, and the other is _thine_; those trinkets are _hers_; this house is _ours_, and that is _yours; theirs_ is more commodious than _ours_"--_Ib._, p. 40. Thus all his personal pronouns of the possessive case, he then made to be inflections of pronouns of _a different class!_ What are they now? Seek the answer under the head of that gross solecism, "_Adjective Pronouns_." You may find it in one half of our English grammars. OBS. 8.--Any considerable error in the classing of words, does not stand alone; it naturally brings others in its train. Murray's "_Adjective Pronouns_," (which he now subdivides into four little classes, _possessive, distributive, demonstrative_, and _indefinite_,) being all of them misnamed and misplaced in his etymology, have led both him and many others into strange errors in syntax. The _possessives only_ are "pronouns;" and these are pronouns of the possessive _case_. As such, they agree with the _antecedent_ nouns for which they stand, in _person, number_, and _gender_; and are governed, like all other possessives, by the nouns which follow them. The rest are _not pronouns_, but pronominal _adjectives_; and, as such, they relate to nouns expressed or understood _after them_. Accordingly, they have none of the above-mentioned qualities, except that the words _this_ and _that_ form the plurals _these_ and _those_. Or, if we choose to ascribe to a pronominal adjective all the properties of the noun understood, it is merely for the sake of brevity in parsing. The difference, then, between a "pronominal adjective" and an "adjective pronoun," should seem to be this; that the one is _an adjective_, and the other _a pronoun_: it is like the difference between a _horserace_ and a _racehorse_. What can be hoped from the grammarian who cannot discern it? And what can be made of rules and examples like the following? "Adjective _pronouns_ must agree, in number, with _their substantives_: as, '_This_ book, _these_ books; _that_ sort, _those_ sorts; _another_ road, _other_ roads.'"--_Murray's Gram._, Rule viii, _Late Editions; Alger's Murray_, p. 56; _Alden's, 85; Bacon's, 48; Maltby's, 59; Miller's, 66; Merchant's, 81; S. Putnam's, 10; and others_. "Pronominal _adjectives_ must agree with _their nouns_ in gender, number, and person; thus, '_My son_, hear the instructions of _thy_ father.' 'Call the _labourers_, and give them _their_ hire.'"--_Maunder's Gram._, Rule xvii. Here Murray gives a rule for _pronouns_, and illustrates it by _adjectives_; and Maunder, as ingeniously blunders in reverse: he gives a rule for _adjectives_, and illustrates it by _pronouns_. But what do they mean by "_their substantives_," or "_their nouns_?" As applicable to _pronouns_, the phrase should mean _nouns antecedent_; as applicable to _adjectives_, it should mean _nouns subsequent_. Both these rules are therefore false, and fit only to bewilder; and the examples to both are totally inapplicable. Murray's was once essentially right, but he afterwards corrupted it, and a multitude of his admirers have since copied the perversion. It formerly stood thus: "The pronominal adjectives _this_ and _that, &c_. and the numbers[209] _one, two_, &c., must agree in number with their substantives: as, 'This book, these books; that sort, those sorts; one girl, ten girls; another road, other roads.' "--_Murray's Gram._, Rule viii, 2d Ed., 1796. OBS. 9.--Among our grammarians, some of considerable note have contended, that the personal pronouns have but _two cases_, the nominative and the objective. Of this class, may be reckoned Brightland, Dr. Johnson, Fisher, Mennye, Cardell, Cooper, Dr. Jas. P. Wilson, W. B. Fowle. and, according to his late grammars, Dr. Webster. But, in contriving what to make of _my_ or _mine, our_ or _ours, thy_ or _thine, your_ or _yours, his, her_ or _hers, its_, and _their_ or _theirs_, they are as far from any agreement, or even from self-consistency, as the cleverest of them could ever imagine. To the person, the number, the gender, and the case, of each of these words, they either profess themselves to be total strangers, or else prove themselves so, by the absurdities they teach. Brightland calls them "Possessive Qualities, or Qualities of Possession;" in which class he also embraces all _nouns_ of the possessive case. Johnson calls them pronouns; and then says of them, "The possessive _pronouns_, like _other adjectives_, are without _cases_ or change of termination."--_Gram._, p. 6. Fisher calls them "Personal Possessive Qualities;" admits the person of _my, our_, &c.; but supposes _mine, ours_, &c. to supply the place of the _nouns which govern them!_ Mennye makes them one of his three classes of pronouns, "_personal, possessive_, and _relative_;" giving to both forms the rank which Murray once gave, and which Allen now gives, to the first form only. Cardell places them among his "defining adjectives." With Fowle, these, and all other possessives, are "possessive adjectives." Cooper, in his grammar of 1828. copies the last scheme of Murray: in that of 1831, he avers that the personal pronouns "want the possessive case." Now, like Webster and Wilson, he will have _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours_, and _theirs_, to be pronouns of the nominative or the objective case. Dividing the pronouns into six general classes, he makes these the fifth; calling them "Possessive Pronouns," but preferring in a note the monstrous name, "_Possessive Pronouns Substitute_." His sixth class are what he calls, "The Possessive Pronominal _Adjectives_;" namely, "_my, thy, his, her, our, your, their, its, own_, and sometimes _mine_ and _thine_."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 43. But all these he has, unquestionably, either misplaced or misnamed; while he tells us, that, "Simplicity of arrangement should be the object of every compiler."--_Ib._, p. 33. Dr. Perley, (in whose scheme of grammar all the pronouns are _nouns_,) will have _my, thy, his, her, its, our, your_, and _their_, to be in the possessive case; but of _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours_, and _theirs_, he says, "These may be called _Desiderative Personal Pronouns_."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 15. OBS. 10.--Kirkham, though he professes to follow Murray, declines the simple personal pronouns as I have declined them; and argues admirably, that _my, thy, his, &c._, are pronouns of the possessive case, because, "They always _stand for nouns in the possessive case_." But he afterwards contradicts both himself and the common opinion of all former grammarians, in referring _mine, thine, hers_, &c., to the class of "_Compound Personal Pronouns._" Nay, as if to outdo even himself in absurdity, he first makes _mine, thine, hers, ours_, &c., to be compounds, by assuming that, "These _pluralizing adjuncts, ne_ and _s_, were, no doubt, formerly detached from the pronouns with which they now coalesce;" and then, because he finds in each of his supposed compounds the signification of a pronoun and its governing noun, reassumes, in parsing them, the very principle of error, on which he condemns their common classification. He says, "They should be parsed _as two words_." He also supposes them to represent the nouns _which govern them_--nouns with which they do not agree in any respect! Thus is he wrong in almost every thing he says about them. See _Kirkham's Gram._, p. 99, p. 101, and p. 104. Goodenow, too, a still later writer, adopts the major part of all this absurdity. He will have _my, thy, his, her, its, our, your, their_, for the possessive case of his personal pronouns; but _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs_, he calls "_compound possessive pronouns_, in the subjective or [the] objective case."--_Text-Book of E. Gram._, p. 33. Thus he introduces a new class, unknown to his primary division of the pronouns, and not included in his scheme of their declension. Fuller, too, in a grammar produced at Plymouth, Mass., in 1822, did nearly the same thing. He called _I, thou, he, she_, and _it_, with their plurals, "_antecedent_ pronouns;" took _my, thy, his, her_, &c., for their _only_ possessive forms in his declension; and, having passed from them by the space of just half his book, added: "Sometimes, to prevent the repetition of the same word, an _antecedent pronoun in the possessive case_, is made to represent, both the pronoun and a noun; as, 'That book is _mine_'--i. e. '_my book_.' MINE is a _compound antecedent pronoun_, and is equivalent to _my_ book. Then parse _my_, and _book_, as though they were both expressed."--_Fuller's Gram._, p. 71. OBS. 11.--Amidst all this diversity of doctrine at the very centre of grammar, who shall so fix its principles that our schoolmasters and schoolmistresses may know _what to believe and teach_? Not he that speculates without regard to other men's views; nor yet he that makes it a merit to follow implicitly "the footsteps of" _one only_. The true principles of grammar are with the learned; and that man is in the wrong, with whom the _most_ learned will not, in general, coincide. Contradiction of falsities, is necessary to the maintenance of truth; correction of errors, to the success of science. But not every man's errors can be so considerable as to deserve correction from other hands than his own. Misinstruction in grammar has for this reason generally escaped censure. I do not wish any one to coincide with me merely through ignorance of what others inculcate. If doctors of divinity and doctors of laws will contradict themselves in teaching grammar, so far as they do so, the lovers of consistency will find it necessary to deviate from their track. Respecting these pronouns, I learned in childhood, from Webster, a doctrine which he now declares to be false. This was nearly the same as Lowth's, which is quoted in the sixth observation above. But, in stead of correcting its faults, this zealous reformer has but run into others still greater. Now, with equal reproach to his etymology, his syntax, and his logic, he denies that our pronouns have any form of the possessive case at all. But grant the obvious fact, that _substitution_ is one thing, and _ellipsis_ an other, and his whole argument is easily overthrown; for it is only by confounding these, that he reaches his absurd conclusion. OBS. 12.--Dr. Webster's doctrine now is, that none of the English pronouns have more than two cases. He says, "_mine, thine, his, hers, yours_, and _theirs_, are _usually considered_ as [being of] the possessive case. But the _three first_ are either attributes, and used with nouns, or they are substitutes. The _three last_ are always substitutes, used in the place of names WHICH ARE UNDERSTOOD."--"That _mine, thine, his_, [_ours_,] _yours, hers_, and _theirs_, do not constitute a possessive case, is demonstrable; for they are constantly used as the nominatives to verbs and as the objectives after verbs and prepositions, as in the following passages. 'Whether it could perform its operations of thinking and memory out of a body organized as _ours is_.'--_Locke_. 'The reason is, that his subject is generally things; _theirs_, on the contrary, _is_ persons.'--_Camp. Rhet._ 'Therefore leave your forest of beasts for _ours_ of brutes, called men.'--_Wycherley to Pope_. It is needless to multiply proofs. We observe these _pretended possessives_ uniformly used as nominatives or objectives.[210] Should it be said that _a noun is understood_; I reply, _this cannot be true_," &c.--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 35; _Improved Gram._, p. 26. Now, whether it be true or not, this very position is expressly affirmed by the Doctor himself, in the citation above; though he is, unquestionably, wrong in suggesting that the pronouns are "used _in the place_ of [those] names WHICH ARE UNDERSTOOD." They are used in the place of other names--the names of _the possessors_; and are governed by those which he here both admits and denies to be "understood." OBS. 13.--The other arguments of Dr. Webster against the possessive case of pronouns, may perhaps be more easily answered than some readers imagine. The first is drawn from the fact that conjunctions connect like cases. "Besides, in three passages just quoted, the word _yours_ is joined by a connective _to a name_ in the same case; 'To ensure _yours_ and _their immortality_.' 'The easiest part of _yours_ and _my design_.' '_My sword_ and _yours_ are kin.' Will any person pretend that the connective here joins different cases?"--_Improved Gram._, p. 28; _Philosophical Gram._, p. 36. I answer, No. But it is falsely assumed that _yours_ is here connected by _and_ to _immortality_, to _design_, or to _sword_; because these words are again severally understood after _yours_: or, if otherwise, the two pronouns alone are connected by _and_, so that the proof is rather, that _their_ and _my_ are in the possessive case. The second argument is drawn from the use of the preposition _of_ before the possessive. "For we say correctly, 'an acquaintance _of yours, ours_, or _theirs_'--_of_ being the sign of the possessive; but if the words in themselves are possessives, then there must be two signs of the same case, which is absurd."--_Improved Gram._, p. 28; _Phil. Gr._, 36. I deny that _of_ is here the sign of the possessive, and affirm that it is taken partitively, in all examples of this sort. "I know my sheep, and am known _of mine_," is not of this kind; because _of_ here means _by_--a sense in which the word is antiquated. In recurring afterwards to this argument, the Doctor misquotes the following texts, and avers that they "are evidently meant to include the _whole number_: 'Sing _to_ the Lord, _all_ ye saints of _his_.'--_Ps._ 30, 4. '_He_ that heareth these sayings _of mine_.'--_Matt._ 7."--_Improved Gram._, p. 29; _Phil. Gr._, 38. If he is right about the meaning, however, the passages are mistranslated, as well as misquoted: they ought to be, "Sing _unto_ the Lord, _O ye his Saints_."--"_Every one_ that heareth _these my sayings_." But when a definitive particle precedes the noun, it is very common with us, to introduce the possessive elliptically after it; and what Dr. Wilson means by suggesting that it is erroneous, I know not: "When the preposition _of_ precedes _mine, ours, yours_, &c. the _errour_ lies, not in this, that there are double possessive cases, but in forming an implication of a noun, which the substitute already denotes, together with the persons."--_Essay on Gram._, p. 110. OBS. 14.--In his Syllabus of English Grammar, Dr. Wilson teaches thus: "_My, our, thy, your, his, her, its, their, whose_, and _whosesoever_ are possessive pronominal _adjectives. Ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_ are _pronoun substantives_, used either as subjects, or [as] objects; as singulars, or [as] plurals; and are substituted both for [the names of] the possessors, and [for those of the] things possessed. _His, its, whose, mine_, and _thine_, are sometimes used as _such substantives_; but also are at other times _pronominal possessive_ adjectives."--_Wilson's Syllabus_, p. X. Now compare with these three positions, the following three from the same learned author. "In Hebrew, the _adjective_ generally agrees with its noun in gender and number, but _pronouns_ follow the gender of their antecedents, and not of the nouns with which they stand. So in English, _my, thy, his, her, its, our, your_, and _their_, agree with the nouns they represent, in number, gender, and person. But _adjectives_, having no change expressive of number, gender, or case, cannot accord with their nouns."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 192. "_Ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_, are most usually considered possessive cases of personal pronouns; but they are, more probably, possessive substitutes, not adjectives, but _nouns_."--_Ib._, p. 109. "Nor can _mine_ or _thine_, with any more propriety than _ours, yours_, &c. be joined to any noun, as possessive adjectives and possessive cases may."--_Ib._, p. 110. Whoever understands these instructions, cannot but see their inconsistency. OBS. 15.--Murray argues at some length, without naming his opponents, that the words which he assumes to be such, are really personal pronouns standing rightfully in the possessive case; and that, "they should not, on the slight pretence of their differing from nouns, be dispossessed of the right and privilege, which, from time immemorial they have enjoyed."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 53. Churchill as ably shows, that the corresponding terms, which Lowth calls _pronominal adjectives_, and which Murray and others will have to be _pronouns of no case_, are justly entitled to the same rank. "If _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs_, be the possessive case; _my, thy, her, our, your, their_, must be the same. Whether we say, 'It is _John's_ book,' or, 'The book is _John's_;' _John's_ is not less the possessive case in one instance, than it is in the other. If we say, 'It is _his_ book,' or, 'The book is _his_;' 'It is _her_ book,' or, 'The book is _hers_;' 'It is _my_ book,' or, 'The book is _mine_;' 'It is _your_ book,' or, 'The book is _yours_;' are not these parallel instances? Custom has established it as a law, that this case of the pronoun shall drop its original termination, for the sake of euphony, when it precedes the noun that governs it; retaining it only where the noun is understood: but this certainly makes no alteration in the nature of the word; so that either _my_ is as much a possessive case as _mine_; or _mine_ and _my_ are equally pronominal adjectives."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 221. "Mr. Murray considers the phrases, '_our desire_,' '_your intention_,' '_their resignation_,' as instances of plural adjectives _agreeing_ with singular nouns; and consequently exceptions to the general (may we not say _universal_?) rule: but if they [the words _our, your, their_,] be, as is attempted to be proved above, the possessive cases of pronouns, no rule is here violated."--_Ib._, p. 224. OBS. 16.--One strong argument, touching this much-disputed point of grammar, was incidentally noticed in the observations upon antecedents: an adjective cannot give person, number, and gender, to a relative pronoun; because, in our language, adjectives do not possess these qualities; nor indeed in any other, except as they take them by immediate agreement with nouns or pronouns in the same clause. But it is undeniable, that _my, thy, his, her, our, your, their_, do sometimes stand as antecedents, and give person, number, and gender to relatives, which head other clauses. For the learner should remember, that, "When a relative pronoun is used, the sentence is divided into two parts; viz. the _antecedent_ sentence, or that which contains the _antecedent_; and the _relative_ sentence, containing the _relative_."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 123. We need not here deny, that Terence's Latin, as quoted in the grammars, "Omnes laudare fortunas _meas, qui_ haberem gnatum tali ingeuio praeditum," is quite as intelligible syntax, as can literally be made of it in English--"That all would praise _my_ fortunes, _who had_ a son endued with such a genius." For, whether the Latin be good or not, it affords no argument against us, except that of a supposed analogy; nor does the literality of the version prove, at all points, either the accuracy or the sameness of the construction. OBS. 17.--Surely, without some imperative reason, we ought not, in English, to resort to such an assumption as is contained in the following Rule: "Sometimes the relative agrees in person with that pronoun substantive, from which the possessive pronoun adjective is derived; as, Pity _my_ condition, _who am_ so destitute. I rejoice at _thy_ lot, _who art_ so fortunate. We lament _his_ fate, _who is_ so unwary. Beware of _her_ cunning, _who is_ so deceitful. Commiserate _our_ condition, _who are_ so poor. Tremble at _your_ negligence, _who are_ so careless. It shall be _their_ property, _who are_ so diligent. We are rejoicing at _thy_ lot, _who hast_ been so fortunate."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 142. In his explanation of the last of these sentences, the author says, "_Who_ is a relative pronoun; in the masculine gender, singular number, second person, and agrees with _thee_, implied in the adjective _thy_. RULE.--Sometimes the relative agrees in person, &c. And it is the nominative to the verb _hast been_. RULE.--When no nominative comes between the relative and the verb, the relative is the nominative to the verb."--_Ib._, p. 143. A pupil of G. Brown's would have said, "_Who_ is a relative pronoun, representing '_thy_,' or the person addressed, in the second person, singular number, and masculine gender; according to the rule which says, 'A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:' and is in the nominative case, being the subject of _hast been_; according to the rule which says, 'A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case.' Because the meaning is--_who hast been_; that is, _thy lot_, or the lot _of thee, who hast been_." OBS. 18.--Because the possessive case of a noun or pronoun is usually equivalent in meaning to the preposition _of_ and the objective case, some grammarians, mistaking this equivalence of meaning for sameness of case, have asserted that all our possessives have a double form. Thus Nixon: "When the particle _of_ comes between two substantives signifying different things, it is not to be considered a preposition, but _the sign of the substantive's being in the possessive case_, equally as if the apostrophic _s_ had been affixed to it; as, 'The skill _of Caesar_,' or _Caesar's_ skill.'"--_English Parser_, p. 38. "When the apostrophic _s_ is used, the genitive is the former of the two substantives; as, '_John's_ house:' but when the particle _of_ is used, it is the latter; as, 'The house _of John_.'"--_Ib._, p. 46. The work here quoted is adapted to two different grammars; namely, Murray's and Allen's. These the author doubtless conceived to be the best English grammars extant. And it is not a little remarkable, that both of these authors, as well as many others, teach in such a faulty manner, that their intentions upon this point may be matter of dispute. "When Murray, Allen, and others, say, 'we make use of the particle _of_ to express the _relation_ of the genitive,' the ambiguity of their assertion leaves it in doubt whether or not they considered the substantive which is preceded by _of_ and an other substantive, as in the _genitive_ case."--_Nixon's English Parser_, p. 38. Resolving this doubt according to his own fancy, Nixon makes the possessive case of our personal pronouns to be as follows: "_mine_ or _of me, ours_ or _of us; thine_ or _of thee, yours_ or _of you; his_ or _of him, theirs_ or _of them; hers_ or _of her, theirs_ or _of them; its_ or _of it, theirs_ or _of them_."--_English Parser_, p. 43. This doctrine gives us a form of declension that is both complex and deficient. It is therefore more objectionable than almost any of those which are criticised above. The arguments and authorities on which the author rests his position, are not thought likely to gain many converts; for which reason, I dismiss the subject, without citing or answering them. OBS. 19.--In old books, we sometimes find the word _I_ written for the adverb _ay_, yes: as, "To dye, to sleepe; To sleepe, perchance to dreame; _I_, there's the rub."--_Shakspeare, Old Copies_. The British Grammar, printed in 1784, and the Grammar of Murray the schoolmaster, published some years earlier than Lindley Murray's, say: "We use _I_ as an Answer, in a familiar, careless, or merry Way; as, 'I, I, Sir, I, I;' but to use _ay_, is accounted rude, especially to our Betters." See _Brit. Gram._, p. 198. The age of this rudeness, or incivility, if it ever existed, has long passed away; and the fashion seems to be so changed, that to write or utter _I_ for _ay_, would now in its turn be "accounted _rude_"--the rudeness of ignorance--a false orthography, or a false pronunciation. In the word _ay_, the two sounds of _ah-ee_ are plainly heard; in the sound of _I_, the same elements are more quickly blended. (See a note at the foot of page 162.) When this sound is suddenly repeated, some writers make a new word of it, which must be called an _interjection_: as, "'Pray, answer me a question or two.' '_Ey, ey_, as many as you please, cousin Bridget, an they be not too hard.'"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 99. "_Ey, ey_, 'tis so; she's out of her head, poor thing."--_Ib._, p. 100. This is probably a corruption of _ay_, which is often doubled in the same manner: thus, "_Ay, ay_, Antipholus, look strange, and frown."--_Shakspeare_. OBS. 20.--The common fashion of address being nowadays altogether in the plural form, the pronouns _thou, thy, thine, thee_, and _thyself_, have become unfamiliar to most people, especially to the vulgar and uneducated. These words are now confined almost exclusively to the writings of the poets, to the language of the Friends, to the Holy Scriptures, and to the solemn services of religion. They are, however, the _only genuine_ representatives of the second person singular, in English; and to displace them from that rank in grammar, or to present _you, your_, and _yours_, as being literally singular, though countenanced by several late writers, is a useless and pernicious innovation. It is sufficient for the information of the learner, and far more consistent with learning and taste, to say, that the plural is fashionably used _for the singular_, by a figure of syntax; for, in all correct usage of this sort, the _verb_ is plural, as well as the pronoun--Dr. Webster's fourteen authorities to the contrary notwithstanding. For, surely, "_You was_" cannot be considered good English, merely because that number of respectable writers have happened, on some particular occasions, to adopt the phrase; and even if we must needs concede this point, and grant to the Doctor and his converts, that "_You was_ is _primitive_ and _correct_," the example no more proves that _you_ is singular, than that _was_ is plural. And what is one singular irregular preterit, compared with all the verbs in the language? OBS. 21.--In our present authorized version of the Bible, the numbers and cases of the second person are kept remarkably distinct,[211] the pronouns being always used in the following manner: _thou_ for the nominative, _thy_ or _thine_ for the possessive, and _thee_ for the objective, singular; _ye_ for the nominative, _your_ or _yours_ for the possessive, and _you_ for the objective, plural. Yet, before that version was made, fashionable usage had commonly substituted _you_ for _ye_, making the former word nominative as well as objective, and applying it to one hearer as well as to more. And subsequently, as it appears, the religious sect that entertained a scruple about applying _you_ to an individual, fell for the most part into an ungrammatical practice of putting _thee_ for _thou_; making, in like manner, the objective pronoun to be both nominative and objective; or, at least, using it very commonly so in their conversation. Their manner of speaking, however, was not--or, certainly, with the present generation of their successors, _is_ not--as some grammarians represent it to be, that formal and antique phraseology which we call _the solemn style_.[212] They make no more use of the pronoun _ye_, or of the verbal termination _eth_, than do people of fashion; nor do they, in using the pronoun _thou_, or their improper nominative _thee_, ordinarily inflect with _st_ or _est_ the preterits or the auxiliaries of the accompanying verbs, as is done in the solemn style. Indeed, to use the solemn style familiarly, would be, to turn it into burlesque; as when Peter Pindar "_telleth what he troweth._" [213] And let those who think with Murray, that our present version of the Scriptures _is the best standard_ of English grammar,[214] remember that in it they have no warrant for substituting _s_ or _es_ for the old termination _eth_, any more than for ceasing to use the solemn style of the second person familiarly. That version was good in its day, yet it shows but very imperfectly what the English language now is. Can we consistently take for our present standard, a style which does not allow us to use _you_ in the nominative case, or _its_ for the possessive? And again, is not a simplification of the verb as necessary and proper in the familiar use of the second person singular, as in that of the third? This latter question I shall discuss in a future chapter. OBS. 22.--The use of the pronoun _ye_ in the nominative case, is now mostly confined to the solemn style;[215] but the use of it in the objective, which is disallowed in the solemn style, and nowhere approved by our grammarians, is nevertheless _common_ when no emphasis falls upon the word: as, "When you're unmarried, never load _ye_ With jewels; they may incommode _ye_."--_Dr. King_, p. 384. Upon this point, Dr. Lowth observes, "Some writers have used _ye_ as the objective case plural of the pronoun of the second person, very improperly and ungrammatically; [as,] 'The more shame for _ye_; holy men I thought _ye_.' Shak. Hen. VIII. 'But tyrants dread _ye_, lest your just decree Transfer the pow'r, and set the people free.' Prior. 'His wrath, which one day will destroy _ye_ both.' Milt. P. L. ii. 734. Milton uses the same manner of expression in a few other places of his Paradise Lost, and more frequently in his [smaller] poems, _It may, perhaps, be allowed in the comic and burlesque style_, which often imitates a vulgar and incorrect pronunciation; but in the serious and solemn style, _no authority is sufficient_ to justify so manifest a solecism."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 22. Churchill copies this remark, and adds; "Dryden has _you_ as the nominative, and _ye_ as the objective, in the same passage:[216] 'What gain _you_, by forbidding it to tease _ye_? It now can neither trouble _ye_, nor please _ye_.' Was this from a notion, that _you_ and _ye_, thus employed, were more analogous to _thou_ and _thee_ in the singular number?"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 25. I answer, No; but, more probably, from a notion, that the two words, being now confessedly equivalent in the one case, might as well be made so in the other: just as the Friends, in using _thee_ for _you_, are carelessly converting the former word into a nominative, to the exclusion of _thou_; because the latter has generally been made so, to the exclusion of _ye_. When the confounding of such distinctions is begun, who knows where it will end? With like ignorance, some writers suppose, that the fashion of using the plural for the singular is a sufficient warrant for putting the singular for the plural: as, "The joys of love, are they not doubly _thine, Ye poor!_ whose health, whose spirits ne'er decline?" --_Southwick's Pleas. of Poverty._ "But, _Neatherds_, go look to the kine, Their cribs with fresh fodder supply; The task of compassion be _thine_, For herbage the pastures deny."--_Perfect's Poems_, p. 5. OBS. 23.--When used in a burlesque or ludicrous manner, the pronoun _ye_ is sometimes a mere expletive; or, perhaps, intended rather as an objective governed by a preposition understood. But, in such a construction, I see no reason to prefer it to the regular objective _you_; as, "He'll laugh _ye_, dance _ye_, sing _ye_, vault, look gay, And ruffle all the ladies in his play."--_King_, p. 574. Some grammarians, who will have _you_ to be singular as well as plural, ignorantly tell us, that "_ye_ always means more than one." But the fact is, that when _ye_ was in common use, it was as frequently applied to one person as _you_: thus, "Farewell my doughter lady Margarete, God wotte full oft it grieued hath my mynde, That _ye_ should go where we should seldome mete: Now am I gone, and haue left _you_ behynde."--_Sir T. More_, 1503. In the following example, _ye_ is used for _thee_, the objective singular; and that by one whose knowledge of the English language, is said to have been unsurpassed:-- "Proud Baronet of Nova Scotia! The Dean and Spaniard must reproach _ye_."--_Swift_. So in the story of the Chameleon:-- "'Tis green, 'tis green, Sir, I assure _ye_."--_Merrick_. Thus we have _ye_ not only for the nominative in both numbers, but at length for the objective in both; _ye_ and _you_ being made everywhere equivalent, by very many writers. Indeed this pronoun has been so frequently used for the objective case, that one may well doubt any grammarian's authority to condemn it in that construction. Yet I cannot but think it ill-chosen in the third line below, though right in the first:-- "_Ye_! who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene Which is his last, if in your memories dwell A thought which once was his, if on _ye_ swell A single recollection, not in vain He wore his sandal-shoon, and scallop-shell."--_Byron_. OBS. 24.--The three pronouns of the third person, _he, she_, and _it_, have always formed their plural number after one and the same manner, _they, their_ or _theirs, them_. Or, rather, these plural words, which appear not to be regular derivatives from any of the singulars, have ever been applied alike to them all. But _it_, the neuter pronoun singular, had formerly no variation of cases, and is still alike in the nominative and the objective. The possessive _its_ is of comparatively recent origin. In our common Bible, the word is not found, except by misprint; nor do other writings of the same age contain it. The phrase, _of it_, was often used as an equivalent; as, "And it had three ribs in the mouth _of it_ between the teeth _of it_."--_Dan._, vii, 5. That is--"in _its_ mouth, between _its_ teeth." But, as a possessive case was sometimes necessary, our ancestors used to borrow one; commonly from the masculine, though sometimes from the feminine. This produced what now appears a strange confusion of the genders: as, "_Learning_ hath _his_ infancy, when _it_ is but beginning, and almost childish; then _his_ youth, when _it_ is luxuriant and juvenile; then _his_ strength of years, when _it_ is solid and reduced; and lastly _his_ old age, when _it_ waxeth dry and exhaust."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 58. "Of beaten work shall the _candlestick_ be made: _his_ shaft, and _his_ branches, _his_ bowls, _his_ knops, and _his_ flowers, shall be of the same."--_Exodus_, xxv, 31. "They came and emptied the _chest_, and took _it_ and carried _it_ to _his_ place again."--_2 Chron._, xxiv, 11. "Look not thou upon the _wine, when_ it is red, when _it_ giveth _his_ colour in the cup, when _it_ moveth _itself_ aright."--_Prov._, xxiii, 31. "The _tree_ is known by _his_ fruit."--_Matt._, xii, 33. "When thou tillest the ground, _it_ shall not henceforth yield unto thee _her_ strength."--_Gen._, iv, 12. "He that pricketh the heart, maketh _it_ to show _her_ knowledge."--_Eccl._, xxii, 19. Shakspeare rarely, if ever, used _its_; and his style is sometimes obscure for the want of it: as, "There is no _vice_ so simple, but assumes Some mark of virtue on _his_ outward parts." --_Merch. of Venice_. "The name of Cassius honours this corruption, And _chastisement_ doth therefore hide _his_ head." --_Jul. Caes._, Act iv. OBS. 25.--The possessive case of pronouns should never be written with an apostrophe. A few pronominal adjectives taken substantively receive it; but the construction which it gives them, seems to make them nouns: as, _one's, other's_, and, according to Murray, _former's_ and _latter's_. The real pronouns that end in _s_, as _his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_, though true possessives after their kind, have no occasion for this mark, nor does good usage admit it. Churchill, with equal disregard of consistency and authority, gives it to one of them, and denies it to the rest. Referring to the classification of these words as possessives, and of _my, thy, her, our, your, their_, as adjectives, he says: "It seems as if the termination in _s_ had led to the distinction: but no one will contend, that _ours_ is the possessive case of _our_, or _theirs_ of _their_; though _ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_, are often very improperly spelt with an apostrophe, a fault not always imputable to the printer; while in _it's_, which is unquestionably the possessive case of _it_, the apostrophe, by a strange perverseness, is almost always omitted."--_Churchill Gram._, p. 222. The charge of strange perverseness may, in this instance, I think, be retorted upon the critic; and that, to the fair exculpation of those who choose to conform to the general usage which offends him. OBS. 26.--Of the compound personal pronouns, this author gives the following account: "_Self_, in the plural _selves_, a noun, is often combined with the personal pronouns, in order to express emphasis, or opposition, or the identity of the subject and [the] object of a verb; and thus forms a pronoun _relative_: as, 'I did it _myself_;' 'he was not _himself_, when he said so;' 'the envious torment _themselves_ more than others.' Formerly _self_ and _selves_ were used simply as nouns, and governed the pronoun, which was kept distinct from _it_ [them] in the possessive case: but since _they_ [the pronoun and the noun] have coalesced into one word, _they_ [the compounds] are used only in the following forms: for the first person, _myself, ourselves_; for the second, _thyself_, or _yourself, yourselves_; for the third, _himself, herself, itself, themselves_: except in the regal style, in which, as generally in the second person, the singular noun is added to the plural pronoun, [making] _ourself_. Each of these is _the same in all three cases._"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 75. In a note referring to the close of this explanation, he adds: "_Own_ also is often employed with the possessive cases of the personal pronouns by way of emphasis, or opposition; but separately, as an adjective, and not combining with them to form _a relative_: as, 'I did it of _my own_ free will:' 'Did he do it with _his own_ hand?'"--_Ib._, p. 227. OBS. 27.--The preceding instructions, faulty and ungrammatical as they are, seem to be the best that our writers have furnished upon this point. To detect falsities and blunders, is half the grammarian's duty. The pronouns of which the term _self_ or _selves_ forms a part, are used, not for the connecting of different clauses of a sentence, but for the purpose of emphatic distinction in the sense. In calling them "_relatives_," Churchill is wrong, even by his own showing. They have not the characteristics which he himself ascribes to relatives; but are compound personal pronouns, and nothing else. He is also manifestly wrong in asserting, that they are severally "the same in all three cases." From the very nature of their composition, the possessive case is alike impossible to them all. To express ownership with emphasis or distinction, we employ neither these compounds nor any others; but always use the simple possessives with the separate adjective _own_: as, "With _my own_ eyes,"--"By _thy own_ confession,"--"To _his own_ house,"--"For _her own_ father,"--"By _its own_ weight,"--"To save _our own_ lives,"--"For _your own_ sake,"--"In _their own_ cause." OBS. 28.--The phrases, _my own, thy own, his own_, and so forth, Dr. Perley, in his little Grammar, has improperly converted by the hyphen into compound words: calling them the possessive forms of _myself, thyself, himself_, and so forth; as if one set of compounds could constitute the possessive case of an other! And again, as if the making of eight new pronouns for two great nations, were as slight a feat, as the inserting of so many hyphens! The word _own_, anciently written _owen_, is an _adjective_; from an old form of the perfect participle of the verb _to owe_; which verb, according to Lowth and others, once signified _to possess_. It is equivalent to _due, proper_, or _peculiar_; and, in its present use as an adjective, it stands nowhere else than between the possessive case and the name of the thing possessed; as, "The Boy's _Own_ Book,"--"Christ's _own_ words,"--"Solomon's _own_ and only son." Dr. Johnson, while he acknowledges the abovementioned derivation, very strangely calls own a noun substantive; and, with not more accuracy, says: "This is a word of no other use than as it is added to the possessive pronouns, _my, thy, his, our, your, their_."--_Quarto Dict., w. Own_. O. B. Peirce, with obvious untruth, says, "_Own_ is used in combination with a name or substitute, and as a part of it, to constitute it emphatic."--_Gram._, p. 63. He writes it separately, but parses it as a part of the possessive noun or pronoun which precedes it! OBS. 29.--The word _self_ was originally _an adjective_, signifying _same, very_, or _particular_; but, when used alone, it is now generally _a noun_. This may have occasioned the diversity which appears in the formation of the compound personal pronouns. Dr. Johnson, in his great Dictionary, calls _self_ a pronoun; but he explains it as being both adjective and substantive, admitting that, "Its primary signification seems to be that of an adjective."--Again he observes, "_Myself, himself, themselves_, and the rest, may, contrary to the analogy of _my, him, them_, be used as nominatives." _Hisself, itsself_, and _theirselves_, would be more analogical than _himself, itself, themselves_; but custom has rejected the former, and established the latter. When an adjective qualifies the term _self_, the pronouns are written separately in the possessive case; as, _My single self,--My own self,--His own self,--Their own selves_. So, anciently, without an adjective: as, "A man shall have diffused his life, _his self_, and his whole concernments so far, that he can weep his sorrows with an other's eyes."--_South_. "Something valuable for _its self_ without view to anything farther."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 293. "That they would willingly, and of _their selves_ endeavour to keep a perpetual chastity."--_Stat. Ed. VI. in Lowth's Gram._, p. 26. "Why I should either _imploy my self_ in that study or put others upon it."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. xiv. "It is no matter whether you do it by your proctor, or by _your self_."--_Ib._, p. 96. The compound _oneself_ is sometimes written in stead of the phrase _one's self_; but the latter is preferable, and more common. Even _his self_, when written as two words, may possibly be right in some instances; as, "Scorn'd be the wretch that quits his genial bowl, His loves, his friendships, ev'n _his self_, resigns; Perverts the sacred instinct of his soul, And to a ducat's dirty sphere confines." --SHENSTONE: _Brit. Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 107. OBS. 30.--In poetry, and even in some compositions not woven into regular numbers, the simple personal pronouns are not unfrequently used, for brevity's sake, in a reciprocal sense; that is, in stead of the compound personal pronouns, which are the proper reciprocals: as, "Wash _you_, make _you_ clean."--_Isaiah_, i, 16. "I made me great works; I builded _me_ houses; I planted _me_ vineyards; I made _me_ gardens and orchards."--_Ecclesiastes_, ii, 4. "Thou shalt surely clothe _thee_ with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on _thee_ as a bride doeth."--_Isaiah_, xlix, 18. Compare with these the more regular expression: "As a bridegroom decketh _himself_ with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth _herself_ with jewels."--_Isaiah_, lxi, 10. This phraseology is almost always preferable in prose; the other is a poetical license, or peculiarity: as, "I turn _me_ from the martial roar."--_Scott's L. L._, p. 97. "Hush _thee_, poor maiden, and be still."--_Ib._, p. 110. "Firmer he roots _him_ the ruder it blow."--_Ib._, p. 49. OBS. 31.--To accommodate the writers of verse, the word _ever_ is frequently contracted into _e'er_, pronounced like the monosyllable _air_. An easy extension of this license, gives us similar contractions of all the compound relative pronouns; as, _whoe'er_ or _whosoe'er, whose'er_ or _whosesoe'er, whome'er_ or _whomsoe'er, whiche'er_ or _whichsoe'er, whate'er_ or _whatsoe'er_. The character and properties of these compounds are explained, perhaps sufficiently, in the observations upon the _classes_ of pronouns. Some of them are commonly parsed as representing two cases at once; there being, in fact, an ellipsis of the noun, before or after them: as, "Each art he prompts, each charm he can create, _Whate'er_ he gives, _are given_ for you to hate."--_Pope's Dunciad_. OBS. 32.--For a form of parsing the double relative _what_, or its compound _whatever_ or _whatsoever_, it is the custom of some teachers, to suggest equivalent words, and then proceed to explain these, in lieu of the word in question. This is the method of _Russell's Gram._, p. 99; of _Merchants_, p. 110; of _Kirkham's_, p. 111; of _Gilbert's_, p. 92. But it should be remembered that equivalence of meaning is not sameness of grammatical construction; and, even if the construction be the same, to parse other equivalent words, is not really to parse the text that is given. A good parser, with the liberty to supply obvious ellipses, should know how to explain all good English _as it stands_; and for a teacher to pervert good English into false doctrine, must needs seem the very worst kind of ignorance. What can be more fantastical than the following etymology, or more absurd than the following directions for parsing? "_What_ is compounded of _which that_. These words have been contracted and made to coalesce, a part of the orthography of both being still retained: _what--wh[ich--t]hat_; (_which-that_.) Anciently it appeared in the varying forms, _tha qua, qua tha, qu'tha, quthat, quhat, hwat_, and finally _what_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 111. This bald pedantry of "_tha qua, qua tha_," was secretly borrowed from the grammatical speculations of William S. Cardell:[217] the "_which-that_" notion contradicts it, and is partly of the borrower's own invention. If _what_ is a compound, it was compounded more than a thousand years ago; and, of course, long before any part of the English language existed as such. King Alfred used it, as he found it, in the Saxon form of _hwaet_. The Scotch afterwards spelled it _quhat_. Our English grammarians have _improperly_ called it a compound; and _Kirkham_, still more absurdly, calls the word _others_ a compound, and _mine, thine, ours, yours_, &e. compounds.[218] OBS. 33.--According to this gentleman's notion of things, there is, within the little circle of the word _what_, a very curious play of antecedent parts and parts relative--a dodging contra-dance of _which that_ and _that which_, with _things which_, and so forth. Thus: "When _what_ is a _compound relative_ you must always parse it as _two words_; that is, you must parse the antecedent part _as a noun_, and give it case; the relative part you may _analyze_ like any other relative, giving it a case likewise. Example: 'I will try _what_ (that which) can be found in female delicacy.' Here _that_, the antecedent part of _what_, is in the obj. case, governed by the verb 'will try;' _which_, the relative part, is in the nom. case to 'can be found.' 'I have heard _what_ (i.e. _that which_, or _the thing which_) has been alleged.' "--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 111. Here, we sec, the author's "_which-that_" becomes _that which_, or something else. But this is not a full view of his method. The following vile rigmarole is a further sample of that "_New Systematick Order of Parsing_," by virtue of which he so very complacently and successfully sets himself above all other grammarians: "'From _what_ is recorded, he appears, &c.' _What_ is a comp. rel. pron. including both the antecedent and the relative, and is equivalent to _that which_, or the _thing which.--Thing_, the antecedent part of _what_, is a noun, the name of a thing--com. the name of a species--neuter gender, it has no sex--third person, spoken of--sing. number, it implies but one--and in the obj. case, it is the object of the relation expressed by the prep. 'from,' and gov. by it: RULE 31. (Repeat the Rule, and _every other Rule_ to which I refer.) _Which_, the relative part of _what_, is a pronoun, a word used instead of a noun--relative, it relates to 'thing' for its antecedent--neut. gender, third person, sing, number, because the antecedent is with which it agrees, according to RULE 14. _Rel. pron_. &c. _Which_ is _in_ the nom. case to the verb 'is recorded,' agreeably to RULE 15. _The relative is the nominative case to the verb, when no nominative comes between it and the verb._"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 113. OBS. 34.--The distinction which has been made by Murray and others, between etymological parsing and syntactical--or, between that exercise which simply classifies and describes the words of a sentence, and that which adds to this the principles of their construction--is rejected by Kirkham, and also by Ingersoll, Fuller, Smith, Sanborn, Mack, and some others, it being altogether irreconcilable with their several modes of confounding the two main parts of grammar. If such a distinction is serviceable, the want of it is one of the inherent faults of the schemes which they have adopted. But, since "grammar is the art of speaking and writing with _propriety_" who that really values clearness and accuracy of expression, can think the want of them excusable in _models_ prescribed for the exercise of parsing? And is it not better to maintain the distinction above named, than to interlace our syntactical parsing with broken allusions to the definitions which pertain to etymology? If it is, this new mode of parsing, which Kirkham claims to have invented, and Smith pretends to have got from Germany, whatever boast may be made of it, is essentially defective and very immethodical.[219] This remark applies not merely to the forms above cited, respecting the pronoun _what_, but to the whole method of parsing adopted by the author of "_English Grammar in Familiar Lectures_." OBS. 35.--The forms of etymological parsing which I have adopted, being designed to train the pupil, in the first place, by a succession of easy steps, to a rapid and accurate description of the several species of words, and a ready habit of fully defining the technical terms employed in such descriptions, will be found to differ more from the forms of syntactical parsing, than do those of perhaps any other grammarian. The definitions, which constitute so large a portion of the former, being omitted as soon as they are thoroughly learned, give place in the latter, to the facts and principles of syntax. Thus have we fullness in the one part, conciseness in the other, order and distinctness in both. The separation of etymology from syntax, however, though judiciously adopted by almost all grammarians, is in itself a mere matter of convenience. No one will pretend that these two parts of grammar are in their nature _totally_ distinct and independent. Hence, though a due regard to method demands the maintenance of this ancient and still usual division of the subject, we not unfrequently, in treating of the classes and modifications of words, exhibit contingently some of the principles of their construction. This, however, is very different from a purposed blending of the two parts, than which nothing can be more unwise. OBS. 36.--The great peculiarity of the pronoun _what_, or of its compound _whatever_ or _whatsoever_, is a peculiarity of construction, rather than of etymology. Hence, in etymological parsing, it may be sufficient to notice it only as a relative, though the construction be double. It is in fact a relative; but it is one that reverses the order of the antecedent, whenever the noun is inserted with it. But as the noun is usually suppressed, and as the supplying of it is attended with an obvious difficulty, arising from the transposition, we cut the matter short, by declaring the word to have, as it appears to have, a double syntactical relation. Of the foregoing example, therefore--viz., "From _what_ is recorded," &c.,--a pupil of mine, in parsing _etymologically_, would say thus: "_What_ is a relative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which denotes the subject of a verb." In parsing _syntactically_, he would say thus: "_What_ is a double relative, including both antecedent and relative, being equivalent to _that which_. As _antecedent_, it is of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case; being governed by _from_; according to the rule which says, 'A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is goverved [sic--KTH] by it in the objective case.' Because the meaning is--_from what_. As _relative_, it is of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case; being the subject of _is recorded_; according to the rule which says, 'A Noun or a Pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case.' Because the meaning is--_what is recorded_." OBS. 37.--The word _what_, when uttered independently as a mark of surprise, or as the prelude to an emphatic question which it does not ask, becomes an interjection; and, as such, is to be parsed merely as other interjections are parsed: as, "_What!_ came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?"--_1 Cor._, xiv, 36. "_What!_ know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?"--_1 Cor._, vi, 19. "But _what!_ is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?"--_2 Kings_, viii, 13. "_What!_ are you so ambitious of a man's good word, who perhaps in an hour's time shall curse himself to the pit of hell?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 152. "_What!_ up and down, carv'd like an apple-tart?"--_Shakspeare_. "_What!_ can you lull the winged winds asleep?"--_Campbell_. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS V.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Fifth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, and PRONOUNS. _The definitions to be given in the Fifth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, and one for a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus."--_Rom._, ix, 20. _Nay_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _But_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _O_ is an interjection. 1. An interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of the mind. _Man_ is a common noun, of the second person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Who_ is an interrogative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun with which a question is asked. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Art_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Thou_ is a personal pronoun, of the second person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _That_ is a relative pronoun, of the second person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Repliest_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Against_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _God_ is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known, or mentioned. 2. A proper noun is the name of some particular individual, or people, or group. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Shall_ is a verb, auxiliary to _say_, and may be taken with it. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Thing_ is a common noun of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Formed_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _Say_, or _shall say_, is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Him_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _That_ is a relative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Formed_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _It_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Why_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Hast_ is a verb, auxiliary to _made_, and may be taken with it. _Thou_ is a personal pronoun, of the second person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Made_, or _hast made_, is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. _Me_ is a personal pronoun, of the first person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The first person is that which denotes the speaker or writer. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Thus_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. LESSON I.--PARSING. "Every man has undoubtedly an inward perception of the celestial goodness by which he is quickened. But, if to obtain some ideas of God, it be not necessary for us to go beyond ourselves, what an unpardonable indolence it is in those who will not descend into themselves that they may find him?"--_Calvin's Institutes_, B. i, Ch. 5. "Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known him; but I know him."--_John_, viii, 54. "What! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not."--_1 Cor._, xi, 22. "We know not what we ought to wish for, but He who made us, knows."--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. ii, p. 20. "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?"--_1 Peter_, iii, 13. "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."--_2 Cor._, x, 12. "Whatever is humane, is wise; whatever is wise, is just; whatever is wise, just, and humane, will be found the true interest of states."--_Dr. Rush, on Punishments_, p. 19. "But, methinks, we cannot answer it to ourselves, as-well-as to our Maker, that we should live and die ignorant of ourselves, and thereby of him, and of the obligations which we are under to him for ourselves."--_William Penn_. "But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? The depth saith, 'It is not in me;' and the sea saith, 'It is not with me.' Destruction and death say, 'We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.'"--See _Job_, xxviii, 12, 14, 22; and _Blair's Lect._, p. 417. "I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bow'rs to lay me down."--_Goldsmith_. "Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust, Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"--_Milton_, P. R. LESSON II.--PARSING. "I would, methinks, have so much to say for myself, that if I fell into the hands of him who treated me ill, he should be sensible when he did so: his conscience should be on my side, whatever became of his inclination."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 522. "A boy should understand his mother tongue well before he enters upon the study of a dead language; or, at any rate, he should be made perfect master of the meaning of all the words which are necessary to furnish him with a translation of the particular author which he is studying."--_Gallaudet, Lit. Conv._, p. 206. "No discipline is more suitable to man, or more congruous to the dignity of his nature, than that which refines his taste, and leads him to distinguish, in every subject, what is regular, what is orderly, what is suitable, and what is fit and proper."--_Kames's El. of Crit._, i, 275. "Simple thoughts are what arise naturally; what the occasion or the subject suggests unsought; and what, when once suggested, are easily apprehended by all. Refinement in writing, expresses a less natural and [less] obvious train of thought."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 184. "Where the story of an epic poem is founded on truth, no circumstances must be added, but such as connect naturally with what are known to be true: history may be supplied, but it must not be contradicted."--See _Kames's El. of Crit._, ii, 280. "Others, I am told, pretend to have been once his friends. Surely they are their enemies, who say so; for nothing can be more odious than to treat a friend as they have treated him. But of this I cannot persuade myself, when I consider the constant and eternal aversion of all bad writers to a good one."--_Cleland, in Defence of Pope_. "From side to side, he struts, he smiles, he prates, And seems to wonder what's become of Yates."--_Churchill_. "Alas! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day, That call'd them from their native walks away!"--_Goldsmith_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "It is involved in the nature of man, that he cannot be indifferent to an event that concerns him or any of his connexions: if it be fortunate, it gives him joy; if unfortunate, it gives him sorrow."--_Kames's El. of Crit._, i, 62. "I knew a man who had relinquished the sea for a country life: in the corner of his garden he reared an artificial mount with a level summit, resembling most accurately a quarter-deck, not only in shape, but in size; and here he generally walked."--_Ib._, p. 328. "I mean, when we are angry with our Maker. For against whom else is it that our displeasure is pointed, when we murmur at the distribution of things here, either because our own condition is less agreeable than we would have it, or because that of others is more prosperous than we imagine they deserve?"--_Archbishop Seeker_. "Things cannot charge into the soul, or force us upon any opinions about them; they stand aloof and are quiet. It is our fancy that makes them operate and gall us; it is we that rate them, and give them their bulk and value."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 212. "What is your opinion of truth, good-nature, and sobriety? Do any of these virtues stand in need of a good word; or are they the worse for a bad one? I hope a diamond will shine ne'er the less for a man's silence about the worth of it."--_Ib._, p. 49. "Those words which were formerly current and proper, have now become obsolete and barbarous. Alas! this is not all: fame tarnishes in time too; and men grow out of fashion, as well as languages."--_Ib._, p. 55. "O Luxury! thou curs'd by Heaven's decree, How ill exchang'd are things like these for thee."--_Goldsmith_. "O, then, how blind to all that truth requires, Who think it freedom when a part aspires!"--_Id._ IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS OF PRONOUNS. LESSON I.--RELATIVES. "At the same time that we attend to this pause, every appearance of sing-song and tone must be carefully guarded against."--_Murray's English Reader_, p. xx. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _that_ had not clearly the construction either of a pronoun or of a conjunction. But, according to Observation 18th, on the Classes of Pronouns, "The word _that_, or indeed any other word, should never be so used as to leave the part of speech uncertain." Therefore, the expression should be altered: thus, "_While_ we attend to this pause, every appearance of _singsong_ must be carefully _avoided_."] "For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee."--_Jeremiah_, i, 7; _Gurney's Obs._, p. 223. "Ah! how happy would it have been for me, had I spent in retirement these twenty-three years that I have possessed my kingdom."--See _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 242. "In the same manner that relative pronouns and their antecedents are usually parsed."--_Ib._, p. 71. "Parse or mention all the other nouns in the parsing examples, in the same manner that you do the word in the form of parsing."--_Ib._, p. 8. "The passive verb will always be of the person and number that the verb _be_ is, of which it is in part composed."--_Ib._, p. 53. "You have been taught that a verb must always be of the same person and number that its nominative is."--_Ib._, p. 68. "A relative pronoun, also, must always be of the same person, number, and even gender that its antecedent is."--_Ib._, p. 68. "The subsequent is always in the same case that the word is, which asks the question."--_Ib._, p. 95. "_One_ sometimes represents an antecedent noun in the same definite manner that personal pronouns do."--_Ib._, p. 98. "The mind being carried forward to the time that an event happens, easily conceives it to be present."--_Ib._, p. 107. "_Save_ and _saving_ are parsed in the same manner that _except_ and _excepting_ are."--_Ib._, p. 123. "Adverbs describe, qualify, or modify the meaning of a verb in the same manner that adjectives do nouns."--_Ib._, p. 16. "The third person singular of verbs, is formed in the same manner, that the plural number of nouns is."--_Ib._, p. 41. "He saith further: 'that the apostles did not anew baptize such persons, that had been baptized with the baptism of John.'"--_Barclay's Works_, i, 292. "For we which live, are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake."--_2 Cor._, iv, 11. "For they, which believe in God, must be careful to maintain good works."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 431. "Nor yet of those which teach things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."--_Ib._, i, 435. "So as to hold such bound in heaven, whom they bind on earth, and such loosed in heaven, whom they loose on earth."--_Ib._, i, 478. "Now, if it be an evil to do any thing out of strife; then such things that are seen so to be done, are they not to be avoided and forsaken?"--_Ib._, i, 522. "All such who satisfy themselves not with the superficies of religion."--_Ib._, ii, 23. "And he is the same in substance, what he was upon earth, both in spirit, soul and body."--_Ib._, iii, 98. "And those that do not thus, are such, to whom the Church of Rome can have no charity."--_Ib._, iii, 204. "Before his book he placeth a great list of that he accounts the blasphemous assertions of the Quakers."--_Ib._, iii, 257. "And this is that he should have proved."--_Ib._, iii, 322. "Three of which were at that time actual students of philosophy in the university."--_Ib._, iii, 180. "Therefore it is not lawful for any whatsoever * * * to force the consciences of others."--_Ib._, ii, 13. "What is the cause that the former days were better than these?"--_Eccl._, vii, 10. "In the same manner that the term _my_ depends on the name _books_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 54. "In the same manner as the term _house_ depends on the relative _near_."--_Ib._, p. 58. "James died on the day that Henry returned."--_Ib._, p. 177. LESSON II.--DECLENSIONS. "_Other_ makes the plural _others_, when it is found without it's substantive."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 12. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _it's_ is written with an apostrophe. But, according to Observation 25th, on the Declensions of Pronouns, "The possessive case of pronouns should never be written with an apostrophe." Therefore, this apostrophe should be omitted; thus, "_Other_ makes the plural _others_, when it is found without its substantive."] "But _his, her's, our's, your's, their's_, have evidently the form of the possessive case."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 23. "To the Saxon possessive cases, _hire, ure, eower, hira_, (that is, _her's, our's, your's, their's_,) we have added the _s_, the characteristic of the possessive case of nouns."--_Ib._, p. 23. "Upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _1 Cor._, i, 2. "In this Place _His_ Hand is clearly preferable either to Her's or It's." [220]--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 59. "That roguish leer of your's makes a pretty woman's heart ake."--ADDISON: _in Joh. Dict._ "Lest by any means this liberty of your's become a stumbling-block."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _1 Cor._, viii, 9. "First person: Sing. I, mine, me; Plur. we, our's, us."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 16. "Second person: Sing. thou, thine, thee; Plur. ye or you, your's, you."--_Ib._ "Third person: Sing. she, her's, her; Plur. they, their's, them."--_Ib._ "So shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not your's."--SCOTT ET AL.: _Jer._, v, 19. "Second person, Singular: Nom. thou or you, Poss. thine or yours, Obj. thee or you."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 13. "Second person, Dual: Nom. Gyt, ye two; Gen. Incer, of ye two; Dat. Inc, incrum, to ye two; Acc. Inc, ye two; Voc. Eala inc, O ye two; Abl. Inc, incrum, from ye two."--_Gwill's Saxon Gram._, p. 12. "Second person, Plural; Nom. Ge, ye; Gen. Eower, of ye; Dat. Eow, to ye; Acc. Eow, ye; Voc. Eala ge, O ye; Abl. Eow, from ye."--_Ib._ (_written in_ 1829.) "These words are, _mine, thine, his, her's, our's, your's, their's_, and _whose_."--_Cardell's Essay_, p. 88. "This house is _our's_, and that is _your's. Their's_ is very commodious."--_Ib._, p. 90. "And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds."--_Jeremiah_, v, 17. "_Whoever_ and _Whichever_ are thus declined. _Sing._ and _Plu. nom._ whoever, _poss._ whoseever, _obj._ whomever. _Sing._ and _Plu. nom._ whichever, _poss._ whoseever, _obj._ whichever."--_Cooper's Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 38. "The compound personal pronouns are thus declined; _Sing. N._ Myself, _P._ my-own, _O._ myself; _Plur. N._ ourselves, _P._ our-own, _O._ ourselves. _Sing. N._ Thyself or yourself, _P._ thy-own or your-own, _O._ thyself or yourself;" &c.--_Perley's Gram._, p. 16. "Every one of us, each for hisself, laboured how to recover him."--SIDNEY: _in Priestley's Gram._, p. 96. "Unless when ideas of their opposites manifestly suggest their selves."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 49. "It not only exists in time, but is time its self."--_Ib._, p. 75. "A position which the action its self will palpably deny."--_Ib._, p. 102. "A difficulty sometimes presents its self."--_Ib._, p. 165. "They are sometimes explanations in their selves."--_Ib._, p. 249. "Our's, Your's, Their's, Her's, It's."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, p. 24. "Their's the wild chace of false felicities: His, the compos'd possession of the true." --_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 216. LESSON III.--MIXED. "It is the boast of Americans, without distinction of parties, that their government is the most free and perfect, which exists on the earth."--_Dr. Allen's Lectures_, p. 18. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the relative _which_ is here intended to be taken in a restrictive sense. But, according to Observation 26th, on the Classes of Pronouns, (and others that follow it,) the word _who_ or _which_, with a comma before it, does not usually limit the preceding term. Therefore, _which_ should be _that_, and the comma should be omitted; thus,--"that their government is the most free and perfect _that_ exists on the earth."] "Children, who are dutiful to their parents, enjoy great prosperity."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 69. "The scholar, who improves his time, sets an example worthy of imitation."--_Ib._, p. 69. "Nouns and pronouns, which signify the same person, place, or thing, agree in case."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 115. "An interrogative sentence is one, which asks a question."--_Ib._, p. 114. "In the use of words and phrases, which in point of time relate to each other, a _due regard_ to _that relation_ should be _observed_."--_Ib._, p. 146; see _L. Murray_'s Rule xiii. "The same observations, which have been made respecting the effect of the article and participle, appear to be applicable to the pronoun and participle."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 193. "The reason that they have not the same use of them in reading, may be traced to the very defective and erroneous method, in which the art of reading is taught."--_Ib._, p. 252. "Since the time that reason began to exert her powers, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause."--_Murray's Key_, p. 271; _Merchant's Gram._, p. 212. "In speaking of such who greatly delight in the same."--_Notes to Dunciad_, 177. "Except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live."--_Esther_, iv, 11.--"But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."--_Luke_, xvii, 29. "In the next place I will explain several cases of nouns and pronouns which have not yet come under our notice."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 129. "Three natural distinctions of time are all which can exist."--_Rail's Gram._, p. 15. "We have exhibited such only as are obviously distinct; and which seem to be sufficient, and not more than sufficient."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 68; _Hall's_, 14. "This point encloses a part of a sentence which may be omitted without materially injuring the connexion of the other members."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 39. "Consonants are letters, which cannot be sounded without the aid of a Vowel."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 9. "Words are not simple sounds, but sounds, which convey a meaning to the mind."--_Ib._, p. 16. "Nature's postures are always easy; and which is more, nothing but your own will can put you out of them."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 197. "Therefore ought we to examine our ownselves, and prove our ownselves."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 426. "Certainly it had been much more natural, to have divided Active Verbs into _Immanent_, or such whose Action is terminated in it self, and _Transient_, or such whose Action is terminated in something without it self."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 273. "This is such an advantage which no other lexicon will afford."--DR. TAYLOR: _in Pike's Lex._, p. iv. "For these reasons, such liberties are taken in the Hebrew tongue with those words as are of the most general and frequent use."--_Pike's Heb. Lexicon_, p. 184. "At the same time that we object to the laws, which the antiquarian in language would impose upon us, we must enter our protest against those authors, who are too fond of innovations."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 136. CHAPTER VI.--VERBS. A Verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_: as, I _am_, I _rule_, I _am ruled_; I _love_, thou _lovest_, he _loves_. VERBS are so called, from the Latin _Verbum_, a _Word_; because the verb is that word which most essentially contains what is said in any clause or sentence. An English verb has four CHIEF TERMS, or PRINCIPAL PARTS, ever needful to be ascertained in the first place; namely, the _Present_, the _Preterit_, the _Imperfect Participle_, and the _Perfect Participle_. The _Present_ is that form of the verb, which is the root of all the rest; the verb itself; or that simple term which we should look for in a dictionary: as, _be, act, rule, love, defend, terminate_. The _Preterit_ is that simple form of the verb, which denotes time past; and which is always connected with some noun or pronoun, denoting the subject of the assertion: as, _I was, I acted, I ruled, I loved, I defended_. The _Imperfect Participle_ is that which ends commonly[221] in _ing_, and implies a _continuance_ of the being, action, or passion: as, _being, acting, ruling, loving, defending, terminating_. The _Perfect Participle_ is that which ends commonly in _ed_ or _en_, and implies a _completion_ of the being, action, or passion: as, _been, acted, ruled, loved_. CLASSES. Verbs are divided, with respect to their _form_, into four classes; _regular_ and _irregular, redundant_ and _defective_. I. A _regular verb_ is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_; as, _love, loved, loving, loved_. II. An _irregular verb_ is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_; as, _see, saw, seeing, seen_. III. A _redundant verb_ is a verb that forms the preterit or the perfect participle in two or more ways, and so as to be both regular and irregular; as, _thrive, thrived_ or _throve, thriving, thrived_ or _thriven_. IV. A _defective verb_ is a verb that forms no participles, and is used in but few of the moods and tenses; as, _beware, ought, quoth_. Verbs are divided again, with respect to their _signification_, into four classes; _active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive_, and _neuter_. I. An _active-transitive_ verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object; as, "Cain _slew Abel_."--"Cassius _loved Brutus_." II. An _active-intransitive_ verb is a verb that expresses an action which has no person or thing for its object; as, "John _walks_."--"Jesus _wept_." III. A. _passive verb_ is a verb that represents its subject, or what the nominative expresses, as being acted upon; as, "I _am compelled_."--"Caesar _was slain_." IV. A _neuter verb_ is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being; as, "There _was_ light."--"The babe _sleeps_." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--So various have been the views of our grammarians, respecting this complex and most important part of speech, that almost every thing that is contained in any theory or distribution of the English verbs, may be considered a matter of opinion and of dispute. Nay, the essential nature of a verb, in Universal Grammar, has never yet been determined by any received definition that can be considered unobjectionable. The greatest and most acute philologists confess that a faultless definition of this part of speech, is difficult, if not impossible, to be formed. Horne Tooke, at the close of his Diversions of Purley, cites with contempt nearly a dozen different attempts at a definition, some Latin, some English, some French; then, with the abruptness of affected disgust, breaks off the catalogue and the conversation together, leaving his readers to guess, if they can, what he conceived a verb to be. He might have added some scores of others, and probably would have been as little satisfied with any one of them. A definition like that which is given above, may answer in some degree the purpose of distinction; but, after all, we must judge what is, and what is not a verb, chiefly from our own observation of the sense and use of words.[222] OBS. 2.--Whether _participles_ ought to be called verbs or not, is a question that has been much disputed, and is still variously decided; nor is it possible to settle it in any way not liable to some serious objections. The same may perhaps be said of all the forms called _infinitives_. If the essence of a verb be made to consist in affirmation, predication, or assertion, (as it is in many grammars,) neither infinitives nor participles can be reckoned verbs, without a manifest breach of the definition. Yet are the former almost universally treated as verbs, and by some as the only pure verbs; nor do all deny them this rank, who say that affirmation is _essential_ to a verb. Participles, when unconnected with auxiliaries, are most commonly considered a separate part of speech; but in the formation of many of our moods and tenses, we take them as _constituent parts of the verb_. If there is absurdity in this, there is more in undertaking to avoid it; and the inconvenience should be submitted to, since it amounts to little or nothing in practice. With auxiliaries, then, participles _are verbs_: without auxiliaries, they are _not verbs_, but form a separate part of speech. OBS. 3.--The number of verbs in our language, amounts unquestionably to four or five thousand; some say, (perhaps truly,) to eight thousand. All these, whatever be the number, are confessedly _regular_ in their formation, except about two hundred. For, though the catalogues in our grammars give the number somewhat variously, all the irregular, redundant, and defective verbs, put together, are _commonly_ reckoned fewer than two hundred. I admit, in all, two hundred and nineteen. The regular verbs, therefore, are vastly more numerous than those which deviate from the stated form. But, since many of the latter are words of very frequent occurrence, the irregular verbs appear exceedingly numerous in practice, and consequently require a great deal of attention. The defective verbs being very few, and most of these few being mere auxiliaries, which are never parsed separately, there is little occasion to treat them as a distinct class; though Murray and others have ranked them so, and perhaps it is best to follow their example. The redundant verbs, which are regular in one form and irregular in an other, being of course always found written either one way or the other, as each author chooses, may be, and commonly have been, referred in parsing to the class of regular or irregular verbs accordingly. But, as their number is considerable, and their character peculiar, there may be some advantage in making them a separate class. Besides, the definition of an irregular verb, as given in any of our grammars, seems to exclude all such as _may_ form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. OBS. 4.--In most grammars and dictionaries, verbs are divided, with respect to their signification, into three classes only; _active, passive_, and _neuter_. In such a division, the class of _active_ verbs includes those only which are _active-transitive_, and all the _active-intransitive_ verbs are called _neuter_. But, in the division adopted above, _active-intransitive_ verbs are made a distinct class; and those only are regarded as neuter, which imply a state of existence without action. When, therefore, we speak of verbs without reference to their regimen, we may, if we please, apply the simple term active to all those which express _action_, whether _transitive_ or _intransitive_. "We _act_ whenever we _do_ any thing; but we _may act_ without _doing_ any thing."--_Crabb's Synonymes_. OBS. 5.--Among the many English grammars in which verbs are divided, as above mentioned, into _active, passive_, and _neuter_, only, are those of the following writers: Lowth, Murray, Ainsworth, Alden, Allen, Alger, Bacon, Bicknell, Blair, Bullions, (at first,) Charles Adams, Bucke, Cobbett, Cobbin, Dilworth, A. Flint, Frost, (at first,) Greenleaf, Hall, Johnson,[223] Lennie, Picket, Pond, Sanborn, R. C. Smith, Rev. T. Smith, and Wright. These authors, and many more, agree, that, "A _verb neuter_ expresses neither action nor passion, but being, or a state of being."--_L. Murray_. Yet, according to their scheme, such words as _walk, run, fly, strive, struggle, wrestle, contend_, are verbs _neuter_. In view of this palpable absurdity, I cannot but think it was a useful improvement upon the once popular scheme of English grammar, to make active-intransitive verbs a distinct class, and to apply the term _neuter_ to those few only which accord with the foregoing definition. This had been done before the days of Lindley Murray, as may be seen in Buchanan's English Syntax, p. 56, and in the old British Grammar, p. 153, each published many years before the appearance of his work;[224] and it has often been done since, and is preferred even by many of the professed admirers and followers of Murray; as may be seen in the grammars of Comly, Fisk, Merchant, Kirkham, and others. OBS. 6.--Murray himself quotes this improved distribution, and with some appearance of approbation; but strangely imagines it must needs be _inconvenient_ in practice. Had he been a schoolmaster, he could hardly have so judged. He says, "Verbs have been distinguished by some writers, into the following kinds:-- "1st. _Active-transitive_, or those which denote an action that passes from the agent to some object: as, Caesar conquered Pompey. "2d. _Active-intransitive_, or those which express that kind of action, which has no effect upon any thing beyond itself: as, Caesar walked. "3d. _Passive_, or those which express, not action, but passion, whether pleasing or painful: as, Portia was loved; Pompey was conquered. "4th. _Neuter_, or those which express an attribute that consists neither in action nor passion: as, Caesar stood. "This appears to be an orderly arrangement. But if the class of _active-intransitive_ verbs were admitted, _it would rather perplex_ than assist the learner: for the difference between verbs active and neuter, as transitive and intransitive is easy and obvious: but the difference between verbs absolutely neuter and [those which are] intransitively active, is not always clear. It is, indeed, often _very difficult_, if not impossible to be ascertained."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 60.[225] OBS. 7.--The following note, from a book written on purpose to apply the principles of Murray's Grammar, and of Allen's, (the two best of the foregoing two dozen,) may serve as an offset to the reason above assigned for rejecting the class of active-intransitive verbs: "It is possible that some teachers may look upon the nice distinction here made, between the active _transitive_ and the active _intransitive verbs_, as totally unnecessary. They may, perhaps, rank the latter with the neuter verbs. The author had his choice of difficulties: on the one hand, he was aware that his arrangement might not suit the views of the above-mentioned persons; and, on the other, he was so sensible of the inaccuracy of their system, and of its clashing with the definitions, as well as rules, laid down in almost every grammar, that he was unwilling to bring before the public a work containing so well-known and manifest an error. Of what use can Murray's definition of the _active_ verb be, to one who endeavours to prove the propriety of thus assigning an epithet to the various parts of speech, in the course of parsing? He says, 'A verb active expresses an action, and necessarily implies an agent, and an object acted upon.' In the sentence, 'William hastens away,' the active intransitive verb _hastens_ has indeed an _agent_, 'William,' but where is the _object_? Again, he says, 'Active verbs govern the objective case;' although it is clear it is not the _active_ meaning of the verb which requires the objective case, but the _transitive_, and that only. He adds, 'A verb neuter expresses _neither action, nor passion_, but being, or a state of being;' and the accuracy of this definition is borne out by the assent of perhaps every other grammarian. If, with this clear and forcible definition before our eyes, we proceed to class _active_ intransitive verbs with neuter verbs, and direct our pupils to prove such a classification by reciting Murray's definition of the _neuter_ verb, we may indeed expect from a thinking pupil the remonstrance which was actually made to a teacher on that system, while parsing the verb '_to run_.' 'Sir,' asks the boy, 'does not _to run_ imply action, for it always makes me perspire?'"--_Nixon's English Parser_, p. 9. OBS. 8.--For the consideration of those classical scholars who may think we are bound by the authority of _general usage_, to adhere to the old division of verbs into active, passive, and neuter, it may be proper to say, that the distribution of the verbs in Latin, has been as much a matter of dispute among the great grammarians of that language, as has the distribution of English verbs, more recently, among ourselves; and often the points at issue were precisely the same.[226] To explain here the different views of the very old grammarians, as Charisius, Donatus, Servius, Priscian; or even to notice the opinions of later critics, as Sanctius, Scioppius, Vossius, Perizonius; might seem perhaps a needless departure from what the student of mere English grammar is concerned to know. The curious, however, may find interesting citations from all these authors, under the corresponding head, in some of our Latin grammars. See _Prat's Grammatica Latina_, 8vo, London, 1722. It is certain that the division of _active_ verbs, into _transitive_ and _intransitive_--or, (what is the same thing,) into "_absolute_ and _transitive_"--or, into "_immanent_ and _transient_"--is of a very ancient date. The notion of calling _passive_ verbs _transitive_, when used in their ordinary and proper construction, as some now do, is, I think, a _modern_ one, and no small error. OBS. 9.--Dr. Adam's distribution of verbs, is apparently the same as the first part of Murray's; and his definitions are also in nearly the same words. But he adds, "The verb _Active_ is also called _Transitive_, when the action _passeth over_ to the object, or hath an effect on some other thing; as, _scribo literas_, I write letters: but when the action is confined within the agent, and _passeth not over_ to any object, it is called _Intransitive_; as, _ambulo_, I walk; _curro_, I run: [fist] which are likewise called _Neuter Verbs_."--_Adam's Latin and English Gram._, p. 79. But he had just before said, "A _Neuter_ verb properly expresses neither action nor passion, but _simply the being, state, or condition_ of things; as, _dormio_, I sleep; _sedeo_, I sit."--_Ibid._ Verbs of motion or action, then, must needs be as improperly called neuter, in Latin, as in English. Nor is this author's arrangement orderly in other respects; for he treats of "_Deponent_ and _Common_ Verbs," of "_Irregular_ Verbs," of "_Defective_ Verbs," and of "_Impersonal_ Verbs," none of which had he mentioned in his distribution. Nor are the late revisers of his grammar any more methodical. OBS. 10.--The division of our verbs into _active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive_, and _neuter_, must be understood to have reference not only to their _signification_ as of themselves, but also to their _construction_ with respect to the government of an objective word after them. The latter is in fact their most important distinction, though made _with reference_ to a different part of speech. The classical scholar, too, being familiar with the forms of Latin and Greek verbs, will doubtless think it a convenience, to have the arrangement as nearly correspondent to those ancient forms, as the nature of our language will admit. This is perhaps the strongest argument for the recognition of the class of _passive verbs_ in English. Some grammarians, choosing to parse the passive participle separately, reject this class of verbs altogether; and, forming their division of the rest with reference to the construction alone, make but two classes, _transitive_ and _intransitive_. Such is the distribution adopted by C. Alexander, D. Adams, Bingham, Chandler, E. Cobb, Harrison, Nutting, and John Peirce; and supported also by some British writers, among whom are McCulloch and Grant. Such too was the distribution of Webster, in his Plain and Comprehensive Grammar, as published in 1800. He then taught: "We have no _passive_ verb in the language; and those which are called _neuter_ are mostly _active_."--Page 14. But subsequently, in his Philosophical, Abridged, and Improved Grammars, he recognized "a more natural and comprehensive division" of verbs, "_transitive, intransitive, and passive_."--_Webster's Rudiments_, p. 20. This, in reality, differs but little from the old division into _active, passive_, and _neuter_. In some grammars of recent date, as Churchill's, R. W. Bailey's, J. R. Brown's, Butler's, S. W. Clark's, Frazee's, Hart's, Hendrick's, Perley's, Pinneo's, Weld's, Wells's, Mulligan's, and the _improved_ treatises of Bullions and Frost, verbs are said to be of _two_ kinds only, _transitive_ and _intransitive_; but these authors allow to transitive verbs a "passive form," or "passive voice,"--absurdly making all passive verbs transitive, and all neuters intransitive, as if _action_ were expressed by both. For this most faulty classification, Dr. Bullions pretends the authority of "Mr. Webster;" and Frazee, that of "Webster, Bullions, and others."--_Frazee's Gram._, Ster. Ed., p. 30. But if Dr. Webster ever taught the absurd doctrine _that passive verbs are transitive_, he has contradicted it far too much to have any weight in its favour. OBS. 11.--Dalton makes only two classes; and these he will have to be _active_ and _passive_: an arrangement for which he might have quoted Scaliger, Sanctius, and Scioppius. Ash and Coar recognize but two, which they call _active_ and _neuter_. This was also the scheme of Bullions, in his Principles of E. Gram., 4th Edition, 1842. Priestley and Maunder have two, which they call _transitive_ and _neuter_; but Maunder, like some named above, will have transitive verbs to be susceptible of an active and a passive voice, and Priestley virtually asserts the same. Cooper, Day, Davis, Hazen, Hiley, Webster, Wells, (in his 1st Edition,) and Wilcox. have three classes; _transitive, intransitive_, and _passive_. Sanders's Grammar has _three_; "_Transitive, Intransitive_, and _Neuter_;" and two voices, both _transitive!_ Jaudon has four: _transitive, intransitive, auxiliary_, and _passive_. Burn has four; _active, passive, neuter_, and _substantive_. Cardell labours hard to prove that all verbs are _both active and transitive_; and for this, had he desired their aid, he might have cited several ancient authorities.[227] Cutler avers, "_All verbs are active_;" yet he divides them "into _active transitive, active intransitive_, and _participial verbs_."--_Grammar and Parser_, p. 31. Some grammarians, appearing to think all the foregoing modes of division useless, attempt nothing of the kind. William Ward, in 1765, rejected all such classification, but recognized three voices; "Active, Passive, and Middle; as, _I call, I am called, I am calling_." Farnum, in 1842, acknowledged the first two of these voices, but made no division of verbs into classes. OBS. 12.--If we admit the class of _active-intransitive_ verbs, that of verbs _neuter_ will unquestionably be very small. And this refutes Murray's objection, that the learner will "_often_" be puzzled to know which is which. Nor can it be of any consequence, if he happen in some instances to decide wrong. To _be_, to _exist_, to _remain_, to _seem_, to _lie_, to _sleep_, to _rest_, to _belong_, to _appertain_, and perhaps a few more, may best be called _neuter_; though some grammarians, as may be inferred from what is said above, deny that there are any neuter verbs in any language. "Verba Neutra, ait Sanctius, nullo pacto esse possunt; quia, teste Aristotele, omnis motus, actio, vel passio, nihil medium est."--_Prat's Latin Gram._, p. 117. John Grant, in his Institutes of Latin Grammar, recognizes in the verbs of that language the distinction which Murray supposes to be so "very difficult" in those of our own; and, without falling into the error of Sanctius, or of Lily,[228] respecting neuter verbs, judiciously confines the term to such as are neuter in reality. OBS. 13.--Active-transitive verbs, in English, generally require, that the agent or doer of the action be expressed _before_ them in the nominative case, and the object or receiver of the action, _after_ them in the objective; as, "Caesar _conquered_ Pompey." Passive verbs, which are never primitives, but always derived from active-transitive verbs, (in order to form sentences of like import from natural opposites in voice and sense,) reverse this order, change the cases of the nouns, and denote that the subject, named before them, is affected by the action; while the agent follows, being introduced by the preposition _by_: as, "Pompey _was conquered_ by Caesar." But, as our passive verb always consists of two or more separable parts, this order is liable to be varied, especially in poetry; as, "How many things _by season seasoned are_ To their right praise and true perfection!"--_Shakspeare_. "Experience _is by industry achieved_, And _perfected by_ the swift _course_ of time."--_Id._ OBS. 14.--Most active verbs may be used either transitively or intransitively. Active verbs are transitive whenever there is any person or thing expressed or clearly implied on which the action terminates; as, "I _knew_ him well, and every truant _knew_."--_Goldsmith_. When they do not govern such an object, they are intransitive, whatever may be their power on other occasions; as, "The grand elementary principles of pleasure, by which he _knows_, and _feels_, and _lives_, and _moves_."--_Wordsworth's Pref._, p. xxiii. "The Father _originates_ and _elects_. The Son _mediates_ and _atones_. The Holy Spirit _regenerates_ and _sanctifies_."--_Gurney's Portable Evidences_, p. 66. "Spectators _remark_, judges _decide_, parties _watch_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 271. "In a sermon, a preacher _may explain, demonstrate, infer, exhort, admonish, comfort_."--_Alexander's E. Gram._, p. 91. OBS. 15.--Some verbs may be used in either an active or a neuter sense. In the sentence, "Here I rest," _rest_ is a neuter verb; but in the sentence, "Here I rest my hopes," _rest_ is an active-transitive verb, and governs _hopes_. And a few that are always active in a grammatical sense, as necessarily requiring an object after them, do not always indicate such an exertion of force as we commonly call _action_. Such perhaps are the verbs to _have_, to _possess_, to _owe_, to _cost_; as, "They _have_ no wine."--"The house _has_ a portico."--"The man _possesses_ no real estate."--"A son _owes_ help and honour to his father."--_Holyday_. "The picture _cost_ a crown."--_Wright_, p. 181. Yet possibly even these may be sometimes rather active-intransitive; as, "I can bear my part; 'tis my occupation: _have_ at it with you."--_Shakspeare_. "Kings _have_ to deal with their neighbours."--_Bacon_. "She will let her instructions enter where folly now _possesses_."--_Shakspeare._ "Thou hast deserv'd more love than I can show; But 'tis thy fate to give, and mine to _owe_."--_Dryden_. OBS. 16.--An active-intransitive verb, followed by a preposition and its object, will sometimes admit of being put into the passive form: the object of the preposition being assumed for the nominative, and the preposition itself being retained with the verb, as an adverb: as, (_Active_,) "They _laughed_ at him."--(_Passive_,) "He _was laughed at_." "For some time the nonconformists _were connived at_."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 414. "Every man _shall be dealt_ equitably with."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 212. "If a church _would be looked up to_, it must stand high."--_Parker's Idea_, p. 15. OBS. 17.--In some instances, what is commonly considered the active form of the verb, is used in a passive sense; and, still oftener, as we have no other passive form that so well denotes continuance, we employ the participle in _ing_ in that sense also: as, "I'll teach you all what's _owing_ to your Queen."--_Dryden_. That is--what is _due_, or _owed_. "The books continue _selling_; i.e. _upon the sale_, or _to be sold_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 111. "So we say the brass is _forging_; i.e. _at the forging_, or _in_ [_being forged_."]--_Ib._ "They are to _blame_; i.e. to _be blamed._"--_Ib._ Hence some grammarians seem to think, that in our language the distinction between active and passive verbs is of little consequence: "Mr. Grant, however, observes, p. 65, 'The component parts of the English verb, or name of action, are few, simple, and natural; they, consist of three words, as _plough, ploughing, ploughed_. Now these words, and their inflections, may be employed either actively or passively. Actively, 'They _plough_ the fields; they _are ploughing_ the fields; they _ploughed_, or _have ploughed_, the fields.' Passively, 'The fields _plough_ well; the fields _are ploughing_; the fields _are ploughed_.' This passive use of the present tense and participle is, however, restricted to what he denominates 'verbs of _external, material_, or _mechanical action_;' and not to be extended to verbs of _sensation_ and _perception_; e.g. _love, feel, see, &c_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 40. MODIFICATIONS. Verbs have modifications of four kinds; namely, _Moods, Tenses, Persons_ and _Numbers_. MOODS. Moods [229] are different forms of the verb, each of which expresses the being, action, or passion, in some particular manner. There are five moods; the _Infinitive_, the _Indicative_, the _Potential_, the _Subjunctive_, and the _Imperative_. The _Infinitive mood_ is that form of the verb, which expresses the being, action, or passion, in an unlimited manner, and without person or number: as, "To _die_,--to _sleep_;--To _sleep_!--perchance, to _dream!_" The _Indicative mood_ is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing: as, I _write_; you _know_: or asks a question; as, "Do you _know?_"--"_Know_ ye not?" The _Potential mood_ is that form of the verb which expresses the power, liberty, possibility, or necessity, of the being, action, or passion: as, "I _can walk_; he _may ride_; we _must go_." The _Subjunctive mood_ is that form of the verb, which represents the being, action, or passion, as conditional, doubtful, and contingent: as, "If thou _go_, see that thou _offend_ not."--"See thou _do_ it not."--_Rev._, xix, 10. The _Imperative mood_ is that form of the verb which is used in commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting: as, "_Depart_ thou."--"Be _comforted_."--"_Forgive_ me."--"_Go_ in peace." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The _Infinitive_ mood is so called in opposition to the other moods, in which the verb is said to be _finite_. In all the other moods, the verb has a strict connexion, and necessary agreement in person and number, with some subject or nominative, expressed or understood; but the infinitive is the mere verb, without any such agreement, and has no power of completing sense with a noun. In the nature of things, however, all being, action, or passion, not contemplated abstractly as a _thing_, belongs to something that is, or acts, or is acted upon. Accordingly infinitives have, in most instances, a _reference_ to some subject of this kind; though their grammatical dependence connects them more frequently with some other term. The infinitive mood, in English, is distinguished by the preposition to; which, with a few exceptions, immediately precedes it, and may be said to govern it. In dictionaries, and grammars, _to_ is often used as a mere _index_, to distinguish verbs from the other parts of speech. But this little word has no more claim to be ranked as a part of the verb, than has the conjunction _if_, which is the sign of the subjunctive. It is the nature of a preposition, to show the relation of different things, thoughts, or words, to each other; and this "sign of the infinitive" may well be pursued separately as a preposition, since in most instances it manifestly shows the relation between the infinitive verb and some other term. Besides, by most of our grammarians, the present tense of the infinitive mood is declared to be the _radical form_ of the verb; but this doctrine must be plainly untrue, upon the supposition that this tense is a compound. OBS. 2.--The _Indicative_ mood is so called because its chief use is, to _indicate_, or declare positively, whatever one wishes to say. It is that form of the verb, which we always employ when we affirm or deny any thing in a direct and independent manner. It is more frequently used, and has a greater number of tenses, than any other mood; and is also, in our language, the only one in which the principal verb is varied in termination. It is not, however, on all occasions, confined to its primary use; else it would be simply and only declarative. But we use it sometimes interrogatively, sometimes conditionally; and each of these uses is different from a simple declaration. Indeed, the difference between a question and an assertion is practically very great. Hence some of the old grammarians made the form of inquiry a separate mood, which they called the _Interrogative Mood_. But, as these different expressions are distinguished, not by any difference of form in the verb itself, but merely by a different order, choice, or delivery of the words, it has been found most convenient in practice, to treat them as one mood susceptible of different senses. So, in every conditional sentence, the _prot'asis_, or condition, differs considerably from the _apod'osis_, or principal clause, even where both are expressed as facts. Hence some of our modern grammarians, by the help of a few connectives, absurdly merge a great multitude of Indicative or Potential expressions in what they call the _Subjunctive Mood_. But here again it is better to refer still to the Indicative or Potential mood whatsoever has any proper sign of such mood, even though it occur in a dependent clause. OBS. 3.--The _Potential_ mood is so called because the leading idea expressed by it, is that of the _power_ of performing some action. This mood is known by the signs _may, can, must, might, could, would_, and _should_. Some of these auxiliaries convey other ideas than that of power in the agent; but there is no occasion to explain them severally here. The potential mood, like the indicative, may be used in asking a question; as, "_Must_ I _budge_? _must_ I _observe_ you? _must_ I _stand_ and _crouch_ under your testy humour?"--_Shakspeare_. No question can be asked in any other mood than these two. By some grammarians, the potential mood has been included in the subjunctive, because its meaning is often expressed in Latin by what in that language is called the subjunctive. By others, it has been entirely rejected, because all its tenses are compound, and it has been thought the words could as well be parsed separately. Neither of these opinions is sufficiently prevalent, or sufficiently plausible, to deserve a laboured refutation. On the other hand, James White, in his Essay on the English Verb, (London, 1761,) divided this mood into the following five: "the _Elective_," denoted by _may_ or _might_; "the _Potential_," by _can_ or _could_; "the _Determinative_" by _would_; "the _Obligative_," by _should_; and "the _Compulsive_," by _must_. Such a distribution is needlessly minute. Most of these can as well be spared as those other "moods, _Interrogative, Optative, Promissive, Hortative, Precative_, &c.", which Murray mentions only to reject. See his _Octavo Gram._, p. 68. OBS. 4.--The _Subjunctive_ mood is so called because it is always _subjoined_ to an other verb. It usually denotes some doubtful contingency, or some supposition contrary to fact. The manner of its dependence is commonly denoted by one of the following conjunctions; _if, that, though, lest, unless_. The indicative and potential moods, in all their tenses, may be used in the same dependent manner, to express any positive or potential condition; but this seems not to be a sufficient reason for considering them as parts of the subjunctive mood. In short, the idea of a "subjunctive mood in the indicative form," (which is adopted by Chandler, Frazee, Fisk, S. S. Greene, Comly, Ingersoll, R. C. Smith, Sanborn, Mack, Butler, Hart, Weld, Pinneo, and others,) is utterly inconsistent with any just notion of what a mood is; and the suggestion, which we frequently meet with, that the regular indicative or potential mood may be _thrown into the subjunctive_ by merely prefixing a conjunction, is something worse than nonsense. Indeed, no mood can ever be made _a part of an other_, without the grossest confusion and absurdity. Yet, strange as it is, some celebrated authors, misled by an _if_, have tangled together three of them, producing such a snarl of tenses as never yet can have been understood without being thought ridiculous. See _Murray's Grammar_, and others that agree with his late editions. OBS. 5.--In regard to the number and form of the tenses which should constitute the _subjunctive mood_ in English, our grammarians are greatly at variance; and some, supposing its distinctive parts to be but elliptical forms of the indicative or the potential,[230] even deny the existence of such a mood altogether. On this point, the instructions published by Lindley Murray, however commended and copied, are most remarkably vague and inconsistent.[231] The early editions of his Grammar gave to this mood _six tenses_, none of which had any of the personal inflections; consequently there was, in all the tenses, _some difference_ between it and the indicative. His later editions, on the contrary, make the subjunctive exactly like the indicative, except in the present tense, and in the choice of auxiliaries for the second-future. Both ways, he goes too far. And while at last he restricts the _distinctive form_ of the subjunctive to narrower bounds than he ought, and argues against, "If thou _loved_, If thou _knew_," &c., he gives to this mood not only the last five tenses of the indicative, but also all those of the potential, with its multiplied auxiliaries; alleging, "that as the indicative mood _is converted_ into the subjunctive, by the expression of a condition, motive, wish, supposition, &c.[232] being superadded to it, so the potential mood may, in like manner, _be turned into_ the subjunctive."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 82. According to this, the subjunctive mood of every regular verb embraces, in one voice, as many as one hundred and thirty-eight different expressions; and it may happen, that in one single tense a verb shall have no fewer than fifteen different forms in each person and number. Six times fifteen are ninety; and so many are the several phrases which now compose Murray's pluperfect tense of the subjunctive mood of the verb _to strow_--a tense which most grammarians very properly reject as needless! But this is not all. The scheme not only confounds the moods, and utterly overwhelms the learner with its multiplicity, but condemns as bad English what the author himself once adopted and taught for the imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood, "If thou _loved_, If thou _knew_," &c., wherein he was sustained by Dr. Priestley, by Harrison, by Caleb Alexander, by John Burn, by Alexander Murray, the schoolmaster, and by others of high authority. Dr. Johnson, indeed, made the preterit subjunctive like the indicative; and this may have induced the author to change his plan, and inflect this part of the verb with _st_. But Dr. Alexander Murray, a greater linguist than either of them, very positively declares this to be wrong: "When such words as _if, though, unless, except, whether_, and the like, are used before verbs, they lose their terminations of _est, eth_, and _s_, in those persons which commonly have them. No speaker of good English, expressing himself conditionally, says, Though thou _fallest_, or Though he _falls_, but, Though thou _fall_, and Though he _fall_; nor, Though thou _camest_, but, Though, or although, thou _came_."--_History of European Languages_, Vol. i, p. 55. OBS. 6.--Nothing is more important in the grammar of any language, than a knowledge of the _true forms_ of its verbs. Nothing is more difficult in the grammar of our own, than to learn, in this instance and some others, what forms we ought to prefer. Yet some authors tell us, and Dr. Lowth among the rest, that our language is wonderfully simple and easy. Perhaps it is so. But do not its "simplicity and facility" appear greatest to those who know least about it?--i.e., least of its grammar, and least of its history? In citing a passage from the eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel, Lord Kames has taken the liberty to change the word _hath_ to _have_ seven times in one sentence. This he did, upon the supposition that the subjunctive mood has a perfect tense which differs from that of the indicative; and for such an idea he had the authority of Dr. Johnson's Grammar, and others. The sentence is this: "But if he _be_ a robber, a shedder of blood; if he _have_ eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife; if he _have_ oppressed the poor and needy, _have_ spoiled by violence, _have_ not restored the pledge, _have lift_ up his eyes to idols, _have_ given forth upon usury, and _have_ taken increase: shall he live? he shall not live."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 261. Now, is this good English, or is it not? One might cite about half of our grammarians in favour of this reading, and the other half against it; with Murray, the most noted of all, first on one side, and then on the other. Similar puzzles may be presented concerning three or four other tenses, which are sometimes ascribed, and sometimes denied, to this mood. It seems to me, after much examination, that the subjunctive mood in English should have _two tenses_, and no more; the _present_ and the _imperfect_. The present tense of this mood naturally implies contingency and futurity, while the imperfect here becomes an _aorist_, and serves to suppose a case as a mere supposition, a case contrary to fact. Consequently the foregoing sentence, if expressed by the subjunctive at all, ought to be written thus: "But if he _be_ a robber, a shedder of blood; if he _eat_ upon the mountains, and _defile_ his neighbour's wife; if he _oppress_ the poor and needy, _spoil_ by violence, _restore_ not the pledge, _lift_ up his eyes to idols, _give_ forth upon usury, and _take_ increase; shall he live? he shall not live." OBS. 7.--"Grammarians _generally_ make a present and a past time under the subjunctive mode."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 100. These are the tenses which are given to the subjunctive by _Blair_, in his "_Practical Grammar_." If any one will give to this mood _more_ tenses than these, the five which are adopted by _Staniford_, are perhaps the least objectionable: namely, "_Present_, If thou love, or do love; _Imperfect_, If thou loved, or did love; _Perfect_, If thou have loved; _Pluperfect_, If thou had loved; _Future_, If thou should or would love."--_Staniford's Gram._, p. 22. But there are no sufficient reasons for even this extension of its tenses.--Fisk, speaking of this mood, says: "Lowth restricts it entirely to the present tense."--"Uniformity on this point is highly desirable."--"On this subject, we adopt the opinion of Dr. Lowth."--_English Grammar Simplified_, p. 70. His desire of uniformity he has both heralded and backed by a palpable misstatement. The learned Doctor's subjunctive mood, in the second person singular, is this: "_Present time_. Thou love; AND, Thou _mayest_ love. _Past time_. Thou _mightest_ love; AND, Thou _couldst_, &c. love; and have loved."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 38. But Fisk's subjunctive runs thus: "_Indic. form_, If thou lovest; _varied form_, If thou love." And again: "_Present tense_, If thou art, If thou be; _Imperfect tense_, If thou wast, If thou wert."--_Fisk's Grammar Simplified_, p. 70. His very definition of the subjunctive mood is illustrated _only by the indicative_; as, "If thou _walkest_."--"I will perform the operation, if he _desires_ it."--_Ib._, p. 69. Comly's subjunctive mood, except in some of his early editions, stands thus: "_Present tense_, If thou lovest; _Imperfect tense_, If thou lovedst or loved; _First future tense_, If thou (shalt) love."--_Eleventh Ed._, p. 41. This author teaches, that the indicative or potential, when preceded by an _if_, "should be _parsed_ in the subjunctive mood."--_Ib._, p. 42. Of what is in fact the true subjunctive, he says: "_Some writers_ use the singular number in the present tense of the subjunctive mood, without any variation; as, 'if I _love_, if thou _love_, if he _love_.' But this usage _must be ranked amongst the anomalies_ of our language."--_Ib._, p. 41. Cooper, in his pretended "_Abridgment of Murray's Grammar, Philad._, 1828," gave to the subjunctive mood the following form, which contains all six of the tenses: "2d pers. If thou love, If thou do love, If thou loved, If thou did love, If thou have loved, If thou had loved, If thou shall (or will) love, If thou shall (or will) have loved." This is almost exactly what Murray at first adopted, and afterwards rejected; though it is probable, from the abridger's preface, that the latter was ignorant of this fact. Soon afterwards, a perusal of Dr. Wilson's Essay on Grammar dashed from the reverend gentleman's mind the whole of this fabric; and in his "Plain and Practical Grammar, Philad., 1831," he acknowledges but four moods, and concludes some pages of argument thus: "From the above considerations, it will appear _to every sound grammarian_, that our language does not admit a subjunctive mode, at least, separate and distinct from the indicative and potential."--_Cooper's New Gram._, p. 63. OBS. 8.--The true _Subjunctive_ mood, in English, is virtually rejected by some later grammarians, who nevertheless acknowledge under that name a greater number and variety of forms than have ever been claimed for it in any other tongue. All that is peculiar to the Subjunctive, all that should constitute it a distinct mood, they represent as an archaism, an obsolete or antiquated mode of expression, while they willingly give to it every form of both the indicative and the potential, the two other moods which sometimes follow an _if_. Thus Wells, in his strange entanglement of the moods, not only gives to the subjunctive, as well as to the indicative, a "Simple" or "Common Form," and a "Potential Form;" not only recognizes in each an "Auxiliary Form," and a "Progressive Form;" but encumbers the whole with distinctions of style,--with what he calls the "Common Style," and the "Ancient Style;" or the "Solemn Style," and the "Familiar Style:" yet, after all, his own example of the Subjunctive, "Take heed, lest any man _deceive_ you," is obviously different from all these, and not explainable under any of his paradigms! Nor is it truly consonant with any part of his theory, which is this: "The subjunctive of all verbs except _be_, takes _the same form as the indicative_. Good writers were formerly much accustomed to _drop_ the personal termination in the _subjunctive present_, and write 'If he _have_,' 'If he _deny_,' etc., for 'If he _has_,' 'If he _denies_,' etc.; but this termination is now _generally retained_, unless _an auxiliary is understood_. Thus, 'If he _hear_,' may properly be used for 'If he _shall hear_' or 'If he _should hear_,' but not for 'If he _hears_.'"--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 83; 3d Ed., p. 87. Now every position here taken is demonstrably absurd. How could "good writers" indite "much" bad English by _dropping_ from the subjunctive an indicative ending which never belonged to it? And how can a needless "auxiliary" be "_understood_," on the principle of equivalence, where, by awkwardly changing a mood or tense, it only helps some grammatical theorist to convert good English into bad, or to pervert a text? The phrases above may all be right, or all be wrong, according to the correctness or incorrectness of their application: when each is used as best it may be, there is no exact equivalence. And this is true of half a dozen more of the same sort; as, "If he _does hear_,"--"If he _do hear_,"--"If he is _hearing_,"--"If he _be hearing_,"--"If he _shall be hearing_,"--"If he _should be hearing_." OBS. 9.--Similar to Wells's, are the subjunctive forms of Allen H. Weld. Mistaking _annex_ to signify _prefix_, this author teaches thus: "ANNEX _if, though, unless, suppose, admit, grant, allow_, or any word implying a _condition_, to each tense of the _Indicative and Potential modes_, to form the subjunctive; as, If thou lovest or love. If he loves, or love. Formerly it was customary to _omit the terminations_ in the second and third persons of the present tense of the Subjunctive mode. But now the terminations are _generally retained_, except when the ellipsis of _shall_ or _should_ is implied; as, If he obey, i. e., if he _shall_, or _should_ obey."--_Weld's Grammar, Abridged Edition_, p. 71. Again: "_In general_, the form of the verb in the Subjunctive, _is the same as that of the Indicative_; but an _elliptical form_ in the second and third _person_ [persona] singular, is used in the following instances: (1.) _Future contingency_ is expressed by the _omission of the Indicative termination_; as, If he go, for, if he _shall_ go. Though he slay me, i.e., though he _should_ slay me. (2.) _Lest_ and _that_ annexed to a command are followed by the _elliptical form_ of the Subjunctive; as, Love not sleep [,] lest thou _come_ to poverty. (3.) _If_ with _but_ following it, when futurity is denoted, requires the _elliptical form_; as, If he _do_ but _touch_ the hills, they shall smoke."--_Ib._, p. 126. As for this scheme, errors and inconsistencies mark every part of it. First, the rule for forming the subjunctive is false, and is plainly contradicted _by all that is true_ in the examples: "_If thou love_," or, "_If he love_" contains not the form of the indicative. Secondly, no terminations have ever been "generally" omitted from, or retained in, the form of the subjunctive present; because that part of the mood, as commonly exhibited, is well known to be made of the _radical verb_, without inflection. One might as well talk of suffixes for the imperative, "_Love_ thou," or "_Do_ thou love." Thirdly, _shall_ or _should_ can never be really implied in the subjunctive present; because the supposed ellipsis, needless and unexampled, would change the tense, the mood, and commonly also the meaning. "If he _shall_," properly implies a condition of _future certainty_; "If he _should_," a supposition of _duty_: the true subjunctive suggests neither of these. Fourthly, "the ellipsis of _shall_, or _should_," is most absurdly called above, "the omission of the _Indicative termination_." Fifthly, it is very strangely supposed, that to omit what pertains to the _indicative_ or the _potential_ mood, will produce an "elliptical form of _the Subjunctive_." Sixthly, such examples as the last, "If he _do_ but _touch_ the hills," having the auxiliary _do_ not inflected as in the indicative, disprove the whole theory. OBS. 10.--In J. B. Chandler's grammars, are taken nearly the same views of the "Subjunctive or Conditional Mood," that have just been noticed. "This mood," we are told, "is _only_ the indicative _or_ potential mood, with the word _if_ placed before the nominative case."--_Gram. of_ 1821, p. 48; _Gram. of_ 1847, p. 73. Yet, of even _this_, the author has said, in the former edition, "It would, perhaps, be _better to abolish the use_ of the subjunctive mood entirely. _Its use_ is a continual source of dispute among grammarians, and of perplexity to scholars."--Page 33. The suppositive verb _were_,--(as, "_Were_ I a king,"--"If I _were_ a king,"--) which this author formerly rejected, preferring _was_, is now, after six and twenty years, replaced in his own examples; and yet he still attempts to _disgrace it_, by falsely representing it as being only "the indicative _plural_" very grossly misapplied! See _Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 77. OBS. 11.--The _Imperative_ mood is so called because it is chiefly used in _commanding_. It is that brief form of the verb, by which we directly urge upon others our claims and wishes. But the nature of this urging varies according to the relation of the parties. We command inferiors; exhort equals; entreat superiors; permit whom we will;--and all by this same imperative form of the verb. In answer to a request, the imperative implies nothing more than permission. The will of a superior may also be urged imperatively by the indicative, future. This form is particularly common in solemn prohibitions; as, "Thou _shalt not kill_. * * * Thou _shalt not steal_."--_Exodus_, xx, 13 and 15. Of the ten commandments, eight are negative, and all these are indicative in form. The other two are in the imperative mood: "_Remember_ the sabbath day to keep it holy. _Honour_ thy father and thy mother."--_Ib._ But the imperative form may also be negative: as, "_Touch not; taste not; handle not_."--_Colossians_, ii, 21. TENSES. Tenses are those modifications of the verb, which distinguish time. There are six tenses; the _Present_, the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, the _Pluperfect_, the _First-future_, and the _Second-future_. The _Present tense_ is that which expresses what _now exists_, or _is taking_ place: as, "I _hear_ a noise; somebody _is coming_." The _Imperfect tense_ is that which expresses what _took place_, or _was occurring_, in time fully past: as, "I _saw_ him yesterday, and _hailed_ him as he _was passing_." The _Perfect tense_ is that which expresses what _has taken_ place, within some period of time not yet fully past: as, "I _have seen_ him to-day; something _must have detained_ him." The _Pluperfect tense_ is that which expresses what _had taken_ place, at some past time mentioned: as, "I _had seen_ him, when I met you." The _First-future tense_ is that which expresses what _will take_ place hereafter: as, "I _shall see_ him again, and I _will inform_ him." The _Second-future tense_ is that which expresses what _will have taken_ place, at some future time mentioned: as, "I _shall have seen_ him by tomorrow noon." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The terms here defined are the names usually given to those parts of the verb to which they are in this work applied; and though some of them are not so strictly appropriate as scientific names ought to be, it is thought inexpedient to change them. In many old grammars, and even in the early editions of Murray, the three past tenses are called the _Preterimperfect, Preterperfect_, and _Preterpluperfect_. From these names, the term _Preter_, (which is from the Latin preposition _praeter_, meaning _beside, beyond_, or _past_,) has been well dropped for the sake of brevity.[233] OBS. 2.--The distinctive epithet _Imperfect_, or _Preterimperfect_, appears to have been much less accurately employed by the explainers of our language, than it was by the Latin grammarians from whom it was borrowed. That tense which passes in our schools for the _Imperfect_, (as, I _slept, did sleep_, or _was sleeping_,) is in fact, so far as the indicative mood is concerned, _more completely past_, than that which we call the _Perfect_. Murray indeed has attempted to show that the name is right; and, for the sake of consistency, one could wish he had succeeded. But every scholar must observe, that the simple preterit, which is the first form of this tense, and is never found in any other, as often as the sentence is declarative, tells what _happened_ within some period of time _fully past_, as _last week, last year_; whereas the perfect tense is used to express what _has happened_ within some period of time _not yet fully past_, as _this week, this year_. As to the completeness of the action, there is no difference; for what _has been done_ to-day, is as _completely done_, as what _was achieved_ a year ago. Hence it is obvious that the term _Imperfect_ has no other applicability to the English tense so called, than what it may have derived from the participle in _ing_, which we use in translating the Latin imperfect tense: as, _Dormiebam, I was sleeping; Legebam, I was reading; Docebam, I was teaching_. And if for this reason the whole English tense, with all its variety of forms in the different moods, "may, with propriety, be denominated _imperfect_;" surely, the participle itself should be so denominated _a fortiori_: for it always conveys this same idea, of "_action not finished_," be the tense of its accompanying auxiliary what it may. OBS. 3.--The tenses do not all express time with equal precision; nor can the whole number in any language supersede the necessity of adverbs of time, much less of dates, and of nouns that express periods of duration. The tenses of the indicative mood, are the most definite; and, for this reason, as well as for some others, the explanations of all these modifications of the verb, are made with particular reference to that mood. Some suppose the compound or participial form, as _I am writing_, to be more definite in time, than the simple form, as _I write_, or the emphatic form, as _I do write_; and accordingly they divide all the tenses into _Indefinite_ and _Definite_. Of this division Dr. Webster seems to claim the invention; for he gravely accuses Murray of copying it unjustly from him, though the latter acknowledges in a note upon his text, it "is, _in part_, taken from Webster's Grammar."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 73. The distribution, as it stands in either work, is not worth quarrelling about: it is evidently more cumbersome than useful. Nor, after all, is it true that the compound form is more definite in time than the other. For example; "Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, _was always betraying_ his unhappiness."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 123. Now, if _was betraying_ were a more definite tense than _betrayed_, surely the adverb "_always_" would require the latter, rather than the former. OBS. 4.--The present tense, of the indicative mood, expresses not only what is now actually going on, but general truths, and customary actions: as, "Vice _produces_ misery."--"He _hastens_ to repent, who _gives_ sentence quickly."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 71. "Among the Parthians, the signal _is given_ by the drum, and not by the trumpet."--_Justin_. Deceased authors may be spoken of in the present tense, because they seem to live in their works; as, "Seneca _reasons_ and _moralizes_ well."--_Murray_. "Women _talk_ better than men, from the superior shape of their tongues: an ancient writer _speaks_ of their loquacity three thousand years ago."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 27. OBS. 5.--The text, John, viii, 58, "Before Abraham _was_, I _am_," is a literal Grecism, and not to be cited as an example of pure English: our idiom would seem to require, "Before Abraham _was_, I _existed_." In animated narrative, however, the present tense is often substituted for the past, by the figure _enallage_. In such cases, past tenses and present may occur together; because the latter are used merely to bring past events more vividly before us: as, "Ulysses _wakes_, not knowing where he _was_."--_Pope_. "The dictator _flies_ forward to the cavalry, beseeching them to dismount from their horses. They _obeyed_; they _dismount, rush_ onward, and for vancouriers _show_ their bucklers."--_Livy_. On this principle, perhaps, the following couplet, which Murray condemns as bad English, may be justified:-- "Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans blest, The young who _labour_, and the old who _rest_." See _Murray's Key_, R. 13. OBS. 6.--The present tense of the subjunctive mood, and that of the indicative when preceded by _as soon as, after, before, till_, or _when_, is generally used with reference to future time; as, "If he _ask_ a fish, will he give him a serpent?"--_Matt._, vii, 10. "If I _will_ that he _tarry_ till I _come_, what is that to thee? Follow thou me."--_John_, xxi, 22. "When he _arrives_, I will send for you." The imperative mood has but one tense, and that is always present with regard to the giving of the command; though what is commanded, must be done in the future, if done at all. So the subjunctive may convey a present supposition of what the will of an other may make uncertain: as, "If thou _count_ me therefore a partner, _receive_ him as myself."--_St. Paul to Philemon_, 17. The perfect indicative, like the present, is sometimes used with reference to time that is relatively future; as, "He will be fatigued before he _has walked_ a mile."--"My lips shall utter praise, when thou _hast taught_ me thy statutes."--_Psalms_, cxix, 171. "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that _are_ in the graves, shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that _have done_ good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that _have done_ evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."--_John_, v, 28. OBS. 7.--What is called the _present_ infinitive, can scarcely be said to express any particular time.[234] It is usually dependent on an other verb, and therefore relative in time. It may be connected with any tense of any mood: as, "I _intend to do_ it; I _intended to do_ it; I _have intended to do_ it; I _had intended to do_ it;" &c. For want of a better mode of expression, we often use the infinitive to denote futurity, especially when it seems to be taken adjectively; as, "The time _to come_,"--"The world _to come_,"--"Rapture yet _to be_." This, sometimes with the awkward addition of _about_, is the only substitute we have for the Latin future participle in _rus_, as _venturus, to come_, or _about to come_. This phraseology, according to Horne Tooke, (see _Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 457,) is no fitter than that of our ancestors, who for this purpose used the same preposition, but put the participle in _ing_ after it, in lieu of the radical verb, which we choose to employ: as, "Generacions of eddris, who shewide to you to fle fro wraththe _to comynge?_"--_Matt._, iii, 7. Common Version: "O generation of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath _to come_?" "Art thou that art _to comynge_, ether abiden we another?"--_Matt._, xi, 3. Common Version: "Art thou he that _should come_, or do we look for another?" "Sotheli there the ship was _to puttyng out_ the charge."--_Dedis_, xxi, 3. Common Version: "For there the ship was _to unlade_ her burden."--_Acts_, xxi, 3. Churchill, after changing the names of the two infinitive tenses to "_Future imperfect_" and "_Future perfect_," adds the following note: "The tenses of the infinitive mood are usually termed _present_ and _preterperfect_: but this is certainly improper; for they are so completely future, that what is called the present tense of the infinitive mood is often employed simply to express futurity; as, 'The life _to come_.'"--_New Gram._, p. 249. OBS. 8.--The pluperfect tense, when used conditionally, in stead of expressing what actually _had taken place_ at a past time, almost always implies that the action thus supposed _never was performed_; on the contrary, if the supposition be made in a _negative form_, it suggests that the event _had occurred_: as, "Lord, if thou _hadst been here_, my brother _had not died_."--_John_, xi, 32. "If I _had not come_ and spoken unto them, they _had not had_ sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin."--_John_, xv, 22. "If thou _hadst known_, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes."--_Luke_, xix, 42. The supposition is sometimes indicated by a mere transposition of the verb and its subject; in which case, the conjunction _if_ is omitted; as, "_Had ye believed_ Moses, ye would have believed me."--_John_, v, 46. "_Had I but fought_ as wont, one thrust _Had laid_ De Wilton in the dust."--_Scott_ OBS. 9.--In the language of prophecy we find the past tenses very often substituted for the future, especially when the prediction is remarkably clear and specific. Man is a creature of present knowledge only; but it is certain, that He who sees the end from the beginning, has sometimes revealed to him, and by him, things deep in futurity. Thus the sacred seer who is esteemed the most eloquent of the ancient prophets, more than _seven hundred years_ before the events occurred, spoke of the vicarious sufferings of Christ as of things already past, and even then described them in the phraseology of historical facts: "Surely he _hath borne_ our griefs, _and carried_ our sorrows: yet we _did esteem_ him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he _was wounded_ for our transgressions; he _was bruised_ for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace _was_ upon him; and by his stripes we are healed."--_Isaiah_, liii, 4 and 5. Multiplied instances of a similar application of the past tenses to future events, occur in the Bible, especially in the writings of this prophet. PERSONS AND NUMBERS. The person and number of a verb are those modifications in which it agrees with its subject or nominative. In each number, there are three persons; and in each person, two numbers: thus, _Singular._ _Plural._ 1st per. I love, 1st per. We love, 2d per. Thou lovest, 2d per. You love, 3d per. He loves; 3d per. They love. Definitions universally applicable have already been given of all these things; it is therefore unnecessary to define them again in this place. Where the verb is varied, the second person singular is regularly formed by adding _st_ or _est_ to the first person; and the third person singular, in like manner, by adding _s_ or _es_: as, I _see_, thou _seest_, he _sees_; I _give_, thou _givest_, he _gives_; I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goes_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flies_; I _vex_, thou _vexest_, he _vexes_; I _lose_, thou _losest_, he _loses._ Where the verb is not varied to denote its person and number, these properties are inferred from its subject or nominative: as, If I _love_, if thou _love_, if he _love_; if we _love_, if you _love_, if they _love_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--It is considered a principle of Universal Grammar, that a finite verb must agree with its subject or nominative in person and number. Upon this principle, we ascribe to every such verb the person and number of the nominative word, whether the verb itself be literally modified by the relation or not. The doctrine must be constantly taught and observed, in every language in which the verbs have _any variations_ of this kind. But suppose an instance, of a language in which all the verbs were entirely destitute of such inflections; the principle, as regards that language, must drop. Finite verbs, in such a case, would still relate to their subjects, or nominatives, agreeably to the sense; but they would certainly be rendered incapable of adding to this relation any agreement or disagreement. So the concords which belong to adjectives and participles in Latin and Greek, are rejected in English, and there remains to these parts of speech nothing but a simple relation to their nouns according to the sense. And by the fashionable substitution of _you_ for _thou_, the concord of English verbs with their nominatives, is made to depend, in common practice, on little more than one single terminational _s_, which is used to mark one person of one number of one tense of one mood of each verb. So near does this practice bring us to the dropping of what is yet called a universal principle of grammar.[235] OBS. 2.--In most languages, there are in each tense, through all the moods of every verb, six different terminations to distinguish the different persons and numbers. This will be well understood by every one who has ever glanced at the verbs as exhibited in any Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, or Italian grammar. To explain it to others, a brief example shall be given: (with the remark, that the Latin pronouns, here inserted, are seldom expressed, except for emphasis:) "_Ego amo_, I love; _Tu amas_, Thou lovest; _Ille amat_, He loves; _Nos amamus_, We love; _Vos amatis_, You love; _Illi amant_, They love." Hence it may be perceived, that the paucity of variations in the English verb, is a very striking peculiarity of our language. Whether we are gainers or losers by this simplicity, is a question for learned idleness to discuss. The common people who speak English, have far less inclination to add new endings to our verbs, than to drop or avoid all the remains of the old. Lowth and Murray tell us, "This scanty provision of terminations _is sufficient_ for all the purposes of discourse;" and that, "_For this reason_, the plural termination _en_, (they _loven_, they _weren_,) formerly in use, was laid aside as _unnecessary_, and has long been obsolete."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 31; _Murray's_, 63. OBS. 3.--Though modern usage, especially in common conversation, evidently inclines to drop or shun all unnecessary suffixes and inflections, still it is true, that the English verb in some of its parts, varies its termination, to distinguish, or agree with, the different persons and numbers. The change is, however, principally confined to the second and third persons singular of the present tense of the indicative mood, and to the auxiliaries _hast_ and _has_ of the perfect. In the ancient biblical style, now used only on solemn occasions, the second person singular is distinguished through all the tenses of the indicative and potential moods. And as the use of the pronoun _thou_ is now mostly confined to the solemn style, the terminations of that style are retained in connexion with it, through all the following examples of the conjugation of verbs. In the plural number, there is no variation of ending, to denote the different persons; and the verb in the three persons plural, (with the two exceptions _are_ and _were_, from _am_ and _was_,) is the same as in the first person singular. Nor does the use of _you_ for the singular, warrant its connexion with any other than the plural form of the verb. This strange and needless confusion of the numbers, is, in all languages that indulge it, a practical inconvenience. It would doubtless have been much better, had _thou_ and _you_ still kept their respective places--the one, nominative singular--the other, objective plural--as they appear in the Bible. But as the English verb is always attended by a noun or a pronoun, expressing the subject of the affirmation, no ambiguity arises from the want of particular terminations in the verb, to distinguish the different persons and numbers. OBS. 4.--Although our language, in its ordinary use, exhibits the verbs in such forms only, as will make, when put together, but a very simple conjugation; there is probably no other language on earth, in which it would be so difficult for a learned grammarian to fix, settle, and exhibit, to the satisfaction of himself and others, the principles, paradigms, rules, and exceptions, which are necessary for a full and just exhibition of this part of speech. This difficulty is owing, partly to incompatibilities or unsettled boundaries between the solemn and the familiar style; partly to differences in the same style between ancient usage and modern; partly to interfering claims of new and old forms of the preterit and the perfect participle; partly to the conflicting notions of different grammarians respecting the subjunctive mood; and partly to the blind tenacity with which many writers adhere to rugged derivatives, and prefer unutterable contractions to smooth and easy abbreviations. For example: a clergyman says to a lucky gamester, (1.) "_You dwell_ in a house which _you_ neither _planned_ nor _built_." A member of the Society of Friends would say, (2.) "_Thou dwellst_ in a house which _thou_ neither _planned_ nor _built_." Or, if not a scholar, as likely as not, (3.) "_Thee dwells_ in a house which _thee_ neither _planned_ nor _built_." The old or solemn style would b3, (4.) "_Thou dwellest_ in a house which _thou_ neither _plannedst_ nor _buildedst_." Some untasteful and overgrammatical poet will have it, (5.) "_Thou dwell'st_ in halls _thou_ neither _plann'dst_ nor _build'dst_." The doctrine of Murray's Grammar, and of most others, would require, (6.) "_Thou dwellest_ in a house which _thou_ neither _plannedst_ nor _builtest_." Or, (according to this author's method of avoiding unpleasant sounds,) the more complex form, (7.) "_Thou dost dwell_ in a house which _thou_ neither _didst plan_ nor _didst build_." Out of these an other poet will make the line, (8.) "_Dost dwell_ in halls which _thou_ nor _plann'dst_ nor _built'st_." An other, more tastefully, would drop the _st_ of the preterit, and contract the present, as in the second instance above: thus, (9.) "_Thou dwellst_ in halls _thou_ neither _planned_ nor _built_, And _revelst_ there in riches won by guilt." OBS. 5.--Now let all these nine different forms of saying the same thing, by the same verbs, in the same mood, and the same two tenses, be considered. Let it also be noticed, that for these same verbs within these limits, there are yet other forms, of a complex kind; as, "_You do dwell_," or, "_You are dwelling_;" used in lieu of, "_Thou dost dwell_," or, "_Thou art dwelling_:" so, "_You did plan_," or, "_You were planning_;" used in lieu of, "_Thou didst plan_," or, "_Thou wast planning_." Take into the account the opinion of Dr. Webster and others, that, "_You was planning_," or, "_You was building_," is a still better form for the singular number; and well "established by national usage, both here and in England."--_Improved Gram._, p. 25. Add the less inaccurate practice of some, who use _was_ and _did_ familiarly with _thou_; as, "_Thou was planning, did thou build?_" Multiply all this variety tenfold, with a view to the other moods and tenses of these three verbs, _dwell, plan_, and _build_; then extend the product, whatever it is, from these three common words, to _all_ the verbs in the English language. You will thus begin to have some idea of the difficulty mentioned in the preceding observation. But this is only a part of it; for all these things relate only to the second person singular of the verb. The double question is, Which of these forms ought to be approved and taught for that person and number? and which of them ought to be censured and rejected as bad English? This question is perhaps as important, as any that can arise in English grammar. With a few candid observations by way of illustration, it will be left to the judgement of the reader. OBS. 6.--The history of _youyouing_ and _thoutheeing_ appears to be this. Persons in high stations, being usually surrounded by attendants, it became, many centuries ago, a species of court flattery, to address individuals of this class, in the plural number, as if a great man were something more than one person. In this way, the notion of greatness was agreeably _multiplied_, and those who laid claim to such honour, soon began to think themselves insulted whenever they were addressed with any other than the plural pronoun.[236] Humbler people yielded through fear of offence; and the practice extended, in time, to all ranks of society: so that at present the customary mode of familiar as well as complimentary address, is altogether plural; both the verb and the pronoun being used in that form.[237] This practice, which confounds one of the most important distinctions of the language, affords a striking instance of the power of fashion. It has made propriety itself _seem_ improper. But shall it be allowed, in the present state of things, to confound our conjugations and overturn our grammar? Is it right to introduce it into our paradigms, as the only form of the second person singular, that modern usage acknowledges? Or is it expedient to augment by it that multiplicity of other forms, which must either take this same place or be utterly rejected? With due deference to those grammarians who have adopted one or the other of these methods, the author of this work answers all these questions decidedly in the negative. It is not to be denied, that the use of the plural _for the singular_ is now so common as to form the _customary mode_ of address to individuals of every rank. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, however, continue to employ the singular number in familiar discourse; and custom, which has now destroyed the compliment of the plural, has removed also the supposed opprobrium of the singular, and placed it on an equality with the plural in point of respect. The singular is universally employed in reference to the Supreme Being; and is generally preferred in poetry. It is the language of Scripture, and of the Prayer-Book; and is consistently retained in nearly all our grammars; though not always, perhaps, consistently treated. OBS. 7.--Whatever is fashionable in speech, the mere disciples of fashion will always approve; and, probably, they will think it justifiable to despise or neglect all that is otherwise. These may be contented with the sole use of such forms of address as, "_You, you, sir_;"--"_You, you, madam_." But the literati who so neglect all the services of religion, as to forget that these are yet conducted in English independently of all this fashionable youyouing, must needs be poor judges of what belongs to their own justification, either as grammarians or as moral agents. A fashion by virtue of which millions of youths are now growing up in ignorance of that form of address which, in their own tongue, is most appropriate to poetry, and alone adapted to prayer, is perhaps not quite so light a matter as some people imagine. It is at least so far from being a good reason for displacing that form from the paradigms of our verbs in a grammar, that indeed no better needs be offered for tenaciously retaining it. Many children may thus learn at school what all should know, and what there is little chance for them to learn elsewhere. Not all that presume to minister in religion, are well acquainted with what is called the solemn style. Not all that presume to explain it in grammars, do know what it is. A late work, which boasted the patronage of De Witt Clinton, and through the influence of false praise came nigh to be imposed by a law of New York on all the common schools of that State; and which, being subsequently sold in Philadelphia for a great price, was there republished under the name of the "National School Manual;" gives the following account of this part of grammar: "In the solemn and poetic styles, the second person singular, in both the above tenses, is thou; and the second person plural, is ye, _or you_. The verb, to agree with the second person singular, changes its termination. Thus: 2d person, sing. Pres. Tense, Thou walkest, _or Thou walketh_. Imperfect Tense, Thou walkedst. In the third person singular, _in the above styles_, the verb has sometimes _a different_ termination; as, Present Tense, He, she, or _it walks_ or walketh. The _above form of inflection_ may be applied _to all verbs_ used in the solemn _or_ poetic _styles_; but for ordinary purposes, I have supposed it proper to employ the form of the verb, adopted in common conversation, as least perplexing to young minds."--_Bartlett's Common School Manual_, Part ii, p. 114. What can be hoped from an author who is ignorant enough to think "_Thou walketh_" is good English? or from one who tells us, that "_It walks_" is of the solemn style? or from one who does not know that _you_ is never a _nominative_ in the style of the Bible? OBS. 8.--Nowhere on earth is fashion more completely mistress of all the tastes and usages of society, than in France. Though the common French Bible still retains the form of the second person singular, which in that language is shorter and perhaps smoother than the plural; yet even that sacred book, or at least the New Testament, and that by different persons, has been translated into more fashionable French, and printed at Paris, and also at New York, with the form of address everywhere plural; as, "Jesus anticipated him, saying, 'What _do you think_, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take taxes and tribute?'"--_Matt._, xvii, 24. "And, going to prayers, they said, '0 Lord, _you who know_ the hearts of all men, show which of these two _you have chosen_.'"--_Acts_, i, 24. This is one step further in the progress of politeness, than has yet been taken in English. The French grammarians, however, as far as I can perceive, have never yet disturbed the ancient order of their conjugations and declensions, by inserting the plural verb and pronoun in place of the singular; and, in the familiarity of friendship, or of domestic life, the practice which is denominated _tutoyant_, or _thoutheeing_, is far more prevalent in France than in England. Also, in the prayers of the French, the second person singular appears to be yet generally preserved, as it is in those of the English and the Americans. The less frequent use of it in the familiar conversation of the latter, is very probably owing to the general impression, that it cannot be used with propriety, except in the solemn style. Of this matter, those who have laid it aside themselves, cannot with much modesty pretend to judge for those who have not; or, if they may, there is still a question how far it is right to lay it aside. The following lines are a sort of translation from Horace; and I submit it to the reader, whether it is comely for a Christian divine to be less reverent toward God, than a heathen poet; and whether the plural language here used, does not lack the reverence of the original, which is singular:-- "Preserve, Almighty Providence! Just what _you gave_ me, competence."--_Swift_. OBS. 9.--The terms, _solemn style, familiar style, modern style, ancient style, legal style, regal style, nautic style, common style_, and the like, as used in grammar, imply no certain divisions of the language; but are designed merely to distinguish, in a general way, the _occasions_ on which some particular forms of expression may be considered proper, or the _times_ to which they belong. For what is grammatical sometimes, may not be so always. It would not be easy to tell, definitely, in what any one of these styles consists; because they all belong to one language, and the number or nature of the peculiarities of each is not precisely fixed. But whatever is acknowledged to be peculiar to any one, is consequently understood to be improper for any other: or, at least, the same phraseology cannot belong to styles of an opposite character; and words of general use belong to no particular style.[238] For example: "So then it is not of him that _willeth_, nor of him that _runneth_, but of God that _showeth_ mercy."--_Rom._, ix, 16. If the termination _eth_ is not obsolete, as some say it is, all verbs to which this ending is added, are of the solemn style; for the common or familiar expression would here be this; "So then it is not of him that _wills_, nor of him that _runs_, but of God that _shows_ mercy." Ben Jonson, in his grammar, endeavoured to arrest this change of _eth_ to _s_; and, according to Lindley Murray, (_Octavo Gram._, p. 90,) Addison also injudiciously disapproved it. In spite of all such objections, however, some future grammarian will probably have to say of the singular ending _eth_, as Lowth and Murray have already said of the plural _en_: "It was laid aside as unnecessary." OBS. 10.--Of the origin of the personal terminations of English verbs, that eminent etymologist Dr. Alexander Murray, gives the following account: "The readers of our modern tongue may be reminded, that the terminations, _est, eth_, and _s_, in our verbs, as in _layest, layeth_, and _laid'st_, or _laidest_; are the faded _remains of the pronouns_ which were formerly joined to the verb itself, and placed the language, in respect of concise expression, on a level with the Greek, Latin, and Sanscrit, its sister dialects."--_History of European Languages_, Vol. i, p. 52. According to this, since other signs of the persons and numbers are now employed with the verb, it is not strange that there should appear a tendency to lay aside such of these endings as are least agreeable and least necessary. Any change of this kind will of course occur first in the familiar style. For example: "Thou _wentest_ in to men uncircumcised, and _didst eat_ with them."--_Acts_, xi, 3. "These things write I unto thee, that thou _mayst_ know how thou _oughtest_ to behave thyself in the house of God."--_1 Tim._, iii, 15. These forms, by universal consent, are now of the solemn style; and, consequently, are really good English in no other. For nobody, I suppose, will yet pretend that the inflection of our preterits and auxiliaries by _st_ or _est_, is entirely _obsolete_;[239] and surely no person of any literary taste ever uses the foregoing forms familiarly. The termination _est_, however, has _in some instances_ become obsolete; or has faded into _st_ or _t_, even in the solemn style. Thus, (if indeed, such forms ever were in good use,) _diddest_ has become _didst; havest, hast; haddest, hadst; shallest, shalt; willest, wilt_; and _cannest, canst. Mayest, mightest, couldest, wouldest_, and _shouldest_, are occasionally found in books not ancient; but _mayst, mightst, couldst, wouldst_, and _shouldst_, are abundantly more common, and all are peculiar to the solemn style. _Must, burst, durst, thrust, blest, curst, past, lost, list, crept, kept, girt, built, felt, dwelt, left, bereft_, and many other verbs of similar endings, are seldom, if ever, found encumbered with an additional _est_. For the rule which requires this ending, has always had many exceptions that have not been noticed by grammarians.[240] Thus Shakspeare wrote even in the present tense, "Do as thou _list_," and not "Do as thou _listest_." Possibly, however, _list_ may here be reckoned of the subjunctive mood; but the following example from Byron is certainly in the indicative:-- "And thou, who never yet of human wrong _Lost_ the unbalanced scale, great Nemesis!"--_Harold_, C. iv, st. 132. OBS. 11.--Any phraseology that is really obsolete, is no longer fit to be imitated even in the solemn style; and what was never good English, is no more to be respected in that style, than in any other. Thus: "Art not thou that Egyptian, _which_ before these days _madest_ an uproar, and _leddest_ out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?"--_Acts_, xxi, 38. Here, (I think,) the version ought to be, "Art not thou that Egyptian, _who_ a while ago _made_ an uproar, and _led_ out into the wilderness four thousand men, that were murderers?" If so, there is in this no occasion to make a difference between the solemn and the familiar style. But what is the familiar form of expression for the texts cited before? The fashionable will say, it is this: "_You went_ in to men uncircumcised, and _did eat_ with them."--"I write these things to _you_, that _you may know_ how _you ought_ to behave _yourself_ in the house of God." But this is not _literally_ of the singular number: it is no more singular, than _vos_ in Latin, or _vous_ in French, or _we_ used for _I_ in English, is singular. And if there remains to us any other form, that is both singular and grammatical, it is unquestionably the following: "_Thou went_ in to men uncircumcised, and _did eat_ with them."--"I write these things to _thee_, that thou _may know_ how _thou ought_ to behave _thyself_ in the house of God." The acknowledged doctrine of all the teachers of English grammar, that the inflection of our auxiliaries and preterits by _st_ or _est_ is peculiar to "the solemn style," leaves us no other alternative, than either to grant the propriety of here dropping the suffix for the familiar style, or to rob our language of any familiar use of the pronoun _thou_ forever. Who, then, are here the neologists, the innovators, the impairers of the language? And which is the greater _innovation_, merely to drop, on familiar occasions, or _when it suits our style_, one obsolescent verbal termination,--a termination often dropped _of old_ as well as now,--or to strike from the conjugations of all our verbs one sixth part of their entire scheme?[241] "O mother myn, that cleaped _were_ Argyue, Wo worth that day that thou me _bare_ on lyue."--_Chaucer_. OBS. 12.--The grammatical propriety of distinguishing from the solemn style both of the forms presented above, must be evident to every one who considers with candour the reasons, analogies, and authorities, for this distinction. The support of the latter is very far from resting solely on the practice of a particular sect; though this, if they would forbear to corrupt the pronoun while they simplify the verb, would deserve much more consideration than has ever been allowed it. Which of these modes of address is the more grammatical, it is useless to dispute; since fashion rules the one, and a scruple of conscience is sometimes alleged for the other. A candid critic will consequently allow all to take their choice. It is enough for him, if he can demonstrate to the candid inquirer, what phraseology is in any view allowable, and what is for any good reason reprehensible. That the use of the plural for the singular is ungrammatical, it is neither discreet nor available to affirm; yet, surely, it did not originate in any regard to grammar rules. Murray the schoolmaster, whose English Grammar appeared some years before that of Lindley Murray, speaks of it as follows: "_Thou_, the second person singular, though _strictly grammatical_, is seldom used, except in addresses to God, in poetry, and by the people called Quakers. In all other cases, a _fondness for foreign manners_,[242] and the power of custom, have given a sanction to the use of _you_, for the second person singular, though _contrary to grammar_,[243] and attended with this particular inconveniency, that a plural verb must be used to agree with the pronoun in number, and both applied to a _single person_; as, _you are_, or _you were_,--not _you wast_, or _you was_."--_Third Edition_, Lond., 1793, p. 34. This author everywhere exhibits the auxiliaries, _mayst, mightst, couldst, wouldst_, and _shouldst_, as words of one syllable; and also observes, in a marginal note, "Some writers begin to say, '_Thou may, thou might_,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 36. Examples of this are not very uncommon: "Thou _shall_ want ere I want."--_Old Motto; Scott's Lay_, Note 1st to Canto 3. "Thyself the mournful tale _shall_ tell."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 20. "One sole condition would I dare suggest, That _thou would save_ me from my own request."--_Jane Taylor_. OBS. 13.--In respect to the second person singular, the grammar of Lindley Murray makes no distinction between the solemn and the familiar style; recognizes in no way the fashionable substitution of _you_ for _thou_; and, so far as I perceive, takes it for granted, that every one who pretends to speak or write grammatically, must always, in addressing an individual, employ the singular pronoun, and inflect the verb with _st_ or _est_, except in the imperative mood and the subjunctive present. This is the more remarkable, because the author was a valued member of the Society of Friends; and doubtless his own daily practice contradicted his doctrine, as palpably as does that of every other member of the Society. And many a schoolmaster, taking that work for his text-book, or some other as faulty, is now doing precisely the same thing. But what a teacher is he, who dares not justify as a grammarian that which he constantly practices as a man! What a scholar is he, who can be led by a false criticism or a false custom, to condemn his own usage and that of every body else! What a casuist is he, who dares pretend conscience for practising that which he knows and acknowledges to be wrong! If to speak in the second person singular without inflecting our preterits and auxiliaries, is a censurable corruption of the language, the Friends have no alternative but to relinquish their scruple about the application of _you_ to one person; for none but the adult and learned can ever speak after the manner of ancient books: children and common people can no more be brought to speak agreeably to any antiquated forms of the English language, than according to the imperishable models of Greek and Latin. He who traces the history of our vernacular tongue, will find it has either simplified or entirely dropped several of its ancient terminations; and that the _st_ or _est_ of the second person singular, _never was adopted_ in any thing like the extent to which our modern grammarians have attempted to impose it. "Thus becoming unused to inflections, we lost the perception of their meaning and nature."--_Philological Museum_, i, 669. "You cannot make a whole people all at once talk in a different tongue from that which it has been used to talk in: you cannot force it to unlearn the words it has learnt from its fathers, in order to learn a set of newfangled words out of [a grammar or] a dictionary."--_Ib._, i, 650. Nor can you, in this instance, restrain our poets from transgressing the doctrine of Lowth and Murray:-- "Come, thou pure Light,--which first in Eden _glowed._ And _threw_ thy splendor round man's calm abode."--_Alonzo Lewis_. OBS. 14.--That which has passed away from familiar practice, may still be right in the solemn style, and may there remain till it becomes obsolete. But no obsolescent termination has ever yet been recalled into the popular service. This is as true in other languages as in our own: "In almost every word of the Greek," says a learned author, "we meet with contractions and abbreviations; but, I believe, the flexions of no language allow of extension or amplification. In our own we may write _sleeped_ or _slept_, as the metre of a line or the rhythm of a period may require; but by no license may we write _sleepeed._"--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, 4to, p. 107. But, if after contracting _sleeped_ into _slept_, we add an _est_ and make _sleptest_, is there not here an extension of the word from one syllable to two? Is there not an amplification that is at once novel, disagreeable, unauthorized, and unnecessary? Nay, even in the regular and established change, as of _loved_ to _lovedst_, is there not a syllabic increase, which is unpleasant to the ear, and unsuited to familiar speech? Now, to what extent do these questions apply to the verbs in our language? Lindley Murray, it is presumed, had no conception of that extent; or of the weight of the objection which is implied in the second. With respect to a vast number of our most common verbs, he himself never knew, nor does the greatest grammarian now living know, in what way he ought to form the simple past tense in the second person singular, otherwise than by the mere uninflected preterit with the pronoun _thou_. Is _thou sleepedst_ or _thou sleptest, thou leavedst_ or _thou leftest, thou feeledst_ or _thou feltest, thou dealedst_ or _thou dealtest, thou tossedst_ or _thou tostest, thou losedst_ or _thou lostest, thou payedst_ or _thou paidest, thou layedst_ or _thou laidest_, better English than _thou slept, thou left, thou felt, thou dealt, thou tossed, thou lost, thou paid, thou laid?_ And, if so, of the two forms in each instance, which is the right one? and why? The Bible has "_saidst_" and "_layedst_;" Dr. Alexander Murray, "_laid'st_" and "_laidest!_" Since the inflection of our preterits has never been orderly, and is now decaying and waxing old, shall we labour to recall what is so nearly ready to vanish away? "Tremendous Sea! what time _thou lifted_ up Thy waves on high, and with thy winds and storms Strange pastime _took_, and _shook_ thy mighty sides Indignantly, the pride of navies fell."--_Pollok_, B. vii, l. 611. OBS. 15.--Whatever difficulty there is in ascertaining the true form of the preterit itself, not only remains, but is augmented, when _st_ or _est_ is to be added for the second person of it. For, since we use sometimes one and sometimes the other of these endings; (as, said_st_, saw_est_, bid_st_, knew_est_, loved_st_, went_est_;) there is yet need of some rule to show which we ought to prefer. The variable formation or orthography of verbs in the simple past tense, has always been one of the greatest difficulties that the learners of our language have had to encounter. At present, there is a strong tendency to terminate as many as we can of them in _ed_, which is the only regular ending. The pronunciation of this ending, however, is at least threefold; as in _remembered, repented, relinquished._ Here the added sounds are, first _d_, then _ed_, then _t_; and the effect of adding _st_, whenever the _ed_ is sounded like _t_, will certainly be a perversion of what is established as the true pronunciation of the language. For the solemn and the familiar pronunciation of _ed_ unquestionably differ. The present tendency to a regular orthography, ought rather to be encouraged than thwarted; but the preferring of _mixed_ to _mixt, whipped_ to _whipt, worked_ to _wrought, kneeled_ to _knelt_, and so forth, does not make _mixedst, whippedst, workedst, kneeledst_, and the like, any more fit for modern English, than are _mixtest, whiptest, wroughtest, kneltest, burntest, dweltest, heldest, giltest_, and many more of the like stamp. And what can be more absurd than for a grammarian to insist upon forming a great parcel of these strange and crabbed words for which he can quote no good authority? Nothing; except it be for a poet or a rhetorician to huddle together great parcels of consonants which no mortal man can utter,[244] (as _lov'dst, lurk'dst, shrugg'dst_,) and call them "_words_." Example: "The clump of _subtonick_ and _atonick_ elements at the termination of _such words_ as the following, is frequently, to the no small injury of articulation, particularly slighted: couldst, wouldst, hadst, prob'st, _prob'dst_, hurl'st, _hurl'dst_, arm'st, _arm'dst_, want'st, _want'dst_, burn'st, _burn'dst_, bark'st, _bark'dst_, bubbl'st, _bubbl'dst, troubbl'st, troubbl'dst._"--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 42. The word _trouble_ may receive the additional sound of _st_, but this gentleman does not here _spell_ so accurately as a great author should. Nor did they who penned the following lines, write here as poets should:-- "Of old thou _build'st_ thy throne on righteousness." --_Pollok's C. of T._, B. vi, l. 638. "For though thou _work'dst_ my mother's ill." --_Byron's Parasina_. "Thou thyself _doat'dst_ on womankind, admiring." --_Milton's P. R._, B. ii, l. 175. "But he, the sev'nth from thee, whom thou _beheldst_." --_Id., P. L._, B. xi, l. 700. "Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou _beheldst_." --_Id., ib._, B. xi, l. 819. "Thou, who _inform'd'st_ this clay with active fire!" --_Savage's Poems_, p. 247. "Thy valiantness was mine, thou _suck'dst_ it from me." --_Shak., Coriol._, Act iii. "This cloth thou _dipp'dst_ in blood of my sweet boy." --_Id., Henry VI_, P. i. "Great Queen of arms, whose favour Tydeus won; As thou _defend'st_ the sire, defend the son." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 337. OBS. 16.--Dr. Lowth, whose popular little Grammar was written in or about 1758, made no scruple to hem up both the poets and the Friends at once, by a criticism which I must needs consider more dogmatical than true; and which, from the suppression of what is least objectionable in it, has become, her hands, the source of still greater errors: "_Thou_ in the polite, and even _in the familiar style, is disused_, and the plural _you_ is employed instead of it; we say, _you have_, not _thou hast._ Though in this case, we apply _you_ to a single person, yet the verb too _must agree with it in the plural number_; it must necessarily be, _you have_, not _you hast._ _You was_ is an enormous solecism,[245] and yet authors of the first rank have inadvertently fallen into it. * * * On the contrary, the solemn style admits not of you for a single person. This _hath led_ Mr. Pope into _a great impropriety_ in the beginning of his Messiah:-- 'O thou my voice inspire, Who _touch'd_ Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!' The solemnity of the style would not admit of _you_ for _thou_, in the pronoun; nor the measure of the verse _touchedst_, or _didst touch_, in the verb, as it _indispensably ought to be_, in the one or the other of those two forms; _you_, who _touched_, or _thou_, who _touchedst_, or _didst touch._ 'Just of _thy_ word, in every thought sincere; Who _knew_ no wish, but what the world might hear.'--Pope. It ought to be _your_ in the first line, or _knewest_ in the second. In order to avoid this _grammatical inconvenience_, the two distinct forms of _thou_ and _you_, are often used promiscuously by our modern poets, in the same paragraph, and even in the same sentence, very inelegantly and improperly:-- 'Now, now, I seize, I clasp _thy_ charms; And now _you burst_, ah cruel! from my arms.'--Pope." --_Lowth's English Gram._, p. 34. OBS. 17.--The points of Dr. Lowth's doctrine which are not sufficiently true, are the following: First, it is not true, that _thou_, in the familiar style, is _totally disused_, and the plural _you_ employed universally in its stead; though Churchill, and others, besides the good bishop, seem to represent it so. It is now nearly two hundred years since the rise of the Society of Friends: and, whatever may have been the practice of others before or since, it is certain, that from their rise to the present day, there have been, at every point of time, many thousands who made no use of _you_ for _thou_; and, but for the clumsy forms which most grammarians hold to be indispensable to verbs of the second person singular, the beautiful, distinctive, and poetical words, _thou, thyself, thy, thine_, and _thee_, would certainly be in no danger yet of becoming obsolete. Nor can they, indeed, at any rate, become so, till the fairest branches of the Christian Church shall wither; or, what should seem no gracious omen, her bishops and clergy learn to _pray in the plural number_, for fashion's sake. Secondly, it is not true, that, "_thou_, who _touch'd_," ought _indispensably_ to be, "_thou_, who _touchedst_, or _didst touch_." It is far better to dispense with the inflection, in such a case, than either to impose it, or to resort to the plural pronoun. The "grammatical inconvenience" of dropping the _st_ or _est_ of a preterit, even in the solemn style, cannot be great, and may be altogether imaginary; that of imposing it, except in solemn prose, is not only real, but is often insuperable. It is not very agreeable, however, to see it added to some verbs, and dropped from others, in the same sentence: as, "Thou, who _didst call_ the Furies from the abyss, And round Orestes _bade_ them howl and hiss." --_Byron's Childe Harold_, Canto iv, st. 132. "Thou _satt'st_ from age to age insatiate, And _drank_ the blood of men, and _gorged_ their flesh." --_Pollok's Course of Time_, B. vii, l. 700. OBS. 18.--We see then, that, according to Dr. Lowth and others, _the only good English_ in which one can address an individual on any ordinary occasion, is _you_ with a plural verb; and that, according to Lindley Murray and others, _the only good English_ for the same purpose, is _thou_ with a verb inflected with _st_ or _est_. Both parties to this pointed contradiction, are more or less in the wrong. The respect of the Friends for those systems of grammar which deny them the familiar use of the pronoun _thou_, is certainly not more remarkable, than the respect of the world for those which condemn the substitution of the plural _you_. Let grammar be a true record of existing facts, and all such contradictions must vanish. And, certainly, these great masters here contradict each other, in what every one who reads English, ought to know. They agree, however, in requiring, as indispensable to grammar, what is not only inconvenient, but absolutely impossible. For what "the measure of verse _will not admit_," cannot be used in poetry; and what may possibly be crowded into it, will often be far from ornamental. Yet our youth have been taught to spoil the versification of Pope and others, after the following manner: "Who _touch'd_ Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire." Say, "Who _touchedst_ or _didst touch_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 180. "For thee that ever _felt_ another's wo." Say, "_Didst feel_."--_Ib._ "Who _knew_ no wish but what the world might hear." Say, "Who _knewest_ or _didst know_."--_Ib._ "Who all my sense _confin'd_." Say, "_Confinedst_ or _didst confine_."--_Ib._, p. 186. "Yet _gave_ me in this dark estate." Say, "_Gavedst_ or _didst give_."--_Ib._ "_Left_ free the human will."--_Pope_. Murray's criticism extends not to this line, but by the analogy we must say, "_Leavedst_ or _leftest_." Now it would be easier to fill a volume with such quotations, and such corrections, than to find sufficient authority to prove one such word as _gavedst, leavedst_, or _leftest_, to be really good English. If Lord Byron is authority for "_work'dst_," he is authority also for dropping the _st_, even where it might be added:-- ----"Thou, who with thy frown _Annihilated_ senates." --_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_, Canto iv, st. 83. OBS. 19.--According to Dr. Lowth, as well as Coar and some others, those preterits in which _ed_ is sounded like _t_, "admit the change of _ed_ into _t_; as, _snacht, checkt, snapt, mixt_, dropping also one of the double letters, _dwelt, past_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 46. If this principle were generally adopted, the number of our regular verbs would be greatly diminished, and irregularities would be indefinitely increased. What confusion the practice must make in the language, especially when we come to inflect this part of the verb with _st_ or _est_, has already been suggested. Yet an ingenious and learned writer, an able contributor to the Philological Museum, published at Cambridge, England, in 1832; tracing the history of this class of derivatives, and finding that after the _ed_ was contracted in pronunciation, several eminent writers, as Spenser, Milton, and others, adopted in most instances a contracted form of orthography; has seriously endeavoured to bring us back to their practice. From these authors, he cites an abundance of such contractions as the following: 1. "Stowd, hewd, subdewd, joyd, cald, expeld, compeld, spoild, kild, seemd, benumbd, armd, redeemd, staind, shund, paynd, stird, appeard, perceivd, resolvd, obeyd, equald, foyld, hurld, ruind, joynd, scatterd, witherd," and others ending in _d_. 2. "Clapt, whipt, worshipt, lopt, stopt, stampt, pickt, knockt, linkt, puft, stuft, hist, kist, abasht, brusht, astonisht, vanquisht, confest, talkt, twicht," and many others ending in _t_. This scheme divides our regular verbs into three classes; leaving but very few of them to be written as they now are. It proceeds upon the principle of accommodating our orthography to the familiar, rather than to the solemn pronunciation of the language. "This," as Dr. Johnson observes, "is to measure by a shadow." It is, whatever show of learning or authority may support it, a pernicious innovation. The critic says, "I have not ventured to follow the example of Spenser and Milton throughout, but have merely attempted to revive the old form of the preterit in _t_."--_Phil. Museum_, Vol. i, p. 663. "We ought not however to stop here," he thinks; and suggests that it would be no small improvement, "to write _leveld_ for _levelled, enameld_ for _enamelled, reformd_ for _reformed_," &c. OBS. 20.--If the multiplication of irregular preterits, as above described, is a grammatical error of great magnitude; the forcing of our old and well-known irregular verbs into regular forms that are seldom if ever used, is an opposite error nearly as great. And, in either case, there is the same embarrassment respecting the formation of the second person. Thus _Cobbett_, in his English Grammar in a Series of Letters, has dogmatically given us a list of _seventy_ verbs, which, he says, are, "by some persons, _erroneously deemed irregular_;" and has included in it the words, _blow, build, cast, cling, creep, freeze, draw, throw_, and the like, to the number of _sixty_; so that he is really right in no more than one seventh part of his catalogue. And, what is more strange, for several of the irregularities which he censures, his own authority may be quoted from the early editions of this very book: as, "For you could have _thrown_ about seeds."--Edition of 1818, p. 13. "For you could have _throwed_ about seeds."--Edition of 1832, p. 13. "A tree is _blown_ down."--Ed. of 1818, p. 27. "A tree is _blowed_ down."--Ed. of 1832, p. 25. "It _froze_ hard last night. Now, what was it that _froze_ so hard?"--Ed. of 1818, p. 38. "It _freezed_ hard last night. Now, what was it that _freezed_ so hard?"--Ed. of 1832, p. 35. A whole page of such contradictions may be quoted from this one grammarian, showing that _he did not know_ what form of the preterit he ought to prefer. From such an instructor, who can find out what is good English, and what is not? Respecting the inflections of the verb, this author says, "There are three persons; _but, our verbs have no variation in their spelling, except for the third person singular_."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 88. Again: "Observe, however, that, in our language, there is no very great use in this distinction of modes; because, for the most part, our little _signs_ do the business, and _they never vary in the letters of which they are composed_."--_Ib._, 95. One would suppose, from these remarks, that Cobbett meant to dismiss the pronoun _thou_ entirely from his conjugations. Not so at all. In direct contradiction to himself, he proceeds to inflect the verb as follows: "I work, _Thou workest_, He works; &c. I worked, _Thou workedst_, He worked; &c. I shall or will work, _Thou shalt or wilt work_, He shall or will work;" &c.--_Ib._, 98. All the _compound_ tenses, except the future, he rejects, as things which "can only serve to fill up a book." OBS. 21.--It is a common but erroneous opinion of our grammarians, that the unsyllabic suffix _st_, wherever found, is a modern contraction of the syllable _est_. No writer, however, thinks it always necessary to remind his readers of this, by inserting the sign of contraction; though English books are not a little disfigured by questionable apostrophes inserted for no other reason. Dr. Lowth says, "The nature of our language, the accent and pronunciation of it, inclines [incline] us to contract even all our regular verbs: thus _loved, turned_, are commonly pronounced in one syllable _lov'd, turn'd_: and the second person, which was originally in three syllables, _lovedest, turnedest_, is [say _has_] now become a dissyllable, _lovedst, turnedst_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 45; _Hiley's_, 45; _Churchill's_, 104. See also _Priestley's Gram._, p. 114; and _Coar's_, p. 102. This latter doctrine, with all its vouchers, still needs confirmation. What is it but an idle conjecture? If it were _true_, a few quotations might easily prove it; but when, and by whom, have any such words as _lovedest, turnedest_, ever been used? For aught I see, the simple _st_ is as complete and as old a termination for the second person singular of an English verb, as _est_; indeed, it appears to be _older_: and, for the preterit, it is, and (I believe) _always has been_, the _most_ regular, if not the _only_ regular, addition. If _sufferedest, woundedest_, and _killedest_, are words more regular than _sufferedst, woundedst, killedst_, then are _heardest, knewest, slewest, sawest, rannest, metest, swammest_, and the like, more regular than _heardst, knewst, slewst, sawst, ranst, metst, swamst, satst, saidst, ledst, fledst, toldst_, and so forth; but not otherwise.[246] So, in the solemn style, we write _seemest, deemest, swimmest_, like _seemeth, deemeth, swimmeth_, and so forth; but, when we use the form which has no increase of syllables, why is an apostrophe more necessary in the second person, than in the third?--in _seemst, deemst, swimst_, than in _seems, deems, swims_? When final _e_ is dropped from the verb, the case is different; as, "Thou _cutst_ my head off with a golden axe, And _smil'st_ upon the stroke that murders me."--_Shakspeare_. OBS. 22.--Dr. Lowth supposes the verbal termination _s_ or _es_ to have come from a contraction of _eth_. He says, "Sometimes, by the rapidity of our pronunciation, the vowels are shortened or lost; and the consonants, which are thrown together, do not coalesce with one another, and are therefore changed into others of the same organ, or of a kindred species. This occasions a farther deviation from _the regular form_: thus, _loveth, turneth_, are contracted into _lov'th, turn'th_, and these, for easier pronunciation, _immediately_ become _loves, turns_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 46; _Hiley's_, 45. This etymology may possibly be just, but certainly such contractions as are here spoken of, were not very common in Lowth's age, or even in that of Ben Jonson, who resisted the _s_. Nor is the sound of sharp _th_ very obviously akin to flat _s_. The change would have been less violent, if _lov'st_ and _turnst_ had become _loves_ and _turns_; as some people nowadays are apt to change them, though doubtless this is a grammatical error: as, "And wheresoe'er thou _casts_ thy view." --_Cowley_. "Nor thou that _flings_ me floundering from thy back." --_Bat. of Frogs and Mice_, 1,123. "Thou _sitt'st_ on high, and _measures_ destinies." --_Pollok, Course of Time_, B. vi, 1, 668. OBS. 23.--Possibly, those personal terminations of the verb which do not form syllables, are mere contractions or relics of _est_ and _eth_, which are syllables; but it is perhaps not quite so easy to prove them so, as some authors imagine. In the oldest specimens given by Dr. Johnson in his History of the English Language,--specimens bearing a much earlier date than the English language can claim,--even in what he calls "Saxon in its highest state of purity," both _st_ and _th_ are often added to verbs, without forming additional syllables, and without any sign of contraction. Nor were verbs of the second person singular always inflected of old, in those parts to which _est_ was afterwards very commonly added. Examples: "Buton ic wat thaet thu _hoefst_ thara waepna."--_King Alfred_. "But I know that thou _hast_ those weapons." "Thaet thu _oncnawe_ thara worda sothfaestnesse. of tham the thu _geloered eart_."--_Lucae_, i, 4. "That thou _mightest know_ the certainty of those things wherein thou _hast been instructed_."--_Luke_, i, 4. "And thu _nemst_ his naman Johannes."--_Lucae_, i, 13. "And his name _schal be clepid_ Jon."--_Wickliffe's Version_. "And thou _shalt call_ his name John."--_Luke_, i, 13. "And he ne _drincth_ win ne beor."--_Lucae_, i, 15. "He _schal_ not _drinke_ wyn ne sydyr."--_Wickliffe_. "And _shall drink_ neither wine nor strong drink."--_Luke_, i, 15. "And nu thu _bist_ suwigende. and thu _sprecan_ ne _miht_ oth thone daeg the thas thing _gewurthath_. fortham thu minum wordum ne _gelyfdest_. tha _beoth_ on hyra timan _gefyllede_."--_Lucae_, i, 20. "And lo, thou _schalt_ be doumbe, and thou _schalt_ not mowe _speke_, til into the day in which these thingis _schulen be don_, for thou _hast_ not _beleved_ to my wordis, whiche _schulen be fulfild_ in her tyme."--_Wickliffe_. "And, behold, thou _shalt_ be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day _that_[247] these things _shall be performed_, because thou _believest_ not my words, which _shall be fulfilled_ in their season."--_Luke_, i, 20. "In chaungyng of her course, the chaunge _shewth_ this, Vp _startth_ a knaue, and downe there _falth_ a knight." --_Sir Thomas More_. OBS. 24.--The corollary towards which the foregoing observations are directed, is this. As most of the peculiar terminations by which the second person singular is properly distinguished in the solemn style, are not only difficult of utterance, but are quaint and formal in conversation; the preterits and auxiliaries of our verbs are seldom varied in familiar discourse, and the present is generally simplified by contraction, or by the adding of _st_ without increase of syllables. A distinction between the solemn and the familiar style has long been admitted, in the pronunciation of the termination _ed_, and in the ending of the verb in the third person singular; and it is evidently according to good taste and the best usage, to admit such a distinction in the second person singular. In the familiar use of the second person singular, the verb is usually varied only in the present tense of the indicative mood, and in the auxiliary _hast_ of the perfect. This method of varying the verb renders the second person singular analogous to the third, and accords with the practice of the most intelligent of those who retain the common use of this distinctive and consistent mode of address. It disencumbers their familiar dialect of a multitude of harsh and useless terminations, which serve only, when uttered, to give an uncouth prominency to words not often emphatic; and, without impairing the strength or perspicuity of the language, increases its harmony, and reduces the form of the verb in the second person singular nearly to the same simplicity as in the other persons and numbers. It may serve also, in some instances, to justify the poets, in those abbreviations for which they have been so unreasonably censured by Lowth, Murray, and some other grammarians: as, "And thou their natures _knowst_, and _gave_ them names, Needless to thee repeated."--_Milton_, P. L., Book vii, line 494. OBS. 25.--The writings of the Friends, being mostly of a grave cast, afford but few examples of their customary manner of forming the verb in connexion with the pronoun _thou_, in familiar discourse. The following may serve to illustrate it: "Suitable to the office thou _layst_ claim to."--R. BARCLAY'S _Works_, Vol. i, p. 27. "Notwithstanding thou _may have_ sentiments opposite to mine."--THOMAS STORY. "To devote all thou _had_ to his service;"--"If thou _should come_;"--"What thou _said_;"--"Thou kindly _contributed_;"--"The epistle which thou _sent_ me;"--"Thou _would_ perhaps _allow_;"--"If thou _submitted_;"--"Since thou _left_;"--"_Should_ thou _act_;"--"Thou _may be_ ready;"--"That thou _had met_;"--"That thou _had intimated_;"--"Before thou _puts_" [putst];--"What thou _meets_" [meetst];--"If thou _had made_;"--"I observed thou _was_;"--"That thou _might put_ thy trust;"--"Thou _had been_ at my house."--JOHN KENDALL. "Thou _may be plundered_;"--"That thou _may feel_;"--"Though thou _waited_ long, and _sought_ him;"--"I hope thou _will bear_ my style;"--"Thou also _knows_" [knowst];--"Thou _grew_ up;"--"I wish thou _would_ yet _take_ my counsel."--STEPHEN CRISP. "Thou _manifested_ thy tender regard, _stretched_ forth thy delivering hand, and _fed_ and _sustained_ us."--SAMUEL FOTHERGILL. The writer has met with thousands that used the second person singular in conversation, but never with any one that employed, on ordinary occasions, all the regular endings of the solemn style. The simplification of the second person singular, which, to a greater or less extent, is everywhere adopted by the Friends, and which is here defined and explained, removes from each verb eighteen of these peculiar terminations; and, (if the number of English verbs be, as stated by several grammarians, 8000,) disburdens their familiar dialect of 144,000 of these awkward and useless appendages.[248] This simplification is supported by usage as extensive as the familiar use of the pronoun _thou_; and is also in accordance with the canons of criticism: "The _first_ canon on this subject is, All words and phrases which are remarkably harsh and unharmonious, and not absolutely necessary, should be rejected." See _Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, B. ii, Ch. ii, Sec. 2, Canon Sixth, p. 181. See also, in the same work, (B. hi, Ch. iv, Sec. 2d,) an _express defence_ of "those elisions whereby the sound is improved;" especially of the suppression of the "feeble vowel in the last syllable of the preterits of our regular verbs;" and of "such abbreviations" as "the eagerness of conveying one's sentiments, the rapidity and ease of utterance, necessarily produce, in the dialect of conversation."--Pages 426 and 427. Lord Kames says, "That the English tongue, originally harsh, is at present much softened by dropping many _redundant consonants_, is undoubtedly true; that it is not capable of being further mellowed without suffering in its force and energy, will scarce be thought by any one who possesses an ear."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 12. OBS. 26.--The following examples are from a letter of an African Prince, translated by Dr. Desaguillier of Cambridge, England, in 1743, and published in a London newspaper: "I lie there too upon the bed _thou presented_ me;"--"After _thou_ left me, in thy swimming house;"--"Those good things _thou presented_ me;"--"When _thou spake_ to the Great Spirit and his Son." If it is desirable that our language should retain this power of a simple literal version of what in others may be familiarly expressed by the second person singular, it is clear that our grammarians must not continue to dogmatize according to the letter of some authors hitherto popular. But not every popular grammar condemns such phraseology as the foregoing. "I improved, Thou _improvedst_, &c. This termination of the second person preterit, on account of its harshness, _is seldom used_, and especially in the irregular verbs."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 26. "The termination _est_, annexed to the preter tenses of verbs, is, at best, a very harsh one, when it is contracted, according to our general custom of throwing out the _e_; as _learnedst_, for _learnedest_; and especially, if it be again contracted into one syllable, _as it is commonly pronounced_, and made _learndst._ * * * I believe a writer or speaker would have recourse to any periphrasis rather than say _keptest_, or _keptst_. * * * Indeed this harsh termination _est_ is _generally quite dropped in common conversation_, and sometimes by the poets, in writing."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 115. The fact is, it never was added with much uniformity. Examples: "But like the hell hounde _thou waxed_ fall furious, expressing thy malice when _thou_ to honour _stied_."--FABIAN'S CHRONICLE, V. ii, p. 522: in _Tooke's Divers._, T. ii, p. 232. "Thou from the arctic regions came. Perhaps Thou noticed on thy way a little orb, Attended by one moon--her lamp by night." --_Pollok_, B. ii, l. 5. "'So I believ'd.'--No, Abel! to thy grief, So thou _relinquish'd_ all that was belief." --_Crabbe, Borough_, p. 279. OBS. 27.--L. Murray, and his numerous copyists, Ingersoll, Greenleaf, Kirkham, Fisk, Flint, Comly, Alger, and the rest; though they insist on it, that the _st_ of the second person can never be dispensed with, except in the imperative mood and some parts of the subjunctive; are not altogether insensible of that monstrous harshness which their doctrine imposes upon the language. Some of them tell us to avoid this by preferring the auxiliaries _dost_ and _didst_: as _dost burst_, for _burstest; didst check_, for _checkedst._ This recommendation proceeds on the supposition that _dost_ and _didst_ are smoother syllables than _est_ and _edst_; which is not true: _didst learn_ is harsher than either _learnedst_ or _learntest_; and all three of them are intolerable in common discourse. Nor is the "_energy_, or _positiveness_," which grammarians ascribe to these auxiliaries, always appropriate. Except in a question, _dost_ and _didst_, like _do, does_, and _did_, are usually signs of _emphasis_; and therefore unfit to be substituted for the _st, est_, or _edst_, of an unemphatic verb. Kirkham, who, as we have seen, graces his Elocution with such unutterable things, as "_prob'dst, hurl'dst, arm'dst, want'dst, burn'dst, bark'dst, bubbl'dst, troubbl'dst_," attributes the use of the plural for the singular, to a design of avoiding the raggedness of the latter. "In order to avoid the disagreeable harshness of sound, occasioned by the frequent recurrence of the termination _est, edst_, in the adaptation of our verbs to the nominative _thou_, a _modern innovation_ which substitutes _you_ for _thou_, in familiar style, has generally been adopted. This innovation contributes greatly to the harmony of our colloquial style. _You_ was formerly restricted to the plural number; but now it is employed to represent either a singular or a plural noun."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 99. A modern innovation, forsooth! Does not every body know it was current four hundred years ago, or more? Certainly, both _ye_ and _you_ were applied in this manner, to the great, as early as the fourteenth century. Chaucer sometimes used them so, and he died in 1400. Sir T. More uses them so, in a piece dated 1503. "O dere cosyn, Dan Johan, she sayde, What eyleth _you_ so rathe to aryse?"--_Chaucer_. Shakspeare most commonly uses _thou_, but he sometimes has _you_ in stead of it. Thus, he makes Portia say to Brutus: "_You_ suddenly arose, and walk'd about, Musing, and sighing, with _your_ arms across; And when I ask'd _you_ what the matter was, _You_ star'd upon me with ungentle looks."--_J. Caesar_, Act ii, Sc. 2. OBS. 28.--"There is a natural tendency in all languages to throw out the rugged parts which improper consonants produce, and to preserve those which are melodious and agreeable to the ear."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 29. "The English tongue, so remarkable for its grammatical simplicity, is loaded with a great variety of dull unmeaning terminations. Mr. Sheridan attributes this defect, to an utter inattention to what is easy to the organs of speech and agreeable to the ear; and further adds, that, 'the French having been adopted as the language of the court, no notice was taken, of the spelling or pronunciation of our words, until the reign of queen Anne.' So little was spelling attended to in the time of Elizabeth, that Dr. Johnson informs us, that on referring to Shakspeare's will, to determine how his name was spelt, he was found to have written it himself [in] no _less_ [fewer] than three different ways."--_Ib._, p. 477. In old books, our participial or verbal termination _ed_, is found written in about a dozen different ways; as, _ed, de, d, t, id, it, yd, yt, ede, od, ud_. For _est_ and _eth_, we find sometimes the consonants only; sometimes, _ist_ or _yst, ith_ or _yth_; sometimes, for the latter, _oth_ or _ath_; and sometimes the ending was omitted altogether. In early times also the _th_ was an ending for verbs of the third person plural, as well as for those of the third person singular;[249] and, in the imperative mood, it was applied to the second person, both singular and plural: as, "_Demith_ thyself, that demist other's dede; And trouthe the shall deliver, it's no drede."--_Chaucer_. OBS. 29.--It must be obvious to every one who has much acquaintance with the history of our language, that this part of its grammar has always been quite as unsettled as it is now; and, however we may wish to establish its principles, it is idle to teach for absolute certainty that which every man's knowledge may confute. Let those who desire to see our forms of conjugation as sure as those of other tongues, study to exemplify in their own practice what tends to uniformity. The best that can be done by the author of a grammar, is, to exhibit usage, as it has been, and as it is; pointing out to the learner what is most fashionable, as well as what is most orderly and agreeable. If by these means the usage of writers and speakers cannot be fixed to what is fittest for their occasions, and therefore most grammatical, there is in grammar no remedy for their inaccuracies; as there is none for the blunders of dull opinionists, none for the absurdities of Ignorance stalled in the seats of Learning. Some grammarians say, that, whenever the preterit of an irregular verb is like the present, it should take _edst_ for the second person singular. This rule, (which is adopted by Walker, in his Principles, No. 372,) gives us such words as _cast-edst, cost-edst, bid-dedst, burst-edst, cut-tedst, hit-tedst, let-tedst, put-tedst, hurt-edst, rid-dedst, shed-dedst_, &c. But the rule is groundless. The few examples which may be adduced from ancient writings, in support of this principle, are undoubtedly formed in the usual manner from regular preterits now obsolete; and if this were not the case, no person of taste could think of employing, on any occasion, derivatives so uncouth. Dr. Johnson has justly remarked, that "the chief defect of our language, is ruggedness and asperity." And this defect, as some of the foregoing remarks have shown, is peculiarly obvious, when even the regular termination of the second person singular is added to our preterits. Accordingly, we find numerous instances among the poets, both ancient and modern, in which that termination is omitted. See Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, everywhere. "Thou, who of old the prophet's eye _unsealed_."--_Pollok_. "Thou _saw_ the fields laid bare and waste."--_Burns_.[250] OBS. 30.--With the familiar form of the second person singular, those who constantly put _you_ for _thou_ can have no concern; and many may think it unworthy of notice, because Murray has said nothing about it: others will hastily pronounce it bad English, because they have learned at school some scheme of the verb, which implies that this must needs be wrong. It is this partial learning which makes so much explanation here necessary. The formation of this part of speech, form it as you will, is _central to grammar_, and cannot but be very important. Our language can never entirely drop the pronoun _thou_, and its derivatives, _thy, thine, thee, thyself_, without great injury, especially to its poetry. Nor can the distinct syllabic utterance of the termination _ed_ be now generally practised, except in solemn prose. It is therefore better, not to insist on those old verbal forms against which there are so many objections, than to exclude the pronoun of the second person singular from all such usage, whether familiar or poetical, as will not admit them. It is true that on most occasions _you_ may be substituted for _thou_, without much inconvenience; and so may _we_ be substituted for _I_, with just as much propriety; though Dr. Perley thinks the latter usage "is not to be encouraged."--_Gram._, p. 28. Our authors and editors, like kings and emperors, are making _we_ for _I_ their most common mode of expression. They renounce their individuality to avoid egotism. And when all men shall have adopted this enallage, the fault indeed will be banished, or metamorphosed, but with it will go an other sixth part of every English conjugation. The pronouns in the following couplet are put for the first person singular, the second person singular, and the second person plural; yet nobody will understand them so, but by their antecedents: "Right trusty, and so forth--_we_ let _you_ to know _We_ are very ill used by _you mortals_ below."--_Swift._ OBS. 31.--It is remarkable that some, who forbear to use the plural for the singular in the second person, adopt it without scruple, in the first. The figure is the same in both; and in both, sufficiently common. Neither practice is worthy to be made more general than it now is. If _thou_ should not be totally sacrificed to what was once a vain compliment, neither should _I_, to what is now an occasional, and perhaps a vain assumption. Lindley Murray, who does not appear to have used _you_ for _thou_, and who was sometimes singularly careful to periphrase [sic--KTH] and avoid the latter, nowhere in his grammar speaks of himself in the first person singular. He is often "the _Compiler_;" rarely, "the _Author_;" generally, "We:" as, "_We_ have distributed these parts of grammar, in the mode which _we_ think most correct and intelligible."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 58. "_We_ shall not pursue this subject any further."--_Ib._, p. 62. "_We_ shall close these remarks on the tenses."--_Ib._, p. 76. "_We_ presume no solid objection can be made."--_Ib._, p. 78. "The observations which _we_ have made."--_Ib._, p. 100. "_We_ shall produce a remarkable example of this beauty from Milton."--_Ib._, p. 331. "_We_ have now given sufficient openings into this subject."--_Ib._, p. 334. This usage has authority enough; for it was not uncommon even among the old Latin grammarians; but he must be a slender scholar, who thinks the pronoun _we_ thereby becomes _singular._ What advantage or fitness there is in thus putting _we_ for _I_, the reader may judge. Dr. Blair did not hesitate to use _I_, as often as ho had occasion; neither did Lowth, or Johnson, or Walker, or Webster: as, "_I_ shall produce a remarkable example of this beauty from Milton."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 129. "_I_ have now given sufficient openings into this subject."--_Ib._, p. 131. So in Lowth's Preface: "_I_ believe,"--"_I_ am persuaded,"--"_I_ am sure,"--"_I_ think,"--"_I_ am afraid,"--"_I_ will not take upon _me_ to say." OBS. 32.--Intending to be critical without hostility, and explicit without partiality, I write not for or against any sect, or any man; but to teach all who desire to know _the grammar_ of our tongue. The student must distinctly understand, that it is necessary to speak and write differently, according to the different circumstances or occasions of writing. Who is he that will pretend that the solemn style of the Bible may be used in familiar discourse, without a mouthing affectation? In preaching, or in praying, the ancient terminations of _est_ for the second person singular and _eth_ for the third, as well as _ed_ pronounced as a separate syllable for the preterit, are admitted to be generally in better taste than the smoother forms of the familiar style: because the latter, though now frequently heard in religious assemblies, are not so well suited to the dignity and gravity of a sermon or a prayer. In grave poetry also, especially when it treats of scriptural subjects, to which _you_ put for _thou_ is obviously unsuitable, the personal terminations of the verb, though from the earliest times to the present day they have usually been contracted and often omitted by the poets, ought still perhaps to be considered grammatically necessary, whenever they can be uttered, agreeably to the notion of our tuneless critics. The critical objection to their elision, however, can have no very firm foundation while it is admitted by some of the objectors themselves, that, "Writers _generally_ have recourse to this mode of expression, that they may avoid harsh terminations."-- _Irving's Elements of English Composition_, p. 12. But if writers of good authority, such as Pope, Byron, and Pollok, have sometimes had recourse to this method of simplifying the verb, even in compositions of a grave cast, the elision may, with tenfold stronger reason, be admitted in familiar writing or discourse, on the authority of general custom among those who choose to employ the pronoun _thou_ in conversation. "But thou, false Arcite, never _shall_ obtain," &c. --_Dryden, Fables_. "These goods _thyself can_ on thyself bestow." --_Id., in Joh. Dict._ "What I show, _thy self may_ freely on thyself bestow." --_Id., Lowth's Gram._, p. 26. "That thou _might_ Fortune to thy side engage." --_Prior_. "Of all thou ever _conquered_, none was left." --_Pollok_, B. vii, l. 760. "And touch me trembling, as thou _touched_ the man," &c. --_Id._, B. x, l. 60. OBS. 33.--Some of the Friends (perhaps from an idea that it is less formal) misemploy _thee_ for _thou_; and often join it to the third person of the verb in stead of the second. Such expressions as, _thee does, thee is, thee has, thee thinks_, &c., are double solecisms; they set all grammar at defiance. Again, many persons who are not ignorant of grammar, and who employ the pronoun aright, sometimes improperly sacrifice concord to a slight improvement in sound, and give to the verb the ending of the third person, for that of the second. Three or four instances of this, occur in the examples which have been already quoted. See also the following, and many more, in the works of the poet Burns; who says of himself, "Though it cost the schoolmaster some thrashings, I made an excellent English scholar; and, by the time I was ten or eleven years of age, I was a critic in substantives, VERBS, and particles:"--"But when thou _pours_;"--"There thou _shines_ chief;"--"Thou _clears_ the head;"--"Thou _strings_ the nerves;"--"Thou _brightens_ black despair;"--"Thou _comes_;"--"Thou _travels_ far;"--"Now _thou's turned_ out;"--"Unseen thou _lurks_;"--"O thou pale orb that silent _shines_." This mode of simplifying the verb, confounds the persons; and, as it has little advantage in sound, over the regular contracted form of the second person, it ought to be avoided. With this author it may be, perhaps, a Scotticism: as, "Thou _paints_ auld nature to the nines, In thy sweet Caledonian lines."--_Burns to Ramsay_. "Thou _paintst old_ nature," would be about as smooth poetry, and certainly much better English. This confounding of the persons of the verb, however, is no modern peculiarity. It appears to be about as old as the use of _s_ for _th_ or _eth_. Spenser, the great English poet of the sixteenth century, may be cited in proof: as, "Siker, _thou's_ but a lazy loord, And _rekes_ much of thy swinke."--_Joh. Dict., w. Loord_. OBS. 34.--In the solemn style, (except in poetry, which usually contracts these forms,) the second person singular of the present indicative, and that of the irregular preterits, commonly end in _est_, pronounced as a separate syllable, and requiring the duplication of the final consonant, according to Rule 3d for Spelling: as, I _run_, thou _runnest_; I _ran_, thou _rannest_. But as the termination _ed_, in solemn discourse, constitutes a syllable, the regular preterits form the second person singular by assuming _st_, without further increase of syllables: as, I _loved_, thou _lovedst_; not, "_lovedest_," as Chandler made it in his English Grammar, p. 41, Edition of 1821; and as Wells's rule, above cited, if literally taken, would make it. _Dost_ and _hast_, and the three irregular preterits, _wast, didst_, and _hadst_, are permanently contracted; though _doest_ and _diddest_ are sometimes seen in old books. _Saidst_ is more common, and perhaps more regular, than _saidest. Werest_ has long been contracted into _wert_: "I would thou _werest_ either cold or hot."--_W. Perkins_, 1608.[251] The auxiliaries _shall_ and _will_ change the final _l_ to _t_, and become _shalt_ and _wilt_. To the auxiliaries, _may, can, might, could, would_, and _should_, the termination _est_ was formerly added; but they are now generally written with _st_ only, and pronounced as monosyllables, even in solemn discourse. Murray, in quoting the Scriptures, very often charges _mayest_ to _mayst, mightest_ to _mightst_, &c. Some other permanent contractions are occasionally met with, in what many grammarians call the solemn style; as _bidst_ for _biddest, fledst_ for _fleddest, satst_ for _sattest_: "Riding sublime, thou _bidst_ the world adore, And humblest nature with thy northern blast." --_Thomson_. "Fly thither whence thou _fledst_." --_Milton, P. L._, B. iv, l. 963. "Unspeakable, who _sitst_ above these heavens." --_Id., ib._, B. v, l. 156. "Why _satst_ thou like an enemy in wait?" --_Id., ib._, B. iv, l. 825. OBS. 35.--The formation of the third person singular of verbs, is _now_ precisely the same as that of the plural number of nouns: as, _love, loves; show, shows; boast, boasts; fly, flies; reach, reaches_. This form began to be used about the beginning of the sixteenth century. The ending seems once to have been _es_, sounded as _s_ or _z_: as, "And thus I see among these pleasant thynges Eche care _decayes_, and yet my sorrow _sprynges_."--_Earl of Surry_. "With throte yrent, he _roares_, he _lyeth_ along."--_Sir T. Wyat_. "He _dyeth_, he is all dead, he _pantes_, he _restes_."--_Id._, 1540. In all these instances, the _e_ before the _s_ has become improper. The _es_ does not here form a syllable; neither does the _eth_, in "_lyeth_" and "_dyeth_." In very ancient times, the third person singular appears to have been formed by adding _th_ or _eth_ nearly as we now add _s_ or _es_[252] Afterwards, as in our common Bible, it was formed by adding _th_ to verbs ending in _e_, and _eth_ to all others; as, "For he that _eateth_ and _drinketh_ unworthily, _eateth_ and _drinketh_ damnation to himself."--_1 Cor._, xi, 29. "He _quickeneth_ man, who is dead in trespasses and sins; he _keepeth_ alive the quickened soul, and _leadeth_ it in the paths of life; he _scattereth, subdueth_, and _conquereth_ the enemies of the soul."--_I. Penington_. This method of inflection, as now pronounced, always adds a syllable to the verb. It is entirely confined to the solemn style, and is little used. _Doth, hath_, and _saith_, appear to be permanent contractions of verbs thus formed. In the days of Shakspeare, both terminations were common, and he often mixed them, in a way which is not very proper now: as, "The quality of mercy is not strained; It _droppeth_, as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd; It _blesseth_ him that _gives_, and him that _takes_." --_Merchant of Venice_. OBS. 36.--When the second person singular is employed in familiar discourse, with any regard to correctness, it is usually formed in a manner strictly analogous to that which is now adopted in the third person singular. When the verb ends with a sound which will unite with that of _st_ or _s_, the second person singular is formed by adding _s_ only, and the third, by adding _s_ only; and the number of syllables is not increased: as, I _read_, thou _readst_, he _reads_; I _know_, thou _knowst_, he _knows_; I _take_, thou _takest_, he _takes_; I _free_, thou _freest_, he _frees_. For, when the verb ends in mute _a_, no termination renders this _a_ vocal in the familiar style, if a synaeresis can take place. To prevent their readers from ignorantly assuming the pronunciation of the solemn style, the poets have generally marked such words with an apostrophe: as, "Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it To lie the way thou _go'st_, not whence thou _com'st_."--_Shak_. OBS. 37.--But when the verb ends in a sound which will not unite with that of _st_ or _s_, the second and third persons are formed by adding _est_ and _es_; or, if the first person end in mute _e_, the _st_ and _s_ render that _e_ vocal; so that the verb acquires an additional syllable: as, I _trace_, thou _tracest_, he _traces_; I _pass_, thou _passest_, he _passes_; I _fix_, thou _fixest_, he _fixes_; I _preach_, thou _preachest_, he _preaches_; I _blush_, thou _blushest_, he _blushes_; I _judge_, thou _judgest_, he _judges_. But verbs ending in _o_ or _y_ preceded by a consonant, do not exactly follow either of the foregoing rules. In these, _y_ is changed into _i_; and, to both _o_ and _i, est_ and _es_ are added without increase of syllables: as, I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goes_; I _undo_, thou _undoest_,[253] he _undoes_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flies_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_, he _pities_. Thus, in the following lines, _goest_ must be pronounced like _ghost_; otherwise, we spoil the measure of the verse: "Thou _goest_ not now with battle, and the voice Of war, as once against the rebel hosts; Thou _goest_ a Judge, and _findst_ the guilty bound; Thou _goest_ to prove, condemn, acquit, reward."--_Pollok_, B. x. In solemn prose, however, the termination is here made a separate syllable: as, I _go_, thou _goest_, he _goeth_; I _undo_, thou _undoest_, he _undoeth_; I _fly_, thou _fliest_, he _flieth_; I _pity_, thou _pitiest_, he _pitieth_. OBS. 38.--The auxiliaries _do, dost, does_,--(pronounced _doo, dust, duz_; and not as the words _dough, dosed, doze_,--) _am, art, is,--have, hast, has_,--being also in frequent use as principal verbs of the present tense, retain their peculiar forms, with distinction of person and number, when they help to form the compound tenses of other verbs. The other auxiliaries are not varied, or ought not to be varied, except in the solemn style. Example of the familiar use: "That thou _may_ be found truly owning it."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 234. OBS. 39.--The only regular terminations that are added to English verbs, are _ing, d_ or _e, st_ or _est, s_ or _es, th_ or _eth_[254] _Ing_, and _th_ or _eth_, always add a syllable to the verb; except in _doth, hath, saith_.[255] The rest, whenever their sound will unite with that of the final syllable of the verb, are usually added without increasing the number of syllables; otherwise, they are separately pronounced. In solemn discourse, however, _ed_ and _est_ are by most speakers uttered distinctly in all cases; except sometimes when a vowel precedes: as in _sanctified, glorified_, which are pronounced as three syllables only. Yet, in spite of this analogy, many readers will have _sanctifiest_ and _glorifiest_ to be words of four syllables. If this pronunciation is proper, it is only so in solemn prose. The prosody of verse will show how many syllables the poets make: as, "Thou _diedst_, a most rare boy, of melancholy!" --_Shak., Cymb._, Act iv, sc. 2. "Had not a voice thus warn'd me: What thou _seest_, What there thou _seest_, fair creature, is thyself." --_Milton_, B. iv, l. 467. "By those thou _wooedst_ from death to endless life." --_Pollok_, B. ix, l. 7. "Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God; That thou _continuest_ such, owe to thyself" --_Milton_, B. v, l. 520. OBS. 40.--If the grave and full form of the second person singular must needs be supposed to end rather with the syllable _est_ than with _st_ only, it is certain that this form may be _contracted_, whenever the verb ends in a sound which will unite with that of _st_. The poets generally employ the briefer or contracted forms; but they seem not to have adopted a uniform and consistent method of writing them. Some usually insert the apostrophe, and, after a single vowel, double the final consonant before _st_; as, _hold'st, bidd'st, said'st, ledd'st, wedd'st, trimm'st, may'st, might'st_, and so forth: others, in numerous instances, add _st_ only, and form permanent contractions; as, _holdst, bidst, saidst, ledst, wedst, trimst, mayst, mightst_, and so forth. Some retain the vowel _e_, in the termination of certain words, and suppress a preceding one; as, _quick'nest, happ'nest, scatt'rest, rend'rest, rend'redst, slumb'rest, slumb'redst_: others contract the termination of such words, and insert the apostrophe; as, _quicken'st, happen'st, scatter'st, render'st, render'dst, slumber'st, slumber'dst_. The nature and idiom of our language, "the accent and pronunciation of it," incline us to abbreviate or "contract even all our regular verbs;" so as to avoid, if possible, an increase of syllables in the inflection of them. Accordingly, several terminations which formerly constituted distinct syllables, have been either wholly dropped, or blended with the final syllables of the verbs to which they are added. Thus the plural termination _en_ has become entirely obsolete; _th_ or _eth_ is no longer in common use; _ed_ is contracted in pronunciation; the ancient _ys_ or _is_, of the third person singular, is changed to _s_ or _es_, and is usually added without increase of syllables; and _st_ or _est_ has, in part, adopted the analogy. So that the proper mode of forming these contractions of the second person singular, seems to be, to add _st_ only; and to insert no apostrophe, unless a vowel is suppressed from the verb to which this termination is added: as, _thinkst, sayst, bidst, sitst, satst, lov'st, lov'dst, slumberst, slumber'dst_. "And know, for that thou _slumberst_ on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar."--_Cotton_. OBS. 41.--Ho man deserves more praise for his attention to English pronunciation, than John Walker. His Pronouncing Dictionary was, for a long period, the best standard of orthoepy, that our schools possessed. But he seems to me to have missed a figure, in preferring such words as _quick'nest, strength'nest_, to the smoother and more regular forms, _quickenst, strengthenst_. It is true that these are rough words, in any form you can give them; but let us remember, that needless apostrophes are as rough to the eye, as needless _st_'s to the ear. Our common grammarians are disposed to encumber the language with as many of both as they can find any excuse for, and vastly more than can be sustained by any good argument. In words that are well understood to be contracted in pronunciation, the apostrophe is now less frequently used than it was formerly. Walker says, "This contraction of the participial _ed_, and the verbal _en_, is so fixed an idiom of our pronunciation, that to alter it, would be to alter the sound of the whole language. It must, however, be regretted that it subjects our tongue to some of the most hissing, snapping, clashing, grinding sounds that ever grated the ears of a Vandal; thus, _rasped, scratched, wrenched, bridled, fangled, birchen, hardened, strengthened, quickened_, &c. almost frighten us when written as they are actually pronounced, as _rapt, scratcht, wrencht, bridl'd, fangl'd, birch'n, strength'n'd, quick'n'd_, &c.; they become still more formidable when used contractedly in the solemn style, which never ought to be the case; for here instead of _thou strength'n'st_ or _strength'n'd'st, thou quick'n'st_ or _quick'n'd'st_, we ought to pronounce _thou strength'nest_ or _strength'nedst, thou quick'nest_ or _quick'nedst_, which are sufficiently harsh of all conscience."--_Principles_, No. 359. Here are too many apostrophes; for it does not appear that such words as _strengthenedest_ and _quickenedest_ ever existed, except in the imagination of certain grammarians. In solemn prose one may write, _thou quickenest, thou strengthenest_, or _thou quickenedst, thou strengthenedst_; but, in the familiar style, or in poetry, it is better to write, _thou quickenst, thou strengthenst, thou quickened, thou strengthened_. This is language which it is possible to utter; and it is foolish to strangle ourselves with strings of rough consonants, merely because they are insisted on by some superficial grammarians. Is it not strange, is it not incredible, that the same hand should have written the two following lines, in the same sentence? Surely, the printer has been at fault. "With noiseless foot, thou _walkedst_ the vales of earth"-- "Most honourable thou _appeared_, and most To be desired."--_Pollok's Course of Time_, B. ix, l. 18, and l. 24. OBS. 42.--It was once a very common practice, to retain the final _y_, in contractions of the preterit or of the second person of most verbs that end in _y_, and to add the consonant terminations _d, st_, and _dst_, with an apostrophe before each; as, _try'd_ for _tried, reply'd_ for _replied, try'st_ for _triest, try'dst_ for _triedst_. Thus Milton:-- "Thou following _cry'dst_ aloud, Return, fair Eve; Whom _fly'st_ thou? whom thou _fly'st_, of him thou art." --_P. L._, B. iv, l. 481. This usage, though it may have been of some advantage as an index to the pronunciation of the words, is a palpable departure from the common rule for spelling such derivatives. That rule is, "The final _y_ of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is changed into _i_ before an additional termination." The works of the British poets, except those of the present century, abound with contractions like the foregoing; but late authors, or their printers, have returned to the rule; and the former practice is wearing out and becoming obsolete. Of regular verbs that end in _ay, ey_, or _oy_, we have more than half a hundred; all of which usually retain the _y_ in their derivatives, agreeably to an other of the rules for spelling. The preterits of these we form by adding _ed_ without increase of syllables; as, _display, displayed; survey, surveyed; enjoy, enjoyed_. These also, in both tenses, may take _st_ without increase of syllables; as, _display'st, display'dst_; _survey'st, survey'dst; enjoy'st, enjoy'dst_. All these forms, and such as these, are still commonly considered contractions, and therefore written with the apostrophe; but if the termination _st_ is sufficient of itself to mark the second person singular, as it certainly is considered to be as regards one half of them, and as it certainly was in the Saxon tongue still more generally, then for the other half there is no need of the apostrophe, because nothing is omitted. _Est_, like _es_, is generally a syllabic termination; but _st_, like _s_, is not. As signs of the third person, the _s_ and the _es_ are always considered equivalent; and, as signs of the second person, the _st_ and the _est_ are sometimes, and ought to be always, considered so too. To all verbs that admit the sound, we add the _s_ without marking it as a contraction for _es_; and there seems to be no reason at all against adding the _st_ in like manner, whenever we choose to form the second person without adding a syllable to the verb. The foregoing observations I commend to the particular attention of all those who hope to write such English as shall do them honour--to every one who, from a spark of literary ambition, may say of himself, ---------"I twine My hopes of being remembered in my line With my land's language."--_Byron's Childe Harold_, Canto iv, st. 9. THE CONJUGATION OF VERBS. The conjugation of a verb is a regular arrangement of its moods, tenses, persons, numbers, and participles. There are four PRINCIPAL PARTS in the conjugation of every simple and complete verb; namely, the _Present_, the _Preterit_, the _Imperfect Participle_, and the _Perfect Participle_.[256] A verb which wants any of these parts, is called _defective_; such are most of the auxiliaries. An _auxiliary_ is a short verb prefixed to one of the principal parts of an other verb, to express some particular mode and time of the being, action, or passion. The auxiliaries are _do, be, have, shall, will, may, can_, and _must_, with their variations. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The _present_, or the verb in the present tense, is radically the same in all the moods, and is the part from which all the rest are formed. The present infinitive is commonly considered _the root_, or _simplest form_, of the English verb. We usually place the _preposition_ TO _before_ it; but never when with an auxiliary it forms a compound tense that is not infinitive: there are also some other exceptions, which plainly show, that the word _to_ is neither a part of the verb, as Cobbett, R. C. Smith, S. Kirkham, and Wells, say it is; nor a part of the infinitive mood, as Hart and many others will have it to be, but a distinct _preposition_. (See, in the _Syntax_ of this work, Observations on Rule 18th.) The preterit and the perfect participle are regularly formed by adding _d_ or _ed_, and the imperfect participle, by adding _ing_, to the present. OBS. 2.--The moods and tenses, in English, are formed partly by inflections, or changes made in the verb itself, and partly by the combination of the verb or its participle, with a few short verbs, called _auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. This view of the subject, though disputed by some, is sustained by such a preponderance both of authority and of reason, that I shall not trouble the reader with any refutation of those who object to it. Murray the schoolmaster observes, "In the English language, the times and modes of verbs are expressed in a perfect, easy, and beautiful manner, by the aid of a few little words called _auxiliaries_, or _helping verbs_. The possibility of a thing is expressed by _can_ or _could_; the liberty to do a thing, by _may_ or _might_; the inclination of the will, by _will_ or _would_; the necessity of a thing, by _must_ or _ought, shall_ or _should_. The preposition _to_ is never expressed after the helping verbs, except after _ought_."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 112. See nearly the same words in _Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 36; and in _the British Gram._, p. 125. OBS. 3.--These authors are wrong in calling _ought_ a helping verb, and so is Oliver B. Peirce, in calling "_ought to_," and "_ought to have_" auxiliaries; for no auxiliary ever admits the preposition _to_ after it or into it: and Murray of Holdgate is no less in fault, for calling _let_ an auxiliary; because no mere auxiliary ever governs the objective case. The sentences, "He _ought_ to _help_ you," and, "_Let_ him _help_ you," severally involve two different moods: they are equivalent to, "It _is his duty_ to _help_ you;"--"_Permit_ him _to help_ you." Hence _ought_ and _let_ are not auxiliaries, but principal verbs. OBS. 4.--Though most of the auxiliaries are defective, when compared with other verbs; yet these three, _do, be_, and _have_, being also principal verbs, are complete: but the participles of _do_ and _have_ are not used as auxiliaries; unless _having_, which helps to form the third or "compound perfect" participle, (as _having loved_,) may be considered such. The other auxiliaries have no participles. OBS. 5.--English verbs are principally conjugated by means of auxiliaries; the only tenses which can be formed by the simple verb, being the present and the imperfect; as, I _love_, I _loved_. And even here an auxiliary is usually preferred in questions and negations; as, "_Do_ you love?"--"You _do_ not _love_." "_Did_ he _love_?"--"He _did_ not _love_." "_Do_ I not yet _grieve_?"--"_Did_ she not _die_?" All the other tenses, even in their simplest form, are compounds. OBS. 6.--Dr. Johnson says, "_Do_ is sometimes used superfluously, as _I_ do _love, I_ did _love_; simply for _I love_, or _I loved_; but this is considered as a _vitious_ mode of speech."--_Gram., in 4to Dict._, p. 8. He also somewhere tells us, that these auxiliaries "are not proper before _be_ and _have_;" as, "_I do be_," for _I am_; "_I did have_," for _I had_. The latter remark is generally true, and it ought to be remembered;[257] but, in the _imperative mood, be_ and _have_ will perhaps admit the emphatic word _do_ before them, in a colloquial style: as, "Now _do be_ careful;"--"_Do have_ a little discretion." Sanborn repeatedly puts _do_ before _be_, in this mood: as, "_Do_ you _be. Do_ you _be_ guarded. _Do_ thou _be. Do_ thou _be_ guarded."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 150. "_Do_ thou _be_ watchful."--_Ib._, p. 155. In these instances, he must have forgotten that he had elsewhere said positively, that, "_Do_, as an auxiliary, _is never used_ with the verb _be_ or _am_."--_Ib._, p. 112. In the other moods, it is seldom, if ever, proper before _be_; but it is sometimes used before _have_, especially with a negative: as, "Those modes of charity which _do not have_ in view the cultivation of moral excellence, are essentially defective."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 428. "Surely, the law of God, whether natural or revealed, _does not have_ respect merely to the external conduct of men."--_Stuart's Commentary on Romans_, p. 158. "And each day of our lives _do we have_ occasion to see and lament it."--_Dr. Bartlett's Lecture on Health_, p. 5. "Verbs, in themselves considered, _do not have_ person and number."--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 21. [This notion of Smith's is absurd. Kirkham taught the same as regards "person."] In the following example, _does he_ is used for _is_,--the auxiliary _is_,--and perhaps allowably: "It is certain from scripture, that the same person _does_ in the course of life many times offend and _be_ forgiven."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 182. OBS. 7.--In the compound tenses, there is never any variation of ending for the different persons and numbers, except in the _first auxiliary_: as, "Thou _wilt have finished_ it;" not, "Thou _wilt hast finishedst_ it;" for this is nonsense. And even for the former, it is better to say, in the familiar style, "Thou _will have finished_ it;" for it is characteristic of many of the auxiliaries, that, unlike other verbs, they are not varied by _s_ or _eth_, in the third person singular, and never by _st_ or _est_, in the second person singular, except in the solemn style. Thus all the auxiliaries of the potential mood, as well as _shall_ and _will_ of the indicative, are without inflection in the third person singular, though _will_, as a principal verb, makes _wills_ or _willeth_, as well as _willest_, in the indicative present. Hence there appears a tendency in the language, to confine the inflection of its verbs to _this tense only_; and to the auxiliary _have, hast, has_, which is essentially present, though used with a participle to form the perfect. _Do, dost, does_, and _am, art, is_, whether used as auxiliaries or as principal verbs, are always of the indicative present. OBS. 8.--The word _need_,--(though, as a principal verb and transitive, it is unquestionably both regular and complete,--having all the requisite parts, _need, needed, needing, needed_,--and being necessarily inflected in the indicative present, as, I _need_, thou _needst_ or _needest_, he _needs_ or _needeth_,--) is so frequently used without inflection, when placed before an other verb to express a necessity of the being, action, or passion, that one may well question whether it has not become, under these circumstances, an _auxiliary_ of the potential mood; and therefore proper to be used, like all the other auxiliaries of this mood, without change of termination. I have not yet knowingly used it so myself, nor does it appear to have been classed with the auxiliaries, by any of our grammarians, except Webster.[258] I shall therefore not presume to say now, with positiveness, that it deserves this rank; (though I incline to think it does;) but rather quote such instances as have occurred to me in reading, and leave the student to take his choice, whether to condemn as bad English the uninflected examples, or to justify them in this manner. "He that can swim, _need_ not despair to fly."--_Johnson's Rasselas_, p. 29. "One therefore _needs_ not expect to do it."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 155. "In so doing I should only record some vain opinions of this age, which a future one _need_ not know."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 345. "That a boy _needs_ not be kept at school."--LISDSEY: _in Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 164. "No man _need_ promise, unless he please."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 312. "What better reason _needs_ be given?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 51. "He _need_ assign no other reason for his conduct."--_Wayland, ib._, p. 214. "Sow there is nothing that a man _needs_ be ashamed of in all this."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 45. "No notice _need_ be taken of the advantages."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, Vol. ii, p. 304. "Yet it _needs_ not be repeated."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 51. "He _need_ not be anxious."--_Greenleaf's Gram. Simplified_, p. 38. "He _needs_ not be afraid."--_Fisk's Gram. Simplified_, p. 124. "He who will not learn to spell, _needs_ not learn to write."--_Red Book_, p. 22. "The heeder _need_ be under no fear."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 38.[259] "More _need_ not be said about it."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 272. "The object _needs_ not be expressed."--_Booth's Introduct. to Dict._, p. 37. "Indeed, there _need_ be no such thing."--_Fosdick's De Sacy_, p. 71. "This _needs_ to be illustrated."--_Ib._, p. 81. "And no part of the sentence _need_ be omitted."--_Parkhurst's Grammar for Beginners_, p. 114. "The learner _needs_ to know what sort of words are called verbs."--_Ib._, p. 6. "No one _need_ be apprehensive of suffering by faults of this kind."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 171. "The student who has bought any of the former copies _needs_ not repent."--_Dr. Johnson, Adv. to Dict._ "He _need_ not enumerate their names."--_Edward's First Lessons in Grammar_, p. 38. "A quotation consisting of a word or two only _need_ not begin with a capital."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 383. "Their sex is commonly known, and _needs_ not to be marked."--_Ib._, p. 72; _Murray's Octavo Gram._, 51. "One _need_ only open Lord Clarendon's history, to find examples every where."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 108. "Their sex is commonly known, and _needs_ not be marked."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 21; _Murray's Duodecimo Gram._, p. 51. "Nobody _need_ be afraid he shall not have scope enough."--LOCKE: _in Sanborn's Gram._, p. 168. "No part of the science of language, _needs to be ever_ uninteresting to the pursuer."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. vii. "The exact amount of knowledge is not, and _need_ not be, great."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 44. "He _needs to_ act under a motive which is all-pervading."--_Ib._, p. 375. "What _need_ be said, will not occupy a long space."--_Ib._, p. 244. "The sign TO _needs_ not always be used."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 96. "Such as he _need_ not be ashamed of."--_Snelling's Gift for Scribblers_, p. 23. "_Needst_ thou--_need_ any one on earth--despair?"--_Ib._, p. 32. "Take timely counsel; if your dire disease Admits no cure, it _needs_ not to displease."--_Ib._, p. 14. OBS. 9.--If _need_ is to be recognized as an auxiliary of the potential mood, it must be understood to belong to two tenses; the present and the perfect; like _may, can_, and _must_: as, "He _need_ not _go_, he _need_ not _have gone_; Thou _need_ not _go, Thou need_ not _have gone_;" or, in the solemn style, "Thou _needst_ not go, Thou _needst_ not _have gone_." If, on the contrary, we will have it to be always a principal verb, the distinction of time should belong to itself, and also the distinction of person and number, in the parts which require it: as, "He _needs_ not go. He _needed_ not go; Thou _needst_ not go, Thou _needed_ not go;" or, in the solemn style, "Thou _needest_ not go, Thou _neededst_ not go." Whether it can be right to say, "He _needed_ not _have gone_," is at least questionable. From the observations of Murray, upon relative tenses, under his thirteenth rule of syntax, it seems fair to infer that he would have judged this phraseology erroneous. Again, "He _needs_ not _have gone_," appears to be yet more objectionable, though for the same reason. And if, "He _need_ not _have gone_," is a correct expression, _need_ is clearly proved to be an _auxiliary_, and the three words taken together must form the potential perfect. And so of the plural; for the argument is from the connexion of the tenses, and not merely from the tendency of auxiliaries to reject inflection: as, "They need not _have been_ under great concern about their public affairs."--_Hutchinson's History_, i, 194, From these examples, it may be seen that an auxiliary and a principal verb have some essential difference; though these who dislike the doctrine of compound tenses, pretend not to discern any. Take some further citations; a few of which are erroneous in respect to time. And observe also that the regular verb sometimes admits the preposition _to_ after it: "' There is great dignity in being waited for,' said one who had the habit of tardiness, and who _had_ not much else of which he _need_ be vain."--_Students Manual_, p. 64. "But he _needed_ not _have gone_ so far for more instances."-- _Johnson's Gram._ _Com._, p. 143. "He _need_ not _have said_, 'perhaps the virtue.'"--_Sedgwick's Economy_, p. 196. "I _needed_ not _to ask_ how she felt."--_Abbott's Young Christian_, p. 84. "It _need_ not _have been_ so."--_Ib._, p. 111. "The most unaccommodating politician _need_ not absolutely _want_ friends."--_Hunts Feast of the Poets_, p. iii. "Which therefore _needs_ not be introduced with much precaution."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 326. "When an obscurer term _needs_ to be explained by one that is clearer."--_Ib._, p. 367. "Though, if she had died younger, she _need_ not _have known it_."--_West's Letters_, p. 120. "Nothing _need_ be said, but that they were the _most perfect_ barbarisms."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 470. "He _need_ not go."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 36. "He _needed_ but use the word _body_."--LOCKE: _in Joh. Dict._ "He _need_ not be required to use them."--_Parker's Eng. Composition_, p. 50. "The last consonant of _appear_ need not be doubled."--_Dr. Webster_. "It _needs_ the less _to be inforced_."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 158. "Of these pieces of his, we _shall not need to give_ any particular account."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. vi "And therefore I _shall need say_ the less of them."--_Scougal_, p. 1101. "This compounding of words _need_ occasion no surprise."--_Cardell's Essay on Language_, p. 87. "Therefore stay, thou _needst_ not to be gone."--_Shakspeare_. "Thou _need_ na _start_ awa sae hasty."--_Burns, Poems_, p. 15. "Thou _need_ na _jouk_ behint the hallan."--_Id., ib._, p. 67. OBS. 10.--The auxiliaries, except _must_, which is invariable, have severally two forms in respect to tense, or time; and when inflected in the second and third persons singular, are usually varied in the following manner:-- TO DO. PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PRESENT. _Sing_. I do, thou dost, he does; _Plur_. We do, you do, they do. IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN of THE INDICATIVE IMPERFECT. _Sing_. I did, thou didst, he did; _Plur_. We did, you did, they did. TO BE. PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PRESENT. _Sing_. I am, thou art, he is; _Plur_. We are, you are, they are. IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE IMPERFECT. _Sing_. I was, thou wast, he was; _Plur_. We were, you were; they were. TO HAVE. PRESENT TENSE; BUT SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PERFECT. _Sing_. I have, thou hast, he has; _Plur_. We have, you have, they have. IMPERFECT TENSE; BUT SIGN OF THE INDICATIVE PLUPERFECT. _Sing_. I had, thou hadst, he had; _Plur_. We had, you had, they had. SHALL AND WILL. These auxiliaries have distinct meanings, and, as signs of the future, they are interchanged thus: PRESENT TENSE; BUT SIGNS OF THE INDICATIVE FIRST-FUTURE. 1. Simply to express a future action or event:-- _Sing_. I shall, thou wilt, he will; _Plur_. We shall, you will, they will. 2. To express a promise, command, or threat:-- _Sing_.: I will, thou shalt, he shall; _Plur_. We will, you shall, they shall. IMPERFECT TENSE; BUT, AS SIGNS, AORIST, OR INDEFINITE. 1. Used with reference to duty or expediency:-- _Sing._ I should, thou shouldst, he should; _Plur._ We should, you should, they should. 2. Used with reference to volition or desire:-- _Sing._ I would, thou wouldst, he would; _Plur._ We would, you would, they would. MAY. PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT. _Sing._ I may, thou mayst, he may; _Plur._ We may, you may, they may. IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL IMPERFECT. _Sing._ I might, thou mightst, he might; _Plur._ We might, you might, they might. CAN. PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT. _Sing._ I can, thou canst, he can; _Plur._ We can, you can, they can. IMPERFECT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL IMPERFECT. _Sing._ I could, thou couldst, he could; _Plur._ We could, you could, they could. MUST. PRESENT TENSE; AND SIGN OF THE POTENTIAL PRESENT. _Sing._ I must, thou must, he must; _Plur._ We must, you must, they must. If must is ever used in the sense of the Imperfect tense, or Preterit, the form is the same as that of the Present: this word is entirely invariable. OBS. 11.--Several of the auxiliaries are occasionally used as mere expletives, being quite unnecessary to the sense: as, 1. DO and DID: "And it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest _do_ creep forth."--_Psalms_, civ, 20. "And ye, that on the sands with printless foot _do_ chase the ebbing Neptune, and _do_ fly him when he comes back."--_Shak._ "And if a man _did_ need a poison now."--_Id._ This needless use of do and did is now avoided by good writers. 2. SHALL, SHOULD, and COULD: "'Men _shall_ deal unadvisedly sometimes, which after-hours give leisure to repent of.' I _should_ advise you to proceed. I _should_ think it would succeed. He, it _should_ seem, thinks otherwise."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 65. "I _could_ wish you to go."--_Ib._, p. 71. 3. WILL, &c. The following are nearly of the same character, but not exactly: "The isle is full of noises; sometimes a thousand twanging instruments _will_ hum about mine ears."--_Shak._ "In their evening sports she _would_ steal in amongst them."--_Barbauld_. "His listless length at noontide _would_ he stretch."--_Gray_. OBS. 12.--As our old writers often formed the infinitive in _en_, so they sometimes dropped the termination of the perfect participle. Hence we find, in the infancy of the language, _done_ used for _do_, and _do_ for _done_; and that by the same hand, with like changes in other verbs: as, "Thou canst nothing _done_."--_Chaucer_. "As he was wont to _done_."--_Id._ "The treson that to women hath be _do_."--_Id._ "For to _ben_ honourable and free."--_Id._ "I am sworn to _holden_ it secre."--_Id._ "Our nature God hath to him _unyte_."--_Douglas_. "None otherwise negligent than I you saie haue I not _bee_."--_Id._ See _W. Allen's E. Gram._, p. 97. "But netheless the thynge is _do_, That fals god was soone _go_."--GOWER: _H. Tooke_, Vol. i, p. 376. OBS. 13.--"_May_ is from the Anglo-Saxon, _maegan_, to be able. In the parent language also, it is used as an auxiliary. It is exhibited by Fortescue, as a principal verb; 'They shall _may_ do it:' i. e. they shall be able (to) do it."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 70. "_May not_, was formerly used for _must not_; as, 'Graces for which we _may not_ cease to sue.' Hooker."--_Ib._, p. 91. "_May_ frequently expresses doubt of the fact; as, 'I _may_ have the book in my library, but I think I have not.' It is used also, to express doubt, or a consequence, with a future signification; as, 'I _may_ recover the use of my limbs, but I see little probability of it.'--'That they _may_ receive me into their houses.' _Luke_, xvi, 4."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 247. In these latter instances, the potential present is akin to the subjunctive. Hence Lowth and others improperly call "I _may love_," &c. the subjunctive mood. Others, for the same reason, and with as little propriety, deny that we have any subjunctive mood; alleging an ellipsis in every thing that bears that name: as, "'If it (_may_) _be_ possible, live peaceably with all men.' Scriptures."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 61. _May_ is also a sign of wishing, and consequently occurs often in prayer: as, "_May_ it be thy good pleasure;"--"O that it _may_ please thee;"--"_Mayst_ thou be pleased." Hence the potential is akin also to the imperative: the phrases, "Thy will be done,"--"_May_ thy will be done,"--"Be thy will done,"--"_Let_ thy will be done,"--are alike in meaning, but not in mood or construction. OBS. 14.--_Can_, to be able, is etymologically the same as the regular verbs _ken_, to see, and _con_, to learn; all of them being derived from the Saxon _connan_ or _cunnan_, to know: whence also the adjective cunning, which was formerly a participle. In the following example _will_ and _can_ are principal verbs: "In evil, the best condition is, not to _will_; the second, not to _can_."--_Ld. Bacon_. "That a verb which signifies knowledge, may also signify power, appears from these examples: _Je ne saurois, I should not know how_, (i. e. _could_ not.) [Greek: Asphalisasthe hos oidate], Strengthen it as you _know how_, (i. e. as you _can_.) _Nescio_ mentiri, I _know not how to_ (i.e. _I cannot_) lie."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 71. _Shall_, Saxon _sceal_, originally signified to _owe_; for which reason _should_ literally means _ought_. In the following example from Chaucer, _shall_ is a principal verb, with its original meaning: "For, by the faith I _shall_ to God, I wene, Was neuer straungir none in hir degre."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 64. OBS. 15.--_Do_ and _did_ are auxiliary only to the present infinitive, or the radical verb; as, _do throw, did throw_: thus the mood of _do throw_ or _to throw_ is marked by _do_ or _to_. _Be_, in all its parts, is auxiliary to either of the simple participles; as, _to be throwing, to be thrown; I am throwing, I am thrown_: and so, through the whole conjugation. _Have_ and _had_, in their literal use, are auxiliary to the perfect participle only; as, _have thrown, had thrown. Have_ is from the Saxon _habban_, to possess; and, from the nature of the perfect participle, the tenses thus formed, suggest in general a completion of the action. The French idiom is similar to this: as, _J'ai vu_, I have seen. _Shall_ and _should, will_ and _would, may_ and _might, can_ and _could, must_, and also _need, (if we call the last a helping verb,) are severally auxiliary to both forms of the infinitive, and to these only: as, shall throw, shall have thrown; should throw, should have thrown_; and so of all the rest. OBS. 16.--The form of the indicative pluperfect is sometimes used in lieu of the potential pluperfect; as, "If all the world could have seen it, the wo _had been_ universal."--_Shakspeare_. That is,--"_would have been_ universal." "I _had been drowned_, but that the shore was shelvy and shallow."--_Id._ That is,--"I _should have been drowned_." This mode of expression may be referred to the figure _enallage_, in which one word or one modification is used for an other. Similar to this is the use of _were_ for _would be_: "It _were_ injustice to deny the execution of the law to any individual;" that is, "it _would_ be injustice."--_Murray's Grammar_, p. 89. In some instances, _were_ and _had been_ seem to have the same import; as, "Good _were_ it for that man if he had never been born."--_Mark_, xiv, 21. "It _had been_ good for that man if he had not been born."--_Matt._, xxvi, 24. In prose, all these licenses are needless, if not absolutely improper. In poetry, their brevity may commend them to preference; but to this style, I think, they ought to be confined: as, "That _had been_ just, replied the reverend bard; But done, fair youth, thou ne'er _hadst met_ me here."--_Pollok_. "The keystones of the arch!--though all were o'er, For us repeopled _were_ the solitary shore."--_Byron_. OBS. 17.--With an adverb of comparison or preference, as _better, rather, best, as lief_, or _as lieve_, the auxiliary _had_ seems sometimes to be used before the infinitive to form the potential imperfect or pluperfect: as, "He that loses by getting, _had better lose_ than get."--_Penn's Maxims_. "Other prepositions _had better have been substituted_."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 166. "I had as lief say."--LOWTH: _ib._, p. 110. "It compels me to think of that which I _had rather forget_."-- _Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 25. "You _had much better say_ nothing upon the subject."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 147. "I _had much rather show_ thee what hopes thou hast before thee."--_Baxter_. "I _had rather speak_ five words with my understanding, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."--_1 Cor._, xiv, 19. "I knew a gentleman in America who told me _how much rather he had be_ a woman than the man he is."--_Martineau's Society in America_, Vol. i, p. 153. "I _had as lief go_ as not."-- _Webster's Dict., w. Lief_. "I _had as lieve_ the town crier spoke my lines."--SHAK.: _Hamlet_. "We _had best leave_ nature to her own operations."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 310. "What method _had he best take_?"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. ix. These are equivalent to the phrases, _might better lose--might_ better have been substituted--_would_ as lief say--_would_ rather forget--_might_ much better say--_would_ much rather show--_would_ rather speak--how much rather he _would_ be--_would_ as lief go--_should_ best leave--_might_ he best take; and, for the sake of regularity, these latter forms ought to be preferred, as they sometimes are: thus, "For my own part, I _would rather look_ upon a tree in all its luxuriancy."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 414; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 223. The following construction is different: "Augustus _had like to_ have been slain."--_S. Butler_. Here _had_ is a principal verb of the indicative imperfect. The following examples appear to be positively erroneous: "Much that was said, _had better remained_ unsaid."--_N. Y. Observer_. Say, "_might better have remained_." "A man that is lifting a weight, if he put not sufficient strength to it, _had as good_ put none at all."--_Baxter_. Say, "_might as well put_." "You _were better pour_ off the first infusion, and use the latter."--_Bacon_. Say, "_might better pour_;" or, if you prefer it, "_had better pour._" Shakspeare has an expression which is still worse:-- "Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul, Thou _hadst been better have been born_ a dog."--_Beauties_, p. 295. OBS. 18.--The form of conjugating the active verb, is often called the _Active Voice_, and that of the passive verb, the _Passive Voice_. These terms are borrowed from the Latin and Greek grammars, and, except as serving to diversify expression, are of little or no use in English grammar. Some grammarians deny that there is any propriety in them, with respect to any language. De Sacy, after showing that the import of the verb does not always follow its form of voice, adds: "We must, therefore, carefully distinguish the Voice of a Verb from its signification. To facilitate the distinction, I denominate that an _Active_ Verb which contains an Attribute in which the action is considered as performed by the Subject; and that a _Passive_ Verb which contains an Attribute in which the action is considered as suffered by the Subject, and performed upon it by some agent. I call that voice a _Subjective_ Voice which is generally appropriated to the Active Verb, and that an _Objective_ Voice which is generally appropriated to the Passive Verb. As to the Neuter Verbs, if they possess a peculiar form, I call it a Neuter Voice."--_Fosdick's Translation_, p. 99. OBS. 19.--A recognition of the difference between actives and passives, in our original classification of verbs with respect to their signification,-- a principle of division very properly adopted in a great majority of our grammars and dictionaries, but opinionately rejected by Webster, Bolles, and sundry late grammarians,--renders it unnecessary, if not improper, to place Voices, the Active Voice and the Passive, among the _modifications_ of our verbs, or to speak of them as such in the conjugations. So must it be in respect to "a Neuter Voice," or any other distinction which the classification involves. The significant characteristic is not overlooked; the distinction is not neglected as nonessential; but it is transferred to a different category. Hence I cannot exactly approve of the following remark, which "the Rev. W. Allen" appears to cite with approbation: "'The distinction of active or passive,' says the accurate Mr. Jones, '_is not essential_ to verbs. In the infancy of language, it was, in all probability, not known. In Hebrew, the difference but imperfectly exists, and, in the early periods of it, probably did not exist at all. In Arabic, the only distinction which obtains, arises from the vowel points, a late invention compared with the antiquity of that language. And in our own tongue, the names of _active_ and _passive_ would have remained unknown, if they had not been learnt in Latin.'"--_Allen's Elements of English Gram._, p. 96. OBS. 20.--By _the conjugation_ of a verb, some teachers choose to understand nothing more than the naming of its principal parts; giving to the arrangement of its numbers and persons, through all the moods and tenses, the name of _declension._ This is a misapplication of terms, and the distinction is as needless, as it is contrary to general usage. Dr. Bullions, long silent concerning principal parts, seems now to make a singular distinction between "_conjugating_" and "_conjugation._" His _conjugations_ include the moods, tenses, and inflections of verbs; but he teaches also, with some inaccuracy, as follows: "The principal parts of the verb are the _Present indicative_, the _Past indicative_ and the _Past participle._ The mentioning of these parts is called CONJUGATING THE VERB."--_Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 1849, p. 80. OBS. 21.--English verbs having but very few inflections to indicate to what part of the scheme of moods and tenses they pertain, it is found convenient to insert in our conjugations the preposition _to_, to mark the infinitive; personal _pronouns_, to distinguish the persons and numbers; the conjunction _if_, to denote the subjunctive mood; and the adverb _not_, to show the form of negation. With these additions, or indexes, a verb may be conjugated in _four ways_:-- 1. Affirmatively; as, I write, I do write, or, I am writing; and so on. 2. Negatively; as, I write not, I do not write, or, I am not writing. 3. Interrogatively; as, Write I? Do I write? or, Am I writing? 4. Interrogatively and negatively; as, Write I not? Do I not write? or, Am I not writing? 1. SIMPLE FORM, ACTIVE OR NEUTER. The simplest form of an English conjugation, is that which makes the present and imperfect tenses without auxiliaries; but, even in these, auxiliaries are required for the potential mood, and are often preferred for the indicative. FIRST EXAMPLE. _The regular active verb LOVE, conjugated affirmatively_. PRINCIPAL PARTS. _Present. Preterit. Imperfect Participle. Perfect Participle._ Love. Loved. Loving. Loved. INFINITIVE MOOD.[260] The infinitive mood is that form of the verb, which expresses the being, action, or passion, in an unlimited manner, and without person or number. It is used only in the present and perfect tenses. PRESENT TENSE. This tense is the _root_, or _radical verb_; and is usually preceded by the preposition _to_, which shows its relation to some other word: thus, To love. PERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _have_ to the perfect participle; and, like the infinitive present, is usually preceded by the preposition _to_: thus, To have loved. INDICATIVE MOOD. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. It is used in all the tenses. PRESENT TENSE. The present indicative, in its simple form, is essentially the same as the present infinitive, or radical verb; except that the verb _be_ has _am_ in the indicative. 1. The simple form of the present tense is varied thus:-- _Singular_. _Plural_. 1st person, I love, 1st person. We love, 2d person, Thou lovest, 2d person, You love, 3d person, He loves; 3d person, They love. 2. This tense may also be formed by prefixing the auxiliary _do_ to the verb: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I do love, 1. We do love, 2. Thou dost love, 2. You do love, 3. He does love; 3. They do love. IMPERFECT TENSE. This tense, in its simple form is _the preterit_; which, in all regular verbs, adds _d_ or _ed_ to the present, but in others is formed variously. 1. The simple form of the imperfect tense is varied thus:-- _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I loved, 1. We loved, 2. Thou lovedst, 2. You loved, 3. He loved; 3. They loved. 2. This tense may also be formed by prefixing the auxiliary _did_ to the present: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I did love, 1. We did love, 2. Thou didst love, 2. You did love, 3. He did love; 3. They did love. PERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _have_ to the perfect participle: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I have loved, 1. We have loved, 2. Thou hast loved, 2. You have loved, 3. He has loved; 3. They have loved. IMPERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _had_ to the perfect participle: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I had loved, 1. We had loved, 2. Thou hadst loved, 2. You had loved, 3. He had loved; 3. They had loved. FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _shall_ or _will_ to the present: thus, 1. Simply to express a future action or event:-- _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I shall love, 1. We shall love, 2. Thou wilt love, 2. You will love, 3. He will love; 3. They will love; 2. To express a promise, volition, command, or threat:-- _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I will love, 1. We will love, 2. Thou shalt love, 2. You shall love, 3. He shall love; 3. They shall love. SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliaries _shall have_ or _will have_ to the perfect participle: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I shall have loved, 1. We shall have loved, 2. Thou wilt have loved, 2. You will have loved, 3. He will have loved; 3. They will have loved. OBS.--The auxiliary _shall_ may also be used in the second and third persons of this tense, when preceded by a conjunction expressing condition or contingency; as, "_If_ he _shall have completed_ the work by midsummer."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 80. So, with the conjunctive adverb _when_; as, "Then cometh the end, _when_ he _shall have delivered_ up the kingdom to God, even the Father; _when_ he _shall have put_ down all rule and all authority and power."--_1 Cor._, xv, 24. And perhaps _will_ may here be used in the first person to express a promise, though such usage, I think, seldom occurs. Professor Fowler has given to this tense, first, the "_Predictive_" form, as exhibited above, and then a form which he calls "_Promissive_," and in which the auxiliaries are varied thus: "Singular. 1. I _will_ have taken. 2. Thou _shalt_ have taken, you _shall_ have taken. 3. He _shall_ have taken. Plural. 1. We _will_ have taken. 2. Ye _or_ you _shall_ have taken. 3. He [say _They_,] _shall_ have taken."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo., N. Y., 1850, p. 281. But the other instances just cited show that such a form is not always promissory. POTENTIAL MOOD. The potential mood is that form of the verb, which expresses the power, liberty, possibility, or necessity of the being, action, or passion. It is used in the first four tenses; but the potential _imperfect_ is properly an _aorist_: its time is very indeterminate; as, "He _would be_ devoid of sensibility were he not greatly satisfied."--_Lord Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 11. PRESENT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _may, can_, or _must_, to the radical verb: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may love, 1. We may love, 2. Thou mayst love, 2. You may love, 3. He may love; 3. They may love. IMPERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliary _might, could, would_, or _should_, to the radical verb: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might love, 1. We might love, 2. Thou mightst love, 2. You might love, 3. He might love; 3. They might love. PERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliaries, _may have, can have_, or _must have_, to the perfect participle: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may have loved, 1. We may have loved, 2. Thou mayst have loved, 2. You may have loved, 3. He may have loved; 3. They may have loved. PLUPERFECT TENSE. This tense prefixes the auxiliaries, _might have, could have, would have_, or _should have_, to the perfect participle: thus, _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might have loved, 1. We might have loved, 2. Thou mightst have loved, 2. You might have loved, 3. He might have loved; 3. They might have loved. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. The subjunctive mood is that form of the verb, which represents the being, action, or passion, as conditional, doubtful, or contingent. This mood is generally preceded by a conjunction; as, _if, that, though, lest, unless, except_. But sometimes, especially in poetry, it is formed by a mere placing of the verb before the nominative; as, "_Were I_," for, "_If I were_;"--"_Had he_," for, "_If he had_;"--"_Fall we_" for, "_If we fall_;"--"_Knew they_," for, "_If they knew_." It does not vary its termination at all, in the different persons.[261] It is used in the present, and sometimes in the imperfect tense; rarely--and perhaps never _properly_--in any other. As this mood can be used only in a dependent clause, the _time_ implied in its tenses is always relative, and generally indefinite; as, "It shall be in eternal restless change, Self-fed, and self-consum'd: _if this fail_, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness."--_Milton, Comus_, l. 596. PRESENT TENSE. This tense is generally used to express some condition on which a future action or event is affirmed. It is therefore erroneously considered by some grammarians, as an elliptical form of the future. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I love, 1. If we love, 2. If Thou love, 2. If you love, 3. If He love; 3. If they love. OBS.--In this tense, the auxiliary _do_ is sometimes employed; as, "If thou _do prosper_ my way."--_Genesis_, xxiv, 42. "If he _do_ not _utter_ it."--_Leviticus_, v, 1. "If he _do_ but _intimate_ his desire."--_Murray's Key_, p. 207. "If he _do promise_, he will certainly perform."--_Ib._, p. 208. "An event which, if it ever _do occur_, must occur in some future period."--_Hiley's Gram._, (3d Ed., Lond.,) p. 89. "If he _do_ but _promise_, thou art safe."--_Ib._, 89. "Till old experience _do attain_ To something like prophetic strain."--MILTON: _Il Penseroso_. These examples, if they are right, prove the tense to be _present_, and not _future_, as Hiley and some others suppose it to be. IMPERFECT TENSE. This tense, like the imperfect of the potential mood, with which it is frequently connected, is properly an aorist, or indefinite tense; for it may refer to time past, present, or future: as, "If therefore perfection _were_ by the Levitical priesthood, what further need _was_ there that an other priest _should rise_?"--_Heb._, vii, 11. "They must be viewed _exactly_ in the same light, as if the intention to purchase _now existed_."--_Murray's Parsing Exercises_, p. 24. "If it _were_ possible, they _shall deceive_ the very elect."--_Matt._, xxiv, 24. "If the whole body _were_ an eye, where _were_ the hearing?"--_1 Corinthians_, xii, 17. "If the thankful _refrained_, it _would be_ pain and grief to them."--_Atterbury_. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I loved, 1. If we loved, 2. If thou loved, 2. If you loved, 3. If he loved; 3. If they loved. OBS.--In this tense, the auxiliary _did_ is sometimes employed. The subjunctive may here be distinguished from the indicative, by these circumstances; namely, that the time is indefinite, and that the supposition is always contrary to the fact: as, "Great is the number of those who might attain to true wisdom, if they _did not already think_ themselves wise."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 36. This implies that they _do think_ themselves wise; but an indicative supposition or concession--(as, "Though they _did not think_ themselves wise, they were so--") accords with the fact, and with the literal time of the tense,--here time past. The subjunctive imperfect, suggesting the idea of what is not, and known by the sense, is sometimes introduced without any of the _usual signs_; as, "In a society of perfect men, _where all understood_ what was morally right, and _were determined_ to act accordingly, it is obvious, that human laws, or even human organization to enforce God's laws, would be altogether unnecessary, and could serve no valuable purpose."--PRES. SHANNON: _Examiner_, No. 78. IMPERATIVE MOOD. The imperative mood is that form of the verb, which is used in commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting. It is commonly used only in the second person of the present tense. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular._ 2. Love [thou,] _or_ Do thou love; _Plural._ 2. Love [ye _or_ you,] _or_ Do you love. OBS.--In the Greek language, which has three numbers, the imperative mood is used in the second and third persons of them all; and has also several different tenses, some of which cannot be clearly rendered in English. In Latin, this mood has a distinct form for the third person, both singular and plural. In Italian, Spanish, and French, the first person plural is also given it. Imitations of some of these forms are occasionally employed in English, particularly by the poets. Such imitations must be referred to this mood, unless by ellipsis and transposition we make them out to be something else; and against this there are strong objections. Again, as imprecation on one's self is not impossible, the first person singular may be added; so that this mood _may possibly have_ all the persons and numbers. Examples: "_Come we_ now to his translation of the Iliad."--_Pope's Pref. to Dunciad_. "_Proceed we_ therefore in our subject."--_Ib._ "_Blessed be he_ that blesseth thee."--_Gen._, xxvii, 29. "Thy _kingdom come_."--_Matt._, vi, 10. "But _pass we_ that."--_W. Scott_. "Third person: _Be he, Be they_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 92. "My soul, _turn_ from them--_turn we_ to survey," &c.--_Goldsmith_. "Then _turn we_ to her latest tribune's name."--_Byron_. "Where'er the eye could light these words you read: 'Who _comes_ this way--_behold_, and _fear_ to sin!'"--_Pollok_. "_Fall he_ that must, beneath his rival's arms, And _live the rest_, secure of future harms."--_Pope_. "_Cursed be I_ that did so!--All the _charms_ Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, _light_ on you!"--_Shakspeare_. "_Have done_ thy charms, thou hateful wither'd hag!"--_Idem_. PARTICIPLES. 1. _The Imperfect_. 2. _The Perfect_. 3. _The Preperfect_. Loving. Loved. Having loved. SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST EXAMPLE. FIRST PERSON SINGULAR. IND. I love _or_ do love, I loved _or_ did love, I have loved. I had loved, I shall _or_ will love, I shall _or_ will have loved. POT. I may, can, _or_ must love; I might, could, would, _or_ should love; I may, can, _or_ must have loved; I might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If I love, If I loved. SECOND PERSON SINGULAR. IND. Thou lovest _or_ dost love, Thou lovedst _or_ didst love, Thou hast loved, Thou hadst loved, Thou shalt _or_ wilt love, Thou shalt _or_ wilt have loved. POT. Thou mayst, canst, _or_ must love; Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst love; Thou mayst, canst, _or_ must have loved; Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst _or_ shouldst have loved. SUBJ. If thou love, If thou loved. IMP. Love [thou,] _or_ Do thou love. THIRD PERSON SINGULAR. IND. He loves _or_ does love, He loved _or_ did love, He has loved, He had loved, He shall _or_ will love, He shall _or_ will have loved. POT. He may, can, _or_ must love; He might, could, would, _or_ should love; He may, can, _or_ must have loved; He might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If he love, If he loved. FIRST PERSON PLURAL. IND. We love _or_ do love, We loved _or_ did loved, We have loved, We had loved, We shall _or_ will love, We shall _or_ will have loved. POT. We may, can, _or_ must love, We might, could, would, _or_ should love; We may, can, _or_ must have loved; We might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If we love, If we loved. SECOND PERSON PLURAL. IND. You love _or_ do love, You loved _or_ did love, You have loved, You had loved, You shall _or_ will love, You shall _or_ will have loved. POT. You may, can, _or_ must love; You might, could, would, _or_ should love; You may, can, _or_ must have loved; You might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If you love, If you loved. IMP. Love [ye _or_ you,] _or_ Do you love. THIRD PERSON PLURAL. IND. They love _or_ do love, They loved _or_ did love, They have loved, They had loved, They shall _or_ will love, They shall _or_ will have loved. POT. They may, can, _or_ must love; They might, could, would, _or_ should love; They may, can, _or_ must have loved; They might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If they love, If they loved. FAMILIAR FORM WITH 'THOU.' NOTE.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou lov'st _or_ dost love, Thou loved _or_ did love, Thou hast loved, Thou had loved, Thou shall _or_ will love, Thou shall _or_ will have loved. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must love; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should love; Thou may, can, _or_ must have loved; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should have loved. SUBJ. If thou love, If thou loved. IMP. Love [thou,] _or_ Do thou love. SECOND EXAMPLE. _The irregular active verb SEE, conjugated affirmatively._ PRINCIPAL PARTS. _Present_. _Preterit_. _Imp. Participle_. _Perf. Participle_. See. Saw. Seeing. Seen. INFINITIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. To See. PERFECT TENSE. To have seen. INDICATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I see, 2. Thou seest, 3. He sees; _Plural_. 1. We see, 2. You see, 3. They see. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I saw, 2. Thou sawest, 3. He saw; _Plural_. 1. We saw, 2. You saw, 3. They saw. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I have seen, 2. Thou hast seen, 3. He has seen; _Plural_. 1. We have seen, 2. You have seen, 3. They have seen. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I had seen, 2. Thou hadst seen, He had seen; _Plural_. 1. We had seen, 2. You had seen, 3. They had seen. FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I shall see, 2. Thou wilt see, He will see; _Plural_. 1. We shall see, 2. You will see, 3. They will see. SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I shall have seen, 2. Thou wilt have seen, 3. He will have seen; _Plural_. 1. We shall have seen, 2. You will have seen, 3. They will have seen. POTENTIAL MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I may see, 2. Thou mayst see, 3. He may see; _Plural_. 1. We may see, 2. You may see, 3. They may see. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I might see, 2. Thou mightst see, 3. He might see; _Plural_. 1. We might see, 2. You might see, 3. They might see. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I may have seen, 2. Thou mayst have seen, 3. He may have seen; _Plural._ 1. We may have seen, 2. You may have seen, 3. They may have seen. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. I might have seen, 2. Thou mightst have seen, 3. He might have seen; _Plural_. 1. We might have seen, 2. You might have seen, 3. They might have seen. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. If I see, 2. If thou see, 3. If he see; _Plural_. 1. If we see, 2. If you see, 3. If they see. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. 1. If I saw, 2. If thou saw, 3. If he saw; _Plural_. 1. If we saw, 2. If you saw, 3. If they saw. IMPERATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular._ 2. See [thou,] _or_ Do thou see; _Plural._ 2. See [ye _or_ you,] _or_ Do you see. PARTICIPLES. 1. _The Imperfect_. 2. _The Perfect_. 3. _The Preperfect_. Seeing. Seen. Having seen. NOTES. NOTE I--The student ought to be able to rehearse the form of a verb, not only according to the order of the entire conjugation, but also according to the synopsis of the several persons and numbers. One sixth part of the paradigm, thus recited, gives in general a fair sample of the whole: and, in class recitations, this mode of rehearsal will save much time: as, IND. I see _or_ do see, I saw _or_ did see, I have seen, I had seen, I shall _or_ will see, I shall _or_ will have seen. POT. I may, can, _or_ must see; I might, could, would, _or_ should see; I may, can, _or_ must have seen; I might, could, would, _or_ should have seen. SUBJ. If I see, If I saw. NOTE II.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou seest _or_ dost see, Thou saw _or_ did see, Thou hast seen, Thou had seen, Thou shall _or_ will see, Thou shall _or_ will have seen. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must see; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should see; Thou may, can, _or_ must have seen; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should have seen. SUBJ. If thou see, If thou saw. IMP. See [thou,] _or_ Do thou see. THIRD EXAMPLE. _The irregular neuter verb BE, conjugated affirmatively_. PRINCIPAL PARTS. _Present._ _Preterit._ _Imp. Participle._ _Perf. Participle._ Be. Was. Being. Been. INFINITIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. To be. PERFECT TENSE. To have been. INDICATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I am, 1. We are, 2. Thou art, 2. You are, 3. He is; 3. They are. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I was, 1. We were, 2. Thou wast, (_or_ wert,)[262] 2. You were, 3. He was; 3. They were. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I have been, 1. We have been, 2. Thou hast been, 2. You have been, 3. He has been; 3. They have been. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I had been, 1. We had been, 2. Thou hadst been, 2. You had been, 3. He had been; 3. They had been. FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I shall be, 1. We shall be, 2. Thou wilt be, 2. You will be, 3. He will be; 3. They will be. SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I shall have been, 1. We shall have been, 2. Thou wilt have been, 2. You will have been, 3. He will have been; 3. They will have been. POTENTIAL MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I may be, 1. We may be, 2. Thou mayst be, 2. You may be, 3. He may be, 3. They may be. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might be, 1. We might be, 2. Thou mightst be, 2. You might be, 3. He might be; 3. They might be. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may have been, 1. We may have been, 2. Thou mayst have been, 2. You may have been, 3. He may have been; 3. They may have been. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might have been, 1. We might have been, 2. Thou mightst have been, 2. You might have been, 3. He might have been; 3. They might have been. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I be, 1. If we be, 2. If thou be, 2. If you be, 3. If he be; 3. If they be. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I were,[263] 1. If we were, 2. If thou were, _or_ wert,[264] 2. If you were, 3. If he were; If they were. IMPERATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. 2. Be [thou,] _or_ Do thou be; _Plural_. 2. Be [ye _or_ you,] _or_ Do you be. PARTICIPLES. 1. _The Imperfect_. 2. _The Perfect_. 3. _The Preperfect_. Being. Been. Having been. FAMILIAR FORM WITH 'THOU.' NOTE.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou art, Thou was, Thou hast been, Thou had been, Thou shall _or_ will be, Thou shall _or_ will have been. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must be; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should be; Thou may, can, _or_ must have been; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should have been. SUBJ. If thou be, If thou were. IMP. Be [thou,] _or_ Do thou be. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--It appears that _be_, as well as _am_, was formerly used for the indicative present: as, "I be, Thou beest, He be; We be, Ye be, They be." See _Brightland's Gram._, p. 114. Dr. Lowth, whose Grammar is still preferred at Harvard University, gives both forms, thus: "I am, Thou art, He is; We are, Ye are, They are. Or, I be, Thou beest, He _is_; We be, Ye be, They be." To the third person singular, he subjoins the following example and remark: "'I think it _be_ thine indeed, for thou liest in it.' Shak. Hamlet. _Be_, in the singular number of this time and mode, especially in the third person, is obsolete; and _is become_ somewhat antiquated _in the plural_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 36. Dr. Johnson gives this tense thus: "_Sing_. I am; thou art; he is; _Plur_. We are, _or_ be; ye are, _or_ be; they are, _or_ be." And adds, "The plural _be_ is now little in use."--_Gram. in Johnson's Dict._, p. 8. The Bible commonly has _am, art, is_, and _are_, but not always; the indicative _be_ occurs in some places: as, "We _be_ twelve brethren."--_Gen._, xlii, 32. "What _be_ these two olive branches?"--_Zech._, iv, 12. Some traces of this usage still occur in poetry: as, "There _be_ more things to greet the heart and eyes In Arno's dome of Art's most princely shrine, Where Sculpture with her rainbow sister vies; There _be_ more marvels yet--but not for mine." --_Byron's Childe Harold_, Canto iv, st. 61. OBS. 2.--Respecting the verb _wert_, it is not easy to determine whether it is most properly of the indicative mood only, or of the subjunctive mood only, or of both, or of neither. The _regular_ and _analogical_ form for the indicative, is "Thou _wast_;" and for the subjunctive, "If thou _were_." Brightland exhibits, "I _was_ or _were_, Thou _wast_ or _wert_, He _was_ or _were_," without distinction of mood, for the three persons singular; and, for the plural, _were_ only. Dr. Johnson gives us, for the indicative, "Thou wast, _or_ wert;" with the remark, "_Wert_ is properly of the _conjunctive_ mood, and ought not to be used in the indicative."--_Johnson's Gram._, p. 8. In his conjunctive (or subjunctive) mood, he has, "Thou _beest_," and "Thou _wert_." So Milton wrote, "If thou _beest_ he."--_P. Lost_, B. i, l. 84. Likewise Shakspeare: "If thou _beest_ Stephano."--_Tempest_. This inflection of _be_ is obsolete: all now say, "If thou _be_." But _wert_ is still in use, to some extent, _for both moods_; being generally placed by the grammarians in the subjunctive only, but much oftener written for the indicative: as, "Whate'er thou art or _wert_."--_Byron's Harold_, Canto iv, st. 115. "O thou that _wert_ so happy!"--_Ib._, st. 109. "Vainly _wert_ thou wed."--_Ib._, st. 169. OBS. 3.--Dr. Lowth gave to this verb, BE, that form of the subjunctive mood, which it now has in most of our grammars; appending to it the following examples and questions: "'Before the sun, Before the Heavens, thou _wert_.'--_Milton_. 'Remember what thou _wert_.'--_Dryden_. 'I knew thou _wert_ not slow to hear.'--_Addison_. 'Thou who of old _wert_ sent to Israel's court.'--_Prior_. 'All this thou _wert_.'--_Pope_. 'Thou, Stella, _wert_ no longer young.'--_Swift_. Shall we, in deference to these great authorities," asks the Doctor, "allow _wert_ to be the same with _wast_, and common to the indicative and [the] subjunctive mood? or rather abide by the practice of our best ancient writers; the propriety of the language, which requires, as far as may be, distinct forms, for different moods; and the analogy of formation in each mood; I _was_, thou _wast_; I _were_, thou _wert_? all which conspire to make _wert_ peculiar to the subjunctive mood."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 37; _Churchill's_, p. 251. I have before shown, that several of the "best ancient writers" _did not inflect_ the verb _were_, but wrote "_thou were_;" and, surely, "the analogy of formation," requires that the subjunctive _be not inflected_. Hence "the propriety which requires distinct forms," requires not _wert_, in either mood. Why then should we make this contraction of the old indicative form _werest_, a _solitary exception_, by fixing it in the subjunctive only, and that in opposition to the best authorities that ever used it? It is worthier to take rank with its kindred _beest_, and be called an _archaism_. OBS. 4.--The chief characteristical difference between the indicative and the subjunctive mood, is, that in the latter the verb is _not inflected at all_, in the different persons: IND. "Thou _magnifiest_ his work." SUBJ. "Remember that thou _magnify_ his work."--_Job_, xxxvi, 24. IND. "He _cuts_ off, _shuts_ up, and _gathers_ together." SUBJ. "If he _cut_ off, and _shut_ up, or _gather_ together, then who can hinder him?"--_Job_, xl, 10. There is also a difference of meaning. The Indicative, "If he _was_," admits the fact; the Subjunctive, "If he _were_," supposes that he was not. These moods may therefore be distinguished by the sense, even when their forms are alike: as, "Though _it thundered_, it did not rain."--"Though _it thundered_, he would not hear it." The indicative assumption here is, "Though it _did thunder_," or, "Though there _was thunder_;" the subjunctive, "Though it _should thunder_," or, "Though there _were_ thunder." These senses are clearly different. Writers however are continually confounding these moods; some in one way, some in an other. Thus S. R. Hall, the teacher of a _Seminary for Teachers_: "SUBJ. _Present Tense_. 1. If I be, _or_ am, 2. If thou be, _or_ art, 3. If he be, _or_ is; 1. If we be, _or_ are, 2. If ye _or_ you be, _or_ are, 3. If they be, _or_ are. _Imperfect Tense_. 1. If I were, _or_ was, 2. If thou wert, _or_ wast, 3. If he were, _or_ was; 1. If we were, 2. If ye _or_ you were, 3. If they were."--_Hall's Grammatical Assistant_, p. 11. Again: "SUBJ. _Present Tense_. 1. If I love, 2. If thou _lovest_, 3. If he love," &c. "The remaining tenses of this _mode_, are, _in general_, similar to the correspondent tenses of the Indicative _mode, only_ with the conjunction prefixed."--_Ib._, p. 20. Dr. Johnson observes, "The indicative and conjunctive moods are by modern writers frequently confounded; or rather the conjunctive is wholly neglected, when some convenience of versification does not invite its revival. It is used among the purer writers of former times; as, 'Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham _be_ ignorant of us, and Israel _acknowledge_ us not.'"--_Gram. in Joh. Dict._, p. 9. To neglect the subjunctive mood, or to confound it with the indicative, is to augment several of the worst faults of the language. II. COMPOUND OR PROGRESSIVE FORM. Active and neuter verbs may also be conjugated, by adding the Imperfect Participle to the auxiliary verb BE, through all its changes; as, "I _am writing_ a letter."--"He _is sitting_ idle."--"They _are going_." This form of the verb denotes a _continuance_ of the action or state of being, and is, on many occasions, preferable to the simple form of the verb. FOURTH EXAMPLE. _The irregular active verb READ, conjugated affirmatively, in the Compound Form._ PRINCIPAL PARTS OF THE SIMPLE VERB. _Present._ _Preterit._ _Imp. Participle._ _Perf. Participle._ R=ead. R~ead. R=eading. R~ead. INFINITIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. To be reading. PERFECT TENSE. To have been reading. INDICATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I am reading, 1. We are reading, 2. Thou art reading, 2. You are reading, 3. He is reading; 3. They are reading. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I was reading, 1. We were reading, 2. Thou wast reading, 2. You were reading, 3. He was reading; 3. They were reading. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I have been reading, 1. We have been reading, 2. Thou hast been reading, 2. You have been reading, 3. He has been reading; 3. They have been reading. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I had been reading, 1. We had been reading, 2. Thou hadst been reading, 2. You had been reading, 3. He had been reading; 3. They had been reading. FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I shall be reading, 1. We shall be reading, 2. Thou wilt be reading, 2. You will be reading, 3. He will be reading; 3. They will be reading. SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I shall have been reading, 1. We shall have been reading, 2. Thou wilt have been reading, 2. You will have been reading, 3. He will have been reading; 3. They will have been reading. POTENTIAL MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may be reading, 1. We may be reading, 2. Thou mayst be reading, 2. You may be reading, 3. He may be reading; 3. They may be reading. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might be reading, 1. We might be reading, 2. Thou mightst be reading, 2. You might be reading, 3. He might be reading; 3. They might be reading. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may have been reading, 1. We may have been reading, 2. Thou mayst have been reading, 2. You may have been reading, 3. He may have been reading; 3. They may have been reading. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might have been reading, 1. We might have been reading, 2. Thou mightst have been reading, 2. You might have been reading, 3. He might have been reading; 3. They might have been reading. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I be reading, 1. If we be reading, 2. If thou be reading, 2. If you be reading, 3. If he be reading; 3. If they be reading. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I were reading, 1. If we were reading, 2. If thou were reading, 2. If you were reading, 3. If he were reading; 3. If they were reading. IMPERATIVE MOOD. Sing. 2. Be [thou] reading, _or_ Do thou be reading; Plur. 2. Be [ye or you] reading, _or_ Do you be reading. PARTICIPLES. 1. _The Imperfect_. 2. _The Perfect_. 3. _The Preperfect_. Being reading. --------- Having been reading. FAMILIAR FORM WITH 'THOU.' NOTE.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou art reading, Thou was reading, Thou hast been reading, Thou had been reading, Thou shall _or_ will be reading, Thou shall _or_ will have been reading. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must be reading; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should be reading; Thou may, can, _or_ must have been reading; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should have been reading. SUBJ. If thou be reading, If thou were reading. IMP. Be [thou,] reading, _or_ Do thou be reading. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Those verbs which, in their simple form, imply continuance, do not admit the compound form: thus we say, "I _respect_ him;" but not, "I _am respecting_ him." This compound form seems to imply that kind of action, which is susceptible of intermissions and renewals. Affections of the mind or heart are supposed to last; or, rather, actions of this kind are complete as soon as they exist. Hence, _to love, to hate, to desire, to fear, to forget, to remember_, and many other such verbs, are _incapable_ of this method of conjugation.[265] It is true, we often find in grammars such models, as, "I _was loving_, Thou _wast loving_, He _was loving_," &c. But this language, to express what the authors intend by it, is not English. "He _was loving_," can only mean, "He was _affectionate_:" in which sense, loving is an adjective, and susceptible of comparison. Who, in common parlance, has ever said, "He _was loving me_," or any thing like it? Yet some have improperly published various examples, or even whole conjugations, of this spurious sort. See such in _Adam's Gram._, p. 91; _Gould's Adam_, 83; _Bullions's English Gram._, 52; _his Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 92; _Chandler's New Gram._, 85 and 86; _Clark's_, 80; _Cooper's Plain and Practical_, 70; _Frazee's Improved_, 66 and 69; _S. S. Greene's_, 234; _Guy's_, 25; _Hallock's_, 103; _Hart's_, 88; _Hendrick's_, 38; _Lennie's_, 31; _Lowth's_, 40; _Harrison's_, 34; _Perley's_, 36; _Pinneo's Primary_, 101. OBS. 2.--Verbs of this form have sometimes a passive signification; as, "The books _are now selling_."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 82. "As the money _was paying_ down."--_Ainsworth's Dict., w._ As. "It requires no motion in the organs whilst it _is forming_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 8. "Those works _are long forming_ which must always last."--_Dr. Chetwood_. "While the work of the temple _was carrying_ on."--_Dr. J. Owen_. "The designs of Providence _are carrying on_."--_Bp. Butler_. "A scheme, which _has been carrying_ on, and _is_ still _carrying_ on."--_Id., Analogy_, p. 188. "We are permitted to know nothing of what _is transacting_ in the regions above us."--_Dr. Blair_. "While these things _were transacting_ in Germany."--_Russell's Modern Europe_, Part First, Let. 59. "As he _was carrying_ to execution, he demanded to be heard."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 163. "To declare that the action _was doing_ or done."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 28. "It _is doing_ by thousands now."--_Abbott's Young Christian_, p. 121. "While the experiment _was making_, he was watching every movement."--_Ib._, p. 309. "A series of communications from heaven, which _had been making_ for fifteen hundred years."--_Ib._, p. 166. "Plutarch's Lives _are re-printing_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 64. "My Lives _are reprinting_."--DR. JOHNSON: _Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict._, p. xlvi. "All this _has been transacting_ within 130 miles of London."--BYRON: _Perley's Gram._, p. 37. "When the heart _is corroding_ by vexations."--_Student's Manual_, p. 336. "The padlocks for our lips _are forging_."--WHITTIER: _Liberator_, No. 993. "When his throat _is cutting_."--_Collier's Antoninus_. "While your story _is telling_."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 425. "But the seeds of it _were sowing_ some time before."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 168. "As soon as it was formed, nay even whilst it _was forming_."--_Ib._, p. 163. "Strange schemes of private ambition _were formed and forming_ there."--_Ib._, p. 291. "Even when it _was making and made_."--_Ib._, 299. "Which have been made and _are making_."--HENRY CLAY: _Liberator_, ix, p. 141. "And they are in measure _sanctified_, or _sanctifying_, by the power thereof."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 537. "Which _is_ now _accomplishing_ amongst the uncivilized countries of the earth."--_Chalmers, Sermons_, p. 281. "Who _are ruining_, or _ruined_, [in] this way."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 155. "Whilst they _were undoing_."--_Ibid._ "Whether he was employing fire to consume [something,] or _was_ himself _consuming_ by fire."--_Crombie, on Etym. and Syntax_, p. 148. "At home, the greatest exertions _are making_ to promote its progress."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. iv. "With those [sounds] which _are uttering_."--_Ib._, p. 125. "Orders _are now concerting_ for the dismissal of all officers of the Revenue marine."--_Providence Journal_, Feb. 1, 1850. Expressions of this kind are condemned by some critics, under the notion that the participle in _ing_ must never be passive; but the usage is unquestionably of far better authority, and, according to my apprehension, in far better taste, than the more complex phraseology which some late writers adopt in its stead; as, "The books _are_ now _being sold_."--"In all the towns about Cork, the whiskey shops _are being closed_, and soup, coffee, and tea houses [are] _establishing_ generally."--_Dublin Evening Post_, 1840. OBS. 3.--The question here is, Which is the most correct expression, "While the bridge _was building_,"--"While the bridge was _a_ building,"--or, "While the bridge _was being built_?" And again, Are they all wrong? If none of these is right, we must reject them all, and say, "While _they were building_ the bridge;"--"While the bridge _was in process of erection_;"--or resort to some other equivalent phrase. Dr. Johnson, after noticing the compound form of active-intransitives, as, "I _am going_"--"She _is dying_,"--"The tempest _is raging_,"--"I _have been walking_," and so forth, adds: "There is another manner of using the active participle, which gives it a _passive_ signification:[266] as, The grammar is now printing, _Grammatica jam nunc chartis imprimitur_. The brass is forging, _AEra excuduntur_. This is, in my opinion," says he, "a _vitious_ expression, probably corrupted from a phrase more pure, but now somewhat obsolete: The book is _a_ printing, The brass is _a_ forging; _a_ being properly _at_, and _printing_ and _forging_ verbal nouns signifying action, according to the analogy of this language."--_Gram. in Joh. Dict._, p. 9. OBS. 4.--_A_ is certainly sometimes a _preposition_; and, as such, it may govern a participle, and that without converting it into a "_verbal noun_." But that such phraseology ought to be preferred to what is exhibited with so many authorities, in a preceding paragraph, and with an example from Johnson among the rest, I am not prepared to concede. As to the notion of introducing a new and more complex passive form of conjugation, as, "The bridge is _being built_," "The bridge _was being built_," and so forth, it is one of the most absurd and monstrous innovations ever thought of. Yet some two or three men, who seem to delight in huge absurdities, declare that this "modern _innovation_ is _likely to supersede_" the simpler mode of expression. Thus, in stead of, "The work _is now publishing_," they choose to say, "The work is _now being published_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 82. This is certainly no better English than, "The work _was being published, has been being published, had been being published, shall or will be being published, shall or will have been being published_;" and so on, through all the moods and tenses. What a language shall we have when our verbs are thus conjugated! OBS. 5.--A certain _Irish_ critic, who even outdoes in rashness the above-cited American, having recently arrived in New York, has republished a grammar, in which he not only repudiates the passive use of the participle in _ing_, but denies the usual passive form of the present tense, "_I am loved, I am smitten_" &c., as taught by Murray and others, to be good English; and tells us that the true form is, "_I am being loved, I am being smitten_," &c. See the 98th and 103d pages of _Joseph W. Wright's Philosophical Grammar_, (_Edition of_ 1838,) _dedicated_ "TO COMMON SENSE!" [267] But both are offset, if not refuted, by the following observations from a source decidedly better: "It has lately become common to use the present participle passive [,] to express the suffering of an action as _continuing_, instead of the participle in _-ing_ in the passive sense; thus, instead of, 'The house _is building_,' we now very frequently hear, 'The house _is being built_.' This mode of expression, besides being awkward, is incorrect, and _does not express the idea intended_. This will be obvious, I think, from the following considerations. "1. The expression, '_is being_,' is equivalent to '_is_,' and expresses no more; just as, '_is loving_,' is equivalent to, '_loves_.' Hence, '_is being built_,' is precisely equivalent to, '_is built_.' "2. '_Built_,' is a perfect participle; and therefore cannot, in any connexion, express an action, or the suffering of an action, _now in progress_. The verb _to be_, signifies _to exist_; '_being_,' therefore, is equivalent to '_existing_.' If then we substitute the synonyme, the nature of the expression will be obvious; thus, 'the house is _being built_,' is, in other words, 'the house is _existing built_,' or more simply as before, 'the house _is built_;' plainly importing an action not progressing, but now _existing in a finished state_. "3. If the expression, '_is being built_,' be a correct form of the present indicative passive, then it must be equally correct to say in the perfect, '_has been being built_;' in the past perfect, '_had been being built_;' in the present infinitive,'_to be being built_;' in the perfect infinitive,'_to have been being built_;' and in the present participle, '_being being built_;' which all will admit to be expressions as incorrect as they are inelegant, but precisely analogous to that which now begins to prevail."--_Bullions's Principles of English Gram._, p. 58. OBS. 6.--It may be replied, that the verbs _to be_ and _to exist_ are not always synonymous; because the former is often a mere auxiliary, or a mere copula, whereas the latter always means something positive, as _to be in being, to be extant_. Thus we may speak of a thing as _being destroyed_, or may say, it _is annihilated_; but we can by no means speak of it as _existing destroyed_, or say, it _exists annihilated_. The first argument above is also nugatory. These drawbacks, however, do not wholly destroy the force of the foregoing criticism, or at all extenuate the obvious tautology and impropriety of such phrases as, _is being, was being_, &c. The gentlemen who affirm that this new form of conjugation "_is being introduced_ into the language," (since they allow participles to follow possessive pronouns) may very fairly be asked, "What evidence have you of _its being being introduced_?" Nor can they, on their own principles, either object to the monstrous phraseology of this question, or tell how to better it![268] OBS. 7.--D. H. Sanborn, an other recent writer, has very emphatically censured this innovation, as follows: "English and American writers have of late introduced a new kind of phraseology, which has become quite prevalent in the periodical and popular publications of the day. Their intention, doubtless, is, to supersede the use of the verb in the _definite form_, when it has a passive signification. They say, 'The ship is _being_ built,'--'time is _being wasted_,"--'the work is _being advanced_,' instead of, 'the ship is _building_, time is _wasting_, the work is _advancing_.' Such a phraseology is a solecism too palpable to receive any favor; it is at war with the practice of the most distinguished writers in the English language, such as Dr. Johnson and Addison. "When an individual says, 'a house is being burned,' he declares that a house is _existing, burned_, which is impossible; for _being_ means existing, and _burned, consumed by fire_. The house ceases to exist as such, after it is consumed by fire. But when he says, 'a house _is burning_,' we understand that it is _consuming by fire_; instead of inaccuracy, doubt, and ambiguity, we have a form of expression perfectly intelligible, beautiful, definite, and appropriate."--_Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 102. OBS. 8.--Dr. Perley speaks of this usage thus: "An attempt has been made of late to introduce a kind of passive participial voice; as, 'The temple is being built.' This ought not to be encouraged. For, besides being an innovation, it is less convenient than the use of the present participle in the passive sense. _Being built_ signifies action _finished_; and how can, _Is being built_, signify an _action unfinished?"--Perley's Gram._, p. 37. OBS. 9.--The question now before us has drawn forth, on either side, a deal of ill scholarship and false logic, of which it would be tedious to give even a synopsis. Concerning the import of some of our most common words and phrases, these ingenious masters,--Bullions, Sanborn, and Perley,--severally assert some things which seem not to be exactly true. It is remarkable that critics can err in expounding terms so central to the language, and so familiar to all ears, as "_be, being, being built, burned, being burned, is, is burned, to be burned_," and the like. _That to be_ and _to exist_, or their like derivatives, such as _being_ and _existing, is_ and _exists_, cannot always explain each other, is sufficiently shown above; and thereby is refuted Sanborn's chief argument, that, "_is being burned_," involves the contradiction of "_existing, burned_," or "_consumed by fire_." According to his reasoning, as well as that of Bullions, _is burned_ must mean _exists consumed; was burned, existed consumed_; and thus our whole passive conjugation would often be found made up of bald absurdities! That this new _unco-passive_ form conflicts with the older and better usage of taking the progressive form sometimes passively, is doubtless a good argument against the innovation; but that "Johnson and Addison" are fit representatives of the older "practice" in this case, may be doubted. I know not that the latter has anywhere made use of such phraseology; and one or two examples from the former are scarcely an offset to his positive verdict against the usage. See OBS. 3rd, above. OBS. 10.--As to what is called "_the present_ or _the imperfect participle passive_,"--as, "_being burned_," or "_being burnt_,"--if it is rightly interpreted in _any_ of the foregoing citations, it is, beyond question, very improperly _thus_ named. In participles, _ing_ denotes _continuance_: thus _being_ usually means _continuing to be; loving, continuing to love; building, continuing to build_,--or (as taken passively) _continuing to be built_: i. e., (in words which express the sense more precisely and certainly,) _continuing to be in process of construction_. What then is "being built," but "_continuing to be built_," the same, or nearly the same, as "_building_" taken passively? True it is, that _built_, when alone, being a perfect participle, does not mean "_in process of construction_," but rather, "_constructed_" which intimates _completion_; yet, in the foregoing passive phrases, and others like them, as well as in all examples of this unco-passive voice, continuance of the passive state being first suggested, and cessation of the act being either regarded as future or disregarded, the imperfect participle passive is for the most part received as equivalent to the simple imperfect used in a passive sense. But Dr. Bullions, who, after making "_is being built_ precisely equivalent to _is built_," classes the two participles differently, and both erroneously,--the one as a "_present_ participle," and the other, of late, as a "_past_,"--has also said above, "'_Built_,' is a _perfect_ participle: and THEREFORE cannot, in _any connexion_, express an action, or the suffering of an action, _now in progress_." And Dr. Perley, who also calls the compound of _being_ a "_present_ participle," argues thus: "_Being built_ signifies an _action, finished_; and how can _Is being built_, signify an _action unfinished_?" To expound a _passive_ term _actively_, or as "signifying _action_," is, at any rate, a near approach to absurdity; and I shall presently show that the fore-cited notion of "a perfect participle," now half abandoned by Bullions himself, has been the seed of the very worst form of that ridiculous neology which the good Doctor was opposing. OBS. 11.--These criticisms being based upon the _meaning_ of certain participles, either alone or in phrases, and the particular terms spoken of being chiefly meant to represent _classes_, what is said of them may be understood of their _kinds_. Hence the appropriate _naming_ of the kinds, so as to convey no false idea of any participle's import, is justly brought into view; and I may be allowed to say here, that, for the first participle passive, which begins with "_being_," the epithet "_Imperfect_" is better than "_Present_," because this compound participle denotes, not always what is _present_, but always _the state_ of something by which an action is, _or was, or will be, undergone or undergoing--a state continuing_, or so regarded, though perhaps the action causative may be ended--or sometimes perhaps imagined only, and not yet really begun. With a marvellous instability of doctrine, for the professed systematizer of different languages and grammars, Dr. Bullions has recently changed his names of the second and third participles, in both voices, from "_Perfect_" and "_Compound Perfect_," to "_Past_" and "_Perfect_." His notion now is, that, "_The Perfect_ participle is always compound; as, _Having finished, Having been finished_."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Grammar_, 1849, p. 77. And what was the "_Perfect_" before, in his several books, is now called the "_Past_;" though, with this change, he has deliberately made an other which is repugnant to it: this participle, being the basis of three tenses always, and of all the tenses sometimes, is now allowed by the Doctor to lend the term "_perfect_" to the three,--"_Present-perfect, Past-perfect, Future-perfect,"_--even when itself is named otherwise! OBS. 12.--From the erroneous conception, that a perfect participle must, in every connexion, express "_action finished_," _action past_,--or perhaps from only a moiety of this great error,--the notion that such a participle cannot, in connexion with an auxiliary, constitute a passive verb of the _present tense_,--J. W. Wright, above-mentioned, has not very unnaturally reasoned, that, "The expression, '_I am loved_,' which Mr. Murray has employed to exhibit the passive conjugation of the _present tense_, may much more _feasibly_ represent _past_ than _present_ time."--See _Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 99. Accordingly, in his own paradigm of the passive verb, he has formed _this_ tense solely from what he calls the participle _present_, thus: "I _am being smitten_, Thou _art being smitten_," &c.--_Ib._, p. 98. His "_Passed Tense_," too, for some reason which I do not discover, he distinguishes above the rest by a _double form_, thus: "I _was smitten, or being smitten_; Thou _wast smitten, or being smitten_;" &c.--P. 99. In his opinion, "Few will object to _the propriety of_ the more familiar phraseology, '_I am in the_ ACT,--or, _suffering_ the ACTION _of_ BEING SMITTEN;' and yet," says he, "in substance and effect, it is wholly the same as, '_I am being smitten_,' which is THE TRUE FORM of the verb in the _present_ tense of the _passive voice!_"--_Ibid._ Had we not met with some similar expressions of English or American blunderers, "the _act_ or _action of being smitten_," would be accounted a downright Irish bull; and as to this ultra notion of neologizing all our passive verbs, by the addition of "_being_,"--with the author's cool talk of "_the presentation of this theory, and_ [_the_] _consequent suppression of that hitherto employed_,"--there is a transcendency in it, worthy of the most sublime aspirant among grammatical newfanglers. OBS. 13.--But, with all its boldness of innovation, Wright's Philosophical Grammar is not a little _self-contradictory_ in its treatment of the passive verb. The entire "suppression" of the usual form of its present tense, did not always appear, even to this author, quite so easy and reasonable a matter, as the foregoing citations would seem to represent it. The passive use of the participle in _ing_, he has easily disposed of: despite innumerable authorities for it, one false assertion, of seven syllables, suffices to make it quite impossible.[269] But the usual passive form, which, with some show of truth, is accused of not having always precisely the same meaning as the progressive used passively,--that is, of not always denoting _continuance in the state of receiving continued action_,--and which is, for that remarkable reason, judged worthy of _rejection_, is nevertheless admitted to have, in very many instances, a conformity to this idea, and therefore to "belong [thus far] to the present tense."--P. 103. This contradicts to an indefinite extent, the proposition for its rejection. It is observable also, that the same examples, '_I am loved_' and 'I _am smitten_,'--the same "_tolerated, but erroneous forms_," (so called on page 103,) that are given as specimens of what he would reject,--though at first pronounced "_equivalent_ in grammatical construction," censured for the same pretended error, and proposed to be changed alike to "_the true form_" by the insertion of "_being_,"--are subsequently declared to "belong to" different classes and different tenses. "_I am loved_," is referred to that "numerous" class of verbs, which "_detail_ ACTION _of prior, but retained, endured, and continued existence_; and therefore, in this sense, _belong to the present tense_." But "_I am smitten_," is idly reckoned of an opposite class, (said by Dr. Bullions to be "perhaps the greater number,") whose "ACTIONS described are neither _continuous_ in their nature, nor _progressive_ in their duration; but, on the contrary, _completed_ and _perfected_; and [which] are consequently descriptive of _passed_ time and ACTION."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 103. Again: "In what instance soever this latter form and signification _can_ be introduced, _their import should be, and, indeed, ought to be, supplied by the perfect tense construction_:--for example, '_I am smitten_,' [should] be, '_I have been smitten_.'"--_Ib._ Here is self-contradiction indefinitely extended _in an other way_. Many a good phrase, if not every one, that the author's first suggestion would turn to the unco-passive form, his present "_remedy_" would about as absurdly convert into "the perfect tense." OBS. 14.--But Wright's inconsistency, about this matter, ends not here: it runs through all he says of it; for, in this instance, error and inconsistency constitute his whole story. In one place, he anticipates and answers a question thus: "To what tense do the constructions, 'I am pleased;' 'He is expected;' '_I am smitten_;' 'He is bound;' belong?" "We answer:--_So far as_ these and like constructions are applicable to the delineation of _continuous_ and _retained_ ACTION, they express _present_ time; and must be treated accordingly."--P. 103. This seems to intimate that even, "_I am smitten_," and its likes, as they stand, may have some good claim to be of the present tense; which suggestion is contrary to several others made by the author. To expound this, or any other passive term, _passively_, never enters his mind: with him, as with sundry others, "ACTION," "_finished_ ACTION," or "_progressive_ ACTION," is all any _passive_ verb or participle ever means! No marvel, that awkward perversions of the forms of utterance and the principles of grammar should follow such interpretation. In Wright's syntax a very queer distinction is apparently made between a passive verb, and the participle chiefly constituting it; and here, too, through a fancied ellipsis of "_being_" before the latter, most, if not all, of his other positions concerning passives, are again disastrously overthrown by something worse--a word "_imperceptibly understood_." "'_I am smitten_;' '_I was smitten_;' &c., are," he says, "the _universally acknowledged forms_ of the VERBS in these tenses, in the passive voice:--not of the _PARTICIPLE_. In all verbal constructions of the character of which we have hitherto treated, (see page 103) _and, where_ the ACTIONS described are _continuous_ in their _operations_,--the participle BEING is _imperceptibly omitted, by ellipsis_."--P. 144. OBS. 15.--Dr. Bullions has stated, that, "The present participle active, and the present participle passive, are _not counterparts_ to each other in signification; [,] the one signifying the present doing, and the other the present suffering of an action, [;] for the latter _always intimates the present being of an_ ACT, _not in progress, but completed_."--_Prin. of Eng. Gram._, p. 58. In this, he errs no less grossly than in his idea of the "_action_ or the suffering" expressed by "a _perfect_ participle," as cited in OBS. 5th above; namely, that it must have _ceased_. Worse interpretation, or balder absurdity, is scarcely to be met with; and yet the reverend Doctor, great linguist as he should be, was here only trying to think and tell the common import of a very common sort of _English_ participles; such as, "_being loved_" and "_being seen_." In grammar, "_an act_," that has "_present being_," can be nothing else than an act now doing, or "_in progress_;" and if, "_the present being of an_ ACT _not in progress_," were here a possible thought, it surely could not be intimated by any _such_ participle. In Acts, i, 3 and 4, it is stated, that our Saviour showed himself to the apostles, "alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, _being seen_ of them forty days, and _speaking_ of the things _pertaining_ to the kingdom of God; and, _being assembled_ together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem." Now, of these misnamed "_present_ participles," we have here one "_active_," one "_passive_," and two others--(one in each form--) that are _neuter_; but _no present time_, except what is in the indefinite date of "_pertaining_." The events are past, and were so in the days of St. Luke. Yet each of the participles denotes _continuance_: not, indeed, in or to the _present time_, but _for a time_. "_Being seen_" means _continuing to be seen_; and, in this instance, the period of the continuance was "forty days" of time past. But, according to the above-cited "_principle of English Grammar_," so long and so widely inculcated by "the Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., Professor of Languages," &c.,--a central principle of interpretation, presumed by him to hold "_always_"--this participle must intimate "_the present being of an act, not in progress, but completed_;"--that is, "_the present being of" the apostles' act in formerly seeing the risen Saviour_! OBS. 16.--This grammarian has lately taken a deal of needless pains to sustain, by a studied division of verbs into two classes, similar to those which are mentioned in OBS. 13th above, a part of the philosophy of J. W. Wright, concerning our usual form of passives in the present tense. But, as he now will have it, that the two voices sometimes tally as counterparts, it is plain that he adheres but partially to his former erroneous conception of a perfect or "past" participle, and the terms which hold it "in any connexion." The awkward substitutes proposed by the Irish critic, he does not indeed countenance; but argues against them still, and, in some respects, very justly. The doctrine now common to these authors, on this point, is the highly important one, that, in respect to half our verbs, what we commonly take for the passive present, _is not such_--that, in "the _second_ class, (perhaps the greater number,) the _present-passive_ implies that _the act expressed by the active voice has ceased_. Thus, 'The house is built.' * * * Strictly speaking, then," says the Doctor, "the PAST PARTICIPLE with the verb TO BE _is not the present tense in the passive voice of verbs thus used_; that is, this form does not express passively the _doing_ of the act."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Grammar_, Ed. of 1849, p. 235. Thus far these two authors agree; except that Wright seems to have avoided the incongruity of _calling_ that "_the present-passive_" which he _denies_ to be such. But the Doctor, approving none of this practitioner's "remedies," and being less solicitous to provide other treatment than expulsion for the thousands of present passives which both deem spurious, adds, as from the chair, this verdict: "These verbs either _have no present-passive_, or it is made by annexing the participle in _ing_, in its passive sense, to the verb _to be_; as, 'The house _is building_.'"--_Ib._, p. 236. OBS. 17.--It would seem, that Dr. Bullions thinks, and in reality Wright also, that nothing can be a present passive, but what "_expresses passively the_ DOING _of the act_." This is about as wise, as to try to imagine every active verb to _express actively the receiving of an act_! It borders exceedingly hard upon absurdity; it very much resembles the nonsense of "_expressing receptively the giving of something_!" Besides, the word "DOING," being used substantively, does not determine well what is here meant; which is, I suppose, _continuance_, or an _unfinished state_ of the act received--an idea which seems adapted to the participle in _ing_, but which it is certainly no fault of a participle ending in _d, t_, or _n_, not to suggest. To "_express passively the doing of the act_," if the language means any thing rational, may be, simply to say, that the act _is_ or _was done_. For "_doings_" are, as often as any-wise, "_things done_," as _buildings_ are _fabrics built_; and "_is built_," and "_am smitten_," the gentlemen's choice examples of _false passives_, and of "_actions finished_,"--though neither of them necessarily intimates either continuance or cessation of the act suffered, or, if it did, would be the less or the more passive or present,--may, in such a sense, "express _the doing_ of the act," if any passives can:--nay, the "finished act" has such completion as may be stated with degrees of progress or of frequency; as, "The house _is partly built_."--"I _am oftener smitten_." There is, undoubtedly, some difference between the assertions, "The house _is building_,"--and, "The house _is partly built_;" though, for practical purposes, perhaps, we need not always be very nice in choosing between them. For the sake of variety, however, if for nothing else, it is to be hoped, the doctrine above-cited, which limits half our passive verbs of the present tense, _to the progressive form only_, will not soon be generally approved. It impairs the language more than unco-passives are likely ever to corrupt it. OBS. 18.--"No _startling novelties_ have been introduced," says the preface to the "Analytical and Practical Grammar of the English Language." To have shunned all shocking innovations, is only to have exercised common prudence. It is not pretended, that any of the Doctor's errors here remarked upon, or elsewhere in this treatise, will _startle_ any body; but, if errors exist, even in plausible guise, it may not be amiss, if I tell of them. To suppose every verb or participle to be either "_transitive_" or "_intransitive_," setting all _passives_ with the former sort, all _neuters_ with the latter; (p. 59;)--to define the _transitive_ verb or participle as expressing always "_an act_ DONE _by one person or thing to another_;" (p. 60;)--to say, after making passive verbs transitive, "The object of a transitive verb is in the _objective case_," and, "A verb that does not make sense with an objective after it, is intransitive;" (p. 60;)--to insist upon a precise and almost universal _identity of "meaning_" in terms so obviously _contrasted_ as are the two voices, "active" and "passive;" (pp. 95 and 235;)--to allege, as a general principle, "that whether we use the active, or the passive voice, _the meaning is the same_, except in some cases in the present tense;" (p. 67;)--to attribute to the forms naturally opposite in voice and sense, that sameness of meaning which is observable only in certain _whole sentences_ formed from them; (pp. 67, 95, and 235;)--to assume that each "VOICE is a particular _form of the verb_," yet make it include _two cases_, and often a preposition before one of them; (pp. 66, 67, and 95;)--to pretend from the words, "The PASSIVE VOICE represents the subject of the verb as _acted upon_," (p. 67,) that, "_According to the_ DEFINITION, the passive voice expresses, passively, _the same thing_ that the active does actively;" (p. 235;)--to affirm that, "'Caesar _conquered_ Gaul,' and 'Gaul _was conquered_ by Caesar,' express _precisely the same idea_,"--and then say, "It will be felt at once that the expressions, 'Caesar _conquers_ Gaul,' and 'Gaul _is conquered_ by Caesar,' _do not express the same thing_;" (p. 235;)--to deny that passive verbs or neuter are worthy to constitute a distinct class, yet profess to find, in one single tense of the former, such a difference of meaning as warrants a general division of verbs in respect to it; (_ib._;)--to announce, in bad English, that, "_In regard to this matter_ [,] there are evidently Two CLASSES of verbs; namely, those _whose_ present-passive expresses precisely the same thing, passively, as the active voice does actively, and those _in which it_ does not:" (_ib._;)--to do these several things, as they have been done, is, to set forth, not "novelties" only, but errors and inconsistencies. OBS. 19.--Dr. Bullions still adheres to his old argument, that _being_ after its own verb must be devoid of meaning; or, in his own words, "that _is being built_, if it mean anything, can mean nothing more than _is built_, which is not the idea intended to be expressed."--_Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 237. He had said, (as cited in OBS. 5th above,) "The expression, '_is being_,' is equivalent to _is_, and expresses _no more_; just as, '_is loving_,' is equivalent to '_loves_.' Hence, '_is being built_,' is precisely equivalent to '_is built_.'"--_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 58. He has now discovered "that _there is no progressive form_ of the verb _to be_, and no need of it:" and that, "hence, _there is no such expression_ in English as _is being_."--_Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 236. He should have noticed also, that "_is loving_" is not an authorized "equivalent to _loves_;" and, further, that the error of saying "_is being built_," is only in the relation of the _first two words_ to each other. If "_is being_," and "_is loving_," are left unused for the same reason, the truth may be, that _is_ itself, like _loves_, commonly denotes "_continuance_;" and that _being_ after it, in stead of being necessary or proper, can only be awkwardly tautologous. This is, in fact, THE GRAND OBJECTION to the new phraseology--"_is being practised_"--"_am being smitten_"--and the like. Were there no danger that petty writers would one day seize upon it with like avidity, an other innovation, exactly similar to this in every thing but tense--similar in awkwardness, in tautology, in unmistakeableness--might here be uttered for the sake of illustration. Some men conceive, that "The _perfect_ participle is always compound; as, _having seen, having written_;"--and that the simple word, _seen_ or _written_, had originally, and still ought to have, only a passive construction. For such views, they find authorities. Hence, in lieu of the common phrases, "_had we seen_," "_we have written_," they adopt such English as this; "_Had we having seen_ you, we should have stopped."--"_We have having written_ but just now, to our correspondent." Now, "_We are being smitten_," is no better grammar than this;--and no worse: "The idea intended" is in no great jeopardy in either case. OBS. 20.--J. R. Chandler, of Philadelphia, in his Common School Grammar of 1847, has earnestly undertaken the _defence_ of this new and much-mooted passive expression: which he calls "_the Definite Passive Voice_," or "_the Passive Voice of the Definite Form_." He admits it, however, to be a form that "does not _sound well_,"--a "_novelty_ that strikes the ear unpleasantly;" but he will have the defect to be, not in the tautologous conceit of "_is being_," "_was being_," "_has been being_," and the like, but in everybody's organ of hearing,--supposing all ears corrupted, "from infancy," to a distaste for correct speech, by "the habit of _hearing_ and using words _ungrammatically_!"--See p. 89. Claiming this new form as "_the true passive_," in just contrast with the progressive active, he not only rebukes all attempts "to evade" the use of it, "by some real or supposed _equivalent_," but also declares, that, "The attempt to deprive the transitive definite verb of [this] _its passive voice_, is _to strike at the foundation of the language_, and _to strip it of one of its most important qualities_; that of making both actor and sufferer, each in turn and at pleasure, the subject of conversation."--_Ibid._ Concerning _equivalents_, he evidently argues fallaciously; for he urges, that the using of them "_does not dispense with the necessity of the definite passive voice_."--P. 88. But it is plain, that, of the many fair substitutes which may in most cases be found, if any one is preferred, this form, and all the rest, are of course rejected for the time. OBS. 21.--By Chandler, as well as others, this new passive form is justified only on the supposition, that the simple participle in _ing_ can never with propriety be used passively. No plausible argument, indeed, can be framed for it, without the assumption, that the simpler form, when used in the same sense, _is ungrammatical_. But this is, in fact, a begging of the main question; and that, in opposition to abundant authority for the usage condemned. (See OBS. 3d, above.) This author pretends that, "_The RULE of all grammarians_ declares the verb _is_, and a _present participle_ (_is building_, or _is writing_), to be in the active voice" only.--P. 88. (I add the word "_only_," but this is what he means, else he merely quibbles.) Now in this idea he is wrong, and so are the several grammarians who support the principle of this imaginary "_RULE_." The opinion of critics in general would be better represented by the following suggestions of the Rev. W. Allen: "When the English verb does not signify _mental affection_, the distinction of voice is often disregarded: thus we say, _actively_, they _were selling_ fruit; and, _passively_, the books _are_ now _selling_. The same remark applies to the participle used as a noun: as, actively, _drawing_ is an elegant amusement, _building_ is expensive; and, passively, his _drawings_ are good, this is a fine _building_."--_Allen's Elements of E. Gram._, p. 82. OBS. 22.--Chandler admits, that, "When it is said, 'The house is _building_,' the meaning is easily obtained; though," he strangely insists, "_it is exactly opposite to the assertion_."--P. 89. He endeavours to show, moreover, by a fictitious example made for the purpose, that the progressive form, if used in both voices, will be liable to ambiguity. It may, perhaps, be so in some instances; but, were there weight enough in the objection to condemn the passive usage altogether, one would suppose there might be found, somewhere, _an actual example or two_ of the abuse. Not concurring with Dr. Bullions in the notion that the active voice and the passive usually "express precisely the same thing," this critic concludes his argument with the following sentence: "There is an _important difference_ between _doing_ and _suffering_; and that _difference is grammatically shown_ by the appropriate use of the active and passive voices of a verb."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 89. OBS. 23.--The opinion given at the close of OBS. 2d above, was first published in 1833. An opposite doctrine, with the suggestion that it is "_improper_ to say, '_the house is building_,' instead of 'the house _is being built_,'"--is found on page 64th of the Rev. David Blair's Grammar, of 1815,--"Seventh Edition," with a preface dated, "_October 20th_, 1814." To any grammarian who wrote at a period much earlier than that, the question about _unco-passives_ never occurred. Many critics have passed judgement upon them since, and so generally with reprobation, that the man must have more hardihood than sense, who will yet disgust his readers or hearers with them.[270] That "This new form has been used by _some respectable writers_," we need not deny; but let us look at the given "_instances of it_: 'For those who _are being educated_ in our seminaries.' R. SOUTHEY.--'It _was being uttered_.' COLERIDGE.--'The foundation _was being laid_.' BRIT. CRITIC."--_English Grammar with Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict._, p. xlvi. Here, for the first example, it would be much better to say, "For those who _are educated_," [271]--or, "who _are receiving their education_;" for the others, "It _was uttering_,"--"_was uttered_,"--or, "_was in uttering_."--"The foundation _was laying_,"--"_was laid_,"--or, "_was about being laid_." Worcester's opinion of the "new form" is to be inferred from his manner of naming it in the following sentence: "Within a few years, a _strange and awkward_ neologism has been introduced, by which the _present passive participle_ is substituted, in such cases as the above, for the participle in _ing_."--_Ibid._ He has two instances more, in each of which the phrase is linked with an expression of disapprobation; "' It [[Greek: tetymmenos]] signifies properly, though _in uncouth English_, one who _is being beaten_.' ABP. WHATELY.--'The bridge _is being built_, and other phrases of the like kind, _have_ pained the eye.' D. BOOTH."--_Ibid._[272] OBS. 24.--Richard Hiley, in the third edition of his Grammar, published in London, in 1840, after showing the passive use of the participle in _ing_, proceeds thus: "No ambiguity arises, we presume, from the use of the participle in this manner. To avoid, however, affixing a passive signification to the participle in _ing_, an attempt has lately been made to substitute the passive participle in its place. Thus instead of 'The house was _building_,' 'The work _imprinting_,' we sometimes hear, 'The house was _being built_,' 'The work is _being printed_.' But this mode is _contrary to the English idiom_, and has not yet obtained the sanction of reputable authority."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 30. OBS. 25.--Professor Hart, of Philadelphia, whose English Grammar was first published in 1845, justly prefers the usage which takes the progressive form occasionally in a passive sense; but, in arguing against the new substitute, he evidently remoulds the early reasoning of Dr. Bullions, errors and all; a part of which he introduces thus: "I know the correctness of this mode of expression has lately been very much assailed, and an attempt, to some extent successful, has been made [,] to introduce the form [,] _'is being built.'_ But, in the first place, the old mode of expression is a well established usage of the language, being found in our best and most correct writers. Secondly, _is being built_ does not convey the idea intended, [;] namely [,] that of _progressive action. Is being_, taken together, means simply _is_, just as _is writing_ means _writes_; therefore, _is being built_ means _is built_, a perfect and not a progressive ACTION. Or, if _being_ [and] _built_ be taken together, _they signify an_ ACTION COMPLETE, and the phrase means, as before, _the house is_ (EXISTS) _being built_."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 76. The last three sentences here are liable to many objections, some of which are suggested above. OBS. 26.--It is important, that the central phraseology of our language be so understood, as not to be _misinterpreted with credit_, or falsely expounded by popular critics and teachers. Hence errors of _exposition_ are the more particularly noticed in these observations. In "_being built_," Prof. Hart, like sundry authors named above, finds nothing but "ACTION COMPLETE." Without doubt, Butler interprets better, when he says, "'The house _is built_,' denotes an _existing state_, rather than a _completed action_." But this author, too, in his next three sentences, utters as many errors; for he adds: "The name of the agent _cannot be expressed_ in phrases of this kind. We _cannot say_, 'The house is built _by John_.' When we say, 'The house is built by mechanics,' we _do not express an existing state_."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 80. Unquestionably, "_is built by mechanics_," expresses _nothing else_ than the "_existing state_" of being "built by mechanics," together with an affirmation:--that is, the "existing state" of receiving the action of mechanics, is affirmed of "the house." And, in my judgement, one may very well say, "_The house is built by John_;" meaning, "_John is building the house._" St. Paul says, "Every house _is builded by_ SOME MAN."--_Heb._, iii, 4. In this text, the common "name of the agent" is "expressed." OBS. 27.--Wells and Weld, whose grammars date from 1846, being remarkably chary of finding anything wrong in "respectable writers," hazard no opinion of their own, concerning the correctness or incorrectness of either of the usages under discussion. They do not always see absurdity in the approbation of opposites; yet one should here, perhaps, count them with the majorities they allow. The latter says, "The participle in _ing_ is sometimes used passively; as, forty and six years was this temple in _building_; not in _being built_."--_Weld's English Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 170. Here, if he means to suggest, that "_in being built_" would "not" be good English, he teaches very erroneously; if his thought is, that this phrase would "not" express the sense of the former one, "_in building_," he palpably contradicts his own position! But he proceeds, in a note, thus: "The form of expression, _is being built, is being committed_, &c., is almost universally condemned by grammarians; but it is _sometimes_ met with in respectable writers. It occurs most frequently in newspaper paragraphs, and in hasty compositions."--_Ibid._ Wells comments thus: "Different opinions have long existed among critics respecting this passive use of the imperfect participle. Many respectable writers substitute the compound passive participle; as, 'The house is _being built_;' 'The book is _being printed_.' But the prevailing practice of the best authors is in favor of the _simple form_; as, 'The house _is building_.'"--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 148; 113th Ed., p. 161.[273] OBS. 28.--S. W. Clark, in the second edition of his Practical Grammar, stereotyped and published in New York in 1848, appears to favour the insertion of "_being_" into passive verbs; but his instructions are so obscure, so often inaccurate, and so incompatible one with an other, that it is hard to say, with certainty, what he approves. In one place, he has this position: "The Passive Voice of a verb is formed by adding the _Passive Participle_ of that verb, to the verb _be_. EXAMPLES--To _be_ loved. I _am_ feared. They _are_ worshipped."--Page 69. In an other, he has this: "When the Subject is to be represented as receiving the action, _the Passive Participle_ should be used. EXAMPLE--Henry's _lesson_ is BEING RECITED."--P. 132. Now these two positions utterly confound each other; for they are equally general, and "_the Passive Participle_" is first one thing, and then an other. Again, he has the following assertions, both false: "The Present (or First) Participle _always_ ends in _ing_, and is _limited to the Active Voice_. The Past (or Second) Participle of Regular Verbs ends in _d_ or _ed_, and is _limited to the Passive Voice_."--P. 131. Afterwards, in spite of the fancied limitation, he acknowledges the passive use of the participle in _ing_, and that there is "_authority_" for it; but, at the same time, most absurdly supposes the word to predicate "_action_," and also to be _wrong_: saying, "_Action_ is _sometimes_ predicated of a _passive_ subject. EXAMPLE--'The _house is building_,.. for.. 'The _house is being built_,'.. which means.. The house _is becoming built_." On this, he remarks thus: "This is one of the instances in which _Authority_ is against _Philosophy_. For an _act_ cannot _properly_ be predicated of a _passive agent_. Many good writers _properly reject_ this idiom. 'Mansfield's prophecy _is being realized_.'--MICHELET'S LUTHER."--_Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 133. It may require some study to learn from this _which idiom it is_. that these "many good writers reject:" but the grammarian who can talk of "_a passive agent_," without perceiving that the phrase is self-contradictory and absurd, may well be expected to entertain a "Philosophy" which is against "Authority," and likewise to prefer a ridiculous innovation to good and established usage. OBS. 29.--As most verbs are susceptible of both forms, the simple active and the compound or progressive, and likewise of a transitive and an intransitive sense in each; and as many, when taken intransitively, may have a meaning which is scarcely distinguishable from that of the passive form; it often happens that this substitution of the imperfect participle passive for the simple imperfect in _ing_, is quite needless, even when the latter is not considered passive. For example: "See by the following paragraph, how widely the bane _is being circulated!_"--_Liberator_, No. 999, p. 34. Here _is circulating_ would be better; and so would _is circulated_. Nor would either of these much vary the sense, if at all; for "_circulate_" may mean, according to Webster, "_to be diffused_," or, as Johnson and Worcester have it, "_to be dispersed_." See the second marginal note on p. 378. OBS. 30.--R. G. Parker appears to have formed a just opinion of the "modern innovation," the arguments for which are so largely examined in the foregoing observations; but the "principle" which he adduces as "conclusive" against it, if _principle_ it can be called, has scarcely any bearing on the question; certainly no more than has the simple assertion of one reputable critic, that our participle in _ing_ may occasionally be used passively. "Such expressions as the following," says he, "have recently become very common, not only in the periodical publications of the day, but are likewise finding favor with popular writers; as, 'The house _is being built_.' 'The street _is being paved_.' 'The actions that _are_ now _being performed_,' &c. 'The patents _are being prepared_.' The usage of the best writers does not sanction these expressions; and Mr. Pickbourn lays down the following principle, which is conclusive upon the subject. '_Whenever the participle_ in _ing_ is joined by an auxiliary verb to a nominative capable of the action, it is taken actively; but, when joined to one incapable of the action, it becomes passive. If we say, _The man are building a house_, the participle _building_ is evidently used in an active sense; _because_ the men are capable of the action. But when we say, _The house is building_, or, _Patents are preparing_, the participles _building_ and _preparing_ must necessarily be understood in a passive sense; because neither the house nor the patents are capable of action.'--See Pickbourn on the English Verb, pp. 78-80."--_Parker's Aids to English Composition_, p. 105. Pickbourn wrote his Dissertation before the question arose which he is here supposed to decide. Nor is he right in assuming that the common Progressive Form, of which he speaks, must be either _active-transitive_ or _passive_: I have shown above that it may be _active-intransitive_, and perhaps, in a few instances, _neuter_. The class of the verb is determined by something else than the mere _capableness_ of the "_nominative_." III. FORM OF PASSIVE VERBS. Passive verbs, in English, are always of a compound form; being made from active-transitive verbs, by adding the Perfect Participle to the auxiliary verb BE, through all its changes: thus from the active-transitive verb _love_, is formed the passive verb _be loved_. FIFTH EXAMPLE. The regular passive verb BE LOVED, conjugated affirmatively. PRINCIPAL PARTS or THE ACTIVE VERB. _Present_. _Preterit_. _Imp. Participle_. _Perf. Participle_. Love. Loved. Loving. Loved. INFINITIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. To be loved. PERFECT TENSE. To have been loved. INDICATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I am loved, 1. We are loved, 2. Thou art loved, 2. You are loved, 3. He is loved; 3. They are loved. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I was loved, 1. We were loved, 2. Thou wast loved, 2. You were loved, 3. He was loved; 3. They were loved. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I have been loved, 1. We have been loved, 2. Thou hast been loved, 2. You have been loved, 3. He has been loved; 3. They have been loved. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I had been loved, 1. We had been loved, 2. Thou hadst been loved, 2. You had been loved, 3. He had been loved; 3. They had been loved. FIRST-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I shall be loved, 1. We shall be loved, 2. Thou wilt be loved, 2. You will be loved, 3. He will be loved; 3. They will be loved. SECOND-FUTURE TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I shall have been loved, 1. We shall have been loved, 2. Thou wilt have been loved, 2. You will have been loved, 3. He will have been loved; 3. They will have been loved. POTENTIAL MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may be loved, 1. We may be loved, 2. Thou mayst be loved, 2. You may be loved, 3. He may be loved; 3. They may be loved. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might be loved, 1. We might be loved, 2. Thou mightst be loved, 2. You might be loved, 3. He might be loved; 3. They might be loved. PERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I may have been loved, 1. We may have been loved, 2. Thou mayst have been loved, 2. You may have been loved, 3. He may have been loved; 3. They may have been loved. PLUPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. I might have been loved, 1. We might have been loved, 2. Thou mightst have been loved, 2. You might have been loved, 3. He might have been loved; 3. They might have been loved. SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I be loved, 1. If we be loved, 2. If thou be loved, 2. If you be loved, 3. If he be loved; 3. If they be loved. IMPERFECT TENSE. _Singular_. _Plural_. 1. If I were loved, 1. If we were loved, 2. If thou were loved, 2. If you were loved, 3. If he were loved; 3. If they were loved. IMPERATIVE MOOD. PRESENT TENSE. _Singular_. 2. Be [thou] loved, _or_ Do thou be loved; _Plural_. 2. Be [ye or you] loved, _or_ Do you be loved. PARTICIPLES. 1. _The Imperfect_. 2. _The Perfect_. 3. _The Preperfect_. Being loved. Loved. Having been loved. FAMILIAR FORM WITH 'THOU.' NOTE.--In the familiar style, the second person singular of this verb, is usually and more properly formed thus: IND. Thou art loved, Thou was loved, Thou hast been loved, Thou had been loved, Thou shall or will be loved, Thou shall or will have been loved. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must be loved; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should be loved; Thou may, can, _or_ must have been loved; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should have been loved. SUBJ. If thou be loved, If thou were loved. IMP. Be [thou] loved, or Do thou be loved. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--A few active-intransitive verbs, that signify mere motion, change of place, or change of condition, may be put into this form, with a _neuter_ signification; making not _passive_ but _neuter_ verbs, which express nothing more than the state which results from the change: as, "_I am come_."--"She _is gone_."--"He _is risen_."--"They _are fallen_." These are what Dr. Johnson and some others call "_neuter_ passives;" a name which never was very proper, and for which we have no frequent use. OBS. 2.--Most neuter verbs of the passive form, such as, "_am grown, art become, is lain, are flown, are vanished, are departed, was sat, were arrived_," may now be considered errors of conjugation, or perhaps of syntax. In the verb, _to be mistaken_, there is an irregularity which ought to be particularly noticed. When applied to _persons_, this verb is commonly taken in a _neuter_ sense, and signifies, _to be in error, to be wrong_; as, "I _am mistaken_, thou _art mistaken_, he _is mistake_." But, when used of _things_, it is a proper passive verb, and signifies, _to be misunderstood_, or _to be taken wrong_; as, "The sense of the passage _is mistaken_; that is, not rightly understood." See _Webster's Dict., w. Mistaken_. "I have known a shadow across a brook _to be mistaken_ for a footbridge." OBS. 3.--Passive verbs may be easily distinguished from neuter verbs of the same form, by a reference to the agent or instrument, common to the former class, but not to the latter. This frequently is, and always may be, expressed after _passive_ verbs; but never is, and never can be, expressed after _neuter_ verbs: as, "The thief has been caught _by the officer_."-- "Pens are made _with a knife_." Here the verbs are passive; but, "_I am not yet ascended_," (John, xx, 17,) is not passive, because it does not convey the idea of being ascended _by_ some one's agency. OBS. 4.--Our ancient writers, after the manner of the French, very frequently employed this mode of conjugation in a neuter sense; but, with a very few exceptions, present usage is clearly in favour of the auxiliary _have_ in preference to _be_, whenever the verb formed with the perfect participle is not passive; as, "They _have_ arrived,"--not, "They _are_ arrived." Hence such examples as the following, are not now good English: "All these reasons _are_ now ceased."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 157. Say, "_have now_ ceased." "Whether he _were_ not got beyond the reach of his faculties."--_Ib._, p. 158. Say, "_had_ not got." "Which _is_ now grown wholly obsolete."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 330. Say, "_has_ now grown." "And when he _was_ entered into a ship."--_Bible_. Say, "_had_ entered."-- "What _is_ become of decency and virtue?"--_Murray's Key_, p. 196. Say, "_has_ become." OBS. 5.--Dr. Priestley says, "It seems _not to have been determined_ by the English grammarians, whether the _passive_ participles of verbs neuter require the auxiliary _am_ or _have_ before them. The French, in this case, confine themselves strictly to the former. 'What _has become_ of national liberty?' Hume's History, Vol. 6. p. 254. The French would say, _what is become_; and, in this instance, perhaps, with more propriety."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 128. It is no marvel that those writers who have not rightly made up their minds upon this point of English grammar, should consequently fall into many mistakes. The perfect participle of a neuter verb is not "_passive_," as the doctor seems to suppose it to be; and the mode of conjugation which he here inclines to prefer, is a mere _Gallicism_, which is fast wearing out from our language, and is even now but little countenanced by good writers. OBS. 6.--There are a few verbs of the passive form which seem to imply that a person's own mind is the agent that actuates him; as, "The editor _is rejoiced_ to think," &c.--_Juvenile Keepsake_. "I _am resolved_ what to do."--_Luke_, xvi, 4. "He _was resolved_ on going to the city to reside."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 114. "James _was resolved_ not to indulge himself."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 220. "He _is inclined_ to go."--"He _is determined_ to go."--"He _is bent_ on going." These are properly passive verbs, notwithstanding there are active forms which are nearly equivalent to most of them; as, "The editor _rejoices_ to think."--"I _know_ what to do."--"He _had resolved_ on going."--"James _resolved_ not to indulge himself." So in the phrase, "I _am ashamed_ to beg," we seem to have a passive verb of this sort; but, the verb _to ashame_ being now obsolete, _ashamed_ is commonly reckoned an _adjective_. Yet we cannot put it before a noun, after the usual manner of adjectives. _To be indebted_, is an other expression of the same kind. In the following example, "_am remember'd_" is used for _do remember_, and, in my opinion, _inaccurately_: "He said mine eyes were black, and my hair black; And, now I _am remember'd_, scorn'd at me."--_Shakspeare_. IV. FORM OF NEGATION. A verb is conjugated _negatively_, by placing the adverb _not_ after it, or after the first auxiliary; but the infinitive and participles take the negative first: as, Not to love, Not to have loved; Not loving, Not loved, Not having loved. FIRST PERSON SINGULAR. IND. I love not, _or_ I do not love; I loved not, _or_ I did not love; I have not loved; I had not loved; I shall not, _or_ will not, love; I shall not, _or_ will not, have loved. POT. I may, can, _or_ must not love; I might, could, would, _or_ should not love; I may, can, _or_ must not have loved; I might, could, would, _or_ should not have loved, SUBJ. If I love not, If I loved not. SECOND PERSON SINGULAR. SOLEMN STYLE:--IND. Thou lovest not, _or_ Thou dost not love; Thou lovedst not, _or_ Thou didst not love; Thou hast not loved; Thou hadst not loved; Thou shalt not, _or_ wilt not, love; Thou shalt not, _or_ wilt not, have loved. POT. Thou mayst, canst, _or_ must not love; Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst not love; Thou mayst, canst, _or_ must not have loved; Thou mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst not have loved. SUBJ. If thou love not, If thou loved not. IMP. Love [thou] not, _or_ Do thou not love. FAMILIAR STYLE:--IND. Thou lov'st not, _or_ Thou dost not love; Thou loved not, _or_ Thou did not love; Thou hast not loved; Thou had not loved; Thou shall not, _or_ will not, love; Thou shall not, _or_ will not, have loved. POT. Thou may, can, _or_ must not love; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should not love; Thou may, can, _or_ must not have loved; Thou might, could, would, _or_ should not have loved. SUBJ. If thou love not, If thou loved not. IMP. Love [thou] not, _or_ Do [thou] not love. THIRD PERSON SINGULAR. IND. He loves not, _or_ He does not love; He loved not, _or_ He did not love; He has not loved; He had not loved; He shall not, _or_ will not, love; He shall not, _or_ will not, have loved. POT. He may, can, _or_ must not love; He might, could, would, _or_ should not love; He may, can, _or_ must not have loved; He might, could, would, _or_ should not have loved. SUBJ. If he love not, If he loved not. V. FORM OF QUESTION. A verb is conjugated _interrogatively_, in the indicative and potential moods, by placing the nominative after it, or after the first auxiliary: as, FIRST PERSON SINGULAR. IND. Love I? _or_ Do I love? Loved I? _or_ Did I love? Have I loved? Had I loved? Shall I love? Shall I have loved? POT. May, can, _or_ must I love? Might, could, would, _or_ should I love? May, can, _or_ must I have loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should I have loved? SECOND PERSON SINGULAR. SOLEMN STYLE:--IND. Lovest thou? _or_ Dost thou love? Lovedst thou? _or_ Didst thou love? Hast thou loved? Hadst thou loved? Wilt thou love? Wilt thou have loved? POT. Mayst, canst, _or_ must thou love? Mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst thou love? Mayst, canst, _or_ must thou have loved? Mightst, couldst, wouldst, _or_ shouldst thou have loved? FAMILIAR STYLE:--IND. Lov'st thou? _or_ Dost thou love? Loved thou? _or_ Did thou love? Hast thou loved? Had thou loved? Will thou love? Will thou have loved? POT. May, can, _or_ must thou love? Might, could, would, _or_ should thou love? May, can, _or_ must thou have loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should thou have loved? THIRD PERSON SINGULAR. IND. Loves he? _or_ Does he love? Loved he? _or_ Did he love? Has he loved? Had he loved? Shall _or_ will he love? Will he have loved? POT. May, can, _or_ must he love? Might, could, would, _or_ should he love? May, can, _or_ must he have loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should he have loved? VI. FORM OF QUESTION WITH NEGATION. A verb is conjugated _interrogatively and negatively_, in the indicative and potential moods, by placing the nominative and the adverb _not_ after the verb, or after the first auxiliary: as, FIRST PERSON PLURAL. IND. Love we not? _or_ Do we not love? Loved we not? _or_ Did we not love? Have we not loved? Had we not loved? Shall we not love? Shall we not have loved? POT. May, can, _or_ must we not love? Might, could, would, _or_ should we not love? May, can, _or_ must we not have loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should we not have loved? SECOND PERSON PLURAL. IND. See ye not? _or_ Do you not see? Saw ye not? _or_ Did you not see? Have you not seen? Had you not seen? Will you not see? Will you not have seen? POT. May, can, _or_ must you not see? Might, could, would, _or_ should you not see? May, can, _or_ must you not have seen? Might, could, would, _or_ should you not have seen? THIRD PERSON PLURAL. IND. Are they not loved? Were they not loved? Have they not been loved? Had they not been loved? Shall _or_ will they not be loved? Will they not have been loved? May, can, _or_ must they not be loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should they not be loved? May, can, _or_ must they not have been loved? Might, could, would, _or_ should they not have been loved? OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In a familiar question or negation, the compound or auxiliary form of the verb is, in general, preferable to the simple: as, "No man lives to purpose, who _does not live_ for posterity."--_Dr. Wayland_. It is indeed so much more common, as to seem the only proper mode of expression: as, "_Do I say_ these things as a man?"--"_Do you think_ that we excuse ourselves?"--"_Do you not know_ that a little leaven _leavens_ the whole lump?"--"_Dost thou revile?_" &c. But in the solemn or the poetic style, though either may be used, the simple form is more dignified, and perhaps more graceful: as, "_Say I_ these things as a man?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 8. "_Think ye_ that we excuse ourselves?"--_2 Cor._, xii, 19. "_Know ye not_ that a little leaven _leaveneth_ the whole lump?"--_1 Cor._, v, 6. "_Revilest thou_ God's high priest?"--_Acts_. "King Agrippa, _believest thou_ the prophets?"--_Ib._ "_Understandest thou_ what thou readest?"--_Ib._ "Of whom _speaketh_ the prophet this?"--_Id._ "And the man of God said, Where _fell it?_"--_2 Kings_, vi, 6. "What! _heard ye not_ of lowland war?"--_Sir W. Scott, L. L._ "_Seems he not_, Malise, like a ghost?"--_Id., L. of Lake_. "Where _thinkst thou_ he is now? _Stands he_, or _sits he?_ Or _does he walk?_ or _is he_ on his horse?"--_Shak., Ant. and Cleop._ OBS. 2.--In interrogative sentences, the auxiliaries _shall_ and _will_ are not always capable of being applied to the different persons agreeably to their use in simple declarations: thus, "_Will_ I go?" is a question which there never can be any occasion to ask in its literal sense; because none knows better than I, what my will or wish is. But "_Shall_ I go?" may properly be asked; because _shall_ here refers to _duty_, and asks to know what is agreeable to the will of an other. In questions, the first person generally requires _shall_; the second, _will_; the third admits of both: but, in the second-future, the third, used interrogatively, seems to require _will_ only. Yet, in that figurative kind of interrogation which is sometimes used to declare a negative, there may be occasional exceptions to these principles; as, "_Will I eat_ the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?"--_Psalms_, 1, 13. That is, _I will not eat_, &c. OBS. 3.--_Cannot_ is not properly one word, but two: in parsing, the adverb must be taken separately, and the auxiliary be explained with its principal. When power is denied, _can_ and _not_ are now _generally united_--perhaps in order to prevent ambiguity; as, "I _cannot_ go." But when the power is affirmed, and something else is denied, the words are written separately; as, "The Christian apologist _can not merely_ expose the utter baseness of the infidel assertion, but he has positive ground for erecting an opposite and confronting assertion in its place."--_Dr. Chalmers._ The junction of these terms, however, is not of much importance to the sense; and, as it is plainly contrary to analogy, some writers,--(as Dr. Webster, in his late or "improved" works; Dr. Bullions, in his; Prof. W. C. Fowler, in his new "English Grammar," 8vo; R. C. Trench, in his "Study of Words;" T. S. Pinneo, in his "revised" grammars; J. R. Chandler, W. S. Cardell, O. B. Peirce,--) always separate them. And, indeed, why should we write, "I _cannot_ go, Thou _canst not_ go, He _cannot_ go?" Apart from the custom, we have just as good reason to join _not_ to _canst_ as to _can_; and sometimes its union with the latter is a gross error: as, "He _cannot only_ make a way to escape, but with the injunction to duty can infuse the power to perform."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 287. The fear of ambiguity never prevents us from disjoining _can_ and _not_ whenever we wish to put a word between them: as, "Though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet _can_ they _not_ prevail; though they roar, yet _can_ they _not_ pass over it."--_Jeremiah_, v, 22. "Which then I _can_ resist _not_."--_Byron's Manfred_, p. 1. "_Can_ I _not_ mountain maiden spy, But she must bear the Douglas eye?"--_Scott_. OBS. 4.--In negative questions, the adverb _not_ is sometimes placed before the nominative, and sometimes after it: as, "Told _not I_ thee?"--_Numb._, xxiii, 26. "Spake _I not_ also to thy messengers?"--_Ib._, xxiv, 12. "_Cannot I_ do with you as this potter?"--_Jer._, xviii, 6. "Art _not thou_ a seer?"--_2 Sam._, xv, 27. "Did _not Israel_ know?"--_Rom._, x, 19. "Have _they not_ heard?"--_Ib._, 18. "Do _not they_ blaspheme that worthy name?"--_James_, ii, 7. This adverb, like every other, should be placed where it will sound most agreeably, and best suit the sense. Dr. Priestley imagined that it could not properly come before the nominative. He says, "When the nominative case is put after the verb, on account of _an_ interrogation, _no other word_ should be interposed between them. [EXAMPLES:] 'May _not we_ here say with Lucretius?'--Addison on Medals, p. 29. May _we not_ say? 'Is _not it_ he.' [?] Smollett's Voltaire, Vol 18, p. 152. Is _it not_ he. [?]"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 177. OBS. 5.--In grave discourse, or in oratory, the adverb _not_ is spoken as distinctly as other words; but, _ordinarily_, when placed before the nominative, it is rapidly slurred over in utterance and the _o_ is not heard. In fact, it is _generally_ (though inelegantly) contracted in familiar conversation, and joined to the auxiliary: as, IND. Don't they do it? Didn't they do it? Haven't they done it? Hadn't they done it? Shan't, _or_ won't they do it? Won't they have done it? POT. Mayn't, can't, _or_ mustn't they do it? Mightn't, couldn't, wouldn't, _or_ shouldn't they do it? Mayn't, can't, _or_ mustn't they have done it? Mightn't, couldn't, wouldn't, _or_ shouldn't they have done it? OBS. 6.--Well-educated people commonly utter their words with more distinctness and fullness than the vulgar, yet without adopting ordinarily the long-drawn syllables of poets and orators, or the solemn phraseology of preachers and prophets. Whatever may be thought of the grammatical propriety of such contractions as the foregoing, no one who has ever observed how the English language is usually spoken, will doubt their commonness, or their antiquity. And it may be observed, that, in the use of these forms, the distinction of persons and numbers in the verb, is almost, if not entirely, dropped. Thus _don't_ is used for _dost not_ or _does not_, as properly as for _do not_; and, "_Thou can't_ do it, or _shan't_ do it," is as good English as, "_He can't_ do it, or _shan't_ do it." _Will_, according to Webster, was anciently written _woll_: hence _won't_ acquired the _o_, which is long in Walker's orthoepy. _Haven't_, which cannot be used for _has not_ or _hast not_, is still further contracted by the vulgar, and spoken _ha'nt_, which serves for all three. These forms are sometimes found in books; as, "WONT, a contraction of _woll not_, that is, _will not_."--_Webster's Dict._ "HA'NT, a contraction of _have not_ or _has not_."--_Id._ "WONT, (w=ont _or_ w~unt,) A contraction of _would not_:-- used for _will_ not."--_Worcester's Dict._ "HAN'T, (haent or h=ant,) A vulgar contraction for _has not_, or _have not_."--_Id._ In the writing of such contractions, the apostrophe is not always used; though some think it necessary for distinction's sake: as, "Which is equivalent, because what _can't_ be done _won't_ be done."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 312. IRREGULAR VERBS. An _irregular verb_ is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_; as, _see, saw, seeing, seen_. Of this class of verbs there are about one hundred and ten, beside their several derivatives and compounds. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Regular verbs form their preterits and perfect participles, by adding _d_ to final _e_, and _ed_ to all other terminations; the final consonant of the verb being sometimes doubled, (as in _dropped_,) and final _y_ sometimes changed into _i_, (as in _cried_,) agreeably to the rules for spelling in such cases. The verb _hear, heard, hearing, heard_, adds _d_ to _r_, and is therefore irregular. _Heard_ is pronounced _h~erd_ by all our lexicographers, except _Webster_: who formerly wrote it _heerd_, and still pronounces it so; alleging, in despite of universal usage against him, that it is written "more correctly _heared_."--_Octavo Dict._, 1829. Such pronunciation would doubtless require this last orthography, "_heared_;" but both are, in fact, about as fanciful as his former mode of spelling, which ran thus: "_Az_ I had _heerd_ suggested by _frends_ or indifferent _reeders_."--_Dr. Webster's Essays, Preface_, p. 10. OBS. 2.--When a verb ends in a sharp consonant, _t_ is sometimes improperly substituted for _ed_, making the preterit and the perfect participle irregular in spelling, when they are not so in sound; as, _distrest_ for _distressed, tost_ for _tossed, mixt_ for _mixed, cract_ for _cracked_. These contractions are now generally treated as _errors_ in writing; and the verbs are accordingly (with a few exceptions) accounted regular. Lord Kames commends Dean Swift for having done "all in his power to restore the syllable _ed_;" says, he "possessed, if any man ever did, the true genius of the English tongue;" and thinks that in rejecting these ugly contractions, "he well deserves to be imitated."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 12. The regular orthography is indeed to be preferred in all such cases; but the writing of _ed_ restores no syllable, except in solemn discourse; and, after all, the poems of Swift have so very many of these irregular contractions in _t_, that one can hardly believe his lordship had ever read them. Since the days of these critics still more has been done towards the restoration of the _ed_, in orthography, though not in sound; but, even at this present time, our poets not unfrequently write, _est_ for _essed_ or _ess'd_, in forming the preterits or participles of verbs that end in the syllable _ess_. This is an ill practice, which needlessly multiplies our redundant verbs, and greatly embarrasses what it seems at first to simplify: as, "O friend! I know not which way I must look For comfort, being, as I am, _opprest_, To think that now our life is only _drest_ For show."--_Wordsworth's Poetical Works_, 8vo, p. 119. OBS. 3.--When the verb ends with a smooth consonant, the substitution of _t_ for _ed_ produces an irregularity in sound as well as in writing. In some such irregularities, the poets are indulged for the sake of rhyme; but the best speakers and writers of prose prefer the regular form, wherever good use has sanctioned it: thus _learned_ is better than _learnt; burned_, than _burnt; penned_, than _pent; absorbed_, than _absorbt; spelled_, than _spelt; smelled_, than _smelt_. So many of this sort of words as are allowably contracted, belong to the class of redundant verbs, among which they may be seen in a subsequent table. OBS. 4.--Several of the irregular verbs are variously used by the best authors; redundant forms are occasionally given to some verbs, without sufficient authority; and many preterits and participles which were formerly in good use, are now obsolete, or becoming so. The _simple_ irregular verbs in English are about one hundred and ten, and they are nearly all monosyllables. They are derived from the Saxon, in which language they are also, for the most part, irregular. OBS. 5.--The following alphabetical list exhibits the simple irregular verbs, as they are _now generally_ used. In this list, those preterits and participles which are supposed to be preferable, and best supported by authorities, are placed first. Nearly all compounds that follow the form of their simple verbs, or derivatives that follow their primitives, are here purposely omitted. _Welcome_ and _behave_ are always regular, and therefore belong not here. Some words which are obsolete, have also been omitted, that the learner might not mistake them for words in present use. Some of those which are placed last, are now little used. LIST OF THE IRREGULAR VERBS. _Imperfect Perfect_ _Present. Preterit. Participle. Participle_. Arise, arose, arising, arisen. Be, was, being, been. Bear, bore _or_ bare, bearing, borne _or_ born.[274] Beat, beat, beating, beaten _or_ beat. Begin, began _or_ begun,[275] beginning, begun. Behold, beheld, beholding, beheld. Beset, beset, besetting, beset. Bestead, bestead, besteading, bestead.[276] Bid, bid _or_ bade, bidding, bidden _or_ bid. Bind, bound, bing, bound. Bite, bit, biting, bitten _or_ bit. Bleed, bled, bleeding, bled. Break, broke,[277] breaking, broken. Breed, bred, breeding, bred. Bring, brought, bringing, brought. Buy, bought, buying, bought. Cast, cast, casting, cast. Chide, chid, chiding, chidden _or_ chid. Choose, chose, choosing, chosen. Cleave,[278] cleft _or_ clove, cleaving, cleft _or_ cloven. Cling, clung, clinging, clung. Come, came, coming, come. Cost, cost, costing, cost. Cut, cut, cutting, cut. Do, did, doing, done. Draw, drew, drawing, drawn. Drink, drank, drinking, drunk, _or_ drank.[279] Drive, drove, driving, driven. Eat, ate _or_ ~eat, eating, eaten _or_ eat. Fall, fell, falling, fallen. Feed, fed, feeding, fed. Feel, felt, feeling, felt. Fight, fought, fighting, fought. Find, found, finding, found. Flee, fled, fleeing, fled. Fling, flung, flinging, flung. Fly, flew, flying, flown. Forbear, forbore, forbearing, forborne. Forsake, forsook, forsaking, forsaken. Get, got, getting, got _or_ gotten. Give, gave, giving, given. Go, went, going, gone. Grow, grew, growing, grown. Have, had, having, had. Hear, heard, hearing, heard. Hide, hid, hiding, hidden _or_ hid. Hit, hit, hitting, hit. Hold, held, holding, held _or_ holden.[280] Hurt, hurt, hurting, hurt.[281] Keep, kept,[282] keeping, kept. Know, knew, knowing, known. Lead, led, leading, led. Leave, left, leaving, left. Lend, lent, lending, lent. Let, let, letting, let Lie,[283] lay, lying, lain. Lose, lost, losing, lost. Make, made, making, made. Meet, met, meeting, met. Outdo, outdid, outdoing, outdone. Put, put, putting, put. Read, r~ead, reading, r~ead. Rend, rent, rending, rent.[284] Rid, rid, ridding, rid. Ride, rode, riding, ridden _or_ rode. Ring, rung _or_ rang, ringing, rung. Rise, rose, rising, risen. Run, ran _or_ run, running, run. Say, said, saying, said.[285] See, saw, seeing, seen. Seek, sought, seeking, sought. Sell, sold, selling, sold. Send, sent, sending, sent. Set, set, setting, set. Shed, shed, shedding, shed. Shoe, shod, shoeing, shod.[286] Shoot, shot, shooting, shot. Shut, shut, shutting, shut. Shred, shred, shredding, shred. Shrink, shrunk _or_ shrank, shrinking, shrunk _or_ shrunken. Sing, sung _or_ sang,[287] singing, sung. Sink, sunk _or_ sank, sinking, sunk. Sit, sat, sitting, sat.[288] Slay, slew, slaying, slain. Sling, slung, slinging, slung. Slink, slunk _or_ slank, slinking, slunk. Smite, smote, smiting, smitten _or_ smit. Speak, spoke, speaking, spoken. Spend, spent, spending, spent. Spin, spun, spinning, spun. Spit, spit _or_ spat, spitting, spit _or_ spitten. Spread, spread, spreading, spread. Spring, sprung _or_ sprang, springing, sprung. Stand, stood, standing, stood. Steal, stole, stealing, stolen. Stick, stuck, sticking, stuck. Sting, stung, stinging, stung. Stink, stunk _or_ stank, stinking, stunk. Stride, strode _or_ strid, striding, stridden _or_ strid.[289] Strike, struck, striking, struck _or_ stricken. Swear, swore, swearing, sworn. Swim, swum _or_ swam, swimming, swum. Swing, swung _or_ swang, swinging, swung. Take, took, taking, taken. Teach, taught, teaching, taught. Tear, tore, tearing, torn. Tell, told, telling, told. Think, thought, thinking, thought. Thrust, thrust, thrusting, thrust. Tread, trod, treading, trodden _or_ trod. Wear, wore, wearing, worn. Win, won, winning, won. Write, wrote, writing, written.[290] REDUNDANT VERBS. A _redundant verb_ is a verb that forms the preterit or the perfect participle in two or more ways, and so as to be both regular and irregular; as, _thrive, thrived_ or _throve, thriving, thrived_ or _thriven_. Of this class of verbs, there are about ninety-five, beside sundry derivatives and compounds. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Those irregular verbs which have more than one form for the preterit or for the perfect participle, are in some sense redundant; but, as there is no occasion to make a distinct class of such as have double forms that are never regular, these redundancies are either included in the preceding list of the simple irregular verbs, or omitted as being improper to be now recognized for good English. Several examples of the latter kind, including both innovations and archaisms, will appear among the improprieties for correction, at the end of this chapter. A few old preterits or participles may perhaps be accounted good English in the solemn style, which are not so in the familiar: as, "And none _spake_ a word unto him."--_Job_, ii, 13. "When I _brake_ the five loaves."--_Mark_, viii, 19. "And he _drave_ them from the judgement-seat."--_Acts_, xviii, 16. "Serve me till I have eaten and _drunken_."--_Luke_, xvii, 8. "It was not possible that he should be _holden_ of it."--_Acts_, ii, 24. "Thou _castedst_ them down into destruction."--_Psal._, lxxiii, 18. "Behold, I was _shapen_ in iniquity."--_Ib._, li, 5. "A meat-offering _baken_ in the oven."--_Leviticus_, ii, 4. "With _casted_ slough, and fresh celerity."--SHAK., _Henry V_. "Thy dreadful vow, _loaden_ with death."--ADDISON: _in Joh. Dict._ OBS. 2.--The verb _bet_ is given in Worcester's Dictionary, as being always regular: "BET, _v. a._ [_i_. BETTED; _pp_. BETTING, BETTED.] To wager; to lay a wager or bet. SHAK."--_Octavo Dict._ In Ainsworth's Grammar, it is given as being always irregular: "_Present_, Bet; _Imperfect_, Bet; _Participle_, Bet."--Page 36. On the authority of these, and of some others cited in OBS. 6th below, I have put it with the redundant verbs. The verb _prove_ is redundant, if _proven_, which is noticed by Webster, Bolles, and Worcester, is an admissible word. "The participle _proven_ is used in Scotland and in some parts of the United States, and sometimes, though rarely, in England.--'There is a mighty difference between _not proven_ and _disproven_.' DR. TH. CHALMERS. 'Not _proven_.' QU. REV."--_Worcester's Universal and Critical Dict._ The verbs _bless_ and _dress_ are to be considered redundant, according to the authority of Worcester, Webster, Bolles, and others. Cobbett will have the verbs, _cast, chide, cling, draw, grow, shred, sling, slink, spring, sting, stride, swim, swing_, and _thrust_, to be always regular; but I find no sufficient authority for allowing to any of them a regular form; and therefore leave them, where they always have been, in the list of simple irregulars. These fourteen verbs are a part of the long list of _seventy_ which this author says, "are, by some persons, _erroneously_ deemed irregular." Of the following _nine_ only, is his assertion true; namely, _dip, help, load, overflow, slip, snow, stamp, strip, whip_. These nine ought always to be formed regularly; for all their irregularities may well be reckoned obsolete. After these deductions from this most erroneous catalogue, there remain forty-five other very common verbs, to be disposed of contrary to this author's instructions. All but two of these I shall place in the list of _redundant_ verbs; though for the use of _throwed_ I find no written authority but his and William B. Fowle's. The two which I do not consider redundant are _spit_ and _strew_, of which it may be proper to take more particular notice. OBS. 3.--_Spit_, to stab, or to put upon a spit, is regular; as, "I _spitted frogs_, I crushed a heap of emmets."--_Dryden. Spit_, to throw out saliva, is irregular, and most properly formed thus: _spit, spit, spitting, spit. "Spat_ is obsolete."--_Webster's Dict._ It is used in the Bible; as, "He _spat_ on the ground, and made clay of the spittle."--_John_, ix, 6. L. Murray gives this verb thus: "Pres. _Spit_; Imp. _spit, spat_; Perf. Part. _spit, spitten_." NOTE: "_Spitten_ is nearly obsolete."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 106. Sanborn has it thus: "Pres. _Spit_; Imp. _spit_; Pres. Part. _spitting_; Perf. Part. _spit, spat_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 48. Cobbett, at first, taking it in the form, "to _spit_, I _spat, spitten_," placed it among the seventy which he so erroneously thought should be made regular; afterwards he left it only in his list of irregulars, thus: "to _spit_, I _spit, spitten_."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, of 1832, p. 54. Churchill, in 1823, preferring the older forms, gave it thus: "_Spit, spat_ or _spit, spitten_ or _spit_."--_New Gram._, p. 111. NOTE:--"Johnson gives _spat_ as the preterimperfect, and _spit_ or _spitted_ as the participle of this verb, when it means to pierce through with a pointed instrument: but in this sense, I believe, it is always regular; while, on the other hand, the regular form is now never used, when it signifies to eject from the mouth; though we find in _Luke_, xviii, 32, 'He shall be _spitted_ on.'"--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 264. This text ought to have been, "He shall be _spit_ upon." OBS. 4.--_To strew_ is in fact nothing else than an other mode of spelling the verb _to strow_; as _shew_ is an obsolete form for _show_; but if we pronounce the two forms differently, we make them different words. Walker, and some others, pronounce them alike, _stro_; Sheridan, Jones, Jameson, and Webster, distinguish them in utterance, _stroo_ and _stro_. This is convenient for the sake of rhyme, and perhaps therefore preferable. But _strew_, I incline to think, is properly a regular verb only, though Wells and Worcester give it otherwise: if _strewn_ has ever been proper, it seems now to be obsolete. EXAMPLES: "Others cut down branches from the trees, and _strewed_ them in the way."--_Matt._, xxi, 8. "Gathering where thou hast not _strewed_."--_Matt._, xxv, 24. "Their name, their years, _spelt_ by th' unletter'd _muse_, The place of fame and elegy supply; And many _a holy text_ around she _strews_, _That teach_ the rustic moralist to die."--_Gray_. OBS. 5.--The list which I give below, prepared with great care, exhibits the redundant verbs, as they are now generally used, or as they may be used without grammatical impropriety.[291] Those forms which are supposed to be preferable, and best supported by authorities, are placed first. No words are inserted here, but such as some modern authors countenance. L. Murray recognizes _bereaved, catched, dealed, digged, dwelled, hanged, knitted, shined, spilled_; and, in his early editions, he approved of _bended, builded, creeped, weaved, worked, wringed_. His two larger books now tell us, "The Compiler _has not inserted_ such verbs as _learnt, spelt, spilt_, &c. which are improperly terminated by _t_, instead of _ed_."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 107; _Duodecimo_, p. 97. But if he did not, in all his grammars, insert, "_Spill, spilt_, R. _spilt_, R.," (pp. 106, 96,) preferring the irregular form to the regular, somebody else has done it for him. And, what is remarkable, many of his _amenders_, as if misled by some evil genius, have contradicted themselves in precisely the same way! Ingersoll, Fisk, Merchant, and Hart, republish exactly the foregoing words, and severally become "_The Compiler_" of the same erroneous catalogue! Kirkham prefers _spilt_ to _spilled_, and then declares the word to be "_improperly_ terminated by _t_ instead of _ed_."--_Gram._, p. 151. Greenleaf, who condemns _learnt_ and _spelt_, thinks _dwelt_ and _spilt_ are "the _only established_ forms;" yet he will have _dwell_ and _spill_ to be "_regular_" verbs, as well as "_irregular!_"--_Gram. Simp._, p. 29. Webber prefers _spilled_ to _spilt_; but Picket admits only the latter. Cobbett and Sanborn prefer _bereaved, builded, dealed, digged, dreamed, hanged_, and _knitted_, to _bereft, built, dealt, dug, dreamt, hung_, and _knit_. The former prefers _creeped_ to _crept_, and _freezed_ to _froze_; the latter, _slitted_ to _slit, wringed_ to _wrung_; and both consider, "_I bended_," "_I bursted_" and "_I blowed_," to be good modern English. W. Allen acknowledges _freezed_ and _slided_; and, like Webster, prefers _hove_ to _hoven_: but the latter justly prefers _heaved_ to both. EXAMP.: "The supple kinsman _slided_ to the helm."--_New Timon_. "The rogues _slided_ me into the river."--_Shak_. "And the sand _slided_ from beneath my feet."-- DR. JOHNSON: _in Murray's Sequel_, p. 179. "Wherewith she _freez'd_ her foes to congeal'd stone."--_Milton's Comus_, l. 449. "It _freezed_ hard last night. Now, what was it that _freezed_ so hard?"--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 25. "Far hence lies, ever _freez'd_, the northern main."--_Savage's Wanderer_, l. 57. "Has he not taught, _beseeched_, and shed abroad the Spirit unconfined?"--_Pollok's Course of Time_, B. x, l. 275. OBS. 6.--D. Blair supposes _catched_ to be an "erroneous" word and unauthorized: "I _catch'd_ it," for "I _caught_ it," he sets down for a "_vulgarism_."--_E. Gram._, p. 111. But _catched_ is used by some of the most celebrated authors. Dearborn prefers the regular form of _creep_: "creep, creeped _or_ crept, creeped _or_ crept."--_Columbian Gram._, p. 38. I adopt no man's opinions implicitly; copy nothing without examination; but, _to prove all my decisions to be right_, would be an endless task. I shall do as much as ought to be expected, toward showing that they are so. It is to be remembered, that the _poets_, as well as the _vulgar_, use some forms which a _gentleman_ would be likely to avoid, unless he meant to quote or imitate; as, "So _clomb_ the first grand thief into God's fold; So since into his church lewd hirelings climb." --_Milton, P. L._, B. iv, l. 192. "He _shore_ his sheep, and, having packed the wool, Sent them unguarded to the hill of wolves." --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. vi, l. 306. ------"The King of heav'n Bar'd his red arm, and launching from the sky His _writhen_ bolt, not shaking empty smoke, Down to the deep abyss the flaming felon _strook_." --_Dryden_. OBS. 7.--The following are examples in proof of some of the forms acknowledged below: "Where etiquette and precedence _abided_ far away."--_Paulding's Westward-Ho!_ p. 6. "But there were no secrets where Mrs. Judith Paddock _abided_."--_Ib._, p. 8. "They _abided_ by the forms of government established by the charters."--_John Quincy Adams, Oration_, 1831. "I have _abode_ consequences often enough in the course of my life."--_Id., Speech_, 1839. "Present, _bide_, or _abide_; Past, _bode, or abode_."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 104. "I _awaked_ up last of all."--_Ecclus._, xxxiii, 16. "For this are my knees _bended_ before the God of the spirits of all flesh."--_Wm. Penn_. "There was never a prince _bereaved_ of his dependencies," &c.--_Bacon_. "Madam, you have _bereft_ me of all words."--_Shakspeare_. "Reave, _reaved or reft_, reaving, _reaved or reft_. _Bereave_ is similar."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, p. 65. "And let them tell their tales of woful ages, long ago _betid_."--_Shak_. "Of every nation _blent_, and every age."--_Pollok, C. of T._, B vii, p. 153. "Rider and horse,--friend, foe,--in one red burial _blent!_"--_Byron, Harold_, C. iii, st. 28. "I _builded_ me houses."--_Ecclesiastes_, ii, 4. "For every house is _builded_ by some man; but he that _built_ all things is God."--_Heb_. iii, 4. "What thy hands _builded_ not, thy wisdom gained."--_Milton's P. L._, X, 373. "Present, _bet_; Past, _bet_; Participle, _bet_."-- _Mackintosh's Gram._, p. 197; _Alexander's_, 38. "John of Gaunt loved him well, and _betted_ much upon his head."--SHAKSPEARE: _Joh. Dict, w. Bet_. "He lost every earthly thing he _betted_."--PRIOR: _ib._ "A seraph _kneeled_."--_Pollok, C. T._, p. 95. "At first, he declared he himself would be _blowed_, Ere his conscience with such a foul crime he would load." --_J. R. Lowell_. "They are _catched_ without art or industry."--_Robertson's Amer._,-Vol. i, p. 302. "Apt to be _catched_ and dazzled."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 26. "The lion being _catched_ in a net."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 232. "In their self-will they _digged_ down a wall."--_Gen._, xlix, 6. "The royal mother instantly _dove_ to the bottom and brought up her babe unharmed."-- _Trumbull's America_, i, 144. "The learned have _diven_ into the secrets of nature."--CARNOT: _Columbian Orator_, p. 82. "They have _awoke_ from that ignorance in which they had slept."--_London Encyclopedia_. "And he _slept_ and _dreamed_ the second time."--_Gen._, xli, 5. "So I _awoke_."--_Ib._, 21. "But he _hanged_ the chief baker."--_Gen._, xl, 22. "Make as if you _hanged_ yourself."--ARBUTHNOT: _in Joh. Dict._ "_Graven_ by art and man's device."--_Acts_, xvii, 29. "_Grav'd_ on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."--_Gray_. "That the tooth of usury may be _grinded_."--_Lord Bacon_. "MILN-EE, The hole from which the _grinded_ corn falls into the chest below."--_Glossary of Craven_, London, 1828. "UNGRUND, Not _grinded_."-- _Ibid._ "And he _built_ the inner court with three rows of _hewed_ stone."--_1 Kings_, vi, 36. "A thing by which matter is _hewed_."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 378. "SCAGD or SCAD _meaned_ distinction, dividing."--_Ib._, i, 114. "He only _meaned_ to acknowledge him to be an extraordinary person."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 12. "_The_ determines what particular thing is _meaned_."--_Ib._, p. 11. "If Hermia _mean'd_ to say Lysander lied."--_Shak_. "As if I _meaned_ not the first but the second creation."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 289. "From some stones have rivers _bursted_ forth."--_Sale's Koran_, Vol. i, p. 14. "So move we on; I only _meant_ To show the reed on which you _leant_."--_Scott, L. L._, C. v, st. 11. OBS. 8.--_Layed, payed_, and _stayed_, are now less common than _laid, paid_, and _staid_; but perhaps not less correct, since they are the same words in a more regular and not uncommon orthography: "Thou takest up that [which] thou _layedst_ not down."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, SMITH'S, BRUCE'S: _Luke_, xix, 21. Scott's Bible, in this place, has "_layest_," which is wrong in tense. "Thou _layedst_ affliction upon our loins."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Psalms_, lxvi, 11. "Thou _laidest_ affliction upon our loins."--SCOTT'S BIBLE, _and_ BRUCE'S. "Thou _laidst_ affliction upon our loins."--SMITH'S BIBLE, Stereotyped by J. Howe. "Which gently _lay'd_ my knighthood on my shoulder."--SINGER'S SHAKSPEARE: _Richard II_, Act i, Sc. 1. "But no regard was _payed_ to his remonstrance."--_Smollett's England_, Vol. iii, p. 212. "Therefore the heaven over you is _stayed_ from dew, and the earth is _stayed_ from her fruit."--_Haggai_, i, 10. "STAY, _i_. STAYED _or_ STAID; _pp_. STAYING, STAYED _or_ STAID."--_Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict._ "Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz _stayed_ by En-rogel."--_2 Sam._, xvii, 17. "This day have I _payed_ my vows."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Prov_, vii, 14. Scott's Bible has "_paid_." "They not only _stayed_ for their resort, but discharged divers."--HAYWARD: _in Joh. Dict._ "I _stayed_ till the latest grapes were ripe."--_Waller's Dedication_. "_To lay_ is regular, and has in the past time and participle _layed_ or _laid_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 54. "To the flood, that _stay'd_ her flight."--_Milton's Comus_, l. 832. "All rude, all waste, and desolate is _lay'd_."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ix, l. 1636. "And he smote thrice, and _stayed_."--_2 Kings_, xiii, 18. "When Cobham, generous as the noble peer That wears his honours, _pay'd_ the fatal price Of virtue blooming, ere the storms were _laid_."--_Shenstone_, p. 167. OBS. 9.--By the foregoing citations, _lay, pay_, and _stay_, are clearly proved to be redundant. But, in nearly all our English grammars, _lay_ and _pay_ are represented as being always irregular; and _stay_ is as often, and as improperly, supposed to be always regular. Other examples in proof of the list: "I _lit_ my pipe with the paper."--_Addison_. "While he whom learning, habits, all prevent, Is largely _mulct_ for each impediment."--_Crabbe, Bor._, p. 102. "And then the chapel--night and morn to pray, Or _mulct_ and threaten'd if he kept away."--_Ib._, p. 162. "A small space is formed, in which the breath is _pent_ up."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 493. "_Pen_, when it means to write, is always regular. Boyle has _penned_ in the sense of confined."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 261. "So far as it was now _pled_."--ANDERSON: _Annals of the Bible_, p. 25. "_Rapped_ with admiration."--HOOKER: _Joh. Dict._ "And being _rapt_ with the love of his beauty."--_Id., ib._ "And _rapt_ in secret studies."--SHAK.: _ib._ "I'm _rapt_ with joy."--ADDISON: _ib._ "_Roast_ with fire."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Exod._, xii, 8 and 9. "_Roasted_ with fire."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Exod._, xii, 8 and 9. "Upon them hath the light _shined_."--_Isaiah_, ix, 2. "The earth _shined_ with his glory."--_Ezekiel_, xliii, 2. "After that he had _showed_ wonders."--_Acts_, vii, 36. "Those things which God before had _showed_."--_Acts_, iii, 18. "As shall be _shewed_ in Syntax."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 28. "I have _shown_ you, that the _two first_ may be dismissed."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 10. "And in this struggle were _sowed_ the seeds of the revolution."--_Everett's Address_, p. 16. "Your favour _showed_ to the performance, has given me boldness."--_Jenks's Prayers, Ded_. "Yea, so have I _strived_ to preach the gospel."--_Rom._, xv, 20. "Art thou, like the adder, _waxen_ deaf?"--_Shakspeare. "Hamstring'd_ behind, unhappy Gyges died."--_Dryden_. "In Syracusa was I born and _wed_."--_Shakspeare_. "And thou art _wedded_ to calamity."--_Id._ "I saw thee first, and _wedded_ thee."--_Milton_. "Sprung the rank weed, and _thrived_ with large increase."--_Pope_. "Some errors never would have _thriven_, had it not been for learned refutation."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 34. "Under your care they have _thriven_."--_Junius_, p. 5. "Fixed by being rolled closely, compacted, _knitted_."--_Dr. Murray's Hist._, Vol. i, p. 374. "With kind converse and skill has _weaved_."--_Prior_. "Though I shall be _wetted_ to the skin."--_Sandford and Merton_, p. 64. "I _speeded_ hither with the very extremest inch of possibility."--_Shakspeare_. "And pure grief _shore_ his old thread in twain."--_Id._ "And must I ravel out my _weaved-up_ follies?"--_Id., Rich. II_. "Tells how the drudging Goblin _swet_."--_Milton's L'Allegro_. "Weave, wove or _weaved_, weaving, wove, _weaved_, or woven."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 67. "Thou who beneath the frown of fate hast stood, And in thy dreadful agony _sweat_ blood."--_Young_, p. 238. OBS. 10.--The verb to _shake_ is now seldom used in any other than the irregular form, _shake, shook, shaking, shaken_; and, in this form only, is it recognized by our principal grammarians and lexicographers, except that Johnson improperly acknowledges _shook_ as well as _shaken_ for the perfect participle: as, "I've _shook_ it off."--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict._ But the regular form, _shake, shaked, shaking, shaked_, appears to have been used by some writers of high reputation; and, if the verb is not now properly redundant, it formerly was so. Examples regular: "The frame and huge foundation of the earth _shak'd_ like a coward."--SHAKSPEARE: _Hen. IV_. "I am he that is so _love-shaked_."--ID.: _As You Like it_. "A sly and constant knave, not to be _shak'd_."--ID.: _Cymbeline: Joh. Dict._ "I thought he would have _shaked_ it off."--TATTLER: _ib._ "To the very point I _shaked_ my head at."--_Spectator_, No. 4. "From the ruin'd roof of _shak'd_ Olympus."--_Milton's Poems_. "None hath _shak'd_ it off."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 89. "They _shaked_ their heads."--_Psalms_, cix, 25. Dr. Crombie says, "Story, in his Grammar, has, _most unwarrantably_, asserted, that the Participle of this Verb should be _shaked_."--ON ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX, p. 198. Fowle, on the contrary, pronounces _shaked_ to be right. See _True English Gram._, p. 46. OBS. 11.--All former lists of our irregular and redundant verbs are, in many respects, defective and erroneous; nor is it claimed for those which are here presented, that they are absolutely perfect. I trust, however, they are much nearer to perfection, than are any earlier ones. Among the many individuals who have published schemes of these verbs, none have been more respected and followed than Lowth, Murray, and Crombie; yet are these authors' lists severally faulty in respect to as many as sixty or seventy of the words in question, though the whole number but little exceeds two hundred, and is commonly reckoned less than one hundred and eighty. By Lowth, eight verbs are made redundant, which I think are now regular only: namely, _bake, climb, fold, help, load, owe, wash_. By Crombie, as many: to wit, _bake, climb, freight, help, lift, load, shape, writhe_. By Murray, two: _load_ and _shape_. With Crombie, and in general with the others too, twenty-seven verbs are always irregular, which I think are sometimes regular, and therefore redundant: _abide, beseech, blow, burst, creep, freeze, grind, lade, lay, pay, rive, seethe, shake, show, sleep, slide, speed, string, strive, strow, sweat, thrive, throw, weave, weep, wind, wring_. Again, there are, I think, more than twenty redundant verbs which are treated by Crombie,--and, with one or two exceptions, by Lowth and Murray also,--as if they were always regular: namely, _betide, blend, bless, burn, dive, dream, dress, geld, kneel, lean, leap, learn, mean, mulct, pass, pen, plead, prove, reave, smell, spell, stave, stay, sweep, wake, whet, wont_. Crombie's list contains the auxiliaries, which properly belong to a different table. Erroneous as it is, in all these things, and more, it is introduced by the author with the following praise, in bad English: "_Verbs, which_ depart from this rule, are called Irregular, _of which_ I believe the subsequent enumeration to be _nearly complete_."--TREATISE ON ETYM. AND SYNT., p. 192. OBS. 12.--Dr. Johnson, in his Grammar of the English Tongue, recognizes two forms which would make _teach_ and _reach_ redundant. But _teached_ is now "obsolete," and _rought_ is "old," according to his own Dictionary. Of _loaded_ and _loaden_, which he gives as participles of _load_, the regular form only appears to be now in good use. For the redundant forms of many words in the foregoing list, as of _abode_ or _abided, awaked_ or _awoke, besought_ or _beseeched, caught_ or _catched, hewed_ or _hewn, mowed_ or _mown, laded_ or _laden, seethed_ or _sod, sheared_ or _shore, sowed_ or _sown, waked_ or _woke, wove_ or _weaved_, his authority may be added to that of others already cited. In Dearborn's Columbian Grammar, published in Boston in 1795, the year in which Lindley Murray's Grammar first appeared in York, no fewer than thirty verbs are made redundant, which are not so represented by Murray. Of these I have retained nineteen in the following list, and left the other eleven to be now considered always regular. The thirty are these: "bake, _bend, build, burn_, climb, _creep, dream_, fold, freight, _geld, heat, heave_, help, _lay, leap_, lift, _light_, melt, owe, _quit_, rent, rot, _seethe, spell, split, strive_, wash, _weave, wet, work_." See _Dearborn's Gram._, p. 37-45. LIST OF THE REDUNDANT VERBS. _Imperfect_ _Present. Preterit. Participle. Perfect Participle_. Abide, abode _or_ abided, abiding, abode _or_ abided. Awake, awaked _or_ awoke, awaking, awaked _or_ awoke. Belay, belayed _or_ belaid, belaying, belayed _or_ belaid. Bend, bent _or_ bended, bending, bent _or_ bended. Bereave, bereft _or_ bereaved, bereaving, bereft _or_ bereaved. Beseech, besought _or_ beseeched, beseeching, besought _or_ beseeched. Bet, betted _or_ bet, betting, betted _or_ bet. Betide, betided _or_ betid, betiding, betided _or_ betid. Bide, bode _or_ bided, biding, bode _or_ bided. Blend, blended _or_ blent, blending, blended _or_ blent. Bless, blessed _or_ blest, blessing, blessed _or_ blest. Blow, blew _or_ blowed, blowing, blown _or_ blowed. Build, built _or_ builded, building, built _or_ builded. Burn, burned _or_ burnt, burning, burned _or_ burnt. Burst, burst _or_ bursted, bursting, burst _or_ bursted. Catch, caught _or_ catched, catching, caught _or_ catched. Clothe, clothed _or_ clad, clothing, clothed _or_ clad. Creep, crept _or_ creeped, creeping, crept _or_ creeped. Crow, crowed _or_ crew, crowing, crowed. Curse, cursed _or_ curst, cursing, cursed _or_ curst. Dare, dared _or_ durst, daring, dared. Deal, dealt _or_ dealed, dealing, dealt _or_ dealed. Dig, dug _or_ digged, digging, dug _or_ digged. Dive, dived _or_ dove, diving, dived _or_ diven. Dream, dreamed _or_ dreamt, dreaming, dreamed _or_ dreamt. Dress, dressed _or_ drest, dressing, dressed _or_ drest. Dwell, dwelt _or_ dwelled, dwelling, dwelt _or_ dwelled. Freeze, froze _or_ freezed, freezing, frozen _or_ freezed. Geld, gelded _or_ gelt, gelding, gelded _or_ gelt. Gild, gilded _or_ gilt, gilding, gilded _or_ gilt. Gird, girded _or_ girt, girding, girded _or_ girt. Grave, graved, graving, graved _or_ graven. Grind, ground _or_ grinded, grinding, ground _or_ grinded. Hang, hung _or_ hanged, hanging, hung _or_ hanged. Heat, heated _or_ het, heating, heated _or_ het. Heave, heaved _or_ hove, heaving, heaved _or_ hoven. Hew, hewed, hewing, hewed _or_ hewn. Kneel, kneeled _or_ knelt, kneeling, kneeled _or_ knelt. Knit, knit _or_ knitted, knitting, knit _or_ knitted. Lade, laded, lading, laded _or_ laden. Lay, laid _or_ layed, laying, laid _or_ layed. Lean, leaned _or_ leant, leaning, leaned _or_ leant. Leap, leaped _or_ leapt, leaping, leaped _or_ leapt.[292] Learn, learned _or_ learnt, learning, learned _or_ learnt. Light, lighted _or_ lit, lighting, lighted _or_ lit. Mean, meant _or_ meaned, meaning, meant _or_ meaned. Mow, mowed, mowing, mowed _or_ mown. Mulct, mulcted _or_ mulct, mulcting, mulcted _or_ mulct. Pass, passed _or_ past, passing, passed _or_ past. Pay, paid _or_ payed, paying, paid _or_ payed. Pen, penned _or_ pent, penning, penned _or_ pent. (to coop,) Plead, pleaded _or_ pled, pleading, pleaded _or_ pled. Prove, proved, proving, proved _or_ proven. Quit, quitted _or_ quit, quitting, quitted _or_ quit.[293] Rap, rapped _or_ rapt, rapping, rapped _or_ rapt. Reave, reft _or_ reaved, reaving, reft _or_ reaved. Rive, rived, riving, riven _or_ rived. Roast, roasted _or_ roast, roasting, roasted _or_ roast. Saw, sawed, sawing, sawed _or_ sawn. Seethe, seethed _or_ sod, seething, seethed _or_ sodden. Shake, shook _or_ shaked, shaking, shaken _or_ shaked. Shape, shaped, shaping, shaped _or_ shapen. Shave, shaved, shaving, shaved _or_ shaven. Shear, sheared _or_ shore, shearing, sheared _or_ shorn. Shine, shined _or_ shone, shining, shined _or_ shone. Show, showed, showing, showed _or_ shown. Sleep, slept _or_ sleeped, sleeping, slept _or_ sleeped. Slide, slid _or_ slided, sliding, slidden, slid, _or_ slided. Slit, slitted _or_ slit, slitting, slitted _or_ slit. Smell, smelled _or_ smelt, smelling, smelled _or_ smelt. Sow, sowed, sowing, sowed _or_ sown. Speed, sped _or_ speeded, speeding, sped _or_ speeded. Spell, spelled _or_ spelt, spelling, spelled _or_ spelt. Spill, spilled _or_ spilt, spilling, spilled _or_ spilt. Split, split _or_ splitted, splitting, split _or_ splitted.[294] Spoil, spoiled _or_ spoilt, spoiling, spoiled _or_ spoilt. Stave, stove _or_ staved, staving, stove _or_ staved. Stay, staid _or_ stayed, staying, staid _or_ stayed. String, strung _or_ stringed, stringing, strung _or_ stringed. Strive, strived _or_ strove, striving, strived _or_ striven. Strow, strowed, strowing, strowed _or_ strown. Sweat, sweated _or_ sweat, sweating, sweated _or_ sweat. Sweep, swept _or_ sweeped, sweeping, swept _or_ sweeped. Swell, swelled, swelling, swelled _or_ swollen. Thrive, thrived _or_ throve, thriving, thrived _or_ thriven. Throw, threw _or_ throwed, throwing, thrown _or_ throwed. Wake, waked _or_ woke, waking, waked _or_ woke. Wax, waxed, waxing, waxed _or_ waxen. Weave, wove _or_ weaved, weaving, woven _or_ weaved. Wed, wedded _or_ wed, wedding, wedded _or_ wed. Weep, wept _or_ weeped, weeping, wept _or_ weeped. Wet, wet _or_ wetted, wetting, wet _or_ wetted. Whet, whetted _or_ whet, whetting, whetted _or_ whet.[295] Wind, wound _or_ winded, winding, wound _or_ winded. Wont, wont _or_ wonted, wonting, wont _or_ wonted. Work, worked _or_ wrought, working, worked _or_ wrought. Wring, wringed _or_ wrung, wringing, wringed _or_ wrung.[296] DEFECTIVE VERBS. A _defective verb_ is a verb that forms no participles, and is used in but few of the moods and tenses; as, _beware, ought, quoth_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1. When any of the principal parts of a verb are wanting, the tenses usually derived from those parts are also, of course, wanting. All the auxiliaries, except _do, be_, and _have_, if we compare them with other verbs, are defective; but, _as auxiliaries_, they lack nothing; for no complete verb is used throughout as an auxiliary, except _be_. And since an auxiliary differs essentially from a principal verb, the propriety of referring _may, can, must_, and _shall_, to the class of defective verbs, is at least questionable. In parsing there is never any occasion to _call_ them defective verbs, because they are always taken together with their principals. And though we may technically say, that their participles are "_wanting_," it is manifest that none are _needed_. OBS. 2. _Will_ is sometimes used as a principal verb, and as such it is regular and complete; _will, willed, willing, willed_: as, "His Majesty _willed_ that they should attend."--_Clarendon_. "He _wills_ for them a happiness of a far more exalted and enduring nature."--_Gurney_. "Whether thou _willest_ it to be a minister to our pleasure."--_Harris_. "I _will_; be thou clean."--_Luke_, v, 13. "Nevertheless, not as I _will_, but as thou _will_."--_Matt._, xxvi, 39. "To _will_ is present with me."--_Rom._, vii, 18. But _would_ is sometimes also a principal verb; as, "What _would_ this man?"--_Pope_. "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets."--_Numb._, xi, 29. "And Israel _would_ none of me."--_Psalm_, lxxxi, 11. If we refer this indefinite preterit to the same root, _will_ becomes redundant; _will, willed_ or _would, willing, willed_. In respect to time, _would_ is less definite than _willed_, though both are called preterits. It is common, and perhaps best, to consider them distinct verbs. The latter only can be a participle: as, "How rarely does it meet with this time's guise, When man was _will'd_ to love his enemies!"--_Shakspeare_. OBS. 3. The remaining defective verbs are only five or six questionable terms, which our grammarians know not well how else to explain; some of them being now nearly obsolete, and others never having been very proper. _Begone_ is a needless coalition of _be_ and _gone_, better written separately, unless Dr. Johnson is right in calling the compound an _interjection_: as, "Begone! the goddess cries with stern disdain, Begone! nor dare the hallow'd stream to stain!"--_Addison_. _Beware_ also seems to be a needless compound of _be_ and the old adjective _ware_, wary, aware, cautious. Both these are, of course, used only in those forms of expression in which _be_ is proper; as, "_Beware_ of dogs, _beware_ of evil workers, _beware_ of the concision."--_Philippians_, iii, 2. "But we _must beware_[297] of carrying our attention to this beauty too far."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 119. These words were formerly separated: as, "Of whom _be_ thou _ware_ also."--_1 Tim._, iv, 15. "They _were ware_ of it."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Acts_, xiii, 6. "They were _aware_ of it."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: ib. "And in an hour _that_ he is not _ware_ of him."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Ware_. "And in an hour that he is not _aware_ of."--COMMON BIBLES: _Matt._, xxiv, 50. "Bid her well _be ware_ and still erect."--MILTON: _in Johnson's Dict._ "That even Silence _was took_ ere she _was ware_."--_Id., Comus_, line 558. The adjective _ware_ is now said to be "_obsolete_;" but the propriety of this assertion depends upon that of forming such a defective verb. What is the use of doing so? "This to disclose is all thy guardian can; _Beware_ of all, but most _beware_ of man."--_Pope_. The words written separately will always have the same meaning, unless we omit the preposition _of_, and suppose the compound to be a _transitive_ verb. In this case, the argument for compounding the terms appears to be valid; as, "_Beware_ the public _laughter_ of the town; Thou springst a-leak already in thy crown."--_Dryden_. OBS. 4. The words _ought_ and _own_, without question, were originally parts of the redundant verb _to owe_; thus: _owe, owed_ or _ought, owing, owed_ or _own_. But both have long been disjoined from this connexion, and hence _owe_ has become regular. _Own_, as now used, is either a pronominal adjective, as, "my _own_ hand," or a regular verb thence derived, as, "to _own_ a house." _Ought_, under the name of a _defective verb_, is now generally thought to be properly used, in this one form, in all the persons and numbers of the present and the imperfect tense of the indicative and subjunctive moods. Or, if it is really of one tense only, it is plainly an aorist; and hence the time must be specified by the infinitive that follows: as, "He _ought_ to _go_; He _ought_ to _have gone_." "If thou _ought_ to _go_; If thou _ought_ to _have gone_." Being originally a preterit, it never occurs in the infinitive mood, and is entirely invariable, except in the solemn style, where we find _oughtest_ in both tenses; as, "How thou _oughtest_ to _behave_ thyself."--_1 Tim._, iii, 15. "Thou _oughtest_ therefore to _have put_ my money to the exchangers."--_Matt._, xxiv, 27. We never say, or have said, "He, she, or it, _oughts_ or _oughteth_." Yet we manifestly use this verb in the present tense, and in the third person singular; as, "Discourse _ought always to begin_ with a clear proposition."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 217. I have already observed that some grammarians improperly call _ought_ an auxiliary. The learned authors of Brightland's Grammar, (which is dedicated to Queen Anne,) did so; and also affirmed that _must_ and _ought_ "have only the _present time_," and are alike _invariable_. "It is _now_ quite obsolete to say, _thou oughtest_; for _ought_ now changes its ending no more than _must_."--_Brightland's Gram._, (approved by _Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq._,) p. 112. "_Do, will_, and _shall, must_, OUGHT, and _may_, _Have, am_, or _be_, this Doctrine will display."--_Ib._, p. 107. OBS. 5.--_Wis_, preterit _wist_, to know, to think, to suppose, to imagine, appears to be now nearly or quite obsolete; but it may be proper to explain it, because it is found in the Bible: as, "I _wist_ not, brethren, that he was the high priest."--_Acts_, xxiii, 5. "He himself '_wist_ not that his face shone.'"--_Life of Schiller_, p. iv. _Wit_, to know, and _wot_, knew, are also obsolete, except in the phrase _to wit_; which, being taken abstractly, is equivalent to the adverb _namely_, or to the phrase, _that is to say_. The phrase, "_we do you to wit_," (in 2 Cor., viii, 1st,) means, "we _inform_ you." Churchill gives the present tense of this verb three forms, _weet, wit_, and _wot_; and there seems to have been some authority for them all: as, "He was, _to weet_, a little roguish page."--_Thomson_. "But little _wotteth_ he the might of the means his folly despiseth."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 35. _To wit_, used alone, to indicate a thing spoken of, (as the French use their infinitive, _savoir, a savoir_, or the phrase, _c'est a savoir_,) is undoubtedly an elliptical expression: probably for, "_I give you to wit_;" i. e., "I give you _to know_." _Trow_, to think, occurs in the Bible; as, "I _trow_ not."--_N. Test_. And Coar gives it as a defective verb; and only in the first person singular of the present indicative, "_I trow_." Webster and Worcester mark the words as obsolete; but Sir W. Scott, in the Lady of the Lake, has this line: "Thinkst thou _he trow'd_ thine omen ought?"--_Canto_ iv, stanza 10. _Quoth_ and _quod_, for _say, saith_, or _said_, are obsolete, or used only in ludicrous language. Webster supposes these words to be equivalent, and each confined to the first and third persons of the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative mood. Johnson says, that, "_quoth you_," as used by Sidney, is irregular; but Tooke assures us, that "The _th_ in _quoth_, does not designate the third person."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 323. They are each invariable, and always placed before the nominative: as, _quoth I, quoth he_. "Yea, so sayst thou, (_quod_ Troeylus,) alas!"--_Chaucer_. "I feare, _quod_ he, it wyll not be."--_Sir T. More_. "Stranger, go! Heaven be thy guide! _Quod_ the beadsman of Nith-side."--_Burns_. OBS. 6.--_Methinks_, (i. e., _to_ me _it_ thinks,) for I think, or, it seems to me, with its preterit _methought_, (i. e., _to_ me _it_ thought,) is called by Dr. Johnson an "ungrammatical word." He imagined it to be "a Norman corruption, the French being apt to confound _me_ and _I_."--_Joh. Dict._ It is indeed a puzzling anomaly in our language, though not without some Anglo-Saxon or Latin parallels; and, like its kindred, "me _seemeth_," or "_meseems_," is little worthy to be countenanced, though often used by Dryden, Pope, Addison, and other good writers. Our lexicographers call it an _impersonal verb_, because, being compounded with an objective, it cannot have a nominative expressed. It is nearly equivalent to the adverb _apparently_; and if impersonal, it is also defective; for it has no participles, no "_methinking_," and no participial construction of "_methought_;" though Webster's American Dictionary, whether quarto or octavo, absurdly suggests that the latter word may be used as a participle. In the Bible, we find the following text: "_Me thinketh_ the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz."--_2 Sam._, xviii, 27. And Milton improperly makes _thought_ an impersonal verb, apparently governing the separate objective pronoun _him_; as, "_Him thought_ he by the brook of Cherith stood." --_P. R._, B. ii, l. 264. OBS. 7.--Some verbs from the nature of the subjects to which they refer, are chiefly confined to the third person singular; as, "It _rains_; it _snows_; it _freezes_; it _hails_; it _lightens_; it _thunders_." These have been called _impersonal verbs_; because the neuter pronoun it, which is commonly used before them, does not seem to represent any noun, but, in connexion with the verb, merely to express a state of things. They are however, in fact, neither impersonal nor defective. Some, or all of them, may possibly take some other nominative, if not a different person; as, "The _Lord rained_ upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire."--_Gen._, xix, 24. "The _God_ of glory _thundereth_."--_Psalms_, xxix, 3. "_Canst thou thunder_ with a voice like him?"--_Job_, xl, 9. In short, as Harris observes, "The doctrine of Impersonal Verbs has been justly rejected by the best grammarians, both ancient and modern."--_Hermes_, p. 175. OBS. 8.--By some writers, words of this kind are called _Monopersonal Verbs_; that is, verbs of _one person_. This name, though not very properly compounded, is perhaps more fit than the other; but we have little occasion to speak of these verbs as a distinct class in our language. Dr. Murray says, "What is called an impersonal verb, is not so; for _lic-et, juv-at_, and _oport-et_, have _Tha, that thing_, or _it_, in their composition."--_History of European Languages_, Vol. ii, p. 146. _Ail, irk_, and _behoove_, are regular verbs and transitive; but they are used only in the third person singular: as, "What _ails_ you?"--"It _irks_ me."--"It _behooves_ you." The last two are obsolescent, or at least not in very common use. In Latin, _passive_ verbs, or neuters of the passive form, are often used impersonally, or without an obvious nominative; and this elliptical construction is sometimes imitated in English, especially by the poets: as, "Meanwhile, ere thus _was sinn'd_ and _judg'd_ on earth, Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death." --_Milton, P. L._, B. x, l. 230. "Forthwith on all sides to his aid _was run_ By angels many and strong, who interpos'd." --_Id._, B. vi, l. 335. LIST OF THE DEFECTIVE VERBS. _Present. Preterit._ Beware, ------ Can, could. May, might. Methinks, methought. Must, must.[298] Ought, ought.[298] Shall, should, Will[299] would. Quoth, quoth. Wis, wist.[300] Wit, wot. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS VI--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Sixth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, _and_ VERBS. _The definitions to be given in the Sixth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, and one for a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "The freedom of choice seems essential to happiness; because, properly speaking, that is riot our own which is imposed upon us."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 109. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Freedom_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Choice_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is; the name of any person, place, or thing, that can he known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Seems_ is a regular neuter verb, from _seem, seemed, seeming, seemed_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Essential_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _essential, more essential, most essential_; or, _essential, less essential, least essential_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs. _To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Happiness_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Because_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Properly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Speaking_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. _That_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared; standing for _that thing_, in the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. [See OBS. 14th, p. 290.] 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun, or represent it understood. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Is_ is an irregular neuter verb, from _be, was, being, been_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon._ 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed._ 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Not_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Our_ is a personal pronoun, of the first person, plural number, masculine gender, and possessive case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The first person is that which denotes the speaker or writer. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The possessive case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the relation of property. _Own_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun, or represent it understood. 3. Those adjectives whose signification does not admit of different degrees cannot be compared. _Which_ is a relative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Is imposed_ is a regular passive verb, from the active verb, _impose, imposed, imposing, imposed_,--passive, _to be imposed_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. A passive verb is a verb that represents the subject, or what the nominative expresses, as being acted upon. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Upon_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Us_ is a personal pronoun, of the first person, plural number, masculine gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The first person is that which denotes the speaker or writer. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. LESSON I.--PARSING. "He has desires after the kingdom, and mates no question but it shall be his; he wills, runs, strives, believes, hopes, prays, reads scriptures, observes duties, and regards ordinances."--_Penington_, ii, 124. "Wo unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye enter not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."--_Luke_, xi, 52. "Above all other liberties, give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, according to my conscience."--_Milton_. "Eloquence is to be looked for only in free states. Longinus illustrates this observation with a great deal of beauty. 'Liberty,' he remarks, 'is the nurse of true genius; it animates the spirit, and invigorates the hopes, of men; it excites honourable emulation, and a desire of excelling in every art.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 237. "None of the faculties common to man and the lower animals, conceive the idea of civil liberty, any more than that of religion."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 259. "Whoever is not able, or does not dare, to think, or does not feel contradictions and absurdities, is unfit for a refined religion and civil liberty."--_Ib._, p. 258. "The too great number of journals, and the extreme partiality of their authors, have much discredited them. A man must have great talents to please all sorts of readers; and it is impossible to please all authors, who, generally speaking, cannot bear with the most judicious and most decent criticisms."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 170. "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword."--_Ezekiel_, xxx, 21. "Yet he was humble, kind, forgiving, meek, Easy to be entreated, gracious, mild; And, with all patience and affection, taught, Rebuked, persuaded, solaced, counselled, warned."--_Pollok_, B. ix. LESSON II.--PARSING. "What is coming, will come; what is proceeding onward, verges towards completion."--_Dr. Murray's Europ. Lang._, i, 324. "Sir, if it had not been for the art of printing, we should now have had no learning at all; for books would have perished faster than they could have been transcribed."--_Dr. Johnson's Life_, iii, 400. "Passionate reproofs are like medicines given scalding hot: the patient cannot take them. If we wish to do good to those whom we rebuke, we should labour for meekness of wisdom, and use soft words and hard arguments."--_Dodd_. "My prayer for you is, that God may guide you by his counsel, and in the end bring you to glory: to this purpose, attend diligently to the dictates of his good spirit, which you may hear within you; for Christ saith, 'He that dwelleth with you, shall be in you.' And, as you hear and obey him, he will conduct you through this troublous world, in ways of truth and righteousness, and land you at last in the habitations of everlasting rest and peace with the Lord, to praise him for ever and ever."--_T. Gwin_. "By matter, we mean, that which is tangible, extended, and divisible; by mind, that which perceives, reflects, wills, and reasons. These properties are wholly dissimilar and admit of no comparison. To pretend that mind is matter, is to propose a contradiction in terms; and is just as absurd, as to pretend that matter is mind."--_Gurney's Portable Evidence_, p. 78. "If any one should think all this to be of little importance, I desire him to consider what he would think, if vice had, essentially, and in its nature, these advantageous tendencies, or if virtue had essentially the direct contrary ones."--_Butler_, p. 99. "No man can write simpler and stronger English than the celebrated Boz, and this renders us the more annoyed at those manifold vulgarities and slipshod errors, which unhappily have of late years disfigured his productions."--LIVING AUTHORS OF ENGLAND: _The Examiner_, No. 119. "Here Havard, all serene, in the same strains, Loves, hates, and rages, triumphs, and complains."--_Churchill_, p. 3. "Let Satire, then, her proper object know, And ere she strike, be sure she strike a foe."--_John Brown_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "The Author of nature has as truly directed that vicious actions, considered as mischievous to society, should be punished, and has as clearly put mankind under a necessity of thus punishing them, as he has directed and necessitated us to preserve our lives by food."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 88. "An author may injure his works by altering, and even amending, the successive editions: the first impression sinks the deepest, and with the credulous it can rarely be effaced; nay, he will be vainly employed who endeavours to eradicate it."--_Werter_, p. 82. "It is well ordered, that even the most innocent blunder is not committed with impunity; because, were errors licensed where they do no hurt, inattention would grow into habit, and be the occasion of much hurt."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 285. "The force of language consists in raising complete images; which have the effect to transport the reader, as by magic, into the very place of the important action, and to convert him as it were into a spectator, beholding every thing that passes."--_Id., ib._, ii, 241. "An orator should not put forth all his strength at the beginning, but should rise and grow upon us, as his discourse advances."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 309. "When a talent is given to any one, an account is open with the giver of it, who appoints a day in which he will arrive and 'redemand his own with usury.'"--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 74. "Go, and reclaim the sinner, instruct the ignorant, soften the obdurate, and (as occasion shall demand) cheer, depress, repel, allure, disturb, assuage, console, or terrify."--_Jerningham's Essay on Eloquence_, p. 97. "If all the year were playing holydays, To sport would be as tedious as to work: But when they seldom come, they wish'd-for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents." --_Shak., Hen. V_. "The man that once did sell the lion's skin While the beast liv'd, was kill'd with hunting him." --_Id., Joh. Dict., w. Beast_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS OF VERBS. LESSON I.--PRETERITS. "In speaking on a matter which toucht their hearts."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 441. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _toucht_ is terminated in _t_. But, according to Observation 2nd, on the irregular verbs, _touch_ is regular. Therefore, this _t_ should be changed to _ed_; thus, "In speaking on a matter which _touched_ their hearts."] "Though Horace publisht it some time after."--_Ib._, i, 444. "The best subjects with which the Greek models furnisht him."--_Ib._, i, 444. "Since he attacht no thought to it."--_Ib._, i, 645. "By what slow steps the Greek alphabet reacht its perfection."--_Ib._, i, 651. "Because Goethe wisht to erect an affectionate memorial."--_Ib._, i, 469. "But the Saxon forms soon dropt away."--_Ib._, i, 668. "It speaks of all the towns that perisht in the age of Philip."--_Ib._, i, 252. "This enricht the written language with new words."--_Ib._, i, 668. "He merely furnisht his friend with matter for laughter."--_Ib._, i, 479. "A cloud arose and stopt the light."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 313. "She slipt _zpadillo_ in her breast."--_Ib._, p. 371. "I guest the hand."--_Ib._, p. 372. "The tyrant stript me to the skin: My skin he flay'd, my hair he cropt; At head and foot my body lopt."--_Ib., On a Pen_, p. 338. "I see the greatest owls in you, That ever screecht or ever flew."--_Ib._, p. 403. "I sate with delight, from morning till night."--_Ib._, p. 367. "Dick nimbly skipt the gutter."--_Ib._, p. 375. "In at the pantry door this morn I slipt."--_Ib._, p. 369. "Nobody living ever toucht me but you."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 92. "_Present_, I ship; _Past_, I shipped or shipt; _Participle_, shipped or shipt."--_Murray the schoolmaster. Gram._, p. 31. "Then the king arose, and tare his garments."--_2 Sam._, xiii, 31. "When he lift up his foot, he knew not where he should set it next."--_Bunyan_. "He lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time."--2 SAM.: _in Joh. Dict._ "Upon this chaos rid the distressed ark."--BURNET: _ib._ "On whose foolish honesty, my practices rid easy."--SHAK.: _ib._ "That form of the first or primogenial Earth, which rise immediately out of chaos."--BURNET: _ib._ "Sir, how come it you have holp to make this rescue?"--SHAK.: _in Joh. Dict._ "He sware he had rather lose all his father's images than that table."--PEACHAM: _ib._ "When our language dropt its ancient terminations."--_Dr. Murray's Hist._, ii, 5. "When themselves they vilify'd."--_Milton_, P. L., xi, 515. "But I choosed rather to do thus."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 456. "When he plead against the parsons."-- _School History_, p. 168. "And he that saw it, bear record."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 72. "An irregular verb has one more variation, as drive, drivest, drives, drivedst, drove, driving, driven."--REV. MATT. HARRISON, _on the English Language_, p. 260. "Beside that village Hannibal pitcht his camp."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 79. "He fetcht it even from Tmolus."-- _Ib._, p. 114. "He supt with his morning gown on."--_Ib._, p. 285. "There stampt her sacred name."--_Barlow's Columbiad_, B. i, l. 233. "Fixt on the view the great discoverer stood, And thus addrest the messenger of good."--_Barlow_, B, i, l. 658. LESSON II.--MIXED. "Three freemen were being tried at the date of our last information."--_Newspaper_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the participle _being_ is used after its own verb _were_. But, according to Observation 4th, on the compound form of the conjugation, this complex passive form is an absurd innovation. Therefore, the expression should be changed; thus, "Three freemen _were on trial_"--or, "_were receiving their trial_--at the date of our last information."] "While the house was being built, many of the tribe arrived."--_Ross Cox's Travels_, p. 102. "But a foundation has been laid in Zion, and the church is being built upon it."--_The Friend_, ix, 377. "And one fourth of the people are being educated."--_East India Magazine_. "The present, or that which is now being done."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 13. "A new church, called the Pantheon, is just being completed in an expensive style."--_G. A. Thompson's Guatemala_, p. 467. "When I last saw him, he was grown considerably."--_Murray's Key_, p. 223; _Merchants_, 198. "I know what a rugged and dangerous path I am got into."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 83. "You were as good preach case to one on the rack."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 285. "Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation."--_Psal._, cxviii, 21. "While the Elementary Spelling-Book was being prepared for the press."--_L. Cobb's Review_, p. vi. "Language is become, in modern times, more correct and accurate."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 16. "If the plan have been executed in any measure answerable to the author's wishes."--_Robbins's Hist._, p. 3. "The vial of wrath is still being poured out on the seat of the beast."--_Christian Experience_, p. 409. "Christianity was become the generally adopted and established religion of the whole Roman Empire."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 35. "Who wrote before the first century was elapsed."--_Ib._, p. 13. "The original and analogical form is grown quite obsolete."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 56. "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, are perished."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 149. "The poems were got abroad and in a great many hands."--_Pref. to Waller_. "It is more harmonious, as well as more correct, to say, 'the bubble is almost bursted.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 109. "I drave my suitor from his mad humour of love."--_Shak_. "Se viriliter expedivit. (_Cicero_.) He hath plaid the man."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 214. "Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Acts_, vii, 28. "And we, methoughts, look'd up t'him from our hill."--_Cowley's Davideis_, B. iii, l. 386. "I fear thou doest not think as much of best things as thou oughtest."--_Memoir of M. C. Thomas_, p. 34. "When this work was being commenced."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 10. "Exercises and Key to this work are being prepared."--_Ib._, p. 12. "James is loved, or being loved by John."--_Ib._, p. 64. "Or that which is being exhibited."--_Ib._, p. 77. "He was being smitten."--_Ib._, p. 78. "In the passive state we say, 'I am being loved.'"--_Ib._, p. 80. "Subjunctive Mood: If I am being smitten, If thou art being smitten, If he is being smitten."--_Ib._, p. 100. "I will not be able to convince you how superficial the reformation is."--_Chalmers's Sermons_, p. 88. "I said to myself, I will be obliged to expose the folly."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 3. "When Clodius, had he meant to return that day to Rome, must have been arrived."--_Adams's Rhetoric_, i, 418. "That the fact has been done, is being done, or shall or will be done."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, pp. 347 and 356. "Am I being instructed?"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 70. "I am choosing him."--_Ib._, p. 112. "John, who was respecting his father, was obedient to his commands."--_Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 69. "The region echos to the clash of arms."--_Beattie's Poems_, p. 63. "And sitt'st on high, and mak'st creation's top Thy footstool; and behold'st below thee, all." --_Pollok_, B. vi, l. 663. "And see if thou can'st punish sin, and let Mankind go free. Thou fail'st--be not surprised." --_Id._, B. ii, l. 118. LESSON III.--MIXED. "What follows, had better been wanting altogether."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 201. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase _had better been_, is used in the sense of the potential pluperfect. But, according to Observation 17th, on the conjugations, this substitution of one form for another is of questionable propriety. Therefore, the regular form should here be preferred; thus, "What follows, _might better have been_ wanting altogether."] "This member of the sentence had much better have been omitted altogether."--_Ib._, p. 212. "One or [the] other of them, therefore, had better have been omitted."--_Ib._, p. 212. "The whole of this last member of the sentence had better have been dropped."--_Ib._, p. 112. "In this case, they had much better be omitted."--_Ib._, p. 173. "He had better have said, 'the _productions_'"--_Ib._, p. 220. "The Greeks have ascribed the origin of poetry to Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus."--_Ib._, p. 377. "It has been noticed long ago, that all these fictitious names have the same number of syllables."--_Phil. Museum_, i, 471. "When I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, I have determined to send him."--_Acts_, xxv, 25. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God."--_Ps._, lxxxiv, 10. "As for such, I wish the Lord open their eyes."--_Barclay's Works_, iii. 263. "It would a made our passidge over the river very difficult."-- _Walley, in_ 1692. "We should not a been able to have carried our great guns."--_Id._ "Others would a questioned our prudence, if wee had."--_Id._ See _Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, i, 478. "Beware thou bee'st not BECAESAR'D; i.e. Beware that thou dost not dwindle into a mere Caesar."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 183. "Thou raisedest thy voice to record the stratagems of needy heroes."--ARBUTHNOT: _in Joh. Dict., w. Scalade_. "Life hurrys off apace: thine is almost up already."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 19. "'How unfortunate has this accident made me!' crys such a one."--_Ib._, p. 60. "The muse that soft and sickly wooes the ear."--_Pollok_, i, 13. "A man were better relate himself to a statue."--_Bacon._ "I heard thee say but now, thou lik'dst not that."--_Shak._ "In my whole course of wooing, thou cried'st, _Indeed!_"--_Id._ "But our ears are grown familiar with _I have wrote, I have drank_, &c., which are altogether as ungrammatical."-- _Lowth's Gram._, p. 63; _Churchill's_, 114. "The court was sat before Sir Roger came."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 122. "She need be no more with the jaundice possest."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 346. "Besides, you found fault with our victuals one day that you was here."--_Ib._, p. 333. "If spirit of other sort, So minded, have o'erleap'd these earthy bounds."--_Milton, P. L._, B. iv, l. 582. "It should have been more rational to have forborn this."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 265. "A student is not master of it till he have seen all these."--_Dr. Murray's Life_, p. 55. "The said justice shall summons the party."--_Brevard's Digest._ "Now what is become of thy former wit and humour?"--_Spect._, No. 532. "Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?"--_Burns_, p. 29. "SUBJ.: _Pres._ If I love, If thou lovest, If he love. _Imp._ If I loved, If thou lovedst, If he loved."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 51. "SUBJ.: If I do not love, If thou dost not love, If he does not love;" &c.--_Ib._, p. 56. "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."--_James_, v, 15. "Subjunctive Mood of the verb _to call_, second person singular: If Thou callest. If Thou calledst. If Thou hast called. If Thou hadst called. If Thou call. If Thou shalt or wilt have called."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 41. "Subjunctive Mood of the verb _to love_, second person singular: If thou love. If thou do love. If thou lovedst. If thou didst love. If thou hast loved. If thou hadst loved. If thou shalt or wilt love. If thou shalt or wilt have loved."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 46. "I was; thou wast, or you was; he, she, or it was: We, you or ye, they, were."--_White, on the English Verb_, p. 51. "I taught, thou taughtedst, he taught."--_Coar's English Gram._, p. 66. "We say, _if it rains, suppose it rains_, lest _it should rain_, unless _it rains_. This manner of speaking is called the SUBJUNCTIVE mode."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 72; Abridged Ed., 59. "He is arrived at what is deemed the age of manhood."--_Priestley's Gram._, 163. "He had much better have let it alone."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 43. "He were better be without it."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 105. "Hadest not thou been by."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 107. "I learned geography. Thou learnedest arithmetick. He learned grammar."--_Fuller's Gram._, p. 34. "Till the sound is ceased."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 126. "Present, die; Preterit, died; Perf. Participle, dead."--_British Gram._, p. 158; _Buchanan's_, 58; _Priestley's_, 48; _Ash's_, 45; _Fisher's_, 71; _Bicknell's_, 73. "Thou bowed'st thy glorious head to none, feared'st none." --_Pollok_, B. viii, l. 603. "Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessedst it." --_N. A. Reader_, p. 320. "As once thou slept'st, while she to life was form'd" --_Milt., P. L._, B. xi, l. 369. "Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, But may imagine how the bird was dead?" --SHAK.: _Joh. Dict._ "Which might have well becom'd the best of men." --_Id., Ant. and Cleop._ CHAPTER VII.--PARTICIPLES. A Participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb: thus, from the verb _rule_, are formed three participles, two simple and one compound; as, 1. _ruling_, 2. _ruled_, 3. _having ruled_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Almost all verbs and participles seem to have their very essence in _motion_, or _the privation of motion_--in _acting_, or _ceasing to act_. And to all motion and rest, _time_ and _place_ are necessary concomitants; nor are the ideas of _degree_ and _manner_ often irrelevant. Hence the use of _tenses_ and of _adverbs_. For whatsoever comes to pass, must come to pass _sometime_ and _somewhere_; and, in every event, something must be affected _somewhat_ and _somehow_. Hence it is evident that those grammarians are right, who say, that "_all participles imply time_." But it does not follow, that the _English_ participles _divide_ time, like the tenses of a verb, and _specify_ the period of action; on the contrary, it is certain and manifest, that they do not. The phrase, "_men labouring_," conveys no other idea than that of _labourers at work_; it no more suggests the _time_, than the _place, degree_, or _manner_, of their work. All these circumstances require _other words_ to express them; as, "Men _now here awkwardly_ labouring _much_ to little purpose." Again: "_Thenceforward_ will men, _there_ labouring _hard_ and _honourably_, be looked down upon by dronish lordlings." OBS. 2.--Participles retain the _essential meaning_ of their verbs; and, _like verbs_, are either _active-transitive, active-intransitive, passive_, or _neuter_, in their signification. For this reason, many have classed them with the verbs. But their _formal meaning_ is obviously different. They convey no affirmation, but usually relate to nouns or pronouns, _like adjectives_, except when they are joined with auxiliaries to form the compound tenses of their verbs; or when they have in part the nature of substantives, like the Latin gerunds. Hence some have injudiciously ranked them with the adjectives. The most discreet writers have commonly assigned them a separate place among the parts of speech; because, in spite of all opposite usages, experience has shown that it is expedient to do so. OBS. 3.--According to the doctrine of Harris, all words denoting the _attributes_ of things, are either verbs, or participles, or adjectives. Some attributes have their essence in motion: as, _to walk, to run, to fly, to strike, to live_; or, _walking, running, flying, striking, living_. Others have it in the privation of motion: as, _to stop, to rest, to cease, to die_; or, _stopping, resting, ceasing, dying_. And there are others which have nothing to do with either motion or its privation; but have their essence in the quantity, quality, or situation of things; as, _great_ and _small, white_ and _black, wise_ and _foolish, eastern_ and _western_. These last terms are adjectives; and those which denote motion or its privation, are either verbs or participles, according to their formal meaning; that is, according to their manner of attribution. See _Hermes_, p. 95. Verbs commonly say or affirm something of their subjects; as, "_The babe wept_." Participles suggest the action or attribute without affirmation; as, "_A babe weeping_,"--"_An act regretted_." OBS. 4.--A verb, then, being expressive of some attribute, which it ascribes to the thing or person named as its subject; of time, which it divides and specifies by the tenses; and also, (with the exception of the infinitive,) of an assertion or affirmation; if we take away the affirmation and the distinction of tenses, there will remain the attribute and the general notion of time; and these form the essence of an English participle. So that a participle is something less than a verb, though derived immediately from it; and something more than an adjective, or mere attribute, though its manner of attribution is commonly the same. Hence, though the participle by rejecting the idea of time may pass almost insensibly into an adjective, and become truly a participial adjective; yet the participle and the adjective are by no means one and the same part of speech, as some will have them to be. There is always an essential difference in their meaning. For instance: there is a difference between _a thinking man_ and _a man thinking_; between _a bragging fellow_ and _a fellow bragging_; between _a fast-sailing ship_ and _a ship sailing fast_. A thinking man, a bragging fellow, or a fast-sailing ship, is contemplated as being habitually or permanently such; a man thinking, a fellow bragging, or a ship sailing fast, is contemplated as performing a particular act; and this must embrace a period of _time_, whether that time be specified or not. John Locke was a _thinking man_; but we should directly contradict his own doctrine, to suppose him _always thinking_. OBS. 5.--The English participles are all derived from the _roots_ of their respective verbs, and do not, like those of some other languages, take their names from the _tenses_. On the contrary, they are reckoned among the principal parts in the conjugation of their verbs, and many of the tenses are formed from them. In the compound forms of conjugation, they are found alike _in all the tenses_. They do not therefore, of themselves, express any particular time; but they denote the state of the being, action, or passion, in regard to its progress or completion. This I conceive to be their principal distinction. Respecting the participles in _Latin_, it has been matter of dispute, whether those which are called the _present_ and the _perfect_, are really so in respect to time or not. Sanctius denies it. In _Greek_, the distinction of tenses in the participles is more apparent, yet even here the time to which they refer, does not always correspond to their names. See remarks on the Participles in the _Port Royal Latin and Greek Grammars_. OBS. 6.--Horne Tooke supposes our participles in _ed_ to express time past, and those in _ing_ to have no signification of time. He says, "I did not mean to deny the adsignification of time to _all_ the participles; though I continue to withhold it from that which is called the _participle present_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 415. Upon the same point, he afterwards adds, "I am neither new nor singular; for Sanctius both asserted and proved it by numerous instances in the Latin. Such as, 'Et _abfui proficiscens_ in Graeciam.' _Cicero_. 'Sed postquam amans _accessit_ pretium _pollicens_.' _Terent_. 'Ultro ad cam _venies indicans_ te amare.' _Terent_. 'Turnum _fugientem_ haec terra videbit.' _Virg_."--_Tooke's Div._, ii, 420. Again: "And thus I have given you my opinion concerning what is called the _present participle_. Which I think improperly so called; because I take it to be merely the simple verb _adjectived_, without any adsignification of _manner_ or _time_."--_Tooke's Div._, Vol. ii, p. 423. OBS. 7.--I do not agree with this author, either in limiting participles in _ed_ to time past, or in denying all signification of time to those in _ing_; but I admit that what is commonly called the _present participle_, is not very properly so denominated, either in English or in Latin, or perhaps in any language. With us, however, this participle is certainly, in very many instances, something else than "merely the simple verb _adjectived_." For, in the first place, it is often of a complex character, as _being loved, being seen_, in which two verbs are "_adjectived_" together, and that by different terminations. Yet do these words as perfectly coalesce in respect to time, as to everything else; and _being loved_ or _being seen_ is confessedly as much a "_present_" participle, as _being_, or _loving_, or _seeing_--neither form being solely confined to what now is. Again, our participle in _ing_ stands not only for the present participle of the Latin or Greek grammarians, but also for the Latin gerund, and often for the Greek infinitive used substantively; so that by this ending, the English verb is not only _adjectived_, but also _substantived_, if one may so speak. For the participle when governed by a preposition, partakes not of the qualities "of a verb and an _adjective_," but rather of those of a verb and a _noun_. CLASSES. English verbs, not defective, have severally three participles;[301] which have been very variously denominated, perhaps the most accurately thus: the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, and the _Preperfect_. Or, as their order is undisputed, they may he conveniently called the _First_, the _Second_, and the _Third_. I. The _Imperfect participle_ is that which ends commonly in _ing_, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion: as, _being, acting, ruling, loving, defending, terminating_. II. The _Perfect participle_ is that which ends commonly in _ed_ or _en_, and implies a _completion_ of the being, action, or passion: as, _been, acted, ruled, loved, defended, terminated_. III. The _Preperfect participle_ is that which takes the sign _having_, and implies a _previous completion_ of the being, action, or passion: as, _having loved, having seen, having written; having been loved, having been writing, having been written_. The _First_ or _Imperfect_ Participle, when simple, is always formed by adding _ing_ to the radical verb; as, _look, looking_: when compound, it is formed by prefixing _being_ to some other simple participle; as, _being reading, being read, being completed_. The _Second_ or _Perfect_ Participle is always simple, and is regularly formed by adding _d_ or _ed_ to the radical verb: those verbs from which it is formed otherwise, are either irregular or redundant. The _Third_ or _Preperfect_ Participle is always compound, and is formed by prefixing _having_ to the perfect, when the compound is double, and _having been_ to the perfect or the imperfect, when the compound is triple: as, _having spoken, having been spoken, having been speaking_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Some have supposed that both the simple participles denote present _time_; some have supposed that the one denotes present, and the other, past time; some have supposed that the first denotes no time, and the second time past; some have supposed that neither has any regard to time; and some have supposed that both are of _all_ times. In regard to the distinction of _voice_, or the manner of their signification, some have supposed the one to be active, and the other to be passive; some have supposed the participle in _ing_ to be active or neuter, and the other active or passive; and some have supposed that either of them may be active, passive, or neuter. Nor is there any more unanimity among grammarians, in respect to the compounds. Hence several different names have been loosely given to each of the participles: and sometimes with manifest impropriety; as when Buchanan, in his conjugations, calls _being_, "Active,"--and _been, having been, having had_, "Passive." Learned men may differ in opinion respecting the nature of words, but grammar can never well deserve the name of _science_, till at least an ordinary share of reason and knowledge appears in the language of those who teach it. OBS. 2.--The FIRST participle has been called the Present, the Progressive, the Imperfect, the Simple Imperfect, the Indefinite, the Active, the Present Active, the Present Passive, the Present Neuter, and, in the passive voice, the Preterimperfcct, the Compound Imperfect, the Compound Passive, the Passive. The SECOND, which, though it is always but _one word_, some authors treat as being _two participles_, or _three_, has been called the Perfect, the Preter, the Preterperfect, the Imperfect, the Simple Perfect, the Past, the Simple Past, the First Past, the Preterit, the Passive, the Present Passive, the Perfect Active, the Past Active, the Auxiliary Perfect, the Perfect Passive, the Perfect Neuter, the Simple Perfect Active, the Simple Perfect Passive. The THIRD has been called the Compound, the Compound Active, the Compound Passive, the Compound Perfect, the Compound Perfect Active, the Compound Perfect Passive, the Compound Preter, the Present, the Present Perfect, the Past, the Second Past, the Past Compound, the Compound Past, the Prior-perfect, the Prior-present, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, the Preterperfect, the Preperfect.[302] In teaching others to speak and write well, it becomes us to express our doctrines in the most suitable terms; but the application of a name is of no great consequence, so that the thing itself be rightly understood by the learner. Grammar should be taught in a style at once neat and plain, clear and brief. Upon the choice of his terms, the writer of this work has bestowed much reflection; yet he finds it impossible either to please everybody, or to explain, without intolerable prolixity, all the reasons for preference. OBS. 3.--The participle in _ing_ represents the action or state as _continuing_ and ever _incomplete_; it is therefore rightly termed the IMPERFECT participle: whereas the participle in _ed_ always, or at least usually, has reference to the action as _done_ and _complete_; and is, by proper contradistinction, called the PERFECT participle. It is hardly necessary to add, that the terms _perfect_ and _imperfect_, as thus applied to the English participles, have no reference to _time_, or to those _tenses_ of the verb which are usually (but not very accurately) named by these epithets. The terms _present_ and _past_, which some still prefer to _imperfect_ and _perfect_, do denote _time_, and are in a kind of oblique contradistinction; but how well they apply to the participles, may be seen by the following texts: "God _was_ in Christ, _reconciling_ the world unto himself."--"We pray you in Christ's stead, _be_ ye _reconciled_ to God."--ST. PAUL: _2 Cor._, v, 19, 20. Here _reconciling_ refers to the death of Christ, and _reconciled_, to the desired conversion of the Corinthians; and if we call the former a _present_ participle, and the latter a _past_, (as do Bullions, Burn, Clark, Felton, S. S. Greene, Lennie, Pinneo, and perhaps others,) we nominally reverse the order of time in respect to the events, and egregiously misapply both terms. OBS. 4.--Though the participle in _ing_ has, by many, been called the _Present_ participle, it is as applicable to past or future, as to present time; otherwise, such expressions as, "I _had been writing_,"--"I _shall be writing_," would be solecisms. It has also been called, almost as frequently, the _Active_ participle. But it is not always active, even when derived from an active verb; for such expressions as, "The goods are _selling_,"--"The ships are now _building_," are in use, and not without good authority: as, "And hope to allay, by rational discourse, the pains of his joints _tearing_ asunder."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 285. "Insensible of the designs now _forming_ by Philip."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, ii, 48. "The improved edition now _publishing_."--BP. HALIFAX: _Pref. to Butler_. "The present tense expresses an action now _doing_."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 40. The distinguishing characteristic of this participle is, that it denotes an unfinished and progressive state of the being, action, or passion; it is therefore properly denominated the IMPERFECT participle. If the term were applied with reference to _time_, it would be no more objectionable than the word _present_, and would be equally supported by the usage of the _Greek_ linguists. I am no more inclined to "_innovation_," than are the pedants who, for the choice here made, have ignorantly brought the false charge against me. This name, authorized by Beattie and Pickbourn, is approved by Lindley Murray,[303] and adopted by several of the more recent grammarians. See the works of Dr. Crombie, J. Grant, T. O. Churchill, R. Hiley, B. H. Smart, M. Harrison, and W. G. Lewis, published in London; and J. M. M'Culloch's Grammar, published in Edinburgh; also some American grammars, as E. Hazen's, N. Butler's, D. B. Tower's, W. H. Wells's, the Sanderses'. OBS. 5.--The participle in _ed_, as is mentioned above, usually denotes a _completion_ of the being, action, or passion, and should therefore be denominated the PERFECT participle. But this completion may be spoken of as present, past, or future; for the participle itself has no tenses, and makes no distinction of time, nor should the name be supposed to refer to the perfect tense. The conjugation of any passive verb, is a sufficient proof of all this: nor is the proof invalidated by resolving verbs of this kind into their component parts. Of the participles in _ed_ applied to _present_ time, the following is an example: "Such a course would be less likely to produce injury to health, than the _present course pursued_ at our colleges."--_Literary Convention_, p. 118. Tooke's notion of grammatical time, appears to have been in several respects a strange one: he accords with those who call this a _past_ participle, and denies to the other not only the name and notion of _a tense_, but even the _general idea_ of time. In speaking of the old participial termination _and_ or _ende_,[304] which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors used where we write _ing_, he says, "I do not allow that there are any _present_ participles, or any _present tense_ of the verb." [305]--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 41. OBS. 6.--The _Perfect_ participle of transitive verbs, being used in the formation of passive verbs, is sometimes called the _Passive_ participle. It usually has in itself a passive signification, except when it is used in forming the compound tenses of the active verb. Hence the difference between the sentences, "I have written a letter," and, "I have a letter written;" the former being equivalent to _Scripsi literas_, and the latter to _Sunt mihi literae scriptae_. But there are many perfect participles which cannot with any propriety be called passive. Such are all those which come from intransitive or neuter verbs; and also those which so often occur in the tenses of verbs not passive. I have already noticed some instances of this misnomer; and it is better to preclude it altogether, by adhering to the true name of this Participle, THE PERFECT. Nor is that entirely true which some assert, "that this participle in the _active_ is only found in combination;" that, "Whenever it stands alone to be parsed as a participle, it is passive."--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 75. See also _Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 77; and _Greene's Analysis, or Gram._, p. 225. "Rebelled," in the following examples, cannot with any propriety be called a _passive_ participle: "_Rebelled_, did I not send them terms of peace, Which not my justice, but my mercy asked?"--_Pollok_, x, 253. "Arm'd with thy might, rid Heav'n of these _rebell'd_, To their prepar'd ill mansion driven down."--_Milton_, vi, 737. OBS. 7.--The third participle has most generally been called the _Compound_, or the _Compound perfect_. The latter of these terms seems to be rather objectionable on account of its length; and against the former it may be urged that, in the compound forms of conjugation, the first or imperfect participle is a compound: as, _being writing, being seen_. Dr. Adam calls _having loved_ the _perfect_ participle _active_, which he says must be rendered in Latin by the _pluperfect_ of the subjunctive; as, he having loved, _quum amavisset_; (_Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 140;) but it is manifest that the perfect participle of the verb _to love_, whether active or passive, is the simple word _loved_, and not this compound. Dr. Adam, in fact, if he denies this, only contradicts himself; for, in his paradigms of the English Active Voice, he gives the participles as two only, and both simple, thus: "_Present_, Loving; _Perfect_, Loved:"--"_Present_, Having; _Perfect_, Had." So of the Neuter Verb: "_Present_, Being; _Perfect_, Been."--_Ib._, pp. 81 and 82. His scheme of either names or forms is no model of accuracy. On the very next page, unless there is a misprint in several editions, he calls the _Second_ participle the "_imperfect_;" saying, "The whole of the passive voice in English is formed by the auxiliary verb _to be_, and the participle _imperfect_; as, _I am loved, I was loved, &c_." Further: "In many verbs," he adds, "the _present_ participle also is used in a passive sense; as, _These things are doing, were doing_, &c.; _The house is building, was building_, &c."--_Ib._, p. 83. N. Butler, in his Practical Grammar, of 1845, names, and counts, and orders, the participles very oddly: "Every verb," he says, "has _two_ participles--the _imperfect_ and the _perfect_."--P. 78. Yet, for the verb _love_, he finds these six: two "IMPERFECT, _Loving_ and _Being loved_;" two "PERFECT, _Having loved_, and _Having been loved_;" one "AUXILIARY PERFECT, _Loved_," of the "_Active Voice_;" and one "PASSIVE, _Loved_," of the "_Passive Voice_." Many old writers erroneously represent the participle in _ing_ as always active, and the participle in _ed_ or _en_ as always passive; and some, among whom is Buchanan, making no distinction between the simple perfect _loved_ and the compound _having loved_, place the latter with the former, and call it passive also. The absurdity of this is manifest: for _having loved_ or _having seen_ is active; _having been_ or _having sat_ is neuter; and _having been loved_ or _having been seen_ is passive. Again, the triple compound, _having been writing_, is active; and _having been sitting_ is neuter; but if one speak of goods as _having been selling_ low, a similar compound is passive. OBS. 8.--Now all the compound participles which begin with _having_ are essentially alike; and, as a class of terms, they ought to have a name adapted to their nature, and expressive of their leading characteristic. _Having loved_ differs from the simple participle _loved_, in signification as well as in form; and, if this participle is to be named with reference to its _meaning_, there is no more suitable term for it than the epithet PREPERFECT,--a word which explains itself, like _prepaid_ or _prerequisite_. Of the many other names, the most correct one is PLUPERFECT,--which is a term of very nearly the same meaning. Not because this compound is really of the pluperfect _tense_, but because it always denotes being, action, or passion, that is, or was, or will be, _completed before_ the doing or being of something else; and, of course, when the latter thing is represented as past, the participle must correspond to the pluperfect tense of its verb; as, "_Having explained_ her views, it was necessary she should expatiate on the vanity and futility of the enjoyments promised by Pleasure."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 181. Here _having explained_ is exactly equivalent to _when she had explained_. Again: "I may say, _He had commanded_, and we obeyed; or, _He having commanded_, we obeyed."--_Fetch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. ix. Here the two phrases in Italics correspond in import, though not in construction. OBS. 9.--_Pluperfect_ is a derivative contracted from the Latin _plusquam-perfectum_, and literally signifies _more than complete_, or _beyond the perfect_; i. e., (as confirmed by use,) _antecedently finished_, or _completed before_. It is the usual name of our fourth tense; is likewise applicable to a corresponding tense in other tongues; and is a word familiar to every scholar. Yet several grammarians,--too ready, perhaps, for innovation,--have shown their willingness to discard it altogether. Bullions, Butler, Hiley, Perley, Wells, and some others, call the English _pluperfect tense_, the _past-perfect_, and understand either epithet to mean--"_completed at or before_ a certain _past_ time;" (_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 39;) that is--"_finished or past, at_ some _past_ time."--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, p. 72. The relation of the _tense_ is _before the past_, but the epithet _pluperfect_ is not necessarily limited to this relation, any more than what is _perfect_ is necessarily past. Butler has urged, that, "_Pluperfect_ does not mean _completed before_," but is only "a technical name of a particular tense;" and, arguing from this erroneous assumption, has convinced himself, "It would be as correct to call this the _second future_ participle, as the _pluperfect_."--_Ib._, p. 79. The technical name, as limited to the past, is _preterpluperfect_, from the older term _praeteritum plusquam perfectum_; so _preterperfect_, from _praeteritum perfectum_, i. e. _past perfect_, is the name of an _other_ tense, now called the _perfect_: wherefore the substitution of _past-perfect_ for _pluperfect_ is the less to be commended. There may be a convenience in having the name of the tense to differ from that of the participle, and this alone induces me to prefer _preperfect_ to _pluperfect_ for the name of the latter. OBS. 10.--From the participle in _ed_ or _en_, we form three tenses, which the above-named authors call _perfect_;--"the _present-perfect_, the _past-perfect_, and the _future-perfect_;"--as, _have seen, had seen, will have seen_. Now it is, doubtless, the _participle_, that gives to these their _perfectness_; while diversity in the auxiliaries makes their difference of time. Yet it is assumed by Butler, that, in general, the simple participle in _ed_ or _en_, "does not denote an action _done_ and _completed_," and is not to be called _perfect_; (p. 80;)--that, "If we wish to express by a participle, an action _completed at any time_, we use the compound form, and _this is_ THE _perfect participle_;" (p. 79;)--that, "_The characteristic_ of the participle in _ed_ is, that it implies the _reception_ of an action;" (p. 79;)--that, hence, it should be called _the passive_, though it "is _usually_ called the _perfect_ participle;" (p. 79;)--that, "The use of _this participle_ in the _perfect tenses_ of the active voice should not be taken into consideration in giving it a name or a definition;" (p. 80;)--that its _active, neuter_, or _intransitive_ use is not a primitive idiom of the language, but the result of a gradual _change_ of the term from the passive to the active voice; (p. 80;)--that, "the participle _has changed_ its mode of signification, so that, instead of being passive, it is now active in sense;" (p. 105;)--that, "having changed its original meaning so entirely, it should not be considered _the same_ participle;" (p. 78;)--that, "in such cases, it is a _perfect_ participle," and, "for the sake of distinction [,] this may be called the _auxiliary perfect_ participle."--_Ib._ These speculations I briefly throw before the reader, without designing much comment upon them. It will be perceived that they are, in several respects, contradictory one to an other. The author himself names the participle in reference to a usage which he says, "should not be taken into consideration;" and names it absurdly too; for he calls that "the _auxiliary_," which is manifestly the _principal_ term. He also identifies as one what he professes to distinguish as two. OBS. 11.--Participles often become _adjectives_, and are construed before nouns to denote quality. The terms so converted form the class of _participial adjectives_. Words of a participial form may be regarded as adjectives, under the following circumstances: 1. When they reject the idea of time, and denote something customary or habitual, rather than a transient act or state; as, "A _lying_ rogue,"--i.e., one that is addicted to lying. 2. When they admit adverbs of comparison; as, "A _more learned_ man." 3. When they are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb; as, "_unfeeling, unfelt_:" there is no verb _to unfeel_, therefore these words cannot be participles. Adjectives are generally placed before their nouns; participles, after them. The words beginning with _un_, in the following lines may be classed with participial adjectives: "No king, no subject was; unscutcheoned all; Uncrowned, unplumed, unhelmed, unpedigreed; Unlaced, uncoroneted, unbestarred." --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. viii, l. 89. OBS. 12.--Participles in _ing_ often become _nouns_. When preceded by an article, an adjective or a noun or pronoun of the possessive case, they are construed as nouns; and, if wholly such, have neither adverbs nor active regimen: as, "He laugheth at the _shaking_ of a spear."--_Job_, xli, 29. "There is _no searching_ of _his understanding_."--_Isaiah_, xl, 28. "In _their setting_ of their threshold by ray threshold."--_Ezekiel_, xliii, 8. "That any man should make _my glorying_ void."--_1 Cor._, ix, 15. The terms so converted form the class of _verbal_ or _participial_ nouns. But some late authors--(J. S. Hart, S. S. Greene, W. H. Wells, and others--) have given the name of participial nouns to many _participles_,--such participles, often, as retain all their verbal properties and adjuncts, and merely partake of some syntactical resemblance to nouns. Now, since the chief characteristics of such words are from the verb, and are incompatible with the specific nature of a noun, it is clearly improper to call them _nouns_. There are, in the popular use of participles, certain mixed constructions which are reprehensible; yet it is the peculiar nature of a _participle_, to participate the properties of other parts of speech,--of the verb and adjective,--of the verb and noun,--or sometimes, perhaps, of all three. A participle immediately preceded by a preposition, is not converted into a noun, but remains a participle, and therefore retains its adverb, and also its government of the objective case; as, "I thank you _for helping him so seasonably_." Participles in this construction correspond with the Latin gerund, and are sometimes called _gerundives_. OBS. 13.--To distinguish the participle from the participial noun, the learner should observe the following four things: 1. Nouns take articles and adjectives before them; participles, as such, do not. 2. Nouns may govern the possessive case before them, but not the objective after them; participles may govern the objective case, but not so properly the possessive. 3. Nouns, if they have adverbs, require the hyphen; participles take adverbs separately, as do their verbs. 4. Participial nouns express actions as things, and are sometimes declined like other nouns; participles usually refer actions to their agents or recipients, and have in English no grammatical modifications of any kind. OBS. 14.--To distinguish the perfect participle from the preterit of the same form, observe _the sense_, and see which of the auxiliary forms will express it: thus, _loved_ for _being loved_, is a participle; but _loved_ for _did love_, is a preterit verb. So _held_ for _did hold, stung_ for _did sting, taught_ for _did teach_, and the like, are irregular verbs; but _held_ for _being held, stung_ for _being stung, taught_ for _being taught_, and the like, are perfect participles. OBS. 15.--Though the English participles have no inflections, and are consequently incapable of any grammatical agreement or disagreement, those which are simple, are sometimes elegantly taken in a plural sense, with the apparent construction of _nouns_; but, under these circumstances, they are in reality neither nouns nor participles, but participial adjectives construed elliptically, as other adjectives often are, and relating to plural nouns understood. The ellipsis is sometimes of a singular noun, though very rarely, and much less properly. Examples: "To them who are _the called_ according to his purpose."--_Rom._, x, 28. That is--"the called _ones_ or _persons_." "God is not the God of _the dead_, but of _the living_."--_Matt._, xxii, 32. "Neither is it found in the land of _the living_."--_Job_, xxviii, 13. "_The living, the living, he_ shall praise thee, as I do this day."--_Isaiah_, xxxviii, 19. "Till we are made fit to live and reign with him and _all his redeemed_, in the heavenly glory forever."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 18. "_Ye blessed_ of my Father, come, _ye just_, Enter the joy eternal of your Lord."--_Pollok_, B. x, l. 591. "Depart from me, _ye cursed_, into the fire Prepared eternal in the gulf of Hell."--_Id._, B. x, l. 449. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS VII.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Seventh Praxis it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, and PARTICIPLES. _The definitions to be given in the Seventh Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle,--and one for an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "Religion, rightly understood and practised, has the purest of all joys attending it." _Religion_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Rightly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. _Understood_ is a perfect participle, from the irregular active-transitive verb, _understand, understood, understanding, understood_. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. 2. The perfect participle is that which ends commonly in _ed_ or _en_, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion. _And_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction, is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Practised_ is a perfect participle, from the regular active-transitive verb, _practise, practised, practising, practised_. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. 2. The perfect participle is that which ends commonly in _ed_ or _en_, and implies a completion of the being, action, or passion. _Has_ is an irregular active-transitive verb, from _have, had, having, had_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Purest_ is a common adjective, of the superlative degree; compared regularly, _pure, purer, purest_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _All_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A pronominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun or represent it understood. 3. Those adjectives whose signification does not admit of different degrees, cannot be compared. _Joys_ is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Attending_ is an imperfect participle, from the regular active-transitive verb, _attend, attended, attending, attended_. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb. 2. The imperfect participle is that which ends commonly in _ing_, and implies a continuance of the being, action, or passion. _It_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. LESSON I.--PARSING. "A Verb is a word whereby something or other is represented as existing, possessing, acting, or being acted upon, at some particular time, past, present, or future; and this in various manners."--_White, on the English Verb_, p. 1. "Error is a savage, lurking about on the twilight borders of the circle illuminated by truth, ready to rush in and take possession, the moment her lamp grows dim."--_Beecher_. "The science of criticism may be considered as a middle link, connecting the different parts of education into a regular chain."--_Ld. Kames, El. of Crit._, p. xxii. "When I see a man walking, a tree growing, or cattle grazing, I cannot doubt but that these objects are really what they appear to be. Nature determines us to rely on the veracity of our senses; for otherwise they could not in any degree answer their end, that of laying open things existing and passing around us."--_Id., ib._, i, 85. "But, advancing farther in life, and inured by degrees to the crooked ways of men; pressing through the crowd, and the bustle of the world; obliged to contend with this man's craft, and that man's scorn; accustomed, sometimes, to conceal their sentiments, and often to stifle their feelings; they become at last hardened in heart, and familiar with corruption."--BLAIR: _Murray's Sequel_, p. 140. "Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and stricken hard, Turns to his stroke his adamantine scales, That fear no discipline of human hands."--_Cowper's Task_, p. 47. LESSON II.--PARSING. "Thus shame and remorse united in the ungrateful person, and indignation united with hatred in the hearts of others, are the punishments provided by nature for injustice."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 288. "Viewing man as under the influence of novelty, would one suspect that custom also should influence him?--Human nature, diversified with many and various springs of action, is wonderfully, and, indulging the expression, intricately constructed."--_Id., ib._, i, 325. "Dryden frequently introduces three or four persons speaking upon the same subject, each throwing out his own notions separately, without regarding what is said by the rest."--_Id., ib._, ii, 294. "Nothing is more studied in Chinese gardens, than to raise wonder and surprise. Sometimes one is led insensibly into a dark cavern, terminating unexpectedly in a landscape enriched with all that nature affords the most delicious."--_Id., ib._, ii, 334. "The answer to the objection here implied, is obvious, even on the supposition of the questions put being answered in the affirmative."--_Prof. Vethake._ "As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also, he will deliver it; and, passing over, he will preserve it."--_Isaiah_, xxxi, 5. "Here, by the bonds of nature feebly held, Minds combat minds, repelling and repell'd."--_Goldsmith._ "Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled over, Comes to him where in gore he lay insteeped."--_Shakspeare._ LESSON III.--PARSING. "Every change in the state of things is considered as an effect, indicating the agency, characterizing the kind, and measuring the degree, of its cause."--_Dr. Murray, Hist. of En. L._, i, 179. "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, (the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,) Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that he had come from God and was going to God, arose from supper, and laid aside his coat, and, taking a towel, girded himself: then he poured some water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded."--See _John_, xiii. "Spiritual desertion is naturally and judicially incurred by sin. It is the withdrawal of that divine unction which enriches the acquiescent soul with moral power and pleasure. The subtraction leaves the mind enervated, obscured, confused, degraded, and distracted."--HOMO: _N. Y. Observer._ "Giving no offence in any thing, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God: as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."--_2 Cor._, vi. "O may th' indulgence of a father's love, Pour'd forth on me, be doubled from above."--_Young_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS OF PARTICIPLES. [Fist] [As the principles upon which our participles ought to be formed, were necessarily anticipated in the preceding chapter on verbs, the reader must recur to that chapter for the doctrines by which the following errors are to be corrected. The great length of that chapter seemed a good reason for separating these examples from it, and it was also thought, that such words as are erroneously written for participles, should, for the sake of order, be chiefly noticed in this place. In many of these examples, however, the participle is not really a separate part of speech, but is in fact taken with an auxiliary to form some compound tense of its verb.] LESSON I.--IRREGULARS. "Many of your readers have mistook that passage."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 544. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preterit verb _mistook_ is here used for the perfect participle. But, according to the table of irregular verbs, we ought to say, _mistake, mistook, mistaking, mistaken_; after the form of the simple verb, _take, took, taking, taken_. Therefore, the sentence should be amended thus: "Many of your readers have _mistaken_ that passage."] "Had not my dog of a steward ran away."--_Addison, Spect._ "None should be admitted, except he had broke his collar-bone thrice."--_Spect._, No. 474. "We could not know what was wrote at twenty."--_Pref. to Waller_. "I have wrote, thou hast wrote, he has wrote; we have wrote, ye have wrote, they have wrote."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 62. "As if God had spoke his last words there to his people."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 462. "I had like to have came in that ship myself."--_N. Y. Observer_, No. 453. "Our ships and vessels being drove out of the harbour by a storm."--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, i, 470. "He will endeavour to write as the ancient author would have wrote, had he writ in the same language."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, i, 68. "When his doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his enemies."--_Atterbury_. "The immortal mind that hath forsook Her mansion."--_Milton_. "Grease that's sweaten from the murderer's gibbet, throw into the flame."--_Shak., Macbeth_. "The court also was chided for allowing such questions to be put."--_Col. Stone, on Freemasonry_, p. 470. "He would have spoke."-- _Milton, P. L._, B. x, 1. 517. "Words interwove with sighs found out their way."--_Id., ib._, i, 621. "Those kings and potentates who have strove."--_Id., Eiconoclast_, xvii. "That even Silence was took."--_Id., Comus_, l. 557. "And envious Darkness, ere they could return, had stole them from me."--_Id., Comus_, 1. 195. "I have chose this perfect man."--_Id., P. R._, B. i, l. 165. "I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola."--_Shak., As You Like It_. "The fragrant brier was wove between."--_Dryden, Fables_. "Then finish what you have began."--_Id., Poems_, ii, 172. "But now the years a numerous train have ran."--_Pope's Odyssey_, B. xi, l. 555. "Repeats your verses wrote on glasses."--_Prior_. "Who by turns have rose."--_Id._ "Which from great authors I have took."--_Id., Alma_. "Ev'n there he should have fell."--_Id., Solomon._ "The sun has rose, and gone to bed, Just as if Partridge were not dead."--_Swift_. "And though no marriage words are spoke, They part not till the ring is broke."--_Id., Riddles_. LESSON II.--REGULARS. "When the word is stript of all the terminations."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of En. L._, i, 319. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the participle _stript_ is terminated in _t_. But, according to Observation 2d, on the irregular verbs, _stript_ is regular. Therefore, this _t_ should be changed to _ed_; and the final _p_ should be doubled, according to Rule 3d for Spelling: thus, "When the word is _stripped_ of all the terminations."] "Forgive him, Tom; his head is crackt."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 397. "For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer hoist with his own petar."--_Hamlet_, Act 3. "As great as they are, I was nurst by their mother."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 310. "If he should now be cry'd down since his change."--_Ib._, p. 306. "Dipt over head and ears--in debt."--_Ib._, p. 312. "We see the nation's credit crackt."--_Ib._, p. 312. "Because they find their pockets pickt."--_Ib._, p. 338. "O what a pleasure mixt with pain!"--_Ib._, p. 373. "And only with her Brother linkt."--_Ib._, p. 387. "Because he ne'er a thought allow'd, That might not be confest."--_Ib._, p. 361. "My love to Sheelah is more firmly fixt."--_Ib._, p. 369. "The observations annext to them will be intelligible."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 457. "Those eyes are always fixt on the general principles."--_Ib._, i, 458. "Laborious conjectures will be banisht from our commentaries."--_Ib._, i, 459. "Tiridates was dethroned, and Phraates was reestablisht in his stead."--_Ib._, i, 462. "A Roman who was attacht to Augustus."--_Ib._, i, 466. "Nor should I have spoken of it, unless Baxter had talkt about two such."--_Ib._, i, 467. "And the reformers of language have generally rusht on."--_Ib._, i, 649. "Three centuries and a half had then elapst since the date."--_Ib._, i, 249. "Of such criteria, as has been remarkt already, there is an abundance."--_Ib._, i, 261. "The English have surpast every other nation in their services."--_Ib._, i, 306. "The party addrest is next in dignity to the speaker."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 66. "To which we are many times helpt."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 13. "But for him, I should have lookt well enough to myself."--_Ib._, p. 88. "Why are you vext, Lady? why do frown?"--_Milton, Comus_, l. 667. "Obtruding false rules prankt in reason's garb."--_Ib._, l. 759. "But, like David equipt in Saul's armour, it is encumbered and oppressed."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 378. "And when their merchants are blown up, and crackt, Whole towns are cast away in storms, and wreckt." --_Butler_, p. 163. LESSON III.--MIXED. "The lands are holden in free and common soccage." --_Trumbull's Hist_, i, 133. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the participle _holden_ is not in that form which present usage authorizes. But, according to the table of irregular verbs, the four parts of the verb _to hold_, as now used, are _hold, held, holding, held_. Therefore, _holden_ should be _held_; thus, "The lands are _held_ in free and common soccage."] "A stroke is drawed under such words."--_Cobbett's E. Grammar_, Edition of 1832, 154. "It is striked even, with a strickle."--_Walkers Particles_, p. 115. "Whilst I was wandring, without any care, beyond my bounds."--_Ib._, p. 83. "When one would do something, unless hindred by something present."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 311. "It is used potentially, but not so as to be rendred by these signs."--_Ib._, p. 320. "Now who would dote upon things hurryed down the stream thus fast?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 89. "Heaven hath timely try'd their growth."--_Milton, Comus_, l. 970. "O! ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand."--_Ib._, p. 815. "Of true virgin here distrest."--_Ib._, p. 905. "So that they have at last come to be substitute in the stead of it."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 339. "Though ye have lien among the pots."--_Psal._, lxviii, 13. "And, lo, in her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and BRUCE'S: _Gen._, viii, 11. "Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen, through the gates of Rome."--_Shak_. "He shall be spitted on."--_Luke_, xviii, 32. "And are not the countries so overflown still situate between the tropics?"--_Bentley's Sermons_. "Not trickt and frounc't as she was wont, But kercheft in a comely cloud."--_Milton, Il Penseroso_, l. 123. "To satisfy his rigor, Satisfy'd never."--_Id., P. L._, B. x, l. 804. "With him there crucify'd."--_Id., P. L._, B. xii, l. 417. "Th' earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air darkt with plumes."--_Id., Comus_, l. 730. "And now their way to Earth they had descry'd."--_Id., P. L._, B. x, l. 325. "Not so thick swarm'd once the soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon."--_Ib._, B. x, l. 527. "And in a troubled sea of passion tost."--_Ib._, B. x, l. 718. "The cause, alas, is quickly guest."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 404. "The kettle to the top was hoist"--_Ib._, p. 274. "In chains thy syllables are linkt."--_Ib._, p. 318. "Rather than thus be overtopt, Would you not wish their laurels cropt?"--_Ib._, p. 415. "The hyphen, or conjoiner, is a little line, drawed to connect words, or parts of words."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 1832, 150. "In the other manners of dependence, this general rule is sometimes broke."--_Joh. Gram. Com._, p. 334. "Some intransitive verbs may be rendered transitive by means of a preposition prefixt to them."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 66. "Whoever now should place the accent on the first syllable of _Valerius_, would set every body a-laughing."--_Walker's Dict._ "Being mocked, scourged, spitted on, and crucified."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 40. "For rhyme in Greece or Rome was never known, Till by barbarian deluges o'erflown."--_Roscommon_. "In my own Thames may I be drownded, If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd-head."--_Swift_. CHAPTER VIII.--ADVERBS. An Adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner: as, They are _now here_, studying _very diligently_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Adverbs briefly express what would otherwise require several words: as _Now_, for _at this time_;--_Here_, for _in this place_;--_Very_, for _in a high degree_;--_Diligently_, for _in an industrious manner_. Thus the meaning of almost any adverb, may be explained by some phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun. OBS. 2.--There are several customary combinations of short words, which are used adverbially, and which some grammarians do not analyze in parsing; _as, not at all, at length, in fine, in full, at least, at present, at once, this once, in vain, no doubt, on board_. But all words that convey distinct ideas, and rightly retain their individuality, ought to be taken separately in parsing. With the liberty of supposing a few ellipses, an ingenious parser will seldom find occasion to speak of "adverbial phrases." In these instances, _length, doubt, fine_, and _board_, are unquestionably nouns; _once_, too, is used as a noun; _full_ and _all_ may be parsed either as nouns, or as adjectives whose nouns are understood; _at least_, is, _at the least measure; at present_, is, _at the present time_; and _in vain_, is, _in a vain course, or manner._ OBS. 3.--A phrase is a combination of two or more separable parts of speech, the _parsing_ of which of course implies their separation. And though the division of our language into words, and the division of its words into parts of speech, have never yet been made exactly to correspond, it is certainly desirable to bring them as near together as possible. Hence such terms as _everywhere, anywhere, nowadays, forever, everso, to-day, to-morrow, by-and-by, inside-out, upside-down_, if they are to be parsed simply as adverbs, ought to be compounded, and not written as phrases. OBS. 4--Under nearly all the different classes of words, some particular instances may be quoted, in which other parts of speech seem to take the nature of adverbs, so as either to become such, or to be apparently used _for_ them. (1.) ARTICLES: "This may appear incredible, but it is not _the_ less true."--_Dr. Murray's Hist._, i, 337. "The other party was _a_ little coy."--_D. Webster._ (2.) NOUNS: "And scrutiny became _stone_[306] blind."--_Cowper._ "He will come _home to-morrow._"--_Clark._ "They were travelling _post_ when he met them."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 69. "And with a vengeance sent from Media _post_ to Egypt."--_Milton, P. L._, B. iv, l. 170. "That I should care _a groat_ whether he likes the work or not."--_Kirkham._ "It has snowed terribly all night, and is _vengeance_ cold."--_Swift._ (3.) ADJECTIVES: "Drink _deep_, or taste not."--_Pope._ "A place _wondrous_ deep."--_Webster's Dict._ "That fools should be so _deep_ contemplative."--_Shak._ "A man may speak _louder_ or _softer_ in the same key; when he speaks _higher_ or _lower_, he changes his key."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 116. (4.) PRONOUNS: "_What_ am I eased?"--_Job._ "_What_ have I offended thee?"--_Gen._, xx, 9. "He is _somewhat_ arrogant."--_Dryden._ (5.) VERBS: "_Smack_ went the whip, round went the wheels."--_Cowper._ "For then the farmers came _jog, jog_, along the miry road."--_Id._ "_Crack!_ went something on deck."--_Robinson Crusoe._ "Then straight went the yard _slap_ over their noddle."--Arbuthnot. (6.) PARTICIPLES: "Like medicines given _scalding_ hot."--_Dodd._ "My clothes are almost _dripping_ wet."--"In came Squire South, stark, _staring_ mad."--_Arbuthnot._ "An _exceeding_ high mountain."--_Matt._, iv, 8. "How sweet, how _passing_ sweet, the hour to me!"--_Ch. Observer._ "When we act _according_ to our duty."--_Dr. Johnson._ "A man was famous _according_ as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees."--_Psal._, lxxiv, 5. (7.) CONJUNCTIONS: "Look, _as_ I blow this feather from my face."--_Shak._ "Not at all, or _but_ very gently."--_Locke._ "He was _but_ born to try the lot of man."--_Pope._ (8.) PREPOSITIONS: "They shall go _in_ and _out._"--_Bible._ "From going _to_ and _fro_ in the earth, and walking _up_ and _down_ in it."--_Ib._ These are actually _adverbs_, and not prepositions, because they govern nothing. (9.) INTERJECTIONS are never used as adverbs, though the Greek grammarians refer them nearly all to this class. The using of other words for adverbs, (i. e., the adverbial use of any words that we do not actually call adverbs,) may be referred to the figure _enallage_:[307] as, "_Tramp, tramp_, across the land they speed, _Splash, splash_, across the sea."--_Burger._ OBS. 5.--As other parts of speech seem sometimes to take the nature of adverbs, so adverbs sometimes, either really or apparently, assume the nature of other parts of speech. (1.) Of NOUNS: as, "A committee is not needed merely to say _Yes_ or _No_; that will do very little good; _the yes_ or _the no_ must be accompanied and supported by reasons."--_Dr. M'Cartee._ "Shall I tell you _why?_ Ay, sir, and _wherefore_; for, they say, every _why_ hath a _wherefore._"--_Shak._ (2.) Of ADJECTIVES: as, "Nebuchadnezzar invaded the country, and reduced it to an _almost_ desert."--_Wood's Dict., w. Moab._ "The _then_ bishop of London, Dr. Laud, attended on his Majesty."--_Clarendon._ "With _upward_ speed his agile wings he spread."--_Prior._ "She lights the _downward_ heaven, and rises there."--_Dryden._ (3.) Of PRONOUNS: as, "He liked the ground _whereon_ she trod."--_Milton._ "_Wherein_ have you been galled by the king?"--_Shak._ "O how unlike the place from _whence_ they fell!"--_Par. Lost_, B. i, l. 75. Here _whereon_ is exactly equivalent in sense to _on which; wherein_, to _in what_; and _whence_, to _which_: but none of them are actually reckoned pronouns. (4.) Of VERBS: as, "If he be hungry, more than wanton, bread alone will _down._"--_Locke._ "To _down_ proud hearts that would not willing die."--_Sidney._ "She never could _away_ with me."--_Shak._ "_Away_, and glister like the god of war."--_Id._ "_Up_, get ye out of this place."--_Gen._, xix, 14. (5.) Of CONJUNCTIONS: as, "I, _even_ I, am he."--_Isaiah_, xliii, 25. "If I will that he tarry _till_ I come."--_John_, xxi, 22. "I will go and see him _before_ I die."--_Gen._, xlv, 28. "Before I go _whence_ I shall not return."--_Job_, x, 21. (6) Of PREPOSITIONS: as, "Superior to any that are dug _out_ the ground."--_Eames's Lect._, p. 28. "Who act _so counter_ heavenly mercy's plan."--_Burns._ Better perhaps, "_out of_" and "_counter to._" (7.) Of INTERJECTIONS: as, "_Up, up_, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"--_Scott._ "_Down, down_, cried Mar, your lances _down!_"--_Id._ "_Off!_ or I fly for ever from thy sight."--_Smith._ OBS. 6.--In these last examples, _up_, and _down_, and _off_, have perhaps as much resemblance to imperative verbs, as to interjections; but they need not be referred to either of these classes, because by supplying a verb we may easily parse them as adverbs. I neither adopt the notion of Horne Tooke, that the same word cannot belong to different parts of speech, nor refer every word to that class to which it may at first sight appear to belong; for both of these methods are impracticable and absurd. The essential nature of each part of speech, and every important peculiarity of its individual terms, it is hoped, will be sufficiently explained in some part or other of this work; but, as the classification of words often depends upon their _construction_, some explanations that go to determine the parts of speech, must be looked for under the head of Syntax. OBS. 7.--The proper classification, or subdivision, of adverbs, though it does not appear to have been discovered by any of our earlier grammarians, is certainly very clearly indicated by the meaning and nature of the words themselves. The four important circumstances of any event or assertion, are the _when_, the _where_, the _how-much_, and the _how_; or the _time_, the _place_, the _degree_, and the _manner_. These four are the things which we usually express by adverbs. And seldom, if ever, do we find any adverb the notion of which does not correspond to that of _sometime, somewhere, somewhat_, or _somehow_. Hence, the general classes of this sort of words ought to be formed under these four heads. The classification heretofore most commonly adopted in English grammar, has every fault which the spirit of awkwardness could possibly give it. The head of it is this: "Adverbs, _though very numerous_, may be reduced to _certain_ classes, the _chief_ of which are _those of_ Number, Order, Place, Time, Quantity, Manner or Quality, Doubt, Affirmation, Negation, Interrogation, and Comparison."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 115; _Comly's_, 66; _Kirkham's_, 86; _R. C. Smith's_, 34; _Hall's_, 26; _and others_. CLASSES. Adverbs may be reduced to four general classes; namely, adverbs of _time_, of _place_, of _degree_, and of _manner_. Besides these, it is proper to distinguish the particular class of _conjunctive_ adverbs. I. Adverbs of _time_ are those which answer to the question, _When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these which ask. OBS.--Adverbs of time may be subdivided as follows:-- 1. Of time present; as, _Now, yet, to-day, nowadays, presently, instantly, immediately, straightway, directly, forthwith_. 2. Of time past; as, _Already, just now, lately, recently, yesterday, formerly, anciently, once, heretofore, hitherto, since, till now, long ago, erewhile, erst_. 3. Of time to come; as, _To-morrow, hereafter, henceforth, henceforward, by-and-by, soon, erelong, shortly_. 4. Of time relative; as, _When, then, first, just, before, after, while, whilst, meanwhile, as, till, until, seasonably, betimes, early, late, whenever, afterward, afterwards, otherwhile, otherwhiles_. 5. Of time absolute; as, _Always, ever, never, aye, eternally, forever, perpetually, continually, incessantly, endlessly, evermore, everlastingly_. 6. Of time repeated; as, _Often, oft, again, occasionally, frequently, sometimes, seldom, rarely, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, annually, once, twice, thrice_, or _three times_. Above this, we use only the phrases _four times, five times, six times, &c_. Whether these ought to be reckoned adverbs, or not, is questionable: _times_, for _repetitions_, or _instances_, may be supposed a noun; but such phrases often appear to be used adverbially. II. Adverbs of _place_ are those which answer to the question, _Where? Whither? Whence?_ or, _Whereabout?_ including these which ask. OBS.--Adverbs of place may be subdivided as follows:-- 1. Of place in which; as, _Where, here, there, yonder, above, below, about, around, somewhere, anywhere, elsewhere, otherwhere, everywhere, nowhere, wherever, wheresoever, within, without, whereabout, whereabouts, hereabout, hereabouts, thereabout, thereabouts_. 2. Of place to which; as, _Whither, hither, thither, in, up, down, back, forth, aside, ashore, abroad, aloft, home, homewards, inwards, upwards, downwards, backwards, forwards_. _Inward, homeward, upward, downward, backward_, and _forward_, are also adverbs, as well as adjectives; but some critics, for distinction's sake, choose to use these only as adjectives. 3. Of place from which; as, _Whence, hence, thence, away, out, off, far, remotely_. 4. Of the order of place; as, _First, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, &c_. Thus, _secondly_ means _in the second place_; _thirdly, in the third place_; &c. For order, or rank, implies place, though it may consist of relative degrees. III. Adverbs of _degree_ are those which answer to the question, _How much? How little?_ or, to the idea of _more or less_. OBS.--Adverbs of degree may be subdivided as follows:-- 1. Of excess or abundance; as, _Much, more, most, too, very, greatly, far, besides; chiefly, principally, mainly, mostly, generally; entirely, full, fully, completely, perfectly, wholly, totally, altogether, all, quite, clear, stark; exceedingly, excessively, extravagantly, intolerably; immeasurably, inconceivably, infinitely_. 2. Of equality or sufficiency; as, _Enough, sufficiently, competently, adequately, proportionally, equally, so, as, even, just, exactly, precisely_. 3. Of deficiency or abatement; as, _Little, less, least, scarcely, hardly, scantly, scantily merely, barely, only, but, partly, partially, nearly, almost, well-nigh, not quite_. 4. Of quantity in the abstract; as, _How_, (meaning, _in what degree_,) _however, howsoever, everso, something, anything, nothing, a groat, a sixpence, a sou-markee_, and other nouns of quantity used adverbially. IV. Adverbs of _manner_ are those which answer to the question, _How?_ or, by affirming, denying, or doubting, show _how_ a subject is regarded. OBS.--Adverbs of manner may be subdivided as follows:-- 1. Of manner from quality; as, _Well, ill, wisely, foolishly, justly, wickedly_, and many others formed by adding _ly_ to adjectives of quality. _Ly_ is a contraction of _like_; and is the most common termination of English adverbs. When added to nouns, it forms adjectives; but some few of these are also used adverbially; as, _daily, weekly, monthly_, which denote time. 2. Of affirmation or assent; as, _Yes, yea, ay, verily, truly, indeed, surely, certainly, doubtless, undoubtedly, assuredly, certes, forsooth,[308] amen_. 3. Of negation; as, _No, nay, not, nowise, noway, noways, nohow_. 4. Of doubt or uncertainty; as, _Perhaps, haply, possibly, perchance, peradventure, may-be_. 5. Of mode or way; as, _Thus, so, how, somehow, nohow, anyhow, however, howsoever, like, else, otherwise, across, together, apart, asunder, namely, particularly, necessarily, hesitatingly, trippingly, extempore, headlong, lengthwise_. V. _Conjunctive adverbs_ are those which perform the office of conjunctions, and serve to connect sentences, as well as to express some circumstance of time, place, degree, or the like. This class embraces a few words not strictly belonging to any of the others: as, (1.) The adverbs of cause; _why, wherefore, therefore_; but the last two of these are often called conjunctions. (2.) The pronominal compounds; _herein, therein, wherein_, &c.; in which the former term is a substitute, and virtually governed by the enclitic particle. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Conjunctive adverbs often relate equally to two verbs in different clauses, on which account it is the more necessary to distinguish them from others; as, "And they feared _when_ they heard that they were Romans,"--_Acts_, xvi, 38. Here _when_ is a conjunctive adverb of time, and relates equally to _feared_ and to _heard_. "The right of coming on the shore for their purposes in general, _as_ and _when_ they please."--_Holroyd_. Here _as_ is a conjunctive adverb of manner, and _when_, of time; both relating equally to _coming_ and to _please_. OBS. 2.--The following words are the most frequently used as conjunctive adverbs: _after, again, also, as, before, besides, consequently, else, ere, even, furthermore, hence, how, however, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, since, so, still, till, then, thence, therefore, too, until, when, where, wherefore, whither_, and _while_, or _whilst_. OBS. 3.--Adverbs of _time, place_, and _manner_, are generally connected with verbs or participles; those of _degree_ are more frequently placed before adjectives or adverbs: the latter, however, sometimes denote the measure of actions or effects; as, "And I wept _much_"--_Rev._, v, 4. "And Isaac trembled _very exceedingly_"--_Gen._, xxvii, 33. "Writers who had felt _less_, would have said _more_"--_Fuller_. "Victors and vanquished, in the various field, Nor _wholly_ overcome, nor _wholly_ yield."--_Dryden_. OBS. 4.--The adverbs _here, there_, and _where_, when compounded with prepositions, have the force of pronouns, or of pronominal adjectives: as, _Hereby_, for _by this; thereby_, for _by that_; _whereby_, for _by which_, or _by what_. The prepositions which may be subjoined in this manner, are only the short words, _at, by, for, from, in, into, of, on, to, unto, under, upon_, and _with_. Compounds of this kind, although they partake of the nature of pronouns with respect to the nouns going before, are still properly reckoned adverbs, because they relate as such to the verbs which follow them; as, "You take my life, when you do take the means _whereby_ I live."--_Shak_. Here _whereby_ is a conjunctive adverb, representing _means_, and relating to the verb _live_.[309] This mode of expression is now somewhat antiquated, though still frequently used by good authors, and especially by the poets. OBS. 5--The adverbs, _when, where, whither, whence, how, why, wherefore, wherein, whereof, whereby_, and other like compounds of _where_, are sometimes used as _interrogatives_; but, as such, they still severally belong to the classes under which they are placed in the foregoing distribution, except that words of interrogation are not at the same time connectives. These adverbs, and the three pronouns, _who, which_, and _what_, are the only interrogative words in the language; but questions may be asked without any of them, and all have other uses than to ask questions. OBS. 6.--The conjunctive adverbs, _when, where, whither, whence, how_, and _why_, are sometimes so employed as to partake of the nature of _pronouns_, being used as a sort of _special relatives_, which refer back to antecedent nouns of _time, place, manner_, or _cause_, according to their own respective meanings; yet being adverbs, because they relate as such, to the verbs which follow them: as, "In the _day when_ God shall judge the secrets of men."--_Rom._, ii, 16. "In a _time when_ thou mayest be found."--_Psal._, xxxii, 6. "I sought for some time what I at length found here, a _place where_ all real wants might be easily supplied."--_Dr. Johnson_. "To that _part_ of the mountain _where_ the declivity began to grow craggy."--_Id._ "At _Canterbury, whither_ some voice had run before."--_Wotton_. "Look unto the _rock whence_ ye are hewn, and to the hole of the _pit whence_ ye are digged."--_Isaiah_, li, 1. "We may remark three different _sources whence_ it arises."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 163. "I'll tell you a _way how_ you may live your time over again."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 108. "A crude account of the _method how_ they perceive truth."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 404. "The _order how_ the Psalter is appointed to be read."--_Common Prayer_. "In the same reasoning we see the _cause, why_ no substantive is susceptible of these comparative degrees."--_Hermes_, p. 201. "There seems no _reason why_ it should not work prosperously."--_Society in America_, p. 68. "There are strong _reasons why_ an extension of her territory would be injurious to her."--_Ib._ "An other _reason why_ it deserved to be more studied."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 123. "The _end why_ God hath ordained faith, is, that his free grace might be glorified."--_Goodwin_. OBS. 7.--The direct use of adverbs for pronouns, is often, if not generally, inelegant; and, except the expression may be thereby agreeably shortened, it ought to be considered ungrammatical. The following examples, and perhaps also some of the foregoing, are susceptible of improvement: "Youth is _the time, when_ we are young."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 120. Say rather, "Youth is _that part of life which_ succeeds to childhood." "The boy gave a satisfactory _reason why_ he was tardy."--_Ibid._ Say rather, "The boy gave a satisfactory reason _for his tardiness_." "The several _sources from whence_ these pleasures are derived."--_Murray's Key_, p. 258. Say rather--"sources from _which_" "In _cases where_ it is only said, that a question has been asked."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 117. Say, "In _those_ cases _in which_." "To the false rhetoric of the _age when_ he lived."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 415. Say rather--"of the age _in which_ he lived." OBS. 8.--When a conjunctive adverb is equivalent to both an antecedent and a relative, the construction seems to be less objectionable, and the brevity of the expression affords an additional reason for preferring it, especially in poetry: as, "But the Son of man hath not _where_ to lay his head."--_Matt._, viii, 20. "There might they see _whence_ Po and Ister came."--_Hoole's Tasso._ "Tell _how_ he formed your shining frame."--_Ogilvie._ "The wind bloweth _where_ it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell _whence_ it cometh, and _whither_ it goeth."--_John_, iii, 8. In this construction, the adverb is sometimes preceded by a preposition; the noun being, in fact, _understood_: as, "Sinks, like a sea-weed, _into whence_ she rose."--_Byron._ "Here Machiavelli's earth return'd _to whence_ it rose."--_Id._ OBS. 9.--The conjunctive adverb _so_, very often expresses the sense of some word or phrase going before; as, "Wheresoever the speech is corrupted, _so_ is the mind."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. 267. That is, the mind is _also corrupted_. "I consider grandeur and sublimity, as terms synonymous, or nearly _so_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. The following sentence is grossly wrong, because the import of this adverb was not well observed by the writer: "We have now come to _far the most complicated_ part of speech; and one which is sometimes rendered _still more so_, than the nature of our language requires."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 38. _So_, in some instances, repeats the import of a preceding _noun_, and consequently partakes the nature of a _pronoun_; as, "We think our fathers _fools_, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us _so_."--_Pope, on Crit._ OBS. 10.--"_Since_ is often improperly used for _ago_: as, 'When were you in France?--Twenty years _since_.' It ought to be, 'Twenty years _ago_.' _Since_ may be admitted to supply the place of _ago that_: it being equally correct to say, 'It is twenty years _since_ I was in France;' and, 'It is twenty years _ago, that_ I was in France.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 337. The difference between _since_ and _ago_ is clearly this: the former, being either a preposition or a conjunctive adverb, cannot with strict propriety be used _adjectively_; the latter, being in reality an old participle, naturally comes after a noun, in the sense of an adjective; as, _a year ago, a month ago, a week ago_. "_Go, ago, ygo, gon, agon, gone, agone_, are all used indiscriminately by our old English writers as the past participle of the verb _to go_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 376. "Three days _agone_, I fell sick."--_1 Samuel_, xxx, 13. MODIFICATIONS. Adverbs have no modifications, except that a few are compared, after the manner of adjectives: as, _soon, sooner, soonest; often, oftener, oftenest;[310] long, longer, longest; fast, faster, fastest_. The following are irregularly compared: _well, better, best; badly_ or _ill, worse, worst; little less, least; much, more, most; far, farther, farthest; forth, further, furthest. Rath, rather, rathest_, is now used only in the comparative. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Most adverbs that are formed from adjectives by the addition of _ly_, will admit the comparative adverbs _more and most, less_ and _least_, before them:, as, _wisely, more wisely, most wisely; culpably, less culpably, least culpably_. This is virtually a comparison of the latter adverb, but the grammatical inflection, or degree, belongs only to the former; and the words being written separately, it is certainly most proper to parse them separately, ascribing the degree of comparison to the word which expresses it. As comparison does not belong to adverbs in general, it should not be mentioned in parsing, except in the case of those few which are varied by it. OBS. 2.--In the works of Milton, and occasionally in those of some other poets of his age,[311] adverbs of two syllables, ending in _ly_, are not only compared regularly like adjectives of the same ending, but are used in the measure of iambic verse as if they still formed only two syllables. Examples:-- "But God hath _wiselier_ arm'd his vengeful ire." --_P. Lost_, B. x, l. 1022. "Destroyers _rightlier_ call'd and plagues of men." --_Ib._, B. xi, l. 699. "And on his quest, where _likeliest_ he might find." --_Ib._, B. ix, l. 414. "Now _amplier_ known thy Saviour and thy Lord." --_Ib._, B. xii, l. 544. "Though thou wert _firmlier_ fasten'd than a rock." --_Sam. Agon._, l. 1398. "Not rustic, as before, but _seemlier_ clad." --_P. Reg._, B. ii, l. 299. -------------------------"Whereof to thee anon _Plainlier_ shall be reveal'd." --_Paradise Lost_, B. xii, l. 150. ------------"To show what coast thy sluggish erare Might _easiliest_ harbour in." --_Shakspeare, Cymb._, Act IV. "Shall not myself be _kindlier_ mov'd than thou art?" --_Id., Tempest_, Act V. "But _earthlier_ happy is the rose distill'd." --_Id., M. S. N. Dream_, Act I. OBS. 3.--The usage just cited is clearly analogical, and has the obvious advantage of adding to the flexibility of the language, while it also multiplies its distinctive forms. If carried out as it might be, it would furnish to poets and orators an ampler choice of phraseology, and at the same time, obviate in a great measure the necessity of using the same words both adjectively and adverbially. The words which are now commonly used in this twofold character, are principally monosyllables; and, of adjectives, monosyllables are the class which we oftenest compare by _er_ and _est_: next to which come dissyllables ending in _y_; as, _holy, happy, lovely_. But if to any monosyllable we add _ly_ to form an adverb, we have of course a dissyllable ending in _y_; and if adverbs of this class may be compared regularly, after the manner of adjectives, there can be little or no occasion to use the primitive word otherwise than as an adjective. But, according to present usage, few adverbs are ever compared by inflection, except such words as may also be used adjectively. For example: _cleanly, comely, deadly, early, kindly, kingly, likely, lively, princely, seemly, weakly_, may all be thus compared; and, according to Johnson and Webster, they may all be used either adjectively or adverbially. Again: _late, later, latest_, is commonly contrasted in both senses, with _early, earlier, earliest_; but if _lately, latelier, lateliest_, were adopted in the adverbial contrast, _early_ and _late, earlier_ and _later, earliest_ and _latest_, might be contrasted as adjectives only. OBS. 4.--The using of adjectives for adverbs, is _in general_ a plain violation of grammar. Example: "_To_ is a preposition, governing the verb _sell_, in the infinitive mood, _agreeable_ to Rule 18, which says, The preposition TO governs the infinitive mood."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 137. Here _agreeable_ ought to be _agreeably_; an adverb, relating to the participle _governing_. Again, the using of adverbs for adjectives, is a fault as gross. Example: "Apprehending the nominative to be put _absolutely._"-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 155. Here _absolutely_ ought to be _absolute_; an adjective, relating to the word _nominative_. But, _in poetry_, there is not only a frequent substitution of quality for manner, in such a way that the adjective may still be parsed adjectively; but sometimes also what _appears_ to be (whether right or wrong) a direct use of adjectives for adverbs, especially in the higher degrees of comparison: as, "_Firmer_ he roots him the _ruder_ it blow." --_Scott, L. of L._, C. ii, st. 19. "True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move _easiest_ who have learn'd to dance." --_Pope, Ess. on Crit._ "And also now the sluggard _soundest_ slept." --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. vi, l. 257. "In them is _plainest_ taught, and _easiest_ learnt, What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so." --_Milton, P. R._, B. iv, l. 361. OBS. 5.--No use of words can be _right_, that actually confounds the parts of speech; but in many instances, according to present practice, the same words may be used either adjectively or adverbially. _Firmer_ and _ruder_ are not adverbs, but adjectives. In the example above, they may, I think, be ranked with the instances in which quality is poetically substituted for manner, and be parsed as relating to the pronouns which follow them. A similar usage occurs in Latin, and is considered elegant. _Easiest_, as used above by Pope, may perhaps be parsed upon the same principle; that is, as relating to _those_, or to _persons_ understood before the verb _move_. But _soundest, plainest_, and _easiest_, as in the latter quotations, cannot be otherwise explained than as being adverbs. _Plain_ and _sound_, according to our dictionaries, are used both adjectively and adverbially; and, if their superlatives are not misapplied in these instances, it is because the words are adverbs, and regularly compared as such. _Easy_, though sometimes used adverbially by reputable writers, is presented by our lexicographers as an adjective only; and if the latter are right, Milton's use of _easiest_ in the sense and construction of _most easily_, must be considered an error in grammar. And besides, according to his own practice, he ought to have preferred _plainliest_ to _plainest_, in the adverbial sense of _most plainly_. OBS. 6.--Beside the instances already mentioned, of words used both adjectively and adverbially, our dictionaries exhibit many primitive terms which are to be referred to the one class or the other, according to their construction; as, _soon, late, high, low, quick, slack, hard, soft, wide, close, clear, thick, full, scant, long, short, clean, near, scarce, sure, fast_; to which may as well be added, _slow, loud_, and _deep_; all susceptible of the regular form of comparison, and all regularly convertible into adverbs in _ly_; though _soonly_ and _longly_ are now obsolete, and _fastly_, which means _firmly_, is seldom used. In short, it is, probably, from an idea, that no adverbs are to be compared by _er_ and _est_ unless the same words may also be used adjectively, that we do not thus compare _lately, highly, quickly, loudly_, &c., after the example of Milton. But, however custom may sanction the adverbial construction of the foregoing simple terms, the distinctive form of the adverb is in general to be preferred, especially in prose. For example: "The more it was complained of, the _louder_ it was praised."--_Daniel Webster, in Congress_, 1837. If it would seem quaint to say, "The _loudlier_ it was praised," it would perhaps be better to say, "The _more loudly_ it was praised;" for our critics have not acknowledged _loud_ or _louder_ to be an adverb. Nor have _slow_ and _deep_ been so called. Dr. Johnson cites the following line to illustrate the latter as an _adjective_: "Drink hellebore, my boy! drink _deep_, and scour thy brain. DRYDEN." --_Joh. Dict., w. Deep_. "Drink hellebore, my boy! drink deep, and _purge_ thy brain." --_Dryd. IV. Sat. of Persius_. OBS. 7.--In some instances, even in prose, it makes little or no difference to the sense, whether we use adjectives referring to the nouns, or adverbs of like import, having reference to the verbs: as, "The whole conception is conveyed _clear_ and _strong_ to the mind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p, 138. Here _clear_ and _strong_ are adjectives, referring to _conception_; but we might as well say, "The whole conception is conveyed _clearly_ and _strongly_ to the mind." "Against a power that exists _independent_ of their own choice."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 46. Here we might as well say, "exists _independently_;" for the independence of the power, in whichever way it is expressed, is nothing but _the manner_ of its _existence_. "This work goeth _fast_ on and prospereth."--_Ezra_. "Skill comes so _slow_, and life so _fast_ doth fly."--_Davies_. Dr. Johnson here takes _fast_ and _slow_ to be adjectives, but he might as well have called them adverbs, so far as their meaning or construction is concerned. For what here qualifies the things spoken of, is nothing but _the manner_ of their _motion_; and this might as well be expressed by the words, _rapidly, slowly, swiftly_. Yet it ought to be observed, that this does not prove the equivalent words to be adverbs, and not adjectives. Our philologists have often been led into errors by the argument of equivalence. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS VIII.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Eighth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, PARTICIPLES, _and_ ADVERBS. _The definitions to be given in the Eighth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes three) for an adverb,--and one for a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "When was it that Rome attracted most strongly the admiration of mankind?"--_R. G. Harper._ _When_ is an adverb of time. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree or manner. 2. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, _When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these which ask. _Was_ is an irregular neuter verb, from _be, was, being, been_; found in the indicative mood, imperfect tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The imperfect tense is that which expresses what took place, or was occurring, in time fully past. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _It_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _That_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. _Rome_ is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, personified feminine, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A proper noun is the name of some particular individual, or people, or group. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The feminine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the female kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Attracted_ is a regular active-transitive verb, from _attract, attracted, attracting, attracted_; found in the indicative mood, imperfect tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The imperfect tense is that which expresses what took place, or was occurring, in time fully past. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Most_ is an a adverb of degree, compared, _much, more, most_, and found in the superlative. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of degree are those which answer to the question, _How much? How little?_ or to the idea of _more or less_. 3. The superlative degree is that which is _most_ or _least_ of all included with it. _Strongly_ is an adverb of manner. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of manner are those which answer to the question, _How?_ or, by affirming, denying, or doubting, show _how_ a subject is regarded. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Admiration_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Mankind_ is a common noun, collective, of the third person, conveying the idea of plurality, masculine gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A collective noun, or noun of multitude, is the name of many individuals together. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. LESSON I.--PARSING. "Wisely, therefore, is it ordered, and agreeably to the system of Providence, that we should have nature for our instructor."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 358. "It is surprising, how quickly, and for the most part how correctly, we judge of character from external appearance."--_Id., ib._, i, 359. "The members of a period connected by proper copulatives, glide smoothly and gently along, and are a proof of sedateness and leisure in the speaker."--_Id., ib._, ii, 33. "Antithesis ought only to be occasionally studied, when it is naturally demanded by the comparison or opposition of objects."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 102. "Did men always think clearly, and were they at the same time fully masters of the language in which they write, there would be occasion for few rules."--_Ib._, 102. "Rhetoric, or oratory, is the art of speaking justly, methodically, floridly, and copiously, upon any subject, in order to touch the passions, and to persuade."--_Bradley's Literary Guide_, p. 155. "The more closely we follow the natural order of any subject we may be investigating, the more satisfactorily and explicitly will that subject be opened to our understanding."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 160. "Why should we doubt of that, whereof our sense Finds demonstration from experience? Our minds are here, and there, below, above; Nothing that's mortal, can so swiftly move."--_Denham_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "If we can discern particularly and precisely what it is, which is most directly obedience or disobedience to the will and commands of God; what is truly morally beautiful, or really and absolutely deformed; the question concerning liberty, as far as it respects ethics, or morality, will be sufficiently decided."--_West, on Agency_, p. xiii. "Thus it was true, historically, individually, philosophically, and universally, that they did not like to retain God in their knowledge."--_Cox, on Christianity_, p. 327. "We refer to Jeremiah Evarts and Gordon Hall. They had their imperfections, and against them they struggled discreetly, constantly, successfully, until they were fitted to ascend to their rest."--_N. Y. Observer_, Feb. 2d, 1833. "Seek not proud riches; but such as thou mayst get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully and leave contentedly."--_Ld. Bacon._ "There are also some particularly grievous sins, of which conscience justly accuses us; sins committed more or less presumptuously and willingly, deliberately and repeatedly."--_Bickersteth, on Prayer_, p. 59. "And herein I apprehend myself now to suffer wrongfully, being slanderously reported, falsely accused, shamefully and despitefully used, and hated without a cause."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 173. "Of perfect knowledge, see, the dawning light Foretells a noon most exquisitely bright! Here, springs of endless joy are breaking forth! There, buds the promise of celestial worth!"--_Young._ LESSON III--PARSING. "A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably."--_Penn's Maxims._ "That mind must be wonderfully narrow, that is wholly wrapped up in itself; but this is too visibly the character of most human minds."--_Burgh's Dignity_, ii, 35. "There is not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery; but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is, by legislative authority."--_Geo. Washington_, 1786. "Sloth has frequently and justly been denominated the rust of the soul. The habit is easily acquired; or, rather, it is a part of our very nature to be indolent."--_Student's Manual_, p. 176. "I am aware how improper it is to talk much of my wife; never reflecting how much more improper it is to talk much of myself."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 89. "Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool,) I am more."--_2 Cor._, xi. "Oh, speak the wondrous man! how mild, how calm, How greatly humble, how divinely good, How firm establish'd on eternal truth."--_Thomson_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING ADVERBS. "We can much easier form the conception of a fierce combat."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 167. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the adjective _easier_ is used as an adverb, to qualify the verb _can form._ But, according to Observation 4th on the Modifications of Adverbs, "The using of adjectives for adverbs, is in general a plain violation of grammar." Therefore, _easier_ should be _more easily_; thus, "We can much _more easily_ form the conception of a fierce combat."] "When he was restored, agreeable to the treaty, he was a perfect savage."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 235. "How I shall acquit myself suitable to the importance of the trial."--_Duncan's Cic._, p. 85. "Can any thing show your holiness how unworthy you treat mankind?"--_Spect._, No. 497. "In what other [language,] consistent with reason and common sense, can you go about to explain it to him?"--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. viii. "Agreeable to this rule, the short vowel Sheva has two characters."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 46. "We shall give a remarkable fine example of this figure."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 347. "All of which is most abominable false."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 431. "He heaped up great riches, but passed his time miserable."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, ii, 202. "He is never satisfied with expressing any thing clearly and simple."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 96. "Attentive only to exhibit his ideas clear and exact, he appears dry."--_Ib._, p. 100. "Such words as have the most liquids and vowels, glide the softest."--_Ib._, p. 129. "The simplest points, such as are easiest apprehended."--_Ib._, p. 312. "Too historical, to be accounted a perfect regular epic poem."--_Ib._, p. 441. "Putting after them the oblique case, agreeable to the French construction."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 108. "Where the train proceeds with an extreme slow pace."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 151. "So as scarce to give an appearance of succession."--_Ib._, i, 152. "That concord between sound and sense, which is perceived in some expressions independent of artful pronunciation."--_Ib._, ii, 63. "Cornaro had become very corpulent, previous to the adoption of his temperate habits."--_Hitchcock, on Dysp._, p. 396. "Bread, which is a solid and tolerable hard substance."--_Sandford and Merton_, p. 38. "To command every body that was not dressed as fine as himself."--_Ib._, p, 19. "Many of them have scarce outlived their authors."--_Pref. to Lily's Gram._, p. ix. "Their labour, indeed, did not penetrate very deep."--_Wilson's Heb. Gram._, p. 30. "The people are miserable poor, and subsist on fish."--_Hume's Hist._, ii, 433. "A scale, which I took great pains, some years since, to make."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 81. "There is no truth on earth so well established as the truth of the Bible."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 288. "I know of no work so much wanted as the one Mr. Taylor has now furnished."--DR. NOTT: _ib._, p. ii. "And therefore their requests are seldom and reasonable."--_Taylor_: _ib._, p. 58. "Questions are easier proposed than rightly answered."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 19. "Often reflect on the advantages you possess, and on the source from whence they are all derived."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 374. "If there be no special Rule which requires it to be put forwarder."--_Milnes's Greek Gram._, p. 234. "The Masculine and Neuter have the same Dialect in all Numbers, especially when they end the same."--_Ib._, p. 259. "And children are more busy in their play Than those that wisely'st pass their time away."--_Butler_, p. 163. CHAPTER IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. A Conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected: as, "Thou _and_ he are happy, _because_ you are good."--_Murray_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Our connective words are of four kinds; namely, relative pronouns, conjunctive adverbs,[312] conjunctions, and prepositions. These have a certain resemblance to one another, so far as they are all of them _connectives_; yet there are also characteristical differences by which they may in general be easily distinguished. Relative pronouns represent antecedents, and stand in those relations which we call cases; conjunctive adverbs assume the connective power in addition to their adverbial character, and consequently sustain a double relation; conjunctions, (except the introductory correspondents,) join words or sentences together, showing their relation either to each other or to something else; prepositions, though naturally subject themselves to something going before, assume the government of the terms which follow them, and in this they differ from all the rest. OBS. 2.--Conjunctions do not express any of the real objects of the understanding, whether things, qualities, or actions, but rather the several modes of connexion or contrast under which these objects are contemplated. Hence conjunctions were said by Aristotle and his followers to be in themselves "devoid of signification;" a notion which Harris, with no great propriety, has adopted in his faulty definition[313] of this part of speech. It is the office of this class of particles, to link together words, phrases, or sentences, that would otherwise appear as loose shreds, or unconnected aphorisms; and thus, by various forms of dependence, to give to discourse such continuity as may fit it to convey a connected train of thought or reasoning. The skill or inability of a writer may as strikingly appear in his management of these little connectives, as in that of the longest and most significant words in the language. "The current is often evinced by the straws, And the course of the wind by the flight of a feather; So a speaker is known by his _ands_ and his _ors_, Those stitches that fasten his patchwork together."--_Robert F. Mott_. OBS. 3.--Conjunctions sometimes connect entire sentences, and sometimes particular words or phrases only. When one whole sentence is closely linked with an other, both become clauses or members of a more complex sentence; and when one word or phrase is coupled with an other, both have in general a common dependence upon some other word in the same sentence. In etymological parsing, it may be sufficient to name the conjunction as such, and repeat the definition above; but, in syntactical parsing, the learner should always specify the terms connected. In many instances, however, he may conveniently abbreviate his explanation, by parsing the conjunction as connecting "what precedes and what follows;" or, if the terms are transposed, as connecting its own clause to the second, to the third, or to some other clause in the context. OBS. 4.--However easy it may appear, for even the young parser to _name the terms_ which in any given instance are connected by the conjunction, and of course to know for himself _what these terms are_,--that is, to know what the conjunction does or does not, connect,--it is certain that a multitude of grammarians and philosophers, great and small, from Aristotle down to the latest modifier of Murray, or borrower from his text, have been constantly contradicting one an other, if not themselves, in relation to this matter. Harris avers, that "the Conjunction connects, _not Words, but Sentences_;" and frames his definition accordingly. See _Hermes_, p. 237. This doctrine is true of some of the conjunctions, but it is by no means true of them all. He adds, in a note, "Grammarians have usually considered the Conjunction as connecting rather single Parts of Speech, than whole Sentences, and that too with the addition of like with like, Tense with Tense, Number with Number, Case with Case, &c. This _Sanctius_ justly explodes."--_Ib._, p. 238. If such has been the usual doctrine of the grammarians, they have erred on the one side, as much as our philosopher, and his learned authorities, on the other. For, in this instance, Harris's quotations of Latin and Greek writers, prove only that Sanctius, Scaliger, Apollonius, and Aristotle, held the same error that he himself had adopted;--the error which Latham and others now inculcate, that, "There are always _two propositions_ where there is one Conjunction."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 557. OBS. 5.--The common doctrine of L. Murray and others, that, "Conjunctions connect the same moods and tenses of verbs, and cases of nouns and pronouns," is not only badly expressed, but is pointedly at variance with their previous doctrine, that, "Conjunctions very often unite sentences, when they appear to unite only words; as in the following instances: 'Duty _and_ interest forbid vicious indulgences;' 'Wisdom _or_ folly governs us.' Each of these forms of expression," they absurdly say, "contains two sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 124; _Smith's_, 95; _Fisk's_, 84; _Ingersoll's_, 81. By "_the same moods, tenses_, or _cases_," we must needs here understand some _one mood, tense_, or _case_, in which the connected words _agree_; and, if the conjunction has any thing to do with this agreement, or sameness of mood, tense, or case, it must be because words only, and not sentences, are connected by it. Now, _if, that, though, lest, unless_, or any other conjunction that introduces the subjunctive, will almost always be found to connect different moods, or rather to subjoin one sentence to another in which there is a different mood. On the contrary, _and, as, even, than, or_, and _nor_, though they may be used to connect sentences, do, in very many instances, connect words only; as, "The _king and queen_ are an amiable pair."--_Murray._ "And a being of _more than human_ dignity stood before me."--_Dr. Johnson._ It cannot be plausibly pretended, that _and_ and _than_, in these two examples, connect clauses or sentences. So _and_ and _or_, in the examples above, connect the nouns only, and not "sentences:" else our common rules for the agreement of verbs or pronouns with words connected, are nothing but bald absurdities. It is idle to say, that the construction and meaning are not _what they appear to be_; and it is certainly absurd to contend, that conjunctions always connect sentences; or always, words only. One author very strangely conceives, that, "Conjunctions may be said either always to connect words only, or always to connect sentences, _according to the view which may be taken of them_ in analyzing."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 77. OBS. 6.--"Several words belonging to other parts of speech, are occasionally used as conjunctions. Such are the following: _provided, except_, verbs; _both_, an adjective; _either, neither, that_, pronouns; _being, seeing_, participles; _before, since, for_, prepositions. I will do it, _provided_ you lend some help. Here _provided_ is a conjunction, that connects the two sentences. 'Paul said, _Except_ these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.' Here _except_ is a conjunction. _Excepting_ is also used as a participle and conjunction. '_Being_ this reception of the gospel was so anciently foretold.'--_Bishop Pearson._ '_Seeing_ all the congregation are holy.'--_Bible_. Here _being_ and _seeing_ are used as conjunctions."--_Alexander's Gram_:, p. 50. 'The foregoing remark, though worthy of some attention, is not altogether accurate. _Before_, when it connects sentences, is not a conjunction, but a conjunctive adverb. _Provided_, as cited above, resembles not the verb, but the perfect participle. _Either_ and _neither_, when they are not conjunctions, are pronominal adjectives, rather than pronouns. And, to say, that, "words _belonging to other parts of speech_, are used as _conjunctions_," is a sort of solecism, which leaves the learner in doubt to what class they _really_ belong. _Being_, and _being that_, were formerly used in the sense of _because, since, or seeing that_; (Lat. _cum, quoniam_, or _quando_;) but this usage is now obsolete. So there is an uncommon or obsolete use of _without_, in the sense of _unless_, or _except_; (Lat. _nisi_;) as, "He cannot rise _without_ he be helped." _Walker's Particles_, p. 425. "Non potest _nisi_ adjutus exsurgere."--_Seneca._ CLASSES. Conjunctions are divided into two general classes, _copulative_ and _disjunctive_; and a few of each class are particularly distinguished from the rest, as being _corresponsive_. I. A _copulative conjunction_ is a conjunction that denotes an addition, a cause, a consequence, or a supposition: as, "He _and_ I shall not dispute; _for, if_ he has any choice, I shall readily grant it." II. A _disjunctive conjunction_ is a conjunction that denotes opposition of meaning: as, "_Though_ he were dead, _yet_ shall he live."--_St. John's Gospel_. "Be not faithless, _but_ believing."--_Id._ III. The _corresponsive conjunctions_ are those which are used in pairs, so that one refers or answers to the other: as, "John came _neither_ eating _nor_ drinking."--_Matt._, xi, 18. "But _if_ I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, _then_ the kingdom of God is come unto you."--_Ib._, xii, 28. OBS.--Not all terms which stand in the relation of correspondents, or corresponsives, are therefore to be reckoned _conjunctions_; nor are both words in each pair always of the same part of speech: some are adverbs; one or two are adjectives; and sometimes a conjunction answers to a preceding adverb. But, if a word is seen to be the mere precursor, index, introductory sign, or counterpart, of a conjunction, and has no relation or import which should fix it in any other of the ten classes called parts of speech, it is, clearly, a conjunction,--a _corresponding_ or _corresponsive_ conjunction. It is a word used _preparatively_, "to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected." LIST OF THE CONJUNCTIONS. 1. The Copulatives; _And, as, both, because, even, for, if, that, then, since, seeing, so_. 2. The Disjunctives; _Or, nor, either, neither, than, though, although, yet, but, except, whether, lest, unless, save, provided, notwithstanding, whereas_. 3. The Corresponsives; _Both--and; as--as; as--so; if--then; either--or_; _neither--nor; whether--or; though_, or _although--yet_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--By some writers, the words, _also, since, too, then, therefore_, and _wherefore_, are placed among the copulative conjunctions; and _as, so, still, however_, and _albeit_, among the disjunctive; but Johnson and Webster have marked most of these terms as _adverbs_ only. It is perhaps of little moment, by which name they are called; for, in some instances, conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs do not differ very essentially. _As, so, even, then, yet_, and _but_, seem to belong sometimes to the one part of speech, and sometimes to the other. I call them adverbs when they chiefly express time, manner, or degree; and conjunctions when they appear to be mere connectives. _As, yet_, and _but_, are generally conjunctions; but _so, even_, and _then_, are almost always adverbs. _Seeing_ and _provided_, when used as connectives, are more properly conjunctions than any thing else; though Johnson ranks them with the adverbs, and Webster, by supposing many awkward ellipses, keeps them with the participles. Examples: "For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, _seeing_ it is but the third hour of the day."--_Acts_, ii, 15. "The senate shall have power to adjourn themselves, _provided_ such adjournment shall not exceed two days at a time."--_Constitution of New Hampshire_. OBS. 2.--_Since_, when it governs a noun after it, is a preposition: as, "Hast thou commanded the morning _since thy days_?"--_Job_. _Albeit_ is equivalent in sense to _although_, and is properly a conjunction; but this old compound is now nearly or quite obsolete. _As_ is sometimes a relative pronoun, sometimes a conjunctive adverb, and sometimes a copulative conjunction. Example of the last: "We present ourselves _as_ petitioners." If _as_ is ever disjunctive, it is not so here; nor can we parse it as an adverb, because it comes between two words that are essentially in apposition. The equivalent Latin term _quasi_ is called an adverb, but, in such a case, not very properly: as, "Et colles _quasi_ pulverem pones;"--"And thou shalt make the hills _as_ chaff."--_Isaiah_, xli, 15. So _even_, which in English is frequently a sign of emphatic repetition, seems sometimes to be rather a conjunction than an adverb: as, "I, _even_ I, am the Lord."--_Isaiah_, xliii, 11. OBS. 3.--_Save_ and _saving_, when they denote exception, are not adverbs, as Johnson denominates them, or a verb and a participle, as Webster supposes them to be, or prepositions, as Covell esteems them, but disjunctive conjunctions; and, as such, they take the same case after as before them; as, "All the conspirators, _save_ only _he_, did that they did, in envy of great Caesar."--_Shak._ "All this world's glory seemeth vain, and all their shows but shadows, _saving she_."--_Spenser_. "Israel burned none of them, _save Hazor_ only."--_Joshua_. xi, 13. "And none of them was cleansed, _saving Naaman_ the Syrian."--_Luke_, iv, 27. _Save_ is not here a transitive verb, for Hazor was not _saved_ in any sense, but utterly destroyed; nor is Naaman here spoken of as _being saved by an other leper_, but as being cleansed when others were not. These two conjunctions are now little used; and therefore the propriety of setting the nominative after them and treating them as conjunctions, is the more apt to be doubted. The Rev. Matt. Harrison, after citing five examples, four of which have the nominative with _save_, adds, without naming the part of speech, or assigning any reason, this decision, which I think erroneous: "In all these passages, _save_ requires after it the objective case." His five examples are these: "All, _save_ I, were at rest, and enjoyment."-- _Frankenstein_. "There was no stranger with us, in the house, _save we_ two."--_1 Kings_, iii, 18. "And nothing wanting is, _save she_, alas!" --DRUMMOND _of Hawthornden_. "When all slept sound, _save she_, who bore them both." --ROGERS, _Italy_, p. 108. "And all were gone, _save him_, who now kept guard." --_Ibid._, p. 185. OBS. 4.--The conjunction _if_ is sometimes used in the Bible to express, not a supposition of what follows it, but an emphatic negation: as, "I have sworn in my wrath, _if_ they shall enter into my rest."--_Heb._, iv, 3. That is, _that they shall not enter_. The same peculiarity is found in the Greek text, and also in the Latin, and other versions. _Or_, in the obsolete phrase, "_or ever_," is not properly a conjunction, but a conjunctive adverb of time, meaning _before_. It is supposed to be a corruption of _ere_: as, "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, _or ever_ the earth was."--_Prov._, viii, 23. "And we, _or ever_ he come near, are ready to kill him."--_Acts_, xxiii, 15. This term derives no support from the original text. OBS. 5.--There are some peculiar phrases, or combinations of words, which have the force of conjunctions, and which it is not very easy to analyze satisfactorily in parsing: as, "And _for all_ there were so many, yet was not the net broken."--_John_, xxi, 11. Here _for all_ is equivalent to _although_, or _notwithstanding_; either of which words would have been more elegant. _Nevertheless_ is composed of three words, and is usually reckoned a conjunctive adverb; but it might as well be called a disjunctive conjunction, for it is obviously equivalent to _yet, but_, or _notwithstanding_; as, "I am crucified with Christ: _nevertheless_ I live; _yet not_ I, _but_ Christ liveth in me."--_Gal._, ii, 20. Here, for _nevertheless_ and _but_, we have in the Greek the same particle [Greek: de]. "Each man's mind has some peculiarity, _as well as_ his face."--_Locke_. "Relative pronouns, _as well as_ conjunctions, serve to connect sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 124. Here the first _as_ corresponds to the second, but _well_ not being used in the literal sense of an adverb, some judicious grammarians take the whole phrase as a conjunction. It is, however, susceptible of division: as, "It is adorned with admirable pieces of sculpture, _as well_ modern _as_ ancient."--_Addison_. OBS. 6.--So the phrases, _for as much as, in as much as, in so much that_, if taken collectively, have the nature of conjunctions; yet they contain within themselves correspondent terms and several different parts of speech. The words are sometimes printed separately, and sometimes partly together. Of late years, _forasmuch, inasmuch, insomuch_, have been usually compounded, and called adverbs. They might as well, perhaps, be called conjunctions, as they were by some of our old grammarians; for two conjunctions sometimes come together: as, "Answering their questions, _as if_[314] it were a matter that needed it."--_Locke_. "These should be at first gently treated, _as though_ we expected an imposthumation,"--_Sharp_. "But there are many things which we must acknowledge to be true, _notwithstanding that_ we cannot comprehend them."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 211. "There is no difference, _except that_ some are heavier than others."--"We may be playful, _and yet_ innocent; grave, _and yet_ corrupt."--_Murray's Key_, p. 166. OBS. 7.--Conjunctions have no grammatical modifications, and are consequently incapable of any formal agreement or disagreement with other words; yet their import as connectives, copulative or disjunctive, must be carefully observed, lest we write or speak them improperly. Example of error: "Prepositions are _generally set before_ nouns _and_ pronouns."--_Wilbur's Gram._, p. 20. Here _and_ should be _or_; because, although a preposition usually governs a noun _or_ a pronoun, it seldom governs both at once. And besides, the assertion above seems very naturally to mean, that nouns and pronouns _are generally preceded_ by prepositions--as gross an error as dullness could invent! L. Murray also says of prepositions: "They are, _for the most_ part, put before nouns _and_ pronouns."--_Gram._, p. 117. So Felton: "They generally stand before nouns _and_ pronouns."--_Analytic and Prac. Gram._, p. 61. The blunder however came originally from Lowth, and out of the following admirable enigma: "Prepositions, _standing by themselves in construction_, are put before nouns _and_ pronouns; _and_ sometimes after verbs; but _in this sort of composition_ they are _chiefly prefixed_ to verbs: as, _to outgo, to overcome_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 66. OBS. 8.--The opposition suggested by the disjunctive particle _or_, is sometimes merely nominal, or verbal: as, "That object is a triangle, _or_ figure contained under three right lines."--_Harris_. "So if we say, that figure is a sphere, _or_ a globe, _or_ a ball."--_Id., Hermes_, p. 258. In these cases, the disjunction consists in nothing but an alternative of words; for the terms connected describe or name the same thing. For this sense of _or_, the Latins had a peculiar particle, _sive_, which they called _Subdisjunctiva_, a _Subdisjunctive_: as, "Alexander _sive_ Paris; Mars _sive_ Mavors."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 258. In English, the conjunction _or_ is very frequently equivocal: as, "They were both more ancient than Zoroaster _or_ Zerdusht."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 250; _Murray's Gram._, p. 297. Here, if the reader does not happen to know that _Zoroaster_ and _Zerdusht_ mean the same person, he will be very likely to mistake the sense. To avoid this ambiguity, we substitute, (in judicial proceedings,) the Latin adverb _alias, otherwise_; using it as a conjunction subdisjunctive, in lieu of _or_, or the Latin _sive_: as, "Alexander, _alias_ Ellick."--"Simson, _alias_ Smith, _alias_ Baker."--_Johnson's Dict._ EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS IX.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Ninth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, PARTICIPLES, ADVERBS, _and_ CONJUNCTIONS. _The definitions to be given in the Ninth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction,--and one for a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "If thou hast done a good deed, boast not of it."--_Maxims_. _If_ is a copulative conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. 2. A copulative conjunction is a conjunction that denotes an addition, a cause, a consequence, or a supposition. _Thou_ is a personal pronoun, of the second person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The masculine gender is that which denotes persons or animals of the male kind. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Hast done_ is an irregular active-transitive verb, from _do, did, doing, done_; found in the indicative mood, perfect tense, second person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_ or _to be acted upon_. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has some person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The perfect tense is that which expresses what has taken place, within some period of time not yet fully past. 6. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _A_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one. _Good_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared irregularly, _good, better, best_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form. _Deed_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle or preposition. _Boast_ is a regular active-intransitive verb, from _boast, boasted, boasting, boasted_; found in the imperative mood, present tense, second person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_ or _to be acted upon_. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has no person or thing for its object. 4. The imperative mood is that form of the verb, which is used in commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Not_ is an adverb or manner, expressing negation. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of manner are those which answer to the question, _How?_ or, by affirming, denying, or doubting, show _how_ a subject is regarded. _Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _It_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. LESSON I.--PARSING. "In all gratifications, disgust ever lies nearest to the highest pleasures; and therefore let us not marvel, if this is peculiarly the case in eloquence. By glancing at either poets or orators, we may easily satisfy ourselves, that neither a poem nor an oration which aims continually at what is fine, showy, and sparkling, can please us long. Wherefore, though we may wish for the frequent praise of having expressed ourselves well and properly, we should not covet repeated applause for being bright and splendid."--CICERO, _de Oratore_. "The foundation of eloquence, as well as of every other high attainment, is practical wisdom. For it happens in oratory, as in life, that nothing is more difficult, than to discern what is proper and becoming. Through lack of such discernment, gross faults are very often committed. For neither to all ranks, fortunes, and ages, nor to every time, place, and auditory, can the same style either of language or of sentiment be adapted. In every part of a discourse, as in every part of life, we must consider what is suitable and decent; and this must be determined with reference both to the matter in question, and to the personal character of those who speak and those who hear."--CICERO, _Orator ad Brutum_. "So spake th' Omnipotent, and with his words All seem'd well pleas'd; all seem'd, but were not all."--_Milton_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "A square, though not more regular than a hexagon or an octagon, is more beautiful than either: for what reason, but that a square is more simple, and the attention is less divided?"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 175. "We see the material universe in motion; but matter is inert; and, so far as we know, nothing can move it but mind: therefore God is a spirit. We do not mean that his nature is the same as that of our soul; for it is infinitely more excellent. But we mean, that he possesses intelligence and active power in supreme perfection; and, as these qualities do not belong to matter, which is neither active nor intelligent, we must refer them to that which is not matter, but mind."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 210. "Men are generally permitted to publish books, and contradict others, and even themselves, as they please, with as little danger of being confuted, as of being understood."--_Boyle_. "Common reports, if ridiculous rather than dangerous, are best refuted by neglect."--_Kames's Thinking_, p. 76. "No man is so foolish, but that he may give good counsel at a time; no man so wise, but he may err, if he take no counsel but his own."--_Ib._, p. 97. "Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm, And make mistakes for manhood to reform."--_Cowper_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "The Nouns denote substances, and those either natural, artificial, or abstract. They moreover denote things either general, or special, or particular. The Pronouns, their substitutes, are either prepositive, or subjunctive."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 85. "In a thought, generally speaking, there is at least one capital object considered as acting or as suffering. This object is expressed by a substantive noun: its action is expressed by an active verb; and the thing affected by the action is expressed by an other substantive noun: its suffering, or passive state, is expressed by a passive verb; and the thing that acts upon it, by a substantive noun. Beside these, which are the capital parts of a sentence, or period, there are generally underparts; each of the substantives, as well as the verb, may be qualified: time, place, purpose, motive, means, instrument, and a thousand other circumstances, may be necessary to complete the thought."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 34. "Yet those whom pride and dullness join to blind, To narrow cares and narrow space confined, Though with big titles each his fellow greets, Are but to wits, as scavengers to streets."--_Mallet_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING CONJUNCTIONS. "A Verb is so called from the Latin _verbum_, or _word._"--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 56. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the conjunction _or_, connecting _verbum_ and _word_, supposes the latter to be _Latin_. But, according to Observation 7th, on the Classes of Conjunctions, "The import of connectives, copulative or disjunctive, must be carefully observed, lest we write or speak them improperly." In this instance, _or_ should be changed to _a_; thus, "A _Verb_ is so called from the Latin _verbum, a word_" that is, "which means, _a word_."] "References are often marked by letters and figures."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 283. (1.) "A Conjunction is a word which joins words and sentences together."--_Lennie's E. Gram._, p. 51; _Bullions's_, 70; _Brace's_, 57. (2.) "A conjunction is used to connect words and sentences together."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 37. (3.) "A conjunction is used to connect words and sentences."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 1. (4.) "Conjunctions are words used to join words and sentences."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 3. (5.) "A Conjunction is a word used to connect words and sentences."-- _M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 36; _Hart's_, 92; _Day's_, 10. (6.) "A Conjunction joins words and sentences together."--_Mackintosh's Gram._, p. 115; _Hiley's_, 10 and 53. (7.) "The Conjunction joins words and sentences together."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 2d Edition, p. 28. (8.) "Conjunctions connect words and sentences to each other."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 35. (9.) "Conjunctions connect words and sentences."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 80; _Wells's_, 1st Ed., 159 and 168. (10.) "The conjunction is a part of speech used to connect words and sentences."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 49. (11.) "A conjunction is a word used to connect words and sentences together."-- _Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.329. (12.) "Connectives are words which unite words and sentences in construction."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 123; _Improved Gram._, 81. "English Grammar is miserably taught in our district schools; the teachers know but little or nothing about it."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 48. "Least, instead of preventing, you draw on Diseases."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 40. "The definite article _the_ is frequently applied to adverbs in the comparative and superlative degree."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 33; _Ingersoll's_, 33; _Lennie's_, 6; _Bullions's_, 8; _Fisk's_, 53, and others. "When nouns naturally neuter are converted into masculine and feminine."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 38. "This form of the perfect tense represents an action completely past, and often at no great distance, but not specified."--_Ib._, p. 74. "The Conjunction Copulative serves to connect or to continue a sentence, by expressing an addition, a supposition, a cause, &c."--_Ib._, p. 123. "The Conjunction Disjunctive serves, not only to connect and continue the sentence, but also to express opposition of meaning in different degrees."--_Ib._, p. 123. "Whether we open the volumes of our divines, philosophers, historians, or artists, we shall find that they abound with all the terms necessary to communicate their observations and discoveries."--_Ib._, p. 138. "When a disjunctive occurs between a singular noun, or pronoun, and a plural one, the verb is made to agree with the plural noun and pronoun."--_Ib._, p. 152: _R. G. Smith, Alger, Gomly, Merchant, Picket, et al._ "Pronouns must always agree with their antecedents, and the nouns for which they stand, in gender and number."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 154. "Verbs neuter do not act upon, or govern, nouns and pronouns."--_Ib._, p. 179. "And the auxiliary both of the present and past imperfect times."--_Ib._, p. 72. "If this rule should not appear to apply to every example, which has been produced, nor to others which might be adduced."--_Ib._, p. 216. "An emphatical pause is made, after something has been said of peculiar moment, and on which we desire to fix the hearer's attention."--_Ib._, p. 248; _Hart's Gram._, 175. "An imperfect phrase contains no assertion, or does not amount to a proposition or sentence."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 267. "The word was in the mouth of every one, but for all that, the subject may still be a secret."--_Ib._, p. 213. "A word it was in the mouth of every one, but for all that, as to its precise and definite idea, this may still be a secret."--_Harris's Three Treatises_, p. 5. "It cannot be otherwise, in regard that the French prosody differs from that of every other country in Europe."--_Smollett's Voltaire_, ix, 306. "So gradually as to allow its being engrafted on a subtonic."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 255. "Where the Chelsea or Maiden bridges now are."--_Judge Parker_. "Adverbs are words joined to verbs, participles, adjectives, and other adverbs."--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 92. "I could not have told you, who the hermit was, nor on what mountain he lived."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 32. "_Am_, or _be_ (for they are the same) naturally, or in themselves signify _being_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 113. "Words are distinct sounds, by which we express our thoughts and ideas."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 13. "His fears will detect him, but he shall not escape."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 64. "_Whose_ is equally applicable to persons or things."--WEBSTER _in Sanborn's Gram._, p. 95. "One negative destroys another, or is equivalent to an affirmative."-- _Bullions, Eng. Gram._, p. 118. "No sooner does he peep into The world, but he has done his do."--_Hudibras_. CHAPTER X.--PREPOSITIONS. A Preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun: as, "The paper lies _before_ me _on_ the desk." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The relations of things to things in nature, or of words to words in discourse, are infinite in number, if not also in variety. But just classification may make even infinites the subjects of sure science. Every _relation_ of course implies more objects, and more terms, than one; for any one thing, considered merely in itself, is taken independently, abstractly, irrelatively, as if it had no relation or dependence. In all correct language, the grammatical relation of the _words_ corresponds exactly to the relation of the _things_ or _ideas_ expressed; for the relation of words, is their dependence, or connexion, _according to the sense._ This relation is oftentimes immediate, as of one word to an other, without the intervention of a preposition; but it is seldom, if ever, reciprocally equal; because dependence implies subordination; and mere adjunction is a sort of inferiority. OBS. 2.--To a preposition, the _prior_ or _antecedent_ term may be a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, or an adverb; and the _subsequent_ or _governed_ term may be a noun, a pronoun, a pronominal adjective, an infinitive verb, or a participle. In some instances, also, as in the phrases, _in vain, on high, at once, till now, for ever, by how much, until then, from thence, from above_, we find adjectives used elliptically, and adverbs substantively, after the preposition. But, in phrases of an adverbial character, what is elsewhere a preposition often becomes an adverb. Now, if prepositions are concerned in expressing the various relations of so many of the different parts of speech, multiplied, as these relations must be, by that endless variety of combinations which may be given to the terms; and if the sense of the writer or speaker is necessarily mistaken, as often as any of these relations are misunderstood, or their terms misconceived; how shall we estimate the importance of a right explanation, and a right use, of this part of speech? OBS. 3.--The grammarian whom Lowth compliments, as excelling all others, in "acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of explication, and elegance of method;" and as surpassing all but Aristotle, in the beauty and perfectness of his philological analysis; commences his chapter on conjunctions in the following manner: "Connectives are the subject of what follows; which, _according_ as they connect _either Sentences or Words_, are called by the different _Names_ of _Conjunctions_ OR _Prepositions._ Of these Names, that of the Preposition is taken from a _mere accident_, as _it_ commonly stands in connection before _the Part, which it connects._ The name of the Conjunction, as is evident, has reference to its essential character. Of these two we shall consider the Conjunction _first_, because it connects, _not Words_, but Sentences."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 237. OBS. 4.--In point of order, it is not amiss to treat conjunctions before prepositions; though this is not the method of Lowth, or of Murray. But, to any one who is well acquainted with these two parts of speech, the foregoing passage cannot but appear, in three sentences out of the four, both defective in style and erroneous in doctrine. It is true, that conjunctions generally connect sentences, and that prepositions as generally express relations between particular words: but it is true also, that conjunctions _often_ connect words only; and that prepositions, by governing antecedents, relatives, or even personal pronouns, may serve to subjoin sentences to sentences, as well as to determine the relation and construction of the particular words which they govern. Example: "The path seems now plain and even, _but_ there are asperities and pitfalls, _over which_ Religion only can conduct you."--_Dr. Johnson._ Here are three simple sentences, which are made members of one compound sentence, by means of _but_ and _over which_; while two of these members, clauses, or subdivisions, contain particular words connected by _and._ OBS. 5.--In one respect, the preposition is the _simplest_ of all the parts of speech: in our common schemes of grammar, it has neither classes nor modifications. Every connective word that governs an object after it, is called a preposition, _because it does so_; and in etymological parsing, to name the preposition as such, and define the name, is, perhaps, all that is necessary. But in syntactical parsing, in which we are to omit the definitions, and state the construction, we ought to explain what terms the preposition connects, and to give a rule adapted to this office of the particle. It is a palpable defect in nearly all our grammars, that their syntax contains NO SUCH RULE. "Prepositions govern the objective case," is a rule for _the objective case_, and not for the syntax of _prepositions._ "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them," is the principle for the latter; a principle which we cannot neglect, without a shameful lameness in our interpretation;--that is, when we pretend to parse syntactically. OBS. 6.--Prepositions and their objects very often precede the words on which they depend, and sometimes at a great distance. Of this we have an example, at the opening of Milton's Paradise Lost; where "_Of_," the first word, depends upon "_Sing_," in the sixth line below; for the meaning is--"_Sing of man's first disobedience_," &c. To find the terms of the relation, is to find the _meaning_ of the passage; a very useful exercise, provided the words have a meaning which is worth knowing. The following text has for centuries afforded ground of dispute, because it is doubtful in the original, as well as in many of the versions, whether the preposition _in_ (i. e., "_in the regeneration_") refers back to _have followed_, or forward to the last verb _shall sit_: "Verily I say unto you that ye who have followed me, _in_ the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit _in_ the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."--_Matt._, xix, 28. The second _in_ is manifestly wrong: the Greek word is [Greek: epi], _on_ or _upon_; i. e., "_upon_ the throne of his glory." OBS. 7.--The prepositions have, from their own nature, or from custom, such an _adaptation_ to particular terms and relations, that they can seldom be used one for an other without manifest impropriety. Example of error: "Proper seasons should be allotted _for_ retirement."--_Murray's Key_, p. 173. We do not say "_allotted for_," but "_allotted to_:" hence _for_ is either wrong in itself or misplaced. Such errors always vex an intelligent reader. He sees the terms mismatched, the intended connection doubtful, the sense obscured, and wishes the author could have valued his own meaning enough to have made it intelligible;--that is, (to speak technically,) enough to have made it a certain clew to his syntax. We can neither parse nor correct what we do not understand. Did the writer mean, "Proper seasons should be _allotted to_ retirement?"--or, "Proper _seasons for_ retirement should be allotted?"--or, "Seasons _proper for_ retirement should be alloted?" [sic--KTH] Every expression is incorrigibly bad, the meaning of which cannot be known. Expression? Nay, expression it is not, but only a mock utterance or an abortive attempt at expression. OBS. 8.--Harris observes, in substance, though in other words, that almost all the prepositions were originally formed to denote relations of place; that this class of relations is primary, being that which natural bodies maintain at all times one to an other; that in the continuity of place these bodies form the universe, or visible whole; that we have some prepositions to denote the _contiguous_ relation of bodies, and others for the _detached_ relation; and that both have, by _degrees_, been extended from local relations, to the relations of subjects incorporeal. He appears also to assume, that, in such examples as the following,--"Caius _walketh with_ a staff; "--"The statue _stood upon_ a pedestal;"--"The river _ran over_ a sand;"--"He _is going_ to Turkey;"--"The sun _is risen_ above the hills;"--"These figs _came from_ Turkey;"--the antecedent term of the relation is not the verb, but the noun or pronoun before it. See _Hermes_, pp. 266 and 267. Now the true antecedent is, unquestionably, that word which, in the order of the sense, the preposition should immediately follow: and a verb, a participle, or an adjective, may sustain this relation, just as well as a substantive. "_The man spoke of colour_," does not mean, "_The man of colour spoke_;" nor does, "_The member from Delaware replied_," mean, "_The member replied from Delaware_" OBS. 9.--To make this matter more clear, it may be proper to observe further, that what I call the order of the sense, is not always that order of the words which is fittest to express the sense of a whole period; and that the true antecedent is that word to which the preposition, and its object would naturally be subjoined, were there nothing to interfere with such an arrangement. In practice it often happens, that the preposition and its object cannot be placed immediately after the word on which they depend, and which they would naturally follow. For example: "She hates the means _by which_ she lives." That is, "She hates the means which she _lives by_." Here we cannot say, "She hates the means she _lives by which_;" and yet, in regard to the preposition _by_, this is really the order of the sense. Again: "Though thou shouldest bray a fool _in a mortar among wheat with a pestle_, yet will not his foolishness depart from him."--_Prov._, xxvii, 23. Here is no transposition to affect our understanding of the prepositions, yet there is a liability to error, because the words which immediately precede some of them, are not their true antecedents: the text does not really speak of "_a mortar among wheat_" or of "_wheat with a pestle_." To what then are the _mortar_, the _wheat_, and the _pestle_, to be mentally subjoined? If all of them, to any one thing, it must be to the _action_ suggested by the verb _bray_, and not to its object _fool_; for the text does not speak of "_a fool with a pestle_," though it does _seem_ to speak of "_a fool in a mortar_, and _among wheat_." Indeed, in this instance, as in many others, the verb and its object are so closely associated that it makes but little difference in regard to the sense, whether you take both of them together, or either of them separately, as the antecedent to the preposition. But, as the instrument of an action is with the agent rather than with the object, if you will have the substantives alone for antecedents, the natural order of the sense must be supposed to be this: "Though _thou with_ a pestle shouldest bray a, _fool in_ a mortar [and] _among_ wheat, yet will not his _foolishness from_ him depart." This gives to each of the prepositions an antecedent different from that which I should assign. Sanborn observes, "There seem to be _two kinds_ of relation expressed by prepositions,--an _existing_ and a _connecting_ relation."--_Analyt. Gram._, p. 225. The latter, he adds, "_is the most important_."--_Ib._, p. 226. But it is the former that admits nothing but _nouns_ for antecedents. Others besides Harris may have adopted this notion, but I have never been one of the number, though a certain author scruples not to charge the error upon me. See _O. B Peirce's Gram._, p. 165. OBS. 10.--It is a very common error among grammarians, and the source of innumerable discrepancies in doctrine, as well as one of the chief means of maintaining their interminable disputes, that they suppose _ellipses_ at their own pleasure, and supply in every given instance just what words their fancies may suggest. In this work, I adopt for myself, and also recommend to others, the contrary course of avoiding on all occasions the supposition of any _needless_ ellipses. Not only may the same preposition govern more than one object, but there may also be more than one antecedent word, bearing a joint relation to that which is governed by the preposition. (1.) Examples of joint objects: "There is an inseparable connection BETWEEN _piety and virtue_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 171. "In the conduct of Parmenio, a mixture OF _wisdom and folly_ was very conspicuous."--_Ib._, p. 178. "True happiness is an enemy TO _pomp and noise_"--_Ib._, p. 171. (2.) Examples of joint antecedents: "In unity consist the _welfare and security_ OF every society."--_Ib._, p. 182. "It is our duty to be _just and kind_ TO our fellow--creatures, and to be _pious and faithful_ TO Him that made us."--_Ib._, p. 181. If the author did not mean to speak of being _pious to God_ as well as _faithful to Him_, he has written incorrectly: a comma after _pious_, would alter both the sense and the construction. So the text, "For I am meek, and lowly in heart," is commonly perverted in our Bibles, for want of a comma after _meek_. The Saviour did not say, he was _meek in heart_: the Greek may be _very literally_ rendered thus: "For gentle am I, and humble in heart." OBS. 11.--Many writers seem to suppose, that no preposition can govern more than one object. Thus L. Murray, and his followers: "The ellipsis of the _preposition_, as well as of the verb, is seen in the following instances: 'He went into the abbeys, halls, and public buildings;' that is, 'He went into the abbeys, he went into the halls, and he went into the public buildings.'--'He also went through all the streets, and lanes of the city;' that is, 'Through all the streets, and through all the lanes,' &c."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 219. See the same interpretations in _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 155; _Merchant's_, 100; _Picket's_, 211; _Alger's_, 73; _Fish's_, 147; _Guy's_, 91; _Adams's_, 82; _R. C. Smith's_, 183; _Hamlin's_, 105; _Putnam's_, 139; _Weld's_, 292. Now it is plain, that in neither of these examples is there any such ellipsis at all. Of the three prepositions, the first governs three nouns; the second, two; and the third, one only. But the last, (which is _of_,) has two antecedents, _streets_ and _lanes_, the comma after _streets_ being wrong; for the author does not speak of all the streets in the world, but of _all the streets and lanes_ of a particular city. Dr. Ash has the same example without the comma, and supposes it only an ellipsis of the preposition _through_, and even that supposition is absurd. He also furnished the former example, to show an ellipsis, not of the verb _went_, but only of the preposition _into_; and in this too he was utterly wrong. See _Ash's Gram._, p. 100. Bicknell also, whose grammar appeared five years before Murray's, confessedly copied the same examples from Ash; and repeated, not the verb and its nominative, but only the prepositions _through_ and _into_, agreeably to Ash's erroneous notion. See his _Grammatical Wreath_, Part i, p. 124. Again the principles of Murray's supposed ellipses, are as inconsistent with each other, as they are severally absurd. Had the author explained the second example according to his notion of the first, he should have made it to mean, '_He also went_ through all the streets _of the city_, and _he also went_ through all the lanes _of the city_.' What a pretty idea is this for a principle of grammar! And what a multitude of admirers are pretending to carry it out in parsing! One of the latest writers on grammar says, that, "_Between him and me_" signifies, "_Between him, and between me_!"--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 206. And an other absurdly resolves a simple sentence into a compound one, thus: "'There was a difficulty between John, and his brother.' That is, there was a difficulty between John, and _there was a difficulty between_ his brother."--_James Brown's English Syntax_, p. 127; and again, p. 130. OBS. 12.--Two prepositions are not unfrequently connected by a conjunction, and that for different purposes, thus: (1.) To express two different relations at once; as, "The picture of my travels _in and around_ Michigan."--_Society in America_, i, 231. (2.) To suggest an alternative in the relation affirmed; as, "The action will be fully accomplished _at or before_ the time."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 72. Again: "The First Future Tense represents the action as yet to come, _either with or without_ respect to the precise time."--_Ib._; and _Felton's Gram._, p. 23. _With_ and _without_ being direct opposites, this alternative is a thing of course, and the phrase is an idle truism. (3.) To express two relations so as to affirm the one and deny the other; as, "Captain, yourself are the fittest to live and reign not _over_, but next and immediately _under_ the people."--_Dryden_. Here, perhaps, "_the people_" may be understood after _over_. (4.) To suggest a mere alternative of words; as, "NEGATIVELY, adv. _With or by_ denial."--_Webster's Dict._ (5.) To add a similar word, for aid or force; as, "Hence adverbs of time were necessary, _over and above_ the tenses."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 116. "To take effect _from and after_ the first day of May."--_Newspaper_. OBS. 13.--In some instances, two prepositions come directly together, so as jointly to express a sort of compound relation between what precedes the one and what follows the other: as, "And they shall sever the wicked _from among_ the just."--_Matt._, xiii, 49. "Moses brought out all the rods _from before_ the Lord."--_Numb._, xvii, 9. "Come out _from among_ them."--_2 Cor._, vi, 17. "From Judea, and _from beyond_ Jordan."--_Matt_. iv, 25. "Nor a lawgiver _from between_ his feet."--_Gen._, xlix, 10. Thus the preposition _from_, being itself adapted to the ideas of motion and separation, easily coincides with any preposition of place, to express this sort of relation; the terms however have a limited application, being used only between _a verb_ and _a noun_, because the relation itself is between _motion_ and _the place_ of its beginning: as, "The sand _slided from beneath_ my feet."--_Dr. Johnson_. In this manner, we may form _complex prepositions_ beginning with _from_, to the number _of about_ thirty; as, _from amidst, from around, from before, from behind_, &c. Besides these, there are several others, of a more questionable character, which are sometimes referred to the same class; as, _according to, as to, as for, because of, instead of, off of, out of, over against_, and _round about_. Most or all of these are sometimes resolved in a different way, upon the assumption that the former word is an adverb; yet we occasionally find some of them compounded by the hyphen: as, "Pompey's lieutenants, Afranius and Petreius, who lay _over-against_ him, decamp suddenly."--_Rowe's Lucan_, Argument to B. iv. But the common fashion is, to write them separately; as, "One thing is set _over against_ an other."--_Bible_. OBS. 14.--It is not easy to fix a principle by which prepositions may in all cases be distinguished from adverbs. The latter, we say, do not govern the objective case; and if we add, that the former do _severally_ require some object after them, it is clear that any word which precedes a preposition, must needs be something else than a preposition. But this destroys all the doctrine of the preceding paragraph, and admits of no such thing as a _complex preposition_; whereas that doctrine is acknowledged, to some extent or other, by every one of our grammarians, not excepting even those whose counter-assertions leave no room for it. Under these circumstances, I see no better way, than to refer the student to the definitions of these parts of speech, to exhibit examples in all needful variety, and then let him judge for himself what disposition ought to be made of those words which different grammarians parse differently. OBS. 15.--If our prepositions were to be divided into classes, the most useful distinction would be, to divide them into _Single_ and _Double_. The distinction which some writers make, who divide them into "_Separable_ and _Inseparable_," is of no use at all in parsing, because the latter are mere syllables; and the idea of S. R. Hall, who divides them into "_Possessive_ and _Relative_," is positively absurd; for he can show us only _one_ of the former kind, and that one, (the word _of_,) is not always such. A _Double Preposition_, if such a thing is admissible, is one that consists of two words which in syntactical parsing must be taken together, because they jointly express the relation between two other terms; as, "The waters were dried up _from off_ the earth."--_Gen._, viii, 13. "The clergy kept this charge _from off_ us."--_Leslie, on Tithes_, p. 221. "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot _out of_ joint."--_Prov._, xxv, 19. "The beam _out of_ the timber shall answer it."--_Hab._, ii, 11. _Off_ and _out_ are most commonly adverbs, but neither of them can be called an adverb here. OBS. 16.--Again, if _according to_ or _as to_ is a preposition, then is _according_ or _as_ a preposition also, although it does not of itself govern the objective case. _As_, thus used, is called a conjunction by some, an adverb by others. Dr. Webster considers _according_ to be always a participle, and expressly says, "It is never a preposition."--_Octavo Dict._ The following is an instance in which, if it is not a preposition, it is a participle: "This is a construction _not according_ to the rules of grammar."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 22. But _according to_ and _contrary to_ are expressed in Latin and Greek by single prepositions; and if _to_ alone is the preposition in English, then both _according_ and _contrary_ must, in many instances, be _adverbs_. Example: "For dost thou sit as judging me _according to_ the law, and _contrary_ to law command me to be smitten?" (See the Greek of Acts, xxiii, 3.) _Contrary_, though literally an adjective, is often made either an adverb, or a part of a complex preposition, unless the grammarians are generally in error respecting it: as, "Ha dares not act _contrary to_ his instructions."-- _Murray's Key_, p. 179. OBS. 17.--J. W. Wright, with some appearance of analogy on his side, but none of usage, everywhere adds _ly_ to the questionable word _according_; as, "We are usually estimated _accordingly to_ our company."-- _Philosophical Gram._, p. 127. "_Accordingly to_ the forms in which they are employed."--_Ib._, p. 137. "_Accordingly to_ the above principles, the _adjective_ ACCORDING (or _agreeable_) is frequently, but improperly, substituted for the adverb ACCORDINGLY (or _agreeably_.)"--_Ib._, p. 145. The word _contrary_ he does not notice; but, on the same principle, he would doubtless say, "He dares not act _contrarily_ to his instructions." We say indeed, "He acted _agreeably_ to his instructions;"--and not, "He acted _agreeable_ to his instructions." It must also be admitted, that the adverbs _accordingly_ and _contrarily_ are both of them good English words. If these were adopted, where the character of _according_ and _contrary_ is disputable, there would indeed be no longer any occasion to call these latter either adverbs or prepositions. But the fact is, that _no good writers have yet preferred them_, in such phrases; and the adverbial ending _ly_ gives an additional syllable to a word that seems already quite too long. OBS. 18.--_Instead_ is reckoned an adverb by some, a preposition by others; and a few write _instead-of_ with a needless hyphen. The best way of settling the grammatical question respecting this term, is, to write the noun _stead_ as a separate word, governed by _in_. Bating the respect that is due to anomalous usage, there would be more propriety in compounding _in quest of, in lieu of_, and many similar phrases. For _stead_ is not always followed by _of_, nor always preceded by _in_, nor always made part of a compound. We say, _in our stead, in your stead, in their stead_, &c.; but _lieu_, which has the same meaning as _stead_, is much more limited in construction. Examples: "In _the stead_ of sinners, He, a divine and human person, suffered."--_Barnes's Notes_. "Christ suffered in _the place_ and _stead_ of sinners."--_Ib._ "_For_, in its primary sense, is _pro, loco alterius_, in _the stead_ or _place_ of _another_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 65. "If it may stand him more in _stead_ to lie." --_Milt., P. L._, B. i, l. 473. "But here thy sword can do thee little _stead_." --_Id., Comus_, l. 611. OBS. 19.--_From forth_ and _from out_ are two poetical phrases, apparently synonymous, in which there is a fanciful transposition of the terms, and perhaps a change of _forth_ and _out_ from adverbs to prepositions. Each phrase is equivalent in meaning to _out of_ or _out from. Forth_, under other circumstances, is never a preposition; though _out_, perhaps, may be. We speak as familiarly of going _out doors_, as of going _up stairs_, or _down cellar_. Hence _from out_ may be parsed as a complex preposition, though the other phrase should seem to be a mere example of hyperbaton: "I saw _from out_ the wave her structures rise."--_Byron_. "Peeping _from forth_ their alleys green."--_Collins_. OBS. 20.--"_Out of_ and _as to_," says one grammarian, "are properly prepositions, although they are double words. They may be called _compound_ prepositions."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 103. I have called the _complex_ prepositions _double_ rather than _compound_, because several of the single prepositions are compound words; as, _into, notwithstanding, overthwart, throughout, upon, within, without_. And even some of these may follow the preposition _from_; as, "If he shall have removed _from within_ the limits of this state." But _in_ and _to, up_ and _on, with_ and _in_, are not always compounded when they come together, because the sense may positively demand that the former be taken as an adverb, and the latter only as a preposition: as, "I will come _in to_ him, and will sup with him."--_Rev._, iii, 20. "A statue of Venus was set _up on_ Mount Calvary."--_M'Ilvaine's Lectures_, p. 332. "The troubles which we meet _with in_ the world."--_Blair_. And even two prepositions may be brought together without union or coalescence; because the object of the first one may be expressed or understood _before_ it: as, "The man whom you spoke _within_ the street;"--"The treatment you complain _of on_ this occasion;"--"The house that you live _in in_ the summer;"--"Such a dress as she had _on in_ the evening." OBS. 21.--Some grammarians assume, that, "Two prepositions in immediate succession require a noun to be _understood_ between them; as, 'Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes, _From betwixt_ two aged oaks.'--'The mingling notes came softened _from below_.'"--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 105. This author would probably understand here--"From _the space_ betwixt two aged oaks;"--"came softened from _the region_ below _us_." But he did not consider all the examples that are included in his proposition; nor did he rightly regard even those which he cites. The doctrine will be found a very awkward one in practice; and an other objection to it is, that most of the ellipses which it supposes, are entirely imaginary. If there were truth in his assumption, the compounding of prepositions would be positively precluded. The terms _over-against_ and _round-about_ are sometimes written with the hyphen, and perhaps it would be well if all the complex prepositions were regularly compounded; but, as I before suggested, such is not the present fashion of writing them, and the general usage is not to be controlled by what any individual may think. OBS. 22.--Instances may, doubtless, occur, in which the object of a preposition is suppressed by ellipsis, when an other preposition follows, so as to bring together two that do not denote a compound relation, and do not, in any wise, form one complex preposition. Of such suppression, the following is an example; and, I think, a double one: "They take pronouns _after instead of before_ them."--_Fowler, E. Gram._, Sec.521. This may be interpreted to mean, and probably does mean--"They take pronouns after _them_ in _stead_ of _taking them_ before them." OBS. 23.--In some instances, the words _in, on, of, for, to, with_, and others commonly reckoned prepositions, are used after infinitives or participles, in a sort of _adverbial_ construction, because they do not govern any objective; yet not exactly in the usual sense of adverbs, because they evidently express the relation between the verb or participle and a nominative or objective going before. Examples: "Houses are built to live _in_, and not to look _on_; therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had."--_Ld. Kames_. "These are not mysteries for ordinary readers to be let _into_."--ADDISON: _Joh. Dict., w. Let._ "Heaven is worth dying _for_, though earth is not worth living _for_."--_R. Hall_. "What! have ye not houses to eat and to drink _in_?"--_1 Cor._, xi, 22. This is a very peculiar idiom of our language; and if we say, "Have ye not houses _in which_ to eat and to drink?" we form _an other_ which is not much less so. Greek: "[Greek: Mae gar oikias ouk echete eis to esthiein kai pinein];" Latin: "Num enim domos non habetis ad manducandum et bibendum?"--_Leusden_. "N'avez vous pas des maisons pour manger et pour boire?"--_French Bible_.[315] OBS. 24.--In OBS. 10th, of Chapter Fourth, on Adjectives, it was shown that words of _place_, (such as, _above, below, beneath, under_, and the like,) are sometimes set before nouns in the character of adjectives, and not of prepositions: as, "In the _above_ list,"--"From the _above_ list."--_Bullions', E. Gram._, p. 70. To the class of adjectives also, rather than to that of adverbs, may some such words be referred, when, without governing the objective case, they are put _after_ nouns to signify place: as, "The _way_ of life is _above_ to the wise, that he may depart from _hell beneath_."--_Prov._, xv, 24. "Of any thing that is in _heaven above_, or that is in the _earth beneath_."--_Exod._, xx, 4. "Say first, of _God above_ or _man below_, What can we reason but from what we know?"--_Pope_. LIST OF THE PREPOSITIONS. The following are the principal prepositions, arranged alphabetically: _Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid_ or _amidst, among_ or _amongst, around, at, athwart;--Bating, before, behind, below, beneath, beside or besides, between_ or _betwixt, beyond, by;--Concerning;--Down, during;--Ere, except, excepting;--For, from;--In, into;--Mid_ or _midst;--Notwithstanding;--Of, off,[316] on, out, over, overthwart;--Past, pending;--Regarding, respecting, round;--Since;--Through, throughout, till, to, touching, toward_ or _towards;--Under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon;--With, within, without_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Grammarians differ considerably in their tables of the English prepositions. Nor are they all of one opinion, concerning either the characteristics of this part of speech, or the particular instances in which the acknowledged properties of a preposition are to be found. Some teach that, "Every preposition requires an _objective case_ after it."--_Lennie_, p. 50; _Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 69. In opposition to this, I suppose that the preposition _to_ may take an _infinitive verb_ after it; that _about_ also may be a preposition, in the phrase, "_about to write_;" that _about, above, after, against, by, for, from, in, of_, and some other prepositions, may govern _participles_, as such; (i. e. without making them nouns, or cases;) and, lastly, that after a preposition an _adverb_ is sometimes construed substantively, and yet is indeclinable; as, _for once, from afar, from above, at unawares_. OBS. 2.--The writers just quoted, proceed to say: "When a _preposition does not govern_ an objective case, it becomes an adverb; as, 'He rides _about_.' But in such phrases as, _cast up, hold out, fall on_, the words _up, out_, and _on_, must be considered as _a part_ of the _verb_, rather than as prepositions or adverbs."--_Lennie's Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 50; _Bullions's_, p. 59; _his Analyt. and P. Gram._, p. 109. Both these sentences are erroneous: the one, more particularly so, in expression; the other, in doctrine. As the preposition is chiefly distinguished by its regimen, it is absurd to speak of it as governing nothing; yet it does not always govern the objective case, for participles and infinitives have no cases. _About, up, out_, and _on_, as here cited, are all of them _adverbs_; and so are all other particles that thus qualify verbs, without governing any thing. L. Murray grossly errs when ha assumes that, "The distinct component parts of such phrases as, _to cast up, to fall on, to bear oat, to give over, &c._, are _no guide_ to the sense of the whole." Surely, "to cast _up_" is to cast _somehow_, though the meaning of the phrase may be "_to compute_." By this author, and some others, all _such adverbs_ are absurdly called _prepositions_, and are also as absurdly declared to be _parts_ of the preceding verbs! See _Murray's Gram._, p. 117; _W. Allen's_, 179; _Kirkham's_, 95; _R. G. Smith's_, 93; _Fisk's_, 86; _Butler's_, 63; _Wells's_, 146. OBS. 3--In comparing the different English grammars now in use, we often find the primary distinction of the parts of speech, and every thing that depends upon it, greatly perplexed by the _fancied ellipses_, and _forced constructions_, to which their authors resort. Thus Kirkham: "Prepositions are sometimes erroneously called adverbs, when their nouns are understood. 'He rides _about_;' that is, about the _town, country_, or _something_ else. 'She was _near_ [the _act_ or _misfortune_ of] falling;' 'But do not _after_ [that _time_ or _event_] lay the blame on me.' 'He came _down_ [the _ascent_] from the hill;' 'They lifted him _up_ [the _ascent_] out of the pit.' 'The angels _above_;'--above _us_--'Above these lower _heavens_, to us invisible, or dimly seen.'"--_Gram._, p. 89. The errors of this passage are almost as numerous as the words; and those to which the doctrine leads are absolutely innumerable. That _up_ and _down_, with verbs of motion, imply ascent and descent, as _wisely_ and _foolishly_ imply wisdom and folly, is not to be denied; but the grammatical bathos of coming "_down [the ascent] from the hill" of science_, should startle those whose faces are directed upward! _Downward ascent_ is a movement worthy only of Kirkham, and his Irish rival, Joseph W. Wright. The _brackets_ here used are Kirkham's, not mine. OBS. 4.--"Some of the _prepositions_," says L. Murray, "have the _appearance and effect_ of conjunctions: as, '_After_ their prisons were thrown open,' &c. '_Before_ I die;' 'They made haste to be prepared _against_ their friends arrived:' but if the noun _time_, which is _understood_, be added, they will lose their _conjunctive form_: as, 'After [_the time when_] their prisons,' &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 119. Here, _after, before_, and _against_, are neither conjunctions nor prepositions, but conjunctive _adverbs of time_, referring to the verbs which follow them, and also, when the sentences are completed, to others antecedent. The awkward addition of "_the time when_," is a sheer perversion. If _after, before_, and the like, can ever be adverbs, they are so here, and not conjunctions, or prepositions. OBS. 5.--But the great Compiler proceeds: "The _prepositions, after, before, above, beneath_, and several others, sometimes _appear to be adverbs_, and may be _so considered_: as, 'They had their reward soon _after_;' 'He died not long _before_;' 'He dwells _above_;' but if the nouns _time_ and _place_ be added, they will lose their adverbial form: as, 'He died not long _before that time_,' &c."--_Ib._ Now, I say, when any of the foregoing words "_appear_ to be adverbs," they _are_ adverbs, and, if adverbs, then not prepositions. But to consider prepositions to be adverbs, as Murray here does, or seems to do; and to suppose "the NOUNS _time_ AND _place_" to be understood in the several examples here cited, as he also does, or seems to do; are singly such absurdities as no grammarian should fail to detect, and together such a knot of blunders, as ought to be wondered at, even in the Compiler's humblest copyist. In the following text, there is neither preposition nor ellipsis: "Above, below, without, within, around, Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found."--_Pope, on Fame_. OBS. 6.--It comports with the name and design of this work, which is a broad synopsis of grammatical criticism, to notice here one other absurdity; namely, the doctrine of "_sentential nouns_." There is something of this in several late grammars: as, "The prepositions, after, before, ere, since, till, and until, frequently govern _sentential_ nouns; and after, before, since, notwithstanding, and some others, frequently govern a noun or pronoun _understood_. A preposition governing a sentential noun, is, by Murray and others, considered a _conjunction_; and a preposition governing a noun understood, an _adverb_."--J. L. PARKHURST: _in Sanborn's Gram._, p. 123. "Example: 'He will, _before he dies_, sway the sceptre.' _He dies_ is a sentential noun, third person, singular number; and is governed by _before_; _before he dies_, being equivalent in meaning to _before his death_."--_Sanborn, Gram._, p. 176. "'_After they had waited_ a long time, they departed.' After _waiting_."--_Ib._ This last solution supposes the phrase, "_waiting a long time_," or at least the participle _waiting_, to be a _noun_; for, upon the author's principle of equivalence, "_they had waited_," will otherwise be a "_sentential_" _participle_--a thing however as good and as classical as the other! OBS. 7.--If a preposition can ever be justly said to take a sentence for its object, it is chiefly in certain ancient expressions, like the following: "For _in that_ he died, he died unto sin once; but _in that_ he liveth, he liveth unto God."--_Rom._, vi, 10. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, _for that_ he also is flesh."--_Gen._, vi, 3. "For, _after that_, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."--_1 Cor._, i, 21. Here, _in, for_, and _after_, are all followed by the word _that_; which Tooke, Webster, Frazee, and some others, will have to be "a substitute," or "pronoun," representing the sentence which follows it, and governed by the preposition. But _that_, in this sense, is usually, and perhaps more properly, reckoned a conjunction. And if we take it so, _in, for_, and _after_, (unless the latter be an adverb,) must either be reckoned conjunctions also, or be supposed to govern sentences. The expressions however are little used; because "_in that_" is nearly equivalent to _as_; "_for that_" can be better expressed by _because_; and "_after that_," which is equivalent to [Greek: epeide], _postquam_, may well be rendered by the term, _seeing that_, or _since_. "_Before that_ Philip called thee," is a similar example; but "_that_" is here needless, and "_before_" may be parsed as a conjunctive adverb of time. I have one example more: "But, _besides that_ he attempted it formerly with no success, it is certain the Venetians keep too watchful an eye," &c.--_Addison_. This is good English, but the word "_besides_" if it be not a conjunction, may as well be called an adverb, as a preposition. OBS. 8.--There are but few words in the list of prepositions, that are not sometimes used as being of some other part of speech. Thus _bating, excepting, concerning, touching, respecting, during, pending_, and a part of the compound _notwithstanding_, are literally participles; and some writers, in opposition to general custom, refer them always to their original class. Unlike most other prepositions, they do not refer to _place_, but rather to _action, state_, or _duration_; for, even as prepositions, they are still allied to participles. Yet to suppose them always participles, as would Dr. Webster and some others, is impracticable. Examples: "They speak _concerning_ virtue."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 69. Here _concerning_ cannot be a participle, because its antecedent term is a _verb_, and the meaning is, "they _speak_ of virtue." "They are bound _during life_." that is, _durante vita_, life continuing, or, as long as life lasts. So, "_Notwithstanding this_," i.e., "_hoc non obstante_," this not hindering. Here the nature of the construction seems to depend on the order of the words. "Since he had succeeded, _notwithstanding them_, peaceably to the throne."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 31. "This is a correct English idiom, Dr. Lowth's _criticism_, to the contrary _notwithstanding_."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 85. In the phrase, "_notwithstanding them_," the former word is clearly a preposition governing the latter; but Dr. Webster doubtless supposed the word "_criticism_" to be in the nominative case, put absolute with the participle: and so it would have been, had he written _not withstanding_ as two words, like "_non obstante_;" but the compound word _notwithstanding_ is not a participle, because there is no verb _to notwithstand_. But _notwithstanding_, when placed before a nominative, or before the conjunction _that_, is a conjunction, and, as such, must be rendered in Latin by _tamen_, yet, _quamvis_, although, or _nihilominus_, nevertheless. OBS. 9.--_For_, when it signifies _because_, is a conjunction: as, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; _for_ thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."--_Prov._, xxvii, 1. _For_ has this meaning, and, according to Dr. Johnson, is a conjunction, when it precedes _that_; as, "Yet _for that_ the worst men are most ready to remove, I would wish them chosen by discretion of wise men."--_Spenser._ The phrase, as I have before suggested, is almost obsolete; but Murray, in one place, adopts it from Dr. Beattie: "For _that_ those parts of the verb are not properly called tenses."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 75. How he would have parsed it, does not appear. But both words are connectives. And, from the analogy of those terms which serve as links to other terms, I should incline to take _for that, in that, after that_, and _besides that_, (in which a known conjunction is put last,) as complex conjunctions; and also, to take _as for, as to_, and _because of_, (in which a known preposition is put last,) as complex prepositions. But there are other regular and equivalent expressions that ought in general to be preferred to any or all of these. OBS. 10.--Several words besides those contained in the list above, are (or have been) occasionally employed in English as prepositions: as, _A_, (chiefly used before participles,) _abaft, adown, afore, aloft, aloof, alongside, anear, aneath, anent, aslant, aslope, astride, atween, atwixt, besouth, bywest, cross, dehors, despite, inside, left-hand, maugre, minus, onto, opposite, outside, per, plus, sans, spite, thorough, traverse, versus, via, withal, withinside_. OBS. 11.--Dr. Lowth says, "The particle _a_ before participles, in the phrases _a_ coming, _a_ going, _a_ walking, _a_ shooting, &c. and before nouns, as _a_-bed, _a_-board, _a_-shore, _a_-foot, &c. seems to be _a true and genuine preposition_, a little disguised by familiar use and quick pronunciation. Dr. Wallis supposes it to be the preposition _at_. I rather think it is the preposition _on_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 65; _Churchill's_, 268. There is no need of supposing it to be either. It is not from _on_; for in Saxon it sometimes accompanied _on_: as in the phrase, "_on a weoruld_;" that is, "_on to ages_;" or, as Wickliffe rendered it, "_into worldis_;" or, as our version has it, "_for ever_." See _Luke_, i, 55. This preposition was in use long before either _a_ or _an_, as an article, appeared in its present form in the language; and, for ought I can discover, it may be as old as either _on_ or _at_. _An_, too, is found to have had at times the sense and construction of _in_ or _on_; and this usage is, beyond doubt, older than that which makes it an article. _On_, however, was an exceedingly common preposition in Saxon, being used almost always where we now put _on, in, into, upon_, or _among_, and sometimes, for _with_ or _by_; so, sometimes, where _a_ was afterwards used: thus, "What in the Saxon Gospel of John, is, 'Ic wylle gan _on_ fixoth,' is, in the English version, 'I go _a_ fishing.' Chap, xxi, ver. 3." See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 65; _Churchill's_, 269. And _a_ is now sometimes equivalent to _on_; as, "He would have a learned University make Barbarisms a purpose."--_Bentley, Diss. on Phalaris_, p. 223. That is,--"_on_ purpose." How absurdly then do some grammarians interpret the foregoing text!--"I go _on_ a fishing."--_Alden's Gram._, p. 117. "I go _on_ a fishing voyage or business."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 221; _Merchant's_, 101. "It may not be improper," says Churchill in another place, "to observe here, that the preposition _on_, is too frequently pronounced as if it were the vowel _a_, in ordinary conversation; and this corruption _is_ [has] become so prevalent, that I have even met with 'laid it _a oneside_' in a periodical publication. It should have been '_on one side_,' if the expression were meant to be particular; '_aside_,' if general."--_New Gram._, p. 345. By these writers, _a_ is also supposed to be sometimes a corruption of _of_: as, "Much in the same manner, Thomas _of_ Becket, by very frequent and familiar use, became Thomas _a_ Becket; and one _of the_ clock, or perhaps _on the_ clock, is written one o'clock, but pronounced one _a_ clock. The phrases with _a_ before a participle are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in familiar discourse. They are established by long usage, and good authority; and there seems to be no reason, why they should be utterly rejected."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 66. "Much in the same manner, John _of_ Nokes, and John _of_ Styles, become John _a_ Nokes, and John _a_ Styles: and one _of the_ clock, or rather _on the_ clock, is written one _o_'clock, but pronounced one _a_ clock. The phrases with a before participles, are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in familiar discourse."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 269. OBS. 12.--The following are _examples_ of the less usual prepositions, _a_, and others that begin with _a_: "And he set--three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work."--_2 Chron._, ii, 18. "Who goeth _a_ warfare any time at his own charges?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 7. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell _a_ lusting."--_Num._, xi, 4. "And sweet Billy Dimond, _a_ patting his hair up." --_Feast of the Poets_, p. 17. "The god fell _a_ laughing to see his mistake." --_Ib._, p. 18. "You'd have thought 'twas the bishops or judges _a_ coming." --_Ib._, p. 22. "A place on the lower deck, _abaft_ the mainmast."--_Gregory's Dict._ "A moment gazed _adown_ the dale."--_Scott, L. L._, p. 10. "_Adown_ Strath-Gartney's valley broad."--_Ib._, p. 84. "For _afore_ the harvest, when the bud is perfect," &c.--_Isaiah_, xviii, 5. "Where the great luminary _aloof_ the vulgar constellations thick,"--See _Milton's Paradise Lost_, B. iii, l. 576. "The great luminary _aloft_ the vulgar constellations thick."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Aloft_. "Captain Falconer having previously gone _alongside_, the Constitution."--_Newspaper_. "Seventeen ships sailed for New England, and _aboard_ these above fifteen hundred persons."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 429. "There is a willow grows _askant_ the brook:" Or, as in some editions: "There is a willow grows _aslant_ the brook."--SHAK., _Hamlet_, Act iv, 7. "_Aslant_ the dew-bright earth."--_Thomson_. "Swift as meteors glide _aslope_ a summer eve."--_Fenton_. "_Aneath_ the heavy rain."--_James Hogg_, "With his magic spectacles _astride_ his nose."--_Merchant's Criticisms_. "_Atween_ his downy wings be furnished, there." --_Wordsworth's Poems_, p. 147. "And there a season _atween_ June and May." --_Castle of Indolence_, C. i, st. 2. OBS. 13.--The following are examples of rather unusual prepositions beginning with _b, c_, or _d_; "Or where wild-meeting oceans boil _besouth_ Magellan."--_Burns_. "Whereupon grew that _by-word_, used by the Irish, that they dwelt _by-west_ the law, _which_ dwelt beyond the river _of the_ Barrow."--DAVIES: in _Joh. Dict._ Here Johnson calls _by-west_ a noun substantive, and Webster, as improperly, marks it for an adverb. No hyphen is needed in _byword_ or _bywest_. The first syllable of the latter is pronounced _be_, and ought to be written so, if "_besouth_" is right. "From Cephalonia _cross_ the surgy main Philaetius late arrived, a faithful swain." --_Pope, Odys._, B. xx, l. 234. "And _cross_ their limits cut a sloping way, Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway." --_Dryden's Virgil_. "A fox was taking a walk one night _cross_ a village."--_L'Estrange_. "The enemy had cut down great trees _cross_ the ways."--_Knolles_. "DEHORS, prep. [Fr.] Without: as, '_dehors_ the land.' Blackstone."--_Worcester's Dict._, 8vo. "You have believed, _despite_ too our physical conformation."--_Bulwer_. "And Roderick shall his welcome make, _Despite_ old spleen, for Douglas' sake." --_Scott, L. L._, C. ii, st. 26. OBS. 14.--The following quotations illustrate further the list of unusual prepositions: "And she would be often weeping _inside_ the room while George was amusing himself without."--_Anna Ross_, p. 81. "Several nuts grow closely together, _inside_ this prickly covering."--_Jacob Abbot_. "An other boy asked why the peachstone was not _outside_ the peach."--_Id._ "As if listening to the sounds _withinside_ it."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 214. "Sir Knight, you well might mark the mound, _Left hand_ the town."--_Scott's Marmion_. "Thus Butler, _maugre_ his wicked intention, sent them home again."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. 256. "And, _maugre_ all that can be said in its favour."--_Stone, on Freemasonry_, p. 121. "And, _maugre_ the authority of Sterne, I even doubt its benevolence."--_West's Letters_, p. 29. "I through the ample air in triumph high Shall lead Hell captive _maugre_ Hell." --_Milton's P. L._, B. iii, l. 255. "When Mr. Seaman arose in the morning, he found himself _minus_ his coat, vest, pocket-handkerchief, and tobacco-box."--_Newspaper_. "Throw some coals _onto_ the fire."--FORBY: _Worcester's Dict., w. Onto_. "Flour, at $4 _per_ barrel."--_Preston's Book-Keeping_. "Which amount, _per_ invoice, to $4000."--_Ib._ "_To Smiths_ is the substantive _Smiths, plus_ the preposition _to_."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.33. "The Mayor of Lynn _versus_ Turner."--_Cowper's Reports_, p. 86. "Slaves were imported from Africa, _via_ Cuba."--_Society in America_, i, 327. "_Pending_ the discussion of this subject, a memorial was presented."--_Gov. Everett_. "Darts his experienced eye and soon _traverse_ The whole battalion views their order due."--_Milton_. "Because, when _thorough_ deserts vast And regions desolate they past."--_Hudibras_. OBS. 15.--_Minus_, less, _plus_, more, _per_, by, _versus_, towards, or against, and _via_, by the way of, are Latin words; and it is not very consistent with the _purity_ of our tongue, to use them as above. _Sans_, without, is French, and not now heard with us. _Afore_ for _before, atween_ for _between, traverse_ for _across, thorough_ for _through_, and _withal_ for _with_, are obsolete. _Withal_ was never placed before its object, but was once very common at the end of a sentence. I think it not properly a preposition, but rather an adverb. It occurs in Shakspeare, and so does _sans_; as, "I did laugh, _sans_ intermission, an hour by his dial." --_As You Like It_. "I pr'ythee, _whom_ doth he trot _withal_?" --_Ib._ "_Sans_ teeth, _sans_ eyes, _sans_ taste, _sans_ every thing." --_Ib._ OBS. 16.--Of the propriety and the nature of such expressions as the following, the reader may now judge for himself: "In consideration of what passes sometimes _within-side of_ those vehicles."--_Spectator_, No. 533. "Watch over yourself, and let nothing throw you _off from_ your guard."--_District School_, p. 54. "The windows broken, the door _off from_ the hinges, the roof open and leaky."--_Ib._, p. 71. "He was always a shrewd observer of men, _in and out of_ power."--_Knapp's Life of Burr_, p. viii. "Who had never been broken _in to_ the experience of sea voyages."--_Timothy Flint_. "And there came a fire _out from before_ the Lord."--_Leviticus_, ix, 24. "Because eight readers _out of_ ten, it is believed, forget it."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 32. "Fifty days after the _Passover_, and _their coming out of_ Egypt."--_Watts's Script. Hist._, p. 57. "As the mountains are _round about_ Jerusalem, so the Lord is _round about_ his people."--_Psal._, cxxv, 2. "Literally, 'I proceeded _forth from out of_ God and am come.'"--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 161. "But he that came _down from_ (or _from out of_) heaven."--_Ibid._ "Here none the last funereal rights receive; To be cast _forth the camp_, is all their friends can give." --_Rowe's Lucan_, vi, 166. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS X.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Tenth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, PARTICIPLES, ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, _and_ PREPOSITIONS. _The definitions to be given in the Tenth Praxis, are, two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction, one for a preposition, and one for an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "Never adventure on too near an approach to what is evil."--_Maxims_. _Never_ is an adverb of time. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, _When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these which ask. _Adventure_ is a regular active-intransitive verb, from _adventure, adventured, adventuring, adventured_; found in the imperative mood, present tense, second person, singular (or it may be plural) number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that expresses an action that has no person or thing for its object. 4. The imperative mood is that form of the verb which is used in commanding, exhorting, entreating, or permitting. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _On_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Too_ is an adverb of degree. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of decree are those which answer to the question, _How much? How little?_ or to the idea of _more or less_. _Near_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared, _near, nearer, 2.[sic--KTH] nearest_ or _next_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form. _An_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but not any particular one. _Approach_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. _To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _What_ is a relative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or stats of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Is_ is an irregular neuter verb, from be, was, being, been; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of a verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Evil_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared irregularly, bad, evil, or ill, worse, worst. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form. LESSON I.--PARSING. "My Lord, I do here, in the name of all the learned and polite persons of the nation, complain to your Lordship, as first minister, that our language is imperfect; that its daily improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily corruptions; that the pretenders to polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied abuses and absurdities; and that, in many instances, it offends against every part of grammar."--_Dean Swift, to the Earl of Oxford_. "Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter; to which he was himself very attentive, both in his own writings, and in his remarks upon those of his friends: He is one of the most correct, and perhaps [he is] the best, of our prose writers. Indeed the justness of this complaint, _as_ far as I can find, _hath_ never yet been questioned; and yet no effectual method _hath_ hitherto been taken to redress the grievance which was the object of it."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. iv. "The only proper use to be made of the blemishes which occur in the writings of such authors, [as Addison and Swift--authors whose 'faults are overbalanced by high beauties'--] is, to point out to those who apply themselves to the study of composition, some of the rules which they ought to observe for avoiding such errors; and to render them sensible of the necessity of strict attention to language and style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 233. "Thee, therefore, and with thee myself I weep, For thee and me I mourn in anguish deep."--_Pope's Homer_. LESSON II.--PARSING. "The southern corner of Europe, comprehended between the thirty-sixth and fortieth degrees of latitude, bordering on Epirus and Macedonia towards the north, and on other sides surrounded by the sea, was inhabited, above eighteen centuries before the Christian era, by many small tribes of hunters and shepherds, among whom the Pelasgi and Hellenes were the most numerous and powerful."--_Gillies, Gr._, p. 12. "In a vigorous exertion of memory, ideal presence is exceedingly distinct: thus, when a man, entirely occupied with some event that made a deep impression, forgets himself, he perceives every thing as passing before him, and has a consciousness of presence, similar to that of a spectator."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 88. "Each planet revolves about its own axis in a given time; and each moves round the sun, in an orbit nearly circular, and in a time proportioned to its distance. Their velocities, directed by an established law, are perpetually changing by regular accelerations and retardations."--_Ib._, i, 271. "You may as well go about to turn the sun to ice by fanning in his face with a peacock's feather."--_Shak_. "_Ch. Justice_. I sent for you, when there were matters against you for your life, to come speak with me. _Falstaff_. As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the laws of this land-service, I did not come."--_Id._, 2. Hen. IV, Act i, Sc. 2. "It is surprising to see the images of the mind stamped upon the aspect; to see the cheeks take the die of the passions and appear in all the colors of thought."--_Collier_. ----------"Even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made."--_Byron_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "With a mind weary of conjecture, fatigued by doubt, sick of disputation, eager for knowledge, anxious for certainty, and unable to attain it by the best use of my reason in matters of the utmost importance, I _have_ long ago turned my thoughts to an impartial examination of the proofs on which revealed religion is grounded, and I am convinced of its truth."--_Bp. Watson's Apology_, p. 69. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."--_Gen._, xlix, 10. "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head; because thou canst not make one hair white or black."--_Matt._, v, 33--36. "Refined manners, and polite behaviour, must not be deemed altogether artificial: men who, inured to the sweets of society, cultivate humanity, find an elegant pleasure in preferring others, and making them happy, of which the proud, the selfish, scarcely have a conception."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 105. "Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine."--_Milton_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING PREPOSITIONS. "Nouns are often formed by participles."--_L. Murray's Index, Octavo Gram._, ii, 290. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the relation here intended, between _are formed_ and _participles_, is not well signified by the preposition by. But, according to Observation 7th, on this part of speech, "The prepositions have, from their own nature, or from custom, such an adaptation to particular terms and relations, that they can seldom be used one for an other without manifest impropriety." This relation would be better expressed by _from_; thus, "Nouns are often formed _from_ participles."] "What tenses are formed on the perfect participle?"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 104. "Which tense is formed on the present?"--_Ibid._ "When a noun or pronoun is placed before a participle, independently on the rest of the sentence," &c.--_Ib._, p. 150; _Murray_, 145; and others. "If the addition consists in two or more words."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 176; _Ingersoll's_, 177. "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on the rest of the sentence."--_Mur._, p. 184; _Ing._, 244; and others. "For the great satisfaction of the reader, we shall present him with a variety of false constructions."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 189. "For your satisfaction, I shall present you with a variety of false constructions."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 258. "I shall here present you with a scale of derivation."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 81. "These two manners of representation in respect of number."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 15; _Churchill's_, 57; "There are certain adjectives, which seem to be derived without any variation from verbs."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 89. "Or disqualify us for receiving instruction or reproof of others."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 253. "For being more studious than any other pupil of the school."--_Ib._, p. 226. "From misunderstanding the directions, we lost our way."--_Ib._, p. 201. "These people reduced the greater part of the island to their own power."--_Ib._, p. 261.[317] "The principal accent distinguishes one syllable in a word from the rest."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 236. "Just numbers are in unison to the human mind."--_Ib._, p. 298. "We must accept of sound instead of sense."--_Ib._, p. 298. "Also, instead for _consultation_, he uses _consult_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 143. "This ablative seems to be governed of a preposition understood."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 268. "That my father may not hear on't by some means or other."--_Ib._, p. 257. "And besides, my wife would hear on't by some means."--_Ib._, p. 81. "For insisting in a requisition is so odious to them."--_Robertson's Amer._, i, 206. "Based in the great self-evident truths of liberty and equality."--_Scholar's Manual_. "Very little knowledge of their nature is acquired by the spelling book."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 21. "They do not cut it off: except in a few words; as, _due, duly_, &c."--_Ib._, p. 24. "Whether passing in such time, or then finished."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 31. "It hath disgusted hundreds of that confession."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 269. "But they have egregiously fallen in that inconveniency."--_Ib._, iii, 73. "For is not this to set nature a work?"--_Ib._, i, 270. "And surely that which should set all its springs a-work, is God."--ATTERBURY: _in Blair's Rhet._, p. 298. "He could not end his treatise without a panegyric of modern learning."--TEMPLE: _ib._, p. 110. "These are entirely independent on the modulation of the voice."--_Walker's Elocution_, p. 308. "It is dear of a penny. It is cheap of twenty pounds."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 274. "It will be despatched, in most occasions, without resting."--_Locke_. "'0, the pain the bliss in dying.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 129. "When [he is] presented with the objects or the facts."--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 5. "I will now present you with a synopsis."--_Ib._, p. 25. "The conjunction disjunctive connects sentences, by expressing opposition of meaning in various degrees."--_Ib._, p. 38. "I shall now present you with a few lines."--_Bucke's Classical Gram_, p. 13. "Common names of Substantives are those, which stand for things generally."--_Ib._, p. 31. "Adjectives in the English language admit no variety in gender, number, or case whatever, except that of the degrees of comparison."--_Ib._, p. 48. "Participles are adjectives formed of verbs."--_Ib._, p. 63. "I do love to walk out of a fine summer's evening."--_Ib._, p. 97. "An _Ellipsis_, when applied to grammar, is the elegant omission of one or more words in a sentence."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 99. "The prefix _to_ is generally placed before verbs in the infinitive mood, but before the following verbs it is properly omitted; (viz.) _bid, make, see, dare, need, hear, feel_, and _let_; as, He _bid_ me _do_ it; He _made_ me _learn_; &c."--_Ib., Stereotype Edition_, p. 91; _Old Edition_, 85. "The infinitive sometimes follows _than_, after a comparison; as, I wish nothing more, _than to know_ his fate."--_Ib._, p. 92. See _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, i, 184. "Or by prefixing the adverbs _more_ or _less_, in the comparative, and _most_ or _least_, in the superlative."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 36. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun."--_Ib._, p. 17; _Comly_, 15. "In monosyllables the Comparative is regularly formed by adding _r_ or _er_."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 21. "He has particularly named these, in distinction to others."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. vi. "To revive the decaying taste of antient Literature."--_Ib._, p. xv. "He found the greatest difficulty of writing."--HUME: _in Priestley's Gram._, p. 159. "And the tear that is wip'd with a little address May be followed perhaps with a smile." _Webster's American Spelling-Book_, p. 78; and _Murray's E. Reader_, p. 212. CHAPTER XI--INTERJECTIONS. An Interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of the mind: as, _Oh! alas! ah! poh! pshaw! avaunt! aha! hurrah!_ OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Of pure interjections but few are admitted into books. Unimpassioned writings reject this part of speech altogether. As words or sounds of this kind serve rather to indicate feeling than to express thought, they seldom have any definable signification. Their use also is so variable, that there can be no very accurate classification of them. Some significant words, perhaps more properly belonging to other classes, are sometimes ranked with interjections, when uttered with emotion and in an unconnected manner; as, _strange! prodigious! indeed!_ Wells says, "_Other parts of speech_, used by way of exclamation, are _properly regarded as interjections_; as, _hark! surprising! mercy!_"--_School Gram._, 1846, p. 110. This is an evident absurdity; because it directly confounds the classes which it speaks of as being different. Nor is it right to say, "_Other parts of speech_ are frequently used _to perform the office_ of interjections."--_Wells_, 1850, p. 120. OBS. 2.--The word _interjection_ comes to us from the Latin name _interjectio_, the root of which is the verb _interjicio_, to throw between, to interject. Interjections are so called because they are usually thrown in between _the parts of discourse_, without any syntactical connexion with other words. Dr. Lowth, in his haste, happened to describe them as a kind of natural sounds "thrown in between the parts _of a sentence_;" and this strange blunder has been copied into almost every definition that has been given of the Interjection since. See Murray's Grammar and others. Webster's Dictionary defines it as, "A word thrown in between _words connected in construction_;" but of all the parts of speech none are less frequently found in this situation. OBS. 3.--The following is a fair sample of "Smith's _New Grammar_,"--i.e., of "English Grammar on the _Productive System_,"--a new effort of quackery to scarf up with cobwebs the eyes of common sense: "Q. When I exclaim, 'Oh! I have ruined my friend,' 'Alas! I fear for life,' _which words_ here appear to be thrown in _between the sentences_, to express passion or feeling? Ans. _Oh! Alas!_ Q. What does _interjection_ mean? Ans. _Thrown between_. Q. What name, then, shall we give such words as _oh! alas! &c._? Ans. INTERJECTIONS. Q. What, then, are interjections? Ans. Interjections are words thrown in _between the parts of sentences_, to express the passions or sudden feelings of the speaker. Q. How may an interjection generally be known? Ans. By _its taking_ an exclamation _point_ after it: [as,] '_Oh!_ I have alienated my friend.'"--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 39. Of the interjection, this author gives, in his examples for parsing, _fifteen_ other instances; but nothing can be more obvious, than that not more than one of the whole fifteen stands either "between sentences" or between the parts of any sentence! (See _New Gram._, pp. 40 and 96.) Can he be a competent grammarian, who does not know the meaning of _between_; or who, knowing it, misapplies so very plain a word? OBS. 4.--The Interjection, which is idly claimed by sundry writers to have been the first of words at the origin of language, is now very constantly set down, among the parts of speech, as the last of the series. But, for the name of this the last of the ten sorts of words, some of our grammarians have adopted the term _exclamation_. Of the old and usual term _interjection_, a recent writer justly says, "This name is preferable to that of _exclamation_, for some exclamations are not interjections, and some interjections are not exclamations."--GIBBS: _Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.333. LIST OF THE INTERJECTIONS. The following are the principal interjections, arranged according to the emotions which they are generally intended to indicate:--1. Of joy; _eigh! hey! io!_--2. Of sorrow; _oh! ah! hoo! alas! alack! lackaday! welladay!_ or _welaway!_--3. Of wonder; _heigh! ha! strange! indeed!_--4. Of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address; (often with a noun or pronoun in the nominative absolute;) _O!_--5. Of praise; _well-done! good! bravo!_--6. Of surprise with disapproval; _whew! hoity-toity! hoida! zounds! what!_--7. Of pain or fear; _oh! ooh! ah! eh! O dear!_--8. Of contempt; _fudge! pugh! poh! pshaw! pish! tush! tut! humph!_--9. Of aversion; _foh! faugh! fie! fy! foy!_[318]--10. Of expulsion; _out! off! shoo! whew! begone! avaunt! aroynt!_--11. Of calling aloud; _ho! soho! what-ho! hollo! holla! hallo! halloo! hoy! ahoy!_--12. Of exultation; _ah! aha! huzza! hey! heyday! hurrah!_--13. Of laughter; _ha, ha, ha; he, he, he; te-hee, te-hee._--14. Of salutation; _welcome! hail! all-hail!_--15. Of calling to attention; _ho! lo! la! law![319] look! see! behold! hark!_--16. Of calling to silence; _hush! hist! whist! 'st! aw! mum!_--17. Of dread or horror; _oh! ha! hah! what!_--18. Of languor or weariness; _heigh-ho! heigh-ho-hum!_--19. Of stopping; _hold! soft! avast! whoh!_--20. Of parting; _farewell! adieu! good-by! good-day!_--21. Of knowing or detecting; _oho! ahah! ay-ay!_--22. Of interrogating; _eh? ha? hey?_[320] OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--With the interjections, may perhaps be reckoned _hau_ and _gee_, the imperative words of teamsters driving cattle; and other similar sounds, useful under certain circumstances, but seldom found in books. Besides these, and all the foregoing, there are several others, too often heard, which are unworthy to be considered parts of a cultivated language. The frequent use of interjections savours more of thoughtlessness than of sensibility. Philosophical writing and dispassionate discourse exclude them altogether. Yet are there several words of this kind, which in earnest utterance, animated poetry, or impassioned declamation, are not only natural, but exceedingly expressive: as, "Lift up thy voice, _O_ daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, _O_ poor Anathoth."--_Isaiah_, x, 30. "_Alas, alas_, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgement come."--_Rev._, xviii, 10. "_Ah me!_ forbear, returns the queen, forbear; _Oh!_ talk not, talk not of vain beauty's care." --_Odyssey_, B. xviii, l. 310. OBS. 2.--Interjections, being in general little else than mere natural voices or cries, must of course be adapted to the sentiments which are uttered with them, and never carelessly confounded one with an other when we express them on paper. The adverb _ay_ is sometimes improperly written for the interjection _ah_; as, _ay me!_ for _ah me!_ and still oftener we find _oh_, an interjection of sorrow, pain, or surprise,[321] written in stead of _O_, the proper sign of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address: as, "_Oh_ Happiness! our being's end and aim!" --_Pope, Ess. Ep._ iv, l. 1. "And peace, _oh_ Virtue! peace is all thy own." --_Id., ib., Ep._ iv, l. 82. "_Oh_ stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay! O cease thy course, and listen to our lay!" --_Odys._, B. xii, 1 222. OBS. 3.--The chief characteristics of the interjection are independence, exclamation, and the want of any definable signification. Yet not all the words or signs which we refer to this class, will be found to coincide in all these marks of an interjection. Indeed the last, (the want of a rational meaning,) would seem to exclude them from the language; for _words_ must needs be significant of something. Hence many grammarians deny that mere sounds of the voice have any more claim to be reckoned among the parts of speech, than the neighing of a horse, or the lowing of a cow. There is some reason in this; but in fact the reference which these sounds have to the feelings of those who utter them, is to some extent instinctively understood; and does constitute a sort of significance, though we cannot really define it. And, as their use in language, or in connexion with language, makes it necessary to assign them a place in grammar, it is certainly more proper to treat them as above, than to follow the plan of the Greek grammarians, most of whom throw all the interjections into the class of _adverbs_. OBS. 4.--Significant words uttered independently, after the manner of interjections, ought in general, perhaps, to be referred to their original classes; for all such expressions may be supposed elliptical: as, "_Order!_ gentlemen, _order!_" i.e., "Come to order,"--or, "Keep order." "_Silence!_" i.e., "Preserve silence." "_Out! out!_" i.e., "Get out,"--or, "Clear out!" (See Obs. 5th and 6th, upon Adverbs.) "Charge, Chester, charge! _On_, Stanley, _on_! Were the last words of Marmion."--_Scott_. OBS. 5.--In some instances, interjections seem to be taken substantively and made nouns; as, "I may sit in a corner, and cry _hey-ho_ for a husband."--_Shak_. So, according to James White, in his Essay on the Verb, is the word _fie_, in the following example: "If you deny me, _fie_ upon your law."--SHAK.: _White's Verb_, p. 163. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS XI.--ETYMOLOGICAL. _In the Eleventh Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and_ ALL _their classes and modifications. The definitions to be given in the Eleventh Praxis, are, two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction, one for a preposition, and two for an interjection. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "O! sooner shall the earth and stars fall into chaos!"--_Brown's Inst._, p. 92. _O_ is an interjection, indicating earnestness. 1. An interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of the mind. 2. The interjection of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address, is _O_. _Sooner_ is an adverb of time, of the comparative degree; compared, _soon, sooner, soonest_. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, _When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these which ask. 3. The comparative degree is that which is more or less than something contrasted with it. _Shall_ is an auxiliary to _fall_. 1. An auxiliary is a short verb prefixed to one of the principal parts of an other verb, to express some particular mode and time of the being, action, or passion. _The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things. _Earth_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _And_ is a copulative conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected. 2. A copulative conjunction is a conjunction that denotes an addition, a cause, a consequence, or a supposition. _Stars_ is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb. _Fall_, or _Shall fall_, is an irregular active-intransitive verb, from _fall, fell, falling, fallen_; found in the indicative mood, first-future tense, third person, and plural number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that expresses an action which has no person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The first-future tense is that which expresses what will take place hereafter. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The plural number is that which denotes more than one. _Into_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a pronoun. _Chaos_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition. LESSON I.--PARSING. "Ah! St. Anthony preserve me!--Ah--ah--eh--eh!--Why--why--after all, your hand is not so co-o-o-old, neither. Of the two, it is rather warmer than my own. Can it be, though, that you are not dead?" "Not I."--MOLIERE: _in Burgh's Speaker_, p. 232. "I'll make you change your cuckoo note, you old philosophical humdrum, you--[_Beats him_]--I will--[_Beats him_]. I'll make you say somewhat else than, 'All things are doubtful; all things are uncertain;'--[_Beats him_]--I will, you old fusty pedant." "Ah!--oh!--ehl--What, beat a philosopher!--Ah!--oh!--eh!"--MOLIERE: _ib._, p. 247. "What! will these hands never be clean?--No more of that, my lord; no more of that. You mar all with this starting." * * * "Here is the smell of blood still.--All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh!"--_Shak., Macbeth_, Act V, Sc. 1. "Ha! at the gates what grisly forms appear! What dismal shrieks of laughter wound the ear!"--_Merry._ LESSON II.--PARSING. "Yet this may be the situation of some now known to us.--O frightful thought! O horrible image! Forbid it, O Father of mercy! If it be possible, let no creature of thine ever be the object of that wrath, against which the strength of thy whole creation united, would stand but as the moth against the thunderbolt!"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 289. "If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."--_Daniel_, iii, 17 and 18. "Grant me patience, just Heaven!--Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world--though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst--the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!"--_Sterne_. "Ah, no! Achilles meets a shameful fate, Oh! how unworthy of the brave and great."--_Pope_. LESSON III.--PARSING. "O let not thy heart despise me! thou whom experience has not taught that it is misery to lose that which it is not happiness to possess."--_Dr. Johnson_. "Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught; and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account."--_Sterne_. "Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character; and if any body reports you not to be an honest or a good man, let your practice give him the lie. This is all very feasible."--_Antoninus_. "Oh that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!"--_Shakspeare_. "All these afar off stood, crying, Alas! Alas! and wept, and gnashed their teeth, and groaned; And with the owl, that on her ruins sat, Made dolorous concert in the ear of Night."--_Pollok_. "Snatch'd in thy prime! alas, the stroke were mild, Had my frail form obey'd the fate's decree! Blest were my lot, O Cynthio! O my child! Had Heaven so pleas'd, and I had died for thee!"--_Shenstone_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING INTERJECTIONS. "Of chance or change, oh let not man complain."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 85. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the interjection _oh_, a sign of sorrow, pain, or surprise, is here used to indicate mere earnestness. But, according to the list of interjections, or OBS. 2d under it, the interjection of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address, is _O_, and not _oh_. Therefore, _oh_ should here be _O_; thus, "Of chance or change, _O_ let not man complain."--_Beattie's Minstrel_, B. ii, l. 1.] "O thou persecutor! Oh ye hypocrites."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 99; _et al_. "Oh! thou, who touchedst Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire."--_Ib._, (_Key_,) p. 197. "Oh! happy we, surrounded by so many blessings."--_Ib._, (_Exercises_,) p. 138. "Oh! thou, who art so unmindful of thy duty."--_Ib._, (_Key_,) p. 196. "If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find that better way."--_Pope's Works_. "Heus! evocate hue Davum. _Ter_. Hoe! call Davus out hither."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 155. "It was represented by an analogy, (Oh, how inadequate!) which was borrowed from the religion of paganism."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 281. "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xvii, 18. "And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Gen._, xviii, 30. "And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry."--ID., and SCOTT'S: _ib._, ver. 32. "Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Gen._, xliv, 18. "Oh, Virtue! how amiable thou art! I fear, alas! for my life."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 89. "Ay me, they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain."--_Milton's P. L._, B. iv, l. 86. "Oh! that I had digged myself a cave."--FLETCHER: _in Bucke's Gram._, p. 78. "O, my good lord! thy comfort comes too late."--SHAK.: _ib._, p. 78. "The vocative takes no article; it is distinguished thus: _O Pedro_, Oh Peter! _O Dios_, Oh God!"--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 43. "Oh, o! But, the relative is always the same."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 127. "Oh, oh! But, the relative is always the same."--_Id._, Edition of 1832, p. 116. "Ah hail, ye happy men!"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 116. "Oh that I had wings like a dove!"--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Ps._, lv, 6. "Oh Glorious hope! O Blessed abode!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 183. "Alas, Friends, how joyous is your presence."--_Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 87. "Oh, blissful days! Ah me! how soon ye pass!"--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part I, p. 16; Part III, p. 29. "Oh golden days! oh bright unvalued hours! What bliss (did ye but know that bliss) were yours!"--_Barbauld_. "Ay me! what perils do eviron The man that meddles with cold iron."--_Hudibras_. CHAPTER XII.--QUESTIONS. ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION. PART SECOND, ETYMOLOGY. [Fist] [The following questions refer almost wholly to the main text of the Etymology of this work, and are such as every student should be able to answer with readiness and accuracy, before he proceeds to any subsequent part of the study or the exercises of English grammar.] LESSON I.--PARTS OF SPEECH. 1. Of what does Etymology treat? 2. What is meant by the term, "_Parts of Speech?_" 3. What are _Classes_, under the parts of speech? 4. What are _Modifications?_ 5. How many and what are the parts of speech? 6. What is an article? 7. What is a noun? 8. What is an adjective? 9. What is a pronoun? 10. What is a verb? 11. What is a participle? 12. What is an adverb? 13. What is a conjunction? 14. What is a preposition? 15. What is an interjection? LESSON II.--PARSING. 1. What is _Parsing?_ and what relation does it bear to grammar? 2. What is a _Praxis?_ and what is said of the word? 3. What is required of the pupil in the FIRST PRAXIS? 4. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 5. How is the following example parsed? "The patient ox submits to the yoke, and meekly performs the labour required of him." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _First Chapter_, or the _First Praxis_.] LESSON III.--ARTICLES. 1. What is an ARTICLE? 2. Are _an_ and _a_ different articles, or the same? 3. When ought _an_ to be used, and what are the examples? 4. When should _a_ be used, and what are the examples? 5. What form of the article do the sounds of _w_ and _y_ require? 6. Can you repeat the alphabet, with _an_ or _a_ before the name of each letter? 7. Will you name the ten parts of speech, with _an_ or _a_ before each name? 8. When does a common noun not admit an article? 9. How is the sense of nouns commonly made indefinitely partitive? 10. Does the mere being of a thing demand the use of articles? 11. Can articles ever be used when we mean to speak of a whole species? 12. But how does _an_ or _a_ commonly limit the sense? 13. And how does _the_ commonly limit the sense? 14. Which number does _the_ limit, the singular or the plural? 15. When is _the_ required before adjectives? 16. Why is _an_ or _a_ not applicable to plurals? 17. What is said of _an_ or _a_ before an adjective of number? 18. When, or how often, should articles be inserted? 19. What is said of needless articles? 20. What is the effect of putting one article for the other, and how shall we know which to choose? 21. How are the two articles distinguished in grammar? 22. Which is the definite article, and what does it denote? 23. Which is the indefinite article, and what does it denote? 24. What modifications have the articles? LESSON IV.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the SECOND PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent class, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Second Chapter_, or the _Second Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the five lessons of _bad English_, with which the Second Chapter concludes.] LESSON V.--NOUNS. 1. What is a NOUN, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what general classes are nouns divided? 3. What is a proper noun? 4. What is a common noun? 5. What particular classes are included among common nouns? 6. What is a collective noun? 7. What is an abstract noun? 8. What is a verbal or participial noun? 9. What modifications have nouns? 10. What are _Persons_, in grammar? 11. How many persons are there, and what are they called? 12. What is the first person? 13. What is the second person? 14. What is the third person? 15. What are _Numbers_, in grammar? 16. How many numbers are there, and what are they called? 17. What is the singular number? 18. What is the plural number? 19. How is the plural number of nouns regularly formed? 20. How is the regular plural formed without increase of syllables? 21. How is the regular plural formed when the word gains a syllable? LESSON VI--NOUNS. 1. What are _Genders_, in grammar? 2. How many genders are there, and what are they called? 3. What is the masculine gender? 4. What is the feminine gender? 5. What is the neuter gender? 6. What nouns, then, are masculine? what, feminine? and what, neuter? 7. What inflection of English nouns regularly changes their gender? 8. On what are the different genders founded, and to what parts of speech do they belong? 9. When the noun is such as may be applied to either sex, how is the gender usually determined? 10. What principle of universal grammar determines the gender when both sexes are taken together? 11. What is said of the gender of nouns of multitude? 12. Under what circumstances is it common to disregard the distinction of sex? 13. In how many ways are the sexes distinguished in grammar? 14. When the gender is figurative, how is it indicated? 15. What are _Cases_, in grammar? 16. How many cases are there, and what are they called? 17. What is the nominative case? 18. What is the subject of a verb? 19. What is the possessive case? 20. How is the possessive case of nouns formed? 21. What is the objective case? 22. What is the object of a verb, participle, or preposition? 23. What two cases of nouns are alike in form, and how are they distinguished? 24. What is the declension of a noun? 25. How do you decline the nouns, _friend, man, fox_, and _fly?_ LESSON VII--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the THIRD PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example to be parsed? "The writings of Hannah More appear to me more praise-worthy than Scott's." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Third Chapter_, or the _Third Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Third Chapter concludes.] LESSON VIII.--ADJECTIVES. 1. What is an ADJECTIVE, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what classes may adjectives be divided? 3. What is a common adjective? 4. What is a proper adjective? 5. What is a numeral adjective? 6. What is a pronominal adjective? 7. What is a participial adjective? 8. What is a compound adjective? 9. What modifications have adjectives? 10. What is comparison, in grammar? 11. How many and what are the degrees of comparison? 12. What is the positive degree? 13. What is the comparative degree? 14. What is the superlative degree? 15. What adjectives cannot be compared? 16. What adjectives are compared by means of adverbs? 17. How are adjectives regularly compared? 18. What principles of spelling must be observed in the comparing of adjectives? 19. To what adjectives is the regular method of comparison, by _er_ and _est_, applicable? 20. Is there any other method of expressing the degrees of comparison? 21. How are the degrees of diminution, or inferiority, expressed? 22. Has the regular method of comparison any degrees of this kind? 23. Do we ever compare by adverbs those adjectives which can be compared by _er_ and _est_? 24. How do you compare _good? bad, evil_, or _ill? little? much? many?_ 25. How do you compare _far? near? fore? hind? in? out? up? low? late?_ 26. What words want the positive? 27. What words want the comparative? LESSON IX.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the FOURTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "The best and most effectual method of teaching grammar, is precisely that of which the careless are least fond: teach learnedly, rebuking whatsoever is false, blundering, or unmannerly." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Fourth Chapter_, or the _Fourth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lesons of _bad English_, with which the Fourth Chapter concludes.] LESSON X.--PRONOUNS. 1. What is a PRONOUN, and what is the example given? 2. How many pronouns are there? 3. How are pronouns divided? 4. What is a personal pronoun? 5. How many and what are the simple personal pronouns? 6. How many and what are the compound personal pronouns? 7. What is a relative pronoun? 8. Which are the relative pronouns? 9. What peculiarity has the relative _what_? 10. What is an interrogative pronoun? 11. Which are the interrogative pronouns? 12. Do _who, which_, and _what_, all ask the same question? 13. What modifications have pronouns? 14. Why are not these things defined under the head of pronouns? 15. What is the declension of a pronoun? 16. How do you decline the pronoun _I? Thou? He? She? It?_ 17. What is said of the compound personal pronouns? 18. How do you decline the pronoun _Myself? Thyself? Himself? Herself? Itself?_ 19. Are the interrogative pronouns declined like the simple relatives? 20. How do you decline _Who? Which? What? That? As?_ 21. Have the compound relative pronouns any declension? 22. How do you decline _Whoever? Whosoever? Whichever? Whichsoever? Whatever? Whatsoever?_ LESSON XI.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the FIFTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Fifth Chapter_, or the _Fifth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Fifth Chapter concludes.] LESSON XII.--VERBS. 1. What is a VERB, and what are the examples given? 2. Why are verbs called by that name? 3. Respecting an English verb, what things are to be sought in the first place? 4. What is _the Present_? 5. What is _the Preterit_? 6. What is _the Imperfect Participle_? 7. What is the _Perfect Participle_? 8. How are verbs divided, with respect to their form? 9. What is a regular verb? 10. What is an irregular verb? 11. What is a redundant verb? 12. What is a defective verb? 13. How are verbs divided, with respect to their signification? 14. What is an active-transitive verb? 15. What is an active-intransitive verb? 16. What is a passive verb? 17. What is a neuter verb? 18. What modifications have verbs? 19. What are _Moods_, in grammar? 20. How many moods are there, and what are they called? 21. What is the infinitive mood? 22. What is the indicative mood? 23. What is the potential mood? 24. What is the subjunctive mood? 25. What is the imperative mood? LESSON XIII.--VERBS. 1. What are _Tenses_, in grammar? 2. How many tenses are there, and what are they called? 3. What is the present tense? 4. What is the imperfect tense? 5. What is the perfect tense? 6. What is the pluperfect tense? 7. What is the first-future tense? 8. What is the second-future tense? 9. What are the _Person_ and _Number_ of a verb? 10. How many persons and numbers belong to verbs? 11. Why are not these things defined under the head of verbs? 12. How are the second and third persons singular distinctively formed? 13. How are the person and number of a verb ascertained, where no peculiar ending is employed to mark them? 14. What is the conjugation of a verb? 15. What are the PRINCIPAL PARTS in the conjugation of a verb? 16. What is a verb called which wants some of these parts? 17. What is an auxiliary, in grammar? 18. What verbs are used as auxiliaries? 19. What are the inflections of the verb _do_, in its simple tenses? 20. What are the inflections of the verb _be_, in its simple tenses? 21. What are the inflections of the verb _have_, in its simple tenses? 22. What are the inflections and uses of _shall_ and _will_? 23. What are the inflections and uses of _may_? 24. What are the inflections and uses of _can_? 25. What are the uses of _must_, which is uninflected? 26. To what style is the inflecting of _shall, will, may, can, should, would, might_, and _could_, now restricted? LESSON XIV.--VERBS. 1. What is the simplest form of an English conjugation? 2. What is the first example of conjugation? 3. What are the principal parts of the verb LOVE? 4. How many and what tenses has the _infinitive_ mood?--the _indicative_?--the _potential_?--the _subjunctive_?--the _imperative_? 9. What is the verb LOVE in the _Infinitive_, present?--perfect?-- _Indicative_, present?--imperfect?--perfect?--pluperfect?--first-future?-- second-future?--_Potential_, present?--imperfect?--perfect?--pluperfect?-- _Subjunctive_, present?--imperfect?--_Imperative_, present? 24. What are its participles? LESSON XV.--VERBS. 1. What is the synopsis of the verb LOVE, in the first person singular?--second person singular, solemn style?--third person singular?--first person plural?--second person plural?--third person plural? 7. If the second person singular of this verb be used familiarly, how should it be formed? LESSON XVI.--VERBS. 1. What is the second example of conjugation? 2. What are the principal parts? 3. How is the verb SEE conjugated throughout? 4. How do you form a synopsis of the verb _see_, with the pronoun _I? thou? he? we? you? they?_ LESSON XVII.--VERBS. 1. What is the third example of conjugation? 2. What are the principal parts? 3. How is the verb BE conjugated? 4. How do you form a synopsis of the verb _be_, with the nominative _I? thou? he? we? you? they? the man? the men?_ LESSON XVIII.--VERBS. 1. What is the compound form of conjugating active or neuter verbs? 2. What peculiar meaning does this form convey? 3. What is the fourth example of conjugation? 4. What are the principal parts of the simple verb READ? 5. How is the verb READ conjugated in the compound form? 6. How do you form a synopsis of the verb BE READING, with the nominative _I? thou? he? we? you? they? the boy? the boys?_ LESSON XIX.--VERBS. 1. How are passive verbs formed? 2. What is the fifth example of conjugation? 3. How is the passive verb BE LOVED conjugated throughout? 4. How do you form a synopsis of the verb BE LOVED, with the nominative _I? thou? he? we? you? they? the child? the children?_ LESSON XX.--VERBS. 1. How is a verb conjugated negatively? 2. How is the form of negation exemplified by the verb _love_ in the first person singular? 3. What is the form of negation for the solemn style, second person singular? 4. What is the form for the familiar style? 5. What is the negative form of the verb _love_ with the pronoun _he_? 6. How is the verb conjugated interrogatively? 7. What is the interrogative form of the verb _love_ with the pronoun _I_? 8. What is the form of question in the solemn style, with this verb in the second person singular? 9. How are such questions asked in the familiar style? 10. What is the interrogative form of the verb _love_ with the pronoun _he_? 11. How is a verb conjugated interrogatively and negatively? 12. How is the negative question exemplified in the first person plural? 13. How is the negative question exemplified in the second person plural? 14. How is the like synopsis formed in the third person plural? LESSON XXI.--VERBS. 1. What is an irregular verb? 2. How many simple irregular verbs are there? 3. What are the principal parts of the following verbs: Arise, be, bear, beat, begin, behold, beset, bestead, bid, bind, bite, bleed, break, breed, bring, buy, cast, chide, choose, cleave, cling, come, cost, cut, do, draw, drink, drive, eat, fall, feed, feel, fight, find, flee, fling, fly, forbear, forsake, get, give, go, grow, have, hear, hide, hit, hold, hurt, keep, know, lead, leave, lend, let, lie, lose, make, meet, outdo, put, read, rend, rid, ride, ring, rise, run, say, see, seek, sell, send, set, shed, shoe, shoot, shut, shred, shrink, sing, sink, sit, slay, sling, slink, smite, speak, spend, spin, spit, spread, spring, stand, steal, stick, sting, stink, stride, strike, swear, swim, swing, take, teach, tear, tell, think, thrust, tread, wear, win, write? LESSON XXII.--VERBS. 1. What is a redundant verb? 2. How many redundant verbs are there? 3. What are the principal parts of the following verbs: Abide, awake, belay, bend, bereave, beseech, bet, betide, blend, bless, blow, build, burn, burst, catch, clothe, creep, crow, curse, dare, deal, dig, dive, dream, dress, dwell, freeze, geld, gild, gird, grave, grind, hang, heave, hew, kneel, knit, lade, lay, lean, leap, learn, light, mean, mow, mulet, pass, pay, pen, plead, prove, quit, rap, reave, rive, roast, saw, seethe, shake, shape, shave, shear, shine, show, sleep, slide, slit, smell, sow, speed, spell, spill, split, spoil, stave, stay, string, strive, strow, sweat, sweep, swell, thrive, throw, wake, wax, weave, wed, weep, wet, whet, wind, wont, work, wring? 4. What is a defective verb? 5. What verbs are defective? LESSON XXIII.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the SIXTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "The freedom of choice seems essential to happiness; because, properly speaking, that is not our own which is imposed upon us." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Sixth Chapter_, or the _Sixth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Sixth Chapter concludes.] LESSON XXIV.--PARTICIPLES. 1. What is a PARTICIPLE, and how is it generally formed? 2. How many kinds of participles are there, and what are they called? 3. What is the imperfect participle? 4. What is the perfect participle? 5. What is the preperfect participle? 6. How is the first or imperfect participle formed? 7. How is the second or perfect participle formed? 8. How is the third or preperfect participle formed? 9. What are the participles of the following verbs, according to the simplest form of conjugation: Repeat, study, return, mourn, seem, rejoice, appear, approach, suppose, think, set, come, rain, stand, know, deceive? LESSON XXV.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the SEVENTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed: "Religion, rightly understood and practised, has the purest of all joys attending it." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Seventh Chapter_, or the _Seventh Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Seventh Chapter concludes.] LESSON XXVI.--ADVERBS. 1. What is an ADVERB, and what is the example given? 2. To what general classes may adverbs be reduced? 3. What are adverbs of time? 4. What are adverbs of place? 5. What are adverbs of degree? 6. What are adverbs of manner? 1. What are conjunctive adverbs? 8. Are all the conjunctive adverbs included in the first four classes? 9. How may the adverbs of time be subdivided? 10. How may the adverbs of place be subdivided? 11. How may the adverbs of degree be subdivided? 12. How may the adverbs of manner be subdivided? 13. What modifications have adverbs? 14. How do we compare _well, badly_ or _ill, little, much, far_, and _forth_? 15. Of what degree is the adverb _rather_? 16. What is said of the comparison of adverbs by _more_ and _most, less_ and _least_? LESSON XXVII.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the EIGHTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "When was it that Rome attracted most strongly the admiration of mankind?" [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Eighth Chapter_, or the _Eighth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the lesson of _bad English_, with which the Eighth Chapter concludes.] LESSON XXVIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. 1. What is a CONJUNCTION, and what is the example given? 2. Have we any connective words besides the conjunctions? 3. How do relative pronouns differ from other connectives? 4. How do conjunctive adverbs differ from other connectives? 5. How do conjunctions differ from other connectives? 6. How do prepositions differ from other connectives? 7. How are the conjunctions divided? 8. What is a copulative conjunction? 9. What is a disjunctive conjunction? 10. What are corresponsive conjunctions? 11. Which are the copulative conjunctions? 12. Which are the disjunctive conjunctions? 13. Which are the corresponsive conjunctions? LESSON XXIX.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the NINTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "If thou hast done a good deed, boast not of it." [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Ninth Chapter_, or the _Ninth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the lesson of _bad English_, with which the Ninth Chapter concludes.] LESSON XXX.--PREPOSITIONS. 1. What is a PREPOSITION, and what is the example given? 2. Are the prepositions divided into classes? 3. Have prepositions any grammatical modifications? 4. How are the prepositions arranged in the list? 5. What are the prepositions beginning with _a_?--with _b_?--with _c_?--with _d_?--with _e_?--with _f_?--with _i_?--with _m_?--with _n_?--with _o_?--with _p_?--with _r_?--with _s_?--with _t_?--with _u_?--with _w_? 21. Does this list contain all the words that are ever used in English as prepositions? LESSON XXXI.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the TENTH PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "Never adventure on too near an approach to what is evil?" [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Tenth Chapter_, or the _Tenth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the lesson of _bad English_, with which the Tenth Chapter concludes.] LESSON XXXII.--INTERJECTIONS. 1. What is an INTERJECTION, and what are the examples given? 2. Why are interjections so called? 3. How are the interjections arranged in the list? 4. What are the interjections of joy?--of praise?--of sorrow?--of wonder?--of wishing or earnestness?--of pain or fear?--of contempt?--of aversion?--of calling aloud?--of exultation?--of laughter?--of salutation?--of calling to attention?--of calling to silence?--of surprise or horror?--of languor?--of stopping?--of parting?--of knowing or detecting?--of interrogating? LESSON XXXIII.--PARSING. 1. What is required of the pupil in the ELEVENTH PRAXIS? How many definitions are here given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example parsed? "O! sooner shall the earth and stars fall into chaos!" [Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Eleventh Chapter_, or the _Eleventh Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the lesson of _bad English_, with which the Eleventh Chapter concludes.] CHAPTER XIII.--FOR WRITING. EXERCISES IN ETYMOLOGY. [When the pupil has become familiar with the different parts of speech, and their classes and modifications, and has been sufficiently exercised in etymological parsing and correcting, he should write out the following exercises; for speech and writing afford us different modes of testing the proficiency of students, and exercises in both are necessary to a complete course of English Grammar.] EXERCISE I.--ARTICLES. 1. Prefix the definite article to each of the following nouns: path, paths; loss, losses; name, names; page, pages; want, wants; doubt, doubts; votary, votaries. 2. Prefix the indefinite article to each of the following nouns: age, error, idea, omen, urn, arch, bird, cage, dream, empire, farm, grain, horse, idol, jay, king, lady, man, novice, opinion, pony, quail, raven, sample, trade, uncle, vessel, window, youth, zone, whirlwind, union, onion, unit, eagle, house, honour, hour, herald, habitation, hospital, harper, harpoon, ewer, eye, humour. 3. Insert the definite article rightly in the following phrases: George Second--fair appearance--part first--reasons most obvious--good man--wide circle--man of honour--man of world--old books--common people--same person--smaller piece--rich and poor--first and last--all time--great excess--nine muses--how rich reward--so small number--all ancient writers--in nature of things--much better course. 4. Insert the indefinite article rightly in each of the following phrases: new name--very quick motion--other sheep--such power--what instance--great weight--such worthy cause--to great difference--high honour--humble station--universal law--what strange event--so deep interest--as firm hope--so great wit--humorous story--such person--few dollars--little reflection. EXERCISE II.--NOUNS. 1. Write the plurals of the following nouns: town, country, case, pin, needle, harp, pen, sex, rush, arch, marsh, monarch, blemish, distich, princess, gas, bias, stigma, wo, grotto, folio, punctilio, ally, duty, toy, money, entry, valley, volley, half, dwarf, strife, knife, roof, muff, staff, chief, sheaf, mouse, penny, ox, foot, erratum, axis, thesis, criterion, bolus, rebus, son-in-law, pailful, man-servant, fellow-citizen. 2. Write the feminines corresponding to the following nouns: earl, friar, stag, lord, duke, marquis, hero, executor, nephew, heir, actor, enchanter, hunter, prince, traitor, lion, arbiter, tutor, songster, abbot, master, uncle, widower, son, landgrave. 3. Write the possessive case singular, of the following nouns: table, leaf, boy, torch, park, porch, portico, lynx, calf, sheep, wolf, echo, folly, cavern, father-in-law, court-martial, precipice, countess, lordship. 4. Write the possessive case plural, of the following nouns: priest, tutor, scholar, mountain, city, courtier, judge, citizen, woman, servant, writer, grandmother. 5. Write the possessive case, both singular and plural, of the following nouns: body, fancy, lady, attorney, negro, nuncio, life, brother, deer, child, wife, goose, beau, envoy, distaff, hero, thief, wretch. EXERCISE III.--ADJECTIVES. 1. Annex a suitable noun to each of the following adjectives, without repeating any word: good, great, tall, wise, strong, dark, dangerous, dismal, drowsy, twenty, true, difficult, pale, livid, ripe, delicious, stormy, rainy, convenient, heavy, disastrous, terrible, necessary. Thus--good _manners_, &c. 2. Place a suitable adjective before each of the following nouns, without repeating any word: man, son, merchant, work, fence, fear, poverty, picture, prince, delay, suspense, devices, follies, actions. Thus--_wise_ man, &c. 3. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared by inflection, or change of form: black, bright, short, white, old, high, wet, big, few, lovely, dry, fat, good, bad, little, much, many, far, true, just, vast. 4. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared, using the adverbs of increase: delightful, comfortable, agreeable, pleasant, fortunate, valuable, wretched, vivid, timid, poignant, excellent, sincere, honest, correct. 5. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared, using the comparative adverbs of inferiority or diminution: objectionable, formidable, forcible, comely, pleasing, obvious, censurable, prudent, imprudent, imperfect, pleasant, unpleasant. EXERCISE IV.--PRONOUNS. 1. Write the nominative plural of the following pronouns: I, thou, he, she, it, who, which, what, that, as. 2. Write the objective singular of the following pronouns: I, thou, he, she, it, who, which, what, that, as. 3. Write the following words in their customary and proper forms: he's, her's, it's, our's, your's, their's, who's, myself, hisself, theirselves. 4. Write together in declension the following pronouns, according to the agreement of each two: I myself, thou thyself, he himself, she herself it itself. 5. Rewrite the following sentences, and make them good English: "Nor is the criminal binding any thing: but was, his self, being bound."--_Wrights Gram._, p. 193. "The writer surely did not mean, that the work was preparing its self."--_Ib._ "_May_, or _can_, in its self, denotes possibility."--_Ib._, p. 216. "Consequently those in connection with the remaining pronouns respectively, should be written,--he, _his self_;--she, _her self_;--ye or you, _your selves_; they, _their selves_."--_Ib._, p. 154. "Lest their beacons be lost to the view, and their selves wrecked on the shoals of destruction."--_Ib._, p. 155. "In the regal style, as generally in the second person, the singular noun is added to the plural pronoun, _ourself_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 78. "Each has it's peculiar advantages."--_Ib._, p. 283. "Who his ownself bare our sins in his own body on the tree."--_The Friend_, iv, 302. "It is difficult to look inwardly on oneself."--_Journal of N. Y. Lit. Convention_. p. 287. EXERCISE V.--VERBS. 1. Write the four principal parts of each of the following verbs: slip, thrill, caress, force, release, crop, try, die, obey, delay, destroy, deny, buy, come, do, feed, lie, say, huzza, pretend, deliver, arrest. 2. Write the following preterits, each in its appropriate form: exprest, stript, dropt, jumpt, prest, topt, whipt, linkt, propt, fixt, crost, stept, distrest, gusht, confest, snapt, skipt, kist, discust, tackt. 3. Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, present tense, second person singular: move, strive, please, reach, confess, fix, deny, survive, know, go, outdo, close, lose, pursue, defend, surpass, conquer, deliver, enlighten, protect, polish. 4. Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, present tense, third person singular: leave, seem, search, impeach, fear, redress, comply, bestow, do, woo, sue, view, allure, rely, beset, release, be, bias, compel, degrade, efface, garnish, handle, induce. 5. Write the following verbs in the subjunctive mood, present tense, in the three persons singular: serve, shun, turn, learn, find, wish, throw, dream, possess, detest, disarm, allow, pretend, expose, alarm, deprive, transgress. EXERCISE VI.--VERBS. 1. Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the active verb _amuse_, conjugated affirmatively. 2. Write a synopsis of the second person singular of the neuter verb _sit_, conjugated affirmatively in the solemn style. 3. Write a synopsis of the third person singular of the active verb _speak_, conjugated affirmatively in the compound form. 4. Write a synopsis of the first person plural of the passive verb _be reduced_, conjugated affirmatively. 5. Write a synopsis of the second person plural of the active verb _lose_, conjugated negatively. 6. Write a synopsis of the third person plural of the neuter verb _stand_, conjugated interrogatively. 7. Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the active verb _derive_, conjugated interrogatively and negatively. EXERCISE VII.--PARTICIPLES. 1. Write the simple imperfect participles of the following verbs: belong, provoke, degrade, impress, fly, do, survey, vie, coo, let, hit, put, defer, differ, remember. 2. Write the perfect participles of the following verbs: turn, burn, learn, deem, crowd, choose, draw, hear, lend, sweep, tear, thrust, steal, write, delay, imply, exist. 3. Write the preperfect participles of the following verbs: depend, dare, deny, value, forsake, bear, set, sit, lay, mix, speak, sleep, allot. 4. Write the following participles each in its appropriate form: dipt, deckt, markt, equipt, ingulft, embarrast, astonisht, tost, embost, absorpt, attackt, gasht, soakt, hackt. 5. Write the regular participles which are now generally preferred to the following irregular ones: blent, blest, clad, curst, diven, drest, graven, hoven, hewn, knelt, leant, leapt, learnt, lit, mown, mulct, past, pent, quit, riven, roast, sawn, sodden, shaven, shorn, sown, striven, strown, sweat, swollen, thriven, waxen. 6. Write the irregular participles which are commonly preferred to the following regular ones: abided, bended, builded, bursted, catched, creeped, dealed, digged, dwelled, freezed, grinded, knitted, layed, meaned, payed, reaved, slided, speeded, splitted, stringed, sweeped, throwed, weaved, weeped, winded. EXERCISE VIII.--ADVERBS, &c. 1. Compare the following adverbs: soon, often, long, fast, near, early, well, badly _or_ ill, little, much, far, forth. 2. Place the comparative adverbs of increase before each of the following adverbs: purely, fairly, sweetly, earnestly, patiently, completely, fortunately, profitably, easily. 3. Place the comparative adverbs of diminution before each of the following adverbs: secretly, slily, liberally, favourably, powerfully, solemnly. 4. Insert suitable conjunctions in place of the following dashes: Love--fidelity are inseparable. Be shy of parties--factions. Do well--boast not. Improve time--it flies. There would be few paupers--no time were lost. Be not proud--thou art human. I saw--it was necessary. Wisdom is better--wealth. Neither he--I can do it. Wisdom--folly governs us. Take care--thou fall. Though I should boast--am I nothing. 5. Insert suitable prepositions in place of the following dashes: Plead--the dumb. Qualify thyself--action--study. Think often--the worth--time. Live--peace--all men. Keep--compass. Jest not--serious subjects. Take no part--slander. Guilt starts--its own shadow. Grudge not--giving. Go not--sleep--malice. Debate not--temptation. Depend not--the stores--others. Contend not--trifles. Many fall--grasping--things--their reach. Be deaf--detraction. 6. Correct the following sentences, and adapt the interjections to the emotions expressed by the other words: Aha! aha! I am undone. Hey! io! I am tired. Ho! be still. Avaunt! this way. Ah! what nonsense. Heigh-ho! I am delighted. Hist! it is contemptible. Oh! for that sympathetic glow! Ah! what withering phantoms glare! PART III. SYNTAX. Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences. The _relation_ of words is their reference to other words, or their dependence according to the sense. The _agreement_ of words is their similarity in person, number, gender, case, mood, tense, or form. The _government_ of words is that power which one word has over an other, to cause it to assume some particular modification. The _arrangement_ of words is their collocation, or relative position, in a sentence. CHAPTER I.--SENTENCES. A _Sentence_ is an assemblage of words, making complete sense, and always containing a nominative and a verb; as, "Reward sweetens labour." The _principal parts_ of a sentence are usually three; namely, the SUBJECT, or nominative,--the attribute, or finite VERB,--and the case put after, or the OBJECT[322] governed by the verb: as, "_Crimes deserve punishment_." The _other_ or _subordinate parts_ depend upon these, either as primary or as secondary _adjuncts_; as, "_High_ crimes _justly_ deserve _very severe_ punishments." Sentences are usually said to be of two kinds, _simple_ and _compound_.[323] A _simple sentence_ is a sentence which consists of one single assertion, supposition, command, question, or exclamation; as, "David and Jonathan loved each other."--"If thine enemy hunger."--"Do violence to no man."--"Am I not an apostle?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 1. "What immortal glory shall I have acquired!"--HOOKE: _Mur. Seq._, p. 71. A _compound sentence_ is a sentence which consists of two or more simple ones either expressly or tacitly connected; as, "Send men to Joppa, _and_ call for Simon, _whose_ surname is Peter; _who_ shall tell thee words, _whereby_ thou and all thy house shall be saved."--_Acts_, xi, 13. "The more the works of Cowper are read, the more his readers will find reason to admire the variety and the extent, the graces and the energy, of his literary talents."--HAYLEY: _Mur. Seq._, p. 250. A _clause_, or _member_, is a subdivision of a compound sentence; and is itself a sentence, either simple or compound: as, "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."--_Prov._, xxv, 21.[324] A _phrase_ is two or more words which express some relation of different ideas, but no entire proposition; as, "By the means appointed."--"To be plain with you."--"Having loved his own." Words that are omitted by _ellipsis_, and that are necessarily understood in order to complete the construction, (and only such,) must be supplied in parsing. The _leading principles_ to be observed in the construction of sentences, are embraced in the following twenty-four rules, which are arranged, as nearly as possible, in the order of the parts of speech. THE RULES OF SYNTAX. RULE I.--ARTICLES. Articles relate to the nouns which they limit. RULE II.--NOMINATIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case. RULE III.--APPOSITION. A Noun or a personal Pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case. RULE IV.--POSSESSIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed. RULE V.--OBJECTIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case. RULE VI.--SAME CASES. A Noun or a Pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing. RULE VII.--OBJECTIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case. RULE VIII.--NOM. ABSOLUTE. A Noun or a Pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word. RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES. Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns. RULE X.--PRONOUNS. A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender. RULE XI--PRONOUNS. When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Pronoun must agree with it in the plural number. RULE XII.--PRONOUNS. When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together. RULE XIII.--PRONOUNS. When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together. RULE XIV.--FINITE VERBS. Every finite Verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number. RULE XV.--FINITE VERBS. When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Verb must agree with it in the plural number. RULE XVI.--FINITE VERBS. When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together. RULE XVII.--FINITE VERBS. When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together. RULE XVIII.--INFINITIVES. The Infinitive Mood is governed in general by the preposition TO, which commonly connects it to a finite verb. RULE XIX.--INFINITIVES. The active verbs, _bid, dare, feel, hear, let, make, need, see_, and their participles, usually take the Infinitive after them without the preposition TO. RULE XX.--PARTICIPLES. Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by prepositions. RULE XXI.--ADVERBS. Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs. RULE XXII.--CONJUNCTIONS. Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences. RULE XXIII.--PREPOSITIONS. Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them. RULE XXIV.--INTERJECTIONS. Interjections have no dependent construction; they are put absolute, either alone, or with other words. GENERAL OR CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SYNTAX. OBS. 1.--An explanation of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of words in sentences, constitutes that part of grammar which we call _Syntax_. But many grammarians, representing this branch of their subject as consisting of two parts only, "_concord_ and _government_" say little or nothing of the _relation_ and _arrangement_ of words, except as these are involved in the others. The four things are essentially different in their nature, as may be seen by the definitions given above, yet not so distinct in practice that they can well be made the basis of any perfect division of the rules of syntax. I have therefore, on this occasion, preferred the order of the parts of speech; each of which will form a chapter in the Syntax of this work, as each forms a chapter in the Etymology. OBS. 2.--_Agreement_ and _concord_ are one and the same thing. _Relation_ and _agreement_, though different, may yet coincide, and be taken together. The latter is moreover naturally allied to the former. Seven of the ten parts of speech are, with a few exceptions, incapable of any agreement; of these the _relation_ and _use_ must be explained in parsing; and all _requisite agreement_ between any of the rest, is confined to words that _relate_ to each other. For one word may _relate_ to an other and not _agree_ with it; but there is never any _necessary agreement_ between words that have not a _relation_ one to the other, or a connexion according to the sense. Any similarity happening between unconnected words, is no syntactical concord, though it may rank the terms in the same class etymologically. OBS. 3.--From these observations it may be seen, that the most important and most comprehensive principle of English syntax, is the simple _Relation_ of words, according to the sense. To this head alone, ought to be referred all the rules of construction by which our articles, our nominatives, our adjectives, our participles, our adverbs, our conjunctions, our prepositions, and our interjections, are to be parsed. To the ordinary syntactical use of any of these, no rules of concord, government, or position, can at all apply. Yet so defective and erroneous are the schemes of syntax which are commonly found in our English grammars, that _no rules_ of simple relation, none by which any of the above-named parts of speech can be consistently parsed, are in general to be found in them. If there are any exceptions to this censure, they are very few, and in treatises still marked with glaring defects in regard to the syntax of some of these parts of speech. OBS. 4.--Grammarians, of course, do not utter falsehoods intentionally; but it is lamentable to see how often they pervert doctrine by untruths uttered ignorantly. It is the design of this pandect, to make every one who reads it, an intelligent judge of the _perversions_, as well as of the true doctrines, of English grammar. The following citations will show him the scope and parts which have commonly been assigned to our syntax: "The construction of sentences depends principally upon the _concord_ or _agreement_, and the _regimen_ or _government_, of words."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 68; _Churchill's_, 120. "Words in sentences have a _twofold relation_ to one another; namely, that of _Concord_ or Agreement; and that of _Government_ or Influence."--_Dr. Adam's Latin and English Grammar_, p. 151. "The third part of Grammar is SYNTAX, which treats of the _agreement and construction_ of words in a sentence."--_E. G. Greene's Grammatical Text-Book_, p. 15. "Syntax principally consists of two parts, _Concord_ and _Government_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 142; _Ingersoll's_, 170; _Alger's_, 51; _R. C. Smith's_, 119; and many others. "Syntax consists of two parts, _Concord_ and _Government_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 175; _Wright's_, 124. "The Rules of Syntax may all be included under three heads, _Concord, Government_, and _Position_."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 87. "_Position_ means the _place_ which a word occupies in a sentence."--_Ib._ "These rules may be mostly ranked under the two heads of _agreement_ and _government_; the remainder may be termed _miscellaneous_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 92. "Syntax treats of the agreement, government and proper arrangement of words in _a sentence_."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 43. This last-named author, in touching the text of my books, has often _corrupted_ it, as he does here; but my definitions of _the tenses_ he copied without marring them much. The borrowing occurred as early as 1828, and I add this notice now, lest any should suppose _me_ the plagiarist. OBS. 5.--Most of our English grammars have _more_ rules of syntax than are needed, and yet are very deficient in _such_ as are needed. To say, as some do, that articles, adjectives, and participles, _agree_ with nouns, is to teach Greek or Latin syntax, and not English. To throw, as Nutting does, the whole syntax of adverbs into a remark on _such a rule of agreement_, is to choose disorder for its own sake. To say, with Frost, Hall, Smith, Perley, Kirkham, Sanborn, Rand, and others, "The nominative case _governs_ the verb in number and person," and again, "A verb must _agree_ with its nominative case in number and person," is to confound the meaning of _government_ and _agreement_, to say the same thing in different words, and to leave the subject of a verb still without a rule: for rules of government are applicable only to the words governed, and nothing ever agrees with that which governs it.[325] To say, with Murray and others, "Participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived," is to say nothing by which either verbs or participles may be parsed, or any of their errors corrected: those many grammarians, therefore, who make this their only rule for participles, leave them all without any syntax. To say, with Murray, Alger, and others, "Adverbs, _though they have no government of case, tense, &c._, require an appropriate _situation_ in the sentence," is to squander words at random, and leave the important question unanswered, "To what do adverbs relate?" To say again, with the same gentlemen, "Conjunctions connect _the same moods and tenses of verbs, and cases_ of nouns and pronouns," is to put an ungrammatical, obscure, and useless assertion, in the place of an important rule. To say merely, "Prepositions govern the objective case," is to rest all the syntax of prepositions on a rule that never applies to them, but which is meant only for one of the constructions of the objective case. To say, as many do, "Interjections _require_ the objective case of a pronoun of the first person after them, and the nominative case of the second," is to tell what is utterly false as the words stand, and by no means true in the sense which the authors intend. Finally, to suppose, with Murray, that, "the Interjection _does not require a distinct, appropriate rule_," is in admirable keeping with all the foregoing quotations, and especially with his notion of what it _does_ require; namely, "the _objective case_ of the first person:" but who dares deny that the following exclamation is good English? "_O_ wretched _we!_ why were we hurried down This lubric and adulterate age!"--_Dryden_. OBS. 6.--The _truth_ of any doctrine in science, can be nothing else than its conformity to facts, or to the nature of things; and chiefly by what he knows of the things themselves, must any one judge of what others say concerning them. Erroneous or inadequate views, confused or inconsistent statements, are the peculiar property of those who advance them; they have, in reality, no relationship to science itself, because they originate in ignorance; but all science is knowledge--it is knowledge methodized. What general rules are requisite for the syntactical parsing of the several parts of speech in English, may be seen at once by any one who will consider for a moment the usual construction of each. The correction of false syntax, in its various forms, will require more--yes, five times as many; but such of these as answer only the latter purpose, are, I think, better reserved for notes under the principal rules. The doctrines which I conceive most worthy to form the leading canons of our syntax, are those which are expressed in the twenty-four rules above. If other authors prefer more, or fewer, or different principles for their chief rules, I must suppose, it is because they have studied the subject less. Biased, as we may be, both by our knowledge and by our ignorance, it is easy for men to differ respecting matters of _expediency_; but that clearness, order, and consistency, are both _expedient_, and _requisite_, in didactic compositions, is what none can doubt. OBS. 7.--Those English grammarians who tell us, as above, that syntax is divided into _parts_, or included under a certain number of _heads_, have almost universally contradicted themselves by treating the subject without any regard to such a division; and, at the same time, not a few have somehow been led into the gross error of supposing broad principles of concord or government where no such things exist. For example, they have invented general RULES like these: "The adjective _agrees_ with its noun in number, case, and gender."--_Bingham's English Gram._, p. 40. "Interjections _govern_ the nominative case, and sometimes the objective: as, '_O thou! alas me!_'"--_Ib._, p. 43. "Adjectives _agree_ with their nouns in number."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 22. "Participles _agree_ with their nouns in number."--_Ib._, p. 23. "Every adjective _agrees in number_ with some substantive expressed or understood."-- _Hiley's Gram._, Rule 8th, p. 77. "The article THE _agrees_ with nouns in either number: as, _The wood, the woods_."--_Bucke's Classical Grammar of the English Language_, p. 84. "O! oh! ah! _require_ the accusative case of a pronoun in the first person after them: as '_Ah me!_' But when the second person is used, _it requires_ a nominative case: as, '_O thou!_'"--_Ib._, p. 87. "Two or more Nominatives in the singular number, connected by the Conjunction _or, nor_, EITHER, NEITHER, _govern_ a singular Verb. But Pronouns singular, of different persons, joined by _or_, EITHER, _nor_, NEITHER, _govern_ a plural Verb."--_Ib._, p. 94. "One Nominative frequently _governs_ many Verbs."--_Ib._, p. 95. "Participles are sometimes _governed_ by the article."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 192. "An adverb, an adjective, or a participle, may involve in itself the force of _a preposition, and govern_ the objective case."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 99. "The nominative case _governs_ the verb." [326]--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 32; _Kirkham's_, 176; and others. "The nominative case _comes before_ the verb."--_Bingham's Gram._, p. 38; _Wilbur and Livingston's_, 23. "The Verb TO BE, _always governs_ a Nominative, _unless it be_ of the Infinitive Mood."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 94. "A verb in the infinitive mood _may be governed_ by a verb, noun, adjective, participle, or pronoun."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 187. Or, (as a substitute for the foregoing rule,) say, according to this author: "A verb in the infinitive mood, _refers_ to some noun or pronoun, as its subject or actor."--_Ib._, p. 188. Now what does he know of English grammar, who supposes any of these rules to be worthy of the place which they hold, or have held, in the halls of instruction? OBS. 8.--It is a very common fault with the compilers of English grammars, to join together in the same rule the syntax of different parts of speech, uniting laws that must ever be applied separately in parsing. For example: "RULE XI. Articles and adjectives _relate to nouns_ expressed or understood; and the adjectives _this, that, one, two_, must agree in number with the nouns to which they relate."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 87. Now, in parsing an _article_, why should the learner have to tell all this story about _adjectives_? Such a mode of expressing the rule, is certainly in bad taste; and, after all, the syntax of adjectives is not here comprised, for they often relate to pronouns. "RULE III. Every adjective and participle _belongs_ to some noun or pronoun expressed or understood."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 44. Here a compiler who in his etymology supposes participles to be _verbs_, allows them no other construction than that of _adjectives_. His rule implicitly denies that they can either be parts of their verbs in the formation of _tenses_, or be governed by prepositions in the character of _gerunds_. To suppose that a _noun_ may govern the objective case, is both absurd in itself, and contrary to all authority; yet, among his forty-nine rules, this author has the following: "RULE XXV. A participial _noun_ is sometimes governed by a preposition, and _may govern an objective case_; as, 'George is too fond of _wasting time_ in trifles.'"--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 47. Here again is the fault of which I am speaking, two rules in one; and this fault is combined with an other still worse. _Wasting_ is a participle, governed by _of_; and _time_ is a _noun_, governed by _wasting_. The latter is a declinable word, and found in the objective case; the former is indeclinable, and found in no case. It is an error to suppose that cases are the only things which are susceptible of being governed; nor is the brief rule, "Prepositions govern the objective case," so very clear a maxim as never to be misapprehended. If the learner infer from it, that _all_ prepositions must necessarily govern the objective case, or that the objective case _is always_ governed by a preposition, he will be led into a great mistake. OBS. 9.--This error of crowding things together, is still more conspicuous in the following examples: "RULE IV. Every article, adjective, and participle, _must qualify_ some noun, or pronoun, either expressed or understood."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 94. "RULE IX. The objective case is governed by a transitive verb or a preposition, usually coming before it."--_Ib._, p. 98. Here an author who separates participles from verbs, has attempted first to compress the entire syntax of three different parts of speech into one short rule; and, secondly, to embrace all the forms of dependence, incident to objective nouns and pronouns, in an other as short. This brevity is a poor exchange for the order and distribution which it prevents--especially as none of its objects are here reached. Articles do not relate to pronouns, unless the obsolete phrase _the which_ is to be revived;[327] participles have other constructions than those which adjectives admit; there are exceptions to the rules which tie articles to nouns, and adjectives to nouns or pronouns; and the objective case may not only be governed by a participle, but may be put in apposition with an other objective. The objective case in English usually stands for the Latin genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative; hence any rule that shall embrace the whole construction of this one case, will be the sole counterpart to four fifths of all the rules in any code of Latin syntax. For I imagine the construction of these four oblique cases, will be found to occupy at least that proportion of the syntactical rules and notes in any Latin grammar that can be found. Such rules, however, are often placed under false or equivocal titles;[328] as if they contained the construction of the _governing_ words, rather than that of the _governed_. And this latter error, again, has been transferred to most of our English grammars, to the exclusion of any rule for the proper construction of participles, of adverbs, of conjunctions, of prepositions, or of interjections. See the syntax of Murray and his copyists, whose treatment of these parts of speech is noticed in the fifth observation above. OBS. 10.--It is doubtless most convenient, that, in all rules for the construction of _cases_, nouns and pronouns be taken together; because the very same doctrines apply equally well to both, and a case is as distinct a thing in the mind, as a part of speech. This method, therefore, I have myself pursued; and it has indeed the authority of all grammarians--not excepting those who violate its principles by adopting two special rules for the relative pronoun, which are not needed. These special rules, which I shall notice again hereafter, may be seen in Murray's Rule 6th, which is double, and contains them both. The most complex rule that I have admitted, is that which embraces the government of objectives by verbs and participles. The regimen by verbs, and the regimen by participles, may not improperly be reckoned distinct principles; but the near alliance of participles to their verbs, seems to be a sufficient reason for preferring one rule to two, in this instance. OBS. 11.--An other common fault in the treatment of this part of grammar, is the practice of making many of the rules _double_, or even _triple_, in their form. Of L. Murray's twenty-two rules, for instance, there are six which severally consist of two distinct paragraphs; and one is composed of three such parts, with examples under each. Five others, though simple in their form, are complex in their doctrine, and liable to the objections which have been urged above against this characteristic. These twelve, therefore, I either reject entirely from my catalogue, or divide and simplify to fit them for their purpose. In short, by comparing the twenty-two rules which were adopted by this popular grammarian, with the twenty-four which are given in this work, the reader may see, that twelve of the former have pleased me too little to have any place at all among the latter, and that none of the remaining ten have been thought worthy to be copied without considerable alteration. Nor are the rules which I adopt, more nearly coincident with those of any other writer. I do not proffer to the schools the second-hand instructions of a mere compiler. In his twenty-two rules, independently of their examples, Hurray has used six hundred and seventeen words, thus giving an average of twenty-eight to each rule; whereas in the twenty-four rules which are presented above, the words are but four hundred and thirty-six, making the average less than nineteen. And yet I have not only divided some of his propositions and extended others, but, by rejecting what was useless or erroneous, and filling up the deficiencies which mark his code, I have delivered twice the amount of doctrine in two thirds of the space, and furnished eleven important rules which are not contained in his grammar. Thus much, in this place, to those who so frequently ask, "Wherein does your book differ from Murray's?" OBS. 12.--Of all the systems of syntax, or of grammar, which it has been my fortune to examine, a book which was first published by Robinson and Franklin of New York in 1839, a fair-looking duodecimo volume of 384 pages, under the brief but rather ostentatious title, "THE GRAMMAR _of the English Language_" is, I think, the most faulty,--the most remarkable for the magnitude, multitude, and variety, of its strange errors, inconsistencies, and defects. This singular performance is the work of _Oliver B. Peirce_, an itinerant lecturer on grammar, who dates his preface at "Rome, N. Y., December 29th, 1838." Its leading characteristic is boastful innovation; it being fall of acknowledged "contempt for the works of other writers."--P. 379. It lays "claim to _singularity_" as a merit, and boasts of a new thing under the sun--"in a theory RADICALLY NEW, a Grammar of the English Language; something which I believe," says the author, "has NEVER BEFORE BEEN FOUND."--P. 9. The old scholastic notion, that because Custom is the arbitress of speech, novelty is excluded from grammar, this hopeful reformer thoroughly condemns; "repudiating this sentiment to the full extent of it," (_ib._) and "writing his theory as though he had never seen a book, entitled an English Grammar."--_Ib._ And, for all the ends of good learning, it would have been as well or better, if he never had. His passion for novelty has led him not only to abandon or misapply, in an unprecedented degree, the usual terms of the art, but to disregard in many instances its most unquestionable principles, universal as well as particular. His parts of speech are the following ten: "Names, Substitutes, _Asserters_, Adnames, Modifiers, Relatives, Connectives, Interrogatives, Repliers, and Exclamations."--_The Gram._, p. 20. His _names_ are nouns; his _substitutes_ are pronouns, and any adjectives whose nouns are not expressed; his _asserters_ are verbs and participles, though the latter assert nothing; his _adnames_ are articles, adjectives whose nouns or pronouns are expressed, and adverbs that relate to adjectives; his _modifiers_ are such adverbs as "modify the sense or sound of a whole sentence;" his _relatives_ are prepositions, some of which _govern no object_; his _connectives_ are conjunctions, with certain adverbs and phrases; his _interrogatives_ and _repliers_ are new parts of speech, very lamely explained; his _exclamations_ are interjections, and "_phrases used independently_; as, O hapless choice!"--_The Gram._, p. 22. In parsing, he finds a world of "_accommodatives_;" as, "John is _more than five years_ older than William."--_Ib._ p. 202. Here he calls the whole phrase "_more than five years_" "a secondary _adname_" i. e., _adjective_. But, in the phrase, "_more than five years_ afterwards," he would call the same words "a secondary _modifier_;" i. e., _adverb_.--_Ib._, p. 203. And, in the phrase, "_more than five years_ before the war," he would call them "a secondary _relative_;" i. e., _preposition_.--_Ib._, p. 204. And so of other phrases innumerable. His cases are five, two of which are new, "the _Independent_" and "the _Twofold_ case." His "_independent_ case" is sometimes the nominative in form, as "_thou_" and "_she_;" (p. 62;) sometimes the objective, as, "_me_" and "_him_;" (p. 62 and p. 199;) sometimes erroneously supposed to be the subject of a finite verb; while _his nominative_ is sometimes as erroneously said to have _no_ verb. His code of syntax has two sorts of rules, Analytical and Synthetical. The former are professedly seventeen in number; but, many of them consisting of two, three, or four distinct parts, their real number is more properly thirty-four. The latter are reckoned forty-five; but if we count their separate parts, they are fifty-six: and these with the others make _ninety_. I shall not particularize their faults. All of them are whimsically conceived and badly written. In short, had the author artfully designed to turn English grammar into a subject of contempt and ridicule, by as ugly a caricature of it as he could possibly invent, he could never have hit the mark more exactly than he has done in this "_new theory_"--this rash production, on which he so sincerely prides himself. Alone as he is, in well-nigh all his opinions, behold how prettily he talks of "COMMON SENSE, the only sure foundation of any theory!" and says, "On this imperishable foundation--this rock of eternal endurance--I rear my superstructure, _the edifice of scientific truth_, the temple of Grammatical consistency!"--_Peirce's Preface_, p. 7. OBS. 13.--For the teaching of different languages, it has been thought very desirable to have "a Series of grammars, Greek, Latin, English, &c., all, so far as general principles are concerned, upon the same plan, and as nearly in the same words as the genius of the languages would permit."--See _Bullions's Principles of E. Gram._, 2d Ed., pp. iv and vi. This scheme necessarily demands a minute comparison not only of the several languages themselves, but also of the various grammars in which their principles, whether general or particular, are developed. For by no other means can it be ascertained to what extent uniformity of this kind will be either profitable to the learner, or consistent with truth. Some books have been published, which, it is pretended, are thus accommodated to one an other, and to the languages of which they treat. But, in view of the fact, that the Latin or the Greek grammars now extant, (to say nothing of the French, Spanish, and others,) are almost as various and as faulty as the English, I am apprehensive that this is a desideratum not soon to be realized,--a design more plausible in the prospectus, than feasible in the attempt. At any rate, the grammars of different languages must needs differ as much as do the languages themselves, otherwise some of their principles will of course be false; and we have already seen that the nonobservance of this has been a fruitful source of error in respect to English syntax. The achievement, however, is not altogether impossible, if a man of competent learning will devote to it a sufficient degree of labour. But the mere revising or altering of some one grammar in each language, can scarcely amount to any thing more than a pretence of improvement. Waiving the pettiness of compiling upon the basis of an other man's compilation, the foundation of a good grammar for any language, must be both deeper and broader than all the works which Professor Bullions has selected to build upon: for the Greek, than Dr. Moor's "_Elementa Linguae, Graecae_;" for the Latin, than Dr. Adam's "_Rudiments of Latin and English Grammar_;" for the English, than Murray's "_English Grammar_," or Lennie's "_Principles of English Grammar_;" which last work, in fact, the learned gentleman preferred, though he pretends to have mended the code of Murray. But, certainly, Lennie never supposed himself a copyist of Murray; nor was he to much extent an imitator of him, either in method or in style. OBS. 14.--We have, then, in this new American form of "_The Principles of English Grammar_," Lennie's very compact little book, altered, enlarged, and bearing on its title-page (which is otherwise in the very words of Lennie) an other author's name, and, in its early editions, the false and self-accusing inscription, "(ON THE PLAN OF MURRAY'S GRAMMAR.)" And this work, claiming to have been approved "by the most competent judges," now challenges the praise not only of being "better adapted to the use of academies and schools _than any yet published_" but of so presenting "_the rules and principles of general grammar_, as that they may apply to, and be in perfect harmony with, _the grammars of the dead languages_"-- _Recommendations_, p. iv. These are admirable professions for a critical author to publish; especially, as every rule or principle of General Grammar, condemning as it must whoever violates it, cannot but "be in _perfect harmony_ with" every thing that is true. In this model for all grammars, Latin, Greek, &c., the doctrines of punctuation, of abbreviations, and of capital letters, and also sections on the rhetorical divisions of a discourse, the different kinds of composition, the different kinds of prose composition, and the different kinds of poetry, are made _parts of the Syntax_; while his hints for correct and elegant writing, and his section on the composition of letters and themes, which other writers suppose to belong rather to syntax, are here subjoined as _parts of Prosody_. In the exercises for parsing appended to his _Etymology_, the Doctor furnishes _twenty-five Rules of Syntax_, which, he says, "are not intended to be committed to memory, but to be used as directions to the beginner in parsing the exercises under them."--_E. Gram._, p. 75. Then, for his syntax proper, he copies from Lennie, with some alterations, _thirty-four other rules_, nine of which are double, and all are jumbled together by both authors, without any regard to the distinction of concord and government, so common in the grammars of the dead languages, and even, so far as I can discover, without any principle of arrangement whatever. They profess indeed to have placed those rules first, which are eaisest [sic--KTH] to learn, and oftenest to be applied; but the syntax of _articles_, which even on this principle should have formed the first of the series, is placed by Lennie as the thirty-fourth rule, and by his amender as the thirty-second. To all this complexity the latter adds _twenty-two Special Rules_, with an abundance of "_Notes_" "_Observations_" and "_Remarks_" distinguished by these titles, on some principle which no one but the author can understand. Lastly, his _method of syntactical parsing_ is not only mixed up with etymological questions and answers, but his _directions_ for it, with their _exemplification_, are perplexingly at variance with his own _specimen_ of the performance. See his book, pages 131 and 133. So much for this grand scheme. OBS. 15.--Strictures like the foregoing, did they not involve the defence of grammar itself, so as to bear upon interests more important than the success or failure of an elementary book, might well be withheld through motives of charity, economy, and peace. There is many a grammar now extant, concerning which a truly critical reader may know more at first sight, than ever did he that made it. What such a reader will be inclined to rate beneath criticism, an other perhaps will confidently pronounce above it. If my remarks are just, let the one approve them for the other's sake. For what becomes of the teaching of grammar, when that which is received as the most excellent method, must be exempted from censure by reason of its utter worthlessness? And what becomes of Universal Syntax, when the imperfect systems of the Latin and Greek grammars, in stead of being amended, are modelled to the grossest faults of what is worthless in our own?[329] OBS. 16.--What arrangement of Latin or Greek syntax may be best in itself, I am not now concerned to show. Lily did not divide his, as others have divided the subject since; but first stated briefly his _three concords_, and then proceeded to what he called _the construction_ of the several parts of speech, taking them in their order. The three concords of Lily are the following: (1.) Of the _Nominative and Verb_; to which the accusative before an infinitive, and the collective noun with a plural verb, are reckoned exceptions; while the agreement of a verb or pronoun with two or more nouns, is referred to the figure _syllepsis_. (2.) Of the _Substantive and Adjective_; under which the agreement of participles, and of some pronouns, is placed in the form of a note. (3.) Of the _Relative and Antecedent_; after which the two special rules for the _cases_ of relatives are given as underparts. Dr. Adam divided his syntax into two parts; of Simple Sentences, and of Compound Sentences. His three concords are the following: (1.) Of one _Substantive with an Other_; which construction is placed by Lily and many others among the figures of syntax, and is called _apposition_. (2.) Of an _Adjective with a Substantive_; under which principle, we are told to take adjective pronouns and participles. (3.) Of a _Verb with a Nominative_; under which, the collective noun with a verb of either number, is noticed in an observation. The construction of relatives, of conjunctions, of comparatives, and of words put absolute, this author reserves for the second part of his syntax; and the agreement of plural verbs or pronouns with joint nominatives or antecedents, which Ruddiman places in an observation on his _four concords_, is here absurdly reckoned a part of the construction of conjunctions. Various divisions and subdivisions of the Latin syntax, with special dispositions of some particular principles of it, may be seen in the elaborate grammars of Despauter, Prat, Ruddiman, Grant, and other writers. And here it may be proper to observe, that, the mixing of syntax with etymology, after the manner of Ingersoll, Kirkham, R. W. Green, R. C. Smith, Sanborn, Felton, Hazen, Parkhurst, Parker and Fox, Weld, and others, is a modern innovation, pernicious to both; either topic being sufficiently comprehensive, and sufficiently difficult, when they are treated separately; and each having, in some instances, employed the pens of able writers almost to the exclusion of the other. OBS. 17.--The syntax of any language must needs conform to the peculiarities of its etymology, and also be consistent with itself; for all will expect better things of a scholar, than to lay down positions in one part of his grammar, that are irreconcilable with what he has stated in an other. The English language, having few inflections, has also few concords or agreements, and still fewer governments. Articles, adjectives, and participles, which in many other languages agree with their nouns in gender, number, and case, have usually, in English, no modifications in which they _can agree_ with their nouns. Yet _Lowth_ says, "The adjective in English, having no variation of gender and number, _cannot but agree_ with the substantive in these respects."--_Short Introd. to Gram._, p. 86. What then is the _agreement_ of words? Can it be anything else than their _similarity_ in some common property or modification? And is it not obvious, that no two things in nature can at all _agree_, or _be alike_, except in some quality or accident which belongs to each of them? Yet how often have _Murray_ and others, as well as _Lowth_, forgotten this! To give one instance out of many: "_Gender_ has respect only to the third person singular of the pronouns, _he, she, it_."--_Murray, J. Peirce, Flint, Lyon, Bacon, Russell, Fisk, Maltby, Alger, Miller, Merchant, Kirkham_, and other careless copyists. Yet, according to these same gentlemen, "Gender is _the distinction of nouns_, with regard to sex;" and, "Pronouns _must always agree_ with their antecedents, _and the nouns_ for which they stand, in gender." Now, not one of these three careless assertions can possibly be reconciled with either of the others! OBS. 18.--_Government_ has respect only to nouns, pronouns, verbs, participles, and prepositions; the other five parts of speech neither govern nor are governed. The _governing_ words may be either nouns, or verbs, or participles, or prepositions; the words _governed_ are either nouns, or pronouns, or verbs, or participles. In parsing, the learner must remember that the rules of government are not to be applied to the _governing_ words, but to those which _are governed_; and which, for the sake of brevity, are often technically named after the particular form or modification assumed; as, _possessives, objectives, infinitives, gerundives_. These are the only things in English, that can properly be said to be subject to government; and these are always so, in their own names; unless we except such infinitives as stand in the place of nominatives. _Gerundives_ are participles governed by prepositions; but, there being little or no occasion to distinguish these from other participles, we seldom use this name. The Latin _Gerund_ differs from a participle, and the English _Gerundive_ differs from a participial noun. The participial noun may be the subject or the object of a verb, or may govern the possessive case before it, like any other noun; but the true English gerundive, being essentially a participle, and governing an object after it, like any other participle, is itself governed only by a preposition. At least, this is its usual and allowed construction, and no other is acknowledged to be indisputably right. OBS. 19.--The simple _Relations_ of words in English, (or those several _uses_ of the parts of speech which we may refer to this head,) are the following nine: (1.) Of Articles to nouns, by Rule 1st; (2.) Of Nominatives to verbs, by Rule 2d; (3.) Of Nominatives absolute or independent, by Rule 8th; (4.) Of Adjectives to nouns or pronouns, by Rule 9th; (5.) Of Participles to nouns or pronouns, by Rule 20th; (6.) Of Adverbs to verbs, participles, &c., by Rule 21st; (7.) Of Conjunctions as connecting words, phrases, or sentences, by Rule 22nd; (8.) Of Prepositions as showing the relations of things, by Rule 23d; (9.) Of Interjections as being used independently, by Rule 24th. OBS. 20.--The syntactical _Agreements_ in English, though actually much fewer than those which occur in Latin, Greek, or French, may easily be so reckoned as to amount to double, or even triple, the number usually spoken of by the old grammarians. The twenty-four rules above, embrace the following ten heads, which may not improperly be taken for so many distinct concords: (1.) Of a Noun or Pronoun in direct apposition with another, by Rule 3d; (2.) Of a Noun or Pronoun after a verb or participle not transitive, by Rule 6th; (3.) Of a Pronoun with its antecedent, by Rule 10th; (4.) Of a Pronoun with a collective noun, by Rule 11th; (5.) Of a Pronoun with joint antecedents, by Rule 12th; (6.) Of a Pronoun with disjunct antecedents, by Rule 13th; (7.) Of a Verb with its nominative, by Rule 14th; (8.) Of a Verb with a collective noun, by Rule 15th; (9.) Of a Verb with joint nominatives, by Rule 16th; (10.) Of a Verb with disjunct nominatives, by Rule 17th. To these may be added two other _special_ concords, less common and less important, which will be explained in _notes_ under the rules: (11.) Of one Verb with an other, in mood, tense, and form, when two are connected so as to agree with the same nominative; (12.) Of Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, with their nouns, in number. OBS. 21.--Again, by a different mode of reckoning them, the concords or the _general principles_ of agreement, in our language, may be made to be only three or four; and some of these much _less general_, than they are in other languages: (1.) _Words in apposition agree in case_, according to Rule 3d; of which principle, Rule 6th may be considered a modification. (2.) _Pronouns agree, with their nouns, in person, number, and gender_, according to Rule 10th; of which principle, Rules 11th, 12th, and 13th, may be reckoned modifications. (3.) _Verbs agree with their nominatives, in person and number_, according to Rule 14th; of which principle Rules 15th, 16th, and 17th, and the occasional agreement of one verb with an other, may be esteemed mere modifications. (4.) _Some adjectives agree with their nouns in number_. These make up the twelve concords above enumerated. OBS. 22.--The rules of _Government_ in the best Latin grammars are about sixty; and these are usually distributed (though not very properly) under three heads; "1. Of Nouns. 2. Of Verbs. 3. Of Words indeclinable."-- _Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 170. "Regimen est triplex: 1. Nominum. 2. Verborum. 3. Vocum indeclinabilium."--_Ruddiman's Gram._, p. 138. This division of the subject brings all the _titles_ of the rules wrong. For example, if the rule be, "Active verbs govern the accusative case," this is not properly "the government of _verbs_" but rather the government _of the accusative_ by verbs. At least, such titles are _equivocal_, and likely to mislead the learner. The governments in English are only seven, and these are expressed, perhaps with sufficient distinctness, in six of the foregoing rules: (1.) Of Possessives by nouns, in Rule 4th; (2.) Of Objectives by verbs, in Rule 5th; (3.) Of Objectives by participles, in Rule 5th; (4.) Of Objectives by prepositions, in Rule 7th; (5.) Of Infinitives by the preposition _to_, in Rule 18th; (6.) Of Infinitives by the verbs _bid, dare_, &c., in Rule 19th; (7.) Of Participles by prepositions, in Rule 20th. OBS. 23.--The _Arrangement_ of words, (which will be sufficiently treated of in the observations hereafter to be made on the several rules of construction,) is an important part of syntax, in which not only the beauty but the propriety of language is intimately concerned, and to which particular attention should therefore be paid in composition. But it is to be remembered, that the mere collocation of words in a sentence never affects the method of parsing them: on the contrary, the same words, however placed, are always to be parsed in precisely the same way, so long as they express precisely the same meaning. In order to show that we have parsed any part of an inverted or difficult sentence rightly, we are at liberty to declare the meaning by any arrangement which will make the construction more obvious, provided we retain both the sense and all the words unaltered; but to drop or alter any word, is to pervert the text under pretence of resolving it, and to make a mockery of parsing. Grammar rightly learned, enables one to understand both the sense and the construction of whatsoever is rightly written; and he who reads what he does not understand, reads to little purpose. With great indignity to the muses, several pretenders to grammar have foolishly taught, that, "In parsing poetry, in order to _come at the meaning_ of the author, the learner will find it necessary to transpose his language."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 166. See also the books of _Merchant, Wilcox, O. B. Peirce, Hull, Smith, Felton_, and others, to the same effect. To what purpose can he _transpose_ the words of a sentence, who does not first see what they mean, and how to explain or parse them as they stand? OBS. 24.--Errors innumerable have been introduced into the common modes of parsing, through a false notion of what constitutes a _simple sentence_. Lowth, Adam, Murray, Gould, Smith, Ingersoll, Comly, Lennie, Hiley, Bullions, Wells, and many others, say, "A simple sentence has in it _but one subject_, and _one finite verb_: as, 'Life is short.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 141. In accordance with this assertion, some assume, that, "Every nominative _has its own verb_ expressed or understood;" and that, "Every verb (except in the infinitive mood and participle) _has its own nominative_ expressed or understood."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 87. The adopters of these dogmas, of course think it right to _supply_ a nominative whenever they do not find a separate one expressed for every finite verb, and a verb whenever they do not find a separate one expressed for every nominative. This mode of interpretation not only precludes the agreement of a verb with two or more nominatives, so as to render nugatory two of the most important rules of these very gentlemen's syntax; but, what is worse, it perverts many a plain, simple, and perfect sentence, to a form which its author did not choose, and a meaning which he never intended. Suppose, for example, the text to be, "A good constitution and good laws make good subjects."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 152. Does not the verb _make_ agree with _constitution_ and _laws_, taken conjointly? and is it not a _perversion_ of the sentence to interpret it otherwise? Away then with all this _needless subaudition!_ But while we thus deny that there can be a true ellipsis of what is not necessary to the construction, it is not to be denied that there _are_ true ellipses, and in some men's style very many. The assumption of O. B. Peirce, that no correct sentence is elliptical, and his impracticable project of a grammar founded on this principle, are among the grossest of possible absurdities. OBS. 25.--Dr. Wilson says, "There may be several subjects to the same verb, several verbs to the same subject, or several objects to the same verb, and the sentence be simple. But when the sentence remains simple, the same verb must be differently affected by its several adjuncts, or the sense liable to be altered by a separation. If the verb or the subject _be_ affected in the same manner, or the sentence _is_ resolvable into more, it is compounded. Thus, 'Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, mixed in due proportion, produce white,' is a simple sentence, for the subject is indivisible. But, 'Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, are refrangible rays of light,' is a compound sentence, and may be separated into seven."--_Essay on Gram._, p. 186. The propriety of the distinction here made, is at least questionable; and I incline to consider the second example a simple sentence, as well as the first; because what the writer calls a separation into seven, involves a change of _are_ to _is_, and of _rays_ to _ray_, as well as a sevenfold repetition of this altered predicate, "_is a refrangible ray of light_." But the parser, in interpreting the words of others, and expounding the construction of what is written, has no right to alter anything in this manner. Nor do I admit that he has a right to insert or repeat anything _needlessly_; for the nature of a sentence, or the syntax of some of its words, may often be altered without change of the sense, or of any word for an other: as, "'A wall seven feet high;' that is, 'A wall _which is_ seven feet high.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 109. "'He spoke and acted prudently;' that is, 'He spoke _prudently_, and _he_ acted prudently.'"--_Ibid._ '"He spoke and acted wisely;' that is, 'He spoke _wisely_, and _he_ acted wisely.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 219; _Alger's_, 70: _R. C. Smith's_, 183; _Weld's_, 192; and others. By this notion of ellipsis, the connexion or joint relation of words is destroyed. OBS. 26.--Dr. Adam, who thought the division of sentences into simple and compound, of sufficient importance to be made the basis of a general division of syntax into two parts, has defined a simple sentence to be, "that which has but one nominative, and one finite verb;" and a compound sentence, "that which has more than one nominative, or one finite verb." And of the latter he gives the following erroneous and self-contradictory account: "A compound sentence is made up of two or more simple sentences or _phrases_, and is commonly called a _Period_. The parts of which a compound sentence consists, are called _Members_ or _Clauses_. In every compound sentence there are either several subjects and one attribute, or several attributes and one subject, or both several subjects and several attributes; that is, there are either several nominatives applied to the same verb, or several verbs applied to the same nominative, or both. Every verb marks a judgment or attribute, and every attribute must have a subject. There must, therefore, be in every sentence or period, as many propositions as there are verbs of a finite mode. Sentences are compounded by means of relatives and conjunctions; as, Happy is the man _who_ loveth religion, and practiseth virtue."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 202; _Gould's_, 199; and others. OBS. 27.--Now if every compound sentence consists of such parts, members, or clauses, as are in themselves sentences, either simple or compound, either elliptical or complete; it is plain, in the first place, that the term "phrases" is misapplied above, because a phrase is properly only a part of some simple sentence. And if "a simple sentence is that which has but one nominative and one finite verb," and "a compound sentence is made up of two or more simple sentences," it follows, since "all sentences are either simple or compound," that, _in no sentence, can there be_ "either several nominatives applied to the same verb, or several verbs applied to the same nominative." What, therefore, this author regarded as _the characteristic_ of all compound sentences, is, according to his own previous positions, utterly impossible to any sentence. Nor is it less repugnant to his subsequent doctrine, that, "Sentences are compounded by means of _relatives_ and _conjunctions_;" for, according to his notion, "A conjunction is an indeclinable word, which serves to join _sentences_ together."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 149. It is assumed, that, "In every _sentence_ there must be a verb and a nominative expressed or understood."--_Ib._, p. 151. Now if there happen to be two nominatives to one verb, as when it was said, "Even the _winds_ and the _sea_ obey him;" this cannot be anything more than a simple sentence; because one single verb is a thing indivisible, and how can we suppose it to form the most essential part of two different sentences at once? OBS. 28.--The distinction, or real difference, between those simple sentences in which two or more nominatives or verbs are taken conjointly, and those compound sentences in which there is an ellipsis of some of the nominatives or verbs, is not always easy to be known or fixed; because in many instances, a supposed _ellipsis_, without at all affecting the sense, may obviously change the construction, and consequently the nature of the sentence. For example: "And they all forsook him, and [they all] fled."--_Mark_, xiv, 50. Some will say, that the words in brackets are here _understood_. I may deny it, because they are needless; and nothing needless can form a true ellipsis. To the supplying of useless words, if we admit the principle, there may be no end; and the notion that conjunctions join sentences only, opens a wide door for it. For example: "And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil."--_Job_, i, 1. No additional words will make this clause any plainer, and none are really necessary to the construction; yet some grammarians will parse it with the following impletions, or more: "And that man was _a_ perfect _man_, and _he was an_ upright _man_, and _he was_ one _man_ that feared God, and _that_ eschewed evil _things_." It is easy to see how this liberty of interpretation, or of interpolation, will change simple sentences to compound sentences, as well as alter the nature and relation of many particular words; and at the same time, it takes away totally those peculiarities of construction by which Dr. Adam and others would recognize a sentence as being compound. What then? are there not two kinds of sentences? Yes, truly; but these authors are wrong in their notions and definitions of both. Joint nominatives or joint verbs may occur in either; but they belong primarily to some simple sentences, and only for that reason are found in any that are compound. A sentence, too, may possibly be made compound, when a simple one would express the whole meaning as well or better; as, "And [David] smote the Philistines from Geba _until thou come_ to Gazer."--_2 Sam._, v, 25. Here, if we omit the words in Italics, the sentence will become simple, not elliptical. THE ANALYZING OF SENTENCES. To analyze a sentence, is, to resolve it into some species of constituent parts, but most properly into words, its first significant elements, and to point out their several relations and powers in the given connexion. The component parts of a sentence are _members, clauses, phrases_, or _words_. Some sentences, which are short and simple, can only be divided into their words; others, which are long and complex, may be resolved into parts again and again divisible. Of analysis applicable to sentences, there are several different methods; and, so far as their difference may compatibly aid the application of different principles of the science of grammar, there may be an advantage in the occasional use of each. FIRST METHOD OF ANALYSIS. _Sentences not simple may be reduced to their constituent members, clauses, or simple sentences; and the means by which these are united, may be shown. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE ANALYZED. "Even the Atheist, who tells us that the universe is self-existent and indestructible--even he, who, instead of seeing the traces of a manifold wisdom in its manifold varieties, sees nothing in them all but the exquisite structures and the lofty dimensions of materialism--even he, who would despoil creation of its God, cannot look upon its golden suns, and their accompanying systems, without the solemn impression of a magnificence that fixes and overpowers him."--DR. CHALMERS, _Discourses on Revelation and Astronomy_, p. 231. ANALYSIS.--This is a compound sentence, consisting of three complex members, which are separated by the two dashes. The three members are united in one sentence, by a suspension of the sense at each dash, and by two virtual repetitions of the subject, "_Atheist_" through the pronoun "_he_," put in the same case, and representing this noun. The sense mainly intended is not brought out till the period ends. Each of the three members is complex, because each has not only a relative clause, commencing with "_who_," but also an antecedent word which makes sense with "_cannot look_," &c. The first of these relative clauses involves also a subordinate, supplementary clause,--"_the universe is self-existent and indestructible_"--introduced after the verb "_tells_" by the conjunction "_that_." The last phrase, "_without the solemn impression_," &c., which is subjoined by "_without_" to "_cannot look_," embraces likewise a subordinate, relative clause,--"_that fixes and overpowers him_,"--which has two verbs; the whole, antecedent and all, being but an adjunct of an adjunct, yet an essential element of the sentence. SECOND METHOD OF ANALYSIS. _Simple sentences, or the simple members of compound sentences, may be resolved into their PRINCIPAL and their SUBORDINATE PARTS; the subject, the verb, and the case put after or governed by the verb, being first pointed out as THE PRINCIPAL PARTS; and the other words being then detailed as ADJUNCTS to these, according to THE SENSE, or as adjuncts to adjuncts. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE ANALYZED. "Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. Rasselas could not catch the fugitive, with his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary, by perseverance, him whom he could not surpass in speed, he pressed on till the foot of the mountain stopped his course."--DR. JOHNSON, _Rasselas_, p. 23. ANALYSIS.--The first period here is a simple sentence. Its principal parts are--_Fear, quickens, flight_; _Fear_ being the subject, _quickens_ the verb, and _flight_ the object. _Fear_ has no adjunct; _naturally_ is an adjunct of _quickens_; _the_ and _of guilt_ are adjuncts of _flight_. The second period is composed of several clauses, or simple members, united. The first of these is also a simple sentence, having, three principal parts--_Rasselas, could catch_, and _fugitive_; the subject, the verb, and its object, in their order. _Not_ is added to _could catch_, reversing the meaning; _the_ is an adjunct to _fugitive_; _with_ joins its phrase to _could not catch_; but _his_ and _utmost_ are adjuncts of _efforts_. The word _but_ connects the two chief members as parts of one sentence. "_Resolving to weary_" is an adjunct to the pronoun _he_, which stands before _pressed_. "_By perseverance_," is an adjunct to _weary_. _Him_ is governed by _weary_, and is the antecedent to _whom_. "_Whom he could not surpass in speed_," is a relative clause, or subordinate simple member, having three principal parts--_he, could surpass_, and _whom. Not_ and _in speed_ are adjuncts to the verb _could surpass_. "_He pressed on_" is an other simple member, or sentence, and the chief clause here used, the others being subjoined to this. Its principal parts are two, _he_ and _pressed_; the latter taking the particle _on_ as an adjunct, and being intransitive. The words dependent on the nominative _he_, (to wit, _resolving_, &c.,) have already been mentioned. _Till_ is a conjunctive adverb of time, connecting the concluding clause to _pressed on_. "_The foot of the mountain stopped his course_," is a subordinate clause and simple member, whose principal parts are--the subject _foot_, the verb _stopped_, and the object _course_. The adjuncts of _foot_ are _the_ and _of the mountain_; the verb in this sentence has no adjunct but _course_, which is better reckoned a principal word; lastly, _his_ is an adjunct to _course_, and governed by it. THIRD METHOD OF ANALYSIS. _Sentences may be partially analyzed by a resolution into their SUBJECTS and their PREDICATES, a method which some late grammarians have borrowed from the logicians; the grammatical subject with its adjuncts, being taken for the logical subject; and the finite verb, which some call the grammatical predicate[330] being, with its subsequent case and the adjuncts of both, denominated the predicate, or the logical predicate. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE ANALYZED. "Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment, that we are always impatient of the present. Attainment is followed by neglect, and possession, by disgust. Few moments are more pleasing than those in which the mind is concerting measures for a new undertaking. From the first hint that wakens the fancy, to the hour of actual execution, all is improvement and progress, triumph and felicity."--DR. JOHNSON, _Rambler_. ANALYSIS.--Here the first period is a compound sentence, containing two clauses,--which are connected by _that_. In the first clause, _emptiness_ is the grammatical subject, and "_the emptiness of human enjoyment_" is the logical. _Is_ some would call the grammatical predicate, and "Such is," or _is such_, the logical; but the latter consists, as the majority teach, of "the copula" _is_, and "the attribute," or "predicate," _such_. In the second clause, (which explains the import of "_Such_,") the subject is _we_; which is unmodified, and in which therefore the logical form and the grammatical coincide and are the same. _Are_ may here be called the grammatical predicate; and "_are always impatient of the present_," the logical. The second period, too, is a compound sentence, having two clauses, which are connected by _and_. _Attainment_ is the subject of the former; and, "_is followed by neglect_" is the predicate. In the latter, _possession_ alone is the subject; and, "[_is followed_] _by disgust_," is the predicate; the verb _is followed_ being understood at the comma. The third period, likewise, is a compound, having three parts, with the two connectives _than_ and _which_. Here we have _moments_ for the first grammatical subject, and _Few moments_ for the logical; then, _are_ for the grammatical predicate, and _are more pleasing_ for the logical: or, if we choose to say so, for "the copula and the attribute." "_Than those_," is an elliptical member, meaning, "than _are_ those _moments_," or, "than those _moments are pleasing_;" both subject and predicate are wholly suppressed, except that _those_ is reckoned a part of the logical subject. _In which_ is an adjunct of _is concerting_, and serves well to connect the members, because _which_ represents _those_, i.e. _those moments._ _Mind_, or _the mind_, is the next subject of affirmation; and _is concerting_, or, "_is concerting measures for a new undertaking_," is the predicate or matter affirmed. Lastly, the fourth period, like the rest, is compound. The phrases commencing with _From_ and _to_, describe a period of time, and are adjuncts of the verb _is._ The former contains a subordinate relative clause, of which _that_ (representing _hint_) is the subject, and _wakens_, or _wakens the fancy_, the predicate. Of the principal clause, the word _all_, taken as a noun, is the subject, whether grammatical or logical; and "the copula," or "grammatical predicate," _is_, becomes, with its adjuncts and the nominatives following, the logical predicate. FOURTH METHOD OF ANALYSIS. _All syntax is founded on the_ RELATION _of words one to an other, and the_ CONNEXION _of clauses and phrases, according to_ THE SENSE. _Hence sentences may be, in some sort, analyzed, and perhaps profitably, by the tracing of such relation or connexion, from link to link, through a series of words, beginning and ending with such as are somewhat remote from each other, yet within the period. Thus_:-- EXAMPLES ANALYZED. 1. "Swift would say, 'The thing has not life enough in it to keep it sweet;' Johnson, 'The creature possesses not vitality sufficient to preserve it from putrefaction.'"--MATT. HARRISON, _on the English Language_, p. 102. ANALYSIS.--What is the general sense of this passage? and what, the chain of connexion between the words _Swift_ and _putrefaction_? The period is designed to show, that Swift preferred words of Saxon origin; and Johnson, of Latin. It has in contrast two cooerdinate members, tacitly connected: the verb _would say_ being understood after _Johnson_, and perhaps also the particle _but_, after the semicolon. _Swift_ is the subject of _would say_; and _would say_ introduces the clause after it, as what would be said. _The_ relates to _thing_; _thing_ is the subject of _has_; _has_, which is qualified by _not_, governs _life_; _life_ is qualified by the adjective _enough_, and by the phrase, _in it_; _enough_ is the prior term of _to_; _to_ governs _keep_; _keep_ governs _it_, which stands for _the thing_; and _it_, in lieu of _the thing_, is qualified by _sweet_. The chief members are connected either by standing in contrast as members, or by _but_, understood before _Johnson._ _Johnson_ is the subject of _would say_, understood: and this _would say_, again introduces a clause, as what would be said. _The_ relates to _creature_; _creature_ is the subject of _possesses_; _possesses_, which is qualified by _not_, governs _vitality_; _vitality_ is qualified by _sufficient_; _sufficient_ is the prior term of _to_; _to_ governs _preserve_; _preserve_ governs _it_, and is the prior term of _from_; and _from_ governs _putrefaction._ 2. "There is one Being to whom we can look with a perfect conviction of finding that security, which nothing about us can give, and which nothing about us can take away."--GREENWOOD; _Wells's School Gram._, p. 192.[331] ANALYSIS.--What is the general structure of this passage? and what, the chain of connexion "between the words _away_ and _is?"_ The period is a complex sentence, having four clauses, all connected together by relatives; the second, by _whom_, to the first and chief clause, _"There is one Being;"_ the third and the fourth, to the second, by _which_ and _which_; but the last two, having the same antecedent, _security_, and being cooerdinate, are also connected one to the other by _and._ As to "the chain of connexion," _Away_ relates to _can take_; _can take_ agrees with its nominative _nothing_, and governs _which_; _which_ represents _security_; _security_ is governed by _finding_; _finding_ is governed by _of_; _of_ refers back to _conviction_; _conviction_ is governed by _with_; _with_ refers back to _can look_; _can look_ agrees with _we_, and is, in sense, the antecedent of _to_; _to_ governs _whom_; _whom_ represents _Being_; and _Being_ is the subject of _is._ FIFTH METHOD OF ANALYSIS. _The best and most thorough method of analysis is that of_ COMPLETE SYNTACTICAL PARSING; _a method which, for the sake of order and brevity, should ever be kept free from all mixture of etymological definitions or reasons, but which may be preceded or followed by any of the foregoing schemes of resolution, if the teacher choose to require any such preliminary or subsidiary exposition. This method is fully illustrated in the Twelfth Praxis below._ OBSERVATIONS ON METHODS OF ANALYSIS. OBS. 1.--The almost infinite variety in the forms of sentences, will sometimes throw difficulty in the way of the analyzer, be his scheme or his skill what it may. The last four or five observations of the preceding series have shown, that the distinction of sentences as _simple_ or _compound_, which constitutes the chief point of the First Method of Analysis above, is not always plain, even to the learned. The definitions and examples which I have given, will make it _generally_ so; and, where it is otherwise, the question or puzzle, it is presumed, cannot often be of much practical importance. If the difference be not obvious, it can hardly be a momentous error, to mistake a phrase for an elliptical clause, or to call such a clause a phrase. OBS. 2.--The Second Method above is, I think, easier of application than any of the rest; and, if other analysis than the regular method of parsing seem desirable, this will probably be found as useful as any. There is, in many of our popular grammars, some recognition of the principles of this analysis--some mention of "the _principal parts_ of a sentence," in accordance with what are so called above,--and also, in a few, some succinct account of the parts called "_adjuncts_;" but there seems to have been no prevalent practice of applying these principles, in any stated or well-digested manner. Lowth, Murray, Alger, W. Allen, Hart, Hiley, Ingersoll, Wells, and others, tell of these "PRINCIPAL PARTS;"--Lowth calling them, "the _agent_, the _attribute_, and the _object_;" (_Gram._, p. 72;)--Murray, and his copyists, Alger, Ingersoll, and others, calling them, "the _subject_, the _attribute_, and the _object_;"--Hiley and Hart calling them, "the _subject_ or _nominative_, the _attribute_ or _verb_, and the _object_;"--Allen calling them, "the _nominative_, the _verb_, and (if the verb is active,) the _accusative_ governed by the verb;" and also saying, "The nominative is sometimes called the _subject_; the verb, the _attribute_; and the accusative, the _object_;"--Wells calling them, "the _subject_ or _nominative_, the _verb_, and the _object_;" and also recognizing the "_adjuncts_," as a species which "embraces all the words of a simple sentence [,] except the _principal parts_;"--yet not more than two of them all appearing to have taken any thought, and they but little, about the formal _application_ of their common doctrine. In Allen's English Grammar, which is one of the best, and likewise in Wells's, which is equally prized, this reduction of all connected words, or parts of speech, into "the principal parts" and "the adjuncts," is fully recognized; the adjuncts, too, are discriminated by Allen, as "either primary or secondary," nor are their more particular species or relations overlooked; but I find no method prescribed for the analysis intended, except what Wells adopted in his early editions but has since changed to an other or abandoned, and no other allusion to it by, Allen, than this Note, which, with some appearance of intrusion, is appended to his "Method of Parsing the Infinitive Mood:"--"The pupil _may now begin_ to analyse [_analyze_] the sentences, by distinguishing the principal words and their adjuncts."--_W. Allen's E. Gram._, p. 258. OBS. 3.--These authors in general, and many more, tell us, with some variation of words, that the agent, subject, or nominative, is that of which something is said, affirmed, or denied; that the attribute, verb, or predicate, is that which is said, affirmed, or denied, of the subject; and that the object, accusative, or case sequent, is that which is introduced by the finite verb, or affected by the action affirmed. Lowth says, "In English the nominative case, denoting the agent, usually goes before the verb, or attribution; and the objective case, denoting the object, follows the verb active."--_Short Introd._, p. 72. Murray copies, but not literally, thus: "The nominative denotes the subject, and usually goes before the verb [,] or attribute; and the word _or phrase_, denoting the object, follows the verb: as, 'A wise man governs his passions.' Here, a _wise man_ is the subject; _governs_, the attribute, or thing affirmed; and _his passions_, the object."--_Murray's Octavo_, p. 142; _Duodecimo_, 116. To include thus the adjuncts with their principals, as the logicians do, is _here_ manifestly improper; because it unites what the grammatical analyzer is chiefly concerned to separate, and tends to defeat the main purpose for which "THE PRINCIPAL PARTS" are so named and distinguished. OBS. 4.--The Third Method of Analysis, described above, is an attempt very briefly to epitomize the chief elements of a great scheme,--to give, in a nutshell, the substance of what our grammarians have borrowed from the logicians, then mixed with something of their own, next amplified with small details, and, in some instances, branched out and extended to enormous bulk and length. Of course, they have not failed to set forth the comparative merits of this scheme in a sufficiently favourable light. The two ingenious gentlemen who seem to have been chiefly instrumental in making it popular, say in their preface, "The rules of syntax contained in this work result directly from the analysis of propositions, and of compound sentences; and for this reason the student should make himself perfectly familiar with the sections relating to _subject_ and _predicate_, and should be able readily to analyze sentences, whether simple or compound, and to explain their structure and connection. * * * This exercise _should always precede_ the more minute and subsidiary labor of parsing. If the latter be conducted, as it often is, independently of previous analysis, the _principal advantage_ to be derived from the study of language, as an intellectual exercise, will inevitably be lost."--_Latin Grammar of Andrews and Stoddard_, p. vi. N. Butler, who bestows upon this subject about a dozen duodecimo pages, says in his preface, "The rules for the analysis of sentences, which is a _very useful and interesting_ exercise, have been taken from Andrews' and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, some changes and additions being made."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. iv.[332] OBS. 5.--Wells, in the early copies of his School Grammar, as has been hinted, adopted a method of analysis similar to the _Second_ one prescribed above; yet referred, even from the first, to "Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar," and to "De Sacy's General Grammar," as if these were authorities for what he then inculcated. Subsequently, _he changed his scheme_, from that of _Parts Principal_ and _Adjuncts_, to one of _Subjects_ and _Predicates_, "either grammatical or logical," also "either simple or compound;"--to one resembling Andrews and Stoddard's, yet differing from it, often, as to what constitutes a "grammatical predicate;"--to one resenbling [sic--KTH] the _Third Method_ above, yet differing from it, (as does Andrews and Stoddard's,) in taking the logical subject and predicate before the grammatical. "The chapter on Analysis," said he then, "has been Revised and enlarged with great care, and will be found to embody all the most important principles on this subject [.] _which_ are contained in the works of De Sacy, Andrews and Stoddard, Kuehner, Crosby, and Crane. It is gratifying to observe that the attention of teachers is now so generally directed _to this important mode_ of investigating the structure of our language, _in connection with_ the ordinary exercises of _etymological_ and syntactical parsing."--_Wells's School Gram._, New Ed., 1850, p. iv. OBS. 6.--In view of the fact, that Wells's chief mode of sentential analysis had just undergone an almost total metamorphosis, a change plausible perhaps, but of doubtful utility,--that, up to the date of the words just cited, and afterwards, so far and so long as any copies of his early "Thousands" remain in use, the author himself has earnestly directed attention to a method which he now means henceforth to abandon,--in this view, the praise and gratulation expressed above seem singular. If it has been found practicable, to slide "the attention of teachers," and their approbation too, adroitly over from one "important mode of investigating the structure of our language," to an other;--if "it is gratifying to observe," that the direction thus given to public opinion sustains itself so well, and "is so generally" acquiesced in;--if it is proved, that the stereotyped praise of one system of analysis may, without alteration, be so transferred to an other, as to answer the double purpose of commending and superseding;--it is not improbable that the author's next new plates will bear the stamp of yet _other_ "most important principles" of analysis. This process is here recommended to be used "_in connection with_ the ordinary exercises of _etymological_ and syntactical parsing,"--exercises, which, in Wells's Grammar, are generally, and very improperly, commingled; and if, to these, may be profitably conjoined either his present or his former scheme of analysis, it were well, had he somewhere put them together and shown how. OBS. 7.--But there are other passages of the School Grammar, so little suited to this notion of "_connection_" that one can hardly believe the word ought to be taken in what seems its only sense. "Advanced classes should attend less to the common _Order of Parsing_, and more to the _Analysis_ of language."--_Wells's Grammar_, "3d Thousand," p. 125; "113th Thousand," p. 132. This implies, what is probably true of the etymological exercise, that parsing is more rudimental than the other forms of analysis. It also intimates, what is not so clear, that pupils rightly instructed must advance from the former to the latter, as to something more worthy of their intellectual powers. The passage is used with reference to either form of analysis adopted by the author. So the following comparison, in which Parsing is plainly disparaged, stands permanently at the head of "the chapter on Analysis," to commend first one mode, and then an other: "It is particularly desirable that pupils _should pass as early as practicable from the formalities_ of common PARSING, to the _more important_ exercise of ANALYZING critically the structure of language. The mechanical routine of technical parsing is peculiarly liable to become monotonous and dull, while the _practice of explaining the various relations and offices of words in a sentence_, is adapted to call the mind of the learner into constant and vigorous action, and can hardly fail of exciting the deepest interest,"--_Wells's Gram._, 3d Th., p. 181; 113th Th., p. 184. OBS. 8.--An ill scheme of _parsing_, or an ill use of a good one, is almost as unlucky in grammar, as an ill method of _ciphering_, or an ill use of a good one, would be in arithmetic. From the strong contrast cited above, one might suspect that, in selecting, devising, or using, a technical process for the exercising of learners in the principles of etymology and syntax, this author had been less fortunate than the generality of his fellows. Not only is it implied, that parsing is no critical analysis, but even what is set _in opposition_ to the "mechanical routine," may very well serve for _a definition_ of Syntactical Parsing--"_the practice of explaining the various relations and offices of words in a sentence_!" If this "practice," well ordered, can be at once interesting and profitable to the learner, so may parsing. Nor, after all, is even this author's mode of parsing, defective though it is in several respects, less "important" to the users of his book, or less valued by teachers, than the analysis which he sets above it. OBS. 9.--S. S. Greene, a public teacher in Boston, who, in answer to a supposed "demand for a _more philosophical plan_ of teaching the English language," has entered in earnest upon the "Analysis of Sentences," having devoted to one method of it more than the space of two hundred duodecimo pages, speaks of analysis and of parsing, thus: "The resolving of a sentence into its elements, or of any complex element into the parts which compose it, is called _analysis_."--_Greene's Analysis_, p. 14. "Parsing consists in naming a part of speech, giving its modifications, relation, agreement or dependence, and the rule for its construction. _Analysis_ consists in pointing out the words or groups of words which constitute the elements of a sentence. Analysis _should precede_ parsing."--_Ib._, p. 26. "A large proportion of the elements of sentences are not single words, but combinations or groups of words. These groups perform the office of the _substantive_, the _adjective_, or the _adverb_, and, in some one of these relations, enter in as the component parts of a sentence. The pupil who learns to determine the elements of a sentence, _must, therefore, learn the force of these combinations before_ he separates them into the single words which compose them. _This advantage_ is wholly lost in the ordinary methods of parsing."--_Ib._, p. 3. OBS. 10.--On these passages, it may be remarked in the first place, that the distinction attempted between analysis and parsing is by no means clear, or well drawn. Nor indeed could it be; because parsing is a species of analysis. The first assertion would be just as true as it is now, were the former word substituted for the latter: thus, "The resolving of a sentence into its elements, or of any complex element into the _parts_ which compose it, is called _parsing_." Next, the "_Parsing_" spoken of in the second sentence, is _Syntactical_ Parsing only; and, without a limitation of the species, neither this assertion nor the one concerning precedence is sufficiently true. Again, the suggestion, that, "_Analysis_ consists in _pointing out_ the words or groups of words which _constitute the elements_ of a sentence," has nothing distinctive in it; and, without some idea of the author's peculiar system of "elements," previously impressed upon the mind, is scarcely, if at all, intelligible. Lastly, that a pupil must _understand_ a sentence,--or, what is the same thing, "_learn the force of the words combined_,"--before he can be sure of parsing each word rightly, is a very plain and certain truth; but what "advantage" over parsing this truth gives to the lesser analysis, which deals with "groups," it is not easy to discover. If the author had any clear idea of "_this advantage_," he has conveyed no such conception to his readers. OBS. 11.--Greene's Analysis is the most expanded form of the Third Method above.[333] Its nucleus, or germinating kernel, was the old partition of _subject_ and _predicate_, derived from the art of logic. Its chief principles may be briefly stated thus: Sentences, which are simple, or complex, or compound, are made up of _words, phrases_, and _clauses_--three grand classes of elements, called the _first_, the _second_, and the _third_ class. From these, each sentence must have two elements; the _Subject_, or Substantive element, and the _Predicate_, or Predicative element, which are principal; and a sentence _may_ have five, the subordinates being the Adjective element, the Objective element, and the Adverbial element. The five elements have sundry modifications and subdivisions. Each of the five may, like a sentence, be simple, or complex, or compound; and each may be of any of the three grand classes. The development of this scheme forms a volume, not small. The system is plausible, ingenious, methodical, mostly true, and somewhat elaborate; but it is neither very useful nor very accurate. It seems too much like a great tree, beautiful, symmetrical, and full of leaves, but raised or desired only for fruit, yet bearing little, and some of that little not of good quality, but knurly or bitter. The chief end of a grammar, designed for our tongue, is, to show what is, and what is not, good English. To this end, the system in question does not appear to be well adapted. OBS. 12.--Dr. Bullions, the projector of the "Series of Grammars, English, Latin, and Greek, all _on the same plan_," inserted in his Latin Grammar, of 1841, a short sketch of the new analysis by "subjects and predicates," "grammatical and logical," the scheme used by Andrews and Stoddard; but his English Grammar, which appeared in 1834, was too early for this "new and improved method of investigating" language. In his later English Grammar, of 1849, however, paying little regard to _sameness of "plan_" or conformity of definitions, he carefully devoted to this matter the space of fifteen pages, placing the topic, not injudiciously, in the first part of his syntax, and referring to it thus in his Preface: "The subject of ANALYSIS, wholly omitted in the former work, is here introduced in its proper place; and to an extent in accordance with its importance."-- _Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 3. OBS. 13.--In applying any of the different methods of analysis, as a school exercise, it will in general perhaps be best to use each _separately_; the teacher directing which one is to be applied, and to what examples. The selections prepared for the stated praxes of this work, will be found as suitable as any. Analysis of sentences is a central and essential matter in the teaching or the study of grammar; but the truest and the most important of the sentential analyses is _parsing_; which, because it is a method distinguished by a technical name of its own, is not commonly denominated analysis. The relation which other methods should bear to _parsing_, is, as we have seen, variously stated by different authors. _Etymological_ parsing and _Syntactical_ are, or ought to be, distinct exercises. The former, being the most simple, the most elementary, and also requisite to be used before the pupil is prepared for the latter, should, without doubt, take precedence of all the rest, and be made familiar in the first place. Those who say, "_Analysis should precede parsing_," will scarcely find the application of other analysis practicable, till this is somewhat known. But _Syntactical Parsing_ being, when complete in form, the most thorough process of grammatical resolution, it seems proper to have introduced the other methods before it, as above. It can hardly be said that any of these are _necessary_ to this exercise, or to one an other; yet in a full course of grammatical instruction, each may at times be usefully employed. OBS. 14.--Dr. Bullions suggests, that, "_Analysis_ should precede _Syntactical parsing_, because, till we know the parts and elements of a sentence, we can not understand their relations, nor intelligently combine them into one consistent whole."--_Analytical and Pract. Gram._, p. 114. This reason is entirely fictitious and truthless; for the _words_ of a sentence are intuitively known to be its "parts and elements;" and, to "_understand_ their relations," is as necessary to one form of analysis as to another; but, "intelligently to _combine_ them," is no part of the parser's duty: this belongs to the _writer_; and where he has not done it, he must be criticised and censured, as one that knows not well what he says. In W. Allen's Grammar, as in Wells's, Syntactical parsing and Etymological are not divided. Wells intersperses his "Exercises in Parsing," at seven points of his Syntax, and places "the chapter on Analysis," at the end of it. Allen treats first of the several parts of grammar, didactically; then presents a series of exercises adapted to the various heads of the whole. At the beginning of these, are fourteen "Methods of Parsing," which show, successively, the properties and construction of his nine parts of speech; and, _at the ninth method_, which resolves _infinitives_, it is proposed that the pupil begin to apply a method of analysis similar to the Second one above. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS XII.--SYNTACTICAL. _The grand clew to all syntactical parsing is THE SENSE; and as any composition is faulty which does not rightly deliver the authors meaning, so every solution of a word or sentence is necessarily erroneous, in which that meaning is not carefully noticed and literally preserved. In all complete syntactical parsing, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish the different parts of speech and their classes; to mention their modifications in order; to point out their relation, agreement, or government; and to apply the Rules of Syntax. Thus_:-- EXAMPLE PARSED. "A young man studious to know his duty, and honestly bent on doing it, will find himself led away from the sin or folly in which the multitude thoughtlessly indulge themselves; but, ah! poor fallen human nature! what conflicts are thy portion, when inclination and habit--a rebel and a traitor--exert their sway against our only saving principle!"--_G. Brown_. _A_ is the indefinite article: and relates to _man_, or _young man_; according to Rule 1st, which says, "Articles relate to the nouns which they limit." Because the meaning is--_a man--a young man_. _Young_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree, compared regularly, _young, younger, youngest_: and relates to _man_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_young man_. _Man_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case: and is the subject of _will find_; according to Rule 2d, which says, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Because the meaning is--_man will find_. _Studious_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _studious, more studious, most studious_; or, _studious, less studious, least studious_: and relates to _man_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_man studious_. _To_ is a preposition: and shows the relation between _studious_ and _know_; according to Rule 23d, which says, "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them." Because the meaning is--_studious to know_. _Know_ is an irregular active-transitive verb, from _know, knew, knowing, known_; found in the infinitive mood, present tense--no person, or number: and is governed by _to_; according to Rule 18th, which says, "The infinitive mood is governed in general by the preposition TO, which commonly connects it to a finite verb." Because the meaning is--_to know_. _His_ is a personal pronoun, representing _man_, in the third person, singular number, and masculine gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:" and is in the possessive case, being governed by _duty_; according to Rule 4th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed." Because the meaning is--_his duty_;--i. e., the young _man's duty_. _Duty_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case: and is governed by _know_; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--to _know_ his _duty_. _And_ is a copulative conjunction: and connects the phrase which follows it, to that which precedes; according to Rule 22d, which says, "Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences." Because the meaning is--studious to know his duty, _and_ honestly bent, &c. _Honestly_ is an adverb of manner: and relates to _bent_; according to Rule 21st, which says, "Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs." Because the meaning is--_honestly bent_. _Bent_ is a perfect participle, from the redundant active-transitive verb, _bend, bent_ or _bended, bending, bent_ or _bended_: and relates to _man_; according to Rule 20th, which says, "Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by prepositions." Because the meaning is--_man bent_. _On_ is a preposition: and shows the relation between _bent_ and _doing_; according to Rule 23d, which says, "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them." Because the meaning is--_bent on doing_. _Doing_ is an imperfect participle, from the irregular active-transitive verb, _do, did, doing, done_: and is governed by on; according to Rule 20th, which says, "Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by prepositions." Because the meaning is--_on doing_. _It_ is a personal pronoun, representing _duty_, in the third person, singular number, and neuter gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:" and is in the objective case, being governed by _doing_; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_doing it_;--i. e., doing _his duty_. _Will find_ is an irregular active-transitive verb, from _find, found, finding, found_; found in the indicative mood, first-future tense, third person, and singular number: and agrees with its nominative _man_; according to Rule 14th, which says, "Every finite verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number." Because the meaning is--_man will find_. _Himself_ is a compound personal pronoun, representing man, in the third person, singular number, and masculine gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender;" and is in the objective case, being governed by _will find_; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_will find himself_;--i. e., his own mind or person. _Led_ is a perfect participle, from the irregular active-transitive verb, _lead, led, leading, led_: and relates to _himself_; according to Rule 20th, which says, "Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by prepositions." Because the meaning is--_himself led_. _Away_ is an adverb of place: and relates to _led_; according to Rule 21st, which says, "Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs." Because the meaning is--_led away_. _From_ is a preposition: and shows the relation between _led_ and _sin or folly_; according to Rule 23d, which says, "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them." Because the meaning is--_led from sin or folly_. _The_ is the definite article: and relates to _sin_ and _folly_; according to Rule 1st, which says, "Articles relate to the nouns which they limit." Because the meaning is--_the sin or folly_. _Sin_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case: and is governed by _from_; according to Rule 7th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_from sin_. _Or_ is a disjunctive conjunction: and connects _sin_ and _folly_; according to Rule 22d, which says, "Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences." Because the meaning is--_sin or folly_. _Folly_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case; and is connected by _or_ to _sin_, and governed by the same preposition _from_; according to Rule 7th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_from sin or folly_. _In_ is a preposition: and shows the relation between _indulge_ and _which_; according to Rule 23d, which says, "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them." Because the meaning is--_indulge in which_--or, _which they indulge in_. _Which_ is a relative pronoun, representing _sin or folly_, in the third person, singular number, and neuter gender; according to Rule 13th, which says, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together:" and is in the objective case, being governed by _in_; according to Rule 7th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_in which_;--i. e., _in which sin or folly_. _The_ is the definite article: and relates to _multitude_; according to Rule 1st, which says, "Articles relate to the nouns which they limit." Because the meaning is--_the multitude_. _Multitude_ is a common noun, collective, of the third person, conveying the idea of plurality, masculine gender, and nominative case: and is the subject of _indulge_; according to Rule 2d, which says, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Because the meaning is--_multitude indulge_. _Thoughtlessly_ is an adverb of manner: and relates to _indulge_; according to Rule 21st, which says, "Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs." Because the meaning is--_thoughtlessly indulge_. _Indulge_ is a regular active-transitive verb, from _indulge, indulged, indulging, indulged_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and plural number: and agrees with its nominative multitude; according to Rule 15th, which says, "When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the verb must agree with it in the plural number." Because the meaning is--_multitude indulge_. _Themselves_ is a compound personal pronoun, representing _multitude_, in the third person, plural number, and masculine gender; according to Rule 11th, which says, "When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the pronoun must agree with it in the plural number:" and is in the objective case, being governed by _indulge_; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_indulge themselves_;--i. e., the individuals of the multitude indulge themselves. _But_ is a disjunctive conjunction: and connects what precedes and what follows; according to Rule 22d, which says, "Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences." Because the meaning is--A young man, &c., _but_, ah! &c. _Ah_ is an interjection, indicating sorrow: and is used independently; according to Rule 24th, which says, "Interjections have no dependent construction; they are put absolute, either alone, or with other words." Because the meaning is--_ah!_--unconnected with the rest of the sentence. _Poor_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree, compared regularly, _poor, poorer, poorest_: and relates to _nature_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_poor human nature_. _Fallen_ is a participial adjective, compared (perhaps) by adverbs: and relates to _nature_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_fallen nature_. _Human_ is a common adjective, not compared: and relates to _nature_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_human nature_. _Nature_ is a common noun, of the second person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is put absolute by direct address; according to Rule 8th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word." Because the meaning is--_poor fallen human nature!_--the noun being unconnected with any verb. _What_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared: and relates to _conflicts_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_what conflicts_. _Conflicts_ is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is the subject of _are_; according to Rule 2d, which says, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Because the meaning is--_conflicts are_. _Are_ is an irregular neuter verb, from _be, was, being, been_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and plural number: and agrees with its nominative _conflicts_; according to Rule 14th, which says, "Every finite verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number." Because the meaning is--_conflicts are_. _Thy_ is a personal pronoun, representing _nature_, in the second person, singular number, and neuter gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:" and is in the possessive case, being governed by _portion_; according to Rule 4th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed." Because the meaning is--_thy portion_. _Portion_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is put after _are_, in agreement with _conflicts_; according to Rule 6th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing." Because the meaning is--_conflicts are thy portion_. _When_ is a conjunctive adverb of time: and relates to the two verbs, _are_ and _exert_; according to Rule 21st, which says, "Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs." Because the meaning is--what conflicts _are_ thy portion, _when_ inclination and habit _exert_, &c. _Inclination_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is one of the subjects of _exert_; according to Rule 2d, which says, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Because the meaning is--_inclination and habit exert_. _And_ is a copulative conjunction: and connects _inclination_ and _habit_; according to Rule 22d, which says, "Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences." Because the meaning is--_inclination and habit_. _Habit_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case: and is one of the subjects of _exert_; according to Rule 2d, which says, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Because the meaning is--_inclination and habit exert_. _A_ is the indefinite article: and relates to _rebel_; according to Rule 1st, which says, "Articles relate to the nouns which they limit." Because the meaning is--_a rebel_. _Rebel_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case: and is put in apposition with _inclination_; according to Rule 3d, which says, "A noun or a personal pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Because the meaning is--_inclination, a rebel_. _And_ is a copulative conjunction: and connects _rebel_ and _traitor_; according to Rule 22d, which says, "Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences." Because the meaning is--_a rebel and a traitor_. _A_ is the indefinite article: and relates to _traitor_; according to Rule 1st, which says, "Articles relate to the nouns which they limit." Because the meaning is--_a traitor_. _Traitor_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case: and is put in apposition with _habit_; according to Rule 3d, which says, "A noun or a personal pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Because the meaning is--_habit, a traitor_. _Exert_ is a regular active-transitive verb, from _exert, exerted, exerting, exerted_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and plural number: and agrees with its two nominatives _inclination and habit_; according to Rule 16th, which says, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together." Because the meaning is--_inclination and habit exert_. _Their_ is a personal pronoun, representing _inclination and habit_, in the third person, plural number, and neuter gender; according to Rule 12th, which says, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together:" and is in the possessive case, being governed by _sway_; according to Rule 4th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed." Because the meaning is--_their sway_;--i. e., the sway of inclination and habit. _Sway_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case; and is governed by _exert_; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_exert sway_. _Against_ is a preposition: and shows the relation between _exert_ and _principle_; according to Rule 23d, which says, "Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them." Because the meaning is--_exert against principle_. _Our_ is a personal pronoun, representing _the speakers_, in the first person, plural number, and masculine gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:" and is in the possessive case, being governed by _principle_; according to Rule 4th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed." Because the meaning is--_our principle_;--i. e., the _speakers_' principle. _Only_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared: and relates to _principle_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_only principle_. _Saving_ is a participial adjective, compared by adverbs when it means _frugal_, but not compared in the sense here intended: and relates to _principle_; according to Rule 9th, which says, "Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns." Because the meaning is--_saving principle_. _Principle_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case: and is governed by _against_; according to Rule 7th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case." Because the meaning is--_against principle_. LESSON I.--ARTICLES. "In English heroic verse, the capital pause of every line, is determined by the sense to be after the fourth, the fifth, the sixth or the seventh syllable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 105. "When, in considering the structure of a tree or a plant, we observe how all the parts, the roots, the stem, the bark, and the leaves, are suited to the growth and nutriment of the whole; when we survey all the parts and members of a living animal; or when we examine any of the curious works of art--such as a clock, a ship, or any nice machine; the pleasure which we have in the survey, is wholly founded on this sense of beauty."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 49. "It never can proceed from a good taste, to make a teaspoon resemble the leaf of a tree; for such a form is inconsistent with the destination of a teaspoon."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 351. "In an epic poem, a history, an oration, or any work of genius, we always require a fitness, or an adjustment of means to the end which the author is supposed to have in view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 50. "Rhetoric, Logic, and Grammar, are three arts that should always walk hand in hand. The first is the art of speaking eloquently; the second, that of thinking well; and the third, that of speaking with propriety."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 114. "Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze."--_Cowper_. LESSON II.--NOUNS. "There goes a rumour that I am to be banished. And let the sentence come, if God so will. The other side of the sea is my Father's ground, as well as this side."--_Rutherford_. "Gentlemen, there is something on earth greater than arbitrary or despotic power. The lightning has its power, and the whirlwind has its power, and the earthquake has its power. But there is something among men more capable of shaking despotic power than lightning, whirlwind, or earthquake; that is--the threatened indignation of the whole civilized world."--_Daniel Webster_. "And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, and brother of Rebecca, Jacob's and Esau's mother."--See _Gen._, xxviii, 5. "The purpose you undertake is dangerous." "Why that is certain: it is dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my Lord fool, out of this nettle danger, we pluck this flower safety."--_Shakespeare_. "And towards the Jews alone, one of the noblest charters of liberty on earth--_Magna Charta_, the Briton's boast--legalized an act of injustice."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 74. "Were Demosthenes's Philippics spoken in a British assembly, in a similar conjuncture of affairs, they would convince and persuade at this day. The rapid style, the vehement reasoning, the disdain, anger, boldness, freedom, which perpetually animate them, would render their success infallible over any modern assembly. I question whether the same can be said of Cicero's orations; whose eloquence, however beautiful, and however well suited to the Roman taste, yet borders oftener on declamation, and is more remote from the manner in which we now expect to hear real business and causes of importance treated."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 248. "In fact, every attempt to present on paper the splendid effects of impassioned eloquence, is like gathering up dewdrops, which appear jewels and pearls on the grass, but run to water in the hand; the essence and the elements remain, but the grace, the sparkle, and the form, are gone."--_Montgomery's Life of Spencer_. "As in life true dignity must be founded on character, not on dress and appearance; so in language the dignity of composition must arise from sentiment and thought, not from ornament."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 144. "And man, whose heaven-erected face the smiles of love adorn, Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." --_Burns_. "Ah wretched man! unmindful of thy end! A moment's glory! and what fates attend." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xvii, l. 231. LESSON III.--ADJECTIVES. "Embarrassed, obscure, and feeble sentences, are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure, and feeble thought."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 120. "Upon this ground, we prefer a simple and natural, to an artificial and affected style; a regular and well-connected story, to loose and scattered narratives; a catastrophe which is tender and pathetic, to one which leaves us unmoved."--_Ib._, p. 23. "A thorough good taste may well be considered as a power compounded of natural sensibility to beauty, and of improved understanding."--_Ib._, p. 18. "Of all writings, ancient or modern, the sacred Scriptures afford us the highest instances of the sublime. The descriptions of the Deity, in them, are wonderfully noble; both from the grandeur of the object, and the manner of representing it."--_Ib._, p. 36. "It is not the authority of any one person, or of a few, be they ever so eminent, that can establish one form of speech in preference to another. Nothing but the general practice of good writers and good speakers can do it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 107. "What other means are there to attract love and esteem so effectual as a virtuous course of life? If a man be just and beneficent, if he be temperate, modest, and prudent, he will infallibly gain the esteem and love of all who know him."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 167. "But there are likewise, it must be owned, people in the world, whom it is easy to make worse by rough usage, and not easy to make better by any other."--_Abp. Seeker_. "The great comprehensive truth written in letters of living light on every page of our history--the language addressed by every past age of New England to all future ages, is this: Human happiness has no perfect security but freedom;--freedom, none but virtue;--virtue, none but knowledge: and neither freedom, nor virtue, nor knowledge, has any vigour or immortal hope, except in the principles of the Christian faith, and in the sanctions of the Christian religion."--_President Quincy_. "For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss; Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon." --_P. Lost_, B. ix, l. 880. LESSON IV.--PRONOUNS. "There is but one governor whose sight we cannot escape, whose power we cannot resist: a sense of His presence and of duty to Him, will accomplish more than all the laws and penalties which can be devised without it."--_Woodbridge, Lit. C._, p. 154. "Every voluntary society must judge who shall be members of their body, and enjoy fellowship with them in their peculiar privileges."--_Watts_. "Poetry and impassioned eloquence are the only sources from which the living growth of a language springs; and even if in their vehemence they bring down some mountain rubbish along with them, this sinks to the bottom, and the pure stream flows along over it."--_Philological Museum_, i, 645. "This use is bounded by the province, county, or district, which gives name to the dialect, and beyond which its peculiarities are sometimes unintelligible, and always ridiculous."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 163. "Every thing that happens, is both a cause and an effect; being the effect of what goes before, and the cause of what follows."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 297. "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it."--_Prov._, iii, 27. "Yet there is no difficulty at all in ascertaining the idea. * * * By reflecting upon that which is myself now, and that which was myself twenty years ago, I discern they are not two, but one and the same self."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 271. "If you will replace what has been long expunged from the language, and extirpate what is firmly rooted, undoubtedly you yourself become an innovator."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 167; _Murray's Gram._, 364. "To speak as others speak, is one of those tacit obligations, annexed to the condition of living in society, which we are bound in conscience to fulfill, though we have never ratified them by any express promise; because, if they were disregarded, society would be impossible, and human happiness at an end."--See _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 139. "In England _thou_ was in current use until, perhaps, near the commencement of the seventeenth century, though it was getting to be regarded as somewhat disrespectful. At Walter Raleigh's trial, Coke, when argument and evidence failed him, insulted the defendant by applying to him the term _thou_. 'All that Lord Cobham did,' he cried, 'was at _thy_ instigation, _thou_ viper! for I _thou_ thee, _thou_ traitor!'"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.220. "Th' Egyptian crown I to your hands remit; And with it take his heart who offers it."--_Shakspeare_. LESSON V.--VERBS. "Sensuality contaminates the body, depresses the understanding, deadens the moral feelings of the heart, and degrades man from his rank in the creation."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 231. "When a writer reasons, we look only for perspicuity; when he describes, we expect embellishment; when he divides, or relates, we desire plainness and simplicity."--_Blair's_ _Rhet._, p. 144. "Livy and Herodotus are diffuse; Thucydides and Sallust are succinct; yet all of them are agreeable."--_Ib._, p. 178. "Whenever petulant ignorance, pride, malice, malignity, or envy, interposes to cloud or sully his fame, I will take upon me to pronounce that the eclipse will not last long."--_Dr. Delany_. "She said she had nothing to say, for she was resigned, and I knew all she knew that concerned us in this world; but she desired to be alone, that in the presence of God only, she might without interruption do her last duty to me."--_Spect._, No. 520. "Wisdom and truth, the offspring of the sky, are immortal; while cunning and deception, the meteors of the earth, after glittering for a moment, must pass away."--_Robert Hall_. "See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."--_Jeremiah_, i, 10. "God might command the stones to be made bread, or the clouds to rain it; but he chooses rather to leave mankind to till, to sow, to reap, to gather into barns, to grind, to knead, to bake, and then to eat."--_London Quarterly Review_. "Eloquence is no invention of the schools. Nature teaches every man to be eloquent, when he is much in earnest. Place him in some critical situation, let him have some great interest at stake, and you will see him lay hold of the most effectual means of persuasion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 235. "It is difficult to possess great fame and great ease at the same time. Fame, like fire, is with difficulty kindled, is easily increased, but dies away if not continually fed. To preserve fame alive, every enterprise ought to be a pledge of others, so as to keep mankind in constant expectation."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 50. "Pope, finding little advantage from external help, resolved thenceforward to direct himself, and at twelve formed a plan of study which he completed with little other incitement than the desire of excellence."--_Johnson's Lives of Poets_, p. 498. "Loose, then, from earth the grasp of fond desire, Weigh anchor, and some happier clime explore."--_Young_. LESSON VI.--PARTICIPLES. "The child, affrighted with the view of his father's helmet and crest, and clinging to the nurse; Hector, putting off his helmet, taking the child into his arms, and offering up a prayer for him; Andromache, receiving back the child with a smile of pleasure, and at the same instant bursting into tears; form the most natural and affecting picture that can possibly be imagined."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 435. "The truth of being, and the truth of knowing are one; differing no more than the direct beam and the beam reflected."--_Ld. Bacon_. "Verbs denote states of being, considered as beginning, continuing, ending, being renewed, destroyed, and again repeated, so as to suit any occasion."--_William Ward's Gram._, p. 41. "We take it for granted, that we have a competent knowledge and skill, and that we are able to acquit ourselves properly, in our own native tongue; a faculty, solely acquired by use, conducted by habit, and tried by the ear, carries us on without reflection."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. vi. "I mean the teacher himself; who, stunned with the hum, and suffocated with the closeness of his school-room, has spent the whole day in controlling petulance, exciting indifference to action, striving to enlighten stupidity, and labouring to soften obstinacy."--_Sir W. Scott_. "The inquisitive mind, beginning with criticism, the most agreeable of all amusements, and finding no obstruction in its progress, advances far into the sensitive part of our nature; and gains imperceptibly a thorough knowledge of the human heart, of its desires, and of every motive to action."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 42. "They please, are pleased; they give to get esteem; Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem."--_Goldsmith_. LESSON VII.--ADVERBS. "How cheerfully, how freely, how regularly, how constantly, how unweariedly, how powerfully, how extensively, he communicateth his convincing, his enlightening, his heart-penetrating, warming, and melting; his soul-quickening, healing, refreshing, directing, and fructifying influence!"--_Brown's Metaphors_, p. 96. "The passage, I grant, requires to be well and naturally read, in order to be promptly comprehended; but surely there are very few passages worth comprehending, either of verse or prose, that can be promptly understood, when they are read unnaturally and ill."--_Thelwall's Lect_. "They waste life in what are called good resolutions--partial efforts at reformation, feebly commenced, heartlessly conducted, and hopelessly concluded."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 262. "A man may, in respect of grammatical purity, speak unexceptionably, and yet speak obscurely and ambiguously; and though we cannot say, that a man may speak properly, and at the same time speak unintelligibly, yet this last case falls more naturally to be considered as an offence against perspicuity, than as a violation of propriety."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 104. "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe."--_1 Thes._, ii, 10. "The question is not, whether they know what is said of Christ in the Scriptures; but whether they know it savingly, truly, livingly, powerfully."--_Penington's Works_, iii, 28. "How gladly would the man recall to life The boy's neglected sire! a mother too, That softer friend, perhaps more gladly still, Might he demand them at the gates of death!"--_Cowper_. LESSON VIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. "Every person's safety requires that he should submit to be governed; for if one man may do harm without suffering punishment, every man has the same right, and no person can be safe."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 38. "When it becomes a practice to collect debts by law, it is a proof of corruption and degeneracy among the people. Laws and courts are necessary, to settle controverted points between man and man; but a man should pay an acknowledged debt, not because there is a law to oblige him, but because it is just and honest, and because he has promised to pay it."--_Ib._, p. 42. "The liar, and only the liar, is invariably and universally despised, abandoned, and disowned. It is therefore natural to expect, that a crime thus generally detested, should be generally avoided."--_Hawkesworth_. "When a man swears to the truth of his tale, he tacitly acknowledges that his bare word does not deserve credit. A swearer will lie, and a liar is not to be believed even upon his oath; nor is he believed, when he happens to speak the truth."--_Red Book_, p. 108. "John Adams replied, 'I know Great Britain has determined on her system, and that very determination determines me on mine. You know I have been constant and uniform in opposition to her measures. The die is now cast. I have passed the Rubicon. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish with my country, is my unalterable determination.'"--SEWARD'S _Life of John Quincy Adams_, p. 26. "I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all."--_Ecclesiastes_, ix, 11. "Little, alas! is all the good I can; A man oppress'd, dependent, yet a man."--_Pope, Odys._, B. xiv, p. 70. LESSON IX.--PREPOSITIONS. "He who legislates only for a party, is engraving his name on the adamantine pillar of his country's history, to be gazed on forever as an object of universal detestation."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 401. "The Greek language, in the hands of the orator, the poet, and the historian, must be allowed to bear away the palm from every other known in the world; but to that only, in my opinion, need our own yield the precedence."--_Barrow's Essays_, p. 91. "For my part, I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation, is incomparably the best; since, not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 37. Better--"on which _truths grow_." "All that I have done in this difficult part of grammar, concerning the proper use of prepositions, has been to make a few general remarks upon the subject; and then to give a collection of instances, that have occurred to me, of the improper use of some of them."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 155. "This is not an age of encouragement for works of elaborate research and real utility. The genius of the trade of literature is necessarily unfriendly to such productions."--_Thelwall's Lect._, p. 102. "At length, at the end of a range of trees, I saw three figures seated on a bank of moss, with a silent brook creeping at their feet."--_Steele_. "Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulph'rous bolt, Splitst the unwedgeable and gnarled oak."--_Shakspeare_. LESSON X.--INTERJECTIONS. "Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David; thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that enter in by these gates: thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgement and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor."--_Jeremiah_, xxii, 2, 3. "Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem."--_Jer._, xxii, 18, 19. "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."--_Isaiah_, liv, 11. "O prince! O friend! lo! here thy Medon stands; Ah! stop the hero's unresisted hands." --_Pope, Odys._, B. xxii, l. 417. "When, lo! descending to our hero's aid, Jove's daughter Pallas, war's triumphant maid!" --_Ib._, B. xxii, l. 222. "O friends! oh ever exercised in care! Hear Heaven's commands, and reverence what ye hear!" --_Ib._, B. xii, l. 324. "Too daring prince! ah, whither dost thou run? Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and you!" --_Pope's Iliad_, B. vi, l. 510. CHAPTER II.--ARTICLES. In this chapter, and those which follow it, the Rules of Syntax are again exhibited, in the order of the parts of speech, with Examples, Exceptions, Observations, Notes, and False Syntax. The Notes are all of them, in form and character, subordinate rules of syntax, designed for the detection of errors. The correction of the False Syntax placed under the rules and notes, will form an _oral exercise_, similar to that of parsing, and perhaps more useful.[334] RULE I.--ARTICLES. Articles relate to the nouns which they limit:[335] as, "At _a_ little distance from _the_ ruins of _the_ abbey, stands _an_ aged elm." "See _the_ blind beggar dance, _the_ cripple sing, _The_ sot _a_ hero, lunatic _a_ king."--_Pope's Essay_, Ep. ii, l. 268. EXCEPTION FIRST. The definite article used _intensively_, may relate to an _adjective_ or _adverb_ of the comparative or the superlative degree; as, "A land which was _the mightiest_."--_Byron_. "_The farther_ they proceeded, _the greater_ appeared their alacrity."--_Dr. Johnson_. "He chooses it _the rather_"--_Cowper_. See Obs. 10th, below. EXCEPTION SECOND. The indefinite article is sometimes used to give a collective meaning to what seems a _plural adjective of number_; as, "Thou hast _a few_ names even in Sardis."--_Rev._, iii, 4. "There are _a thousand_ things which crowd into my memory."--_Spectator_, No. 468. "The centurion commanded _a hundred_ men."--_Webster_. See Etymology, Articles, Obs. 26. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE I. OBS. 1.--The article is a kind of _index_, usually pointing to some noun; and it is a general, if not a universal, principle, that no one noun admits of more than one article. Hence, two or more articles in a sentence are signs of two or more nouns; and hence too, by a very convenient ellipsis, an article before an adjective is often made to relate to a noun understood; as, "_The_ grave [_people_] rebuke _the_ gay [_people_], and _the_ gay [_people_] mock _the_ grave" [_people_].--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 103. "_The_ wise [_persons_] shall inherit glory."--_Prov._, iii, 35. "_The_ vile [_person_] will talk villainy."--_Coleridge's Lay Sermons_, p. 105: see _Isaiah_, xxxii, 6. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise _the_ simple" [_ones_].--_Psal._, xix, 7. "_The_ Old [_Testament_] and the New Testament are alike authentic."--"_The_ animal [_world_] and the vegetable world are adapted to each other."--"_An_ epic [_poem_] and a dramatic poem are the same in substance."--_Ld. Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 274. "The neuter verb is conjugated like _the_ active" [_verb_].--_Murray's Gram._, p. 99. "Each section is supposed to contain _a_ heavy [_portion_] and a light portion; _the_ heavy [_portion_] being the accented syllable, and _the_ light [_portion_] _the_ unaccented" [_syllable_].--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 364. OBS. 2.--Our language does not, like the French, _require a repetition_ of the article before every noun in a series; because the same article may serve to limit the signification of several nouns, provided they all stand in the same construction. Hence the following sentence is bad English: "The understanding and language have a strict connexion."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 356. The sense of the former noun only was meant to be limited. The expression therefore should have been, "_Language and the understanding_ have a strict connexion," or, "The understanding _has_ a strict connexion _with language_." In some instances, one article _seems_ to limit the sense of several nouns that are not all in the same construction, thus: "As it proves a greater or smaller obstruction to _the speaker's_ or _writer's aim_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 200. That is--"to _the_ aim of _the_ speaker or _the_ writer." It is, in fact, the possessive, that limits the other nouns; for, "_a man's foes_" means, "_the_ foes of _a_ man;" and, "_man's wisdom_," means, "_the_ wisdom of man." The governing noun cannot have an article immediately before it. Yet the omission of articles, when it occurs, is not properly _by ellipsis_, as some grammarians declare it to be; for there never can be a proper ellipsis of an article, when there is not also an ellipsis of its noun. Ellipsis supposes the omitted words to be necessary to the construction, when they are not so to the sense; and this, it would seem, cannot be the case with a mere article. If such a sign be in any wise necessary, it ought to be used; and if not needed in any respect, it cannot be said to be _understood_. The definite article being generally required before adjectives that are used by ellipsis as nouns, we in this case repeat it before every term in a series; as, "They are singled out from among their fellows, as _the_ kind, _the_ amiable, _the_ sweet-tempered, _the_ upright."--_Dr. Chalmers_. "_The_ great, _the_ gay, shall they partake The heav'n that thou alone canst make?"--_Cowper_. OBS. 3.--The article precedes its noun, and is never, by itself, placed after it; as, "Passion is _the_ drunkenness of _the_ mind."--_Southey_. When an _adjective_ likewise precedes the noun, the article is usually placed before the adjective, that its power of limitation may extend over that also; as, "_A concise_ writer compresses his thoughts into _the fewest_ possible words."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 176. "_The private_ path, _the secret_ acts of men, If noble, far _the noblest_ of their lives."--_Young_. OBS. 4.--The relative position of the article and the adjective is seldom a matter of indifference. Thus, it is good English to say, "_both the men_," or, "_the two men_;" but we can by no means say, "_the both men_" or, "_two the men_." Again, the two phrases, "_half a dollar_," and "_a half dollar_," though both good, are by no means equivalent. Of the pronominal adjectives, some exclude the article; some precede it; and some follow it, like other adjectives. The word _same_ is seldom, if ever used without the definite article or some stronger definitive before it; as, "On _the same_ day,"--"in _that same_ hour,"--"_These same_ gentlemen." After the adjective _both_, the definite article _may_ be used, but it is generally _unnecessary_, and this is a sufficient reason for omitting it: as, "The following sentences will fully exemplify, to the young grammarian, _both the parts_ of this rule."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 192. Say, "_both parts_." The adjective _few_ may be used either with or without an article, but not with the same import: as, "_The few_ who were present, were in the secret;" i. e., All then present knew the thing. "_Few_ that were present, were in the secret;" i.e., Not many then present knew the thing. "When I say, 'There were _few_ men with him,' I speak diminutively, and mean to represent them as inconsiderable; whereas, when I say, 'There were _a few_ men with him,' I evidently intend to make the most of them."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 171. See Etymology, Articles, Obs. 28. OBS. 5.--The pronominal adjectives which exclude the article, are _any, each, either, every, much, neither, no_, or _none, some, this, that, these, those_. The pronominal adjectives which precede the article, are _all, both, many, such_, and _what_; as, "_All the_ world,"--"_Both the_ judges,"--"_Many a_[336] mile,"--"_Such a_ chasm,"--"_What a_ freak." In like manner, any adjective of quality, when its meaning is limited by the adverb _too, so, as_, or _how_, is put before the article; as, "_Too great a_ study of strength, is found to betray writers into a harsh manner."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 179. "Like _many an_ other poor wretch, I now suffer _all the_ ill consequences of _so foolish an_ indulgence." "_Such a_ gift is _too small a_ reward for _so great a_ labour."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 95. "Here flows _as clear a_ stream as any in Greece. _How beautiful a_ prospect is here!"--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 52. The pronominal adjectives which follow the article, are _few, former, first, latter, last, little, one, other_, and _same_; as, "An author might lean either to _the one [style]_ or to _the other_, and yet be beautiful."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 179. _Many_, like _few_, sometimes follows the article; as, "_The many_ favours which we have received."--"In conversation, for _many a man_, they say, _a many men_."--_Johnson's Dict._ In this order of the words, _a_ seems awkward and needless; as, "Told of _a many_ thousand warlike French."--_Shak._ OBS. 6.--When the adjective is preceded by any other adverb than _too, so, as_, or _how_, the article is almost always placed before the adverb: as, "One of _the_ most complete models;"--"_An_ equally important question;"--"_An_ exceedingly rough passage;"--"_A_ very important difference." The adverb _quite_, however, may be placed either before or after the article, though perhaps with a difference of construction: as, "This is _quite a_ different thing;"--or, "This is _a quite different_ thing." "Finding it _quite an_ other thing;"--or, "Finding it _a quite other_ thing."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 153. Sometimes _two adverbs_ intervene between the article and the adjective; as, "We had a _rather more_ explicit account of the Novii."--_Philol. Museum_, i, 458. But when an other adverb follows _too, so, as_, or _how_, the three words should be placed either before the article or after the noun; as, "Who stands there in _so purely poetical_ a light."--_Ib._, i, 449. Better, perhaps: "_In a light so purely poetical_." OBS. 7.--The definitives _this, that_, and some others, though they supersede the article _an_ or _a_, may be followed by the adjective _one_; for we say, "_this one thing_," but not, "_this a thing_." Yet, in the following sentence, _this_ and _a_ being separated by other words, appear to relate to the same noun: "For who is able to judge _this_ thy so great _a_ people?"--_1 Kings_, iii, 9. But we may suppose the noun _people_ to be understood after _this_. Again, the following example, if it is not wrong, has an ellipsis of the word _use_ after the first _a_: "For highest cordials all their virtue lose, By _a_ too frequent and too bold _a_ use."--_Pomfret_. OBS. 8.--When the adjective is placed _after_ the noun, the article generally retains its place before the noun, and is not repeated before the adjective: as, "_A_ man _ignorant_ of astronomy;"--"_The_ primrose _pale_." In _Greek_, when an adjective is placed after its noun, if the article is applied to the noun, it is repeated before the adjective; as, "[Greek: Hae polis hae megalae,]"--"_The_ city _the_ great;" i.e., "The great city." [337] OBS. 9.--Articles, according to their own definition and nature, come _before_ their nouns; but the definite article and an adjective seem sometimes to be placed after the noun to which they both relate: as, "Section _the Fourth_;"--"Henry _the Eighth_." Such examples, however, may possibly be supposed elliptical; as, "Section, _the fourth division_ of the chapter;"--"Henry, _the eighth king_ of that name:" and, if they are so, the article, in _English_, can never be placed after its noun, nor can two articles ever properly relate to one noun, in any particular construction of it. Priestley observes, "Some writers affect to _transpose_ these words, and place the numeral adjective first; [as,] '_The first Henry_.' Hume's History, Vol. i, p. 497. This construction is common with this writer, but there seems to be a _want of dignity_ in it."--_Rudiments of E. Gram._, p. 150. Dr. Webster cites the word _Great_, in "_Alexander the Great_" as a _name_, or _part_ of a name; that is, he gives it as an instance of "_cognomination_." See his _American Dict._, 8vo. And if this is right, the article may be said to relate to the epithet only, as it appears to do. For, if the word is taken substantively, there is certainly no ellipsis; neither is there any transposition in putting it last, but rather, as Priestley suggests, in putting it first. OBS. 10.--The definite article is often prefixed to _comparatives_ and _superlatives_; and its effect is, as Murray observes, (in the words of Lowth,) "to mark the degree _the more_ strongly, and to define it _the more_ precisely: as, '_The more_ I examine it, _the better_ I like it.' 'I like this _the least_ of any.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 33; _Lowth's_, 14. "For neither if we eat, are we _the better_; neither if we eat not, are we _the worse_."--_1 Cor._, viii, 8. "One is not _the more_ agreeable to me for loving beef, as I do; nor _the less_ agreeable for preferring mutton."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 365. "They are not the men in the nation, _the most_ difficult to be replaced."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 148. In these instances, the article seems to be used _adverbially_, and to relate only to the _adjective_ or _adverb_ following it. (See observation fourth, on the Etymology of Adverbs.) Yet none of our grammarians have actually reckoned _the_ an adverb. After the _adjective_, the noun might perhaps be supplied; but when the word _the_ is added to an _adverb_, we must either call it an adverb, or make an exception to Rule 1st above: and if an exception is to be made, the brief form which I have given, cannot well be improved. For even if a noun be understood, it may not appear that the article relates to it, rather than to the degree of the quality. Thus: "_The_ deeper the well, _the_ clearer the water." This Dr. Ash supposes to mean, "The deeper _well_ the well _is_, the clearer _water_ the water _is_."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 107. But does the text specify a _particular_ "deeper well" or "clearer water?" I think not. To what then does _the_ refer, but to the proportionate degree of _deeper_ and _clearer_? OBS. 11.--The article the is sometimes elegantly used, after an idiom common in the French language, in lieu of a possessive pronoun; as, "He looked him full in _the_ face; i. e. in _his_ face."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 150. "Men who have not bowed _the knee_ to the image of Baal."--_Rom._, xi, 4. That is, _their knees_. OBS. 12.--The article _an_ or _a_, because it implies unity, is applicable to nouns of the singular number only; yet a collective noun, being singular in form, is sometimes preceded by this article even when it conveys the idea of plurality and takes a plural verb: as, "There _are_ a very great _number_ [of adverbs] ending in _ly_."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 63. "A _plurality_ of them _are_ sometimes felt at the same instant."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 114. In support of this construction, it would be easy to adduce a great multitude of examples from the most reputable writers; but still, as it seems not very consistent, to take any word plurally after restricting it to the singular, we ought rather to avoid this if we can, and prefer words that literally agree in number: as, "Of adverbs there _are_ very _many_ ending in _ly_"--"_More than one_ of them _are_ sometimes felt at the same instant." The word _plurality_, like other collective nouns, is literally singular: as, "To produce the latter, a _plurality_ of objects _is_ necessary."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 224. OBS. 13.--Respecting the form of the indefinite article, present practice differs a little from that of our ancient writers. _An_ was formerly used before all words beginning with _h_, and before several other words which are now pronounced in such a manner as to require _a_: thus, we read in the Bible, "_An_ help,"--"_an_ house,"--"_an_ hundred,"--"_an_ one,"--"_an_ ewer,"--"_an_ usurer;" whereas we now say, "_A_ help,"--"_a_ house,"--"_a_ hundred,"--"_a_ one,"--"_a_ ewer,"--"_a_ usurer." OBS. 14.--Before the word _humble_, with its compounds and derivatives, some use _an_, and others, _a_; according to their practice, in this instance, of sounding or suppressing the aspiration. Webster and Jameson sound the _h_, and consequently prefer _a_; as, "But _a humbling_ image is not always necessary to produce that effect."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 205. "O what a blessing is _a humble_ mind!"--_Christian Experience_, p. 342. But Sheridan, Walker, Perry, Jones, and perhaps a majority of fashionable speakers, leave the _h_ silent, and would consequently say, "_An humbling_ image,"--"_an humble_ mind,"--&c. OBS. 15.--An observance of the principles on which the article is to be repeated or not repeated in a sentence, is of very great moment in respect to accuracy of composition. These principles are briefly stated in the notes below, but it is proper that the learner should know the reasons of the distinctions which are there made. By a repetition of the article before several adjectives in the same construction, a repetition of the noun is implied; but without a repetition of the article, the adjectives, in all fairness of interpretation, are confined to one and the same noun: as, "No figures will render _a cold_ or _an empty_ composition interesting."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 134. Here the author speaks of a cold composition and an empty composition as different things. "_The_ metaphorical and _the_ literal meaning _are_ improperly mixed."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 339. Here the verb are has two nominatives, one of which is expressed, and the other understood. "But _the_ third and _the_ last of these [forms] are seldom used."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 186. Here the verb "_are used_" has two nominatives, both of which are understood; namely, "the third _form_," and "the last _form_." Again: "_The original and present_ signification _is_ always retained."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 149. Here _one signification_ is characterized as being both original and present. "_A loose and verbose manner_ never _fails_ to create disgust."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 261. That is, _one manner_, loose and verbose. "To give _a_ short and yet clear and plain answer to this proposition."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 533. That is, _one answer, short, clear, and plain_; for the conjunctions in the text connect nothing but the adjectives. OBS. 16.--To avoid repetition, even of the little word _the_, we sometimes, with one article, join _inconsistent_ qualities to a _plural noun_;--that is, when the adjectives so differ as to individualize the things, we sometimes make the noun plural, in stead of repeating the article: as, "_The_ north and south _poles_;" in stead of, "_The_ north and _the_ south _pole_."--"_The_ indicative and potential _moods_;" in stead of "_The_ indicative and _the_ potential _mood_."--"_The_ Old and New _Testaments_;" in stead of, "_The_ Old and _the_ New _Testament_." But, in any such case, to repeat the article when the noun is made plural, is a huge blunder; because it implies a repetition of the plural noun. And again, not to repeat the article when the noun is singular, is also wrong; because it forces the adjectives to coalesce in describing one and the same thing. Thus, to say, "_The_ north and south _pole_" is certainly wrong, unless we mean by it, _one pole_, or _slender stick of wood_, pointing north and south; and again, to say, "_The_ north and _the_ south _poles_," is also wrong, unless we mean by it, _several poles at the north_ and _others at the south_. So the phrase, "_The_ Old and New _Testament_" is wrong, because we have not _one Testament that is both Old and New_; and again, "_The_ Old and _the_ New _Testaments_," is wrong, because we have not several _Old Testaments and several New ones_: at least we have them not in the Bible. OBS. 17.--Sometimes a noun that _admits no article_, is preceded by adjectives that do not describe the same thing; as, "Never to jumble _metaphorical and plain language_ together."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 146. This means, "_metaphorical language_ and _plain language_;" and, for the sake of perfect clearness, it would perhaps be better to express it so. "For as _intrinsic and relative beauty_ must often be blended in the same building, it becomes a difficult task to attain _both_ in any perfection."--_Karnes, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 330. That is, "_intrinsic beauty_ and _relative beauty_" must often be blended; and this phraseology would be better. "In correspondence to that distinction of _male and female sex_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 74. This may be expressed as well or better, in half a dozen other ways; for the article may be added, or the noun may be made plural, with or without the article, and before or after the adjectives. "They make no distinction between causes of civil and criminal jurisdiction."-- _Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 302. This means--"between causes of civil and _causes_ of criminal jurisdiction;" and, for the sake of perspicuity, it ought to have been so written,--or, still better, _thus_: "They make no distinction between civil causes and criminal." NOTES TO RULE I. NOTE I.--When the indefinite article is required, _a_ should always be used before the sound of a consonant, and _an_, before that of a vowel; as, "With the talents of _an_ angel, a man may be _a_ fool."--_Young_. NOTE II.--The article _an_ or _a_ must never be so used as to relate, or even seem to relate, to a plural noun. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "I invited her to spend a day in viewing _a seat and gardens._"--_Rambler_, No. 34. Say, "a seat and _its_ gardens." NOTE III.--When nouns are joined in construction, with different adjuncts, different dependence, or positive contrast, the article, if it belong at all to the latter, must be repeated. The following sentence is therefore inaccurate: "She never considered the quality, but merit of her visitors."--_Wm. Penn_. Say, "_the_ merit." So the article in brackets is absolutely necessary to the sense and propriety of the following phrase, though not inserted by the learned author: "The Latin introduced between the Conquest and [_the_] reign of Henry the Eighth."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 42. NOTE IV.--When adjectives are connected, and the qualities belong to things individually different, though of the same name, the article should be repeated: as, "_A_ black and _a_ white horse;"--i. e., _two horses_, one black and the other white. "_The_ north and _the_ south line;"--i. e., _two lines_, running east and west. NOTE V.--When adjectives are connected, and the qualities all belong to the same thing or things, the article should not be repeated: as, "_A_ black and white horse;"--i. e., _one_ horse, _piebald_. "_The_ north and south line;"--i. e., _one line_, running north and south, like a meridian. NOTE VI.--When two or more individual things of the same name are distinguished by adjectives that cannot unite to describe the same thing, the article must be added to each if the noun be singular, and to the first only if the noun follow them in the plural: as, "_The_ nominative and _the_ objective _case_;" or, "_The_ nominative and objective _cases_."--"_The_ third, _the_ fifth, _the_ seventh, and _the_ eighth _chapter_;" or, "_The_ third, fifth, seventh, and eighth _chapters_." [338] NOTE VII.--When two phrases of the same sentence have any special correspondence with each other, the article, if used in the former, is in general required also in the latter: as, "For ye know neither _the_ day nor _the_ hour."--_Matt._, xxv, 13. "Neither _the_ cold nor _the_ fervid are formed for friendship."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "The vail of the temple was rent in twain, from _the_ top to _the_ bottom."--_Matt._, xxvii, 51. NOTE VIII.--When a special correspondence is formed between individual epithets, the noun which follows must not be made plural; because the article, in such a case, cannot be repeated as the construction of correspondents requires. Thus, it is improper to say, "Both _the_ first and second _editions_" or, "Both _the_ first and _the_ second _editions_" for the accurate phrase, "Both _the_ first and _the_ second _edition_;" and still worse to say, "Neither _the_ Old nor New _Testaments_" or, "Neither _the_ Old nor _the_ New _Testaments_" for the just expression, "Neither _the_ Old nor _the_ New _Testament_." Yet we may say, "Neither _the old_ nor _the new statutes_" or, "Both _the early_ and _the late editions_;" for here the epithets severally apply to more than one thing. NOTE IX.--In a series of three or more terms, if the article is used with any, it should in general be added either to every one, or else to the first only. The following phrase is therefore inaccurate: "Through their attention to the helm, the sails, or rigging."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. i, p. 11. Say, "_the_ rigging." NOTE X.--As the article _an_ or _a_ denotes "_one thing of a kind_," it should not be used as we use _the_, to denote emphatically a _whole kind_; and again, when the species is said to be _of the genus_, no article should be used to limit the latter. Thus some will say, "_A jay_ is a sort of _a bird_;" whereas they ought to say, "_The jay_ is a sort _of bird_." Because it is absurd to suggest, that _one jay_ is _a sort_ of _one bird_. Yet we may say, "_The jay_ is _a bird_," or, "_A jay_ is _a bird_;" because, as every species is one under the genus, so every individual is one under both. NOTE XI.--The article should not be used before the names of virtues, vices, passions, arts, or sciences, in their general sense; before terms that are strictly limited by other definitives; or before any noun whose signification is sufficiently definite without it: as, "_Falsehood_ is odious."--"_Iron_ is useful."--"_Beauty_ is vain."--"_Admiration_ is useless, when it is not supported by _domestic worth_"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 30. NOTE XII.--When titles are mentioned merely as titles; or names of things, merely as names or words; the article should not be used before them: as, "He is styled _Marquis_;" not, "_the_ Marquis," or, "_a_ Marquis,"--"Ought a teacher to call his pupil _Master_?"--"_Thames_ is derived from the Latin name _Tam~esis_." NOTE XIII.--When a comparison or an alternative is made with two nouns, if both of them refer to the same subject, the article should not be inserted before the latter; if to different subjects, it should not be omitted: thus, if we say, "He is a better teacher than poet," we compare different qualifications of the same man; but if we say, "He is a better teacher than _a_ poet," we speak of different men, in regard to the same qualification. NOTE XIV.--The definite article, or some other definitive, (as _this, that, these, those_,) is generally required before the antecedent to the pronoun _who_ or _which_ in a restrictive clause; as, "All _the men who_ were present, agreed to it."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 145. "The _thoughts which_ passion suggests are always plain and obvious ones."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 468. "The _things which_ are impossible with men, are possible with God."--_Luke_, xviii, 27. See Etymology, Chap. V, Obs. 26th, &c., on Classes of Pronouns. NOTE XV.--The article is generally required in that construction which converts a participle into a verbal or participial noun; as, "_The completing of_ this, by _the working-out of_ sin inherent, must be by the power and spirit of Christ in the heart."--_Wm. Penn_. "They shall be _an abhorring_ unto all flesh."--_Isaiah_, lxvi, 24. "For _the dedicating of_ the altar."--_Numb._, vii, 11. NOTE XVI.--The article should not be added to any participle that is not taken in all other respects as a noun; as, "For _the_ dedicating the altar."--"He made a mistake in _the_ giving out the text." Expunge _the_, and let _dedicating_ and _giving_ here stand as participles only; for in the construction of nouns, they must have not only a definitive before them, but the preposition _of_ after them. NOTE XVII.--The false syntax of articles properly includes every passage in which there is any faulty insertion, omission, choice, or position, of this part of speech. For example: "When the verb is _a_ passive, the agent and object change places."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 73. Better: "When the verb is _passive_, the agent and _the_ object change places." "Comparisons used by the sacred poets, are generally short."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 87. Better: "_The_ comparisons," &c. "Pronoun means _for noun_, and _is used_ to _avoid the_ too frequent repetition of _the_ noun."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 89. Say rather: "_The_ pronoun _is put_ for _a_ noun, and is used to _prevent_ too frequent a repetition of the noun." Or: "_The word_ PRONOUN means _for noun_; and _a pronoun_ is used to prevent too frequent a repetition of _some_ noun." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE I. [Fist][The examples of False Syntax placed under the rules and notes, are to be corrected _orally_ by the pupil, according to the formules given, or according to others framed in like manner, and adapted to the several notes.] EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--AN OR A. "I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel."--_Hosea_, vi, 10. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is used before _horrible_, which begins with the sound of the consonant _h_. But, according to Note 1st, under Rule 1st, "When the indefinite article is required, _a_ should always be used before the sound of a consonant, and _an_, before that of a vowel." Therefore, _an_ should be _a_; thus, "I have seen _a_ horrible thing in the house of Israel."] "There is an harshness in the following sentences."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 188. "Indeed, such an one is not to be looked for."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 27. "If each of you will be disposed to approve himself an useful citizen."--_Ib._, p. 263. "Land with them had acquired almost an European value."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 325. "He endeavoured to find out an wholesome remedy."--_Neef's Method of Ed._, p. 3. "At no time have we attended an Yearly Meeting more to our own satisfaction."--_The Friend_, v, 224. "Addison was not an humourist in character."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 303. "Ah me! what an one was he?"--_Lily's Gram._, p. 49. "He was such an one as I never saw."--_Ib._ "No man can be a good preacher, who is not an useful one."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 283. "An usage which is too frequent with Mr. Addison."--_Ib._, p. 200. "Nobody joins the voice of a sheep with the shape of an horse."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 298. "An universality seems to be aimed at by the omission of the article."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 154. "Architecture is an useful as well as a fine art."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 335. "Because the same individual conjunctions do not preserve an uniform signification."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 78. "Such a work required the patience and assiduity of an hermit."--_Johnson's Life of Morin_. "Resentment is an union of sorrow with malignity."--_Rambler_, No. 185. "His bravery, we know, was an high courage of blasphemy."--_Pope_. "Hyssop; a herb of bitter taste."--_Pike's Heb. Lex._, p. 3. "On each enervate string they taught the note To pant, or tremble through an Eunuch's throat."--_Pope_. UNDER NOTE II.--AN OR A WITH PLURALS. "At a sessions of the court in March, it was moved," &c.--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, i, 61. "I shall relate my conversations, of which I kept a memoranda."--_Duchess D'Abrantes_, p. 26. "I took another dictionary, and with a scissors cut out, for instance, the word ABACUS."--_A. B. Johnson's Plan of a Dict._, p. 12. "A person very meet seemed he for the purpose, of a forty-five years old."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 338. "And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings."--_Luke_, ix, 28." There were slain of them upon a three thousand men."--_1 Mac._, iv, 15." Until I had gained the top of these white mountains, which seemed another Alps of snow."--_Addison, Tat._, No. 161. "To make them a satisfactory amends for all the losses they had sustained."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, p. 187. "As a first fruits of many more that shall be gathered."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 506. "It makes indeed a little amends, by inciting us to oblige people."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 229. "A large and lightsome backstairs leads up to an entry above."--_Ib._, p. 260. "Peace of mind is an honourable amends for the sacrifices of interest."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 162; _Smith's_, 138. "With such a spirit and sentiments were hostilities carried on."--_Robertson's America_, i, 166. "In the midst of a thick woods, he had long lived a voluntary recluse."--_G. B_. "The flats look almost like a young woods."--_Morning Chronicle_. "As we went on, the country for a little ways improved, but scantily."--_Essex County Freeman_, Vol. ii, No. 11. "Whereby the Jews were permitted to return into their own country, after a seventy years captivity at Babylon."--_Rollin's An. Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 20. "He did riot go a great ways into the country."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 85. "A large amends by fortune's hand is made, And the lost Punic blood is well repay'd."--_Rowe's Lucan_, iv, 1241. UNDER NOTE III.--NOUNS CONNECTED. "As where a landscape is conjoined with the music of birds and odour of flowers."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 117. "The last order resembles the second in the mildness of its accent, and softness of its pause."--_Ib._, ii, 113. "Before the use of the loadstone or knowledge of the compass."--_Dryden_. "The perfect participle and imperfect tense ought not to be confounded."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 292. "In proportion as the taste of a poet, or orator, becomes more refined."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 27. "A situation can never be intricate, as long as there is an angel, devil, or musician, to lend a helping hand."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 285. "Avoid rude sports: an eye is soon lost, or bone broken."--"Not a word was uttered, nor sign given."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 125. "I despise not the doer, but deed."--_Ibid._ "For the sake of an easier pronunciation and more agreeable sound."--_Lowth_. "The levity as well as loquacity of the Greeks made them incapable of keeping up the true standard of history."-- _Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 115. UNDER NOTE IV.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "It is proper that the vowels be a long and short one."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 327. "Whether the person mentioned was seen by the speaker a long or short time before."--_Ib._, p. 70; _Fisk's_, 72. "There are three genders, Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 8. "The numbers are two; Singular and Plural."--_Ib._, p. 80; _Gould's_, 77. "The persons are three; First, Second, [and] Third."--_Adam, et al_. "Nouns and pronouns have three cases; the nominative, possessive, and objective."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 19; _Ingersoll's_, 21. "Verbs have five moods; namely, the Indicative, Potential, Subjunctive, Imperative, and Infinitive."-- _Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 35; _Lennie's_, 20. "How many numbers have pronouns? Two, the singular and plural."--_Bradley's Gram._, p. 82. "To distinguish between an interrogative and exclamatory sentence."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 280; _Comly's_, 163; _Ingersoll's_, 292. "The first and last of which are compounded members."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 123. "In the last lecture, I treated of the concise and diffuse, the nervous and feeble manner."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 183. "The passive and neuter verbs, I shall reserve for some future conversation."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 69. "There are two voices; the Active and Passive."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 59; _Gould's_, 87. "Whose is rather the poetical than regular genitive of _which_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 7. "To feel the force of a compound, or derivative word."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 4. "To preserve the distinctive uses of the copulative and disjunctive conjunctions."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 150; _Ingersoll's_, 233. "E has a long and short sound in most languages."-- _Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 13. "When the figurative and literal sense are mixed and jumbled together."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 151. "The Hebrew, with which the Canaanitish and Phoenician stand in connection."--CONANT: _Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 28. "The languages of Scandinavia proper, the Norwegian and Swedish."--_Fowler, ib._, p. 31. UNDER NOTE V.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "The path of truth is a plain and a safe path"--_Murray's Key_, p. 236. "Directions for acquiring a just and a happy elocution."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 144. "Its leading object is to adopt a correct and an easy method."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 9. "How can it choose but wither in a long and a sharp winter."--_Cowley's Pref._, p. vi. "Into a dark and a distant unknown."--_Chalmers, on Astronomy_, p. 230. "When the bold and the strong enslaved his fellow man."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 21. "We now proceed to consider the things most essential to an accurate and a perfect sentence." --_Murray's Gram._, p. 306. "And hence arises a second and a very considerable source of the improvement of taste."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 18. "Novelty produces in the mind a vivid and an agreeable emotion."--_Ib._, p. 50. "The deepest and the bitterest feeling still is, the separation."-- _Dr. M'Rie_. "A great and a good man looks beyond time."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 125. "They made but a weak and an ineffectual resistance." --_Ib._ "The light and the worthless kernels will float."--_Ib._ "I rejoice that there is an other and a better world."--_Ib._ "For he is determined to _revise_ his work, and present to the publick another and a better edition."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 7. "He hoped that this title would secure him an ample and an independent authority."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 172: see _Priestley's_, 147. "There is however another and a more limited sense."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 232. UNDER NOTE VI.--ARTICLES OR PLURALS. "This distinction forms, what are called the diffuse and the concise styles."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 176. "Two different modes of speaking, distinguished at first by the denominations of the Attic and the Asiatic manners."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 83. "But the great design of uniting the Spanish and the French monarchies under the former was laid."-- _Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 180. "In the solemn and the poetic styles, it [_do_ or _did_] is often rejected."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 68. "They cannot be at the same time in the objective and the nominative cases."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 151; _Ingersoll's_, 239; _R. G. Smith's_, 127. "They are named the POSITIVE, the COMPARATIVE, and the SUPERLATIVE degrees."--_Smart's Accidence_, p. 27. "Certain Adverbs are capable of taking an Inflection, namely, that of the comparative and the superlative degrees."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.321. "In the subjunctive mood, the present and the imperfect tenses often carry with them a future sense."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 187; _Fisk's_, 131. "The imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, and the first future tenses of this mood, are conjugated like the same tenses of the indicative."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 145. "What rules apply in parsing personal pronouns of the second and third person?"--_Ib._, p. 116. "Nouns are sometimes in the nominative or objective case after the neuter verb to be, or after an active-intransitive or passive verb."--_Ib._, p. 55. "The verb varies its endings in the singular in order to agree in form with the first, second, and third person of its nominative."--_Ib._, p. 47. "They are identical in effect, with the radical and the vanishing stresses."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 339. "In a sonnet the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth line rhyme to each other: so do the second, third, sixth, and seventh line; the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth line; and the tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth line."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 311. "The iron and the golden ages are run; youth and manhood are departed."--_Wright's Athens_, p. 74. "If, as you say, the iron and the golden ages are past, the youth and the manhood of the world."--_Ib._ "An Exposition of the Old and New Testament."--_Matthew Henry's Title-page_. "The names and order of the books of the Old and New Testament."--_Friends' Bible_, p. 2; _Bruce's_, p. 2; et al. "In the second and third person of that tense."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 81. "And who still unites in himself the human and the divine natures."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 59. "Among whom arose the Italian, the Spanish, the French, and the English languages."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 111. "Whence arise these two, the singular and the plural Numbers."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 32. UNDER NOTE VII.--CORRESPONDENT TERMS. "Neither the definitions, nor examples, are entirely the same with his."--_Ward's Pref. to Lily's Gram._, p. vi. "Because it makes a discordance between the thought and expression."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 24. "Between the adjective and following substantive."--_Ib._ ii, 104. "Thus, Athens became both the repository and nursery of learning."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 28. "But the French pilfered from both the Greek and Latin."--_Ib._, p. 102. "He shows that Christ is both the power and wisdom of God."--_The Friend_, x, 414. "That he might be Lord both of the dead and living."--_Rom._, xiv, 9. "This is neither the obvious nor grammatical meaning of his words."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 209. "Sometimes both the accusative and infinitive are understood."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 155; _Gould's_, 158. "In some cases we can use either the nominative or accusative promiscuously."--_Adam_, p. 156; _Gould_, 159. "Both the former and latter substantive are sometimes to be understood."--_Adam_, p. 157; _Gould_, 160. "Many whereof have escaped both the commentator and poet himself."--_Pope_. "The verbs must and ought have both a present and past signification."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 108. "How shall we distinguish between the friends and enemies of the government?"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 352. "Both the ecclesiastical and secular powers concurred in those measures."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 260. "As the period has a beginning and end within itself it implies an inflexion."--_Adams's Rhet._, ii, 245. "Such as ought to subsist between a principal and accessory."--_Kames, on Crit._, ii, 39. UNDER NOTE VIII.--CORRESPONDENCE PECULIAR. "When both the upward and the downward slides occur in pronouncing a syllable, they are called a _Circumflex_ or _Wave_."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, pp. 75 and 104. "The word _that_ is used both in the nominative and objective cases."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 69. "But all the other moods and tenses of the verbs, both in the active and passive voices, are conjugated at large."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 81. "Some writers on Grammar object to the propriety of admitting the second future, in both the indicative and subjunctive moods."--_Ib._, p. 82. "The same conjunction governing both the indicative and the subjunctive moods, in the same sentence, and in the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety."--_Ib._, p. 207. "The true distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative moods in this tense."--_Ib._, p. 208. "I doubt of his capacity to teach either the French or English languages."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 7. "It is as necessary to make a distinction between the active transitive and the active intransitive forms of the verb, as between the active and passive forms."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 13. UNDER NOTE IX.--A SERIES OF TERMS. "As comprehending the terms uttered by the artist, the mechanic, and husbandman."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 24. "They may be divided into four classes--the Humanists, Philanthropists, Pestalozzian and the Productive Schools."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. iii. "Verbs have six tenses, the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, and the First and Second Future tenses."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 138; _L. Murray's_, 68; _R. C. Smith's_, 27; _Alger's_, 28. "_Is_ is an irregular verb neuter, indicative mood, present tense, and the third person singular."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 2. "_Should give_ is an irregular verb active, in the potential mood, the imperfect tense, and the first person plural."--_Ibid._ "_Us_ is a personal pronoun, first person plural, and in the objective case."--_Ibid._ "_Them_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person, the plural number, and in the objective case."--_Ibid._ "It is surprising that the Jewish critics, with all their skill in dots, points, and accents, never had the ingenuity to invent a point of interrogation, of admiration, or a parenthesis."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 47. "The fifth, sixth, seventh, and the eighth verse."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 263. "Substitutes have three persons; the First, Second, and the Third."--_Ib._, p. 34. "_John's_ is a proper noun, of the masculine gender, the third person, singular number, possessive case, and governed by _wife_, by Rule I."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 48. "Nouns in the English language have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and objective."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 13; _Alexander's_, 11. "The Potential [mood] has four [tenses], viz. the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect, and Pluperfect."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 96. "Where Science, Law, and Liberty depend, And own the patron, patriot, and the friend."--_Savage, to Walpole_. UNDER NOTE X.--SPECIES AND GENUS. "A pronoun is a part of speech put for a noun."--_Paul's Accidence_, p. 11. "A verb is a part of speech declined with mood and tense."--_Ib._, p. 15. "A participle is a part of speech derived of a verb."--_Ib._, p. 38. "An adverb is a part of speech joined to verbs to declare their signification."--_Ib._, p. 40. "A conjunction is a part of speech that joineth sentences together."--_Ib._, p. 41. "A preposition is a part of speech most commonly set before other parts."--_Ib._, p. 42. "An interjection is a part of speech which betokeneth a sudden motion or passion of the mind."--_Ib._, p. 44. "An enigma or riddle is also a species of allegory."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 151; _Murray's Gram._, 343. "We may take from the Scriptures a very fine example of an allegory."--_Ib._: _Blair_, 151; _Mur._, 341. "And thus have you exhibited a sort of a sketch of art."--HARRIS: _in Priestley's Gram._, p. 176. "We may 'imagine a subtle kind of a reasoning,' as Mr. Harris acutely observes."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 71. "But, before entering on these, I shall give one instance of a very beautiful metaphor, that I may show the figure to full advantage."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 143. "Aristotle, in his Poetics, uses metaphor in this extended sense, for any figurative meaning imposed upon a word; as a whole put for the part, or a part for a whole; the species for the genus, or a genus for the species."--_Ib._, p. 142. "It shows what kind of an apple it is of which we are speaking."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 69. "Cleon was another sort of a man."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 124. "To keep off his right wing, as a kind of a reserved body."--_Ib._, ii, 12. "This part of speech is called a verb."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 70. "What sort of a thing is it?"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 20. "What sort of a charm do they possess?"--_Bullions's Principles of E. Gram._, p. 73. "Dear Welsted, mark, in dirty hole, That painful animal, a Mole."--_Note to Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 207. UNDER NOTE XI.--ARTICLES NOT REQUISITE. "Either thou or the boys were in the fault."--_Comly's Key, in Gram._, p. 174. "It may, at the first view, appear to be too general."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 222; _Ingersoll's_, 275. "When the verb has a reference to future time."--_Ib.: M._, p. 207; _Ing._, 264. "No; they are the language of imagination rather than of a passion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 165. "The dislike of the English Grammar, which has so generally prevailed, can only be attributed to the intricacy of syntax."--_Russell's Gram._, p. iv. "Is that ornament in a good taste?"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 326. "There are not many fountains in a good taste."--_Ib._, ii, 329. "And I persecuted this way unto the death."--_Acts_, xxii, 4. "The sense of the feeling can, indeed, give us the idea of extension."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 196. "The distributive adjective pronouns, _each, every, either_, agree with the nouns, pronouns, and verbs, of the singular number only."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 165; _Lowth's_, 89. "Expressing by one word, what might, by a circumlocution, be resolved into two or more words belonging to the other parts of speech."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 84. "By the certain muscles which operate all at the same time."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 19. "It is sufficient here to have observed thus much in the general concerning them."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 112. "Nothing disgusts us sooner than the empty pomp of language."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 319. UNDER NOTE XII.--TITLES AND NAMES. "He is entitled to the appellation of a gentleman."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 126. "Cromwell assumed the title of a Protector."--_Ib._ "Her father is honoured with the title of an Earl."--_Ib._ "The chief magistrate is styled a President."--_Ib._ "The highest title in the state is that of the Governor."--_Ib._ "That boy is known by the name of the Idler."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 205. "The one styled the Mufti, is the head of the ministers of law and religion."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 360. "Banging all that possessed them under one class, he called that whole class _a tree_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 73. "For the oak, the pine, and the ash, were names of whole classes of objects."--_Ib._, p. 73. "It is of little importance whether we give to some particular mode of expression the name of a trope, or of a figure."--_Ib._, p. 133. "The collision of a vowel with itself is the most ungracious of all combinations, and has been doomed to peculiar reprobation under the name of an hiatus."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 217. "We hesitate to determine, whether the _Tyrant_ alone, is the nominative, or whether the nominative includes the spy."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 246. "Hence originated the customary abbreviation of _twelve months_ into a _twelve-month_; _seven nights_ into _se'night_; _fourteen nights_ into a _fortnight_."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 105. UNDER NOTE XIII.--COMPARISONS AND ALTERNATIVES. "He is a better writer than a reader."--_W. Allen's False Syntax, Gram._, p. 332. "He was an abler mathematician than a linguist."--_Ib._ "I should rather have an orange than apple."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 126. "He was no less able a negotiator, than a courageous warrior."--_Smollett's Voltaire_, Vol. i, p. 181. "In an epic poem we pardon many negligences that would not be permitted in a sonnet or epigram."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 186. "That figure is a sphere, or a globe, or a ball."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 258. UNDER NOTE XIV.--ANTECEDENTS TO WHO OR WHICH. "Carriages which were formerly in use, were very clumsy."--_Inst._, p. 126. "The place is not mentioned by geographers who wrote at that time."--_Ib._ "Questions which a person asks himself in contemplation, ought to be terminated by points of interrogation."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 279; _Comly's_, 162; _Ingersoll's_, 291. "The work is designed for the use of persons, who may think it merits a place in their Libraries."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo., p. iii. "That persons who think confusedly, should express themselves obscurely, is not to be wondered at."--_Ib._, p. 298. "Grammarians who limit the number to two, or at most to three, do not reflect."--_Ib._, p. 75. "Substantives which end in _ian_, are those that signify profession."--_Ib._, p. 132. "To these may be added verbs, which chiefly among the poets govern the dative."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 170; _Gould's_, 171. "Consonants are letters, which cannot be sounded without the aid of a vowel."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 9. "To employ the curiosity of persons who are skilled in grammar."--_Murray's Gram., Pref._, p. iii. "This rule refers only to nouns and pronouns, which have the same bearing or relation."--_Ib._, i, p. 204. "So that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear."--_Heb._, xi, 3. "Man is an imitative creature; he may utter sounds, which he has heard."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 21. "But men, whose business is wholly domestic, have little or no use for any language but their own."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 5. UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL NOUNS. "Great benefit may be reaped from reading of histories."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. iii. "And some attempts were made towards writing of history."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 110. "It is Invading of the Priest's Office for any other to Offer it."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 200. "And thus far of forming of verbs."--_Walker's Art of Teaching_, p. 35. "And without shedding of blood is no remission."--_Heb._, ix, 22. "For making of measures we have the best method here in England."--_Printer's Gram._ "This is really both admitting and denying, at once."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 72. "And hence the origin of making of parliaments."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. i, p. 71. "Next thou objectest, that having of saving light and grace presupposes conversion. But that I deny: for, on the contrary, conversion presupposeth having light and grace."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 143. "They cried down wearing of rings and other superfluities as we do."--_Ib._, i, 236. "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel."--_1 Peter_, iii, 3. "In spelling of derivative Words, the Primitive must be kept whole."--_British Gram._, p. 50; _Buchanan's Syntax_, 9. "And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar."--_Numbers_, vii, 10. "Boasting is not only telling of lies, but also many unseemly truths."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 244. "We freely confess that forbearing of prayer in the wicked is sinful."--_Barclay_, i, 316. "For revealing of a secret, there is no remedy."--_Inst. E. Gram._, p. 126. "He turned all his thoughts to composing of laws for the good of the state."--_Rollin's Ancient Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 38. UNDER NOTE XVI.--PARTICIPLES, NOT NOUNS. "It is salvation to be kept from falling into a pit, as truly as to be taken out of it after the falling in."--_Barclay_, i, 210. "For in the receiving and embracing the testimony of truth, they felt eased."--_Ib._, i, 469. "True regularity does not consist in the having but a single rule, and forcing every thing to conform to it."--_Philol. Museum_, i, 664. "To the man of the world, this sound of glad tidings appears only an idle tale, and not worth the attending to."--_Life of Tho. Say_, p. 144. "To be the deliverer of the captive Jews, by the ordering their temple to be re-built," &c.--_Rollin_, ii, 124. "And for the preserving them from being defiled."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 133. "A wise man will avoid the showing any excellence in trifles."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 80. "Hirsutus had no other reason for the valuing a book."--_Rambler_, No. 177; _Wright's Gram._, p. 190. "To the being heard with satisfaction, it is necessary that the speaker should deliver himself with ease."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 114. "And to the being well heard, and clearly understood, a good and distinct articulation contributes more, than power of voice."--_Ib._, p. 117. "_Potential_ means the having power or will; As, If you _would_ improve, you _should_ be still." --_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 31. UNDER NOTE XVII.--VARIOUS ERRORS. "For the same reason, a neuter verb cannot become a passive."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 74. "The period is the whole sentence complete in itself."--_Ib._, p. 115. "The colon or member is a chief constructive part, or greater division of a sentence."--_Ib._ "The semicolon or half member, is a less constructive part or subdivision, of a sentence or member."--_Ib._ "A sentence or member is again subdivided into commas or segments."--_Ib._, p. 116. "The first error that I would mention, is, a too general attention to the dead languages, with a neglect of our own."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 3. "One third of the importations would supply the demands of people."--_Ib._, p. 119. "And especially in grave stile."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 72. "By too eager pursuit, he ran a great risk of being disappointed."--_Murray's Key, Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 201. "Letters are divided into vowels and consonants."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 7; _and others_. "Consonants are divided into mutes and semi-vowels."--_Ib._, i, 8; _and others_. "The first of these forms is most agreeable to the English idiom."--_Ib._, i, 176. "If they gain, it is a too dear rate."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 504. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to prevent a too frequent repetition of it."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 1. "This vulgar error might perhaps arise from a too partial fondness for the Latin."--_Dr. Ash's Gram., Pref._, p. iv. "The groans which a too heavy load extorts from her."--_Hitchcock, on Dyspepsy_, p. 50. "The numbers [of a verb] are, of course, singular and plural."--_Bucke's Gram._ p. 58. "To brook no meanness, and to stoop to no dissimulation, are the indications of a great mind."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 236. "This mode of expression rather suits familiar than grave style."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 198. "This use of the word rather suits familiar and low style."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 134. "According to the nature of the composition the one or other may be predominant."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 102. "Yet the commonness of such sentences prevents in a great measure a too early expectation of the end."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 411. "An eulogy or a philippie may be pronounced by an individual of one nation upon the subject of another."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 298. "A French sermon, is for most part, a warm animated exhortation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 288. "I do not envy those who think slavery no very pitiable a lot."--_Channing, on Emancipation_, p. 52. "The auxiliary and principal united, constitute a tense."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 75. "There are some verbs which are defective with respect to persons."--_Ib._, i, 109. "In youth, the habits of industry are most easily acquired."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 235. "Apostrophe (') is used in place of a letter left out."--_Bullions's Eng. Gram._, p. 156. CHAPTER III.--CASES, OR NOUNS. The rules for the construction of Nouns, or Cases, are seven; hence this chapter, according to the order adopted above, reviews the series of rules from the second rule to the eighth, inclusively. Though _Nouns_ are here the topic, all these seven rules apply alike to _Nouns and to Pronouns_; that is, to all the words of our language which are susceptible of _Cases_. RULE II.--NOMINATIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case: as, "The _Pharisees_ also, _who_ were covetous, heard all these things; and _they_ derided him."--_Luke_, xvi, 14. "But where the _meekness_ of self-knowledge veileth the front of self-respect, there look _thou_ for the man whom _none_ can know but _they_ will honour."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 66. "Dost _thou_ mourn Philander's fate? _I_ know _thou_ sayst it: says thy _life_ the same?" --_Young_, N. ii, l. 22. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE II. OBS. 1.--To this rule, there are _no exceptions_; and nearly all nominatives, or far the greater part, are to be parsed by it. There are however _four_ different ways of disposing of the nominative case. _First_, it is generally _the subject of a verb_, according to Rule 2d. _Secondly_, it may be put _in apposition_ with an other nominative, according to Rule 3d. _Thirdly_, it may be put after a verb or a participle _not transitive_, according to Rule 6th. _Fourthly_, it may be put _absolute_, or may help to form a _phrase that_ is _independent_ of the rest of the sentence, according to Rule 8th. OBS. 2.--The subject, or nominative, is generally placed _before_ the verb; as, "_Peace dawned_ upon his mind."--_Johnson_. "_What is written_ in the law?"--_Bible_. But, in the following nine cases, the subject of the verb is usually placed _after_ it, or after the first auxiliary: 1. When a question is asked without an interrogative pronoun in the nominative case; as, "_Shall mortals be_ implacable?"--_Hooke_. "What _art thou doing_?"--_Id._ "How many loaves _have ye_?"--_Bible_. "_Are they_ Israelites? so _am I_."--_Ib._ 2. When the verb is in the imperative mood; as, "_Go thou_"--"_Come ye_" But, with this mood, the pronoun is very often omitted and understood; as, "Philip saith unto him, _Come_ and _see_"--_John_, i, 46. "And he saith unto them, _Be_ not _affrighted_."--_Mark_, xvi, 5. 3. When an earnest wish, or other strong feeling, is expressed; as, "_May she be_ happy!"--"How _were we struck_!"--_Young_. "Not as the world giveth, _give I_ unto you."--_Bible_. 4. When a supposition is made without the conjunction _if_; as, "_Had they known_ it;" for, "_If_ they had known it."--"_Were it_ true;" for, "_If_ it were true."--"_Could we draw_ by the covering of the grave;" for, "_If_ we could draw," &c. 5. When _neither_ or _nor_, signifying _and not_, precedes the verb; as, "This was his fear; _nor was his apprehension_ groundless."--"Ye shall not eat of it, _neither shall ye touch_ it."--_Gen._, iii, 3. 6. When, for the sake of emphasis, some word or words are placed before the verb, which more naturally come after it; as, "Here _am I_."--"Narrow _is_ the _way_."--"Silver and gold _have I_ none; but such as I have, _give I_ thee."--_Bible_. 7. When the verb has no regimen, and is itself emphatical; as, "_Echo_ the _mountains_ round."--_Thomson_. "After the Light Infantry _marched_ the _Grenadiers_, then _followed_ the _Horse_."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 71. 8. When the verbs, _say, answer, reply_, and the like, introduce the parts of a dialogue; as, "'Son of affliction,' _said Omar_, 'who art thou?' 'My name,' _replied_ the _stranger_, 'is Hassan.'"--_Dr. Johnson_. 9. When the adverb _there_ precedes the verb; as, "There _lived_ a _man_."--_Montgomery_. "In all worldly joys, there _is_ a secret _wound_."--_Owen_. This use of _there_, the general introductory adverb of place, is idiomatic, and somewhat different from the use of the same word in reference to a particular locality; as, "Because _there_ was not much water _there_."--_John_, iii, 23. OBS. 3.--In exclamations, and some other forms of expression, a few verbs are liable to be suppressed, the ellipsis being obvious; as, "How different [is] this from the philosophy of Greece and Rome!"--DR. BEATTIE: _Murray's Sequel_, p. 127. "What a lively picture [is here] of the most disinterested and active benevolence!"--HERVEY: _ib._, p. 94. "When Adam [spake] thus to Eve."--MILTON: _Paradise Lost_, B. iv, l. 610. OBS. 4.--Though we often use nouns in the nominative case to show whom we address, yet the imperative verb takes no other nominative of the second person, than the simple personal pronoun, _thou, ye_, or _you_, expressed or understood. It would seem that some, who ought to know better, are liable to mistake for the subject of such a verb, the noun which we put absolute in the nominative by direct address. Of this gross error, the following is an example: "_Study boys_. In this sentence," (says its author,) "_study_ is a verb of the second person, plural number, and agrees with its nominative case, _boys_--according to the rule: A verb must agree with its nominative case in number and person. _Boys_ is a noun _of_ the second person, plural number, masculine gender, in the nominative case to the verb study."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 17.[339] Now the fact is, that this laconic address, of three syllables, is written wrong; being made bad English for want of a comma between the two words. Without this mark, _boys_ must be an objective, governed by _study_; and with it, a nominative, put absolute by direct address. But, in either case, _study_ agrees with _ye_ or _you_ understood, and has not the noun for its subject, or nominative. OBS. 5.--Some authors say, and if the first person be no exception, say truly: "The nominative case to a verb, unless it be a pronoun, is always of the _third_ person."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 141. But W. B. Fowle will have all pronouns to be _adjectives_. Consequently all his verbs, of every sort, agree with nouns "expressed or understood." This, and every other absurd theory of language, can easily be made out, by means of a few perversions, which may be called corrections, and a sufficient number of interpolations, made under pretence of filling up ellipses. Thus, according to this author, "They fear," means, "They _things spoken of_ fear."--_True Eng. Gram._, p, 33. And, "_John, open_ the door," or, "_Boys, stop_ your noise," admits no comma. And, "Be grateful, ye children," and, "Be ye grateful children," are, in his view, every way equivalent: the comma in the former being, in his opinion, needless. See _ib._, p. 39. OBS. 6.--Though the nominative and objective cases of nouns do not differ in form, it is nevertheless, in the opinion of many of our grammarians, improper to place any noun in both relations at once, because this produces a confusion in the syntax of the word. Examples: "He then goes on to declare that there _are_, and distinguish _of_, four _manners_ of saying _Per se_."--_Walker's Treatise of Particles_, p. xii. Better: "He then proceeds to show, that _per se_ is susceptible of four different senses." "In just allegory _and_ similitude there is always a propriety, or, if you choose to call it, _congruity_, in the literal sense, as well as a distinct meaning or sentiment suggested, which is called the figurative sense."--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 291. Better: "In just allegory _or_ similitude, there is always a propriety--or, if you choose to call it _so, a congruity_--in the literal sense," &c. "It must then be meant of his sins who _makes_, not of his who _becomes_, the convert."--_Atterbury's Sermons_, i, 2. Better: "It must then be meant of his sins who _makes the convert_, not of his who _becomes converted_." "Eye _hath_ not _seen_, nor ear _heard_, neither _have entered_ into the heart of man, _the things_ which God hath prepared for them that love him."--_1 Cor._, ii, 9. A more regular construction would be: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither _hath it_ entered into the heart of man to _conceive_, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." The following example, from Pope, may perhaps be conceded to the poet, as an allowable ellipsis of the words "_a friend_," after _is_: "In who obtain defence, or who defend; In him who _is_, or him who _finds, a friend_." --_Essay on Man_, Ep. iv, l. 60. Dr. Lowth cites the last three examples, without suggesting any forms of correction; and says of them, "There seems to be an impropriety in these sentences, in which the same noun stands in a double capacity, performing at the same time the offices _both of the_ nominative and objective case."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 73. He should have said--"_of both the_ nominative and _the_ objective case." Dr. Webster, citing the line, "In him who is, and him who finds, a friend," adds, "Lowth condemns this use of the noun in the nominative and objective at the same time; but _without reason_, as the cases are not distinguished in English."--_Improved Gram._, p. 175. OBS. 7.--In Latin and Greek, the accusative before the infinitive, is often reckoned _the subject_ of the latter verb; and is accordingly parsed by a sort of exception to the foregoing rule--or rather, to that general rule of concord which the grammarians apply to the verb and its nominative. This construction is translated into English, and other modern tongues, sometimes literally, or nearly so, but much oftener, by a nominative and a finite verb. Example: "_[Greek: Eipen auton phonaethaenai]_."--_Mark_, x, 49. "Ait illum vocari."--_Leusden_. "Jussit eum vocari."--_Beza_. "Praecepit illum vocari."--_Vulgate_. "He commanded him to be called."--_English Bible_. "He commanded that he should be called."--_Milnes's Gr. Gram._, p. 143. "Il dit qu'on l'appelat."--_French Bible_. "He bid that somebody should call him." "Il commanda qu'on le fit venir."--_Nouveau Test._, Paris, 1812. "He commanded that they should _make him come_;" that is, "_lead him_, or _bring him_." "Il commanda qu'on l'appelat."--_De Sacy's N. Test_. OBS. 8.--In English, the objective case before the infinitive mood, although it may truly denote the agent of the infinitive action, or the subject of the infinitive passion, is nevertheless taken as the object of the preceding verb, participle, or preposition. Accordingly our language does not admit a literal translation of the above-mentioned construction, except the preceding verb be such as can be interpreted transitively. "_Gaudeo te val=ere_," "I am glad that thou art well," cannot be translated more literally; because, "I am glad thee to be well," would not be good English. "_Aiunt regem advent=are_," "They say the king is coming," may be otherwise rendered "They _declare_ the king to be coming;" but neither version is entirely literal; the objective being retained only by a change of _aiunt, say_, into such a verb as will govern the noun. OBS. 9.--The following sentence is a literal imitation of the Latin accusative before the infinitive, and for that reason it is not good English: "But experience teacheth us, _both these opinions to be_ alike ridiculous."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 262. It should be, "But experience _teaches us, that both these opinions are_ alike ridiculous." The verbs _believe, think, imagine_, and others expressing _mental action_, I suppose to be capable of governing nouns or pronouns in the objective case, and consequently of being interpreted transitively. Hence I deny the correctness of the following explanation: "RULE XXIV. The objective case precedes the infinitive mode; [as,] 'I _believe_ your _brother to be_ a good man.' Here _believe_ does not govern brother, in the objective case, because it is not the object after it. _Brother_, in the objective case, third person singular, precedes the neuter verb _to be_, in the infinitive mode, present time, third person singular."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, p. 135. This author teaches that, "The _infinitive mode agrees_ with the objective case in number and person."--_Ibid._ Which doctrine is denied; because the infinitive has no number or person, in any language. Nor do I see why the noun _brother_, in the foregoing example, may not be both the object of the active verb _believe_, and the subject of the neuter infinitive _to be_, at the same time; for the subject of the infinitive, if the infinitive can be said to have a subject, is not necessarily in the nominative case, or necessarily independent of what precedes. OBS. 10.--There are many teachers of English grammar, who still adhere to the principle of the Latin and Greek grammarians, which refers the accusative or objective to the latter verb, and supposes the former to be intransitive, or to govern only the infinitive. Thus Nixon: "The objective case is frequently put before the infinitive mood, as its subject; as, 'Suffer _me_ to depart.'" [340]--_English Parser_, p. 34. "When an objective case stands before an infinitive mood, as 'I understood _it_ to be him,' 'Suffer _me_ to depart,' such objective should be parsed, not as governed by the preceding verb, but as the objective case before the infinitive; that is, _the subject_ of it. The reason of this is--the former verb can govern one object only, and that is (in such sentences) the infinitive mood; the intervening objective being the subject of the infinitive following, and not governed by the former verb; as, in that instance, it _would be governing_ two objects."--_Ib., Note._[341] OBS. 11.--The notion that one verb governs an other in the infinitive, just as a transitive verb governs a noun, and so that it cannot also govern an objective case, is not only contradictory to my scheme of parsing the infinitive mood, but is also false in itself, and repugnant to the principles of General Grammar. In Greek and Latin, it is certainly no uncommon thing for a verb to govern two cases at once; and even the accusative before the infinitive is sometimes governed by the preceding verb, as the objective before the infinitive naturally is in English. But, in regard to construction, every language differs more or less from every other; hence each must have its own syntax, and abide by its own rules. In regard to the point here in question, the reader may compare the following examples: "[Greek: Echo anagkaen exelthein]."--_Luke_, xiv, 18. "Habeo necesse exire."--_Leusden_. English: "I have _occasion to go_ away." Again: "[Greek: O echon hota akouein, akoueto]."--_Luke_, xiv, 35. "Habens aures audiendi, audiat."--_Leusden_. "Qui habet aures ad audiendum, audiat."--_Beza_. English: "He that hath _ears to hear_, let _him hear_." But our most frequent use of the infinitive after the objective, is in sentences that must not be similarly constructed in Latin or Greek;[342] as, "And he commanded the _porter to watch_."--_Mark_, xiii, 34. "And he delivered _Jesus to be crucified_."--_Mark_, xv, 15. "And they led _him_ out _to crucify him_."--_Mark_, xv, 20. "We heard _him say_."--_Mark_, xiv, 58. "That I might make _thee know_."--_Prov._, xxii, 21. OBS. 12.--If our language does really admit any thing like the accusative before the infinitive, in the sense of a positive subject at the head of a clause, it is only in some prospective descriptions like the following: "Let certain studies be prescribed to be pursued during the freshman year; _some_ of these to be attended to by the whole class; with regard to others, a _choice_ to be allowed; _which_, when made by the student, (the parent or guardian sanctioning it,) to be binding during the freshman year: the same _plan_ to be adopted with regard to the studies of the succeeding years."--GALLAUDET: _Journal of the N. Y. Literary Convention_, p. 118. Here the four words, _some, choice, which_, and _plan_, may appear to a Latinist to be so many objectives, or accusatives, placed before infinitives, and used to describe that state of things which the author would promote. If objectives they are, we may still suppose them to be governed by _let, would have_, or something of the kind, understood: as, "_Let_ some of these be attended to;" or, "Some of these _I would have_ to be attended to," &c. The relative _which_ might with more propriety be made nominative, by changing "_to_ be binding" to "_shall_ be binding;" and as to the rest, it is very doubtful whether they are not now nominatives, rather than objectives. The infinitive, as used above, is a mere substitute for the Latin future participle; and any English noun or pronoun put absolute with a participle, is in the nominative case. English relatives are rarely, if ever, put absolute in this manner: and this may be the reason why the construction of _which_, in the sentence above, seems awkward. Besides, it is certain that the other pronouns are sometimes put absolute with the infinitive; and that, in the nominative case, not the objective: as, "And _I to be_ a corporal in his field, And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop! What? _I! I love! I sue! I seek_ a wife!"--_Shak., Love's Labour Lost_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE II. THE SUBJECT OF A FINITE VERB. "The whole need not a physician, but them that are sick."--_Bunyan's Law and Gr._, p. iv. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the objective pronoun _them_ is here made the subject of the verb _need_, understood. But, according to Rule 2d, "A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case." Therefore, _them_ should be _they_; thus, "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."] "He will in no wise cast out whomsoever cometh unto him."--_Robert Hall_ "He feared the enemy might fall upon his men, whom he saw were off their guard."--_Hutchinson's Massachusetts_, ii, 133. "Whomsoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 48. "The idea's of the author have been conversant with the faults of other writers."--_Swift's T. T._, p. 55. "You are a much greater loser than me by his death."--_Swift to Pope_, l. 63. "Such peccadillo's pass with him for pious frauds."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 279. "In whom I am nearly concerned, and whom I know would be very apt to justify my whole procedure."--_Ib._, i, 560. "Do not think such a man as me contemptible for my garb."--_Addison._ "His wealth and him bid adieu to each other."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 107. "So that, 'He is greater than _me_,' will be more grammatical than, 'He is greater than _I_.'"--_Ib._, p. 106. "The Jesuits had more interests at court than him."--SMOLLETT: in _Pr. Gram._, p. 106.[343] "Tell the Cardinal that I understand poetry better than him."--_Id., ib._ "An inhabitant of Crim Tartary was far more happy than him."--_Id., ib._ "My father and him have been very intimate since."--_Fair American_, ii, 53. "Who was the agent, and whom the object struck or kissed?"--_Infant School Gram._, p. 32. "To find the person whom he imagined was concealed there."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 225. "He offered a great recompense to whomsoever would help him."--HUME: in _Pr. Gram._, p. 104. "They would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whomsoever might exercise the right of judgement."--_Gov. Haynes's Speech_, in 1832. "They had promised to accept whomsoever should be born in Wales."--_Stories by Croker_. "We sorrow not as them that have no hope."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 27. "If he suffers, he suffers as them that have no hope."--_Ib._, p. 32. "We acknowledge that he, and him only, hath been our peacemaker."--_Gratton_. "And what can be better than him that made it?"--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 329. "None of his school-fellows is more beloved than him."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 42. "Solomon, who was wiser than them all."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 76. "Those whom the Jews thought were the last to be saved, first entered the kingdom of God."--_Eleventh Hour, Tract_, No. 4. "A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both."--_Prov._, xxvii, 3. "A man of business, in good company, is hardly more insupportable than her they call a notable woman."--_Steele, Sped_. "The king of the Sarmatians, whom we may imagine was no small prince, restored him a hundred thousand Roman prisoners."--_Life of Antoninus_, p. 83. "Such notions would be avowed at this time by none but rosicrucians, and fanatics as mad as them."--_Bolingbroke's Ph. Tr._, p. 24. "Unless, as I said, Messieurs, you are the masters, and not me."--BASIL HALL: _Harrison's E. Lang._, p. 173. "We had drawn up against peaceable travellers, who must have been as glad as us to escape."--BURNES'S TRAVELS: _ibid._ "Stimulated, in turn, by their approbation, and that of better judges than them, she turned to their literature with redoubled energy."--QUARTERLY REVIEW: _Life of H. More: ibid._ "I know not whom else are expected."--SCOTT'S PIRATE: _ibid._ "He is great, but truth is greater than us all."--_Horace Mann, in Congress_, 1850. "Him I accuse has entered."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.482: see _Shakspeare's Coriolanus_, Act V, sc. 5. "Scotland and thee did each in other live." --_Dryden's Po._, Vol. ii, p. 220. "We are alone; here's none but thee and I." --_Shak._, 2 Hen. VI. "Me rather had, my heart might feel your love, Than my unpleas'd eye see your courtesy." --_Idem: Joh. Dict._ "Tell me, in sadness, whom is she you love?" --_Id., Romeo and Juliet_, A. I, sc. 1. "Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire Too high a fame, when him we serve's away." --_Shak., Ant. and Cleop._ RULE III.--APPOSITION. A Noun or a personal Pronoun used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case: as, "But it is really _I_, your old _friend and neighbour., Piso_, late a _dweller_ upon the Coelian hill, who am now basking in the warm skies of Palmyra."--_Zenobia._ "But _he_, our gracious _Master_, kind as just, Knowing our frame, remembers we are dust."--_Barbauld_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE III. OBS. 1--_Apposition_ is that peculiar relation which one noun or pronoun bears to an other, when two or more are placed together in the same case, and used to designate the same person or thing: as, "_Cicero_ the _orator_;"--"The _prophet Joel_;"--"_He_ of Gath, _Goliah_;"--"Which _ye yourselves_ do know;"--"To make _him king_;"--"To give his _life_ a _ransom_ for many;"--"I made the _ground_ my _bed_;"--"_I_, thy _schoolmaster_;"--"_We_ the _People_ of the United States." This placing-together of nouns and pronouns in the same case, was reckoned by the old grammarians a _figure of syntax_; and from them it received, in their elaborate detail of the grammatical and rhetorical figures, its present name of _apposition_. They reckoned it a species of _ellipsis_, and supplied between the words, the participle _being_, the infinitive _to be_, or some other part of their "_substantive verb_:" as, "Cicero _being_ the orator;"--"To make him _to be_ king;"--"I _who am_ thy schoolmaster." But the later Latin grammarians have usually placed it among their regular concords; some calling it the first concord, while others make it the last, in the series; and some, with no great regard to consistency, treating it both as a figure and as a regular concord, at the same time. OBS. 2.--Some English grammarians teach, "that the words in the cases preceding and following the verb _to be_, may be said to be _in apposition_ to each other."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 181; _R. C. Smith's_, 155; _Fisk's_, 126; _Ingersoll's_, 146; _Merchant's_, 91. But this is entirely repugnant to the doctrine, that apposition is a _figure_; nor is it at all consistent with the original meaning of the word _apposition_; because it assumes that the literal reading, when the supposed ellipsis is supplied, is _apposition_ still. The old distinction, however, between apposition and same cases, is _generally_ preserved in our grammars, and is worthy ever to be so. The rule for _same cases_ applies to all nouns or pronouns that are put after verbs or participles not transitive, and that are made to agree in case with other nouns or pronouns going before, and meaning the same thing. But some teachers who observe this distinction with reference to the neuter verb _be_, and to certain passive verbs of _naming, appointing_, and the like, absurdly break it down in relation to other verbs, neuter or active-intransitive. Thus Nixon: "Nouns in apposition are in the same case; as, '_Hortensius_ died a _martyr_;' '_Sydney_ lived the shepherd's _friend_.'"--_English Parser_, p. 55. It is remarkable that _all_ this author's examples of "_nominatives in apposition_," (and he gives eighteen in the exercise,) are precisely of this sort, in which there is really _no apposition at all_. OBS. 3.--In the exercise of parsing, rule third should be applied only to the _explanatory term_; because the case of the _principal term_ depends on its relation to the rest of the sentence, and comes under some other rule. In certain instances, too, it is better to waive the analysis which _might_ be made under rule third, and to take both or all the terms together, under the rule for the main relation. Thus, the several proper names which distinguish an individual, are always in apposition, and should be taken together in parsing; as, _William Pitt--Marcus Tullius Cicero_. It may, I think, be proper to include with the personal names, some titles also; as, _Lord Bacon--Sir Isaac Newton_. William E. Russell and Jonathan Ware, (two American authors of no great note,) in parsing the name of "_George Washington_," absurdly take the former word as an _adjective_ belonging to the latter. See _Russell's Gram._, p. 100; and _Ware's_, 17. R. C. Smith does the same, both with honorary titles, and with baptismal or Christian names. See his _New Gram._, p. 97. And one English writer, in explaining the phrases, "_John Wickliffe's influence_," "_Robert Bruce's exertions_," and the like, will have the first nouns to be governed by the last, and the intermediate ones to be distinct possessives _in apposition_ with the former. See _Nixon's English Parser_, p. 59. Wm. B. Fowle, in his "True English Grammar," takes all titles, all given names, all possessives, and all pronouns, to be adjectives. According to him, this class embraces more than half the words in the language. A later writer than any of these says, "The proper noun is _philosophically_ an adjective. Nouns common or proper, of similar or dissimilar import, _may be parsed as adjectives_, when they become qualifying or distinguishing words; as, _President_ Madison,--_Doctor_ Johnson,--_Mr_. Webster,--_Esq_. Carleton,--_Miss_ Gould,--_Professor_ Ware,--_lake_ Erie,--the _Pacific_ ocean,--_Franklin_ House,--_Union_ street."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 134. I dissent from all these views, at least so far as not to divide a _man's name_ in parsing it. A person will sometimes have such a multitude of names, that it would be a flagrant waste of time, to parse them all separately: for example, that wonderful doctor, _Paracelsus_, who called himself, "_Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus Paracelsus de Hoenheim_."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ OBS. 4.--A very common rule for apposition in Latin, is this: "Substantives signifying the same thing, agree in case."--_Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 156. The same has also been applied to our language: "Substantives denoting the same person or thing, agree in case."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 102. This rule is, for two reasons, very faulty: first, because the apposition of _pronouns_ seems not to be included it; secondly, because two nouns that are not in the same case, do sometimes "signify" or "denote" the same thing. Thus, "_the city of London_," means only _the city London_; "_the land of Egypt_," is only Egypt; and "_the person of Richard_" is _Richard himself_. Dr. Webster defines _apposition_ to be, "The placing of two nouns in the same case, without a connecting word between them."--_Octavo Dict._ This, too, excludes the pronouns, and has exceptions, both various and numerous. In the first place, the apposition may be of more than two nouns, without any connective; as, "_Ezra_ the _priest_, the _scribe_ of the law."--_Ezra_, vii, 21. Secondly, two nouns connected by a conjunction, may both be put in apposition with a preceding noun or pronoun; as, "God hath made that same _Jesus_, whom ye have crucified, both _Lord_ and _Christ_."--_Acts_, ii, 36. "Who made _me_ a _judge_ or a _divider_ over you."--_Luke_, xii, 14. Thirdly, the apposition may be of two nouns immediately connected by _and_, provided the two words denote but one person or thing; as, "This great _philosopher and statesman_ was bred a printer." Fourthly, it may be of two words connected by _as_, expressing the idea of a partial or assumed identity; as, "Yet count _him_ not _as_ an _enemy_, but admonish _him as_ a _brother_."--_2 Thess._, iii, 15. "So that _he, as God_, sitteth in the temple of God."--_Ib._, ii, 4. Fifthly, it may perhaps be of two words connected by _than_; as, "He left _them_ no more _than_ dead _men_."--_Law and Grace_, p. 28. Lastly, there is a near resemblance to apposition, when two equivalent nouns are connected by _or_; as, "The back of the hedgehog is covered with _prickles, or spines_."--_Webster's Dict._ OBS. 5.--To the rule for apposition, as I have expressed it, there are properly _no exceptions_. But there are many puzzling examples of construction under it, some of which are but little short of exceptions; and upon such of these as are most likely to embarrass the learner, some further observations shall be made. The rule supposes the first word to be the principal term, with which the other word, or subsequent noun or pronoun, is in apposition; and it generally is so: but the explanatory word is sometimes placed first, especially among the poets; as, "From bright'ning fields of ether fair disclos'd, _Child_ of the sun, refulgent _Summer_ comes."--_Thomson_. OBS. 6.--The pronouns of the _first_ and _second_ persons are often placed before nouns merely to distinguish their person; as, "_I John_ saw these things."--_Bible_. "But what is this to _you receivers?_"--_Clarkson's Essay on Slavery_, p. 108. "His praise, _ye brooks_, attune."--_Thomson_. In this case of apposition, the words are in general closely united, and either of them may be taken as the explanatory term. The learner will find it easier to parse _the noun_ by rule third; or _both nouns_, if there be two: as, "_I_ thy _father-in-law Jethro_ am come unto thee."--_Exod._, xviii, 6. There are many other examples, in which it is of no moment, which of the terms we take for the principal; and to all such the rule may be applied literally: as, "Thy _son Benhadad king_ of Syria hath sent me to thee."--_2 Kings_, viii, 9. OBS. 7.--When two or more nouns of the _possessive case_ are put in apposition, the possessive termination added to one, denotes the case of both or all; as, "For _Herodias_' sake, his _brother Philip's wife_"--_Matt._, xiv, 3; Mark, vi, 17. Here _wife_ is in apposition with _Herodias_', and _brother_ with _Philip's_; consequently all these words are reckoned to be in the possessive case. The Greek text, which is better, stands essentially thus: "For the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother." "For _Jacob_ my _servant's_ sake, and _Israel_ mine _elect_."--_Isaiah_, xlv, 4. Here, as _Jacob_ and _Israel_ are only different names for the same person or nation, the four nouns in Italics are, according to the rule, all made possessives by the one sign used; but the construction is not to be commended: it would be better to say, "For _the_ sake _of_ Jacob my servant, and Israel mine elect." "With _Hyrcanus_ the high _priest's_ consent."--_Wood's Dict., w. Herod_. "I called at _Smith's_, the _bookseller_; or, at _Smith_ the _bookseller's_."-- _Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 105. Two words, each having the possessive sign, can never be in apposition one with the other; because that sign has immediate reference to the governing noun expressed or understood after it; and if it be repeated, separate governing nouns will be implied, and the apposition will be destroyed.[344] OBS. 8.--If the foregoing remark is just, the apposition of two nouns in the possessive case, requires the possessive sign to be added to that noun which immediately precedes the governing word, whether expressed or understood, and positively excludes it from the other. The sign of the case is added, sometimes to the former, and sometimes to the latter noun, but never to both: or, if added to both, the two words are no longer in apposition. Example: "And for that reason they ascribe to him a great part of his _father Nimrod's_, or _Belus's_ actions."--_Rollin's An. Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 6. Here _father_ and _Nimrod's_ are in strict apposition; but if _actions_ governs _Belus's_, the same word is implied to govern _Nimrod's_, and the two names are not in apposition, though they are in the same case and mean the same person. OBS. 9.--Dr. Priestley says, "Some would say, 'I left the parcel at _Mr. Smith's_, the _bookseller_;' others, 'at _Mr. Smith_ the _bookseller's_;' and perhaps others, at '_Mr. Smith's_ the _bookseller's_.' The last of these forms is most agreeable to the Latin idiom, but the first seems to be more natural in ours; and if the addition consist [_consists_, says Murray,] of two or more words, _the case seems to be very clear_; as, 'I left the parcel at _Mr. Smith's_ the _bookseller_ and _stationer_;' i. e. at Mr. Smith's, _who is a_ bookseller and stationer."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 70. Here the examples, if rightly pointed, _would all be right_; but the ellipsis supposed, not only destroys the apposition, but converts the explanatory noun into a nominative. And in the phrase, "_at Mr. Smiths, the bookseller's_," there is no apposition, except that of _Mr_. with _Smith's_; for the governing noun _house_ or _store_ is understood as clearly after the one possessive sign as after the other. Churchill imagines that in Murray's example, "I reside at _Lord Stormont's_, my old _patron_ and _benefactor_," the last two nouns are in the nominative after "_who was_" understood; and also erroneously suggests, that their joint apposition with _Stormont's_ might be secured, by saying, less elegantly, "I reside at Lord _Stormont's_, my old patron and _benefactor's_."-- _Churchill's New Gram._, p. 285. Lindley Murray, who tacitly takes from Priestley all that is quoted above, except the term "_Mr._," and the notion of an ellipsis of "_who is_," assumes each of the three forms as an instance of apposition, but pronounces the first only to be "correct and proper." If, then, the first is elliptical, as Priestley suggests, and the others are ungrammatical, as Murray pretends to prove, we cannot have in reality any such construction as the apposition of two possessives; for the sign of the case cannot possibly be added in more than these three ways. But Murray does not adhere at all to his own decision, as may be seen by his subsequent remarks and examples, on the same page; as, "The _emperor Leopold's_;"--"_Dionysius_ the _tyrant's_;"--"For _David_ my _servant's_ sake;"--"Give me here _John_ the _Baptist's_ head;"--"_Paul_ the _apostle's_ advice." See _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 176; _Smith's New Gram._, p. 150; and others. OBS. 10.--An explanatory noun without the possessive sign, seems sometimes to be put in apposition with a _pronoun of the possessive case_; and, if introduced by the conjunction _as_, it may either precede or follow the pronoun: thus, "I rejoice in _your_ success _as_ an _instructer_."-- _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 244. "_As_ an _author_, his 'Adventurer' is _his_ capital work."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 329. "Thus shall mankind _his_ guardian care engage, The promised _father_ of a future age."--_Pope_. But possibly such examples may be otherwise explained on the principle of ellipsis; as, [_He being_] "the promised _father_," &c. "As [_he was_] an _author_," &c. "As [_you are_] an _instructer_." OBS. 11.--When a noun or pronoun _is repeated_ for the sake of emphasis, or for the adding of an epithet, the word which is repeated may properly be said to be in apposition with that which is first introduced; or, if not, the repetition itself implies sameness of case: as, "They have forsaken _me_, the _fountain_ of living waters, and hewed them out _cisterns_, broken _cisterns_, that can hold no water."--_Jer._, ii, 13. "I find the total of their hopes and fears _Dreams_, empty _dreams_."--_Cowper's Task_, p. 71. OBS. 12.--A noun is sometimes put, as it were, in apposition to a _sentence_; being used (perhaps elliptically) to sum up the whole idea in one emphatic word, or short phrase. But, in such instances, the noun can seldom be said to have any positive relation that may determine its case; and, if alone, it will of course be in the nominative, by reason of its independence. Examples: "He permitted me to consult his library--a _kindness_ which I shall not forget."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 148. "I have offended reputation--a most unnoble _swerving_."--_Shakspeare_. "I want a hero,--an uncommon _want_."--_Byron_. "Lopez took up the sonnet, and after reading it several times, frankly acknowledged that he did not understand it himself; a _discovery_ which the poet probably never made before."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 280. "In Christian hearts O for a pagan zeal! A needful, but opprobrious _prayer!_"--_Young_, N. ix, l. 995. "Great standing _miracle_, that Heav'n assign'd Its only thinking thing this turn of mind."--_Pope_. OBS. 13.--A _distributive term_ in the singular number, is frequently construed in apposition with a comprehensive plural; as, "_They_ reap vanity, _every one_ with his neighbour."--_Bible_. "Go _ye every man_ unto his city."--_Ibid._ So likewise with two or more singular nouns which are taken conjointly; as, "The _Son and Spirit_ have _each_ his proper office."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 163. And sometimes a _plural_ word is emphatically put after a series of particulars comprehended under it; as, "Ambition, interest, glory, _all_ concurred."--_Letters on Chivalry_, p. 11. "Royalists, republicans, churchmen, sectaries, courtiers, patriots, _all parties_ concurred in the illusion."--_Hume's History_, Vol. viii, p. 73. The foregoing examples are plain, but similar expressions sometimes require care, lest the distributive or collective term be so placed that its construction and meaning may be misapprehended. Examples: "We have _turned every one_ to his own way."--_Isaiah_, liii, 6. Better: "_We have every one_ turned to his own way." "For in many things we _offend all_."--_James_, iii, 2. Better: "For in many things _we all_ offend." The latter readings doubtless convey the _true sense_ of these texts. To the relation of apposition, it may be proper also to refer the construction of a singular noun taken in a distributive sense and repeated after _by_ to denote order; as, "_They_ went out _one_ by one."--_Bible_. "Our whole _company, man_ by man, ventured in."--_Goldsmith_. "To examine a _book, page_ by page; to search a _place, house_ by house."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 106. So too, perhaps, when the parts of a thing explain the whole; as, "But those that sleep, and think not on their sins, Pinch _them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides_, and _shins_." --_Shak_. OBS. 14.--To express a reciprocal action or relation, the pronominal adjectives _each other_ and _one an other_ are employed: as, "They love _each other_;"--"They love _one an other_." The words, separately considered, are singular; but, taken together, they imply plurality; and they can be properly construed only after plurals, or singulars taken conjointly. _Each other_ is usually applied to two persons or things; and _one an other_, to more than two. The impropriety of applying them otherwise, is noticed elsewhere; (see, in Part II, Obs. 15th, on the Classes of Adjectives;) so that we have here to examine only their relations of case. The terms, though reciprocal and closely united, are seldom or never in the same construction. If such expressions be analyzed, _each_ and _one_ will generally appear to be in the nominative case, and _other_ in the objective; as, "They love _each other_;" i. e. _each_ loves _the other_. "They love _one an other_;" i. e. any or every _one_ loves any or every _other_. _Each_ and _one_ (--if the words be taken as cases, and not adjectively--) are properly in agreement or apposition with _they_, and _other_ is governed by the verb. The terms, however, admit of other constructions; as, "Be ye helpers _one_ of an _other_."--_Bible_. Here _one_ is in apposition with _ye_, and _other_ is governed by _of_. "Ye are _one_ an _other's_ joy."--_Ib._ Here _one_ is in apposition with _ye_, and _other's_ is in the possessive case, being governed by _joy_. "Love will make you _one_ an _other's_ joy." Here _one_ is in the objective case, being in apposition with _you_, and _other's_ is governed as before. "_Men's_ confidence in _one an other_;"--"_Their_ dependence _one_ upon _an other_." Here the word _one_ appears to be in apposition with the possessive going before; for it has already been shown, that words standing in that relation _never take the possessive sign_. But if its location after the preposition must make it objective, the whole object is the complex term, "_one an other_." "Grudge not _one_ against _an other_."--_James_, v, 9. "Ne vous plaignez point _les uns des autres_."--_French Bible_. "Ne suspirate _alius_ adversus _alium_."--_Beza_. "Ne ingemiscite adversus _alii alios."--Leusden_. "[Greek: Mae stenazete kat hallaelon]."--_Greek New Testament_. OBS. 15.--The construction of the Latin terms _alius alium, alii alios_, &c., with that of the French _l'un l'autre, l'un de l'autre_, &c., appears, at first view, sufficiently to confirm the doctrine of the preceding observation; but, besides the frequent use, in Latin and Greek, of a reciprocal adverb to express the meaning of one an other or each other, there are, from each of these languages, some analogical arguments for taking the English terms together as compounds. The most common term in Greek for _one an other_, ([Greek: Hallaelon], dat. [Greek: hallaelois, ais, ois], acc. [Greek: hallaelous]: ab [Greek: hallos], _alius_,) is a single derivative word, the case of which is known by its termination; and _each other_ is sometimes expressed in Latin by a compound: as, "Et osculantes se _alterutrum_, fleverunt pariter."--_Vulgate_. That is: "And kissing _each other_, they wept together." As this text speaks of but two persons, our translators have not expressed it well in the common version: "And they kissed _one an other_, and wept _one_ with _an other_"--_1 Sam._, xx, 41. _Alter-utrum_ is composed of a nominative and an accusative, like _each-other_; and, in the nature of things, there is no reason why the former should be compounded, and the latter not. Ordinarily, there seems to be no need of compounding either of them. But some examples occur, in which it is not easy to parse _each other_ and _one an other_ otherwise than as compounds: as, "He only recommended this, and not the washing of _one another's_ feet."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 143. "The Temple late two brother sergeants saw, Who deem'd _each other oracles_ of law."--_Pope_, B. ii, Ep. 2.[345] OBS. 16.--The _common_ and the _proper_ name of an object are very often associated, and put in apposition; as, "_The river Thames_,"--"_The ship Albion_,"--"_The poet Cowper_"--"_Lake Erie_,"--"_Cape May_"--"_Mount Atlas_." But, in English, the proper name of a place, when accompanied by the common name, is generally put in the objective case, and preceded by _of_; as, "The city _of_ New York,"--"The land _of_ Canaan,"--"The island _of_ Cuba,"--"The peninsula _of_ Yucatan." Yet in some instances, even of this kind, the immediate apposition is preferred; as, "That the _city Sepphoris_ should be subordinate to the _city Tiberias_."--_Life of Josephus_, p. 142. In the following sentence, the preposition _of_ is at least needless: "The law delighteth herself in the number _of_ twelve; and the number _of_ twelve is much respected in holy writ."--_Coke, on Juries_. Two or three late grammarians, supposing _of_ always to indicate a possessive relation between one thing and an other, contend that it is no less improper, to say, "The city _of_ London, the city _of_ New Haven, the month _of_ March, the islands _of_ Cuba and Hispaniola, the towns _of_ Exeter and Dover," than to say, "King _of_ Solomon, Titus _of_ the Roman Emperor, Paul _of_ the apostle, or, Cicero _of_ the orator."--See _Barrett's Gram._, p. 101; _Emmons's_, 16. I cannot but think there is some mistake in their mode of finding out what is proper or improper in grammar. Emmons scarcely achieved two pages more, before he forgot his criticism, and adopted the phrase, "in the city _of_ New Haven."--_Gram._, p. 19. OBS. 17.--When an object acquires a new name or character from the action of a verb, the new appellation is put in apposition with the object of the active verb, and in the nominative after the passive: as, "They named the _child John_;"--"The child was named _John_."--"They elected _him president_;"--"He was elected _president_." After the active verb, the acquired name must be parsed by Rule 3d; after the passive, by Rule 6th. In the following example, the pronominal adjective _some_, or the noun _men_ understood after it, is the direct object of the verb _gave_, and the nouns expressed are in apposition with it: "And he gave _some, apostles_; and _some, prophets_; and _some, evangelists_; and _some, pastors_ and _teachers_"--_Ephesians_, iv, 11. That is, "He _bestowed some_ [men] as _apostles_; and _some_ as _prophets_; and _some_ as _evangelists_; and _some_ as _pastors_ and _teachers_." The common reader might easily mistake the meaning and construction of this text in two different ways; for he might take _some_ to be either a _dative case_, meaning _to some persons_, or an adjective to the nouns which are here expressed. The punctuation, however, is calculated to show that the nouns are in apposition with _some_, or _some men_, in what the Latins call the _accusative, case_. But the version ought to be amended by the insertion of _as_, which would here be an express sign of the apposition intended. OBS. 18.--Some authors teach that words in apposition must agree in person, number, and gender, as well as in case; but such agreement the following examples show not to be always necessary: "The _Franks, a people_ of Germany."--_W. Allen's Gram._ "The Kenite _tribe_, the _descendants_ of Hobab."--_Milman's Hist. of the Jews_. "But how can _you_ a _soul_, still either hunger or thirst?"--_Lucian's Dialogues_, p. 14. "Who seized the wife of _me_ his _host_, and fled."--_Ib._, p. 16. "Thy gloomy _grandeurs_ (Nature's most august. Inspiring _aspect_!) claim a grateful verse."--_Young_, N. ix, l. 566. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE III. ERRORS OF WORDS IN APPOSITION. "Now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou."--_Gen._, xxxi, 44. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronouns I and thou, of the nominative case, are here put in apposition with the preceding pronoun _us_, which is objective. But, according to Rule 3d, "A noun or a personal pronoun, used to explain a preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case." Therefore, _I_ and _thou_ should be _thee_ and _me_; (the first person, in our idiom, being usually put last;) thus, "Now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, thee and me."] "Now, therefore, come thou, we will make a covenant, thee and me."--_Variation of Gen._ "The word came not to Esau, the hunter, that stayed not at home; but to Jacob, the plain man, he that dwelt in tents."--_Wm. Penn_. "Not to every man, but to the man of God, (i. e.) he that is led by the spirit of God."--_Barclays Works_, i, 266. "For, admitting God to be a creditor, or he to whom the debt should be paid, and Christ he that satisfies or pays it on behalf of man the debtor, this question will arise, whether he paid that debt as God, or man, or both?"--_Wm. Penn._ "This Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Man, the Emmanuel, God with us, we own and believe in: he whom the high priests raged against," &c.--_George Fox_. "Christ, and Him crucified, was the Alpha and Omega of all his addresses, the fountain and foundation of his hope and trust."--_Experience of Paul_, p. 399. "'Christ and Him crucified' is the head, and only head, of the church."--_Denison's Sermon_. "But if 'Christ and Him crucified' are the burden of the ministry, such disastrous results are all avoided."--_Ib._ "He never let fall the least intimation, that himself, or any other person, whomsoever, was the object of worship."--_Hannah Adams's View_, p. 250. "Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."--_1 Tim._, v, 17. "Our Shepherd, him who is styled King of saints, will assuredly give his saints the victory."--_Sermon_. "It may seem odd to talk of _we subscribers_"--_Fowlers True Eng. Gram._, p. 20. "And they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them."--_Jeremiah_, xiv, 16. "Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants."--_Philippians_, ii, 25. "Amidst the tumult of the routed train, The sons of false Antimachus were slain; He, who for bribes his faithless counsels sold, And voted Helen's stay for Paris' gold." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xi. l. 161. "See the vile King his iron sceptre bear-- His only praise attends the pious Heir; He, in whose soul the virtues all conspire, The best good son, from the worst wicked sire." --DR. LOWTH: _Union Poems_, p. 19. "Then from thy lips poured forth a joyful song To thy Redeemer!--yea, it poured along In most melodious energy of praise, To God, the Saviour, he of ancient days." --_Arm Chair_, p. 15. RULE IV.--POSSESSIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the thing possessed: as, "_God's_ mercy prolongs _man's_ life."--_Allen_. "_Theirs_ is the vanity, the learning _thine_; Touched by _thy_ hand, again _Rome's_ glories shine."--_Pope_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IV. OBS. 1.--Though the _ordinary_ syntax of the possessive case is sufficiently plain and easy, there is perhaps, among all the puzzling and disputable points of grammar, nothing more difficult of decision, than are some questions that occur respecting the right management of this case. That its usual construction is both clearly and properly stated in the foregoing rule, is what none will doubt or deny. But how many and what exceptions to this rule ought to be allowed, or whether any are justly demanded or not, are matters about which there may be much diversity of opinion. Having heretofore published the rule without any express exceptions, I am not now convinced that it is best to add any; yet are there three different modes of expression which might be plausibly exhibited in that character. Two of these would concern only the parser; and, for that reason, they seem not to be very important. The other involves the approval or reprehension of a great multitude of very common expressions, concerning which our ablest grammarians differ in opinion, and our most popular digest plainly contradicts itself. These points are; _first_, the apposition of possessives, and the supposed ellipses which may affect that construction; _secondly_, the government of the possessive case after _is, was_, &c., when the ownership of a thing is simply affirmed or denied; _thirdly_, the government of the possessive by a participle, as such--that is, while it retains the government and adjuncts of a participle. OBS. 2.--The apposition of one possessive with an other, (as, "For _David_ my _servant's_ sake,") might doubtless be consistently made a formal exception to the direct government of the possessive by its controlling noun. But this apposition is only a sameness of construction, so that what governs the one, virtually governs the other. And if the case of any noun or pronoun is known and determined by the rule or relation of apposition, there can be no need of an exception to the foregoing rule for the purpose of parsing it, since that purpose is already answered by rule third. If the reader, by supposing an ellipsis which I should not, will resolve any given instance of this kind into something else than apposition, I have already shown him that some great grammarians have differed in the same way before. Useless ellipses, however, should never be supposed; and such _perhaps_ is the following: "At Mr. Smith's [_who is_] the bookseller."--See _Dr. Priestley's Gram._, p. 71. OBS. 3.--In all our Latin grammars, the verb _sum, fui, esse_, to be, is said (though not with strict propriety) sometimes to _signify_ possession, property, or duty, and in that sense to govern the genitive case: as, "_Est regis_;"--"It is the king's."--"_Hominis est errare_;"--"It is man's to err."--"_Pecus est Melibœi_;"--"The flock is Meliboeus's." And sometimes, with like import, this verb, expressed or understood, may govern the dative; as, "_Ego_ [sum] _dilecto meo, et dilectus meus_ [est] _mihi_."--_Vulgate_. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."--_Solomon's Song_, vi, 3. Here, as both the genitive and the dative are expressed in English by the possessive, if the former are governed by the verb, there seems to be precisely the same reason from the nature of the expression, and an additional one from analogy, for considering the latter to be so too. But all the annotators upon the Latin syntax suggest, that the genitive thus put after _sum_ or _est_, is really governed, not by the verb, but by some _noun understood_; and with this idea, of an ellipsis in the construction, all our English grammarians appear to unite. They might not, however, find it very easy to tell by what noun the word _beloved's_ or _mine_ is governed, in the last example above; and so of many others, which are used in the same way: as, "There shall nothing die of all that is the _children's_ of Israel."--_Exod._, ix, 4. The Latin here is, "Ut nihil omnino pereat ex his _quae pertinent ad_ filios Israel."--_Vulgate_. That is,--"of all those _which belong to_ the children of Israel." "For thou art _Freedom's_ now--and _Fame's_, One of the few, the immortal names, That were not born to die."--HALLECK: _Marco Bozzaris_. OBS. 4.--Although the possessive case is always intrinsically an _adjunct_ and therefore incapable of being used or comprehended in any sense that is positively abstract; yet we see that there are instances in which it is used with a certain degree of abstraction,--that is, with an actual separation from the name of the thing possessed; and that accordingly there are, in the simple personal pronouns, (where such a distinction is most needed,) two different forms of the case; the one adapted to the concrete, and the other to the abstract construction. That form of the pronoun, however, which is equivalent in sense to the concrete and the noun, is still the possessive case, and nothing more; as, "All _mine_ are _thine_, and _thine_ are _mine_."--_John_, xvii, 10. For if we suppose this equivalence to prove such a pronoun to be something more than the possessive case, as do some grammarians, we must suppose the same thing respecting the possessive case of a noun, whenever the relation of ownership or possession is simply affirmed or denied with such a noun put last: as, "For all things are _yours_; and ye are _Christ's_; and Christ is _God's_."--_1 Cor._, iii, 21. By the second example placed under the rule, I meant to suggest, that the possessive case, when placed before or after this verb, (_be_,) _might_ be parsed as being governed by the nominative; as we may suppose "_theirs_" to be governed by "_vanity_," and "_thine_" by "_learning_," these nouns being the names of the things possessed. But then we encounter a difficulty, whenever a _pronoun_ happens to be the nominative; as, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, _which are God's_"--_1 Cor._, vi, 20. Here the common resort would be to some ellipsis; and yet it must be confessed, that this mode of interpretation cannot but make some difference in the sense: as, "_If ye be Christ's_, then are ye Abraham's seed."--_Gal._, iii, 29. Here some may think the meaning to be, "_If ye be Christ's seed_, or _children_." But a truer version of the text would be, "If ye _are of Christ_, then are ye Abraham's seed."--"Que si vous _etes a Christ_, vous etes done la posterite d'Abraham."--_French Bible_. OBS. 5.--Possession is the having of something, and if the possessive case is always an adjunct, referring either directly or indirectly to that which constitutes it a possessive, it would seem but reasonable, to limit the government of this case to that part of speech which is understood _substantively_--that is, to "the _name_ of the thing possessed." Yet, in violation of this restriction, many grammarians admit, that a _participle_, with the regimen and adjuncts of a participle, may govern the possessive case; and some of them, at the same time, with astonishing inconsistency, aver, that the possessive case before a participle converts the latter into a noun, and necessarily deprives it of its regimen. Whether participles are worthy to form an exception to my rule or not, this palpable contradiction is one of the gravest faults of L. Murray's code of syntax. After copying from Lowth the doctrine that a participle with an _article_ before it becomes a noun, and must drop the government and adjuncts of a participle, this author informs us, that the same principles are applicable to the _pronoun_ and participle: as, "Much depends on _their observing of_ the rule, and error will be the consequence of _their neglecting of_ it;" in stead of, "_their observing the rule_," and "_their neglecting it_." And this doctrine he applies, with yet more positiveness, to the _noun_ and participle; as if the error were still more glaring, to make an active participle govern a possessive _noun_; saying, "We shall perceive this _more clearly_, if we substitute a noun for the pronoun: as, 'Much depends upon _Tyro's observing of_ the rule,' &c.; which is the same as, 'Much depends on Tyro's _observance_ of the rule.' But, as this construction sounds rather _harshly_, it would, in general, be better to express the sentiment in the following, or some other form: 'Much depends on the _rule's being observed_; and error will be the consequence of _its being neglected_? or--'_on observing the rule_; and--_of neglecting it_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 193; _Ingersoll's_, 199; and others. OBS. 6.--Here it is assumed, that "_their observing the rule_," or "_Tyro's observing the rule_," is an ungrammatical phrase; and, several different methods being suggested for its correction, a preference is at length given to what is perhaps not less objectionable than the original phrase itself. The last form offered, "_on observing the rule_," &c., is indeed correct enough in itself; but, as a substitute for the other, it is both inaccurate and insufficient. It merely omits the possessive case, and leaves the action of the participle undetermined in respect to the agent. For the possessive case before a real participle, denotes not the possessor of something, as in other instances, but the agent of the action, or the subject of the being or passion; and the simple question here is, whether this extraordinary use of the possessive case is, or is not, such an idiom of our language as ought to be justified. Participles may become nouns, if we choose to use them substantively; but can they govern the possessive case before them, while they govern also the objective after them, or while they have a participial meaning which is qualified by adverbs? If they can, Lowth, Murray, and others, are wrong in supposing the foregoing phrases to be ungrammatical, and in teaching that the possessive case before a participle converts it into a noun; and if they cannot, Priestley, Murray, Hiley, Wells, Weld, and others, are wrong in supposing that a participle, or a phrase beginning with a participle, may properly govern the possessive case. Compare Murray's seventh note under his Rule 10th, with the second under his Rule 14th. The same contradiction is taught by many other compilers. See _Smith's New Grammar_, pp. 152 and 162; _Comly's Gram._, 91 and 108; _Ingersoll's_, 180 and 199. OBS. 7.--Concerning one of the forms of expression which Murray approves and prefers, among his corrections above, the learned doctors Lowth and Campbell appear to have formed very different opinions. The latter, in the chapter which, in his Philosophy of Rhetoric, he devotes to disputed points in syntax, says: "There is only one other observation of Dr. Lowth, on which, before I conclude this article, I must beg leave to offer some remarks. 'Phrases like the following, though very common, are improper: Much depends upon the _rule's being observed_; and error will be the consequence of _its being neglected_. For here _is_ a noun _and_ a pronoun representing it, each in the possessive case, that is, under the government of another noun, but without other noun to govern it: for _being observed_, and _being neglected_, are not nouns: nor can you supply the place of the possessive case by the preposition _of_ before the noun or pronoun.'[346] For my part," continues Campbell, "notwithstanding what is here very speciously urged, I am not satisfied that there is any fault in the phrases censured. They appear to me to be perfectly in the idiom of our tongue, and such as on some occasions could not easily be avoided, unless by recurring to circumlocution, an expedient which invariably tends to enervate the expression."--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, B. ii, Ch. iv, p. 234. OBS. 8.--Dr. Campbell, if I understand his argument, defends the foregoing expressions against the objections of Dr. Lowth, not on the ground that participles as such may govern the possessive case, but on the supposition that as the simple active participle may become a noun, and in that character govern the possessive case, so may the passive participle, and with equal propriety, notwithstanding it consists of two or more words, which must in this construction be considered as forming "one compound noun." I am not sure that he means to confine himself strictly to this latter ground, but if he does, his position cannot be said in any respect to contravene my rule for the possessive case. I do not, however, agree with him, either in the opinion which he offers, or in the negative which he attempts to prove. In view of the two examples, "Much depends upon the _rule's being observed_," and, "Much depends upon _their observing of the rule_," he says: "Now, although I allow both _the_ modes of expression to be good, I think the first _simpler and better_ than the second." Then, denying all faults, he proceeds: "Let us consider whether the former be liable to _any objections_, which do not equally affect the latter." But in his argument, he considers only the objections offered by Lowth, which indeed he sufficiently refutes. Now to me there appear to be other objections, which are better founded. In the first place, the two sentences are not equivalent in meaning; hence the preference suggested by this critic and others, is absurd. Secondly, a compound noun formed of two or three words without any hyphen, is at best such an anomaly, as we ought rather to avoid than to prefer. If these considerations do not positively condemn the former construction, they ought at least to prevent it from displacing the latter; and seldom is either to be preferred to the regular noun, which we can limit by the article or the possessive at pleasure: as, "Much depends on _an observance_ of the rule."--"Much depends on _their observance_ of the rule." Now these two sentences are equivalent to the two former, but not to each other; and, _vice versa_: that is, the two former are equivalent to these, but not to each other.[347] OBS. 9.--From Dr. Campbell's commendation of Lowth, as having "given some excellent directions for preserving a proper distinction between the noun and the gerund,"--that is, between the participial noun and the participle,--it is fair to infer that he meant to preserve it himself; and yet, in the argument above mentioned, he appears to have carelessly framed one ambiguous or very erroneous sentence, from which, as I imagine, his views of this matter have been misconceived, and by which Murray and all his modifiers have been furnished with an example wherewith to confound this distinction, and also to contradict themselves. The sentence is this: "Much will depend on _your pupil's composing_, but more on _his reading_ frequently."--_Philos. of Rhet._, p. 235. Volumes innumerable have gone abroad, into our schools and elsewhere, which pronounce this sentence to be "correct and proper." But after all, what does it mean? Does the adverb "_frequently_" qualify the verb "_will depend_" expressed in the sentence? or "_will depend_" understood after _more_? or both? or neither? Or does this adverb qualify the action of "_reading_?" or the action of "_composing_?" or both? or neither? But _composing_ and _reading_, if they are mere _nouns_, cannot properly be qualified by any adverb; and, if they are called participles, the question recurs respecting the possessives. Besides, _composing_, as a participle, is commonly _transitive_; nor is it very fit for a noun, without some adjunct. And, when participles become nouns, their government (it is said) falls upon _of_, and their adverbs are usually converted into adjectives; as, "Much will depend on your _pupil's composing of themes_; but more, on _his frequent reading_." This may not be the author's meaning, for the example was originally composed as a mere mock sentence, or by way of "_experiment_;" and one may doubt whether its meaning was ever at all thought of by the philosopher. But, to make it a respectable example, some correction there must be; for, surely, no man can have any clear idea to communicate, which he cannot better express, than by imitating this loose phraseology. It is scarcely more correct, than to say, "Much will depend on _an author's using_, but more on _his learning_ frequently." Yet is it commended as a _model_, either entire or in part, by Murray, Ingersoll, Fisk, R. C. Smith, Cooper, Lennie, Hiley, Bullions, C. Adams, A. H. Weld, and I know not how many other school critics. OBS. 10.--That singular notion, so common in our grammars, that a participle and its adjuncts may form "_one name_" or "_substantive phrase_," and so govern the possessive case, where it is presumed the participle itself could not, is an invention worthy to have been always ascribed to its true author. For this doctrine, as I suppose, our grammarians are indebted to Dr. Priestley. In his grammar it stands thus: "When an _entire clause_ of a sentence, beginning with a participle of the present tense, is used as one name, or to express one idea, or circumstance, the noun on which it depends may be put in the genitive case. Thus, instead of saying, _What is the meaning of this lady holding up her train_, i. e. _what is the meaning of the lady in holding up her train_, we may say, _What is the meaning of this_ lady's _holding up her train_; just as we say, _What is the meaning of this lady's dress_, &c. So we may either say, _I remember_ it being _reckoned a great exploit_; or, perhaps more elegantly, _I remember_ its being _reckoned_, &c."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 69. Now, to say nothing of errors in punctuation, capitals, &c., there is scarcely any thing in all this passage, that is either conceived or worded properly. Yet, coining from a Doctor of Laws, and Fellow of the Royal Society, it is readily adopted by Murray, and for his sake by others; and so, with all its blunders, the vain gloss passes uncensured into the schools, as a rule and model for elegant composition. Dr. Priestley pretends to appreciate the difference between participles and participial nouns, but he rather contrives a fanciful distinction in the sense, than a real one in the construction. His only note on this point,--a note about the "_horse running to-day_," and the "_horse's running_ to-day,"--I shall leave till we come to the syntax of participles. OBS. 11.--Having prepared the reader to understand the origin of what is to follow, I now cite from L. Murray's code a paragraph which appears to be contradictory to his own doctrine, as suggested in the fifth observation above; and not only so, it is irreconcilable with any proper distinction between the participle and the participial noun. "When an _entire clause_ of a sentence, beginning with a participle of the present tense, is used as _one name_, or to express one idea or circumstance, the _noun on which it depends_ may be put in the _genitive_ case; thus, _instead_ of saying, 'What is the reason of this _person dismissing_ his servant so hastily?' _that is_, 'What is the reason of this person, _in_ dismissing his servant so hastily?' we _may_ say, and _perhaps_ ought to say, 'What is the reason of this _person's_ dismissing of his servant _so hastily?_' Just as we say, 'What is the reason of this person's _hasty dismission_ of his servant?' So also, we say, 'I remember it being reckoned a great exploit;' or more properly, 'I remember _its_ being reckoned,' &c. The following sentence is _correct and proper_: 'Much will depend on _the pupil's composing_, but more on _his reading_ frequently.' It would not be accurate to say, 'Much will depend on the _pupil composing_.' &c. We also properly say; 'This will be the effect _of the pupil's composing_ frequently;' instead of, '_Of the pupil composing_ frequently.' The _participle_, in such constructions, _does the office_ of a substantive; and it should therefore have a CORRESPONDENT REGIMEN."--_Murray's Gram._, Rule 10th, Note 7; _Ingersoll's_, p. 180; _Fisk's_, 108; _R. C. Smith's_, 152; _Alger's_, 61; _Merchant's_, 84. See also _Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 150; "Abridged Ed.," 117.[348] OBS. 12.--Now, if it were as easy to prove that a participle, as such, or (what amounts to the same thing) a phrase beginning with a participle, ought never to govern the possessive case, as it is to show that every part and parcel of the foregoing citations from Priestley, Murray, and others, is both weakly conceived and badly written, I should neither have detained the reader so long on this topic, nor ever have placed it among the most puzzling points of grammar. Let it be observed, that what these writers absurdly call "_an entire_ CLAUSE _of a sentence_," is found on examination to be some _short_ PHRASE, the participle with its adjuncts, or even the participle alone, or with a single adverb only; as, "holding up her train,"--"dismissing his servant so hastily,"--"composing,"--"reading frequently,"--"composing frequently." And each of these, with an opposite error as great, they will have to be "_one name_," and to convey but "_one idea_;" supposing that by virtue of this imaginary oneness, it may govern the possessive case, and signify something which a "lady," or a "person," or a "pupil," may consistently _possess_. And then, to be wrong in every thing, they suggest that any noun on which such a participle, with its adjuncts, "depends, _may be put_ in the _genitive case_;" whereas, such a change is seldom, if ever, admissible, and in our language, no participle _ever can depend_ on any other than the nominative or the objective case. Every participle so depending is an adjunct to the noun; and every possessive, in its turn, is an adjunct to the word which governs it. In respect to construction, no terms differ more than a participle which governs the possessive case, and a participle which does not. These different constructions the contrivers of the foregoing rule, here take to be equivalent in meaning; whereas they elsewhere pretend to find in them quite different significations. The meaning is sometimes very different, and sometimes very similar; but seldom, if ever, are the terms convertible. And even if they were so, and the difference were nothing, would it not be better to adhere, where we can, to the analogy of General Grammar? In Greek and Latin, a participle may agree with a noun in the genitive case; but, if we regard analogy, that genitive must be Englished, not by the possessive case, but by _of_ and the objective; as, "[Greek: 'Epei dokim`aen zaeteite tou 'en 'emoi lalountos Christou.]"--"Quandoquidem experimentum quaeritis in me loquentis Christi."--_Beza_. "Since ye seek a proof of _Christ speaking_ in me."--_2 Cor._, xiii, 3. We might here, perhaps, say, "of _Christ's speaking_ in me," but is not the other form better? The French version is, "Puisque vous cherchez une preuve _que Christ parle_ par moi;" and this, too, might be imitated in English: "Since ye seek a proof _that Christ speaks_ by me." OBS. 13.--As prepositions very naturally govern any of our participles except the simple perfect, it undoubtedly seems agreeable to our idiom not to disturb this government, when we would express the subject or agent of the being, action, or passion, between the preposition and the participle. Hence we find that the doer or the sufferer of the action is usually made its possessor, whenever the sense does not positively demand a different reading. Against this construction there is seldom any objection, if the participle be taken entirely as a noun, so that it may be called a participial noun; as, "Much depends _on their observing of_ the rule."--_Lowth, Campbell_, and _L. Murray_. On the other hand, the participle after the objective is unobjectionable, if the noun or pronoun be the leading word in sense; as, "It would be idle to profess an apprehension of serious _evil resulting_ in any respect from the utmost _publicity being given_ to its contents."--_London Eclectic Review_, 1816. "The following is a beautiful instance of the _sound_ of words _corresponding_ to motion."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 333. "We shall discover many _things partaking_ of both those characters."--_West's Letters_, p. 182. "To a _person following_ the vulgar mode of omitting the comma."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 365. But, in comparing the different constructions above noticed, writers are frequently puzzled to determine, and frequently too do they err in determining, which word shall be made the adjunct, and which the leading term. Now, wherever there is much doubt which of the two forms ought to be preferred, I think we may well conclude that both are wrong; especially, if there can easily be found for the idea an other expression that is undoubtedly clear and correct. Examples: "These appear to be instances of the present _participle being used_ passively."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 64. "These are examples of the past _participle being applied_ in an active sense."--_Ib._, 64. "We have some examples of _adverbs being used_ for substantives."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 134; _Murray's_, 198; _Ingersoll's_, 206; _Fisk's_, 140; _Smith's_, 165. "By a _noun, pronoun_, or _adjective, being prefixed_ to the substantive."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 39; also _Ingersoll's, Fisk's, Alger's, Maltby's, Merchant's, Bacon's_, and others. Here, if their own rule is good for any thing, these authors ought rather to have preferred the possessive case; but strike out the word _being_, which is not necessary to the sense, and all question about the construction vanishes. Or if any body will justify these examples as they stand, let him observe that there are others, without number, to be justified on the same principle; as, "Much depends _on the rule being observed_."--"Much will depend _on the pupil composing frequently_." Again: "Cyrus did not wait for the _Babylonians coming_ to attack him."--_Rollin_, ii, 86. "Cyrus did not wait for the _Babylonians' coming_ to attack him." That is--"for _their_ coming," and not, "for _them_ coming;" but much better than either: "Cyrus did not wait for the Babylonians _to come and_ attack him." Again: "To prevent his _army's being_ enclosed and hemmed in."--_Rollin_, ii, 89. "To prevent his _army being_ enclosed and hemmed in." Both are wrong. Say, "To prevent his _army from being_ enclosed and hemmed in." Again: "As a sign of _God's fulfilling_ the promise."--_Rollin_, ii, 23. "As a sign of _God fulfilling_ the promise." Both are objectionable. Say, "As a sign _that God would fulfill_ the promise." Again: "There is affirmative evidence for _Moses's being_ the author of these books."--_Bp. Watson's Apology_, p. 28. "The first argument you produce against _Moses being_ the author of these books."--_Ib._, p. 29. Both are bad. Say,--"for _Moses as being_ the author,"--"against _Moses as being_ the author," &c. OBS. 14.--Now, although thousands of sentences might easily be quoted, in which the possessive case is _actually_ governed by a participle, and that participle not taken in every respect as a noun; yet I imagine, there are, of this kind, few examples, if any, the meaning of which might not be _better expressed_ in some other way. There are surely none among all the examples which are presented by Priestley, Murray, and others, under their rule above. Nor would a thousand such as are there given, amount to any proof of the rule. They are all of them _unreal_ or _feigned_ sentences, made up for the occasion, and, like most others that are produced in the same way, made up badly--made up after some ungrammatical model. If a gentleman could possibly demand a _lady's meaning_ in such an act as _the holding-up of her train_, he certainly would use none of Priestley's three questions, which, with such ridiculous and uninstructive pedantry, are repeated and expounded by Latham, in his Hand-Book, Sec.481; but would probably say, "Madam, _what do you mean_ by holding up your train?" It was folly for the doctor to ask _an other person_, as if an other could _guess_ her meaning better than he. The text with the possessive is therefore not to be corrected by inserting a hyphen and an _of_, after Murray's doctrine before cited; as, "What is the meaning of this _lady's holding-up of_ her train?" Murray did well to reject this example, but as a specimen of English, his own is no better. The question which he asks, ought to have been, "_Why did this person dismiss_ his servant so hastily?" Fisk has it in the following form: "What is the reason of this _person's dismissing his servant_ so hastily?"--_English Grammar Simplified_, p. 108. This amender of grammars omits the _of_ which Murray and others scrupulously insert to govern the noun _servant_, and boldly avows at once, what their rule implies, that, "Participles are sometimes used both as verbs and as nouns at the same time; as, 'By the _mind's changing the object_,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 134; so _Emmons's Gram._, p. 64. But he errs as much as they, and contradicts both himself and them. For one ought rather to say, "By the _mind's changing of_ the object;" else _changing_, which "does the office of a noun," has not truly "a correspondent regimen." Yet _of_ is useless after _dismissing_, unless we take away the _adverb_ by which the participle is prevented from becoming a noun. "Dismissing _of_ his servant so _hastily_," is in itself an ungrammatical phrase; and nothing but to omit either the preposition, or the two adverbs, can possibly make it right. Without the latter, it may follow the possessive; but without the former, our most approved grammars say it cannot. Some critics, however, object to the _of_, because _the dismissing_ is not _the servant's_ act; but this, as I shall hereafter show, is no valid objection: they stickle for a false rule. OBS. 15.--Thus these authors, differing from one an other as they do, and each contradicting himself and some of the rest, are, as it would seem, all wrong in respect to the whole matter at issue. For whether the phrase in question be like Priestley's, or like Murray's, or like Fisk's, it is still, according to the best authorities, unfit to govern the possessive case; because, in stead of being a substantive, it is something more than a participle, and yet they take it substantively. They form this phrase in many different fashions, and yet each man of them pretends that what he approves, is just like the construction of a regular noun: "_Just as we say_, 'What is the reason of this person's _hasty dismission of_ his servant.'"--_Murray, Fisk, and others. "Just as we say_, 'What is the meaning of this lady's _dress_,' &c."--_Priestley_. The meaning of a _lady's dress_, forsooth! The illustration is worthy of the doctrine taught. "_An entire clause of a sentence_" substantively possessed, is sufficiently like "_the meaning of a lady's dress, &c._" Cobbett despised _andsoforths_, for their lack of meaning; and I find none in this one, unless it be, "_of tinsel and of fustian_." This gloss therefore I wholly disapprove, judging the position more tenable, to deny, if we consequently must, that either a phrase or a participle, as such, can consistently govern the possessive case. For whatever word or term gives rise to the direct relation of property, and is rightly made to govern the possessive case, ought in reason to be a _noun_--ought to be the name of some substance, quality, state, action, passion, being, or thing. When therefore other parts of speech assume this relation, they naturally _become nouns_; as, "Against the day of _my burying_."--_John_, xii, 7. "Till the day of _his showing_ unto Israel."--_Luke_, i, 80. "By _my own showing_."--_Cowper, Life_, p. 22. "By a fortune of _my own getting_."--_Ib._ "Let _your yea_ be yea, and _your nay_ nay."--_James_, v, 12. "Prate of _my whereabout_."--_Shah_. OBS. 16.--The government of possessives by "_entire clauses_" or "_substantive phrases_," as they are sometimes called, I am persuaded, may best be disposed of, in almost every instance, by charging the construction with impropriety or awkwardness, and substituting for it some better phraseology. For example, our grammars abound with sentences like the following, and call them good English: (1.) "So we may either say, 'I remember _it being_ reckoned a great exploit;' or perhaps more elegantly, 'I remember _its being_ reckoned a great exploit.'"--_Priestley, Murray, and others_. Here both modes are wrong; the latter, especially; because it violates a general rule of syntax, in regard to the case of the noun _exploit_. Say, "I remember _it_ was reckoned a great exploit." Again: (2.) "We also properly say, 'This will be the effect of the _pupil's composing_ frequently.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 179; _and others_. Better, "This will be the effect, _if the pupil compose_ frequently." But this sentence is _fictitious_, and one may doubt whether good authors can be found who use _compose_ or _composing_ as being intransitive. (3.) "What can be the reason of the _committee's having delayed_ this business?"--_Murray's Key_, p. 223. Say, "_Why have the committee_ delayed this business?" (4.) "What can be the cause of the _parliament's neglecting_ so important a business?"--_Ib._, p. 195. Say, "_Why does the parliament neglect_ so important a business?" (5.) "The time of _William's making_ the experiment, at length arrived."--_Ib._, p. 195. Say, "The time _for William to make_ the experiment, at length arrived." (6.) "I hope this is the last time of _my acting_ so imprudently."--_Ib._, p. 263. Say, "I hope _I shall never again act_ so imprudently." (7.) "If I were to give a reason for _their looking so well_, it would be, that they rise early."--_Ib._, p. 263. Say, "I should attribute _their healthful appearance_ to their early rising." (8.) "The tutor said, that diligence and application to study were necessary to _our becoming_ good scholars."--_Cooper's Gram._, p. 145. Here is an anomaly in the construction of the noun _scholars_. Say, "The tutor said, that _diligent application_ to study was necessary to our _success in learning_." (9.) "The reason of _his having acted_ in the manner he did, was not fully explained."--_Murray's Key_, p. 263. This author has a very singular mode of giving "STRENGTH" to weak sentences. The faulty text here was. "The reason why he _acted_ in the manner he did, was not fully explained."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 131. This is much better than the other, but I should choose to say. "The reason of _his conduct_ was not fully explained." For, surely, the "one idea or circumstance" of his "having acted in the manner in _which_ he did act," may be quite as forcibly named by the one word _conduct_, as by all this verbiage, this "substantive phrase," or "entire clause," of such cumbrous length. OBS. 17.--The foregoing observations tend to show, that the government of possessives by participles, is in general a construction little to be commended, if at all allowed. I thus narrow down the application of the principle, but do not hereby determine it to be altogether wrong. There are other arguments, both for and against the doctrine, which must be taken into the account, before we can fully decide the question. The double construction which may be given to infinitive verbs; the Greek idiom which allows to such verbs an article before them and an objective after them; the mixed character of the Latin gerund, part noun, part verb; the use or substitution of the participle in English for the gerund in Latin;--all these afford so many reasons by analogy, for allowing that our participle--except it be the perfect--since it participates the properties of a verb and a noun, as well as those of a verb and an adjective, may unite in itself a double construction, and be taken substantively in one relation, and participially in an other. Accordingly some grammarians so define it; and many writers so use it; both parties disregarding the distinction between the participle and the participial noun, and justifying the construction of the former, not only as a proper participle after its noun, and as a gerundive after its preposition; not only as a participial adjective before its noun, and as a participial noun, in the regular syntax of a noun; but also as a mixed term, in the double character of noun and participle at once. Nor are these its only uses; for, after an auxiliary, it is the main verb; and in a few instances, it passes into a preposition, an adverb, or something else. Thus have we from the verb a single derivative, which fairly ranks with about half the different parts of speech, and takes distinct constructions even more numerous; and yet these authors scruple not to make of it a hybridous thing, neither participle nor noun, but constructively both. "But this," says Lowth, "is inconsistent; let it be either the one or the other, and abide by its proper construction."--_Gram._, p. 82. And so say I--as asserting the general principle, and leaving the reader to judge of its exceptions. Because, without this mongrel character, the participle in our language has a multiplicity of uses unparalleled in any other; and because it seldom happens that the idea intended by this double construction may not be otherwise expressed more elegantly. But if it sometimes seem proper that the gerundive participle should be allowed to govern the possessive case, no exception to my rule is needed for the _parsing_ of such possessive; because whatever is invested with such government, whether rightly or wrongly, is assumed as "the name of something possessed." OBS. 18.--The reader may have observed, that in the use of participial nouns, the distinction of _voice_ in the participle is sometimes disregarded. Thus, "Against the day of my _burying_," means, "Against the day of my _being buried._" But in this instance the usual noun _burial_ or _funeral_ would have been better than either: "Against the day of _my burial_." I. e., "In diem _funerationis meae._"--_Beza_. "In diem _sepulturae meae_."--_Leusden_. "[Greek: 'Eis t`aen haemeran tou entaphiasmou mou.]"--_John_, xii, 7. In an other text, this noun is very properly used for the Greek infinitive, and the Latin gerund; as, "_For my burial._"--_Matt._, xxvi, 12. "Ad _funerandum_ me."--_Beza_. "Ad _sepeliendum_ me."--_Leusden_. Literally: "_For burying me._" "[Greek: Pros to entaphiasai me.]" Nearly: "_For to have me buried._" Not all that is allowable, is commendable; and if either of the uncompounded terms be found a fit substitute for the compound participial noun, it is better to dispense with the latter, on account of its dissimilarity to other nouns: as, "Which only proceed upon the _question's being begged._"--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 361. Better, "Which only proceed upon _a begging of the question._" "The _king's having conquered_ in the battle, established his throne."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 128. Better, "The king's _conquering_ in the battle;" for, in the participial noun, the distinction of _tense_, or of previous _completion_, is as needless as that of voice. "The _fleet's having sailed_ prevented mutiny."--_Ib._, p. 78. Better, "The _sailing of the fleet_,"--or, "The _fleet's sailing_" &c. "The _prince's being murdered_ excited their pity."--_Ibid._ Better, "The _prince's murder_ excited their _indignation_." OBS. 19.--In some instances, as it appears, not a little difficulty is experienced by our grammarians, respecting the addition or the omission of the possessive sign, the terminational apostrophic _s_, which in nouns is the ordinary index of the possessive case. Let it be remembered that every possessive is governed, or ought to be governed, by some noun expressed or understood, except such as (without the possessive sign) are put in apposition with others so governed; and for every possessive termination there must be a separate governing word, which, if it is not expressed, is shown by the possessive sign to be understood. The possessive sign itself _may_ and _must_ be omitted in certain cases; but, because it can never be inserted or discarded without suggesting or discarding a governing noun, it is never omitted _by ellipsis_, as Buchanan, Murray, Nixon, and many others, erroneously teach. The four lines of Note 2d below, are sufficient to show, in every instance, when it must be used, and when omitted; but Murray, after as many octavo pages on the point, still leaves it perplexed and undetermined. If a person knows what he means to say, let him express it according to the Note, and he will not fail to use just as many apostrophes and Esses as he ought. How absurd then is that common doctrine of ignorance, which Nixon has gathered from Allen and Murray, his chief oracles! "If _several_ nouns in the _genitive_ case, are immediately connected by a _conjunction_, the apostrophic _s_ is annexed _to the last_, but _understood to the rest_; as, Neither _John_ (i. e. John's) nor _Eliza's_ books."--_English Parser_, p. 115. The author gives fifteen other examples like this, all of them bad English, or at any rate, not adapted to the sense which he intends! OBS. 20.--The possessive case generally comes _immediately before_ the governing noun, expressed or understood; as, "All _nature's_ difference keeps all _nature's_ peace."--_Pope_. "Lady! be _thine_ (i. e., _thy walk_) the _Christian's_ walk."--_Chr. Observer._ "Some of _AEschylus's_ [plays] and _Euripides's_ plays are opened in this manner."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 459. And in this order one possessive sometimes governs an other: as, "_Peter's wife's mother_;"--"_Paul's sister's son_."--_Bible_. But, to this general principle of arrangement, there are some exceptions: as, 1. When the governing noun has an adjective, this may intervene; as, "_Flora's_ earliest _smells_."--_Milton_. "Of _man's_ first disobedience."--_Id._ In the following phrase from the Spectator, "Of _Will's_ last _night's_ lecture," it is not very clear, whether _Will's_ is governed by _night's_ or by _lecture_; yet it violates a general principle of our grammar, to suppose the latter; because, on this supposition, two possessives, each having the sign, will be governed by one noun. 2. When the possessive is affirmed or denied; as, "The book is _mine_, and not _John's_." But here the governing noun _may be supplied_ in its proper place; and, in some such instances, it _must_ be, else a pronoun or the verb will be the only governing word: as, "Ye are _Christ's_ [disciples, or people]; and Christ is _God's_" [son].--_St. Paul_. Whether this phraseology is thus elliptical or not, is questionable. See Obs. 4th, in this series. 3. When the case occurs without the sign, either by apposition or by connexion; as, "In her _brother Absalom's_ house."--_Bible_. "_David_ and _Jonathan's_ friendship."--_Allen_. "_Adam_ and _Eve's_ morning hymn."--_Dr. Ash_. "Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the _Lord's_ thy _God_."--_Deut._,, x, 14. "For _peace_ and _quiet's_ sake."--_Cowper_. "To the beginning of _King James_ the _First's_ reign."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 32. OBS. 21--The possessive case is in general (though not always) equivalent to the preposition _of_ and _the objective_; as, "_Of_ Judas Iscariot, _Simon's_ son."--_John_, xiii, 2. "_To_ Judas Iscariot, the son _of Simon_."--_Ib._, xiii, 26. On account of this one-sided equivalence, many grammarians erroneously reckon the latter to be a "_genitive case_" as well as the former. But they ought to remember, that the preposition is used more frequently than the possessive, and in a variety of senses that cannot be interpreted by this case; as, "_Of_ some _of_ the books _of_ each _of_ these classes _of_ literature, a catalogue will be given at the end _of_ the work."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 178. Murray calls this a "laborious mode of expression," and doubtless it might be a little improved by substituting _in_ for the third _of_; but my argument is, that the meaning conveyed cannot be expressed by possessives. The notion that _of_ forms a genitive case, led Priestley to suggest, that our language admits a "_double genitive_;" as, "This book _of_ my _friend's_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 71. "It is a discovery _of Sir Isaac Newton's_."--_Ib._, p. 72. "This exactness _of his_."--STERNE: _ib._ The doctrine has since passed into nearly all our grammars; yet is there no double case here, as I shall presently show. OBS. 22.--Where the governing noun cannot be easily mistaken, it is often omitted by ellipsis: as, "At the alderman's" [_house_];--"St. Paul's" [_church_];--"A book of my brother's" [_books_];--"A subject of the emperor's" [_subjects_];--"A friend of mine;" i. e., _one of my friends_. "Shall we say that Sacrificing was a pure invention of _Adam's_, or of _Cain_ or _Abel's?_"--_Leslie, on Tythes_, p. 93. That is--of Adam's _inventions_, or of Cain or Abel's _inventions_. The Rev. David Blair, unable to resolve this phraseology to his own satisfaction, absurdly sets it down among what he calls "ERRONEOUS OR VULGAR PHRASES." His examples are these: "A poem of Pope's;"--"A soldier of the king's;"--"That is a horse of my father's."--_Blair's Practical Gram._, p. 110, 111. He ought to have supplied the plural nouns, _poems, soldiers, horses_. This is the true explanation of all the "double genitives" which our grammarians discover; for when the first noun is _partitive_, it naturally suggests more or other things of the same kind, belonging to this possessor; and when such is not the meaning, this construction is improper. In the following example, the noun _eyes_ is understood after _his_: "Ev'n _his_, the _warrior's eyes_, were forced to yield, That saw, without a tear, Pharsalia's field." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. viii, l. 144. OBS. 23.--When two or more nouns of the possessive form are in any way connected, they usually refer to things individually different but of the same name; and when such is the meaning, the governing noun, which we always suppress somewhere to avoid tautology, is _understood_ wherever the sign is added without it; as, "A _father's_ or _mother's sister_ is an aunt."--_Dr. Webster_. That is, "A _father's sister_ or a mother's sister is an aunt." "In the same commemorative acts of the senate, _were thy name_, thy _father's_, thy _brother's_, and the _emperor's_."--_Zenobia_, Vol. i, p. 231. "From Stiles's pocket into _Nokes's_" [pocket]. --_Hudibras_, B. iii, C. iii, l. 715. "Add _Nature's, Custom's, Reason's_, Passion's strife." --_Pope, Brit. Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 383. It will be observed that in all these examples the governing noun is singular; and, certainly, it must be so, if, with more than one possessive sign, we mean to represent each possessor as having or possessing but one object. If the noun be made plural where it is expressed, it will also be plural where it is implied. It is good English to say, "A _father's_ or _mother's sisters_ are aunts;" but the meaning is, "A father's _sisters_ or a mother's sisters are aunts." But a recent school critic teaches differently, thus: "When different things of the same name belong to different possessors, the sign should be annexed to each; as, _Adams's, Davies's_, and _Perkins'_ Arithmetics; i. e., _three different books_."--_Spencer's Gram._, p. 47. Here the example is fictitious, and has almost as many errors as words. It would be much better English to say, "_Adams's, Davies's, and Perkins's Arithmetic_;" though the objective form with _of_ would, perhaps, be still more agreeable for these peculiar names. Spencer, whose Grammar abounds with useless repetitions, repeats his note elsewhere, with the following illustrations: "E. g. _Olmstead's_ and _Comstock's_ Philosophies. _Gould's Adam's_ Latin Grammar."--_Ib._, p. 106. The latter example is no better suited to his text, than "_Peter's wife's mother_;" and the former is fit only to mean, "Olmstead's _Philosophies_ and Comstock's Philosophies." To speak of the two books only, say," Olmstead's _Philosophy_ and Comstock's." OBS. 24.--The possessive sign is sometimes annexed to that part of a compound name, which is, of itself, in the objective case; as, "At his _father-in-law's_ residence." Here, "_At the residence of his father-in-law_," would be quite as agreeable; and, as for the plural, one would hardly think of saying, "Men's wedding parties are usually held at their _fathers-in-law's_ houses." When the compound is formed with _of_, to prevent a repetition of this particle, the possessive sign is sometimes added as above; and yet the hyphen is not commonly inserted in the phrase, as I think it ought to be. Examples: "The duke of Bridgewater's canal;"--"The bishop of Landaff's excellent book;"--"The Lord mayor of London's authority;"--"The captain of the guard's house."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 176. "The Bishop of Cambray's writings on eloquence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 345. "The bard of Lomond's lay is done."--_Queen's Wake_, p. 99. "For the kingdom of God's sake."--_Luke_, xviii, 29. "Of the children of Israel's half."--_Numbers_, xxxi, 30. From these examples it would seem, that the possessive sign has a less intimate alliance with the possessive case, than with the governing noun; or, at any rate, a dependence less close than that of the objective noun which here assumes it. And since the two nouns here so intimately joined by _of_, cannot be explained separately as forming two cases, but must be parsed together as _one name_ governed in the usual way, I should either adopt some other phraseology, or write the compound terms with hyphens, thus: "The _Duke-of-Bridgewater's_ canal;"--"The _Bishop-of-Landaff's_ excellent book;"--"The _Bard-of- Lomond's_ lay is done." But there is commonly some better mode of correcting such phrases. With deference to Murray and others, "_The King of Great Britain's prerogative_," [349] is but an untoward way of saying, "_The prerogative of the British King_;" and, "_The Lord mayor of London's authority_," may quite as well be written, "_The authority of London's Lord Mayor_." Blair, who for brevity robs the _Arch_bishop of half his title, might as well have said, "_Fenelon's_ writings on eloquence." "_Propter regnum Dei_," might have been rendered, "For the kingdom _of God_;"--"For _the sake of_ the kingdom of God;"--or, "For the sake of _God's_ kingdom." And in lieu of the other text, we might say, "Of the _Israelites'_ half." OBS. 25.--"Little explanatory circumstances," says Priestley, "are particularly awkward between the _genitive case_, and the word which usually follows it; as, 'She began to extol the farmer's, _as she called him_, excellent understanding.' Harriet Watson, Vol. i, p. 27."--_Priestley's Gram._, p 174. Murray assumes this remark, and adds respecting the example, "It ought to be, 'the excellent understanding of the farmer, as she called him.' "--_Murray's Gram._, p. 175. Intersertions of this kind are as uncommon as they are uncouth. Murray, it seems, found none for his Exercises, but made up a couple to suit his purpose. The following might have answered as well for an other: "Monsieur D'acier observes, that Zeno's (the Founder of the Sect,) opinion was Fair and Defensible in these Points."--_Colliers Antoninus_, p. ii. OBS. 26.--It is so usual a practice in our language, to put the possessive sign always and only where the two terms of the possessive relation meet, that this ending is liable to be added to any adjunct which can be taken as a part of the former noun or name; as, (1.) "The _court-martial's_ violent proceedings." Here the plural would be _courts-martial_; but the possessive sign must be at the end. (2.) "In _Henry the Eighth's_ time."--_Walker's Key, Introd._, p. 11. This phrase can be justified only by supposing the adjective a part of the name. Better, "In the time of Henry the Eighth." (3.) "And strengthened with a _year or two's age_."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 6. Here _two's_ is put for _two years_; and, I think, improperly; because the sign is such as suits the former noun, and not the plural. Better, "And strengthened with _a year's age or more_." The word _two_ however is declinable as a noun, and possibly it may be so taken in Locke's phrase. (4.) "This rule is often infringed, by the _case absolute's not being properly distinguished_ from certain forms of expression apparently _similar_ to it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 155; _Fisk's_, 113; _Ingersoll's_, 210. Here the possessive sign, being appended to a distinct adjective, and followed by nothing that can be called a noun, is employed as absurdly as it well can be. Say, "This rule is often infringed by an improper use of the nominative absolute;" for this is precisely what these authors mean. (5.) "The participle is distinguished from the adjective by the _former's expressing the idea of time_, and the _latter's denoting only a quality_"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 65; _Fisk's_, 82; _Ingersoll's_, 45; _Emmons's_, 64; _Alger's_, 28. This is liable to nearly the same objections. Say, "The participle differs from an adjective by expressing the idea of time, whereas the adjective denotes only a quality." (6.) "The relatives _that_ and _as_ differ from _who_ and _which_ in the _former's not being immediately joined_ to the governing word."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 140. This is still worse, because _former's_, which is like a singular noun, has here a plural meaning; namely, "in _the former terms' not being_," &c. Say--"in _that the former never follow_ the governing word." OBS. 27.--The possessive termination is so far from being liable to suppression _by ellipsis_, agreeably to the nonsense of those interpreters who will have it to be "_understood_" wherever the case occurs without it, that on the contrary it is sometimes retained where there is an actual suppression of the noun to which it belongs. This appears to be the case whenever the pronominal adjectives _former_ and _latter_ are inflected, as above. The inflection of these, however, seems to be needless, and may well be reckoned improper. But, in the following line, the adjective elegantly takes the sign; because there is an ellipsis of both nouns; _poor's_ being put for _poor man's_, and the governing noun _joys_ being understood after it: "The _rich man's joys_ increase, the _poor's decay_."--_Goldsmith_. So, in the following example, _guilty's_ is put for _guilty person's_: "Yet, wise and righteous ever, scorns to hear The fool's fond wishes, or the _guilty's_ prayer." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. v, l. 155. This is a poetical license; and others of a like nature are sometimes met with. Our poets use the possessive case much more frequently than prose writers, and occasionally inflect words that are altogether invariable in prose; as, "Eager that last great chance of war he waits, Where _either's_ fall determines _both their_ fates." --_Ibid._, B. vi, l. 13. OBS. 28.--To avoid a concurrence of hissing sounds, the _s_ of the possessive singular is sometimes omitted, and the apostrophe alone retained to mark the case: as, "For _conscience'_ sake."--_Bible_. "_Moses'_ minister."--_Ib._ "_Felix'_ room."--_Ib._ "_Achilles'_ wrath."--_Pope_. "_Shiraz'_ walls."--_Collins_. "_Epicurus'_ sty."--_Beattie_. "_Douglas'_ daughter."--_Scott_. "For _Douglas'_ sake."--_Ib._ "To his _mistress'_ eyebrow."--_Shak_. This is a sort of poetic license, as is suggested in the 16th Observation upon the Cases of Nouns, in the Etymology. But in prose the elision should be very sparingly indulged; it is in general less agreeable, as well as less proper, than the regular form. Where is the propriety of saying, _Hicks' Sermons, Barnes' Notes, Kames' Elements, Adams' Lectures, Josephus' Works_, while we so uniformly say, in _Charles's reign, St. James's Palace_, and the like? The following examples are right: "At Westminster and _Hicks's Hall_."--_Hudibras_. "Lord _Kames's_ Elements of Criticism."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 331. "Of _Rubens's_ allegorical pictures."--_Hazlitt_. "With respect to _Burns's_ early education."--_Dugald Stewart_. "_Isocrates's_ pomp;"--"_Demosthenes's_ life."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 242. "The repose of _Epicurus's_ gods."--_Wilson's Heb. Gram._, p. 93. "To _Douglas's_ obscure abode."--_Scott, L. L._, C. iii, st. 28. "Such was the _Douglas's_ command."--_Id., ib._, C. ii, st. 36. OBS. 29.--Some of our grammarians, drawing broad conclusions from a few particular examples, falsely teach as follows: "When a singular noun ends in _ss_, the apostrophe only is added; as, 'For _goodness'_ sake:' except the word _witness_; as, 'The _witness's_ testimony.' When a noun in the possessive case ends in _ence_, the _s_ is omitted, but the apostrophe is retained; as, 'For _conscience'_ sake.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 49; _Hamlin's_, 16; _Smith's New Gram._, 47.[350] Of principles or inferences very much like these, is the whole system of "_Inductive Grammar_" essentially made up. But is it not plain that _heiress's, abbess's, peeress's, countess's_, and many other words of the same form, are as good English as _witness's_? Did not Jane West write justly, "She made an attempt to look in at the dear _dutchess's_?"--_Letters to a Lady_, p. 95. Does not the Bible speak correctly of "_an ass's head_," sold at a great price?--_2 Kings_, vi, 25. Is Burns also wrong, about "_miss's fine lunardi_," and "_miss's bonnet?_"--_Poems_, p. 44. Or did Scott write inaccurately, whose guide "Led slowly through the _pass's_ jaws?"--_Lady of the Lake_, p. 121. So much for the _ss_; nor is the rule for the termination _ence_, or (as Smith has it) _nce_, more true. _Prince's_ and _dunce's_ are as good possessives as any; and so are the following: "That vice should triumph, virtue vice obey; This sprung some doubt of _Providence's_ sway."--_Parnell_. "And sweet _Benevolence's_ mild command."--_Lord Lyttleton_. "I heard the _lance's_ shivering crash, As when the whirlwind rends the ash."--_Sir Walter Scott_. OBS. 30.--The most common rule now in use for the construction of the possessive case, is a shred from the old code of Latin grammar: "One substantive governs _another_, signifying a different thing, _in_ the possessive or genitive case."--_L. Murray's Rule X_. This canon not only leaves occasion for an additional one respecting pronouns of the possessive case, but it is also obscure in its phraseology, and too negligent of the various modes in which nouns may come together in English. All nouns used adjectively, and many that are compounded together, seem to form exceptions to it. But who can limit or enumerate these _exceptions?_ Different combinations of nouns have so often little or no difference of meaning, or of relation to each other, and so frequently is the very same vocal expression written variously by our best scholars, and ablest lexicographers, that in many ordinary instances it seems scarcely possible to determine who or what is right. Thus, on the authority of Johnson, one might write, _a stone's cast_, or _stone's throw_; but Webster has it, _stones-cast_, or _stones-throw_; Maunder, _stonecast, stonethrow_; Chalmers, _stonescast_; Worcester, _stone's-cast_. So Johnson and Chalmers write _stonesmickle_, a bird; Webster has it, _stone's-mickle_; yet, all three refer to Ainsworth as their authority, and his word is _stone-smickle_: Littleton has it _stone-smich_. Johnson and Chalmers write, _popeseye_ and _sheep's eye_; Walker, Maunder, and Worcester, _popeseye_ and _sheep's-eye_; Scott has _pope's-eye_ and _sheepseye_; Webster, _pope's-eye_ and _sheep's-eye, bird-eye_, and _birds-eye._ Ainsworth has _goats beard_, for the name of a plant; Johnson, _goatbeard_; Webster, _goat-beard_ and _goats-beard._ Ainsworth has _prince's feather_, for the amaranth; Johnson, Chalmers, Walker, and Maunder, write it _princes-feather_; Webster and Worcester, _princes'-feather_; Bolles has it _princesfeather_: and here they are all wrong, for the word should be _prince's-feather._ There are hundreds more of such terms; all as uncertain in their orthography as these. OBS. 31.--While discrepances like the foregoing abound in our best dictionaries, none of our grammars supply any hints tending to show which of these various forms we ought to prefer. Perhaps the following suggestions, together with the six Rules for the Figure of Words, in Part First, may enable the reader to decide these questions with sufficient accuracy. (1.) Two short radical nouns are apt to unite in a permanent compound, when the former, taking the sole accent, expresses the main purpose or chief characteristic of the thing named by the latter; as, _teacup, sunbeam, daystar, horseman, sheepfold, houndfish, hourglass._ (2.) Temporary compounds of a like nature may be formed with the hyphen, when there remain two accented syllables; as, _castle-wall, bosom-friend, fellow-servant, horse-chestnut, goat-marjoram, marsh-marigold._ (3.) The former of two nouns, if it be not plural, may be taken adjectively, in any relation that differs from apposition and from possession; as, "The _silver_ cup,"--"The _parent_ birds,"--"My _pilgrim_ feet,"--"Thy _hermit_ cell,"--"Two _brother_ sergeants." (4.) The possessive case and its governing noun, combining to form a literal name, may be joined together without either hyphen or apostrophe: as, _tradesman, ratsbane, doomsday, kinswoman, craftsmaster._ (5.) The possessive case and its governing noun, combining to form a _metaphorical_ name, should be written with both apostrophe and hyphen; as, _Job's-tears, Jew's-ear, bear's-foot, colts-tooth, sheep's-head, crane's-bill, crab's-eyes, hound's-tongue, king's-spear, lady's-slipper, lady's-bedstraw_, &c. (6.) The possessive case and its governing noun, combining to form an adjective, whether literal or metaphorical, should generally be written with both apostrophe and hyphen; as, "_Neats-foot_ oil,"--"_Calfs-foot_ jelly,"--"A _carp's-tongue_ drill,"--"A _bird's-eye_ view,"--"The _states'-rights'_ party,"--"A _camel's-hair_ shawl." But a triple compound noun may be formed with one hyphen only: as, "In doomsday-book;" (--_Joh. Dict._;) "An _armsend-lift._" Cardell, who will have all possessives to be adjectives, writes an example thus: "John's camel's hair girdle."--_Elements of Eng. Gram._, p. 39. That is as if John's camel had a hair girdle! (7.) When the possessive case and its governing noun merely help to form a regular phrase, the compounding of them in any fashion may be reckoned improper; thus the phrases, _a day's work, at death's door, on New Year's Day, a new year's gift, All Souls' Day, All Saints' Day, All Fools' Day, the saints' bell, the heart's blood, for dog's meat_, though often written otherwise, may best stand as they do here. OBS. 32.--The existence of a permanent compound of any two words, does not necessarily preclude the use of the possessive relation between the same words. Thus, we may speak of _a horse's shoe_ or _a goat's skin_, notwithstanding there are such words as horseshoe and goatskin. E.g., "That preach ye upon the _housetops._"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Matt._, x, 27. "Unpeg the basket on the _house's top._"--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 238. Webster defines _frostnail_, (which, under the word _cork_, he erroneously writes _frost nail_,) "A nail driven into a _horse-shoe_, to prevent _the horse_ from slipping on ice." Worcester has it, "A nail driven into a _horse's shoe_, to prevent _his slipping on the ice._" Johnson, "A nail with a _prominent head driven_ into the _horse's shoes_, that it may pierce the ice." Maunder, "A nail with a _sharp head driven_ into the _horses' shoes_ in frosty weather." None of these descriptions is very well written. Say rather, "A _spur-headed_ nail driven into a _horse's shoe_ to prevent _him from_ slipping." There is commonly some difference, and sometimes a very great one, between the compound noun and the possessive relation, and also between the radical compound and that of the possessive. Thus a _harelip_ is not a _hare's lip_, nor is a _headman_ a _headsman_, or _heart-ease heart's-ease._ So, according to the books, a _cat-head_, a _cat's-head_, and a _cat's head_, are three very different things; yet what Webster writes, _cat-tail_, Johnson, _cats-tail_, Walker and others, _cats-tail_, means but the same thing, though not a _cat's tail._ Johnson's "_kingspear, Jews-ear, lady-mantle, and lady-bedstraw_," are no more proper, than Webster's "_bear's-wort, lion's foot, lady's mantle, and lady's bed-straw._" All these are wrong. OBS. 33.--Particular examples, both of proper distinction, and of blind irregularity, under all the heads above suggested, may be quoted and multiplied indefinitely, even from our highest literary authorities; but, since nothing can be settled but by the force of _principles_, he who would be accurate, must resort to rules,--must consider what is analogical, and, in all doubtful cases, give this the preference. But, in grammar, particular analogies are to be respected, as well as those which are more general. For example, the noun _side_, in that relation which should seem to require the preceding noun to be in the possessive case, is usually compounded with it, the hyphen being used where the compound has more than two syllables, but not with two only; as, _bedside, hillside, roadside, wayside, seaside, river-side, water-side, mountain-side._ Some instances of the separate construction occur, but they are rare: as, "And her maidens walked along by the _river's side._"--_Exodus_, ii, 5. After this noun also, the possessive preposition _of_ is sometimes omitted; as, "On this _side_ the river;"(--_Bible_;) "On this _side_ Trent."--_Cowell_. Better, "On this _side of_ the river," &c. "Blind Bartimeus sat by the _highway side_, begging."--_Mark_, x, 46. Here Alger more properly writes "_highway-side._" In Rev., xiv, 20th, we have the unusual compound, "_horse-bridles._" The text ought to have been rendered, "even unto the _horses' bridles._" Latin, "usque ad fraenos equorum." Greek, "[Greek: achri ton chalinon ton hippon]." OBS. 34.--Correlatives, as father and son, husband and wife, naturally possess each other; hence such combinations as _father's son_, and _son's father_, though correct enough in thought, are redundant in expression. The whole and a part are a sort of correlatives, but the whole seems to possess its parts, more properly than any of the parts, the whole. Yet we seldom put the whole in the possessive case before its part, or parts, but rather express the relation by _of_; as, "a quarter _of_ a dollar," rather than, "a _dollar's_ quarter." After the noun _half_, we usually suppress this preposition, if an article intervene; as, "_half a dollar_," rather than, "half _of_ a dollar," or "a _dollar's_ half." So we may say, "_half the way_," for "half _of_ the way;" but we cannot say, "_half us_" for "half _of_ us." In the phrase, "_a half dollar_," the word _half_ is an adjective, and a very different meaning is conveyed. Yet the compounds _half-pint_ and _half-penny_ are sometimes used to signify, the _quantity_ of _half a pint_, the _value_ of _half a penny_. In weight, measure, or time, the part is sometimes made possessive of the whole; as, "a _pound's_ weight, a _yard's_ length, an _hour's_ time." On the contrary, we do not say, "_weight's_ pound, _length's_ yard, or _time's_ hour;" nor yet, "a pound _of_ weight, a yard _of_ length;" and rarely do we say, "an hour _of_ time." _Pound_ and _yard_ having other uses, we sometimes say, "a pound _in_ weight, a yard _in_ length;" though scarcely, "an hour _in_ time." OBS. 35.--Between a portion of time and its correlative action, passion, or being, the possessive relation is interchangeable; so that either term may be the principal, and either, the adjunct: as, "_Three years'_ hard work," or, "Three years _of hard work_." Sometimes we may even put either term in either form; as, "During the _ten years'_ war,"--"During the ten years _of war_,"--"During the war _of ten years_,"--"During the _war's_ ten years." Hence some writers, not perceiving why either word should make the other its governed adjunct, place both upon a par, as if they were in apposition; as, "Three _days time_."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 156. "By a few _years preparation_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 341. "Of forty _years planting_."--_Wm. Penn_. "An account, of five _years standing_." If these phrases were correct, it would also be correct to say, "_one day time_,"--"_one year preparation_,"--"_one year planting_,"--"_of one year standing_;" but all these are manifestly bad English; and, by analogy, so are the others. OBS. 36.--Any noun of weight, measure, or time, put immediately before an other, if it be not in the possessive case, will naturally be understood _adjectively_; as, "No person can, by words only, give to an other an adequate idea of a _pound weight_, or [a] _foot rule_."--_Gregory's Dict._ This phraseology can, with propriety, refer only to the weight or the rule with which we weigh or measure; it cannot signify _a pound in weight_, or _a foot in length_, though it is very probable that the author intended the latter. When the noun _times_ is used before an other noun by way of multiplication, there may be supposed an ellipsis of the preposition _of_ between the two, just as when we divide by the word _half_; as, "An hour is sixty _times the length_ of a minute."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 48. "Thirty seconds are _half the length_ of a minute." That is,--"half _of_ the length,"--"sixty times _of_ the length." NOTES TO RULE IV. NOTE I.--In the syntax of the possessive case, its appropriate form, singular or plural, should be observed, agreeably to the sense and declension of the word. Thus, write _John's, men's, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_; and not, _Johns, mens', her's, it's, our's, your's, their's_. NOTE II.--When nouns of the possessive case are connected by conjunctions or put in apposition, the sign of possession must always be annexed to such, and such only, as immediately precede the governing noun, expressed or understood; as, "_John_ and _Eliza's_ teacher is a man of more learning than _James's_ or _Andrew's_"--"For _David_ my _servant's_ sake."--_Bible_. "For my sake and the _gospel's_."--_Ib._ "Lost in _love's_ and _friendship's_ smile."--_Scott_. NOTE III.--The relation of property may also be expressed by the preposition _of_ and the objective; as, "_The will of man_," for "_man's will_." Of these forms, we should adopt that which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable; and, by the use of both, avoid an unpleasant repetition of either. NOTE IV.--A noun governing the possessive plural, should not, by a forced agreement, be made plural, when its own sense does not require it; as, "For _our parts_,"--"Were I in _your places_:" for we may with propriety say, "_Our part, your place_, or _your condition_;" as well as, "_Our desire, your intention, their resignation_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 169. A noun taken figuratively may also be singular, when the literal meaning would require the plural: such expressions as, "_their face_,"--"_their neck_,"--"_their hand_,"--"_their head_,"--"_their heart_,"--"_our mouth_,"--"_our life_,"--are frequent in the Scriptures, and not improper. NOTE V.--The possessive case should not be needlessly used before a participle that is not taken in other respects as a noun. The following phrase is therefore wrong: "Adopted by the Goths in _their_ pronouncing the Greek."--_Walker's Key_, p. 17. Expunge _their_. Again: "Here we speak of _their_ becoming both in form and signification passive."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 226. Say rather, "Here we speak of _them as becoming passive_, both in form and signification." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IV. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--THE POSSESSIVE FORM. "Mans chief good is an upright mind." See _Brown's Institutes of E. Gram._, p. 179. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the noun _mans_, which is intended for the possessive singular of _man_, has _not_ the appropriate form of that case and number. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 4th, "In the syntax ef the possessive case, its appropriate form, singular or plural, should be observed, agreeably to the sense and declension of the word." Therefore, _mans_ should be maris, with the apostrophe before the _s_; thus, "_Man's_ chief good is an upright mind."] "The translator of Mallets History has the following note,"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 263. "The act, while it gave five years full pay to the officers, allowed but one year's pay to the privates."--_Ib._, p. 184. "For the study of English is preceded by several years attention to Latin and Greek."--_Ib._, p. 7. "The first, the Court Baron, is the freeholders or freemens court."--_Coke, Litt._, p. 74. "I affirm, that Vaugelas' definition labours under an essential defect."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 163. "I affirm, that Vangelas's definition labours under an essential defect."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, Fourth Amer. Ed., Vol. ii, p. 360.[351] "There is a chorus in Aristophane's plays."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 480. "It denotes the same perception in my mind as in their's."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 65. "This afterwards enabled him to read Hicke's Saxon Grammar."--_Life of Dr. Murray_, p. 76. "I will not do it for tens sake."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 56. "I arose, and asked if those charming infants were her's."--_Werter_, p. 21. "They divide their time between milliners shops and taverns."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. i, p. 65. "The angels adoring of Adam is also mentioned in the Talmud."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 6. "Quarrels arose from the winners insulting of those who lost."--_Ib._, p. 171. "The vacancy, occasioned by Mr. Adams' resignation."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. vii. "Read for instance Junius' address, commonly called his letter to the king."--_Ib._, i, 225. "A perpetual struggle against the tide of Hortensius' influence."--_Ib._, ii, 23. "Which, for distinction sake, I shall put down severally."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 302. "The fifth case is in a clause signifying the matter of ones fear."--_Ib._, p. 312. "And they took counsel, and bought with them the potters' field."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Matt._, xxvii, 7. "Arise for thy servant's help, and redeem them for thy mercy's sake."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 265. "Shall not their cattle, and their substance, and every beast of their's be ours?"--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xxxiv, 23. "And every beast of their's, be our's?"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _ib._ "It's regular plural, _bullaces_, is used by Bacon."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 213. "Mordecai walked every day before the court of the womens house."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Esther_, ii, 11. "Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses."--IB. and FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Matt._, xi, 8: also _Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 173. "Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, and her two sons; and Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came, with his sons and his wife, unto Moses."--ALGER'S BIBLE, and THE FRIENDS': _Exod._, xviii, 2--6. "King James' translators merely revised former translations."--_Rev. B. Frazee's Gram._, p. 137. "May they be like corn on houses tops."--_White, on the English Verb._, p. 160. "And for his Maker's image sake exempt." --_Par. Lost_, B. xi, l. 514. "By all the fame acquir'd in ten years war." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 674. "Nor glad vile poets with true critics gore." --_Pope's Dunicad_, [sic--KTH] p. 175. "Man only of a softer mold is made, Not for his fellow's ruin, but their aid." --_Dryden's Poems_, p. 92. UNDER NOTE II.--POSSESSIVES CONNECTED. "It was necessary to have both the physician, and the surgeon's advice."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 140. "This out-side fashionableness of the Taylor on Tire-woman's making."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 49. "Some pretending to be of Paul's party, others of Apollos, others of Cephas, and others, pretending yet higher, to be of Christ's."--_Woods Dict., w. Apollos_. "Nor is it less certain that Spenser's and Milton's spelling agrees better with our pronunciation."-- _Philol. Museum_, i, 661. "Law's, Edwards', and Watts' surveys of the Divine Dispensations."--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. i, p. 193. "And who was Enoch's Saviour, and the Prophets?"--_Bayly's Works_, p. 600. "Without any impediment but his own, or his parents or guardians will."--_Literary Convention_, p. 145. "James relieves neither the boy[352] nor the girl's distress."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 116. "John regards neither the master nor the pupil's advantage."--_Ib._, p. 117. "You reward neither the man nor the woman's labours."--_Ib._ "She examines neither James nor John's conduct."-- _Ib._ "Thou pitiest neither the servant nor the master's injuries."--_Ib._ "We promote England or Ireland's happiness."--_Ib._ "Were Cain and Abel's occupation the same?"--_Brown's Inst._, p. 179. "Were Cain's and Abel's occupations the same?"--_Ib._ "What was Simon's and Andrew's employment?"-- _Author_. "Till he can read himself Sanctii Minerva with Scioppius and Perizonius's Notes."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 295. "And love's and friendship's finely--pointed dart Falls blunted from each indurated heart."--_Goldsmith_. UNDER NOTE III.--CHOICE OF FORMS. "But some degree of trouble is all men's portion."--_Murray's Key_, p. 218; _Merchant's_, 197. "With his father's and mother's names upon the blank leaf."--_Corner-Stone_, p. 144. "The general, in the army's name, published a declaration."--HUME: in _Priestley's Gram._, p. 69. "The Commons' vote."--_Id, ib._ "The Lords' house."--_Id., ib._ "A collection of writers faults."--SWIFT: _ib._, p. 68. "After ten years wars."--_Id., ib._ "Professing his detestation of such practices as his predecessors."--_Notes to the Dunciad_. "By that time I shall have ended my years office."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 104. "For Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife."--_Mark_, vi, 17. "For Herodias's sake, his brother Philip's wife."--_Murray's Key_, p. 194. "I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain salvation."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _2 Tim._, ii, 10. "For the elects' sakes."--SCOTT'S BIBLE. "For the elect's sake."--ALGER'S BIBLE, and BRUCE'S. "He was Louis the Sixteenth's son's heir."--_W. Allen's Exercises, Gram._, p. 329. "The throne we honour is the choice of the people."--"An account of the proceedings of the court of Alexander."--"An excellent tutor of a person of fashion's child!"--_Gil Bias_, Vol. 1, p. 20. "It is curious enough, that this sentence of the Bishop is, itself, ungrammatical!"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 201. "The troops broke into Leopold the emperor's palace."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 59. "The meeting was called by Eldon the judge's desire."--_Ibid._ "Peter's, John's, and Andrew's occupation was that of fishermen."--_Brace's Gram._, p. 79. "The venerable president of the Royal Academy's debility has lately increased."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 12. UNDER NOTE IV.--NOUNS WITH POSSESSIVES PLURAL. "God hath not given us our reasons to no purpose."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 496. "For our sakes, no doubt, this is written."--_1 Cor._, ix, 10. "Are not health and strength of body desirable for their own sakes?"--_Hermes_, p. 296; _Murray's Gram._, 289. "Some sailors who were boiling their dinners upon the shore."--_Day's Sandford and Merton_, p. 99. "And they in their turns were subdued by others."--_Pinnock's Geography_, p. 12. "Industry on our parts is not superseded by God's grace."--_Arrowsmith_. "Their Healths perhaps may be pretty well secur'd."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 51. "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 211. "It were to be wished, his correctors had been as wise on their parbs."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 60. "The Arabs are commended by the ancients for being most exact to their words, and respectful to their kindred."--_Sale's Koran_. "That is, as a reward of some exertion on our parts."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 86. "So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes."--_Psalms_, cvi, 32. "All liars shall have their parts in the burning lake."--_Watts_, p. 33. "For our own sakes as well as for thine."--_Pref. to Waller's Poems_, p. 3. "By discover- ing their abilities to detect and amend errors."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. 11, p. iv. "This world I do renounce; and, in your sights, Shake patiently my great affliction off."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 286 "If your relenting angers yield to treat, Pompey and thou, in safety, here may meet."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iii, l. 500. UNDER NOTE Y.--POSSESSIVES WITH PARTICIPLES. "This will encourage him to proceed without his acquiring the prejudice."--_Smith's Gram._, p. 5. "And the notice which they give of an action's being completed or not completed."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 72; _Alger's_, 30. "Some obstacle or impediment that prevents its taking place."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 38; _Alex. Murray's_, 37. "They have apostolical authority for their so frequently urging the seeking of the Spirit."--_The Friend_, Vol. xii, p. 54. "Here then is a wide field for reason's exerting its powers in relation to the objects of taste."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 18. "Now this they derive altogether from their having a greater capacity of imitation and description."--_Ib._, p. 51. "This is one clear reason of their paying a greater attention to that construction." --_Ib._, p. 123. "The dialogue part had also a modulation of its own, which was capable of its being set to notes."--_Ib._, p. 471. "What is the reason of our being often so frigid and unpersuasive in public discourse?"--_Ib._, p. 334. "Which is only a preparation for his leading his forces directly upon us."--_Ib._, p. 264. "The nonsense about _which's_ relating to things only, and having no declension, needs no refutation."--_Fowle's True E. Gram._, p. 18. "Who, upon his breaking it open, found nothing but the following inscription."--_Rollin_, Vol. ii, p. 33. "A prince will quickly have reason to repent his having exalted one person so high."--_Id._, ii, 116. "Notwithstanding it's being the immediate subject of his discourse."-- _Churchill's Gram._, p. 294. "With our definition of its being synonymous with time."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 29. "It will considerably increase the danger of our being deceived."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 293. "His beauties can never be mentioned without their suggesting his blemishes also."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 442. "No example has ever been adduced of a man's conscientiously approving of an action, because of its badness."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 90. "The last episode of the angel's shewing Adam the fate of his posterity, is happily imagined."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 452. "And the news came to my son, of his and the bride being in Dublin."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 44. "There is no room for the mind's exerting any great effort."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 32. "One would imagine, that these criticks never so much as heard of Homer's having written first."--_Pope's Preface to Homer_. "Condemn the book, for its not being a geography."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 317. "There will be in many words a transition from their being the figurative to their being the proper signs of certain ideas."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 322. "The doctrine of the Pope's being the only source of ecclesiastical power."--_Religious World_, ii, 290. "This has been the more expedient from the work's being designed for the benefit of private learners."--_Murray's Exercises, Introd._, p. v. "This was occasioned by the Grammar's having been _set up_, and not admitting of enlargement."--_Ib., Advertisement_, p. ix. RULE V.--OBJECTIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case: as, "I found _her_ assisting _him_"--"Having finished the _work_, I submit _it_." "Preventing _fame_, misfortune lends him _wings_, And Pompey's self his own sad _story_ brings." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. viii, l. 66. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE V. OBS. 1.--To this rule there are no exceptions; but to the old one adopted by Murray and others, "Active verbs govern the objective case," there are more than any writer will ever think it worth his while to enumerate. In point of brevity, the latter has the advantage, but in nothing else; for, as a general rule for NOUNS AND PRONOUNS, this old brief assertion is very defective; and, as a rule for "THE SYNTAX OF VERBS," under which head it has been oftener ranked, it is entirely useless and inapplicable. As there are four different constructions to which the nominative case is liable, so there are four in which the objective may be found; and two of these are common to both; namely, _apposition_, and _sameness of_ case. Every objective is governed by some _verb_ or _participle_, according to Rule 5th, or by some _preposition_, according to Rule 7th; except such as are put in _apposition_ with others, according to Rule 3d, or after an infinitive or a participle _not transitive_, according to Rule 6th: as, "Mistaking _one_ for the _other_, they took _him_, a sturdy _fellow_, called _Red Billy_, to be _me_." Here is every construction which the objective case can have; except, perhaps, that in which, as an expression of time, place, measure, or manner, it is taken after the fashion of an _adverb_, the governing preposition being suppressed, or, as some say, no governing word being needed. Of this exception, the following quotations may serve for examples: "It holds on by a single button round my neck, _cloak-fashion_"--EDGEWORTH'S _Castle Rackrent_. p. 17. A man quite at leisure to parse all his words, would have said, "_in the fashion of a cloak_." Again: "He does not care the _rind of a lemon_ for her all the while."--_Ib._, p. 108. "We turn our eyes _this way or that way_."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 172; _Frazee's Gram._, 157. Among his instances of "_the objective case restrictive_," or of the noun "used in the objective, without a governing word," Dr. Bullions gives this: "Let us go _home_" But, according to the better opinion of Worcester, _home_ is here an _adverb_, and not a noun. See Obs. 6th on Rule 7th. OBS. 2.--The objective case _generally follows_ the governing word: as, "And Joseph knew his _brethren_, but they knew not him"--_Gen._, xlii, 8. But when it is emphatic, it often precedes the nominative; as, "_Me_ he restored to mine office, and _him_ he hanged."--_Gen._, xli, 13. "_John_ have I beheaded."--_Luke_, ix, 9. "But _me_ ye have not always."--_Matt._, xxvi, 11. "_Him_ walking on a sunny hill he found."--_Milton_. In poetry, the objective is sometimes placed between the nominative and the verb; as, "His daring foe securely _him_ defied."--_Milton_. "Much he the _place_ admired, the person more."--_Id._ "The broom its yellow _leaf_ shed."--_Langhorne_. If the nominative be a pronoun which cannot be mistaken for an objective, the words may possibly change places; as, "_Silver_ and _gold_ have I none."--_Acts_, iii, 6. "Created _thing_ nought valued _he_ nor shunn'd."--_Milton_, B. ii, l. 679. But such a transposition of _two nouns_ can scarcely fail to render the meaning doubtful or obscure; as, "This _pow'r_ has praise, that virtue scarce can warm, Till fame supplies the universal charm."--_Dr. Johnson_. A relative or an interrogative pronoun is commonly placed at the head of its clause, and of course it precedes the verb which governs it; as, "I am Jesus, _whom_ thou persecutest."--_Acts_, ix, 5. "_Which_ of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?"--_Ib._, vii, 52. "Before their Clauses plac'd, by settled use, The Relatives these Clauses introduce."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 86. OBS. 3.--Every active-transitive verb or participle has some _noun_ or _pronoun_ for its object, or some _pronominal adjective_ which assumes the relation of the objective case. Though verbs are often followed by the infinitive mood, or a dependent clause, forming a part of the logical predicate; yet these terms, being commonly introduced by a connecting particle, do not form _such an object_ as is contemplated in our definition of a transitive verb. Its government of the _objective_, is the only proper criterion of this sort of verb. If, in the sentence, "Boys _love_ to play," the former verb is transitive, as several respectable grammarians affirm; why not also in a thousand others; as, "Boys _like_ to play;"--"Boys _delight_ to play;"--"Boys _long_ to play;"--"The boys _seem_ to play;"--"The boys _cease_ to play;"--"The boys _ought_ to play;"--"The boys _go out_ to play;"--"The boys _are gone out_ to play;"--"The boys _are allowed_ to play;" and the like? The construction in all is precisely the same, and the infinitive may follow one kind of verb just as well as an other. How then can the mere addition of this mood make _any_ verb transitive? or where, on such a principle, can the line of distinction for transitive verbs be drawn? The infinitive, _in fact_, is governed by the preposition _to_; and the preceding verb, if it has no other object, is intransitive. It must, however, be confessed that some verbs which thus take the infinitive after them, cannot otherwise be intransitive; as, "A great mind _disdains to hold_ any thing by courtesy."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. "They _require to be distinguished_ by a comma."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 272. OBS. 4.--A transitive verb, as I have elsewhere shown, may both govern the objective case, and be followed by an infinitive also; as, "_What_ have I _to do_ with thee?"--_John_, ii, 4. This question, as one would naturally take it, implies, "I have _nothing to do_ with thee;" and, by analogy, _what_ is governed by _have_, and not by _do_; so that the latter verb, though not commonly intransitive, appears to be so here. Indeed the infinitive mood is often used without an objective, when every other part of the same verb would require one. Maunder's rule is, "Transitive verbs and participles govern _either_ the objective case _or_ the infinitive _mode_."--_Comprehensive Gram._, p. 14. Murray teaches, not only that, "The _infinitive mood_ does the office of a substantive in the objective case; as, 'Boys love _to play_;'" but that, "The _participle_ with its adjuncts, may be considered as a substantive phrase _in the objective case_, governed by the preposition or verb; as, 'He studied to avoid _expressing himself too severely_.'"--See his _Octavo Gram._, pp. 184 and 194. And again: "_Part of a sentence_, as well as a noun or pronoun, may be said to be _in the objective case_, or to be put objectively, _governed_ by the active verb; as, 'We sometimes see _virtue in distress_, but we should consider _how great will be her ultimate reward_.' Sentences or phrases under this circumstance, may be termed _objective sentences_ or _phrases_."--_Ib._, p. 180. OBS. 5.--If we admit that sentences, parts of sentences, infinitives, participles with their adjuncts, and other phrases, as well as nouns and pronouns, may be _"in the objective case;"_ it will be no easy matter, either to define this case, or to determine what words do, or do not, govern it.[353] The construction of infinitives and participles will be noticed hereafter. But on one of Murray's examples, I would here observe, that the direct use of the infinitive for an objective noun is a manifest _Grecism_; as, "For to will is present with me; but _to perform_ that which is good, I find not."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 184. That is, "_the performance of_ that which is good, I find not." Or perhaps we may supply a noun after the verb, and take this text to mean, "But to perform that which is good, I find not _the ability_." Our Bible has it, "But _how_ to perform that which is good. I find not;" as if _the manner_ in which he might do good, was what the apostle found not: but Murray cites it differently, omitting the word _how_, as we see above. All active verbs to which something is subjoined by _when, where, whence, how_, or _why_, must be accounted intransitive, unless we suppose them to govern such nouns of time, place, degree, manner, or cause, as correspond to these connectives; as, "I _know why_ she blushed." Here we might supply the noun _reason_, as, "I know the _reason why_ she blushed;" but the word is needless, and I should rather parse _know_ as being intransitive. As for "_virtue in distress_," if this is an "_objective phrase_," and not to be analyzed, we have millions of the same sort; but, if one should say, "_Virtue in distress_ excites pity," the same phrase would demonstrate the absurdity of Murray's doctrine, because the two nouns here take _two different cases_. OBS. 6.--The word _that_, which is often employed to introduce a dependent clause, is, by some grammarians, considered as a _pronoun_, representing the clause which follows it; as, "I know _that_ Messias cometh."--_John_, iv, 25. This text they would explain to mean, "_Messias cometh_, I know _that_;" and their opinion seems to be warranted both by the origin and by the usual import of the particle. But, in conformity to general custom, and to his own views of the practical purposes of grammatical analysis, the author has ranked it with the conjunctions. And he thinks it better, to call those verbs intransitive, which are followed by _that_ and a dependent clause, than to supply the very frequent ellipses which the other explanation supposes. To explain it as a conjunction, connecting an active-transitive verb and its object, as several respectable grammarians do, appears to involve some inconsistency. If _that_ is a conjunction, it connects what precedes and what follows; but a transitive verb should exercise a direct government, without the intervention of a conjunction. On the other hand, the word _that_ has not, in any such sentence, the inherent nature of a pronoun. The transposition above, makes it only a _pronominal adjective_; as, "Messias cometh, I know _that fact_." And in many instances such a solution is impracticable; as, "The people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, _that_ he should not depart from them."--_Luke_, iv, 42. Here, to prove _that_ to be a pronoun, the disciples of Tooke and Webster must resort to more than one imaginary ellipsis, and to such inversion as will scarcely leave the sense in sight. OBS. 7.--In some instances the action of a transitive verb gives to its direct object an additional name, which is also in the objective case, the two words being in apposition; as, "Thy saints proclaim _thee king_."--_Cowper_. "And God called the _firmament Heaven_."--_Bible_. "Ordering them to make _themselves masters_ of a certain steep eminence."--_Rollin_, ii, 67. And, in such a construction, the direct object is sometimes placed before the verb; though the name which results from the action, cannot be so placed: as, "And _Simon_ he surnamed _Peter_."--_Mark_, iii, 15. "_Him_ that overcometh will I make a _pillar_ in the temple of my God."--_Rev._, iii, 12. Some grammarians seem not to have considered this phraseology as coming within the rule of apposition. Thus Webster: "We have some verbs which govern two words in the objective case; as, 'Did I request thee, maker, from my clay To mold _me man_?'--_Milton_, 10, 744. 'God seems to have made _him what_ he was.'--_Life of Cowper_."[354]--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 170. _Improved Gram._, p. 120. See also _Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 154; "Abridged Ed.," p. 119; and _Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.450. So Murray: "Some of our verbs _appear to govern two words_ in the objective case; as, 'The Author of my being formed _me man_.'--'They desired me to call _them brethren_.'--'He seems to have made _him what_ he was.' "--_Octavo Gram._, p. 183. Yet this latter writer says, that in the sentence, "They appointed _me executor_," and others like it," the verb _to be_ is _understood_."--_Ib._, p. 182. These then, according to his own showing, are instances of apposition; but I pronounce then such, without either confounding same cases with apposition, or making the latter a species of ellipsis. See Obs. 1st and 2d, under Rule 3d. OBS. 8.--In general, if not always, when a verb is followed by two objectives which are neither in apposition nor connected by a conjunction, one of them is governed by a preposition understood; as, "I paid [to] _him_ the _money_"--"They offered [to] _me_ a _seat_"--"He asked [of] _them_ the _question_"--"I yielded, and unlock'd [to] _her_ all my _heart_."--_Milton_. In expressing such sentences passively, the object of the preposition is sometimes erroneously assumed for the nominative; as, "_He_ was paid _the money_," in stead of, "The _money_ was paid [to] _him_."--"_I_ was offered _a seat_," in stead of, "_A seat_ was offered [to] _me_." This kind of error is censured by Murray more than once, and yet he himself has, in very many instances, fallen into it. His first criticism on it, is in the following words: "We sometimes meet with such expressions as these: 'They were asked a question;' 'They were offered a pardon;' 'He hath been left a great estate by his father.' In these _phrases_, verbs passive are made to govern the objective case. This license _is not to be approved_. The expressions should be: 'A question was put to them;' 'A pardon was offered to them;' 'His father left him a great estate.'"--_L. Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 183. See Obs. 12, below. OBS. 9.--In the Latin syntax, verbs of _asking_ and _teaching_ are said to govern two accusatives; as, "_Posce Deum veniam_, Beg pardon of God."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 207. "_Docuit me grammaticam_, He taught me grammar."--_Grant, Adam, and others_. And again: "When a verb in the active voice governs two cases, in the passive it retains the latter case; as, _Doceor grammaticam_, I am taught grammar."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 177. These writers however suggest, that in reality the _latter_ accusative is governed, not by the verb, but by a preposition understood. "'_Poscere deos veniam_ is 'to ask the gods _for_ pardon.'"--_Barnes's Philological Gram._, p. 116. In general the English idiom _does not coincide_ with what occurs in Latin under these rules. We commonly insert a preposition to govern one or the other of the terms. But we sometimes leave to the verb the objective of the person, and sometimes that of the thing; and after the two verbs _ask_ and _teach_, we sometimes _seem_ to leave both: as, "When thou dost _ask me blessing_, I'll kneel down, and _ask of thee forgiveness_."-- _Shakspeare_. "In long journeys, _ask_ your _master leave_ to give ale to the horses."--_Swift_. "And he _asked them of_ their _welfare_."--_Gen._, xliii, 27. "They _asked of him_ the parable."--_Mark_, iv, 10. ("_Interrogarunt eum de parabola_."--_Beza_.) "And asking _them questions_"--_Luke_, ii, 46. "But _teach them_ thy _sons_."--_Deut._, iv, 9. "_Teach them_ diligently _unto_ thy _children_"--_Ib._, vi, 7. '"Ye shall _teach them_ your _children_."--_Ib._, xi, 19. "Shall any _teach God knowledge_?"--_Job_, xxi, 22. "I will _teach you_ the _fear_ of the Lord."--_Psal_, xxxiv, 11. "He will _teach us of_ his ways."--_Isaiah_, ii, 3; _Micah_, iv, 2. "Let him that _is taught in_ the _word_, communicate."--_Gal._, vi, 6. OBS. 10.--After a careful review of the various instances in which more than one noun or pronoun may possibly be supposed to be under the government of a single active verb in English, I incline to the opinion that none of our verbs ought to be parsed as actually governing two cases, except such as are followed by two objectives connected by a conjunction. Consequently I do not admit, that any passive verb can properly govern an objective noun or pronoun. Of the ancient Saxon dative case, and of what was once considered the government of two cases, there yet appear some evident remains in our language; as, "Give _him bread_ to eat."--"Bread shall be given _him_"--_Bible_. But here, by almost universal consent, the indirect object is referred to the government of a "preposition understood;" and in many instances this sort of ellipsis is certainly no elegance: as, "Give [_to_] truth and virtue the _same arms which_ you give [_to_] vice and falsehood, and the former are likely to prevail."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 235. The questionable expression, "_Ask me blessing_," if interpreted analogically, must mean, "Ask _for_ me _a_ blessing," which is more correct and explicit; or, if _me_ be not supposed a dative, (and it does not appear to be so, above,) the sentence is still wrong, and the correction must be, "Ask _of_ me _a_ blessing," or, "Ask _my_ blessing." So, "Ask your _master leave_," ought rather to be, "Ask _of_ your master leave," "Ask your master _for_ leave," or, "Ask your _master's_ leave." The example from Mark ought to be, "They asked _him about_ the parable." Again, the elliptical sentence, "Teach them thy sons," is less perspicuous, and therefore less accurate, than the full expression, "Teach them _to_ thy sons." _To teach_ is to tell things _to_ persons, or to instruct persons _in_ things; _to ask_ is to request or demand things _of_ or _from_ persons, or to interrogate or solicit persons _about_ or _for_ things. These verbs cannot be proved to govern two cases in English, because it is more analogical and more reasonable to supply a preposition, (if the author omits it,) to govern one or the other of the objects. OBS. 11.--Some writers erroneously allow passive verbs to govern the objective in English, not only where they imagine our idiom to coincide with the Latin, but even where they know that it does not. Thus Dr. Crombie: "Whatever is put in the accusative case after the verb, must be the nominative to it in the passive voice, while the other case is retained under the government of the verb, and cannot become its nominative. Thus, 'I persuade you _to_ this or _of_ this, '_Persuadeo hoc tibi_. Here, the person persuaded is expressed in the dative case, and cannot, therefore, be the nominative to the passive verb. We must, therefore, say, _Hoc tibi persuadetur_, 'You are persuaded _of_ this;' not, _Tu persuaderis_. 'He trusted me _with_ this affair,' or 'He believed me _in_ this,' _Hoc mihi credidit_.--Passively, _Hoc mihi creditum est_. 'I told you this,' _Hoc tibi dixi_. 'YOU WERE TOLD THIS,' _Hoc tibi dictum est_; not, _Tu dictus es_." [No, surely: for, '_Tu dictus es_,' means, 'You were called,' or, 'Thou art reputed;'--and, if followed by any case, it must be the _nominative_.'] "It is the more necessary to attend to this rule, and to these distinctions, as the idioms of the two languages do not always concur. Thus, _Hoc tibi dictum est_, means not only 'This was told _to_ you,' but 'YOU WERE TOLD THIS.' _Liber mihi apatre promissus est_, means both 'A book was promised (_to_) me by my father,' and 'I WAS PROMISED A BOOK.' _Is primum rogatua est sententiam_, 'He was first asked _for_ his opinion,' and 'An opinion was first asked _of_ him;' in which last the accusative of the person becomes, in Latin, the nominative in the passive voice." See _Grants Latin Gram._, p. 210. OBS. 12.--Murray's _second_ censure upon passive government, is this: "The following sentences, which give [to] the passive voice the regimen of an active verb, _are very irregular, and by no means to be imitated_. 'The bishops and abbots _were allowed their seats_ in the house of lords.' 'Thrasea _was forbidden the presence_ of the emperor.' 'He _was shown_ that very _story_ in one of his own books.'[355] These sentences should have been: 'The bishops and abbots were allowed _to have_ (or _to take_) their seats in the house of lords;' or, 'Seats in the house of lords were allowed _to_ the bishops and abbots:' 'Thrasea was forbidden _to approach_ the presence of the emperor;' or, 'The presence of the emperor was forbidden _to_ Thrasea:' 'That very story was shown _to_ him in one of his own books.'"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 223. See Obs. 8, above. One late grammarian, whose style is on the whole highly commendable for its purity and accuracy, forbears to condemn the phraseology here spoken of; and, though he does not expressly defend and justify it, he seems disposed to let it pass, with the license of the following canon. "For convenience, it may be well to state it as a rule, that--_Passive verbs govern an objective, when the nominative to the passive verb is not the proper object of the active voice_."--_Barnard's Analytic Gram._, p. 134. An other asserts the government of two cases by very many of our active verbs, and the government of one by almost any passive verb, according to the following rules: "Verbs of teaching, giving, and some others of a similar nature, govern two objectives, the one of a person and the other of a thing; as, He taught _me grammar_: His tutor gave _him a lesson_: He promised _me a reward_. A passive verb may govern an objective, when the words immediately preceding and following it, do not refer to the same thing; as, Henry _was offered a dollar_ by his father to induce him to remain."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, pp. 110 and 112. OBS. 13.--The common dogmas, that an active verb must govern an object, and that a neuter or intransitive verb must not, amount to nothing as directions to the composer; because the classification of verbs depends upon this very matter, whether they have, or have not, an object after them; and no general principle has been, or can be, furnished beforehand, by which their fitness or unfitness for taking such government can be determined. This must depend upon usage, and usage must conform to the sense intended. Very many verbs--probably a vast majority--govern an object sometimes, but not always: many that are commonly intransitive or neuter, are not in all their uses so; and many that are commonly transitive, have sometimes no apparent regimen. The distinction, then, in our dictionaries, of verbs active and neuter, or transitive and intransitive, serves scarcely any other purpose, than to show how the presence or absence of the objective case, affects the meaning of the word. In some instances the signification of the verb seems almost merged in that of its object; _as, to lay hold, to make use, to take care_. In others, the transitive character of the word is partial; as, "He _paid_ my _board_; I _told you so_." Some verbs will govern any objective whatever; as, _to name, to mention_. What is there that _cannot be named or mentioned?_ Others again are restricted to one noun, or to a few; as, _to transgress a law, or rule_. What can be transgressed, but a law, a limit, or _something_ equivalent? Some verbs will govern a kindred noun, or its pronoun, but scarcely any other; as, "He _lived_ a virtuous _life_."--"Hear, I pray you, this _dream which I have dreamed_"--_Gen._, xxxvii, 6. "I will also command the clouds that they _rain_ no _rain_ upon it."--_Isaiah_, v, 6. OBS. 14.--Our grammarians, when they come to determine what verbs are properly transitive, and what are not so, do not in all instances agree in opinion. In short, plain as they think the matter, they are much at odds. Many of them say, that, "In the phrases, 'To dream a dream,' 'To live a virtuous life,' 'To run a race,' 'To walk a horse,' 'To dance a child,' the verbs assume a transitive character, and in these cases may be denominated active."--See _Guy's Gram._, p. 21; _Murray's_, 180; _Ingersoll's_, 183; _Fisk's_, 123; _Smith's_, 153. This decision is undoubtedly just; yet a late writer has taken a deal of pains to find fault with it, and to persuade his readers, that, "No verb is active in _any sense_, or under _any construction_, that will not, in _every sense_, permit the objective case of a personal pronoun after it."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 174. Wells absurdly supposes, "An _intransitive_ verb may be used to govern an objective."--_Gram._, p. 145. Some imagine that verbs of mental action, such as _conceive, think, believe_, &c., are not properly transitive; and, if they find an object after such a verb, they choose to supply a preposition to govern it: as, "I conceived it (_of_ it) in that light."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 21. "Did you conceive (of) him to be me?"--_Ib._, p. 28. With this idea, few will probably concur. OBS. 15.--We sometimes find the pronoun _me_ needlessly thrown in after a verb that either governs some other object or is not properly transitive, at least, in respect to this word; as, "It ascends _me_ into the brain; dries _me_ there all the foolish, dull, and crudy vapours."--_Shakspeare's Falstaff_. "Then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster _me_ all to their captain, the heart."--_Id._ This is a faulty relic of our old Saxon dative case. So of the second person; "Fare _you_ well, Falstaff."--_Shak_. Here _you_ was written for the objective case, but it seems now to have become the nominative to the verb _fare_. "Fare thee well."--_W. Scott_. "Farewell _to_ thee."--_Id._ These expressions were once equivalent in syntax; but they are hardly so now; and, in lieu of the former, it would seem better English to say, "Fare _thou_ well." Again: "Turn _thee_ aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay _thee hold_ on one of the young men, and take _thee_ his armour."--_2 Sam._, ii, 21. If any modern author had written this, our critics would have guessed he had learned from some of the Quakers to misemploy _thee_ for _thou_. The construction is an imitation of the French reciprocal or reflected verbs. It ought to be thus: "Turn _thou_ aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and _lay hold_ on one of the young men, and take _to thyself_ his armour." So of the third person: "The king soon found reason to repent _him_ of his provoking such dangerous enemies."--HUME: _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 180. Here both of the pronouns are worse than useless, though Murray discerned but one error. "Good Margaret, _run thee_ into the parlour; There thou shalt find my cousin Beatrice."--SHAK.: _Much Ado_. NOTES TO RULE V. NOTE I.--Those verbs or participles which require a regimen, or which signify action that must terminate transitively, should not be used without an object; as, "She _affects_ [kindness,] in order to _ingratiate_ [herself] with you."--"I _must caution_ [you], at the same time, against a servile imitation of any author whatever."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 192. NOTE II.--Those verbs and participles which do not admit an object, or which express action that terminates in themselves, or with the doer, should not be used transitively; as, "The planters _grow_ cotton." Say _raise, produce, or cultivate_. "Dare you speak lightly of the law, or move that, in a criminal trial, judges should advance one step beyond _what_ it permits them _to go_?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 278. Say,--"beyond _the point to which_ it permits them to go." NOTE III.--No transitive verb or participle should assume a government to which its own meaning is not adapted; as, "_Thou_ is a pronoun, a word used _instead_ of a noun--personal, it _personates_ 'man.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 131. Say, "It _represents man_." "Where _a string_ of such sentences _succeed each other_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 168. Say, "Where _many_ such sentences _come in succession_." NOTE IV.--The passive verb should always take for its subject or nominative the direct object of the active-transitive verb from which it is derived; as, (Active,) "They denied me this privilege." (Passive,) "This _privilege_ was denied _me_;" not, "_I_ was denied this _privilege_:" for _me_ may be governed by _to_ understood, but _privilege_ cannot, nor can any other regimen be found for it. NOTE V.--Passive verbs should never be made to govern the objective case, because the receiving of an action supposes it to terminate on the subject or nominative.[356] Errors: "Sometimes it _is made use of_ to give a small degree of emphasis."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 197. Say, "Sometimes it _is used_," &c. "His female characters _have been found fault with_ as insipid."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 111. Say,--"have been _censured_;" or,--"have been _blamed, decried, dispraised_, or _condemned_." NOTE VI.--The perfect participle, as such, should never be made to govern any objective term; because, without an active auxiliary, its signification is almost always passive: as, "We shall set down the characters _made use of_ to represent all the elementary sounds."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 5; _Fisk's_, 34. Say,--"the characters _employed_, or _used_." NOTE VII.--As the different cases in English are not always distinguished by their form, care must be taken lest their construction be found equivocal, or ambiguous; as, "And we shall always _find our sentences acquire_ more vigour and energy when thus retrenched."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 111. Say, "We shall always find _that_ our sentences acquire more vigour," &c.; or, "We shall always find our sentences _to_ acquire more vigour and energy when thus retrenched." NOTE VIII.--In the language of our Bible, rightly quoted or printed, _ye_ is not found in the objective case, nor _you_ in the nominative; scriptural texts that preserve not this distinction of cases, are consequently to be considered inaccurate. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE V. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE OBJECTIVE FORM. "Who should I meet the other day but my old friend!"--_Spectator_, No. 32. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _who_ is in the nominative case, and is used as the object of the active-transitive verb _should meet_. But, according to Rule 5th, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Therefore, _who_ should be _whom_; thus, "_Whom_ should I meet," &c.] "Let not him boast that puts on his armour, but he that takes it off."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 262. "Let none touch it, but they who are clean."--_Sale's Koran_, 95. "Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."--_Psalms_, xcviii, 7. "Pray be private, and careful who you trust."--_Mrs. Goffe's Letter_. "How shall the people know who to entrust with their property and their liberties?"-- _District School_, p. 301. "The chaplain entreated my comrade and I to dress as well as possible."--_World Displayed_, i, 163. "He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."--_Tract_, No. 3, p. 6. "Who, during this preparation, they constantly and solemnly invoke."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 84. "Whoever or whatever owes us, is Debtor; whoever or whatever we owe, is Creditor."--_Marsh's Book-Keeping_, p. 23. "Declaring the curricle was his, and he should have who he chose in it."--_Anna Ross_, p. 147. "The fact is, Burke is the only one of all the host of brilliant contemporaries who we can rank as a first-rate orator."--_The Knickerbocker, May_, 1833. "Thus you see, how naturally the Fribbles and the Daffodils have produced the Messalina's of our time:"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 53. "They would find in the Roman list both the Scipio's."--_Ib._, ii, 76. "He found his wife's clothes on fire, and she just expiring."--_New-York Observer_. "To present ye holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 353. "Let the distributer do his duty with simplicity; the superintendent, with diligence; he who performs offices of compassion, with cheerfulness."--_Stuart's Romans_, xii, 9. "If the crew rail at the master of the vessel, who will they mind?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 106. "He having none but them, they having none but hee."--DRAYTON'S _Polyolbion_. "Thou, nature, partial nature, I arraign! Of thy caprice maternal I complain!"--_Burns's Poems_, p. 50. "Nor knows he who it is his arms pursue With eager clasps, but loves he knows not who."--_Addison's_, p. 218. UNDER NOTE I.--OF VERBS TRANSITIVE. "When it gives that sense, and also connects, it is a conjunction."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 116. "Though thou wilt not acknowledge, thou canst not deny the fact."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "They _specify_, like many other adjectives, and _connect_ sentences."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 114. "The violation of this rule tends so much to perplex and obscure, that it is safer to err by too many short sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 312. "A few _Exercises_ are subjoined to each important definition, for him to _practice_ upon as he proceeds in committing."--_Nutting's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. vii. "A verb signifying actively governs the accusative."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 171; _Gould's_, 172; _Grant's_, 199; and others. "Or, any word that will _conjugate_, is a verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 44. "In these two concluding sentences, the author, hastening to finish, appears to write rather carelessly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 216. "He simply reasons on one side of the question, and then finishes."--_Ib._, p. 306. "Praise to God teaches to be humble and lowly ourselves."--ATTERBURY: _ib._, p. 304. "This author has endeavored to surpass."--_Green's Inductive Gram._, p. 54. "Idleness and plezure fateeg az soon az bizziness."--_Noah Webster's Essays_, p. 402. "And, in conjugating, you must pay particular attention to the manner in which these signs are applied."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 140. "He said Virginia would have emancipated long ago."--_The Liberator_, ix, 33. "And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience."--_2 Cor._, x, 6. "However, in these cases, custom generally determines."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 50. "In proof, let the following cases demonstrate."--_Ib._, p. 46. "We must surprise, that he should so speedily have forgotten his first principles."--_Ib._, p. 147. "How should we surprise at the expression, 'This is a _soft_ question!'"--_Ib._, p. 219. "And such as prefer, can parse it as a possessive adjective."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 89. "To assign all the reasons, that induced to deviate from other grammarians, would lead to a needless prolixity."--_Alexander's Gram._, p. 4. "The Indicative mood simply indicates or declares."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 33. UNDER NOTE II.--OF VERBS INTRANSITIVE. "In his seventh chapter he expatiateth himself at great length."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 350. "He quarrelleth my bringing some testimonies of antiquity, agreeing with what I say."--_Ib._, iii, 373. "Repenting him of his design."--_Hume's Hist._, ii, 56. "Henry knew, that an excommunication could not fail of operating the most dangerous effects."--_Ib._, ii, 165. "The popular lords did not fail to enlarge themselves on the subject."--_Mrs. Macaulay's Hist._, iii, 177. "He is always master of his subject; and seems to play himself with it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 445. "But as soon as it comes the length of disease, all his secret infirmities shew themselves."--_Ib._, p. 256. "No man repented him of his wickedness."--_Jeremiah_, viii, 6. "Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left."--_Ezekiel_, xxi, 16. "He lies him down by the rivers side."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 99. "My desire has been for some years past, to retire myself to some of our American plantations."--_Cowley's Pref. to his Poems_, p. vii. "I fear me thou wilt shrink from the payment of it."--_Zenobia_, i, 76. "We never recur an idea, without acquiring some combination."--_Rippingham's Art of Speaking_, p. xxxii. "Yet more; the stroke of death he must abide, Then lies him meekly down fast by his brethren's side."--_Milton_. UNDER NOTE III.--OF VERBS MISAPPLIED. "A parliament forfeited all those who had borne arms against the king."--_Hume's Hist._, ii, 223. "The practice of forfeiting ships which had been wrecked."--_Ib._, i, 500. "The nearer his military successes approached him to the throne."--_Ib._, v, 383. "In the next example, _you_ personifies _ladies_, therefore it is plural."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 103. "The first _its_ personates vale; the second _its_ represents stream."--_Ib._, p. 103. "Pronouns do not always avoid the repetition of nouns."--_Ib._, p. 96. "_Very_ is an adverb of comparison, it compares the adjective _good_."--_Ib._, p. 88. "You will please to commit the following paragraph."--_Ib._, p. 140. "Even the Greek and Latin passive verbs require an auxiliary to conjugate some of their tenses."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 100. "The deponent verbs, in Latin, require also an auxiliary to conjugate several of their tenses."--_Ib._, p. 100. "I have no doubt he made as wise and true proverbs, as any body has done since."--_Ib._, p. 145. "A uniform variety assumes as many set forms as Proteus had shapes."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 72. "When words in apposition follow each other in quick succession."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 57. "Where such sentences frequently succeed each other."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 349. "Wisdom leads us to speak and act what is most proper."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 99; _Murray's Gram._, i, 303. "_Jul_. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague? _Rom_. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."--_Shak_. UNDER NOTE IV.--OF PASSIVE VERBS. "We too must be allowed the privilege of forming our own laws."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 134. "For we are not only allowed the use of all the ancient poetic feet," &c.--_Ib._, p. 259; _Kirkham's Elocution_, 143; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 310. "By what code of morals am I denied the right and privilege?"--_Dr. Bartlett's Lect._, p. 4. "The children of Israel have alone been denied the possession of it."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 68. "At York fifteen hundred Jews were refused all quarter."--_Ib._, p. 73. "He would teach the French language in three lessons, provided he was paid fifty-five dollars in advance."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 4. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come."--_Luke_, xvii, 20. "I have been shown a book."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 392. "John Horne Tooke was refused admission only because he had been in holy orders."--_Diversions of Purley_, i, 60. "Mr. Horne Tooke having taken orders, he was refused admission to the bar."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 145. "Its reference to place is lost sight of."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 116. "What striking lesson are we taught by the tenor of this history?"--_Bush's Questions_, p. 71. "He had been left, by a friend, no less than eighty thousand pounds."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 112. "Where there are many things to be done, each must be allowed its share of time and labour."--_Johnson's Pref. to Dict._, p. xiii. "Presenting the subject in a far more practical form than it has been heretofore given."--_Kirkham's Phrenology_, p. v. "If a being of entire impartiality should be shown the two companies."--_Scott's Pref. to Bible_, p. vii. "He was offered the command of the British army."--_Grimshaw's Hist._, p. 81. "Who had been unexpectedly left a considerable sum."--_Johnson's Life of Goldsmith_. "Whether a maid or a widow may be granted such a privilege."--_Spectator_, No. 536. "Happily all these affected terms have been denied the public suffrage."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 199. "Let him next be shewn the parsing table."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. viii. "Thence, he may be shown the use of the Analyzing Table."--_Ib._, p. ix. "Pittacus was offered a great sum of money."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 228. "He had been allowed more time for study."--_Ib._, p. 229. "If the walks were a little taken care of that lie between them."--_Addison's Spect._, No. 414. "Suppose I am offered an office or a bribe."--_Pierpont's Discourse_, Jan. 27, 1839. "Am I one chaste, one last embrace deny'd? Shall I not lay me by his clay-cold side?" --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ix, l. 103. UNDER NOTE V.--PASSIVE VERBS TRANSITIVE. "The preposition _to_ is made use of before nouns of place, when they follow verbs and participles of motion."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 203; _Ingersoll's_, 231; _Greenlef's_, 35; _Fisk's_, 143; _Smith's_, 170; _Guy's_, 90; _Fowler's_, 555. "They were refused entrance into the house."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 204. "Their separate signification has been lost sight of."--_Horne Tooke_, ii, 422. "But, whenever _ye_ is made use of, it must be in the nominative, and never in the objective, case."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 58. "It is said, that more persons than one are paid handsome salaries, for taking care to see acts of parliament properly worded."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 334. "The following Rudiments of English Grammar, have been made use of in the University of Pennsylvania."--DR. ROGERS: _in Harrison's Gram._, p. 2. "It never should be lost sight of."--_Newman's Rhetoric_, p. 19. "A very curious fact hath been taken notice of by those expert metaphysicians."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 281. "The archbishop interfered that Michelet's lectures might be put a stop to."--_The Friend_, ix, 378. "The disturbances in Gottengen have been entirely put an end to."--_Daily Advertiser_. "Besides those that are taken notice of in these exceptions."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 6. "As one, two, or three auxiliary verbs are made use of."--_Ib._, p. 24. "The arguments which have been made use of."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 32. "The circumstance is properly taken notice of by the author."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 217. "Patagonia has never been taken possession of by any European nation."--_Cumming's Geog._, p. 62. "He will be found fault withal no more, i. e. not hereafter."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 226. "The thing was to be put an end to somehow."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 15. "In 1798, the Papal Territory was taken possession of by the French."--_Pinnock's Geog._, p. 223. "The idea has not for a moment been lost sight of by the Board."--_Common School Journal_, i, 37. "I shall easily be excused the labour of more transcription."--_Johnson's Life of Dryden_. "If I may be allowed that expression."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 259, and 288. "If without offence I may be indulged the observation."--_Ib._, p. 295. "There are other characters, which are frequently made use of in composition."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 280; _Ingersoll's_, 293. "Such unaccountable infirmities might be in many, perhaps in most, cases got the better of."--_Seattle's Moral Science_, i, 153. "Which ought never to be had recourse to."--_Ib._, i, 186. "That the widows may be taken care of."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 499. "Other cavils will yet be taken notice of."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "Which implies, that all Christians are offered eternal salvation."--_West's Letters_, p. 149. "Yet even the dogs are allowed the crumbs which fall from their master's table."--_Campbell's Gospels, Matt._, xv. 27. "For we say the light within must be taken heed unto."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 148. "This sound of a is taken notice of in Steele's Grammar."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 22. "One came to be paid ten guineas for a pair of silver buckles."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 104. "Let him, therefore, be carefully shewn the application of the several questions in the table."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 8, "After a few times, it is no longer taken notice of by the hearers."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 182. "It will not admit of the same excuse, nor be allowed the same indulgence, by people of any discernment."--_Ibid._ "Inanimate things may be made property of."--_Beanie's M. Sci._, p. 355. "And, when he's bid a liberaller price, Will not be sluggish in the work, nor nice."--_Butler's Poems_, p. 162. UNDER NOTE VI.--OF PERFECT PARTICIPLES. "All the words made use of to denote spiritual and intellectual things, are in their origin metaphors."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 380. "A reply to an argument commonly made use of by unbelievers."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 293. "It was heretofore the only form made use of in the preter tenses."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 47. "Of the points, and other characters made use of in writing."--_Ib._, p. xv. "If _thy_ be the personal pronoun made use of."--_Walker's Dict._ "The Conjunction is a word made use of to connect sentences."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 28. "The points made use of to answer these purposes are the four following."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 67. "_Incense_ signifies perfumes exhaled by fire, and made use of in religious ceremonies."--_Murray's Key_, p. 171. "In most of his orations, there is too much art; even carried the length of ostentation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 246. "To illustrate the great truth, so often lost sight of in our times."--_Common School Journal_, I, 88. "The principal figures, made use of to affect the heart, are Exclamation, Confession, Deprecation, Commination, and Imprecation."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 133. "Disgusted at the odious artifices made use of by the Judge."--_Junius_, p. 13. "The whole reasons of our being allotted a condition, out of which so much wickedness and misery would in fact arise."--_Butler's Analogy_ p. 109. "Some characteristieal circumstance being generally invented or laid hold of."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 246. "And _by_ is likewise us'd with Names that shew The Means made use of, or the Method how."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 105. UNDER NOTE VII.--CONSTRUCTIONS AMBIGUOUS. "Many adverbs admit of degrees of comparison as well as adjectives."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 133. "But the author, who, by the number and reputation of his works, formed our language more than any one, into its present state, is Dryden."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 180. "In some States, Courts of Admiralty have no juries, nor Courts of Chancery at all."--_Webster's Essays_, p, 146. "I feel myself grateful to my friend."--_Murray's Key_, p. 276. "This requires a writer to have, himself, a very clear apprehension of the object he means to present to us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94. "Sense has its own harmony, as well as sound."--_lb._, p. 127. "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_ which was formerly inserted, and made an addition of a syllable to the word."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 67. "There are few, whom I can refer to, with more advantage than Mr. Addison."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 139. "DEATH, in _theology_, [is a] perpetual separation from God, and eternal torments."--_Webster's Dict._ "That could inform the _traveler_ as well as the old man himself!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 345. UNDER NOTE VIII.--YE AND YOU IN SCRIPTURE. "Ye daughters of Rabbah, gird ye with sackcloth."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Jer._, xlix, 3. "Wash ye, make you clean."--_Brown's Concordance, w. Wash_. "Strip ye, and make ye bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Isaiah_, xxxii, 11. "You are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Job_, xix, 3. "You are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _ib._ "If you knew the gift of God."--_Brown's Concordance, w. Knew_. "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I know ye not."--_Penington's Works_, ii, 122. RULE VI.--SAME CASES. A Noun or a Pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing: as, "_It_ is _I_."--"_These_ are _they_."--"The _child_ was named _John_."--"_It_ could not be _he_."--"The _Lord_ sitteth _King_ forever."--_Psalms_, xxix, 10. "What war could ravish, commerce could bestow, And _he_ return'd a _friend, who_ came a _foe_." --_Pope_, Ep. iii, l. 206. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VI. OBS. 1.--Active-transitive verbs, and their imperfect and preperfect participles, always govern the objective case; but active-intransitive, passive, and neuter verbs, and their participles, take the same case after as before them, when both words refer to the same thing. The latter are rightly supposed _not to govern_[357] any case; nor are they in general followed by any noun or pronoun. But, because they are not transitive, some of them become connectives to such words as are in the same case and signify the same thing. That is, their finite tenses may be followed by a nominative, and their infinitives and participles by a nominative or an objective, _agreeing_ with a noun or a pronoun which precedes them. The cases are the same, because the person or thing is one; as, "_I_ am _he_."--"_Thou_ art _Peter_."--"Civil _government_ being the sole _object_ of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent."--_Jefferson's Notes_, p. 129. Identity is both the foundation and the characteristic of this construction. We chiefly use it to affirm or deny, to suggest or question, the _sameness_ of things; but sometimes _figuratively_, to illustrate the relations of persons or things by comparison:[358] as, "_I_ am the true _vine_, and my _Father_ is the _husbandman_."--_John_, xv, 1. "_I_ am the _vine, ye_ are the _branches_."--_John_, xv, 5. Even the names of direct opposites, are sometimes put in the same case, under this rule; as, "By such a change thy _darkness_ is made _light_, Thy _chaos order_, and thy _weakness might_."--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 88. OBS. 2.--In this rule, the terms _after_ and _preceding_ refer rather to the order of the sense and construction, than to the mere _placing_ of the words; for the words in fact admit of various positions. The proper subject of the verb is the nominative _to_ it, or _before_ it, by Rule 2d; and the other nominative, however placed, is understood to be that which comes _after_ it, by Rule 6th. In general, however, the proper subject _precedes_ the verb, and the other word _follows_ it, agreeably to the literal sense of the rule. But when the proper subject is placed after the verb, as in certain instances specified in the second observation under Rule 2d, the explanatory nominative is commonly introduced still later; as, "But be _thou_ an _example_ of the believers."--_1 Tim_. iv, 12. "But what! is thy _servant_ a _dog_?"--_2 Kings_, viii, 13. "And so would I, were _I Parmenio_."--_Goldsmith_. "O Conloch's daughter! is _it thou_?"--_Ossian_. But in the following example, on the contrary, there is a transposition of the entire lines, and the verb agrees with the two nominatives in the latter: "To thee _were_ solemn _toys_ or empty _show_, The _robes_ of pleasure and the _veils_ of wo."--_Dr. Johnson_. OBS. 3.--In interrogative sentences, the terms are usually transposed,[359] or both are placed after the verb; as, "Am _I_ a _Jew_?"--_John_, xviii, 35. "Art _thou_ a _king_ then?"--_Ib._, ver. 37. "_What_ is _truth_?"--_Ib._, ver. 38. "_Who_ art _thou_?"--_Ib._, i, 19. "Art _thou Elias_?"--_Ib._, i, 21. "Tell me, Alciphron, is not _distance_ a _line_ turned endwise to the eye?"--_Berkley's Dialogues_, p. 161. "Whence, and _what_ art _thou_, execrable shape?"--_Milton_. "Art _thou_ that traitor _angel_? art _thou he_?"--_Idem_. OBS. 4.--In a declarative sentence also, there may be a rhetorical or poetical transposition of one or both of the terms: as, "And I _thy victim_ now remain."--_Francis's Horace_, ii, 45. "To thy own dogs a _prey_ thou shalt be made."--_Pope's Homer_, "I was eyes to the blind, and _feet_ was _I_ to the lame."--_Job_, xxix, 15. "Far other _scene_ is _Thrasymene_ now."--_Byron_. In the following sentence, the latter term is palpably misplaced: "It does not clearly appear at first _what the antecedent is_ to _they_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 218. Say rather: "It does not clearly appear at first, _what is the antecedent_ to [the pronoun] _they_." In examples transposed like the following, there is an elegant ellipsis of the verb to which the pronoun is nominative; as, _am, art_, &c. "When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering _angel thou_."--_Scott's Marmion._ "The forum's champion, and the people's chief, Her new-born _Numa thou_--with reign, alas! too brief."--_Byron_. "For this commission'd, I forsook the sky-- Nay, cease to kneel--thy _fellow-servant I_."--_Parnell._ OBS. 5.--In some peculiar constructions, both words naturally come _before_ the verb; as, "I know not _who she_ is."--"_Who_ did you say _it_ was?"--"I know not how to tell thee _who I_ am."--_Romeo_. "Inquire thou whose _son_ the _stripling_ is."--_1 Sam._, xvii, 56. "Man would not be the creature _which he_ now is."--_Blair_. "I could not guess _who it_ should be."--_Addison_. And they are sometimes placed in this manner by _hyberbaton_ [sic--KTH], or transposition; as, "Yet _he it_ is."--_Young_. "No contemptible _orator he_ was."--_Dr. Blair_. "_He it_ is to whom I shall give a sop."--_John_, xiii, 26. "And a very noble _personage Cato_ is."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 457. "_Clouds they_ are without water."--_Jude_, 12. "Of worm or serpent kind _it something_ looked, But monstrous, with a thousand snaky heads."--_Pollok_, B. i, l. 183. OBS. 6.--As infinitives and participles have no nominatives of their own, such of them as are not transitive in their nature, may take _different_ cases after them; and, in order to determine what _case_ it is that follows them, the learner must carefully observe what preceding word denotes the same person or thing, and apply the principle of the rule accordingly. This word being often remote, and sometimes understood, the _sense_ is the only clew to the construction. Examples: "_Who_ then can bear the thought of being an _outcast_ from his presence?"--_Addison_. Here _outcast_ agrees with _who_, and not with _thought_. "_I_ cannot help being so passionate an _admirer_ as I am."--_Steele_. Here _admirer_ agrees with _I_. "To recommend _what_ the soberer part of mankind look upon to be a _trifle_."--_Steele_. Here _trifle_ agrees with _what_ as relative, the objective governed by _upon_. "_It_ would be a romantic _madness_, for a _man_ to be a _lord_ in his closet."--_Id._ Here _madness_ is in the nominative case, agreeing with _it_; and _lord_, in the objective, agreeing with _man_. "To _affect_ to be a _lord_ in one's closet, would be a romantic _madness_." In this sentence also, _lord_ is in the objective, after _to be_; and _madness_, in the nominative, after _would be._ "'My dear _Tibullus!_' If that will not do, Let _me_ be _Horace_, and be _Ovid you_."--_Pope_, B. ii, Ep. ii, 143. OBS. 7.--An active-intransitive or a neuter participle in _ing_, when governed by a preposition, is often followed by a noun or a pronoun the case of which depends not on the preposition, but on the case which goes before. Example: "The _Jews_ were in a particular manner ridiculed _for being_ a credulous _people_."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 28. Here _people_ is in the nominative case, agreeing with _Jews_. Again: "The learned pagans ridiculed the _Jews_ for _being_ a credulous _people_." Here _people_ is in the objective case, because the preceding noun _Jews_ is so. In both instances the preposition _for_ governs the participle _being_, and nothing else. "The atrocious crime of _being_ a young _man_, I shall neither attempt to palliate _or_ deny."--PITT: _Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 82; _S. S. Greene's_, 174. Sanborn has this text, with "_nor_" for "_or_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 190. This example has been erroneously cited, as one in which the case of the noun after the participle is _not determined_ by its relation to any other word. Sanborn absurdly supposes it to be "in the _nominative independent_." Bullions as strangely tells us, "it may correctly be called the _objective indefinite_"--like _me_ in the following example: "He was not sure of _its being me_."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 82. This latter text I take to be _bad English_. It should be, "He was not sure _of it as being me_;" or, "He was not sure _that it was I."_ But, in the text above, there is an evident transposition. The syntactical order is this: "_I_ shall neither deny _nor_ attempt to palliate the atrocious crime of being a young _man_." The words _man_ and _I_ refer to the same person, and are therefore in the same case, according to the rule which I have given above. OBS. 8.--S. S. Greene, in his late Grammar, improperly denominates this case after the participle _being_, "the _predicate-nominative_," and imagines that it necessarily remains a nominative even when the possessive case precedes the participle. If he were right in this, there would be an important exception to Rule 6th above. But so singularly absurd is his doctrine about "_abridged predicates_," that in general the _abridging_ shows an _increase_ of syllables, and often a conversion of good English into bad. For example: "_It_ [the predicate] remains _unchanged in the nominative_, when, with the participle of the copula, _it_ becomes _a verbal noun_, limited by the possessive case of the subject; as, 'That he was a foreigner prevented his election,'='_His_ being a _foreigner_ prevented his election.'"--_Greene's Analysis_, p. 169. Here the number of syllables is unaltered; but _foreigner_ is very improperly called "a verbal noun," and an example which only lacks a comma, is changed to what Wells rightly calls an "_anomalous expression_," and one wherein that author supposes _foreigner_ and _his_ to be necessarily in the same case. But Greene varies this example into other "_abridged forms_," thus: "I knew _that he was a foreigner_," = "I knew _his being_, or _of his being a foreigner_." "The fact _that he was a foreigner_, = _of his being a foreigner_, was undeniable." "_When he was first called a foreigner_, = _on his being first called a foreigner_, his anger was excited."--_Ib._, p. 171. All these changes _enlarge_, rather than abridge, the expression; and, at the same time, make it questionable English, to say the least of it. OBS. 9.--In some examples, the adverb _there_ precedes the participle, and we evidently have nothing by which to determine the case that follows; as, "These judges were twelve in number. Was this _owing to there being_ twelve primary _deities_ among the Gothic nations?"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 263. Say rather: "Was this _because there were_ twelve primary deities among the Gothic nations?" "How many are injured by Adam's fall, that know nothing of _there ever being_ such a man in the world!"--_Barclay's Apology_, p. 185. Say rather,--"_who know not that there ever was_ such a man in the world!" OBS. 10.--In some other examples, we find a possessive before the participle, and a doubtful case after it; as, "This our Saviour himself was pleased to make use of as the strongest argument of _his_ being the promised _Messiah_"--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 81. "But my chief affliction consisted in _my_ being singled out from all the other boys, by a lad about fifteen years of age, as a proper _object_ upon whom he might let loose the cruelty of his temper."--_Cowper's Memoir_, p. 13. "[Greek: Tou patros [ontos] onou euthus hypemnaesthae]. He had some sort of recollection of his _father's_ being an ass"--_Collectanea Graeca Minora, Notae_, p. 7. This construction, though not uncommon, is anomalous in more respects than one. Whether or not it is worthy to form an exception to the rule of _same cases_, or even to that of _possessives_, the reader may judge from the observations made on it under the latter. I should rather devise some way to avoid it, if any can be found--and I believe there can; as, "This our Saviour himself was pleased to _advance_ as the strongest _proof that he was_ the promised Messiah."--"But my chief affliction consisted in _this, that I was_ singled out," &c. The story of the mule is, "_He seemed to recollect on a sudden that his father was an ass_." This is the proper meaning of the Greek text above; but the construction is different, the Greek nouns being genitives in apposition. OBS. 11.--A noun in the nominative case sometimes follows a finite verb, when the equivalent subject that stands before the verb, is not a noun or pronoun, but a phrase or a sentence which supplies the place of a nominative; as, "That the barons and freeholders derived their authority from kings, is wholly a _mistake_."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 277. "To speak of a slave as a member of civil society, may, by some, be regarded a _solecism_."--_Stroud's Sketch_, p. 65. Here _mistake_ and _solecism_ are as plainly nominatives, as if the preceding subjects had been declinable words. OBS. 12.--When a noun is put after an abstract infinitive that is not transitive, it appears necessarily to be in the objective case,[360] though not governed by the verb; for if we supply any noun to which such infinitive may be supposed to refer, it must be introduced before the verb by the preposition _for_: as, "To be an _Englishman_ in London, a _Frenchman_ in Paris, a _Spaniard_ in Madrid, is no easy matter; and yet it is necessary."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 89. That is, "_For a traveller_ to be an _Englishman_ in London," &c. "It is certainly as easy to be a _scholar_, as a _gamester_."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 425. That is, "It is as easy _for a young man_ to be a _scholar, as it is for him to be a gamester_." "To be an eloquent _speaker_, in the proper sense of the _word_, is far from being a common or easy _attainment._"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 337. Here _attainment_ is in the nominative, after _is_--or, rather after _being_, for it follows both; and _speaker_, in the objective after _to be_. "It is almost as hard a thing [for a _man_] to be a poet in despite of fortune, as it is [for _one_ to be a _poet_] in despite of nature."--_Cowley's Preface to his Poems_, p. vii. OBS. 13.--Where precision is necessary, loose or abstract infinitives are improper; as, "But _to be precise_, signifies, that _they_ express _that idea_, and _no more_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94; _Murray's Gram._, 301; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 64. Say rather: "But, _for an author's words to be precise_, signifies, that they express _his exact_ idea, and _nothing_ more _or less_." OBS. 14.--The principal verbs that take the same case after as before them, except those which are passive, are the following: to be, to stand, to sit, to lie, to live, to grow, to become, to turn, to commence, to die, to expire, to come, to go, to range, to wander, to return, to seem, to appear, to remain, to continue, to reign. There are doubtless some others, which admit of such a construction; and of some of these, it is to be observed, that they are sometimes transitive, and govern the objective: as, "To _commence_ a suit."--_Johnson_. "O _continue_ thy loving kindness unto them."--_Psalms_, xxxvi, 10. "A feather will _turn_ the scale."--_Shak._ "_Return_ him a trespass offering."--_1 Samuel_. "For it _becomes_ me so to speak."--_Dryden_. But their construction with like cases is easily distinguished by the sense; as, "When _I_ commenced _author_, my aim was to amuse."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 286. "_Men_ continue men's _destroyers_."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 56. "'Tis most just, that thou turn rascal"--_Shak., Timon of Athens_. "He went out _mate_, but _he_ returned _captain_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 182. "After this event _he_ became _physician_ to the king."--_Ib._ That is, "When I _began to be_ an author," &c. "Ev'n mean _self-love_ becomes, by force divine, The _scale_ to measure others' wants by thine."--_Pope_. OBS. 15.--The common instructions of our English grammars, in relation to the subject of the preceding rule, are exceedingly erroneous and defective. For example: "The verb TO BE, has _always_ a nominative case after it, _unless it be_ in the infinitive mode."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 77. "The verb TO BE _requires_ the same case after it as before it."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 142. "The verb TO BE, through all its variations, _has_ the same case after it, _expressed or understood_, as _that_ which _next_ precedes it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 181; _Alger's_, 62; _Merchant's_, 91; _Putnam's_, 116; _Smith's_, 97; and many others. "The verb TO BE has _usually_ the same case after it, as that which _immediately_ precedes it."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 31. "_Neuter verbs have_ the same case after them, as that which _next_ precedes them."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 14. "Passive verbs _which signify naming_, and others of a _similar nature_, have the same case _before and after_ them."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 182. "A Noun or Pronoun used in predication with a verb, is in the Independent Case. EXAMPLES--'Thou art a _scholar_.' 'It is _I_.' 'God is _love_.'"--_S. W. Clark's Pract. Gram._, p. 149. So many and monstrous are the faults of these rules, that nothing but very learned and reverend authority, could possibly impose such teaching anywhere. The first, though written by Lowth, is not a whit wiser than to say, "The preposition _to_ has _always_ an infinitive mood after it, _unless it be_ a preposition." And this latter absurdity is even a better rule for all infinitives, than the former for all predicated nominatives. Nor is there much more fitness in any of the rest. "The verb TO BE, _through all_," or even _in any_, of its parts, has neither "_always_" nor _usually_ a case "_expressed_ or _understood_" after it; and, even when there is a noun or a pronoun put after it, the case is, in very many instances, not to be determined by that which "_next_" or "_immediately_" precedes the verb. Examples: "A _sect of freethinkers_ is a _sum_ of ciphers."--_Bentley_. "And _I_ am this _day_ weak, though anointed _king_."--_2 Sam._, iii, 39. "_What_ made _Luther_ a great _man_, was _his_ unshaken _reliance_ on God."--_Kortz's Life of Luther_, p. 13. "The devil offers his service; _He_ is sent with a positive _commission_ to be a lying _spirit_ in the mouth of all the prophets."--_Calvin's Institutes_, p. 131. It is perfectly certain that in these four texts, the words _sum, king, reliance_, and _spirit_, are _nominatives_, after the verb or participle; and not _objectives_, as they must be, if there were any truth in the common assertion, "that the two cases, which, in the construction of the sentence, are _the next_ before and after it, must always be alike."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 98. Not only may the nominative before the verb be followed by an objective, but the nominative after it may be preceded by a possessive; as, "Amos, the herdsman of _Tekoa_, was not a _prophet's_ son."--"It is the _king's_ chapel, and it is the _king's_ court."--_Amos_, vii, 13. How ignorant then must that person be, who cannot see the falsity of the instructions above cited! How careless the reader who overlooks it! NOTES TO RULE VI. NOTE I.--The putting of a noun in an unknown case after a participle or a participial noun, produces an anomaly which it seems better to avoid; for the cases ought to be _clear_, even in exceptions to the common rules of construction. Examples: (1.) "WIDOWHOOD, _n._ The state _of being a widow_."--_Webster's Dict._ Say rather, "WIDOWHOOD, _n._ The state of a widow."--_Johnson, Walker, Worcester_. (2.) "I had a suspicion of the _fellow's_ being a _swindler_/" Say rather, "I had a suspicion _that the fellow was a swindler_." (3.) "To prevent _its_ being a dry _detail_ of terms."--_Buck_. Better, "To prevent it _from_ being a dry detail of terms." [361] NOTE II.--The nominative which follows a verb or participle, ought to accord in signification, either literally or figuratively, with the preceding term which is taken for a sign of the same thing. Errors: (1.) "_To be convicted_ of bribery, was then a crime altogether unpardonable."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 265. To be convicted of a crime, is not the crime itself; say, therefore, "_Bribery_ was then a _crime_ altogether unpardonable." (2.) "The second person is the _object_ of the Imperative."--_Murray's Gram., Index_, ii, 292. Say rather, "The second person is the _subject_ of the imperative;" for the _object_ of a verb is the word governed by it, and not its nominative. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VI. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF PROPER IDENTITY. "Who would not say, 'If it be _me_,' rather than, If it be _I_?"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 105. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _me_,--which comes after the neuter verb _be_, is in the objective case, and does not agree with the pronoun _it_, the verb's nominative,[362] which refers to the same thing. But, according to Rule 6th, "A noun or a pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing." Therefore, _me_ should be _I_; thus, "Who would not say, 'If it be _I_,' rather than, 'If it be _me_?'"] "Who is there? It is me."--_Priestley, ib._, p. 104. "It is him."--_Id., ib._, 104. "Are these the houses you were speaking of? Yes, they are them."--_Id., ib._, 104. "It is not me you are in love with."--_Addison's Spect._, No. 290; _Priestley's Gram._, p. 104; and _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 203. "It cannot be me."--SWIFT: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 104. "To that which once was thee."--PRIOR: _ib._, 104. "There is but one man that she can have, and that is me."--CLARISSA: _ib._, 104. "We enter, as it were, into his body, and become, in some measure, him."--ADAM SMITH: _ib._, p. 105. "Art thou proud yet? Ay, that I am not thee."--_Shak., Timon_. "He knew not whom they were."--_Milnes, Greek Gram._, p. 234. "Who do you think me to be?"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 108. "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?"--_Matt._, xvi, 13. "But whom say ye that I am?"--_Ib._, xvi, 15.--"Whom think ye that I am? I am not he."--_Acts_, xiii, 25. "No; I am mistaken; I perceive it is not the person whom I supposed it was."--_Winter in London_, ii, 66. "And while it is Him I serve, life is not without value."--_Zenobia_, i, 76. "Without ever dreaming it was him."--_Life of Charles XII_, p. 271. "Or he was not the illiterate personage whom he affected to be."--_Montgomery's Lect._ "Yet was he him, who was to be the greatest apostle of the Gentiles."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 540. "Sweet was the thrilling ecstacy; I know not if 'twas love, or thee."--_Queen's Wake_, p. 14. "Time was, when none would cry, that oaf was me."--_Dryden, Prol._ "No matter where the vanquish'd be, nor whom."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 676. "No, I little thought it had been him."--_Life of Oration_. "That reverence and godly fear, whose object is 'Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.'"--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 312. "It is us that they seek to please, or rather to astonish."--_West's Letters_, p. 28. "Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac."--_Gen._, xxiv, 14. "Although I knew it to be he."--_Dickens's Notes_, p. 9. "Dear gentle youth, is't none but thee?"--_Dorset's Poems_, p. 4. "Whom do they say it is?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.493. "These are her garb, not her; they but express Her form, her semblance, her appropriate dress."--_Hannah More_. UNDER NOTE I.--THE CASE DOUBTFUL. "I had no knowledge of there being any connexion between them."--_Stone, on Freemasonry_, p. 25. "To promote iniquity in others, is nearly the same as being the actors of it ourselves."--_Murray's Key_, p. 170. "It must arise from feeling delicately ourselves."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330; _Murray's Gram._, 248. "By reason of there not having been exercised a competent physical power for their enforcement."--_Mass. Legislature_, 1839. "PUPILAGE, _n._ The state of being a scholar."--_Johnson, Walker, Webster, Worcester_. "Then the other part's being the definition would make it include all verbs of every description."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 343. "John's being my friend,[363] saved me from inconvenience."--_Ib._, p. 201. "William's having become a judge, changed his whole demeanor."--_Ib._, p. 201. "William's having been a teacher, was the cause of the interest which he felt."--_Ib._, p. 216. "The being but one among many stifleth the chidings of conscience."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 131. "As for its being esteemed a close translalation [sic--KTH], I doubt not many have been led into that error by the shortness of it."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "All presumption of death's being the destruction of living beings, must go upon supposition that they are compounded, and so discerptible."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 63. "This argues rather their being proper names."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 382. "But may it not be retorted, that its being a gratification is that which excites our resentment?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 145. "Under the common notion, of its being a system of the whole poetical art."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 401. "Whose time or other circumstances forbid their becoming classical scholars."--_Literary Convention_, p. 113. "It would preclude the notion of his being a merely fictitious personage."--_Philological Museum_, i, 446. "For, or under pretence of their being heretics or infidels."--_The Catholic Oath_; Geo. III, 31st. "We may here add Dr. Home's sermon on Christ's being the Object of religious Adoration."--_Relig. World_, Vol. ii, p. 200. "To say nothing of Dr. Priestley's being a strenuous advocate," &c.--_Ib._, ii, 207. "By virtue of Adam's being their public head."--_Ib._, ii, 233. "Objections against there being any such moral plan as this."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 57. "A greater instance of a man's being a blockhead."--_Spect._, No. 520. "We may insure or promote its being a happy state of existence to ourselves."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 86. "By its often falling a victim to the same kind of unnatural treatment."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 41. "Their appearing foolishness is no presumption against this."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 189. "But what arises from their being offences; _i. e_. from their being liable to be perverted."--_Ib._, p. 185. "And he entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God."--_Acts_, xviii, 7. UNDER NOTE II.--OF FALSE IDENTIFICATION. "But to be popular, he observes, is an ambiguous word."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 307. "The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is often the nominative case to a verb."--_L. Murray's Index, Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 290. "When any person, in speaking, introduces his own name, it is the first person; as, 'I, James, of the city of Boston.'"--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 43. "The name of the person spoken to, is the second person; as, 'James, come to me.'"--_Ibid._ "The name of the person or thing spoken of, or about, is the third person; as, 'James has come.'"--_Ibid._ "The object [of a passive verb] is always its subject or nominative case."--_Ib._, p. 62. "When a noun is in the nominative case to an active verb, it is the actor."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 44. "And the person commanded, is its nominative."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 120. "The first person is that who speaks."--_Pasquier's Levizac_, p. 91. "The Conjugation of a Verb is its different variations or inflections throughout the Moods and Tenses."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 80. "The first person is the speaker. The second person is the one spoken to. The third person is the one spoken of."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 6; _Hiley's_, 18. "The first person is the one that speaks, or the speaker."--_Sanborn's Gram._, pp. 23 and 75. "The second person is the one that is spoken to, or addressed."--_Ibid._ "The third person is the one that is spoken of, or that is the topic of conversation."--_Ibid._ "_I_, is the first person Singular. _We_, is the first person Plural."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 51; _Alger's, Ingersoll's_, and _many others_. "_Thou_, is the second person Singular. _Ye_ or _you_, is the second person Plural."--_Ibid._ "_He, she_, or _it_, is the third person Singular. _They_, is the third person Plural."--_Ibid._ "The nominative case is the actor, or subject of the verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 43. "The noun _John_ is the actor, therefore John is in the nominative case."--_Ibid._ "The actor is always the nominative case."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 62. "The nominative case is always the agent or actor."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 67. "Tell the part of speech each name is."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 6. "What number is _boy_? Why? What number is _pens_? Why?"--_Ib._, p. 27. "The speaker is the first person, the person spoken to, the second person, and the person or thing spoken of, is the third person."--_Ib._, p. 26. "What nouns are masculine gender? All males are masculine gender."--_Ib._, p. 28. "An interjection is a sudden emotion of the mind."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 62. RULE VII.--OBJECTIVES. A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case: as, "The temple of _fame_ stands upon the _grave_: the flame that burns upon its _altars_, is kindled from the _ashes_ of great _men_"--_Hazlitt_. "Life is His gift, from _whom_ whate'er life needs, With ev'ry good and perfect _gift_, proceeds."--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 95. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VII. OBS. 1.--To this rule there are no exceptions; for prepositions, in English, govern no other case than the objective.[364] But the learner should observe that most of our prepositions may take the _imperfect participle_ for their object, and some, the _pluperfect_, or _preperfect_; as, "_On opening_ the trial they accused him _of having defrauded_ them."--"A quick wit, a nice judgment, &c., could not raise this man _above being received_ only upon the foot _of contributing_ to mirth and diversion."--_Steele_. And the preposition _to_ is often followed by an _infinitive verb_; as, "When one sort of wind is said _to whistle_, and an other _to roar_; when a serpent is said _to hiss_, a fly _to buzz_, and falling timber _to crash_; when a stream is said _to flow_, and hail _to rattle_; the analogy between the word and the thing signified, is plainly discernible."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. But let it not be supposed that participles or infinitives, when they are governed by prepositions, are therefore in the _objective case_; for case is no attribute of either of these classes of words: they are indeclinable in English, whatever be the relations they assume. They are governed _as participles_, or _as infinitives_, and not _as cases_. The mere fact of government is so far from _creating_ the modification governed, that it necessarily presupposes it to exist, and that it is something cognizable in etymology. OBS. 2.--The brief assertion, that, "Prepositions govern the objective case," which till very lately our grammarians have universally adopted as their sole rule for both terms, the governing and the governed,--the preposition and its object,--is, in respect to both, somewhat exceptionable, being but partially and lamely applicable to either. It neither explains the connecting nature of the preposition, nor applies to all objectives, nor embraces all the terms which a preposition may govern. It is true, that prepositions, when they introduce declinable words, or words that have cases, always govern the objective; but the rule is liable to be misunderstood, and is in fact often misapplied, as if it meant something more than this. Besides, in no other instance do grammarians attempt to parse both the governing word and the governed, by one and the same rule. I have therefore placed the _objects_ of this government here, where they belong in the order of the parts of speech, expressing the rule in such terms as cannot be mistaken; and have also given, in its proper place, a distinct rule for the construction of the preposition itself. See Rule 23d. OBS. 3.--Prepositions are sometimes _elliptically_ construed with _adjectives_, the real object of the relation being thought to be some objective noun understood: as, _in vain, in secret, at first, on high_; i. e. _in a vain manner, in secret places, at the first time, on high places_. Such phrases usually imply time, place, degree, or manner, and are equivalent to adverbs. In parsing, the learner may supply the ellipsis. OBS. 4.--In some phrases, a preposition seems to govern a _perfect participle_; but these expressions are perhaps rather to be explained as being elliptical: as, "To give it up _for lost_;"--"To take that _for granted_ which is disputed."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 109. That is, perhaps, "To give it up for _a thing_ lost;"--"To take that for _a thing_ granted," &c. In the following passage the words _ought_ and _should_ are employed in such a manner that it is difficult to say to what part of speech they belong: "It is that very character of _ought_ and _should_ which makes justice a law to us; and the same character is applicable to propriety, though perhaps more faintly than to justice."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 286. The meaning seems to be, "It is that very character of _being owed_ and _required, that_ makes justice a law to us;" and this mode of expression, as it is more easy to be _parsed_, is perhaps more grammatical than his Lordship's. But, as preterits are sometimes put by _enallage_ for participles, a reference of them to this figure may afford a mode of explanation in parsing, whenever they are introduced by a preposition, and not by a nominative: as, "A kind of conquest Caesar made here; but made not here his brag Of, _came_, and _saw_, and _overcame_"--_Shak., Cymb._, iii, 1. That is,--"of _having come_, and _seen_, and _overcome_." Here, however, by assuming that a _sentence_ is the object of the preposition, we may suppose the pronoun _I_ to be understood, as _ego_ is in the bulletin referred to, "_Veni, vidi, vici_." For, as a short sentence is sometimes made the subject of a verb, so is it sometimes made the object of a preposition; as, "Earth's highest station ends _in, 'here he lies;'_ And '_dust to dust_,' concludes her noblest song."--_Young_. OBS. 5.--In some instances, prepositions precede _adverbs_; as, _at once, at unawares, from thence, from above, till now, till very lately, for once, for ever_. Here the adverb, though an indeclinable word, appears to be made _the object_ of the preposition. It is in fact used substantively, and governed by the preposition. The term _forever_ is often written as one word, and, as such, is obviously an adverb. The rest are what some writers would call _adverbial phrases_; a term not very consistent with itself, or with the true idea of _parsing_. If different parts of speech are to be taken together as having the nature of an adverb, they ought rather to coalesce and be united; for the verb to _parse_, being derived from the Latin _pars_, a _part_, implies in general a distinct recognition of the elements or words of every phrase or sentence. OBS. 6.--Nouns of _time, measure, distance_, or _value_, have often so direct a relation to verbs or adjectives, that the prepositions which are supposed to govern them, are usually suppressed; as, "We rode _sixty miles_ that day." That is,--"_through_ sixty miles _on_ that day." "The country is not a _farthing_ richer."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 122. That is,--"richer _by_ a farthing." "The error has been copied _times_ without number."--_Ib._, p. 281. That is,--"_on_ or _at_ times _innumerable_." "A row of columns _ten feet_ high, and a row _twice that height_, require different proportions." _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 344. That is,--"high _to_ ten feet," and, "a row _of_ twice that height." "_Altus sex pedes_, High _on_ or _at_ six feet."--_Dr. Murray's Hist of Europ. Lang._, ii, 150. All such nouns are in the _objective case_, and, in parsing them, the learner may supply the ellipsis;[365] or, perhaps it might be as well, to say, as do B. H. Smart and some others, that the noun is an objective of time, measure, or value, taken _adverbially_, and relating directly to the verb or adjective qualified by it. Such expressions as, "A board of six feet _long_,"--"A boy _of_ twelve years _old_," are wrong. Either strike out the _of_, or say, "A board of six feet _in length_,"--"A boy of twelve years _of age_;" because this preposition is not suited to the adjective, nor is the adjective fit to qualify the time or measure. OBS. 7.--After the adjectives _like, near_, and _nigh_, the preposition _to_ or _unto_ is often understood;[366] as, "It is _like_ [_to_ or _unto_] silver."--_Allen_. "How _like_ the former."--_Dryden_. "_Near_ yonder copse."--_Goldsmith_. "_Nigh_ this recess."--_Garth_. As similarity and proximity are _relations_, and not _qualities_, it might seem proper to call _like, near_, and _nigh_, prepositions; and some grammarians have so classed the last two. Dr. Johnson seems to be inconsistent in calling _near_ a preposition, in the phrase, "_So near_ thy heart," and an adjective, in the phrase, "Being _near_ their master." See his _Quarto Dict._ I have not placed them with the prepositions, for the following four reasons: (1.) Because they are sometimes _compared_; (2.) Because they sometimes have _adverbs_ evidently relating to them; (3.) Because the preposition _to_ or _unto_ is sometimes expressed after them; and (4.) Because the words which _usually_ stand for them in the learned languages, are clearly _adjectives_.[367] But _like_, when it expresses similarity of _manner_, and _near_ and _nigh_, when they express proximity of _degree_, are _adverbs_. OBS. 8.--The word _worth_ is often followed by an objective, or a participle, which it appears to govern; as, "If your arguments produce no conviction, they are _worth_ nothing to me."--_Beattie_. "To reign is _worth_ ambition."--_Milton_. "This is life indeed, life _worth_ preserving."--_Addison_. It is not easy to determine to what part of speech _worth_ here belongs. Dr. Johnson calls it an _adjective_, but says nothing of the _object_ after it, which some suppose to be governed by _of_ understood. In this supposition, it is gratuitously assumed, that _worth_ is equivalent to _worthy_, after which _of_ should be expressed; as, "Whatsoever is _worthy of_ their love, is _worth_ their anger."--_Denham_. But as _worth_ appears to have no certain characteristic of an adjective, some call it a _noun_, and suppose a double ellipsis; as, "'My knife is worth a shilling;' i. e. 'My knife is _of the_ worth of a shilling.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 163. "'The book is worth that sum;' that is, 'The book is (_the_) worth (_of_) that _sum_;' 'It is worth _while_;' that is, 'It is (_the_) worth (_of the_) while.'"--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 54. This is still less satisfactory;[368] and as the whole appears to be mere guess-work, I see no good reason why _worth_ is not a _preposition_, governing the noun or participle.[369] If an _adverb_ precede _worth_, it may as well be referred to the foregoing verb, as when it occurs before any other preposition: as, "It _is richly worth_ the money."--"It _lies directly before_ your door." Or if we admit that an adverb sometimes relates to this word, the same thing may be as true of other prepositions; as, "And this is a lesson which, to the greatest part of mankind, is, I think, _very well worth_ learning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 303. "He sees let down from the ceiling, _exactly over_ his head, a glittering sword, hung by a single hair."--_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 33. See Exception 3d to Rule 21st. OBS. 9.--Both Dr. Johnson and Horne Tooke, (who never agreed if they could help it,) unite in saying that _worth_, in the phrases, "Wo _worth_ the man,"--"Wo _worth_ the day," and the like, is from the imperative of the Saxon verb _wyrthan_ or _weorthan_, to _be_; i. e., "Wo _be_ [_to_] the man," or, "Wo _betide_ the man," &c. And the latter affirms, that, as the preposition _by_ is from the imperative of _beon_, to _be_, so _with_, (though admitted to be sometimes from _withan_, to join,) is often no other than this same imperative verb _wyrth_ or _worth_: if so, the three words, _by, with_, and _worth_, were originally synonymous, and should now be referred at least to one and the same class. The _dative case_, or oblique object, which they governed as _Saxon verbs_, becomes their proper object, when taken as _English prepositions_; and in this also they appear to be alike. _Worth_, then, when it signifies _value_, is a common noun; but when it signifies _equal in value to_, it governs an objective, and has the usual characteristics of a preposition. Instances may perhaps be found in which _worth_ is an adjective, meaning _valuable_ or _useful_, as in the following lines: "They glow'd, and grew more intimate with God, _More worth to_ men, more joyous to themselves." --_Young_, N. ix, l. 988. In one instance, the poet Campbell appears to have used the word _worthless_ as a preposition: "Eyes a mutual soul confessing, Soon you'll make them grow Dim, and _worthless your possessing_, Not with age, but woe!" OBS. 10.--After verbs of _giving, paying, procuring_, and some others, there is usually an ellipsis of _to_ or _for_ before the objective of the person; as, "Give [_to_] _him_ water to drink."--"Buy [_for_] _me_ a knife."--"Pay [_to_] _them_ their wages." So in the exclamation, "Wo is _me_!" meaning, "Wo is _to_ me!" This ellipsis occurs chiefly before the personal pronouns, and before such nouns as come between the verb and its direct object; as, "Whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth [_to_] _God_ service."--_John_, xvi, 2. "Who brought [_to_] her _masters_ much gain by soothsaying."--_Acts_, xvi, 16. "Because he gave not [_to_] _God_ the glory."--_Ib._, xii, 23. "Give [_to_] _me_ leave to allow [_to_] _myself_ no respite from labour."--_Spect._, No. 454. "And the sons of Joseph, which were born [_to_] _him_ in Egypt, were two souls."--_Gen._, xlvi, 27. This elliptical construction of a few objectives, is what remains to us of the ancient Saxon dative case. If the order of the words be changed, the preposition must be inserted; as, "Pray do my service _to_ his majesty."--_Shak_. The doctrine inculcated by several of our grammarians, that, "Verbs of _asking, giving, teaching_, and _some others_, are often employed to govern two objectives," (_Wells_, Sec.215,) I have, under a preceding rule, discountenanced; preferring the supposition, which appears to have greater weight of authority, as well as stronger support from reason, that, in the instances cited in proof of such government, a preposition is, in fact, understood. Upon this question of ellipsis, depends, in all such instances, our manner of parsing one of the objective words. OBS. 11.--In _dates_, as they are usually written, there is much abbreviation; and several nouns of place and time are set down in the objective case, without the prepositions which govern them: as, "New York, Wednesday, 20th October, 1830."--_Journal of Literary Convention_. That is, "_At_ New York, _on_ Wednesday, _the_ 20th _day of_ October, _in the year_ 1830." NOTE TO RULE VII. An objective noun of time or measure, if it qualifies a subsequent adjective, must not also be made an adjunct to a preceding noun; as, "To an infant _of_ only two or three years _old_."--_Dr. Wayland_. Expunge _of_, or for _old_ write _of age_. The following is right: "The vast army of the Canaanites, _nine hundred chariots strong_, covered the level plain of Esdraelon."--_Milman's Jews_, Vol. i, p. 159. See Obs. 6th above. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VII. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF THE OBJECTIVE IN FORM. "But I do not remember who they were for."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 265. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _who_ is in the nominative case, and is made the object of the preposition _for_. But, according to Rule 7th, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in the objective case." Therefore, _who_ should be _whom_; thus, "But I do not remember _whom_ they were for."] "But if you can't help it, who do you complain of?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 137. "Who was it from? and what was it about?"--_Edgeworth's Frank_, p. 72. "I have plenty of victuals, and, between you and I, something in a corner."--_Day's Sandford and Merton_. "The upper one, who I am now about to speak of."--_Hunt's Byron_, p. 311. "And to poor we, thine enmity's most capital."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 201. "Which thou dost confess, were fit for thee to use, as they to claim."--_Ib._, p. 196. "To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour, than thou of them."--_Ib._, p. 197. "There are still a few who, like thou and I, drink nothing but water."--_Gil Blas_, Vol. i, p. 104. "Thus, I _shall_ fall; Thou _shalt_ love thy neighbour; He _shall_ be rewarded, express no resolution on the part of _I, thou, he_."--_Lennie's E. Gram._, p. 22; _Bullions's_, 32. "So saucy with the hand of she here--What's her name?"--_Shak., Ant. and Cleop._, Act iii, Sc. 11. "All debts are cleared between you and I."--_Id., Merchant of Venice_, Act iii, Sc. 2. "Her price is paid, and she is sold like thou."--_Milman's Fall of Jerusalem_. "Search through all the most flourishing era's of Greece."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16. "The family of the Rudolph's had been long distinguished."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 54. "It will do well enough for you and I."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 120. "The public will soon discriminate between him who is the sycophant, and he who is the teacher."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 10. "We are still much at a loss who civil power belongs to."--_Locke_. "What do you call it? and who does it belong to?"--_Collier's Cebes_. "He had received no lessons from the Socrates's, the Plato's, and the Confucius's of the age."--_Hatter's Letters_. "I cannot tell who to compare them to."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 128. "I see there was some resemblance betwixt this good man and I."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 298. "They by that means have brought themselves into the hands and house of I do not know who."--_Ib._, p. 196. "But at length she said there was a great deal of difference between Mr. Cotton and we."--_Hutchinson's Mass._, ii, 430. "So you must ride on horseback after we." [370]--MRS. GILPIN: _Cowper_, i, 275. "A separation must soon take place between our minister and I."--_Werter_, p. 109. "When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I."--_Shakspeare_. "To who? to thee? What art thou?"--_Id._ "That they should always bear the certain marks who they came from."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 221. "This life has joys for you and I, And joys that riches ne'er could buy."--_Burns_. UNDER THE NOTE--OF TIME OR MEASURE. "Such as almost every child of ten years old knows."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 4. "One winter's school of four months, will carry any industrious scholar, of ten or twelve years old, completely through this book."--_Ib._, p. 12. "A boy of six years old may be taught to speak as correctly, as Cicero did before the Roman Senate."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 27. "A lad of about twelve years old, who was taken captive by the Indians."--_Ib._, p. 235. "Of nothing else but that individual white figure of five inches long which is before him."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 288. "Where lies the fault, that boys of eight or ten years old, are with great difficulty made to understand any of its principles."--_Guy's Gram._, p. v. "Where language of three centuries old is employed."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 21. "Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high."--_Esther_, v. 14. "I say to this child of nine years old bring me that hat, he hastens and brings it me."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 3. "He laid a floor twelve feet long, and nine feet wide; that is, over the extent _of_ twelve feet long, and _of_ nine feet wide."--_Merchants School Gram._, p. 95. "The Goulah people are a tribe of about fifty thousand strong."--_Examiner_, No. 71. RULE VIII.--NOM. ABSOLUTE. A Noun or a Pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word: as, _"He failing, who shall meet success?"_--"Your _fathers_, where are they? and the _prophets_, do they live forever?"--_Zech._, i, 5. "Or _I_ only and _Barnabas_, have not we power to forbear working?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 6. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"--_Rom._, ix, 20. "O rare _we!_"--_Cowper_. "Miserable _they!_"--_Thomson_. "The _hour_ conceal'd, and so remote the _fear_, Death still draws nearer, never seeming near."--_Pope_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VIII. OBS. 1.--Many grammarians make an idle distinction between the nominative _absolute_ and the nominative _independent_, as if these epithets were not synonymous; and, at the same time, they are miserably deficient in directions for disposing of the words so employed. Their two rules do not embrace more than one half of those _frequent_ examples in which the case of the noun or pronoun depends on no other word. Of course, the remaining half cannot be parsed by any of the rules which they give. The lack of a comprehensive rule, like the one above, is a great and glaring defect in all the English grammars that the author has seen, except his own, and such as are indebted to him for such a rule. It is proper, however, that the different forms of expression which are embraced in this general rule, should be discriminated, one from an other, by the scholar: let him therefore, in parsing any nominative absolute, tell _how it is put so_; whether with a _participle_, by direct _address_, by _pleonasm_, or by _exclamation_. For, in discourse, a noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, after _four modes_, or under the following _four circumstances_: (of which Murray's "case absolute," or "nominative absolute," contains only the first:) I. When, _with a participle_, it is used to express a cause, or a concomitant fact; as, "I say, _this being so_, the _law being broken_, justice takes place."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27. _"Pontius Pilate being_ governor of Judea, and _Herod being_ tetrarch of Galilee, and his _brother_ Philip tetrarch of Iturea." &c.--_Luke_, iii, 1. "I _being_ in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren."--_Gen._, xxiv, 27. ---------"While shame, _thou looking on_, Shame to be overcome or overreach'd, Would utmost vigor raise."--_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, 1, 312. II. When, _by direct address_, it is put in the second person, and set off from the verb, by a comma or an exclamation point; as, "At length, _Seged_, reflect and be wise."--_Dr. Johnson._ "It may be, _drunkard, swearer, liar, thief_, thou dost not think of this."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27. "_This said_, he form'd thee, _Adam!_ thee, O _man!_ _Dust_ of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd The breath of life."--_Milton's Paradise Lost_, B. vii, l. 524. III. When, by _pleonasm_, it is introduced abruptly for the sake of emphasis, and is not made the subject or the object of any verb; as, "_He_ that hath, to him shall be given."--_Mark_, iv, 25. "_He_ that is holy, let him be holy still."--_Rev._, xxii, 11. "_Gad_, a troop shall overcome him."--_Gen._, xlix, 19. "The _north_ and the _south_, thou hast created them."--_Psalms_, lxxxix, 12. "And _they_ that have believing masters, let them not despise them."--_1 Tim._, vi, 2. "And the _leper_ in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare."--_Levit._, xiii, 45. "_They_ who serve me with adoration,--I am in them, and they [are] in me."--R. W. EMERSON: _Liberator_, No. 996. -------------------------"What may this mean, That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, Revisitst thus the glimpses of the moon, Making night hideous; and, we fools of nature,[371] So horribly to shake our disposition With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?"--_Shak. Hamlet._ IV. When, _by mere exclamation_, it is used without address, and without other words expressed or implied to give it construction; as, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, _the Lord, the Lord God_, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." _Exodus_, xxxiv, 6. "O _the depth_ of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"--_Rom._, xi, 33. "I should not like to see her limping back, Poor _beast_!"--_Southey_. "Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repose, The dawn of bliss, the _twilight_ of our woes!"--_Campbell_. OBS. 2.--The nominative put absolute with a participle, is often equivalent to a dependent clause commencing with _when, while, if, since_, or _because_. Thus, "I being a child," may be equal to, "When I was a child," or, "Because I was a child." Here, in lieu of the nominative, the Greeks used the genitive case, and the Latins, the ablative. Thus, the phrase, "[Greek: Kai hysteraesantos oinou]," "_And the wine failing_," is rendered by Montanus, "_Et deficiente vino_;" but by Beza, "_Et cum defecisset vinum_;" and in our Bible, "_And when they wanted wine_."--_John_, ii, 3. After a noun or a pronoun thus put absolute, the participle _being_ is frequently understood, especially if an adjective or a like case come after the participle; as, "They left their bones beneath unfriendly skies, His worthless absolution [_being_] all the prize." --_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 84. "Alike in ignorance, _his reason_ [------] _such_, Whether he thinks too little or too much."--_Pope, on Man_. OBS. 3.--The case which is put absolute in addresses or invocations, is what in the Latin and Greek grammars is called _the Vocative_. Richard Johnson says, "The only use of the Vocative Case, is, to call upon a Person, or a thing put Personally, which we speak to, to give notice to what we direct our Speech; and this is therefore, properly speaking, the _only Case absolute or independent_ which we may make use of without respect to any other Word."--_Gram. Commentaries_, p. 131. This remark, however, applies not justly to our language; for, with us, the vocative case, is unknown, or not distinguished from the nominative. In English, all nouns of the second person are either put absolute in the nominative, according to Rule 8th, or in apposition with their own pronouns placed before them, according to Rule 3d: as, "This is the stone which was set at nought of _you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, 11. "How much rather ought _you receivers_ to be considered as abandoned and execrable!"--_Clarkson's Essay_, p. 114. "Peace! _minion_, peace! it boots not me to hear The selfish counsel of _you hangers-on_." --_Brown's Inst._, p. 189. "Ye _Sylphs_ and _Sylphids_, to your chief give ear; _Fays, Faries, Genii, Elves_, and Daemons, hear!" --_Pope, R. L._, ii, 74. OBS. 4.--The case of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and abbreviated sayings, often depends, or may be conceived to depend, on something _understood_; and, when their construction can be satisfactorily explained on the principle of ellipsis, they are _not put absolute_, unless the ellipsis be that of the participle. The following examples may perhaps be resolved in this manner, though the expressions will lose much of their vivacity: "A _horse_! a _horse_! my _kingdom_ for a horse!"--_Shak._ "And he said unto his father, My _head_! my _head_!"--_2 Kings_, iv, 19. "And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, _heaps_ upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men."--_Judges_, xv, 16. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An _eye_ for an eye, and a _tooth_ for a tooth."--_Matt._, v, 38. "_Peace_, be still."--_Mark_, iv, 39. "One God, _world_ without end. Amen."--_Com. Prayer_. "_My fan_, let others say, who laugh at toil; _Fan! hood! glove! scarf!_ is her laconic style."--_Young_. OBS. 5.--"Such Expressions as, _Hand to Hand, Face to Face, Foot to Foot_, are of the nature of Adverbs, and are of elliptical Construction: For the Meaning is, _Hand_ OPPOSED _to Hand_, &c."--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 100. This learned and ingenious author seems to suppose the former noun to be here put absolute with a participle understood; and this is probably the best way of explaining the construction both of that word and of the preposition that follows it. So Samson's phrase, "_heaps upon heaps_," may mean, "heaps _being piled_ upon heaps;" and Scott's, "_man to man_, and _steel to steel_," may be interpreted, "_man being opposed_ to man, and _steel being opposed_ to steel:" "Now, man to man, and steel to steel, A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."--_Lady of the Lake_. OBS. 6.--Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors, apprentices, and ploughboys," that, "The supposition, that there can be a noun, or pronoun, which has reference to _no_ verb, and _no preposition_, is certainly a mistake."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 201. To sustain his position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out '_an absolute case_,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in these words: '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of this sentence is this: '_It being_, or _the state of things being such, that_ shame _is_ lost, all virtue is lost.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 191. Again: "There must, you will bear in mind, always be a verb expressed or understood. One would think, that this was not the case in [some instances: as,] '_Sir_, I beg you to give me a bit of bread.' The sentence which follows the _Sir_, is complete; but the _Sir_ appears to stand wholly without connexion. However, the full meaning is this: 'I beg you, _who are a Sir_, to give me a bit of bread.' Now, if you take time to reflect a little on this matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented _vocative cases_ and _cases absolute_, and a great many other appellations, with which they puzzle themselves, and confuse and bewilder and torment those who read their books."--_Ib._, Let. xix, 225 and 226. All this is just like Cobbett. But, let his admirers reflect on the matter as long as they please, the two _independent_ nominatives _it_ and _state_, in the text, "_It being_, or the state of things _being_ such," will forever stand a glaring confutation both of his doctrine and of his censure: "the _case absolute_" is there still! He has, in fact, only converted the single example into a double one! OBS. 7.--The Irish philologer, J. W. Wright, is even more confident than Cobbett, in denouncing "_the case absolute_;" and more severe in his reprehension of "Grammarians in general, and Lowth and Murray in particular," for entertaining the idea of such a case. "Surprise must cease," says he, "on an acquaintance with the fact, that persons who imbibe such fantastical doctrine _should be destitute of sterling information_ on the subject of English grammar.--The English language is a stranger to this case. We speak thus, with confidence, conscious of the justness of _our_ opinion:--an opinion, not precipitately formed, but one which is the result of mature and deliberate inquiry. '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost:' The meaning of this is,--'_When_ shame _is being lost_, all virtue is lost.' Here, the words _is being lost_ form _the true present tense_ of the passive voice; in which voice, all verbs, thus expressed, are _unsuspectedly_ situated: thus, agreeing with the noun _shame_, as the nominative of the first member of the sentence."--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 192. With all his deliberation, this gentleman has committed one oversight here, which, as it goes to contradict his scheme of the passive verb, some of his sixty venerable commenders ought to have pointed out to him. My old friend, the "Professor of _Elocution_ in Columbia College," who finds by this work of "superior excellence," that "the nature of the _verb_, the most difficult part of grammar, has been, at length, _satisfactorily explained_," ought by no means, after his "very attentive examination" of the book, to have left this service to me. In the clause, "all virtue _is lost_," the passive verb "_is lost_" has the form which Murray gave it--the form which, till within a year or two, _all men_ supposed to be the only right one; but, according to this new philosophy of the language, all men have been as much in error in this matter, as in their notion of the nominative absolute. If Wright's theory of the verb is correct, the only just form of the foregoing expression is, "all virtue _is being lost_." If this central position is untenable, his management of the nominative absolute falls of course. To me, the inserting of the word _being_ into all our passive verbs, seems the most monstrous absurdity ever broached in the name of grammar. The threescore certifiers to the accuracy of that theory, have, I trow, only recorded themselves as so many _ignoramuses_; for there are more than threescore myriads of better judgements against them. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VIII. NOUNS OR PRONOUNS PUT ABSOLUTE. "Him having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 190. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _him_, whose case depends on no other word, is in the objective case. But, according to Rule 8th, "A noun or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word." Therefore, _him_ should be _he_; thus, "_He_ having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."] "Me being young, they deceived me."--_Inst. E. Gram._, p. 190. "Them refusing to comply, I withdrew."--_Ib._ "Thee being present, he would not tell what he knew."--_Ib._ "The child is lost; and me, whither shall I go?"--_Ib._ "Oh! happy us, surrounded with so many blessings."--_Murray's Key_, p. 187; _Merchant's_, 197; _Smith's New Gram._, 96; _Farnum's_, 63. "'Thee, too! Brutus, my son!' cried Caesar, overcome."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 190. "Thee! Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?"--_New-York Mirror_, Vol. x, p. 353. "How swiftly our time passes away! and ah! us, how little concerned to improve it!"--_Comly's Gram., Key_, p. 192. "There all thy gifts and graces we display, Thee, only thee, directing all our way." CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES. The syntax of the English Adjective is fully embraced in the following brief rule, together with the exceptions, observations, and notes, which are, in due order, subjoined. RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES. Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns: as, "_Miserable_ comforters are ye _all_"--_Job_, xvi, 2. "_No worldly_ enjoyments are _adequate_ to the _high_ desires and powers of an _immortal_ spirit."--_Blair_. "Whatever faction's _partial_ notions are, _No_ hand is wholly _innocent_ in war." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. vii, l. 191. EXCEPTION FIRST. An adjective sometimes relates to a _phrase_ or _sentence_ which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "_To insult the afflicted_, is _impious_"--_Dillwyn_. "_That he should refuse_, is not _strange_"--"_To err_ is _human_." _Murray_ says, "_Human_ belongs to its substantive 'nature' understood."--_Gram._, p. 233. From this I dissent. EXCEPTION SECOND. In combined arithmetical numbers, one adjective often relates _to an other_, and the whole phrase, to a subsequent noun; as, "_One thousand four hundred and fifty-six_ men."--"Six dollars and _eighty-seven and a half_ cents for _every five_ days' service."--"In the _one hundred and twenty-second_ year."--"_One seven_ times more than it was wont to be heated."--_Daniel_, iii, 19. EXCEPTION THIRD. With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, "To be _sincere_, is to be _wise, innocent_, and _safe_."--_Hawkesworth_. "_Capacity_ marks the abstract quality of being _able_ to receive or hold."--_Crabb's Synonymes_. "Indeed, the main secret of being _sublime_, is to say great things in few and plain words."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 215. "Concerning being _free_ from sin in heaven, there is no question."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 437. Better: "Concerning _freedom_ from sin," &c. EXCEPTION FOURTH. Adjectives are sometimes substituted for their corresponding abstract nouns; (perhaps, in most instances, _elliptically_, like Greek neuters;) as, "The sensations of _sublime_ and _beautiful_ are not always distinguished by very distant boundaries."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 47. That is, "of _sublimity_ and _beauty_." "The faults opposite to _the sublime_ are chiefly two: _the frigid_, and _the bombast_"--_Ib._, p. 44. Better: "The faults opposite to _sublimity_, are chiefly two; _frigidity_ and _bombast_." "Yet the ruling character of the nation was that of _barbarous_ and _cruel_."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 26. That is, "of _barbarity_ and _cruelty_." "In a word, _agreeable_ and _disagreeable_ are qualities of the objects we perceive," &c.--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 99. "_Polished_, or _refined_, was the idea which the author had in view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 219. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IX. OBS. 1.--Adjectives often relate to nouns or pronouns _understood_; as, "A new sorrow recalls _all_ the _former_" [sorrows].--_Art of Thinking_, p. 31. [The place] "_Farthest_ from him is best."--_Milton, P. L._ "To whom they all gave heed, from the _least_ [person] to the _greatest_" [person].--_Acts_, viii, 10. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a _mighty_ [God], and a _terrible_" [God].--_Deut._, x, 17. "Every one can distinguish an _angry_ from a _placid_, a _cheerful_ from a _melancholy_, a _thoughtful_ from a _thoughtless_, and a _dull_ from a penetrating, countenance."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 192. Here the word _countenance_ is understood seven times; for eight different countenances are spoken of. "He came unto his _own_ [possessions], and his _own_ [men] received him not."--_John_, i, 11. The _Rev. J. G. Cooper_, has it: "He came unto his own (_creatures_,) and his own (_creatures_) received him not."--_Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 44. This ambitious editor of Virgil, abridger of Murray, expounder of the Bible, and author of several "new and improved" grammars, (of different languages,) should have understood this text, notwithstanding the obscurity of our version. "[Greek: Eis ta idia aelthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."--"In _propria_ venit, et _proprii_ eum non receperunt."--_Montanus_. "Ad _sua_ venit, et sui eum non exceperunt."--_Beza_. "Il est venu _chez soi_; et _les siens_ ne l'ont point recu."--_French Bible_. Sometimes the construction of the adjective involves an ellipsis of _several words_, and those perhaps the principal parts of the clause; as, "The sea appeared to be agitated more than [in that degree _which_ is] _usual_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 217. "During the course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little as [in the least] _possible_" [degree].--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 312. "Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why [_thou art_] form'd so _weak_, so _little_, and so _blind_" --_Pope_. OBS. 2.--Because _qualities_ belong only to _things_, most grammarians teach, that, "_Adjectives_ are capable of being added _to nouns only_."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 26. Or, as Murray expresses the doctrine: "Every adjective, and every adjective pronoun, _belongs to a substantive_, expressed or understood."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 161. "The adjective _always_ relates to a _substantive_."--_Ib._, p. 169. This teaching, which is alike repugnant to the true _definition_ of an adjective, to the true _rule_ for its construction, and to _all the exceptions_ to this rule, is but a sample of that hasty sort of induction, which is ever jumping to false conclusions for want of a fair comprehension of the facts in point. The position would not be tenable, even if all our _pronouns_ were admitted to be _nouns_, or "_substantives_;" and, if these two parts of speech are to be distinguished, the consequence must be, that Murray supposes a countless number of unnecessary and absurd _ellipses._ It is sufficiently evident, that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately to _pronouns_, and only through them to the nouns which they represent. Examples: "I should like to know who has been carried off, except _poor dear me_."--_Byron_. "To _poor us_ there is not much hope remaining."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p 204. "It is the final pause _which alone_, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 260. "And sometimes after _them both_."--_Ib._, p. 196. "All men hail'd _me happy_."--_Milton_. "To receive _unhappy me_."--_Dryden_. "Superior to _them all_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 419. "_They_ returned to their own country, _full_ of the discoveries which they had made."--_Ib._, p. 350. "_All ye_ are brethren."--_Matt._, xxiii, 8. "And _him only_ shalt thou serve."--_Matt._, iv, 10. "Go _wiser thou_, and in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence."--_Pope_. OBS. 3.--When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "_I_ am _glad_ that the _door_ is made _wide_."--"An unbounded _prospect_ doth not long continue _agreeable_."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 244. "Every thing which is _false, vicious_, or _unworthy_, is _despicable_ to him, though all the world should approve it."--_Spectator_, No. 520. Here _false, vicious_, and _unworthy_, relate to _which_; and _despicable_ relates to _thing_. The practice of Murray and his followers, of supplying a "substantive" in all such cases, is absurd. "When the Adjective forms the _Attribute_ of a Proposition, it belongs to the noun [or pronoun] which serves as the _Subject_ of the Proposition, and cannot be joined to any other noun, since it is of the Subject that we affirm the quality expressed by this Adjective."--_De Sacy, on General Gram._, p. 37. In some peculiar phrases, however, such as, _to fall short of, to make bold with, to set light by_, the adjective has such a connexion with the verb, that it may seem questionable how it ought to be explained in parsing. Examples: (1.) "This latter mode of expression falls _short_ of the force and vehemence of the former."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 353. Some will suppose the word _short_ to be here used _adverbially_, or to qualify _falls_ only; but perhaps it may as well be parsed as an adjective, forming a predicate with "_falls_," and relating to "_mode_," the nominative. (2.) "And that I have made so _bold_ with thy glorious Majesty."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 156. This expression is perhaps elliptical: it may mean, "that I have made _myself_ so bold," &c. (3.) "Cursed be he that _setteth light_ by his father or his mother: and all the people shall say, Amen."--_Deut._, xxvii, 16. This may mean, "that setteth light _esteem_ or _estimation_," &c. OBS. 4.--When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the noun or pronoun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes after it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but practice those virtues _which_, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has found to be _useful_ to them."--"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks _himself_ obliged in duty to be _sad_ and _disconsolate_."--_Addison_. "He is scandalized at _youth_ for being _lively_, and at _childhood_ for being playful."--_Id._ "But growing _weary_ of one who almost walked him out of breath, _he_ left him for Horace and Anacreon."--_Steele._ OBS. 5.--Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by _ellipsis_, as _nouns_; as, _the learned_, for _learned men_. Such phrases usually designate those classes of persons or things, which are characterized by the qualities they express; and this, the reader must observe, is a use quite different from that _substitution_ of adjectives for nouns, which is noticed in the fourth exception above. In _our_ language, the several senses in which adjectives may thus be taken, are not distinguished with that clearness which the inflections of other tongues secure. Thus, _the noble, the vile, the excellent_, or _the beautiful_, may be put for three extra constructions: first, for _noble persons, vile persons_, &c.; secondly, for _the noble man, the vile man_, &c.; thirdly, for the abstract qualities, _nobility, vileness, excellence, beauty_. The last-named usage forms an exception to the rule; in the other two the noun is understood, and should be supplied by the parser. Such terms, if elliptical, are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to the word _persons_ or _things_ understood; as, "_The careless_ and _the imprudent, the giddy_ and _the fickle, the ungrateful_ and _the interested_, everywhere meet us."--_Blair_. Here the noun _persons_ is to be six times supplied. "Wherever there is taste, _the witty_ and _the humorous_ make themselves perceived."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 21. Here the author meant, simply, the qualities _wit_ and _humour_, and he ought to have used these words, because the others are equivocal, and are more naturally conceived to refer to persons. In the following couplet, the noun _places_ or _things_ is understood after "_open_," and again after "_covert_," which last word is sometimes misprinted "_coverts_:" "Together let us beat this ample field, Try what _the open_, what _the covert_, yield."--_Pope, on Man._ OBS. 6.--The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately _before its noun_; as, "_Vain_ man! is grandeur given to _gay_ attire?"--_Beattie_. Those adjectives which relate to _pronouns_, most commonly follow them; as, "They left _me weary_ on a grassy turf."--_Milton._ But to both these general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective may be varied by a variety of circumstances, not excepting the mere convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto _which_ of _all us_?"--_2 Kings_, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed _after the word_ to which it relates: 1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify it; as, "A mind _conscious of right_,"--"A wall _three feet thick_,"--"A body of troops _fifty thousand strong_." 2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders _life happy_."--"He was in Tirzah, drinking _himself drunk_ in the house of Arza."--_1 Kings_, xvi, 9. "All men agree to call _vinegar sour, honey sweet_, and _aloes bitter_."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 38. "God made _thee perfect_, not _immutable_."--_Milton_. 3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness _infinite_,"--"Wisdom _unsearchable_."--_Murray_. 4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands _independent_ of all external things."--_Burgh_. "Honour is not _seemly_ for a fool."--_Solomon_. 5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix _a_; as, _afraid, alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew_. To these may be added a few other words; as, _else, enough, extant, extinct, fraught, pursuant_. 6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle; as, "A queen _regnant_,"--"The prince _regent_,"--"The heir _apparent_,"--"A lion, not _rampant_, but _couchant_ or _dormant_"--"For the time then _present_." OBS. 7.--In some instances, the adjective may _either precede or follow_ its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in respect to its position: as, 1. In _poetry_--provided the sense be obvious; as, ------------------"Wilt thou to the _isles Atlantic_, to the _rich Hesperian clime_, Fly in the train of Autumn?" --_Akenside, P. of I._, Book i, p. 27. -----------------------------"Wilt thou fly With laughing Autumn to _the Atlantic isles_, And range with him th' _Hesperian field_?" --_Id. Bucke's Gram._, p. 120. 2. When technical usage favours one order, and common usage an other; as, "A notary _public_," or, "A _public_ notary;"--"The heir _presumptive_," or, "The _presumptive_ heir."--See _Johnson's Dict._, and _Webster's_. 3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being _infinitely_ wise," or, "An _infinitely wise_ Being." Murray, Comly, and others, here approve only the former order; but the latter is certainly not ungrammatical. 4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, _modest, sensible_, and _virtuous_," or, "A _modest, sensible_, and _virtuous_ woman." Here again, Murray, Comly, and others, approve only the former order; but I judge the latter to be quite as good. 5. When the adjective is emphatic, it may be _foremost_ in the sentence, though the natural order of the words would bring it last; as, "_Weighty_ is the anger of the righteous."--_Bible_. "_Blessed_ are the pure in heart."--_Ib._ "_Great_ is the earth, _high_ is the heaven, _swift_ is the sun in his course."--_1 Esdras_, iv, 34. "_The more laborious_ the life is, _the less populous_ is the country."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 151. 6. When the adjective and its noun both follow a verb as parts of the predicate, either may possibly come before the other, yet the arrangement is _fixed by the sense intended_: thus there is a great difference between the assertions, "We call the _boy good_," and, "We call the _good boy_" OBS. 8.--By an ellipsis of the noun, an adjective with a preposition before it, is sometimes equivalent to an adverb; as, _"In particular;"_ that is, _"In a particular manner;"_ equivalent to _particularly_. So _"in general"_ is equivalent to _generally_. It has already been suggested, that, in parsing, the scholar should here supply the ellipsis. See Obs. 3d, under Rule vii. OBS. 9.--Though English adjectives are, for the most part, incapable of any _agreement_, yet such of them as denote unity or plurality, ought in general to have nouns of the same number: as, _this man, one man, two men, many men_.[372] In phrases of this form, the rule is well observed; but in some peculiar ways of numbering things, it is commonly disregarded; for certain nouns are taken in a plural sense without assuming the plural termination. Thus people talk of many _stone_ of cheese,--many _sail_ of vessels,--many _stand_ of arms,--many _head_ of cattle,--many _dozen_ of eggs,--many _brace_ of partridges,--many _pair_ of shoes. So we read in the Bible of "two hundred _pennyworth_ of bread," and "twelve _manner_ of fruits." In all such phraseology, there is, in regard to the _form_ of the latter word, an evident disagreement of the adjective with its immediate noun; but sometimes, (where the preposition _of_ does not occur,) expressions that seem somewhat like these, may be elliptical: as when historians tell of _many thousand foot_ (soldiers), or _many hundred horse_ (troops). To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a plural one; as, "_One_ hundred men,"--"_Every_ six weeks." And to denote plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede _an_ or _a_ with a singular noun; as, "The Odyssey entertains us with _many a wonderful adventure_, and _many a landscape_ of nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 436." There _starts up many_ a writer."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 306. "Full _many a flower is born_ to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--_Gray_. OBS. 10.--Though _this_ and _that_ cannot relate to plurals, many writers do not hesitate to place them before singulars taken conjointly, which are equivalent to plurals; as, "_This power and will_ do necessarily produce that which man is empowered to do."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 229. "_That sobriety and self-denial_ which are essential to the support of virtue."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 218. "_This modesty and decency_ were looked upon by them as a law of nature."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 45. Here the plural forms, _these_ and _those_, cannot be substituted; but the singular may be repeated, if the repetition be thought necessary. Yet, when these same pronominal adjectives are placed _after_ the nouns to suggest the things again, they must be made plural; as, "_Modesty and decency_ were thus carefully guarded, for _these_ were looked upon as being enjoined by the law of nature." OBS. 11.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs is improper; but, in poetry, an adjective relating to the noun or pronoun, is sometimes elegantly used in stead of an adverb qualifying the verb or participle; as; "_Gradual_ sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm."--_Thomson's Seasons_, p. 34. "To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts _Continual_ climb."--_Ib._, p. 48. "As on he walks _Graceful_, and crows defiance."--_Ib._, p. 56. "As through the falling glooms _Pensive_ I stray."--_Ib._, p. 80. "They, _sportive_, wheel; or, sailing down the stream, Are snatch'd _immediate_ by the quick-eyed trout."--_Ib._, p. 82. "_Incessant_ still you flow."--_Ib._, p. 91. "The shatter'd clouds _Tumultuous_ rove, the interminable sky _Sublimer_ swells."--_Ib._, p. 116. In order to determine, in difficult cases, whether an adjective or an adverb is required, the learner should carefully attend to the definitions of these parts of speech, and consider whether, in the case in question, _quality_ is to be expressed, or _manner_: if the former, an adjective is always proper; if the latter, an adverb. That is, in this case, the adverb, though not always required in poetry, is specially requisite in prose. The following examples will illustrate this point: "She looks _cold_;"--"She looks _coldly_ on him."--"I sat _silent_;"--"I sat _silently_ musing."--"Stand _firm_; maintain your cause _firmly_." See _Etymology_, Chap, viii, Obs. 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, on the Modifications of Adverbs. OBS. 12.--In English, an adjective and its noun are often taken as a sort of compound term, to which other adjectives may be added; as, "An _old man_; a _good_ old man; a very _learned, judicious_, good old man."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 169; _Brit. Gram._, 195; _Buchanan's_, 79. "Of an _other determinate positive new_ birth, subsequent to baptism, we know nothing."--_West's Letters_, p. 183. When adjectives are thus accumulated, the subsequent ones should convey such ideas as the former may consistently qualify, otherwise the expression will be objectionable. Thus the ordinal adjectives, _first, second, third, next_, and _last_, may qualify the cardinal numbers, but they cannot very properly be qualified by them. When, therefore, we specify any part of a series, the cardinal adjective ought, by good right, to follow the ordinal, and not, as in the following phrase, be placed before it: "In reading the _nine last chapters_ of John."--_Fuller_. Properly speaking, there is but one last chapter in any book. Say, therefore, "the _last nine_ chapters;" for, out of the twenty-one chapters in John, a man may select several different nines. (See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 7th, on the Degrees of Comparison.) When one of the adjectives merely qualifies the other, they should be joined together by a hyphen; as, "A _red-hot_ iron."--"A _dead-ripe_ melon." And when both or all refer equally and solely to the noun, they ought either to be connected by a conjunction, or to be separated by a comma. The following example is therefore faulty: "It is the business of an epic poet, to form a _probable interesting_ tale."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. Say, "probable _and_ interesting;" or else insert a comma in lieu of the conjunction. "Around him wide a sable army stand, A _low-born, cell-bred, selfish, servile band_." --_Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 355. OBS. 13.--Dr. Priestley has observed: "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the negative adjective _no_; and I do not see," says he, "how it can be remedied in any language. If I say, '_No laws are better than the English_,' it is only my known sentiments that can inform a person whether I mean to praise, or dispraise _them_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 136. It may not be possible to remove the ambiguity from the phraseology here cited, but it is easy enough to avoid the form, and say in stead of it, "_The English laws are worse than none_," or, "_The English laws are as good as any_;" and, in neither of these expressions, is there any ambiguity, though the other may doubtless be taken in either of these senses. Such an ambiguity is sometimes used on purpose: as when one man says of an other, "He is no small knave;" or, "He is no small fool." "There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record) A worthy member, _no small fool, a lord_."--_Pope_, p. 409. NOTES TO RULE IX. NOTE I.--Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number: as, "_That sort, those sorts_;"--"_This hand, these hands_." [373] NOTE II.--When the adjective is necessarily plural, or necessarily singular, the noun should be made so too: as, "_Twenty pounds_" not, "Twenty _pound_;"--"_Four feet_ long," not, "_Four foot_ long;"--"_One session_" not, "One _sessions_." NOTE III.--The reciprocal expression, _one an other_, should not be applied to two objects, nor _each other_, or _one the other_, to more than two; as, "Verse and prose, on some occasions, run into _one another_, like light and shade."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 377; _Jamieson's_, 298. Say, "into _each other_" "For mankind have always been butchering _each other_"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 151. Say, "_one an other_" See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th, on the Classes of Adjectives. NOTE IV.--When the comparative degree is employed with _than_, the latter term of comparison should _never include_ the former; nor the former the latter: as, "_Iron is more useful_ than _all the metals_"--"_All the metals are less useful_ than _iron_." In either case, it should be, "all the other metals," NOTE V.--When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of comparison, which is introduced by _of_, should _never exclude_ the former; as, "A fondness for show, is, of all _other_ follies, the most vain." Here the word _other_ should be expunged; for this latter term must _include_ the former: that is, the fondness for show must be one of the follies of which it is the vainest. NOTE VI.--When equality is denied, or inequality affirmed, neither term of the comparison should _ever include_ the other; because every thing must needs be equal to itself, and it is absurd to suggest that a part surpasses the whole: as, "_No writings whatever_ abound _so much_ with the bold and animated figures, _as the sacred books_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 414. Say, "No _other_ writings whatever;" because the sacred books are "_writings_" See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 6th, on Regular Comparison. NOTE VII.--Comparative terminations, and adverbs of degree, should not be applied to adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison; and all double comparatives and double superlatives should be avoided: as, "_So universal_ a complaint:" say rather, "_So general_."--"Some _less nobler_ plunder:" say, "_less noble_"--"The _most straitest_ sect:" expunge _most_. See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, from Obs. 5th to Obs. 13th, on Irregular Comparison.[374] NOTE VIII.--When adjectives are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, the shortest and simplest should in general be placed first; as, "He is _older_ and _more respectable_ than his brother." To say, "_more respectable_ and _older_" would be obviously inelegant, as possibly involving the inaccuracy of "_more older_." NOTE IX.--When one adjective is superadded to an other without a conjunction expressed or understood, the most distinguishing quality must be expressed next to the noun, and the latter must be such as the former may consistently qualify; as, "An _agreeable young_ man," not, "A _young agreeable_ man."--"The art of speaking, like _all other practical_ arts, may be facilitated by rules,"--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 10. Example of error: "The Anglo-Saxon language possessed, for the _two first_ persons, a _Dual_ number."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, p. 59. Say, "the _first two_ persons;" for the _second_ of three can hardly be one of the _first_; and "_two first_" with the _second_ and _third_ added, will clearly make _more_ than three. See Obs. 12th, above. NOTE X.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs, is a vulgar error; the adverb alone being proper, when _manner_ or _degree_ is to be expressed, and not _quality_; as, "He writes _elegant_;" say, "_elegantly_."--"It is a _remarkable_ good likeness;" say, "_remarkably good_." NOTE XI.--The pronoun _them_ should never be used as an adjective, in lieu of _those_: say, "I bought _those_ books;" not, "_them_ books." This also is a vulgar error, and chiefly confined to the conversation of the unlearned.[375] NOTE XII.--When the pronominal adjectives, _this_ and _that_, or _these_ and _those_, are contrasted; _this_ or _these_ should represent the latter of the antecedent terms, and _that_ or _those_ the former: as, "And, reason raise o'er instinct as you can, In _this_ 'tis God directs, in _that_ 'tis man."--_Pope_. "Farewell my friends! farewell my foes! My peace with _these_, my love with _those_!"--_Burns_. NOTE XIII.--The pronominal adjectives _either_ and _neither_, in strict propriety of syntax, relate to two things only; when more are referred to, _any_ and _none_, or _any one_ and _no one_, should be used in stead of them: as, "_Any_ of the three," or, "_Any one_ of the three;" not, "_Either_ of the three."--"_None_ of the four," or, "_No one_ of the four;" not, "_Neither_ of the four." [376] NOTE XIV.--The adjective _whole_ must not be used in a plural sense, for _all_; nor _less_, in the sense of _fewer_; nor _more_ or _most_, in any ambiguous construction, where it may be either an adverb of degree, or an adjective of number or quantity: as, "Almost the _whole_ inhabitants were present."--HUME: see _Priestley's Gram._, p. 190.[377] Say, "Almost _all_ the inhabitants." "No _less_ than three dictionaries have been published to correct it."--_Dr. Webster_. Say, "No _fewer_." "This trade enriched some _people more_ than them."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 215. This passage is not clear in its import: it may have either of two meanings. Say, "This trade enriched some _other_ people, _besides_ them." Or, "This trade enriched some _others_ more than _it did them_." NOTE XV.--Participial adjectives retain the termination, but not the government of participles; when, therefore, they are followed by the objective case, a preposition must be inserted to govern it: as, "The man who is most _sparing of_ his words, is generally most _deserving of_ attention." NOTE XVI.--When the figure of any adjective affects the syntax and sense of the sentence, care must be taken to give to the word or words that form, simple or compound, which suits the true meaning and construction. Examples: "He is _forehead bald_, yet he is clean."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Lev._, xiii, 41. Say, "_forehead-bald._,"--ALGER'S BIBLE, and SCOTT'S. "From such phrases as, '_New England scenery_,' convenience requires the _omission_ of the hyphen."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 89. This is a false notion. Without the hyphen, the phrase properly means, "_New scenery in England_;" but _New-England scenery_ is scenery in New England. "'_Many coloured wings_,' means _many wings which are coloured_; but '_many-coloured wings_' means _wings of many colours_."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 116. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IX. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES. "I am not recommending these kind of sufferings to your liking."--BP. SHERLOCK: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 87. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _these_ is plural, and does not agree with its noun _kind_, which is singular. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 9th: "Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their nouns in number." Therefore, _these_ should be _this_; thus, "I am not recommending _this_ kind of sufferings."] "I have not been to London this five years."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 152. "These kind of verbs are more expressive than their radicals."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 163. "Few of us would be less corrupted than kings are, were we, like them, beset with flatterers, and poisoned with that vermin."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 66. "But it seems this literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious labours."--_Roderick Random_, Vol. ii, p. 87. "If I had not left off troubling myself about those kind of things."--_Swift_. "For these sort of things are usually join'd to the most noted fortune."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 101. "The nature of that riches and long-suffering is, to lead to repentance."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 380. "I fancy they are these kind of gods, which Horace mentions."--_Addison, on Medals_, p. 74. "During that eight days they are prohibited from touching the skin."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 78. "Besides, he had not much provisions left for his army."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 86. "Are you not ashamed to have no other thoughts than that of amassing wealth, and of acquiring glory, credit, and dignities?"--_Ib._, p. 192. "It distinguisheth still more remarkably the feelings of the former from that of the latter."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. xvii. "And this good tidings of the reign shall be published through all the world."--_Campbell's Gospels, Matt._, xxiv, 14. "This twenty years have I been with thee."--_Gen._, xxxi, 38. "In these kind of expressions some words seem to be understood."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 179. "He thought these kind of excesses indicative of greatness."--_Hunt's Byron_, p. 117. "These sort of fellows are very numerous."--_Spect._, No. 486. "Whereas these sort of men cannot give account of their faith."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 444. "But the question is, whether that be the words."--_Ib._, iii, 321. "So that these sort of Expressions are not properly Optative."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 276. "Many things are not that which they appear to be."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 176. "So that every possible means are used."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. iv. "We have strict statutes, and most biting laws, Which for this nineteen years we have let sleep."--_Shak_. "They could not speak; and so I left them both, To bear this tidings to the bloody king."--_Id., Richard III_. UNDER NOTE II.--OF FIXED NUMBERS. "Why, I think she cannot be above six foot two inches high."--_Spect._, No. 533. "The world is pretty regular for about forty rod east and ten west."--_Ib._, No. 535. "The standard being more than two foot above it."--BACON: _Joh. Dict., w. Standard_. "Supposing (among other Things) he saw two Suns, and two Thebes."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 25. "On the right hand we go into a parlour thirty three foot by thirty nine."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 258. "Three pound of gold went to one shield."--_1 Kings_, x, 17. "Such an assemblage of men as there appears to have been at that sessions."--_The Friend_, x, 389. "And, truly, he hath saved me this pains."--_Barclay's Works_, ii, 266. "Within this three mile may you see it coming."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict., w. Mile_. "Most of the churches, not all, had one or more ruling elder."--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, i, 375. "While a Minute Philosopher, not six foot high, attempts to dethrone the Monarch of the universe."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 151. "The wall is ten foot high."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 50. "The stalls must be ten foot broad."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 201. "A close prisoner in a room twenty foot square, being at the north side of his chamber, is at liberty to walk twenty foot southward, not to walk twenty foot northward."--LOCKE: _Joh. Dict., w. Northward_. "Nor, after all this pains and industry, did they think themselves qualified."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 13. "No less than thirteen _gypsies_ were condemned at one Suffolk assizes, and executed."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 333. "The king was petitioned to appoint one, or more, person, or persons."--MACAULAY: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 194. "He carries weight! he rides a race! 'Tis for a thousand pound!"--_Cowper's Poems_, i, 279. "They carry three tire of guns at the head, and at the stern there are two tire of guns."--_Joh. Dict., w. Galleass_. "The verses consist of two sort of rhymes."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 112. "A present of 40 camel's load of the most precious things of Syria."--_Wood's Dict._, Vol. i, p. 162. "A large grammar, that shall extend to every minutiae."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, Tenth Ed., Pref., p. iii. "So many spots, like naeves on Venus' soil, One jewel set off with so many foil."--_Dryden_. "For, of the lower end, two handful It had devour'd, it was so manful."--_Hudibras_, i, 365. UNDER NOTE III.--OF RECIPROCALS. "That _shall_ and _will_ might be substituted for one another."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 131. "We use not _shall_ and _will_ promiscuously for one another."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 110. "But I wish to distinguish the three high ones from each other also."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 13. "Or on some other relation, which two objects bear to one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 142. "Yet the two words lie so near to one another in meaning, that in the present case, any one of them, perhaps, would have been sufficient."--_Ib._, p. 203. "Both orators use great liberties with one another."--_Ib._, p. 244. "That greater separation of the two sexes from one another."--_Ib._, p. 466. "Most of whom live remote from each other."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 39. "Teachers like to see their pupils polite to each other."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 28. "In a little time, he and I must keep company with one another only."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Thoughts and circumstances crowd upon each other."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 32. "They cannot see how the ancient Greeks could understand each other."--_Literary Convention_, p. 96. "The spirit of the poet, the patriot, and the prophet, vied with each other in his breast."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 112. "Athamas and Ino loved one another."--_Classic Tales_, p. 91. "Where two things are compared or contrasted to one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 119. "Where two things are compared, or contrasted, with one another."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 324. "In the classification of words, almost all writers differ from each other."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. iv. "I will not trouble thee, my child. Farewell; We'll no more meet; no more see one another."--_Shak. Lear_. UNDER NOTE IV.--OF COMPARATIVES. "Errours in Education should be less indulged than any."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. iv. "This was less his case than any man's that ever wrote."--_Pref. to Waller_. "This trade enriched some people more than it enriched them." [378]--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 215. "The Chaldee alphabet, in which the Old Testament has reached us, is more beautiful than any ancient character known."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 5. "The Christian religion gives a more lovely character of God, than any religion ever did."--_Murray's Key_, p. 169. "The temple of Cholula was deemed more holy than any in New Spain."--_Robertson's America_, ii, 477. "Cibber grants it to be a better poem of its kind than ever was writ."--_Pope_. "Shakspeare is more faithful to the true language of nature, than any writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 468. "One son I had--one, more than all my sons, the strength of Troy."--_Cowper's Homer_. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age."--_Gen._, xxxvii, 3. UNDER NOTE V.--OF SUPERLATIVES. "Of all other simpletons, he was the greatest."--_Nutting's English Idioms_. "Of all other beings, man has certainly the greatest reason for gratitude."--_Ibid., Gram._, p. 110. "This lady is the prettiest of all her sisters."--_Peyton's Elements of Eng. Lang._, p. 39. "The relation which, of all others, is by far the most fruitful of tropes, I have not yet mentioned."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 141. "He studied Greek the most of any nobleman."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 231. "And indeed that was the qualification of all others most wanted at that time."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, ii, 35. "Yet we deny that the knowledge of him, as outwardly crucified, is the best of all other knowledge of him."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 144. "Our ideas of numbers are of all others the most accurate and distinct."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 35. "This indeed is of all others the case when it can be least necessary to name the agent."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, i, 231. "The period, to which you have arrived, is perhaps the most critical and important of any moment of your lives."--_Ib._, i, 394. "Perry's royal octavo is esteemed the best of any pronouncing Dictionary yet known."--_Red Book_, p. x. "This is the tenth persecution, and of all the foregoing, the most bloody."--_Sammes's Antiquities_, Chap. xiii. "The English tongue is the most susceptible of sublime imagery, of any language in the world."--See _Bucke's Gram._, p. 141. "Homer is universally allowed to have had the greatest Invention of any writer whatever."--_Pope's Preface to Homer_. "In a version of this particular work, which most of any other seems to require a venerable antique cast."--_Ib._ "Because I think him the best informed of any naturalist who has ever written."-- _Jefferson's Notes_, p. 82. "Man is capable of being the most social of any animal."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 145. "It is of all others that which most moves us."--_Ib._, p. 158. "Which of all others, is the most necessary article."--_Ib._, p. 166. "Quoth he 'this gambol thou advisest, Is, of all others, the unwisest.'"--_Hudibras_, iii, 316. UNDER NOTE VI.--INCLUSIVE TERMS. "Noah and his family outlived all the people who lived before the flood."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 101. "I think it superior to any work of that nature we have yet had."--_Dr. Blair's Rec. in Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 300. "We have had no grammarian who has employed so much labour and judgment upon our native language, as the author of these volumes."--_British Critic, ib._, ii, 299. "No persons feel so much the distresses of others, as they who have experienced distress themselves."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo., p. 227. "Never was any people so much infatuated as the Jewish nation."--_Ib._, p. 185; _Frazee's Gram._, p. 135. "No tongue is so full of connective particles as the Greek."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 85. "Never sovereign was so much beloved by the people."--_Murray's Exercises_, R. xv, p. 68. "No sovereign was ever so much beloved by the people."--_Murray's Key_, p. 202. "Nothing ever affected her so much as this misconduct of her child."--_Ib._, p. 203; _Merchant's_, 195. "Of all the figures of speech, none comes so near to painting as metaphor."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 142; _Jamieson's_, 149. "I know none so happy in his metaphors as Mr. Addison."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150. "Of all the English authors, none is so happy in his metaphors as Addison."--_Jamieson's, Rhet._, p. 157. "Perhaps no writer in the world was ever so frugal of his words as Aristotle."--_Blair_, p. 177; _Jamieson_, 251. "Never was any writer so happy in that concise spirited style as Mr. Pope."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 403. "In the harmonious structure and disposition of periods, no writer whatever, ancient or modern, equals Cicero."--_Blair_, 121; _Jamieson_, 123. "Nothing delights me so much as the works of nature."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. "No person was ever so perplexed as he has been to-day."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 216. "In no case are writers so apt to err as in the position of the word _only_."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 15. "For nothing is so tiresome as perpetual uniformity."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 102. "No writing lifts exalted man so high, As sacred and soul-moving poesy."--_Sheffield_. UNDER NOTE VII.--EXTRA COMPARISONS. "How much more are ye better than the fowls!"--_Luke_, xii, 24. "Do not thou hasten above the Most Highest."--_2 Esdras_, iv, 34. "This word _peer_ is most principally used for the nobility of the realm."--_Cowell_. "Because the same is not only most universally received," &c.--_Barclay's Works_, i, 447. "This is, I say, not the best and most principal evidence."--_Ib._, iii, 41. "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most Highest."--_The Psalter_, Ps. 1, 14. "The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest."--_Ib._, Ps. xlvi, 4. "As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be taught them is to admire frugality."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 152. "More universal terms are put for such as are more restricted."--_Brown's Metaphors_, p. 11. "This was the most unkindest cut of all."--_Dodd's Beauties of Shak._, p. 251; _Singer's Shak._, ii, 264. "To take the basest and most poorest shape."--_Dodd's Shak._, p. 261. "I'll forbear: and am fallen out with my more headier will."--_Ib._, p. 262. "The power of the Most Highest guard thee from sin."--_Percival, on Apostolic Succession_, p. 90. "Which title had been more truer, if the dictionary had been in Latin and Welch."--VERSTEGAN: _Harrison's E. Lang._, p. 254. "The waters are more sooner and harder frozen, than more further upward, within the inlands."--_Id., ib._ "At every descent, the worst may become more worse."--H. MANN: _Louisville Examiner_, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 149. "Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less happier lands."--_Shakspeare_. "A dreadful quiet felt, and worser far Than arms, a sullen interval of war."--_Dryden_. UNDER NOTE VIII.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "It breaks forth in its most energetick, impassioned, and highest strain."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 66. "He has fallen into the most gross and vilest sort of railing."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 261. "To receive that more general and higher instruction which the public affords."--_District School_, p. 281. "If the best things have the perfectest and best operations."--HOOKER: _Joh. Dict._ "It became the plainest and most elegant, the most splendid and richest, of all languages."--See _Bucke's Gram._, p. 140. "But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is, to mark the divisions of the sense."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 331; _Murray's Gram._, 248. "That every thing belonging to ourselves is the perfectest and the best."--_Clarkson's Prize Essay_, p. 189. "And to instruct their pupils in the most thorough and best manner."--_Report of a School Committee_. UNDER NOTE IX.--ADJECTIVES SUPERADDED. "The Father is figured out as an old venerable man."--_Dr. Brownlee's Controversy_. "There never was exhibited such another masterpiece of ghostly assurance."--_Id._ "After the three first sentences, the question is entirely lost."--_Spect._, No, 476. "The four last parts of speech are commonly called particles."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 14. "The two last chapters will not be found deficient in this respect."--_Student's Manual_, p. 6. "Write upon your slates a list of the ten first nouns."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 85. "We have a few remains of other two Greek poets in the pastoral style, Moschus and Bion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 393. "The nine first chapters of the book of Proverbs are highly poetical."--_Ib._, p. 417. "For of these five heads, only the two first have any particular relation to the sublime."--_Ib._, p. 35. "The resembling sounds of the two last syllables give a ludicrous air to the whole."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 69. "The three last are arbitrary."--_Ib._, p. 72. "But in the phrase 'She hangs the curtains,' the verb _hangs_ is a transitive active verb."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 30. "If our definition of a verb, and the arrangement of transitive or intransitive active, passive, and neuter verbs, are properly understood."--_Ib._, 15th Ed., p. 30. "These two last lines have an embarrassing construction."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 160. "God was provoked to drown them all, but Noah and other seven persons."--_Wood's Dict._, ii, 129. "The _six first_ books of the AEneid are extremely beautiful."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 27. "A few more instances only can be given here."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 131. "A few more years will obliterate every vestige of a subjunctive form."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 46. "Some define them to be verbs devoid of the two first persons."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 205. "In such another Essay-tract as this."--_White's English Verb_, p. 302. "But we fear that not such another man is to be found."--REV. ED. IRVING: _on Horne's Psalms_, p. xxiii. "Oh such another sleep, that I might see But such another man!"--SHAK., _Antony and Cleopatra_. UNDER NOTE X.--ADJECTIVES FOR ADVERBS. "_The_ is an article, relating to the noun _balm_, agreeable to Rule 11."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 133. "_Wise_ is an adjective relating to the noun _man's_, agreeable to Rule 11th."--_Ibid._, 12th Ed., often. "To whom I observed, that the beer was extreme good."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 127. "He writes remarkably elegant."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 152. "John behaves truly civil to all men."--_Ib._, p. 153. "All the sorts of words hitherto considered have each of them some meaning, even when taken separate."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 44. "He behaved himself conformable to that blessed example."--_Sprat's Sermons_, p. 80. "Marvellous graceful."--_Clarendon, Life_, p. 18. "The Queen having changed her ministry suitable to her wisdom."--_Swift, Exam._, No. 21. "The assertions of this author are easier detected."--_Swift_: censured in _Lowth's Gram._, p. 93. "The characteristic of his sect allowed him to affirm no stronger than that."--_Bentley: ibid._ "If one author had spoken nobler and loftier than an other."--_Id., ib._ "Xenophon says express."--_Id., ib._ "I can never think so very mean of him."--_Id., ib._ "To convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed."--_Jude_, 15th: _ib._ "I think it very masterly written."--_Swift to Pope_, Let. 74: _ib._ "The whole design must refer to the golden age, which it lively represents."--_Addison, on Medals: ib._ "Agreeable to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's book."--BURDER: approved in _Webster's Impr. Gram._, p. 107; _Frazee's_, 140; _Maltby's_, 93. "Agreeable to the law of nature, children are bound to support their indigent parents."--_Webster's Impr. Gram._, p. 109. "Words taken independent of their meaning are parsed as nouns of the neuter gender."--_Maltby's Gr._, 96. "Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 236. UNDER NOTE XI.--THEM FOR THOSE. "Though he was not known by them letters, or the name Christ."--_Wm. Bayly's Works_, p. 94. "In a gig, or some of them things."--_Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent_, p. 35. "When cross-examined by them lawyers."--_Ib._, p. 98. "As the custom in them cases is."--_Ib._, p. 101. "If you'd have listened to them slanders."--_Ib._, p. 115. "The old people were telling stories about them fairies, but to the best of my judgment there's nothing in it."--_Ib._, p. 188. "And is it not a pity that the Quakers have no better authority to substantiate their principles than the testimony of them old Pharisees?"--_Hibbard's Errors of the Quakers_, p. 107. UNDER NOTE XII.--THIS AND THAT. "Hope is as strong an incentive to action, as fear: this is the anticipation of good, that of evil."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 135. "The poor want some advantages which the rich enjoy; but we should not therefore account those happy, and these miserable."--_Ib._ "Ellen and Margaret fearfully, Sought comfort in each other's eye; Then turned their ghastly look each one, This to her sire, that to her son." _Scott's Lady of the Lake_, Canto ii, Stanza 29. "Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids, In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades; These by Apollo's silver bow were slain, Those Cynthia's arrows stretched upon the plain." --_Pope, Il._, xxiv, 760. "Memory and forecast just returns engage, This pointing back to youth, that on to age." --See _Key_. UNDER NOTE XIII.--EITHER AND NEITHER. "These make the three great subjects of discussion among mankind; truth, duty, and interest. But the arguments directed towards either of them are generically distinct."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 318. "A thousand other deviations may be made, and still either of them may be correct in principle. For these divisions and their technical terms, are all arbitrary."--_R. W. Green's Inductive Gram._, p. vi. "Thus it appears, that our alphabet is deficient, as it has but seven vowels to represent thirteen different sounds; and has no letter to represent either of five simple consonant sounds."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 19. "Then neither of these [five] verbs can be neuter."--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 343. "And the _asserter_ is in neither of the four already mentioned."--_Ib._, p. 356. "As it is not in either of these four."--_Ib._, p. 356. "See whether or not the word comes within the definition of either of the other three simple cases."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Neither of the ten was there."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 108. "Here are ten oranges, take either of them."--_Ib._, p. 102. "There are three modes, by either of which recollection will generally be supplied; inclination, practice, and association."--_Rippingham's Art of Speaking_, p. xxix. "Words not reducible to either of the three preceding heads."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, pp. 335 and 340. "Now a sentence may be analyzed in reference to either of these [four] classes."--_Ib._, p. 577. UNDER NOTE XIV.--WHOLE, LESS, MORE, AND MOST. "Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates the whole departments of the state?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 278. "A messenger relates to Theseus the whole particulars."--_Kames. El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 313. "There are no less than twenty dipthhongs [sic--KTH] in the English language."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. xii. "The Redcross Knight runs through the whole steps of the Christian life."--_Spectator_ No. 540. "There were not less than fifty or sixty persons present."--_Teachers' Report._ "Greater experience, and more cultivated society, abate the warmth of imagination, and chasten the manner of expression."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 152; _Murray's Gram._, i, 351. "By which means knowledge, much more than oratory, is become the principal requisite."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 254. "No less than seven illustrious cities disputed the right of having given birth to the greatest of poets."--_Lemp. Dict., n. Homer._ "Temperance, more than medicines, is the proper means of curing many diseases."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 222. "I do not suppose, that we Britons want genius, more than our neighbours."--_Ib._, p. 215. "In which he saith, he has found no less than twelve untruths."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 460. "The several places of rendezvous were concerted, and the whole operations fixed."--HUME: see _Priestley's Gram._, p. 190. "In these rigid opinions the whole sectaries concurred."--_Id., ib._ "Out of whose modifications have been made most complex modes."--LOCKE: _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 148. "The Chinese vary each of their words on no less than five different tones."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 58. "These people, though they possess more shining qualities, are not so proud as he is, nor so vain as she."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211. "'Tis certain, we believe ourselves more, after we have made a thorough Inquiry into the Thing."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 244. "As well as the whole Course and Reasons of the Operation."--_Ib._ "Those rules and principles which are of most practical advantage."--_Newman's Rhet._, p. 4. "And there shall be no more curse."--_Rev._, xxii, 3. "And there shall be no more death."--_Rev._, xxi, 4. "But in recompense, we have more pleasing pictures of ancient manners."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 436. "Our language has suffered more injurious changes in America, since the British army landed on our shores, than it had suffered before, in the period of three centuries."--_Webster's Essays_, Ed. of 1790, p. 96. "The whole conveniences of life are derived from mutual aid and support in society."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 166. UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES. "To such as think the nature of it deserving their attention."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 84. "In all points, more deserving the approbation of their readers."--_Keepsake_, 1830. "But to give way to childish sensations was unbecoming our nature."--_Lempriere's Dict., n. Zeno._ "The following extracts are deserving the serious perusal of all."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 135. "No inquiry into wisdom, however superficial, is undeserving attention."--_Bulwer's Disowned_, ii, 95. "The opinions of illustrious men are deserving great consideration."--_Porter's Family Journal_, p. 3. "And resolutely keeps its laws, Uncaring consequences."--_Burns's Works_, ii, 43. "This is an item that is deserving more attention."--_Goodell's Lectures._ "Leave then thy joys, unsuiting such an age, To a fresh comer, and resign the stage."--_Dryden._ UNDER NOTE XVI.--FIGURE OF ADJECTIVES. "The tall dark mountains and the deep toned seas."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 278. "O! learn from him To station quick eyed Prudence at the helm."--ANON.: _Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 104. "He went in a one horse chaise."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 113. "It ought to be, 'in a one horse chaise.'"--_Dr. Crombie's Treatise_, p. 334. "These are marked with the above mentioned letters."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "A many headed faction."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 18. "Lest there should be no authority in any popular grammar for the perhaps heaven inspired effort."--_Fowle's True English Gram._, Part 2d, p. 25. "Common metre stanzas consist of four Iambic lines; one of eight, and the next of six syllables. They were formerly written in two fourteen syllable lines."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 69. "Short metre stanzas consist of four Iambic lines; the third of eight, and the rest of six syllables."--_Ibid._ "Particular metre stanzas consist of six Iambic lines; the third and sixth of six syllables, the rest of eight."--_Ibid._ "Hallelujah metre stanzas consist of six Iambic lines; the last two of eight syllables, and the rest of six."--_Ibid._ "Long metre stanzas are merely the union of four Iambic lines, of ten syllables each."--_Ibid._ "A majesty more commanding than is to be found among the rest of the Old Testament poets."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 418. "You sulphurous and thought executed fires, Vaunt couriers to oak cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all shaking thunder Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!"--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 264. CHAPTER V.--PRONOUNS. The rules for the agreement of Pronouns with their antecedents are four; hence this chapter extends from the tenth rule to the thirteenth, inclusively. The _cases_ of Pronouns are embraced with those of nouns, in the seven rules of the third chapter. RULE X.--PRONOUNS. A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender:[379] as, "This is the friend _of whom I spoke_; he has just arrived."--"This is the book _which I_ bought; it is an excellent work."--"_Ye_, therefore, _who_ love mercy, teach _your_ sons to love _it_ too."--_Cowper._ "Speak _thou, whose_ thoughts at humble peace repine, Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end be _thine_?"--_Dr. Johnson_. EXCEPTION FIRST. When a pronoun stands for some person or thing _indefinite_, or _unknown to the speaker_, this rule is not _strictly_ applicable; because the person, number, and gender, are rather assumed in the pronoun, than regulated by an antecedent: as, "I do not care _who_ knows it."--_Steele_. "_Who_ touched me? Tell me _who_ it was."--"We have no knowledge how, or by _whom_, it is inhabited."--ABBOT: _Joh. Dict._ EXCEPTION SECOND. The neuter pronoun _it_ may be applied to a young child, or to other creatures masculine or feminine by nature, when they are not obviously distinguishable with regard to sex; as, "Which is the real friend to the _child_, the person who gives _it_ the sweetmeats, or the person who, considering only _its_ health, resists _its_ importunities?"--_Opis._ "He loads the _animal_ he is showing me, with so many trappings and collars, that I cannot distinctly view _it_"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 301. "The _nightingale_ sings most sweetly when _it_ sings in the night."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 52. EXCEPTION THIRD. The pronoun _it_ is often used without a definite reference to any antecedent, and is sometimes a mere expletive, and sometimes the representative of an action expressed afterwards by a verb; as, "Whether she grapple _it_ with the pride of philosophy."--_Chalmers._ "Seeking to lord _it_ over God's heritage."--_The Friend_, vii, 253. "_It_ is not for kings, O Lemuel, _it_ is not for kings _to drink_ wine, nor for princes strong drink."--_Prov._, xxxi, 4. "Having no temptation to _it_, God cannot _act unjustly_ without defiling his nature."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 11. "Come, and trip _it_ as you go, On the light fantastic toe."--_Milton._ EXCEPTION FOURTH. A singular antecedent with the adjective _many_, sometimes admits a plural pronoun, but never in the same clause; as, "Hard has been the fate of _many_ a great _genius_, that while _they_ have conferred immortality on others, _they_ have wanted themselves some friend to embalm their names to posterity."--_Welwood's Pref. to Rowe's Lucan._ "In Hawick twinkled _many a light_, Behind him soon _they_ set in night."--_W. Scott._ EXCEPTION FIFTH. When a plural pronoun is put by enallage for the singular, it does not agree with its noun in number, because it still requires a plural verb; as, "_We_ [Lindley Murray] _have followed_ those authors, who appear to have given them the most natural and intelligible distribution."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 29. "_We shall close our_ remarks on this subject, by introducing the sentiments of Dr. Johnson respecting it."--_Ib._ "My lord, _you know_ I love _you_"--_Shakspeare._ EXCEPTION SIXTH. The pronoun sometimes disagrees with its antecedent in one sense, because it takes it in an other; as, "I have perused Mr. Johnson's _Grammatical Commentaries_, and find _it_[380] a very laborious, learned, and useful Work."--_Tho. Knipe_, D. D. "_Lamps_ is of the plural number, because _it_ means more than one."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8. "_Man_ is of the masculine gender, because _it_ is the name of a male."--_Ib._ "The _Utica Sentinel_ says _it_ has not heard whether the wounds are dangerous."--_Evening Post_. (Better: "The _editor_ of the Utica Sentinel says, _he_ has not heard," &c.) "There is little _Benjamin_ with _their_ ruler."--_Psalms_, lxviii, 27. "_Her_ end when _emulation_ misses, _She_ turns to envy, stings, and hisses."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 415. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE X. OBS. 1.--Respecting a pronoun, the main thing is, that the reader perceive clearly _for what it stands_; and next, that he do not misapprehend _its relation of case_. For the sake of completeness and uniformity in parsing, it is, I think, expedient to apply the foregoing rule not only to those pronouns which have obvious antecedents expressed, but also to such as are not accompanied by the nouns for which they stand. Even those which are put for persons or things unknown or indefinite, may be said to agree with whatever is meant by them; that is, with such nouns as their own properties indicate. For the reader will naturally understand something by every pronoun, unless it be a mere expletive, and without any antecedent. For example: "It would depend upon _who_ the forty were."--_Trial at Steubenville_, p. 50. Here _who_ is an indefinite relative, equivalent to _what persons_; of the third person, plural, masculine; and is in the nominative case after were, by Rule 6th. For the full construction seems to be this: "It would depend upon _the persons who_ the forty were." So _which_, for _which person_, or _which thing_, (if we call it a pronoun rather than an adjective,) may be said to have the properties of the noun _person_ or _thing_ understood; as, "His notions fitted things so well, That _which_ was _which_ he could not tell."--_Hudibras_. OBS. 2.--The pronoun _we_ is used by the speaker or writer to represent himself and others, and is therefore plural. But it is sometimes used, by a sort of fiction, in stead of the singular, to intimate that the speaker or writer is not alone in his opinions; or, perhaps more frequently, to evade the charge of egotism; for this modest assumption of plurality seems most common with those who have something else to assume: as, "And so lately as 1809, Pope Pius VII, in excommunicating his 'own dear son,' Napoleon, whom he crowned and blessed, says: '_We_, unworthy as _we_ are, represent the God of peace.'"--_Dr. Brownlee_. "The coat fits _us_ as well as if _we_ had been melted and poured into it."--_Prentice_. Monarchs sometimes prefer _we_ to _I_, in immediate connexion with a singular noun; as, "_We Alexander_, Autocrat of all the Russias."--"_We the Emperor_ of China," &c.--_Economy of Human Life_, p. vi. They also employ the anomalous compound _ourself_, which is not often used by other people; as, "Witness _ourself_ at Westminster, 28 day of April, in the tenth year of _our_ reign. CHARLES." "_Caes._ What touches _us ourself_, shall be last serv'd." --_Shak., J. C._, Act iii, Sc. 1. "_Ourself_ to hoary Nestor will repair." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 65. OBS. 3.--The pronoun _you_, though originally and properly plural, is now generally applied alike to one person or to more. Several observations upon this fashionable substitution of the plural number for the singular, will be found in the fifth and sixth chapters of Etymology. This usage, however it may seem to involve a solecism, is established by that authority against which the mere grammarian has scarcely a right to remonstrate. Alexander Murray, the schoolmaster, observes, "When language was plain and simple, the English always said _thou_, when speaking to a single person. But when an affected politeness, and a fondness for continental manners and customs began to take place, persons of rank and fashion said _you_ in stead of _thou_. The innovation gained ground, and custom gave sanction to the change, and stamped it with the authority of law."--_English Gram._, Third Edition, 1793, p. 107. This respectable grammarian acknowledged both _thou_ and _you_ to be of the second person singular. I do not, however, think it necessary or advisable to do this, or to encumber the conjugations, as some have done, by introducing the latter pronoun, and the corresponding form of the verb, as singular.[381] It is manifestly better to say, that the plural is used _for the singular_, by the figure _Enallage_. For if _you_ has literally become singular by virtue of this substitution, _we_ also is singular for the same reason, as often as it is substituted for _I_; else the authority of innumerable authors, editors, compilers, and crowned, heads, is insufficient to make it so. And again, if _you_ and the corresponding form of the verb are _literally of the second person singular_, (as Wells contends, with an array of more than sixty names of English grammarians to prove it,) then, by their own rule of concord, since _thou_ and its verb are still generally retained in the same place by these grammarians, a verb that agrees with one of these nominatives, must also agree with the other; so that _you hast_ and _thou have, you seest_ and _thou see_, may be, so far as appears from _their_ instructions, as good a concord as can be made of these words! OBS. 4.--The putting of you for thou has introduced the anomalous compound _yourself_, which is now very generally used in stead of _thyself_. In this instance, as in the less frequent adoption of _ourself_ for _myself_, Fashion so tramples upon the laws of grammar, that it is scarcely possible to frame an intelligible exception in her favour. These pronouns are essentially singular, both in form and meaning; and yet they cannot be used with _I_ or _thou_, with _me_ or _thee_, or with any verb that is literally singular; as, "_I ourself am._" but, on the contrary, they must be connected only with such plural terms as are put for the singular; as, "_We ourself are_ king."--"Undoubtedly _you yourself become_ an innovator."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 364; _Campbell's Rhet._, 167. "Try touch, or sight, or smell; try what you will, _You_ strangely _find_ nought but _yourself_ alone." --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. i, l. 162. OBS. 5.--Such terms of address, as _your Majesty, your Highness, your Lordship, your Honour_, are sometimes followed by verbs and pronouns of the second person plural, substituted for the singular; and sometimes by words literally singular, and of the third person, with no other figure than a substitution of _who_ for _which_: as, "Wherein _your Lordship, who shines_ with so much distinction in the noblest assembly in the world, peculiarly _excels_"--_Dedication of Sale's Koran_. "We have good cause to give _your Highness_ the first place; _who_, by a continued series of favours _have obliged_ us, not only while _you moved_ in a lower orb, but since the Lord hath called _your Highness_ to supreme authority."--_Massachusetts to Cromwell_, in 1654. OBS. 6.--The general usage of the French is like that of the English, _you_ for _thou_; but Spanish, Portuguese, or German politeness requires that the third person be substituted for the second. And when they would be very courteous, the Germans use also the plural for the singular, as _they_ for _thou_. Thus they have a fourfold method of addressing a person: as, _they_, denoting the highest degree of respect; _he_, a less degree; _you_, a degree still less; and _thou_, none at all, or absolute reproach. Yet, even among them, the last is used as a term of endearment to children, and of veneration to God! _Thou_, in English, still retains its place firmly, and without dispute, in all addresses to the Supreme Being; but in respect to the _first person_, an observant clergyman has suggested the following dilemma: "Some men will be pained, if a minister says _we_ in the pulpit; and others will quarrel with him, if he says _I_."--_Abbott's Young Christian_, p. 268. OBS. 7.--Any extensive perversion of the common words of a language from their original and proper use, is doubtless a matter of considerable moment. These changes in the use of the pronouns, being some of them evidently a sort of complimentary fictions, some religious people have made it a matter of conscience to abstain from them, and have published their reasons for so doing. But the _moral objections_ which may lie against such or any other applications of words, do not come within the grammarian's province. Let every one consider for himself the moral bearing of what he utters: not forgetting the text, "But I say unto you, that _every idle word_ that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement: for _by thy words_ thou shalt be justified, and _by thy words_ thou shalt be condemned."--_Matt._, xii, 36 and 37. What scruples this declaration _ought to_ raise, it is not my business to define. But if such be God's law, what shall be the reckoning of those who make no conscience of uttering continually, or when they will, not idle words only, but expressions the most absurd, insignificant, false, exaggerated, vulgar, indecent, injurious, wicked, sophistical, unprincipled, ungentle, and perhaps blasphemous, or profane? OBS. 8.--The agreement of pronouns with their antecedents, it is necessary to observe, is liable to be controlled or affected by several of the figures of rhetoric. A noun used figuratively often suggests two different senses, the one literal, and the other tropical; and the agreement of the pronoun must be sometimes with this, and sometimes with that, according to the nature of the trope. If the reader be unacquainted with tropes and figures, he should turn to the explanation of them in Part Fourth of this work; but almost every one knows something about them, and such as must here be named, will perhaps be made sufficiently intelligible by the examples. There seems to be no occasion to introduce under this head more than four; namely, personification, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche. OBS. 9.--When a pronoun represents the name of an inanimate object _personified_, it agrees with its antecedent in the figurative, and not in the literal sense; as, "There were others whose crime it was rather to neglect _Reason_ than to disobey _her_."--_Dr. Johnson_. "_Penance_ dreams her life away."--_Rogers_. "Grim _Darkness_ furls _his_ leaden shroud."--_Id._ Here if the pronoun were made neuter, the personification would be destroyed; as, "By the progress which _England_ had already made in navigation and commerce, _it_ was now prepared for advancing farther."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 341. If the pronoun _it_ was here intended to represent England, the feminine _she_ would have been much better; and, if such was not the author's meaning, the sentence has some worse fault than the agreement of a pronoun with its noun in a wrong sense. OBS. 10.--When the antecedent is applied _metaphorically_, the pronoun usually agrees with it in its literal, and not in its figurative sense; as, "Pitt was the _pillar which_ upheld the state."--"The _monarch_ of mountains rears _his_ snowy head."--"The _stone which_ the builders rejected."--_Matt._, xxi, 42. According to this rule, _which_ would be better than _whom_, in the following text: "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them an other _little horn_, before _whom_ there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots."--_Daniel_, vii, 8. In _Rom._, ix, 33, there is something similar: "Behold, I lay in Sion a _stumbling-stone_ and _rock_ of offence: and whosoever believeth _on him_ shall not be ashamed." Here the _stone_ or _rock_ is a metaphor for _Christ_, and the pronoun _him_ may be referred to the sixth exception above; but the construction is not agreeable, because it is not regular: it would be more grammatical, to change _on him_ to _thereon_. In the following example, the noun "_wolves_," which literally requires _which_, and not _who_, is used metaphorically for _selfish priests_; and, in the relative, the figurative or personal sense is allowed to prevail: "_Wolves_ shall succeed for teachers, grievous _wolves_, _Who_ all the sacred mysteries of Heaven To their own vile advantages shall turn." --_Milton, P. L._, B. xii, l. 508. This seems to me somewhat forced and catachrestical. So too, and worse, the following; which makes a _star_ rise and _speak_: "So _spake_ our _Morning Star_ then in _his rise_, And _looking_ round on every side _beheld_ A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades." --_Id., P. R._, B. i, l. 294. OBS. 11.--When the antecedent is put by _metonymy_ for a noun of different properties, the pronoun sometimes agrees with it in the figurative, and sometimes in the literal sense; as, "When _Israel_ was a child, then I loved _him_, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called _them_, so _they_ went from them: [i. e., When Moses and the prophets called the _Israelites_, they often refused to hear:] _they_ sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images. I taught _Ephraim_ also to go, taking _them_ by _their_ arms; but _they_ knew not that I healed _them_."--_Hosea_, xi, 1, 2, 3. The mixture and obscurity which are here, ought not to be imitated. The name of a man, put for the nation or tribe of his descendants, may have a pronoun of either number, and a nation may be figuratively represented as feminine; but a mingling of different genders or numbers ought to be avoided: as, "_Moab_ is spoiled, and gone up out of _her_ cities, and _his_ chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter."--_Jeremiah_, xlviii, 15. "The wolf, who [say _that_] from the nightly fold, Fierce drags the bleating _prey_, ne'er drunk _her_ milk, Nor wore _her_ warming fleece."--_Thomson's Seasons_. "That each may fill the circle mark'd by _Heaven_, _Who_ sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall."--_Pope's Essay on Man_. "And _heaven_ behold _its_ image in his breast."--_Ib._ "Such fate to suffering _worth_ is given, _Who_ long with wants and woes has striven."--_Burns_. OBS. 12.--When the antecedent is put by _synecdoche_ for more or less than it literally signifies, the pronoun agrees with it in the figurative, and not in the literal sense; as, "A dauntless _soul_ erect, _who_ smiled on death."--_Thomson_ "But to the generous still improving _mind_, _That_ gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, To _him_ the long review of ordered life Is inward rapture only to be felt."--_Id. Seasons_. OBS. 13.--Pronouns usually _follow_ the words which they represent; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "_Whom_ the cap fits, let _him_ put it on."--"Hark! _they_ whisper; angels say," &c.--_Pope_. "_Thou, O Lord_, art a God full of compassion."--_Old Test_. And in some cases of apposition, the pronoun naturally comes first; as, "_I Tertius_"--"_Ye lawyers_." The pronoun _it_, likewise, very often precedes the clause or phrase which it represents; as, "Is _it_ not manifest, that the generality of people speak and write very badly?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 160; _Murray's Gram._, i, 358. This arrangement is too natural to be called a transposition. The most common form of the real inversion is that of the antecedent and relative in poetry; as, "_Who_ stops to plunder at this signal hour, The birds shall tear _him_, and the dogs devour." --POPE: _Iliad_, xv, 400. OBS. 14.--A pronoun sometimes represents a _phrase_ or a _sentence_; and in this case the pronoun is always in the third person singular neuter: as, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew _it_ not."--_Gen._, xxviii, 10. "Yet men can go on to vilify or disregard Christianity; _which_ is to talk and act as if they had a demonstration of its falsehood."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 269. "When _it_ is asked wherein personal identity consists, the answer should be the same as if _it_ were asked, wherein consists similitude or equality."--_Ib._, p. 270. "Also, that the soul be without knowledge, _it_ is not good."--_Prov._, xix, 2. In this last example, the pronoun is not really necessary. "That the soul be without knowledge, _is_ not good."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 144. Sometimes an infinitive verb is taken as an antecedent; as, "He will not be able _to think_, without _which it_ is impertinent _to read_; nor _to act_, without _which it_ is impertinent _to think_."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 103. OBS. 15.--When a pronoun follows two words, having a neuter verb between them, and both referring to the same thing, it may represent either of them, but not often with the same meaning: as, 1. "I am the man, who command." Here, _who command_ belongs to the subject _I_, and the meaning is, "I who command, am the man." (The latter expression places the relative nearer to its antecedent, and is therefore preferable.) 2. "I am the man who commands." Here, _who commands_ belongs to the predicate _man_, and the meaning is, "I am the commander." Again: "I perceive thou art a pupil, _who possessest_ good talents."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 136. Here the construction corresponds not to the perception, which is, of the pupil's talents. Say, therefore, "I perceive thou art a _pupil possessing_ (or, _who possesses_) good talents." OBS. 16.--After the expletive _it_, which may be employed to introduce a noun or a pronoun of any person, number, or gender, the above-mentioned distinction is generally disregarded; and the relative is most commonly made to agree with the latter word, especially if this word be of the first or the second person: as, "_It_ is no more _I that do it_."--_Rom._, vii, 20. "For _it_ is not _ye that speak_."--_Matt._, x, 20. The propriety of this construction is questionable. In the following examples, the relative agrees with the _it_, and not with the subsequent nouns: "_It_ is the combined _excellencies_ of all the denominations _that_ gives to her her winning beauty and her powerful charms."--_Bible Society's Report_, 1838, p. 89. "_It_ is _purity and neatness_ of expression _which is_ chiefly to be studied."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 271. "_It_ is _not the difficulty_ of the language, but on the contrary the _simplicity and facility_ of it, _that occasions_ this neglect."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. vi. "_It_ is _a wise head and a good heart that constitutes_ a great man."--_Child's Instructor_, p. 22. OBS. 17.--The pronoun _it_ very frequently refers to something mentioned subsequently in the sentence; as, "_It_ is useless _to complain_ of what is irremediable." This pronoun is a necessary expletive at the commencement of any sentence in which the verb is followed by a phrase or a clause which, by transposition, might be made the subject of the verb; as, "_It is impossible_ _to please every one_."--_W. Allen's Gram._ "_It_ was requisite _that the papers should be_ sent."--_Ib._ The following example is censured by the Rev. Matt. Harrison: "_It is really curious, the course_ which balls will sometimes take."--_Abernethy's Lectures_. "This awkward expression," says the critic, "might have been avoided by saying, 'The course which balls will sometimes take is really curious.'"--_Harrison, on the English Language_, p. 147. If the construction is objectionable, it may, in this instance, be altered thus: "It is really curious, _to observe_ the course which balls will sometimes take!" So, it appears, we may avoid a _pleonasm_ by an _addition_. But he finds a worse example: saying, "Again, in an article _from_ the 'New Monthly,' No. 103, we meet with the same form of expression, _but with an aggravated aspect_:--'It is incredible, the number of apothecaries' shops, presenting themselves.' It would be quite as easy to say, 'The number of apothecaries' shops, presenting themselves, is incredible.' "--_Ib._, p. 147. This, too, may take an infinitive, "_to tell_," or "_to behold_;" for there is no more extravagance in doubting one's eyes, than in declaring one's own statement "incredible." But I am not sure that the original form is not allowable. In the following line, we seem to have something like it: "It curled not Tweed alone, that breeze."--_Sir W. Scott_. OBS. 18.--_Relative_ and _interrogative_ pronouns are placed at or near the beginning of their own clauses; and the learner must observe that, through all their cases, they almost invariably retain this situation in the sentence, and are found before their verbs even when the order of the construction would reverse this arrangement: as, "He _who_ preserves me, to _whom_ I owe my being, _whose_ I am, and _whom_ I serve, is eternal."--_Murray_, p. 159. "He _whom_ you seek."--_Lowth_. "The good must merit God's peculiar care; But _who_, but God, can tell us _who_ they are?"--_Pope_. OBS. 19.--A _relative_ pronoun, being the representative of some antecedent word or phrase, derives from this relation its person, number, and gender, but not its case. By taking an other relation of case, it helps to form an other clause; and, by retaining the essential meaning of its antecedent, serves to connect this clause to that in which the antecedent is found. No relative, therefore, can ever be used in an independent simple sentence, or be made the subject of a subjunctive verb, or be put in apposition with any noun or pronoun; but, like other connectives, this pronoun belongs at the head of a clause in a compound sentence, and excludes conjunctions, except when two such clauses are to be joined together, as in the following example: "I should be glad, at least, of an easy companion, _who_ may tell me his thoughts, _and_ to _whom_ I may communicate mine."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 196. OBS. 20.--The two _special_ rules commonly given by the grammarians, for the construction of relatives, are not only unnecessary,[382] but faulty. I shall notice them only to show my reasons for discarding them. With whom they originated, it is difficult to say. Paul's Accidence has them, and if Dean Colet, the supposed writer, did not take them from some earlier author, they must have been first taught by _him_, about the year 1510; and it is certain that they have been copied into almost every grammar published since. The first one is faulty, because, "_When there cometh no nominative case between the relative and the verb, the relative shall_ [not always] _be the nominative case to the verb_;" as may be seen by the following examples: "Many are the works of human industry, _which_ to begin and finish are [say _is_] hardly granted to the same man."--_Dr. Johnson's Adv. to Dict._ "They aim at his removal; _which_ there is reason to fear they will effect."--"_Which_ to avoid, I cut them off."--_Shak., Hen. IV_. The second rule is faulty, because, "_When there cometh a nominative case between the relative and the verb, the relative shall_ [not always] _be such case as the verb will have after it_;" as may be seen by the following examples: "The author has not advanced any instances, _which_ he does not think _are_ pertinent."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 192. "_Which_ we have reason to think _was_ the case with the Greek and Latin."--_Ib._, 112. "Is this your son, _who_ ye say _was born_ blind?"--_John_, ix, 19. The case of the relative cannot be accurately determined by any rules of mere location. It may be nominative to a verb afar off, or it may be objective with a verb immediately following; as, "_Which_ I do not find that there ever _was_."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 31. "And our chief reason for believing _which_ is that our ancestors did so before us."--_Philological Museum_, i, 641. Both these particular rules are useless, because the general rules for the cases, as given in chapter third above, are applicable to relatives, sufficient to all the purpose, and not liable to any exceptions. OBS. 21.--In syntactical parsing, each word, in general, is to be resolved by some _one_ rule; but the parsing of a pronoun commonly requires _two_; one for its agreement with the noun or nouns for which it stands, and an other for its case. The rule of agreement will be one of the four which are embraced in this present chapter; and the rule for the case will be one of the seven which compose chapter third. So that the whole syntax of pronouns requires the application of eleven different rules, while that of nouns or verbs is embraced in six or seven, and that of any other part of speech, in one only. In respect to their cases, relatives and interrogatives admit of every construction common to nouns, or to the personal pronouns, except apposition. This is proved by the following examples: 1. Nominatives by Rule 2d: "I _who_ write;--Thou _who_ writest;--He _who_ writes;--The animal _which_ runs."--_Dr. Adam_. "He _that spareth_ his rod, hateth his son."--_Solomon_. "He _who_ does any thing _which_ he knows is wrong, ventures on dangerous ground."--"_What_ will become of us without religion?"--_Blair_. "Here I determined to wait the hand of death; _which_, I hope, when at last it comes, _will fall_ lightly upon me."--_Dr. Johnson_. "_What is_ sudden and unaccountable, _serves_ to confound."--_Crabb_. "They only are wise, _who are_ wise to salvation."--_Goodwin_. 2. Nominatives by Rule 6th: (i.e., words parsed as nominatives after the verbs, though mostly transposed:) "_Who_ art thou?"--_Bible_. "_What_ were we?"--_Ib._ "Do not tell them _who_ I am."--"Let him be _who_ he may, he is not the honest fellow _that_ he seemed."--"The general conduct of mankind is neither _what_ it was designed, nor _what_ it ought to be." 3. Nominatives absolute by Rule 8th: "There are certain bounds to imprudence, _which being transgressed_, there remains no place for repentance in the natural course of things."--_Bp. Butler_. "_Which being so_, it need not be any wonder, why I should."--_Walker's Particles, Pref._, p. xiv. "He offered an apology, _which not being admitted_, he became submissive."--_Murray's Key_, p. 202. This construction of the relative is a Latinism, and very seldom used by the best _English_ writers. 4. Possessives by Rule 4th: "The chief man of the island, _whose_ name was Publius."--_Acts_. "Despair, a cruel tyrant, from _whose_ prisons none can escape."--_Dr. Johnson_. "To contemplate on Him _whose_ yoke is easy and _whose_ burden is light."--_Steele_. 5. Objectives by Rule 5th: "Those _whom_ she persuaded."--_Dr. Johnson_. "The cloak _that_ I left at Troas."--_St. Paul_. "By the things _which_ he suffered."--_Id._ "A man _whom_ there is reason to suspect."--"_What_ are we to do?"--_Burke_. "Love refuses nothing _that_ love sends."--_Gurnall_. "The first thing, says he, is, to choose some maxim or point of morality; to inculcate _which_, is to be the design of his work."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 421. "_Whomsoever_ you please to appoint."--_Lowth_. "_Whatsover_ [sic--KTH] he doeth, shall prosper."--_Bible_. "_What_ we are afraid to do before men, we should be afraid to think before God."--_Sibs_. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing _which_ I do?"--_Gen._, xviii, 32. "Shall I hide from Abraham _what_ I am going to do?"--"Call imperfection _what_ thou fanciest such."--_Pope_. 6. Objectives by Rule 6th: (i.e., pronouns parsed as objectives after neuter verbs, though they stand before them:) "He is not the man _that_ I took him to be."--"_Whom_ did you suppose me to be?"--"If the lad ever become _what_ you wish him to be." 7. Objectives by Rule 7th: "To _whom_ shall we go?"--_Bible_. "The laws by _which_ the world is governed, are general."--_Bp. Butler_. "_Whom_ he looks upon as his defender."--_Addison_. "That secret heaviness of heart _which_ unthinking men are subject to."--_Id._ "I cannot but think the loss of such talents as the man of _whom_ I am speaking was master of, a more melancholy instance."--_Steele_. "Grammar is the solid foundation upon _which_ all other science rests."--_Buchanan's Eng. Synt._, p. xx. OBS. 22.--In familiar language, the relative of the objective case is frequently understood; as, "The man [_whom_] I trust."--_Cowper_. "Here is the letter [_which_] I received." So in the following sentences: "This is the man they hate. These are the goods they bought. Are these the Gods they worship? Is this the woman you saw?"--_Ash's Gram._, p. 96. This ellipsis seems allowable only in the familiar style. In grave writing, or deliberate discourse, it is much better to express this relative. The omission of it is often attended with some obscurity; as, "The next error [_that_] I shall mention [,] is a capital one."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 157. "It is little [_that_] we know of the divine perfections."--_Scougal_, p. 94. "The faith [_which_] we give to memory, may be thought, on a superficial view, to be resolvable into consciousness, as well as that [_which_] we give to the immediate impressions of sense."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 53. "We speak that [_which_] we do know, and testify that [_which_] we have seen."--_John_, iii, 11. The omission of a relative in the nominative case, is almost always inelegant; as, "This is the worst thing [_that_] could happen."--"There were several things [_which_] brought it upon me."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 162. The latter ellipsis may occur after _but_ or _than_, and it is also sometimes allowed in poetry; as, [There is] "No person of reflection but [who] must be sensible, that an incident makes a stronger impression on an eye-witness, than when heard at second hand."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 257. "In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man."--_Pope, on Man_. "Abuse on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread."--_Id., to Arbuthnot_. "There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools."--_Id., to Augustus_. OBS. 23.--The _antecedent_ is sometimes suppressed, especially in poetry; as, "Who will, may be a judge."--_Churchill_. "How shall I curse [_him_ or _them_] whom God hath not cursed?"--_Numbers_, xxiii, 8. "There are, indeed, [some persons] who seem disposed to extend her authority much farther."--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhet._, p. 187. [He] "Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor; [He] Who lives to fancy, never can be rich."--_Young_. "Serious should be an author's final views; [They] Who write for pure amusement, ne'er amuse."--_Id._ OBS. 24.--_Which_, as well as _who_, was formerly applied to persons; as, "Our _Father which_ art in heaven."--_Bible_. "Pray for _them which_ despitefully use you."--_Luke_, vi, 28. And, as to the former example here cited, some British critics, still preferring the archaism, have accused "The Americans" of "poor criticism," in that they "have changed _which_ into _who_, as being more consonant to the rules of Grammar." Falsely imagining, that _which_ and _who_, with the same antecedent, can be of different _genders_, they allege, that, "The use of the _neuter_ pronoun carried with it a certain vagueness and sublimity, not inappropriate in reminding us that our worship is addressed to a Being, infinite, and superior to all distinctions applicable to material objects."--_Men and Manners in America_: quoted and endorsed by the REV. MATT. HARRISON, in his treatise on the English Language, p. 191. This is all fancy; and, in my opinion, absurd. It is just like the religious prejudice which could discern "a singular propriety" in "the double superlative _most highest_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 28. But _which_ may still be applied to a young child, if sex and intelligence be disregarded; as, "The _child which_ died." Or even to adults, when they are spoken of without regard to a distinct personality or identity; as, "_Which_ of you will go?"--"Crabb knoweth not _which_ is _which_, himself or his parodist."--_Leigh Hunt_. OBS. 25.--A proper name taken merely as a name, or an appellative taken in any sense not strictly personal, must be represented by _which_, and not by _who_; as, "Herod--_which_ is but an other name for cruelty."--"In every prescription of duty, God proposeth himself as a rewarder; _which_ he is only to those that please him."--_Dr. J. Owen_. _Which_ would perhaps be more proper than _whom_, in the following passage: "They did not destroy the _nations_, concerning _whom_ the Lord commanded them."--_Psalms_, cvi, 34. Dr. Blair has preferred it in the following instance: "My lion and my pillar are sufficiently interpreted by the mention of _Achilles_ and the _minister, which_ I join to them."--_Lectures_, p. 151. He meant, "_whose names I connect with theirs_;" and not, that he joined the _person_ of Achilles to a lion, or that of a minister to a pillar. OBS. 26.--When two or more relative clauses pertain to the same antecedent, if they are connected by a conjunction, the same relative ought to be employed in each, agreeably to the doctrine of the seventh note below; but if no conjunction is expressed or understood between them, the pronouns ought rather to be different; as, "There are many things _that_ you can speak of, _which_ cannot be seen."--_R W. Green's Gram._, p. 11. This distinction is noticed in the fifth chapter of Etymology, Obs. 29th, on the Classes of Pronouns. Dr. Priestley says, "Whatever relative _be_ used, in a _series_ of clauses, relating to the same antecedent, the same ought to be used in them all. 'It is remarkable, that _Holland_, against _which_ the war was undertaken, _and that_, in the very beginning, was reduced to the brink of destruction, lost nothing.'--_Universal History_, Vol. 25, p. 117. It ought to have been, _and which in the very beginning_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 102. L. Murray, (as I have shown in the Introduction, Ch. x, 22,) assumes all this, without references; adding as a salvo the word "_generally_," which merely impairs the certainty of the rule:--"the same relative ought _generally_ to be used in them all."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 155. And, of _who_ and _that_, Cobbett says: "Either may do; but both _never_ ought to be relatives of the same antecedent in the same sentence."--_Gram._, 202. The inaccuracy of these rules is as great as that of the phraseology which is corrected under them. In the following sentence, the first relative only is restrictive, and consequently the other may be different: "These were the officers _that_ were called _Homotimoi_, and _who_ signalized themselves afterwards so gloriously upon all occasions."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 62. See also in _Rev._, x, 6th, a similar example without the conjunction. OBS. 27.--In conversation, the possessive pronoun _your_ is sometimes used in a droll way, being shortened into _your_ in pronunciation, and nothing more being meant by it, than might be expressed by the article _an_ or _a_: as, "Rich honesty dwells, like _your_ miser, sir, in a poor house; as, _your_ pearl in _your_ foul oyster."--_Shakspeare_. NOTES TO RULE X. NOTE 1.--A pronoun should not be introduced in connexion with words that belong more properly to the antecedent, or to an other pronoun; as, "And then there is good use for _Pallas her_ glass."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 22. Say--"for _Pallas's_ glass." "My _banks they_ are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep."--_Shenstone_, p. 284. This last instance, however, is only an example of _pleonasm_; which is allowable and frequent in _animated discourse_, but inelegant in any other. Our grammarians have condemned it too positively. It occurs sundry times in the Bible; as, "Know ye that the LORD _he_ is God."--_Psalms_, c, 3. NOTE II.--A change of number in the second person, or even a promiscuous use of _ye_ and _you_ in the same case and the same style, is inelegant, and ought to be avoided; as, "_You_ wept, and I for _thee_"--"Harry, said my lord, don't cry; I'll give _you_ something towards _thy_ loss."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 267. "_Ye_ sons of sloth, _you_ offspring of darkness, awake from your sleep."--_Brown's Metaphors_, p. 96. Our poets have very often adopted the former solecism, to accommodate their measure, or to avoid the harshness of the old verb in the second person singular: as, "_Thy_ heart is yet blameless, O fly while _you may_!"--_Queen's Wake_, p. 46. "Oh! Peggy, Peggy, when _thou_ goest to brew, Consider well what _you're_ about to do."--_King's Poems_, p. 594. "As in that lov'd Athenian bower, You _learn'd_ an all-commanding power, Thy mimic soul, O nymph endear'd! Can well recall what then it heard."--_Collins, Ode to Music._ NOTE III.--The relative _who_ is applied only to persons, and to animals or things personified; and _which_, to brute animals and inanimate things spoken of literally: as, "The _judge who_ presided;"--"The old _crab who_ advised the young one;"--"The _horse which_ ran away;"--"The _book which_ was given me." NOTE IV.--Nouns of multitude, unless they express persons directly as such, should not be represented by the relative _who_: to say, "The _family whom_ I visited," would hardly be proper; _that_ would here be better. When such nouns are strictly of the neuter gender, _which_ may represent them; as, "The _committees which_ were appointed." But where the idea of rationality is predominant, _who_ or _whom_ seems not to be improper; as, "The conclusion of the Iliad is like the exit of a great man out of _company whom_ he has entertained magnificently."--_Cowper._ "A law is only the expression of the desire of a _multitude who_ have power to punish."--_Brown's Philosophy of the Mind._ NOTE V.--In general, the pronoun must so agree with its antecedent as to present the same idea, and never in such a manner as to confound the name with the thing signified, or any two things with each other. Examples: "_Jane_ is in the nominative case, because _it_ leads the sentence."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 30. Here _it_ represents _the word "Jane"_ and not _the person Jane._ "What mark or sign is put after _master_ to show that _he_ is in the possessive case? Spell _it_"--_Ib._, p. 32. Here _the word "master"_ is most absurdly confounded with _the man_; and that to accommodate grammar to a child's comprehension! NOTE VI.--The relative _that_ may be applied either to persons or to things. In the following cases, it is more appropriate than _who, whom_, or _which_; and ought to be preferred, unless it be necessary to use a preposition before the relative:--(1.) After an adjective of the superlative degree, when the relative clause is restrictive;[383] as, "He was the _first that_ came."--"He was the _fittest_ person _that_ could then be found."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 422. "The Greeks were the _greatest_ reasoners _that_ ever appeared in the world."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, p. 127. (2.) After the adjective _same_, when the relative clause is restrictive; as, "He is the _same_ man _that_ you saw before."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 101; _Murray's_, 156; _Campbell's Rhet._, 422. (3.) After the antecedent _who_; as, "Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"--_Washington._ (4.) After two or more antecedents that demand a relative adapted both to persons and to things; as, "He spoke largely of the _men and things that_ he had seen."--"When some particular _person_ or _thing_ is spoken of, _that_ ought to be more distinctly marked."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 51. (5.) After an unlimited antecedent which the relative clause is designed to restrict; as, "_Thoughts that_ breathe, and _words that_ burn."--_Gray_. "Music _that accords_ with the present tone of mind, is, on that account, doubly agreeable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 311. "For Theocritus descends sometimes into _ideas that_ are gross and mean."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 393. (6.) After any antecedent introduced by the expletive _it_; as, "_It_ is _you that_ suffer."--"It was I, and not he, _that_ did it."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 142. "It was not he[384] _that_ they were so angry with."--_Murray's Exercises_, R. 17. "_It_ was not _Gavius_ alone _that_ Verres meant to insult."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 325. (7.) And, in general, wherever the propriety of _who_ or _which_ is doubtful; as, "The little _child that_ was placed in the midst." NOTE VII.--When two or more relative clauses connected by a conjunction have a similar dependence in respect to the antecedent, the same pronoun must be employed in each; as, "O thou, _who_ art, and _who_ wast, and _who_ art to come!"--"And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, _whom_ they have loved, and _whom_ they have served, and after _whom_ they have walked, and _whom_ they have sought, and _whom_ they have worshiped."--_Jer._, viii, 2. NOTE VIII.--The relative, and the preposition governing it, should not be omitted, when they are necessary to the sense intended, or to a proper connexion of the parts of the sentence; as, "He is still in the situation you saw him." Better thus: "He is still in the situation in _which_ you saw him." NOTE IX.--After certain nouns, of time, place, manner, or cause, the conjunctive adverbs _when, where, whither, whence, how_, and _why_, are a sort of special relatives; but no such adverb should be used where a preposition and a relative pronoun would better express the relation of the terms: as, "A cause _where_ justice is so much concerned." Say, "A cause _in which_." See Etymology, Obs. 6th, 7th, and 8th, on the Classes of Adverbs. NOTE X.--Where a pronoun or a pronominal adjective will not express the meaning clearly, the noun must be repeated, or inserted in stead of it: as, "We see the beautiful variety of colour in the rainbow, and are led to consider the cause of _it_." Say,--"the cause of _that variety_;" because the _it_ may mean _the variety, the colour_, or _the rainbow_. NOTE XI.--To prevent ambiguity or obscurity, the relative should, in general, be placed as near as possible to the antecedent. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "He is like a beast of prey, that is void of compassion." Better thus: "He that is void of compassion, is like a beast of prey." NOTE XII.--The pronoun _what_ should never be used in stead of the conjunction _that_; as, "Think no man so perfect but _what_ he may err." This is a vulgar fault. Say,--"but _that_ he may err." NOTE XIII.--A pronoun should never be used to represent an _adjective_,--except the pronominal adjectives, and others taken substantively; because a pronoun can neither express a concrete quality as such, nor convert it properly into an abstract: as, "Be _attentive_; without _which_ you will learn nothing." Better thus: "Be attentive; _for without attention_ you will learn nothing." NOTE XIV.--Though the relative which may in some instances stand for a phrase or a sentence, it is seldom, if ever, a fit representative of an indicative assertion; as, "The man opposed me, _which_ was anticipated."-- _Nixon's Parser_, p. 127. Say,--"_but his opposition_ was anticipated." Or: "The man opposed me, _as_ was anticipated." Or:--"_as I expected he would_." Again: "The captain disobeys orders, _which_ is punished."--_Ib._, p. 128. This is an other factitious sentence, formed after the same model, and too erroneous for correction: none but a conceited grammatist could ever have framed such a construction. NOTE XV.--The possessive pronouns, _my, thy, his, her, its_, &c., should be inserted or repeated as often as the sense or construction of the sentence requires them; their omission, like that of the articles, can scarcely in any instance constitute a proper ellipsis: as, "Of Princeton and vicinity."--Say, "Of Princeton and _its_ vicinity." "The man and wife."--Say, "The man and _his_ wife." "Many verbs vary both their signification and construction."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 170; _Gould's_, 171. Say,--"and _their_ construction." NOTE XVI.--In the correcting of any discord between the antecedent and its pronoun, if the latter for any sufficient reason is most proper as it stands, the former must be changed to accord with it: as, "Let us discuss what relates to _each particular_ in _their_ order:--_its_ order."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 193. Better thus: "Let us discuss what relates to _the several particulars_, in _their_ order." For the order of things implies plurality. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE X. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF AGREEMENT "The subject is to be joined with his predicate."--BP. WILKINS: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 42. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _his_ is of the masculine gender, and does not correctly represent its antecedent noun _subject_, which is of the third person, singular, _neuter_. But, according to Rule 10th, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender." Therefore, _his_ should be _its_; thus, "The subject is to be joined with _its_ predicate."] "Every one must judge of their own feelings."--_Byron's Letters_. "Every one in the family should know their duty."--_Wm. Penn_. "To introduce its possessor into 'that way in which it should go.'"--_Infant School Gram._, p. v. "Do not they say, every true believer has the Spirit of God in them?"--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 388. "There is none in their natural state righteous, no not one."--_Wood's Dict. of Bible_, ii, 129. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own."--_John_, xv, 19. "His form had not yet lost all her original brightness."--_Milton_. "No one will answer as if I were their friend or companion."--_Steele_, Spect., No. 534. "But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."-- _Philippians_, ii, 3. "And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour."--_Zechariah_, viii, 17. "For every tree is known by his own fruit."--_Luke_, vi, 44. "But she fell to laughing, like one out of their right mind."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 51. "Now these systems, so far from having any tendency to make men better, have a manifest tendency to make him worse."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 128. "And nobody else would make that city their refuge any more."--_Josephus's Life_, p. 158. "What is quantity, as it respects syllables or words? It is that time which is occupied in pronouncing it."--_Bradley's Gram._, p. 108. "In such expressions the adjective so much resembles an adverb in its meaning, that they are usually parsed as such."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 103. "The tongue is like a race-horse; which runs the faster the less weight it carries."--ADDISON: _Joh. Dict.; Murray's Key_, Rule 8. "As two thoughtless boys were trying to see which could lift the greatest weight with their jaws, one of them had several of his firm-set teeth wrenched from their sockets."--_Newspaper_. "Everybody nowadays publishes memoirs; everybody has recollections which they think worthy of recording."--_Duchess D'Abrantes_, p. 25. "Every body trembled for themselves or their friends."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 171. "A steed comes at morning: no rider is there; But its bridle is red with the sign of despair."--_Campbell_. UNDER NOTE I.--PRONOUNS WRONG OR NEEDLESS. "Charles loves to study; but John, alas! he is very idle."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 22. "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?"--_Matt._, vii, 9. "Who, in stead of going about doing good, they are perpetually intent upon doing mischief."-- _Tillotson_. "Whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pontius Pilate."--_Acts_, iii, 13. "Whom, when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber."--_Acts_, ix, 37. "Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God."--_2 Chron._, xxxiii, 13. "Whatever a man conceives clearly, he may, if he will be at the trouble, put it into distinct propositions, and express it clearly to others."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 293. "But to that point of time which he has chosen, the painter being entirely confined, he cannot exhibit various stages of the same action."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 52. "It is without any proof at all what he subjoins."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 301. "George Fox his Testimony concerning Robert Barclay."--_Ib._, i, 111. "According to the author of the Postscript his advice."--_Ib._, iii, 263. "These things seem as ugly to the Eye of their Meditations, as those AEthiopians pictur'd in Nemesis her Pitcher."--_Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients_, p. 49. "Moreover, there is always a twofold Condition propounded with Sphynx her AEnigma's."--_Ib._, p. 73. "Whoever believeth not therein, they shall perish."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 20. "When, at Sestius his entreaty, I had been at his house."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 59. "There high on Sipylus his shaggy brow, She stands, her own sad monument of woe." --_Pope's Homer_, B. xxiv, l. 777. UNDER NOTE II.--CHANGE OF NUMBER. "So will I send upon you famine, and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee."--_Ezekiel_, v, 17. "Why do you plead so much for it? why do ye preach it up?"--_Barclay's Works_, i, 180. "Since thou hast decreed that I shall bear man, your darling."--_Edward's First Lesson in Gram._, p. 106. "You have my book and I have thine; i.e. thy book."--_Chandler's Gram._, 1821, p. 22. "Neither art thou such a one as to be ignorant of what you are."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 70. "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you."--_Jeremiah_, iii, 12. "The Almighty, unwilling to cut thee off in the fullness of iniquity, has sent me to give you warning."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 278. "Wert thou born only for pleasure? were you never to do any thing?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 63. "Thou shalt be required to go to God, to die, and give up your account."--BARNES'S NOTES: _on Luke_, xii, 20. "And canst thou expect to behold the resplendent glory of the Creator? would not such a sight annihilate you?"--_Milton_. "If the prophet had commanded thee to do some great thing, would you have refused?"--_Common School Journal_, i, 80. "Art thou a penitent? Evince your sincerity by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance."--_Christian's Vade-Mecum_, p. 117. "I will call thee my dear son: I remember all your tenderness."-- _Classic Tales_, p. 8. "So do thou, my son: open your ears, and your eyes."--_Wright's Athens_, p. 33. "I promise you, this was enough to discourage thee."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 446. "Ere you remark an other's sin, Bid thy own conscience look within."--_Gay_. "Permit that I share in thy woe, The privilege can you refuse?"--_Perfect's Poems_, p. 6. "Ah! Strephon, how can you despise Her who without thy pity dies?"--_Swift's Poems_, p. 340. "Thy verses, friend, are Kidderminster stuff, And I must own, you've measur'd out enough."--_Shenstone._ "This day, dear Bee, is thy nativity; Had Fate a luckier one, she'd give it ye."--_Swift._ UNDER NOTE III.--WHO AND WHICH. "Exactly like so many puppets, who are moved by wires."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 462. "They are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt."--_Leviticus_, xxv, 42. "Behold I and the children which God hath given me."--_Heb._, ii, 13; _Webster's Bible, and others._ "And he sent Eliakim which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe."--_2 Kings_, xix, 2. "In a short time the streets were cleared of the corpses who filled them."--_M'Ilvaine's Led._, p. 411. "They are not of those which teach things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 435. "As a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces."--_Micah_, v, 8. "Frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip the wing in water."--_Rasselas_, p. 10. "He had two sons, one of which was adopted by the family of Maximus."--_Lempriere, w. AEmytius_. "And the ants, who are collected by the smell, are burned by fire."--_The Friend_, xii, 49. "They being the agents, to which this thing was trusted."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 139. "A packhorse who is driven constantly forwards and backwards to market."--LOCKE: _Joh. Dict._ "By instructing children, the affection of which will be increased."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 136. "He had a comely young woman which travelled with him."--_Hutchinson's Hist._, i, 29. "A butterfly, which thought himself an accomplished traveller, happened to light upon a beehive."--_Inst._, p. 143. "It is an enormous elephant of stone, who disgorges from his uplifted trunk a vast but graceful shower."--_Zenobia_, i, 150. "He was met by a dolphin, who sometimes swam before him, and sometimes behind him."--_Edward's First Lessons in Gram._, p. 34. "That Caesar's horse, who, as fame goes, Had corns upon his feet and toes, Was not by half so tender-hooft, Nor trod upon the ground so soft."--_Hudibras_, p. 6. UNDER NOTE IV.--NOUNS OF MULTITUDE. "He instructed and fed the crowds who surrounded him."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 52. "The court, who gives currency to manners, ought to be exemplary."--_Ibid._ "Nor does he describe classes of sinners who do not exist."--_Anti-Slavery Magazine_, i, 27. "Because the nations among whom they took their rise, were not savage."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 113. "Among nations who are in the first and rude periods of society."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 60. "The martial spirit of those nations, among whom the feudal government prevailed."--_Ib._, p. 374. "France who was in alliance with Sweden."--_Smollett's Voltaire_, vi, 187. "That faction in England who most powerfully opposed his arbitrary pretensions."--_Mrs. Macaulay's Hist._, iii, 21. "We may say, the crowd, _who_ was going up the street.'"--_Cobbett's Gram._, 204. "Such members of the Convention who formed this Lyceum, as have subscribed this Constitution."--_New-York Lyceum._ UNDER NOTE V.--CONFUSION OF SENSES. "The possessor shall take a particular form to show its case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 53. "Of which reasons the principal one is, that no Noun, properly so called, implies its own Presence."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 76. "Boston is a proper noun, which distinguishes it from other cities."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 22. "Conjunction means union, or joining together. It is used to join or unite either words or sentences."--_Ib._, p. 20. "The word _interjection_ means _thrown among_. It is interspersed among other words to express sudden or strong emotion."--_Ib._, p. 21. "_In deed_, or in very deed, may better be written separately, as they formerly were."--_Cardell's Gram._, 12mo, p. 89. "_Alexander_, on the contrary, is a particular name, and is restricted to distinguish him alone."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 25. "As an indication that nature itself had changed her course."--_Hist. of America_, p. 9. "Of removing from the United States and her territories the free people of colour."--_Jenifer_. "So that _gh_ may be said not to have their proper sound."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 10. "Are we to welcome the loathsome harlot, and introduce it to our children?"--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 167. "The first question is this, 'Is reputable, national, and present use, which, for brevity's sake, I shall hereafter simply denominate good use, always uniform in her decisions?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 171. "Time is always masculine, on account of its mighty efficacy. Virtue is feminine from its beauty, and its being the object of love."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 37; _Blair's_, 125; _Sanborn's_, 189; _Emmons's_, 13; _Putnam's_, 25; _Fisk's_, 57; _Ingersoll's_, 26; _Greenleaf's_, 21. See also _Blair's Rhet._, p. 76. "When you speak to a person or thing, it is in the second person."--_Bartlett's Manual_, Part ii, p. 27. "You now know the noun, for it means name."--_Ibid._ "_T_. What do you see? _P_. A book. _T_. Spell it."--_R. W. Green's Gram._, p. 12. "_T_. What do you see now? _P_. Two books. _T_. Spell them."--_Ibid._ "If the United States lose her rights as a nation."--_Liberator_, Vol. ix, p. 24. "When a person or thing is addressed or spoken to, it is in the second person."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 7. "When a person or thing is spoken of, it is in the third person."--_Ibid._ "The ox, that ploughs the ground, has the same plural termination also, _oxen_."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 40. "Hail, happy States! thine is the blissful seat, Where nature's gifts and art's improvements meet." EVERETT: _Columbian Orator_, p. 239. UNDER NOTE VI.--THE RELATIVE THAT. (1.) "This is the most useful art which men possess."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 275. "The earliest accounts which history gives us concerning all nations, bear testimony to these facts."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 379; _Jamieson's_, 300. "Mr. Addison was the first who attempted a regular inquiry" [into the pleasures of taste.]--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 28. "One of the first who introduced it was Montesquieu."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 125. "Massillon is perhaps the most eloquent writer of sermons which modern times have produced."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 289. "The greatest barber who ever lived, is our guiding star and prototype."--_Hart's Figaro_, No. 6. (2.) "When prepositions are subjoined to nouns, they are generally the same which are subjoined to the verbs, from which the nouns are derived."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 157. "The same proportions which are agreeable in a model, are not agreeable in a large building."--_Kames, EL of Crit._, ii, 343. "The same ornaments, which we admire in a private apartment, are unseemly in a temple."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 128. "The same whom John saw also in the sun."--_Milton. P. L._, B. iii, l. 623. (3.) "Who can ever be easy, who is reproached with his own ill conduct?"--_Thomas a Kempis_, p. 72. "Who is she who comes clothed in a robe of green?"--_Inst._, p. 143. "Who who has either sense or civility, does not perceive the vileness of profanity?" (4.) "The second person denotes the person or thing which is spoken to."--_Compendium in Kirkham's Gram._ "The third person denotes the person or thing which is spoken of."--_Ibid._ "A passive verb denotes action received or endured by the person or thing which is its nominative."--_Ibid, and Gram._, p. 157. "The princes and states who had neglected or favoured the growth of this power."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 222. "The nominative expresses the name of the person, or thing which acts, or which is the subject of discourse."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 19. (5.) "Authors who deal in long sentences, are very apt to be faulty."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 108. "Writers who deal in long sentences, are very apt to be faulty."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 313. "The neuter gender denotes objects which are neither male nor female."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 26. "The neuter gender denotes things which have no sex."--_Kirkham's Compendium_. "Nouns which denote objects neither male nor female, are of the neuter gender."--_Wells's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 49. "Objects and ideas which have been long familiar, make too faint an impression to give an agreeable exercise to our faculties."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 50. "Cases which custom has left dubious, are certainly within the grammarian's province."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 164. "Substantives which end in _ery_, signify action or habit."--_Ib._, p. 132. "After all which can be done to render the definitions and rules of grammar accurate," &c.--_Ib._, p. 36. "Possibly, all which I have said, is known and taught."--_A. B. Johnson's Plan of a Dict._, p. 15. (6.) "It is a strong and manly style which should chiefly be studied."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 261. "It is this which chiefly makes a division appear neat and elegant."--_Ib._, p. 313. "I hope it is not I with whom he is displeased."--_Murray's Key_, R. 17. "When it is this alone which renders the sentence obscure."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 242. "This sort of full and ample assertion, _'it is this which_,' is fit to be used when a proposition of importance is laid down."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 197. "She is the person whom I understood it to have been." _See Murray's Gram._, p. 181. "Was it thou, or the wind, who shut the door?"--_Inst._, p. 143. "It was not I who shut it."--_Ib._ (7.) "He is not the person who it seemed he was."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 181; _Ingersoll's_, p. 147. "He is really the person who he appeared to be."--_Same_. "She is not now the woman whom they represented her to have been."--_Same_. "An only child, is one who has neither brother nor sister; a child alone, is one who is left by itself"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 98; _Jamieson's_, 71; _Murray's Gram._ 303. UNDER NOTE VII.--RELATIVE CLAUSES CONNECTED. (1.) "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of a thing; of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 14. (2.) "A Substantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have any notion."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 27; _Alger's_, 15; _Bacon's_, 9; _E. Dean's_, 8; _A. Flint's_, 10; _Folker's_, 5; _Hamlin's_, 9; _Ingersoll's_, 14; _Merchant's_, 25; _Pond's_, 15; _S. Putnam's_, 10; _Rand's_, 9; _Russell's_, 9; _T. Smith's_, 12; and others. (3.) "A substantive or noun is the name of any person, place, or thing that exists, or of which we can have an idea."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 6. (4.) "A noun is the name of anything that exists, or of which we form an idea."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 37. (5.) "A Noun is the name of any person, place, object, or thing, that exists, or which we may conceive to exist."--_D. C. Allen's Grammatic Guide_, p. 19. (6.) "The name of every thing that exists, or of which we can form any notion, is a noun."--_Fisk's Murray's Gram._, p. 56. (7.) "An allegory is the representation of some one thing by an other that resembles it, and which is made to stand for it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 341. (8.) "Had he exhibited such sentences as contained ideas inapplicable to young minds, or which were of a trivial or injurious nature."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. v. (9.) "Man would have others obey him, even his own kind; but he will not obey God, that is so much above him, and who made him."--_Penn's Maxims_. (10.) "But what we may consider here, and which few Persons have taken Notice of, is," &c.--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 117. (11.) "The Compiler has not inserted such verbs as are irregular only in familiar writing or discourse, and which are improperly terminated by _t_, instead of _ed_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 107; _Fisk's_, 81; _Hart's_, 68; _Ingersoll's_, 104; _Merchant's_, 63. (12.) "The remaining parts of speech, which are called the indeclinable parts, or that admit of no variations, will not detain us long."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 84. UNDER NOTE VIII.--THE RELATIVE AND PREPOSITION. "In the temper of mind he was then."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 54. "To bring them into the condition I am at present."--_Spect._, No. 520. "In the posture I lay."--_Swift's Gulliver_. "In the sense it is sometimes taken."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 527. "Tools and utensils are said to be _right_, when they serve for the uses they were made."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 99. "If, in the extreme danger I now am, I do not imitate the behaviour of those," &c.--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 193. "News was brought, that Darius was but twenty miles from the place they then were."--_Ib._, ii, 113. "Alexander, upon hearing this news, continued four days in the place he then was."--_Ib._, ii, 113. "To read, in the best manner it is now taught."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 246. "It may be expedient to give a few directions as to the manner it should be studied."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 9. "Participles are words derived from verbs, and convey an idea of the acting of an agent, or the suffering of an object, with the time it happens."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 50. "Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 173. UNDER NOTE IX.--ADVERBS FOR RELATIVES. "In compositions where pronunciation has no place."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 101. "They framed a protestation, where they repeated their claims."--_Hume's Hist_. "Which have reference to Substances, where Sex never had existence."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 43. "Which denote substances where sex never had existence."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 38; _Fisk's_, 57. "There is no rule given how truth may be found out."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 160. "The nature of the objects whence they are taken."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 165. "That darkness of character, where we can see no heart."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 236. "The states where they negotiated."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 159. "Till the motives whence men act be known."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 262. "He assigns the principles whence their power of pleasing flows."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 19. "But I went on, and so finished this History in that form as it now appears."--_Sewel's Preface_, p. v. "By prepositions we express the cause why, the instrument by which, wherewith, or the manner how a thing is done."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 128; _John Burn's_, 121. "They are not such in the language whence they are derived."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 13. "I find it very hard to persuade several, that their passions are affected by words from whence they have no ideas."--_Burke, on the Sublime_, p. 95. "The known end, then, why we are placed in a state of so much affliction, hazard, and difficulty, is our improvement in virtue and piety."--_Butler's Anal._, p. 109. "Yet such his acts, as Greeks unborn shall tell, And curse the battle where their fathers fell." --_Pope, Il._, B. x, I. 61. UNDER NOTE X.--REPEAT THE NOUN. "Youth may be thoughtful, but it is not very common."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 85. "A proper name is that given to one person or thing."--_Bartlett's School Manual_, ii, 27. "A common name is that given to many things of the same sort."--_Ibid._ "This rule is often violated; some instances of which are annexed."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 149; _Ingersoll's_, 237. "This is altogether careless writing. It renders style often obscure, always embarrassed and inelegant."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 106. "Every inversion which is not governed by this rule, will be disrelished by every one of taste."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 62. "A proper diphthong is that in which both the vowels are sounded."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 9; _Alger's_, 11; _Bacon's_, 8; _Merchant's_, 9; _Hiley's_, 3; and others. "An improper Diphthong is one in which only one of the two Vowels is sounded."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 5. "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his descendants, are called Hebrews."--_Wood's Dict._ "Every word in our language, of more than one syllable, has one of them distinguished from the rest in this manner."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 236. "Two consonants proper to begin a word must not be separated; as, fa-ble, sti-fle. But when they come between two vowels, and are such as cannot begin a word, they must be divided; as, ut-most, un-der."--_Ib._, p. 22. "Shall the intellect alone feel no pleasures in its energy, when we allow them to the grossest energies of appetite and sense?"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 298; _Murray's Gram._, 289. "No man hath a propensity to vice as such: on the contrary, a wicked deed disgusts him, and makes him abhor the author."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 66. "The same that belong to nouns, belong also to pronouns."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 8. "What is Language? It is the means of communicating thoughts from one to another."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 15. "A simple word is that which is not made up of more than one."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 4; _Gould's_, p. 4. "A compound word is that which is made up of two or more words."--_Ib._ "When a conjunction is to be supplied, it is called Asyndeton."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 235. UNDER NOTE XI.--PLACE OF THE RELATIVE. "It gives a meaning to words, which they would not have."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 244. "There are many words in the English language, that are sometimes used as adjectives, and sometimes as adverbs."--_Ib._, p. 114. "Which do not more effectually show the varied intentions of the mind, than the auxiliaries do which are used to form the potential mood."--_Ib._, p. 67. "These accents make different impressions on the mind, which will be the subject of a following speculation."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 108. "And others very much differed from the writer's words, to whom they were ascribed."--_Pref. to Lily's Gram._, p. xii. "Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound to be elevated, an easy fall will be proper."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 250; _Bullions's E. Gram._, 167. "There is an ellipsis of the verb in the last clause, which, when you supply, you find it necessary to use the adverb not."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 176; _Murray's Gram._, 368. "_Study_ is singular number, because its nominative _I_ is, with which it agrees."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 22. "John is the person, or, thou art who is in error."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 136. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin."--_2 Cor._, v, 21. "Take that of me, my friend, who have the power To seal the accuser's lips."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 268. UNDER NOTE XII.--WHAT FOR THAT. "I had no idea but what the story was true."--_Browns Inst._, p. 144. "The post-boy is not so weary but what he can whistle."--_Ib._ "He had no intimation but what the men were honest."--_Ib._ "Neither Lady Haversham nor Miss Mildmay will ever believe, but what I have been entirely to blame."--See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 93. "I am not satisfied, but what the integrity of our friends is more essential to our welfare than their knowledge of the world."--_Ibid._ "There is, indeed, nothing in poetry, so entertaining or descriptive, but what a didactic writer of genius may be allowed to introduce in some part of his work."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 401. "Brasidas, being bit by a mouse he had catched, let it slip out of his fingers: 'No creature, (says he,) is so contemptible but what may provide for its own safety, if it have courage.'"--PLUTARCH: _Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 81. UNDER NOTE XIII.--ADJECTIVES FOR ANTECEDENTS. "In narration, Homer is, at all times, remarkably concise, which renders him lively and agreeable."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 435. "It is usual to talk of a nervous, a feeble, or a spirited style; which are plainly the characters of a writer's manner of thinking."--_Ib._, p. 92. "It is too violent an alteration, if any alteration were necessary, which none is."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 134. "Some men are too ignorant to be humble, without which, there can be no docility."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 385. "Judas declared him innocent; which he could not be, had he in any respect deceived the disciples."--_Porteus_. "They supposed him to be innocent, which he certainly was not."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 50; _Emmons's_, 25. "They accounted him honest, which he certainly was not."--_Fetch's Comp. Gram._, p. 89. "Be accurate in all you say or do; for it is important in all the concerns of life."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 145. "Every law supposes the transgressor to be wicked; which indeed he is, if the law is just."--_Ib._ "To be pure in heart, pious, and benevolent, which all may be, constitutes human happiness."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 232. "To be dexterous in danger, is a virtue; but to court danger to show it, is weakness."--_Penn's Maxims_. UNDER NOTE XIV.--SENTENCES FOR ANTECEDENTS. "This seems not so allowable in prose; which the following erroneous examples will demonstrate."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 175. "The accent is laid upon the last syllable of a word; which is favourable to the melody."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 86. "Every line consists of ten syllables, five short and five long; from which there are but two exceptions, both of them rare."--_Ib._, ii, 89. "The soldiers refused obedience, which has been explained."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 128. "Caesar overcame Pompey, which was lamented."--_Ib._ "The crowd hailed William, which was expected."--_Ib._ "The tribunes resisted Scipio, which was anticipated."--_Ib._ "The censors reproved vice, which was admired."--_Ib._ "The generals neglected discipline, which has been proved."--_Ib._ "There would be two nominatives to the verb was, which is improper."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 205; _Gould's_, 202. "His friend bore the abuse very patiently; which served to increase his rudeness: it produced, at length, contempt and insolence."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 50; _Emmons's_, 25. "Almost all compounded sentences, are more or less elliptical; some examples of which may be seen under the different parts of speech."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 217; _Guy's_, 90; _R G. Smith's_, 180; _Ingersoll's_, 153; _Fisk's_, 144; _J. M. Putnam's_, 137; _Weld's_, 190, _Weld's Imp. Ed._, 214. UNDER NOTE XV.--REPEAT THE PRONOUN. "In things of Nature's workmanship, whether we regard their internal or external structure, beauty and design are equally conspicuous."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 269. "It puzzles the reader, by making him doubt whether the word ought to be taken in its proper or figurative sense."--_Ib._, ii, 231. "Neither my obligations to the muses, nor expectations from them, are so great."--_Cowley's Preface_. "The Fifth Annual Report of the Anti-Slavery Society of Ferrisburgh and vicinity."--_Liberator_, ix, 69. "Meaning taste in its figurative as well as proper sense."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 360. "Every measure in which either your personal or political character is concerned."--_Junius_, Let. ix. "A jealous, righteous God has often punished such in themselves or offspring."--_Extracts_, p. 179. "Hence their civil and religious history are inseparable."--_Milman's Jews_, i, 7. "Esau thus carelessly threw away both his civil and religious inheritance."--_Ib._, i, 24. "This intelligence excited not only our hopes, but fears likewise."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 170. "In what manner our defect of principle and ruling manners have completed the ruin of the national spirit of union."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 77. "Considering her descent, her connexion, and present intercourse."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 85. "His own and wife's wardrobe are packed up in a firkin."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 73. UNDER NOTE XVI.--CHANGE THE ANTECEDENT. "The sound of _e_ and _o_ long, in their due degrees, will be preserved, and clearly distinguished."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 242. "If any person should be inclined to think," &c., "the author takes the liberty to suggest to them," &c.--_Ib., Pref._, p. iv. "And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it."--_1 Kings_, xxii, 43. "If ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."--_Matt._, xviii, 35. "Nobody ever fancied they were slighted by him, or had the courage to think themselves his betters."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 8. "And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son."--_Gen._, xxvii, 15. "Where all the attention of man is given to their own indulgence."-- _Maturin's Sermons_, p. 181. "The idea of a _father_ is a notion superinduced to the substance, or man--let man be what it will."--_Locke's Essay_, i, 219. "Leaving every one to do as they list."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 460. "Each body performed his part handsomely."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 15. "This block of marble rests on two layers of stone, bound together with lead, which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 72. "Love gives to every power a double power, Above their functions and their offices."--_Shakspeare_. RULE XI.--PRONOUNS. When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Pronoun must agree with it in the plural number: as, "The _council_ were divided in _their_ sentiments."--"The Christian _world_ are beginning to awake out of _their_ slumber."--_C. Simeon_. "Whatever Adam's _posterity_ lost through him, that and more _they_ gain in Christ."--_J. Phipps_. "To this, one pathway gently-winding leads, Where march a train with baskets on their heads." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xviii, l. 657. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XI. OBS. 1.--The collective noun, or noun of multitude, being a name that signifies many, may in general be taken in either of two ways, according to the intention of the user: that is, either with reference to the _aggregate_ as one thing, in which sense it will accord with the neuter pronoun _it_ or _which_; or with reference to the _individuals_, so as to accord with a plural pronoun _they, their, them_, or _who_, masculine, or feminine, as the individuals of the assemblage may happen to be. The noun itself, being literally singular both in form and in fact, has not unfrequently some article or adjective before it that implies unity; so that the interpretation of it in a plural sense by the pronoun or verb, was perhaps not improperly regarded by the old grammarians as an example of the figure _syllepsis_:.as, "Liberty should reach every individual of _a people_, as _they_ all share one common nature."--_Spectator_, No. 287. "Thus urg'd the chief; _a generous troop appears_, _Who spread their_ bucklers and _advance their_ spears." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xi, l. 720. OBS. 2.--Many of our grammarians say, "When a noun of multitude is preceded by a definitive word, which clearly limits the sense to an aggregate with an idea of unity, it requires a verb and pronoun to agree with it in the singular number."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 153; _Ingersoll's_, 249; Fisk's, 122; _Fowler's_, 528. But this principle, I apprehend, cannot be sustained by an appeal to general usage. The instances in practice are not few, in which both these senses are clearly indicated with regard to the same noun; as, "_Each House_ shall keep a journal of _its_ proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in _their_ judgement require secrecy."--_Constitution of the United States_, Art. i, Sec. 5. "I mean _that part_ of mankind _who are known_ by the name of women's men, or beaux."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 536. "A _set_ of men _who are_ common enough in the world."--_Ibid._ "It is vain for _a people_ to expect to be free, unless _they_ are first willing to be virtuous."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 397. "For _this people's_ heart is waxed gross, and _their_ ears are dull of hearing, and _their_ eyes _they_ have closed."--_Matt._, xiii, 15. "_This enemy_ had now enlarged _their_ confederacy, and made _themselves_ more formidable than before."--_Life of Antoninus_, p. 62. "Thus from the tents the fervent _legion swarms_; So loud _their_ clamour, and so keen _their_ arms." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xvi, l. 320. OBS. 3.--Most collective nouns of the neuter gender, may take the regular plural form, and be represented by a pronoun in the third person, plural, neuter; as, "The _nations_ will enforce _their_ laws." This construction comes under Rule 10th, as does also the singular, "The _nations_ will enforce _its_ laws;" for, in either case, the agreement is entirely literal. Half of Murray's Rule 4th is therefore needless. To Rule 11th above, there are properly no exceptions; because the number of the pronoun is itself the index to the sense in which the antecedent is therein taken. It does not follow, however, but that there may be violations of the rule, or of the notes under it, by the adoption of one number when the other would be more correct, or in better taste. A collection of things inanimate, as a fleet, a heap, a row, a tier, a bundle, is seldom, if ever, taken distributively, with a plural pronoun. For a further elucidation of the construction of collective nouns, see Rule 15th, and the observations under it. NOTES TO RULE XI. NOTE I.--A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a pronoun in the third person, singular, neuter; as, "When a legislative _body_ makes laws, _it_ acts for _itself_ only; but when _it_ makes grants or contracts, _it_ acts as a party."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 40. "A civilized _people_ has no right to violate _its_ solemn obligations, because the other party is uncivilized."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 314. NOTE II.--When a collective noun is followed by two or more words which must each in some sense agree with it, uniformity of number is commonly preferable to diversity, and especially to such a mixture as puts the singular both before and after the plural; as, "_That_ ingenious nation _who have done_ so much honour to modern literature, _possesses_, in an eminent degree, the talent of narration."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 364. Better: _"which has done."_ IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XI. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE IDEA OF PLURALITY. "The jury will be confined till it agrees on a verdict."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 145. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _it_ is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its antecedent _jury_, which is a collective noun conveying rather the idea of plurality. But, according to Rule 11th, "When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the pronoun must agree with it in the plural number." Therefore, it should be _they_; thus, "The jury will be confined till _they_ agree on a verdict."] "And mankind directed its first cares towards the needful."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 114. "It is difficult to deceive a free people respecting its true interest."--_Life of Charles XII_, p. 67. "All the virtues of mankind are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable."--_Swift_. "Every sect saith, 'Give me liberty:' but give it him, and to his power, he will not yield it to any body else."--_Oliver Cromwell_. "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion."--_Numbers, xxiii_, 24. "For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."--_Gen._, vi, 12. "There happened to the army a very strange accident, which put it in great consternation."--_Goldsmith_. UNDER NOTE I.--THE IDEA OF UNITY. "The meeting went on in their business as a united body."--_Foster's Report_, i, 69. "Every religious association has an undoubted right to adopt a creed for themselves."--_Gould's Advocate_, iii, 405. "It would therefore be extremely difficult to raise an insurrection in that State against their own government."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 104. "The mode in which a Lyceum can apply themselves in effecting a reform in common schools."--_New York Lyceum_. "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?"--_Jeremiah_, ii, 11. "In the holy scriptures each of the twelve tribes of Israel is often called by the name of the patriarch, from whom they descended."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, ii, 331. UNDER NOTE II.--UNIFORMITY OF NUMBER. "A nation, by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever give."--_J. Q. Adams_. "The English nation, from which we descended, have been gaining their liberties inch by inch."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 45. "If a Yearly Meeting should undertake to alter its fundamental doctrines, is there any power in the society to prevent their doing so?"--_Foster's Report_, i, 96. "There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother."--_Proverbs_, xxx, 11. "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness."--_Ib._, xxx, 12. "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them."--_Numb._, xxiii, 21. "My people hath forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity."--_Jer._, xviii, 15. "When a quarterly meeting hath come to a judgment respecting any difference, relative to any monthly meeting belonging to them," &c.--_Extracts_, p. 195; _N. E. Discip._, p. 118. "The number of such compositions is every day increasing, and appear to be limited only by the pleasure or conveniency of the writer."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 37. "The church of Christ hath the same power now as ever, and are led by the same Spirit into the same practices."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 477. "The army, whom the chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile their miserable march."--_Lockhart's Napoleon_, ii, 165. RULE XII.--PRONOUNS. When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together: as, "_Minos_ and _Thales_ sung to the lyre the laws which _they_ composed."--STRABO: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 379. "_Saul_ and _Jonathan_ were lovely and pleasant in _their_ lives, and in _their_ death _they_ were not divided."--_2 Sam._, i, 23. "_Rhesus_ and _Rhodius_ then unite their rills, Caresus roaring down the stony hills."--_Pope, Il._, B. xii, l. 17. EXCEPTION FIRST. When two or more antecedents connected by and serve merely to describe one person or thing, they are either in apposition or equivalent to one name, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "This great _philosopher_ and _statesman_ continued in public life till _his_ eighty-second year."--"The same _Spirit, light_, and _life, which enlighteneth_, also sanctifieth, and there is not an other."--_Penington_. "My _Constantius and Philetus_ confesseth me two years older when I writ _it_."--_Cowley's Preface_. "Remember these, O _Jacob_ and _Israel_! for _thou_ art my servant."--_Isaiah_, xliv, 21. "In that _strength_ and _cogency which renders_ eloquence powerful."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 252. EXCEPTION SECOND. When two antecedents connected by _and_ are emphatically distinguished, they belong to different propositions, and, if singular, do not require a plural pronoun; as, "The _butler_, and not the _baker_, was restored to _his_ office."--"The _good man_, and the _sinner too_, shall have _his_ reward."--"_Truth_, and _truth only_, is worth seeking for _its_ own sake."--"It is _the sense_ in which the word is used, and _not the letters_ of which it is composed, _that determines_ what is the part of speech to which it belongs."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 130. EXCEPTION THIRD. When two or more antecedents connected by _and_ are preceded by the adjective _each, every_, or _no_, they are taken separately, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "_Every plant_ and _every tree_ produces others after _its_ own kind."--"It is the cause of _every reproach_ and _distress_ which _has attended_ your government."--_Junius_, Let. xxxv. But if the latter be a collective noun, the pronoun may be plural; as, "_Each minister_ and _each church_ act according to _their_ own impressions."--_Dr. M'Cartee_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XII. OBS. 1.--When the antecedents are of _different persons_, the first person is preferred to the second, and the second to the third; as, "_John_, and _thou_, and _I_, are attached to _our_ country."--"_John_ and _thou_ are attached to _your_ country."--"The Lord open some light, and show both _you_ and _me our_ inheritance!"--_Baxter_. "_Thou_ and thy _sons_ with thee _shall bear_ the iniquity of _your_ priesthood."--_Numbers_, xviii, 1. "For all are friends in heaven; all faithful friends; And many friendships in the days of Time Begun, are lasting here, and growing still: So grows _ours_ evermore, both _theirs and mine_." --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. v, l. 335. OBS 2.--The _gender_ of pronouns, except in the third person singular, is distinguished only by their antecedents. In expressing that of a pronoun which has antecedents of _different_ genders, the masculine should be preferred to the feminine, and the feminine to the neuter. The parser of English should remember, that this is a principle of General Grammar. OBS 3.--When two words are taken separately as nominatives, they ought not to be united in the same sentence as antecedents. In the following example, therefore, _them_ should be _it_: "The first has a lenis, and the other an asper over _them_."--_Printer's Gram._, p. 246. Better thus: "The first has a lenis _over it_, and the other an asper." OBS. 4.--Nouns that stand as nominatives or antecedents, are sometimes taken conjointly when there is no conjunction expressed; as, "The historian, the orator, the philosopher, _address themselves_ primarily to the understanding: _their_ direct aim is, to inform, to persuade, to instruct."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 377. The copulative _and_ may here be said to be understood, because the verb and the pronouns are plural; but it seems better _in general_, either to introduce the connective word, or to take the nouns disjunctively: as, "They have all the copiousness, the fervour, the inculcating method, that _is_ allowable and graceful in an orator; perhaps too much of it for a writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 343. To this, however, there may be exceptions,--cases in which the plural form is to be preferred,--especially in poetry; as, "Faith, justice, heaven itself, now quit their hold, When to false fame the captive heart is sold."--_Brown, on Satire_. OBS. 5.--When two or more antecedents connected by _and_ are nominally alike, one or more of them may be _understood_; and, in such a case, the pronoun must still be plural, as agreeing with all the nouns, whether expressed or implied: as, "But intellectual and moral culture ought to go hand in hand; _they_ will greatly help each other."--_Dr. Weeks_. Here _they_ stands for _intellectual culture_ and _moral culture_. The following example is incorrect: "The Commanding and Unlimited _mode_ may be used in an absolute sense, or without a name or substitute on which _it_ can depend."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 80. Change _it_ to _they_, or _and_ to _or_. See Note 6th to Rule 16th. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XII. PRONOUNS WITH ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY AND. "Discontent and sorrow manifested itself in his countenance."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 146. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the pronoun _itself_ is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents _discontent_ and _sorrow_, which are connected by _and_, and taken conjointly. But, according to Rule 12th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _and_, it must agree with then, jointly in the plural, because they are taken together." Therefore, _itself_ should be _themselves_; thus, "Discontent and sorrow manifested _themselves_ in his countenance."] "Both conversation and public speaking became more simple and plain, such as we now find it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 59. "Idleness and ignorance, if it be suffered to proceed, &c."--JOHNSON: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 186. "Avoid questions and strife; it shows a busy and contentious disposition."--_Wm. Penn_. "To receive the gifts and benefits of God with thanksgiving, and witness it blessed and sanctified to us by the word and prayer, is owned by us."--_Barclays Works_, i, 213. "Both minister and magistrate are compelled to choose between his duty and his reputation."--_Junius_, p. 9. "All the sincerity, truth, and faithfulness, or disposition of heart or conscience to approve it, found among rational creatures, necessarily originate from God."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 12. "Your levity and heedlessness, if it continue, will prevent all substantial improvement."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 147. "Poverty and obscurity will oppress him only who esteems it oppressive."--_Ib._ "Good sense and refined policy are obvious to few, because it cannot be discovered but by a train of reflection."--_Ib._ "Avoid haughtiness of behaviour, and affectation, of manners: it implies a want of solid merit."--_Ib._ "If love and unity continue, it will make you partakers of one an other's joy."--_Ib._ "Suffer not jealousy and distrust to enter: it will destroy, like a canker, every germ of friendship."--_Ib._ "Hatred and animosity are inconsistent with Christian charity; guard, therefore, against the slightest indulgence of it."--_Ib._ "Every man is entitled to liberty of conscience, and freedom of opinion, if he does not pervert it to the injury of others."--_Ib._ "With the azure and vermilion Which is mix'd for my pavilion."--_Byron's Manfred_, p. 9. RULE XIII.--PRONOUNS. When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together: as; "_James_ or _John_ will favour us with _his_ company."--"Neither _wealth_ nor _honour_ can secure the happiness of _its_ votaries." "What _virtue_ or what mental _grace_, But men unqualified and base Will boast _it_ their possession?"--_Cowper, on Friendship_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XIII. OBS. 1.--When two or more singular antecedents are connected by _or_ or _nor_, the pronoun which represents them, ought in general to be singular, because _or_ and _nor_ are disjunctives; and, to form a complete concord, the nouns ought also to be of the same person and gender, that the pronoun may agree in all respects with each of them. But when _plural_ nouns are connected in this manner, the pronoun will of course be plural, though it still agrees with the antecedents singly; as, "Neither _riches_ nor _honours_ ever satisfy _their_ pursuers." Sometimes, when different numbers occur together, we find the plural noun put last, and the pronoun made plural after both, especially if this noun is a mere substitute for the other; as, "What's justice to a man, or laws, That never comes within _their_ claws."--_Hudibras_. OBS. 2.--When antecedents of different persons, numbers, or genders, are connected by _or_ or _nor_, they cannot very properly be represented by any pronoun that is not applicable to each of them. The following sentences are therefore inaccurate; or at least they contradict the teachings of their own authors: "Either _thou or I_ am greatly mistaken, in _our_ judgment on this subject."--_Murray's Key_, p. 184 "Your character, which _I, or any other writer_, may now value _ourselves_ by (upon) drawing."--SWIFT: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 96. "Either _you or I_ will be in _our_ place in due time."--_Coopers Gram._, p. 127. But different pronouns may be so connected as to refer to such antecedents taken separately; as, "By requiring greater labour from such _slave or slaves_, than _he or she or they_ are able to perform."--_Prince's Digest_. Or, if the gender only be different, the masculine may involve the feminine by implication; as, "If a man smite the eye of his _servant_, or the eye of his _maid_, that it perish, he shall let _him_ go free for _his_ eye's sake."--_Exodus_, xxi, 26. OBS. 3.--It is however very common to resort to the plural number in such instances as the foregoing, because our plural pronouns are alike in all the genders; as, "When either _man or woman_ shall separate _themselves_ to vow a vow of a Nazarite."--_Numbers_, vi, 2. "Then shalt thou bring forth _that man or that woman_ unto thy gates, and shalt stone them with stones, till _they_ die."--_Deut._, xvii, 5. "Not on outward charms could _he or she_ build _their_ pretensions to please."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 148. "Complimenting either _man or woman_ on agreeable qualities which _they_ do not possess, in hopes of imposing on _their_ credulity."--_Ib._, p. 108. "_Avidien_, or his _wife_, (no matter which,) _sell their_ presented partridges and fruits."--_Pope_, Sat. ii, l. 50. "Beginning with Latin _or_ Greek hexameter, _which are_ the same."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 79. "Did ever _Proteus, Merlin_, any _witch_, Transform _themselves_ so strangely as the rich?" --_Pope_, Ep. i, l. 152. OBS. 4.--From the observations and examples above, it may be perceived, that whenever there is a difference of person, number, or gender, in antecedents connected disjunctively, there is an inherent difficulty respecting the form of the pronoun personal. The best mode of meeting this inconvenience, or of avoiding it by a change of the phraseology, may be different on different occasions. The disjunctive connexion of explicit pronouns is the most correct, but it savours too much of legal precision and wordiness to be always eligible. Commonly an ingenious mind may invent some better expression, and yet avoid any syntactical anomaly. In Latin, when nouns are connected by the conjunctions which correspond to _or_ or _nor_, the pronoun or verb is so often made plural, that no such principle as that of the foregoing Rule, or of Rule 17th, is taught by the common grammars of that language. How such usage can be logically right, however, it is difficult to imagine. Lowth, Murray, Webster, and most other English grammarians, teach, that, "The conjunction disjunctive has an effect contrary to that of the copulative; and, as the verb, noun, or pronoun, is referred to the preceding terms taken separately, it must be in the singular number."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 75; _L. Murray's_, 151; _Churchill's_, 142; _W. Allen's_, 133; _Lennie's_, 83; _and many others_. If there is any allowable exception to this principle, it is for the adoption of the plural when the concord cannot be made by any one pronoun singular; as, "If I value my friend's _wife or son_ upon account of _their_ connexion with him."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 73. "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, _thou nor thy sons_ with thee, when _ye_ go into the tabernacle of the congregation."--_Levit._, x, 8. These examples, though they do not accord with the preceding rule, seem not to be susceptible of any change for the better. There are also some other modes of expression, in which nouns that are connected disjunctively, may afterwards be represented together; as "_Foppery_ is a sort of folly much more contagious THAN _pedantry_; but as _they_ result alike from affectation, _they_ deserve alike to be proscribed."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 217. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIII. PRONOUNS WITH ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY OR OR NOR. "Neither prelate nor priest can give their flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."--_Dr. Brownlee_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _their_ is of the plural number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents _prelate_ and _priest_, which are connected by _nor_, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 13th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, _their_ should be _his_; thus, "Neither prelate nor priest can give _his_ flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."] "And is there a heart of parent or of child, that does not beat and burn within them?"--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 367. "This is just as if an eye or a foot should demand a salary for their service to the body."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 178. "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee."--_Matt._, xviii, 8. "The same might as well be said of Virgil, or any great author, whose general character will infallibly raise many casual additions to their reputation."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "Either James or John, one of them, will come."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 37. "Even a rugged rock or barren heath, though in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the whole."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 185. "That neither Count Rechteren nor Monsieur Mesnager had behaved themselves right in this affair."--_Spect._, No. 481. "If an Aristotle, a Pythagoras, or a Galileo, suffer for their opinions, they are 'martyrs.'"--_Gospel its own Witness_, p. 80. "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned."--_Exodus_, xxi, 28. "She was calling out to one or an other, at every step, that a Habit was ensnaring them."--DR. JOHNSON: _Murray's Sequel_, 181. "Here is a Task put upon Children, that neither this Author, nor any other have yet undergone themselves."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 162. "Hence, if an adjective or participle be subjoined to the verb, when of the singular number, they will agree both in gender and number with the collective noun."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 154; _Gould's_, 158. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, be pleased to point them out too."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 16. "And if you can find a diphthong, or a triphthong, a trissyllable, or a polysyllable, point them respectively out."--_Ib._, p. 25. "The false refuges in which the atheist or the sceptic have intrenched themselves."--_Christian Spect._, viii, 185. "While the man or woman thus assisted by art expects their charms will be imputed to nature alone."--_Opie_, 141. "When you press a watch, or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 102. "Not the Mogul, or Czar of Muscovy, Not Prester John, or Cham of Tartary, Are in their houses Monarch more than I." --KING: _Brit. Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 613. CHAPTER VI.--VERBS. In this work, the syntax of Verbs is embraced in six consecutive rules, with the necessary exceptions, notes, and observations, under them; hence this chapter extends from the fourteenth to the twentieth rule in the series. RULE XIV.--FINITE VERBS. Every finite Verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number: as, "I _know_; thou _knowst_, or _knowest_; he _knows_, or _knoweth_"--"The bird _flies_; the birds _fly_." "Our fathers' fertile _fields_ by slaves _are till'd_, And _Rome_ with dregs of foreign lands _is fill'd_." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. vii, l. 600. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XIV. OBS. 1.--To this general rule for the verb, there are properly _no exceptions_;[385] and all the special rules that follow, which prescribe the concord of verbs in particular instances, virtually accord with it. Every _finite verb_, (that is, every verb _not in the infinitive mood_,) must have some noun, pronoun, or phrase equivalent, known as the _subject_ of the being, action, or passion;[386] and with this subject, whether expressed or understood, the verb must agree in person and number. The infinitive mood, as it does not unite with a nominative to form an assertion, is of course exempt from any such agreement. These may be considered principles of Universal Grammar. The Greeks, however, had a strange custom of using a plural noun of the neuter gender, with a verb of the third person singular; and in both Greek and Latin, the infinitive mood with an accusative before it was often equivalent to a finite verb with its nominative. In English we have _neither of these usages_; and plural nouns, even when they denote no absolute plurality, (as _shears, scissors, trowsers, pantaloons, tongs_,) require plural verbs or pronouns: as, "Your _shears come_ too late, to clip the bird's wings."--SIDNEY: _Churchill's Gram._, p. 30. OBS. 2.--When a book that bears a plural title, is spoken of as one thing, there is sometimes presented an _apparent exception_ to the foregoing rule; as, "The _Pleasures_ of Memory _was published_ in the year 1792, and became at once popular."--_Allan Cunningham_. "The '_Sentiments_ of a Church-of-England Man' _is written_ with great coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. "The '_Pleasures_ of Hope' _is_ a splendid poem; _it_ was written for perpetuity."--_Samuel L. Knapp_. In these instances, there is, I apprehend, either an agreement of the verb, by the figure _syllepsis_, with the mental conception of the thing spoken of; or an improper ellipsis of the common noun, with which each sentence ought to commence; as, "The _poem_ entitled,"--"The _work_ entitled," &c. But the plural title sometimes controls the form of the verb; as, "My Lives are reprinting."--_Dr. Johnson_. OBS. 3.--In the figurative use of the present tense for the past or imperfect, the vulgar have a habit of putting the third person singular with the pronoun _I_; as, "_Thinks I_ to myself."--_Rev. J. Marriott_. "O, _says I_, Jacky, are you at that work?"--_Day's Sandford and Merton_. "Huzza! huzza! Sir Condy Rackrent forever, was the first thing _I hears_ in the morning."--_Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent_, p. 97. This vulgarism is to be avoided, not by a simple omission of the terminational _s_, but rather by the use of the literal preterit: as, "_Thought_ I to myself;"--"O, _said_ I;"--"The first thing I _heard_." The same mode of correction is also proper, when, under like circumstances, there occurs a disagreement in number; as, "After the election was over, there _comes shoals_ of people from all parts."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 103. "Didn't ye hear it? _says they_ that were looking on."--_Ib._, p. 147. Write, "there _came_,"--"_said they_." OBS. 4.--It has already been noticed, that the article _a_, or a singular adjective, sometimes precedes an arithmetical number with a plural noun; as, "_A thousand years_ in thy sight _are_ but as yesterday."--_Psalms_, xc, 4. So we might say, "_One_ thousand years _are_,"--"_Each_ thousand years _are_"--"_Every_ thousand years _are_," &c. But it would not be proper to say, "A thousand years _is_," or, "Every thousand years _is_;" because the noun _years_ is plainly plural, and the anomaly of putting a singular verb after it, is both needless and unauthorized. Yet, to this general rule for the verb, the author of a certain "English Grammar _on the Productive System_," (a strange perversion of Murray's compilation, and a mere catch-penny work, now extensively used in New England,) is endeavouring to establish, by his own bare word, the following exception: "_Every_ is sometimes associated with a plural noun, in which case the verb must be singular; as, 'Every hundred years _constitutes_ a century.'"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 103. His _reason_ is this; that the phrase containing the nominative, "_signifies a single period of time_, and is, therefore, _in reality_ singular."--_Ib._ Cutler also, a more recent writer, seems to have imbibed the same notion; for he gives the following sentence as an example of "false construction: Every hundred years _are_ called a century."--_Cutler's Grammar and Parser_, p. 145. But, according to this argument, no plural verb could ever be used with any _definite number_ of the parts of time; for any three years, forty years, or threescore years and ten, are as single a period of time, as "every hundred years," "every four years," or "every twenty-four hours." Nor is it true, that, "_Every_ is sometimes associated with a plural noun;" for "_every years_" or "_every hours_," would be worse than nonsense. I, therefore, acknowledge no such exception; but, discarding the principle of the note, put this author's pretended _corrections_ among my quotations of _false syntax_. OBS. 5.--Different verbs always have different subjects, expressed or understood; except when two or more verbs are connected in the same construction, or when the same word is repeated for the sake of emphasis. But let not the reader believe the common doctrine of our grammarians, respecting either the ellipsis of nominatives or the ellipsis of verbs. In the text, "The man was old and crafty," Murray sees no connexion of the ideas of age and craftiness, but thinks the text a _compound sentence_, containing two nominatives and two verbs; i.e., "The man was old, and _the man was_ crafty." [387] And all his other instances of "the ellipsis of the verb" are equally fanciful! See his _Octavo Gram._, p. 219; _Duodecimo_, 175. In the text, "God loves, protects, supports, and rewards the rights," there are four verbs in _the same construction_, agreeing with the same nominative, and governing the same object; but Buchanan and others expound it, "God loves, and God protects, and God supports, and God rewards the righteous."--_English Syntax_, p. 76; _British Gram._, 192. This also is fanciful and inconsistent. If the nominative is here "_elegantly understood_ to each verb," so is the objective, which they do not repeat. "And again," they immediately add, "the _verb_ is often understood to its noun or nouns; as, He dreams of gibbets, halters, racks, daggers, &c. i.e. He dreams of gibbets, and he dreams of halters, &c."--_Same works and places_. In none of these examples is there any occasion to suppose an ellipsis, if we admit that two or more words _can_ be connected in the same construction! OBS. 6.--Verbs in the imperative mood commonly agree with the pronoun _thou, ye_, or _you_, understood after them; as, "_Heal [ye_] the sick, _cleanse [ye_] the lepers, _raise [ye_] the dead, _cast [ye_] out devils."--_Matt._, x, 8. "_Trust_ God and _be doing_, and _leave_ the rest with him."--_Dr. Sibs_. When the doer of a thing must first proceed to the place of action, we sometimes use _go_ or _come_ before an other verb, without any conjunction between the two; as, "Son, _go work_ to-day in my vineyard."--_Matt._, xxi, 28. "_Come see_ a man who [has] told me all things that ever I did."--_John_, iv, 29. "He ordered his soldiers to _go murder_ every child about Bethlehem, or near it."--_Wood's Dict. of Bible, w. Herod_. "Take a present in thine hand, and _go meet_ the man of God."--_2 Kings_, viii, 8. "I will _go see_ if he be at home."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 169. OBS. 7.--The _place_ of the verb has reference mainly to that of the subject with which it agrees, and that of the object which it governs; and as the arrangement of these, with the instances in which they come before or after the verb, has already been noticed, the position of the latter seems to require no further explanation. See Obs. 2d under Rule 2d, and Obs. 2d under Rule 5th. OBS. 8.--The infinitive mood, a phrase, or a sentence, (and, according to some authors, the participle in _ing_, or a phrase beginning with this participle,) is sometimes the proper subject of a verb, being equivalent to a nominative of the third person singular; as, "To play _is_ pleasant."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 80. "To write well, _is_ difficult; to speak eloquently, _is_ still more difficult."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 81. "To take men off from prayer, _tends_ to irreligiousness, _is granted_."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 214. "To educate a child perfectly, _requires_ profounder thought, greater wisdom, than to govern a state."--_Channing's Self-Culture_, p. 30. "To determine these points, _belongs_ to good sense."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 321. "How far the change would contribute to his welfare, _comes_ to be considered."--_Id., Sermons_. "That too much care does hurt in any of our tasks, _is_ a doctrine so flattering to indolence, that we ought to receive it with extreme caution."--_Life of Schiller_, p. 148. "That there is no disputing about taste, _is_ a saying so generally received as to have become a proverb."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 360. "For what purpose they embarked, _is_ not yet known."--"To live in sin and yet to believe the forgiveness of sin, _is_ utterly impossible."--_Dr. J. Owen_. "There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, But drinking largely _sobers_ us again."--_Pope_. OBS. 9.--The same meaning will be expressed, if the pronoun _it_ be placed before the verb, and the infinitive, phrase, or santance, after it; as, "_It_ is pleasant _to play_,"--"_It_ is difficult _to write well_;" &c. The construction of the following sentences is rendered defective by the omission of this pronoun: "Why do ye that which [_it_] is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?"--_Luke_, vi, 2. "The show-bread, which [_it_] is not lawful to eat, but for the priests only."--_Ib._, vi, 4. "We have done that which [_it_] was our duty to do."--_Ib._, xvii, 10. Here the relative _which_ ought to be in the objective case, governed by the infinitives; but the omission of the word _it_ makes this relative the nominative to _is_ or _was_, and leaves _to do_ and _to eat_ without any regimen. This is not ellipsis, but error. It is an accidental gap into which a side piece falls, and leaves a breach elsewhere. The following is somewhat like it, though what falls in, appears to leave no chasm: "From this deduction, [_it_] _may be easily seen_ how it comes to pass, that personification makes so great a figure."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 155. "Whether the author had any meaning in this expression, or what it was, [_it_] _is not easy_ to determine."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 298. "That warm climates should accelerate the growth of the human body, and shorten its duration, [_it_] _is very reasonable_ to believe."--_Ib._, p. 144. These also need the pronoun, though Murray thought them complete without it. OBS. 10.--When the infinitive mood is made the subject of a finite verb, it is most commonly used to express action or state in the abstract; as, "_To be_ contents his natural desire."--_Pope_. Here _to be_ stands for simple _existence_; or if for the existence _of the Indian_, of whom the author speaks, that relation is merely implied. "_To define ridicule_, has puzzled and vexed every critic."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 300. Here "_to define_" expresses an action quite as distinct from any agent, as would the participial noun; as, "The _defining of_ ridicule," &c. In connexion with the infinitive, a concrete quality may also be taken as an abstract; as, "_To be good_ is _to be happy_." Here _good_ and _happy_ express the quality of _goodness_ and the state of _happiness_ considered abstractly; and therefore these adjectives do not relate to any particular noun. So also the passive infinitive, or a perfect participle taken in a passive sense; as, "_To be satisfied with a little_, is the greatest wisdom."--"_To appear discouraged_, is the way to become so." Here the _satisfaction_ and the _discouragement_ are considered abstractly, and without reference to any particular person. (See Obs. 12th and 13th on Rule 6th.) So too, apparently, the participles _doing_ and _suffering_, as well as the adjective _weak_, in the following example: "Fallen Cherub, to be _weak_ is miserable, _Doing_ or _suffering_."--_Milton's Paradise Lost_. OBS. 11.--When the action or state is to be expressly limited to one class of beings, or to a particular person or thing, without making the verb finite; the noun or pronoun may be introduced before the infinitive by the preposition _for_: as, "_For men to search_ their own glory, is not glory."--_Prov._, xxv, 27. "_For a prince to be reduced_ by villany [sic--KTH] to my distressful circumstances, is calamity enough."--_Translation of Sallust_. "_For holy persons to be humble_, is as hard, as _for a prince to submit_ himself to be guided by tutors."--TAYLOR: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 132; _Murray's_, 184. But such a limitation is sometimes implied, when the expression itself is general; as, "_Not to know me_, argues thyself unknown."--_Milton_. That is, "_For thee_ not to know me." The phrase is put far, "_Thy ignorance of me_;" for an other's ignorance would be no argument in regard to the individual addressed. "_I, to bear this_, that never knew but better, _is_ some burden."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 327. Here the infinitive _to bear_, which is the subject of the verb _is_, is limited in sense by the pronoun _I_, which is put absolute in the nominative, though perhaps _improperly_; because, "_For me to bear this_," &c., will convey the same meaning, in a form much more common, and perhaps more grammatical. In the following couplet, there is an ellipsis of the infinitive; for the phrase, "fool with fool," means, "_for_ fool _to contend_ with fool," or, "for one fool to contend with an other:" "Blockheads with reason wicked wits abhor, But _fool with fool_ is barb'rous civil war." --_Pope, Dunciad_, B. iii, l. 175. OBS. 12.--The objective noun or pronoun thus introduced by _for_ before the infinitive, was erroneously called by Priestley, "_the subject of the affirmation_;" (_Gram._, p. 132;) and Murray, Ingersoll, and others, have blindly copied the blunder. See _Murray's Gram._, p. 184; _Ingersoll's_, 244. Again, Ingersoll says, "The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is sometimes the subject of a verb, _and is, therefore, its_ NOMINATIVE."--_Conversations on English Gram._, p. 246. To this erroneous deduction, the phraseology used by Murray and others too plainly gives countenance: "The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is sometimes put _as the nominative case_ to the verb."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 144; _Fisk's_, 123; _Kirkham's_, 188; _Lennie's_, 99; _Bullions's_, 89; and many more. Now the objective before the infinitive may not improperly be called _the subject_ of this form of the verb, as the nominative is, of the finite; but to call it "the subject _of the affirmation_," is plainly absurd; because no infinitive, in English, ever expresses an affirmation. And again, if a whole phrase or sentence is made the subject of a _finite_ verb, or of an affirmation, no one word contained in it, can singly claim this title. Nor can the whole, by virtue of this relation, be said to be "in the _nominative case_;" because, in the nature of things, neither phrases nor sentences are capable of being declined by cases. OBS. 13.--Any phrase or sentence which is made the subject of a finite verb, must be taken in the sense of _one thing_, and be spoken of as _a whole_; so that the verb's agreement with it, in the third person singular, is not an exception to Rule 14th, but a construction in which the verb may be parsed by that rule. For any one thing merely spoken of, is of the third person singular, whatever may be the nature of its parts. Not every phrase or sentence, however, is fit to be made the subject of a verb;--that is, if its own import, and not the mere expression, is the thing whereof we affirm. Thus Dr. Ash's example for this very construction, "a _sentence_ made the subject of a verb," is, I think, a palpable solecism: "The King and Queen appearing in public _was_ the cause of my going."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 52. What is here before the verb _was_, is _no_ "_sentence_;" but a mere phrase, and such a one as we should expect to see used independently, if any regard were had to its own import. The Doctor would tell us what "was _the cause_ of his going:" and here he has two nominatives, which are equivalent to the plural _they_; q.d., "_They_ appearing in public _was_ the cause." But such a construction is not English. It is an other sample of the false illustration which grammar receives from those who _invent_ the proof-texts which they ought to _quote_. OBS. 14.--One of Murray's examples of what he erroneously terms "_nominative sentences_," i.e., "sentences or clauses constituting the subject of an affirmation," is the following: "A desire to excel others in learning and virtue [,] _is_ commendable."--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 144. Here the verb _is_ agrees regularly with the noun _desire_, and with that only; the whole text being merely a simple sentence, and totally irrelevant to the doctrine which it accompanies.[388] But the great "Compiler" supposes the adjuncts of this noun to be parts of the nominative, and imagines the verb to agree with all that precedes it. Yet, soon after, he expends upon the ninth rule of Webster's Philosophical Grammar a whole page of useless criticism, to show that the adjuncts of a noun are not to be taken as parts of the nominative; and that, when objectives are thus subjoined, "the assertion grammatically respects the first nouns only."--_Ib._, p. 148. I say _useless_, because the truth of the doctrine is so very plain. Some, however, may imagine an example like the following to be an exception to it; but I do not, because I think the true nominative suppressed: "By force they could not introduce these gods; For _ten to one_ in former days _was_ odds."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 38. OBS. 15.--Dr. Webster's ninth rule is this: "When the nominative consists of several words, and the last of the names is in the plural number, the verb is commonly in the plural also; as, 'A part of the exports _consist_ of raw silk.' 'The number of oysters _increase_.' GOLDSMITH. 'Such as the train of our ideas _have lodged_ in our memories.' LOCKE. 'The greater part of philosophers _have acknowledged_ the excellence of this government.' ANACHARSIS."--_Philos. Gram._, p. 146; _Impr. Gram._, 100. The last of these examples Murray omits; the second he changes thus: "A number of men and women _were_ present." But all of them his reasoning condemns as ungrammatical. He thinks them wrong, upon the principle, that the verbs, being plural, do not agree with the first nouns only. Webster, on the contrary, judges them all to be right; and, upon this same principle, conceives that his rule must be so too. He did not retract or alter the doctrine after he saw the criticism, but republished it verbatim, in his "Improved Grammar," of 1831. Both err, and neither convinces the other. OBS. 16.--In this instance, as Webster and Murray both teach erroneously, whoever follows either, will be led into many mistakes. The fact is, that some of the foregoing examples, though perhaps not all, are perfectly right; and hundreds more, of a similar character, might be quoted, which no true grammarian would presume to condemn. But what have these to do with the monstrous absurdity of supposing objective adjuncts to be "parts of the actual nominative?" The words, "_part," "number," "train_" and the like, are _collective nouns_; and, as such, they often have plural verbs in agreement with them. To say, "A _number_ of men and women _were_ present," is as correct as to say, "A very great _number_ of our words _are_ plainly derived from the Latin."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 86. Murray's criticism, therefore, since it does not exempt these examples from the censure justly laid upon Webster's rule, will certainly mislead the learner. And again the rule, being utterly wrong in principle, will justify blunders like these: "The truth of the narratives _have_ never been disputed;"--"The virtue of these men and women _are_ indeed exemplary."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 148. In one of his notes, Murray suggests, that the article _an_ or _a_ before a collective noun must confine the verb to the singular number; as, "_A great number_ of men and women _was_ collected."--_Ib._, p. 153. But this doctrine he sometimes forgot or disregarded; as, "But if _a number_ of interrogative or exclamatory sentences _are thrown_ into one general group."--_Ib._, p. 284; _Comly_, 166; _Fisk_, 160; _Ingersoll_, 295. OBS. 17.--Cobbett, in a long paragraph, (the 245th of his English Grammar,) stoutly denies that any _relative pronoun_ can ever be the nominative to a verb; and, to maintain this absurdity, he will have the relative and its antecedent to be always alike in _case_, the only thing in which they are always independent of each other. To prove his point, he first frames these examples: "The men _who are_ here, the man _who is_ here; the cocks _that crow_, the cock _that crows_;" and then asks, "Now, if the relative be the nominative, why do the verbs _change_, seeing that here is no change in the relative?" He seems ignorant of the axiom, that two things severally equal to a third, are also equal to each other: and accordingly, to answer his own question, resorts to a new principle: "The verb is continually varying. Why does it vary? Because it _disregards the relative_ and goes and finds the antecedent, and accommodates its number to that."--_Ibid._ To this wild doctrine, one erratic Irishman yields a full assent; and, in one American grammatist, we find a partial and unintentional concurrence with it.[389] But the fact is, the relative agrees with the antecedent, and the verb agrees with the relative: hence all three of the words are alike in person and number. But between the case of the relative and that of the antededent [sic--KTH], there never is, or can be, in our language, any sort of connexion or interference. The words belong to different clauses; and, if both be nominatives, they must be the subjects of different verbs: or, if the noun be sometimes put absolute in the nominative, the pronoun is still left to its own verb. But Cobbett concludes his observation thus: "You will observe, therefore, that, when I, in the etymology and syntax as relating to relative pronouns, speak of relatives as being in the nominative case, I mean, that they relate to nouns or to personal pronouns, _which are in that case_. The same observation applies _to the other cases_."--_Ib._, 245. This suggestion betrays in the critic an unaccountable ignorance of his subject. OBS. 18.--Nothing is more certain, than that the relatives, _who, which, what, that_, and _as_, are often nominatives, and the only subjects of the verbs which follow them: as, "The Lord will show _who are_ his, and _who is_ holy."--_Numbers_, xvi, 5. "Hardly is there any person, but _who_, on such occasions, _is disposed_ to be serious."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 469. "Much of the merit of Mr. Addison's Cato depends upon that moral turn of thought _which distinguishes_ it."--_Ib._, 469. "Admit not a single word but _what is_ necessary."--_Ib._, p. 313. "The pleader must say nothing but _what is_ true; and, at the same time, he must avoid saying any thing _that will hurt_ his cause."--_Ib._, 313. "I proceed to mention such _as appear_ to me most material."--_Ib._, p. 125. After _but_ or _than_, there is sometimes an ellipsis of the relative, and perhaps also of the antecedent; as, "There is no heart _but must feel_ them."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 469. "There is no one _but must be_ sensible of the extravagance."--_Ib._, p. 479. "Since we may date from it a more general and a more concerted opposition to France _than there had been_ before."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 213. That is, "than _what_ there had been before;"--or, "than _any opposition which_ there had been before." "John has more fruit _than can be gathered_ in a week."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, pp. 196 and 331. I suppose this sentence to mean, "John has more fruit than _what_ can be gathered in a week." But the author of it denies that it is elliptical, and seems to suppose that _can be gathered_ agrees with _John_. Part of his comment stands thus: "The above sentence--'John has more fruit than can be gathered in a week'--in every respect full and _perfect_--must, to be _grammatical_! according to _all_ the 'old theories,' stand, John has more fruit than _that fruit is which, or which fruit_ can be gathered in a week!!!"--_Ib._, 331. What shall be done with the headlong critic who thus mistakes exclamation points for arguments, and multiplies his confidence in proportion to his fallacies and errors? OBS. 19.--In a question, the nominative _I_ or _thou_ put after the verb, controls the agreement, in preference to the interrogative _who, which_, or _what_, put before it; as, "_Who am I? What am I? Who art thou? What art thou?_" And, by analogy, this seems to be the case with all plurals; as, "_Who are we? Who are you? Who are they? What are these_?" But sometimes the interrogative pronoun is the only nominative used; and then the verb, whether singular or plural, must agree with this nominative, in the third person, and not, as Cobbett avers, with an antecedent understood: as, "_Who is_ in the house? _Who are_ in the house? _Who strikes_ the iron? _Who strike_ the iron? _Who was_ in the street? _Who were_ in the street?"--_Cobbett's Gram._, 245. All the interrogative pronouns may be used in either number, but, in examples like the following, I imagine the singular to be more proper than the plural: "_What have become_ of our previous customs?"--_Hunt's Byron_, p. 121. "And _what have become_ of my resolutions to return to God?"--_Young Christian_, 2d Ed., p. 91. When two nominatives of different properties come after the verb, the first controls the agreement, and neither the plural number nor the most worthy person is always preferred; as, "_Is it I? Is it thou? Is it they_?" OBS. 20.--The verb after a relative sometimes has the appearance of disagreeing with its nominative, because the writer and his reader disagree in their conceptions of its mood. When a relative clause is subjoined to what is itself subjunctive or conditional, some writers suppose that the latter verb should be put in the subjunctive mood; as, "If there be any intrigue _which stand_ separate and independent."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 457. "The man also would be of considerable use, who should vigilantly attend to every illegal practice _that were beginning_ to prevail."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 171. But I have elsewhere shown, that relatives, in English, are not compatible with the subjunctive mood; and it is certain, that no other mood than the indicative or the potential is commonly used after them. Say therefore, "If there be any intrigue _which stands_," &c. In assuming to himself the other text, Murray's says, "_That_ man also would be of considerable use, who should vigilantly attend to every illegal practice that _was_ beginning to prevail."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 366. But this seems too positive. The potential imperfect would be better: viz., "that _might begin_ to prevail." OBS. 21.--The termination _st_ or _est_, with which the second person singular of the verb is formed in the indicative present, and, for the solemn style, in the imperfect also; and the termination _s_ or _es_, with which the third person singular is formed in the indicative present, and only there; are signs of the mood and tense, as well as of the person and number, of the verb. They are not applicable to a future uncertainty, or to any mere supposition in which we would leave the time indefinite and make the action hypothetical; because they are commonly understood to fix the time of the verb to the present or the past, and to assume the action as either doing or done. For this reason, our best writers have always omitted those terminations, when they intended to represent the action as being doubtful and contingent as well as conditional. And this omission constitutes the whole _formal_ difference between the indicative and the subjunctive mood. The _essential_ difference has, by almost all grammarians, been conceived to extend somewhat further; for, if it were confined strictly within the limits of the literal variation, the subjunctive mood would embrace only two or three words in the whole formation of each verb. After the example of Priestley, Dr. Murray, A. Murray, Harrison, Alexander, and others, I have given to it all the persons of the two simple tenses, singular and plural; and, for various reasons, I am decidedly of the opinion, that these are its most proper limits. The perfect and pluperfect tenses, being past, cannot express what is really contingent or uncertain; and since, in expressing conditionally what may or may not happen, we use the subjunctive present as embracing the future indefinitely, there is no need of any formal futures for this mood. The comprehensive brevity of this form of the verb, is what chiefly commends it. It is not an elliptical form of the future, as some affirm it to be; nor equivalent to the indicative present, as others will have it; but a _true subjunctive_, though its distinctive parts are chiefly confined to the second and third persons singular of the simple verb: as, "Though _thou wash_ thee with nitre."--_Jer._, ii, 22. "It is just, O great king! that a _murderer perish_."--_Corneille_. "This single _crime_, in my judgment, _were_ sufficient to condemn him."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 82. "Beware that _thou bring_ not my son thither."--BIBLE: _Ward's Gram._, p. 128. "See [that] _thou tell_ no man."--_Id., ib._ These examples can hardly be resolved into any thing else than the subjunctive mood. NOTES TO RULE XIV. NOTE I.--When the nominative is a relative pronoun, the verb must agree with it in person and number, according to the pronoun's agreement with its true antecedent or antecedents. Example of error: "The second book [of the AEneid] is one of the greatest masterpieces _that ever was executed_ by any hand."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 439. Here the true antecedent is _masterpieces_, and not the word _one_; but _was executed_ is singular, and "by any _hand_" implies but one agent. Either say, "It is one of the greatest _masterpieces that_ ever _were executed_;" or else, "It is _the greatest masterpiece that ever was executed by any hand_." But these assertions differ much in their import. NOTE II.--"The adjuncts of the nominative do not control its agreement with the verb; as, Six months' _interest was_ due. The _progress_ of his forces _was_ impeded."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 131. "The _ship_, with all her furniture, was destroyed."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 150. "All _appearances_ of modesty _are_ favourable and prepossessing."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 308. "The _power_ of relishing natural enjoyments _is_ soon gone."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 135. "_I_, your master, _command_ you (not _commands_)"-- _Latham's Hand-Book_, p. 330.[390] NOTE III.--Any phrase, sentence, mere word, or other sign, taken as one whole, and made the subject of an assertion, requires a verb in the third person singular; as, "To lie _is_ base."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 154. "When, to read and write, _was_ of itself an honorary distinction."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 40. "To admit a God and then refuse to worship him, _is_ a modern and inconsistent practice."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 30. "_We is_ a personal pronoun."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 227. "_Th has_ two sounds."--_Ib._, p. 161. "The _'s is annexed_ to each."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 89. "_Ld. stands_ for _lord_."--_Webster's American Dict._, 8vo. NOTE IV.--The pronominal adjectives, _each, one,[391] either_, and _neither_, are always in the third person singular; and, when they are the leading words in their clauses, they require verbs and pronouns to agree with them accordingly: as, "_Each_ of you _is_ entitled to _his_ share."--"Let no _one_ deceive _himself_." NOTE V.--A neuter or a passive verb between two nominatives should be made to agree with that which precedes it;[392] as, "Words _are_ wind:" except when the terms are transposed, and the proper subject is put after the verb by _question_ or _hyperbaton_; as, "His pavilion _were_ dark _waters_ and thick _clouds_ of the sky."--_Bible_. "Who _art thou_?"--_Ib._ "The wages of sin _is death_."--_Ib. Murray, Comly_, and others. But, of this last example, Churchill says, "_Wages are_ the subject, of which it is affirmed, that _they are_ death."--_New Gram._, p. 314. If so, _is_ ought to be _are_; unless Dr. Webster is right, who imagines _wages_ to be _singular_, and cites this example to prove it so. See his _Improved Gram._, p. 21. NOTE VI.--When the verb cannot well be made singular, the nominative should be made plural, that they may agree: or, if the verb cannot be plural, let the nominative be singular. Example of error: "For _every one_ of them _know_ their several duties."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 72. Say, "For _all_ of them know their several duties." NOTE VII.--When the verb has different forms, that form should be adopted, which is the most consistent with present and reputable usage in the style employed: thus, to say familiarly, "The clock _hath stricken_;"--"Thou _laughedst_ and _talkedst_, when thou _oughtest_ to have been silent;"--"He _readeth_ and _writeth_, but he _doth_ not cipher," would be no better, than to use _don't, won't, can't, shan't_, and _didn't_, in preaching. NOTE VIII.--Every finite verb not in the imperative mood, should have a separate nominative expressed; as, "_I came, I saw, I conquered_:" except when the verb is repeated for the sake of emphasis, or connected to an other in the same construction, or put after _but_ or _than_; as, "Not an eminent orator has lived _but is_ an example of it."--_Ware_. "Where more is meant _than meets_ the ear."--_Milton's Allegro_. (See Obs. 5th and Obs. 18th above.) "They _bud, blow, wither, fall_, and _die_."--_Watts_. "That evermore his teeth they _chatter, Chatter, chatter, chatter_ still."--_Wordsworth_. NOTE IX.--A future contingency is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive present; and a mere supposition, with indefinite time, by a verb in the subjunctive imperfect; but a conditional circumstance assumed as a fact, requires the indicative mood:[393] as, "If thou _forsake_ him, he will cast thee off forever."--_Bible_. "If it _were_ not so, I would have told you."--_Ib._ "If thou _went_, nothing would be gained."--"Though he _is_ poor, he is contented."--"Though he _was_ rich, yet for your sakes he became poor."--_2 Cor._, viii, 9. NOTE X.--In general, every such use or extension of the subjunctive mood, as the reader will be likely to mistake for a discord between the verb and its nominative, ought to be avoided as an impropriety: as, "We are not sensible of disproportion, till the difference between the quantities compared _become_ the most striking circumstance."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 341. Say rather, "_becomes_;" which is indicative. "Till the general preference of certain forms _have been declared_."--_Priestley's Gram., Pref._, p. xvii. Say, "_has been declared_;" for "_preference_" is here the nominative, and Dr. Priestley himself recognizes no other subjunctive tenses than the present and the imperfect; as, "If thou _love_, If thou _loved_."--_Ib._, p. 16. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIV. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--VERB AFTER THE NOMINATIVE. "Before you left Sicily, you was reconciled to Verres."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 19. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the passive verb _was reconciled_ is of the singular number, and does not agree with its nominative _you_, which is of the second person plural. But, according to Rule 14th, "Every finite verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number." Therefore, _was reconciled_ should be _were reconciled_; thus, "Before you left Sicily, you _were reconciled_ to Verres."] "Knowing that you was my old master's good friend."--_Spect._, No. 517. "When the judge dare not act, where is the loser's remedy?"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 131. "Which extends it no farther than the variation of the verb extend."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 211. "They presently dry without hurt, as myself hath often proved."--_Roger Williams_. "Whose goings forth hath been from of old, from everlasting."--_Keith's Evidences_. "You was paid to fight against Alexander, not to rail at him."--_Porter's Analysis_, p. 70. "Where more than one part of speech is almost always concerned."--_Churchill's Gram., Pref._, p. viii. "Nothing less than murders, rapines, and conflagrations, employ their thoughts."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 175. "I wondered where you was, my dear."--_Lloyd's Poems_, p. 185. "When thou most sweetly sings."--_Drummond of Hawthornden_. "Who dare, at the present day, avow himself equal to the task?"--_Music of Nature_, p. 11. "Every body are very kind to her, and not discourteous to me."--_Byron's Letters_. "As to what thou says respecting the diversity of opinions."--_The Friend_, Vol. ix, p. 45. "Thy nature, immortality, who knowest?"--_Everest's Gram._, p. 38. "The natural distinction of sex in animals gives rise to what, in grammar, is called genders."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Some pains has likewise been taken."--_Scott's Pref. to Bible_. "And many a steed in his stables were seen."--_Penwarne's Poems_, p. 108. "They was forced to eat what never was esteemed food."--_Josephus's Jewish War_, B. i, Ch. i, Sec.7. "This that yourself hath spoken, I desire that they may take their oaths upon."--_Hutchinson's Mass._, ii, 435. "By men whose experience best qualify them to judge."--_Committee on Literature, N. Y. Legislature_. "He dare venture to kill and destroy several other kinds of fish."--_Johnson's Dict, w. Perch_. "If a gudgeon meet a roach, He dare not venture to approach."--SWIFT: _Ib., w. Roach_. "Which thou endeavours to establish unto thyself."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 164. "But they pray together much oftener than thou insinuates."--_Ib._, i, 215. "Of people of all denominations, over whom thou presideth."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 198. "I can produce ladies and gentlemen whose progress have been astonishing."--_Chazotte, on Teaching Lang._, p. 62. "Which of these two kinds of vice are more criminal?"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 115. "Every twenty-four hours affords to us the vicissitudes of day and night."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 103. "Every four years adds another day."--_Ib._ "Every error I could find, Have my busy muse employed."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 335. "A studious scholar deserve the approbation of his teacher."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 226. "Perfect submission to the rules of a school indicate good breeding."--_Ib._, p. 37. "A comparison in which more than two is concerned."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 114. "By the facilities which artificial language afford them."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 16. "Now thyself hath lost both lop and top."--SPENSER: _Joh. Dict., w. Lop._ "Glad tidings is brought to the poor."--_Campbell's Gospels: Luke_, vii, 23. "Upon which, all that is pleasurable, or affecting in elocution, chiefly depend."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 129. "No pains has been spared to render this work complete."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram., Pref._, p. iv. "The United States contains more than a twentieth part of the land of this globe."--DE WITT CLINTON: _Cobb's N. Amer. Reader_, p. 173. "I am mindful that myself is (or am) strong."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec. 500. "Myself _is_ (not _am_) weak; thyself _is_ (not _art_) weak."--_Ib._, Sec.479. "How pale each worshipful and reverend guest Rise from a clergy or a city feast!"--_Pope_, Sat. ii, l. 75. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--VERB BEFORE THE NOMINATIVE. "Where was you born? In London."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 133. "There is frequent occasions for commas."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 281. "There necessarily follows from thence, these plain and unquestionable consequences."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 191. "And to this impression contribute the redoubled effort."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 112. "Or if he was, was there no spiritual men then?"--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 86. "So by these two also is signified their contrary principles."--_Ib._, iii, 200. "In the motions made with the hands, consist the chief part of gesture in speaking."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 336. "Dare he assume the name of a popular magistrate?"--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 140. "There was no damages as in England, and so Scott lost his wager."--_Byron_. "In fact there exists such resemblances."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 64. "To him giveth all the prophets witness."--_Crewdson's Beacon_, p. 79. "That there was so many witnesses and actors."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 37. "How does this man's definitions stand affected?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 136. "Whence comes all the powers and prerogatives of rational beings?"--_Ib._, p. 144. "Nor does the Scriptures cited by thee prove thy intent."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 155. "Nor do the Scripture cited by thee prove the contrary."--_Ib._, i, 211. "Why then cite thou a Scripture which is so plain and clear for it?"--_Ib._, i, 163. "But what saith the Scriptures as to respect of persons among Christians?"--_Ib._, i, 404. "But in the mind of man, while in the savage state, there seems to be hardly any ideas but what enter by the senses."--_Robertson's America_, i, 289. "What sounds have each of the vowels?"--_Griscom's Questions_. "Out of this has grown up aristocracies, monarchies, despotisms, tyrannies."--_Brownson's Elwood_, p. 222. "And there was taken up, of fragments that remained to them, twelve baskets."-- _Luke_, ix, 17. "There seems to be but two general classes."--_Day's Gram._, p. 3. "Hence arises the six forms of expressing time."--_Ib._, p. 37. "There seems to be no other words required."--_Chandler's Gram._, p. 28. "If there is two, the second increment is the syllable next the last."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 281. "Hence arises the following advantages."--_Id., Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 1849, p. 67. "There is no data by which it can be estimated."--_J. C. Calhoun's Speech_, March 4, 1850. "To this class belong the Chinese [language], in which we have nothing but naked roots."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 27. "There was several other grotesque figures that presented themselves."-- _Spect._, No. 173. "In these consist that sovereign good which ancient sages so much extol."--_Percival's Tales_, ii, 221. "Here comes those I have done good to against my will."--_Shak., Shrew_. "Where there is more than one auxiliary."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 80. "On me to cast those eyes where shine nobility." --SIDNEY: _Joh. Dict._ "Here's half-pence in plenty, for one you'll have twenty." --_Swift's Poems_, p. 347. "Ah, Jockey, ill advises thou, I wis, To think of songs at such a time as this." --_Churchill_, p. 18. UNDER NOTE I.--THE RELATIVE AND VERB. "Thou who loves us, wilt protect us still."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 67. "To use that endearing language, Our Father, who is in heaven"--_Bates's Doctrines_, p. 103. "Resembling the passions that produceth these actions."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 157. "Except _dwarf, grief, hoof, muff_, &c. which takes _s_ to make the plural."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 19. "As the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure."-- _Gen._ xxxiii, 14 "Where is the man who dare affirm that such an action is mad?"--_Werter_. "The ninth book of Livy affords one of the most beautiful exemplifications of historical painting, that is any where to be met with."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 360. "In some studies too, that relate to taste and fine writing, which is our object," &c.--_Ib._, p. 349. "Of those affecting situations, which makes man's heart feel for man."--_Ib._, p. 464. "We see very plainly, that it is neither Osmyn, nor Jane Shore, that speak."--_Ib._, p. 468. "It should assume that briskness and ease, which is suited to the freedom of dialogue."--_Ib._, p. 469. "Yet they grant, that none ought to be admitted into the ministry, but such as is truly pious."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 147. "This letter is one of the best that has been written about Lord Byron."--_Hunt's Byron_, p. 119. "Thus, besides what was sunk, the Athenians took above two hundred ships."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 102. "To have made and declared such orders as was necessary."--_Hutchinson's Hist._, i, 470. "The idea of such a collection of men as make an army."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 217. "I'm not the first that have been wretched."--_Southern's In. Ad._, Act 2. "And the faint sparks of it, which is in the angels, are concealed from our view."--_Calvin's Institutes_, B. i, Ch. 11. "The subjects are of such a nature, as allow room for much diversity of taste and sentiment."--_Blair's Rhet., Pref._, p. 5. "It is in order to propose examples of such perfection, as are not to be found in the real examples of society."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 16. "I do not believe that he would amuse himself with such fooleries as has been attributed to him."--_Ib._, p. 218. "That shepherd, who first taughtst the chosen seed."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 238. "With respect to the vehemence and warmth which is allowed in popular eloquence."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 261. "Ambition is one of those passions that is never to be satisfied."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 36. "Thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel."--_2 Samuel_, v, 2; and _1 Chron._, xi, 2. "Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?"--_1 Kings_, xiii, 14. "How beauty is excell'd by manly grace And wisdom, which alone is truly fair."--_Milton_, B. iv, l. 490. "What art thou, speak, that on designs unknown, While others sleep, thus range the camp alone?"--_Pope, Il._, x, 90. UNDER NOTE II.--NOMINATIVE WITH ADJUNCTS. "The literal sense of the words are, that the action had been done."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 65. "The rapidity of his movements were beyond example."--_Wells's Hist._, p. 161. "Murray's Grammar, together with his Exercises and Key, have nearly superseded every thing else of the kind."--EVAN'S REC.: _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, ii, 305. "The mechanism of clocks and watches were totally unknown."--HUME: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 193. "The _it_, together with the verb _to be_, express states of being."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 190. "Hence it is, that the profuse variety of objects in some natural landscapes, neither breed confusion nor fatigue."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 266. "Such a clatter of sounds indicate rage and ferocity."--_Music of Nature_, p. 195. "One of the fields make threescore square yards, and the other only fifty-five."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 8. "The happy effects of this fable is worth attending to."--_Bailey's Ovid_, p. x. "Yet the glorious serenity of its parting rays still linger with us."--_Gould's Advocate_. "Enough of its form and force are retained to render them uneasy."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 261. "The works of nature, in this respect, is extremely regular."--_Dr. Pratt's Werter_. "No small addition of exotic and foreign words and phrases have been made by commerce."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 10. "The dialect of some nouns are taken notice of in the notes."--_Milnes, Greek Gram._, p. 255. "It has been said, that a discovery of the full resources of the arts, afford the means of debasement, or of perversion."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. xxvii. "By which means the Order of the Words are disturbed."--_Holmes's Rhet._, B. i, p. 57. "The twofold influence of these and the others require the asserter to be in the plural form."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 251. "And each of these afford employment."--_Percival's Tales_, Vol. ii, p. 175. "The pronunciation of the vowels are best explained under the rules relative to the consonants."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 7. "The judicial power of these courts extend to all cases in law and equity."--_Hall and Baker's School Hist._, p. 286. "One of you have stolen my money."--_Rational Humorist_, p. 45. "Such redundancy of epithets, instead of pleasing, produce satiety and disgust."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 256. "It has been alleged, that a compliance with the rules of Rhetoric, tend to cramp the mind."--_Hiley's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. 187. "Each of these are presented to us in different relations"--_Hendrick's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 34. "The past tense of these verbs, _should, would, might, could_, are very indefinite with respect to time."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 33; 5th Ed., p. 31. "The power of the words, which are said to govern this mood, are distinctly understood."--_Chandler's Gram._, Ed. of 1821, p. 33. "And now, at length, the fated term of years The world's desire have brought, and lo! the God appears." --_Dr. Lowth, on "the Genealogy of Christ."_ "Variety of Numbers still belong To the soft Melody of Ode or Song." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 170. UNDER NOTE III.--COMPOSITE OR CONVERTED SUBJECTS. "Many are the works of human industry, which to begin and finish are hardly granted to the same man."--_Johnson, Adv. to Dict._ "To lay down rules for these are as inefficacious."--_Dr. Pratt's Werter_, p. 19. "To profess regard, and to act _differently_, discover a base mind."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 206. See also _Bullions's E. Gram._, 82 and 112; _Lennie's_, 58. "To magnify to the height of wonder things great, new, and admirable, extremely please the mind of man."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 152. "In this passage, _according as_ are used in a manner which is very common."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 183. "A _cause de_ are called a preposition; _a cause que_, a conjunction."--DR. WEBSTER: _Knickerbocker_, 1836. "To these are given to speak in the name of the Lord."--_The Friend_, vii, 256. "While _wheat_ has no plural, _oats_ have seldom any singular."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._ 41. "He cannot assert that _ll_ are inserted in _fullness_ to denote the sound of _u_."--_Cobb's Review of Webster_, p. 11. "_ch_ have the power of _k_."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 2. "_ti_, before a vowel, and unaccented, have the sound of _si_ or _ci_."--_Ibid._ "In words derived from the French, as _chagrin, chicanery_, and _chaise, ch_ are sounded like _sh_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 10. "But in the word _schism, schismatic_, &c., the _ch_ are silent."--_Ibid._ "_Ph_ are always sounded like _f_, at the beginning of words."--_Bucke's Gram._ "_Ph_ have the sound of _f_ as in _philosophy_."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 11. "_Sh_ have one sound only as in _shall_."--_Ib._ "_Th_ have two sounds."--_Ib._ "_Sc_ have the sound of _sk_, before _a, o, u_, and _r_."--_Ib._ "Aw, have the sound of _a_ in hall."--_Bolles's Spelling-Book_, p. vi. "Ew, sound like _u_."--_Ib._ "Ow, when both sounded, have the sound of _ou_."--_Ib._ "Ui, when both pronounced in one syllable sound like _wi_ in _languid_."--_Ib._ "_Ui_ three several Sorts of Sound express, As _Guile, rebuild, Bruise_ and _Recruit_ confess." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 34. UNDER NOTE IV.--EACH, ONE, EITHER, AND NEITHER. "When each of the letters which compose this word, have been learned."--_Dr. Weeks, on Orthog._, p. 22. "As neither of us deny that both Homer and Virgil have great beauties."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 21. "Yet neither of them are remarkable for precision."--_Ib._, p. 95. "How far each of the three great epic poets have distinguished themselves."--_Ib._, p. 427. "Each of these produce a separate agreeable sensation."--_Ib._, p. 48. "On the Lord's day every one of us Christians keep the sabbath."--_Tr. of Irenaeus_. "And each of them bear the image of purity and holiness."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 81. "Were either of these meetings ever acknowledged or recognized?"--_Foster's Report_, i, 96. "Whilst neither of these letters exist in the Eugubian inscription."--_Knight, on Greek Alph._, p. 122. "And neither of them are properly termed indefinite."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 88. "As likewise of the several subjects, which have in effect each their verb."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 120. "Sometimes when the word ends in _s_, neither of the signs are used."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 21. "And as neither of these manners offend the ear."--_Walker's Dict., Pref._, p. 5. "Neither of these two Tenses are confined to this signification only."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 339. "But neither of these circumstances are intended here."--_Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 237. "So that all are indebted to each, and each are dependent upon all."--_Am. Bible Society's Rep._, 1838, p. 89. "And yet neither of them express any more action in this case than they did in the other."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 201. "Each of these expressions denote action."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 74. "Neither of these moods seem to be defined by distinct boundaries."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 66. "Neither of these solutions are correct."-- _Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 236. "Neither bear any sign of case at all."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.217. "Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk."--_Byron_. "And tell what each of them by th'other lose."--_Shak., Cori._, iii, 2. UNDER NOTE V.--VERB BETWEEN TWO NOMINATIVES. "The quarrels of lovers is a renewal of love."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 156; _Alexander's_, 49; _Gould's_, 159; _Bullions's_, 206. "Two dots, one placed above the other, is called _Sheva_."--_Dr. Wilson's Heb. Gram._, p. 43. "A few centuries, more or less, is a matter of small consequence."--_Ib._ p. 31. "Pictures were the first step towards the art of writing. Hieroglyphicks was the second step."--_Parker's English Composition_, p. 27. "The comeliness of youth are modesty and frankness; of age, condescension and dignity."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 166. "Merit and good works is the end of man's motion."--_Lord Bacon_. "Divers philosophers hold that the lips is parcel of the mind."--_Shakspeare_. "The clothing of the natives were the skins of wild beasts."--_Indian Wars_, p. 92. "Prepossessions in favor of our nativ town, is not a matter of surprise."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 217. "Two shillings and six pence is half a crown, but not a half crown."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 150; _Bicknell's_, ii, 53. "Two vowels, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and uniting in one sound, is called a dipthong."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 1. "Two or more sentences united together is called a Compound Sentence."--_P. E. Day's District School Gram._, p. 10. "Two or more words rightly put together, but not completing an entire proposition, is called a Phrase."--_Ibid._ "But the common Number of Times are five."--_The British Grammar_, p. 122. "Technical terms, injudiciously introduced, is another source of darkness in composition."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 107. "The United States is the great middle division of North America."--_Morse's Geog._, p. 44. "A great cause of the low state of industry were the restraints put upon it."--HUME: _Murray's Gram._, p. 145; _Ingersoll's_, 172; _Sanborn's_, 192; _Smith's_, 123; and others. "Here two tall ships becomes the victor's prey."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ii, l. 1098. "The expenses incident to an outfit is surely no object."--_The Friend_, Vol. iii., p. 200. "Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep."--_Milton_. UNDER NOTE VI.--CHANGE THE NOMINATIVE. "Much pains has been taken to explain all the kinds of words."--_Infant School Gram._ p. 128. "Not less [_time_] than three years are spent in attaining this faculty."--_Music of Nature_, p. 28. "Where this night are met in state Many a friend to gratulate His wish'd presence."--_Milton's Comus_. l. 948. "Peace! my darling, here's no danger, Here's no oxen near thy bed."--_Watts._ "But every one of these are mere conjectures, and some of them very unhappy ones."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 61. "The old theorists, calling the Interrogatives and Repliers, _adverbs_, is only a part of their regular system of naming words."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 374. "Where a series of sentences occur, place them in the order in which the facts occur."--_Ib._, p. 264. "And that the whole in conjunction make a regular chain of causes and effects."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 275. "The origin of the Grecian, and Roman republics, though equally involved in the obscurities and uncertainties of fabulous events, present one remarkable distinction."--_Adam's Rhet._, i, 95. "In these respects, mankind is left by nature an unformed, unfinished creature."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 144. "The scripture are the oracles of God himself."--HOOKER: _Joh. Dict., w. Oracle_. "And at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits."--_Solomon's Song_, vii, 13. "The preterit of _pluck, look_, and _toss_ are, in speech, pronounced _pluckt, lookt, tosst_."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, Sec.68. "Severe the doom that length of days impose, To stand sad witness of unnumber'd woes!"--_Melmoth_. UNDER NOTE VII.--ADAPT FORM TO STYLE. 1. _Forms not proper for the Common or Familiar Style_. "Was it thou that buildedst that house?"--_Inst._, p. 151. "That boy writeth very elegantly."--_Ib._ "Couldest not thou write without blotting thy book?"--_Ib._ "Thinkest thou not it will rain to-day?"--_Ib._ "Doth not your cousin intend to visit you?"--_Ib._ "That boy hath torn my book."--_Ib._ "Was it thou that spreadest the hay?"--_Ib._ "Was it James, or thou, that didst let him in?"--_Ib._ "He dareth not say a word."--_Ib._ "Thou stoodest in my way and hinderedst me."--_Ib._ "Whom see I?--Whom seest thou now?--Whom sees he?--Whom lovest thou most?--What dost thou to-day?--What person seest thou teaching that boy?--He hath two new knives.--Which road takest thou?--What child teaches he?"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 66. "Thou, who makest my shoes, sellest many more."--_Ib._, p. 67. "The English language hath been much cultivated during the last two hundred years. It hath been considerably polished and refined."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. iii. "This _stile_ is ostentatious, and doth not suit grave writing."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 82. "But custom hath now appropriated _who_ to persons, and _which_ to things."--_Ib._, p. 97. "The indicative mood sheweth or declareth; as, _Ego amo_, I love: or else asketh a question; as, _Amas tu_? Dost thou love?"--_Paul's Accidence_, Ed. of 1793, p. 16. "Though thou canst not do much for the cause, thou mayst and shouldst do something."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 143. "The support of so many of his relations, was a heavy task; but thou knowest he paid it cheerfully."--_Murray's Key_, R. 1, p. 180. "It may, and often doth, come short of it."--_Campbell's Rhetoric_, p. 160. "'Twas thou, who, while thou seem'dst to chide, To give me all thy pittance tried."--_Mitford's Blanch_, p. 78. 2. _Forms not proper for the Solemn or Biblical Style_. "The Lord has prepaid his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom rules over all."--See _Key_. "Thou answer'd them, O Lord our God: thou was a God that forgave them, though thou took vengeance of their inventions."--See _Key_. "Then thou spoke in vision to thy Holy One, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty."--See _Key_. "So then, it is not of him that wills, nor of him that rules, but of God that shows mercy; who dispenses his blessings, whether temporal or spiritual, as seems good in his sight."--See _Key_. "Thou, the mean while, was blending with my thought; Yea, with my life, and life's own secret joy."--_Coleridge_. UNDER NOTE VIII.--EXPRESS THE NOMINATIVE. "Who is here so base, that would be a bondman?"--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 249. "Who is here so rude, that would not be a Roman?"--_Ib._ "There is not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 300. "In order to adjust them so, as shall consist equally with the perspicuity and the strength of the period."--_Ib._, p. 324; _Blair's Rhet._, 118. "But, sometimes, there is a verb comest in."--_Cobbett's English Gram._, 248. "Mr. Prince has a genius would prompt him to better things."--_Spectator_, No. 466. "It is this removes that impenetrable mist."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 362. "By the praise is given him for his courage."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 214. "There is no man would be more welcome here."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 544. "Between an antecedent and a consequent, or what goes before, and immediately follows."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 141. "And as connected with what goes before and follows."-- _Ib._, p. 354. "There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake."--_Lord Bacon_. "All the various miseries of life, which people bring upon themselves by negligence and folly, and might have been avoided by proper care, are instances of this."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 108. "Ancient philosophers have taught many things in favour of morality, so far at least as respect justice and goodness towards our fellow-creatures."--_Gospel its own Witness_, p. 56. "Indeed, if there be any such, have been, or appear to be of us, as suppose, there is not a wise man among us all, nor an honest man, that is able to judge betwixt his brethren; we shall not covet to meddle in their matter."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 504. "There were that drew back; there were that made shipwreck of faith: yea, there were that brought in damnable heresies."--_Ib._, i, 466. "The nature of the cause rendered this plan altogether proper, and in similar situations is fit to be imitated."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 274. "This is an idiom to which our language is strongly inclined, and was formerly very prevalent."-- _Churchill's Gram._, p. 150. "His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones."--_Job_, viii, 17. "New York, Fifthmonth 3d, 1823. "Dear friend, Am sorry to hear of thy loss; but hope it may be retrieved. Should be happy to render thee any assistance in my power. Shall call to see thee to-morrow morning. Accept assurances of my regard. A. B." "New York, May 3d, P. M., 1823. "Dear Sir, Have just received the kind note favoured me with this morning; and cannot forbear to express my gratitude to you. On further information, find have not lost so much as at first supposed; and believe shall still be able to meet all my engagements. Should, however, be happy to see you. Accept, dear sir, my most cordial thanks. C. D."--See _Brown's Institutes_, p. 151. "Will martial flames forever fire thy mind, And never, never be to Heaven resign'd?"--_Pope, Odys._, xii, 145. UNDER NOTE IX.--APPLICATION OF MOODS. _First Clause of the Note.--For the Subjunctive Present._ "He will not be pardoned, unless he repents."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 191. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _repents_, which is here used to express a future contingency, is in the indicative mood. But, according to the first clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A future contingency is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive present." Therefore, _repents_ should be _repent_; thus, "He will not be pardoned, unless he _repent_."] "If thou findest any kernelwort in this marshy meadow, bring it to me."--_Neef's Method of Teaching_, p. 258. "If thou leavest the room, do not forget to shut that drawer."--_Ib._, p. 246. "If thou graspest it stoutly, thou wilt not be hurt."--_Ib._, p. 196. "On condition that he comes, I will consent to stay."--_Murray's Exerc._, p. 74. "If he is but discreet, he will succeed."--_Inst._, p. 191. "Take heed that thou speakest not to Jacob."--_Ib._ "If thou castest me off, I shall be miserable."-- _Ib._ "Send them to me, if thou pleasest."--_Ib._ "Watch the door of thy lips, lest thou utterest folly."--_Ib._ "Though a liar speaks the truth, he will hardly be believed."--_Common School Manual_, ii, 124. "I will go unless I should be ill."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 300. "If the word or words understood are supplied, the true construction will be apparent."-- _Murray's Exercises in Parsing_, p. 21. "Unless thou shalt see the propriety of the measure, we shall not desire thy support."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "Unless thou shouldst make a timely retreat, the danger will be unavoidable."--_Ib._, p. 209. "We may live happily, though our possessions are small."--_Ib._, p. 202. "If they are carefully studied, they will enable the student to parse all the exercises."--_Ib., Note_, p. 165. "If the accent is fairly preserved on the proper syllable, this drawling sound will never be heard."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 242. "One phrase may, in point of sense, be equivalent to another, though its grammatical nature is essentially different."--_Ib._, p. 108. "If any man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man."--_Dr. Webster's Bible_. "Thy skill will be the greater, if thou hittest it."--_Putnam's Analytical Reader_, p. 204. "Thy skill will be the greater if thou hit'st it."--_Cobb's N. A. Reader_, p. 321. "We shall overtake him though he should run."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 113; _Murray's_, 207; _Smith's_, 173. "We shall be disgusted if he gives us too much."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 388. "What is't to thee, if he neglect thy urn, Or without spices lets thy body burn?"--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict., w. What._ _Second Clause of Note IX.--For the Subjunctive Imperfect._ "And so would I, if I was he."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 191. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _was_, which is here used to express a mere supposition, with indefinite time, is in the indicative mood. But, according to the second clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A mere supposition, with indefinite time, is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive imperfect." Therefore, _was_ should be _were_; thus, "And so would I, if I _were_ he."] "If I was a Greek, I should resist Turkish despotism."--_Cardell's Elements of Gram._, p. 80. "If he was to go, he would attend to your business."--_Ib._, p. 81. "If thou feltest as I do, we should soon decide."--_Inst._, p. 191. "Though thou sheddest thy blood in the cause, it would but prove thee sincerely a fool."--_Ib._ "If thou lovedst him, there would be more evidence of it."--_Ib._ "If thou couldst convince him, he would not act accordingly."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "If there was no liberty, there would be no real crime."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 118. "If the house was burnt down, the case would be the same."--_Foster's Report_, i, 89. "As if the mind was not always in action, when it prefers any thing!"--_West, on Agency_, p. 38. "Suppose I was to say, 'Light is a body.'"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 78. "If either oxygen or azote was omitted, life would be destroyed."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 155. "The verb _dare_ is sometimes used as if it was an auxiliary."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 132. "A certain lady, whom I could name, if it was necessary."--_Spectator_, No. 536. "If the _e_ was dropped, _c_ and _g_ would assume their hard sounds."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 10. "He would no more comprehend it, than if it was the speech of a Hottentot."--_Neef's Sketch_, p. 112. "If thou knewest the gift of God," &c.--_John_, iv, 10. "I wish I was at home."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 260. "Fact alone does not constitute right; if it does, general warrants were lawful."--_Junius_, Let. xliv, p. 205. "Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessest it."--_Putnam's Analytical Reader_, p. 202. "Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessedst it."--_Cobb's N. A. Reader_, p. 320. "He fought as if he had contended for life."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 92. "He fought as if he had been contending for his life."--_Ib._, 92. "The dewdrop glistens on thy leaf, As if thou seem'st to shed a tear; As if thou knew'st my tale of grief, Felt all my sufferings severe."--_Alex. Letham_. _Last Clause of Note IX.--For the Indicative Mood._ "If he know the way, he does not need a guide."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 191. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _know_, which is used to express a conditional circumstance assumed as a fact, is in the subjunctive mood. But, according to the last clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A conditional circumstance assumed as a fact, requires the indicative mood." Therefore, _know_ should be _knows_; thus, "If he _knows_ the way, he does not need a guide."] "And if there be no difference, one of them must be superfluous, and ought to be rejected."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 149. "I cannot say that I admire this construction, though it be much used."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 172. "We are disappointed, if the verb do not immediately follow it."--_Ib._, p. 177. "If it were they who acted so ungratefully, they are doubly in fault."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 223. "If art become apparent, it disgusts the reader."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 80. "Though perspicuity be more properly a rhetorical than a grammatical quality, I thought it better to include it in this book."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 238. "Although the efficient cause be obscure, the final cause of those sensations lies open."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "Although the barrenness of language, and the want of words be doubtless one cause of the invention of tropes."--_Ib._, p. 135. "Though it enforce not its instructions, yet it furnishes us with a greater variety."--_Ib._, p. 353. "In other cases, though the idea be one, the words remain quite separate"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 140. "Though the Form of our language be more simple, and has that peculiar Beauty."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. v. "Human works are of no significancy till they be completed."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 245. "Our disgust lessens gradually till it vanish altogether."--_Ib._, i, 338. "And our relish improves by use, till it arrive at perfection."--_Ib._, i, 338. "So long as he keep himself in his own proper element."--COKE: _ib._, i, 233. "Whether this translation were ever published or not I am wholly ignorant."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 13. "It is false to affirm, 'As it is day, it is light,' unless it actually be day."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 246. "But we may at midnight affirm, 'If it be day, it is light.'"--_Ibid._ "If the Bible be true, it is a volume of unspeakable interest."--_Dickinson_. "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."--_Heb._, v, 8. "If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"--_Matt._, xxii, 45. "'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill."--_Pope, Ess. on Crit._ UNDER NOTE X.--FALSE SUBJUNCTIVES. "If a man have built a house, the house is his."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 286. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _have built_, which extends the subjunctive mood into the perfect tense, has the appearance of disagreeing with its nominative _man_. But, according to Note 10th to Rule 14th, "Every such use or extension of the subjunctive mood, as the reader will be likely to mistake for a discord between the verb and its nominative, ought to be avoided as an impropriety." Therefore, _have built_ should be _has built_; thus, "If a man _has built_ a house, the house is his."] "If God have required them of him, as is the fact, he has time."--_Ib._, p. 351. "Unless a previous understanding to the contrary have been had with the Principal."--_Berrian's Circular_, p. 5. "O if thou have Hid them in some flowery cave."--_Milton's Comus_, l. 239. "O if Jove's will Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay."--_Milton, Sonnet_ 1. "SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: If thou love, If thou loved, If thou have loved, If thou had loved, If thou shall or will love, If thou shall or will have loved."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 71; _Cooper's Murray_, 58; _D. Adams's Gram._, 48; and others. "Till religion, the pilot of the soul, have lent thee her unfathomable coil."--_Tupper's Thoughts_, p. 170. "Whether nature or art contribute most to form an orator, is a trifling inquiry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 338. "Year after year steals something from us; till the decaying fabric totter of itself, and crumble at length into dust."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 225. "If spiritual pride have not entirely vanquished humility."--_West's Letters_, p. 184. "Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter."--_Exodus_, xxi, 31. "It is doubtful whether the object introduced by way of simile, relate to what goes before, or to what follows."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 45. "And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answer'd have."--_Milt., Comus_, l. 887. RULE XV.--FINITE VERBS. When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Verb must agree with it in the plural number: as, "The _council were divided_."--"The _college_ of cardinals _are_ the electors of the pope."--_Murray's Key_, p. 176. "Quintus Curtius relates, that a _number_ of them _were drowned_ in the river Lycus."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 125. "Yon _host come_ learn'd in academic rules." --_Rowe's Lucan_, vii, 401. "While heaven's high _host_ on hallelujahs _live_." --_Young's N. Th._, iv, 378. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XV. OBS. 1.--To this rule there are _no exceptions_; because, the collective noun being a name which even in the singular number "signifies _many_," the verb which agrees with it, can never properly be singular, unless the collection be taken literally as one aggregate, and not as "conveying the idea of plurality." Thus, the collective noun singular being in general susceptible of two senses, and consequently admitting two modes of concord, the form of the verb, whether singular or plural, becomes the principal index to the particular sense in which the nominative is taken. After such a noun, we can use either a singular verb, agreeing with it literally, strictly, formally, according to Rule 14th; as, "The whole _number_ WAS two thousand and six hundred;" or a plural one, agreeing with it figuratively, virtually, ideally, according to Rule 15th; as, "The whole _number_ WERE two thousand and six hundred."--_2 Chron._, xxvi, 12. So, when the collective noun is an antecedent, the relative having in itself no distinction of the numbers, its verb becomes the index to the sense of all three; as, "Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the _remnant that_ IS _left._"--_Isaiah_, xxxvii, 4. "Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the _remnant that_ ARE _left_."--_2 Kings_, xix, 4. Ordinarily the word _remnant_ conveys no idea of plurality; but, it being here applied to persons, and having a meaning to which the mere singular neuter noun is not well adapted, the latter construction is preferable to the former. The Greek version varies more in the two places here cited; being plural in Isaiah, and singular in Kings. The Latin Vulgate, in both, is, "_pro reliquiis quae repertae sunt_:" i.e., "for the _remains_, or _remnants_, that are found." OBS. 2.--Dr. Adam's rule is this: "A collective noun may be joined with a verb either of the singular or of the plural number; as, _Multitudo stat_, or _stant_; the multitude stands, or stand."--_Latin and English Gram._ To this doctrine, Lowth, Murray, and others, add: "Yet not without regard to the _import of the word_, as conveying _unity or plurality of idea_."--_Lowth_, p. 74; _Murray_, 152. If these latter authors mean, that collective nouns are permanently divided in import, so that some are invariably determined to the idea of unity, and others to that of plurality, they are wrong in principle; for, as Dr. Adam remarks, "A collective noun, when joined with a verb singular, expresses many considered as one whole; but when joined with a verb plural, it signifies many separately, or as individuals."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 154. And if this alone is what their addition means, it is entirely useless; and so, for all the purposes of parsing, is the singular half of the rule itself. Kirkham divides this rule into two, one for "unity of idea," and the other for "plurality of idea," shows how each is to be applied in parsing, according to his "_systematick order_;" and then, turning round with a gallant tilt at his own work, condemns both, as idle fabrications, which it were better to reject than to retain; alleging that, "The existence of such a thing as 'unity or plurality of idea,' as applicable to nouns of this class, is _doubtful_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 59.[394] How then shall a plural verb or pronoun, after a collective noun, be parsed, seeing it does not agree with the noun by the ordinary rule of agreement? Will any one say, that every such construction is _bad English_? If this cannot be maintained, rules eleventh and fifteenth of this series are necessary. But when the noun conveys the idea of unity or takes the plural form, the verb or pronoun has no other than a literal agreement by the common rule; as, "A _priesthood_, such _as_ Baal's _was_ of old, A _people_, such _as_ never _was_ till now."--_Cowper_. OBS. 3.--Of the construction of the verb and collective noun, a late British author gives the following account: "Collective nouns are substantives _which_ signify _many in the singular number_. Collective nouns are of two sorts: 1. Those which cannot become plural like other substantives; as, nobility, mankind, &c. 2. Those which can be made plural by the usual rules for a substantive; as, 'A multitude, multitudes; a crowd, crowds;' &c. Substantives which imply plurality in the singular number, and consequently have no other plural, generally require a plural verb. They are cattle, cavalry, clergy, commonalty, gentry, laity, mankind, nobility, peasantry people, populace, public, rabble, &c. [;] as, 'The public _are_ informed.' Collective nouns which form a regular plural, such as, number, numbers; multitude, multitudes; have, like all other substantives, a singular verb, when they are in the singular number; and a plural verb, when they are in the plural number; as, 'A number of people _is_ assembled; Numbers _are_ assembled.'--'The fleet _was_ dispersed; a _part_ of it _was_ injured; the several _parts are_ now collected.'"-- _Nixon's Parser_, p. 120. To this, his main text, the author appends a note, from which the following passages are extracted: "There are few persons acquainted with Grammar, who may not have noticed, in many authors as well as speakers, an irregularity in supposing collective nouns to have, at one time, a singular meaning, and consequently to require a singular verb; and, at an other time, to have a plural meaning, and therefore to require a plural verb. This irregularity appears to have arisen from the want of a clear idea of the nature of a collective noun. This defect the author has endeavoured to supply; and, upon his definition, he has founded the two rules above. It is allowed on all sides that, hitherto, no satisfactory rules have been produced to enable the pupil to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, when a collective noun should have a singular verb, and when a plural one. A rule that simply tells its examiner, that when a collective noun in the nominative case conveys the idea of unity, its verb should be singular; and when it implies plurality, its verb should be plural, is of very little value; for such a rule will prove the _pupil's being in the right_, whether he _should_ put the verb in the singular or the plural."--_Ibid._ OBS. 4.--The foregoing explanation has many faults; and whoever trusts to it, or to any thing like it, will certainly be very much misled. In the first place, it is remarkable that an author who could suspect in others "the _want of a clear idea_ of the nature of a collective noun," should have hoped to supply the defect by a definition so ambiguous and ill-written as is the one above. Secondly, his subdivision of this class of nouns into two sorts, is both baseless and nugatory; for that plurality which has reference to the individuals of an assemblage, has no manner of connexion or affinity with that which refers to more than one such aggregate; nor is there any interference of the one with the other, or any ground at all for supposing that the absence of the latter is, has been, or ought to be, the occasion for adopting the former. Hence, thirdly, his two rules, (though, so far as they go, they seem not untrue in themselves,) by their limitation under this false division, exclude and deny the true construction of the verb with the greater part of our collective nouns. For, fourthly, the first of these rules rashly presumes that any collective noun which in the singular number implies a plurality of individuals, is consequently destitute of any other plural; and the second accordingly supposes that no such nouns as, council, committee, jury, meeting, society, assembly, court, college, company, army, host, band, retinue, train, multitude, number, part, half, portion, majority, minority, remainder, set, sort, kind, class, nation, tribe, family, race, and a hundred more, can ever be properly used with a plural verb, except when they assume the plural form. To prove the falsity of this supposition, is needless. And, finally, the objection which this author advances against the common rules, is very far from proving them useless, or not greatly preferable to his own. If they do not in every instance enable the student to ascertain with certainty which form of concord he ought to prefer, it is only because no rules can possibly tell a man precisely when he ought to entertain the idea of unity, and when that of plurality. In some instances, these ideas are unavoidably mixed or associated, so that it is of little or no consequence which form of the verb we prefer; as, "Behold, the _people_ IS _one_, and _they have all_ one language."--_Gen._, xi, 6. "Well, if a king's a lion, at the least The _people_ ARE a many-headed _beast_."--_Pope_, Epist. i, l. 120. OBS. 5.--Lindley Murray says, "On many occasions, _where_ a noun of multitude is used, it is very difficult to decide, whether the verb should be in the singular, or in the plural number; and this difficulty has induced some grammarians to cut the knot at once, and to assert that every noun of multitude must always be considered as conveying the idea of unity."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 153. What these occasions, or who these grammarians, are, I know not; but it is certain that the difficulty here imagined does not concern the application of such rules as require the verb and pronoun to conform to the sense intended; and, where there is no apparent impropriety in adopting either number, there is no occasion to raise a scruple as to which is right. To cut knots by dogmatism, and to tie them by sophistry, are employments equally vain. It cannot be denied that there are in every multitude both a unity and a plurality, one or the other of which must be preferred as the principle of concord for the verb or the pronoun, or for both. Nor is the number of nouns small, or their use unfrequent, which, according to our best authors, admit of either construction: though Kirkham assails and repudiates _his own rules_, because, "Their application is quite limited."--_Grammar in Familiar Lectures_, p. 59. OBS. 6.--Murray's doctrine seems to be, not that collective nouns are generally susceptible of two senses in respect to number, but that some naturally convey the idea of unity, others, that of plurality, and a few, either of these senses. The last, which are probably ten times more numerous than all the rest, he somehow merges or forgets, so as to speak of _two classes_ only: saying, "Some nouns of multitude certainly convey to the mind an idea of plurality, others, that of a whole as one thing, and others again, sometimes that of unity, and sometimes that of plurality. On this ground, it is warrantable, and consistent with the nature of things, to apply a plural verb and pronoun _to the one class_, and a singular verb and pronoun _to the other_. We shall immediately perceive the _impropriety_ of the following constructions: 'The clergy _has_ withdrawn _itself_ from the temporal courts;' 'The assembly _was_ divided in _its_ opinion;' &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 153. The simple fact is, that _clergy, assembly_, and perhaps every other collective noun, may sometimes convey the idea of unity, and sometimes that of plurality; but an "_opinion_" or a voluntary "_withdrawing_" is a _personal_ act or quality; _wherefore_ it is here more consistent to adopt the plural sense and construction, in which alone we take the collection as individuals, or persons. OBS. 7.--Although a uniformity of number is generally preferable to diversity, in the construction of words that refer to the same collective noun: and although many grammarians deny that any departure from such uniformity is allowable; yet, if the singular be put first, a plural pronoun may sometimes follow without obvious impropriety: as, "So Judah _was_ carried away out of _their_ land."--_2 Kings_, xxv, 21. "Israel is reproved and threatened for _their_ impiety and idolatry."--_Friends' Bible, Hosea_, x. "There _is_ the enemy _who wait_ to give us battle."--_Murray's Introductory Reader_, p. 36. When the idea of plurality predominates in the author's mind, a plural verb is sometimes used _before_ a collective noun that has the singular article _an_ or _a_; as, "There _are a sort_ of authors, _who seem_ to take up with appearances."-- _Addison_. "Here _are a number_ of facts or incidents leading to the end in view."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 296. "There _are a great number_ of exceedingly good writers among the French."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 11. "There in the forum _swarm a numerous train_, The subject of debate a townsman slain." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xviii, l. 578. OBS. 8.--Collective nouns, when they are merely _partitive_ of the plural, like the words _sort_ and _number_ above, are usually connected with a plural verb, even though they have a singular definitive; as, "And _this sort of_ adverbs commonly _admit_ of Comparison."--_Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 64. Here, perhaps, it would be better to say, "_Adverbs of this sort_ commonly admit of comparison." "_A part_ of the exports _consist_ of raw silk."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 100. This construction is censured by Murray, in his octavo Gram., p. 148; where we are told, that the verb should agree with the first noun only. Dr. Webster alludes to this circumstance, in _improving_ his grammar, and admits that, "A part of the exports _consists_, seems to be more correct."--_Improved Gram._, p. 100. Yet he retains his original text, and obviously thinks it a light thing, that, "in some cases," his rules or examples "may not be vindicable." (See Obs. 14th, 15th, and 16th, on Rule 14th, of this code.) It would, I think, be better to say, "The exports consist _partly_ of raw silk." Again: "_A multitude_ of Latin words _have_, of late, been poured in upon us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94. Better, perhaps: "_Latin words, in great multitude_, have, of late, been poured in upon us." So: "For _the bulk_ of _writers_ are very apt to confound them with each other."--_Ib._, p. 97. Better: "For _most writers_ are very apt to confound them with each other." In the following example, (here cited as _Kames_ has it, _El. of Crit._, ii, 247,) either the verb _is_, or the phrase, "_There are some moveless men_" might as well have been used: "There _are a sort_ of men, whose visages Do cream and mantle like a standing pond."--_Shak._ OBS. 9.--Collections of _things_ are much less frequently and less properly regarded as individuals, or under the idea of plurality, than collections of _persons_. This distinction may account for the difference of construction in the two clauses of the following example; though I rather doubt whether a plural verb ought to be used in the former: "The _number_ of commissioned _officers_ in the guards _are_ to the marching regiments as one to eleven: the _number_ of _regiments_ given to the guards, compared with those given to the line, _is_ about three to one."--_Junius_, p. 147. Whenever the multitude is spoken of with reference to a personal act or quality, the verb ought, as I before suggested, to be in the plural number; as, "The public _are informed_."--"The plaintiff's counsel _have assumed_ a difficult task."--"The committee _were instructed_ to prepare a remonstrance." "The English nation _declare_ they are grossly injured by _their_ representatives."--_Junius_, p. 147. "One particular class of men _are_ permitted to call _themselves_ the King's friends."--_Id._, p. 176. "The Ministry _have_ realized the compendious ideas of Caligula."--_Id._, p. 177. It is in accordance with this principle, that the following sentences have plural verbs and pronouns, though their definitives are singular, and perhaps ought to be singular: "So depraved _were that people_ whom in their history we so much admire."--HUME: _M'Ilvaine's Lect._, p. 400. "Oh, _this people have sinned_ a great sin, and have made them gods of gold."--_Exodus_, xxxii, 31. "_This people_ thus gathered _have_ not wanted those trials."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 460. The following examples, among others, are censured by Priestley, Murray, and the copyists of the latter, without sufficient discrimination, and for a reason which I think fallacious; namely, "because the ideas they represent seem not to be sufficiently divided in the mind:"--"The court of Rome _were_ not without solicitude."--_Hume_. "The house of Lords _were_ so much influenced by these reasons."--_Id._ See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 188; _Murray's_, 152; _R. C. Smith's_, 129; _Ingersoll's_, 248; and others. OBS. 10.--In general, a collective noun, unless it be made plural in form, no more admits a plural adjective before it, than any other singular noun. Hence the impropriety of putting _these_ or _those_ before _kind_ or _sort_; as, "_These kind_ of knaves I know."--_Shakspeare_. Hence, too, I infer that _cattle_ is not a collective noun, as Nixon would have it to be, but an irregular plural which has no singular; because we can say _these cattle_ or _those cattle_, but neither a bullock nor a herd is ever called _a cattle, this cattle_, or _that cattle_. And if "_cavalry, clergy, commonalty_," &c., were like this word, they would all be plurals also, and not "substantives which imply plurality in the singular number, and consequently have no other plural." Whence it appears, that the writer who most broadly charges others with not understanding the nature of a collective noun, has most of all misconceived it himself. If there are not _many clergies_, it is because _the clergy_ is one body, with one Head, and not because it is in a particular sense many. And, since the forms of words are not necessarily confined to things that exist, who shall say that the plural word _clergies_, as I have just used it, is not good English? OBS. 11.--If we say, "_these people_," "_these gentry_," "_these folk_," we make _people, gentry_, and _folk_, not only irregular plurals, but plurals to which there are no correspondent singulars; but by these phrases, we must mean certain individuals, and not more than one people, gentry, or folk. But these names are sometimes collective nouns singular; and, as such, they may have verbs of either number, according to the sense; and may also form regular plurals, as _peoples_, and _folks_; though we seldom, if ever, speak of _gentries_; and _folks_ is now often irregularly applied to persons, as if one person were _a folk_. So _troops_ is sometimes irregularly, if not improperly, put for _soldiers_, as if a soldier were _a troop_; as, "While those gallant _troops_, by _whom_ every hazardous, every laborious service is performed, are left to perish."--_Junius_, p. 147. In Genesis, xxvii, 29th, we read, "Let _people_ serve thee, and nations bow down to thee." But, according to the Vulgate, it ought to be, "Let _peoples_ serve thee, and nations bow down to thee;" according to the Septuagint, "Let _nations_ serve thee, and _rulers_ bow down to thee." Among Murray's "instances of false syntax," we find the text, "This people draweth near to me with their mouth," &c.--_Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 49. This is corrected in his Key, thus: "_These_ people _draw_ near to me with their mouth."--_Ib._, ii, 185. The Bible has it: "This people _draw near me_ with their mouth."--_Isaiah_, xxix, 13. And again: "This people _draweth nigh unto_ me with their mouth.,"--_Matt._, xv, 8. Dr. Priestley thought it ought to be, "This people _draws_ nigh unto me with their _mouths_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 63. The second evangelist omits some words: "This people _honoureth_ me with their lips, but _their heart_ is far from me."--_Mark_, vii, 6. In my opinion, the plural verb is here to be preferred; because the pronoun _their_ is plural, and the worship spoken of was a personal rather than a national act. Yet the adjective _this_ must be retained, if the text specify the Jews as a people. As to the words _mouth_ and _heart_, they are to be understood figuratively of _speech_ and _love_; and I agree not with Priestley, that the plural number must necessarily be used. See Note 4th to Rule 4th. OBS. 12.--In making an assertion concerning a number or quantity with some indefinite excess or allowance, we seem sometimes to take for the subject of the verb what is really the object of a preposition; as, "In a sermon, there _may be_ from three to five, or six heads."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 313. "In those of Germany, there _are_ from eight to twelve professors."-- _Dwight, Lit. Convention_, p. 138. "About a million and a half _was subscribed_ in a few days."--_N. Y. Daily Advertiser_. "About one hundred feet of the Muncy dam _has been swept off_."--_N. Y. Observer_. "Upwards of one hundred thousand dollars _have been appropriated_."--_Newspaper_. "But I fear there _are_ between twenty and thirty of them."--_Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 441. "Besides which, there _are_ upwards of fifty smaller islands."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 30. "On board of which _embarked_ upwards of three hundred passengers."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 419. The propriety of using _above_ or _upwards of_ for _more than_, is questionable, but the practice is not uncommon. When there is a preposition before what seems at first to be the subject of the verb, as in the foregoing instances, I imagine there is an ellipsis of the word _number, amount, sum_ or _quantity_; the first of which words is a collective noun and may have a verb either singular or plural: as, "In a sermon, there may be _any number_ from three to five or six heads." This is awkward, to be sure; but what does the Doctor's sentence _mean_, unless it is, that there _may be an optional number_ of heads, varying from three to six? OBS. 13.--Dr. Webster says, "When an aggregate amount is expressed by the plural names of the particulars composing that amount, the verb may be in the singular number; as, 'There _was_ more than a hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling.' _Mavor's Voyages_." To this he adds, "However repugnant to the principles of grammar this may seem at first view, the practice is correct; for the affirmation is not made of the individual parts or divisions named, the _pounds_, but of the entire sum or amount."--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 146; _Improved Gram._, p. 100. The fact is, that the Doctor here, as in some other instances, deduces a false rule from a correct usage. It is plain that either the word _more_, taken substantively, or the noun to which it relates as an adjective, is the only nominative to the verb _was_. Mavor does not affirm that there _were_ a hundred and fitly thousand pounds; but that there _was more_--i.e., more _money_ than so many pounds _are_, or _amount to_. Oliver B. Peirce, too. falls into a multitude of strange errors respecting the nature of _more than_, and the construction of other words that accompany these. See his "Analytical Rules," and the manner in which he applies them, in "_The Grammar_," p. 195 _et seq._ OBS. 14.--Among certain educationists,--grammarians, arithmeticians, schoolmasters, and others,--there has been of late not a little dispute concerning the syntax of the phraseology which we use, or should use, in expressing _multiplication_, or in speaking of _abstract numbers_. For example: is it better to say, "Twice one _is_ two," or, "Twice one _are_ two?"--"Two times one _is_ two," or, "Two times one _are_ two?"--"Twice two _is_ four," or, "Twice two _are_ four?"--"Thrice one _is_ or _are_, three?"--"Three times one _is_, or _are_, three?"--"Three times naught _is_, or _are_, naught?"--"Thrice three _is_, or _are_, nine?"--"Three times four _is_, or _are_, twelve?"--"Seven times three _make_, or _makes_, twenty-one?"--"Three times his age _do_ not, or _does_ not, equal mine?"--"Three times the quantity _is_ not, or _are_ not, sufficient?"--"Three quarters of the men were discharged; and three quarters of the money _was_, or _were_, sent back?"--"As 2 _is_ to 4, so _is_ 6 to 12;" or, "As two _are_ to four, so _are_ six to twelve?" OBS. 15.--Most of the foregoing expressions, though all are perhaps intelligible enough in common practice, are, in some respect, difficult of analysis, or grammatical resolution. I think it possible, however, to frame an argument of some plausibility in favour of every one of them. Yet it is hardly to be supposed, that any _teacher_ will judge them all to be alike justifiable, or feel no interest in the questions which have been raised about them. That the language of arithmetic is often defective or questionable in respect to grammar, may be seen not only in many an ill choice between the foregoing variant and contrasted modes of expression, but in sundry other examples, of a somewhat similar character, for which it may be less easy to find advocates and published arguments. What critic will not judge the following phraseology to be faulty? "4 times two units _is_ 8 units, and 4 times 5 tens _is_ twenty tens."--_Chase's Common School Arithmetic_, 1848, p. 42. Or this? "1 time 1 is l. 2 times 1 are 2; 1 time 4 is 4, 2 times 4 are 8."--_Ray's Arithmetic_, 1853. Or this? "8 and 7 _is_ 15, 9's out leaves 6; 3 and 8 _is_ 11, 9's out leaves 2."--_Babcock's Practical Arithmetic_, 1829, p. 22. Or this again? "3 times 3 _is_ 9, and 2 we had to carry _is_ 11."--_Ib._, p. 20. OBS. 16.--There are several different opinions as to what constitutes the grammatical subject of the verb in any ordinary English expression of multiplication. Besides this, we have some variety in the phraseology which precedes the verb; so that it is by no means certain, either that the multiplying terms are always of the same part of speech, or that the true nominative to the verb is not essentially different in different examples. Some absurdly teach, that an abstract number is necessarily expressed by "_a singular noun_," with only a singular meaning; that such a number, when multiplied, is always, of itself the subject of the assertion; and, consequently, that the verb must be singular, as agreeing only with this "singular noun." Others, not knowing how to parse separately the multiplying word or words and the number multiplied, take them both or all together as "the grammatical subject" with which the verb must agree. But, among these latter expounders, there are two opposite opinions on the very essential point, whether this "_entire expression_" requires a singular verb or a plural one:--as, whether we ought to say, "Twice one _is_ two," or, "Twice one _are_ two;"--"Twice two _is_ four," or, "Twice two _are_ four;"--"Three times one _is_ three," or, "Three times one _are_ three;"--"Three times three _is_ nine," or, "Three times three _are_ nine." Others, again, according to Dr. Bullions, and possibly according to their own notion, find the grammatical subject, sometimes, if not generally, in the multiplying term only; as, perhaps, is the case with those who write or speak as follows: "If we say, 'Three times one _are_ three,' we make '_times_' the subject of the verb."--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 1849, p. 39. "Thus, 2 times 1 _are_ 2; 2 times 2 _are_ four; 2 times 3 _are_ 6."--_Chase's C. S. Arith._, p. 43. "Say, 2 times O _are_ O; 2 times 1 _are_ 2."--_Robinson's American Arith._, 1825, p. 24. OBS. 17.--Dr. Bullions, with a strange blunder of some sort in almost every sentence, propounds and defends his opinion on this subject thus: "Numeral _adjectives_, being _also names_ of numbers, are often used as nouns, and so have the inflection and construction of nouns: thus, by _twos_, by _tens_, by _fifties_. _Two_ is an even number. Twice _two_ is four. Four _is_ equal to twice two. In some arithmetics the language employed in the operation of multiplying--such as 'Twice two _are_ four, twice three _are_ six'--is incorrect. It should be, 'Twice two _is_ four,' &c.; for the word _two_ is used as a singular noun--the name of a number. The adverb '_twice_' is _not in construction with it_, and consequently does not make it plural. The meaning is, 'The number two taken twice is equal to four.' For the same reason we should say, 'Three times _two_ is six,' because the meaning is, 'Two taken three times _is_ six.' If we say, 'Three times one _are_ three,' we make '_times_' the subject of the verb, whereas the subject of the verb really is '_one_,' and '_times_' is in the _objective of number_ (Sec.828). 2:4:: 6:12, should be read, 'As 2 _is_ to 4, so _is_ 6 to 12;' not 'As two _are_ to four, so _are_ six to twelve.' But when numerals denoting more than one, are used as adjectives, with a substantive expressed or understood, they must have a plural construction."--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 1849, p. 39. OBS. 18.--Since nouns and adjectives are different parts of speech, the suggestion, that, "Numeral _adjectives_ are _also names_, or _nouns_," is, upon the very face of it, a flat absurdity; and the notion that "the name of a number" above unity, conveys only and always the idea of unity, like an ordinary "singular noun," is an other. A number in arithmetic is most commonly an _adjective_ in grammar; and it is always, in form, an expression that tells _how many_, or--"denotes _how many things_ are spoken of."--_Chase_, p. 11. But the _name_ of a number is also a number, whenever it is _not made plural_ in form. Thus _four_ is a number, but _fours_ is not; so _ten_ is a number, but _tens_ is not. Arithmetical numbers, which run on to infinity, severally _consist_ of a _definite idea of how many_; each is a _precise count_ by the unit; _one_ being the beginning of the series, and the measure of every successive step. Grammatical numbers are only the verbal forms which distinguish one thing from more of the same sort. Thus the word _fours_ or _tens_, unless some arithmetical number be prefixed to it, signifies nothing but a mere plurality which repeats indefinitely the collective idea of _four_ or _ten_. OBS. 19.--All actual _names_ of numbers calculative, except _one_, (for _naught_, though it fills a place among numbers, is, in itself, a mere negation of number; and such terms as _oneness, unity, duality_, are not used in calculation,) are _collective nouns_--a circumstance which seems to make the discussion of the present topic appropriate to the location which is here given it under Rule 15th. Each of them denotes a particular aggregate _of units_. And if each, as signifying one whole, may convey the idea of unity, and take a singular verb; each, again, as denoting so many units, may quite as naturally take a plural verb, and be made to convey the idea of plurality. For the mere abstractness of numbers, or their separation from all "_particular objects_," by no means obliges us to limit them always to the construction with verbs singular. If it is right to say, "Two _is_ an even number;" it is certainly no error to say, "Two _are_ an even number." If it is allowable to say, "As 2 _is_ to 4, so _is_ 6 to 12;" it is as well, if not better, to say, "As two _are_ to four, so _are_ six to twelve." If it is correct to say, "Four _is_ equal to twice two;" it is quite as grammatical to say, "Four _are_ equal to twice two." Bullions bids say, "Twice two _is_ four," and, "Three times two _is_ six;" but I very much prefer to say, "Twice two _are_ four," and, "Three times two _are_ six." The Doctor's reasoning, whereby he condemns the latter phraseology, is founded only upon false assumptions. This I expect to show; and more--that the word which he prefers, is wrong. OBS. 20.--As to what constitutes the subject of the verb in multiplication, I have already noticed _three different opinions_. There are yet three or four more, which must not be overlooked in a general examination of this grammatical dispute. Dr. Bullions's notion on this point, is stated with so little consistency, that one can hardly say what it is. At first, he seems to find his nominative in the multiplicand, "used as a singular noun;" but, when he ponders a little on the text, "_Twice two is four_," he finds the leading term not to be the word "_two_," but the word "_number_," understood. He resolves, indeed, that no one of the four words used, "is in construction with" any of the rest; for he thinks, "The meaning is, '_The number_ two _taken_ twice is _equal to_ four.'" Here, then, is a _fourth opinion_ in relation to the subject of the verb: it must be "_number_" understood. Again, it is conceded by the same hand, that, "When numerals denoting more than one, are used as adjectives, with a substantive expressed or understood, they must have a plural construction." Now who can show that this is not the case in general with the numerals of multiplication? To explain the syntax of "_Twice two are four_," what can be more rational than to say, "The sense is, 'Twice two _units_, or _things_, are four?'" Is it not plain, that twice two things, of any sort, are four things of that same sort, and only so? Twice two duads are how many? Answer: _Four duads_, or _eight units_. Here, then, is a _fifth opinion_,--and a very fair one too,--according to which we have for the subject of the verb, not "_two_" nor "_twice_" nor "_twice two_," nor "_number_," understood before "_two_," but the plural noun "_units_" or "_things"_ implied in or after the multiplicand. OBS. 21.--It is a doctrine taught by sundry grammarians, and to some extent true, that a neuter verb between two nominatives "may agree with either of them." (See Note 5th to Rule 14th, and the footnote.) When, therefore, a person who knows this, meets with such examples as, "Twice one _are_ two;"--"Twice one unit _are_ two units;"--"Thrice one _are_ three;"--he will of course be apt to refer the verb to the nominative which follows it, rather than to that which precedes it; taking the meaning to be, "_Two are_ twice one;"--"_Two units are_ twice one unit;"--"_Three are_ thrice one." Now, if such is the sense, the construction in each of these instances is right, because it accords with such sense; the interpretation is right also, because it is the only one adapted to such a construction; and we have, concerning the subject of the verb, a _sixth opinion_,--a very proper one too,--that it is found, not where it is most natural to look for it, in the expression of the _factors_, but in a noun which is either uttered or implied in the _product_. But, no doubt, it is better to avoid this construction, by using such a verb as may be said to agree with the number multiplied. Again, and lastly, there may be, touching all such cases as, "Twice _one are_ two," a _seventh opinion_, that the subject of the verb is the product taken _substantively_, and not as a numeral _adjective_. This idea, or the more comprehensive one, that all abstract numbers are nouns substantive, settles nothing concerning the main question, What form of the verb is required by an abstract number above unity? If the number be supposed an adjective, referring to the implied term _units_, or _things_, the verb must of course be plural; but if it be called a _collective noun_, the verb only follows and fixes "the idea of plurality," or "the idea of unity," as the writer or speaker chooses to adopt the one or the other. OBS. 22.--It is marvellous, that four or five monosyllables, uttered together in a common simple sentence, could give rise to all this diversity of opinion concerning the subject of the verb; but, after all, the chief difficulty presented by the phraseology of multiplication, is that of ascertaining, not "the grammatical subject of the verb," but the grammatical relation between the multiplier and the multiplicand--the true way of parsing the terms _once, twice, three times_, &c., but especially the word _times_. That there must be some such relation, is obvious; but what is it? and how is it to be known? To most persons, undoubtedly, "_Twice two_," and, "_Three times two_," seem to be _regular phrases_, in which the words cannot lack syntactical connexion; yet Dr. Bullions, who is great authority with some thinkers, denies all immediate or direct relation between the word "_two_," and the term before it, preferring to parse both "_twice_" and "_three times_" as adjuncts to the participle "_taken_," understood. He says, "The adverb '_twice_' is not in construction with '_two_,' and consequently does not make it plural." His first assertion here is, in my opinion, untrue; and the second implies the very erroneous doctrine, that the word _twice_, if it relate to a singular term, _will "make it plural_." From a misconception like this, it probably is, that some who ought to be very accurate in speech, are afraid to say, "Twice one _is_ two," or, "Thrice one _is_ three," judging the singular verb to be wrong; and some there are who think, that "_usage_ will not permit" a careful scholar so to speak. Now, analysis favours the singular form here; and it is contrary to a plain principle of General Grammar, to suppose that a _plural_ verb can be demanded by any phrase which is made _collectively_ the subject of the assertion. (See Note 3d, and Obs. 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th, under Rule 14th.) _Are_ is, therefore, _not required here_; and, if allowable, it is so only on the supposition that the leading nominative is put after it. OBS. 23.--In Blanchard's small Arithmetic, published in 1854, the following inculcations occur: "When we say, 3 times 4 trees are 12 trees, we have reference to the _objects_ counted; but in saying 3 times 4 _is_ twelve, we mean, that 3 times the _number_ 4, _is the number_ 12. Here we use 4 and 12, not as numeral _adjectives_, but as _nouns_, the _names_ of particular _numbers_, and as such, each conveys the idea of _unity_, and _the entire expression_ is the subject of _is_, and conveys the _idea of unity_."--P. iv. Here we have, with an additional error concerning "the entire expression," a repetition of Dr. Bullions's erroneous assumption, that the name of a particular number, as being "a singular noun," must "convey the idea of unity," though the number itself be a distinct plurality. These men talk as if there were an absurdity in affirming that "the number 4" is _plural_! But, if _four_ be taken as only one thing, how can _three_ multiply this one thing into _twelve_? It is by no means proper to affirm, that, "_Every_ four, taken three times, _is_, or _are_, twelve;" for three instances, or "_times_," of the _figure_ 4, or of the _word four_, are only three 4's, or three verbal _fours_. And is it not _because_ "_the number_ 4" _is plural--is in itself four units_--and because the word _four_, or the figure 4, conveys explicitly the _idea of this plurality_, that the multiplication table is true, where it says, "3 times 4 _are_ 12?" It is not right to say, "Three times one quaternion is twelve;" nor is it quite unobjectionable to say, with Blanchard "3 _times the number_ 4, _is the number_ 12." Besides, this pretended interpretation explains nothing. The syntax of the shorter text, "3 times 4 _is_ 12," is in no way justified or illustrated by it. Who does not perceive that _the four_ here spoken of must be four _units_, or four _things_ of some sort; and that no _such_ "four," multiplied by 3, or _till_ "3 _times_," can "convey the idea of unity," or match a singular verb? Dr. Webster did not so conceive of this "abstract number," or of "the entire expression" in which it is multiplied; for he says, "Four times four _amount_ to sixteen."--_American Dict., w. Time._ OBS. 24.--In fact no phrase of multiplication is of such a nature that it can, with any plausibility be reckoned a composite subject of the verb. _Once, twice_, and _thrice_, are adverbs; and each of them may, in general, be parsed as relating directly to the multiplicand. Their construction, as well as that of the plural verb, is agreeable to the Latin norm; as, when Cicero says of somebody, "Si, _bis bina_ quot _essent_, didicisset,"--"If he had learned how many _twice two are_."--See _Ainsworth's Dict., w. Binus._ The phrases, "_one time_," for _once_, and "_two times_" for _twice_, seem puerile expressions: they are not often used by competent teachers. _Thrice_ is a good word, but more elegant than popular. Above _twice_, we use the phrases, _three times, four times_, and the like, which are severally composed of a numeral adjective and the noun _times_. If these words were united, as some think they ought to be, the compounds would be _adverbs_ of _time repeated_; as, _threetimes, fourtimes_, &c., analogous to _sometimes_. Each word would answer, as each phrase now does, to the question, _How often?_ These expressions are taken by some as having a direct adverbial relation to the terms which they qualify; but they are perhaps most commonly explained as being dependent on some preposition understood. See Obs. 1st on Rule 5th, and Obs. 6th on Rule 7th. OBS. 25.--In multiplying one only, it is evidently best to use a singular verb: as, "Twice _naught_ is naught;"--"Three times _one is_ three." And, in multiplying any number above _one_, I judge a plural verb to be necessary: as, "Twice _two are_ four;"--"Three times _two are six_;" because this number must be just _so many_ in order to give the product. Dr. Bullions says, "We should say, 'Three times two _is_ six,' because the meaning is, 'Two _taken_ three times _is_ six.'" This is neither reasoning, nor explanation, nor good grammar. The relation between "_two_" and "_three_," or the syntax of the word "_times_," or the propriety of the _singular verb_, is no more apparent in the latter expression than in the former. It would be better logic to affirm, "We should say, 'Three times two _are_ six;' because the meaning is, 'Two (_units_), taken _for, to_, or _till_ three times, are six.'" The preposition _till_, or _until_, is sometimes found in use before an expression of _times numbered_; as, "How oft shall I forgive? _till_ seven times? I say not unto thee, _Until_ seven times; but, _Until_ seventy times seven."--_Matt._, xviii, 21. But here is still a difficulty with repect to the _multiplying_ term, or the word "_times_." For, unless, by an unallowable ellipsis, "_seventy times seven_," is presumed to mean, "seventy times _of_ seven," the preposition _Until_ must govern, not this noun "_times._" expressed, but an other, understood after "_seven_;" and the meaning must be, "Thou shalt forgive him until _seventy-times_ seven times;" or--"until seven _times taken for, to_, or _till_, seventy times." OBS. 26.--With too little regard to consistency. Dr. Bullions suggests that when "we make '_times_' the subject of the verb," it is not "really" such, but "is in _the objective of number_." He is, doubtless, right in preferring to parse this word as an objective case, rather than as a nominative, in the construction to which he alludes; but to call it an "objective of _number_," is an uncouth error, a very strange mistake for so great a grammarian to utter: there being in grammar no such thing as "_the objective of number_:" nothing of the sort, even under his own "Special Rule," to which he refers us for it! And, if such a thing there were, so that a _number_ could be "_put in the objective case without a governing word_," (see his Sec.828,) the plural word _times_, since it denotes no particular aggregate of units, could never be an example of it. It is true that _times_, like _days, weeks_, and other nouns of _time_, may be, and often is, in the objective case without a governing word _expressed_; and, in such instances, it may be called the objective of _repetition_, or of _time repeated_. But the construction of the word appears to be such as is common to many nouns of time, of value, or of measure; which, in their relation to other words, seem to resemble adverbs, but which are usually said to be governed by prepositions understood: as, "Three _days_ later;" i.e., "Later _by_ three days."--"Three _shillings_ cheaper;" i.e., "Cheaper _by_ three shillings."--"Seven _times_ hotter;" i.e., "Hotter _by_ seven times."--"Four _feet_ high;" i.e., "High _to_ four feet."--"Ten _years_ old;" i.e., "Old _to_ ten years."--"Five _times_ ten;" i.e., "Ten _by_ five times;" or, perhaps, "Ten _taken till_ five times." NOTE TO RULE XV. A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a verb in the third person, singular; and generally admits also the regular plural construction: as, "His _army was_ defeated."--"His _armies were_ defeated." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XV. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE IDEA OF PLURALITY. "The gentry is punctilious in their etiquette." [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _is_ is of the singular number, and does not correctly agree with its nominative _gentry_, which is a collective noun conveying rather the idea of plurality. But, according to Rule 15th, "When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the verb must agree with it in the plural number." Therefore, _is_ should be _are_; thus, "The gentry _are_ punctilious in their etiquette."] "In France the peasantry goes barefoot, and the middle sort makes use of wooden shoes."--HARVEY: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 188. "The people rejoices in that which should cause sorrow."--See _Murray's Exercises_, p. 49. "My people is foolish, they have not known me."--_Jer._, iv, 22; _Lowth's Gram._, p. 75. "For the people speaks, but does not write."--_Philological Museum_, i, 646. "So that all the people that was in the camp, trembled."--_Exodus_, xix, 16. "No company likes to confess that they are ignorant."--_Student's Manual_, p. 217. "Far the greater part of their captives was anciently sacrificed."--_Robertson's America_, i, 339. "Above one half of them was cut off before the return of spring."--_Ib._, ii, 419. "The other class, termed Figures of Thought, supposes the words to be used in their proper and literal meaning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 133; _Murray's Gram._, 337. "A multitude of words in their dialect approaches to the Teutonic form, and therefore afford excellent assistance."--_Dr. Murray's Hist of Lang._, i, 148. "A great majority of our authors is defective in manner."--_James Brown's Crit._ "The greater part of these new-coined words has been rejected."--_Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 445. "The greater part of the words it contains is subject to certain modifications and inflections."--_The Friend_, ii, 123. "While all our youth prefers her to the rest."--_Waller's Poems_, p. 17. "Mankind is appointed to live in a future state."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 57. "The greater part of human kind speaks and acts wholly by imitation."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 169. "The greatest part of human gratifications approaches so nearly to vice."--_Ibid._ "While still the busy world is treading o'er The paths they trod five thousand years before."--_Young._ UNDER THE NOTE.--THE IDEA OF UNITY. "In old English this species of words were numerous."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, ii, 6. "And a series of exercises in false grammar are introduced towards the end."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. iv. "And a jury, in conformity with the same idea, were anciently called _homagium_, the homage, or manhood."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 296. "With respect to the former, there are indeed plenty of means."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 319. "The number of school districts have increased since the last year."--_Governor Throop_, 1832. "The Yearly Meeting have purchased with its funds these publications."--_Foster's Reports_, i, 76. "Have the legislature power to prohibit assemblies?"--_Wm. Sullivan_. "So that the whole number of the streets were fifty."--_Rollin's Ancient Hist._, ii, 8. "The number of inhabitants were not more than four millions."--SMOLLETT: see _Priestley's Gram._, p. 193. "The House of Commons were of small weight."--HUME: _Ib._, p. 188. "The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me."--_Psal._ xxii, 16; _Lowth's Gram._, p. 75. "Every kind of convenience and comfort are provided."--_Com. School Journal_, i, 24. "Amidst the great decrease of the inhabitants of Spain, the body of the clergy have suffered no diminution; but has rather been gradually increasing."--_Payne's Geog._, ii, 418. "Small as the number of inhabitants are, yet their poverty is extreme."--_Ib._, ii, 417. "The number of the names were about one hundred and twenty."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 12; see _Acts_, i, 15. RULE XVI.--FINITE VERBS. When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together: as, "True rhetoric _and_ sound logic _are_ very nearly allied."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 11. "Aggression and injury in no case _justify_ retaliation."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 406. "Judges and senates _have been bought_ for gold, Esteem _and_ love _were_ never to be sold."--_Pope_. EXCEPTION FIRST. When two nominatives connected by _and_ serve merely to describe one person or thing, they are either in apposition or equivalent to one name, and do not require a plural verb; as, "Immediately _comes a hue and cry_ after a gang of thieves."--_L'Estrange_. "The _hue and cry_ of the country _pursues_ him."--_Junius_, Letter xxiii. "Flesh and blood [i. e. man, or man's nature,] _hath not revealed_ it unto thee."--_Matt._, xvi, 17." Descent and fall to us _is_ adverse."--_Milton, P. L._, ii, 76. "This _philosopher_ and _poet was banished_ from his country."--"Such a _Saviour_ and _Redeemer is_ actually _provided_ for us."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 386. "Let us then declare what great things our _God and Saviour has done_ for us."--_Dr. Scott_, on Luke viii. "_Toll, tribute_, and _custom, was paid_ unto them."--_Ezra_, iv, 20. "Whose icy _current_ and compulsive _course_ Ne'er _feels_ retiring ebb, but _keeps_ due on."--_Shakspeare_. EXCEPTION SECOND. When two nominatives connected by _and_, are emphatically distinguished, they belong to different propositions, and, if singular, do not require a plural verb; as, "_Ambition_, and not the _safety_ of the state, _was concerned_."--_Goldsmith_. "_Consanguinity_, and not _affinity, is_ the ground of the prohibition."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 324. "But a _modification_, and oftentimes a total _change, takes_ place."--_Maunder. "Somewhat_, and, in many circumstances, a great _deal_ too, _is put_ upon us."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 108. "_Disgrace_, and perhaps _ruin, was_ the certain consequence of attempting the latter."--_Robertson's America_, i, 434. "_Ay_, and _no_ too, _was_ no good divinity."--_Shakespeare. "Love_, and _love only_, is the loan for love."--_Young_. EXCEPTION THIRD. When two or more nominatives connected by _and_ are preceded by the adjective _each, every, or no_, they are taken separately, and do not require a plural verb; as, "When _no part_ of their substance, and _no one_ of their properties, _is_ the same."--_Bp. Butler_. "Every limb and feature _appears_ with its respective grace."--_Steele_. "Every person, and every occurrence, _is beheld_ in the most favourable light."--_Murray's Key_, p. 190. "Each worm, and each insect, _is_ a marvel of creative power." "Whose every look and gesture _was_ a joke To clapping theatres and shouting crowds."--_Young_. EXCEPTION FOURTH. When the verb separates its nominatives, it agrees with that which precedes it, and is understood to the rest; as, "The _earth is_ the Lord's, and the _fullness_ thereof."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 36. "_Disdain forbids_ me, and my _dread_ of shame."--_Milton_. "------Forth in the pleasing spring, Thy _beauty walks_, thy _tenderness_, and _love_."--_Thomson_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XVI. OBS. 1.--According to Lindley Murray, (who, in all his compilation, from whatever learned authorities, refers us to _no places_ in any book but his own.) "Dr. Blair observes, that 'two or more substantives, joined by a copulative, _must always require_ the verb or pronoun to which they refer, to be _placed_ in the plural number:' and this," continues the great Compiler, "is the _general sentiment_ of English grammarians."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. The same thing is stated in many other grammars: thus, _Ingersoll_ has the very same words, on the 238th page of his book; and _R. C. Smith_ says, "Dr. Blair _very justly_ observes," &c.--_Productive Gram._, p. 126. I therefore doubt not, the learned rhetorician has somewhere made some such remark: though I can neither supply the reference which these gentlemen omit, nor vouch for the accuracy of their quotation. But I trust to make it very clear, that so many grammarians as hold this sentiment, are no great readers, to say the least of them. Murray himself acknowledges _one_ exception to this principle, and unconsciously furnishes examples of one or two more; but, in stead of placing the former in his Grammar, and under the rule, where the learner would be likely to notice it, he makes it an obscure and almost unintelligible note, in the _margin of his Key_, referring by an asterisk to the following correction: "Every man and every woman _was_ numbered."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii. p. 190. To justify this phraseology, he talks thus: "_Whatever number_ of nouns may be connected _by a conjunction with the pronoun_ EVERY, this _pronoun_ is as applicable to _the whole mass_ of them, as to any _one of the nouns_; and _therefore_ the verb is correctly put in the singular number, and _refers to the whole_ separately and individually considered."--_Ib._ So much, then, for "_the pronoun_ EVERY!" But, without other exceptions, what shall be done with the following texts from Murray himself? "The flock, _and_ not the fleece, _is_, or _ought_ to be the object of the shepherd's care."--_Ib._, ii, 184. "This prodigy of learning, this scholar, critic, _and_ antiquary, _was_ entirely destitute of breeding and civility."--_Ib._, ii, 217. And, in the following line, what conjunction appears, or what is the difference between "horror" and "black despair." that the verb should be made plural? "What black despair, what horror, _fill_ his _mind_!"--_Ib._, ii, 183. "What black despair, what horror _fills_ his _heart_!"--_Thomson_.[395] OBS. 2.--Besides the many examples which may justly come under the four exceptions above specified, there are several questionable but customary expressions, which have some appearance of being deviations from this rule, but which may perhaps be reasonably explained on the principle of ellipsis: as, "All work and no play, _makes_ Jack a dull boy."--"Slow and steady often _outtravels_ haste."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 23. "Little and often _fills_ the purse."--_Treasury of Knowledge_, Part i, p. 446. "Fair and softly _goes_ far." These maxims, by universal custom, lay claim to a singular verb; and, for my part, I know not how they can well be considered either real exceptions to the foregoing rule, or real inaccuracies under it; for, in most of them, the words connected are not _nouns_; and those which are so, may not be nominatives. And it is clear, that every exception must have some specific character by which it may be distinguished; else it destroys the rule, in stead of confirming it, as known exceptions are said to do. Murray appears to have thought the singular verb _wrong_; for, among his examples for parsing, he has, "Fair and softly _go_ far," which instance is no more entitled to a plural verb than the rest. See his _Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 5. Why not suppose them all to be elliptical? Their meaning may be as follows: "_To have_ all work and no play, _makes_ Jack a dull boy."--"_What is_ slow and steady, often _outtravels_ haste."--"To _put in_ little and often, _fills_ the purse."--"_What proceeds_ fair and softly, _goes_ far." The following line from Shakspeare appears to be still more elliptical: "Poor and content _is_ rich, and rich enough."--_Othello_. This may be supposed to mean, "_He who is_ poor and content," &c. In the following sentence again, we may suppose an ellipsis of the phrase _To have_, at the beginning; though here, perhaps, to have pluralized the verb, would have been as well: "One eye on death and one full fix'd on heaven, _Becomes_ a mortal and immortal man."--_Young_. OBS. 3.--The names of two persons are not unfrequently used jointly as the name of their story; in which sense, they must have a singular verb, if they have any; as, "Prior's _Henry and Emma contains_ an other beautiful example."--_Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 179. I somewhat hesitate to call this an exception to the foregoing rule, because here too the phraseology may be supposed elliptical. The meaning is, "Prior's _little poem, entitled_, 'Henry and Emma,' contains," &c.;--or, "Prior's _story of_ Henry and Emma contains," &c. And, if the first expression is only an abbreviation of one of these, the construction of the verb _contains_ may be referred to Rule 14th. See Exception 1st to Rule 12th, and Obs. 2d on Rule 14th. OBS. 4.--The conjunction _and_, by which alone we can with propriety connect different words to make them joint nominatives or joint antecedents, is sometimes suppressed and _understood_; but then its effect is the same, as if it were inserted; though a singular verb might sometimes be quite as proper in the same sentences, because it would merely imply a disjunctive conjunction or none at all: as, "The high breach of trust, the notorious corruption, _are stated_ in the strongest terms."--_Junius_, Let. xx. "Envy, self-will, jealousy, pride, often _reign_ there."--_Abbott's Corner Stone_, p. 111. (See Obs. 4th on Rule 12th.) "Art, empire, earth itself, to change _are_ doomed."--_Beattie_. "Her heart, her mind, her love, _is_ his alone."--_Cowley_. In all the foregoing examples, a singular verb might have been used without impropriety; or the last, which is singular, might have been plural. But the following couplet evidently requires a plural verb, and is therefore correct as the poet wrote it; both because the latter noun is plural, and because the conjunction _and_ is understood between the two. Yet a late grammarian, perceiving no difference between the joys of sense and the pleasure of reason, not only changes "_lie_" to "_lies_," but uses the perversion for a _proof text_, under a rule which refers the verb to the first noun only, and requires it to be singular. See _Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 250. "Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense. _Lie_ in three words--health, peace, and competence." --_Pope's Ess._, Ep. iv, l. 80. OBS. 5.--When the speaker changes his nominative to take a stronger expression, he commonly uses no conjunction; but, putting the verb in agreement with the noun which is next to it, he leaves the other to an implied concord with its proper form of the same verb: as, "The man whose _designs_, whose _whole conduct, tends_ to reduce me to subjection, that man is at war with me, though not a blow has yet been given, nor a sword drawn."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 265. "All _Greece_, all the barbarian _world, is_ too narrow for this man's ambition."--_Ibid._ "This _self-command_, this _exertion_ of reason in the midst of passion, _has_ a wonderful effect both to please and to persuade."--_Ib._, p. 260. "In the mutual influence of body and soul, there _is a wisdom_, a _wonderful wisdom_, which we cannot fathom."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. If the principle here stated is just, Murray has written the following models erroneously: "Virtue, honour, nay, even self-interest, _conspire_ to recommend the measure."--_Ib._, p. 150. "Patriotism, morality, every public and private consideration, _demand_ our submission to just and lawful government."--_Ibid._ In this latter instance, I should prefer the singular verb _demands_; and in the former, the expression ought to be otherwise altered, thus. "Virtue, honour, _and_ interest, all _conspire_ to recommend the measure." Or thus: "Virtue, honour--nay, even self-interest, _recommends_ the measure." On this principle, too, Thomson was right, and this critic wrong, in the example cited at the close of the first observation above. This construction is again recurred to by Murray, in the second chapter of his Exercises; where he explicitly condemns the following sentence because the verb is singular: "Prudence, policy, nay, his own true interest, strongly _recommends_ the line of conduct proposed to him."--_Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 22. OBS. 6.--When two or more nominatives are in apposition with a preceding one which they explain, the verb must agree with the first word only, because the others are adjuncts to this, and not joint subjects to the verb; as, "Loudd, the ancient Lydda and Diospolis, _appears_ like a place lately ravaged by fire and sword."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 93. "Beattie, James,--a philosopher and poet,--_was born_ in Scotland, in the year 1735."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 306. "For, the quantity, the length, and shortness of our syllables, _is_ not, by any means, so fixed."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 124. This principle, like the preceding one, persuades me again to dissent from Murray, who corrects or _perverts_ the following sentence, by changing _originates_ to _originate_: "All that makes a figure on the great theatre of the world; the employments of the busy, the enterprises of the ambitious, and the exploits of the warlike; the virtues which form the happiness, and the crimes which occasion the misery of mankind; _originates_ in that silent and secret recess of thought, which is hidden from every human eye."--See _Murray's Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 181; or his _Duodecimo Key_, p. 21. The true subject of this proposition is the noun _all_, which is singular; and the other nominatives are subordinate to this, and merely explanatory of it. OBS. 7.--Dr. Webster says, "_Enumeration_ and addition of numbers are _usually_ expressed in the singular _number_; [as,] two and two _is_ four; seven and nine _is_ sixteen; that is, _the sum of_ seven and nine _is_ sixteen. But modern usage inclines to reject the use of the verb in the singular number, in these and similar phrases."--_Improved Gram._, p. 106. Among its many faults, this passage exhibits a virtual contradiction. For what "_modern usage_ inclines to reject," can hardly be the fashion in which any ideas "_are usually expressed_." Besides, I may safely aver, that this is a kind of phraseology which all correct usage always did reject. It is not only a gross vulgarism, but a plain and palpable violation of the foregoing rule of syntax; and, as such it must be reputed, if the rule has any propriety at all. What "_enumeration_" has to do with it, is more than I can tell. But Dr. Webster once admired and commended this mode of speech, as one of the "wonderful proofs of ingenuity in the _framers_ of language;" and laboured to defend it as being "correct upon principle;" that is, upon the principle that "_the sum of_" is understood to be the subject of the affirmation, when one says, "Two _and_ two _is_ four," in stead of, "Two and two _are_ four."--See _Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 153. This seems to me a "wonderful proof" of _ignorance_ in a very learned man. OBS. 8.--In Greek and Latin, the verb frequently agrees with the nearest nominative, and is understood to the rest; and this construction is sometimes imitated in English, especially if the nouns follow the verb: as, "[Greek: Nuni do MENEI pistis, elpis agape, ta tria tanta]."--"Nunc vero _manet_ fides, spes, charitas; tria haec."--"Now _abideth_ faith, hope, charity; these three."--_1 Cor._, xiii, 13. "And now _abideth_ confession, prayer, and praise, these three; but the greatest of these is praise."--ATTERBURY: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 300. The propriety of this usage, so far as our language is concerned, I doubt. It seems to open a door for numerous deviations from the foregoing rule, and deviations of such a sort, that if they are to be considered exceptions, one can hardly tell why. The practice, however, is not uncommon, especially if there are more nouns than two, and each is emphatic; as, "Wonderful _was_ the patience, fortitude, self-denial, _and_ bravery of our ancestors."--_Webster's Hist. of U. S._, p. 118. "It is the very thing I would have you make out: for therein _consists_ the form, and use, and nature of language."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 161. "There _is_ the proper noun, and the common noun. There _is_ the singular noun, and the plural noun."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 11. "From him _proceeds_ power, sanctification, truth, grace, and every other blessing we can conceive."--_Calvin's Institutes_, B. i, Ch. 13. "To what purpose _cometh_ there to me incense from Sheba, _and_ the sweet cane from a far country?"--_Jer._, vi, 20. "For thine _is_ the kingdom, _and_ the power, _and_ the glory, forever."--_Matt._, vi, 13. In all these instances, the plural verb might have been used; and yet perhaps the singular may be justified on the ground that there is a distinct and emphatic enumeration of the nouns. Thus, it would be proper to say, "Thine _are_ the kingdom, the power, and the glory;" but this construction seems less emphatic than the preceding, which means, "For thine is the kingdom, _thine is_ the power, and _thine is_ the glory, forever;" and this repetition is still more emphatic, and perhaps more proper, than the elliptical form. The repetition of the conjunction "_and_," in the original text as above, adds time and emphasis to the reading, and makes the singular verb more proper than it would otherwise be; for which reason, the following form, in which the Rev. Dr. Bullions has set the sentence down for bad English, is in some sort a _perversion_ of the Scripture: "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 141. OBS. 9.--When the nominatives are of different _persons_, the verb agrees with the first person in preference to the second, and with the second in preference to the third; for _thou_ and _I_, or _he, thou_, and _I_, are equivalent to _we_; and _thou_ and _he_ are equivalent to you: as, "Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, _thou and Ziba divide_ the land."--_2 Sam._, xix. 29. That is, "divide _ye_ the land." "And _live thou_ and thy _children_ of the rest."--_2 Kings_, iv, 7. "That _I_ and thy _people have found_ grace in thy sight."--_Exodus_, xxxiii, 16. "_I_ and my _kingdom are_ guiltless."--_2 Sam._, iii, 28. "_I_, and _you_, and _Piso_ perhaps too, _are_ in a state of dissatisfaction."--_Zenobia_, i, 114. "Then _I_, and _you_, and _all_ of us, _fell_ down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over _us_."--_Shak., J. Caesar_. OBS. 10.--When two or more nominatives connected by _and_ are of the same form but distinguished by adjectives or possessives, one or more of them may be omitted by ellipsis, but the verb must be plural, and agree with them all; as, "A literary, a scientific, a wealthy, and a poor man, _were assembled_ in one room."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 263. Here four different men are clearly spoken of. "Else the rising and the falling emphasis _are_ the same."--_Knowles's Elocutionist_, p. 33. Here the noun _emphasis_ is understood after _rising_. "The singular and [the] plural form _seem_ to be confounded."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 22. Here the noun _form_ is presented to the mind twice; and therefore the article should have been repeated. See Obs. 15th on Rule 1st. "My farm and William's _are_ adjacent to each other."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 220. Here the noun _farm_ is understood after the possessive _William's_, though the author of the sentence foolishly attempts to explain it otherwise. "Seth's, Richard's and Edmund's _farms_ are those which their fathers left them."--_Ib._, p. 257. Here the noun _farms_ is understood after _Seth's_, and again after _Richard's_; so that the sentence is written wrong, unless each man has more than one farm. "_Was_ not Demosthenes's style, and his master Plato's, perfectly Attic; and yet none more lofty?"--_Milnes's Greek Gram._, p. 241. Here _style_ is understood after _Plato's_; wherefore _was_ should rather be _were_, or else _and_ should be changed to _as well as_. But the text, as it stands, is not much unlike some of the exceptions noticed above. "The character of a fop, and of a rough warrior, _are_ no where more successfully contrasted."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 236. Here the ellipsis is not very proper. Say, "the character of a fop, and _that_ of a rough warrior," &c. Again: "We may observe, that the eloquence of the bar, of the legislature, and of public assemblies, _are_ seldom _or ever_ found united _to high perfection in_ the same person."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 256. Here the ellipsis cannot so well be avoided by means of the pronominal adjective _that_, and therefore it may be thought more excusable; but I should prefer a repetition of the nominative: as, "We may observe, that the eloquence of the bar, _the eloquence_ of the legislature, and _the eloquence_ of public assemblies, are seldom _if ever_ found united, _in any high degree_, in the same person." OBS. 11.--The conjunction _as_, when it connects nominatives that are in _apposition_, or significant of the same person or thing, is commonly placed at the beginning of a sentence, so that the verb agrees with its proper nominative following the explanatory word: thus, "_As a poet, he holds_ a high rank."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 355. "_As a poet, Addison claims_ a high praise."--_Ib._, p. 304. "_As a model_ of English prose, his _writings merit_ the greatest praise."--_Ib._, p. 305. But when this conjunction denotes a _comparison_ between different persons or things signified by two nominatives, there must be two verbs expressed or understood, each agreeing with its own subject; as, "Such _writers_ as _he [is,] have_ no reputation worth any man's envy." [396] "Such _men_ as _he [is] be_ never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves."--_Shakspeare_. OBS. 12.--When two nominatives are connected by _as well as, but_, or _save_, they must in fact have two verbs, though in most instances only one is expressed; as, "Such is the mutual dependence of words in sentences, that several _others_, as well as [is] the _adjective, are_ not to be used alone."--_Dr. Wilson's Essay_, p. 99. "The Constitution was to be the one fundamental law of the land, to which _all_, as well _States_ as _people_, should submit."--W. I. BOWDITCH: _Liberator_, No. 984. "As well those which history, as those which experience _offers_ to our reflection."-- _Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 85. Here the words "_offers to our reflection_" are understood after "_history_." "_None_ but _He_ who discerns futurity, _could have foretold_ and described all these things."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 62. "That there _was_ in those times no other _writer_, of any degree of eminence, save _he_ himself."--_Pope's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 43. "I do entreat you not a man depart, Save _I_ alone, till Antony have spoke."--_Shak., J. Caesar_. OBS. 13.--Some grammarians say, that _but_ and _save_, when they denote exception, should govern the objective case as _prepositions_. But this idea is, without doubt, contrary to the current usage of the best authors, either ancient or modern. Wherefore I think it evident that these grammarians err. The objective case of _nouns_ being like the nominative, the point can be proved only by the _pronouns_; as, "There is none _but he_ alone."--_Perkins's Theology_, 1608. "There is none other _but he_."--_Mark_, xii, 32. (This text is good authority as regards the _case_, though it is incorrect in an other respect: it should have been, "There is _none but_ he," or else, "There is _no other than he_.") "No man hath ascended up to heaven, _but he_ that came down from heaven."--_John_, iii, 13. "Not that any man hath seen the father, _save he_ which is of God."--_John_, vi, 46. "Few can, _save he_ and _I_."--_Byron's Werner_. "There is none justified, _but he_ that is in measure sanctified."--_Isaac Penington_. _Save_, as a conjunction, is nearly obsolete. OBS. 14.--In Rev., ii, 17th, we read, "Which no man knoweth, _saving he_ that receiveth it;" and again, xiii, 17th, "That no man might buy or sell, _save he_ that had the mark." The following text is inaccurate, but not in the construction of the nominative _they_: "All men cannot receive this saying, _save they_ to whom it is given."--_Matt._, xix, 11. The version ought to have been, "_Not all_ men can receive this saying, _but they only_ to whom it is given:" i.e., "they only _can receive it_, to whom _there is given power to receive it_." Of _but_ with a nominative, examples may be multiplied indefinitely. The following are as good as any: "There is no God _but He_."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 27. "The former none _but He_ could execute."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 317. "There was nobody at home _but I_."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 95. "A fact, of which as none _but he_ could be conscious, [so] none _but he_ could be the publisher of it."--_Pope's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 117. "Few _but they_ who are involved in the vices, are involved in the irreligion of the times."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 101. "I claim my right. No Grecian prince but _I_ Has power this bow to grant, or to deny." --_Pope, Odys._, B. xxi, l. 272. "Thus she, and none _but she_, the insulting rage Of heretics oppos'd from age to age." --_Dryden's Poems_, p. 98. In opposition to all these authorities, and many more that might be added, we have, with now and then a text of false syntax, the absurd opinion of perhaps _a score or two_ of our grammarians; one of whom imagines he has found in the following couplet from Swift, an example to the purpose; but he forgets that the verb _let_ governs the _objective_ case: "Let _none but him_ who rules the thunder, Attempt to part these twain asunder." --_Perley's Gram._, p. 62. OBS. 15.--It is truly a wonder, that so many professed critics should not see the absurdity of taking _but_ and _save_ for "_prepositions_," when this can be done only by condemning the current usage of nearly all good authors, as well as the common opinion of most grammarians; and the greater is the wonder, because they seem to do it innocently, or to teach it childishly, as not knowing that they cannot justify both sides, when the question lies between opposite and contradictory principles. By this sort of simplicity, which approves of errors, if much practised, and of opposites, or essential contraries, when authorities may be found for them, no work, perhaps, is more strikingly characterized, than the popular School Grammar of W. H. Wells. This author says, "The use of _but_ as a preposition is _approved_ by J. E. Worcester, John Walker, R. C. Smith, Picket, Hiley, Angus, Lynde, Hull, Powers, Spear, Farnum, Fowle, Goldsbury, Perley, Cobb, Badgley, Cooper, Jones, Davis, Beall, Hendrick, Hazen, and Goodenow."--_School Gram._, 1850, p. 178. But what if all these authors do prefer, "_but him_," and "_save him_," where ten times as many would say, "_but he_," "_save he_?" Is it therefore difficult to determine which party is right? Or is it proper for a grammarian to name sundry authorities on both sides, excite doubt in the mind of his reader, and leave the matter _unsettled_? "The use of _but_ as a preposition," he also states, "is _discountenanced_ by G. Brown, Sanborn, Murray, S. Oliver, and several other grammarians. (See also an able article in the Mass. Common School Journal, Vol. ii, p. 19.)"--_School Gram._, p. 178. OBS. 16.--Wells passes no censure on the use of nominatives after _but_ and _save_; does not intimate which case is fittest to follow these words; gives no false syntax under his rule for the regimen of prepositions; but inserts there the following brief remarks and examples: "REM. 3.--The word _save_ is frequently used to perform the office of a preposition; as, 'And all desisted, all _save him_ alone.'--_Wordsworth_." "REM. 4.--_But_ is sometimes employed as a preposition, in the sense of _except_; as, 'The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all _but him_ had fled.'--_Hemans_."--_Ib._, p. 167. Now, "BUT," says Worcester, as well as Tooke and others, was "originally _bot_, contracted from _be out_;" and, if this notion of its etymology is just, it must certainly be followed by the nominative case, rather than by the objective; for the imperative _be_ or _be out_ governs no case, admits no additional term but a nominative--an obvious and important fact, quite overlooked by those who call _but_ a preposition. According to Allen H. Weld, _but_ and _save_ "are _commonly_ considered _prepositions_," but "are _more commonly_ termed _conjunctions_!" This author repeats Wells's examples of "_save him_," and "_but him_," as being _right_; and mixes them with opposite examples of "_save he_," "_but he_," "_save I_," which he thinks to be _more right_!--_Weld's Gram._, p. 187. OBS. 17.--Professor Fowler, too, an other author remarkable for a facility of embracing incompatibles, contraries, or dubieties, not only condemns as "false syntax" the use of _save_ for an exceptive conjunction. (Sec.587. 28,) but cites approvingly from Latham the following very strange absurdity: "One and the same word, in one and the same sentence, may be a Conjunction or [a] Preposition, as the case may be: [as] All fled _but_ John."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec. 555. This is equivalent to saying, that "one and the same sentence" _may be two different sentences_; may, without error, be understood in two different senses; may be rightly taken, resolved, and parsed in two different ways! Nay, it is equivalent to a denial of the old logical position, that "It is impossible for a thing _to be_ and _not be_ at the same time;" for it supposes "_but_," in the instance given, to be at once both a conjunction and _not_ a conjunction, both a preposition and _not_ a preposition, "_as the case may be_!" It is true, that "one and the same word" may sometimes be differently parsed _by different grammarians_, and possibly even an adept may doubt who or what is right. But what ambiguity of construction, or what diversity of interpretation, proceeding from the same hand, can these admissions be supposed to warrant? The foregoing citation is a boyish attempt to justify different modes of parsing the same expression, on the ground that the expression itself is equivocal. "All fled _but John_," is thought to mean equally well, "All fled _but he_," and, "All fled _but him_;" while these latter expressions are erroneously presumed to be alike good English, and to have a difference of meaning corresponding to their difference of construction. Now, what is equivocal, or ambiguous, being therefore erroneous, is to be _corrected_, rather than parsed in any way. But I deny both the ambiguity and the difference of meaning which these critics profess to find among the said phrases. "_John fled not, but all the rest fled_," is virtually what is told us in each of them; but, in the form, "All fled but _him_," it is told ungrammatically; in the other two, correctly. OBS. 18.--In Latin, _cum_ with an ablative, sometimes has, or is supposed to have, the force of the conjunction _et_ with a nominative; as, "Dux _cum_ aliquot principibus capiuntur."--LIVY: _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 131. In imitation of this construction, some English writers have substituted _with_ for _and_, and varied the verb accordingly; as, "A long course of time, _with_ a variety of accidents and circumstances, _are_ requisite to produce those revolutions."--HUME: _Allen's Gram._, p. 131; _Ware's_, 12; _Priestley's_, 186. This phraseology, though censured by Allen, was expressly approved by Priestley, who introduced the present example, as his proof text under the following observation: "It is not necessary that the two _subjects of an affirmation_ should stand in the very same construction, to require the verb to be in the plural number. If one of them be made to depend upon the other _by a connecting particle_, it may, _in some cases_, have the same force, as if it were independent of it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 186. Lindley Murray, on the contrary, condemns this doctrine, and after citing the same example with others, says: "It is however, proper to observe that these modes of expression do not appear to be warranted by _the just principles_ of construction."-- _Octavo Gram._, p. 150. He then proceeds to prove his point, by alleging that the preposition governs the objective case in English, and the ablative in Latin, and that what is so governed, cannot be the nominative, or any part of it. All this is true enough, but still some men who know it perfectly well, will now and then write as if they did not believe it. And so it was with the writers of Latin and Greek. They sometimes wrote bad syntax; and the grammarians have not always seen and censured their errors as they ought. Since the preposition makes its object only an adjunct of the preceding noun, or of something else, I imagine that any construction which thus assumes two different cases as joint nominatives or joint antecedents, must needs be inherently faulty. OBS. 19.--Dr. Adam simply remarks, "The plural is sometimes used after the preposition _cum_ put for _et_; as, _Remo cum fratre Quirinus jura dabunt_. Virg."--_Latin and English Gram._, p. 207; _Gould's Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 204; _W. Allen's English Gram._, 131. This example is not fairly cited; though many have adopted the perversion, as if they knew no better. Alexander has it in a worse form still: "Quirinus, cum fratre, jura dabunt."--_Latin Gram._, p. 47. Virgil's words are, "_Cana_ FIDES, _et_ VESTA, _Remo cum fratre Quirinus, Jura dabunt_."--_AEneid_, B. i, l. 296. Nor is _cum_ here "put for _et_," unless we suppose also an antiptosis of _Remo fratre_ for _Remus frater_; and then what shall the literal meaning be, and how shall the rules of syntax be accommodated to such changes? Fair examples, that bear upon the point, may, however, be adduced from good authors, and in various languages; but the question is, are they _correct_ in syntax? Thus Dr. Robertson: "The palace of Pizarro, _together with_ the houses of several of his adherents, _were_ pillaged by the soldiers."-- _Hist. of Amer._, Vol. ii, p. 133. To me, this appears plainly ungrammatical; and, certainly, there are ways enough in which it may be corrected. First, with the present connective retained, "_were_" ought to be _was_. Secondly, if _were_ be retained, "_together with_" ought to be changed to _and_, or _and also_. Thirdly, we may well change both, and say, "The palace of Pizarro, _as well as_ the houses of several of his adherents, _was_ pillaged by the soldiers." Again, in Mark, ix, 4th, we read: "And there appeared _unto them_ Elias, _with_ Moses; and _they_ were talking with Jesus." If this text meant that _the three disciples_ were talking with Jesus, it would be right as it stands; but St. Matthew has it, "And, behold, there appeared unto them _Moses and Elias, talking_ with him;" and our version in Luke is, "And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias."--Chap. ix, 30. By these corresponding texts, then, we learn, that the pronoun _they_, which our translators inserted, was meant for "_Elias with Moses_;" but the Greek verb for "_appeared_," as used by Mark, is _singular_, and agrees only with Elias. "[Greek: _Kai ophthae autois Aelias sun Mosei, kai haesan syllalountes to Iaesoy_.]"--"Et _apparuit_ illis Elias cum Mose, et erant colloquentes Jesu."--_Montanus_. "Et _visus est_ eis Elias cum Mose, qui colloquebantur cum Jesu."--_Beza_. This is as discrepant as our version, though not so ambiguous. The French Bible avoids the incongruity: "Et iis virent paroitre _Moyse et Elie_, qui s'entretenoient avec Jesus." That is, "And there appeared to them _Moses and Elias_, who were talking with Jesus." Perhaps the closest and best version of the Greek would be, "And there appeared to them Elias, with Moses;[397] and _these two_ were talking with Jesus." There is, in our Bible, an other instance of the construction now in question; but it has no support from the Septuagint, the Vulgate, or the French: to wit, "The second [lot came forth] to Gedaliah, _who with_ his brethren and sons _were_ twelve."--_1 Chron._, xxv, 9. Better: "_and he_, his brethren, and _his_ sons, were twelve." OBS. 20.--Cobbett, who, though he wrote several grammars, was but a very superficial grammarian, seems never to have doubted the propriety of putting _with_ for _and_; and yet he was confessedly not a little puzzled to find out when to use a singular, and when a plural verb, after a nominative with such "a sort of addition made to it." The 246th paragraph of his English Grammar is a long and fruitless attempt to fix a rule for the guidance of the learner in this matter. After dashing off a culpable example, "Sidmouth, _with_ Oliver the _spye_, have brought Brandreth to the block;" or, as his late editions have it, "The _Tyrant, with_ the _Spy, have_ brought _Peter_ to the block." He adds: "We hesitate which to employ, the singular or the plural verb; that is to say, _has_ or _have_. The meaning must be our guide. If we mean, that the act has been done by the Tyrant himself, and that the spy has been a mere involuntary agent, then we ought to use the singular; but if we believe that the spy has been a co-operator, an associate, an accomplice, then we must use the plural verb." Ay, truly; but must we not also, in the latter case, use _and_, and not _with_? After some further illustrations, he says: "When _with_ means _along with, together with, in Company with_, and the like, it is nearly the same as _and_; and then the plural verb must be used: [as,] 'He, with his brothers, _are_ able to do much.' Not, '_is_ able to do much.' If the pronoun be used instead of _brothers_, it will be in the objective case: 'He, _with_ them, _are_ able to do much.' But this is _no impediment_ to the including of the noun (represented by _them_) in the nominative." I wonder what would be an impediment to the absurdities of such a dogmatist! The following is his last example: "'Zeal, with discretion, _do_ much;' and not '_does_ much;' for we mean, on the contrary, that it _does nothing_. It is the meaning that must determine which of the numbers we ought to employ." This author's examples are all fictions of his own, and such of them as here have a plural verb, are wrong. His rule is also wrong, and contrary to the best authority. St. Paul says to Timothy, "Godliness _with_ contentment _is_ great gain:"--_1 Tim._, vi, 6. This text is right; but Cobbett's principle would go to prove it erroneous. Is he the only man who has ever had a right notion of its _meaning_? or is he not rather at fault in his interpretations? OBS. 21.--There is one other apparent exception to Rule 16th, (or perhaps a real one,) in which there is either an ellipsis of the preposition _with_, or else the verb is made singular because the first noun only is its true subject, and the others are explanatory nominatives to which the same verb must be understood in the plural number; as, "_A torch_, snuff and all, _goes out_ in a moment, when dipped in the vapour."--ADDISON: _in Johnson's Dict., w. All_. "Down _comes_ the _tree_, nest, eagles, and all."--See _All, ibidem_. Here _goes_ and _comes_ are necessarily made singular, the former agreeing with _torch_ and the latter with _tree_; and, if the other nouns, which are like an explanatory parenthesis, are nominatives, as they appear to me to be, they must be subjects of _go_ and _come_ understood. Cobbett teaches us to say, "The bag, _with_ the guineas and dollars in it, _were_ stolen," and not, _was_ stolen. "For," says he, "if we say _was_ stolen, it is possible for us to mean, that the _bag only_ was stolen,"--_English Gram._, 246. And I suppose he would say, "The bag, guineas, dollars, and all, _were_ stolen," and not, "_was_ stolen;" for here a rule of syntax might be urged, in addition to his false argument from the sense. But the meaning of the former sentence is, "The bag was stolen, with the guineas and dollars in it;" and the meaning of the latter is, "The bag was stolen, guineas, dollars, and all." Nor can there be any doubt about the meaning, place the words which way you will; and whatever, in either case, may be the true construction of the words in the parenthetical or explanatory phrase, they should not, I think, prevent the verb from agreeing with the first noun only. But if the other nouns intervene without affecting this concord, and without a preposition to govern them, it may be well to distinguish them in the punctuation; as, "The bag, (guineas, dollars, and all,) was stolen." NOTES TO RULE XVI. NOTE I.--When the conjunction _and_ between two nominatives appears to require a plural verb, but such form of the verb is not agreeable, it is better to reject or change the connective, that the verb may stand correctly in the singular number; as, "There _is_ a peculiar force _and_ beauty in this figure."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 224. Better: "There is a peculiar force, _as well as a peculiar_ beauty, in this figure." "What _means_ this restless stir and commotion of mind?"--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 242. Better: "What means this restless stir, _this_ commotion of mind?" NOTE II.--When two subjects or antecedents are connected, one of which is taken affirmatively, and the other negatively, they belong to different propositions; and the verb or pronoun must agree with the affirmative subject, and be understood to the other: as "Diligent _industry_, and not mean savings, _produces_ honourable competence."--"Not a loud _voice_ but strong _proofs bring_ conviction."--"My _poverty_, but not my will, _consents_."--_Shakespeare_. NOTE III.--When two subjects or antecedents are connected by _as well as, but_, or _save_, they belong to different propositions; and, (unless one of them is preceded by the adverb _not_,) the verb and pronoun must agree with the former and be understood to the latter: as, "_Veracity_, as well as justice, _is_ to be our rule of life."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 283. "The lowest _mechanic_, as well as the richest citizen, _may boast_ that thousands of _his_ fellow-creatures are employed for _him_."--_Percival's Tales_, ii, 177. "These _principles_, as well as every just rule of criticism, _are founded_ upon the sensitive part of our nature."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. xxvi. "_Nothing_ but wailings _was_ heard."--"_None_ but thou _can aid_ us."--"No mortal _man_, save he," &c., "_had e'er survived_ to say _he_ saw."--_Sir W. Scott_. NOTE IV.--When two or more subjects or antecedents are preceded by the adjective _each, every_, or _no_, they are taken separately; and, (except _no_ be followed by a plural noun,) they require the verb and pronoun to be in the singular number: as, "No rank, no honour, no fortune, no condition in life, _makes_ the guilty mind happy."--"Every phrase and every figure _which_ he uses, _tends_ to render the picture more lively and complete."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 179. "And every sense, and every heart, _is_ joy."--_Thomson_. "Each beast, each insect, happy in _its_ own."--_Pope_. NOTE V.--When any words or terms are to be taken conjointly as subjects or antecedents, the conjunction _and_, (in preference to _with, or, nor_, or any thing else,) must connect them. The following sentence is therefore inaccurate; _with_ should be _and_; or else _were_ should be _was_: "One of them, [the] wife of Thomas Cole, _with_ her husband, _were_ shot down, the others escaped."--_Hutchinson's Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 86. So, in the following couplet, _or_ should be _and_, or else _engines_ should be _engine_: "What if the head, the eye, _or_ ear repined, To serve mere _engines_ to the ruling mind?"--_Pope_. NOTE VI.--Improper omissions must be supplied; but when there occurs a true ellipsis in the construction of joint nominatives or joint antecedents, the verb or pronoun must agree with them in the plural, just as if all the words were expressed: as, "The _second_ and the _third Epistle_ of John _are_ each but one short chapter."--"The metaphorical and the literal meaning _are_ improperly mixed."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 339. "The Doctrine of Words, separately consider'd, and in a Sentence, _are_ Things distinct enough."--_Brightland's Gram._, Pref., p. iv. Better perhaps: "The doctrine of words separately considered, and _that of words_ in a sentence, _are_ things distinct enough." "The _Curii's_ and the _Camilli's_ little _field_, To vast extended territories _yield_."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 320. NOTE VII.--Two or more distinct subject phrases connected by _and_, require a plural verb, and generally a plural noun too, if a nominative follow the verb; as, "_To be wise in our own eyes, to be wise in the opinion of the world_, and _to be wise in the sight of our Creator_, are three things so very different, as rarely to coincide."--_Blair_. "'_This picture of my friend_,' and '_This picture of my friend's_,' suggest very different ideas."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 71; _Murray's_, i, 178. "Read of this burgess--on the stone _appear_, How worthy he! how virtuous! and how dear!"--_Crabbe_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVI. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE VERB AFTER JOINT NOMINATIVES. "So much ability and merit is seldom found."--_Murray's Key_, 12mo, p. 18; _Merchant's School Gram._, p. 190. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _is_ is in the singular number, and does not correctly agree with its two nominatives, _ability_ and _merit_, which are connected by _and_, and taken conjointly. But, according to Rule 16th, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together." Therefore, _is_ should be _are_; thus, "So much ability and merit _are_ seldom found." Or: "So much ability and _so much_ merit _are_ seldom found."] "The syntax and etymology of the language is thus spread before the learner."--_Bullions's English Gram._, 2d Edition, Rec., p. iii. "Dr. Johnson tells us, that in English poetry the accent and the quantity of syllables is the same thing."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, ii, 213. "Their general scope and tendency, having never been clearly apprehended, is not remembered at all."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 126. "The soil and sovereignty was not purchased of the natives."--_Knapp's Lect. on Amer. Lit._, p. 55. "The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse, is infinitely more favourable than rhyme, to all kinds of sublime poetry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 40. "The vivacity and sensibility of the Greeks seems to have been much greater than ours."--_Ib._, p. 253. "For sometimes the Mood and Tense is signified by the Verb, sometimes they are signified of the Verb by something else.'"--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 254. "The Verb and the Noun making a complete Sense, which the Participle and the Noun does not."--_Ib._, p. 255. "The growth and decay of passions and emotions, traced through all their mazes, is a subject too extensive for an undertaking like the present."--_Kames El. of Crit._, i, 108. "The true meaning and etymology of some of his words was lost."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 37. "When the force and direction of personal satire is no longer understood."--_Junius_, p. 5. "The frame and condition of man admits of no other principle."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 54. "Some considerable time and care was necessary."--_Ib._, ii 150. "In consequence of this idea, much ridicule and censure has been thrown upon Milton."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 428. "With rational beings, nature and reason is the same thing."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 111. "And the flax and the barley was smitten."--_Exod._, ix, 31. "The colon, and semicolon, divides a period, this with, and that without a connective."--_J. Ware's Gram._, p. 27. "Consequently wherever space and time is found, there God must also be."--_Sir Isaac Newton_. "As the past tense and perfect participle of _love_ ends in _ed_, it is regular."--_Chandler's Gram._, p. 40; New Edition, p. 66. "But the usual arrangement and nomenclature prevents this from being readily seen."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 3. "_Do_ and _did_ simply implies opposition or emphasis."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 41. "_I_ and _another_ make _we_, plural: _Thou_ and _another_ is as much as _ye_: _He, she_, or _it_ and _another_ make _they_"--_Ib._, p. 124. "I and another, is as much as (we) the first Person Plural; Thou and another, is as much as (ye) the second Person Plural; He, she, or it, and another, is as much as (they) the third Person Plural."--_British Gram._, p. 193; _Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 76. "God and thou art two, and thou and thy neighbour are two."--_The Love Conquest_, p. 25. "Just as _an_ and _a_ has arisen out of the numeral _one_."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo. 1850, Sec.200. "The tone and style of each of them, particularly the first and the last, is very different."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 246. "Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten."--_Deut._, xiii, 22. "Then I may conclude that two and three makes not five."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 354. "Which at sundry times thou and thy brethren hast received from us."--_Ib._, i, 165. "Two and two is four, and one is five."--POPE: _Lives of the Poets_, p. 490. "Humility and knowledge with poor apparel, excels pride and ignorance under costly array."--_Day's Gram., Parsing Lesson_, p. 100. "A page and a half has been added to the section on composition."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, 5th Ed., Pref., p. vii. "Accuracy and expertness in this exercise is an important acquisition."--_Ib._, p. 71. "Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing."--_Milton's Poems_, p. 139. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE VERB BEFORE JOINT NOMINATIVES. "There is a good and a bad, a right and a wrong in taste, as in other things."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 21. "Whence has arisen much stiffness and affectation."--_Ib._, p. 133. "To this error is owing, in a great measure, that intricacy and harshness, in his figurative language, which I before remarked."--_Ib._, p. 150; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 157. "Hence, in his Night Thoughts, there prevails an obscurity and hardness in his style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150. "There is, however, in that work much good sense, and excellent criticism."--_Ib._, p. 401. "There is too much low wit and scurrility in Plautus."--_Ib._, p. 481. "There is too much reasoning and refinement; too much pomp and studied beauty in them."--_Ib._, p. 468. "Hence arises the structure and characteristic expression of exclamation."--_Rush on the Voice_, p. 229. "And such pilots is he and his brethren, according to their own confession."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 314. "Of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus: who concerning the truth have erred."--_2 Tim._, ii, 17. "Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan."--_1 Tim._, i, 20. "And so was James and John, the sons of Zebedee."--_Luke_, v, 10. "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing."--_James_, iii, 10. "Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good."--_Lam._, iii, 38. "In which there is most plainly a right and a wrong."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 215. "In this sentence there is both an actor and an object."--_Smith's Inductive Gram._, p. 14. "In the breast-plate was placed the mysterious Urim and Thummim."--_Milman's Jews_, i, 88. "What is the gender, number, and person of those in the first?"--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 19. "There seems to be a familiarity and want of dignity in it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 150. "It has been often asked, what is Latin and Greek?"--_Literary Convention_, p. 209. "For where does beauty and high wit But in your constellation meet?"--_Hudibras_, p. 134. "Thence to the land where flows Ganges and Indus."--_Paradise Lost_, B. ix, l. 81. "On these foundations seems to rest the midnight riot and dissipation of modern assemblies."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 46. "But what has disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be allured to dwell?"--_Johnson's Life of Swift_, p. 492. "How is the gender and number of the relative known?"--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 32. "High rides the sun, thick rolls the dust, And feebler speeds the blow and thrust."--_Sir W. Scott_. UNDER NOTE I.--CHANGE THE CONNECTIVE. "In every language there prevails a certain structure and analogy of parts, which is understood to give foundation to the most reputable usage."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 90. "There runs through his whole manner, a stiffness and affectation, which renders him very unfit to be considered a general model."--_Ib._, p. 102. "But where declamation and improvement in speech is the sole aim"--_Ib._, p. 257. "For it is by these chiefly, that the train of thought, the course of reasoning, and the whole progress of the mind, in continued discourse of all kinds, is laid open."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 103. "In all writing and discourse, the proper composition and structure of sentnences is of the highest importance."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 101. "Here the wishful look and expectation of the beggar naturally leads to a vivid conception of that which was the object of his thoughts."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 386. "Who say, that the outward naming of Christ, and signing of the cross, puts away devils."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 146. "By which an oath and penalty was to be imposed upon the members."--_Junius_, p. 6. "Light and knowledge, in what manner soever afforded us, is equally from God."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 264. "For instance, sickness and untimely death is the consequence of intemperance."--_Ib._, p. 78. "When grief, and blood ill-tempered vexeth him."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 256. "Does continuity and connexion create sympathy and relation in the parts of the body?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 111. "His greatest concern, and highest enjoyment, was to be approved in the sight of his Creator."--_Murray's Key_, p. 224. "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?"--_2 Sam_, iii, 38. "What is vice and wickedness? No rarity, you may depend on it."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 107. "There is also the fear and apprehension of it."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 87. "The apostrophe and _s_, ('s,) is an abbreviation for _is_, the termination of the old English genitive."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 17. "_Ti, ce_, and _ci_, when followed by a vowel, usually has the sound of _sh_; as in _partial, special, ocean_."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 15. "Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due."--_Milton's Lycidas_. "Debauches and excess, though with less noise, As great a portion of mankind destroys."--_Waller_, p. 55. UNDER NOTE II.--AFFIRMATION WITH NEGATION. "Wisdom, and not wealth, procure esteem."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 156. "Prudence, and not pomp, are the basis of his fame."--_Ib._ "Not fear, but labour have overcome him."--_Ib._ "The decency, and not the abstinence, make the difference."--_Ib._ "Not her beauty, but her talents attracts attention."--_Ib._ "It is her talents, and not her beauty, that attracts attention."--_Ib._ "It is her beauty, and not her talents that attract attention."--_Ib._ "His belly, not his brains, this impulse give: He'll grow immortal; for he cannot live."--_Young, to Pope_. UNDER NOTE III.--AS WELL AS, BUT, OR SAVE. "Common sense as well as piety tell us these are proper."--_Family Commentary_, p. 64. "For without it the critic, as well as the undertaker, ignorant of any rule, have nothing left but to abandon themselves to chance."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 42. "And accordingly hatred as well as love are extinguished by long absence."--_Ib._, i, 113. "But at every turn the richest melody as well as the sublimest sentiments are conspicuous."--_Ib._, ii, 121. "But it, as well as the lines immediately subsequent, defy all translation."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 96. "But their religion, as well as their customs, and manners, were strangely misrepresented."--BOLINGBROKE, ON HISTORY, p. 123; _Priestley's Gram._, p. 192; _Murray's Exercises_, p. 47. "But his jealous policy, as well as the fatal antipathy of Fonseca, were conspicuous."--_Robertson's America_, i, 191. "When their extent as well as their value were unknown."--_Ib._, ii, 138. "The Etymology, as well as the Syntax, of the more difficult parts of speech are reserved for his attention [at a later period]."--_Parker and Fox's E. Gram._, Part i, p. 3. "What I myself owe to him, no one but myself know."--See _Wright's Athens_, p. 96. "None, but thou, O mighty prince! canst avert the blow."--_Inst._, p. 156. "Nothing, but frivolous amusements, please the indolent."--_Ib._ "Nought, save the gurglings of the rill, were heard."--_G. B._ "All songsters, save the hooting owl, was mute."--_G. B._ UNDER NOTE IV.--EACH, EVERY, OR NO. "Give every word, and every member, their due weight and force."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 110. "And to one of these belong every noun, and every third person of every verb."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 74. "No law, no restraint, no regulation, are required to keep him in bounds."--_Literary Convention_, p. 260. "By that time, every window and every door in the street were full of heads."--_N. Y. Observer_, No. 503. "Every system of religion, and every school of philosophy, stand back from this field, and leave Jesus Christ alone, the solitary example"--_The Corner Stone_, p. 17. "Each day, and each hour, bring their portion of duty."--_Inst._, p. 156. "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him."--_1 Sam._, xxii, 2. "Every private Christian and member of the church ought to read and peruse the Scriptures, that they may know their faith and belief founded upon them."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 340. "And every mountain and island were moved out of their places."--_Rev._, vi, 14. "No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, No cavern'd hermit rest self-satisfied." UNDER NOTE V.--WITH, OR, &c. FOR AND. "The side A, with the sides B and C, compose the triangle."--_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 48; _Felch's_, 69; _Ware's_, 12. "The stream, the rock, or the tree, must each of them stand forth, so as to make a figure in the imagination."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 390. "While this, with euphony, constitute, finally, the whole."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 293. "The bag, with the guineas and dollars in it, were stolen."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 246. "Sobriety, with great industry and talent, enable a man to perform great deeds."--_Ib._, 245. "The _it_, together with the verb _to be_, express states of being."--_Ib._, 190. "Where Leonidas the Spartan king, with his chosen band, fighting for their country, were cut off to the last man."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 203. "And Leah also, with her children, came near and bowed themselves."--_Gen._, xxxiii, 7. "The First or Second will, either of them, by themselves coalesce with the Third, but not with each other."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 74. "The whole must centre in the query, whether Tragedy or Comedy are hurtful and dangerous representations?"--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 215. "Grief as well as joy are infectious: the emotions they raise in the spectator resemble them perfectly."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 157. "But in all other words the _Qu_ are both sounded."--_Ensell's Gram._, p. 16. "_Qu_ (which are always together) have the sound of _ku_ or _k_, as in _queen, opaque_."-- _Goodenow's Gram._, p. 45. "In this selection the _ai_ form distinct syllables."--_Walker's Key_, p. 290. "And a considerable village, with gardens, fields, &c., extend around on each side of the square."-- _Liberator_, Vol. ix, p. 140. "Affection, or interest, guide our notions and behaviour in the affairs of life; imagination and passion affect the sentiments that we entertain in matters of taste."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 171. "She heard none of those intimations of her defects, which envy, petulance, or anger, produce among children."--_Rambler_, No. 189. "The King, with the Lords and Commons, constitute an excellent form of government."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 242. "If we say, 'I am the man, who commands you,' the relative clause, with the antecedent _man_, form the predicate."--_Ib._, p. 266. "The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heav'ns, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim." --ADDISON. _Murray's Key_, p. 174; _Day's Gram._, p. 92; _Farnum's_, 106. UNDER NOTE VI.--ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTIONS. "There is a reputable and a disreputable practice."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 350. "This and this man was born in her."--_Milton's Psalms_, lxxxvii. "This and that man was born in her."--_Psal._ lxxxvii, 5. "This and that man was born there."--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 94. "Thus _le_ in _l~ego_ and _l~egi_ seem to be sounded equally long."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 253; _Gould's_, 243. "A distinct and an accurate articulation forms the groundwork of good delivery."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 25. "How is vocal and written language understood?"--_C. W. Sanders, Spelling-Book_, p. 7. "The good, the wise, and the learned man is an ornament to human society."--_Bartlett's Reader_. "On some points, the expression of song and speech is identical."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 425. "To every room there was an open and secret passage."--_Johnson's Rasselas_, p. 13. "There iz such a thing az tru and false taste, and the latter az often directs fashion, az the former."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 401. "There is such a thing as a prudent and imprudent institution of life, with regard to our health and our affairs"--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 210. "The lot of the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah, however different in one respect, have in another corresponded with wonderful exactness."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 301. "On these final syllables the radical and vanishing movement is performed."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 64. "To be young or old, good, just, or the contrary, are physical or moral events."--SPURZHEIM: _Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 29. "The eloquence of George Whitfield and of John Wesley was of a very different character each from the other."--_Dr. Sharp_. "The affinity of _m_ for the series _b_, and of _n_ for the series _t_, give occasion for other Euphonic changes."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.77. "Pylades' soul and mad Orestes', was In these, if we believe Pythagoras"--_Cowley's Poems_, p. 3. UNDER NOTE VII.--DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES. "To be moderate in our views, and to proceed temperately in the pursuit of them, is the best way to ensure success."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 206. "To be of any species, and to have a right to the name of that species, is all one."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 300. "With whom to will and to do is the same."--_Jamieson's Sacred History_, Vol. ii, p. 22. "To profess, and to possess, is very different things."--_Inst._, p. 156. "To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, is duties of universal obligation."--_Ib._ "To be round or square, to be solid or fluid, to be large or small, and to be moved swiftly or slowly, is all equally alien from the nature of thought."--_Ib._ "The resolving of a sentence into its elements or parts of speech and stating the Accidents which belong to these, is called PARSING."--_Bullion's Pract. Lessons_, p. 9. "To spin and to weave, to knit and to sew, was once a girl's employment; but now to dress and catch a beau, is all she calls enjoyment."--_Lynn News_, Vol. 8, No. 1. RULE XVII.--FINITE VERBS. When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together: as, "Fear _or_ jealousy _affects_ him."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 133. "Nor eye, _nor_ listening ear, an object _finds_: creation sleeps."--_Young_. "Neither character _nor_ dialogue _was_ yet understood."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 151. "The wife, where danger _or_ dishonour _lurks_, Safest and seemliest by her husband stays."--_Milton, P. L._, ix, 267. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XVII. OBS. 1.--To this rule, so far as its application is practicable, there are properly no exceptions; for, _or_ and _nor_ being disjunctive conjunctions, the nominatives are of course to assume the verb separately, and as agreeing with each. Such agreement seems to be positively required by the alternativeness of the expression. Yet the ancient grammarians seldom, if at all, insisted on it. In Latin and Greek, a plural verb is often employed with singular nominatives thus connected; as, "Tunc nec mens mini, nec color Certa sede _manent_."--HORACE. See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 133. [Greek: "Ean de adelphos ae adelphae lumnoi huparchosi, kai leipomenoi osi taes ephaemerou trophaes."]--_James_, ii. 15. And the best scholars have sometimes _improperly_ imitated this construction in English; as, "Neither Virgil nor Homer _were_ deficient in any of the former beauties."--DRYDEN'S PREFACE: _Brit. Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 168. "Neither Saxon nor Roman _have availed_ to add any idea to his [Plato's] categories."--R. W. EMERSON: _Liberator_, No. 996. "He comes--nor want _nor_ cold his course _delay_: Hide, blushing Glory! hide Pultowa's day."--_Dr. Johnson_. "No monstrous height, _or_ breadth, _or_ length, _appear_; The whole at once is bold and regular."--_Pope, on Crit._, l. 250. OBS. 2.--When two collective nouns of the singular form are connected by _or_ or _nor_, the verb may agree with them in the plural number, because such agreement is adapted to each of them, according to Rule 15th; as, "Why _mankind_, or such a _part_ of mankind, are placed in this condition."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 213. "But neither the _Board_ of Control nor the _Court_ of Directors _have_ any scruples about sanctioning the abuses of which I have spoken."--_Glory and Shame of England_, Vol. ii, p. 70. OBS. 3.--When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers, connected by _or_ or _nor_, an explicit concord with each is impossible; because the verb cannot be of different persons or numbers at the same time; nor is it so, even when its form is made the same in all the persons and numbers: thus, "I, thou, [or] he, _may affirm_; we, ye, or they, _may affirm_."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 36. Respecting the proper management of the verb when its nominatives thus disagree, the views of our grammarians are not exactly coincident. Few however are ignorant enough, or rash enough, to deny that there may be an implicit or implied concord in such cases,--a _zeugma_ of the verb in English, as well as of the verb or of the adjective in Latin or Greek. Of this, the following is a brief example: "But _he nor I feel_ more."--_Dr. Young_, Night iii, p. 35. And I shall by-and-by add others--enough, I hope, to confute those false critics who condemn all such phraseology. OBS. 4.--W. Allen's rule is this: "If the nominatives are of different numbers or persons, the verb agrees with _the last_; as, he _or_ his _brothers were_ there; neither _you nor I am_ concerned."--_English Gram._, p. 133. Lindley Murray, and others, say: (1.) "When singular pronouns, or a noun and pronoun, of different _persons_, are disjunctively connected, the verb must agree with that person which is placed _nearest to it_: as, 'I or thou _art_ to blame;' 'Thou or I _am_ in fault;' 'I, or thou, or he, _is_ the author of it;' 'George or I _am_ the person.' But it would be better to say; 'Either I am to blame, or thou art,' &c. (2.) When a disjunctive occurs between a singular noun, _or_ pronoun, and a plural one, the verb is made to agree with the _plural_ noun _and_ pronoun: as, 'Neither poverty nor riches _were_ injurious to him;' 'I or they _were_ offended by it.' But in this case, the plural noun _or_ pronoun, when _it_ can conveniently be _done_, should be placed next to the verb."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 151; _Smith's New Gram._, 128; _Alger's Gram._, 54; _Comly's_, 78 and 79; _Merchant's_, 86; _Picket's_, 175; and many more. There are other grammarians who teach, that the verb must agree with the nominative which is placed next to it, whether this be singular or plural; as, "Neither the servants nor the master _is_ respected;"--"Neither the master nor the servants _are_ respected."--_Alexander Murray's Gram._, p. 65. "But if neither the writings nor the author _is_ in existence, the Imperfect should be used."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 107. OBS. 5.--On this point, a new author has just given us the following precept and criticism: "Never connect by _or_, or _nor_, two or more names or substitutes that have the same _asserter_ [i.e. _verb_] depending on them for sense, if when taken separately, they require different forms of the _asserters_. Examples. 'Neither you nor I _am concerned_. Either he _or_ thou _wast_ there. Either they _or_ he is faulty.' These examples are as erroneous as it would be to say, 'Neither _you am_ concerned, nor am I.' 'Either he _wast_ there, or thou wast.' 'Either _they is_ faulty, or he is.' The sentences should stand thus--'Neither of us _is_ concerned,' or, 'neither _are you_ concerned, nor _am I_.' 'Either _he was_ there, or _thou wast_.' 'Either _they are_ faulty, or _he is_. They are, however, in all their impropriety, writen [sic--KTH] according to the principles of Goold Brown's _grammar!_ and the theories of most of the former writers."--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 252. We shall see by-and-by who is right. OBS. 6.--Cobbett also--while he approves of such English as, "_He, with them, are_ able to do much," for, "_He and they are_ able to do much"--condemns expressly every possible example in which the verb has not a full and explicit concord with each of its nominatives, if they are connected by _or_ or _nor_. His doctrine is this: "If nominatives of different _numbers_ present themselves, we must not give them a verb which _disagrees_ with either the one or the other. We must not say: 'Neither the halter _nor_ the bayonets _are_ sufficient to prevent us from obtaining our rights.' We must avoid this bad grammar by using a different form of words: as, 'We are to be prevented from obtaining our rights by neither the halter nor the bayonets.' And, why should we _wish_ to write bad grammar, if we can express our meaning in good grammar?"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 242. This question would have more force, if the correction here offered did not convey a meaning _widely different_ from that of the sentence corrected. But he goes on: "We cannot say, 'They or I _am_ in fault; I, or they, or he, _is_ the author of it; George or I _am_ the person.' Mr. Lindley Murray says, that we _may_ use these phrases; and that we have only to take care that the verb agree with that person which is _placed nearest_ to it; but, he says also, that it would be _better_ to avoid such phrases by giving a different turn to our words. I do not like to leave any thing to chance or to discretion, when we have a _clear principle_ for our guide."--_Ib._, 243. This author's "clear principle" is merely his own confident assumption, that every form of figurative or implied agreement, every thing which the old grammarians denominated _zeugma_, is at once to be condemned as a solecism. He is however supported by an other late writer of much greater merit. See _Churchill's New Gram._, pp. 142 and 312. OBS. 7.--If, in lieu of their fictitious examples, our grammarians would give us actual quotations from reputable authors, their instructions would doubtless gain something in accuracy, and still more in authority. "_I or they were offended by it_," and, "_I, or thou, or he, is the author of it_," are expressions that I shall not defend. They imply an _egotistical_ speaker, who either does not know, or will not tell, whether he is _offended_ or not,--whether he _is the author_ or not! Again, there are expressions that are unobjectionable, and yet not conformable to any of the rules just quoted. That nominatives may be correctly connected by _or_ or _nor_ without an express agreement of the verb with each of them, is a point which can be proved to as full certainty as almost any other in grammar; Churchill, Cobbett, and Peirce to the contrary notwithstanding. But with which of the nominatives the verb shall expressly agree, or to which of them it may most properly be understood, is a matter not easy to be settled by any _sure_ general rule. Nor is the lack of such a rule a very important defect, though the inculcation of a false or imperfect one may be. So judged at least the ancient grammarians, who noticed and named almost every possible form of the zeugma, without censuring any as being ungrammatical. In the Institutes of English Grammar, I noted first the usual form of this concord, and then the allowable exceptions; but a few late writers, we see, denounce every form of it, exceptions and all: and, standing alone in their notions of the figure, value their own authority more than that of all other critics together. OBS. 8.--In English, as in other languages, when a verb has discordant nominatives connected disjunctively, it most commonly agrees expressly with that which is nearest, and only by implication, with the more remote; as, "When some word or words _are_ dependent on the attribute."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 153. "To the first of these qualities, dulness or refinements _are_ dangerous enemies."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 15. "He hazards his own life with that of his enemy, and one or both _are_ very _honorably_ murdered."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 235. "The consequence is, that they frown upon everyone whose faults or negligence _interrupts_ or _retards_ their lessons."--_W. C. Woodbridge: Lit. Conv._, p. 114. "Good intentions, or at least sincerity of purpose, _was_ never denied her."--_West's Letters_, p. 43. "Yet this proves not that either he or we _judge_ them to be the rule."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 157. "First clear yourselves of popery before you or thou _dost throw_ it upon us."--_Ib._, i, 169. "_Is_ the gospel or glad tidings of this salvation brought nigh unto all?"--_Ib._, i, 362. "Being persuaded, that either they, or their cause, _is_ naught."--_Ib._, i, 504. "And the reader may judge whether he or I _do_ most fully acknowledge man's fall."--_Ib._, iii, 332. "To do justice to the Ministry, they have not yet pretended that any one, or any two, of the three Estates, _have_ power to make a new law, without the concurrence of the third."--_Junius_, Letter xvii. "The forest, or hunting-grounds, _are_ deemed the property of the tribe."--_Robertson's America_, i, 313. "Birth or titles _confer_ no preeminence."--_Ib._, ii, 184. "Neither tobacco nor hides _were_ imported from Caraccas into Spain."--_Ib._, ii, 507. "The keys or seed-vessel of the maple _has_ two large side-wings."--_The Friend_, vii, 97. "An example or two _are_ sufficient to illustrate the general observation."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 58. "Not thou, nor those thy factious arts engage, _Shall_ reap that harvest of rebellious rage."--_Dryden_, p. 60. OBS. 9.--But when the remoter nominative is the principal word, and the nearer one is expressed parenthetically, the verb agrees literally with the former, and only by implication, with the latter; as, "One example, (or ten,) _says_ nothing against it."--_Leigh Hunt_. "And we, (or future ages,) _may_ possibly _have_ a proof of it."--_Bp. Butler_. So, when the alternative is merely in the _words_, not in the _thought_, the former term is sometimes considered the principal one, and is therefore allowed to control the verb; but there is always a harshness in this mixture of different numbers, and, to render such a construction tolerable, it is necessary to read the latter term like a parenthesis, and make the former emphatic: as, "A _parenthesis_, or brackets, _consists_ of two angular strokes, or hooks, enclosing one or more words."--_Whiting's Reader_, p. 28. "To show us that our own _schemes_, or prudence, _have_ no share in our advancements."--_Addison_. "The Mexican _figures_, or picture-writing, _represent_ things, not words; _they_ exhibit images to the eye, not ideas to the understanding."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 243; _English Reader_, p. xiii. "At Travancore, _Koprah_, or dried cocoa-nut kernels, _is_ monopolized by government."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 12. "The _Scriptures_, or Bible, _are_ the only authentic source."--_Bp. Tomline's Evidences_. "Nor foes nor fortune _take_ this power away; And is my Abelard less kind than _they_?"--_Pope_, p. 334. OBS. 10.--The English adjective being indeclinable, we have no examples of some of the forms of zeugma which occur in Latin and Greek. But adjectives differing in _number_, are sometimes connected without a repetition of the noun; and, in the agreement of the verb, the noun which is understood, is less apt to be regarded than that which is expressed, though the latter be more remote; as, "There _are one or two_ small _irregularities_ to be noted."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 63. "There _are one or two persons_, and but one or two."--_Hazlitt's Lectures_. "There _are one or two_ others."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 206. "There _are one or two_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 319. "There _are one or more_ seminaries in every province."--_H. E. Dwight: Lit. Conv._, p. 133. "Whether _one or more_ of the clauses _are_ to be considered the nominative case."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. "So that, I believe, there _is_ not _more_ than _one_ genuine example extant."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 10. "There _is_, properly, no _more_ than _one_ pause or rest in the sentence."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 329; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 125. "Sometimes a small _letter or two is_ added to the capital."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 223; _Gould's_, 283. Among the examples in the seventh paragraph above, there is one like this last, but with a plural verb; and if either is objectionable, _is_ should here be _are_. The preceding example, too, is such as I would not imitate. To L. Murray, the following sentence seemed false syntax, because _one_ does not agree with _persons_: "He saw _one or more persons_ enter the garden."--_Murray's Exercises_, Rule 8th, p. 54. In his Key, he has it thus: "He saw one _person_, or _more than one_, enter the garden."--_Oct. Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 189. To me, this stiff _correction_, which many later grammarians have copied, seems worse than none. And the effect of the principle may be noticed in Murray's style elsewhere; as, "When a _semicolon, or more than one_, have preceded."--_Octavo Gram._, i, p. 277; _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 288. Here a ready writer would be very apt to prefer one of the following phrases: "When a semicolon _or two_ have preceded,"--"When _one or two semicolons_ have preceded,"--"When _one or more semicolons_ have preceded." It is better to write by guess, than to become systematically awkward in expression. OBS. 11.--In Greek and Latin, the pronoun of the first person, according to our critics, is _generally_[398] placed first; as, "[Greek: Ego kai su ta dikaia poiaesomen]. Xen."--_Milnes's Gr. Gram._, p. 120. That is, "_Ego et tu justa faciemus_." Again: "_Ego et Cicero valemus_. Cic."--_Buchanan's Pref._, p. x; _Adam's Gram._, 206; _Gould's_, 203. "I and Cicero are well."--_Ib._ But, in English, a modest speaker usually gives to others the precedence, and mentions himself last; as, "He, or thou, or I, must go."--"Thou and I will do what is right."--"Cicero and I are well."--_Dr. Adam_.[399] Yet, in speaking of himself and his _dependants_, a person most commonly takes rank before them; as, "Your inestimable letters supported _myself, my wife_, and _children_, in adversity."--_Lucien Bonaparte, Charlemagne_, p. v. "And I shall be destroyed, _I_ and _my house_."--_Gen._, xxxiv, 30. And in acknowledging a fault, misfortune, or censure, any speaker may assume the first place; as, "Both _I and thou_ are in the fault."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 207. "Both _I and you_ are in fault."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. ix. "Trusty did not do it; _I and Robert_ did it."--_Edgeworth's Stories_. "With critic scales, weighs out the partial wit, What _I_, or _you_, or _he_, or _no one_ writ." --_Lloyd's Poems_, p. 162. OBS. 12.--According to the theory of this work, verbs themselves are not unfrequently connected, one to an other, by _and, or_, or _nor_; so that two or more of them, being properly in the same construction, may be parsed as agreeing with the same nominative: as, "So that the blind and dumb [_man_] both _spake_ and _saw_."--_Matt._, xii, 22. "That no one _might buy_ or _sell_."--_Rev._, xiii, 17. "Which _see_ not, nor _hear_, nor _know_."--_Dan._, v, 23. We have certainly very many examples like these, in which it is neither convenient nor necessary to suppose an ellipsis of the nominative before the latter verb, or before all but the first, as most of our grammarians do, whenever they find two or more finite verbs connected in this manner. It is true, the nominative may, in most instances, be repeated without injury to the sense; but this fact is no proof of such an ellipsis; because many a sentence which is not incomplete, may possibly take additional words without change of meaning. But these authors, (as I have already suggested under the head of conjunctions,) have not been very careful of their own consistency. If they teach, that, "Every finite verb has its own separate nominative, either expressed or implied," which idea Murray and others seem to have gathered from Lowth; or if they say, that, "Conjunctions really unite sentences, when they appear to unite only words," which notion they may have acquired from Harris; what room is there for that common assertion, that, "Conjunctions connect the same moods and tenses of verbs," which is a part of Murray's eighteenth rule, and found in most of our grammars? For no agreement is usually required between verbs that have separate nominatives; and if we supply a nominative wherever we do not find one for each verb, then in fact no two verbs will ever be connected by any conjunction. OBS. 13.--What agreement there must be, between verbs that are in the same construction, it is not easy to determine with certainty. Some of the Latin grammarians tell us, that certain conjunctions connect "sometimes similar moods and tenses, and sometimes similar moods but different tenses." See _Prat's Grammatica Latina, Octavo_, Part ii, p. 95. Ruddiman, Adam, and Grant, omit the concord of tenses, and enumerate certain conjunctions which "couple like cases and moods." But all of them acknowledge some exceptions to their rules. The instructions of Lindley Murray and others, on this point, may be summed up in the following canon: "When verbs are connected by a conjunction, they must either agree in mood, tense, and form, or have separate nominatives expressed." This rule, (with a considerable exception to it, which other authors had not noticed.) was adopted by myself in the Institutes of English Grammar, and also retained in the Brief Abstract of that work, entitled, The First Lines of English Grammar. It there stands as the thirteenth in the series of principal rules; but, as there is no occasion to refer to it in the exercise of parsing, I now think, a less prominent place may suit it as well or better. The principle may be considered as being less certain and less important than most of the usual rules of syntax: I shall therefore both modify the expression of it, and place it among the notes of the present code. See Notes 5th and 6th below. OBS. 14.--By the agreement of verbs with each other in _form_, it is meant, that the simple form and the compound, the familiar form and the solemn, the affirmative form and the negative, or the active form and the passive, are not to be connected without a repetition of the nominative. With respect to _our_ language, this part of the rule is doubtless as important, and as true, as any other. A thorough agreement, then, in mood, tense, and form, is _generally_ required, when verbs are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_; and, under each part of this concord, there may be cited certain errors which ought to be avoided, as will by-and-by be shown. But, at the same time, there seem to be many allowable violations of the rule, some or other of which may perhaps form exceptions to every part of it. For example, the _tense_ may be varied, as it often is in Latin; thus, "As the general state of religion _has been, is_, or _shall be_, affected by them."--_Butlers Analogy_, p. 241. "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which _art_, and _wast_, and _shall be_, because thou hast judged thus."--_Rev._, xvi, 5. In the former of these examples, a repetition of the nominative would not be agreeable; in the latter, it would perhaps be an improvement: as, "_who_ art, and _who_ wast, and _who_ shalt be." (I here change the pronoun, because the relative _which_ is not now applied as above.) "This dedication may serve for almost any book, that _has been_, or _shall be_ published."--_Campbell's Rhet._ p. 207; _Murray's Gram._, p. 222. "It ought to be, '_has been, is_, or _shall be_, published.'"--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 383. "Truth and good sense _are_ firm, and _will establish_ themselves."--_Blair's Rhet._ p. 286. "Whereas Milton _followed_ a different plan, and _has given_ a tragic conclusion to a poem otherwise epic in its form."--_Ib._, p. 428. "I am certain, that such _are not_, nor ever _were_, the tenets of the church of England."--_West's Letters_, p. 148. "They _deserve_, and _will meet with_, no regard."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 109. "Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er _was_, nor _is_, nor e'er _shall be_." --_Pope, on Crit._ OBS. 15.--So verbs differing in _mood_ or _form_ may sometimes agree with the same nominative, if the simplest verb be placed first--rarely, I think, if the words stand in any other order: as, "One _may be_ free from affectation and _not have_ merit"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 189. "There _is_, and _can be_, no other person."--_Murray's Key_. 8vo. p. 224. "To see what _is_, and _is allowed_ to be, the plain natural rule."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 284. "This great experiment _has worked_, and _is working_, well, every way well"--BRADBURN: _Liberator_, ix. 162. "This edition of Mr. Murray's works on English Grammar, _deserves_ a place in Libraries, and _will not fail_ to obtain it."--BRITISH CRITIC: _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, ii, 299. "What nothing earthly _gives_, or _can destroy_."--_Pope_. "Some _are_, and _must be_, greater than the rest."--_Id._ OBS. 16.--Since most of the tenses of an English verb are composed of two or more words, to prevent a needless or disagreeable repetition of auxiliaries, participles, and principal verbs, those parts which are common to two or more verbs in the same sentence, are generally expressed to the first, and understood to the rest; or reserved, and put last, as the common supplement of each; as, "To which they _do_ or _can extend_."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 77. "He _may_, as any one _may_, if he _will, incur_ an infamous execution from the hands of civil justice."--_Ib._, p. 82. "All that has usurped the name of virtue, and [_has_] deceived us by its semblance, must be a mockery and a delusion."--_Dr. Chalmers_. "Human praise, and human eloquence, may acknowledge it, but the Discerner of the heart never will" [_acknowledge it_].--_Id._ "We use thee not so hardly, as prouder livers do" [_use thee_].--_Shak._ "Which they might have foreseen and [_might have_] avoided."--_Butler_. "Every sincere endeavour to amend, shall be assisted, [_shall be_] accepted, and [_shall be_] rewarded."--_Carter_. "Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and [_will_] stand and [_will_] call on the name of the Lord his God, and [_will_] strike his hand over the place, and [_will_] recover the leper."--_2 Kings_, v, 11. "They mean to, and will, hear patiently."--_Salem Register_. That is, "They mean to _hear patiently_, and _they_ will hear patiently." "He can create, and he destroy."--_Bible_. That is,--"and he _can_ destroy." "Virtue _may be assail'd_, but never _hurt_, _Surpris'd_ by unjust force, but not _inthrall'd_."--_Milton_. "Mortals whose pleasures are their only care, First wish to be _imposed on_, and then _are_."--_Cowper_. OBS. 17.--From the foregoing examples, it may be seen, that the complex and divisible structure of the English moods and tenses, produces, when verbs are connected together, a striking peculiarity of construction in our language, as compared with the nearest corresponding construction in Latin or Greek. For we can connect different auxiliaries, participles, or principal verbs, without repeating, and apparently without connecting, the other parts of the mood or tense. And although it is commonly supposed that these parts are necessarily understood wherever they are not repeated, there are sentences, and those not a few, in which we cannot express them, without inserting also an additional nominative, and producing distinct clauses; as, "_Should_ it not _be taken_ up and _pursued_?"--_Dr. Chalmers_. "Where thieves _do_ not _break_ through nor _steal_."--_Matt._, vi, 20. "None present _could_ either _read_ or _explain_ the writing-."--_Wood's Dict._, Vol. i, p. 159. Thus we sometimes make a single auxiliary an index to the mood and tense of more than one verb. OBS. 18.--The verb _do_, which is sometimes an auxiliary and sometimes a principal verb, is thought by some grammarians to be also fitly made a _substitute_ for other verbs, as a pronoun is for nouns; but this doctrine has not been taught with accuracy, and the practice under it will in many instances be found to involve a solecism. In this kind of substitution, there must either be a true ellipsis of the principal verb, so that _do_ is only an auxiliary; or else the verb _do_, with its _object_ or _adverb_, if it need one, must exactly correspond to an action described before; so that to speak of _doing this_ or _thus_, is merely the shortest way of repeating the idea: as, "He _loves_ not plays, as thou _dost_. Antony."--_Shak._ That is, "as thou _dost love plays._" "This fellow is wise enough _to play the fool_; and, _to do that_ well, craves a kind of wit."--_Id._ Here, "_to do that_," is, "_to play the fool_." "I will not _do it_, if I find thirty there."--_Gen._, xviii, 30. Do what? Destroy the city, as had been threatened. Where _do_ is an auxiliary, there is no real substitution; and, in the other instances, it is not properly the verb _do_, that is the substitute, but rather the word that follows it--or perhaps, both. For, since every action consists in _doing something_ or in _doing somehow_, this general verb _do_, with _this, that, it, thus_, or _so_, to identify the action, may assume the import of many a longer phrase. But care must be taken not to substitute this verb for any term to which it is not equivalent; as, "The _a_ is certainly to be sounded as the English _do_."--_Walker's Dict., w. A_. Say, "as the English _sound it_;" for _do_ is here absurd, and grossly solecistical. "The duke had not behaved with that loyalty with which he ought to have _done_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 111; _Murray's_, i, 212; _Churchill's_, 355; _Fisk's_, 137; _Ingersoll's_, 269. Say, "with which he ought to have _behaved_;" for, to have _done_ with loyalty is not what was meant--far from it. Clarendon wrote the text thus: "The Duke had not behaved with that loyalty, _as_ he ought to have done." This should have been corrected, not by changing _"as"_ to _"with which"_, but by saying--"with that loyalty _which_ he ought to have _observed;"_ or, "_which would have become him"_. OBS. 19.--It is little to the credit of our grammarians, to find so many of them thus concurring in the same obvious error, and even making bad English worse. The very examples which have hitherto been given to prove that _do_ may be a substitute for other verbs, are _none of them in point_, and all of them have been constantly and shamefully _misinterpreted._ Thus: "They [_do_ and _did_] sometimes also supply the place of _another verb_, and make the repetition of it, in the same or a subsequent sentence, unnecessary: as, 'You attend not to your studies as he _does_;' (i. e. as he _attends_, &c.) 'I shall come if I can; but if I _do not_, please to excuse me;' (i. e. if I _come_ not.)"--_L. Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 88; _R. C. Smith's_, 88; _Ingersoll's_, 135; _Fisk's_, 78; _A. Flint's_, 41; _Hiley's_, 30. This remark, but not the examples, was taken from _Lowths Gram._, p. 41. Churchill varies it thus, and retains Lowth's example: "It [i. e., _do_] is used also, to supply the _place of another verb_, in order to avoid the repetition of it: as, 'He _loves_ not plays, As thou _dost_, Antony.' SHAKS."--_New Gram._, p. 96. Greenleaf says, "To prevent the repetition of _one or more verbs_, in the same, or [a] following sentence, we frequently make use of _do_ AND _did_; as, 'Jack learns the English language as fast as Henry _does_;' that is, 'as fast as Henry _learns_.' 'I shall come if I can; but if I _do_ not, please to excuse me;' that is, 'if I _come_ not.'"--_Gram. Simplified_, p. 27. Sanborn says, "_Do_ is also used _instead of another verb_, and not unfrequently instead of both _the verb and its object_; as, 'he _loves work_ as well as you _do_;' that is, as well as you _love work_."--_Analyt. Gram._, p. 112. Now all these interpretations are wrong; the word _do, dost_, or _does_, being simply an auxiliary, after which the principal verb (with its object where it has one) is _understood_. But the first example is _bad English_, and its explanation is still worse. For, "_As he attends_, &c.," means, "As _he_ attends _to your studies!_" And what good sense is there in this? The sentence ought to have been, "You do not attend to your studies, as he does _to his_." That is--"as he does _attend_ to his _studies_." This plainly shows that there is, in the text, no real substitution of _does_ for _attends_. So of all other examples exhibited in our grammars, under this head: there is nothing to the purpose, in any of them; the common principle of _ellipsis_ resolves them all. Yet, strange to say, in the latest and most learned of this sort of text-books, we find the same sham example, fictitious and solecistical as it is, still blindly repeated, to show that "_does_" is not in its own place, as an auxiliary, but "supplies the place of another verb."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo. 1850. p. 265. NOTES TO RULE XVII. NOTE I.--When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers,[400] connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with the nearest, (unless an other be the principal term,) and must be understood to the rest, in the person and number required; as, "Neither you nor I _am_ concerned."--_W. Allen_. "That neither they nor ye also _die_."--_Numb._, xviii, 3. "But neither god, nor shrine, nor mystic rite, Their city, nor her walls, his soul _delight_." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. x, l. 26. NOTE II.--But, since all nominatives that require different forms of the verb, virtually produce separate clauses or propositions, it is better to complete the concord whenever we conveniently can, by expressing the verb or its auxiliary in connexion with each of them; as, "Either thou _art_ to blame, or I _am_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 78. "Neither _were_ their numbers, nor _was_ their destination, known."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 134. So in clauses connected by _and_: as, "But declamation _is_ idle, and _murmurs_ fruitless."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 82. Say,--"and murmurs _are_ fruitless." NOTE III.--In English, the speaker should always mention himself last; unless his own superior dignity, or the confessional nature of the expression, warrant him in taking the precedence: as, "_Thou or I_ must go."--"He then addressed his discourse to _my father and me_."--"_Ellen and I_ will seek, apart, the refuge of some forest cell."--_Scott_. See Obs. 11th above. NOTE IV.--Two or more distinct subject phrases connected by _or_ or _nor_, require a singular verb; and, if a nominative come after the verb, that must be singular also: as, "That a drunkard should be poor, _or_ that a fop should be ignorant, _is_ not strange."--"To give an affront, or to take one tamely, _is_ no _mark_ of a great mind." So, when the phrases are unconnected: as, "To spread suspicion, to invent calumnies, to propagate scandal, _requires_ neither labour nor courage."--_Rambler_, No. 183. NOTE V.--In general, when _verbs_ are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, they must either agree in mood, tense, and form, or the simplest in form must be placed first; as, "So Sennacherib king of Assyria _departed_, and _went_ and _returned_, and _dwelt_ at Nineveh."--_Isaiah_, xxxvii, 37. "For if I _be_ an offender, or _have committed_ any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die."--_Acts_, xxv, 11. NOTE VI.--In stead of conjoining discordant verbs, it is in general better to repeat the nominative or insert a new one; as, "He was greatly heated, and [_he] drank_ with avidity."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 201. "A person may be great or rich by chance; but _cannot be_ wise or good, without taking pains for it."--_Ib._, p. 200. Say,--"but _no one can be_ wise or good, without taking pains for it." NOTE VII.--A mixture of the forms of the solemn style and the familiar, is inelegant, whether the verbs refer to the same nominative or have different ones expressed; as, "What _appears_ tottering and in hazard of tumbling, _produceth_ in the spectator the painful emotion of fear."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 356. "And the milkmaid _singeth_ blithe, And the mower _whets_ his sithe."--_Milton's Allegro_, l. 65 and 66. NOTE VIII.--To use different moods under precisely the same circumstances, is improper, even if the verbs have separate nominatives; as, "Bating that one _speak_ and an other _answers_, it is quite the same."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 368. Say,--"that one _speaks_;" for both the speaking and the answering are assumed as facts. NOTE IX.--When two terms are connected, which involve different forms of the same verb, such parts of the compound tenses as are not common to both forms, should be inserted in full: except sometimes after the auxiliary _do_; as, "And then he _falls_, as I _do_."--_Shak_. That is, "as I _do fall_." The following sentences are therefore faulty: "I think myself highly obliged _to make_ his fortune, as he _has_ mine."--_Spect._, No. 474. Say,--"as he _has made_ mine." "Every attempt to remove them, _has_, and likely _will prove_ unsuccessful."--_Gay's Prosodical Gram._, p. 4. Say,--"_has proved_, and likely _will prove_, unsuccessful." NOTE X.--The verb _do_ must never be substituted for any term to which its own meaning is not adapted; nor is there any use in putting it for a preceding verb that is equally short: as, "When we see how confidently men rest on groundless surmises in reference to their own souls, we cannot wonder that they _do it_ in reference to others."--_Simeon_. Better:--"that they _so rest_ in reference to _the souls of_ others;" for this repeats the idea with more exactness. NOTE XI.--The preterit should not be employed to form the compound tenses of the verb; nor should the perfect participle be used for the preterit or confounded with the present. Thus: say, "To have _gone_," not, "To have _went_;" and, "I _did_ so," not, "I _done_ so;" or, "He _saw_ them," not, "He _seen_ them." Again: say not, "It was _lift_ or _hoist_ up;" but, "It was _lifted_ or _hoisted_ up." NOTE XII.--Care should be taken, to give every verb or participle its appropriate form, and not to confound those which resemble each other; as, _to flee_ and _to fly, to lay_ and _to lie, to sit_ and _to set, to fall_ and _to fell_, &c. Thus: say, "He _lay_ by the fire;" not, "He _laid_ by the fire;"--"He _has become_ rich;" not, "He _is become_ rich;"--"I _would_ rather _stay_;" not, "I _had_ rather _stay_." NOTE XIII.--In the syntax of words that express time, whether they be verbs, adverbs, or nouns, the order and fitness of time should be observed, that the tenses may be used according to their import. Thus: in stead of, "I _have seen_ him _last week_;" say, "I _saw_ him _last week_;"--and, in stead of, "I _saw_ him _this week_;" say, "I _have seen_ him _this week_." So, in stead of, "I _told_ you _already_;" or, "I _have told_ you _before_;" say, "I _have told_ you _already_;"--"I _told_ you _before_." NOTE XIV.--Verbs of commanding, desiring, expecting, hoping, intending, permitting, and some others, in all their tenses, refer to actions or events, relatively present or future: one should therefore say, "I hoped you _would come_;" not, "I hoped you _would have come_;"--and, "I intended _to do_ it;" not, "I intended _to have done_ it;"--&c. NOTE XV.--Propositions that are as true now as they ever were or will be, should generally be expressed in the present tense: as, "He seemed hardly to know, that two and two _make_ four;" not, "_made_."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 65. "He will tell you, that whatever _is, is_ right." Sometimes the present tense is improper with the conjunction _that_, though it would be quite proper without it; as, "Others said, _That_ it _is_ Elias. And others said, _That_ it _is_ a prophet."--_Mark_, vi, 15. Here _That_ should be omitted, or else _is_ should be _was_. The capital _T_ is also improper. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVII. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY OR. "We do not know in what either reason or instinct consist."--_Rambler_, No. 41. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _consist_ is of the plural number, and does not correctly agree with its two nominatives, _reason_ and _instinct_, which are connected by _or_, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 17th, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, _consist_ should be _consists_; thus, "We do not know in what either reason or instinct _consists_."] "A noun or a pronoun joined with a participle, constitute a nominative case absolute."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 50. "The relative will be of that case, which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, use to govern."--_Dr. Adam's Gram._, p. 203. "Which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, usually govern."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 200.[401] "In the different modes of pronunciation which habit or caprice give rise to."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 14. "By which he, or his deputy, were authorized to cut down any trees in Whittlebury forest."--_Junius_, p. 251. "Wherever objects were to be named, in which sound, noise, or motion were concerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "The pleasure or pain resulting from a train of perceptions in different circumstances, are a beautiful contrivance of nature for valuable purposes."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 262. "Because their foolish vanity or their criminal ambition represent the principles by which they are influenced, as absolutely perfect."--_Life of Madame De Stael_, p. 2. "Hence naturally arise indifference or aversion between the parties."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 37. "A penitent unbeliever, or an impenitent believer, are characters no where to be found."--_Tract_, No. 183. "Copying whatever is peculiar in the talk of all those whose birth or fortune entitle them to imitation."--_Rambler_, No. 194. "Where love, hatred, fear, or contempt, are often of decisive influence."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 119. "A lucky anecdote, or an enlivening tale relieve the folio page."--_D'Israeli's Curiosities_, Vol. i, p. 15. "For outward matter or event, fashion not the character within."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "Yet sometimes we have seen that wine, or chance, have warmed cold brains."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 76. "Motion is a Genus; Flight, a Species; this Flight or that Flight are Individuals."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 38. "When _et, aut, vel, sine_, or _nec_, are joined to different members of the same sentence."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 206; _Gould's Lat. Gram._, 203; _Grant's_, 266. "Wisdom or folly govern us."--_Fisk's English Gram._, 84. "_A_ or _an_ are styled indefinite articles."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "A rusty nail, or a crooked pin, shoot up into prodigies."--_Spectator_, No. 7. "Are either the subject or the predicate in the second sentence modified?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 578, Sec.589. "Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 293. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY NOR. "Neither he nor she have spoken to him."--_Perrin's Gram._, p. 237. "For want of a process of events, neither knowledge nor elegance preserve the reader from weariness."--JOHNSON: _in Crabb's Syn._, p. 511. "Neither history nor tradition furnish such information."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 2. "Neither the form nor power of the liquids have varied materially."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 16. "Where neither noise nor motion are concerned."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "Neither Charles nor his brother were qualified to support such a system."--_Junius_, p. 250. "When, therefore, neither the liveliness of representation, nor the warmth of passion, serve, as it were, to cover the trespass, it is not safe to leave the beaten track."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 381. "In many countries called Christian, neither Christianity, nor its evidence, are fairly laid before men."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 269. "Neither the intellect nor the heart are capable of being driven."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 20. "Throughout this hymn, neither Apollo nor Diana are in any way connected with the Sun or Moon."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 199. "Of which, neither he, nor this Grammar, take any notice."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 346. "Neither their solicitude nor their foresight extend so far."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol. i, p. 287. "Neither Gomara, nor Oviedo, nor Herrera, consider Ojeda, or his companion Vespucci, as the first discoverers of the continent of America."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 471. "Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms, have been thought worthy of a moment's consideration."--_Junius_, p. 174. "Nor War nor Wisdom yield our Jews delight, They will not study, and they dare not fight." --_Crabbe's Borough_, p. 50. "Nor time nor chance breed such confusions yet, Nor are the mean so rais'd, nor sunk the great." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iii, l. 213. UNDER NOTE I.--NOMINATIVES THAT DISAGREE. "The definite article _the_, designates what particular thing or things is meant."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 23 and p. 33. "Sometimes a word or words necessary to complete the grammatical construction of a sentence, is not expressed, but omitted by ellipsis."--_Burr's Gram._, p. 26. "Ellipsis, or abbreviations, is the wheels of language."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 12. "The conditions or tenor of none of them appear at this day."--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, Vol. i, p. 16. "Neither men nor money were wanting for the service."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 279. "Either our own feelings, or the representation of those of others, require frequent emphatic distinction."--_Barber's Exercises_, p. 13. "Either Atoms and Chance, or Nature are uppermost: now I am for the latter part of the disjunction,"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 181. "Their riches or poverty are generally proportioned to their activity or indolence."--_Ross Cox's Narrative_. "Concerning the other part of him, neither you nor he seem to have entertained an idea."--_Bp. Horne_. "Whose earnings or income are so small."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 130. "Neither riches nor fame render a man happy."--_Day's Gram._, p. 71. "The references to the pages, always point to the first volume, unless the Exercises or Key are mentioned."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 283. UNDER NOTE II.--COMPLETE THE CONCORD. "My lord, you wrong my father; nor he nor I are capable of harbouring a thought against your peace."--_Walpole_. "There was no division of acts; no pauses or interval between them; but the stage was continually full; occupied either by the actors, or the chorus."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 463. "Every word ending in B, P, F, as also many in V, are of this order."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 73. "As proud as we are of human reason, nothing can be more absurd than the general system of human life and human knowledge."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 347. "By which the body of sin and death is done away, and we cleansed."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 165. "And those were already converted, and regeneration begun in them."--_Ib._, iii, 433. "For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."--_Luke_, i, 18. "Who is my mother, or my brethren?"--_Mark_, iii, 33. "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering."--_Isaiah_, xl, 16. "Information has been obtained, and some trials made."--_Society in America_, i, 308. "It is as obvious, and its causes more easily understood."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 84. "All languages furnish examples of this kind, and the English as many as any other."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 157. "The winters are long, and the cold intense."--_Morse's Geog._, p. 39. "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!"--_Prov._, v, 12. "The vestals were abolished by Theodosius the Great, and the fire of Vesta extinguished."--_Lempriere, w. Vestales_. "Riches beget pride; pride, impatience."--_Bullions's Practical Lessons_, p. 89. "Grammar is not reasoning, any more than organization is thought, or letters sounds."--_Enclytica_, p. 90. "Words are implements, and grammar a machine."--_Ib._, p. 91. UNDER NOTE III.--PLACE OF THE FIRST PERSON. "I or thou art the person who must undertake the business proposed."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 184. "I and he were there."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 51. "And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he."--_Gen._, xli, 11. "If my views remain the same as mine and his were in 1833."--GOODELL: _Liberator_, ix, 148. "I and my father were riding out."--_Inst._, p. 158. "The premiums were given to me and George."--_Ib._ "I and Jane are invited."--_Ib._ "They ought to invite me and my sister."--_Ib._ "I and you intend going."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 55. "I and John are going to Town."--_British Gram._, p. 193. "I, and he are sick. I, and thou are well."--_James Brown's American Gram._, Boston Edition of 1841, p. 123. "I, and he is. I, and thou art. I, and he writes."--_Ib._, p. 126. "I, and they are well. I, thou, and she were walking."--_Ib._, p. 127. UNDER NOTE IV.--DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES. "To practise tale-bearing, or even to countenance it, are great injustice."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 159. "To reveal secrets, or to betray one's friends, are contemptible perfidy."--_Ib._ "To write all substantives with capital letters, or to exclude them from adjectives derived from proper names, may perhaps be thought offences too small for animadversion; but the evil of innovation is always something."--_Dr. Barrow's Essays_, p. 88. "To live in such families, or to have such servants, are blessings from God."--_Family Commentary_, p. 64. "How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, or what wars they maintained, are utterly unknown."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 4. "To speak or to write perspicuously and agreeably, are attainments of the utmost consequence to all who purpose, either by speech or writing, to address the public."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 11. UNDER NOTE V.--MAKE THE VERBS AGREE. "Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?"--_Matt._, xviii, 12. "Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced?"--_Jer._, xxvi, 19. "And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgement with thee?"--_Job_, xiv, 3. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."--_James_, i, 26. "If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one an other."--_Leviticus_, xxv, 14. "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee, shall have become poor, and be sold to thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant."--WEBSTER'S BIBLE: _Lev._, xxv, 39. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee," &c.--_Matt._, v, 23. "Anthea was content to call a coach, and crossed the brook."--_Rambler_, No. 34. "It is either totally suppressed, or appears in its lowest and most imperfect form."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 23. "But if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth."--_John_, ix, 31. "Whereby his righteousness and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and is made ours."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 164. "Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had aught against me."--_Acts_, xxiv, 19. "Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land, shall see That man hath yet a soul, and dare be free."--_Campbell_. UNDER NOTE VI.--USE SEPARATE NOMINATIVES. "_H_ is only an aspiration or breathing; and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 4. "Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good will to all men."--_Ib._, p. 12; _Murray's_, i, 170. "There is, and must be, a supreme being, of infinite goodness, power, and wisdom, who created and supports them."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 201. "Were you not affrighted, and mistook a spirit for a body?"--_Watson's Apology_, p. 122. "The latter noun or pronoun is not governed by the conjunction _than_ or _as_, but agrees with the verb, or is governed by the verb or the preposition, expressed or understood."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 214; _Russell's_, 103; _Bacon's_, 51; _Alger's_, 71; _R. C. Smith's_, 179. "He had mistaken his true interests, and found himself forsaken."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 201. "The amputation was exceedingly well performed, and saved the patient's life."--_Ib._, p. 191. "The intentions of some of these philosophers, nay, of many [,] might have been, and probably were good."--_Ib._, p. 216. "This may be true, and yet will not justify the practice."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 33. "From the practice of those who have had a liberal education, and are therefore presumed to be best acquainted with men and things."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 161. "For those energies and bounties which created and preserve the universe."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, i, 327. "I shall make it once for all and hope it will be afterwards remembered."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 45. "This consequence is drawn too abruptly, and needed more explanation."--_Ib._, p. 229. "They must be used with more caution, and require more preparation."-- _Ib._, p. 153. "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_, which was formerly inserted, and made an addition of a syllable to the word."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 67. "The succession may be rendered more various or more uniform, but in one shape or an other is unavoidable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i. 253. "It excites neither terror nor compassion, nor is agreeable in any respect."--_Ib._, ii, 277. "Cheap vulgar arts, whose narrowness affords No flight for thoughts, but poorly stick at words."--_Denham_. UNDER NOTE VII.--MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT STYLES. "Let us read the living page, whose every character delighteth and instructs us."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 5. "For if it be in any degree obscure, it puzzles, and doth not please."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 357. "When a speaker addresseth himself to the understanding, he proposes the instruction of his hearers."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 13. "As the wine which strengthens and refresheth the heart."--_H. Adams's View_, p. 221. "This truth he wrappeth in an allegory, and feigns that one of the goddesses had taken up her abode with the other."--_Pope's Works_, iii, 46. "God searcheth and understands the heart."--_Thomas a Kempis_. "The grace of God, that brings salvation hath appeared to all men."--_Barclays Works_, i, 366. "Also we speak not in the words, which man's wisdom teaches; but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."--_Ib._, i, 388. "But he hath an objection, which he urgeth, and by which he thinks to overturn all."--_Ib._, iii, 327. "In that it gives them not that comfort and joy which it giveth unto them who love it."--_Ib._, i, 142. "Thou here misunderstood the place and misappliedst it."--_Ib._, iii, 38. "Like the barren heath in the desert, which knoweth not when good comes."--_Friends' Extracts_, p. 128; _N. E. Discip._, p. 75. "It speaketh of the time past, but shews that something was then doing, but not quite finished."--_E. Devis's Gram._, p. 42. "It subsists in spite of them; it advanceth unobserved."--PASCAL: _Addison's Evidences_, p. 17. "But where is he, the Pilgrim of my song?-- Methinks he cometh late and tarries long."--_Byron_, Cant. iv, St. 164. UNDER NOTE VII.--CONFUSION OF MOODS. "If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray, &c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 227 with 197. "As a speaker advances in his discourse, especially if it be somewhat impassioned, and increases in energy and earnestness, a higher and louder tone will naturally steal upon him."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 68. "If one man esteem a day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 439. "If there be but one body of legislators, it is no better than a tyranny; if there are only two, there will want a casting voice."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 287. "Should you come up this way, and I am still here, you need not be assured how glad I shall be to see you."--_Ld. Byron_. "If he repent and becomes holy, let him enjoy God and heaven."--_Brownson's Elwood_, p. 248. "If thy fellow approach thee, naked and destitute, and thou shouldst say unto him, 'Depart in peace; be you warmed and filled;' and yet shouldst give him not those things that are needful to him, what benevolence is there in thy conduct?"--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 108. "Get on your nightgown, lost occasion calls us. And show us to be watchers." --_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 278. "But if it climb, with your assisting hands, The Trojan walls, and in the city stands." --_Dryden's Virgil_, ii, 145. --------------------------"Though Heaven's king Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers, Us'd to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels." --_Milton, P. L._, iv, l. 973. "Us'd to the yoke, _draw'dst_ his triumphant wheels." --_Lowth's Gram._, p. 106. UNDER NOTE IX.--IMPROPER ELLIPSES. "Indeed we have seriously wondered that Murray should leave some things as he has."--_Education Reporter_. "Which they neither have nor can do."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 73. "The Lord hath, and doth, and will reveal his will to his people, and hath and doth raise up members of his body," &c.--_Ib._, i, 484. "We see then, that the Lord hath, and doth give such."--_Ib._, i, 484. "Towards those that have or do declare themselves members."--_Ib._, i, 494. "For which we can, and have given our sufficient reasons."--_Ib._, i, 507. "When we mention the several properties of the different words in sentences, in the same manner as we have those of _William's_, above, what is the exercise called?"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 12. "It is, however to be doubted whether this peculiarity of the Greek idiom, ever has or will obtain extensively in the English."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 47. "Why did not the Greeks and Romans abound in auxiliary words as much as we?"--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 111. "Who delivers his sentiments in earnest, as they ought to be in order to move and persuade."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 151. UNDER NOTE X.--DO, USED AS A SUBSTITUTE. "And I would avoid it altogether, if it could be done."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 36. "Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds, is truly heroic, and must elevate the mind to the greatest height that can be done by a single expression."--_Ib._, i, 204. "Successive images making thus deeper and deeper impressions, must elevate more than any single image can do."--_Ib._, i, 205. "Besides making a deeper impression than can be done by cool reasoning."--_Ib._, ii, 273. "Yet a poet, by the force of genius alone, can rise higher than a public speaker can do."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 338. "And the very same reason that has induced several grammarians to go so far as they have done, should have induced them to go farther."--_Priestley's Gram., Pref._, p. vii. "The pupil should commit the first section perfectly, before he does the second part of grammar."-- _Bradley's Gram._, p. 77. "The Greek _ch_ was pronounced hard, as we now do in _chord_."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 61. "They pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they do at other times."-- _Murray's Eng. Reader_, p. xi. "And give him the formal cool reception that Simon had done."--_Dr. Scott, on Luke_, vii. "I do not say, as some have done."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 271. "If he suppose the first, he may do the last."--_Barclay's Works_, ii, 406. "Who are now despising Christ in his inward appearance, as the Jews of old did him in his outward."--_Ib._, i, 506. "That text of Revelations must not be understood, as he doth it."-- _Ib._, iii, 309. "Till the mode of parsing the noun is so familiar to him, that he can do it readily."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 13. "Perhaps it is running the same course which Rome had done before."--_Middleton's Life of Cicero_. "It ought even on this ground to be avoided; which may easily be done by a different construction."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 312. "These two languages are now pronounced in England as no other nation in Europe does besides."--_Creighton's Dict._, p. xi. "Germany ran the same risk that Italy had done."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211: see _Priestley's Gram._, p. 196. UNDER NOTE XI.--PRETERITS AND PARTICIPLES. "The Beggars themselves will be broke in a trice."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 347. "The hoop is hoist above his nose."--_Ib._, p. 404. "My heart was lift up in the ways of the Lord. 2 CHRON."--_Joh. Dict., w. Lift_. "Who sin so oft have mourned, Yet to temptation ran."--_Burns_. "Who would not have let them appeared."--_Steele_. "He would have had you sought for ease at the hands of Mr. Legality."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 31. "From me his madding mind is start, And wooes the widow's daughter of the glen."--SPENSER: _Joh. Dict., w. Glen_. "The man has spoke, and still speaks."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 54. "For you have but mistook me all this while."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 114. "And will you rent our ancient love asunder."--_Ib._, p. 52. "Mr. Birney has plead the inexpediency of passing such resolutions."-- _Liberator_, Vol. xiii, p. 194. "Who have wore out their years in such most painful Labours."--_Littleton's Dict., Pref_. "And in the conclusion you were chose probationer."--_Spectator_, No. 32. "How she was lost, took captive, made a slave; And how against him set that should her save."--_Bunyan_. UNDER NOTE XII.--VERBS CONFOUNDED. "But Moses preferred to wile away his time."--_Parker's English Composition_, p. 15. "His face shown with the rays of the sun."--_Calvin's Inst._, 4to, p. 76. "Whom they had sat at defiance so lately."-- _Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 320. "And when he was set, his disciples came unto him."--_Matt._, v, 1. "When he was set down on the judgement-seat."-- _Ib._, xxvii, 19. "And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them."--_Luke_, xxii, 55. "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?"--_John_, xiii, 12. "Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."--_Rev._, iii, 21. "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."-- _Heb._, viii, 1. "And is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."--_Ib._, xii, 2.[402] "He sat on foot a furious persecution."-- _Payne's Geog._, ii, 418. "There layeth an obligation upon the saints, to help such."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 389. "There let him lay."--_Byron's Pilgrimage_, C. iv, st. 180. "Nothing but moss, and shrubs, and stinted trees, can grow upon it."--_Morse's Geog._, p. 43. "Who had lain out considerable sums purely to distinguish themselves."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 132. "Whereunto the righteous fly and are safe."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 146. "He raiseth from supper, and laid aside his garments."--_Ib._, i, 438. "Whither--Oh! whither shall I fly?"--_Murray's English Reader_, p. 123. "Flying from an adopted murderer."--_Ib._, p. 122. "To you I fly for refuge."--_Ib._, p. 124. "The sign that should warn his disciples to fly from approaching ruin."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 62. "In one she sets as a prototype for exact imitation."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. xxiii. "In which some only bleat, bark, mew, winnow, and bray, a little better than others."--_Ib._, p. 90. "Who represented to him the unreasonableness of being effected with such unmanly fears."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 106. "Thou sawedst every action."--_Guy's School Gram._, p. 46. "I taught, thou taughtedst, he or she taught."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 79. "Valerian is taken by Sapor and flead alive, A. D. 260."--_Lempriere's Chron. Table, Dict._, p. xix. "What a fine vehicle is it now become for all conceptions of the mind!"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 139. "What are become of so many productions?" --_Volney's Ruins_, p. 8. "What are become of those ages of abundance and of life?"--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 107. "The Spartan admiral was sailed to the Hellespont."--_Goldsmiths Greece_, i, 150. "As soon as he was landed, the multitude thronged about him."--_Ib._, i, 160. "Cyrus was arrived at Sardis."--_Ib._, i, 161. "Whose year was expired."--_Ib._, i, 162. "It had better have been, 'that faction which.'"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 97. "This people is become a great nation."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 153; _Ingersoll's_, 249. "And here we are got into the region of ornament."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 181. "The ungraceful parenthesis which follows, had far better have been avoided."--_Ib._, p. 215. "Who forced him under water, and there held him until drounded."--_Indian Wars_, p. 55. "I had much rather be myself the slave, And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."--_Cowper_. UNDER NOTE XIII.--WORDS THAT EXPRESS TIME. "I had finished my letter before my brother arrived."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 139. "I had written before I received his letter."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 82. "From what has been formerly delivered."--_Ib._, p. 182. "Arts were of late introduced among them."--_Ib._, p. 245. "I am not of opinion that such rules can be of much use, unless persons saw them exemplified."--_Ib._, p. 336. "If we use the noun itself, we should say, 'This composition is John's.' "--_Murray's Gram._, p. 174. "But if the assertion referred to something, that is not always the same, or supposed to be so, the past tense must be applied."--_Ib._, p. 191. "They told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."--_Luke_, xviii, 37. "There is no particular intimation but that I continued to work, even to the present moment."--_R. W. Green's Gram._, p. 39. "Generally, as was observed already, it is but hinted in a single word or phrase."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 36. "The wittiness of the passage was already illustrated."--_Ib._, p. 36. "As was observed already."--_Ib._, p. 56. "It was said already in general."--_Ib._, p. 95. "As I hinted already."--_Ib._, p. 134. "What I believe was hinted once already."--_Ib._, p. 148. "It is obvious, as hath been hinted formerly, that this is but an artificial and arbitrary connexion."--_Ib._, p. 282. "They have done anciently a great deal of hurt."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 109. "Then said Paul, I knew not, brethren, that he is the High Priest."--_Dr. Webster's Bible_: Acts, xxiii, 5. "Most prepositions originally denote the relation of place, and have been thence transferred to denote by similitude other relations."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 65; _Churchill's_, 116. "His gift was but a poor offering, when we consider his estate."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 194. "If he should succeed, and should obtain his end, he will not be the happier for it."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 207. "These are torrents that swell to-day, and have spent themselves by to-morrow."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 286. "Who have called that wheat to-day, which they have called tares to-morrow."--_Barclay's Works_, iii. 168. "He thought it had been one of his tenants."--_Ib._, i, 11. "But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent."--_Luke_, xvi, 30. "Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."--_Ib., verse_ 31. "But it is while men slept that the archenemy has always sown his tares."--_The Friend_, x, 351. "Crescens would not fail to have exposed him."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 30. "Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound; Fierce as he mov'd, his silver shafts resound." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. i, l. 64. UNDER NOTE XIV.--VERBS OF COMMANDING, &c. "Had I commanded you to have done this, you would have thought hard of it."--_G. B._ "I found him better than I expected to have found him."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 126. "There are several smaller faults, which I at first intended to have enumerated."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 246. "Antithesis, therefore, may, on many occasions, be employed to advantage, in order to strengthen the impression which we intend that any object should make."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 168. "The girl said, if her master would but have let her had money, she might have been well long ago."--See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 127. "Nor is there the least ground to fear, that we should be cramped here within too narrow limits."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 163; _Murray's Gram._, i, 360. "The Romans, flushed with success, expected to have retaken it."--_Hooke's Hist._, p. 37. "I would not have let fallen an unseasonable pleasantry in the venerable presence of Misery, to be entitled to all the wit that ever Rabelais scattered."--STERNE: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 54. "We expected that he would have arrived last night."--_Inst._ p. 192. "Our friends intended to have met us."--_Ib._ "We hoped to have seen you."--_Ib._ "He would not have been allowed to have entered."--_Ib._ UNDER NOTE XV.--PERMANENT PROPOSITIONS. "Cicero maintained that whatsoever was useful was good."--"I observed that love constituted the whole moral character of God."--_Dwight_. "Thinking that one gained nothing by being a good man."--_Voltaire_. "I have already told you that I was a gentleman."--_Fontaine_. "If I should ask, whether ice and water were two distinct species of things."--_Locke_. "A stranger to the poem would not easily discover that this was verse."--_Murray's Gram._, 12mo, p. 260. "The doctor affirmed, that fever always produced thirst."--_Inst._, p. 192. "The ancients asserted, that virtue was its own reward."--_Ib._ "They should not have repeated the error, of insisting that the infinitive was a mere noun."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 288. "It was observed in Chap. III. that the distinctive _or_ had a double use."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 154. "Two young gentlemen, who have made a discovery that there was no God."--_Swift_. RULE XVIII.--INFINITIVES. The Infinitive Mood is governed in general by the preposition TO, which commonly connects it to a finite verb: as, "I desire TO _learn_."--_Dr. Adam_. "Of me the Roman people have many pledges, which I must strive, with my utmost endeavours, TO _preserve_, TO _defend_, TO _confirm_, and TO _redeem_."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 41. "What if the foot, ordain'd the dust TO _tread_, Or hand TO _toil_, aspir'd TO _be_ the head?"--_Pope_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XVIII. OBS. 1.--No word is more variously explained by grammarians, than this word TO, which is put before the verb in the infinitive mood. Johnson, Walker, Scott, Todd, and some other lexicographers, call it an _adverb_; but, in explaining its use, they say it denotes certain _relations_, which it is not the office of an adverb to express. (See the word in _Johnson's Quarto Dictionary_.) D. St. Quentin, in his Rudiments of General Grammar, says, "_To_, before a verb, is an _adverb_;" and yet his "Adverbs are words that are joined to verbs or adjectives, and express some _circumstance_ or _quality_." See pp. 33 and 39. Lowth, Priestley, Fisher, L. Murray, Webster, Wilson, S. W. Clark, Coar, Comly, Blair, Felch, Fisk, Greenleaf, Hart, Weld, Webber, and others, call it a _preposition_; and some of these ascribe to it the government of the verb, while others do not. Lowth says, "The _preposition_ TO, placed before the verb, _makes_ the infinitive mood."--_Short Gram._, p. 42. "Now this," says Horne Tooke, "is manifestly not so: for TO placed before the verb _loveth_, will not make the infinitive mood. He would have said more truly, that TO placed before some _nouns_, makes _verbs_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 287. OBS. 2.--Skinner, in his _Canones Etymologici_, calls this TO "an _equivocal article_,"--_Tooke_, ib., i, 288. Nutting, a late American grammarian, says: "The _sign_ TO is no other than the Greek article _to_; as, _to agapan_ [, to love]; or, as some say, it is the Saxon _do_"--_Practical Gram._, p. 66. Thus, by suggesting two false and inconsistent derivations, though he uses not the name _equivocal article_, he first makes the word an _article_, and then _equivocal_--equivocal in etymology, and of course in meaning.[403] Nixon, in his English Parser, supposes it to be, _unequivocally_, the Greek article [Greek: to], _the_. See the work, p. 83. D. Booth says, "_To_ is, by us, applied to Verbs; but it was the neuter Article (_the_) among the Greeks."--_Introd. to Analyt. Dict._, p. 60. According to Horne Tooke, "Minshew also distinguishes between the preposition TO, and the _sign_ of the infinitive TO. Of the former he is silent, and of the latter he says: 'To, as _to_ make, _to_ walk, _to_ do, a Graeco articulo [Greek: to].' But Dr. Gregory Sharpe is persuaded, that our language has taken it from the _Hebrew_. And Vossius derives the correspondent Latin preposition AD from the same source."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 293. OBS. 3.--Tooke also says, "I observe, that Junius and Skinner and Johnson, have not chosen to give the slightest hint concerning the derivation of TO."--_Ibid._ But, certainly, of his _adverb_ TO, Johnson gives this hint: "TO, Saxon; _te_, Dutch." And Webster, who calls it not an adverb, but a preposition, gives the same hint of the source from which it comes to us. This is as much as to say, it is etymologically the old Saxon preposition _to_--which, truly, it is--the very same word that, for a thousand years or more, has been used before nouns and pronouns to govern the objective case. Tooke himself does not deny this; but, conceiving that almost all particles, whether English or any other, can be traced back to ancient verbs or nouns, he hunts for the root of this, in a remoter region, where he pretends to find that _to_ has the same origin as _do_; and though he detects the former in a _Gothic noun_, he scruples not to identify it with an _auxiliary verb_! Yet he elsewhere expressly denies, "that _any_ words change their nature by use, so as to belong sometimes to one part of speech, and sometimes to another."--_Div. of Pur._, Vol. i, p. 68. OBS 4.--From this, the fair inference is, that he will have both _to_ and _do_ to be "_nouns substantive_" still! "Do (the _auxiliary_ verb, as it has been called) is derived from the same root, and is indeed the same word as TO."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 290. "Since FROM means _commencement_ or _beginning_, TO must mean _end_ or _termination_."--_Ib._, i, 283. "The preposition TO (in Dutch written TOE and TOT, a little nearer to the original) is the Gothic substantive [Gothic: taui] or [Gothic: tauhts], i. e. _act, effect, result, consummation._ Which Gothic substantive is indeed itself no other than the past participle of the verb [Gothic: taujan], _agere_. And what is _done_, is _terminated, ended, finished_."--_Ib._, i, 285. No wonder that Johnson, Skinner, and Junius, gave no hint of _this_ derivation: it is not worth the ink it takes, if it cannot be made more sure. But in showing its bearing on the verb, the author not unjustly complains of our grammarians, that: "Of all the points which they endeavour to _shuffle over_, there is none in which they do it more grossly than in this of the infinitive."--_Ib._, i, 287. OBS. 5.--Many are content to call the word TO a _prefix_, a _particle_, a _little word_, a _sign of the infinitive_, a _part of the infinitive_, a _part of the verb_, and the like, without telling us whence it comes, how it differs from the preposition _to_, or to what part of speech it belongs. It certainly is not what we usually call a _prefix_, because we never _join it to_ the verb; yet there are three instances in which it becomes such, before a noun: viz., _to-day, to-night, to-morrow_. If it is a "_particle_," so is any other preposition, as well as every small and invariable word. If it is a "_little word_," the whole bigness of a preposition is unquestionably found in it; and no "_word_" is so small but that it must belong to some one of the ten classes called parts of speech. If it is a "_sign of the infinitive_," because it is used before no other mood; so is it a _sign of the objective case_, or of what in Latin is called the dative, because it precedes no other case. If we suppose it to be a "_part of the infinitive_," or a "_part of the verb_," it is certainly no _necessary_ part of either; because there is no verb which may not, in several different ways, be properly used in the infinitive without it. But if it be a part of the infinitive, it must be a _verb_, and ought to be classed with the _auxiliaries_. Dr. Ash accordingly placed it among the auxiliaries; but he says, (inaccurately, however,) "The auxiliary _sign seems_ to have the nature of _adverbs._"--_Grammatical Institutes_, p. 33. "The auxiliary [signs] _are, to, do, did, have, had, shall, will, may, can, must, might_," &c.--_Ib._, p. 31. OBS. 6.--It is clear, as I have already shown, that the word _to_ may be a _sign_ of the infinitive, and yet not be a _part_ of it. Dr. Ash supposes, it may even be a part of the _mood_, and yet not be a part of the _verb_. How this can be, I see not, unless the mood consists in something else than either the form or the parts of the verb. This grammarian says, "In parsing, every word should be considered as a _distinct part of speech_: for though two or more words may be united to form a mode, a tense, or a comparison; yet it seems quite improper to unite two or more words to make a noun, a verb, an adjective, &c."--_Gram. Inst._, p. 28. All the auxiliaries, therefore, and the particle _to_ among them, he parses separately; but he follows not his own advice, to make them distinct parts of speech; for he calls them all _signs_ only, and signs are not one of his ten parts of speech. And the participle too, which is one of the ten, and which he declares to be "no part of the verb," he parses separately; calling it a verb, and not a participle, as often as it accompanies any of his auxiliary signs. This is certainly a greater impropriety than there can be in supposing an auxiliary and a participle to constitute a verb; for the mood and tense are the properties of the compound, and ought not to be ascribed to the principal term only. Not so with the preposition _to_ before the infinitive, any more than with the conjunction _if_ before the subjunctive. These may well be parsed as separate parts of speech; for these moods are sometimes formed, and are completely distinguished in each of their tenses, without the adding of these signs. OBS. 7.--After a careful examination of what others have taught respecting this disputed point in grammar, I have given, in the preceding rule, that explanation which I consider to be the most correct and the most simple, and also as well authorized as any. Who first parsed the infinitive in this manner, I know not; probably those who first called the _to_ a _preposition_; among whom were Lowth and the author of the old British Grammar. The doctrine did not originate with me, or with Comly, or with any American author. In Coar's English Grammar, published in London in 1796. the phrase _to trample_ is parsed thus: "_To_--A preposition, serving for a sign of the infinitive mood to the verb _Trample_--A verb neuter, infinitive mood, present tense, _governed by the preposition_ TO before it. RULE. The preposition _to_ before a verb, is the sign of the infinitive mood." See the work, p. 263. This was written by a gentleman who speaks of his "long habit of teaching the Latin Tongue," and who was certainly partial enough to the principles of Latin grammar, since he adopts in English the whole detail of Latin cases. OBS 8.--In Fisher's English Grammar, London, 1800, (of which there had been many earlier editions,) we find the following rule of syntax: "When two principal _Verbs_ come together, the latter of them expresses an unlimited Sense, with the Preposition _to_ before it; as _he loved to learn; I chose to dance_: and is called the _infinitive Verb_, which may also follow a Name or Quality; as, _a Time to sing; a Book delightful to read_." That this author supposed the infinitive to be _governed_ by _to_, and not by the preceding verb, noun, or adjective, is plain from the following note, which he gives in his margin: "The Scholar will best understand this, by being told that _infinite_ or _invariable Verbs_, having neither Number, Person, nor Nominative Word belonging to them, are known or _governed by the Preposition_ TO coming before them. The Sign _to_ is often understood; as, Bid Robert and his company (_to_) tarry."--_Fisher's New Gram._, p. 95. OBS. 9.--The forms of parsing, and also the rules, which are given in the early English grammars, are so very defective, that it is often impossible to say positively, what their authors did, or did not, intend to teach. Dr. Lowth's specimen of "grammatical resolution" contains four infinitives. In his explanation of the first, the preposition and the verb are parsed separately, as above; except that he says nothing about government. In his account of the other three, the two words are taken together, and called a "_verb_, in the infinitive _mode_." But as he elsewhere calls the particle _to_ a preposition, and nowhere speaks of any thing else as governing the infinitive, it seems fair to infer, that he conceived the verb to be the regimen of this preposition.[404] If such was his idea, we have the learned Doctor's authority in opposition to that of his professed admirers and copyists. Of these, Lindley Murray is doubtless the most famous. But Murray's twelfth rule of syntax, while it expressly calls _to_ before the infinitive a _preposition_, absurdly takes away from it this regimen, and leaves us a preposition that _governs nothing_, and has apparently nothing to do with the _relation_ of the terms between which it occurs. OBS. 10.--Many later grammarians, perceiving the absurdity of calling _to_ before the infinitive a _preposition_ without supposing it to govern the verb, have studiously avoided this name; and have either made the "_little word_" a supernumerary part of speech, or treated it as no part of speech at all. Among these, if I mistake not, are Allen, Lennie, Bullions, Alger, Guy, Churchill, Hiley, Nutting, Mulligan, Spencer, and Wells. Except Comly, the numerous modifiers of Murray's Grammar are none of them more consistent, on this point, than was Murray himself. Such of them as do not follow him literally, either deny, or forbear to affirm, that _to_ before a verb is a _preposition_; and consequently either tell us not what it is, or tell us falsely; some calling it "_a part of the verb_," while they neither join it to the verb as a prefix, nor include it among the auxiliaries. Thus Kirkham: "_To_ is not a preposition when _joined to_ a verb in this mood; thus, _to_ ride, _to_ rule; but it should be parsed _with the verb_, and _as a part_ of it."--_Gram. in Familiar Lect._, p. 137. So R. C. Smith: "This little word _to_ when _used before_ verbs in this manner, is not a preposition, but forms a part of the verb, and, in parsing, should be so considered."--_Productive Gram._, p. 65. How can that be "_a part_ of the verb," which is _a word_ used _before_ it? or how is _to_ "joined to the verb," or made a part of it, in the phrase, "_to_ ride?" But Smith does not abide by his own doctrine; for, in an other part of his book, he adopts the phraseology of Murray, and makes _to_ a preposition: saying, "The _preposition_ TO, though generally used before the latter verb, is sometimes properly omitted; as, 'I heard him say it;' instead of '_to_ say it.'"--_Productive Gram._, p. 156. See _Murray's Rule_ 12th. OBS. 11.--Most English grammarians have considered the word _to_ as a part of the infinitive, a part _of the verb_; and, like the teachers of Latin, have referred the government of this mood to a preceding verb. But the rule which they give, is partial, and often inapplicable; and their exceptions to it, or the heterogeneous parts into which some of them divide it, are both numerous and puzzling. They teach that at least half of the ten different parts of speech "_frequently_ govern the infinitive:" if so, there should be a distinct rule for each; for why should the government of one part of speech be made an exception to that of an other? and, if this be done, with respect to the infinitive, why not also with respect to the objective case? In all instances to which their rule is applicable, the rule which I have given, amounts to the same thing; and it obviates the necessity for their numerous exceptions, and the embarrassment arising from other constructions of the infinitive not noticed in them. Why then is the simplest solution imaginable still so frequently rejected for so much complexity and inconsistency? Or how can the more common rule in question be suitable for a child, if its applicability depends on a relation between the two verbs, which the preposition _to_ sometimes expresses, and sometimes does not? OBS. 12.--All authors admit that in some instances, the sign _to_ is "superfluous and improper," the construction and government appearing complete without it; and the "Rev. Peter Bullions, D. D., Professor of Languages in the Albany Academy," has recently published a grammar, in which he adopts the common rule, "One verb governs _another_ in the infinitive mood; as, _I desire to learn_;" and then remarks, "The infinitive after a verb is governed by it _only when the attribute expressed by the infinitive is either the subject or_ [the] _object of the other verb_. In such expressions as '_I read to learn_,' the infinitive is _not governed_ by 'I read,' but depends on the phrase '_in order to_' understood."--_Bullions's Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 110. But, "_I read 'in order to' to learn_," is not English; though it might be, if either _to_ were any thing else than a preposition: as, "Now _set to to learn_ your lesson." This broad exception, therefore, which embraces well-nigh half the infinitives in the language, though it contains some obvious truth, is both carelessly stated, and badly resolved. The single particle _to_ is quite sufficient, both to govern the infinitive, and to connect it to any antecedent term which can make sense with such an adjunct. But, in fact, the reverend author must have meant to use the "_little word_" but once; and also to deny that it is a preposition; for he elsewhere says expressly, though, beyond question, erroneously, "A preposition should never be used before the infinitive."--_Ib._, p. 92. And he also says, "The _Infinitive_ mood expresses _a thing_ in a general manner, without distinction of number, person, _or time_, and commonly has TO _before_ it."--_Ib._, Second Edition, p. 35. Now if TO is "_before_" the mood, it is certainly not _a part_ of it. And again, if this mood had no distinction of "_time_," our author's two tenses of it, and his own two special rules for their application, would be as absurd as is his notion of its government. See his _Obs. 6 and 7, ib._, p. 124. OBS. 13.--Richard Hiley, too, a grammarian of perhaps more merit, is equally faulty in his explanation of the infinitive mood. In the first place, he absurdly says, "TO _before the infinitive mood_, is considered as forming _part of the verb_; but in _every other_ situation it is a preposition."--_Hiley's Gram._, Third Edition, p. 28. To teach that a "_part of the verb_" stands "_before the mood_," is an absurdity manifestly greater, than the very opposite notion of Dr. Ash, that what is _not a part of the verb_, may yet be included _in the mood_. There is no need of either of these false suppositions; or of the suggestion, doubly false, that _to_ "in _every other_ situation, is a preposition." What does _preposition_ mean? Is _to_ a preposition when it is placed _after_ a verb, and _not_ a preposition when it is placed _before_ it? For example: "I rise _to shut to_ the door."--See _Luke_, xiii, 25. OBS. 14.--In his syntax, this author further says, "When two verbs come together, the latter _must be in the infinitive mood, when it denotes the object_ of the former; as, 'Study _to improve_.'" This is his _Rule_. Now look at his _Notes_. "1. When the latter verb _does not express_ the object, _but the end_, or something remote, the word _for_, or the words _in order to_, are understood; as, 'I read _to learn_;' that is, 'I read _for_ to learn,' or, '_in order_ [TO] _to_ learn.' The word _for_, however, is never, in such instances, expressed in good language. 2. The infinitive is _frequently governed_ by adjectives, substantives, and participles; but in _this instance_ also, a preposition is understood, though _never expressed_; as, 'Eager _to learn_;' that is, 'eager _for_ to learn;' or, '_for_ learning;' 'A desire _to improve_;' that is, '_for to improve_.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 89. Here we see the origin of some of Bullions's blunders. _To_ is so small a word, it slips through the fingers of these gentlemen. Words utterly needless, and worse than needless, they foist into our language, in instances beyond number, to explain infinitives that occur at almost every breath. Their students must see that, "_I read to learn_," and, "_I study to improve_," with countless other examples of either sort, are very _different constructions_, and not to be parsed by the same rule! And here the only government of the infinitive which Hiley affirms, is immediately contradicted by the supposition of a needless _for_ "understood." OBS. 15.--In all such examples as, "I _read_ to _learn_,"--"I _strive_ to _learn_"--"Some _eat_ to _live_,"--"Some _live_ to _eat_,"--"She _sings_ to _cheer_ him,"--"I _come_ to _aid_ you,"--"I _go_ to _prepare_ a place for you,"--_the action_ and _its purpose_ are connected by the word _to_; and if, in the countless instances of this kind, the former verbs _do not govern_ the latter, it is not because the phraseology is elliptical, or ever was elliptical,[405] but because in no case is there any such government, except in the construction of those verbs which take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_. Professor Bullions will have the infinitive to be governed by a finite verb, "when the _attribute expressed by the infinitive is the subject_ of the other verb." An infinitive may be made _the subject_ of a finite verb; but this grammarian has mistaken the established meaning of _subject_, as well as of _attribute_, and therefore written nonsense. Dr. Johnson defines his _adverb_ TO, "A particle coming between two verbs, and noting the second as the _object_ of the first." But of all the words which, according to my opponents and their oracles, govern the infinitive, probably not more than a quarter are such verbs as usually _have an object_ after them. Where then is the propriety of their notion of infinitive government? And what advantage has it, even where it is least objectionable? OBS. 16.--Take for an example of this contrast the terms, "Strive to enter in--many will seek to enter in."--_Luke_, xiii, 24. Why should it be thought more eligible to say, that the verb _strive_ or _will seek_ governs the infinitive verb _to enter_; than to say, that _to_ is a preposition, showing the relation between _strive_ and _enter_, or between _will seek_ and _enter_, and governing the latter verb? (See the exact and only needful form for parsing any such term, in the _Twelfth Praxis_ of this work.) None, I presume, will deny, that in the Greek or the Latin of these phrases, the finite verbs govern the infinitive; or that, in the French, the infinitive _entrer_ is governed first by one preposition, and then by an other. "_Contendite intrare--multi quaerent intrare_."--_Montanus_. "Efforcez-vous _d'_entrer--plusieurs chercheront _a_ y entrer."--_French Bible_. In my opinion, _to_ before a verb is as fairly a preposition as the French _de_ or _a_; and it is the main design of these observations, while they candidly show the reader what others teach, _to prove it so_. The only construction which makes it any thing else, is that which puts it after a verb or a participle, in the sense of an adverbial supplement; as, "The infernal idol is bowed down _to_."--_Herald of Freedom_. "Going _to_ and _fro_."--_Bible_. "At length he came _to_."--"Tell him to heave _to_."--"He was ready to set _to_." With singular absurdness of opinion, some grammarians call _to_ a preposition, when it thus _follows_ a verb and governs nothing, who resolutely deny it that name, when it _precedes_ the verb, and _requires it to be in the infinitive mood_, as in the last two examples. Now, if this is not _government_, what is? And if _to_, without government, is not an _adverb_, what is? See Obs. 2d on the List of Prepositions. OBS. 17.--The infinitive thus admits a simpler solution in English, than in most other languages; because we less frequently use it without a preposition, and seldom, if ever, allow any variety in this connecting and governing particle. And yet in no other language has its construction given rise to a tenth part of that variety of absurd opinions, which the defender of its true syntax must refute in ours. In French, the infinitive, though frequently placed in immediate dependence on an other verb, may also be governed by several different prepositions, (as, _a, de, pour, sans, apres_,) according to the sense.[406] In Spanish and Italian, the construction is similar. In Latin and Greek, the infinitive is, for the most part, immediately dependent on an other verb. But, according to the grammars, it may stand for a noun, in all the six cases; and many have called it an _indeclinable noun_. See the Port-Royal Latin and Greek grammars; in which several peculiar constructions of the infinitive are referred to the government of a _preposition_--constructions that occur frequently in Greek, and sometimes even in Latin. OBS. 18.--It is from an improper extension of the principles of these "learned languages" to ours, that much of the false teaching which has so greatly and so long embarrassed this part of English grammar, has been, and continues to be, derived. A late author, who supposes every infinitive to be virtually _a noun_, and who thinks he finds in ours _all the cases_ of an English noun, not excepting the possessive, gives the following account of its origin and nature: "This mood, with almost all its properties and uses, has been adopted into our language from the ancient Greek and Latin tongues. * * * The definite article [Greek: to] [,] _the_, which they [the Greeks] used before the infinitive, to mark, in an especial manner, its nature of a substantive, _is evidently the same word_ that we use before our infinitive; thus, '_to_ write,' signifies _the_ writing; that is, the action of writing;--and when a verb governs an infinitive, it only governs it _as in the objective case_."--_Nixon's English Parser_, p. 83. But who will believe, that our old Saxon ancestors borrowed from Greek or Latin what is now our construction of the very _root_ of the English verb, when, in all likelihood, they could not read a word in either of those languages, or scarcely knew the letters in their own, and while it is plain that they took not thence even the inflection of a _single branch_ of any verb whatever? OBS. 19.--The particle _to_, being a very common preposition in the Saxon tongue, has been generally used before the English infinitive, ever since the English language, or any thing like it, existed. And it has always _governed the verb_, not indeed "as in the _objective case_," for no verb is ever declined by cases, but simply as the _infinitive mood_. In the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, which was made as early as the eleventh century, the infinitive mood is sometimes expressed in this manner, and sometimes by the termination _on_ without the preposition. Dr. Johnson's History of the English Language, prefixed to his large Dictionary, contains, of this version, and of Wickliffe's, the whole of the first chapter of Luke; except that the latter omits the first four verses, so that the numbers for reference do not correspond. Putting, for convenience, English characters for the Saxon, I shall cite here three examples from each; and these, if he will, the reader may compare with the 19th, the 77th, and the 79th verse, in our common Bible. SAXON: "And ic eom asend with the _sprecan_. and the this _bodian_."--_Lucae_, i, 19. WICKLIFFE: "And Y am sent to thee _to speke_ and _to evangelise_ to thee these thingis."--_Luk_, i, 15. SAXON: "_To syllene_ his folce haele gewit on hyra synna forgyfnesse."--_Lucae_, i, 77. WICKLIFFE: "_To geve_ science of heelth to his puple into remissioun of her synnes."--_Luk_, i, 73. SAXON: "_Onlyhtan_ tham the on thystrum and on deathes sceade sittath. ure fet _to gereccenne_ on sibbe weg."--_Lucae_, i, 79. WICKLIFFE: "_To geve_ light to them that sitten in derknessis, and in schadowe of deeth, _to dresse_ oure feet into the weye of pees."--_Luk_, i, 75. "In Anglo-Saxon," says Dr. Latham, "the dative of the infinitive verb ended in _-nne_, and was preceded by the preposition _to_: as, To lufienne = _ad amandum_ [= _to loving_, or _to love_]; To baernenne = _ad urendum_ [= _to burning_, or _to burn_]; To syllanne = _ad dandum_ [= _to giving_, or _to give_]."--_Hand-Book_, p. 205. OBS. 20.--Such, then, has ever been the usual construction of the _English_ infinitive mood; and a wilder interpretation than that which supposes _to_ an _article_, and says, "_to write_ signifies _the writing_," cannot possibly be put upon it. On this supposition, "I am going _to write_ a letter," is a pure Grecism; meaning, "I am going _the writing_ a letter," which is utter nonsense. And further, the infinitive in Greek and Latin, as well as in Saxon and English, is always in fact governed as a _mood_, rather than as a _case_, notwithstanding that the Greek article in any of its four different cases may, in some instances, be put before it; for even with an article before it, the Greek infinitive usually retains its regimen as a verb, and is therefore not "a _substantive_," or noun. I am well aware that some learned critics, conceiving that the essence of the verb consists in predication, have plainly denied that the infinitive is a verb; and, because it may be made the subject of a finite verb, or may be governed by a verb or a preposition, have chosen to call it "a mere noun substantive." Among these is the erudite Richard Johnson, who, with so much ability and lost labour, exposed, in his Commentaries, the errors and defects of Lily's Grammar and others. This author adduces several reasons for his opinion; one of which is the following: "Thirdly, it is found to have a Preposition set before it, an other _sure sign of a Substantive_; as, '_Ille nihil praeter loqui, et ipsum maledice et maligne, didicit_.' Liv. l. 45, p. 888. [That is, "He learned nothing _but to speak_, and that slanderously and maliciously."] '_At si quis sibi beneficium dat, nihil interest inter dare et accipere_.' Seneca, de Ben. l. 5, c. 10." [That is, "If any one bestows a benefit on himself, there is no difference _between give and take_;" [407]--or, "_between bestowing_ and _receiving_."]--See _Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 342. But I deny that a preposition is a "sure sign of a substantive." (See Obs. 2d on the Prepositions, and also Obs. 1st on the List of Prepositions, in the tenth chapter of Etymology.) And if we appeal to philological authorities, to determine whether infinitives are nouns or verbs, there will certainly be found more for the latter name, than the former; that is, more in number, if not in weight; though it must be confessed, that many of the old Latin grammarians did, as Priscian tells us, consider the infinitive a noun, calling it _Nomen Verbi_, the Name of the Verb.[408] If we appeal to reasons, there are more also of these;--or at least as many, and most of them better: as, 1. That the infinitive is often transitive; 2. That it has tenses; 3. That it is qualified by adverbs, rather than by adjectives; 4. That it is never declined like a noun; 5. That the action or state expressed by it, is not commonly abstract, though it may be so sometimes; 6. That in some languages it is _the root_ from which all other parts of the verb are derived, as it is in English. OBS. 21.--So far as I know, it has not yet been denied, that _to_ before a _participle_ is a preposition, or that a preposition before a participle _governs_ it; though there are not a few who erroneously suppose that participles, by virtue of such government, are necessarily converted into _nouns_. Against this latter idea, there are many sufficient reasons; but let them now pass, because they belong not here. I am only going to prove, in this place, that _to_ before the infinitive is _just such a word_ as it is before the participle; and this can be done, call either of them what you will. It is plain, that if the infinitive and the participle are ever _equivalent to each other_, the same word _to_ before them both must needs be equivalent _to itself_. Now I imagine there are some examples of each equivalence; as, "When we are habituated _to doing_ [or _to do_] any thing wrong, we become blinded by it."--_Young Christian_, p. 326. "The lyre, or harp, was best adapted _to accompanying_ [or _to accompany_] their declamations."--_Music of Nature_, p. 336. "The new beginner should be accustomed _to giving_ [or _to give_] all the reasons for each part of speech."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 88. "Which, from infecting our religion and morals, fell _to corrupt_ [say, _to corrupting_] our language."--SWIFT: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 108. Besides these instances of _sameness in the particle_, there are some cases of _constructional ambiguity_, the noun and the verb having the same form, and the _to_ not determining which is meant: as, "He was inclined _to sleep_."--"It must be a bitter experience, to be more accustomed _to hate_ than _to love_." Here are _double_ doubts for the discriminators: their "_sign of the infinitive_" fails, or becomes uncertain; _because they do not know it from a preposition_. Cannot my opponents see in these examples an argument against the distinction which they attempt to draw between _to_ and _to_? An other argument as good, is also afforded by the fact, that our ancestors often used the participle after _to_, in the very same texts in which we have since adopted the infinitive in its stead; as, "And if yee wolen resceyue, he is Elie that is _to comynge_."--_Matt._, xi, 14. "Ihesu that delyueride us fro wraththe _to comynge_."--_1 Thes._, i, 10. These, and seventeen other examples of the same kind, may be seen in _Tooke's Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii. pp. 457 and 458. OBS. 22.--Dr. James P. Wilson, speaking of the English infinitive, says:--"But if the appellation of _mode_ be denied it, it is then a _verbal noun_. This is indeed _its truest character_, because _its idea ever represents_ an _object of approach_. _To_ supplies the defect of a termination characteristic of the infinitive, precedes it, and marks it either as _that, towards which_ the preceding verb is directed;[409] or it signifies _act_, and shows the word to import an action. When the infinitive is the expression of an _immediate_ action, which it must be, after the verbs, _bid, can, dare, do, feel, hear, let, make, may, must, need, see, shall_, and _will_, the _preposition_ TO is omitted."--_Essay on Grammar_, p. 129. That the truest character of the infinitive is that of a verbal noun, is not to be conceded, in weak abandonment of all the reasons for a contrary opinion, until it can be shown that the action or being expressed by it, must needs assume a _substantive_ character, in order to be "that _towards which_ the preceding verb is directed." But this character is manifestly not supposable of any of those infinitives which, according to the foregoing quotation, must follow other verbs without the intervention of the preposition _to_: as, "Bid him _come_;"--"He can _walk_." And I see no reason to suppose it, where the relation of the infinitive to an other word is _not_ "_immediate_" but marked by the preposition, as above described. For example: "And he laboured till the going-down of the sun TO _deliver_ him."--_Dan._, vi, 14. Here _deliver_ is governed by _to_, and connected by it to the finite verb _laboured_; but to tell us, it is to be understood _substantively_ rather than _actively_, is an assumption as false, as it is needless. OBS. 23.--To deny to the infinitive the appellation of _mood_, no more makes it a _verbal noun_, than does the Doctor's solecism about what "ITS IDEA _ever represents_." "The infinitive therefore," as Horne Tooke observes, "appears plainly to be what the Stoics called it, _the very verb itself_, pure and uncompounded."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 286. Not indeed as including the particle _to_, or as it stands in the English perfect tense, but as it occurs in the _simple root_. But I cited Dr. Wilson, as above, not so much with a design of animadverting again on this point, as with reference to the _import_ of the particle _to_; of which he furnishes a twofold explanation, leaving the reader to take which part he will of the contradiction. He at first conceives it to convey in general the idea of "_towards_," and to mark the infinitive as a term "_towards which_" something else "_is directed_." If this interpretation is the true one, it is plain that _to_ before a verb is no other than the common preposition _to_; and this idea is confirmed by its ancient usage, and by all that is certainly known of its derivation. But if we take the second solution, and say, "it signifies _act_," we make it not a preposition, but either a noun or a verb; and then the question arises, _Which of these is it_? Besides, what sense can there be, in supposing _to go_ to mean _act go_, or to be equivalent to _do go_.[410] OBS. 24.--Though the infinitive is commonly made an adjunct to some finite verb, yet it may be connected to almost all the other parts of speech, or even to an other infinitive. The preposition _to_ being its only and almost universal index, we seldom find any other preposition put before this; unless the word _about_, in such a situation, is a preposition, as I incline to think it is.[411] Anciently, the infinitive was sometimes preceded by _for_ as well as _to_; as, "I went up to Jerusalem _for to_ worship."--_Acts_, xxiv, 11. "What went ye out _for to_ see?"--_Luke_, vii, 26. "And stood up _for to_ read."--_Luke_, iv, 16. Here modern usage rejects the former preposition: the idiom is left to the uneducated. But it seems practicable to subjoin the infinitive to every one of the ten parts of speech, except the article: as, 1. To a noun; as, "If there is any _precept to obtain_ felicity."--_Hawkesworth_. "It is high _time to awake_ out of sleep."--_Rom._, xiii, 11. "To flee from the _wrath to come_."--_Matt._, iii, 7. 2. To an adjective; as, "He seemed _desirous to speak_, yet _unwilling to offend_."--_Hawkesworth_. "He who is the _slowest to promise_, is _the quickest to perform_."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 35. 3. To a pronoun; as, "I discovered _him to be_ a scholar."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 166. "Is it lawful for _us to give_ tribute to Caesar?"--_Luke_, xx, 22. "Let me desire _you to reflect_ impartially."--BLAIR: _Murray's Eng. Reader_, p. 77. "Whom hast thou then or _what t' accuse_?"--_Milton_, P. L., iv, 67. 4. To a finite verb; as, "Then Peter _began to rebuke_ him."--_Matt._, xvi, 22. "The Son of man _is come to seek and to save_ that which was lost."--_Luke_, xix, 10. 5. To an other infinitive; as, "_To go to enter_ into Egypt."--_Jer._, xli, 17. "We are not often willing _to wait to consider_."--_J. Abbott_. "For what had he _to do to chide_ at me?"--_Shak._ 6. To a participle; as, "Still _threatening to devour_ me."--_Milton_. "Or as a thief _bent to unhoard_ the cash of some rich burgher."--_Id._ 7. To an adverb; as, "She is old _enough to go_ to school."--"I know not _how to act_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 106. "Tell me _when to come_, and _where to meet_ you."--"He hath not _where to lay_ his head." 8. To a conjunction; as, "He knows better _than to trust_ you."--"It was so hot _as to melt_ these ornaments."--"Many who praise virtue, do no more _than praise_ it."--_Dr. Johnson_. 9. To a preposition; as, "I was _about to write_."--_Rev._, x, 4. "Not _for to hide_ it in a hedge."--_Burns's Poems_, p. 42. "Amatum iri, To be _about to be loved_."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 95.[412] 10. To an interjection; as, "_O to forget_ her!"--_Young's Night Thoughts_. OBS. 25.--The infinitive is the mere verb, without affirmation, without person or number, and therefore without the agreement peculiar to a finite verb. (See Obs. 8th on Rule 2d.) But, in most instances, it is not without _limitation_ of the being, action, or passion, to some particular person or persons, thing or things, that are said, supposed, or denied, to be, to act, or to be acted upon. Whenever it is not thus limited, it is taken _abstractly_, and has some resemblance to a noun: because it then suggests the being, action, or passion alone: though, even then, the active infinitive may still govern the objective case; and it may also be easy to _imagine_ to whom or to what the being, action, or passion, naturally pertains. The uses of the infinitive are so many and various, that it is no easy matter to classify them accurately. The following are unquestionably _the chief_ of the things for which it may stand: 1. For the _supplement_ to an other verb, to complete the sense; as, "Loose him, and _let_ him _go_."--_John_, xi, 44. "They that _go to seek_ mixed wine."--_Prov._, xxiii, 30. "His hands _refuse_ to _labour_."--_Ib._, xxi, 25. "If you _choose to have_ those terms."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 374. "How our old translators first _struggled to express_ this."--_Ib._, ii, 456. "To any one who _will please to examine_ our language."--_Ib._, ii, 444. "They _are forced to give up_ at last."--_Ib._, ii, 375. "Which _ought to be done_."--_Ib._, ii, 451. "Which _came to pass_."--_Acts_, xi, 28. "I _dare engage to make_ it out."--_Swift_. 2. For the _purpose_, or _end_, of that to which it is added; as, "Each has employed his time and pains _to establish_ a criterion."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 374. "I shall not stop now, _to assist_ in their elucidation."--_Ib._, ii, 75. "Our purposes are not endowed with words _to make_ them known."--_Ib._, ii, 74. [A] "TOOL is some instrument taken up _to work_ with."--_Ib._, ii, 145. "Labour not _to be_ rich."--_Prov._, xxiii, 4. "I flee unto thee _to hide_ me."--_Ps._, cxliii, 9. "Evil shall hunt the violent man _to overthrow_ him."--_Ib._, cxl, 11. 3. For the _object_ of an affection or passion; as, "He _loves to ride_."--"I _desire to hear_ her _speak_ again."--_Shale._ "If we _wish to avoid_ important error."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 3. "Who _rejoice to do_ evil."--_Prov._, ii, 14. "All agreeing in _earnestness to see_ him."--_Shak_. "Our _curiosity_ is raised _to know_ what lies beyond."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 335. 4. For the _cause_ of an affection or passion; as, "I rejoice _to hear_ it."--"By which I hope _to have laid_ a foundation," &c.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 34. "For he made me mad, _to see_ him _shine_ so brisk, and _smell_ so sweet."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 118. "Thou didst eat strange flesh, which some did die _to look_ on."--_Ib._, p. 182. "They grieved _to see_ their best allies at variance."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, p. 165. 5. For the _subject_ of a proposition, or the chief term in such subject; as, "_To steal_ is sinful."--"_To do_ justice and judgement, is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."--_Prov._, xxi, 3. "_To do_ RIGHT, is, to do that which is ordered to be done."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 7. "_To go_ to law to plague a neighbour, has in it more of malice, than of love to justice."--_Seattle's Mor. Sci._, i, 177. 6. For the _predicate_ of a proposition, or the chief term in such predicate; as, "To enjoy is _to obey_."--_Pope_. "The property of rain is _to wet_, and fire, _to burn_."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 15. "To die is _to be banished_ from myself."--_Ib._, p. 82. "The best way is, _to slander_ Valentine."--_Ib._, p. 83. "The highway of the upright is _to depart_ from evil."--_Prov._, xvi, 17. 7. For a _coming event_, or what _will_ be; as, "A mutilated structure soon _to fall_."--_Cowper._ "He being dead, and I speedily _to follow_ him."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 111. "She shall rejoice in time _to come_."--_Prov._, xxxi, 25. "Things present, or things _to come_."--_1 Cor._, iii, 22. 8. For a _necessary event_, or what _ought_ to be; as, "It is _to be remembered_."--"It is never _to be forgotten_."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 2. "An oversight much _to be deplored_."--_Ib._, ii, 460. "The sign is not _to be used_ by itself, or _to stand_ alone; but is _to be joined_ to some other term."--_Ib._, ii, 372. "The Lord's name is _to be praised_."--_Ps._, cxiii, 3. 9. For what is _previously suggested_ by another word; as, "I have _faith to believe_."--"The glossarist _did well_ here _not to yield_ to his inclination."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 329. "It is a good _thing to give_ thanks unto the Lord."--_Ps._, xcii, 1. "_It_ is _as sport_ to a fool _to do_ mischief."--_Prov._, x, 23. "They have the _gift to know_ it."--_Shak._ "We have no remaining _occupation_ but _to take_ care of the public."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 52. 10. For a term of _comparison_ or _measure_; as, "He was so much affected as _to weep_."--"Who could do no less than _furnish_ him."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 408. "I shall venture no farther than _to explain_ the nature and convenience of these abbreviations."--_Ib._, ii, 439. "I have already said enough _to show_ what sort of operation that is."--_Ib._, ii, 358. OBS. 26.--After dismissing all the examples which may fairly be referred to one or other of the ten heads above enumerated, an observant reader may yet find _other uses_ of the infinitive, and those so dissimilar that they can hardly be reduced to any one head or rule; except that all are governed by the preposition to, which points towards or to the verb; as, "A great altar _to see to_."--_Joshua_, xxii, 10. "[Greek: Bomon megan tou idein]."--_Septuagint_. That is, "An altar _great to behold_." "Altare infinitae magnitudinis."--_Vulgate_. "Un fort grand autel."--_French Bible_. "Easy _to be entreated_."--_Jos._, iii, 17. "There was none _to help_."--_Ps._, cvii, 12. "He had rained down manna upon them _to eat_."--_Ps._, lxxviii, 24. "Remember his commandments _to do_ them."--_Ps._, viii, 18. "Preserve thou those that are appointed _to die_."--_Ps._, lxxix, 11. "As coals to burning coals, and as wood to fire; so is a contentious man _to kindle_ strife."--_Prov._, xxvi, 21. "These are far beyond the reach and power of any kings _to do_ away."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 126. "I know not indeed what _to do_ with those words."--_Ib._, ii, 441. "They will be as little able _to justify_ their innovation."--_Ib._, ii, 448. "I leave you _to compare_ them."--_Ib._, ii, 458. "There is no occasion _to attribute_ it."--_Ib._, ii, 375. "There is no day for me _to look_ upon."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 82. "Having no external thing _to lose._"--_Ib._, p. 100. "I'll never be a gosling _to obey_ instinct."--_Ib._, p. 200. "Whereto serves mercy, but _to confront_ the visage of offence?"--_Ib._, p. 233. "If things do not go _to suit_ him."--_Liberator_, ix, 182. "And, _to be_ plain, I think there is not half a kiss _to choose_, who loves an other best."--_Shak._, p. 91. "But _to return_ to R. Johnson's instance of _good man_."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 370. Our common Bibles have this text: "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and _all to break_ his skull."--_Judges_, ix, 53. Perhaps the interpretation of this may be, "and _so as completely to break_ his skull." The octavo edition stereotyped by "the Bible Association of Friends in America," has it, "and _all-to brake_ his skull." This, most probably, was supposed by the editors to mean, "and _completely broke_ his skull;" but _all-to_ is no proper compound word, and therefore the change is a perversion. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the common French version, all accord with the simple indicative construction, "and _broke_ his skull." OBS. 27.--According to Lindley Murray, "The infinitive mood is often _made absolute_, or used independently _on_ [say _of_] the rest of the sentence, supplying the place of the conjunction _that_ with the potential mood: as, '_To confess_ the truth, I was in fault;' '_To begin_ with the first;' '_To proceed_;' '_To conclude_;' that is, 'That I may confess,' &c."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 184; _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 244. Some other compilers have adopted the same doctrine. But on what ground the _substitution_ of one mood for the other is imagined, I see not. The reader will observe that this potential mood is here just as much "_made absolute_," as is the infinitive; for there is nothing expressed to which the conjunction _that_ connects the one phrase, or the preposition _to_ the other. But possibly, in either case, there may be an ellipsis of some antecedent term; and surely, if we imagine the construction to be complete without any such term, we make the conjunction the more anomalous word of the two. Confession of the truth, is here the aim of speaking, but not of what is spoken. The whole sentence may be, "_In order_ to confess the truth, _I admit that_ I was in fault." Or, "_In order_ that I may confess the truth, _I admit that_ I was in fault." I do not deny, that the infinitive, or a phrase of which the infinitive is a part, is sometimes put _absolute_; for, if it is not so in any of the foregoing examples, it appears to be so in the following: "For every object has several faces, _so to speak_, by which it may be presented to us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 41. "_To declare_ a thing shall be, long before it is in being, and then _to bring about_ the accomplishment of that very thing, according to the same declaration; this, or nothing, is the work of God."--_Justin Martyr_. "_To be_, or _not to be_;--that is the question."--_Shakspeare_. "_To die;--to sleep;--To sleep_! perchance, _to dream_!"--_Id., Hamlet_. OBS. 28.--The infinitive usually _follows_ the word on which it depends, or to which the particle _to_ connects it; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "To beg I am ashamed."--_Luke_, xvi, 3. "To keep them no longer in suspense, [I say plainly,] Sir Roger de Coverly is dead."--_Addison_. "To suffer, as to do, Our strength is equal."--_Milton_. "To catch your vivid scenes, too gross her hand."--_Thomson_. OBS. 29.--Though, in respect to its syntax, the infinitive is oftener connected with a verb, a participle, or an adjective, than with a noun or a pronoun, it should never be so placed that the reader will be liable to mistake the _person_ to whom, or the _thing_ to which, the being, action, or passion, pertains. Examples of error: "This system will require a long time to be executed as it should be."--_Journal of N. Y. Lit. Convention_, 1830, p. 91. It is not the _time_, that is to be executed; therefore say, "This system, to be executed as it should be, will require a long time." "He spoke in a _manner distinct enough to be heard_ by the whole assembly."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 192. This implies that the orator's _manner_ was _heard_! But the grammarian interprets his own meaning, by the following alternative: "Or--_He spoke distinctly enough to be heard_ by the whole assembly."--_Ibid._ This suggests that the man himself was heard. "When they hit upon a figure that pleases them, they are loth to part with it, and frequently continue it so long, as to become tedious and intricate."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 341. Is it the _authors_, or their _figure_, that becomes tedious and intricate? If the latter, strike out, "_so long, as to become_," and say, "_till it becomes_." "Facts are always of the greatest consequence _to be remembered_ during the course of the pleading."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 272. The rhetorician here meant: "The facts stated in an argument, are always those parts of it, which it is most important that the hearers should be made to remember." OBS. 30.--According to some grammarians, "The Infinitive of the verb _to be_, is often _understood_; as, 'I considered it [_to be_] necessary to send the dispatches.'"--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 166. In this example, as in thousands more, of various forms, the verb _to be_ may be inserted without affecting the sense; but I doubt the necessity of supposing an ellipsis in such sentences. The adjective or participle that follows, always relates to the preceding objective; and if a noun is used, it is but an other objective in apposition with the former: as, "I considered _it_ an _imposition_." The verb _to be_, with the perfect participle, forms the passive infinitive; and the supposition of such an ellipsis, extensively affects one's mode of parsing. Thus, "He considered himself _insulted_," "I will suppose the work _accomplished_," and many similar sentences, might be supposed to contain passive infinitives. Allen says, "In the following construction, the words in _italics_ are (elliptically) passive infinitives; I saw the bird _caught_, and the hare _killed_; we heard the letters _read_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 168. Dr. Priestley observes, "There is a remarkable ambiguity in the use of the participle _preterite_, as the same word may express a thing either doing, or done; as, I went to see the child _dressed_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 125. If the Doctor's participle is ambiguous, I imagine that Allen's infinitives are just as much so. "The _participle_ which we denominate _past_, often means an action _whilst performing_: thus, I saw the _battle fought_, and the _standard lowered_."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 158. Sometimes, especially in familiar conversation, an infinitive verb is suppressed, and the sign of it retained; as, "They might have aided us; they ought _to_" [have aided us].--_Herald of Freedom_. "We have tried to like it, but it's hard _to_."--_Lynn News_. OBS. 31.--After the verb _make_, some writers insert the verb _be_, and suppress the preposition _to_; as, "He _must make_ every syllable, and even every letter, in the word which he pronounces, _be heard_ distinctly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 329; _Murray's E. Reader_, p. 9. "You _must make_ yourself _be heard_ with pleasure and attention."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 84. "To _make_ himself _be heard_ by all."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 328. "To _make_ ourselves _be heard_ by one."--_Ibid._ "Clear enough to _make_ me _be_ understood."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 198. In my opinion, it would be better, either to insert the _to_, or to use the participle only; as, "The information which he possessed, _made_ his company _to be_ courted."--_Dr. M'Rie_. "Which will both show the importance of this rule, and _make_ the application of it _to be_ understood."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 103. Or, as in these brief forms: "To _make_ himself _heard_ by all."--"Clear enough to _make_ me _understood_." OBS. 32.--In those languages in which the infinitive is distinguished as such by its termination, this part of the verb may be used alone as the subject of a finite verb; but in English it is always necessary to retain the sign _to_ before an abstract infinitive, because there is nothing else to distinguish the verb from a noun. Here we may see a difference between our language and the French, although it has been shown, that in their government of the infinitive they are in some degree analogous:--"HAIR est un tourment; AIMER est un besoin de l'ame."--_M. de Segur. "To hate_ is a torment; _to love_ is a requisite of the soul." If from this any will argue that _to_ is not here a preposition, the same argument will be as good, to prove that _for_ is not a preposition when it governs the objective case; because that also may be used without any antecedent term of relation: as, "They are by no means points of equal importance, _for me to be deprived_ of your affections, and _for him to be defeated_ in his prosecution."--_Anon., in W. Allen's Gram._, p. 166. I said, the sign _to_ must _always_ be put before an abstract infinitive: but possibly a _repetition_ of this sign may not always be necessary, when several such infinitives occur in the same construction: as, "But, _to fill_ a heart with joy, _restore_ content to the afflicted, or _relieve_ the necessitous, these fall not within the reach of their five senses."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 66. It may be too much to affirm, that this is positively ungrammatical; yet it would be as well or better, to express it thus: "But _to relieve_ the necessitous, _to restore_ content to the afflicted, _and to fill_ a heart with joy, these full not within the reach of their five senses." OBS. 33.--In the use of the English infinitive, as well as of the participle in _ing_, the distinction of _voice_ is often disregarded; the active form being used in what, with respect to the noun before it, is a passive sense: as, "There's no time _to waste_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 82. "You are _to blame_."--_Ib._ "The humming-bird is delightful _to look_ upon."--_Ib._ "What pain it was _to drown_."--_Shak._ "The thing's _to do_."--_Id._ "When deed of danger was _to do_."--_Scott_. "The evil I bring upon myself, is the hardest _to bear_."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 27. "Pride is worse _to bear_ than cruelty."--_Ib._, p. 37. These are in fact active verbs, and not passive. We may suggest agents for them, if we please; as, "There is no time _for us_ to waste." That the simple participle in _ing_ may be used passively, has been proved elsewhere. It seems sometimes to have no distinction of voice; as, "What is worth _doing_, is worth _doing well_."--_Com. Maxim._ This is certainly much more agreeable, than to say, "What is worth _being done_, is worth _being done well_." In respect to the voice of the infinitive, and of this participle, many of our grammarians are obviously hypercritical. For example: "The active voice should not be used for the passive; as, I have work _to do_: a house _to sell, to let_, instead of _to be done, to be sold, to be let_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 220. "Active verbs are often used improperly with a passive signification, as, 'the house is _building_, lodgings to _let_, he has a house to _sell_, nothing is _wanting_;' in stead of 'the house is _being built_, lodgings to _be lett_, he has a house to _be_ sold, nothing is _wanted_.'"--_Blair's Gram._, p. 64. In punctuation, orthography, and the use of capitals, here are more errors than it is worth while to particularize. With regard to such phraseology as, "The house _is being built_," see, in Part II, sundry Observations on the Compound Form of Conjugation. To say, "I have work _to do_,"--"He has a house _to sell_,"--or, "We have lodgings _to let_," is just as good English, as to say, "I have meat _to eat_."--_John_, iv, 32. And who, but some sciolist in grammar, would, in all such instances, prefer the passive voice? IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVIII. INFINITIVES DEMANDING THE PARTICLE TO. "William, please hand me that pencil."--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 12. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the infinitive verb _hand_ is not preceded by the preposition _to_. But, according to Rule 18th, "The preposition _to_ governs the infinitive mood, and commonly connects it to a finite verb." Therefore, _to_ should be here inserted; thus, "William, please _to_ hand me that pencil."] "Please insert points so as to make sense."--_Davis's Gram._, p. 123. "I have known Lords abbreviate almost the half of their words."--_Cobbett's English Gram._, 153. "We shall find the practice perfectly accord with the theory."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 23. "But it would tend to obscure, rather than elucidate the subject."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 95. "Please divide it for them as it should be."--_Willett's Arith._, p. 193. "So as neither to embarrass, nor weaken the sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 116; _Murray's Gram._, 322. "Carry her to his table, to view his poor fare,[413] and hear his heavenly discourse."--SHERLOCK: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 157; _Murray's Gram._, 347. "That we need not be surprised to find this hold in eloquence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 174. "Where he has no occasion either to divide or explain."--_Ib._, p. 305. "And they will find their pupils improve by hasty and pleasant steps."--_Russell's Gram._, Pref., p. 4. "The teacher however will please observe," &c.--_Infant School Gram._, p. 8. "Please attend to a few rules in what is called syntax."--_Ib._, p. 128. "They may dispense with the laws to favor their friends, or secure their office."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 39. "To take back a gift, or break a contract, is a wanton abuse."--_Ib._, p. 41. "The legislature has nothing to do, but let it bear its own price."--_Ib._, p. 315. "He is not to form, but copy characters."--_Rambler_, No. 122. "I have known a woman make use of a shoeing-horn."--_Spect._, No. 536. "Finding this experiment answer, in every respect, their wishes."--_Sandford and Merton_, p. 51. "In fine let him cause his argument conclude in the term of the question."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 443. "That he permitted not the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly."--_Shakspeare, Hamlet_. RULE XIX.--INFINITIVES. The active verbs, _bid, dare, feel, hear, let, make, need, see_, and their participles, usually take the Infinitive after them without the preposition _to_: as, "If he _bade_ thee _depart_, how _darest_ thou _stay_?"--"I _dare_ not _let_ my mind _be_ idle as I walk in the streets."--_Cotton Mather_. "Thy Hector, wrapt in everlasting sleep, Shall neither _hear_ thee _sigh_, nor _see_ thee _weep_." --_Pope's Homer_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XIX. OBS. 1.--Respecting the syntax of the infinitive mood when the particle _to_ is not expressed before it, our grammarians are almost as much at variance, as I have shown them to be, when they find the particle employed. Concerning _verbs governed by verbs_, Lindley Murray, and some others, are the most clear and positive, where their doctrine is the most obviously wrong; and, where they might have affirmed with truth, that the former verb _governs the latter_, they only tell us that "the preposition TO _is sometimes properly omitted_,"--or that such and such verbs "_have commonly other verbs following them_ without the sign TO."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 183; _Alger's_, 63; _W. Allen's_, 167, and others. If these authors meant, that the preposition _to_ is omitted _by ellipsis_, they ought to have said so. Then the many admirers and remodellers of Murray's Grammar might at least have understood him alike. Then, too, any proper definition of _ellipsis_ must have proved both them and him to be clearly wrong about this construction also. If the word _to_ is really "understood," whenever it is omitted after _bid, dare, feel_, &c., as some authors, affirm, then is it here the governing word, if anywhere; and this nineteenth rule, however common, is useless to the parser.[414] Then, too, does no English verb ever govern the infinitive without governing also a _preposition_, "expressed or understood." Whatever is omitted by ellipsis, and truly "_understood_," really belongs to the grammatical construction; and therefore, if inserted, it cannot be actually _improper_, though it may be unnecessary. But all our grammarians admit, that _to_ before the infinitive is sometimes "superfluous _and improper_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 183. I imagine, there cannot be any proper ellipsis of _to_ before the infinitive, except in some forms of comparison; because, wherever else it is necessary, either to the sense or to the construction, it ought to be inserted. And wherever the _to_ is rightly used, it is properly the governing word; but where it cannot be inserted without _impropriety_, it is absurd to say, that it is "_understood_." The infinitive that is put after such a verb or participle as excludes the preposition _to_, is governed by this verb or participle, if it is governed by any thing: as, "To make them _do, undo, eat, drink, stand, move, Talk, think_, and _feel_, exactly as he chose."--_Pollok_, p. 69. OBS. 2.--Ingersoll, who converted Murray's Grammar into "_Conversations_," says, "I will just remark to you that the verbs in the infinitive mood, that follow _make, need, see, bid, dare, feel, hear, let_, and their participles, are _always_ GOVERNED by them."--_Conv. on Eng. Gram._, p. 120. Kirkham, who pretended to turn the same book into "_Familiar Lectures_," says, "_To_, the sign of the infinitive mood, is _often understood_ before the verb; as, 'Let me proceed;' that is, Let me _to_ proceed."--_Gram. in Fam. Lect._, p. 137. The lecturer, however, does not suppose the infinitive to be here governed by the preposition _to_, or the verb _let_, but rather by the pronoun _me_. For, in an other place, he avers, that the infinitive may be governed by a noun or a pronoun; as, "Let _him do_ it."--_Ib._, p. 187. Now if the government of the infinitive is to be referred to the objective noun or pronoun that intervenes, none of those verbs that take the infinitive after them without the preposition, will usually be found to govern it, except _dare_ and _need_; and if _need_, in such a case, is an _auxiliary_, no government pertains to that. R. C. Smith, an other modifier of Murray, having the same false notion of ellipsis, says, "_To_, the usual sign of this mood, is _sometimes understood_; as, 'Let me go,' instead of, 'Let me _to_ go.'"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 65. According to Murray, whom these men profess to follow, _let_, in all these examples, is _an auxiliary_, and the verb that follows it, is not in the _infinitive_ mood, but in the _imperative_. So they severally contradict their oracle, and all are wrong, both he and they! The disciples pretend to correct their master, by supposing "_Let me to go_," and "_Let me to proceed_," good English! OBS. 3.--It is often impossible to say _by what_ the infinitive is governed, according to the instructions of Murray, or according to any author who does not parse it as I do. Nutting says, "The infinitive _mode_ sometimes follows the comparative conjunctions, _as, than_, and _how_, WITHOUT GOVERNMENT."--_Practical Gram._, p. 106. Murray's uncertainty[415] may have led to some part of this notion, but the idea that _how_ is a "comparative conjunction," is a blunder entirely new. Kirkham is so puzzled by "the language of that eminent philologist," that he bolts outright from the course of his guide, and runs he knows not whither; feigning that other able writers have well contended, "that this mood IS NOT GOVERNED by any particular word." Accordingly he leaves his pupils at liberty to "_reject the idea of government_, as applied to the verb in this mood;" and even frames a rule which refers it always "To some noun or pronoun, as its subject or actor."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 188. Murray teaches that the object of the active verb sometimes governs the infinitive that follows it: as, "They have a _desire_ to improve."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 184. To what extent, in practice, he would carry this doctrine, nobody can tell; probably to every sentence in which this object is the antecedent term to the preposition _to_, and perhaps further: as, "I _have_ a _house_ to _sell_"--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 106. "I _feel_ a _desire_ to _excel_." "I _felt_ my _heart_ within me _die_."--_Merrick_. OBS. 4.--Nutting supposes that the objective case before the infinitive always governs it wherever it denotes the agent of the infinitive action; as, "He commands _me_ to _write_ a letter."--_Practical Gram._, p. 96. Nixon, on the contrary, contends, that the finite verb, in such a sentence, can govern only one object, and that this object is the infinitive. "The objective case preceding it," he says, "is the subject or agent of that infinitive, and not governed by the preceding verb." His example is, "Let _them_ go."--_English Parser_, p. 97. "In the examples, 'He is endeavouring _to persuade_ them _to learn_,'--'It is pleasant _to see_ the sun,'--the pronoun _them_, the adjective _pleasant_, and the participle _endeavouring_, I consider as _governing_ the following verb in the infinitive mode."--_Cooper's Plain and Pract. Gram._, p. 144. "Some erroneously say that pronouns govern the infinitive mode in such examples as this: 'I expected _him_ to be present.' We will change the expression: 'He was expected to be present.' _All will admit_ that _to be_ is governed by _was expected_. The same verb that governs it in the passive voice, governs it in the active."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 144. So do our _professed grammarians_ differ about the government of the infinitive, even in _the most common_ constructions of it! Often, however, it makes but little difference in regard to the sense, which of the two words is considered the governing or antecedent term; but where the preposition is excluded, the construction seems to imply some immediate influence of the finite verb upon the infinitive. OBS. 5.--The _extent_ of this influence, or of such government, has never yet been clearly determined. "This _irregularity_," says _Murray_, "extends only to _active or neuter_ verbs: ['active _and_ neuter verbs,' says _Fisk_:] for all the verbs above mentioned, when made _passive_, require the preposition _to_ before the following verb: as, 'He was seen _to_ go;' 'He was heard _to_ speak;' 'They were bidden _to_ be upon their guard.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 183. Fisk adds with no great accuracy "In the _past_ and _future_ tenses of the active voice also, these verbs generally require the sign _to_, to be prefixed to the following verbs; as, 'You _have dared to proceed_ without authority;' 'They _will_ not _dare to attack_ you.'"--_Gram. Simplified_, p. 125. What these gentlemen here call "_neuter verbs_," are only the two words _dare_ and _need_, which are, in most cases, active, though not always transitive; unless the infinitive itself can make them so--an inconsistent doctrine of theirs which I have elsewhere refuted. (See Obs. 3rd on Rule 5th.) These two verbs take the infinitive after them without the preposition, only when they are intransitive; while all the rest seem to have this power, only when they are transitive. If there are any exceptions, they shall presently be considered. A more particular examination of the construction proper for the infinitive after each of these eight verbs, seems necessary for a right understanding of the rule. OBS. 6.--Of the verb BID. This verb, in any of its tenses, when it commands an action, usually governs an object and also an infinitive, which come together; as, "Thou _bidst_ the _world adore_."--_Thomson_. "If the prophet _had bid thee do_ some great thing."--_2 Kings_, v, 13. But when it means, _to promise_ or _offer_, the infinitive that follows, must be introduced by the preposition _to_; as, "He _bids_ fair _to excel_ them all"--"Perhaps no person under heaven _bids_ more unlikely _to_ be saved."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. vii. "And each _bade_ high _to_ win him."--GRANVILLE: _Joh. Dict._ After the compound _forbid_, the preposition is also necessary; as, "Where honeysuckles _forbid_ the sun _to_ enter."--_Beauties of Shak._. p. 57. In poetry, if the measure happens to require it, the word _to_ is sometimes allowed after the simple verb _bid_, denoting a command; as, "_Bid_ me _to_ strike my dearest brother dead, _To_ bring my aged father's hoary head."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 677. OBS. 7.--Of the verb DARE. This verb, when used intransitively, and its irregular preterit _durst_, which is never transitive, usually take the infinitive after them without _to_; as, "I _dare do_ all that may become a man: Who _dares do_ more, is none."--_Shakspeare_. "If he _durst steal_ any thing adventurously."--_Id._ "Who _durst defy_ th' Omnipotent to arms."--_Milton_. "Like one who _durst_ his destiny _control_."--_Dryden_. In these examples, the former verbs have some resemblance to auxiliaries, and the insertion of the preposition _to_ would be improper. But when we take away this resemblance, by giving _dare_ or _dared_, an objective case, the preposition is requisite before the infinitive; as, "Time! I _dare thee to_ discover Such a youth or such a lover."--_Dryden_. "He _dares me to_ enter the lists."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 125. So when _dare_ itself is in the infinitive mood, or is put after an auxiliary, the preposition is not improper; as, "And _let_ a private man _dare to say_ that it will."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 147. "_Would_ its compiler _dare to affront_ the Deity?"--_West's Letters_, p. 151. "What power so great, _to dare to disobey?_"--_Pope's Homer_. "Some _would_ even _dare_ to die."--_Bible_. "What _would dare to molest_ him?"--_Dr. Johnson_. "_Do_ you _dare to prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?"--_Junius_, Let. xxxiii. Perhaps these examples might be considered good English, either with or without the _to_; but the last one would be still better thus: "_Dare_ you _prosecute_ such a creature as Vaughan?" Dr. Priestley thinks the following sentence would have been better with the preposition inserted: "Who _have dared defy_ the worst."--HARRIS: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 132. _To_ is sometimes used after the simple verb, in the present tense; as, "Those whose words no one _dares to_ repeat."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 147. "_Dare_ I _to_ leave of humble prose the shore?" --_Young_, p. 377. "Against heaven's endless mercies pour'd, how _dar'st_ thou _to_ rebel?" --_Id._, p. 380. "The man who _dares to_ be a wretch, deserves still greater pain." --_Id._, p. 381. OBS. 8.--Of the verb FEEL. This verb, in any of its tenses, may govern the infinitive without the sign _to_; but it does this, only when it is used transitively, and that in regard to a bodily perception: as, "I _feel_ it _move_."--"I _felt_ something _sting_ me." If we speak of feeling any mental affection, or if we use the verb intransitively, the infinitive that follows, requires the preposition; as, "I _feel_ it _to_ be my duty."--"I _felt_ ashamed _to_ ask."--"I _feel_ afraid _to_ go alone."--"I _felt_ about, _to_ find the door." One may say of what is painful to the body, "I _feel_ it _to_ be severe." OBS. 9.--Of the verb HEAR. This verb is often intransitive, but it is usually followed by an objective case when it governs the infinitive; as. "To _hear_ a _bird sing_."--_Webster_. "You have never _heard me say_ so." For this reason, I am inclined to think that those sentences in which it appears to govern the infinitive alone, are elliptical; as, "I _have heard tell_ of such things."--"And I _have heard say_ of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it."--_Gen_, xli, 15. Such examples may be the same as. "I have heard _people_ tell,"--"I have heard _men_ say," &c. OBS. 10.--Of the verb LET. By many grammarians this verb has been erroneously called an _auxiliary_ of the optative mood; or, as Dr. Johnson terms it, "a _sign_ of the _optative_ mood:" though none deny, that it is sometimes also a principal verb. It is, in fact, always a principal verb; because, as we now apply it, it is always transitive. It commonly governs an objective noun or pronoun, and also an infinitive without the sign _to_; as, "Rise up, _let us go_."--_Mark_. "Thou _shalt let it rest_."--_Exodus_. But sometimes the infinitive coalesces with it more nearly than the objective, so that the latter is placed after both verbs; as, "The solution _lets go_ the _mercury_."--_Newton_. "One _lets slip_ out of his account a good _part_ of that duration."--_Locke_. "Back! on _your_ lives; _let_ be, said he, my _prey_."--_Dryden_. The phrase, _let go_, is sometimes spoken for, _let go your hold_; and _let be_, for _let him be, let it be_, &c. In such instances, therefore, the verb _let_ is not really intransitive. This verb, even in the passive form, may have the infinitive after it without the preposition to; as, "Nothing _is let slip_."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 165. "They _were let go_ in peace."--_Acts_, xv, 33. "The stage was never empty, nor the curtain _let fall_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 459. "The pye's question was wisely _let fall_ without a reply."--_L'Estrange_. With respect to other passives, Murray and Fisk appear to be right; and sometimes the preposition is used after this one: as, "There's a letter for you, sir, if your name be Horatio, as I _am let to know_ it is."--_Shakspeare_. _Let_, when used intransitively, required the preposition _to_ before the following infinitive; as, "He would not _let_ [i. e. _forbear_] _to counsel_ the king."--_Bacon_. But this use of _let_ is now obsolete. OBS. 11.--Of the verb MAKE. This verb, like most of the others, never immediately governs an infinitive, unless it also governs a noun or a pronoun which is the immediate _subject_ of such infinitive; as, "You _make me blush_."--"This only _made_ the _youngster laugh_"--_Webster's Spelling-Book_. "Which soon _made_ the young _chap hasten_ down."--_Ib._ But in very many instances it is quite proper to insert the preposition where this verb is transitive; as, "He _maketh_ both the deaf _to_ hear, and the dumb _to_ speak."--_Mark_, vii, 37. "He _makes_ the excellency of a sentence _to_ consist in four things."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 122; _Jamieson's_, 124. "It is this that _makes_ the observance of the dramatic unities _to_ be of consequence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 464. "In _making_ some tenses of the English verb _to_ consist of principal and auxiliary."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 76. "When _make_ is intransitive, it has some qualifying word after it, besides the sign of the infinitive; as,--I think he _will make out_ to pay his debts." Formerly, the preposition _to_ was almost always inserted to govern the infinitive after _make_ or _made_; as, "Lest I _make_ my brother _to_ offend."--_1 Cor._, viii, 13. "He _made_ many _to_ fall."--_Jer._, xlvi, 16. Yet, in the following text, it is omitted, even where the verb is meant to be _passive_: "And it was lifted up from the earth, and _made stand_ upon the feet as a man."--_Dan._, vii, 4. This construction is improper, and not free from ambiguity; because _stand_ may be a noun, and _made_, an active verb governing it. There may also be uncertainty in the meaning, where the insertion of the preposition leaves none in the construction; for _made_ may signify either _created_ or _compelled_, and the infinitive after it, may denote either the _purpose_ of creation, or the _effect_ of any temporary compulsion: as, "We are _made to be serviceable_ to others."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 167. "Man _was made to mourn_."--_Burns_. "Taste _was never made to cater_ for vanity."--_Blair_. The primitive word _make_ seldom, if ever, produces a construction that is thus equivocal. The infinitive following it without _to_, always denotes the effect of the making, and not the purpose of the maker; as, "He _made_ his son Skjoeld _be received_ there as king."--_North. Antiq._, p. 81. But the same meaning may be conveyed when the _to_ is used; as, "The fear of God is freedom, joy, and peace; And _makes_ all ills that vex us here _to_ cease."--_Waller_, p. 56. OBS. 12.--Of the verb NEED. I incline to think, that the word _need_, whenever it is rightly followed by the infinitive without _to_, is, in reality an _auxiliary_ of the potential mood; and that, like _may, can_, and _must_, it may properly be used, in both the present and the perfect tense, without personal inflection: as, "He _need_ not _go_, He _need_ not _have gone_;" where, if _need_ is a principal verb, and governs the infinitive without _to_, the expressions must be, "He _needs_ not _go_, He _needed_ not _go_, or, He _has_ not _needed go_." But none of these three forms is agreeable; and the last two are never used. Wherefore, in stead of placing in my code of false syntax the numerous examples of the former kind, with which the style of our grammarians and critics has furnished me, I have exhibited many of them, in contrast with others, in the eighth and ninth observations on the Conjugation of Verbs; in which observations, the reader may see what reasons there are for supposing the word _need_ to be sometimes an auxiliary and sometimes a principal verb. Because no other author has yet intentionally recognized the propriety of this distinction, I have gone no farther than to show on what grounds, and with what authority from usage, it might be acknowledged. If we adopt this distinction, perhaps it will be found that the regular or principal verb _need_ always requires, or, at least, always admits, the preposition _to_ before the following infinitive; as, "They _need_ not _to_ be specially indicated."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 302. "We _need_ only _to_ remark."--_Ib._, ii, 224. "A young man _needed_ only _to_ ask himself," &c.--_Ib._, i, 117. "Nor is it conceivable to me, that the lightning of a Demosthenes _could need to_ be sped upon the wings of a semiquaver."--_Ib._, ii, 226. "But these people _need to_ be informed."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 220. "No man _needed_ less _to_ be informed."--_Ib._, p. 175. "We _need_ only _to_ mention the difficulty that arises."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 362. "_Can_ there _need to_ be argument to prove so plain a point?"--_Graham's Lect_. "Moral instruction _needs to_ have a more prominent place."--_Dr. Weeks_. "Pride, ambition, and selfishness, _need to_ be restrained."--_Id._ "Articles are sometimes omitted, where they _need to_ be used."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 197. "Whose power _needs_ not _to_ be dreaded."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 93. "A workman that _needeth_ not _to_ be ashamed."--_2 Tim._, ii, 15. "The small boys _may have needed to_ be managed according to the school system."--_T. D. Woolsey_. "The difficulty of making variety consistent, _needs_ not _to_ disturb him."--_Rambler_, No. 122. "A more cogent proof _needs_ not _to_ be introduced."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 66. "No person _needs to_ be informed, that _you_ is used in addressing a single person."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 19. "I hope I _need_ not _to_ advise you further."--_Shak., All's Well_. "Nor me, nor other god, thou _needst to_ fear, For thou to all the heavenly host art dear."--_Congreve_. OBS. 13.--If _need_ is ever an auxiliary, the essential difference between an auxiliary and a principal verb, will very well account for the otherwise puzzling fact, that good writers sometimes inflect this verb, and sometimes do not; and that they sometimes use _to_ after it, and sometimes do not. Nor do I see in what other way a grammarian can treat it, without condemning as bad English a great number of very common phrases which he cannot change for the better. On this principle, such examples as, "He _need_ not _proceed_," and "He _needs_ not _to_ proceed," may be perfectly right in either form; though Murray, Crombie,[416] Fisk, Ingersoll, Smith, C. Adams, and many others, pronounce both these forms to be wrong; and unanimously, (though contrary to what is perhaps the best usage,) prefer, "He _needs_ not _proceed_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 180. OBS. 14.--On questions of grammar, the _practice of authors_ ought to be of more weight, than the _dogmatism of grammarians_; but it is often difficult to decide well by either; because errors and contradictions abound in both. For example: Dr. Blair says, (in speaking of the persons represented by _I_ and _thou_,) "Their sex _needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Rhet._, p. 79. Jamieson abridges the work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_Gram. of Rhet._, p. 28. Dr. Lowth also says, "_needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Gram._, p. 21. Churchill enlarges the work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_New Gram._, p. 72. Lindley Murray copies Lowth, and says, "_needs_ not _be_ marked."--_Gram._, 12mo, 2d Ed., p. 39; 23d Ed., p. 51; and perhaps all other editions. He afterwards enlarges his own work, and says, "_needs_ not _to_ be marked."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 51. But, according to Greenleaf they all express the idea ungrammatically; the only true form being, "Their sex _need_ not _be marked_." See _Gram. Simplified_, p. 48. In the two places in which the etymology and the syntax of this verb are examined, I have cited from proper sources more than twenty examples in which _to_ is used after it, and more than twenty others in which the verb is not inflected in the third person singular. In the latter, _need_ is treated as an auxiliary; in the former, it is a principal verb, of the regular construction. If the principal verb _need_ can also govern the infinitive without _to_, as all our grammarians have supposed, then there is a third form which is unobjectionable, and my pupils may take their choice of the three. But still there is a fourth form which nobody approves, though the hands of some great men have furnished us with examples of it: as, "A figure of thought _need_ not _to_ detort the words from their literal sense."--_J. Q. Adams's Lectures_, Vol. ii, p. 254. "Which a man _need_ only _to_ appeal to his own feelings immediately to evince."--_Clarkson's Prize-Essay on Slavery_, p. 106. OBS. 15.--Webster and Greenleaf seem inclined to justify the use of _dare_, as well as of _need_, for the third person singular. Their doctrine is this: "In _popular practice_ it is used in the third person, without the personal termination. Thus, instead of saying, 'He _dares_ not do it;' WE _generally_ say, 'He _dare_ not do it.' In like manner, _need_, when an active verb, is regular in its inflections; as, 'A man _needs_ more prudence.' But _when intransitive_, it drops the personal terminations in the present tense, and is followed by a verb without the prefix _to_; as, 'A man _need_ not _be_ uneasy.'"--_Greenleaf s Grammar Simplified_, p. 38; _Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 178; _Improved Gram._, 127. Each part of this explanation appears to me erroneous. In _popular practice_, one shall oftener hear, "He _dares n't_ do it," or even, "_You dares n't_ do it," than, "_He dare not_ do it." But it is only in the trained practice of the schools, that he shall ever hear, "He _needs n't_ do it," or, "He _needs not_ do it." If _need_ is sometimes used without inflection, this peculiarity, or the disuse of _to_ before the subsequent infinitive, is not a necessary result of its "_intransitive_" character. And as to their latent _nominative_, "whereof there _is_ no _account_," or, "whereof there _needs_ no _account_;" their _fact_, of which "there _is_ no _evidence_," or of which "there _needs_ no _evidence_;" I judge it a remarkable phenomenon, that authors of so high pretensions, could find, in these _transpositions_, a nominative to "_is_," but none to "_needs_!" See a marginal note under Rule 14th, at p. 570. OBS. 16.--Of the verb SEE. This verb, whenever it governs the infinitive without _to_, governs also an objective noun or pronoun; as, "_See me do_ it."--"I _saw him do_ it."--_Murray_. Whenever it is intransitive, the following infinitive must be governed by _to_; as, "I _will see to have_ it done."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 98; _Greenleaf's_, 38. "How _could_ he _see to do_ them?"--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 43. In the following text, _see_ is transitive, and governs the infinitive; but the two verbs are put so far apart, that it requires some skill in the reader to make their relation apparent: "When ye therefore _shall see_ the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, _stand_ in the holy place," &c.--_Matt._, xxiv, 15. An other scripturist uses the _participle_, and says--"_standing_ where it ought not," &c.--_Mark_, xiii, 14. The Greek word is the same in both; it is a participle, agreeing with the noun for _abomination_. Sometimes the preposition _to_ seems to be admitted on purpose to protract the expression: as, "Tranio, I _saw_ her coral lips _to move_, And with her breath she did perfume the air."--_Shak_. OBS 17.--A few other verbs, besides the eight which are mentioned in the foregoing rule and remarks, sometimes have the infinitive after them without _to_. W. Allen teaches, that, "The sign _to_ is _generally_ omitted," not only after these eight, but also after eight others; namely, "_find, have, help, mark, observe, perceive, watch_, and the old preterit _gan_, for _began_; and _sometimes_ after _behold_ and _know_."--_Elements of Gram._, p. 167. Perhaps he may have found _some instances_ of the omission of the preposition after all these, but in my opinion his rule gives a very unwarrantable extension to this "irregularity," as Murray calls it. The usage belongs only to particular verbs, and to them not in all their applications. Other verbs of the same import do not in general admit the same idiom. But, by a license for the most part peculiar to the poets, the preposition _to_ is occasionally omitted, especially after verbs equivalent to those which exclude it; as, "And _force_ them _sit_."--_Cowper's Task_, p. 46. That is, "And _make_ them _sit_." According to Churchill, "To use _ought_ or _cause_ in this manner, is a Scotticism: [as,] 'Won't you _cause_ them _remove_ the hares?'--'You _ought_ not _walk_.' SHAK."--_New Gram._, p. 317. The verbs, _behold, view, observe, mark, watch_, and _spy_, are only other words for _see_; as, "There might you _behold_ one joy _crown_ an other."--_Shak_. "There I sat, _viewing_ the silver stream _glide_ silently towards the tempestuous sea."--_Walton_. "I _beheld_ Satan as lightning _fall_ from heaven."--_Luke_, x, 18. "Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them _spy Come_ tripping to the room where thou didst lie."--_Milton_. ------"Nor with less dread the loud Ethereal trumpet from on high '_gan blow_."--_Id., P. L._, vi, 60. OBS. 18.--After _have, help_, and _find_, the infinitive sometimes occurs without the preposition _to_, but much oftener with it; as, "When enumerating objects which we wish to _have appear_ distinct."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 222. "Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to _have_ a man's mind _move_ in charity, _rest_ in Providence, and _turn_ upon the poles of truth."--_Ld. Bacon_. "What wilt thou _have_ me _to_ do?"--_Acts_, ix, 6. "He will _have_ us _to_ acknowledge him."--_Scougal_, p. 102. "I _had to walk_ all the way."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 85. "Would you _have_ them _let go_ then? No."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 248. According to Allen's rule, this question is ambiguous; but the learned author explains it in Latin thus: "Placet igitur eos _dimitti_? Minime." That is, "Would you have them _dismissed_ then? No." Had he meant, "Would you have them _to_ let go then?" he would doubtless have said so. Kirkham, by adding _help_ to Murray's list, enumerates nine verbs which he will have to exclude the sign of the infinitive; as, "_Help_ me _do_ it."--_Gram._, p. 188. But good writers sometimes use the particle _to_ after this verb; as, "And Danby's matchless impudence _helped to_ support the knave."--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict., w. Help_. Dr. Priestley says, "It must, I suppose, be according to the _Scotch_ idiom that Mrs. Macaulay omits it after the verb _help_: 'To _help carry_ on the new measures of the court.' _History_, Vol. iv, p. 150."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 133. "You will _find_ the difficulty _disappear_ in a short time."--_Cobbett's English Gram._, 16. "We shall always _find_ this distinction _obtain_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 245. Here the preposition _to_ might have been inserted with propriety. Without it, a plural noun will render the construction equivocal. The sentence, "You will find the _difficulties disappear_ in a short time," will probably be understood to mean, "You will find _that_ the difficulties disappear in a short time." "I do not _find_ him _reject_ his authority."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 167. Here too the preposition might as well have been inserted. But, as this use of the infinitive is a sort of Latinism, some critics would choose to say, "I do not find _that he rejects_ his authority." "Cyrus was extremely glad to find _them have_ such sentiments of religion."--_Rollin_, ii, 117. Here the infinitive may be varied either by the participle or by the indicative; as, "to find _them having_," or, "to find _they had_." Of the three expressions, the last, I think, is rather the best. OBS. 19.--When two or more infinitives are connected in the same construction, one preposition sometimes governs them both or all; a repetition of the particle not being always necessary, unless we mean to make the terms severally emphatical. This fact is one evidence that _to_ is not a necessary part of each infinitive verb, as some will have it to be. Examples: "Lord, suffer me first TO _go_ and _bury_ my father."--_Matt._, viii, 21. "To _shut_ the door, means, TO _throw_ or _cast_ the door to."--_Tooke's D. P._, ii, 105. "Most authors expect the printer TO _spell, point_, and _digest_ their copy, that it may be intelligible to the reader."--_Printer's Grammar_. "I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, To _shake_ the head, _relent_, and _sigh_, and _yield_."--_Shak_. OBS. 20.--An infinitive that explains an other, may sometimes be introduced without the preposition _to_; because, the former having it, the construction of the latter is made the same by this kind of apposition: as, "The most accomplished way of using books at present is, TO _serve_ them as some do lords; _learn_ their _titles_, and, then _brag_ of their acquaintance."--SWIFT: _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 166. OBS. 21.--After _than_ or _as_, the sign of the infinitive is sometimes required, and sometimes excluded; and in some instances we can either insert it or not, as we please. The latter term of a comparison is almost always more or less elliptical; and as the nature of its ellipsis depends on the structure of the former term, so does the necessity of inserting or of omitting the sign of the infinitive. Examples: "No desire is more universal than [_is the desire_] to be exalted and honoured."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 197. "The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as [_is the difficulty_] to find a friend worth dying for."--_Id., Art of Thinking_, p. 42. "It is no more in one's power to love or not to love, than [_it is in one's power_] to be in health or out of order."--_Ib._, p. 45. "Men are more likely to be praised into virtue, than [_they are likely_] to be railed out of vice."--_Ib._, p. 48. "It is more tolerable to be always alone, than [_it is tolerable_] never to be so."--_Ib._, p. 26. "Nothing [_is_] more easy than to do mischief [_is easy_]: nothing [is] more difficult than to suffer without complaining" [_is difficult_].--_Ib._, p. 46. Or: "than [_it is easy_] to do mischief:" &c., "than [_it is difficult_] to suffer," &c. "It is more agreeable to the nature of most men to follow than [_it is agreeable to their nature_] to lead."--_Ib._, p. 55. In all these examples, the preposition _to_ is very properly inserted; but what excludes it from the former term of a comparison, will exclude it from the latter, if such governing verb be understood there: as, "You no more heard me _say_ those words, than [_you heard me_] _talk_ Greek." It may be equally proper to say, "We choose rather to lead than _follow_," or, "We choose rather to lead than _to_ follow."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 37. The meaning in either case is, "We choose to lead rather than _we choose to_ follow." In the following example, there is perhaps an ellipsis of _to_ before _cite_: "I need do nothing more than _simply cite_ the explicit declarations," &c.--_Gurney's Peculiarities_, p. 4. So in these: "Nature did no more than _furnish_ the power and means."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 147. "To beg, than _work_, he better understands; Or we perhaps might take him off thy hands." --_Pope's Odyssey_, xvii, 260. OBS. 22.--It has been stated, in Obs. 16th on Rule 17th, that good writers are apt to shun a repetition of any part common to two or more verbs in the same sentence; and among the examples there cited is this: "They mean _to_, and will, hear patiently."--_Salem Register_. So one might say, "Can a man arrive at excellence, who has no desire _to_?"--"I do not wish to go, nor expect _to_."--"Open the door, if you are going _to_." Answer: "We want _to_, and try _to_, but can't." Such ellipses of the infinitive after _to_, are by no means uncommon, especially in conversation; nor do they appear to me to be always reprehensible, since they prevent repetition, and may contribute to brevity without obscurity. But Dr. Bullions has lately thought proper to _condemn_ them; for such is presumed to have been the design of the following note: "_To_, the sign of the infinitive, should never be used for the infinitive itself. Thus, 'I have not written, and I do not intend _to_,' is a colloquial vulgarism for, 'I have not written, and I do not intend _to write_.'"--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 179. His "Exercises to be corrected," here, are these: "Be sure to write yourself and tell him to. And live as God designed me to."--_Ib._, 1st Ed., p. 180. It being manifest, that _to_ cannot "be used _for_"--(that is, _in place of_--)what is implied _after_ it, this is certainly a very awkward way of hinting "there should never be an ellipsis of the infinitive after _to_." But, from the false syntax furnished, this appears to have been the meaning intended. The examples are severally faulty, but not for the reason suggested--not because "_to_" is used for "_write_" or "_live_"--not, indeed, for any one reason common to the three--but because, in the first, "_to write_" and "_have not written_," have nothing in common which we can omit; in the second, the mood of "_tell_" is doubtful, and, without a comma after "yourself," we cannot precisely know the meaning; in the third, the mood, the person, and the number of "_live_," are all unknown. See Note 9th to Rule 17th, above; and Note 2d to the General Rule, below. OBS. 23.--Of some infinitives, it is hard to say whether they are transitive or intransitive; as, "Well, then, let us proceed; we have other forced marches to _make_; other enemies to _subdue_; more laurels to _acquire_; and more injuries to _avenge_."--BONAPARTE: _Columbian Orator_, p. 136. These, without ellipsis, are intransitive; but relatives may be inserted. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XIX. INFINITIVES AFTER BID, DARE, FEEL, HEAR, LET, &c. "I dare not to proceed so hastily, lest I should give offence."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 63. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _to_ is inserted before _proceed_, which follows the active verb _dare_. But, according to Rule 19th, "The active verbs, _bid, dare, feel, hear, let, make, need, see_, and their participles, usually take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_;" and this is an instance in which the finite verb should immediately govern the infinitive. Therefore, the _to_ should be omitted; thus, "I _dare_ not _proceed_ so hastily," &c.] "Their character is formed, and made appear."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 115. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _to_ is not inserted between _made_ and _appear_, the verb _is made_ being passive. But, according to Obs. 5th and 10th on Rule 19th, those verbs which in the active form govern the infinitive without _to_, do not so govern it when they are made passive, except the verb _let_. Therefore, _to_ should be here inserted; thus, "Their character is formed, and made _to_ appear."] "Let there be but matter and opportunity offered, and you shall see them quickly to revive again."--_Wisdom of the Ancients_, p. 53. "It has been made appear, that there is no presumption against a revelation."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 252. "MANIFEST, _v. t_. To reveal; to make to appear; to show plainly."--_Webster's American Dict._ "Let him to reign like unto good Aurelius, or let him to bleed like unto Socrates."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 169. "To sing I could not; to complain I durst not."--_S. Fothergill_. "If T. M. be not so frequently heard pray by them."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 132. "How many of your own church members were never heard pray?"--_Ib._, iii, 133. "Yea, we are bidden pray one for another."--_Ib._, iii, 145. "He was made believe that neither the king's death, nor imprisonment would help him."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 281. "I felt a chilling sensation to creep over me."--_Inst._, p. 188. "I dare to say he has not got home yet."--_Ib._ "We sometimes see bad men to be honoured."--_Ib._ "I saw him to move."--_Felch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. 62. "For see thou, ah! see thou a hostile world to raise its terrours."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 167. "But that he make him to rehearse so."--_Lily's Gram._, p. xv. "Let us to rise."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 41. "Scripture, you know, exhorts us to it; Bids us to 'seek peace, and ensue it.'"--_Swift's Poems_, p. 336. "Who bade the mud from Dives' wheel To spurn the rags of Lazarus? Come, brother, in that dust we'll kneel, Confessing Heaven that ruled it thus."--_Christmas Book_. CHAPTER VII--PARTICIPLES. The true or regular syntax of the English Participle, as a part of speech distinct from the verb, and not converted into a noun or an adjective, is twofold; being sometimes that of simple _relation_ to a noun or a pronoun that precedes it, and sometimes that of _government_, or the state of _being governed_ by a preposition. In the former construction, the participle resembles an adjective; in the latter, it is more like a noun, or like the infinitive mood: for the participle after a preposition is governed _as a participle_, and not as a case.[417] To these two constructions, some add three others less regular, using the participle sometimes as the _subject_ of a finite verb, sometimes as the _object_ of a transitive verb, and sometimes as a _nominative_ after a neuter verb. Of these five constructions, the first two, are the legitimate uses of this part of speech; the others are occasional, modern, and of doubtful propriety. RULE XX.--PARTICIPLES. Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by prepositions: as, "Elizabeth's tutor, at one time _paying_ her a visit, found her _employed_ in _reading_ Plato."--_Hume_. "I have no more pleasure in _hearing_ a man _attempting_ wit and _failing_, than in _seeing_ a man _trying_ to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it."--_Dr. Johnson_. "Now, _rais'd_ on Tyre's sad ruins, Pharaoh's pride Soar'd high, his legions _threat'ning_ far and wide."--_Dryden_. EXCEPTION FIRST. A participle sometimes relates to a preceding _phrase_ or _sentence_, of which it forms no part; as, "I then quit the society; _to withdraw and leave them to themselves_, APPEARING to me a duty."--"It is almost exclusively on the ground we have mentioned, that we have heard _his being continued in office_ DEFENDED."--_Professors' Reasons_, p. 23. (Better, "_his continuance_ in office," or, "_the continuing of him_ in office." See Obs. 18th on Rule 4th.) "But _ever to do ill_ our sole delight, As _being_ the contrary to his high will."--_Milton_. EXCEPTION SECOND. With an infinitive denoting being or action in the abstract, a participle is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as, "To seem _compelled_, is disagreeable."--"To keep always _praying_ aloud, is plainly impossible."--"It must be disagreeable to be left pausing[418] on a word which does not, by itself, produce any idea."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 323. "To praise him is to serve him, and fulfill, _Doing_ and _suffering_, his unquestion'd will." --_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 88. EXCEPTION THIRD. The participle is often used irregularly in English, as a substitute for the infinitive mood, to which it is sometimes equivalent without irregularity; as, "I saw him _enter_, or _entering_"--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 230. "He is afraid of _trying_, or _to try_."--_Ibid._ Examples irregular: "Sir, said I, if the case stands thus, 'tis dangerous _drinking_:" i.e., to drink.--_Collier's Tablet of Cebes_. "It will be but ill _venturing_ thy soul upon that:" i.e., to venture.--_Bunyan's Law and Grace_, p. 27. "_Describing_ a past event as present, has a fine effect in language:" i.e., to describe.--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 93. "In English likewise it deserves _remarking_:" i.e., to be remarked.--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 232. "Bishop Atterbury deserves _being particularly mentioned_:" i.e., to be particularly mentioned.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 291. "This, however, is in effect no more than _enjoying_ the sweet that predominates:" i.e., to enjoy.--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 43. "Habits are soon assum'd; but when we strive To strip them off, 'tis being _flay'd_ alive."--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 44 EXCEPTION FOURTH. An other frequent irregularity in the construction of participles, is the practice of treating them essentially as nouns, without taking from them the regimen and adjuncts of participles; as, "_Your having been well educated will be_ a great recommendation."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 171. (Better: "_Your excellent education_"--or, "_That you have been well educated_, will be," &c.) "It arises from _sublimity's expressing grandeur_ in its highest degree."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "Concerning _the separating_ by a circumstance, _words_ intimately connected."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 104. "As long as there is any hope of _their keeping pace_ with them."--_Literary Convention_, p. 114. "Which could only arise from _his knowing the secrets_ of all hearts."--_West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 180. "But this again is _talking_ quite at random."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 146. "_My being here_ it is, that holds thee hence."--_Shak._ "Such, but by foils, the clearest lustre see, And deem _aspersing others, praising thee_."--_Savage, to Walpole_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XX. OBS. 1.--To this rule, I incline to think, there are _properly_ no other exceptions than the first two above; or, at least, that we ought to avoid, when we can, any additional anomalies. Yet, not to condemn with unbecoming positiveness what others receive for good English, I have subjoined two items more, which include certain other irregularities now very common, that, when examples of a like form occur, the reader may _parse them as exceptions_, if he does not choose _to censure them as errors_. The mixed construction in which participles are made to govern the possessive case, has already been largely considered in the observations on Rule 4th. Murray, Allen, Churchill, and many other grammarians, great and small, admit that participles may be made the subjects or the objects of verbs, while they retain the nature, government, and adjuncts, of participles; as, "Not _attending_ to this rule, is the cause of a very common error."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 200; _Comly's Gram._, 188; _Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., 170. "_Polite_ is employed to signify their being _highly civilized_.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 219. "One abhors _being_ in debt."--_Ib._, p. 98; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 71; _Murray's Gram._, 144. "Who affected _being_ a fine gentleman so unmercifully."--_Spect._, No. 496. "The minister's _being attached_ to the project, prolonged their debate."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 78. "It finds [i.e., _the mind_ finds,] that _acting thus_ would gratify one passion; _not acting_, or _acting otherwise_, would gratify another."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 109. "But further, _cavilling_ and _objecting_ upon any subject _is_ much easier than _clearing up_ difficulties."--_Bp. Butler's Charge to the Clergy of Durham_, 1751. OBS. 2.--W. Allen observes, "The use of the participle as a nominative, is one of the _peculiarities_ of our language."--_Elements of Gram._, p. 171. He might have added, that the use of the participle as an objective governed by a verb, as a nominative after a verb neuter, or as a word governing the possessive, is also one of the peculiarities of our language, or at least an idiom adopted by no few of its recent writers. But whether any one of these four modern departures from General Grammar ought to be countenanced by us, as an idiom that is either elegant or advantageous, I very much doubt. They are all however sufficiently common in the style of reputable authors; and, however questionable their character, some of our grammarians seem mightily attached to them all. It becomes me therefore to object with submission. These mixed and irregular constructions of the participle, ought, in my opinion, to be _generally_ condemned as false syntax; and for this simple reason, that the ideas conveyed by them may _generally_, if not always, be expressed more briefly, and more elegantly, by other phraseology that is in no respect anomalous. Thus, for the examples above: "_Inattention_ to this rule, is the cause of a very common error."--"_Polite_ is employed to signify a _high degree of civilization_;" or, "_that they are_ highly civilized."--"One abhors _debt_."--"Who affected _the_ fine gentleman so unmercifully."--"The minister's _partiality_ to the project, prolonged their debate."--"It finds [i.e., _the mind_ finds,] that _to act thus_, would gratify one passion; _and that not to act_, or _to act otherwise_, would gratify another."--"But further, _to cavil and object_, upon any subject, is much easier than _to clear up_ difficulties." Are not these expressions much better English than the foregoing quotations? And if so, have we not reason to conclude that the adoption of participles in such instances is erroneous and ungrammatical? OBS. 3.--In Obs. 17th on Rule 4th, it was suggested, that in English the participle, without governing the possessive case, is turned to a greater number and variety of uses, than in any other language. This remark applies mainly to the participle in _ing_. Whether it is expedient to make so much of one sort of derivative, and endeavour to justify every possible use of it which can be plausibly defended, is a question well worthy of consideration. We have already converted this participle to such a multiplicity of purposes, and into so many different parts of speech, that one can well-nigh write a chapter in it, without any other words. This practice may have added something to the copiousness and flexibility of the language, but it certainly has a tendency to impair its strength and clearness. Not every use of participles is good, for which there may be found precedents in good authors. One may run to great excess in the adoption of such derivatives, without becoming absolutely unintelligible, and without violating any rule of our common grammars. For example, I may say of somebody, "This very superficial grammatist, supposing empty criticism about the adoption of proper phraseology to be a show of extraordinary erudition, was displaying, in spite of ridicule, a very boastful turgid argument concerning the correction of false syntax, and about the detection of false logic in debate." Now, in what other language than ours, can a string of words anything like the following, come so near to a fair and literal translation of this long sentence? "This exceeding trifling witling, considering ranting criticising concerning adopting fitting wording being exhibiting transcending learning, was displaying, notwithstanding ridiculing, surpassing boasting swelling reasoning, respecting correcting erring writing, and touching detecting deceiving arguing during debating." Here are _not all_ the uses to which our writers apply the participle in _ing_, but there would seem to be enough, without adding others that are less proper. OBS. 4.--The active participles, _admitting, allowing, considering, granting, speaking, supposing_, and the like, are frequently used in discourse so independently, that they either relate to nothing, or to the pronoun _I_ or _we_ understood; as, "_Granting_ this to be true, what is to be inferred from it?"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 195. This may be supposed to mean, "_I_, granting this to be true, _ask_ what is to be inferred from it?" "The very chin was, _modestly speaking_, as long as my whole face."--_Addison_. Here the meaning may be, "_I_, modestly speaking, _say_." So of the following examples: "_Properly speaking_, there is no such thing as chance."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 172. "Because, _generally speaking_, the figurative sense of a word is derived from its proper sense."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 190. "But, _admitting_ that two or three of these offend less in their morals than in their writings, must poverty make nonsense sacred?"--_Pope's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 7. Some grammarians suppose such participles to be put absolute in themselves, so as to have no reference to any noun or pronoun; others, among whom are L. Murray and Dr. James P. Wilson, suppose them to be put absolute with a pronoun understood. On the former supposition, they form an other exception to the foregoing rule; on the latter, they do not: the participle relates to the pronoun, though both be independent of the rest of the sentence. If we supply the ellipsis as above, there is nothing put absolute. OBS. 5.--Participles are almost always placed after the words on which their construction depends, and are distinguished from adjectives by this position; but when other words depend on the participle, or when several participles have the same construction, the whole phrase may come before the noun or pronoun: as, "_Leaning_ my head upon my hand, _I_ began to figure to myself the miseries of confinement."--_Sterne_. "_Immured_ in cypress shades, a _sorcerer_ dwells."--_Milton_. "_Brib'd, bought, and bound_, they banish shame and fear; Tell you they're stanch, and have a soul sincere."--_Crabbe_. OBS. 6.--When participles are compounded with something that does not belong to the verb, they become _adjectives_; and, as such, they cannot govern an object after them. The following construction is therefore inaccurate: "When Caius did any thing _unbecoming_ his dignity."--_Jones's Church History_, i, 87. "Costly and gaudy attire, _unbecoming_ godliness."--_Extracts_, p. 185. Such errors are to be corrected by Note 15th to Rule 9th, or by changing the particle _un_ to _not_: as, "Unbecoming _to_ his dignity;" or, "_Not_ becoming his dignity." OBS. 7.--An imperfect or a preperfect participle, preceded by an article, an adjective, or a noun or pronoun of the possessive case, becomes a _verbal_ or _participial noun_; and, as such, it cannot with strict propriety, govern an object after it. A word which may be the object of the participle in its proper construction, requires the preposition _of_, to connect it with the verbal noun; as, 1. THE PARTICIPLE: "_Worshiping_ idols, the Jews sinned."--"_Thus worshiping_ idols,--_In worshiping_ idols,--or, _By worshiping_ idols, they sinned." 2. THE VERBAL NOUN: "_The worshiping of_ idols,--_Such worshiping of_ idols,--or, _Their worshiping of_ idols, was sinful."--"_In the worshiping of_ idols, there is sin." OBS. 8.--It is commonly supposed that these two modes of expression are, in very many instances, equivalent to each other in meaning, and consequently interchangeable. How far they really are so, is a question to be considered. Example: "But if candour be _a confounding of_ the distinctions between sin and holiness, _a depreciating of_ the excellence of the latter, and at the same time _a diminishing of_ the evil of the former; then it must be something openly at variance with the letter and the spirit of revelation."--_The Friend_, iv, 108. Here the nouns, _distinctions, excellence_, and _evil_, though governed by _of_, represent the _objects_ of the forenamed actions; and therefore they might well be governed by _confounding, depreciating_, and _diminishing_, if these were participles. But if, to make them such, we remove the article and the preposition, the construction forsakes our meaning; for _be confounding, (be) depreciating_, and _(be) diminishing_, seem rather to be verbs of the compound form; and our uncertain nominatives after _be_, thus disappear in the shadow of a false sense. But some sensible critics tell us, that this preposition _of_ should refer rather to the _agent_ of the preceding action, than to its _passive object_; so that such a phrase as, "_the teaching of boys_," should signify rather the instruction which boys give, than that which they receive. If, for the sake of this principle, or for any other reason, we wish to avoid the foregoing phraseology, the meaning may be expressed thus: "But if _your_ candour _confound_ the distinctions between sin and holiness; _if it depreciate_ the excellence of the latter, and at the same time _diminish_ the evil of the former; then it must be something openly at variance with the letter and the spirit of revelation." OBS. 9.--When the use of the preposition produces ambiguity or harshness, let a better expression be sought. Thus the sentence, "He mentions _Newton's writing of_ a commentary," is not entirely free from either of these faults. If the preposition be omitted, the word _writing_ will have a double construction, which is inadmissible, or at least objectionable. Some would say, "He mentions _Newton writing_ a commentary." This, though not uncommon, is still more objectionable because it makes the leading word in sense the adjunct in construction. The meaning may be correctly expressed thus: "He mentions _that Newton wrote_ a commentary." "Mr. Dryden makes a very handsome observation on _Ovid's writing a letter_ from Dido to AEneas."--_Spect._, No. 62; _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 265; _Murray's Key_, ii, 253. Here the word _writing_ is partly a noun and partly a participle. If we make it wholly a noun, by saying, "on _Ovid's writing of_ a letter," or wholly a participle, by saying, "on _Ovid writing_ a letter;" it may be doubted, whether we have effected any improvement. And again, if we adopt Dr. Lowth's advice, "Let it be either the one or the other, and abide by its proper construction;" we must make some change; and therefore ought perhaps to say; "on _Ovid's conceit of writing_ a letter from Dido to AEneas." This is apparently what Addison meant, and what Dryden remarked upon; the latter did not speak of the letter itself, else the former would have said, "on _Ovid's letter_ from Dido to AEneas." OBS. 10.--When a needless possessive, or a needless article, is put before the participle, the correction is to be made, not by inserting _of_, but by expunging the article, according to Note 16th to Rule 1st, or the possessive, according to Note 5th to Rule 4th. Example: "By _his_ studying the Scriptures he became wise."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 91. Here _his_ serves only to render the sentence incorrect; yet this spurious example is presented by Lennie to _prove_ that a participle may take the possessive case before it, when the preposition _of_ is not admissible after it. So, in stead of expunging one useless word, our grammarians _often_ add an other and call the twofold error a _correction_; as, "For _his_ avoiding _of_ that precipice, he is indebted to his friend's care."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 201. Or worse yet: "_It was from our_ misunderstanding _of_ the directions _that_ we lost our way."--_Ibid._ Here, not _our_ and _of_ only, but four other words, are worse than useless. Again: "By _the_ exercising _of_ our judgment, it is improved. Or thus: By _exercising_ our judgment, it is improved."--_Comly's Key in his Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 188. Each of these pretended corrections is wrong in more respects than one. Say, "By exercising our _judgement, we improve it_" Or, "Our _judgement_ is improved by _being exercised_" Again: "_The loving of_ our enemies is a divine _command_; Or, _loving our enemies_ [is a divine command]."--_Ibid._ Both of these are also wrong. Say, "'_Love your enemies_,' is a divine command." Or, "_We are divinely commanded to love_ our enemies." Some are apt to jumble together the active voice and the passive, and thus destroy the unity even of a short sentence; as, "By _exercising_ our memories, they _are improved_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 226 and 195. "The error _might have been avoided_ by _repeating_ the substantive."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 172. "By _admitting_ such violations of established grammatical distinctions, confusion _would be introduced_."--_Ib._, p. 187. In these instances, we have an active participle without an agent; and this, by the preposition _by_, is made an adjunct to a passive verb. Even the participial noun of this form, though it actually drops the distinction of voice, is awkward and apparently incongruous in such a relation. OBS. 11.--When the verbal noun necessarily retains any adjunct of the verb or participle, it seems proper that the two words be made a compound by means of the hyphen: as, "Their hope shall be as the _giving-up_ of the ghost."--_Job_, xi, 20. "For if the _casting-away_ of them be the reconciling of the world."--_Rom._, xi, 15. "And the _gathering-together_ of the waters called he seas."--_Gen._, i, 10. "If he should offer to stop the _runnings-out_ of his justice."--_Law and Grace_, p. 26. "The _stopping-short_ before the usual pause in the melody, aids the impression that is made by the description of the stone's _stopping-short_.'"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 106. I do not find these words united in the places referred to, but this is nevertheless their true figure. Our authors and printers are lamentably careless, as well as ignorant, respecting _the figure of words_: for which part of grammar, see the whole of the third chapter, in Part First of this work; also observations on the fourth rule of syntax, from the 30th to the 35th. As certain other compounds may sometimes be broken by _tmesis_, so may some of these; as, "Not forsaking the _assembling_ of ourselves _together_, as the manner of some is."--_Heb._, x, 23. Adverbs may relate to participles, but nouns require adjectives. The following phrase is therefore inaccurate: "For the more _easily_ reading of large numbers." Yet if we say, "For reading large numbers _the more easily_," the construction is different, and not inaccurate. Some calculator, I think, has it, "For the more _easily_ reading large numbers." But Hutton says, "For the more _easy_ reading _of_ large numbers."--_Hutton's Arith._, p. 5; so _Babcock's_, p. 12. It would be quite as well to say, "For the _greater ease in_ reading large numbers." OBS. 12.--Many words of a participial form are used directly as nouns, without any article, adjective, or possessive case before them, and without any object or adjunct after them. Such is commonly the construction of the words _spelling, reading, writing, ciphering, surveying, drawing, parsing_, and many other such _names_ of actions or exercises. They are rightly put by Johnson among "_nouns_ derived from _verbs_;" for, "The [name of the] action is the same with the participle present, as _loving, frighting, fighting, striking_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 10. Thus: "I like _writing_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 171. "He supposed, with them, that _affirming_ and _denying_ were operations of the mind."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 35. "'Not rendering,' said Polycarp the disciple of John, 'evil for evil, or _railing_ for _railing_, or _striking_ for _striking_, or _cursing_ for _cursing_."--_Dymond, on War_. Against this practice, there is seldom any objection; the words are wholly nouns, both in sense and construction. We call them _participial_ nouns, only because they resemble participles in their derivation; or if we call them _verbal_ nouns, it is because they are derived from verbs. But we too frequently find those which retain the government and the adjuncts of participles, used as nouns before or after verbs; or, more properly speaking, used as mongrels and nondescripts, a doubtful species, for which there is seldom any necessity, since the infinitive, the verbal or some other noun, or a clause introduced by the conjunction _that_, will generally express the idea in a better manner: as, "_Exciting_ such disturbances, is unlawful." Say rather, "_To excite_ such disturbances,--_The exciting of_ such disturbances,--_The excitation of_ such disturbances,--or, _That one should excite_ such disturbances, is unlawful." OBS. 13.--Murray says, "The word _the_, before the _active participle_, in the following sentence, and in all others of a similar construction, is improper, and should be omitted: '_The_ advising, or _the_ attempting, to excite such disturbances, is unlawful.' It should be, '_Advising_ or _attempting_ to excite disturbances.'"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 195. But, by his own showing, "the present participle, with the definite article _the_ before it, becomes a _substantive_."--_Ib._, p. 192. And substantives, or nouns, by an other of his notes, can govern the infinitive mood, just as well as participles; or just as well as the verbs which he thinks would be very proper here; namely, "To _advise_ or _attempt_ to excite such disturbances."--_Ib._, p. 196. It would be right to say, "_Any advice_, or _attempt_, to excite such disturbances, is unlawful." And I see not that he has improved the text at all, by expunging the article. _Advising_ and _attempting_, being disjunct nominatives to _is_, are nothing but nouns, whether the article be used or not; though they are rather less obviously such without it, and therefore the change is for the worse. OBS. 14.--Lennie observes, "When _a preposition_"--(he should have said, When _an other_ preposition--) "follows the participle, _of_ is inadmissible; as, _His_ depending _on_ promises proved his ruin. _His_ neglecting _to_ study when young, rendered him ignorant all his life."--_Prin. of E. Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 65; 13th Ed., 91. Here _on_ and _to_, of course, exclude _of_; but the latter may be changed to _of_, which will turn the infinitive into a noun: as, "_His_ neglecting _of study_," &c. "_Depending_" and "_neglecting_," being equivalent to _dependence_ and _neglect_, are participial nouns, and not "participles." Professor Bullions, too, has the same faulty remark, examples and all; (for his book, of the same title, is little else than a gross plagiarism from Lennie's;) though he here forgets his other erroneous doctrines, that, "A _preposition_ should never be used before the infinitive," and that, "Active verbs do not admit a preposition after them." See _Bullions's Prin. of E. Gram._, pp. 91, 92, and 107. OBS. 15.--The participle in _ing_ is, on many occasions, equivalent to the infinitive verb, so that the speaker or writer may adopt either, just as he pleases: as, "So their gerunds are sometimes found _having_ [or _to have_] an absolute or apparently neuter signification."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 234. "With tears that ceas'd not _flowing_" [or _to flow_].--_Milton_. "I would willingly have him _producing_ [_produce_, or _to produce_] his credentials."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 273. There are also instances, and according to my notion not a few, in which the one is put _improperly_ for the other. The participle however is erroneously used for the infinitive much oftener than the infinitive for the participle. The lawful uses of both are exceedingly numerous; though the syntax of the participle, strictly speaking, does not include its various _conversions_ into other parts of speech. The principal instances of _regular_ equivalence between infinitives and participles, may be reduced to the following heads: 1. After the verbs _see, hear_, and _feel_, the participle in _ing_, relating to the objective, is often equivalent to the infinitive governed by the verb; as, "I saw him _running_"--"I heard it _howling_."--_W. Allen_. "I feel the wind _blowing_." Here the verbs, _run, howl_, and _blow_, might be substituted. 2. After intransitive verbs signifying _to begin_ or _to continue_, the participle in _ing_, relating to the nominative, may be used in stead of the infinitive connected to the verb; as, "The ass began _galloping_ with all his might."--_Sandford and Merton_. "It commenced _raining_ very hard."--_Silliman_. "The steamboats commenced _running_ on Saturday."--_Daily Advertiser_. "It is now above three years since he began _printing_."--_Dr. Adam's Pref. to Rom. Antiq._ "So when they continued _asking_ him."--_John_, viii, 7. Greek, "[Greek: Os epemenon erotontes auton.]" Latin, "Cum ergo perseverarent _interrogantes_ eum."--_Vulgate_. "Cum autem perseverarent eum _interrogare_."--_Beza_. "Then shall ye continue _following_ the Lord your God."--_1 Sam._, xii, 14. "Eritis _sequentes_ Dominum Deum vestrum."--_Vulgate_. "As she continued _praying_ before the Lord."--_1 Sam._, i, 12. "Cum ilia _multiplicaret preces_ coram Domino."--_Vulgate_. "And they went on _beating down_ one an other."--_2 Sam._, xiv, 16. "Make the members of them go on _rising_ and _growing_ in their importance."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 116. "Why do you keep _teasing_ me?" 3. After _for, in, of_, or _to_, and perhaps some other prepositions, the participle may in most cases be varied by the infinitive, which is governed by _to_ only; as, "We are better fitted _for receiving_ the tenets and _obeying_ the precepts of that faith which will make us wise unto salvation."--_West's Letters_, p. 51. That is--"_to receive_ the tenets and _obey_ the precepts." "Men fit _for fighting_, practised _in fighting_, proud _of fighting_, accustomed _to fighting_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 172. That is, "fit _to fight_," &c. "What is the right path, few take the trouble _of inquiring_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo. ii, 235. Better, perhaps:--"few take the trouble _to inquire_." OBS. 16.--One of our best grammarians says, "The infinitive, in the following sentences, _should be exchanged_ for the participle: 'I am weary _to bear_ them.' Is. i, 14. 'Hast thou, spirit, perform'd _to point_ the tempest?' Shak."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 172. This suggestion implies, that the participle would be here not only equivalent to the infinitive in sense, but better in expression. It is true, the preposition _to_ does not well express the relation between _weary_ and _bear_; and, doubtless, some regard should be had to the meaning of this particle, whenever it is any thing more than an index of the mood. But the critic ought to have told us how he would make these corrections. For in neither case does the participle alone appear to be a fit substitute for the infinitive, either with or without the _to_; and the latter text will scarcely bear the participle at all, unless we change the former verb; as, "Hast thou, spirit, _done pointing_ the tempest?" The true meaning of the other example seems somewhat uncertain. The Vulgate has it, _"Laboravi sustinens_," "I have laboured _bearing_ them;" the French Bible, "_Je suis las de les souffrir_," "I am tired of _bearing_ them;" the Septuagint, "[Greek: Ouketi anaeso tas hamartias humon,]" "I will no more forgive your sins." OBS. 17.--In the following text, the infinitive is used improperly, nor would the participle in its stead make pure English: "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, _to have been_ continually before me."--_Ps. 1. 8._ According to the French version, _"to have been"_ should be _"which are;"_ but the Septuagint and the Vulgate take the preceding noun for the nominative, thus: "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, _but thy burnt-offerings are_ continually before me." OBS. 18.--As the preposition _to_ before the infinitive shows the latter to be "_that towards which_ the preceding verb is directed," verbs of _desisting, omitting, preventing_, and _avoiding_, are generally found to take the participle after them, and not the infinitive; because, in such instances, the direction of effort seems not to be so properly _to_, or _towards_, as _from_ the action.[419] Where the preposition _from_ is inserted, (as it most commonly is, after some of these verbs.) there is no irregularity in the construction of the participle; but where the participle immediately follows the verb, it is perhaps questionable whether it ought to be considered the object of the verb, or a mere participle relating to the nominative which precedes. If we suppose the latter, the participle may be parsed by the common rule; if the former, it must be referred to the third exception above. For example: 1. After verbs of DESISTING; as, "The Cryer used to proclaim, DIXERUNT, i. e. They _have done speaking._"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 132. "A friend is advised to _put off making_ love to Lalage."--_Philological Museum_, i, 446. "He _forbore doing_ so, on the ground of expediency."--_The Friend_, iv, 35. "And yet architects never _give over attempting_ to reconcile these two incompatibles."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 338. "Never to _give over seeking_ and _praying_ for it."--_N. Y. Observer._ "Do not _leave off seeking._"--_President Edwards._ "Then Satan _hath done flattering_ and _comforting._"--_Baxter._ "The princes _refrained talking._"--_Job_, xxix, 9. "Principes _cessabant loqui._"--_Vulgate._ Here it would be better to say, "The princes refrained _from_ talking." But Murray says, "_From_ seems to be superfluous after _forbear_: as, 'He could not forbear from appointing the pope,' &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 203. But _"forbear to appoint"_ would be a better correction; for this verb is often followed by the infinitive; as, _"Forbear to insinuate."_--_West's Letters_, p. 62. "And he _forbare to go_ forth."--_1 Sam._, xxiii, 13. The reader will observe, that, _"never to give over"_ or _"not to leave off,"_ is in fact the same thing as to continue; and I have shown by the analogy of other languages, that after verbs of continuing the participle is not an object of government; though possibly it may be so, in these instances, which are somewhat different. 2. After verbs of OMITTING; as, "He _omits giving_ an account of them."--_Tooke's Diversions of Purley_, i, 251. I question the propriety of this construction; and yet, _"omits to give"_ seems still more objectionable. Better, "He _omits all account_ of them." Or, "He _neglects to give_, or _forbears to give_, any account of them." L. Murray twice speaks of apologizing, "for the use he has made of his predecessors' labours, and for _omitting to insert_ their names."--_Octavo Gram., Pref._, p. vii; and _Note_, p. 73. The phrase, _"omitting to insert,"_ appears to me a downright solecism; and the pronoun _their_ is ambiguous, because there are well-known names both for the _men_ and for their _labours_, and he ought not to have omitted either species wholly, as he did. "Yet they absolutely _refuse doing so_, one with another."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 264. Better, _"refuse to do so."_ "I had as repeatedly _declined_ going."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 15. 3. After verbs of PREVENTING; as, "Our sex are happily _prevented from engaging_ in these turbulent scenes."--_West's Letters to a Lady_, p. 74. "To prevent our frail natures _from deviating_ into bye paths [write _by-paths_] of error."--_Ib._, p. 100. "Prudence, prevents our speaking or acting improperly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 99; _Murray's Gram._, p. 303; _Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 72. This construction, though very common, is palpably wrong: because its most natural interpretation is, "Prudence improperly prevents our speech or action." These critics ought to have known enough to say, "Prudence prevents _us from_ speaking or acting improperly." "This, however, doth not _hinder_ pronunciation _to borrow_ from singing."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 70. Here the infinitive is used, merely because it does not sound well to say, _"from borrowing from singing;"_ but the expression might very well be changed thus, _"from being indebted to singing."_ "'This by no means _hinders_ the book _to be_ a useful one.'--_Geddes._ It should be, _'from being.'_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 318. 4. After verbs of AVOIDING: as, "He might have _avoided treating_ of the origin of ideas."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i, 28. "We may _avoid talking_ nonsense on these subjects."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 281. "But carefully _avoid being_ at any time ostentatious and affected."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 233. "Here I cannot _avoid mentioning_[420] the assistance I have received."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. iv. "It is our duty to _avoid leading_ others into temptation,"--_West's Letters_, p. 33. "Nay, such a garden should in some measure _avoid imitating_ nature."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 251. "I can promise no entertainment to those who _shun thinking_."--_Ib._, i, 36. "We cannot _help being_ of opinion."--ENCYC. BRIT. _Murray's Gram._, p. 76. "I cannot _help being_ of opinion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "I cannot _help mentioning_ here one character more."--_Hughes. Spect._, No. 554. "These would sometimes very narrowly _miss being catched_ away."--_Steele_. "Carleton very narrowly _escaped being taken_."--_Grimshaw's Hist._, p. 111. Better, "escaped _from_ being taken;"--or, "_escaped capture_." OBS. 19.--In sentences like the following, the participle seems to be improperly made _the object_ of the verb: "I intend _doing_ it."--"I remember _meeting_ him." Better, "I intend _to do_ it."--"I remember _to have met_ him." According to my notion, it is an error to suppose that verbs in general may govern participles. If there are any proper instances of such government, they would seem to be chiefly among verbs of _quitting_ or _avoiding_. And even here the analogy of General Grammar gives countenance to a different solution; as, "They _left beating of_ Paul."--_Acts_, xxi, 32. Better, "They _left beating_ Paul;"--or, "They _quit beating_ Paul." Greek, "[Greek: Epausanto tuptontes ton Paulon.]" Latin, "Cessaverunt _percutientes_ Paulum."--_Montanus_. "Cessarunt _coedere_ Paulum."--_Beza_. "Cessaverunt _percutere_ Paulum."--_Vulgate_. It is true, the English participle in _ing_ differs in some respects from that which usually corresponds to it in Latin or Greek; it has more of a substantive character, and is commonly put for the Latin gerund. If this difference does not destroy the argument from analogy, the opinion is still just, that _left_ and _quit_ are here _intransitive_, and that the participle _beating_ relates to the pronoun _they_. Such is unequivocally the construction of the Greek text, and also of the literal Latin of Arias Montanus. But, to the mere English grammarian, this method of parsing will not be apt to suggest itself: because, at first sight, the verbs appear to be transitive, and the participle in _ing_ has nothing to prove it an adjunct of the nominative, and not the object of the verb--unless, indeed, the mere fact that it is a participle, is proof of this. OBS. 20.--Our great Compiler, Murray, not understanding this construction, or not observing what verbs admit of it, or require it, has very unskillfully laid it down as a rule, that, "The participle with its adjuncts, may be considered as a _substantive phrase_ in the objective case, governed by the preposition or verb, _expressed or understood_: as, 'By _promising much and performing but little_, we become despicable.' 'He studied to avoid _expressing himself too severely_.'"--_Octavo Gram._, p. 194.[421] This very popular author seems never to have known that participles, as such, may be governed in English by prepositions. And yet he knew, and said, that "prepositions do not, _like articles and pronouns_, convert the participle itself into the nature of a substantive."--_Ibid._ This he avouches in the same breath in which he gives that "nature" to a participle and its adverb! For, by a false comma after _much_, he cuts his first "_substantive phrase_" absurdly in two; and doubtless supposes a false ellipsis of _by_ before the participle _performing_. Of his method of resolving the second example, some notice has already been taken, in Observations 4th and 5th on Rule 5th. Though he pretends that the whole phrase is in the objective case, "the truth is, the assertion grammatically affects the first word only;" which in one aspect he regards as a noun, and in an other as a participle: whereas he himself, on the preceding page, had adopted from Lowth a different doctrine, and cautioned the learner against treating words in _ing_, "as if they were of an _amphibious_ species, partly nouns and partly _verbs_;" that is, "partly nouns and partly _participles_;" for, according to Murray, Lowth, and many others, participles are verbs. The term, "_substantive phrase_," itself a solecism, was invented merely to cloak this otherwise bald inconsistency. Copying Lowth again, the great Compiler defines a phrase to be "two or more words rightly put together;" and, surely, if we have a well-digested system of grammar, whatsoever words are rightly put together, may be regularly parsed by it. But how can one indivisible word be consistently made two different parts of speech at once? And is not this the situation of every transitive participle that is made either the _subject_ or the _object_ of a verb? Adjuncts never alter either the nature or the construction of the words on which they depend; and participial nouns differ from participles in both. The former express actions _as things_; the latter generally attribute them to their agents or recipients. OBS. 21.--The Latin gerund is "a kind of verbal noun, partaking of the nature of a participle."--_Webster's Dict._ "A gerund is a participial noun, of the neuter gender, and singular-number, declinable like a substantive, having no vocative, construed like a substantive, and governing the case of its verb."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 70. In the Latin gerund thus defined, there is an appearance of ancient classical authority for that "amphibious species" of words of which so much notice has already been taken. Our participle in _ing_, when governed by a preposition, undoubtedly corresponds very nearly, both in sense and construction, to this Latin gerund; the principal difference being, that the one is declined, like a noun, and the other is not. The analogy, however, is but lamely maintained, when we come to those irregular constructions in which the participle is made a half-noun in English. It is true, the gerund of the nominative case may be made the subject of a verb in Latin; but we do not translate it by the English participle, but rather by the infinitive, or still oftener by the verb with the auxiliary _must_: as, "_Vivendum est mihi recte_, I must live well."--_Grant's L. Gram._, p. 232. This is better English than the nearer version, "Living correctly is necessary for me;" and the exact imitation, "Living is to me correctly," is nonsense. Nor does the Latin gerund often govern the genitive like a noun, or ever stand as the direct object of a transitive verb, except in some few doubtful instances about which the grammarians dispute. For, in fact, to explain this species of words, has puzzled the Latin grammarians about as much as the English; though the former do not appear to have fallen into those palpable self-contradictions which embarrass the instructions of the latter. OBS. 22.--Dr. Adam says, "The gerund in English becomes a substantive, by _prefixing_ the article to it, and then it is always to be construed with the preposition _of_; as, 'He is employed _in writing_ letters,' or, 'in _the writing of_ letters:' but it is improper to say, 'in _the writing_ letters,' or, 'in _writing of_ letters.'"--_Latin and English Gram._, p. 184. This doctrine is also taught by Lowth, Priestley, Murray, Comly, Chandler, and many others; most of whom extend the principle to all participles that govern the possessive case; and they might as well have added all such as are made either the subjects or the objects of verbs, and such as are put for nominatives after verbs neuter. But Crombie, Allen, Churchill, S. S. Greene, Hiley, Wells, Weld, and some others, teach that participles may perform these several offices of a substantive, without dropping the regimen and adjuncts of participles. This doctrine, too, Murray and his copyists absurdly endeavour to reconcile with the other, by resorting to the idle fiction of "_substantive phrases_" endued with all these powers: as, "_His being at enmity with Caesar_ was the cause of perpetual discord."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 237; _Churchill's Gram._, p. 141. "Another fault is _allowing it to supersede_ the use of a point."-- _Churchill's Gram._, p. 372. "To be sure there is a possibility of some ignorant _reader's confounding the two vowels_ in pronunciation."--_Ib._, p. 375. It is much better to avoid all such English as this. Say, rather, "_His enmity with Caesar_ was the cause of perpetual discord."--"An other fault is _the allowing of_ it to _supersede_ the use of a point."--"To be sure, there is a possibility _that_ some ignorant _reader may confound_ the two vowels, in pronunciation." OBS. 23.--In French, the infinitive is governed by several different prepositions, and the gerundive by one only, the preposition _en_,--which, however, is sometimes suppressed; as, "_en passant, en faisant,--il alloit courant_."--_Traite des Participes_, p. 2. In English, the gerundive is governed by several different prepositions, and the infinitive by one only, the preposition _to_,--which, in like manner, is sometimes suppressed; as, "_to pass, to do,--I saw him run_." The difficulties in the syntax of the French participle in _ant_, which corresponds to ours in _ing_, are apparently as great in themselves, as those which the syntax of the English word presents; but they result from entirely different causes, and chiefly from the liability there is of confounding the participle with the verbal adjective, which is formed from it. The confounding of it with the gerundive is now, in either language, of little or no consequence, since in modern French, as well as in English, both are indeclinable. For this reason, I have framed the syntactical rule for participles so as to include under that name the gerund, or gerundive, which is a participle governed by a preposition. The great difficulty with us, is, to determine whether the participle ought, or ought not, to be allowed to assume _other_ characteristics of a noun, without dropping those of a participle, and without becoming wholly a noun. The liability of confounding the English participle with the verbal or participial adjective, amounts to nothing more than the occasional misnaming of a word in parsing; or perhaps an occasional ambiguity in the style of some writer, as in the following citation: "I am resolved, 'let the newspapers say what they please of _canvassing_ beauties, _haranguing_ toasts, and _mobbing_ demireps,' not to believe one syllable."--_Jane West's Letters to a Young Lady_, p. 74. From these words, it is scarcely possible to find out, even with the help of the context whether these three sorts of ladies are spoken of as the canvassers, haranguers, and mobbers, or as being canvassed, harangued, and mobbed. If the prolixity and multiplicity of these observations transcend the reader's patience, let him consider that the questions at issue cannot be settled by the brief enunciation of loose individual opinions, but must be examined in the light of _all the analogies and facts_ that bear upon them. So considerable are the difficulties of properly distinguishing the participle from the verbal adjective in French, that that indefatigable grammarian, Girault Du Vivier, after completing his _Grammaire des Grammaires_ in two large octavo volumes, thought proper to _enlarge_ his instructions on this head, and to publish them in a separate book, (_Traite des Participes_,) though we have it on his own authority, that the rule for participles had already given rise to a greater number of dissertations and particular treatises than any other point in French grammar. OBS. 24.--A participle construed after the nominative or the objective case, is not in general equivalent to a verbal noun governing the possessive. There is sometimes a nice distinction to be observed in the application of these two constructions. For the leading word in sense, should not be made the adjunct in construction. The following sentences exhibit a disregard to this principle, and are both inaccurate: "He felt his _strength's_ declining."--"He was sensible of his _strength_ declining." In the former sentence, the noun _strength_ should be in the objective case, governed by _felt_; and in the latter, it should rather be in the possessive, governed by _declining_. Thus: "He felt his _strength_ declining;" i.e., "_felt it decline_."--"He was sensible of his _strength's_ declining;" i.e., "_of its decline_." These two sentences state the same fact, but, in construction, they are very different; nor does it appear, that where there is no difference of meaning, the two constructions are properly interchangeable. This point has already been briefly noticed in Obs. 12th and 13th on Rule 4th. But the false and discordant instructions which our grammarians deliver respecting possessives before participles; their strange neglect of this plain principle of reason, that the leading word in sense ought to be made the leading or governing word in the construction; and the difficulties which they and other writers are continually falling into, by talking their choice between two errors, in stead of avoiding both: these, as well as their suggestions of sameness or difference of import between the participle and the participial noun, require some farther extension of my observations in this place. OBS. 25.--Upon the classification of words, as parts of speech, distinguished according to their natures and uses, depends the whole scheme of grammatical science. And it is plain, that a bad distribution, or a confounding of such things as ought to be separated, must necessarily be attended with inconveniences to the student, for which no skill or learning in the expounder of such a system can ever compensate. The absurdity of supposing with Horne Tooke, that the same word can never be used so differently as to belong to different parts of speech, I have already alluded to more than once. The absolute necessity of classing words, not according to their derivation merely, but rather according to their sense and construction, is too evident to require any proof. Yet, different as are the natures and the uses of _verbs, participles_, and _nouns_, it is no uncommon thing to find these three parts of speech confounded together; and that too to a very great extent, and by some of our very best grammarians, without even an attempt on their part to distinguish them. For instances of this glaring fault and perplexing inconsistency, the reader may turn to the books of W. Allen and T. O. Churchill, two of the best authors that have ever written on English grammar. Of the participle the latter gives no formal definition, but he represents it as "_a form_, in which _the action_ denoted by _the verb_ is capable of being joined _to a noun_ as _its quality_, or accident."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 85. Again he says, "That the participle is _a mere mode of the verb_ is manifest, if our definition of a verb be admitted."--_Ib._, p. 242. While he thus identifies the participle with the verb, this author scruples not to make what he calls the imperfect participle perform all the offices of a _noun_: saying, "Frequently too it is used as a noun, admits a preposition or an article before it, becomes a plural by taking _s_ at the end, and governs a possessive case: as, 'He who has _the comings_ in of a prince, may be ruined _by his_ own _gaming_, or his _wife's squandering_.'"--_Ib._, p. 144. The plural here exhibited, if rightly written, would have the _s_, not at the end, but in the middle; for _comings-in_, (an obsolete expression for _revenues_,) is not two words, but one. Nor are _gaming_ and _squandering_, to be here called participles, but nouns. Yet, among all his rules and annotations, I do not find that Churchill any where teaches that participles _become nouns_ when they are used substantively. The following example he exhibits for the express purpose of showing that the nominatives to "_is_" and "_may be_" are not nouns, but participles: "_Walking is_ the best exercise, though riding _may be_ more pleasant."--_Ib._, p. 141. And, what is far worse, though his book is professedly an amplification of Lowth's brief grammar, he so completely annuls the advice of Lowth concerning the distinguishing of participles from participial nouns, that he not only misnames the latter when they are used correctly, but approves and adopts well-nigh all the various forms of error, with which the mixed and irregular construction of participles has filled our language: of these forms, there are, I think, not fewer than a dozen. OBS. 26.--Allen's account of the participle is no better than Churchill's--and no worse than what the reader may find in many an English Grammar now in use. This author's fault is not so much a lack of learning or of comprehension, as of order and discrimination. We see in him, that it is possible for a man to be well acquainted with English authors, ancient as well as modern, and to read Greek and Latin, French and Saxon, and yet to falter miserably in describing the nature and uses of the English participle. Like many others, he does not acknowledge this sort of words to be one of the parts of speech; but commences his account of it by the following absurdity: "The participles _are adjectives_ derived from the verb; as, _pursuing, pursued, having pursued_."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p. 62. This definition not only confounds the participle with the participial adjective, but merges the whole of the former species in a part of speech of which he had not even recognized the latter as a subdivision: "An adjective shows the _quality_ of a thing. Adjectives may be reduced to five classes: 1. Common--2. Proper--3. Numeral--4. Pronominal--5. Compound."--_Ib._, p. 47. Now, if "participles are adjectives," to which of these five classes do they belong? But there are participial or verbal adjectives, very many; a sixth class, without which this distribution is false and incomplete: as, "a _loving_ father; an _approved_ copy." The participle differs from these, as much as it does from a noun. But says our author, "Participles, as simple adjectives, belong to _a noun_; as, a _loving_ father; an _approved_ copy;--as parts of the verb, they have the same government _as_ their verbs have; as, his father, _recalling the pleasures_ of past years, joined their party."--_Ib._, p. 170. What confusion is this! a complete jumble of adjectives, participles, and "parts of verbs!" Again: "Present participles are often construed as substantives; as, early _rising_ is conducive to health; I like _writing_; we depend on _seeing_ you."--_Ib._, p. 171. Here _rising_ and _writing_ are nouns; but _seeing_ is a participle, because it is active and governs _you_, Compare this second jumble with the definition above. Again he proceeds: "To participles thus used, many of our best authors prefix the article; as, '_The being chosen_ did not prevent disorderly behaviour.' Bp. Tomline. '_The not knowing how to pass_ our vacant hours.' Seed."--_Ib._, p. 171. These examples I take to be bad English. Say rather, "The _state of election_ did not prevent disorderly behaviour."--"The _want of some entertainment for_ our vacant hours." The author again proceeds: "If a noun limits the meaning of a participle thus used, that noun is put in the genitive; as, your _father's coming_ was unexected."--_Ib._, p. 171. Here _coming_ is a noun, and no participle at all. But the author has a marginal note, "A possessive pronoun is equivalent to a genitive;" (_ibid._;) and he means to approve of possessives before active participles: as, "Some of these irregularities arise from _our having received the words_ through a French medium."--_Ib._, p. 116. This brings us again to that difficult and apparently unresolvable problem, whether participles as such, by virtue of their mixed gerundive character, can, or cannot, govern the possessive case; a question, about which, the more a man examines it, the more he may doubt. OBS. 27.--But, before we say any thing more about the government of this case, let us look at our author's next paragraph on participles: "An active participle, preceded by _an article_ or by _a genitive_, is elegantly followed by the preposition _of_, before the substantive which follows it; as, _the_ compiling _of_ that book occupied several years; _his_ quitting _of_ the army was unexpected."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 171. Here the participial nouns _compiling_ and _quitting_ are improperly called active participles, from which they are certainly as fairly distinguished by the construction, as they can be by any means whatever. And this complete distinction the author considers at least an elegance, if not an absolute requisite, in English composition. And he immediately adds: "When this construction produces _ambiguity_, the expression _must be varied_."--_Ib._, p. 171. This suggestion is left without illustration; but it doubtless refers to one of Murray's remarks, in which it is said: "A phrase in which the article precedes the _present participle_ and the possessive preposition follows it, will not, in every instance, convey the same meaning as would be conveyed by the participle without the article and preposition. 'He expressed the pleasure he had _in the hearing of_ the philosopher,' is _capable of a different sense_ from, 'He expressed the pleasure he had _in hearing_ the philosopher.'"--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 193; _R. C. Smith's Gram._, 161; _Ingersoll's_, 199; and others. Here may be seen a manifest difference between the verbal or participial noun, and the participle or gerund; but Murray, in both instances, absurdly calls the word _hearing_ a "present participle;" and, having robbed the former sentence of a needful comma, still more absurdly supposes it ambiguous: whereas the phrase, "in the hearing _of the philosopher_," means only, "in the _philosopher's_ hearing;" and not, "in hearing the philosopher," or, "in hearing _of_ the philosopher." But the true question is, would it be right to say, "He expressed the pleasure he had in the _philosopher's_ hearing _him_?" For here it would be _equivocal_ to say, "in the philosopher's hearing _of_ him;" and some aver, that _of_ would be wrong, in any such instance, even if the sense were clear. But let us recur to the mixed example from Allen, and compare it with his own doctrines. To say, "from _our_ having received _of_ the words through a French medium," would certainly be no elegance; and if it be not an ambiguity, it is something worse. The expression, then, "must be varied." But varied how? Is it right without the _of_, though contrary to the author's rule for elegance? OBS. 28.--The observations which have been made on this point, under the rule for the possessive case, while they show, to some extent, the inconsistencies in doctrine, and the improprieties of practice, into which the difficulties of the mixed participle have betrayed some of our principal grammarians, bring likewise the weight of much authority and reason against the custom of blending without distinction the characteristics of nouns and participles in the same word or words; but still they may not be thought sufficient to prove this custom to be altogether wrong; nor do they pretend to have fully established the dogma, that such a construction is in no instance admissible. They show, however, that possessives before participles are _seldom_ to be approved; and perhaps, in the present instance, the meaning might be quite as well expressed by a common substantive, or the regular participial noun: as, "Some of these irregularities arise from _our reception of_ the words--or _our receiving of_ the words--through a French medium." But there are some examples which it is not easy to amend, either in this way, or in any other; as, "The miscarriages of youth have very much proceeded from _their being imprudently indulged_, or _left_ to themselves."--_Friends' N. E. Discipline_, p. 13. And there are instances too, of a similar character, in which the possessive case cannot be used. For example: "Nobody will doubt of _this being_ a sufficient proof."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 66. "But instead of _this being_ the fact of the case, &c."--_Butlers Analogy_, p. 137. "There is express historical or traditional evidence, as ancient as history, of the _system_ of religion _being taught_ mankind by revelation."--_Ibid._ "From _things_ in it _appearing_ to men foolishness."--_Ib._, p. 175. "As to the consistency of the _members_ of our society _joining_ themselves to those called free-masons."--_N. E. Discip._, p. 51. "In _either of these cases happening_, the _person charging_ is at liberty to bring the matter before the church, who are the only _judges_ now _remaining_."--_Ib._, p. 36; _Extracts_, p. 57. "Deriving its efficacy from the _power of God fulfilling_ his purpose."--_Religious World_, Vol. ii, p. 235. "We have no idea of any certain _portion of time intervening_ between the time of the action and the time of speaking of it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 33: _Murray's_, i, 70; _Emmons's_, 41; and others. The following example therefore, however the participle may seem to be the leading word in sense, is unquestionably wrong; and that in more respects than one: "The reason and time of the _Son of God's becoming_ man."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. xxii. Many writers would here be satisfied with merely omitting the possessive sign; as does Churchill, in the following example: "The chief cause of this appears to me to lie in _grammarians having considered_ them solely as the signs of tense."--_New Gram._, p. 243. But this sort of construction, too, whenever the noun before the participle is not the leading word in sense, is ungrammatical. In stead, therefore, of stickling for choice between two such errors, we ought to adopt some better expression; as, "The reason and time of the _Saviour's incarnation_."--"The chief cause of this appears to me to _be, that_ grammarians _have_ considered them solely as signs of tense." OBS. 29.--It is certain that the noun or pronoun which "limits the meaning of a participle," cannot always be "put in the _genitive_" or _possessive_ case; for the sense intended sometimes positively forbids such a construction, and requires the objective: as, "A syllable consists of one or more _letters forming_ one sound."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 29. The word _representing_ or _denoting_ would here be better than _forming_, because the letters do not, strictly speaking, _form_ the sound. But chiefly let it be noticed, that the word _letters_ could not with any propriety have been put in the possessive case. Nor is it always necessary or proper, to prefer that case, where the sense may be supposed to admit it; as, "'The example which Mr. Seyer has adduced, of the _gerund governing_ the genitive of the agent.' Dr. Crombie."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 237. "Which possibly might have been prevented by _parents doing_ their duty."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 187. "As to the seeming contradiction of _One being_ Three, and _Three_ One."--_Religious World_, Vol. ii, p. 113. "You have watched _them climbing_ from chair to chair."--PIERPONT: _Liberator_, Vol. x, p. 22. "Whether the world came into being as it is, by an intelligent _Agent forming_ it thus, or not."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 129. "In the farther supposition of necessary _agents being_ thus rewarded and punished."--_Ib._, p. 140. "He grievously punished the _Israelites murmuring_ for want of water."--_Leslie, on Tythes_, p. 21. Here too the words, _gerund, parents, One, Three, them, Agent, agents_, and _Israelites_, are rightly put in the objective case; yet doubtless some will think, though I do not, that they might as well have been put in the possessive. Respectable writers sometimes use the latter case, where the former would convey the same meaning, and be more regular; as, "Which is used, as active verbs often are, without its _regimen's_ being expressed."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 302. Omit the apostrophe and _s_; and, if you please, the word _being_ also. "The daily instances of _men's_ dying around us."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 113. Say rather,--"of _men_ dying around us." "To prevent _our_ rashly engaging in arduous or dangerous enterprises."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 17. Say, "To prevent _us from_," &c. The following example is manifestly inconsistent with itself; and, in my opinion, the three possessives are all wrong: "The kitchen too now begins to give 'dreadful note of preparation;' not from _armourers_ accomplishing the knights, but from the _shop maid's_ chopping _force meat_, the _apprentice's_ cleaning knives, and the _journeyman's_ receiving a practical lesson in the art of waiting at table."--_West's Letters to a Lady_, p. 66. It should be--"not from _armorers_ accomplishing the knights, but from the _shopmaid_ chopping _forcemeat_, the _apprentice_ cleaning knives, and the _journeyman_ receiving," &c. The nouns are the principal words, and the participles are adjuncts. They might be separated by commas, if semicolons were put where the commas now are. OBS. 30.--Our authors, good and bad, critics and no critics, with few exceptions, write sometimes the objective case before the participle, and sometimes the possessive, under precisely the same circumstances; as, "We should, presently, be sensible of the _melody_ suffering."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 122. "We should, presently, be sensible of the _melody's_ suffering."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 327. "We _shall_ presently be sensible of the _melody_ suffering."--_Murray's Exercises_, 8vo, p. 60. "We shall presently be sensible of the _melody's_ suffering."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 195. "And I explain what is meant by the nominative _case governing_ the verb, and by the _verb agreeing_ with its nominative case."--_Rand's Gram._, p. 31. "Take the verb _study_, and speak of _John's studying_ his lesson, at different times."--_Ib._, p. 53. "The following are examples of the nominative _case being used_ instead of the objective."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 112. "The following are examples of an _adverb's qualifying_ a whole sentence."--_Ib._, p. 128. "Where the noun is the name of a _person_, the cases may also be distinguished by the _nominative's_ answering to WHO, and the _objective_ to WHOM."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 46. "This depends chiefly on _their_ being more or less emphatic; and on the vowel _sound_ being long or short."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 182. "When they speak of a _monosyllable_ having the grave or the acute accent."--_Walker's Key_, p. 328. Here some would erroneously prefer the possessive case before "_having_;" but, if any amendment can be effected it is only by inserting _as_ there. "The _event of Maria's loving_ her brother."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 55. "Between that and the _man being_ on it."--_Ib._, p. 59. "The fact of _James placing_ himself."--_Ib._, p. 166. "The event of the _persons' going_."--_Ib._, p. 165. Here _persons'_ is carelessly put for _person's_, i.e., _James's_: the author was _parsing_ the puerile text, "James went into a store and placed himself beside Horatio."--_Ib._, p. 164. And I may observe, in passing, that Murray and Blair are both wrong in using commas with the adverb _presently_ above. OBS. 31.--It would be easy to fill a page with instances of these two cases, the objective and the possessive, used, as I may say, indiscriminately; nor is there any other principle by which we can determine which of them is right, or which preferable, than that the leading word in sense ought not to be made the adjunct in the construction, and that the participle, if it remain such, ought rather to relate to its noun, as being the adjunct, than to govern it in the possessive, as being the principal term. To what extent either of these cases may properly be used before the participle, or in what instances either of them may be preferable to the other, it is not very easy to determine. Both are used a great deal too often, filling with blemishes the style of many authors: the possessive, because the participle is not the name of any thing that can be possessed; the objective, because no construction can be right in which the relation of the terms is not formed according to the sense. The former usage I have already criticised to a great extent. Let one example suffice here: "There can be no objection to a _syllable's being long_, on the ground of _its not being so long_, or so much protracted, as some other long syllables are."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 242. Some would here prefer _syllable_ to _syllable's_, but none would be apt to put _it_ for _its_, without some other change. The sentence may be amended thus: "There can be no objection to a _syllable as being long_, on the ground _that it is not so long_ as some other syllables." OBS. 32.--It should be observed, that the use of _as_ between the participle and the noun is _very often_ better than either the adoption of the possessive sign, or the immediate connexion of the two words; as, "Another point constantly brought into the investigation now, is that of military _success as forming_ a claim to civil position."--_Boston Daily Advertiser_. Concerning examples like the following, it may be questioned, whether the objective is proper or not; whether the possessive would be preferable or not; or whether a better construction than either may not be found: "There is scarce an instance of any _one being chosen_ for a pattern."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 338. "Instead of its _authenticity being shaken_, it has been rendered more sure than ever."-- _West's Letters_, p. 197. "When there is no longer a possibility of a proper _candidate being nominated_ by either party."--_Liberator_, Vol. x. p. 9. "On the first _stone being thrown_, it was returned by a fire of musketry."--_Ib._, p. 16. "To raise a cry about an innocent _person being circumvented_ by bribery."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 276. "Whose principles forbid _them taking_ part in the administration of the government."-- _Liberator_, Vol. x, p. 15. "It can have no other ground than some such imagination, as that of our gross _bodies being_ ourselves."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 150. "In consequence of this _revelation being made_."--_Ib._, p. 162. If such relations between the participle and the objective be disapproved, the substitution of the possessive case is liable to still stronger objections; but both may be avoided, by the use of the nominative or otherwise: thus, "_Scarcely is_ any one _ever_ chosen for a pattern."-- "_Its authenticity, in stead of being shaken_, has been rendered more sure than ever."--"When there is no longer a possibility _that_ a proper candidate _will be_ nominated by either party."--"_As soon as_ the first stone _was_ thrown, _there_ was returned a fire of musketry."--"To raise a cry, _as if_ an innocent person _had been_ circumvented by bribery."-- "Whose principles forbid them _to take_ part in the administration of the government."--"It can have no other ground than some such imagination, as that our gross bodies _are_ ourselves."--"In consequence of this revelation _which is_ made." OBS. 33.--A recent grammarian quotes Dr. Crombie thus: "Some _late writers_ have discarded a phraseology which appears unobjectionable, and substituted one that seems less correct; and instead of saying, 'Lady _Macbeth's_ walking in her sleep is an incident full of tragic horror,' would say, 'Lady _Macbeth_ walking in her sleep is an incident full of tragic horror.' This seems to me an idle affectation of the Latin idiom, less precise than the common mode of expression, and less consonant with the genius of our language; for, ask what was an incident full of tragic horror, and, according to this phraseology, the answer must be, _Lady Macbeth_; whereas the meaning is, not that _Lady Macbeth_, but her _walking in her sleep_, is an incident full of tragic horror. This phraseology also, in many instances, conveys not the intended idea; for, as Priestley remarks, if it is said, 'What think you of my _horse's running_ to-day?' it is implied that the horse did actually run. If it is said, 'What think you of my _horse running_ to-day?' it is intended to ask whether it be proper for my horse to run to-day. This distinction, though frequently neglected, deserves attention; for it is obvious that ambiguity may arise from using the latter only of these phraseologies to express both meanings."-- _Maunder's Compendious Eng. Gram._, p. 15. (See _Crombie's Treatise_, p. 288-290.) To this, before any comment is offered, let me add an other quotation: "RULE. _A noun before the present participle is put in the possessive case_; as, Much will depend on the _pupil's composing_ frequently. Sometimes, however, the sense forbids it to be put in the possessive case; thus, What do you think of my _horse running_ to-day? means, Do you think I should let him run? but, What do you think of my _horse's running_? means, he _has_ run, do you think he ran well?"-- _Lennie's Gram._, p. 91; _Brace's Gram._, 94. See _Bullions's Gram._, p. 107; _Hiley's_, 94; _Murray's_, 8vo. 195: _Ingersoll's_, 201: and many others. OBS. 34.--Any phraseology that conveys not the intended idea, or that involves such an absurdity as that of calling a lady an "incident" is doubtless sufficiently reprehensible; but, compared with a rule of grammar so ill-devised as to mislead the learner nine times in ten, an occasional ambiguity or solecism is a mere trifle. The word _walking_, preceded by a possessive and followed by a preposition, as above, is clearly a _noun_, and not a participle; but these authors probably intend to justify the use of possessives before _participles_, and even to hold all phraseology of this kind "unobjectionable." If such is not their design, they write as badly as they reason; and if it is, their doctrine is both false and inconsistent. That a verbal noun may govern the possessive case, is certainly no proof that a participle may do so too; and, if these parts of speech are to be kept distinct the latter position must be disallowed: each must "abide by its own construction," as says Lowth. But the practice which these authors speak of, as an innovation of "some late writers," and "an idle affectation of the Latin idiom," is in fact a practice as different from the blunder which they quote, or feign, as their just correction of that blunder is different from the thousand errors or irregularities which they intend to shelter under it. To call a lady an "incident," is just as far from any Latin idiom, as it is from good English; whereas the very thing which they thus object to at first, they afterwards approve in this text: "What think you of my _horse running_ to-day?" This phraseology corresponds with "_the Latin idiom_;" and it is this, that, in fact, they begin with pronouncing to be "less correct" than, "What think you of my _horse's running_ to-day?" OBS. 35.--Between these expressions, too, they pretend to fix a distinction of signification; as, if "the _horse's running_ to-day," must needs imply a past action, though, (they suppose,) "the _pupil's composing_ frequently," or, "the _horse running_ to-day," signifies a _future_ one. This distinction of time is altogether _imaginary_; and the notion, that to prefer the possessive case before participles, is merely to withstand an error of "_some late writers_," is altogether false. The instructions above cited, therefore, determine nothing rightly, except the inaccuracy of one very uncommon form of expression. For, according to our best grammarians, the simple mode of correction there adopted will scarcely be found applicable to any other text. It will not be right where the participle happens to be transitive, or even where it is qualified by an adverb. From their subsequent examples, it is plain that these gentlemen think otherwise; but still, who can understand what they mean by "_the common mode of expression_?" What, for instance, would they substitute for the following very inaccurate expression from the critical belles-lettres of Dr. Blair? "A _mother accusing_ her son, and _accusing_ him of such actions, _as having_ first _bribed_ judges to condemn her husband, and _having_ afterwards _poisoned_ him, _were circumstances_ that naturally raised strong prejudices against Cicero's client."--_Blair's Lectures_, p. 274. Would they say. "A _mother's accusing her son_, &c., _were circumstances_," &c.? Is this their "common mode of expression?" and if it is, do they not make "common" what is no better English than the Doctor's? If, to accuse a son, and to accuse him greatly, can be considered different circumstances of the same prosecution, the sentence may be corrected thus: "A _mother's_ accusing _of_ her son, and _her charging of_ him _with_ such actions, as _those of_ having first bribed judges to condemn her husband, and having afterwards poisoned him, were circumstances that naturally raised strong prejudices against Cicero's client." OBS. 36.--On several occasions, as in the tenth and twelfth observations on Rule 4th, and in certain parts of the present series, some notice has been taken of the equivalence or difference of meaning, real or supposed, between the construction of the possessive, and that of an other case, before the participle; or between the participial and the substantive use of words in _ing_. Dr. Priestley, to whom, as well as to Dr. Lowth, most of our grammarians are indebted for some of their doctrines respecting this sort of derivatives, pretends to distinguish them, both as constituting different parts of speech, and as conveying different meanings. In one place, he says, "When a word ending in _ing_ is preceded by an article, it seems to be used as a _noun_; and therefore _ought not to govern an other word_, without the intervention of a preposition."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 157. And in an other: "Many nouns are derived from verbs, and end in _ing_, like participles of the present tense. The difference between these nouns and participles is often overlooked, and the accurate distinction of the two senses not attended to. If I say, What think you of my _horse's running_ to-day, I use the NOUN _running_, and suppose the horse to have actually run; for it is the same thing as if I had said, What think you of _the running of_ my horse. But if I say, What think you of my _horse running_ to-day, I use the PARTICIPLE, and I mean to ask, whether it be proper that my horse should run or not: which, therefore, supposes that he had not then run."--_Ib._, p. 122. Whatever our other critics say about the _horse running_ or the _horse's running_, they have in general borrowed from Priestley, with whom the remark originated, as it here stands. It appears that Crombie, Murray, Maunder, Lennie, Bullions, Ingersoll, Barnard, Hiley, and others, approve the doctrine thus taught, or at least some part of it; though some of them, if not all, thereby contradict themselves. ODS. 37.--By the two examples here contrasted, Priestley designed to establish a distinction, not for these texts only, but for _all similar expressions_--a distinction both of the noun from the participle, and of the different senses which he supposed these two constructions to exhibit. In all this, there is a complete failure. Yet with what remarkable ductility and implicitness do other professed critics take for granted what this superficial philologer so hastily prescribes! By acknowledging with reference to such an application of them, that the two constructions above are both _good English_, our grammarians do but the more puzzle their disciples respecting the choice between them; just as Priestley himself was puzzled, when he said, "So we _may either say_, I remember _it being reckoned_, a great exploit; or, _perhaps more elegantly_, I remember _its being reckoned_, &c."--_Gram._, p. 70. Murray and others omit this "_perhaps_," and while they allow both forms to be good, decidedly prefer the latter; but neither Priestley, nor any of the rest, ever pretended to discern in these a difference of signification, or even of parts of speech. For my part, in stead of approving either of these readings about the "_great exploit_," I have rejected both, for reasons which have already been given; and now as to the first two forms of the _horserace question_, so far as they may strictly be taken for models, I cannot but condemn them also, and for the same reasons: to which reasons may be joined the additional one, that neither expression is well adapted to the sense which the author himself gives to it in his interpretation. If the Doctor designed to ask, "Do you think my horse ran well to-day?" or, "Do you think it proper for my horse to run to-day?" he ought to have used one or the other of these unequivocal and unobjectionable expressions. There is in fact between the others, no such difference of meaning as he imagines; nor does he well distinguish "the NOUN _running_" from the PARTICIPLE _runnning_; because he apparently allows the word, in both instances, to be qualified by the adverb _to-day_.[422] OBS. 38.--It is clear, that the participle in _ing_ partakes sometimes the nature of its verb and _an adjective_; so that it relates to a noun, like an adjective, and yet implies time, and, if transitive, governs an object, like a verb: as, "Horses _running_ a race." Hence, by dropping what here distinguishes it as a participle, the word may become an adjective, and stand before its noun; as, "A _running_ brook." So, too, this participle sometimes partakes the nature of its verb and _a noun_; so that it may be governed by a preposition, like a noun, though in itself it has no cases or numbers, but is indeclinable: as "In _running_ a race." Hence, again, by dropping what distinguishes it as a participle, it may become a noun; as, "_Running_ is a safer sport than _wrestling_." Now, if to a participle we prefix something which makes it an adjective, we also take away its regimen, by inserting a preposition; as, "A doctrine _un_deserving _of_ praise,"--"A man _un_compromising _in_ his principles." So, if we put before it an article, an adjective, or a possessive, and thus give to the participle a substantive character or relation, there is reason to think, that we ought, in like manner, to take away its regimen, and its adverb too, if it have any, and be careful also to distinguish this noun from the participial adjective; as, "_The_ running _of_ a race,"--"_No_ racing _of_ horses,"--"_Your_ deserving _of_ praise."--"A _man's_ compromising _of_ his principles." With respect to the articles, or any adjectives, it seems now to be generally conceded, that these are signs of _substantives_; and that, if added to participles, they must cause them to be taken, in all respects, _substantively_. But with respect to possessives before participles, the common practice of our writers very extensively indulges the mixed construction of which I have said so much, and concerning the propriety of which, the opinions of our grammarians are so various, so confused, and so self-contradictory. OBS. 39.--Though the participle with a nominative or an objective before it, is not _in general_, equivalent to the verbal noun or the mixed participle with a possessive before it; and though the significations of the two phrases are often so widely different as to make it palpably absurd to put either for the other; yet the instances are not few in which it makes little or no difference _to the sense_, which of the two forms we prefer, and therefore, in these instances, I would certainly choose the more simple and regular construction; or, where a better than either can readily be found, reject both. It is also proper to have some regard to the structure of other languages, and to the analogy of General Grammar. If there be "some late writers" who are chargeable with "an idle affectation of the Latin idiom," there are perhaps more who as idly affect what they suppose "consonant with the genius of our language." I allude to those who would prefer the possessive case in a text like the following: "Wherefore is this noise of the _city being_ in an uproar?"'--_1 Kings_, i, 41. "Quid sibi vult clamor civitatis tumultuantis?"--_Vulgate_. "[Greek: _Gis hae phonae taes poleos aechousaes_];"--_Septuagint_. Literally: "What [_means_] the clamour of the _city resounding_?" "Que veut dire ce bruit de la ville qui est ainsi emue?"--_French Bible_. Literally: "What means this noise of the _city which is so moved_?" Better English: "What means this noise _with which the city rings_?" In the following example, there is a seeming imitation of the foregoing Latin or Greek construction; but it may well be doubted whether it would be any improvement to put the word "_disciples_" in the possessive case; nor is it easy to find a third form which would be better than these: "Their difficulties will not be increased by the intended _disciples having ever resided_ in a Christian country."--_West's Letters_, p. 119. OBS. 40.--It may be observed of these different relations between participles and other words, that _nouns_ are much more apt to be put in the nominative or the objective case, than are _pronouns_. For example: "There is no more of moral principle in the way of _abolitionists nominating_ their own candidates, than in that of _their voting_ for those nominated by others."--GERRIT SMITH: _Liberator_, Vol. X, p. 17. Indeed, a pronoun of the nominative or the objective case is hardly ever used in such a relation, unless it be so obviously the leading word in sense, as to preclude all question about the construction.[423] And this fact seems to make it the more doubtful, whether it be proper to use nouns in that manner. But it may safely be held, that if the noun can well be considered the leading word in sense, we are at least under no _necessity_ of subjecting it to the government of a mere participle. If it be thought desirable to vary the foregoing example, it may easily be done, thus: "There is no more of moral principle _to prevent abolitionists_ from nominating their own candidates, than _to prevent them from_ voting for those nominated by others." The following example is much like the preceding, but less justifiable: "We see comfort, security, strength, pleasure, wealth, and prosperity, all flowing from _men combining together_; and misery, weakness, and poverty, ensuing from _their acting separately_ or in opposition to each other."--_West's Letters_, p. 133. Say rather,--"from _men's combining-together_," or, "from _the just combination of men in society_;" and,--"from their _separate action_, or _their_ opposition to _one an other_." Take an other example: "If _illorum_ be governed here of _negotii_, it must be in this order, _gratia negotii illorum videndi_; and this is, for the sake of their _business_ being seen, and not, for the sake of _them_ being seen."--_Johnson's Grammatical Commentaries_, p. 352. Here the learned critic, in disputing Perizonius's resolution of the phrase, "_illorum videndi gratia_" has written disputable English. But, had he _affected the Latin idiom_, a nearer imitation of it would have been,--"for the sake of their _business's being seen_, and not for the sake of _their being seen_." Or nearer still,--"for the sake of _seeing of their business_, and not, for the sake of _seeing of them_." An elegant writer would be apt to avoid all these forms, and say,--"for the sake of _seeing their business_;" and,--"_for the sake of seeing them_;" though the former phrase, being but a version of bad Latin, makes no very good sense in any way. OBS. 41.--Idioms, or peculiarities of expression, are never to be approved or valued, but according to their convenience, utility, or elegance. By this rule, some phrases that are not positively barbarous, may yet be ungrammatical, and a construction that is sometimes allowable, may yet be quite unworthy to be made or reckoned, "the common mode of expression." Thus, in Latin, the infinitive verb is occasionally put for a noun, and taken to signify a property possessed; as, "_Tuum scire_, [thy to know,] the same as _tua scientia_, thy knowledge. Pers."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 153. So, in English, the participle in _ing_ is often taken substantively, when it does not actually become a substantive or noun; as, "Thy _knowing_ this,"--"Our _doing_ so."--_West_. Such forms of speech, because they are idiomatical, seldom admit of any literal translation, and are never naturalized by any transfer from one language or dialect into an other; nor is it proper for grammarians to justify them, in vernacular speech, except as figures or anomalies that ought not to be generally imitated. It cannot be truly affirmed, that the genius of our language ever requires that participles, as such, should assume the relations of a noun, or govern the possessive case; nor, on the other hand, can it be truly denied, that very excellent and learned writers do sometimes make use of such phraseology. Without disrespect to the many users and approvers of these anomalies, I set down for bad English every mixed construction of the participle, for which the language can furnish an equivalent expression that is more simple and more elegant. The extent to which these comparative barbarisms now abound in English books, and the ridiculous fondness for them, which has been shown by some writers on English grammar, in stead of amounting to any argument in their favour, are in fact, plain proofs of the necessity of an endeavour to arrest so obvious and so pernicious an innovation. OBS. 42.--A late author observes as follows: "That the English gerund, participle, or verbal noun, in _ing_, has both an active and a passive signification, there can be little doubt.[424] Whether the Latin gerund has precisely a similar import, or whether it is only active, it may be difficult, and, indeed, after all, it is not of much moment, to ascertain."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 234. The gerund in Latin most commonly governs the case of its own verb, as does the active participle, both in Latin and English: as, "Efferor studio _patres vestros videndi_. Cic. de sen. 23."--_Lily's Gram._, p. 96. That is, "I am transported, with a desire of _seeing your fathers_." But sometimes we find the gerund taken substantively and made to govern the genitive. Or,--to adopt the language of an old grammarian:--"Interdum _non invenuste_ additur gerundiis in _di_ etiam genitivus pluralis: ut, 'Quum _illorum videndi_ gratia me in forum contulissem.'--'_Novarum_ [qui] _spectandi_ faciunt copiam.' Ter. Heaut. prol. 29."--_Lily's Gram._, p. 97. That is, "To gerunds in _di_ there is sometimes _not inelegantly_ added a genitive plural: as, 'When, for the sake _of seeing of them_, I went into the forum.'--'Who present an opportunity of _attending of new ones_:' i.e., new comedies." Here the _of_ which is inserted after the participle to mark the genitive case which is added, forms rather an error than an elegance, though some English writers do now and then adopt this idiom. The gerund thus governing the genitive, is not analogous to our participle governing the possessive; because this genitive stands, not for _the subject_ of the being or action, but for what would otherwise be _the object_ of the gerund, or of the participle, as may be seen above. The objection to the participle as governing the possessive, is, that it retains its object or its adverb; for when it does not, it becomes fairly a noun, and the objection is removed. R. Johnson, like many others, erroneously thinks it a noun, even when it governs an objective, and has merely a preposition before it; as, "For the sake _of seeing them_. Where _seeing_ (says he) is a Substantive."--_Gram. Com._, p. 353. OBS. 43.--If the Latin gerund were made to govern the genitive of the _agent_, and allowed at the same time to retain its government as a gerund, it would then correspond in every thing but declension, to the English participle when made to govern both the possessive case and the objective. But I have before observed that no such analogy appears. The following example has been quoted by Seyer, as a proof that the gerund may govern the genitive of the agent: "_Cujus autem in dicendo aliquid reprehensum est_--Cic."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 236. That is, (as I understand it,) "But in _whose speaking_ something is reprehended." This seems to me a case in point; though Crombie and Grant will not allow it to be so. But a single example is not sufficient. If the doctrine is true, there must be others. In this solitary instance, it would be easier to doubt the accuracy even of Cicero, than to approve the notion of these two critics, that _cujus_ is here governed by _aliquid_, and not by the gerund. "Here," says Grant, "I am inclined to concur in opinion with Dr. Crombie, whose words I take the liberty to use, 'That, _for the sake of euphony_, the gerund is sometimes found governing the genitive of the patient, or _subject_ [say _object_] of the action, is unquestionable: thus, _studio videndi patrum vestrorum_. [That is, literally, _By a desire of seeing of your fathers_.] But I recollect no example, where the gerund is joined with a possessive adjective, or genitive of a noun substantive, where the person is not the patient, but the agent; as, _dicendum meum, ejus dicendum, cujus dicendum_. [That is, _my speaking, his speaking, whose speaking_.] In truth, these phraseologies appear to me, not only repugnant to the idiom of the language, but also unfavourable to precision and perspicuity.'"--_Grant's Latin Gram._, 8vo, p. 236. OBS. 44.--Of that particular distinction between the participle and the participial noun, which depends on the insertion or omission of the article and the preposition _of_, a recent grammarian of considerable merit adopts the following views: "This double nature of the participle has led to much irregularity in its use. Thus we find, 'indulging which,' 'indulging _of_ which,' '_the_ indulging which,' and '_the_ indulging _of_ which,' used indiscriminately. Lowth very properly instructs us, either to use both the article and the preposition with the participle; as, '_the_ indulging _of_ which:' or to reject both; as, 'indulging which:' thus keeping the verbal and substantive forms distinct. But he is wrong, as Dr. Crombie justly remarks, in considering these two modes of expression as perfectly similar. Suppose I am told, 'Bloomfield spoke warmly of the pleasure he had _in hearing_ Fawcet:' I understand at once, that the eloquence of Fawcet gave Bloomfield great pleasure. But were it said, 'Bloomfield spoke warmly of the pleasure he had _in the hearing of_ Fawcet:' I should be led to conclude merely that the orator was within hearing, when the poet spoke of the pleasure he felt from something, about which I have no information. Accordingly Dr. Crombie suggests as a general rule, conducive at least to perspicuity, and perhaps to elegance; that, when the noun connected with the participle is active, or doing something, the article should be inserted before the participle, and the preposition after it; and, when the noun is passive, or represents the object of an action, both the article and the preposition should be omitted:[425] agreeably to the examples just adduced. It is true, that when the noun following the participle denotes something incapable of the action the participle expresses, no mistake can arise _from using_ either form: as, 'The middle condition seems to be the most advantageously situate for _the gaining of_ wisdom. Poverty turns our thoughts too much upon _the supplying of_ our wants; and riches, upon _enjoying_ our superfluities.' _Addison, Spect._, 464. Yet I cannot think it by any means a commendable practice, thus to jumble together different forms; and indeed it is certainly better, as _the two modes of expression have different significations_, to confine each to its distinct and proper use, agreeably to Dr. Crombie's rule, even when no mistake could arise _from interchanging_ them."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 319. OBS. 45.--The two modes of expression which these grammarians would thus apply constantly to different uses, on the supposition that they have always different significations, _are the same_ that Lindley Murray and his copyists suppose to be _generally equivalent_, and concerning which it is merely admitted by the latter, that they do "_not in every instance_ convey the same meaning." (See Obs. 27th above.) If Dr. Lowth considered them "as _perfectly similar_," he was undoubtedly very wrong in this matter: though not more so than these gentlemen, who resolve to interpret them as being perfectly and constantly dissimilar. Dr. Adam says, "There are, both in Latin and [in] English, substantives derived from the verb, which so much resemble the Gerund in their signification, that _frequently_ they may be substituted in its place. They are generally used, however, in a more undetermined sense than the Gerund, and in English, have the article _always_[426] prefixed to them. Thus, with the gerund, _Detector legendo Ciceronem_, I am delighted _with reading_ Cicero. But with the substantive, _Delector lectione Ciceronis_, I am delighted with _the reading of_ Cicero."--_Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 142. "Gerunds are so called because they, as it were, signify the thing _in gerendo_, (anciently written _gerundo_,) _in doing_; and, along with the action, convey an idea of the agent."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 70; _Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 353. "_The reading of Cicero_," does not necessarily signify an action of which Cicero is the _agent_, as Crombie, Churchill, and Hiley choose to expound it; and, since the gerundive construction of words in _ing_ ought to have a definite reference to the agent or subject of the action or being, one may perhaps amend even some of their own phraseology above, by preferring the participial noun: as, "No mistake can arise _from the using of_ either form."--"And riches [turn our thoughts too much] _upon the enjoying of_ our superfluities."--"Even when no mistake could arise _from the interchanging of_ them." Where the agent of the action plainly appears, the gerundive form is to be preferred on account of its brevity; as, "By _the_ observing _of_ truth, you will command respect;" or, "By _observing_ truth, &c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 189. Here the latter phraseology is greatly preferable, though this author did not perceive it. "I thought nothing was to be done by me before _the giving of_ you thanks."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 63. Say,--"before _giving_ you thanks;" for otherwise the word _thanks_ has no proper construction, the pronoun alone being governed by _of_--and here again is an error; for "_you_" ought to be the object of _to_. OBS. 46.--In Hiley's Treatise, a work far more comprehensive than the generality of grammars, "the _established principles_ and _best usages_ of the English" Participle are so adroitly summed up, as to occupy only two pages, one in Etymology, and an other in Syntax. The author shows how the participle differs from a verb, and how from an adjective; yet he neither makes it a separate part of speech, nor tells us with what other it ought to be included. In lieu of a general rule for the parsing of _all participles_, he presents the remark, "Active transitive participles, like their verbs, govern the objective case; as, 'I am desirous of _hearing him_;' '_Having praised them_, he sat down.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 93. This is a rule by which one may parse the _few objectives_ which are governed by participles; but, for the usual construction of _participles themselves_, it is no rule at all; neither does the grammar, full as it is, contain any. "_Hearing_" is here governed by _of_, and "_Having praised_" relates to _he_; but this author teaches neither of these facts, and the former he expressly contradicts by his false definition of a preposition. In his first note, is exhibited, in two parts, the false and ill-written rule which Churchill quotes from Crombie. (1.) "When the noun, _connected with the participle_, is _active or doing_ something, the _participle must have_ an article before it, and the preposition _of_ after it; as, 'In _the hearing of_ the philosopher;' or, 'In the philosopher's _hearing_;' 'By _the preaching of_ Christ;' or, 'By Christ's _preaching_.' In these instances," says Hiley, "the words _hearing_ and _preaching_ are _substantives_." If so, he ought to have corrected this rule, which twice calls them _participles_; but, in stead of doing that, he blindly adds, by way of alternative, two examples which expressly contradict what the rule asserts. (2.) "But when the noun represents the _object_ of an _action_, the article and the preposition _of_ must be _omitted_; as, 'In _hearing_ the philosopher.'"--_Ib._, p. 94. If this principle is right, my second note below, and most of the corrections under it, are wrong. But I am persuaded that the adopters of this rule did not observe how common is the phraseology which it condemns; as, "For if _the casting-away of them_ be _the reconciling of the world_, what shall _the receiving of them_ be, but life from the dead?"--_Rom._, xi, 15. Finally, this author rejects the _of_ which most critics insert when a possessive precedes the verbal noun; justifies and prefers the mixed or double construction of the participle; and, consequently, neither wishes nor attempts to distinguish the participle from the verbal noun. Yet he does not fail to repeat, with some additional inaccuracy, the notion, that, "What do you think of my _horse's running_? is different _to_ [say _from_,] What do you think of my _horse running_?"--_Ib._, p. 94. OBS. 47.--That English books in general, and the style of even our best writers, should seldom be found exempt from errors in the construction of participles, will not be thought wonderful, when we consider the multiplicity of uses to which words of this sort are put, and the strange inconsistencies into which all our grammarians have fallen in treating this part of syntax. It is useless, and worse than useless, to teach for grammar any thing that is not true; and no doctrine can be true of which one part palpably oversets an other. What has been taught on the present topic, has led me into a multitude of critical remarks, designed both for the refutation of the principles which I reject, and for the elucidation and defence of those which are presently to be summed up in notes, or special rules, for the correction of false syntax. If my decisions do not agree with the teaching of our common grammarians, it is chiefly because these authors contradict themselves. Of this sort of teaching I shall here offer but one example more, and then bring these strictures to a close: "When present participles are preceded by an article, or pronoun adjective, they become nouns, and must not be followed by objective pronouns, or nouns without a preposition; as, _the reading of many books wastes the health_. But such nouns, like all others, may be used without an article, being sufficiently discovered by the following preposition; as, _he was sent to prepare the way, by preaching of repentance_. Also an article, or pronoun adjective, may precede a clause, used as a noun, and commencing with a participle; as, _his teaching children was necessary_."--_Dr. Wilson's Syllabus of English Gram._, p. xxx. Here the last position of the learned doctor, if it be true, completely annuls the first; or, if the first be true, the last must needs be false, And, according to Lowth, L. Murray, and many others, the second is as bad as either. The bishop says, concerning this very example, that by the use of the preposition _of_ after the participle _preaching_, "the phrase is rendered _obscure_ and _ambiguous_: for the obvious meaning of it, in its present form, is, 'by preaching _concerning_ repentance, or on that subject;' whereas the sense intended is, 'by publishing the covenant of repentance, and declaring repentance to be a condition of acceptance with God.'"--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 82. "It ought to be, 'by _the_ preaching _of_ repentance;' or, by _preaching_ repentance."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 193. NOTES TO RULE XX. NOTE I.--Active participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived; the preposition _of_, therefore, should never be used after the participle, when the verb does not require it. Thus, in phrases like the following, _of_ is improper: "Keeping _of_ one day in seven;"--"By preaching _of_ repentance;"--"They left beating _of_ Paul." NOTE II.--When a transitive participle is converted into a noun, _of_ must be inserted to govern the object following; as, "So that there was _no withstanding of_ him."--_Walker's Particles_. p. 252. "The cause of their salvation doth not so much arise from _their embracing of_ mercy, as from _God's exercising of_ it"--_Penington's Works_, Vol. ii, p. 91. "Faith is _the receiving of_ Christ with the whole soul."--_Baxter_. "In _thy pouring-out of_ thy fury upon Jerusalem."--_Ezekiel_, ix, 8. NOTE III.--When the insertion of the word _of_, to complete the conversion of the transitive participle into a noun, produces ambiguity or harshness, some better phraseology must be chosen. Example: "Because the action took _place prior to the taking place of_ the other past action."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 140. Here the words _prior_ and _place_ have no regular construction; and if we say, "_prior_ to the taking _of place of_ the other," we make the jumble still worse. Say therefore, "Because the action took place _before_ the other past action;"--or, "Because the action took place _previously_ to the other past action." NOTE IV.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs should either become adjectives, or be taken as parts of such nouns, written as compound words: or, if neither of these methods be agreeable, a greater change should be made. Examples of error: 1. "_Rightly_ understanding a sentence, depends very much on a knowledge of its grammatical construction."--_Comly's Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 8. Say, "_The right_ understanding _of_ a sentence," &c. 2. "Elopement is a running _away_, or private departure."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_. p. 102. Write "_running-away_" as one word. 3. "If they [Milton's descriptions] have any _faults_, it is their _alluding too frequently_ to matters of learning, and to fables of antiquity."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 451. Say, "If they have any _fault_, it is _that they allude_ too frequently," &c. NOTE V.--When the participle is followed by an adjective, its conversion into a noun appears to be improper; because the construction of the adjective becomes anomalous, and its relation doubtful: as, "When we speak of _'ambition's being restless_' or, _'a disease's being deceitful_.'"--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 346; _Kirkham's_, p. 224. This ought to be, "When we speak of _ambition as_ being restless, or a _disease as_ being deceitful;" but Dr. Blair, from whom the text originally came, appears to have written it thus: "When we speak of _ambition's_ being restless, or a _disease_ being deceitful."--LECT. xvi, p. 155. This is _inconsistent with itself_; for one noun is possessive, and the other, objective. NOTE VI.--When a compound participle is converted into a noun, the hyphen seems to be necessary, to prevent ambiguity; but such compound nouns are never elegant, and it is in general better to avoid them, by some change in the expression. Example: "Even as _the being healed_ of a wound, presupposeth the plaster or salve: but not, on the contrary; for the application of the plaster presupposeth not _the being healed_."--_Barclays Works_, Vol. i, p. 143. The phrase, "_the being healed_" ought to mean only, _the creature healed_; and not, _the being-healed_, or _the healing received_, which is what the writer intended. But the simple word _healing_ might have been used in the latter sense; for, in participial nouns, the distinction of _voice_ and of _tense_ are commonly disregarded. NOTE VII.--A participle should not be used where the infinitive mood, the verbal noun, a common substantive, or a phrase equivalent, will better express the meaning. Examples: 1. "But _placing_ an accent on the second syllable of these words, would entirely derange them."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 239. Say rather, "But, _to place_ an accent--But _the_ placing _of_ an accent--or, But an _accent placed_ on the second syllable of these words, would entirely derange them." 2. "To require _their being_ in that case."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 21. Say, "To require _them_ to be in that case." 3. "She regrets not having read it."--_West's Letters_, p. 216. Say, "She regrets _that she has not_ read it." Or, "She _does not regret that she has_ read it." For the text is equivocal, and admits either of these senses. NOTE VIII.--A participle used for a nominative after _be, is, was_, &c., produces a construction which is more naturally understood to be a compound form of the verb; and which is therefore not well adapted to the sense intended, when one tells what something is, was, or may be. Examples: 1. "Whose business _is shoeing_ animals."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 365. Say, "Whose business _it_ is, _to shoe_ animals;"--or, "Whose business is _the_ shoeing _of_ animals." 2. "This _was in fact converting_ the deposite to his own use."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 200. Say rather, "This was in fact _a_ converting _of_ the deposite to his own use."--_Ib._ NOTE IX.--Verbs of _preventing_ should be made to govern, not the participle in _ing_, nor what are called substantive phrases, but the objective case of a noun or pronoun; and if a participle follow, it ought to be governed by the preposition _from_: as, "But the admiration due to so eminent a poet, must not _prevent us from remarking_ some other particulars in which he has failed."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 438. Examples of error: 1. "I endeavoured to prevent _letting him_ escape"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 150. Say,--"to prevent _his escape_." 2. "To prevent _its being connected_ with the nearest noun."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 367. Say, "To prevent _it from_ being connected," &c. 3. "To prevent _it bursting_ out with open violence."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. ii, p. 146. Say, "To prevent it _from_ bursting out," &c. 4. "To prevent _their injuring or murdering of_ others."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. Say rather, "To prevent _them from_ injuring or murdering _others_." NOTE X.--In the use of participles and of verbal nouns, the leading word in sense should always be made the leading or governing word in the construction; and where there is reason to doubt whether the possessive case or some other ought to come before the participle, it is better to reject both, and vary the expression. Examples: "Any person may easily convince himself of the truth of this, by listening to _foreigners conversing_ in a language [which] he does not understand."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 361. "It is a relic of the ancient _style abounding_ with negatives."--_Ib._, p. 367. These forms are right; though the latter might be varied, by the insertion of "_which abounds_" for "_abounding_." But the celebrated examples before cited, about the "_lady holding up_ her train," or the "_lady's holding up_ her train,"--the "_person dismissing_ his servant," or the "_person's dismissing_ his servant,"--the "_horse running_ to-day," or the "_horse's running_ to-day,"--and many others which some grammarians suppose to be interchangeable, are equally bad in both forms. NOTE XI.--Participles, in general, however construed, should have a clear reference to the proper subject of the being, action, or passion. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "By _establishing_ good laws, our _peace_ is secured."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 88; _Folker's_, p. 27. Peace not being the _establisher_ of the laws, these authors should have said, "By _establishing_ good laws, _we_ secure our peace." "_There will be no danger_ of _spoiling_ their faces, or of _gaining_ converts."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 201. This sentence is to me utterly unintelligible. If the context were known, there might possibly be some sense in saying, "_They_ will be in no danger of spoiling their faces," &c. "The law is annulled, in the very _act of its being made_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 267. "The _act of_ MAKING _a law_," is a phrase intelligible; but, "the _act of its_ BEING MADE," is a downright solecism--a positive absurdity. NOTE XII.--A needless or indiscriminate use of participles for nouns, or of nouns for participles, is inelegant, if not improper, and ought therefore to be avoided. Examples: "_Of_ denotes possession or _belonging_."-- _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 118; _Ingersoll's_, 71. "The preposition _of_, frequently implies possession, property, or _belonging to_."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 137. Say, "_Of_ frequently denotes possession, or _the relation of property_." "England perceives the folly _of the denying of_ such concessions."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 149. Expunge _the_ and the last _of_, that _denying_ may stand as a participle. NOTE XIII.--Perfect participles being variously formed, care should be taken to express them agreeably to the best usage, and also to distinguish them from the preterits of their verbs, where there is any difference of form. Example: "It would be well, if all writers who endeavour to be accurate, would be careful to avoid a corruption at present so prevalent, of saying, _it was wrote_, for, _it was written; he was drove_, for, _he was driven; I have went_, for, _I have gone_, &c., in all which instances a verb is absurdly used to supply the proper participle, without any necessity from the want of such word."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 186. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XX. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--EXPUNGE OF. "In forming of his sentences, he was very exact."--_Error noticed by Murray_, Vol. i, p. 194. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _of_ is used after the participle _forming_, whose verb does not require it. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 20th, "Active participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are derived; the preposition _of_, therefore, should not be used after the participle, when the verb does not require it." Therefore, _of_ should be omitted; thus, "In forming his sentences, he was very exact."] "For not believing of which I condemn them"--_Barclay's Works_, iii. 354. "To prohibit his hearers from reading of that book."--_Ib._, i, 223. "You will please them exceedingly, in crying down of ordinances."--MITCHELL: _ib._, i, 219. "The war-wolf subsequently became an engine for casting of stones,"--_Constable's Miscellany_, xxi, 117. "The art of dressing of hides and working in leather was practised."--_Ib._, xxi, 101. "In the choice they had made of him, for restoring of order."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 37. "The Arabians exercised themselves by composing of orations and poems."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 17. "Behold, the widow-woman was there gathering of sticks."--_1 Kings_, xvii, 10. "The priests were busied in offering of burnt-offerings."--_2 Chron._, xxxv, 14. "But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him."--_2 Sam._, ii, 21. "He left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah."--_1 Kings_, xv, 21. "Those who accuse us of denying of it, belie us."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 280. "And breaking of bread from house to house."--_Ib._, i, 192. "Those that set about repairing of the walls."--_Ib._, i, 459. "And secretly begetting of divisions."--_Ib._, i, 521. "Whom he had made use of in gathering of his church."--_Ib._, i, 535. "In defining and distinguishing of the acceptions and uses of those particles."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 12. "In punishing of this, we overthrow The laws of nations, and of nature too."--_Dryden_, p. 92. UNDER NOTE II.--ARTICLES REQUIRE OF. "The mixing them makes a miserable jumble of truth and fiction."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 357. "The same objection lies against the employing statues."--_Ib._, ii, 358. "More efficacious than the venting opulence upon the Fine Arts."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. viii. "It is the giving different names to the same object."--_Ib._, ii, 19. "When we have in view the erecting a column."--_Ib._, ii, 56. "The straining an elevated subject beyond due bounds, is a vice not so frequent."--_Ib._, i, 206. "The cutting evergreens in the shape of animals is very ancient."--_Ib._, ii, 327. "The keeping juries, without meet, drink or fire, can be accounted for only on the same idea."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 301. "The writing the verbs at length on his slate, will be a very useful exercise."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 20. "The avoiding them is not an object of any moment."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 180. "Comparison is the increasing or decreasing the Signification of a Word by degrees."--_British Gram._, p. 97. "Comparison is the Increasing or Decreasing the Quality by Degrees."--_Buchanan's English Syntax_, p. 27. "The placing a Circumstance before the Word with which it is connected, is the easiest of all Inversion."--_Ib._, p. 140. "What is emphasis? It is the emitting a stronger and fuller sound of voice," &c.--_Bradley's Gram._, p. 108. "Besides, the varying the terms will render the use of them more familiar."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 25. "And yet the confining themselves to this true principle, has misled them!"--_Horne Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 15. "What is here commanded, is merely the relieving his misery."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 417. "The accumulating too great a quantity of knowledge at random, overloads the mind instead of adorning it."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 5. "For the compassing his point."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 35. "To the introducing such an inverted order of things."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 95. "Which require only the doing an external action."--_Ib._, p. 185. "The imprisoning my body is to satisfy your wills."--GEO. FOX: _Sewel's Hist._, p. 47. "Who oppose the conferring such extensive command on one person."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 130. "Luxury contributed not a little to the enervating their forces."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 49. "The keeping one day of the week for a sabbath."--_Barclay's Works_, i. 202. "The doing a thing is contrary to the forbearing of it."--_Ib._, i, 527. "The doubling the Sigma is, however, sometimes regular."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 29. "The inserting the common aspirate too, is improper."--_Ib._, p. 134. "But in Spenser's time the pronouncing the _ed_ seems already to have been something of an archaism."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 656. "And to the reconciling the effect of their verses on the eye."--_Ib._, i, 659. "When it was not in their power to hinder the taking the whole."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 155. "He had indeed given the orders himself for the shutting the gates."--_Ibid._ "So his whole life was a doing the will of the Father."--_Penington_, iv, 99. "It signifies the suffering or receiving the action expressed."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 37. "The pretended crime therefore was the declaring himself to be the Son of God."--_West's Letters_, p. 210. "Parsing is the resolving a sentence into its different parts of speech."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 26. UNDER NOTE II.--ADJECTIVES REQUIRE OF. "There is no expecting the admiration of beholders."--_Baxter_. "There is no hiding you in the house."--_Shakspeare_. "For the better regulating government in the province of Massachusetts."--_British Parliament_. "The precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 6. "[This state of discipline] requires the voluntary foregoing many things which we desire, and setting ourselves to what we have no inclination to."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 115. "This amounts to an active setting themselves against religion."--_Ib._, p. 264. "Which engaged our ancient friends to the orderly establishing our Christian discipline."--_N. E. Discip._, p. 117. "Some men are so unjust that there is no securing our own property or life, but by opposing force to force."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 26. "An Act for the better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject."--_Geo._ III, 31st. "Miraculous curing the sick is discontinued."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 137. "It would have been no transgressing the apostle's rule."--_Ib._, p. 146. "As far as consistent with the proper conducting the business of the House."--_Elmore, in Congress_, 1839. "Because he would have no quarrelling at the just condemning them at that day."--_Law and Grace_, p. 42. "That transferring this natural manner--will ensure propriety."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 372. "If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key."--_Macbeth_, Act ii, Sc. 3. UNDER NOTE II.--POSSESSIVES REQUIRE OF. "So very simple a thing as a man's wounding himself."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 97; _Murray's Gram._, p. 317. "Or with that man's avowing his designs."--_Blair_, p. 104; _Murray_, p. 308; _Parker and Fox, Part III_, p. 88. "On his putting the question."--_Adams's Rhet._, Vol. ii, p. 111. "The importance of teachers' requiring their pupils to read each section many times over."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 169. "Politeness is a kind of forgetting one's self in order to be agreeable to others."--_Ramsay's Cyrus_. "Much, therefore, of the merit, and the agreeableness of epistolary writing, will depend on its introducing us into some acquaintance with the writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 370; _Mack's Dissertation in his Gram._, p. 175. "Richard's restoration to respectability, depends on his paying his debts."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 176. "Their supplying ellipses where none ever existed; their parsing words of sentences already full and perfect, as though depending on words understood."--_Ib._, p. 375. "Her veiling herself and shedding tears," &c., "her upbraiding Paris for his cowardice," &c.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 433. "A preposition may be known by its admitting after it a personal pronoun, in the objective case."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 28; _Alger's_, 14; _Bacon's_, 10; _Merchant's_, 18; and others. "But this forms no just objection to its denoting time."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 65. "Of men's violating or disregarding the relations which God has placed them in here."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 164. "Success, indeed, no more decides for the right, than a man's killing his antagonist in a duel."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 295. "His reminding them."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 123. "This mistake was corrected by his preceptor's causing him to plant some beans."--_Ib._, p. 235. "Their neglecting this was ruinous."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82. "That he was serious, appears from his distinguishing the others as 'finite.'"--_Felch's Gram._, p. 10. "His hearers are not at all sensible of his doing it."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 119. UNDER NOTE III.--CHANGE THE EXPRESSION. "An allegory is the saying one thing, and meaning another; a double-meaning or dilogy is the saying only one thing, but having two in view."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 461. "A verb may generally be distinguished, by its making sense with any of the personal pronouns, or the word _to_ before it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 28; _Alger's_, 13; _Bacon's_, 10; _Comly's_, and many others. "A noun may, in general, be distinguished by its taking an article before it, or by its making sense of itself."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 17; _Murray's_, 27; &c. "An Adjective may usually be known by its making sense with the addition of the word _thing_: as, a _good_ thing; a _bad_ thing."--_Same Authors_. "It is seen in the objective case, from its denoting the object affected by the act of leaving."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 44. "It is seen in the possessive case, from its denoting the _possessor_ of something."--_Ibid._ "The name man is caused by the adname _whatever_ to be twofold subjective case, from its denoting, of itself, one person as the subject of the two remarks."--_Ib._, p. 56. "_When_, as used in the last line, is a connective, from its joining that line to the other part of the sentence."--_Ib._, p. 59. "From their denoting reciprocation."--_Ib._, p. 64. "To allow them the making use of that liberty."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 116. "The worst effect of it is, the fixing on your mind a habit of indecision."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 60. "And you groan the more deeply, as you reflect that there is no shaking it off."--_Ib._, p. 47. "I know of nothing that can justify the having recourse to a Latin translation of a Greek writer."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p. 16. "Humour is the making others act or talk absurdly."--_Hazlitt's Lectures_. "There are remarkable instances of their not affecting each other."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 150. "The leaving Caesar out of the commission was not from any slight."--_Life of Cicero_, p. 44. "Of the receiving this toleration thankfully I shall say no more."--_Dryden's Works_, p. 88. "Henrietta was delighted with Julia's working lace so very well."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 255. "And it is from their representing each two different words that the confusion has arisen."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 42. "AEschylus died of a fracture of his skull, caused by an eagle's letting fall a tortoise on his head."--_Biog. Dict._ "He doubted their having it."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 81. "The making ourselves clearly understood, is the chief end of speech."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 68. "There is no discovering in their countenances, any signs which are the natural concomitants of the feelings of the heart."--_Ib._, p. 165. "Nothing can be more common or less proper than to speak of a _river's emptying itself_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 186. "Our not using the former expression, is owing to this."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 59. UNDER NOTE IV.--DISPOSAL OF ADVERBS. "To this generally succeeds the division, or the laying down the method of the discourse."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "To the pulling down of strong holds."--_2 Cor._, x, 4. "Can a mere buckling on a military weapon infuse courage?"--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 62. "Living expensively and luxuriously destroys health."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 234. "By living frugally and temperately, health is preserved."--_Ibid._ "By living temperately, our health is promoted."--_Ib._, p. 227. "By the doing away of the necessity."--_The Friend_, xiii, 157. "He recommended to them, however, the immediately calling of the whole community to the church."--_Gregory's Dict., w. Ventriloquism_. "The separation of large numbers in this manner certainly facilitates the reading them rightly."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 303. "From their merely admitting of a twofold grammatical construction."--_Philol. Museum_, i. 403. "His gravely lecturing his friend about it."--_Ib._, i, 478. "For the blotting out of sin."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 140. "From the not using of water."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 189. "By the gentle dropping in of a pebble."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 125. "To the carrying on a great part of that general course of nature."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 127. "Then the not interposing is so far from being a ground of complaint."--_Ib._, p. 147. "The bare omission, or rather the not employing of what is used."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 180; _Jamieson's_, 48. "Bringing together incongruous adverbs is a very common fault."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 329. "This is a presumptive proof of its not proceeding from them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 186. "It represents him in a character to which the acting unjustly is peculiarly unsuitable."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 372. "They will aim at something higher than merely the dealing out of harmonious sounds."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 65. "This is intelligible and sufficient; and going farther seems beyond the reach of our faculties."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 147. "Apostrophe is a turning off from the regular course of the subject."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 348; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 185. "Even Isabella was finally prevailed upon to assent to the sending out a commission to investigate his conduct."--_Life of Columbus_. "For the turning away of the simple shall slay them."--_Prov._, i, 32. "Thick fingers always should command Without the stretching out the hand."--_King's Poems_, p. 585. UNDER NOTE V.--PARTICIPLES WITH ADJECTIVES. "Is there any Scripture speaks of the light's being inward?"--_Barclay's Works_, i, 367. "For I believe not the being positive therein essential to salvation."--_Ib._, iii, 330. "Our not being able to act an uniform right part without some thought and care."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 122. "Upon supposition of its being reconcileable with the constitution of nature."--_Ib._, p. 128. "Upon account of its not being discoverable by reason or experience."--_Ib._, p. 170. "Upon account of their being unlike the known course of nature."--_Ib._, p. 171. "Our being able to discern reasons for them, gives a positive credibility to the history of them."--_Ib._, p. 174. "From its not being universal."--_Ib._, p. 175. "That they may be turned into the passive participle in _dus_ is no decisive argument in favour of their being passive."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 233. "With the implied idea of St. Paul's being then _absent_ from the Corinthians."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 123. "On account of its becoming gradually weaker, until it finally dies away into silence."--_Ib._, p. 32. "Not without the author's being fully aware."--_Ib._, p. 84. "Being witty out of season, is one sort of folly."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii. 172. "Its being generally susceptible of a much stronger evidence."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 102. "At least their being such rarely enhanceth our opinion, either of their abilities or of their virtues."--_Ib._, p. 162. "Which were the ground of our being one."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 513. "But they may be distinguished from it by their being intransitive."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 60. "To distinguish the higher degree of our persuasion of a thing's being possible."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 234. "His being idle, and dishonest too, Was that which caus'd his utter overthrow."--_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 61. UNDER NOTE VI.--COMPOUND VERBAL NOUNS. "When it denotes being subjected to the exertion of another."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 37. "In a passive sense, it signifies being subjected to the influence of the action."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 60. "The being abandoned by our friends is very deplorable."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 181. "Without waiting for their being attacked by the Macedonians."--_Ib._, ii, 97. "In progress of time, words were wanted to express men's being connected with certain conditions of fortune."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 135. "Our being made acquainted with pain and sorrow, has a tendency to bring us to a settled moderation."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 121. "The chancellor's being attached to the king secured his crown; The general's having failed in this enterprise occasioned his disgrace; John's having been writing a long time had wearied him."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 66; _Sanborn's_, 171; _Cooper's_, 96; _Ingersoll's_, 46; _Fisk's_, 83; _and others_. "The sentence should be, 'John's having been writing a long time has wearied him.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 186. "Much depends on this rule's being observed."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 195. "He mentioned a boy's having been corrected for his faults; The boy's having been corrected is shameful to him."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65; _Merchant's_, 93. "The greater the difficulty of remembrance is, and the more important the being remembered is to the attainment of the ultimate end."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 90. "If the parts in the composition of similar objects were always in equal quantity, their being compounded would make no odds."--_Ib._, p. 65. "Circumstances, not of such importance as that the scope of the relation is affected by their being known."--_Ib._, p. 379. "A passive verb expresses the receiving of an action or the being acted upon; as, 'John is beaten'"--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 16. "So our Language has another great Advantage, namely its not being diversified by Genders."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 20. "The having been slandered is no fault of Peter."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82. "Without being Christ's friends, there is no being justified."--_William Penn_. "Being accustomed to danger, begets intrepidity, i.e. lessens fear."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 112. "It is, not being affected so and so, but acting, which forms those habits."--_Ib._, p. 113. "In order to our being satisfied of the truth of the apparent paradox."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 164. "Tropes consist in a word's being employed to signify something that is different from its original and primitive meaning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 132; _Jamieson's_, 140; _Murray's Gram._, 337; _Kirkham's_, 222. "A _Trope_ consists in a word's being employed," &c.--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 133. "The scriptural view of our being saved from punishment."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 124. "To submit and obey, is not a renouncing a being led by the Spirit."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 542. UNDER NOTE VII.--PARTICIPLES FOR INFINITIVES, &C. "Teaching little children is a pleasant employment."--_Bartlett's School Manual_, ii, 68. "Denying or compromising principles of truth is virtually denying their divine Author."--_Reformer_, i, 34. "A severe critic might point out some expressions that would bear being retrenched."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 206. "Never attempt prolonging the pathetic too much."--_Ib._, p. 323. "I now recollect having mentioned a report of that nature."-- _Whiting's Reader_, p. 132. "Nor of the necessity which there is for their being restrained in them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 116. "But doing what God commands, because he commands it, is obedience, though it proceeds from hope or fear."--_Ib._, p. 124. "Simply closing the nostrils does not so entirely prevent resonance."--_Music of Nature_, p. 484. "Yet they absolutely refuse doing so."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 264. "But Artaxerxes could not refuse pardoning him."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 173. "Doing them in the best manner is signified by the name of these arts."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 360. "Behaving well for the time to come, may be insufficient." --_Butler's Analogy_, p. 198. "The compiler proposed publishing that part by itself."--_Dr. Adam, Rom. Antiq._, p. v. "To smile upon those we should censure, is bringing guilt upon ourselves."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 108. "But it would be doing great injustice to that illustrious orator to bring his genius down to the same level."--_Ib._, p. 28. "Doubting things go ill, often hurts more than to be sure they do."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 203. "This is called straining a metaphor."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150; _Murray's Gram._, i, 341. "This is what Aristotle calls giving manners to the poem."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. "The painter's being entirely confined to that part of time which he has chosen, deprives him of the power of exhibiting various stages of the same action."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 195. "It imports retrenching all superfluities, and pruning the expression."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 94; _Jamieson's_, 64; _Murray's Gram._, p. 301; _Kirkham's_, 220. "The necessity for our being thus exempted is further apparent."--_West's Letters_, p. 40. "Her situation in life does not allow of her being genteel in every thing."--_Ib._, p. 57. "Provided you do not dislike being dirty when you are invisible."--_Ib._, p. 58. "There is now an imperious necessity for her being acquainted with her title to eternity."--_Ib._, p. 120. "Discarding the restraints of virtue, is misnamed ingenuousness."--_Ib._, p. 105. "The legislature prohibits opening shop of a Sunday."--_Ib._, p. 66. "To attempt proving that any thing is right."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 256. "The comma directs making a pause of a second in duration, or less."--_Ib._, p. 280. "The rule which directs putting other words into the place of it, is wrong."--_Ib._, p. 326. "They direct calling the specifying adjectives or adnames adjective pronouns."-- _Ib._, p. 338. "William dislikes attending court."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82. "It may perhaps be worth while remarking that Milton makes a distinction."--_Philological Museum_, i, 659. "Professing regard, and acting differently, discover a base mind."--_Murray's Key_, p. 206; _Bullions's E. Gram._, pp. 82 and 112; _Lennie's_, 58. "Professing regard and acting indifferently, discover a base mind."--_Weld's Gram., Improved Edition_, p. 59. "You have proved beyond contradiction, that acting thus is the sure way to procure such an object."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 92. UNDER NOTE VIII.--PARTICIPLES AFTER BE, IS, &C. "Irony is expressing ourselves in a manner contrary to our thoughts."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 353; _Kirkham's_, 225; _Goldsbury's_, 90. "Irony is saying one thing and meaning the reverse of what that expression would represent."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 303. "An Irony is dissembling or changing the proper signification of a word or sentence to quite the contrary."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 151. "Irony is expressing ourselves contrary to what we mean."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 280. "This is in a great Measure delivering their own Compositions."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. xxvi. "But purity is using rightly the words of the language."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 59. "But the most important object is settling the English quantity."--_Walker's Key_. p. 17. "When there is no affinity, the transition from one meaning to another is taking a very wide step."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 293. "It would be losing time to attempt further to illustrate it."--_Ib._, p. 79. "This is leaving the sentence too bare, and making it to be, if not nonsense, hardly sense."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 220. "This is requiring more labours from every private member."--_West's Letters_, p. 120. "Is not this using one measure for our neighbours, and another for ourselves?"--_Ib._, p. 200. "Is it not charging God foolishly, when we give these dark colourings to human nature?"--_Ib._, p. 171. "This is not enduring the cross as a disciple of Jesus Christ, but snatching at it like a partizan of Swift's Jack."--_Ib._, p. 175. "What is Spelling? It is combining letters to form syllables and words."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 18. "It is choosing such letters to compose words," &c.--_Ibid._ "What is Parsing? (1.) It is describing the nature, use, and powers of words."--_Ib._, pp. 22 and 192. (2.) "For parsing is describing the words of a sentence as they are used."--_Ib._, p. 10. (3.) "Parsing is only describing the nature and relations of words as they are used."--_Ib._, p. 11. (4.) "Parsing, let the pupil understand and remember, is describing facts concerning words; or representing them in their offices and relations as they are."--_Ib._, p. 34. (5.) "Parsing is resolving and explaining words according to the rules of grammar."--_Ib._, p. 326. (6.) "Parsing a word, remember, is enumerating and describing its various relations and qualities, and its grammatical relations to other words in the sentence."--_Ib._, p. 325. (7.) "For parsing a word is enumerating and describing its various properties and relations _to the_ sentence."--_Ib._, p. 326. (8.) "Parsing a noun is telling of what person, number, gender, and case, it is; and also telling all its grammatical relations in a sentence with respect to other words."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 16. (9.) "Parsing any part of speech is telling all its properties and relations."--_Ibid._ (10.) "Parsing is resolving a sentence into its elements."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, Sec.588. "The highway of the righteous is, departing from evil."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 168. "Besides, the first step towards exhibiting truth should be removing the veil of error."--_Ib._, p. 377. "Punctuation is dividing sentences and the words of sentences, by pauses."--_Ib._, p. 280. "Another fault is using the preterimperfect _shook_ instead of the participle _shaken_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 259. "Her employment is drawing maps."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "Going to the play, according to his notion, is leading a sensual life, and exposing ones self to the strongest temptations. This is begging the question, and therefor requires no answer."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 217. "It is overvaluing ourselves to reduce every thing to the narrow measure of our capacities."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 193; _Ingersoll's_, 199. "What is vocal language? It is speaking; or expressing ideas by the human voice."--_Sanders, Spelling-Book_, p. 7. UNDER NOTE IX.--VERBS OF PREVENTING. "The annulling power of the constitution prevented that enactment's becoming a law."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 267. "Which prevents the manner's being brief."--_Ib._, p. 365. "This close prevents their bearing forward as nominatives."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 153. "Because this prevents its growing drowzy."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 5. "Yet this does not prevent his being great."--_Ib._, p. 27. "To prevent its being insipid."--_Ib._, p. 112. "Or whose interruptions did not prevent its being continued."--_Ib._, p. 167. "This by no means prevents their being also punishments."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 123. "This hinders not their being also, in the strictest sense, punishments."--_Ibid._, "The noise made by the rain and wind prevented their being heard."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 118. "He endeavoured to prevent its taking effect."--_Ib._, i, 128. "So sequestered as to prevent their being explored."--_West's Letters_, p. 62. "Who prevented her making a more pleasant party."--_Ib._, p. 65. "To prevent our being tossed about by every wind of doctrine."--_Ib._, p. 123. "After the infirmities of age prevented his bearing his part of official duty."--_Religious World_, ii, 193. "To prevent splendid trifles passing for matters of importance."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 310. "Which prevents his exerting himself to any good purpose."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 146. "The want of the observance of this rule, very frequently prevents our being punctual in our duties."--_Student's Manual_, p. 65. "Nothing will prevent his being a student, and his possessing the means of study."--_Ib._, p. 127. "Does the present accident hinder your being honest and brave?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 51. "The e is omitted to prevent two es coming together."--_Fowle's Gram._, p. 34. "A pronoun is used for or in place of a noun.--to prevent repeating the noun."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 13. "Diversity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents it being tired with the too frequent recurrence of the rhymes."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 166. "Diversity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents its being tired," &c.--_Murray's Gram._, i. p. 362. "Timidity and false shame prevent our opposing vicious customs."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 236; _Sanborn's Gram._, 171; _Merchant's_, 205. "To prevent their being moved by such."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 155. "Some obstacle or impediment, that prevents its taking place."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 38. "Which prevents our making a progress towards perfection."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 4. "This method of distinguishing words, must prevent any regular proportion of time being settled."--_Ib._, p. 67. "That nothing but affectation can prevent its always taking place."--_Ib._, p. 78. "This did not prevent John's being acknowledged and solemnly inaugurated Duke of Normandy."--HENRY: _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 182; his _Improved Gram._, 130; _Sanborn's Gram._, 189; _Fowler's_, 8vo, 1850, p. 541. UNDER NOTE X.--THE LEADING WORD IN SENSE. "This would preclude the possibility of a _nouns'_ or any other word's ever being in the possessive case."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 338. "A great part of our pleasure arises from the plan or story being well conducted."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 18, "And we have no reason to wonder at this being the case."--_Ib._, p. 249. "She objected only, as Cicero says, to Oppianicus having two sons by his present wife."--_Ib._, p. 274. "The Britons being subdued by the Saxons, was a necessary consequence of their having called in these Saxons, to their assistance."--_Ib._, p. 329. "What he had there said, concerning the Saxons expelling the Britons, and changing the customs, the religion, and the language of the country, is a clear and good reason for our present language being Saxon rather than British."--_Ib._, p. 230. "The only material difference between them, besides the one being short and the other being prolonged, is, that a metaphor always explains itself by the words that are connected with it."--_Ib._, p. 151; _Murray's Gram._, p. 342. "The description of Death's advancing to meet Satan, on his arrival."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 156. "Is not the bare fact of God being the witness of it, sufficient ground for its credibility to rest upon?"--_Chalmers, Serm._, p. 288. "As in the case of one entering upon a new study."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 77. "The manner of these affecting the copula is called the imperative mode."--BP. WILKINS: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 43. "We are freed from the trouble, by our nouns having no diversity of endings."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 20. "The Verb is rather indicative of the actions being _doing_, or _done_, than _the time when_, but indeed the ideas are undistinguishable."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 69. "Nobody would doubt of this being a sufficient proof."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 66. "Against the doctrine here maintained, of conscience being, as well as reason, a natural faculty."--_Beattie's M. Sci._, i, 263. "It is one cause of the Greek and English languages being much more easy to learn, than the Latin."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 25. "I have not been able to make out a solitary instance of such being the fact."--_Liberator_, x, 40. "An angel's forming the appearance of a hand, and writing the king's condemnation on the wall, checked their mirth, and filled them with terror."--_Wood's Dict., w. Belshazzar_. "The prisoners' having attempted to escape, aroused the keepers."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 357. "I doubt not, in the least, of this having been one cause of the multiplication of divinities in the heathen world."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 155. "From the general rule he lays down, of the verbs being the parent word of all language."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 227. "He was accused of himself being idle."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 52. "Our meeting is generally dissatisfied with him so removing."--_Wm. Edmondson_. "The spectacle is too rare of men's deserving solid fame while not seeking it."--_Prof. Bush's Lecture on Swedenborg_. "What further need was there of an other priest rising?"--See _Key_. UNDER NOTE XI.--REFERENCE OF PARTICIPLES. "Viewing them separately, different emotions are produced."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 344. "But leaving this doubtful, another objection occurs."--_Ib._, ii, 358. "Proceeding from one particular to another, the subject grew under his hand."--_Ib._, i, 27. "But this is still an interruption, and a link of the chain broken."--_Ib._, ii, 314. "After some days hunting, Cyrus communicated his design to his officers."--_Rollin_, ii, 66. "But it is made, without the appearance of making it in form."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 358. "These would have had a better effect disjoined thus."--_Ib._, p. 119; _Murray's Gram._, i, 309. "An improper diphthong has but one of the vowels sounded."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 9; _Alger's_, 12; _Merchant's_, 9; _Smith's_, 118; _Ingersoll's_, 4. "And being led to think of both together, my view is rendered unsteady."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 95; _Murray's Gram._, 302; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 66. "By often doing the same thing, it becomes habitual."--_Murray's Key_, p. 257. "They remain with us in our dark and solitary hours, no less than when surrounded with friends and cheerful society."--_Ib._, p. 238. "Besides shewing what is right, the matter may be further explained by pointing out what is wrong."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. viii. "The former teaches the true pronunciation of words, comprising accent, quantity, emphasis, pause, and tone."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol., i, p. 235. "Persons may be reproved for their negligence, by saying; 'You have taken great care indeed.'"--_Ib._, i, 354. "The words preceding and following it, are in apposition to each other."--_Ib._, ii, p. 22. "Having finished his speech, the assembly dispersed."--_Cooper's Pract. Gram._, p. 97. "Were the voice to fall at the close of the last line, as many a reader is in the habit of doing."-- _Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 101. "The misfortunes of his countrymen were but negatively the effects of his wrath, by depriving them of his assistance."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 299. "Taking them as nouns, this construction may be explained thus."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 233. "These have an active signification, those which come from neuter verbs being excepted."--_Ib._, p. 233. "From the evidence of it not being universal."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 84. "And this faith will continually grow, by acquainting ourselves with our own nature."--_Channing's Self-Culture_, p. 33. "Monosyllables ending with any consonant but _f, l_, or _s_, and preceded by a single vowel, never double the final consonant; excepting add, ebb," &c.--_Murray's Gram._, p. 23; _Picket's_, 10; _Merchant's_, 13; _Ingersoll's_, 8; _Fisk's_, 44; _Blair's_, 7. "The relation of being the object of the action is expressed by the change of the Noun _Maria_ to _Mariam_"--_Booth's Introd._, p. 38. "In analyzing a proposition, it is first to be divided into its logical subject and predicate."--_Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Gram._, p. 254. "In analyzing a simple sentence, it should first be resolved into its logical subject and logical predicate."--_Wells's School Gram._, 113th Ed., p. 189. UNDER NOTE XII.--OF PARTICIPLES AND NOUNS. "The discovering passions instantly at their birth, is essential to our well being."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 352. "I am now to enter on considering the sources of the pleasures of taste."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 28. "The varieties in using them are, indeed many."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 319. "Changing times and seasons, removing and setting up kings, belong to Providence alone."--_Ib., Key_, ii, p. 200. "Adhering to the partitions seemed the cause of France, accepting the will that of the house of Bourbon."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 246. "Another source of darkness in composing is, the injudicious introduction of technical words and phrases."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 247. "These are the rules of grammar, by the observing of which, you may avoid mistakes."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 192; _Merchant's_, 93; _Fisk's_, 135; _Ingersoll's_, 198. "By the observing of the rules you may avoid mistakes."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "By the observing of these rules he succeeded."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 82. "Being praised was his ruin."--_Ibid._ "Deceiving is not convincing."-- _Ibid._ "He never feared losing a friend."--_Ibid._ "Making books is his amusement."--_Alger's Gram._, p. 65. "We call it declining a noun."-- _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 22. "Washington, however, pursued the same policy of neutrality, and opposed firmly, taking any part in the wars of Europe."--_Hall and Baker's School Hist._, p. 294. "The following is a note of Interrogation, or asking a question (?)."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 132. "The following is a note of Admiration, or expressing wonder (!)."--_Ib._ "Omitting or using the article _a_ forms a nice distinction in the sense."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 284. "Placing the preposition before the word it governs is more graceful."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 150. "Assistance is absolutely necessary to their recovery, and retrieving their affairs."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 197. "Which termination, [_ish_,] when added to adjectives, imports diminution, or lessening the quality."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 131; _Kirkham's_, 172. "After what is said, will it be thought refining too much to suggest, that the different orders are qualified for different purposes?"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 114. "Who has nothing to think of but killing time."--_West's Letters_, p. 58. "It requires no nicety of ear, as in the distinguishing of tones, or measuring time."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 65. "The _Possessive Case_ denotes possession, or belonging to."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 7. UNDER NOTE XIII.--PERFECT PARTICIPLES. "Garcilasso was master of the language spoke by the Incas."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 459. "When an interesting story is broke off in the middle."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 244. "Speaking of Hannibal's elephants drove back by the enemy."--_Ib._, ii, 32. "If Du Ryer had not wrote for bread, he would have equalled them."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 166. "Pope describes a rock broke off from a mountain, and hurling to the plain."--_Kames_, ii, 106. "I have wrote _or_ have written, Thou hast wrote _or_ hast written. He hath or has wrote, _or_ hath or has written;" &c.--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 47; _Maltby's_, 47. "This was spoke by a pagan."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 174. "But I have chose to follow the common arrangement."--_Ib._, p. 10. "The language spoke in Bengal."--_Ib._, p. 78. "And sound Sleep thus broke off, with suddain Alarms, is apt enough to discompose any one."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 32. "This is not only the Case of those Open Sinners, before spoke of."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 26. "Some Grammarians have wrote a very perplexed and difficult doctrine on Punctuation."--_Ensell's Gram._, p. 340. "There hath a pity arose in me towards thee."--_Sewel's Hist., fol._, p. 324. "Abel is the only man that has underwent the awful change of death."--_Juvenile Theatre_, p. 4. "Meantime, on Afric's glowing sands, Smote with keen heat, the Trav'ler stands."--_Union Poems_, p. 88. CHAPTER VIII.--ADVERBS. The syntax of an Adverb consists in its simple relation to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or whatever else it qualifies; just as the syntax of an English Adjective, (except in a few instances,) consists in its simple relation to a noun or a pronoun. RULE XXI.--ADVERBS. Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs: as, "Any passion that _habitually_ discomposes our temper, or unfits us for _properly_ discharging the duties of life, has _most certainly_ gained a _very_ dangerous ascendency."--_Blair_. "_How_ bless'd this happy hour, should he appear, Dear to us all, to me _supremely_ dear!"--_Pope's Homer_. EXCEPTION FIRST. The adverbs _yes, ay_, and _yea_, expressing a simple affirmation, and the adverbs _no_ and _nay_, expressing a simple negation, are always independent. They generally answer a question, and are equivalent to a whole sentence. Is it clear, that they ought to be called adverbs? _No_. "Can honour set to a leg? _No_. Or an arm? _No_. Or take away the grief of a wound? _No_. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? _No_."--SHAK.: _First Part of Hen. IV_, Act v, 1. EXCEPTION SECOND. The word _amen_, which is commonly called an adverb, is often used independently at the beginning or end of a declaration or a prayer; and is itself a prayer, meaning, _So let it be_: as, "Surely, I come quickly. _Amen_: Even so, come Lord Jesus."--_Rev._, xxii, 20. When it does not stand thus alone, it seems in general to be used substantively; as, "The strangers among them stood on Gerizim, and echoed _amen_ to the blessings."--_Wood's Dict._ "These things saith the _Amen_."--_Rev._, iii, 14 EXCEPTION THIRD. An adverb before a preposition seems sometimes to relate to the latter, rather than to the verb or participle to which the preposition connects its object; as, "This mode of pronunciation runs _considerably beyond_ ordinary discourse."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 334. "Yea, _all along_ the times of the apostasy, this was the thing that preserved the witnesses."--_Penington's Works_, Vol. iv, p. 12. [See Obs. 8th on Rule 7th.] "_Right against_ the eastern gate, Where the great sun begins his state."--_Milton, L'Allegro_. EXCEPTION FOURTH. The words _much, little, far_, and _all_, being originally adjectives, are sometimes preceded by the negative _not_, or (except the last) by such an adverb as _too, how, thus, so_, or _as_, when they are taken substantively; as, "_Not all_ that glitters, is gold."--"_Too much_ should not be offered at once."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 140. "_Thus far_ is consistent."--_Ib._, p. 161. "_Thus far_ is right."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 101. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXI. OBS. 1.--On this rule of syntax, Dr. Adam remarks, "Adverbs sometimes likewise qualify _substantives_;" and gives Latin examples of the following import: "Homer _plainly_ an orator:"--"_Truly_ Metellus;"--"_To-morrow_ morning." But this doctrine is not well proved by such imperfect phrases, nor can it ever be very consistently admitted, because it destroys the characteristic difference between an adjective and an adverb. _To-morrow_ is here an adjective; and as for _truly_ and _plainly_, they are not such words as can make sense with nouns. I therefore imagine the phrases to be elliptical: "_Vere Metellus_," may mean, "_This is truly_ Metellus;" and "_Homerus plane orator_," "Homer _was plainly_ an orator." So, in the example, "Behold an Israelite _indeed_," the true construction seems to be, "Behold, _here is indeed_ an Israelite;" for, in the Greek or Latin, the word _Israelite_ is a nominative, thus: "_Ecce vere Israelita_."--_Beza_; also _Montanus_. "[Greek: Ide alaethos 'Israaelitaes.]"--_Greek Testament. Behold_ appears to be here an interjection, like _Ecce_. If we make it a transitive verb, the reading should be, "Behold a _true_ Israelite;" for the text does not mean, "_Behold indeed_ an Israelite." At least, this is not the meaning in our version. W. H. Wells, citing as authorities for the doctrine, "Bullions, Allen and Cornwell, Brace, Butler, and Webber," has the following remark: "There are, however, certain forms of expression in which _adverbs_ bear a special relation to _nouns_ or _pronouns_; as, 'Behold I, _even I_, do bring a flood of waters.'--_Gen._ 6: 17. 'For our gospel came not unto you in _word only_, but also in power.'--1 _Thes._ 1: 5."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 156; late Ed., 168. And again, in his Punctuation, we find this: "When, however, the intervening word is an _adverb_, the comma is more commonly omitted; as, 'It is _labor only_ which gives a relish to pleasure.'"--_Ib._, p. 176. From all this, the doctrine receives no better support than from Adam's suggestion above considered. The word "_only_" is often an _adjective_, and wherever its "special relation" is to a noun or a pronoun, it can be nothing else. "_Even_," when it introduces a word repeated with emphasis, is a _conjunction_. OBS. 2.--When participles become nouns, their adverbs are not unfrequently left standing with them in their original relation; as, "For the fall and _rising again_ of many in Israel."--_Luke_, ii, 34. "To denote the _carrying forward_ of the action."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 52. But in instances like these, _the hyphen_ seems to be necessary. This mark would make the terms _rising-again_ and _carrying-forward_ compound nouns, and not participial nouns with adverbs relating to them. "There is no _flying hence_, nor _tarrying here_."--_Shak., Macbeth_. "What! in ill thoughts again? men must endure Their _going hence_, ev'n as their _coming hither_."--_Id._ OBS. 3.--Whenever any of those words which are commonly used adverbially, are made to relate directly to nouns or pronouns, they must be reckoned _adjectives_, and parsed by Rule 9th. Examples: "The _above_ verbs."--_Dr. Adam_. "To the _above_ remarks."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 318. "The _above instance_."--_Ib._, p. 442. "After the _above_ partial illustration."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, ii, 62. "The _above explanation_."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 22. "For _very_ age."--_Zech._, viii, 4. "From its _very_ greatness."--_Phil. Museum_, i, 431. "In his _then_ situation."--_Johnson's Life of Goldsmith_. "This was the _then_ state of Popery."--_Id., Life of Dryden_, p. 185. "The servant becomes the master of his _once_ master."--_Shillitoe_. "Time _when_ is put in the ablative, time how _long_ is put in the accusative."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 201; _Gould's_, 198. "Nouns signifying the time _when_ or how _long_, may be put in the objective case without a preposition."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 24. "I hear the _far-off_ curfew sound."--_Milton_. "Far on the _thither_ side."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 58. "My _hither_ way."--"Since my _here_ remain in England."--_Shak._ "But short and _seldom_ truce."--_Fell_. "An _exceeding_ knave."--_Pope_. "According to my _sometime_ promise."--_Zenobia_, i, 176. "Thine _often_ infirmities."--_Bible_. "A _far_ country."--_Ib._ "_No_ wine,"--"_No_ new thing,"--"_No_ greater joy."--_Ib._ "Nothing _else_."--_Blair_. "_Tomorrow_ noon."--_Scott_. "Calamity _enough_."--_Tr. Sallust_. "For thou _only_ art holy."--_Rev._, xv, 4. OBS. 4.--It is not my design to justify any uncouth substitution of adverbs for adjectives; nor do I affirm that all the foregoing examples are indisputably good English, though most of them are so; but merely, that the words, when they are thus used, _are adjectives_, and not adverbs. Lindley Murray, and his copyists, strongly condemn some of these expressions, and, by implication, most or all of them; but both he and they, as well as others, have repeatedly employed at least one of the very models they censure. They are too severe on all those which they specify. Their objections stand thus; "_Such expressions_ as the following, though not destitute of authority, _are very inelegant_, and do _not suit the idiom_ of our language; 'The _then_ ministry,' for, 'the ministry of that time;' 'The _above_ discourse,' for, 'the preceding discourse.'"--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 198; _Crombie's_, 294; _Ingersoll's_, 206. "The following phrases are also exceptionable: 'The _then_ ministry;' 'The _above_ argument.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 190. "Adverbs used as adjectives, as, 'The _above_ statement;' 'The _then_ administration;' should be avoided."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 285. "_When_ and _then_ must not be used for nouns _and pronouns_; thus, 'Since _when_,' 'since _then_,' 'the _then_ ministry,' ought to be, 'Since _which time_,' 'since _that time_,' 'the ministry _of that period_.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 96. Dr. Priestley, from whom Murray derived many of his critical remarks, noticed these expressions; and, (as I suppose,) _approvingly_; thus, "Adverbs are often put for adjectives, agreeably to the idiom of the Greek tongue: [as,] 'The action was _amiss_.'--'The _then_ ministry.'--'The idea is _alike_ in both.'--Addison. 'The _above_ discourse.'--Harris."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 135. Dr. Johnson, as may be seen above, thought it not amiss to use _then_ as Priestley here cites it; and for such a use of _above_, we may quote the objectors themselves: "To support the _above_ construction."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 149; _Ingersoll's_, p. 238. "In all the _above_ instances."--_Mur._, p. 202; _Ing._, 230. "To the _above_ rule."--_Mur._, p. 270; _Ing._, 283. "The same as the _above_."--_Mur._, p. 66; _Ing._, 46. "In such instances as the _above_."--_Mur._, p. 24; _Ing._, 9; _Kirkham_, 23.[427] OBS. 5.--When words of an adverbial character are used after the manner of _nouns_, they must be parsed as nouns, and not as adverbs; as, "The Son of God--was not _yea_ and _nay_, but in him was _yea_."--_Bible_. "For a great _while_ to come."--_Ib._ "On this _perhaps_, this _peradventure_ infamous for lies."--_Young_. "From the extremest _upward_ of thine head."--_Shak_. "There are _upwards_ of fifteen millions of inhabitants."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 266. "Information has been derived from _upwards_ of two hundred volumes."--_Worcester's Hist._, p. v. "An eternal _now_ does always last"--_Cowley_. "Discourse requires an animated _no_."--_Cowper_. "Their hearts no proud _hereafter_ swelled."--_Sprague_. An adverb after a preposition is used substantively, and governed by the preposition; though perhaps it is not necessary to call it a common noun: as, "For _upwards_ of thirteen years."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. xvi. "That thou mayst curse me them _from thence_."--_Numb._, xxiii, 27. "Yet _for once_ we'll try."--_Dr. Franklin_. But many take such terms together, calling them "_adverbial phrases_." Allen says, "Two adverbs sometimes come together; as, 'Thou hast kept the good wine _until now_.'"--_Gram._, p. 174. But _until_ is here more properly a preposition, governing _now_. OBS. 6.--It is plain, that when words of an adverbial form are used either adjectively or substantively, they cannot be parsed by the foregoing rule, or explained as having the ordinary relation of _adverbs_; and if the unusual relation or character which they thus assume, be not thought sufficient to fix them in the rank of adjectives or nouns, the parser may describe them as adverbs used adjectively, or substantively, and apply the rule which their assumed construction requires. But let it be remembered, that adverbs, as such, neither relate to nouns, nor assume the nature of cases: but express the time, place, degree, or manner, of actions or qualities. In some instances in which their construction may seem not to be reconcilable with the common rule, there may be supposed an ellipsis of a verb or a participle:[428] as, "From Monday to Saturday _inclusively_."--_Webster's Dict._ Here, the Doctor ought to have used a comma after _Saturday_; for the adverb relates, not to that noun, but to the word _reckoned_, understood. "It was well said by Roscommon, '_too faithfully is pedantically_.'"--_Com. Sch. Journal_, i, 167. This saying I suppose to mean, "_To do a thing_ too faithfully, is, _to do it_ pedantically." "And, [_I say] truly_, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned."--_Heb._, xi, 15. OBS 7.--To abbreviate expressions, and give them vivacity, verbs of self-motion (such as _go, come, rise, get_, &c.) are sometimes suppressed, being suggested to the mind by an emphatic adverb, which seems to be put _for the verb_, but does in fact relate to it understood; as, "I'll _hence_ to London, on a serious matter."--_Shak_. Supply "_go_." "I'll _in_. I'll _in_. Follow your friend's counsel. I'll _in_"--_Id._ Supply "_get_." "_Away_, old man; give me thy hand; _away_."--_Id._ Supply "_come_." "Love hath wings, and will _away_"--_Waller_. Supply "_fly_." "_Up, up_, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho!"--_Scott_. Supply "_spring_." "Henry the Fifth is crowned; _up_, vanity!" Supply "_stand_." "_Down_, royal state! all you sage counsellors, _hence_!"--_Shak._ Supply "_fall_," and "_get you_." "But _up_, and enter now into full bliss."--_Milton_. Supply "_rise_." OBS. 8.--We have, on some occasions, a singular way of expressing a transitive action imperatively, or emphatically, by adding the preposition _with_ to an adverb of direction; as, _up with it, down with it, in with it, out with it, over with it, away with it_, and the like; in which construction, the adverb seems to be used elliptically as above, though the insertion of the verb would totally enervate or greatly alter the expression. Examples: "She _up with_ her fist, and took him on the face."--_Sydney, in Joh. Dictionary_. "_Away with_ him!"--_Acts_, xxi, 36. "_Away with_ such a fellow from the earth."--_Ib._, xxii, 22. "The calling of assemblies I cannot _away with_"--_Isaiah_, i, 13. "_Hence with_ denial vain, and coy excuse."--_Milton's Comus_. Ingersoll says, "Sometimes a whole phrase is used as an interjection, and we call such _interjectional phrases_: as, _out upon him!--away with him!--Alas, what wonder!_ &c."--_Conversations on Gram._, p. 79. This method of lumping together several different parts of speech under the notion of one, and calling the whole an "_adverbial phrase_," a "_substantive phrase_," or an "_interjectional phrase_," is but a forced put, by which some grammarians would dodge certain difficulties which they know not how to meet. It is directly repugnant to the idea of _parsing_; for the parser ever deals with the parts of speech as such, and not with whole phrases in the lump. The foregoing adverbs when used imperatively, have some resemblance to interjections; but, in some of the examples above cited, they certainly are not used in this manner. OBS. 9.--A _conjunctive adverb_ usually relates to two verbs at the same time, and thus connects two clauses of a compound sentence; as, "And the rest will I set in order _when_ I come,"--_1 Cor._, xi, 34. Here _when_ is a conjunctive adverb of time, and relates to the two verbs _will set_ and _come_; the meaning being, "And the rest will I set in order _at the time at which_ I come." This adverb _when_ is often used erroneously in lieu of a nominative after _is_, to which construction of the word, such an interpretation as the foregoing would not be applicable; because the person means to tell, not _when_, but _what_, the thing is, of which he speaks: as, "Another cause of obscurity is _when_ the structure of the sentence is too much complicated, or too artificial; or _when_ the sense is too long suspended by parentheses."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 246. Here the conjunction _that_ would be much better than _when_, but the sentence might advantageously spare them both; thus, "An other cause of obscurity is too much _complication_, too artificial _a structure_ of the sentence, or too long _a suspension_ of the sense by _parenthesis_." OBS. 10.--For the _placing_ of adverbs, no definite general rule can be given; yet is there no other part of speech so liable to be misplaced. Those which relate to adjectives, or to other adverbs, with very few exceptions, immediately precede them; and those which belong to compound verbs, are commonly placed after the first auxiliary; or, if they be emphatical, after the whole verb. Those which relate to simple verbs, or to simple participles, are placed sometimes before and sometimes after them. Examples are so very common, I shall cite but one: "A man may, in respect to grammatical purity, speak _unexceptionably_, and yet speak _obscurely_, or _ambiguously_; and though we cannot say, that a man may speak _properly_, and at the same time speak _unintelligibly_, yet this last case falls _more naturally_ to be considered as an offence against perspicuity, than as a violation of propriety."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 239. OBS. 11.--Of the infinitive verb and its preposition _to_, some grammarians say, that they must never be separated by an adverb. It is true, that the adverb is, in general, more elegantly placed before the preposition than after it; but, possibly, the latter position of it may sometimes contribute to perspicuity, which is more essential than elegance: as, "If any man refuse _so to implore_, and _to so receive_ pardon, let him die the death."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 209. The latter word _so_, if placed like the former, might possibly be understood in a different sense from what it now bears. But perhaps it would be better to say. "If any man refuse so to implore, and _on such terms_ to receive pardon, let him die the death." "Honour teaches us _properly_ to respect ourselves."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 252. Here it is not quite clear, to which verb the adverb "_properly_" relates. Some change of the expression is therefore needful. The right to place an adverb sometimes between _to_ and its verb, should, I think, be conceded to the poets: as, "Who dared _to nobly stem_ tyrannic pride."--BURNS: _C. Sat. N._ OBS. 12.--The adverb _no_ is used independently, only when it is equivalent to a whole sentence. This word is sometimes an adverb of _degree_; and as such it has this peculiarity, that it can relate only to comparatives: as, "_No_ more,"--"_No_ better,"--"_No_ greater,"--"_No_ sooner." When _no_ is set before a noun, it is clearly an _adjective_, corresponding to the Latin _nullus_; as, "_No_ clouds, _no_ vapours intervene."--_Dyer_. Dr. Johnson, with no great accuracy, remarks, "It seems an _adjective_ in these phrases, _no_ longer, _no_ more, _no_ where; though sometimes it may be so commodiously changed to _not_, that it seems an adverb; as, 'The days are yet _no_ shorter.'"--_Quarto Dict._ And his first example of what he calls the "_adverb_ NO" is this: "'Our courteous Antony, Whom ne'er the word of _no_ woman heard speak.' SHAKSPEARE."--_Ibid._ Dr. Webster says, "When it precedes _where_, as in _no where_, it may be considered as adverbial, though originally an adjective."--_Octavo Dict._ The truth is, that _no_ is an adverb, whenever it relates to an adjective; an adjective, whenever it relates to a noun; and a noun, whenever it takes the relation of a case. Thus, in what Johnson cites from Shakspeare, it is a noun, and not an adverb; for the meaning is, that a woman never heard Antony speak the word _of no_--that is, _of negation_. And there ought to be a comma after this word, to make the text intelligible. To read it thus: "_the word of no woman_," makes _no_ an adjective. So, to say, "There are _no abler critics_ than these," is a very different thing from saying, "There are _critics no abler_ than these;" because _no_ is an adjective in the former sentence, and an adverb in the latter. _Somewhere, nowhere, anywhere, else-where_, and _everywhere_, are adverbs of place, each of which is composed of the noun _where_ and an _adjective_; and it is absurd to write a part of them as compound words, and the rest as phrases, as many authors do. OBS. 13.--In some languages, the more negatives one crowds into a sentence, the stronger is the negation; and this appears to have been formerly the case in English, or in what was anciently the language of Britain: as, "He _never_ yet _no_ vilanie _ne_ sayde in alle his lif unto _no_ manere wight."--_Chaucer_. "_Ne_ I _ne_ wol _non_ reherce, yef that I may."--_Id._ "Give _not_ me counsel; _nor_ let _no_ comforter delight mine ear."--_Shakspeare_. "She _cannot_ love, _nor_ take _no_ shape _nor_ project of affection."--_Id._ Among people of education, this manner of expression has now become wholly obsolete; though it still prevails, to some extent, in the conversation of the vulgar. It is to be observed, however, that the _repetition_ of an independent negative word or clause yet strengthens the negation; as, "_No, no, no_."--"_No, never_."--"_No, not_ for an hour."--_Gal._, ii, 5. "There is _none_ righteous, _no, not_ one."--_Rom._, iii, 10. But two negatives in the same clause, if they have any bearing on each other, destroy the negation, and render the meaning weakly affirmative; as, "_Nor_ did they _not_ perceive their evil plight."--_Milton_. That is, they _did_ perceive it. "'His language, though inelegant, is _not ungrammatical_;' that is, it _is_ grammatical."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 198. The term _not only_, or _not merely_, being a correspondent to _but_ or _but also_, may be followed by an other negative without this effect, because the two negative words have no immediate bearing on each other; as, "Your brother is _not only not_ present, and _not_ assisting in prosecuting your injuries, _but_ is now actually with Verres."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p, 19. "In the latter we have _not merely nothing_, to denote what the point should be; _but no_ indication, that any point at all is wanting."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 373. So the word _nothing_, when taken positively for nonentity, or that which does not exist, may be followed by an other negative; as, "First, seat him somewhere, and derive his race, Or else conclude that _nothing_ has _no_ place."--_Dryden_, p. 95. OBS. 14.--The common rule of our grammars, "Two negatives, in English, destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative," is far from being _true_ of all possible examples. A sort of informal exception to it, (which is mostly confined to conversation,) is made by a familiar transfer of the word _neither_ from the beginning of the clause to the end of it; as, "But here is _no_ notice taken of that _neither_"--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 336. That is, "But _neither_ is _any_ notice here taken of that." Indeed a negation may be repeated, by the same word or others, as often as we please, if no two of the terms in particular contradict each other; as, "He will _never_ consent, _not_ he, _no, never, nor_ I _neither_." "He will _not_ have time, _no, nor_ capacity _neither_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 103. "Many terms and idioms may be common, which, nevertheless, have _not_ the general sanction, _no, nor_ even the sanction of those that use them."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 160; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 358. And as to the equivalence spoken of in the same rule, such an expression as, "He did _not_ say _nothing_," is in fact only a vulgar solecism, take it as you will; whether for, "He did _not_ say _anything_," or for, "He _did_ say _something_." The latter indeed is what the contradiction amounts to; but double negatives must be shunned, whenever they _seem_ like blunders. The following examples have, for this reason, been thought objectionable; though Allen says, "Two negatives destroy each other, or _elegantly_ form an affirmation."--_Gram._, p. 174. ------------"_Nor_ knew I _not_ To be both will and deed created free." --_Milton, P. L._, B. v., l. 548. "_Nor_ doth the moon _no_ nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs." --_Ib._, B. v, l. 421. OBS. 15.--Under the head of _double negatives_, there appears in our grammars a dispute of some importance, concerning the adoption of _or_ or _nor_, when any other negative than _neither_ or _nor_ occurs in the preceding clause or phrase: as, "We will _not_ serve thy gods, _nor_ worship the golden image."--_Dan._, iii., 18. "Ye have _no_ portion, _nor_ right, _nor_ memorial in Jerusalem."--_Neh._, ii, 20. "There is _no_ painsworthy difficulty _nor_ dispute about them."--_Horne Tooke, Div._, Vol. i, p. 43. "So as _not_ to cloud that principal object, _nor_ to bury it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 115; _Murray's Gram._, p. 322. "He did _not_ mention Leonora, _nor_ her father's death."--_Murray's Key_, p. 264. "Thou canst _not_ tell whence it cometh, _nor_ whither it goeth."--_Ib._, p. 215. The form of this text, in John iii, 8th. is--"But canst not tell whence it cometh, _and_ whither it goeth;" which Murray inserted in his exercises as bad English. I do not see that the copulative _and_ is here ungrammatical; but if we prefer a disjunctive, ought it not to be _or_ rather than _nor_? It appears to be the opinion of some, that in ail these examples, and in similar instances innumerable, _nor_ only is proper. Others suppose, that _or_ only is justifiable; and others again, that either _or_ or _nor_ is perfectly correct. Thus grammar, or what should be grammar, differs in the hands of different men! The principle to be settled here, must determine the correctness or incorrectness of a vast number of very common expressions. I imagine that none of these opinions is warrantable, if taken in all that extent to which each of them has been, or may be, carried. OBS. 16.--It was observed by Priestley, and after him by Lindley Murray, from whom others again have copied the remark: "Sometimes the particles _or_ and _nor_, may, either of them, be used with nearly equal propriety; [as,] 'The king, whose character was not sufficiently vigorous, _nor_ decisive, assented to the measure.'--_Hume. Or_ would perhaps have been better, but _nor_ seems to repeat the negation in the former part of the sentence, and therefore gives more emphasis to the expression."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 138; _Murray's_, i, 212; _Ingersoll's_, 268; _R. C. Smith's_, 177. The conjunction _or_ might doubtless have been used in this sentence, but _not with the same meaning_ that is now conveyed; for, if that connective had been employed, the adjective _decisive_ would have been qualified by the adverb _sufficiently_, and would have seemed only an alternative for the former epithet, _vigorous_. As the text now stands, it not only implies a distinction between vigour of character and decision of character, but denies the latter to the king absolutely, the former, with qualification. If the author had meant to suggest such a distinction, and also to qualify his denial of both, he ought to have said--"not sufficiently vigorous, _nor sufficiently_ decisive." With this meaning, however, he might have used _neither_ for _not_; or with the former, he might have used _or_ for _nor_, had he transposed the terms--"was not decisive, _or_ sufficiently vigorous." OBS. 17.--In the tenth edition of John Burn's Practical Grammar, published at Glasgow, in 1810, are the following suggestions: "It is not uncommon to find the conjunctions _or_ and _nor_ used indiscriminately; but if there be any real distinction in the proper application of them, it is to be wished that it were settled. It is attempted thus:--Let the conjunction _or_ be used simply to connect the members of a sentence, or to mark distribution, opposition, or choice, without any preceding negative particle; and _nor_ to mark the subsequent part of a negative sentence, with some negative particle in the preceding part of it. Examples of OR: 'Recreation of one kind _or_ other is absolutely necessary to relieve the body _or_ mind from too constant attention to labour or study.'--'After this life, succeeds a state of rewards _or_ punishments.'--'Shall I come to you with a rod, _or_ in love?' Examples of NOR: 'Let no man be too confident, _nor_ too diffident of his own abilities.'--'Never calumniate any man, _nor_ give the least encouragement to calumniators.'--'There is _not_ a Christian duty to which providence has not annexed a blessing, _nor_ any affliction for which a remedy is not provided.' If the above distinction be just, the following passage seems to be faulty: 'Seasons return, but _not_ to me returns Day, _or_ the sweet approach of ev'n _or_ morn, _Or_ sight of vernal bloom, _or_ summer's rose, _Or_ flocks, _or_ herds, _or_ human face divine.' _Milton, P. L._, B. iii, l. 40.--"_Burn's Gr._, p. 108. OBS. 18.--T. O. Churchill, whose Grammar first appeared in London in 1823, treats this matter thus: "As _or_ answers to _either, nor_, a compound of _not or [ne or_] by contraction, answers to _neither_, a similar compound of _not either [ne either_]. The latter however does not constitute that double use of the negative, in which one, agreeably to the principles of philosophical grammar, destroys the other; for a part of the first word, _neither_, cannot be understood before the second, _nor_: and for the same reason a part of it could not be understood before _or_, which is sometimes improperly used in the second clause; while the whole of it, _neither_, would be obviously improper before _or_. On the other hand, when _not_ is used in the first clause, _nor_ is improper in the second; since it would involve the impropriety of understanding _not_ before a compound of _not_ [or _ne_] with _or_. 'I shall _not_ attempt to convince, _nor_ to persuade you.--What will you _not_ attempt?--To convince, _nor_ to persuade you.' The impropriety of _nor_ in this answer is clear: but the answer should certainly repeat the words not heard, or not understood."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 330. OBS. 19.--"It is probable, that the use of _nor_ after _not_ has been introduced, in consequence of such improprieties as the following: 'The injustice of inflicting death for crimes, when _not_ of the most heinous nature, _or_ attended with extenuating circumstances.' Here it is obviously not the intention of the writer, to understand the negative in the last clause: and, if this were good English, it would be not merely allowable to employ _nor_ after _not_, to show the subsequent clause to be negative as well as the preceding, but it would always be necessary. In fact, however, the sentence quoted is faulty, in not repeating the adverb _when_ in the last clause; 'or _when_ attended:' which would preclude the negative from being understood in it; for, if an adverb, conjunction, or auxiliary verb, preceding a negative, be understood in the succeeding clause, the negative is understood also; if it be repeated, the negative must be repeated likewise, or the clause becomes affirmative."--_Ib._, p. 330. OBS. 20.--This author, proceeding with his remarks, suggests forms of correction for several other common modes of expression, which he conceives to be erroneous. For the information of the student, I shall briefly notice a little further the chief points of his criticism, though he teaches some principles which I have not thought it necessary always to observe in writing. "'And seemed _not_ to understand ceremony, _or_ to despise it.' _Goldsmith_. Here _either_ ought to be inserted before _not_. 'It is _not_ the business of virtue, to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them.' _Addison_. The sentence ought to have been: 'It is the business of virtue, _not_ to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to regulate them.' 'I do _not_ think, that he was averse to the office; _nor_ do I believe, that it was unsuited to him.' How much better to say: 'I do not think, that he was averse to the office, _or_ that it was unsuited to him!' For the same reason _nor_ cannot follow _never_, the negative in the first clause affecting all the rest."--_Ib._ p. 332. "_Nor_ is sometimes used improperly after _no_: [as,] 'I humbly however trust in God, that I have hazarded _no_ conjecture, _nor_ have given any explanation of obscure points, inconsistent with the general sense of Scripture, which must be our guide in all dubious passages.' _Gilpin_. It ought to be: '_and_ have given _no_ explanation;' or, 'I have _neither_ hazarded any conjecture, _nor_ given any explanation.' The use of _or_ after _neither_ is as common, as that of _nor_ after _no_ or _not_.[429] '_Neither_ the pencil _or_ poetry are adequate.' _Coxe_. Properly, '_Neither_ the pencil _nor_ poetry _is_ adequate.' 'The vow of poverty _allowed_ the Jesuits individually, to have _no_ idea of wealth.' _Dornford_. We cannot _allow_ a _nonentity_. It should be: 'did _not_ allow, to have _any_ idea.'"--_Ib._, p. 333. OBS. 21.--Thus we see that Churchill wholly and positively condemns _nor_ after _not, no_, or _never_; while Burn totally disapproves of _or_, under the same circumstances. Both of these critics are wrong, because each carries his point too far; and yet it may not be right, to suppose both particles to be often equally good. Undoubtedly, a negation may be repeated in English without impropriety, and that in several different ways: as, "There is _no_ living, _none_, if Bertram be away."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 3. "Great men are _not_ always wise, _neither_ do the aged [always] understand judgement."--_Job_, xxxii, 9. "Will he esteem thy riches? _no, not_ gold, _nor_ all the forces of strength."--_Job_, xxxiv. 19. Some sentences, too, require _or_, and others _nor_, even when a negative occurs in a preceding clause; as, "There was _none_ of you that convinced Job, _or_ that answered his words."--_Job_, xxxii, 12. "How much less to him that accepteth _not_ the persons of princes _nor_ regardeth the rich more than the poor."--_Job_, xxxiv, 19. "This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn _not, nor_ weep."--_Neh._, viii, 9. "Men's behaviour should be like their apparel, _not_ too straight _or_ point-de-vise, but free for exercise."--_Ld. Bacon_. Again, the mere repetition of a simple negative is, on some occasions, more agreeable than the insertion of any connective; as, "There is _no_ darkness, _nor_ shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves."--_Job_, xxxiv, 22. Better: "There is _no_ darkness, _no_ shadow of death, _wherein_ the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." "_No_ place _nor any_ object appears to him void of beauty."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 255. Better: "_No_ place, _no_ object, appears to him void of beauty." That passage from Milton which Burn supposes to be faulty, and that expression of Addison's which Churchill dislikes, are, in my opinion, not incorrect as they stand; though, doubtless, the latter admits of the variation proposed. In the former, too, _or_ may twice be changed to _nor_, where the following nouns are nominatives; but to change it throughout, would not be well, because the other nouns are objectives governed by _of_: "Seasons return, but _not_ to me returns Day, _nor_ the sweet approach of ev'n _or_ morn, _Nor_ sight of vernal bloom, _or_ summer's rose, _Or_ flocks, _or_ herds, _or_ human face divine." OBS. 22.--_Ever_ and _never_ are directly opposite to each other in sense, and yet they are very frequently confounded and misapplied, and that by highly respectable writers; as, "Seldom, or _never_ can we expect," &c.--_Blair's Lectures_, p. 305. "And seldom, or _ever_, did any one rise, &c."--_Ib._, p. 272. "Seldom, or _never_, is[430] there more than one accented syllable in any English word."--_Ib._, p. 329. "Which that of the present seldom or _ever_ is understood to be."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 120. Here _never_ is right, and _ever_ is wrong. It is _time_, that is here spoken of; and the affirmative _ever_, meaning _always_, or _at any time_, in stead of being a fit alternative for _seldom_, makes nonsense of the sentence, and violates the rule respecting the order and fitness of time: unless we change _or_ to _if_, and say, "seldom, _if_ ever." But in sentences like the following, the adverb appears to express, not time, but _degree_; and for the latter sense _ever_ is preferable to _never_, because the degree ought to be possible, rather than impossible: "_Ever so_ little of the spirit of martyrdom is always a more favourable indication to civilization, than _ever so_ much dexterity of party management, or _ever so_ turbulent protestation of immaculate patriotism."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 411. "Now let man reflect but _never so_ little on himself."--_Burlamaqui, on Law_, p. 29. "Which will _not_ hearken to the voice of charmers, charming _never so_ wisely."--_Ps._, lviii, 5. The phrase _ever so_, (which ought, I think, to be written as _one word_,) is now a very common expression to signify _in whatsoever degree_; as, "_everso_ little,"--"_everso_ much,"--"_everso_ wise,"--"_everso_ wisely." And it is manifestly this, and not time, that is intended by the false phraseology above;--"a form of speech handed down by the best writers, but lately accused, I think with justice, of solecism. * * * It can only be defended by supplying a very harsh and unprecedented ellipsis."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Never_. OBS. 23.--Dr. Lowth seconds this opinion of Johnson, respecting the phrase, "_never so wisely_," and says, "It should be, '_ever_ so wisely;' that is, '_how_ wisely _soever_.'" To which he adds an other example somewhat different: "'Besides, a slave would _not_ have been admitted into that society, had he had _never such_ opportunities.' Bentley."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 109. This should be, "had he had _everso excellent_ opportunities." But Churchill, mistaking the common explanation of the meaning of _everso_ for the manner of parsing or resolving it, questions the propriety of the term, and thinks it easier to defend the old phrase _never so_; in which he supposes _never_ to be an adverb of time, and not to relate to _so_, which is an adverb of degree; saying, "'Be it _never_ so true,' is resolvable into, 'Be it so true, _as never any thing was_.'[431] 'I have had _never_ so much trouble on this occasion,' may be resolved into, 'I _have never had_ so much trouble, _as_ on this occasion:' while, 'I have had _ever_ so much trouble on this occasion, cannot be resolved, without supplying some very harsh and unprecedented ellipsis indeed."--_New Gram._, p. 337, Why not? I see no occasion at all for supposing any ellipsis. _Ever_ is here an adverb of degree, and relates to _so_; or, if we take _everso_ as one word, this too is an adverb of degree, and relates to _much_: because the meaning is--"_everso much_ trouble." But the other phraseology, even as it stands in Churchill's explanations, is a solecism still; nor can any resolution which supposes _never_ to be here an adverb of time, be otherwise. We cannot call that a grammatical resolution, which makes a different sense from that which the writer intended: as, "A slave would not have been admitted into that society, had he _never_ had such opportunities." This would be Churchill's interpretation, but it is very unlike what Bentley says above. So, 'I have _never had so much_ trouble,' and, 'I have had _everso much_ trouble,' are very different assertions. OBS. 24.--On the word _never_, Dr. Johnson remarks thus: "It seems in some phrases to have the sense of an _adjective_, [meaning,] _not any_; but in reality it is _not ever_: [as,] 'He answered him to _never_ a word.' MATTHEW, xxvii, 14."--_Quarto Dict._ This mode of expression was formerly very common, and a contracted form of it is still frequently heard among the vulgar: as, "Because he'd _ne'er_ an other tub."--_Hudibras_, p. 102. That is, "Because he had _no_ other tub." "Letter nor line know I _never_ a one."--_Scott's Lay of L. M._, p. 27. This is what the common people pronounce "_ne'er a one_," and use in stead of _neither_ or _no one_. In like manner they contract _ever a one_ into "_e'er a one_;" by which they mean _either_ or _any one_. These phrases are the same that somebody--(I believe it is _Smith_, in his Inductive Grammar--) has ignorantly written "_ary one_" and "_nary one_" calling them vulgarisms.[432] Under this mode of spelling, the critic had an undoubted right to think the terms unauthorized! In the compounds of _whoever_ or _whoe'er, whichever_ or _whiche'er, whatever_ or _whate'er_, the word _ever_ or _e'er_, which formerly stood separate, appears to be an adjective, rather than an adverb; though, by becoming part of the pronoun, it has now technically ceased to be either. OBS. 25.--The same may be said of _soever_ or _soe'er_, which is considered as only a part of an other word even when it is written separately; as, "On _which_ side _soever_ I cast my eyes." In Mark, iii, 28th, _wherewithsoever_ is commonly printed as two words; but Alger, in his Pronouncing Bible, more properly makes it one. Dr. Webster, in his grammars, calls _soever_ a WORD; but, in his dictionaries, he does not _define_ it as such. "The word _soever_ may be interposed between the attribute and the name; 'how clear soever this idea of infinity,'--'how remote soever it may seem.'--LOCKE."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 154; _Improved Gram._, p. 107. "SOEVER, _so_ and _ever_, found in compounds, as in _whosoever, whatsoever, wheresoever_. See these words."--_Webster's Dict._, 8vo. OBS. 26.--The word _only_, (i.e., _onely_, or _onelike_,) when it relates to a noun or a pronoun, is a definitive adjective, meaning _single, alone, exclusive of others_; as, "The _only_ man,"--"The _only_ men,"--"Man _only_,"--"Men _only_,"--"He _only_,"--"They _only_." When it relates to a verb or a participle, it is an adverb of manner, and means _simply, singly, merely, barely_; as, "We fancy that we hate flattery, when we _only_ hate the manner of it."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 38. "A disinterested love of one's country can _only_ subsist in small republics."--_Ib._, p. 56. When it stands at the head of a clause, it is commonly a connective word, equivalent to _but_, or _except that_; in which sense, it must be called a conjunction, or at least a conjunctive adverb, which is nearly the same thing; as, "_Only_ they would that we should remember the poor."--_Gal._, ii, 10. "For these signs are prepositions, _only_ they are of more constant use than the rest."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 129. OBS. 27.--Among our grammarians, the word "_only_" often passes for an adverb, when it is in fact an adjective. Such a mistake in this single word, has led Churchill to say of the adverb in general, "_It's_ place is for the most part before adjectives, _after nouns_, and after verbs;" &c.--_New Gram._, p. 147. But, properly, the placing of adverbs has nothing to do with "nouns," because adverbs do not relate to nouns. In this author's example, "His _arm only_ was bare," there is no adverb; and, where he afterwards speaks of the latitude allowable in the placing of adverbs, alleging, "It is indifferent whether we say, 'He bared his _arm only_;' or, 'He bared _only_ his arm,'" the word _only_ is an adjective, in one instance, if not in both. With this writer, and some others, the syntax of an adverb centres mainly in the suggestion, that, "_It's_ propriety and force depend on _it's_ position."--_Ib._, p. 147. Illustration: "Thus people commonly say; '_I only_ spoke three words:' which properly implies, that _I_, and _no other person_, spoke three words: when the intention of the speaker requires: 'I spoke _only three_ words; that is, _no more than three_ words.'"--_Ib._, p. 327. One might just as well say, "I spoke three words _only_." But the interpretation above is hypercritical, and contrary to that which the author himself gives in his note on the other example, thus: "Any other situation of the adverb would make a difference. 'He _only_ bared his arm;' would imply, that he did _nothing more than_ bare his arm. '_Only_ he bared his arm;' must refer to a preceding part of the sentence, stating something, to which the act of baring his arm was an exception; as, 'He did it in the same manner, _only_ he bared his arm.' If _only_ were placed immediately before _arm_; as, '_He_ bared his _only arm_;' it would be an adjective, and signify, that he had but one arm."--_Ib._, p. 328. Now are not, "_I only spoke three words_," and, "_He only bared his arm_," analogous expressions? Is not the former as good English as the latter? _Only_, in both, is most naturally conceived to belong to the verb; but either may be read in such a manner as to make it an adjective belonging to the pronoun. OBS. 28.--The term _not but_ is equivalent to two negatives that make an affirmative; as, "_Not but_ that it is a wide place."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 89. "_Non_ quo _non_ latus locus sit."--_Cic. Ac._, iv, 12. It has already been stated, that _cannot but_ is equal to _must_; as, "It is an affection which _cannot but_ be productive of some distress."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 461. It seems questionable, whether _but_ is not here an adverb, rather than a conjunction. However this may be, by the customary (but faulty) omission of the negative before _but_, in some other sentences, that conjunction has acquired the adverbial sense of _only_; and it may, when used with that signification, be called an _adverb_. Thus, the text, "He hath _not_ grieved me _but_ in part." (_2 Cor._, ii, 5,) might drop the negative _not_, and still convey the same meaning: "He hath grieved me _but_ in part;" i.e., "_only_ in part." In the following examples, too, _but_ appears to be an adverb, like _only_: "Things _but_ slightly connected should not be crowded into one sentence."--_Murray's Octavo Gram., Index_. "The assertion, however, serves _but_ to show their ignorance."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 96. "Reason itself _but_ gives it edge and power."--_Pope_. "Born _but_ to die, and reasoning _but_ to err."--_Id._ OBS. 29.--In some constructions of the word _but_, there is a remarkable ambiguity; as, "There _cannot be but one_ capital musical pause in a line."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 92. "A line _admits but one_ capital pause."--_Ibid._ Thus does a great critic, in the same paragraph, palpably contradict himself, and not perceive it. Both expressions are equivocal. He ought rather to have said: "A line admits _no more than_ one capital pause."--"There cannot be _more than_ one capital musical pause in a line." Some would say--"admits _only_ one"--"there can be _only one_." But here, too, is some ambiguity; because _only_ may relate either to _one_, or to the preceding verb. The use of _only_ for _but_ or _except that_, is not noticed by our lexicographers; nor is it, in my opinion, a practice much to be commended, though often adopted by men that pretend to write grammatically: as, "Interrogative pronouns are the same as _relative_, ONLY their antecedents cannot be determined till the answer is _given to the question_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 16. "A diphthong is always long; as, _Aurum, Caesar_, &c. ONLY _prae_, in composition before a vowel is commonly short."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 254; _Gould's_, 246. OBS. 30.--It is said by some grammarians, that, "The adverb _there_ is often used as an _expletive_, or as a word that adds nothing to the sense; in which case, it precedes the verb and the nominative; as, '_There_ is a person at the door.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 197; _Ingersoll's_, 205; _Greenleaf's_, 33; _Nixon's Parser_, p. 53. It is true, that in our language the word _there_ is thus used idiomatically, as an introductory term, when we tell what is taking, or has taken, _place_; but still it is a regular adverb _of place_, and relates to the verb agreeably to the common rule for adverbs. In some instances it is even repeated in the same sentence, because, in its introductory sense, it is always unemphatical; as, "Because _there_ was pasture _there_ for their flocks."--_1 Chron._, iv, 41. "If _there_ be indistinctness or disorder _there_, we can have no success."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 271. "_There, there_ are schools adapted to every age."--_Woodbridge, Lit. Conv._, p. 78. The import of the word is more definite, when emphasis is laid upon it; but this is no good reason for saying, with Dr. Webster, that it is "without signification," when it is without emphasis; or, with Dr. Priestley, that it "seems to have no meaning whatever, except it be thought to give a small degree of emphasis."--_Rudiments of E. Gram._, p. 135. OBS. 31.--The noun _place_ itself is just as loose and variable in its meaning as the adverb _there_. For example; "_There_ is never any difference;" i.e., "No difference ever takes _place_." Shall we say that "_place_," in this sense, is not a noun of place? To _take place_, is, to occur _somewhere_, or _anywhere_; and the unemphatic word _there_ is but as indefinite in respect to place, as these other adverbs of place, or as the noun itself. S. B. Goodenow accounts it a _great error_, to say that _there_ is an adverb of place, when it is thus indefinite; and he chooses to call it an "_indefinite pronoun_," as, "'What is _there_ here?'--'_There_ is no peace.'--'What need was _there_ of it?'" See his _Gram._, p. 3 and p. 11. In treating of the various classes of adverbs, I have admitted and shown, that _here, there_, and _where_, have sometimes the nature of pronouns, especially in such compounds as _hereof, thereof, whereof_; but in this instance, I see not what advantage there is in calling _there_ a "pronoun:" we have just as much reason to call _here_ and _where_ pronouns--and that, perhaps, on all occasions. Barnard says, "In the sentence, '_There_ is one glory of the sun,' &c., the adverb _there_ qualifies the verb _is_, and seems to have the force of an affirmation, like _truly_"--_Analytical Gram._, p. 234. But an adverb of the latter kind may be used with the word _there_, and I perceive no particular similarity between them: as, "_Verily there_ is a reward for the righteous."--_Psal._, lviii, 11. "_Truly there_ is a glory of the sun." OBS. 32.--There is a vulgar error of substituting the adverb _most_ for _almost_, as in the phrases, "_most all_,"--"_most anywhere_,"--"_most every day_,"--which we sometimes hear for "_almost all_,"--"_almost anywhere_,"--"_almost every day_." The fault is gross, and chiefly colloquial, but it is sometimes met with in books; as, "But thinking he had replied _most_ too rashly, he said, 'I won't answer your question.'"--_Wagstaff's History of Friends_, Vol. i, p. 207. NOTES TO RULE XXI. NOTE I.--Adverbs must be placed in that position which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable. Example of error: "We are in no hazard of mistaking the sense of the author, though every word which he uses _be not precise_ and exact."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 95; _Jamieson's_, 66. Murray says,--"though every word which he uses _is not precise_ and exact."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 302. Better:--"though _not every word_ which he uses, _is precise_ and exact." NOTE II.--Adverbs should not be needlessly used for adjectives; nor should they be employed when quality is to be expressed, and not manner: as, "That the _now_ copies of the original text are entire."--_S. Fisher_. Say, "the _present_ copies," or, "the _existing_ copies." "The arrows of calumny fall _harmlessly_ at the feet of virtue."--_Murray's Key_, p. 167; _Merchant's Gram._, 186; _Ingersoll's_, 10; _Kirkham's_, 24. Say, "fall _harmless_;" as in this example: "The impending black cloud, which is regarded with so much dread, may pass by _harmless_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 262. NOTE III.--With a verb of motion, most grammarians prefer _hither, thither_, and _whither_, to _here, there_, and _where_, which are in common use, and perhaps allowable, though not so good; as, "Come _hither_, Charles,"--or, "Come _here_." NOTE IV.--"To the adverbs _hence, thence_, and _whence_, the preposition _from_ is frequently (though not with strict propriety) prefixed; as, _from hence, from whence_."--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 174. Some critics, however, think this construction allowable, notwithstanding the former word is implied in the latter. See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 134; and _L. Murray's_, p. 198. It is seldom elegant to use any word needlessly. NOTE V.--The adverb _how_ should not be used before the conjunction _that_, nor in stead of it; as, "He said _how_ he would go."--"Ye see _how that_ not many wise men are called." Expunge _how_. This is a vulgar error. Somewhat similar is the use of _how_ for _lest_ or _that not_; as, "Be cautious _how_ you offend him, i.e., _that_ you _do not_ offend him."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 175. NOTE VI.--The adverb _when, while_, or _where_, is not fit to follow the verb _is_ in a definition, or to introduce a clause taken substantively; because it expresses identity, not of being, but of time or place: as, "_Concord_, is _when_ one word agrees with another in some accidents."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 151; _Gould's_, 155. Say, "Concord is _the agreement of_ one word with _an other_ in some _accident or_ accidents." NOTE VII.--The adverb _no_ should not be used with reference to a _verb_ or a _participle_. Such expressions as, "Tell me whether you will _go_ or _no_," are therefore improper: _no_ should be _not_; because the verb _go_ is understood after it. The meaning is, "Tell me whether you will go or _will not go_;" but nobody would think of saying, "Whether you will go or _no go_." NOTE VIII.--A negation, in English, admits but one negative word; because two negatives in the same clause, usually contradict each other, and make the meaning affirmative. The following example is therefore ungrammatical: "For my part, I love him not, _nor_ hate him _not_."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 16. Expunge the last _not_, or else change _nor_ to _and_. NOTE IX.--The words _ever_ and _never_ should be carefully distinguished according to their sense, and not confounded with each other in their application. Example: "The Lord reigneth, be the earth _never so_ unquiet."--_Experience of St. Paul_, p. 195. Here, I suppose, the sense to require _everso_, an adverb of degree: "Be the earth _everso_ unquiet." That is,--"unquiet _in whatever degree_." NOTE X.--Adverbs that end in _ly_, are in general preferable to those forms which, for want of this distinction, may seem like adjectives misapplied. Example: "There would be _scarce_ any such thing in nature as a folio."--_Addison_. Better:--"_scarcely_." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XXI. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--THE PLACING OF ADVERBS. "All that is favoured by good use, is not proper to be retained."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, p. 296. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adverb _not_ is not put in the most suitable place. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 21st, "Adverbs must be placed in that position which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable." The sentence will be improved by placing _not_ before _all_; thus, "_Not all_ that is favoured by good use, is proper to be retained."] "Every thing favoured by good use, [is] not on that account worthy to be retained."--_Ib._, i, 369; _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 179. "Most men dream, but all do not."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 72. "By hasty composition, we shall acquire certainly a very bad style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 191. "The comparisons are short, touching on one point only of resemblance."--_Ib._, p. 416. "Having had once some considerable object set before us."--_Ib._, p. 116. "The positive seems improperly to be called a degree."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 69; _Gould's_, 68. "In some phrases the genitive is only used."--_Adam_, 159; _Gould_, 161. "This blunder is said actually to have occurred."--_Smith's Inductive Gram._, p. 5. "But every man is not called James, nor every woman Mary."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 15. "Crotchets are employed for the same purpose nearly as the parenthesis."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 167. "There is still a greater impropriety in a double comparative."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 78. "We have often occasion to speak of time."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 39. "The following sentence cannot be possibly understood."--_Ib._, p. 104. "The words must be generally separated from the context."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 155. "Words ending in _ator_ have the accent generally on the penultimate."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 239. "The learned languages, with respect to voices, moods, and tenses, are, in general, differently constructed from the English tongue."--_Ib._, i, 101. "Adverbs seem originally to have been contrived to express compendiously in one word, what must otherwise have required two or more."--_Ib._, i, 114. "But it is only so, when the expression can be converted into the regular form of the possessive case."--_Ib._, i, 174. "Enter, (says he) boldly, for here too there are gods."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 8. "For none work for ever so little a pittance that some cannot be found to work for less."--_Sedgwick's Economy_, p. 190. "For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again."--_Luke_, vi, 34. "They must be viewed exactly in the same light."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 24. "If he does but speak to display his abilities, he is unworthy of attention."--_Ib., Key_, ii, 207. UNDER NOTE II.--ADVERBS FOR ADJECTIVES. "Motion upwards is commonly more agreeable than motion downwards."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 48. "There are but two ways possibly of justification before God."--_Dr. Cox, on Quakerism_, p. 413. "This construction sounds rather harshly."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 194; _Ingersoll's_, 199. "A clear conception in the mind of the learner, of regularly and well-formed letters."--_Com. School Journal_, i, 66. "He was a great hearer of * * * Attalus, Sotion, Papirius, Fabianus, of whom he makes often mention."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. 11. "It is only the Often doing of a thing that makes it a Custom."--_Divine Right of Tythes_, p. 72. "Because W. R. takes oft occasion to insinuate his jealousies of persons and things."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 570. "Yet often touching will wear gold."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 18. "Uneducated persons frequently use an adjective, when they ought to use an adverb: as, 'The country looks _beautiful_;' instead of _beautifully_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 84. "The adjective is put absolutely, or without its substantive."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 57. "A noun or pronoun in the second person, may be put absolutely in the nominative case."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 45. "A noun or pronoun, when put absolutely with a participle," &c.--_Ib._, p. 44; _Jaudon's Gram._, 108. "A verb in the infinitive mood absolute, stands independently of the remaining part of the sentence."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 24. "At my return lately into England, I met a book intituled: 'The Iron Age.'"--_Cowley's Preface_, p. v. "But he can discover no better foundation for any of them, than the practice merely of Homer and Virgil."--_Kames, El. of Criticism, Introd._, p. xxv. UNDER NOTE III--HERE FOR HITHER, &c. "It is reported that the governour will come here to-morrow."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 196. "It _has been_ reported that the governour will come here to-morrow."--_Ib., Key_, p. 227. "To catch a prospect of that lovely land where his steps are tending."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 244. "Plautus makes one of his characters ask another where he is going with that Vulcan shut up in a horn; that is, with a lanthorn in his hand."--_Adams's Rhet._ ii, 331. "When we left Cambridge, we intended to return there in a few days."--_Anonym_. "Duncan comes here to-night."--_Shak., Macbeth_. "They talked of returning here last week."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 116. UNDER NOTE IV.--FROM HENCE, &c. "From hence he concludes that no inference can be drawn from the meaning of the word, that a _constitution_ has a higher authority than a law or statute."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 67. "From whence we may likewise date the period of this event."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 202. "From hence it becomes evident, that LANGUAGE, taken in the most comprehensive view, implies certain Sounds, having certain Meanings."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 315. "They returned to the city from whence they came out."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 135. "Respecting ellipses, some grammarians differ strangely in their ideas; and from thence has arisen a very whimsical diversity in their systems of grammar."--_Author_. "What am I and from whence? i.e. what am I, and from whence _am_ I?"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 171. UNDER NOTE V.--THE ADVERB HOW. "It is strange how a writer, so accurate as Dean Swift, should have stumbled on so improper an application of this particle."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112. "Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us," &c.--_Acts_, xv, 7. "Let us take care _how_ we sin; i.e. _that_ we _do not_ sin."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 135. "We see by these instances, how prepositions may be necessary to connect those words, which in their signification are not naturally connected."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 118. "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"--_2 Cor._, xiii, 5. "That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's."--_Exod._, ix, 29. UNDER NOTE VI.--WHEN, WHILE, OR WHERE. "Ellipsis is when one or more words are wanting, to complete the sense."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 235; _Gould's_, p. 229; _B. F. Fisk's Greek Gram._. 184. "Pleonasm is when a word more is added than is absolutely necessary to express the sense."--_Same works_. "Hyst~eron prot~eron is when that is put in the former part of the sentence, which, according to the sense, should be in the latter."--_Adam_, p. 237; _Gould_, 230. "Hysteron proteron, _n._ A rhetorical figure when that is said last which was done first."--_Webster's Dict._ "A Barbarism is when a foreign or strange word is _made use_ of."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 242; _Gould's_, 234. "A Solecism is when the rules of Syntax are transgressed."--_Iidem, ib._ "An Idiotism is when the manner of expression peculiar to one language is used in another."--_Iid., ib._ "Tautology is when we either uselessly repeat the same words, or repeat the same sense in different words."--_Adam_, p. 243; _Gould_, 238. "Bombast is when high sounding words are used without meaning, or upon a trifling occasion."--_Iid., ib._ "Amphibology is when, by the ambiguity of the construction, the meaning may be taken in two different senses."--_Iid., ib._ "Irony is when one means the contrary of what is said."--_Adam_, p. 247; _Gould_, 237. "The Periphrasis, or Circumlocution, is when several words are employed to express what might be expressed in fewer."--_Iid., ib._ "Hyperbole is when a thing is magnified above the truth,"--_Adam_, p. 249; _Gould_, 240. "Personification is when we ascribe life, sentiments, or actions, to inanimate beings, or to abstract qualities."--_Iid., ib._ "Apostrophe, or Address, is when the speaker breaks off from the series of his discourse, and addresses himself to some person present or absent, living or dead, or to inanimate nature, as if endowed with sense and reason."--_Iid., ib._ "A Simile or Comparison is when the resemblance between two objects, whether _real_ or _imaginary_, is expressed in form."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 223. "Simile, or Comparison, is when one thing is illustrated or heightened by comparing it to another."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 250; _Gould's_, 240. "Antithesis, or Opposition, is when things contrary or different are contrasted, to make them appear in the more striking light."--_Iid., ib._ "Description, or Imagery, [is] when any thing is painted in a lively manner, as if done before our eyes."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 250. "Emphasis is when a particular stress is laid on some word in a sentence."--_Ib._ "Epanorthosis, or Correction, is when the speaker either recalls or corrects what he had last said."--_Ib._ "Paralepsis, or Omission, is when one pretends to omit or pass by, what he at the same time declares."--_Ib._ "Incrementum, or Climax in sense, is when one member rises above another to the highest."--_Ib._, p. 251. "A Metonymy is where the cause is put for the effect, or the effect for the cause; the container for the thing contained; or the sign for the thing signified."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 223. "Agreement is when one word is like another in number, case, gender, or person."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 43; _Greenleaf's_, 32. "Government is when one word causes another to be in some particular number, person, or case."--_Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 89; _Greenleaf's_, 32; _Frost's_, 43. "Fusion is while some solid substance is converted into a fluid by heat."--_B._ "A Proper Diphthong is where both the Vowels are sounded together; as, _oi_ in _Voice, ou_ in _House_."-- _Fisher's Gram._, p. 10. "An Improper Diphthong is where the Sound of but one of the two Vowels is heard; as _e_ in _People_."--_Ib._, p. 11. UNDER NOTE VII.--THE ADVERB NO FOR NOT. "An adverb is joined to a verb to show how, or whether or no, or when, or where one is, does, or suffers."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 62. "We must be immortal, whether we will or no."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 33. "He cares not whether the world was made for Caesar or no."--_American Quarterly Review_. "I do not know whether they are out or no."--_Byron's Letters_. "Whether it can be proved or no, is not the thing."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 84. "Whether or no he makes use of the means commanded by God."--_Ib._,, p. 164. "Whether it pleases the world or no, the care is taken."-- _L'Estrange's Seneca_, p. 5. "How comes this to be never heard of nor in the least questioned, whether the Law was undoubtedly of Moses's writing or no?"--_Bp. Tomline's Evidences_, p. 44. "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not."--_John_, ix, 25. "Can I make men live, whether they will or no?"--_Shak._ "Can hearts, not free, be try'd whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must?"--_Milton, P. L._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES. "We need not, nor do not, confine the purposes of God."--_Bentley_. "I cannot by no means allow him that."--_Idem_. "We must try whether or no we cannot increase the Attention by the Help of the Senses."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 263. "There is nothing more admirable nor more useful."--_Horne Tooke_, Vol. i, p. 20. "And what in no time to come he can never be said to have done, he can never be supposed to do."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 345. "No skill could obviate, nor no remedy dispel, the terrible infection."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 114. "Prudery cannot be an indication neither of sense nor of taste."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 21. "But that scripture, nor no other, speaks not of imperfect faith."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 172. "But this scripture, nor none other, proves not that faith was or is always accompanied with doubting."--_Ibid._ "The light of Christ is not nor cannot be darkness."--_Ib._, p. 252. "Doth not the Scripture, which cannot lie, give none of the saints this testimony?"--_Ib._, p. 379. "Which do not continue, nor are not binding."--_Ib._, Vol. iii. p. 79. "It not being perceived directly no more than the air."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 331. "Let's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, I pray."--_Shak., Shrew_. "Where there is no marked nor peculiar character in the style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 175. "There can be no rules laid down, nor no manner recommended."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 163. "_Bates_. 'He hath not told his thought to the king?' _K. Henry_. 'No; nor it is not meet he should.'"--_Shak_. UNDER NOTE IX.--EVER AND NEVER. "The prayer of Christ is more than sufficient both to strengthen us, be we never so weak; and to overthrow all adversary power, be it never so strong."--_Hooker_. "He is like to have no share in it, or to be ever the better for it."--_Law and Grace_, p. 23. "In some parts of Chili, it seldom or ever rains."--_Willetts's Geog_. "If Pompey shall but never so little seem to like it."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 346. "Latin: 'Si Pompeius _paulum_ modo ostenderit sibi placere.' _Cic_. i, 5."--_Ib._ "Though never such a power of dogs and hunters pursue him."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: '_Quamlibet_ magna canum et venantium urgente vi.' _Plin_. l. 18, c. 16."--_Ib._ "Though you be never so excellent."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: '_Quantumvis_ licet excellas.' _Cic. de Amic_."--_Ib._ "If you do amiss never so little."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: 'Si _tantillum_ peccassis.' _Plaut. Rud._ 4, 4"--_Ib._ "If we cast our eyes never so little down."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: 'Si _tantulum_ oculos dejecerimus.' _Cic. 7. Ver_."--_Ib._ "A wise man scorneth nothing, be it never so small or homely."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "Because they have seldom or ever an opportunity of learning them at all."--_Clarkson's Prize-Essay_, p. 170. "We seldom or ever see those forsaken who trust in God."--_Atterbury_. "Where, playing with him at bo-peep, He solved all problems, ne'er so deep."--_Hudibras_. UNDER NOTE X.--OF THE FORM OF ADVERBS. "One can scarce think that Pope was capable of epic or tragic poetry; but within a certain limited region, he has been outdone by no poet."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 403. "I, who now read, have near finished this chapter."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 82. "And yet, to refine our taste with respect to beauties of art or of nature, is scarce endeavoured in any seminary of learning."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. viii. "By the Numbers being confounded, and the Possessives wrong applied, the Passage is neither English nor Grammar."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 123. "The letter G is wrong named _jee_."--_Creighton's Dict._, p. viii. "Last; Remember that in science, as in morals, authority cannot make right, what, in itself, is wrong."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 194. "They regulate our taste even where we are scarce sensible of them."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 96. "Slow action, for example, is imitated by words pronounced slow."--_Ib._, ii, 257. "Sure, if it be to profit withal, it must be in order to save."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 366. "Which is scarce possible at best."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 67. "Our wealth being near finished."--HARRIS: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 80. CHAPTER IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. The syntax of Conjunctions consists, not (as L. Murray and others erroneously teach) in "their power of determining the mood of verbs," or the "cases of nouns and pronouns," but in the simple fact, that they link together such and such terms, and thus "mark the connexions of human thought."--_Beattie_. RULE XXII.--CONJUNCTIONS. Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences: as, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me _and_ thee, _and_ between my herdmen _and_ thy herdmen; _for_ we are brethren."--_Gen._, xiii, 8. "Ah! _if_ she lend not arms _as well as_ rules. What can she more _than_ tell us we are fools?"--_Pope._ EXCEPTION FIRST. The conjunction _that_ sometimes serves merely to introduce a sentence which is made the subject or the object of a finite verb;[433] as, "_That_ mind is not matter, is certain." "_That_ you have wronged me, doth appear in this."--_Shak._ "_That_ time is mine, O Mead! to thee, I owe."--_Young_. EXCEPTION SECOND. When two corresponding conjunctions occur, in their usual order, the former should generally be parsed as referring to the latter, which is more properly the connecting word; as, "_Neither_ sun _nor_ stars in many days appeared."--_Acts_, xxvii, 20. "_Whether_ that evidence has been afforded [_or_ not,] is a matter of investigation."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 18. EXCEPTION THIRD. _Either_, corresponding to _or_, and _neither_, corresponding to _nor_ or _not_, are sometimes transposed, so as to repeat the disjunction or negation at the end of the sentence; as, "Where then was their capacity of standing, _or_ his _either_?"--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 359. "It is _not_ dangerous _neither_."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 135. "He is very tall, but _not_ too tall _neither._"--_Spect._, No. 475. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXII. OBS. 1.--Conjunctions that connect particular _words_, generally join similar parts of speech in a common dependence on some other term. Hence, if the words connected be such as have _cases_, they will of course be in the same case; as, "For _me_ and _thee_"--_Matt._, xvii, 27. "Honour thy _father_ and thy _mother_."--_Ib._, xviii, 19. Here the latter noun or pronoun is connected by _and_ to the former, and governed by the same preposition or verb. Conjunctions themselves have no government, unless the questionable phrase "_than whom_" may be reckoned an exception. See Obs. 17th below, and others that follow it. OBS. 2.--Those conjunctions which connect _sentences_ or _clauses_, commonly unite one sentence or clause to an other, either as an additional assertion, or as a condition, a cause, or an end, of what is asserted. The conjunction is placed _between_ the terms which it connects, except there is a transposition, and then it stands before the dependent term, and consequently at the beginning of the whole sentence: as, "He taketh away the first, _that_ he may establish the second."--_Heb._, x, 9. "_That_ he may establish the second, he taketh away the first." OBS. 3.--The term that follows a conjunction, is in some instances a _phrase_ of several words, yet not therefore a whole clause or member, unless we suppose it elliptical, and supply what will make it such: as, "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, AS _to the Lord_, AND _not unto men_"--_Col._, iii, 23. If we say, this means, "as _doing it_ to the Lord, and not _as doing it_ unto men," the terms are still mere phrases; but if we say, the sense is, "as _if ye did it_ to the Lord, and not _as if ye did it_ unto men," they are clauses, or sentences. Churchill says, "The office of the conjunction is, to connect one _word_ with an other, or one _phrase_ with an other."--_New Gram._, p. 152. But he uses the term _phrase_ in a more extended sense than I suppose it will strictly bear: he means by it, a _clause_, or _member_; that is, a sentence which forms a part of a greater sentence. OBS. 4.--What is the office of this part of speech, according to Lennie, Bullions, Brace, Hart, Hiley, Smith, M'Culloch, Webster, Wells, and others, who say that it "joins _words_ and _sentences_ together," (see Errors on p. 434 of this work,) it is scarcely possible to conceive. If they imagine it to connect "_words_" on the one side, to "_sentences_" on the other; this is plainly absurd, and contrary to facts. If they suppose it to join sentence to sentence, by merely connecting word to word, in a joint relation; this also is absurd, and self-contradictory. Again, if they mean, that the conjunction sometimes connects word with word, and sometimes, sentence with sentence; _this sense they have not expressed_, but have severally puzzled their readers by an ungrammatical use of the word "_and_." One of the best among them says, "In _the sentence_, 'He _and_ I must go,' the word _and_ unites _two sentences_, and thus _avoids_ an unnecessary repetition; thus instead of saying, 'He must go,' 'I must go,' we connect _the words He, I_, as the same thing is affirmed of _both_, namely, _must go_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 53. Here is the incongruous suggestion, that _by connecting words only_, the conjunction in fact _connects sentences_; and the stranger blunder concerning _those words_, that "the same thing is affirmed of _both_, namely, [_that they_] _must go_." Whereas it is plain, that nothing is affirmed of either: for "_He and I must go_," only affirms of _him_ and _me_, that "_we must go_." And again it is plain, that _and_ here connects nothing but the two pronouns; for no one will say, that, "_He and I must go together_" is a compound sentence, capable of being resolved into two simple sentences; and if, "_He and I must go_," is compound because it is equivalent to, "He must go, and I must go;" so is, "_We must go_," for the same reason, though it has but one nominative and one verb. "_He and I_ were present," is rightly given by Hiley as an example of _two pronouns_ connected together by _and_. (See _his Gram._, p. 105.) But, of _verbs_ connected to each other, he absurdly supposes the following to be examples: "He spake, _and_ it was done."--"I know it, _and_ I can prove it."--"Do you say so, _and_ can you prove it?"--_Ib._ Here _and_ connects _sentences_, and not particular _words_. OBS. 5.--Two or three conjunctions sometimes come together; as, "What rests, _but that_ the mortal sentence pass?"--_Milton_. "_Nor yet that_ he should offer himself often."--_Heb._, ix, 25. These may be severally parsed as "connecting what precedes and what follows," and the observant reader will not fail to notice, that such combinations of connecting particles are sometimes required by the sense; but, since nothing that is needless, is really proper, conjunctions should not be unnecessarily accumulated: as, "_But_ AND _if_ that evil servant say in his heart," &c.--_Matt._, xxiv, 48. Greek, "[Greek: Ean de eipae o kakos donlos ekeinos,]" &c. Here is no _and_. "_But_ AND _if_ she depart."--_1 Cor._, vii, 11. This is almost a literal rendering of the Greek, "[Greek: Ean de kai choristhae.]"--yet either _but_ or _and_ is certainly useless. "In several cases," says Priestley, "we content ourselves, now, with fewer conjunctive particles than our ancestors _did_ [say _used_]. Example: '_So_ AS _that_ his doctrines were embraced by great numbers.' _Universal Hist._, Vol. 29, p. 501. _So that_ would have been much easier, and better."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 139. Some of the poets have often used the word _that_ as an expletive, to fill the measure of their verse; as, "When _that_ the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."--_Shakspeare_. "If _that_ he be a dog, beware his fangs."--_Id._ "That made him pine away and moulder, As though _that_ he had been no soldier."--_Butler's Poems_, p. 164. OBS. 6.--W. Allen remarks, that, "_And_ is sometimes introduced to engage our attention to a following word or phrase; as, 'Part pays, _and_ justly, the deserving steer.' [_Pope._] 'I see thee fall, _and_ by Achilles' hand.' [_Id._]"--_Allen's E. Gram._, p. 184. The like idiom, he says, occurs in these passages of Latin: "'Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.' _Virg_. 'Mors _et_ fugacem persequitur virum.' _Hor_."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 184. But it seems to me, that _and_ and _et_ are here regular connectives. The former implies a repetition of the preceding verb: as, "Part pays, _and justly pays_, the deserving steer."--"I see thee fall, _and fall by Achilles' hand_." The latter refers back to what was said before: thus, "Perhaps it will _also_ hereafter delight you to recount these evils."--"_And_ death pursues the man that flees." In the following text, the conjunction is more like an expletive; but even here it suggests an extension of the discourse then in progress: "Lord, _and_ what shall this man do?"--_John_, xxi, 21. "[Greek: Kurie, outos de ti;]"--"Domine, hic _autem_ quid?"--_Beza_. OBS. 7.--The conjunction _as_ often unites words that are in _apposition_, or in _the same case_; as, "He offered _himself_ AS a _journeyman_."--"I assume _it_ AS a _fact_."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 94. "In an other example of the same kind, the _earth_, AS a common _mother_, is animated to give refuge against a father's unkindness."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol ii, p. 168. "And then to offer _himself_ up AS a _sacrifice_ and _propitiation_ for them."--_Scougal_, p. 99. So, likewise, when an intransitive verb takes the same case after as before it, by Rule 6th; as, "_Johnson_ soon after engaged AS _usher_ in a school."--_L. Murray_. "_He_ was employed AS _usher_." In all these examples, the case that follows _as_, is determined by that which precedes. If after the verb "_engaged_" we supply _himself, usher_ becomes objective, and is in apposition with the pronoun, and not in agreement with _Johnson_: "He engaged _himself_ as _usher_." One late writer, ignorant or regardless of the analogy of General Grammar, imagines this case to be an "objective governed by the conjunction _as_," according to the following rule: "The conjunction _as_, when it takes the meaning of _for_, or _in the character of_, governs the objective case; as, Addison, _as_ a _writer_ of prose, is highly distinguished."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 113. S. W. Clark, in his grammar published in 1848, sets _as_ in his list of _prepositions_, with this example: "'That England can spare from her service such men _as_ HIM.'--_Lord Brougham_."--_Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 92. And again: "When the second term of a _Comparison of equality_ is a Noun, or Pronoun, the _Preposition_ AS is commonly used. Example--'He hath died to redeem such a rebel _as_ ME.'--_Wesley_." Undoubtedly, Wesley and Brougham here erroneously supposed the _as_ to connect _words only_, and consequently to require them to be in the same case, agreeably to OBS. 1st, above; but a moment's reflection on the sense, should convince any one, that the construction requires the nominative forms _he_ and _I_, with the verbs _is_ and _am_ understood. OBS. 8.--The conjunction _as_ may also be used between an adjective or a participle and the noun to which the adjective or participle relates; as, "It does not appear that brutes have the least reflex sense of _actions_ AS _distinguished_ from events; or that will and design, which constitute the very nature of _actions_ AS _such_, are at all an object of their perception."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 277. OBS. 9.--_As_ frequently has the force of a _relative pronoun_, and when it evidently sustains the relation of a case, it ought to be called, and generally _is_ called, a pronoun, rather than a conjunction; as, "Avoid such _as are_ vicious,"--_Anon_. "But as many _as received_ him," &c.--_John_, i, 12. "We have reduced the terms into as small a number _as was_ consistent with perspicuity and distinction."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. ix. Here _as_ represents a noun, and while it serves to connect the two parts of the sentence, it is also the subject of a verb. These being the true characteristics of a relative pronoun, it is proper to refer the word to that class. But when a clause or a sentence is the antecedent, it is better to consider the _as_ a conjunction, and to supply the pronoun _it_, if the writer has not used it; as, "He is angry, _as [it] appears_ by this letter." Horne Tooke says, "The truth is, that AS is _also an article_; and (however and whenever used in English) means the same as _It_, or _That_, or _Which_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 223. But what definition he would give to _"an article_," does not appear. OBS. 10.--In some examples, it seems questionable whether _as_ ought to be reckoned a pronoun, or ought rather to be parsed as a conjunction after which a nominative is understood; as, "He then read the conditions _as follow_."--"The conditions are _as follow_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 106. "The principal evidences on which this assertion is grounded, are _as follow_."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 166. "The Quiescent verbs are _as follow_."--_Pike's Heb. Lex._, p. 184. "The other numbers are duplications of these, and proceed _as follow_"--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 35. "The most eminent of the kennel are bloodhounds, which lead the van, and are _as follow_."--_Steele, Tattler_, No. 62. "His words are _as follow_."--_Spect._, No. 62. "The words are _as follow_."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 513. "The objections that are raised against it as a tragedy, are _as follow_."--_Gay, Pref. to What d' ye call it_. "The particulars are _as follow_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 93. "The principal interjections in English are _as follow_."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 81. In all these instances, one may suppose the final clause to mean, "as _they here_ follow;"--or, supposing _as_ to be a pronoun, one may conceive it to mean, "_such_ as follow." But some critical writers, it appears, prefer the singular verb, "_as follows_" Hear Campbell: "When a verb is used _impersonally_, it ought undoubtedly to be in the singular number, whether the neuter pronoun be expressed or understood: and when no nominative in the sentence can regularly be construed with the verb, it ought to be considered as impersonal. For this reason, analogy as well as usage _favour_ [say _favours_] this mode of expression, 'The conditions of the agreement were _as follows_;' and not '_as follow_.' A few late writers have inconsiderately adopted this last form through a mistake of the construction. For the same reason we ought to say, 'I shall consider his censures so far only as _concerns_ my friend's conduct;' and not 'so far as _concern_.'"--_Philosophy of Rhet._, p. 229. It is too much to say, at least of one of these sentences, that there is no nominative with which the plural verb can be regularly construed. In the former, the word _as_ may be said to be a plural nominative; or, if we will have this to be a conjunction, the pronoun _they_, representing _conditions_, may be regularly supplied, as above. In the latter, indeed, _as_ is not a pronoun; because it refers to "_so far_," which is not a noun. But the sentence is _bad English_; because the verb _concern_ or _concerns_ is improperly left without a nominative. Say therefore, 'I shall consider his censures so far only as _they concern_ my friend's conduct;'--or, 'so far only as _my friend's conduct is concerned_.' The following is an other example which I conceive to be wrong; because, with an adverb for its antecedent, _as_ is made a nominative: "They ought therefore to be uttered _as quickly as is_ consistent with distinct articulation."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 76. Say rather, "They ought therefore to be uttered _with as much rapidity_ as is consistent with distinct articulation." OBS. 11.--Lindley Murray was so much puzzled with Tooke's notion of _as_, and Campbell's doctrine of the _impersonal verb_, that he has expressly left his pupils to hesitate and doubt, like himself, whether one ought to say "_as follows_" or "_as follow_," when the preceding noun is plural; or--to furnish an alternative, (if they choose it,) he shows them at last how they may _dodge the question_, by adopting some other phraseology. He begins thus: "_Grammarians_ differ in opinion, respecting the propriety of the following modes of expression: 'The arguments advanced were nearly _as follows_;' 'the positions were, _as appears_, incontrovertible.'"-- _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 146. Then follows a detail of suggestions from Campbell and others, all the quotations being anonymous, or at least without definite references. Omitting these, I would here say of the two examples given, that they are not parallel instances. For, "_as follows_," refers to what the arguments were,--to the things themselves, considered plurally, and immediately to be exhibited; wherefore the expression ought rather to have been, "_as follow_," or, "_as they here follow_." But, "_as appears_" means "_as it appears_," or "_as the case now appears_;" and one of these plain modes of expression would have been much preferable, because the _as_ is here evidently nothing but a conjunction. OBS. 12.--"The diversity of sentiment on this subject," says L. Murray, "and the respectability of the different opponents, will naturally induce _the readers_ to pause and reflect, before they decide."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 147. The equivalent expressions by means of which he proposes to evade at last the dilemma, are the following: "The arguments advanced were nearly such as follow;"--"The arguments advanced were nearly of the following nature;"--"The following are nearly the arguments which were advanced;"-- "The arguments advanced were nearly those which follow:"--"These, or nearly these, were the arguments advanced;"--"The positions were such as appear incontrovertible;"--"It appears that the positions were incontrovertible;" --"That the positions were incontrovertible, is apparent;"--"The positions were apparently incontrovertible;"--"In appearance, the positions were incontrovertible."--_Ibid._ If to shun the expression will serve our turn, surely here are ways enough! But to those who "pause and reflect" with the intention _to decide_, I would commend the following example: "Reconciliation was offered, on conditions as moderate as _were_ consistent with a permanent union."--_Murray's Key_, under Rule 1. Here Murray supposes "_was_" to be wrong, and accordingly changes it to "_were_," by the Rule, "A verb must agree with its nominative case in number and person." But the amendment is a pointed rejection of Campbell's "impersonal verb," or verb which "has no nominative;" and if the singular is not right here, the rhetorician's respectable authority vouches only for a catalogue of errors. Again, if this verb must be _were_ in order to agree with its nominative, it is still not clear that _as_, is, or ought to be, the nominative; because the meaning may perhaps be better expressed thus:--"on conditions as moderate _as any that were_ consistent with a permanent union." OBS. 13.--A late writer expresses his decision of the foregoing question thus: "Of all the different opinions on a grammatical subject, which have arisen in the literary world, there scarcely appears one more indefensible than that of supposing _as follows_ to be an impersonal verb, and to be correctly used in such sentences as this. 'The conditions were _as follows_.' Nay, we are told that, "A few late writers have adopted this form, 'The conditions were as follow,' _inconsiderately_;" and, to prove this charge of inconsiderateness, the following sentence is brought forward: 'I shall consider his censure [_censures_ is the word used by Campbell and by Murray] so far only _as concern_ my friend's conduct.' which should be, it is added, '_as concerns_, and not _as concern_.' If analogy, simplicity, or syntactical authority, is of any value in our resolution of the sentence, 'The conditions were as follows,' the word _as_ is as evident a relative as language can afford. It is undoubtedly equivalent to _that_ or _which_, and relates to its antecedent _those_ or _such_ understood, and should have been the nominative to the verb _follow_; the sentence, in its present form, being inaccurate. The second sentence is by no means a parallel one. The word _as_ is a conjunction; and though it has, as a relative, a reference to its antecedent _so_, yet in its capacity of a mere conjunction, it cannot possibly be the nominative case to any verb. It should be, '_it concerns_.' Whenever _as_ relates to an _adverbial_ antecedent; as in the sentence, '_So_ far _as_ it concerns me,' it is merely a conjunction; but when it refers to an _adjective_ antecedent; as in the sentence, 'The business is _such as_ concerns me;' it must be a relative, and susceptible of case, whether its antecedent is expressed or understood; being, in fact, the nominative to the verb _concerns_."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 145. It will be perceived by the preceding remarks, that I do not cite what is here said, as believing it to be in all respects well said, though it is mainly so. In regard to the point at issue, I shall add but one critical authority more: "'The circumstances were as _follows_.' Several grammarians and critics have approved this phraseology: I am inclined, however, to concur with those who prefer '_as follow_.'"--_Crombie, on Etym. and Synt._, p. 388. OBS. 14.--The conjunction _that_ is frequently understood; as, "It is seldom [_that_] their counsels are listened to."--_Robertson's Amer._, i, 316. "The truth is, [_that_] grammar is very much neglected among us."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. vi. "The Sportsman believes [_that_] there is Good in his Chace [chase.]"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 296. "Thou warnst me [_that_] I have done amiss; I should have earlier looked to this."--_Scott_. OBS. 15.--After _than_ or _as_, connecting the terms of a comparison, there is usually an ellipsis of some word or words. The construction of the words employed may be seen, when the ellipsis is supplied; as, "They are stronger _than we_" [are.]--_Numb._, xiii. 31. "Wisdom is better _than weapons_ of war" [are.]--_Eccl._, ix, 18. "He does nothing who endeavours to do more _than_ [what] _is allowed_ to humanity."--_Dr. Johnson_. "My punishment is greater _than_ [what] _I can bear_."--_Gen._, iv, 13. "Ralph gave him more _than I_" [gave him.]--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 351. "Ralph gave him more _than_ [he gave] _me_."_--Ibid._ "Revelation, surely, was never intended for such _as he_" [is.]--_Campbell's Four Gospels_, p. iv. "Let such as _him_ sneer if they will."--_Liberator_, Vol. ix, p. 182. Here _him_ ought to be _he_, according to Rule 2d, because the text speaks of such as _he is_ or _was_. "'You were as innocent of it _as me_:' 'He did it _as well as me_.' In both places it ought to be _I_: that is, _as I was, as I did_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 352. "Rather let such poor souls _as you_ and _I_ Say that the holidays are drawing nigh."--_Swift_. OBS. 16.--The doctrine above stated, of ellipses after _than_ and _as_, proceeds on the supposition that these words _are conjunctions_, and that they connect, not particular words merely, but sentences, or clauses. It is the common doctrine of nearly all our grammarians, and is doubtless liable to fewer objections than any other theory that ever has been, or ever can be, devised in lieu of it. Yet _as_ is not always a conjunction; nor, when it is a conjunction, does it always connect sentences; nor, when it connects sentences, is there always an ellipsis; nor, when there is an ellipsis, is it always quite certain what that ellipsis is. All these facts have been made plain, by observations that have already been bestowed on the word: and, according to some grammarians, the same things may severally be affirmed of the word _than_. But most authors consider _than_ to be always a conjunction, and generally, if not always, to connect _sentences_. Johnson and Webster, in their dictionaries, mark it for an _adverb_; and the latter says of it, "This word signifies also _then_, both in English and Dutch."--_Webster's Amer. Dict._, 8vo, _w. Than_. But what he means by "_also_," I know not; and surely, in no English of this age, is _than_ equivalent to _then_, or _then_ to _than_. The ancient practice of putting _then_ for _than_, is now entirely obsolete;[434] and, as we have no other term of the same import, most of our expositors merely explain _than_ as "a particle used in comparison."--_Johnson, Worcester, Maunder_. Some absurdly define it thus: "THAN, _adv_. Placed in comparison."--_Walker_, (Rhym. Dict.,) _Jones, Scott_. According to this definition, _than_ would be a _participle_! But, since an express comparison necessarily implies a connexion between different terms, it cannot well be denied that _than_ is a connective word; wherefore, not to detain the reader with any profitless controversy, I shall take it for granted that this word is always a conjunction. That it always connects sentences, I do not affirm; because there are instances in which it is difficult to suppose it to connect anything more than particular words: as, "Less judgement _than_ wit is more sail _than_ ballast."--_Penn's Maxims_. "With no less eloquence _than_ freedom. 'Pari eloquentia _ac_ libertate.' _Tacitus_."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 200. "Any comparison between these two classes of writers, cannot be other _than_ vague and loose."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 347. "This _far more than_ compensates all those little negligences."--_Ib._, p. 200. "Remember Handel? Who that was not born Deaf as the dead to harmony, forgets, Or can, _the more than Homer_ of his age?"--_Cowper_. OBS. 17.--When any two declinable words are connected by _than_ or _as_, they are almost always, according to the true idiom of our language, to be put in the _same case_, whether we suppose an ellipsis in the construction of the latter, or not; as, "My _Father_ is greater than _I_."--_Bible_. "What do _ye_ more than _others_?"--_Matt._, v, 47. "More _men_ than _women_ were there."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 114. "Entreat _him_ as a _father_, and the younger _men_ as _brethren_."--_1 Tim._, v, 1. "I would that all _men_ were even as _I_ myself."--_1 Cor._, vii, 7. "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?"--_John_, xxi, 15. This last text is manifestly _ambiguous_; so that some readers will doubt whether it means--"more than _thou lovest these_," or--"more than _these love me_." Is not this because there is an _ellipsis_ in the sentence, and such a one as may be variously conceived and supplied? The original too is ambiguous, but not for the same reason: "[Greek: Simon Iona, agapas me pleion touton];"--And so is the Latin of the Vulgate and of Montanus: "Simon Jona, diligis me _plus his_?" Wherefore Beza expressed it differently: "Simon _fili Jonae_, diligis me plus _quam hi_?" The French Bible has it: "Simon, fils de Jona, m'aimes-tu plus que _ne font_ ceux-ci?" And the expression in English should rather have been, "Lovest thou me more than _do_ these?" OBS. 18.--The comparative degree, in Greek, is said to govern the genitive case; in Latin, the ablative: that is, the genitive or the ablative is sometimes put after this degree without any connecting particle corresponding to _than_, and without producing a compound sentence. We have examples in the phrases, "[Greek: pleion touton]" and "_plus his_," above. Of such a construction our language admits no real example; that is, no exact parallel. But we have an imitation of it in the phrase _than whom_, as in this hackneyed example from Milton: "Which, when Beelzebub perceived, _than whom_, Satan except, none higher sat," &c.--_Paradise Lost_, B. ii, l. 300. The objective, _whom_, is here preferred to the nominative, _who_, because the Latin ablative is commonly rendered by the former case, rather than by the latter: but this phrase is no more explicable according to the usual principles of English grammar, than the error of putting the objective case for a version of the ablative absolute. If the imitation is to be judged allowable, it is to us _a figure of syntax_--an obvious example of _Enallage_, and of that form of Enallage, which is commonly called _Antiptosis_, or the putting of one case for an other. OBS. 19.--This use of _whom_ after _than_ has greatly puzzled and misled our grammarians; many of whom have thence concluded that _than_ must needs be, at least in this instance, a _preposition_,[435] and some have extended the principle beyond this, so as to include _than which, than whose_ with its following noun, and other nominatives which they will have to be objectives; as, "I should seem guilty of ingratitude, _than which_ nothing is more shameful." See _Russell's Gram._, p. 104. "Washington, _than whose fame_ naught earthly can be purer."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 204. "You have given him more than _I_. You have sent her as much as _he_."--_Buchanan's Eng. Syntax_, p. 116. These last two sentences are erroneously called by their author, "_false syntax_;" not indeed with a notion that _than_ and _as_ are prepositions, but on the false supposition that the preposition _to_ must necessarily be understood between them and the pronouns, as it is between the preceding verbs and the pronouns _him_ and _her_. But, in fact, "You have given him more than _I_," is perfectly good English; the last clause of which plainly means--"more than I _have given him_." And, "You have sent her as much as _he_," will of course be understood to mean--"as much as he _has sent her_;" but here, because the auxiliary implied is different from the one expressed, it might have been as well to have inserted it: thus, "_You have_ sent her as much as _he has_." "She reviles you as much as _he_," is also good English, though found, with the foregoing, among Buchanan's examples of "false syntax." OBS. 20.--Murray's twentieth Rule of syntax avers, that, "When the qualities of different things are compared, the latter noun or pronoun is _not governed_ by the conjunction _than_ or _as_, but agrees with the verb," &c.--_Octavo Gram._, p. 214; _Russell's Gram._, 103; _Bacon's_, 51; _Alger's_, 71; _Smith's_, 179; _Fisk's_, 138. To this rule, the great Compiler and most of his followers say, that _than whom_ "is an exception." or "_seems to form_ an exception;" to which they add, that, "the phrase is, however, avoided by the best modern writers."--_Murray_, i, 215. This latter assertion Russell conceives to be untrue: the former he adopts; and, calling _than whom_ "an exception to the general rule," says of it, (with no great consistency,) "Here the conjunction _than_ has certainly the force of a preposition, and supplies its place by governing the relative."--_Russell's Abridgement of Murray's Gram._, p. 104. But this is hardly an instance to which one would apply the maxim elsewhere adopted by Murray: "_Exceptio probat regulam_."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 205. To ascribe to a conjunction the governing power of a preposition, is a very wide step, and quite too much like straddling the line which separates these parts of speech one from the other. OBS. 21.--Churchill says, "If there be no ellipsis to supply, as sometimes happens when a pronoun relative occurs after _than_; the relative is to be put in the _objective case absolute_: as, 'Alfred, _than whom_ a greater king never reigned, deserves to be held up as a model to all future sovereigns.'"--_New Gram._, p. 153. Among his Notes, he has one with reference to this "_objective case absolute_," as follows: "It is not governed by the conjunction, for on no other occasion does a conjunction govern any case; or by any word understood, for we can insert no word, or words, that will reconcile the phrase with any other rule of grammar: and if we employ a pronoun personal instead of the relative, as _he_, which will admit of being resolved elliptically, it must be put in the nominative case."--_Ib._, p. 352. Against this gentleman's doctrine, one may very well argue, as he himself does against that of Murray, Russell, and others; that on no other occasion do we speak of putting "the objective case absolute;" and if, agreeably to the analogy of our own tongue, our distinguished authors would condescend to say _than who_,[436] surely nobody would think of calling this an instance of the nominative case absolute,--except perhaps one swaggering _new theorist_, that most pedantic of all scoffers, Oliver B. Peirce. OBS. 22.--The sum of the matter is this: the phrase, _than who_, is a more regular and more analogical expression than _than whom_; but both are of questionable propriety, and the former is seldom if ever found, except in some few grammars; while the latter, which is in some sort a Latinism, may be quoted from many of our most distinguished writers. And, since that which is irregular cannot be parsed by rule, if out of respect to authority we judge it allowable, it must be set down among the _figures_ of grammar; which are, all of them, intentional deviations from the ordinary use of words. One late author treats the point pretty well, in this short hint: "After the conjunction _than_, contrary to analogy, _whom_ is used in stead of _who_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 106. An other gives his opinion in the following note: "When _who_ immediately follows _than_, it is used _improperly_ in the objective case; as, 'Alfred, _than whom_ a greater king never reigned;'--_than whom_ is not grammatical. It ought to be, _than who_; because _who_ is the nominative to _was_ understood.--_Than whom_ is as bad a phrase as 'he is taller _than him_.' It is true that some of our best writers have used _than whom_; but it is also true, that they have used _other_ phrases which we have rejected as ungrammatical; then why not reject this too?"--_Lennie's Grammar_, Edition of 1830, p. 105. OBS. 23.--On this point. Bullions and Brace, two American copyists and plagiarists of Lennie, adopt opposite notions. The latter copies the foregoing note, without the last sentence; that is, without admitting that "_than whom_" has ever been used by good writers. See _Brace's Gram._, p. 90. The former says, "The relative _usually_ follows _than_ in the objective case, _even when the nominative goes before_; as, 'Alfred, than whom a greater king never reigned.' This anomaly it is difficult to explain. Most probably, _than_, at first had the force of a preposition, which it now retains only when followed by the relative."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, of 1843, p. 112. Again: "_A relative_ after _than_ is put in the objective case; as, 'Satan, than _whom_ none higher sat.' This anomaly has not been satisfactorily explained. In this case, some regard _than_ as a preposition. _It_ is probably only a case of simple _enallage_"--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, of 1849, p. 191. Prof. Fowler, in his great publication, of 1850, says of this example, "The expression should be, Satan, than _who_ None higher sat."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.482, Note 2. Thus, by one single form of _antiptosis_, have our grammarians been as much divided and perplexed, as were the Latin grammarians by a vast number of such changes; and, since there were some among the latter, who insisted on a total rejection of the figure, there is no great presumption in discarding, if we please, the very little that remains of it in English. OBS. 24.--Peirce's _new theory_ of grammar rests mainly on the assumption, that no correct sentence ever is, or can be, in any wise, _elliptical_. This is one of the "Two GRAND PRINCIPLES" on which the author says his "work is based."--_The Grammar_, p. 10. The other is, that grammar cannot possibly be taught without a thorough reformation of its nomenclature, a reformation involving a change of most of the names and technical terms heretofore used for its elucidation. I do not give precisely his own words, for one half of this author's system is expressed in such language as needs to be translated _into English_ in order to be generally understood; but this is precisely his meaning, and in words more intelligible. In what estimation he holds these two positions, may be judged from the following assertion: "_Without these grand points_, no work, whatever may be its pretensions, can be A GRAMMAR of the LANGUAGE."--_Ib._ It follows that no man who does not despise every other book that is called a grammar, can entertain any favourable opinion of Peirce's. The author however is tolerably consistent. He not only scorns to appeal, for the confirmation of his own assertions and rules, to the judgement or practice of any other writer, but counsels the learner to "spurn the idea of quoting, either as proof or for defence, the authority of any man." See p. 13. The notable results of these important premises are too numerous for detail even in this general pandect. But it is to be mentioned here, that, according to this theory, a nominative coming after _than_ or _as_, is in general to be accounted a _nominative absolute_; that is, a nominative which is independent of any verb; or, (as the ingenious author himself expresses it,) "A word in the subjective case following another subjective, and immediately preceded by _than, as_, or _not_, may be used _without an_ ASSERTER immediately depending on it for sense."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 195. See also his "_Grammatical Chart_, Rule I, Part 2." OBS. 25.--"Lowth, Priestley, Murray, and most grammarians say, that hypothetical, conditional, concessive, or exceptive conjunctions; as, _if, lest, though, unless, except_; _require_, or _govern_ the subjunctive mood. But in this they are certainly wrong: for, as Dr. Crombie rightly observes, the verb is put in the subjunctive mood, because the mood expresses contingency, _not because it follows the conjunction_: for these writers themselves allow, that the same conjunctions are to be followed by the indicative mood, when the verb is not intended to express a contingency. In the following sentence: '_Though_ he _be_ displeased at it, I will bolt my door; and _let_ him break it open _if_ he _dare_:' may we not as well affirm, that _and_ governs the imperative mood, as that _though_ and _if_ govern the subjunctive?"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 321. OBS. 26.--In the list of _correspondents_ contained in Note 7th below, there are some words which ought not to be called _conjunctions_, by the parser; for the relation of a word as the proper correspondent to an other word, does not necessarily determine its part of speech. Thus, _such_ is to be parsed as an adjective; _as_, sometimes as a pronoun; _so_, as a conjunctive adverb. And _only, merely, also_, and _even_, are sometimes conjunctive adverbs; as, "_Nor_ is this _only_ a matter of convenience to the poet, it is _also_ a source of gratification to the reader."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 166. _Murray's, Gram._, i, 362. Professor Bullions will have it, that these adverbs may relate to _nouns_--a doctrine which I disapprove. He says "_Only, solely, chiefly, merely, too, also_, and perhaps _a few others_, are sometimes _joined to substantives_; as, 'Not _only_ the men, but the women _also_ were present.'"--_English Gram._, p. 116. _Only_ and _also_ are here, I think, conjunctive adverbs; but it is not the office of adverbs to qualify nouns; and, that these words are adjuncts to the nouns _men_ and _women_, rather than the verb _were_, which is once expressed and once understood, I see no sufficient reason to suppose. Some teachers imagine, that an adverb of this kind qualifies the _whole clause_ in which it stands. But it would seem, that the relation of such words to verbs, participles, or adjectives, according to the common rule for adverbs, is in general sufficiently obvious: as, "The perfect tense not _only refers_ to what is past, but _also conveys_ an allusion to the present time."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 70. Is there any question about the true mode of parsing "_only_" and "_also_" here? and have they not in the other sentence, a relation similar to what is seen here? NOTES TO RULE XXII. NOTE I.--When two terms connected are each to be extended and completed in sense by a third, they must both be such as will make sense with it. Thus, in stead of saying, "He has made alterations and additions to the work," say, "He has made alterations _in_ the work, and additions _to it_;" because the relation between _alterations_ and _work_ is not well expressed by _to_. NOTE II.--In general, any two terms which we connect by a conjunction, should be the same in kind or quality, rather than different or heterogeneous. Example: "The assistance was welcome, and seasonably afforded."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 249. Better: "The assistance was welcome, and _it was_ seasonably afforded." Or: "The assistance was _both seasonable and welcome_." NOTE III.--The conjunctions, copulative or disjunctive, affirmative or negative, must be used with a due regard to their own import, and to the true idiom of the language. Thus, say, "The general bent _or_ turn of the language _is_ towards the other form;" and not, with Lowth and Churchill, "The general bent _and_ turn of the language _is_ towards the other form."--_Short Introd._, p. 60; _New Gram._, p. 113. So, say, "I cannot deny _that_ there are perverse jades;" and not, with Addison, "I cannot deny _but_ there are perverse jades."--_Spect._, No. 457. Again, say, "I feared _that_ I should be deserted;" not, "_lest_ I should be deserted." NOTE IV.--After _else, other,[437] otherwise, rather_, and all English _comparatives_, the latter term of an exclusive comparison should be introduced by the conjunction _than_--a word which is appropriated to this use solely: as, "Style is nothing _else than_ that sort of expression which our thoughts most readily assume."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 92. "What we call fables or parables are no _other than_ allegories."--_Ib._, p. 151; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 243. "We judge _otherwise_ of them _than_ of ourselves."--_R. Ainsworth_. "The premeditation should be of things _rather than_ of words."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 262. "Is not the life _more than_ meat?"--_Com. Bible_. "Is not life a _greater_ gift _than_ food?"--_Campbell's Gospels_. NOTE V.--Relative pronouns, being themselves a species of connective words, necessarily exclude conjunctions; except there be two or more relative clauses to be connected together; that is, one to the other. Example of error: "The principal and distinguishing excellence of Virgil, _and which_, in my opinion, he possesses beyond _all poets_, is tenderness."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 439. Better: "The principal and distinguishing excellence of Virgil, _an excellence_ which, in my opinion, he possesses beyond all _other_ poets, is tenderness." NOTE VI.--The word _that_, (as was shown in the fifth chapter of Etymology,) is often made a pronoun in respect to what precedes it, and a conjunction in respect to what follows it--a construction which, for its anomaly, ought to be rejected. For example: "_In the mean time_ THAT the Muscovites were complaining to St. Nicholas, Charles returned thanks to God, and prepared for new victories."--_Life of Charles XII_. Better thus: "_While_ the Muscovites were _thus_ complaining to St. Nicholas, Charles returned thanks to God, and prepared for new victories." NOTE VII.--The words in each of the following pairs, are the proper _correspondents_ to each other; and care should be taken, to give them their right place in the sentence: 1. To _though_, corresponds _yet_; as, "_Though_ he were dead, _yet_ shall he live."--_John_, xi, 25. 2. To _whether_, corresponds _or_; as, "_Whether_ it be greater _or_ less."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 77. 3. To _either_, corresponds _or_; as, "The constant indulgence of a declamatory manner, is not favourable _either_ to good composition, _or_ [to] good delivery."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 334. 4. To _neither_, corresponds _nor_; as, "John the Baptist came _neither_ eating bread _nor_ drinking wine."--_Luke_, vii, 33. "Thou shalt _neither_ vex a stranger _nor_ oppress him."--_Exod._, xxii, 21. 5. To _both_, corresponds _and_; as, "I am debtor _both_ to the Greeks _and_ to the Barbarians, _both_ to the wise _and_ to the unwise."--_Rom._, i, 14. 6. To _such_, corresponds _as_; (the former being a pronominal adjective, and the latter a relative pronoun;) as, "An assembly _such as_ earth saw never."--_Cowper_. 7. To _such_, corresponds _that_; with, a finite verb following, to express a consequence: as, "The difference is _such that_ all will perceive it." 8. To _as_, corresponds _as_; with an adjective or an adverb, to express equality of degree: as, "And he went out from his presence a leper _as_ white _as_ snow."--_2 Kings_. v. 27. 9. To _as_, corresponds _so_; with two verbs, to express proportion or sameness: as, "_As_ two are to four, _so_ are six to twelve."--"_As_ the tree falls, _so_ it must lie." 10. _So_ is used before _as_; with an adjective or an adverb, to limit the degree by comparison: as, "How can you descend to a thing _so_ base _as_ falsehood?" 11. _So_ is used before _as_; with a negative preceding, to deny equality of degree: as, "No lamb was e'er _so_ mild _as_ he."--_Langhorne_. "Relatives are not _so_ useful in language _as_ conjunctions."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, p. 126. 12. To _so_, corresponds _as_; with an infinitive following, to express a consequence: as, "We ought, certainly, to read blank verse _so as_ to make every line sensible to the ear"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 332. 13. To _so_, corresponds _that_; with a finite verb following, to express a consequence: as, "No man was _so_ poor _that_ he could not make restitution."--_Milman's Jews_, i, 113. "_So_ run _that_ ye may obtain."--_1 Cor._, ix, 24. 14. To _not only_, or _not merely_, corresponds _but, but also_, or _but even_; as, "In heroic times, smuggling and piracy were deemed _not only_ not infamous, _but_ [even] absolutely honourable."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 15. "These are questions, _not_ of prudence _merely, but_ of morals _also_."--_Dymond's Essay_, p. 82. NOTE VIII.--"When correspondent conjunctions are used, the verb, or phrase, that precedes the first, applies [also] to the second; but no word following the former, can [by virtue of this correspondence,] be understood after the latter."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 353. Such ellipses as the following ought therefore in general to be avoided: "Tones are different both from emphasis and [_from_] pauses."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, i, 250. "Though both the intention and [_the_] purchase are now past."--_Ib._, ii, 24. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XXII. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--TWO TERMS WITH ONE. "The first proposal was essentially different and inferior to the second."--_Inst._, p. 171. [FORMULE,--Not proper, because the preposition _to_ is used with joint reference to the two adjectives _different_ and _inferior_, which require different prepositions. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 22d, "When two terms connected are each to be extended and completed in sense by a third, they must both be such as will make sense with it." The sentence may be corrected thus: "The first proposal was essentially different from the second, and inferior _to it_."] "A neuter verb implies the state a subject is in, without acting upon, or being acted upon, by another."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 30. "I answer, you may and ought to use stories and anecdotes."--_Student's Manual_, p. 220. "ORACLE, n. Any person or place where certain decisions are obtained."--_Webster's Dict._ "Forms of government may, and must be occasionally, changed."--_Ld. Lyttelton_. "I have, and pretend to be a tolerable judge."--_Spect._, No. 555. "Are we not lazy in our duties, or make a Christ of them?"--_Baxter's Saints' Rest_. "They may not express that idea which the author intends, but some other which only resembles, or is a-kin to it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94. "We may, we ought therefore to read them with a distinguishing eye."--_Ib._, p. 352. "Compare their poverty, with what they might, and ought to possess."--_Sedgwick's Econ._, p. 95. "He is a much better grammarian than they are."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211. "He was more beloved, but not so much admired as Cinthio."--ADDISON, ON MEDALS: _in Priestly's Gram._, p. 200. "Will it be urged, that the four gospels are as old, or even older than tradition?"--_Bolingb. Phil. Es._, iv, Sec.19. "The court of Chancery frequently mitigates, and breaks the teeth of the common law."--_Spectator_, No. 564; _Ware's Gram._, p. 16. "Antony, coming along side of her ship, entered it without seeing or being seen by her."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 160. "In candid minds, truth finds an entrance, and a welcome too."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 168. "In many designs, we may succeed and be miserable."--_lb._, p. 169. "In many pursuits, we embark with pleasure, and land sorrowfully."--_Ib._, p. 170. "They are much greater gainers than I am by this unexpected event."--_lb._, p. 211. UNDER NOTE II.--HETEROGENEOUS TERMS. "Athens saw them entering her gates and fill her academies."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 30. "We have neither forgot his past, nor despair of his future success."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 121. "Her monuments and temples had long been shattered or crumbled into dust."--_Lit. Conv._, p. 15. "Competition is excellent, and the vital principle in all these things."--DR. LIEBER: _ib._, p. 64. "Whether provision should or not be made to meet this exigency."--_Ib._, p. 128. "That our Saviour was divinely inspired, and endued with supernatural powers, are positions that are here taken for granted."--_Murray's Gram._, i. 206. "It would be much more eligible, to contract or enlarge their extent, by explanatory notes and observations, than by sweeping away our ancient landmarks, and setting up others."--_Ib._, i. p. 30. "It is certainly much better, to supply the defects and abridge superfluities, by occasional notes and observations, than by disorganizing, or altering a system which has been so long established."--_Ib._, i, 59. "To have only one tune, or measure, is not much better than having none at all"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 126. "Facts too well known and obvious to be insisted on."--_Ib._, p. 233. "In proportion as all these circumstances are happily chosen, and of a sublime kind."--_Ib._, p. 41. "If the description be too general, and divested of circumstances."--_Ibid._ "He gained nothing further than to be commended."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 210. "I cannot but think its application somewhat strained, and out of place."--VETHAKE: _Lit. Conv._, p. 29. "Two negatives in the same clause, or referring to the same thing, destroy each other, and leave the sense affirmative."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 15. "Slates are stone and used to cover roofs of houses."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 47. "Every man of taste, and possessing an elevated mind, ought to feel almost the necessity of apologizing for the power he possesses."--_Influence of Literature_. Vol. ii, p, 122. "They very seldom trouble themselves with Enquiries, or making useful observations of their own."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 376. "We've both the field and honour won; The foe is profligate, and run."--_Hudibras_, p. 93. UNDER NOTE III.--IMPORT OF CONJUNCTIONS. "_The_ is sometimes used before adverbs in the comparative and superlative degree."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 6; _Bullions's_, 8; _Brace's_, 9. "The definite article _the_ is frequently applied to adverbs in the comparative and superlative degree."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 33; _Ingersoll's_, 33; _Lowth's_, 14; _Fisk's_, 53; _Merchant's_, 24; and others. "Conjunctions usually connect verbs in the same mode or tense."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 137. "Conjunctions connect verbs in the same style, and usually in the same mode, tense, or form."--_Ib._ "The ruins of Greece and Rome are but the monuments of her former greatness."--_Day's Gram._, p. 88. "In many of these cases, it is not improbable, but that the articles were used originally."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 152. "I cannot doubt but that these objects are really what they appear to be."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 85. "I question not but my reader will be as much pleased with it."--_Spect._, No. 535. "It is ten to one but my friend Peter is among them."--_Ib._, No. 457. "I doubt not but such objections as these will be made."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 169. "I doubt not but it will appear in the perusal of the following sheets."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. vi. "It is not improbable, but that, in time, these different constructions may be appropriated to different uses."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 156. "But to forget or to remember at pleasure, are equally beyond the power of man."--_Idler_, No. 72. "The nominative case follows the verb, in interrogative and imperative sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. 290. "Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs?"--_James_, iii, 12. "Whose characters are too profligate, that the managing of them should be of any consequence."--_Swift, Examiner_, No. 24. "You that are a step higher than a philosopher, a divine; yet have too much grace and wit than to be a bishop."--_Pope, to Swift_, Let. 80. "The terms rich or poor enter not into their language."--_Robertson's America_, Vol. i, p. 314. "This pause is but seldom or ever sufficiently dwelt upon."--_Music of Nature_, p. 181. "There would be no possibility of any such thing as human life and human happiness."--_Butler's Anal._, p. 110. "The multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace."--_Matt._, xx, 21. UNDER NOTE IV.--OF THE CONJUNCTION THAN. "A metaphor is nothing else but a short comparison."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 243; _Gould's_, 236. "There being no other dictator here but use."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 167. "This Construction is no otherwise known in English but by supplying the first or second Person Plural."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. xi. "Cyaxares was no sooner in the throne, but he was engaged in a terrible war."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 62. "Those classics contain little else but histories of murders."--_Am. Museum_, v, 526. "Ye shall not worship any other except God."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 15. "Their relation, therefore, is not otherwise to be ascertained but by their place."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 260. "For he no sooner accosted her, but he gained his point."--_Burder's Hist._, i, 6. "And all the modern writers on this subject have done little else but translate them."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 336. "One who had no other aim, but to talk copiously and plausibly."-- _Ib._, p. 317. "We can refer it to no other cause but the structure of the eye."--_Ib._, p. 46. "No more is required but singly an act of vision."-- _Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 171. "We find no more in its composition, but the particulars now mentioned."--_ Ib._, i, 48. "He pretends not to say, that it hath any other effect but to raise surprise."--_Ib._, ii, 61. "No sooner was the princess dead, but he freed himself."--_Johnson's Sketch of Morin_. "_Ought_ is an imperfect verb, for it has no other modification besides this one."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 113. "The verb is palpably nothing else but the tie."--_Neef's Sketch_, p. 66. "Does he mean that theism is capable of nothing else except being opposed to polytheism or atheism?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 104. "Is it meant that theism is capable of nothing else besides being opposed to polytheism, or atheism?"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 307. "There is no other method of teaching that of which any one is ignorant, but by means of something already known"--DR. JOHNSON: _Murray's Gram._, i, 163; _Ingersoll's_, 214. "O fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted!"-- _Milton's Poems_, p, 132. "Architecture and gardening cannot otherwise entertain the mind, but by raising certain agreeable emotions or feelings."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 318. "Or, rather, they are nothing else but nouns."--_British Gram._, p. 95. "As if religion were intended For nothing else but to be mended."--_Hudibras_, p. 11. UNDER NOTE V.--RELATIVES EXCLUDE CONJUNCTIONS. "To prepare the Jews for the reception of a prophet mightier than him, and whose shoes he was not worthy to bear."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 214. "Has this word which represents an action an object after it, and on which it terminates?"--_Osborn's Key_, p. 3. "The stores of literature lie before him, and from which he may collect, for use, many lessons of wisdom."-- _Knapp's Lectures_, p. 31. "Many and various great advantages of this Grammar, and which are wanting in others, might be enumerated."-- _Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 6. "About the time of Solon, the Athenian legislator, the custom is said to have been introduced, and which still prevails, of writing in lines from left to right."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 19. "The fundamental rule of the construction of sentences, and into which all others might be resolved, undoubtedly is, to communicate, in the clearest and most natural order, the ideas which we mean to transfuse into the minds of others."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 120; _Jamieson's_, 102. "He left a son of a singular character, and who behaved so ill that he was put in prison."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 221. "He discovered some qualities in the youth, of a disagreeable nature, and which to him were wholly unaccountable."--_Ib._, p. 213. "An emphatical pause is made, after something has been said of peculiar moment, and on which we want ['desire' _M_.] to fix the hearer's attention."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 331; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 248. "But we have duplicates of each, agreeing in movement, though differing in measure, and which make different impressions on the ear."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 259. UNDER NOTE VI.--OF THE WORD THAT. "It will greatly facilitate the labours of the teacher, at the same time that it will relieve the pupil of many difficulties."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 4. "At the same time that the pupil is engaged in the exercises just mentioned, it will be a proper time to study the whole Grammar in course."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, Revised Ed., p. viii. "On the same ground that a participle and auxiliary are allowed to form a tense."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 76. "On the same ground that the voices, moods, and tenses, are admitted into the English tongue."--_Ib._, p. 101. "The five examples last mentioned, are corrected on the same principle that the preceding examples are corrected."--_Ib._, p. 186; _Ingersoll's Gram._, 254. "The brazen age began at the death of Trajan, and lasted till the time that Rome was taken by the Goths."--_Gould's Lat. Gram._, p. 277. "The introduction to the Duodecimo Edition, is retained in this volume, for the same reason that the original introduction to the Grammar, is retained in the first volume."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. iv. "The verb must also be of the same person that the nominative case is."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 16. "The adjective pronoun _their_, is plural for the same reason that _who_ is."--_Ib._, p. 84. "The Sabellians could not justly be called Patripassians, in the same sense that the Noetians were so called."--_Religious World_, Vol. ii, p. 122. "This is one reason that we pass over such smooth language, without suspecting that it contains little or no meaning."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 298. "The first place that both armies came in sight of each other was on the opposite banks of the river Apsus."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 118. "At the very time that the author gave him the first book for his perusal."--_Campbell's Rhetoric, Preface_, p. iv. "Peter will sup at the time that Paul will dine."--_Fosdick's De Sacy_, p. 81. "Peter will be supping at the time that Paul will enter."--_Ibid._ "These, at the same time that they may serve as models to those who may wish to imitate them, will give me an opportunity to cast more light upon the principles of this book."--_Ib._, p. 115. "Time was, like thee, they life possest, And time shall be, that thou shalt rest." --PARNELL; _Mur. Seq._, p. 241. UNDER NOTE VII.--OF THE CORRESPONDENTS. "Our manners should neither be gross, nor excessively refined."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 11. "A neuter verb expresses neither action or passion, but being, or a state of being."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 342. "The old books are neither _English_ grammars, or _grammars_, in any sense of the English Language."--_Ib._, p. 378. "The author is apprehensive that his work is not yet as accurate and as much simplified as it may be."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 7. "The writer could not treat some topicks as extensively as was desirable."--_Ib._, p. 10. "Which would be a matter of such nicety, as no degree of human wisdom could regulate."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 26. "No undertaking is so great or difficult which he cannot direct."--_Duncan's Cic._, p. 126. "It is a good which neither depends on the will of others, nor on the affluence of external fortune."--_Harris's Hermes_, 299; _Murray's Gram._, i, 289. "Not only his estate, his reputation too has suffered by his misconduct."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 150; _Ingersoll's_, 238. "Neither do they extend as far as might be imagined at first view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 350. "There is no language so poor, but it hath two or three past tenses."--_Ib._, p. 82. "As far as this system is founded in truth, language appears to be not altogether arbitrary in its origin."--_Ib._, p. 56. "I have not that command of these convulsions as is necessary."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Conversation with such who know no arts which polish life."--_Ib._, No. 480. "And which can be neither very lively or very forcible."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 78. "To that degree as to give proper names to rivers."--_Dr. Murray's Hist of Lang._, i, 327. "In the utter overthrow of such who hate to be reformed."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 443. "But still so much of it is retained, as greatly injures the uniformity of the whole."--_Priestley's Gram., Pref._, p. vii. "Some of them have gone to that height of extravagance, as to assert," &c.--_Ib._, p. 91. "A teacher is confined--not more than a merchant, and probably not as much."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 27. "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."--_Matt._, xii, 32. "Which no body presumes, or is so sanguine to hope."--_Swift, Drap. Let._ v. "For the torrent of the voice, left neither time or power in the organs, to shape the words properly."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 118. "That he may neither unnecessarily waste his voice by throwing out too much, or diminish his power by using too little."--_Ib._, p. 123. "I have retained only such which appear most agreeable to the measures of Analogy."--_Littleton's Dict., Pref._ "He is both a prudent and industrious man."--_Day's Gram._, p. 70. "Conjunctions either connect words or sentences."--_Ib._, pp. 81 and 101. "Such silly girls who love to chat and play, Deserve no care, their time is thrown away."--_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 20. "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen."--POPE: _Mur. Gram._, ii, 17. "Justice must punish the rebellious deed: Yet punish so, as pity shall exceed."--DRYDEN: _in Joh. Dict._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--IMPROPER ELLIPSES. "_That, whose_, and _as_ relate to either persons or things."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 93. "_Which_ and _what_, as adjectives, relate either to persons or things."--_Ib._, p. 70. "Whether of a public or private nature."-- _Adam's Rhet._, i, 43. "Which are included both among the public and private wrongs."--_Ib._, i, 308. "I might extract both from the old and new testament numberless examples of induction."--_Ib._, ii, 66. "Many verbs are used both in an active and neuter signification."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 30; _Alger's_, 26; _Guy's_, 21; _Murray's_, 60. "Its influence is likely to be considerable, both on the morals, and taste of a nation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 373. "The subject afforded a variety of scenes, both of the awful and tender kind."--_Ib._, p. 439. "Restlessness of mind disqualifies us, both for the enjoyment of peace, and the performance of our duty."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 166; _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 10. "Adjective Pronouns are of a mixed nature, participating the properties both of pronouns and adjectives."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 55; _Merchant's_, 43; _Flint's_, 22. "Adjective Pronouns have the nature both of the adjective and the pronoun."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 15. "Pronominal adjectives are a kind of compound part of speech, partaking the nature both of pronouns and adjectives."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 36. "Nouns are used either in the singular or plural number."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 11. "The question is not, whether the nominative or accusative ought to follow the particles _than_ and _as_; but, whether these particles are, in such particular cases, to be regarded as conjunctions or prepositions."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 204. "In English many verbs are used both as transitives and intransitives."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 83. "He sendeth rain both on the just and unjust."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 56. "A foot consists either of two or three syllables."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 118. "Because they participate the nature both of adverbs and conjunctions."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 116. "Surely, Romans, what I am now about to say, ought neither to be omitted nor pass without notice."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 196. "Their language frequently amounts, not only to bad sense, but _non_-sense."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 14. "Hence arises the necessity of a social state to man both for the unfolding, and exerting of his nobler faculties."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 147. "Whether the subject be of the real or feigned kind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 454. "Not only was liberty entirely extinguished, but arbitrary power felt in its heaviest and most oppressive weight."--_Ib._, p. 249. "This rule is applicable also both to verbal Critics and Grammarians."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 144. "Both the rules and exceptions of a language must have obtained the sanction of good usage."--_Ib._, p. 143. CHAPTER X.--PREPOSITIONS. The syntax of Prepositions consists, not solely or mainly in their power of governing the objective case, (though this alone is the scope which most grammarians have given it,) but in their adaptation to the other terms between which they express certain relations, such as appear by the sense of the words uttered. RULE XXIII.--PREPOSITIONS. Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts expressed by them: as; "He came _from_ Rome _to_ Paris, _in_ the company _of_ many eminent men, and passed _with_ them _through_ many cities"--_Analectic Magazine_. "Ah! who can tell the triumphs _of_ the mind, _By_ truth illumin'd, and _by_ taste refin'd?"--_Rogers_. EXCEPTION FIRST. The preposition _to_, before an abstract infinitive, and at the head of a phrase which is made the subject of a verb, has no proper antecedent term of relation; as, "_To_ learn to die, is the great business of life."--_Dillwyn_. "Nevertheless, _to_ abide in the flesh, is more needful for you."--ST. PAUL: _Phil._, i, 24. "_To_ be reduced to poverty, is a great affliction." "Too much _to_ know, is, to know nought but fame; And every godfather can give a name."--_Shakspeare_. EXCEPTION SECOND. The preposition _for_, when it introduces its object before an infinitive, and the whole phrase is made the subject of a verb, has properly no antecedent term of relation; as, "_For_ us to learn to die, is the great business of life."--"Nevertheless, _for_ me to abide in the flesh, is more needful for you."--"_For_ an old man to be reduced to poverty is a very great affliction." "_For_ man to tell how human life began, Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?"--_Milton_. OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXIII. OBS. 1.--In parsing any ordinary preposition, the learner should name the _two terms_ of the relation, and apply the foregoing rule, after the manner prescribed in Praxis 12th of this work. The principle is simple and etymological, being implied in the very definition of a preposition, yet not the less necessary to be given as a rule of syntax. Among tolerable writers, the prepositions exhibit more errors than any other equal number of words. This is probably owing to the careless manner in which they are usually slurred over in parsing. But the parsers, in general, have at least this excuse, that their text-books have taught them no better; they therefore call the preposition _a preposition_, and leave its use and meaning unexplained. OBS. 2.--If the learner be at any loss to discover the true terms of relation, let him ask and answer _two questions_: first, with the interrogative _what_ before the preposition, to find the antecedent; and then, with the same pronoun after the preposition, to find the subsequent term. These questions answered according to the sense, will always give the true terms. For example: "They dashed that rapid torrent through."--_Scott_. Ques. _What_ through? Ans. "_Dashed through_." Ques. Through _what?_ Ans. "_Through that torrent_." For the meaning is--"They dashed through that rapid torrent." If one term is perfectly obvious, (as it almost always is,) find the other in this way; as, "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge."--_Psal._, xix, 2. Ques. _What_ unto day? Ans. "_Uttereth unto day_." Ques. _What_ unto night? Ans. "_Showeth unto night_" For the meaning is--"Day uttereth speech unto day, and night showeth knowledge unto night." To parse rightly, is, to understand rightly; and what is well expressed, it is a shame to misunderstand or misinterpret. But sometimes the position of the two nouns is such, that it may require some reflection to find either; as, "Or that choice plant, so grateful to the nose, Which _in_ I know not what far country grows."--_Churchill_, p. 18. OBS. 3.--When a preposition _begins_ or _ends_ a sentence or clause, the terms of relation, if both are given, are transposed; as, "To a studious _man_, action is a relief."--_Burgh_. That is, "Action is a relief _to_ a studious man." "_Science_ they [the ladies] do not _pretend_ TO."--_Id._ That is, "They do not pretend _to_ science." "Until I have done that _which_ I _have spoken_ to thee OF."--_Gen._, xxviii, 15. The word governed by the preposition is always the subsequent term of the relation, however it may be placed; and if this be a relative pronoun, the transposition is permanent. The preposition, however, may be put before any relative, except _that_ and _as_; and this is commonly thought to be its most appropriate place: as, "Until I have done that _of which_ I have spoken to thee," Of the placing of it last, Lowth says, "This is an idiom _which_ our language is strongly inclined _to_;" Murray and others, "This is an idiom _to which_ our language is strongly inclined:" while they all add, "it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in writing; but the placing of the preposition before the relative, is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous, and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated style."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 95; _Murray's_, 8vo, p. 200; _Fisk's_, 141; _R. C. Smiths_, 167; _Ingersoll's_, 227; _Churchill's_. 150. OBS. 4.--The terms of relation between which a preposition may be used, are very various. The _former_ or _antecedent_ term may be a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, or an adverb: and, in some instances, we find not only one preposition put before an other, but even a conjunction or an interjection used on this side; as, "_Because_ OF offences."--"_Alas_ FOR him!"--The _latter_ or _subsequent_ term, which is the word governed by the preposition, may be a noun, a pronoun, a pronominal adjective, an infinitive verb, or an imperfect or preperfect participle: and, in some instances, prepositions appear to govern adverbs, or even whole phrases. See the observations in the tenth chapter of Etymology. OBS. 5.--Both terms of the relation are usually expressed; though either of them may, in some instances, be left out, the other being given: as, (1.) THE FORMER--"All shall know me, [_reckoning_] FROM the least to the greatest."--_Heb._, viii, 11. [_I say_] "IN a word, it would entirely defeat the purpose."--_Blair_. "When I speak of reputation, I mean not only [_reputation_] IN regard to knowledge, but [_reputation_] IN regard to the talent of communicating knowledge."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 163; _Murray's Gram._, i, 360. (2.) THE LATTER--"Opinions and ceremonies [_which_] they would die FOR."--_Locke_. "IN [_those_] who obtain defence, or [_in those_] who defend."--_Pope_. "Others are more modest than [_what_] this comes TO."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 66. OBS. 6.--The only proper exceptions to the foregoing rule, are those which are inserted above, unless the abstract infinitive used as a predicate is also to be excepted; as, "In both, to reason right, is _to_ submit."--_Pope_. But here most if not all grammarians would say, the verb "_is_" is the antecedent term, or what their syntax takes to govern the infinitive. The relation, however, is not such as when we say, "He _is to submit_;" that is, "He _must submit_, or _ought to submit_;" but, perhaps, to insist on a different mode of parsing the more separable infinitive or its preposition, would be a needless refinement. Yet some regard ought to be paid to the different relations which the infinitive may bear to this finite verb. For want of a due estimate of this difference, the following sentence is, I think, very faulty: "The great business of this life _is to prepare_, and _qualify us_, for the enjoyment of a better."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 373. If the author meant to tell what our great business in this life is, he should rather have said: "The great business of this life is, to prepare and qualify _ourselves_ for the enjoyment of a better." OBS. 7.--In relation to the infinitive, Dr. Adam remarks, that, "_To_ in English is often taken _absolutely_; as, _To_ confess the truth; _To_ proceed; _To_ conclude."--_Latin and Eng. Gram._, p. 182. But the assertion is not entirely true; nor are his examples appropriate; for what he and many other grammarians call the _infinitive absolute_, evidently depends on something _understood_; and the preposition is, surely, in no instance independent of what follows it, and is therefore never entirely absolute. Prepositions are not to be supposed to have no antecedent term, merely because they stand at the head of a phrase or sentence which is made the subject of a verb; for the phrase or sentence itself often contains that term, as in the following example: "_In_ what way mind acts upon matter, is unknown." Here _in_ shows the relation between _acts_ and _way_; because the expression suggests, that mind _acts_ IN _some way_ upon matter. OBS. 8.--The second exception above, wherever it is found applicable, cancels the first; because it introduces an antecedent term before the preposition _to_, as may be seen by the examples given. It is questionable too, whether both of them may not also be cancelled in an other way; that is, by transposition and the introduction of the pronoun _it_ for the nominative: as, "_It_ is a great _affliction_, TO _be reduced_ to poverty."--"_It_ is _hard_ FOR _man_ to tell how human life began."--"Nevertheless _it_ is more needful for you, THAT _I should abide_ in the flesh." We cannot so well say, "It is more needful _for you_, FOR _me to abide_ in the flesh;" but we may say, "It is, _on your account_, more needful FOR _me to abide_ in the flesh." If these, and other similar examples, are not to be accounted additional instances in which _to_ and _for_, and also the conjunction that, are without any proper antecedent terms, we must suppose these particles to show the relation between what precedes and what follows them. OBS. 9.--The preposition (as its name implies) _precedes_ the word which it governs. Yet there are some exceptions. In the familiar style, a preposition governing a relative or an interrogative pronoun, is often separated from its object, and connected with the other term of relation; as, "_Whom_ did he speak _to_?" But it is more dignified, and in general more graceful, to place the preposition before the pronoun; as, "_To whom_ did he speak?" The relatives _that_ and _as_, if governed by a preposition, must always precede it. In some instances, the pronoun must be supplied in parsing; as, "To set off the banquet [_that_ or _which_] he gives notice _of_."--_Philological Museum_, i, 454. Sometimes the objective word is put first because it is emphatical; as, "_This_ the great understand, _this_ they pique themselves _upon_."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 66. Prepositions of more than one syllable, are sometimes put immediately after their objects, especially in poetry; as, "Known all the _world over_."--_Walker's Particles_ p. 291. "The thing is known all _Lesbos over_."--_Ibid._ "Wild Carron's lonely _woods among_."--_Langhorne_. "Thy deep _ravines_ and _dells along_."--_Sir W. Scott_. OBS. 10.--Two prepositions sometimes come together; as, "Lambeth is _over against_ Westminster abbey."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 118. "And _from before_ the lustre of her face, White break the clouds away."--_Thomson_. "And the meagre fiend Blows mildew _from between_ his shrivell'd lips."--_Cowper_. These, in most instances, though they are not usually written as compounds, appear naturally to coalesce in their syntax, as was observed in the tenth chapter of Etymology, and to express a sort of compound relation between the other terms with which they are connected. When such is their character, they ought to be taken together in parsing; for, if we parse them separately, we must either call the first an adverb, or suppose some very awkward ellipsis. Some instances however occur, in which an object may easily be supplied to the former word, and perhaps ought to be; as, "He is at liberty to sell it _at_ [a price] _above_ a fair remuneration."-- _Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 258. "And I wish they had been at the bottom of the ditch I pulled you out of, _instead of_ [being] _upon_ my back."--_Sandford and Merton_, p. 29. In such examples as the following, the first preposition, _of_, appears to me to govern the plural noun which ends the sentence; and the intermediate ones, _from_ and _to_, to have both terms of their relation _understood_: "Iambic verse consists _of from_ two _to_ six feet; that is, _of from_ four _to_ twelve syllables."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 119. "Trochaic verse consists _of from_ one to three feet."--_Ibid._ The meaning is--"Iambic verse consists _of feet_ varying in number from two to six; or (it consists) _of syllables_ varying from four to twelve."--"Trochaic verse consists _of feet_ varying from one _foot_ to three _feet_." OBS. 11.--One antecedent term may have several prepositions depending on it, with one object after each, or more than one after any, or only one after both or all; as, "A declaration _for_ virtue and _against_ vice."--_Butler's Anal._, p. 157. "A positive law _against_ all fraud, falsehood, _and_ violence, and _for_, or _in_ favour _of_, all justice _and_ truth." "For _of_ him, and _through_ him, and _to_ him, are all things."--_Bible_. In fact, not only may the relation be simple in regard to all or any of the words, but it may also be complex in regard to all or any of them. Hence several different prepositions, whether they have different antecedent terms or only one and the same, may refer either jointly or severally to one object or to more. This follows, because not only may either antecedents or objects be connected by conjunctions, but prepositions also admit of this construction, with or without a connecting of their antecedents. Examples: "They are capable _of_, and placed _in_, different stations in the society of mankind."--_Butler's Anal._, p. 115. "Our perception _of_ vice _and_ ill desert arises _from_, and is the result _of_, a comparison _of_ actions _with_ the nature _and_ capacities _of_ the agent."--_Ib._, p. 279. "And the design _of_ this chapter is, _to_ inquire how far this is the case; how far, _over and above_ the moral nature which God has given us, _and_ our natural notion _of_ him, as righteous governor _of_ those his creatures _to_ whom he has given this nature; I say, how far, _besides_ this, the principles _and_ beginnings _of_ a moral government _over_ the world may be discerned, _notwithstanding and amidst_ all the confusion _and_ disorder _of_ it."--_Ib._, p. 85. OBS. 12.--The preposition _into_, expresses a relation produced by motion or change; and _in_, the same relation, without reference to motion as having produced it: hence, "to walk _into_ the garden," and, "to walk _in_ the garden," are very different in meaning. "It is disagreeable to find a word split _into_ two by a pause."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 83. This appears to be right in sense, but because brevity is desirable in unemphatic particles, I suppose most persons would say, "split _in_ two." In the Bible we have the phrases, "rent _in_ twain,"--"cut _in_ pieces,"--"brake _in_ pieces the rocks,"--"brake all their bones _in pieces_,"--"brake them _to_ pieces,"--"broken _to_ pieces,"--"pulled _in_ pieces." In all these, except the first, _to_ may perhaps be considered preferable to _in_; and _into_ would be objectionable only because it is longer and less simple. "Half of them dare not shake the snow from off their cassocks, lest they shake themselves _to_ pieces."--SHAK.: _Kames_, ii, 246. OBS. 13.--_Between_, or _betwixt_, is used in reference to two things or parties; _among_, or _amongst, amid_, or _amidst_, in reference to a greater number, or to something by which an other may be surrounded: as, "Thou pendulum _betwixt_ a smile and tear."--_Byron_. "The host _between the_ mountain and the shore."--_Id._ "To meditate _amongst_ decay, and stand a ruin _amidst_ ruins."--_Id._ In the following examples, the import of these prepositions is not very accurately regarded; "The Greeks wrote in capitals, and left no spaces between their words."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 6. This construction may perhaps be allowed, because the spaces by which words are now divided, occur severally _between_ one word and an other; but the author might as well have said, "and left no spaces _to distinguish_ their words." "There was a hunting match agreed upon _betwixt_ a lion, an ass, and a fox."--_L'Estrange_. Here _by_ or _among_ would, I think, be better than _betwixt_, because the partners were more than two. "_Between_ two _or more_ authors, different readers will differ, exceedingly, as to the preference in point of merit."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 162; _Jamieson's_, 40; _Murray's Gram._, i, 360. Say, "_Concerning_ two or more authors," because _between_ is not consistent with the word _more_. "Rising _one among another_ in the greatest confusion and disorder."--_Spect._, No. 476. Say, "Rising _promiscuously_," or, "Rising _all at once_;" for _among_ is not consistent with the distributive term _one an other_. OBS. 14.--Of two prepositions coming together between the same terms of relation, and sometimes connected in the same construction, I have given several plain examples in this chapter, and in the tenth chapter of Etymology, a very great number, all from sources sufficiently respectable. But, in many of our English grammars, there is a stereotyped remark on this point, originally written by Priestley, which it is proper here to cite, as an other specimen of the Doctor's hastiness, and of the blind confidence of certain compilers and copyists: "Two different prepositions _must be improper_ in the same construction, and in the same sentence: [as,] _The combat_ between _thirty Britons_, against _twenty English_. Smollett's Voltaire, Vol. 2, p. 292."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 156. Lindley Murray and others have the same remark, with the example altered thus: "The combat _between_ thirty _French against_ twenty English."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 200; _Smith's New Gram._, 167: _Fisk's_, 142; _Ingersoll's_, 228. W. Allen has it thus: "Two different prepositions in the _same construction_ are improper; as, a combat _between twenty_ French _against thirty_ English."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p. 179. He gives the odds to the latter party. Hiley, with no expense of thought, first takes from Murray, as he from Priestley, the useless remark, "Different relations, and different senses, must be expressed by different prepositions;" and then adds, "_One relation_ must not, _therefore_, be expressed by two different prepositions in the same clause; thus, 'The combat _between thirty_ French _against thirty_ English,' should be, 'The combat _between thirty_ French _and thirty_ English.'"--_Hiley's E. Gram._, p 97. It is manifest that the error of this example is not in the use of _two prepositions_, nor is there any truth or fitness in the note or notes made on it by all these critics; for had they said, "The combat _of_ thirty French _against_ twenty English," there would still be two prepositions, but where would be the impropriety, or where the sameness of construction, which they speak of? _Between_ is incompatible with _against_, only because it requires two parties or things for its own regimen; as, "The combat _between_ thirty _Frenchmen and_ twenty _Englishmen_." This is what Smollett should have written, to make sense with the word "_between_." OBS. 15.--With like implicitness, Hiley excepted, these grammarians and others have adopted from Lowth an observation in which the learned doctor has censured quite too strongly the joint reference of different prepositions to the same objective noun: to wit, "Some writers separate the preposition from its noun, in order to connect different prepositions to the same noun; as, 'To suppose the zodiac and planets to be efficient _of_, and antecedent _to_, themselves.' Bentley, Serm. 6. This [construction], whether in the familiar or the solemn style, is _always inelegant_; and _should never be admitted_, but in forms of law, and the like; where fullness and exactness of expression must take _place_ of every other consideration."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 96; _Murray's_, i, 200; _Smith's_, 167; _Fisk's_, 141; _Ingersoll's_, 228; _Alger's_, 67; _Picket's_, 207. Churchill even goes further, both strengthening the censure, and disallowing the exception: thus, "This, whether in the solemn or in the familiar style, is _always_ inelegant, and should _never be admitted_. It is an _awkward shift_ for avoiding the repetition of a word, _which might be accomplished without it_ by any person who has the least command of language."--_New Gram._, p. 341. Yet, with all their command of language, not one of these gentlemen has told us how the foregoing sentence from Bentley may be _amended_; while many of their number not only venture to use different prepositions before the same noun, but even to add a phrase which puts that noun in the nominative case: as, "Thus, the time of the infinitive may be _before, after_, or _the same as_, the time of the governing verb, according as the _thing_ signified by the infinitive is supposed to be _before, after_, or _present with_, the _thing_ denoted by the governing verb."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 191; _Ingersoll's_, 260; _R. C. Smith's_, 159. OBS. 16.--The structure of this example not only contradicts palpably, and twice over, the doctrine cited above, but one may say of the former part of it, as Lowth, Murray, and others do, (in no very accurate English,) of the text 1 Cor., ii, 9: "There seems to be an impropriety in this sentence, in which the same noun serves in a double capacity, performing at the same time the _offices both of the nominative and objective cases_."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 224. See also _Lowth's Gram._, p. 73; _Ingersoll's_, 277; _Fisk's_, 149; _Smith's_, 185. Two other examples, exactly like that which is so pointedly censured above, are placed by Murray under his thirteenth rule for the comma; and these likewise, with all faithfulness, are copied by Ingersoll, Smith, Alger, Kirkham, Comly, Russell, and I know not how many more. In short, not only does this rule of their punctuation include the construction in question; but the following exception to it, which is remarkable for its various faults, or thorough faultiness, is applicable to _no other_: "Sometimes, when the _word_ with which the _last_ preposition _agrees_, is _single_, it is better to _omit_ the comma before it: as, 'Many states were in alliance _with_, and under the protection _of_ Rome.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 272; _Smith's_, 190; _Ingersoll's_, 284; _Kirkham's_, 215; _Alger's_, 79; _Alden's_, 149; _Abel Flint's_, 103; _Russell's_, 115. But the blunders and contradictions on this point, end not here. Dr. Blair happened most unlearnedly to say, "What is called splitting of particles, or separating a preposition from the noun which it governs, is _always to be avoided_. As if I should say, 'Though virtue borrows no assistance from, yet it may often be accompanied by, the advantages of fortune.'"--_Lect. XII_, p. 112. This too, though the author himself did not _always_ respect the rule, has been thought worthy to be copied, or stolen, with all its faults! See _Jamieson's Rhetoric_, p. 93; and _Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 319. OBS. 17.--Dr. Lowth says, "The noun _aversion_, (that is, a turning away,) as likewise the adjective _averse_, seems to require the preposition _from_ after it; and not so properly to admit of _to_, or _for_, which are often used with it."--_Gram._, p. 98. But this doctrine has not been adopted by the later grammarians: "The words _averse_ and _aversion_ (says Dr. Campbell) are more properly construed with _to_ than with _from_. The examples in favour of the latter preposition, are beyond comparison outnumbered by those in favour of the former."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 201; _Fisk's_, 142; _Ingersoll's_, 229. This however must be understood only of mental aversion. The expression of Milton, "On the coast _averse from_ entrance," would not be improved, if _from_ were changed to _to_. So the noun _exception_, and the verb to _except_, are sometimes followed by _from_, which has regard to the Latin particle _ex_, with which the word commences; but the noun at least is much more frequently, and perhaps more properly, followed by _to_. Examples: "Objects of horror must be _excepted from_ the foregoing theory."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 268. "_From_ which there are but two _exceptions_, both of them rare."--_Ib._, ii. 89. "_To_ the rule that fixes the pause after the fifth portion, there is one _exception_, and no more."--_Ib._, ii, 84. "No _exception_ can be taken _to_ the justness of the figure."--_Ib._, ii, 37. "Originally there was no _exception_ from the rule."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 58. "_From_ this rule there is mostly an _exception_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 269. "But _to_ this rule there are many _exceptions._"--_Ib._, i. 240. "They are not to be regarded as exceptions _from_ the rule,"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 363. OBS. 18.--After correcting the example. "He _knows_ nothing _on_ [of] it," Churchill remarks, "There seems to be a strange perverseness among the _London vulgar_ in perpetually substituting _on_ for _of_, and _of_ for _on_."--_New Gram._, p. 345. And among the expressions which Campbell censures under the name of _vulgarism_, are the following: "'Tis my humble request you will be particular in speaking _to_ the following points."--_Guardian_, No. 57. "The preposition ought to have been _on_. Precisely of the same stamp is the _on't_ for _of it_, so much used by one class of writers."--_Philosophy of Rhet._, p. 217. So far as I have observed, the use of _of_ for _on_ has never been frequent; and that of _on_ for _of_, or _on't_ for _of it_, though it may never have been a polite custom, is now a manifest _archaism_, or imitation of ancient usage. "And so my young Master, whatever comes _on't_, must have a Wife look'd out for him."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 378. In Saxon, _on_ was put for more than half a dozen of our present prepositions. The difference between _of_ and _on_ or _upon_, appears in general to be obvious enough; and yet there are some phrases in which it is not easy to determine which of these words ought to be preferred: as, "Many things they cannot _lay hold on_ at once."--HOOKER: _Joh. Dict._ "Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and _took hold of_ it."--2 SAM.: _ib._ "Rather thou shouldst _lay hold upon_ him."--BEN JONSON: _ib._ "Let them find courage to _lay hold on_ the occasion."--MILTON: _ib._ "The hand is fitted to _lay hold of_ objects."--RAY: _ib._ "My soul _took hold on_ thee."--ADDISON: _ib._ "To _lay hold of_ this safe, this only method of cure."--ATTERBURY: _ib._ "And _give_ fortune no more _hold_ of him."--DRYDEN: _ib._ "And his laws _take_ the surest _hold of_ us."--TILLOTSON: _ib._ "It will then be impossible you can _have_ any _hold upon_ him."--SWIFT: _ib._ "The court of Rome gladly _laid hold on_ all the opportunities."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 198. "Then did the officer _lay hold of_ him and execute him."--_Ib._, ii, 219. "When one can _lay hold upon_ some noted fact."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "But when we would _lay_ firm _hold of_ them."--_Ib._, p. 28. "An advantage which every one is glad to _lay hold of_."--_Ib._, p. 75. "To have _laid_ fast _hold of_ it in his mind."--_Ib._, p. 94. "I would advise them to lay aside their common-places, and to _think_ closely _of_ their subject."--_Ib._, p. 317. "Did they not _take hold of_ your fathers?"--_Zech._, i, 6. "Ten men shall _take hold of_ the skirt of one that is a Jew."--_Ib._, viii, 23. "It is wrong to say, either 'to _lay_ hold _of_ a thing,' or 'to _take_ hold _on_ it.'"--_Blair's Gram._, p. 101. In the following couplet, _on_ seems to have been preferred only for a rhyme: "Yet, lo! in me what authors have to _brag on_! Reduc'd at last to hiss in my own dragon."--_Pope_. OBS. 19.--In the allowable uses of prepositions, there may perhaps be some room for choice; so that what to the mind of a critic may not appear the fittest word, may yet be judged not positively ungrammatical. In this light I incline to view the following examples: "Homer's plan is still more defective, _upon_ another account."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 299. Say--"_on an other_ account." "It was almost eight _of the_ clock before I could leave that variety of objects."--_Spectator_, No. 454. Present usage requires--"eight _o_'clock." "The Greek and Latin writers had a considerable advantage _above_ us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 114. "The study of oratory has this advantage _above_ that of poetry."--_Ib._, p. 338. "A metaphor has frequently an advantage _above_ a formal comparison."-- _Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 150. This use of _above_ seems to be a sort of Scotticism: an Englishman, I think, would say--"advantage _over_ us," &c. "Hundreds have all these crowding upon them from morning _to_ night."-- _Abbott's Teacher_, p. 33. Better--"from morning _till_ night." But Horne Tooke observes, "We apply TO indifferently to _place_ or _time_; but TILL to _time_ only, and never to _place_. Thus we may say, 'From morn TO night th' eternal larum rang;' or, 'From morn TILL night.' &c."--_Diversions of Purley_, i, 284. NOTES TO RULE XXIII. NOTE I.--Prepositions must be chosen and employed agreeably to the usage and idiom of the language, so as rightly to express the relations intended. Example of error: "By which we arrive _to_ the last division."--_Richard W. Green's Gram._, p. vii. Say,--"arrive _at_." NOTE II.--Those prepositions which are particularly adapted in meaning to _two objects_, or to _more_, ought to be confined strictly to the government of such terms only as suit them. Example of error: "What is _Person_? It is the _medium of_ distinction _between_ the _speaker_, the _object_ addressed or spoken _to_, and the _object_ spoken _of_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 34. "_Between three_" is an incongruity; and the text here cited is bad in several other respects. NOTE III.--An _ellipsis_ or _omission_ of the preposition is inelegant, except where long and general use has sanctioned it, and made the relation sufficiently intelligible. In the following sentence, _of_ is needed: "I will not flatter you, that all I see in you is _worthy love_."-- _Shakspeare_. The following requires _from_: "Ridicule _is banished France_, and is losing ground in England."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 106. NOTE IV.--The _insertion_ of a preposition is also inelegant, when the particle is needless, or when it only robs a transitive verb of its proper regimen; as, "The people of England may congratulate _to_ themselves."--DRYDEN: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 163. "His servants ye are, _to_ whom ye obey."--_Rom._, vi, 16. NOTE V.--The preposition and its object should have that position in respect to other words, which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable. Examples of error: "Gratitude is a forcible and active principle in good and generous minds."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 169. Better: "In good and generous minds, gratitude is a forcible and active principle." "By a single stroke, he knows how to reach the heart."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 439. Better: "He knows how to reach the heart by a single stroke." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XXIII. EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--CHOICE OF PREPOSITIONS. "You have bestowed your favours to the most deserving persons."--_Swift, on E. Tongue_. [FORMULE.--Not proper because the relation between _have bestowed_ and _persons_ is not correctly expressed by the preposition _to_. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 23d, "Prepositions must be chosen and employed agreeably to the usage and idiom of the language, so as rightly to express the relations intended." This relation would be better expressed by _upon_; thus, "You have bestowed your favours _upon_ the most deserving persons."] "But to rise beyond that, and overtop the crowd, is given to few."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 351. "This also is a good sentence, and gives occasion to no material remark."--_Ib._, p. 201. "Though Cicero endeavours to give some reputation of the elder Cato, and those who were his cotemporaries."--_Ib._, p. 245. "The change that was produced on eloquence, is beautifully described in the Dialogue."--_Ib._, p. 249. "Without carefully attending to the variation which they make upon the idea."--_Ib._, p. 367. "All of a sudden, you are transported into a lofty palace."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 70. "Alike independent on one another."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 398. "You will not think of them as distinct processes going on independently on each other,"--_Channing's Self-Culture_, p. 15. "Though we say, to _depend on, dependent on_, and _independent on_, we say, _independently of_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 348. "Independently on the rest of the sentence."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 78; _Guy's_, 88; _Murray's_, i, 145 and 184; _Ingersoll's_, 150; _Frost's_, 46; _Fisk's_, 125; _Smith's New Gram._, 156; _Gould's Lat. Gram._, 209; _Nixon's Parser_, 65. "Because they stand independent on the rest of the sentence."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 111. "When a substantive is joined with a participle in English independently in the rest of the sentence."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram., Boston Ed. of 1803_, p. 213; _Albany Ed. of 1820_, p. 166. "Conjunction, comes of the two Latin words _con_, together, and _jungo_, to join."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 19. "How different to this is the life of Fulvia!"--_Addison's Spect._, No. 15. "_Loved_ is a participle or adjective, derived of the word _love_."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 27. "But I would inquire at him, what an office is?"--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 463. "For the capacity is brought unto action."--_Ib._, iii, 420. "In this period, language and taste arrive to purity."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 94. "And should you not aspire at distinction in the republick of letters."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 13. "Delivering you up to the synagogues, and in prisons."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 55. "One that is kept from falling in a ditch, is as truly saved, as he that is taken out of one."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 312. "The best on it is, they are but a sort of French Hugonots."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 62. "These last Ten Examples are indeed of a different Nature to the former."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 333. "For the initiation of students in the principles of the English language."--ANNUAL REVIEW: _Murray's Gram._, ii, 299. "Richelieu profited of every circumstance which the conjuncture afforded,"--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 177. "In the names of drugs and plants, the mistake in a word may endanger life."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 165. "In order to the carrying on its several parts into execution."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 192. "His abhorrence to the superstitious figure."--HUME: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 164. "Thy prejudice to my cause."--DRYDEN: _ib._, p. 164. "Which is found among every species of liberty."--HUME: _ib._, p. 169. "In a hilly region to the north of Jericho."--_Milman's Jews_, Vol. i, p. 8. "Two or more singular nouns, coupled with AND, require a verb and pronoun in the plural."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 83. "Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight, or use."--_Denham_, p. 239. UNDER NOTE II.--TWO OBJECTS OR MORE. "The Anglo-Saxons, however, soon quarrelled between themselves for precedence."--_Constable's Miscellany_, xx, p. 59. "The distinctions between the principal parts of speech are founded in nature."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 7. "I think I now understand the difference between the active, passive, and neuter verbs."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 124. "Thus a figure including a space between three lines, is the real as well as nominal essence of a triangle."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 303. "We must distinguish between an imperfect phrase, a simple sentence, and a compound sentence."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 117; _Murray's_, i, 267; _Ingersoll's_, 280; _Guy's_, 97. "The Jews are strictly forbidden by their law, to exercise usury among one another."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 177. "All the writers have distinguished themselves among one another."--_Addison_. "This expression also better secures the systematic uniformity between the three cases."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 98. "When a disjunctive occurs between two or more Infinitive Modes, or clauses, the verb must be singular."-- _Jaudon's Gram._, p. 95. "Several nouns or pronouns together in the same case, not united by _and_, require a comma between each."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 115. "The difference between the several vowels is produced by opening the mouth differently, and placing the tongue in a different manner for each."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 2. "Thus feet composed of syllables, being pronounced with a sensible interval between each, make a more lively impression than can be made by a continued sound."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 32. "The superlative degree implies a comparison between three or more."--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 51. "They are used to mark a distinction between several objects."--_Levizac's Gram._, p. 85. UNDER NOTE III.--OMISSION OF PREPOSITIONS. "This would have been less worthy notice."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 197. "But I passed it, as a thing unworthy my notice."--_Werter_. "Which, in compliment to me, perhaps, you may, one day, think worthy your attention."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 81. "To think this small present worthy an introduction to the young ladies of your very elegant establishment."-- _Ib._, p. iv. "There are but a few miles portage."--_Jefferson's Notes on Virginia_, p. 17. "It is worthy notice, that our mountains are not solitary."--_Ib._, p. 26. "It is of about one hundred feet diameter."-- _Ib._, 33. "Entering a hill a quarter or half a mile."--_Ib._, p. 47. "And herself seems passing to that awful dissolution, whose issue is not given human foresight to scan."--_Ib._, p. 100. "It was of a spheroidical form, of about forty feet diameter at the base, and had been of about twelve feet altitude."--_Ib._, p. 143. "Before this it was covered with trees of twelve inches diameter, and round the base was an excavation of five feet depth and width."--_Ibid._ "Then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure."--_Deut._, xxiii, 24. "Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary."--_Ezekiel_, xliv, 1. "They will bless God that he has peopled one half the world with a race of freemen."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 94. "What use can these words be, till their meaning is known?"--_Town's Analysis_, p. 7. "The tents of the Arabs now are black, or a very dark colour."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 265. "They may not be unworthy the attention of young men."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 157. "The pronoun that is frequently applied to persons, as well as things."-- _Merchant's Gram._, p. 87. "And _who_ is in the same case that _man_ is."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 148. "He saw a flaming stone, apparently about four feet diameter."--_The Friend_, vii, 409. "Pliny informs us, that this stone was the size of a cart."--_Ibid._ "Seneca was about twenty years of age in the fifth year of Tiberius, when the Jews were expelled Rome."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. 11. "I was prevented[438] reading a letter which would have undeceived me."--_Hawkesworth, Adv._, No. 54. "If the problem can be solved, we may be pardoned the inaccuracy of its demonstration."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 25. "The army must of necessity be the school, not of honour, but effeminacy."--_Brown's Estimate_, i. 65. "Afraid of the virtue of a nation, in its opposing bad measures."--_Ib._, i, 73. "The uniting them in various ways, so as to form words, would be easy."--_Music of Nature_, p. 34. "I might be excused taking any more notice of it."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 65. "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."--_Matt._, xxiv, 42. "Here, not even infants were spared the sword."--_M'Ilvaine's Lectures_, p. 313. "To prevent men turning aside to corrupt modes of worship."--_Calvin's Institutes_, B. I, Ch. 12, Sec. 1. "God expelled them the Garden of Eden."--_Burder's Hist._, Vol. i, p. 10. "Nor could he refrain expressing to the senate the agonies of his mind"--_Art of Thinking_, p. 123. "Who now so strenuously opposes the granting him any new powers."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 127. "That the laws of the censors have banished him the forum."--_Ib._, p. 140. "We read not that he was degraded his office any other way."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 149. "To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting."--_Hutchinson's Mass._, i, 459. "On the 1st, August, 1834."--_British Act for the Abolition of Slavery_. "Whether you had not some time in your life Err'd in this point which now you censure him."--_Shak_. UNDER NOTE IV.--OF NEEDLESS PREPOSITIONS. "And the apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 481. "And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter."--_Acts_, xv, 6. "Adjectives in our Language have neither Case, Gender, nor Number; the only Variation they have is by Comparison."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 27. "'It is to you, that I am indebted for this privilege;' that is, 'to you am I indebted;' or, 'It is to you to whom I am indebted.'"--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 232. "_Books_ is a noun, of the third person, plural number, of neuter gender,"-- _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 15. "_Brother's_ is a common substantive, of the masculine gender, the third person, the singular number, and in the possessive case."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 229. "_Virtue's_ is a common substantive, of the third person, the singular number, and in the possessive case."--_Ib._, i, 228. "When the authorities on one side greatly preponderate, it is in vain to oppose the prevailing usage."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 173; _Murray's Gram._, i, 367. "A captain of a troop of banditti, had a mind to be plundering of Rome."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 51. "And, notwithstanding of its Verbal power, we have added the _to_ and other signs of exertion."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 28. "Some of these situations are termed CASES, and are expressed by additions to the Noun instead of by separate words."--_Ib._, p. 33. "Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head like a bulrush?"--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 65. "And this first emotion comes at last to be awakened by the accidental, instead of, by the necessary antecedent."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 17. "At about the same time, the subjugation of the Moors was completed."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 269. "God divided between the light and between the darkness."-- _Burder's Hist._, i, 1. "Notwithstanding of this, we are not against outward significations of honour."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 242. "Whether these words and practices of Job's friends, be for to be our rule."--_Ib._, i, 243. "Such verb cannot admit of an objective case after it."--_Lowth's Gram._, "For which God is now visibly punishing of these Nations."--_Right of Tythes_, "In this respect, Tasso yields to no poet, except to Homer."--_Blair's Rhet._, "Notwithstanding of the numerous panegyrics on the ancient English liberty."--HUME: _Priestley's Gram._, "Their efforts seemed to anticipate on the spirit, which became so general afterwards."--_Id., ib._, p. 167. UNDER NOTE V.--THE PLACING OF THE WORDS. "But how short are my expressions of its excellency!"--_Baxter_. "There is a remarkable union in his style, of harmony with ease."--_Blair's Rhet._, "It disposes in the most artificial manner, of the light and shade, for viewing every thing to the best advantage."--"Aristotle too holds an eminent rank among didactic writers for his brevity."--"In an introduction, correctness should be carefully studied in the expression."--"Precision is to be studied, above all things in laying down a method."--"Which shall make the impression on the mind of something that is one, whole and entire."--"At the same time, there are some defects which must be acknowledged in the Odyssey."--"Beauties, however, there are, in the concluding books, of the tragic kind."--"These forms of conversation by degrees multiplied and grew troublesome."--_Spectator_, No. 119. "When she has made her own choice, for form's sake, she sends a conge-d'-elire to her friends."--"Let us endeavour to establish to ourselves an interest in him who holds the reins of the whole creation in his hand."--"Let us endeavour to establish to ourselves an interest in him, who, in his hand, holds the reins of the whole creation."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 53. "The most frequent measure next to this in English poetry is that of eight syllables."--_Blair's Gram._, "To introduce as great a variety as possible of cadences."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, "He addressed several exhortations to them suitable to their circumstances."--_Murray's Key_, ii, "Habits must be acquired of temperance and self-denial."--"In reducing the rules prescribed to practice."--_Murray's Gram._, "But these parts must be so closely bound together as to make the impression upon the mind, of one object, not of many."--_Blair's Rhet._, "Errors are sometimes committed by the most distinguished writer, with respect to the use of _shall_ and _will_"--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, CHAPTER XI--INTERJECTIONS. Interjections, being seldom any thing more than natural sounds or short words uttered independently, can hardly be said to have any _syntax_; but since some rule is necessary to show the learner how to dispose of them in parsing, a brief axiom for that purpose, is here added, which completes our series of rules: and, after several remarks on this canon, and on the common treatment of Interjections, this chapter is made to embrace _Exercises_ upon all the other parts of speech, that the chapters in the Key may correspond to those of the Grammar. RULE XXIV.--INTERJECTIONS. Interjections have no dependent construction; they are put absolute, either alone, or with other words: as, "_O!_ let not thy heart despise me."--_Dr. Johnson_. "_O_ cruel _thou_!"--_Pope, Odys._, B. xii, l. 333. "Ah wretched _we_, poets of earth!"--_Cowley_, "_Ah Dennis! Gildon ah!_ what ill-starr'd rage Divides a friendship long confirm'd by age?" _Pope, Dunciad_, B. iii, OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XXIV. OBS. 1.--To this rule, there are properly _no exceptions_. Though interjections are sometimes uttered in close connexion with other words, yet, being mere signs of passion or of feeling, they seem not to have any strict grammatical relation, or dependence according to the sense. Being destitute alike of relation, agreement, and government, they must be used independently, if used at all. Yet an emotion signified in this manner, not being causeless, may be accompanied by some object, expressed either by a nominative absolute, or by an adjective after _for_: as, "_Alas!_ poor _Yorick!_"--_Shak_. Here the grief denoted by _alas_, is certainly _for Yorick_; as much so, as if the expression were, "Alas _for_ poor Yorick!" But, in either case, _alas_, I think, has no dependent construction; neither has _Yorick_, in the former, unless we suppose an ellipsis of some governing word. OBS. 2.--The interjection _O_ is common to many languages, and is frequently uttered, in token of earnestness, before nouns or pronouns put absolute by direct address; as, "Arise, _O Lord; O God_, lift up thine hand."--_Psalms_, x, 12. "_O ye_ of little faith!"--_Matt._, vi, 30. The Latin and Greek grammarians, therefore, made this interjection the _sign_ of the _vocative case_; which case is the same as the nominative put absolute by address in English. But this particle is no positive index of the vocative; because an independent address may be made without that sign, and the _O_ may be used where there is no address: as, "_O_ scandalous want! _O_ shameful omission!"--"Pray, _Sir_, don't be uneasy."--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 86. OBS. 3.--Some grammarians ascribe to two or three of our interjections the power of governing sometimes the nominative case, and sometimes the objective. First, NIXON; in an exercise entitled, "NOMINATIVE GOVERNED BY AN INTERJECTION," thus: "The interjections O! Oh! and Ah! _require_ after them the nominative case of a _substantive_ in the _second_ person; as, 'O thou _persecutor!_'--'O Alexander! thou hast slain thy friend.' _O_ is an interjection, _governing_ the nominative case _Alexander_."--_English Parser_, Again, under the title, "OBJECTIVE CASE GOVERNED BY AN INTERJECTION," he says: "The interjections O! Oh! and Ah! _require_ after them the objective case of a _substantive_ in the _first_ or _third_ person; as, 'Oh _me!_' 'Oh the _humiliations_!' _Oh_ is an interjection, _governing_ the objective case _humiliations_."--These two rules are in fact contradictory, while each of them absurdly suggests that _O, oh_, and _ah_, are used only with nouns. So J. M. PUTNAM: "Interjections sometimes _govern_ an objective case; as, _Ah me! O_ the tender _ties! O_ the soft _enmity! O me_ miserable! _O_ wretched _prince! O_ cruel _reverse_ of fortune! When an address is made, the interjection does not perform the office of government."--_Putnam's Gram._, So KIRKHAM; who, under a rule quite different from these, extends the doctrine of government to _all_ interjections: "According to the genius of the English language, transitive verbs and prepositions _require_ the objective case of a noun or pronoun after them; and this requisition is all that is meant by _government_, when we say that these parts of speech _govern the objective_ case. THE SAME PRINCIPLE APPLIES TO THE INTERJECTION. 'Interjections _require_ the objective case of a pronoun of the first person after them; but the nominative of a noun or pronoun of the second or third person; as, Ah _me_! Oh _thou_! O my _country!_' To say, then, that interjections _require_ particular cases after them, is synonymous with saying, that they _govern_ those cases; and this office of the interjection is in _perfect accordance_ with that which it performs in the Latin, and many other languages."--_Kirkham's Gram._, According to this, every interjection has as much need of an object after it, as has a transitive verb or a preposition! The rule has, certainly, _no_ "accordance" with what occurs in Latin, or in any other language; it is wholly a fabrication, though found, in some shape or other, in well-nigh all English grammars. OBS. 4.--L. MURRAY'S doctrine on this point is thus expressed: "The interjections _O! Oh!_ and _Ah! require_ the objective case of a pronoun in the first person after them, as, 'O me! oh me! Ah me!' But the nominative case in the second person: as, 'O thou persecutor!' 'Oh ye hypocrites!' 'O thou, who dwellest,' &c."--_Octavo Gram._, INGERSOLL copies this most faulty note literally, adding these words to its abrupt end,--i. e., to its inexplicable "&c." used by Murray; "because the first person _is governed by a preposition_ understood: as, 'Ah _for_ me!' or, '_O what will become of_ me!' &c., and the second person is in the _nominative independent_, there being a direct address."--_Conversations on E. Gram._, So we see that this grammarian and Kirkham, both modifiers of Murray, understand their master's false verb "_require_" very differently. LENNIE too, in renouncing a part of Murray's double or threefold error, "_Oh! happy us!_" for, "_O_ happy _we!_" teaches thus: "Interjections sometimes _require_ the objective case after them, but they never _govern_ it. In the first edition of this grammar," says he, "I followed Mr. Murray and others, in leaving _we_, in the exercises to be turned into _us_; but that it should be _we_, and not _us_, is obvious; because it is the nominative to _are_ understood; thus, _Oh_ happy _are we_, or, _Oh we are_ happy, (being) surrounded with so many blessings."--_Lennie's Gram., Fifth Edition, Twelfth_, Here is an other solution of the construction of this pronoun of the first person, contradictory alike to Ingersoll's, to Kirkham's, and to Murray's; while _all are wrong_, and this among the rest. The word should indeed be _we_, and not _us_; because we have both analogy and good authority for the former case, and nothing but the false conceit of sundry grammatists for the latter. But it is a _nominative absolute_, like any other nominative which we use in the same exclamatory manner. For the first person may just as well be put in the nominative absolute, by exclamation, as any other; as, "Behold _I_ and the _children_ whom God hath given me!"--_Heb._, "Ecce _ego_ et _pueri_ quos mihi dedit Deus!"--_Beza_. "O brave _we!_"--_Dr. Johnson, often_. So Horace: "O _ego_ laevus," &c.--_Ep. ad Pi._, 301. "Ah! luckless _I!_ who purge in spring my spleen-- Else sure the first of bards had Horace been." --_Francis's Hor._, ii, 209. OBS. 5.--Whether Murray's remark above, on "_O! Oh!_ and _Ah!_" was originally designed for a _rule of government_ or not, it is hardly worth any one's while to inquire. It is too lame and inaccurate every way, to deserve any notice, but that which should serve to explode it forever. Yet no few, who have since made English grammars, have copied the text literally; as they have, for the public benefit, stolen a thousand other errors from the same quarter. The reader will find it, with little or no change, in Smith's New Grammar, p. 96 and 134; Alger's, 56; Allen's, 117; Russell's, 92; Blair's, 100, Guy's, 89; Abel Flint's, 59; A Teacher's, 43, Picket's, 210; Cooper's[439] Murray, 136; Wilcox's, 95; Bucke's, 87; Emmons's, 77; and probably in others. Lennie varies it _indefinitely_, thus: "RULE. The interjections _Oh!_ and _Ah!_ &c. _generally_ require the objective case of the first personal pronoun, _and_ the nominative of the second; as, Ah _me!_ O _thou_ fool! O _ye_ hypocrites!"--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 110; _Brace's_, 88. M'Culloch, after Crombie, thus: "RULE XX. Interjections are joined with the objective case of the pronoun of the first person, and with the nominative of the pronoun of the second; as, Ah me! O ye hypocrites."--_Manual of E. Gram._, p. 145; and _Crombie's Treatise_, p. 315; also _Fowler's E. Language_, p. 563. Hiley makes it a note, thus: "The interjections. O! Oh! Ah! _are followed by_ the objective case of a pronoun of the first person; as, _'Oh me!' 'Ah me!'_ but by the nominative case of the pronoun in the second person; as, '_O thou_ who dwellest.' "--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 82. This is what the same author elsewhere calls "THE GOVERNMENT OF INTERJECTIONS;" though, like some others, he had set it in the "Syntax of PRONOUNS." See _Ib._, p. 108. Murray, in forming his own little "Abridgment," omitted it altogether. In his other grammars, it is still a mere note, standing where he at first absurdly put it, under his rule for the agreement of pronouns with their antecedents. By many of his sage amenders, it has been placed in the catalogue of principal rules. But, that it is no adequate rule for interjections, is manifest; for, in its usual form, it is limited to _three_, and none of these can ever, with any propriety, be parsed by it. Murray himself has not used it in any of his forms of parsing. He conceived, (as I hinted before in Chapter 1st,) that, "The syntax of the Interjection is of _so very limited a nature_, that it _does not require_ a distinct, appropriate rule."--_Octavo Gram._, i. 224. OBS. 6.--Against this remark of Murray's, a good argument may be drawn from the ridiculous use which has been made of his own suggestion in the other place. For, though that suggestion never had in it the least shadow of truth, and was never at all applicable either to the three interjections, or to pronouns, or to cases, or to the persons, or to any thing else of which it speaks, it has not only been often copied literally, and called a "RULE" of syntax, but many have, yet more absurdly, made it a _general canon_ which imposes on all interjections a syntax that belongs to none of them. For example: "_An interjection must be followed_ by the objective case of a pronoun in the first person; _and_ by a nominative of the second person; as--_Oh me! ah me! oh thou! AH hail, ye_ happy men!"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 116. This is as much as to say, that every interjection must have a pronoun or two after it! Again: "_Interjections must be followed_ by the objective case of the pronoun in the first person; as, O _me!_ Ah _me!_ and by the nominative case of the second person; as, O _thou_ persecutor! Oh _ye_ hypocrites!"--_Merchant's Murray_, p. 80; _Merchant's School Gram._, p. 99. I imagine there is a difference between O and _oh_,[440] and that this author, as well as Murray, in the first and the last of these examples, has misapplied them both. Again: "_Interjections require_ the objective case of a pronoun of the first person, and the nominative case of the second; as, _Ah me! O thou_"--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 48. This, too, is general, but equivocal; as if one case or both were necessary to each interjection! OBS. 7.--Of _nouns_, or of the _third person_, the three rules last cited say nothing;[441] though it appears from other evidence, that their authors supposed them applicable at least to _some nouns_ of the _second person_. The supposition however was quite needless, because each of their grammars contains an other Rule, that, "When an address is made, the noun or pronoun is in the nominative case _independent_;" which, by the by, is far from being universally true, either of the noun or of the pronoun. Russell imagines, "The words _depending_ upon interjections, have so near a resemblance to those in a direct address, that they may very properly be classed under the same general head," and be parsed as being, "in the nominative case _independent_." See his "_Abridgment of Murray's Grammar_," p. 91. He does not perceive that _depending_ and _independent_ are words that contradict each other. Into the same inconsistency, do nearly all those gentlemen fall, who ascribe to interjections a control over cases. Even Kirkham, who so earnestly contends that what any words _require_ after them they must necessarily _govern_, forgets his whole argument, or justly disbelieves it, whenever he parses any noun that is uttered with an interjection. In short, he applies his principle to nothing but the word _me_ in the phrases, "_Ah me!_" "_Oh me!_" and "_Me miserable!_" and even these he parses falsely. The second person used in the vocative, or the nominative put absolute by direct address, whether an interjection be used or not, he rightly explains as being "in the nominative case independent;" as, "O _Jerusalem, Jerusalem!_"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 130. "O _maid_ of Inistore!"--_Ib._, p. 131. But he is wrong in saying that, "Whenever a noun is of the second person, it is in the nominative case independent;" (_Ib._, p. 130;) and still more so, in supposing that, "The principle contained in the note" [which tells what interjections _require_,] "_proves_ that every noun of the second person is in the nominative case."--_Ib._, p. 164. A falsehood proves nothing but the ignorance or the wickedness of him who utters it. He is wrong too, as well as many others, in supposing that this nominative independent is not a nominative absolute; for, "The vocative is [_generally_, if not _always_,] absolute."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 142. But that nouns of the second person are not always absolute or independent, nor always in the nominative case, or the vocative, appears, I think, by the following example: "This is the stone which was set at nought _of you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, II. See Obs. 3d on Rule 8th. OBS. 8.--The third person, when uttered in exclamation, with an interjection before it, is parsed by Kirkham, not as being governed by the interjection, either in the nominative case, according to his own argument and own rule above cited, or in the objective, according to Nixon's notion of the construction; nor yet as being put absolute in the nominative, as I believe it generally, if not always is; but as being "the nominative to a verb understood; as, 'Lo,' _there is_ 'the poor _Indian_!' '0, the _pain_' _there is!_ 'the _bliss_' _there is_ 'IN dying!'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 129. Pope's text is, "_Oh_ the pain, the bliss _of_ dying!" and, in all that is here changed, the grammarian has perverted it, if not in all that he has added. It is an other principle of Kirkham's Grammar, though a false one, that, "Nouns have but two persons, the second and [the] third."--P. 37. So that, these two being disposed of agreeably to his own methods above, which appear to include the second and third persons of pronouns also, there remains to him nothing but the objective of the pronoun of the first person to which he can suppose his other rule to apply; and I have shown that there is no truth in it, even in regard to this. Yet, with the strongest professions of adhering to the principles, and even to "the language" of Lindley Murray, this gentleman, by copying somebody else in preference to "that eminent philologist," has made himself one of those by whom Murray's erroneous remark on _O, oh_, and _ah_, with pronouns of the first and second persons, is not only stretched into a rule for all interjections, but made to include nouns of the second person, and both nouns and pronouns of the third person: as, "Interjections require the objective case of a pronoun of the first person after them, but the nominative of a noun or pronoun of the second or third person; as, 'Ah! _me_; Oh! _thou_; O! _virtue_!'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 134; Stereotype Ed., p. 177. See the same rule, with examples and punctuation different, in his _Stereotype Edition_, p. 164; _Comly's Gram._, 116; _Greenleaf's_, 36; and _Fisk's_, 144. All these authors, except Comly, who comes much nearest to the thing, profess to present to us "_Murray's Grammar Simplified_;" and this is a sample of their work of _simplification_!--an ignorant piling of errors on errors! "O imitatores servum pecus! ut mihi saepe Bilem, saepe jocum vestri movere tumultus!"--_Horace_. OBS. 9.--Since so many of our grammarians conceive that interjections require or govern cases, it may be proper to cite some who teach otherwise. "Interjections, in English, have no government."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 111. "Interjections have no government, or admit of no construction."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 189. "Interjections have no connexion with other word's."--_Fuller's Gram._, p. 71. "The interjection, in a grammatical sense, is totally unconnected with every other word in a sentence. Its arrangement, of course, is altogether arbitrary, and cannot admit of any theory."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 83. "Interjections cannot properly have either concord or government. They are only mere sounds excited by passion, and have no just connexion with any other part of a sentence. Whatever case, therefore, is joined with them, must depend on some other word understood, except the vocative, which is always placed absolutely."--_Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 196; _Gould's_, 193. If this is true of the Latin language, a slight variation will make it as true of ours. "Interjections, and phrases resembling them, are taken absolutely; as, _Oh_, world, _thy slippery turns_! But the phrases Oh _me_! and Ah _me_! frequently occur."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 188. This passage is, in several respects, wrong; yet the leading idea is true. The author entitles it, "SYNTAX OF INTERJECTIONS," yet absurdly includes in it I know not what _phrases_! In the phrase, "_thy slippery turns!_" no word is absolute, or "taken absolutely" but this noun "_turns_;" and this, without the least hint of its _case_, the learned author will have us to understand to be absolute, because the phrase _resembles an interjection!_ But the noun "_world_" which is also absolute, and which still more resembles an interjection, he will have to be so for a different reason--because it is in what he chooses to call the _vocative case_. But, according to custom, he should rather have put his interjection absolute _with_ the noun, and written it, "_O world_," and not, "_Oh, world_." What he meant to do with "_Oh me!_ and _Ah me!_" is doubtful. If any phrases come fairly under his rule, these are the very ones; and yet he seems to introduce them as exceptions! Of these, it can hardly be said, that they "_frequently_ occur." Lowth notices only the latter, which he supposes elliptical. The former I do not remember to have met with more than three or four times; except in grammars, which in this case are hardly to be called authorities: "_Oh! me_, how fared it with me then?"--_Job Scott_. "_Oh me!_ all the horse have got over the river, what shall we do?"--WALTON: _Joh. Dict._ "But when he was first seen, _oh me!_ What shrieking and what misery!"--_Wordsworth's Works_, p. 114. OBS. 10.--When a declinable word not in the nominative absolute, follows an interjection, as part of an imperfect exclamation, its construction (if the phrase be good English) depends on something understood; as, "Ah _me!_"--that is, "Ah! _pity_ me;" or, "Ah! _it grieves_ me;" or, as some will have it, (because the expression in Latin is "_Hei mihi!_") "Ah _for_ me!"--_Ingersoll_. "Ah! _wo is to_ me."--_Lowth_. "Ah! _sorrow is to_ me."--_Coar_. So of "_oh me!_" for, in these expressions, if not generally, _oh_ and _ah_ are exactly equivalent the one to the other. As for "_O me_" it is now seldom met with, though Shakspeare has it a few times. From these examples, O. B. Peirce erroneously imagines the "independent case" of the pronoun _I_ to be _me_, and accordingly parses the word without supposing an ellipsis; but in the plural he makes that case to be _we_, and not _us_. So, having found an example of "Ah _Him!_" which, according to one half of our grammarians, is bad English, he conceives the independent case of _he_ to be _him_; but in the plural, and in both numbers of the words _thou_ and _she_, he makes it the nominative, or the same in form as the nominative. So builds he "the temple of Grammatical consistency!"--P. 7. Nixon and Cooper must of course approve of "_Ah him!_" because they assume that the interjection _ah_ "_requires_" or "_governs_" the objective case of the third person. Others must condemn the expression, because they teach that _ah_ requires the nominative case of this person. Thus Greenleaf sets down for false syntax, "O! happy _them_, surrounded with so many blessings!"--_Gram. Simplified_, p. 47. Here, undoubtedly, the word should be _they_; and, by analogy, (if indeed the instances are analogous,) it would seem more proper to say, "Ah _he!_" the nominative being our only case absolute. But if any will insist that "_Ah him!_" is good English, they must suppose that _him_ is governed by something understood; as, "Ah! I _lament_ him;" or, "Ah! _I mourn for_ him." And possibly, on this principle, the example referred to may be most correct as it stands, with the pronoun in the objective case: "_Ah Him!_ the first great martyr in this great cause."--D. WEBSTER: _Peirce's Gram._, p. 199. OBS. 11.--If we turn to the Latin syntax, to determine by analogy what case is used, or ought to be used, after our English interjections, in stead of finding a "perfect accordance" between that syntax and the rule for which such accordance has been claimed, we see at once an utter repugnance, and that the pretence of their agreement is only a sample of Kirkham's unconscionable pedantry. The rule, in all its modifications, is based on the principle, that the choice of _cases_ depends on the distinction of _persons_--a principle plainly contrary to the usage of the Latin classics, and altogether untrue. In Latin, some interjections are construed with the nominative, the accusative, or the vocative; some, only with the dative; some, only with the vocative. But, in English, these four cases are all included in two, the nominative and the objective; and, the case independent or absolute being necessarily the nominative, it follows that the objective, if it occur after an interjection, must be the object of something which is capable of governing it. If any disputant, by supposing ellipses, will make objectives of what I call nominatives absolute, so be it; but I insist that interjections, in fact, never "require" or "govern" one case more than an other. So Peirce, and Kirkham, and Ingersoll, with pointed self-contradiction, may continue to make "the independent case," whether vocative or merely exclamatory, the subject of a verb, expressed or understood; but I will content myself with endeavouring to establish a syntax not liable to this sort of objection. In doing this, it is proper to look at all the facts which go to show what is right, or wrong. "_Lo, the poor Indian!_" is in Latin, "_Ecce pauper Indus!_" or, "_Ecce pauperem Indum!_" This use of either the nominative or the accusative after _ecce_, if it proves any thing concerning the case of the word _Indian_, proves it doubtful. Some, it seems, pronounce it an objective. Some, like Murray, say nothing about it. Following the analogy of our own language, I refer it to the nominative absolute, because there is nothing to determine it to be otherwise. In the examples. "_Heu me miserum!_ Ah _wretch_ that I am!"--(_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 263.) and "_Miser ego homo!_ O wretched _man_ that I am!"--(_Rom._, vii, 24,) if the word _that_ is a relative pronoun, as I incline to think it is, the case of the nouns _wretch_ and _man_ does not depend on any other words, either expressed or implied. They are therefore nominatives absolute, according to Rule 8th, though the Latin words may be most properly explained on the principle of ellipsis. OBS. 12.--Of some impenetrable blockhead, Horace, telling how himself was vexed, says: "_O te_, Bollane, cerebri Felicem! aiebam tacitus."--_Lib._ i, _Sat._ ix, 11. Literally: "_O thee_, Bollanus, happy of brain! said I to myself." That is, "O! _I envy_ thee," &c. This shows that _O_ does not "require the nominative case of the second person" after it, at least, in Latin. Neither does _oh_ or _ah_: for, if a governing word be suggested, the objective may be proper; as, "Whom did he injure? Ah! _thee_, my boy?"--or even the possessive; as, "Whose sobs do I hear? Oh! _thine_, my child?" Kirkham tells us truly, (Gram., p. 126,) that the exclamation "_O my_" is frequently heard in conversation. These last resemble Lucan's use of the genitive, with an ellipsis of the governing noun: "_O miserae sortis!_" i.e., "_O_ [men] _of miserable lot!_" In short, all the Latin cases as well as all the English, may possibly occur after one or other of the interjections. I have instanced all but the ablative, and the following is literally an example of that, though the word _quanto_ is construed adverbially: "Ah, _quanto_ satius est!"--_Ter. And._, ii, 1. "Ah, _how much_ better it is!" I have also shown, by good authorities, that the nominative of the first person, both in English and in Latin, may be properly used after those interjections which have been supposed to require or govern the objective. But how far is analogy alone a justification? Is "_O thee_" good English, because "_O te_" is good Latin? No: nor is it bad for the reason which our grammarians assign, but because our best writers never use it, and because _O_ is more properly the sign of the vocative. The literal version above should therefore be changed; as, "O Bollanus, _thou_ happy numskull! said I to myself." OBS. 13--Allen Fisk, "author of Adam's Latin Grammar Simplified," and of "Murray's English Grammar Simplified," sets down for "_False Syntax_" not only that hackneyed example, "Oh! happy we," &c., but, "O! You, who love iniquity," and, "Ah! you, who hate the light."--_Fisk's E. Gram._, p. 144. But, to imagine that either _you_ or _we_ is wrong here, is certainly no sing of a great linguist; and his punctuation is very inconsistent both with his own rule of syntax and with common practice. An interjection set off by a comma or an exclamation point, is of course put absolute _singly_, or by itself. If it is to be read as being put absolute with something else, the separation is improper. One might just as well divide a preposition from its object, as an interjection from the case which it is supposed to govern. Yet we find here not only such a division as Murray sometimes improperly adopted, but in one instance a total separation, with a capital following; as, "O! You, who love iniquity," for, "O you who love iniquity!" or "O ye," &c. If a point be here set between the two pronouns, the speaker accuses all his hearers of loving iniquity; if this point be removed, he addresses only such as do love it. But an interjection and a pronoun, each put absolute singly, one after the other, seem to me not to constitute a very natural exclamation. The last example above should therefore be, "Ah! you hate the light." The first should be written, "_O_ happy we!" OBS. 14.--In other grammars, too, there are many instances of some of the errors here pointed out. R. C. Smith knows no difference between _O_ and _oh_; takes "_Oh!_ happy _us_" to be accurate English; sees no impropriety in separating interjections from the pronouns which he supposes them to "govern;" writes the same examples variously, even on the same page; inserts or omits commas or exclamation points at random; yet makes the latter the means by which interjections are to be known! See his _New Gram._, pp. 40, 96 and 134. Kirkham, who lays claim to "a new system of punctuation," and also stoutly asserts the governing power of interjections, writes, and rewrites, and finally stereotypes, in one part of his book. "Ah me! _Oh_ thou! O my country!" and in an other, "Ah! me; _Oh!_ thou; O! virtue." See Obs. 3d and Obs. 8th above. From such hands, any thing "_new_" should be received with caution: this last specimen of his scholarship has more errors than words. OBS. 15.--Some few of our interjections seem to admit of a connexion with other words by means of a preposition or the conjunction _that_ as, "O _to_ forget her!"--_Young_. "O _for_ that warning voice!"--_Milton_. "O _that_ they were wise!"--_Deut._, xxxii, 29. "O _that_ my people had hearkened unto me!"--_Ps._, lxxxi, 13, "Alas _for_ Sicily!"--_Cowper_. "O _for_ a world in principle as chaste As this is gross and selfish!"--_Id._ "Hurrah _for_ Jackson!"--_Newspaper_. "A bawd, sir, fy _upon_ him!"--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict._ "And fy _on_ fortune, mine avowed foe!"--SPENCER: _ib._ This connexion, however, even if we parse all the words just as they stand, does not give to the interjection itself any dependent construction. It appears indeed to refute Jamieson's assertion, that, "The interjection is _totally unconnected_ with every other word in a sentence;" but I did not quote this passage, with any averment of its accuracy; and, certainly, many nouns which are put absolute themselves, have in like manner a connexion with words that are not put absolute: as, "O _Lord_ God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O _God_ of Jacob. Selah."--_Ps._, lxxxiv, 8. But if any will suppose, that in the foregoing examples something else than the interjection must be the antecedent term to the preposition or the conjunction, they may consider the expressions elliptical: though it must be confessed, that much of their vivacity will be lost, when the supposed ellipses are supplied: as, "O! _I desire_ to forget her."--"O! _how I long_ for that warning voice!"--"O! _how I wish_ that they were wise!"--"Alas! I _wail_ for Sicily."--"Hurrah! _I shout_ for Jackson."--"Fy! _cry out_ upon him." Lindley Murray has one example of this kind, and if his punctuation of it is not bad in all his editions, there must be an ellipsis in the expression: "O! _for_ better times."--_Octavo Gram._, ii, 6; _Duodecimo Exercises_, p. 10. He also writes it thus: "O. _for_ better times."--_Octavo Gram._, i, 120; _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 47. According to common usage, it should be, "O for better times!" OBS. 16.--The interjection may be placed at the _beginning_ or the _end_ of a simple sentence, and sometimes _between_ its less intimate parts; but this part of speech is seldom, if ever, allowed to interrupt the connexion of any words which are closely united in sense. Murray's definition of an interjection, as I have elsewhere shown, is faulty, and directly contradicted by his example: "O virtue! how amiable thou art!"--_Octavo Gram._, i, 28 and 128; ii. 2. This was a favourite sentence with Murray, and he appears to have written it uniformly in this fashion; which, undoubtedly, is altogether right, except that the word _"virtue"_ should have had a capital Vee, because the quality is here personified. OBS. 17.--Misled by the false notion, that the term _interjection_ is appropriate only to what is "thrown in between the parts of a _sentence_," and perceiving that this is in fact but rarely the situation of this part of speech, a recent critic, (to whom I should owe some acknowledgements, if he were not wrong in every thing in which he charges me with error,) not only denounces this name as "_barbarous_," preferring Webster's loose term, "_exclamation_;" but avers, that, "The words called _interjection_ should _never_ be so used--should _always stand alone_; as, 'Oh! virtue, how amiable thou art.' 'Oh? Absalom, my son.' G. Brown," continues he, "drags one into the middle of a sentence, _where it never belonged_; thus, 'This enterprise, _alas_! will never compensate us for the trouble and expense with which it has been attended.' If G. B. meant the _enterprize_ of studying grammar, in the old theories, his sentiment is very appropriate; but his _alas_! he should have known enough to have put into the right place:--before the sentence representing the fact that excites the emotion expressed by _alas_! See on the Chart part 3, of RULE XVII. An _exclamation_ must _always precede_ the phrase or sentence describing the fact that excites the emotion to be expressed by the _exclamation_; as: Alas! I have alienated my friend! _Oh!_ Glorious hope of bliss secure!"--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 375. "O Glorious hope of bliss secure!"--_Ib._, p. 184. "O _glorious_ hope!"--_Ib._, p. 304. OBS. 18.--I see no reason to believe, that the class of words which have always, and almost universally, been called _interjections_, can ever be more conveniently explained under any other name; and, as for the term _exclamation_, which is preferred also by Cutler, Felton, Spencer, and S. W. Clark, it appears to me much less suitable than the old one, because it is less specific. Any words uttered loudly in the same breath, are _an exclamation_. This name therefore is too general; it includes other parts of speech than interjections; and it was but a foolish whim in Dr. Webster, to prefer it in his dictionaries. When David "cried _with a loud voice_, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!" [442] he uttered _two_ exclamations, but they included all his words. He did not, like my critic above, set off his first word with an interrogation point, or any other point. But, says Peirce, "These words are _used in exclaiming_, and are what all know them to be, _exclamations_; as I call them. May I not _call_ them what they _are_?"--_Ibid._ Yes, truly. But to _exclaim_ is to _cry out_, and consequently every _outcry_ is an _exclamation_; though there are two chances to one, that _no interjection_ at all be used by the bawler. As good an argument, or better, may be framed against every one of this gentleman's professed improvements in grammar; and as for his punctuation and orthography, any reader may be presumed capable of seeing that they are not fit to be proposed as models. OBS. 19.--I like my position of the word "_alas_" better than that which Peirce supposes to be its only right place; and, certainly, his rule for the location of words of this sort, as well as his notion that they must stand alone, is as false, as it is new. The obvious misstatement of Lowth, Adam, Gould, Murray, Churchill, Alger, Smith, Guy, Ingersoll, and others, that, "Interjections are words thrown in between the parts of _a sentence_," I had not only excluded from my grammars, but expressly censured in them. It was not, therefore, to prop any error of the old theorists, that I happened to set one interjection "_where_" according to this new oracle, "_it never belonged_." And if any body but he has been practically misled by their mistake, it is not I, but more probably some of the following authors, here cited for his refutation: "I fear, _alas!_ for my life."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 89. "I have been occupied, _alas_! with trifles."--_Murray's Gr., Ex. for Parsing_, p. 5; _Guy's_, p. 56. "We eagerly pursue pleasure, but, _alas!_ we often mistake the road."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 40, "To-morrow, _alas!_ thou _mayest_ be comfortless!"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 35. "Time flies, _O!_ how swiftly."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 226. "My friend, _alas!_ is dead."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 21. "But _John, alas! he_ is very idle."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 22. "For pale and wan he was, _alas_ the while!"--SPENSER: _Joh. Dict._ "But yet, _alas! O_ but yet, _alas!_ our haps be but hard haps."--SYDNEY: _ib._ "Nay, (what's incredible,) _alack!_ I _hardly_ hear a woman's clack."--SWIFT: _ib._ "Thus life is spent (_oh fie_ upon't!) In being touch'd, and crying--Don't!"--_Cowper_, i, 231. "For whom, _alas!_ dost thou prepare The sweets that I was wont to share"--_Id._, i, 203. "But here, _alas!_ the difference lies."--_Id._, i. 100. "Their names, _alas_! in vain reproach an age," &c.--_Id._, i, 88. "What nature, _alas!_ has denied," &c.--_Id._, i, 235. "A. _Hail_ Sternhold, then; and Hopkins, _hail!_ B. Amen."--_Id._, i 25. "These Fate reserv'd to grace thy reign divine, Foreseen by me, but _ah!_ withheld from mine!"--_Pope, Dun._, iii, 215. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX PROMISCUOUS. [Fist] [The following examples of bad grammar, being similar in their character to others already exhibited, are to be corrected, by the pupil, according to formules previously given.] LESSON I.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "Such an one I believe yours will be proved to be."--PEET: _Farnum's Gram._, p. 1. "Of the distinction between the imperfect and the perfect tenses, it may be observed," &c.--_Ainsworth's Gram._, p. 122. "The subject is certainly worthy consideration."--_Ib._, p. 117. "By this means all ambiguity and controversy is avoided on this point."--_Bullions, Principles of Eng. Gram., 5th Ed., Pref._, p. vi. "The perfect participle in English has both an active and passive signification."--_Ib._, p. 58. "The old house is at length fallen down."--_Ib._, p. 78. "The king, with the lords and commons, constitute the English form of government."--_Ib._, p. 93. "The verb in the singular agrees with the person next it."--_Ib._, p. 95. "Jane found Seth's gloves in James' hat."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 15. "Charles' task is too great."--_Ibid._, 15. "The conjugation of a verb is the naming, in regular order, its several modes tenses, numbers and persons."--_Ib._, p. 24. "The long remembered beggar was his guest."--_Ib._, 1st Ed., p. 65. "Participles refer to nouns and pronouns."--_Ib._, p. 81. "F has an uniform sound in every position except in _of_."--_Hallock's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 15. "There are three genders; the masculine, the feminine and neuter."--_Ib._, p. 43. "When _so that_ occur together, sometimes the particle _so_ is taken as an adverb."--_Ib._, p. 124. "The definition of the articles show that they modify the words to which they belong."--_Ib._, p. 138. "The auxiliaries _shall, will_, or _should_ is implied."--_Ib._, p. 192. "Single rhyme trochaic omits the final short syllable."--_Ib._, p. 244. "Agreeable to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's book,"--BURDER: _ib._, p. 156; _Webster's Philos. Gram._, 155; _Improved Gram._, 107. "The first person is the person speaking."--_Goldsbury's Common School Gram._, p. 10. "Accent is the laying a peculiar stress of the voice on a certain letter or syllable in a word."--_Ib._, Ed. of 1842, p. 75. "Thomas' horse was caught."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 64. "You was loved."--_Ib._, p. 45. "The nominative and objective end the same."--_Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 18. "The number of pronouns, like those of substantives, are two, the singular and the plural."--_Ib._, p. 22. "_I_ is called the pronoun of the _first_ person, which is the person speaking."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 32. "The essential elements of the phrase is an intransitive gerundive and an adjective."--_Hazen's Practical Gram._, p. 141. "Being rich is no justification for such impudence."--_Ib._, p. 141. "His having been a soldier in the revolution is not doubted."--_Ib._, p. 143. "Catching fish is the chief employment of the inhabitants. The chief employment of the inhabitants is catching fish."--_Ib._, p. 144. "The cold weather did not prevent the work's being finished at the time specified."--_Ib._, p. 145. "The former viciousness of that man caused his being suspected of this crime."--_Ib._, p. 145. "But person and number applied to verbs means, certain terminations."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 69. "Robert fell a tree."--_Ib._, p. 64. "Charles raised up."--_Ib._, p. 64. "It might not be an useless waste of time."--_Ib._, p. 42. "Neither will you have that _implicit faith_ in the writings and works of others which characterise the vulgar,"--_Ib._, p. 5. "_I_, is the first person, because it denotes the speaker."--_Ib._, p. 46. "I would refer the student to Hedges' or Watts' Logic."--_Ib._, p. 15. "Hedge's, Watt's, Kirwin's, and Collard's Logic."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part III, p. 116. "Letters are called vowels which make a full and perfect sound of themselves."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 10. "It has both a singular and plural construction."--_Ib._, p. 23. "For he beholdest thy beams no more."--_Ib._, p. 136. "To this sentiment the Committee has the candour to incline, as it will appear by their summing up."--_Macpherson's Ossian, Prelim. Disc._, p. xviii. "This is reducing the point at issue to a narrow compass."--_Ib._, p. xxv. "Since the English sat foot upon the soil."--_Exiles of Nova Scotia_, p. 12. "The arrangement of its different parts are easily retained by the memory."--_Hiley's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. 262. "The words employed are the most appropriate which could have been selected."--_Ib._, p. 182. "To prevent it launching!"--_Ib._, p. 135. "Webster has been followed in preference to others, where it differs from them."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 8. "Exclamation and Interrogation are often mistaken for one another."--_Buchanan's E. Syntax_, p. 160. "When all nature is hushed in sleep, and neither love nor guilt keep their vigils."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 96. "When all nature's hushed asleep, Nor love, nor guilt, their vigils keep."--_Ib._, p. 95. LESSON II.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "A VERSIFYER and POET are two different Things."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 163. "Those Qualities will arise from the well expressing of the Subject."--_Ib._, p. 165. "Therefore the explanation of _network_, is taken no notice of here."--_Mason's Supplement_, p. vii. "When emphasis or pathos are necessary to be expressed."--_Humphrey's Punctuation_, p. 38. "Whether this mode of punctuation is correct, and whether it be proper to close the sentence with the mark of admiration, may be made a question."--_Ib._, p. 39. "But not every writer in those days were thus correct."--_Ib._, p. 59. "The sounds of A, in English orthoepy, are no less than four."--_Ib._, p. 69. "Our present code of rules are thought to be generally correct."-- _Ib._, p. 70. "To prevent its running into another."--_Humphrey's Prosody_, p. 7. "Shakespeare, perhaps, the greatest poetical genius which England has produced."--_Ib._, p. 93. "This I will illustrate by example; but prior to which a few preliminary remarks may be necessary."--_Ib._, p. 107. "All such are entitled to two accents each, and some of which to two accents nearly equal."--_Ib._, p. 109. "But some cases of the kind are so plain that no one need to exercise his judgment therein."--_Ib._, p. 122. "I have forbore to use the word."--_Ib._, p. 127. "The propositions, 'He may study,' 'He might study,' 'He could study,' affirms an ability or power to study."--_Hallock's Gram. of_ 1842, p. 76. "The divisions of the tenses has occasioned grammarians much trouble and perplexity."--_Ib._, p. 77. "By adopting a familiar, inductive method of presenting this subject, it may be rendered highly attractive to young learners."--_Wells's Sch. Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 1; 3d, 9; 113th, 11. "The definitions and rules of different grammarians were carefully compared with each other."--_Ib., Preface_, p. iii. "So as not wholly to prevent some sounds issuing."--_Sheridan's Elements of English_, p. 64. "Letters of the Alphabet not yet taken notice of."--_Ib._, p. 11. "IT _is sad_, IT _is strange_, &c., seems to express only that _the thing_ is sad, strange, &c."--_The Well-Wishers' Gram._, p. 68. "THE WINNING is easier than THE PRESERVING a conquest."--_Ib._, p. 65. "The United States finds itself the owner of a vast region of country at the West."--_Horace Mann in Congress_, 1848. "One or more letters placed before a word is a Prefix."--_S. W. Clark's Pract. Gram._, p. 42. "One or more letters added to a word is a Suffix."--_Ib._, p. 42. "Two-thirds of my hair has fallen off."--_Ib._, p. 126. "'Suspecting,' describes 'we,' by expressing, incidentally, an act of 'we.'"--_Ib._, p. 130. "Daniel's predictions are now being fulfilled."--_Ib._, p. 136. "His being a scholar, entitles him to respect."--_Ib._, p. 141. "I doubted his having been a soldier."--_Ib._, p. 142. "Taking a madman's sword to prevent his doing mischief, cannot be regarded as robbing him."--_Ib._, p. 129. "I thought it to be him; but it was not him."--_Ib._, p. 149. "It was not me that you saw."--_Ib._, p. 149. "Not to know what happened before you was born, is always to be a boy."--_Ib._, p. 149. "How long was you going? Three days."--_Ib._, 158. "The qualifying Adjective is placed next the Noun."--_Ib._, p. 165. "All went but me."--_Ib._, p. 93. "This is parsing their own language, and not the author's."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 73. "Nouns which denote males, are of the masculine gender."--_Ib._, p. 49. "Nouns which denote females, are of the feminine gender."--_Ib._, p. 49. "When a comparison is expressed between more than two objects of the same class, the superlative degree is employed."--_Ib._, p. 133. "Where _d_ or _t_ go before, the additional letter _d_ or _t_, in this contracted form, coalesce into one letter with the radical _d_ or _t_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 9. "Write words which will show what kind of a house you live in--what kind of a book you hold in your hand--what kind of a day it is."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 7. "One word or more is often joined to nouns or pronouns to modify their meaning."--_Ib., 2d Ed._, p. 30. "_Good_ is an adjective; it explains the quality or character of every person or thing to which it is applied."--_Ib._, p. 33; _Abridg._, 32. "A great public as well as private advantage arises from every one's devoting himself to that occupation which he prefers, and for which he is specially fitted."--WAYLAND: _Wells's Gram._, p. 121; _Weld's_, 180. "There was a chance of his recovering his senses. Not thus: 'There was a chance of him recovering his senses.' MACAULEY."--See _Wells's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 121; 113th, 135. "This may be known by its not having any connecting word immediately preceding it."--_Weld's Gram., 2d Edition_, p. 181. "There are _irregular_ expressions occasionally to be met with, which usage or custom rather than analogy, sanction."--_Ib._, p. 143. "He added an anecdote of Quinn's relieving Thomson from prison."--_Ib._, p. 150. "The daily labor of her hands procure for her all that is necessary."--_Ib._, p. 182. "Its being _me_, need make no change in your determination."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 128. "The classification of words into what is called the Parts of Speech."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 5. "Such licenses may be explained under what is usually termed Figures."--_Ib._, p. 212. "Liberal, not lavish, is kind nature's hands."--_Ib._, p. 196. "They fall successive and successive live."--_Ib._, p. 213. LESSON III.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "A figure of Etymology is the intentional deviation in the usual form of a word."--_Weld's Gram., 2d Edition_, p. 213. "A figure of Syntax is the intentional deviation in the usual construction of a word."--_Ib._, 213. "Synecdoche is putting the name of the whole of anything for a part or a part for the whole."--_Ib._, 215. "Apostrophe is turning off from the regular course of the subject to address some person or thing."--_Ib._, 215. "Even young pupils will perform such exercises with surprising interest and facility, and will unconsciously gain, in a little time, more knowledge of the structure of Language than he can acquire by a drilling of several years in the usual routine of parsing."--_Ib., Preface_, p. iv. "A few Rules of construction are employed in this Part, to guide in the exercise of parsing."--_Ibidem_. "The name of every person, object, or thing, which can be thought of, or spoken of, is a noun."--_Ib._, p. 18; _Abridged Ed._, 19. "A dot, resembling our period, is used between every word, as well as at the close of the verses."--_W. Day's Punctuation_, p. 16; _London_, 1847. "Casting types in matrices was invented by Peter Schoeffer, in 1452."--_Ib._, p. 23. "On perusing it, he said, that, so far from it showing the prisoner's guilt, it positively established his innocence."--_Ib._, p. 37. "By printing the _nominative_ and _verb_ in _Italic_ letters, the reader will be able to distinguish them at a glance."--_Ib._, p. 77. "It is well, no doubt, to avoid using unnecessary words."--_Ib._, p. 99. "Meeting a friend the other day, he said to me, 'Where are you going?'"--_Ib._, p. 124. "John was first denied _apples_, then he was promised _them_, then he was offered _them_."--_Lennie's Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 62. "He was denied admission."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 146. "They were offered a pardon."--_Pond's Murray_, p. 118; _Wells_, 146. "I was this day shown a new potatoe."--DARWIN: _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 179; _Imp. Gram._, 128; _Frazee's Gram._, 153; _Weld's_, 153. "Nouns or pronouns which denote males are of the masculine gender."--_S. S. Greene's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 211. "There are three degrees of comparison--the positive, comparative, and superlative."--_Ib._, p. 216; _First Les._, p. 49. "The first two refer to direction; the third, to locality."--_Ib., Gr._, p. 103. "The following are some of the verbs which take a direct and indirect object."--_Ib._, p. 62. "I was not aware of his being the judge of the Supreme Court."--_Ib._, p. 86. "An indirect question may refer to either of the five elements of a declarative sentence."--_Ib._, p. 123. "I am not sure _that he will be present_ = _of his being present_."--_Ib._, p. 169. "We left on Tuesday."--_Ib._, p. 103. "He left, as he told me, before the arrival of the steamer."--_Ib._, p. 143. "We told him _that he must leave_ = We told him _to leave_."--_Ib._, p. 168. "Because he was unable to persuade the multitude, he left in disgust."--_Ib._, p. 172. "He _left_, and _took_ his brother with him."--_Ib._, p. 254. "This stating, or declaring, or denying any thing, is called the indicative mode, or manner of speaking."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 72; _Abr. Ed._, 59. "This took place at our friend Sir Joshua Reynold's."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 150; _Imp. Ed._, 154. "The manner of a young lady's employing herself usefully in reading will be the subject of another paper."--_Ib._, 150; or 154. "Very little time is necessary for Johnson's concluding a treaty with the bookseller."--_Ib._, 150; or 154. "My father is not now sick, but if he _was_ your services would be welcome."--_Chandler's Grammar_, 1821, p. 54. "When we begin to write or speak, we ought previously to fix in our minds a clear conception of the end to be aimed at."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 193. "Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor."--_Bullions's Analytical and Practical Grammar_, 1849, p. 59. "The active and passive present express different ideas."--_Ib._, p. 235. "An _Improper Diphthong_, or Digraph, is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels are sounded."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.115. "The real origin of the words are to be sought in the Latin."--_Ib._, Sec.120. "What sort of an alphabet the Gothic languages possess, we know; what sort of alphabet they require, we can determine."--_Ib._, Sec.127. "The Runic Alphabet whether borrowed or invented by the early Goths, is of greater antiquity than either the oldest Teutonic or the Moeso-Gothic Alphabets."--_Ib._, Sec.129. "Common to the Masculine and the Neuter Genders."--_Ib._, Sec.222. "In the Anglo-Saxon _his_ was common to both the Masculine and Neuter Genders."--_Ib._, Sec.222. "When time, number, or dimension are specified, the adjective follows the substantive."--_Ib._, Sec.459. "Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear Invade thy bounds."--_Ib._, Sec.563. "To Brighton the Pavilion lends a _lath and plaster_ grace."--_Ib._, Sec.590. "From this consideration nouns have been given but one person, the THIRD."--_D. C. Allen's Grammatic Guide_, p. 10. "For it seems to guard and cherish Even the wayward dreamer--I."--_Home Journal_. EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS XIII.--SYNTACTICAL. _In the following Lessons, are exemplified most of the Exceptions, some of the Notes, and many of the Observations, under the preceding Rules of Syntax; to which Exceptions, Notes, or Observations, the learner may recur, for an explanation of whatsoever is difficult in the parsing, or peculiar in the construction, of these examples or others._ LESSON I.--PROSE. "_The_ higher a bird flies, _the_ more out of danger he is; and _the_ higher a Christian soars above the world, _the_ safer are his comforts."--_Sparke_. "_In_ this point of view, and _with_ this explanation, _it_ is supposed by some grammarians, that our language contains _a_ few Impersonal Verbs; that is, _verbs_ which declare the existence of some action or state, but _which_ do not refer to any animate being, or any determinate particluar subject."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 109. "Thus in England and France, a great landholder possesses _a_ hundred _times_ the property that is necessary for the subsistence of a family; and each landlord has perhaps _a_ hundred families dependent on him for subsistence."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 87. "_It_ is as possible to become _pedantick_ by fear of pedantry, as to be _troublesome_ by ill timed civility."--_Johnson's Rambler_, No. 173. "_To_ commence _author, is_ to claim praise; and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace."--_Ib._, No. 93. "_For_ ministers to be silent in the cause of Christ, _is_ to renounce it; and to fly _is_ to desert it."--SOUTH: _Crabb's Synonymes_, p. 7. "Such instances shew how much _the sublime_ depends upon a just selection of circumstances; and _with_ how great care every circumstance must be avoided, which _by_ bordering _in the least_ upon _the mean_, or even upon _the gay_ or _the trifling_, alters the tone of the emotion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 43. "This great poet and philosopher, _the_ more _he_ contemplated the nature of the Deity, _found_ that _he_ waded _but the_ more out of his depth, and that _he_ lost _himself_ in the thought _instead_ of finding an end to it."--_Addison_. "_Odin, which_ in Anglo-Saxon was _Woden_, was the supreme god of the Goths, answering to the Jupiter of the Greeks."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 262. "Because confidence, that _charm_ and _cement_ of intimacy, _is_ wholly wanting in the intercourse."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 146. "Objects of hearing may be compared together, as also _of_ taste, _of_ smell, and _of_ touch: but the chief _fund_ of comparison _are objects_ of sight."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 136. "The various relations of the various Objects exhibited by this (I mean relations of _near_ and _distant, present_ and _absent, same_ and _different, definite_ and _indefinite_, &c.) made it necessary that _here there_ should not be one, but many Pronouns, such as _He, This, That, Other, Any, Some_, &c."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 72. "Mr. Pope's Ethical Epistles _deserve_ to be mentioned with signal honour, _as_ a _model_, next to _perfect, of_ this kind of poetry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 402. "The knowledge _of why_ they so exist, must be the last act of favour _which_ time and toil will bestow."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 253. "_It_ is unbelief, and _not faith, that_ sinks the sinner into despondency.--Christianity disowns such characters."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 141. "That God created the universe, [and] that men are accountable for their actions, _are frequently mentioned_ by logicians, as instances of the mind judging." LESSON II.--PROSE. "_To_ censure works, _not men, is_ the just _prerogative_ of criticism, and accordingly all personal censure is here avoided, unless _where necessary_ to illustrate some general proposition."--_Kames, El. of Crit., Introduction_, p. 27. "_There remains_ to show by examples the manner of treating subjects, so as to give them a ridiculous appearance."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 303. "The making of poetry, _like_ any other _handicraft_, may be learned by industry."--_Macpherson's Preface to Ossian_, p. xiv. "Whatever is found more strange or beautiful than _was expected_, is judged to be more strange or beautiful than it is in reality."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 243. "Thus the body of an animal, and of a plant, _are composed_ of certain great vessels; these[,] of _smaller_; and these again[,] of still _smaller_, without end, _as_ far as we can discover."--_Id., ib._, p. 270. "This cause of beauty, is too extensive to be handled _as a branch_ of any other subject: for _to_ ascertain with accuracy even the proper meaning of words, _not to talk_ of their figurative power, _would require_ a large volume; _an_ useful _work_ indeed, but not to be attempted without a large stock of time, study, and reflection."--_Id._, Vol. ii, p. 16. "O the hourly _dangers_ that we here walk _in_! Every sense, and member, _is_ a snare; every creature, and every duty, _is_ a snare to us."--_Baxter, Saints's Rest_. "_For_ a man _to give_ his opinion of what he sees _but_ in part, _is_ an unjustifiable _piece_ of rashness and folly."--_Addison_. "_That_ the sentiments thus prevalent among the early Jews _respecting_ the divine authority of the Old Testament were correct, _appears_ from the testimony of Jesus Christ and his apostles."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 69. "So in Society we are not our _own_, but Christ's, and the church's, to good works and services, yet all in love."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 84. "He [_Dr. Johnson_] sat up in his bed, _clapped_ his hands, _and cried, 'O brave we_!'--a peculiar _exclamation_ of _his_ when he rejoices."-- _Boswell's Life of Johnson_, Vol. iii, p. 56. "Single, double, and treble emphasis _are_ nothing but examples of antithesis."--_Knowles's Elocutionist_, p. xxviii. "The curious _thing, and what_, I would almost say, _settles_ the point, _is_, that we do _Horace_ no service, even according to our view of the matter, by rejecting the scholiast's explanation. No two eggs can be _more like each other_ than Horace's _Malthinus_ and Seneca's _Mecenas_."-- _Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 477. "_Acting, conduct, behaviour_, abstracted from all regard to what is, in fact and event, the consequence of _it, is itself_ the natural object of this moral discernment, as speculative truth _and_ [say _or_] falsehood is _of_ speculative reason."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 277. "_To_ do what is _right_, with unperverted faculties, _is_ ten _times easier_ than to undo what is wrong."--_Porter's Analysis_, p. 37. "Some _natures the_ more _pains_ a man takes to reclaim them, _the_ worse they are."--L'ESTRANGE: _Johnson's Dict., w. Pains_. "Says _John Milton_, in that impassioned speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, where every word leaps with intellectual life, '_Who_ kills a man, _kills_ a reasonable creature, God's image; but _who_ destroys a good book, _kills_ reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden upon the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose for a life beyond life!'"--_Louisville Examiner_, June, 1850. LESSON III.--PROSE. "The philosopher, the saint, or the hero--_the_ wise, _the_ good, or the great man--very often lies hid and concealed in a plebeian, _which_ a proper education might have disinterred and _brought_ to light."--_Addison_. "The _year before_, he had so used the matter, that _what_ by force, _what_ by policy, he had taken from the Christians _above_ thirty small castles."--_Knolles_. "_It_ is an important truth, that religion, vital _religion_, the _religion_ of the heart, is the most powerful auxiliary of reason, in waging war with the passions, and promoting that sweet composure which constitutes the peace of God."--_Murray's Key_, p. 181. "_Pray, sir, be pleased_ to take the part of _us beauties_ and _fortunes_ into your consideration, and do not let us _be flattered_ out of our senses. _Tell_ people that _we_ fair _ones_ expect honest plain answers, as well as other folks."--_Spectator_, No. 534. "_Unhappy it_ would be _for_ us, _did_ not uniformity _prevail_ in morals: _that_ our actions should uniformly be directed to what is _good_ and against what is _ill_, is the greatest _blessing_ in society; and _in_ order to uniformity of action, uniformity of sentiment is indispensable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 366. "Thus the pleasure of all the senses is _the same_ in _all, high_ and _low, learned_ and _unlearned_."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 39. "_Upwards_ of eight millions of acres _have_, I believe, been thus disposed of."--_Society in America_, Vol. i, p. 333. "The Latin Grammar comes _something_ nearer, but yet does not hit the mark _neither_."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 281. "_Of_ the like nature is the following inaccuracy of _Dean Swift's_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 105. "Thus, Sir, I have given _you_ my own opinion, relating to this weighty affair, as well as _that_ of a great majority of both houses here."--_Ib._ "A foot is just _twelve_ times as long as an _inch_; and an hour is sixty _times_ the _length_ of a minute."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 48. "What can we expect, who come _a gleaning_, not after the first reapers, but after the _very_ beggars?"--_Cowley's Pref. to Poems_, p. x. "In our _Lord's being betrayed_ into the hands of the chief-priests and scribes, by Judas Iscariot; in _his being_ by them _delivered_ to the Gentiles; in _his being mocked, scourged, spitted on_, [say _spit upon_,] and _crucified_; and in his _rising_ from the dead after three days; there was much that was singular, complicated, and not to be easily calculated on before hand."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 40. "To be _morose, implacable, inexorable_, and _revengeful_, is one of the greatest degeneracies of human nature."--_Dr. J. Owen_. "Now, says _he_, if tragedy, which is in its nature _grand_ and _lofty_, will not admit of this, _who can forbear laughing_ to hear the historian Gorgias Leontinus styling Xerxes, that cowardly Persian king, _Jupiter_; and vultures, living _sepulchres_?"--_Holmes's Rhetoric?_, Part II, p. 14. "O let thy all-seeing eye, and not the eye of the world, be the star to steer my course _by_; and let thy blessed favour, more than the liking of any sinful men, be ever my study and delight."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 156. LESSON IV.--PROSE. "O _the Hope_ of Israel, _the Saviour thereof_ in time of trouble, why _shouldest thou_ be as a _stranger_ in the land, and as a way-faring _man_, that turneth aside to tarry for a night?"--_Jeremiah_, xiv, 8. "When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was _a preparing, wherein_ few, _that_ is, eight souls, were saved."--_1 Peter_, iii, 20. "Mercy and truth _are_ met together; righteousness and peace have kissed _each other_."--_Psalms_, lxxxv, 10. "But _in vain_ they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."--_Matt._, xv, 9. "Knowest thou not this _of old_, since man was placed upon the earth, that the _triumphing_ of the _wicked_ is short, and the joy of the hypocrite _but_ for a moment?"--_Job_, xx, 4, 5. "For now we _see_ through a glass darkly; but _then, face_ to _face_: now I _know_ in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."--_1 Cor._, xiii, 12. "For then the _king of Babylon's_ army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the _Prophet_ was shut up in the court of the prison which was in the _king of Judah's_ house."--_Jer._, xxxii, 2. "For Herod had laid hold on John, and _bound_ him, and _put_ him in prison, for _Herodias'_ sake, his _brother_ Philip's _wife_."--_Matt._, xiv, 3. "And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, _of Huram_ my _father's_, the _son_ of a woman of the daughters of Dan."--_2 Chron._, ii, 13. "Bring no _more_ vain oblations: incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the _calling_ of assemblies, I _cannot away with: it_ is iniquity _even_ the solemn _meeting_."--_Isaiah_, i, 13. "For I have heard the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, _saying_, Woe is _me_ now! for my soul is wearied _because_ of murderers."--_Jer._, iv, 31. "She saw men portrayed upon the wall, the _images_ of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes _to_ look _to, after_ the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the _land_ of their nativity."--_Ezekiel_, xxiii, 15. "And on them _was written_ according to all the words which the Lord spake with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly."--_Deut._, ix, 10. "And he charged them that they _should tell no man_: but _the_ more he charged them, so much _the_ more a great _deal_ they published it."--_Mark_, vii, 36. "The results which God has connected with actions, will inevitably occur, all the created _power_ in the universe to the contrary _notwithstanding_."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 5. "Am _I_ not an _apostle_? am _I_ not _free_? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not _ye_ my _work_ in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am _to_ you; for the _seal_ of _mine_ apostleship are _ye_ in the Lord."--_1 Cor._, ix, 1, 2. "Not _to insist_ upon this, _it_ is evident, that formality is a term of general import. It implies, that in religious exercises of all kinds _the_ outward and [the] inward man _are_ at diametrical variance."--_Chapman's Sermons to Presbyterians_, p. 354. LESSON V.--VERSE. "_See_ the sole bliss Heaven _could_ on all _bestow_, Which _who but_ feels, can taste, _but_ thinks, can know; Yet, poor with fortune, and with learning blind, _The bad_ must miss, _the good_, untaught, will find."--_Pope_. "There _are, who, deaf_ to mad Ambition's call, Would shrink to hear th' obstreperous trump of fame; Supremely _blest_, if to their portion fall Health, competence, and peace."--_Beattie_. "High stations _tumult_, but _not bliss_, create; None think _the great_ unhappy, but _the great_. Fools gaze and _envy_: envy darts a sting, Which makes a swain as _wretched_ as a king."--_Young_. "Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies! _Sink_ down, _ye mountains_; and, _ye valleys, rise_; With heads declin'd, _ye cedars_, homage _pay_; _Be_ smooth, _ye rocks; ye_ rapid _floods, give_ way."--_Pope_. "Amid the forms which this full world presents _Like rivals to his_ choice, what human breast E'er doubts, before the _transient and minute_, To prize the _vast_, the _stable_, and _sublime_?"--_Akenside_. "Now fears in dire vicissitude invade; The rustling brake _alarms_, and quiv'ring _shade_: _Nor_ light nor darkness brings his _pain_ relief; One shows the plunder, and one hides the thief."--_Johnson_. "If Merab's choice could have complied with _mine_, Merab, my elder comfort, had been _thine_: And _hers_, at _last_, should have with _mine_ complied, Had I not _thine_ and Michael's heart descried."--_Cowley_. "The people have _as much_ a negative voice To hinder _making_ war without their choice, As kings of making laws in parliament: '_No money' is_ as _good_ as '_No assent_.'"--_Butler_. "Full _many a gem_ of purest ray serene The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear; Full _many a flower_ is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--_Gray_. "_Oh fool_! to think God hates the worthy _mind_, The lover and the love of human kind, _Whose_ life is healthful, and _whose_ conscience clear, Because _he_ wants _a_ thousand pounds _a_ year."--_Pope_. "O _Freedom_! sovereign _boon_ of Heav'n, Great _charter_, with our being given; For _which_ the patriot and the sage Have plann'd, have bled thro' ev'ry age!"--_Mallet_. LESSON VI.--VERSE. "Am I to set my life upon a throw, Because a bear is rude and surly? _No_."--_Cowper_. "_Poor, guiltless I_! and can I choose but _smile_, When every coxcomb knows me by my style?"--_Pope_. "Remote from man, with God he pass'd his days, _Prayer_ all his _business_, all his _pleasure praise_."--_Parnell_. "These are _thy_ blessings, _Industry_! rough power; _Whom_ labour still attends, and _sweat_, and _pain_."--_Thomson_. "_What ho! thou genius_ of the clime, _what ho_! Liest thou _asleep_ beneath these hills of snow?"--_Dryden_. "_What_! canst thou not forbear me _half an hour_? Then _get_ thee gone, and _dig_ my grave thyself."--_Shak_. "Then palaces and lofty domes arose; _These_ for devotion, and for pleasure _those_."--_Blackmore_. "'Tis very dangerous, _tampering_ with a muse; The profit's small, and you have much to lose."--_Roscommon_. "_Lucretius English'd_! 't was a work _might shake_ The power of English verse to undertake."--_Otway_. "_The best_ may slip, and _the_ most _cautious fall_; He's _more_ than _mortal_, that ne'er err'd _at all_."--_Pomfret_. "_Poets_ large _souls_ heaven's noblest stamps do bear, _Poets_, the watchful angels' darling care."--_Stepney_. "Sorrow breaks reasons, and reposing hours; Makes the night _morning_, and the noon-tide _night_."--_Shak._ "Nor then the solemn nightingale _ceas'd warbling_."--_Milton_. "And O, poor hapless _nightingale_, thought I, How _sweet_ thou singst, how _near_ the deadly _snare_!"--_Id._ "He calls for _famine_, and the meagre fiend Blows mildew _from between his_ shrivell'd lips."--_Cowper_. "If o'er their lives a refluent _glance_ they cast, Theirs is _the present_ who can praise _the past_."--_Shenstone_. "Who wickedly is _wise_, or madly _brave, Is but the more_ a fool, the _more_ a knave."--_Pope_. "Great _eldest-born_ of Dullness, blind and bold! _Tyrant!_ more cruel than Procrustes old; Who, to his iron bed, by torture, fits, Their nobler _part_, the _souls_ of suffering wits."--_Mallet_. "Parthenia, _rise_.--What voice alarms my ear? _Away_. Approach not. Hah! _Alexis_ there!"--_Gay_. "Nor is it _harsh_ to make, nor _hard_ to find A country _with--ay_, or without mankind."--_Byron_. "A _frame_ of adamant, a _soul_ of fire, _No_ dangers fright him, and _no_ labours tire."--_Johnson_. "Now _pall_ the tasteless _meats_, and joyless _wines_, And _luxury_ with sighs _her slave resigns_."--_Id._ "_Seems?_ madam; nay, it is: I know not _seems_-- For I have that within which passes show."--_Hamlet_. "_Return? said_ Hector, fir'd with stern disdain: _What! coop_ whole armies in our walls again?"--_Pope_. "He whom the fortune of the field shall cast _From forth_ his chariot, _mount_ the next in haste."--_Id._ "_Yet here, Laertes? aboard, aboard, for_ shame!"--_Shak_. "_Justice_, most gracious _Duke; O grant me_ justice!"--_Id._ "But what a _vengeance_ makes thee _fly_ From me too, as thine enemy?"--_Butler_. "Immortal _Peter_! first of monarchs! He His stubborn _country_ tam'd, _her_ rocks, _her_ fens, _Her_ floods, _her_ seas, _her_ ill-submitting sons."--_Thomson_. "O arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread, thou thimble, Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket, thou:-- Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of thread! Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant; Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard, As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv'st." SHAK.: _Taming of the Shrew_, Act IV, Sc 3. CHAPTER XII.--GENERAL REVIEW. This twelfth chapter of Syntax is devoted to a series of lessons, methodically digested, wherein are reviewed and reapplied, mostly in the order of the parts of speech, all those syntactical principles heretofore given which are useful for the correction of errors. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX FOR A GENERAL REVIEW. [Fist][The following examples of false syntax are arranged for a General Review of the doctrines contained in the preceding Rules and Notes. Being nearly all of them exact quotations, they are also a sort of syllabus of verbal criticism on the various works from which they are taken. What corrections they are supposed to need, may be seen by inspection of the twelfth chapter of the Key. It is here expected, that by recurring to the instructions before given, the learner who takes them as an oral exercise, will ascertain for himself the proper form of correcting each example, according to the particular Rule or Note under which it belongs. When two or more errors occur in the same example, they ought to be corrected successively, in their order. The erroneous sentence being read aloud as it stands, the pupil should say, "_first_, Not proper, because, &c." And when the first error has thus been duly corrected by a brief and regular syllogism, either the same pupil or an other should immediately proceed, and say, "_Secondly_, Not proper _again_, because," &c. And so of the third error, and the fourth, if there be so many. In this manner, a class may be taught to speak in succession without any waste of time, and, after some practice, with a near approach to the PERFECT ACCURACY which is the great end of grammatical instruction. When time cannot be allowed for this regular exercise, these examples may still be profitably rehearsed by a more rapid process, one pupil reading aloud the quoted false grammar, and an other responding to each example, by reading the intended correction from the Key.] LESSON I.--ARTICLES. "And they took stones, and made an heap."--_Com. Bibles; Gen._, xxxi, 46. "And I do know a many fools, that stand in better place."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 44. "It is a strong antidote to the turbulence of passion, and violence of pursuit."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. xxiii. "The word _news_ may admit of either a singular or plural application."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 39. "He has earned a fair and a honorable reputation."--_Ib._, p. 140. "There are two general forms, called the solemn and familiar style."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 109. "Neither the article nor preposition may be omitted."--_Wright's Gram._, p 190. "A close union is also observable between the Subjunctive and Potential Moods."--_Ib._, p. 72. "We should render service, equally, to a friend, neighbour, and an enemy."--_Ib._, p. 140. "Till an habit is obtained of aspirating strongly."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 49. "There is an uniform, steady use of the same signs."--_Ib._, p. 163. "A traveller remarks the most objects he sees."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 72. "What is the name of the river on which London stands? The Thames."--"We sometimes find the last line of a couplet or triplet stretched out to twelve syllables."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 282. "Nouns which follow active verbs, are not in the nominative case."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 14. "It is a solemn duty to speak plainly of wrongs, which good men perpetrate."--_Channing's Emancip._, p. 71. "Gathering of riches is a pleasant torment."--_Treasury of Knowledge, Dict._, p. 446. "It [the lamentation of Helen for Hector] is worth the being quoted."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 100. "_Council_ is a noun which admits of a singular and plural form."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 137. "To exhibit the connexion between the Old and the New Testaments."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 25. "An apostrophe discovers the omission of a letter or letters."--_Guy's Gram_, p. 95. "He is immediately ordained, or rather acknowledged an hero."--_Pope, Preface to the Dunciad_. "Which is the same in both the leading and following State."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 86. "Pronouns, as will be seen hereafter, have a distinct nominative, possessive, and objective case."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 15. "A word of many syllables is called polysyllable."--_Beck's Outline of E. Gram._, p. 4. "Nouns have two numbers, singular and plural."--_Ib._, p. 6. "They have three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter."--_Ib._, p. 6. "They have three cases, nominative, possessive, and objective."--_Ib._, p. 6. "Personal Pronouns have, like Nouns, two numbers, singular and plural. Three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. Two cases, nominative and objective."--_Ib._, p. 10. "He must be wise enough to know the singular from plural."--_Ib._, p. 20. "Though they may be able to meet the every reproach which any one of their fellows may prefer."--_Chalmers, Sermons_, p. 104. "Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged."--_Ep. to Philemon_, 9. "Being such one as Paul the aged."--_Dr. Webster's Bible_. "A people that jeoparded their lives unto the death."--_Judges_, v, 18. "By preventing the too great accumulation of seed within a too narrow compass."--_The Friend_, Vol. vii, p. 97. "Who fills up the middle space between the animal and intellectual nature, the visible and invisible world."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 519. "The Psalms abound with instances of an harmonious arrangement of the words."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 339. "On another table were an ewer and vase, likewise of gold."--_N. Y. Mirror_, xi, 307. "_Th_ is said to have two sounds sharp, and flat."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 33. "Section (Sec.) is used in subdividing of a chapter into lesser parts."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 152. "Try it in a Dog or an Horse or any other Creature."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 46. "But particularly in learning of Languages there is least occasion for poseing of Children."--_Ib._, p. 296. "What kind of a noun is _river_, and why?"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 10. "Is _William's_ a proper or common noun?"--_Ib._, p. 12. "What kind of an article, then, shall we call _the_?"--_Ib._, p. 13. "Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, Or with a rival's or an eunuch's spite."--_Pope, on Crit._, l. 30. LESSON II.--NOUNS, OR CASES. "And there is stamped upon their Imaginations Idea's that follow them with Terror and Affrightment."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 251. "There's not a wretch that lives on common charity, but's happier than me."--VENICE PRESERVED: _Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 63. "But they overwhelm whomsoever is ignorant of them."--_Common School Journal_, i,115. "I have received a letter from my cousin, she that was here last week."--_Inst._, p. 129. "Gentlemens Houses are seldom without Variety of Company."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 107. "Because Fortune has laid them below the level of others, at their Masters feet."--_Ib._, p. 221. "We blamed neither John nor Mary's delay."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 117. "The book was written by Luther the reformer's order."--_Ib._, p. 59. "I saw on the table of the saloon Blair's Sermons, and somebody else (I forget who's) sermons, and a set of noisy children."--_Lord Byron's Letters_. "Or saith he it altogether for our sakes?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 10. "He was not aware of the duke's being his competitor."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 190. "It is no condition of a word's being an adjective, that it must be placed before a noun."--FOWLE: _ib._, p. 190. "Though their Reason corrected the wrong Idea's they had taken in."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 251. "It was him, who taught me to hate slavery."--_Morris, in Congress_, 1839. "It is him and his kindred, who live upon the labour of others."--_Id., ib._ "Payment of Tribute is an Acknowledgment of his being King to whom we think it Due."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 161. "When we comprehend what we are taught."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 14. "The following words, and parts of words, must be taken notice of."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 96. "Hence tears and commiseration are so often made use of."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 269. "JOHN-A-NOKES, _n. s._ A fictitious name, made use of in law proceedings."--_Chalmers, Eng. Dict._ "The construction of Matter, and Part taken hold of."--_B. F. Fisk's Greek Gram._, p. x. "And such other names, as carry with them the Idea's of some thing terrible and hurtful."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 250. "Every learner then would surely be glad to be spared the trouble and fatigue"--_Pike's Hebrew Lexicon_, p. iv. "'Tis not the owning ones Dissent from another, that I speak against."--_Locke, on Ed._, p 265. "A man that cannot Fence will be more careful to keep out of Bullies and Gamesters Company, and will not be half so apt to stand upon Punctilio's."--_Ib._, p. 357. "From such Persons it is, one may learn more in one Day, than in a Years rambling from one Inn to another."--_Ib._, p. 377. "A long syllable is generally considered to be twice the length of a short one."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 117. "_I_ is of the first person, and singular number; _Thou_ is second per. sing.; _He, She_, or _It_, is third per. sing.; _We_ is first per. plural; _Ye_ or _You_ is second per. plural; _They_ is third per. plural."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 46. "This actor, doer, or producer of the action, is the nominative."--_Ib._, p. 43. "No Body can think a Boy of Three or Seven Years old, should be argued with, as a grown Man."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 129. "This was in one of the Pharisees' houses, not, in Simon the leper's."--_Hammond_. "Impossible! it can't be me."--_Swift_. "Whose grey top shall tremble, Him descending."--_Dr. Bentley_. "What gender is _woman_, and why?"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8. "What gender, then, is _man_, and why?"--_Ibid._ "Who is _I_; who do you mean when you say _I?"--R. W. Green's Gram._, p. 19. "It [Parnassus] is a pleasant air, but a barren soil."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 311. "You may, in three days time, go from Galilee to Jerusalem."--_Josephus_, Vol. 5, p. 174. "And that which is left of the meat-offering shall be Aaron's and his sons."--SCOTT'S BIBLE, and BRUCE'S: _Lev._, ii, 10. See also ii, 3. "For none in all the world, without a lie, Can say that this is mine, excepting I."--_Bunyan_. LESSON III.--ADJECTIVES "When he can be their Remembrancer and Advocate every Assises and Sessions."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 244. "Doing, denotes all manner of action; as, to dance, to play, to write, to read, to teach, to fight, &c."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 33. "Seven foot long,"--"eight foot long,"--"fifty foot long."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 205. "Nearly the whole of this twenty-five millions of dollars is a dead loss to the nation."--_Fowler, on Tobacco_, p. 16. "Two negatives destroy one another."--_R. W. Green's Gram._, p. 92. "We are warned against excusing sin in ourselves, or in each other."--_The Friend_, iv, 108. "The Russian empire is more extensive than any government in the world."--_School Geog_. "You will always have the Satisfaction to think it the Money of all other the best laid out."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 145. "There is no one passion which all mankind so naturally give into as pride."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 462. "O, throw away the worser part of it."--_Beauties of Shak._, p 237. "He showed us a more agreeable and easier way."--_Inst._, p. 134. "And the four last [are] to point out those further improvements."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 52; _Campbell's_, 187. "Where he has not distinct and, different clear Idea's."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 353. "Oh, when shall we have such another Rector of Laracor!"--_Hazlitt's Lect_. "Speech must have been absolutely necessary previous to the formation of society."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 2. "Go and tell them boys to be still."--_Inst._, p. 135. "Wrongs are engraved on marble; benefits, on sand: these are apt to be requited; those, forgot."--_B_. "Neither of these several interpretations is the true one."--_B_. "My friend indulged himself in some freaks unbefitting the gravity of a clergyman."--_B_. "And their Pardon is All that either of their Impropriators will have to plead."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 196. "But the time usually chosen to send young Men abroad, is, I think, of all other, that which renders them least capable of reaping those Advantages."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 372. "It is a mere figment of the human imagination, a rhapsody of the transcendent unintelligible."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 120. "It contains a greater assemblage of sublime ideas, of bold and daring figures, than is perhaps any where to be met with."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 162. "The order in which the two last words are placed, should have been reversed."--_Ib._, p. 204. "The _orders_ in which the two last words are placed, should have been reversed."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 310. "In Demosthenes, eloquence _shown_ forth with higher splendour, than perhaps in any that ever bore the name of an orator."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 242. "The circumstance of his being poor is decidedly favorable."-- _Student's Manual_, p. 286. "The temptations to dissipation are greatly lessened by his being poor."--_Ib._, p. 287. "For with her death that tidings came."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 257. "The next objection is, that these sort of authors are poor."--_Cleland_. "Presenting Emma as Miss Castlemain to these acquaintance."--_Opie's Temper_. "I doubt not but it will please more than the opera."--_Spect._, No. 28. "The world knows only two, that's Rome and I."--_Ben Jonson_. "I distinguish these two things from one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "And in this case, mankind reciprocally claim, and allow indulgence to each other."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 29. "The six last books are said not to have received the finishing hand of the author."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 438. "The best executed part of the work, is the first six books."--_Ib._, p. 447. "To reason how can we be said to rise? So many cares attend the being wise."--_Sheffield_. LESSON IV.--PRONOUNS. "Once upon a time a goose fed its young by a pond side."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 175. "If either [work] have a sufficient degree of merit to recommend them to the attention of the public."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, p. iii. "Now W. Mitchell his deceit is very remarkable."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 264 "My brother, I did not put the question to thee, for that I doubted of the truth of your belief."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 158. "I had two elder brothers, one of which was a lieutenant-colonel."--_Robinson Crusoe_, p. 2. "Though _James_ is here the object of the action, yet, he is in the nominative case."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 64. "Here, _John_ is the actor; and is known to be the nominative, by its answering to the question, 'Who struck Richard?'"--_Ib._, p. 43. "One of the most distinguished privileges which Providence has conferred on mankind, is the power of communicating their thoughts to one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 9. "With some of the most refined feelings which belong to our frame."--_Ib._, p. 13. "And the same instructions which assist others in composing, will assist them in judging of, and relishing, the beauties of composition."--_Ib._, p. 12. "To overthrow all which had been yielded in favour of the army."--_Mrs. Macaulay's Hist._, i, 335. "Let your faith stand in the Lord God who changes not, and that created all, and gives the increase of all."--_Friends' Advices_, 1676. "For it is, in truth, the sentiment or passion, which lies under the figured expression, that gives it any merit."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 133. "Verbs are words which affirm the being, doing, or suffering of a thing, together with the time it happens."--_Al. Murray's Gram._, p. 29. "The Byass will always hang on that side, that nature first placed it."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 177. "They should be brought to do the things are fit for them."--_Ib._, p. 178. "Various sources whence the English language is derived."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 286. "This attention to the several cases, when it is proper to omit and when to redouble the copulative, is of considerable importance."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 113. "Cicero, for instance, speaking of the cases where killing another is lawful in self defence, uses the following words."--_Ib._, p. 156. "But there is no nation, hardly any person so phlegmatic, as not to accompany their words with some actions and gesticulations, on all occasions, when they are much in earnest."--_Ib._, p. 335. "_William's_ is said to be governed by _coat_, because it follows _William's_"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 12. "There are many occasions in life, in which silence and simplicity are true wisdom."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 197. "In choosing umpires, the avarice of whom is excited."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 153. "The boroughs sent representatives, which had been enacted."--_Ib._, p. 154. "No man believes but what there is some order in the universe."--_Anon._ "The moon is orderly in her changes, which she could not be by accident."--_Id._ "Of Sphynx her riddles, they are generally two kinds."--_Bacons Wisdom_, p. 73. "They must generally find either their Friends or Enemies in Power."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 166. "For of old, every one took upon them to write what happened in their own time."--_Josephus's Jewish War, Pref._, p. 4. "The Almighty cut off the family of Eli the high priest, for its transgressions."--See _Key_. "The convention then resolved themselves into a committee of the whole."--_Inst._, p. 146. "The severity with which this denomination was treated, appeared rather to invite than to deter them from flocking to the colony."--_H. Adams's View_, p. 71. "Many Christians abuse the Scriptures and the traditions of the apostles, to uphold things quite contrary to it."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 461. "Thus, a circle, a square, a triangle, or a hexagon, please the eye, by their regularity, as beautiful figures."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 46. "Elba is remakable [sic--KTH] for its being the place to which Bonaparte was banished in 1814."--See _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 190. "The editor has the reputation of his being a good linguist and critic."--See _ib._ "'Tis a Pride should be cherished in them."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 129. "And to restore us the Hopes of Fruits, to reward our Pains in its season."--_Ib._, p. 136. "The comick representation of Death's victim relating its own tale."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 103. "As for Scioppius his Grammar, that doth wholly concern the Latin Tongue."--DR. WILKINS: _Tooke's D. P._, i, 7. "And chiefly thee, O Spirit, who dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou knowest."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 45. LESSON V.--VERBS. "And there was in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Luke_, ii. 8. "Whereof every one bear twins."--COM. BIBLE: _Sol. Song_, iv, 2. "Whereof every one bare twins."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _ib._ "Whereof every one beareth twins."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _ib._ "He strikes out of his nature one of the most divine principles, that is planted in it."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 181. "_Genii_, denote aerial spirits."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 40. "In proportion as the long and large prevalence of such corruptions have been obtained by force."--BP. HALIFAX: _Brier's Analogy_, p. xvi. "Neither of these are fix'd to a Word of a general Signification, or proper Name."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 95. "Of which a few of the opening lines is all I shall give."--_Moore's Life of Byron_. "The riches we had in England was the slow result of long industry and wisdom."--DAVENANT: _Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 21; _Phil. Gram._, 29. "The following expression appears to be correct:--'Much publick thanks _is_ due.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 201. "He hath been enabled to correct many mistakes."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. x. "Which road takest thou here?"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 106. "Learnest thou thy lesson?"--_Ib._, p. 105. "Learned they their pieces perfectly?"--_Ibid._ "Thou learnedst thy task well."--_Ibid._ "There are some can't relish the town, and others can't away with the country."--WAY OF THE WORLD: _Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 304. "If thou meetest them, thou must put on an intrepid mien."--_Neef's Method of Ed._, p. 201. "Struck with terror, as if Philip was something more than human."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 265. "If the personification of the form of Satan was admissible, it should certainly have been masculine."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 176. "If only one follow, there seems to be a defect in the sentence."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 104. "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him."--_John_, xx, 15. "Blessed be the people that know the joyful sound."--_Psalms_, lxxxix, 15. "Every auditory take in good part those marks of respect and awe, which are paid them by one who addresses them."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 308. "Private causes were still pleaded [in the forum]: but the public was no longer interested; nor any general attention drawn to what passed there."--_Ib._, p. 249. "Nay, what evidence can be brought to show, that the Inflection of the Classic tongues were not originally formed out of obsolete auxiliary words?"--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 112. "If the student reflects, that the principal and the auxiliary forms but one verb, he will have little or no difficulty, in the proper application of the present rule."--_Ib._, p. 183. "For the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side."--_Jeremiah_, vi, 26. "Even the Stoics agree that nature and certainty is very hard to come at."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 71. "His politeness and obliging behaviour was changed."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 186. "His politeness and obliging behaviour were changed."--_Hume's Hist._, Vol. vi, p. 14. "War and its honours was their employment and ambition."--_Goldsmith_. "Does _a_ and _an_ mean the same thing?"--_R. W. Green's Gram._, p. 15. "When a number of words _come_ in between the discordant parts, the ear does not detect the error."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 185. "The sentence should be, 'When a number of words _comes_ in,' &c."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 170. "The nature of our language, the accent and pronunciation of it, inclines us to contract even all our regular verbs."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 45. "The nature of our language, together with the accent and pronunciation of it, incline us to contract even all our Regular Verbs."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 45. "Prompt aid, and not promises, are what we ought to give."--_Author_. "The position of the several organs therefore, as well as their functions are ascertained."--_Medical Magazine_, 1833, p. 5. "Every private company, and almost every public assembly, afford opportunities of remarking the difference between a just and graceful, and a faulty and unnatural elocution."--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 9. "Such submission, together with the active principle of obedience, make up the temper and character in us which answers to his sovereignty."-- _Butler's Analogy_, p. 126. "In happiness, as in other things, there is a false and a true, an imaginary and a real."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 134. "To confound things that differ, and to make a distinction where there is no difference, is equally unphilosophical."--_Author_. "I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 51. LESSON VI.--VERBS. "Whose business or profession prevent their attendance in the morning."--_Ogilby_. "And no church or officer have power over one another."--LECHFORD: _in Hutchinson's Hist._, i, 373. "While neither reason nor experience are sufficiently matured to protect them."--_Woodbridge_. "Among the Greeks and Romans, every syllable, or the far greatest number at least, was known to have a fixed and determined quantity."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 383. "Among the Greeks and Romans, every syllable, or at least by far the greatest number of syllables, was known to have a fixed and determined quantity."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 303. "Their vanity is awakened and their passions exalted by the irritation, which their self-love receives from contradiction."--_Influence of Literature_, Vol. ii. p. 218. "I and he was neither of us any great swimmer."--_Anon_. "Virtue, honour, nay, even self-interest, _conspire_ to recommend the measure."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. "A correct plainness, and elegant simplicity, is the proper character of an introduction."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 308. "In syntax there is what grammarians call concord or agreement, and government."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 128. "People find themselves able without much study to write and speak the English intelligibly, and thus have been led to think rules of no utility."-- _Webster's Essays_, p. 6. "But the writer must be one who has studied to inform himself well, who has pondered his subject with care, and addresses himself to our judgment, rather than to our imagination."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 353. "But practice hath determined it otherwise; and has, in all the languages with which we are much acquainted, supplied the place of an interrogative mode, either by particles of interrogation, or by a peculiar order of the words in the sentence."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 84. "If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering."--_1 Sam._, xxvi, 19. "But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's meat."--_Levit._, xxii, 13. "Since we never have, nor ever shall study your sublime productions."--_Neef's Sketch_, p. 62. "Enabling us to form more distinct images of objects, than can be done with the utmost attention where these particulars are not found."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 174. "I hope you will consider what is spoke comes from my love."--_Shak., Othello_. "We will then perceive how the designs of emphasis may be marred,"--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 406. "I knew it was Crab, and goes me to the fellow that whips the dogs."--SHAK: _Joh. Dict., w._ ALE. "The youth was being consumed by a slow malady."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 192. "If all men thought, spoke, and wrote alike, something resembling a perfect adjustment of these points may be accomplished."-- _Ib._, p. 240. "If you will replace what has been long since expunged from the language."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 167; _Murray's Gram._, i, 364. "As in all those faulty instances, I have now been giving."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 149. "This mood has also been improperly used in the following places."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 184. "He [Milton] seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was that nature had bestowed upon him."--_Johnson's Life of Milton_. "Of which I already gave one instance, the worst, indeed, that occurs in all the poem."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 395. "It is strange he never commanded you to have done it."--_Anon_. "History painters would have found it difficult, to have invented such a species of beings."--ADDISON: see _Lowth's Gram._, p. 87. "Universal Grammar cannot be taught abstractedly, it must be done with reference to some language already known."--_Lowth's Preface_, p. viii. "And we might imagine, that if verbs had been so contrived, as simply to express these, no more was needful."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 82. "To a writer of such a genius as Dean Swift, the plain style was most admirably fitted."--_Ib._, p. 181. "Please excuse my son's absence."--_Inst._, p. 188. "Bid the boys to come in immediately."--_Ib._ "Gives us the secrets of his Pagan hell, Where ghost with ghost in sad communion dwell." --_Crabbe's Bor._, p. 306. "Alas! nor faith, nor valour now remain; Sighs are but wind, and I must bear my chain." --_Walpole's Catal._, p. 11. LESSON VII.--PARTICIPLES. "Of which the Author considers himself, in compiling the present work, as merely laying of the foundation-stone."--_Blair's Gram._, p. ix. "On the raising such lively and distinct images as are here described."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 89. "They are necessary to the avoiding Ambiguities."-- _Brightland's Gram._, p. 95. "There is no neglecting it without falling into a dangerous error."--_Burlamaqui, on Law_, p. 41. "The contest resembles Don Quixote's fighting windmills."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 67. "That these verbs associate with verbs in all the tenses, is no proof of their having no particular time of their own."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 190. "To justify my not following the tract of the ancient rhetoricians."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 122. "The putting letters together, so as to make words, is called spelling."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 11. "What is the putting vowels and consonants together called?"--_Ib._, p. 12. "Nobody knows of their being charitable but themselves."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 29. "Payment was at length made, but no reason assigned for its having been so long postponed."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 186; _Kirkham's_, 194; _Ingersoll's_, 254. "Which will bear being brought into comparison with any composition of the kind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 396. "To render vice ridiculous, is doing real service to the world."--_Ib._, p. 476. "It is copying directly from nature; giving a plain rehearsal of what passed, or was supposed to pass, in conversation."--_Ib._, p. 433. "Propriety of pronunciation is giving to every word that sound, which the most polite usage of the language appropriates to it."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 200. "To occupy the mind, and prevent our regretting the insipidity of an uniform plain."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 329. "There are a hundred ways of any thing happening."--_Steele_. "Tell me, signor, what was the cause of Antonio's sending Claudio to Venice, yesterday."--_Bucke's Gram._, p 90. "Looking about for an outlet, some rich prospect unexpectedly opens to view."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 334. "A hundred volumes of modern novels may be read, without acquiring a new idea"--_Webster's Essays_, p. 29. "Poetry admits of greater latitude than prose, with respect to coining, or, at least, new compounding words."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 93. "When laws were wrote on brazen tablets enforced by the sword."--_Notes to the Dunciad_. "A pronoun, which saves the naming a person or thing a second time, ought to be placed as near as possible to the name of that person or thing."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 49. "The using a preposition in this case, is not always a matter of choice."--_Ib._, ii, 37. "To save multiplying words, I would be understood to comprehend both circumstances."--_Ib._, i, 219. "Immoderate grief is mute: complaining is struggling for consolation."--_Ib._, i, 398. "On the other hand, the accelerating or retarding the natural course, excites a pain."--_Ib._, i, 259. "Human affairs require the distributing our attention."--_Ib._, i, 264. "By neglecting this circumstance, the following example is defective in neatness."--_Ib._, ii, 29. "And therefore the suppressing copulatives must animate a description."--_Ib._, ii, 32. "If the laying aside copulatives give force and liveliness, a redundancy of them must render the period languid."--_Ib._, ii, 33. "It skills not asking my leave, said Richard."--_Scott's Crusaders_. "To redeem his credit, he proposed being sent once more to Sparta."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 129. "Dumas relates his having given drink to a dog."--_Dr. Stone, on the Stomach_, p. 24. "Both are, in a like way, instruments of our receiving such ideas from external objects."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 66. "In order to your proper handling such a subject."--_Spectator_, No. 533. "For I do not recollect its being preceded by an open vowel."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 56. "Such is setting up the form above the power of godliness."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 72. "I remember walking once with my young acquaintance."-- _Hunt's Byron_, p 27. "He [Lord Byron] did not like paying a debt."--_Ib._, p. 74. "I do not remember seeing Coleridge when I was a child."--_Ib._, p. 318. "In consequence of the dry rot's having been discovered, the mansion has undergone a thorough repair."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 17. "I would not advise the following entirely the German system."--DR. LIEBER: _Lit. Conv._, p. 66. "Would it not be making the students judges of the professors?"--_Id., ib._, p. 4. "Little time should intervene between their being proposed and decided upon."--PROF. VETHAKE: _ib._, p. 39. "It would be nothing less than finding fault with the Creator."--_Ib._, p. 116. "Having once been friends is a powerful reason, both of prudence and conscience, to restrain us from ever becoming enemies."--_Secker_. "By using the word as a conjunction, the ambiguity is prevented."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 216. "He forms his schemes the flood of vice to stem, But preaching Jesus is not one of them."--_J. Taylor_. LESSON VIII.--ADVERBS. "Auxiliaries cannot only be inserted, but are really understood,"--_Wright's Gram._, p 209. "He was since a hired Scribbler in the Daily Courant."--_Notes to the Dunciad_, ii, 299. "In gardening, luckily, relative beauty need never stand in opposition to intrinsic beauty."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 330. "I doubt much of the propriety of the following examples."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 44. "And [we see] how far they have spread one of the worst Languages possibly in this part of the world."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 341. "And in this manner to merely place him on a level with the beast of the forest."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 5. "Where, ah! where, has my darling fled?"--_Anon_. "As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is."--_John_, ix, 29. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."--_James_, ii, 24. "The _Mixt_ kind is where the poet speaks in his own person, and sometimes makes other characters to speak."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 276; _Gould's_, 267. "Interrogation is, when the writer or orator raises questions and returns answers."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 154. "Prevention is, when an author starts an objection which he foresees may be made, and gives an answer to it."--_Ib._, p. 154. "Will you let me alone, or no?"--_Walker's Particles_, p. 184. "Neither man nor woman cannot resist an engaging exterior."-- _Chesterfield_, Let. lix. "Though the Cup be never so clean."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 65. "Seldom, or ever, did any one rise to eminence, by being a witty lawyer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 272. "The second rule, which I give, respects the choice of subjects, from whence metaphors, and other figures, are to be drawn."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 144. "In the figures which it uses, it sets mirrors before us, where we may behold objects, a second time, in their likeness."--_Ib._, p. 139. "Whose Business is to seek the true measures of Right and Wrong, and not the Arts how to avoid doing the one, and secure himself in doing the other."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 331. "The occasions when you ought to personify things, and when you ought not, cannot be stated in any precise rule."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 182. "They reflect that they have been much diverted, but scarce can say about what."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 151. "The eyebrows and shoulders should seldom or ever be remarked by any perceptible motion."--_Adams's Rhet._, ii, 389. "And the left hand or arm should seldom or never attempt any motion by itself."--_Ib._, ii, 391. "Every speaker does not propose to please the imagination."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 104. "And like Gallio, they care little for none of these things."--_The Friend_, Vol. x, p. 351. "They may inadvertently be imitated, in cases where the meaning would be obscure."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 272. "Nor a man cannot make him laugh."--_Shak_. "The Athenians, in their present distress, scarce knew where to turn."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 156. "I do not remember where ever God delivered his oracles by the multitude."--_Locke_. "The object of this government is twofold, outwards and inwards."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 553. "In order to rightly understand what we read."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 313. "That a design had been formed, to forcibly abduct or kidnap Morgan."--_Stone, on Masonry_, p. 410. "But such imposture can never maintain its ground long."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 10. "But sure it is equally possible to apply the principles of reason and good sense to this art, as to any other that is cultivated among men."--_Ibid._ "It would have been better for you, to have remained illiterate, and to have been even hewers of wood."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 374. "Dissyllables that have two vowels, which are separated in the pronunciation, have always the accent on the first syllable."--_Ib._, i, 238. "And they all turned their backs without almost drawing a sword."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 224. "The principle of duty takes naturally place of every other."--_Ib._, i, 342. "All that glitters is not gold."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 13. "Whether now or never so many myriads of ages hence."--_Pres. Edwards_. "England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 109. LESSON IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. "He readily comprehends the rules of Syntax, and their use and applicability in the examples before him."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 6. "The works of AEschylus have suffered more by time, than any of the ancient tragedians."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 470. "There is much more story, more bustle, and action, than on the French theatre."--_Ib._, p. 478. "Such an unremitted anxiety and perpetual application as engrosses our whole time and thoughts, are forbidden."--SOAME JENYNS: _Tract_, p. 12. "It seems to be nothing else but the simple form of the adjective."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 49. "But when I talk of _Reasoning_, I do not intend any other, but such as is suited to the Child's Capacity."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 129. "Pronouns have no other use in language, but to represent nouns."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p 83. "The speculative relied no farther on their own judgment, but to choose a leader, whom they implicitly followed."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. xxv. "Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 266. "A Parenthesis is a clause introduced into the body of a sentence obliquely, and which may be omitted without injuring the grammatical construction."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 280; _Ingersoll's_, 292; _Smith's_, 192; _Alden's_, 162; _A. Flint's_, 114; _Fisk's_, 158; _Cooper's_, 187; _Comly's_, 163. "A Caret, marked thus ^ is placed where some word happens to be left _out in_ writing, and which _is inserted over_ the line."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 282; _Ingersoll's_, 293; _and others_. "At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down."--_Jer._, vi, 15. "Neither our virtues or vices are all our own."--DR. JOHNSON: _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 167. "I could not give him an answer as early as he had desired."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 200. "He is not as tall as his brother."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 124. "It is difficult to judge when Lord Byron is serious or not."--_Lady Blessington_. "Some nouns are both of the second and third declension."--_Gould's Lat. Gram._, p. 48. "He was discouraged neither by danger or misfortune."--_Wells's Hist._, p. 161. "This is consistent neither with logic nor history."--_The Dial_, i, 62. "Parts of Sentences are simple and compound."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 114. "English verse is regulated rather by the number of syllables than of feet."--_Ib._, p. 120. "I know not what more he can do, but pray for him."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 140. "Whilst they are learning, and apply themselves with Attention, they are to be kept in good Humour."--_Ib._, p. 295. "A man cannot have too much of it, nor too perfectly."--_Ib._, p. 322. "That you may so run, as you may obtain; and so fight, as you may overcome."--_Wm. Penn_. "It is the case of some, to contrive false periods of business, because they may seem men of despatch."--_Lord Bacon_. "'A tall man and a woman.' In this sentence there is no ellipsis; the adjective or quality respect only the man."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 95. "An abandonment of the policy is neither to be expected or desired."--_Pres. Jackson's Message_, 1830. "Which can be acquired by no other means but frequent exercise in speaking."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 344. "The chief and fundamental rules of syntax are common to the English as well as the Latin tongue."--_Ib._, p. 90. "Then I exclaim, that my antagonist either is void of all taste, or that his taste is corrupted in a miserable degree."-- _Ib._, p. 21. "I cannot pity any one who is under no distress of body nor of mind."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 44. "There was much genius in the world, before there were learning or arts to refine it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 391. "Such a Writer can have little else to do, but to new model the Paradoxes of ancient Scepticism."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 102. "Our ideas of them being nothing else but a collection of the ordinary qualities observed in them."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 25. "A _non-ens_ or a negative can neither give pleasure nor pain."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 63. "So as they shall not justle and embarrass one another."--_Blair's Lectures_, p. 318. "He firmly refused to make use of any other voice but his own."-- _Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 190. "Your marching regiments, Sir, will not make the guards their example, either as soldiers or subjects."--_Junius, Let_. 35. "Consequently, they had neither meaning, or beauty, to any but the natives of each country."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 161. "The man of worth, and has not left his peer, Is in his narrow house for ever darkly laid."--_Burns_. LESSON X.--PREPOSITIONS. "These may be carried on progressively above any assignable limits."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 296. "To crowd in a single member of a period different subjects, is still worse than to crowd them into one period."--_Ib._, ii, 27. "Nor do we rigidly insist for melodious prose."--_Ib._, ii, 76. "The aversion we have at those who differ from us."--_Ib._, ii, 365. "For we cannot bear his shifting the scene every line."--LD. HALIFAX: _ib._, ii, 213. "We shall find that we come by it the same way."--_Locke_. "To this he has no better defense than that."--_Barnes's Bed Book_, p. 347. "Searching the person whom he suspects for having stolen his casket."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 479. "Who are elected as vacancies occur by the whole Board."--_Lit. Convention_, p. 81. "Almost the only field of ambition of a German, is science."--DR. LIEBER: _ib._, p. 66. "The plan of education is very different to the one pursued in the sister country."--DR. COLEY, _ib._, p. 197. "Some writers on grammar have contended that adjectives relate to, and modify the action of verbs."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 61. "They are therefore of a mixed nature, participating of the properties both of pronouns and adjectives."-- _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 57. "For there is no authority which can justify the inserting the aspirate or doubling the vowel."--_Knight, on Greek Alph._, p. 52. "The distinction and arrangement between active, passive, and neuter verbs."--_Wright's Gram_, p. 176. "And see thou a hostile world _to_ spread its delusive snares."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 167. "He may be precaution'd, and be made see, how those joyn in the Contempt."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 155. "The contenting themselves now in the want of what they wish'd for, is a vertue."--_Ib._, p. 185. "If the Complaint be of something really worthy your notice."--_Ib._, p. 190. "True Fortitude I take to be the quiet Possession of a Man's self, and an undisturb'd doing his Duty."--_Ib._, p. 204. "For the custom of tormenting and killing of Beasts will, by degrees, harden their Minds even towards Men."--_Ib._, p. 216. "Children are whip'd to it, and made spend many Hours of their precious time uneasily in Latin."--_Ib._, p. 289. "The ancient rhetoricians have entered into a very minute and particular detail of this subject; more particular, indeed, than any other that regards language."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 123. "But the one should not be omitted without the other."--_Bullions's Eng. Gram._, p. 108. "In some of the common forms of speech, the relative pronoun is usually omitted."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 218; _Weld's_, 191. "There are a great variety of causes, which disqualify a witness from being received to testify in particular cases."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, ii, 75. "Aside of all regard to interest, we should expect that," &c.--_Webster's Essays_, p. 82. "My opinion was given on a rather cursory perusal of the book."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 202. "And the next day, he was put on board his ship."--_Ib._, ii, 201. "Having the command of no emotions but of what are raised by sight."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 318. "Did these moral attributes exist in some other being beside himself."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 161. "He did not behave in that manner out of pride or contempt of the tribunal."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 190. "These prosecutions of William seem to have been the most iniquitous measures pursued by the court."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 199; _Priestley's Gram._, 126. "To restore myself into the good graces of my fair critics."--_Dryden_. "Objects denominated beautiful, please not in virtue of any one quality common to them all."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 46. "This would have been less worthy notice, had not a writer or two of high rank lately adopted it."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 197. "A Grecian youth, with talents rare, Whom Plato's philosophic care," &c.--_Felton's Gram._, p. 145. LESSON XI.--PROMISCUOUS. "To excel, is become a much less considerable object."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 351. "My robe, and my integrity to heaven, is all I now dare call mine own."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 173. "So thou the garland wear'st successively."--_Ib._, p. 134. "For thou the garland wears successively."--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 341. "If that thou need'st a Roman's, take it forth."--_Ib._, p. 357. "If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 256. "If thou provest this to be real, thou must be a smart lad, indeed."--_Neef's Method of Teaching_, p. 210. "And another Bridge of four hundred Foot in Length."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 242. "_Metonomy_ is putting one name for another on account of the near relation there is between them."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 151. "An _Antonomasia_ is putting an appellative or common name for a proper name."--_Ib._, p. 153. "Its being me needs make no difference in your determination."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 89. "The first and second page are torn."--_Ib._, p. 145. "John's being from home occasioned the delay."--_Ib._, p. 81. "His having neglected opportunities of improvement, was the cause of his disgrace."--_Ib._, p. 81. "He will regret his having neglected opportunities of improvement when it may be too late."--_Ib._, p. 81. "His being an expert dancer does not entitle him to our regard."--_Ib._, p. 82.[443] "Caesar went back to Rome to take possession of the public treasure, which his opponent, by a most unaccountable oversight, had neglected taking with him."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 116. "And Caesar took out of the treasury, to the amount of three thousand pound weight of gold, besides an immense quantity of silver."--_Ibid._ "Rules and definitions, which should always be clear and intelligible as possible, are thus rendered obscure."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 5. "So much both of ability and merit is seldom found."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 179. "If such maxims, and such practices prevail, what is become of decency and virtue?"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 78. "Especially if the subject require not so much pomp."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 117. "However, the proper mixture of light and shade, in such compositions; the exact adjustment of all the figurative circumstances with the literal sense; have ever been considered as points of great nicety."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 343. "And adding to that hissing in our language, which is taken so much notice of by foreigners."--ADDISON: DR. COOTE: _ib._, i, 90. "Speaking impatiently to servants, or any thing that betrays unkindness or ill-humour, is certainly criminal."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 183; _Merchant's_, 190. "There is here a fulness and grandeur of expression well suited to the subject."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 218. "I single Strada out among the moderns, because he had the foolish presumption to censure Tacitus."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 262. "I single him out among the moderns, because," &c.--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 116. "This is a rule not always observed, even by good writers, as strictly as it ought to be."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 103. "But this gravity and assurance, which is beyond boyhood, being neither wisdom nor knowledge, do never reach to manhood."--_Notes to the Dunciad_. "The regularity and polish even of a turnpike-road has some influence upon the low people in the neighbourhood."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 358. "They become fond of regularity and neatness; which is displayed, first upon their yards and little enclosures, and next within doors."--_Ibid._ "The phrase, _it is impossible to exist_, gives us the idea of it's being impossible for men, or any body to exist."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 85. "I'll give a thousand pound to look upon him."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 151. "The reader's knowledge, as Dr. Campbell observes, may prevent his mistaking it."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 172; _Crombie's_, 253. "When two words are set in contrast or in opposition to one another, they are both emphatic."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 243. "The number of persons, men, women, and children, who were lost in the sea, was very great."--_Ib._, ii, 20. "Nor is the resemblance between the primary and resembling object pointed out"--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 179. "I think it the best book of the kind which I have met with."--DR. MATHEWS: _Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 2. "Why should not we their ancient rites restore, And be what Rome or Athens were before."--_Roscommon_, p. 22. LESSON XII.--TWO ERRORS. "It is labour only which gives the relish to pleasure."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 234. "Groves are never as agreeable as in the opening of the spring."--_Ib._, p. 216. "His 'Philosophical Inquiry into the origin of our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful' soon made him known to the literati."--_Biog. Rhet., n. Burke_. "An awful precipice or tower whence we look down on the objects which lie below."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 30. "This passage, though very poetical, is, however, harsh and obscure; owing to no other cause but this, that three distinct metaphors are crowded together."--_Ib._, p. 149. "I propose making some observations."--_Ib._, p. 280. "I shall follow the same method here which I have all along pursued."--_Ib._, p. 346. "Mankind never resemble each other so much as they do in the beginnings of society."--_Ib._, p. 380. "But no ear is sensible of the termination of each foot, in reading an hexameter line."--_Ib._, p. 383. "The first thing, says he, which either a writer of fables, or of heroic poems, does, is, to choose some maxim or point of morality."--_Ib._, p. 421. "The fourth book has been always most justly admired, and abounds with beauties of the highest kind."--_Ib._, p. 439. "There is no attempt towards painting characters in the poem."--_Ib._, p. 446. "But the artificial contrasting of characters, and the introducing them always in pairs, and by opposites, gives too theatrical and affected an air to the piece."--_Ib._, p. 479. "Neither of them are arbitrary nor local."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, p. xxi. "If crowding figures be bad, it is still worse to graft one figure upon another."--_Ib._, ii, 236. "The crowding withal so many objects together, lessens the pleasure."--_Ib._, ii, 324. "This therefore lies not in the putting off the Hat, nor making of Compliments."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 149. "But the Samaritan Vau may have been used, as the Jews did the Chaldaic, both for a vowel and consonant."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 19. "But if a solemn and familiar pronunciation really exists in our language, is it not the business of a grammarian to mark both?"--_Walker's Dict., Pref._, p. 4. "By making sounds follow each other agreeable to certain laws."--_Music of Nature_, p. 406. "If there was no drinking intoxicating draughts, there could be no drunkards."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 178. "Socrates knew his own defects, and if he was proud of any thing, it was in the being thought to have none."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 188. "Lysander having brought his army to Ephesus, erected an arsenal for building of gallies."--_Ib._, i, 161. "The use of these signs are worthy remark."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 94. "He received me in the same manner that I would you."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 113. "Consisting both of the direct and collateral evidence."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 224. "If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged."--_1 Tim._, v, 16. "For mens sakes are beasts bred."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 131. "From three a clock there was drinking and gaming."--_Ib._, p. 141. "Is this he that I am seeking of, or no?"--_Ib._, p. 248. "And for the upholding every one his own opinion, there is so much ado."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. 809. "Some of them however will be necessarily taken notice of."--_Sale's Koran_, p. 71. "The boys conducted themselves exceedingly indiscreet."--_Merchant's Key_, p. 195. "Their example, their influence, their fortune, every talent they possess, dispense blessings on all around them."--_Ib._, p. 197; _Murray's Key_, ii, 219. "The two _Reynolds_ reciprocally converted one another"--_Johnson's Lives_, p. 185. "The destroying the two last Tacitus calls an attack upon virtue itself."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 194. "Monies is your suit."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 38. "_Ch_, is commonly sounded like _tch_; as in church; but in words derived from the Greek, has the sound of _k_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 11. "When one is obliged to make some utensil supply purposes to which they were not originally destined."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 222. "But that a being baptized with water, is a washing away of sin, thou canst not from hence prove."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 190. "Being but spoke to one, it infers no universal command."--_Ibid._ "For if the laying aside Copulatives gives Force and Liveliness, a Redundancy of them must render the Period languid."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 134. "James used to compare him to a cat, who always fell upon her legs."--ADAM'S HIST. OF ENG.: _Crombie_, p. 384. "From the low earth aspiring genius springs, And sails triumphant born on eagles wings."--_Lloyd_, p. 162. LESSON XIII.--TWO ERRORS. "An ostentatious, a feeble, a harsh, or an obscure style, for instance, are always faults."--_Blair's Rhet._ p. 190. "Yet in this we find the English pronounce perfectly agreeable to rule."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 2. "But neither the perception of ideas, nor knowledge of any sort, are habits, though absolutely necessary to the forming of them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 111. "They were cast: and an heavy fine imposed upon them."--_Goldsmiths Greece_, ii, 30. "Without making this reflection, he cannot enter into the spirit, nor relish the composition of the author."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 450. "The scholar should be instructed relative to finding his words."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 4. "And therefore they could neither have forged, or reversified them."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 30. "A dispensary is the place where medicines are dispensed."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 172. "Both the connexion and number of words is determined by general laws."--_Neef's Sketch_, p. 73. "An Anapsest has the two first syllables unaccented, and the last accented: as, 'Contravene, acquiesce.'"--_Murray's Gram._, i, 254. "An explicative sentence is, when a thing is said to be or not to be, to do or not to do, to suffer or not to suffer, in a direct manner."--_Ib._, i, 141; _Lowth's_, 84. "BUT is a _conjunction_, in all cases when it is neither an adverb nor preposition."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 109. "He wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring."--_Esther_, viii, 10. "Camm and Audland were departed the town before this time."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. 100. "Previous to their relinquishing the practice, they must be convinced."--_Dr. Webster, on Slavery_, p. 5. "Which he had thrown up previous to his setting out."--_Grimshaw's Hist. U. S._, p. 84. "He left him to the value of an hundred drachmas in Persian money."--_Spect._, No. 535. "All which the mind can ever contemplate concerning them, must be divided between the three."--_Cardell's Philad. Gram._, p. 80. "Tom Puzzle is one of the most eminent immethodical disputants of any that has fallen under my observation."--_Spect._, No. 476. "When you have once got him to think himself made amends for his suffering, by the praise is given him for his courage."--_Locke, on Ed_. Sec.115. "In all matters where simple reason, and mere speculation is concerned."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 136. "And therefore he should be spared the trouble of attending to any thing else, but his meaning."--_Ib._, p. 105. "It is this kind of phraseology which is distinguished by the epithet _idiomatical_, and hath been originally the spawn, partly of ignorance, and partly of affectation."--_Campbell's Rhet._ p. 185. Murray has it--"and _which has_ been originally," &c.--_Octavo Gram._ i, 370. "That neither the letters nor inflection are such as could have been employed by the ancient inhabitants of Latium."--_Knight, Gr. Alph_. p. 13, "In cases where the verb is intended to be applied to any one of the terms."--_Murray's Gram._,, 150. "But this people which know not the law, are accursed."--_John_, vii, 49. "And the magnitude of the chorusses have weight and sublimity."--_Music of Nature_, p. 428. "Dare he deny but there are some of his fraternity guilty?"--_Barclays Works_, i, 327. "Giving an account of most, if not all the papers had passed betwixt them."--_Ib._, i, 235. "In this manner, both as to parsing and correcting, all the rules of syntax should be treated, proceeding regularly according to their order."--_Murray's Exercises_, 12mo, p. x. "Ovando was allowed a brilliant retinue and a body guard."--_Sketch of Columbus_. "Is it I or he whom you requested to go?"--_Kirkham's Gram., Key_, p. 226. "Let thou and I go on."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 158. "This I no-where affirmed; and do wholly deny."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 454. "But that I deny; and remains for him to prove."--_Ibid._ "Our country sinks beneath the yoke; It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds."--SHAKSPEARE: _Joh. Dict., w. Beneath_. "Thou art the Lord who didst choose Abraham, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 189. "He is the exhaustless fountain, from which emanates all these attributes, that exists throughout this wide creation."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 1st Ed., p. 155. "I am he who have communed with the son of Neocles; I am he who have entered the gardens of pleasure."--_Wright's Athens_, p. 66. "Such was in ancient times the tales received, Such by our good forefathers was believed." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ix, l. 605. LESSON XIV.--TWO ERRORS. "The noun or pronoun that stand before the active verb, may be called the agent."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 121. "Such seems to be the musings of our hero of the grammar-quill, when he penned the first part of his grammar."--_Merchant's Criticisms_. "Two dots, the one placed above the other [:], is called Sheva, and represents a very short _e_."--_Wilson's Hebrew Gram._, p. 43. "Great has been, and is, the obscurity and difficulty, in the nature and application of them."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 184. "As two is to four, so is four to eight."--_Everest's Gram._, p. 231. "The invention and use of it [arithmetic] reaches back to a period so remote as is beyond the knowledge of history."--_Robertson's America_, i, 288. "What it presents as objects of contemplation or enjoyment, fills and satisfies his mind."--_Ib._, i, 377. "If he dare not say they are, as I know he dare not, how must I then distinguish?"--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 311. "He was now grown so fond of solitude that all company was become uneasy to him."--_Life of Cicero_, p. 32. "Violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds."--_Jeremiah_, vi, 7. "Bayle's Intelligence from the Republic of Letters, which make eleven volumes in duodecimo, are truly a model in this kind."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 68. "To render pauses pleasing and expressive, they must not only be made in the right place, but also accompanied with a proper tone of voice."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 249. "The opposing the opinions, and rectifying the mistakes of others, is what truth and sincerity sometimes require of us."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 211. "It is very probable that this assembly was called, to clear some doubt which the king had, about the lawfulness of the Hollanders' throwing off the monarchy of Spain, and withdrawing, entirely, their allegiance to that crown."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 195. "Naming the cases and numbers of a noun in their order is called declining it."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 10. "The embodying them is, therefore, only collecting such component parts of words."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 4. "The one is the voice heard at Christ's being baptized; the other, at his being transfigured."--_Barclays Works_, i, 267. "Understanding the literal sense would not have prevented their condemning the guiltless."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 168. "As if this were taking the execution of justice out of the hand of God, and giving it to nature."--_Ib._, p. 194. "They will say, you must conceal this good opinion of yourself; which yet is allowing the thing, though not the showing it."--_Sheffield's Works_, ii, 244. "So as to signify not only the doing an action, but the causing it to be done."--_Pike's Hebrew Lexicon_, p. 180. "This, certainly, was both dividing the unity of God, and limiting his immensity."--_Calvin's Institutes_, B. i, Ch. 13. "Tones being infinite in number, and varying in almost every individual, the arranging them under distinct heads, and reducing them to any fixed and permanent rules, may be considered as the last refinement in language."--_Knight, on Gr. Alph._, p. 16. "The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart."--_Jeremiah_, xxx, 24. "We seek for more heroic and illustrious deeds, for more diversified and surprising events."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 373. "We distinguish the Genders, or the Male and Female Sex, four different Ways."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 20. "Thus, ch and g, are ever hard. It is therefore proper to retain these sounds in Hebrew names, which have not been modernised, or changed by public use."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 24. "The Substantive or noun is the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Lindley Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 26. "The SUBSTANTIVE, or NOUN; being the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Dr. Lowth's Gram._, p. 6. "The _Noun_ is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have, or can form, an idea."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 1. "A noun is the name of any thing in existence, or of which we can form an idea."--_Ib._, p. 1. (See False Syntax under Note 7th to Rule 10th.) "The next thing to be taken Care of, is to keep him exactly to speaking of Truth."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 254. "The material, vegetable, and animal world, receive this influence according to their several capacities."--_The Dial_, i, 59. "And yet, it is fairly defensible on the principles of the schoolmen; if that can be called principles which consists merely in words."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 274. "Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, And fears to die? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 317. LESSON XV.--THREE ERRORS. "The silver age is reckoned to have commenced on the death of Augustus, and continued to the end of Trajan's reign."--_Gould's Lat. Gram._, p. 277. "Language is become, in modern times, more correct, indeed, and accurate."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 65. "It is evident, that words are most agreeable to the ear which are composed of smooth and liquid sounds, where there is a proper intermixture of vowels and consonants."--_Ib._, p. 121. See _Murray's Gram._, i, 325. "It would have had no other effect, but to add a word unnecessarily to the sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 194. "But as rumours arose of the judges having been corrupted by money in this cause, these gave occasions to much popular clamour, and had thrown a heavy odium on Cluentius."--_Ib._, p. 273. "A Participle is derived of a verb, and partakes of the nature both of the verb and the adjective."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 39; _E. Devis's_, 9. "I will have learned my grammar before you learn your's."--_Wilbur and Liv. Gram._, p. 14. "There is no earthly object capable of making such various and such forcible impressions upon the human mind as a complete speaker."--_Perry's Dict., Pref._ "It was not the carrying the bag which made Judas a thief and an hireling."--_South_. "As the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ."--_Athanasian Creed_. "And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God."--_Hosea_, ii, 23. "Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound to be elevated or emphatical, an easy fall, sufficient to show that the sense is finished, will be proper."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 250. "Each party produces words where the letter _a_ is sounded in the manner they contend for."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 1. "To countenance persons who are guilty of bad actions, is scarcely one remove from actually committing them."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 233. "'To countenance persons who are guilty of bad actions,' is part of a sentence, which is the nominative case to the verb 'is.'"--_Ibid._ "What is called splitting of particles, or separating a preposition from the noun which it governs, is always to be avoided."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112; _Jamieson's_, 93. See _Murray's Gram._, i, 319. "There is, properly, no more than one pause or rest in the sentence, falling betwixt the two members into which it is divided."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 125; _Jamieson's_, 126; _Murray's Gram._, i, 329. "Going barefoot does not at all help on the way to heaven."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 497. "There is no Body but condemns this in others, though they overlook it in themselves."--_Locke, on Ed._, Sec.145. "In the same sentence, be careful not to use the same word too frequently, nor in different senses."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 296. "Nothing could have made her so unhappy, as marrying a man who possessed such principles."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 200. "A warlike, various, and a tragical age is best to write of, but worst to write in."--_Cowley's Pref._, p. vi. "When thou instances Peter his baptizing Cornelius."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 188. "To introduce two or more leading thoughts or agents, which have no natural relation to, or dependence on one another."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 313. "Animals, again, are fitted to one another, and to the elements where they live, and to which they are as appendices."--_Ibid._ "This melody, or varying the sound of each word so often, is a proof of nothing, however, but of the fine ear of that people."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 5. "They can each in their turns be made use of upon occasion."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 191. "In this reign lived the poet Chaucer, who, with Gower, are the first authors who can properly be said to have written English."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 144. "In the translating these kind of expressions, consider the IT IS, as if it were _they_, or _they are_."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 179. "The chin has an important office to perform; for upon its activity we either disclose a polite or vulgar pronunciation."--_Music of Nature_, p. 27. "For no other reason, but his being found in bad company."--_Webster's Amer. Spelling-Book_, p. 96. "It is usual to compare them in the same manner as Polisyllables."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 77. "The infinitive mood is recognised easier than any others, because the preposition _to_ precedes it."--_Bucke's Gram._, p, 95. "Prepositions, you recollect, connect words as well as conjunctions: how, then, can you tell the one from the other?"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 38. "No kind of work requires so nice a touch, And if well finish'd, nothing shines so much" --_Sheffield, Duke of Buck._ LESSON XVI--THREE ERRORS. "It is the final pause which alone, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse; which will be evident from the following arrangement of a few poetical lines."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 260. "I shall do all I can to persuade others to take the same measures for their cure which I have."--GUARDIAN: see _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 207. "I shall do all I can, to persuade others to take the same measures for their cure which I have taken."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 215. "It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and [or _an_] it were but to roast their eggs."--_Ld. Bacon_. "Did ever man struggle more earnestly in a cause where both his honour and life are concerned?"--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 15. "So the rests and pauses, between sentences and their parts, are marked by points."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 114. "Yet the case and mode is not influenced by them, but determined by the nature of the sentence."--_Ib._, p. 113. "By not attending to this rule, many errors have been committed: a number of which is subjoined, as a further caution and direction to the learner."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 114. "Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair."--_Jeremiah_, iv, 30. "But that the doing good to others will make us happy, is not so evident; feeding the hungry, for example, or clothing the naked."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 161. "There is no other God but him, no other light but his."--_William Penn_. "How little reason to wonder, that a perfect and accomplished orator, should be one of the characters that is most rarely found?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 337. "Because they neither express doing nor receiving an action."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 53. "To find the answers, will require an effort of mind, and when given, will be the result of reflection, showing that the subject is understood."--_Ib._, p. vii. "To say, that 'the sun rises,' is trite and common; but it becomes a magnificent image when expressed as Mr. Thomson has done."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 137. "The declining a word is the giving it different endings."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 7. "And so much are they for every one's following their own mind."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 462. "More than one overture for a peace was made, but Cleon prevented their taking effect."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 121. "Neither in English or in any other language is this word, and that which corresponds to it in other languages, any more an article, than _two, three, four_."--DR. WEBSTER: _Knickerbocker of 1836_. "But the most irksome conversation of all others I have met within the neighbourhood, has been among two or three of your travellers."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Set down the two first terms of supposition under each other in the first place."--_Smiley's Arithmetic_, p. 79. "It is an useful rule too, to fix our eye on some of the most distant persons in the assembly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 328. "He will generally please most, when pleasing is not his sole nor chief aim."--_Ib._, p. 336. "At length, the consuls return to the camp, and inform them they could receive no other terms but that of surrendering their arms, and passing under the yoke."--_Ib._, p. 360. "Nor is mankind so much to blame, in his choice thus determining him."--SWIFT: _Crombie's Treatise_, p 360. "These forms are what is called Number."--_Fosdick's De Sacy_, p. 62. "In languages which admit but two Genders, all Nouns are either Masculine or Feminine, even though they designate beings which are neither male or female."--_Ib._, p. 66. "It is called a _Verb_ or _Word_ by way of eminence, because it is the most essential word in a sentence, without which the other parts of speech can form no complete sense."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 76. "The sentence will consist of two members, which are commonly separated from one another by a comma."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 7. "Loud and soft in speaking, is like the _forte_ and _piano_ in music, it only refers to the different degrees of force used in the same key; whereas high and low imply a change of key."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 116. "They are chiefly three: the acquisition of knowledge; the assisting the memory to treasure up this knowledge; or the communicating it to others."--_Ib._, p. 11. "These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness, Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, Than twenty silly ducking observants."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 261. LESSON XVII.--MANY ERRORS. "A man will be forgiven, even great errors, in a foreign language; but in his own, even the least slips are justly laid hold of, and ridiculed."--_American Chesterfield_, p 83. "_Let_ does not only express permission; but praying, exhorting, commanding."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 41. "_Let_, not only expresses permission, but entreating, exhorting, commanding."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 88; _Ingersoll's_, 135. "That death which is our leaving this world, is nothing else but putting off these bodies."--_Sherlock_. "They differ from the saints recorded both in the Old and New Testaments."--_Newton_. "The nature therefore of relation consists in the referring or comparing two things one to another; from which comparison, one or both comes to be denominated"--_Locke's Essay_, i, 220. "It is not credible, that there hath been any one who through the whole course of their lives will say, that they have kept themselves undefiled with the least spot or stain of sin."--_Witsius_. "If acting conformably to the will of our Creator;--if promoting the welfare of mankind around us;--if securing our own happiness;--are objects of the highest moment:--then we are loudly called upon to cultivate and extend the great interests of religion and virtue"--_Murray's Gram._, i, 278; _Comly's_, 163; _Ingersoll's_, 291. "By the verb being in the plural number, it is supposed that it has a plural nominative, which is not the case. The only nominative to the verb, is, _the officer_: the expression _his guard_, are in the objective case, governed by the preposition _with_; and they cannot consequently form the nominative, or any part of it. The prominent subject, and the true nominative of the verb, and to which the verb peculiarly refers, is _the officer_."--_Murray's Parsing_, Cr. 8vo, ii, 22. "This is another use, that, in my opinion, contributes rather to make a man learned than wise; and is neither capable of pleasing the understanding, or imagination."--ADDISON: _Churchill's Gram._, p. 353. "The work is a dull performance; and is capable of pleasing neither the understanding, nor the imagination."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 210. "I would recommend the Elements of English Grammar, by Mr. Frost. Its plan is after Murray, but his definitions and language is simplified as far as the nature of the subject will admit, to meet the understanding of children. It also embraces more copious examples and exercises in Parsing than is usual in elementary treatises."--_Hall's Lectures on School-Keeping_, 1st Ed., p. 37. "More rain falls in the first two summer months, than in the first two winter ones: but it makes a much greater show upon the earth, in these than in those; because there is a much slower evaporation."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 189. See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 90. "They often contribute also to the rendering some persons prosperous though wicked: and, which is still worse, to the rewarding some actions though vicious, and punishing other actions though virtuous."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 92. "From hence, to such a man, arises naturally a secret satisfaction and sense of security, and implicit hope of somewhat further."--_Ib._, p. 93. "So much for the third and last cause of illusion that was taken notice of, arising from the abuse of very general and abstract terms, which is the principal source of all the nonsense that hath been vented by metaphysicians, mystagogues, and theologians."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 297. "As to those animals whose use is less common, or who on account of the places which they inhabit, fall less under our observation, as fishes and birds, or whom their diminutive size removes still further from our observation, we generally, in English, employ a single Noun to designate both Genders, Masculine and Feminine."--_Fosdick's De Sacy_, p. 67. "Adjectives may always be distinguished by their being the word, or words, made use of to describe the quality, or condition, of whatever is mentioned."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 20. "Adverb signifies a word added to a verb, participle, adjective, or other adverb, to describe or qualify their qualities."--_Ib._, p. 64. "The joining together two such grand objects, and the representing them both as subject, at one moment, to the command of God, produces a noble effect."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 37. "Twisted columns, for instance, are undoubtedly ornamental; but as they have an appearance of weakness, they always displease when they are made use of to support any part of a building that is massy, and that seems to require a more substantial prop."--_Ib._, p. 40. "Upon a vast number of inscriptions, some upon rocks, some upon stones of a defined shape, is found an Alphabet different from the Greeks, Latins, and Hebrews, and also unlike that of any modern nation."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 176. LESSON XVIII--MANY ERRORS. "'The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the northeast side of Lilliput, from whence it is parted only by a channel of 800 yards wide.' _Gulliver's Travels_. The ambiguity may be removed thus:--'from whence it is parted by a channel of 800 yards wide only.'"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 44. "The nominative case is usually the agent or doer, and always the subject of the verb."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 47. "There is an originality, richness, and variety in his [Spenser's] allegorical personages, which almost vies with the splendor of the ancient mythology."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 68. "As neither the Jewish nor Christian revelation have been universal, and as they have been afforded to a greater or less part of the world at different times; so likewise, at different times, both revelations have had different degrees of evidence."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 210. "Thus we see, that killing a man with a sword or a hatchet, are looked upon as no distinct species of action: but if the point of the sword first enter the body, it passes for a distinct species, called _stabbing_."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 314. "If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or hath deceived his neighbour, or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein, then it shall be," &c.--_Lev._, vi, 2. "As the doing and teaching the commandments of God is the great proof of virtue, so the breaking them, and the teaching others to break them, is the great proof of vice."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 281. "In Pope's terrific maltreatment of the latter simile, it is neither true to mind or eye."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 14. "And the two brothers were seen, transported with rage and fury, endeavouring like Eteocles and Polynices to plunge their swords into each other's hearts, and to assure themselves of the throne by the death of their rival."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 176. "Is it not plain, therefore, that neither the castle, the planet, nor the cloud, which you see here, are those real ones, which you suppose exist at a distance?"--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p 166. "I have often wondered how it comes to pass, that every Body should love themselves best, and yet value their neighbours Opinion about themselves more than their own."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 226. "VIRTUE ([Greek: Aretahe], Virtus) as well as most of its Species, are all Feminine, perhaps from their Beauty and amiable appearance."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 55. "Virtue, with most of its Species, are all Feminine, from their Beauty and amiable Appearance; and so Vice becomes Feminine of Course, as being Virtue's natural opposite."--_British Gram._, p. 97. "Virtue, with most of its Species, is Feminine, and so is Vice, for being Virtue's opposite."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 22. "From this deduction, may be easily seen how it comes to pass, that personification makes so great a figure in all compositions, where imagination or passion have any concern."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 155. "An Article is a word prefixed to a substantive to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights--among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness."--_Constitution of New Hampshire_. "From Grammarians who form their ideas, and make their decisions, respecting this part of English Grammar, on the principles and construction of languages, which, in these points, do not suit the peculiar nature of our own, but differ considerably from it, we may naturally expect grammatical schemes that are not very perspicuous, or perfectly consistent, and which will tend more to perplex than inform the learner."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 68; _Hall's_, 15. "There are, indeed, very few who know how to be idle and innocent, or have a relish of any pleasures that are not criminal; every diversion they take, is at the expense of some one virtue or another, and their very first step out of business is into vice or folly."--ADDISON: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 201.[444] "Hail, holy love! thou word that sums all bliss! Gives and receives all bliss: fullest when most Thou givest; spring-head of all felicity!" --_Pollok, C. of T._, B. v, 1, 193. CHAPTER XIII.--GENERAL RULE. The following comprehensive canon for the correction of all sorts of nondescript errors in syntax, and the several critical or general notes under it, seem necessary for the completion of my design; which is, to furnish a thorough exposition of the various faults against which the student of English grammar has occasion to be put upon his guard. GENERAL RULE OF SYNTAX. In the formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout. CRITICAL NOTES TO THE GENERAL RULE. CRITICAL NOTE I.--OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. Words that may constitute different parts of speech, must not be left doubtful as to their classification, or to what part of speech they belong. CRITICAL NOTE II.--OF DOUBTFUL REFERENCE. The reference of words to other words, or their syntactical relation according to the sense, should never be left doubtful, by any one who means to be understood. CRITICAL NOTE III.--OF DEFINITIONS. A definition, in order to be perfect, must include the whole thing, or class of things, which it pretends to define, and exclude every thing which comes not under the name. CRITICAL NOTE IV.--OF COMPARISONS. A comparison is a form of speech which requires some similarity or common property in the things compared; without which, it becomes a solecism. CRITICAL NOTE V.--OF FALSITIES. Sentences that convey a meaning manifestly false, should be changed, rejected, or contradicted; because they distort language from its chief end, or only worthy use; which is, to state facts, and to tell the truth. CRITICAL NOTE VI.--OF ABSURDITIES. Absurdities, of every kind, are contrary to grammar, because they are contrary to reason, or good sense, which is the foundation of grammar. CRITICAL NOTE VII.--OF SELF-CONTRADICTION. Every writer or speaker should be careful not to contradict himself; for what is self-contradictory, is both null in argument, and bad in style. CRITICAL NOTE VIII.--OF SENSELESS JUMBLING. To jumble together words without care for the sense, is an unpardonable negligence, and an abuse of the human understanding. CRITICAL NOTE IX.--OF WORDS NEEDLESS. Words that are entirely needless, and especially such as injure or encumber the expression, ought in general to be omitted. CRITICAL NOTE X.--OF IMPROPER OMISSIONS. Words necessary to the sense, or even to the melody or beauty of a sentence, ought seldom, if ever, to be omitted. CRITICAL NOTE XI.--OF LITERARY BLUNDERS. Grave blunders made in the name of learning, are the strongest of all certificates against the books which contain them unreproved. CRITICAL NOTE XII.--OF PERVERSIONS. Proof-texts in grammar, if not in all argument, should be quoted literally; and even that which needs to be corrected, must never be perverted. CRITICAL NOTE XIII.--OF AWKWARDNESS. Awkwardness, or inelegance of expression, is a reprehensible defect in style, whether it violate any of the common rules of syntax or not. CRITICAL NOTE XIV.--OF IGNORANCE. Any use of words that implies ignorance of their meaning, or of their proper orthography, is particularly unscholarlike; and, in proportion to the author's pretensions to learning, disgraceful. CRITICAL NOTE XV.--OF SILLINESS. Silly remarks and idle truisms are traits of a feeble style, and, when their weakness is positive, or inherent, they ought to be entirely omitted. CRITICAL NOTE XVI.--OF THE INCORRIGIBLE. Passages too erroneous for correction, may be criticised, orally or otherwise, and then passed over without any attempt to amend them.[445] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SYNTAX. OBS. 1.--In the foregoing code of syntax, the author has taken the parts of speech in their order, and comprised all the general principles of relation, agreement, and government, in twenty-four leading Rules. Of these rules, eight--(namely, the 1st, of _Articles_; the 4th, of _Possessives_; the 9th, of _Adjectives_; the 20th, of _Participles_; the 21st, of _Adverbs_; the 22d, of _Conjunctions_; the 23d, of _Prepositions_; and the 24th, of _Interjections_--) are used only in parsing. The remaining sixteen, because they embrace principles that are sometimes violated in practice, answer the double purpose of parsing and correcting. The Exceptions, of which there are thirty-two, (all occasionally applicable in parsing,) belong to nine different rules, and refer to all the parts of speech, except nouns and interjections. The Notes, of which there are one hundred and fifty-two, are subordinate rules of syntax, not designed to be used in parsing, but formed for the exposition and correction of so many different forms of false grammar. The Observations, of which there are, in this part of the work, without the present series, four hundred and ninety-seven, are designed not only to defend and confirm the doctrines adopted by the author, but to explain the arrangement of words, and whatever is difficult or peculiar in construction. OBS. 2.--The rules in a system of syntax may be more or less comprehensive, as well as more or less simple or complex; consequently they may, without deficiency or redundance, be more or less numerous. But either complexity or vagueness, as well as redundance or deficiency, is a fault; and, when all these faults are properly avoided, and the two great ends of methodical syntax, _parsing_ and _correcting_, are duly answered, perhaps the requisite number of syntactical rules, or grammatical canons, will no longer appear very indeterminate. In the preceding chapters, the essential principles of English syntax are supposed to be pretty fully developed; but there are yet to be exhibited some forms of error, which must be corrected under other heads or maxims, and for the treatment of which the several dogmas of this chapter are added. Completeness in the system, however, does not imply that it must have shown the pupil how to correct every form of language that is amiss: for there may be in composition many errors of such a nature that no rule of grammar can show, either what should be substituted for the faulty expression, or what fashion of amendment may be the most eligible. The inaccuracy may be gross and obvious, but the correction difficult or impossible. Because the sentence may require a change throughout; and a total change is not properly a correction; it is a substitution of something new, for what was, perhaps, in itself incorrigible. OBS. 3.--The notes which are above denominated _Critical_ or _General_, are not all of them obviously different in kind from the other notes; but they all are such as could not well have been placed in any of the earlier chapters of the book. The _General Rule of Syntax_, since it is not a canon to be used in parsing, but one that is to be applied only in the correcting of false syntax, might seem perhaps to belong rather to this order of notes; but I have chosen to treat it with some peculiar distinction, because it is not only more comprehensive than any other rule or note, but is in one respect more important; it is the rule which will be cited for the correction of the greatest number and variety of errors. Being designed to meet every possible form of inaccuracy in the mere construction of sentences,--or, at least, every corrigible solecism by which any principle of syntax can be violated,--it necessarily includes almost all the other rules and notes. It is too broad to convey very definite instruction, and therefore ought not in general to be applied where a more particular rule or note is clearly applicable. A few examples, not properly fitting under any other head, will serve to show its use and application: such examples are given, in great abundance, in the false syntax below. If, in some of the instances selected, this rule is applied to faults that might as well have been corrected by some other, the choice, in such cases, is deemed of little or no importance. OBS. 4.--The imperfection of _ancient_ writing, especially in regard to division and punctuation, has left the syntactical relation of words, and also the sense of passages, in no few instances, uncertain; and has consequently made, where the text has been thought worthy of it, an abundance of difficult work for translators, critics, and commentators. Rules of grammar, now made and observed, as they ought to be, may free the compositions of this, or a future age, from similar embarrassments; and it is both just and useful, to test our authors by them, criticising or correcting their known blunders according to the present rules of accurate writing. But the readers and expounders of what has come to us from remote time, can be rightly guided only by such principles and facts as have the stamp of creditable antiquity. Hence there are, undoubtedly, in books, some errors and defects which have outlived the _time in which_, and the _authority b which_, they might have been corrected. As we have no right to make a man say that which he himself never said or intended to say, so we have in fact none to fix a positive meaning upon his language, without knowing for a certainty what he meant by it. Reason, or good sense, which, as I have suggested, is the foundation of grammar and of all good writing, is indeed a perpetual as well as a universal principle; but, since the exercises of our reason must, from the very nature of the faculty, be limited to what we know and understand, we are not competent to the positive correction, or to the sure translation, of what is obscure and disputable in the standard books of antiquity. OBS. 5.--Let me cite an example: "For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred _by_ all _that is_ before them. All _things come_ alike to all."-- _Ecclesiastes_, ix, 1. Here is, doubtless, _one_ error which any English scholar may point out or correct. The pronoun "_them_" should be _him_, because its intended antecedent appears to be "_man_," and not "_the righteous and the wise_," going before. But are there not _other_ faults in the version? The common French Bible, in this place, has the following import: "Surely I have applied my heart to all that, and to unfold all this; _to wit_, that the righteous and the wise, and their actions, _are_ in the hand of God and love and hatred; _and that_ men know nothing of all _that which is_ before them. All _happens_ equally to all." The Latin Vulgate gives this sense: "All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might understand them accurately: the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; and yet man doth not know, whether by love or by hatred lie may be worthy: but all things in the future are kept uncertain, so that all may happen alike to the righteous man and to the wicked." In the Greek of the Septuagint, the introductory members of this passage are left at the end of the preceding chapter, and are literally thus: "that all this I received into my heart, and my heart understood all this." The rest, commencing a new chapter, is as follows: "For the righteous and the wise and their works _are_ in the hand of God, and indeed both love and hatred man knoweth not: all things before their face _are_ vanity to all." Now, which of these several readings is the nearest to what Solomon meant by the original text, or which is the farthest from it, and therefore the most faulty, I leave it to men more learned than myself to decide; but, certainly, there is no _inspired authority_ in any of them, but _in so far as they convey the sense which he really intended_. And if his meaning had not been, by some imperfection in the oldest expression we have of it, _obscured and partly lost_, there could be neither cause nor excuse for these discrepancies. I say this with no willingness to depreciate the general authority of the Holy Scriptures, which are for the most part clear in their import, and very ably translated into English, as well as into other languages. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER THE GENERAL RULE. LESSON I.--ARTICLES. (1.) "An article is a part of speech placed before nouns."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 11. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is here inconsistent with the term "_part of speech_;" for the text declares one thing of a kind to be the whole kind. But, according to the General Rule of Syntax, "In the formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout." The sentence may be corrected in two ways, thus: "_The_ article is a part of speech placed before nouns;"--or better, "_An_ article is a word placed before nouns." [446]] (2.) "An article is a part of speech used to limit nouns."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 19. (3.) "An article is a part of speech set before nouns to fix their vague Signification."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 18. (4.) "An adjective is a part of speech used to describe a noun."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 19. (5.) "A pronoun is a part of speech used instead of a noun."--_Ibid._; and _Weld's Gram._, pp. 30 and 50; _Abridg._, pp. 29 and 46. (6.) "A Pronoun is a Part of Speech which is often used instead of a Noun Substantive common, and supplies the Want of a Noun proper."--_British Gram._, p. 102; _Buchanan's Gram._, p. 29. (7.) "A verb is a part of speech, which signifies _to be, to do, or to be acted upon_"--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 17. (8.) "A verb is a part of speech, which signifies _to be, to act, or to receive an action_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 11. (9.) "A verb is a part of speech by which any thing is asserted."--_Weld's Gram_, p. 50; _Abridg._, 46 and 58. (10.) "A verb is a part of speech which expresses action, or existence, in a direct manner."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 20. (11.) "A participle is a part of speech derived from a verb, and expresses action or existence in an indirect manner."--_Ibid._ (12.) "A Participle is a Part of Speech derived from a Verb, and denotes being, doing, or suffering, and implies Time, as a Verb does."--_British Gram._, p. 139; _Buchanan's_, p. 46. "An adverb is a part of speech used to add to the meaning of verbs, adjectives, and participles."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 20. (14.) "An adverb is an indeclinable part of speech, added to a verb, adjective, or other adverb, to express some circumstance, quality, or manner of their signification."-- _Adam's Gram._, p. 142; _Gould's_, 147. (15.) "An Adverb is a part of speech joined to a verb, an Adjective, a Participle, and sometimes to another Adverb, to express the quality or circumstance of it."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 47, (16.) "An Adverb is a part of speech joined to a Verb, Adjective, Participle, and sometimes to another Adverb, to express some circumstances respecting it."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 23. (17.) "An Adverb is a Part of Speech which is joined to a Verb, Adjective, Participle, or to another Adverb to express some Modification, or Circumstance, Quality, or Manner of their Signification."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 61. (18.) "An Adverb is a part of speech added to a Verb (whence the name), and sometimes even to another word."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 76. (19.) "A conjunction is a part of speech used to connect words and sentences."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 20; _Weld's_, 51. (20.) "A Conjunction is a part of speech that joins words or sentences together."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 43. (21.) "A Conjunction is that part of speech which connect sentences, or parts of sentences or single words."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 41. (22.) "A Conjunction is a part of speech, that is used principally to connect sentences, so as, out of two, three, or more, sentences, to make one."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 28. (23.) "A Conjunction is a part of speech that is chiefly used to connect sentences, joining two or more simple sentences into one compound sentence: it sometimes connects only words."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 118. (24.) "A Conjunction is a Part of Speech which joins Sentences together, and shews the Manner of their Dependance upon one another."--_British Gram._, p. 163; _Buchanan's_, p. 64; _E. Devis's_. 103. (25.) "A preposition is a part of Speech used to show the relation between other words."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 20. (26.) "A Preposition is a part of speech which serves to connect words and show the relation between them."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 42. (27.) "A _preposition_ is a part of speech used to connect words and show their relation."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 51; _Abridg_. 47. (28.) "A preposition is that part of speech which shows the position of persons or things, or the relation that one noun or pronoun bears toward another."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 40. (29.) "A Preposition is a Part of Speech, which being added to any other Parts of Speech serves to shew their State, Relation or Reference to each other."--_British Gram._, p. 165; _Buchanan's_, p. 65. (30.) "An interjection is a part of speech used to express sudden passion or emotion."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 20. (31.) "An interjection is a part of speech used in giving utterance to some sudden feeling or emotion."-- _Weld's Gram._, pp. 49 and 51; _Abridg._, 44 and 47. (32.) "An Interjection is that part of speech which denotes any sudden affection or emotion of the mind."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 42. (33) "An Interjection is a Part of Speech thrown into discourse, and denotes some sudden Passion or Emotion of the Soul."--_British Gram._, p. 172; _Buchanan's_, p. 67. (34.) "A scene might tempt some peaceful sage To rear him a lone hermitage." --_Union Poems_, p. 89. (35.) "Not all the storms that shake the pole Can e'er disturb thy halcyon soul, And smooth th' unaltered brow." --_Day's Gram._, p. 78; _E. Reader_, 230. LESSON II.--NOUNS. "The thrones of every monarchy felt the shock."--_Frelinghuysen_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the plural noun _thrones_ has not a clear and regular construction, adapted to the author's meaning. But, according to the General Rule of Syntax, "In the formation of sentences the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout." The sentence may be corrected thus: "The _throne_ of every monarchy felt the shock."] "These principles ought to be deeply impressed upon the minds of every American."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 44. "The word _church_ and _shire_ are radically the same."--_Ib._, p. 256. "They may not, in their present form, be readily accommodated to every circumstance belonging to the possessive cases of nouns."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 53. "_Will_, in the second and third person, only foretels."--_Ib._, p. 88. "Which seem to form the true distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative moods."--_Ib._, p. 208. "The very general approbation, which this performance of Walker has received from the public."--_Ib._, p. 241. "Lest she carry her improvements this way too far."--CAMPBELL: _ib._, p. 371. "Charles was extravagant, and by this means became poor and despicable."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 189. "We should entertain no prejudices against simple and rustic persons."--_Ib._, p. 205. "These are indeed the foundations of all solid merit."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 175. "And his embellishment, by means of musical cadence, figures, or other parts of speech."--_Ib._, p. 175. "If he is at no pains to engage us by the employment of figures, musical arrangement, or any other art of writing."--_Ib._, p. 181. "The most eminent of the sacred poets are, the Author of the book of Job, David and Isaiah."--_Ib._, p. 418. "Nothing, in any poet, is more beautifully described than the death of old Priam."--_Ib._, p. 439. "When two vowels meet together, and are sounded at one breath, they are called _diphthongs_."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 10. "How many _ss_ would goodness then end with? Three."--_Ib._, p. 33. "_Birds_ is a noun, the name of a thing or creature."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 53. "Adam gave names to every living creature."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 5. "The steps of a stair ought to be accommodated to the human figure."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 337. "Nor ought an emblem more than a simile to be founded on low or familiar objects."--_Ib._, Vol. ii. p. 357. "Whatever the Latin has not from the Greek, it has from the Goth."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. ii, p. 450. "The mint and secretary of state's offices are neat buildings."--_The Friend_, Vol. iv, p. 266. "The scenes of dead and still life are apt to pall upon us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 407. "And Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, the angelical and the subtle doctors, are the brightest stars in the scholastic constellation."--_Literary Hist._, p. 244. "The English language has three methods of distinguishing the sex."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 38; _Ingersoll's_, 27; _Alger's_, 16; _Bacon's_, 13; _Fisk's_, 58; _Greenleaf's_, 21. "The English language has three methods of distinguishing sex."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 44. "In English there are the three following methods of distinguishing sex."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 26. "There are three ways of distinguishing the sex."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 10; _Picket's_, 26; _Bullions's_, 10. "There are three ways of distinguishing sex."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 26. "Gender is distinguished in three ways."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 2. "Neither discourse in general, nor poetry in particular, can be called altogether imitative arts."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 51. "Do we for this the gods and conscience brave, That one may rule and make the rest a slave?" --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ii, l. 96. LESSON III.--ADJECTIVES. "There is a deal of more heads, than either heart or horns."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 234. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _more_ has not a clear and regular construction, adapted to the author's meaning. But, according to the General Rule of Syntax, "In the formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout." The sentence may be corrected thus: "There is a deal _more_ of heads, than _of_ either heart or horns."] "For, of all villains, I think he has the wrong name."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 86. "Of all the men that I met in my pilgrimage, he, I think bears the wrong name."--_Ib._, p. 84. "I am surprized to see so much of the distribution, and technical terms of the Latin grammar, retained in the grammar of our tongue."--_Priestley's Gram., Pref._, p. vi. "Nor did the Duke of Burgundy bring him the smallest assistance."--HUME: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 178. "Else he will find it difficult to make one obstinate believe him."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 243. "Are there any adjectives which form the degrees of comparison peculiar to themselves?"--_Infant School Gram._, p. 46. "Yet the verbs are all of the indicative mood."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 33. "The word _candidate_ is in the absolute case."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 155. "An Iambus has the first syllable unaccented, and the latter accented."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 108; _Smith's New Gram._, 188. "A Dactyl has the first syllable accented, and the two latter unaccented."--_L. Murray_, p. 253; _Bullions's E. Gram._, 170; _Smith's_, 188; _Kirkham's_, 219; _Guy's_, 120; _Blair's_, 118; _Merchant's_, 167; _Russell's_, 109. "It is proper to begin with a capital the first word of every book, chapter, letter, note, or any other piece of writing."--_L. Murray_, p. 284; _R. C. Smith's New Gram._, 192; _Ingersoll's_, 295; _Comly's_, 166; _Merchant's_, 14; _Greenleaf's_, 42; _D. C. Allen's_, 85; _Fisk's_, 159; _Bullions's_, 158; _Kirkham's_, 219; _Hiley's_, 119; _Weld's Abridged_, 16; _Bullions's Analyt. and Pract._, 16; _Fowler's E. Gr._, 674. "Five and seven make twelve, and one makes thirteen."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 227. "I wish to cultivate a farther acquaintance with you."--_Ib._, p. 272. "Let us consider the proper means to effect our purpose."--_Ib._, p. 276. "Yet they are of such a similar nature, as readily to mix and blend."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 48. "The Latin is formed on the same model, but more imperfect."--_Ib._, p. 83. "I know very well how much pains have been taken."--_Sir W. Temple_. "The management of the breath requires a good deal of care."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 331. "Because the mind, during such a momentary stupefaction, is in a good measure, if not totally, insensible."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 222. "Motives alone of reason and interest are not sufficient."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 232. "To render the composition distinct in its parts, and striking on the whole,"--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 333. "_A_ and _an_ are named indefinite because they denote some one thing of a kind."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 1. "_The_ is named definite, because it points out some particular thing."--_Ibid._ "So much depends upon the proper construction of sentences, that, in every sort of composition, we cannot be too strict in our attention to it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 103. "All sort of declamation and public speaking, was carried on by them."--_Ib._, p. 123. "The first has on many occasions, a sublimity to which the latter never attains."--_Ib._, p. 440. "When the words _therefore, consequently, accordingly_, and the like are used in connexion with other conjunctions, they are adverbs."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 88. "Rude nations make little or no allusions to the productions of the arts."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 10. "While two of her maids knelt on either side of her."--_Mirror_, xi, 307. "The third personal pronouns differ from each other in meaning and use, as follows."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 65. "It was happy for the state, that Fabius continued in the command with Minucius: the former's phlegm was a check upon the latter's vivacity."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 57. "If it should be objected that the words must and ought, in the preceding sentences, are all in the present tense."--_Ib._, p. 108. "But it will be well if you turn to them, every now and then."--_Buckets Classical Gram._, p. 6. "That every part should have a dependence on, and mutually contribute to support each other."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 115. "The phrase, '_Good, my Lord_,' is not common, and low."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 110. "That brother should not war with brother, And worry and devour each other."--_Cowper_. LESSON IV.--PRONOUNS. "If I can contribute to your and my country's glory."--_Goldsmith_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _your_ has not a clear and regular construction, adapted to the author's meaning. But, according to the General Rule of Syntax, "In the formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout." The sentence, having a doubtful or double meaning, may be corrected in two ways, thus: "If I can contribute to our country's glory;"--or, "If I can contribute to your _glory_ and _that of my country_."] "As likewise of the several subjects, which have in effect each their verb."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 120. "He is likewise required to make examples himself."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 3. "If the emphasis be placed wrong, we shall pervert and confound the meaning wholly."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 242. "If the emphasis be placed wrong, we pervert and confound the meaning wholly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330. "It was this that characterized the great men of antiquity; it is this, which must distinguish moderns who would tread in their steps."--_Ib._, p. 341. "I am a great enemy to implicit faith, as well the Popish as Presbyterian, who in that are much what alike."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 280. "Will he thence dare to say the apostle held another Christ than he that died?"--_Ib._, iii, 414. "What need you be anxious about this event?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 188. "If a substantive can be placed after the verb, it is active."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 31 "When we see bad men honoured and prosperous in the world, it is some discouragement to virtue."--_L. Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 224. "It is a happiness to young persons, when they are preserved from the snares of the world, as in a garden enclosed."--_Ib._, p. 171. "The court of Queen Elizabeth, which was but another name for prudence and economy."-- _Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 24. "It is no wonder if such a man did not shine at the court of Queen Elizabeth, who was but another name for prudence and economy. Here which ought to be used, and not who."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 99; _Fowler's_, Sec.488. "Better thus; Whose name was but another word for prudence, &c."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 157; _Fish's_, 115; Ingersoll's, 221; Smith's, 133; and others. "A Defective verb is one that wants some of its parts. They are chiefly the Auxiliary and Impersonal verbs."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 31; _Old Editions_, 32. "Some writers have given our moods a much greater extent than we have assigned to them."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 67. "The Personal Pronouns give information which no other words are capable of conveying."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 37, "When the article _a, an_, or _the_ precedes the participle, it also becomes a noun."-- _Merchant's School Gram._, p. 93. "There is a preference to be given to some of these, which custom and judgment must determine."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 107. "Many writers affect to subjoin to any word the preposition with which it is compounded, or the idea of which it implies."--_Ib._, p. 200; _Priestley's Gram._, 157. "Say, dost thou know Tectidius?--Who, the wretch Whose lands beyond the Sabines largely stretch?" --_Dryden's IV Sat. of Pers._ LESSON V.--VERBS. "We would naturally expect, that the word _depend_, would require _from_ after it."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 201. "A dish which they pretend to be made of emerald."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 198. "For the very nature of a sentence implies one proposition to be expressed."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 106. "Without a careful attention to the sense, we would be naturally led, by the rules of syntax, to refer it to the rising and setting of the sun."--_Ib._, p. 105. "For any rules that can be given, on this subject, are very general."--_Ib._, p. 125. "He is in the right, if eloquence were what he conceives it to be."--_Ib._, p. 234. "There I would prefer a more free and diffuse manner."--_Ib._, p. 178. "Yet that they also agreed and resembled one another, in certain qualities."--_Ib._, p. 73. "But since he must restore her, he insists to have another in her place."--_Ib._, p. 431. "But these are far from being so frequent or so common as has been supposed."--_Ib._, p. 445. "We are not misled to assign a wrong place to the pleasant or painful feelings." _Kames, El. of Crit._, Introd., p. xviii. "Which are of greater importance than is commonly thought."--Vol. ii, p. 92. "Since these qualities are both coarse and common, lets find out the mark of a man of probity."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 40. "Cicero did what no man had ever done before him, draw up a treatise of consolation for himself."--_Life of Cicero_. "Then there can be no other Doubt remain of the Truth."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 245. "I have observed some satirists use the term."--_Bullions's Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 79. "Such men are ready to despond, or commence enemies."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 83. "Common nouns express names common to many things."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 18. "To make ourselves be heard by one to whom we address ourselves."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 328. "That, in reading poetry, he may be the better able to judge of its correctness, and relish its beauties."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 252. "On the stretch to comprehend, and keep pace with the author."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 150. "For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor."--_Mark_, xiv, 5. "He is a beam that is departed, and left no streak of light behind."--OSSIAN: _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 262. "No part of this incident ought to have been represented, but reserved for a narrative."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 294. "The rulers and people debauching themselves, brings ruin on a country."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 9. "When _Doctor, Miss, Master, &c._, is prefixed to a name, the last of the two words is commonly made plural; as, the _Doctor Nettletons_--the two _Miss Hudsons_."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 106. "Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day."--_Matt._, xxvii, 8. "To comprehend the situations of other countries, which perhaps may be necessary for him to explore."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 111. "We content ourselves, now, with fewer conjunctive particles than our ancestors did."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 139. "And who will be chiefly liable to make mistakes where others have been mistaken before them."--_Ib._, p. 156. "The voice of nature and revelation unites."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 3d Ed., p. 307. "This adjective you see we can't admit, But changed to _worse_, will make it just and fit." --_Tobitt's Gram._, p. 63. LESSON VI.--PARTICIPLES. "Its application is not arbitrary, depending on the caprice of readers."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 246. "This is the more expedient, from the work's being designed for the benefit of private learners."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 161. "A man, he tells us, ordered by his will, to have erected for him a statue."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 106. "From some likeness too remote, and laying too far out of the road of ordinary thought."--_Ib._, p. 146. "Money is a fluid in the commercial world, rolling from hand to hand."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 123. "He pays much attention to learning and singing songs."--_Ib._ p. 246. "I would not be understood to consider singing songs as criminal."--"It is a decided case by the Great Master of writing."--_Preface to Waller_, p. 5. "Did they ever bear a testimony against writing books?"--_Bates's Misc. Repository_. "Exclamations are sometimes mistaking for interrogations."--_Hist. of Printing_, 1770. "Which cannot fail proving of service."--_Smith's Printer's Gram._ "Hewn into such figures as would make them easily and firmly incorporated."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, i, 126. "Following the rule and example are practical inductive questions."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 3. "I think there will be an advantage in my having collected examples from modern writings."--_Priestley's Gram._, Pref., p. xi. "He was eager of recommending it to his fellow-citizens."--HUME: p. 160. "The good lady was careful of serving me of every thing."--"No revelation would have been given, had the light of nature been sufficient in such a sense, as to render one not wanting and useless."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 155. "Description, again is the raising in the mind the conception of an object by means of some arbitrary or instituted symbols."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 52. "Disappointing the expectation of the hearers, when they look for our being done."--_Ib._ p. 326. "There is a distinction which, in the use of them, is deserving of attention."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 15. "A model has been contrived, which is not very expensive, and easily managed."--_Education Reporter_. "The conspiracy was the more easily discovered, from its being known to many."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 191. "That celebrated work had been nearly ten years published, before its importance was at all understood."--_Ib._ p. 220. "The sceptre's being ostensibly grasped by a female hand, does not reverse the general order of Government."--_West's Letters to a Lady_, p. 43. "I have hesitated signing the Declaration of Sentiments."--_Liberator_, x, 16. "The prolonging of men's lives when the world needed to be peopled, and now shortening them when that necessity hath ceased to exist."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 7. "Before the performance commences, we have displayed the insipid formalities of the prelusive scene."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 23. "It forbade the lending of money, or sending goods, or in any way embarking capital in transactions connected with that foreign traffic."--LORD BROUGHAM: _B. and F. Anti-Slavery Reporter_, Vol. ii, p. 218. "Even abstract ideas have sometimes conferred upon them the same important prerogative."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 171. "Like other terminations, _ment_ changes _y_ into _i_, when preceded by a consonant."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, p. xiii; _Murray's Gram._, p. 24: _Ingersoll's_, 11. "The term _proper_ is from being _proper_, that is, _peculiar_ to the individual bearing the name. The term _common_ is from being _common_ to every individual comprised in the class."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.139. "Thus oft by mariners are shown (Unless the men of Kent are liars) Earl Godwin's castles overflown, And palace-roofs, and steeple-spires." --_Swift_, p. 313. LESSON VII.--ADVERBS. "He spoke to every man and woman there."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 220; _Fisk's_, 147. "Thought and language act and react upon each other mutually."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 120; _Murray's Exercises_, 133. "Thought and expression act upon each other mutually."--See _Murray's Key_, p. 264. "They have neither the leisure nor the means of attaining scarcely any knowledge, except what lies within the contracted circle of their several professions."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 359. "Before they are capable of understanding but little, or indeed any thing of many other branches of education."--_Olney's Introd. to Geog._, p. 5. "There is not more beauty in one of them than in another."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 275. "Which appear not constructed according to any certain rule."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 47. "The vehement manner of speaking became not so universal."--_Ib._, p. 61. "All languages, however, do not agree in this mode of expression."--_Ib._, p. 77. "The great occasion of setting aside this particular day."--ATTERBURY: p. 294. "He is much more promising now than formerly."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 4. "They are placed before a participle, independently on the rest of the sentence."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 21. "This opinion appears to be not well considered."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 153; _Ingersoll's_, 249. "Precision in language merits a full explication; and the more, because distinct ideas are, perhaps, not commonly formed about it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94. "In the more sublime parts of poetry, he [Pope] is not so distinguished."--_Ib._, p. 403. "How far the author was altogether happy in the choice of his subject, may be questioned."--_Ib._, p. 450. "But here also there is a great error in the common practice."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 7. "This order is the very order of the human mind, which makes things we are sensible of, a means to come at those that are not so."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres, Foreman's Version_, p. 113. "Now, Who is not Discouraged, and Fears Want, when he has no money?"--_Divine Right of Tythes_, p. 23. "Which the Authors of this work, consider of but little or no use."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 6. "And here indeed the distinction between these two classes begins not to be clear."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 152. "But this is a manner which deserves not to be imitated."--_Ib._, p. 180. "And in this department a person never effects so little, as when he attempts too much."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 173; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 367. "The verb that signifies merely being, is neuter."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 27. "I hope not much to tire those whom I shall not happen to please."--_Rambler_, No. 1. "Who were utterly unable to pronounce some letters, and others very indistinctly."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 32. "The learner may point out the active, passive, and neuter verbs in the following examples, and state the reasons why."--_C. Adams's Gram._, p. 27. "These words are most always conjunctions."--_S. Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 73. "How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue! How sweet the periods, neither said, nor sung!"--_Dunciad_. LESSON VIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. "Who at least either knew not, nor loved to make, a distinction."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, i, 322. "It is childish in the last degree, if this become the ground of estranged affection."--_L. Murray's Key_, ii, 228. "When the regular or the irregular verb is to be preferred, p. 107."--_Murray's Index, Gram._, ii, 296. "The books were to have been sold, as this day."--_Priestley's E. Gram._, p. 138. "Do, an if you will."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 195. "If a man had a positive idea of infinite, either duration or space, he could add two infinites together."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 174. "None shall more willingly agree and advance the same nor I."--EARL OF MORTON: _Robertson's Scotland_, ii, 428. "That it cannot be but hurtful to continue it."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 192. "A conjunction joins words and sentences."--_Beck's Gram._, pp. 4 and 25. "The copulative conjunction connects words and sentences together and continues the sense."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 42. "The Conjunction Copulative serves to connect or continue a sentence, by expressing an addition, a supposition, a cause, &c."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, i, 123. "All Construction is either true or apparent; or in other Words just and figurative."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 130; _British Gram._, 234. "But the divine character is such that none but a divine hand could draw."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 72. "Who is so mad, that, on inspecting the heavens, is insensible of a God?"--CICERO:--_Dr. Gibbons_. "It is now submitted to an enlightened public, with little desire on the part of the Author, than its general utility."--_Town's Analysis_, 9th Ed., p. 5. "This will sufficiently explain the reason, that so many provincials have grown old in the capital without making any change in their original dialect."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 51. "Of these they had chiefly three in general use, which were denominated accents, and the term used in the plural number."--_Ib._, p. 56. "And this is one of the chief reasons, that dramatic representations have ever held the first rank amongst the diversions of mankind."--_Ib._, p. 95. "Which is the chief reason that public reading is in general so disgusting."--_Ib._, p. 96. "At the same time that they learn to read."--_Ib._, p. 96. "He is always to pronounce his words exactly with the same accent that he speaks them."--_Ib._, p. 98. "In order to know what another knows, and in the same manner that he knows it."--_Ib._, p. 136. "For the same reason that it is in a more limited state assigned to the several tribes of animals."--_Ib._, p. 145. "Were there masters to teach this, in the same manner as other arts are taught."--_Ib._, p. 169. "Whose own example strengthens all his laws; And is himself that great Sublime he draws."--_Pope, on Crit._, l. 680. LESSON IX.--PREPOSITIONS. "The word _so_ has, sometimes, the same meaning with _also, likewise, the same_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 137. "The verb _use_ relates not to pleasures of the imagination, but to the terms of fancy and imagination, which he was to employ as synonymous."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 197. "It never can view, clearly and distinctly, above one object at a time."--_Ib._, p. 94. "This figure [Euphemism] is often the same with the Periphrasis."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 247; _Gould's_, 238. "All the between time of youth and old age."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 83. "When one thing is said to act upon, or do something to another."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 70. "Such a composition has as much of meaning in it, as a mummy has life."--_Journal of Lit. Convention_, p. 81. "That young men of from fourteen to eighteen were not the best judges."--_Ib._, p. 130. "This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy."--_2 Kings_, xix, 3. "Blank verse has the same pauses and accents with rhyme."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 119. "In prosody, long syllables are distinguished by ([=]), and short ones by what is called _breve_ ([~])."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 22. "Sometimes both articles are left out, especially in poetry."--_Ib._, p. 26. "In the following example, the pronoun and participle are omitted: [_He being_] 'Conscious of his own weight and importance, the aid of others was not solicited.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 221. "He was an excellent person; a mirror of ancient faith in early youth."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 172. "The carrying on its several parts into execution."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 192. "Concord, is the agreement which one word has over another, in gender, number, case, and person."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 3. "It might perhaps have given me a greater taste of its antiquities."--ADDISON: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 160. "To call of a person, and to wait of him."--_Priestley, ib._, p. 161. "The great difficulty they found of fixing just sentiments."--HUME: _ib._, p. 161. "Developing the difference between the three."--_James Brown's first American Gram._, p. 12. "When the substantive singular ends in _x, ch_ soft, _sh, ss_, or _s_, we add _es_ in the plural."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 40. "We shall present him with a list or specimen of them."--_Ib._, p. 132. "It is very common to hear of the evils of pernicious reading, of how it enervates the mind, or how it depraves the principles."--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 168. "In this example, the verb 'arises' is understood before 'curiosity' and 'knowledge.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 274; _Ingersoll's_, 286; _Comly's_, 155; and others. "The connective is frequently omitted between several words."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 81. "He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight."--_Joshua_, xxiii, 5. "Who makes his sun shine and his rain to descend upon the just and the unjust."--_M'Ilvaine's Lectures_, p. 411. LESSON X.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "This sentence violates the rules of grammar."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii, pp. 19 and 21. "The words _thou_ and _shalt_ are again reduced to short quantities."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 246. "Have the greater men always been the most popular? By no means."--DR. LIEBER: _Lit. Conv._, p. 64. "St. Paul positively stated that, 'he who loves one another has fulfilled the law.'"--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 248. "More than one organ is concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 18. "If the reader will pardon my descending so low."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 20. "To adjust them so, as shall consist equally with the perspicuity and the grace of the period."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 118: _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 324. "This class exhibits a lamentable want of simplicity and inefficiency."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 481. "Whose style flows always like a limpid stream, where we see to the very bottom."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 93. "Whose style flows always like a limpid stream, through which we see to the very bottom."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 293. "We make use of the ellipsis." [447]--_Ib._, p. 217. "The ellipsis of the article is thus used."--_Ib._, p. 217. "Sometimes the ellipsis is improperly applied to nouns of different numbers: as, 'A magnificent house and gardens.'"--_Ib._, p. 218. "In some very emphatic expressions, the ellipsis should not be used."--_Ib._, 218. "The ellipsis of the adjective is used in the following manner."--_Ib._, 218. "The following is the ellipsis of the pronoun."--_Ib._, 218. "The ellipsis of the verb is used in the following instances."--_Ib._, p. 219. "The ellipsis of the adverb is used in the following manner."--_Ib._, 219. "The following instances, though short, contain much of the ellipsis."--_Ib._, 220. "If no emphasis be placed on any words, not only will discourse be rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning often ambiguous."--_Ib._, 242. See _Hart's Gram._, p. 172. "If no emphasis be placed on any words, not only is discourse, rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning left often ambiguous."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330; _Murray's Eng. Reader_, p. xi. "He regards his word, but thou dost not regard it."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 129; _his Analytical and Practical Gram._, p. 196. "He regards his word, but thou dost not: i.e. dost not regard it."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 219; _Parker and Fox's_, p. 96; _Weld's_, 192. "I have learned my task, but you have not; i.e. have not learned."--_Ib., Mur._, 219; &c. "When the omission of words would obscure the sentence, weaken its force, or be attended with an impropriety, they must be expressed."--_Ib._, p. 217; _Weld's Gram._ 190. "And therefore the verb is correctly put in the singular number, and refers to the whole separately and individually considered."--_Murray's Gram._ 8vo, ii, 24 and 190. "I understood him the best of all who spoke on the subject."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 192. "I understood him better than any other who spoke on the subject."--_Ibid._, "The roughness found on our entrance into the paths of virtue and learning, grow smoother as we advance."--_Ib._, p. 171. "The roughnesses," &c.--_Murray's Key_, 12mo, p 8. "Nothing promotes knowledge more than steady application, and a habit of observation."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 265. "Virtue confers supreme dignity on man: and should be his chief desire."--_Ib._, p. 192; _and Merchant's_, 192. "The Supreme author of our being has so formed the soul of man, that nothing but himself can be its last, adequate, and proper happiness."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 413; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 213. "The inhabitants of China laugh at the plantations of our Europeans; because, they say, any one may place trees in equal rows and uniform figures."--_Ad., Spect._, No. 414; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 222. "The divine laws are not reversible by those of men."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 167. "In both of these examples, the relative and the verb _which was_, are understood."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 273; _Comly's_, 152; _Ingersoll's_, 285. "The Greek and Latin languages, though, for many reasons, they cannot be called dialects of one another, are nevertheless closely connected."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of European Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 51. "To ascertain and settle which, of a white rose or a red rose, breathes the sweetest fragrance."--_J. Q. Adams, Orat._, 1831. "To which he can afford to devote much less of his time and labour."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 254. "Avoid extremes; and shun the fault of such, Who still are pleas'd too little or too much." --_Pope, on Crit._, 1, 384. LESSON XI.--BAD PHRASES. "He had as good leave his vessel to the direction of the winds."--SOUTH: _in Joh. Dict._ "Without good nature and gratitude, men had as good live in a wilderness as in society."--L'ESTRANGE: _ib._ "And for this reason such lines almost never occur together."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 385. "His being a great man did not make him a happy man."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 288. "Let that which tends to the making cold your love be judged in all."--_S. Crisp_. "It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 4. "Accent dignifies the syllable on which it is laid, and makes it more distinguished by the ear than the rest."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 80; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 244. "Before he proceeds to argue either on one side or other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 313. "The change in general of manners throughout all Europe."--_Ib._, p. 375. "The sweetness and beauty of Virgil's numbers, throughout his whole works."--_Ib._, p. 440. "The French writers of sermons study neatness and elegance in laying down their heads."--_Ib._, p. 13. "This almost never fails to prove a refrigerant to passion."--_Ib._, p. 321. "At least their fathers, brothers, and uncles, cannot, as good relations and good citizens, dispense with their not standing forth to demand vengeance."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 191. "Alleging, that their crying down the church of Rome, was a joining hand with the Turks."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 239. "To which is added the Assembly of Divines Catechism."--_New-England Primer_, p. 1. "This treachery was always present in both their thoughts."--_Dr. Robertson_. "Thus far both their words agree." ("_Convenient adhuo utriusqus verba_. Plaut.")--_Walker's Particles_, p. 125. "Aparithmesis, or Enumeration, is the branching out into several parts of what might be expressed in fewer words."--_Gould's Gram_, p. 241. "Aparithmesis, or Enumeration, is when what might be expressed in a few words, is branched out into several parts."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 251. "Which may sit from time to time where you dwell or in the neighbouring vicinity."--_Taylor's District School_, 1st Ed., p. 281. "Place together a large and a small sized animal of the same species."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 235. "The weight of the swimming body is equal to that of the weight, of the quantity of fluid displaced by it."--_Percival's Tales_, ii, 213. "The Subjunctive mood, in all its tenses, is similar to that of the Optative."--_Gwilt's Saxon Gram._, p. 27. "No other feeling of obligation remains, except that of fidelity."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 1st Ed., p. 82. "Who asked him, 'What could be the reason, that whole audiences should be moved to tears, at the representation of some story on the stage.'"--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 175. "Art not thou and you ashamed to affirm, that the best works of the Spirit of Christ in his saints are as filthy rags?"--_Barclay's Works_, i, 174. "A neuter verb becomes active, when followed by a noun of the same signification with its own."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 127. "But he has judged better, in omitting to repeat the article _the_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 194. "Many objects please us as highly beautiful, which have almost no variety at all."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Yet notwithstanding, they sometimes follow them."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 21. "For I know of nothing more material in all the whole Subject, than this doctrine of Mood and Tense."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 292. "It is by no means impossible for an errour to be got rid of or supprest."-- _Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 642. "These are things of the highest importance to the growing age."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 250. "He had better have omitted the word _many_."--_Blair's Rhet._ p. 205. "Which had better have been separated."--_Ib._, p. 225. "Figures and metaphors, therefore, should, on no occasion be stuck on too profusely."--_Ib._, p. 144; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 150. "Metaphors, as well as other figures, should on no occasion, be stuck on too profusely."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 338; _Russell's_, 136. "Something like this has been reproached to Tacitus."--BOLINGBROKE: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 164. "O thou, whom all mankind in vain withstand, Each of whose blood must one day stain thy hand!" --_Sheffield's Temple of Death_. LESSON XII.--TWO ERRORS.[448] "Pronouns are sometimes made to precede the things which they represent."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 160. "Most prepositions originally denote the relation of place."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 65. "_Which_ is applied to inferior animals and things without life."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 24; _Pract. Lessons_, 30. "What noun do they describe or tell the kind?"--_Infant School Gram._, p. 41. "Iron cannon, as well as brass, is now universally cast solid."--_Jamieson's Dict._ "We have philosophers, eminent and conspicuous, perhaps, beyond any nation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 251. "This is a question about words alone, and which common sense easily determines."--_Ib._, p. 320. "The low [pitch of the voice] is, when he approaches to a whisper."--_Ib._, p. 328. "Which, as to the effect, is just the same with using no such distinctions at all."--_Ib._, p. 33. "These two systems, therefore, differ in reality very little from one another."--_Ib._, p. 23. "It were needless to give many instances, as they occur so often."--_Ib._, p. 109. "There are many occasions when this is neither requisite nor would be proper."--_Ib._, p. 311. "Dramatic poetry divides itself into the two forms, of comedy or tragedy."--_Ib._, p. 452. "No man ever rhymed truer and evener than he."--_Pref. to Waller_, p. 5. "The Doctor did not reap a profit from his poetical labours equal to those of his prose."--_Johnson's Life of Goldsmith_. "We will follow that which we found our fathers practice."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 28. "And I would deeply regret having published them."--_Infant School Gram._, p. vii. "Figures exhibit ideas in a manner more vivid and impressive, than could be done by plain language."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 222. "The allegory is finely drawn, only the heads various."--_Spect._, No. 540. "I should not have thought it worthy a place here."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 219. "In this style, Tacitus excels all writers, ancient and modern."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 261. "No author, ancient or modern, possesses the art of dialogue equal to Shakspeare."--_Ib._, ii, 294. "The names of every thing we hear, see, smell, taste, and feel, are nouns."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 16. "What number are these boys? these pictures? &c."--_Ib._, p. 23. "This sentence is faulty, somewhat in the same manner with the last."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 230. "Besides perspicuity, he pursues propriety, purity, and precision, in his language; which forms one degree, and no inconsiderable one, of beauty."--_Ib._, p. 181. "Many critical terms have unfortunately been employed in a sense too loose and vague; none more so, than that of the sublime."--_Ib._, p. 35. "Hence, no word in the language is used in a more vague signification than beauty."--_Ib._, p. 45. "But, still, he made use only of general terms in speech."--_Ib._, p. 73. "These give life, body, and colouring to the recital of facts, and enable us to behold them as present, and passing before our eyes."--_Ib._, p. 360. "Which carried an ideal chivalry to a still more extravagant height than it had risen in fact."--_Ib._, p. 374. "We write much more supinely, and at our ease, than the ancients."--_Ib._, p. 351. "This appears indeed to form the characteristical difference between the ancient poets, orators, and historians, compared with the modern."--_Ib._, p. 350. "To violate this rule, as is too often done by the English, shews great incorrectness."-- _Ib._, p. 463. "It is impossible, by means of any study to avoid their appearing stiff and forced."--_Ib._, p. 335. "Besides its giving the speaker the disagreeable appearance of one who endeavours to compel assent."--_Ib._, p. 328. "And, on occasions where a light or ludicrous anecdote is proper to be recorded, it is generally better to throw it into a note, than to hazard becoming too familiar."--_Ib._, p. 359. "The great business of this life is to prepare, and qualify us, for the enjoyment of a better."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 373. "In some dictionaries, accordingly, it was omitted; and in others stigmatized as a barbarism."-- _Crombie's Treatise_, p. 322. "You cannot see, or think of, a thing, unless it be a noun."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 65. "The fleet are all arrived and moored in safety."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 185. LESSON XIII.--TWO ERRORS. "They have each their distinct and exactly-limited relation to gravity."--_Hasler's Astronomy_, p 219. "But in cases which would give too much of the hissing sound, the omission takes place even in prose."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 175. "After _o_ it [the _w_] is sometimes not sounded at all; sometimes like a single _u_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 3. "It is situation chiefly which decides _of_ the fortunes and characters of men."--HUME: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 159. "It is situation chiefly which decides the fortune (or, _concerning_ the fortune) and characters of men."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 201. "The vice of covetousness is what enters deeper into the soul than any other."--_Ib._, p. 167; _Ingersoll's_, 193; _Fisk's_, 103; _Campbell's Rhet._, 205. "Covetousness, of all vices, enters the deepest into the soul."--_Murray_, 167; _and others_. "Covetousness is what of all vices enters the deepest into the soul."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 205. "The vice of covetousness is what enters deepest into the soul of any other."--_Guardian_, No. 19. "_Would_ primarily denotes inclination of will; and _should_, obligation; but they both vary their import, and are often used to express simple event."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 43; _Murray's_, 89; _Fisk's_, 78; _Greenleaf's_, 27. "But they both vary their import, and are often used to express simple events."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 39; _Ingersoll's_, 137. "But they vary their import, and are often used to express simple event."--_Abel Flint's Gram._, p 42. "A double conjunctive, in two correspondent clauses of a sentence, is sometimes made use of: as, '_Had_ he done this, he _had_ escaped.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 213; _Ingersoll's_, 269. "The pleasures of the understanding are preferable to those of the imagination, or of sense."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 191. "Claudian, in a fragment upon the wars of the giants, has contrived to render this idea of their throwing the mountains, which is in itself so grand, burlesque, and ridiculous."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 42. "To which not only no other writings are to be preferred, but even in divers respects not comparable."-- _Barclay's Works_, i, 53. "To distinguish them in the understanding, and treat of their several natures, in the same cool manner as we do with regard to other ideas."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 137. "For it has nothing to do with parsing, or analyzing, language."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 19. Or: "For it has nothing to do with parsing, or analyzing, language."--_Ib., Second Edition_, p. 16. "Neither was that language [the Latin] ever so vulgar in Britain."--SWIFT: see _Blair's Rhet._, p. 228. "All that I propose is to give some openings into the pleasures of taste."--_Ib._, p. 28. "But it would have been better omitted in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 210. "But I think it had better be omitted in the following sentence."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 162. "They appear, in this case, like excrescences jutting out from the body, which had better have been wanted."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 326. "And therefore, the fable of the Harpies, in the third book of the AEneid, and the allegory of Sin and Death, in the second book of Paradise Lost, had been better omitted in these celebrated poems."--_Ib._, p. 430. "Ellipsis is an elegant Suppression (or the leaving out) of a Word, or Words in a Sentence."--_British Gram._, p. 234; _Buchanan's_, p. 131. "The article _a_ or _an_ had better be omitted in this construction."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 67. "Now suppose the articles had not been left out in these passages."--_Burke's Gram._, p. 27. "To give separate names to every one of those trees, would have been an endless and impracticable undertaking."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 72. "_Ei_, in general, sounds the same as long and slender _a_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 12. "When a conjunction is used apparently redundant it is called Polysyndeton."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 236; _Gould's_, 229. "_Each, every, either, neither_, denote the persons or things which make up a number, as taken separately or distributively."-- _M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 31. "The Principal Sentence must be expressed by verbs in the Indicative, Imperative, or Potential Modes."--_Clark's Pract. Gram._, p. 133. "Hence he is diffuse, where he ought to have been pressing."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 246. "All manner of subjects admit of explaining comparisons."--_Ib._, p. 164; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 161. "The present or imperfect participle denotes action or being continued, but not perfected."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 78. "What are verbs? Those words which express what the nouns do"--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 29. "Of all those arts in which the wise excel, Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." --_J. Sheffield, Duke of Buck_. "Such was that muse whose rules and practice tell Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." --_Pope, on Criticism_. LESSON XIV.--THREE ERRORS. "In some words the metaphorical sense has justled out the original sense altogether, so that in respect of it they are become obsolete."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 323. "Sure never any mortal was so overwhelmed with grief as I am at this present."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 138. "All languages differ from each other in their mode of inflexion."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, Pref., p. v. "Nouns and verbs are the only indispensable parts of speech--the one to express the subject spoken of, and the other the predicate or what is affirmed of it."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 36. "The words in italics of the three latter examples, perform the office of substantives."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 66. "Such a structure of a sentence is always the mark of careless writing."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 231. "Nothing is frequently more hurtful to the grace or vivacity of a period, than superfluous dragging words at the conclusion."--_Ib._, p. 205. "When its substantive is not joined to it, but referred to, or understood."-- _Lowth's Gram._, p. 24. "Yet they have always some substantive belonging to them, either referred to, or understood."--_Ib._, 24. "Because they define and limit the extent of the common name, or general term, to which they either refer, or are joined.'"--_Ib._, 24. "Every new object surprises, terrifies, and makes a strong impression on their mind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 136. "His argument required to have been more fully unfolded, in order to make it be distinctly apprehended, and to give it its due force."--_Ib._, p. 230. "Participles which are derived from active verbs, will govern the objective case, the same as the verbs from which they are derived"--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 61. "Where, contrary to the rule, the nominative _I_ precedes, and the objective case _whom_ follows the verb."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 181. "The same conjunction governing both the indicative and the subjunctive moods, in the same sentence, and in the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety."--_Ib._, p. 207; _Smith's New Gram._, 173: see _Lowth's Gram._, p. 105; _Fisk's_, 128; and _Ingersoll's_, 266. "A nice discernment, and accurate attention to the best usage, are necessary to direct us, on these occasions."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170. "The Greeks and Romans, the former especially, were, in truth, much more musical nations than we; their genius was more turned to delight in the melody of speech."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 123. "When the sense admits it, the sooner a circumstance is introduced, the better, that the more important and significant words may possess the last place, quite disencumbered."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, i, p. 309; _Parker and Fox's_, Part III, p. 88. "When the sense admits it, the sooner they are despatched, generally speaking, the better; that the more important and significant words may possess the last place, quite disencumbered."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 118. See also _Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 101. "Thus we find it, both in the Greek and Latin tongues."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 74. "A train of sentences, constructed in the same manner, and with the same number of members, should never be allowed to succeed one another."--_Ib._, p. 102; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 306; _Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part III, p. 86. "I proceed to lay down the rules to be observed in the conduct of metaphors, and which are much the same for tropes of every kind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 143. "By a proper choice of words, we may produce a resemblance of other sounds which we mean to describe."--_Ib._, p. 129; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 331. "The disguise can almost never be so perfect, but it is discovered."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 259. "The sense admits of no other pause than after the second syllable 'sit,' which therefore must be the only pause made in the reading."--_Ib._, p. 333. "Not that I believe North America to be peopled so late as the twelfth century, the period of Madoc's migration."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 212. "Money and commodities will always flow to that country, where they are most wanted and will command the most profit."--_Ib._, p. 308. "That it contains no visible marks, of articles, which are the most important of all others, to a just delivery."-- _Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 13. "And of virtue, from its beauty, we call it a fair and favourite maid."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 66. "The definite article may agree with nouns in the singular and plural number."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 130. LESSON XV.--MANY ERRORS. (1.) "A compound word is included under the head of derivative words."-- _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 23. (2.) "An Apostrophe, marked thus ' is used to abbreviate or shorten a word. Its chief use is to show the genitive case of nouns."--_Ib._, p. 281.[449] (3.) "A Hyphen, marked thus - is employed in connecting compounded words. It is also used when a word is divided."-- _Ib._, p. 282. (4.) "The Acute Accent, marked thus : as, '_Fancy_.' The Grave thus ` as, '_Favour_'"--_Ib._, p. 282. (5.) "The stress is laid on long and short syllables indiscriminately. In order to distinguish the one from the other, some writers of dictionaries have placed the grave on the former, and the acute on the latter."--_Ib._, 282. (6.) "A Diaeresis, thus marked ", consists of two points placed over one of the two vowels that would otherwise make a diphthong, and parts them into syllables."--_Ib._, 282. (7.) "A Section marked thus Sec., is the division of a discourse, or chapter, into less parts or portions."--_Ib._, 282. (8.) "A Paragraph denotes the beginning of a new subject, or a sentence not connected with the foregoing. This character is chiefly used in the Old and in the New Testaments."--_Ib._, 282. (9.) "A Quotation " ". Two inverted commas are generally placed at the beginning of a phrase or a passage, which is quoted or transcribed from the speaker or author in his own words; and two commas in their direct position, are placed at the conclusion."--_Ib._, 282. (10.) "A Brace is used in poetry at the end of a triplet or three lines, which have the same rhyme. Braces are also used to connect a number of words with one common term, and are introduced to prevent a repetition in writing or printing."--_Ib._, p. 283. (11.) "Two or three asterisks generally denote the omission of some letters in a word, or of some bold or indelicate expression, or some defect in the manuscript."--_Ib._, 283. (12.) "An Ellipsis ---- is also used, when some letters in a word, or some words in a verse, are omitted."--_Ib._, 283. (13.) "An Obelisk, which is marked thus [dagger], and Parallels thus ||, together with the letters of the Alphabet, and figures, are used as references to the margin, or bottom of the page."--_Ib._, 283. (14.) "A note of interrogation should not be employed, in cases where it is only said a question has been asked, and where the words are not used as a question. 'The Cyprians asked me why I wept.'"--_Ib._, p. 279; _Comly_, 163; _Ingersoll_, 291; _Fisk_, 157; _Flint_, 113. (15.) "A point of interrogation is improper after sentences which are not questions, but only expressions of admiration, or of some other emotion."--_Same authors and places_. (16.) "The parenthesis incloses in the body of a sentence a member inserted into it, which is neither necessary to the sense, nor at all affects the construction."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 124. (17.) "Simple members connected by relatives, and comparatives, are for the most part distinguished by a comma." [450]--_Ib._, p. 121. (18.) "Simple members of sentences connected by comparatives, are, for the most part, distinguished by a comma."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p 272; _Alden's_, 148; _Ingersoll's_, 284. See the same words without the last two commas, in _Comly's Gram._, p. 149; _Alger's_, 79; _Merchant's Murray_, 143:--and this again, with a _different sense_, made by a comma before "_connected_," in _Smith's New Gram._, 190; _Abel Flint's_, 103. (19.) "Simple members of sentences connected by comparatives, are for the most part distinguished by the comma."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 115. (20.) "Simple members of sentences, connected by comparatives, should generally be distinguished by a comma."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 150. (21.) "Simple members of sentences connected by _than_ or _so_, or that express contrast or comparison, should, generally, be divided by a comma."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 185. (22.) "Simple members of sentences, connected by comparatives, if they be long, are separated by a comma."--_Cooper's New Gram._, p. 195. See the same without the first comma, in _Cooper's Murray_, p. 183. (23.) "Simple members of sentences connected by comparatives, and phrases placed in opposition to, or in contrast with, each other, are separated by commas."--_Bullions_, p. 153; _Hiley_, 113. (24.) "On which ever word we lay the emphasis, whether on the first, second, third, or fourth, it strikes out a different sense."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 243. (25.) "To inform those who do not understand sea phrases, that, 'We tacked to the larboard, and stood off to sea,' would be expressing ourselves very obscurely."--_Ib._, p. 296; _and Hiley's Gram._, p. 151. (26.) "Of dissyllables, which are at once nouns and verbs, the verb has commonly the accent on the latter, and the noun, on the former syllable."--_Murray_, p. 237. (27.) "And this gives our language a superior advantage to most others, in the poetical and rhetorical style."--_Id. ib._, p. 38; _Ingersoll_, 27; _Fisk_, 57. (28.) "And this gives the English an advantage above most other languages in the poetical and rhetorical style."--_Lowth's Gram_, p. 19. (29.) "The second and third scholar may read the same sentence; and as many, as it is necessary to learn it perfectly to the whole."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 4. (30.) "Bliss is the name in subject as a king, In who obtain defence, or who defend." --_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 178. LESSON XVI.--MANY ERRORS. "The Japanese, the Tonquinese, and the Corceans, speak different languages from one another, and from the inhabitants of China, but use, with these last people, the same written characters; a proof that the Chinese characters are like hieroglyphics, independent of language."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 18. "The Japanese, the Tonquinese, and the Corceans, who speak different languages from one another, and from the inhabitants of China, use, however, the same written characters with them; and by this means correspond intelligibly with each other in writing, though ignorant of the language spoken in their several countries; a plain proof," &c.--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 67. "The curved line is made square instead of round, for the reason beforementioned."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 6. "Every one should content himself with the use of those tones only that he is habituated to in speech, and to give none other to emphasis, but what he would do to the same words in discourse. Thus whatever he utters will be done with ease, and appear natural."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 103. "Stops, or pauses, are a total cessation of sound during a perceptible, and in numerous compositions, a measurable space of time."--_Ib._, p. 104. "Pauses or rests, in speaking and reading, are a total cessation of the voice during a perceptible, and, in many cases, a measurable space of time."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 248; _English Reader_, p. 13; _Goldsbury's Gr._, 76; _Kirkham's_, 208; _Felton's_, 133; _et al._ "Nouns which express a small one of the kind are called _Diminutive Nouns_; as, lambkin, hillock, satchel, gosling, from lamb, hill, sack, goose."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, 1837, p. 9. "What is the cause that nonsense so often escapes being detected, both by the writer and by the reader?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. xi, and 280. "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. They are so called, because they are generally thrown in between the parts of a sentence without reference to the structure of the other parts of it."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 36. "_Ought_ (in duty bound) _oughtest, oughtedst_, are it's only inflections."--_Mackintosh's Gram._, p. 165. "But the arrangment, government, agreement, and dependence of one word upon another, are referred to our reason."--_Osborn's Key, Pref._, p. 3. "_Me_ is a personal pronoun, first person singular, and the accusative case."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 20. "The substantive _self_ is added to a pronoun; as, herself, himself, &c.; and when thus united, is called a reciprocal pronoun."--_Ib._, p. 18. "One cannot avoid thinking that our author had done better to have begun the first of these three sentences, with saying, _it is novelty which bestows charms on a monster_, &c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 207. "The idea which they present to us of nature's resembling art, of art's being considered as an original, and nature as a copy,[451] seems not very distinct nor well brought out, nor indeed very material to our author's purpose."--_Ib._, p. 220. "The present construction of the sentence, has plainly been owing to hasty and careless writing."--_Ib._, p. 220. "Adverbs serve to modify, or to denote some circumstance of an action, or of a quality, relative to its time, place, order, degree, and the other properties of it, which we have occasion to specify."--_Ib._, p. 84. "The more that any nation is improved by science, and the more perfect their language becomes, we may naturally expect that it will abound more with connective particles."--_Ib._, p. 85. "Mr. Greenleaf's book is by far the best adapted for learners of any that has yet appeared on the subject."--DR. FELTUS and BP. ONDERDONK: _Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 2. "Punctuation is the art of marking in writing the several pauses, or rests, between sentences, and the parts of sentences, according to their proper quantity or proportion, as they are expressed in a just and accurate pronunciation."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 114. "A compound sentence must be resolved into simple ones, and separated by commas."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 41; _Allen Fisk's_, 155.[452] "Simple sentences should be separated from each other by commas, unless such sentences are connected by a conjunction: as, 'Youth is passing away, age is approaching and death is near.'"--_Hall's Gram._, p. 36. "_V_ has the sound of flat _f_, and bears the same relation to it, as _b_ does to _p, d_ to _t_, hard _g_ to _k_, and _z_ to _s_. It has one uniform sound."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 17; _Fisk's_, 42. "_V_ is flat _f_, and bears the same relation to it as _b_ does to _p, d_ to _t_, hard _g_ to _k_, and _z_ to _s_. It is never irregular."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 52. "_V_ has the sound of flat _f_; and bears the same relation to it as _z_ does to _s_. It has one uniform sound."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 20. "The author is explaining the distinction, between the powers of sense and imagination in the human mind."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 343. [The author is endeavouring] "to explain a very abstract point, the distinction between the powers of sense and imagination in the human mind."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 164. "HE (Anglo-Saxon _he_) is a Personal pronoun, of the Third Person, Masculine Gender (Decline he), of the singular number, in the nominative case."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.589. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER THE CRITICAL NOTES. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE I.--OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. "The passive voice denotes a being acted upon."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 6. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the term "_being acted upon_" as here used, suggests a doubt concerning its classification in parsing. But, according to Critical Note 1st, "Words that may constitute different parts of speech, must not be left doubtful as to their classification, or to what part of speech they belong." Therefore, the phraseology should be altered; thus, "The passive voice denotes _an action received_." Or; "The passive voice denotes _the receiving of an_ action."] "Milton, in some of his prose works, has very finely turned periods."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 127; _Jamieson's_, 129. "These will be found to be all, or chiefly, of that class."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 32. "All appearances of an author's affecting harmony, are disagreeable."--_Ib._, p. 127; _Jamieson_, 128. "Some nouns have a double increase, that is, increase by more syllables than one; as, _iter, itin~eris_."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 255; _Gould's_, 241. "The powers of man are enlarged by advancing cultivation."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 62. "It is always important to begin well; to make a favourable impression at first setting out."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 307. "For if one take a wrong method at first setting out, it will lead him astray in all that follows."--_Ib._, 313. "His mind is full of his subject, and his words are all expressive."--_Ib._, 179. "How exquisitely is this all performed in Greek!"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 422. "How little is all this to satisfy the ambition of an immortal soul!"-- _Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 253. "So as to exhibit the object in its full and most striking point of view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 41. "And that the author know how to descend with propriety to the plain, as well as how to rise to the bold and figured style."--_Ib._, p. 401. "The heart can only answer to the heart."--_Ib._, p. 259. "Upon its first being perceived."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 229. "Call for Samson, that he may make us sport."--_Judges_, xvi, 25. "And he made them sport."--_Ibid._ "The term _suffer_ in this definition is used in a technical sense, and means simply the receiving of an action, or the being acted upon."--_Bullions_, p. 29. "The Text is what is only meant to be taught in Schools."--_Brightland, Pref._, p. ix. "The perfect participle denotes action or being perfected or finished."-- _Kirkham's Gram._, p. 78. "From the intricacy and confusion which are produced by their being blended together."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 66. "This very circumstance of a word's being employed antithetically, renders it important in the sentence."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 121. "It [the pronoun _that_] is applied to both persons and things."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 53. "Concerning us, as being every where evil spoken of."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. ii, p. vi. "Every thing beside was buried in a profound silence."--_Steele_. "They raise more full conviction than any reasonings produce."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 367. "It appears to me no more than a fanciful refinement."--_Ib._, p. 436. "The regular resolution throughout of a complete passage."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. vii. "The infinitive is known by its being immediately preceded by the word _to_."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 6. "It will not be gaining much ground to urge that the basket, or vase, is understood to be the capital."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 356. "The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose where the subject is drinking ink figuratively."--_Ib._, ii, 231. "That we run not into the extreme of pruning so very close."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 111. "Being obliged to rest for a little on the preposition by itself."--_Ib._, p. 112; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 93. "Being obliged to rest a little on the preposition by itself."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 319. "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding."--_1 Chron._, xxix, 15. "There maybe a more particular expression attempted, of certain objects, by means of resembling sounds."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 129; _Jamieson's_, 130; _Murray's Gram._, 331. "The right disposition of the shade, makes the light and colouring strike the more."--_Blair's Rhet._, 144. "I observed that a diffuse style inclines most to long periods."--_Ib._, p. 178. "Their poor Arguments, which they only Pickt up and down the Highway "--_Divine Right of Tythes_, p. iii. "Which must be little, but a transcribing out of their writings."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 353. "That single impulse is a forcing out of almost all the breath."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 254. "Picini compares modulation to the turning off from a road."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 405. "So much has been written, on and off, of almost every subject."--_The Friend_, ii, 117. "By reading books written by the best authors, his mind became highly improved."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 201. "For I never made the being richly provided a token of a spiritual ministry."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 470. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE II.--OF DOUBTFUL REFERENCE. "However disagreeable, we must resolutely perform our duty."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 171. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _disagreeable_ appears to relate to the pronoun _we_, though such a relation was probably not intended by the author. But, according to Critical Note 2d, "The reference of words to other words, or their syntactical relation according to the sense, should never be left doubtful, by any one who means to be understood." The sentence may be amended thus: "However disagreeable _the task_, we must resolutely perform our duty."] "The formation of verbs in English, both regular and irregular, is derived from the Saxon."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 47. "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and on nothing more remarkably than on language."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 180. "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and on nothing more remarkable than on language."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 47. "Archytases being a virtuous man, who happened to perish once upon a time, is with him a sufficient ground," &c.--_Philological Museum_, i, 466. "He will be the better qualified to understand, with accuracy, the meaning of a numerous class of words, in which they form a material part."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 120. "We should continually have the goal in view, which would direct us in the race."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 172. "But [Addison's figures] seem to rise of their own accord from the subject, and constantly embellish it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150; _Jamieson's_, 157. "As far as persons and other animals and things that we can see go, it is very easy to distinguish Nouns."--_Cobbett's Gram._, 14. "Dissyllables ending in _y, e_ mute, or accented on the last syllable, may be sometimes compared like monosyllables."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 12. "Admitting the above objection, it will not overrule the design."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 140. "These philosophical innovators forget, that objects are like men, known only by their actions."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 326. "The connexion between words and ideas is arbitrary and conventional, owing to the agreement of men among themselves."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 1. "The connexion between words and ideas may, in general, be considered as arbitrary and conventional, owing to the agreement of men among themselves."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 53. "A man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and had great abilities to manage and multiply and defend his corruptions."--_Swift_. "They have no more control over him than any other men."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 1st Ed., p. 372. "His old words are all true English, and numbers exquisite."--_Spectator_, No. 540. "It has been said, that not only Jesuits can equivocate."--_Murray's Exercises_, 8vo, p. 121. "It has been said, that Jesuits can not only equivocate."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 253. "The nominative of the first and second person in Latin is seldom expressed."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 154; _Gould's_, 157. "Some words are the same in both numbers."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 40; _Ingersoll's_, 18; _Fisk's_, 59; _Kirkham's_, 39; _W. Allen's_, 42; et al. "Some nouns are the same in both numbers."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 29; _Smith's_, 45; et al. "Others are the same in both numbers; as, _deer, swine_, &c."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 8. "The following list denotes the sounds of the consonants, being in number twenty-two."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 6; _Fisk's_, 36. "And is the ignorance of these peasants a reason for others to remain ignorant; or to render the subject a less becoming inquiry?"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 293; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 288. "He is one of the most correct, and perhaps the best, of our prose writers."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. iv., "The motions of a vortex and a whirlwind are perfectly similar."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 131. "What I have been saying throws light upon one important verse in the Bible, which I should like to have read."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 182. "When there are any circumstances of time, place, or other limitations, which the principal object of our sentence requires to have connected with it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 115; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 98; _Murray's Gram._, i, 322. "Interjections are words used to express emotion, affection, or passion, and imply suddenness."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 77. "But the genitive is only used to express the measure of things in the plural number."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 200; _Gould's_, 198. "The buildings of the institution have been enlarged; the expense of which, added to the increased price of provisions, renders it necessary to advance the terms of admission."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 183. "These sentences are far less difficult than complex."--_S. S. Greene's Analysis, or Grammar_, 1st Ed., p. 179. "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray."--_Gray's Elegy_. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE III.--OF DEFINITIONS. (1.) "_Definition_ is such a description of things as exactly describes the thing and that thing only."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 135. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because this definition of a _definition_ is not accurately adapted to the thing. But, according to Critical Note 3d, "A definition, in order to be perfect, must include the whole thing, or class of things, which it pretends to define, and exclude every thing which comes not under the name." [453] The example may be amended thus: "A definition is a _short and lucid_ description of a _thing, or species, according to its nature and properties._"] (2.) "Language, in general, signifies the expression of our ideas by certain articulate sounds, which are used as the signs of those ideas."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 53. (3.) "A WORD is an articulate _sound_ used by common consent as the sign of an idea,"--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gr._, p. 17. (4.) "A word is a sound, or combination of sounds, which is used in the expression of thought"--_Hazen's Gram._, p. 12. (5.) "_Words_ are articulate sounds, used as _signs_ to convey our ideas."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 5. (6.) "A _word_ is a number of letters used together to represent some idea."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 28. (7.) "A _Word_ is a combination of letters, used as the sign of an idea."--_S. W. Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 9. (8.) "A _word_ is a letter or a combination of letters, used as the sign of an idea."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 41. (9.) "Words are articulate sounds, by which ideas are communicated."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 28. (10.) "Words are certain articulate sounds used by common consent as signs of our ideas."--_Bullions, Principles of E. Gram._, p. 6; _Lat. Gram._, 6; see _Lowth, Murray, Smith, et al._ (11.) "Words are sounds used as signs of our ideas."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 30. (12.) "Orthography means _word-making_ or _spelling_.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 19; _Smith's New Gram._, p. 41. (13.) "A vowel is a letter, the name of which constitutes a full, open sound."--_Hazen's Gram._, p. 10; _Lennie's, 5; Brace's, 7._ (14.) "Spelling is the art of reading by naming the letters singly, and rightly dividing words into their syllables. Or, in writing, it is the expressing of a word by its proper letters."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 5; _Churchill's_, 20. (15.) "Spelling is the art of rightly dividing words into their syllables, or of expressing a word by its proper letters."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 21; _Ingersoll's, 6; Merchant's, 10; Alger's, 12; Greenleaf's, 20_; and others. (16) "Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters; or of rightly dividing words into syllables."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 8. (17.) "Spelling is the art of expressing a word by its proper letters, and rightly dividing it into syllables."--_Bullions's Princ. of E. Gram._, p. 2. (18.) "Spelling is the art of expressing a word by its proper letters."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 23; _Sanborn's_, p. 259. (19.) "A syllable is a sound either simple or compounded, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or part of a word."--_Lowth_, p. 5; _Murray_, 21; _Ingersoll_, 6; _Fisk_, 11; _Greenleaf_, 20: _Merchant_, 9; _Alger_, 12; _Bucke_, 15; _Smith_, 118; _et al_. (20.) "A Syllable is a complete Sound uttered in one Breath."--_British Gram._, p. 32; _Buchanan's_, 5. (21.) "A syllable is a distinct sound, uttered by a single impulse of the voice."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 20. (22.) "A Syllable is a distinct sound forming the whole of a word, or so much of it as can be sounded at once."--_Bullions, E. Gr._, p. 2. (23.) "A _syllable_ is a word, or part of a word, or as much as can be sounded at once."--_Picket's Gram._, p. 10. (24.) "A diphthong is the union of two Vowels, both of which are pronounced as one: as in bear and beat."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 15. (25.) "A diphthong consists of two vowels, forming one syllable; as, _ea_, in _beat_."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 2. (26.) "A triphthong consists of three vowels forming one syllable; as, _eau_ in _beauty_."--_Ib._ (27.) "But the Triphthong is the union of three Vowels, pronounced as one."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 15. (28.) "What is a Noun Substantive? A Noun Substantive is the thing itself; as, a Man, a Boy."--_British Gram._, p. 85; _Buchanan's_, 26. (29.) "An adjective is a word added to nouns to describe them."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 1. (30.) "An adjective is a word joined to a noun, to describe or define it."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 51. (31.) "An adjective is a word used to describe or define a noun."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 2. (32.) "The adjective is added to the noun, to express the quality of it"--_Murray's Gram._, 12mo, 2d Ed., p. 27; _Lowth_, p. 6. (33.) "An adjective expresses the quality of the noun to which it is applied; and may generally be known by its making sense in connection with it; as, 'A _good_ man,' 'A _genteel_ woman.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 34. (34.) "An adverb is a word used to modify the sense of other words."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 2. (35.) "An adverb is a word joined to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, to modify or denote some circumstance respecting it."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 66; _Lat. Gram._, 185. (36.) "A Substantive or Noun is a name given to every object which the senses can perceive; the understanding comprehend; or the imagination entertain."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 34. (37.) "GENDER means the distinction of nouns with regard to sex."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 9. (38.) "Gender is a distinction of nouns with regard to sex."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 7. (39.) "Gender is a distinction of nouns in regard to sex."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 10. (40.) "Gender is the distinction of nouns, in regard to sex."--_Cooper's Murray_, 24; _Practical Gram._, 21. (41.) "Gender is the distinction of nouns with regard to sex."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 37; _Alger's_, 16; _Bacon's_, 12; _R. G. Greene's_, 16; _Bullions, Prin._, 5th Ed., 9; _his New Gr._, 22; _Fisk's_, 19; _Hull's_, 9; _Ingersoll's_, 15. (42.) "Gender is the distinction of sex."--_Alden's Gram._, p. 9; _Comly's_, 20; _Dalton's_, 11; _Davenport's_, 15; _J. Flint's_, 28; A. _Flint's_, 11; _Greenleaf's_, 21; _Guy's_, 4; _Hart's_, 36; _Hiley's_, 12; _Kirkham's_, 34; _Lennie's_, 11; _Picket's_, 25; _Smith's_, 43; _Sanborn's_, 25; _Wilcox's_, 8. (43.) "Gender is the distinction of Sex, or the Difference betwixt Male and Female."--_British Gram._, p. 94; _Buchanan's_, 18. (44.) "Why are nouns divided into genders? To distinguish their sexes."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 10. (45.) "What is meant by _Gender?_ The different sexes."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 34. (46) "Gender, in grammar, is a difference of termination, to express distinction of sex."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p 30; _Improved Gram._, 22. (47.) "Gender signifies a distinction of nouns, according to the different sexes of things they denote."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 2. (48.) "Gender is the distinction occasioned by sex. Though there are but two sexes, still nouns necessarily admit of four distinctions[454] of gender."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 6. (49.) "Gender is a term which is employed for the distinction of nouns with regard to sex and species."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 41. (50.) "Gender is a Distinction of Sex."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 53. (51.) "GENDER marks the distinction of Sex."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 37. (52.) "_Gender_ means the kind, or sex. There are four genders."--_Parker and Fox's, Part I_, p. 7. (53.) "Gender is a property of the noun which distinguishes sex."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 57. (54.) "Gender is a property of the noun or pronoun by which it distinguishes sex."--_Weld's Grammar Abridged_, p. 49. (55.) "Case is the state or condition of a noun with respect to the other words in a sentence."--_Bullion's, E. Gram._, p. 16; _his Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 31. (56.) "_Case_ means the different state or situation of nouns with regard to other words."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 55. (57.) "The cases of substantives signify their different terminations, which serve to express the relation of one thing to another."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 12mo, 2d Ed., p. 35. (58.) "Government is the power which one _part of speech_ has over _another_, when it causes it or requires it to be of some particular person, number, gender, case, style, or mode."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 126; see _Murray's Gram._, 142; _Smith's_, 119; _Pond's_, 88; _et al_. (59.) "A simple sentence is a sentence which contains only one nominative case and one verb to agree with it."--_Sanborn, ib._; see _Murray's Gram., et al_. (60.) "Declension means putting a noun through the different cases."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 58. (61.) "Zeugma is when two or more substantives have a verb in common, which is applicable only to one of them."--_B. F. Fisk's Greek Gram._, p. 185. (62.) "An Irregular Verb is that which has its passed tense and perfect participle terminating differently; as, smite, smote, smitten."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 92. (63.) "_Personal_ pronouns are employed as substitutes for nouns that denote _persons_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 23. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE IV.--OF COMPARISONS. "We abound more in vowel and diphthong sounds, than most languages."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 89. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the terms _we_ and _languages_, which are here used to form a comparison, express things which are totally unlike. But, according to Critical Note 4th, "A comparison is a form of speech which requires some similarity or common property in the things compared; without which, it becomes a solecism." Therefore, the expression ought to be changed; thus, "_Our language abounds_ more in vowel and diphthong sounds, than most _other tongues_." Or: "We abound more in vowel and _diphthongal_ sounds, than most _nations_."] "A line thus accented, has a more spirited air, than when the accent is placed on any other syllable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 86. "Homer introduceth his deities with no greater ceremony than as mortals; and Virgil has still less moderation."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 287. "Which the more refined taste of later writers, who had far inferior genius to them, would have taught them to avoid."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 28. "The poetry, however, of the Book of Job, is not only equal to that of any other of the sacred writings, but is superior to them all, except those of Isaiah alone."--_Ib._, p. 419. "On the whole, Paradise Lost is a poem that abounds with beauties of every kind, and that justly entitles its author to a degree of fame not inferior to any poet."--_Ib._, p. 452. "Most of the French writers compose in short sentences; though their style in general, is not concise; commonly less so than the bulk of English writers, whose sentences are much longer."--_Ib._, p. 178. "The principles of the Reformation were deeper in the prince's mind than to be easily eradicated."--HUME: _Cobbett's E. Gram._, 217. "Whether they do not create jealousy and animosity more hurtful than the benefit derived from them."--DR. J. LEO WOLF: _Lit. Conv._, p. 250. "The Scotch have preserved the ancient character of their music more entire than any other country."--_Music of Nature_, p. 461. "When the time or quantity of one syllable exceeds the rest, that syllable readily receives the accent."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 277. "What then can be more obviously true than that it should be made as just as we can?"--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 198. "It was not likely that they would criminate themselves more than they could avoid."--_Clarkson's Hist., Abridged_, p. 76. "Their understandings were the most acute of any people who have ever lived."--_Knapp's Lectures_, p32. "The patentees have printed it with neat types, and upon better paper than was done formerly."--_Lily's Gram., Pref._, p. xiii. "In reality, its relative use is not exactly like any other word."--_Felch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. 62. "Thus, instead of two books, which are required, (the grammar and the exercises,) the learner finds both in one, for a price at least not greater than the others."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, Recom., p. iii; _New Ed._, Recom., p. 6. "They are not improperly regarded as pronouns, though in a sense less strict than the others"--_Ib._, p. 199. "We have had the opportunity, as will readily be believed, of becoming conversant with the case much more particularly, than the generality of our readers can be supposed to have had."--_The British Friend_, 11mo, 29th, 1845. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE V.--OF FALSITIES. "The long sound of _i_ is compounded of the sound of _a_, as heard in _ball_, and that of _e_, as heard in _be_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 3. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the sentence falsely teaches, that the long sound of _i_ is that of the diphthong heard in _oil_ or _boy_. But, according to Critical Note 5th, "Sentences that convey a meaning manifestly false, should be changed, rejected, or contradicted; because they distort language from its chief end, or only worthy use; which is, to state facts, and to tell the truth." The error may be corrected thus: "The long sound of _i_ is _like a very quick union_ of the sound of _a_, as heard in _bar_, and that of _e_, as heard in _be_."] "The omission of a word necessary to grammatical propriety, is called ELLIPSIS."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 45. "Every substantive is of the third person."--_Alexander Murray's Gram._, p. 91. "A noun, when the subject is spoken _to_, is in the second person; and when spoken _of_, it is in the third person; but never in the first."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 17. "With us, no substantive nouns have gender, or are masculine and feminine, except the proper names of male and female creatures."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 156. "Apostrophe is a little mark signifying that something is shortened; as, for William his hat, we say, William's hat."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 30. "When a word beginning with a vowel is coupled with one beginning with a consonant, the indefinite article must be repeated; thus, 'Sir Matthew Hale was _a_ noble and _an_ impartial judge;' 'Pope was _an_ elegant and _a_ nervous writer.'"--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 11. "_W_ and _y_ are consonants, when they begin a word or syllable; but in every other situation they are vowels."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 7: _Bacon, Comly, Cooper, Fish, Ingersoll, Kirkham, Smith, et al_. "_The_ is used before all adjectives and substantives, let them begin as they will."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 26. "Prepositions are also prefixed to words in such manner, as to coalesce with them, and to become a part of them."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 66. "But _h_ is entirely silent at the beginning of syllables not accented, as _historian_."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 5. "Any word that will make sense with _to_ before it, is a verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 44. "Verbs do not, in reality, express actions; but they are intrinsically the mere _names_ of actions."--_Ib._, p. 37. "The nominative is the actor or subject, and the active verb is the action performed by the nominative."--_Ib._, p. 45. "If, therefore, only one creature or thing acts, only one action, at the same instant, can be done; as, the _girl writes_."--_Ib._, 45. "The verb _writes_ denotes but one action, which the girl performs; therefore the verb _writes_ is of the singular number."--_Ib._, 45. "And when I say, Two men _walk_, is it not equally apparent, that _walk_ is plural, because it expresses _two_ actions?"--_Ib._, p. 47. "The subjunctive mood is formed by adding a conjunction to the indicative mood."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 16. "The possessive case should always be distinguished by the apostrophe."-- _Frost's El. of Gram._, Rule 44th, p. 49. "'At these proceedings of the commons,'--Here _of_ is the sign of the genitive or possessive case, and _commons_ is of that case, governed of proceedings."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 95. "Here let it be observed again that, strictly speaking, no verbs have numbers nor persons, neither have nouns nor pronouns persons, when they refer to irrational creatures and inanimate things."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, p. 136. "The noun or pronoun denoting the person or thing addressed or spoken to, is in the nominative case independent."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, Rule 8th, p. 44. "Every noun, when addressed, becomes of the second person, and is in the nominative case absolute; as--'_Paul_, thou art beside thyself.'"--_Jaudon's Gram._, Rule 19th, p. 108. "Does the Conjunction join Words together? No; only Sentences."--_British Gram._, p. 103. "No; the Conjunction only joins sentences together."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 64. "Every Genitive has a Noun to govern it, expressed or understood; as, St. James's, _Palace_ is understood; therefore one Genitive cannot govern another."--_Ib._, p. 111. "Every adjective, and every adjective pronoun, belongs to a substantive, expressed or understood."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 161; _Bacon's_, 48; _Alger's_, 57; _et al_. "Every adjective qualifies a substantive expressed or understood."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 97. "Every adjective belongs to some noun expressed or understood."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 36. "Adjectives belong to the nouns which they describe."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 137. "Adjectives must agree with the nouns, which they qualify."--_Fisk's Murray_, p. 101. "The Adjective must agree with its Substantive in Number."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 94. "Every adjective and participle belongs to some noun or pronoun expressed or understood."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 44. "Every Verb of the Infinitive Mood, supposes a verb before it expressed or understood."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 94. "Every Adverb has its Verb expressed or understood."--_Ib._, p. 94. "Conjunctions which connect Sentence to Sentence, are always placed betwixt the two Propositions or Sentences which they unite."--_Ib._, p. 88. "The words _for all that_, seem to be too low."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 213. "_For all that_ seems to be too low and vulgar."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 139. "The reader, or hearer, then, understands from _and_, that he is to add something."--_J. Brown's E. Syntax_, p. 124. "But _and_ never, never connects one _thing_ with another thing, nor one _word_ with another word."--_Ib._, p. 122. "'Six, and six are twelve.' Here it is affirmed that, _six is twelve_!"--_Ib._, p. 120. "'John, and his wife have six children.' This is an instance of gross _catachresis_. It is here affirmed that John has six children, and that his wife has six children."--_Ib._, p. 122. "Nothing which is not right can be great."--_Murray's Exercises_, 8vo, p. 146: see _Rambler_, No. 185. "Nothing can be great which is not right."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 277. "The highest degree of reverence should be paid to youth."--_Ib._, p. 278. "There is, in many minds, neither knowledge nor understanding."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 151; _Russell's_, 84; _Alger's_, 54; _Bacon's_, 47; _et al_. "Formerly, what we call the objective cases of our pronouns, were employed in the same manner as our present nominatives are."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 164. "As it respects a choice of words and expressions, no rules of grammar can materially aid the learner."--_S. S. Greene's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 202. "Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, is a Noun."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.137. "As all men are not brave, _brave_ is itself comparative."--_Ib._, Sec.190. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VI.--OF ABSURDITIES. (1.) "And sometimes two unaccented syllables follow each other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 384. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase, "_follow each other_," is here an absurdity; it being impossible for two things to "follow each other," except they alternate, or whirl round. But, according to Critical Note 6th, "Absurdities, of every kind, are contrary to grammar; because they are contrary to reason, or good sense, which is the foundation of grammar." Therefore, a different expression should here be chosen; thus: "And sometimes two unaccented syllables _come together_." Or: "And sometimes _one_ unaccented _syllable follows an_ other."] (2.) "What nouns frequently succeed each other?"--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 65. (3.) "Words are derived from one another in various ways."--_Ib._, p. 288; _Merchant's Gram._, 78; _Weld's_, 2d Edition, 222. (4.) "Prepositions are derived from the two Latin words _prae_ and _pono_, which signify before and place."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 86. (5.) "He was sadly laughed at for such conduct."--_Bullion's E. Gram._, p. 79. (6.) "Every adjective pronoun belongs to some noun or pronoun expressed or understood."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 212. (7.) "If he [Addison] fails in anything, it is in want of strength and precision, which renders his manner not altogether a proper model."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 187. (8.) "Indeed, if Horace be deficient in any thing, it is in this, of not being sufficiently attentive to juncture and connexion of parts."--_Ib._, p. 401. (9.) "The pupil is now supposed to be acquainted with the nine sorts of speech, and their most usual modifications."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 204. (10.) "I could see, hear, taste, and smell the rose."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 156. (11.) "The triphthong _iou_ is sometimes pronounced distinctly in two syllables; as in bilious, various, abstemious."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 13; _Walker's Dict._, Prin. 292, p. 37. (12.) "The diphthong _aa_ generally sounds like a short in proper names; as in Balaam, Canaan, Isaac; but not in Baal, Gaal."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 10. (13.) "Participles are sometimes governed by the article; for the present participle, with the definite article _the_ before it, becomes a substantive."--_Ib._, p. 192. (14.) "Words ending with _y_, preceded by a consonant, form the plurals of nouns, the persons of verbs, verbal nouns, past participles, comparatives and superlatives, by changing _y_ into _i_."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, p. viii; _Murray's Gram._, 23; _Merchant's Murray_, 13; _Fisk's_, 44; _Kirkham's_, 23; _Greenleaf's_, 20; _Wright's Gram._, 28; _et al_. (15.) "But _y_ preceded by a vowel, _in such instances as the above_, is not changed; as boy, boys."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 24; _Merchant's, Fisk's, Kirkham's, Greenleaf's, et al_. (16.) "But when _y_ is preceded by a vowel, it is very rarely[455] changed in the additional syllable: as coy, coyly."--_Murray's Gram. again_, p. 24; _Merchant's_, 14; _Fisk's_, 45; _Greenleaf's_, 20; _Wright's_, 29; _et al_. (17.) "But when _y_ is preceded by a vowel, _in such instances_, it is very rarely changed into _i_; as coy, COYLESS."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 24. (18.) "Sentences are of a twofold nature: Simple and Compound."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 123. (19.) "The neuter pronoun _it_ is applied to all nouns and pronouns: as, _It_ is _he; it_ is _she; it_ is _they; it_ is the _land_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 92. (20.) "_It is_ and _it was_, are often used in a plural construction; as, '_It was_ the heretics who first began to rail.'"--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 87. (21.) "_It is_ and _it was_, are often, after the manner of the French, used in a plural construction, and by some of our best writers: as, '_It was_ the _heretics that_ first began to rail.' Smollett."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 190; _Murray's_, 158; _Smith's_, 134; _Ingersoll's_, 210; _Fisk's_, 115; _et al_. (22.) "_w_ and _y_, as consonants, have one sound."--_Town's Spelling-Book_, p. 9. (23.) "The conjunction _as_ is frequently used as a relative."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 93. (24.) "When several clauses succeed each other, the conjunction may be omitted with propriety."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 97. (25.) "If, however, the members succeeding each other, are very closely connected, the comma is unnecessary: as, 'Revelation tells us how we may attain happiness.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 273; _Merchant's_, 151; _Russell's_, 115; _Comly's_, 152; _Alger's_, 80; _Smith's_, 190; _et al_. (26.) "The mind has difficulty in passing readily through so many different views given it, in quick succession, of the same object."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 149. (27.) "The mind has difficulty in passing readily through many different views of the same object, presented in quick succession."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 341. (28.) "Adjective pronouns are a kind of adjectives which point out nouns by some distinct specification."--_Kirkham's Gram., the Compend, or Table_. (29.) "A noun of multitude conveying plurality of idea[456], must have a verb or pronoun agreeing with it in the plural."--_Ib._, pp. 59 and 181: see also _Lowth's Gram._, p. 74; _L. Murray's_, 152; _Comly's_, 80; _Lennie's_, 87; _Alger's_, 54; _Jaudon's_, 96; _Alden's_, 81; _Parker and Fox's_, I, 76; II, 26; _and others_. (30.) "A noun or pronoun signifying possession, is governed by the noun it possesses."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 35. (31.) "A noun signifying possession, is governed by the noun which it possesses."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 24. (32.) "A noun or pronoun in the possessive case is governed by the noun it possesses."--_Goldsbury's Gram._, p. 68. (33.) "The possessive case is governed by the person or thing possessed; as, 'this is _his_ book.'"--_P. E. Day's Gram._, p. 81. (34.) "A noun or pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the noun which it possesses."--_Kirkham's Gram., Rule_ 12th, pp. 52 and 181; _Frazer's Gram._, 1844, p. 25; _F. H. Miller's_, 21. (35.) "Here the boy is represented as acting. He is, therefore, in the nominative case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 41. (36.) "Some of the auxiliaries are themselves principal verbs, as: _have, do, will_, and _am_, or _be_."--_Cooper's Grammars, both_, p. 50. (37.) "Nouns of the male kind are masculine. Those of the female kind are feminine."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 6. (38.) "'To-day's lesson is longer than yesterday's:' here _to-day_ and _yesterday_ are substantives."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 114; _Ingersoll's_, 50; _et al._ (39.) "In this example, _to-day_ and _yesterday_ are nouns in the possessive case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 88. (40.) "An Indian in Britain would be much surprised to stumble upon an elephant feeding at large in the open fields."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 219. (41.) "If we were to contrive a new language, we might make any articulate sound the sign of any idea: there would be no impropriety in calling oxen _men_, or rational beings by the name of _oxen_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 139. (42.) "All the parts of a sentence should correspond to each other."--_Ib._, p. 222; _Kirkham's_, 193; _Ingersoll's_, 275; _Goldsbury's_, 74; _Hiley's_, 110; _Weld's_, 193; _Alger's_, 71; _Fisk's_, 148; _S. Putnam's_, 95; _Merchant's_, 101; _Merchant's Murray_, 95. (43.) "Full through his neck the weighty falchion sped, Along the pavement roll'd the mutt'ring head." --_Odyssey_, xxii, 365. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VII.--OF SELF-CONTRADICTION. (1.) "Though the construction will not admit of a _plural verb_, the sentence would certainly stand better thus: 'The king, the lords, and the commons, _form_ an excellent constitution.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 151; _Ingersoll's_, 239. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the first clause here quoted is contradicted by the last. But, according to Critical Note 7th, "Every writer or speaker should be careful not to contradict himself; for what is self-contradictory, is both null in argument, and bad in style." The following change may remove the discrepance: "Though 'The king _with_ the lords and commons,' _must have a singular rather than_ a plural verb, the sentence would certainly stand better thus: 'The king, the lords, _and_ the commons, _form_ an excellent constitution.'"] (2.) "_L_ has always a soft liquid sound; as in love, billow, quarrel. It is sometimes mute: as in half, talk, psalm."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 14; _Fisk's_, 40. (3.) "_L_ has always a soft liquid sound; as in _love, billow_. It is often silent; as in _half, talk, almond_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 22. (4.) "The words _means_ and _amends_, though formerly used in the singular, as well as in the plural number, are now, by polite writers, restricted to the latter. Our most distinguished modern authors say, 'by _this means_,' as well as, by _these means_.'"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 150. (5.) "'A friend exaggerates a man's virtues: an enemy inflames his crimes.' Better thus: 'A friend exaggerates a man's virtues: an enemy his crimes.'"--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 325. "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes"--_Key_, Vol. ii, p. 173. (6.) "The auxiliary _have_, in the perfect tense of the subjunctive mood, should be avoided."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 97. "Subjunctive Mood, Perfect Tense. If I _have_ loved, If thou hast loved," &c.--p. 51. (7.) "There is also an impropriety in governing both the indicative and subjunctive moods, with the same conjunction; as, '_If_ a man _have_ a hundred sheep, and _if_ one of them _be_ gone astray,' &c. It should be, and one of them _is_ gone astray, &c."--_Ib._, p. 97. (8.) "The rising series of contrasts convey inexpressible dignity and energy to the conclusion."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 79. (9.) "A groan or a shriek is instantly understood, as a language extorted by distress, a language which no art can counterfeit, and which conveys a meaning that words are utterly inadequate to express."--_Porter's Analysis_, p. 127. "A groan or shriek speaks to the ear, as the language of distress, with far more thrilling effect than words. Yet these may be counterfeited by art."--_Ib._, p. 147. (10.) "These words [_book_ and _pen_] cannot be put together in such a way as will constitute plurality."--_James Brown's English Syntax_, p. 125. (11.) "Nor can the real _pen_, and the real _book_ be expressed in two words in such a manner as will constitute _plurality_ in _grammar._"--_Ibid._ (12.) "_Our_ is an adjective pronoun of the possessive kind. Decline it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 227. (13.) "_This_ and _that_, and likewise their Plurals, are always opposed to each other in a Sentence."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 103. "When _this_ or _that_ is used alone, i.e. not opposed to each other, _this_ is written or spoken of Persons or Things immediately present, and as it were before our Eyes, or nearest with relation to Place or Time. _That_ is spoken or written of Persons or Things passed, absent and distant in relation to Time and Place."--_Ibid._ (14.) "Active and neuter verbs may be conjugated by adding their present participle to the auxiliary verb _to be_, through all its variations."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 159. "_Be_ is an auxiliary whenever it is placed before the perfect participle of another verb, but in every other situation, it is a _principal_ verb."--_Ib._, p. 155. (15.) "A verb in the imperative mood, is always of the second person."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 136. "The verbs, according to an idiom of our language, or the poet's license, are used in the _imperative_, agreeing with a nominative of the first or third person."--_Ib._, p. 164. (16.) "Personal Pronouns are distinguished from the relative, by their denoting the _person_ of the nouns for which they stand."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 97. "Pronouns of the first person, do not agree in person with the nouns they represent."--_Ib._, p. 98. (17.) "Nouns have three cases, nominative, possessive, and objective."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 6. "Personal pronouns have, like nouns, two cases, nominative and objective."--_Ib._, p. 10. (18.). "In some instances the preposition suffers no change, but becomes an adverb merely by its application: as, 'He was _near_ falling.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 116. (19.) "Some nouns are used only in the plural; as, _ashes, literati, minutiae_, SHEEP, DEER."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 43. "Some nouns are the same in both numbers, as, _alms, couple_, DEER, _series, species, pair_, SHEEP."--_Ibid._ "Among the inferior parts of speech there are some _pairs_ or _couples_"--_Ib._, p. 94. (20.) "Concerning the pronominal _adjectives_, that _can_ and _can not, may_ and _may not_, represents _its_ noun."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 336. (21.) "The _article a_ is in a few instances employed in the sense of a _preposition_; as, Simon Peter said I go _a_ [to] fishing."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 177; Abridg., 128. "'To go a fishing;' i.e. to go _on_ a fishing voyage or business."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 192. (22.) "So also verbs, really transitive, are used intransitively, when they have no object."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 60. (23.) "When first young Maro, in his boundless mind, A work t' outlast immortal Rome design'd." --_Pope, on Crit._, l. 130. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VIII.--OF SENSELESS JUMBLING. "Number distinguishes them [viz., _nouns_], as one, or many, of the same kind, called the singular and plural."--_Dr. Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric_, p. 74. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the words of this text appear to be so carelessly put together, as to make nothing but jargon, or a sort of scholastic balderdash. But, according to Critical Note 8th, "To jumble together words without care for the sense, is an unpardonable negligence, and an abuse of the human understanding." I think the learned author should rather have said: "_There are two numbers_ called the singular and _the_ plural, _which_ distinguish nouns as _signifying either_ one _thing_, or many of the same kind."] "Here the noun _James Munroe_ is addressed, he is spoken to, it is here a noun of the second person."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 66. "The number and case of a verb can never be ascertained until its nominative is known."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 36. "A noun of multitude, or signifying many, may have the verb and pronoun agreeing with it either in the singular or plural number; yet not without regard to the import of the word, as conveying unity or plurality of idea."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 75; _Murray's_, 152; _Alger's_, 54; _Russell's_, 55; _Ingersoll's_, 248; _et al._ "To express the present and past imperfect of the active and neuter verb, the auxiliary _do_ is sometimes used: I _do_ (now) love; I _did_ (then) love."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 40. "If these are perfectly committed, they will be able to take twenty lines for a lesson on the second day; and may be increased each day."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 4. "When _c_ is joined with _h (ch)_, they are generally sounded in the same manner: as in Charles, church, cheerfulness, and cheese. But foreign words (except in those derived from the French, as _chagrin, chicanery_, and _chaise_, in which _ch_ are sounded like _sh_) are pronounced like _k_; as in Chaos, character, chorus, and chimera."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 10. "Some substantives, naturally neuter, are, by a figure of speech, converted into the masculine or feminine gender."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 37; _Comly's_, 20; _Bacon's_, 13; _A Teacher's_, 8; _Alger's_, 16; _Lennie's_, 11; _Fisk's_, 56; _Merchant's_, 27; _Kirkham's_, 35; _et al._ "Words in the English language may be classified under ten general heads, the names of which classes are usually termed the ten parts of speech."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 14. "'Mercy is the true badge of nobility.' _Nobility_ is a noun of multitude, mas. and fem. gender, third person, sing. and in the obj. case, and governed by 'of:' RULE 31."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 161. "gh, are either silent, or have the sound of f, as in laugh."--_Town's Spelling-Book_, p. 10. "As many people as were destroyed, were as many languages or dialects lost and blotted out from the general catalogue."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 25. "The _grammars_ of some languages contain a greater number of _the_ moods, than _others_, and exhibit _them_ in different forms."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo. Vol. i, p. 95. "A COMPARISON OR SIMILE, is, _when_ the resemblance between two objects _is expressed in form_, and _generally pursued_ more fully than the nature of a metaphor admits."--_Ib._, p. 343. "In _some dialects_, the word _what_ is improperly used for _that_, and sometimes we find it in _this sense_ in writing."--_Ib._, p. 156; _Priestley's Gram._, 93; _Smith's_, 132; _Merchant's_, 87; _Fisk's_, 114; _Ingersoll's_, 220; _et al._ "Brown makes great ado concerning the adname principles of preceding works, in relation to the _gender_ of pronouns."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 323. "The nominative precedes and performs the action of the verb."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 8. "The Primitive are those which cannot receive more simple forms than those which they already possess."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 28. "The long sound [of _i_] is always marked by the _e_ final in monosyllables; as, thin, thine; except give, live."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 13; _Fisk's_, 39; _et al._ "But the third person or thing spoken of being absent, and in many respects unknown, it is necessary that it should be marked by a distinction of gender."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 21; _L. Murray's_, 51; _et al._ "Each of the diphthongal letters was doubtless, originally heard in pronouncing the words which contain them. Though this is not the case at present, with respect to many of them, these combinations still retain the name of diphthongs; but, to distinguish them, they are marked by the term _improper_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 9; _Fisk's_, 37; _et al._ "A Mode is the form of, or manner of using a verb, by which the being, action, or passion is expressed "--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 32. "The word _that_ is a demonstrative pronoun when it is followed immediately by a substantive, to which it is either joined, or refers, and which it limits or qualifies."--_Lindley Murray's Gram._, p. 54. "The guiltless woe of being past, Is future glory's deathless heir."--_Sumner L. Fairfield._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE IX.--OF WORDS NEEDLESS. "A knowledge of grammar enables us to express ourselves better in conversation and in writing composition."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 7. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _composition_ is here needless. But, according to Critical Note 9th, "Words that are entirely needless, and especially such as injure or encumber the expression, ought in general to be omitted." The sentence would be better without this word, thus: "A knowledge of grammar enables us to express ourselves better in conversation and in writing."] "And hence we infer, that there is no other dictator here but use."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 42. "Whence little else is gained, except correct spelling and pronunciation."--_Town's Spelling-Book_, p. 5. "The man who is faithfully attached to religion, may be relied on, with humble confidence."--_Merchants School Gram._, p. 76. "Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?"--_2 Sam._, vii, 5. "The house was deemed polluted which was entered into by so abandoned a woman."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 279. "The farther that he searches, the firmer will be his belief."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 4. "I deny not, but that religion consists in these things."--_Barclays Works_, i, 321. "Except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name."--_Esther_, ii, 14. "The proper method of reading these lines, is to read them according as the sense dictates."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 386. "When any words become obsolete, or at least are never used, except as constituting part of particular phrases, it is better to dispense with their service entirely, and give up the phrases."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 185; _Murray's Gram._, p. 370. "Those savage people seemed to have no element but that of war."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211. "_Man_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and in the nominative case."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 33. "The orator, according as circumstances require, will employ them all."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 247. "By deferring our repentance, we accumulate our sorrows."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 166. "There is no doubt but that public speaking became early an engine of government."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 245. "The different meaning of these two first words may not at first occur."--_Ib._, p. 225. "The sentiment is well expressed by Plato, but much better by Solomon than him."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 214; _Ingersoll's_, 251; _Smith's_, 179; _et al_. "They have had a greater privilege than we have had."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211. "Every thing should be so arranged, as that what goes before may give light and force to what follows."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "So as that his doctrines were embraced by great numbers."--UNIV. HIST.: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 139. "They have taken another and a shorter cut."--SOUTH: _Joh. Dict._ "The Imperfect Tense of a regular verb is formed from the present by adding _d_ or _ed_ to the present; as, 'I _loved_.'"--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 32. "The pronoun _their_ does not agree in gender or number with the noun 'man,' for which it stands."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 182. "This mark denotes any thing of wonder, surprise, joy, grief, or sudden emotion."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 19. "We are all accountable creatures, each for himself."--_Murray's Key_, p. 204; _Merchant's_, 195. "If he has commanded it, then I must obey."--_Smith's New Gram._, pp. 110 and 112. "I now present him with a form of the diatonic scale."--_Dr. John Barber's Elocution_, p. xi. "One after another of their favourite rivers have been reluctantly abandoned."--_Hodgson's Tour_. "_Particular_ and _peculiar_ are words of different import from each other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 196. "Some adverbs admit rules of comparison: as Soon, sooner, soonest."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 76. "From having exposed himself too freely in different climates, he entirely lost his health."--_Murray's Key_. p. 200. "The Verb must agree with its Nominative before it in Number and Person."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 93. "Write twenty short sentences containing only adjectives."--_Abbot's Teacher_, p. 102. "This general inclination and tendency of the language seems to have given occasion to the introducing of a very great corruption."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 60. "The second requisite of a perfect sentence, is its _Unity_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 311. "It is scarcely necessary to apologize for omitting to insert their names."--_Ib._, p. vii. "The letters of the English Language, called the English Alphabet, are twenty-six in number."--_Ib._, p. 2; _T. Smith's_, 5; _Fisk's_, 10; _Alger's_, 9; _et al_. "A writer who employs antiquated or novel phraseology, must do it with design: he cannot err from inadvertence as he may do it with respect to provincial or vulgar expressions."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 56. "The _Vocative_ case, in some Grammars, is wholly omitted; why, if we must have cases, I could never understand the propriety of."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 45. "Active verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary verb _I have_; passive verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary verb _I am_."--_Ib._, p. 57. "What word, then, may _and_ be called? A Conjunction."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 37. "Have they ascertained the person who gave the information?"--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 81. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE X.--OF IMPROPER OMISSIONS. "All qualities of things are called adnouns, or adjectives."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 10. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because this expression lacks two or three words which are necessary to the sense intended. But according to Critical Note 10th, "Words necessary to the sense, or even to the melody or beauty of a sentence, ought seldom, if ever, to be omitted." The sentence may be amended thus: "All _words signifying concrete_ qualities of things, are called adnouns, or adjectives."] "The--signifies the long or accented syllable, and the breve indicates a short or unaccented syllable."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 118. "Whose duty is to help young ministers."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 78. "The passage is closely connected with what precedes and follows."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 255 "The work is not completed, but soon will be."--_Smith's Productive Gram._, p. 113. "Of whom hast thou been afraid or feared?"--_Isaiah_, lvii, 11. "There is a God who made and governs the world."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 263. "It was this made them so haughty."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 102. "How far the whole charge affected him is not easy to determine."-- _Ib._, i, p. 189. "They saw, and worshipped the God, that made them."-- _Bucke's Gram._, p. 157. "The errors frequent in the use of hyperboles, arise either from overstraining, or introducing them on unsuitable occasions."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 256. "The preposition _in_ is set before countries, cities, and large towns; as, 'He lives _in_ France, _in_ London, or _in_ Birmingham.' But before villages, single houses, and cities which are in distant countries, _at_ is used; as, 'He lives _at_ Hackney.'"--_Ib._, p. 204; _Dr. Ash's Gram._, 60; _Ingersoll's_, 232; _Smith's_, 170; _Fisk's_, 143; _et al._ "And, in such recollection, the thing is not figured as in our view, nor any image formed."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 86. "Intrinsic and relative beauty must be handled separately."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 336. "He should be on his guard not to do them injustice, by disguising, or placing them in a false light."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 272. "In that work, we are frequently interrupted by unnatural thoughts."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 275. "To this point have tended all the rules I have given."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 120. "To these points have tended all the rules which have been given."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 356. "Language, as written, or oral, is addressed to the eye, or to the ear."--_Lit. Conv._, p. 181. "He will learn, Sir, that to accuse and prove are very different."--_Walpole_. "They crowded around the door so as to prevent others going out."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 17. "One person or thing is singular number; more than one person or thing is plural number."--_John Flint's Gram._, p. 27. "According to the sense or relation in which nouns are used, they are in the NOMINATIVE or POSSESSIVE CASE, thus, _nom_. man; _poss_. man's."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 11. "Nouns or pronouns in the possessive case are placed before the nouns which govern them, to which they belong."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 130. "A teacher is explaining the difference between a noun and verb."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 72. "And therefore the two ends, or extremities, must directly answer to the north and south pole."--HARRIS: _Joh. Dict., w. Gnomon_. "_Walks_ or _walketh, rides_ or _rideth, stands_ or _standeth_, are of the third person singular."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 47. "I grew immediately roguish and pleasant to a degree, in the same strain."--SWIFT: _Tattler_, 31. "An Anapaest has the first syllables unaccented, and the last accented."-- _Blair's Gram._, p. 119. "An Anapaest has the first two syllables unaccented, and the last accented."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 219; _Bullions's Principles_, 170. "An Anapaest has the two first syllables unaccented, and the last accented."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 254; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 305; _Smith's New Gram._, 188; _Guy's Gram._, 120; _Merchant's_, 167; _Russell's_, 109; _Picket's_, 226. "But hearing and vision differ not more than words spoken and written."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 21. "They are considered by some prepositions."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 102. "When those powers have been deluded and gone astray."--_Philological Museum_, i, 642. "They will soon understand this, and like it."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 92. "They have been expelled their native country Romagna."--_Leigh Hunt, on Byron_, p. 18. "Future time is expressed two different ways."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 80; _Gould's_, 78. "Such as the borrowing from history some noted event."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 280. "Every Verb must agree with its Nominative in Number and Person."--_Burke's Gram._, p. 94. "We are struck, we know not how, with the symmetry of any thing we see."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 268. "Under this head, I shall consider every thing necessary to a good delivery."-- _Sheridan's Lect._, p. 26. "A good ear is the gift of nature; it may be much improved, but not acquired by art."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 298. "'Truth,' A noun, neuter, singular, the nominative."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 73. "'Possess,' A verb transitive, present, indicative active,--third person plural."--_Ibid._, 73. "_Fear_ is a noun, neuter, singular, and is the nominative to (or subject of) _is_."--_Id., ib._, p. 133. "_Is_ is a verb, intrans., irregular--am, was, been; it is in the present, indicative, third person singular, and agrees with its nominative _fear_. Rule 1. 'A verb agrees,' &c."--_Ibid._, 133. "_Ae_ in _Gaelic_, has the sound of long _a_."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 29. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XI.--OF LITERARY BLUNDERS. "Repeat some [adverbs] that are composed of the article _a_ and nouns."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 89. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the grammatist here mistakes for the article _a_, the prefix or preposition _a_; as in "_aside, ashore, afoot, astray_," &c. But, according to Critical Note 11th, "Grave blunders made in the name of learning, are the strongest of all certificates against the books which contain them unreproved." The error should be corrected thus: "Repeat some adverbs that are composed of the _prefix a, or preposition a_, and nouns."] "Participles are so called, because derived from the Latin word _participium_, which signifies _to partake_."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 18. "The possessive _follows_ another noun, and is known by the sign of '_s_ or _of_."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 8. "Reciprocal pronouns are formed by adding _self_ or _selves_ to the possessive; as, _myself, yourselves_."-- _Ib._, p. 10. "The word _self_, and its plural _selves_, must be considered nouns, as they occupy the places of nouns, and stand for the names of them."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 61. "The Dactyl, _rolls round_, expresses beautifully the majesty of the sun in his course."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 231; _Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 165; _Frazee's Imp. Gram._, p. 192. "Prepositions govern the objective case; as, John learned his lesson."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 153. "Prosody primarily signified punctuation; and as the name implies, related to stopping _by the way_."--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 103. "On such a principle of forming modes, there would be as many modes as verbs; and instead of four modes, we should have forty-three thousand, which is the number of verbs in the English language, according to Lowth."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 76. "The following phrases are elliptical: 'To let _out_ blood.' 'To go a hunting:' that is,' To go on a hunting excursion.'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 129. "In Rhyme, the last syllable of every two lines has the same sound."--_Id., Practical Lessons_, p. 129. "The possessive case plural, ending in _es_, has the apostrophe, but omits the _s_; as, _Eagles'_ wings."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 62; _Abridg._, p. 54. "Horses (plural) -mane, [should be written] horses' mane."--_Weld', ib._, pp. 62 and 54. "W takes its written form from the union of two _v_'s, this being the form of the Roman capital letter which we call _V_."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, p. 157. "In the sentence, 'I saw the lady who sings,' what _word_ do I say sings?"--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 12. "In the sentence, 'this is the pen which John made,' what _word_ do I say John made?"--_Ibid._ "'That we fall into _no_ sin:' _no_, an adverb used idiomatically, instead of we do not fall into any sin."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 54. "'That _all_ our doings may be ordered by thy governance:' _all_, a pronoun used for _the whole_."--_Ibid._ "'Let him be made _to_ study.' What causes the sign _to_ to be expressed before _study?_ Its being used in the passive voice after _be made_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 145. "The following Verbs have neither Preter-Tense nor Passive-participle, viz. Cast, cut, cost, shut, let, bid, shed, hurt, hit, put, &c."-- _Buchanan's Gram._, p. 60. "The agreement, which _every_ word has with _the_ others in person, gender, _and_ case, is called CONCORD; and that power which one _person of speech_ has over _another_, in respect to ruling its case, mood, or _tense_, is called GOVERNMENT."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 83. "The word _ticks_ tells what the noun _watch_ does."-- _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 15. "_Breve_ ([~]) _marks a short_ vowel or syllable, and the dash (--) a long."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 157; _Lennie_, 137. "Charles, you, by your diligence, make easy work of the task given you by your preceptor.' The first _you_ is used in the nom. poss. and obj. case."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 103. "_Ouy_ in _bouy_ is a proper tripthong. _Eau_ in flambeau is an improper tripthong."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 255. "'While I of things to come, As past rehearsing, sing.' POLLOK. That is, 'While I sing of things which are to come, as one sings of things which are past rehearsing.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 169. "A simple sentence has in it but one nominative, and one neuter verb."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 14. "An Irregular Verb is that which has its passed tense and perfect participle terminating differently; as, smite, smote, smitten."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 92. "But when the antecedent is used in a general sense, a comma is properly inserted before the relative; as, 'There is no _charm_ in the female sex, _which_ can supply the place of virtue.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 213. "Two capitals in this way denote the plural number; L. D. _Legis Doctor_; LL. D. _Legum Doctor_."--_Gould's Lat. Gram._, p. 274. "Was any person besides the mercer present? Yes, both he and his clerk."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 188. "_Adnoun_, or _Adjective_, comes from the Latin, _ad_ and _jicio_, to _add to_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 69. "Another figure of speech, proper only to animated and warm composition, is what some critical writers call vision; when, _in place_ of relating _some thing that is past_, we use the _present tense_, and describe _it_ as actually _passing_ before our eyes. _Thus Cicero_, in his fourth oration against Cataline: 'I seem to myself to behold this city, the ornament of the earth, and the capital of all nations, suddenly involved in one conflagration. I see before me the slaughtered heaps of citizens lying unburied in the midst of their ruined country. The furious countenance of Cethegus rises to my view, while with a savage joy he is triumphing in _your_ miseries.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 171. "Vision is another figure of speech, which is proper only in animated and warm composition. It is produced when, _instead_ of relating _something that is past_, we use the present tense," &c.-- _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 352. "When several verbs follow one another, having the same nominative, the auxiliary is frequently _omitted after the first_ through an ellipsis, and understood _to the rest_; as, 'He has gone and left me;' that is, 'He has gone, and _has_ left me.' "--_Comly's Gram._, p. 94. "When I use the word _pillar_ as supporting an edifice, I employ it literally."--_Hiley's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. 133. "The conjunction _nor_ is often used for _neither_; as, 'Simois _nor_ Xanthus shall be wanting there.'"--_Ib._, p. 129. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XII.--OF PERVERSIONS. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 330; _Hallock's Gram._, p. 179; _Melmoth, on Scripture_, p. 16. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because this reading is false in relation to the word "_heavens_;" nor is it usual to put a comma after the word "_beginning_." But, according to Critical Note 12th, "Proof-tests in grammar, if not in all argument, should be quoted literally; and even that which needs to be corrected, must never be perverted." The authorized text is this: "In the beginning God created the _heaven_ and the earth."--_Gen._, i, 1.] "Canst thou, by searching, find out the Lord?"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 335. "Great is the Lord, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 171; _L. Murray's_, 168; _Merchant's_, 90; _R. C. Smith's_, 145; _Ingersoll's_, 194; _Ensell's_, 330; _Fisk's_, 104; _et al_. "Every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 137. "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 211; _Bullions's_, 111 and 113; _Everest's_, 230; _Smith's_, 177; _et al_. "Whose foundation was overflown with a flood."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Job_, xxii, 16. "Take my yoke upon ye, for my yoke is easy."--_The Friend_, Vol. iv, p. 150. "I will to prepare a place for you."--_Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 67. "Ye who are dead hath he quickened."--_lb._, p. 189; Imp. Ed., 195. "Go, flee thee away into the land of Judea."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 115. "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 222. "Thine is the day and night."--_Brown's Concordance_, p. 82. "Faith worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 282. "Soon shall the dust return to dust, and the soul, to God who gave it. BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 166. "For, in the end, it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. It will lead thee into destruction, and cause thee to utter perverse things. Thou wilt be like him who lieth down in the midst of the sea. BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 167. "The memory of the just shall be honored: but the name of the wicked shall rot. BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 168. "He that is slow in anger, is better than the mighty. He that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city. BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 72. "The Lord loveth whomsoever he correcteth; as the father correcteth the son in whom he delighteth. BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 72. "The first future tense represents what is to take place hereafter. G. B."--_Ib._, p. 366. "Teach me to feel another's wo; [and] To hide what faults I see."--_Ib._, p. 197. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee; for thou art a Gallilean."--_Murray's Ex._, ii, p. 118. "Thy speech _betrays_ thee; for thou art a Gallilean."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 250. "Strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that leads to life eternal."--_Ib., Key_, p. 172. "Straight is the gate," &c.--_Ib., Ex._, p. 36. "'Thou buildest the wall, that thou _mayst_ be their king.' _Neh._, vi, 6."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 210. "'There is forgiveness with thee, that thou _mayst_ be feared.' _Psalms_, cxxx, 4."--_Ib._, p. 210. "But yesterday, the word, _Cesar_, might Have stood against the world."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 316. "The northeast spends its rage. THOMSON."--_Joh. Dict., w. Effusive._ "Tells how the drudging goblet swet. MILTON."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 263. "And to his faithful servant hath in place _Bore_ witness gloriously. SAM. AGON."--_Ib._, p. 266. "Then, if thou fallest, O Cromwell, Thou fallest a blessed martyr."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 190. "I see the dagger-crest of Mar, I see the _Morays'_ silver star, _Waves_ o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake _came_ winding far!--SCOTT."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 143. "Each _bird, and_ each insect, _is_ happy in its _kind_."--_Ib._, p. 85. "_They who are_ learning to _compose and_ arrange _their_ sentences with accuracy and order, _are_ learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order. BLAIR."--_Ib._, p. 176; _L. Murray's Gram._, Title-page, 8vo and 12mo. "We, then, as workers together with _you_, beseech you also, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."--_James Brown's Eng. Syntax_, p. 129. "And on the _bounty_ of thy goodness calls."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 246. "Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds _retentive_ to their own. COWPER."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 172. "_Oh!_ let me listen to the _word_ of life. THOMSON."--_Ib._, p. 155. "Save that from yonder ivy-mantled _bower_, &c. GRAY'S ELEGY."--_Tooke's Div. of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 116. "_Weigh_ the _mens_ wits against the _ladies hairs_. POPE."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 6. "_Weigh_ the men's wits against the _women's hairs_. POPE."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 214. "_Prior_ to the publication of Lowth's _excellent little grammar_, the grammatical study of our _own_ language, formed no part of the ordinary method of instruction. HILEY'S PREFACE."--_Dr. Bullions's E. Gram._, 1843, p. 189. "Let there be no strife betwixt me and thee."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 143. "What! canst thou not bear with me half an hour?--SHARP." --_Ib._, p. 185. "Till then who knew the force of those dire dreams.--MILTON." --_Ib._, p. 186. "In words, as fashions, the rule will hold, Alike fantastic, if too new or old:" --_Murray's Gram._, p. 136. "Be not the first, by whom the new _is_ tried, Nor yet the last, to lay the old aside." --_Bucke's Gram._, p. 104. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIII.--OF AWKWARDNESS. "They slew Varus, who was he that I mentioned before."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 194. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase, "_who was he that_," is here prolix and awkward. But, according to Critical Note 13th, "Awkwardness, or inelegance of expression, is a reprehensible defect in style, whether it violate any of the common rules of syntax or not." This example may be improved thus: "They slew Varus, _whom_ I mentioned before."] "Maria rejected Valerius, who was he that she had rejected before."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 174. "The English in its substantives has but two different terminations for cases."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 18. "Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent philosophers of Greece."--_Ib._, p. 175; _Murray's Gram._, 149; _et al._ "Whether one person or more than one, were concerned in the business, does not yet appear."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 184. "And that, consequently, the verb and pronoun agreeing with it, cannot with propriety, be ever used in the plural number."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 153; _Ingersoll's_, 249; _et al._ "A second help may be the conversing frequently and freely with those of your own sex who are like minded."--_John Wesley_. "Four of the semi-vowels, namely, _l, m, n, r_, are also distinguished by the name of _liquids_, from their readily uniting with other consonants, and flowing as it were into their sounds."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 8; _Churchill's_, 5; _Alger's_, 11; _et al._ "Some conjunctions have _their_ correspondent conjunctions _belonging to them_: so that, _in_ the subsequent member of the sentence the _latter answers_ to the former."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 109: _Adam's_, 209; _Gould's_, 205; _L. Murray's_, 211; _Ingersoll's_, 268; _Fisk's_, 137; _Churchill's_, 153; _Fowler's_, 562; _et al._ "The mutes are those consonants, whose sounds cannot be protracted. The _semi-vowels, such whose_ sounds can be continued _at pleasure, partaking_ of the nature of vowels, from _which_ they derive their name."--_Murray's Gram._, p 9; _et al._ "The pronoun of the third person, of the masculine and feminine gender, is sometimes used as a noun, and regularly declined: as, 'The _hes_ in birds.' BACON. 'The _shes_ of Italy.' SHAK."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 73. "The following _examples_ also _of_ separation of a preposition from the word which it governs, _is_ improper _in common writings_."--_C. Adams's Gram._, p. 103. "The word _whose_ begins likewise to be restricted to persons, but _it_ is not _done_ so generally but that good writers, and even in prose, use it when speaking of things."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 99; _L. Murray's_, 157; _Fisk's_, 115; _et al._ "There are new and surpassing wonders present themselves to our views."--_Sherlock_. "Inaccuracies are often found in the way wherein the degrees of comparison are applied and construed."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 202. "Inaccuracies are often found in the way in which the degrees of comparison are applied and construed."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 167; _Smith's_, 144; _Ingersoll's_, 193; _et al._ "The connecting circumstance is placed too remotely, to be either perspicuous or agreeable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 177. "Those tenses are called simple tenses, which are formed of the principal without an auxiliary verb."--_Ib._, p. 91. "The nearer _that_ men approach to _each other_, the more numerous are their points of contact and the greater will be their pleasures or their pains."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 275. "This is the machine that he is the inventor of."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 124. "To give this sentence the interrogative form, it should be expressed thus."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 279. "Never employ those words which may be susceptible of a sense different from the sense you intend to be conveyed."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 152. "Sixty pages are occupied in explaining what would not require more than ten or twelve to be explained according to the ordinary method."--_Ib., Pref._, p. ix. "The present participle in _-ing_ always expresses an action, or the suffering of an action, or the being, state, or condition of a thing as _continuing_ and _progressive_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 57. "The _Present participle of all active verbs[457]_ has an active signification; as, James _is building_ the house. _In many of these_, however, _it has also_ a passive _signification_; as, _the_ house _was building when the wall fell_."--_Id., ib._, 2d or 4th Ed., p. 57. "Previous to parsing this sentence, it may be analyzed to the young pupil by such questions as the following, viz."--_Id., ib._, p. 73. "Subsequent to that period, however, attention has been paid to this important subject."--_Ib._, New Ed., p. 189; _Hiley's Preface_, p. vi. "A definition of a word is an explanation in what sense the word is used, or what idea or object we mean by it, and which may be expressed by any one or more of the properties, effects, or circumstances of that object, so as sufficiently to distinguish it from other objects."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 245. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIV.--OF IGNORANCE. "What is an Asserter? It is _the part of speech_ which asserts."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 20. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the term "_Asserter_" which is here put for _Verb_, is both ignorantly misspelled, and whimsically misapplied. But, according to Critical Note 14th, "Any use of words that implies ignorance of their meaning, or of their proper orthography, is particularly unscholarlike; and, in proportion to the author's pretensions to learning, disgraceful." The errors here committed might have been avoided thus: "What is _a verb_? It is _a word_ which signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_." Or thus: "What is an _assertor_? Ans. 'One who affirms positively; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator.'--_Webster's Dict._"] "Virgil wrote the AEnead."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 56. "Which, to a supercilious or inconsiderate Japaner, would seem very idle and impertinent."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 225. "Will not a look of disdain cast upon you, throw you into a foment?"--_Life of Th. Say_, p. 146. "It may be of use to the scholar, to remark in this place, that though only the conjunction _if_ is affixed to the verb, any other conjunction proper for the subjunctive mood, may, with equal propriety, be occasionally annexed."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 93. "When proper names have an article annexed to them, they are used as common names."--_Ib._, p. 36; _Ingersoll's_, 25; _et al._ "When a proper noun has an article annexed to it, it is used as a common noun."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 25. "Seeming to disenthral the death-field of its terrors."--_Ib._, p. 109. "For the same reason, we might, without any disparagement to the language, dispense with the terminations of our verbs in the singular."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 50. "It diminishes all possibility of being misunderstood."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 175. "Approximation to excellence is all that we can expect."--_Ib._, p. 42. "I have often joined in singing with musicianists at Norwich."--_Music of Nature_, p. 274. "When not standing in regular prosic order."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 281. "Disregardless of the dogmas and edicts of the philosophical umpire."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 75. "Others begin to talk before their mouths are open, affixing the mouth-closing M to most of their words--as M-yes for Yes."--_Music of Nature_, p. 28. "That noted close of his, _esse videatur_, exposed him to censure among his cotemporaries."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 127. "OWN. Formerly, a man's _own_ was what he _worked for, own_ being a past participle of a verb signifying to _work_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 71. "As [requires] so: expressing a comparison of quality: as, '_As_ the one dieth, _so_ dieth the other.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 212; _R. C. Smith's_, 177; _and many others_. "To obey our parents is a solemn duty."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part I, p. 67. "Most all the political papers of the kingdom have touched upon these things."--H. C. WRIGHT: _Liberator_, Vol. xiv, p. 22. "I shall take leave to make a few observations upon the subject."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. iii. "His loss I have endeavoured to supply, as far as additional vigilance and industry would allow."--_Ib._, p. xi. "That they should make vegetation so exhuberant as to anticipate every want."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 43. "The quotors " " which denote that one or more words are extracted from another author."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 112. "Ninevah and Assyria were two of the most noted cities of ancient history."--_Ib._, p. 32 and p. 88. "Ninevah, the capital of Assyria, _is_ a celebrated ancient city."--_Ib._, p. 88. "It may, however, be rendered definite by introducing some definition of time; as, yesterday, last week, &c."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 40. "The last is called heroic measure, and is the same that is used by Milton, Young, Thompson, Pollock, &c."--_Id., Practical Lessons_, p. 129. "Perrenial ones must be sought in the delightful regions above."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 194. "Intransitive verbs are those which are inseperable from the effect produced."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 31. "Femenine gender, belongs to women, and animals of the female kind."--_Ib._, p. 15. "_Woe!_ unto you scribes and pharasees."--_Day's Gram._, p. 74. "A pyrrick, which has both its syllables short."--_Ib._, p. 114. "What kind of Jesamine? a Jesamine in flower, or a flowery Jesamine."--_Barrett's Gram._, 10th Ed., p. 53. "_Language_, derived from 'linguae,' the tongue, is the _faculty_ of communicating our thoughts to _each_ other, by proper words, used by common consent, as signs of our ideas."--_Ib._, p. 9. "Say _none_, not _nara_"--_Staniford's Gram._, p. 81. "ARY ONE, for either."--_Pond's Larger Gram._, p. 194. (See Obs. 24th, on the Syntax of Adverbs, and the Note at the bottom of the page.) "Earth loses thy _patron_ for ever and aye; O sailor boy! sailor boy! peace to thy soul." --_S. Barrett's Gram._, 1837, p. 116. "His brow was sad, his eye beneath, Flashed like a halcyon from its sheath." --_Liberator_, Vol. 12, p. 24. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XV.--OF SILLINESS AND TRUISMS. "Such is the state of man, that he is never at rest."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 57. [FORMULE.--This is a remark of no wisdom or force, because it would be nearer the truth, to say, "Such is the state of man, that he _must often_ rest," But, according to Critical Note 15th, "Silly remarks and idle truisms are traits of a feeble style, and when their weakness is positive, or inherent, they ought to be entirely omitted." It is useless to attempt a correction of this example, for it is not susceptible of any form worth preserving.] "Participles belong to the nouns or pronouns to which they relate."--_Wells's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 153. "Though the measure is mysterious, it is worthy of attention."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 221. "Though the measure is _mysterious_, it is not unworthy your attention."--_Kirkham's Gram._, pp. 197 and 227. "The inquietude of his mind made his station and wealth far from being enviable."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 250. "By rules so general and comprehensive as these are [,] the clearest ideas are conveyed."--_Ib._, p. 273. "The mind of man cannot be long without some food to nourish the activity of its thoughts."--_Ib._, p. 185. "Not having known, or not having considered, the measures proposed, he failed of success."--_Ib._, p. 202. "Not having known or considered the subject, he made a crude decision."--_Ib._, p. 275. "Not to exasperate him, I spoke only a very few words."--_Ib._, p. 257. "These are points too trivial, to be noticed. They are objects with which I am totally unacquainted."--_Ib._, p. 275. "Before we close this section, it may afford instruction to the learners, to be informed, more particularly than they have been."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 110. "The articles are often properly omitted: when used, they should be justly applied, according to their distinct nature."--_Ib._, p. 170; _Alger's_, 60. "Any thing, which is done now, is supposed to be done at the present time."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 34. "Any thing which was done yesterday is supposed to be done in past time."--_Ib._, 34. "Any thing which may be done hereafter, is supposed to be done in future time."--_Ib._, 34. "When the mind compares two things in reference to each other, it performs the operation of comparing."--_Ib._, p. 244. "The persons, with whom you dispute, are not of your opinion."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 124. "But the preposition _at_ is _always used_ when it _follows the neuter Verb_ in the same Case: as, 'I have been _at_ London.'"--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 60. "But the preposition _at_ is _generally used_ after the neuter verb _to be_: as, 'I have been _at_ London.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 203; _Ingersoll's_, 231; _Fisk's_, 143; _et al._ "The article _the_ has sometimes a _different_ effect, in distinguishing a person by an epithet."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 172. "The article _the_ has, sometimes, a fine effect, in distinguishing a person by an epithet."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 151. "Some nouns have plurals belonging only to themselves."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 26. "Sentences are either simple or compound."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 68. "All sentences are either simple or compound."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 155. "The definite article _the_ belongs to nouns in the singular or plural number."--_Kirkham's Gram._, Rule 2d, p. 156. "Where a riddle is not intended, it is _always a fault_ in allegory to be _too dark_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 151; _Murray's Gram._, 343. "There may be an _excess in too many_ short sentences _also_; by _which_ the sense is split and broken."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 101. "Are there any nouns you cannot see, hear, or feel, but only think of? Name such a noun."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 17. "_Flock_ is of the singular number, it denotes but one flock--and in the nominative case, it is the _active agent_ of the verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 58. "The article THE _agrees_ with nouns of the _singular or plural_ number."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, p. 8. "The admiral bombarded Algiers, which has been continued."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 128. "The world demanded freedom, which might have been expected."--_Ibid._ "The past tense represents an action as past and finished, either with or without respect to the time when."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 22. "That boy rode the _wicked_ horse."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 42. "The snake _swallowed itself_."--_Ib._, p. 57. "_Do_ is sometimes used when _shall or should_ is omitted; as, 'if thou _do_ repent.'"--_Ib._, p. 85. "SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. This mood _has the tenses of the indicative_."--_Ib._, p. 87. "As _nouns never speak_, they are never in the first person."--_Davis's Practical Gram._, p. 148. "Nearly _all parts_ of speech are _used more or less_ in an _elliptical sense_."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 80. "RULE. No word in a period can have any greater _extension_ than the _other_ words _or sections_ in the same sentence _will give_ it."--_Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 38 and p. 43. "Words used exclusively as Adverbs, should not be used as adjectives."--_Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 166. "Adjectives used in Predication, should not take the Adverbial form."--_Ib._, pp. 167 and 173. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XVI.--OF THE INCORRIGIBLE. "And this state of things belonging to the painter governs it in the possessive case."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 195; _Ingersoll's_, 201; _et al._ [FORMULE.--This composition is incorrigibly bad. The participle "_belonging_" which seems to relate to "_things_," is improperly meant to qualify "_state_." And the "_state of things_," (which _state_ really belongs _only to the things_,) is absurdly supposed to belong to a _person_--i. e., "_to the painter_." Then this _man_, to whom the "state of things" is said to belong, is forthwith called "_it_," and nonsensically declared to be "in the possessive case." But, according to Critical Note 16th, "Passages too erroneous for correction, may be criticised, orally or otherwise, and then passed over without any attempt to amend them." Therefore, no correction is attempted here.] "Nouns or pronouns, following the verb _to be_; or the words _than, but, as_; or that answer the question _who?_ have the same case _after as preceded_ them."--_Beck's Gram._, p. 29. "The common gender is _when_ the noun may be either masculine or feminine."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 8. "The possessive is generally pronounced the same as if the _s_ were added."--_Alden's Gram._, p. 11. "For, assuredly, as soon as men _had got_ beyond simple interjections, and began to communicate _themselves_ by discourse, they would be under a necessity of assigning names to the objects they _saw around_ them, _which_ in grammatical language, _is called the invention_ of substantive nouns."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 72. "Young children will learn to form letters as _soon_, if not _readier, than they_ will when older."--_Taylor's District School_, p. 159. "This comparing words with one another, constitutes what is called the _degrees_ of comparison."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 29. "Whenever a noun is _immediately annexed_ to a _preceding neuter_ verb, it _expresses either_ the same notion _with_ the verb, or denotes only _the_ circumstance of the _action."_--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 73. "Two or more nouns or pronouns joined _singular_ together by the conjunction _and, must have verbs_ agreeing with them in the plural number."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 129. "Possessive and demonstrative pronouns agree with their nouns in number and case; as, 'my brother,' 'this slate, 'these slates.'"--_Ib._, p. 130. "Participles which have no relation to time are used either as adjectives or as substantives."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 1. "They are in use only in some of their times and modes; and in some of them are a composition of times of several defective verbs, having the same signification."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 59. "When _words_ of the possessive case _that are_ in apposition, _follow one another_ in quick succession, the possessive sign should be annexed to the _last only_, and _understood_ to the rest; as, 'For David, my servant's sake.'"--_Comly's Gram._, p. 92. "_By this order_, the first nine _rules_ accord with _those_ which respect the _rules_ of concord; and the _remainder include_, though _they_ extend beyond the _rules_ of government."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 143. "_Own_ and _self_, in the plural _selves_, are _joined_ to the possessives, _my, our, thy, your, his, her, their_; as, _my own_ hand, _myself, yourselves_; both of them expressing emphasis or opposition, as, 'I did it _my own self_,' that is, _and_ no one else; the latter also forming the reciprocal pronoun, as, 'he hurt _himself_.'"--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 25. "A _flowing_ copious style, therefore, is required _in_ all public speakers; _guarding_, at the _same time_, against such a degree of _diffusion_, as renders _them_ languid and tiresome; _which_ will always _prove the case_, when they _inculcate_ too much, and present the _same thought_ under _too many_ different views."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 177. "As sentences should be cleared of redundant words, so also of redundant members. As every word ought to present a new idea, so every member ought to contain a new thought. Opposed to _this_, stands the fault we sometimes meet with, of the _last_ member of a period _being_ no other than _the_ echo of the _former_, or _the_ repetition of it in _somewhat_ a different form." [458]--_Ib._, p. 111. "_Which_ always refers grammatically to the substantive _immediately preceding_: [as,] 'It is folly to pretend, by heaping up treasures, to arm ourselves against the accidents of _life, which_ nothing can protect us against, but the good providence of our heavenly Father.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 311; _Maunder's_, p. 18; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 105. "The English _adjectives_, having but a very limited syntax, _is classed_ with _its_ kindred _article_, the _adjective pronoun_, under the eighth rule."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 143. "When a _substantive_ is put _absolutely_, and does _not agree_ with the following verb, it _remains independent on_ the participle, and _is called_ the _case_ absolute, or the _nominative_ absolute."--_Ib._, p. 195. "It will, doubtless, _sometimes_ happen, that, on _this occasion_, as well as on many _other occasions_, a strict adherence to grammatical rules, _would_ render _the_ language stiff and formal: but when _cases of this sort_ occur, it is better to give the expression a _different_ turn, than to violate _grammar_ for the sake of _ease_, or even of _elegance_."--_Ib._, p. 208. "Number, which distinguishes _objects_ as _singly_ or _collectively_, must have been coeval with the very infancy of language"--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 25. "The article _a_ or _an_ agrees with nouns _in_ the singular number _only, individually_ or _collectively_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 170; _and others_. "No language is perfect _because it is_ a human invention."--_Parker and Fox's Grammar_, Part III, p. 112. "The _participles_, or as they may properly be termed, _forms_ of the verb in the _second infinitive_, usually _precedes another_ verb, and _states_ some fact, or event, from which an _inference_ is drawn _by that verb_; as, 'the sun _having arisen_, they departed.'"--_Day's Grammar_, 2nd Ed., p. 36. "They must describe _what has happened_ as having done so in the past _or the present_ time, or as _likely to occur_ in the future."--_The Well-Wishers' Grammar, Introd._, p. 5. "Nouns are either male, female, or neither."--_Fowle's Common School Grammar_, Part Second, p. 12. "Possessive _Adjectives_ express possession, and distinguish _nouns_ from _each_ other by showing _to what_ they belong; as, _my hat, John's_ hat."--_Ib._, p. 31. PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES OF FALSE SYNTAX. LESSON I.--VARIOUS RULES. "What is the reason that our language is less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France?"--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 185. "What is the reason that our language is less refined than that of France?"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 152. "'I believe your Lordship will agree with me, in the reason why our language is less refined than those of Italy, Spain, or France.' DEAN SWIFT. Even in this short sentence, we may discern an inaccuracy--'why our language is less refined than _those_ of Italy, Spain, or France;' putting the pronoun _those_ in the plural, when the antecedent substantive to which it refers is in the singular, _our language_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 228. "The sentence might have been made to run much better in this way; 'why our language is less refined than the Italian, Spanish, or French.'"--_Ibid._ "But when arranged in an entire sentence, which they must be to make a complete sense, they show it still more evidently."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 65. "This is a more artificial and refined construction than that, in which the common connective is simply made use of."--_Ib._, p. 127. "We shall present the reader with a list of Prepositions, which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages."--_Ib._, p. 120. "Relatives comprehend the meaning of a pronoun and conjunction copulative."--_Ib._, p. 126. "Personal pronouns being used to supply the place of the noun, are not employed in the same part of the sentence as the noun which they represent."--_Ib._, p. 155; _R. C. Smith's Gram._, 131. "There is very seldom any occasion for a substitute in the same part where the principal word is present."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 155. "We hardly consider little children as persons, because that term gives us the idea of reason and reflection."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 98; _Murray's_, 157; _Smith's_, 133; _and others_. "The occasion of exerting each of these qualities is different."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 95; _Murray's Gram._, 302; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 66. "I'll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal and who he stands still withal. I pray thee, who doth he trot withal?"--_Shakspeare_. "By greatness, I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, but the largeness of a whole view."--_Addison_. "The question may then be put, What does he more than mean?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 103. "The question might be put, what more does he than only mean?"--_Ib._, p. 204. "He is surprised to find himself got to so great a distance, from the object with which he at first set out."--_Ib._, p. 108. "He is surprised to find himself at so great a distance from the object with which he sets out."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 313. "Few precise rules can be given, which will hold without exception in all cases."--_Ib._, p. 267; _Lowth's Gram._, p. 115. "Versification is the arrangement of a certain number of syllables according to certain laws."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 13. "Versification is the arrangement of a certain number and variety of syllables, according to certain laws."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 252; R. C. Smith's, 187; and others. "Charlotte, the friend of Amelia, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her own vindication."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 273. "Mr. Pitt, joining the war party in 1793, the most striking and the most fatal instance of this offence, is the one which at once presents itself."--_Brougham's Sketches_, Vol. i, p. 57. "To the framing such a sound constitution of mind."--_The American Lady_, p. 132. "'I beseech you,' said St. Paul to his Ephesian converts, 'that ye walk worthy the vocation wherewith ye are called.'"--_Ib._, p. 208. "So as to prevent its being equal to that."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 88. "When speaking of an action's being performed."--_Ib._, p. 89. "And, in all questions of an action's being so performed, _est_ is added to the second person."--_Ib._, p. 72. "No account can be given of this, than that custom has blinded their eyes."--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 269. "Design, or chance, make other wive; But nature did this match contrive."--_Waller_, p. 24. LESSON II.--VARIOUS RULES. "I suppose each of you think it is your own nail."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 58. "They are useless, from their being apparently based upon this supposition."--_Ib._, p. 71. "The form and manner, in which this plan may be adopted, is various."--_Ib._, p. 83. "Making intellectual effort, and acquiring knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind."--_Ib._, p. 85. "This will do more than the best lecture which ever was delivered."--_Ib._, p. 90. "Doing easy things is generally dull work."--_Ib._, p. 92. "Such is the tone and manner of some teachers."--_Ib._, p. 118. "Well, the fault is, being disorderly at prayer time."--_Ib._, p. 153. "Do you remember speaking on this subject in school?"--_Ib._, p. 154. "The course above recommended, is not trying lax and inefficient measures."--_Ib._, p. 156. "Our community is agreed that there is a God."--_Ib._, p. 163. "It prevents their being interested in what is said."--_Ib._, p. 175. "We will also suppose that I call another boy to me, who I have reason to believe to be a sincere Christian."--_Ib._, p. 180. "Five minutes notice is given by the bell."--_Ib._, p. 211. "The Annals of Education gives notice of it."--_Ib._, p. 240. "Teacher's meetings will be interesting and useful."--_Ib._, p. 243. "She thought an half hour's study would conquer all the difficulties."--_Ib._, p. 257. "The difference between an honest and an hypocritical confession."--_Ib._, p. 263. "There is no point of attainment where we must stop."--_Ib._, p. 267. "Now six hours is as much as is expected of teachers."--_Ib._, p. 268. "How much is seven times nine?"--_Ib._, p. 292. "Then the reckoning proceeds till it come to _ten hundred_."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 170. "Your success will depend on your own exertions; see, then, that you are diligent."--_Ib._, p. 142. "Subjunctive Mood, Present Tense: If I am known, If thou art known. If he is known: etc."--_Ib._, p. 91. "If I be loved, If thou be loved, If he be loved;" &c.--_Ib._, p. 85. "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. They are so called, because they are generally thrown in between the parts of a sentence without any reference to the structure of the other parts of it."--_Ib._, p. 35. "The Cardinals are those which simplify or denote number; as one, two, three."--_Ib._, p. 31. "More than one organ is concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant."--_Ib._, p. 21. "To extract from them all the Terms we make use in our Divisions and Subdivisions of the Art."--_Holmes's Rhetoric_, Pref. "And there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."--_Ezekiel_, ii, 10. "If I were to be judged as to my behaviour, compared with that of John's."--_Josephus_, Vol. 5, p. 172. "When the preposition _to_ signifies _in order to_, it used to be preceded by _for_, which is now almost obsolete; What went ye out _for to_ see."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 132. "This makes the proper perfect tense, which, in English, is always expressed by the help of the auxiliary verb, 'I have written.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 82. "Indeed, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second, and the third virtues."--_Sanders, Spelling-Book_, p. 93. "The reducing them to the condition of the beasts that perish."--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 67. "Yet this affords no reason to deny that the nature of the gift is not the same, or that both are not divine."--_Ib._, p. 68. "If God have made known his will."--_Ib._, p. 98. "If Christ have prohibited them, [i.e., oaths,] nothing else can prove them right."--_Ib._, p. 150 "That the taking them is wrong, every man who simply consults his own heart, will know."--_Ib._, p. 163. "These evils would be spared the world, if one did not write."--_Ib._, p. 168. "It is in a great degree our own faults."--_Ib._, p. 200. "It is worthy observation that lesson-learning is nearly excluded."--_Ib._, p. 212. "Who spares the aggressor's life even to the endangering his own."--_Ib._, p. 227. "Who advocates the taking the life of an aggressor."--_Ib._, p. 229. "And thence up to the intentionally and voluntary fraudulent."--_Ib._, p. 318. "'And the contention was so great among them, that they departed asunder, one from _an_other.'--_Acts_, xv. 39."--_Rev. Matt. Harrison's English Lang._, p. 235. "Here the man is John, and John is the man; so the words are _the imagination and the fancy_, and _the imagination and the fancy_ are the _words_."--_Harrison's E. Lang._, p. 227. "The article, which is here so emphatic in the Greek, is lost sight of in our translation."--_Ib._, p. 223. "We have no less than thirty pronouns."--_Ib._, p. 166. "It will admit of a pronoun being joined to it."--_Ib._, p. 137. "From intercourse and from conquest, all the languages of Europe participate with each other."--_Ib._, p. 104. "It is not always necessity, therefore, that has been the cause of our introducing terms derived from the classical languages."--_Ib._, p. 100. "The man of genius stamps upon it any impression that he pleases."--_Ib._, p. 90. "The proportion of names ending in _son_ preponderate greatly among the Dano-Saxon population of the North."--_Ib._, p. 43. "As a proof of the strong similarity between the English and the Danish languages."--_Ib._, p. 37. "A century from the time that Hengist and Horsa landed on the Isle of Thanet."--_Ib._, p. 27. "I saw the colours waving in the wind, And they within, to mischief how combin'd."--_Bunyan_. LESSON III.--VARIOUS RULES. "A ship expected: of whom we say, _she_ sails well."--_Ben Jonson's Gram._, Chap. 10. "Honesty is reckoned little worth."--_Paul's Accidence_, p. 58. "Learn to esteem life as it ought."--_Economy of Human Life_, p. 118. "As the soundest health is less perceived than the lightest malady, so the highest joy toucheth us less deep than the smallest sorrow."--_Ib._, p. 152. "Being young is no apology for being frivolous."--_Whiting's Elementary Reader_, p. 117. "The porch was the same width with the temple."--_Milman's Jews_, Vol. i. p. 208. "The other tribes neither contributed to his rise or downfall."--_Ib._, Vol. i. p. 165. "His whole laws and religion would have been shaken to its foundation."--_Ib._, Vol. i. p. 109. "The English has most commonly been neglected, and children taught only the Latin syntax."--_Lily's Gram., Pref._, p. xi. "They are not taken notice of in the notes."--_Ib._, p. x. "He walks in righteousness, doing what he would be done to."--_S. Fisher's Works_, p. 14. "They stand independently on the rest of the sentence."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 151. "My uncle, with his son, were in town yesterday."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 142. "She with her sisters are well."--_Ib._, p. 143. "His purse, with its contents, were abstracted from his pocket."--_Ib._, p. 143. "The great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of the next begins."--_Dickens's Notes_, p. 27. "His disregarding his parents' advice has brought him into disgrace."--_Farnum's Pract. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 19. "Error: Can you tell me the reason of his father making that remark?--_Ib._, p. 93. Cor.: Can you tell me the reason of his father's making that remark?"--See _Farnum's Gram._, Rule 12th. p. 76. "Error: What is the reason of our teacher detaining us so long?--_Ib._, p. 76. Cor.: What is the reason of our _teacher's_ detaining us so long?"--See _Ib._ "Error: I am certain of the boy having said so. Correction: I am certain of the _boy's_ having said so."--_Exercises in Farnum's Gram._, p. 76. "_Which_ means any thing or things before-named; and _that_ may represent any person or persons, thing or things, which have been speaking, spoken to or spoken of."--_Dr. Perley's Gram._, p. 9. "A certain number of syllables connected, form a foot. They are called _feet_, because it is by their aid that the voice, as it were, steps along."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 252; _C. Adams's_, 121. "Asking questions with a principal verb--as, _Teach I? Burns he_, &c. are barbarisms, and carefully to be avoided."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 122. "Tell whether the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22d, or 23d Rules are to be used, and repeat the Rule."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part I, p. 4. "The resolution was adopted without much deliberation, which caused great dissatisfaction."--_Ib._, p. 71. "The man is now taken much notice of by the people thereabouts."--_Edward's First Lessons in Gram._, p. 42. "The sand prevents their sticking to one another."--_Ib._, p. 84. "Defective Verbs are those which are used only in some of their moods and tenses."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 108; _Guy's_, 42; _Russell's_, 46; _Bacon's_, 42; _Frost's_, 40; _Alger's_, 47; _S. Putnam's_, 47; _Goldsbury's_, 54; _Felton's_, 59; and _others_. "Defective verbs are those which want some of their moods and tenses."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 47; _Bullions, E. Gram._, 65; _Practical Lessons_, 75. "Defective Verbs want some of their parts."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 78. "A Defective verb is one that wants some of its parts."--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 1849, p. 101. "To the irregular verbs are to be added the defective; which are not only for the most part irregular, but also wanting in some of their parts."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 59. "To the irregular verbs are to be added the defective; which are not only wanting in some of their parts, but are, when inflected, irregular."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 112. "When two or more nouns succeed each other in the possessive case."--_Farnum's Gram._, 2d Ed., pp. 20 and 63. "When several short sentences succeed each other."--_Ib._, p. 113. "Words are divided into ten Classes, and are called PARTS OF SPEECH."--_Ainsworth's Gram._, p. 8. "A Passive Verb has its _agent_ or _doer_ always in the objective case, and is governed by a preposition."--_Ib._, p. 40. "I am surprised at your negligent attention." _Ib._, p. 43. "SINGULAR: Thou lovest or you love. _You_ has always a plural verb."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 43. "How do you know that _love_ is the first person? _Ans_. Because _we_ is the first personal pronoun."--_Id., ib._, p. 47; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 26. "The lowing herd wind slowly round the lea."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 96. "Iambic verses have every second, fourth, and other even syllables accented."--_Ib._, p. 170. "Contractions are often made in poetry, which are not allowable in prose."--_Ib._, p. 179. "Yet to their general's voice they all obeyed."--_Ib._, p. 179. "It never presents to his mind but one new subject at the same time."--_Felton's Gram._, 1st edition, p. 6. "When the name of a quality is abstracted, that is separated from its substance, it is called an abstract noun."--_Ib._, p. 9. "Nouns are in the _first_ person when speaking."--_Ib._, p. 9. "Which of the two brothers are graduates?"--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 59. "I am a linen draper bold, as you and all the world doth know."--_Ib._, p. 60. "O the bliss, the pain of dying!"--_Ib._, p. 127. "This do; take you censers, Korah, and all his company."--_Numbers_, xvi, 6. "There are two participles,--the _present_ and _perfect_; as, _reading, having read_. Transitive verbs have an _active_ and _passive_ participle. Examples: ACTIVE, _Present_, Loving; _Perfect_, Having loved: PASSIVE, _Present_, Loved _or_ being loved; _Perfect_, Having been loved."--_S. S. Greene's Analysis_, 1st Ed., p. 225. "O heav'n, in my connubial hour decree This man my spouse, or such a spouse as he."--_Pope_. LESSON IV.--VARIOUS RULES. "The _Past Tenses_ represent a conditional past fact or event, and of which the speaker is uncertain."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 89. "Care also should be taken that they are not introduced too abundantly."--_Ib._, p. 134. "Till they are become familiar to the mind."--_Ib._, Pref., p. v. "When once a particular arrangement and phraseology are become familiar to the mind."--_Ib._, p. vii. "I have furnished the student with the plainest and most practical directions which I could devise."--_Ib._, p. xiv. "When you are become conversant with the Rules of Grammar, you will then be qualified to commence the study of Style."--_Ib._, p. xxii. "_C_ has a soft sound like _s_ before _e, i_, and _y_, generally."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 10. "_G_ before _e, i_, and _y_, is soft; as in genius, ginger, Egypt."--_Ib._, p. 12. "_C_ before _e, i_, and _y_, generally sounds soft like _s_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 4. "_G_ is soft before _e, i_, and _y_, as in genius, ginger, Egypt."--_Ib._, p. 4. "As a perfect Alphabet must always contain as many letters as there are elementary sounds in the language, the English Alphabet is therefore both defective and redundant."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 5. "Common Nouns are the names given to a whole class or species, and are applicable to every individual of that class."--_Ib._, p. 11. "Thus an adjective has always a noun either expressed or understood."--_Ib._, p. 20. "First, let us consider emphasis; by _this_, is meant a _stronger_ and _fuller_ sound of voice, by which we distinguish _the accented syllable_ of some word, on _which_ we _design to lay_ particular stress, _and to shew_ how _it effects_ the rest of the sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330. "By emphasis is meant a _stronger_ and _fuller_ sound of voice, by which we distinguish some word or words on which we _design to lay_ particular stress, _and to show_ how _they affect_ the rest of the sentence."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 242. "Such a simple question as this: 'Do you ride to town to-day,' is capable of _no fewer than_ four different acceptations, _according as_ the emphasis is differently placed _on the words_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330; _Murray's Gram._, p. 242. "Thus, _bravely_, or 'in a brave manner,' is derived from _brave-like_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 51. "In the same manner, the different parts of speech are formed from each other generally by means of some affix."--_Ib._, p. 60. "Words derived from each other, are always, more or less, allied in signification."--_Ib._, p. 60. "When a noun of multitude conveys unity of idea the verb and pronoun should be singular. But when it conveys plurality of idea, the verb and pronoun must be plural."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 71. "They have spent their whole time to make the sacred chronology agree with that of the profane."--_Ib._, p. 87. "'I have studied my lesson, but you _have_ not;' that is, 'but you have not _studied_ it.'"--_Ib._, p. 109. "When words follow each other in pairs, there is a comma between each pair."--_Ib._, p. 112; _Bullions_, 152; _Lennie_, 132. "When words follow each other in pairs, the pairs should be marked by the comma."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 111. "His 'Studies of Nature,' is deservedly a popular work."--_Univ. Biog. Dict., n. St. Pierre_. "'Here lies _his_ head, a _youth_ to fortune and to fame unknown.' 'Youth,' here is in the _possessive_ (the sign being omitted), and is _in apposition_ with his.' The meaning is, 'the head of him, a youth.' &c."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 124. "The pronoun I, and the interjection O, should be written with a capital."--_Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 16. "The pronoun _I_ always should be written with a capital letter."--_Ib._, p. 68. "He went from England to York."--_Ib._, p. 41. "An adverb is a part of speech joined to verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, to modify their meaning."--_Ib._, p. 51; "_Abridged Ed._," 46. "_Singular_, signifies 'one person or thing.' _Plural_, (Latin _plus_,) signifies 'more than one.'"--_Weld's Gram._, p. 55. "When the present ends in e, _d_ only is added to form the Imperfect and Perfect participle."--_Ib._, p. 82. "SYNAERESIS is the contraction of two syllables into one; as, _Seest_ for _see-est, drowned_ for _drown-ed_"--_Ib._, p. 213. "Words ending in _ee_ drop the final _e_ on receiving an additional syllable beginning with _e_; as, _see, seest, agree, agreed_."--_Ib._, p, 227. "Monosyllables in _f, l_, or _s_, preceded by a single vowel are doubled; as, staff, grass, mill."--_Ib._, p. 226. "Words ending _ie_ drop the _e_ and take _y_; as die, _dying_."--_Ib._, p. 226. "One number may be used for another; as, _we_ for _I, you_ for _thou_."--_S. S. Greene's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 198. "STR~OBILE, _n._ A pericarp made up of scales that lie over each other. SMART."--_Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dict._ "Yet ever from the clearest source have ran Some gross allay, some tincture of the man."--_Dr. Lowth_. LESSON V.--VARIOUS RULES. "The possessive case is always followed by the noun which is the name of the thing possessed, expressed or understood."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 61; _Revised Edition_, pp. 64 and 86. "Hadmer of Aggstein was as pious, devout, and praying a Christian, as were Nelson, Washington, or Jefferson; or as are Wellington, Tyler, Clay, or Polk."--H. C. WRIGHT: _Liberator_, Vol. xv, p. 21. "A word in the possessive case is not an independent noun, and cannot stand by its self."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 130. "Mary is not handsome, but she is good-natured, which is better than beauty."--_St. Quentin's Gram._, p. 9. "After the practice of joining words together had ceased, notes of distinction were placed at the end of every word."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 267; _Hallock's_, 224. "Neither Henry nor Charles dissipate his time."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 166. "'He had taken from the Christians' abode thirty small castles.'--_Knowles._"--_Ib._, p. 61. "In _whatever_ character Butler was admitted, is unknown."--_Ib._, p. 62. "How is the agent of a passive, and the object of an active verb often left?"--_Ib._, p. 88. "By _subject_ is meant the word of which something is declared of its object."--_Chandler's Gram._, 1821, p. 103. "Care should also be taken that an intransitive verb is not used instead of a transitive: as, I lay, (the bricks) for, I lie down; I raise the house, for I rise; I sit down, for, I set the chair down, &c."--_Ib._, p. 114. "On them depend the duration of our Constitution and our country."--_J. C. Calhoun at Memphis_. "In the present sentence neither the sense nor the measure require _what_."--_Chandler's Gram._, 1821, p. 164. "The Irish thought themselves oppress'd by the Law that forbid them to draw with their Horses Tails."--_Brightland's Gram._, Pref., p. iii. "So _willingly_ are adverbs, qualifying deceives."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 90. "Epicurus for experiment sake confined himself to a narrower diet than that of the severest prisons."--_Ib._, p. 116. "Derivative words are such as are compounded of other words, as common-wealth, good-ness, false-hood."--_Ib._, p. 12. "The distinction here insisted on is as old as Aristotle, and should not be lost sight of."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 61. "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and the Potential Moods."--_Ib._, p. 80. "A triphthong is a union of three vowels uttered in like manner: as, _uoy_ in buoy."--_P. Davis's Practical Gram._, p. xvi. "Common nouns are the names of a species or kind."--_Ib._, p. 8. "The superlative degree is a comparison between three or more."--_Ib._, p. 14. "An adverb is a word or phrase serving to give an additional idea of a verb, and adjective, article, or another adverb."--_Ib._, p. 36. "When several nouns in the possessive case succeed each other, each showing possession of the same noun, it is only necessary to add the sign of the possessive to the last: as, He sells men, women, and _children's_ shoes. Dog. cat, and _tiger's_ feet are digitated."--_Ib._, p. 72. "A rail-road is making _should be_ A rail-road is _being made_. A school-house is building, _should be_ A school-house is _being_ built."--_Ib._, p. 113. "Auxiliaries are not of themselves verbs; they resemble in their character and use those terminational or other inflections in other languages, _which we are obliged to use in ours_ to express the action in the mode, tense, &c., desired."--_Ib._, p. 158. "Please hold my horse while I speak to my friend."--_Ib._, p. 159. "If I say, 'Give me _the_ book,' I ask for some _particular_ book."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 39. "There are five men here."--_Ib._, p. 134. "In the active the object may be omitted; in the passive the name of the agent may be omitted."--_Ib._, p. 63. "The Progressive and the Emphatic forms give in each case a different shade of meaning to the verb."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 80. "_That_ is a Kind of a Redditive Conjunction, when it answers to _so_ and _such._"--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 152. "He attributes to negligence your failing to succeed in that business."--_Smart's Accidence_, p. 36. "Does _will_ and _go_ express but _our_ action?"--_S. Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 58. "Language is the _principle_ vehicle of thought. G. BROWN."--_James Brown's English Syntax_, p. 3. "_Much_ is applied to things weighed or measured; _many_, to those that are numbered. _Elder_ and _eldest_, to persons only; _older_ and _oldest_, either to persons or things."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 20; _Pract. Les._, 25. "If there are any old maids still extant, while mysogonists are so rare, the fault must be attributable to themselves."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 286. "The second method used by the Greeks, has never been the practice of any part of Europe."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 64. "Neither consonant, nor vowel, are to be dwelt upon beyond their common quantity, when they close a sentence."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 54. "IRONY is a mode of speech expressing a _sense contrary_ to that which the speaker or writer intends to convey."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 196; 113th Ed., p. 212. "IRONY is _the intentional_ use of words _in a sense contrary_ to that which the writer or speaker _intends_ to convey."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 215; Imp. Ed., 216. "The persons speaking, or spoken to, are supposed to be present."--_Wells_, p. 68. "The persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 51. "A _Noun_ is a word used to express the _name_ of an object."--_Wells's School Gram._, pp. 46 and 47. "A _syllable_ is a word, or such a part of a word as is uttered by one articulation."--_Weld's English Gram._, p. 15; "_Abridged Ed._," p. 16. "Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then! Unspeakable, who sits above these heavens." --_Cutler's Gram._, p. 131. "And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou Revisitest not these eyes, that roll in vain." --_Felton's Gram._, p. 133. "Before all temples the upright and pure." --_Butler's Gram._, p. 195. "In forest wild, in thicket, break or den." --_Cutler's Gram._, p. 130. "The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise; And e'en the best, by fits, what they despise." --_Pope's Ess._, iii, 233. CHAPTER XIV.--QUESTIONS. ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION. PART THIRD, SYNTAX. [Fist][The following questions, which embrace nearly all the important particulars of the foregoing code of Syntax, are designed not only to direct and facilitate class rehearsals, but also to develop the acquirements of those who may answer them at examinations more public.] LESSON I.--DEFINITIONS. 1. Of what does Syntax treat? 2. What is the _relation_ of words? 3. What is the _agreement_ of words? 4. What is the _government_ of words? 5. What is the _arrangement_ of words? 6. What is a _sentence_? 7. How many and what are the _principal parts_ of a sentence? 8. What are the other parts called? 9. How many kinds of sentences are there? 10. What is a _simple_ sentence? 11. What is a _compound sentence_? 12. What is a _clause_, or _member_? 13. What is a _phrase_? 14. What words must be supplied in parsing? 15. How are the leading principles of syntax presented? 16. In what order are the rules of syntax arranged in this work? LESSON II.--THE RULES. 1. To what do articles relate? 2. What case is employed as the subject of a finite verb? 3. What agreement is required between words in apposition? 4. By what is the possessive case governed? 5. What case does an active-transitive verb or participle govern? 6. What case is put after a verb or participle not transitive? 7. What case do prepositions govern? 8. When, and in what case, is a noun or pronoun put absolute in English? 9. To what do adjectives relate? 10. How does a pronoun agree with its antecedent? 11. How does a pronoun agree with a collective noun? 12. How does a pronoun agree with joint antecedents? 13. How does a pronoun agree with disjunct antecedents? LESSON III.--THE RULES. 14. How does a finite verb agree with its subject, or nominative? 15. How does a verb agree with a collective noun? 16. How does a verb agree with joint nominatives? 17. How does a verb agree with disjunctive nominatives? 18. What governs the infinitive mood? 19. What verbs take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_? 20. What is the regular construction of participles, as such? 21. To what do adverbs relate? 22. What do conjunctions connect? 23. What is the use of prepositions? 24. What is the syntax of interjections? LESSON IV.--THE RULES. 1. What are the several titles, or subjects, of the twenty-four rules of syntax? 2. What says Rule 1st of _Articles_? 3. What says Rule 2d of _Nominatives_? 4. What says Rule 3d of _Apposition_? 5. What says Rule 4th of _Possessives_? 6. What says Rule 5th of _Objectives_? 7. What says Rule 6th of _Same Cases_? 8. What says Rule 7th of _Objectives_? 9. What says Rule 8th of the _Nominative Absolute_? 10. What says Rule 9th of _Adjectives_? 11. What says Rule 10th of _Pronouns_? 12. What says Rule 11th of _Pronouns_? 13. What says Rule 12th of _Pronouns_? 14. What says Rule 13th of _Pronouns_? 15. What says Rule 14th of _Finite Verbs_? 16. What says Rule 15th of _Finite Verbs_? 17. What says Rule 16th of _Finite Verbs_? 18. What says Rule 17th of _Finite Verbs_? 19. What says Rule 18th of _Infinitives_? 20. What says Rule 19th of _Infinitives_? 21. What says Rule 20th of _Participles_? 22. What says Rule 21st of _Adverbs_? 23. What says Rule 22d of _Conjunctions_? 24. What says Rule 23d of _Prepositions_? 25. What says Rule 24th of _Interjections_? LESSON V.--THE ANALYZING OF SENTENCES. 1. What is it, "to analyze a sentence?" 2. What are the component parts of a sentence? 3. Can all sentences be divided into clauses? 4. Are there different methods of analysis, which may be useful? 5. What is the first method of analysis, according to this code of syntax? 6. How is the following example analyzed by this method? "Even the Atheist, who tells us that the universe is self-existent and indestructible--even he, who, instead of seeing the traces of a manifold wisdom in its manifold varieties, sees nothing in them all but the exquisite structures and the lofty dimensions of materialism--even he, who would despoil creation of its God, cannot look upon its golden suns, and their accompanying systems, without the solemn impression of a magnificence that fixes and overpowers him." 7. What is the second method of analysis? 8. How is the following example analyzed by this method? "Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. Rasselas could not catch the fugitive, with his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary, by perseverance, him whom he could not surpass in speed, he pressed on till the foot of the mountain stopped his course." 9. What is the third method of analysis? 10. How is the following example analyzed by this method? "Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment, that we are always impatient of the present. Attainment is followed by neglect, and possession, by disgust. Few moments are more pleasing than those in which the mind is concerting measures for a new undertaking. From the first hint that wakens the fancy, to the hour of actual execution, all is improvement and progress, triumph and felicity." 11. What is the fourth method of analysis? 12. How are the following sentences analyzed by this method? (1.) "Swift would say, 'The thing has not life enough in it to keep it sweet;' Johnson, 'The creature possesses not vitality sufficient to preserve it from putrefaction.'" (2.) "There is one Being to whom we can look with a perfect conviction of finding that security, which nothing about us can give, and which nothing about us can take away." 13. What is said of the fifth method of analysis? [Now, if the teacher choose to make use of any other method of analysis than full syntactical parsing, he may direct his pupils to turn to the next selection of examples, or to any other accurate sentences, and analyze them according to the method chosen.] LESSON VI.--OF PARSING. 1. Why is it necessary to observe _the sense_, or _meaning_, of what we parse? 2. What is required of the pupil in syntactical parsing? 3. How is the following long example parsed in Praxis XII? "A young man studious to know his duty, and honestly bent on doing it, will find himself led away from the sin or folly in which the multitude thoughtlessly indulge themselves; but, ah! poor fallen human nature! what conflicts are thy portion, when inclination and habit--a rebel and a traitor--exert their sway against our only saving principle!" [Now parse, in like manner, and with no needless deviations from the prescribed forms, the ten lessons of the _Twelfth Praxis_; or such parts of those lessons as the teacher may choose.] LESSON VII.--THE RULES. 1. In what chapter are the rules of syntax first presented? 2. In what praxis are these rules first applied in parsing? 3. Which of the ten parts of speech is left without any rule of syntax? 4. How many and which of the ten have but one rule apiece? 5. Then, of the twenty-four rules, how many remain for the other three parts,--nouns, pronouns, and verbs? 6. How many of these seventeen speak of _cases_, and therefore apply equally to nouns and pronouns? 7. Which are these seven? 8. How many rules are there for the agreement of pronouns with their antecedents, and which are they? 9. How many rules are there for finite verbs, and which are they? 10. How many are there for infinitives, and which are they? 11. What ten chapters of the foregoing code of syntax treat of the ten parts of speech in their order? 12. Besides the rules and their examples, what sorts of matters are introduced into these chapters? 13. How many of the twenty-four rules of syntax are used both in parsing and in correcting? 14. Of what use are those which cannot be violated in practice? 15. How many such rules are there among the twenty-four? 16. How many and what parts of speech are usually parsed by such rules only? LESSON VIII.--THE NOTES. 1. What is the essential character of the _Notes_ which are placed under the rules of syntax? 2. Are the different forms of false construction as numerous as these notes? 3. Which exercise brings into use the greater number of grammatical principles, parsing or correcting? 4. Are the principles or doctrines which are applied in these different exercises usually the same, or are they different? 5. In etymological parsing, we use about seventy _definitions_; can these be used also in the correcting of errors? 6. For the correcting of false syntax, we have a hundred and fifty-two _notes_; can these be used also in parsing? 7. How many of the rules have no such notes under them? 8. What order is observed in the placing of these notes, if some rules have many, and others few or none? 9. How many of them are under the rule for _articles_? 10. How many of them refer to the construction of _nouns_? 11. How many of them belong to the syntax of _adjectives_? 12. How many of them treat of _pronouns_? 13. How many of them regard the use of _verbs_? 14. How many of them pertain to the syntax of _participles_? 15. How many of them relate to the construction of _adverbs_? 16. How many of them show the application of _conjunctions_? 17. How many of them expose errors in the use of _prepositions_? 18. How many of them speak of _interjections_? [Now correct orally the examples of _False Syntax_ placed under the several Rules and Notes; or so many texts under each head as the teacher may think sufficient.] LESSON IX.--THE EXCEPTIONS. 1. In what exercise can there be occasion to cite and apply the _Exceptions_ to the rules of syntax? 2. Are there exceptions to all the rules, or to how many? 3. Are there exceptions in reference to all the parts of speech, or to how many of the ten? 4. Do articles always relate to nouns? 5. Can the subject of a finite verb be in any other case than the nominative? 6. Are words in apposition always supposed to be in the same case? 7. Is the possessive case always governed by the name of the thing possessed? 8. Can an active-transitive verb govern any other case than the objective? 9. Can a verb or participle not transitive take any other case after it than that which precedes it? 10. Can a preposition, in English, govern any other case than the objective? 11. Can "the case absolute," in English, be any other than the nominative? 12. Does every adjective "belong to a substantive, expressed or understood," as Murray avers? 13. Can an adjective ever relate to any thing else than a noun or pronoun? 14. Can an adjective ever be used without relation to any noun, pronoun, or other subject? 15. Can an adjective ever be substituted for its kindred abstract noun? 16. Are the person, number, and gender of a pronoun always determined by an antecedent? 17. What pronoun is sometimes applied to animals so as not to distinguish their sex? 18. What pronoun is sometimes an expletive, and sometimes used with reference to an infinitive following it? LESSON X.--THE EXCEPTIONS. 19. Does a singular antecedent ever admit of a plural pronoun? 20. Can a pronoun agree with its antecedent in one sense and not in an other? 21. If the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, must the pronoun always be plural? 22. If there are two or more antecedents connected by _and_, must the pronoun always be plural? 23. If there are antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, is the pronoun always to take them separately? 24. Must a finite verb always agree with its nominative in number and person? 25. If the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, must the verb always be plural? 26. If there are two or more nominatives connected by _and_, must the verb always be plural? 21. If there are nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, is the verb always to refer to them separately? 28. Does the preposition _to_ before the infinitive always govern the verb? 29. Can the preposition _to_ govern or precede any other mood than the infinitive? 30. Is the preposition _to_ "understood" after _bid, dare, feel_, and so forth, where it is "superfluous and improper?" 31. How many and what exceptions are there to rule 20th, concerning participles? 32. How many and what exceptions are there to the rule for adverbs? 33. How many and what exceptions are there to the rule for conjunctions? 34. How many and what exceptions are there to the rule for prepositions? 35. Is there any exception to the 24th rule, concerning interjections? LESSON XI.--THE OBSERVATIONS. 1. How many of the ten parts of speech in English are in general incapable of any agreement? 2. Can there be a syntactical relation of words without either agreement or government? 3. Is there ever any needful agreement between unrelated words? 4. Is the mere relation of words according to the sense an element of much importance in English syntax? 5. What parts of speech have no other syntactical property than that of simple relation? 6. What rules of relation are commonly found in grammars? 7. Of what parts is syntax commonly said to consist? 8. Is it common to find in grammars, the rules of syntax well adapted to their purpose? 9. Can you specify some that appear to be faulty? 10. Wherein consists _the truth_ of grammatical doctrine, and how can one judge of what others teach? 11. Do those who speak of syntax as being divided into two parts, Concord and Government, commonly adhere to such division? 12. What false concords and false governments are cited in Obs. 7th of the first chapter? 13. Is it often expedient to join in the same rule such principles as must always be applied separately? 14. When one can condense several different principles into one rule, is it not expedient to do so? 15. Is it ever convenient to have one and the same rule applicable to different parts of speech? 16. Is it ever convenient to have rules divided into parts, so as to be double or triple in their form? 17. What instance of extravagant innovation is given in Obs. 12th of the first chapter? LESSON XII.--THE OBSERVATIONS. 18. Can a uniform series of good grammars, Latin, Greek, English, &c., be produced by a mere revising of one defective book for each language? 19. Whose are "The Principles of English Grammar" which Dr. Bullions has republished with alterations, "on the plan of Murray's Grammar?" 20. Can praise and success entitle to critical notice works in themselves unworthy of it? 21. Do the Latin grammarians agree in their enumeration of the concords in Latin? 22. What is said in Obs. 16th, of the plan of mixing syntax with etymology? 23. Do not the principles of etymology affect those of syntax? 24. Can any words agree, or disagree, except in something that belongs to each of them? 25. How many and what parts of speech are concerned in government? 26. Are rules of government to be applied to the governing words, or to the governed? 27. What are gerundives? 28. How many and what are the principles of syntax which belong to the head of simple relation? 29. How many agreements, or concords, are there in English syntax? 30. How many rules of government are there in the best Latin grammars? 31. What fault is there in the usual distribution of these rules? 32. How many and what are the governments in English syntax? 33. Can the parsing of words be varied by any transposition which does not change their import? 34. Can the parsing of words be affected by the parser's notion of what constitutes a simple sentence? 35. What explanation of simple and compound sentences is cited from Dr. Wilson, in Obs. 25? 36. What notion had Dr. Adam of simple and compound sentences? 37. Is this doctrine consistent either with itself or with Wilson's? 38. How can one's notion of _ellipsis_ affect his mode of parsing, and his distinction of sentences as simple or compound? LESSON XIII.--ARTICLES. 1. Can one noun have more than one article? 2. Can one article relate to more than one noun? 3. Why cannot the omission of an article constitute a proper ellipsis? 4. What is the position of the article with respect to its noun? 5. What is the usual position of the article with respect to an adjective and a noun? 6. Can the relative position of the article and adjective be a matter of indifference? 7. What adjectives exclude, or supersede, the article? 8. What adjectives precede the article? 9. What four adverbs affect the position of the article and adjective? 10. Do other adverbs come between the article and the adjective? 11. Can any of the definitives which preclude _an_ or _a_, be used with the adjective _one_? 12. When the adjective follows its noun, where stands the article? 13. Can the article in English, ever be placed after its noun? 14. What is the effect of the word _the_ before comparatives and superlatives? 15. What article may sometimes be used in lieu of a possessive pronoun? 16. Is the article _an_ or _a_ always supposed to imply unity? 17. Respecting _an_ or _a_, how does present usage differ from the usage of ancient writers? 18. Can the insertion or omission of an article greatly affect the import of a sentence? 19. By a repetition of the article before two or more adjectives, what other repetition is implied? 20. How do we sometimes avoid such repetition? 21. Can there ever be an implied repetition of the noun when no article is used? LESSON XIV.--NOUNS, OR CASES. 1. In how many different ways can the nominative case be used? 2. What is the usual position of the nominative and verb, and when is it varied? 3. With what nominatives of the second person, does the imperative verb agree? 4. Why is it thought improper to put a noun in two cases at once? 5. What case in Latin and Greek is reckoned _the subject_ of the infinitive mood? 6. Can this, in general, be literally imitated in English? 7. Do any English authors adopt the Latin doctrine of the accusative (or objective) before the infinitive? 8. Is the objective, when it occurs before the infinitive in English, usually governed by some verb, participle, or preposition? 9. What is our nearest approach to the Latin construction of the accusative before the infinitive? 10. What is _apposition_, and from whom did it receive this name? 11. Is there a construction of like cases, that is not apposition? 12. To which of the apposite terms is the rule for apposition to be applied? 13. Are words in apposition always to be parsed separately? 14. Wherein are the common rule and definition of apposition faulty? 15. Can the explanatory word ever be placed first? 16. Is it ever indifferent, which word be called the principal, and which the explanatory term? 17. Why cannot two nouns, each having the possessive sign, be put in apposition with each other? 18. Where must the sign of possession be put, when two or more possessives are in apposition? 19. Is it compatible with apposition to supply between the words a relative and a verb; as, "At Mr. Smith's [_who is_] the bookseller?" 20. How can a noun be, or seem to be, in apposition with a possessive pronoun? 21. What construction is produced by the _repetition_ of a noun or pronoun? 22. What is the construction of a noun, when it emphatically repeats the idea suggested by a preceding sentence? LESSON XV.--NOUNS, OR CASES. 23. Can words differing in number be in apposition with each other? 24. What is the usual construction of _each other_ and _one an other_? 25. Is there any argument from analogy for taking _each other_ and _one an other_ for compounds? 26. Do we often put proper nouns in apposition with appellatives? 27. What preposition is often put between nouns that signify the same thing? 28. When is an active verb followed by two words in apposition? 29. Does apposition require any other agreement than that of case? 30. What three modes of construction appear like exceptions to Rule 4th? 31. In the phrase, "For _David_ my servant's sake," which word is governed by _sake_, and which is to be parsed by the rule of apposition? 32. In the sentence, "It is _man's_ to err," what is supposed to govern _man's_? 33. Does the possessive case admit of any abstract sense or construction? 34. Why is it reasonable to limit the government of the possessive to nouns only, or to words taken substantive? 35. Does the possessive case before a real participle denote the possessor of something? 36. What two great authors differ in regard to the correctness of the phrases, "_upon the rule's being observed_," and "_of its being neglected_?" 37. Is either of them right in his argument? 38. Is the distinction between the participial noun and the participle well preserved by Murray and his amenders? 39. Who invented the doctrine, that a participle and its adjuncts may be used as "_one name_" and in that capacity govern the possessive? 40. Have any popular authors adopted this doctrine? 41. Is the doctrine well sustained by its adopters, or is it consistent with the analogy of general grammar? 42. When one doubts whether a participle ought to be the governing word or the adjunct,--that is, whether he ought to use the possessive case before it or the objective,--what shall he do? 43, What is objected to the sentences in which participles govern the possessive case, and particularly to the examples given by Priestley, Murray, and others, to prove such a construction right? 44. Do the teachers of this doctrine agree among themselves? 45. How does the author of this work generally dispose of such government? 46. Does he positively determine, that the participle should _never_ be allowed to govern the possessive case? LESSON XVI.--NOUNS, OR CASES. 47. Are the distinctions of voice and of time as much regarded in participial nouns as in participles? 48. Why cannot an omission of the possessive sign be accounted a true _ellipsis_? 49. What is the usual position of the possessive case, and what exceptions are there? 50. In what other form can the meaning of the possessive case be expressed? 51. Is the possessive often governed by what is not expressed? 52. Does every possessive sign imply a separate governing noun? 53. How do compounds take the sign of possession? 54. Do we put the sign of possession always and only where the two terms of the possessive relation meet? 55. Can the possessive sign be ever rightly added to a separate adjective? 56. What is said of the omission of _s_ from the possessive singular on account of its hissing sound? 57. What errors do Kirkham, Smith, and others, teach concerning the possessive singular? 58. Why is Murray's rule for the possessive case objectionable? 59. Do compounds embracing the possessive case appear to be written with sufficient uniformity? 60. What rules for nouns coming together are inserted in Obs. 31st on Rule 4th? 61. Does the compounding of words necessarily preclude their separate use? 62. Is there a difference worth notice, between such terms or things as _heart-ease_ and _heart's-ease_; a _harelip_ and a _hare's lip_; a _headman_ and a _headsman_; a _lady's-slipper_ and a _lady's slipper_? 63. Where usage is utterly unsettled, what guidance should be sought? 64. What peculiarities are noticed in regard to the noun _side_? 65. What peculiarities has the possessive case in regard to correlatives? 66. What is remarked of the possessive relation between time and action? 67. What is observed of nouns of weight, measure, or time, coming immediately together? LESSON XVII.--NOUNS, OR CASES. 68. Are there any exceptions or objections to the old rule, "Active verbs govern the objective case?" 69. Of how many different constructions is the objective case susceptible? 70. What is the usual position of the objective case, and what exceptions are there? 71. Can any thing but the governing of an objective noun or pronoun make an active verb transitive? 72. In the sentence, "What _have_ I to _do_ with thee?" how are _have_ and _do_ to be parsed? 73. Can infinitives, participles, phrases, sentences, and parts of sentences, be really "in the objective case?" 74. In the sentence, "I _know why_ she blushed," how is _know_ to be parsed? 75. In the sentence, "I _know that_ Messias cometh," how are _know_ and _that_ to be parsed? 76. In the sentence, "And _Simon_ he surnamed _Peter_", how are _Simon_ and _Peter_ to be parsed? 77. In such sentences as, "I paid _him_ the _money_,"--"He asked _them_ the _question_," how are the two objectives to be parsed? 78. Does any verb in English ever govern two objectives that are not coupled? 79. Are there any of our passive verbs that can properly govern the objective case? 80. Is not our language like the Latin, in respect to verbs governing two cases, and passives retaining the latter? 81. How do our grammarians now dispose of what remains to us of the old Saxon dative case? 82. Do any reputable writers allow passive verbs to govern the objective case? 83. What says Lindley Murray about this passive government? 84. Why is the position, "Active verbs govern the objective case," of no use to the composer? 85. On what is the construction of _same cases_ founded? 86. Does this construction admit of any variety in the position of the words? 87. Does an ellipsis of the verb or participle change this construction into apposition? 88. Is it ever right to put both terms before the verb? 89. What kinds of words can take different cases after them? 90. Can a participle which is governed by a preposition, have a case after it which is governed by neither? 91. How is the word _man_ to be parsed in the following example? "The atrocious _crime of being_ a young _man_, I shall neither attempt to palliate, nor deny." LESSON XVIII.--NOUNS, OR CASES. 92. In what kinds of examples do we meet with a doubtful case after a participle? 93. Is the case after the verb reckoned doubtful, when the subject going before is a sentence, or something not declinable by cases? 94. In the sentence, "It is certainly as easy to be a _scholar_, as a _gamester_," what is the case of _scholar_ and _gamester_, and why? 95. Are there any verbs that sometimes connect like cases, and sometimes govern the objective? 96. What faults are there in the rules given by _Lowth, Murray, Smith_, and others, for the construction of _like cases_? 97. Can a preposition ever govern any thing else than a noun or a pronoun? 98. Is every thing that a preposition governs, necessarily supposed to have cases, and to be in the objective? 99. Why or wherein is the common rule, "Prepositions govern the objective case," defective or insufficient? 100. In such phrases as _in vain, at first, in particular_, how is the adjective to be parsed? 101. In such expressions as, "I give it up _for lost_,"--"I take it _for granted_," how is the participle to be parsed? 102. In such phrases as, _at once, from thence, till now_, how is the latter word to be parsed? 103. What peculiarity is there in the construction of nouns of time, measure, distance, or value? 104. What is observed of the words _like, near_, and _nigh_? 105. What is observed of the word _worth_? 106. According to Johnson and Tooke, what is _worth_, in such phrases as, "Wo _worth_ the day?" 107. After verbs of _giving, paying_, and the like, what ellipsis is apt to occur? 108. What is observed of the nouns used in dates? 109. What defect is observable in the common rules for "the case absolute," or "the nominative independent?" 110. In how many ways is the nominative case put absolute? 111. What participle is often understood after nouns put absolute? 112. In how many ways can nouns of the second person be employed? 113. What is said of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and abbreviated sayings? 114. What is observed of such phrases as, "_hand to hand_,"--"_face to face_?" 115. What authors deny the existence of "the case absolute?" LESSON XIX.--ADJECTIVES. 1. Does the adjective frequently relate to what is not uttered with it? 2. What is observed of those rules which suppose every adjective to relate to some noun? 3. To what does the adjective usually relate, when it stands alone after a finite verb? 4. Where is the noun or pronoun, when an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle? 5. What is observed of adjectives preceded by _the_ and used elliptically? 6. What is said of the position of the adjective? 7. In what instances is the adjective placed after its noun? 8. In what instances may the adjective either precede or follow the noun? 9. What are the construction and import of the phrases, _in particular, in general_, and the like? 10. What is said of adjectives as agreeing or disagreeing with their nouns in number? 11. What is observed of _this_ and _that_ as referring to two nouns connected? 12. What is remarked of the use of adjectives for adverbs? 13. How can one determine whether an adjective or an adverb is required? 14. What is remarked of the placing of two or more adjectives before one noun? 15. How can one avoid the ambiguity which Dr. Priestley notices in the use of the adjective _no_? LESSON XX.--PRONOUNS. 1. Can such pronouns as stand for things not named, be said to agree with the nouns for which they are substituted? 2. Is the pronoun _we_ singular when it is used in lieu of _I_? 3. Is the pronoun _you_ singular when used in lieu of _thou_ or _thee_? 4. What is there remarkable in the construction of _ourself_ and _yourself_? 5. Of what person, number, and gender, is the relative, when put after such terms of address as, _your Majesty, your Highness, your Lordship, your Honour_? 6. How does the English fashion of putting _you_ for _thou_, compare with the usage of the French, and of other nations? 7. Do any imagine these fashionable substitutions to be morally objectionable? 8. What figures of rhetoric are liable to affect the agreement of pronouns with their antecedents? 9. How does the pronoun agree with its noun in cases of personification? 10. How does the pronoun agree with its noun in cases of metaphor? 11. How does the pronoun agree with its noun in cases of metonymy? 12. How does the pronoun agree with its noun in cases of synecdoche? 13. What is the usual position of pronouns, and what exceptions are there? 14. When a pronoun represents a phrase or sentence, of what person, number, and gender is it? 15. Under what circumstances can a pronoun agree with either of two antecedents? 16. With what does the relative agree when an other word is introduced by the pronoun _it_? 17. In the sentence, "_It_ is useless to complain," what does _it_ represent? 18. How are relative and interrogative pronouns placed? 19. What are the chief constructional peculiarities of the relative pronouns? 20. Why does the author discard the two special rules commonly given for the construction of relatives? LESSON XXI.--PRONOUNS. 21. To what part of speech is the greatest number of rules applied in parsing? 22. Of the twenty-four rules in this work, how many are applicable to pronouns? 23. Of the seven rules for cases, how many are applicable to relatives and interrogatives? 24. What is remarked of the ellipsis or omission of the relative? 25. What is said of the suppression of the antecedent? 26. What is noted of the word _which_, as applied to persons? 27. What relative is applied to a proper noun taken merely as a name? 28. When do we employ the same relative in successive clauses? 29. What odd use is sometimes made of the pronoun _your_? 30. Under what _figure_ of syntax did the old grammarians rank the plural construction of a noun of multitude? 31. Does a collective noun with a singular definitive before it ever admit of a plural verb or pronoun? 32. Do collective nouns generally admit of being made literally plural? 33. When joint antecedents are of different persons, with which person does the pronoun agree? 34. When joint antecedents differ in gender, of what gender is the pronoun? 35. Why is it wrong to say, "The first has a lenis, _and_ the other an asper over _them_?" 36. Can nouns without _and_ be taken jointly, as if they had it? 37. Can singular antecedents be so suggested as to require a plural pronoun, when only one of them is uttered? 38. Why do singular antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_ appear to require a singular pronoun? 39. Can different antecedents connected by _or_ be accurately represented by differing pronouns connected in the same way? 40. Why are we apt to use a plural pronoun after antecedents of different genders? 41. Do the Latin grammars teach the same doctrine as the English, concerning nominatives or antecedents connected disjunctively? LESSON XXII.--VERBS. 1. What is necessary to every finite verb? 2. What is remarked of such examples as this: "The _Pleasures_ of Memory _was_ published in 1702?" 3. What is to be done with "_Thinks I_ to myself," and the like? 4. Is it right to say with Smith, "Every hundred _years constitutes_ a century?" 5. What needless ellipses both of nominatives and of verbs are commonly supposed by our grammarians? 6. What actual ellipsis usually occurs with the imperative mood? 7. What is observed concerning the place of the verb? 8. What besides a noun or a pronoun may be made the subject of a verb? 9. What is remarked of the faulty omission of the pronoun _it_ before the verb? 10 When an infinitive phrase is made the subject of a verb, do the words remain adjuncts, or are they abstract? 11. How can we introduce a noun or pronoun before the infinitive, and still make the whole phrase the subject of a finite verb? 12. Can an objective before the infinitive become "the subject of the affirmation?" 13. In making a phrase the subject of a verb, do we produce an exception to Rule 14th? 14. Why is it wrong to say, with Dr. Ash, "The king and queen appearing in public _was_ the cause of my going?" 15. What inconsistency is found in Murray, with reference to his "_nominative sentences_?" 16. What is Dr. Webster's ninth rule of syntax? 17. Why did Murray think all Webster's examples under this rule bad English? 18. Why are both parties wrong in this instance? 19. What strange error is taught by Cobbett, and by Wright, in regard to the relative and its verb? 20. Is it demonstrable that verbs often agree with relatives? 21. What is observed of the agreement of verbs in interrogative sentences? 22. Do we ever find the subjunctive mood put after a relative pronoun? 23. What is remarked of the difference between the indicative and the subjunctive mood, and of the limits of the latter? LESSON XXIII.--VERBS. 24. In respect to collective nouns, how is it generally determined, whether they convey the idea of plurality or not? 25. What is stated of the rules of Adam, Lowth, Murray, and Kirkham, concerning collective nouns? 26. What is Nixon's notion of the construction of the verb and collective noun? 27. Does this author appear to have gained "a _clear idea_ of the nature of a collective noun?" 28. What great difficulty does Murray acknowledge concerning "nouns of multitude?" 29. Does Murray's notion, that collective nouns are of different sorts, appear to be consistent or warrantable? 30. Can words that agree with the same collective noun, be of different numbers? 31. What is observed of collective nouns used partitively? 32. Which are the most apt to be taken plurally, collections of persons, or collections of things? 33. Can a collective noun, as such, take a plural adjective before it? 34. What is observed of the expressions, _these people, these gentry, these folk_? 35. What is observed of sentences like the following, in which there seems to be no nominative: "There _are_ from eight to twelve professors?" 36. What rule does Dr. Webster give for such examples as the following: "There _was_ more than a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?" 37. What grammarians teach, that two or more nouns connected by _and_, "always require the verb or pronoun to which they refer, to be in the plural number?" 38. Does Murray acknowledge or furnish any exceptions to this doctrine? 39. On what principle can one justify such an example as this: "_All work and no play, makes_ Jack a dull boy?" 40. What is remarked of instances like the following: "Prior's _Henry and Emma contains_ an other beautiful example?" 41. What is said of the suppression of the conjunction _and_? 42. When the speaker changes his nominative, to take a stronger one, what concord has the verb? 43. When two or more nominatives connected by _and_ explain a preceding one, what agreement has the verb? 44. What grammarian approves of such expressions as, "Two and two _is_ four?" 45. What is observed of verbs that agree with the nearest nominative, and are understood to the rest? 46. When the nominatives connected are of different persons, of what person is the verb? LESSON XXIV.--VERBS. 47. What is the syntax of the verb, when one of its nominatives is expressed, and an other or others implied? 48. What is the syntax of the verb, when there are nominatives connected by _as_? 49. What is the construction when two nominatives are connected by _as well as, but_, or _save_? 50. Can words connected by _with_ be properly used as joint nominatives? 51. Does the analogy of other languages with ours prove any thing on this point? 52. What does Cobbett say about _with_ put for _and_? 53. What is the construction of such expressions as this: "A torch, _snuff_ and _all, goes_ out in a moment?" 54. Does our rule for the verb and disjunct nominatives derive confirmation from the Latin and Greek syntax? 55. Why do collective nouns singular, when connected by _or_ or _nor_, admit of a plural verb? 56. In the expression, "_I, thou, or he, may affirm_," of what person and number is the verb? 57. Who says, "the verb agrees with _the last nominative_?" 58. What authors prefer "_the nearest person_," and "_the plural number_?" 59. What authors prefer "the _nearest nominative_, whether singular or plural?" 60. What author declares it improper ever to connect by _or_ or _nor_ any nominatives that require different forms of the verb? 61. What is Cobbett's "_clear principle_" on this head? 62. Can a zeugma of the verb be proved to be right, in spite of these authorities? 63. When a verb has nominatives of different persons or numbers, connected by _or_ or _nor_, with which of them does it _commonly_ agree? 64. When does it agree with the remoter nominative? 65. When a noun is implied in an adjective of a different number, which word is regarded in the formation of the verb? 66. What is remarked concerning the place of the pronoun of the first person singular? 67. When verbs are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, do they necessarily agree with the same nominative? 68. Why is the thirteenth rule of the author's Institutes and First Lines not retained as a rule in this work? 69. Are verbs often connected without agreeing in mood, tense, and form? LESSON XXV.--VERBS. 70. What particular convenience do we find in having most of our tenses composed of separable words? 71. Is the connecting of verbs elliptically, or by parts, anything peculiar to our language? 72. What faults appear in the teaching of our grammarians concerning _do_ used as a "substitute for other verbs?" 73. What notions have been entertained concerning the word _to_ as used before the infinitive verb? 74. How does Dr. Ash parse _to_ before the infinitive? 75. What grammarians have taught that the preposition _to_ governs the infinitive mood? 76. Does Lowth agree with Murray in the anomaly of supposing _to_ a preposition that governs nothing? 77. Why do those teach just as inconsistently, who forbear to call the _to_ a preposition? 78. What objections are there to the rule, with its exceptions, "One verb governs an other in the infinitive mood?" 79. What large exception to this rule has been recently discovered by Dr. Bullions? 80. Are the countless examples of this exception truly elliptical? 81. Is the infinitive ever governed by a preposition in French, Spanish, or Italian? 82. What whimsical account of the English infinitive is given by Nixon? 83. How was the infinitive expressed in the Anglo-Saxon of the eleventh century? 84. What does Richard Johnson infer from the fact that the Latin infinitive is sometimes governed by a preposition? 85. What reasons can be adduced to show that the infinitive is not a noun? 86. How can it be proved that _to_ before the infinitive is a preposition? 87. What does Dr. Wilson say of the character and _import_ of the infinitive? 88. To what other terms can the infinitive be connected? 89. What is the infinitive, and for what things may it stand? 90. Do these ten heads embrace all the uses of the infinitive? 91. What is observed of Murray's "_infinitive made absolute_?" 92. What is said of the position of the infinitive? 93. Is the infinitive ever liable to be misplaced? LESSON XXVI.--VERBS. 94. What is observed of the frequent ellipses of the verb _to be_, supposed by Allen and others? 95. What is said of the suppression of _to_ and the insertion of _be_; as, "To make himself _be_ heard?" 96. Why is it necessary to use the sign _to_ before an abstract infinitive, where it shows no relation? 97. What is observed concerning the distinction of _voice_ in the simple infinitive and the first participle? 98. What do our grammarians teach concerning the omission of _to_ before the infinitive, after _bid, dare, feel_, &c.? 99. How do Ingersoll, Kirkham, and Smith, agree with their master Murray, concerning such examples as, "_Let me go_?" 100. What is affirmed of the difficulties of parsing the infinitive according to the code of Murray? 101. How do Nutting, Kirkham, Nixon, Cooper, and Sanborn, agree with Murray, or with one an other, in pointing out what governs the infinitive? 102. What do Murray and others mean by "_neuter verbs_," when they tell us that the taking of the infinitive without _to_ "extends only to active and neuter verbs?" 103. How is the infinitive used after _bid_? 104. How, after _dare_? 105. How, after _feel_? 106. How, after _hear_? 107. How, after _let_? 108. How, after _make_? 109. How, after _need_? 110. Is _need_ ever an auxiliary? 111. What errors are taught by Greenleaf concerning _dare_ and _need_ or _needs_? 112. What is said of _see_, as governing the infinitive? 113. Do any other verbs, besides these eight, take the infinitive after them without _to_? 114. How is the infinitive used after _have, help_, and _find_? 115. When two or more infinitives occur in the same construction, must _to_ be used with each? 116. What is said of the sign _to_ after _than_ or _as_? LESSON XXVII.--PARTICIPLES. 1. What questionable uses of participles are commonly admitted by grammarians? 2. Why does the author incline to condemn these peculiarities? 3. What is observed of the multiplicity of uses to which the participle in _ing_ may be turned? 4. What is said of the participles which some suppose to be put absolute? 5. How are participles placed? 6. What is said of the transitive use of such words as _unbecoming_? 7. What distinction, in respect to government, is to be observed between a participle and a participial noun? 8. What shall we do when _of_ after the participial noun is objectionable? 9. What is said of the correction of those examples in which a needless article or possessive is put before the participle? 10. What is stated of the retaining of adverbs with participial nouns? 11. Can words having the form of the first participle be nouns, and clearly known to be such, when they have no adjuncts? 12. What strictures are made on Murray, Lennie, and Bullions, with reference to examples in which an infinitive follows the participial noun? 13. In what instances is the first participle equivalent to the infinitive? 14. What is said of certain infinitives supposed to be erroneously put for participles? 15. What verbs take the participle after them, and not the infinitive? 16. What is said of those examples in which participles seem to be made the objects of verbs? 17. What is said of the teaching of Murray and others, that, "The participle with its adjuncts may be considered as a _substantive phrase_?" 18. How does the English participle compare with the Latin gerund? 19. How do Dr. Adam and others suppose "the gerund in English" to become a "substantive," or noun? 20. How does the French construction of participles and infinitives compare with the English? LESSON XXVIII.--PARTICIPLES. 21. What difference does it make, whether we use the possessive case before words in _ing_, or not? 22. What is said of the distinguishing or confounding of different parts of speech, such as verbs, participles, and nouns? 23. With how many other parts of speech does W. Allen confound the participle? 24. How is the distinguishing of the participle from the verbal noun inculcated by Allen, and their difference of meaning by Murray? 25. Is it pretended that the authorities and reasons which oppose the mixed construction of participles, are sufficient to prove such usage altogether inadmissible? 26. Is it proper to teach, in general terms, that the noun or pronoun which limits the meaning of a participle should be put in the possessive case? 27. What is remarked of different cases used indiscriminately before the participle or verbal noun? 28. What say Crombie and others about this disputable phraseology? 29. What says Brown of this their teaching? 30. How do Priestley and others pretend to distinguish between the participial and the substantive use of verbals in _ing_? 31. What does Brown say of this doctrine? 32. If when a participle becomes an adjective it drops its regimen, should it not also drop it on becoming a noun? 33. Where the sense admits of a choice of construction in respect to the participle, is not attention due to the analogy of general grammar? 34. Does it appear that nouns before participles are less frequently subjected to their government than pronouns? 35. Why must a grammarian discriminate between idioms, or peculiarities, and the common mode of expression? 36. Is the Latin gerund, like the verbal in _ing_, sometimes active, sometimes passive; and when the former governs the genitive, do we imitate the idiom in English? 37. Is it agreed among grammarians, that the Latin gerund may govern the genitive of the agent? 38. What distinction between the participial and the substantive use of verbals in _ing_ do Crombie and others propose to make? 39. How does this accord with the views of Murray, Lowth, Adam, and Brown?. 40. How does Hiley treat the English participle? 41. What further is remarked concerning false teaching in relation to participles? LESSON XXIX.--ADVERBS. 1. What is replied to Dr. Adam's suggestion, "Adverbs sometimes qualify substantives?" 2. Do not adverbs sometimes relate to participial nouns? 3. If an adverbial word relates directly to a noun or pronoun, does not that fact constitute it an adjective? 4. Are such expressions as, "the _then_ ministry," "the _above_ discourse," good English, or bad--well authorized, or not? 5. When words commonly used as adverbs assume the construction of nouns, how are they to be parsed? 6. Must not the parser be careful to distinguish adverbs used substantively or adjectively, from such as may be better resolved by the supposing of an ellipsis? 7. How is an adverb to be parsed, when it seems to be put for a verb? 8. How are adverbs to be parsed in such expressions as, "_Away with him?_" 9. What is observed of the relation of conjunctive adverbs, and of the misuse of _when_? 10. What is said in regard to the placing of adverbs? 11. What suggestions are made concerning the word _no_? 12. What is remarked of two or more negatives in the same sentence? 13. Is that a correct rule which says, "Two negatives, in English, destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative?" 14. What is the dispute among grammarians concerning the adoption of _or_ or _nor_ after _not_ or _no_? 15. What fault is found with the opinion of Priestley, Murray, Ingersoll, and Smith, that "either of them may be used with nearly equal propriety?" 16. How does John Burn propose to settle this dispute? 17. How does Churchill treat the matter? 18. What does he say of the manner in which "the use of _nor_ after _not_ has been introduced?" 19. What other common modes of expression are censured by this author under the same head? 20. How does Brown review these criticisms, and attempt to settle the question? 21. What critical remark is made on the misuse of _ever_ and _never_? 22. How does Churchill differ from Lowth respecting the phrase, "_ever so wisely_," or "_never so wisely?_" 23. What is observed of _never_ and _ever_ as seeming to be adjectives, and being liable to contraction? 24. What strictures are made on the classification and placing of the word _only_? 25. What is observed of the term _not but_, and of the adverbial use of _but_? 26. What is noted of the ambiguous use of _but_ or _only_? 27. What notions are inculcated by different grammarians about the introductory word _there_? LESSON XXX.--CONJUNCTIONS. 1. When two declinable words are connected by a conjunction, why are they of the same case? 2. What is the power, and what the position, of a conjunction that connects sentences or clauses? 3. What further is added concerning the terms which conjunctions connect? 4. What is remarked of two or more conjunctions coming together? 5. What is said of _and_ as supposed to be used to call attention? 6. What relation of case occurs between nouns connected by _as_? 7. Between what other related terms can _as_ be employed? 8. What is _as_ when it is made the subject or the object of a verb? 9. What questions are raised among grammarians, about the construction of _as follow_ or _as follows_, and other similar phrases? 10. What is said of Murray's mode of treating this subject? 11. Has Murray written any thing which goes to show whether _as follows_ can be right or not, when the preceding noun is plural? 12. What is the opinion of Nixon, and of Crombie? 13. What conjunction is frequently understood? 14. What is said of ellipsis after _than_ or _as_? 15. What is suggested concerning the character and import of _than_ and _as_? 16. Does _than_ as well as _as_ usually take the same case after it that occurs before it? 17. Is the Greek or Latin construction of the latter term in a comparison usually such as ours? 18. What inferences have our grammarians made from the phrase _than whom_? 19. Is _than_ supposed by Murray to be capable of governing any other objective than _whom_? 20. What grammarian supposes _whom_ after _than_ to be "in the objective case _absolute_?" 21. How does the author of this work dispose of the example? 22. What notice is taken of O. B. Peirce's Grammar, with reference to his manner of parsing words after _than_ or _as_? 23. What says Churchill about the notion that certain conjunctions govern the subjunctive mood? 24. What is said of the different parts of speech contained in the list of correspondents? LESSON XXXI.--PREPOSITIONS. 1. What is said of the parsing of a preposition? 2. How can the terms of relation which pertain to the preposition be ascertained? 3. What is said of the transposition of the two terms? 4. Between what parts of speech, as terms of the relation, can a preposition be used? 5. What is said of the ellipsis of one or the other of the terms? 6. Is _to_ before the infinitive to be parsed just as any other preposition? 7. What is said of Dr. Adam's "_To_ taken _absolutely_?" 8. What is observed in relation to the exceptions to Rule 23d? 9. What is said of the placing of prepositions? 10. What is told of two prepositions coming together? 11. In how many and what ways does the relation of prepositions admit of complexity? 12. What is the difference between _in_ and _into_? 13. What notice is taken of the application of _between, betwixt, among, amongst, amid, amidst_? 14. What erroneous remark have Priestley, Murray, and others, about two prepositions "in the same construction?" 15. What false doctrine have Lowth, Murray, and others, about the separating of the preposition from its noun? 16. What is said of the prepositions which follow _averse_ and _aversion, except_ and _exception_? 17. What is remarked concerning the use of _of, to, on_, and _upon_? 18. Can there be an inelegant use of prepositions which is not positively ungrammatical? LESSON XXXII.--INTERJECTIONS. 1. Are all interjections to be parsed as being put absolute? 2. What is said of _O_ and the vocative case? 3. What do Nixon and Kirkham erroneously teach about cases governed by interjections? 4. What say Murray, Ingersoll, and Lennie, about interjections and cases? 5. What is shown of the later teaching to which Murray's erroneous and unoriginal remark about "_O, oh_, and _ah_," has given rise? 6. What notice is taken of the application of the rule for "_O, oh_, and _ah_," to nouns of the second person? 7. What is observed concerning the further extension of this rule to nouns and pronouns of the third person? 8. What authors teach that interjections are put absolute, and have no government? 9. What is the construction of the pronoun in "_Ah me!_" "_Ah him!_" or any similar exclamation? 10. Is the common rule for interjections, as requiring certain cases after them, sustained by any analogy from the Latin syntax? 11. Can it be shown, on good authority, that _O_ in Latin may be followed by the nominative of the first person or the accusative of the second? 12. What errors in the construction and punctuation of interjectional phrases are quoted from Fisk, Smith, and Kirkham? 13. What is said of those sentences in which an interjection is followed by a preposition or the conjunction _that_? 14. What is said of the place of the interjection? 15. What says O. B. Peirce about the name and place of the interjection? 16. What is offered in refutation of Peirce's doctrine? [Now parse the six lessons of the _Thirteenth Praxis_; taking, if the teacher please, the Italic or difficult words only; and referring to the exceptions or observations under the rules, as often as there is occasion. Then proceed to the correction of the eighteen lessons of _False Syntax_ contained in Chapter Twelfth, or the General Review.] LESSON XXXIII.--GENERAL RULE. 1. Why were the general rule and the general or critical notes added to the foregoing code of syntax? 2. What is the general rule? 3. How many are there of the general or critical notes? 4. What says Critical Note 1st of _the parts of speech_? 5. What says Note 2d of _the doubtful reference_ of words? 6. What says Note 3d of _definitions_? 7. What says Note 4th of _comparisons_? 8. What says Note 5th of _falsities_? 9. What says Note 6th of _absurdities_? 10. What says Note 7th of _self-contradiction_? 11. What says Note 8th of _senseless jumbling_? 12. What says Note 9th of _words needless_? 13. What says Note 10th of _improper omissions_? 14. What says Note 11th of _literary blunders_? 15. What says Note 12th of _literary perversions_? 16. What says Note 13th of _literary awkwardness_? 17. What says Note 14th of _literary ignorance_? 18. What says Note 15th of _literary silliness_? 19. What says Note 16th of _errors incorrigible_? 20. In what place are the rules, exceptions, notes, and observations, in the foregoing system of syntax, enumerated and described? 21. What suggestions are made in relation to the number of rules or notes, and the completeness of the system? 22. What is remarked on the place and character of the critical notes and the general rule? 23. What is noted in relation to the unamendable imperfections sometimes found in ancient writings? [Now correct--(or at least read, and compare with the Key--) the sixteen lessons of _False Syntax_, arranged under appropriate heads, for the application of the General Rule; the sixteen others adapted to the Critical Notes; and the five concluding ones, for which the rules are various.] CHAPTER XV.--FOR WRITING. EXERCISES IN SYNTAX. [Fist][When the pupil has been sufficiently exercised in _syntactical parsing_, and has corrected _orally_, according to the formulas given, all the examples of false syntax designed for oral exercises, or so many of them as may be deemed sufficient; he should write out the following exercises, correcting them according to the principles of syntax given in the rules, notes, and observations, contained in the preceding chapters; but omitting or varying the references, because his corrections cannot be ascribed to the books which contain these errors.] EXERCISE I.--ARTICLES. "They are institutions not merely of an useless, but of an hurtful nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 344. "Quintilian prefers the full, the copious, and the amplifying style."--_Ib._, p. 247. "The proper application of rules respecting style, will always be best learned by the means of the illustration which examples afford."--_Ib._, p. 224. "He was even tempted to wish that he had such an one."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 41. "Every limb of the human body has an agreeable and disagreeable motion."--_Kames, El. of Crit._ i, 217. "To produce an uniformity of opinion in all men."--_Ib._, ii. 365. "A writer that is really an humourist in character, does this without design."--_Ib._, i. 303. "Addison was not an humourist in character."--_Ib._, i. 303. "It merits not indeed the title of an universal language."--_Ib._, i. 353. "It is unpleasant to find even a negative and affirmative proposition connected."--_Ib._, ii. 25. "The sense is left doubtful by wrong arrangement of members."--_Ib._, ii. 44. "As, for example, between the adjective and following substantive."--_Ib._, ii. 104. "Witness the following hyperbole, too bold even for an Hotspur."--_Ib._, 193. "It is disposed to carry along the good and bad properties of one to another."--_Ib._, ii. 197. "What a kind of a man such an one is likely to prove, is easy to foresee."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 47. "In propriety there cannot be such a thing as an universal grammar, unless there were such a thing as an universal language."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 47. "The very same process by which he gets at the meaning of any ancient author, carries him to a fair and a faithful rendering of the scriptures of the Old and New Testament."--_Chalmers, Sermons_, p. 16. "But still a predominancy of one or other quality in the minister is often visible."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 19. "Among the ancient critics, Longinus possessed most delicacy; Aristotle, most correctness."--_Ib._, p. 20. "He then proceeded to describe an hexameter and pentameter verse."--_Ward's Preface to Lily_, p. vi. "And Alfred, who was no less able a negotiator than courageous a warrior, was unanimously chosen King."--_Pinnock's Geog._, p. 271. "An useless incident weakens the interest which we take in the action."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 460. "This will lead into some detail; but I hope an useful one."--_Ib._, p. 234. "When they understand how to write English with due Connexion, Propriety, and Order, and are pretty well Masters of a tolerable Narrative Stile, they may be advanced to writing of Letters."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 337. "The Senate is divided into the Select and Great Senate."--_Hewitt's Student-Life in Germany_, p. 28. "We see a remains of this ceremonial yet in the public solemnities of the universities."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Where an huge pollard on the winter fire, At an huge distance made them all retire."--_Crabbe, Borough_, p. 209. EXERCISE II.--NOUNS, OR CASES. "Childrens Minds are narrow, and weak, and usually susceptible but of one Thought at once."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 297. "Rather for Example sake, than that ther is any Great Matter in it."--_Right of Tythes_, p. xvii. "The more that any mans worth is, the greater envy shall he be liable to."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 461. "He who works only for the common welfare is the most noble, and no one, but him, deserves the name."-- _Spurzheim, on Ed._, p. 182. "He then got into the carriage, to sit with the man, whom he had been told was Morgan."--_Stone, on Masonry_, p. 480. "But, for such footmen as thee and I are, let us never desire to meet with an enemy."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 153. "One of them finds out that she is Tibulluses Nemesis."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 446. "He may be employed in reading such easy books as Corderius, and some of Erasmus' Colloques, with an English translation."--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol. i, p. 150. "For my preface was to show the method of the priests of Aberdeen's procedure against the Quakers."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 235. "They signify no more against us, than Cochlaeus' lies against Luther."--_Ib._, i, 236. "To justify Moses his doing obeisance to his father in law."--_Ib._, i, 241. "Which sort of clauses are generally included between two comma's."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 306. "Between you and I, she is but a cutler's wife."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 187. "In Edward the third, King of England's time."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 104. "The nominative case is the agent or doer."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 11. "_Dog_ is in the nominative case, because it is the agent, actor, or doer."--_Ib._ "The actor or doer is considered the naming or leading noun."--_Ib._ "The radical form of the principal verb is made use of."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 24. "They would have the same right to be taken notice of by grammarians."--_Ib._, p. 30. "I shall not quarrel with the friend of twelve years standing."-- _Liberator_, ix, 39. "If there were none living but him, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John."--_Biog. Dict., w. Lilburne_. "When a personal pronoun is made use of to relate to them."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 179. "The town was taken in a few hours time."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, p. 120. "You must not employ such considerations merely as those upon which the author here rests, taken from gratitude's being the law of my nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 296. "Our author's second illustration, is taken from praise being the most disinterested act of homage."--_Ib._, p. 301. "The first subdivision concerning praise being the most pleasant part of devotion, is very just and well expressed."--_Ib._ "It was a cold thought to dwell upon its disburdening the mind of debt."--_Ib._ "The thought which runs through all this passage, of man's being the priest of nature, and of his existence being calculated chiefly for this end, that he might offer up the praises of the mute part of the creation, is an ingenious thought and well expressed."--_Ib._, p. 297. "The mayor of Newyork's portrait."--_Ware's English Grammar_, p. 9. "Calm Temperance, whose blessings those partake Who hunger, and who thirst, for scribbling sake." --_Pope, Dunciad_, i, 50. EXERCISE III.--ADJECTIVES. "Plumb down he drops ten thousand fathom deep."--_Milton, P. L._, B. ii, 1, 933. "In his Night Thoughts, there is much energy of expression: in the three first, there are several pathetic passages."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 403. "Learn to pray, to pray greatly and strong."--_The Dial_, Vol. ii, p. 215. "The good and the bad genius are struggling with one another."-- _Philological Museum_, i, 490. "The definitions of the parts of speech, and application of syntax, should be given almost simultaneous."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 6. "I had studied grammar previous to his instructing me."--_Ib._, p. 13. "So difficult it is to separate these two things from one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 92. "New words should never be ventured upon, except by such whose established reputation gives them some degree of dictatorial power over language."--_Ib._, p. 94. "The verses necessarily succeed each other."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 142. "They saw that it would be practicable to express, in writing, the whole combinations of sounds which our words require."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 68. "There are some Events, the Truth of which cannot appear to any, but such whose Minds are first qualify'd by some certain Knowledge."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 242. "These Sort of Feet are in Latin called Iambics."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 134. "And the Words are mostly so disposed, that the Accents may fall on every 2d, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th Syllables."--_Ib._, p. 135. "If the verse does not sound well and harmonious to the ear."--_Ib._, p. 136. "I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts."--_Ecclesiastes_, ii, 8. "No people have so studiously avoided the collision of consonants as the Italians."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 183. "And these two subjects must destroy one another."--_Ib._, p. 42. "Duration and space are two things in some respects the most like, and in some respects the most unlike to one another."--_Ib._, p. 103. "Nothing ever affected him so much, as this misconduct of his friend."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 155. "To see the bearing of the several parts of speech on each other."--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 2. "Two or more adjectives following each other, either with or without a conjunction, qualify the same word."--_Bullion's E. Gram._, p. 75. "The two chapters which now remain, are by far the most important of any."-- _Student's Manual_, p. 293. "That has been the subject of no less than six negotiations."--_Pres. Jackson's Message_, 1830. "His gravity makes him work cautious."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 534. "Grandeur, being an extreme vivid emotion, is not readily produced in perfection but by reiterated impressions."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 203. "Every object appears less than when viewed separately and independent of the series."--_Ib._, ii, 14. "An Organ is the best of all other musical instruments."--_Dilworth's English Tongue_, p. 94. "Let such teach others who themselves excel, And censure freely who have written well."--_Pope, on Crit._, l. 15. EXERCISE IV.--PRONOUNS. "You had musty victuals, and he hath holp to eat it."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict., w. Victuals_. "Sometime am I all wound with adders, who, with cloven tongues, do hiss me into madness."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 68. "When a letter or syllable is transposed, it is called METATHESIS."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 275. "When a letter or syllable is added to the beginning of a word, it is called PROSTHESIS."--_Ib._ "If a letter or syllable be taken from the beginning of a word, it is called APHAERESIS."--_Ib._ "We can examine few, or rather no Substances, so far, as to assure ourselves that we have a certain Knowledge of most of its Properties."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 244. "Who do you dine with?"--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 99. "Who do you speak to?"--_Shakspeare_. "All the objects of prayer are calculated to excite the most active and vivid sentiments, which can arise in the heart of man."--_Adams's Rhet._, i, 328. "It has been my endeavour to furnish you with the most useful materials, which contribute to the purposes of eloquence."--_Ib._, ii, 28. "All paraphrases are vicious: it is not translating, it is commenting."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 163. "Did you never bear false witness against thy neighbour?"--SIR W. DRAPER: _Junius_, p. 40. "And they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds."--_Jer._, v, 17. "He was the spiritual rock who miraculously supplied the wants of the Israelites."-- _Gurney's Evidences_, p. 53. "To cull from the mass of mankind those individuals upon which the attention ought to be most employed."-- _Rambler_, No. 4. "His speech contains one of the grossest and most infamous calumnies which ever was uttered."--_Merchant's Gram. Key_, p. 198. "STROMBUS, i. m. A shell-fish of the sea, that has a leader whom they follow as their king. Plin."--_Ainsworth's Dict._, 4to. "Whomsoever will, let him come"--MORNING STAR: _Lib._, xi, 13. "Thy own words have convinced me (stand a little more out of the sun if you please) that thou hast not the least notion of true honour."--_Fielding_. "Whither art going, pretty Annette? Your little feet you'll surely wet."--_L. M. Child_. "Metellus, who conquered Macedon, was carried to the funeral pile by his four sons, one of which was the praetor."--_Kennett's Roman Ant._, p. 332. "That not a soldier which they did not know, should mingle himself among them."-- _Josephus_, Vol. v, p. 170. "The Neuter Gender denotes objects which are neither males nor females."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 37. "And hence it is, that the most important precept, which a rhetorical teacher can inculcate respecting this part of discourse, is negative."--_Adams's Rhet._, ii, 97. "The meanest and most contemptible person whom we behold, is the offspring of heaven, one of the children of the Most High."-- _Scougal_, p. 102. "He shall sit next to Darius, because of his wisdom, and shall be called Darius his cousin."--_1 Esdras_, iii, 7. "In 1757, he published his 'Fleece;' but he did not long survive it."--_L. Murray, Seq._, p. 252. "The sun upon the calmest sea Appears not half so bright as thee."--_Prior_. EXERCISE V.--VERBS. "The want of connexion here, as well as in the description of the prodigies that accompanied the death of Caesar, are scarce pardonable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 38. "The causes of the original beauty of language, considered as significant, which is a branch of the present subject, will be explained in their order."--_Ib._, Vol. ii, p. 6. "Neither of these two Definitions do rightly adjust the Genuine signification of this Tense."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 280. "In the earnest hope that they may prove as beneficial to other teachers as they have to the author."--_John Flint's Gram._, p. 3. "And then an example is given showing the manner in which the pupil should be required to classify."--_Ib._, p. 3. "_Qu_ in English words are equivalent to _kw_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 258. "_Qu_ has the power of _kw_, therefore quit doubles the final consonant in forming its preterite."--_Ib._, p. 103. "The word pronoun or substantive can be substituted, should any teacher prefer to do it"--_Ib._, p. 132. "The three angles of a right-angled triangle were equal to two right angles in the days of Moses, as well as now."--GOODELL: _Liberator_, Vol. xi, p. 4. "But now two paces of the vilest earth is room enough."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 126. "Latin and French, as the World now goes, is by every one acknowledged to be necessary."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 351. "These things, that he will thus learn by sight, and have by roat in his Memory, is not all, I confess, that he is to learn upon the Globes."--_Ib._, p. 321. "Henry: if John shall meet me, I will hand him your note."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 261. "They pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they do at other times."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 329. "Cato reminded him of many warnings he had gave him."--_Goldsmith's Rome_, i, 114. "The Wages is small. The Compasses is broken."--_Fisher's Gram._, p. 95. "Prepare thy heart for prayer, lest thou temptest God."--_Life of Luther_, p. 83. "That a soldier should fly is a shameful thing."--_Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 155. "When there is two verbs which are together."--_Woodworth's Gram._, p. 27. "Interjections are words used to express some passion of the mind; and is followed by a note of admiration!"--_Infant School Gram._, p. 126. "And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth."--_2 Samuel_, xviii, 25. "The opinions of the few must be overruled, and submit to the opinions of the many."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 56. "One of the principal difficulties which here occurs, has been already hinted."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 391. "With milky blood the heart is overflown."--_Thomson, Castle of Ind_. "No man dare solicit for the votes of hiz nabors."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 344. "Yet they cannot, and they have no right to exercise it."--_Ib._, p. 56. "In order to make it be heard over their vast theatres."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 471. "Sometimes, however, the relative and its clause is placed before the antecedent and its clause."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 200. "Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Does sometimes counsel take--and sometimes tea." --_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 321. EXERCISE VI.--PARTICIPLES. "On the other hand, the degrading or vilifying an object, is done successfully by ranking it with one that is really low."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 50. "The magnifying or diminishing objects by means of comparison, proceeds from the same cause."--_Ib._, i, 239. "Gratifying the affection will also contribute to my own happiness."--_Ib._, i, 53. "The pronouncing syllables in a high or a low tone."--_Ib._, ii, 77. "The crowding into one period or thought different figures of speech, is not less faulty than crowding metaphors in that manner."--_Ib._, ii, 234. "To approve is acknowledging we ought to do a thing; and to condemn is owning we ought not to do it."--_Burlamaqui, on Law_, p. 39. "To be provoked that God suffers men to act thus, is claiming to govern the word in his stead."--_Secker_. "Let every subject be well understood before passing on to another."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 18. "Doubling the _t_ in _bigotted_ is apt to lead to an erroneous accentuation of the word on the second syllable."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 22. "Their compelling the man to serve was an act of tyranny."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 54. "One of the greatest misfortunes of the French tragedy is, its being always written in rhyme."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 469. "Horace entitles his satire 'Sermones,' and seems not to have intended rising much higher than prose put into numbers."--_Ib._, p. 402. "Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the afflicted, yield more pleasure than we receive from those actions which respect only ourselves."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 238. "But when we attempt to go a step beyond this, and inquire what is the cause of regularity and variety producing in our minds the sensation of beauty, any reason we can assign is extremely imperfect."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "In an author's writing with propriety, his being free of the two former faults seems implied."--_Ib._, p. 94. "To prevent our being carried away by that torrent of false and frivolous taste."--_Ib._, p. 12. "When we are unable to assign the reasons of our being pleased."--_Ib._, p. 15. "An adjective will not make good sense without joining it to a noun."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 12. "What is said respecting sentences being inverted?"--_Ib._, p. 71. "Though he admits of all the other cases, made use of by the Latins."--_Bicknell's Gram._, p. viii. "This indeed, is accounting but feebly for its use in this instance."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 148. "The knowledge of what passes in the mind is necessary for the understanding the Principles of Grammar."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 73. "By _than's_ being used instead of as, it is not asserted that the former has as much fruit as the latter."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 207. "Thus much for the Settling your Authority over your Children."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 58. EXERCISE VII.--ADVERBS. "There can scarce be a greater Defect in a Gentleman, than not to express himself well either in Writing or Speaking."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 335. "She seldom or ever wore a thing twice in the same way."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 84. "So can I give no reason, nor I will not."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 45. "Nor I know not where I did lodge last night."--_Ib._, p. 270. "It is to be presumed they would become soonest proficient in Latin."--_Burn's Gram._, p. xi. "The difficulty of which has not been a little increased by that variety."--_Ward's Pref. to Lily's Gram._, p. xi. "That full endeavours be used in every monthly meeting to seasonably end all business or cases that come before them."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 44. "In minds where they had scarce any footing before."--_Spectator_, No. 566. "The negative form is when the adverb _not_ is used."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 61. "The interrogative form is when a question is asked."--_Ibid._ "The finding out the Truth ought to be his whole Aim."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 239. "Mention the first instance when _that_ is used in preference to _who, whom_, or _which_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 96. "The plot was always exceeding simple. It admitted of few incidents."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 470. "Their best tragedies make not a deep enough impression on the heart."--_Ib._, p. 472. "The greatest genius on earth, not even a Bacon, can be a perfect master of every branch."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 13. "The verb OUGHT is only used in the indicative [and subjunctive moods]."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 70. "It is still a greater deviation from congruity, to affect not only variety in the words, but also in the construction."-- _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 28. "It has besides been found that, generally, students attend those lectures more carefully for which they pay."--_Dr. Lieber, Lit. Conv._, p. 65. "This book I obtained through a friend, it being not exposed for sale."--_Woolsey, ib._, p. 76. "Here there is no manner of resemblance but in the word _drown_."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 163. "We have had often occasion to inculcate, that the mind passeth easily and sweetly along a train of connected objects."--_Ib._, ii, 197. "Observe the periods when the most illustrious persons flourished."--_Worcester's Hist._, p. iv. "For every horse is not called Bucephalus, nor every dog Turk."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 15. "One can scarce avoid smiling at the blindness of a certain critic."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 257. "Provided always, that we run not into the extreme of pruning so very close, so as to give a hardness and dryness to style."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 92; _Blair's_, 111. "Agreement is when one word is like another in number, case, gender or person."--_Frost's Gram._, p. 43. "Government is when one word causes another to be in some particular number, person or case."--_Ibid._ "It seems to be nothing more than the simple form of the adjective, and to imply not either comparison or degree."--_Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 47. EXERCISE VIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. "The Indians had neither cows, horses, oxen, or sheep."--_Olney's Introd. to Geog._, p. 46. "Who have no other object in view, but, to make a show of their supposed talents."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 344. "No other but these, could draw the attention of men in their rude uncivilized state."--_Ib._, p. 379. "That he shall stick at nothing, nor nothing stick with him."--_Pope_. "To enliven it into a passion, no more is required but the real or ideal presence of the object."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 110. "I see no more to be made of it but to-rest upon the final cause first mentioned."--_Ib._, i, 175. "No quality nor circumstance contributes more to grandeur than force."--_Ib._, i, 215. "It being a quotation, not from a poet nor orator, but from a grave author, writing an institute of law."--_Ib._, i, 233. "And our sympathy cannot be otherwise gratified but by giving all the succour in our power."--_Ib._, i, 362. "And to no verse, as far as I know, is a greater variety of time necessary."--_Ib._, ii, 79. "English Heroic verse admits no more but four capital pauses."--_Ib._, ii, 105. "The former serves for no other purpose but to make harmony."--_Ib._, 231. "But the plan was not perhaps as new as some might think it."--_Literary Conv._, p. 85. "The impression received would probably be neither confirmed or corrected."--_Ib._, p. 183. "Right is nothing else but what reason acknowledges."--_Burlamaqui, on Law_, p. 32. "Though it should be of no other use but this."--BP. WILKINS: _Tooke's D. P._, ii, 27. "One hope no sooner dies in us but another rises up."--_Spect._, No. 535. "This rule implies nothing else but the agreement of an adjective with a substantive."--_Adams Latin Gram._, p. 156; _Gould's_, 129. "There can be no doubt but the plan of exercise pointed out at page 132, is the best that can be adopted."--_Blair's Gram._, p. viii. "The exertions of this gentleman have done more than any other writer on the subject."--DR. ABERCROMBIE: _Rec. in Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 306. "No accidental nor unaccountable event ought to be admitted."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 273. "Wherever there was much fire and vivacity in the genius of nations."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 5. "I aim at nothing else but your safety."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 90. "There are pains inflicted upon man for other purposes except warning."--_Wayland's Moral Sci._, p. 122. "Of whom we have no more but a single letter remaining."--_Campbell's Pref. to Matthew_. "The publisher meant no more but that W. Ames was the author."--_Sewel's History, Preface_, p. xii. "Be neether bashful, nor discuver uncommon solicitude."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 403. "They put Minos to death, by detaining him so long in a bath, till he fainted."-- _Lempriere's Dict._ "For who could be so hard-hearted to be severe?"-- _Cowley_. "He must neither be a panegyrist nor a satirist."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 353. "No man unbiassed by philosophical opinions, thinks that life, air, or motion, are precisely the same things."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 426. "Which I had no sooner drank, but I found a pimple rising in my forehead."--ADDISON: _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 182. "This I view very important, and ought to be well understood."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 5. "So that neither emphases, tones, or cadences should be the same."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 5. "You said no more but that yourselves must be The judges of the scripture sense, not we."--_Dryden_, p. 96. EXERCISE IX.--PREPOSITIONS. "To be entirely devoid of relish for eloquence, poetry, or any of the fine arts, is justly construed to be an unpromising symptom of youth."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 14. "Well met, George, for I was looking of you."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 441. "There is another fact worthy attention."--_Channing's Emancip._, p. 49. "They did not gather of a Lord's-day, in costly temples."--_The Dial_, No. ii, p. 209. "But certain ideas have, by convention between those who speak the same language, been agreed to be represented by certain articulate sounds."--_Adams's Rhet._, ii, 271. "A careful study of the language is previously requisite, in all who aim at writing it properly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 91. "He received his reward in a small place, which he enjoyed to his death."--_Notes to the Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 283. "Gaddi, the pupil of Cimabue, was not unworthy his master."--_Literary History_, p. 268. "It is a new, and picturesque, and glowing image, altogether worthy the talents of the great poet who conceived it."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 100. "If the right does exist, it is paramount his title."--_Angell, on Tide Waters_, p. 237. "The most appropriate adjective should be placed nearest the noun."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 194. "Is not Mr. Murray's octavo grammar more worthy the dignified title of a 'Philosophical Grammar?'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 39. "If it shall be found unworthy the approbation and patronage of the literary public."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 3. "When the relative is preceded by two words referring to the same thing, its proper antecedent is the one next it."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 101. "The magistrates commanded them to depart the city."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. 97. "Mankind act oftener from caprice than reason."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 272. "It can never view, clearly and distinctly, above one object at a time."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 65. "The theory of speech, or systematic grammar, was never regularly treated as a science till under the Macedonian kings."--_Knight, on Greek Alph._, p. 106. "I have been at London a year, and I saw the king last summer."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 198. "This is a crucifying of Christ, and a rebelling of Christ."--_Waldenfield_. "There is another advantage worthy our observation."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 26. "Certain conjunctions also require the subjunctive mood after them, independently on the sense."--_Grant's Lat. Gram._, p. 77. "If the critical reader will think proper to admit of it at all."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 191. "It is the business of an epic poet to copy after nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. "Good as the cause is, it is one from which numbers have deserted."-- _Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 222. "In respect of the images it will receive from matter."--_Spectator_, No. 413. "Instead of following on to whither morality would conduct it."--_Dymond's Essays_, p. 85. "A variety of questions upon subjects on which their feelings, and wishes, and interests, are involved."--_Ib._, p. 147. "In the Greek, Latin, Saxon, and German tongues, some of these situations are termed CASES, and are expressed by additions to the Noun instead of by separate words and phrases."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 33. "Every teacher is bound during three times each week, to deliver a public lecture, gratis."--_Howitt's Student-Life in Germany_, p. 35. "But the professors of every political as well as religious creed move amongst each other in manifold circles."--_Ib._, p. 113. EXERCISE X.--PROMISCUOUS. "The inseparable Prepositions making no Sense alone, they are used only in Composition."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 66. "The English Scholar learns little from the two last Rules."--_Ib., Pref._, p. xi. "To prevent the body being stolen by the disciples."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 123. "To prevent the Jews rejoicing at his death."--_Wood's Dict._, p. 584. "After he had wrote the chronicles of the priesthood of John Hyrcanus."--_Whiston's Josephus_, v, 195. "Such words are sometimes parsed as a direct address, than which, nothing could be farther from the truth."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 89. "The signs of the tenses in these modes are as follows."--_C. Adams's Gram._, p. 33. "The signs of the tenses in the Potential mode are as follows."--_Ibid._ "And, if more promiscuous examples be found necessary, they may be taken from Mr. Murray's English Exercises."-- _Nesbit's Parsing_, p. xvi. "_One_ is a numeral adjective, the same as _ten_."--_Ib._, p. 95. "Nothing so much distinguishes a little mind as to stop at words."--MONTAGUE: _Letter-Writer_, p. 129. "But I say, again, What signifies words?"--_Id., ib._ "Obedience to parents is a divine command, given in both the Old and the New Testaments."--_Nesbit's Parsing_, p. 207. "A Compound Subject is a union of several Subjects to all which belong the same Attribute."--_Fosdick's De Sacy, on General Gram._, p. 22. "There are other languages in which the Conjunctive does not prevent our expressing the subject of the Conjunctive Proposition by a Pronoun."--_Ib._, p. 58. "This distinction must necessarily be expressed by language, but there are several different modes of doing it."--_Ib._, p. 64. "This action may be considered with reference to the person or thing upon whom the action falls."--_Ib._, p. 97. "There is nothing in the nature of things to prevent our coining suitable words."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 41. "What kind of a book is this?"--_Ib._, p. 43. "Whence all but him had fled."--_Ib._, p. 58. "Person is a distinction between individuals, as speaking, spoken to, or spoken of."--_Ib._, p. 114. "He repented his having neglected his studies at college."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 19. "What avails the taking so much medicine, when you are so careless about taking cold?"--_Ib._, p. 29. "Active transitive verbs are those where the action passes from the agent to the object."--_Ib._, p. 33. "Active intransitive verbs, are those where the action is wholly confined to the agent or actor."--_Ibid._ "Passive verbs express the receiving, or suffering, the action."--_Ib._, p. 34. "The pluperfect tense expresses an action or event that passed prior or before some other period of time specified in the sentence."--_Ib._, p. 42. "There is no doubt of his being a great statesman."--_Ib._, p. 64. "Herschell is the fartherest from the sun of any of the planets."--_Fuller's Gram._, p. 66. "There has not been introduced into the foregoing pages any reasons for the classifications therein adopted."--_Ib._, p. 80. "There must be a comma before the verb, as well as between each nominative case."--_Ib._, p. 98. "_Yon_, with _former_ and _latter_, are also adjectives."--_Brace's Gram._, p. 17. "You was."--_Ib._, p. 32. "If you was."--_Ib._, p. 39. "Two words which end in _ly_ succeeding each other are indeed a little offensive to the ear."--_Ib._, p. 85; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 102. "Is endless life and happiness despis'd? Or both wish'd here, where neither can be found?"--_Young_, p. 124. EXERCISE XI.--PROMISCUOUS. "Because any one of them is placed before a noun or pronoun, as you observe I have done in every sentence."--_Rand's Gram._, p. 74. "_Might accompany_ is a transitive verb, because it expresses an action which effects the object _me_."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 94. "_Intend_ is an intransitive verb because it expresses an action which does not effect any object."--_Ib._, p. 93. "Charles and Eliza were jealous of one another."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 44. "Thus _one another_ include both nouns."--_Ibid._ "When the antecedent is a child, _that_ is elegantly used in preference to _who, whom_, or _which_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 94. "He can do no more in words, but make out the expression of his will."--_Bp. Wilkins_. "The form of the first person plural of the imperative, _love we_, is grown obsolete."-- _Lowth's Gram._, p. 38. "Excluding those verbs which are become obsolete."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 47. "He who sighs for pleasure, the voice of wisdom can never reach, nor the power of virtue touch."--_Wright's Athens_, p. 64. "The other branch of wit in the thought, is that only which is taken notice of by Addison."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 312. "When any measure of the Chancellor was found fault with."--_Professors' Reasons_, p. 14. "_Whether_ was formerly made use of to signify interrogation."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 54. "Under the article of _Pronouns_ the following words must be taken notice of."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 95. "In a word, we are afforded much pleasure, to be enabled to bestow our most unqualified approbation on this excellent work."--_Wright's Gram., Rec._, p. 4. "For Recreation is not being Idle, as every one may observe."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 365. "In the easier valuing and expressing that sum."--_Dilworth's Arith._, p. 3. "Addition is putting together of two or more numbers."-- _Alexander's Arith._, p. 8. "The reigns of some of our British Queens may fairly be urged in proof of woman being capable of discharging the most arduous and complicated duties of government."--_West's Letters to Y. L._, p. 43. "What is the import of that command to love such an one as ourselves?"--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 206. "It should seem then the grand question was, What is good?"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 297. "The rectifying bad habits depends upon our consciousness of them."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 32. "To prevent our being misled by a mere name."-- _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 168. "I was refused an opportunity of replying in the latter review."--_Fowle's True English Gram._, p. 10. "But how rare is such generosity and excellence as Howard displayed!"--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 39. "The noun is in the Nominative case when it is the name of the person or thing which acts or is spoken of."--_Ib._, p. 54. "The noun is in the Objective case when it is the name of the person or thing which is the object or end of an action or movement."--_Ib._, p. 54. "To prevent their being erased from your memory."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 17. "Pleonasm, is when a superfluous word is introduced abruptly."--_Ib._, p. 69. "Man feels his weakness, and to numbers run, Himself to strengthen, or himself to shun."--_Crabbe, Borough_, p. 137. EXERCISE XII.--TWO ERRORS. "Independent on the conjunction, the sense requires the subjunctive mood."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 77. "A Verb in past time without a sign is Imperfect tense."--_C. Adams's Gram._, p. 33. "New modelling your household and personal ornaments is, I grant, an indispensable duty."--_West's Letters to Y. L._, p. 58. "For grown ladies and gentlemen learning to dance, sing, draw, or even walk, is now too frequent to excite ridicule."--_Ib._, p. 123. "It is recorded that a physician let his horse bleed on one of the evil days, and it soon lay dead."--_Constable's Miscellany_, xxi. 99. "As to the apostrophe, it was seldom used to distinguish the genitive case till about the beginning of the present century, and then seems to have been introduced by mistake."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 23. "One of the relatives only varied to express the three cases."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 24. "What! does every body take their morning draught of this liquor?"--_Collier's Cebes_. "Here, all things comes round, and bring the same appearances a long with them."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 103. "Most commonly both the relative and verb are elegantly left out in the second member."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. ix. "A fair receipt of water, of some thirty or forty foot square."--_Bacon's Essays_, p. 127. "The old know more indirect ways of outwiting others, than the young."--_Burgh's Dignity_, i, 60. "The pronoun singular of the third person hath three genders."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 21. "The preposition _to_ is made use of before nouns of place, when they follow verbs and participles of motion."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 203. "It is called, understanding human nature, knowing the weak sides of men, &c."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 284. "Neither of which are taken notice of by this Grammar."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 279. "But certainly no invention is entitled to such degree of admiration as that of language."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 54. "The Indians, the Persians, and Arabians, were all famous for their tales."--_Ib._, p. 374. "Such a leading word is the preposition and the conjunction."-- _Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 21. "This, of all others, is the most encouraging circumstance in these times."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 37. "The putting any constraint on the organs of speech, or urging them to a more rapid action than they can easily perform in their tender state, must be productive of indistinctness in utterance."--_Ib._, p. 35. "Good articulation is the foundation of a good delivery, in the same manner as the sounding the simple notes in music, is the foundation of good singing."--_Ib._, p. 33. "The offering praise and thanks to God, implies our having a lively and devout sense of his excellencies and of his benefits."--ATTERBURY: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 295. "The pause should not be made till the fourth or sixth syllable."--_Blair, ib._, p. 333. "Shenstone's pastoral ballad, in four parts, may justly be reckoned one of the most elegant poems of this kind, which we have in English."--_Ib._, p. 394. "What need Christ to have died, if heaven could have contained imperfect souls?"--_Baxter_. "Every person is not a man of genius, nor is it necessary that he should."--_Seattle's Moral Science_, i, 69. "They were alarmed from a quarter where they least expected."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, ii, 6. "If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty intrails."--SHAK.: _White's Verb_, p. 94. EXERCISE XIII.--TWO ERRORS. "In consequence of this, much time and labor are unprofitably expended, and a confusion of ideas introduced into the mind, which, by never so wise a method of subsequent instruction, it is very difficult completely to remove."--_Grenville's Gram._, p. 3. "So that the restoring a natural manner of delivery, would be bringing about an entire revolution, in its most essential parts."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 170. "'Thou who loves us, will protect us still:' here _who_ agrees with _thou_, and is nominative to the verb loves."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 67. "The Active voice signifies action; the Passive, suffering, or being the object of an action."--_Adam's Latin Gram._, p. 80; _Gould's_, 77. "They sudden set upon him, fearing no such thing."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 252. "_That_ may be used as a pronoun, an adjective, and a conjunction, depending on the office which it performs in the sentence."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 110. "This is the distinguishing property of the church of Christ from all other antichristian assemblies or churches."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 533. "My lords, the course which the legislature formerly took with respect to the slave-trade, appears to me to be well deserving the attention both of the government and your lordships."--BROUGHAM: _Antislavery Reporter_, Vol. ii, p. 218. "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen."--_John_, iii, 11. "This is a consequence I deny, and remains for him to prove."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 329. "To back this, He brings in the Authority of Accursius, and Consensius Romanus, to the latter of which he confesses himself beholding for this Doctrine."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 343. "The compound tenses of the second order, or those in which the participle present is made use of."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 24. "To lay the accent always on the same syllable, and the same letter of the syllable, which they do in common discourse."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 78. "Though the converting the _w_ into a _v_ is not so common as the changing the _v_ into a _w_."--_Ib._, p. 46. "Nor is this all; for by means of accent, the times of pauses also are rendered quicker, and their proportions more easily to be adjusted and observed."--_Ib._, p. 72. "By mouthing, is meant, dwelling upon syllables that have no accent: or prolonging the sounds of the accented syllables, beyond their due proportion of time."--_Ib._, p. 76. "Taunt him with the license of ink; if thou thou'st him thrice, it shall not be amiss."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict., w. Thou_. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."--_Prov._, xxx, 17. "Copying, or merely imitating others, is the death of arts and sciences."--_Spurzheim, on Ed._, p. 170. "He is arrived at that degree of perfection, as to surprise all his acquaintance."--_Ensell's Gram._, p. 296. "Neither the King _nor_ Queen are gone."--_Buchanan's E. Syntax_, p. 155. "_Many_ is pronounced as if it were wrote _manny_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram., with Dict._, p. 2. "And as the music on the waters float, Some bolder shore returns the soften'd note." --_Crabbe, Borough_, p. 118. EXERCISE XIV.--THREE ERRORS. "It appears that the Temple was then a building, because these Tiles must be supposed to be for the covering it."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 281. "It was common for sheriffs to omit or excuse the not making returns for several of the boroughs within their counties."--_Brown's Estimate_, Vol. ii, p. 132. "The conjunction _as_ when it is connected with the pronoun, such, many, or same, is sometimes called a relative pronoun."--_Kirkham's Gram., the Compend_. "Mr. Addison has also much harmony in his style; more easy and smooth, but less varied than Lord Shaftesbury."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 127; _Jamieson's_, 129. "A number of uniform lines having all the same pause, are extremely fatiguing; which is remarkable in French versification."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 104. "Adjectives qualify or distinguish one noun from another."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 13. "The words _one, other_, and _none_, are used in both numbers."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 107. "A compound word is made up of two or more words, usually joined by an hyphen, as summer-house, spirit-less, school-master."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 7. "There is an inconvenience in introducing new words by composition which nearly resembles others in use before; as, _disserve_, which is too much like _deserve_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 145. "For even in that case, the trangressing the limits in the least, will scarce be pardoned."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 119. "What other are the foregoing instances but describing the passion another feels."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 388. "'Two and three are five.' If each _substantive_ is to be taken separately as a subject, then 'two _is_ five,' and 'three _is_ five.'"--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 87. "The article _a_ joined to the simple _pronoun other_ makes _it_ the compound _another_."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 96. "The _word another_ is composed of the indefinite _article prefixed_ to the _word other_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 57; et al. "In relating things that were formerly expressed by another person, we often meet with modes of expression similar to the following."--_Ib._, p. 191. "Dropping one l prevents the recurrence of three very near each other."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 202. "Sometimes two or more genitive cases succeed each other; as, 'John's wife's father.'"--_Dalton's Gram._, p. 14. "Sometimes, though rarely, two nouns in the possessive case immediately succeed each other, in the following form: 'My friend's wife's sister.'"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 45. EXERCISE XV.--MANY ERRORS. "Number is of a two fold nature,--Singular and Plural: and comprehends, accordingly to its application, the distinction between them."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 37. "The former, Figures of Words, are commonly called Tropes, and _consists_ in a word's being employed to signify something, _which_ is different from its original and primitive meaning."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 337. "The former, figures of words, are commonly called tropes, and _consist_ in a word's being employed to signify something _that_ is different from its original and primitive meaning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 132. "A particular number of connected syllables are called feet, or measured paces."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 118. "Many poems, and especially songs, are written in the dactyl or anapaestic measure, some consisting of eleven or twelve syllables, and some of less."--_Ib._, p. 121. "A Diphthong makes always a long Syllable, unless one of the vowels be droped."-- _British Gram._, p. 34. "An Adverb is generally employed as an attributive, to denote some peculiarity or manner of action, with respect to the time, place, or order, of the noun or circumstance to which it is connected."-- _Wright's Definitions, Philos. Gram._, pp. 35 and 114. "A Verb expresses the action, the suffering or enduring, or the existence or condition of a noun."--_Ib._, pp. 35 and 64. "These three adjectives should be written our's, your's, their's."--_Fowle's True Eng. Gram._, p. 22. "Never was man so teized, or suffered half the uneasiness as I have done this evening."-- _Tattler_, No. 160; _Priestley's Gram._, p. 200; _Murray's_, i, 223. "There may be reckoned in English four different cases, or relations of a substantive, called the subjective, the possessive, the objective, and the absolute cases."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 31. "To avoid the too often repeating the Names of other Persons or Things of which we discourse, the words _he, she, it, who, what_, were invented."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 85. "Names which denote a number of the same things, are called nouns of multitude."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 21. "But lest he should think, this were too slightly a passing over his matter, I will propose to him to be considered these things following."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 472. "In the pronunciation of the letters of the Hebrew proper names, we find nearly the same rules prevail as in those of Greek and Latin."--_Walker's Key_, p. 223. "The distributive pronominal adjectives _each, every, either_, agree with _the_ nouns, _pronouns, and_ verbs of the singular number only."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 89. "_Having treated_ of the different _sorts_ of _words_, and _their_ various modifications, _which is_ the first part of Etymology, _it_ is now proper to explain the _methods_ by which _one word_ is derived from another."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 130. EXERCISE XVI.--MANY ERRORS. "A Noun with its Adjectives (or any governing Word with its Attendants) is one compound Word, whence the Noun and Adjective so joined, do often admit another Adjective, and sometimes a third, and so on; as, a Man, an old Man, a very good old Man, a very learned, judicious, sober Man."--_British Gram._, p. 195; _Buchanan's_, 79. "A substantive _with_ its adjective _is_ reckoned as one _compounded_ word; whence _they_ often take _another_ adjective, and sometimes a third, and so on: as, 'An old man; a good old man; a very learned, judicious, good old man.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 169; _Ingersoll's_, 195; _and others_. "But though this elliptical style _be_ intelligible, and _is_ allowable in conversation _and_ epistolary _writing_, yet in all _writings_ of a serious or dignified kind, _is_ ungraceful."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112. "There is no talent _so useful_ towards rising in the world, _or which_ puts men more out of the reach of fortune, than that quality generally possessed by the dullest sort of people, and is, in common language, called discretion."--SWIFT: _Blair's Rhet._, p. 113. "Which to allow, is just as reasonable as to own, that 'tis the greatest ill of a body to be in the utmost _manner_ maimed or distorted; but _that_ to lose the use _only_ of one limb, or to be impaired in some single organ or member, is no ill worthy the least notice."-- SHAFTESBURY: _ib._, p. 115; _Murray's Gram._, p. 322. "If the singular nouns _and_ pronouns, which _are joined_ together by a copulative conjunction, _be_ of _several_ persons, in _making_ the plural pronoun _agree_ with them in person, the second person takes _place of_ the third, and the _first of_ both."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 151; _et al_. "'The painter * * * cannot exhibit various stages of the same action.' _In_ this sentence we see that _the_ painter _governs_, or agrees with, the verb _can_, as _its nominative_ case."--_Ib._, p. 195. "It expresses _also_ facts _which_ exist _generally_, at _all times_, general truths, attributes _which_ are permanent, habits, customary actions, and the like, without the reference to a specific time."--_Ib._, p. 73; _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 71. "The different species of animals may therefore be considered, as so many different nations speaking different languages, _that have_ no commerce with _each_ other; each of _which_ consequently understands _none_ but _their_ own."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 142. "It is also important to _understand and_ apply the principles of grammar in our common conversation; not only because _it_ enables us to make our language _understood by educated_ persons, but because it furnishes the readiest evidence _of our_ having received a good education _ourselves_."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 16. EXERCISE XVII.--MANY ERRORS. "This faulty Tumour in Stile is like an huge unpleasant Rock in a Champion Country, that's difficult to be transcended."--_Holmes's Rhet._, Book ii, p. 16. "For there are no Pelops's, nor Cadmus's, nor Danaus's dwell among us."--_Ib._, p. 51. "None of these, except _will_, is ever used as a principal verb, but as an auxiliary to some principal, either expressed or understood."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 134. "Nouns which signify either the male or female are common gender."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 11. "An Adjective expresses the kind, number, or quality of a noun."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part I, p. 9. "There are six tenses; the Present, the Imperfect, the Perfect, the Pluperfect, the Future, and the Future Perfect tenses."--_Ib._, p. 18. "_My_ refers to the first person singular, either gender. _Our_ refers to the first person plural, either gender. _Thy_ refers to the second person singular, either gender. _Your_ refers to the second person plural, either gender. _Their_ refers to the third person plural, either gender."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part II, p. 14. "Good use, which for brevity's sake, shall hereafter include reputable, national, and present use, is not always uniform in her decisions."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 44. "Nouns which denote but one object are considered in the singular number."--_Edward's First Lessons in Gram._, p. 35. "If, therefore, the example of Jesus should be plead to authorize accepting an invitation to dine on the sabbath, it should be plead just as it was."--_Barnes's Notes: on Luke_, xiv, 1. "The teacher will readily dictate what part may be omitted, the first time going through it."--_Ainsworth's Gram._, p. 4. "The contents of the following pages have been drawn chiefly, with various modifications, from the same source which has supplied most modern writers on this subject, viz. LINDLEY MURRAY'S GRAMMAR."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 3. "The term _person_ in grammar distinguishes between the speaker, the person or thing spoken to, and the person or thing spoken of."--_Ib._, p. 9. "In my father's garden grow the Maiden's Blush and the Prince' Feather."--_Felton, ib._, p. 15. "A preposition is a word used to connect words with one another, and show the relation between them. They generally stand before nouns and pronouns."--_Ib._, p. 60. "Nouns or pronouns addressed are always either in the second person, singular or plural."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 54. "The plural MEN not ending in s, is the reason for adding the apostrophie's."--_T. Smith's Gram._, p. 19. "_Pennies_ denote real coin; _pence_, their value in computation."-- _Hazen's Gram._, p. 24. "We commence, first, with _letters_, which is termed _Orthography_; secondly, with _words_, denominated _Etymology_; thirdly, with _sentences_, styled _Syntax_; fourthly, with _orations_ and _poems_, called _Prosody_."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 22. "Care must be taken, that sentences of proper construction and obvious import be not rendered obscure by the too free use of the ellipsis."--_Felton's Grammar, Stereotype Edition_, p. 80. EXERCISE XVIII.--PROMISCUOUS. "Tropes and metaphors so closely resemble _each_ other that it is not always easy, nor is it important to _be able_ to distinguish the _one_ from the _other_."--_Parker and Fox, Part III_, p. 66. "With regard to _relatives_, it may be further observed, that obscurity often arises from _the_ too frequent repetition of them, particularly of the pronouns WHO, and THEY, and THEM, and THEIRS. When we find _these personal pronouns_ crowding too fast upon us, we have often no method left, but to throw the whole sentence into some other form."--_Ib._, p. 90; _Murray's Gram._, p. 311; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 106. "Do scholars acquire any valuable knowledge, by learning to repeat long strings of words, without any definite ideas, or _several jumbled_ together like rubbish in a corner, and apparently with no application, _either for_ the improvement of mind _or of_ language?"-- _Cutler's Gram., Pref._, p. 5. "The being officiously good natured and civil are things so uncommon in the world, that one cannot hear a man make professions of them without being surprised, or at least, suspecting the disinterestedness of his intentions."--FABLES: _Cutler's Gram._, p. 135. "Irony is the intentional use of words to express a sense contrary to that which the speaker or writer means to convey."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part III, p. 68. "The term _Substantive_ is derived from _substare_, to _stand_, to _distinguish it_ from an adjective, which cannot, like the noun, stand alone."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 11. "They have two numbers, _like nouns_, the singular and plural; and three persons in each number, namely, _I_, the first person, represents the speaker. _Thou_, the second person, represents the person spoken to. _He, she, it_, the third person, represents the person or thing spoken of."--_Ib._, p. 23. "_He, She, It_, is the Third Person singular; but _he with others, she with others_, or _it with others_, make each of them _they_, which is the Third Person plural."--_White, on the English Verb_, p. 97. "The words _had I been_, that is, the Third Past Tense of the Verb, marks the Supposition, as referring itself, not to the Present, but to some former period of time."--_Ib._, p. 88. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid a too frequent repetition of the same word."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, p. 122. "That which he cannot use, and dare not show, And would not give--why longer should he owe?"--_Crabbe_. PART IV. PROSODY. Prosody treats of punctuation, utterance, figures, and versification. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The word _prosody_, (from the Greek--[Greek: pros], _to_, and [Greek: dae], _song_,) is, with regard to its derivation, exactly equivalent to _accent_, or the Latin _accentus_, which is formed from _ad, to_, and _cantus, song_: both terms, perhaps, originally signifying a _singing with_, or _sounding to_, some instrument or voice. PROSODIA, as a Latin word, is defined by Littleton, "Pars Grammaticae quae docet _accentus, h. e._ rationem atollendi et depremendi syllabas, tum quantitatem carundem." And in English, "_The art of_ ACCENTING, _or the rule of pronouncing syllables truly_, LONG _or_ SHORT."--_Litt. Dict._, 4to. This is a little varied by Ainsworth thus: "_The rule of_ ACCENTING, _or pronouncing syllables truly, whether_ LONG _or_ SHORT."--_Ains. Dict._, 4to. Accent, in English, belongs as much to prose as to poetry; but some deny that in Latin it belongs to either. There is also much difficulty about the import of the word; since some prosodists identify _accent_ with _tone_; some take it for the _inflections_ of voice; some call it the _pitch_ of vocal sounds; and some, like the authors just cited, seem to confound it with _quantity_,--"LONG _or_ SHORT." [459] OBS. 2.--"_Prosody_," says a late writer, "strictly denotes only that _musical tone_ or _melody_ which accompanies speech. But the usage of modern grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term."--_Frost's Practical Grammar_, p. 160. This remark is a note upon the following definition: "PROSODY is that part of grammar which treats of the structure of Poetical Composition."--_Ibid._ Agreeably to this definition, Frost's Prosody, with all the generality the author claims for it, embraces only a brief account of Versification, with a few remarks on "Poetical License." Of Pronunciation and the Figures of Speech, he takes no notice; and Punctuation, which some place with Orthography, and others distinguish as one of the chief parts of grammar, he exhibits as a portion of Syntax. Not more comprehensive is this part of grammar, as exhibited in the works of several other authors; but, by Lindley Murray, R. C. Smith, and some others, both Punctuation and Pronunciation are placed here; though no mention is made of the former in their subdivision of Prosody, which, they not very aptly say, "consists of _two_ parts, Pronunciation and Versification." Dr. Bullions, no less deficient in method, begins with saying, "PROSODY consists of two parts; Elocution and Versification;" (_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 163;) and then absurdly proceeds to treat of it under the following _six_ principal heads: viz., Elocution, Versification, Figures of Speech, Poetic License, Hints for Correct and Elegant Writing, and Composition. OBS. 3.--If, in regard to the subjects which may be treated under the name of _Prosody_, "the usage of _modern_ grammarians justifies an extremely general application of the term," such an application is certainly not _less_ warranted by the usage of _old_ authors. But, by the practice of neither, can it be _easily_ determined how many and what things _ought_ to be embraced under this head. Of the different kinds of verse, or "the structure of Poetical Compostion," some of the old prosodists took little or no notice; because they thought it their chief business, to treat of syllables, and determine the orthoepy of words. The Prosody of Smetius, dated 1509, (my edition of which was published in Germany in 1691,) is in fact a _pronouncing dictionary_ of the Latin language. After a brief abstract of the old rules of George Fabricius concerning quantity and accent, it exhibits, in alphabetic order, and with all their syllables marked, about twenty-eight thousand words, with a poetic line quoted against each, to prove the pronunciation just. The Prosody of John Genuensis, an other immense work, concluded by its author in 1286, improved by Badius in 1506, and printed at Lyons in 1514, is also mainly a _Latin dictionary_, with derivations and definitions as in other dictionaries. It is a folio volume of seven hundred and thirty closely-printed pages; six hundred of which are devoted to the vocabulary, the rest to orthography, accent, etymology, syntax, figures, points--almost everything _but versification_. Yet this vast sum of grammar has been entitled _Prosody_--"_Prosodia seu Catholicon_"--"_Catholicon seu Universale Vocabularium ac Summa Grammatices_."--See pp. 1 and 5. CHAPTER I--PUNCTUATION. Punctuation is the art of dividing literary composition, by points, or stops, for the purpose of showing more clearly the sense and relation of the words; and of noting the different pauses and inflections required in reading. The following are the principal points, or marks; namely, the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period [.], the Dash [--], the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation [?], the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation [!], and the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis, [()]. The Comma denotes the shortest pause; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the comma; the Colon, a pause double that of the semicolon; and the Period, or Full Stop, a pause double that of the colon. The pauses required by the other four, vary according to the structure of the sentence, and their place in it. They may be equal to any of the foregoing. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The pauses that are made in the natural flow of speech, have, in reality, no definite and invariable proportions. Children are often told to pause at a comma while they might count _one_; at a semicolon, _one, two_; at a colon, _one, two, three_; at a period, _one, two, three, four_. This may be of some use, as teaching them to observe the necessary stops, that they may catch the sense; but the standard itself is variable, and so are the times which good sense gives to the points. As a final stop, the period is immeasurable; and so may be the pause after a question or an exclamation. OBS. 2.--The first four points take their names from the parts of discourse, or of a sentence, which are distinguished by them. The _Period_, or _circuit_, is a complete _round_ of words, often consisting of several clauses or members, and always bringing out full sense at the close. The _Colon_, or _member_, is the greatest division or _limb_ of a period, and is the chief constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Semicolon, half member_, or _half limb_, is the greatest division of a colon, and is properly a smaller constructive part of a compound sentence. The _Comma_, or _segment_, is a small part of a clause _cut off_, and is properly the least constructive part of a compound sentence. A _simple sentence_ is sometimes a whole period, sometimes a chief member, sometimes a half member, sometimes a segment, and sometimes perhaps even less. Hence it may require the period, the colon, the semicolon, the comma, or even no point, according to the manner in which it is used. A sentence whose relatives and adjuncts are all taken in a restrictive sense, may be considerably complex, and yet require no division by points; as, "Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge On you who wrong me not for him who wrong'd."--_Milton_. OBS. 3.--The system of punctuation now used in English, is, in its main features, common to very many languages. It is used in Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and perhaps most of the tongues in which books are now written or printed. The Germans, however, make less frequent use of the comma than we; and the Spaniards usually mark a question or an exclamation _doubly_, inverting the point at the beginning of the sentence. In Greek, the difference is greater: the colon, expressed by the upper dot alone, is the only point between the comma and the period; the ecphoneme, or note of exclamation, is hardly recognized, though some printers of the classics have occasionally introduced it; and the eroteme, or note of interrogation, retains in that language its pristine form, which is that of our semicolon. In Hebrew, a full stop is denoted by a heavy colon, or something like it; and this is the only pointing adopted, when the vowel points and the accents are not used. OBS. 4.--Though the points in use, and the principles on which they ought to be applied, are in general well fixed, and common to almost all sorts of books; yet, through the negligence of editors, the imperfections of copy, the carelessness of printers, or some other means, it happens, that different editions and different versions of the same work are often found pointed very variously. This circumstance, provided the sense is still preserved, is commonly thought to be of little moment. But all _writers_ will do well to remember, that they owe it to their readers, to show them at once how they mean to be read; and since the punctuation of the early printers was unquestionably very _defective_, the republishers of ancient books should not be over scrupulous about an exact imitation of it; they may, with proper caution, correct obvious faults. OBS. 5.--The precise origin of the points, it is not easy to trace in the depth of antiquity. It appears probable, from ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, that the period is the oldest of them; and it is said by some, that the first system of punctuation consisted in the different positions of this dot alone. But after the adoption of the small letters, which improvement is referred to the ninth century, both the comma and the colon came into use, and also the Greek note of interrogation. In old books, however, the comma is often found, not in its present form, but in that of a straight stroke, drawn up and down obliquely between the words. Though the colon is of Greek origin, the practice of writing it with two dots we owe to the Latin authors, or perhaps to the early printers of Latin books. The semicolon was first used in Italy, and was not adopted in England till about the year 1600. Our marks for questions and exclamations were also derived from the same source, probably at a date somewhat earlier. The curves of the parenthesis have likewise been in use for several centuries. But the clash is a more recent invention: Lowth, Ash, and Ward,--Buchanan, Bicknell, and Burn,--though they name all the rest, make no mention of this mark; but it appears by their books, that they all occasionally _used_ it. OBS. 6--Of the _colon_ it may be observed, that it is now much less frequently used than it was formerly; its place being usurped, sometimes by the semicolon, and sometimes by the period. For this ill reason, some late grammarians have discarded it altogether. Thus Felton: "The COLON is now so seldom used by good writers, that rules for its use are unnecessary."--_Concise Manual of English Gram._, p. 140. So Nutting: "It will be noticed, that the _colon_ is omitted in this system; because it is omitted by the majority of the writers of the present age; three points, with the dash, being considered sufficient to mark the different lengths of the pauses."--_Practical Grammar_, p. 120. These critics, whenever they have occasion to copy such authors as Milton and Pope, do not scruple to mutilate their punctuation by putting semicolons or periods for all the colons they find. But who cannot perceive, that without the colon, the semicolon becomes an absurdity? It can no longer be a _semicolon_, unless the half can remain when the whole is taken away! The colon, being the older point of the two, and once very fashionable, is doubtless on record in more instances than the semicolon; and, if now, after both have been in common use for some hundreds of years, it be found out that only one is needed, perhaps it would be more reasonable to prefer the former. Should public opinion ever be found to coincide with the suggestions of the two authors last quoted, there will be reason to regret that Caxton, the old English typographer of the fifteenth century, who for a while successfully withstood, in his own country, the introduction of the semicolon, had not the power to prevent it forever. In short, to leave no literary extravagance unbroached, the latter point also has not lacked a modern impugner. "One of the greatest improvements in punctuation," says Justin Brenan, "is the rejection of the eternal semicolons of our ancestors. In latter times, the semicolon has been gradually disappearing, not only from the newspapers, but from books."--_Brenan's "Composition and Punctuation familiarly Explained"_, p. 100; London, 1830. The colon and the semicolon are both useful, and, not unfrequently, necessary; and all correct writers will, I doubt not, continue to use both. OBS. 7--Since Dr. Blair published his emphatic caution against too frequent a use of _parentheses_, there has been, if not an abatement of the kind of error which he intended to censure, at least a diminution in the use of the _curves_, the sign of a parenthesis. These, too, some inconsiderate grammarians now pronounce to be out of vogue. "The parenthesis is now generally exploded as a deformity."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 362. "The Parenthesis, () has become nearly obsolete, except in mere references, and the like; its place, by modern writers, being usually supplied by the use of the comma, and the dash."--_Nutting's Practical Gram._, p. 126; _Frazee's Improved Grammar_, p. 187. More use may have been made of the curves than was necessary, and more of the parenthesis itself than was agreeable to good taste; but, the sign being well adapted to the construction, and the construction being sometimes sprightly and elegant, there are no good reasons for wishing to discard either of them; nor is it true, that the former "has become nearly obsolete." OBS. 8--The name _parenthesis_ is, which literally means a _putting-in-between_, is usually applied both to the _curves_, and to the incidental _clause_ which they enclose. This twofold application of the term involves some inconvenience, if not impropriety. According to Dr. Johnson, the enclosed "_sentence_" alone is the _parenthesis_; but Worcester, agreeably to common usage, defines the word as meaning also "the _mark_ thus ()." But, as this sign consists of two distinct parts, two corresponding curves, it seems more natural to use a plural name: hence L. Murray, when he would designate the sign only, adopted a plural expression; as, "_the parenthetical characters_,"--"_the parenthetical marks_." So, in another case, which is similar: "the _hooks_ in which words are included," are commonly called _crotchets_ or _brackets_; though Bucke, in his Classical Grammar, I know not why, calls the two "[ ] a _Crotchet_;" (p. 23;) and Webster, in his octavo Dictionary, defines a "_Bracket_, in printing," as Johnson does a "_Crotchet_" by a plural noun: "_hooks_; thus, [ ]." Again, in his grammars, Dr. Webster rather confusedly says: "The parenthesis () and hooks [] include a remark or clause, not essential to the sentence in construction."--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 219; _Improved Gram._, p. 154. But, in his Dictionary, he forgets both the hooks and the parenthesis that are here spoken of; and, with still worse confusion or inaccuracy, says: "The _parenthesis_ is usually included in _hooks_ or curved lines, thus, ()." Here he either improperly calls these regular little curves "_hooks_," or erroneously suggests that both the hooks and the curves are usual and appropriate signs of "_the parenthesis_." In Garner's quarto Dictionary, the French word _Crochet_, as used by printers, is translated, "_A brace, a crotchet, a parenthesis_;" and the English word _Crotchet_ is defined, "The _mark_ of a _parenthesis_, in printing, thus [ ]." But Webster defines _Crotchet_, "In printing, a _hook_ including words, a _sentence_ or a _passage_ distinguished from the rest, thus []." This again is both ambiguous and otherwise inaccurate. It conveys no clear idea of what a crotchet is. _One_ hook _includes_ nothing. Therefore Johnson said: "_Hooks_ in which words are included [thus]." But if each of the hooks is a crotchet, as Webster suggests, and almost every body supposes, then both lexicographers are wrong in not making the whole expression plural: thus, "_Crotchets_, in printing, are angular _hooks_ usually including some explanatory words." But is this all that Webster meant? I cannot tell. He may be understood as saying also, that a _Crotchet_ is "_a sentence_ or _a passage_ distinguished from the rest, thus [];" and doubtless it would be much better to call a hint thus marked, a _crotchet_, than to call it _a parenthesis_, as some have done. In Parker and Fox's Grammar, and also in Parker's Aids to English Composition, the term _Brackets_ only is applied to these angular hooks; and, contrary to all usage of other authors, so far as I know, the name of _Crotchets_ is there given to the _Curves_. And then, as if this application of the word were general, and its propriety indisputable, the pupil is simply told: "The _curved lines_ between which a parenthesis is enclosed are called _Crotchets_."--_Gram._, Part III, p. 30; _Aids_, p. 40. "Called _Crotchets_" by whom? That not even Mr. Parker himself knows them by that name, the following most inaccurate passage is a proof: "The _note_ of admiration _and_ interrogation, as also the _parenthesis_, the _bracket_, and the reference marks, [are noted in the margin] in the same manner as the apostrophe."--_Aids_, p. 314. In some late grammars, (for example, _Hazen's_ and _Day's_,) the parenthetic curves are called "_the Parentheses_" From this the student must understand that it always takes _two parentheses_ to make _one parenthesis!_ If then it is objectionable, to call the two marks "_a parenthesis_," it is much more so, to call each of them by that name, or both "_the parentheses_." And since Murray's phrases are both entirely too long for common use, what better name can be given them than this very simple one, _the Curves_? OBS. 9.--The words _eroteme_ and _ecphoneme_, which, like _aposteme_ and _philosopheme_, are orderly derivatives from Greek roots[460], I have ventured to suggest as fitter names for the two marks to which they are applied as above, than are any of the long catalogue which other grammarians, each choosing for himself have presented. These marks have not unfrequently been called "_the interrogation_ and the _exclamation_;" which names are not very suitable, because they have other uses in grammar. According to Dr. Blair, as well as L. Murray and others, interrogation and exclamation are "passionate _figures_" of rhetoric, and oftentimes also plain "unfigured" expressions. The former however are frequently and more fitly called by their Greek names _erotesis_ and _ecphonesis_, terms to which those above have a happy correspondence. By Dr. Webster and some others, all _interjections_ are called "_exclamations_;" and, as each of these is usually followed by the mark of emotion, it cannot but be inconvenient to call both by the same name. OBS. 10.--For things so common as the marks of asking and exclaiming, it is desirable to have simple and appropriate _names_, or at least some settled mode of denomination; but, it is remarkable, that Lindley Murray, in mentioning these characters six times, uses six different modes of expression, and all of them complex: (1.) "Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation." (2.) "The point of Interrogation,?"--"The point of Exclamation,!" (3.) "The Interrogatory Point."--"The Exclamatory Point." (4.) "A note of interrogation,"--"The note of exclamation." (5.) "The interrogation and exclamation points." (6.) "The points of Interrogation and Exclamation."--_Murray, Flint, Ingersoll, Alden, Pond_. With much better taste, some writers denote them uniformly thus: (7.) "The Note of Interrogation,"--"The Note of Exclamation."--_Churchill, Hiley_. In addition to these names, all of which are too long, there may be cited many others, though none that are unobjectionable: (8.) "The Interrogative sign,"--"The Exclamatory sign."--_Peirce, Hazen_. (9.) "The Mark of Interrogation,"--"The Mark of Exclamation."--_Ward, Felton, Hendrick_. (10.) "The Interrogative point,"--"The Exclamation point."--_T. Smith, Alger_. (11.) "The interrogation point,"--"The exclamation point."--_Webster, St. Quentin, S. Putnam_. (12.) "A Note of Interrogation,"--"A Note of Admiration."--_Coar, Nutting_. (13.) "The Interrogative point,"--"The Note of Admiration, or of vocation."--_Bucke_. (14.) "Interrogation (?),"--"Admiration (!) or Exclamation."--_Lennie, Bullions_. (15.) "A Point of Interrogation,"--"A Point of Admiration or Exclamation."--_Buchanan_. (16.) "The Interrogation Point (?),"--"The Admiration Point (!)."--_Perley_. (17.) "An interrogation (?),"--"An exclamation (!)."--_Cutler_. (18.) "The interrogator?"--"The exclaimor!"--_Day's Gram._, p. 112. [The putting of "_exclaimor_" for _exclaimer_, like this author's changing of _quoters_ to "_quotors_," as a name for the guillemets, is probably a mere sample of ignorance.] (19.) "Question point,"--"Exclamation point."--_Sanborn_, p. 272. SECTION I.--THE COMMA. The Comma is used to separate those parts of a sentence, which are so nearly connected in sense, as to be only one degree removed from that close connexion which admits no point. RULE I.--SIMPLE SENTENCES. A simple sentence does not, in general, admit the comma; as, "The weakest reasoners are the most positive."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 202. "Theology has not hesitated to make or support a doctrine by the position of a comma."--_Tract on Tone_, p. 4. "Then pain compels the impatient soul to seize On promis'd hopes of instantaneous ease."--_Crabbe_. EXCEPTION.--LONG SIMPLE SENTENCES. When the nominative in a long simple sentence is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts, or when several words together are used in stead of a nominative, a comma should be placed immediately before the verb; as, "Confession of sin without amendment, obtains no pardon."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 6. "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure, is a real defect in character."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 268. "O that the tenor of my just complaint,[461] Were sculpt with steel in rocks of adamant!"--_Sandys_. RULE II.--SIMPLE MEMBERS. The simple members of a compound sentence, whether successive or involved, elliptical or complete, are generally divided by the comma; as, 1. "Here stand we both, and aim we at the best."--_Shak._ 2. "I, that did never weep, now melt in woe."--_Id._ 3. "Tide life, tide death, I come without delay."--_Id._ 4. "I am their mother, who shall bar me from them?"--_Id._ 5. "How wretched, were I mortal, were my state!"--_Pope_. 6. "Go; while thou mayst, avoid the dreadful fate."--_Id._ 7. "Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings, And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings."--_Johnson_. EXCEPTION I.--RESTRICTIVE RELATIVES. When a relative immediately follows its antecedent, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be introduced _before_ it; as, "For the things _which_ are seen, are temporal; but the things _which_ are not seen, are eternal."--_2 Cor._, iv, 18. "A letter is a character _that_ expresses a sound without any meaning."--_St. Quentin's General Gram._, p. 3. EXCEPTION II.--SHORT TERMS CLOSELY CONNECTED. When the simple members are short, and closely connected by a conjunction or a conjunctive adverb, the comma is generally omitted; as, "Honest poverty is better _than_ wealthy fraud."--_Dillwyn's Ref._, p. 11. "Let him tell me _whether_ the number of the stars be even or odd."--TAYLOR: _Joh. Dict., w. Even_. "It is impossible _that_ our knowledge of words should outstrip our knowledge of things."--CAMPBELL: _Murray's Gram._, p 359. EXCEPTION III.--ELLIPTICAL MEMBERS UNITED. When two simple members are immediately united, through ellipsis of the relative, the antecedent, or the conjunction _that_, the comma is not inserted; as, "Make an experiment on the first man you meet."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 125. "Our philosophers do infinitely despise and pity whoever shall propose or accept any other motive to virtue."--_Ib._, p. 126. "It is certain we imagine before we reflect."--_Ib._, p. 359. "The same good sense that makes a man excel, Still makes him doubt he ne'er has written well."--_Young_. RULE III.--MORE THAN TWO WORDS. When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also:[462] as, 1. "Who, to the enraptur'd heart, and ear, and eye, Teach beauty, virtue, truth, and love, and melody."--_Beattie_. 2. "Ah! what avails * * * * * * * * * All that art, fortune, enterprise, can bring, If envy, scorn, remorse, or pride, the bosom wring?"--_Id._. 3. "Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible; Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless."--_Shak_. 4. "She plans, provides, expatiates, triumphs there."--_Young_. 5. ----"So eagerly the Fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies."--_Milton_. RULE IV.--ONLY TWO WORDS. When only two words or terms are connected by a conjunction, they should not be separated by the comma; as, "It is a _stupid and barbarous_ way to extend dominion by arms; for true power is to be got by _arts and industry_"--_Spectator_, No. 2. "_Despair and anguish_ fled the struggling soul."--_Goldsmith._ EXCEPTION I.--TWO WORDS WITH ADJUNCTS. When the two words connected have several adjuncts, or when one of them has an adjunct that relates not to both, the comma is inserted; as, "I shall spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful."--_Spectator_, No. 10. "_Who_ is applied to persons, or things personified."--_Bullions._ "With listless eyes the dotard views the store, He views, and wonders that they please no more."--_Johnson_. EXCEPTION II.--TWO TERMS CONTRASTED. When two connected words or phrases are contrasted, or emphatically distinguished, the comma is inserted; as, "The vain are easily obliged, and easily disobliged."--_Kames_. "Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand."--_Beattie_. "'Tis certain he could write, and cipher too."--_Goldsmith_. EXCEPTION III.--ALTERNATIVE OF WORDS. When there is merely an alternative of names, or an explanatory change of terms, the comma is usually inserted; as, "We saw a large opening, or inlet."--_W. Allen_. "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles?"--_Cor._, ix, 5. EXCEPTION IV.--CONJUNCTION UNDERSTOOD. When the conjunction is understood, the comma is inserted; and, if two separated words or terms refer alike to a third term, the second requires a second comma: as, "Reason, virtue, answer one great aim."--_L. Murray, Gram._, p. 269. "To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs consign."--_Johnson_. "She thought the isle that gave her birth. The sweetest, wildest land on earth."--_Hogg_. RULE V.--WORDS IN PAIRS. When successive words are joined in pairs by conjunctions, they should be separated in pairs by the comma; as, "Interest and ambition, honour and shame, friendship and enmity, gratitude and revenge, are the prime movers in public transactions."--_W. Allen_. "But, whether ingenious or dull, learned or ignorant, clownish or polite, every innocent man, without exception, has as good a right to liberty as to life."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 313. "Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate, O'erspread with snares the crowded maze of fate."--_Dr. Johnson_. RULE VI.--WORDS PUT ABSOLUTE. Nouns or pronouns put absolute, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as, "The prince, _his father being dead_, succeeded."--"_This done_, we parted."--"_Zaccheus_, make haste and come down."--"_His proctorship in Sicily_, what did it produce?"--_Cicero_. "Wing'd with his fears, on foot he strove to fly, _His steeds too distant_, and _the foe too nigh_" --_Pope, Iliad_, xi, 440. RULE VII.--WORDS IN APPOSITION. Words in apposition, (especially if they have adjuncts,) are generally set off by the comma; as, "He that now calls upon thee, is Theodore, _the hermit of Teneriffe_."--_Johnson_. "LOWTH, _Dr. Robert, bishop of London_, born in 1710, died in 1787."--_Biog. Dict._ "HOME, _Henry, lord Kames_."--_Ib._ "What next I bring shall please thee, be assur'd, Thy _likeness_, thy fit _help_, thy other _self_, Thy _wish_ exactly to thy heart's desire."--_Milton, P. L._, viii, 450. "And he, their prince, shall rank among my peers."--_Byron_. EXCEPTION I.--COMPLEX NAMES. When several words, in their common order, are used as one compound name, the comma is not inserted; as, "Dr. Samuel Johnson,"--"Publius Gavius Cosanus." EXCEPTION II.--CLOSE APPOSITION. When a common and a proper name are closely united, the comma is not inserted; as, "The brook Kidron,"--"The river Don,"--"The empress Catharine,"--"Paul the Apostle." EXCEPTION III.--PRONOUN WITHOUT PAUSE. When a pronoun is added to an other word merely for emphasis and distinction, the comma is not inserted; as, "Ye men of Athens,"--"I myself,"--"Thou flaming minister,"--"You princes." EXCEPTION IV.--NAMES ACQUIRED. When a name acquired by some action or relation, is put in apposition with a preceding noun or pronoun, the comma is not inserted; as, "I made the _ground_ my _bed_;"--"To make _him king_;"--"_Whom_ they revered as _God_;"--"With _modesty_ thy _guide_."--_Pope._ RULE VIII.--ADJECTIVES. Adjectives, when something depends on them, or when they have the import of a dependent clause, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as, 1. ----------------------------"Among the roots Of hazel, _pendent o'er the plaintive stream_, They frame the first foundation of their domes."--_Thomson_. 2. -------------------------"Up springs the lark, _Shrill-voic'd_ and _loud_, the messenger of morn."--_Id._ EXCEPTION.--ADJECTIVES RESTRICTIVE. When an adjective immediately follows its noun, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be used before it; as, ----"And on the coast _averse_ From entrance or cherubic watch."--_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, l. 68. RULE IX.--FINITE VERBS. Where a finite verb is understood, a comma is generally required; as, "From law arises security; from security, curiosity; from curiosity, knowledge."--_Murray_. "Else all my prose and verse were much the same; This, prose on stilts; that, poetry fallen lame."--_Pope_. EXCEPTION.--VERY SLIGHT PAUSE. As the semicolon must separate the clauses when the comma is inserted by this rule, if the pause for the omitted verb be very slight, it may be left unmarked, and the comma be used for the clauses; as, "When the profligate speaks of piety, the miser of generosity, the coward of valour, and the corrupt of integrity, they are only the more despised by those who know them."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 132. RULE X.--INFINITIVES. The infinitive mood, when it follows a verb from which it must be separated, or when it depends on something remote or understood, is generally, with its adjuncts, set off by the comma; as, "One of the greatest secrets in composition is, _to know_ when to be simple."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 151. "To confess the truth, I was much in fault."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 271. "The Governor of all--has interposed, Not seldom, his avenging arm, _to smite_ The injurious trampler upon nature's law."--_Cowper_. RULE XI.--PARTICIPLES. Participles, when something depends on them, when they have the import of a dependent clause, or when they relate to something understood, should, with their adjuncts, he set off by the comma; as, 1. "Law is a rule of civil conduct, _prescribed_ by the supreme power in a state, _commanding_ what is right, and _prohibiting_ what is wrong."--BLACKSTONE: _Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 346. 2. "Young Edwin, _lighted by the evening star, Lingering and list'ning_ wander'd down the vale."--_Beattie_. 3. "_United_, we stand; _divided_, we fall."--_Motto_. 4. "_Properly speaking_, there is no such thing as chance." EXCEPTION.--PARTICIPLES RESTRICTIVE. When a participle immediately follows its noun, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be used before it; as, "A man _renown'd for repartee_, Will seldom scruple to make free With friendship's finest feeling."--_Cowper_. RULE XII.--ADVERBS. Adverbs, when they break the connexion of a simple sentence, or when they have not a close dependence on some particular word in the context, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma; as, "We must not, _however_, confound this gentleness with the artificial courtesy of the world."--"_Besides_, the mind must be employed."--_Gilpin_. "_Most unquestionably_, no fraud was equal to all this."--_Lyttelton_. "But, _unfortunately for us_, the tide was ebbing already." "When buttress and buttress, _alternately_, Seem framed of ebon and ivory."--_Scott's Lay_, p. 33. RULE XIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. Conjunctions, when they are separated from the principal clauses that depend on them, or when they introduce examples, are generally set off by the comma; _as_, "_But_, by a timely call upon Religion, the force of Habit was eluded."--_Johnson_. "They know the neck that joins the shore and sea, _Or_, ah! how chang'd that fearless laugh would be."--_Crabbe_. RULE XIV.--PREPOSITIONS. Prepositions and their objects, when they break the connexion of a simple sentence, or when they do not closely follow the words on which they depend, are generally set off by the comma; as, "Fashion is, _for the most part_, nothing but the ostentation of riches."--"_By reading_, we add the experience of others to our own." "In vain the sage, _with retrospective eye_, Would from th' apparent What conclude the Why."--_Pope_. RULE XV.--INTERJECTIONS. Interjections that require a pause, though more commonly emphatic and followed by the ecphoneme, are sometimes set off by the comma; as, "For, _lo_, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north."--_Jeremiah_, i, 15. "_O_, 'twas about something you would not understand."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 221. "_Ha, ha!_ you were finely taken in, then!"--_Aikin_. "_Ha, ha, ha!_ A facetious gentleman, truly!"--_Id._ "_Oh_, when shall Britain, conscious of her claim, Stand emulous of Greek and Roman fame?"--_Pope_. RULE XVI.--WORDS REPEATED. A word emphatically repeated, is generally set off by the comma; as, "Happy, happy, happy pair!"--_Dryden_. "Ay, ay, there is some comfort in that."--_Shak_. "Ah! no, no, no."--_Dryden_. "The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well!"--_Woodworth_. RULE XVII.--DEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. A quotation, observation, or description, when it is introduced in close dependence on a verb, (as, _say, reply, cry_, or the like,) is generally separated from the rest of the sentence by the comma; as, "'The book of nature,' said he, 'is before thee.'"--_Hawkesworth_. "I say unto all, Watch."--_Mark_. "'The boy has become a man,' means, 'he has _grown to be_ a man.' 'Such conduct becomes a man,' means, 'such conduct _befits_ him.'"--_Hart's Gram._, p. 116. "While man exclaims, 'See all things for my use!' 'See man for mine!' replies a pamper'd goose."--_Pope_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE COMMA. UNDER RULE I.--OF SIMPLE SENTENCES. "Short, simple sentences should not be separated by a comma."--_Felton's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 135; 3d Ed., Stereotyped, p. 137. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because a needless comma is put after _short_, the sentence being simple. But, according to Rule 1st for the Comma, "A simple sentence does not, in general, admit the comma." Therefore, this comma should be omitted; thus, "Short simple sentences should not be separated by a comma." Or, much better: "_A_ short simple _sentence_ should _rarely be divided_ by _the_ comma." For such sentences, combined to form a period, _should generally be separated_; and even a single one may have some phrase that must be set off.] "A regular and virtuous education, is an inestimable blessing."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 174. "Such equivocal expressions, mark an intention to deceive."--_Ib._, p. 256. "They are, _This_ and _that_, with their plurals _these_ and _those_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 26; _Practical Lessons_, p. 3. "A nominative case and a verb, sometimes make a complete sentence; as, He sleeps."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 78. "_Tense_, expresses the action connected with certain relations of time; _mood_, represents it as farther modified by circumstances of contingency, conditionally, &c."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 37. "The word Noun, means name."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 14. "The present, or active participle, I explained then."--_Ib._, p. 97. "Are some verbs used, both transitively and intransitively?"--_Cooper's Pt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 54. "Blank verse, is verse without rhyme."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 242. "A distributive adjective, denotes each one of a number considered separately."--_Ib._, p. 51. "And may at last my weary age, Find out the peaceful hermitage." --_Murray's Gr._, 12mo, p. 205; 8vo, 255. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING SIMPLE SENTENCES. "A noun without an Article to limit it is taken in its widest sense."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 8; _Practical Lessons_, p. 10. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here set before the verb _is taken_. But, according to the Exception to Rule 1st for the Comma, "When the nominative in a long simple sentence is accompanied by inseparable adjuncts, or when several words together are used in stead of a nominative, a comma should be placed immediately before the verb." Therefore, a comma should be here inserted; thus, "A noun without an article to limit it, is taken in its widest sense."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 6.] "To maintain a steady course amid all the adversities of life marks a great mind."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 84. "To love our Maker supremely and our neighbor as ourselves comprehends the whole moral law."--_Ibid._ "To be afraid to do wrong is true courage."--_Ib._, p. 85. "A great fortune in the hands of a fool is a great misfortune."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 89. "That he should make such a remark is indeed strange."--_Farnum, Practical Gram._, p. 30. "To walk in the fields and groves is delightful."--_Id., ib._ "That he committed the fault is most certain."--_Id., ib._ "Names common to all things of the same sort or class are called _Common nouns_; as, _man, woman, day_."--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p. 12. "That it is our duty to be pious _admits_ not of any doubt."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 118. "To endure misfortune with resignation is the characteristic of a great mind,"--_Id., ib._, p. 81. "The assisting of a friend in such circumstances was certainly a duty."--_Id., ib._, 81. "That a life of virtue is the safest is certain."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 169. "A collective noun denoting the idea of unity should be represented by a pronoun of the singular number."--_Ib._, p. 167. UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "When the sun had arisen the enemy retreated."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 85. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma here separates the two simple members which compose the sentence. But, according to Rule 2d, "The simple members of a compound sentence, whether successive or involved, elliptical or complete, are generally divided by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be inserted after _arisen_; thus, "When the sun had arisen, the enemy retreated."] "If he _become_ rich he may be less industrious."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 118. "The more I study grammar the better I like it."--_Id., ib._, p. 127. "There is much truth in the old adage that fire is a better servant than master."--_Id., ib._, p. 128. "The verb _do_, when used as an auxiliary gives force or emphasis to the expression."--_Day's Gram._, p. 39. "Whatsoever it is incumbent upon a man to do it is surely expedient to do well."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhetoric_, Vol. i, p. 46. "The soul which our philosophy divides into various capacities, is still one essence."--_Channing, on Self-Culture_, p. 15. "Put the following words in the plural and give the rule for forming it."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 19. "We will do it if you wish."--_Id., ib._, p. 29. "He who does well will be rewarded."--_Id., ib._, 29. "That which is always true is expressed in the present tense."--_Id., ib._, p. 119. "An observation which is always true must be expressed in the present tense."--_Id., Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 123. "That part of orthography which treats of combining letters to form syllables and words is called SPELLING."--_Day's Gram._, p. 8. "A noun can never be of the first person except it is in apposition with a pronoun of that person."--_Ib._, p. 14. "When two or more singular nouns or pronouns refer to the same object they require a singular verb and pronoun."--_Ib._, p. 80. "James has gone but he will return in a few days."--_Ib._, 89. "A pronoun should have the same person, number, and gender as the noun for which it stands."--_Ib._, 89 and 80. "Though he is out of danger he is still afraid."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 80. "She is his inferior in sense but his equal in prudence."--_Ib._, p. 81. "The man who has no sense of religion is little to be trusted."--_Ib._, 81. "He who does the most good has the most pleasure."--_Ib._, 81. "They were not in the most prosperous circumstances when we last saw them."--_Ib._, 81. "If the day continue pleasant I shall return."--_Felton's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 22; Ster. Ed., 24. "The days that are past are gone for ever."--_Ib._, pp. 89 and 92. "As many as are friendly to the cause will sustain it."--_Ib._, 89 and 92. "Such as desire aid will receive it."--_Ib._, 89 and 92. "Who gave you that book which you prize so much?"--_Bullions, Pract. Lessons_, p. 32. "He who made it now preserves and governs it."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 83. "Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleased with nothing if not blessed with all?" --_Felton's Gram._, p. 126. UNDER THE EXCEPTIONS CONCERNING SIMPLE MEMBERS. "Newcastle is the town, in which Akenside was born."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 54. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because a needless comma here separates the restrictive relative _which_ from its antecedent _town_. But, according to Exception 1st to Rule 2d, "When a relative immediately follows its antecedent, and is taken in a restrictive sense, the comma should not be introduced before it." Therefore, this comma Should be omitted; thus, "Newcastle is the town in which Akenside was born."] "The remorse, which issues in reformation, is true repentance."--_Campbell's Philos. of Rhet._, p. 255. "Men, who are intemperate, are destructive members of community."--_Alexander's Gram._, p. 93. "An active-transitive verb expresses an action, which extends to an object."--_Felton's Gram._, pp. 16 and 22. "They, to whom much is given, will have much to answer for."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 188. "The prospect, which we have, is charming."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 143. "He is the person, who informed me of the matter."--_Ib._, p. 134; _Cooper's Murray_, 120. "These are the trees, that produce no fruit."--_Ib._, 134; and 120. "This is the book, which treats of the subject."--_Ib._, 134; and 120. "The proposal was such, as pleased me."--_Cooper, Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 134. "Those, that sow in tears, shall reap in joy."--_Id., ib._, pp. 118 and 124; and _Cooper's Murray_, p. 141. "The pen, with which I write, makes too large a mark."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 71. "Modesty makes large amends for the pain, it gives the persons, who labour under it, by the prejudice, it affords every worthy person in their favour."--_Ib._, p. 80. "Irony is a figure, whereby we plainly intend something very different from what our words express."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 108. "Catachresis is a figure, whereby an improper word is used instead of a proper one."--_Ib._, p. 109. "The man, whom you met at the party, is a Frenchman."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 155. UNDER RULE III.--OF MORE THAN TWO WORDS. "John, James and Thomas are here: that is, John _and_ James, &c."--_Cooper's Plain and Practical Grammar_, p. 153. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here used after _James_, or after _Thomas_, or again after _John_, in the latter clause; the three nouns being supposed to be in the same construction, and all of them nominatives to the verb _are_. But, according to Rule 3d for the Comma, "When more than two words or terms are connected in the same construction, or in a joint dependence on some other term, by conjunctions expressed or understood, the comma should be inserted after every one of them but the last; and, if they are nominatives before a verb, the comma should follow the last also." Therefore, the comma should be inserted after each; thus, "John, James, and Thomas, are here: that is, John, _and_ James, and Thomas, are here."][463] "Adverbs modify verbs adjectives and other adverbs."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 97. "To Nouns belong Person, Gender, Number and Case."--_Id., Practical Lessons_, p. 12. "Wheat, corn, rye, and oats are extensively cultivated."--_Id., ib._, p. 13. "In many, the definitions, rules and leading facts are prolix, inaccurate and confused."--_Finch's Report on Gram._, p. 3. "Most people consider it mysterious, difficult and useless."--_Ib._, p. 3. "His father and mother, and uncle reside at Rome."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 11. "The relative pronouns are _who, which_ and _that_."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 29. "_That_ is sometimes a demonstrative, sometimes a relative and sometimes a conjunction."--_Id., ib._, p. 33. "Our reputation, virtue, and happiness greatly depend on the choice of our companions."--_Day's Gram._, p. 92. "The spirit of true religion is social, kind and cheerful."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 81. "_Do, be, have_ and _will_ are sometimes principal verbs."--_Ib._, p. 26. "John and Thomas and Peter reside at Oxford."--_Webster, Philos. Gram._, p. 142; _Improved Gram._, p. 96. "The most innocent pleasures are the most rational, the most delightful and the most durable."--_Id., ib._, pp. 215 and 151. "Love, joy, peace and blessedness are reserved for the good."--_Id., ib._, 215 and 151. "The husband, wife and children, suffered extremely."--_Murray's Gram._, 4th Am. Ed., 8vo, p. 269. "The husband, wife, and children suffer extremely."--_Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 268. "He, you, and I have our parts assigned us."--_Ibid._ "He moaned, lamented, tugged and tried, Repented, promised, wept and sighed."--_Felton's Gr._, p. 108. UNDER RULE IV.--OF ONLY TWO WORDS. "Disappointments derange, and overcome, vulgar minds."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 15. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the two verbs here connected by _and_, are needlessly separated from each other, and from their object following. But, according to Rule 4th, "When only two words or terms are connected by a conjunction, they should not be separated by the comma." Therefore, these two commas should be omitted; thus, "Disappointments derange and overcome vulgar minds."] "The hive of a city, or kingdom, is in the best condition, when there is the least noise or buzz in it."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 171. "When a direct address is made, the noun, or pronoun, is in the nominative case independent."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 88. "The verbs _love_ and _teach_, make _loved_, and _taught_, in the imperfect and participle."--_Ib._, p. 97. "Neither poverty, nor riches were injurious to him."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 133. "Thou, or I am in fault."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 136. "A verb is a word that expresses action, or being."--_Day's District School Gram._, pp. 11 and 61. "The Objective Case denotes the object of a verb, or a preposition."--_Ib._, pp. 17 and 19. "Verbs of the second conjugation may be either transitive, or intransitive."--_Ib._, p. 41. "Verbs of the fourth conjugation may be either transitive, or intransitive."--_Ib._, 41. "If a verb does not form its past indicative by adding _d_, or _ed_ to the indicative present, it is said to be _irregular_."--_Ib._, 41. "The young lady is studying rhetoric, and logic."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 143. "He writes, and speaks the language very correctly."--_Ib._, p. 148. "Man's happiness, or misery, is, in a great measure, put into his own hands."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 183. "This accident, or characteristic of nouns, is called their _Gender_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, 1843, p. 195. "Grant that the powerful still the weak controul; Be Man the Wit, and Tyrant of the whole." --POPE: _Brit. Poets_, vi, 375. UNDER EXCEPTION I.--TWO WORDS WITH ADJUNCTS. "Franklin is justly considered the ornament of the new world and the pride of modern philosophy."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 88. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the words _ornament_ and _pride_, each of which has adjuncts, are here connected by _and_ without a comma before it. But, according to Exception 1st to Rule 4th, "When the two words connected have several adjuncts, or when one of them has an adjunct that relates not to both, the comma is inserted." Therefore, a comma should be set before _and_; thus, "Franklin is justly considered the ornament of the New World, and the pride of modern philosophy."] "Levity and attachment to worldly pleasures, destroy the sense of gratitude to him."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 183. "In the following Exercise, point out the adjectives and the substantives which they qualify."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 100. "When a noun or pronoun is used to explain or give emphasis to a preceding noun or pronoun."--_Day's Gram._, p. 87. "Superior talents and _briliancy_ of intellect do not always constitute a great man."--_Ib._, p. 92. "A word that makes sense after an _article_ or the phrase _speak of_, is a noun."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 12. "All feet used in poetry, are reducible to eight kinds; four of two syllables and four of three."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 123. "He would not do it himself nor let me do it."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 113.[464] "The old writers give examples of the subjunctive mode and give other modes to explain what is meant by the words in the subjunctive."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 352. UNDER EXCEPTION II.--TWO TERMS CONTRASTED. "We often commend as well as censure imprudently."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 214. "It is as truly a violation of the right of property, to take little as to take much; to purloin a book, or a penknife, as to steal money; to steal fruit as to steal a horse; to defraud the revenue as to rob my neighbour; to overcharge the public as to overcharge my brother; to cheat the postoffice as to cheat my friend."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 1st Edition, p. 254. "The classification of verbs has been and still is a vexed question."--_Bullions, E. Grammar_, Revised Edition, p. 200. "Names applied only to individuals of a sort or class and not common to all, are called _Proper Nouns_."--_Id., Practical Lessons_, p. 12. "A hero would desire to be loved as well as to be reverenced."--_Day's Gram._, p. 108. "Death or some worse misfortune now divides them."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 133. "Alexander replied, 'The world will not permit two suns nor two sovereigns.'"--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 113. "From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike." --_Felton's Gram._, p. 131. UNDER EXCEPTION III.--ALTERNATIVE OF WORDS. "_Metre_ or _Measure_ is the number of poetical feet which a verse contains."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 123. "The _Caesura_ or _division_, is the pause which takes place in a verse, and which divides it into two parts."--_Ib._, 123. "It is six feet or one fathom deep."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 113. "A BRACE is used in poetry at the end of a triplet or three lines which rhyme together."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 142. "There are four principal kinds of English verse or poetical feet."--_Ib._, p. 143. "The period or full stop denotes the end of a complete sentence."--_Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 271. "The scholar is to receive as many _jetons_ or counters as there are words in the sentence."--_St. Quentin's Gram._, p. 16. "_That_ [thing] or _the thing which_ purifies, fortifies also the heart."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 74. "_That thing_ or _the thing which_ would induce a laxity in public or private morals, or indifference to guilt and wretchedness, should be regarded as the deadly Sirocco."--_Ib._, 74. "What is elliptically _what thing_ or _that thing which_."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 99. "_Demonstrate_ means _show_ or _point out precisely_."--_Ib._, p. 139. "_The_ man or _that_ man, who endures to the end, shall be saved."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 73. UNDER EXCEPTION IV.--A SECOND COMMA. "Reason, passion answer one great end."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 152; _Hiley's_, p. 112. "Reason, virtue answer one great aim."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 194; _Butler's_, 204. "Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 90. "Every plant, and every tree produces others after its kind."--_Day's Gram._, p. 91. "James, and not John was paid for his services."--_Ib._, 91. "The single dagger, or obelisk [Dagger] is the second."--_Ib._, p. 113. "It was I, not he that did it."--_St. Quentin's Gram._, p. 152. "Each aunt, (and) each cousin hath her speculation."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 139. "'I shall see you _when_ you come,' is equivalent to 'I shall see you _then_, or _at that time_ when you come.'"--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, p. 121. "Let wealth, let honour wait the wedded dame, August her deed, and sacred be her fame."--_Pope_, p. 334. UNDER RULE V.--OF WORDS IN PAIRS. "My hopes and fears, joys and sorrows centre in you."--B. GREENLEAF: _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 268. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma here separates the second pair of nominatives from the verb. But, according to Rule 5th, "When successive words are joined in pairs by conjunctions, they should be separated in pairs by the comma." Therefore, an other comma should be inserted after _sorrows_; thus, "My hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, centre in you."] "This mood implies possibility, or liberty, will, or obligation."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 113. "Substance is divided into Body, and Spirit into Extended and Thinking."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 253. "These consonants, [_d_ and _t_,] like _p_, and _b, f_, and _v, k_, and hard _g_, and _s_, and _z_, are letters of the same organ."--_Walkers Dict._, p. 41: _Principles_, No. 358. "Neither fig nor twist pigtail nor cavendish have passed my lips since, nor ever shall they again."--_Boston Cultivator_, Vol. vii, p. 36. "The words WHOEVER, or WHOSOEVER, WHICHEVER, or WHICHSOEVER, and WHATEVER, or WHATSOEVER are called COMPOUND RELATIVE PRONOUNS."--_Day's Gram._, p. 23. "Adjectives signifying profit or disprofit, likeness or unlikeness govern the dative."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, 12th Ed., 215. UNDER RULE VI.--OF WORDS ABSOLUTE. "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 135. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here set after _staff_, which, with the noun _rod_, is put absolute by pleonasm. But, according to Rule 6th, "Nouns or pronouns put absolute, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be here inserted; thus, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."--_Psalm_ xxiii, 4.] "Depart ye wicked."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 70. "He saith to his mother, Woman behold thy son."--_Gurney's Portable Evidences_, p. 44. "Thou God seest me."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 9; _Practical Lessons_, p. 13. "Thou, God seest me."--_Id., E. Gram._, Revised Ed., p. 195. "John write me a letter. Henry go home."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 356. "John; write a letter. Henry; go home."--_Ib._, p. 317. "Now, G. Brown; let us reason together."--_Ib._, p. 326. "Smith: You say on page 11, the objective case denotes the object."--_Ib._, p. 344. "Gentlemen: will you always speak as you mean?"--_Ib._, p. 352. "John: I sold my books to William for his brothers."--_Ib._, p. 47. "Walter and Seth: I will take my things, and leave yours."--_Ib._, p. 69. "Henry: Julia and Jane left their umbrella, and took yours."--_Ib._, p. 73. "John; harness the horses and go to the mine for some coal. William; run to the store for a few pounds of tea."--_Ib._, p. 160. "The king being dead the parliament was dissolved."--_Chandler's Gram._, p. 119. "Cease fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 173. "Forbear great man, in arms renown'd, forbear."--_Ib._, p. 174. "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, Each prayer accepted and each wish resign'd."--_Hiley's Gr._, p. 123. UNDER RULE VII.--WORDS IN APPOSITION. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice," &c.--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 200. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here set after the pronoun _We_, with which the word _people_, which has adjuncts, is in apposition. But, according to Rule 7th, "Words in apposition, (especially if they have adjuncts,) are generally set off by the comma." Therefore, an other comma should be here inserted; thus, "We, the people of the United States," &c.] "The Lord, the covenant God of his people requires it."--_Anti-Slavery Magazine_, Vol. i, p. 73. "He as a patriot deserves praise."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 124. "Thomson the watchmaker and jeweller from London, was of the party."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 128. "Every body knows that the person here spoken of by the name of _the conqueror_, is William duke of Normandy."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 33. "The words _myself, thyself, himself, herself_, and their plurals _ourselves, yourselves_, and _themselves_ are called Compound Personal Pronouns."--_Day's Gram._, p. 22. "For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?"--_U. Poems_, p. 68. UNDER EXCEPTIONS CONCERNING APPOSITION. "Smith and Williams' store; Nicholas, the emperor's army."--_Day's Gram._, p. 17. "He was named William, the conqueror."--_Ib._, p. 80. "John, the Baptist, was beheaded."--_Ib._, p. 87. "Alexander, the coppersmith, did me great harm."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 126. "A nominative in immediate apposition; as, 'The boy, _Henry_, speaks.'"--_Smart's Accidence_, p. 29. "A noun objective can be in apposition with some other; as, 'I teach the boy, _Henry_.'"--_Ib._, p. 30. UNDER RULE VIII.--OF ADJECTIVES. "But he found me, not singing at my work ruddy with health vivid with cheerfulness; but pale and dejected, sitting on the ground, and chewing opium." [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrases, "_ruddy with health_," and "_vivid with cheerfulness_," which begin with adjectives, are not here _commaed_. But, according to Rule 8th, "Adjectives, when something depends on them, or when they have the import of a dependent clause, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma." Therefore, two other commas should be here inserted; thus, "But he found me, not singing at my work, ruddy with health, vivid with cheerfulness; but pale," &c.--_Dr. Johnson_.] "I looked up, and beheld an inclosure beautiful as the gardens of paradise, but of a small extent."--See _Key._ "_A_ is an article, indefinite and belongs to '_book_.'"--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 10. "The first expresses the rapid movement of a troop of horse over the plain eager for the combat."--_Id., Lat. Gram._, p. 296. "He [, the Indian chieftain, King Philip,] was a patriot, attached to his native soil; a prince true to his subjects and indignant of their wrongs; a soldier daring in battle firm in adversity patient of fatigue, of hunger, of every variety of bodily suffering and ready to perish in the cause he had espoused."--See _Key_. "For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd dead Dost in these lines their artless tale relate." --_Union Poems_, p. 68. "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest: Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood." --_Day's Gram._, p. 117. "Idle after dinner in his chair Sat a farmer ruddy, fat, and fair." --_Hiley's Gram._, p. 125. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING ADJECTIVES. "When an attribute becomes a title, or is emphatically applied to a name, it follows it; as Charles, the Great; Henry, the First; Lewis, the Gross."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 153; _Improved Gram._, p. 107. "Feed me with food, convenient for me."--_Cooper's Practical Gram._, p. 118. "The words and phrases, necessary to exemplify every principle progressively laid down, will be found strictly and exclusively adapted to the illustration of the principles to which they are referred."--_Ingersoll's Gram., Pref._, p. x. "The _Infinitive Mode_ is that form of the verb which expresses action or being, unlimited by person, or number."--_Day's Gram._, p. 35. "A man, diligent in his business, prospers."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 113. "O wretched state! oh bosom, black as death!" --_Hallock's Gram._, p. 118. "O, wretched state! O, bosom, black as death!" --_Singer's Shak._, Vol. ii, p. 494. UNDER RULE IX.--OF FINITE VERBS. "The Singular denotes _one_; the Plural _more_ than one."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 12; _Pract. Lessons_, p. 16; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 7. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here set after _Plural_, where the verb _denotes_ is understood. But, according to Rule 9th, "Where a finite verb is understood, a comma is generally required." Therefore, a comma should be inserted at the place mentioned; thus, "The Singular denotes _one_; the Plural, _more_ than one."] "The _comma_ represents the shortest pause; the _semicolon_ a pause longer than the comma; the _colon_ longer than the semicolon; and the _period_ longer than the colon."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 111. "The comma represents the shortest pause; the semicolon a pause double that of the comma; the colon, double that of the semicolon; and the period, double that of the colon."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 151; _Pract. Lessons_, p. 127. "Who is applied only to persons; which to animals and things; what to things only; and that to persons, animals, and things."--_Day's Gram._, p. 23. "_A_ or _an_ is used before the singular number only; _the_ before either singular or plural."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 10. "Homer was the greater genius; Virgil the better artist."--_Day's Gram._, p. 96. "Homer was the greater genius, Virgil the better artist."--POPE'S PREFACE: _British Poets_, Vol. vi, p. viii. "Words are formed of syllables; syllables of letters."--_St. Quentin's General Gram._, p. 2. "The Conjugation of an active verb is styled the ACTIVE VOICE; and that of a passive verb the PASSIVE VOICE."--_Frost's El. of E. Gram._, p. 19. "The CONJUGATION of an active verb is styled the ACTIVE VOICE, and that of a passive verb the PASSIVE VOICE."--_Smith's New. Gram._, p. 171. "The possessive is sometimes called the genitive case; and the objective the accusative."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 12mo, p. 44. "Benevolence is allied to few vices; selfishness to fewer virtues."--_Kames, Art of Thinking_, p. 40. "Orthography treats of Letters, Etymology of Words, Syntax of Sentences, and Prosody of Versification."--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 21. "Earth praises conquerors for shedding blood; Heaven those that love their foes, and do them good."--See _Key_. UNDER RULE X.--OF INFINITIVES. "His business is to observe the agreement or disagreement of words."--_Bullions, E. Grammar_, Revised Edition, p. 189. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma here divides _to observe_ from the preceding verb. But, according to Rule 10th, "The infinitive mood, when it follows a verb from which it must be separated, or when it depends on something remote or understood, is generally, with its adjuncts, set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be inserted after _is_; thus, "His business is, to observe the agreement or disagreement of words."] "It is a mark of distinction to be made a member of this society."-- _Farnum's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 25; 2d Ed., p. 23. "To distinguish the conjugations let the pupil observe the following rules."--_Day's D. S. Gram._, p. 40. "He was now sent for to preach before the Parliament."-- _Life of Dr. J. Owen_, p. 18. "It is incumbent on the young to love and honour their parents."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 83. "It is the business of every man to prepare for death."--_Id., ib._, 83. "It argued the sincerest candor to make such an acknowledgement."--_Id., ib._, p. 115. "The proper way is to complete the construction of the first member, and leave that of the second understood."--_Ib., ib._, p. 125. "ENEMY is a name. It is a term of distinction given to a certain person to show the character in which he is represented."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 23. "The object of this is to preserve the soft sound of _c_ and _g_."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 29. "The design of grammar is to facilitate the _reading, writing_, and _speaking_ of a language."--_Barrett's Gram._, 10th Ed., Pref., p. iii. "Four kinds of type are used in the following pages to indicate the portions that are considered more or less elementary."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 3. UNDER RULE XI.--OF PARTICIPLES. "The chancellor being attached to the king secured his crown."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 114. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the phrase, "being attached to the king," is not _commaed_. But, according to Rule 11th, "Participles, when something depends on them, when they have the import of a dependent clause, or when they relate to something understood, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma." Therefore, two commas should be here inserted; thus, "The chancellor, being attached to the king, secured his crown."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 66.] "The officer having received his orders, proceeded to execute them."-- _Day's Gram._, p. 108. "Thus used it is in the present tense."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, Revised Ed., p. 33. "The _Imperfect_ tense has three distinct forms corresponding to those of the present tense."--_Id., ib._, p. 40. "Every possessive case is governed by some noun denoting the thing possessed."--_Id., ib._, p. 87. "The word _that_ used as a conjunction is preceded by a comma."--_Id., ib._, p. 154. "His narrative being composed upon such good authority, deserves credit."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._, p. 97. "The hen being in her nest, was killed and eaten there by the eagle."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo. p. 252. "Pronouns being used instead of nouns are subject to the same modifications."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 92. "When placed at the beginning of words they are consonants."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 14. "Man starting from his couch, shall sleep no more."--_Ib._, p. 222. "_His_ and _her_ followed by a noun are possessive pronouns: not followed by a noun they are personal pronouns."--_Bullions, Practical Lessons_, p. 33. "He with viny crown advancing, First to the lively pipe his hand addressed."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 83. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING PARTICIPLES. "But when they convey the idea of many, acting individually, or separately, they are of the plural number."--_Day's Gram._, p. 15. "Two or more singular antecedents, connected by _and_ require verbs and pronouns of the plural number."--_Ib._, pp. 80 and 91. "Words ending in _y_, preceded by a consonant, change _y_ into _i_ when a termination is added."--_Butlers Gram._, p. 11. "A noun, used without an article to limit it, is generally taken in its widest sense."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 30. "Two nouns, meaning the same person or thing, frequently come together."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 89. "Each one must give an account to God for the use, or the abuse of the talents, committed to him."--_Coopers Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 133. "Two vowels, united in one sound, form a diphthong."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 6. "Three vowels, united in one sound, form a triphthong."--_Ib._ "Any word, joined to an adverb, is a secondary adverb."--_Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 68. "The person, spoken to, is put in the Second person. The person, spoken of, in the Third person."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 14. "A man, devoted to his business, prospers."--_Frost's Pr. Gram._, p. 113. UNDER RULE XII.--OF ADVERBS. "So in indirect questions; as, 'Tell me _when_ he will come.'"--_Butler's Gram._, p. 121. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adverb _So_ is not set off by the comma. But according to Rule 12th, "Adverbs, when they break the connexion of a simple sentence, or when they have not a close dependence on some particular word in the context, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be inserted after _So_; thus, "So, in indirect questions; as," &c.] "Now when the verb tells what one person or thing does to another, the verb is transitive."--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p 37. "Agreeably to your request I send this letter."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 141. "There seems therefore, to be no good reason for giving them a different classification."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 199. "Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Matt._, xiii, 45. "Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea."--_Ib, ib._, verse 47. "_Cease_ however, is used as a transitive verb by our best writers."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 171. "Time admits of three natural divisions, namely: Present, Past, and Future."--_Day's Gram._, p. 37. "There are three kinds of comparison, namely: regular, irregular, and adverbial."--_Ib._, p. 31. "There are five Personal Pronouns namely: _I, thou, he, she_, and _it_."--_Ib._, p. 22. "Nouns have three cases, viz. the Nominative, Possessive, and Objective."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 16; _P. Lessons_, p. 19. "Hence in studying Grammar, we have to study words."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 18. "Participles like Verbs relate to Nouns and Pronouns."--_Miller's Ready Grammarian_, p. 23. "The time of the participle like that of the infinitive is estimated from the time of the leading verb."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 97. "The dumb shall sing the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 123. UNDER RULE XIII.--OF CONJUNCTIONS. "But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and SMITH'S: _Matt._, xiii, 29. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is inserted after _lest_. But, according to Rule 13th, "Conjunctions, when they are separated from the principal clauses that depend on them, or when they introduce examples, are generally set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be put after the word _lest_; thus, "But he said, Nay; lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."--SCOTT'S BIBLE, ALGER'S, BRUCE'S.] "Their intentions were good; but wanting prudence, they missed the mark at which they aimed."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, Vol. ii, p. 221. "The verb _be_ often separates the name from its attribute; as war is expensive."-- _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 153. "_Either_ and _or_ denote an alternative; as 'I will take _either_ road at your pleasure.'"--_Ib._, p. 63; _Imp. Gram._, 45. "_Either_ is also a substitute for a name; as '_Either_ of the roads is good.'"--_Webster, both Grams._, 63 and 45. "But alas! I fear the consequence."--_Day's Gram._, p. 74. "Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"--_Scott's Bible, and Smith's_. "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?"--_Smiths Bible_. "The infinitive sometimes performs the office of a nominative case, as 'To enjoy is to obey.'--POPE."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 62. "The plural is commonly formed by adding _s_ to the singular, as _book, books_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 12. "As 'I _were_ to blame, if I did it.'"--_Smart's Accidence_, p. 16. "Or if it be thy will and pleasure Direct my plough to find a treasure."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 124. "Or if it be thy will and pleasure, Direct my plough to find a treasure."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 185. UNDER RULE XIV.--OF PREPOSITIONS. "Pronouns agree with the nouns for which they stand in gender, number, and person."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, pp. 141 and 148; _Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 150. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the preposition _in_ has not the comma before it, as the text requires. But, according to Rule 14th, "Prepositions and their objects, when they break the connexion of a simple sentence, or when they do not closely follow the words on which they depend, are generally set off by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be here inserted; thus, "Pronouns agree with the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number, and person." Or the words may be transposed, and the comma set before _with_; thus, "Pronouns agree _in_ gender, number, and person, _with_ the nouns for which they stand."] "In the first two examples the antecedent is _person_, or something equivalent; in the last it is _thing_."--_Butler_, ib., p. 53. "In what character he was admitted is unknown."--_Ib._, p. 55. "To what place he was going is not known."--_Ib._, p. 55. "In the preceding examples _John, Caesar_, and _James_ are the subjects."--_Ib._, p. 59. "_Yes_ is generally used to denote assent in _the_ answer to a question."--_Ib._, p. 120. "_That_ in its origin is the passive participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb _thean, to take_"--_Ib._, p. 127. "But in all these sentences _as_ and _so_ are _adverbs_."--_Ib._, p. 127. "After an interjection or exclamatory sentence is placed the mark of exclamation."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 116. "Intransitive verbs from their nature can have no distinction of voice."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 30. "To the inflection of verbs belong Voices, Moods, Tenses, Numbers, and Persons."--_Id._, ib., p. 33; _Pract. Lessons_, p. 41. "_As_ and _so_ in the antecedent member of a comparison are properly adverbs."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 113. "In the following Exercise point out the words in apposition."--_Id., P. Lessons_, p. 103. "In the following Exercise point out the noun or pronoun denoting the possessor."-- _Id., ib._, p. 105. "_Its_ is not found in the Bible except by misprint."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 68. "No one's interest is concerned except mine."--_Ib._, p. 70. "In most of the modern languages there are four concords."--_St. Quentin's Gen. Gram._, p. 143. "In illustration of these remarks let us suppose a case."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 104. "On the right management of the emphasis depends the life of pronunciation."-- _Ib._, p. 172; _Murray's_, 8vo, p. 242. UNDER RULE XV.--OF INTERJECTIONS. "Behold he is in the desert."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Matt._, xxiv, 26. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the interjection _Behold_, which has usually a comma after it in Scripture, has here no point. But, according to Rule 15th, "Interjections that require a pause, though more commonly emphatic and followed by the ecphoneme, are sometimes set off by the comma." In this instance, a comma should be used; thus, "Behold, he is in the desert."--_Common Bible_.] "And Lot said unto them, Oh not so my Lord."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xix, 18. "Oh let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."--SCOTT: _Gen._, xix, 20. "Behold! I come quickly.--BIBLE."--_Day's Gram._, p. 74. "Lo! I am with you always."--_Day's Gram._, pp. 10 and 73. "And lo! I am with you always."--_Ib._, pp. 78 and 110. "And lo, I am with you alway."--SCOTT'S BIBLE, and BRUCE'S: _Matt._, xxviii, 20. "Ha! ha! ha! how laughable that is."--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p. 83. "Interjections of _Laughter_,--Ha! he! hi! ho!"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 121. UNDER RULE XVI.--OF WORDS REPEATED. "Lend lend your wings! I mount! I fly!"--_Example varied_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the repeated word _lend_ has here no comma. But, according to Rule 16th, "A word emphatically repeated, is generally set off by the comma." In this instance, a comma is required after the former _lend_, but not after the latter; thus, "Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!"--_Pope's Poems_, p. 317. ] "To bed to bed to bed. There is a knocking at the gate. Come come come. What is done cannot be undone. To bed to bed to bed."--See _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 130. "I will roar, that the duke shall cry, Encore encore let him roar let him roar once more once more."--See ib., p. 136. "Vital spark of heav'nly flame, Quit oh quit this mortal frame."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 126. "Vital spark of heav'nly flame, Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame!"--_Bullions, E. Gr._, p. 172. "O the pleasing pleasing Anguish, When we love, and when we languish."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 161. "Praise to God immortal praise For the love that crowns our days!"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 124. UNDER RULE XVII.--OF DEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "Thus, of an infant, we say '_It_ is a lovely creature.'"--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 12. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because no comma is here inserted between _say_ and the citation which follows. But, according to Rule 17th, "A quotation, observation, or description, when it is introduced in close dependence on a verb, (as, _say, reply, cry_, or the like.) is generally separated from the rest of the sentence by the comma." Therefore, a comma should be put after _say_; as, "Thus, of an infant, we say, '_It_ is a lovely creature.'"] "No being can state a falsehood in saying _I am_; for no one can utter it, if it is not true."--_Cardell's Gram._, 18mo, p. 118. "I know they will cry out against this and say 'should he pay, means if he should pay.'"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 352. "For instance, when we say '_the house is building_,' the advocates of the new theory ask, 'building _what_?' We might ask in turn, when you say 'the field ploughs well,' ploughs _what_? 'Wheat sells well,' sells _what_? If _usage_ allows us to say 'wheat _sells_ at a dollar' in a sense that is not active, why may it not also allow us to say 'wheat _is selling_ at a dollar' in a sense that is not active?"--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 76. "_Man_ is accountable, equals _mankind_ are accountable."--_S. Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 37. "Thus, when we say 'He may be reading,' _may_ is the real verb; the other parts are verbs by name only."--_Smart's English Accidence_, p. 8. "Thus we say _an apple, an hour_, that two vowel sounds may not come together."--_Ib._, p. 27. "It would be as improper to say _an unit_, as to say _an youth_; to say _an one_, as to say _an wonder_."--_Ib._, p. 27. "When we say 'He died for the truth,' _for_ is a preposition."--_Ib._, p. 28. "We do not say 'I might go yesterday,' but 'I might have gone yesterday.'"--_Ib._, p. 11. "By student, we understand one who has by matriculation acquired the rights of academical citizenship; but, by bursche, we understand one who has already spent a certain time at the university."--_Howitt's Student-Life in Germany_, p. 27. SECTION II.--THE SEMICOLON. The Semicolon is used to separate those parts of a compound sentence, which are neither so closely connected as those which are distinguished by the comma, nor so little dependent as those which require the colon. RULE I.--COMPLEX MEMBERS. When two or more complex members, or such clauses as require the comma in themselves, are constructed into a period, they are generally separated by the semicolon: as, "In the regions inhabited by angelic natures, unmingled felicity forever blooms; joy flows there with a perpetual and abundant stream, nor needs any mound to check its course."--_Carter_. "When the voice rises, the gesture naturally ascends; and when the voice makes the falling inflection, or lowers its pitch, the gesture follows it by a corresponding descent; and, in the level and monotonous pronunciation of the voice, the gesture seems to observe a similar limitation, by moving rather in the horizontal direction, without much varying its elevation."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 107. "The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me; But shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it."--_Addison_. RULE II.--SIMPLE MEMBERS. When two or more simple members, or such clauses as complete their sense without subdivision, are constructed into a period; if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, they are usually separated by the semicolon: as, "Straws swim upon the surface; but pearls lie at the bottom."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 276. "Every thing grows old; every thing passes away; every thing disappears."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 115. "Alexander asked them the distance of the Persian capital; what forces the king of Persia could bring into the field; what the Persian government was; what was the character of the king; how he treated his enemies; what were the most direct ways into Persia."--_Whelpley's Lectures_, p. 175. "A longer care man's helpless kind demands; That longer care contracts more lasting bands."--_Pope_. RULE III.--OF APPOSITION, &C. Words in apposition, in disjunct pairs, or in any other construction, if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, and less than that of the colon, may be separated by the semicolon: as, "Pronouns have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 51. "Judge, judgement; lodge, lodgement; acknowledge, acknowledgement."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 11. "Do not the eyes discover humility, pride; cruelty, compassion; reflection, dissipation; kindness, resentment?"--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 159. "This rule forbids parents to lie to children, and children to parents; instructors to pupils, and pupils to instructors; the old to the young, and the young to the old; attorneys to jurors, and jurors to attorneys; buyers to sellers, and sellers to buyers."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 304. "_Make, made; have, had; pay, paid; say, said; leave, left; Dream, dreamt; mean, meant; reave_ and _bereave_ have _reft_." --_Ward's Gr._, p. 66. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE SEMICOLON. UNDER RULE I.--OF COMPLEX MEMBERS. "The buds spread into leaves, and the blossoms swell to fruit, but they know not how they grow, nor who causes them to spring up from the bosom of the earth."--_Day's E. Gr._, p. 72. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the two chief members which compose this period, are separated only by the comma after "_fruit_." But, according to Rule 1st for the Semicolon, "When two or more complex members, or such clauses as require the comma in themselves, are constructed into a period, they are generally separated by the semicolon." Therefore, the pause after "_fruit_" should be marked by a semicolon.] "But he used his eloquence chiefly against Philip, king of Macedon, and, in several orations, he stirred up the Athenians to make war against him."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 84. "For the sake of euphony, the _n_ is dropped before a consonant, and because most words begin with a consonant, this of course is its more common form.'"--_Ib._, p. 192. "But if I say 'Will _a_ man be able to carry this burden?' it is manifest the idea is entirely changed, the reference is not to number, but to the species, and the answer might be 'No; but a horse will.'"--_Ib._, p. 193. "In direct discourse, a noun used by a speaker or writer to designate himself, is said to be of the _first_ person--used to designate the person addressed, it is said to be of the _second_ person, and when used to designate a person or thing spoken of, it is said to be of the _third_ person."--_Ib._, p. 195. "Vice stings us, even in our pleasures, but virtue consoles us, even in our pains."--_Day's Gram._, p. 84. "Vice is infamous though in a prince, and virtue honorable though in a peasant."--_Ib._, p. 72. "Every word that is the name of a person or thing, is a _Noun_, because 'A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing.'"--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p. 83. "This is the sword, with which he did the deed, And that the shield by which he was defended."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 56. UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "A deathlike paleness was diffused over his countenancee [sic--KTH], a chilling terror convulsed his frame; his voice burst out at intervals into broken accents."--_Principles of Eloquence_, p. 73. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the first pause in this sentence is not marked by a suitable point. But, according to Rule 2d for the Semicolon, "When two or more simple members, or such clauses as complete their sense without subdivision, are constructed into a period; if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, they are usually separated by the semicolon." Therefore, the comma after "_countenance_" should be changed to a semicolon.] "The Lacedemonians never traded--they knew no luxury--they lived in houses built of rough materials--they lived at public tables--fed on black broth, and despised every thing effeminate or luxurious."--_Whelpley's Lectures_, p. 167. "Government is the agent. Society is the principal."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, 1st Ed., p. 377. "The essentials of speech were anciently supposed to be sufficiently designated by the _Noun_ and the _Verb_, to which was subsequently added, the _Conjunction_"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 191. "The first faint gleamings of thought in its mind are but the reflections from the parents' own intellect,--the first manifestations of temperament are from the contagious parental fountain,--the first aspirations of soul are but the warmings and promptings of the parental spirit."--_Jocelyn's Prize Essay_, p. 4. "_Older_ and _oldest_ refer to maturity of age, _elder_ and _eldest_ to priority of right by birth. _Farther_ and _farthest_ denote place or distance: _Further_ and _furthest_, quantity or addition."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 148. "Let the divisions be _natural_, such as obviously suggest themselves to the mind, and as may aid your main design, and be easily remembered."--_Goldsbury's Manual of Gram._, p. 91. "Gently make haste, of labour not afraid: A hundred times consider what you've said."--_Dryden's Art of Poetry_. UNDER RULE III.--OF APPOSITION, &c. (1.) "Adjectives are divided into two classes: _Adjectives denoting quality_, and _Adjectives denoting number_."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 31. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the colon after the word "_classes_," is not the most suitable sign of the pause required. But according to Rule 3d for the Semicolon, "Words in apposition, in disjunct pairs, or in any other construction if they require a pause greater than that of the comma, and less than that of the colon, maybe separated by the semicolon." In this case, the semicolon should have been preferred to the colon.] (2.) "There are two classes of adjectives--_qualifying_ adjectives, and _limiting_ adjectives."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 33. (3.) "There are three Genders, the _Masculine_, the _Feminine_, and the _Neuter_."-- _Frost's Pract. Gram._, p. 51; _Hiley's Gram._, p. 12; _Alger's_, 16; _S. Putnam's_, 14: _Murray's_, 8vo, 37; _and others_. (4.) "There are three genders: the MASCULINE, the FEMININE, and the NEUTER."--_Murray's Gram._, 12mo. p. 39; _Jaudon's_, 25. (5.) "There are three genders: The _Masculine_, the _Feminine_, and the _Neuter_."--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 15. (6.) "The Singular denotes ONE, and the Plural MORE THAN ONE."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 40. (7.) "There are three Cases viz., the _Nominative_, the _Possessive_, and the _Objective_"--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 7. (8.) "Nouns have three cases, the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."-- _Kirkham's Gram._, p. 41. (9.) "In English, nouns have three cases--the nominative, the possessive, and the objective."--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p. 47. (10.) "Grammar is divided into four parts, namely, ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, PROSODY."--_Ib._, p. 41. (11) "It is divided into four parts, viz. ORTHOGRAPHY, ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, and PROSODY."--_L. Murray's Grammars all; T. Smith's Gram._, p. 5. (12.) "It is divided into four parts: viz. Orthography--Etymology--Syntax--Prosody."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 3. (13.) "It is divided into four parts, namely, Orthography. Etymology, Syntax and Prosody."--_Day's Gram._, p. 5. (14.) "It is divided into four parts: viz. _Orthography, Etymology, Syntax_ and _Prosody_."--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 11. (15.) "Grammar is divided into four parts: viz. Orthography, Etymology. Syntax and Prosody."--_Chandler's Gram._, p, 13. (16.) "It is divided into four parts: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 1; _Frost's Pract. Gram._, 19. (17.) "English grammar has been usually divided into four parts, viz: Orthography, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 13. (18.) "Temperance leads to happiness, intemperance to misery."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 137 _Hart's_, 180. (19.) "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy his crimes."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 137 (20.) "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues: an enemy his crimes."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo., p. 325 (21.) "Many writers use a _plural noun_ after the second of two numeral adjectives, thus, 'The first and second pages are torn.'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 145 (22.) "Of these, the Latin has six, the Greek, five, the German, four, the Saxon, six, the French, three, &c."--_Id., ib._, p. 196. "In (_ing_) it ends, when _doing_ is express'd, In _d, t, n_, when _suffering's_ confess'd." --_Brightland's Gram._, p. 93. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "In old books _i_ is often used for _j, v_ for _u, vv_ for _w_, and _ii_ or _ij_ for _y_."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 22. "The forming of letters into words and syllables is also called _Spelling_."--_Ib._, p. 21. "Labials are formed chiefly by the _lips_, dentals by the _teeth_, palatals by the _palate_, gutturals by the _throat_, nasals by the _nose_, and linguals by the _tongue_."--_Ib._, p. 25. "The labials are _p, b, f, v_; the dentals _t, d, s, z_; the palatals _g_ soft and _j_; the gutturals _k, q_, and _c_ and _g_ hard; the nasals _m_ and _n_; and the linguals _l_ and _r_."--_Ib._, p. 25. "Thus, 'the man _having finished_ his letter, will carry it to the post office.'"--_Ib._, p. 75. "Thus, in the sentence 'he had a dagger _concealed_ under his cloak,' _concealed_ is passive, signifying _being_ concealed; but in the former combination, it goes to make up a form, the force of which is active."--_Ib._, p. 75. "Thus, in Latin, 'he had concealed the dagger' would be '_pugionem abdiderat_;' but 'he had the dagger concealed' would be '_pugionem abditum habebat_.'"-- _Ib._, p. 75. "_Here_, for instance, means 'in this place,' _now_, 'at this time,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 90. "Here _when_ both declares the _time_ of the action, and so is an adverb, and also _connects_ the two verbs, and so is a conjunction."--_Ib._, p. 91. "These words were all no doubt originally other parts of speech, viz.: verbs, nouns, and adjectives."--_Ib._, p. 92. "The principal parts of a sentence are the subject, the attribute, and the object, in other words the nominative, the verb, and the objective."-- _Ib._, p. 104. "Thus, the adjective is connected with the noun, the adverb with the verb or adjective, pronouns with their antecedents, &c."--_Ib._, p. 104. "_Between_ refers to two, _among_ to more than two."--_Ib._, p. 120. "_At_ is used after a verb of _rest, to_ after a verb of motion."--_Ib._, p. 120. "Verbs are of three kinds, Active, Passive, and Neuter."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 19; _Bullions, Prin._, 2d Ed., p. 29 "Verbs are divided into two classes: Transitive and Intransitive."--_Hendrick's Gram._, p. 28 "The Parts of Speech in the English language are nine, viz. The Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition. Interjection and Conjunction."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 7 "Of these the Noun, Pronoun, and Verb are declined, the rest are indeclinable."--_Id., ib._, p. 7; _Practical Lessons_, p. 9. "The first expression is called the 'Active form.' The second the 'Passive form.'"--_Welds Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 83; Abridged, p. 66. "O 'tis a godlike privilege to save, And he that scorns it is himself a slave."--_Cowper_, Vol. i., p. 123 SECTION III.--THE COLON. The Colon is used to separate those parts of a compound sentence, which are neither so closely connected as those which are distinguished by the semicolon, nor so little dependent as those which require the period. RULE I.--ADDITIONAL REMARKS. When the preceding clause is complete in itself, but is followed by some additional remark or illustration, especially if no conjunction is used, the colon is generally and properly inserted: as, "Avoid evil doers: in such society, an honest man may become ashamed of himself."--"See that moth fluttering incessantly round the candle: man of pleasure, behold thy image!"--_Art of Thinking_, p. 94. "Some things we can, and others we cannot do: we can walk, but we cannot fly."--_Beanie's Moral Science_, p. 112. "Remember Heav'n has an avenging rod: To smite the poor, is treason against God."--_Cowper_. RULE II.--GREATER PAUSES. When the semicolon has been introduced, or when it must be used in a subsequent member, and a still greater pause is required within the period, the colon should be employed: as, "Princes have courtiers, and merchants have partners; the voluptuous have companions, and the wicked have accomplices: none but the virtuous can have friends."--"Unless the truth of our religion be granted, a Christian must be the greatest monster in nature: he must at the same time be eminently wise, and notoriously foolish; a wise man in his practice, and a fool in his belief: his reasoning powers must be deranged by a constant delirium, while his conduct never swerves from the path of propriety."--_Principles of Eloquence_, p. 80. "A decent competence we fully taste; It strikes our sense, and gives a constant feast: More we perceive by dint of thought alone; The rich must labour to possess their own."--_Young_. RULE III.--INDEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. A quotation introduced without a close dependence on a verb or a conjunction, is generally preceded by the colon; as, "In his last moments, he uttered these words: 'I fall a sacrifice to sloth and luxury.'"--"At this the king hastily retorted: 'No put-offs, my lord; answer me presently.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 367. "The father addressed himself to them to this effect: 'O my sons, behold the power of unity!'"-- _Rippingham's Art of Speaking_, p. 85. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE COLON. UNDER RULE I.--ADDITIONAL REMARKS. "_Of_ is a preposition, it expresses the relation between _fear_ and _Lord_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 133. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the additional remark in this sentence is not sufficiently separated from the main clause, by the comma after the word _preposition_. But, according to Rule 1st for the Colon, "When the preceding clause is complete in itself, but is followed by some additional remark or illustration, especially if no conjunction is used, the colon is generally and properly inserted." Therefore, the colon should here be substituted for the comma.] "Wealth and poverty are both temptations to man; _that_ tends to excite pride, _this_ discontentment."--_Id., ib._, p. 93; see also _Lennie's Gram._, p. 81; _Murray's_, 56; _Ingersoll's_ 61; _Alger's_, 25; _Merchant's_, 44; _Hart's_, 137; _et al_. "Religion raises men above themselves, irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes; _this_ binds them down to a poor pitiable speck of perishable earth, _that_ opens for them a prospect in the skies."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 98; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 81. "Love not idleness, it destroys many."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 71. "Children, obey your parents; honour thy father and mother, is the first commandment with promise."--_Bullions, Pract. Lessons_, p. 88. "Thou art my hiding place, and my shield, I hope in thy promises."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 56. "The sun shall not smite me by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will preserve from evil. He will save my soul.--BIBLE."--_Ib._, p. 57. "Here Greece is assigned the highest place in the class of objects among which she is numbered--the nations of antiquity--she is one of them."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 79. "From short (as usual) and disturb'd repose I wake; how happy they who wake no more!"--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 216. UNDER RULE II.--GREATER PAUSES. "A taste _of_ a thing, implies actual enjoyment of it; but a taste for it, implies only capacity for enjoyment; as, 'When we have had a true taste of the pleasures of virtue, we can have no relish _for_ those of vice.'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 147. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pause after _enjoyment_ is marked only by a semicolon. But, according to Rule 2d for the Colon, "When the semicolon has been introduced, or when it must be used in a subsequent member, and a still greater pause is required within the period, the colon should be employed." Therefore, the second semicolon here should be changed to a colon.] "The Indicative mood simply declares a thing; as, He _loves_; He is _loved_; Or, it asks a question; as, _Lovest_ thou me?"--_Id., ib._, p. 35; _Pract. Lessons_, p. 43; _Lennie's Gr._, p. 20. "The Indicative Mood simply indicates or declares a thing: as, 'He _loves_, he is _loved_:' or it asks a question: as, 'Does he love?' 'Is he loved?'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 63; 12mo, p. 63. "The Imperfect (or Past) tense represents an action or event indefinitely as past; as, Caesar _came_, and _saw_, and _conquered_; or it represents the action definitely as unfinished and continuing at a certain time, now entirely past; as, My father _was coming_ home when I met him."--_Bullions, P. L._, p. 45; _E. Gr._, 39. "Some nouns have no plural; as, _gold, silver, wisdom, health_; others have no singular; as, _ashes, shears, tongs_; others are alike in both numbers; as, _sheep, deer, means, news_"--_Day's School Gram._, p. 15. "The same verb may be transitive in one sense, and intransitive in another; thus, in the sentence, 'He believes my story,' _believes_ is transitive; but in this phrase, 'He believes in God,' it is intransitive."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 61. "Let the divisions be _distinct_; one part should not include another, but each should have its proper place, and be of importance in that place, and all the parts well fitted together and united, should present a whole."--_Goldsbury's C. S. Gram._, p. 91. "In the use of the transitive verb there are always _three_ things implied,--the _actor_, the _act_, and the _object_ acted upon. In the use of the intransitive there are only _two_--the _subject_ or thing spoken of, and the _state_, or _action_ attributed to it."--_Bullions, E. Gram._ "Why labours reason? instinct were as well; Instinct far better; what can choose, can err." --_Brit. Poets_, Vol. viii. UNDER RULE III.--INDEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "The sentence may run thus; 'He is related to the same person, and is governed by him.'"--_Hart's Gram._ [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the semicolon is here inserted, in an unusual manner, before a quotation not closely dependent. But, according to Rule 3d for the Colon, "A quotation introduced without a close dependence on a verb or a conjunction, is generally preceded by the colon." Therefore, the colon should be here preferred.] "Always remember this ancient proverb, 'Know thyself.'"--_Hallock's Gram._ "Consider this sentence. The boy runs swiftly."--_Frazee's Gram._, Stereotype Ed. 1st Ed. "The comparative is used thus; 'Greece was more polished than any _other_ nation of antiquity.' The same idea is expressed by the superlative when the word _other_ is left out. Thus, 'Greece was the most polished nation of antiquity'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._ see _Lennie's Gram._ "Burke, in his speech on the Carnatic war, makes the following allusion to the well known fable of Cadmus's sowing dragon's teeth;--'Every day you are fatigued and disgusted with this cant, the Carnatic is a country that will soon recover, and become instantly as prosperous as ever. They think they are talking to innocents, who believe that by the sowing of dragon's teeth, men may come up ready grown and ready made.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, see also _Hart's_. "For sects he car'd not, 'they are not of us, Nor need we, brethren, their concerns discuss.'"--_Crabbe_. "Habit with him was all the test of truth, 'It must be right: I've done it from my youth.' Questions he answered in as brief a way, 'It must be wrong--it was of yesterday.'"--_Id., Borough_. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "This would seem to say, 'I doubt nothing save one thing, namely, that he will fulfil his promise;' whereas, that is the very thing not doubted."--_Bullions, E. Gram._. "The common use of language requires that a distinction be made between _morals_ and _manners_, the former depend upon internal dispositions, the latter on outward and visible accomplishments."--_Beattie's Moral Science_. "Though I detest war in each particular fibre of my heart yet I honor the Heroes among our fathers who fought with bloody hand: Peacemakers in a savage way they were faithful to their light; the most inspired can be no more, and we, with greater light, do, it may be, far less."--_Parker's Idea of a Church_. "The Article _the_, like _a_, must have a substantive joined with it, whereas _that_, like _one_, may have it understood; thus, speaking of books, I may select one, and say, 'give me that;' but not, 'give me _the_;' 'give me _one_;' but not 'give me _a_.'"--_Bullions's E. Gram._. "The Present tense has three distinct forms--the _simple_; as, I read; the _emphatic_; as, I do read; and the _progressive_; as, I am reading'."--_Ib._. "The tenses in English are usually reckoned six. The _Present_, the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, the _Pluperfect_, the _Future_, and the _Future Perfect_."--_Ib._. "There are three participles, the Present or Active, the Perfect or Passive, and the Compound Perfect; as, _loving, loved, having loved._"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 2d Edition; _Alger's_; _Fisk's_; _Bacon's_. "The Participles are three, the Present, the Perfect, and the Compound Perfect; as, _loving, loved, having loved_."--_Hart's Gram._. "_Will_ is conjugated regularly, when it is a principal verb, as, present, I will, past, I willed, &c."--_Frazee's Gram._, Ster. Ed.; Old Ed. "And both sounds of _x_ are compound, one is that of _gz_, and the other, that of _ks_"--_Ib._, Ster. Ed. "The man is happy: he is benevolent: he is useful."--_Cooper's Murray_; _Pl. and Pract. Gr._ "The Pronoun stands instead of the noun; as, The man is happy; _he_ is benevolent; _he_ is useful.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word: as, 'The man is happy,' '_he_ is benevolent,' '_he_ is useful.'"--_Ib._. "A pronoun is a word, used in the room of a noun, or as a substitute for one or more words, as: the man is happy; _he_ is benevolent; _he_ is useful."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram., his Abridg. of Mur._ "A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class of beings, or things, as: animal; tree; insect; fish; fowl"--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._ "Nouns have three persons: the first; the second; and the third."--_Ib._ "(Eve) so saying, her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit; she pluck'd, she ate Earth felt the wound: and nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of wo, That all was lost."--_Cooper's Pl. and Pr. Gram._ SECTION IV.--THE PERIOD. The Period, or Full Stop, is used to mark an entire and independent sentence, whether simple or compound. RULE I.--DISTINCT SENTENCES. When a sentence, whether long or short, is complete in respect to sense, and independent in respect to construction, it should be marked with the period: as, "Every deviation from truth is criminal. Abhor a falsehood. Let your words be ingenuous. Sincerity possesses the most powerful charm."--"The force of a true individual is felt through every clause and part of a right book; the commas and dashes are alive with it."--_R. W. Emerson_. "By frequent trying, TROY was won. All things, by trying, may be done."--_Lloyd_, p. 184. RULE II.--ALLIED SENTENCES. The period is often employed between two sentences which have a general connexion, expressed by a personal pronoun, a conjunction, or a conjunctive adverb: as, "The selfish man languishes in his narrow circle of pleasures. _They_ are confined to what affects his own interests. _He_ is obliged to repeat the same gratifications, till they become insipid. _But_ the man of virtuous sensibility moves in a wider sphere of felicity."--_Blair_. "And whether we shall meet again, I know not. _Therefore_ our everlasting farewell take."--_Shak._, J. C. RULE III.--ABBREVIATIONS. The period is generally used after abbreviations, and very often to the exclusion of other points; but, as in this case it is not a constant sign of pause, other points may properly follow it, if the words written in full would demand them: as, A. D. for _Anno Domini_;--Pro tem. for _pro tempore_;--Ult. for _ultimo_;--i.e. for _id est_, that is;--Add., Spect, No. 285; i.e., _Addison, in the Spectator, Number 285th_. "Consult the statute; 'quart.' I think, it is, 'Edwardi sext.,' or 'prim. et quint. Eliz.'"--_Pope_, p. 399. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--It seems to be commonly supposed, whether correctly or not, that short sentences which are in themselves distinct, and which in their stated use must be separated by the period, may sometimes be rehearsed as examples, in so close succession as not to require this point: as, "But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."--SCOTT, ALGER, AND OTHERS: _Matt._, xix, 17, 18, 19. "The following sentences exemplify the possessive pronouns:--'_My_ lesson is finished; _Thy_ books are defaced; He loves _his_ studies; She performs _her_ duty; We own _our_ faults; _Your_ situation is distressing; I admire _their_ virtues.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 55. What mode of pointing is best adapted to examples like these, is made a very difficult question by the great diversity of practice in such cases. The semicolon, with guillemets, or the semicolon and a dash, with the quotation marks, may sometimes be sufficient; but I see no good reason why the _period_ should not in general be preferred to the comma, the semicolon, or the colon, where full and distinct sentences are thus recited. The foregoing passage of Scripture I have examined in five different languages, ten different translations, and seventeen different editions which happened to be at hand. In these it is found pointed in twelve different ways. In Leusden's, Griesbach's, and Aitton's Greek, it has nine colons; in Leusden's Latin from Montanus, eight; in the common French version, six; in the old Dutch, five; in our Bibles, usually one, but not always. In some books, these commandments are mostly or wholly divided by periods; in others, by colons; in others, by semicolons; in others, as above, by commas. The first four are negative, or prohibitory; the other two, positive, or mandatory. Hence some make a greater pause after the fourth, than elsewhere between any two. This greater pause is variously marked by the semicolon, the colon, or the period; and the others, at the same time, as variously, by the comma, the semicolon, or the colon. Dr. Campbell, in his Four Gospels, renders and points the latter part of this passage thus: "Jesus answered, 'Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not give false testimony. Honour thy father and mother; and love thy neighbour as thyself." But the corresponding passage in Luke, xviii 20, he exhibits thus: "Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not give false testimony; honour thy father and thy mother." This is here given as present advice, _referring to_ the commandments, but not actually _quoting_ them; and, in this view of the matter, semicolons, not followed by capitals may be right. See the common reading under Rule XIV for Capitals, on page 166. OBS. 2.--Letters written for _numbers_, after the manner of the Romans, though read as words, are never words in themselves; nor are they, except perhaps in one or two instances, abbreviations of words. C, a hundred, comes probably from _Centum_; and M, a thousand, is the first letter of _Mille_; but the others, I, V, X, L, D, and the various combinations of them all, are direct numerical signs, as are the Arabic figures. Hence it is not really necessary that the period should be set after them, except at the end of a sentence, or where it is suitable as a sign of pause. It is, however, and always has been, a prevalent custom, to mark numbers of this kind with a period, as if they were abbreviations; as, "While pope Sixtus V. who succeeded Gregory XIII. fulminated the thunder of the church against the king of Navarre."--_Smollet's Eng._, iii, 82. The period is here inserted where the reading requires only the comma; and, in my opinion, the latter point should have been preferred. Sometimes, of late, we find other points set after this period; as, "Otho II., surnamed the Bloody, was son and successor of Otho I.; he died in 983."--_Univ. Biog. Dict._ This may be an improvement on the former practice, but double points are not _generally_ used, even where they are proper; and, if the period is not indispensable, a simple change of the point would perhaps sooner gain the sanction of general usage. OBS. 3.--Some writers, judging the period to be wrong or needless in such cases, omit it, and insert only such points as the reading requires; as, "For want of doing this, Judge Blackstone has, in Book IV, Chap. 17, committed some most ludicrous errors."--_Cobbett's Gram._, Let. XIX, 251. To insert points needlessly, is as bad a fault as to omit them when they are requisite. In Wm. Day's "Punctuation Reduced to a System," (London, 1847,) we have the following obscure and questionable RULE: "_Besides denoting a grammatical pause_, the _full point_ is used to mark _contractions_, and is requisite after _every abbreviated word_, as well as after _numeral letters._"--Page 102. This seems to suggest that both a pause and a contraction may be denoted by the same point. But what are properly called "_contractions_," are marked not by the period, but by the apostrophe, which is no sign of pause; and the confounding of these with words "_abbreviated_," makes this rule utterly absurd. As for the period "after _numeral letters_," if they really needed it at all, they would need it _severally_, as do the abbreviations; but there are none of them, which do not uniformly dispense with it, when not final to the number; and they may as well dispense with it, in like manner, whenever they are not final to the sentence. OBS. 4.--Of these letters, Day gives this account: "_M._ denotes _mille_, 1,000; _D., dimidium mille_, half a thousand, or 500; _C. centum_, 100; _L._ represents the lower half of _C._, and expresses 50; _X._ resembles _V._ _V._, the one upright, the other inverted, and signifies 10; _V._ stands for 5, because its sister letter U is the fifth vowel; and _I._ signifies 1, probably because it is the plainest and simplest letter in the alphabet."--_Day's Punctuation_, p. 103. There is some fancy in this. Dr. Adam says, "The letters employed for this purpose [i.e., to express _numbers_.] were C. I. L. V. X."--_Latin and Eng. Gram._, p. 288. And again: "A thousand is marked thus CI[C-reverserd], which in later times was _contracted_ into M. _Five hundred_ is marked thus, I[C-reversed], or by _contraction_, D."--_Ib._ Day inserts periods thus: "IV. means 4; IX., 9; XL., 40; XC., 90; CD., 400; CM., 900."--Page 703. And again: "4to., _quarto_, the fourth of a sheet of paper; 8vo., _octavo_, the eighth part of a sheet of paper; 12mo., _duodecimo_, the twelfth of a sheet of paper; N. L., 8 deg.., 9'., 10''., North latitude, eight degrees, nine minutes, ten seconds."--Page 104. But IV may mean 4, without the period; 4to or 8vo has no more need of it than 4th or 8th; and N. L. 8 deg. 9' 10'' is an expression little to be mended by commas, and not at all by additional periods. OBS. 5.--To allow the period of abbreviation to supersede all other points wherever it occurs, as authors generally have done, is sometimes plainly objectionable; but, on the other hand, to suppose double points to be always necessary wherever abbreviations or Roman numbers have pauses less than final, would sometimes seem more nice than wise, as in the case of Biblical and other references. A concordance or a reference Bible pointed on this principle, would differ greatly from any now extant. In such references, _numbers_ are very frequently pointed with the period, with scarcely any regard to the pauses required in the reading; as, "DIADEM, Job 29. 14. Isa. 28. 5. and 62. 3. Ezek. 21. 26."--_Brown's Concordance_. "Where no vision is, the people perish, Prov. xxix. 18. Acts iv. 12. Rom. x. 14."--_Brown's Catechism_, p. 104. "What I urge from 1. Pet. 3. 21. in my Apology."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 498. "I. Kings--II. Kings."--_Alger's Bible_, p. iv. "Compare iii. 45. with 1. Cor. iv. 13."--_Scott's Bible, Pref. to Lam. Jer._ "Hen. v. A. 4. Sc. 5."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 41. "See Rule iii. Rem. 10."--_Ib._, p. 162. Some set a _colon_ between the number of the chapter and that of the verse; which mark serves well for distinction, where both numbers are in Arabic figures: as, "'He that formed the eye, shall he not see?'--Ps. 94: 9."--_Wells's Gram._, p. 126. "He had only a lease-hold title to his service. Lev. 25: 39, Exod. 21: 2."--_True Amer._, i. 29. Others adopt the following method which seems preferable to any of the foregoing: "Isa. Iv, 3; Ezek. xviii, 20; Mic. vi, 7."--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 133. Churchill, who is uncommonly nice about his punctuation, writes as follows: "_Luke_. vi, 41, 42. See also Chap. xv, 8; and _Phil._, iii. 12."--_New Gram._, p. 353. OBS. 6.--Arabic figures used as ordinals, or used for the numeral adverbs, _first_, or _firstly, secondly, thirdly, &c._, are very commonly pointed with the period, even where the pause required after them is less than a full stop; as, "We shall consider these words, 1. as expressing _resolution_; and 2. as expressing _futurity_."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 106. But the period thus followed by a small letter, has not an agreeable appearance, and some would here prefer the comma, which is, undoubtedly, better suited to the pause, A fitter practice, however, would be, to change the expression thus: "We shall consider these words, 1st, as expressing _resolution_; and, 2dly, as expressing _futurity_." OBS. 7.--Names vulgarly shortened, then written as they are spoken, are not commonly marked with a period; as, _Ben_ for _Benjamin_. "O RARE BEN JOHNSON!"--_Biog. Dict._ "From whence the inference is plain, Your friend MAT PRIOR wrote with pain." --LLOYD: _B. P._, Vol. viii, p. 188. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE PERIOD. UNDER RULE I.--DISTINCT SENTENCES. "The third person is the position of the name spoken of; as, Paul and Silas were imprisoned, the earth thirsts, the sun shines."--_Frazee's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 21; Ster. Ed., p. 23. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because three totally distinct sentences are here thrown together as examples, with no other distinction than what is made by two commas. But, according to Rule 1st for the Period, "When a sentence, whether long or short, is complete in respect to sense, and independent in respect to construction, it should be marked with the period." Therefore, these commas should be periods; and, of course, the first letter of each example must be a capital.] "Two and three and four make nine; if he were here, he would assist his father and mother, for he is a dutiful son; they live together, and are happy, because they enjoy each other's society; they went to Roxbury, and tarried all night, and came back the next day."--_Goldsbury's Parsing Lessons in his Manual of E. Gram._, p. 64. "We often resolve, but seldom perform; she is wiser than her sister; though he is often advised, yet he does not reform; reproof either softens or hardens its object; he is as old as his classmates, but not so learned; neither prosperity, nor adversity, has improved him; let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall; he can acquire no virtue, unless he make some sacrifices."--_Ibid._ "Down from his neck, with blazing gems array'd, Thy image, lovely Anna! hung portray'd, Th' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, Suspended in a golden chain was seen,"--_S. Barrett's E. Gr._, p. 92. UNDER RULE II.--ALLIED SENTENCES. "This life is a mere prelude to another, which has no limits, it is a little portion of duration. As death leaves us, so the day of judgment will find us."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 76. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pause after _limits_, which is sufficient for the period, is marked only by the comma. But, according to Rule 2d, "The period is often employed between two sentences which have a general connexion, expressed by a personal pronoun, a conjunction, or a conjunctive adverb." It would improve the passage, to omit the first comma, change the second to a period, and write the pronoun _it_ with a capital. _Judgment_ also might be bettered with an _e_, and _another_ is properly two words.] "He went from Boston to New York; he went from Boston; he went to New York; in walking across the floor, he stumbled over a chair."--_Goldsbury's Manual of E. Gram._, p. 62. "I saw him on the spot, going along the road, looking towards the house; during the heat of the day, he sat on the ground, under the shade of a tree."--_Id., ib._ "George came home, I saw _him_ yesterday, here; the word him, can extend only to the individual _George_"--_S. Barrett's E. Gram._, 10th Ed., p. 45. "Commas are often used now, where parentheses were formerly; I cannot, however, esteem this an improvement."--See the _Key_. "Thou, like a sleeping, faithless sentinel Didst let them pass unnoticed, unimproved, And know, for that thou slumb'rest on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar For every fugitive." --_Hallock's Gram._, p. 222; _Enfield's Sp._, p. 380. UNDER RULE III.--OF ABBREVIATIONS. "The term pronoun (Lat _pronomen_) strictly means a word used for, or instead of a noun."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 198. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the syllable here put for the word _Latin_, is not marked with a period. But, according to Rule 3d, "The period is generally used after abbreviations, and very often to the exclusion of other points; but, as in this case it is not a constant sign of pause, other points may properly follow it, if the words written in full would demand them." In this instance, a period should mark the abbreviation, and a comma be set after _of_. By analogy, _in stead_ is also more properly two words than one.] "The period is also used after abbreviations; as, A. D. P. S. G. W. Johnson."--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, p. 211. "On this principle of classification, the later Greek grammarians divided words into eight classes or parts of speech, viz: the Article, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Participle, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 191. "'_Metre_ is not confined to verse: there is a tune in all good prose; and Shakspeare's was a sweet one.'--_Epea Pter_, II, 61. Mr. H. Tooke's idea was probably just, agreeing with Aristotle's, but not accurately expressed."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 385. "Mr. J. H. Tooke was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, in which latter college he took the degree of A. M; being intended for the established church of England, he entered into holy orders when young, and obtained the living of Brentford, near London, which he held ten or twelve years."--_Div. of Purley_, 1st Amer. Edition, Vol. i, p. 60. "I, nor your plan, nor book condemn, But why your name, and why A. M!"--_Lloyd_. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "If thou _turn_ away thy foot from the sabbath, &c. _Isaiah_. lviii. 7."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 67. "'He that hath eeris of herynge, _here he_. _Wiclif_. Matt xi."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 76. "See General Rules for Spelling, iii., v., and vii."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 81. "'False witnesses _did_ rise up.' _Ps_. xxxv. ii."--_Butlers Gram._, p. 105. "An _explicative_ sentence is used for explaining. An _interrogative_ sentence for enquiring. An _imperative_ sentence for commanding."--_S. Barrett's Prin. of Language_, p. 87. "In October, corn is gathered in the field by men, who go from hill to hill with baskets, into which they put the ears; Susan labors with her needle for a livelihood; notwithstanding his poverty, he is a man of integrity."--_Goldsbury's Parsing, Manual of E. Gram._, p. 62. "A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable. A word of two syllables; a dissyllable. A word of three syllables; a trissyllable. A word of four or more syllables; a polysyllable."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 15. "A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable. A word of two syllables, a dissyllable. A word of three syllables, a trissyllable. A word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, Ster. Ed., p. 17. "If I say, '_if it did not rain_, I would take a walk;' I convey the idea that it _does rain_, at the time of speaking, _If it rained_, or _did it rain_, in the present time, implies, it does not rain; _If it did not rain_, or _did it not rain_, in present time, implies that _it does rain_; thus in this peculiarity, an _affirmative_ sentence always implies a _negation_, and a _negative sentence_ an _affirmation_."--_Frazee's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 61; Ster. Ed., 62. "_If I were loved_, and, _were I loved_, imply, I am _not_ loved; _if I were not loved_, and, _were I not loved_, imply, I am loved; a negative sentence implies an affirmation; and an affirmative sentence implies a negation, in these forms of the subjunctive."--_Ib._, Old Ed., p. 73; Ster. Ed., 72. "What is Rule III.?"--_Hart's Gram._, p. 114. "How is Rule III. violated?"--_Ib._, p. 115. "How do you parse 'letter' in the sentence, 'James writes a _letter'? Ans._--'Letter is a noun com., of the MASC. gend., in the 3d p., sing. num., and _objective case_, and is governed by the verb 'writes,' according to Rule III., which says. 'A transitive verb,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 114.[465] "Creation sleeps. 'T is as the general pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause; An awful pause! prophetic of her end, And let her prophecy be soon fulfilled; Fate drop the curtain; I can lose no more."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 216. SECTION V.--THE DASH. The Dash is mostly used to denote an unexpected or emphatic pause, of variable length; but sometimes it is a sign of faltering, or of the irregular stops of one who hesitates in speaking: as, "Then, after many pauses, and inarticulate sounds, he said: 'He was very sorry for it, was extremely concerned it should happen so--but--a--it was necessary--a--' Here lord E------ stopped him short, and bluntly demanded, if his post were destined for an other."--See _Churchill's Gram._, p. 170. RULE I.--ABRUPT PAUSES. A sudden interruption, break, or transition, should be marked with the dash; as, 1. "'I must inquire into the affair; and if'--'And _if_!' interrupted the farmer." 2. "Whom I--But first 't is fit the billows to restrain."--_Dryd. Virg._ 3. "HERE LIES THE GREAT--False marble! where? Nothing but sordid dust lies here."--_Young_. RULE II.--EMPHATIC PAUSES. To mark a considerable pause, greater than the structure or the sentence or the points inserted would seem to require, the dash may be employed; as, 1. "I pause for a reply.--None?--Then none have I offended.--I have done no more to Caesar, than you should do to Brutus."--SHAKSPEARE: _Enfields Speaker_, p. 182. 2. "Tarry a little. There is something else.-- This bond--doth give thee here--no jot of blood." --ID.: _Burgh's Sp._, p. 167. 3. "It thunders;--but it thunders to preserve."--_Young_. 4. "Behold the picture!--Is it like?--Like whom?"--_Cowper_. RULE III.--FAULTY DASHES. Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more definite, are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation; as, "Here Greece stands by _itself_ as opposed to the _other_ nations of antiquity--She was none of the _other nations_--She was more polished than they."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 78. "Here Greece stands by _herself_, as opposed to the _other_ nations of antiquity. She was none of the _other nations_: She was more polished than they."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 114. If this colon is sufficient, the capital after it is needless: a period would, perhaps, be better. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The dash does not appear to be always a rhetorical stop, or always intended to lengthen the pause signified by an other mark before it. As one instance of a different design, we may notice, that it is now very often employed between a text and a reference;--i.e., between a quotation and the name of the author of the book quoted;--in which case, as Wm. Day suggests, "it serves as a _connecting mark_ for the two."--_Day's Punctuation_, p. 131. But this usage, being comparatively recent, is, perhaps, not so general or so necessary, that a neglect of it may properly be censured as false punctuation. OBS. 2.--An other peculiar use of the dash, is its application to _side-titles_, to set them off from other words in the same line, as is seen often in this Grammar as well as in other works. Day says of this, "When the _substance_ of a paragraph is given as a side-head, a dash is _necessary_ to _connect_ it with its relative matter."--_Ibid._ Wilson also approves of this usage, as well as of the others here named; saying, "The dash should be inserted between a title and the subject-matter, and also between the subject-matter, and the authority from which it is taken, when they occur in the same paragraph."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, Ed. of 1850, p. 139. OBS. 3.--The dash is often used to signify the omission of something; and, when set between the two extremes of a series of numbers, it may represent all the intermediate ones; as, "Page 10-15;" i. e., "Page 10, 11, 12, &c. to 15."--"Matt, vi, 9-14." IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE DASH. UNDER RULE I.--ABRUPT PAUSES. "And there is something in your very strange story, that resembles ... Does Mr. Bevil know your history particularly?"--See _Key_. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the abrupt pause after _resembles_ is here marked by three periods. But, according to Rule 1st for the Dash. "A sudden interruption, break, or transition, should be marked with the dash." Therefore, the dash should be preferred to these points.] "Sir, Mr. Myrtle, Gentlemen! You are friends; I am but a servant. But."--See _Key_. "Another man now would have given plump into this foolish story; but I? No, no, your humble servant for that."--See _Key_. "Do not plunge thyself too far in anger lest thou hasten thy trial; which if Lord have mercy on thee for a hen!"--See _Key_. "But ere they came, O, let me say no more! Gather the sequel by that went before."--See _Key_. UNDER RULE II.--EMPHATIC PAUSES. "_M_, Malvolio; _M_, why, that begins my name." [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pauses after _M_ and _Malvolio_ seem not to be sufficiently indicated here. But, according to Rule 2d for the Dash, "To mark a considerable pause, greater than the structure of the sentence or the points inserted would seem to require, the dash may be employed." Therefore, a dash may be set after the commas and the semicolon, in this sentence.] "Thus, by the creative influence of the Eternal Spirit, were the heavens and the earth finished in the space of six days, so admirably finished, an unformed chaos changed into a system of perfect order and beauty, that the adorable Architect himself pronounced it very good, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."--See _Key_. "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I NEVER would lay down my arms; NEVER, NEVER, NEVER."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 265. "Madam, yourself are not exempt in this, Nor your son Dorset, Buckingham, nor you."--See _Key_. UNDER RULE III.--FAULTY DASHES. "--You shall go home directly, Le Fevre, said my uncle Toby, to my house,--and we'll send for a doctor to see what's the matter,--and we'll have an apothecary,--and the corporal shall be your nurse;--and I'll be your servant, Le Fevre."--STERNE: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 306. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because all the dashes here quoted, except perhaps the last, are useless, or obviously substituted for more definite marks. But, according to Rule 3d, "Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more definite, are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation." Therefore, the first of these should be simply expunged; the second, third, and fourth, with their commas, should be changed to semicolons; and the last, with its semicolon, may well be made a colon.] "He continued--Inferior artists may be at a stand, because they want materials."--HARRIS: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 191. "Thus, then, continued he--The end in other arts is ever distant and removed."--_Id., ib._ "The nouns must be coupled with _and_, and when a pronoun is used it must be plural, as in the example--When the nouns are _disjoined_ the pronoun must be singular."--_Lennie's Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 57. "_Opinion_ is a noun or substantive common,--of the singular number,--neuter gender,--nominative case,--and third person."--_Wright's Philos. Gram._, p. 228. "The mountain--thy pall and thy prison--may keep thee; I shall see thee no more; but till death I will weep thee." --_Felton's Gram._, p. 146. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR "If to accommodate man and beast, heaven and earth; if this be beyond me, 'tis not possible.--What consequence then follows? or can there be any other than this--if I seek an interest of my own, detached from that of others; I seek an interest which is chimerical, and can never have existence."--HARRIS: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 139. "Again--I must have food and clothing--Without a proper genial warmth, I instantly perish--Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itself? To the distant sun, from whose beams I derive vigour?"--_Id., ib._, p. 140. "Nature instantly ebb'd again--the film returned to its place--the pulse flutter'd--stopp'd--went on--throbb'd--stopp'd again--mov'd--stopp'd--shall I go on?--No."--STERNE: _ib._, p. 307. "Write ten nouns of the masculine gender. Ten of the feminine. Ten of the neuter. Ten indefinite in gender."--_Pardon Davis's Gram._, p. 9. "The Infinitive Mode has two tenses--the Indicative, six--the Potential, two--the Subjunctive, six, and the Imperative, one."--_Frazee's Gram._, Ster. Ed., p. 39; 1st Ed., 37. "Now notice the following sentences. John runs,--boys run--thou runnest."--_Ib._, Ster. Ed., p. 50; 1st Ed., p. 48. "The Pronoun sometimes stands for a name--sometimes for an adjective--a sentence--a part of a sentence--and, sometimes for a whole series of propositions."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, 1st Ed., 12mo, p. 321. "The self-applauding bird, the peacock, see-- Mark what a sumptuous pharisee is he!"--_Cowper_, i, 49. SECTION VI.--THE EROTEME. The Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation, is used to designate a question. RULE I.--QUESTIONS DIRECT. Questions expressed directly as such, if finished, should always be followed by the note of interrogation; as, "Was it possible that virtue so exalted should be erected upon injustice? that the proudest and the most ambitious of mankind should be the great master and accomplished pattern of humility? that a doctrine so pure as the Gospel should be the work of an uncommissioned pretender? that so perfect a system of morals should be established on blasphemy?"--_Jerningham's Essay_, p. 81. "In life, can love be bought with gold? Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?"--_Johnson_. RULE II.--QUESTIONS UNITED. When two or more questions are united in one compound sentence, the comma, semicolon, or dash, is sometimes used to separate them, and the eroteme occurs after the last only; as, 1. "When--under what administration--under what exigencies of war or peace--did the Senate ever before deal with such a measure in such a manner? Never, sir, never."--_D. Webster, in Congress_, 1846. 2. "Canst thou, and honour'd with a Christian name, Buy what is woman-born, and feel no shame; Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead Expedience as a warrant for the deed?"--_Cowper_. 3. "Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? All fear, none aid you, and few understand."--_Pope_. RULE III.--QUESTIONS INDIRECT. When a question is mentioned, but not put directly as a question, it loses both the quality and the sign of interrogation; as, "The Cyprians asked me _why I wept_."--_Murray_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The value of the eroteme as a sign of pause, is stated very differently by different grammarians; while many of the vast multitude, by a strange oversight, say nothing about it. It is unquestionably _variable_, like that of the dash, or of the ecphoneme. W. H. Wells says, "The comma requires a momentary pause; the semicolon, a pause somewhat longer than the comma; the colon, a pause somewhat longer than the semicolon; and the period, a full stop. The note of interrogation, or the note of exclamation, _may take the place of_ EITHER _of these_, and accordingly requires a pause of the same length as the point for which it is substituted."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 175. This appears to be accurate in idea, though perhaps hardly so in language. Lindley Murray has stated it thus: "The interrogation and exclamation points are _intermediate_ as to their quantity or time, and may be equivalent in that respect to a semicolon, a colon, or a period, as the sense may require."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 280. But Sanborn, in regard to his "_Question Point_," awkwardly says: "_This pause_ is generally _some longer_ than that of a period."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 271. Buchanan, as long ago as 1767, taught as follows: "The Pause after the two Points of Interrogation and Admiration ought to be equal to that of the Period, or a Colon at least."--_English Syntax_, p. 160. And J. S. Hart avers, that, "A question is reckoned as equal to a complete sentence, and the mark of interrogation as equal to a period."--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 166. He says also, that, "the first word after a note of interrogation should begin with a capital."--_Ib._, p. 162. In some instances, however, he, like others, has not adhered to these exceptionable principles, as may be seen by the false grammar cited below. OBS. 2.--Sometimes a series of questions may be severally complete in sense, so that each may require the interrogative sign, though some or all of them may be so united in construction, as not to admit either a long intermediate pause or an initial capital; as, "Is there no honor in generosity? nor in preferring the lessons of conscience to the impulses of passion? nor in maintaining the supremacy of moral principle, and in paying reverence to Christian truth?"--_Gannett_. "True honour is manifested in a steady, uniform train of actions, attended by justice, and directed by prudence. Is this the conduct of the duellist? will justice support him in robbing the community of an able and useful member? and in depriving the poor of a benefactor? will it support him in preparing affliction for the widow's heart? in filling the orphan's eyes with tears?"--_Jerningham's Essay_, p. 113. But, in this latter example, perhaps, commas might be substituted for the second and fourth erotemes; and the word _will_ might, in both instances, begin with a capital. OBS. 3.--When a question is mentioned in its due form, it commonly retains the sign of interrogation, though not actually asked by the writer; and, except perhaps when it consists of some little interrogative word or phrase, requires the initial capital: as, "To know when this point ought to be used, do not say:[,] 'Is a question asked?' but, 'Does the sentence ask a question?'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 368. "They put their huge inarticulate question, 'What do you mean to do with us?' in a manner audible to every reflective soul in the kingdom."--_Carlyle's Past and Present_, p. 16. "An adverb may be generally known, by its answering to the question, How? how much? when? or where? as, in the phrase, 'He reads _correctly_,' the answer to the question, How does he read? is _correctly_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 28. This passage, which, without ever arriving at great accuracy, has been altered by Murray and others in ways innumerable, is everywhere exhibited with five interrogation points. But, as to capitals and commas, as well as the construction of words, it would seem no easy matter to determine what impression of it is nearest right. In Flint's Murray it stands thus: "An adverb may generally be known by its answering the question, How? How much? When? or Where? As in the phrase, 'He reads _correctly_. The answer to the question, 'How does he read?' is, '_correctly_.'" Such questions, when the pause is slight, do not, however, in all cases, require capitals: as, "_Rosal_. Which of the visors was it, that you wore? _Biron_. Where? when? what visor? why demand you this?" _Shakspeare, Love's Labour Lost_, Act V, Sc. 2. OBS. 4.--A question is sometimes put in the form of a mere declaration; its interrogative character depending solely on the eroteme, and the tone, or inflection of voice, adopted in the utterance: as, "I suppose, Sir, you are his apothecary?"--SWIFT: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 85. "I hope, you have, upon no account, promoted sternutation by hellebore?"--_Id., ib._ "This priest has no pride in him?"--SINGER'S SHAK., _Henry_ VIII, ii, 2. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE EROTEME. UNDER RULE I.--QUESTIONS DIRECT. "When will his ear delight in the sound of arms."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, 12mo, p. 59. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because here is a finished question with a period set after it. But, according to Rule 1st for the Eroteme, "Questions expressed directly as such, if finished, should always be followed by the note of interrogation." Therefore, the eroteme, or note of interrogation, should here be substituted for the period.] "When shall I, like Oscar, travel in the light of my steel."--_Ib._, p. 59. "Will Henry call on me while he shall be journeying South."--_Peirce, ib._, p. 133. "An Interrogative Pronoun is one that is used in asking a question; as, '_who_ is he, and _what_ does he want?'"--_Day's School Gram._, p. 21. "_Who_ is generally used when we would inquire for some unknown person or persons; as, _who_ is that man."--_Ib._, p. 24. "Our fathers, where are they, and the prophets, do they live forever?"--_Ib._, p. 109. "It is true, that some of our best writers have used _than whom_; but it is also true, that they have used _other_ phrases which we have rejected as ungrammatical: then why not reject this too.--The sentences in the Exercises [with _than who_] are correct as they stand."--_Lennie's Gram._, 5th Ed., 1819, p. 79. "When the perfect participle of an active-intransitive verb is annexed to the neuter verb _to be_? What does the combination form?"--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 88. "Those adverbs which answer to the question _where, whither_ or _whence_, are called adverbs of _place_."--_Ib._, p. 116. "Canst thou, by searching, find out God; Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection; It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know?"--_Blair's Rhet._ p. 132. "Where, where, for shelter shall the guilty fly, When consternation turns the good man pale."--_Ib._, p. 222. UNDER RULE II.--QUESTIONS UNITED. "Who knows what resources are in store? and what the power of God may do for thee?" [FORMULE.--Not proper, because an eroteme is set after _store_, where a comma would be sufficient. But, according to Rule 2d for the Eroteme, "When two or more questions are united in one compound sentence, the comma, semicolon, or dash, is sometimes used to separate them, and the eroteme occurs after the last only." Therefore, the comma should here be preferred, as the author probably wrote the text. See _Key_.] "The Lord is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said it? and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it? and shall he not make it good?"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 353; 12mo, 277; _Hiley's_, 139; _Hart's_, 181. "_Hath the Lord said it? and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it? and shall he not make it good_?"--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 113; _Bullions's_, 176. "Who calls the council, states the certain day? Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way." --_Brit. Poets_, vi, 376. UNDER RULE III.--QUESTIONS INDIRECT. "To be, or not to be?--that is the question."--_Enfield's Sp._, p. 367; _Kirkham's Eloc._, 123.[466] [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the note of interrogation is here set after an expression which has neither the form nor the nature of a direct question. But, according to Rule 3d for the Eroteme, "When a question is mentioned, but not put directly as a question, it loses both the quality and the sign of interrogation." Therefore, the semicolon, which seems adapted to the pause, should here be preferred.] "If it be asked, why a pause should any more be necessary to emphasis than to an accent? or why an emphasis alone, will not sufficiently distinguish the members of sentences from each other, without pauses, as accent does words? the answer is obvious; that we are pre-acquainted with the sound of words, and cannot mistake them when distinctly pronounced, however rapidly; but we are not pre-acquainted with the meaning of sentences, which must be pointed out to us by the reader or speaker."--_Sheridan's Rhet. Gram._, p. lvi. "Cry, By your Priesthood tell me what you are?" --POPE: _British Poets_, London, 1800, Vol. vi, p. 411. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "Who else can he be. Where else can he go."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, 1845, p. 71. "In familiar language _here, there_ and _where_ are used for _hither, thither_ and _whither_."--_N. Butler's Gram._, p. 183. "Take, for instance, this sentence, 'Indolence undermines the foundation of virtue.'"--_Hart's Gram._, p. 106. "Take, for instance, the sentence before quoted. '_Indolence_ undermines the foundation of virtue.'"--_Ib._, p. 110. "Under the same head are considered such sentences as these, '_he_ that heareth, let him hear,' 'Gad, a troop shall overcome him,' &c."--_Ib._, p. 108. "TENSES are certain modifications of the verb which point out the distinctions of time."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 38; _Pract. Les._, p. 44. "Calm was the day and the scene delightful."--_Id. E. Gr._, p. 80. "The capital letters used by the Romans to denote numbers, were C. I. L. V. X. which are therefore called Numeral Letters. I, denotes _one_; V, _five_: X, _ten_; L, _fifty_; and C, a hundred."--_Id., Lat. Gram._, p. 56. "'I shall have written;' viz, at or before some future time or event."--_Id., ib._, p. 89. "In Latin words the liquids are _l_ and _r_ only. In Greek words _l, r, m, n_."--_Id., ib._, p. 277. "Each legion was divided into ten cohorts, each cohort into three maniples, and each maniple into two centuries."--_Id., ib._, p. 300. "Of the Roman literature previous to A. U. 514 scarcely a vestige remains."--_Id., ib._, p. 312. "And that, which He delights in must be happy. But when!--or where!--This world was made for Caesar." --_Burgh's Sp._, p. 122. "And that which he delights in must be happy. But when, or where? This world was made for Caesar." --_Enfield's Sp._, p. 321. "Look next on greatness. Say, where greatness lies? Where but among the heroes and the wise." --_Burgh's Sp._, p. 91. "Look next on greatness! say where greatness lies. Where, but among the heroes and the wise?" --_Essay on Man_, p. 51. "Look next on Greatness; say where Greatness lies: Where, but among the Heroes and the Wise?" --_Brit. Poets_, vi, 380. SECTION VII--THE ECPHONEME. The Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation, is used to denote a pause with some strong emotion of admiration, joy, grief, or other feeling; and, as a sign of great wonder, it is sometimes, though not very elegantly, repeated: as, "Grammatical consistency!!! What a gem!"--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 352. RULE I.--INTERJECTIONS, &c. Emphatic interjections, and other expressions of great emotion, are generally followed by the note of exclamation; as, "Hold! hold! Is the devil in you? Oh! I am bruised all over."--MOLIERE: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 250. "And O! till earth, and seas, and heav'n decay, Ne'er may that fair creation fade away!"--_Dr. Lowth_. RULE II.--INVOCATIONS. After an earnest address or solemn invocation, the note of exclamation is now generally preferred to any other point; as, "Whereupon, O king Agrippa! I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision."--_Acts_, xxvi, 19. "Be witness thou, immortal Lord of all! Whose thunder shakes the dark aerial hall."--_Pope_. RULE III.--EXCLAMATORY QUESTIONS. Words uttered with vehemence in the form of a question, but without reference to an answer, should be followed by the note of exclamation; as, "How madly have I talked!"--_Young_. "An Author! 'Tis a venerable name! How few deserve it, and what numbers claim!" --_Id., Br. Po._, viii, 401. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE ECPHONEME. UNDER RULE I.--OF INTERJECTIONS, &c. (1.) "O that he were wise."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 111. [FORMULE. Not proper, because this strong wish, introduced by "O," is merely marked with a period. But, according to Rule 1st for the Ecphoneme, "Emphatic interjections, and other expressions of great emotion, are generally followed by the note of exclamation." Therefore, the pause after this sentence, should be marked with the latter sign; and, if the "O" be read with a pause, the same sign may be there also.] (2.) "O that his heart was tender."--_Exercises, ib._, p. 111. (3.) "_Oh_, what a sight is here!"--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 48. (4.) "Oh! what a sight is here."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 71; (Obs. 2;) _Pract. Les._, p. 83. (5.) "O virtue! How amiable thou art."--_Id._,, p. 71; _Pract. Les._, p. 82. (6.) "O _virtue_! how amiable thou art."--_Day's Gram._, p. 109. (7.) "O, virtue! how amiable thou art."--_S. Putnam's Gram._, p. 53. (8.) "_Oh!_ virtue, how amiable thou art!"--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 191; _O. B. Peirce's_, 375. (9.) "_O_ virtue! how amiable thou art!"--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 126. (10.) "Oh! that I had been more diligent."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 167; see _Hiley's_, 117. (11.) "O! the humiliation to which vice reduces us."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 12; _Murray's Ex._, p. 5. (12.) "O! that he were more prudent."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 81. (13.) "Ah! me."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 79. (14.) "Ah me!"--_Ib._, p. 122. (15.) "Lately alas I knew a gentle boy," _&c.--The Dial_, Vol. i, p. 71. (16.) "Wo is me Alhama."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 190. (17.) "Wo is me, Alhama."--_Ibid._, "113th Thousand," p. 206. UNDER RULE II.--OF INVOCATIONS. "Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O _maid_ of Inistore."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 131; _Cooper's Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 158. [FORMULE--Not proper, because the emphatic address in this sentence, is marked with a period after it. But, according to Rule 2d for the Ecphoneme, "After an earnest address or solemn invocation, the note of exclamation is now generally preferred to any other point." Therefore, this period should be changed to the latter sign.] "Cease a little while, O wind; stream, be thou silent a while; let my voice be heard around. Let my wanderer hear me. Salgar, it is Colma who calls. Here is the tree, and the rock. Salgar, my love, I am here. Why delayest thou thy coming? Lo, the calm moon comes forth. The flood is bright in the vale."--See _Key_. "Ah, stay not, stay not, guardless and alone; Hector, my lov'd, my dearest, bravest son."--See _Key_. UNDER RULE III.--EXCLAMATORY QUESTIONS. "How much better is wisdom than gold."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 153; _Hiley_, p. 113. [FORMULE--Not proper, because this exclamatory sentence is pointed with a period at the end. But, according to Rule 3d for the Ecphoneme, "Words uttered with vehemence in the form of a question, but without reference to an answer, should be followed by the note of exclamation." Therefore, this period should be changed to the latter sign.] "O virtue! how amiable art thou."--_Flint's Murray_, p. 51. "At that hour, O how vain was all sublunary happiness."--_Day's Gram._, p. 74. "Alas! how few and transitory are the joys which this world affords to man."--_Ib._, p. 12. "Oh! how vain and transitory are all things here below."--_Ib._, p. 110. "And oh! what change of state, what change of rank, In that assembly everywhere was seen."--_Day's Gram._, p. 12. "And O! what change of state! what change of rank! In that assembly every where was seen!"--_Pollok_, B. ix, l. 781. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "O shame! where is thy blush."--_S. Barren's Principles of Language_, p. 86. "O _shame_, where is thy blush; _John_, give me my hat."--_Ib._, p. 98. "What! is Moscow in flames."--_Ib._, p. 86. "Ah! what happiness awaits the virtuous."--_Ib._, 86. "Ah, welladay,--do what we can for him, said Trim, maintaining his point,--the poor soul will die."--STERNE: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 306. "A well o'day! do what we _can_ for him, said Trim, maintaining his point: the poor soul will _die_"--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 340. "Will John _return_ to-morrow."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, Tenth Ed., p. 55. "_Will not_ John _return_ to-morrow."--_Ib._, 55. "John! _return_ to-morrow; Soldiers! _stand_ firm."--_Ib._, 55. "If _mea_ which means _my_ is an adjective in _Latin_, why may not _my_ be so called _in_ English, and if _my_ is an adjective, why not _Barrett's_"--_Ib._, p. 50. "Oh? Absalom, my son."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 375. "Oh! STAR-EYED SCIENCE!! whither hast thou fled?"--_Ib._, p. 366. "Why do you tolerate your own inconsistency, by calling it the present tense!"--_Ib._, p. 360. "Thus the declarative mode may be used in asking a question; as, _what_ man _is_ frail."--_Ib._, p. 358. "What connexion has motive wish, or supposition, with the term subjunctive!"--_Ib._, p. 348. "A grand reason, truly! for calling it a golden key."--_Ib._, p. 347. "What '_suffering_'! the man who can say this, must be '_enduring._'"--_Ib._, p. 345. "What is Brown's Rule! in relation to this matter?"--_Ib._, p. 334. "_Alas!_ how short is life." "_Thomas_, study your book."--_Day's District School Gram._, p. 109. "As, '_alas!_' how short is life; _Thomas_, study your book.'"--_Ib._, p. 82. "Who can tell us who they are."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 178. "Lord have mercy on my son; for he is a lunatic, etc."--_Felton's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 138; Ster. Ed., 140. "O, ye wild groves, O, where is now your bloom!"--_Ib._, p. 88; Ster. Ed., 91. "O who of man the story will unfold!" --_Farnum's Gr._, 2d Ed., p. 104. "Methought I heard Horatio say to-morrow. Go to I will not hear of it--to-morrow." --_Hallock's Gr._, 1st Ed., p. 221. "How his eyes languish? how his thoughts adore That painted coat which Joseph never wore?" --_Love of Fame_, p. 66. SECTION VIII.--THE CURVES. The Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis, are used to distinguish a clause or hint that is hastily thrown in between the parts of a sentence to which it does not properly belong; as, "Their enemies (and enemies they will always have) would have a handle for exposing their measures."--_Walpole_. "To others do (the law is not severe) What to thyself thou wishest to be done."--_Beattie_. OBS.--The incidental clause should be uttered in a lower tone, and faster than the principal sentence. It always requires a pause as great as that of a comma, or greater. RULE I.--THE PARENTHESIS. A clause that breaks the unity of a sentence or passage too much to be incorporated with it, and only such, should be inclosed within curves, as a parenthesis; as, "For I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing."--_Rom._, vii, 18. "Know then this truth, (enough for man to know,) Virtue alone is happiness below."--_Pope_. RULE II.--INCLUDED POINTS. The curves do not supersede other stops; and, as the parenthesis terminates with a pause equal to that which precedes it, the same point should be included, except when the sentences differ in form: as, 1. "Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged."--_2 Cor._, vi, 13. 2. "Man's thirst of happiness declares it is: (For nature never gravitates to nought:) That thirst unquench'd, declares it is not here."--_Young_. 3. "Night visions may befriend: (as sung above:) Our waking dreams are fatal. How I dreamt Of things impossible! (could sleep do more?) Of joys perpetual in perpetual change!"--_Young_. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE CURVES. UNDER RULE I.--OF THE PARENTHESIS. "Another is composed of the indefinite article _an_, which, etymologically means _one_ and _other_, and denotes _one other_."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 63. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the parenthetic expression, "which etymologically means _one_," is not sufficiently separated from the rest of the passage. But, according to Rule 1st for the Curves, "A clause that breaks the unity of a sentence or passage too much to be incorporated with it, and only such, should be enclosed within curves, as a parenthesis." Therefore, the curves should be here inserted; and also, by Rule 2d, a comma at the word _one_.] "Each mood has its peculiar Tense, Tenses (or Times)."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 58. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the expression, "or Times," which has not the nature of a parenthesis, is here marked with curves. But, according to Rule 1st for the Curves, "A clause that breaks the unity of a sentence or passage too much to be incorporated with it, _and only such_, should be enclosed within curves, as a parenthesis." Therefore, these marks should be omitted; and a comma should be set after the word "_Tenses_," by Rule 3d.] "In some very ancient languages, as the Hebrew, which have been employed chiefly for expressing plain sentiments in the plainest manner, without aiming at any elaborate length or harmony of periods, this pronoun [the relative] occurs not so often."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 127. "Before I shall say those Things, (O conscript Fathers) about the Public Affairs, which are to be spoken at this Time; I shall lay before you, in few Words, the Motives of the Journey, and the Return."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 149. "Of well-chose Words some take not care enough. And think they should be (like the Subject) rough." --_Ib._, p. 173. "Then having shewed his wounds, _he'd_ sit (him) down." --_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 32. UNDER RULE II.--OF INCLUDED POINTS. "Then Jael smote the Nail into his Temples, and fastened it to the Ground: (for he was fast asleep and weary) so he died. OLD TEST."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 17. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because this parenthesis is not marked as terminating with a pause equal to that which precedes it. But, according to Rule 2d above, "The curves do not supersede other stops; and, as the parenthesis terminates with a pause equal to that which precedes it, the same point should be included, except when the sentences differ in form." Therefore, a colon should be inserted within the curve after _weary_.] "Every thing in the Iliad has manners (as Aristotle expresses it) that is, every thing is acted or spoken."--_Pope, Pref. to Homer_, p. vi. "Those nouns, that end in _f._ or _fe_ (except some few I shall mention presently), form plurals by changing those letters into _ves_: as, thief, _thieves_; wife, _wives_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 35. "_As_, requires _as_; (expressing equality) Mine is as good as yours. _As_,--so; (expressing equality) As the stars, so shall thy seed be. _So,--as_; (with a negative expressing inequality) He is not so wise as his brother. _So.--that_; (expressing consequence) I am so weak that I cannot walk."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 113; _Pract. Les._, p. 112. "A captious question, sir (and yours is one,) Deserves an answer similar, or none."--_Cowper_, ii. 228. MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "Whatever words the verb TO BE serves to unite referring to the same thing, must be of the same case; Sec.61, as, _Alexander_ is a _student_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 75. "When the objective is a relative or interrogative, it comes before the verb that governs it. Sec.40, R. 9. (Murray's 6th rule is unnecessary.)"--_Id., ib._, p. 90. "It is generally improper (except in poetry,) to omit the antecedent to a relative; and always to omit a relative when of the nominative case."--_Id., ib._, p. 130. "In every sentence there must be a _verb_ and a _nominative_ (or subject) expressed or understood."--_Id., ib._, p. 87; _Pract. Lessons_, p. 91. "Nouns and pronouns, and especially words denoting time, are often governed by prepositions understood; or are used to restrict verbs or adjectives without a governing word, Sec.50. Rem. 6 and Rule; as, He gave (to) me a full account of the whole affair."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 80. "When _should_ is used instead of _ought_, to express _present_ duty, Sec.20, 4, it may be followed by the present; as, 'You _should_ study that you _may_ become learned.'"--_Id., ib._, p. 123. "The indicative present is frequently used after the words, _when, till, before, as soon as, after_, to express the relative time of a future action; (Sec.24, I, 4,) as, 'When he _comes_, he will be welcome.'"--_Id., ib._, p. 124. "The relative is parsed by stating its gender, number, case, and antecedent, (the gender and number being always the same as those of the antecedent) thus, 'The boy who.' '_Who_' is a relative pronoun, masculine, singular, the nominative, and refers to '_boy_' as its antecedent."--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p. 31. "Now, now, I seize, I clasp _thy_ charms, And now _you_ burst; ah! cruel from my arms." Here is an unnecessary change from the second person singular to the second plural. It would have been better thus, "Now, now I seize, I clasp _your_ charms, And now _you_ burst; ah! cruel from my arms." --_J. Burn's Gram._, p. 193. SECTION IX.--THE OTHER MARKS. There are also several other marks, which are occasionally used for various purposes, as follow:-- I. ['] The APOSTROPHE usually denotes either the possessive case of a noun, or the elision of one or more letters of a word: as, "The _girl's_ regard to her _parents'_ advice;"--_'gan, lov'd, e'en, thro'_; for _began, loved, even, through_. It is sometimes used in pluralizing a mere letter or sign; as, Two _a's_--three _6's_.[467] II. [-] The HYPHEN connects the parts of many compound words, especially such as have two accents; as, _ever-living_. It is also frequently inserted where a word is divided into syllables; as, _con-tem-plate_. Placed at the end of a line, it shows that one or more syllables of a word are can led forward to the next line. III. ["] The DIAERESIS, or DIALYSIS, placed over either of two contiguous vowels, shows that they are not a diphthong; as, _Danaee, aerial_. IV. ['] The ACUTE ACCENT marks the syllable which requires the principal stress in pronunciation; as, _e'qual, equal'ity_. It is sometimes used in opposition to the grave accent, to distinguish a close or short vowel; as, "_Fancy_:" (_Murray_:) or to denote the rising inflection of the voice; as, "Is it _he?_" V. [`] The GRAVE ACCENT is used in opposition to the acute, to distinguish an open or long vowel; as, "_Favour_:" (_Murray_:) or to denote the falling inflection of the voice; as, "_Yes_; it is _he_" It is sometimes placed over a vowel to show that it is not to be suppressed in pronunciation; as, "Let me, though in humble speech, Thy refined maxims teach."--_Amer. Review_, May, 1848. VI. [^] The CIRCUMFLEX generally denotes either the broad sound of _a_ or an unusual sound given to some other vowel; as in _all, heir, machine_. Some use it to mark a peculiar _wave_ of the voice, and when occasion requires, reverse it; as, "If you said _s=o_, then I said _so_." VII. [[~]] The BREVE, or STENOTONE, is used to denote either the close, short, _shut_ sound of a vowel, or a syllable of short quantity; as, _l~ive_, to have life,--_r~av'en_, to devour,[468]--_c~al~am~us_, a reed. VIII. [=] The MACRON, or MACROTONE,[469] is used to denote either the open, long, _primal_ sound of a vowel, or a syllable of long quantity; as, _l=ive_, having life,--_r=a'ven_, a bird,--_=e'qu=ine_, of a horse. IX. [----] or [* * * *] or [....] The ELLIPSIS, or SUPPRESSION, denotes the omission of some letters or words: as, _K--g_, for _King; c****d_, for _coward; d....d_, for _damned_. X. [^] The CARET, used only in writing, shows where to insert words or letters that have been accidentally omitted. XI [{}] The BRACE serves to unite a triplet; or, more frequently, to connect several terms with something to which they are all related. XII. [Sec.] The SECTION marks the smaller divisions of a book or chapter; and, with the help of numbers, serves to abridge references. XIII. [] The PARAGRAPH (chiefly used in the Bible) denotes the commencement of a new subject. The parts of discourse which are called paragraphs, are, in general, sufficiently distinguished by beginning a new line, and carrying the first word a little forwards or backwards. The paragraphs of books being in some instances numbered, this character may occasionally be used, in lieu of the word _paragraph_, to shorten references. XIV. [""] The GUILLEMETS, or QUOTATION POINTS, distinguish words that are exhibited as those of an other author or speaker. A quotation within a quotation, is usually marked with single points; which, when both are employed, are placed within the others: as, "And again he saith, 'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.'"--_Rom._, xv, 10. XV. [[]] The CROTCHETS, or BRACKETS, generally inclose some correction or explanation, but sometimes the sign or subject to be explained; as, "He [Mr. Maurice] was of a different opinion."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 213. XVI. [Fist] The INDEX, or HAND, points out something remarkable, or what the reader should particularly observe. XVII. [*] The ASTERISK, or STAR, [Dagger] the OBELISK, or DAGGER, [Double dagger] the DIESIS, or DOUBLE DAGGER, and [||] the PARALLELS, refer to marginal notes. The SECTION also [Sec.], and the PARAGRAPH [], are often used for marks of reference, the former being usually applied to the fourth, and the latter to the sixth note on a page; for, by the usage of printers, these signs are commonly introduced in the following order: 1, *; 2, [Dagger]; 3, [Double dagger]; 4, Sec.; 5, ||; 6, ; 7, **; 8, [Dagger][Dagger]; &c. Where many references are to be made, the _small letters_ of the alphabet, or the _numerical figures_, in their order, may be conveniently used for the same purpose. XVIII. [[Asterism]] The ASTERISM, or THREE STARS, a sign not very often used, is placed before a long or general note, to mark it as a note, without giving it a particular reference. XIX. [,] The CEDILLA is a mark borrowed from the French, by whom it is placed under the letter _c_, to give it the sound of _s_, before _a_ or _o_; as in the words, "facade," "Alencon." In Worcester's Dictionary, it is attached to three other letters, to denote their soft sounds: viz., "[,G] as J; [,S] as Z; [,x] as gz." [Fist][Oral exercises in punctuation should not be confined to the correction of errors. An application of its principles to points rightly inserted, is as easy a process as that of ordinary syntactical parsing, and perhaps as useful. For this purpose, the teacher may select a portion of this grammar, or of any well-pointed book, to which the foregoing rules and explanations may be applied by the pupil, as reasons for the points that occur.] IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PUNCTUATION.--MIXED EXAMPLES OF ERROR. "The principal stops are the following:-- The Comma (,) the semicolon (;) the colon (:) the period, or fall stop (.) the note of interrogation (?) the note of exclamation (!) the parenthesis () and the dash (--) [.]"--_Bullions, E. Gram., p. 151; Pract. Les._, p. 127. "The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English. The marks employed, are the _Comma_ (,); _Semicolon_ (;); _Colon_ (:); _Period_ (.); _Interrogation_ (?); _Exclamation_ (!)."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 3. "Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game; you chide me, says the youth, for a trifling fault. Custom, replied the philosopher, is no trifle. And, adds Montagnie, he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, (N. Y. 1818,) p. 54. "A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died? 'My father,' says the skipper, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned. 'Well,' replies the merchant, and are not you afraid of being drowned too?'"--_Ib._, p. 135. "The use of inverted comma's derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and] as an acknowledgement for the improvement his countrymen call them after his name GUILLEMETS."--_History of Printing_, (London, 1770,) p. 266. "This, however, is seldem [sic--KTH] if ever done unless the word following the possessive begins with _s_; thus we do not say, 'the prince' feather,' but, 'the prince's feather.'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 17. "And this phrase must mean _the feather of the prince_ but _princesfeather_ written as one word is the name of a plant: a species of amaranth."--See _Key_. "Boeethius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honour his country could bestow."--_Ingersoll's Gram._ 12mo., p. 279. "Boethius soon had," &c.--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii., p. 83. "When an example, a quotation, or a speech is introduced, it is separated from the rest of the sentence either by a semicolon or a colon; as, 'The scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words; _God is love._'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 116. "Either the colon or semicolon may be used when an example, a quotation, or a speech is introduced; as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim; _Know thyself._' 'The scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _God is love._'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 155. "The first word of a quotation, introduced after a colon [, must begin with a capital]; as, always remember this ancient maxim: '_Know_ thyself.'"-- _Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 159; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 106. [Lennie has _"Always"_ with a capital.] "The first word of a quotation, introduced after a colon, or _when it is_ in a direct form: as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim: _Know thyself_.' 'Our great lawgiver says, Take up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 284. "8. The first word of a quotation, _introduced after a colon_, or _when it is_ in a direct form. EXAMPLES.--'Always remember this ancient maxim, 'Know thyself.' 'Our great Lawgiver says, Take up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Weld's Gram., Abridged._, p. 17 "Tell me in whose house do you live."--_N. Butler's Gram._, p. 55. "He, that acts wisely, deserves praise."--_Ib._, p. 50 "He, who steals my purse, steals trash."--_Ib._, p. 51. "The antecedent is sometimes omitted, as, 'Who steals my purse, steals trash;' that is, _he_ who, or _person_ who."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Thus, 'Whoever steals my purse steals trash;' 'Whoever does no good does harm.'"--_Ib._, p. 53 "Thus, 'Whoever sins will suffer.' This means that any one without exception who sins will suffer."--_Ib._, p. 53. "Letters form syllables, syllables words, words sentences, and sentences, combined and connected form discourse."--_Cooper's Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 1. "A letter which forms a perfect sound, when uttered by itself, is called a vowel, as: _a, e, i_."--_Ib._, p. 1. "A proper noun is the name of an individual, as: John; Boston: Hudson; America."--_Ib._, p. 17. "Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 96. "In the place of an ellipsis of the verb a comma must be inserted."--_Ib._, p. 121. "A common noun unlimited by an article is sometimes understood in its broadest acceptation: thus, '_Fishes_ swim' is understood to mean _all_ fishes. '_Man_ is mortal,' _all_ men."--_Ib._, p. 13. "Thus those sounds formed principally by the throat are called _gutturals_. Those formed principally by the palate are called _palatals_. Those formed by the teeth, _dentals_--those by the lips, _labials_--those by the nose, _nasals_, &c."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 113. "Some adjectives are compared irregularly; as, _Good, better, best. Bad, worse, worst. Little, less, least._"--_Felton's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 63; Ster. Ed., p. 66. "Under the fourth head of grammar, therefore, four topics will be considered, viz. PUNCTUATION, ORTHOEPY, FIGURES, and VERSIFICATION."-- _Hart's Gram._, p. 161. "Direct her onward to that peaceful shore, Where peril, pain and death are felt no more!" _Falconer's Poems_, p. 136; _Barrett's New Gram._, p. 94 BAD ENGLISH BADLY POINTED. LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "Discoveries of such a character are sometimes made in grammar also, and such, too, is often their origin and their end."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 191. "_Traverse_, (to cross.) To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, &c. is to deny it."--_Id., ib._, p. 216. "The _Ordinal_ [numerals] denote the _order_ or _succession_ in which any number of persons or things is mentioned, as _first, second, third, fourth_, &c."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 22. "Nouns have three persons, FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD. The First person is the speaker, the Second is the one spoken to, the Third is the one spoken of."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 44. "Nouns have three cases, NOMINATIVE, POSSESSIVE, and OBJECTIVE. The relation indicated by the case of a noun includes three ideas, viz: those of _subject, object_, and _ownership_."--_Ib._, p. 45. "In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose sex is not known or not regarded, they are often considered as without sex: thus, we say of a _cat 'it_ is treacherous,' of an infant '_it_ is beautiful,' of a _deer 'it_ was killed.'"--_Ib._, p. 39. "When _this_ or _these, that_ or _those_, refers to a preceding sentence; _this_, or _these_, refers to the latter member or term; _that_, or _those_, to the former."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 136; see _Lowth's Gram._, p. 102. "The rearing of them [i. e. of plants] became his first care, their fruit his first food, and marking their kinds his first knowledge."--_N. Butler's Gram._, p. 44. "After the period used with abbreviations we should employ other points, if the construction demands it; thus, after Esq. in the last example, there should be, besides a period, a comma."--_Ib._, p. 212. "In the plural, the verb is the same in all the persons; and hence the principle in _Rem._ 5, under Rule iii. [that the first or second person takes precedence,] is not applicable to verbs."--_Ib._, p. 158. "Rex and Tyrannus are of very different characters. The one rules his people by laws to which they consent; the other, by his absolute will and power: _that_ is called freedom, this, _tyranny_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 190. "A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, which can be known, or mentioned, as: George; London; America; goodness; charity."--_Cooper's Plain and Pract. Gram._, p. 17. "Etymology treats of the classification of words; their various modifications and derivations."--_Day's School Gram._, p. 9. "To punctuate correctly implies a thorough acquaintance with the meaning of words and phrases, as well as of all their corresponding connexions"--_W. Day's Punctuation_, p. 31. "All objects which belong to neither the male nor female kind are called neuter."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 57. "All objects, which belong to neither the male nor female kind, are said to be of the neuter gender."--_Weld's Gram., Abridged_, p. 51. "The Analysis of the Sounds in the English language presented in the preceding statements are sufficiently exact for the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue it further can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, 'The Philosophy of the Human Voice.'"--_Fowlers E. Gram._, 1850, Sec.65. "Nobody confounds the name of _w_ or _y_ with their sound or phonetic import."--_Ib._, Sec.74. "Order is Heaven's first law; and this confest, Some are and must be, greater than the rest."--_Ib._, p. 96. LESSON II.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "In adjectives of one syllable, the Comparative is formed by adding _-er_ to the positive; and the Superlative by adding _-est_; as, _sweet, sweeter, sweetest_."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 19. "In monosyllables the comparative is formed by adding _er_ or _r_ to the positive, and the superlative by adding _est_ or _st_; as, _tall, taller, tallest; wise, wiser, wisest_."--_Id., Pract. Les._, p. 24. "By this method the confusion and unnecessary labor occasioned by studying grammars in these languages, constructed on different principles is avoided, the study of one is rendered a profitable introduction to the study of another, and an opportunity is furnished to the enquiring student of comparing the languages in their grammatical structure, and seeing at once wherein they agree, and wherein they differ."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, Pref. to 5th Ed., p. vii. "No larger portion should be assigned for each recitation than the class can easily master, and till this is done, a new portion should not be given out."--_Id., ib._, p. viii. "The acquisitions made in every new lesson should be rivetted and secured by repeated _revisals_."--_Id., ib._, p. viii. "The personal pronouns may be parsed briefly thus; _I_, the first personal pronoun, masculine (or feminine), singular, the nominative. _His_, the third personal pronoun, masculine, singular, the possessive, &c."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 23: _Pract. Les._, p. 28. "When the male and female are expressed by distinct terms; as, _shepherd, shepherdess_, the masculine term has also a general meaning, expressing both male and female, and is always to be used when the office, occupation, profession, &c., and not the sex of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed. The feminine term is used only when the discrimination, of sex is indispensably necessary. Thus, when it is said 'the Poets of this country are distinguished by correctness of taste,' the term 'Poet' clearly includes both male and female writers of poetry."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 12; _his Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 24. "Nouns and pronouns, connected by conjunctions, must be in the same cases."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 78. "Verbs, connected by conjunctions, must be in the same moods and tenses, and, when in the subjunctive present, they must be in the same form."--_Ib._, p. 112. "This will habituate him to reflection--exercise his judgment on the meaning of the author, and without any great effort on his part, impress indelibly on his memory, the rules which he is required to give. After the exercises under the rule have been gone through as directed in the note page 96, they may be read over again in a corrected state the pupil making an emphasis on the correction made, or they may be presented in writing at the next recitation."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, 2d Ed. Revised and Cor., p. viii. "Man, but for _that_, no action _could_ attend And but for _this_, be _thoughtful_ to no end." --_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, Pref. p. 5. LESSON III.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "'Johnson the bookseller and stationer,' indicates that the bookseller and the stationer are epithets belonging to the same person; 'the bookseller and the stationer' would indicate that they belong to different persons."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 127. "_Past_ is an adjective; _passed_, the past tense or perfect participle of the verb, and they ought not, as is frequently done, to be confounded with each other."--_Id., ib._, p. 148. "Not only the nature of the thoughts and sentiments, but the very selection and arrangement of the words, gives English poetry a character, which separates it widely from common prose."--_Id., ib._, p. 178. "Men of sound, discriminating, and philosophical minds--men prepared for the work by long study, patient investigation, and extensive acquirements, have labored for ages to improve and perfect it, and nothing is hazarded in asserting, that should it be unwisely abandoned, it will be long before another equal in beauty, stability and usefulness, be produced in its stead."--_Id., ib._, p. 191. "The Article _The_, on the other hand, is used to restrict, and is therefore termed _Definite_. Its proper office is to call the attention to a particular individual or class, or to any number of such, and is used with nouns in either the singular or plural number."--_Id., ib._, p. 193. "Hence also the infinitive mood, a participle, a member of a sentence, or a proposition, forming together the subject of discourse, or the object of a verb or preposition, and being the name of an act or circumstance, are in construction, regarded as nouns, and are usually called 'substantive phrases;' as '_To play_ is pleasant,' '_His being an expert dancer_ is no recommendation,' 'Let your motto be _Honesty is the best policy_.'"--_Id., ib._, p. 194. "In accordance with his definition, Murray has divided verbs into three classes, _Active, Passive_, and _Neuter_, and includes in the first class _transitive_ verbs only, and in the last all verbs used intransitively"--_Id., ib._, p. 200. "Moreover, as the name of the speaker or the person spoken to is seldom expressed, (the pronouns _I_ and _thou_ being used in its stead,) a noun is very seldom in the first person, not often in the second, and almost never in either, unless it be a proper noun, or a common noun personified."--_Bullions, Pract. Les._, p. 13. "In using the above exercises it will save much time, which is all important, if the pupil be taught to say every thing belonging to the nouns in the fewest words possible, and to say them always in the same order as above."--_Id., ib._, p. 21. "In any phrase or sentence the adjectives qualifying a noun may generally be found by prefixing the phrase 'What kind of,' to the noun in the form of a question; as, What kind of a horse? What kind of a stone? What kind of a way? The word containing the answer to the question is an adjective."--_Id., ib._, p. 22. "In the following exercise let the pupil first point out the nouns, and then the adjectives; and tell how he knows them to be so."--_Id., ib._, p. 23. "In the following sentences point out the improper ellipsis. Show why it is improper, and correct it."--_Id., ib._, p. 124. "SINGULAR PRONOUNS. PLURAL PRONOUNS. 1. I--am being smitten. 1. We--are being smitten. 2. Thou--art being smitten. 2. Ye _or_ you--are being smitten. 3. He--is being smitten. 3. They--are being smitten." _Wright's Philos. Gram._, p. 98. CHAPTER II--UTTERANCE. Utterance Is the art or act of vocal expression. It includes the principles of articulation, of pronunciation, and of elocution. SECTION I.--OF ARTICULATION. Articulation is the forming of words; by the voice, with reference to their component letters and sounds. ARTICLE I.--OF THE DEFINITION. Articulation differs from pronunciation, in having more particular regard to the elements of words, and in not embracing accent[470]. A recent author defines it thus: "ARTICULATION is the act of forming, with the organs of speech, the elements of vocal language."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 16. And again: "A good articulation is the _perfect_ utterance of the elements of vocal language."--_Ibid._ An other describes it more elaborately thus: "ARTICULATION, in language, is the forming of the human voice, accompanied by the breath, in some few consonants, into the simple and compound sounds, called vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, by the assistance of the organs of speech; and the uniting of those vowels, consonants, and diphthongs, together, so as to form syllables and words, and constitute spoken language."--_Bolles's Dict., Introd._, p. 7. ARTICLE II--OF GOOD ARTICULATION. Correctness in articulation is of such importance, that without it speech or reading becomes not only inelegant, but often absolutely unintelligible. The opposite faults are mumbling, muttering, mincing, lisping, slurring, mouthing, drawling, hesitating, stammering, misreading, and the like. "A good articulation consists in giving every letter in a syllable its due proportion of sound, according to the most approved custom of pronouncing it; and in making such a distinction between the syllables of which words are composed, that the ear shall without difficulty acknowledge their number; and perceive, at once, to which syllable each letter belongs. Where these points are not observed, the articulation is proportionably defective."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Grammar_, p. 50. Distinctness of articulation depends, primarily, upon the ability to form the simple elements, or sounds of letters, by the organs of speech, in the manner which the custom of the language demands; and, in the next place, upon the avoidance of that precipitancy of utterance, which is greater than the full and accurate play of the organs will allow. If time be not given for the full enunciation of any word which we attempt to speak, some of the syllables will of course be either lost by elision or sounded confusedly. Just articulation gives even to a feeble voice greater power and reach than the loudest vociferation can attain without it. It delivers words from the lips, not mutilated, distorted, or corrupted, but as the acknowledged sterling currency of thought;--"as beautiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the proper organs, distinct, sharp, in due succession, and of due weight."--_Austin's Chironomia_, p. 38. OBS.--The principles of articulation constitute the chief exercise of all those who are learning either to speak or to read. So far as they are specifically taught in this work, they will be found in those sections which treat of the powers of the letters. SECTION II.--OF PRONUNCIATION. Pronunciation, as distinguished from elocution, or delivery, is the utterance of words taken separately. The correct pronunciation of words, or that part of grammar which teaches it, is frequently called _Orthoepy_. Pronunciation, or orthoepy, requires a knowledge of the just powers of the letters in all their combinations; of the distinction of quantity in vowels and syllables; and of the force and seat of the accent. ARTICLE I--OF THE POWERS OF LETTERS. The JUST POWERS of the letters, are those sounds which are given to them by the best readers. These are to be learned, as reading is learned, partly from example, and partly from such books as show or aid the pronunciation of words. It is to be observed, however, that considerable variety, even in the powers of the letters, is produced by the character and occasion of what is uttered. It is noticed by Walker, that, "Some of the vowels, when neither under the accent, nor closed by a consonant, have a longer or a shorter, an opener or a closer sound, according to the solemnity or familiarity, the deliberation or rapidity of our delivery."--_Pronouncing Dict., Preface_, p. 4. In cursory speech, or in such reading as imitates it, even the best scholars utter many letters with quicker and obscurer sounds than ought ever to be given them in solemn discourse. "In public speaking," says Rippingham, "every word should be uttered, as though it were spoken singly. The solemnity of an oration justifies and demands such scrupulous distinctness. That careful pronunciation which would be ridiculously pedantic in colloquial intercourse, is an essential requisite of good elocution."--_Art of Public Speaking_, p. xxxvii. ARTICLE II--OF QUANTITY. QUANTITY, or TIME in pronunciation, is the measure of sounds or syllables in regard to their duration; and, by way of distinction, is supposed ever to determine them to be either _long_ or _short_.[471] The absolute time in which syllables are uttered, is very variable, and must be different to suit different subjects, passions, and occasions; but their relative length or shortness may nevertheless be preserved, and generally must be, especially in reciting poetry. Our long syllables are chiefly those which, having sounds naturally capable of being lengthened at pleasure, are made long by falling under some stress either of accent or of emphasis. Our short syllables are the weaker sounds, which, being the less significant words, or parts of words, are uttered without peculiar stress. OBS.--As quantity is chiefly to be regarded in the utterance of poetical compositions, this subject will be farther considered under the head of Versification. ARTICLE III.--OF ACCENT. ACCENT, as commonly understood, is the peculiar stress which we lay upon some particular syllable of a word, whereby that syllable is distinguished from and above the rest; as, _gram'-mar, gram-ma'-ri-an_. Every word of more than one syllable, has one of its syllables accented; and sometimes a compound word has two accents, nearly equal in force; as, _e'ven-hand'ed, home'-depart'ment_.[472] Besides the _chief_ or _primary_ accent, when the word is long, for the sake of harmony or distinctness, we often give a _secondary_ or less forcible accent to an other syllable; as, to the last of _tem'-per-a-ture'_, and to the second of _in dem'-ni-fi-ca'-tion_. "Accent seems to be regulated, in a great measure, by etymology. In words from the Saxon, the accent is generally on the root; in words from the learned languages, it is generally on the termination; and if to these we add the different accent we lay on some words, to distinguish them from others, we seem to have the three great principles of accentuation; namely, the radical, the terminational, and the distinctive."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 491; _L. Murray's Grammar_, 8vo, p. 236. A full and open pronunciation of the long vowel sounds, a clear articulation of the consonants, a forcible and well-placed accent, and a distinct utterance of the unaccented syllables, distinguish the elegant speaker. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The pronunciation of the English language is confessedly very difficult to be mastered. Its rules and their exceptions are so numerous, that few become thoroughly acquainted with any general system of them. Nor, among the different systems which have been published, is there any which is worthy in all respects to be accounted a STANDARD. And, if we appeal to custom, the custom even of the best speakers is far from an entire uniformity. Perhaps the most popular directory on this subject is Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary. The "Principles of English Pronunciation," which this author has furnished, occupy fifty-six closely-printed octavo pages, and are still insufficient for the purpose of teaching our orthoepy by rule. They are, however, highly valuable, and ought to be consulted by every one who wishes to be master of this subject. In its vocabulary, or stock of words, this Dictionary is likewise deficient. Other lexicographers have produced several later works, of high value to the student; and, though no one has treated the subject of pronunciation so elaborately as did Walker, some may have given the results of their diligence in a form more useful to the generality of their consulters. Among the good ones, is the Universal and Critical Dictionary of Joseph E. Worcester. OBS. 2.--Our modern accentuation of Greek or Latin words is regulated almost wholly by the noted rule of Sanctius, which Walker has copied and Englished in the Introduction to his Key, and of which the following is a new version or paraphrase, never before printed: RULE FOR THE ACCENTING OF LATIN. _One_ syllable has stress of course, And words of _two_ the _first_ enforce; In _longer_ words the _penult_ guides, Its _quantity_ the point decides; If _long_, 'tis _there_ the accent's due, If _short_, accent the _last but two_; For accent, in a Latin word, Should ne'er go higher than the third. This rule, or the substance of it, has become very important by long and extensive use; but it should be observed, that stress on monosyllables is more properly _emphasis_ than _accent_; and that, in English, the accent governs quantity, rather than quantity the accent. SECTION III.--OF ELOCUTION. Elocution is the graceful utterance of words that are arranged into sentences, and that form discourse. Elocution requires a knowledge, and right application, of emphasis, pauses, inflections, and tones. ARTICLE I--OF EMPHASIS. EMPHASIS is the peculiar stress of voice which we lay upon some particular word or words in a sentence, which are thereby distinguished from the rest as being more especially significant.[473] As accent enforces a syllable, and gives character to a word; so emphasis distinguishes a word, and often determines the import of a sentence. The right placing of accent, in the utterance of words, is therefore not more important, than the right placing of emphasis, in the utterance of sentences. If no emphasis be used, discourse becomes vapid and inane; if no accent, words can hardly be recognized as English. "Emphasis, besides its other offices, is the great regulator of quantity. Though the quantity of our syllable is fixed, in words separately pronounced, yet it is mutable, when [the] words are [ar]ranged in[to] sentences; the long being changed into short, the short into long, according to the importance of the words with regard to meaning: and, as it is by emphasis only, that the meaning can be pointed out, emphasis must be the regulator of the quantity."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 246.[474] "Emphasis changes, not only the quantity of words and syllables, but also, in particular cases, the sent of the accent. This is demonstrable from the following examples: 'He shall _in_crease, but I shall _de_crease.' 'There is a difference between giving and _for_giving.' 'In this species of composition, _plaus_ibility is much more essential than _prob_ability.' In these examples, the emphasis requires the accent to be placed on syllables to which it does not commonly belong."--_Ib._, p. 247. In order to know what words are to be made emphatic, the speaker or reader must give constant heed to _the sense_ of what he utters; his only sure guide, in this matter, being a just conception of the force and spirit of the sentiment which he is about to pronounce. He must also guard against the error of multiplying emphatic words too much; for, to overdo in this way, defeats the very purpose for which emphasis is used. To manage this stress with exact propriety, is therefore one of the surest evidences both of a quick understanding, and of a delicate and just taste. ARTICLE II.--OF PAUSES. Pauses are cessations in utterance, which serve equally to relieve the speaker, and to render language intelligible and pleasing. Pauses are of three kinds: first, _distinctive_ or _sentential_ pauses,--such as form the divisions required by the sense; secondly, _emphatic_ or _rhetorical_ pauses,--such as particularly call the hearer's attention to something which has been, or is about to be, uttered; and lastly, _poetical_ or _harmonic_ pauses,--such as are peculiar to the utterance of metrical compositions. The duration of the distinctive pauses should be proportionate to the degree of connexion between the parts of the discourse. The shortest are long enough for the taking of some breath; and it is proper, thus to relieve the voice at every stop, if needful. This we may do, slightly at a comma, more leisurely at a semicolon, still more so at a colon, and completely at a period. Pauses, whether in reading or in public discourse, ought always to be formed after the manner in which we naturally form them in ordinary, sensible conversation; and not after the stiff, artificial manner which many acquire at school, by a mere mechanical attention to the common punctuation. Forced, unintentional pauses, which accidentally divide words that ought to be spoken in close connexion, are always disagreeable; and, whether they arise from exhaustion of breath, from a habit of faltering, or from unacquaintance with the text, they are errors of a kind utterly incompatible with graceful elocution. Emphatic or rhetorical pauses, the kind least frequently used, may be made immediately before, or immediately after, something which the speaker thinks particularly important, and on which he would fix the attention of his audience. Their effect is similar to that of a strong emphasis; and, like this, they must not be employed too often. The harmonic pauses, or those which are peculiar to poetry, are of three kinds: the _final pause_, which marks the end of each line; the _caesural_ or _divisional pause_, which commonly divides the line near the middle; and the _minor rests_, or _demi-caesuras_, which often divide it still further. In the reading of poetry, these pauses ought to be observed, as well as those which have reference to the sense; for, to read verse exactly as if it were prose, will often rob it of what chiefly distinguishes it from prose. Yet, at the same time, all appearance of singsong, or affected tone, ought to be carefully guarded against. ARTICLE III.--OF INFLECTIONS. INFLECTIONS are those peculiar variations of the human voice, by which a continuous sound is made to pass from one note, key, or pitch, into an other. The passage of the voice from a lower to a higher or shriller note, is called the _rising_ or _upward_ inflection. The passage of the voice from a higher to a lower or graver note, is called tbe _falling_ or _downward_ inflection. These two opposite inflections may be heard in the following examples: 1. The rising, "Do you mean to _go_?" 2. The falling, "_When_ will you _go_?" In general, questions that may be answered by _yes_ or _no_, require the rising inflection; while those which demand any other answer, must be uttered with the falling inflection. These slides of the voice are not commonly marked in writing, or in our printed books; but, when there is occasion to note them, we apply the acute accent to the former, and the grave accent to the latter.[475] A union of these two inflections upon the same syllable, is called a _circumflex_, a _wave_, or a "_circumflex inflection_." When the slide is first downward and then upward, it is called the _rising circumflex_, or "the _gravo-acute circumflex_;" when first upward and then downward, it is denominated the _falling circumflex_, or "the _acuto-grave circumflex_." Of these complex inflections of the voice, the emphatic words in the following sentences may be uttered as examples: "And it shall go _h~ard_ but I will _use_ the information."--"_O_! but he _pa~used_ upon the brink." When a passage is read without any inflection, the words are uttered in what is called a _monotone_; the voice being commonly pitched at a grum note, and made to move for the time, slowly and gravely, on a perfect level. "Rising inflections are far more numerous than falling inflections; the former constitute the main body of oral language, while the latter are employed for the purposes of emphasis, and in the formation of cadences. Rising inflections are often emphatic; but their emphasis is weaker than that of falling inflections."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 50. "Writers on Elocution have given numerous rules for the regulation of inflections; but most of these rules are better calculated to make _bad_ readers than good ones. Those founded on the construction of sentences might, perhaps, do credit to a _mechanic_, but they certainly do none to an _elocutionist_."--_Ib._, p. 51. "The reader should bear in mind that a falling inflection gives more importance to a word than a rising inflection. Hence it should never be employed merely for the sake of _variety_; but for _emphasis_ and _cadences_. Neither should a rising inflection be used for the sake of mere '_harmony_,' where a falling inflection would better express the meaning of the author. The _sense_ should, in _all_ cases, determine the direction of inflections."--_Ib._ _Cadence_ is a fall of the voice, which has reference not so much to pitch as to force, though it may depress both; for it seems to be generally contrasted with emphasis,[476] and by some is reprehended as a fault. "Support your voice steadily and firmly," says Rippingham, "and pronounce the concluding words of the sentence with force and vivacity, rather than with a languid cadence."--_Art of Speaking_, p. 17. The pauses which L. Murray denominates the suspending and the closing pause, he seems to have discriminated chiefly by the inflections preceding them, if he can be said to have distinguished them at all. For he not only teaches that the former may sometimes be used at the close of a sentence, and the latter sometimes where "the sense is not completed;" but, treating cadence merely as a defect, adds the following caution: "The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or _cadence_, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence. Nothing is more destructive of propriety and energy than this habit. The tones and inflections of the voice at the close of a sentence, ought to be diversified, according to the general nature of the discourse, and the particular construction and meaning of the sentence."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 250; 12mo, p. 200. ARTICLE IV.--OF TONES. Tones are those modulations of the voice which depend upon the feelings of the speaker. They are what Sheridan denominates "the language of emotions." And it is of the utmost importance, that they be natural, unaffected, and rightly adapted to the subject and to the occasion; for upon them, in a great measure, depends all that is pleasing or interesting in elocution. "How much of the propriety, the force, and [the] grace of discourse, must depend on these, will appear from this single consideration; that to almost every sentiment we utter, more especially to every strong emotion, nature has adapted some peculiar tone of voice; insomuch, that he who should tell another that he was angry, or much grieved, in a tone that did not suit such emotions, instead of being believed, would be laughed at."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 333. "The different passions of the mind must be expressed by different tones of the voice. _Love_, by a soft, smooth, languishing voice; _anger_, by a strong, vehement, and elevated voice; _joy_, by a quick, sweet, and clear voice; _sorrow_, by a low, flexible, interrupted voice; _fear_, by a dejected, tremulous, hesitating voice; _courage_, by a full, bold, and loud voice; and _perplexity_, by a grave and earnest voice. In _exordiums_, the voice should be low, yet clear; in _narrations_, distinct; in _reasoning_, slow; in _persuasions_, strong: it should thunder in _anger_, soften in _sorrow_, tremble in _fear_, and melt in _love_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 121. OBS.--Walker observes, in his remarks on the nature of Accent and Quantity, "As to the tones of the passions, which are so many and various, these, in the opinion of one of the best judges in the kingdom, are _qualities_ of sound, occasioned by certain vibrations of the organs of speech, independent _on_ [say _of_] high, low, loud, soft, quick, slow, forcible, or feeble: which last may not improperly be called different _quantities_ of sound."--_Walker's Key_, p. 305. CHAPTER III.--FIGURES. A Figure, in grammar, is an intentional deviation from the ordinary spelling, formation, construction, or application, of words. There are, accordingly, figures of Orthography, figures of Etymology, figures of Syntax, and figures of Rhetoric. When figures are judiciously employed, they both strengthen and adorn expression. They occur more frequently in poetry than in prose; and several of them are merely poetic licenses. SECTION I.--FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. A Figure of Orthography is an intentional deviation from the ordinary or true spelling of a word. The principal figures of Orthography are two; namely, _Mi-me'-sis_ and _Ar'-cha-ism_. EXPLANATIONS. I. _Mimesis_ is a ludicrous imitation of some mistake or mispronunciation of a word, in which the error is mimicked by a false spelling, or the taking of one word for another; as, "_Maister_, says he, have you any _wery_ good _weal_ in you _vallet?_"--_Columbian Orator_, p. 292. "Ay, he was _porn_ at Monmouth, captain Gower."--_Shak._ "I will _description_ the matter to you, if you be _capacity_ of it."--_Id._ "_Perdigious!_ I can hardly stand." --LLOYD: _Brit. Poets_, Vol. viii, p. 184. II. An _Archaism_ is a word or phrase expressed according to ancient usage, and not according to our modern orthography; as, "_Newe grene chese of smalle clammynes comfortethe a hotte stomake._"--T. PAYNEL: _Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 132. "He _hath holpen_ his servant Israel."--_Luke_, i, 54. "With him was rev'rend Contemplation _pight_, Bow-bent with _eld_, his beard of snowy hue."--_Beattie_. OBS.--Among the figures of this section, perhaps we might include the foreign words or phrases which individual authors now and then adopt in writing English; namely, the _Scotticisms_, the _Gallicisms_, the _Latinisms_, the _Grecisms_, and the like, with which they too often garnish their English style. But these, except they stand as foreign quotations, in which case they are exempt from our rules, are in general offences against the _purity_ of our language; and it may therefore be sufficient, just to mention them here, without expressly putting any of them into the category of grammatical figures. SECTION II.--FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY. A Figure of Etymology is an intentional deviation from the ordinary formation of a word. The principal figures of Etymology are eight; namely, _A-phoer'-e-sis, Pros'-the-sis, Syn'-co-pe, A-poc'-o-pe, Par-a-go'-ge, Di-oer'-e-sis, Syn-oer'-e-sis_, and _Tme'-sis_. EXPLANATIONS. I. _Aphaeresis_ is the elision of some of the initial letters of a word: as, _'gainst_, for _against_; _'gan_, for _began_; _'neath_, for _beneath_; _'thout_, for _without_. II. _Prosthesis_ is the prefixing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, _a_down, for _down_; _ap_paid, for _paid_; _be_strown, for _strown_; _ev_anished, for _vanished_; _y_clad, for _clad_. III. _Syn'cope_ is the elision of some of the middle letters of a word: as, _med'cine_, for _medicine_; _e'en_, for _even_; _o'er_, for _over_; _conq'ring_, for _conquering_; _se'nnight_, for _sevennight_. IV. _Apoc'ope_ is the elision of some of the final letters of a word: as, _tho'_ for _though_; _th'_, for _the_; _t'other_, for _the other_; _thro'_, for _through_. V. _Parago'ge_ is the annexing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, _Johnny_, for _John_; _deary_, for _dear_; _withouten_, for _without_. VI. _Diaeresis_ is the separating of two vowels that might be supposed to form a diphthong: as, _cooeperate_, not _cooperate_; _aeronaut_, not _aeronaut_; _or'thoepy_, not _orthoepy_. VII. _Synaeresis_ is the sinking of two syllables into one: as, _seest_, for _seest_; _tacked_, for _tack-ed_; _drowned_, for _drown-ed_; _spoks't_, for _spok-est_; _show'dst_, for _show-edst_; _'tis_, for _it is_; _I'll_, for _I will_. VIII. _Tmesis_ is the inserting of a word between the parts of a compound, or between two words which should be united if they stood together: as, "On _which_ side _soever_."--_Rolla_. "_To_ us _ward_;" "_To_ God _ward_."--_Bible_. "The _assembling_ of ourselves _together_."--_Id._ "With _what_ charms _soe'er_ she will."--_Cowper_. "So _new_ a _fashion'd_ robe."--_Shak._ "Lament the _live_ day _long_."--_Burns_. OBS.--In all our pronunciation, except that of the solemn style, such verbal or participial terminations as can be so uttered, are usually sunk by _synaeresis_ into mere modifications of preceding syllables. The terminational consonants, if not uttered with one vowel, must be uttered with an other. When, therefore, a vowel is entirely suppressed in pronunciation, (whether retained in writing or not,) the consonants connected with it, necessarily fall into an other syllable: thus, _tried, triest, sued, suest, loved, lovest, mov'd, mov'st_, are monosyllables; and _studied, studiest, studi'dst, argued, arguest, argu'dst_, are dissyllables; except in solemn discourse, in which the _e_ is generally retained and made vocal. SECTION III.--FIGURES OF SYNTAX. A Figure of Syntax is an intentional deviation from the ordinary construction of words. The principal figures of Syntax are five; namely, _El-lip'-sis, Ple'-o-nasm, Syl-lep'-sis, En-al'-la-ge_, and _Hy-per'-ba-ton._ EXPLANATIONS. I. _Ellipsis_ is the omission of some word or words which are necessary to complete the construction, but not necessary to convey the meaning. Such words are said, in technical phrase, to be _understood_;[477] because they are received as belonging to the sentence, though they are not uttered. Of compound sentences, a vast many are more or less elliptical; and sometimes, for brevity's sake, even the most essential parts of a simple sentence, are suppressed;[478] as, "But more of this hereafter."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 77. This means, "But _I shall say_ more of this hereafter." "Prythee, peace."--_Shak._ That is, "_I pray_ thee, _hold thou thy_ peace." There may be an omission of any of the parts of speech, or even of a whole clause, when this repeats what precedes; but the omission of mere articles or interjections can scarcely constitute a proper ellipsis, because these parts of speech, wherever they are really necessary to be recognized, ought to be expressed. EXAMPLES OF ELLIPSIS SUPPLIED. 1. Of the ARTICLE:--"A man and [_a_] woman."--"The day, [_the_] month, and [_the_] year."--"She gave me an apple and [_a_] pear, for a fig and [_an_] orange."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 170. 2. Of the NOUN:--"The common [_law_] and the statute law."--"The twelve [_apostles_]."--"The same [_man_] is he."--"One [_book_] of my books."--"A dozen [_bottles_] of wine."--"Conscience, I say; not thine own [_conscience_], but [_the conscience_] of the other."--_1 Cor._, x, 29. "Every moment subtracts _from_ [_our lives_] what it adds _to_ our lives."--_Dillwyn's Ref._, p. 8. "Bad actions mostly lead to worse" [_actions_].--_Ib._, p. 5. 3. Of the ADJECTIVE:--"There are subjects proper for the one, and not [_proper_] for the other."--_Kames._ "A just weight and [_a just_] balance are the Lord's."--_Prov._, xvi, 11. True ellipses of the adjective alone, are but seldom met with. 4. Of the PRONOUN:--"Leave [_thou_] there thy gift before the altar, and go [_thou_] thy way; first be [_thou_] reconciled to thy brother, and then come [_thou_] and offer [_thou_] thy gift,"--_Matt._, v, 24. "Love [_ye_] your enemies, bless [_ye_] them that curse you, do [_ye_] good to them that hate you."--_Ib._, v. 44. "Chastisement does not always immediately follow error, but [_it_] sometimes comes when [_it is_] least expected."-- _Dillwyn, Ref._, p. 31. "Men generally put a greater value upon the favours [_which_] they bestow, than upon those [_which_] they receive."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 48. "Wisdom and worth were all [_that_] he had."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 294. 5. Of the VERB:--"The world is crucified unto me, and I [_am crucified_] unto the world."--_Gal._, vi, 14. "Hearts should not [_differ_], though heads may, differ."--_Dillwyn_, p. 11. "Are ye not much better than they" [_are_]?--_Matt._, vi, 26. "Tribulation worketh patience; and patience [_worketh_] experience; and experience [_worketh_] hope."--_Romans_, v, 4. "Wrongs are engraved on marble; benefits [_are engraved_] on sand."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 41. "To whom thus Eve, yet sinless" [_spoke_].--_Milton_. 6. Of the PARTICIPLE:--"That [_being_] o'er, they part."--"Animals of various natures, some adapted to the wood, and some [_adapted_] to the wave."--_Melmoth, on Scripture_, p. 13. "His knowledge [_being_] measured to his state and place, His time [_being_] a moment, and a point [_being_] his space."--_Pope_. 7. Of the ADVERB:--"He can do this independently of me, if not [_independently_] of you." "She shows a body rather than a life; A statue, [_rather_] than a breather." --_Shak., Ant. and Cleo._, iii, 3. 8. Of the CONJUNCTION:--"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, [_and_] joy, [_and_] peace, [_and_] long suffering, [_and_] gentleness, [_and_] goodness, [_and_] faith, [_and_] meekness, [_and_] temperance."--_Gal._, v, 22. The repetition of the conjunction is called _Polysyndeton_; and the omission of it, _Asyndeton_. 9. Of the PREPOSITION:--"It shall be done [_on_] this very day."--"We shall set off [_at_] some time [_in_] next month."--"He departed [_from_] this life."--"He gave [_to_] me a book."--"We walked [_through_] a mile."--"He was banished [_from_] the kingdom."--_W. Allen_. "He lived like [_to_] a prince."--_Wells_. 10. Of the INTERJECTION:--"Oh! the frailty, [_oh!_] the wickedness of men."--"Alas for Mexico! and [_alas_] for many of her invaders!" 11. Of PHRASES or CLAUSES:--"The active commonly do more than they are bound to do; the indolent [_commonly do_] less" [_than they are bound to do_].--"Young men, angry, mean less than they say; old men, [_angry, mean_] more" [_than they say_].--"It is the duty of justice, not to injure men; [_it is the duty_] of modesty, not to offend them."--_W. Allen_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Grammarians in general treat of ellipsis without _defining_ it; and exhibit such rules and examples as suppose our language to be a hundred-fold more elliptical than it really is.[479] This is a great error, and only paralleled by that of a certain writer elsewhere noticed, who denies the existence of all ellipsis whatever. (See Syntax, Obs. 24th on Rule 22d.) Some have defined this figure in a way that betrays a very inaccurate notion of what it is: as, "ELLIPSIS is _when_ one or more words are wanting _to complete the sense_."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 235; _Gould's_, 229. "ELLIPSIS is the omission of one or more words necessary _to complete the sense_."--_Bullions, Lat. Gram._, p. 265. These definitions are decidedly worse than none; because, if they have any effect, they can only mislead. They absurdly suggest that every elliptical sentence lacks a part of its own meaning! Ellipsis is, in fact, the mere omission or absence of certain _suggested words_; or of words that may be spared from utterance, _without defect in the sense_. There never can be an ellipsis of any thing which is either unnecessary to the construction or necessary to the sense; for to say what we mean and nothing more, never can constitute a deviation from the ordinary grammatical construction of words. As a figure of Syntax, therefore, the _ellipsis_ can only be of such words as are so evidently suggested to the reader, that the writer is as fully answerable for them as if he had written them. OBS. 2.--To suppose an ellipsis where there is none, or to overlook one where it really occurs, is to pervert or mutilate the text, in order to accommodate it to the parser's or reader's ignorance of the principles of syntax. There never can be either a general uniformity or a self-consistency in our methods of parsing, or in our notions of grammar, till the true nature of an ellipsis is clearly ascertained; so that the writer shall distinguish it from a _blundering omission_ that impairs the sense, and the reader or parser be barred from an _arbitrary insertion_ of what would be cumbrous and useless. By adopting loose and extravagant ideas of the nature of this figure, some pretenders to learning and philosophy have been led into the most whimsical and opposite notions concerning the grammatical construction of language. Thus, with equal absurdity, _Cardell_ and _Sherman_, in their _Philosophic Grammars_, attempt to confute the doctrines of their predecessors, by supposing _ellipses_ at pleasure. And while the former teaches, that prepositions do not govern the objective case, but that every verb is transitive, and governs at least two objects, expressed or _understood_, its own and that of a preposition: the latter, with just as good an argument, contends that no verb is transitive, but that every objective case is governed by a preposition expressed or _understood_. A world of nonsense for lack of a _definition!_ II. PLEONASM is the introduction of superfluous words; as, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat _of it_."--_Gen._, ii, 17. This figure is allowable only, when, in animated discourse, it abruptly introduces an emphatic word, or repeats an idea to impress it more strongly; as, "_He_ that hath ears to hear, let him hear."--_Bible_. "All ye inhabitants of the world, and _dwellers on the earth_."--_Id._ "There shall not be left one stone upon another _that shall not be thrown down_."--_Id._ "I know thee _who thou art_."--_Id._ A Pleonasm, as perhaps in these instances, is sometimes impressive and elegant; but an unemphatic repetition of the same idea, is one of the worst faults of bad writing. OBS.--Strong passion is not always satisfied with saying a thing once, and in the fewest words possible; nor is it natural that it should be. Hence repetitions indicative of intense feeling may constitute a beauty of the highest kind, when, if the feeling were wanting, or supposed to be so, they would be reckoned intolerable tautologies. The following is an example, which the reader may appreciate the better, if he remembers the context: "At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead."--_Judges_, v, 27. III. SYLLEPSIS is agreement formed according to the figurative sense of a word, or the mental conception of the thing spoken of, and not according to the literal or common use of the term; it is therefore in general connected with some figure of rhetoric: as "The _Word_ was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld _his_ glory."--_John_, i, 14. "Then Philip went down to the _city_ of Samaria, and preached Christ unto _them_."--_Acts_, viii, 5. "The _city_ of London _have_ expressed _their_ sentiments with freedom and firmness."--_Junius_, p. 159. "And I said [to backsliding _Israel_,] after _she_ had done all these things, Turn _thou_ unto me; but _she_ returned not: and _her_ treacherous _sister Judah_ saw it."--_Jer._, iii, 7. "And he surnamed them _Boanerges, which is_, The sons of thunder."--_Mark_, iii, 17. "While _Evening_ draws _her_ crimson curtains round."--_Thomson_, p. 63. "The _Thunder_ raises _his_ tremendous voice."--_Id._, p. 113. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--To the parser, some explanation of that agreement which is controlled by tropes, is often absolutely necessary; yet, of our modern grammarians, none appear to have noticed it; and, of the oldest writers, few, if any, have given it the rank which it deserves among the figures of syntax. The term _Syllepsis_ literally signifies _conception, comprehension_, or _taking-together_. Under this name have been arranged, by the grammarians and rhetoricians, many different forms of unusual or irregular agreement; some of which are quite too unlike to be embraced in the same class, and not a few, perhaps, too unimportant or too ordinary to deserve any classification as figures. I therefore omit some forms of expression which others have treated as examples of _Syllepsis_, and define the term with reference to such as seem more worthy to be noticed as deviations from the ordinary construction of words. Dr. Webster, allowing the word two meanings, explains it thus: "SYLLEPSIS, _n._ [_Gr._ syllaepsis.] 1. In _grammar_, a figure by which we conceive the sense of words otherwise than the words import, and construe them according to the intention of the author; otherwise called _substitution_.[480] 2. The agreement of a verb or adjective, not with the word next to it, but with the most worthy in the sentence."--_American Dict._ OBS. 2.--In short, _Syllepsis_ is a _conception_ of which grammarians have _conceived_ so variously, that it has become doubtful, what definition or what application of the term is now the most appropriate. Dr. Prat, in defining it, cites one notion from Sanctius, and adds an other of his own, thus: "SYLLEPSIS, id est, _Conceptio_, est quoties Generibus, aut Numeris videntur voces discrepare. Sanct. l. 4. c. 10. Vel sit Comprehensio indignioris sub digniore."--_Prat's Lat. Gram._, Part ii, p. 164. John Grant ranks it as a mere form or species of _Ellipsis_, and expounds it thus: "_Syllepsis_ is _when_ the adjective or verb, joined to different substantives, agrees with the more worthy."--_Institutes of Lat. Gram._, p. 321. Dr. Littleton describes it thus: "SYLLLEPSIS [sic--KTH],--A Grammatical figure _where_ two Nominative Cases singular of different persons are joined to a Verb plural."--_Latin Dict._, 4to. By Dr. Morell it is explained as follows: "SYLLEPSIS,--A grammatical figure, _where_ one is put for many, and many for one, Lat. _Conceptio_."--_Morell's Ainsworth's Dict._, 4to, Index Vitand. IV. _Enallage_ is the use of one part of speech, or of one modification, for an other. This figure borders closely upon solecism; and, for the stability of the language, it should be sparingly indulged. There are, however, several forms of it which can appeal to good authority: as, 1. "_You know_ that _you are_ Brutus, that _say_ this."--_Shak._ 2. "They fall _successive_[ly], and _successive_[ly] rise."--_Pope_. 3. "Than _whom_ [who] a fiend more fell is nowhere found."--_Thomson_. 4. "Sure some disaster has _befell_" [befallen].--_Gay_. 5. "So furious was that onset's shock, Destruction's gates at once _unlock_" [unlocked].--_Hogg_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--_Enallage_ is a Greek word, signifying _commutation, change_, or _exchange. "Enallage_, in a general sense, is the change of words, or of their accidents, one for another."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 322. The word _Antimeria_, which literally expresses _change of parts_, was often used by the old grammarians as synonymous with _Enallage_; though, sometimes, the former was taken only for the substitution of one _part of speech_ for an other, and the latter, only, or more particularly, for a change of _modification_--as of mood for mood, tense for tense, or number for number. The putting of one _case_ for an other, has also been thought worthy of a particular name, and been called _Antiptosis_. But _Enallage_, the most comprehensive of these terms, having been often of old applied to all such changes, reducing them to one head, may well be now defined as above, and still applied, in this way, to all that we need recognize as figures. The word _Enallaxis_, preferred by some, is of the same import. "ENALLAXIS, so called by _Longinus_, or ENALLAGE, is an _Exchange_ of _Cases, Tenses, Persons, Numbers_, or _Genders_."--_Holmes's Rhet._, Book i, p. 57. "An ENALLAXIS changes, when it pleases, Tenses, or Persons, Genders, Numbers, Cases."--_Ib._, B. ii, p. 50. OBS. 2.--Our most common form of _Enallage_ is that by which a single person is addressed in the plural number. This is so fashionable in our civil intercourse, that some very polite grammarians improperly dispute its claims to be called a _figure_; and represent it as being more ordinary, and even more literal than the regular phraseology; which a few of them, as we have seen, would place among the _archaisms_. The next in frequency, (if indeed it can be called a different form,) is the practice of putting _we_ for _I_, or the plural for the singular in the _first person_. This has never yet been claimed as literal and regular syntax, though the usages differ in nothing but commonness; both being honourably authorized, both still improper on some occasions, and, in both, the _Enallage_ being alike obvious. Other varieties of this figure, not uncommon in English, are the putting of adjectives for adverbs, of adverbs for nouns, of the present tense for the preterit, and of the preterit for the perfect participle. But, in the use of such liberties, elegance and error sometimes approximate so nearly, there is scarcely an obvious line between them, and grammarians consequently disagree in making the distinction. OBS. 3.--Deviations of this kind are, _in general_, to be considered solecisms; otherwise, the rules of grammar would be of no use or authority. _Despauter_, an ancient Latin grammarian, gave an improper latitude to this figure, or to a species of it, under the name of _Antiptosis_; and _Behourt_ and others extended it still further. But _Sanctius_ says, "_Antiptosi grammaticorum nihil imperitius, quod figmentum si esset verum, frustra quaereretur, quem casum verba regerent_." And the _Messieurs De Port Royal_ reject the figure altogether. There are, however, some changes of this kind, which the grammarian is not competent to condemn, though they do not accord with the ordinary principles of construction. V. _Hyperbaton_ is the transposition of words; as, "He wanders _earth around_."--_Cowper_ "_Rings the world_ with the vain stir."--_Id. "Whom_ therefore ye ignorantly worship, _him declare I_ unto you."--_Acts_, xvii, 23. "'_Happy_', says _Montesquieu, 'is that nation_ whose annals are tiresome.'"--_Corwin, in Congress_, 1847. This figure is much employed in poetry. A judicious use of it confers harmony, variety, strength, and vivacity upon composition. But care should be taken lest it produce ambiguity or obscurity, absurdity or solecism. OBS.--A confused and intricate arrangement of words, received from some of the ancients the name of _Syn'chysis_, and was reckoned by them among the figures of grammar. By some authors, this has been improperly identified with _Hyper'baton_, or elegant inversion; as may be seen under the word _Synchysis_ in Littleton's Dictionary, or in Holmes's Rhetoric, at page 58th. _Synchysis_ literally means _confusion_, or _commixtion_; and, in grammar, is significant only of some poetical jumble of words, some verbal _kink_ or _snarl_, which cannot be grammatically resolved or disentangled: as, "_Is piety_ thus _and_ pure _devotion_ paid?" --_Milton, P. L._, B. xi, l. 452. "An ass will with his long ears fray The flies that tickle him away; But man delights to have _his ears Blown maggots in by_ flatterers." --_Butler's Poems_, p. 161. SECTION IV.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words. Several of this kind of figures are commonly called _Tropes_, i.e., _turns_; because certain words are turned from their original signification to an other.[481] Numerous departures from perfect simplicity of diction, occur in almost every kind of composition. They are mostly founded on some similitude or relation of things, which, by the power of imagination, is rendered conducive to ornament or illustration. The principal figures of Rhetoric are sixteen; namely, _Sim'-i-le, Met'-a-phor, Al'-le-gor-y, Me-ton'-y-my, Syn-ec'-do-che, Hy-per'-bo-le, Vis'-ion, A-pos'-tro-phe, Per-son'-i-fi-ca'-tion, Er-o-te'-sis, Ec-pho-ne'-sis, An-tith'-e-sis, Cli'-max, I'-ro-ny, A-poph'-a-sis_, and _On-o-ma-to-poe'-ia._ EXPLANATIONS. I. A _Simile_ is a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by _like, as_, or _so_: as, "Such a passion is _like falling in love with a sparrow flying over your head_; you have but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight."--_Colliers Antoninus_. "Therefore they shall be _as the morning cloud_, and _as the early dew_ that passeth away; _as the chaff_ that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and _as the smoke_ out of the chimney."--_Hosea_, xiii. "At first, _like thunder's distant tone_, The rattling din came rolling on."--_Hogg_. "Man, _like the generous vine_, supported lives; The strength he gains, is from th' embrace he gives."--_Pope_. OBS.--Comparisons are sometimes made in a manner sufficiently intelligible, without any express term to point them out. In the following passage, we have a triple example of what seems the _Simile_, without the usual sign--without _like, as_, or _so_: "Away with all tampering with such a question! Away with all trifling with the man in fetters! _Give a hungry man a stone, and tell what beautiful houses are made of it;--give ice to a freezing man, and tell him of its good properties in hot weather;--throw a drowning man a dollar, as a mark of your good will_;--but do not mock the bondman in his misery, by giving him a Bible when he cannot read it."--FREDERICK DOUGLASS: _Liberty Bell_, 1848. II. A _Metaphor_ is a figure that expresses or suggests the resemblance of two objects by applying either the name, or some attribute, adjunct, or action, of the one, directly to the other; as, 1. "The LORD is my _rock_, and my _fortress_."--_Psal._, xviii 1. 2. "His eye was _morning's brightest ray_."--_Hogg_. 3. "An _angler_ in the _tides_ of fame."--_Id., Q. W._ 4. "Beside him _sleeps_ the warrior's bow."--_Langhorne_. 5. "Wild fancies in his moody brain _Gambol'd unbridled_ and unbound."--_Hogg, Q. W._ 6. "Speechless, and fix'd in all the _death_ of wo."--_Thomson_. OBS.--A _Metaphor_ is commonly understoood [sic--KTH] to be only the tropical use of some _single word_, or _short phrase_; but there seem to be occasional instances of one _sentence_, or _action_, being used metaphorically to represent an other. The following extract from the London Examiner has several figurative expressions, which perhaps belong to this head: "In the present age, nearly all people are critics, even to the pen, and treat the gravest writers with a sort of _taproom_ familiarity. If they are dissatisfied, _they throw a short and spent cigar in the face of the offender_; if they are pleased, _they lift the candidate off his legs, and send him away with a hearty slap on the shoulder_. Some of the shorter, when they are bent to mischief, _dip a twig in the gutter, and drag it across our polished boots_: on the contrary, when they are inclined to be gentle and generous, _they leap boisterously upon our knees, and kiss us_ with bread-and-butter in their mouths."--WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. III. An _Allegory_ is a continued narration of fictitious events, designed to represent and illustrate important realities. Thus the Psalmist represents the _Jewish nation_ under the symbol of a _vine_: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root; and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars."--_Psalms_, lxxx, 8-10. OBS.--The _Allegory_, agreeably to the foregoing definition of it, includes most of those similitudes which in the Scriptures are called _parables_; it includes also the better sort of _fables_. The term _allegory_ is sometimes applied to a _true history_ in which something else is intended, than is contained in the words literally taken. See an instance in _Galatians_, iv, 24. In the _Scriptures_, the term _fable_ denotes an idle and groundless story: as, in _1 Timothy_, iv, 7; and _2 Peter_, i, 16. It is now commonly used in a better sense. "A _fable_ may be defined to be an analogical narrative, intended to convey some moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects are introduced as speaking."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 280. IV. A _Metonymy_ is a change of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on some such relation as that of _cause_ and _effect_, of _progenitor_ and _posterity_, of _subject_ and _adjunct_, of _place_ and _inhabitant_, of _container_ and _thing contained_, or of _sign_ and _thing signified_: as, (1.) "God is our _salvation_;" i.e., _Saviour_. (2.) "Hear, O _Israel_;" i.e. O _ye descendants of_ Israel. (3.) "He was the _sigh_ of her secret soul;" i.e., the _youth_ she loved. (4.) "They smote the _city_;" i.e., the _citizens_. (5.) "My son, give me thy _heart_;" i.e., _affection_. (6.) "The _sceptre_ shall not depart from Judah;" i.e., _kingly power_. (7.) "They have _Moses and the prophets_;" i.e., _their writings_. See _Luke_, xvi, 29. V. _Synecdoche_, (that is, _Comprehension_,) is the naming of a part for the whole, or of the whole for a part; as, (1.) "This _roof_ [i.e., house] protects you." (2.) "Now the _year_ [i.e., summer] is beautiful." (3.) "A _sail_ [i.e., a ship or vessel] passed at a distance." (4.) "Give us this day our daily _bread_;" i.e., food. (5.) "Because they have taken away _my Lord_, [i.e., the body of Jesus,] and I know not where they have laid him."--_John_. (6.) "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand _souls_;" i.e., persons.--_Acts_. (7.) "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all _the world_ [i.e., the Roman empire] should be taxed."--_Luke_, ii, 1. VI. _Hyperbole_ is extravagant exaggeration, in which the imagination is indulged beyond the sobriety of truth; as, "My little finger _shall be thicker_ than my father's loins."--_2 Chron._, x, 10. "When I washed my _steps with butter_, and the rock poured me out _rivers of oil_."--_Job_, xxix, 6. "The sky _shrunk upward with unusual dread_, And trembling Tiber _div'd beneath his bed_."--_Dryden_. VII. _Vision_, or _Imagery_, is a figure by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination, as actually before his eyes, and present to his senses; as, "I see the dagger-crest of Mar! I see the Moray's silver star Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake comes winding far!"--_Scott, L. L._, vi, 15. VIII. _Apostrophe_ is a turning from the regular course of the subject, into an animated address; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 55. IX. _Personification_ is a figure by which, in imagination, we ascribe intelligence and personality to unintelligent beings or abstract qualities; as, 1. "The _Worm_, aware of his intent, Harangued him thus, right eloquent."--_Cowper_. 2. "Lo, steel-clad _War_ his gorgeous standard rears!"--_Rogers_. 3. "Hark! _Truth_ proclaims, thy triumphs cease!"--_Idem_. X. _Erotesis_ is a figure in which the speaker adopts the form of interrogation, not to express a doubt, but, in general, confidently to assert the reverse of what is asked; as, "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?"--_Job_, xl, 9. "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"--_Psalms_, xciv, 9. XI. _Ecphonesis_ is a pathetic exclamation, denoting some violent emotion of the mind; as, "O liberty!--O sound once delightful to every Roman ear!--O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship!--once sacred--now trampled upon."--_Cicero_. "And I said, O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."--_Psalms_, lv, 6. XII. _Antithesis_ is a placing of things in opposition, to heighten their effect by contrast; as, "I will talk of things _heavenly_, or things _earthly_; things _moral_, or things _evangelical_; things _sacred_, or things _profane_; things _past_, or things _to come_; things _foreign_, or things _at home_; things more _essential_, or things _circumstantial_; provided that all be done to our profit."--_Bunyan, P. P._, p. 90. "Contrasted faults through all his manners reign; Though _poor, luxurious_; though _submissive, vain_; Though _grave_, yet _trifling_; _zealous_, yet _untrue_; And e'en _in penance, planning sins_ anew."--_Goldsmith_. XIII. _Climax_ is a figure in which the sense is made to advance by successive steps, to rise gradually to what is more and more important and interesting, or to descend to what is more and more minute and particular; as, "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."--_2 Peter_, i, 5. XIV. _Irony_ is a figure in which the speaker sneeringly utters the direct reverse of what he intends shall be understood; as, "We have, to be sure, great reason to believe the modest man would not ask him for a debt, when he pursues his life."--_Cicero_. "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you."--_Job_, xii, 2. "They must esteem learning _very much_, when they see its professors used with such little ceremony!"--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 150. XV. _Apophasis_, or _Paralipsis_,[482] is a figure in which the speaker or writer pretends to omit what at the same time he really mentions; as, "I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit _I do not say to thee_, how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."--_Philemon_, 19. XVI. _Onomatopoeia_ is the use of a word, phrase, or sentence, the sound of which resembles, or intentionally imitates, the sound of the thing signified or spoken of: as, "Of a knocking at the door, _Rat a tat tat_."--J. W. GIBBS: _in Fowler's Gram._, p. 334. "_Ding-dong! ding-dong!_ Merry, merry, go the bells, _Ding-dong! ding-dong_!"--_H. K. White_. "Bow'wow _n._ The loud bark of a dog. _Booth_."--_Worcester's Dict._ This is often written separately; as, "_Bow wow_."--_Fowler's Gram._, p. 334. The imitation is better with three sounds: "_Bow wow wow_." The following verses have been said to exhibit this figure: "But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar." --_Pope, on Crit._, l. 369. OBS.--The whole number of figures, which I have thought it needful to define and illustrate in this work, is only about thirty. These are the _chief_ of what have sometimes been made a very long and minute catalogue. In the hands of some authors, Rhetoric is scarcely anything else than a detail of figures; the number of which, being made to include almost every possible form of expression, is, according to these authors, not less than two hundred and forty. Of their _names_, John Holmes gives, in his index, two hundred and fifty-three; and he has not all that might be quoted, though he has more than there are of the forms named, or the figures themselves. To find a learned name for every particular mode of expression, is not necessarily conducive to the right use of language. It is easy to see the inutility of such pedantry; and Butler has made it sufficiently ridiculous by this caricature: "For all a rhetorician's rules Teach nothing but to name his tools."--_Hudibras_, P. i, C. i, l. 90. SECTION V.--EXAMPLES FOR PARSING. PRAXIS XIV.--PROSODICAL. _In the Fourteenth Praxis, are exemplified the several Figures of Orthography, of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Rhetoric, which the parser may name and define_; _and by it the pupil may also be exercised in relation to the principles of Punctuation, Utterance, Analysis, or whatever else of Grammar, the examples contain_. LESSON I.--FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY. MIMESIS AND ARCHAISM. "I _ax'd_ you what you had to sell. I am fitting out a _wessel_ for _Wenice_, loading her with _warious keinds_ of _prowisions_, and _wittualling_ her for a long _woyage_; and I want several _undred_ weight of _weal, wenison_, &c., with plenty of _inyons_ and _winegar_, for the _preserwation_ of _ealth_."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 292. "God bless you, and lie still quiet (_says_ I) a bit longer, for my _shister's_ afraid of ghosts, and would die on the spot with the fright, _was_ she to see you come to life all on a sudden this way without the least preparation."--_Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent_, p. 143. "None [else are] so desperately _evill_, as they that may _bee_ good and will not: or have _beene_ good and are not."--_Rev. John Rogers_, 1620. "A Carpenter finds his work as _hee_ left it, but a Minister shall find his _sett_ back. You need preach continually."--_Id._ "Here _whilom ligg'd_ th' Esopus of his age, But call'd by Fame, in soul _ypricked_ deep."--_Thomson_. "It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare, Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge _pleasaunce_ grew."--_Id._ LESSON II.--FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY. APHAERESIS, PROSTHESIS, SYNCOPE, APOCOPE, PARAGOGE, DIAERESIS, SYNAERESIS, AND TMESIS. "Bend _'gainst_ the steepy hill thy breast, Burst down like torrent from its crest."--_Scott_. "_'Tis_ mine to teach _th'_ inactive hand to reap Kind nature's bounties, _o'er_ the globe _diffus'd_."--_Dyer_. "Alas! alas! how impotently true _Th' aerial_ pencil forms the scene anew."--_Cawthorne_. "Here a deformed monster _joy'd_ to won, Which on fell rancour ever was _ybent_."--_Lloyd_. "_Withouten_ trump was proclamation made."--_Thomson_. "The gentle knight, who saw their rueful case, Let fall _adown_ his silver beard some tears. 'Certes,' quoth he, 'it is not _e'en_ in grace, _T'_ undo the past and eke your broken years."--_Id._ "Vain _tamp'ring_ has but _foster'd_ his disease; _'Tis desp'rate_, and he sleeps the sleep of death."--_Cowper_. "'I have a pain upon my forehead here'-- 'Why _that's_ with watching; _'twill_ away again.'"--_Shakspeare_. "I'll to the woods, among the happier brutes; Come, _let's_ away; hark! the shrill horn resounds."--_Smith_. "_What_ prayer and supplication _soever_ be made."--_Bible_. "By the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly _to_ you _ward_."--_Ib._ LESSON III.--FIGURES OF SYNTAX. FIGURE I.--ELLIPSIS. "And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn, And [--] villager [--] abroad at early toil."--_Beattie_. "The cottage curs at [--] early pilgrim bark."--_Id._ "'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears, Our most important [--] are our earliest years."--_Cowper_. "To earn her aid, with fix'd and anxious eye, He looks on nature's [--] and on fortune's course."--_Akenside_. "For longer in that paradise to dwell, The law [--] I gave to nature him forbids."--_Milton_. "So little mercy shows [--] who needs so much."--_Cowper_. "Bliss is the same [--] in subject, as [--] in king; In [--] who obtain defence, and [--] who defend."--_Pope_. "Man made for kings! those optics are but dim That tell you so--say rather, they [--] for him."--_Cowper_. "Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, But God will never [-------]."--_Id._ "Vigour [--] from toil, from trouble patience grows."--_Beattie_. "Where now the rill melodious, [--] pure, and cool, And meads, with life, and mirth, and beauty crown'd?"--_Id._ "How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! How dumb the tuneful [------------]!"--_Thomson_. "Self-love and Reason to one end aspire, Pain [--] their aversion, pleasure [--] their desire; But greedy that its object would devour, This [--] taste the honey, and not wound the flower."--_Pope_. LESSON IV.--FIGURES OF SYNTAX. FIGURE II.--PLEONASM. "_According_ to their deeds, _accordingly_ he will _repay_, fury to his adversaries, _recompense_ to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense."--_Isaiah_, lix, 18. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, _and my locks with the drops of the night_."--_Song of Sol._, v, 2. "Thou hast chastised me, _and I was chastised_, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, _and I shall be turned_; for thou art the Lord my God."--_Jer._, xxxi, 18. "Consider the _lilies_ of the field how _they grow_."--_Matt._, vi, 28. "_He_ that glorieth, let _him_ glory in the Lord."--_2 Cor._, x, 17. "_He_ too is witness, noblest of the train That wait on man, the flight-performing horse."--_Cowper_. FIGURE III.--SYLLEPSIS. "'Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called _Cephas:' which_ is, by interpretation a stone."--_John_, i, 42. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I will break the bow of _Elam_, the chief of _their_ might.'"--_Jer._, xlix, 35. "Behold, I lay in Sion a _stumbling-stone_ and _rock_ of offence: and whosoever believeth on _him_ shall not be ashamed."--_Rom._, ix, 33. "Thus _Conscience_ pleads _her_ cause within the breast, Though long rebell'd against, not yet suppressed."--_Cowper_. "_Knowledge_ is proud that _he_ has learn'd so much; _Wisdom_ is humble that _he_ knows no more."--_Id._ "For those the _race_ of Israel oft forsook _Their_ living _strength_, and unfrequented left _His_ righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods."--_Milton, Paradise Lost_, B. i, l. 432. LESSON V.--FIGURES OF SYNTAX. FIGURE IV.--ENALLAGE. "Let me tell _you_, Cassius, _you_ yourself _Are_ much condemned to have an itching palm, To sell and mart _your_ offices for gold."--_Shakspeare_. "Come, Philomelus; let us _instant_ go, O'erturn his bow'rs, and lay his castle low."--_Thomson_. "Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire _begun_"--_Pope_. "Such was that temple built by Solomon, Than _whom_ none richer reign'd o'er Israel."--_Author_. "He spoke: with fatal eagerness we _burn_, And _quit_ the shores, undestin'd to return."--_Day_. "Still as he pass'd, the nations he _sublimes_."--_Thomson_. "Sometimes, with early morn, he mounted _gay_."--_Id._ "'I've lost a day'--the prince who nobly cried, _Had been_ an emperor without his crown."--_Young_. FIGURE V.--HYPERBATON. "Such resting found _the sole_ of unblest feet."--_Milton_. "Yet, though successless, _will the toil_ delight."--_Thomson_. "Where, 'midst the changeful scen'ry ever new, Fancy a thousand wondrous _forms_ descries."--_Beattie_. "Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace, That who advance his glory, not their own, _Them_ he himself to glory will advance."--_Milton_. "No quick _reply_ to dubious questions make; Suspense and caution still prevent mistake."--_Denham_. LESSON VI.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. FIGURE I.--SIMILE. "Human greatness is short and transitory, _as the odour of incense in the fire_."--_Dr. Johnson_. "Terrestrial happiness is of short continuance: _the brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel, the fragrant flower is passing away in its own odours_."--_Id._ "Thy nod is _as the earthquake that shakes the mountains_; and thy smile, _as the dawn of the vernal day_."--_Id._ "_Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom strong_; Man's coltish disposition asks the thong; And, without discipline, the fav'rite child, _Like a neglected forester_, runs wild."--_Cowper_. "As turns a flock of geese, and, on the green, Poke out their foolish necks in awkward spleen, (Ridiculous in rage!) to _hiss_, not _bite, So war their quills_, when sons of _dullness_ write."--_Young_. "Who can unpitying see the flowery race, Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign, Before th' unbating beam? _So fade the fair_, When fevers revel through their azure veins."--_Thomson_. FIGURE II.--METAPHOR. "Cathmon, thy name is a pleasant _gale_."--_Ossian_. "Rolled into himself he flew, wide on the _bosom of winds_. The old _oak felt_ his departure, and _shook_ its whistling _head_."--_Id._ "Carazan gradually lost the inclination to do good, as he acquired the power; as the _hand of time_ scattered _snow_ upon his head, the _freeziny influence_ [sic--KTH] extended to his bosom."--_Hawkesworth_. "The sun _grew weary_ of gilding the palaces of Morad; _the clouds of sorrow_ gathered round his head; and _the tempest of hatred_ roared about his dwelling."--_Dr. Johnson_. LESSON VII.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. FIGURE III.--ALLEGORY. "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not;' but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir;' and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, 'The first.'"--_Matt._, xxi, 28-31. FIGURE IV.--METONYMY. "Swifter than a whirlwind, flies the leaden _death_."--_Hervey_. "'Be all the dead forgot,' said Foldath's bursting _wrath_. 'Did not I fail in the field?'"--_Ossian_. "Their _furrow_ oft the stubborn glebe has broke."--_Gray_. "Firm in his love, resistless in his hate, His arm is _conquest_, and his frown is _fate_."--_Day_. "At length the _world_, renew'd by calm repose, Was strong for toil; the dappled morn arose."--_Parnell_. "What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's _beam_! Of hearing, from the _life_ that fills the flood, To _that_ which warbles through the vernal wood!"--_Pope_. FIGURE V.--SYNECDOCHE. "'Twas then his _threshold_ first receiv'd a guest."--_Parnell_. "For yet by swains alone the world he knew, Whose _feet_ came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew."--_Id._ "Flush'd by the spirit of the genial _year_, Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round."--_Thomson_. LESSON VIII.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. FIGURE VI.--HYPERBOLE. "I saw their chief, tall as a rock of ice; his spear, the blasted fir; his shield the rising moon; he sat on the shore, like a cloud of mist on the hill."--_Ossian_. "At which the universal host up sent A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night."--_Milton_. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red!"--_Shakspeare_. FIGURE VII.--VISION. "How mighty is their defence who reverently trust in the arm of God! How powerfully do they contend who fight with lawful weapons! Hark! 'Tis the voice of eloquence, pouring forth the living energies of the soul; pleading, with generous indignation and holy emotion, the cause of injured humanity against lawless might, and reading the awful destiny that awaits the oppressor!--I see the stern countenance of despotism overawed! I see the eye fallen, that kindled the elements of war! I see the brow relaxed, that scowled defiance at hostile thousands! I see the knees tremble, that trod with firmness the embattled field! Fear has entered that heart which ambition had betrayed into violence! The tyrant feels himself a man, and subject to the weakness of humanity!--Behold! and tell me, is that power contemptible which can thus find access to the sternest hearts?"--_Author_. FIGURE VIII.--APOSTROPHE. "Yet still they breathe destruction, still go on, Inhumanly ingenious to find out New pains for life, new terrors for the grave; Artificers of death! Still monarchs dream Of universal empire growing up From universal ruin. _Blast the design_, _Great God of Hosts! nor let thy creatures fall_ _Unpitied victims at Ambition's shrine_."--_Porteus_. LESSON IX.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. FIGURE IX.--PERSONIFICATION. "Hail, sacred _Polity_, by _Freedom_ rear'd! Hail, sacred _Freedom_, when by _Law_ restrain'd! Without you, what were man? A grov'ling herd, In darkness, wretchedness, and want, enchain'd."--_Beattie_. "Let cheerful _Mem'ry_, from her purest cells, Lead forth a godly train of _Virtues_ fair, Cherish'd in early youth, now paying back With tenfold usury the pious care."--_Porteus_. FIGURE X.--EROTESIS. "He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"--_Psalms_, xciv, 10. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."--_Jeremiah_, xiii, 23. FIGURE XI.--ECPHONESIS. "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them!"--_Jeremiah_, ix, 1. FIGURE XII.--ANTITHESIS. "On this side, modesty is engaged; on that, impudence: on this, chastity; on that, lewdness: on this, integrity; on that, fraud: on this, piety; on that, profaneness: on this, constancy; on that, fickleness: on this, honour; on that, baseness: on this, moderation; on that, unbridled passion."--_Cicero_. "She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies, Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise; Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes; Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods."--_Pope_. LESSON X.--FIGURES OF RHETORIC. FIGURE XIII.--CLIMAX. "Virtuous actions are necessarily approved by the awakened conscience; and when they are approved, they are commended to practice; and when they are practised, they become easy; and when they become easy, they afford pleasure; and when they afford pleasure, they are done frequently; and when they are done frequently, they are confirmed by habit: and confirmed habit is a kind of second nature."--_Inst._, p. 246. "Weep all of every name: begin the wo, Ye woods, and tell it to the doleful winds; And doleful winds, wail to the howling hills; And howling hills, mourn to the dismal vales; And dismal vales, sigh to the sorrowing brooks; And sorrwing brooks, weep to the weeping stream; And weeping stream, awake the groaning deep; And let the instrument take up the song, Responsive to the voice--harmonious wo!"--_Pollok_, B. vi, l. 115. FIGURE XIV.--IRONY. "And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, 'Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in [_on_] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked!' "--_1 Kings_, xviii, 27. "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know my breach of promise."--_Numbers_, xiv, 34. "Some lead a life unblamable and just, Their own dear virtue their unshaken trust; They never sin--or if (as all offend) Some trivial slips their daily walk attend, The poor are near at hand, the charge is small, A slight gratuity atones for all."--_Cowper_. FIGURE XV.--APOPHASIS, OR PARALIPSIS. I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with which he has wasted an ample fortune; nothing of the disgusting intemperance which has sometimes caused him to reel in our streets;--but I aver that he has not been faithful to our interests,--has not exhibited either probity or ability in the important office which he holds. FIGURE XVI.--ONOMATOPOEIA. [Fist][The following lines, from Swift's Poems, satirically mimick the imitative music of a violin.] "Now slowly move your fiddle-stick; Now, tantan, tantantivi, quick; Now trembling, shivering, quivering, quaking, Set hoping hearts of Lovers aching." "Now sweep, sweep the deep. See Celia, Celia dies, While true Lovers' eyes Weeping sleep, Sleeping weep, Weeping sleep, Bo-peep, bo-peep." CHAPTER IV.--VERSIFICATION. Versification is the forming of that species of literary composition which is called _verse_; that is, _poetry_, or _poetic numbers_. SECTION I.--OF VERSE. Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm--language so ordered as to produce harmony, by a due succession of poetic feet, or of syllables differing in quantity or stress. DEFINITIONS AND PRINCIPLES. The _rhythm_ of verse is its relation of quantities; the modulation of its numbers; or, the kind of metre, measure, or movement, of which it consists, or by which it is particularly distinguished. The _quantity_ of a syllable, as commonly explained, is the relative portion of time occupied in uttering it. In poetry, every syllable is considered to be either long or short. A long syllable is usually reckoned to be equal to two short ones. In the construction of English verse, long quantity coincides always with the primary accent, generally also with the secondary, as well as with emphasis; and short quantity, as reckoned by the poets, is found only in unaccented syllables, and unemphatical monosyllabic words.[483] The quantity of a syllable, whether long or short, does not depend on what is called the long or the short sound of a vowel or diphthong, or on a supposed distinction of accent as affecting vowels in some cases and consonants in others, but principally on the degree of energy or loudness with which the syllable is uttered, whereby a greater or less portion of time is employed. The open vowel sounds, which are commonly but not very accurately termed _long_, are those which are the most easily protracted, yet they often occur in the shortest and feeblest syllables; while, on the other hand, no vowel sound, that occurs under the usual stress of accent or of emphasis, is either so short in its own nature, or is so "quickly joined to the succeeding letter," that the syllable is not one of long quantity. Most monosyllables, in English, are variable in quantity, and may be made either long or short, as strong or weak sounds suit the sense and rhythm; but words of greater length are, for the most part, fixed, their accented syllables being always long, and a syllable immediately before or after the accent almost always short. One of the most obvious distinctions in poetry, is that of rhyme and blank verse. _Rhyme_ is a similarity of sound, combined with a difference: occurring usually between the last syllables of different lines, but sometimes at other intervals; and so ordered that the rhyming syllables begin differently and end alike. _Blank verse_ is verse without rhyme. The principal rhyming syllables are almost always long. Double rhyme adds one short syllable; triple rhyme, two. Such syllables are redundant in iambic and anapestic verses; in lines of any other sort, they are generally, if not always, included in the measure. A _Stanza_ is a combination of several verses, or lines, which, taken together, make a regular division of a poem. It is the common practice of good versifiers, to form all stanzas of the same poem after one model. The possible variety of stanzas is infinite; and the actual variety met with in print is far too great for detail. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Verse, in the broadest acceptation of the term, is poetry, or metrical language, in general. This, to the eye, is usually distinguished from prose by the manner in which it is written and printed. For, in very many instances, if this were not the case, the reader would be puzzled to discern the difference. The division of poetry into its peculiar lines, is therefore not a mere accident. The word _verse_, from the Latin _versus_, literally signifies a _turning_. Each full line of metre is accordingly called a verse; because, when its measure is complete, the writer _turns_ to place another under it. A _verse_, then, in the primary sense of the word with us, is, "A _line_ consisting of a certain succession of sounds, and number of syllables."--_Johnson, Walker, Todd, Bottes_, and others. Or, according to _Webster_, it is, "A poetic _line_, consisting of a certain number of long and short syllables, disposed according to the rules of the species of poetry which the author intends to compose."--See _American Dict._, 8vo. OBS. 2.--If to settle the theory of English verse on true and consistent principles, is as difficult a matter, as the manifold contrarieties of doctrine among our prosodists would indicate, there can be no great hope of any scheme entirely satisfactory to the intelligent examiner. The very elements of the subject are much perplexed by the incompatible dogmas of authors deemed skillful to elucidate it. It will scarcely be thought a hard matter to distinguish true verse from prose, yet is it not well agreed, wherein the difference consists: what the generality regard as the most essential elements or characteristics of the former, some respectable authors dismiss entirely from their definitions of both verse and versification. The existence of quantity in our language; the dependence of our rhythms on the division of syllables into long and short; the concurrence of our accent, (except in some rare and questionable instances,) with long quantity only; the constant effect of emphasis to lengthen quantity; the limitation of quantity to mere duration of sound; the doctrine that quantity pertains to all _syllables_ as such, and not merely to vowel sounds; the recognition of the same general principles of syllabication in poetry as in prose; the supposition that accent pertains not to certain _letters_ in particular, but to certain _syllables_ as such; the limitation of accent to stress, or percussion, only; the conversion of short syllables into long, and long into short, by a change of accent; our frequent formation of long syllables with what are called short vowels; our more frequent formation of short syllables with what are called long or open vowels; the necessity of some order in the succession of feet or syllables to form a rhythm; the need of framing each line to correspond with some other line or lines in length; the propriety of always making each line susceptible of scansion by itself: all these points, so essential to a true explanation of the nature of English verse, though, for the most part, well maintained by some prosodists, are nevertheless denied by some, so that opposite opinions may be cited concerning them all. I would not suggest that all or any of these points are thereby made _doubtful_; for there may be opposite judgements in a dozen cases, and yet concurrence enough (if concurrence _can_ do it) to establish them every one. OBS. 3.--An ingenious poet and prosodist now living,[484] Edgar Allan Poe, (to whom I owe a word or two of reply,) in his "Notes upon English Verse," with great self-complacency, represents, that, "While much has been written upon the structure of the Greek and Latin rhythms, comparatively _nothing_ has been done as regards the English;" that, "It may be said, indeed, we are _without a treatise_ upon our own versification;" that "The very best" _definition_ of versification[485] to be found in any of "_our ordinary treatises_ on the topic," has "_not a single point_ which does not involve an error;" that, "A _leading deft_ in each of these treatises is the confining of the subject to mere _versification_, while metre, or rhythm, in general, is the real question at issue;" that, "Versification is _not_ the art, but the _act_'--of making verses;" that, "A correspondence in the _length_ of lines is by no means essential;" that "_Harmony_" produced "by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity," does not include "_melody_;" that "A _regular alternation_, as described, forms _no part_ of the principle of metre:" that "There is no necessity of _any regularity_ in the succession of _feet_;" that, "By consequence," he ventures to "dispute the _essentiality_ of any alternation, regular or irregular, of _syllables_ long and short:" that, "For _anything more intelligible_ or _more satisfactory_ than this definition [i. e., G. Brown's former definition of versification,] we shall look in vain in _any published_ treatise upon the subject;" that, "So general and _so total a failure_ can be referred only to some _radical misconception_;" that, "The word _verse_ is derived (through _versus_ from the Latin _verto, I turn_,) and * * * * it can be nothing but _this derivation_, which has led to _the error_ of our writers upon prosody;" that, "_It is this_ which _has seduced them_ into regarding the _line_ itself--the _versus_, or turning--as an essential, or principle of metre;" that, "Hence the term _versification_ has been employed as sufficiently general, or inclusive, for treatises upon rhythm in general;" that, "Hence, also, [comes] the precise catalogue of a few varieties of English _lines_, when these varieties are, in fact, almost without limit;" that, "_I_," the aforesaid Edgar Allan Poe, "_shall dismiss entirely_, from the consideration of the principle of _rhythm_, the idea of _versification_, or the construction of verse;" that, "In so doing, _we_ shall avoid _a world of confusion_;" that, "_Verse_ is, indeed, an _afterthought_, or an _embellishment_, or an _improvement_, rather than an element of rhythm;" that, "_This fact_ has induced the easy admission, into the realms of Poesy, of _such works_ as the 'Telemaque' of Fenelon;" because, forsooth, "In the elaborate modulation of their sentences, THEY FULFIL THE IDEA OF METRE."--_The Pioneer, a Literary and Critical Magazine_ (Boston, March, 1843,) Vol. I, p. 102 to 105. OBS. 4.--"Holding these things in view," continues this sharp connoisseur, "the prosodist who rightly examines that which constitutes the external, or most immediately _recognisable_, form of Poetry, will commence with the definition of _Rhythm_. Now _rhythm_, from the Greek [_Greek: arithmos_], _number_, is a term which, in its present application, very nearly _conveys its own idea_. No more _proper_ word could be employed to present _the conception intended_; for _rhythm_, in prosody, is, in its _last analysis_, identical with _time_ in music. _For this reason_," says he, "I have used, throughout this article, as synonymous with _rhythm_, the word _metre_ from [Greek: metron], _measure_. Either the one or the other may be defined as _the arrangement of words into two or more consecutive, equal, pulsations of time_. These pulsations are _feet_. Two feet, at least, are requisite to constitute a _rhythm_; just as, in mathematics, two units are necessary to form [a] _number_.[486] The syllables of which the foot consists, when the foot is not a syllable in itself, are subdivisions of the pulsations. No equality is demanded in these subdivisions. It is only required that, so far as regards two consecutive feet at least, the sum of the times of the syllables in one, shall be equal to the sum of the times of the syllables in the other. Beyond two pulsations there is no necessity for equality of time. All beyond is arbitrary or conventional. A third or fourth pulsation may embody half, or double, or any proportion of the time occupied in the two first. Rhythm being thus understood, the prosodist should proceed to define _versification_ as _the making of verses_, and _verse_ as _the arbitrary or conventional isolation of rhythm into masses of greater or less extent_."--_Ib._, p. 105. OBS. 5.--No marvel that all usual conceptions and definitions of rhythm, of versification, and of verse, should be found dissatisfactory to the critic whose idea of _metre_ is fulfilled by the pompous _prose_ of Fenelon's Telemaque. No right or real examination of this matter can ever make the most immediately _recognizable_ form of poetry to be any thing else than the form of _verse_--the form of writing in _specific lines_, ordered by number and chime of syllables, and not squared by gage of the composing-stick. And as to the derivation and primitive signification of _rhythm_, it is plain that in the extract above, both are misrepresented. The etymology there given is a gross error; for, "the Greek [_Greek: arithmos_], _number_," would make, in English, not _rhythm_, but _arithm_, as in _arithmetic_. Between the two combinations, there is the palpable difference of three or four letters in either six; for neither of these forms can be varied to the other, but by dropping one letter, and adding an other, and changing a third, and moving a fourth. _Rhythm_ is derived, not thence, but from the Greek [_Greek: rhythmos_]; which, according to the lexicons, is a primitive word, and means, _rhythmus, rhythm, concinnity, modulation, measured tune_, or _regular flow_, and _not "number_." OBS. 6.--_Rhythm_, of course, like every other word not misapplied, "conveys _its own idea_;" and that, not qualifiedly, or "_very nearly_," but _exactly_. That this idea, however, was originally that of arithmetical _number_, or is nearly so now, is about as fanciful a notion, as the happy suggestion added above, that _rhythm_ in lieu of _arithm_ or _number_, is the fittest of words, _because_ "rhythm in prosody is _time_ in music!" Without dispute, it is important to the prosodist, and also to the poet or versifier, to have as accurate an idea as possible of the import of this common term, though it is observable that many of our grammarians make little or no use of it. That it has some relation to _numbers_, is undeniable. But what is it? Poetic numbers, and numbers in arithmetic, and numbers in grammar, are three totally different sorts of things. _Rhythm_ is related only to the first. Of the signification of this word, a recent expositor gives the following brief explanation: "RHYTHM, _n._ Metre; verse; _numbers_. Proportion applied to any motion whatever."--_Bolles's Dictionary_, 8vo. To this definition, Worcester prefixes the following: "The consonance of measure and time in poetry, _prose composition_, and music;--also in dancing."--_Universal and Critical Dict._ In verse, the proportion which forms rhythm--that is, the chime of quantities--is applied to the _sounds_ of syllables. Sounds, however, may be considered as a species of _motion_, especially those which are rhythmical or musical.[487] It seems more strictly correct, to regard rhythm as a _property_ of poetic numbers, than to identify it with them. It is their proportion or modulation, rather than the numbers themselves. According to Dr. Webster, "RHYTHM, or RHYTHMUS, in _music_ [is] variety in the movement as to quickness or slowness, or length and shortness of the notes; or _rather_ the proportion which the parts of the motion have to each other."--_American Dict._ The "_last analysis_" of rhythm can be nothing else than the reduction of it to its _least parts_. And if, in this reduction, it is "identical with _time_," then it is here the same thing as _quantity_, whether prosodical or musical; for, "The _time_ of a note, or syllable, is called _quantity_. The time of a _rest_ is also called quantity; because _rests_, as well as notes are a constituent of rhythm."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 64. But rhythm is, in fact, neither time nor quantity; for the analysis which would make it such, destroys the relation in which the thing consists. SECTION II.--OF ACCENT AND QUANTITY. Accent and Quantity have already been briefly explained in the second chapter of Prosody, as items coming under the head of Pronunciation. What we have to say of them here, will be thrown into the form of _critical observations_; in the progress of which, many quotations from other writers on these subjects, will be presented, showing what has been most popularly taught. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Accent and quantity are distinct things;[488] the former being the stress, force, loudness, or percussion of voice, that distinguishes certain syllables from others; and the latter, the _time_, distinguished as _long_ or _short_, in which a syllable is uttered. But, as the _great_ sounds which we utter, naturally take more time than the _small_ ones, there is a necessary connexion between quantity and accent in English,--a connexion which is sometimes expounded as being the mere relation of _cause and effect_; nor is it in fact much different from that. "As no utterance can be agreeable to the ear, which is void of proportion; and as _all quantity_, or proportion of time in utterance, depends upon a due observation of the _accent_; it is a matter of absolute necessity to all, who would arrive at a good and graceful delivery, to be master of that point. Nor is the use of _accent_ in our language confined to _quantity_ alone; but it is also the chief mark by which words are distinguished from mere syllables. Or rather I may say, it is the _very essence_ of words, which without that, would be only so many collections of syllables."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 61. "As no utterance _which is void of proportion_, can be agreeable to the ear; and as quantity, or proportion of time in utterance, _greatly_ depends _on_ a due _attention_ to the _accent_; it is _absolutely necessary for every person_, who would attain a _just_ and _pleasing_ delivery, to be master of that point."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 241; 12mo, 194. OBS. 2.--In the first observation on Prosody, at page 770, and in its marginal notes, was reference made to the fact, that the nature and principles of _accent_ and _quantity_ are involved in difficulty, by reason of the different views of authors concerning them. To this source of embarrassment, it seems necessary here again to advert; because it is upon the distinction of syllables in respect to quantity, or accent, or both, that every system of versification, except his who merely counts, is based. And further, it is not only requisite that the principle of distinction which we adopt should be clearly made known, but also proper to consider which of these three modes is the best or most popular foundation for a theory of versification. Whether or wherein the accent and quantity of the ancient languages, Latin and Greek, differed from those of our present English, we need not now inquire. From the definitions which the learned lexicographers Littleton and Ainsworth give to _prosodia_, prosody, it would seem that, with them, "the art of _accenting_" was nothing else than the art of giving to syllables their right _quantity_, "whether long or short." And some have charged it as a glaring error, long prevalent among English grammarians, and still a fruitful source of disputes, to confound accent with quantity in our language.[489] This charge, however, there is reason to believe, is sometimes, if not in most cases, made on grounds rather fanciful than real; for some have evidently mistaken the notion of concurrence or coincidence for that of identity. But, to affirm that the stress which we call accent, coincides always and only with long quantity, does not necessarily make accent and quantity to be one and the same thing. The greater force or loudness which causes the accented syllable to occupy more time than any other, is in itself something different from time. Besides, quantity is divisible,--being either _long_ or _short_: these two species of it are acknowledged on all sides, and some few prosodists will have a third, which they call "common." [490] But, of our English accent, the word being taken in its usual acceptation, no _such_ division is ever, with any propriety, made; for even the stress which we call _secondary accent_, pertains to _long_ syllables rather than to short ones; and the mere absence of stress, which produces short quantity, we do not call _accent_.[491] OBS. 3.--The impropriety of affirming _quantity_ to be the same as _accent_, when its most frequent species occurs only in the absence of accent, must be obvious to every body; and those writers who anywhere suggest this identity, must either have written absurdly, or have taken _accent_ in some sense which includes the sounds of our _unaccented_ syllables. The word sometimes means, "The _modulation_ of the voice in speaking."--_Worcester's Dict., w. Accent_. In this sense, the lighter as well as the more impressive sounds are included; but still, whether both together, considered as accents, can be reckoned the same as long and short quantities, is questionable. Some say, they cannot; and insist that they are yet as different, as the variable tones of a _trumpet_, which swell and fall, are different from the merely loud and soft notes of the monotonous _drum_. This illustration of the "easy Distinction betwixt _Quantity_ and _Accent_" is cited with commendation, in Brightland's Grammar, on page 157th;[492] the author of which grammar, _seems_ to have understood _Accent_, or _Accents_, to be the same as _Inflections_--though these are still unlike to quantities, if he did so. (See an explanation of Inflections in Chap. II, Sec. iii, Art. 3, above.) His exposition is this: "_Accent_ is the _rising_ and _falling_ of the Voice, above or under its usual _Tone_. There are three Sorts of Accents, an _Acute_, a _Grave_, and an _Inflex_, which is also call'd a _Circumflex_. The _Acute_, or _Sharp_, naturally _raises_ the Voice; and the _Grave_, or _Base_, as naturally _falls_ it. The _Circumflex_ is a kind of _Undulation_, or _Waving_ of the Voice."--_Brightland's Gram._, Seventh Ed., Lond., 1746, p. 156. OBS. 4.--Dr. Johnson, whose great authority could not fail to carry some others with him, too evidently identifies accent with quantity, at the commencement of his Prosody. "PRONUNCIATION is just," says he, "when every letter has its proper sound, and when every syllable has its proper accent, or which in English versification is _the same_, its proper quantity."-- _Johnson's Gram._, before Dict., 4to, p. 13; _John Burn's Gram._, p. 240; _Jones's Prosodial Gram._, before Dict., p. 10. Now our most common notion of _accent_--the sole notion with many--and that which the accentuation of Johnson himself everywhere inculcates--is, that it belongs _not_ to "_every syllable_," but only to some particular syllables, being either "a _stress of voice_ on a certain syllable," or a _small mark_ to denote such stress.--See _Scott's Dict._, or _Worcester's_. But Dr. Johnson, in the passage above, must have understood the word _accent_ agreeably to his own imperfect definition of it; to wit, as "_the sound given to the syllable pronounced_."--_Joh. Dict._ An _unaccented_ syllable must have been to him a syllable unpronounced. In short he does not appear to have recognized any syllables as being unaccented. The word _unaccented_ had no place in his lexicography, nor could have any without inconsistencey. [sic--KTH] It was unaptly added to his text, after sixty years, by one of his amenders, Todd or Chalmers; who still blindly neglected to amend his definition of _accent_. In these particulars, Walker's dictionaries exhibit the same deficiencies as Johnson's; and yet no author has more frequently used the words _accent_ and _unaccented_, than did Walker.[493] Mason's Supplement, first published in 1801, must have suggested to the revisers of Johnson the addition of the latter term, as appears by the authority cited for it: "UNA'CCENTED, _adj._ Not accented. 'It being enough to make a syllable long, if it be accented, and short, if it be _unaccented_.' _Harris's Philological Inquiries_."--_Mason's Sup._ OBS. 5--This doctrine of Harris's, that long quantity accompanies the accent, and unaccented syllables are short, is far from confounding or identifying accent with quantity, as has already been shown; and, though it plainly contradicts some of the elementary teaching of Johnson, Sheridan, Walker, Murray, Webster, Latham, Fowler, and others, in regard to the length or shortness of certain syllables, it has been clearly maintained by many excellent authors, so that no opposite theory is better supported by authority. On this point, our language stands not alone; for the accent controls quantity in some others.[494] G H. Noehden, a writer of uncommon ability, in his German Grammar for Englishmen, defines accent to be, as we see it is in English, "that _stress_ which marks a particular syllable in speaking;" and recognizing, as we do, both a full accent and a partial one, or "demi-accent," presents the syllables of his language as being of three conditions: the "_accented_," which "cannot be used otherwise than as _long_;" the "_half-accented_" which "must be regarded as ambiguous, or common;" and the "_accentless_," which "are in their nature _short_."--See _Noehden's Gram._, p. 87. His middle class, however, our prosodists in general very properly dispense with. In Fiske's History of Greek Literature, which is among the additions to the Manual of Classical Literature from the German of Eschenburg, are the following passages: "The _tone_ [i.e. accent] in Greek is placed upon short syllables as well as long; in German, it accompanies regularly only long syllables."--"In giving an accent to a syllable in an English word we _thereby_ render it a long syllable, whatever may be the sound given to its vowel, and in whatever way the syllable may be composed; so that as above stated in relation to the German, an English accent, or stress in pronunciation, accompanies only a long syllable."--_Manual of Class. Lit._, p. 437. With these extracts, accords the doctrine of some of the ablest of our English grammarians. "In the English Pronunciation," says William Ward, "there is a certain Stress of the Voice laid on some one syllable at least, of every Word of two or more Syllables; and that Syllable on which the Stress is laid may be considered _long_. Our Grammarians have agreed to consider this Stress of the Voice as _the Accent_ in English; and therefore the Accent and long Quantity coincide in our Language."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, p. 155. As to the vowel sounds, with the quantity of which many prosodists have greatly puzzled both themselves and their readers, this writer says, "they may be made as long, or as short, as the Speaker pleases."--_Ib._, p. 4. OBS. 6.--From the absurd and contradictory nature of many of the _principles usually laid down_ by our grammarians, for the discrimination of long quantity and short, it is quite apparent, that but very few of them have well understood either the distinction itself or their own rules concerning it. Take Fisher for an example. In Fisher's Practical Grammar, first published in London in 1753,--a work not unsuccessful, since Wells quotes the "_28th edition_" as appearing in 1795, and this was not the last--we find, in the first place, the vowel sounds distinguished as long or short thus: "_Q._ How many Sounds has a Vowel? _A._ Two in general, viz. 1. A LONG SOUND, When the Syllable ends with a Vowel, either in Monosyllables, or in Words of more Syllables; as, _t=ake, w=e, =I, g=o, n=il_; or, as, _N=ature, N=ero, N=itre, N=ovice, N=uisance_. 2. A SHORT SOUND, When the Syllable ends with a Consonant, either in Monosyllables, or others; as _H~at, h~er, b~it, r~ob, T~un_; or, as _B~arber, b~itten, B~utton_."--See p. 5. To this rule, the author makes needless exceptions of all such words as _balance_ and _banish_, wherein a single consonant between two vowels goes to the former; because, like Johnson, Murray, and most of our old grammarians, he divides on the vowel; falsely calls the accented syllable short; and imagines the consonant to be heard _twice_, or to have "_a double Accent_." On page 35th, he tells us that, "_Long and short Vowels_, and _long and short Syllables_, are _synonimous_ [--_synonymous_, from [Greek: synonymos]--] Terms;" and so indeed have they been most erroneously considered by sundry subsequent writers; and the consequence is, that all who judge by their criteria, mistake the poetic quantity, or prosodical value, of perhaps one half the syllables in the language. Let each syllable be reckoned long that "ends with a Vowel," and each short that "ends with a Consonant," and the decision will probably be oftener wrong than right; for more syllables end with consonants than with vowels, and of the latter class a majority are without stress and therefore short. Thus the foregoing principle, contrary to the universal practice of the poets, determines many _accented_ syllables to be "_short_;" as the first in "_barber, bitten, button, balance, banish_;--" and many _unaccented_ ones to be "_long_;" as the last in _sofa, specie, noble, metre, sorrow, daisy, valley, nature, native_; or the first in _around, before, delay, divide, remove, seclude, obey, cocoon, presume, propose_, and other words innumerable. OBS. 7.--Fisher's conceptions of accent and quantity, as constituting prosody, were much truer to the original and etymological sense of the words, than to any just or useful view of English versification: in short, this latter subject was not even mentioned by him; for prosody, in his scheme, was nothing but the right pronunciation of words, or what we now call _orthoepy._ This part of his Grammar commences with the following questions and answers: "_Q._ What is the Meaning of the Word PROSODY? _A._ It is a Word borrowed from the Greek; which, in Latin, is rendered _Accentus_, and in English _Accent_. "_Q._ What do you mean by _Accent_? _A._ Accent originally signified a Modulation of the Voice, or chanting to a musical Instrument; but is now generally used to signify _Due Pronunciatian_, i.e. the pronouncing [of] a syllable according to its Quantity, (whether it be long or short,) with a stronger Force or Stress of Voice than the other Syllables in the same Word; as, _a_ in _able, o_ in _above_, &c. "_Q._ What is _Quantity_? _A._ Quantity is the different Measure of _Time_ in pronouncing Syllables, from whence they are called long or short. "_Q._ What is the _Proportion_ between a long and a short Syllable? _A._ Two to one; that is, a long Syllable is twice as long in pronouncing as a short one; as, _Hate, Hat_. This mark (=) set over a Syllable, shows that it is long, and this (~) that it is short; as, r=ecord, r~ecord. "_Q_. How do you _know_ long and short Syllables? _A_. A Syllable is long or short according to the Situation of the Vowel, i.e. it is generally long when it ends with a Vowel, and short when with a Consonant; as, _F=a_- in _Favour_, and _M~an_- in _Manner_."--_Fisher's Practical Gram._, p. 34. Now one grand mistake of this is, that it supposes syllabication to fix the quantity, and quantity to determine the accent; whereas it is plain, that accent controls quantity, so far at least that, in the construction of verse, a syllable fully accented cannot be reckoned short. And this mistake is practical; for we see, that, in three of his examples, out of the four above, the author himself misstates the quantity, because he disregards the accent: the verb _re-cord'_, being accented on the second syllable, is an _iambus_; and the nouns _rec'-ord_ and _man'-ner_, being accented on the first, are _trochees_; and just as plainly so, as is the word _f=av~our_. But a still greater blunder here observable is, that, as a "_due pronunciation_" necessarily includes the utterance of every syllable, the explanation above stolidly supposes _all_ our syllables to be _accented_, each "according to its Quantity, (whether it be long or short,)" and each "_with a stronger Force or Stress of Voice_, than _the other_ Syllables!" Absurdity akin to this, and still more worthy to be criticised, has since been propagated by Sheridan, by Walker, and by Lindley Murray, with a host of followers, as Alger, D. Blair, Comly, Cooper, Cutler, Davenport, Felton, Fowler, Frost, Guy, Jaudon, Parker and Fox, Picket, Pond, Putnam, Russell, Smith, and others. OBS. 8.--Sheridan was an able and practical teacher of _English pronunciation_, and one who appears to have gained reputation by all he undertook, whether as an actor, as an elocutionist, or as a lexicographer. His publications that refer to that subject, though now mostly superseded by others of later date, are still worthy to be consulted. The chief of them are, his Lectures on Elocution, his Lectures on the Art of Reading, his Rhetorical Grammar, his Elements of English, and his English Dictionary. His third lecture on Elocution, and many pages of the Rhetorical Grammar, are devoted to _accent_ and _quantity_--subjects which he conceived to have been greatly misrepresented by other writers up to his time.[495] To this author, as it would seem, we owe the invention of that absurd doctrine, since copied into a great multitude of our English grammars, that the accent on a syllable of two or more letters, belongs, _not to the whole of it, but only to some_ ONE LETTER; and that according to the character of this letter, as vowel or consonant, the same stress serves to lengthen or shorten the syllable's quantity! Of this matter, he speaks thus: "The _great distinction_ of our accent depends upon its _seat_; which may be either upon a vowel or a consonant. Upon a vowel, as in the words, glory, father, holy. Upon a consonant, as in the words, hab'it, bor'row, bat'tle. When the accent is on the vowel, the syllable is long; because the accent is _made by dwelling_ upon the vowel. When it is on the consonant, the _syllable is short_;[496] because the accent is _made by passing rapidly_ over the vowel, and giving a smart stroke of the voice to the following consonant. _Obvious as this point is_, it _has wholly escaped the observation of all our grammarians and compilers of dictionaries_; who, instead of examining the peculiar genius of our tongue, implicitly and pedantically have followed the Greek method of always placing the accentual mark over a vowel."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 51. The author's reprehension of the old mode of accentuation, is not without reason; but his "great distinction" of short and long syllables is only fit to puzzle or mislead the reader. For it is plain, that the first syllables of _hab'it, bor'row_, and _bat'tle_, are twice as long as the last; and, in poetry, these words are trochees, as well as the other three, _glo'ry, fa'ther_, and _ho'ly_. OBS. 9.--The only important distinction in our accent, is that of the _primary_ and the _secondary_, the latter species occurring when it is necessary to enforce more syllables of a word than one; but Sheridan, as we see above, after rejecting all the old distinctions of _rising_ and _falling, raising_ and _depressing, acute_ and _grave, sharp_ and _base, long_ and _short_, contrived a new one still more vain, which he founded on that of vowels and consonants, but "referred to _time_, or _quantity_." He recognized, in fact, a _vowel accent_ and a _consonant accent_; or, in reference to quantity, a _lengthening accent_ and a _shortening accent_. The discrimination of these was with him "THE GREAT DISTINCTION of our accent." He has accordingly mentioned it in several different places of his works, and not always with that regard to consistency which becomes a precise theorist. It led him to new and variant ways of _defining_ accent; some of which seem to imply a division of consonants from their vowels in utterance, or to suggest that syllables are not the least parts of spoken words. And no sooner has he told us that our accent is but one single mode of distinguishing a syllable, than he proceeds to declare it two. Compare the following citations: "As the pronunciation of English words is chiefly regulated by _accent_, it will be necessary to have a _precise idea_ of that term. Accent with us means _no more_ than _a certain stress_ of the voice upon _one letter_ of a syllable, which distinguishes it from all the _other letters_ in a word."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 39. Again: "Accent, in the English language, means _a certain stress_ of the voice upon _a particular letter_ of a syllable which distinguishes it from the rest, and, at the same time, _distinguishes the syllable itself_ to which it belongs from the others which compose the word."--_Same work_, p. 50. Again: "But as _our accent consists in stress only_, it can just as well be placed on a consonant as [on] a vowel."--_Same_, p. 51. Again: "By the word _accent_, is meant _the stress_ of the voice on _one letter_ in a syllable."--_Sheridan's Elements of English_, p. 55. Again: "The term [_accent_] with us has no reference to _inflexions_ of the voice, or musical notes, but only means _a peculiar manner of distinguishing one syllable of a word from the rest_, denominated by us accent; and the term for that reason [is] used by us in the singular number.--This distinction is made by us in _two ways_; either by _dwelling longer upon one syllable_ than the rest; or by _giving it a smarter percussion_ of the voice in utterance. Of the first of these, we have instances in the words, _gl=ory, f=ather, h=oly_; of the last, in _bat'tle, hab'it, bor'row_. So that accent, with us, is not referred to tune, but to _time_; to _quantity_, not quality; to the more _equable_ or _precipitate_ motion of the voice, not to the variation of notes or _inflexions_."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 56; _Flint's Murray's Gram._, p. 85. OBS. 10.--How "precise" was Sheridan's idea of accent, the reader may well judge from the foregoing quotations; in four of which, he describes it as "_a certain stress_," "_the stress_," and "_stress only_," which enforces some "_letter_;" while, in the other, it is whimsically made to consist in two different modes of pronouncing "_syllables_"--namely, with _equability_, and with _precipitance_--with "_dwelling longer_," and with "_smarter percussion_"--which terms the author very improperly supposes to be _opposites_: saying, "For the two ways of distinguishing syllables by accent, as mentioned before, are _directly opposite_, and produce _quite contrary effects_; the one, by _dwelling_ on the syllable, necessarily makes it long; the other, by the _smart percussion_--of the voice, as necessarily _makes it short_"--_Ib._, p. 57. Now it is all a mistake, however common, to suppose that our accent, consisting as it does, in stress, enforcement, or "percussion of voice," can ever _shorten_ the syllable on which it is laid; because what increases the quantum of a vocal sound, cannot diminish its length; and a syllable accented will always be found _longer_ as well as _louder_, than any unaccented one immediately before or after it. Though weak sounds may possibly be protracted, and shorter ones be exploded loudly, it is not the custom of our speech, so to deal with the sounds of syllables. OBS. 11.--Sheridan admitted that some syllables are naturally and necessarily short, but denied that any are naturally and necessarily long. In this, since syllabic length and shortness are relative to each other, and to the cause of each, he was, perhaps, hardly consistent. He might have done better, to have denied both, or neither. Bating his new division of accent to subject it sometimes to short quantity, he recognized very fully the dependence of quantity, long or short, whether in syllables or only in vowels, upon the presence or absence of accent or emphasis. In this he differed considerably from most of the grammarians of his day; and many since have continued to uphold other views. He says, "It is an _infallible rule_ in our tongue that no vowel ever has a long sound in an unaccented syllable."--_Lectures on Elocution_, p. 60. Again: "In treating of the simple elements or letters, I have shown that some, both vowels and consonants, are _naturally short_; that is, whose sounds _cannot possibly_ be prolonged; and these are the [short or shut] sounds of ~e, ~i, and ~u, of vocal sounds; and three pure mutes, k, p, t, of the consonant; as in the words _beck, lip, cut_. I have shown also, that the sounds of all the other vowels, and of the consonant semivowels, may be prolonged to what degree we please; but at the same time it is to be observed, that all these may also be reduced to a short quantity, and are capable of being uttered in as short a space of time as those which are naturally short. So that they who speak of syllables as absolutely in their own nature long, _the common cant of prosodians_, speak of a nonentity: for though, as I have shown above, there are syllables absolutely short, which cannot possibly be prolonged by any effort of the speaker, yet it is in his power to shorten or prolong the others to what degree he pleases."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 52. And again: "I have already mentioned that when the accent is on the vowel, it of course makes the syllable _long_; and when the accent is on the consonant, the syllable may be _either long or short_, according to the nature of the consonant, or _will of the speakers_. And as _all unaccented syllables are short_, the quantity of our syllables is adjusted by the easiest and simplest rule in the world, and in the exactest proportion."--_Lect. on Elocution_, p. 66. OBS. 12.--This praise of our rule for the adjustment of quantity, would have been much more appropriate, had not the rule itself been greatly mistaken, perplexed, and misrepresented by the author. If it appear, on inspection, that "_beck, lip, cut_," and the like syllables, are twice as long when under the accent, as they are when not accented, so that, with a short syllable annexed or a long one prefixed, they may form _trochees_; then is it _not true_, that such syllables are either always necessarily and _inherently_ short, or always, "by the smart percussion of the voice, as necessarily _made_ short;" both of which inconsistent ideas are above affirmed of them. They may not be so long as some other long syllables; but, if they are twice as long as the accompanying short ones, they are not short. And, if not short, then that remarkable distinction in accent, which assumes that they are so, is as needless as it is absurd and perplexing. Now let the words, _beck'on, lip'ping, cut'ter_, be properly pronounced, and their syllables be compared with each other, or with those of _lim'beck, fil'lip, Dr=a'cut_; and it cannot but be perceived, that _beck, lip_, and _cut_, like other syllables in general, are _lengthened_ by the accent, and shortened only in its absence; so that all these words are manifestly trochees, as all similar words are found to be, in our versification. To suppose "as many words as we hear accents," or that "it is the laying of an accent on _one_ syllable, which _constitutes a word_," and then say, that "no unaccented syllable or vowel is ever to be accounted long," as this enthusiastic author does in fact, is to make strange scansion of a very large portion of the trissyllables and polysyllables which occur in verse. An other great error in Sheridan's doctrine of quantity, is his notion that all monosyllables, except a few small particles, are _accented_; and that their quantity is determined to be long or short by the _seat_ or the _mode_ of the accent, as before stated. Now, as our poetry abounds with monosyllables, the relative time of which is adjusted by emphasis and cadence, according to the nature and importance of the terms, and according to the requirements of rhythm, with no reference to this factitious principle, no conformity thereto but what is accidental, it cannot but be a puzzling exercise, when these difficulties come to be summed up, to attempt the application of a doctrine so vainly conceived to be "the easiest and simplest rule in the world!" OBS. 13.--Lindley Murray's principles of accent and quantity, which later grammarians have so extensively copied, were mostly extracted from Sheridan's; and, as the compiler appears to have been aware of but few, if any, of his predecessor's errors, he has adopted and greatly spread well-nigh all that have just been pointed out; while, in regard to some points, he has considerably increased the number. His scheme, as he at last fixed it, appears to consist essentially of propositions already refuted, or objected to, above; as any reader may see, who will turn to his definition of accent, and his rules for the determination of quantity. In opposition to Sheridan, who not very consistently says, that, "_All_ unaccented syllables are _short_," this author appears to have adopted the greater error of Fisher, who supposed that the _vowel sounds_ called long and short, are just the same as the long and short _syllabic quantities_. By this rule, thousands of syllables will be called long, which are in fact short, being always so uttered in both prose and poetry; and, by the other, some will occasionally be called short, which are in fact long, being made so by the poet, under a slight secondary accent, or perhaps none. Again, in supposing our numerous monosyllables to be accented, and their quantity to be thereby fixed, without excepting "the _particles_, such as _a, the, to, in_, &c.," which were excepted by Sheridan, Murray has much augmented the multitude of errors which necessarily flow from the original rule. This principle, indeed, he adopted timidly; saying, as though he hardly believed the assertion true: "And _some writers assert_, that every monosyllable of two or more letters, has one of its letters thus distinguished."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 236; 12mo, 189. But still he _adopted_ it, and adopted it _fully_, in his section on Quantity; for, of his twelve words, exemplifying syllabic time so regulated, no fewer than nine are monosyllables. It is observable, however, that, in some instances, it is not _one_ letter, but _two_, that he marks; as in the words, "m=o=od, h=o=use."--_Ib._, p. 239; 12mo, 192. And again, it should be observed, that generally, wherever he marks accent, he follows the _old mode_, which Sheridan and Webster so justly condemn; so that, even when he is speaking of "the accent on the _consonant_," the sign of stress, as that of time, is set over a _vowel_: as, "Sadly, robber."--_Ib._, 8vo, 240; 12mo, 193. So in his Spelling-Book, where words are often falsely divided: as, "Ve nice," for Ven'-ice; "Ha no ver," for Han'o-ver; &c.--See p. 101. OBS. 14.--In consideration of the great authority of this grammarian, now backed by a score or two of copyists and modifiers, it may be expedient to be yet more explicit. Of _accent_ Murray published about as many different definitions, as did Sheridan; which, as they show what notions he had at different times, it may not be amiss for some, who hold him always in the right, to compare. In one, he describes it thus: "Accent signifies _that stress_ of the voice, which is laid on _one syllable_, to distinguish it from the rest."--_Murray's Spelling-Book_, p. 138. He should here have said, (as by his examples it would appear that he meant,) "on one syllable _of a word_;" for, as the phrase now stands, it may include stress on a _monosyllable in a sentence_; and it is a matter of dispute, whether this can properly be called accent. Walker and Webster say, it is emphasis, and not accent. Again, in an other definition, which was written before he adopted the notion of accent on consonants, of accent on monosyllables, or of accent for quantity in the formation of verse, he used these words: "Accent is _the laying of_ a peculiar stress of the voice on a certain _vowel_ or syllable in a word, that it may be better heard than the rest, or distinguished from them; as, in the word _presume_, the stress of the voice must be on the second syllable, _sume_, which takes the accent."--_Murray's Gram., Second Edition_, 12mo, p. 161. In this edition, which was published at York, in 1796, his chief rules of quantity say nothing about accent, but are thus expressed: [1.] "A _vowel or syllable_ is long, when _the vowel or vowels contained in it_ are slowly joined in pronunciation with the _following letters_; as, 'F=all, b=ale, m=o=od, h=o=use, f=eature.' [2.] A syllable is short, when the vowel is quickly joined to the succeeding _letter_; as, '~art, b~onn~et, h~ung~er.'"--_Ib._, p. 166. Besides the absurdity of representing "_a vowel_" as having "_vowels_ contained in it," these rules are _made up_ of great faults. They confound syllabic quantities with vowel sounds. They suppose quantity to be, not the time of a whole syllable, but the quick or slow junction of _some_ of its parts. They apply to no syllable that ends with a vowel sound. The former applies to none that ends with one consonant only; as, "_mood_" or the first of "_feat-ure_." In fact, it does not apply to _any_ of the examples given; the final letter in each of the other words being _silent_. The latter rule is worse yet: it misrepresents the examples; for "_bonnet_" and "_hunger_" are trochees, and "_art_," with any stress on it, is long. OBS. 15.--In all late editions of L. Murray's Grammar, and many modifications of it, accent is defined thus: "Accent is _the laying of_ a peculiar stress of the voice, on a certain _letter_ OR _syllable_ in a word, that _it_ may be better heard than _the rest_, or distinguished from _them_; as, in the word _presume_, the stress of the voice must be on the _letter u_, AND [the] _second syllable, sume_, which takes the accent."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 235; 12mo, 188; 18mo, 57; _Alger's_, 72; _Bacon's_, 52; _Comly's_, 168; _Cooper's_, 176; _Davenport's_, 121; _Felton's_, 134; _Frost's El._, 50; _Fisk's_, 32; _Merchant's_, 145; _Parker and Fox's_, iii, 44; _Pond's_, 197; _Putnam's_, 96; _Russell's_, 106; _R. O. Smith's_, 186. Here we see a curious jumble of the common idea of accent, as "stress laid on some particular _syllable_ of a _word_," with Sheridan's doctrine of accenting always "a particular _letter_ of a _syllable_,"--an idle doctrine, contrived solely for the accommodation of short quantity with long, _under the accent_. When this definition was adopted, Murray's scheme of quantity was also revised, and materially altered. The principles of his main text, to which his copiers all confine themselves, then took the following form: "The quantity of a syllable, is _that_ time which is occupied in pronouncing it. It is considered as LONG or SHORT. "A _vowel or syllable_ is long, when the accent is on the vowel; _which_ occasions it to be slowly joined in pronunciation with the following _letters_: as, 'F=all, b=ale, m=o=od, h=o=use, f=eature.' "A _syllable_ is short, when the accent is on the consonant; _which_ occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding _letter_: as, '~ant, b=onn~et, h=ung~er.' "A long syllable generally requires double the time of a short one _in pronouncing it_: thus, 'M=ate' and 'N=ote' should be pronounced as slowly again as 'M~at' and 'N~ot.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 239; 12mo, 192; 18mo, 57; _Alger's_, 72; _D. C. Allen's_, 86; _Bacon's_, 52; _Comly's_, 168; _Cooper's_, 176; _Cutler's_, 165; _Davenport's_, 121; _Felton's_, 134; _Frost's El._, 50; _Fisk's_, 32; _Maltby's_, 115; _Parker and Fox's_, iii, 47; _Pond's_, 198; _S. Putnam's_, 96; _R. C. Smith's_, 187; _Rev. T. Smith's_, 68. Here we see a revival and an abundant propagation of Sheridan's erroneous doctrine, that our accent produces both short quantity and long, according to its seat; and since none of all these grammars, but the first two of Murray's, give any _other_ rules for the discrimination of quantities, we must infer, that these were judged sufficient. Now, of all the principles on which any have ever pretended to determine the quantity of syllables, none, so far as I know, are more defective or fallacious than these. They are liable to more objections than it is worth while to specify. Suffice it to observe, that they divide certain accented syllables into long and short, and say nothing of the unaccented; whereas it is plain, and acknowledged even by Murray and Sheridan themselves, that in "_ant, bonnet, hunger_" and the like, the unaccented syllables are the _only short ones_: the rest can be, and here are, lengthened.[497] OBS. 16.--The foregoing principles, differently expressed, and perchance in some instances more fitly, are found in many other grammars, and in some of the very latest; but they are everywhere a _mere dead letter_, a record which, if it is not always untrue, is seldom understood, and never applied in any way to practice. The following are examples: (1.) "In a long syllable, the vowel is accented; in a short syllable [,] the consonant; as [,] _r=oll, p=oll; t~op, c~ut_."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, p. 222. (2.) "A syllable _or word_ is long, when the accent is on the vowel: as n=o, l=ine, l=a, m=e; and short, when on the consonant: as n~ot, l~in, L~atin, m~et."--_S. Barrett's Grammar, ("Principles of Language,")_ p. 112. (3.) "A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel, as, P=all, s=ale, m=o=use, cr=eature. A syllable is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as great, letter, master."--_Rev. D. Blair's Practical Gram._, p. 117. (4.) "When the stress is on the _vowel_, the measure of quantity is _long_: as, Mate, fate, complain, playful, un der mine. When the stress is on a _consonant_, the quantity is short: as, Mat, fat, com pel, progress, dis mantle."--_Pardon Davis's Practical Gram._, p. 125. (5.) "The quantity of a syllable is considered _as long or short_. It is long when the accent is on the vowel; as, F=all, b=ale, m=ood, ho=use, f=eature. It is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as, Master, letter."--_Guy's School Gram._, p. 118; _Picket's Analytical School Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 224. (6.) "A syllable is _long_ when the accent is on the vowel; and _short_, when the accent is on the consonant. A _long_ syllable requires twice the time in pronouncing it that a _short_ one does. Long syllables are marked thus =; as, t=ube; short syllables, thus ~; as, m~an."--_Hiley's English Gram._, p. 120. (7.) "When the accent is on a vowel, the syllable is generally long; as _=aleho=use, am=usement, f=eatures_. But when the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is mostly short; as, _h~ap'py, m~an'ner_. A long syllable requires twice as much time in the pronunciation, as a short one; as, _h=ate, h~at; n=ote, n~ot; c=ane, c~an; f=ine, f~in_."--_Jaudon's Union Gram._, p. 173. (8.) "If the syllable _be long_, the accent is on the vowel; as, in _b=ale, m=o=od, educ=ation; &c_. If _short_, the accent is on the consonant; as, in _~ant, b~onnet, h~unger_, &c."--_Merchant's American School Gram._, p. 145. The quantity of our unaccented syllables, none of these authors, except Allen, thought it worth his while to notice. But among their accented syllables, they all include _words of one syllable_, though most of them thereby pointedly contradict their own definitions of accent. To find in our language no short syllables but such as are accented, is certainly a very strange and very great oversight. Frazee says, "The pronunciation of an accented syllable _requires double the time_ of that of an unaccented one."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, p. 180. If so, our poetical quantities are greatly misrepresented by the rules above cited. Allen truly says, "Unaccented syllables are generally short; as, _r~eturn, turn~er_."-- _Elements of E. Gram._, p. 222. But how it was ever found out, that in these words we accent only the vowel _u_, and in such as _hunter_ and _bluntly_, some one of the consonants only, he does not inform us. OBS. 17.--As might be expected, it is not well agreed among those who accent single consonants and vowels, _what particular letter_ should receive the stress and the mark. The word or syllable "_ant_," for example, is marked "ant" by Alger, Bacon, and others, to enforce the _n_; "ant" by Frost, Putnam, and others, to enforce the _t_; "~ant" by Murray, Russell, and others, to show, as they say, "_the accent on the consonant_!" But, in "ANTLER," Dr. Johnson accented the _a_; and, to mark the same pronunciation, Worcester now writes, "~ANTLER;" while almost any prosodist, in scanning, would mark this word "_~antl~er_" and call it a _trochee_.[498] Churchill, who is in general a judicious observer, writes thus: "The _leading feature_ in the English language, on which _it's_ melody both in prose and verse _chiefly depends_, is _it's accent_. Every word in it of _more than one syllable_ has one of _it's_ syllables distinguished by this from the rest; the accent being in some cases on the vowel, in others on the _consonant that closes the syllable_; on the vowel, when it has _it's_ long sound; on the consonant, when the vowel is short."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 181. But to this, as a rule of accentuation, no attention is in fact paid nowadays. Syllables that have long vowels not final, very properly take the sign of stress on or after a consonant or a mute vowel; as, =angel, ch=amber, sl=ayer, b=eadroll, sl=eazy, sl=e=eper, sl=e=eveless, l=ively, m=indful, sl=ightly, sl=iding, b=oldness, gr=ossly, wh=olly, =useless.--See _Worcester's Dict._ OBS. 18.--It has been seen, that Murray's principles of quantity were greatly altered by himself, after the first appearance of his grammar. To have a full and correct view of them, it is necessary to notice something more than his main text, as revised, with which all his amenders content themselves, and which he himself thought sufficient for his Abridgement. The following positions, which, in some of his revisals, he added to the large grammar, are therefore cited:-- (1.) "Unaccented syllables are generally short: as, '~admire, boldn~ess, sinn~er.' But to this rule there are _many_ exceptions: as, 'als=o, ex=ile, gangr=ene, ump=ire, f=oretaste,' &c. (2.) "When the accent is on the consonant, the syllable is often _more or less short_, as it ends with a _single consonant_, or with more than one: as, 'Sadly, robber; persist, matchless.' (3.) "When the accent is on a semi-vowel, the time of the syllable may be protracted, by dwelling upon the _semi-vowel_: as, 'Cur, can, f~ulfil' but when the accent falls on a mute, the syllable _cannot be lengthened in the same manner_: as, 'Bubble, captain, totter.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 240; 12mo, 193. (4.) "In this work, and in the author's Spelling-book, the vowels _e_ and _o_, in the first syllable of such words as, behave, prejudge, domain, propose; and in the second syllable of such as pulley, turkey, borrow, follow; are considered as _long vowels_. The second syllables in such words as, baby, spicy, holy, fury, are also considered as _long syllables_."--_Ib._, 8vo, p. 241. (5.) "In the words _scarecrow, wherefore_, both the syllables are _unquestionably long_, but not of equal length. We presume _therefore_, that the syllables under consideration, [i.e., those which end with the sound of _e_ or _o_ without accent,] may also be properly styled _long syllables_, though their length is not equal to that of some others."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 241. OBS. 19.--Sheridan's "_infallible rule_, that no vowel ever has a long sound in an unaccented syllable," is in striking contrast with three of these positions, and the exact truth of the matter is with neither author. But, for the accuracy of his doctrine, Murray appeals to "the authority of the judicious Walker," which he thinks sufficient to prove any syllable long whose vowel is called so; while the important distinction suggested by Walker, in his Principles, No. 529, between "the length or shortness of the vowels," and "that quantity which constitutes poetry," is entirely overlooked. It is safe to affirm, that all the accented syllables occurring in the examples above, are _long_; and all the unaccented ones, _short_: for Murray's long syllables vary in length, and his short ones in shortness, till not only the just proportion, but the actual relation, of long and short, is evidently lost with some of them. Does not _match_ in "_matchless_," _sad_ in "_sadly_," or _bub_ in "_bubble_," require more time, than _so_ in "_also_," _key_ in "_turkey_," or _ly_ in "_holy_"? If so, four of the preceding positions are very faulty. And so, indeed, is the remaining one; for where is the sense of saying, that "when the accent falls _on a mute_, the syllable cannot be lengthened by _dwelling upon the semi-vowel_"? This is an apparent truism, and yet not true. For a semivowel in the middle or at the beginning of a syllable, may lengthen it as much as if it stood at the end. "_Cur_" and "_can_," here given as protracted syllables, are certainly no longer by usage, and no more susceptible of protraction, than "_mat_" and "_not_," "_art_" and "_ant_," which are among the author's examples of short quantity. And if a semivowel accented will make the syllable long, was it not both an error and a self-contradiction, to give "_b~onnet_" and "_h~unger_" as examples of quantity _shortened_ by the accent? The syllable _man_ has two semivowels; and the letter _l_, as in "_ful fil_," is the most sonorous of consonants; yet, as we see above, among their false examples of short syllables accented, different authors have given the words "_man_" and "_manner_," "_dismantle_" and "_com pel_," "_master_" and "_letter_," with sundry other sounds which may easily be lengthened. Sanborn says, "The _breve_ distinguishes a short syllable; as, _m~anner_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 273. Parker and Fox say, "The Breve (thus ~) is placed over a vowel to indicate _its short sound_; as, St. H~elena."--_English Gram._, Part iii, p. 31. Both explanations of this sign are defective; and neither has a suitable example. The name "_St. H~l=en~a_," as pronounced by Worcester, and as commonly heard, is two trochees; but "_Helena_," for _Helen_, having the penult short, takes the accent on the first syllable, which is thereby _made long_, though the vowel sound is _called short_. Even Dr. Webster, who expressly notes the difference between "long and short _vowels_" and "long and short _syllables_," allows himself, on the very same page, to confound them: so that, of his three examples of a _short syllable,--"th~at, not, m~elon,"_--all are erroneous; two being monosyllables, which any emphasis must lengthen; and the third,--the word "_m~elon_,"--with the first syllable marked short, and not the last! See _Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 157. OBS. 20.--Among the latest of our English Grammars, is Chandler's new one of 1847. The Prosody of this work is fresh from the mint; the author's old grammar of 1821, which is the nucleus of this, being "confined to Etymology and Syantax." [sic--KTH] If from anybody the public have a right to expect correctness in the details of grammar, it is from one who has had the subject so long and so habitually before him. "_Accent_" says this author, "is _the_ stress on a syllable, _or letter_."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 188. Now, if our less prominent words and syllables require any force at all, a definition so loose as this, may give accent to some words, or to all; to some syllables, or to all; to some letters, or to all--except those which are _silent_! And, indeed, whether the stress which distinguishes some monosyllables from others, is supposed by the writer to be accent, or emphasis, or both, it is scarcely possible to ascertain from his elucidations. "The term _emphasis_," says he, "is used to denote a fuller sound of voice _after_ certain words that come in _antithesis_; that is, contrast. 'He can _write_, but he cannot _read_.' Here, _read_ and _write_ are _antithetical_ (that is, in contrast), and are _accented_, or _emphasized_."--P. 189. The word "_after_" here may be a misprint for the word _upon_; but no preposition really suits the connexion: the participle _impressing_ or _affecting_ would be better. Of _quantity_, this work gives the following account: "The _quantity_ of a _syllable_ is that time which is required to pronounce it. A syllable may be _long_ or _short_. _Hate_ is long, as the vowel _a_ is elongated by the final _e_; _hat_ is short, and requires about half the time for pronunciation which is used for pronouncing _hate_. So of _ate, at; bate, bat; cure, cur_. Though unaccented syllables are usually short, yet _many_ of those which are accented are short also. The following are short: _ad_vent, _sin_ner, _sup_per. In the following, the unaccented syllables are long: al_so_, ex_ile_, gan_grene_, um_pire_. It maybe remarked, that the quantity of a syllable is short when the accent is on a consonant; as, art, bonnet, hunger. The _hyphen_ (-), placed over a syllable, denotes that it is long: n=ature. The breve (~) over a syllable, denotes that it is short; as, d~etr=act."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 189. This scheme of quantity is truly remarkable for its absurdity and confusion. What becomes of the elongating power of e, without accent or emphasis, as in _juncate, palate, prelate_? Who does not know that such syllables as "_at, bat_, and _cur_" are often long in poetry? What more absurd, than to suppose both syllables short in such words as, "_~advent, sinner, supper_," and then give "serm~on, f=ilt~er, sp=ir~it, g=ath~er," and the like, for regular trochees, with "the first syllable long, and the second short," as does this author? What more contradictory and confused, than to pretend that the primal sound of a vowel lengthens an unaccented syllable, and accent on the consonant shortens an accented one, as if in "_also_" the first syllable must be short and the second long, and then be compelled, by the evidence of one's senses to mark "ech~o" as a trochee, and "detract" as an iambus? What less pardonable misnomer, than for a great critic to call the sign of long quantity a "_hyphen_"? OBS. 21.--The following suggestions found in two of Dr. Webster's grammars, are not far from the truth: "Most prosodians who have treated particularly of this subject, have been guilty of a fundamental error, in considering the movement of English verse as depending on long and short syllables, formed by long and short vowels. This hypothesis has led them into capital mistakes. The truth is, many of those syllables which are considered as _long_ in verse, are formed by the shortest vowels in the language; as, _strength, health, grand_. The doctrine that long vowels are necessary to form long syllables in poetry is at length exploded, and the principles which regulate the movement of our verse, are explained; viz. _accent_ and _emphasis_. Every emphatical word, and every accented syllable, will form what is called in verse, a long syllable. The unaccented syllables, and unemphatical monosyllabic words, are considered as short syllables."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 222; _Improved Gram._, 158. Is it not remarkable, that, on the same page with this passage, the author should have given the first syllable of "_melon_" as an example of _short_ quantity? OBS. 22.--If the principle is true, which every body now takes for granted, that the foundation of versifying is some distinction pertaining to syllables; it is plain, that nothing can be done towards teaching the Art of Measuring Verses, till it be known _upon what distinction_ in syllables our scheme of versification is based, and by what rule or rules the discrimination is, or ought to be, made. Errors here are central, radical, fundamental. Hence the necessity of these present disquisitions. Without some effectual criticism on their many false positions, prosodists may continue to theorize, dogmatize, plagiarize, and blunder on, as they have done, indefinitely, and knowledge of the rhythmic art be in no degree advanced by their productions, new or old. For the supposition is, that in general the consulters of these various oracles are persons more fallible still, and therefore likely to be misled by any errors that are not expressly pointed out to them. In this work, it is assumed, that _quantity_, not laboriously ascertained by "a great variety of rules applied from the Greek and Latin Prosody," but discriminated on principles of our own--_quantity_, dependent in some degree on the nature and number of the letters in a syllable, but still more on the presence or absence of stress--is the true foundation of our metre. It has already been stated, and perhaps proved, that this theory is as well supported by authority as any; but, since Lindley Murray, persuaded wrong by the positiveness of Sheridan, exchanged his scheme of feet formed by quantities, for a new one of "feet formed by accents"--or, rather, for an impracticable mixture of both, a scheme of supposed "_duplicates_ of each foot"--it has been becoming more and more common for grammarians to represent the basis of English versification to be, not the distinction of long and short quantities, but the recurrence of _accent_ at certain intervals. Such is the doctrine of Butler, Felton, Fowler, S. S. Greene, Hart, Hiley, R. C. Smith, Weld, Wells, and perhaps others. But, in this, all these writers contradict themselves; disregard their own definitions of accent; count monosyllables to be accented or unaccented; displace emphasis from the rank which Murray and others give it, as "the great regulator of quantity;" and suppose the length or shortness of syllables not to depend on the presence or absence of either accent or emphasis; and not to be of much account in the construction of English verse. As these strictures are running to a great length, it may be well now to introduce the poetic feet, and to reserve, for notes under that head, any further examination of opinions as to what constitutes the _foundation_ of verse. SECTION III.--OF POETIC FEET. A verse, or line of poetry., consists of successive combinations of syllables, called _feet_. A poetic _foot_, in English, consists either of two or of three syllables, as in the following examples: 1. "C=an t=y | -r~ants b=ut | b~y t=y | -r~ants c=on | -qu~ered b=e?"--_Byron_. 2. "H=ol~y, | h=ol~y, | h=ol~y! | =all th~e | s=aints ~a | -d=ore th~ee."--_Heber_. 3. "And th~e br=eath | ~of th~e D=e | -~it~y c=ir | -cl~ed th~e ro=om."--_Hunt_. 4. "H=ail t~o th~e | chi=ef wh~o ~in | tr=i~umph ~ad |-v=anc~es!"--_Scott_. EXPLANATIONS AND DEFINITIONS. Poetic feet being arbitrary combinations, contrived merely for the measuring of verses, and the ready ascertainment of the syllables that suit each rhythm, there is among prosodists a perplexing diversity of opinion, as to the _number_ which we ought to recognize in our language. Some will have only two or three; others, four; others, eight; others, twelve. The dozen are all that can be made of two syllables and of three. Latinists sometimes make feet of four syllables, and admit sixteen more of these, acknowledging and naming twenty-eight in all. The _principal_ English feet are the _Iambus_, the _Trochee_, the _Anapest_, and the _Dactyl_. 1. The _Iambus_, or _Iamb_, is a poetic foot consisting of a short syllable and a long one; as, _b~etr=ay, c~onf=ess, d~em=and, ~intent, d~egr=ee_. 2. The _Trochee_, or _Choree_, is a poetic foot consisting of a long syllable and a short one; as, _h=atef~ul, p=ett~ish, l=eg~al, m=eas~ure, h=ol~y_. 3. The _Anapest_ is a poetic foot consisting of two short syllables and one long one; as, _c~ontr~av=ene, ~acqu~i=esce, ~imp~ort=une_. 4. The _Dactyl_ is a poetic foot consisting of one long syllable and two short ones; as, _l=ab~our~er, p=oss~ibl~e, w=ond~erf~ul_. These are our principal feet, not only because they are oftenest used, but because each kind, with little or no mixture, forms a distinct order of numbers, having a peculiar rhythm. Of verse, or poetic measure, we have, accordingly, four principal kinds, or orders; namely, _Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic_, and _Dactylic_; as in the four lines cited above. The more pure these several kinds are preserved, the more exact and complete is the chime of the verse. But exactness being difficult, and its sameness sometimes irksome, the poets generally indulge some variety; not so much, however, as to confound the drift of the rhythmical pulsations: or, if ever these be not made obvious to the reader, there is a grave fault in the versification. The _secondary_ feet, if admitted at all, are to be admitted only, or chiefly, as occasional diversifications. Of this class of feet, many grammarians adopt four; but they lack agreement about the selection. Brightland took the _Spondee_, the _Pyrrhic_, the _Moloss_, and the _Tribrach_. To these, some now add the other four; namely, the _Amphibrach_, the _Amphimac_, the _Bacchy_, and the _Antibacchy_. Few, if any, of these feet are really _necessary_ to a sufficient explanation of English verse; and the adopting of so many is liable to the great objection, that we thereby produce different modes of measuring the same lines. But, by naming them all, we avoid the difficulty of selecting the most important; and it is proper that the student should know the import of all these prosodical terms. 5. A _Spondee_ is a poetic foot consisting of two long syllables; as, _c=old n=ight, p=o=or s=ouls, ~am~en, shr=ovet=ide._ 6. A _Pyrrhic_ is a poetic foot consisting of two short syllables; as, presumpt-|_~uo~us_, perpet-|_~u~al_, unhap-|_p~il~y_, inglo-|_r~io~us_. 7. A _Moloss_ is a poetic foot consisting of three long syllables; as, _De~ath's p=ale h=orse,--gre=at wh=ite thr=one,--d=eep d=amp v=a=ult._ 8. A _Tribrach_ is a poetic foot consisting of three short syllables; as, prohib-|_~it~or~y_, unnat-|_~ur~all~y_, author-|_~it~at~ive_, innum-|_~er~abl~e_. 9. An _Amphibrach_ is a poetic foot of three syllables, having both sides short, the middle long; as, _~impr=ud~ent, c~ons=id~er, tr~ansp=ort~ed._ 10. An _Amphimac, Amphimacer_, or _Cretic_, is a poetic foot of three syllables, having both sides long, the middle short; as, _w~ind~ingsh=eet, l=ife-~est=ate, s=oul-d~is~eased._ 11. A _Bacchy_ is a poetic foot consisting of one short syllable and two long ones; as, _th=e wh=ole w~orld,--~a gre=at v=ase,--=of p=ure g=old_. 12. An _Antibacchy_, or _Hypobacchy_, is a poetic foot consisting of two long syllables and a short one; as, _kn=ight-s=erv~ice, gl=obe-d=ais~y, gr=ape-flow~er, g=old-b=eat~er_. Among the variegations of verse, one emphatic syllable is sometimes counted for a foot. "When a single syllable is [thus] taken by itself, it is called a _Caesura_, which is commonly a long syllable." [499] FOR EXAMPLE:-- "Keeping | _time, | time, | time_, In a | sort of | Runic | _rhyme_, To the | tintin| -nabu| -lation that so | musi| -cally | _wells_ From the | _bells, | bells, | bells, | bells, Bells, | bells, | bells._" --EDGAR A. POE: _Union Magazine, for Nov. 1849; Literary World_, No. 143. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In defining our poetic feet, many late grammarians substitute the terms _accented_ and _unaccented_ for _long_ and _short_, as did Murray, after some of the earlier editions of his grammar; the only feet recognized in his _second_ edition being the _Iambus_, the _Trochee_, the _Dactyl_, and the _Anapest_, and all these being formed by _quantities_ only. This change has been made on the supposition, that accent and long quantity, as well as their opposites, nonaccent and short quantity, may oppose each other; and that the basis of English verse is not, like that of Latin or Greek poetry, a distinction in the _time_ of syllables, not a difference in _quantity_, but such a course of accenting and nonaccenting as overrides all relations of this sort, and makes both length and shortness compatible alike with stress or no stress. Such a theory, I am persuaded, is untenable. Great authority, however, may be quoted for it, or for its principal features. Besides the several later grammarians who give it countenance, even "the judicious Walker," who, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, as before cited, very properly suggests a difference between "_that quantity which constitutes poetry_," and the mere "_length or shortness of vowels_," when he comes to explain our English accent and quantity, in his "_Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity_," finds "accent perfectly compatible with either long or short quantity;" (_Key_, p. 312;) repudiates that vulgar accent of Sheridan and others, which "is only a greater force upon one syllable than another;" (_Key_, p. 313;) prefers the doctrine which "makes the elevation or depression of the voice inseparable from accent;" (_Key_, p. 314;) holds that, "unaccented vowels are frequently pronounced long when the accented vowels are short;" (_Key_, p. 312;) takes long or short _vowels_ and long or short _syllables_ to be things everywhere tantamount; saying, "We have _no conception_ of quantity arising from any thing but the nature of the vowels, as they are pronounced long or short;" (_ibid._;) and again: "Such long quantity" as consonants may produce with a close or short vowel, "an English ear _has not the least idea of_. Unless the sound of the vowel be altered, we have _not any conception_ of a long or short syllable."--_Walker's Key_, p. 322; and _Worcester's Octavo Dict._, p. 935. OBS. 2.--In the opinion of Murray, Walker's authority should be thought sufficient to settle any question of prosodial quantities. "But," it is added, "there are some critical writers, who dispute the propriety of his arrangement."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 241. And well there may be; not only by reason of the obvious incorrectness of the foregoing positions, but because the great orthoepist is not entirely consistent with himself. In his "_Preparatory Observations_," which introduce the very essay above cited, he avers that, "the different states of the voice," which are indicated by the comparative terms _high_ and _low, loud_ and _soft, quick_ and _slow, forcible_ and _feeble_, "may not improperly be called _quantities_ of sound."--_Walker's Key_, p. 305. Whoever thinks this, certainly conceives of quantity as arising from _several other things_ than "the nature of the vowels." Even Humphrey, with whom, "Quantity differs materially from time," and who defines it, "the weight, or aggregate quantum of sounds," may find his questionable and unusual "conception" of it included among these. OBS. 3.--Walker must have seen, as have the generality of prosodists since, that such a distinction as he makes between long syllables and short, could not possibly be the basis of English versification, or determine the elements of English feet; yet, without the analogy of any known usage, and contrary to our customary mode of reading the languages, he proposes it as applicable--and as the only doctrine conceived to be applicable--to Greek or Latin verse. Ignoring all long or short quantity not formed by what are called long or short vowels,[500] he suggests, "_as a last refuge_," (Sec.25,) the very doubtful scheme of reading Latin and Greek poetry with the vowels conformed, agreeably to this English sense of _long_ and _short_ vowel sounds, to the ancient rules of quantity. Of such words as _fallo_ and _ambo_, pronounced as we usually utter them, he says, "_nothing can be more evident_ than the long quantity of the final vowel though without the accent, and the short quantity of the initial and accented syllable."--_Obs. on Greek and Lat. Accent_, Sec.23; Key, p. 331. Now the very reverse of this appears to me to be "evident." The _a_, indeed, may be close or short, while the _o_, having its primal or _name_ sound, is _called_ long; but the first _syllable_, if fully accented, will have _twice the time_ of the second; nor can this proportion be reversed but by changing the accent, and misplacing it on the latter syllable. Were the principle _true_, which the learned author pronounces so "evident," these, and all similar words, would constitute _iambic feet_; whereas it is plain, that in English they are _trochees_; and in Latin,--where "_o_ final is _common_,"--either _trochees_ or _spondees_. The word _ambo_, as every accurate scholar knows, is always a _trochee_, whether it be the Latin adjective for "_both_," or the English noun for "_a reading desk_, or _pulpit_." OBS. 4.--The names of our poetic feet are all of them derived, by change of endings, from similar names used in Greek, and thence also in Latin; and, of course, English words and Greek or Latin, so related, are presumed to stand for things somewhat similar. This reasonable presumption is an argument, too often disregarded by late grammarians, for considering our poetic feet to be quantitative, as were the ancient,--not accentual only, as some will have them,--nor separately both, as some others absurdly teach. But, whatever may be the difference or the coincidence between English verse and Greek or Latin, it is certain, that, in _our_ poetic division of syllables, strength and length must always concur, and any scheme which so contrasts accent with long quantity, as to confound the different species of feet, or give contradictory names to the same foot, must be radically and grossly defective. In the preceding section it has been shown, that the principles of quantity adopted by Sheridan, Murray, and others, being so erroneous as to be wholly nugatory, were as unfit to be the basis of English verse, as are Walker's, which have just been spoken of. But, the puzzled authors, instead of reforming these their elementary principles, so as to adapt them to the quantities and rhythms actually found in our English verse, have all chosen to assume, that our poetical feet in general _differ radically_ from those which the ancients called by the same names; and yet the _coincidence_ found--the "_exact sameness of nature_" acknowledged--is sagely said by some of them _to duplicate each foot into two distinct sorts for our especial advantage_; while the _difference_, which they presume to exist, or which their false principles of accent and quantity would create, between feet quantitative and feet accentual, (both of which are allowed to us,) would _implicate different names_, and convert foot into foot--iambs, trochees, spondees, pyrrhics, each species into some other--till all were confusion! OBS. 5.--In Lindley Murray's revised scheme of feet, we have first a paragraph from Sheridan's Rhetorical Grammar, suggesting that the ancient poetic measures were formed of syllables divided "into _long_ and _short_," and affirming, what is not very true, that, for the forming of ours, "In English, syllables are divided into _accented_ and _unaccented_."--_Rhet. Gram._, p. 64; _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, 253; _Hart's Gram._, 182; and others. Now _some_ syllables are accented, and others are unaccented; but syllables singly significant, i.e., monosyllables, which are very numerous, belong to neither of these classes. The contrast is also comparatively new; our language had much good poetry, long before _accented_ and _unaccented_ were ever thus misapplied in it. Murray proceeds thus: "When the feet are formed by _accent on vowels_, they are _exactly of the same nature as ancient feet_, and have the same just quantity in their syllables. So that, in this respect, _we have all that the ancients had_, and something which they had not. We have in fact _duplicates of each foot_, yet with such a _difference_, as to fit them for _different purposes_, to be applied at our pleasure."--_Ib._, p. 253. Again: "_We_ have observed, that _English verse is composed of feet formed by accent_; and that when the accent falls on _vowels_, the feet are equivalent to those formed by quantity."--_Ib._, p. 258. And again: "From the preceding view of English versification, we may see _what a copious stock of materials_ it possesses. For _we are not only allowed the use of all the ancient poetic feet_, in our _heroic measure_, but we have, as before observed, _duplicates of each_, agreeing in movement, though differing in measure,[501] _and which_ make different impressions on the ear; _an opulence peculiar_ to our language, _and which_ may be the source of a boundless variety."--_Ib._, p. 259. OBS. 6.--If it were not dullness to overlook the many errors and inconsistencies of this scheme, there should be thought a rare ingenuity in thus turning them all to the great advantage and peculiar riches of the English tongue! Besides several grammatical faults, elsewhere noticed, these extracts exhibit, first, the inconsistent notion--of "_duplicates with a difference_;" or, as Churchill expresses it, of "_two distinct species of each foot_;" (_New Gram._, p. 189;) and here we are gravely assured withal, that these _different sorts_, which have no separate names, are sometimes forsooth, "_exactly of the same nature_"! Secondly, it is incompatibly urged, that, "English verse is _composed of feet formed by accent_," and at the same time shown, that it partakes largely of _feet "formed by quantity_." Thirdly, if "_we have all that the ancients had_," of poetic feet, and "_duplicates of each_," "_which they had not_" we are encumbered with an enormous surplus; for, of the twenty-eight Latin feet,[502] mentioned by Dr. Adam and others, Murray never gave the names of more than eight, and his early editions acknowledged _but four_, and these _single_, not "_duplicates_"--_unigenous_, not severally of "_two species_." Fourthly, to suppose a multiplicity of feet to be "_a copious stock of materials_" for versification, is as absurd as to imagine, in any other case, a variety of _measures_ to be materials for producing the thing measured. Fifthly, "_our heroic measure_" is _iambic pentameter_, as Murray himself shows; and, to give to this, "_all the ancient poetic feet_," is to bestow most of them where they are least needed. Sixthly, "feet _differing in measure_," so as to "_make different impressions on the ear_," cannot well be said to "_agree in movement_," or to be "_exactly of the same nature!_" OBS. 7.--Of the foundation of metre, _Wells_ has the following account: "The _quantity_ of a syllable is the relative time occupied in its pronunciation. A syllable may be _long_ in quantity, as _fate_; or _short_, as _let_. The Greeks and Romans based their poetry on the quantity of syllables; but modern versification depends chiefly upon accent, the quantity of syllables being almost wholly disregarded."--_School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 185. Again: "_Versification_ is a measured arrangement of words[,] in which the _accent_ is made to recur at certain regular intervals. This definition applies only to modern verse. In Greek and Latin poetry, it is the regular recurrence of _long syllables_, according to settled laws, which constitutes verse."--_Ib._, p. 186. The contrasting of ancient and modern versification, since Sheridan and Murray each contrived an example of it, has become very common in our grammars, though not in principle very uniform; and, however needless where a correct theory prevails, it is, to such views of accent and quantity as were adopted by these authors, and by Walker, or their followers, but a necessary counterpart. The notion, however, that English verse has less regard to quantity than had that of the old Greeks or Romans, is a mere assumption, originating in a false idea of what quantity is; and, that Greek or Latin verse was less accentual than is ours, is another assumption, left proofless too, of what many authors disbelieve and contradict. Wells's definition of quantity is similar to mine, and perhaps unexceptionable; and yet his idea of the thing, as he gives us reason to think, was very different, and very erroneous. His examples imply, that, like Walker, he had "no conception of quantity arising from any thing but the nature of the vowels,"--no conception of a long or a short _syllable_ without what is called a long or a short _vowel sound_. That "the Greeks and Romans based their poetry on quantity" of that restricted sort,--on _such "quantity"_ as "_fate_" and "_let_" may serve to discriminate,--is by no means probable; nor would it be more so, were a hundred great modern masters to declare themselves ignorant of any other. The words do not distinguish at all the long and short quantities even of our own language; much less can we rely on them for an idea of what is long or short in other tongues. Being monosyllables, both are long with emphasis, both short without it; and, could they be accented, accent too would lengthen, as its absence would shorten both. In the words _phosphate_ and _streamlet_, we have the same sounds, both short; in _lettuce_ and _fateful_, the same, both long. This cannot be disproved. And, in the scansion of the following stanza from Byron, the word "_Let_" twice used, is to be reckoned a _long_ syllable, and not (as Wells would have it) a short one: "Cavalier! and man of worth! _Let_ these words of mine go forth; _Let_ the Moorish Monarch know, That to him I nothing owe: Wo is me, Alhama!" OBS. 8.--In the English grammars of Allen H. Weld, works remarkable for their egregious inaccuracy and worthlessness, yet honoured by the Boston school committee of 1848 and '9, the author is careful to say, "Accent should not be confounded with emphasis. _Emphasis_ is a stress of voice on a word in a sentence, to mark its importance. _Accent_ is a stress of voice on a syllable in a word." Yet, within seven lines of this, we are told, that, "A _verse_ consists of a certain number of _accented and unaccented syllables_, arranged according to certain rules."--_Weld's English Grammar_, 2d Edition, p. 207; "Abridged Edition," p. 137. A doctrine cannot be contrived, which will more evidently or more extensively confound accent with emphasis, than does this! In English verse, on an average, about three quarters of the words are monosyllables, which, according to Walker, "have no accent," certainly none distinguishable from emphasis; hence, in fact, our syllables are no more "divided into _accented_ and _unaccented_" as Sheridan and Murray would have them, than into _emphasized_ and _unemphasized_, as some others have thought to class them. Nor is this confounding of accent with emphasis at all lessened or palliated by teaching with Wells, in its justification, that, "The term _accent_ is also applied, in poetry, to _the_ stress laid on monosyllabic words."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 185; 113th Ed., Sec.273. What better is this, than to apply the term _emphasis_ to the accenting of syllables in poetry, or to all the stress in question, as is virtually done in the following citation? "In English, verse is regulated by the _emphasis_, as there should be one _emphatic_ syllable in every foot; for it is by the interchange of _emphatick_ and _non-emphatick_ syllables, that verse grateful to the ear is formed."--_Thomas Coar's E. Gram._, p. 196. In Latin poetry, the longer words predominate, so that, in Virgil's verse, not one word in five is a monosyllable; hence accent, if our use of it were adjusted to the Latin quantities, might have much more to do with Latin verse than with English. With the following lines of Shakspeare, for example, accent has, properly speaking, no connexion; "Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet; But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow, Yet it shall come, for me to do thee good. I had a thing to say,--But let it go."--_King John_, Act iii, Sc. 3. OBS. 9.--T. O. Churchill, after stating that the Greek and Latin rhythms are composed of syllables long and short, sets ours in contrast with them thus: "These terms are commonly employed also in speaking of English verse, though it is marked, _not by long and short_, but by accented and unaccented syllables; the accented syllables being _accounted_ long; the unaccented, short."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 183. This, though far from being right, is very different from the doctrine of Murray or Sheridan; because, in practice, or the scansion of verses, it comes to the _same results_ as to suppose all our feet to be "formed by quantity." To _account_ syllables long or short and not _believe_ them to _be_ so, is a ridiculous inconsistency: it is a shuffle in the name of science. OBS. 10.--Churchill, though not apt to be misled by others' errors, and though his own scanning has no regard to the principle, could not rid himself of the notion, that the quantity of a syllable must depend on the "vowel sound." Accordingly he says, "Mr. Murray _justly observes_, that our accented syllables, or those reckoned long:, may have either _a long or [a] short vowel sound_, so that we have _two distinct species_ of each foot."--_New Gram._, p. 189. The obvious impossibility of "two distinct species" in one,--or, as Murray has it, of "duplicates fitted for different purposes,"--should have prevented the teaching and repeating of this nonsense, propound it who might. The commender himself had not such faith in it as is here implied. In a note, too plainly incompatible with this praise, he comments thus: "Mr. Murray adds, that this is 'an opulence _peculiar_ to our language, and which may be the source of a boundless variety:' a point, on which, I confess, _I have long entertained doubts_. I am inclined to suspect that the English mode of reading verse _is analogous_ to that of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Dion. Hal., _de Comp., Verb_. Sec.xi, speaks of the _rhythm of verse differing_ from the proper measure of the syllables, and often reversing it: does not this imply, that the ancients, contrary to the opinion of the learned author of Metronariston, read verse as we do?"--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 393, note 329. OBS. 11.--The nature, chief sources, and true distinction of _quantity_, at least as it pertains to our language, I have set forth with clearness, first in the short chapter on Utterance, and again, more fully in this, which treats of Versification; but that the syllables, long and short, of the old Greek and Latin poets, or the feet they made of them, are to be expounded on precisely the same principles that apply to ours. I have not deemed it necessary to affirm or to deny. So far as the same laws are applicable, let them be applied. This important property of syllables,--their _quantity_, or relative time,--which is the basis of all rhythm, is, as my readers have seen, very variously treated, and in general but ill appreciated, by our English prosodists, who ought, at least in this their own province, to understand it all alike, and as it is; and so common among the erudite is the confession of Walker, that "the accent and quantity of the ancients" are, to modern readers, "obscure and mysterious," that it will be taken as a sign of arrogance and superficiality, to pretend to a very certain knowledge of them. Nor is the difficulty confined to Latin and Greek verse: the poetry of our own ancestors, from any remote period, is not easy of scansion. Dr. Johnson, in his History of the English Language, gave examples, with this remark: "Of the _Saxon_ poetry some specimen is necessary, though our ignorance of the laws of their metre and the quantities of their syllables, _which it would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to recover_, excludes us from that pleasure which the old bards undoubtedly gave to their contemporaries." OBS. 12.--The imperfect measures of "the father of English poetry," are said by Dryden to have been _adapted to the ears_ of the rude age which produced them. "The verse of Chaucer," says he, "I confess, is not harmonious to us; but it is like the eloquence of one whom Tacitus commends, it was _auribus istius temporis accommodata_:' they who lived with him, and sometime after him, thought it musical; and it continues so even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lidgate and Gower, his contemporaries: there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect. It is true, I cannot go so far as he who published the last edition of him; for he would make us believe that the fault is in _our ears_, and that there were really ten syllables in a verse where we find but nine: but this opinion is not worth confuting; it is so gross and obvious an error, that common sense (which is a rule in every thing but matters of faith and revelation) must convince the reader that equality of numbers in every verse, which we call Heroic, was either not known, or not always practised in Chaucer's age. It were an easy matter to produce some thousands of his verses, which are lame for want of half a foot, and sometimes a whole one, and which no pronunciation can make otherwise. We can only say, that he lived in the infancy of our poetry, and that nothing is brought to perfection at the first."--_British Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 171. OBS. 13.--Dryden appears to have had more faith in the ears of his own age than in those of an earlier one; but Poe, of our time, himself an ingenious versifier, in his Notes upon English Verse, conveys the idea that all ears are alike competent to appreciate the elements of metre. "Quantity," according to his dogmatism, "is a point in the investigation of which the lumber of mere learning may be dispensed with, if ever in any. _Its appreciation_" says he, "_is universal_. It appertains to no region, nor race, nor era in especial. To melody and to harmony the Greeks hearkened with ears precisely similar to those which we employ, for similar purposes, at present; and a pendulum at Athens would have vibrated much after the same fashion as does a pendulum in the city of Penn."--_The Pioneer_, Vol. i. p. 103. Supposing here not even the oscillations of the same pendulum to be more uniform than are the nature and just estimation of quantity the world over, this author soon after expounds his idea of the thing as follows: "I have already said that all syllables, in metre, are either long or short. Our usual prosodies maintain that a long syllable is equal, in its time, to two short ones; this, however, is but an approach to the truth. It should be here observed that the quantity of an English syllable _has no dependence upon_ the sound of its vowel or dipthong [diphthong], but [depends] chiefly upon _accentuation_. Monosyllables are exceedingly variable, and, for the most part, may be either long or short, to suit the demand of the rhythm. In polysyllables, the accented _ones_ [say, _syllables_] are always long, while those which immediately precede or succeed them, are always short. _Emphasis_ will render any short syllable long."--_Ibid._, p. 105. In penning the last four sentences, the writer must have had Brown's Institutes of English Grammar before him, and open at page 235. OBS. 14.--Sheridan, in his Rhetorical Grammar, written about 1780, after asserting that a distinction of accent, and not of quantity, marks the movement of English verse, proceeds as follows: "From not having examined the peculiar genius of our tongue, our Prosodians have fallen into a variety of errors; some having adopted the rules of our neighbours, the French; and others having had recourse to those of the ancients; though neither of them, in reality, would square with our tongue, on account of an essential difference _between them_. [He means, "_between each language and ours_," and should have said so.] With regard to the French, they measured verses by the number of syllables whereof they were composed, on account of a constitutional defect in their tongue, which rendered it incapable of numbers formed by poetic feet. For it has neither accent nor quantity suited to the purpose; the syllables of their words being for the most part equally accented; and the number of long syllables being out of all proportion greater than that of the short. Hence for a long time it was supposed, _as it is by most people at present_, that our verses were composed, not of feet, but syllables; and accordingly they _are denominated_ verses often, eight, six, or four syllables, _even to this day_. Thus have we lost sight of the great advantage which our language has given us over the French, in point of poetic numbers, by its being capable of a geometrical proportion, on which the harmony of versification depends; and blindly reduced ourselves to that of the arithmetical kind which contains no natural power of pleasing the ear. And hence like the French, our chief pleasure in verse arises from the poor ornament of rhyme."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 64. OBS. 15.--In a recent work on this subject, Sheridan is particularly excepted, and he alone, where Hallam, Johnson, Lord Kames, and other "Prosodians" in general, are charged with "astonishing ignorance of the first principles of our verse;" and, at the same time, he is as particularly commended of having "especially insisted on the subject of Quantity."--_Everett's English Versification, Preface_, p. 6. That the rhetorician was but slenderly entitled to these compliments, may plainly appear from the next paragraph of his Grammar just cited; for therein he mistakingly represents it as a central error, to regard our poetic feet as being "formed by quantity" at all. "Some few of our Prosodians," says he, "finding this to be an error, and that our verses were really composed of feet, not syllables, without farther examination, boldly applied all the rules of the Latin prosody to our versification; though scarce any of them answered exactly, and some of them were utterly incompatible with the genius of our tongue. _Thus because the Roman feet were formed by quantity, they asserted the same of ours, denominating all the accented syllables long; whereas I have formerly shewn, that the accent, in some cases, as certainly makes the syllable on which it is laid, short, as in others it makes it long_. And their whole theory of quantity, borrowed from the Roman, in which they endeavour to establish the proportion of long and short, as immutably fixed to the syllables of words constructed in a certain way, at once falls to the ground; when it is shewn, that the quantity of our syllables is _perpetually varying with the sense_, and is _for the most part regulated by_ EMPHASIS: which has been fully proved in the course of Lectures on the Art of reading Verse; where it has been also shewn, that _this very circumstance_ has given us an _amazing advantage over the ancients_ in the point of poetic numbers."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 64. OBS. 16.--The lexicographer here claims to have "_shewn_" or "_proved_," what he had only _affirmed_, or _asserted_. Erroneously taking the quality of the vowel for the quantity of the syllable, he had suggested, in his confident way, that short quantity springs from the accenting of _consonants_, and long quantity, from the accenting of _vowels_--a doctrine which has been amply noticed and refuted in a preceding section of the present chapter. Nor is he, in what is here cited, consistent with himself. For, in the first place, nothing comes nearer than this doctrine of his, to an "endeavour to establish the proportion of long and short, as immutably fixed to the syllables of words constructed in a certain way"! Next, although he elsewhere contrasts accent and emphasis, and supposes them different, he either confounds them in reference to verse, or contradicts himself by ascribing to each the chief control over quantity. And, lastly, if our poetic feet are not quantitative, not formed of syllables long and short, as were the Roman, what "advantage over the ancients," can we derive from the fact, that quantity is regulated by stress, whether accent or emphasis? OBS. 17.--We have, I think, no prosodial treatise of higher pretensions than Erastus Everett's "System of English Versification," first published in 1848. This gentleman professes to have borrowed no idea but what he has regularly quoted. "He mentions this, that it may not be supposed that this work is a compilation. It will be seen," says he, "how great a share of it is original; and the author, having deduced his rules from the usage of the great poets, has the best reason for being confident of their correctness."--_Preface_, p. 5. Of the place to be filled by this System, he has the following conception: "It is thought to supply an important desideratum. It is a matter of surprise to the foreign student, who attempts the study of English poetry and the structure of its verse, to find that _we have no work on which he can rely as authority on this subject_. In the other modern languages, the most learned philologers have treated of the subject of versification, in all its parts. In English alone, in a language which possesses a body of poetical literature more extensive, as well as more valuable than any other modern language, not excepting the Italian, _the student has no rules to guide him_, but a few meagre and incorrect outlines appended to elementary text-books." Then follows this singularly inconsistent exception: "We must except from this remark two works, published in the latter part of the sixteenth century. But as they were written before the poetical language of the English tongue was fixed, and as the rules of verse were not then settled, these works can be of little practical utility."--_Preface_, p. 1. The works thus excepted as of _reliable authority without practical utility_, are "a short tract by _Gascoyne_," doubtless _George Gascoigne's_ 'Notes of Instruction concerning the making of Verse or Rhyme in English,' published in 1575, and Webbe's 'Discourse of English Poetry,' dated 1586, neither of which does the kind exceptor appear to have ever seen! Mention is next made, successively, of Dr. Carey, of Dryden, of Dr. Johnson, of Blair, and of Lord Kames. "To these _guides_," or at least to the last two, "the author is indebted for many valuable hints;" yet he scruples not to say, "Blair betrays a paucity of knowledge on this subject;"--"Lord Kames has slurred over the subject of Quantity," and "shown an unpardonable ignorance of the first principles of Quantity in our verse;"--and, "Even Dr. Johnson speaks of syllables in such a manner as would lead us to suppose that he was in the same error as Kames. These inaccuracies," it is added, "can be accounted for only from the fact that Prosodians have not thought _Quantity_ of sufficient importance to merit their attention."--See _Preface_, p. 4-6. OBS. 18.--Everett's Versification consists of seventeen chapters, numbered consecutively, but divided into two parts, under the two titles Quantity and Construction. Its specimens of verse are numerous, various, and beautiful. Its modes of scansion--the things chiefly to be taught--though perhaps generally correct, are sometimes questionable, and not always consonant with the writer's own rules of quantity. From the citations above, one might expect from this author such an exposition of quantity, as nobody could either mistake or gainsay; but, as the following platform will show, his treatment of this point is singularly curt and incomplete. He is so sparing of words as not even to have given a _definition_ of quantity. He opens his subject thus: "VERSIFICATION is the proper arrangement of words in _a line_ according to _their quantity_, and the disposition of _these lines in_ couplets, stanzas, or in blank verse, in such order, and according to such rules, as are sanctioned by usage.--A FOOT is a combination of two or _more_ syllables, whether long or short.--A LINE is one foot, or more than one.--The QUANTITY of each _word_ depends on its _accent_. In words of more than one syllable, all accented syllables are long, and all unaccented syllables are short. Monosyllables are long or short, according to the following Rules:--1st. All Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Participles are long.--2nd. The articles are always short.--3rd, The Pronouns are long or short, according to _emphasis_.--4th. Interjections and Adverbs are generally long, but sometimes _made short by emphasis_.--5th. Prepositions and Conjunctions are almost always _short_, but sometimes _made long by emphasis_."--_English Versification_, p. 13. None of these principles of quantity are unexceptionable; and whoever follows them implicitly, will often differ not only from what is right, but from their author himself in the analysis of verses. Nor are they free from important antagonisms. "Emphasis," as here spoken of, not only clashes with "accent," but contradicts itself, by making some syllables long and some short; and, what is more mysteriously absurd, the author says, "It _frequently happens_ that syllables _long by_ QUANTITY become _short by_ EMPHASIS."--_Everett's Eng. Versif._, 1st Ed., p. 99. Of this, he takes the first syllable of the following line, namely, "the word _bids_," to be an example: "B~ids m~e l=ive b~ut t=o h=ope f~or p~ost=er~it~y's pr=aise." OBS. 19.--In the American Review, for May, 1848, Everett's System of Versification is named as "an apology and occasion"--not for a critical examination of this or any other scheme of prosody--but for the promulgation of a new one, a rival theory of English metres, "the principles and laws" of which the writer promises, "at an other time" more fully "to develop." The article referred to is entitled, "_The Art of Measuring Verses_." The writer, being designated by his initials, "J. D. W.," is understood to be James D. Whelpley, editor of the Review. Believing Everett's principal doctrines to be radically erroneous, this critic nevertheless excuses them, because he thinks we have nothing better! "The views supported in the work itself," says his closing paragraph, "_are not, indeed, such as we would subscribe to, nor can we admit the numerous analyses of the English metres which it contains to be correct_; yet, as it is as complete in design and execution as anything that has yet appeared on the subject, and well calculated to excite the attention, and direct the inquiries, of English scholars, to the study of our own metres, we shall even pass it by without a word of criticism."--_American Review, New Series_, Vol. I, p. 492. OBS. 20.--Everett, although, as we have seen, he thought proper to deny that the student of English versification had any well authorized "rules to guide him," still argues that, "The laws of our verse are just as fixed, and may be as clearly laid down, if we but attend to the usage of the great Poets, as are the laws of our syntax."--_Preface_, p. 7. But this critic, of the American Review, ingenious though he is in many of his remarks, flippantly denies that our English Prosody has either authorities or principles which one ought to respect; and accordingly cares so little whom he contradicts, that he is often inconsistent with himself. Here is a sample: "As there are _no established authorities_ in this art, and, indeed, _no acknowledged principles_--every rhymester being permitted to _invent_ his own _method_, and write by _instinct_ or _imitation_--the critic feels quite at liberty to say just what he pleases, and _offer his private observations_ as though these were really of some moment."--_Am. Rev._, Vol. i, p. 484. In respect to writing, "_to invent_," and _to "imitate_," are repugnant ideas; and so are, _after a "method_," and "_by instinct_." Again, what sense is there in making the "liberty" of publishing one's "private observations" to depend on the presumed absence of rivals? That the author did not lack confidence in the general applicability of his speculations, subversive though they are of the best and most popular teaching on this subject, is evident from the following sentence: "We intend, also, that if these principles, with the others previously expressed, are true in the given instances, _they are equally true for all languages and all varieties of metre_, even to the denial that _any_ poetic metres, founded on other principles, can properly exist."--_Ib._, p. 491 OBS. 21.--J. D. W. is not one of those who discard quantity and supply accent in expounding the nature of metre; and yet he does not coincide very nearly with any of those who have heretofore made quantity the basis of poetic numbers. His views of the rhythmical elements being in several respects _peculiar_, I purpose briefly to notice them here, though some of the peculiarities of this new "_Art of Measuring Verses_," should rather be quoted under the head of _Scanning_, to which they more properly belong. "Of every species of beauty," says this author, "and more especially of the beauty of sounds, _continuousness_ is the _first element_; a succession of _pulses_ of sound becomes agreeable, only when the breaks or intervals cease to be heard." Again: "Quantity, or the _division into measures of time_, is a _second element_ of verse; each line must be _stuffed out with sounds_, to a certain fullness and plumpness, that will sustain the voice, and force it to dwell upon the sounds."--_Rev._, p. 485. The first of these positions is subsequently contradicted, or very largely qualified, by the following: "So, the line of significant sounds, in a verse, is also marked by _accents_, or _pulses_, and divided into portions called _feet_. These are necessary and natural for the very simple reason that _continuity by itself is tedious_; and the greatest pleasure arises from the union of continuity with _variety_. [That is, with "_interruption_," as he elsewhere calls it!] In the line, 'Full many a tale their music tells,' there are at least four accents or stresses of the voice, with faint _pauses_ after them, just enough to separate the continuous stream of sound into these four parts, to be read thus: Fullman--yataleth--eirmus--ictells,[503] by which, new combinations of sound are produced, of a singularly musical character. It is evident from the inspection of the above line, that the division of the feet by the accents is quite independent of the division of words by the sense. The sounds are melted into continuity, and _re-divided again_ in a manner agreeable to the musical ear."--_Ib._, p. 486. Undoubtedly, the due formation of our poetic feet occasions both a blending of some words and a dividing of others, in a manner unknown to prose; but still we have the authority of this writer, as well as of earlier ones, for saying, "Good verse requires to be read _with the natural quantites [sic--KTH] of the syllables_," (p. 487,) a doctrine with which that of the _redivision_ appears to clash. If the example given be read with any regard to the _caesural pause_, as undoubtedly it should be, the _th_ of _their_ cannot be joined, as above, to the word _tale_; nor do I see any propriety in joining the _s_ of _music_ to the third foot rather than to the fourth. Can a theory which turns topsyturvy the whole plan of syllabication, fail to affect "the _natural quantities_ of syllables?" OBS. 22--Different modes of reading verse, may, without doubt, change the quantities of very many syllables. Hence a correct mode of reading, as well as a just theory of measure, is essential to correct scansion, or a just discrimination of the poetic feet. It is a very common opinion, that English verse has but few spondees; and the doctrine of Brightland has been rarely disputed, that, "_Heroic Verses_ consist of five _short_, and five _long_ Syllables _intermixt_, but not so very strictly as never to alter that order."--_Gram._, 7th Ed., p. 160.[504] J. D. W., being a heavy reader, will have each line so "_stuffed out with sounds_," and the consonants so syllabled after the vowels, as to give to our heroics three spondees for every two iambuses; and lines like the following, which, with the elisions, I should resolve into four iambuses, and without them, into three iambuses and one anapest, he supposes to consist severally of four spondees:-- "'When coldness wraps this suffering clay, Ah! whither strays the immortal mind?' [These are] to be read," according to this prosodian, "Whencoldn--esswrapsth--issuff'r--ingclay, Ah! whith--erstraysth'--immort--almind?" "The verse," he contends, "is perceived to consist of _six_ [probably he meant to say _eight_] heavy syllables, each composed of a vowel followed by a group of consonantal sounds, the whole measured into four equal feet. The movement is what is called spondaic, a spondee being a foot of two heavy sounds. The absence of short syllables gives the line a peculiar weight and solemnity suited to the sentiment, and doubtless prompted by it."--_American Review_, Vol. i, p. 487. Of his theory, he subsequently says: "It maintains that good English verse is as thoroughly quantitative as the Greek, though it be _much more heavy and spondaic_."--_Ib._, p. 491.[505] OBS. 23--For the determining of quantities and feet, this author borrows from some old Latin grammar three or four rules, commonly thought inapplicable to our tongue, and, mixing them up with other speculations, satisfies himself with stating that the "Art of Measuring Verses" requires yet the production of many more such! But, these things being the essence of his principles, it is proper to state them _in his own words_: "A short vowel sound followed by a double consonantal sound, usually makes a _long_ quantity;[506] so also does a long vowel like _y_ in _beauty_, before a consonant. The _metrical accents_, which _often differ from the prosaic_, mostly fall upon the heavy sounds; _which must also be prolonged in reading_, and never slurred or lightened, unless to help out a bad verse. In our language _the groupings of the consonants furnish a great number of spondaic feet_, and give the language, especially its more ancient forms, as in the verse of Milton and the prose of Lord Bacon, a grand and solemn character. One vowel followed by another, unless the first be _naturally made long_ in the reading, makes a short quantity, as in _th[=e] old_. So, also, a short vowel followed by a single short consonant, gives a short _time_ or _quantity_, as in _toe give_. [Fist] A great variety of rules for the detection of long and short quantities _have yet to be invented_, or applied from the Greek and Latin prosody. _In all languages they are of course the same_, making due allowance for difference of organization; but it is as absurd to suppose that the Greeks should have a system of prosody differing in principle from our own, as that their rules of musical harmony should be different from the modern. Both result from the nature of the ear and of _the organ of speech_, and are consequently _the same_ in all ages and nations."--_Am. Rev._, Vol. i, p. 488. OBS. 24.--QUANTITY is here represented as "_time_" only. In this author's first mention of it, it is called, rather less accurately, "_the division into measures of time_." With too little regard for either of these conceptions, he next speaks of it as including both "_time and accent_." But I have already shown that "_accents_ or _stresses_" cannot pertain to _short_ syllables, and therefore cannot be ingredients of quantity. The whole article lacks that _clearness_ which is a prime requisite of a sound theory. Take all of the writer's next paragraph as an example of this defect: "The two elements of musical metre, _time_ and _accent_, both together constituting _quantity_, are _equally_ elements of the metre of verse. Each _iambic_ foot or metre, is marked by a swell of the voice, concluding abruptly in an _accent_, or _interruption_, on the _last sound_ of the foot; or, [omit this 'or:' it is improper,] in metres of the _trochaic_ order, in such words as _dandy, handy, bottle, favor, labor_, it [the foot] begins with a heavy accented sound, and declines to a faint or light one at the close. The line is thus composed of a series of swells or waves of sound, _concluding and beginning alike_. The _accents_, or points at which the voice is most forcibly exerted in the feet, _being the divisions of time_, by which a part of its musical character is given to the verse, are _usually made to coincide_, in our language, with the accents of the words as they are spoken; which [coincidence] diminishes the musical character of our verse. In Greek hexameters and Latin hexameters, on the contrary, this coincidence is avoided, as tending to monotony and a prosaic character."--_Ibid._ OBS. 25.--The passage just cited represents "_accent_" or "_accents_" not only as partly constituting _quantity_, but as being, in its or their turn, "_the divisions of time_;"--as being also stops, pauses, or "_interruptions_" of sound else continuous;--as being of two sorts, "_metrical_" and "_prosaic_," which "usually coincide," though it is said, they "often differ," and their "interference" is "very frequent;"--as being "the points" of stress "in the _feet_," but not always such in "the _words_," of verse;--as striking different feet differently, "each _iambic_ foot" on the latter syllable and every _trochee_ on the former, yet causing, in each line, only such waves of sound as conclude and begin "_alike_;"--as coinciding with the long quantities and "_the prosaic accents_," in iambics and trochaics, yet not coinciding with these always;--as giving to verse "a part of its musical character," yet _diminishing_ that character, by their usual coincidence with "_the prose accents_;"--as being kept distinct in Latin and Greek, "_the metrical" from "the prosaic_" and their "coincidence avoided," to make poetry more poetical,--though the old prosodists, in all they say of accents, acute, grave, and circumflex, give no hint of this primary distinction! In all this elementary teaching, there seems to be a want of a clear, steady, and consistent notion of the things spoken of. The author's theory led him to several strange combinations of words, some of which it is not easy, even with his whole explanation before us, to regard as other than _absurd_. With a few examples of his new phraseology, Italicized by myself, I dismiss the subject: "It frequently happens that _word and verse accent_ fall differently."--P. 489. "The _verse syllables_, like _the verse feet_, differ _in the prosaic and_ [the] _metrical reading_ of the line."--_Ib._ "If we read it by _the prosaic syllabication_, there will be no possibility of measuring the quantities."--_Ib._ "The metrical are perfectly distinct from the _prosaic properties of verse_."--_Ib._ "It may be called _an iambic dactyl_, formed by the substitution of two short for one long time in the last portion of the foot. _Iambic spondees and dactyls_ are to be distinguished by the _metrical accent_ falling on the last syllable."--P. 491. SECTION IV.--THE KINDS OF VERSE. The principal kinds of verse, or orders of poetic numbers, as has already been stated, are four; namely, _Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic_, and _Dactylic_. Besides these, which are sometimes called "_the simple orders_" being unmixed, or nearly so, some recognize several "_Composite orders_" or (with a better view of the matter) several kinds of mixed verse, which are said to constitute "_the Composite order_." In these, one of the four principal kinds of feet must still be used as the basis, some other species being inserted therewith, in each line or stanza, with more or less regularity. PRINCIPLES AND NAMES. The diversification of any species of metre, by the occasional change of a foot, or, in certain cases, by the addition or omission of a short syllable, is not usually regarded as sufficient to change the denomination, or stated order, of the verse; and many critics suppose some variety of feet, as well as a studied diversity in the position of the caesural pause, essential to the highest excellence of poetic composition. The dividing of verses into the feet which compose them, is called _Scanning_, or _Scansion_. In this, according to the technical language of the old prosodists, when a syllable is wanting, the verse is said to be _catalectic_; when the measure is exact, the line is _acatalectic_; when there is a redundant syllable, it forms _hypermeter_. Since the equal recognition of so many feet as twelve, or even as eight, will often produce different modes of measuring the same lines; and since it is desirable to measure verses with uniformity, and always by the simplest process that will well answer the purpose; we usually scan by the principal feet, in preference to the secondary, where the syllables give us a choice of measures, or may be divided in different ways. A single foot, especially a foot of only two syllables, can hardly be said to constitute a line, or to have rhythm in itself; yet we sometimes see a foot so placed, and rhyming as a line. Lines of two, three, four, five, six, or seven feet, are common; and these have received the technical denominations of _dim'eter, trim'eter, tetram'eter, pentam'eter, hexam'eter_, and _heptam'eter_. On a wide page, iambics and trochaics may possibly be written in _octom'eter_; but lines of this measure, being very long, are mostly abandoned for alternate tetrameters. ORDER I.--IAMBIC VERSE. In Iambic verse, the stress is laid on the even syllables, and the odd ones are short. Any short syllable added to a line of this order, is supernumerary; iambic rhymes, which are naturally single, being made double by one, and triple by two. But the adding of one short syllable, which is much practised in dramatic poetry, may be reckoned to convert the last foot into an amphibrach, though the adding of two cannot. Iambics consist of the following measures:-- MEASURE I.--IAMBIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER. _Psalm XLVII, 1 and 2_. "O =all | y~e p=eo | -pl~e, cl=ap | y~our h=ands, | ~and w=ith | tr~i=um | -ph~ant v=oi | -c~es s=ing; No force | the might | -=y power | withstands | of God, | the u | -niver | -sal King." See the "_Psalms of David, in Metre_," p. 54. Each couplet of this verse is now commonly reduced to, or exchanged for, a simple stanza of four tetrameter lines, rhyming alternately, and each commencing with a capital; but sometimes, the second line and the fourth are still commenced with a small letter: as, "Your ut | -most skill | in praise | be shown, for Him | who all | the world | commands, Who sits | upon | his right | -eous throne, and spreads | his sway | o'er heath | -en lands." _Ib._, verses 7 and 8; _Edition bound with Com. Prayer_, N. Y., 1819. _An other Example_. "The hour | is come | --the cher | -ish'd hour, When from | the bus | -y world | set free, I seek | at length | my lone | -ly bower, And muse | in si | -lent thought | on thee." THEODORE HOOK'S REMAINS: _The Examiner_, No. 82. MEASURE II.--IAMBIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER. _Example I.--Hat-Brims_. "It's odd | how hats | expand [ their brims | as youth | begins | to fade, As if | when life | had reached | its noon, | it want | -ed them | for shade." OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES: _From a Newspaper_. _Example II.--Psalm XLII_, 1. "As pants | the hart | for cool | -ing streams, | when heat | -ed in | the chase; So longs | my soul, | O God, | for thee, | and thy | refresh | -ing grace." EPISCOPAL PSALM-BOOK: _The Rev. W. Allen's Eng. Gram._, p. 227. _Example III.--The Shepherd's Hymn_. "Oh, when | I rove | the des | -ert waste, | and 'neath | the hot | sun pant, The Lord | shall be | my Shep | -herd then, | he will | not let | me want; He'll lead | me where | the past | -ures are | of soft | and shad | -y green, And where | the gen | -tle wa | -ters rove, | the qui | -et hills | between. And when | the sav | -age shall | pursue, | and in | his grasp | I sink, He will | prepare | the feast | for me, | and bring | the cool | -ing drink, And save | me harm | -less from | his hands, and strength | -en me | in toil, And bless | my home | and cot | -tage lands, and crown | my head | with oil. With such | a Shep | -herd to | protect, | to guide | and guard | me still, And bless | my heart | with ev | -'ry good, | and keep | from ev | -'ry ill, _Surely_ | I shall | not turn | aside, | and scorn | his kind | -ly care, But keep | the path | he points | me out, | and dwell | for ev | -er there." W. GILMORE SIMMS: _North American Reader_, p. 376. _Example IV.--"The Far, Far Fast."--First six Lines._ "It was | a dream | of earl | -y years, | the long | -est and | the last, And still | it ling | -ers bright | and lone | amid | the drear | -y past; When I | was sick | and sad | at heart | and faint | with grief | and care, It threw | its ra | -diant smile | athwart | the shad | -ows of | despair: And still | when falls | the hour | of gloom | upon | this way | -ward breast, Unto | THE FAR, | FAR EAST | I turn | for sol | -ace and | for rest." _Edinburgh Journal_; and _The Examiner_, _Example V.--"Lament of the Slave."--Eight Lines from thirty-four._ "Behold | the sun | which gilds | _yon heaven_, how love | -ly it | appears! And must | it shine | to light | a world | of war | -fare and | of tears? Shall hu | -man pas | -sion ev | -er sway | this glo | _-rious world_ | of God, And beau | -ty, wis | -dom, hap | -piness, | sleep with | the tram | -pled sod? Shall peace | ne'er lift | her ban | -ner up, | shall truth | and rea | -son cry, And men | oppress | them down | with worse | than an | -cient tyr | -anny? Shall all | the les | -sons time | has taught, | be so | long taught | in vain; And earth | be steeped | in hu | -man tears, | and groan | with hu | -man pain?" ALONZO LEWIS: _Freedom's Amulet_, Dec. 6, 1848. _Example VI.--"Greek Funeral Chant."--First four of sixty-four Lines._ "A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of | the young; Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | _-neral Chant_ | a mourn | -ful moth | -er sung. 'I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?-- | Thou sleepst!-- | but this | is not | the rest, The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I've pil | -low'd on | my breast!'" FELICIA HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 37. Everett observes, "The _Iliad_ was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the _AEneid_ by PHAER."--_Eng. Versif._, p. 68. Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse. Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones. A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:-- "To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name, myself | I close | -ly join; To all | who their | obe | -dient wills to thy | commands | resign." _Psalms with Com. Prayer: Psalm_ cxix, 63. This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures. With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language. Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry. The following are a few popular examples:-- "When all | thy mer | -cies, O | my God! My ris | -ing soul | surveys, Transport | -ed with | the view | I'm lost In won | -der, love, | and praise." _Addison's Hymn of Gratitude_. "John Gil | -pin was | a cit | -izen Of cred | -it and | renown, A train | -band cap | -tain eke | was he Of fam | -ous Lon | -don town." _Cowper's Poems_, Vol. i, p. 275. "God pros | -per long | our no | -ble king, Our lives | and safe | -ties all; A wo | -ful hunt | -ing once | there did In Chev | -y Chase | befall," _Later Reading of Chevy Chase_. "Turn, An | -geli | -na, ev | -er dear, My charm | -er, turn | to see Thy own, | thy long | -lost Ed | -win here, Restored | to love | and thee." _Goldsmith's Poems_, p. 67. "'Come back! | come back!' | he cried | in grief, Across | this storm | -y wa_ter_: 'And I'll | forgive | your High | -land chief, My daugh | -ter!--oh | my daugh_ter_! 'Twas vain: | the loud | waves lashed | the shore, Return | or aid | prevent_ing_:-- The wa | -ters wild | went o'er | his child,-- And he | was left | lament_ing_."--_Campbell's Poems_, p. 110. The rhyming of this last stanza is irregular and remarkable, yet not unpleasant. It is contrary to rule, to omit any rhyme which the current of the verse leads the reader to expect. Yet here the word "_shore_" ending the first line, has no correspondent sound, where twelve examples of such correspondence had just preceded; while the third line, without previous example, is so rhymed within itself that one scarcely perceives the omission. Double rhymes are said by some to unfit this metre for serious subjects, and to adapt it only to what is meant to be burlesque, humorous, or satiric. The example above does not confirm this opinion, yet the rule, as a general one, may still be just. Ballad verse may in some degree imitate the language of a simpleton, and become popular by clownishness, more than by elegance: as, "Father | and I | went down | to the camp Along | with cap | -tain Goodwin, And there | we saw | the men | and boys As thick | as hast | -y pudding; And there | we saw | a thun | -dering gun,-- It took | a horn | of powder,-- It made | a noise | like fa | -ther's gun, Only | a na | -tion louder." _Original Song of Yankee Doodle_. Even the line of seven feet may still be lengthened a little by a double rhyme: as, How gay | -ly, o | -ver fell | and fen, | yon sports | -man light | is _dashing_! And gay | -ly, in | the sun | -beams bright, | the mow |--er's blade | is _flashing_! Of this length, T. O. Churchill reckons the following couplet; but by the general usage of the day, the final _ed_ is not made a separate syllable:-- "With _hic_ | and _hoec_, | as Pris | -cian tells, | _sacer | -dos_ was | de_cli | -n~ed_; But now | its gen | -der by | the pope | far bet | -ter is | de_fi | -n~ed_." _Churchill's New Grammar_, p. 188. MEASURE III.--IAMBIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER. _Example I.--A Couplet_. "S~o v=a | _-r~y~ing still_ | th~eir m=oods, | ~obs=erv | -~ing =yet | ~in =all Their quan | -tities, | their rests, | their cen | -sures met | -rical." MICHAEL DRAYTON: _Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Quantity_. _Example II.--From a Description of a Stag-Hunt_. "And through | the cumb | -rous thicks, | as fear | -fully | he makes, He with | his branch | -ed head | the ten | -der sap | -lings shakes, That sprink | -ling their | moist pearl | do seem | for him | to weep; When aft | -er goes | the cry, | with yell | -ings loud | and deep, That all | the for | -est rings, | and ev | -ery neigh | -bouring place: And there | is not | a hound | but fall | -eth to | the chase." DRAYTON: _Three Couplets from twenty-three, in Everett's Versif._, p. 66. _Example III.--An Extract from Shakespeare_. "If love | make me | forsworn, | how shall | I swear | to love? O, nev | -er faith | could hold, | if not | to beau | -ty vow'd: Though to | myself | forsworn, | to thee | I'll con | -stant prove; Those thoughts, | to me | like oaks, | to thee | like o | -siers bow'd. _St=ud~y_ | his bi | -as leaves, | and makes | his book | thine eyes, Where all | those pleas | -ures live, | that art | can com | -prehend. If knowl | -edge be | the mark, | to know | thee shall | suffice; Well learn | -ed is | that tongue | that well | can thee | commend; All ig | -norant | that soul | that sees | thee with' | _o~ut wonder_; Which is | to me | some praise, | that I | thy parts | admire: Thine eye | Jove's light | -ning seems, | thy voice | his dread | _-ful thunder_, Which (not | to an | -ger bent) | is mu | -sic and | sweet fire. Celes | -tial as | thou art, | O, do | not love | that wrong, To sing | the heav | -ens' praise | with such | an earth | -ly tongue." _The Passionate Pilgrim, Stanza IX_; SINGER'S SHAK., Vol. ii, p. 594. _Example IV.--The Ten Commandments Versified_. "Adore | no God | besides | me, to | provoke | mine eyes; Nor wor | -ship me | in shapes | and forms | that men | devise; With rev | 'rence use | my name, | nor turn | my words | to jest; Observe | my sab | -bath well, | nor dare | profane | my rest; Honor | and due | obe | -dience to | thy pa | -rents give; Nor spill | the guilt | -less blood, | nor let | the guilt | -y live;[507] Preserve | thy bod | -y chaste, | and flee | th' unlaw | -ful bed; Nor steal | thy neigh | -bor's gold, | his gar | -ment, or | his bread; Forbear | to blast | his name | with false | -hood or deceit; Nor let | thy wish | -es loose | upon | his large | estate." DR. ISAAC WATTS: _Lyric Poems_, p. 46. This verse, consisting, when entirely regular, of twelve syllables in six iambs, is the _Alexandrine_; said to have been so named because it was "first used in a poem called _Alexander_."--_Worcester's Dict._ Such metre has sometimes been written, with little diversity, through an entire English poem, as in Drayton's Polyolbion; but, couplets of this length being generally esteemed too clumsy for our language, the Alexandrine has been little used by English versifiers, except to complete certain stanzas beginning with shorter iambics, or, occasionally, to close a period in heroic rhyme. French heroics are similar to this; and if, as some assert, we have obtained it thence, the original poem was doubtless a French one, detailing the exploits of the hero "_Alexandre_." The phrase, "_an Alexandrine verse_," is, in French, "_un vers Alexandrin_." Dr. Gregory, in his Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, copies Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, which says, "ALEXANDRINE, a kind of verse borrowed from the French, first used in a poem called Alexander. They [Alexandrines] consist, among the French, of twelve and thirteen syllables, in alternate couplets; and, among us, of twelve." Dr. Webster, in his American Dictionary, _improperly_ (as I think) gives to the name two forms, and seems also to acknowledge two sorts of the English verse: "ALEXAN'DRINE, or ALEXAN'DRIAN, _n._ A kind of verse, consisting of twelve syllables, or of twelve and thirteen alternately." "The Pet-Lamb," a modern pastoral, by Wordsworth, has sixty-eight lines, all probably meant for Alexandrines; most of which have twelve syllables, though some have thirteen, and others, fourteen. But it were a great pity, that versification so faulty and unsuitable should ever be imitated. About half of the said lines, as they appear in the poet's royal octave, or "the First Complete American, from the Last London Edition," are as sheer prose as can be written, it being quite impossible to read them into any proper rhythm. The poem being designed for children, the measure should have been reduced to iambic trimeter, and made exact at that. The story commences thus:-- "The dew | was fall | -ing fast, | the stars | began | to blink; I heard | a voice; | it said, | 'Drink, pret | -ty crea | -ture, drink!' And, look | -ing o'er | the hedge, | before | me I | espied A snow | -white moun | -tain Lamb | w=ith =a M=aid | -en at | its side." All this is regular, with the exception of one foot; but who can make any thing but _prose_ of the following? "Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are now, Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough." "Here thou needest not dread the raven in the sky; Night and day thou art safe,--our cottage is hard by." WORDSWORTH'S _Poems_, New-Haven Ed., 1836, p. 4. In some very ancient English poetry, we find lines of twelve syllables combined in couplets with others of fourteen; that is, six iambic feet are alternated with seven, in lines that rhyme. The following is an example, taken from a piece of fifty lines, which Dr. Johnson ascribes to the _Earl of Surry_, one of the wits that flourished in the reign of Henry VIII:-- "Such way | -ward wayes | hath Love, | that most | part in | discord, Our willes | do stand, | whereby | our hartes | but sel | -dom do | accord; Decyte | is hys | delighte, | and to | begyle | and mocke, The sim | ple hartes | which he | doth strike | with fro | -ward di | -vers stroke. He caus | -eth th' one | to rage | with gold | -en burn | -ing darte, And doth | allay | with lead | -en cold, | again | the oth | -er's harte; Whose gleames | of burn | -ing fyre | and eas | -y sparkes | of flame, In bal | -ance of | ~un=e | -qual weyght | he pon | -dereth | by ame." See _Johnson's Quarto Dict., History of the Eng. Lang._, p. 4. MEASURE IV.--IAMBIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER. _Example I.--Hector to Andromache._ "Andr=om | -~ach=e! | m=y s=oul's | f~ar b=et | -t~er p=art, _Wh=y w~ith_ | untime | -ly | sor | -rows heaves | thy heart? No hos | -tile hand | can an | -tedate | my doom, Till fate | condemns | me to | the si | -lent tomb. Fix'd is | the term | to all | the race | of earth; And such | the hard | conditi | -on of | our birth, No force | can then | resist, | no flight | can save; All sink | alike, | the fear | -ful and | the brave." POPE'S HOMER: _Iliad_, B. vi, l. 624-632. _Example II.--Angels' Worship._ "No soon | -er had | th' Almight | -y ceas'd | _but_ all The mul | -titude | of an | -gels with | a shout Loud as | from num | -bers with' | -out num | -ber, sweet As from | blest voi | -ces ut | _t~er ~ing j=oy_, | heav'n rung With ju | -bilee, | and loud | hosan | -nas fill'd Th' eter | -nal | re | -gions; low | -ly rev | -erent Tow'rds ei | -ther throne | they bow, | and to | the ground With sol | -emn ad | -ora | -tion down | they cast Their crowns | inwove | with am | -arant | and gold." MILTON: _Paradise Lost_, B. iii, l. 344. _Example III.--Deceptive Glosses_. "The world | is still | deceiv'd | with or | -nament. In law, | what plea | so taint | -ed and | corrupt, But, be | -ing sea | -son'd with | a gra | -cious voice, Obscures | the show | of e | -vil? In | _religi~on_, What dam |--n~ed er | -ror, but | some so | -ber brow Will bless | it, and | approve | it with | a text, _Hid~ing_ | the gross | -ness with | fair or | -nament?" SHAKSPEARE: _Merch. of Venice_, Act iii, Sc. 2. _Example IV.--Praise God_. "Ye head | -long tor | -rents, rap | -id, and | profound; Ye soft | -er floods, | that lead | the hu | -mid maze Along | the vale; | and thou, | majes | -tic main, A se | -cret world | of won | -ders in | thyself, Sound His | stupen | -dous | praise; | whose great | -er voice Or bids | you roar, | or bids | your roar | -ings fall." THOMSON: _Hymn to the Seasons_. _Example V.--The Christian Spirit_. "Like him | the soul, | thus kin | -dled from | above, Spreads wide | her arms | of u | -niver | -sal love; And, still | enlarg'd | as she | receives | the grace, Includes | cr~e=a | -tion in | her close | embrace. Behold | a Chris | -tian! and | without | the fires The found | -_~er ~of_ | that name | alone | inspires, Though all | accom | -plishment, | all knowl | -edge meet, To make | the shin | -ing prod | -igy | complete, Whoev | -er boasts | that name-- | behold | a cheat!" COWPER: _Charity; Poems_, Vol. i, p. 135. _Example VI.--To London_. "Ten right | -eous would | have sav'd | a cit | -y once, And thou | hast man | -y right | -eous.--Well | for thee-- That salt | preserves | thee; more | corrupt | -ed else, And there | -fore more | obnox | -ious, at | this hour, Than Sod | -om in | her day | had pow'r | to be, For whom | God heard | his Abr' | -ham plead | in vain." IDEM: _The Task_, Book iii, at the end. This verse, the iambic pentameter, is the regular English _heroic_--a stately species, and that in which most of our great poems are composed, whether epic, dramatic, or descriptive. It is well adapted to rhyme, to the composition of sonnets, to the formation of stanzas of several sorts; and yet is, perhaps, the only measure suitable for blank verse--which latter form always demands a subject of some dignity or sublimity. The _Elegiac Stanza_, or the form of verse most commonly used by elegists, consists of four heroics rhyming alternately; as, "Thou knowst | how trans | -port thrills | the ten | -der breast, Where love | and fan | -cy fix | their ope | -ning reign; How na | -ture shines | in live | -lier col | -ours dress'd, To bless | their un | -ion, and | to grace | their train." SHENSTONE: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 106. Iambic verse is seldom continued perfectly pure through a long succession of lines. Among its most frequent diversifications, are the following; and others may perhaps be noticed hereafter:-- (1.) The first foot is often varied by a substitutional trochee; as, "_Bacchus_, | that first | from out | the pur | -ple grape _Crush'd the_ | sweet poi | -son of | mis-=us | -~ed wine, _After_ | the Tus | -can mar | -iners | transform'd, _Coasting_ | the Tyr | -rhene shore, | ~as th~e | winds list_~ed_, On Cir | -ce's isl | -and fell. | Who knows | not Cir_c~e_, The daugh | -ter of | the sun? | whose charm | -~ed cup Whoev | -er tast | -ed, lost | his up | -right shape, And down | -ward fell | _=int~o_ a grov | -elling swine." MILTON: _Comus; British Poets_, Vol. ii, p. 147. (2.) By a synaeresis of the two short syllables, an anapest may sometimes be employed for an iambus; or a dactyl, for a trochee. This occurs chiefly where one unaccented vowel precedes an other in what we usually regard as separate syllables, and both are clearly heard, though uttered perhaps in so quick succession that both syllables may occupy only half the time of a long one. Some prosodists, however, choose to regard these substitutions as instances of trissyllabic feet mixed with the others; and, doubtless, it is in general easy to make them such, by an utterance that avoids, rather than favours, the coalescence. The following are examples:-- "No rest: | through man | _-y a dark_ | and drear | -y vale They pass'd, | and man | _-y a re_ | -gion dol | -orous, _O'er man_ | _-y a fro_ | -zen, man | _-y a fi_ | _-ery Alp_." --MILTON: _P. L._, B. ii, l. 618. "Rejoice | ye na | -tions, vin | -dicate | the sway Ordain'd | for com | -mon hap | -piness. | Wide, o'er The globe | terra | _-queous, let_ | Britan | _-nia pour_ The fruits | of plen | -ty from | her co | _-pious horn_." --DYER: _Fleece_, B. iv, l. 658. "_Myriads_ | of souls | that knew | one pa | -rent mold, See sad | -ly sev | er'd by | the laws | of chance! _Myriads_, | in time's | peren | _-nial list_ | enroll'd, Forbid | by fate | to change | one tran | _-sient glance!_" SHENSTONE: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 109. (3.) In plays, and light or humorous descriptions, the last foot of an iambic line is often varied or followed by an additional short syllable; and, sometimes, in verses of triple rhyme, there is an addition of two short syllables, after the principal rhyming syllable. Some prosodists call the variant foot, in die former instance, an _amphibrach_, and would probably, in the latter, suppose either an _additional pyrrhic_, or an amphibrach with still a _surplus syllable_; but others scan, in these cases, by the iambus only, calling what remains after the last long syllable _hypermeter_; and this is, I think, the better way. The following examples show these and some other variations from pure iambic measure:-- _Example I.--Grief._ "Each sub | st~ance ~of | a grief | hath twen | -ty shad_~ows_, Which show | like grief | itself, | but are | not so: For sor | -row's eye, | gl=az~ed | with blind | -ing tears, Divides one thing | entire | to man |--y ob_j~ects_; Like per | -spectives, | which, right | -ly gaz'd | upon, Show noth | -ing but | confu | -sion; ey'd | awry, Distin | -guish form: | so your | sweet maj | -esty, Lo=ok~ing | awry | upon | your lord's | depart_~ure_, Finds shapes | of grief, | more than | himself, | to wail; Which, look'd | on as | it is, | is nought | but shad_~ows_." SHAKSPEARE: _Richard II_, Act ii, Sc. 2. _Example II.--A Wish to Please_. "O, that | I had | the art | of eas | -y _writing_ What should | be eas | -y read | -ing | could | I scale Parnas | -sus, where | the Mus | -es sit | in_diting_ Those pret | -ty po | -ems nev | -er known | to fail, How quick | -ly would | I print | (the world | de_lighting_) A Gre | -cian, Syr | -ian, or | Assy | -ian tale; And sell | you, mix'd | with west | -ern sen | -ti_mentalism_, Some sam | -ples of | the fin | -est O | -ri_entalism_." LORD BYRON: _Beppo_, Stanza XLVIII. MEASURE V.--IAMBIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER. _Example I.--Presidents of the United States of America_. "First stands | the loft | -y Wash | -ington, That no | -ble, great, | immor | -tal one; The eld | -er Ad | -ams next | we see; And Jef | -ferson | comes num | -ber three; Then Mad | -ison | is fourth, | you know; The fifth | one on | the list, | Monroe; The sixth | an Ad | -ams comes | again; And Jack | -son, sev | -enth in | the train; Van Bu | -ren, eighth | upon | the line; And Har | -rison | counts num | -ber nine; The tenth | is Ty | -ler, in | his turn; And Polk, | elev | -enth, as | we learn; The twelfth | is Tay | -lor, peo | -ple say; The next | we learn | some fu | -ture day." ANONYMOUS: _From Newspaper_, 1849. _Example II.--The Shepherd Bard_. "The bard | on Ett | -rick's moun | tain green In Na | -ture's bo | -som nursed | had been, And oft | had marked | in for | -est lone Her beau | -ties on | her moun | -tain throne; Had seen | her deck | the wild | -wood tree, And star | with snow | -y gems | the lea; In love | _-li~est c=ol_ | -ours paint | the plain, And sow | the moor | with pur | -ple grain; By gold | -en mead | and moun | -tain sheer, Had viewed | the Ett | -rick wav | -ing clear, Where shad | _-=ow=y fl=ocks_ | of pur | -est snow Seemed graz | -ing in | a world | below." JAMES HOGG: _The Queen's Wake_, p. 76. _Example III.--Two Stanzas from Eighteen, Addressed to the Ettrick Shepherd_. "O Shep | -herd! since | 'tis thine | to boast The fas | -cinat | -ing pow'rs | of song, Far, far | above | the count | -less host, Who swell | the Mus | -es' sup | -_pli~ant throng_, The GIFT | OF GOD | distrust | no more, His in | -spira | -tion be | thy guide; Be heard | thy harp | from shore | to shore, Thy song's | reward | thy coun | -try's pride." B. BARTON: _Verses prefixed to the Queen's Wake_. _Example IV.--"Elegiac Stanzas," in Iambics of Four feet and Three_. "O for | a dirge! | But why | complain? Ask rath | -er a | trium | -phal strain When FER | MOR'S race | is run; A gar | -land of | immor | -tal boughs To bind | around | the Chris | -tian's brows, Whose glo | _-rious work_ | is done. We pay | a high | and ho | -ly debt; No tears | of pas | -sionate | regret Shall stain | this vo | -tive lay; Ill-wor | -thy, Beau | -mont! were | the grief That flings | itself | on wild | relief When Saints | have passed | away." W. WORDSWORTH: _Poetical Works_, First complete Amer. Ed., p. 208. This line, the iambic tetrameter, is a favourite one, with many writers of English verse, and has been much used, both in couplets and in stanzas. Butler's Hudibras, Gay's Fables, and many allegories, most of Scott's poetical works, and some of Byron's, are written in couplets of this measure. It is liable to the same diversifications as the preceding metre. The frequent admission of an additional short syllable, forming double rhyme, seems admirably to adapt it to a familiar, humorous, or burlesque style. The following may suffice for an example:-- "First, this | large par | -cel brings | you _tidings_ Of our | good Dean's | eter | -nal _chidings_; Of Nel | -ly's pert | -ness, Rob | -in's _leasings_, And Sher | -idan's | perpet | -ual _teasings_. This box | is cramm'd | on ev | -ery side With Stel | -la's mag | -iste | -rial pride." DEAN SWIFT: _British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 334. The following lines have _ten syllables_ in each, yet the measure is not iambic of five feet, but that of four with hypermeter:-- "There was | ~an =an | -cient sage | phi_losopher_, Who had | read Al | -exan | -der _Ross over_."--_Butler's Hudibras_. "I'll make | them serve | for per | -pen_diculars_, As true | as e'er | were us'd | by _bricklayers_." --_Ib._, Part ii, C. iii, l. 1020. MEASURE VI.--IAMBIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER. _Example.--To Evening_. "Now teach | me, maid | compos'd To breathe | some soft | -en'd strain."--_Collins_, p. 39. This short measure has seldom, if ever, been used alone in many successive couplets; but it is often found in stanzas, sometimes without other lengths, but most commonly with them. The following are a few examples:-- _Example I.--Two ancient Stanzas, out of Many_, "This while | we are | abroad, Shall we | not touch | our lyre? Shall we | not sing | an ode? Shall now | that ho | -ly fire, In us, | that strong | -ly glow'd, In this | cold air, | expire? Though in | the ut | -most peak, A while | we do | remain, Amongst | the moun | -tains bleak, Expos'd | to sleet | and rain, No sport | our hours | shall break, To ex | -ercise | our vein." DRAYTON: _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 13; _John Burn's_, p. 244. _Example II.--Acis and Galatea_. "For us | the zeph | -yr blows, For us | distils | the dew, For us | unfolds | the rose, And flow'rs | display | their hue; For us | the win | -ters rain, For us | the sum | -mers shine, Spring swells | for us | the grain, And au | -tumn bleeds | the vine." JOHN GAY: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 376. _Example III.--"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_." "The king | was on | his throne, The sa | -traps thronged | the hall; A thou | -sand bright | lamps shone O'er that | high fes | -tival. A thou | -sand cups | of gold, In Ju | -dah deemed | divine-- Jeho | -vah's ves | -sels, hold The god | -less Hea | -then's wine! In that | same hour | and hall, The fin | -gers of | a hand Came forth | against | the wall, And wrote | as if | on sand: The fin | -gers of | a man,-- A sol | -ita | -ry hand Along | the let | -ters ran, And traced | them like | a wand." LORD BYRON: _Vision of Belshazzar_. _Example IV.--Lyric Stanzas_. "Descend, | celes | -tial fire, And seize | me from | above, Melt me | in flames | of pure | desire, A sac | -rifice | to love. Let joy | and wor | -ship spend The rem | -nant of | my days, And to | my God, | my soul | ascend, In sweet | perfumes | of praise." WATTS: _Poems sacred to Devotion_, p. 50. _Example V.--Lyric Stanzas_. "I would | begin | the mu | -sic here, And so | my soul | should rise: O for | some heav'n | -ly notes | to bear My spir | -it to | the skies! There, ye | that love | my say | -iour, sit, There I | would fain | have place Amongst | your thrones | or at | your feet, So I | might see | his face." WATTS: _Same work_, "_Horae Lyricae_," p. 71. _Example VI.--England's Dead_. "The hur | -ricane | hath might Along | the In | -dian shore, And far, | by Gan | -ges' banks | at night, Is heard | the ti | -ger's roar. But let | the sound | roll on! It hath | no tone | of dread For those | that from | their toils | are gone;-- _There_ slum | -ber Eng | -land's dead." HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 61. The following examples have some of the common diversifications already noticed under the longer measures:-- _Example I.--"Languedocian Air_." "_L=ove ~is_ | a hunt | -er boy, Who makes | young hearts | his prey; _And in_ | his nets | of joy Ensnares | them night | and day. In vain | conceal'd | they lie, Love tracks | them ev' | -ry where; In vain | aloft | they fly, Love shoots | them fly | -ing there. But 'tis | his joy | most sweet, At earl | -y dawn | to trace The print | of Beau | -ty's feet, And give | the trem | -bler chase. And most | he loves | through snow To track | those foot | -steps fair, For then | the boy | doth know, None track'd | before | him there." MOORE'S _Melodies and National Airs_, p. 274. _Example II.--From "a Portuguese Air_." "Flow on, | thou shin | -ing _river_, But ere | thou reach | the sea, Seek El | -la's bower, | and _give her_ The wreaths | I fling | o'er thee. But, if | in wand' | -ring _thither_, Thou find | she mocks | my pray'r, Then leave | those wreaths | to _wither_ Upon | the cold | bank there." MOORE: _Same Volume_, p. 261. _Example III.--Resignation_. "O Res | -igna | -tion! yet | unsung, Untouch'd | by for | -mer strains; Though claim | -ing ev | -_ery mu_ | -se's smile, And ev | -_ery po_ | -et's pains! All oth | -er du | -ties cres | -cents are Of vir | -tue faint | -ly bright; The glo | -_rious con_ | -summa | -tion, thou, Which fills | her orb | with light!" YOUNG: _British Poets_, Vol. viii, p. 377. MEASURE VII.--IAMBIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER. _Example--A Scolding Wife_. 1. "There was | a man Whose name | was Dan, Who sel | -dom spoke; His part | -ner sweet He thus | did greet, Without | a joke; 2. My love | -ly wife, Thou art | the life Of all | my joys; Without | thee, I Should sure | -ly die For want | of noise. 3. O, prec | -ious one, Let thy | tongue run In a | sweet fret; And this | will give A chance | to live, A long | time yet. 4. When thou | dost scold So loud | and bold, I'm kept | awake; But if | thou leave, It will | me grieve, Till life | forsake. 5. Then said | his wife, I'll have | no strife With you, | sweet Dan; As 'tis | your mind, I'll let | you find I am | your man. 6. And fret | I will, To keep | you still Enjoy | -ing life; So you | may be Content | with me, A scold | -ing wife." ANONYMOUS: _Cincinnati Herald_, 1844. Iambic dimeter, like the metre of three iambs, is much less frequently used alone than in stanzas with longer lines; but the preceding example is a refutation of the idea, that no piece is ever composed wholly of this measure, or that the two feet cannot constitute a line. In Humphrey's English Prosody, on page 16th, is the following paragraph; which is not only defective in style, but erroneous in all its averments:-- "Poems are never composed of lines of two [-] feet metre, in succession: they [combinations of two feet] are only used occasionally in poems, hymns, odes, &c. to diversify the metre; and are, in no case, lines of poetry, or verses; but hemistics, [_hemistichs_,] or half lines. The shortest metre of which iambic verse is composed, in lines successively, is that of three feet; and this is the shortest metre _which_ can be denominated lines, or verses; and _this is not frequently used_." In ballads, ditties, hymns, and versified psalms, scarcely any line is _more common_ than the iambic trimeter, here denied to be "frequently used;" of which species, there are about seventy lines among the examples above. Dr. Young's poem entitled "Resignation," has eight hundred and twenty such lines, and as many more of iambic tetrameter. His "Ocean" has one hundred and forty-five of the latter, and two hundred and ninety-two of the species now under consideration; i.e., iambic dimeter. But how can the metre which predominates by two to one, be called, in such a case, an occasional diversification of that which is less frequent? Lines of two iambs are not very uncommon, even in psalmody; and, since we have some lines _yet shorter_, and the lengths of all are determined only by the act of measuring, there is, surely, no propriety in calling dimeters "hemistichs," merely because they are short. The following are some examples of this measure combined with longer ones:-- _Example I.--From Psalm CXLVIII_. 1, 2. "Ye bound | -less realms | of joy, Exalt | your Ma | -ker's fame; His praise | your songs | employ Above | the star | -ry frame: Your voi | -ces raise, Ye Cher | -ubim, And Ser | -aphim, To sing | his praise. 3, 4. Thou moon, | that rul'st | the night, And sun, | that guid'st | the day, Ye glitt' | -ring stars | of light, To him | your hom | -age pay: His praise | declare, Ye heavens | above, And clouds | that move In liq | -uid air." _The Book of Psalms in Metre_, (_with Com. Prayer_,) 1819. _Example II.--From Psalm CXXXVI._ "To God | the might | -y Lord, your joy | -ful thanks | repeat; To him | due praise | afford, as good | as he | is great: For God | does prove Our con | -stant friend, His bound | -less love Shall nev | -er end."--_Ib._, p. 164. _Example III.--Gloria Patri_. "To God | the Fa | -ther, Son, And Spir | -it ev | -er bless'd, Eter | -nal Three | in One, All wor | -ship be | address'd; As here | -tofore It was, | is now, And shall | be so For ev | -ermore."--_Ib._, p. 179. _Example IV.--Part of Psalm III_. [O] "Lord, | how man | -y are | my foes! How man | -y those That [now] | in arms | against | me rise! _Many_ | are they That of | my life | distrust | -fully | thus say: 'No help | for him | in God | there lies.' But thou, | Lord, art | my shield | my glo_ry_; Thee, through | my sto_ry_, Th' exalt | -er of | my head | I count; Aloud | I cried Unto | Jeho | -vah, he | full soon | replied, And heard | me from | his ho | -ly mount." MILTON: _Psalms Versified, British Poets_, Vol. ii, p. 161. _Example V.--Six Lines of an "Air."_ "As when | the dove Laments | her love All on | the na | -ked spray; When he | returns, No more | she mourns, But loves | the live | -long day." JOHN GAY: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 377. _Example VI.--Four Stanzas of an Ode_. "XXVIII. Gold pleas | -ure buys; But pleas | -ure dies", Too soon | the gross | fruiti | -on cloys: Though rapt | -ures court, The sense | is short; But vir | -tue kin | -dles liv | -ing joys: XXIX. Joys felt | alone! Joys ask'd | of none! Which Time's | and For | -tune's ar | -rows miss; Joys that | subsist, Though fates | resist, An un | -preca | -rious, end | -less bliss! XXX. The soul | refin'd Is most | inclin'd To ev | -_~er=y m=or_ | -al ex | -cellence; All vice | is dull, A knave's | a fool; And Vir | -tue is | the child | of Sense. XXXI. The vir | -_tuous mind_ Nor wave, | nor wind, Nor civ | -il rage, | nor ty | -rant's frown, The shak | -en ball, Nor plan | -ets' fall, From its | firm ba | -sis can | dethrone." YOUNG'S "OCEAN:" _British Poets_, Vol. viii, p 277. There is a line of five syllables and double rhyme, which is commonly regarded as iambic dimeter with a supernumerary short syllable; and which, though it is susceptible of two other divisions into two feet, we prefer to scan in this manner, because it usually alternates with pure iambics. Twelve such lines occur in the following extract:-- LOVE TRANSITORY "Could Love | for ev_er_ Run like | a riv_er_, And Time's | endeav_our_ Be tried | in vain,-- No oth | -er pleas_ure_ With this | could meas_ure_; And like | a treas_ure_ We'd hug | the chain. But since | our sigh_ing_ Ends not | in dy_ing_, And, formed | for fly_ing_, Love plumes | his wing; Then for | this rea_son_ Let's love | a sea_son_; But let | that sea_son_ Be on | -ly spring." LORD BYRON: See _Everett's Versification_, p. 19; _Fowler's E. Gram._, p. 650. MEASURE VIII.--IAMBIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER. "The shortest form of the English Iambic," says Lindley Murray, "consists of an Iambus with an additional short syllable: as, Disdaining, Complaining, Consenting, Repenting. We have no poem of this measure, but it may be met with in stanzas. The Iambus, with this addition, coincides with the Amphibrach."--_Murray's Gram._, 12mo, p. 204; 8vo, p. 254. This, or the substance of it, has been repeated by many other authors. Everett varies the language and illustration, but teaches the same doctrine. See _E. Versif._, p. 15. Now there are sundry examples which may be cited to show, that the iambus, without any additional syllable, and without the liability of being confounded with an other foot, may, and sometimes does, stand as a line, and sustain a regular rhyme. The following pieces contain instances of this sort:-- _Example I.--"How to Keep Lent."_ "Is this | a Fast, | to keep The lard | -er lean And clean From fat | of neats | and sheep? Is it | to quit | the dish Of flesh, | yet still To fill The plat | -ter high | with fish? Is it | to fast | an hour, Or ragg'd | to go, Or show A down | -cast look | and sour? No:--'Tis | a Fast | to dole Thy sheaf | of wheat, And meat, Unto | the hun | -gry soul. It is | to fast | from strife, From old | debate, And hate; To cir | -cumcise | thy life; To show | a _heart_ | grief-rent; To starve | thy sin, Not _bin_: Ay, that's | to keep | thy Lent." ROBERT HERRICK: _Clapp's Pioneer_, p. 48. Example II.--"To Mary Ann." [This singular arrangement of seventy-two separate iambic feet, I find _without intermediate points_, and leave it so. It seems intended to be read in three or more different ways, and the punctuation required by one mode of reading would not wholly suit an other.] "Your face Your tongue Your wit So fair So sweet So sharp First bent Then drew Then hit Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart To like To learn To love Your face Your tongue Your wit Doth lead Doth teach Doth move Your face Your tongue Your wit With beams With sound With art Doth blind Doth charm Doth rule Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart With life With hope With skill Your face Your tongue Your wit Doth feed Doth feast Doth fill O face O tongue O wit With frowns With cheek With smart Wrong not Vex not Wound not Mine eye Mine ear Mine heart This eye This ear This heart Shall joy Shall bend Shall swear Your face Your tongue Your wit To serve To trust To fear." ANONYMOUS: _Sundry American Newspapers_, in 1849. _Example III.--Umbrellas._ "The late George Canning, of whom Byron said that 'it was his happiness to be at once a wit, poet, orator, and statesman, and excellent in all,' is the author of the following clever _jeu d' esprit_:" [except three lines here added in brackets:] "I saw | a man | with two | umbrellas, (One of | the lon |--gest kind | of fellows,) When it rained, M=eet =a | l=ady On the | shady Side of | thirty |-three, Minus | one of | these rain |-dispellers. 'I see,' Says she, 'Your qual | -ity | of mer | -cy is | not strained.' [Not slow | to comprehend | an inkling, His eye | with wag |-gish hu |-mour twinkling.] Replied | he, 'Ma'am, Be calm; This one | under | my arm Is rotten, [And can |-not save | you from | a sprinkling.] Besides | to keep | you dry, 'Tis plain | that you | as well | as I, 'Can lift | your cotton.'" See _The Essex County Freeman_, Vol. i, No. 1. _Example IV.--Shreds of a Song._ I. SPRING. "The cuck |--oo then, | on ev |--ery tree, Mocks mar |--ried men, | for thus | sings he, _Cuckoo'_; Cuckoo', | cuckoo',-- | O word | of fear, Unpleas |-ing to | a mar |-ried ear!" II. WINTER. "When blood | is nipp'd, | and ways | be foul, Then night | -ly sings | the star |-ing owl, _To-who_; To-whit, | to-who, | a mer | -ry note, While greas | -y Joan | doth keel | the pot." --SHAKSPEARE: _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act v, Sc. 2. _Example V.--Puck's Charm._ [_When he has uttered the fifth line, he squeezes a juice on Lysander's eyes_.] "On the ground, _Sleep sound_; I'll apply To your eye, Gentle | lover, | remedy. When thou wak'st, _Thou tak'st_ True delight In the sight Of thy | former | lady's eye." [508] IDEM: _Midsummer-Night's Dream_, Act iii, Sc. 2. ORDER II.--TROCHAIC VERSE. In Trochaic verse, the stress is laid on the odd syllables, and the even ones are short. Single-rhymed trochaic omits the final short syllable, that it may end with a long one; for the common doctrine of Murray, Chandler, Churchill, Bullions, Butler, Everett, Fowler, Weld, Wells, Mulligan, and others, that this chief rhyming syllable is "_additional_" to the real number of feet in the line, is manifestly incorrect. One long syllable is, in some instances, used _as a foot_; but it is one or more _short syllables_ only, that we can properly admit _as hypermeter_. Iambics and trochaics often occur in the same poem; but, in either order, written with exactness, the number of feet is always the number of the long syllables. _Examples from Gray's Bard._ (1.) "_Ruin | seize thee,| ruthless | king_! Confu | -sion on | thy ban |-ners wait, Though, fann'd | by Con | -quest's crim | -son wing. They mock | the air | with i | -dle state. _Helm, nor | hauberk's | twisted | mail_, Nor e'en | thy vir | -tues, ty | -rant, shall | avail." (2.) "_Weave the | warp, and | weave the | woof_, The wind | -ing-sheet | of Ed | -ward's race. Give am | -ple room, | and verge | enough, The char | -acters | of hell | to trace. _Mark the |year, and | mark the | night_, When Sev | -ern shall | re-ech | -o with | affright." "_The Bard, a Pindaric Ode_;" _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 281 and 282. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Trochaic verse without the final short syllable, is the same as iambic would be without the _initial_ short syllable;--it being quite plain, that iambic, so changed, _becomes trochaic, and_ is iambic no longer. But trochaic, retrenched of its last short syllable, is trochaic still; and can no otherwise be made iambic, than by the prefixing of a short syllable to the line. Feet, and the orders of verse, are distinguished one from an other by two things, and in general by two only; the number of syllables taken as a foot, and the order of their quantities. Trochaic verse is always as distinguishable from iambic, as iambic is from any other. Yet have we several grammarians and prosodies who contrive to confound them--or who, at least, mistake catalectic trochaic for catalectic iambic; and that too, where the syllable wanting affects only the last foot, and makes it perhaps but a common and needful caesura. OBS. 2.--To suppose that iambic verse may drop its initial short syllable, and still be iambic, still be measured as before, is not only to take a single long syllable for a foot, not only to recognize a pedal caesura at the _beginning_ of each line, but utterly to destroy the only principles on which iambics and trochaics can be discriminated. Yet Hiley, of Leeds, and Wells, of Andover, while they are careful to treat separately of these two orders of verse, not only teach that any order may take at the end "an additional syllable," but also suggest that the iambic _may drop_ a syllable "from the first foot," without diminishing the number of feet,--without changing the succession of quantities,--without disturbing the mode of scansion! "Sometimes," say they, (in treating of iambics,) "a syllable is cut off from the first foot; as, Praise | to God, | immor |-tal praise, For | the love | that crowns | our days."[--BARBAULD.] _Hiley's E. Gram._, Third Edition, London, p. 124; _Wells's_, Third Edition, p. 198. OBS. 3.--Now this couplet is the precise exemplar, not only of the thirty-six lines of which it is a part, but also of the most common of our trochaic metres; and if this may be thus scanned into iambic verse, so may all other trochaic lines in existence: distinction between the two orders must then be worse than useless. But I reject this doctrine, and trust that most readers will easily see its absurdity. A prosodist might just as well scan all iambics into trochaics, by pronouncing each initial short syllable to be hypermeter. For, surely, if deficiency may be discovered at the _beginning_ of measurement, so may redundance. But if neither is to be looked for before the measurement ends, (which supposition is certainly more reasonable,) then is the distinction already vindicated, and the scansion above-cited is shown to be erroneous. OBS. 4.--But there are yet other objections to this doctrine, other errors and inconsistencies in the teaching of it. Exactly the same kind of verse as this, which is said to consist of "_four iambuses_" from one of which "a syllable _is cut off_," is subsequently scanned by the same authors as being composed of "_three trochees_ and an _additional_ syllable; as, 'Haste thee, | Nymph, and | bring with | _thee_ Jest and | youthful | Jolli |-_ty_.'--MILTON." _Wells's School Grammar_, p. 200. "V=it~al | sp=ark of | he=av'nly | _fl=me_, Q=uit ~oh | q=uit th~is | m=ort~al | _fr=ame_." [509][--POPE.] _Hiley's English Grammar_, p. 126. There is, in the works here cited, not only the inconsistency of teaching two very different modes of scanning the same species of verse, but in each instance the scansion is wrong; for all the lines in question are _trochaic of four feet_,--single-rhymed, and, of course, catalectic, and ending with a caesura, or elision. In no metre that lacks but one syllable, can this sort of foot occur _at the beginning_ of a line; yet, as we see, it is sometimes _imagined_ to be there, by those who have never been able to find it _at the end_, where it oftenest exists! OBS. 5.--I have hinted, in the main paragraph above, that it is a common error of our prosodists, to underrate, by one foot, the measure of all trochaic lines, when they terminate with single rhyme; an error into which they are led by an other as gross, that of taking for hypermeter, or mere surplus, the whole rhyme itself, the sound or syllable most indispensable to the verse. "(For rhyme the _rudder_ is of verses, With which, like ships, they steer their courses.)"--_Hudibras._ Iambics and trochaics, of corresponding metres, and exact in them, agree of course in both the number of feet and the number of syllables; but as the former are slightly redundant with double rhyme, so the latter are deficient as much, with single rhyme; yet, the number of feet may, and should, in these cases, be reckoned the same. An estimable author now living says, "Trochaic verse, with an additional long syllable, is the same as iambic verse, without the initial short syllable."--_N. Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 193. This instruction is not quite accurate. Nor would it be right, even if there could be "iambic verse without the initial short syllable," and if it were universally _true_, that, "Trochaic verse may take an additional _long_ syllable."--_Ibid._ For the addition and subtraction here suggested, will inevitably make the difference of a foot, between the measures or verses said to be the same! OBS. 6.--"I doubt," says T. O. Churchill, "whether the _trochaic_ can be considered as a legitimate English measure. All the examples of it given by Johnson have an additional long syllable at the end: but these are _iambics_, if we look upon the additional syllable to be at the beginning, which is much more agreeable to the analogy of music."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 390. This doubt, ridiculous as must be all reasoning in support of it, the author seriously endeavours to raise into a general conviction _that we have no trochaic order of verse!_ It can hardly be worth while to notice here all his remarks. _"An additional long syllable"_ Johnson never dreamed of--"at the end"--"at the beginning"--or anywhere else. For he discriminated metres, not by the number of feet, as he ought to have done, but by the number of _syllables_ he found in each line. His doctrine is this: "Our _iambick_ measure comprises verses--Of four syllables,--Of six,--Of eight,--Of ten. Our _trochaick_ measures are--Of three syllables,--Of five,--Of seven. These are the measures _which are now in use_, and above the rest those of seven, eight and ten syllables. Our ancient poets wrote verses sometimes of twelve syllables, as Drayton's Polyolbion; and of fourteen, as Chapman's Homer." "We have another measure very quick and lively, and therefore much used in songs, which may be called the _anapestick_. 'May I govern my passion with absolute sway, And grow wiser and better as life wears away.' _Dr. Pope_. "In this measure a syllable is often retrenched from the first foot, [;] as [,] 'When present we love, and when absent agree, I th'nk not of I'ris [.] nor I'ris of me.' _Dryden_. "These measures are varied by many combinations, and sometimes by _double endings_, either with or without rhyme, as in the _heroick_ measure. ''Tis the divinity that stirs _within us_, 'Tis heaven itself that points out an _hereafter._.' _Addison_. "So in that of eight syllables, 'They neither added nor confounded, They neither wanted nor abounded.' _Prior_. "In that of seven, 'For resistance I could _fear none_, But with twenty ships had done, What thou, brave and happy _Vernon_, Hast achieved with six alone.' _Glover_. "To these measures and their laws, may be reduced every species of English verse."--_Dr. Johnson's Grammar of the English Tongue_, p. 14. See his _Quarto Dict._ Here, except a few less important remarks, and sundry examples of the metres named, is Johnson's _whole scheme_ of versification. OBS. 7.--How, when a prosodist judges certain examples to "have an additional long syllable at the end," he can "look upon the additional syllable to be at the beginning," is a matter of marvel; yet, to abolish trochaics, Churchill not only does and advises this, but imagines short syllables removed sometimes from the beginning of lines; while sometimes he couples final short syllables with initial long ones, to make iambs, and yet does not always count these as feet in the verse, when he has done so! Johnson's instructions are both misunderstood and misrepresented by this grammarian. I have therefore cited them the more fully. The first syllable being retrenched from an _anapest_, there remains an _iambus_. But what countenance has Johnson lent to the gross error of reckoning such a foot an anapest still?--or to that of commencing the measurement of a line by including a syllable not used by the poet? The preceding stanza from Glover, is _trochaic of four feet_; the odd lines full, and of course making double rhyme; the even lines catalectic, and of course ending with a long syllable counted as a foot. Johnson cited it merely as an example of "_double endings_" imagining in it no "additional syllable," except perhaps the two which terminate the two trochees, "fear none" and "Vernon." These, it may be inferred, he improperly conceived to be additional to the regular measure; because he reckoned measures by the number of syllables, and probably supposed single rhyme to be the normal form of all rhyming verse. OBS. 8.--There is false scansion in many a school grammar, but perhaps none more uncouthly false, than Churchill's pretended amendments of Johnson's. The second of these--wherein "the old _seven_[-]_foot iambic_" is professedly found in two lines of Glover's _trochaic tetrameter_--I shall quote:-- "In the anapaestic measure, Johnson himself allows, that a syllable is often retrenched from the first foot; yet he gives _as an example of trochaics with an additional syllable at the end of the even lines_ a stanza, which, by adopting the _same principle_, would be in the iambic measure: "For | resis- | tance I | could fear | none, But | with twen | ty ships | had done, What | thou, brave | and hap | py Ver- | non, Hast | achiev'd | with six | alone. In fact, _the second and fourth lines_ here stamp the character of the measure; [Fist] _which is the old seven[-]foot iambic broken into four and three_, WITH AN ADDITIONAL SYLLABLE AT THE BEGINNING."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 391. After these observations and criticisms concerning the trochaic order of verse, I proceed to say, trochaics consist of the following measures, or metres:-- MEASURE I.--TROCHAIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER. _Example I.--"The Raven"--First Two out of Eighteen Stanzas_. 1. "Once up | -on a | midnight | dreary, | while I | pondered, | weak and | weary, Over | _m=any ~a_ | quaint and | _c=ur~io~us_ | volume | of for | -gotten | lore, While I | nodded, | nearly | napping, | sudden |-ly there | came a | tapping, As of | some one | gently | rapping, | rapping | at my | chamber | door. ''Tis some | visit |-or,' I | muttered, | 'tapping | at my | chamber | door-- Only | this, and |nothing | more." 2. Ah! dis |-tinctly | I re |-member | it was | in the | bleak De |-cember, And each | _s=ep~ar~ate_ | dying | ember | wrought its | ghost up |-on the | floor; Eager |-ly I | wished the | morrow; | vainly | had I | tried to | borrow From my | books sur |-cease of | sorrow--| sorrow | for the | lost Le |-nore-- For the | rare and | _r=ad~i~ant_ | maiden, | whom the | angels | name Le |-nore-- Nameless | here for | ever |-more." EDGAR A. POE: _American Review for February_, 1845. Double rhymes being less common than single ones, in the same proportion, is this long verse less frequently terminated with a full trochee, than with a single long syllable counted as a foot. The species of measure is, however, to be reckoned the same, though catalectic. By Lindley Murray, and a number who implicitly re-utter what he teaches, the verse of _six trochees_, in which are _twelve syllables_ only, is said "to be _the longest_ Trochaic line that our language admits."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 257; _Weld's E. Gram._, p. 211. The examples produced here will sufficiently show the inaccuracy of their assertion. _Example II.--"The Shadow of the Obelisk."--Last two Stanzas._ "Herds are | feeding |in the | Forum, | as in | old E | -vander's | time: Tumbled | from the | steep Tar |_-peian_ | _every_ | pile that | sprang sub |-lime. Strange! that | what seemed | most in |-constant | should the | most a | -biding | prove; Strange! that |what is | hourly | moving | no mu |-tation | can re |-move: Ruined | lies the | cirque! the | _chariots_, | long a |-go, have | ceased to | roll-- E'en the | Obe |-lisk is | broken |--but the | shadow | still is | whole. 9. Out a |--las! if | _mightiest_ | empires | leave so | little | mark be |-hind, How much | less must | heroes | hope for, | in the | wreck of | human | kind! Less than | e'en this | darksome | picture, | which I | tread be |-neath my | feet, Copied | by a | lifeless | moonbeam | on the | pebbles | of the | street; Since if | Caesar's | best am |-bition, | living, | was, to | be re |-nowned, What shall | Cassar | leave be |-hind him, | save the | shadow | of a | sound?" T. W. PARSONS: _Lowell and Carter's "Pioneer,"_ Vol. i, p. 120. _Example III.--"The Slaves of Martinique."--Nine Couplets out of Thirty-six._ "Beams of | noon, like | burning | lances, | through the | tree-tops | flash and | glisten, As she | stands be | -fore her | lover, | with raised | face to | look and | listen. Dark, but | comely, | like the | maiden | in the | ancient | Jewish | song, Scarcely | has the | toil of | task-fields | done her graceful | beauty | wrong. He, the | strong one, | and the | manly, | with the | vassal's | garb and | hue, Holding | still his | spirit's | birthright, | to his | higher | nature | true; Hiding | deep the | _strengthening_ | purpose | of a | freeman | in his | heart, As the | Greegree | holds his | Fetish | from the | white man's | gaze a | -part. Ever | foremost | of the | toilers, | when the | driver's | morning | horn Calls a | -way to | stifling | millhouse, | or to | fields of | cane and | corn; Fall the | keen and | burning | lashes | never | on his | back or | limb; Scarce with | look or | word of | censure, | turns the | driver | unto | him. Yet his | brow is | always | thoughtful, | and his | eye is | hard and | stern; _Slavery's_ | last and | humblest | lesson | he has | never | deigned to | learn." "And, at evening | when his | comrades | dance be | -fore their | master's | door, Folding arms and | knitting | forehead, | stands he | silent | ever |-more. God be | praised for | every instinct | which re | -bels a | -gainst a | lot Where the | brute sur |-vives the | human, | and man's | upright | form is | not!" --J. G. WHITTIER: _National Era, and other Newspapers_, Jan. 1848. _Example IV.--"The Present Crisis"--Two Stanzas out of sixteen._ "Once to | _every_ | man and | nation | comes the | moment | to de |-cide, In the | strife of | Truth with | Falsehood, | for the | good or | evil | side; Some great | cause, God's | new Mes |-siah, | _offering_ | each the | bloom or | blight, Parts the | goats up | -on the | left hand, | and the | sheep up | -on the | right, And the | choice goes | by for | -ever |'twixt that | darkness | and that | light. Have ye | chosen, | O my | people, | on whose | party | ye shall | stand, Ere the | Doom from | _its_ worn | sandals | shakes the | dust a | -gainst our | land? Though the | cause of | evil | prosper, | yet the | Truth a | -lone is | strong, And, al | _beit she_ | wander | outcast | now, I | see a | -round her | throng Troops of | beauti | -ful tall | angels | to en | -shield her | from all | wrong." JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL: _Liberator_, September 4th, 1846. _Example V.--The Season of Love.--A short Extract_. "In the | Spring, a | fuller | crimson | comes up | -on the | robin's | breast; In the | Spring, the | wanton | lapwing | gets him | -self an | other | crest; In the | Spring, a | _livelier_ | iris | changes | on the | burnished | dove; In the | Spring, a | young man's | fancy | lightly | turns to | thoughts of | love. Then her | cheek was | pale, and | thinner | than should | be for | one so | young; And her | eyes on | all my | motions, | with a | mute ob | -servance, | hung. And I | said, 'My | cousin | Amy, | speak, and | speak the | truth to | me; Trust me, | cousin, | all the | current | of my | being | sets to | thee.'" _Poems by_ ALFRED TENNYSON, Vol. ii, p. 35. Trochaic of eight feet, as these sundry examples will suggest, is much oftener met with than iambic of the same number; and yet it is not a form very frequently adopted. The reader will observe that it requires a considerable pause after the fourth foot; at which place one might divide it, and so reduce each couplet to a stanza of four lines, similar to the following examples:-- PART OF A SONG, IN DIALOGUE. SYLVIA. "Corin, | cease this | idle | teasing; Love that's | forc'd is | harsh and | sour; If the | lover | be dis | -pleasing, To per | -sist dis | -gusts the | more." CORIN. "'Tis in | vain, in | vain to | fly me, _Sylvia_, | I will | still pur | -sue; Twenty | thousand | times de | -ny me, I will | kneel and | weep a | -new." SYLVIA. "Cupid | ne'er shall | make me | languish, I was | born a | -verse to | love; Lovers' | sighs, and | tears, and | anguish, Mirth and | pastime | to me | prove." CORIN. "Still I | vow with | patient | duty Thus to | meet your | proudest | scorn; You for | unre | -lenting | beauty I for | constant | love was | born." _Poems by_ ANNA LAETITIA BARBAULD, p. 56. PART OF A CHARITY HYMN. 1. "Lord of | life, all | praise ex | -celling, thou, in | glory | uncon | -fin'd, Deign'st to | make thy | humble | dwelling with the | poor of | humble | mind. 2. As thy | love, through | all cre | -ation, beams like | thy dif | -fusive | light; So the | scorn'd and | humble | station shrinks be | -fore thine | equal | sight. 3. Thus thy | care, for | all pro | -viding, warm'd thy | faithful | prophet's | tongue; Who, the | lot of | all de | -ciding, to thy | chosen | _Israel_ | sung: 4. 'When thine | harvest | yields thee | pleasure, thou the | golden | sheaf shalt | bind; To the | poor be | -longs the | treasure of the | scatter'd | ears be | -hind.'" _Psalms and Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal Church_, Hymn LV. A still more common form is that which reduces all these tetrameters to single rhymes, preserving their alternate succession. In such metre and stanza, is Montgomery's "Wanderer of Switzerland, a Poem, in Six Parts," and with an aggregate of eight hundred and forty-four lines. Example:-- 1. "'_Wanderer_, | whither | wouldst thou | roam? To what | region | far a | -way, Bend thy | steps to | find a | home, In the | twilight | of thy | day?' 2. 'In the | twilight | of my | day, I am | hastening | to the | west; There my | weary limbs | to lay, Where the | sun re | -tires to | rest. 3. Far be | -yond the At | -lantic | floods, Stretched be | -neath the | evening | sky, Realms of | mountains, | dark with | woods, In Co | -lumbia's | bosom | lie. 4. There, in | glens and | caverns | rude, Silent | since the | world be | -gan, Dwells the | virgin | Soli | -tude, Unbe | -trayed by | faithless | man: 5. Where a | tyrant | never | trod, Where a | slave was | never | known, But where | nature | worships | God In the | wilder | -ness a | -lone. 6. Thither, | thither | would I | roam; There my | children | may be | free; I for | them will | find a | home; They shall | find a | grave for | me.'" _First six stanzas of Part VI_, pp. 71 and 72. MEASURE II.--TROCHAIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER. _Example.--Psalm LXX,[510] Versified._ Hasten, | Lord, to | rescue | me, and | set me | safe from | trouble; Shame thou | those who | seek my | soul, re | -ward their | mischief | double. Turn the | taunting | scorners | back, who | cry, 'A | -ha!' so | loudly; Backward | in con | -fusion | hurl the | foe that | mocks me | proudly. Then in | thee let | those re | -joice, who | seek thee, | self-de | -nying; All who | thy sal | -vation | love, thy | name be | glory | -fying. So let | God be | magni | -fied. But | I am | poor and | needy: Hasten, | Lord, who | art my | Helper; | let thine | aid be | speedy. This verse, like all other that is written in very long lines, requires a caesural pause of proportionate length; and it would scarcely differ at all to the ear, if it were cut in two at the place of this pause--provided the place were never varied. Such metre does not appear to have been at any time much used, though there seems to be no positive reason why it might not have a share of popularity. To commend our versification for its "boundless variety," and at the same time exclude from it forms either unobjectionable or well authorized, as some have done, is plainly inconsistent. Full trochaics have some inconvenience, because all their rhymes must be double; and, as this inconvenience becomes twice as much when any long line of this sort is reduced to two short ones, there may be a reason why a stanza precisely corresponding to the foregoing couplets is seldom seen. If such lines be divided and rhymed at the middle of the fourth foot, where the caesural pause is apt to fall, the first part of each will be a trochaic line of four feet, single-rhymed and catalectic, while the rest of it will become an iambic line of three feet, with double rhyme and hypermeter. Such are the prosodial characteristics of the following lines; which, if two were written as one, would make exactly our full trochaic of seven feet, the metre exhibited above:-- "Whisp'ring, | heard by | wakeful | maids, To whom | the night | stars _guide_ | _us_, Stolen | walk, through | moonlight | shades, With those | we love | _beside_ | _us_"--_Moore's Melodies_, p. 276. But trochaic of seven feet may also terminate with single rhyme, as in the following couplet, which is given anonymously, and, after a false custom, erroneously, in N. Butler's recent Grammar, as "trochaic of _six feet, with an additional long syllable_:-- "Night and | morning | were at | meeting | over | Water | -loo; Cocks had | sung their | _earliest_ | greeting; | faint and | low they | crew." [511] In Frazee's Grammar, a separate line or two, similar in metre to these, and rightly reckoned to have _seven feet_, and many lines, (including those above from Tennyson, which W. C. Fowler erroneously gives for _Heptameter_,) being a foot longer, are presented as trochaics of _eight_ feet; but Everett, the surest of our prosodists, remaining, like most others, a total stranger to our octometers, and too little acquainted with trochaic heptameters to believe the species genuine, on finding a couple of stanzas in which two such lines are set with shorter ones of different sorts, and with some which are defective in metre, sagely concludes that all lines of more than "_six trochees_" must necessarily be condemned as prosodial anomalies. It may be worth while to repeat the said stanzas here, adding such corrections and marks as may suggest their proper form and scansion. But since they commence with the shorter metre of six trochees only, and are already placed under that head, I too may take them in the like connexion, by now introducing my third species of trochaics, which is Everett's tenth. MEASURE III.--TROCHAIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER. _Example.--Health_. "Up the | dewy | mountain, | Health is | bounding | lightly; On her | brows a | garland, | twin'd with | richest | posies: Gay is | she, e | -late with | hope, and | smiling | sprighthly; Redder | is her | cheek, and | sweeter | than the | rose is." G. BROWN: _The Institutes of English Grammar_, p. 258. This metre appears to be no less rare than the preceding; though, as in that case, I know no good reason why it may not be brought into vogue. Professor John S. Hart says of it: "This is the _longest_ Trochaic verse that seems _to have been cultivated_."--_Hart's Eng. Gram._, p. 187. The seeming of its cultivation he doubtless found only in sundry modern grammars. Johnson, Bicknell, Burn, Coar, Ward, Adam,--old grammarians, who vainly profess to have illustrated "every species of English verse,"--make no mention of it; and, with all the grammarians who notice it, _one anonymous couplet_, passing from hand to hand, has everywhere served to exemplify it. Of this, "the line of six Trochees," Everett says: "This measure _is languishing_, and rarely used. The following example is often cited: 'On a | mountain, | stretched be | -neath a | hoary | willow, Lay a | shepherd | swain, and | view'd the | rolling | billow.'"[512] Again: "We have the following from BISHOP HEBER:-- 'H=ol~y, | h=ol~y | h=ol~y! | =all th~e | s=aints ~a | -d=ore th~ee, C=ast~ing | d=own th~eir | g=old~en | cr=owns ~a | -r=ound th~e | gl=ass~y | s=ea; Ch=er~u | -b=im ~and | s=er~a | -ph=im [~_are_,] | f=all~ing | d=own b~e | -f=ore th~ee, _Wh~ich_ w=ert, | ~and =art, | ~and =ev | -~erm=ore | sh~alt b=e! Holy, | holy, | holy! | though the | darkness | hide thee, Though the | eye of | sinful | man thy | glory | may not | see, Only | thou, [_O | God_,] art | holy; | there is | none be | -side thee, P=erf~ect | ~in p=ow'r, | ~in l=ove, | ~and p=u | -r~it=y.' Only the first _and the third_ lines of these stanzas are to our purpose," remarks the prosodist. That is, only these he conceived to be "lines of six Trochees." But it is plain, that the third line of the first stanza, having seven long syllables, must have seven feet, and cannot be a trochaic hexameter; and, since the third below should be like it in metre, one can hardly forbear to think the words which I have inserted in brackets, were accidentally omitted. Further: "It is worthy of remark," says he, "that the second line of each of these stanzas is composed of _six Trochees_ and an _additional long syllable_. As its corresponding line is an Iambic, and as the piece has some licenses in its construction, it is _far safer_ to conclude that this line is an _anomaly_ than that it forms a distinct species of verse. We must therefore conclude that the tenth [the metre of six trochees] is the longest species of Trochaic line known to English verse."--_Everett's Versification_, pp. 95 and 96. This, in view of the examples above, of our longer trochaics, may serve as a comment on the author's boast, that, "having deduced his rules from the usage of the great poets, he has the best reason for being confident of their correctness."--_Ibid._, Pref., p. 5. Trochaic hexameter, too, may easily be written with _single rhyme_; perhaps more easily than a specimen suited to the purpose can be cited from any thing already written. Let me try:-- _Example I.--The Sorcerer_. Lonely | in the | forest, | subtle | from his | birth, Lived a | necro | -mancer, | wondrous | son of | earth. More of | him in | -quire not, | than I | choose to | say; Nymph or | dryad | bore him-- | else 'twas | witch or | fay; Ask you | who his | father?-- | haply | he might | be Wood-god, | satyr, | sylvan; | --such his | pedi | -gree. Reared mid | fauns and | fairies, | knew he | no com | -peers; Neither | cared he | for them, | saving | ghostly | seers. Mistress | of the | black-art, | "wizard | gaunt and | grim," Nightly | on the | hill-top, | "read the | stars to | him." These were | welcome | teachers; | drank he | in their | lore; Witchcraft | so en | -ticed him, | still to | thirst for | more. Spectres | he would | play with, | phantoms | raise or | quell; Gnomes from | earth's deep | centre | knew his | potent | spell. Augur | or a | -ruspex | had not | half his | art; Master | deep of | magic, | spirits | played his | part; Demons, | imps in | -fernal, | conjured | from be | -low, Shaped his | grand en | -chantments | with im | -posing | show. _Example II.--An Example of Hart's, Corrected_ "Where the | wood is | waving, | _shady_, | green, and | high, Fauns and | dryads, | _nightly_, | watch the | starry | sky." See _Hart's E. Gram._, p. 187; or _the citation thence below_. A couplet of this sort might easily be reduced to a pleasant little stanza, by severing each line after the third foot, thus:-- Hearken! | hearken! | hear ye; Voices | meet my | ear. Listen, | never | fear ye; Friends--or | foes--are | near. Friends! "So | -ho!" they're | shouting.-- "Ho! so | -ho, a | -hoy!"-- 'Tis no | Indian, | scouting. Cry, _so | -ho_! with | joy. But a similar succession of eleven syllables, six long and five short, divided after the seventh, leaving two iambs to form the second or shorter line,--(since such a division produces different orders and metres both,--) will, I think, retain but little resemblance in rhythm to the foregoing, though the actual sequence of quantities long and short is the same. If this be so, the particular measure or correspondent length of lines is more essential to the character of a poetic strain than some have supposed. The first four lines of the following extract are an example relevant to this point:-- _Ariel's Song._ "C=ome ~un |-t=o th~ese | y=ell~ow | s=ands, And th=en | t~ake h=ands: Court'sied | when you | have and | kiss'd, (The wild | waves whist,) Foot it | featly | here and | there; And, sweet | sprites, the | burden | bear." SINGER'S SHAKSPEARE: _Tempest_, Act i, Sc. 2. MEASURE IV.--TROCHAIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER _Example I.--Double Rhymes and Single, Alternated_. "Mountain | winds! oh! | whither | do ye | call me? Vainly, | vainly, | would my | steps pur |-sue: Chains of | care to | lower | earth en |-thrall me, Wherefore | thus my | weary | spirit | woo? Oh! the | strife of | this di |-vided | being! Is there | peace where | ye are | borne, on | high? Could we | soar to | your proud | eyries | fleeing, In our | hearts, would | haunting | _m=em~or~ies_ | die?" FELICIA HEMANS: "_To the Mountain Winds:" Everet's Versif._, p. 95. _Example II--Rhymes Otherwise Arranged._ "Then, me |-thought, I | heard a | hollow | sound, _G=ath~er~ing_ | up from | all the lower | ground: _N=arr~ow~ing_ | in to | where they | sat as |-sembled, Low vo |_-l~upt~uo~us_ | music, | winding, | trembled." ALFRED TENNYSON: _Frazee's Improved Gram._, p. 184; _Fowler's_, 657. This measure, whether with the final short syllable or without it, is said, by Murray, Everett, and others, to be "_very uncommon_." Dr. Johnson, and the other old prosodists named with him above, knew nothing of it. Two couplets, exemplifying it, now to be found in sundry grammars, and erroneously reckoned to _differ as to the number of their feet_, were either selected or composed by Murray, for his Grammar, at its origin--or, if not then, at its first reprint, in 1796. They are these:-- (1.) "All that | walk on | foot or | ride in | _chariots_, All that | dwell in | pala |-ces or | garrets." _L. Murray's Gram._, 12mo, 175; 8vo, 257; _Chandler's_, 196; _Churchill's_, 187; _Hiley's_, 126; _et al._ (2.) "Idle | after | dinner, | in his | chair, Sat a | farmer, | ruddy, | fat, and | fair." _Murray, same places; N. Butler's Gr._, p. 193; _Hallock's_, 244; _Hart's_, 187; _Weld's_, 211; _et al._ Richard Hiley most absurdly scans this last couplet, and all verse like it, into "_the Heroic measure_," or a form of our _iambic pentameter_; saying, "Sometimes a syllable is cut off from the _first_ foot; as, =I |-dl~e =af |-t~er d=inn |-n~er =in | h~is ch=air [,] S=at | ~a f=ar |-m~er [,] r=ud |-dy, f=at, | =and f=air." _Hiley's English Grammar_, Third Edition, p. 125. J. S. Hart, who, like many others, has mistaken the metre of this last example for "_Trochaic Tetrameter_," with a surplus "syllable," after repeating the current though rather questionable assertion, that, "this measure is very uncommon," proceeds with our "_Trochaic Pentameter_," thus: "This species is likewise uncommon. It is composed of five trochees; as, =In th~e | d=ark ~and | gr=een ~and | gl=oom~y | v=all~ey, S=at~yrs | b=y th~e | br=ookl~et | l=ove t~o | d=all~y." And again: [[Fist]] "_The SAME with an ADDITIONAL accented syllable_; as, Wh=ere th~e | w=ood ~is | w=av~ing |gr=een ~and |_h=igh_, F=auns ~and | Dr=y~ads | w=atch th~e | st=arr~y | _sky._" _Hart's English Grammar_, First Edition, p. 187. These examples appear to have been made for the occasion; and the latter, together with its introduction, made unskillfully. The lines are of five feet, and so are those about the ruddy farmer; but there is nothing "_additional_" in either case; for, as pentameter, they are all _catalectic_, the final short syllable being dispensed with, and a caesura preferred, for the sake of single rhyme, otherwise not attainable. "Five trochees" and a rhyming "syllable" will make trochaic _hexameter_, a measure perhaps more pleasant than this. See examples above. MEASURE V.--TROCHAIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER. _Example I.--A Mournful Song_. 1. "Raving | winds a | -round her | blowing, Yellow | leaves the | woodlands | strewing, By a | river | hoarsely | roaring, Isa | -bella | strayed de | -ploring. 'Farewell | hours that | late did | measure Sunshine | days of | joy and | pleasure; Hail, thou | gloomy | night of | sorrow, Cheerless | night that | knows no | morrow. 2. O'er the | past too | fondly | _wandering_, On the | hopeless | future | _pondering_, Chilly | grief my | life-blood | freezes, Fell de | -spair my | fancy | seizes. Life, thou | soul of | _every_ | blessing, Load to | _misery_ | most dis | -tressing, O how | gladly | I'd re | -sign thee, And to | dark ob | _-livion_ | join thee.'" ROBERT BURNS: _Select Works_, Vol. ii, p. 131 _Example II.--A Song Petitionary_. "_Powers ce_ | -lestial, | whose pro | -tection Ever | guards the | _virtuous_ | fair, While in | distant | climes I | wander, Let my | Mary | be your | care: Let her | form so | fair and | faultless, Fair and | faultless | as your | own; Let my | Mary's | kindred | spirit Draw your | choicest | _influence_ | down. Make the | gales you | waft a | -round her Soft and | peaceful | as her | breast; Breathing | in the | breeze that | fans her, Soothe her | bosom | into | rest: _Guardian_ | angels, | O pro | -tect her, When in | distant | lands I | roam; _To realms_ | _unknown_ | _while fate_ | _exiles me_, Make her | bosom | still my | home." BURNS'S SONGS, Same Volume, p. 165. _Example III.--Song of Juno and Ceres_. _Ju_. "Honour, | riches, marriage | -blessing, Long con | _-tinuance_, | and in | -creasing, Hourly | joys be | still up | -on you! Juno | sings her | blessings | on you." _Cer_. "Earth's in | -crease, and | foison | plenty; Barns and | garners | never | empty; Vines with | clust'ring | bunches | growing; Plants with | goodly | burden | bowing; Spring come | to you, | at the | farthest, In the | very | end of | harvest! Scarci | -ty and | want shall | shun you; Ceres' | blessing | so is | on you." SHAKSPEARE: _Tempest_, Act iv, Sc. 1. _Example IV.--On the Vowels_. "We are | little | airy | creatures, All of | diff'rent | voice and | features; One of | us in | glass is | set, One of | us you'll | find in | jet; T'other | you may | see in | tin, And the | fourth a | box with | -in; If the | fifth you | should pur | -sue, It can | never | fly from | you." SWIFT: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 343. _Example V.--Use Time for Good_. "Life is | short, and | time is | swift; Roses | fade, and | shadows | shift; But the ocean | and the | river Rise and | fall and | flow for | ever; Bard! not | vainly | heaves the | ocean; Bard! not | vainly | flows the | river; Be thy | song, then, | like their | motion, Blessing | now, and | blessing | ever." EBENEZER ELLIOT: _From a Newspaper_. _Example IV.[sic for VI--KTH]--"The Turkish Lady"--First Four Stanzas_. 1. "'Twas the | hour when | rites un | -holy Called each | Paynim | voice to | pray'r, And the | star that | faded | slowly, Left to | dews the | freshened | air. 2. Day her | sultry | fires had | wasted, Calm and | sweet the | moonlight | rose; E'en a | captive's | spirit | tasted Half ob | -livion | of his | woes. 3. Then 'twas | from an | Emir's | palace Came an | eastern | lady | bright; She, in | spite of | tyrants | jealous, Saw and | loved an | English | knight. 4. 'Tell me, | captive, | why in | anguish Foes have | dragged thee | here to | dwell Where poor | Christians, | as they | languish. Hear no | sound of | sabbath | bell?'" THOMAS CAMPBELL: _Poetical Works_, p. 115. _Example VII.--The Palmer's Morning Hymn_. "Lauded | be thy | name for | ever, Thou, of | life the | guard and | giver! Thou canst | guard thy | creatures | sleeping, Heal the | heart long | broke with | weeping, Rule the | =ouphes ~and | =elves ~at | w=ill _Th~at v=ex_ | _th~e =air_ | _~or h=aunt_ | _th~e h=ill_, _~And =all_ | _th~e f=u_ | _-r~y s=ub_ | _-j~ect k=eep_ _~Of b=oil_ | _-~ing cl=oud_ | _~and ch=af_ | _-~ed d=eep!_ I h~ave | s=een, ~and | w=ell I | kn=ow ~it! Thou hast | done, and | Thou wilt | do it! God of | stillness | and of | motion! Of the | rainbow | and the | ocean! Of the | mountain, | rock, and | river! Blessed | be Thy | name for | ever! I have | seen thy | wondrous | might Through the | shadows | of this | night! Thou, who | slumber'st | not, nor | sleepest! Blest are | they thou | kindly | keepest! Spirits, | from the | ocean | under, Liquid | flame, and | levell'd | thunder, Need not | waken | nor a |-larm them-- All com |-bined, they | cannot | harm them. God of | evening's | yellow | ray, God of | yonder | dawning | day, Thine the | flaming | sphere of | light! Thine the | darkness | of the | night! Thine are | all the | gems of | even, God of | angels! | God of | heaven!" JAMES HOGG: _Mador of the Moor, Poems_, p. 206. _Example VIII--A Short Song, of Two Stanzas_. "Stay, my | charmer, | can you | leave me? Cruel, | cruel, | to de |-ceive me! Well you | know how | much you | grieve me: Cruel | charmer, | can you | go? Cruel | charmer, | can you | go? By my | love, so | ill re |-quited; By the | faith you | fondly plighted; By the | pangs of | lovers slighted; Do not, | do not | leave me | so! Do not, | do not | leave me | so!" ROBERT BURNS: _Select Works_, Vol. ii, p. 129. _Example IX.--Lingering Courtship_. 1. "Never | wedding, | ever | wooing, Still | lovelorn | heart pur |-suing, Read you | not the | wrong you're | doing, In my | cheek's pale | hue? All my | life with | sorrow | strewing, Wed, or | cease to | woo. 2. Rivals | banish'd, | bosoms | plighted, Still our | days are | disu |-nited; Now the | lamp of | hope is | lighted, Now half | quench'd ap | -pears, Damp'd, and | _wavering_, and be | -nighted, Midst my | sighs and | tears. 3. Charms you | call your | dearest | blessing, Lips that | thrill at | your ca | -ressing, Eyes a | _mutual_ soul con | -fessing, Soon you'll | make them | grow Dim, and | worthless | your pos | -sessing, Not with | age, but | woe!" CAMPBELL: _Everett's System of Versification_, p. 91. _Example X.--"Boadicea"--Four Stanzas from Eleven_. 1. "When the | British | warrior | queen, Bleeding | from the | Roman | rods, Sought, with | an in | -dignant | mien, Counsel | of her | country's | gods, 2. Sage be | -neath the | spreading | oak, Sat the | Druid, | hoary | chief; _Every_ burning | word he | spoke Full of | rage, and | full of | grief. 3. Princess! | if our | aged | eyes Weep up | -on thy | matchless | wrongs, 'Tis be | -cause re | -sentment | ties All the | terrors | of our | tongues. 4. ROME SHALL | PERISH-- | write that | word In the | blood that | she hath | spilt; Perish, | hopeless | and ab | -horr'd, Deep in | ruin | as in | guilt." WILLIAM COWPER: _Poems_, Vol. ii, p. 244. _Example XI--"The Thunder Storm"--Two Stanzas from Ten_. "Now in | deep and | dreadful | gloom, Clouds on | clouds por | -tentous | spread, Black as | if the | day of | doom Hung o'er | Nature's | shrinking | head: Lo! the | lightning | breaks from | high, God is | coming! |--God is | nigh! Hear ye | not his | _chariot_ | wheels, As the | mighty | thunder | rolls? Nature, | startled | Nature | reels, From the | centre | to the | poles: Tremble! | --Ocean, | Earth, and | Sky! Tremble! | --God is | passing | by!" J. MONTGOMERY: _Wanderer of Switzerland, and other Poems_, p. 130. _Example XII.--"The Triumphs of Owen," King of North Wales._[513] "Owen's | praise de | -mands my song, Owen | swift and | Owen | strong; Fairest | flow'r of | _Roderick's_ | stem, Gwyneth's | shield, and | Britain's | gem. He nor | heaps his | brooded | stores, Nor the | whole pro | -fusely | pours; Lord of | _every_ | regal | art, _Liberal_ | hand and | open | heart. Big with | hosts of | mighty | name, Squadrons | three a | -gainst him came; This the | force of | Eirin | hiding, Side by | side as | proudly | riding, On her | shadow | long and | gay, Lochlin | ploughs the | _watery_ | way: There the Norman | sails a | -far Catch the | winds, and | join the | war; Black and | huge, a | -long they | sweep, Burthens | of the | angry | deep. Dauntless | on his | native | sands, _The Drag | -on-son | of Mo | -na stands;[514] In glit | -tering arms | and glo | -ry drest_, High he | rears his | ruby | crest. There the | thundering | stroke be | -gin, There the | press, and | there the | din; Taly | -malfra's | rocky | shore _Echoing_ | to the | battle's | roar; Where his | glowing | eyeballs | turn, Thousand | banners | round him | burn. Where he | points his | purple | spear, Hasty, | hasty | rout is | there, Marking | with in | -dignant | eye Fear to | stop, and | shame to | fly. There Con | -fusion, | Terror's | child, Conflict | fierce, and | Ruin | wild, Ago | -ny, that | pants for | breath, _Despair_, | and HON | -OURA | -BLE DEATH." THOMAS GRAY: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 285. _Example XIII.--"Grongar Hill."--First Twenty-six Lines_. "Silent | Nymph, with | _curious_ | eye, Who, the | purple | eve, dost | lie On the | mountain's | lonely | van, _Beyond_ | _the noise_ | _of bus_ | _-y man_; Painting | fair the | form of | things, While the | yellow | linnet | sings; Or the | tuneful | nightin | -gale Charms the | forest | with her | tale; Come, with | all thy | various hues, Come, and | aid thy | sister | Muse. Now, while | Phoebus, | riding | high, _Gives lus_ | _-tre to_ | _the land_ | _and sky_, Grongar | Hill in | -vites my | song; Draw the | landscape | bright | and strong; Grongar, | in whose | mossy | cells, Sweetly | -musing | Quiet | dwells; Grongar, | in whose | silent | shade, For the | modest | Muses | made, _So oft_ | _I have_, | _the eve_ | _-ning still_, At the | fountain | of a | rill, Sat up | -on a | _flowery_ | bed, With my | hand be | -neath my | head, _While stray'd_ | _my eyes_ | _o'er Tow_ | _-y's flood_, Over | mead and | over wood, _From house_ | _to house_, | _from hill_ | _to hill_, _Till Con_ | _-templa_ | _-tion had_ | _her fill_." JOHN DYER: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 65. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--This is the most common of our trochaic measures; and it seems to be equally popular, whether written with single rhyme, or with double; in stanzas, or in couplets; alone, or with some intentional intermixture. By a careful choice of words and style, it may be adapted to all sorts of subjects, grave, or gay; quaint, or pathetic; as may the corresponding iambic metre, with which it is often more or less mingled, as we see in some of the examples above. Milton's _L'Allegro_, or _Gay Mood_, has one hundred and fifty-two lines; ninety-eight of which are iambics; fifty-four trochaic tetrameters; a very few of each order having double rhymes. These orders the poet has _not_--"very ingeniously _alternated_" as Everett avers; but has simply interspersed, or commingled, with little or no regard to alternation. His _Il Penseroso_, or _Grave Mood_, has twenty-seven trochaic tetrameters, mixed irregularly with one hundred and forty-nine iambics. OBS. 2.--Everett, who divides our trochaic tetrameters into two species of metre, imagines that the catalectic form, or that which is single-rhymed, "has a _solemn effect_,"--"imparts to all pieces _more dignity_ than any of the other short measures,"--"that no trivial or humorous subject should be treated in this measure,"--and that, "besides dignity, it imparts an air of _sadness_ to the subject."--_English Verses._, p. 87. Our "line of four trochees" he supposes to be "_difficult_ of construction,"--"not of very _frequent_ occurrence,"--"the most _agreeable_ of all the trochaic measures,"--"remarkably well adapted to lively subjects,"--and "peculiarly expressive of the eagerness and fickleness of the passion of love."--_Ib._, p. 90. These pretended metrical characteristics seem scarcely more worthy of reliance, than astrological predictions, or the oracular guessings of our modern craniologists. OBS. 3.--Dr. Campbell repeats a suggestion of the older critics, that gayety belongs naturally to all trochaics, as such, and gravity or grandeur, as naturally, to iambics; and he attempts to find a reason for the fact; while, perhaps, even here--more plausible though the supposition is--the fact may be at least half imaginary. "The iambus," says he, "is expressive of dignity and grandeur; the trochee, on the contrary, according to Aristotle, (Rhet. Lib. Ill,) is frolicsome and gay. It were difficult to assign a reason of this difference that would be satisfactory; but of the thing itself, I imagine, most people will be sensible on comparing the two kinds together. I know not whether it will be admitted as a sufficient reason, that the distinction into metrical feet hath a much greater influence in poetry on the rise and fall of the voice, than the distinction into words; and if so, when the cadences happen mostly after the long syllables, the verse will naturally have an air of greater gravity than when they happen mostly after the short."--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 354. MEASURE VI.--TROCHAIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER. _Example I.--Youth and Age Contrasted_. "Crabbed | age and | youth Cannot | live to | -gether; Youth is | full of | pleasance, Age is | full of | care: Youth, like | summer | morn, Age, like | winter | weather; Youth, like | summer, | brave; Age, like | winter, | bare. Youth is | full of | sport, Age's | breath is | short, Youth is | nimble, | age is | lame; Youth is | hot and | bold, Age is | weak and | cold; Youth is | wild, and | age is | tame." _The Passionate Pilgrim_; SINGER'S SHAKSPEARE, Vol. ii p. 594. _Example II--Common Sense and Genius_. 3. "While I | touch the | string, Wreathe my | brows with | laurel; For the | tale I | sing, Has, for | once, a | moral! 4. Common | Sense went | on, Many | wise things | saying; While the | light that | shone, Soon set | Genius | straying. 5. One his eye ne'er | rais'd From the | path be | -fore him; T' other | idly | gaz'd On each | night-cloud | o'er him. 6. While I | touch the | string, Wreathe my | brows with | laurel; For the | tale I | sing, Has, for | once, a | moral! 7. So they | came, at | last, To a | shady | river; Common | Sense soon |pass'd Safe,--as | he doth | ever. 8. While the | boy whose | look Was in | heav'n that | minute, Never | saw the | brook,-- _But tum_ | _-bled head_ | _-long in it_." _Six Stanzas from Twelve_.--MOORE'S MELODIES, p. 271. This short measure is much oftener used in stanzas, than in couplets. It is, in many instances, combined with some different order or metre of verse, as in the following:-- _Example III.--Part of a Song_. "Go where | glory | waits thee, But while | fame e | -lates thee, _Oh! still | remem | -ber me_. When the | praise thou | meetest, To thine | ear is | sweetest, _Oh! then | remem | -ber me_. Other | arms may | press thee, Dearer | friends ca | -ress thee, All the | joys that | bless thee, Sweeter | far may | be: But when | friends are | nearest, And when | joys are | dearest, _Oh! then | remem | -ber me._ When, at | eve, thou | rovest, By the | star thou | lovest, _Oh! then | remem | -ber me_. Think when | home re | -turning, Bright we've | seen it | burning; _Oh! thus | remem | -ber me_. Oft as | summer | closes, When thine | eye re | -poses On its | ling'ring | roses, Once so | loved by | thee, Think of | her who | wove them, Her who | made thee | love them; _Oh! then | remem | -ber me_." MOORE'S _Melodies, Songs, and Airs_, p. 107. _Example IV.--From an Ode to the Thames_. "On thy | shady | margin, Care its | load dis | -charging, _Is lull'd | to gen | -tle rest_: Britain | thus dis | -arming, Nothing | her a | -larming, _Shall sleep on Cae | -sar's breast_." See ROWE'S POEMS: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. iv, p. 58. _Example V.--"The True Poet"--First Two of Nine Stanzas_. 1. "Poet | of the | heart, Delving | in its | mine, From man | -kind a | -part, Yet where | jewels | shine; Heaving | upward | to the | light, Precious | wealth that | charms the | sight; 2. Toil thou | still, deep | down, For earth's | hidden | gems; They shall | deck a | crown, Blaze in | dia | -dems; _And when | thy hand | shall fall | to rest_, Brightly | jewel | beauty's | breast." JANE B. LOCKE: _N. Y. Evening Post; The Examiner, No. 98_. _Example VI.--"Summer Longings"--First Two of Five Stanzas_. "Ah! my | heart is | ever | waiting, Waiting | for the | May,-- Waiting | for the | pleasant | rambles Where the | fragrant | hawthorn | brambles, With the | woodbine | alter | -nating, Scent the | dewy | way. Ah! my | heart is | weary | waiting, Waiting | for the | May. Ah! my | heart is | sick with | longing, Longing | for the | May,-- Longing | to e | -scape from | study, To the | young face | fair and | ruddy, And the | thousand | charms be | -longing To the | Summer's | day. Ah! my | heart is | sick with | longing, Longing | for the | May." "D. F. M. C.:" _Dublin University Magazine; Liberator, No_. 952. MEASURE VII.--TROCHAIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER. _Example I.--Three Short Excerpts._ 1. "My flocks | feed not, My ewes | breed not, My rams | speed not, All is | _amiss_: Love's de | -nying, Faith's de | -fying, Heart's re | -nying, Causer | _of this_." 2. "In black | mourn I, All fears | scorn I, Love hath | lorn me, Living | _in thrall_: Heart is | bleeding, All help | needing. (Cruel | speeding,) Fraughted | _with gall_." 3. "Clear wells | spring not. Sweet birds | sing not, Loud bells | ring not _Cheerfully_; Herds stand | weeping, Flocks all | sleeping, Nymphs back | creeping _Fearfully_." SHAKSPEARE: _The Passionate Pilgrim_. See Sec. xv. _Example II.--Specimen with Single Rhyme. "To Quinbus Flestrin, the Man-Mountain"_ A LILLIPUTIAN ODE I. "In a | -maze, Lost, I | gaze. Can our | eyes Reach thy | size? May my | lays Swell with | praise, Worthy | thee, Worthy | me! Muse, in | -spire All thy | fire! Bards of | old Of him | told, When they | said Atlas' | head Propp'd the | skies: See! and | _believe_ | _your eyes!_ II. "See him | stride Valleys | wide: Over | woods, Over | floods, When he | treads, Mountains' | heads Groan and | shake: Armies | quake, Lest his | spurn Over | -turn Man and | steed: Troops, take | heed! Left and | right Speed your | flight! Lest an | host _Beneath_ | _his foot_ | _be lost_. III. "Turn'd a | -side From his | hide, Safe from | wound, Darts re | -bound. From his | nose, Clouds he | blows; When he | speaks, Thunder | breaks! When he | eats, Famine | threats! When he | drinks, Neptune | shrinks! Nigh thy | ear, In mid | air, On thy | hand, Let me | stand. So shall | I (Lofty | poet!) touch the sky." JOHN GAY: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 376. _Example III.--Two Feet with Four._ "Oh, the | pleasing, | pleasing | anguish, When we | love, and | when we | languish! Wishes | rising! Thoughts sur | -prising! Pleasure | courting! Charms trans | -porting! Fancy | viewing Joys en | -suing! Oh, the | pleasing, | pleasing | anguish!" ADDISON'S _Rosamond_, Act i, Scene 6. _Example IV.--Lines of Three Syllables with Longer Metres_. 1. WITH TROCHAICS. "Or we | sometimes | pass an | hour Under | a green | willow, That de | -fends us | from the | shower, Making | earth our | pillow; Where we | may Think and | pray, B=e'fore | death Stops our | breath: Other | joys, Are but | toys, And to | be la | -mented." [515] 2. WITH IAMBICS. "What sounds | were heard, What scenes | appear'd, O'er all | the drear | -y coasts! Dreadful | gleams, Dismal | screams, Fires that | glow, Shrieks of | wo, Sullen | moans, Hollow | groans, And cries | of tor | -tur'd ghosts!" POPE: _Johnson's Brit. Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 315. _Example V.--"The Shower."--In Four Regular Stanzas_. 1. "In a | valley | that I | know-- Happy | scene! There are | meadows | sloping | low, There the | fairest | flowers | blow, And the | brightest | waters | flow. All se | -rene; But the | sweetest | thing to | see, If you | ask the | dripping | tree, Or the | harvest | -hoping | swain, Is the | Rain. 2. Ah, the | dwellers | of the | town, How they | sigh,-- How un | -grateful | -ly they | frown, When the | cloud-king | shakes his | crown, And the | pearls come | pouring | down From the | sky! They de | -scry no | charm at | all Where the | sparkling | jewels | fall, And each | moment | of the | shower, Seems an | hour! 3. Yet there's | something | very | sweet In the | sight, When the | crystal | currents | meet In the | dry and | dusty | street, And they | wrestle | with the | heat, In their | might! While they | seem to | hold a | talk With the | stones a | -long the | walk, And re | -mind them | of the | rule, To 'keep | cool!' 4. Ay, but | in that | quiet | dell, Ever | fair, Still the | Lord doth | all things | well, When his | clouds with | blessings | swell, And they | break a | brimming | shell On the | air; There the | shower | hath its | charms, Sweet and | welcome | to the | farms As they | listen | to its | voice, And re | -joice!" Rev. RALPH HOYT'S _Poems: The Examiner_, Nov. 6, 1847. _Example VI.--"A Good Name?"--Two Beautiful Little Stanzas_. 1. "Children, | choose it, Don't re | -fuse it, 'Tis a | precious | dia | -dem; Highly | prize it, Don't de | -spise it, You will | need it | when you're | men. 2. Love and | cherish, Keep and | nourish, 'Tis more | precious | far than | gold; Watch and | guard it, Don't dis | -card it, You will | need it | when you're | old." _The Family Christian Almanac, for 1850_, p. 20. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Trochaics of two feet, like those of three, are, more frequently than otherwise, found in connexion with longer lines, as in some of the examples above cited. The trochaic line of three syllables, which our prosodists in general describe as consisting, not of two feet; but "of one Trochee and a long syllable," may, when it stands alone, be supposed to consist of one _amphimac_; but, since this species of foot is not admitted by all, and is reckoned a secondary one by those who do admit it, the better practice is, to divide even the three syllables into two feet, as above. OBS. 2.--Murray, Hart, Weld, and many others, erroneously affirm, that, "The _shortest_ Trochaic verse in our language, consists of one Trochee and a long syllable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 256; _Hart's, First Edition_, p. 186; _Weld's, Second Edition_, p. 210. The error of this will be shown by examples below--examples of _true "Trochaic Monometer_," and not of Dimeter mistaken for it, like Weld's, Hart's, or Murray's. OBS. 3.--These authors also aver, that, "This measure is _defective in dignity_, and can seldom be used on serious occasions."--_Same places_. "Trochaic of _two feet_--is likewise so _brief_, that," in their opinion, "it is rarely used for any very serious purpose."--_Same places_. Whether the expression of love, or of its disappointment, is "any very serious purpose" or not, I leave to the decision of the reader. What lack of dignity or seriousness there is, in several of the foregoing examples, especially the last two, I think it not easy to discover. MEASURE VIII.--TROCHAIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER. _Examples with Longer Metres_. 1. WITH IAMBICS. "Fr~om w=alk | t~o w=alk, | fr~om sh=ade | t~o sh=ade, From stream to purl | -ing stream | convey'd, Through all | the ma | -zes of | the grove, Through all | the ming | -ling tracks | I rove, Turning, Burning, Changing, Ranging, F=ull ~of | gri=ef ~and | f=ull ~of | l=ove." ADDISON'S _Rosamond_, Act I, Sc. 4: _Everett's Versification_, p. 81. 2. WITH ANAPESTICS, &c. "T~o l=ove ~and t~o l=angu~ish, T~o s=igh | ~and c~ompl=ain, H~ow cr=u~el's th~e =angu~ish! H~ow t~orm=ent | -~ing th~e p=ain! Suing, Pursuing, Flying, Denying, O the curse | of disdain! How torment | -ing's the pain!" GEO. GRANVILLE: _Br. Poets_, Vol. v, p. 31. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The metres acknowledged in our ordinary schemes of prosody, scarcely amount, with all their "boundless variety," to more than one half, or three quarters, of what may be found in _actual use_ somewhere. Among the foregoing examples, are some which are longer, and some which are shorter, than what are commonly known to our grammarians; and some, also, which seem easily practicable, though perhaps not so easily quotable. This last trochaic metre, so far as I know, has not been used alone,--that is, without longer lines,--except where grammarians so set examples of it in their prosodies. OBS. 2.--"Trochaic of One foot," as well as "Iambic of One foot," was, I believe, first recognized, prosodically, in Brown's Institutes of English Grammar, a work first published in 1823. Since that time, both have obtained acknowledgement in sundry schemes of versification, contained in the new grammars; as in Farnum's, and Hallock's, of 1842; in Pardon Davis's, of 1845; in S. W. Clark's, and S. S. Greene's, of 1848; in Professor Fowler's, of 1850. Wells, in his School Grammar, of 1846, and D. C. Allen, in an other, of 1847, give to the _length of lines_ a laxity positively absurd: "_Rhymed_ verses," say they, "may consist of _any number_ of syllables."--_Wells_, 1st Ed., p. 187; late Ed., 204; _Allen_, p. 88. Everett has recognized "_The line of a single Trochee_," though he repudiates some long measures that are much more extensively authorized. ORDER III.--ANAPESTIC VERSE. In full Anapestic verse, the stress is laid on every third syllable, the first two syllables of each foot being short. The first foot of an anapestic line, may be an iambus. This is the most frequent diversification of the order. But, as a diversification, it is, of course, not _regular_ or _uniform_. The stated or uniform adoption of the iambus for a part of each line, and of the anapest for the residue of it, produces verse of the _Composite Order_. As the anapest ends with a long syllable, its rhymes are naturally single; and a short syllable after this, producing double rhyme, is, of course, supernumerary: so are the two, when the rhyme is triple. Some prosodists suppose, a surplus at the end of a line may compensate for a deficiency at the beginning of the next line; but this I judge to be an error, or at least the indulgence of a questionable license. The following passage has two examples of what may have been _meant_ for such compensation, the author having used a dash where I have inserted what seems to be a necessary word:-- "Apol | -lo smil'd shrewd | -ly, and bade | him sit down, With 'Well, | Mr. Scott, | you have man | -aged the town; Now pray, | copy less-- | have a lit | -tle temer | -_~it~y_-- [And] Try | if you can't | also man | -age poster | -_ity_. [For] All | you add now | only les | -sens your cred | -_it_; And how | could you think, | too, of tak | -ing to ed | -_ite?_'" LEIGH HUNT'S _Feast of the Poets_, page 20. The anapestic measures are few; because their feet are long, and no poet has chosen to set a great many in a line. Possibly lines of five anapests, or of four and an initial iambus, might be written; for these would scarcely equal in length some of the iambics and trochaics already exhibited. But I do not find any examples of such metre. The longest anapestics that have gained my notice, are of fourteen syllables, being tetrameters with triple rhyme, or lines of four anapests and two short surplus syllables. This order consists therefore of measures reducible to the following heads:-- MEASURE I.--ANAPESTIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER. _Example I.--A "Postscript."--An Example with Hypermeter._ "Lean Tom, | when I saw | him, last week, | on his _horse_ | _awry_, Threaten'd loud | -ly to turn | me to stone | with his _sor_ | -_cery_. But, I think, | little Dan, | that, in spite | of what _our_ | _foe says_, He will find | I read Ov | -id and his | Meta_mor_ | -_phoses_. For, omit | -ting the first, | (where I make | a com_par_ | -_ison_, With a sort | of allu | -sion to Put | -land or _Har_ | -_rison_,) Yet, by | my descrip | -tion, you'll find | he in _short_ | _is_ A pack | and a gar | -ran, a top | and a _tor_ | -_toise_. So I hope | from hencefor | -ward you ne'er | will ask, _can_ | _I maul_ This teas | -ing, conceit | -ed, rude, in | -solent _an_ | -_imal?_ And, if | this rebuke | might be turn'd | to his _ben_ | -_efit_, (For I pit | -y the man,) | I should | be glad _then_ | _of it_" SWIFT'S POEMS: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 324. _Example II.--"The Feast of the Poets."--First Twelve Lines._ "T' other day, | as Apol | -lo sat pitch | -ing his darts Through the clouds | of Novem | -ber, by fits | and by starts, He began | to consid | -er how long | it had been Since the bards | of Old Eng | -land had all | been rung in. 'I think,' | said the god, | recollect | -ing, (and then He fell twid | -dling a sun | -beam as I | may my pen,) 'I think-- | let me see-- | yes, it is, | I declare, As long | ago now | as that Buck | -ingham there; And yet | I can't see | why I've been | so remiss, Unless | it may be-- | and it cer | -tainly is, That since Dry | -den's fine ver | -ses and Mil | -ton's sublime, I have fair | -ly been sick | of their sing | -song and rhyme.'" LEIGH HUNT: _Poems_, New-York Edition, of 1814. _Example III.--The Crowning of Four Favourites._ "Then, 'Come,' | cried the god | in his el | -egant mirth, 'Let us make | us a heav'n | of our own | upon earth, And wake, | with the lips | that we dip | in our bowls, That divin | -est of mu | -sic--conge | -nial souls.' So say | -ing, he led | through the din | -ing-room door, And, seat | -ing the po | -ets, cried, 'Lau | -rels for four!' No soon | -er demand | -ed, than, lo! | they were there, And each | of the bards | had a wreath | in his hair. Tom Camp | -bell's with wil | -low and pop | -lar was twin'd, And South | -ey's, with moun | -tain-ash, pluck'd | in the wind; And Scott's, | with a heath | from his old | garden stores, And, with vine | -leaves and jump | -up-and-kiss | -me, Tom Moore's." LEIGH HUNT: from line 330 to line 342. _Example IV.--"Glenara."--First Two of Eight Stanzas._ "O heard | ye yon pi | -broch sound sad | in the gale, Where a band | cometh slow | -ly with weep | -ing and wail! 'Tis the chief | of Glena | -ra laments | for his dear; And her sire, | and the peo | -ple, are called | to her bier. Glena | -ra came first | with the mourn | -ers and shroud; Her kins | -men, they fol | -lowed, but mourned | not aloud; Their plaids | all their bo | -soms were fold | -ed around; They marched | all in si | -lence--they looked | on the ground." T. CAMPBELL'S _Poetical Works_, p. 105. _Example V.--"Lochiel's Warning."--Ten Lines from Eighty-six._ "'Tis the sun | -set of life | gives me mys | -tical lore, And com | -ing events | cast their shad | -ows before. I tell | thee, Cullo | -den's dread ech | -oes shall ring With the blood | -hounds that bark | for thy fu | -gitive king. Lo! anoint | -ed by Heav'n | with the vi | -als of wrath, Behold, | where he flies | on his des | -olate path! Now, in dark | -ness and bil | -lows he sweeps | from my sight; Rise! rise! | ye wild tem | -pests, and cov | -er his flight! 'Tis fin | -ished. Their thun | -ders are hushed | on the moors; Cullo | -den is lost, | and my coun | -try deplores."--_Ib._, p. 89. _Example VI.--"The Exile of Erin."--The First of Five Stanzas._ "There came | to the beach | a poor Ex | -ile of E | -_r~in_, The dew | on his thin | robe was heav | -y and chill; For his coun | -try he sighed, | when at twi | -light repair | -_~ing_ To wan | -der alone | by the wind | -beaten hill. But the day | -star attract | -ed his eye's | sad devo | -_t~ion_, For it rose | o'er his own | native isle | of the o | -_c~ean_, Where once, | in the fire | of his youth | -ful emo | _t~ion_, He sang | the bold an | -them of E | -rin go bragh."--_Ib._, p. 116. _Example VII.--"The Poplar Field."_ "_The pop_ | -lars are fell'd, | _farewell_ | to the shade, And the whis | -pering sound | of the cool | colonnade; _The winds_ | play no lon | -ger and sing | in the leaves, _Nor Ouse_ | on his bo | -som their im | -age receives. _Twelve years_ | have elaps'd, | since I last | took a view Of my fa | -vourite field, | and the bank | where they grew; _And now_ | in the grass | _behold_ | they are laid, And the tree | is my seat | that once lent | me a shade. _The black_ | -bird has fled | to anoth | -er retreat, Where the ha | -zels afford | him a screen | from the heat, And the scene, | where his mel | -ody charm'd | me before, _Resounds_ | with his sweet | -flowing dit | -ty no more. _My fu_ | -gitive years | are all hast | -ing away, _And I_ | must ere long | lie as low | -ly as they, With a turf | on my breast, | and a stone | at my head, Ere anoth | -er such grove | shall arise | in its stead. 'Tis a sight | to engage | me, if an | -y thing can, _To muse_ | on the per | -ishing pleas | -ures of man; Though his life | be a dream, | his enjoy | -ments, I see, Have a be | -ing less dur | -able e | -ven than he." COWPER'S _Poems_, Vol. i, p. 257. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Everett avers, that, "The purely Anapestic measure is more easily constructed than the Trochee, [Trochaic,] and of much more frequent occurrence."--_English Versification_, p. 97. Both parts of this assertion are at least very questionable; and so are this author's other suggestions, that, "The Anapest is [necessarily] the vehicle of _gayety and joy_;" that, "Whenever this measure is employed in the treating of _sad_ subjects, _the effect is destroyed_;" that, "Whoever should attempt to write an elegy in this measure, would be _sure to fail_;" that, "The words might express grief, but the measure _would express joy_;" that, "The Anapest should never be employed throughout a _long piece_;" because "buoyancy of spirits can never be supposed to last,"--"sadness _never leaves us_, BUT joy remains but for a moment;" and, again, because, "the measure is _exceedingly monotonous_."--_Ibid._, pp. 97 and 98. OBS. 2.--Most anapestic poetry, so far as I know, is in pieces of no great length; but Leigh Hunt's "Feast of the Poets," which is thrice cited above, though not a long _poem_, may certainly be regarded as "_a long piece_," since it extends through fifteen pages, and contains four hundred and thirty-one lines, all, or nearly all, of anapestic tetrameter. And, surely, no poet had ever more need of a metre well suited to his purpose, than he, who, intending a critical as well as a descriptive poem, has found so much fault with the versification of others. Pope, as a versifier, was regarded by this author, "not only as no master of his art, but as a very indifferent practiser."--_Notes on the Feast of the Poets_, p. 35. His "_monotonous and cloying_" use of numbers, with that of Darwin, Goldsmith, Johnson, Haley, and others of the same "school," is alleged to have wrought a general corruption of taste in respect to versification--a fashion that has prevailed, not temporarily, "_But ever since Pope spoil'd the ears of the town With his cuckoo-song verses, half up and half down_"--_Ib._ OBS. 3.--Excessive monotony is thus charged by one critic upon all verse of "the purely Anapestic measure;" and, by an other, the same fault is alleged in general terms against all the poetry "of the school of Pope," well-nigh the whole of which is iambic. The defect is probably in either case, at least half imaginary; and, as for the inherent joyousness of anapestics, that is perhaps not less ideal. Father Humphrey says, "Anapaestic and amphibrachic verse, being similar in measure and movement, are pleasing to the ear, and well adapted to cheerful and humourous compositions; and _sometimes to elegiac compositions_, and subjects important and solemn."--_Humphrey's English Prosody_, p. 17. OBS. 4.--The anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, have this in common,--that each, with one long syllable, takes two short ones. Hence there is a degree of similarity in their rhythms, or in their several effects upon the ear; and consequently lines of each order, (or of any two, if the amphibrachic be accounted a separate order,) are sometimes commingled. But the propriety of acknowledging an order of "_Amphibrachic verse_," as does Humphrey, is more than doubtful; because, by so doing, we not only recognize the amphibrach as one of the principal feet, but make a vast number of lines ambiguous in their scansion. For our Amphibrachic order will be _made up_ of lines that are commonly scanned as anapestics--such anapestics as are diversified by an iambus at the beginning, and sometimes also by a surplus short syllable at the end; as in the following verses, better divided as in the sixth example above:-- "Th~ere c=ame t~o | th~e b=each ~a | p~oor Ex~ile | ~of Er~in The dew on | his thin robe | was heavy | and chill: F~or h~is co=un | -tr~y h~e s=ighed, | wh=en ~at tw=i | -l~ight r~ep=air | _-~ing_ To wander | alone by | the wind-beat | -en hill." MEASURE II.--ANAPESTIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER. _Example I.--"Alexander Selkirk."--First Two Stanzas._ I. "I am mon | -arch of all | I survey, My right | there is none | to dispute; From the cen | -tre all round | to the sea, I am lord | of the fowl | and the brute. O Sol | -itude! where | are the charms That sa | -ges have seen | in thy face? Better dwell | in the midst | of alarms, Than reign | in this hor | -rible place. II. I am out | of human | -ity's reach, I must fin | -ish my jour | -ney alone, Never hear | the sweet mu | -sic of speech, I start | at the sound | of my own. The beasts | that roam o | -ver the plain, My form | with indif | -ference see; They are so | unacquaint | -ed with man, Their tame | -ness is shock | -ing to me." COWPER'S _Poems_, Vol. i, p. 199. _Example II.--"Catharina."--Two Stanzas from Seven._ IV. "Though the pleas | -ures of Lon | -don exceed In num | -ber the days | of the year, Cathari | -na, did noth | -ing impede, Would feel | herself hap | -pier here; For the close | -woven arch | -es of limes On the banks | of our riv | -er, I know, Are sweet | -er to her | many times Than aught | that the cit | -y can show. V. So it is, | when the mind | is endued With a well | -judging taste | from above; Then, wheth | -er embel | -lish'd or rude, 'Tis na | -ture alone | that we love. The achieve | -ments of art | may amuse, May e | -ven our won | -der excite, But groves, | hills, and val | -leys, diffuse A last | -ing, a sa | -cred delight." COWPER'S _Poems_, Vol. ii, p. 232. _Example III.--"A Pastoral Ballad."--Two Stanzas from Twenty-seven._ (8.) "Not a pine | in my grove | is there seen, But with ten | -drils of wood | -bine is bound; Not a beech | 's more beau | -tiful green, But a sweet | -briar twines | it around, Not my fields | in the prime | of the year More charms | than my cat | -tle unfold; Not a brook | that is lim | -pid and clear, But it glit | -ters with fish | -es of gold. (9) One would think | she might like | to retire To the bow'r | I have la | -bour'd to rear; Not a shrub | that I heard | her admire, But I hast | -ed and plant | -ed it there. O how sud | -den the jes | -samine strove With the li | -lac to ren | -der it gay! Alread | -y it calls | for my love, To prune | the wild branch | -es away." SHENSTONE: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 139. Anapestic lines of four feet and of three are sometimes alternated in a stanza, as in the following instance:-- _Example IV.--"The Rose."_ "The rose | had been wash'd, | just wash'd | in a show'r, Which Ma | -ry to An | -na convey'd; The plen | -tiful moist | -ure encum | -ber'd the flow'r, And weigh'd | down its beau | -tiful head. The cup | was all fill'd, | and the leaves | were all wet, And it seem'd | to a fan | -ciful view, To weep | for the buds | it had left, | with regret, On the flour | -ishing bush | where it grew. I hast | -ily seized | it, unfit | as it was For a nose | -gay, so drip | -ping and drown'd, And, swing | -ing it rude | -ly, too rude | -ly, alas! I snapp'd | it,--it fell | to the ground. And such, | I exclaim'd, | is the pit | -iless part Some act | by the del | -icate mind, Regard | -less of wring | -ing and break | -ing a heart Alread | -y to sor | -row resign'd. This el | -egant rose, | had I shak | -en it less, Might have bloom'd | with its own | -er a while; And the tear | that is wip'd | with a lit | -tle address, May be fol | -low'd perhaps | by a smile." COWPER: _Poems_, Vol. i, p. 216; _English Reader_, p. 212. MEASURE III.--ANAPESTIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER. _Example I.--Lines with Hypermeter and Double Rhyme._ "CORONACH," OR FUNERAL SONG. 1. "He is gone | on the mount | -a~in He is lost | to the for | -~est Like a sum | -mer-dried foun | -ta~in When our need | was the sor | -~est. The font, | reappear | -~ing, From the rain | -drops shall bor | -r~ow, But to us | comes no cheer | -~ing, Do Dun | -can no mor | -r~ow! 2. The hand | of the reap | -~er Takes the ears | that are hoar | -~y, But the voice | of the weep | -~er Wails man | -hood in glo | -r~y; The au | -tumn winds rush | -~ing, Waft the leaves | that are sear | -~est, But our flow'r | was in flush | -~ing, When blight | -ing was near | -~est." WALTER SCOTT: _Lady of the Lake_, Canto iii, St. 16. _Example II.--Exact Lines of Two Anapests._ "Prithee, Cu | -pid, no more Hurl thy darts | at threescore; To thy girls | and thy boys, Give thy pains | and thy joys; Let Sir Trust | -y and me From thy frol | -ics be free." ADDISON: _Rosamond_, Act ii, Scene 2; _Ev. Versif._, p. 100. _Example III--An Ode, from the French of Malherbe_. "This An | -na so fair, So talk'd | of by fame, Why dont | she appear? Indeed, | she's to blame! Lewis sighs | for the sake Of her charms, | as they say; What excuse | can she make For not com | -ing away? If he does | not possess, He dies | with despair; Let's give | him redress, And go find | out the fair" "Cette Anne si belle, Qu'on vante si fort, Pourquoi ne vient elle? Vraiment, elle a tort! Son Louis soupire, Apres ses appas; Que veut elle dire, Qu'elle ne vient pas? S'il ne la possede, Il s'en va mourir; Donnons y remede, Allons la querir." WILLIAM KING, LL. D.: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. iii, p. 590. _Example IV.--'Tis the Last Rose of Summer_. 1. "'Tis the last | rose of sum | -_m~er_, Left bloom | -ing alone; All her love | -ly compan | -_i~ons_ Are fad | -ed and gone; No flow'r | of her kin | -_dr~ed_, No rose | -bud is nigh, To give | back her blush | -_~es_, Or give | sigh for sigh. 2. I'll not leave | thee, thou lone | _~one!_ To pine | on the stem! Since the love | -ly are sleep | -_~ing_, Go, sleep | thou with them; Thus kind | -ly I scat | -_t~er_ Thy leaves | o'er thy bed, Where thy mates | of the gar | -_d~en_ Lie scent | -less and dead. 3. So, soon | may I fol | -_l~ow_, When friend | -ships decay, And, from love's | shining cir | -_cl~e_, The gems | drop away; When true | hearts lie with | -_~er'd_, And fond | ones are flown, Oh! who | would inhab | -_it_ This bleak | world alone ?" T. MOORE: _Melodies, Songs, and Airs_, p. 171. _Example V.--Nemesis Calling up the Dead Astarte_. "Shadow! | or spir | -_~it!_ Whatev | -er thou art, Which still | doth inher | -_~it_ The whole | or a part Of the form | of thy birth, Of the mould | of thy clay, Which return'd | to the earth, Re-appear | to the day! Bear what | thou bor | -_~est_, The heart | and the form, And the as | -pect thou wor | -_~est_ Redeem | from the worm! Appear!--Appear!--Appear!" LORD BYRON: _Manfred_, Act ii, Sc. 4. _Example VI.--Anapestic Dimeter with Trimeter_. FIRST VOICE. "Make room | for the com | -bat, make room; Sound the trum | -pet and drum; A fair | -er than Ve | -nus prepares To encoun | -ter a great | -er than Mars. Make room | for the com | -bat, make room; Sound the trum | -pet and drum." SECOND VOICE. "Give the word | to begin, Let the com | -batants in, The chal | -lenger en | -ters all _glo | r~io~us_; But Love | has decreed, Though Beau | -ty may bleed, Yet Beau | -ty shall still | be vic_to | -r~io~us_." GEORGE GRANVILLE: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 58. _Example VII.--Anapestic Dimeter with Tetrameter_. AIR. "Let the pipe's | merry notes | aid the skill | of the voice; For our wish | -es are crown'd, | and our hearts | shall rejoice. Rejoice, | and be glad; For, sure, | he is mad, Who, where mirth, | and good hum | -mour, and har | -mony's found, Never catch | -es the smile, | nor lets pleas | -ure go round. Let the stu | -pid be grave, 'Tis the vice | of the slave; But can nev | -er agree With a maid | -en like me, Who is born | in a coun | -try that's hap | -py and free." LLOYD: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. viii, p, 178. MEASURE IV.--ANAPESTIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER. This measure is rarely if ever used except in connexion with longer lines. The following example has six anapestics of two feet, and two of one; but the latter, being verses of double rhyme, have each a surplus short syllable; and four of the former commence with the iambus:-- _Example I.--A Song in a Drama._ "Now, mor |-tal, prepare, For thy fate | is at hand; Now, mor |-tal, prepare, ~And s~urr=en |-d~er. For Love | shall arise, Whom no pow'r | can withstand, Who rules | from the skies T~o th~e c=en |-tr~e." GRANVILLE, VISCOUNT LANSDOWNE: _Joh. Brit. Poets_, Vol. v, p. 49. The following extract, (which is most properly to be scanned as anapestic, though considerably diversified,) has two lines, each of which is pretty evidently composed of a single anapest:-- _Example II.--A Chorus in the Same_. "Let trum |-pets and tym |-b~als, Let at~a |--bals and cym |-b~als, Let drums | and let haut |-boys give o |-v~er; B~ut l~et fl=utes, And l~et l=utes Our pas |-sions excite To gent |-ler delight, And ev |-ery Mars | be a lov |-~er." _Ib._, p. 56. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--That a single anapest, a single foot of any kind, or even a single long syllable, may be, and sometimes is, in certain rather uncommon instances, set as a line, is not to be denied. "Dr. Caustic," or T. G. Fessenden, in his satirical "Directions for _Doing_ Poetry," uses in this manner the monosyllables, "_Whew_," "_Say_," and "_Dress_" and also the iambs, "_The gay_" and, "_All such_," rhyming them with something less isolated. OBS. 2.--Many of our grammarians give anonymous examples of what they conceive to be "_Anapestic Monometer_," or "_the line of one anapest_," while others--(as Allen, Bullions, Churchill, and Hiley--) will have the length of two anapests to be the _shortest_ measure of this order. Prof. Hart says, "The shortest anapaestic verse is a _single_ anapaest; as, '~In =a sw=eet R~es~on=ance, ~All th~eir f=eet ~In th=e d=ance ~All th=e n=ight T~inkl~ed l=ight.' This measure," it is added, "is, however, _ambiguous_; for by laying an accent on the first, as well as the third syllable, we may generally make it a trochaic."--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 188. The same six versicles are used as an example by Prof. Fowler, who, without admitting any ambiguity in the measure, introduces them, rather solecistically, thus: "_Each_ of the following lines _consist_ of a single Anapest."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.694. OBS. 3.--Verses of three syllables, with the second short, the last long, and the first _common, or variable_, are, it would seem, _doubly doubtful_ in scansion; for, while the first syllable, if made short, gives us an anapest, to make it long, gives either an amphimac or what is virtually two trochees. For reasons of choice in the latter case, see Observation 1st on Trochaic Dimeter. For the _fixing of variable quantities_, since the case admits no other rule, regard should be had to the _analogy of the verse_, and also to the common principles of accentuation. It is doubtless possible to read the six short lines above, into the measure of so many _anapests_; but, since the two monosyllables "_In_" and "_All_" are as easily made long as short, whoever considers the common pronunciation of the longer words, "_Resonance_" and "_Tinkled_," may well doubt whether the learned professors have, in this instance, hit upon the right mode of scansion. The example may quite as well be regarded either as Trochaic Dimeter, cataletic, or as Amphimacric Monometer, acatalectic. But the word _resonance_, being accented usually on the first syllable only, is naturally a _dactyl_; and, since the other five little verses end severally with a monosyllable, which _can_ be varied in quantity, it is possible to read them all as being _dactylics_; and so the whole may be regarded as _trebly doubtful_ with respect to the measure. OBS. 4.--L. Murray says, "_The shortest anapaestic verse must be a single anapaest_; as, B~ut ~in v=ain They complain." And then he adds, "This measure is, however, ambiguous; for, by laying the stress of the voice on the first and third syllables, we _might make_ a trochaic. _And therefore_ the first and simplest form of our genuine Anapaestic verse, is made up of _two anapaests_."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 257; 12mo, p. 207. This conclusion is utterly absurd, as well as completely contradictory to his first assertion. The genuineness of this small metre depends not at all on what may be made of the same words by other pronunciation; nor can it be a very natural reading of this passage, that gives to "_But_" and "_They_" such emphasis as will make them long. OBS. 5.--Yet Chandler, in his improved grammar of 1847, has not failed to repeat the substance of all this absurdity and self-contradiction, carefully dressing it up in other language, thus: "Verses composed of single Anapaests _are frequently found_ in stanzas of songs; and the same is true of several of the other kinds of feet; _but we may consider the first_ [i.e., shortest] _form_ of anapaestic verse as consisting of _two_ Anapaests."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 196. OBS. 6.--Everett, speaking of anapestic lines, says, "The first and shortest of these is composed of a _single Anapest following an Iambus_."--_English Versification_, p. 99. This not only denies the existence of _Anapestic Monometer_, but improperly takes for the Anapestic verse what is, by the statement itself, half Iambic, and therefore of the Composite Order. But the false assertion is plainly refuted even by the author himself and on the same page. For, at the bottom of the page, he has this contradictory note: "It has been remarked (Sec.15) that though the Iambus with an additional short syllable _is the shortest line that is known_ to Iambic verse, _there are isolated instances of a single Iambus_, and even of a _single long syllable_. There are examples of _lines made up of a single Anapest_, as the following example will show:-- 'Jove in his chair, Of the sky lord mayor, With his nods Men and gods Keeps in awe; When he winks, Heaven shrinks; * * * * Cock of the school, He bears despotic rule; His word, Though absurd, Must be law. Even Fate, Though so great, Must not prate; His bald pate Jove would cuff, He's so bluff, For a straw. Cowed deities, Like mice in cheese, To stir must cease Or gnaw.' O'HARA:--_Midas_, Act i, Sc. 1."--_Everett's Versification_, p. 99 ORDER IV.--DACTYLIC VERSE. In pure Dactylic verse, the stress is laid on the first syllable of each successive three; that is, on the first, the fourth, the seventh, and the tenth syllable of each line of four feet. Full dactylic generally forms triple rhyme. When one of the final short syllables is omitted, the rhyme is double; when both, single. These omissions are here essential to the formation of such rhymes. Dactylic with double rhyme, ends virtually with a _trochee_; dactylic with single rhyme, commonly ends with a _caesura_; that is, with a long syllable taken for a foot. Dactylic with single rhyme is the same as anapestic would be without its initial short syllables. Dactylic verse is rather uncommon; and, when employed, is seldom perfectly pure and regular. MEASURE I.--DACTYLIC OF EIGHT FEET, OR OCTOMETER. _Example.--Nimrod._ Nimrod the | hunter was | mighty in | hunting, and | famed as the | ruler of | cities of | yore; Babel, and | Erech, and | Accad, and | Calneh, from | Shinar's fair | region his | name afar | bore. MEASURE II.--DACTYLIC OF SEVEN FEET, OR HEPTAMETER. _Example.--Christ's Kingdom._ Out of the | kingdom of | Christ shall be | gathered, by | angels o'er | Satan vic | -torious, All that of |-fendeth, that | lieth, that | faileth to | honour his | name ever | glorious. MEASURE III.--DACTYLIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER. _Example I.--Time in Motion._ Time, thou art | ever in | motion, on | wheels of the | days, years, and | ages; Restless as | waves of the | ocean, when | Eurus or | Boreas | rages. _Example II.--Where, is Grand-Pre?_ "This is the | forest pri | -meval; but | where are the | hearts that be | -neath it Leap'd like the | roe, when he | hears in the | woodland the | voice of the | huntsman? Where is the | thatch-roofed | village, the | home of A | -cadian | farmers?" H. W. LONGFELLOW: _Evangeline_, Part i, l. 7--9. MEASURE IV.--DACTYLIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER. _Example.--Salutation to America._ "Land of the | beautiful, | beautiful, | land of the | free, Land of the | negro-slave, | negro-slave, | land of the | chivalry, Often my | heart had turned, | heart had turned, | longing to | thee; Often had | mountain-side, | mountain-side, | broad lake, and | stream, Gleamed on my | waking thought, | waking thought, | crowded my | dream. Now thou dost | welcome me, | welcome me, | from the dark | sea, Land of the | beautiful, | beautiful, | land of the | free, Land of the | negro-slave, | negro-slave, | land of the | chivalry." MEASURE V.--DACTYLIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER. _Example 1--The Soldier's Wife._ "Weary way |-wanderer, | languid and | sick at heart, Travelling | painfully | over the | rugged road, Wild-visaged | Wanderer! | God help thee, | wretched one! Sorely thy | little one | drags by thee | barefooted; Cold is the | baby that | hangs at thy | bending back, Meagre, and | livid, and | screaming for | misery. Woe-begone | mother, half | anger, half | agony, Over thy | shoulder thou | lookest to | hush the babe, Bleakly the | blinding snow | beats in thy | haggard face. Ne'er will thy | husband re | -turn from the | war again, Cold is thy | heart, and as | frozen as | Charity! Cold are thy | children.--Now | God be thy | comforter!" ROBERT SOUTHEY: _Poems_, Philad., 1843, p. 250. _Example II.--Boys.--A Dactylic Stanza_. "Boys will an | -ticipate, | lavish, and | dissipate All that your | busy pate | hoarded with | care; And, in their | foolishness, | passion, and | mulishness, Charge you with | churlishness, | spurning your pray'r." _Example III--"Labour."--The First of Five Stanzas_. "Pause not to | dream of the | future be | -fore us; Pause not to | weep the wild | cares that come | o'er us: Hark, how Cre | -ation's deep, | musical | chorus, Uninter | -mitting, goes | up into | Heaven! Never the | ocean-wave | falters in | flowing; Never the | little seed | stops in its | growing; More and more | richly the | rose-heart keeps | glowing, Till from its | nourishing | stem it is | riven." FRANCES S. OSGOOD: _Clapp's Pioneer_, p. 94. _Example IV.--"Boat Song."--First Stanza of Four._ "Hail to the | chief who in | triumph ad | -vances! Honour'd and | bless'd be the | ever-green | pine! Long may the | tree in his | banner that | glances, Flourish, the | shelter and | grace of our | line! Heaven send it happy dew, Earth lend it sap anew, Gayly to | bourgeon, and | broadly to | grow, While ev'ry | Highland glen Sends our shout | back agen, 'Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! ieroe!'" WALTER SCOTT: _Lady of the Lake_, C. ii, St. 19. MEASURE VI.--DACTYLIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER. _Example.--To the Katydid._ "Ka-ty-did, | Ka-ty-did, | sweetly sing,-- Sing to thy | loving mates | near to thee; Summer is | come, and the | trees are green,-- Summer's glad | season so | dear to thee. Cheerily, | cheerily, | insect, sing; Blithe be thy | notes in the | hickory; Every | bough shall an | answer ring, Sweeter than | trumpet of | victory." MEASURE VII.--DACTYLIC OF TWO FEET, OR DIMETER. _Example I.--The Bachelor.--Four Lines from Many._ "Free from sa | -tiety, Care, and anx | -iety, Charms in va | -riety, Fall to his | share."--ANON.: _Newspaper_. _Example II.--The Pibroch.--Sixteen Lines from Forty._ "Pibroch of | Donuil Dhu, Pibroch of | Donuil, Wake thy wild | voice anew. Summon Clan | -Conuil. Come away, | come away! Hark to the | summons! Come in your | war-array, Gentles and | commons! "Come as the | winds come, when Forests are | rended; Come as the | waves come, when Navies are | stranded; Faster come, | faster come, Faster and | faster! Chief, vassal, | page, and groom, Tenant and | master."--W. SCOTT. _Example III.--"My Boy."_ _'There is even a happiness that makes the heart afraid.'_--HOOD. 1. "One more new | claimant for Human fra | -ternity, Swelling the | flood that sweeps On to e | -ternity; I who have | filled the cup, Tremble to | think of it; For, be it | what it may, I must yet | drink of it. 2. Room for him | into the Ranks of hu |-manity; Give him a | place in your Kingdom of | vanity! Welcome the | stranger with Kindly af |-fection; Hopefully, | trustfully, Not with de |-jection. 3. See, in his | waywardness How his fist | doubles; Thus pugi |-listical, Daring life's | troubles: Strange that the | neophyte Enters ex |-istence In such an | attitude, Feigning re |-sistance. 4. Could he but | have a glimpse Into fu |-turity, Well might he | fight against Farther ma |-turity; Yet does it | seem to me As if his | purity Were against | sinfulness Ample se |-curity. 5. Incompre |-hensible, Budding im |-mortal, Thrust all a |-mazedly Under life's | portal; Born to a | destiny Clouded in | mystery, Wisdom it |-self cannot Guess at its | history. 6. Something too | much of this Timon-like | croaking; See his face | wrinkle now, Laughter pro |-voking. Now he cries | lustily-- Bravo, my | hearty one! Lungs like an | orator Cheering his | party on. 7. Look how his | merry eyes Turn to me | pleadingly! Can we help | loving him-- Loving ex |-ceedingly? Partly with | hopefulness, Partly with | fears, Mine, as I | look at him, Moisten with | tears. 8. Now then to | find a name;-- Where shall we | search for it? Turn to his | ancestry, Or to the | church for it? Shall we en |-dow him with Title he |-roic, After some | warrior, Poet, or | stoic? 9. One aunty | says he will Soon 'lisp in | numbers,' Turning his | thoughts to rhyme, E'en in his | slumbers; Watts rhymed in | babyhood, No blemish | spots his fame-- Christen him | even so: Young Mr. | Watts his name." ANONYMOUS: _Knickerbocker_, and _Newspapers_, 1849. MEASURE VIII.--DACTYLIC OF ONE FOOT, OR MONOMETER. "Fearfully, Tearfully." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--A single dactyl, set as a line, can scarcely be used otherwise than as part of a stanza, and in connexion with longer verses. The initial accent and triple rhyme make it necessary to have something else with it. Hence this short measure is much less common than the others, which are accented differently. Besides, the line of three syllables, as was noticed in the observations on Anapestic Monometer, is often peculiarly uncertain in regard to the measure which it should make. A little difference in the laying of emphasis or accent may, in many instances, change it from one species of verse to an other. Even what seems to be dactylic of two feet, if the last syllable be sufficiently lengthened to admit of single rhyme with the full metre, becomes somewhat doubtful in its scansion; because, in such case, the last foot maybe reckoned an _amphimac_, or _amphimacer_. Of this, the following stanzas from Barton's lines "to the Gallic Eagle," (or to Bonaparte on St. Helena,) though different from all the rest of the piece, may serve as a specimen:-- "Far from the | _battle's shock_, Fate hath fast | bound thee; Chain'd to the | _rugged rock_, Waves warring | round thee. [Now, for] the | _trumpet's sound_, Sea-birds are | shrieking; Hoarse on thy | _rampart's bound_, Billows are | breaking." OBS. 2.--This may be regarded as verse of the Composite Order; and, perhaps, more properly so, than as Dactylic with mere incidental variations. Lines like those in which the questionable foot is here Italicized, may be united with longer dactylics, and thus produce a stanza of great beauty and harmony. The following is a specimen. It is a song, written by I know not whom, but set to music by Dempster. The twelfth line is varied to a different measure. "ADDRESS TO THE SKYLARK." "Bird of the | wilderness, Blithesome and | cumberless, Light be thy | matin o'er | moorland and | lea; Emblem of | happiness, Blest is thy | dwelling-place; O! to a |-bide in the | desert with | thee! "Wild is thy | lay, and loud, Far on the | downy cloud; Love gives it | energy, | love gave it | birth: Where, on thy | dewy wing, Where art thou | journeying? Thy lay | is in heav |-en, thy love | is on earth. "O'er moor and | mountain green, O'er fell and | fountain sheen, O'er the red | streamer that | heralds the | day; Over the | cloudlet dim, Over the | rainbow's rim, Musical | cherub, hie, | hie thee a |-way. "Then, when the | gloamin comes, Low in the | heather blooms. Sweet will thy | welcome and | bed of love | be. Emblem of | happiness, Blest is thy | dwelling-place; O! to a |-bide in the | desert with | thee!" OBS. 3.--It is observed by Churchill, (_New Gram._, p. 387,) that, "Shakspeare has used the dactyl, as appropriate to mournful occasions." The chief example which he cites, is the following:-- "Midnight, as |-sist our moan, Help us to | sigh and groan Heavily, | heavily. Graves, yawn and | yield your dead, Till death be | uttered Heavily, | heavily."--_Much Ado_, V, 3 OBS. 4.--These six lines of Dactylic (or Composite) Dimeter are subjoined by the poet to four of Trochaic Tetrameter. There does not appear to me to be any particular adaptation of either measure to mournful subjects, more than to others; but later instances of this metre may be cited, in which such is the character of the topic treated. The following long example consists of lines of two feet, most of them dactylic only; but, of the seventy-six, there are twelve which _may_ be otherwise divided, and as many more which _must_ be, because they commence with a short syllable. "THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS."--BY THOMAS HOOD. "One more un |-fortunate, Weary of | breath, Rashly im |-portunate, Gone to her | death! Take her up | tenderly, Lift her with | care; Fashioned so | slenderly, Young, and so | fair! Look at her | garments Clinging like | cerements, Whilst the wave | constantly Drips from her | clothing; Take her up | instantly, Loving, not | loathing. Touch her not | scornfully; Think of her | mournfully, Gently, and | humanly; Not of the | stains of her: All that re |-mains of her Now, is pure | womanly. Make no deep | scrutiny Into her | mutiny, Rash and un |-dutifull; Past all dis |-honour, Death has left | on her Only the | beautiful. Still, for all | slips of hers,-- One of Eve's | family,-- Wipe those poor | lips of hers, Oozing so | clammily. Loop up her | tresses, Escaped from the comb,-- Her fair auburn tresses; Whilst wonderment guesses, Where was her | home? Who was her | father? Who was her | mother? Had she a | sister? Had she a | brother? Was there a | dearer one Yet, than all | other? Alas, for the rarity Of Christian charity Under the | sun! O, it was | pitiful! Near a whole | city full, Home she had | none. Sisterly, | brotherly, Fatherly, | motherly, Feelings had | changed; Love, by harsh |evidence, Thrown from its |eminence Even God's | providence Seeming e |-stranged. Where the lamps | quiver So far in the river, With many a light, From window and casement, From garret to basement, She stood, with amazement, Houseless, by | night. The bleak wind of March Made her tremble and shiver; But not the dark arch, Or the black-flowing river: Mad from life's | history, Glad to death's | mystery, Swift to be | hurled,-- Anywhere, | anywhere, Out of the | world! In she plung'd | boldly,-- No matter how coldly The rough | river ran,-- Over the | brink of it: Picture it, | think of it, Dissolute | man!" _Clapp's Pioneer_, p. 54. OBS. 5.--As each of our principal feet,--the Iambus, the Trochee, the Anapest, and the Dactyl,--has always one, and only one long syllable; it should follow, that, in each of our principal orders of verse,--the Iambic, the Trochaic, the Anapestic, and the Dactylic,--any line, not diversified by a secondary foot, must be reckoned to contain just as many feet as long syllables. So, too, of the Amphibrach, and any line reckoned Amphibrachic. But it happens, that the common error by which single-rhymed Trochaics have so often been counted a foot _shorter_ than they are, is also extended by some writers to single-rhymed Dactylics--the rhyming syllable, if long, being esteemed _supernumerary!_ For example, three dactylic stanzas, in each of which a pentameter couplet is followed by a hexameter line, and this again by a heptameter, are introduced by Prof. Hart thus: "The _Dactylic Tetrameter, Pentameter_, and _Hexameter_, with the _additional_ or _hypermeter syllable_, are all found combined in the following extraordinary specimen of versification. * * * This is the only specimen of Dactylic _hexameter_ or even _pentameter_ verse that the author recollects to have seen." LAMENT OF ADAM. "Glad was our | meeting: thy | glittering | bosom I | _heard_, Beating on | mine, like the | heart of a | timorous | _bird_; Bright were thine | eyes as the | stars, and their | glances were | radiant as | _gleams_ Falling from | eyes of the | angels, when | singing by | Eden's pur |-pureal | _streams._ "Happy as | seraphs were | we, for we | wander'd a | -_lone_, Trembling with | passionate | thrills, when the | twilight had | _flown_: Even the | echo was | silent: our | kisses and | whispers of | _love_ Languish'd un | -heard and un | -known, like the | breath of the | blossoming | buds of the | _grove._ "Life hath its | pleasures, but | fading are | they as the | _flowers_; Sin hath its | sorrows, and | sadly we | turn'd from those | _bowers_; Bright were the | angels be | -hind with their | falchions of | heavenly | _flame!_ Dark was the | desolate | desert be | -fore us, and | darker the | depth of our | _shame!_" --HENRY B. HIRST: _Hart's English Grammar_, p. 190. OBS. 6.--Of Dactylic verse, our prosodists and grammarians in general have taken but very little notice; a majority of them appearing by their silence, to have been utterly ignorant of the whole species. By many, the dactyl is expressly set down as an inferior foot, which they imagine is used only for the occasional diversification of an iambic, trochaic, or anapestic line. Thus Everett: "It is _never used_ except as a _secondary foot_, and then in the _first place_ of the line."--_English Versification_, p. 122. On this order of verse, Lindley Murray bestowed only the following words: "The DACTYLIC measure being very uncommon, we shall give only one example of one species of it:-- Fr=om th~e l~ow pl=eas~ures ~of th=is f~all~en n=at~ure, Rise we to higher, &c."--_Gram._, 12mo, p. 207; 8vo, p. 257. Read this example with _"we rise"_ for _"Rise we,"_ and all the poetry of it is gone! Humphrey says, "_Dactyle_ verse is seldom used, as remarked heretofore; but _is used occasionally_, and has three metres; viz. of 2, 3, and 4 feet. Specimens follow. 2 feet. Free from anxiety. 3 feet. Singing most sweetly and merrily. 4 feet. Dactylic measures are wanting in energy."--_English Prosody_, p. 18. Here the prosodist has made his own examples; and the last one, which unjustly impeaches all dactylics, he has made very badly--very prosaically; for the word "_Dactylic_," though it has three syllables, is properly no dactyl, but rather an amphibrach. OBS. 7.--By the Rev. David Blair, this order of poetic numbers is utterly misconceived and misrepresented. He says of it, "DACTYLIC verse consists of a _short syllable_, with one, two, or three feet, _and a long syllable_; as, 'D~istr=act~ed w~ith w=oe, 'I'll r=ush ~on th~e f=oe.' ADDISON."--_Blair's Pract. Gram._, p. 119. "'Y~e sh=eph~erds s~o ch=eerf~ul ~and g=ay, 'Wh~ose fl=ocks n~ev~er c=arel~essl~y r=oam; 'Sh~ould C=or~yd~on's h=app~en t~o str=ay, 'Oh! c=all th~e p=oor w=and~er~ers h=ome.' SHENSTONE."--_Ib._, p. 120. It is manifest, that these lines are not dactylic at all. There is not a dactyl in them. They are composed of iambs and anapests. The order of the versification is Anapestic; but it is here varied by the very common diversification of dropping the first short syllable. The longer example is from a ballad of 216 lines, of which 99 are thus varied, and 117 are full anapestics. OBS. 8.--The makers of school-books are quite as apt to copy blunders, as to originate them; and, when an error is once started in a grammar, as it passes with the user for good learning, no one can guess where it will stop. It seems worth while, therefore, in a work of this nature, to be liberal in the citation of such faults as have linked themselves, from time to time, with the several topics of our great subject. It is not probable, that the false scansion just criticised originated with Blair; for the Comprehensive Grammar, a British work, republished in its third edition, by Dobson, of Philadelphia, in 1789, teaches the same doctrine, thus: "Dactylic measure may consist of one, two, or three Dactyls, introduced by a feeble syllable, and terminated by a strong one; as, M~y | d=ear Ir~ish | f=olks, C=ome | l=eave ~off y~our | j=okes, And | b=uy ~up m~y | h=alfp~ence s~o | f=ine; S~o | f=air ~and s~o | br=ight, Th~ey'll | g=ive y~ou d~e | -l=ight: Ob | -s=erve h~ow th~ey | gl=ist~er ~and | sh=ine. SWIFT. A | c=obl~er th~ere | w=as ~and h~e | l=iv'd ~in ~a | st=all, Wh~ich | s=erv'd h~im f~or | k=itch~en, f~or | p=arl~our ~and | hall; N~o | c=oin ~in h~is | p=ock~et, n~o | c=are ~in h~is | p=ate; N~o ~am | -b=it~ion h~e | h=ad, ~and n~o | d=uns ~at h~is | g=ate." --_Comp. Gram._, p. 150. To this, the author adds, "Dactylic measure becomes Anapestic by setting off an Iambic foot in the beginning of the line."--_Ib._ These verses, all but the last one, unquestionably have an iambic foot at the beginning; and, for that reason, they are not, and by no measurement can be, dactylics. The last one is purely anapestic. All the divisional bars, in either example, are placed wrong. ORDER V.--COMPOSITE VERSE. Composite verse is that which consists of various metres, or different feet, combined,--not accidentally, or promiscuously, but by design, and with some regularity. In Composite verse, of any form, the stress must be laid rhythmically, as in the simple orders, else the composition will be nothing better than unnatural prose. The possible variety of combinations in this sort of numbers is unlimited; but, the pure and simple kinds being generally preferred, any stated mixture of feet is comparatively uncommon. Certain forms which may be scanned by other methods, are susceptible also of division as Composites. Hence there cannot be an exact enumeration of the measures of this order, but instances, as they occur, may be cited to exemplify it. _Example I.--From Swift's Irish Feast_. "O'Rourk's | noble fare | will ne'er | be forgot, By those | who were there, | or those | who were not. His rev |-els to keep, | we sup | and we dine On sev |-en score sheep, | fat bul |-locks, and swine. Usquebaugh | to our feast | in pails | was brought up, An hun |-dred at least, | and a mad |-der our cup. O there | is the sport! | we rise | with the light, In disor |-derly sort, | from snor |-ing all night. O how | was I trick'd! | my pipe | it was broke, My pock |-et was pick'd, | I lost | my new cloak. I'm ri |-fled, quoth Nell, | of man |-tle and kerch |-_er_: Why then | fare them well, | the de'il | take the search |-_er_." _Johnson's Works of the Poets_, Vol. v, p. 310. Here the measure is tetrameter; and it seems to have been the design of the poet, that each hemistich should consist of one iamb and one anapest. Such, with a few exceptions, is the arrangement throughout the piece; but the hemistichs which have double rhyme, _may_ each be divided into two amphibrachs. In Everett's Versification, at p. 100, the first six lines of this example are broken into twelve, and set in three stanzas, being given to exemplify "_The Line of a single Anapest preceded by an Iambus_," or what he improperly calls "The first and shortest species of Anapestic lines." His other instance of the same metre is also _Composite_ verse, rather than Anapestic, even by his own showing. "In the following example," says he, "we have this measure alternating with Amphibrachic lines:" _Example II.--From Byron's Manfred._ "The Captive Usurper, Hurl'd down | from the throne. Lay buried in torpor, Forgotten and lone; I broke through his slumbers, I shiv |-er'd his chain, I leagued him with numbers-- He's Ty |-rant again! With the blood | of a mill |-ion he'll an |-swer my care, With a na |-tion's destruc |-tion--his flight | and despair." --Act ii, Sc. 3. Here the last two lines, which are not cited by Everett, are pure anapestic tetrameters; and it may be observed, that, if each two of the short lines were printed as one, the eight which are here scanned otherwise, would become four of the same sort, except that these would each begin with an iambus. Hence the specimen _sounds_ essentially as anapestic verse. _Example III.--Woman on the Field of Battle_. "Gentle and | lovely form, What didst | thou here, When the fierce | battle storm Bore down | the spear? Banner and | shiver'd crest, Beside | thee strown, Tell that a |-midst the best Thy work was done! Low lies the | stately head, Earth-bound | the free: How gave those | haughty dead A place | to thee? Slumb'rer! thine | early bier Friends should | have crown'd, Many a |flow'r and tear Shedding | around. Soft voices, | dear and young, Mingling | their swell, Should o'er thy | dust have sung Earth's last | farewell. Sisters a |-bove the grave Of thy | repose Should have bid | vi'lets wave With the | white rose. Now must the | trumpet's note. Savage | and shrill, For requi'm | o'er thee float, Thou fair | and still! And the swift | charger sweep, In full | career, Trampling thy | place of sleep-- Why cam'st | thou here? Why?--Ask the | true heart why Woman | hath been Ever, where | brave men die, Unshrink |-ing seen. Unto this | harvest ground, Proud reap |-ers came, Some for that | stirring sound, A warr |-ior's name: Some for the | stormy play, And joy | of strife, And some to | fling away A wea |-ry life. But thou, pale | sleeper, thou, With the | slight frame, And the rich | locks, whose glow Death can |-not tame; Only one | thought, one pow'r, _Thee_ could | have led, So through the | tempest's hour To lift | thy head! Only the | true, the strong, The love | whose trust Woman's deep | soul too long Pours on | the dust." HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 157. Here are fourteen stanzas of composite dimeter, each having two sorts of lines; the first sort consisting, with a few exceptions, of a dactyl and an amphimac; the second, mostly, of two iambs; but, in some instances, of a trochee and an iamb;--the latter being, in such a connexion, much the more harmonious and agreeable combination of quantities. _Example IV.--Airs from a "Serenata."_ Air 1. "Love sounds | the alarm, And fear | is a-fly~ing; When beau |-ty's the prize, What mor |-tal fears dy |-~ing? In defence | of my treas |-~ure, I'd bleed | at each vein; Without | her no pleas |-ure; For life | is a pain." Air 2. "Consid |-er, fond shep |-h~erd, How fleet |-ing's the pleas |-~ure, That flat |-ters our hopes In pursuit | of the fair: The joys | that attend | ~it, By mo |-ments we meas |-~ure; But life | is too lit |-tle To meas |-ure our care." GAY'S POEMS: _Johnson's Works of the Poets_, VoL vii, p. 378. These verses are essentially either anapestic or amphibrachic. The anapest divides two of them in the middle; the amphibrach will so divide eight. But either division will give many iambs. By the present scansion, the _first foot_ is an iamb in all of them but the two anapestics. _Example V.--"The Last Leaf."_ 1. "I saw | him once | before As he pass |-~ed by | the door, And again The pave |-ment stones | resound As he tot |-ters o'er | the ground With his cane. 2. They say | that in | his prime, Ere the prun |-ing knife of Time Cut him down, Not a bet |-ter man | was found By the cri |-er on | his round Through the town. 3. But now | he walks | the streets, And he looks | at all | he meets So forlorn; And he shakes | his fee |-ble head, That it seems | as if | he said, They are gone. 4. The mos |-sy mar |-bles rest On the lips | that he | has press'd In their bloom; And the names | he lov'd | to hear Have been carv'd | for man |-y a year On the tomb. 5. My grand |-mamma | has said,-- Poor old La |-dy! she | is dead Long ago,-- That he had | a Ro |-man nose, And his cheek | was like | a rose In the snow. 6. But now | his nose | is thin, And it rests | upon | his chin Like a staff; And a crook | is in | his back And a mel |-anchol |-y crack In his laugh. 7. I know | it is | a sin For me [thus] | to sit | and grin At him here; But the old | three-cor |-ner'd hat, And the breech |-es, and | all that, Are so queer! 8. And if I | should live | to be The last leaf | upon | the tree In the spring,-- Let them smile, | as I | do now, At the old | forsak |-en bough Where I cling." OLIVER W. HOLMES: _The Pioneer_, 1843, p. 108. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Composite verse, especially if the lines be short, is peculiarly liable to uncertainty, and diversity of scansion; and that which does not always abide by one chosen order of quantities, can scarcely be found agreeable; it must be more apt to puzzle than to please the reader. The eight stanzas of this last example, have eight lines of _iambic trimeter_; and, since seven times in eight, this metre holds the first place in the stanza, it is a double fault, that one such line seems strayed from its proper position. It would be better to prefix the word _Now_ to the fourth line, and to mend the forty-third thus:-- "And should | I live | to be"-- The trissyllabic feet of this piece, as I scan it, are numerous; being the sixteen short lines of monometer, and the twenty-four initial feet of the lines of seven syllables. Every one of the forty--(except the thirty-sixth, "_The_ last leaf"--) begins with a monosyllable which may be varied in quantity; so that, with stress laid on this monosyllable, the foot becomes an _amphimac_; without such stress, an _anapest_. OBS. 2.--I incline to read this piece as composed of iambs and anapests; but E. A. Poe, who has commended "the effective harmony of these lines," and called the example "an excellently well conceived and well managed specimen of versification," counts many syllables long, which such a reading makes short, and he also divides all but the iambics in a way quite different from mine, thus: "Let us scan the first stanza. 'I s=aw | h~im =once | b~ef=ore As h~e | p=ass~ed | b=y th~e | d=oor, And ~a- | g=ain Th~e p=ave- | m~ent st=ones | r~es=ound As h~e | t=ott~ers | =o'er th~e | gr=ound W=ith h~is c=ane.' This," says he, "is the general scansion of the poem. We have first three iambuses. The second line shifts the _rhythm_ into the _trochaic_, giving us three trochees, with a caesura equivalent, in this case, to a trochee. The third line is a trochee and equivalent caesura."--POE'S NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE: _Pioneer_, p. 109. These quantities are the same as those by which the whole piece is made to consist of iambs and amphimacs. OBS. 3.--In its _rhythmical effect_ upon the ear, a supernumerary short syllable at the end of a line, may sometimes, perhaps, compensate for the want of such a syllable at the beginning of the next line, as may be seen in the fourth example above; but still it is unusual, and seems improper, to suppose such syllables to belong to the scansion of the subsequent line; for the division of lines, with their harmonic pauses, is greater than the division of feet, and implies that no foot can ever actually be split by it. Poe has suggested that the division into lines may be disregarded in scanning, and sometimes must be. He cites for an example the beginning of Byron's "Bride of Abydos,"--a passage which has been admired for its easy flow, and which, he says, has greatly puzzled those who have attempted to scan it. Regarding it as essentially anapestic tetrameter, yet as having some initial iambs, and the first and fifth lines dactylic, I shall here divide it accordingly, thus:-- "Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and wh~ere th~e | c=ypr~ess ~and | m=yrtl~e Ar~e =em | -bl~ems ~of d=eeds | th~at ~are d=one | ~in th~eir cl=ime-- Where the rage | of the vul | -ture, the love | of the tur | -tle, Now melt | into soft | -ness, now mad | -den to crime? Know ye the | land of the | cedar and | vine. Where the flow'rs | ever blos | -som, the beams | ever shine, And the light | wings of Zeph | -yr, oppress'd | with perfume, Wax faint | o'er the gar | -dens of Gul | in her bloom? Where the cit | -ron and ol | -ive are fair | -est of fruit, And the voice | of the night | -ingale nev | -er is mute? Where the vir | -gins are soft as the ros | -es they twine, And all, | save the spir | -it of man, | is divine? 'Tis the land | of the East- | 't is the clime | of the Sun-- Can he smile | on such deeds | as his chil | -dren have done? Oh, wild | as the ac | -cents of lov | -ers' farewell, Are the hearts | that they bear, | and the tales | that they tell." OBS. 4.--These lines this ingenious prosodist divides not thus, but, throwing them together like prose unpunctuated, finds in them "a regular succession of _dactylic rhythms_, varied only at three points by equivalent _spondees_, and separated into two distinct divisions by equivalent terminating _caesuras_." He imagines that, "By all who have ears--not over long--this will be acknowledged as the true and the sole true scansion."--_E. A. Poe: Pioneer_, p. 107. So it may, for aught I know; but, having dared to show there is an other way quite as simple and plain, and less objectionable, I submit both to the judgement of the reader:-- "Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and wh~ere th~e | c=ypr~ess ~and | m=yrtl~e ~are | =embl~ems ~of | d=eeds th~at ~are | d=one ~in th~eir | cl=ime wh~ere th~e | r=age ~of th~e | v=ult~ure th~e | l=ove ~of th~e | t=urtl~e n~ow | m=elt ~int~o | s=oftn~ess n~ow | madd~en t~o | _crime_. Kn=ow y~e th~e | l=and ~of th~e | c=ed~ar ~and | v=ine wh~ere th~e | fl=ow'rs ~ev~er | bl=oss~om th~e | b=eams ~ev~er | sh=ine wh~ere th=e | l=ight w~ings =of | z=eph=yr ~op | -pr=ess'd w~ith p~er | -_f=ume w=ax_ | f=aint ~o'er th~e | g=ard~ens ~of | G=ul ~in h~er | bl=oom wh~ere th~e | c=itr~on ~and | =oli~ve ~are | f=air~est ~of | fr=uit ~and th~e | v=oice ~of th~e | n=ight~ing~ale | n=ev~er ~is | m=ute wh~ere th~e | v=irg~ins ~are | s=oft ~as th~e | r=os~es th~ey | _tw=ine =and_ | =all s~ave th~e | sp=ir~it ~of | m=an ~is d~i- | v=ine 't~is th~e | l=and ~of th~e | E=ast 't~is th~e | cl=im~e ~of th~e | S=un c~an h~e | sm=ile ~on s~uch | d=eeds ~as h~is | ch=ildr~en h~ave | _d~one =oh_ w=ild ~as th~e | =acc~ents ~of | l=ov~ers' f~are- | w=ell ~are th~e | h=earts th~at th~ey | be=ar and th~e | t=ales th~at th~ey | _t=ell_."--_Ib._ OBS. 5.--In the sum and proportion of their quantities, the anapest, the dactyl, and the amphibrach, are equal, each having two syllables short to one long; and, with two short quantities between two long ones, lines may be tolerably accordant in rhythm, though the order, at the commencement, be varied, and their number of syllables be not equal. Of the following sixteen lines, nine are pure anapestic tetrameters; one _may_ be reckoned dactylic, but it may quite as well be said to have a trochee, an iambus, and two anapests or two amphimacs; one is a spondee and three anapests; and the rest _may_ be scanned as amphibrachics ending with an iambus, but are more properly anapestics commencing with an iambus. Like the preceding example from Byron, they lack the uniformity of proper composites, and are rather to be regarded as anapestics irregularly diversified. THE ALBATROSS. "'Tis said the Albatross never rests."--_Buffon_. "Wh~ere th~e f=ath | -~oml~ess w=aves | in magnif | -icence toss, H=omel~ess | ~and h=igh | soars the wild | Albatross; Unwea | -ried, undaunt | -ed, unshrink | -ing, alone, The o | -cean his em | -pire, the tem | -pest his throne. When the ter | -rible whirl | -wind raves wild | o'er the surge, And the hur | -ricane howls | out the mar | -iner's dirge, In thy glo | -ry thou spurn | -est the dark | -heaving sea, Pr=oud b=ird | of the o | -cean-world, home | -less and free. When the winds | are at rest, | and the sun | in his glow, And the glit | -tering tide | sleeps in beau | -ty below, In the pride | of thy pow | -er trium | -phant above, With thy mate | thou art hold | -ing thy rev | -els of love. Untir | -ed, unfet | -tered, unwatched, | unconfined, Be my spir | -it like thee, | in the world | of the mind; No lean | -ing for earth, | e'er to wea | -ry its flight, And fresh | as thy pin | -ions in re | -gions of light." SAMUEL DALY LANGTREE: _North American Reader_, p. 443. OBS. 6.--It appears that the most noted measures of the Greek and Latin poets were not of any simple order, but either composites, or mixtures too various to be called composites. It is not to be denied, that we have much difficulty in reading them rhythmically, according to their stated feet and scansion; and so we should have, in reading our own language rhythmically, in any similar succession of feet. Noticing this in respect to the Latin Hexameter, or Heroic verse, Poe says, "Now the discrepancy in question is not observable in English metres; where the scansion coincides with the reading, _so far as the rhythm is concerned_--that is to say, if we pay no attention to the _sense_ of the passage. But these facts indicate _a radical difference_ in the genius of the two languages, as regards their capacity for modulation. In truth, * * * the Latin is a far more _stately_ tongue than our own. It is essentially spondaic; the English is as essentially dactylic."--_Pioneer_, p. 110. (See the marginal note in Sec.3d. at Obs. 22d, above.) Notwithstanding this difference, discrepance, or difficulty, whatever it may be, some of our poets have, in a few instances, attempted imitations of certain Latin metres; which imitations it may be proper briefly to notice under the present head. The Greek or Latin Hexameter line has, of course, six feet, or pulsations. According to the Prosodies, the first four of these may be either dactyls or spondees; the fifth is always, or nearly always, a dactyl; and the sixth, or last, is always a spondee: as, "L=ud~er~e | qu=ae v=el | -l=em c~al~a | -m=o p=er | -m=is~it ~a | -gr=est=i."--_Virg._ "Inf=an- | d=um, R=e | -g=in~a, j~u | -b=es r~en~o | -v=ar~e d~o | -l=or=em."--_Id._ Of this sort of verse, in English, somebody has framed the following very fair example:-- "M=an ~is ~a | c=ompl=ex, | c=omp=ound | c=omp=ost, | y=et ~is h~e | G=od-b=orn." OBS. 7.--Of this species of versification, which may be called Mixed or Composite Hexameter, the most considerable specimen that I have seen in English, is Longfellow's Evangeline, a poem of one thousand three hundred and eighty-two of these long lines, or verses. This work has found admirers, and not a few; for, of these, nothing written by so distinguished a scholar could fail: but, surely, not many of the verses in question exhibit truly the feet of the ancient Hexameters; or, if they do, the ancients contented themselves with very imperfect rhythms, even in their noblest heroics. In short, I incline to the opinion of Poe, that, "Nothing less than the deservedly high reputation of Professor Longfellow, could have sufficed to give currency to his lines as to Greek Hexameters. In general, they are neither one thing nor another. Some few of them are dactylic verses--English dactylics. But do away with the division into lines, and the most astute critic would never have suspected them of any thing more than prose."--_Pioneer_, p. 111. The following are the last ten lines of the volume, with such a division into feet as the poet is presumed to have contemplated:-- "Still stands the | forest pri | -meval; but | under the | shade of its | branches Dwells an | -other | race, with | other | customs and | language. Only a | -long the | shore of the | mournful and | misty At | -lantic Linger a | few A | -cadian | peasants, whose | fathers from | exile Wandered | back to their | native | land to | die in its | bosom. In the | fisherman's | cot the | wheel and the | loom are still | busy; Maidens still | wear their | Norman | caps and their | kirtles of | homespun, And by the | evening | fire re | -peat E | -vangeline's story, While from its | rocky | caverns the | deep-voiced, | neighbouring | ocean Speaks, and in | accents dis | -consolate | answers the | wail of the | forest." HENRY W. LONGFELLOW: _Evangeline_, p. 162. OBS. 8.--An other form of verse, common to the Greeks and Romans, which has sometimes been imitated--or, rather, which some writers have _attempted to imitate_--in English, is the line or stanza called Sapphic, from the inventress, Sappho, a Greek poetess. The Sapphic verse, according to Fabricius, Smetius, and all good authorities, has eleven syllables, making "five feet--the first a trochee, the second a spondee, the third a dactyl, and the fourth and fifth trochees." The Sapphic stanza, or what is sometimes so called, consists of three Sapphic lines and an Adonian, or Adonic,--this last being a short line composed of "a dactyl and a spondee." Example from Horace:-- "=Int~e | -g=er v=i | -tae, sc~el~e | -r=isqu~e | p=ur~us Non e | -get Mau | -ri jacu | -lis ne | -qu' arcu, Nec ven | -ena | -tis gravi | -da sa | -gittis, Fusce, pha | -retra." To arrange eleven syllables in a line, and have half or more of them to form trochees, is no difficult matter; but, to find _rhythm_ in the succession of "a trochee, a spondee, and a dactyl," as we read words, seems hardly practicable. Hence few are the English Sapphics, if there be any, which abide by the foregoing formule of quantities and feet. Those which I have seen, are generally, if not in every instance, susceptible of a more natural scansion as being composed of trochees, with a dactyl, or some other foot of three syllables, at the _beginning_ of each line. The caesural pause falls sometimes after the fourth syllable, but more generally, and much more agreeably, after the fifth. Let the reader inspect the following example, and see if he do not agree with me in laying the accent on only the first syllable of each foot, as the feet are here divided. The accent, too, must be carefully laid. Without considerable care in the reading, the hearer will not suppose the composition to be any thing but prose:-- "THE WIDOW."--(IN "SAPPHICS.") "Cold was the | night-wind, | drifting | fast the | snow fell, Wide were the | downs, and | shelter | -less and | naked, When a poor | Wanderer | struggled | on her | journey, Weary and | way-sore. Drear were the | downs, more | dreary | her re | -flections; Cold was the | night-wind, | colder | was her | bosom; She had no | home, the | world was | all be | -fore her; She had no | shelter. Fast o'er the | heath a | chariot | rattlee | by her; 'Pity me!' | feebly | cried the | lonely | wanderer; 'Pity me, | strangers! | lest, with | cold and | hunger, Here I should | perish. 'Once I had | friends,--though | now by | all for | -saken! 'Once I had | parents, | --they are | now in | heaven! 'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband-- Pity me, | strangers! 'I had a | home once, | --I had | once a | husband-- 'I am a | widow, | poor and | broken | -hearted!' Loud blew the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining; On drove the | chariot. Then on the | snow she | laid her | down to | rest her; She heard a | horseman; | 'Pity | me!' she | groan'd out; Loud was the | wind; un | -heard was | her com | -plaining; On went the | horseman. Worn out with | anguish, | toil, and | cold, and | hunger, Down sunk the | Wanderer; | sleep had | seized her | senses; There did the | traveller | find her | in the | morning; God had re | -leased her." ROBERT SOUTHEY: _Poems_, Philad., 1843, p. 251. Among the lyric poems of Dr. Watts, is one, entitled, "THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; _an Ode attempted in English Sapphic_." It is perhaps as good an example as we have of the species. It consists of nine stanzas, of which I shall here cite the first three, dividing them into feet as above:-- "When the fierce | North Wind, | with his | airy | forces, Rears up the | Baltic | to a | foaming | fury; And the red | lightning | with a | storm of | hail comes Rushing a | -main down; How the poor | sailors | stand a | -maz'd and | tremble! While the hoarse | thunder, | like a bloody | trumpet, Roars a loud | onset | to the | gaping | waters, Quick to de | -vour them. Such shall the | noise be, | and the | wild dis | -order, (If things e | -ternal | may be | like these | earthly,) Such the dire | terror, | when the | great Arch | -angel Shakes the cre | -ation."--_Horae Lyricae_, p. 67. "These lines," says Humphrey, who had cited the first four, "are good English Sapphics, and contain the essential traits of the original as nearly as the two languages, Greek and English, correspond to each other. This stanza, together with the poem, from which this was taken, may stand for a model, in our English compositions."--_Humphrey's E. Prosody_, p. 19. This author erroneously supposed, that the trissyllabic foot, in any line of the Sapphic stanza, must occupy the second place: and, judging of the ancient feet and quantities by what he found, or supposed he found, in the English imitations, and not by what the ancient prosodists say of them, yet knowing that the ancient and the modern Sapphics are in several respects unlike, he presented forms of scansion for both, which are not only peculiar to himself, but not well adapted to either. "We have," says he, "no established rule for this kind of verse, in our English compositions, which has been uniformly adhered to. The rule for which, in Greek and Latin verse, _as far as I can ascertain_, was this: = ~ | = = = | ~ ~ |= ~ | = = a trochee, a _moloss_, a _pyrrhic_, a trochee, and [a] _spondee_; and _sometimes, occasionally_, a trochee, instead of a spondee, at the end. But as our language is not favourable to the use of the spondee and moloss, the moloss is seldom or never used in our English Sapphics; but, instead of which, some other _trissyllable_ foot is used. Also, instead of the spondee, a trochee is commonly used; and sometimes a trochee instead of the pyrrhic, in the third place. As some prescribed rule, or model for imitation, may be necessary, in this case, I will cite a stanza from one of our best English poets, which may serve for a model. 'Wh=en th~e | fi=erce n=orth-w~ind, | w~ith h~is | =air~y | f=orc~es [,] R=ears ~up | th~e B=alt~ic | t~o ~a | f=oam~ing | f=ur~y; And th~e | r=ed l=ightn~ing | w~ith ~a | st=orm ~of | h=ail c~omes R=ush~ing | ~am=ain d=own.'--Watts."--_Ib._, p. 19. OBS. 12.--In "the Works of George Canning," a small book published in 1829, there is a poetical dialogue of nine stanzas, entitled, "The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder," said to be "a burlesque on Mr. Southey's Sapphics." The metre appears to be near enough like to the foregoing. But these verses I divide, as I have divided the others, into trochees with initial dactyls. At the commencement, the luckier party salutes the other thus:-- "'Needy knife | -grinder! | whither | are you | going? Rough is the | road, your | wheel is | out of | order-- Bleak blows the | blast;--your | hat has | got a | hole in't, So have your | breeches! 'Weary knife | -grinder! | little | think the | proud ones Who in their | coaches | roll a | -long the | turnpike-- Road, what hard | work 'tis, | crying | all day, | 'Knives and Scissors to | grind O!'"--P. 44. OBS. 13.--Among the humorous poems of Thomas Green Fessenden, published under the sobriquet of Dr. Caustic, or "Christopher Caustic, M. D.," may be seen an other comical example of Sapphics, which extends to eleven stanzas. It describes a contra-dance, and is entitled, "Horace Surpassed." The conclusion is as follows:-- "Willy Wagnimble dancing with Flirtilla, Almost as light as air-balloon inflated, Rigadoons around her, 'till the lady's heart is Forced to surrender. Benny Bamboozle cuts the drollest capers, Just like a camel, or a hippopot'mus; Jolly Jack Jumble makes as big a rout as Forty Dutch horses. See Angelina lead the mazy dance down; Never did fairy trip it so fantastic; How my heart flutters, while my tongue pronounces, 'Sweet little seraph!' Such are the joys that flow from contra-dancing, Pure as the primal happiness of Eden, Love, mirth, and music, kindle in accordance Raptures extatic."--_Poems_, p. 208. SECTION V.--ORAL EXERCISES. IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE. LESSON I.--RESTORE THE RHYTHM. "The lion is laid down in his lair."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 134. [FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word "_lion_," here put for Cowper's word "_beast_" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But, according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm--language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and, to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The _beast_ is laid down in his lair."--_Cowper's Poems_, Vol. i, p. 201.] "Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me." --_Hallock's Gram._, 1842, p. 66. "Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?" --_Frazee's Gram._, 1845, p. 140. "It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well." --_Wells's Gram._, 1846, p. 122. "Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed." --_Ib._, p. 195; _Hiley_, 132; _Hart_, 179. "Rapt in future times, the bard begun." --_Wells's Gram._, 1846, p. 153. "Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens To wash it white as snow? Whereunto serves mercy, But to confront the visage of offence!" --_Hallock's Gram._, 1842, p. 118. "Look! in this place ran Cassius's dagger through." --_Kames, El. of Cr._, Vol. i, p. 74. "----When they list their lean and flashy songs, Harsh grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw." --_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 135. "Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake?" --_Dodd's Beauties of Shak._, p. 253. "Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?" --_Singer's Shakspeare_, Vol. ii, p. 266. "May I, unblam'd, express thee? Since God is light." --_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 290. "Or hearest thou, rather, pure ethereal stream!" --_2d Perversion, ib._ "Republics; kingdoms; empires, may decay; Princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought." --_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 287. "Thou bringest, gay creature as thou art, A solemn image to my heart." --_E. J. Hallock's Gram._, p. 197. "Know thyself presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is Man." --_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 285. "Raised on a hundred pilasters of gold." --_Charlemagne_, C. i, St. 40. "Love in Adalgise's breast has fixed his sting." --_Ib._, C. i, St. 30. "Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, February twenty-eight alone, All the rest thirty and one." _Colet's Grammar, or Paul's Accidence_. Lond., 1793, p. 75. LESSON II.--RESTORE THE RHYTHM. "'Twas not the fame of what he once had been, Or tales in old records and annals seen." --_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i, l. 274. "And Asia now and Afric are explor'd, For high-priced dainties, and citron board." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 311. "Who knows not, how the trembling judge beheld The peaceful court with arm'd legions fill'd?" --_Eng. Poets; ib._, B. i, l. 578. "With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er, With thee burning Libyan sands explore." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 661. "Hasty and headlong different paths they tread, As blind impulse and wild distraction lead." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. i, l. 858. "But Fate reserv'd to perform its doom, And be the minister of wrath to Rome." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 136. "Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus exprest The sacred counsels of his most inmost breast." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 435. "These were the strict manners of the man, And this the stubborn course in which they ran; The golden mean unchanging to pursue, Constant to keep the proposed end in view." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 580. "What greater grief can a Roman seize, Than to be forc'd to live on terms like these!" --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 782. "He views the naked town with joyful eyes, While from his rage an arm'd people flies." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 880. "For planks and beams he ravages the wood, And the tough bottom extends across the flood." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 1040. "A narrow pass the horned mole divides, Narrow as that where Euripus' strong tides Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. ii, l. 1095. "No force, no fears their hands unarm'd bear, But looks of peace and gentleness they wear." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. iii, l. 112. "The ready warriors all aboard them ride, And wait the return of the retiring tide." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. iv, l. 716. "He saw those troops that long had faithful stood, Friends to his cause, and enemies to good, Grown weary of their chief, and satiated with blood." --_Eng. Poets: ib._, B. v, l. 337. CHAPTER V.--QUESTIONS. ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION. PART FOURTH, PROSODY. [Fist][The following questions call the attention of the student to the main doctrines in the foregoing code of Prosody, and embrace or demand those facts which it is most important for him to fix in his memory; they may, therefore, serve not only to aid the teacher in the process of examining his classes, but also to direct the learner in his manner of preparation for recital.] LESSON I.--OF PUNCTUATION. 1. Of what does Prosody treat? 2. What is _Punctuation?_ 3. What are the principal points, or marks? 4. What pauses are denoted by the first four points? 5. What pauses are required by the other four? 6. What is the general use of the Comma? 7. How many rules for the Comma are there, and what are their heads? 8. What says Rule 1st of _Simple Sentences?_ 9. What says Rule 2d of _Simple Members?_ 10. What says Rule 3d of _More than Two Words?_ 11. What says Rule 4th of _Only Two Words?_ 12. What says Rule 5th of _Words in Pairs?_ 13. What says Rule 6th of _Words put Absolute?_ 14. What says Rule 7th of _Words in Apposition?_ 15. What says Rule 8th of _Adjectives?_ 16. What says Rule 9th of _Finite Verbs?_ 17. What says Rule 10th of _Infinitives?_ 18. What says Rule 11th of _Participles?_ 19. What says Rule 12th of _Adverbs?_ 20. What says Rule 13th of _Conjunctions?_ 21. What says Rule 14th of _Prepositions?_ 22. What says Rule 15th of _Interjections?_ 23. What says Rule 16th of _Words Repeated?_ 24. What says Rule 17th of _Dependent Quotations?_ LESSON II.--OF THE COMMA. 1. How many exceptions, or forms of exception, are there to Rule 1st for the comma? 2.--to Rule 2d? 3.--to Rule 3d? 4.--to Rule 4th? 5.--to Rule 5th? 6.--to Rule 6th? 7.--to Rule 7th? 8.--to Rule 8th? 9.--to Rule 9th? 10.--to Rule 10th? 11.--to Rule 11th? 12.--to Rule 12th? 13.--to Rule 13th? 14.--to Rule 14th? 15.--to Rule 15th? 16.--to Rule 16th? 17.--to Rule 17th? 18. What says the Exception to Rule 1st of a _Long Simple Sentence?_ 19. What says Exception 1st to Rule 2d of _Restrictive Relatives?_ 20. What says Exception 2d to Rule 2d of _Short Terms closely Connected?_ 21. What says Exception 3d to Rule 2d of _Elliptical Members United?_ 22. What says Exception 1st to Rule 4th of _Two Words with Adjuncts?_ 23. What says Exception 2d to Rule 4th of _Two Terms Contrasted?_ 24. What says Exception 3d to Rule 4th of a mere _Alternative of Words?_ 25. What says Exception 4th to Rule 4th of _Conjunctions Understood?_ LESSON III.--OF THE COMMA. 1. What rule speaks of the separation of _Words in Apposition?_ 2. What says Exception 1st to Rule 7th of _Complex Names?_ 3. What says Exception 2d to Rule 7th of _Close Apposition?_ 4. What says Exception 3d to Rule 7th of _a Pronoun without a Pause?_ 5. What says Exception 4th to Rule 7th of _Names Acquired?_ 6. What says the Exception to Rule 8th of _Adjectives Restrictive?_ 7. What is the rule which speaks of a finite _Verb Understood?_ 8. What says the Exception to Rule 9th of a _Very Slight Pause?_ 9. What is the Rule for the pointing of _Participles?_ 10. What says the Exception to Rule 11th of _Participles Restrictive?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Comma in Section First.] LESSON IV.--OF THE SEMICOLON. 1. What is the general use of the Semicolon? 2. How many rules are there for the Semicolon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Complex Members?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Simple Members?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Apposition, &c.?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Semicolon in Section Second.] LESSON V.--OF THE COLON. 1. What is the general use of the Colon? 2. How many rules are there for the Colon? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Additional Remarks?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Greater Pauses?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Independent Quotations?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Colon in Section Third.] LESSON VI.--OF THE PERIOD. 1. What is the general use of the Period? 2. How many rules are there for the Period? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Distinct Sentences?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Allied Sentences?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Abbreviations?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Period in Section Fourth.] LESSON VII.--OF THE DASH. 1. What is the general use of the Dash? 2. How many rules are there for the Dash? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Abrupt Pauses?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Emphatic Pauses?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Faulty Dashes?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Dash in Section Fifth.] LESSON VIII.--OF THE EROTEME. 1. What is the use of the Eroteme, or Note of Interrogation? 2. How many rules are there for this mark? 3. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Questions Direct?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Questions United?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Questions Indirect?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Eroteme in Section Sixth.] LESSON IX--OF THE ECPHONEME. 1. What is the use of the Ecphoneme, or Note of Exclamation? 2. How many rules are there for this mark? 2. What are their heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _Interjections?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Invocations?_ 6. What says Rule 3d of _Exclamatory Questions?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Ecphoneme in Section Seventh.] LESSON X.--OF THE CURVES. 1. What is the use of the Curves, or Marks of Parenthesis? 2. How many rules are there for the Curves? 3. What are their titles, or heads? 4. What says Rule 1st of _the Parenthesis?_ 5. What says Rule 2d of _Included Points?_ [Now, if you please, you may correct orally, according to the formules given, some or all of the various examples of _False Punctuation_, which are arranged under the rules for the Curves in Section Eighth.] LESSON XI.--OF THE OTHER MARKS. 1. What is the use of the Apostrophe? 2. What is the use of the Hyphen? 3. What is the use of the Diaeresis, or Dialysis? 4. What is the use of the Acute Accent? 5. What is the use of the Grave Accent? 6. What is the use of the Circumflex? 7. What is the use of the Breve, or Stenotone? 8. What is the use of the Macron, or Macrotone? 9. What is the use of the Ellipsis, or Suppression? 10. What is the use of the Caret? 11. What is the use of the Brace? 12. What is the use of the Section? 13. What is the use of the Paragraph? 14. What is the use of the Guillemets, or Quotation Points? 15. How do we mark a quotation within a quotation? 16. What is the use of the Crotchets, or Brackets? 17. What is the use of the Index, or Hand? 18. What are the six Marks of Reference in their usual order? 19. How can references be otherwise made? 20. What is the use of the Asterism, or the Three Stars? 21. What is the use of the Cedilla? [Having correctly answered the foregoing questions, the pupil should be taught to apply the principles of punctuation; and, for this purpose, he may be required to read a portion of some accurately pointed book, or may be directed to turn to the _Fourteenth Praxis_, beginning on p. 821,--and to assign a reason for every mark he finds.] LESSON XII.--OF UTTERANCE. 1. What is _Utterance?_ 2. What does it include? 3. What is articulation? 4. How does articulation differ from pronunciation? 5. How does Comstock define it? 6. What, in his view, is a good articulation? 7. How does Bolles define articulation? 8. Is a good articulation important? 9. What are the faults opposite to it? 10. What says Sheridan, of a good articulation? 11. Upon what does distinctness depend? 13. Why is just articulation better than mere loudness? 13. Do we learn to articulate in learning to speak or read? LESSON XIII.--OF PRONUNCIATION. 1. What is pronunciation? 2. What is it that is called _Orthoepy?_ 3. What knowledge does pronunciation require? 4. What are the just powers of the letters? 5. How are these learned? 6. Are the just powers of the letters in any degree variable? 7. What is quantity? 8. Are all long syllables equally long, and all short ones equally short? 9. What has stress of voice to do with quantity? 10. What is accent? 11. Is every word accented? 12. Do we ever lay two equal accents on one word? 13. Have we more than one sort of accent? 14. Can any word have the secondary accent, and not the primary? 15. Can monosyllables have either? 16. What regulates accent? 17. What four things distinguish the elegant speaker? LESSON XIV.--OF ELOCUTION. 1. What is elocution? 2. What does elocution require? 3. What is emphasis? 4. What comparative view is taken of accent and emphasis? 5. How does L. Murray connect emphasis with quantity? 6. Does emphasis ever affect accent? 7. What is the guide to a right emphasis? 8. Can one read with too many emphases? 9. What are pauses? 10. How many and what kinds of pauses are there? 11. What is said of the duration of pauses, and the taking of breath? 12. After what manner should pauses be made? 13. What pauses are particularly ungraceful? 14. What is said of rhetorical pauses? 15. How are the harmonic pauses divided? 16. Are such pauses essential to verse? LESSON XV.--OF ELOCUTION. 17. What are inflections? 18. What is called the rising or upward inflection? 19. What is called the falling or downward inflection? 20. How are these inflections exemplified? 21. How are they used in asking questions? 22. What is said of the notation of them? 23. What constitutes a circumflex? 24. What constitutes the rising, and what the falling, circumflex? 25. Can you give examples? 26. What constitutes a monotone, in elocution? 27. Which kind of inflection is said to be most common? 28. Which is the best adapted to strong emphasis? 29. What says Comstock of rules for inflections? 30. Is the voice to be varied for variety's sake? 31. What should regulate the inflections? 32. What is cadence? 33. What says Rippingham about it? 34. What says Murray? 35. What are tones? 36. Why do they deserve particular attention? 37. What says Blair about tones? 38. What says Hiley? LESSON XVI.--OF FIGURES. 1. What is a _Figure_ in grammar? 2. How many kinds of figures are there? 3. What is a figure of orthography? 4. What are the principal figures of orthography? 5. What is Mimesis? 6. What is an Archaism? 7. What is a figure of etymology? 8. How many and what are the figures of etymology? 9. What is Aphaeresis? 10. What is Prosthesis? 11. What is Syncope? 12. What is Apocope? 13. What is Paragoge? 14. What is Diaeresis? 15. What is Synaeresis? 16. What is Tmesis? 17. What is a figure of syntax? 18. How many and what are the figures of syntax? 19. What is Ellipsis, in grammar? 20. Are sentences often elliptical? 21. What parts of speech can be omitted, by ellipsis? 22. What is Pleonasm? 23. When is this figure allowable? 24. What is Syllepsis? 25. What is Enallage? 26. What is Hyperbaton? 27. What is said of this figure? LESSON XVII.--OF FIGURES. 28. What is a figure of rhetoric? 29. What peculiar name have some of these? 30. Do figures of rhetoric often occur? 31. On what are they founded? 32. How many and what are the principal figures of rhetoric? 33. What is a Simile? 34. What is a Metaphor? 35. What is an Allegory? 36. What is a Metonymy? 37. What is Synecdoche? 38. What is Hyperbole? 39. What is Vision? 40. What is Apostrophe? 41. What is Personification? 42. What is Erotesis? 43. What is Ecphonesis? 44. What is Antithesis? 45. What is Climax? 46. What is Irony? 47. What is Apophasis, or Paralipsis? 48. What is Onomatopoeia? [Now, if you please, you may examine the quotations adopted for the _Fourteenth Praxis_, and may name and define the various figures of grammar which are contained therein.] LESSON XVIII.--OF VERSIFICATION. 1. What is _Versification_? 2. What is verse, as distinguished from prose? 3. What is the rhythm of verse? 4. What is the quantity of a syllable? 5. How are poetic quantities denominated? 6. How are they proportioned? 7. What quantity coincides with accent or emphasis? 8. On what but the vowel sound does quantity depend? 9. Does syllabic quantity always follow the quality of the vowels? 10. Where is quantity variable, and where fixed, in English? 11. What is rhyme? 12. What is blank verse? 13. What is remarked concerning the rhyming syllables? 14. What is a stanza? 15. What uniformity have stanzas? 16. What variety have they? LESSON XIX.--OF VERSIFICATION. 17. Of what does a verse consist? 18. Of what does a poetic foot consist? 19. How many feet do prosodists recognize? 20. What are the principal feet in English? 21. What is an Iambus? 22. What is a Trochee? 23. What is an Anapest? 24. What is a Dactyl? 25. Why are these feet principal? 26. What orders of verse arise from these? 27. Are these kinds to be kept separate? 28. What is said of the secondary feet? 29. How many and what secondary feet are explained in this code? 30. What is a Spondee? 31. What is a Pyrrhic? 32. What is a Moloss? 33. What is a Tribrach? 34. What is an Amphibrach? 35. What is an Amphimac? 36. What is a Bacchy? 37. What is an Antibachy? 38. What is a Caesura? LESSON XX.--OF VERSIFICATION. 39. What are the principal kinds, or orders, of verse? 40. What other orders are there? 41. Does the composite order demand any uniformity? 42. Do the simple orders admit any diversity? 43. What is meant by _scanning_ or _scansion_? 44. What mean the technical words, _catalectic, acatalectic_, and _hypermeter_? 45. In scansion, why are the principal feet to be preferred to the secondary? 46. Can a single foot be a line? 47. What are the several combinations that form dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, and octometer? 48. What syllables have stress in a pure iambic line? 49. What are the several measures of iambic verse? 50. What syllables have stress in a pure trochaic line? 51. Can it be right, to regard as hypermeter the long rhyming syllables of a line? 52. Is the number of feet in a line to be generally counted by that of the long syllables? 53. What are the several measures of trochaic verse? LESSON XXI.--OF VERSIFICATION. 54. What syllables have stress in a pure anapestic line? 55. What variation may occur in the first foot? 56. Is this frequent? 57. Is it ever uniform? 58. What is the result of a uniform mixture? 59. Is the anapest adapted to single rhyme? 60. May a surplus ever make up for a deficiency? 61. Why are the anapestic measures few? 62. How many syllables are found in the longest? 63. What are the several measures of anapestic verse? 64. What syllables have stress in a pure dactylic line? 65. With what does single-rhymed dactylic end? 66. Is dactylic verse very common? 67. What are the several measures of dactylic verse? 68. What is composite verse? 69. Must composites have rhythm? 70. Are the kinds of composite verse numerous? 71. Why have we no exact enumeration of the measures of this order? 72. Does this work contain specimens of different kinds of composite verse? [It may now be required of the pupil to determine, by reading and scansion, the metrical elements of any good English poetry which may be selected for the purpose--the feet being marked by pauses, and the long syllables by stress of voice. He may also correct orally the few _Errors of Metre_ which are given in the Fifth Section of Chapter IV.] CHAPTER VI.--FOR WRITING. EXERCISES IN PROSODY. [Fist] [When the pupil can readily answer all the questions on Prosody, and apply the rules of punctuation to any composition in which the points are rightly inserted, he should _write out_ the following exercises, supplying what is required, and correcting what is amiss. Or, if any teacher choose to exercise his classes _orally_, by means of these examples, he can very well do it; because, to read words, is always easier than to write them, and even points or poetic feet may be quite as readily named as written.] EXERCISE I.--PUNCTUATION. _Copy the following sentences, and insert the_ COMMA _where it is requisite_. EXAMPLES UNDER RULE I.--OF SIMPLE SENTENCES. "The dogmatist's assurance is paramount to argument." "The whole course of his argumentation comes to nothing." "The fieldmouse builds her garner under ground." EXC.--"The first principles of almost all sciences are few." "What he gave me to publish was but a small part." "To remain insensible to such provocation is apathy." "Minds ashamed of poverty would be proud of affluence." "To be totally indifferent to praise or censure is a real defect in character."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 38. UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame." "They are gone but the remembrance of them is sweet." "He has passed it is likely through varieties of fortune." "The mind though free has a governor within itself." "They I doubt not oppose the bill on public principles." "Be silent be grateful and adore." "He is an adept in language who always speaks the truth." "The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong." EXC. I.--"He that has far to go should not hurry." "Hobbes believed the eternal truths which he opposed." "Feeble are all pleasures in which the heart has no share." "The love which survives the tomb is one of the noblest attributes of the soul."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 38. EXC. II.--"A good name is better than precious ointment." "Thinkst thou that duty shall have dread to speak?" "The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns." UNDER RULE III.--OF MORE THAN TWO WORDS. "The city army court espouse my cause." "Wars pestilences and diseases are terrible instructors." "Walk daily in a pleasant airy and umbrageous garden." "Wit spirits faculties but make it worse." "Men wives and children stare cry out and run." "Industry, honesty, and temperance are essential to happiness."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, p. 29. "Honor, affluence, and pleasure seduce the heart."--_Ib._, p. 31. UNDER RULE IV.--OF TWO TERMS CONNECTED. "Hope and fear are essentials in religion." "Praise and adoration are perfective of our souls." "We know bodies and their properties most perfectly." "Satisfy yourselves with what is rational and attainable." "Slowly and sadly we laid him down." EXC. I.--"God will rather look to the inward motions of the mind than to the outward form of the body." "Gentleness is unassuming in opinion and temperate in zeal." EXC. II.--"He has experienced prosperity and adversity." "All sin essentially is and must be mortal." "Reprove vice but pity the offender." EXC. III.--"One person is chosen chairman or moderator." "Duration or time is measured by motion." "The governor or viceroy is chosen annually." EXC. IV.--"Reflection reason still the ties improve." "His neat plain parlour wants our modern style." "We are fearfully wonderfully made." UNDER RULE V.--OF WORDS IN PAIRS. "I inquired and rejected consulted and deliberated." "Seed-time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease." EXERCISE II.--PUNCTUATION. _Copy the following sentences, and insert the_ COMMA _where it is requisite_. EXAMPLES UNDER RULE VI.--OF WORDS PUT ABSOLUTE. "The night being dark they did not proceed." "There being no other coach we had no alternative." "Remember my son that human life is the journey of a day." "All circumstances considered it seems right." "He that overcometh to him will I give power." "Your land strangers devour it in your presence." "Ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity!" "With heads declin'd ye cedars homage pay; Be smooth ye rocks ye rapid floods give way!" UNDER RULE VII.--OF WORDS IN APPOSITION. "Now Philomel sweet songstress charms the night." "'Tis chanticleer the shepherd's clock announcing day." "The evening star love's harbinger appears." "The queen of night fair Dian smiles serene." "There is yet one man Micaiah the son of Imlah." "Our whole company man by man ventured down." "As a work of wit the Dunciad has few equals." "In the same temple the resounding wood All vocal beings hymned their equal God." EXC. I.--"The last king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus." "Bossuet highly eulogizes Maria Theresa of Austria." "No emperor has been more praised than Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus." EXC. II.--"For he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith." "Remember the example of the patriarch Joseph." "The poet, Milton, excelled in prose as well as in verse." EXC. III.--"I wisdom dwell with prudence." "Ye fools be ye of an understanding heart." "I tell you that which you yourselves do know." EXC. IV.--"I crown thee king of intimate delights" "I count the world a stranger for thy sake." "And this makes friends such miracles below." "God has pronounced it death to taste that tree." "Grace makes the slave a freeman." UNDER RULE VIII.--OF ADJECTIVES. "Deaf with the noise I took my hasty flight." "Him piteous of his youth soft disengage." "I played a while obedient to the fair." "Love free as air spreads his light wings and flies." "Physical science separate from morals parts with its chief dignity." "Then active still and unconfined his mind Explores the vast extent of ages past." "But there is yet a liberty unsung By poets and by senators unpraised." EXC.--"I will marry a wife beautiful as the Houries." "He was a man able to speak upon doubtful questions." "These are the persons, anxious for the change." "Are they men worthy of confidence and support?" "A man, charitable beyond his means, is scarcely honest." UNDER RULE IX.--OF FINITE VERBS. "Poverty wants some things--avarice all things." "Honesty has one face--flattery two." "One king is too soft and easy--an other too fiery." "Mankind's esteem they court--and he his own: Theirs the wild chase of false felicities; His the compos'd possession of the true." EXERCISE III.--PUNCTUATION. _Copy the following sentences, and insert the COMMA where it is requisite._ EXAMPLES UNDER RULE X.--OF INFINITIVES. "My desire is to live in peace." "The great difficulty was to compel them to pay their debts." "To strengthen our virtue God bids us trust in him." "I made no bargain with you to live always drudging." "To sum up all her tongue confessed the shrew." "To proceed my own adventure was still more laughable." "We come not with design of wasteful prey To drive the country force the swains away." UNDER RULE XI.--OF PARTICIPLES. "Having given this answer he departed." "Some sunk to beasts find pleasure end in pain." "Eased of her load subjection grows more light." "Death still draws nearer never seeming near." "He lies full low gored with wounds and weltering in his blood." "Kind is fell Lucifer compared to thee." "Man considered in himself is helpless and wretched." "Like scattered down by howling Eurus blown." "He with wide nostrils snorting skims the wave." "Youth is properly speaking introductory to manhood." EXC.--"He kept his eye fixed on the country before him." "They have their part assigned them to act." "Years will not repair the injuries done by him." UNDER RULE XII.--OF ADVERBS. "Yes we both were philosophers." "However Providence saw fit to cross our design." "Besides I know that the eye of the public is upon me." "The fact certainly is much otherwise." "For nothing surely can be more inconsistent." UNDER RULE XIII.--OF CONJUNCTIONS. "For in such retirement the soul is strengthened." "It engages our desires; and in some degree satisfies them also." "But of every Christian virtue piety is an essential part." "The English verb is variable--_as love lovest loves_." UNDER RULE XIV.--OF PREPOSITIONS. "In a word charity is the soul of social life." "By the bowstring I can repress violence and fraud." "Some by being too artful forfeit the reputation of probity." "With regard to morality I was not indifferent." "Of all our senses sight is the most perfect and delightful." UNDER RULE XV.--OF INTERJECTIONS. "Behold I am against thee O inhabitant of the valley!" "O it is more like a dream than a reality," "Some wine ho!" "Ha ha ha; some wine eh?" "When lo the dying breeze begins to fail, And flutters on the mast the flagging sail." UNDER RULE XVI.--OF WORDS REPEATED. "I would never consent never never never." "His teeth did chatter chatter chatter still." "Come come come--to bed to bed to bed." UNDER RULE XVII.--OF DEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "He cried 'Cause every man to go out from me.'" "'Almet' said he 'remember what thou hast seen.'" "I answered 'Mock not thy servant who is but a worm before thee.'" EXERCISE IV.--PUNCTUATION. I. THE SEMICOLON.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert the Comma and the SEMICOLON where they are requisite._ EXAMPLES UNDER RULE I.--OF COMPOUND MEMBERS. "'Man is weak' answered his companion 'knowledge is more than equivalent to force.'" "To judge rightly of the present we must oppose it to the past for all judgement is compartive [sic--KTH] and of the future nothing can be known." "'Contentment is natural wealth' says Socrates to which I shall add 'luxury is artificial poverty.'" "Converse and love mankind might strongly draw When love was liberty and nature law." UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "Be wise to-day 'tis madness to defer." "The present all their care the future his." "Wit makes an enterpriser sense a man." "Ask thought for joy grow rich and hoard within." "Song soothes our pains and age has pains to soothe." "Here an enemy encounters there a rival supplants him." "Our answer to their reasons is; 'No' to their scoffs nothing." "Here subterranean works and cities see There towns aerial on the waving tree." UNDER RULE III.--OF APPOSITION. "In Latin there are six cases namely the nominative the genitive the dative the accusative the vocative and the ablative." "Most English nouns form the plural by taking _s_; as _boy boys nation nations king kings bay bays_." "Bodies are such as are endued with a vegetable soul as plants a sensitive soul as animals or a rational soul as the body of man." II. THE COLON.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert the Comma, the Semicolon, and the COLON, where they are requisite._ UNDER RULE I.--OF ADDITIONAL REMARKS. "Indulge not desires at the expense of the slightest article of virtue pass once its limits and you fall headlong into vice." "Death wounds to cure we fall we rise we reign." "Beware of usurpation God is the judge of all." "Bliss!--there is none but unprecarious bliss That is the gem sell all and purchase that." UNDER RULE II.--OF GREATER PAUSES. "I have the world here before me I will review it at leisure surely happiness is somewhere to be found." "A melancholy enthusiast courts persecution and when he cannot obtain it afflicts himself with absurd penances but the holiness of St. Paul consisted in the simplicity of a pious life." "Observe his awful portrait and admire Nor stop at wonder imitate and live." UNDER RULE III.--OF INDEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "Such is our Lord's injunction 'Watch and pray.'" "He died praying for his persecutors 'Father forgive them they know not what they do.'" "On the old gentleman's cane was inscribed this motto '_Festina lente_.'" III.--THE PERIOD.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and the PERIOD, where they are requisite._ UNDER RULE I.--OF DISTINCT SENTENCES. "Then appeared the sea and the dry land the mountains rose and the rivers flowed the sun and moon began their course in the skies herbs and plants clothed the ground the air the earth and the waters were stored with their respective inhabitants at last man was made in the image of God" "In general those parents have most reverence who most deserve it for he that lives well cannot be despised" UNDER RULE II.--OF ALLIED SENTENCES. "Civil accomplishments frequently give rise to fame but a distinction is to be made between fame and true honour the statesman the orator or the poet may be famous while yet the man himself is far from being honoured" UNDER RULE III.--OF ABBREVIATIONS. "Glass was invented in England by Benalt a monk A D 664" "The Roman era U C commenced A C 1753 years" "Here is the Literary Life of S T Coleridge Esq" "PLATO a most illustrious philosopher of antiquity died at Athens 348 B C aged 81 his writings are very valuable his language beautiful and correct and his philosophy sublime"--See _Univ. Biog. Dict._ EXERCISE V.--PUNCTUATION. I. THE DASH.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert, in their proper places, the_ DASH, _and such other points as are necessary_. EXAMPLES UNDER RULE I.--OF ABRUPT PAUSES. "You say _famous_ very often and I don't know exactly what it means a _famous_ uniform _famous_ doings What does famous mean" "O why _famous_ means Now don't you know what _famous_ means It means It is a word that people say It is the fashion to say it It means it means _famous_." UNDER RULE II.--OF EMPHATIC PAUSES. "But this life is not all there is there is full surely another state abiding us And if there is what is thy prospect O remorseless obdurate Thou shalt hear it would be thy wisdom to think thou now nearest the sound of that trumpet which shall awake the dead Return O yet return to the Father of mercies and live" "The future pleases Why The present pains But that's a secret yes which all men know" II. THE EROTEME.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert rightly the_ EROTEME, _or_ NOTE OF INTERROGATION, _and such other points as are necessary_. UNDER RULE I.--OF QUESTIONS DIRECT. "Does Nature bear a tyrant's breast Is she the friend of stern control Wears she the despot's purple vest Or fetters she the freeborn soul" "Why should a man whose blood is warm within Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster" "Who art thou courteous stranger and from whence Why roam thy steps to this abandon'd dale" UNDER RULE II.--OF QUESTIONS UNITED. "Who bid the stork Columbus-like explore Heav'ns not his own and worlds unknown before Who calls the council states the certain day Who forms the phalanx and who points the way" UNDER RULE III.--OF QUESTIONS INDIRECT. "They asked me who I was and whither I was going." "St. Paul asked king Agrippa if he believed the prophets? But he did not wait for an answer." "Ask of thy mother Earth why oaks are made Taller and stronger than the weeds they shade" III. THE ECPHONEME.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert rightly the_ ECPHONEME, _or_ NOTE OF EXCLAMATION, _and such other points as are necessary_. UNDER RULE I.--OF INTERJECTIONS. "Oh talk of hypocrisy after this Most consummate of all hypocrites After instructing your chosen official advocate to stand forward with such a defence such an exposition of your motives to dare utter the word hypocrisy and complain of those who charged you with it" _Brougham_ "Alas how is that rugged heart forlorn" "Behold the victor vanquish'd by the worm" "Bliss sublunary Bliss proud words and vain" UNDER RULE II.--OF INVOCATIONS. "O Popular Applause what heart of man Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms" "More than thy balm O Gilead heals the wound" UNDER RULE III.--OF EXCLAMATORY QUESTIONS. With what transports of joy shall I be received In what honour in what delightful repose shall I pass the remainder of my life What immortal glory shall I have acquired" _Hooke's Roman History_. "How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green Where humble happiness endear'd each scene" IV.--THE CURVES.--_Copy the following sentences, and insert rightly the CURVES, or MARKS OF PARENTHESIS, and such other points as are necessary_. UNDER RULE I.--OF THE PARENTHESIS. "And all the question wrangle e'er so long Is only this If God has plac'd him wrong" "And who what God foretells who speaks in things Still louder than in words shall dare deny" UNDER RULE II.--OF INCLUDED POINTS. "Say was it virtue more though Heav'n ne'er gave Lamented Digby sunk thee to the grave" "Where is that thrift that avarice of time O glorious avarice thought of death inspires" "And oh the last last what can words express Thought reach the last last silence of a friend" EXERCISE VI.--PUNCTUATION. _Copy the following MIXED EXAMPLES, and insert the points which they require._ "As one of them opened his sack he espied his money" "They cried out the more exceedingly Crucify him" "The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners" "Great injury these vermin mice and rats do in the field" "It is my son's coat an evil beast hath devoured him" "Peace of all worldly blessings is the most valuable" "By this time the very foundation was removed" "The only words he uttered were I am a Roman citizen" "Some distress either felt or feared gnaws like a worm" "How then must I determine Have I no interest If I have not I am stationed here to no purpose" _Harris_ "In the fire the destruction was so swift sudden vast and miserable as to have no parallel in story" "Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily was far from being happy" "I ask now Verres what thou hast to advance" "Excess began and sloth sustains the trade" "Fame can never reconcile a man to a death bed" "They that sail on the sea tell of the danger" "Be doers of the word and not hearers only" "The storms of wintry time will quickly pass" "Here Hope that smiling angel stands" "Disguise I see thou art a wickedness" "There are no tricks in plain and simple faith" "True love strikes root in reason passion's foe" "Two gods divide them all Pleasure and Gain" "I am satisfied My son has done his duty" "Remember Almet the vision which thou hast seen" "I beheld an enclosure beautiful as the gardens of paradise" "The knowledge which I have received I will communicate" "But I am not yet happy and therefore I despair" "Wretched mortals said I to what purpose are you busy" "Bad as the world is respect is always paid to virtue" "In a word he views men as the clear sunshine of charity" "This being the case I am astonished and amazed" "These men approached him and saluted him king" "Excellent and obliging sages these undoubtedly" "Yet at the same time the man himself undergoes a change" "One constant effect of idleness is to nourish the passions" "You heroes regard nothing but glory" "Take care lest while you strive to reach the top you fall" "Proud and presumptuous they can brook no opposition" "Nay some awe of religion may still subsist" "Then said he Lo I come to do thy will O God" _Bible_ "As for me behold I am in your hand" _Ib._ "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord" _Jer_ xxiii 24 "Now I Paul myself beseech you" "Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children be ye also enlarged" _2 Cor_ vi 13 "He who lives always in public cannot live to his own soul whereas he who retires remains calm" "Therefore behold I even I will utterly forget you" "This text speaks only of those to whom it speaks" "Yea he warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm" "King Agrippa believest thou the prophets" EXERCISE VII.--PUNCTUATION. _Copy the following MIXED EXAMPLES, and insert the points which they require._ To whom can riches give repute or trust Content or pleasure but the good and just _Pope_ To him no high no low no great no small He fills he bounds connects and equals all _Id_ Reasons whole pleasure all the joys of sense Lie in three words health peace and competence _Id_ Not so for once indulged they sweep the main Deaf to the call or hearing hear in vain _Anon_ Say will the falcon stooping from above Smit with her varying plumage spare the dove _Pope_ Throw Egypts by and offer in its stead Offer the crown on Berenices head _Id_ Falsely luxurious will not man awake And springing from the bed of sloth enjoy The cool the fragrant and the silent hour _Thomson_ Yet thus it is nor otherwise can be So far from aught romantic what I sing _Young_ Thyself first know then love a self there is Of virtue fond that kindles at her charms _Id_ How far that little candle throws his beams So shines a good deed in a naughty world _Shakspeare_ You have too much respect upon the world They lose it that do buy it with much care _Id_ How many things by season seasoned are To their right praise and true perfection _Id_ Canst thou descend from converse with the skies And seize thy brothers throat For what a clod _Young_ In two short precepts all your business lies Would you be great--_be virtuous_ and _be wise Denham_ But sometimes virtue starves while vice is fed What then is the reward of virtue bread _Pope_ A life all turbulence and noise may seem To him that leads it wise and to be praised But wisdom is a pearl with most success Sought in still waters and beneath clear skies _Cowper_ All but the swellings of the softened heart That waken not disturb the tranquil mind _Thomson_ Inspiring God who boundless spirit all And unremitting energy pervades Adjusts sustains and agitates the whole _Id_ Ye ladies for indifferent in your cause I should deserve to forfeit all applause Whatever shocks or gives the least offence To virtue delicacy truth or sense Try the criterion tis a faithful guide Nor has nor can have Scripture on its side. _Cowper_ EXERCISE VIII.--SCANNING. _Divide the following_ VERSES _into the feet which compose them, and distinguish by marks the long and the short syllables_. _Example I.--"Our Daily Paths"--By F. Hemans_. "There's Beauty all around our paths, if but our watchful eyes Can trace it 'midst familiar things, and through their lowly guise; We may find it where a hedgerow showers its blossoms o'er our way, Or a cottage-window sparkles forth in the last red light of day." _Example II.--"Fetching Water"--Anonymous_. "Early on a sunny morning, while the lark was singing sweet, Came, beyond the ancient farmhouse, sounds of lightly-tripping feet. 'Twas a lowly cottage maiden, going,--why, let young hearts tell,-- With her homely pitcher laden, fetching water from the well." _Example III.--Deity_. Alone thou sitst above the everlasting hills And all immensity of space thy presence fills: For thou alone art God;--as God thy saints adore thee; Jehovah is thy name;--they have no gods before thee.--_G. Brown_. _Example IV.--Impenitence_. The impenitent sinner whom mercy empowers, Dishonours that goodness which seeks to restore; As the sands of the desert are water'd by showers. Yet barren and fruitless remain as before.--_G. Brown_. _Example V.--Piety_. Holy and pure are the pleasures of piety, Drawn from the fountain of mercy and love; Endless, exhaustless, exempt from satiety, Rising unearthly, and soaring above.--_G. Brown_. _Example VI.--A Simile_. The bolt that strikes the tow'ring cedar dead, Oft passes harmless o'er the hazel's head.--_G. Brown_. _Example VII.--A Simile_. "Yet to their general's voice they soon obey'd Innumerable. As when the potent rod Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day, Wav'd round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind, That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile."--_Milton_. _Example VIII.--Elegiac Stanza._ Thy name is dear--'tis virtue balm'd in love; Yet e'en thy name a pensive sadness brings. Ah! wo the day, our hearts were doom'd to prove, That fondest love but points affliction's stings!--_G. Brown_. _Example IX.--Cupid._ Zephyrs, moving bland, and breathing fragrant With the sweetest odours of the spring, O'er the winged boy, a thoughtless vagrant, Slumb'ring in the grove, their perfumes fling.--_G. Brown_. _Example X.--Divine Power._ When the winds o'er Gennesaret roar'd, And the billows tremendously rose, The Saviour but utter'd the word, They were hush'd to the calmest repose.--_G. Brown_. _Example XI.--Invitation._ Come from the mount of the leopard, spouse, Come from the den of the lion; Come to the tent of thy shepherd, spouse, Come to the mountain of Zion.--_G. Brown_. _Example XII.--Admonition_. In the days of thy youth, Remember thy God: O! forsake not his truth, Incur not his rod.--_G. Brown._ _Example XIII.--Commendation._ Constant and duteous, Meek as the dove, How art thou beauteous, Daughter of love!--_G. Brown._ EXERCISE IX.--SCANNING. _Mark the feet and syllables which compose the following lines--or mark a sample of each metre._ _Edwin, an Ode_. I. STROPHE. Led by the pow'r of song, and nature's love, Which raise the soul all vulgar themes above, The mountain grove Would Edwin rove, In pensive mood, alone; And seek the woody dell, Where noontide shadows fell, Cheering, Veering, Mov'd by the zephyr's swell. Here nurs'd he thoughts to genius only known, When nought was heard around But sooth'd the rest profound Of rural beauty on her mountain throne. Nor less he lov'd (rude nature's child) The elemental conflict wild; When, fold on fold, above was pil'd The watery swathe, careering on the wind. Such scenes he saw With solemn awe, As in the presence of the Eternal Mind. Fix'd he gaz'd, Tranc'd and rais'd, Sublimely rapt in awful pleasure undefin'd. II. ANTISTROPHE Reckless of dainty joys, he finds delight Where feebler souls but tremble with affright. Lo! now, within the deep ravine, A black impending cloud Infolds him in its shroud, And dark and darker glooms the scene. Through the thicket streaming, Lightnings now are gleaming; Thunders rolling dread, Shake the mountain's head; Nature's war Echoes far, O'er ether borne, That flash The ash Has scath'd and torn! Now it rages; Oaks of ages, Writhing in the furious blast, Wide their leafy honours cast; Their gnarled arms do force to force oppose Deep rooted in the crevic'd rock, The sturdy trunk sustains the shock, Like dauntless hero firm against assailing foes. III. EPODE. '0 Thou who sitst above these vapours dense, And rul'st the storm by thine omnipotence! Making the collied cloud thy ear, Coursing the winds, thou rid'st afar, Thy blessings to dispense. The early and the latter rain, Which fertilize the dusty plain, Thy bounteous goodness pours. Dumb be the atheist tongue abhorr'd! All nature owns thee, sovereign Lord! And works thy gracious will; At thy command the tempest roars, At thy command is still. Thy mercy o'er this scene sublime presides; 'Tis mercy forms the veil that hides The ardent solar beam; While, from the volley'd breast of heaven, Transient gleams of dazzling light, Flashing on the balls of sight, Make darkness darker seem. Thou mov'st the quick and sulphurous leven-- The tempest-driven Cloud is riven; And the thirsty mountain-side Drinks gladly of the gushing tide.' So breath'd young Edwin, when the summer shower, From out that dark o'erchamb'ring cloud, With lightning flash and thunder loud, Burst in wild grandeur o'er his solitary bower.--_G. Brown._ THE END OF PART FOURTH. KEY TO THE IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION, CONTAINED IN THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS, AND DESIGNED FOR ORAL EXERCISES UNDER ALL THE RULES AND NOTES OF THE WORK. [Fist][The various examples of error which are exhibited for oral correction, in the Grammar of English Grammars, are all here explained, in their order, by full amended readings, sometimes with authorities specified, and generally with references of some sort. They are intended to be corrected orally by the pupil, according to the formules given under corresponding heads in the Grammar. Some portion, at least, under each rule or note, should be used in this way; and the rest, perhaps, may be read and compared more simply.] THE KEY.--PART I.--ORTHOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I.--OF LETTERS. CORRECTIONS RESPECTING CAPITALS. UNDER RULE I.--OF BOOKS. "Many a reader of the _Bible_ knows not who wrote the _Acts_ of the _Apostles_"--G. B. "The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the _Chronicles_."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Neh._, xii, 23. "Are they not written in the book of the _Acts_ of Solomon?"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: I _Kings_, xi, 41. "Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the _Kings_ of Israel?"--ALGER CORRECTED: I _Kings_, xxii, 39. "Are they not written in the book of the _Chronicles_ of the _Kings_ of Judah."--See ALGER: _ib., ver_. 45. "Which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the _Psalms_."--ALGER, ET AL.: _Luke_, xxiv, 44. "The narrative of which maybe seen in Josephus's History of the _Jewish War_"--_Dr. Scott cor._ [Obs.--The word in Josephus is "_War_," not "_Wars_."--_G. Brown._] "This _History of the Jewish War_ was Josephus's first work, and published about A. D. 75."--_Whiston cor._ "'I have read,' says Photius, 'the Chronology of Justus of Tiberias.'"--_Id._ "_A Philosophical Grammar_, written by James Harris, Esquire."--_Murray cor._ "The reader is referred to Stroud's _Sketch_ of the _Slave Laws_"--_A. S. Mag. cor._ "But God has so made the _Bible_ that it interprets itself."--_Idem_. "In 1562, with the help of Hopkins, he completed the _Psalter_."--_Gardiner cor._ "Gardiner says this of Sternhold; of whom the _Universal Biographical Dictionary_ and the American _Encyclopedia_ affirm, that he died in 1549."--_G. B._ "The title of a book, to wit: 'English Grammar in _Familiar Lectures_,'" &c.--_Kirkham cor._ "We had not, at that time, seen Mr. Kirkham's 'Grammar in _Familiar_ Lectures.'"--_Id._ "When you parse, you may spread the Compendium before you."--_Id. right_.[516] "Whenever you parse, you may spread the _Compendium_ before you."--_Id. cor._ "Adelung was the author of a _Grammatical_ and _Critical Dictionary_ of the German _Language_, and other works." _Biog. Dict. cor._ "Alley, William, author of '_The Poor Man's Library_,' and a translation of the Pentateuch, died in 1570."--_Id._ UNDER RULE II.--OF FIRST WORDS. "Depart instantly;"--"_Improve_ your time;"--"_Forgive_ us our sins."--_Murray corrected_. EXAMPLES:--"Gold is corrupting;"--"_The_ sea is green;"--"_A_ lion is bold."--_Mur. et al. cor._ Again: "It may rain;"--"_He_ may go or stay;"--"_He_ would walk;;"--"_They_ should learn."--_Iidem_. Again: "Oh! I have alienated my friend;"--"_Alas_! I fear for life."--_Iidem._ See _Alger's Gram._, p. 50. Again: "He went from London to York;"--"_She_ is above disguise;" "_They_ are supported by industry."--_Iidem_. "On the foregoing examples, I have a word to say. _They_ are better than a fair specimen of their kind. _Our_ grammars abound with worse illustrations. _Their_ models of English are generally spurious quotations. _Few_ of their proof-texts have any just parentage. _Goose-eyes_ are abundant, but names scarce. _Who_ fathers the foundlings? _Nobody. Then_ let their merit be nobody's, and their defects his who could write no better."--_Author_. "_Goose-eyes_!" says a bright boy; "pray, what are they? _Does_ this Mr. Author make new words when he pleases? _Dead-eyes_ are in a ship. _They_ are blocks, with holes in them. _But_ what are goose-eyes in grammar?" ANSWER: "_Goose-eyes_ are quotation points. _Some_ of the Germans gave them this name, making a jest of their form. _The_ French call them _guillemets_, from the name of their inventor."--_Author_. "_It_ is a personal pronoun, of the third person singular."--_Comly cor._ "_Ourselves_ is a personal pronoun, of the first person plural."--_Id._ "_Thee_ is a personal pronoun, of the second person singular."--_Id._ "_Contentment_ is a _common noun_, of the third person singular."--_Id._ "_Were_ is a neuter verb, of the indicative mood, imperfect tense."--_Id._ UNDER RULE III.--OF DEITY. "O thou _Dispenser_ of life! thy mercies are boundless."--_Allen cor._ "Shall not the _Judge_ of all the earth do right?"--ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Gen._, xviii, 25. "And the _Spirit of God_ moved upon the face of the waters."--SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Gen._, i, 2. "It is the gift of _Him_, who is the great _Author_ of good, and the Father of mercies."--_Murray cor._ "This is thy _God_ that brought thee up out of Egypt."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Neh._, ix, 18. "For the LORD is our defence; and the _Holy One_ of Israel is our _King_."--_Psal._. lxxxix, 18. "By making him the responsible steward of _Heaven's_ bounties."--_A. S. Mag. cor._ "Which the Lord, the righteous _Judge_, shall give me at that day."--ALGER: _2 Tim._, iv, 8. "The cries of them ... entered into the ears of the Lord of _Sabaoth_."--ALGER, FRIENDS: _James_, v, 4. "In Horeb, the _Deity_ revealed himself to Moses, as the _Eternal_ 'I AM,' the _Self-existent One_; and, after the first discouraging interview of his messengers with Pharaoh, he renewed his promise to them, by the awful name, JEHOVAH--a name till then unknown, and one which the Jews always held it a fearful profanation to pronounce."--_G. Brown_. "And _God_ spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of _God Almighty_; but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them."--SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: _Exod._, vi, 2. "Thus saith the LORD[517] the _King_ of Israel, and his _Redeemer_ the LORD of hosts; I am the _First_, and I am the _Last_; and besides me there is no _God_."--See _Isa._, xliv, 6. "His impious race their blasphemy renew'd, And nature's _King_, through nature's optics view'd."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER RULE IV.--OF PROPER NAMES. "Islamism prescribes fasting during the month _Ramadan_."--_Balbi cor._ "Near _Mecca_, in _Arabia_, is _Jebel Nor_, or the _Mountain of Light_, on the top of which the _Mussulmans_ erected a mosque, that they might perform their devotions where, according to their belief, _Mohammed_ received from the angel _Gabriel_ the first chapter of the Koran."--_G. Brown_. "In the _Kaaba_ at _Mecca_ there is a celebrated block of volcanic basalt, which the _Mohammedans_ venerate as the gift of _Gabriel_ to _Abraham_, but their ancestors once held it to be an image of _Remphan_, or _Saturn_; so 'the image which fell down from _Jupiter_,' to share with _Diana_ the homage of the _Ephesians_, was probably nothing more than a meteoric stone."--_Id._ "When the _Lycaonians_ at _Lystra_ took _Paul_ and _Barnabas_ to be gods, they called the former _Mercury_, on account of his eloquence, and the latter _Jupiter_, for the greater dignity of his appearance."--_Id._ "Of the writings of the apostolic fathers of the first century, but few have come down to us; yet we have in those of _Barnabas, Clement_ of _Rome, Hermas, Ignatius_, and _Polycarp_, very certain evidence of the authenticity of the New Testament, and the New Testament is a voucher for the Old."--_Id._ "It is said by _Tatian_, that _Theagenes_ of _Rhegium_, in the time of _Cambyses, Stesimbrotus_ the _Thracian, Antimachus_ the _Colophonian, Herodotus_ of _Halicarnassus, Dionysius_ the _Olynthian, Ephorus_ of _Cumae, Philochorus_ the _Athenian, Metaclides_ and _Chamaeleon_ the _Peripatetics_, and _Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Callimachus, Crates, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus_, and _Apollodorus_, the grammarians, all wrote concerning the poetry, the birth, and the age of _Homer_."--See _Coleridge's Introd._, p. 57. "Yet, for aught that now appears, the life of _Homer_ is as fabulous as that of _Hercules_; and some have even suspected, that, as the son of _Jupiter_ and _Alcmena_ has fathered the deeds of forty other _Herculeses_, so this unfathered son of _Critheis, Themisto_, or whatever dame--this _Melesigenes, Maeonides, Homer_--the blind schoolmaster, and poet, of _Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodes, Argos, Athens_, or whatever place--has, by the help of _Lycurgus, Solon, Pisistratus_, and other learned ancients, been made up of many poets or _Homers_, and set so far aloft and aloof on old _Parnassus_, as to become a god in the eyes of all _Greece_, a wonder in those of all _Christendom_."--_G. Brown_. "Why so sagacious in your guesses? Your _Effs_, and _Tees_, and _Ars_, and _Esses_?"--_Swift corrected_. UNDER RULE V.--OF TITLES. "The king has conferred on him the title of _Duke_."--_Murray cor._ "At the court of _Queen_ Elizabeth."--_Priestley's E. Gram._, p. 99; see _Bullions's_, p. 24. "The laws of nature are, truly, what _Lord_ Bacon styles his aphorisms, laws of laws."--_Murray cor._ "Sixtus the Fourth was, if I mistake not, a great collector of books."--_Id._ "Who at that time made up the court of _King_ Charles the _Second_"--_Id._ "In case of his _Majesty's_ dying without issue."--_Kirkham cor._ "King Charles the _First_ was beheaded in 1649."--_W. Allen cor._ "He can no more impart, or (to use _Lord_ Bacon's word) _transmit_ convictions."--_Kirkham cor._ "I reside at _Lord_ Stormont's, my old patron and benefactor." Better: "I reside _with Lord Stormont_, my old patron and benefactor."--_Murray cor._ "We staid a month at _Lord Lyttelton's_, the ornament of his country." Much better: "We stayed a month at _the seat of Lord Lyttelton, who is_ the ornament of his country."--_Id._ "Whose prerogative is it? It is the _King_-of-Great- Britain's;" [518]--"That is the _Duke_-of-Bridgewater's canal;"--"The _Bishop_-of-Landaff's excellent book;"--"The Lord _Mayor_-of-London's authority."--_Id._ (See Murray's Note 4th on his Rule 10th.) "Why call ye me, _Lord, Lord_, and do not the things which I say?"--_Luke_, vi, 46. "And of them he chose twelve, whom also he named _Apostles_."--ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Luke_, vi, 13. "And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, _Master_; and kissed him."--_Matt._, xxvi, 49. "And he said, Nay, _Father_ Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they _would_ repent."--_Bible cor._ UNDER RULE VI.--OF ONE CAPITAL. "_Fallriver_, a village in Massachusetts, population (in 1830) 3,431."--_Williams cor._ "Dr. Anderson died at _Westham_, in Essex, in 1808."--_Biog. Dict. cor._ "_Madriver_, the name of two towns in Clark and Champaign counties, Ohio."--_Williams cor._ "_Whitecreek_, a town of Washington county, New York."--_Id._ "_Saltcreek_, the name of four towns in different parts of Ohio."--_Id._ "_Saltlick_, a town of Fayette county, Pennsylvania."--_Id._ "_Yellowcreek_, a town of Columbiana county, Ohio."--_Id._ "_Whiteclay_, a hundred of _Newcastle_ county, Delaware."-- _Id._ "Newcastle, _a_ town and _half-shire_ of Newcastle county, Delaware."--_Id._ "_Singsing_, a village of _Westchester_ county, New York, situated in the town of _Mountpleasant_."--_Id._ "_Westchester_, a county of New York: _East Chester and West Chester are towns_ in Westchester county."--_Id._ "_Westtown_, a village of Orange county, New York."--_Id._ "_Whitewater_, a town of Hamilton county, Ohio."--_Worcester's Gaz._ "_Whitewater_ River, a considerable stream that rises in Indiana, and flowing southeasterly unites with the Miami in Ohio."--See _ib._ "_Blackwater_, a village of Hampshire, in England, and a town in Ireland."--See _ib._ "_Blackwater_, the name of seven different rivers, in England, Ireland, and the United States."--See _ib._ "_Redhook_, a town of Dutchess county, New York, on the Hudson."--_Williams cor._ "Kinderhook, a town of Columbia county, New York, on the Hudson."--_Williams right_. "_Newfane_, a town of Niagara county, New York."--_Williams cor._ "_Lakeport_, a town of Chicot county, Arkansas."--_Id._ "_Moosehead_ Lake, the chief source of the Kennebeck, in Maine."--_Id._ (See _Worcester's Gaz._) "Macdonough, a county of Illinois, population (in 1830) 2,959."--_Williams's Univ. Gaz._, p 408. "_Macdonough_, a county of Illinois, with a _court-house_ at Macomb."--_Williams cor._ "_Halfmoon_, the name of two towns in New York and Pennsylvania; also of two bays in the West Indies."--_S. Williams's Univ. Gaz._ "_Leboeuf_, a town of Erie county, Pennsylvania, near a small lake of the same name."--See _ib._ "_Charlescity, Jamescity, Eiizabethcity_, names of counties in Virginia, not cities, nor towns."--See _Univ. Gaz._, p. 404.[519] "The superior qualities of the waters of the Frome, here called _Stroudwater_."--_Balbi cor._ UNDER RULE VII.--OF TWO CAPITALS. "The Forth rises on the north side of _Ben Lomond_, and runs easterly."--_Glasgow Geog._, 8vo, _corrected_. "The red granite of _Ben Nevis_ is said to be the finest in the world."--_Id._ "_Ben More_, in Perthshire, is 3,915 feet above the level of the sea."--_Id._ "The height of _Ben Cleagh_ is 2,420 feet."--_Id._ "In Sutherland and Caithness, are Ben Ormod, Ben Clibeg, Ben Grin, Ben Hope, and Ben Lugal."--_Glas. Geog. right_. "_Ben Vracky_ is 2,756 feet high; _Ben Ledi_, 3,009; and _Ben Voirloich_, 3,300."--_Glas. Geog. cor._ "The river Dochart gives the name of _Glen Dochart_ to the vale through which it runs."--_Id._ "About ten miles from its source, it [the Tay] diffuses itself into _Loch Dochart_."--_Glasgow Geog._, Vol. ii, p. 314. LAKES:--"_Loch Ard_, Loch Achray, Loch Con, Loch Doine, Loch Katrine, Loch Lomond, Loch Voil."--_Scott corrected_. GLENS:--"_Glen Finlas_, Glen Fruin, Glen Luss, _Ross Dhu, Leven Glen_, Strath Endrick, Strath Gartney. Strath Ire."--_Id._ MOUNTAINS:--"_Ben An, Ben Harrow, Ben Ledi_, Ben Lomond, _Ben Voirlich, Ben Venue_, or, (as some spell it,) _Ben Ivenew_."--_Id._[520] "Fenelon died in 1715, deeply lamented by all the inhabitants of the _Low Countries_."--_Murray cor._ "And _Pharaoh Necho_[521] made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king."--See ALGER: _2 Kings_, xiii, 34. "Those who seem so merry and well pleased, call her _Good Fortune_; but the others, who weep and wring their hands, _Bad Fortune_."--_Collier cor._ UNDER RULE VIII.--OF COMPOUNDS. "When Joab returned, and smote Edom in the _Valley_ of _Salt_"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Ps_. lx, title. "Then Paul stood in the midst of _Mars Hill_, and said," &c.--_Scott cor._ "And at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the _Mount_ of Olives."--_Bible cor._ "Abgillus, son of the king of the Frisii, surnamed Prester John, was in the Holy _Land_ with Charlemagne."--_U. Biog. Dict. cor._ "Cape Palmas, in Africa, divides the Grain _Coast_ from the Ivory _Coast_."--_Dict. of Geog. cor._ "The North Esk, flowing from Loch _Lee_, falls into the sea three miles north of Montrose."--_Id._ "At Queen's _Ferry_, the channel of the Forth is contracted by promontories on both coasts."--_Id._ "The Chestnut _Ridge_ is about twenty-five miles west of the Alleghanies, and Laurel _Ridge_, ten miles further west."--_Balbi cor._ "Washington _City_, the metropolis of the United States of America."--_Williams, U. Caz._, p. 380. "Washington _City_, in the District of Columbia, population (in 1830) 18,826."--_Williams cor._ "The loftiest peak of the _White Mountains_, in New Hampshire, is called _Mount_ Washington."--_G. Brown_. "Mount's _Bay_, in the west of England, lies between the _Land's End_ and _Lizard Point_."--_Id._ "Salamis, an island of the Egean Sea, off the southern coast of the ancient Attica."--_Dict. of Geog_. "Rhodes, an island of the Egean _Sea_, the largest and most easterly of the Cyclades."--_Id. cor._ "But he overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red _Sea_."--SCOTT: _Ps_. cxxxvi, 15. "But they provoked him at the sea, even at the Red _Sea_."--ALGER, FRIENDS: _Ps_. cvi, 7. UNDER RULE IX.--OF APPOSITION. "At that time, Herod the _tetrarch_ heard of the fame of Jesus."--SCOTT, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Matt._, xiv, 1. "Who has been more detested than Judas the _traitor?_"--_G. Brown_. "St. Luke the _evangelist_ was a physician of Antioch, and one of the converts of St. Paul."--_Id._ "Luther, the _reformer_, began his bold career by preaching against papal indulgences."--_Id._ "The _poet_ Lydgate was a disciple and admirer of Chaucer: he died in 1440."--_Id._ "The _grammarian_ Varro, 'the most learned of the Romans,'[522] wrote three books when he was eighty years old."--_Id._ "John Despauter, the great _grammarian_ of Flanders, whose works are still valued, died in 1520."--_Id._ "Nero, the _emperor_ and _tyrant_ of Rome, slew himself to avoid a worse death."--_Id._ "Cicero the _orator_, 'the Father of his Country,' was assassinated at the age of 64."--_Id._ "Euripides, the Greek _tragedian_, was born in the _island_ of Salamis, B. C. 476."--_Id._ "I will say unto God my _rock_, Why hast thou forgotten me?"--ALGER, ET AL.: _Ps_. xlii, 9. "Staten Island, an island of New York, nine miles below New York _city_."--_Williams cor._ "When the son of Atreus, _king_ of _men_, and the noble Achilles first separated."--_Coleridge cor._ "Hermes, his _patron-god_, those gifts bestow'd, Whose shrine with _weanling_ lambs he wont to load."--_Pope cor._ UNDER RULE X.--OF PERSONIFICATIONS. "But _Wisdom_ is justified of all her children."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Luke_, vii, 35. "Fortune and the _Church_ are generally put in the feminine gender: that is, when personified." "Go to your _Natural Religion_; lay before her Mahomet and his disciples."--_Bp. Sherlock_. "O _Death!_ where is thy sting? O _Grave!_ where is thy victory."--_Pope_: _1 Cor._, xv, 55; _Merchant's Gram._, p. 172. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."--_Matt._, vi, 24. "Ye cannot serve God and _Mammon_"--See _Luke_, xvi, 13. "This house was built as if _Suspicion_ herself had dictated the plan."--_Rasselas_. "Poetry distinguishes herself from _Prose_, by yielding to a musical law."--_Music of Nature_, p. 501. "My beauteous deliverer thus uttered her divine instructions: 'My name is _Religion_. I am the offspring of _Truth_ and _Love_, and the parent of _Benevolence, Hope_, and _Joy_. That monster, from whose power I have freed you, is called _Superstition_: she is called the child of _Discontent_, and her followers are _Fear_ and _Sorrow_.'"--_E. Carter_. "Neither _Hope_ nor _Fear_ could enter the retreats; and _Habit_ had so absolute a power, that even _Conscience_, if _Religion_ had employed her in their favour, would not have been able to force an entrance."--_Dr. Johnson_. "In colleges and halls in ancient days, There dwelt a sage called _Discipline_."--_Cowper_. UNDER RULE XI.--OF DERIVATIVES. "In English, I would have _Gallicisms_ avoided."--_Felton_. "Sallust was born in Italy, 85 years before the _Christian_ era."--_Murray cor._; "Dr. Doddridge was not only a great man, but one of the most excellent and useful _Christians_, and _Christian_ ministers."--_Id._ "They corrupt their style with untutored _Anglicisms_"--_Milton_. "Albert of Stade, author of a chronicle from the creation to 1286, a _Benedictine_ of the 13th century."--_Biog. Dict. cor._ "Graffio, a _Jesuit_ of Capua in the 16th century, author of two volumes on moral subjects."--_Id._ "They _Frenchify_ and _Italianize_ words whenever they can."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 86. "He who sells a _Christian_, sells the grace of God."--_Mag. cor._ "The first persecution against the _Christians_, under Nero, began A. D. 64."--_Gregory cor._ "P. Rapin, the _Jesuit_, uniformly decides in favour of the Roman writers."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 248. "The Roman poet and _Epicurean_ philosopher Lucretius has said," &c.--_Cohen cor._ Spell _"Calvinistic, Atticism, Gothicism, Epicurism, Jesuitism, Sabianism, Socinianism, Anglican, Anglicism, Anglicize, Vandalism, Gallicism_, and _Romanize_."--_Webster cor._ "The large _Ternate_ bat."--_Id. and Bolles cor._ "Church-ladders are not always mounted best By learned clerks, and _Latinists_ profess'd"--_Cowper cor._ UNDER RULE XII.--OF I AND O. "Fall back, fall back; _I_ have not room:--_O!_ methinks _I_ see a couple whom _I_ should know."--_Lucian_. "Nay, _I_ live as _I_ did, _I_ think as _I_ did, _I_ love you as _I_ did; but all these are to no purpose; the world will not live, think, or love, as _I_ do."--_Swift to Pope_. "Whither, _O!_ whither shall _I_ fly? _O_ wretched prince! _O_ cruel reverse of fortune! _O_ father Micipsa! is this the consequence of thy generosity?"--_Tr. of Sallust._ "When _I_ was a child, _I_ spake as a child, _I_ understood as a child, _I_ thought as a child; but when _I_ became a man, _I_ put away childish things."--_1 Cor._, xiii, 11. "And _I_ heard, but _I_ understood not; then said _I, O_ my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?"--_Dan._, xii, 8. "Here am _I_; _I_ think _I_ am very good, and _I_ am quite sure _I_ am very happy, yet _I_ never wrote a treatise in my life."--_Few Days in Athens_, p. 127. "Singular, Vocative, _O master!_ Plural, Vocative, _O masters!_"--_Bicknell cor._ "I, _I_ am he; _O_ father! rise, behold Thy son, with twenty winters now grown old!" --_Pope's Odyssey_, B. 24, l. 375. UNDER RULE XIII.--OF POETRY. "Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, _Lie_ in three words--health, peace, and competence; _But_ health consists with temperance alone, _And_ peace, O Virtue! peace is all thy own."--_Pope._ "Observe the language well in all you write, _And_ swerve not from it in your loftiest flight. The smoothest verse and the exactest sense _Displease_ us, if ill English give offence: _A_ barbarous phrase no reader can approve; _Nor_ bombast, noise, or affectation love. In short, without pure language, what you write _Can_ never yield us profit or delight. Take time for thinking; never work in haste; _And_ value not yourself for writing fast."--_Dryden._ UNDER RULE XIV.--OF EXAMPLES. "The word _rather_ is very properly used to express a small degree or excess of a quality; as, '_She_ is _rather_ profuse in her expenses.'"--_Murray cor._ "_Neither_ imports _not either_; that is, not one nor the other: as, '_Neither_ of my friends was there.'"--_Id._ "When we say, '_He_ is a tall man,'--'_This_ is a fair day,' we make some reference to the ordinary size of men, and to different weather."--_Id._ "We more readily say, 'A million of men,' than, '_A_ thousand of men.'"--_Id._ "So in the instances, '_Two_ and two are four;'--'_The_ fifth and sixth volumes will complete the set of books.'"--_Id._ "The adjective may frequently either precede or follow the verb: as, '_The_ man is _happy_;' or, '_Happy_ is the man;'--'The interview was _delightful_;' or, '_Delightful_ was the interview.'"--_Id._ "If we say, '_He_ writes a pen;'--'_They_ ran the river;'--'_The_ tower fell the Greeks;'--'Lambeth is Westminster _Abbey_;'--[we speak absurdly;] and, it is evident, there is a vacancy which must be filled up by some connecting word: as thus, 'He writes _with_ a pen;'--'_They_ ran _towards_ the river;'--'_The_ tower fell _upon_ the Greeks;'--'Lambeth is _over against_ Westminster _Abbey_.'"--_Id._ "Let me repeat it;--_He_ only is great, who has the habits of greatness."--_Id._ "I say not unto thee, _Until_ seven times; but, _Until_ seventy times seven."--_Matt._, xviii, 22. "The Panther smil'd at this; and, '_When_,' said she, 'Were those first councils disallow'd by me?'"--_Dryd. cor._ UNDER RULE XV.--OF CHIEF WORDS. "The supreme council of the nation is called the _Divan_."--_Balbi cor._ "The British _Parliament_ is composed of _King, Lords_, and _Commons._"--_Comly's Gram._, p. 129; and _Jaudon's_, 127. "A popular orator in the House of Commons has a sort of patent for coining as many new terms as he pleases."--See _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 169; _Murray's Gram._, 364. "They may all be taken together, as one name; as, '_The House of Commons._'"--_Merchant cor._ "Intrusted to persons in whom the _Parliament_ could confide."--_Murray cor._ "For 'The _Lords' House_,' it were certainly better to say, '_The House of Lords_;' and, in stead of 'The _Commons'_ vote,' to say. 'The _vote_ of the _Commons._'"--_Id. and Priestley cor._ "The _House_ of _Lords_ were so much influenced by these reasons."--_Iidem._ "Rhetoricians commonly divide them into two great classes; _Figures_ of _Words_, and _Figures_ of _Thought_. The former, _Figures_ of _Words_, are commonly called _Tropes_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 337. "Perhaps, _Figures_ of _Imagination_, and _Figures_ of _Passion_, might be a more useful distribution."--_Ib._ "Hitherto we have considered sentences, under the heads of _Perspicuity, Unity_, and _Strength_."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 356. "The word is then depos'd; and, in this view, You rule the _Scripture_, not the _Scripture_ you."--_Dryd. cor._ UNDER RULE XVI.--OF NEEDLESS CAPITALS. "Be of good cheer; _it_ is I; be not afraid."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, AND SCOTT'S: _Matt._, xiv, 27. "Between passion and lying, there is not a _finger's_ breadth."--_Mur. cor._ "Can our _solicitude_ alter the course, or unravel the intricacy, of human events?" "The last edition was carefully compared with the _original manuscript_."--_Id._ "And the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the _king_ of the Jews?"--SCOTT: _Matt._, xxvii, 11. "Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame, that say, Aha, _aha_!"--SCOTT ET AL.: _Ps._, lxx, 3. "Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha, aha!"--IIDEM: _Ps._, xl, 15. "What think ye of Christ? whose _son_ is he? They say unto him, The _son_ of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in _spirit_ call him Lord?"--ALGER: _Matt._, xxii, 42, 43. "Among all _things_ in the _universe_, direct your _worship_ to the _greatest_. And which is that? _It_ is that Being _who manages_ and _governs_ all the rest."--_Collier's Antoninus cor._ "As for _modesty_ and _good faith, truth_ and _justice_, they have left this wicked _world_ and retired to _heaven; and_ now what is it that can keep you here?"--_Idem_. "If pulse of verse a nation's temper shows, In keen iambics English metre flows."--_Brightland cor._ PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS RESPECTING CAPITALS. LESSON I.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Come, gentle _Spring, ethereal_ mildness, come."--_Thomson's Seasons_, p. 29. As, "He is the Cicero of his age;"--"_He_ is reading the _Lives_ of the Twelve Caesars;"--or, if no particular book is meant,--"the _lives_ of the _twelve_ Caesars;" (as it is in _Fisk's Grammar_, p. 57;) for the sentence, as it stands in Murray, is ambiguous. "In the _History_ of Henry the _Fourth_, by _Father_ Daniel, we are _surprised_ at not finding him the great man."--_Smollett's Voltaire_, Vol. v, p. 82. "Do not those same poor peasants use the _lever_, and the _wedge_, and many other instruments?"--_Harris and Mur. cor._ "Arithmetic is excellent for the gauging of _liquors; geometry_, for the measuring of _estates; astronomy_, for the making of _almanacs_; and _grammar_, perhaps, for the drawing of _bonds_ and _conveyances_."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 288. "The [_History_ of the] _Wars_ of Flanders, written in Latin by Famianus Strada, is a book of some note."--_Blair cor._ "_William_ is a noun. _Why_? _Was_ is a verb. _Why_? _A_ is an article. _Why_? _Very_ is an adverb. _Why_?" &c.--_Merchant cor._ "In the beginning was the _Word_, and that _Word_ was with God, and God was that _Word_."--See _Gospel of John_, i, 1. "The _Greeks_ are numerous in _Thessaly, Macedonia, Romelia_, and _Albania_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 360. "He [the Grand Seignior] is styled by the Turks, Sultan, Mighty, or Padishah, _Lord_."--_Balbi cor._ "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O _Death_! I will be thy _plague_; O _Grave_! I will be thy destruction."--_Bible cor._ "Silver and _gold_ have I none; but such as I have, give I [unto] thee."--See _Acts_, iii, 6. "Return, we beseech thee, O God of _hosts_! look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine."--See _Psalm_ lxxx, 14. "In the Attic _commonwealth_, it was the privilege of every citizen to rail in public."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 316. "They assert, that in the phrases, 'GIVE me _that_,'--'_This_ is John's,' and, '_Such_ were _some_ of you,'--the words in _Italics_ are pronouns; but that, in the following phrases, they are not pronouns: '_This_ book is instructive;'--'_Some_ boys are ingenious;'--'_My_ health is declining;'--'_Our_ hearts are deceitful.'"--_Murray partly corrected_.[523] "And the coast bends again to the northwest, as far as _Farout Head_."--_Geog. cor._ "Dr. Webster, and other makers of spelling-books, very improperly write _Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday_, and _Saturday_, without capitals."--_G. Brown_. "The commander in chief of the Turkish navy is styled the _Capitan Pacha_."--_Balbi cor._ "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the _Father_ of spirits, and live?"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Heb._, xii, 9. "He [Dr. Beattie] was more anxious to attain the character of a _Christian_ hero."--_Murray cor._ "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is _Mount_ Zion."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 393. "The Lord is my _helper_, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."--ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Heb._, xiii, 6. "Make haste to help me, O LORD my _salvation_."--IIDEM: _Psalms_, xxxviii, 22. "The _city_ which _thou_ seest, no other deem Than great and glorious Rome, _queen_ of the _earth_." --_Paradise Regained_, B. iv. LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "That range of hills, known under the general name of _Mount_ Jura."--_Account of Geneva_. "He rebuked the Red _Sea_ also, and it was dried up."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Ps_. cvi, 9. "Jesus went unto the _Mount_ of Olives."--_Bible cor._ "Milton's book in reply to the _Defence of the King_, by Salmasius, gained him a thousand pounds from the _Parliament_, and killed his antagonist with vexation."--_G. B_. "Mandeville, _Sir_ John, an Englishman famous for his travels, born about 1300, died in 1372."--_B. Dict. cor._ "Ettrick _Pen_, a mountain in Selkirkshire, Scotland, height 2,200 feet."--_G. Geog. cor._ "The coast bends from _Dungsby Head_, in a northwest direction, to the promontory of _Dunnet Head_."--_Id._ "General Gaines ordered a detachment of _nearly_ 300 men, under the command of Major Twiggs, to surround and take an Indian _village_, called _Fowltown_, about fourteen miles from _Fort_ Scott."--_Cohen Cor._ "And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, 'Talitha, _cumi_.'"--_Bible Editors cor._ "On religious subjects, a frequent _adoption of Scripture_ language is attended with peculiar force."--_Murray cor._ "Contemplated with gratitude to their Author, the Giver of all _good_."--_Id._ "When he, the Spirit of _truth_, is come, he will guide you into all [the] truth,"--SCOTT, ALGER, ET AL.: _John_, xvi, 13. "See the _Lecture on Verbs, Rule XV, Note_ 4th."--_Fisk cor._ "At the commencement of _Lecture_ 2d, I informed you that Etymology treats, _thirdly_, of derivation."--_Kirkham cor._ "This 8th _Lecture_ is a very important one."--_Id._ "Now read the _11th_ and _12th_ lectures, four or five times over."--_Id._ "In 1752, he [Henry Home] was advanced to the bench, under the title of _Lord_ Kames."--_Murray cor._ "One of his maxims was, '_Know_ thyself.'"--_Lempriere cor._ "Good _Master_, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Matt._, xix, 16. "His best known works, however, [John Almon's] are, '_Anecdotes_ of the _Life_ of the _Earl_ of Chatham,' 2 vols. 4to, 3 vols. 8vo; and '_Biographical, Literary_, and _Political Anecdotes_ of several of the _Most Eminent Persons_ of the _Present Age_; never before printed,' 3 vols. 8vo, 1797."--_Biog. Dict. cor._ "O gentle _Sleep_, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee?"--SHAK.: _Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 175. "And _peace, O Virtue!_ peace is all thy own."--_Pope et al. cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Fenelon united the characters of a nobleman and a _Christian_ pastor. His book entitled, 'An _Explication_ of the Maxims of the Saints, concerning the _Interior Life_,' gave considerable offence to the guardians of orthodoxy."--_Murray cor._ "When _Natural Religion_, who before was only a spectator, is introduced as speaking by the _Centurion's_ voice."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 347. "You cannot deny, that the great _Mover_ and _Author_ of nature constantly explaineth himself to the eyes of men, by the sensible intervention of arbitrary signs, which have no similitude to, or connexion with, the things signified."--_Berkley cor._ "The name of this letter is _Double-u_, its form, that of a double V."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "Murray, in his _Spelling-Book_, wrote _Charlestown_ with a _hyphen_ and two capitals."--_G. Brown._ "He also wrote _European_ without a capital."--_Id._ "They profess themselves to be _Pharisees_, who are to be heard and not imitated."--_Calvin cor._ "Dr. Webster wrote both _Newhaven_ and _New York_ with single capitals."--_G. Brown_. "_Gay Head_, the west point of Martha's Vineyard."--_Williams cor._ "Write _Crab Orchard, Egg Harbour, Long Island, Perth Amboy, West Hampton, Little Compton, New Paltz, Crown Point, Fell's Point, Sandy Hook, Port Penn, Port Royal, Porto Bello_, and _Porto Rico_.'"--_G. Brown._ "Write the names of the months: _January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December_."--_Id._ "Write the following names and words properly: _Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturn;--Christ, Christian, Christmas, Christendom, Michaelmas, Indian, Bacchanals;--East Hampton, Omega, Johannes, Aonian, Levitical, Deuteronomy, European_."--_Id._ "Eight _letters_ in some _syllables_ we find, And no more _syllables_ in _words_ are join'd."--_Brightland cor._ CHAPTER II.--OF SYLLABLES. CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SYLLABICATION. LESSON I.--CONSONANTS. 1. Correction of _Murray_, in words of two syllables: civ-il, col-our, cop-y, dam-ask, doz-en, ev-er, feath-er, gath-er, heav-en, heav-y, hon-ey, lem-on, lin-en, mead-ow, mon-ey, nev-er, ol-ive, or-ange, oth-er, pheas-ant, pleas-ant, pun-ish, rath-er, read-y, riv-er, rob-in, schol-ar, shov-el, stom-ach, tim-id, whith-er. 2. Correction of _Murray_, in words of three syllables: ben-e-fit, cab-i-net, can-is-ter, cat-a-logue, char-ac-ter, char-i-ty, cov-et-ous, dil-i-gence, dim-i-ty, el-e-phant, ev-i-dent, ev-er-green, friv-o-lous, gath-er-ing, gen-er-ous, gov-ern-ess, gov-ern-or, hon-est-y, kal-en-dar, lav-en-der, lev-er-et, lib-er-al, mem-or-y, min-is-ter, mod-est-ly, nov-el-ty, no-bod-y, par-a-dise, pov-er-ty, pres-ent-ly, prov-i-dence, prop-er-ly, pris-on-er, rav-en-ous, sat-is-fy, sev-er-al, sep-ar-ate, trav-el-ler, vag-a-bond;--con-sid-er, con-tin-ue, de-liv-er, dis-cov-er, dis-fig-ure, dis-hon-est, dis-trib-ute, in-hab-it, me-chan-ic, what-ev-er;--rec-om-mend, ref-u-gee, rep-ri-mand. 3. Correction of _Murray_, in words of four syllables: cat-er-pil-lar, char-i-ta-ble, dil-i-gent-ly, mis-er-a-ble, prof-it-a-ble, tol-er-a-ble;--be-nev-o-lent, con-sid-er-ate, di-min-u-tive, ex-per-i-ment, ex-trav-a-gant, in-hab-i-tant, no-bil-i-ty, par-tic-u-lar, pros-per-i-ty, ri-dic-u-lous, sin-cer-i-ty;--dem-on-stra-tion, ed-u-ca-tion, em-u-la-tion, ep-i-dem-ic, mal-e-fac-tor, man-u-fac-ture, mem-o-ran-dum, mod-er-a-tor, par-a-lyt-ic, pen-i-ten-tial, res-ig-na-tion, sat-is-fac-tion, sem-i-co-lon. 4. Correction of _Murray_, in words of five syllables: a-bom-i-na-ble, a-poth-e-ca-ry, con-sid-er-a-ble, ex-plan-a-to-ry, pre-par-a-to-ry;-- ac-a-dem-i-cal, cu-ri-os-i-ty, ge-o-graph-i-cal, man-u-fac-tor-y, sat-is-fac-tor-y, mer-i-to-ri-ous;--char-ac-ter-is-tic, ep-i-gram-mat-ic, ex-per-i-ment-al, pol-y-syl-la-ble, con-sid-er-a-tion. 5. Correction of _Murray_, in the division of proper names: Hel-en, Leon-ard, Phil-ip, Rob-ert, Hor-ace, Thom-as;--Car-o-line, Cath-a-rine, Dan-i-el, Deb-o-rah, Dor-o-thy, Fred-er-ick, Is-a-bel, Jon-a-than, Lyd-i-a, Nich-o-las, Ol-i-ver, Sam-u-el, Sim-e-on, Sol-o-mon, Tim-o-thy, Val-en-tine;--A-mer-i-ca, Bar-thol-o-mew, E-liz-a-beth, Na-than-i-el, Pe-nel-o-pe, The-oph-i-lus. LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. 1. Correction of _Webster_, by Rule 1st:--ca-price, e-steem, dis-e-steem, o-blige;--a-zure, ma-tron, pa-tron, pha-lanx, si-ren, trai-tor, tren-cher, bar-ber, bur-nish, gar-nish, tar-nish, var-nish, mar-ket, mus-ket, pam-phlet;--bra-ver-y, kna-ver-y, sla-ver-y, e-ven-ing, sce-ner-y, bri-ber-y, ni-ce-ty, chi-ca-ner-y, ma-chin-er-y, im-a-ger-y;--a-sy-lum, ho-ri-zon,--fin-an-cier, her-o-ism, sar-do-nyx, scur-ri-lous,--co-me-di-an, pos-te-ri-or. 2. Correction of _Webster_, by Rule 2d: o-yer, fo-li-o, ge-ni-al, ge-ni-us, ju-ni-or, sa-ti-ate, vi-ti-ate;--am-bro-si-a, cha-me-_le_-on, par-he-li-on, con-ve-ni-ent, in-ge-ni-ous, om-nis-ci-ence, pe-cu-li-ar, so-ci-a-ble, par-ti-al-i-ty, pe-cu-ni-a-ry;--an-nun-ci-ate, e-nun-ci-ate, ap-pre-ci-ate, as-so-ci-ate, ex-pa-ti-ate, in-gra-ti-ate, in-i-ti-ate, li-cen-ti-ate, ne-go-ti-ate, no-vi-ti-ate, of-fi-ci-ate, pro-pi-ti-ate, sub-stan-ti-ate. 3. Correction of _Cobb_ and _Webster_, by each other, under Rule 3d: "dress-er, hast-y, past-ry, seiz-ure, roll-er, jest-er, weav-er, vamp-er, hand-y, dross-y, gloss-y, mov-er, mov-ing, ooz-y, full-er, trust-y, weight-y, nois-y, drows-y, swarth-y."--_Webster_. Again: "east-ern, ful-ly, pul-let, ril-let, scant-y, need-y."--_Cobb._ 4. Correction of _Webster_ and _Cobb_, under Rule 4th: a-wry, a-thwart, pros-pect-ive, pa-ren-the-sis, re-sist-i-bil-i-ty, hem-i-spher-ic, mon-o-stich, hem-i-stich, to-wards. 5. Correction of the words under Rule 5th; Eng-land, an oth-er,[524] Beth-es-da, Beth-ab-a-ra. LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. 1. Correction of _Cobb_, by Rule 3d: bend-er, bless-ing, brass-y, chaff-y, chant-er, clasp-er, craft-y, curd-y, fend-er, film-y, fust-y, glass-y, graft-er, grass-y, gust-y, hand-ed, mass-y, musk-y, rust-y, swell-ing, tell-er, test-ed, thrift-y, vest-ure. 2. Corrections of _Webster_, mostly by Rule 1st: bar-ber, bur-nish, bris-ket, can-ker, char-ter, cuc-koo, fur-nish, gar-nish, guilt-y, han-ker, lus-ty, por-tal, tar-nish, tes-tate, tes-ty, trai-tor, trea-ty, var-nish, ves-tal, di-ur-nal, e-ter-nal, in-fer-nal, in-ter-nal, ma-ter-nal, noc-tur-nal, pa-ter-nal. 3. Corrections of _Webster_, mostly by Rule 1st: ar-mor-y, ar-ter-y, _butch-er-y_, cook-er-y, eb-on-y, em-er-y, ev-er-y, fel-on-y, fop-per-y, frip-per-y, gal-ler-y, his-tor-y, liv-er-y, lot-ter-y, mock-er-y, _mys-ter-y_,[525] nun-ner-y, or-rer-y, pil-lor-y, quack-er-y, sor-cer-y, witch-er-y. 4. Corrections of _Cobb_, mostly by Rule 1st: an-kle, bas-ket, blan-ket, buc-kle, cac-kle, cran-kle, crin-kle, Eas-ter, fic-kle, frec-kle, knuc-kle, mar-ket, mon-key, por-tress, pic-kle, poul-tice, pun-cheon, quad-rant, quad-rate, squad-ron, ran-kle, shac-kle, sprin-kle, tin-kle, twin-kle, wrin-kle. 5. Corrections of _Emerson_, by Rules 1st and 3d: as-cribe, blan-dish, branch-y, cloud-y, dust-y, drear-y, e-ven-ing, fault-y, filth-y, frost-y, gaud-y, gloom-y, health-y, heark-en, heart-y, hoar-y, leak-y, loun-ger, marsh-y, might-y, milk-y, naught-y, pass-ing, pitch-er, read-y, rock-y, speed-y, stead-y, storm-y, thirst-y, thorn-y, trust-y, vest-ry, west-ern, wealth-y. CHAPTER III.--OF WORDS. CORRECTIONS RESPECTING THE FIGURE, OR FORM, OF WORDS. RULE I.--COMPOUNDS. "Professing to imitate Timon, the _manhater_."--_Goldsmith corrected_. "Men load hay with a _pitchfork._"--_Webster cor._ "A _peartree_ grows from the seed of a pear."--_Id._ "A _toothbrush_ is good to brush your teeth."--_Id._ "The mail is opened at the _post-office_."--_Id._ "The error seems to me _twofold_."--_Sanborn cor._ "To _preengage_ means to engage _beforehand_."--_Webster cor._ "It is a mean act to deface the figures on a _milestone_."--_Id._ "A grange is a farm, _with its farm- house_."--_Id._ "It is no more right to steal apples or _watermelons_, than [to steal] money."--_Id._ "The awl is a tool used by shoemakers and _harness-makers_."--_Id._ "_Twenty-five_ cents are equal to one quarter of a dollar."--_Id._ "The _blowing-up_ of the Fulton at New York, was a terrible disaster."--_Id._ "The elders also, and the _bringers-up_ of the children, sent to Jehu."--ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _2 Kings_, x, 5. "Not with _eyeservice_ as _menpleasers_."--_Col._, iii, 22. "A _good-natured_ and equitable construction of cases."--_Ash cor._ "And purify your hearts, ye _double-minded_."--_James_, iv, 8. "It is a _mean-spirited_ action to steal; i.e., To steal is a _mean-spirited_ action."--_A. Murray cor._ "There is, indeed, one form of orthography which is _akin_ to the subjunctive mood of the Latin tongue."--_Booth cor._ "To bring him into nearer connexion with real and _everyday_ life."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 459. "The _commonplace_, stale declamation of its revilers would be silenced."--_Id. cor._ "She [Cleopatra] formed a very singular and _unheard-of_ project."--_Goldsmith cor._ "He [William Tell] had many vigilant, though _feeble-talented_ and _mean-spirited_ enemies."--_R. Vaux cor._ "These _old-fashioned_ people would level our psalmody," &c.--_Gardiner cor._ "This _slow-shifting_ scenery in the theatre of harmony."--_Id._ "So we are assured from Scripture _itself_."--_Harris cor._ "The mind, being disheartened, then betakes _itself_ to trifling."--_R. Johnson cor._ "_Whosesoever_ sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them."--_Bible cor._ "Tarry we _ourselves_ how we will."--_W. Walker cor._ "Manage your credit so, that you need neither swear _yourself_, nor seek a voucher."--_Collier cor._ "Whereas song never conveys any of the _abovenamed_ sentiments."--_Dr. Rush cor._ "I go on _horseback_."--_Guy cor._ "This requires purity, in opposition to barbarous, obsolete, or _new-coined words_."--_Adam cor._ "May the _ploughshare_ shine."--_White cor._ "_Whichever_ way we consider it."--_Locke cor._ "_Where'er_ the silent _e_ a _place_ obtains, The _voice_ foregoing, _length_ and softness gains."--_Brightland cor._ RULE II.--SIMPLES. "It qualifies any of the four parts of speech _above named_."--_Kirkham cor._ "After _a while_ they put us out among the rude multitude."--_Fox cor._ "It would be a _shame_, if your mind should falter and give in."--_Collier cor._ "They stared _a while_ in silence one upon _an other_."--_Johnson cor._ "After passion has for _a while_ exercised its tyrannical sway."--_Murray cor._ "Though set within the same _general frame_ of intonation."--_Rush cor._ "Which do not carry any of the natural _vocal signs_ of expression."--_Id._ "The measurable _constructive powers_ of a few associable constituents."--_Id._ "Before each accented syllable or emphatic _monosyllabic word_."--_Id._ "One should not think too favourably of _one's self_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 154. "Know ye not your _own selves_, how that Jesus Christ is in you?"--_2 Cor._, xiii, 5. "I judge not my _own self_, for I know nothing of my _own self_."--See _1 Cor._, iv, 3. "Though they were in such a rage, I desired them to tarry _a while_."--_Josephus cor._ "_A, in stead_ of _an_, is now used before words beginning with _u_ long."--_Murray cor._ "John will have earned his wages _by_ next _new year's_ day."--_Id._ "A _new year's gift_ is a present made on the first day of the year."--_Johnson et al. cor._ "When he sat on the throne, distributing _new year's gifts_."--_Id._ "St. Paul admonishes Timothy to refuse _old wives' fables_."--See _1 Tim._, iv, 7. "The world, take it _all together_, is but one."--_Collier cor._ "In writings of this stamp, we must accept of sound _in stead_ of sense."--_Murray cor._ "A _male_ child, a _female_ child; _male_ descendants, _female_ descendants."--_Goldsbury et al. cor._ "_Male_ servants, _female_ servants; _male_ relations, _female_ relations."--_Felton cor._ "Reserved and cautious, with no partial aim, My muse e'er sought to blast _an other's_ fame."--_Lloyd cor._ RULE III.--THE SENSE. "Our discriminations of this matter have been but _four-footed_ instincts."--_Rush cor._ "He is in the right, (says Clytus,) not to bear _free-born_ men at his table."--_Goldsmith cor._ "To the _short-seeing_ eye of man, the progress may appear little."--_The Friend cor._ "Knowledge and virtue are, emphatically, the _stepping-stones_ to individual distinction."--_Town cor._ "A _tin-peddler_ will sell tin vessels as he travels."--_Webster cor._ "The beams of a _wooden house_ are held up by the posts and joists."--_Id._ "What you mean by _future-tense_ adjective, I can easily understand."--_Tooke cor._ "The town has been for several days very _well-behaved_."--_Spectator cor._ "A _rounce_ is the handle of a _printing-press_."--_Webster cor._ "The phraseology [which] we call _thee-and-thouing_ [or, better, _thoutheeing_,] is not in so common use with us, as the _tutoyant_ among the French."--_Walker cor._ "Hunting and other _outdoor_ sports, are generally pursued."--_Balbi cor._ "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are _heavy-laden_."--_Scott et al. cor._ "God so loved the world, that he gave his _only-begotten_ Son to save it."--See ALGER'S BIBLE, and FRIENDS': _John_, iii, 16. "Jehovah is a _prayer-hearing_ God: Nineveh repented, and was spared."--_Observer cor._ "These are _well-pleasing_ to God, in all ranks and relations."--_Barclay cor._ "Whosoever cometh _anything_ near unto the tabernacle."--_Bible cor._ "The words coalesce, when they have a _long-established_ association."--_Mur. cor._ "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go _into_ them."--MODERN BIBLE: _Ps_. cxviii, 19. "He saw an angel of God coming _in to_ him."--_Acts_, x, 3. "The consequences of any action are to be considered in a _twofold_ light."--_Wayland cor._ "We commonly write _twofold, threefold, fourfold_, and so on up to _tenfold_, without a hyphen; and, after that, we use one."--_G. Brown_. "When the first mark is going off, he cries, _Turn_! the _glassholder_ answers, _Done_!"--_Bowditch cor._ "It is a kind of familiar _shaking-hands_ (or _shaking of hands_) with all the vices."--_Maturin cor._ "She is a _good-natured_ woman;"--"James is _self-opinionated_;"--"He is _broken-hearted_."--_Wright cor._ "These three examples apply to the _present-tense_ construction only."--_Id._ "So that it was like a game of _hide-and-go-seek_."--_Gram. cor._ "That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the _climber-upward_ turns his face."--_Shak._ RULE IV.--ELLIPSES. "This building serves yet for a _schoolhouse_ and a meeting-house."--_G. Brown_. "Schoolmasters and _schoolmistresses, if_ honest friends, are to be encouraged."--_Discip. cor._ "We never assumed to ourselves a _faith-making_ or a _worship-making_ power."--_Barclay cor._ "_Potash_ and _pearlash_ are made from common ashes."--_Webster cor._ "Both the _ten-syllable_ and the _eight-syllable_ verses are iambics."--_Blair cor._ "I say to myself, thou _say'st to thyself_, he says to _himself_, &c."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "Or those who have esteemed themselves _skillful_, have tried for the mastery in _two-horse_ or _four-horse_ chariots."--_Ware cor._ "I remember him barefooted and _bareheaded_, running through the streets."--_Edgeworth cor._ "Friends have the entire control of the _schoolhouse_ and _dwelling-house_." Or:--"of the _schoolhouses_ and _dwelling-houses_" Or:--"of the _schoolhouse_ and the _dwelling-houses_" Or:--"of the _schoolhouses_ and the _dwelling-house_." Or:--"of the _school_, and _of the dwelling-houses_." [For the sentence here to be corrected is so ambiguous, that any of these may have been the meaning intended by it.]--_The Friend cor._ "The meeting is held at the _first-mentioned_ place in _Firstmonth_; at the _last-mentioned_, in _Secondmonth_; and so on."--_Id._ "Meetings for worship are held, at the same hour, on _Firstday_ and _Fourthday_." Or:--"on _Firstdays_ and _Fourthdays_."--_Id._ "Every part of it, inside and _outside_, is covered with gold leaf."--_Id._ "The Eastern Quarterly Meeting is held on the last _Seventhday_ in _Secondmonth, Fifthmonth, Eighthmonth_, and _Eleventhmonth_."--_Id._ "Trenton Preparative Meeting is held on the third _Fifthday_ in each month, at ten o'clock; meetings for worship [are held,] at the same hour, on _Firstdays_ and _Fifthdays_."--_Id._ "Ketch, a vessel with two masts, a _mainmast_ and _a mizzenmast_."--_Webster cor._ "I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether nature has enlisted herself [either] as a _Cis-Atlantic_ or [as a] _Trans-Atlantic_ partisan."--_Jefferson cor._ "By large hammers, like those used for _paper-mills_ and _fulling-mills_, they beat their hemp."--_Johnson cor._ "ANT-HILL, or ANT-HILLOCK, n. A small _protuberance_ of earth, _formed_ by ants, _for_ their _habitation_."-- _Id._ "It became necessary to substitute simple indicative terms called _pronames_ or _pronouns_." "Obscur'd, where highest woods, impenetrable To _light of star or sun_, their umbrage spread."--_Milton cor._ RULE V.--THE HYPHEN. "_Evil-thinking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _thinking_; singular number;" &c.--_Churchill cor._ "_Evil-speaking_; a noun, compounded of the noun _evil_ and the imperfect participle _speaking_."--_Id._ "I am a tall, _broad-shouldered_, impudent, black fellow."--_Spect_, or _Joh. cor._ "Ingratitude! thou _marble-hearted_ fiend."--_Shak_. or _Joh. cor._ "A popular _license_ is indeed the _many-headed_ tyranny."--_Sydney_ or _Joh. cor._ "He from the _many-peopled_ city flies."--_Sandys_ or _Joh. cor._ "He _many-languaged_ nations has surveyed."--_Pope_ or _Joh. cor._ "The _horse-cucumber_ is the large green cucumber, and the best for the table."--_Mort_. or _Joh. cor._ "The bird of night did sit, even at _noon-day_, upon the market-place."--_Shak_. or _Joh. cor._ "These make a general _gaol-delivery_ of souls not for punishment."--_South_ or _Joh. cor._ "Thy air, thou other _gold-bound_ brow, is like the first."--_Shak_. or _Joh. cor._ "His person was deformed to the highest degree; _flat-nosed_ and _blobber-lipped_."--_L'Estr._ or _Joh. cor._ "He that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a _blood-shedder_."--_Ecclus._, xxxiv, 22. "_Bloody-minded, adj._, from _bloody_ and _mind_; Cruel, inclined to _bloodshed_."--_Johnson cor._ "_Blunt-witted_ lord, ignoble in demeanour."--_Shak_. or _Joh. cor._ "A young fellow, with a _bob-wig_ and a black silken bag tied to it."--_Spect_. or _Joh. cor._ "I have seen enough to confute all the _bold-faced_ atheists of this age."--_Bramhall_ or _Joh. cor._ "Before _milk-white_, now purple with love's wound."--_Joh. Dict., w. Bolt_. "For what else is a _red-hot_ iron than fire? and what else is a burning coal than _red-hot_ wood?"--_Newton_ or _Joh. cor._ "_Poll-evil_ is a large swelling, inflammation, or imposthume, in the horse's poll, or nape of the neck, just between the ears."--_Far_. or _Joh. cor._ "Quick-witted, _brazen-fac'd_, with fluent tongues, Patient of labours, and dissembling wrongs."--_Dryden cor._ RULE VI.--NO HYPHEN. "From his fond parent's eye a _teardrop_ fell."--_Snelling cor._ "How great, poor _jackdaw_, would thy sufferings be!"--_Id._ "Placed, like a _scarecrow_ in a field of corn."--_Id._ "Soup for the almshouse at a cent a quart."--_Id._ "Up into the _watchtower_ get, and see all things despoiled of fallacies."--_Donne_ or _Joh. cor._ "In the _daytime_ she [Fame] sitteth in a _watchtower_, and flieth most by night."--_Bacon_ or _Joh. cor._ "The moral is the first business of the poet, as being the _groundwork_ of his instruction."--_Dryd._ or _Joh. cor._ "Madam's own hand the _mousetrap_ baited."--_Prior_ or _Joh. cor._ "By the sinking of the _airshaft_, the air _has_ liberty to circulate."--_Ray_ or _Joh. cor._ "The multiform and amazing operations of the _airpump_ and the loadstone."--_Watts_ or _Joh. cor._ "Many of the _firearms_ are named from animals."--_Johnson cor._ "You might have trussed him and all his apparel into an _eelskin_"--_Shak_. or _Joh. cor._ "They may serve as _landmarks_, to show what lies in the direct way of truth."--_Locke_ or _Joh. cor._ "A _packhorse_ is driven constantly in a narrow lane and dirty road."--_Locke_ or _Joh. cor._ "A _millhorse_, still bound to go in one circle."--_Sidney_ or _Joh. cor._ "Of singing birds, they have linnets, _goldfinches_, ruddocks, _Canary birds, blackbirds_, thrushes, and divers others."--_Carew_ or _Joh. cor._ "Cartridge, a case of paper or parchment filled with _gunpowder_; [or, rather, containing the _entire charge_ of a gun]."--_Joh. cor._ "Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire, The time when _screechowls_ cry, and _bandogs_ howl." SHAKSPEARE: _in Johnson's Dict., w. Screechowl_. PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS IN THE FIGURE OF WORDS. LESSON I.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "They that live in _glass houses_, should not throw stones."--_Adage_. "If a man profess Christianity in any manner or form _whatsoever_."--_Watts cor._ "For Cassius is _aweary_ of the world." Better: "For Cassius is _weary_ of the world."--_Shak. cor._ "By the _coming-together_ of more, the chains were fastened on."--_W. Walker cor._ "Unto the _carrying-away_ of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."--_Bible cor._ "And the _goings-forth_ of the border shall be to Zedad."--_Id._ "And the _goings-out_ of it shall be at _Hazar Enan_."--See _Walker's Key_ "For the _taking-place_ of effects, in a certain particular series."--_West cor._ "The _letting-go_ of which was the _occasion_ of all that corruption."--_Owen cor._ "A _falling-off_ at the end, is always injurious."--_Jamieson cor._ "As all _holdings-forth_ were courteously supposed to be trains of reasoning."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "Whose _goings-forth_ have been from of old, from everlasting."--_Bible cor._ "_Sometimes_ the adjective becomes a substantive."--_Bradley cor._ "It is very plain, _that_ I consider man as visited _anew_."--_Barclay cor._ "Nor do I _anywhere say_, as he falsely insinuates."--_Id._ "_Everywhere, anywhere, elsewhere, somewhere, nowhere_"--_L. Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 115. "The world hurries off apace, and time is like a rapid river."--_Collier cor._ "But to _new-model_ the paradoxes of ancient skepticism."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "The _southeast_ winds from the ocean invariably produce rain."--_Webster cor._ "_Northwest_ winds from the _highlands_ produce cold clear weather."--_Id._ "The greatest part of such tables would be of little use to _Englishmen_."--_Priestley cor._ "The _ground-floor_ of the east wing of _Mulberry-street_ meeting-house was filled."--_The Friend cor._ "Prince Rupert's Drop. This singular production is made at the _glasshouses_."--_Barnes cor._ "The lights and shades, whose _well-accorded_ strife Gives all the strength and colour of our life."--_Pope_. LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "In the _twenty-seventh_ year of Asa king of Judah, did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah."--_Bible cor._ "In the _thirty-first_ year of Asa king of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel."--_Id._ "He cannot so deceive himself as to fancy that he is able to do a _rule-of-three_ sum." Better--"_a sum in the rule of three_."--_Qr. Rev. cor._ "The best cod are those known under the name of _Isle-of-Shoals dun-fish_."--_Balbi cor._ "The soldiers, with _downcast eyes_, seemed to beg for mercy."--_Goldsmith cor._ "His head was covered with a coarse, _wornout_ piece of cloth."--_Id._ "Though they had lately received a reinforcement of a thousand _heavy-armed_ Spartans."--_Id._ "But he laid them by unopened; and, with a smile, said, 'Business _to-morrow_.'"--_Id._ "Chester _Monthly Meeting_ is held at _Moorestown, on_ the _Thirdday_ following the second _Secondday_"--_The Friend cor._ "Eggharbour _Monthly Meeting_ is held _on_ the first _Secondday_."--_Id._ "_Little-Eggharbour_ Monthly Meeting is held at Tuckerton on the second _Fifthday_ in each month."--_Id._ "At three o'clock, on _Firstday_ morning, the 24th of _Eleventhmonth_, 1834," &c.--_Id._ "In less than _one fourth_ part of the time usually devoted."--_Kirkham cor._ "The pupil will not have occasion to use it _one tenth_ part _so_ much."--_Id._ "The painter dips his _paintbrush_ in paint, to paint the carriage."--_Id._ "In an ancient English version of the _New Testament_."--_Id._ "The little boy was _bareheaded_."--_Red Book cor._ "The man, being a little _short-sighted_, did not immediately know him."--_Id._ "_Picture-frames_ are gilt with gold."--_Id._ "The _parkkeeper_ killed one of the deer."--_Id._ "The fox was killed near the _brickkiln_."--_Id._ "Here comes Esther, with her _milkpail_"--_Id._ "The _cabinet-maker_ would not tell us."--_Id._ "A fine _thorn-hedge_ extended along the edge of the hill."--_Id._ "If their private interests should be _everso_ little affected."--_Id._ "Unios are _fresh-water_ shells, vulgarly called _fresh-water_ clams."--_Id._ "Did not each poet mourn his luckless doom, Jostled by pedants out of _elbow-room_."--_Lloyd cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "The captive hovers _a while_ upon the sad remains."--_Johnson cor._ "Constantia saw that the _hand-writing_ agreed with the contents of the letter."--_Id._ "They have put me in a silk _night-gown_, and a gaudy _foolscap_"--_Id._ "Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, _numb-skulled ninny-hammer_ of yours from ruin, and all his family?"--_Id._ "A noble, (that is, six shillings and _eight pence_,) is [paid], and usually hath been paid."--_Id._ "The king of birds, _thick-feathered_, and with full-summed wings, fastened his talons east and west."--_Id._ "_To-morrow_. This--supposing _morrow_ to mean _morning_, as it did originally--is an idiom of the same kind as _to-night, to-day_."--_Johnson cor._ "To-day goes away, and to-morrow comes."--_Id._ "Young children, who are tried in _Gocarts_, to keep their steps from sliding."--_Id._ "Which, followed well, would demonstrate them but _goers-backward_"--_Id._ "Heaven's _golden-winged_ herald late he saw, to a poor Galilean virgin sent."--_Id._ "My _pent-house eyebrows_ and my shaggy beard offend your sight."--_Id._ "The hungry lion would fain have been dealing with good _horseflesh_."--_Id._ "A _broad-brimmed_ hat ensconsed each careful head."--_Snelling cor._ "With harsh vibrations of his _three-stringed lute_."--_Id._ "They magnify a _hundred-fold_ an author's merit."--_Id._ "I'll nail them fast to some _oft-opened_ door."--_Id._ "Glossed over only with _saintlike_ show, still thou art bound to vice."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Saintlike_. "Take of aqua-fortis two ounces, of _quicksilver_ two drachms."--_Id. cor._ "This rainbow never appears but when it rains in the _sunshine_."--_Id. cor._ "Not but there are, who merit other palms; Hopkins and _Sternhold_ glad the heart with _psalms_."--_Pope_. CHAPTER IV.--OF SPELLING. CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SPELLING. RULE I.--FINAL F, L, OR S. "He _will_ observe the moral law, in _his_ conduct."--_Webster corrected_. "A _cliff_ is a steep bank, or a precipitous rock."--_Walker cor._ "A needy man's budget is _full_ of schemes."--_Maxim cor._ "Few large publications, in this country, _will_ pay a printer."--_N. Webster cor._ "I _shall_, with cheerfulness, resign my other papers to oblivion."--_Id._ "The proposition _was_ suspended _till_ the next session of the legislature."--_Id._ "Tenants for life _will_ make the most of lands for themselves."--_Id._ "While every thing _is_ left to lazy negroes, a state _will_ never be _well_ cultivated."--_Id._ "The heirs of the original proprietors _still_ hold the soil."--_Id._ "Say my annual profit on money loaned _shall_ be six per cent."--_Id._ "No man would submit to the drudgery of business, if he could make money _as_ fast by lying _still_."--_Id._ "A man may _as well_ feed himself with a bodkin, _as_ with a knife of the present fashion."--_Id._ "The clothes _will_ be ill washed, the food _will_ be badly cooked; you _will_ be ashamed of your wife, if she _is_ not ashamed of herself."--_Id._ "He _will_ submit to the laws of the state while he _is_ a member of it."--_Id._ "But _will_ our sage writers on law forever think by tradition?"--_Id._ "Some _still_ retain a sovereign power in their territories."--_Id._ "They _sell_ images, prayers, the sound of _bells_, remission of sins, &c."--_Perkins cor._ "And the law had sacrifices offered every day, for the sins of _all_ the people."--_Id._ "Then it may please the Lord, they _shall_ find it to be a restorative."--_Id._ "Perdition is repentance put _off till_ a future day."--_Maxim cor._ "The angels of God, who _will_ good and cannot _will_ evil, have nevertheless perfect liberty of _will_."--_Perkins cor._ "Secondly, this doctrine cuts off the excuse of _all_ sin."--_Id._ "_Knell_, the sound of a bell rung at a funeral."--_Dict. cor._ "If gold with _dross_ or grain with _chaff_ you find, Select--and leave the _chaff_ and _dross_ behind."--_G. Brown_. RULE II.--OTHER FINALS. "The _mob_ hath many heads, but no brains."--_Maxim cor._ "_Clam_; to clog with any glutinous or viscous matter."--See _Webster's Dict._ "_Whur_; to pronounce the letter _r_ with too much force." "_Flip_; a mixed liquor, consisting of beer and spirit sweetened." "_Glyn_; a hollow between two mountains, a glen."--See _Walker's Dict._ "_Lam_, or _belam_; to beat soundly with a cudgel or bludgeon."--See _Red Book_. "_Bun_; a small cake, a simnel, a kind of sweet bread."--See _Webster's Dict._ "_Brunet_, or _Brunette_; a woman with a brown complexion."--See _ib._, and _Scott's Dict._ "_Wadset_; an ancient tenure or lease of land in the Highlands of Scotland."--_Webster cor._ "To _dod_ sheep, is to cut the wool away about their tails."--_Id._ "In aliquem arietare. _Cic._ To run full _butt_ at one."--_W. Walker cor._ "Neither your policy nor your temper would _permit_ you to kill me."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "And _admit_ none but his own offspring to fulfill them."--_Id._ "The _sum_ of all this dispute is, that some make them Participles."--_R. Johnson cor._ "As the _whistling_ winds, the _buzz_ and _hum_ of insects, the _hiss_ of serpents, the _crash_ of falling timber."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 331. "_Van_; to winnow, or a fan for winnowing."--See _Scott_. "Creatures that _buzz_, are very commonly such as will sting."--_G. Brown_. "_Beg_, buy, or borrow; _but_ beware how yon find."--_Id._ "It is better to have a house to _let_, than a house to _get_." "Let not your tongue _cut_ your throat."--_Precept cor._ "A little _wit_ will save a fortunate man."--_Adage cor._ "There is many a _slip_ 'twixt the cup and the _lip_."--_Id._ "Mothers' darlings make but _milksop_ heroes."--_Id._ "One eye-witness is worth _ten_ hearsays."--_Id._ "The judge shall _job_, the bishop bite the town, And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown." POPE: _in Johnson's Dict., w. Job_. RULE III.--DOUBLING. "Friz, to curl; _frizzed_, curled; _frizzing_, curling."--_Webster cor._ "The commercial interests served to foster the principles of _Whiggism_."--_Payne cor._ "Their extreme indolence _shunned_ every species of labour."--_Robertson cor._ "In poverty and _strippedness_, they attend their little meetings."--_The Friend cor._ "In guiding and _controlling_ the power you have thus obtained."--_Abbott cor._ "I began, Thou _begannest_ or _beganst_, He began, &c."--_A. Murray cor._ "Why does _began_ change its ending; as, I began, Thou _begannest_ or _beganst_?"--_Id._ "Truth and conscience cannot be _controlled_ by any methods of coercion."--_Hints cor._ "Dr. Webster _nodded_, when he wrote _knit, knitter_, and _knitting-needle_, without doubling the _t_."--_G. Brown_. "A wag should have wit enough to know when other wags are _quizzing_ him." "_Bonny_; handsome, beautiful, merry."--_Walker cor._ "_Coquettish; practising_ coquetry; after the manner of a jilt."--See _Worcester_. "_Pottage_; a species of food made of meat and vegetables boiled to softness in water."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "_Pottager_; (from _pottage_;) a porringer, a small vessel for children's food." "Compromit, _compromitted, compromitting_; manumit, manumitted, manumitting."--_Webster cor._ "_Inferrible_; that may be inferred or deduced from premises."--_Walker_. "Acids are either solid, liquid, or _gasseous_."--_Gregory cor._ "The spark will pass through the interrupted space between the two wires, and explode the _gasses_."--_Id._ "Do we sound gasses and _gasseous_ like _cases_ and _caseous_? No: they are more like _glasses_ and _osseous_."--_G. Brown_. "I shall not need here to mention _Swimming_, when he is of an age able to learn."--_Locke cor._ "Why do lexicographers spell _thinnish_ and _mannish_ with two Ens, and _dimmish_ and _rammish_ with one Em, each?"--_G. Brown._ "_Gas_ forms the plural regularly, _gasses_."--_Peirce cor._ "Singular, _gas_; Plural, _gasses_."--_Clark cor._ "These are contractions from _shedded, bursted_."--_Hiley cor._ "The Present Tense denotes what is _occurring_ at the present time."--_Day cor._ "The verb ending in _eth_ is of the solemn or antiquated style; as, He loveth, He walketh, He _runneth_."--_Davis cor._ "Thro' Freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings, Degrading nobles and controlling kings."--_Johnson_. RULE IV--NO DOUBLING. "A _bigoted_ and tyrannical clergy will be feared."--See _Johnson, Walker_, &c. "Jacob _worshiped_ his Creator, leaning on the top of his staff."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 165. "For it is all _marvellously_ destitute of interest."--See _Johnson, Walker_, and _Worcester_. "As, box, boxes; church, churches; lash, lashes; kiss, kisses; rebus, _rebuses_."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 40. "_Gossiping_ and lying go hand in hand."--See _Webster's Dict., and Worcester's, w. Gossiping_. "The substance of the Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley was, with singular industry, _gossiped_ by the present precious Secretary _at_ [of] war, in Payne the bookseller's shop."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 187. "_Worship_ makes _worshiped, worshiper, worshiping_; _gossip, gossiped, gossiper, gossiping_; _fillip, filliped, filliper, filliping_."--_Web. Dict._ "I became as _fidgety_ as a fly in a milk-jug."--See _ib._ "That enormous error seems to be _riveted_ in popular opinion." "Whose mind is not _biased_ by personal attachments to a sovereign."--See _ib._ "Laws against usury originated in a _bigoted_ prejudice against the Jews."--_Webster cor._ "The most _critical_ period of life is usually between thirteen and seventeen."--_Id._ "_Generalissimo_, the chief commander of an army or military force."--_Every Dict._ "_Tranquilize_, to quiet, to make calm and peaceful."--_Webster's Dict._ "_Pommelled_, beaten, bruised; having pommels, as a sword-hilt."--_Webster et al. cor._ "From what a height does a _jeweller_ look down upon his shoemaker!"--_Red Book cor._ "You will have a verbal account from my friend and fellow _traveller_."--_Id._ "I observe that you have written the word _counselled_ with one _l_ only."--_Ib._ "They were offended at such as _combated_ these notions."--_Robertson cor._ "From _libel_, come _libelled, libeller, libelling, libellous_; from _grovel, grovelled, groveller, grovelling_; from _gravel, gravelled_, and _gravelling_."--_Webster cor._ "_Woolliness_, the state of being woolly."--_Worcester's Dict._ "Yet he has spelled chapelling, bordeller, _medalist, metaline, metalist, metalize_, clavellated, etc, with _ll_, contrary to his rule."--_Webster cor._ "Again, he has spelled _cancellation_ and _snivelly_ with single _l_, and cupellation, pannellation wittolly, with _ll_."--_Id._ "_Oily_, fatty, greasy, containing oil, glib."--_Walker cor._ "_Medalist_, one curious in medals; _Metalist_, one skilled in metals."--_Walker's Rhym. Dict._ "He is _benefited_."--_Webster_. "They _travelled_ for pleasure."--_Clark cor._ "Without you, what were man? A _grovelling_ herd, In darkness, wretchedness, and want enchain'd."--_Beattle cor._ RULE V.--FINAL CK. "He hopes, therefore, to be pardoned by the _critic_."--_Kirkham corrected_. "The leading object of every _public_ speaker should be, to persuade."--_Id._ "May not four feet be as _poetic_ as five; or fifteen feet as _poetic_ as fifty?"--_Id._ "Avoid all theatrical trick and _mimicry_, and especially all _scholastic stiffness_."--_Id._ "No one thinks of becoming skilled in dancing, or in _music_, or in _mathematics_, or _in logic_, without long and close application to the subject."--_Id._ "Caspar's sense of feeling, and susceptibility of _metallic_ and _magnetic_ excitement, were also very extraordinary."--_Id._ "Authorship has become a mania, or, perhaps I should say, an _epidemic_."--_Id._ "What can prevent this _republic_ from soon raising a literary standard?"--_Id._ "Courteous reader, you may think me garrulous upon _topics_ quite foreign to the subject before me."--_Id._ "Of the _Tonic, Subtonic_, and _Atonic_ elements."--_Id._ "The _subtonic_ elements are inferior to the _tonics_, in all the _emphatic_ and elegant purposes of speech."--_Id._ "The nine _atonics_ and the three abrupt _subtonics_ cause an interruption to the continuity of the _syllabic_ impulse." [526]--_Id._ "On _scientific_ principles, conjunctions and prepositions are [_not_] one [and the same] part of speech."--_Id._ "That some inferior animals should be able to _mimick_ human articulation, will not seem wonderful."--_L. Murray cor._ "When young, you led a life _monastic_, And wore a vest _ecclesiastic_; Now, in your age, you grow _fantastic_."--_Denham's Poems_, p. 235. RULE VI.--RETAINING. "_Fearlessness_; exemption from fear, intrepidity."--_Johnson cor._ "_Dreadlessness_; _fearlessness_, intrepidity, undauntedness."--_Id._ "_Regardlessly_, without heed; _Regardlessness_, heedlessness."--_Id._ "_Blamelessly_, innocently; _Blamelessness_, innocence."--_Id._ "That is better than to be flattered into pride and _carelessness_."--_Id._ "Good fortunes began to breed a proud _recklessness_ in them."--_Id._ "See whether he lazily and _listlessly_ dreams away his time."--_Id._ "It maybe, the palate of the soul is indisposed by _listlessness_ or sorrow."--_Id._ "_Pitilessly_, without mercy; _Pitilessness_, unmercifulness."--_Id._ "What say you to such as these? abominable, accordable, _agreeable_, etc."-- _Tooke cor._ "_Artlessly_; naturally, sincerely, without craft."--_Johnson cor._ "A _chillness_, or shivering of the body, generally precedes a fever."--See _Webster_. "_Smallness_; littleness, minuteness, weakness."--_Walker's Dict., et al._ "_Galless, adj_. Free from gall or bitterness."--_Webster cor._ "_Tallness_; height of stature, upright length with comparative slenderness."--_Webster's Dict._ "_Willful_; stubborn, contumacious, perverse, inflexible."--See _ib._ "He guided them by the _skillfulness_ of his hands."--See _ib._ "The earth is the Lord's, and the _fullness_ thereof."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Ps_. xxiv, 1. "What is now, is but an _amassment_ of imaginary conceptions."--_Glanville cor._ "_Embarrassment_; perplexity, entanglement."--_Walker_. "The second is slothfulness, whereby they are performed slackly and _carelessly_."-- _Perkins cor._ "_Installment_; induction into office, part of a large sum of money, to be paid at a particular time."--See _Webster's Dict._ "_Inthrallment_; servitude, slavery, bondage."--_Ib._ "I, who at some times spend, at others spare, Divided between _carelessness_ and care."--_Pope cor._ RULE VII.--RETAINING. "_Shall_, on the contrary, in the first person, simply _foretells_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 41; _Comly's_, 38; _Cooper's_, 51; _Lennie's_, 26. "There are a few compound irregular verbs, as _befall, bespeak_, &c."--_Ash cor._ "That we might frequently _recall_ it to our memory."--_Calvin cor._ "The angels exercise a constant solicitude that no evil _befall us_."--_Id._ "_Inthrall_; to enslave, to shackle, to reduce to servitude."--_Johnson_. "He makes resolutions, and _fulfills_ them by new ones."--See _Webster_. "To _enroll_ my humble name upon the list of authors on Elocution."--See _Webster_. "_Forestall_; to anticipate, to take up beforehand."--_Johnson_. "_Miscall_; to call wrong, to name improperly."--_Webster_. "_Bethrall_; to enslave, to reduce to bondage."--_Id._ "_Befall_; to happen to, to come to pass."--_Walkers Dict._ "_Unroll_; to open what is rolled or convolved."--_Webster's Dict._ "_Counterroll_; to keep copies of accounts to prevent frauds."--See _ib._ "As Sisyphus _uprolls_ a rock, which constantly overpowers him at the summit."--_G. Brown_. "_Unwell_; not well, indisposed, not in good health."--_Webster_. "_Undersell_; to defeat by selling for less, to sell cheaper than an other."--_Johnson_. "_Inwall_; to enclose or fortify with a wall."--_Id._ "_Twibill_; an instrument with two bills, or with a point and a blade; a pickaxe, a mattock, a halberd, a battleaxe."--_Dict. cor._ "What you _miscall_ their folly, is their care."--_Dryden cor._ "My heart will sigh when I _miscall_ it so."--_Shak. cor._ "But if the arrangement _recalls_ one set of ideas more readily than an other."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 334. "'Tis done; and since 'tis done, 'tis past _recall_ And since 'tis past _recall_, must be forgotten."--_Dryden cor._ RULE VIII.--FINAL LL. "The righteous is taken away from the _evil_ to come."--_Isaiah_, lvii, 1. "_Patrol_; to go the rounds in a camp or garrison, to march about and observe what passes."--See _Joh. Dic._ "_Marshal_; the chief officer of arms, one who regulates rank and order."--See _ib._ "_Weevil_; a destructive grub that gets among corn."--See _ib._ "It much _excels_ all other studies and arts."--_W. Walker cor._ "It is _essential_ to all magnitudes, to be in one place."--_Perkins cor._ "By nature I was thy _vassal_, but Christ hath redeemed me."--_Id._ "Some being in want, pray for _temporal_ blessings."--_Id._ "And this the Lord doth, either in _temporal_ or _in spiritual_ benefits."--_Id._ "He makes an _idol_ of them, by setting his heart on them." "This _trial_ by desertion serveth for two purposes."--_Id._ "Moreover, this destruction is both _perpetual_ and terrible."--_Id._ "Giving to _several_ men several gifts, according to his good pleasure." "_Until_; to some time, place, or degree, mentioned."--See _Dict._ "_Annul_; to make void, to nullify, to abrogate, to abolish."--See _Dict._ "Nitric acid combined with _argil_, forms the nitrate of _argil_."--_Gregory cor._ "Let modest Foster, if he will, _excel_ Ten metropolitans in preaching well."--_Pope cor._ RULE IX.--FINAL E. "Adjectives ending in _able_ signify capacity; as, _comfortable, tenable, improvable_."--_Priestly cor._ "Their mildness and hospitality are _ascribable_ to a general administration of religious ordinances."-- _Webster cor._ "Retrench as much as possible without _obscuring_ the sense."--_J. Brown cor._ "_Changeable_, subject to change; _Unchangeable_, immutable."--_Walker cor._ "_Tamable_, susceptive of taming; _Untamable_, not to be tamed."--_Id._ "_Reconcilable, Unreconcilable, Reconcilableness_; Irreconcilable, Irreconcilably, Irreconcilableness."--_Johnson cor._ "We have thought it most _advisable_ to pay him some little attention."-- _Merchant cor._ "_Provable_, that may be proved; Reprovable, _blamable_, worthy of reprehension."--_Walker cor._ "_Movable_ and Immovable, _Movably_ and Immovably, _Movables_ and Removal, _Movableness_ and Improvableness, _Unremovable_ and Unimprovable, _Unremovably_ and Removable, _Provable_ and Approvable, _Irreprovable_ and Reprovable, _Unreprovable_ and Improvable, _Unimprovableness_ and Improvably."--_Johnson cor._ "And with this cruelty you are _chargeable_ in some measure yourself."--_Collier cor._ "Mothers would certainly resent it, as _judging_ it proceeded from a low opinion of the genius of their sex."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "_Tithable_, subject to the payment of tithes; _Salable_, vendible, fit for sale; _Losable_, possible to be lost; _Sizable_, of reasonable bulk or size."--See _Webster's Dict._ "When he began this custom, he was _puting_ and very tender."--_Locke cor._ "The plate, coin, revenues, and _movables_, Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd."--_Shak. cor._ RULE X.--FINAL E. "_Diversely_; in different ways, differently, variously."--See _Walker's Dict._ "The event thereof contains a _wholesome_ instruction."--_Bacon cor._ "Whence Scaliger _falsely_ concluded that Articles were useless."--_Brightland cor._ "The child that we have just seen is _wholesomely_ fed."--_Murray cor._ "Indeed, _falsehood_ and legerdemain sink the character of a prince."--_Collier cor._ "In earnest, at this rate of _management_, thou usest thyself very _coarsely_."--_Id._ "To give them an _arrangement_ and a diversity, as agreeable as the nature of the subject would admit."--_Murray cor._ "Alger's Grammar is only a trifling _enlargement_ of Murray's little _Abridgement_."--_G. Brown_. "You ask whether you are to retain or _to_ omit the mute _e_ in the _words, judgement, abridgement, acknowledgement, lodgement, adjudgement_, and _prejudgement_."--_Red Book cor._ "Fertileness, fruitfulness; _fertilely_, fruitfully, abundantly."--_Johnson cor._ "_Chastely_, purely, without contamination; _Chasteness_, chastity, purity."--_Id._ "_Rhymester_, n. One who makes rhymes; a versifier; a mean poet."--_Walker, Chalmers, Maunder, Worcester_. "It is therefore a heroical _achievement_ to disposess [sic--KTH] this imaginary monarch."--_Berkley cor._ "Whereby is not meant the present time, as he _imagines_, but the time past."--_R. Johnson cor._ "So far is this word from affecting the noun, in regard to its _definiteness_, that its own character of _definiteness_ or _indefiniteness_, depends upon the name to which it is prefixed."--_Webster cor._ "Satire, by _wholesome_ lessons, would reclaim, And heal their vices to secure their fame "--_Brightland cor._ RULE XI.--FINAL Y. "Solon's the _veriest_ fool in all the play."--_Dryden cor._ "Our author prides himself upon his great _sliness_ and shrewdness."--_Merchant cor._ "This tense, then, _implies_ also the signification of _debeo_."--_R. Johnson cor._ "That may be _applied_ to a subject, with respect to something accidental."--_Id._ "This latter author _accompanies_ his note with a distinction."--_Id._ "This rule is defective, and none of the annotators have sufficiently _supplied its deficiencies_."--_Id._ "Though the _fancied_ supplement of Sanctius, Scioppius, Vossius, and Mariangelus, may take place."--_Ib._ "Yet, as to the commutableness of these two tenses, which is _denied_ likewise, they [the foregoing examples] are _all one_ [; i.e., _exactly equivalent_]"--_Id._ "Both these tenses may represent a futurity, _implied_ by the dependence of the clause."--_Id._ "Cry, cries, crying, cried, crier, decrial; Shy, _shier, shiest, shily, shiness_; Fly, flies, flying, flier, high-flier; Sly, _slier, sliest, slily, sliness_; Spy, spies, spying, spied, espial; Dry, drier, driest, _drily, driness_."--_Cobb, Webster, and Chalmers cor._ "I would sooner listen to the thrumming of a _dandizette_ at her piano."--_Kirkham cor._ "Send her away; for she _crieth_ after us."--_Matt._, v, 23. "IVIED, _a_. overgrown with ivy."--_Cobb's Dict._, and _Maunders_. "Some _drily_ plain, without invention's aid, Write dull receipts how poems may be made."--_Pope cor._ RULE XII.--FINAL Y. "The _gayety_ of youth should be tempered by the precepts of age."--_Murray cor._ "In the storm of 1703, two thousand stacks of _chimneys_ were blown down in and about London."--_Red Book cor._ "And the vexation was not abated by the _hackneyed_ plea of haste."--_Id._ "The fourth sin of our _days_ is lukewarmness."--_Perkins cor._ "God hates the workers of iniquity, and _destroys_ them that speak lies."--_Id._ "For, when he _lays_ his hand upon us, we may not fret."--_Id._ "Care not for it; but if thou _mayst_ be free, choose it rather."--_Id._ "Alexander Severus saith, 'He that _buyeth_, must sell; I will not suffer buyers and sellers of offices.'"--_Id._ "With these measures, fell in all _moneyed_ men."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "But rattling nonsense in full _volleys_ breaks."--_Murray's Reader, q. Pope_. "_Valleys_ are the intervals betwixt mountains."--_Woodward cor._ "The Hebrews had fifty-two _journeys_ or marches."--_Wood cor._ "It was not possible to manage or steer the _galleys_ thus fastened together."--_Goldsmith cor._ "_Turkeys_ were not known to naturalists till after the discovery of America."--_Gregory cor._ "I would not have given it for a wilderness of _monkeys_."--SHAK.: _in Johnson's Dict._ "Men worked at embroidery, especially in _abbeys_."--_Constable cor._ "By which all purchasers or mortgagees may be secured of all _moneys_ they lay out."--_Temple cor._ "He would fly to the mines _or_ the _galleys_, for his recreation."--_South cor._ "Here _pulleys_ make the pond'rous oak ascend."--_Gay cor._ ------"You need my help, and you say, Shylock, we would have _moneys_."--_Shak. cor._ RULE XIII.--IZE AND ISE. "Will any able writer _authorize_ other men to _revise_ his works?"--_G. B_. "It can be made as strong and expressive as this _Latinized_ English."--_Murray cor._ "Governed by the success or failure of an _enterprise_."--_Id._ "Who have _patronized_ the cause of justice against powerful oppressors."--_Id., et al_. "Yet custom _authorizes_ this use of it."--_Priestley cor._ "They _surprise_ myself, ****; and I even think the writers themselves will be _surprised_."--_Id._ "Let the interest _rise_ to any sum which can be obtained."--_Webster cor._ "To _determine_ what interest shall _arise_ on the use of money."--_Id._ "To direct the popular councils and check _any rising_ opposition,"--_Id._ "Five were appointed to the immediate _exercise_ of the office."--_Id._ "No man ever offers himself as a candidate by _advertising_."--_Id._ "They are honest and economical, but indolent, and destitute of _enterprise_."--_Id._ "I would, however, _advise_ you to be cautious."--_Id._ "We are accountable for what we _patronize_ in others."--_Murray cor._ "After he was _baptized_, and was solemnly admitted into the office."--_Perkins cor._ "He will find all, or most, of them, _comprised_ in the exercises."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "A quick and ready habit of _methodizing_ and regulating their thoughts."--_Id._ "To _tyrannize_ over the time and patience of his readers."--_Kirkham cor._ "Writers of dull books, however, if _patronized_ at all, are rewarded beyond their deserts."--_Id._ "A little reflection will show the reader the reason for _emphasizing_ the words marked."--_Id._ "The English Chronicle contains an account of a _surprising_ cure."--_Red Book cor._ "_Dogmatize_, to assert positively; Dogmatizer, an _assertor_, a magisterial teacher."--_Chalmers cor._ "And their inflections might now have been easily _analyzed_."--_Murray cor._ "Authorize, _disauthorize_, and unauthorized; Temporize, _contemporize_, and extemporize."--_Walker cor._ "Legalize, _equalize, methodize_, sluggardize, _womanize_, humanize, _patronize_, cantonize, _gluttonize, epitomize_, anatomize, _phlebotomize, sanctuarize_, characterize, _synonymize, recognize_, detonize, _colonize_."--_Id. cor._ "This beauty sweetness always must _comprise_, Which from the subject, well express'd, will rise."--_Brightland cor._ RULE XIV.--COMPOUNDS. "The glory of the Lord shall be thy _rear-ward_."--SCOTT, ALGER: _Isa._, lviii, 8. "A mere _van-courier_ to announce the coming of his master."--_Tooke cor._ "The _party-coloured_ shutter appeared to come close up before him."--_Kirkham cor._ "When the day broke upon this _handful_ of forlorn but dauntless spirits."--_Id._ "If, upon a _plumtree_, peaches and apricots are engrafted, _nobody_ will say they are the natural growth of the _plumtree_.'--_Berkley cor._ "The channel between Newfoundland and Labrador is called the Straits of _Belleisle_."--_Worcester cor._ "There being nothing that more exposes to _the headache_:"--or, (perhaps more accurately,) "_headake_."--_Locke cor._ "And, by a sleep, to say we end the _heartache_:"--or, "_heartake_."--_Shak. cor._ "He that sleeps, feels not the _toothache_:"--or, "_toothake_."--_Id._ "That the shoe must fit him, because it fitted his father and _grandfather_."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "A single word _misspelled_ [or _misspelt_] in a letter is sufficient to show that you have received a defective education."--_C. Bucke cor._ "Which _misstatement_ the committee attributed to a failure of memory."--_Professors cor._ "Then he went through the _Banqueting-House_ to the scaffold."--_Smollet cor._ "For the purpose of maintaining a clergyman and _a schoolmaster_."--_Webster cor._ "They however knew that the lands were claimed by _Pennsylvania_."--_Id._ "But if you ask a reason, they immediately bid _farewell_ to argument."--_Barnes cor._ "Whom resist, _steadfast_ in the faith."--_Alger's Bible_. "And they continued _steadfastly_ in the apostles' doctrine."--_Id._ "Beware lest ye also fall from your own _steadfastness_."--_Ib._ "_Galiot_, or _Galliot_, a Dutch vessel carrying a main-mast and a _mizzen-mast_."--_Webster cor._ "Infinitive, to overflow; Preterit, overflowed; Participle, _overflowed_."--_Cobbett cor._ "After they have _misspent_ so much precious time."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "Some say, 'two _handsful_;" some, 'two _handfuls_; and others, 'two _handful_.' The second expression is right."--_G. Brown_. "_Lapful_, as much as the lap can contain."--_Webster cor._ "_Dareful_, full of defiance."--_Walker cor._ "The road to the _blissful_ regions is as open to the peasant as to the king."--_Mur. cor._ "_Misspell_ is _misspelled_ [or _misspelt_] in every dictionary which I have seen."--_Barnes cor._ "_Downfall_; ruin, calamity, fall from rank or state."--_Johnson cor._ "The whole legislature _likewise_ acts _as_ a court."--_Webster cor._ "It were better a _millstone_ were hanged about his neck."--_Perkins cor._ "_Plumtree_, a tree that produces plums; _Hogplumtree_, a tree."--_Webster cor._ "_Trissyllables_ ending in _re_ or _le_, accent the first syllable."--_Murray cor._ "It happened on a summer's _holyday_, That to the greenwood shade he took his way."--_Dryden_. RULE XV.--USAGE. "Nor are the _moods_ of the Greek tongue more uniform."--_Murray cor._ "If we _analyze_ a conjunctive _preterit_, the rule will not appear to hold."--_Priestley cor._ "No landholder would have been at that _expense_."--_Id._ "I went to see the child whilst they were putting on its _clothes_."--_Id._ "This _style_ is ostentatious, and _does_ not suit grave writing."--_Id._ "The king of Israel and _Jehoshaphat_ the king of Judah, sat each on his throne."--_1 Kings_, xxii, 10; _2 Chron._, xviii, 9. "_Lysias_, speaking of his friends, promised to his father never to abandon them."--_Murray cor._ "Some, to avoid this _error_, run into _its_ opposite."--_Churchill cor._ "Hope, the balm of life _soothes_ us under every misfortune."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 182. "Any judgement or decree might be _heard_ and reversed by the legislature."--_N. Webster cor._ "A pathetic _harangue will screen_ from punishment any knave."--_Id._ "For the same _reason_ the _women_ would be improper judges."--_Id._ "Every person _is_ indulged in worshiping _as_ he _pleases_."--_Id._ "Most or all _teachers_ are excluded from genteel company."--_Id._ "The _Christian_ religion, in its purity, _is_ the best institution on _earth_."--_Id._ "_Neither_ clergymen nor human laws _have_ the _least_ authority over the conscience."--_Id._ "A _guild_ is a society, fraternity, or corporation."--_Barnes cor._ "Phillis was not able to _untie_ the knot, and so she cut it."--_Id._ "An _acre_ of land is the quantity of one hundred and sixty perches."--_Id._ "_Ochre_ is a fossil earth combined with the _oxyd_ of some metal."--_Id._ "_Genii_, when denoting _aerial_ spirits; _geniuses_, when signifying persons of genius."--_Murray cor._; also _Frost_; also _Nutting_. "Acrisius, king of Argos, had a beautiful daughter, whose name was _Danaee_."--_Classic Tales cor._ "_Phaeeton_ was the son of Apollo and Clymene."--_Id._--"But, after all, I may not have reached the intended _goal_."--_Buchanan cor._ "'_Pittacus_ was offered a large sum.' Better: '_To Pittacus_ was offered a large sum.'"--_Kirkham cor._ "King _Micipsa_ charged his sons to respect the senate and people of Rome."--_Id._ "For example: '_Galileo_ greatly improved the telescope.'"--_Id._ "Cathmor's _warriors_ sleep in death."--_Macpherson's Ossian_. "For parsing will enable you to detect and correct _errors_ in composition."--_Kirkham cor._ "O'er barren mountains, o'er the flow'ry plain, Extends thy _uncontrolled_ and boundless reign."--_Dryden cor._ PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SPELLING. LESSON I.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "A bad author deserves better usage than a bad _critic_."--_Pope (or Johnson) cor._ "Produce a single passage, _superior_ to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore, _governor_ of this state."--_Jefferson's Notes_, p. 94. "We have none _synonymous_ to supply its place."--_Jamieson cor._ "There is a probability that the effect will be _accelerated_."--_Id._ "Nay, a regard to sound has _controlled_ the public choice."--_Id._ "Though learnt [better, _learned_] from the uninterrupted use of _guttural_ sounds."--_Id._ "It is by carefully filing off all roughness and _all inequalities_, that languages, like metals, must be polished."--_Id._ "That I have not _misspent_ my time in the service of the community."--_Buchanan cor._ "The leaves of _maize_ are also called blades."--_Webster cor._ "Who boast that they know what is past, and can _foretell_ what is to come."--_Robertson cor._ "Its tasteless _dullness_ is interrupted by nothing but its perplexities."--_Abbott, right_. "Sentences constructed with the Johnsonian _fullness_ and swell."--_Jamieson, right_. "The privilege of escaping from his prefatory _dullness_ and prolixity."--_Kirkham, right_. "But, in poetry, this _characteristic_ of _dullness_ attains its full growth."--_Id. corrected_. "The leading _characteristic_ consists in an increase of the force and fullness."--_Id cor._ "The character of this opening _fullness_ and feebler vanish."--_Id. cor._ "Who, in the _fullness_ of _unequalled_ power, would not believe himself the favourite of Heaven?"--_Id. right_. "They _mar_ one _an_ other, and distract him."--_Philol. Mus. cor._ "Let a deaf _worshiper_ of antiquity and an English prosodist settle this."--_Rush cor._ "This _Philippic_ gave rise to my satirical reply in self-defence."--_Merchant cor._ "We here saw no _innuendoes_, no new sophistry, no falsehoods."--_Id._ "A witty and _humorous_ vein has often produced enemies."--_Murray cor._ "Cry _hollo_! to thy tongue, I _pray thee_:[527] it _curvets_ unseasonably."--_Shak. cor._ "I said, in my _sliest_ manner, 'Your health, sir.'"--_Blackwood cor._ "And _attorneys_ also travel the circuit in _pursuit_ of business."--_Barnes cor._ "Some whole counties in Virginia would hardly _sell_ for the _value_ of the _debts due_ from the inhabitants."--_Webster cor._ "They were called the Court of Assistants, and _exercised_ all powers, _legislative_ and judicial."--_Id._ "Arithmetic is excellent for the _gauging_ of liquors."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 295. "Most of the inflections may be _analyzed_ in a way somewhat similar."--_Murray cor._ "To epithets allots emphatic state, _While_ principals, ungrac'd, like _lackeys_ wait." --_T. O. Churchill's Gram._, p. 326. LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Hence _less_ is a privative _suffix_, denoting destitution; as in _fatherless, faithless, penniless_."--_Webster cor._ "_Bay_; red, or reddish, inclining to a _chestnut colour_."--_Id._ "To _mimick_, to imitate or ape for sport; a _mimic_, one who imitates or mimicks."--_Id._ "Counterroll, a counterpart or copy of the rolls; _Counterrollment_, a counter account."--_Id._ "_Millennium_, [from _mille_ and _annus_,] the thousand years during which Satan shall be bound."--See _Johnson's Dict._ "_Millennial_, [like _septennial, decennial_, &c.,] pertaining to the _millennium_, or to a thousand years."--See _Worcester's Dict._ "_Thralldom_; slavery, bondage, a state of servitude."--_Webster's Dict._ "Brier, a prickly bush; Briery, rough, prickly, full of briers; _Sweetbrier_, a fragrant shrub."--See _Ainsworth's Dict., Scott's, Gobb's_, and others. "_Will_, in the second and third persons, barely _foretells_."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "And _therefore_ there is no word false, but what is distinguished by Italics."--_Id._ "What should be _repeated_, is left to their discretion."--_Id._ "Because they are abstracted or _separated_ from material substances."--_Id._ "All motion is in time, and _therefore, wherever_ it exists, implies time as its _concomitant_."-- _Harris's Hermes_, p. 95. "And illiterate grown persons are guilty of _blamable_ spelling."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "They _will_ always be ignorant, and of _rough_, uncivil manners."--_Webster cor._ "This fact _will_ hardly be _believed_ in the northern states."--_Id._ "The province, however, _was harassed_ with disputes."--_Id._ "So little concern _has_ the legislature for the interest of _learning_."--_Id._ "The gentlemen _will_ not admit that a _schoolmaster_ can be a gentleman."--_Id._ "Such absurd _quid-pro-quoes_ cannot be too strenuously avoided."--_Churchill cor._ "When we say of a man, 'He looks _slily_;' we signify, that he takes a sly glance or peep at something."--_Id._ "_Peep_; to look through a crevice; to look narrowly, closely, or _slily_"--_Webster cor._ "Hence the confession has become a _hackneyed_ proverb."--_Wayland cor._ "Not to mention the more ornamental parts of _gilding_, varnish, &c."--_Tooke cor._ "After this system of self-interest had been _riveted_."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Prejudice might have prevented the cordial approbation of a _bigoted_ Jew."--_Dr. Scott cor._ "All twinkling with the _dewdrop_ sheen, The _brier-rose_ fell in streamers green."--_Sir W. Scott cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "The infinitive _mood_ has, commonly, the sign _to_ before it."--_Harrison cor._ "Thus, it is _advisable_ to write _singeing_, from the verb to _singe_, by way of distinction from _singing_, the participle of the verb to _sing_."--_Id._ "Many verbs form both the _preterit_ tense and the _preterit_ participle irregularly."--_Id._ "Much must be left to every one's taste and _judgement_."--_Id._ "Verses of different lengths, intermixed, form a _Pindaric_ poem."--_Priestley cor._ "He'll _surprise_ you."--_Frost cor._ "Unequalled archer! why was this concealed?"-- _Knowles_. "So _gayly_ curl the waves before each dashing prow."--_Byron cor._ "When is a _diphthong_ called a proper _diphthong_?"--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "How many _Esses_ would _the word_ then end with? Three; for it would be _goodness's_."--_Id._ "_Qu_. What is a _triphthong_? _Ans_. A _triphthong_ is a _coalition_ of three vowels _in one syllable_."--_Bacon cor._ "The verb, noun, or pronoun, is referred to the preceding terms taken _separately_."--_Murray_. "The cubic foot of matter which occupies the _centre_ of the globe."--_Cardell cor._ "The wine imbibes _oxygen_, or the acidifying principle, from the air."--_Id._ "Charcoal, sulphur, and _nitre_, make _gunpowder_."--_Id._ "It would be readily understood, that the thing so _labelled_ was a bottle of Madeira wine."--_Id._ "They went their ways, one to his farm, an other to his _merchandise_."--_Matt._, xxii, 5. "A _diphthong_ is the union of two vowels, _both in one syllable_."--_Russell cor._ "The professors of the _Mohammedan_ religion are called Mussulmans."--_Maltby cor._ "This _shows_ that _let_ is not a _mere_ sign of the imperative mood, but a real verb."--_Id._ "Those _preterits_ and participles which are first mentioned in the list, seem to be the most eligible."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 107; _Fisk's_, 81; _Ingersoll's_, 103. "Monosyllables, for the most part, are compared by _er_ and _est_, and _dissyllables_, by _more_ and _most_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 47. "This termination, added to a noun or _an_ adjective, changes it into a verb: as, _modern_, to _modernize_; a _symbol_, to _symbolize_."-- _Churchill cor._ "An _Abridgement_ of Murray's Grammar, with additions from Webster, Ash, Tooke, and others."--_Maltby's Gram._, p. 2. "For the sake of occupying the room more _advantageously_, the subject of Orthography is merely glanced at."--_Nutting cor._ "So contended the accusers of _Galileo_."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ Murray says, "They were _travelling post_ when _he_ met them."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 69. "They _fulfill_ the only purposes for which they were designed."--_Peirce cor._--See _Webster's Dict._ "On the _fulfillment_ of the event."--_Peirce, right_. "_Fullness_ consists in expressing every idea."--_Id._ "Consistently with _fullness_ and perspicuity."--_Peirce cor._ "The word _veriest_ is a _regular adjective_; as, 'He is the _veriest_ fool on earth.'"--_Wright cor._ "The sound will _recall_ the idea of the object."--_Hiley cor._ "Formed for great _enterprises_."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 113. "The most important rules and definitions are printed in large type, _Italicized_."--_Hart cor._ "HAMLETED, _a._, accustomed to a hamlet, countrified."--_Webster_, and _Worcester_. "Singular, _spoonful, cupful, coachful, handful_; plural, _spoonfuls, cupfuls, coachfuls, handfuls_."--_Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary_. "Between superlatives and following names, _Of_, by _grammatic_ right, a station claims."--_Brightland cor._ THE KEY.--PART II.--ETYMOLOGY. CHAPTER I.--PARTS OF SPEECH. The first chapter of Etymology, as it exhibits only the distribution of words into the ten Parts of Speech, contains no false grammar for correction. And it may be here observed, that as mistakes concerning the forms, classes, or modifications of words, are chiefly to be found in _sentences_, rather than in any separate exhibition of the terms; the quotations of this kind, with which I have illustrated the principles of etymology, are many of them such as might perhaps with more propriety be denominated _false syntax_. But, having examples enough at hand to show the ignorance and carelessness of authors in every part of grammar, I have thought it most advisable, so to distribute them as to leave no part destitute of this most impressive kind of illustration. The examples exhibited as _false etymology_, are as distinct from those which are called _false syntax_, as the nature of the case will admit. CHAPTER II.--ARTICLES. CORRECTIONS RESPECTING A, AN, AND THE. LESSON I.--ARTICLES ADAPTED. "Honour is _a_ useful distinction in life."--_Milnes cor._ "No writer, therefore, ought to foment _a_ humour of innovation."--_Jamieson cor._ "Conjunctions [generally] require a situation between the things of which they form _a_ union."--_Id._ "Nothing is more easy than to mistake _a u_ for an _a_."--_Tooke cor._ "From making so ill _a_ use of our innocent expressions."--_Penn cor._ "To grant thee _a_ heavenly and incorruptible crown of glory."--_Sewel cor._ "It in no wise follows, that such _a_ one was able to predict."--_Id._ "With _a_ harmless patience, they have borne most heavy oppressions."--_Id._ "My attendance was to make me _a_ happier man."--_Spect. cor._ "On the wonderful nature of _a_ human mind."--_Id._ "I have got _a_ hussy of a maid, who is most craftily given to this."--_Id._ "Argus is said to have had _a_ hundred eyes, some of which were always awake."--_Stories cor._ "Centiped, having _a_ hundred feet; centennial, consisting of a hundred years."--_Town cor._ "No good man, he thought, could be _a_ heretic."--_Gilpin cor._ "As, a Christian, an infidel, _a_ heathen."--_Ash cor._ "Of two or more words, usually joined by _a_ hyphen."--_Blair cor._ "We may consider the whole space of _a_ hundred years as time present."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 138. "In guarding against such _a_ use of meats and drinks."--_Ash cor._ "Worship is _a_ homage due from man to his Creator."--_Monitor cor._ "Then _a_ eulogium on the deceased was pronounced."--_Grimshaw cor._ "But for Adam there was not found _a_ help meet for him."--_Bible cor._ "My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as _a_ hearth."--_Id._ "A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof."--_Id._ "The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; _a_ high hill, as the hill of Bashan."--_Id._ "But I do declare it to have been _a_ holy offering, and such _a_ one too as was to be once for all."--_Penn cor._ "A hope that does not make ashamed those that have it."--_Barclay cor._ "Where there is not _a_ unity, we may exercise true charity."--_Id._ "Tell me, if in any of these such _a_ union can be found?"--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Such holy drops her tresses steeped, Though 'twas _a_ hero's eye that weeped."--_Sir W. Scott cor._ LESSON II.--ARTICLES INSERTED. "This veil of flesh parts the visible and _the_ invisible world."--_Sherlock cor._ "The copulative and _the_ disjunctive conjunctions operate differently on the verb."--_L. Murray cor._ "Every combination of a preposition and _an_ article with the noun."--_Id._ "_Either_ signifies, 'the one or the other:' _neither_ imports, 'not either;' that is, 'not _the_ one nor the other.'"--_Id._ "A noun of multitude may have a pronoun or _a_ verb agreeing with it, either of the singular number or _of the_ plural."--_Bucke cor._ "_The principal_ copulative conjunctions are, _and, as, both, because, for, if, that, then, since_."--_Id._ "The two real genders are the masculine and _the_ feminine."--_Id._ "In which a mute and _a_ liquid are represented by the same character, _th_."--_Gardiner cor._ "They said, John _the_ Baptist hath sent us unto thee."--_Bible cor._ "They indeed remember the names of _an_ abundance of places."--_Spect. cor._ "Which created a great dispute between the young and _the_ old men."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Then shall be read the Apostles' or _the_ Nicene Creed."--_Com. Prayer cor._ "The rules concerning the perfect tenses and _the_ supines of verbs are Lily's."--_K. Henry's Gr. cor._ "It was read by the high and the low, the learned and _the_ illiterate."--_Dr. Johnson cor._ "Most commonly, both the pronoun and _the_ verb are understood."--_Buchanan cor._ "To signify the thick and _the_ slender enunciation of tone."--_Knight cor._ "The difference between a palatial and _a_ guttural aspirate is very small."--_Id._ "Leaving it to waver between the figurative and _the_ literal sense."--_Jamieson cor._ "Whatever verb will not admit of both an active and _a_ passive signification."--_Alex. Murray cor._ "_The_ is often set before adverbs in the comparative or _the_ superlative degree."--_Id. and Kirkham cor._ "Lest any should fear the effect of such a change, upon the present or _the_ succeeding age of writers."--_Fowle cor._ "In all these measures, the accents are to be placed on _the_ even syllables; and every line is, in general, _the_ more melodious, as this rule is _the_ more strictly observed."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "How many numbers do nouns appear to have? Two: the singular and _the_ plural."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "How many persons? Three; the first, _the_ second, and _the_ third."--_Id._ "How many cases? Three; the nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."--_Id._ "Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep, Who lost my heart while I preserv'd _the_ sheep:"--or, "_my_ sheep." LESSON III.--ARTICLES OMITTED. "The negroes are all _descendants_ of Africans."--_Morse cor._ "_Sybarite_ was applied as a term of reproach to a man of dissolute manners."--_Id._ "The original signification of _knave_ was _boy_."--_Webster cor._ "The meaning of these will be explained, for greater clearness and precision."--_Bucke cor._ "What sort of _noun_ is _man_? A noun substantive, common."--_Buchanan cor._ "Is _what_ ever used as three kinds of _pronoun_?"_--Kirkham's Question cor._ [Answer: "No; as a pronoun, it is either relative or interrogative."--_G. Brown_.] "They delighted in _having done it_, as well as in the doing of it."--_R. Johnson cor._ "_Both parts_ of this rule are exemplified in the following sentences."--_Murray cor._ "He has taught them to hope for _an other and better_ world."--_Knapp cor._ "It was itself only preparatory to a future, _better_, and perfect revelation."--_Keith cor._ "_Es_ then makes _an other and distinct_ syllable."--_Brightland cor._ "The eternal clamours of a _selfish and factious_ people."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "To those whose taste in elocution is _but little_ cultivated."--_Kirkham cor._ "They considered they had but a _sort of gourd_ to rejoice in."--_Bennet cor._ "Now there was _but one such bough_, in a spacious and shady grove."--_Bacon cor._ "Now the absurdity of this latter supposition will go a great way _towards making_ a man easy."--_Collier cor._ "This is true of _mathematics, with which taste_ has but little to do."--_Todd cor._ "To stand prompter to a _pausing yet ready_ comprehension."--_Rush cor._ "Such an obedience as the _yoked and tortured_ negro is compelled to yield to the whip of the overseer."--_Chalmers cor._ "For the gratification of a _momentary and unholy_ desire."--_Wayland cor._ "The body is slenderly put together; the mind, a rambling _sort of thing_."--_Collier cor._ "The only nominative to the verb, is _officer_."--_Murray cor._ "And though _in general_ it ought to be admitted, &c."--_Blair cor._ "Philosophical writing admits of a polished, _neat_, and elegant style."--_Id._ "But notwithstanding this defect, Thomson is a strong _and beautiful_ describer."--_Id._ "So should he be sure to be ransomed, _and many_ poor men's lives _should be_ saved."--_Shak. cor._ "Who felt the wrong, or feared it, _took alarm_, Appealed to law, and Justice lent her arm."--_Pope cor._ LESSON IV.--ARTICLES CHANGED. "To enable us to avoid too frequent _a_ repetition of the same word."--_Bucke cor._ "The former is commonly acquired in _a_ third part of the time."--_Burn cor._ "Sometimes _an_ adjective becomes a substantive; and, _like other substantives, it may have an_ adjective _relating_ to it: as, '_The chief good_.'"--_L. Murray cor._ "An articulate sound is _a_ sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech."--_Id. "A tense_ is _a_ distinction of time: there are six tenses."--_Maunder cor._ "In this case, _an_ ellipsis of the last article would be improper."--_L. Hurray cor._ "Contrast _always_ has the effect to make each of the contrasted objects appear in _a_ stronger light."--_Id. et al_. "These remarks may serve to _show_ the great importance of _a_ proper use of the _articles_."--_Lowth et al. cor._ "'Archbishop Tillotson,' says _the_ author of _a_ history of England, 'died in this year.'"--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Pronouns are used in stead of substantives, to prevent too frequent _a_ repetition of them."--_A. Murray cor._ "THAT, as a relative, seems to be introduced to _prevent_ too frequent _a_ repetition of WHO and WHICH."--_Id._ "A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun, to _prevent_ too frequent _a_ repetition of it."--_L. Murray cor._ "THAT is often used as a relative, to prevent too frequent _a_ repetition of WHO and WHICH."--_Id. et al. cor._ "His knees smote one against _the_ other."--_Logan cor._ "They stand now on one foot, then on _the_ other."--_W. Walker cor._ "The Lord watch between thee and me, when we are absent one from _the_ other."--_Bible cor._ "Some have enumerated ten parts of speech, making _the_ participle a distinct part."--_L. Murray cor._ "Nemesis rides upon _a_ hart because _the_ hart is a most lively creature."--_Bacon cor._ "The transition of the voice from one vowel of the diphthong to _the_ other."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "So difficult it is, to separate these two things one from _the_ other."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Without _a_ material breach of any rule."--_Id._ "The great source of _looseness_ of style, in opposition to precision, is _an_ injudicious use of _what_ are termed _synonymous words_."--_Blair cor._; also _Murray_. "Sometimes one article is improperly used for _the_ other."--_Sanborn cor._ "Satire of sense, alas! can Sporus feel? Who breaks a butterfly upon _the_ wheel?"--_Pope cor._ LESSON V.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "He hath no delight in the strength of _a_ horse."--_Maturin cor._ "The head of it would be _a_ universal monarch."--_Butler cor._ "Here they confound the material and _the_ formal object of faith."--_Barclay cor._ "The Irish [Celtic] and _the Scottish_ Celtic are one language; the Welsh, _the_ Cornish, and _the_ Armorican, are _an_ other."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "In _a_ uniform and perspicuous manner."--_Id._ "SCRIPTURE, _n._ Appropriately, and by way of distinction, the books of the Old and _the_ New Testament; the Bible."--_Webster cor._ "In two separate volumes, entitled, 'The Old and New Testaments.'"--_Wayland cor._ "The Scriptures of the Old and _the_ New Testament, contain a revelation from God."--_Id._ "Q has _always a_ u after it; which, in words of French origin, is not sounded."--_Wilson cor._ "What should we say of such _a_ one? that he is regenerate? No."--_Hopkins cor._ "Some grammarians subdivide _the_ vowels into simple and compound."--_L. Murray cor._ "Emphasis has been _divided_ into the weaker and _the_ stronger emphasis."--_Id._ "Emphasis has also been divided into _the_ superior and the inferior emphasis."--_Id._ "Pronouns must agree with their antecedents, or _the_ nouns which they represent, in gender, number, and person."--_Merchant cor._ "The adverb _where_ is often used improperly, for _a_ relative pronoun and _a_ preposition": as, "Words _where_ [in which] the _h_ is not silent."--_Murray_, p. 31. "The termination _ish_ imports diminution, or _a_ lessening _of_ the quality."--_Merchant cor._ "In this train, all their verses proceed: one half of _a_ line always answering to the other."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To _a_ height of prosperity and glory, unknown to any former age."--_L. Murray cor._ "_Hwilc_, who, which, such as, such _a_ one, is declined as follows."--_Gwilt cor._ "When a vowel precedes _the y, s_ only is required to form _the_ plural; as, _day, days_."--_Bucke cor._ "He is asked what sort _of word_ each is; whether a primitive, _a_ derivative, or _a_ compound."--_British Gram. cor._ "It is obvious, that neither the second, _the_ third, nor _the_ fourth chapter of Matthew, is the first; consequently, there are not '_four first_ chapters.'"--_Churchill cor._ "Some thought, which a writer wants _the_ art to introduce in its proper place."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Groves and meadows are _the_ most pleasing in the spring."--_Id._ "The conflict between the carnal and _the_ spiritual mind, is often long."--_Gurney cor._ "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and _the_ Beautiful"--_Burke cor._ "Silence, my muse! make not these jewels cheap, Exposing to the world too large _a_ heap."--_Waller cor._ CHAPTER III.--NOUNS. CORRECTIONS IN THE MODIFICATIONS OF NOUNS. LESSON I.--NUMBERS. "All the ablest of the Jewish _rabbies_ acknowledge it."--_Wilson cor._ "Who has thoroughly imbibed the system of one or other of our Christian _rabbies_."--_Campbell cor._ "The seeming _singularities_ of reason soon wear off."--_Collier cor._ "The chiefs and _arikies_, or priests, have the power of declaring a place or object taboo."--_Balbi cor._ "Among the various tribes of this family, are the Pottawatomies, the _Sauks_ and Foxes, or _Saukies_ and _Ottogamies_."--_Id._ "The Shawnees, Kickapoos, Menom'onies, _Miamies_, and Delawares, are of the same region."--_Id._ "The Mohegans and _Abenaquies_ belonged also to this family."--_Id._ "One tribe of this family, the _Winnebagoes_, formerly resided near lake Michigan."--_Id._ "The other tribes are the Ioways, the Otoes, the _Missouries_, the Quapaws."--_Id._" The great Mexican family comprises the Aztecs, the Toltecs, and the _Tarascoes_."--_Id._" The Mulattoes are born of negro and white parents; the _Zamboes_, of Indians and Negroes."--_Id._ "To have a place among the Alexanders, the Caesars, the _Louises_, or the _Charleses_,--the scourges and butchers of their fellow-creatures."--Burgh cor." Which was the notion of the Platonic philosophers and the Jewish _rabbies_."--_Id._ "That they should relate to the whole body of _virtuosoes_."--_Cobbeti cor._" What _thanks_ have ye? for sinners also love those that love them."--_Bible cor._" There are five ranks of nobility; dukes, _marquises_, earls, viscounts, and barons."--_Balbi cor._" Acts which were so well known to the two _Charleses_."--_Payne cor._ "_Courts-martial_ are held in all parts, for the trial of the blacks."--_Observer cor._ "It becomes a common noun, and may have _the_ plural number; as, the two _Davids_, the two _Scipios_, the two _Pompeys_."--_Staniford cor._ "The food of the rattlesnake is birds, squirrels, _hares_, rats, and reptiles."--_Balbi cor._ "And let _fowls_ multiply in the earth."--_Bible cor._ "Then we reached the _hillside_, where eight _buffaloes_ were grazing."--_Martineau cor._ "CORSET, _n. a bodice_ for a woman."--_Worcester cor._ "As, the _Bees_, the _Cees_, the _Double-ues_."--_Peirce cor._ "Simplicity is the _mean_ between ostentation and rusticity."--_Pope cor._ "You have disguised yourselves like _tipstaffs_."--_Gil Bias cor._ "But who, that _has_ any taste, can endure the incessant quick returns of the _alsoes_, and the _likewises_, and the _moreovers_, and the _howevers_, and the _notwithstandings?_"--_Campbell cor._ "Sometimes, in mutual sly disguise, Let _ays_ seem _noes_, and _noes_ seem _ays_."--_Gay cor._ LESSON II.--CASES. "For whose _name's_ sake, I have been made willing."--_Penn cor._ "Be governed by your conscience, and never ask any _body's_ leave to be honest."--_Collier cor._ "To overlook _nobody's_ merit or misbehaviour."-- _Id._ "And Hector at last fights his way to the stern of _Ajax's_ ship."--_Coleridge cor._ "Nothing is lazier, than to keep _one's_ eye upon words without heeding their meaning."--_Museum cor._ "Sir William _Jones's_ division of the day."--_Id._ "I need only refer here to _Voss's_ excellent account of it."--_Id._ "The beginning of _Stesichorus's_ palinode has been preserved."--_Id._ "Though we have _Tibullus's_ elegies, there is not a word in them about Glyc~era."--_Id._ "That Horace was at _Thaliarchus's_ country-house."--_Id._ "That _Sisyphus's_ foot-tub should have been still in existence."--_Id._ "How everything went on in Horace's closet, and _Mecenas's_ antechamber."--_Id._ "Who, for elegant _brevity's_ sake, put a participle for a verb."--_W. Walker cor._ "The _country's_ liberty being oppressed, we have no more to hope."--_Id._ "A brief but true account of this _people's_ principles."--_Barclay cor._ "As, The _Church's peace_, or, _The peace_ of the Church; Virgil's _AEneid_, or, _The AEneid_ of Virgil."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "As, Virgil's AEneid, for, _The_ AEneid of Virgil; _The Church's peace_, for, _The peace_ of the Church."--_Buchanan cor._ "Which, with Hubner's Compend, and _Well's_ Geographia Classica, will be sufficient."--_Burgh cor._ "Witness Homer's speaking horses, scolding goddesses, and Jupiter _enchanted_ with _Venus's_ girdle."--_Id._ "_Dr. Watts's_ Logic may with success be read to them and commented on."--_Id._ "Potter's Greek, and Kennet's Roman Antiquities, _Strauchius's_ and _Helvicus's_ Chronology."--_Id._ "SING. _Alice's_ friends, _Felix's_ property; PLUR. The Alices' friends, the Felixes' property."--_Peirce cor._ "Such as _Bacchus's_ company--at _Bacchus's_ festivals."--_Ainsworih cor._ "_Burns's_ inimitable _Tam o' Shanter_ turns entirely upon such a circumstance."--_Scott cor._ "Nominative, men; Genitive, [or Possessive,] _men's_; Objective, men."--_Cutler cor._ "_Men's_ happiness or misery is _mostly_ of their own making."--_Locke cor._ "That your _son's clothes_ be never made strait, especially about the breast."--_Id._ "_Children's_ minds are narrow and weak."--_Id._ "I would not have little children much tormented about _punctilios_, or niceties of breeding."--_Id._ "To fill his head with suitable ideas."--_Id._ "The _Burgusdisciuses_ and the Scheiblers did not swarm in those days, as they do now."--_Id._ "To see the various ways of dressing--a _calf's_ head!"--_Shenstone cor._ "He puts it on, and for _decorum's_ sake Can wear it e'en as gracefully as she."--_Cowper cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Simon the _wizard_ was of this religion too"--_Bunyan cor._ "MAMMODIES, n. Coarse, plain, India muslins."--_Webster cor._ "Go on from single persons to families, that of the _Pompeys_ for instance."--_Collier cor._ "By which the ancients were not able to account for _phenomena_."--_Bailey cor._ "After this I married a _woman_ who had lived at Crete, but a _Jewess_ by birth."--_Josephus cor._ "The very _heathens_ are inexcusable for not _worshiping_ him."--_Todd cor._ "Such poems as _Camoens's_ Lusiad, Voltaire's Henrinde, &c."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "My learned correspondent writes a word in defence of large _scarfs_."--_Sped. cor._ "The forerunners of an apoplexy are _dullness, vertigoes_, tremblings."--_Arbuthnot cor._" _Vertigo_, [in Latin,] changes the _o_ into _~in=es_, making the plural _vertig~in=es_:" [not so, in English.]--_Churchill cor._ "_Noctambulo_, [in Latin,] changes the _o_ into _=on=es_, making the plural _noctambul=on=es_:" [not so in English.]--_Id._ "What shall we say of _noctambuloes?_ It is the regular English plural."--_G. Brown_. "In the curious fretwork of rocks and _grottoes_."--_Blair cor._ "_Wharf_ makes the plural _wharfs_, according to the best usage."--_G. Brown_. "A few _cents'_ worth of _macaroni_ supplies all their wants."--_Balbi cor._ "C sounds hard, like _k_, at the end of a word or _syllable_."--_Blair cor._ "By which the _virtuosoes_ try The magnitude of every lie."--_Butler cor._ "_Quartoes, octavoes_, shape the lessening pyre."--_Pope cor._ "Perching within square royal _roofs_"--_Sidney cor._ "_Similes_ should, even in poetry, be used with moderation."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_Similes_ should never be taken from low or mean objects."--_Id._ "It were certainly better to say, '_The House of Lords_,' than, '_The Lords' House_.'"--_Murray cor._ "Read your answers. _Units_' figure? 'Five.' _Tens_'? 'Six.' _Hundreds_'? 'Seven.'"--_Abbott cor._ "Alexander conquered _Darius's_ army."--_Kirkham cor._ "Three _days_' time was requisite, to prepare matters."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "So we say, that _Cicero's_ style and _Sallust's_ were not one; nor _Caesar's_ and _Livy's_; nor _Homer's_ and _Hesiod's_; nor _Herodotus's_ and _Thucydides's_; nor _Euripides's_ and _Aristophanes's_; nor _Erasmus's_ and _Budaeus's_."--_Puttenham cor._ "LEX (i.e., _legs_, a _law_,) is no other than our _ancestors'_ past participle _loeg, laid down_"--_Tooke cor._ "Achaia's sons at Ilium slain for the _Atridoe's_ sake."--_Cowper cor._ "The _corpses_ of her senate manure the fields of Thessaly."--_Addison cor._ "Poisoning, without regard of fame or fear; And spotted _corpses_ load the frequent bier."--_Dryden cor._ CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES. CORRECTIONS IN THE FORMS OF COMPARISON, &c. LESSON I.--DEGREES. "I have the real excuse of the _most honest_ sort of bankrupts."--_Cowley corrected_. "The _most honourable_ part of talk, is, to give the occasion."--_Bacon cor._ "To give him one of the _most modest_ of his own proverbs."--_Barclay cor._ "Our language is now, certainly, _more proper_ and more natural, than it was formerly."--_Burnet cor._ "Which will be of the _greatest_ and _most frequent_ use to him in the world."--_Locke cor._ "The same is notified in the _most considerable_ places in the diocese."--_Whitgift cor._ "But it was the _most dreadful_ sight that ever I saw."--_Bunyan cor._ "Four of the _oldest_, soberest, and discreetest of the brethren, chosen for the occasion, shall regulate it."--_Locke cor._ "Nor can there be any clear understanding of any Roman author, especially of _more ancient_ time, without this skill."--_W. Walker cor._ "Far the _most learned_ of the Greeks."--_Id._ "The _more learned_ thou art, the humbler be thou."--_Id._ "He is none of the best, or _most honest_."--_Id._ "The _most proper_ methods of communicating it to others."--_Burn cor._ "What heaven's great King hath _mightiest_ to send against us."--_Milton cor._ "Benedict is not the _most unhopeful_ husband that I know."--_Shakspeare cor._ "That he should immediately do all the meanest and _most trifling_ things himself."--_Ray cor._ "I shall be named among the _most renowned_ of women."--_Milton cor._ "Those have the _most inventive_ heads for all purposes."--_Ascham cor._ "The _more wretched_ are the contemners of all helps."--_B. Johnson cor._ "I will now deliver a few of the _most proper_ and _most natural_ considerations that belong to this piece."--_Wotton cor._ "The _most mortal_ poisons practised by the _West Indians_, have some mixture of the blood, fat, or flesh of man."--_Bacon cor._ "He so won upon him, that he rendered him one of the _most faithful_ and _most affectionate_ allies the Medes ever had."--_Rollin cor._ "'You see before you,' says he to him, 'the most devoted servant, and the _most faithful_ ally, you ever had.'"--_Id._ "I chose the _most flourishing_ tree in all the park."--_Cowley cor._ "Which he placed, I think, some centuries _earlier_ than _did_ Julius Africanus afterwards."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "The Tiber, the _most noted_ river of Italy."--_Littleton cor._ "To _farthest_ shores th' ambrosial spirit flies."--_Pope_. ----"That what she wills to do or say, Seems wisest, _worthiest_, discreetest, best."--_Milton cor._ LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "During the _first three or four_ years of its existence."--_Taylor cor._ "To the first of these divisions, my _last ten_ lectures have been devoted."--_Adams cor._ "There are, in the twenty-four states, not _fewer_ than sixty thousand common schools."--_J. O. Taylor cor._ "I know of nothing which gives teachers _more_ trouble, _than_ this want of firmness."--_Id._ "I know of nothing _else_ that throws such darkness over the line which separates right from wrong."--_Id._ "None need this purity and _this_ simplicity of language and thought, _more than does the instructor of a common school_."--_Id._ "I know of no _other_ periodical that is so valuable to the teacher, as the Annals of Education."--_Id._ "Are not these schools of the highest importance? Should not every individual feel _a deep_ interest in their character and condition?"--_Id._ "If instruction were made a _liberal_ profession, teachers would feel more sympathy for _one an other_."--_Id._ "Nothing is _more interesting to_ children, _than_ novelty, _or_ change."--_Id._ "I know of no _other_ labour which affords so much happiness as the teacher's."--_Id._ "Their school exercises are the most pleasant and agreeable _duties_, that they engage in."--_Id._ "I know of no exercise _more_ beneficial to the pupil _than_ that of drawing maps."--_Id._ "I know of nothing in which our district schools are _more_ defective, _than_ they are in the art of teaching grammar."--_Id._ "I know of _no other branch of knowledge_, so easily acquired as history."--_Id._ "I know of _no other school exercise_ for which pupils usually have such an abhorrence, as _for_ composition."--_Id._ "There is nothing _belonging to_ our fellow-men, which we should respect _more sacredly than_ their good name."--_Id._ "_Surely_, never any _other creature_ was so unbred as that odious man."--_Congreve cor._ "In the dialogue between the mariner and the shade of the _deceased_."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "These master-works would still be less excellent and _finished_."--_Id._ "Every attempt to staylace the language of _polished_ conversation, renders our phraseology inelegant and clumsy."--_Id._ "Here are a few of the _most unpleasant_ words that ever blotted paper."--_Shakespeare cor._ "With the most easy _and obliging_ transitions."--_Broome cor._ "Fear is, of all affections, the _least apt_ to admit any conference with reason."--_Hooker cor._ "Most chymists think glass a body _less destructible_ than gold itself."--_Boyle cor._ "To part with _unhacked_ edges, and bear back our barge undinted."--_Shak. cor._ "Erasmus, who was an _unbigoted_ Roman Catholic, was transported with this passage."--_Addison cor._ "There are no _fewer_ than five words, with any of which the sentence might have terminated."--_Campbell cor._ "The _ones_ preach Christ of contention; but the _others_, of love." Or, "The _one party_ preach," &c.--_Bible cor._ "Hence we find less discontent and _fewer_ heart-burnings, than where the subjects are unequally burdened."--_H. Home, Ld. Kames, cor._ "The serpent, _subtlest_ beast of all the field." --_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, l. 86. "Thee, Serpent, _subtlest_ beast of all the field, I knew, but not with human voice indued." --_Id., P. L._, B. ix, l. 560. "How much more grievous would our lives appear. To reach th' _eight-hundredth_, than the eightieth year!" --_Denham cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Brutus engaged with Aruns; and so fierce was the attack, that they pierced _each other_ at the same time."--_Lempriere cor._ "Her two brothers were, one after _the other_, turned into stone."--_Kames cor._ "Nouns are often used as adjectives; as, A _gold_ ring, a _silver_ cup."--_Lennie cor._ "Fire and water destroy _each other_"--_Wanostrocht cor._ "Two negatives, in English, destroy _each other_, or are equivalent to an affirmative."--_Lowth, Murray, et al. cor._ "Two negatives destroy _each other_, and are generally equivalent to an affirmative."--_Kirkham and Felton cor._ "Two negatives destroy _each other_, and make an affirmative."--_Flint cor._ "Two negatives destroy _each other_, being equivalent to an affirmative."--_Frost cor._ "Two objects, resembling _each other_, are presented to the imagination."--_Parker cor._ "Mankind, in order to hold converse with _one an other_, found it necessary to give names to objects."--_Kirkham cor._ "_Derivative_ words are _formed_ from _their primitives_ in various ways."--_Cooper cor._ "There are many _different_ ways of deriving words _one from an other_."--_Murray cor._ "When several verbs _have a joint construction_ in a sentence, the auxiliary is usually _expressed_ with the first _only_."--_Frost cor._ "Two or more verbs, having the same nominative case, and _coming in immediate succession_, are also separated by _the comma_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Two or more adverbs, _coming in immediate succession_, must be separated by _the comma_."--_Iidem_. "If, however, the _two_ members are very closely connected, the comma is _unnecessary_."--_Iidem_. "Gratitude, when exerted towards _others_, naturally produces a very pleasing sensation in the mind of a _generous_ man."--_L. Murray cor._ "Several verbs in the infinitive mood, _coming in succession_, and having a common dependence, are also divided by commas."--_Comly cor._ "The several words of which it consists, have so near a relation _one to an other_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "When two or more verbs, or two or more adverbs,[528] _occur in immediate succession_, and have a common dependence, they must be separated by _the comma_."--_Comly cor._ "_One noun_ frequently _follows an other_, both meaning the same thing."--_Sanborn cor._ "And these two tenses may thus answer _each other_."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Or some other relation which two objects bear to _each other_."--_Jamieson cor._ "That the heathens tolerated _one an other_ is allowed."--_A. Fuller cor._ "And yet these two persons love _each other_ tenderly."--_E. Reader cor._ "In the six _hundred_ and first year."--_Bible cor._ "Nor is this arguing of his, _any thing_ but a _reiterated_ clamour."--_Barclay cor._ "In _several_ of them the inward life of Christianity is to be found."--_Ib._ "Though Alvarez, _Despauter_, and _others, do not allow it_ to be plural."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Even the most _dissipated_ and shameless blushed at the sight."--_Lempriere cor._ "We feel a _higher_ satisfaction in surveying the life of animals, _than_ [_in contemplating_] that of vegetables."-- _Jamieson cor._ "But this man is so _full-fraught_ with malice."--_Barclay cor._ "That I suggest some things concerning the _most proper_ means."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "So, hand in hand, they passed, the loveliest pair That ever _yet_ in love's embraces met."--_Milton cor._ "Aim at _supremacy_; without _such height_, Will be for thee no sitting, or not long."--_Id. cor._ CHAPTER V.--PRONOUNS. CORRECTIONS IN THE FORMS AND USES OF PRONOUNS. LESSON I.--RELATIVES. "_While_ we attend to this pause, every appearance of _singsong_ must be carefully avoided."--_Murray cor._ "For thou shalt go to all _to whom_ I shall send thee."--_Bible cor._ "Ah! how happy would it have been for me, had I spent in retirement these twenty-three years _during which_ I have possessed my kingdom."--_Sanborn cor._ "In the same manner _in which_ relative pronouns and their antecedents are usually parsed."--_Id._ "Parse or _explain_ all the other nouns _contained_ in the examples, _after the very_ manner _of_ the word _which is parsed for you_."--_Id._ "The passive verb will always _have_ the person and number that _belong_ to the verb _be_, of which it is in part composed."--_Id._ "You have been taught that a verb must always _agree in_ person and number _with_ it subject or nominative."--_Id._ "A relative pronoun, also, must always _agree in_ person, _in_ number, and even _in_ gender, _with_ its antecedent."--_Id._ "The _answer_ always _agrees_ in case _with the pronoun_ which asks the question."--_Id._ "_One_ sometimes represents an antecedent noun, in the definite manner of a personal pronoun." [529]--_Id._ "The mind, being carried forward to the time _at which the_ event _is to happen_, easily conceives it to be present." "SAVE and SAVING are [_seldom to be_] parsed in the manner _in which_ EXCEPT and EXCEPTING are [commonly explained]."--_Id._ "Adverbs qualify _verbs_, or modify _their_ meaning, _as_ adjectives _qualify_ nouns [and describe things.]"--_Id._ "The third person singular of verbs, _terminates in s_ or _es, like_ the plural number of nouns."--_Id._ "He saith further: that, 'The apostles did not baptize anew such persons _as_ had been baptized with the baptism of John.'"--_Barclay cor._ "For we _who_ live,"--or, "For we _that are alive_, are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake."--_Bible cor._ "For they _who_ believe in God, must be careful to maintain good works."--_Barclay cor._ "Nor yet of those _who_ teach things _that_ they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."--_Id._ "So as to hold such bound in heaven _as_ they bind on earth, and such loosed in heaven _as_ they loose on earth."--_Id._ "Now, if it be an evil, to do any thing out of strife; then such things _as_ are seen so to be done, are they not to be avoided and forsaken?"--_Id._ "All such _as_ do not satisfy themselves with the superfices of religion."--_Id._ "And he is the same in substance, _that_ he was upon earth,--_the same_ in spirit, soul, and body."--_Id._ "And those that do not thus, are such, _as_ the Church of Rome can have no charity _for_." Or: "And those that do not thus, are _persons toward_ whom the Church of Rome can have no charity."--_Id._ "Before his book, he _places_ a great list of _what_ he accounts the blasphemous assertions of the Quakers."--_Id._ "And this is _what_ he should have proved."--_Id._ "Three of _whom_ were at that time actual students of philosophy in the university."--_Id._ "Therefore it is not lawful for any _whomsoever_ * * * to force the consciences of others."--_Id._ "_Why were_ the former days better than these?"--_Bible cor._ "In the same manner _in which_"--or, better, "_Just as_--the term _my_ depends on the name _books_."--_Peirce cor._ "_Just as_ the term HOUSE depends on the [preposition _to_, understood after the _adjective_] NEAR."--_Id._ "James died on the day _on which_ Henry returned."--_Id._ LESSON II.--DECLENSIONS. "OTHER makes the plural OTHERS, when it is found without _its_ substantive."--_Priestley cor._ "But _his, hers, ours, yours_, and _theirs_, have evidently the form of the possessive case."--_Lowth cor._ "To the Saxon possessive cases, _hire, ure, eower, hira_, (that is, _hers, ours, yours, theirs_,) we have added the _s_, the characteristic of the possessive case of nouns."--_Id._ "Upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both _theirs_ and _ours_."--_Friends cor._ "In this place, _His_ is clearly preferable either to _Her_ or _to Its_."--_Harris cor._ "That roguish leer of _yours_ makes a pretty woman's heart _ache_."--_Addison cor._ "Lest by any means this liberty of _yours_ become a stumbling-block."--_Bible cor._ "First person: Sing. I, _my or_ mine, me; Plur. we, _our or ours_, us."--_Wilbur and Livingston cor._ "Second person: Sing, thou, _thy or_ thine, thee; Plur. ye or you, _your or yours_, you."--_Iid._ "Third person: Sing, she, _her or hers_, her; Plur. they, _their or theirs_, them."--_Iid._ "So shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not _yours_."--ALGER, BRUCE, ET AL.; _Jer._, v, 19. "Second person, Singular: Nom. _thou_, Poss. _thy_ or _thine_, Obj. _thee_."--_Frost cor._ "Second person, Dual; Nom. Gyt, ye two; Gen. Incer, of _you_ two; Dat. Inc, incrum, to _you_ two; Acc. Inc, _you_ two; Voc. Eala inc, O ye two; Abl. Inc, incrum, from _you_ two."--_Gwilt cor._ "Second person, Plural: Nom. Ge, ye; Gen. Eower, of _you_; Dat. Eow, to _you_; Acc. Eow, _you_; Voc Eala ge, O ye; Abl. Eow, from _you_."--_Id._ "These words are, _mine, thine, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs_, and _whose_."--_Cardell cor._ "This house is _ours_, and that is _yours. Theirs_ is very commodious."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 55. "And they shall eat up _thy_ harvest, and thy bread; they shall eat up thy flocks and _thy_ herds."--_Bible cor._ "_Whoever_ and _Whichever_ are thus declined: Sing. Nom. whoever, Poss. _whosever_, Obj. whomever; Plur. Nom. whoever, Poss. _whosever_, Obj. whomever. Sing. Nom. whichever, Poss. (_wanting_,) Obj. whichever; Plur. Nom. whichever, Poss. (_wanting_,) Obj. whichever."--_Cooper cor._ "The compound personal pronouns are thus declined: Sing. Nom. myself, Poss. (_wanting_,) Obj. myself; Plur. Nom. ourselves, Poss. (_wanting_,) Obj. ourselves. Sing. Nom. thyself or yourself, Poss. (_wanting_,) Obj. thyself, &c."--_Perley cor._ "Every one of us, each for _himself_, laboured to recover him."--_Sidney cor._ "Unless when ideas of their opposites manifestly suggest _themselves_."--_Wright cor._ "It not only exists in time, but is _itself_ time." "A position which the action _itself_ will palpably _confute_."--_Id._ "A difficulty sometimes presents _itself_."--_Id._ "They are sometimes explanations in _themselves_."--_Id._ "_Ours, Yours, Theirs, Hers, Its_."--_Barrett cor._ "_Theirs_, the wild _chase_ of false felicities; His, the composed possession of the true." --_Young, N. Th._, N. viii, l. 1100. LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "It is the boast of Americans, without distinction of parties, that their government is the most free and perfect _that_ exists on the earth."--_Dr. Allen cor._ "Children _that_ are dutiful to their parents, enjoy great prosperity."--_Sanborn cor._ "The scholar _that_ improves his time, sets an example worthy of imitation."--_Id._ "Nouns and pronouns _that_ signify the same person, place, or thing, agree in case."--_Cooper cor._ "An interrogative sentence is one _that_ asks a question."--_Id._ "In the use of words and phrases _that_ in point of time relate to each other, _the order of time_ should be _duly regarded_."--_Id._ "The same observations _that show_ the effect of the article _upon_ the participle, appear to be applicable [also] to the pronoun and participle."--_Murray cor._ "The reason _why_ they have not the same use of them in reading, may be traced to the very defective and erroneous method in which the art of reading is taught."--_Id._ "_Ever since_ reason began to exert her powers, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause."--_Id. et al. cor._ "In speaking of _such as_ greatly delight in the same."--_Pope cor._ "Except _him to whom_ the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live."--_Bible cor._ "But the same day _on which_ Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all."--_Bible cor._ "In the next place, I will explain several _constructions_ of nouns and pronouns, _that_ have not yet come under our notice."--_Kirkham cor._ "Three natural distinctions of time are all _that_ can exist."--_Hall cor._ "We have exhibited such only as are obviously distinct; and _these_ seem to be sufficient, and not more than sufficient."--_Murray et al. cor._ "_The parenthesis_ encloses a _phrase or clause that_ may be omitted without materially injuring the connexion of the other members."--_Hall cor._ "Consonants are letters _that_ cannot be sounded without the aid of a vowel."--_Bucke cor._ "Words are not _mere_ sounds, but sounds _that_ convey a meaning to the mind."--_Id._ "Nature's postures are always easy; and, _what_ is more, nothing but your own will can put you out of them."--_Collier cor._ "Therefore ought we to examine our _own selves_, and prove our _own selves_."--_Barclay cor._ "Certainly, it had been much more natural, to have divided Active verbs into _Immanent_, or _those whose_ action is terminated _within itself_, and _Transient_, or _those whose_ action is terminated in something without _itself_."--_R. Johnson cor._ "This is such an advantage _as_ no other lexicon will afford."--_Dr. Taylor cor._ "For these reasons, such liberties are taken in the Hebrew tongue, with those words _which_ are of the most general and frequent use."--_Pike cor._ "_While_ we object to the _laws which_ the antiquarian in language would impose on us, we must _also_ enter our protest against those _authors who_ are too fond of innovations."--_L. Murray cor._ CHAPTER VI.--VERBS. CORRECTIONS IN THE FORMS OF VERBS. LESSON I.--PRETERITS. "In speaking on a matter which _touched_ their hearts."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "Though Horace _published_ it some time after."--_Id._ "The best subjects with which the Greek models _furnished_ him."--_Id._ "Since he _attached_ no thought to it."--_Id._ "By what slow steps the Greek alphabet _reached_ its perfection."--_Id._ "Because Goethe _wished_ to erect an affectionate memorial."--_Id._ "But the Saxon forms soon _dropped_ away."--_Id._ "It speaks of all the towns that _perished_ in the age of Philip."--_Id._ "This _enriched_ the written language with new words."--_Id._ "He merely _furnished_ his friend with matter for laughter."--_Id._ "A cloud arose, and _stopped_ the light."--_Swift cor._ "She _slipped_ spadillo in her breast."--_Id._ "I _guessed_ the hand."--_Id._ "The tyrant _stripped_ me to the skin; My skin he _flayed_, my hair he _cropped_; At head and foot my body _lopped_."--_Id._ "I see the greatest owls in you, That ever _screeched_ or ever flew."--_Id._ "I _sat_ with delight, From morning till night."--_Id._ "Dick nimbly _skipped_ the gutter."--_Id._ "In at the pantry door this morn I _slipped_."--_Id._" Nobody living ever _touched_ me, but you."--_W. Walker cor._ "_Present_, I ship; _Preterit_, I shipped; _Perf. Participle_, shipped."--_A. Murray cor._ "Then the king arose, and _tore_ his garments."--_Bible cor._ "When he _lifted_ up his foot, he knew not where he should set it next."--_Bunyan cor._ "He _lifted_ up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time."--_Bible cor._ "Upon this chaos _rode_ the distressed ark."--_Burnet cor._ "On whose foolish honesty, my practices _rode_ easy."--_Shakspeare cor._ "That form of the first or primogenial Earth, which _rose_ immediately out of chaos."--_Burnet cor._ "Sir, how _came_ it, you have _helped_ to make this rescue?"--_Shak. cor._ "He _swore_ he _would_ rather lose all his father's images, than that table."--_Peacham cor._ "When our language _dropped_ its ancient terminations."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "When themselves they _vilified_."--_Milton cor._ "But I _chose_ rather to do thus."--_Barclay cor._ "When he _pleaded_ (or _pled_) against the parsons."--_Hist. cor._ "And he that saw it, _bore_ record." Or: "And he that saw it, _bare_ record."--_John_, xix, 35. "An irregular verb has one more variation; as, drive, drivest, [_driveth_,] drives, drove, _drovest_, driving, driven."--_Matt. Harrison cor._ "Beside that village, Hannibal _pitched_ his camp."--_W. Walker cor._ "He _fetched_ it from Tmolus."--_Id._ "He _supped_ with his morning-gown on."--_Id._ "There _stamped_ her sacred name."--_Barlow cor._ "_Fix'd_[530] on the view the great discoverer stood; And thus _address'd_ the messenger of good."--_Barlow cor._ LESSON II.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "Three freemen _were on trial_"--or, "_were receiving their trial_--at the date of our last information."--_Editor cor._ "While the house _was building_, many of the tribe arrived."--_Cox cor._ "But a foundation has been laid in Zion, and the church _is built_--(or, _continues to be built_--) upon it."--_The Friend cor._ "And one fourth of the people are _receiving education_."--_E. I. Mag. cor._ "The present [_tense_,] or that [_form of the verb_] which [_expresses what_] is now _doing_."--_Beck cor._ "A new church, called the Pantheon, is _about_ being completed, in an expensive style."--_Thompson cor._ "When I last saw him, he _had_ grown considerably."--_Murray cor._ "I know what a rugged and dangerous path I _have_ got into."--_Duncan cor._ "You _might_ as _well_ preach ease to one on the rack."--_Locke cor._ "Thou hast heard me, and _hast_ become my salvation."--_Bible cor._ "While the Elementary Spelling-Book _was preparing_ (or, _was in progress of preparation_) for the press."--_Cobb cor._ "Language _has_ become, in modern times, more correct."--_Jamieson cor._ "If the plan _has_ been executed in any measure answerable to the author's wishes."--_Robbins cor._ "The vial of wrath is still _pouring_ out on the seat of the beast."--_Christian Ex. cor._ "Christianity _had_ become the generally-adopted and established religion of the whole Roman Empire."--_Gurney cor._ "Who wrote before the first century _had_ elapsed."--_Id._ "The original and analogical form _has_ grown quite obsolete."--_Lowth cor._ "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, _have_ perished."--_Murray cor._ "The poems _had_ got abroad, and _were_ in a great many hands."--_Waller cor._ "It is more harmonious, as well as more correct, to say, 'The bubble _is ready to burst._'"--_Cobbett cor._ "I _drove_ my suitor from his mad humour of love."--_Shak. cor._ "Se viriliter expedivit."--_Cic._ "He _has played_ the man."--_Walker cor._ "Wilt thou kill me, as thou _didst_ the Egyptian yesterday?"--_Bible cor._ "And we, _methought_, [or _thought I_] looked up to him from our hill"--_Cowley cor._ "I fear thou _dost_ not think _so_ much of _the_ best things as thou _ought_."--_Memoir cor._ "When this work was commenced."--_Wright cor._ "Exercises and _a_ Key to this work are _about_ being prepared."--_Id._ "James is loved by John."--_Id._ "Or that which is exhibited."--_Id._ "He was smitten."--_Id._ "In the passive _voice_ we say, 'I am loved.'"--_Id._ "Subjunctive Mood: If I _be_ smitten, If thou _be_ smitten, If he _be_ smitten."--_Id._ "I _shall_ not be able to convince you how superficial the reformation is."--_Chalmers cor._ "I said to myself, I _shall_ be obliged to expose the folly."--_Chazotte cor._ "When Clodius, had he meant to return that day to Rome, must have arrived."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "That the fact has been done, _is doing_, or will be done."--_Peirce cor._ "Am I _to be_ instructed?"--_Wright cor._ "I _choose_ him."--_Id._ "John, who _respected_ his father, was obedient to his commands."--_Barrett cor._ "The region _echoes_ to the clash of arms."--_Beattie cor._ "And _sitst_ on high, and mak'st creation's top Thy footstool; and _beholdst_ below thee--all."--_Pollok cor._ "And see if thou _canst_ punish sin and let Mankind go free. Thou _failst_--be not surprised."--_Idem._ LESSON III--MIXED EXAMPLES. "What follows, _might better have been_ wanting altogether."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This member of the sentence _might_ much better have been omitted altogether."--_Id._ "One or _the_ other of them, therefore, _might_ better have been omitted."--_Id._ "The whole of this last member of the sentence _might_ better have been dropped."--_Id._ "In this case, they _might_ much better be omitted."--_Id._ "He _might_ better have said 'the _productions_.'"--_Id._ "The Greeks _ascribed_ the origin of poetry to Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus."--_Id._ "It _was_ noticed long ago, that all these fictitious names have the same number of syllables."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "When I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, I _determined_ to send him."--_Bible cor._ "I _would_ rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God."--_Id._ "As for such, I wish the Lord _would open_ their eyes." Or, better: "_May_ the Lord _open_ (or, I _pray_ the Lord _to_ open) their eyes."--_Barclay cor._ "It would _have_ made our _passage_ over the river very difficult."--_Walley cor._ "We should not _have_ been able to _carry_ our great guns."--_Id._ "Others would _have_ questioned our prudence, if _we_ had."--_Id._ "Beware thou _be_ not BECAESARED; i.e., Beware that thou _do_ not dwindle--or, _lest thou dwindle_--into a mere Caesar."--_Harris cor._ "Thou _raisedst_ (or, familiarly, thou _raised_) thy voice to record the stratagems of needy heroes."--_Arbuthnot cor._ "Life _hurries_ off apace; thine is almost _gone_ already."--_Collier cor._ "'How unfortunate has this accident made me!' _cries_ such a one."--_Id._ "The muse that soft and sickly _woos_ the ear."--_Pollok cor._ "A man _might_ better relate himself to a statue."--_Bacon cor._ "I heard thee say but now, thou _liked_ not that."--_Shak. cor._ "In my whole course of wooing, thou _criedst_, (or, familiarly, thou _cried_,) _Indeed!_"--_Id._ "But our ears _have_ grown familiar with '_I have wrote_, '_I have drank_,' &c., which are altogether as ungrammatical."--_Lowth et al. cor._ "The court was _in session_ before Sir Roger came"--_Addison cor._ "She _needs_--(or, if you please, _need_,--) be no more with the jaundice _possessed_"--_Swift cor._ "Besides, you found fault with our victuals one day _when_ you _were_ here."--_Id._ "If spirit of other sort, So minded, _hath_ (or _has_) o'erleaped these earthy bounds."--_Milton cor._ "It _would_ have been more rational to have _forborne_ this."--_Barclay cor._ "A student is not master of it till he _has_ seen all these."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "The said justice shall _summon_ the party."--_Brevard cor._ "Now what _has_ become of thy former wit and humour?"--_Spect. cor._ "Young stranger, whither _wanderst_ thou?"--_Burns cor._ "SUBJ. _Pres._ If I love, If thou _love_, If he love. _Imp._ If I loved, If thou _loved_, If he loved."--_Merchant cor._ "SUBJ. If I do not love, If thou _do_ not love, If he _do_ not love."--_Id._ "If he _has_ committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."--_Bible cor._ "Subjunctive Mood of the verb _to call_, second person singular: If thou _call_, (rarely, If thou _do call_,) If thou _called_."--_Hiley cor._ "Subjunctive Mood of the verb _to love_, second person singular: If thou love, (rarely, If thou do love,) If thou _loved_."--_Bullions cor._ "I was; thou wast; he, she, or it, was: We, you or ye, they, were."--_White cor._ "I taught, thou _taughtest_, (familiarly, thou _taught_,) he taught."-- _Coar cor._ "We say, '_If it rain,' 'Suppose it rain?' 'Lest it rain,' 'Unless it rain._' This manner of speaking is called the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD."--_Weld cor._ "He _has_ arrived at what is deemed the age of manhood."--_Priestley cor._ "He _might_ much better have let it alone."--_Tooke cor._ "He were better without it. Or: He _would be better_ without it."--_Locke cor._ "_Hadst_ thou not been by. Or: _If_ thou _hadst_ not been by. Or, in the familiar style: _Had_ not thou been by,"--_Shak. cor._ "I learned geography. Thou _learned arithmetic_. He learned grammar."--_Fuller cor._ "Till the sound _has_ ceased."--_Sheridan cor._ "Present, die; Preterit, died; Perf. Participle, _died_."--_Six English Grammars corrected_. "Thou _bow'dst_ thy glorious head to none, _fear'dst_ none." Or:-- "Thou _bowed_ thy glorious head to none, _feared_ none." --_Pollok cor._ "Thou _lookst_ upon thy boy as though thou _guess'd_ it." --_Knowles cor._ "As once thou _slept_, while she to life was formed." --_Milton cor._ "Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, But may imagine how the bird was _killed?_" --_Shak. cor._ "Which might have well _become_ the best of men." --_Idem cor._ CHAPTER VII.--PARTICIPLES. CORRECTIONS IN THE FORMS OF PARTICIPLES. LESSON I.--IRREGULARS. "Many of your readers have _mistaken_ that passage."--_Steele cor._ "Had not my dog of a steward _run_ away."--_Addison cor._ "None should be admitted, except he had _broken_ his collarbone thrice."--_Id._ "We could not know what was _written_ at twenty."--_Waller cor._ "I have _written_, thou hast _written_, he has _written_; we have _written_, you have _written_, they have _written_."--_Ash cor._ "As if God had _spoken_ his last words there to his people."--_Barclay cor._ "I had like to have _come_ in that ship myself."--_Observer cor._ "Our ships and vessels being _driven_ out of the harbour by a storm."--_Hutchinson cor._ "He will endeavour to write as the ancient author would have _written_, had he _written_ in the same language."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "When his doctrines grew too strong to be _shaken_ by his enemies."--_Atterbury cor._ "The immortal mind that hath _forsaken_ her mansion."--_Milton cor._ "Grease that's _sweated_ (or _sweat_) from the murderer's gibbet, throw into the flame."--_Shak. cor._ "The court also was _chidden_ (or _chid_) for allowing such questions to be put."--_Stone cor._ "He would have _spoken_."--_Milton cor._ "Words _interwoven_ (or _interweaved_) with sighs found out their way."--_Id._ "Those kings and potentates who have _strived_ (or _striven_.)"--_Id._ "That even Silence was _taken_."--_Id._ "And envious Darkness, ere they could return, had _stolen_ them from me."--_Id._ "I have _chosen_ this perfect man."--_Id._ "I _shall scarcely_ think you have _swum_ in a gondola."--_Shak. cor._ "The fragrant brier was _woven_ (or _weaved_) between."--_Dryden cor._ "Then finish what you have _begun_."--_Id._ "But now the years a numerous train have _run_."--_Pope cor._ "Repeats your verses _written_ (or _writ_) on glasses."--_Prior cor._ "Who by turns have _risen_."--_Id._ "Which from great authors I have taken."--_Id._ "Even there he should have _fallen_."--_Id._ "The sun has _ris'n_, and gone to bed. Just as if Partridge were not dead."--_Swift cor._ "And, though no marriage words are _spoken_, They part not till the ring is _broken_."--_Swift cor._ LESSON II.--REGULARS. "When the word is _stripped_ of all the terminations."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "Forgive him, Tom; his head is _cracked_."--_Swift cor._ "For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer _hoised_ (or _hoisted_) with his own petar."--_Shak. cor._ "As great as they are, I was _nursed_ by their mother."--_Swift cor._ "If he should now be _cried_ down since his change."--_Id. "Dipped_ over head and ears--in debt."--_Id._ "We see the nation's credit _cracked_."--_Id._ "Because they find their pockets _picked_."--_Id._ "O what a pleasure _mixed_ with pain!"--_Id._ "And only with her brother _linked_."--_Id._ "Because he ne'er a thought allowed, That might not be _confessed_."--_Id._ "My love to Sheelah is more firmly _fixed_."--_Id._ "The observations _annexed_ to them will be intelligible."--_Phil. Mus. cor._ "Those eyes are always _fixed_ on the general principles."--_Id._ "Laborious conjectures will be _banished_ from our commentaries."--_Id._ "Tiridates was dethroned, and Phraates was _reestablished_, in his stead."--_Id._ "A Roman who was _attached_ to Augustus."--_Id._ "Nor should I have spoken of it, unless Baxter had _talked_ about two such."--_Id._ "And the reformers of language have generally _rushed_ on."--_Id._ "Three centuries and a half had then _elapsed_ since the date,"--_Ib._ "Of such criteria, as has been _remarked_ already, there is an abundance."--_Id._ "The English have _surpassed_ every other nation in their services."--_Id._ "The party _addressed_ is next in dignity to the speaker."--_Harris cor._ "To which we are many times _helped_."--_W. Walker cor._ "But for him, I should have _looked_ well enough to myself."--_Id._ "Why are you _vexed_, Lady? why do frown?"--_Milton cor._ "Obtruding false rules _pranked_ in reason's garb."--_Id._ "But, like David _equipped_ in Saul's armour, it is encumbered and oppressed."--_Campbell cor._ "And when their merchants are blown up, and _cracked_, Whole towns are cast away in storms, and _wrecked_."--_Butler cor._ LESSON III.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "The lands are _held_ in free and common soccage."--_Trumbull cor._ "A stroke is _drawn_ under such words."--_Cobbett's Gr._, 1st Ed. "It is _struck_ even, with a strickle."--_W. Walker cor._ "Whilst I was _wandering_, without any care, beyond my bounds."--_Id._ "When one would do something, unless _hindered_ by something present."--_B. Johnson cor._ "It is used potentially, but not so as to be _rendered_ by these signs."--_Id._ "Now who would dote upon things _hurried_ down the stream thus fast?"--_Collier cor._ "Heaven hath timely _tried_ their growth."--_Milton cor._ "O! ye mistook, ye should have _snatched_ his wand."--_Id._ "Of true virgin here _distressed_."--_Id._ "So that they have at last come to be _substituted_ in the stead of it."--_Barclay cor._ "Though ye have _lain_ among the pots."--_Bible cor._ "And, lo! in her mouth was an olive leaf _plucked_ off."--_Scott's Bible, and Alger's_. "Brutus and Cassius _Have ridden_, (or _rode_,) like madmen, through the gates of Rome."--_Shak. cor._ "He shall be _spit upon_."--_Bible cor._ "And are not the countries so _overflowed_ still _situated_ between the tropics?"--_Bentley_. "Not _tricked_ and _frounced_ as she was wont, But _kerchiefed_ in a comely cloud."--_Milton cor._ "To satisfy his rigour, _Satisfied_ never."--_Id._ "With him there _crucified_."--_Id._ "Th' earth cumbered, and the wing'd air _darked_ with plumes."--_Id._ "And now their way to Earth they had _descried_."--_Id._ "Not so thick swarmed once the soil _Bedropped_ with blood of Gorgon."--_Id._ "And in a troubled sea of passion _tossed_."--_Id._ "The cause, alas! is quickly _guessed_."--_Swift cor._ "The kettle to the top was _hoised_, or _hoisted_."--_Id._ "In chains thy syllables are _linked_."--_Id._ "Rather than thus be _overtopped_, Would you not wish their laurels _cropped_."--_Id._ "The HYPHEN, or CONJOINER, is a little line _drawn_ to connect words, or parts of words."--_Cobbett cor._ "In the other manners of dependence, this general rule is sometimes _broken_."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Some intransitive verbs may be rendered transitive by means of a preposition _prefixed_ to them."--_Grant cor._ "Whoever now should place the accent on the first syllable of _Valerius_, would set every body _a laughing_."--_J. Walker cor._ "Being mocked, scourged, _spit upon_, and crucified."--_Gurney cor._ "For rhyme in Greece or Rome was never known, Till _barb'rous hordes those states had overthrown_."--_Roscommon cor._ "In my own Thames may I be _drowned_, If e'er I stoop beneath _the crowned_." Or thus:-- "In my own Thames may I be _drown'd dead_, If e'er I stoop beneath a crown'd head."--_Swift cor._ CHAPTER VIII.--ADVERBS. CORRECTIONS RESPECTING THE FORMS OF ADVERBS. "We can much _more easily_ form the conception of a fierce combat."--_Blair corrected_. "When he was restored _agreeably_ to the treaty, he was a perfect savage."--_Webster cor._ "How I shall acquit myself _suitably_ to the importance of the trial."--_Duncan cor._ "Can any thing show your Holiness how _unworthily_ you treat mankind?"--_Spect. cor._ "In what other, _consistently_ with reason and common sense, can you go about to explain it to him?"--_Lowth cor._ "_Agreeably_ to this rule, the short vowel Sheva has two characters."--_Wilson cor._ "We shall give a _remarkably_ fine example of this figure."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 156. "All of which is most _abominably_ false."--_Barclay cor._ "He heaped up great riches, but passed his time _miserably_."--_Murray cor._ "He is never satisfied with expressing any thing clearly and _simply_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Attentive only to exhibit his ideas _clearly_ and _exactly_, he appears dry."--_Id._ "Such words as have the most liquids and vowels, glide the _most softly_." Or: "Where liquids and vowels most abound, the utterance is softest."--_Id._ "The simplest points, such as are _most easily_ apprehended."--_Id._ "Too historical to be accounted a _perfectly_ regular epic poem."--_Id._ "Putting after them the oblique case, _agreeably_ to the French construction."--_Priestley cor._ "Where the train proceeds with an _extremely_ slow pace."--_Kames cor._ "So as _scarcely_ to give an appearance of succession."--_Id._ "That concord between sound and sense, which is perceived in some expressions, _independently_ of artful pronunciation."--_Id._ "Cornaro had become very corpulent, _previously_ to the adoption of his temperate habits."--_Hitchcock cor._ "Bread, which is a solid, and _tolerably_ hard, substance."--_Day cor._ "To command every body that was not dressed as _finely_ as himself."--_Id._ "Many of them have _scarcely_ outlived their authors."--_J. Ward cor._ "Their labour, indeed, did not penetrate very _deeply_."--_Wilson cor._ "The people are _miserably_ poor, and subsist on fish."--_Hume cor._ "A scale, which I took great pains, some years _ago_, to make."--_Bucke cor._ "There is no truth on earth _better_ established _than_ the truth of the Bible."--_Taylor cor._ "I know of no work _more_ wanted _than_ the one _which_ Mr. Taylor has now furnished."--_Dr. Nott cor._ "And therefore their requests are _unfrequent_ and reasonable."--_Taylor cor._ "Questions are _more easily_ proposed, than answered rightly."--_Dillwyn cor._ "Often reflect on the advantages you possess, and on the source _from which_ they are all derived."--_Murray cor._ "If there be no special rule which requires it to be put _further forward_."--_Milnes cor._ "The masculine and _the_ neuter have the same dialect in all _the_ numbers, especially when they end _alike_."--_Id._ "And children are more busy in their play Than those that _wiseliest_ pass their time away."--_Butler cor._ CHAPTER IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. CORRECTIONS IN THE USE OF CONJUNCTIONS. "A _Verb_ is so called from the Latin _verbum_, a word."--_Bucke cor._ "References are often marked by letters _or_ figures."--_Adam and Gould cor._ (1.) "A Conjunction is a word which joins words _or_ sentences together."--_Lennie, Bullions and Brace, cor._ (2.) "A Conjunction is used to connect words _or_ sentences together."--_R. C. Smith cor._ (3.) "A Conjunction is used to connect words _or_ sentences."--_Maunder cor._ (4.) "Conjunctions are words used to join words _or_ sentences."--_Wilcox cor._ (5.) "A Conjunction is a word used to connect words _or_ sentences."--_M'Culloch, Hart, and Day, cor._ (6.) "A Conjunction joins words _or_ sentences together."--_Macintosh and Hiley cor._ (7.) "The Conjunction joins words _or_ sentences together."--_L. Murray cor._ (8.) "Conjunctions connect words _or_ sentences to each other."--_Wright cor._ (9.) "Conjunctions connect words _or_ sentences."--_Wells and Wilcox cor._ (10.) "The conjunction is a part of speech, used to connect words _or_ sentences."--_Weld cor._ (11.) "A conjunction is a word used to connect words _or_ sentences together."--_Fowler cor._ (12.) "Connectives are _particles that_ unite words _or_ sentences in construction."--_Webster cor._ "English Grammar is miserably taught in our district schools; the teachers know _little or nothing_ about it."--_J. O. Taylor cor._ "_Lest_, instead of preventing _diseases_, you draw _them_ on."--_Locke cor._ "The definite article _the_ is frequently applied to adverbs in the comparative _or the_ superlative degree."--_Murray et al. cor._ "When nouns naturally neuter are _assumed to be_ masculine _or_ feminine."--_Murray cor._ "This form of the perfect tense represents an action _as_ completely past, _though_ often _as done_ at no great distance _of time, or at a time_ not specified."--_Id._ "The _Copulative Conjunction_ serves to connect _words or clauses, so as_ to continue a sentence, by expressing an addition, a supposition, a cause, _or a consequence_."--_Id._ "The _Disjunctive Conjunction_ serves, not only to continue a sentence _by connecting its parts_, but also to express opposition of meaning, _either real or nominal_."--_Id._ "_If_ we open the volumes of our divines, philosophers, historians, or artists, we shall find that they abound with all the terms necessary to communicate _the_ observations and discoveries _of their authors._"--_Id._ "When a disjunctive _conjunction_ occurs between a singular noun or pronoun and a plural one, the verb is made to agree with the plural noun _or_ pronoun."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Pronouns must always agree with their antecedents, _or_ the nouns for which they stand, in gender and number."--_Murray cor._ "Neuter verbs do not _express action, and consequently do not_ govern nouns or pronouns."--_Id._ "And the auxiliary of the past imperfect _as well as of the_ present _tense_."--_Id._ "If this rule should not appear to apply to every example _that_ has been produced, _or_ to others which might be cited."--_Id._ "An emphatical pause is made, after something of peculiar moment has been said, on which we desire to fix the hearer's attention."--_Murray and Hart cor._ "An imperfect[531] phrase contains no assertion, _and_ does not amount to a proposition, or sentence."--_Murray cor._ "The word was in the mouth of every one, _yet_ its meaning may still be a secret."--_Id._ "This word was in the mouth of every one, _and yet_, as to its precise and definite idea, this may still be a secret,"--_Harris cor._ "It cannot be otherwise, _because_ the French prosody differs from that of every other European language."--_Smollet cor._ "So gradually _that it may be_ engrafted on a subtonic."--_Rush cor._ "Where the Chelsea _and_ Malden bridges now are." Or better: "Where the Chelsea _or the_ Malden _bridge_ now _is_."--_Judge Parker cor._ "Adverbs are words _added_ to verbs, _to_ participles, _to_ adjectives, _or to_ other adverbs."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "I could not have told you who the hermit was, _or_ on what mountain he lived."--_Bucke cor._ "AM _and_ BE (for they are the same _verb_) naturally, or in themselves, signify _being_."--_Brightland cor._ "Words are _signs, either oral or written_, by which we express our thoughts, _or_ ideas."--_Mrs. Bethune cor._ "His fears will detect him, _that_ he shall not escape."--_Comly cor._ "_Whose_ is equally applicable to persons _and to_ things"--_Webster cor._ "One negative destroys an other, _so that two are_ equivalent to an affirmative."--_Bullions cor._ "No sooner does he peep into the world, _Than_ he has done his do."--_Hudibras cor._ CHAPTER X.--PREPOSITIONS. CORRECTIONS IN THE USE OF PREPOSITIONS. "Nouns are often formed _from_ participles."--_L. Murray corrected_. "What tenses are formed _from_ the perfect participle?"--_Ingersoll cor._ "Which tense is formed _from_ the _present_, or root of the verb?"--_Id._ "When a noun or _a_ pronoun is placed before a participle, independently _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 348. "If the addition consists _of_ two or more words."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Lowth's Gram._, 80; _Churchill's_, 143; _Bucke's_, 96; _Merchant's_, 92. "For the great satisfaction of the reader, we _shall present a variety_ of false constructions."--_Murray cor._ "For your satisfaction, I _shall present you a variety_ of false constructions."-- _Ingersoll cor._ "I shall here _present [to] you a scale_ of derivation."-- _Bucke cor._ "These two manners of representation in respect _to_ number."--_Lowth and Churchill cor._ "There are certain adjectives which seem to be derived _from verbs, without_ any variation."--_Lowth cor._ "Or disqualify us for receiving instruction or reproof _from_ others."--_Murray cor._ "For being more studious than any other pupil _in_ the school."-- _Id._ "Misunderstanding the directions, we lost our way."--_Id._ "These people reduced the greater part of the island _under_ their own power."-- _Id._ "The principal accent distinguishes one syllable _of_ a word from the rest."--_Id._ "Just numbers are in unison _with_ the human mind."--_Id._ "We must accept of sound _in stead_ of sense."--_Id._ "Also, _in stead of consultation_, he uses _consult_."--_Priestley cor._ "This ablative seems to be governed _by_ a preposition understood."--_W. Walker cor._ "_Lest_ my father _hear of it_, by some means or other."--_Id._ "And, besides, my wife would hear _of it_ by some means."--_Id._ "For insisting _on_ a requisition so odious to them."--_Robertson cor._ "Based _on_ the great self-evident truths of liberty and equality."--_Manual cor._ "Very little knowledge of their nature is acquired _from_ the spelling-book."--_Murray cor._ "They do not cut it off: except _from_ a few words; as, _due, duly_, &c."--_Id._ "Whether passing _at_ such time, or then finished."--_Lowth cor._ "It hath disgusted hundreds _with_ that confession."--_Barclay cor._ "But they have egregiously fallen _into_ that inconveniency."--_Id._ "For is not this, to set nature _at_ work?"--_Id._ "And, surely, that which should set all its springs _at_ work, is God."--_Atterbury cor._ "He could not end his treatise without a panegyrie _on_ modern learning."--_Temple cor._ "These are entirely independent _of_ the modulation of the voice."--_J. Walker cor._ "It is dear _at_ a penny. It is cheap _at_ twenty pounds."--_W. Walker cor._ "It will be despatched, _on_ most occasions, without resting."--_Locke cor._ "_Oh_ the pain, the bliss of dying!"--_Pope_. "When the objects or the facts are presented _to him_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "I will now present you a synopsis."--_Id._ "The disjunctive conjunction connects _words or_ sentences, _and suggests an_ opposition of meaning, _more or less direct_."--_Id._ "I shall now present _to_ you a few lines."--_Bucke cor._ "Common names, _or_ substantives, are those which stand for things _assorted_."--_Id._ "Adjectives, in the English language, _are not varied by_ genders, numbers, or cases; _their only inflection is for_ the degrees of comparison."--_Id._ "Participles are [little more than] adjectives formed _from_ verbs."--_Id._ "I do love to walk out _on_ a fine _summer_ evening."--_Id._ "_Ellipsis_, when applied to grammar, is the elegant omission of one or more words _of_ a sentence."--_Merchant cor._ "The _preposition to_ is generally _required_ before verbs in the infinitive mood, but _after_ the following verbs it is properly omitted; namely, _bid, dare, feel, need, let, make, hear, see_: as, 'He _bid_ me _do_ it;' not, 'He _bid_ me _to_ do it.'"--_Id._ "The infinitive sometimes follows _than, for the latter term of_ a comparison; as, ['Murray should have known _better than to write_, and Merchant, _better than to copy_, the text here corrected, or the ambiguous example they appended to it.']"--_Id._ "Or, by prefixing the _adverb more_ or _less, for_ the comparative, and _most_ or _least, for_ the superlative."--_Id._ "A pronoun is a word used _in stead_ of a noun."--_Id._ "From monosyllables, the comparative is regularly formed by adding _r_ or _er_."--_Perley cor._ "He has particularly named these, in distinction _from_ others."--_Harris cor._ "To revive the decaying taste _for ancient_ literature."--_Id._ "He found the greatest difficulty _in_ writing."--_Hume cor._ "And the tear, that is wiped with a little address, May be followed perhaps _by_ a smile."--_Cowper_, i, 216. CHAPTER XI.--INTERJECTIONS. CORRECTIONS IN THE USE OF INTERJECTIONS. "Of chance or change, _O_ let not man complain."--_Beattie's Minstrel_, B. ii, l. 1. "O thou persecutor! _O_ ye hypocrites!"--_Russell's Gram._, p. 92. "_O_ thou my voice inspire, Who _touch'd_ Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!"--_Pope's Messiah_. "_O happy we_! surrounded by so many blessings!"--_Merchant cor._ "_O thou who_ art so unmindful of thy duty!"--_Id._ "If I am wrong, _O_ teach my heart To find that better way."--_Murray's Reader_, p. 248. "Heus! evocate huc Davum."--_Ter_. "Ho! call Davus out hither."--_W. Walker cor._ "It was represented by an analogy (_O_ how inadequate!) which was borrowed from the _ceremonies_ of paganism."--_Murray cor._ "_O_ that Ishmael might live before thee!"--_Friends' Bible_, and _Scott's_. "And he said unto him, _O_ let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak."--_Alger's Bible_, and _Scott's_. "And he said, _O_ let not the Lord be angry."--_Alger; Gen._, xviii. 32. "_O_ my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word."--_Scott's Bible_. "_O_ Virtue! how amiable thou art!"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 128. "_Alas_! I fear for life."--See _Ib._ "_Ah_ me! they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain!"--See _Bucke's Gram._, p. 87. "_O_ that I had digged myself a cave!"--_Fletcher cor._ "_Oh_, my good lord! thy comfort comes too late."--_Shak. cor._ "The vocative takes no article: it is distinguished thus: _O Pedro_! O Peter! _O Dios_! O God!"--_Bucke cor._ "_Oho_! But, the relative is always the same."--_Cobbett cor._ "_All-hail_, ye happy men!"--_Jaudon cor._ "_O_ that I had wings like a dove!'--_Scott's Bible_. "_O glorious_ hope! O _bless'd_ abode!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 304. "_Welcome_ friends! how joyous is your presence!"--_T. Smith cor._ "_O_ blissful days!--_but, ah_! how soon ye pass!"--_Parker and Fox cor._ "_O_ golden days! _O_ bright unvalued hours!-- What bliss, did ye but know that bliss, were yours!"--_Barbauld cor._ "_Ah_ me! what perils do environ The man that meddles with cold iron!"--_Hudibras cor._ THE KEY.--PART III.--SYNTAX. CHAPTER I.--SENTENCES. The first chapter of Syntax, being appropriated to general views of this part of grammar, to an exhibition of its leading doctrines, and to the several forms of sentential analysis, with an application of its principal rules in parsing, contains no false grammar for correction; and has, of course, nothing to correspond to it, in this Key, except the title, which is here inserted for form's sake. CHAPTER II.--ARTICLES. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE I. UNDER NOTE I.--AN OR A. "I have seen _a_ horrible thing in the house of Israel."--_Bible cor._ "There is _a_ harshness in the following sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 152. "Indeed, such _a_ one is not to be looked for."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "If each of you will be disposed to approve himself _a_ useful citizen."--_Id._ "Land with them had acquired almost _a_ European value."--_Webster cor._ "He endeavoured to find out _a_ wholesome remedy."--_Neef cor._ "At no time have we attended _a_ yearly meeting more to our own satisfaction."--_The Friend cor._ "Addison was not _a humorist_ in character."--_Kames cor._ "Ah me! what _a_ one was he!"--_Lily cor._ "He was such _a_ one as I never saw before"--_Id._ "No man can be a good preacher, who is not _a_ useful one."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_A_ usage which is too frequent with Mr. Addison."--_Id._ "Nobody joins the voice of a sheep with the shape of _a_ horse."--_Locke cor._ "_A_ universality seems to be aimed at by the omission of the article."--_Priestley cor._ "Architecture is _a_ useful as well as a fine art."--_Kames cor._ "Because the same individual conjunctions do not preserve _a_ uniform signification."-- _Nutting cor._ "Such a work required the patience and assiduity of _a_ hermit."--_Johnson cor._ "Resentment is _a_ union of sorrow with malignity."--_Id._ "His bravery, we know, was _a_ high courage of blasphemy."--_Pope cor._ "HYSSOP; _an_ herb of bitter taste."--_Pike cor._ "On each enervate string they taught the note To pant, or tremble through _a eunuch's_ throat."--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--AN OR A WITH PLURALS. "At a _session_ of the court, in March, it was moved," &c.--_Hutchinson cor._ "I shall relate my conversations, of which I kept memoranda."--_D. D'Ab. cor._ "I took _an other_ dictionary, and with a _pair of_ scissors cut out, for instance, the word ABACUS."--_A. B. Johnson cor._ "A person very meet seemed he for the purpose, _and about_ forty-five years old."--_Gardiner cor._ "And it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings."--_Bible cor._ "There were slain of them about three thousand men."--_1 Macc. cor._ "Until I had gained the top of these white mountains, which seemed _other_ Alps of snow."--_Addison cor._ "To make them satisfactory amends for all the losses they had sustained."--_Goldsmith cor._ "As a _first-fruit_ of many that shall be gathered."--_Barclay cor._ "It makes indeed a little _amend_, (or _some amends_,) by inciting us to oblige people."--_Sheffield cor._ "A large and lightsome _back stairway_ (or _flight of backstairs_) leads up to an entry above."--_Id._ "Peace of mind is an _abundant recompense_ for _any_ sacrifices of interest."--_Murray et al. cor._ "With such a spirit, and _such_ sentiments, were hostilities carried on."--_Robertson cor._ "In the midst of a thick _wood_, he had long lived a voluntary recluse."--_G. B_. "The flats look almost like a young _forest_."--_Chronicle cor._ "As we went on, the country for a little _way_ improved, but scantily."--_Freeman cor._ "Whereby the Jews were permitted to return into their own country, after _a captivity of seventy years_ at Babylon."--_Rollin cor._ "He did not go a great _way_ into the country."--_Gilbert cor._ "A large _amend_ by fortune's hand is made, And the lost Punic blood is well repay'd."--_Rowe cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--NOUNS CONNECTED. "As where a landscape is conjoined with the music of birds, and _the_ odour of flowers."--_Kames cor._ "The last order resembles the second in the mildness of its accent, and _the_ softness of its pause."--_Id._ "Before the use of the loadstone, or _the_ knowledge of the compass."--_Dryden cor._ "The perfect participle and _the_ imperfect tense ought not to be confounded."--_Murray cor._ "In proportion as the taste of a poet or _an_ orator becomes more refined."--_Blair cor._ "A situation can never be more intricate, _so_ long as there is an angel, _a_ devil, or _a_ musician, to lend a helping hand."--_Kames cor._ "Avoid rude sports: an eye is soon lost, or _a_ bone broken."--_Inst._, p. 262. "Not a word was uttered, nor _a_ sign given."--_Ib._ "I despise not the doer, but _the_ deed."--_Ib._ "For the sake of an easier pronunciation and _a_ more agreeable sound."--_Lowth cor._ "The levity as well as _the_ loquacity of the Greeks made them incapable of keeping up the true standard of history."-- _Bolingbroke cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "It is proper that the vowels be a long and _a_ short one."--_Murray cor._ "Whether the person mentioned was seen by the speaker a long or _a_ short time before."--_Id. et al_. "There are three genders; _the_ masculine, _the_ feminine, and _the_ neuter."--_Adam cor._ "The numbers are two; _the_ singular and _the_ plural."--_Id. et al_. "The persons are three; _the_ first, _the_ second, and _the_ third."--_Iidem_. "Nouns and pronouns have three cases; the nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."-- _Comly and Ing. cor._ "Verbs have five moods; namely, the infinitive, _the_ indicative, _the_ potential, _the_ subjunctive, and _the_ imperative."-- _Bullions et al. cor._ "How many numbers have pronouns? Two, the singular and _the_ plural."--_Bradley cor._ "To distinguish between an interrogative and _an_ exclamatory sentence."--_Murray et al. cor._ "The first and _the_ last of which are _compound_ members."--_Lowth cor._ "In the last lecture, I treated of the concise and _the_ diffuse, the nervous and _the_ feeble manner."--_Blair cor._ "The passive and _the_ neuter verbs I shall reserve for some future conversation."--_Ingersoll cor._ "There are two voices; the active and _the_ passive."--_Adam et al. cor._ "WHOSE is rather the poetical than _the_ regular genitive of WHICH."--_Johnson cor._ "To feel the force of a compound or _a_ derivative word."--_Town cor._ "To preserve the distinctive uses of the copulative and _the_ disjunctive conjunctions."--_Murray et al. cor._ "E has a long and _a_ short sound in most languages."--_Bicknell cor._ "When the figurative and _the_ literal sense are mixed and jumbled together."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The Hebrew, with which the Canaanitish and _the_ Phoenician stand in connexion."--_Conant_ and _Fowler cor._ "The languages of Scandinavia proper, the Norwegian and _the_ Swedish."--_Fowler cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "The path of truth is a plain and safe path."--_Murray cor._ "Directions for acquiring a just and happy elocution."--_Kirkham cor._ "Its leading object is, to adopt a correct and easy method."--_Id._ "How can it choose but wither in a long and sharp winter?"--_Cowley cor._ "Into a dark and distant unknown."--_Dr. Chalmers cor._ "When the bold and strong enslaved his fellow man."--_Chazotte cor._ "We now proceed to consider the things most essential to an accurate and perfect sentence."--_Murray cor._ "And hence arises a second and very considerable source of the improvement of taste."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Novelty produces in the mind a vivid and agreeable emotion."--_Id._ "The deepest and bitterest feeling still is _that of_ the separation."--_Dr. M'Rie cor._ "A great and good man looks beyond time."--See _Brown's Inst._, p. 263. "They made but a weak and ineffectual resistance."--_Ib._ "The light and worthless kernels will float."--_Ib._ "I rejoice that there is an other and better world."--_Ib._ "For he is determined to revise his work, and present to the _public an other and better_ edition."--_Kirkham cor._ "He hoped that this title would secure _to_ him an ample and independent authority."--_L. Murray cor. et al_. "There is, however, _an other and more limited sense_."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--ARTICLES OR PLURALS. "This distinction forms what are called the diffuse _style_ and the concise."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Two different modes of speaking, distinguished at first by the denominations of _the Attic manner_ and _the Asiatic_."--_Adams cor._ "But the great design of uniting the Spanish and French monarchies under the former, was laid."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "In the solemn and poetic styles, it [_do_ or _did_] is often rejected."--_Allen cor._ "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ the objective _case_ and the nominative." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ the objective and the nominative _case_." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in the nominative _case_, and _also in the_ objective." Or: "They cannot be, at the same time, in the nominative and objective cases."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 148. Or, better: "They cannot be, at the same time, in _both_ cases, the nominative and _the_ objective."--_Murray et al. cor._ "They are named the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees."--_Smart cor._ "Certain adverbs are capable of taking an inflection; namely, that of the comparative and superlative degrees."--_Fowler cor._ "In the subjunctive mood, the present and imperfect tenses often carry with them a future sense."--_Murray et al. cor._ "The imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, and the first-future _tense_, of this mood, are conjugated like the same tenses of the indicative."--_Kirkham bettered_. "What rules apply in parsing personal pronouns of the second and third _persons_?"--_Id._ "Nouns are sometimes in the nominative or _the_ objective case after the neuter verb _be_, or after an active-intransitive or _a_ passive verb." "The verb varies its _ending_ in the singular, in order to agree with its nominative, in the first, second, and third _persons_."--_Id._ "They are identical in effect with the radical and the vanishing _stress_."--_Rush cor._ "In a sonnet, the first, _the_ fourth, _the_ fifth, and _the_ eighth line, _usually_ rhyme to _one an_ other: so do the second, third, sixth, and seventh _lines_; the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth _lines_; and the tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth _lines_."--_Churchill cor._ "The iron and golden ages are run; youth and manhood are departed."--_Wright cor._ "If, as you say, the iron and the golden _age_ are past, the youth and the manhood of the world."--_Id._ "An Exposition of the Old and New _Testaments_."--_Henry cor._ "The names and order of the books of the Old and _the_ New Testament."--_Bible cor._ "In the second and third _persons_ of that tense."--_Murray cor._ "And who still unites in himself the human and the divine _nature_."--_Gurney cor._ "Among whom arose the Italian, Spanish, French, and English languages."--_Murray cor._ "Whence arise these two _numbers_, the singular and the plural."--_Burn cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--CORRESPONDENT TERMS. "Neither the definitions nor _the_ examples are entirely the same _as_ his."--_Ward cor._ "Because it makes a discordance between the thought and _the_ expression."--_Kames cor._ "Between the adjective and _the_ following substantive."--_Id._ "Thus Athens became both the repository and _the_ nursery of learning."--_Chazotte cor._ "But the French pilfered from both the Greek and _the_ Latin."--_Id._ "He shows that Christ is both the power and _the_ wisdom of God."--_The Friend cor._ "That he might be Lord both of the dead and _of the_ living."--_Bible cor._ "This is neither the obvious nor _the_ grammatical meaning of his words."--_Blair cor._ "Sometimes both the accusative and _the_ infinitive are understood."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "In some cases, we can use either the nominative or _the_ accusative, promiscuously."--_Iidem_. "Both the former and _the_ latter substantive are sometimes to be understood."--_Iidem_. "Many _of_ which have escaped both the commentator and _the_ poet himself."--_Pope cor._ "The verbs MUST and OUGHT, have both a present and _a_ past signification."--_L. Murray cor._ "How shall we distinguish between the friends and _the_ enemies of the government?"--_Dr. Webster cor._ "Both the _ecclesiastical_ and _the_ secular powers concurred in those measures."--_Dr. Campbell cor._ "As the period has a beginning and _an_ end within itself, it implies an _inflection_."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "Such as ought to subsist between a principal and _an_ accessory."--_Ld. Kames cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--CORRESPONDENCE PECULIAR. "When both the upward and the downward _slide_ occur in _the sound of one_ syllable, they are called a CIRCUMFLEX, or WAVE."--_Kirkham cor._ "The word THAT is used both in the nominative and _in the objective case_."--_Sanborn cor._ "But _in_ all the other moods and tenses, both of the active and _of the_ passive _voice_ [the verbs] are conjugated at large."--_Murray cor._ "Some writers on grammar, admitting the second-future _tense into_ the indicative mood, _reject it from the_ subjunctive."--_Id._ "_After_ the same conjunction, _to use_ both the indicative and the subjunctive _mood_ in the same sentence, and _under_ the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety."--_Id._ "The true distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative _mood_ in this tense."--_Id._ "I doubt of his capacity to teach either the French or _the_ English _language_."--_Chazotte cor._ "It is as necessary to make a distinction between the active-transitive and the active-intransitive verb, as between the active and _the_ passive."--_Nixon cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--A SERIES OF TERMS. "As comprehending the terms uttered by the artist, the mechanic, and _the_ husbandman."--_Chazotte cor._ "They may be divided into four classes; the Humanists, _the_ Philanthropists, _the Pestalozzians_, and the _Productives_."--_Smith cor._ "Verbs have six tenses; the present, the imperfect, the perfect, the pluperfect, the _first-future_, and the _second-future_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Is it an irregular _neuter_ verb [from _be, was, being, been_; found in] _the_ indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number."--_Murray cor._ "SHOULD GIVE is an irregular _active-transitive_ verb [from _give, gave, given, giving_; found] in the potential mood, imperfect tense, first person, and plural number."--_Id._ "US is a personal pronoun, _of the_ first person, plural number, _masculine gender_, and objective case."--_Id._ "THEM is a personal pronoun, of the third person, plural number, _masculine gender_, and objective case."--_Id._ "It is surprising that the Jewish critics, with all their skill in dots, points, and accents, never had the ingenuity to invent a point of interrogation, _a point_ of admiration, or a parenthesis."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth _verses_." Or: "The fifth, _the_ sixth, _the_ seventh, and the eighth verse."--_O. B. Peirce cor_. "Substitutes have three persons; the First, _the_ Second, and the Third."--_Id._ "JOHN'S is a proper noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and possessive case: and _is_ governed by 'WIFE,' _according to_ Rule" [4th, _which says_, &c.]--_Smith cor_. "Nouns, in the English language, have three cases; the nominative, the possessive, and _the_ objective."--_Bar. and Alex. cor._ "The potential mood has four tenses; viz., the present, the imperfect, the perfect, and _the_ pluperfect."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Where Science, Law, and Liberty depend, And own the patron, patriot, and friend."--_Savage cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--SPECIES AND GENUS. "_The_ pronoun is a part of speech[532] put for _the_ noun."--_Paul's Ac. cor._ "_The_ verb is a part of speech declined with mood and tense."--_Id._ "_The_ participle is a part of speech derived _from the_ verb."--_Id._ "_The_ adverb is a part of speech joined to verbs, [participles, adjectives, or other adverbs,] to declare their signification."--_Id._ "_The_ conjunction is a part of speech that _joins words or_ sentences together."--_Id._ "_The_ preposition is a part of speech most commonly set before other parts."--_Id._ "_The_ interjection is a part of speech which _betokens_ a sudden _emotion_ or passion of the mind."--_Id._ "_The_ enigma, or riddle, is also a species of allegory."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "We may take from the Scriptures a very fine example of _the_ allegory."--_Iidem_. "And thus have you exhibited a sort of sketch of art."--_Harris cor._ "We may 'imagine a subtle kind of reasoning,' as Mr. Harris acutely observes."--_Churchill cor._ "But, before entering on these, I shall give one instance of _metaphor, very beautiful_, (or, one _very beautiful_ instance of metaphor,) that I may show the figure to full advantage."--_Blair cor._ "Aristotle, in his Poetics, uses _metaphor_ in this extended sense, for any figurative meaning imposed upon a word; as _the_ whole put for _a_ part, or a part for _the_ whole; _a_ species for the genus, or _the_ genus for a species."--_Id._ "It shows what kind of apple it is of which we are speaking."--_Kirkham cor._ "Cleon was _an other_ sort of man."--_Goldsmith cor._ "To keep off his right wing, as a kind of reserved body."--_Id._ "This part of speech is called _the_ verb."--_Mack cor._ "What sort of thing is it?"--_Hiley cor._ "What sort of charm do they possess?"--_Bullions cor._ "Dear Welsted, mark, in dirty hole, That painful animal, _the_ mole."--_Dunciad cor._ UNDER NOTE XI.--ARTICLES NOT REQUISITE. "Either thou or the boys were in fault."--_Comly cor._ "It may, at first view, appear to be too general."--_Murray et al. cor._ "When the verb has reference to future time."--_Iidem_. "No; they are the language of imagination, rather than of passion."--_Blair cor._ "The dislike of English Grammar, which has so generally prevailed, can be attributed _only_ to the intricacy of [our] syntax."--_Russell cor._ "Is that ornament in good taste?"--_Kames cor._ "There are not many fountains in good taste." Or: "Not many fountains are [ornamented] in good taste."--_Id._ "And I persecuted this way unto death."--_Bible cor._ "The sense of feeling can, indeed, give us a notion of extension."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 411. "The distributive _adjectives, each, every, either_, agree with nouns, pronouns, _or_ verbs, of the singular number only."--_Murray cor._ "Expressing by one word, what might, by a circumlocution, be resolved into two or more words belonging to other parts of speech."--_Blair cor._ "By certain muscles which operate [in harmony, and] all at the same time."--_Murray cor._ "It is sufficient here to have observed thus much in general concerning them."--_Campbell cor._ "Nothing disgusts us sooner than empty pomp of language."--_Murray cor._ UNDER NOTE XII.--TITLES AND NAMES. "He is entitled to the appellation of _gentleman_."--_G. Brown_. "Cromwell assumed the title of Protector"--_Id._ "Her father is honoured with the title of _Earl_."--_Id._ "The chief magistrate is styled _President_."-- _Id._ "The highest title in the state is that of _Governor_."--_Id._ "That boy is known by the name of _Idler_."--_Murray cor._ "The one styled _Mufti_, is the head of the ministers of law and religion."--_Balbi cor._ "Ranging all that possessed them under one class, he called that whole class _tree_."--_Blair cor._ "For _oak, pine_, and _ash_, were names of whole classes of objects."--_Id._ "It is of little importance whether we give to some particular mode of expression the name of _trope_, or of _figure_."--_Id._ "The collision of a vowel with itself is the most ungracious of all combinations, and has been doomed to peculiar reprobation under the name of _hiatus_."--_Adams cor._ "We hesitate to determine, whether _Tyrant_ alone is the nominative, or whether the nominative includes the _word Spy_."--_Cobbett cor._ "Hence originated the customary abbreviation of _twelve months_ into _twelvemonth_; of _seven nights_ into _sennight_; of _fourteen nights_ into _fortnight_."--_Webster cor._ UNDER NOTE XIII.--COMPARISONS AND ALTERNATIVES. "He is a better writer than reader."--_W. Allen_. "He was an abler mathematician than linguist."--_Id._ "I should rather have an orange than _an_ apple."--_G. Brown_. "He was no less able _as_ a negotiator, than courageous _as_ a warrior."--_Smollett cor._ "In an epic poem, we pardon many negligences that would not be permitted in a sonnet or _an_ epigram."--_Kames cor._ "That figure is a sphere, globe, or ball."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 357. UNDER NOTE XIV.--ANTECEDENTS TO WHO OR WHICH. "_The_ carriages which were formerly in use, were very clumsy."--_Key to Inst_. "The place is not mentioned by _the_ geographers who wrote at that time."--_Ib._ "Those questions which a person _puts to_ himself in contemplation, ought to be terminated _with_ points of interrogation."-- _Mur. et al. cor._ "The work is designed for the use of _those_ persons who may think it merits a place in their libraries."--_Mur. cor._ "That _those_ who think confusedly, should express themselves obscurely, is not to be wondered at."--_Id._ "_Those_ grammarians who limit the number to two, or three, do not reflect."--_Id._ "_The_ substantives which end in _ian_, are those that signify profession." Or: "_Those_ substantives which end in _ian_, are _such as_ signify profession."--_Id._ "To these may be added _those_ verbs which, among the poets, _usually_ govern the dative."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "_The_ consonants are _those_ letters which cannot be sounded without the aid of a vowel."--_Bucke cor._ "To employ the curiosity of persons _skilled_ in grammar:"--"of _those_ who are skilled in grammar:"--"of persons _that_ are skilled in grammar:"--"of _such_ persons _as_ are skilled in grammar:" or--"of _those_ persons _who_ are skilled in grammar."--_L. Murray cor._ "This rule refers only to _those_ nouns and pronouns which have the same bearing, or relation."--_Id._ "So that _the_ things which are seen, were not made of things _that_ do appear."--_Bible cor._ "Man is an imitative creature; he may utter _again_ the sounds which he has heard."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "But _those_ men whose business is wholly domestic, have little or no use for any language but their own."--_Dr. Webster cor._ UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL NOUNS. "Great benefit may be reaped from _the_ reading of histories."--_Sewel cor._ "And some attempts were made towards _the_ writing of history."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "It is _an_ invading of the priest's office, for any other to offer it"--_Leslie cor._ "And thus far of _the_ forming of verbs."--_W. Walker cor._ "And without _the_ shedding of blood _there_ is no remission."--_Bible cor._ "For _the_ making of measures, we have the best method here in England."--_Printer's Gram. cor._ "This is really both _an_ admitting and _a_ denying at once."--_Butler cor._ "And hence the origin of _the_ making of parliaments."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Next thou objectest, that _the_ having of saving light and grace presupposes conversion. But that I deny: for, on the contrary, conversion _presupposes the_ having _of_ light and grace."--_Barclay cor._ "They cried down _the_ wearing of rings and other superfluities, as we do."--_Id._ "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning, of _the_ plaiting _of_ the hair, and of _the_ wearing of gold, or of _the putting-on_ of apparel."--_Bible cor._ "In _the_ spelling of derivative words, the _primitives_ must be kept whole."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan's cor._ "And the princes offered for _the_ dedicating of the altar."--_Numb. cor._ "Boasting is not only _a_ telling of lies, but also _of_ many unseemly truths."--_Sheffield cor._ "We freely confess that _the_ forbearing of prayer in the wicked is sinful."--_Barclay cor._ "For _the_ revealing of a secret, there is no remedy."--_G. Brown_. "He turned all his thoughts to _the_ composing of laws for the good of the State."--_Rollin cor._ UNDER NOTE XVI.--PARTICIPLES, NOT NOUNS. "It is salvation to be kept from falling into a pit, as truly as to be taken out of it after falling in."--_Barclay cor._ "For in receiving and embracing the testimony of truth, they felt their souls eased."--_Id._ "True regularity does not consist in having but a single rule, and forcing every thing to conform to it."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "To the man of the world, this sound of glad tidings appears only an idle tale, and not worth attending to."--_Say cor._ "To be the deliverer of the captive Jews, by ordering their temple to be rebuilt," &c.--_Rollin cor._ "And for preserving them from being defiled."--_Discip. cor._ "A wise man will _forbear to show_ any excellence in trifles."--_Kames cor._ "Hirsutus had no other reason for valuing a book."--_Johnson, and Wright, cor._ "To being heard with satisfaction, it is necessary that the speaker should deliver himself with ease." Perhaps better: "_To be_ heard, &c." Or: "_In order to be_ heard, &c."--_Sheridan cor._ "And, to the _end of_ being well heard and clearly understood, a good and distinct articulation contributes more, than _can even the greatest_ power of voice."--_Id._ "_Potential_ purports, _having power or will_; As, If you _would_ improve, you _should_ be still."--_Tobitt cor._ UNDER NOTE XVII.--VARIOUS ERRORS. "For the same reason, a neuter verb cannot become passive."--_Lowth cor._ "_A_ period is _a_ whole sentence complete in itself."--_Id._ "_A_ colon, or member, is a chief constructive part, or _the greatest_ division, of a sentence."--_Id._ "_A_ semicolon, or half-member, is a _smaller_ constructive part, or _a_ subdivision, of a sentence or _of_ a member."--_Id._ "A sentence or _a_ member is again subdivided into commas, or segments."--_Id._ "The first error that I would mention is, too general _an_ attention to the dead languages, with a neglect of our own _tongue_."--_Webster cor._ "One third of the importations would supply the demands of _the_ people."--_Id._ "And especially in _a_ grave _style_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 178. "By too eager _a_ pursuit, he ran a great risk of being disappointed."--_Murray cor._ "_The_ letters are divided into vowels and consonants."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "_The_ consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels."--_Iidem_. "The first of these forms is _the_ most agreeable to the English idiom."--_Murray cor._ "If they gain, it is _at_ too dear _a_ rate."--_Barclay cor._ "A pronoun is a word used _in stead_ of a noun, to prevent too frequent _a_ repetition of it."--_Maunder cor._ "This vulgar error might perhaps arise from too partial _a_ fondness for the Latin."--_Ash cor._ "The groans which too heavy _a_ load extorts from her."--_Hitchcock cor._ "The numbers of a verb are, of course, _the_ singular and _the_ plural."--_Bucke cor._ "To brook no meanness, and to stoop to no dissimulation, are indications of a great mind."--_Murray cor._ "This mode of expression rather suits _the_ familiar than _the_ grave style."--_Id._ "This use of the word _best_ suits _a_ familiar and low style."--_Priestley cor._ "According to the nature of the composition, the one or _the_ other may be predominant."--_Blair cor._ "Yet the commonness of such sentences prevents in a great measure too early _an_ expectation of the end."--_Campbell cor._ "A eulogy or a philippic may be pronounced by an individual of one nation upon _a_ subject of _an_ other."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "A French sermon is, for _the_ most part, a warm animated exhortation."--_Blair cor._ "I do not envy those who think slavery no very pitiable lot."--_Channing cor._ "The auxiliary and _the_ principal united constitute a tense."--_Murray cor._ "There are some verbs which are defective with respect to _the_ persons."--_Id._ "In youth, habits of industry are _the_ most easily acquired."--_Id._ "_The_ apostrophe (') is used in place of a letter left out."--_Bullions cor._ CHAPTER III.--CASES, OR NOUNS. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE II; OF NOMINATIVES. "The whole need not a physician, but _they_ that are sick."--_Bunyan cor._ "He will in no wise cast out _whosoever_ cometh unto him." Better: "He will in no wise cast out _any that come_ unto him."--_Hall cor._ "He feared the enemy might fall upon his men, _who_, he saw, were off their guard."--_Hutchinson cor._ "_Whosoever_ shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."--_Matt._, v, 41. "The _ideas_ of the author have been conversant with the faults of other writers."--_Swift cor._ "You are a much greater loser than _I_, by his death." Or: "_Thou art_ a much greater loser by his death than _I_."--_Id._ "Such _peccadilloes_ pass with him for pious frauds."--_Barclay cor._ "In whom I am nearly concerned, and _who_, I know, would be very apt to justify my whole procedure."--_Id._ "Do not think such a man as _I_ contemptible for my garb."--_Addison cor._ "His wealth and _he_ bid adieu to each other."--_Priestley cor._ "So that, 'He is greater than _I_,' will be more grammatical than, 'He is greater than _me_.'"--_Id._ "The Jesuits had more interests at court than _he_."--_Id. and Smollett cor._ "Tell the Cardinal that I understand poetry better than _he_."--_Iid._ "An inhabitant of Crim Tartary was far more happy than _he_."--_Iid._ "My father and _he_ have been very intimate since."--_Fair Am. cor._ "Who was the agent, and _who_, the object struck or kissed?"--_Mrs. Bethune cor._ "To find the person _who_, he imagined, was concealed there."--_Kirkham cor._ "He offered a great recompense to _whosoever_ would help him." Better: "He offered a great recompense to _any one who_ would help him."--_Hume and Pr. cor._ "They would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of _whosoever_ (or _any one who_) might exercise the right of judgement."--_Haynes cor._ "They had promised to accept _whosoever_ (or _any one who_) should be born in Wales."--_Croker cor._ "We sorrow not as _they_ that have no hope."--_Maturin cor._ "If he suffers, he suffers as _they_ that have no hope."--_Id._ "We acknowledge that he, and _he_ only, hath been our peacemaker."--_Gratton cor._ "And what can be better than _he_ that made it?"--_Jenks cor._ "None of his school-fellows is more beloved than _he_."--_Cooper cor._ "Solomon, who was wiser than _they_ all."--_Watson cor._ "Those _who_ the Jews thought were the last to be saved, first entered the kingdom of God."--_Tract cor._ "A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than both."--_Bible cor._ "A man of business, in good company, is hardly more insupportable, than _she whom_ they call a notable woman."--_Steele cor._ "The king of the Sarmatians, _who_ we may imagine was no small prince, restored to him a hundred thousand Roman prisoners."--_Life of Anton. cor._ "Such notions would be avowed at this time by none but rosicrucians, and fanatics as mad as _they_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 203. "Unless, as I said, Messieurs, you are the masters, and not _I_."--_Hall cor._ "We had drawn up against peaceable travellers, who must have been as glad as _we_ to escape."--_Burnes cor._ "Stimulated, in turn, by their approbation and that of better judges than _they_, she turned to their literature with redoubled energy."--_Quarterly Rev. cor._ "I know not _who_ else are expected."--_Scott cor._ "He is great, but truth is greater than _we_ all." Or: "He is great, but truth is greater than _any of us_."--_H. Mann cor._. "_He_ I accuse has entered." Or, by ellipsis of the antecedent, thus: "_Whom_ I accuse has entered."--_Fowler cor.; also Shakspeare._ "Scotland and _thou_ did each in other live."--_Dryden cor._ "We are alone; here's none but _thou_ and I."--_Shak. cor._ "_I_ rather _would_, my heart might feel your love, Than my unpleas'd eye see your courtesy."--_Shak. cor._ "Tell me, in sadness, _who_ is she you love?"--_Shak. cor._ "Better leave undone, than by our deeds acquire Too high a fame, when _he_ we serve's away."--_Shak. cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE III; OF APPOSITION. "Now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, _thee_ and _me_."--_Bible cor._ "Now, therefore, come thou, we will make a covenant, _thou_ and _I_."--_Variation corrected_. "The word came not to Esau, the hunter, that stayed not at home; but to Jacob, the plain man, _him_ that dwelt in tents."--_Penn cor._ "Not to every man, but to the man of God, (i.e.,) _him_ that is led by the spirit of God."--_Barclay cor._ "For, admitting God to be a creditor, or _him_ to whom the debt should be paid, and Christ _him_ that satisfies or pays it on behalf of man the debtor, this question will arise, whether he paid that debt as God, or man, or both?"--_Penn cor._ "This Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Man, the Emmanuel, God with us, we own and believe in: _him_ whom the high priests raged against," &c.--_Fox cor._ "Christ, and _He_ crucified, was the Alpha and Omega of all his addresses, the fountain and foundation of his hope and trust."--_Exp. cor._ "Christ, and _He_ crucified, is the head, and the only head, of the church."--_Denison cor._ "But if Christ, and _He_ crucified, _is_ the burden of the ministry, such disastrous results are all avoided."--_Id._ "He never let fall the least intimation, that himself, or any other person _whosoever_, was the object of worship."--_View cor._ "Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially _them_ who labour in the word and doctrine."--_Bible cor._ "Our Shepherd, _he_ who is styled King of saints, will assuredly give his saints the victory."--_Sermon cor._ "It may seem odd, to talk of _us_ subscribers."--_Fowle cor._ "And they shall have none to bury them: _they_, their wives, nor their sons, nor[533] their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them."--_Bible cor._ "Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and _him_ that ministered to my wants."--_Bible cor._ "Amidst the tumult of the routed train, The sons of false Antimachus were slain; _Him_ who for bribes his faithless counsels sold, And voted Helen's stay for Paris' gold."--_Pope cor._ "See the vile King his iron sceptre bear-- His only praise attends the pious heir; _Him_ in whose soul the virtues all conspire, The best good son, from the worst wicked sire."--_Lowth cor._ "Then from thy lips poured forth a joyful song To thy Redeemer!--yea, it poured along In most melodious energy of praise, To God, the Saviour, _him_ of ancient days."--_Arm Chair cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE IV; OF POSSESSIVES. UNDER NOTE I.--THE POSSESSIVE FORM. "_Man's_ chief good is an upright mind."--_Key to Inst_. "The translator of _Mallet's_ History _has_ the following note."--_Webster cor._ "The act, while it gave five _years'_ full pay to the officers, allowed but one year's pay to the privates."--_Id._ "For the study of English is preceded by several _years'_ attention to Latin and Greek."--_Id._ "The first, the _Court-Baron_, is the _freeholders'_ or _freemen's_ court."--_Coke cor._ "I affirm that _Vaugelas's_ definition labours under an essential defect."--_Campbell cor.; and also Murray_. "There is a chorus in _Aristophanes's_ plays."--_Blair cor._ "It denotes the same perception in my mind as in _theirs_."--_Duncan cor._ "This afterwards enabled him to read _Hickes's_ Saxon Grammar."--_Life of Dr. Mur. cor._ "I will not do it for _ten's_ sake."--_Ash cor._ Or: "I will not _destroy_ it for _ten's_ sake."--_Gen._, xviii, 32. "I arose, and asked if those charming infants were _hers_."--_Werter cor._ "They divide their time between _milliners_' shops and _the_ taverns."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "The _angels_' adoring of Adam is also mentioned in the Talmud."--_Sale cor._ "Quarrels arose from the _winners_' insulting of those who lost."--_Id._ "The vacancy occasioned by Mr. _Adams's_ resignation."--_Adv. to Adams's Rhet. cor._ "Read, for instance, _Junius's_ address, commonly called his _Letter to the King_."--_Adams cor._ "A perpetual struggle against the tide of _Hortensius's_ influence."--_Id._ "Which, for _distinction's_ sake, I shall put down severally."--_R. Johnson cor._ "The fifth case is in a clause signifying the matter of _one's_ fear."--_Id._ "And they took counsel, and bought with them the _potter's_ field."--_Alger cor._ "Arise for thy _servants_' help, and redeem them for thy mercy's sake."--_Jenks cor._ "Shall not their cattle, their substance, and every beast of _theirs_, be _ours_?"--COM. BIBLE: _Gen._, xxxiv, 23. "_Its_ regular plural, _bullaces_, is used by Bacon."--_Churchill cor._ "Mordecai walked every day before the court of the _women's_ house."--_Scott cor._ "Behold, they that wear soft clothing, are in _kings_' houses."--_Alger's Bible_. "Then Jethro, _Moses's_ father-in-law, took Zipporah, _Moses's_ wife, and her two sons; and Jethro, _Moses's_ father-in-law, came, with his sons and his wife, unto Moses."--_Scott's Bible_. "King _James's_ translators merely revised former translations."--_Frazee cor._ "May they be like corn on _houses_' tops."--_White cor._ "And for his Maker's _image'_ sake exempt."--_Milton cor._ "By all the fame acquired in ten _years'_ war."--_Rowe cor._ "Nor glad vile poets with true _critics'_ gore."--_Pope cor._ "Man only of a softer mold is made, Not for his _fellows'_ ruin, but their aid."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--POSSESSIVES CONNECTED. "It was necessary to have both the _physician's_ and the surgeon's advice."--_L. Murray's False Syntax_, Rule 10. "This _outside_ fashionableness of the _tailor's_ or _the tirewoman's_ making."--_Locke cor._ "Some pretending to be of Paul's party, others of _Apollos's_, others of _Cephas's_, and others, (pretending yet higher,) to be of Christ's."--_Wood cor._ "Nor is it less certain, that _Spenser and Milton's_ spelling agrees better with our pronunciation."--_Phil. Museum cor._ "Law's, _Edwards's_, and _Watts's Survey_ of the Divine Dispensations." Or thus: "_Law, Edwards_, and _Watts's_, Surveys of the Divine Dispensations."--_Burgh cor._ "And who was Enoch's Saviour, and the _prophets'_?"--_Bayly cor._ "Without any impediment but his own, his _parents'_, or his _guardian's_ will."--_Journal corrected_. "James relieves neither the _boy's_ nor the girl's distress."--_Nixon cor._ "John regards neither the _master's_ nor the pupil's advantage."--_Id._ "You reward neither the _man's_ nor the woman's labours."--_Id._ "She examines neither _James's_ nor John's conduct."--_Id._ "Thou pitiest neither the _servant's_ nor the master's injuries."--_Id._ "We promote _England's_ or Ireland's happiness."--_Id._ "Were _Cain's_ and Abel's occupation the same?"--_G. Brown_. "Were _Cain_ and Abel's occupations the same?"--_Id._ "What was _Simon_ and Andrew's employment?"--_Id._ "Till he can read _for_ himself _Sanctius's_ Minerva with _Scioppius's_ and Perizonius's Notes."--_Locke cor._ "And _love_ and friendship's finely-pointed dart Falls blunted from each indurated heart." Or:-- "And _love's_ and friendship's finely-pointed dart _Fall_ blunted from each indurated heart."--_Goldsmith cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--CHOICE OF FORMS. "But some degree of trouble is the portion _of all men_."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "With the names _of his father and mother_ upon the blank leaf."--_Abbott cor._ "The general, in the name _of the army_, published a declaration."--_Hume cor._ "The vote _of the Commons_."--_Id._ "The _House of Lords_."--_Id._ "A collection of _the faults of writers_;"--or, "A collection _of literary faults_."--_Swift cor._ "After ten _years of_ wars."--_Id._ "Professing his detestation of such practices as _those of_ his predecessors."--_Pope cor._ "By that time I shall have ended my _year of_ office."--_W. Walker cor._ "For the sake _of Herodias_, the wife of _his brother Philip_."--_Bible and Mur. cor._ "I endure all things for _the sake of the elect_, that they may also obtain salvation."--_Bibles cor._ "He was _heir to the son of_ Louis the Sixteenth."--_W. Allen_. "The throne we honour is the _people's choice_."--_Rolla_. "An account of the proceedings of _Alexander's court_."--_Inst._ "An excellent tutor _for the child of a person of fashion_!"--_Gil Blas cor._ "It is curious enough, that this sentence of the _Bishop's_ is, itself, ungrammatical."--_Cobbett cor._ "The troops broke into the palace _of_ the _Emperor_ Leopold."--_Nixon cor._ "The meeting was called by desire _of_ Eldon the _Judge_."--_Id._ "The occupation _of Peter, John_, and _Andrew_, was that of fishermen."--_Murray's Key_, R. 10. "The _debility of_ the venerable president of the Royal _Academy_, has lately increased."--_Maunder cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--NOUNS WITH POSSESSIVES PLURAL. "God hath not given us our _reason_ to no purpose."--_Barclay cor._ "For our _sake_, no doubt, this is written."--_Bible cor._ "Are not health and strength of body desirable for their own _sake_?"--_Harris and Murray cor._ "Some sailors who were boiling their _dinner_ upon the shore."--_Day cor._ "And they, in their _turn_, were subdued by others."--_Pinnock cor._ "Industry on our _part_ is not superseded by God's grace."--_Arrowsmith cor._ "Their _health_ perhaps may be pretty well secured."--_Locke cor._ "Though he was rich, yet for _your sake_ he became poor."--See _2 Cor._, viii, 9. "It were to be wished, his correctors had been as wise on their _part_."--_Harris cor._ "The Arabs are commended by the ancients for being most exact to their _word_, and respctful to their kindred."--_Sale cor._ "That is, as a reward of some exertion on our _part_."--_Gurney cor._ "So that it went ill with Moses for their _sake_."--_Ps. cor._ "All liars shall have their _part_ in the burning lake."--_Watts cor._ "For our own _sake_ as well as for thine."--_Pref. to Waller cor._ "By discovering their _ability_ to detect and amend errors."--_L. Murray cor._ "This world I do renounce; and, in your _sight_, Shake patiently my great affliction off."--_Shak. cor._ "If your relenting _anger_ yield to treat, Pompey and thou, in safety, here may meet."--_Rowe cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--POSSESSIVES WITH PARTICIPLES. "This will encourage him to proceed without acquiring the prejudice."--_Smith cor._ "And the notice which they give of an _action as_ being completed or not completed."--_L. Mur. et al. cor._ "Some obstacle, or impediment, that prevents _it from_ taking place."--_Priestley and A. Mur. cor._ "They have apostolical authority for so frequently urging the seeking of the Spirit."--_The Friend cor._ "Here then is a wide field for _reason to exert_ its powers in relation to the objects of taste."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Now this they derive altogether from their greater capacity of imitation and description."--_Id._ "This is one clear reason _why they paid_ a greater attention to that construction."--_Id._ "The dialogue part had also a modulation of its own, which was capable of being set to notes."--_Id._ "_Why are we so often_ frigid and unpersuasive in public discourse?"--_Id._ "Which is only a preparation for leading his forces directly upon us."--_Id._ "The nonsense about _which, as_ relating to things only, and having no declension, needs no refutation."--_Fowle cor._ "Who, upon breaking it open, found nothing but the following inscription."--_Rollin cor._ "A prince will quickly have reason to repent _of_ having exalted one person so high."--_Id._ "Notwithstanding _it is_ the immediate subject of his discourse."--_Churchill cor._ "With our definition of _it, as_ being synonymous with _time_."--_Booth cor._ "It will considerably increase _our danger of_ being deceived."--_Campbell cor._ "His beauties can never be mentioned without suggesting his blemishes also."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "No example has ever been adduced, of a _man_ conscientiously approving an action, because of its badness." Or:--"of a _man who_ conscientiously _approved_ of an action because of its badness."--_Gurney cor._ "The last episode, of the _angel_ showing to Adam the fate of his posterity, is happily imagined."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And the news came to my son, _that he_ and the bride _were_ in Dublin."--_M. Edgeworth cor._ "There is no room for the _mind to exert_ any great effort."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "One would imagine, that these _critics_ never so much as heard _that Homer wrote_ first."--_Pope cor._ "Condemn the book, for not being a geography;" or,--"_because it is not_ a geography."--_Peirce cor._ "There will be in many words a transition from being the figurative to being the proper signs of certain ideas."--_Campbell cor._ "The doctrine _that the Pope is_ the only source of ecclesiastical power."--_Rel. World cor._ "This _was_ the more expedient, _because_ the work _was_ designed for the benefit of private learners."--_L. Murray cor._ "This was _done, because_ the _Grammar, being already in type, did not admit_ of enlargement."--_Id._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE V; OF OBJECTIVES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE OBJECTIVE FORM. "_Whom_ should I meet the other day but my old friend!"--_Spect. cor._ "Let not him boast that puts on his armour, but _him_ that takes it off."--_Barclay cor._ "Let none touch it, but _them_ who are clean."--_Sale cor._ "Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and _them_ that dwell therein."--_Ps. cor._ "Pray be private, and careful _whom_ you trust."--_Mrs. Goffe cor._ "How shall the people know _whom_ to entrust with their property and their liberties?"--_J. O. Taylor cor._ "The chaplain entreated my comrade and _me_ to dress as well as possible."--_World cor._ "And _him_ that cometh _to_ me, I will in no wise cast out."--_John_, vi, 37. "_Whom_, during this preparation, they constantly and solemnly invoke."--_Hope of Is. cor._ "Whoever or whatever owes us, is Debtor; _and whomever_ or whatever we owe, is Creditor."--_Marsh cor._ "Declaring the curricle was his, and he should have _in it whom_ he chose."--_A. Ross cor._ "The fact is, Burke is the only one of all the host of brilliant contemporaries, _whom_ we can rank as a first-rate orator."--_Knickerb. cor._ "Thus you see, how naturally the Fribbles and the Daffodils have produced the _Messalinas_ of our time."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "They would find in the Roman list both the _Scipios_."--_Id._ "He found his wife's clothes on fire, and _her_ just expiring."--_Observer cor._ "To present _you_ holy, and _unblamable_, and _unreprovable_ in his sight."--_Colossians_, i, 22. "Let the distributer do his duty with simplicity; the superintendent, with diligence; _him_ who performs offices of compassion, with cheerfulness."--_Stuart cor._ "If the crew rail at the master of the vessel, _whom_ will they mind?"--_Collier cor._ "He having none but them, they having none but him"--_Drayton cor._ "Thee, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign; Of thy caprice maternal I complain."--_Burns cor._ "_Nor weens he who it is, whose charms consume_ _His longing soul_, but loves he knows not _whom_"--_Addison cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--OF VERBS TRANSITIVE. "When it gives that sense, and also connects _sentences_, it is a conjunction."--_L. Murray cor._ "Though thou wilt not acknowledge _thyself to--be guilty_, thou canst not deny the fact _stated_."--_Id._ "They specify _some object_, like many other adjectives, and _also_ connect sentences."--_Kirkham cor._ "A violation of this rule tends so much to perplex _the reader_ and obscure _the sense_, that it is safer to err by _using_ too many short sentences."--_L. Murray cor._ "A few exercises are subjoined to each important definition, for him [the pupil] to _practise_ upon as he proceeds in committing _the grammar to memory._"--_Nutting cor._ "A verb signifying _an action directly transitive_, governs the accusative."--_Adam et al. cor._ "Or, any word _that can be conjugated_, is a verb."--_Kirkham cor._ "In these two concluding sentences, the author, hastening to _a close_, appears to write rather carelessly."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "He simply reasons on one side of the question, and then _leaves it._"--_Id._" Praise to God teaches _us_ to be humble and lowly ourselves."--_Atterbury cor._ "This author has endeavoured to surpass _his rivals._"--_R. W. Green cor._ "Idleness and _pleasure fatigue a man as_ soon _as business._"--_Webster cor._" And, in conjugating _any verb_,"--or, "And in _learning conjugations_, you must pay particular attention to the manner in which these signs are applied."--_Kirkham cor._ "He said Virginia would have emancipated _her slaves_ long ago."--_Lib. cor._ "And having a readiness"--or, "And holding ourselves in readiness"--or," And being in readiness--to revenge all disobedience."--_Bible cor._ "However, in these cases, custom generally determines _what is right._"--_Wright cor._ "In proof, let the following cases _be taken._"--_Id._ "We must _marvel_ that he should so speedily have forgotten his first principles."--_Id._ "How should we _wonder_ at the expression, 'This is a _soft_ question!' "--_Id._ "And such as prefer _this course_, can parse it as a possessive adjective."--_Goodenow cor._ "To assign all the reasons that induced _the author_ to deviate from other grammarians, would lead to a needless prolixity."--_Alexander cor._ "The Indicative Mood simply indicates or declares _a thing._"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 63. UNDER NOTE II.--OF VERBS INTRANSITIVE. "In his seventh chapter _he expatiates_ at great length."--_Barclay cor._ "He _quarrels with me for adducing_ some _ancient_ testimonies agreeing with what I say."--_Id._ "Repenting of his design."--_Hume cor._ "Henry knew, that an excommunication could not fail _to produce_ the most dangerous effects."--_Id._ "The popular lords did not fail to enlarge on the subject,"--_Mrs. Macaulay cor._ "He is always master of his subject, and seems to _play_ with it:" or,--"seems to _sport himself_ with it."--_Blair cor._ "But as soon as it _amounts to real_ disease, all his secret infirmities _show_ themselves."--_Id._ "No man repented of his wickedness."--_Bible cor._ "Go one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left,"--_Id._ "He lies down by the _river's edge._" Or: "He _lays himself_ down _on_ the _river's brink_"--_W. Walker cor._ "For some years past, _I have had an ardent wish_ to retire to some of our American plantations."--_Cowley cor._ "I fear thou wilt shrink from the payment of it."--_Ware cor._ "_We never retain_ an idea, without acquiring some combination."--_Rippingham cor._ "Yet more; the stroke of death he must abide, Then lies _he_ meekly down, fast by his brethren's side." --_Milton cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--OF VERBS MISAPPLIED. "_The_ parliament _confiscated the property of_ all those who had borne arms _against_ the king."--_Hume cor._ "The practice of _confiscating_ ships _that_ had been wrecked"'--_Id._ "The nearer his military successes _brought_ him to the throne." Or: "The nearer, _through_ his military successes, _he approached_ the throne."--_Id._ "In the next example, _'you' represents 'ladies;'_ therefore it is plural."--_Kirkham cor._ "The first _'its' stands for 'vale;'_ the second _'its'_ represents _'stream'_."-- _Id._ "Pronouns do not always _prevent_ the repetition of nouns."--_Id._ "Very is an adverb of _degree_; it _relates_ to the adjective _good_"--_Id._ "You will please to commit to _memory_ the following paragraph."--_Id._ "Even the Greek and Latin passive verbs _form_ some of their tenses _by means of auxiliaries._"--_L. Mur. cor._ "The deponent verbs in Latin _also employ auxiliaries_ to _form_ several of their tenses."--_Id._ "I have no doubt he made as wise and true proverbs, as any body has _made_ since."--_Id._ "_Monotonous delivery_ assumes as many set forms, as _ever_ Proteus _did of fleeting_ shapes."--_Kirkham cor._ "When words in apposition _are uttered_ in quick succession."--_Nixon cor._ "Where _many_ such sentences _occur in succession._"--_L. Mur. cor._ "Wisdom leads us to speak and _do_ what is most proper."--_Blair and L. Murray cor._ "_Jul._ Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague? _Rom._ Neither, fair saint, if either thee _displease._" Or:-- "Neither, fair saint, if either _thou_ dislike."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--OF PASSIVE VERBS. "_To us_, too, must be allowed the privilege of forming our own laws." Or: "_We_ too must _have_ the privilege," &c.--_L. Murray cor._ "For not only _is_ the use of all the ancient poetic feet _allowed_ [to] us," &c.--_Id. et al. cor._ "By what code of morals _is the right or privilege denied me_?"--_Bartlett cor._ "To the children of Israel alone, _has_ the possession of it been denied."--_Keith cor._ "At York, all quarter _was refused_ to fifteen hundred Jews."--_Id._ "He would teach the French language in three lessons, provided _there were paid him_ fifty-five dollars in advance."--_Prof. Chazotte cor._ "And when _it_ was demanded of _him by_ the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come." Or: "And when the _Pharisees demanded_ of him," &c.--_Bible cor._ "A book _has been shown_ me."--_Dr. Campbell cor._ "To John Horne Tooke _admission was refused_, only because he had been in holy orders."--_W. Duane cor._ "Mr. Horne Tooke having taken orders, admission to the bar was refused _him_."--_Churchill cor._ "Its reference to place is _disregarded_."--_Dr. Bullions cor._ "What striking lesson _is taught_ by the tenor of this history?"--_Bush cor._ "No less _a sum_ than eighty thousand pounds had been left _him_ by a friend."--_Dr. Priestley cor._ "Where there are many things to be done, _there_ must be allowed _to each_ its share of time and labour."--_Dr. Johnson cor._ "Presenting the subject in a far more practical form, than _has heretofore been given it_."--_Kirkham cor._ "If _to_ a being of entire impartiality should be shown the two companies."--_Dr. Scott cor._ "The command of the British army was offered _to him_."--_Grimshaw cor._ "_To whom_ a considerable sum had been unexpectedly left."--_Johnson cor._ "Whether such a privilege may be granted _to_ a maid or a widow."--_Spect. cor._ "Happily, _to_ all these affected terms, the public suffrage _has_ been denied."--_Campbell cor._ "Let the _parsing table_ next be _shown him_."--_Nutting cor._ "_Then_ the use of the _analyzing table_ may be _explained to him_."--_Id._ "_To_ Pittacus _there_ was offered a great sum of money."--_Sanborn cor._ "More time for study had been allowed _him_."--_Id._ "If a little care were _bestowed on the walks_ that lie between them."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 222. "Suppose an office or a bribe _be_ offered _me_."--_Pierpont cor._ "_Is then_ one chaste, one last embrace _denied_? Shall I not lay me by his clay-cold side?"--_Rowe cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--OF PASSIVE VERBS TRANSITIVE. "The preposition TO is _used_ before nouns of place, when they follow verbs _or_ participles of motion."--_Murray et al. cor._ "They were _not allowed to enter_ the house."--_Mur. cor._ "Their separate signification has been _overlooked_."--_Tooke cor._ "But, whenever YE is _used_, it must be in the nominative case, and _not_ in the objective."--_Cobbett cor._ "It is said, that more persons than one _receive_ handsome salaries, to see _that_ acts of parliament _are_ properly worded."--_Churchill cor._ "The following Rudiments of English Grammar have been _used_ in the University of Pennsylvania."--_Dr. Rogers cor._ "It never should be _forgotten_."-- _Newman cor._ "A very curious fact _has been noticed_ by those expert metaphysicians."--_Campbell cor._ "The archbishop interfered that Michelet's lectures might be _stopped_."--_The Friend cor._ "The disturbances in Gottengen have been entirely _quelled_."--_Daily Adv. cor._ "Besides those _which are noticed_ in these exceptions."--_Priestley cor._ "As one, two, or three auxiliary verbs are _employed_."--_Id._ "The arguments which have been _used_."--_Addison cor._ "The circumstance is properly _noticed_ by the author."--_Blair cor._ "Patagonia has never been taken _into possession_ by any European nation."--_Cumming cor._ "He will be _censured_ no more."--_Walker cor._ "The thing was to be _terminated_ somehow."--_Hunt cor._ "In 1798, the Papal Territory was _seized_ by the French."--_Pinnock cor._ "The idea has not for a moment _escaped the attention_ of the Board."--_C. S. Journal cor._ "I shall easily be excused _from_ the labour of more transcription."--_Johnson cor._ "If I may be allowed _to use_ that expression."--_Campbell cor._ "If without offence I may _make_ the observation."--_Id._ "There are other characters, which are frequently _used_ in composition."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "Such unaccountable infirmities might be _overcome_, in many cases, _and_ perhaps in most."--_Beattie cor._ "Which ought never to be _employed_, or _resorted to_."--_Id._ "That _care_ may be taken _of the widows_." Or: "That the widows may be _provided for_."--_Barclay cor._ "Other cavils will yet be _noticed_."--_Pope cor._ "Which implies, that _to_ all Christians _is_ eternal salvation _offered_."--_West cor._ "Yet even the dogs are allowed _to eat_ the crumbs which fall from their master's table."--_Campbell cor._ "For we say, the light within must be _heeded_."--_Barclay cor._ "This sound of _a_ is _noticed_ in Steele's Grammar."--_J. Walker cor._ "One came to _receive_ ten guineas for a pair of silver buckles."--_M. Edgeworth cor._ "Let therefore the application of the several questions in the table be carefully _shown_ [to] _him_."--_Nutting cor._ "After a few times, it is no longer _noticed_ by the hearers."--_Sheridan cor._ "It will not admit of the same excuse, nor _receive_ the same indulgence, _from_ people of any discernment."--_Id._ "Of inanimate things, property may be made." Or: "Inanimate things may be made property;" i.e., "may _become_ property."--_Beattie cor._ "And, when _some rival bids a higher_ price, Will not be sluggish in the work, _or_ nice."--_Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--OF PERFECT PARTICIPLES. "All the words _employed_ to denote spiritual _or_ intellectual things, are in their origin _metaphors_."--_Dr. Campbell cor._ "A reply to an argument commonly _brought forward_ by unbelievers."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It was once the only form _used_ in the _past_ tenses."--_Dr. Ash cor._ "Of the points and other characters _used_ in writing."--_Id._ "If THY be the personal pronoun _adopted_."--_Walker cor._ "The Conjunction is a word _used_ to connect [words or] sentences."--_Burn cor._ "The points _which_ answer these purposes, are the four following."--_Harrison cor._ "INCENSE signifies _perfume_ exhaled by fire, and _used_ in religious ceremonies."--_L. Mur. cor._ "In most of his orations, there is too much art; _he carries it even to_ ostentation."--_Blair cor._ "To illustrate the great truth, so often _overlooked_ in our times."--_C. S. Journal cor._ "The principal figures _calculated_ to affect the heart, are Exclamation, Confession, Deprecation, Commination, and Imprecation."--_Formey cor._ "Disgusted at the odious artifices _employed_ by the judge."--_Junius cor._ "_All the_ reasons _for which there was allotted to us_ a condition out of which so much wickedness and misery would in fact arise."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Some characteristical circumstance being generally invented or _seized upon_."--_Ld. Kames cor._ "And BY is likewise used with names that shew The method or the means of _what we do_."--_Ward cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--OF CONSTRUCTIONS AMBIGUOUS. "Many adverbs admit of degrees of comparison, as _do_ adjectives."--_Priestley cor._ "But the author who, by the number and reputation of his works, _did_ more than any one _else, to bring_ our language into its present state, _was_ Dryden."--_Blair cor._ "In some states, courts of admiralty have no juries, nor _do_ courts of chancery _employ any_ at all."--_Webster cor._ "I feel grateful to my friend."--_Murray cor._ "This requires a writer to have _in his own mind_ a very clear apprehension of the object which he means to present to us."--_Blair cor._ "Sense has its own harmony, _which naturally contributes something to the harmony of_ sound."--_Id._ "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_, which was formerly inserted, and _which gave to the word an additional_ syllable."--_Priestley cor._ "There are few _to whom_ I can refer with more advantage than _to_ Mr. Addison."--_Blair cor._ "DEATH, (in _theology_,) is a perpetual separation from God, a _state of_ eternal torments."--_Webster cor._ "That could inform the _traveller_ as well as _could_ the old man himself!"--_O. B. Peirce cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--OF YE AND YOU IN SCRIPTURE. "Ye daughters of Rabbah, gird _you_ with sackcloth."--SCOTT, FRIENDS, and the COMPREHENSIVE BIBLE: _Jer._, xlix, 3. "Wash _you_, make you clean."--SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Isaiah_, i, 16. "Strip _you_, and make _you_ bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins."--SCOTT, FRIENDS, ET AL.: _Isaiah_, xxxii, 11. "_Ye_ are not ashamed that _ye_ make yourselves strange to me."--SCOTT, BRUCE, and BLAYNEY: _Job_, xix, 3. "If _ye_ knew the gift of God." Or: "If _thou_ knew the gift of God."--See _John_, iv, 10. "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; I know _you_ not."--_Penington cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE VI; OF SAME CASES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF PROPER IDENTITY. "Who would not say, 'If it be _I_,' rather than, 'If it be _me_?"--_Priestley cor._ "Who is there? It is _I_."--_Id._ "It is _he_."--_Id._ "Are these the houses you were speaking of? Yes; they are _the same_."--_Id._ "It is not _I, that_ you are in love with."--_Addison cor._ "It cannot be _I_."--_Swift cor._ "To that which once was _thou_."--_Prior cor._ "There is but one man that she can have, and that _man_ is _myself_."--_Priestley cor._ "We enter, as it were, into his body, and become in some measure _he_." Or, better:--"and become in some measure _identified_ with him."--_A. Smith and Priestley cor._ "Art thou proud yet? Ay, that I am not _thou_."--_Shak. cor._ "He knew not _who_ they were."--_Milnes cor._ "_Whom_ do you think me to be?"--_Dr. Lowth's Gram._, p. 17. "_Who_ do men say that I, the Son of man, am?"--_Bible cor._ "But _who_ say ye that I am?"--_Id._ "_Who_ think ye that I am? I am not he."--_Id._ "No; I am in error; I perceive it is not the person _that_ I supposed it was."--_Winter in London cor._ "And while it is _He that_ I serve, life is not without value."--_Ware cor._ "Without ever dreaming it was _he_."--_Charles XII cor._ "Or he was not the illiterate personage _that_ he affected to be."--_Montgom. cor._ "Yet was he _the man_ who was to be the greatest apostle of the Gentiles."--_Barclay cor._ "Sweet was the thrilling ecstacy; I know not if 'twas love, or _thou_."--_J. Hogg cor._ "Time was, when none would cry, that oaf was _I_."--_Dryden cor._ "No matter where the vanquished be, _or who_."--_Rowe cor._ "No; I little thought it had been _he_."--_Gratton cor._ "That reverence, that godly fear, _which is ever due to_ 'Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.'"--_Maturin cor._ "It is _we_ that they seek to please, or rather to astonish."--_J. West cor._ "Let the same be _her_ that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac."--_Bible cor._ "Although I knew it to be _him_."--_Dickens cor._ "Dear gentle youth, is't none but _thou_?"--_Dorset cor._ "Who do they say it is?"--_Fowler cor._ "These are her garb, not _she_; they but express Her form, her semblance, her appropriate dress."--_More cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--OF THE CASE DOUBTFUL. "I had no knowledge of _any connexion_ between them."--_Col. Stone cor._ "To promote iniquity in others, is nearly the same _thing_, as _to be_ the actors of it ourselves." (That is, "_For us_ to promote iniquity in others, is nearly the same _thing_ as _for us_ to be the actors of it _ourselves_.")--_Murray cor._ "It must arise from _a delicate_ feeling _in_ ourselves."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "_Because there has not_ been exercised a competent physical power for their enforcement."--_Mass. Legisl. cor._ "PUPILAGE, _n._ The state of a _pupil_, or scholar."--_Dictionaries cor._ "Then the other _part_, being the _definition, would include_ all verbs, of every description."--_Peirce cor._ "John's _friendship for me_ saved me from inconvenience."--_Id._ "William's _judgeship_"--or, "William's _appointment to the office of_ judge,--changed his whole demeanour."--_Id._ "William's _practical acquaintance with teaching_, was the cause of the interest he felt."--_Id._ "_To be_ but one among many, stifleth the chidings of conscience."--_Tupper cor._ "As for _the opinion that it is_ a close translation, I doubt not that many have been led into that error by the shortness of it."--_Pope cor._ "All presumption _that death is_ the destruction of living beings, must go upon _the_ supposition that they are compounded, and _therefore_ discerptible."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "This argues rather _that they are_ proper names."--_Churchill cor._ "But may it not be retorted, that _this gratification itself_, is that which excites our resentment?"--_Campbell cor._ "Under the common notion, _that it is_ a system of the whole poetical art."--_Blair cor._ "Whose _want of_ time, or _whose_ other circumstances, forbid _them to become_ classical scholars."--_Lit. Jour. cor._ "It would _prove him not to have been a mere_ fictitious personage." Or: "It would preclude the notion _that he was merely a_ fictitious personage."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "For _heresy_, or under pretence _that they are_ heretics or infidels."--_Oath cor._ "We may here add Dr. Horne's sermon on _Christ, as being_ the Object of religious adoration."--_Rel. World cor._ "To say nothing of Dr. _Priestley, as being_ a strenuous advocate," &c.--_Id._ "_Through the agency of Adam, as being_ their public head." Or: "_Because Adam was_ their public head."--_Id._ "Objections against _the existence of_ any such moral plan as this."--_Butler cor._ "A greater instance of a _man_ being a blockhead."--_Spect. cor._ "We may insure or promote _what will make it_ a happy state of existence to ourselves."--_Gurney cor._ "_Since it often undergoes_ the same kind of unnatural treatment."--_Kirkham cor._ "Their _apparent_ foolishness"--"Their _appearance of foolishness_"--or, "_That they appear_ foolishness,--is no presumption against this."--_Butler cor._ "But what arises from _them_ as being offences; i.e., from their _liability_ to be perverted."--_Id._ "And he _went_ into _the_ house _of_ a certain man named Justus, one that _worshiped_ God."--_Acts cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--OF FALSE IDENTIFICATION. "But _popular_, he observes, is an ambiguous word."--_Blair cor._ "The infinitive mood, a _phrase, or a sentence_, is often _made the subject of_ a verb."--_Murray cor._ "When any person, in speaking, introduces his name _after the pronoun I_, it is _of_ the first person; as, 'I, James, of the city of Boston.'"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "The name of the person spoken to, is _of_ the second person; as, 'James, come to me.'"--_Id._ "The name of the person or thing _merely_ spoken of, or about, is _of_ the third person; as, 'James has come.'"--_Id._ "The passive verb _has no object, because_ its subject or nominative always represents _what is acted upon_, and the _object_ of a verb must needs be in the _objective_ case."--_Id._ "When a noun is in the nominative to an active verb, it _denotes_ the actor."--_Kirkham cor._ "And _the pronoun_ THOU _or_ YE, _standing for the name of_ the person _or persons_ commanded, is its nominative."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The first person is that _which denotes the speaker_."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 32. "The conjugation of a verb is _a regular arrangement of_ its different variations or inflections throughout the moods and tenses."--_Wright cor._ "The first person is _that which denotes_ the speaker _or writer_."--G. BROWN: for the correction of _Parker and Fox, Hiley_, and _Sanborn_. "The second person is _that which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed_."--_Id._: for _the same_. "The third person is _that which denotes the person or thing merely_ spoken of."--_Id._: for _the same_, "_I_ is _of_ the first person, singular; WE, _of_ the first person, plural."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "THOU is _of_ the second person, singular; YE or You, _of_ the second person, plural."--_Iid._ "HE, SHE, or IT, is _of_ the third person, singular; THEY, _of_ the third person, plural."--_Iid._ "The nominative case _denotes_ the actor, _and is the_ subject of the verb."--_Kirkham cor._ "John is the actor, therefore _the noun_ JOHN is in the nominative case."--_Id._ "The actor is always _expressed_ by the nominative case, _unless the verb be passive_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "The nominative case _does not_ always _denote an_ agent or actor."--_Mack cor._ "_In mentioning_ each name, tell the part of speech."--_John Flint cor._ "_Of_ what number is _boy_? Why?"--_Id._ "_Of_ what number is _pens_? Why?"--_Id._ "The speaker is _denoted by_ the first person; the person spoken to _is denoted by_ the second person; and the person or thing spoken of is _denoted by_ the third person."--_Id._ "What nouns are _of the_ masculine gender? _The names of_ all males are _of the_ masculine gender."--_Id._ "An interjection is a _word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or_ sudden emotion of the mind."--_G. Brown's Grammars_. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE VII; OF OBJECTIVES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF THE OBJECTIVE IN FORM. "But I do not remember _whom_ they were for."--_Abbott cor._ "But if you can't help it, _whom_ do you complain of?"--_Collier cor._ "_Whom_ was it from? and what was it about?"--_M. Edgeworth cor._ "I have plenty of victuals, and, between you and _me_, something in a corner."--_Day cor._ "The upper one, _whom_ I am now about to speak of."--_Leigh Hunt cor._ "And to poor _us, thy_ enmity _is_ most capital."--_Shak. cor._ "Which, thou dost confess, _'twere_ fit for thee to use, as _them_ to claim." That is,--"as _for them_ to claim."--_Id._ "To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour, than _thee_ of them." That is,--"than _for thee to beg_ of them."--_Id._ "There are still a few, who, like _thee_ and _me_, drink nothing but water."--_Gil Bias cor._ "Thus, 'I _shall_ fall,'--'Thou _shalt_ love thy neighbour,'--'He _shall_ be rewarded,'--express no resolution on the part of _me, thee_, or _him_." Or better:--"on the part of _the persons signified by the nominatives, I, Thou, He_."--_Lennie and Bullions cor._ "So saucy with the hand of _her_ here--what's her name?"--_Shak. cor._ "All debts are cleared between you and _me_."--_Id._ "Her price is paid, and she is sold like _thee_."--HARRISON'S _E. Lang._, p. 172. "Search through all the most flourishing _eras_ of Greece."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "The family of the _Rudolphs_ has been long distinguished."--_The Friend cor._ "It will do well enough for you and _me_."--_Edgeworth cor._ "The public will soon discriminate between him who is the sycophant, and _him_ who is the teacher."--_Chazotte cor._ "We are still much at a loss _to determine whom_ civil power belongs to."--_Locke cor._ "What do you call it? and _to whom_ does it belong?"--_Collier cor._ "He had received no lessons from the _Socrateses_, the _Platoes_, and the _Confuciuses_ of the age."--_Haller cor._ "I cannot tell _whom_ to compare them to."--_Bunyan cor._ "I see there was some resemblance betwixt this good man and _me_."--_Id._ "They, by those means, have brought themselves into the hands and house of I do not know _whom_."--_Id._ "But at length she said, there was a great deal of difference between Mr. Cotton and _us_."--_Hutch. Hist. cor._ "So you must ride on horseback after _us_."--_Mrs. Gilpin cor._ "A separation must soon take place between our minister and _me_,"--_Werter cor._ "When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and _me_."--_Shak. cor._ "To _whom_? to thee? What art thou?"--_Id._ "That they should always bear the certain marks _of him from whom_ they came."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "This life has joys for you and _me_, And joys that riches ne'er could buy."--_Burns cor._ UNDER THE NOTE.--OF TIME OR MEASURE. "Such as almost every child, ten years old, knows."--_Town cor._ "_Four months' schooling_ will carry any industrious scholar, of ten or twelve years _of age_, completely through this book."--_Id._ "A boy of six years _of age_ may be taught to speak as correctly, as Cicero did before the Roman senate."--_Webster cor._ "A lad about twelve years old, who was taken captive by the Indians."--_Id._ "Of nothing else _than_ that individual white figure of five inches _in length_, which is before him."--_Campbell cor._ "Where lies the fault, that boys of eight or ten years _of age_ are with great difficulty made to understand any of its principles?"--_Guy cor._ "Where language three centuries old is employed."--_Booth cor._ "Let a gallows be made, of fifty cubits _in height_." Or: "Let a gallows _fifty cubits high_ be made."--_Bible cor._ "I say to this child, nine years old, 'Bring me that hat.' He hastens, and brings it me."--_Osborn cor._ "'He laid a floor, twelve feet long, and nine feet wide:' that is, _the floor was_ long _to_ the extent of twelve feet, and wide _to the extent_ of nine feet."--_Merchant cor._ "The Goulah people are a tribe of about fifty thousand _in strength_." Or: "The Goulah people are a tribe about fifty thousand strong."--_Examiner cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE VIII; NOM. ABSOLUTE. "_He_ having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."--_Inst. of E. G._, p. 190. "_I_ being young, they deceived me."--_Ib._, p. 279. "_They_ refusing to comply, I withdrew."--_Ib._ "_Thou_ being present, he would not tell what he knew."--_Ib._ "The child is lost; and _I_, whither shall I go?"--_Ib._ "_O_ happy _we!_ surrounded with so many blessings."--_Ib._ "'_Thou_ too! Brutus, my son!' cried Caesar, overcome."--_Ib._ "_Thou!_ Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?"--_Mirror cor._ "How swiftly our time passes away! and ah! _we_, how little concerned to improve it!"--_Greenleaf's False Syntax, Gram._, p. 47. "There all thy gifts and graces we display, _Thou_, only _thou_, directing all our way."--_Pope, Dunciad_. CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE IX. UNDER NOTE I.--OF AGREEMENT. "I am not recommending _this_ kind of sufferings to your liking."--_Sherlock cor._ "I have not been to London _these_ five years."--_Webster cor._ "_Verbs of this kind_ are more expressive than their radicals."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "Few of us would be less corrupted than kings are, were we, like them, beset with flatterers, and poisoned with _those_ vermin."--_Kames cor._ "But it seems _these_ literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious labours."--_R. Random cor._ "If I had not left off troubling myself about _things of that kind_."--_Swift cor._ "For _things of this sort_ are usually joined to the most noted fortune."--_Bacon cor._ "The nature of _those_ riches and _that_ long-suffering, is, to lead to repentance."--_Barclay cor._ "I fancy _it is this_ kind of gods, _that_ Horace mentions."--_Addison cor._ "During _those_ eight days, they are prohibited from touching the skin."--_Hope of Is. cor._ "Besides, he had _but a small quantity of_ provisions left for his army."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Are you not ashamed to have no other thoughts than _those_ of amassing wealth, and of acquiring glory, credit, and dignities?"--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 115. "It _distinguishes_ still more remarkably the feelings of the former from _those_ of the latter."--_Kames cor._ "And _these_ good tidings of the reign shall be published through all the world."--_Campbell cor._ "_These_ twenty years have I been with thee."--_Gen. cor._ "In _this_ kind of expressions, some words seem to be understood."--_W. Walker cor._ "He thought _this_ kind of excesses indicative of greatness."--_Hunt cor._ "_This_ sort of fellows _is_ very numerous." Or thus: "_Fellows of this sort_ are very numerous."--_Spect. cor._ "Whereas _men of this sort_ cannot give account of their faith." Or: "Whereas _these men_ cannot give account of their faith."--_Barclay cor._ "But the question is, whether _those are_ the words."--_Id._ "So that _expressions of this sort_ are not properly optative."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Many things are not _such as_ they appear to be."--_Sanborn cor._ "So that _all_ possible means are used."--_Formey cor._ "We have strict statutes, and most biting laws, Which for _these_ nineteen years we have let sleep."--_Shak. cor._ "They could not speak, and so I left them both, To bear _these_ tidings to the bloody king."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--OF FIXED NUMBERS. "Why, I think she cannot be above six _feet_ two inches high."--_Spect. cor._ "The world is pretty regular for about forty _rods_ east and ten west."--_Id._ "The standard being more than two _feet_ above it."--_Bacon cor._ "Supposing, among other things, _that_ he saw two suns, and two _Thebeses_."--_Id._ "On the right hand we go into a parlour _thirty-three feet_ by _thirty-nine_."--_Sheffield cor._ "Three _pounds_ of gold went to one shield."--_1 Kings cor._ "Such an assemblage of men as there appears to have been at that _session_."--_The Friend cor._ "And, truly, he _has_ saved me _from_ this _labour_."--_Barclay cor._ "Within _these_ three _miles_ may you see it coming."--_Shak. cor._ "Most of the churches, not all, had one _ruling elder or more_."--_Hutch. cor._ "While a Minute Philosopher, not six _feet_ high, attempts to dethrone the Monarch of the universe."--_Berkley cor._ "The wall is ten _feet_ high."--_Harrison cor._ "The stalls must be ten _feet_ broad."--_Walker cor._ "A close prisoner in a room twenty _feet_ square, being at the north side of his chamber, is at liberty to walk twenty _feet_ southward, not to walk twenty _feet_ northward."--_Locke cor._ "Nor, after all this _care_ and industry, did they think themselves qualified."--_C. Orator cor._ "No _fewer_ than thirteen _Gypsies_ were condemned at one Suffolk _assize_, and executed."--_Webster cor._ "The king was petitioned to appoint _one person or more_."--_Mrs. Macaulay cor._ "He carries weight! he rides a race! 'Tis for a thousand _pounds_."--_Cowper cor._ "They carry three _tiers_ of guns at the head, and at the stern, _two_ tiers"--_Joh. Dict. cor._ "The verses consist of two _sorts_ of rhymes."--_Formey cor._ "A present of forty _camel-loads_ of the most precious things of Syria."--_Wood's Dict. cor._ "A large grammar, that shall extend to every _minutia_"--_S. Barrett cor._ "So many spots, like naeves on Venus' soil, One _gem_ set off with _many a glitt'ring_ foil."--_Dryden cor._ "For, _off the end, a double_ handful It had devour'd, it was so manful."--_Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--OF RECIPROCALS. "That _shall_ and _will_ might be substituted _one for the other_."--_Priestley cor._ "We use not _shall_ and _will_ promiscuously _the one for the other_."--_Brightland cor._ "But I wish to distinguish the three high ones from _one an_ other also."--_Fowle cor._ "Or on some other relation which two objects bear to _each other_."--_Blair cor._ "Yet the two words lie so near to _each other_ in meaning, that, in the present case, _perhaps either_ of them would have been sufficient."--_Id._ "Both orators use great liberties _in their treatment of each other_."--_Id._ "That greater separation of the two sexes from _each other_."--_Id._ "Most of whom live remote from _one an other_."--_Webster cor._ "Teachers like to see their pupils polite to _one an other_"--_Id._ "In a little time, he and I must keep company with _each other_ only."--_Spect. cor._ "Thoughts and circumstances crowd upon _one an other_."--_Kames cor._ "They cannot _perceive_ how the ancient Greeks could understand _one an other_."--_Lit. Conv. cor._ "The poet, the patriot, and the prophet, vied with _one an other_ in his breast."--_Hazlitt cor._ "Athamas and Ino loved _each other_."--_C. Tales cor._ "Where two things are compared or contrasted _one with the other_." Or: "Where two things, are compared or contrasted with _each other_."--_Blair and Mur. cor._ "In the classification of words, almost all writers differ from _one an other_."--_Bullions cor._ "I will not trouble thee, my child. Farewell; We'll no more meet; _we'll_ no more see _each other_."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--OF COMPARATIVES. "_Errors_ in education should be less indulged than any _others_."--_Locke cor._ "This was less his case than any _other_ man's that ever wrote."--_Pref. to Waller cor._ "This trade enriched some _other_ people more than it enriched them."--_Mur. cor._ "The Chaldee alphabet, in which the Old Testament has reached us, is more beautiful than any _other_ ancient character known."--_Wilson cor._ "The Christian religion gives a more lovely character of God, than any _other_ religion ever did."--_Murray cor._ "The temple of Cholula was deemed more holy than any _other_ in New Spain."--_Robertson cor._ "Cibber grants it to be a better poem of its kind than _any other that_ ever was _written_"--_Pope cor._ "Shakspeare is more faithful to the true language of nature, than any _other_ writer."--_Blair cor._ "One son I had--one, more than all my _other_ sons, the strength of Troy." Or: "One son I had--one, _the most of all my sons_, the strength of Troy."--_Cowper cor._ "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his _other_ children, because he was the son of his old age."--_Bible cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--OF SUPERLATIVES. "Of _all simpletons_, he was the greatest"--_Nutting cor._ "Of _all beings_, man has certainly the greatest reason for gratitude."--_Id._ "This lady is _prettier than any_ of her sisters."--_Peyton cor._ "The relation which, of all _the class_, is by far the most fruitful of tropes, I have not yet mentioned."--_Blair cor._ "He studied Greek the most of _all noblemen_."--_W. Walker cor._ "And indeed that was the qualification _which was_ most wanted at that time."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Yet we deny that the knowledge of him as outwardly crucified, is the best of all knowledge of him."--_Barclay cor._ "Our ideas of numbers are, of all _our conceptions_, the most accurate and distinct"--_Duncan cor._ "This indeed is, of all _cases, the one in which_ it _is_ least necessary to name the agent"--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "The period to which you have arrived, is perhaps the most critical and important moment of your lives."--_Id._ "Perry's royal octavo is esteemed the best of _all the pronouncing dictionaries_ yet known."--_D. H. Barnes cor._ "This is the tenth persecution, and, of all the _ten_ the most bloody."--_Sammes cor._ "The English tongue is the most susceptible of sublime imagery, of _all the languages_ in the world."--_Bucke cor._ "Of _all writers_ whatever, Homer is universally allowed to have had the greatest Invention."--_Pope cor._ "In a version of this particular work, which, _more than_ any other, seems to require a venerable, antique cast."--_Id._ "Because I think him the _best-informed_ naturalist _that_ has ever written."--_Jefferson cor._ "Man is capable of being the most social of _all animals_."--_Sheridan cor._ "It is, of all _signs_ (or _expressions_) that which most moves us."--_Id._ "Which, of all _articles_, is the most necessary."--_Id._ "Quoth he, 'This gambol thou advisest, Is, of all _projects_, the unwisest.'"--_S. Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--OF INCLUSIVE TERMS. "Noah and his family _were the only antediluvians_ who _survived_ the flood."--_Webster cor._ "I think it superior to any _other grammar_ that we have yet had."--_Blair cor._ "We have had no _other_ grammarian who has employed so much labour and _judgement_ upon our native language, as _has_ the author of these volumes."--_British Critic cor._ "_Those_ persons feel _most for_ the distresses of others, who have experienced distresses themselves."--_L. Murray cor._ "Never was any _other_ people so much infatuated as the Jewish nation."--_Id. et al. cor._ "No _other_ tongue is so full of connective particles as the Greek."--_Blair cor._ "Never _was sovereign_ so much beloved by the people." Or: "_Never was any other_ sovereign so much beloved by _his_ people."--_L. Murray cor._ "Nothing _else_ ever affected her so much as this misconduct of her child."--_Id. et al. cor._ "Of all the figures of speech, _no other_ comes so near to painting as _does_ metaphor."--_Blair et al. cor._ "I know _no other writer_ so happy in his metaphors as _is_ Mr. Addison."--_Blair cor._ "Of all the English authors, none is _more_ happy in his metaphors _than_ Addison."--_Jamieson cor._ "Perhaps no _other_ writer in the world was ever so frugal of his words as Aristotle."--_Blair and Jamieson cor._ "Never was any _other_ writer so happy in that concise _and_ spirited style, as Mr. Pope."--_Blair cor._ "In the harmonious structure and disposition of _his_ periods, no _other_ writer whatever, ancient or modern, equals Cicero."--_Blair and Jamieson cor._ "Nothing _else_ delights me so much as the works of nature."--_L. Mur. cor._ "No person was ever _more_ perplexed _than_ he has been to-day."--_Id._ "In _no other_ case are writers so apt to err, as in the position of the word _only_."--_Maunder cor._ "For nothing is _more_ tiresome _than_ perpetual uniformity."--_Blair cor._ "_Naught else sublimes the spirit, sets it free, Like_ sacred and soul-moving poesy."--_Sheffield cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--EXTRA COMPARISONS. "How much _better are ye_ than the fowls!"--_Bible cor._ "Do not thou hasten above the Most _High_."--_Esdras cor._ "This word, PEER, is principally used for the nobility of the realm."--_Cowell cor._ "Because the same is not only most _generally_ received, &c."--_Barclay cor._ "This is, I say, not the best and most _important_ evidence."--_Id._ "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most _High_."--_The Psalter cor._ "The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most _High_."--_Id._ "As boys should be educated with temperance, so the first _great_ lesson that should be taught them, is, to admire frugality."--_Goldsmith cor._ "More _general_ terms are put for such as are more restricted."--_Rev. J. Brown cor._ "This, _this_ was the unkindest cut of all."--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 353. "To take the basest and most _squalid_ shape."--_Shak. cor._ "I'll forbear: _I have_ fallen out with my more _heady_ will."--_Id._ "The power of the Most _High_ guard thee from sin."--_Percival cor._ "Which title had been more _true_, if the dictionary had been in Latin and _Welsh_."--_Verstegan cor._ "The waters are frozen sooner and harder, than further upward, within the inlands."--_Id._ "At every descent, the worst may become more _depraved_."--_Mann cor._ "Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less _happy_ lands."--_Shak. cor._ "A dreadful quiet felt, and _worse by_ far Than arms, a sullen interval of war."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED. "It breaks forth in its _highest, most energetic_, and _most impassioned_ strain."--_Kirkham cor._ "He has fallen into the _vilest and grossest_ sort of railing."--_Barclay cor._ "To receive that _higher and more general_ instruction which the public affords."--_J. O. Taylor cor._ "If the best things have the _best and most perfect_ operations."--_Hooker cor._ "It became the plainest and most elegant, the _richest_ and most splendid, of all languages."--_Bucke cor._ "But the _principal and most frequent_ use of pauses, is, to mark the divisions of the sense."--_Blair cor._ "That every thing belonging to ourselves is _the best and the most perfect_."-- _Clarkson cor._ "And to instruct their pupils in the _best and most thorough_ manner."--_School Committee cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--ADJECTIVES SUPERADDED. "The Father is figured out as a _venerable old_ man."--_Brownlee cor._ "There never was exhibited _an other such_ masterpiece of ghostly assurance."--_Id._ "After the _first three_ sentences, the question is entirely lost."--_Spect. cor._ "The _last four_ parts of speech are commonly called particles."--_Al. Murray cor._ "The _last two_ chapters will not be found deficient in this respect."--_Todd cor._ "Write upon your slates a list of the _first ten_ nouns."--_J. Abbott cor._ "We have a few remains of _two other_ Greek poets in the pastoral style, Moschus and Bion."--_Blair cor._ "The _first nine_ chapters of the book of Proverbs are highly poetical."--_Id._ "For, of these five heads, only the _first two_ have any particular relation to the sublime."--_Id._ "The resembling sounds of the _last two_ syllables give a ludicrous air to the whole."--_Kames cor._ "The _last three_ are arbitrary."--_Id._ "But in the _sentence_, 'She hangs the curtains,' _hangs_ is an _active-transitive_ verb."--_Comly cor._ "If our definition of a verb, and the arrangement of _active-transitive, active-intransitive_, passive, and neuter verbs, are properly understood."--_Id._ "These _last two lines_ have an embarrassing construction."--_Rush cor._ "God was provoked to drown them all, but Noah and _seven other_ persons."--_Wood cor._ "The _first six_ books of the AEneid are extremely beautiful."--_Formey cor._ "_Only_ a few instances _more_ can _here_ be given."--_Murray cor._ "A few years _more_ will obliterate every vestige of a subjunctive form."--_Nutting cor._ "Some define them to be verbs devoid of the _first two_ persons."--_Crombie cor._ "In _an other such_ Essay-tract as this."--_White cor._ "But we fear that not _an other such_ man is to be found."--_Edward Irving cor._ "_O for an other such_ sleep, that I might see _an other such_ man!" Or, to preserve poetic measure, say:-- "_O for such_ sleep _again_, that I might see _An other such_ man, _though but in a dream_!"--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--ADJECTIVES FOR ADVERBS. "_The_ is an article, relating to the noun _balm, agreeably_ to Rule 11th."--_Comly cor._ "_Wise_ is an adjective, relating to the noun _man's, agreeably_ to Rule 11th."--_Id._ "To whom I observed, that the beer was _extremely_ good."--_Goldsmith cor._ "He writes _very elegantly_." Or: "He writes _with remarkable elegance_."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "John behaves _very civilly_ (or, _with true civility_) to all men."--_Id._ "All the sorts of words hitherto considered, have each of them some meaning, even when taken _separately_."--_Beattie cor._ "He behaved himself _conformably_ to that blessed example."--_Sprat cor._ "_Marvellously_ graceful."-- _Clarendon cor._ "The Queen having changed her ministry, _suitably_ to her wisdom."--_Swift cor._ "The assertions of this author are _more easily_ detected."--_Id._ "The characteristic of his sect allowed him to affirm no _more strongly_ than that."--_Bentley cor._ "If one author had spoken _more nobly_ and _loftily_ than an other."--_Id._ "Xenophon says _expressly_."-- _Id._ "I can never think so very _meanly_ of him."--_Id._ "To convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have _impiously_ committed."--_Bible cor._ "I think it very _ably_ written." Or: "I think it written _in a_ very masterly _manner_."--_Swift cor._ "The whole design must refer to the golden age, which it represents _in a_ lively _manner_."--_Addison cor._ "_Agreeably_ to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's book."--_Burder et al. cor._ "_Agreeably_ to the law of nature, children are bound to support their indigent parents."--_Paley_. "Words taken _independently_ of their meaning, are parsed as nouns of the neuter gender."--_Maltby cor._ "Conceit in weakest bodies _strongliest_ works."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE XI.--THEM FOR THOSE. "Though he was not known by _those_ letters, or the name CHRIST."--_Bayly cor._ "In a gig, or some of _those_ things." Better: "In a gig, or _some such vehicle_."--_M. Edgeworth cor._ "When cross-examined by _those_ lawyers."--_Same_. "As the custom in _those_ cases is."--_Same_. "If you _had_ listened to _those_ slanders."--_Same_. "The old people were telling stories about _those_ fairies; but, to the best of my _judgement_, there is nothing in _them_."--_Same_. "And is it not a pity that the Quakers have no better authority to substantiate their principles, than the testimony of _those_ old Pharisees?"--_Hibbard cor._ UNDER NOTE XII.--THIS AND THAT. "Hope is as strong an incentive to action, as fear: _that_ is the anticipation of good, _this_ of evil."--_Inst._, p. 265. "The poor want some advantages which the rich enjoy; but we should not therefore account _these_ happy, and _those_ miserable."--_Inst._, p. 266. "Ellen and Margaret, fearfully, Sought comfort in each other's eye; Then turned their ghastly look each one, _That_ to her sire, _this_ to her son."--_Scott cor._ "Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids, In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades; _Those_ by Apollo's silver bow were slain, _These_ Cynthia's arrows stretch'd upon the plain."--_Pope cor._ "Memory and forecast just returns engage, _That_ pointing back to youth, _this_ on to age."--_Pope, on Man_. UNDER NOTE XIII.--EITHER AND NEITHER. "These make the three great subjects of discussion among mankind; _namely_, truth, duty, and interest: but the arguments directed towards _any_ of them are generically distinct."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "A thousand other deviations may be made, and still _any_ of _the accounts_ may be correct in principle; for _all_ these divisions, and their technical terms, are arbitrary."--_R. W. Green cor._ "Thus it appears, that our alphabet is deficient; as it has but seven vowels to represent thirteen different sounds; and has no letter to represent _any_ of five simple consonant sounds."--_Churchill cor._ "Then _none_ of these five verbs can be neuter."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "And the _assertor_[534] is in _none_ of the four already mentioned."--_Id._ "As it is not in any of these four."--_Id._ "See whether or not the word comes within the definition of _any_ of the other three simple cases."--_Id._ "No one of the ten was there."--_Frazee cor._ "Here are ten oranges, take _any one_ of them."--_Id._ "There are three modes, by _any_ of which recollection will generally be supplied; inclination, practice, and association."--_Rippingham cor._ "Words not reducible to _any_ of the three preceding heads."--_Fowler cor._ "Now a sentence may be analyzed in reference to _any_ of these four classes."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE XIV.--WHOLE, LESS, MORE, AND MOST. "Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates _all the_ departments of the state?"--_Blair cor._ "A messenger relates to Theseus _all the_ particulars."--_Ld. Kames cor._ "There are no _fewer_ than twenty-_nine_ diphthongs in the English language."--_Ash cor._ "The Redcross Knight runs through _all the_ steps of the Christian life."--_Spect. cor._ "There were not _fewer_ than fifty or sixty persons present."--_Mills and Merchant cor._ "Greater experience, and _a_ more cultivated _state of_ society, abate the warmth of imagination, and chasten the manner of expression."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "By which means, knowledge, _rather_ than oratory, _has_ become the principal requisite."--_Blair cor._ "No _fewer_ than seven illustrious cities disputed the right of having given birth to the greatest of poets."--_Lempriere cor._ "Temperance, _rather_ than medicines, is the proper means of curing many diseases."--_Murray cor._ "I do not suppose, that we Britons _are more deficient_ in genius than our neighbours."--_Id._ "In which, he _says_, he has found no _fewer_ than twelve untruths."--_Barclay cor._ "The several places of rendezvous were concerted, and _all the_ operations _were_ fixed."--_Hume cor._ "In these rigid opinions, _all the_ sectaries concurred."--_Id._ "Out of whose modifications have been made _nearly all_ complex modes."--_Locke cor._ "The Chinese vary each of their words on no _fewer_ than five different tones."--_Blair cor._ "These people, though they possess _brighter_ qualities, are not so proud as he is, nor so vain as she."--_Murray cor._ "It is certain, _that_ we believe _our own judgements_ more _firmly_, after we have made a thorough inquiry into the _things_."--_Brightland cor._ "As well as the whole course and _all the_ reasons of the operation."--_Id._ "Those rules and principles which are of _the greatest_ practical advantage."--_Newman cor._ "And _all_ curse shall be _no more_."--_Rev. cor._--(See _the Greek_.) "And death shall be _no more_."--_Id._ "But, in recompense, we have _pleasanter_ pictures of ancient manners."--_Blair cor._ "Our language has suffered _a greater number of_ injurious changes in America, since the British army landed on our shores, than it had suffered before, in the period of three centuries."--_Webster cor. "All the_ conveniences of life are derived from mutual aid and support in society."--_Ld. Kames cor._ UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES. "To such as think the nature of it deserving _of_ their attention."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "In all points, more deserving _of_ the approbation of their readers."--_Keepsake cor._ "But to give way to childish sensations, was unbecoming _to_ our nature."--_Lempriere cor._ "The following extracts are deserving _of_ the serious perusal of all."--_The Friend cor._ "No inquiry into wisdom, however superficial, is undeserving _of_ attention."--_Bulwer cor._ "The opinions of illustrious men are deserving _of_ great consideration."--_Porter cor._ "And resolutely keep its laws. Uncaring _for_ consequences." Or:--"_Not heeding_ consequences."--_Burns cor._ "This is an item that is deserving _of_ more attention."--_Goodell cor._ "Leave then thy joys, unsuiting _to_ such age:"--Or, "Leave then thy joys _not suiting_ such an age, To a fresh comer, and resign the stage."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER NOTE XVI.--FIGURE OF ADJECTIVES. "The tall dark mountains and the _deep-toned_ seas."--_Dana_. "O! learn from him To station _quick-eyed_ Prudence at the helm."--_Frost cor._ "He went in a _one-horse_ chaise."--_David Blair cor._ "It ought to be, 'in a _one-horse_ chaise.'"--_Crombie cor._ "These are marked with the _above-mentioned_ letters."--_Folker cor._ "A _many-headed_ faction."--_Ware cor._ "Lest there should be no authority in any popular grammar, for the perhaps _heaven-inspired_ effort."--_Fowle cor. "Common-metre_ stanzas consist of four iambic lines; one of eight, and the next of six syllables. They were formerly written in two _fourteen-syllable_ lines."--_Goodenow cor. "Short-metre_ stanzas consist of four iambic lines; the third of eight, the rest of six syllables."--_Id._ "_Particular-metre_ stanzas consist of six iambic lines; the third and sixth of six syllables, the rest of eight."--_Id. "Hallelujah-metre_ stanzas consist of six iambic lines; the last two of eight syllables, and the rest of six."--_Id. "Long-metre_ stanzas are merely the union of four iambic lines, of ten syllables each."--_Id._ "A majesty more commanding than is to be found among the rest of the _Old-Testament_ poets."--_Blair cor._ "You, sulphurous and _thought-executed_ fires, _Vaunt-couriers_ to _oak-cleaving_ thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, _all-shaking_ thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world!"--_Lear_, Act iii, Sc. 2. CHAPTER V.--PRONOUNS. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE X AND ITS NOTES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF AGREEMENT. "The subject is to be joined with _its_ predicate."--_Wilkins cor._ "Every one must judge of _his_ own feelings."--_Byron cor._ "Every one in the family should know _his or her_ duty."--_Penn cor._ "To introduce its possessor into that way in which _he_ should go."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "Do not they say, _that_ every true believer has the Spirit of God in _him_?"--_Barclay cor._ "There is none in _his_ natural state righteous; no, not one."--_Wood cor._ "If ye were of the world, the world would love _its_ own."--_Bible cor._ "His form had not yet lost all _its_ original brightness."--_Milton cor._ "No one will answer as if I were _his_ friend or companion."--_Steele cor._ "But, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem _others_ better than _himself_."--_Bible cor._ "And let none of you imagine evil in _his heart_ against his neighbour."--_Id._ "For every tree is known by _its_ own fruit."--_Id._ "But she fell to laughing, like one out of _his_ right mind."--_M. Edgeworth cor._ "Now these systems, so far from having any tendency to make men better, have a manifest tendency to make _them_ worse."--_Wayland cor._ "And nobody else would make that city _his_ refuge any more."--_Josephus cor._ "What is quantity, as it respects syllables or words? It is _the_ time which _a speaker occupies_ in pronouncing _them_."--_Bradley cor._ "In such expressions, the adjective so much resembles an adverb in its meaning, that _it is_ usually parsed as such."--_Bullions cor._ "The tongue is like a racehorse; which runs the faster, the less weight _he_ carries." Or thus: "The tongue is like a racehorse; the less weight _it_ carries, the faster _it_ runs."--_Addison, Murray, et al. cor._ "As two thoughtless boys were trying to see which could lift the greatest weight with _his_ jaws, one of them had several of his firm-set teeth wrenched from their sockets."--_Newspaper cor._ "Every body nowadays publishes memoirs; every body has recollections which _he thinks_ worthy of recording."--_Duchess D'Ab. cor._ "Every body trembled, for _himself_, or _for his_ friends."--_Goldsmith cor._ "A steed comes at morning: no rider is there; But _his_ bridle is red with the sign of despair."--_Campbell cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--PRONOUNS WRONG--OR NEEDLESS. "Charles loves to study; but John, alas! is very idle."--_Merchant cor._ "Or what man is there of you, _who_, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?"--_Bible cor._ "Who, in stead of going about doing good, are perpetually intent upon doing mischief."--_Tillotson cor._ "Whom ye delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pontius Pilate."--_Bible cor._ "Whom, when they had washed _her_, they laid in an upper chamber."--_Id._ "Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God."--_Id._ "Whatever a man conceives clearly, he may, if he will be at the trouble, put into distinct propositions, and express clearly to others."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 93. "But the painter, being entirely confined to that part of time which he has chosen, cannot exhibit various stages of the same action."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 195. "What he subjoins, is without any proof at all."--_Barclay cor._ "George _Fox's_ Testimony concerning Robert Barclay."--_Title cor._ "According to the _advice of the_ author of the Postcript [sic--KTH]."--_Barclay cor._ "These things seem as ugly to the eye of their meditations, as those Ethiopians _that were_ pictured _on Nemesis's_ pitcher."--_Bacon cor._ "Moreover, there is always a twofold condition propounded with _the Sphynx's enigmas_."--_Id._ "Whoever believeth not therein, shall perish."--_Koran cor._ "When, at _Sestius's_ entreaty, I had been at his house."--_W. Walker cor._ "There high on _Sipylus's_ shaggy brow, She stands, her own sad monument of wo."--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--CHANGE OF NUMBER. "So will I send upon you famine, and evil beasts, and they shall bereave _you_."--_Bible cor._ "Why do you plead so much for it? why do _you_ preach it up?" Or: "Why do _ye_ plead so much for it? why do _ye_ preach it up?"--_Barclay cor._ "Since thou hast decreed that I shall bear man, _thy_ darling."--_Edward's Gram. cor._ "You have my book, and I have _yours_; i.e., _your_ book." Or thus: "_Thou hast_ my book, and I have _thine_; i.e., _thy_ book."--_Chandler cor._ "Neither art thou such a one as to be ignorant of what _thou_ art."--_Bullions cor._ "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon _thee_."--_Bible cor._ "The Almighty, unwilling to cut thee off in the fullness of iniquity, has sent me to give _thee_ warning."--_Ld. Kames cor. "Wast_ thou born only for pleasure? _wast thou_ never to do any thing?"--_Collier cor._ "Thou shalt be required to go to God, to die, and _to_ give up _thy_ account."--_Barnes cor._ "And canst thou expect to behold the resplendent glow of the Creator? would not such a sight annihilate _thee_?"--_Milton cor._ "If the prophet had commanded thee to do some great thing, _wouldst thou_ have refused?"--_C. S. Journal cor._ "Art thou a penitent? evince _thy_ sincerity, by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance."--_Vade-Mecum cor._ "I will call thee my dear son: I remember all _thy_ tenderness."--_C. Tales cor._ "So do thou, my son: open _thy_ ears, and _thy_ eyes."--_Wright cor._ "I promise you, this was enough to discourage _you_."--_Bunyan cor._ "Ere you remark an other's sin, Bid _your_ own conscience look within."--_Gay cor._ "Permit that I share in thy wo, The privilege _canst thou_ refuse?"--_Perfect cor._ "Ah! Strephon, how _canst thou_ despise Her who, without thy pity, _dies_?"--_Swift cor._ "Thy verses, friend, are Kidderminster stuff; And I must own, _thou'st_ measured out enough."--_Shenst. cor._ "This day, dear Bee, is thy nativity; Had Fate a luckier one, she'd give it _thee_."--_Swift cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--WHO AND WHICH. "Exactly like so many puppets, _which_ are moved by wires."--_Blair cor._ "They are my servants, _whom_ I brought forth[535] out of the land of Egypt."--_Leviticus_, xxv, 55. "Behold, I and the children _whom_ God hath given me."--See _Isaiah_, viii, 18. "And he sent Eliakim, _who_ was over the household, and Shebna the scribe."--_Isaiah_, xxxvii, 2. "In a short time the streets were cleared of the corpses _which_ filled them."--_M'Ilvaine cor._ "They are not of those _who_ teach things _that_ they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."--_Barclay cor._ "As a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; _which_, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces."--_Bible cor._ "Frequented by every fowl _which_ nature has taught to dip the wing in water."--_Johnson cor._ "He had two sons, one of _whom_ was adopted by the family of Maximus."--_Lempriere cor._ "And the ants, _which_ are collected by the smell, are burned _with_ fire."--_The Friend cor._ "They being the agents to _whom_ this thing was trusted."--_Nixon cor._ "A packhorse _which_ is driven constantly _one way and the other_, to _and from_ market."--_Locke cor._ "By instructing children, _whose_ affection will be increased."--_Nixon cor._ "He had a comely young woman, _who_ travelled with him."--_Hutchinson cor._ "A butterfly, _who_ thought himself an accomplished traveller, happened to light upon a beehive."--_Inst._, p. 267. "It is an enormous elephant of stone, _which_ disgorges from his uplifted trunk a vast but graceful shower."--_Ware cor._ "He was met by a dolphin, _which_ sometimes swam before him, and sometimes behind him."--_Edward's Gram. cor._ "That Caesar's horse, _which_, as fame goes, Had corns upon his feet and toes, Was not by half so tender-hoof'd, Nor trod upon the ground so soft."--_Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--NOUNS OF MULTITUDE. "He instructed and fed the crowds _that_ surrounded him."--_Murray's Key_. "The court, _which_ gives currency to manners, ought to be exemplary." p. 187. "Nor does he describe classes of sinners _that_ do not exist."--_Mag. cor._ "Because the nations among _which_ they took their rise, were not savage."--_Murray cor._ "Among nations _that_ are in the first and rude periods of society."--_Blair cor._ "The martial spirit of those nations among _which_ the feudal government prevailed."--_Id._ "France, _which_ was in alliance with Sweden."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 97. "That faction, in England, _which_ most powerfully opposed his arbitrary pretensions."--_Ib._ "We may say, 'the crowd _which_ was going up the street.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 204. "Such members of the Convention _which_ formed this Lyceum, as have subscribed this Constitution."--_N. Y. Lyceum cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--CONFUSION OF SENSES. "_The name_ of the possessor shall take a particular form to show its case."--_Kirkham cor._ "Of which reasons, the principal one is, that no noun, properly so called, implies _the_ presence _of the thing named_."--_Harris cor._ "_Boston_ is a proper noun, which distinguishes _the city of Boston_ from other cities."--_Sanborn cor._ "_The word_ CONJUNCTION means union, or _the act of_ joining together. _Conjunctions are_ used to join or _connect_ either words or sentences."--_Id._ "The word INTERJECTION means _the act of throwing between. Interjections are_ interspersed among other words, to express _strong or sudden_ emotion."--_Id._ "_Indeed_ is composed of _in_ and _deed. The words_ may better be written separately, as they formerly were."--_Cardell cor._ "_Alexander_, on the contrary, is a particular name; and is _employed_ to distinguish _an individual only_."--_Jamieson cor._ "As an indication that nature itself had changed _its_ course." Or:--"that _Nature herself_ had changed her course."--_History cor._ "Of removing from the United States and _their_ territories the free people of colour."--_Jenifer cor._ "So that _gh_ may be said not to have _its_ proper sound." Or thus: "So that _the letters, g_ and _h_, may be said not to have their proper _sounds_."--_Webster cor._ "Are we to welcome the loathsome harlot, and introduce _her_ to our children?"--_Maturin cor._ "The first question is this: 'Is reputable, national, and present use, _which_, for brevity's sake, I shall hereafter simply denominate _good use_, always uniform, [i. e., undivided, and unequivocal,] in _its_ decisions?"--_Campbell cor._ "_In personifications_, Time is always masculine, on account of _his_ mighty efficacy; Virtue, feminine, _by reason of her_ beauty and _loveliness_."--_Murray, Blair, et al. cor._ "When you speak to a person or thing, the _noun or pronoun_ is in the second person."--_Bartlett cor._ "You now know the noun; for _noun_ means _name_."--_Id._ "_T_. What do you see? _P_. A book. _T_. Spell _book_."--_R. W. Green cor._ "_T_. What do you see now? _P_. Two books. _T_. Spell _books_."--_Id._ "If the United States lose _their_ rights as a nation."--_Liberator cor._ "When a person or thing is addressed or spoken to, the _noun or pronoun_ is in the second person."--_Frost cor._ "When a person or thing is _merely_ spoken of, the _noun or pronoun_ is in the third person."--_Id._ "The _word_ OX _also, taking_ the same plural termination, _makes_ OXEN."--_Bucke cor._ "Hail, happy States! _yours_ is the blissful seat Where nature's gifts and art's improvements meet."--_Everett cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--THE RELATIVE THAT. (1.) "This is the most useful art _that_ men possess."--_L. Murray cor._ "The earliest accounts _that_ history gives us, concerning all nations, bear testimony to these facts."--_Blair et al. cor._ "Mr. Addison was the first _that_ attempted a regular inquiry into the pleasures of taste."--_Blair cor._ "One of the first _that_ introduced it, was Montesquieu."--_Murray cor._ "Massillon is perhaps the most eloquent _sermonizer that_ modern times have produced."--_Blair cor._ "The greatest barber _that_ ever lived, is our guiding star and prototype."--_Hart cor._ (2.) "When prepositions are subjoined to nouns, they are generally the same _that_ are subjoined to the verbs from which the nouns are derived."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 200. Better thus: "_The_ prepositions _which_ are subjoined to nouns, _are_ generally the same _that_," &c.--_Priestley cor._ "The same proportions _that_ are agreeable in a model, are not agreeable in a large building."--_Kames cor._ "The same ornaments _that_ we admire in a private apartment, are unseemly in a temple."--_Murray cor._ "The same _that_ John saw also in the sun."--_Milton cor._ (3.) "Who can ever be easy, _that_ is reproached with his own ill conduct?"--_T. a Kempis cor._ "Who is she _that_ comes clothed in a robe of green?"--_Inst._, p. 267. "Who _that_ has either sense or civility, does not perceive the vileness of profanity?"--_G. Brown_. (4.) "The second person denotes the person or thing _that_ is spoken to."--_Kirkham cor._ "The third person denotes the person or thing _that_ is spoken of."--_Id._ "A passive verb denotes action received, or endured by the person or thing _that is signified by_ its nominative."--_Id._ "The princes and states _that_ had neglected or favoured the growth of this power."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "The nominative expresses the name of the person or thing _that_ acts, or _that_ is the subject of discourse."--_Hiley cor._ (5.) "Authors _that_ deal in long sentences, are very apt to be faulty."--_Blair cor._ "Writers _that_ deal," &c.--_Murray cor._ "The neuter gender denotes objects _that_ are neither male nor female."--_Merchant cor._ "The neuter gender denotes things _that_ have no sex."--_Kirkham cor._ "Nouns _that_ denote objects neither male nor female, are of the neuter gender."--_Wells's Gram. of late_, p. 55. Better thus: "_Those_ nouns _which_ denote objects _that are_ neither male nor female, are of the neuter gender."--_Wells cor._ "Objects and ideas _that_ have been long familiar, make too faint an impression to give an agreeable exercise to our faculties."--_Blair cor._ "Cases _that_ custom has left dubious, are certainly within the grammarian's province."--_L. Murray cor._ "Substantives _that_ end in _ery_, signify action or habit."--_Id._ "After all _that_ can be done to render the definitions and rules of grammar accurate."--_Id._ "Possibly, all _that_ I have said, is known and taught."--_A. B. Johnson cor._ (6.) "It is a strong and manly style _that_ should chiefly be studied."--_Blair cor._ "It is this [viz., _precision] that_ chiefly makes a division appear neat and elegant."--_Id._ "I hope it is not I _that_ he is displeased with."--_L. Murray cor._ "When it is this alone _that_ renders the sentence obscure."--_Campbell cor._ "This sort of full and ample assertion, '_It is this that_,' is fit to be used when a proposition of importance is laid down."--_Blair cor._ "She is not the person _that_ I understood it to have been."--_L. Murray cor._ "Was it thou, or the wind, _that_ shut the door?"--_Inst._, p. 267. "It was not I _that_ shut it."--_Ib._ (7.) "He is not the person _that he_ seemed _to be_."--_Murray and Ingersoll cor._ "He is really the person _that_ he appeared to be."--_Iid._ "She is not now the woman _that_ they represented her to have been."--_Iid._ "An _only child_ is one _that_ has neither brother nor sister; a _child alone_ is one _that_ is left by itself, _or unaccompanied_."--_Blair, Jam., and Mur., cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--RELATIVE CLAUSES CONNECTED. (1.) "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of a thing; (i. e.,) of whatever we conceive to subsist, or of _whatever_ we _merely imagine_."--_Lowth cor._ (2.) "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of any thing _which_ exists, or of which we have any notion."--_Murray et al. cor._ (3.) "A Substantive, or Noun, is the name of any person, place, or thing, that exists, or _that_ we can have an idea _of_."--_Frost cor._ (4.) "A noun is the name of any thing _which_ exists, or of which we form an idea."--_Hallock cor._ (5.) "A Noun is the name of any person, place, object, or thing, that exists, or _that_ we may conceive to exist."--_D. C. Allen cor._ (6.) "The name of every thing _which_ exists, or of which we can form a notion, is a noun."--_Fisk cor._ (7.) "An allegory is the representation of some one thing by an other that resembles it, and _that_ is made to stand for it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150. (8.) "Had he exhibited such sentences as contained ideas inapplicable to young minds, or _such as_ were of a trivial or injurious nature."--_L. Murray cor._ (9.) "Man would have others obey him, even his own kind; but he will not obey God, _who_ is so much above him, and who made him."--_Penn cor._ (10.) "But what we may consider here, and _what_ few persons have _noticed_, is," &c.--_Brightland cor._ (11.) "The compiler has not inserted _those_ verbs _which_ are irregular only in familiar writing or discourse, and which are improperly terminated by _t in stead_ of _ed_."--_Murray, Fisk, Hart, Ingersoll et al., cor._ (12.) "The remaining parts of speech, which are called the indeclinable parts, _and which_ admit of no variations, (or, _being words that_ admit of no variations,) will not detain us long."--_Dr. Blair cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--THE RELATIVE AND PREPOSITION. "In the temper of mind _in which_ he was then."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 102. "To bring them into the condition _in which_ I am at present."--_Add. cor._ "In the posture _in which_ I lay."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 102. "In the sense _in which_ it is sometimes taken."--_Barclay cor._ "Tools and utensils are said to be right, when they _answer well_ the uses _for which_ they were made."--_Collier cor._ "If, in the extreme danger _in which_ I now am," &c. Or: "If, in _my present_ extreme danger," &c.--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 116. "News was brought, that Dairus [sic--KTH] was but twenty miles from the place _in which_ they then were."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Alexander, upon hearing this news, continued four days _where_ he then was:" or--"_in the place in which_ he then was."--_Id._ "To read in the best manner _in which reading_ is now taught."--_L. Murray cor._ "It may be expedient to give a few directions as to the manner _in which_ it should be studied."--_Hallock cor._ "Participles are words derived from verbs, and convey an idea of the acting of an agent, or the suffering of an object, with the time _at which_ it happens." [536]--_A. Murray cor._ "Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal _With which_ I serv'd my king, he would not _thus_, In age, have left me naked to _my foes_."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--ADVERBS FOR RELATIVES. "In compositions _that are not designed to be delivered in public_."--_Blair cor._ "They framed a protestation _in which_ they repeated their claims."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 133; _Murray's_, 197. "Which have reference to _inanimate_ substances, _in which_ sex _has no_ existence."--_Harris cor._ "Which denote substances _in which_ sex never had existence."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 26. "There is no rule given _by which_ the truth may be found out."--_W. Walker cor._ "The nature of the objects _from which_ they are taken."--_Blair cor._ "That darkness of character, _through which_ we can see no heart:" [i. e., generous emotion.]--_L. Murray cor._ "The states _with which_ [or _between which_] they negotiated."--_Formey cor._ "Till the motives _from which_ men act, be known."--_Beattie cor._ "He assigns the principles _from which_ their power of pleasing flows."--_Blair cor._ "But I went on, and so finished this History, in that form _in which_ it now appears."--_Sewel cor._ "By prepositions we express the cause _for which_, the instrument by which, _and_ the manner _in which_, a thing is done."--_A. Murray cor._ "They are not such in the language _from which_ they are derived."--_Town cor._ "I find it very hard to persuade several, that their passions are affected by words from _which_ they have no ideas."--_Burke cor._ "The known end, then, _for which_ we are placed in a state of so much affliction, hazard, and difficulty, is our improvement in virtue and piety."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Yet such his acts as Greeks unborn shall tell, And curse the _strife in which_ their fathers fell."--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--REPEAT THE NOUN. "Youth may be thoughtful, but _thoughtfulness in the young_ is not very common."--_Webster cor._ "A proper name is _a name_ given to one person or thing."--_Bartlett cor._ "A common name is _a name_ given to many things of the same sort."--_Id._ "This rule is often violated; some instances of _its violation_ are annexed."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "This is altogether careless writing. _Such negligence respecting the pronouns_, renders style often obscure, and always inelegant."--_Blair cor._ "Every inversion which is not governed by this rule, will be disrelished by every _person_ of taste."--_Kames cor._ "A proper diphthong, is _a diphthong_ in which both the vowels are sounded."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 18. "An improper diphthong, is _a diphthong_ in which only one of the vowels is sounded."--_Ib._ "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and _the_ descendants _of Jacob_, are called Hebrews."--_Wood cor._ "In our language, _every word_ of more than one syllable, has one of _its syllables_ distinguished from the rest in this manner."--_L. Murray cor._ "Two consonants proper to begin a word, must not be separated; as, fa-ble, sti-fle. But when _two consonants_ come between two vowels, and are such as cannot begin a word, they must be divided, as, ut-most, un-der."--_Id._ "Shall the intellect alone feel no pleasures in its energy, when we allow _pleasures_ to the grossest energies of appetite and sense?"--_Harris and Murray cor._ "No man has a propensity to vice as such: on the contrary, a wicked deed disgusts _every one_, and makes him abhor the author."--_Ld. Kames cor._ "The same _grammatical properties_ that belong to nouns, belong also to pronouns."--_Greenleaf cor._ "What is language? It is the means of communicating thoughts from one _person_ to an other."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "A simple word is _a word_ which is not made up of _other words_."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "A compound word is _a word_ which is made up of two or more words."--_Iid_. "When a conjunction is to be supplied, _the ellipsis_ is called Asyndeton."--_Adam cor._ UNDER NOTE XI.--PLACE OF THE RELATIVE. "It gives _to words a meaning which_ they would not have."--_L. Murray cor._ "There are in the English language many _words, that_ are sometimes used as adjectives, and sometimes as adverbs."--_Id._ "Which do not more effectually show the varied intentions of the mind, than do the _auxiliaries which_ are used to form the potential mood."--_Id._ "These _accents, which_ will be the subject of a following speculation, make different impressions on the mind."--_Ld. Kames cor._ "And others differed very much from the words _of the writers to whom_ they were ascribed."--_John Ward cor._ "Where there is in the sense _nothing which_ requires the last sound to be elevated, an easy fall will be proper."--_Murray and Bullions cor._ "In the last clause there is an ellipsis of the verb; _and_, when you supply _it_, you find it necessary to use the adverb _not, in lieu of no_."--_Campbell and Murray cor._ "_Study_ is _of the_ singular number, because _the_ nominative _I, with which_ it agrees, _is singular_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "John is the _person who_ is in error, or thou art."--_Wright cor._ "For he hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us."--_Harrison's E. Lang._, p. 197. "My friend, take that of _me, who_ have the power To seal th' accuser's lips."--_Shakspeare cor._ UNDER NOTE XII.--WHAT FOR THAT. "I had no idea but _that_ the story was true."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 268. "The postboy is not so weary but _that_ he can whistle."--_Ib._ "He had no intimation but _that_ the men were honest."--_Ib._ "Neither Lady Haversham nor Miss Mildmay will ever believe but _that_ I have been entirely to blame."--_Priestley cor._ "I am not satisfied but _that_ the integrity of our friends is more essential to our welfare than their knowledge of the world."--_Id._ "Indeed, there is in poetry nothing so entertaining or descriptive, but _that an ingenious_ didactic writer may introduce _it_ in some part of his work."--_Blair cor._ "Brasidas, being bit by a mouse he had catched, let it slip out of his fingers: 'No creature,' says he, 'is so contemptible but _that it_ may provide for its own safety, if it have courage.'"--_Ld. Kames cor._ UNDER NOTE XIII.--ADJECTIVES FOR ANTECEDENTS. "In narration, Homer is, at all times, remarkably concise, _and therefore_ lively and agreeable."--_Blair cor._ "It is usual to talk of a nervous, a feeble, or a spirited style; which _epithets_ plainly _indicate the_ writer's manner of thinking."--_Id._ "It is too violent an alteration, if any alteration were necessary, _whereas_ none is."--_Knight cor._ "Some men are too ignorant to be humble; _and_ without _humility_ there can be no docility."--_Berkley cor._ "Judas declared him innocent; _but innocent_ he could not be, had he in any respect deceived the disciples."--_Porteus cor._ "They supposed him to be innocent, _but_ he certainly was not _so_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "They accounted him honest, _but_ he certainly was not _so_."--_Felch cor._ "Be accurate in all you say or do; for _accuracy_ is important in all the concerns of life."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 268. "Every law supposes the transgressor to be wicked; _and_ indeed he is _so_, if the law is just."--_Ib._ "To be pure in heart, pious, and benevolent, (_and_ all may be _so_,) constitutes human happiness."--_Murray cor._ "To be dexterous in danger, is a virtue; but to court danger to show _our dexterity_, is _a_ weakness."--_Penn cor._ UNDER NOTE XIV.--SENTENCES FOR ANTECEDENTS. "This seems not so allowable in prose; which _fact_ the following erroneous examples will demonstrate."--_L. Murray cor._ "The accent is laid upon the last syllable of a word; which _circumstance_ is favourable to the melody."--_Kames cor._ "Every line consists of ten syllables, five short and five long; from which _rule_ there are but two exceptions, both of them rare."--_Id._ "The soldiers refused obedience, _as_ has been explained."--_Nixon cor._ "Caesar overcame Pompey--_a circumstance_ which was lamented."--_Id._ "The crowd hailed William, _agreeably to the expectations of his friends_."--_Id._ "The tribunes resisted Scipio, _who knew their malevolence towards him_."--_Id._ "The censors reproved vice, _and were held in great honour_."--_Id._ "The generals neglected discipline, which _fact_ has been proved."--_Id._ "There would be two nominatives to the verb _was, and such a construction_ is improper."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "His friend bore the abuse very patiently; _whose forbearance, however_, served _only_ to increase his rudeness; it produced, at length, contempt and insolence."--_Murray and Emmons cor._ "Almost all _compound_ sentences are more or less elliptical; _and_ some examples of _ellipsis_ may be _found_, under _nearly all_ the different parts of speech."--_Murray, Guy, Smith, Ingersoll, Fisk, et al. cor._ UNDER NOTE XV.--REPEAT THE PRONOUN. "In things of Nature's workmanship, whether we regard their internal or _their_ external structure, beauty and design are equally conspicuous."--_Kames cor._ "It puzzles the reader, by making him doubt whether the word ought to be taken in its proper, or _in its_ figurative sense."--_Id._ "Neither my obligations to the muses, nor _my_ expectations from them, are so great."--_Cowley cor._ "The Fifth Annual Report of the _Antislavery_ Society of Ferrisburgh and _its_ vicinity."--_Title cor._ "Meaning taste in its figurative as well as _its_ proper sense."--_Kames cor._ "Every measure in which either your personal or _your_ political character is concerned."--_Junius cor._ "A jealous _and_ righteous God has often punished such in themselves or _in their_ offspring."--_Extracts cor._ "Hence their civil and _their_ religious history are inseparable."--_Milman cor._ "Esau thus carelessly threw away both his civil and _his_ religious inheritance."--_Id._ "This intelligence excited not only our hopes, but _our_ fears likewise."--_Jaudon cor._ "In what way our defect of principle, and _our_ ruling manners, have completed the ruin of the national spirit of union."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Considering her descent, her connexion, and _her_ present intercourse."--_Webster cor._ "His own and _his_ wife's wardrobe are packed up in a firkin."--_Parker and Fox cor._ UNDER NOTE XVI.--CHANGE THE ANTECEDENT. "The _sounds_ of _e_ and _o_ long, in _their_ due degrees, will be preserved, and clearly distinguished."--_L. Murray cor._ "If any _persons_ should be inclined to think," &c., "the author takes the liberty to suggest to _them_," &c.--_Id._ "And he walked in all the _way_ of Asa his father; he turned not aside from _it_."--_Bible cor._ "If ye from your hearts forgive not every one his _brethren their_ trespasses."--_Id._ "_None_ ever fancied _they_ were slighted by him, or had the courage to think _themselves_ his _betters_."--_Collier cor._ "And _Rebecca_ took _some very good clothes_ of her eldest son _Esau's_, which _were_ with her in the house, and put _them_ upon Jacob her younger son."--_Gen. cor._ "Where all the attention of _men_ is given to _their_ own indulgence."--_Maturin cor._ "The idea of a _father_ is a notion superinduced to _that of_ the substance, or man--let _one's idea of_ man be what _it_ will."--_Locke cor._ "Leaving _all_ to do as they _list_."--_Barclay cor._ "Each _person_ performed his part handsomely."--_J. Flint cor._ "This block of marble rests on two layers of _stones_, bound together with lead, which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of _them_."--_Parker and Fox cor._ "Love gives to _all our powers_ a double power, Above their functions and their offices." Or:-- "Love gives to every power a double power, _Exalts all_ functions and _all_ offices."--_Shak. cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XI; OF PRONOUNS. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE IDEA OF PLURALITY. "The jury will be confined till _they_ agree on a verdict."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 145. "And mankind directed _their_ first cares towards the needful."--_Formey cor._ "It is difficult to deceive a free people respecting _their_ true interest."--_Life of Charles XII cor._ "All the virtues of mankind are to be counted upon a few fingers, but _their_ follies and vices are innumerable."--_Swift cor._ "Every sect saith, 'Give _us_ liberty:' but give it _them_, and to _their_ power, _and they_ will not yield it to any body else."--_Cromwell cor._ "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up _themselves_ as a young lion."--_Bible cor._ "For all flesh had corrupted _their_ way upon the earth."--_Id._ "There happened to the army a very strange accident, which put _them_ in great consternation."--_Goldsmith cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--THE IDEA OF UNITY. "The meeting went on _with its_ business as a united body."--_Foster cor._ "Every religious association has an undoubted right to adopt a creed for _itself_."--_Gould cor._ "It would therefore be extremely difficult to raise an insurrection in that state against _its_ own government."--_Dr. Webster cor._ "The mode in which a lyceum can apply _itself_ in effecting a reform in common schools."--_N. Y. Lyc. cor._ "Hath a nation changed _its_ gods, which yet are no gods?"--_Jer. cor._ "In the holy Scriptures, each of the twelve tribes of Israel is often called by the name of the patriarch from whom _it_ descended." Or better:--"from whom _the tribe_ descended."--_Adams cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--UNIFORMITY OF NUMBER. "A nation, by the reparation of _the wrongs which it has done_, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever give."--_Adams cor._ "The English nation, from _whom_ we descended, have been gaining their liberties inch by inch."--_Webster cor._ "If a Yearly Meeting should undertake to alter _its_ fundamental doctrines, is there any power in the society to prevent _it from_ doing so?"--_Foster's Rep. cor._ "There is[537] a generation that _curse_ their father, and _do_ not bless their mother."--_Bible cor._ "There is[537] a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet _are_ not washed from their filthiness."--_Id._ "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord _their_ God is with _them_, and the shout of a king is among them."--_Id._ "My people _have_ forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity."--_Id._ "When a quarterly meeting _has_ come to a _judgement_ respecting any difference, relative to any monthly meeting belonging to _it_" &c.--_Discip. cor._ "The number of such compositions is every day increasing, and it _appears_ to be limited only by the pleasure or _the convenience_ of _writers_."--_Booth cor._ "The Church of Christ _has_ the same power now as ever, and _is_ led by the same spirit into the same practices."--_Barclay cor._ "The army, whom _their_ chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile their miserable march." Or thus: "The army, _which its_ chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile _its_ miserable march."--_Lockhart cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XII; OF PRONOUNS. ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY AND. "Discontent and sorrow manifested _themselves_ in his countenance."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 146. "Both conversation and public speaking became more simple and plain, such as we now find _them_."--_Blair cor._ "Idleness and ignorance, _if they_ be suffered to proceed, &c."--_Johnson and Priestley cor._ "Avoid questions and strife: _they show_ a busy and contentious disposition."--_Penn cor._ "To receive the gifts and benefits of God with thanksgiving, and witness _them_ blessed and sanctified to us by the word and prayer, is owned by us."--_Barclay cor._ "Both minister and magistrate are compelled to choose between _their_ duty and _their_ reputation."--_Junius cor._ "All the sincerity, truth, and faithfulness, or disposition of heart or conscience to approve _them_, found among rational creatures, necessarily originate from God."--_Rev. J. Brown cor._ "Your levity and heedlessness, if _they_ continue, will prevent all substantial improvement."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 269. "Poverty and obscurity will oppress him only who esteems _them_ oppressive."--_Ib._ "Good sense and refined policy are obvious to few, because _they_ cannot be discovered but by a train of reflection."--_Ib._ "Avoid haughtiness of behaviour, and affectation of manners: _they imply_ a want of solid merit."--_Ib._ "If love and unity continue, _they_ will make you partakers of one an other's joy."--_Ib._ "Suffer not jealousy and distrust to enter: _they_ will destroy, like a canker, every germ of friendship."--_Ib._ "Hatred and animosity are inconsistent with Christian charity: guard, therefore, against the slightest indulgence of _them_."--_Ib._ "Every man is entitled to liberty of conscience, and freedom of opinion, if he does not pervert _them_ to the injury of others."--_Ib._ "With the azure and vermilion _Which are_ mix'd for my pavilion."--_Byron cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XIII; OF PRONOUNS. ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY OR OR NOR. "Neither prelate nor priest can give _his_ [flock or] flocks any decisive evidence that you are lawful pastors."--_Brownlee cor._ "And is there a heart of parent or of child, that does not beat and burn within _him_?"-- _Maturin cor._ "This is just as if an eye or a foot should demand a salary for _its_ service to the body."--_Collier cor._ "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut _it_ off, and cast _it_ from thee."--_Bible cor._ "The same might as well be said of Virgil, or any great author; whose general character will infallibly raise many casual additions to _his_ reputation."--_Pope cor._ "Either James or John,--one _or the other_,--will come."--_Smith cor._ "Even a rugged rock or _a_ barren heath, though in _itself_ disagreeable, _contributes_, by contrast, to the beauty of the whole."--_Kames cor._ "That neither Count Rechteren nor Monsieur Mesnager had behaved _himself_ right in this affair."--_Spect. cor._ "If an Aristotle, a Pythagoras, or a Galileo, _suffers_ for _his_ opinions, _he is a 'martyr.'_"--_Fuller cor._ "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that _he or she_ die; then the ox _shall surely_ be stoned."--_Exod. cor._ "She was calling out to one or an other, at every step, that a Habit was ensnaring _him_."--_Johnson cor._ "Here is a task put upon children, _which_ neither this author _himself_, nor any other, _has_ yet undergone."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Hence, if an adjective or _a_ participle be subjoined to the verb when _the construction is singular, it_ will agree both in gender and _in_ number with the collective noun."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "And if you can find a diphthong or a triphthong, be pleased to point _that_ out too."--_Bucke cor._ "And if you can find a trissyllable or a polysyllable, point _it_ out."--_Id._ "The false refuges in which the atheist or the sceptic _has_ intrenched _himself_."--_Chr. Spect. cor._ "While the man or woman thus assisted by art, expects _his_ charms _or hers_ will be imputed to nature alone."--_Opie cor._ "When you press a watch, or pull a clock, _it answers_ your question with precision; for _it repeats_ exactly the hour of the day, and tells you neither more nor less than you desire to know."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "Not the Mogul, or Czar of Muscovy, Not Prester John, or Cham of Tartary, _Is_ in _his mansion_ monarch more than I."--_King cor._ CHAPTER VI.--VERBS. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XIV AND ITS NOTES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--VERB AFTER THE NOMINATIVE. "Before you left Sicily, you _were reconciled_ to Verres."--_Duncan cor._ "Knowing that you _were_ my old master's good friend."--_Spect. cor._ "When the judge _dares_ not act, where is the loser's remedy?"--_Webster cor._ "Which extends it no farther than the variation of the verb _extends_."--_Mur. cor._ "They presently dry without hurt, as myself _have_ often proved."--_R. Williams cor._ "Whose goings-forth _have_ been from of old, from everlasting."--_Micah_, v, 2. "You _were_ paid to fight against Alexander, not to rail at him."--_Porter cor._ "Where more than one part of speech _are_ almost always concerned."--_Churchill cor._ "Nothing less than murders, rapines, and conflagrations, _employs_ their thoughts." Or: "_No less things_ than murders, rapines, and conflagrations, _employ_ their thoughts."--_Duncan cor._ "I wondered where you _were_, my dear."--_Lloyd cor._ "When thou most sweetly _singst_."--_Drummond cor._ "Who _dares_, at the present day, avow himself equal to the task?"--_Gardiner cor._ "Every body _is_ very kind to her, and not discourteous to me."--_Byron cor._ "As to what thou _sayst_ respecting the diversity of opinions."--_M. B. cor._ "Thy nature, Immortality, who _knows_?"--_Everest cor._ "The natural distinction of sex in animals, gives rise to what, in grammar, _are_ called genders."--_Id._ "Some pains _have_ likewise been taken."--_Scott cor._ "And many a steed in his stables _was_ seen."--_Penwarne cor._ "They _were_ forced to eat what never was esteemed food."--_Josephus cor._ "This that _you_ yourself _have_ spoken, I desire that they may take their oaths upon."--_Hutchinson cor._ "By men whose experience best _qualifies_ them to judge."--_Committee cor._ "He _dares_ venture to kill and destroy several other kinds of fish."--_Walton cor._ "If a gudgeon meet a roach, He _ne'er will_ venture to approach." Or thus: "If a gudgeon _meets_ a roach, He _dares_ not venture to approach."--_Swift cor._ "Which thou _endeavourst_ to establish to thyself."--_Barclay cor._ "But they pray together much oftener than thou _insinuat'st_."--_Id._ "Of people of all denominations, over whom thou _presidest_."--_N. Waln cor._ "I can produce ladies and gentlemen whose progress _has_ been astonishing."--_Chazotte cor._ "Which of these two kinds of vice _is the_ more criminal?"--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Every twenty-four hours _afford_ to us the vicissitudes of day and night."--_Smith's False Syntax, New Gram._, p. 103. Or thus: "Every _period_ of twenty-four hours _affords_ to us the vicissitudes of day and night."--_Smith cor._ "Every four years _add_ an other day."--_Smith's False Syntax, Gram._, p. 103. Better thus: "Every _fourth year adds_ an other day."--_Smith cor._ "Every error I could find, _Has_ my busy muse employed."--_Swift cor._ "A studious scholar _deserves_ the approbation of his teacher."--_Sanborn cor._ "Perfect submission to the rules of a school _indicates_ good breeding."--_Id._ "A comparison in which more than two _are_ concerned."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 78. "By the facilities which artificial language _affords_ them."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Now thyself _hast_ lost both lop and top."--_Spencer cor._ "Glad tidings _are_ brought to the poor."--_Campbell cor._ "Upon which, all that is pleasurable or affecting in elocution, chiefly _depends._"--_Sher. cor._ "No pains _have_ been spared to render this work complete."--_Bullions cor._ "The United States _contain_ more than a twentieth part of the land of this globe."--_Clinton cor._ "I am mindful that myself _am_ strong."--_Fowler cor._ "Myself _am_ (not _is_) weak;"--"Thyself _art_ (not _is_) weak."--_Id._ "How pale each worshipful and reverend guest Rises from clerical or city feast!"--_Pope cor._ UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--VERB BEFORE THE NOMINATIVE. "Where _were_ you born? In London."--_Buchanan cor._ "There _are_ frequent occasions for commas."--_Ingersoll cor._ "There necessarily _follow_ from thence these plain and unquestionable consequences."--_Priestley cor._ "And to this impression _contributes_ the redoubled effort."--_Kames cor._ "Or, if he was, _were_ there no spiritual men then?"--_Barclay cor._ "So, by these two also, _are_ signified their contrary principles."--_Id._ "In the motions made with the hands, _consists_ the chief part of gesture in speaking."--_Blair cor._ "_Dares_ he assume the name of a popular magistrate?"--_Duncan cor._ "There _were_ no damages as in England, and so Scott lost his wager."--_Byron cor._ "In fact, there _exist_ such resemblances."--_Kames cor._ "To him _give_ all the prophets witness."--_Acts_, x, 43. "That there _were_ so many witnesses and actors."--_Addison cor._ "How _do_ this man's definitions stand affected?"--_Collier cor._ "Whence _come_ all the powers and prerogatives of rational beings?"--_Id._ "Nor _do_ the scriptures cited by thee prove thy intent."--_Barclay cor._ "Nor _does_ the scripture cited by thee prove the contrary."--_Id._ "Why then _citest_ thou a scripture which is so plain and clear for it?"--_Id._ "But what _say_ the Scriptures as to respect of persons among Christians?"--_Id._ "But in the mind of man, while in the savage state, there _seem_ to be hardly any ideas but what enter by the senses;"--_Robertson cor._ "What sounds _has_ each of the vowels?"--_Griscom cor._ "Out of this _have_ grown up aristocracies, monarchies, despotisms, tyrannies."--_Brownson cor._ "And there _were_ taken up, of fragments that remained to them, twelve baskets."--_Bible cor._ "There _seem_ to be but two general classes."--_Day cor._ "Hence _arise_ the six forms of expressing time."--_Id._ "There _seem_ to be no other words required."--_Chandler cor._ "If there _are_ two, the second increment is the syllable next to the last."--_Bullions cor._ "Hence _arise_ the following advantages."--_Id._ "There are no data by which it can be estimated."--_Calhoun cor._ "To this class, _belongs_ the Chinese language, in which we have nothing but naked _primitives_."--_Fowler cor._ [[Fist] "Nothing but naked _roots_" is faulty; because no word is a _root_, except some derivative spring from it."--G. B.] "There _were_ several other grotesque figures that presented themselves."--_Spect. cor._ "In these _consists_ that sovereign good which ancient sages so much extol."--_Percival cor._ "Here _come_ those I have done good to against my will."--_Shak. cor._ "Where there _are_ more than one auxiliary." Or: "Where there _are_ more _auxiliaries_ than one."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "On me to cast those eyes where _shines_ nobility." --_Sidney cor._ "Here _are_ half-pence in plenty, for one you'll have twenty." --_Swift cor._ "Ah, Jockey, ill _advisest_ thou. I wis, To think of songs at such a time as this." --_Churchill cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--THE RELATIVE AND VERB. "Thou, who _lovest_ us, wilt protect us still."--_A. Murray cor._ "To use that endearing language, 'Our Father, who _art_ in heaven.'"--_Bates cor._ "Resembling the passions that _produce_ these actions."--_Kames cor._ "Except _dwarf, grief, hoof, muff_, &c., which _take s_ to make the plural."--_Ash cor._ "As the cattle that _go_ before me, and the children, be able to endure."--_Gen. cor._ "Where is the man who _dares_ affirm that such an action is mad?"--_Dr. Pratt cor._ "The ninth book of Livy affords one of the most beautiful exemplifications of historical painting, that _are_ anywhere to be met with."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "In some studies, too, that relate to taste and fine writing, which _are_ our object," &c.--_Id._ "Of those affecting situations which _make_ man's heart feel for man."--_Id._ "We see very plainly, that it is neither Osmyn nor Jane Shore that _speaks_."--_Id._ "It should assume that briskness and ease which _are_ suited to the freedom of dialogue."--_Id._ "Yet they grant, that none ought to be admitted into the ministry, but such as _are_ truly pious."--_Barclay cor._ "This letter is one of the best that _have_ been written about Lord Byron."--_Hunt cor._ "Thus, besides what _were_ sunk, the Athenians took above two hundred ships."--_Goldsmith cor._ "To have made and declared such orders as _were_ necessary."--_Hutchinson cor._ "The idea of such a collection of men as _makes_ an army."--_Locke cor._ "I'm not the first that _has_ been wretched."--_Southern cor._ "And the faint sparks of it which _are_ in the angels, are concealed from our view."--_Calvin cor._ "The subjects are of such a nature, as _allows_ room (or, as to _allow_ room) for much diversity of taste and sentiment."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It is in order to propose examples of such perfection, as _is_ not to be found in the real examples of society."--_Formey cor._ "I do not believe that he would amuse himself with such fooleries as _have_ been attributed to him."--_Id._ "That shepherd, who first _taught_ the chosen seed."--_Milton, P. L._, B. i, l. 8. "With respect to the vehemence and warmth which _are_ allowed in popular eloquence."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Ambition is one of those passions that _are_ never to be satisfied."--_Home cor._ "Thou wast he that _led_ out and _brought_ in Israel."--_Bible cor._ "Art thou the man of God, that _came_ from Judah?"--_Id._ "How beauty is excell'd by manly grace And wisdom, which alone _are_ truly fair."--_Milton cor._ "What art thou, speak, that on designs unknown, While others sleep, thus _roamst_ the camp alone?"--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--NOMINATIVE WITH ADJUNCTS. "The literal sense of the words _is_, that the action had been done."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "The rapidity of his movements _was_ beyond example."--_Wells cor._ "Murray's Grammar, together with his Exercises and Key, _has_ nearly superseded every thing else of the kind."--_Murray's Rec. cor._ "The mechanism of clocks and watches _was_ totally unknown."--_Hume cor._ "The _it_, together with the verb _to be, expresses a state_ of being."--_Cobbett cor._ "Hence it is, that the profuse variety of objects in some natural landscapes, _occasions neither_ confusion nor fatigue."--_Kames cor._ "Such a clatter of sounds _indicates_ rage and ferocity."--_Gardiner cor._ "One of the fields _makes_ threescore square yards, and the other, only fifty-five."--_Duncan cor._ "The happy effects of this fable _are_ worth attending to."--_Bailey cor._ "Yet the glorious serenity of its parting rays, still _lingers_ with us."--_Gould cor._ "Enough of its form and force _is_ retained to render them uneasy."--_Maturin cor._ "The works of nature, in this respect, _are_ extremely regular."--_Pratt cor._ "No small addition of exotic and foreign words and phrases, _has_ been made by commerce."--_Bicknell cor._ "The dialect of some nouns _is noticed_ in the notes."--_Milnes cor._ "It has been said, that a discovery of the full resources of the arts, _affords_ the means of debasement, or of perversion."--_Rush cor._ "By which means, the order of the words _is_ disturbed."--_Holmes cor._ "The two-fold influence of these and the others, _requires_ the _verb_ to be in the plural form."--_Peirce cor._ "And each of these _affords_ employment."--_Percival cor._ "The pronunciation of the vowels _is_ best explained under the rules relative to the consonants."--_Coar cor._ "The judicial power of these courts _extends_ to all cases in law and equity."--_Hall and Baker cor._ "One of you _has_ stolen my money."--_Humorist cor._ "Such redundancy of epithets, in stead of pleasing, _produces_ satiety and disgust."--_Kames cor._ "It has been alleged, that a compliance with the rules of Rhetoric, _tends_ to cramp the mind."--_Hiley cor._ "Each of these _is_ presented to us in different relations."--_Hendrick cor._ "The past tense of these verbs, (_should, would, might, could_,) _is_ very indefinite with respect to time."--_Bullions cor._ "The power of the words which are said to govern this mood, _is_ distinctly understood."--_Chandler cor._ "And now, at length, the fated term of years The world's desire _hath_ brought, and lo! the God appears." --_Lowth cor._ "Variety of numbers still _belongs_ To the soft melody of _odes_, or _songs_." --_Brightland cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--COMPOSITE OR CONVERTED SUBJECTS. "Many are the works of human industry, which to begin and finish, _is_ hardly granted to the same man."--_Johnson cor._ "To lay down rules for these, _is_ as inefficacious."--_Pratt cor._ "To profess regard and act _injuriously, discovers_ a base mind."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "To magnify to the height of wonder things great, new, and admirable, extremely _pleases_ the mind of man."--_Fisher cor._ "In this passage, '_according as_' _is_ used in a manner which is very common."--_Webster cor._ "A CAUSE DE, _is_ called a preposition; A CAUSE QUE, a conjunction."--_Webster cor._ "To these _it is_ given to speak in the name of the Lord."--_The Friend cor._ "While _wheat_ has no plural, _oats has_ seldom any singular."--_Cobbett cor._ "He cannot assert that _ll_ (i.e., _double Ell_) _is_ inserted in _fullness_ to denote the sound of _u_"--_Cobb cor._ "_Ch_, in Latin, _has_ the power of _k_."--_Gould cor._ "_Ti_, before a vowel, and unaccented, _has_ the sound of _si_ or _ci_."--_Id._ "In words derived from French, as _chagrin, chicanery_, and _chaise, ch is sounded_ like _sh_."--_Bucke cor._ "But, in the _words schism, schismatic_, &c., the _ch is_ silent."--_Id._ "_Ph_, at the beginning of words, _is_ always sounded like _f_."--_Bucke cor._ "_Ph has_ the sound of _f_ as in _philosophy_."--_Webster cor._ "_Sh has_ one sound only, as in _shall_."--_Id._ "_Th has_ two sounds."--_Id._ "_Sc_, before _a, o, u, or r, has_ the sound of _sk_."--_Id._ "_Aw has_ the sound of _a_ in _hall_."--_Bolles cor._ "_Ew sounds_ like _u_"--_Id._ "_Ow_, when both _vowels are_ sounded, _has_ the _power_ of _ou in thou_."--_Id._ "_Ui_, when both _vowels are_ pronounced in one syllable, _sounds_ like _wi short, as_ in _languid_."--_Id._ "_Ui_ three _other sounds at least expresses_, As _who hears_ GUILE, REBUILD, and BRUISE, _confesses_." --_Brightland cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--EACH, ONE, EITHER, AND NEITHER. "When each of the letters which compose this word, _has_ been learned."--_Dr. Weeks cor._ "As neither of us _denies_ that both Homer and Virgil have great beauties."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Yet neither of them _is_ remarkable for precision."--_Id._ "How far each of the three great epic poets _has_ distinguished _himself_."--_Id._ "Each of these _produces_ a separate, agreeable sensation."--_Id._ "On the Lord's day, every one of us Christians _keeps_ the sabbath."--_Tr. of Iren. cor._ "And each of them _bears_ the image of purity and holiness."--_Hope of Is. cor._ "_Was_ either of these meetings ever acknowledged or recognized?"--_Foster cor._ "Whilst neither of these letters _exists_ in the Eugubian inscription."--_Knight cor._ "And neither of them _is_ properly termed indefinite."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "As likewise of the several subjects, which have in effect _their several verbs_:" or,--"_each of which has_ in effect _its own verb_."--_Lowth cor._ "Sometimes, when the word ends in _s_, neither of the signs _is_ used."--_A. Mur. cor._ "And as neither of these manners _offends_ the ear."--_J. Walker cor._ "Neither of these two tenses _is_ confined to this signification only."--_R. Johnson cor._ "But neither of these circumstances _is_ intended here."--_Tooke cor._ "So that all are indebted to each, and each _is_ dependent upon all."--_Bible Rep. cor._ "And yet neither of them _expresses_ any more action in this case, than _it_ did in the other."--_Bullions cor._ "Each of these expressions _denotes_ action."--_Hallock cor._ "Neither of these moods _seems_ to be defined by distinct boundaries."--_Butler cor._ "Neither of these solutions _is_ correct."--_Bullions cor._ "Neither _bears_ any sign of case at all."--_Fowler cor._ "Each in _his_ turn, like Banquo's monarchs, _stalks._" Or:-- "_All_ in _their_ turn, like Banquo's monarchs, _stalk_."--_Byron cor._ "And tell what each _doth_ by _the_ other lose."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--VERB BETWEEN TWO NOMINATIVES. "The quarrels of lovers _are but_ a renewal of love."--_Adam et al. cor._ "Two dots, one placed above the other, _are_ called _a Sheva."--Wilson cor._ "A few centuries more or less _are_ a matter of small consequence."--_Id._ "Pictures were the first step towards the art of writing; _hieroglyphics were_ the second step."--_Parker cor._ "The comeliness of youth _is_ modesty and frankness; of age, condescension and dignity." Or, much better: "The _great ornaments_ of youth are," &c.--_Murray cor._ "Merit and good works _are_ the end of man's motion."--_Bacon cor._ "Divers philosophers hold, that the lips _are_ parcel of the mind."--_Shak. cor._ "The clothing of the natives _was_ the skins of wild beasts." Or thus: "The _clothes_ of the natives _were_ skins of wild beasts."--_Hist. cor._ "Prepossessions in _favour_ of our _native_ town, _are_ not a matter of surprise."--_Webster cor._ "Two shillings and sixpence _are_ half a crown, but not a half crown."--_Priestley and Bicknell cor._ "Two vowels, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and uniting in one sound, _are_ called a _diphthong_."--_Cooper cor._ "Two or more sentences united together _are_ called a Compound Sentence."--_Day cor._ "Two or more words rightly put together, but not completing an entire proposition, _are_ called a Phrase."--_Id._ "But the common number of times _is_ five." Or, to state the matter truly: "But the common number of _tenses is six_."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "Technical terms, injudiciously introduced, _are an other_ source of darkness in composition."--_Jamieson cor._ "The United States _are_ the great middle division of North America."--_Morse cor._ "A great cause of the low state of industry, _was_ the restraints put upon it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 199; _Churchill's_, 414. "Here two tall ships _become_ the victor's prey."--_Rowe cor._ "The expenses incident to an outfit _are_ surely no object."--_The Friend cor._ "Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, _Were_ all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep."--_Milt. cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--CHANGE OF THE NOMINATIVE. "Much _care_ has been taken, to explain all the kinds of words."--_Inf. S. Gr. cor._ "Not _fewer_ [years] than three years, are spent in attaining this faculty." Or, perhaps better: "Not less than three _years' time, is_ spent in attaining this faculty." Or thus: "Not less _time_ than three years, _is_ spent," &c.--_Gardiner cor._ "Where this night are met in state Many _friends_ to gratulate His wish'd presence."--_Milton cor._ "Peace! my darling, here's no danger, Here's no _ox anear_ thy bed."--_Watts cor._ "But _all_ of these are mere conjectures, and some of them very unhappy ones."--_Coleridge cor._ "The old theorists' _practice_ of calling the Interrogatives and Repliers ADVERBS, is only a part of their regular system of naming words."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Where _several sentences_ occur, place them in the order _of the facts_."--_Id._ "And that _all the events_ in conjunction make a regular chain of causes and effects."--_Kames cor. "In regard to their_ origin, the Grecian and Roman republics, though equally involved in the obscurities and uncertainties of fabulous events, present one remarkable distinction."--_Adams cor._ "In these respects, _man_ is left by nature an unformed, unfinished creature."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The _Scriptures_ are the oracles of God himself."--_Hooker cor._ "And at our gates are all _kinds_ of pleasant fruits."--_S. Song cor._ "The _preterits_ of _pluck, look_, and _toss_, are, in speech, pronounced _pluckt, lookt, tosst_."--_Fowler corrected_. "Severe the doom that days _prolonged impose_, To stand sad witness of unnumbered woes!"--_Melmoth cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--FORMS ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT STYLES. _1. Forms adapted to the Common or Familiar Style._ "Was it thou[538] that _built_ that house?"--_Brown's Institutes_, Key, p. 270. "That boy _writes_ very elegantly."--_Ib. "Could_ not thou write without blotting thy book?"--_Ib. "Dost_ not thou think--or, _Don't_ thou think, it will rain to-day?"--_Ib. "Does_ not--or, _Don't_ your cousin intend to visit you?"--_Ib._ "That boy _has_ torn my book."--_Ib._ "Was it thou that _spread_ the hay?"--_Ib._ "Was it James, or thou, that _let_ him in?"--_Ib._ "He _dares_ not say a word."--_Ib._ "Thou _stood_ in my way and _hindered_ me."--_Ib._ "Whom _do_ I _see_?--Whom _dost_ thou _see_ now?--Whom _does_ he _see_?--Whom _dost_ thou _love_ most?--What _art_ thou _doing_ to-day?--What person _dost_ thou _see_ teaching that boy?--He _has_ two new knives.--Which road _dost_ thou _take_?--What child is he _teaching_?"--_Ingersoll cor._ "Thou, who _mak'st_ my shoes, _sellst_ many more." Or thus: "_You_, who _make_ my shoes, _sell_ many more."--_Id._ "The English language _has_ been much cultivated during the last two hundred years. It _has_ been considerably polished and refined."--_Lowth cor._ "This _style_ is ostentatious, and _does_ not suit grave writing."--_Priestley cor._ "But custom _has_ now appropriated _who_ to persons, and _which_ to things" [and brute animals].--_Id._ "The indicative mood _shows_ or _declares something_; as, _Ego amo_, I love; or else _asks_ a question; as, _Amas tu_? Dost thou love?"--_Paul's Ac. cor._ "Though thou _cannot_ do much for the cause, thou _may_ and _should_ do something."--_Murray cor._ "The support of so many of his relations, was a heavy tax: but thou _knowst_ (or, _you know_) he paid it cheerfully."--_Id._ "It may, and often _does_, come short of it."--_Murray^s Gram._, p. 359. "'Twas thou, who, while thou _seem'd_ to chide, To give me all thy pittance _tried_."--_Mitford cor._ 2. _Forms adapted to the Solemn or Biblical Style_. "The Lord _hath prepared_ his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom _ruleth_ over all."--_Psalms_, ciii, 19. "Thou _answeredst_ them, O Lord our God; thou _wast_ a God that forgave[539] them, though thou _tookest_ vengeance of their inventions."--See _Psalms_, xcix, 8. "Then thou _spakest_ in vision to thy Holy One, and _saidst_, I have laid help upon one that is mighty."--_Ib._, lxxxix, 19. "'So then, it is not of him that _willeth_, nor of him that _runneth_, but of God that _showeth_ mercy;' who _dispenseth_ his blessings, whether temporal or spiritual, as _seemeth_ good in his sight."--_Christian Experience of St. Paul_, p. 344; see _Rom._, ix, 16. "Thou, the mean while, _wast_ blending with my thought; Yea, with my life, and life's own secret joy."--_Coleridge cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--EXPRESS THE NOMINATIVE. "Who is here so base, that _he_ would be a bondman?"--_Shak. cor._ "Who is here so rude, _he_ would not be a _Roman_?"--_Id._ "There is not a sparrow _which_ falls to the ground without his notice." Or better: "_Not a sparrow_ falls to the ground, without his notice."--_Murray cor._ "In order to adjust them _in such a manner_ as shall consist equally with the perspicuity and the strength of the period."--_Id. and Blair cor._ "But sometimes there is a verb _which_ comes in." Better: "But sometimes there is a verb _introduced_."--_Cobbett cor._ "Mr. Prince has a genius _which_ would prompt him to better things."--_Spect. cor._ "It is this _that_ removes that impenetrable mist."--_Harris cor._ "By the praise _which_ is given him for his courage."--_Locke cor._ "There is no man _who_ would be more welcome here."--_Steele cor._ "Between an antecedent and a consequent, or what goes before, and _what_ immediately follows."--_Blair cor._ "And as connected with what goes before and _what_ follows."--_Id._ "No man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake."--_Bacon cor._ "All the various miseries of life, which people bring upon themselves by negligence _or_ folly, and _which_ might have been avoided by proper care, are instances of this."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Ancient philosophers have taught many things in _favour_ of morality, so far at least as _it respects_ justice and goodness towards our fellow-creatures."--_Fuller cor._ "Indeed, if there be any such, _who_ have been, or _who_ appear to be of us, as suppose there is not a wise man among us all, nor an honest man, that is able to judge betwixt his brethren; we shall not covet to meddle in their _matters_."--_Barclay cor._ "There were _some_ that drew back; there were _some_ that made shipwreck of faith; yea, there were _some_ that brought in damnable heresies."--_Id._ "The nature of the cause rendered this plan altogether proper; and, _under_ similar _circumstances, the orator's method_ is fit to be imitated."--_Blair cor._ "This is an idiom to which our language is strongly inclined, and _which_ was formerly very prevalent."--_Churchill cor._ "His roots are wrapped about the heap, and _he_ seeth the place of stones."--_Bible cor._ "New York, Fifthmonth 3d, 1823. Dear friend, _I_ am sorry to hear of thy loss; but _I_ hope it may be retrieved. I should be happy to render thee any assistance in my power. _I_ shall call to see thee to-morrow morning. Accept assurances of my regard. A. B." "New York, May 3d, P. M., 1823. Dear sir, _I_ have just received the kind note _you_ favoured me with this morning; and _I_ cannot forbear to express my gratitude to you. On further information, _I_ find _I_ have not lost so much as _I_ at first supposed; and _I_ believe _I_ shall still be able to meet all my engagements. _I_ should, however, be happy to see you. Accept, dear sir, my most cordial thanks. C. D." See _Brown's Institutes_, p. 271. "Will martial flames forever fire thy mind, And _wilt thou_ never be to Heaven resign'd?"--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--APPLICATION OF MOODS. _First Clause of the Note.--The Subjunctive Present_. "He will not be pardoned unless he _repent_."--_Inst._, p. 191. "If thou _find_ any kernelwort in this marshy meadow, bring it to me."--_Neef cor._ "If thou _leave_ the room, do not forget to shut that drawer."--_Id._ "If thou _grasp_ it stoutly, thou wilt not be hurt:" or, (familiarly,)--"thou _will_ not be hurt."--_Id._ "On condition that he _come_, I will consent to stay."--_Murray's Key_, p. 208. "If he _be_ but discreet, he will succeed."--_Inst._, p. 280. "Take heed that thou _speak_ not to Jacob."--_Gen._, xxxi, 24. "If thou _cast_ me off, I shall be miserable."--_Inst._, p. 280. "Send them to me, if thou _please_."--_Ib._ "Watch the door of thy lips, lest thou _utter_ folly."--_Ib._ "Though a liar _speak_ the truth, he will hardly be believed."--_Bartlett cor._ "I will go, unless I _be_ ill."--_L. Murray cor._ "If the word or words understood _be_ supplied, the true construction will be apparent."--_Id._ "Unless thou _see_ the propriety of the measure, we shall not desire thy support."--_Id._ "Unless thou _make_ a timely retreat, the danger will be unavoidable."--_Id._ "We may live happily, though our possessions _be_ small."--_Id._ "If they _be_ carefully studied, they will enable the student to parse all the exercises."--_Id._ "If the accent _be_ fairly preserved on the proper syllable, this drawling sound will never be heard."--_Id._ "One phrase may, in point of sense, be equivalent to an other, though its grammatical nature _be_ essentially different."--_Id._ "If any man _obey_ not our word by this epistle, note that man."--_2 Thess._, iii, 14. "Thy skill will be the greater, if thou _hit_ it."--_Putnam, Cobb, or Knowles, cor._ "We shall overtake him, though he _run_."--_Priestley et al. cor._ "We shall be disgusted, if he _give_ us too much."--_Blair cor._ "What is't to thee, if he _neglect_ thy urn, Or without spices _let_ thy body burn?"--_Dryden cor._ _Second Clause of Note IX.--The Subjunctive Imperfect_.[540] "And so would I, if I _were_ he."--_Inst._, p. 191. "If I _were_ a Greek, I should resist Turkish despotism."--_Cardell cor._ "If he _were_ to go, he would attend to your business."--_Id._ "If thou _felt_ as I do, we should soon decide."--_Inst._, p. 280. "Though thou _shed_ thy blood in the cause, it would but prove thee sincerely a fool."--_Ib._ "If thou _loved_ him, there would be more evidence of it."--_Ib._ "If thou _convinced_ him, he would not act accordingly."--_Murray cor._ "If there _were_ no liberty, there would be no real crime."--_Formey cor._ "If the house _were_ burnt down, the case would be the same."--_Foster cor._ "As if the mind _were_ not always in action, when it prefers any thing."--_West cor._ "Suppose I _were_ to say, 'Light is a body.'"--_Harris cor._ "If either oxygen or azote _were_ omitted, life would be destroyed."--_Gurney cor._ "The verb _dare is_ sometimes used as if it _were_ an auxiliary."--_Priestley cor._ "A certain lady, whom I could name, if it _were_ necessary."--_Spect. cor._ "If the _e were_ dropped, _c_ and _g_ would assume their hard sounds."--_Buchanan cor._ "He would no more comprehend it, than if it _were_ the speech of a Hottentot."--_Neef cor._ "If thou _knew_ the gift of God," &c.--_Bible cor._ "I wish I _were_ at home."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Fact alone does not constitute right: if it _did_, general warrants were lawful."--_Junius cor._ "Thou _lookst_ upon thy boy, as though thou _guessed_ it."--_Putnam, Cobb, or Knowles, cor._ "He fought as if he _contended_ for life."--_Hiley cor._ "He fought as if he _were contending_ for his life."--_Id._ "The dewdrop glistens on thy leaf, As if thou _shed for me_ a tear; As if thou _knew_ my tale of grief, _Felt_ all my sufferings severe."--_Letham cor._ _Last Clause of Note IX.--The Indicative Mood_. "If he _knows_ the way, he does not need a guide."--_Inst._, p. 191. "And if there _is_ no difference, one of them must be superfluous, and ought to be rejected."--_Murray cor._ "I cannot say that I admire this construction though it _is_ much used."--_Priestley cor._ "We are disappointed, if the verb _does_ not immediately follow it."--_Id._ "If it _was_ they, _that_ acted so ungratefully, they are doubly in fault."--_Murray cor._ "If art _becomes_ apparent, it disgusts the reader."--_Jamieson cor._ "Though perspicuity _is_ more properly a rhetorical than a grammatical quality, I thought it better to include it in this book."--_Campbell cor._ "Although the efficient cause _is_ obscure, the final cause of those sensations lies open."--_Blair cor._ "Although the barrenness of language, or the want of words, _is_ doubtless one cause of the invention of tropes."--_Id._ "Though it _enforces_ not its instructions, yet it furnishes a greater variety."--_Id._ "In other cases, though the idea _is_ one, the words remain quite separate."--_Priestley cor._ "Though the form of our language _is_ more simple, and has that peculiar beauty."--_Buchanan cor._ "Human works are of no significancy till they _are_ completed."--_Kames cor._ "Our disgust lessens gradually till it _vanishes_ altogether."--_Id._ "And our relish improves by use, till it _arrives_ at perfection."--_Id._ "So long as he _keeps_ himself in his own proper element."--_Coke cor._ "Whether this translation _was_ ever published or not, I am wholly ignorant."--_Sale cor._ "It is false to affirm, 'As it is day, it is light,' unless it actually _is_ day."--_Harris cor._ "But we may at midnight affirm, 'If it _is_ day, it is light.'"--_Id._ "If the Bible _is_ true, it is a volume of unspeakable interest."--_Dickinson cor._ "Though he _was_ a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."--_Bible cor._ "If David then _calleth_ (or _calls_) him Lord, how is he his son?"--_Id._ "'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill _Appears_ in writing, or in judging, ill."--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--FALSE SUBJUNCTIVES. "If a man _has built_ a house, the house is his."--_Wayland cor._ "If God _has required_ them of him, as is the fact, he has time."--_Id._ "Unless a previous understanding to the contrary _has been had_ with the principal."--_Berrian cor._ "O! if thou _hast hid_ them in some flowery cave."--_Milton cor._ "O! if Jove's will _has linked_ that amorous power to thy soft lay."--_Id._ "SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: If thou love, If thou loved."--_Dr. Priestley, Dr. Murray, John Burn, David Blair, Harrison, and others_. "Till Religion, the pilot of the soul, _hath_ lent thee her unfathomable coil."--_Tupper cor._ "Whether nature or art _contributes_ most to form an orator, is a trifling inquiry."--_Blair cor._ "Year after year steals something from us, till the decaying fabric _totters_ of itself, and _at length crumbles_ into dust."--_Murray cor._ "If spiritual pride _has_ not entirely vanquished humility."--_West cor._ "Whether he _has_ gored a son, or _has_ gored a daughter."--_Bible cor._ "It is doubtful whether the object introduced by way of simile, _relates_ to what goes before or to what follows."--_Kames cor._ "And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answer'd _hast_." Or:-- "And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou _hast granted what we crave_."--_Milt. cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XV AND ITS NOTE. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE IDEA OF PLURALITY. "The gentry _are_ punctilious in their etiquette."--_G. B_. "In France, the peasantry _go_ barefoot, and the middle sort _make_ use of wooden shoes."--_Harvey cor._ "The people _rejoice_ in that which should cause sorrow."--_Murray varied_. "My people _are_ foolish, they have not known me."--_Bible and Lowth cor._ "For the people _speak_, but _do_ not write."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "So that all the people that _were_ in the camp, trembled."--_Bible cor._ "No company _like_ to confess that they are ignorant."--_Todd cor._ "Far the greater part of their captives _were_ anciently sacrificed."--_Robertson cor._ "_More than_ one half of them _were_ cut off before the return of spring."--_Id._ "The other class, termed Figures of Thought, _suppose_ the words to be used in their proper and literal meaning."--_Blair and Mur. cor._ "A multitude of words in their dialect _approach_ to the Teutonic form, and therefore afford excellent assistance."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "A great majority of our authors _are_ defective in manner."--_J. Brown cor._ "The greater part of these new-coined words _have_ been rejected."--_Tooke cor._ "The greater part of the words it contains, _are_ subject to certain modifications _or_ inflections."--_The Friend cor._ "While all our youth _prefer_ her to the rest."--_Waller cor._ "Mankind _are_ appointed to live in a future state."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The greater part of human kind _speak_ and _act_ wholly by imitation."--_Rambler_, No. 146. "The greatest part of human gratifications _approach_ so nearly to vice."--_Id._, No. 160. "While still the busy world _are_ treading o'er The paths they trod five thousand years before."--_Young cor._ UNDER THE NOTE.--THE IDEA OF UNITY. "In old English, this species of words _was_ numerous."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "And a series of exercises in false grammar _is_ introduced towards the end."--_Frost cor._ "And a jury, in conformity with the same idea, _was_ anciently called _homagium_, the homage, or manhood."--_Webster cor._ "With respect to the former, there _is_ indeed _a_ plenty of means."--_Kames cor._ "The number of school districts _has_ increased since the last year."--_Throop cor._ "The Yearly Meeting _has_ purchased with its funds these publications."--_Foster cor._ "_Has_ the legislature power to prohibit assemblies?"--_Sullivan cor._ "So that the whole number of the streets _was_ fifty."--_Rollin cor._ "The number of inhabitants _was_ not more than four millions."--_Smollett cor._ "The house of Commons _was_ of small weight."--_Hume cor._ "The assembly of the wicked _hath_ (or _has_) inclosed me."--_Psal. cor._ "Every kind of convenience and comfort _is_ provided."--_C. S. Journal cor._ "Amidst the great decrease of the inhabitants in Spain, the body of the clergy _has_ suffered no diminution; but _it_ has rather been gradually increasing."--_Payne cor._ "Small as the number of inhabitants _is_, yet their poverty is extreme."--_Id._ "The number of the names _was_ about one hundred and twenty."--_Ware and Acts cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XVI AND ITS NOTES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF--THE VERB AFTER JOINT NOMINATIVES. "So much ability and [so much] merit _are_ seldom found."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "The _etymology and syntax_ of the language _are_ thus spread before the learner."--_Bullions cor._ "Dr. Johnson tells us, that, in English poetry, the accent and the quantity of syllables _are_ the same thing."--_Adams cor._ "Their general scope and tendency, having never been clearly apprehended, _are_ not remembered at all."--_L. Murray cor._ "The soil and sovereignty _were_ not purchased of the natives."--_Knapp cor._ "The boldness, freedom, and variety, of our blank verse, _are_ infinitely more favourable to _sublimity of style_, than [are the constraint and uniformity of] rhyme."--_Blair cor._ "The vivacity and sensibility of the Greeks _seem_ to have been much greater than ours."--_Id._ "For sometimes the mood and tense _are_ signified by the verb, sometimes they are signified of the verb by something else."--_R. Johnson cor._ "The verb and the noun making a complete sense, _whereas_ the participle and the noun _do_ not."--_Id._ "The growth and decay of passions and emotions, traced through all their mazes, _are_ a subject too extensive for an undertaking like the present."--_Kames cor._ "The true meaning and etymology of some of his words _were_ lost."--_Knight cor._ "When the force and direction of personal satire _are_ no longer understood."--_Junius cor._ "The frame and condition of man _admit_ of no other principle."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Some considerable time and care _were_ necessary."--_Id._ "In consequence of this idea, much ridicule and censure _have_ been thrown upon Milton."--_Blair cor._ "With rational beings, nature and reason _are_ the same thing."--_Collier cor._ "And the flax and the barley _were_ smitten."--_Bible cor._ "The colon and semicolon _divide_ a period; this with, and that without, a connective."--_Ware cor._ "Consequently, wherever space and time _are_ found, there God must also be."--_Newton cor._ "As the past tense and perfect participle of LOVE _end_ in ED, it is regular."--_Chandler cor._ "But the usual arrangement and nomenclature _prevent_ this from being readily seen."--_N. Butler cor._ "_Do_ and _did_ simply _imply_ opposition or emphasis."--_A. Murray cor._ "_I_ and _an other_ make the plural WE; _thou_ and _an other are equivalent to_ YE; _he, she_, or _it_, and _an other_, make THEY."--_Id._ "_I_ and _an other_ or _others are_ the same as WE, the first person plural; _thou_ and _an other_ or _others are_ the same as YE, the second person plural; _he, she_, or _it_, and _an other_ or _others, are_ the same as THEY, the third person plural."--_Buchanan and Brit. Gram. cor._ "God and thou _are_ two, and thou and thy neighbour are two."--_Love Conquest cor._ "Just as AN and A _have_ arisen out of the numeral ONE."--_Fowler cor._ "The tone and style of _all_ of them, particularly _of_ the first and the last, _are_ very different."--_Blair cor._ "Even as the roebuck and the hart _are_ eaten."--_Bible cor._ "Then I may conclude that two and three _do not make_ five."--_Barclay cor._ "Which, at sundry times, thou and thy brethren _have_ received from us."--_Id._ "Two and two _are_ four, and one is five:" i, e., "and _one, added to four, is five_."--_Pope cor._ "Humility and knowledge with poor apparel, _excel_ pride and ignorance under costly array."--See _Murray's Key_, Rule 2d. "A page and a half _have_ been added to the section on composition."--_Bullions cor._ "Accuracy and expertness in this exercise _are_ an important acquisition."--_Id._ "Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale _proclaim_ thy blessing." Or thus:-- "Hill and _valley_ boast thy blessing."--_Milton cor._ UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE VERB BEFORE JOINT NOMINATIVES. "There _are_ a good and a bad, a right and a wrong, in taste, as in other things."--_Blair cor._ "Whence _have_ arisen much stiffness and affectation."--_Id._ "To this error, _are_ owing, in a great measure, that intricacy and [that] harshness, in his figurative language, which I before _noticed_."--_Blair and Jamieson cor._ "Hence, in his Night Thoughts, there _prevail_ an obscurity and _a_ hardness _of_ style."--_Blair cor._ See _Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 167. "There _are_, however, in that work, much good sense and excellent criticism."--_Blair cor._ "There _are_ too much low wit and scurrility in Plautus." Or: "There _is, in Plautus_, too much _of_ low wit and scurrility."--_Id._ "There _are_ too much reasoning and refinement, too much pomp and studied beauty, in them." Or: "There _is_ too much _of_ reasoning and refinement, too much _of_ pomp and studied beauty, in them."--_Id._ "Hence _arise_ the structure and characteristic expression of exclamation."--_Rush cor._ "And such pilots _are_ he and his brethren, according to their own confession."--_Barclay cor._ "Of whom _are_ Hymeneus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred."--_Bible cor._ "Of whom _are_ Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan."--_Id._ "And so _were_ James and John, the sons of Zebedee."--_Id._ "Out of the same mouth, _proceed_ blessing and cursing."--_Id._ "Out of the mouth of the Most High, _proceed_ not evil and good."--_Id._ "In which there _are_ most plainly a right and a wrong."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "In this sentence, there _are_ both an actor and an object."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "In the breastplate, _were_ placed the mysterious Urim and Thummim."--_Milman cor._ "What _are_ the gender, number, and person, _of the pronoun_[541] in the first _example_?"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "There _seem_ to be a familiarity and _a_ want of dignity in it."--_Priestley cor._ "It has been often asked, what _are_ Latin and Greek?"--_Lit. Journal cor._ "For where _do_ beauty and high wit, But in your constellation, meet?"--_Sam. Butler cor._ "Thence to the land where _flow_ Ganges and Indus."--_Milton cor._ "On these foundations, _seem_ to rest the midnight riot and dissipation of modern assemblies."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "But what _have_ disease, deformity, and filth, upon which the thoughts can be allured to dwell?"--_Dr. Johnson cor._ "How _are_ the gender and number of the relative known?"--_Bullions cor._ "High rides the sun, thick rolls the dust, And feebler _speed_ the blow and thrust."--_Scott cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--CHANGE THE CONNECTIVE. "In every language, there prevails a certain structure, _or_ analogy of parts, which is understood to give foundation to the most reputable usage."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "There runs through his whole manner a stiffness, _an_ affectation, which renders him [Shaftsbury] very unfit to be considered a general model."--_Id._ "But where declamation _for_ improvement in speech is the sole aim."--_Id._ "For it is by these, chiefly, that the train of thought, the course of reasoning, the whole progress of the mind, in continued discourse of _any kind_, is laid open."--_Lowth cor._ "In all writing and discourse, the proper composition _or_ structure of sentences is of the highest importance."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Here the wishful _and expectant_ look of the beggar naturally leads to a vivid conception of that which was the object of his thoughts."--_Campbell cor._ "Who say, that the outward naming of Christ, _with the sign of_ the cross, puts away devils."--_Barclay cor._ "By which an oath _with a_ penalty was to be imposed _on_ the members."--_Junius cor._ "Light, _or_ knowledge, in what manner soever afforded us, is equally from God."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "For instance, sickness _or_ untimely death is the consequence of intemperance."--_Id._ "When grief _or_ blood ill-tempered _vexeth_ him." Or: "When grief, _with_ blood ill-tempered, _vexes_ him"--_Shak. cor._ "Does continuity, _or_ connexion, create sympathy and relation in the parts of the body?"--_Collier cor._ "His greatest concern, _his_ highest enjoyment, was, to be approved in the sight of his Creator."--_L. Murray cor._ "Know ye not that there is[542] a prince, a great man, fallen this day in Israel?"--_Bible cor._ "What is vice, _or_ wickedness? No rarity, you may depend on it."--_Collier cor._ "There is also the fear _or_ apprehension of it."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The apostrophe _with s_ (_'s_) is an abbreviation for _is_, the termination of the old English genitive."--_Bullions cor._ "_Ti, ce_, OR _ci_, when followed by a vowel, usually has the sound of _sh_; as in _partial, ocean, special_."--_Weld cor._ "Bitter constraint _of_ sad occasion dear Compels me to disturb your season due."--_Milton cor._ "_Debauch'ry, or_ excess, though with less noise, As great a portion of mankind destroys."--_Waller cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--AFFIRMATION WITH NEGATION. "Wisdom, and not wealth, _procures_ esteem."--_Inst., Key_, p. 272. "Prudence, and not pomp, _is_ the basis of his fame."--_Ib._ "Not fear, but labour _has_ overcome him."--_Ib._ "The decency, and not the abstinence, _makes_ the difference."--_Ib._ "Not her beauty, but her talents _attract_ attention."--_Ib._ "It is her talents, and not her beauty, _that attract_ attention."--_Ib._ "It is her beauty, and not her talents, _that attracts_ attention."--_Ib._ "His belly, not his brains, this impulse _gives_: He'll grow immortal; for he cannot live." Or thus:-- "His _bowels_, not his brains, this impulse give: He'll grow immortal; for he cannot live."--_Young cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--AS WELL AS, BUT, OR SAVE. "Common sense, as well as piety, _tells_ us these are proper."--_Fam. Com. cor._ "For without it the critic, as well as the undertaker, ignorant of any rule, _has_ nothing left but to abandon _himself_ to chance."--_Kames cor._ "And accordingly hatred, as well as love, _is_ extinguished by long absence'."--_Id._ "But at every turn the richest melody, as well as the sublimest sentiments, _is_ conspicuous."--_Id._ "But it, as well as the lines immediately subsequent, _defies_ all translation."--_Coleridge cor._ "But their religion, as well as their customs and manners, _was_ strangely misrepresented."--_Bolingbroke, on History_, Paris Edition of 1808, p. 93. "But his jealous policy, as well as the fatal antipathy of Fonseca, _was_ conspicuous."--_Robertson cor._ "When their extent, as well as their value, _was_ unknown."--_Id._ "The etymology, as well as the syntax, of the more difficult parts of speech, _is_ reserved for his attention at a later period."--_Parker and Fox cor._ "What I myself owe to him, no one but myself _knows_."--_Wright cor._ "None, but thou, O mighty prince! _can_ avert the blow."--_Inst., Key_, p. 272. "Nothing, but frivolous amusements, _pleases_ the indolent."--_Ib._ "Nought, save the gurglings of the rill, _was_ heard."--_G. B._ "All songsters, save the hooting owl, _were_ mute."--_G. B._ UNDER NOTE IV.--EACH, EVERY, OR NO. "Give every word, and every member, _its_ due weight and force."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 316. "And to one of these _belongs_ every noun, and every third person of every verb."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "No law, no restraint, no regulation, _is_ required to keep him _within_ bounds."--_Lit. Journal cor._ "By that time, every window and every door in the street _was_ full of heads."--_Observer cor._ "Every system of religion, and every school of philosophy, _stands_ back from this field, and _leaves_ Jesus Christ alone, the solitary example." Or: "_All systems_ of religion, and _all schools_ of philosophy, _stand_ back from this field, and _leave_ Jesus Christ alone, the solitary example."--_Abbott cor._ "Each day, and each hour, _brings its_ portion of duty."--_Inst., Key_, p. 272. "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, _resorted_ unto him."--_Bible cor._ "Every private Christian, _every_ member of the church, ought to read and peruse the Scriptures, that _he_ may know _his_ faith and belief _to be_ founded upon them."--_Barclay cor._ "And every mountain and _every_ island was moved out of _its place_."--_Bible cor._ "No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, No cavern'd hermit _rests_ self-satisfied."--_Pope_. UNDER NOTE V.--WITH, OR, &c., FOR AND. "The _sides_, A, B, _and_ C, compose the triangle."--_Tobitt, Felch_, and _Ware cor._ "The stream, the rock, _and_ the tree, must each of them stand forth, so as to make a figure in the imagination."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "While this, with euphony, _constitutes_, finally, the whole."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "The bag, with the guineas and dollars in it, _was_ stolen."--_Cobbett cor._ "Sobriety, with great industry and talent, _enables_ a man to perform great deeds." Or: "Sobriety, industry, and talent, _enable_ a man to perform great deeds."--_Id._ "The _it_, together with the verb, _expresses a state_ of being."--_Id._ "Where Leonidas the Spartan king, _and_ his chosen band, fighting for their country, were cut off to the last man."--_Kames cor._. "And Leah also, and _her_ children, came near and bowed themselves."--_Bible cor._ "The First _and_ the Second will either of them, by _itself_, coalesce with the Third, but _they do_ not _coalesce_ with each other."--_Harris cor._ "The whole must centre in the query, whether Tragedy _and_ Comedy are hurtful and dangerous representations."--_Formey cor._ "_Both_ grief _and_ joy are infectious: the emotions _which_ they raise in the spectator, resemble them perfectly."--_Kames cor._ "But, in all other words, the _q and u_ are both sounded."--_Ensell cor._ "_Q and u_ (which are always together) have the sound of _kw_, as in _queen_; or _of k only_, as in _opaque_." Or, better: "_Q_ has always the sound of _k_; and the _u_ which follows it, that of _w_; except in French words, in which the _u_ is silent."--_Goodenow cor._ "In this selection, the _a and i_ form distinct syllables."--_Walker cor._ "And a considerable village, with gardens, fields, &c., _extends_ around on each side of the square."--_Lib. cor._ "Affection _and_ interest guide our notions and behaviour in the affairs of life; imagination and passion affect the sentiments that we entertain in matters of taste."--_Jamieson cor._ "She heard none of those intimations of her defects, which envy, petulance, _and_ anger, produce among children."--_Johnson cor._ "The King, Lords, and Commons, constitute an excellent form of government."--_Crombie et al. cor._ "If we say, 'I am the man who commands you,' the relative clause, with the antecedent _man, forms_ the predicate."--_Crombie cor._ "The spacious firmament on high, The blue ethereal _vault_ of sky, And spangled heav'ns, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim."--_Addison cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTIONS. "There _are_ a reputable and a disreputable practice." Or: "There is a reputable, and _there is_ a disreputable practice."--_Adams cor._ "This _man_ and this _were_ born in her."--_Milton cor._ "This _man_ and that _were_ born in her."--_Bible cor._ "This and that man _were_ born there."--_Hendrick cor._ "Thus _le_ in _l~ego_, and _le_ in _l=egi_, seem to be sounded equally long."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "A distinct and an accurate articulation _form_ the groundwork of good delivery." Or: "A distinct and accurate articulation _forms_ the groundwork of good delivery."--_Kirkham cor._ "How _are_ vocal and written language understood?"--_Sanders cor._ "The good, the wise, and the learned man, _are ornaments_ to human society." Or: "The good, wise, and learned man is an ornament to human society."--_Bartlett cor._ "_In_ some points, the expression of song and _that of_ speech _are_ identical."--_Rush cor._ "To every room, there _were_ an open and _a_ secret passage."--_Johnson cor._ "There _are_ such _things as a true_ and _a_ false taste; and the latter _as_ often directs fashion, _as_ the former."--_Webster cor._ "There _are_ such _things_ as a prudent and an imprudent institution of life, with regard to our health and our affairs."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The lot of the outcasts of Israel, and _that of_ the dispersed of Judah, however different in one respect, have in an other corresponded with wonderful exactness."--_Hope of Israel cor._ "On these final syllables, the radical and _the_ vanishing movement _are_ performed."--_Rush cor._ "To be young or old, _and to be_ good, just, or the contrary, are physical or moral events."--_Spurzheim cor., and Felch._ "The eloquence of George Whitfield and _that_ of John Wesley _were_ very different _in_ character each from the other."--_Dr. Sharp cor._ "The affinity of _m_ for the series _beginning with b_, and _that_ of _n_ for the series _beginning with t_, give occasion for other euphonic changes."--_Fowler cor._ "Pylades' soul, and mad Orestes', _were_ In these, if _right the Greek philosopher_." Or thus:-- "Pylades' and Orestes' soul _did pass To_ these, if we believe Pythagoras." Or, without ellipsis:-- "Pylades and Orestes' _souls_ did pass To these, if we believe Pythagoras."--_Cowley corrected._ UNDER NOTE VII.--DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES. "To be moderate in our views, and to proceed temperately in the pursuit of them, _are_ the best _ways_ to ensure success."--_L. Murray cor._ "To be of any species, and to have a right to the name of that species, _are both_ one."--_Locke cor._ "With whom, to will, and to do, _are_ the same."--_Dr. Jamieson cor._ "To profess, and to possess, _are_ very different things."--_Inst., Key_, p. 272. "To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, _are_ duties of universal obligation."--_Ib._ "To be round or square, to be solid or fluid, to be large or small, and to be moved swiftly or slowly, _are_ all equally alien from the nature of thought."--_Dr. Johnson._ "The resolving of a sentence into its elements, or parts of speech, and [_a_] stating [_of_] the accidents which belong to these, _are_ called PARSING." Or, according to Note 1st above: "The resolving of a sentence into its elements, or parts of speech, _with_ [a] stating [of] the accidents which belong to these, _is_ called PARSING."--_Bullions cor._ "To spin and to weave, to knit and to sew, _were_ once a girl's _employments_; but now, to dress, and _to_ catch a beau, _are_ all she calls _enjoyments_."--_Kimball cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XVII AND ITS NOTES. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY OR. "We do not know in what either reason or instinct _consists_."--_Johnson corrected._ "A noun or a pronoun joined with a participle, _constitutes_ a nominative case absolute."--_Bicknell cor._ "The relative will be of that case which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, _uses_ to govern:" or,--"usually _governs_."--_Adam, Gould, et al., cor._ "In the different modes of pronunciation, which habit or caprice _gives_ rise to."--_Knight cor._ "By which he, or his deputy, _was_ authorized to cut down any trees in Whittlebury forest."--_Junius cor._ "Wherever objects were named, in which sound, noise, or motion, _was_ concerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The pleasure or pain resulting from a train of perceptions in different circumstances, _is_ a beautiful contrivance of nature for valuable purposes."--_Kames cor._ "Because their foolish vanity, or their criminal ambition, _represents_ the principles by which they are influenced, as absolutely perfect."--_D. Boileau cor._ "Hence naturally _arises_ indifference or aversion between the parties."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "A penitent unbeliever, or an impenitent believer, _is a character nowhere_ to be found."--_Tract cor._ "Copying whatever is peculiar in the talk of all those whose birth or fortune _entitles_ them to imitation."--_Johnson cor._ "Where love, hatred, fear, or contempt, _is_ often of decisive influence."--_Duncan cor._ "A lucky anecdote, or an enlivening tale, _relieves_ the folio page."--_D'Israeli cor._ "For outward matter or event _fashions_ not the character within." Or: (according to the antique style of this modern book of proverbs:)--"_fashioneth_ not the character within."--_Tupper cor._ "Yet sometimes we have seen that wine, or chance, _has_ warmed cold brains."--_Dryden cor._ "Motion is a genus; flight, a species; this flight or that flight _is an individual_."--_Harris cor._ "When _et, aut, vel, sive_, or _nec, is repeated before_ different members of the same sentence."--_Adam, Gould, and Grant, cor._ "Wisdom or folly _governs_ us."--_Fisk cor._ "_A_ or _an is_ styled _the_ indefinite article"--_Folker cor._ "A rusty nail, or a crooked pin, _shoots_ up into _a prodigy_."--_Spect. cor._ "_Is_ either the subject or the predicate in the second sentence modified?"--_Prof. Fowler cor._ "Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, _Is_ lost on hearers that our merits know."--_Pope cor._ UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY NOR. "Neither he nor she _has_ spoken to him."--_Perrin cor._ "For want of a process of events, neither knowledge nor elegance _preserves_ the reader from weariness."--_Johnson cor._ "Neither history nor tradition _furnishes_ such information."--_Robertson cor._ "Neither the form nor _the_ power of the liquids _has_ varied materially."--_Knight cor._ "Where neither noise nor motion _is_ concerned."--_Blair cor._ "Neither Charles nor his brother _was_ qualified to support such a system."--_Junius cor._ "When, therefore, neither the liveliness of representation, nor the warmth of passion _serves_, as it were, to cover the trespass, it is not safe to leave the beaten track."--_Campbell cor._ "In many countries called Christian, neither Christianity, nor its evidence, _is_ fairly laid before men."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Neither the intellect nor the heart _is_ capable of being driven."--_Abbott cor._ "Throughout this hymn, neither Apollo nor Diana _is_ in any way connected with the Sun or Moon."--_Coleridge cor._ "Of which, neither he, nor this grammar, _takes_ any notice."--_R. Johnson cor._ "Neither their solicitude nor their foresight _extends_ so far."--_Robertson cor._ "Neither Gomara, nor Oviedo, nor Herrera, _considers_ Ojeda, or his companion Vespucci, as the first _discoverer_ of the continent of America."--_Id._ "Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms, _has_ been thought worthy of a moment's consideration."--_Junius cor._ "Nor war nor wisdom _yields_ our Jews delight, They will not study, and they dare not fight."--_Crabbe cor._ "Nor time nor chance _breeds_ such confusions yet, Nor are the mean so rais'd, nor sunk the great."--_Rowe cor._ UNDER NOTE I.--NOMINATIVES THAT DISAGREE. "The definite article, _the_, designates what particular thing or things _are_ meant."--_Merchant cor._ "Sometimes a word, or _several_ words, necessary to complete the grammatical construction of a sentence, _are_ not expressed, but _are_ omitted by ellipsis."--_Burr cor._ "Ellipsis, (better, _Ellipses_,) or abbreviations, _are_ the wheels of language."--_Maunder cor._ "The conditions or tenor of none of them _appears_ at this day." Or: "The _tenor or conditions_ of none of them _appear_ at this day."-- _Hutchinson cor._ "Neither men nor money _was_ wanting for the service." Or: "Neither _money nor men were_ wanting for the service."--_Id._ "Either our own feelings, or the representation of those of others, _requires_ emphatic distinction _to be frequent_."--_Dr. Barber cor._ "Either Atoms and Chance, or Nature, _is_ uppermost: now I am for the latter part of the disjunction."--_Collier cor._ "Their riches or poverty _is_ generally proportioned to their activity or indolence."--_Cox cor._ "Concerning the other part of him, neither _he nor you_ seem to have entertained an idea."--_Horne cor._ "Whose earnings or income _is_ so small."--_Discip. cor._ "Neither riches nor fame _renders_ a man happy."--_Day cor._ "The references to the pages always point to the first volume, unless the Exercises or Key _is_ mentioned." Or, better:--"unless _mention is made of_ the Exercises or Key." Or: "unless the Exercises or Key _be named_."--_L. Murray cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--COMPLETE THE CONCORD. "My lord, you wrong my father; _neither is_ he, nor _am_ I, capable of harbouring a thought against your peace."--_Walpole cor._ "There was no division of acts; _there were_ no pauses, or _intervals, in the performance_; but the stage was continually full; occupied either by the actors, or _by_ the chorus."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Every word ending in _b, p_, or _f, is_ of this order, as also _are_ many _that end_ in _v_."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "Proud as we are of human reason, nothing can be more absurd than _is_ the general system of human life and human knowledge."-- _Bolingbroke cor._ "By which the body of sin and death is done away, and we _are_ cleansed."--_Barclay_ cor. "And those were already converted, and regeneration _was_ begun in them."--_Id._ "For I am an old man, and my wife _is_ well _advanced_ in years."--_Bible cor._ "Who is my mother? or _who are_ my brethren?"--See _Matt._, xii, 48. "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor _are_ the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering."-- _Bible cor._ "Information has been obtained, and some trials _have been_ made."--_Martineau cor._ "It is as obvious, and its causes _are_ more easily understood."--_Webster cor._ "All languages furnish examples of this kind, and the English _contains_ as many as any other."--_Priestley cor._ "The winters are long, and the cold _is_ intense."--_Morse cor._ "How have I hated instruction, and _how hath_ my heart despised reproof!"--_Prov. cor._ "The vestals were abolished by Theodosius the Great, and the fire of Vesta _was_ extinguished."--_Lempriere cor._ "Riches beget pride; pride _begets_ impatience."--_Bullions cor._ "Grammar is not reasoning, any more than organization is thought, or letters _are_ sounds."--_Enclytica cor._ "Words are implements, and grammar _is_ a machine."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE III.--PLACE OF THE FIRST PERSON. "_Thou or I_ must undertake the business."--_L. Murray cor._ "_He and I_ were there."--_Ash cor._ "And we dreamed a dream in one night, _he and I_."--_Bible cor._ "If my views remain the same as _his and mine_ were in 1833."--_Goodell cor._ "_My father and I_ were riding out."--_Inst., Key_, p. 273. "The premiums were given to _George and me_."--_Ib._ "_Jane and I_ are invited."--_Ib._ "They ought to invite _my sister and me_."--_Ib._ "_You and I_ intend to go."--_Guy cor._ "_John and I_ are going to town."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "_He and I are_ sick."--_James Brown cor._ "_Thou and I_ are well."--_Id._ "_He and I are_."--_Id._ "_Thou and I are_."--_Id._ "_He, and I write_."--_Id._ "_They and I_ are well."--_Id._ "_She, and thou, and I_, were walking."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE IV.--DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES. "To practise tale-bearing, or even to countenance it, _is_ great injustice."--_Inst., Key_, p. 273. "To reveal secrets, or to betray one's friends, _is_ contemptible perfidy."--_Id._ "To write all substantives with capital letters, or to exclude _capitals_ from adjectives derived from proper names, may perhaps be thought _an offence_ too small for animadversion; but the evil of innovation is always something."--_Dr. Barrow cor._ "To live in such families, or to have such servants, _is a blessing_ from God."--_Fam. Com. cor._ "How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, _or_ what wars they maintained, _is_ utterly unknown." Or: "How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, _and_ what wars they maintained, _are things_ utterly unknown."--_Goldsmith cor._ "To speak or to write perspicuously and agreeably, _is an attainment_ of the utmost consequence to all who purpose, either by speech or _by_ writing, to address the public."--_Dr. Blair cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--MAKE THE VERBS AGREE. "Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and _go_ into the mountains, and _seek_ that which is gone astray?"--_Bible cor._ "Did he not fear the Lord, and _beseech_ the Lord, and _did not_ the Lord _repent_ of the evil which he had pronounced?"--_Id._ "And dost thou open thine eyes upon such _a_ one, and _bring_ me into judgement with thee?"--_Id._ "If any man among you _seemeth_ to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."--_Id._ "If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or _buy_ aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one an other."--_Id._ "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee, _become_ poor, and be sold to thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant."--_Id._ "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there _remember_ that thy brother hath aught against thee," &c.--_Id._ "Anthea was content to call a coach, and _so to cross_ the brook." Or:--"and _in that she crossed_ the brook."--_Johnson cor._ "It is either totally suppressed, or _manifested only_ in its lowest and most imperfect form."--_Blair cor._ "But if any man _is_ a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." Or: "If any man _be_ a worshiper of God, and _do_ his will, him _will_ he _hear_."--_Bible cor._ "Whereby his righteousness and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and _are made_ ours."--_Barclay cor._ "Who ought to have been here before thee, and _to have objected_, if they had _any thing_ against me."--_Bible cor._ "Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land, shall see, That man _has_ yet a soul, and _dares_ be free."--_Campbell cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--USE SEPARATE NOMINATIVES. "_H_ is only an aspiration, or breathing; and sometimes, at the beginning of a word, _it_ is not sounded at all."--_Lowth cor._ "Man was made for society, and _he_ ought to extend his good will to all men."--_Id._ "There is, and must be, a Supreme Being, of infinite goodness, power, and wisdom, who created, and _who_ supports them."--_Beattie cor._ "Were you not affrighted, and _did you not mistake_ a spirit for a body?"--_Bp. Watson cor._ "The latter noun or pronoun is not governed by the conjunction _than_ or _as_, but _it either_ agrees with the verb, or is governed by the verb or the preposition, expressed or understood."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "He had mistaken his true _interest_, and _he_ found himself forsaken."--_Murray cor._ "The amputation was exceedingly well performed, and _it_ saved the patient's life."--_Id._ "The intentions of some of these philosophers, nay, of many, might have been, and probably _they_ were, good."--_Id._ "This may be true, and yet _it_ will not justify the practice."--_Webster cor._ "From the practice of those who have had a liberal education, and _who_ are therefore presumed to be best acquainted with men and things."--_Campbell cor._ "For those energies and bounties which created, and _which_ preserve, the universe."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "I shall make it once for all, and _I_ hope it will be remembered."--_Blair cor._ "This consequence is drawn too abruptly. _The argument_ needed more explanation." Or: "This consequence is drawn too abruptly, and _without sufficient_ explanation."--_Id._ "They must be used with more caution, and _they_ require more preparation."--_Id._ "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_, which was formerly inserted, and _which_ made an addition of a syllable to the word."--_Priestley cor._ "The succession may be rendered more various or more uniform, but, in one shape or an other, _it_ is unavoidable."--_Kames cor._ "It excites neither terror nor compassion; nor is _it_ agreeable in any respect."--_Id._ "Cheap vulgar arts, whose narrowness affords No flight for thoughts,--_they_ poorly stick at words."--_Denham cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT STYLES. "Let us read the living page, whose every character _delights_ and instructs us."--_Maunder cor._ "For if it _is_ in any degree obscure, it puzzles, and _does_ not please."--_Kames cor._ "When a speaker _addresses_ himself to the understanding, he proposes the instruction of his hearers."--_Campbell cor._ "As the wine which strengthens and _refreshes_ the heart."--_H. Adams cor._ "This truth he _wraps_ in an allegory, and feigns that one of the goddesses had taken up her abode with the other."--_Pope cor._ "God searcheth and _understandeth_ the heart." Or: "God _searches_ and _understands_ the heart."--_T. a. Kempis cor._ "The grace of God, that _bringeth_ salvation, hath appeared to all men."--_Titus_, ii, 11. "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom _teacheth_, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."--_1 Cor._, ii, 13. "But he _has_ an objection, which he _urges_, and by which he thinks to overturn all."--_Barclay cor._ "In that it gives them not that comfort and joy which it _gives to_ them who love it."--_Id._ "Thou here misunderstood the place and _misapplied_ it." Or: "Thou here _misunderstoodst_ the place and _misappliedst_ it."--_Id._ Or: (as many of our grammarians will have it:) "Thou here _misunderstoodest_ the place and _misappliedst_ it."--_Id._ "Like the barren heath in the desert, which knoweth not when good _cometh_."--See _Jer._, xvii, 6. "It _speaks_ of the time past, _and shows_ that something was then doing, but not quite finished."--_Devis cor._ "It subsists in spite of them; it _advances_ unobserved."--_Pascal cor._ "But where is he, the pilgrim of my song?-- Methinks he _lingers_ late and tarries long."--_Byron cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--CONFUSION OF MOODS. "If a man _have_ a hundred sheep, and one of them _go_ (or _be gone_) astray," &c.--_Matt._, xviii, 12. Or: "If a man _has_ a hundred sheep, and one of them _goes_ (or _is gone_) astray," &c. Or: "If a man _hath_ a hundred sheep, and one of them _goeth_ (or _is gone_) astray," &c.--_Kirkham cor._ "As a speaker _advances_ in his discourse, and _increases_ in energy and earnestness, a higher and a louder tone will naturally steal upon him."--_Id._ "If one man _esteem one_ day above an other, and an other _esteem_ every day alike; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."--_Barclay cor._ See _Rom._, xiv, 5. "If there be but one body of legislators, it _will be_ no better than a tyranny; if there _be_ only two, there will want a casting voice."--_Addison cor._ "Should you come up this way, and I _be_ still here, you need not be assured how glad I _should_ be to see you."--_Byron cor._ "If he repent and _become_ holy, let him enjoy God and heaven."--_Brownson cor._ "If thy fellow approach thee, naked and destitute, and thou _say_ unto him, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' and yet _thou give_ him not those things _which_ are needful to him, what benevolence is there in thy conduct?"--_Kirkham cor._ "Get on your nightgown, lest occasion _call_ us, And _show_ us to be watchers."--_Singer's Shakspeare_. "But if it _climb_, with your assisting _hand_, The Trojan walls, and in the city _stand_."--_Dryden cor._ ----------------"Though Heaven's King _Ride_ on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers, Used to the yoke, _draw_ his triumphant wheels."--_Milton cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--IMPROPER ELLIPSES. "Indeed we have seriously wondered that Murray should leave some things as he has _left them_."--_Reporter cor._ "Which they neither have _done_ nor can do."--_Barclay cor._ "The Lord hath _revealed_, and doth and will reveal, his will to his people; and hath _raised up_, and doth raise up, members of his body," &c.--_Id._ "We see, then, that the Lord hath _given_, and doth give, such."--_Id._ "Towards those that have _declared_, or do declare, themselves members."--_Id._ "For which we can _give_, and have given, our sufficient reasons."--_Id._ "When we mention the several properties of the different words in sentences, as we have _mentioned_ those of _the word William's_ above, what is the exercise called?"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "It is however to be doubted, whether this Greek idiom ever has _obtained_, or _ever_ will obtain, extensively, in English."--_Nutting cor._ "Why did not the Greeks and Romans abound in auxiliary words as much as we _do_?"--_Murray cor._ "Who delivers his sentiments in earnest, as they ought to be _delivered_ in order to move and persuade."--_Kirkham cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--DO, USED AS A SUBSTITUTE. "And I would avoid it altogether, if it could be _avoided_." Or: "I would avoid it altogether, if _to avoid_ it _were practicable_."--_Kames cor._ "Such a sentiment from a man expiring of his wounds, is truly heroic; and _it_ must elevate the mind to the greatest height _to which it can be raised_ by a single expression."--_Id._ "Successive images, _thus_ making deeper and deeper impressions, must elevate _the mind_ more than any single image can."--_Id._ "Besides making a deeper impression than can be _made_ by cool reasoning."--_Id._ "Yet a poet, by the force of genius alone, _may_ rise higher than a public speaker _can_." Or:--"than _can_ a public speaker."--_Blair cor._ "And the very same reason that has induced several grammarians to go so far as they have _gone_, should have induced them to go farther."--_Priestley cor._ "The pupil should commit the first section _to memory_ perfectly, before he _attempts_ (or _enters upon_) the second part of grammar."--_Bradley cor._ "The Greek _ch_ was pronounced hard, as we now _pronounce it_ in _chord_."--_Booth cor._ "They pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they _adopt_ (or, in a _manner different_ from _that which_ they _are accustomed to use_) at other times."--_L. Murray cor._ "And give him the _cool and formal_ reception that Simon had _given_."--_Scott cor._ "I do not say, as some have _said_."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "If he suppose the first, he _may_ the last."--_Barclay cor._ "Who are now despising Christ in his inward appearance, as the Jews of old _despised_ him in his outward [advent]."--_Id._ "That text of Revelations must not be understood as he _understands_ it."--_Id._ "Till the mode of parsing the noun is so familiar to him that he can _parse_ it readily."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "Perhaps it is running the same course _that_ Rome had _run_ before."--_Middleton cor._ "It ought even on this ground to be avoided; _and it_ easily _may be_, by a different construction."--_Churchill cor._ "These two languages are now pronounced in England as no other nation in Europe _pronounces them_."--_Creighton cor._ "Germany ran the same risk that Italy had _run_."--_Bolingbroke, Murray, et al., cor._ UNDER NOTE XI.--PRETERITS AND PARTICIPLES. "The beggars themselves will be _broken_ in a trice."--_Swift cor._ "The hoop is _hoisted_ above his nose."--_Id._ "And _his_ heart was _lifted_ up in the ways of the Lord."--_2 Chron._, xvii, 6. "Who sin so oft have mourned, Yet to temptation _run_."--_Burns cor._ "Who would not have let them _appear_."--_Steele cor._ "He would have had you _seek_ for ease at the hands of Mr. Legality."--_Bunyan cor._ "From me his madding mind is _turned: He woos_ the widow's daughter, of the glen."--_Spenser cor._ "The man has _spoken_, and _he_ still speaks."--_Ash cor._ "For you have but _mistaken_ me all this while."--_Shak. cor._ "And will you _rend_ our ancient love asunder?"--_Id._ "Mr. Birney has _pled_ (or _pleaded_) the inexpediency of passing such resolutions."--_Liberator cor._ "Who have _worn_ out their years in such most painful labours."--_Littleton cor._ "And in the conclusion you were _chosen_ probationer."--_Spectator cor._ "How she was lost, _ta'en_ captive, made a slave; And how against him set that should her save."--_Bunyan cor._ UNDER NOTE XII.--OF VERBS CONFOUNDED. "But Moses preferred to _while_ away his time."--_Parker cor._ "His face shone with the rays of the sun."--_John Allen cor._ "Whom they had _set_ at defiance so lately."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "And when he _had sat down_, his disciples came unto him."--_Bible cor._ "When he _had sat down_ on the judgement-seat." Or: "_While_ he _was sitting_ on the judgement-seat."-- _Id._ "And, _they having kindled_ a fire in the midst of the hall and _sat_ down together, Peter sat down among them."--_Id._ "So, after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and _had sat_ down again,[or, literally,'_sitting down again_,'] he said _to_ them, _Do_ ye _know_ what I have done to you?"--_Id._ "Even as I also overcame, and _sat_ down with my Father in his throne."--_Id._ Or: (rather less literally:) "Even as I _have overcome_, and _am sitting_ with my Father _on_ his throne."--_Id._ "We have such a high priest, who _sitteth_ on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."--_Id._ "And _is now sitting_ at the right hand of the throne of God."--_Id._ "He _set_ on foot a furious persecution."-- _Payne cor._ "There _lieth_ (or _lies_) an obligation upon the saints to help such."--_Barclay cor._ "There let him _lie_."--_Byron cor._ "Nothing but moss, and shrubs, and _stunted_ trees, can grow upon it."--_Morse cor._ "Who had _laid_ out considerable sums purely to distinguish themselves."-- _Goldsmith cor._ "Whereunto the righteous _flee_ and are safe."--_Barclay cor._ "He _rose_ from supper, and laid aside his garments."--_Id._ "Whither--_oh!_ whither--shall I _flee_?"--_L. Murray cor._ "_Fleeing_ from an adopted murderer."--_Id._ "To you I _flee_ for refuge."--_Id._ "The sign that should warn his disciples to _flee_ from _the_ approaching ruin."-- _Keith cor._ "In one she _sits_ as a prototype for exact imitation."--_Rush cor._ "In which some only bleat, bark, mew, _whinny_, and bray, a little better than others."--_Id._ "Who represented to him the unreasonableness of being _affected_ with such unmanly fears."--_Rollin cor._ "Thou _sawest_ every action." Or, familiarly: "Thou _saw_ every action."--_Guy cor._ "I taught, thou _taughtest_, or _taught_, he or she taught."--_Coar cor._ "Valerian was taken by Sapor and _flayed_ alive, A. D. 260."--_Lempriere cor._ "What a fine vehicle _has_ it now become, for all conceptions of the mind!"--_Blair cor._ "What _has_ become of so many productions?"--_Volney cor._ "What _has_ become of those ages of abundance and of life?"--_Keith cor._ "The Spartan admiral _had_ sailed to the Hellespont."--_Goldsmith cor._ "As soon as he _landed_, the multitude thronged about him."--_Id._ "Cyrus _had_ arrived at Sardis."--_Id._ "Whose year _had_ expired."--_Id._ "It _might_ better have been, 'that faction which,'" Or; "'That faction which,' _would_ have been better."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 157. "This people _has_ become a great nation."--_Murray and Ingersoll cor._ "And here we _enter_ the region of ornament."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The ungraceful parenthesis which follows, _might_ far better have been avoided." "Who forced him under water, and there held him until _he was drowned_."--_Hist. cor._ "I _would_ much rather be myself the slave, And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."--_Cowper cor._ UNDER NOTE XIII.--WORDS THAT EXPRESS TIME. "I _finished_ my letter _before_ my brother arrived." Or: "I _had finished_ my letter _when_ my brother arrived."--_Kirkham cor._ "I _wrote_ before I received his letter."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "From what _was formerly_ delivered."--_Id._ "Arts _were at length_ introduced among them." Or: "Arts _have been of late_ introduced among them."--_Id._ [But the latter reading suits not the Doctor's context.] "I am not of opinion that such rules _can be_ of much use, unless persons _see_ them exemplified." Or:--"_could be_," and "_saw_."--_Id._ "If we _use_ the noun itself, we _say_, (or _must say_,) 'This composition is John's.'" Or: "If we _used_ the noun itself, we _should say_," &c.--_L. Murray cor._ "But if the assertion _refer_ to something that _was transient_, or _to something that is not_ supposed to be _always the same_, the past tense must be preferred:" [as,] "They told him that Jesus of Nazareth _was passing_ by."--_Luke and L. Murray cor._ "There is no particular intimation but that I _have continued_ to work, even to the present moment."--_R. W. Green cor._ "Generally, as _has been_ observed already, it is but hinted in a single word or phrase."--_Campbell cor._ "The wittiness of the passage _has been_ already illustrated."--_Id._ "As was observed _before_."--_Id._ Or: "As _has been_ observed _already_"--_Id._ "It _has been_ said already in general _terms_."--_Id._ "As I hinted _before_."--_Id._ Or: "As I _have hinted already_."--_Id._ "What, I believe, was hinted once _before_."--_Id._ "It is obvious, as _was_ hinted formerly, that this is but an artificial and arbitrary connexion."--_Id._ "They _did_ anciently a great deal of hurt."-- _Bolingbroke cor._ "Then said Paul, I knew not, brethren, that he _was_ the high priest."--See _Acts_, xxiii, 5; _Webster cor._ "Most prepositions originally _denoted_ the _relations_ of place; and _from these_ they _were_ transferred, to denote, by similitude, other relations."--_Lowth and Churchill cor._ "His gift was but a poor offering, _in comparison with_ his _great_ estate."--_L. Murray cor._ "If he should succeed, and obtain his end, he _would_ not be the happier for it." Or, better: "If he _succeed_, and _fully attain_ his end, he will not be the happier for it."--_Id._ "These are torrents that swell to-day, and _that will_ have spent themselves by to-morrow."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Who have called that wheat _on one day_, which they have called tares _on the next_."--_Barclay cor._ "He thought it _was_ one of his tenants."--_Id._ "But if one went unto them from the dead, they _would_ repent."--_Bible cor._ "Neither _would_ they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."--_Id._ "But it is while men _sleep_, that the arch-enemy always _sows_ his tares."--_The Friend cor._ "Crescens would not _have failed_ to _expose_ him."--_Addison cor._ "Bent _is_ his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound; Fierce as he _moves_, his silver shafts resound."--_Pope cor._ UNDER NOTE XIV.--VERBS OF COMMANDING, &C. "Had I commanded you to _do_ this, you would have thought hard of it."--_G. B_. "I found him better than I expected to _find_ him."--_L Murray's Gram._, i, 187. "There are several smaller faults which I at first intended to _enumerate_."--_Webster cor._ "Antithesis, therefore, may, on many occasions, be employed to advantage, in order to strengthen the impression which we intend that any object _shall_ make."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The girl said, if her master would but have let her _have_ money, she might have been well long ago."--_Priestley et al. cor._ "Nor is there the least ground to fear that we _shall here_ be cramped within too narrow limits."--_Campbell cor._ "The Romans, flushed with success, expected to _retake_ it."--_Hooke cor._ "I would not have let _fall_ an unseasonable pleasantry in the venerable presence of Misery, to be entitled to all the wit that ever Rabelais scattered."--_Sterne cor._ "We expected that he _would arrive_ last night."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 282. "Our friends intended to _meet_ us."--_Ib._ "We hoped to _see_ you."--_Ib._ "He would not have been allowed to _enter_."--_Ib._ UNDER NOTE XV.--PERMANENT PROPOSITIONS. "Cicero maintained, that whatsoever _is_ useful _is_ good."--_G. B_. "I observed that love _constitutes_ the whole moral character of God."--_Dwight cor._ "Thinking that one _gains_ nothing by being a good man."--_Voltaire cor._ "I have already told you, that I _am_ a gentleman."--_Fontaine cor._ "If I should ask, whether ice and water _are_ two distinct species of things."--_Locke cor._ "A stranger to the poem would not easily discover that this _is_ verse."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, i, 260. "The doctor affirmed that fever always _produces_ thirst."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 282. "The ancients asserted, that virtue _is_ its own reward."--_Ib._ "They should not have repeated the error, of insisting that the infinitive _is_ a mere noun."--_Tooke cor._ "It was observed in Chap. III, that the distinctive OR _has_ a double use."--_Churchill cor._ "Two young gentlemen, who have made a discovery that there _is_ no God."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 206. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XVIII; INFINITIVES. INSTANCES DEMANDING THE PARTICLE TO. "William, please _to_ hand me that pencil."--_Smith cor._ "Please _to_ insert points so as to make sense."--_P. Davis cor._ "I have known lords _to_ abbreviate almost half of their words."--_Cobbett cor._ "We shall find the practice perfectly _to_ accord with the theory."--_Knight cor._ "But it would tend to obscure, rather than _to_ elucidate, the subject."--_L. Murray cor._ "Please _to_ divide it for them, as it should be _divided_"--_J. Willetts cor._ "So as neither to embarrass nor _to_ weaken the sentence."--_Blair and Mur. cor._ "Carry her to his table, to view his poor fare, and _to_ hear his heavenly discourse."--_Same_. "That we need not be surprised to find this _to_ hold [i.e., to find _the same to be true_, or to find _it so_] in eloquence."--_Blair cor._ "Where he has no occasion either to divide or _to_ explain" [_the topic in debate_.]--_Id._ "And they will find their pupils _to_ improve by hasty and pleasant steps."--_Russell cor._ "The teacher, however, will please _to_ observe," &c.--_Inf. S. Gr. cor._ "Please _to_ attend to a few rules in what is called syntax."--_Id._ "They may dispense with the laws, to favour their friends, or _to_ secure their office."--_Webster cor._ "To take back a gift, or _to_ break a contract, is a wanton abuse."--_Id._ "The legislature _has_ nothing to do, but _to_ let it bear its own price."--_Id._ "He is not to form, but _to_ copy characters."--_Rambler cor._ "I have known a woman _to_ make use of a shoeing-horn."--_Spect. cor._ "Finding this experiment _to_ answer, in every respect, their wishes."--_Day cor._ "In fine, let him cause his arrangement _to_ conclude in the term of the question."--_Barclay cor._ "That he permitted not the winds of heaven _To visit her_ too roughly." [Omit "_face_," to keep the measure: or say,] "That he _did never let_ the winds of heaven _Visit her face_ too roughly."--_Shak. cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE XIX.--OF INFINITIVES. Instances after Bid, Dare, Feel, Hear, Let, Make, Need, See. "I dare not proceed so hastily, lest I give offence."--See _Murray's Key_, Rule xii. "Their character is formed, and made _to_ appear."--_Butler cor._ "Let there be but matter and opportunity offered, and you shall see them quickly revive again."--_Bacon cor._ "It has been made _to_ appear, that there is no presumption against a revelation."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "MANIFEST, v. t. To reveal; to make appear; to show plainly."--_Webster cor._ "Let him reign, like good Aurelius, or let him bleed like _Seneca_:" [Socrates did not bleed, he was poisoned.]--_Kirkham's transposition of Pope cor._ "_Sing_ I could not; _complain_ I durst not."--_Fothergill cor._ "If T. M. be not so frequently heard _to_ pray by them."--_Barclay cor._ "How many of your own church members were never heard _to_ pray?"--_Id._ "Yea, we are bidden _to_ pray one for an other."--_Id._ "He was made _to_ believe that neither the king's death nor _his_ imprisonment would help him."--_Sheffield cor._ "I felt a chilling sensation creep over me."--_Inst._, p. 279. "I dare say he has not got home yet."--_Ib._ "We sometimes see bad men honoured."--_Ib._ "I saw him move"--_Felch cor._ "For see thou, ah! see thou, a hostile world its _terrors_ raise."--_Kirkham cor._ "But that he make him rehearse so."--_Lily cor._ "Let us rise."--_Fowle cor._ "Scripture, you know, exhorts us to it; It bids us 'seek peace, and ensue it.'"--_Swift cor._ "Who bade the mud from Dives' wheel _Bedash_ the rags of Lazarus? Come, brother, in that dust we'll kneel, Confessing heaven that ruled it thus."--_Christmas Book cor._ CHAPTER VII.--PARTICIPLES. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE XX. UNDER NOTE I.--EXPUNGE OF. "In forming his sentences, he was very exact."--_L. Murray_. "For not believing which, I condemn them."--_Barclay cor._ "To prohibit his hearers from reading that book."--_Id._ "You will please them exceedingly in crying down ordinances."--_Mitchell cor._ "The warwolf subsequently became an engine for casting stones." Or:--"for _the_ casting of stones."--_Cons. Misc. cor._ "The art of dressing hides and working in leather was practised."--_Id._ "In the choice they had made of him for restoring order."--_Rollin cor._ "The Arabians exercised themselves by composing orations and poems."--_Sale cor._ "Behold, the widow-woman was there, gathering sticks."--_Bible cor._ "The priests were busied in offering burnt-offerings."--_Id._ "But Asahel would not turn aside from following him."--_Id._ "He left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah."--_Id._ "Those who accuse us of denying it, belie us."--_Barclay cor._ "And breaking bread from house to house."--_Acts_, iv, 46. "Those that set about repairing the walls."--_Barclay cor._ "And secretly begetting divisions."--_Id._ "Whom he has made use of in gathering his church."--_Id._ "In defining and distinguishing the _acceptations_ and uses of those particles."--_W. Walker cor._ "In _making this a crime_, we overthrow The laws of nations and of nature too."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--ARTICLES REQUIRE OF. "The mixing _of_ them makes a miserable jumble of truth and fiction."--_Kames cor._ "The same objection lies against the employing _of_ statues."--_Id._ "More efficacious than the venting _of_ opulence upon the fine arts."--_Id._ "It is the giving _of_ different names to the same object."--_Id._ "When we have in view the erecting _of_ a column."--_Id._ "The straining _of_ an elevated subject beyond due bounds, is a vice not so frequent."--_Id._ "The cutting _of_ evergreens in the shape of animals, is very ancient."--_Id._ "The keeping _of_ juries without _meat_, drink, or fire, can be accounted for only on the same idea."--_Webster cor._ "The writing _of_ the verbs at length on his slate, will be a very useful exercise."--_Beck cor._ "The avoiding _of_ them is not an object of any moment."--_Sheridan cor._ "Comparison is the increasing or decreasing _of_ the signification of a word by degrees."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "Comparison is the increasing or decreasing _of_ the quality by degrees."--_Buchanan cor._ "The placing _of_ a circumstance before the word with which it is connected is the easiest of all inversion."--_Id._ "What is emphasis? It is the emitting _of_ a stronger and fuller sound of voice," &c.--_Bradley cor._ "Besides, the varying _of_ the terms will render the use of them more familiar."--_A. Mur. cor._ "And yet the confining _of_ themselves to this true principle, has misled them."--_Tooke cor._ "What is here commanded, is merely the relieving _of_ his misery."--_Wayland cor._ "The accumulating _of_ too great a quantity of knowledge at random, overloads the mind _in stead_ of adorning it."--_Formey cor._ "For the compassing _of_ his point."--_Rollin cor._ "To the introducing _of_ such an inverted order of things."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Which require only the doing _of_ an external action."--_Id._ "The imprisoning _of_ my body is to satisfy your wills."--_Fox cor._ "Who oppose the conferring _of_ such extensive command on one person."--_Duncan cor._ "Luxury contributed not a little to the enervating _of_ their forces."--_Sale cor._ "The keeping _of_ one day of the week for a sabbath."--_Barclay cor._ "The doing _of_ a thing is contrary to the forbearing of it."--_Id._ "The doubling _of_ the Sigma is, however, sometimes regular."--_Knight cor._ "The inserting _of_ the common aspirate too, is improper."--_Id._ "But in Spenser's time the pronouncing _of_ the _ed_ [as a separate syllable,] seems already to have been something of an archaism."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "And to the reconciling _of_ the effect of their verses on the eye."--_Id._ "When it was not in their power to hinder the taking _of_ the whole."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "He had indeed given the orders himself for the shutting _of_ the gates."--_Id._ "So his whole life was a doing _of_ the will of the Father."--_Penington cor._ "It signifies the suffering or receiving _of_ the action expressed."--_Priestley cor._ "The pretended crime therefore was the declaring _of_ himself to be the Son of God."--_West cor._ "Parsing is the resolving _of_ a sentence into its different parts of speech."--_Beck cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--ADJECTIVES REQUIRE OF. "There is _no_ expecting _of_ the admiration of beholders."--_Baxter cor._ "There is no hiding _of_ you in the house."--_Shak. cor._ "For the better regulating _of_ government in the province of Massachusetts."--_Brit. Parl. cor._ "The precise marking _of_ the shadowy boundaries of a complex government."--_Adams cor._ "This state of discipline requires the voluntary foregoing _of_ many things which we desire, and _the_ setting _of_ ourselves to what we have no inclination to."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "This amounts to an active setting _of_ themselves against religion."--_Id._ "Which engaged our ancient friends to the orderly establishing _of_ our Christian discipline."--_Friends cor._ "Some men are so unjust that there is no securing _of_ our own property or life, but by opposing force to force."--_Rev. John Brown cor._ "An Act for the better securing _of_ the Rights and Liberties of the Subject."--_Geo. III cor._ "Miraculous curing _of_ the sick is discontinued."--_Barclay cor._ "It would have been no transgressing _of_ the apostle's rule."--_Id._ "As far as consistent with the proper conducting _of_ the business of the House."--_Elmore cor._ "Because he would have no quarrelling at the just condemning _of_ them at that day." Or:--"at _their just condemnation_ at that day."--_Bunyan cor._ "That transferring _of_ this natural manner will insure propriety."--_Rush cor._ "If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old [i.e., frequent] turning _of_ the key."--_Singer's Shakspeare cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--POSSESSIVES REQUIRE OF. "So very simple a thing as a man's wounding _of_ himself."--_Dr. Blair cor., and Murray_. "Or with that man's avowing _of_ his designs."--_Blair, Mur., et al. cor._ "On his putting _of_ the question."--_Adams cor._ "The importance of teachers' requiring _of_ their pupils to read each section many times over."--_Kirkham cor._ "Politeness is a kind of forgetting _of_ one's self, in order to be agreeable to others."--_Ramsay cor._ "Much, therefore, of the merit and the agreeableness of epistolary writing, will depend on its introducing _of_ us into some acquaintance with the writer."--_Blair and Mack cor._ "Richard's restoration to respectability depends on his paying _of_ his debts."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Their supplying _of_ ellipses where none ever existed; their parsing _of the_ words of sentences already full and perfect, as though depending on words understood."--_Id._ "Her veiling _of_ herself, and shedding _of_ tears, &c., her upbraiding _of_ Paris for his cowardice," &c.--_Blair cor._ "A preposition may be made known by its admitting _of_ a personal pronoun after it, in the objective case."--_Murray et al. cor._ "But this forms no just objection to its denoting _of_ time."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Of men's violating or disregarding _of_ the relations _in_ which God has _here_ placed them."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Success, indeed, no more decides for the right, than a man's killing _of_ his antagonist in a duel."--_Campbell cor._ "His reminding _of_ them."--_Kirkham cor._ "This mistake was corrected by his preceptor's causing _of_ him to plant some beans."--_Id._ "Their neglecting _of_ this was ruinous."--_Frost cor._ "That he was serious, appears from his distinguishing _of_ the others as 'finite.'"--_Felch cor._ "His hearers are not at all sensible of his doing _of_ it." Or:--"_that he does_ it."--_Sheridan cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--CHANGE THE EXPRESSION. "An allegory is _a fictitious story the meaning of which is figurative, not literal_; a double meaning, or dilogy, is the saying _of_ only one thing, _when we have_ two in view."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "A verb may generally be distinguished by _the sense which it makes_ with any of the personal pronouns, or _with_ the word TO, before it."--_Murray et al. cor._ "A noun may in general be distinguished by _the article which comes_ before it, or by _the sense which it makes_ of itself."--_Merchant et al. cor._ "An adjective may usually be known by _the sense which it makes_ with the word _thing_; as, a _good_ thing, a _bad_ thing."--_Iid._ "It is seen _to be_ in the objective case, _because it denotes_ the object affected by the act of leaving."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "It is seen _to be_ in the possessive case, _because it denotes_ the possessor of something."--_Id._ "The _noun_ MAN is caused by the _adjective_ WHATEVER to _seem like_ a twofold _nominative, as if it denoted_, of itself, one person as the subject of the two remarks."--_Id._ "WHEN, as used in the last line, is a connective, _because it joins_ that line to the other part of the sentence."--_Id._ "_Because they denote_ reciprocation."--_Id._ "To allow them _to make_ use of that liberty;"--"To allow them _to use_ that liberty;"--or, "To allow them that liberty."--_Sale cor._ "The worst effect of it is, _that it fixes_ on your mind a habit of indecision."--_Todd cor._ "And you groan the more deeply, as you reflect that _you have not power to shake_ it off."--_Id._ "I know of nothing that can justify the _student in_ having recourse to a Latin translation of a Greek writer."--_Coleridge cor._ "Humour is the _conceit of_ making others act or talk absurdly."--_Hazlitt cor._ "There are remarkable instances _in which they do not affect_ each other."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "_That Caesar was left out_ of the commission, was not from any slight."--_Life cor._ "Of the _thankful reception_ of this toleration, I shall say no more," Or: "Of the _propriety of_ receiving this toleration thankfully, I shall say no more."--_Dryden cor._ "Henrietta was delighted with Julia's _skill in_ working lace."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "And it is _because each of them represents_ two different words, that the confusion has arisen."--_Booth cor._ "AEschylus died of a fracture of his skull, caused by an eagle's _dropping of_ a tortoise on his head." Or:--"caused by _a tortoise which an eagle let fall_ on his head."--_Biog. Dict. cor._ "He doubted _whether they had_ it."--_Felch cor._ "_To make_ ourselves clearly understood, is the chief end of speech."--_Sheridan cor._ "_One cannot discover_ in their countenances any signs which are the natural concomitants of the feelings of the heart."--_Id._ "Nothing can be more common or less proper, than to speak of a _river as emptying itself_."--_Campbell cor._ "Our _non-use of_ the former expression, is owing to this."--_Bullions cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--DISPOSAL OF ADVERBS. "To this generally succeeds the division, or the _laying-down_ of the method of the discourse."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To the _pulling-down_ of strong holds."--_Bible cor._ "Can a mere _buckling-on of_ a military weapon infuse courage?"--_Dr. Brown cor._ "_Expensive_ and _luxurious_ living destroys health."--_L. Murray cor._ "By _frugal_ and _temperate_ living, health is preserved." Or: "By living frugally and temperately, _we preserve our_ health."--_Id._ "By the _doing-away_ of the necessity."--_The Friend cor._ "He recommended to them, however, the _immediate_ calling of--(or, _immediately to call_--) the whole community to the church."--_Gregory cor._ "The separation of large numbers in this manner, certainly facilitates the _right_ reading _of_ them."--_Churchill cor._ "From their _mere_ admitting of a twofold grammatical construction."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "His _grave_ lecturing _of_ his friend about it."--_Id._ "For the _blotting-out_ of sin."--_Gurney cor._ "From the _not-using_ of water."-- _Barclay cor._ "By the gentle _dropping-in_ of a pebble."--_Sheridan cor._ "To the _carrying-on_ of a great part of that general course of nature."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Then the _not-interposing_ is so far from being a ground of complaint."--_Id._ "The bare omission, (or rather, the _not-employing_,) of what is used."--_Campbell and Jamieson cor._ "The _bringing-together_ of incongruous adverbs is a very common fault."-- _Churchill cor._ "This is a presumptive proof _that it does_ not _proceed_ from them."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "It represents him in a character to which _any injustice_ is peculiarly unsuitable."--_Campbell cor._ "They will aim at something higher than _a mere dealing-out_ of harmonious sounds."-- _Kirkham cor._ "This is intelligible and sufficient; and _any further account of the matter_ seems beyond the reach of our faculties."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Apostrophe is a _turning-off_ from the regular course of the subject."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "Even Isabella was finally prevailed upon to assent to the _sending-out_ of a commission to investigate his conduct."--_Life of Columbus cor._ "For the _turning-away_ of the simple shall slay them."--_Bible cor._ "Thick fingers always should command Without _extension_ of the hand."--_King cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--OF PARTICIPLES WITH ADJECTIVES. "Is there any Scripture _which_ speaks of the _light_ as being inward?"--_Barclay cor._ "For I believe not _positiveness_ therein essential to salvation."--_Id._ "Our _inability_ to act _a uniformly_ right part without some thought and care."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "_On the_ supposition _that it is reconcilable_ with the constitution of nature."--_Id._ "_On the ground that it is_ not discoverable by reason or experience."--_Id._ "_On the ground that they are_ unlike the known course of nature."--_Id._ "Our _power_ to discern reasons for them, gives a positive credibility to the history of them."--_Id._ "From its _lack of universality_."--_Id._ "That they may be turned into passive _participles_ in _dus_, is no decisive argument _to prove them_ passive."--_Grant cor._ "With the implied idea _that St. Paul was_ then absent from the Corinthians."--_Kirkham cor._ "_Because it becomes_ gradually weaker, until it finally dies away into silence."--_Id._ "Not without the author's _full knowledge_."--_Id._ "_Wit_ out of season is one sort of folly."--_Sheffield cor._ "Its _general susceptibility_ of a much stronger evidence."-- _Campbell cor._ "At least, _that they are_ such, rarely enhances our opinion, either of their abilities or of their virtues."--_Id._ "Which were the ground of our _unity_."--_Barclay cor._ "But they may be distinguished from it by their _intransitiveness_."--_L. Murray cor._ "To distinguish the higher degree of our persuasion of a thing's _possibility_."--_Churchill cor._ "_That he was_ idle, and dishonest too, Was that which caused his utter overthrow."--_Tobitt cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--OF COMPOUND VERBAL NOUNS. "When it denotes _subjection_ to the exertion of an other."--_Booth cor._ "In the passive sense, it signifies _a subjection_ to the influence of the action."--_Felch cor._ "_To be_ abandoned by our friends, is very deplorable."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Without waiting _to be_ attacked by the Macedonians."--_Id._ "In progress of time, words were wanted to express men's _connexion_ with certain conditions of fortune."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Our _acquaintance_ with pain and sorrow has a tendency to bring us to a settled moderation."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The chancellor's _attachment_ to the king, secured _to the monarch_ his crown."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "The general's _failure_ in this enterprise occasioned his disgrace."-- _Iid._ "John's _long application to_ writing had wearied him."--_Iid._ "The sentence _may_ be, 'John's _long application_ to writing has wearied him.'"--_Wright cor._ "Much depends on _the observance of_ this _rule_."-- _L. Murray cor._ "He mentioned _that a boy had been_ corrected for his faults."--_Alger and Merchant cor._ "The boy's _punishment_ is shameful to him."--_Iid._ "The greater the difficulty of remembrance is, and the more important the _being-remembered_ is to the attainment of the ultimate end."--_Campbell cor._ "If the parts in the composition of similar objects were always in equal quantity, their _being-compounded_ (or their _compounding_) would make no odds."--_Id._ "Circumstances, not of such importance as that the scope of the relation is affected by their _being-known_"--or, "by the _mention of them_."--_Id._ "A passive verb expresses the receiving of an action, or _represents its subject as_ being acted upon; as, 'John is beaten.'"--_Frost cor._ "So our language has an other great advantage; namely, _that it is little_ diversified by genders."--_Buchanan cor._ "The _slander concerning Peter_ is no fault of _his_."--_Frost cor._ "Without _faith in Christ_, there is no _justification_."--_Penn cor._ "_Habituation_ to danger begets intrepidity; i.e., lessens fear."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "It is not _affection of any kind_, but _action that_ forms those habits."--_Id._ "In order _that we may be_ satisfied of the truth of the apparent paradox."--_Campbell cor._ "_A trope consists_ in _the employing of a word_ to signify something that is different from its original _or usual_ meaning."--_Blair, Jamieson, Murray, and Kirkham cor._; also _Hiley_. "The scriptural view of our _salvation_ from punishment."--_Gurney cor._ "To submit and obey, is not a renouncing _of_ the _Spirit's leading_."--_Barclay cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--PARTICIPLES FOR INFINITIVES, &c. "_To teach_ little children is a pleasant employment." Or: "_The_ teaching _of_ little children," &c.--_Bartlett cor._ "_To deny_ or _compromise the_ principles of truth, is virtually _to deny_ their divine Author."--_Reformer cor._ "A severe critic might point out some expressions that would bear _retrenching_"--"_retrenchment_"--or, "_to be retrenched_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Never attempt _to prolong_ the pathetic too much."--_Id._ "I now recollect _to have_ mentioned--(or, _that I_ mentioned--) a report of that nature."--_Whiting cor._ "Nor of the necessity which there is, for their _restraint_--(or, for _them to be_ restrained--) in them."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "But, _to do_ what God commands because he commands it, is obedience, though it proceeds from hope or fear."--_Id._ "Simply _to close_ the nostrils, does not so entirely prevent resonance."--_Gardiner cor._ "Yet they absolutely refuse _to do_ so."--_Harris cor._ "But Artaxerxes could not refuse _to pardon_ him."--_Goldsmith cor._ "_The_ doing _of_ them in the best manner, is signified by the _names_ of these arts."--_Rush cor._ "_To behave_ well for the time to come, may be insufficient."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The compiler proposed _to publish_ that part by itself."--_Adam cor._ "To smile _on_ those _whom_ we should censure, is, _to bring_ guilt upon ourselves."--_Kirkham cor._ "But it would be great injustice to that illustrious orator, to bring his genius down to the same level."--_Id._ "_The doubt that_ things go ill, often hurts more, than to be sure they do."--_Shak. cor._ "This is called _the_ straining _of_ a metaphor."-- _Blair and Murray cor._ "This is what Aristotle calls _the_ giving _of_ manners to the poem."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The painter's _entire confinement_ to that part of time which he has chosen, deprives him of the power of exhibiting various stages of the same action."--_L. Mur. cor._ "It imports _the retrenchment of_ all superfluities, and _a_ pruning _of_ the expression."--_Blair et al. cor._ "The necessity for _us to be_ thus exempted is further apparent."--_Jane West cor._ "Her situation in life does not allow _her to be_ genteel in every thing."--_Same_. "Provided you do not dislike _to be_ dirty when you are invisible."--_Same_. "There is now an imperious necessity for her _to be_ acquainted with her title to eternity."--_Same_. "_Disregard to_ the restraints of virtue, is misnamed ingenuousness."--_Same_. "The legislature prohibits _the_ opening _of shops on_ Sunday."--_Same_. "To attempt _to prove_ that any thing is right."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "The comma directs _us to make_ a pause of a second in duration, or less."--_Id._ "The rule which directs _us to put_ other words into the place of it, is wrong."--_Id._ "They direct _us to_ call the specifying adjectives, or adnames, adjective pronouns."--_Id._ "William dislikes _to attend_ court."--_Frost cor._ "It may perhaps be worth while _to remark_, that Milton makes a distinction."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "_To profess_ regard and _act injuriously, discovers_ a base mind."--_Murray et al. cor._ "_To profess_ regard and _act_ indifferently, _discovers_ a base mind."--_Weld cor._ "You have proved beyond contradiction, that _this course of action_ is the sure way to procure such an object."--_Campbell cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--PARTICIPLES AFTER BE, IS, &c. "Irony is _a figure in which the speaker sneeringly utters the direct reverse of what he intends shall be understood_."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 235. [Correct by this the four false definitions of "Irony" cited from _Murray, Peirce, Fisher_, and _Sanborn_.] "This is, in a great measure, _a_ delivering _of_ their own compositions."--_Buchanan cor._ "But purity is _a right use of_ the words of the language."--_Jamieson cor._ "But the most important object is _the_ settling _of_ the English quantity."--_Walker cor._ "When there is no affinity, the transition from one meaning to an other is a very wide step _taken_."--_Campbell cor._ "It will be _a loss of_ time, to attempt further to illustrate it."--_Id._ "This _leaves_ the sentence too bare, and _makes_ it to be, if not nonsense, hardly sense."--_Cobbett cor._ "This is _a_ requiring _of_ more labours from every private member."--_J. West cor._ "Is not this, _to use_ one measure for our neighbours and _an other_ for ourselves?"--_Same_. "_Do we_ not _charge_ God foolishly, when we give these dark colourings to human nature?"--_Same_. "This is not, _to endure_ the cross, as a disciple of Jesus Christ; but, _to snatch_ at it, like a _partisan_ of Swift's Jack."--_Same_. "What is spelling? It is _the_ combining _of_ letters to form syllables and words."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "It is _the_ choosing _of_ such letters to compose words," &c.--_Id._ "What is parsing? (1.) It is _a_ describing _of_ the nature, use, and powers of words."--_Id._ (2.) "For Parsing is _a_ describing _of_ the words of a sentence as they are used."--_Id._ (3.) "Parsing is only _a_ describing _of_ the nature and relations of words as they are used."--_Id._ (4.) "Parsing, let the pupil understand and remember, is a _statement of_ facts concerning words; or _a_ describing _of words_ in their offices and relations as they are."--_Id._ (5.) "Parsing is _the_ resolving and explaining _of_ words according to the rules of grammar."--_Id._ Better: "Parsing is _the_ resolving _or_ explaining _of a sentence_ according to the _definitions and_ rules of grammar."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 28. (6.) "_The_ parsing _of_ a word, remember, is _an_ enumerating and describing _of_ its various qualities, and its grammatical relations to other words in the sentence."--_Peirce cor._ (7.) "For the parsing _of_ a word is _an_ enumerating and describing _of_ its various properties, and [_its_] relations to [_other words in_] the sentence."--_Id._ (8.) "_The_ parsing _of_ a noun is _an explanation_ of _its_ person, number, gender, and case; and also of its grammatical _relation_ in a sentence, with respect to _some_ other _word or_ words."--_Ingersoll cor._ (9.) "_The_ parsing _of_ any part of speech is _an explanation of_ all its properties and relations."--_Id._ (10.)" Parsing is _the_ resolving _of_ a sentence into its elements."--_Fowler cor._ "The highway of the _upright_ is, _to depart_ from evil."--_Prov._, xvi, 17. "Besides, the first step towards exhibiting _the_ truth, should be, _to remove_ the veil of error."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Punctuation is _the_ dividing _of_ sentences, and the words of sentences, by _points for_ pauses."--_Id._ "_An other_ fault is _the_ using _of_ the imperfect _tense_ SHOOK _in stead_ of the participle SHAKEN."--_Churchill cor._ "Her employment is _the_ drawing _of_ maps."--_Alger cor._ "_To go_ to the play, according to his notion, is, _to lead_ a sensual life, and _to expose one's_ self to the strongest temptations. This is _a_ begging _of_ the question, and _therefore_ requires no answer."--_Formey cor._ "It is _an_ overvaluing _of_ ourselves, to reduce every thing to the narrow measure of our capacities."--_Comly's Key, in his Gram._, p. 188; _Fisk's Gram._, p. 135. "What is vocal language? It is _speech_, or _the_ expressing of ideas by the human voice."--_C. W. Sanders cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--VERBS OF PREVENTING. "The annulling power of the constitution prevented that _enactment from_ becoming a law."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "Which prevents the _manner from_ being brief."--_Id._ "This close prevents _them from_ bearing forward as nominatives."--_Rush cor._ "Because this prevents _it from_ growing _drowsy_."--_Formey cor._ "Yet this does not prevent _him from_ being great."--_Id._ "To prevent _it from_ being insipid."--_Id._ "Or whose interruptions did not prevent its _continuance_." Or thus: "Whose interruptions did not prevent _it from_ being continued."--_Id._ "This by no means prevents _them from_ being also punishments."--_Wayland cor._ "This hinders _them_ not _from_ being also, in the strictest sense, punishments."--_Id._ "The noise made by the rain and wind, prevented _them from_ being heard."--_Goldsmith cor._ "He endeavoured to prevent _it from_ taking effect."--_Id._ "So sequestered as to prevent _them from_ being explored."--_Jane West cor._ "Who prevented her _from_ making a more pleasant party."--_Same_. "To prevent _us from_ being tossed about by every wind of doctrine."--_Same_. "After the infirmities of age prevented _him from_ bearing his part of official duty."--_R. Adam cor._ "To prevent splendid trifles _from_ passing for matters of importance."--_Kames cor._ "Which prevents _him from_ exerting himself to any good purpose."--_Beattie cor._ "The _nonobservance_ of this rule very frequently prevents _us from_ being punctual in the performance of our duties."--_Todd cor._ "Nothing will prevent _him from_ being a student, and possessing the means of study."--_Id._ "Does the present accident hinder _you from_ being honest and brave?"--_Collier cor._ "The _e_ is omitted to prevent two _Ees from_ coming together."--_Fowle cor._ "A pronoun is used for, or in place of, a noun,--to prevent _a repetition of_ the noun."--_Sanborn cor._ "Diversity in the style relieves the ear, and prevents _it from_ being tired with the frequent recurrence of the rhymes."--_Campbell cor._; also _Murray_. "Timidity and false shame prevent _us from_ opposing vicious customs."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "To prevent _them from_ being moved by such."--_Campbell cor._ "Some obstacle, or impediment, that prevents _it from_ taking place."--_Priestley cor._ "Which prevents _us from_ making a progress towards perfection."--_Sheridan cor._ "This method of distinguishing words, must prevent any regular proportion of time _from_ being settled."--_Id._ "That nothing but affectation can prevent _it from_ always taking place."--_Id._ "This did not prevent _John from_ being acknowledged and solemnly inaugurated Duke of Normandy." Or: "_Notwithstanding_ this, _John was_ acknowledged and solemnly inaugurated Duke of Normandy."--_Henry, Webster, Sanborn, and Fowler cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--THE LEADING WORD IN SENSE. "This would _make it impossible for a noun_, or any other _word_, ever _to be_ in the possessive case."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "A great part of our pleasure arises from _finding_ the plan or story well conducted."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And we have no reason to wonder _that this was_ the case."--_Id._ "She objected only, (as Cicero says,) to Oppianicus _as_ having two sons by his present wife."--_Id._ "_The subjugation of_ the Britons by the Saxons, was a necessary consequence of their _calling of_ these Saxons to their assistance."--_Id._ "What he had there said concerning the Saxons, _that they expelled_ the Britons, and _changed_ the customs, the religion, and the language of the country, is a clear and a good reason _why_ our present language _is_ Saxon, rather than British."--_Id._ "The only material difference between them, _except that_ the one _is_ short and the other _more_ prolonged, is, that a metaphor _is always explained_ by the words that are connected with it."--_Id. et Mur. cor._ "The description of _Death_, advancing to meet Satan on his arrival."--_Rush cor._ "Is not the bare fact, _that_ God _is_ the witness of it, sufficient ground for its credibility to rest upon?"--_Chalmers cor._ "As in the case of one _who is_ entering upon a new study."--_Beattie cor._ "The manner _in which_ these _affect_ the copula, is called the imperative _mood_."--_Wilkins cor._ "We are freed from the trouble, _because_ our nouns _have scarcely any_ diversity of endings."--_Buchanan cor._ "The verb is rather indicative of the _action as_ being doing, or done, than _of_ the time _of the event_; but indeed the ideas are undistinguishable."--_Booth cor._ "Nobody would doubt _that_ this _is_ a sufficient proof."--_Campbell cor._ "Against the doctrine here maintained, _that_ conscience as well as reason, _is_ a natural faculty."--_Beattie cor._ "It is one cause _why_ the Greek and English languages _are_ much more easy to learn, than the Latin."--_Bucke cor._ "I have not been able to make out a solitary instance _in which_ such _has been_ the fact."--_Lib. cor._ "An _angel_, forming the appearance of a hand, and writing the king's condemnation on the wall, checked their mirth, and filled them with terror."--_Wood cor._ "The _prisoners, in attempting_ to escape, aroused the keepers."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "I doubt not, in the least, _that_ this _has_ been one cause of the multiplication of divinities in the heathen world."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "From the general rule he lays down, _that the verb is_ the parent word of all language."--_Tooke cor._ "He was accused of being idle." Or: "He was accused of _idleness_."--_Felch cor._ "Our meeting is generally dissatisfied with him _for_ so removing." Or: "with _the circumstances of his removal_."--_Edmondson cor._ "The spectacle is too rare, of _men_ deserving solid fame while not seeking it."--_Bush cor._ "What further need was there _that_ an other priest _should rise_?"--_Heb._, vii, 11. UNDER NOTE XI.--REFERENCE OF PARTICIPLES. "Viewing them separately, _we experience_ different emotions." Or: "_Viewed_ separately, _they produce_ different emotions."--_Kames cor._ "But, _this being left_ doubtful, an other objection occurs."--_Id._ "_As he proceeded_ from one particular to an other, the subject grew under his hand."--_Id._ "But this is still an interruption, and a link of the chain _is_ broken."--_Id._ "After some _days_' hunting,--(or, After some days _spent in_ hunting,)--Cyrus communicated his design to his officers."--_Rollin cor._ "But it is made, without the appearance of _being made_ in form."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "These would have had a better effect, _had they been_ disjoined, thus."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "_In_ an improper diphthong, but one of the vowels _is_ sounded."--_Murray, Alger, et al. cor._ "And _I_ being led to think of both together, my view is rendered unsteady."--_Blair, Mur., and Jam. cor._ "By often doing the same thing, _we make the action_ habitual." Or: "_What is_ often _done_, becomes habitual."--_L. Murray cor._ "They remain with us in our dark and solitary hours, no less than when _we are_ surrounded with friends and cheerful society."--_Id._ "Besides _showing_ what is right, _one may further explain_ the matter by pointing out what is wrong."--_Lowth cor._ "The former teaches the true pronunciation of words, _and comprises_ accent, quantity, emphasis, _pauses_, and _tones_."--_L. Murray cor._ "_A person may reprove others_ for their negligence, by saying, 'You have taken great care indeed.'"--_Id._ "The _word_ preceding and _the word_ following it, are in apposition to each other."--_Id._ "_He_ having finished his speech, the assembly dispersed."--_Cooper cor._ "Were the voice to fall at the close of the last line, as many a reader is in the habit of _allowing it to do_."--_Kirkham cor._ "The misfortunes of his countrymen were but negatively the effects of his wrath, _which only deprived_ them of his assistance."--_Kames cor._ "Taking them as nouns, _we may explain_ this construction thus."--_Grant cor._ "These have an active signification, _except_ those which come from neuter verbs."--_Id._ "From _its evidence_ not being universal." Or: "From the _fact that its evidence is not_ universal."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "And this faith will continually grow, _as we acquaint_ ourselves with our own nature."--_Channing cor._ "Monosyllables ending with any consonant but _f, l_, or _s_, never double the final consonant, _when it is preceded by a single vowel_; except _add, ebb_," &c.--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 23. Or: "_Words_ ending with any consonant except _f, l_, or _s_, do not double the final letter. Exceptions. Add, ebb, &c."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 3. (See my 2d Rule for Spelling, of which this is a partial copy.) "The relation of _Maria as_ being the object of the action, is expressed by the change of the noun _Maria_ to _Mariam_;" [i. e., in the _Latin_ language.]--_Booth cor._ "In analyzing a proposition, _one must_ first _divide it_ into its logical subject and predicate."--_Andrews and Stoddard cor._ "In analyzing a simple sentence, _one_ should first _resolve it_ into its logical subject and logical predicate."--_Wells cor._ UNDER NOTE XII.--OF PARTICIPLES AND NOUNS. "The _instant discovery of_ passions at their birth, is essential to our well-being."--_Kames cor._ "I am now to enter on _a consideration of_ the sources of the pleasures of taste."--_Blair cor._ "The varieties in _the use of_ them are indeed many."--_Murray cor._ "_The_ changing _of_ times and seasons, _the_ removing and _the setting-up_ of kings, belong to Providence alone."--_Id._ "_Adherence_ to the partitions, seemed the cause of France; _acceptance of_ the will, that of the house of Bourbon."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "An other source of darkness in _composition_, is the injudicious introduction of technical words and phrases."--_Campbell cor._ "These are the rules of grammar; by observing which, you may avoid mistakes."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "By observing the rules, you may avoid mistakes."--_Alger cor._ "By observing these rules, he succeeded."--_Frost cor._ "_The praise bestowed on him_ was his ruin."--_Id._ "_Deception_ is not _convincement_."--_Id._ "He never feared _the loss_ of a friend."--_Id._ "_The_ making _of_ books is his amusement."--_Alger cor._ "We call it _the_ declining--(or, _the declension_--) _of_ a noun."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Washington, however, pursued the same policy of neutrality, and opposed firmly _the_ taking _of_ any part in the wars of Europe."--_Hall and Baker cor._ "The following is a note of Interrogation, or _of a_ question: (?)."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "The following is a note of Admiration, or _of_ wonder: (!)."--_Id._ "_The use or omission of_ the article A forms a nice distinction in the sense."--_Murray cor._ "_The_ placing _of_ the preposition before the word, _which_ it governs, is more graceful."--_Churchill cor._ (See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 96; _Murray's_, i, 200; _Fisk's_, 141; _Smith's_, 167.) "Assistance is absolutely necessary to their recovery, and _the_ retrieving _of_ their affairs."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Which termination, [_ish_,] when added to adjectives, imports diminution, or _a_ lessening of the quality."--_Mur. and Kirkham cor._ "After what _has been_ said, will it be thought _an excess of refinement_, to suggest that the different orders are qualified for different purposes?"--_Kames cor._ "Who has nothing to think of, but _the_ killing _of_ time."--_West cor._ "It requires no nicety of ear, as in the distinguishing of tones, or _the_ measuring _of_ time."--_Sheridan cor._ "The _possessive case_ [is that form or state of a noun or pronoun, which] denotes possession, or _the relation of property_."--_S. R. Hall cor._ UNDER NOTE XIII.--PERFECT PARTICIPLES. "Garcilasso was master of the language _spoken_ by the Incas."--_Robertson cor._ "When an interesting story is _broken_ off in the middle."--_Kames cor._ "Speaking of Hannibal's elephants _driven_ back by the enemy."--_Id._ "If Du Ryer had not _written_ for bread, he would have equalled them."--_Formey cor._ "Pope describes a rock _broken_ off from a mountain, and hurling to the plain."--_Kames cor._ "I have written, Thou hast written, He hath or has written; &c."--_Ash and Maltby cor._ "This was _spoken_ by a pagan."--_Webster cor._ "But I have _chosen_ to follow the common arrangement."--_Id._ "The language _spoken_ in Bengal."--_Id._ "And sound sleep thus _broken_ off with _sudden_ alarms, is apt enough to discompose any one."--_Locke cor._ "This is not only the case of those open sinners before _spoken_ of."--_Leslie cor._ "Some grammarians have written a very perplexed and difficult doctrine on Punctuation."--_Ensell cor._ "There hath a pity _arisen_ in me towards thee."--_G. Fox Jun. cor._ "Abel is the only man that has _undergone_ the awful change of death."--_De Genlis, Death of Adam_. "Meantime, on Afric's glowing sands, _Smit_ with keen heat, the traveller stands."--_Ode cor._ CHAPTER VIII.--ADVERBS. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE XXI. UNDER NOTE I.--THE PLACING OF ADVERBS. "_Not_ all that is favoured by good use, is proper to be retained."--_L. Murray corrected._ "_Not_ everything favoured by good use, is on that account worthy to be retained."--_Campbell cor._ "Most men dream, but _not_ all."--_Beattie cor._ "By hasty composition, we shall _certainly_ acquire a very bad style."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The comparisons are short, touching on _only_ one point of resemblance."--_Id._ "Having _once_ had some considerable object set before us."--_Id._ "The positive seems to be _improperly_ called a degree." [543]--_Adam and Gould cor._ "In some phrases, the genitive _only_ is used."--_Iid._ "This blunder is said to have _actually_ occurred."--_Smith cor._ "But _not_ every man is called James, nor every woman, Mary."--_Buchanan cor._ "Crotchets are employed for _nearly_ the same purpose as the parenthesis."--_Churchill cor._ "There is a _still_ greater impropriety in a double comparative."--_Priestley cor._ "We often have occasion to speak of time."--_Lowth cor._ "The following sentence cannot _possibly_ be understood."--_Id._ "The words must _generally_ be separated from the context."--_Comly cor._ "Words ending in _ator, generally_ have the accent on the penultimate."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The learned languages, with respect to voices, moods, and tenses, are, in general, constructed _differently_ from the English tongue."--_Id._ "Adverbs seem to have been _originally_ contrived to express compendiously, in one word, what must otherwise have required two or more."--_Id._ "But it is so, _only_ when the expression can be converted into the regular form of the possessive case."--_Id._ "'Enter _boldly_,' says he, 'for here too there are gods.'"--_Harris cor._ "For none _ever_ work for so little a pittance that some cannot be found to work for less."--_Sedgwick cor._ "For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive _again_ as much."--_Bible cor._ Or, as Campbell has it in his version:--"_that they may_ receive as much _in return_."--_Luke_, vi, 34. "They must be viewed in _exactly_ the same light."--_L. Murray cor._ "If he _speaks but_ to display his abilities, he is unworthy of attention."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE II.--ADVERBS FOR ADJECTIVES. "_Upward_ motion is commonly more agreeable than motion _downward_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "There are but two _possible_ ways of justification before God."--_Cox cor._ "This construction sounds rather _harsh_."--_Mur. and Ing. cor._ "A clear conception, in the mind of the learner, of _regular_ and well-formed letters."--_C. S. Jour. cor._ "He was a great hearer of * * * Attalus, Sotion, Papirius, Fabianus, of whom he makes _frequent_ mention."--_L'Estrange cor._ "It is only the _frequent_ doing of a thing, that makes it a custom."--_Leslie cor._ "Because W. R. takes _frequent_ occasion to insinuate his jealousies of persons and things."--_Barclay cor._ "Yet _frequent_ touching will wear gold."--_Shak. cor._ "Uneducated persons frequently use an _adverb_ when they ought to use an _adjective_: as, 'The country looks _beautifully_;' in stead of _beautiful_." [544]-- _Bucke cor._ "The adjective is put _absolute_, or without its substantive."--_Ash cor._ "A noun or _a_ pronoun in the second person, may be put _absolute_ in the nominative case."--_Harrison cor._ "A noun or _a_ pronoun, when put _absolute_ with a participle," &c.--_Id. and Jaudon cor._ "A verb in the infinitive mood absolute, stands _independent_ of the remaining part of the sentence."--_Wilbur and Liv. cor._ "At my _late_ return into England, I met a book _entitled_, 'The Iron Age.'"--_Cowley cor._ "But he can discover no better foundation for any of them, than the _mere_ practice of Homer and Virgil."--_Kames cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--HERE FOR HITHER, &C. "It is reported, that the _governor_ will come _hither_ to-morrow."--_Kirkham cor._ "It has been reported that the _governor_ will come _hither_ to-morrow."--_Id._ "To catch a prospect of that lovely land _whither_ his steps are tending."--_Maturin cor._ "Plautus makes one of his characters ask _an other, whither_ he is going with that Vulcan shut up in a horn; that is, with a _lantern_ in his hand."--_Adams cor._ "When we left Cambridge we intended to return _thither_ in a few days."--_Anon. cor._ "Duncan comes _hither_ to-night."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 323. "They talked of returning _hither_ last week."--See _J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 129. UNDER NOTE IV.--FROM HENCE, &C. "Hence he concludes, that no inference can be drawn from the meaning of the word, that a _constitution_ has a higher authority than a law or statute,"--_Webster cor._ "Whence we may likewise date the period of this event."--_L. Murray cor._ "Hence it becomes evident that LANGUAGE, taken in the most comprehensive view, implies certain sounds, [or certain written signs,] having certain meanings."--_Harris cor._ "They returned to the city whence they came out."--_A. Murray cor._ "Respecting ellipses, some grammarians differ strangely in their ideas; and thence has arisen a very whimsical diversity in their systems of grammar."--_G. Brown_. "What am I, and whence? That is, What am I, and whence _am I_?"--_Jaudon cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--THE ADVERB HOW. "It is strange, _that_ a writer so accurate as Dean Swift, should have stumbled on so improper an application of this particle."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Ye know, _that_ a good while ago God made choice among us," &c.--_Bible cor._ "Let us take care _lest_ we sin; i.e.,--_that_ we _do not_ sin."--_Priestley cor._ "We see by these instances, _that_ prepositions may be necessary, to connect _such_ words _as_ are not naturally connected _by_ their _own_ signification."--_L. Murray cor._ "Know ye not your own selves, _that_ Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"--_Bible cor._ "That thou _mayst_ know _that_ the earth is the Lord's."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE VI.--WHEN, WHILE, OR WHERE. "ELLIPSIS is _the omission of some word or_ words _which are necessary to complete the construction, but not_ requisite to complete the sense."--_Adam, Gould, and Fisk, cor._ "PLEONASM is _the insertion of some word or words_ more than _are_ absolutely necessary _either to complete the construction, or_ to express the sense."--_Iid. cor._ "HYSTERON-PROTERON is a _figure in which_ that is put in the former part of the sentence, which, according to the sense, should be in the latter."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "HYSTERON-PROTERON is a rhetorical figure _in which_ that is said last, which was done first."--_Webster cor._ "A BARBARISM is a foreign or strange word, _an expression contrary to the pure idiom of the language_."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "A SOLECISM is _an impropriety in respect to_ syntax, _an absurdity or incongruity in speech_."--_Iid. cor._ "An IDIOTISM is _a_ manner of expression peculiar to one language _childishly transferred to an other_."--_Iid. cor._ "TAUTOLOGY is _a disagreeable repetition_, either _of_ the same words, or _of_ the same sense in different words."--_Iid. cor._ "BOMBAST, _or_ FUSTIAN, is _an inflated or ambitious style, in which high-sounding_ words are used, _with little or no_ meaning, or upon a trifling occasion."--_Iid. cor._ "AMPHIBOLOGY is ambiguity of construction, _phraseology which_ may be taken in two different senses."--_Iid. cor._ "IRONY is _a figure in which_ one means the contrary of what is said."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "PERIPHRASIS, _or_ CIRCUMLOCUTION, is _the use of_ several words, to express what might be _said_ in fewer."--_Iid. cor._ "HYPERBOLE is _a figure in which_ a thing is magnified above the truth."--_Iid. cor._ "PERSONIFICATION is _a figure which ascribes human_ life, sentiments, or actions, to inanimate beings, or to abstract qualities."--_Iid. cor._ "APOSTROPHE is a _turning from the tenor of one's_ discourse, _into an animated address_ to some person, present or absent, living or dead, or _to some object personified_."--_Iid. cor._ "A SIMILE is _a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by_ LIKE, AS, _or_ so."--_G. B., Inst._, p. 233; Kirkham cor.; also Adam and Gould. "ANTITHESIS is a placing of things in opposition, to heighten their effect by contrast."--_Inst._, p. 234; _Adam and Gould corrected_. "VISION, or IMAGERY, _is a figure in which what is present only to the mind, is represented as actually before one's eyes, and present_ to the senses."--_G. B.; Adam cor._ "EMPHASIS is a particular stress _of voice_ laid on some word in a sentence."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 241. "EPANORTHOSIS, or CORRECTION, is _the recalling or correcting by the speaker_, of what he last said."--_Ibid._ "PARALIPSIS, or OMISSION, is _the pretending_ to omit or pass by, what one at the same time declares."--_Ibid._ "INCREMENTUM, or CLIMAX in sense, is the _rising_ of one member above an other to the highest."--_Ibid._ "METONYMY is _a change of names: as when_ the cause is _mentioned_ for the effect, or the effect for the cause; the container for the thing contained, or the sign for the thing signified."--_Kirkham cor._ "_The_ Agreement _of words_ is _their similarity_ in person, number, gender, case, _mood, tense, or form_."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 104. "_The_ Government _of words is that power which one_ word has _over an other, to cause it to assume some particular modification_."--_Ib._ "Fusion is _the converting of_ some solid substance into a fluid by heat."--_G. B_. "A proper diphthong is _a diphthong in which_ both the vowels are sounded together; as, _oi_ in _voice, ou_ in _house_."--_Fisher cor._ "An improper diphthong is _a diphthong in which_ the sound of but one of the two vowels is heard; as, _eo_ in _people_."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE VII.--THE ADVERB NO FOR NOT. "An adverb is _added_ to a verb to show how, or when, or where, or whether or _not_, one is, does, or suffers."--_Buchanan cor._ "We must be immortal, whether we will or _not_."--_Maturin cor._ "He cares not whether the world was made for Caesar or _not_."--_A. Q. Rev. cor._ "I do not know whether they are out or _not_."--_Byron cor._ "Whether it can be proved or _not_, is not the thing."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Whether he makes use of the means commanded by God, or _not_."--_Id._ "Whether it pleases the world or _not_, the care is taken."--_L'Estrange cor._ "How comes this to be never heard of, nor in the least questioned, whether the Law was undoubtedly of Moses's writing or _not_?"--_Tomline cor._ "Whether he be a sinner or _not_, I _do not know_." Or, as the text is more literally translated by Campbell: "Whether he be a sinner, I know not."--_Bible cor._ "Can I make men live, whether they will or _not_?"--_Shak. cor._ "Can hearts not free, be _tried_ whether they serve Willing or _not_, who will but what they must?"--_Milton cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES. "We need not, nor do _we_, confine the purposes of God." Or: "We need not, _and_ do not, confine," &c.--_Bentley cor._ "I cannot by _any_ means allow him that."--_Id._ "We must try whether or _not_ we _can_ increase the attention by the help of the senses."--_Brightland cor._ "There is nothing more admirable _or_ more useful."--_Tooke cor._ "And what in time to come he can never be said to have done, he can never be supposed to do."--_R. Johnson cor._ "No skill could obviate, no remedy dispel, the terrible infection."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Prudery cannot be an indication _either_ of sense _or_ of taste."--_Spurzheim cor._ "But _neither_ that scripture, nor _any_ other, speaks of imperfect faith."--_Barclay cor._ "But _neither_ this scripture, nor _any_ other, proves that faith was or is always accompanied with doubting."--_Id._ "The light of Christ is not, _and_ cannot be, darkness."--_Id._ "Doth not the Scripture, which cannot lie, give _some_ of the saints this testimony?"--_Id._ "Which do not continue, _and_ are not binding."--_Id._ "It not being perceived directly, _any_ more than the air."--_Campbell cor._ "Let us be no Stoics, _and_ no stocks, I pray."--_Shak. cor._ "Where there is no marked _or_ peculiar character in the style."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "There can be no rules laid down, nor _any_ manner recommended."--_Sheridan cor._ "_Bates_. 'He hath not told his thought to the king?' _K. Henry_. 'No; _and_ it is not meet he should.'" Or thus: "'No; nor _is it_ meet he should.'"--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE IX.--EVER AND NEVER. "The prayer of Christ is more than sufficient both to strengthen us, be we _everso_ weak; and to overthrow all adversary power, be it _everso_ strong."--_Hooker cor._ "He is like to have no share in it, or to be _never_ the better for it." Or: "He is _not likely_ to have any share in it, or to be _ever_ the better for it."--_Bunyan cor._ "In some parts of Chili it seldom or _never_ rains."--_Willetts cor._ "If Pompey shall but _everso_ little seem to like it."--_W. Walker cor._ "Though _everso_ great a posse of dogs and hunters pursue him."--_Id._ "Though you be _everso_ excellent."--_Id._ "If you do amiss _everso_ little."--_Id._ "If we cast our eyes _everso_ little down."--_Id._ "A wise man scorneth nothing, be it _everso_ small or homely."--_M. F. Tupper cor._ "Because they have seldom _if_ ever an opportunity of learning them at all."--_Clarkson cor._ "We seldom or _never_ see those forsaken who trust in God."--_Atterbury cor._ "Where, playing with him at bo-peep, He solved all problems, _e'erso_ deep."--_S. Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE X.--OF THE FORM OF ADVERBS. "One can _scarcely_ think that Pope was capable of epic or tragic poetry; but, within a certain limited region, he has been outdone by no poet."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "I who now read, have _nearly_ finished this chapter."--_Harris cor._ "And yet, to refine our taste with respect to beauties of art or of nature, is _scarcely_ endeavoured in any seminary of learning."--_Kames cor._ "The numbers being confounded, and the possessives _wrongly_ applied, the passage is neither English nor grammar."--_Buchanan cor._ "The letter G is _wrongly_ named _Jee_."--_Creighton cor._ "_Lastly_, remember that in science, as in morals, authority cannot make right what in itself is wrong."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "They regulate our taste even where we are _scarcely_ sensible of them."--_Kames cor._ "Slow action, for example, is imitated by words pronounced _slowly_."--_Id._ "_Surely_, if it be to profit withal, it must be in order to save."--_Barclay cor._ "Which is _scarcely_ possible at best."--_Sheridan cor._ "Our wealth being _nearly_ finished."--_Harris cor._ CHAPTER IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE XXII. UNDER NOTE I.--OF TWO TERMS WITH ONE. "The first proposal was essentially different _from_ the second, and inferior _to it._"--_Inst_. "A neuter verb _expresses_ the state _which_ a subject is in, without acting upon _any other thing_, or being acted upon by an other."--_A. Murray cor._ "I answer, You _may use_ stories and anecdotes, and ought to _do_ so."--_Todd cor._ "ORACLE, _n._ Any person _from whom_, or place _at which_, certain decisions are obtained."--_Webster cor._ "Forms of government may, and _occasionally must, be_ changed."--_Lyttelton cor._ "I have _been_, and _I still_ pretend to be, a tolerable judge."--_Sped. cor._ "Are we not lazy in our duties, or _do we not_ make a Christ of them?"--_Baxter cor._ "They may not express that idea which the author intends, but some other which only resembles _it_, or is _akin_ to it."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "We may _therefore read them_, we ought to read them, with a distinguishing eye."--_Ib._ "Compare their poverty with what they might _possess_, and ought to possess."--_Sedgwick cor._ "He is much better _acquainted with grammar_ than they are."--_L. Murray cor._ "He was more beloved _than Cinthio_, but [he was] not so much admired."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, 222. "Will it be urged, that the four gospels are as old _as tradition, and even_ older?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 207. "The court of chancery frequently mitigates and _disarms_ the common law."--_Spect. and Ware cor._ "Antony, coming along side of her ship, entered it without seeing _her_, or being seen by her."--_Goldsmith cor._ "_Into_ candid minds, truth _enters as_ a welcome _guest_."--_L. Murray cor._ "_There are_ many designs _in which_ we may succeed, _to our ultimate ruin_."--_Id._ "_From_ many pursuits _in which_ we embark with pleasure, _we are destined to_ land sorrowfully."--_Id._ "They _gain_ much _more_ than I, by this unexpected event."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE II.--OF HETEROGENEOUS TERMS. "Athens saw them entering her gates and _filling_ her academies."--_Chazotte cor._ "_Neither_ have we forgot his past _achievements_, nor _do we_ despair of his future success."--_Duncan cor._ "Her monuments and temples had long been shattered, or _had_ crumbled into dust."--_Journal cor._ "Competition is excellent; _it is_ the vital principle in all these things."--_Id._ "Whether provision should, or _should_ not, be made, _in order_ to meet this exigency."--_Ib._. "That our Saviour was divinely inspired, and _that he was_ endued with supernatural powers, are positions that are here taken for granted."--_L. Mur. cor._ "It would be much more eligible, to contract or enlarge their extent by explanatory notes and observations, than _to sweep_ away our ancient landmarks and _set_ up others."--_Id._ "It is certainly much better to supply defects and abridge superfluities by occasional notes and observations, than _to disorganize_ or _greatly alter_ a system which has been so long established."--_Id._ "To have only one tune, or measure, is not much better than _to have_ none at all."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Facts too well known and _too_ obvious to be insisted on."--_Id._ "In proportion as all these circumstances are happily chosen, and _are_ of a sublime kind."--_Id._ "If the description be too general, and _be_ divested of circumstances."--_Id._ "He gained nothing _but commendation_."--_L. Mur. cor._ "I cannot but think its application somewhat strained and _misplaced_."--_Vethake cor._ "Two negatives _standing_ in the same clause, or referring to the same thing, destroy each other, and leave the sense affirmative."--_Maunder cor._ "Slates are _thin plates of stone_, and _are often_ used to cover _the_ roofs of houses."--_Webster cor._ "Every man of taste, and _of_ an elevated mind, ought to feel almost the necessity of apologizing for the power he possesses."--_Translator of De Stael cor._ "They very seldom trouble themselves with _inquiries_, or _make any_ useful observations of their own."--_Locke cor._ "We've both the field and honour won; _Our foes_ are profligate, and run."--_S. Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--IMPORT OF CONJUNCTIONS. "THE is sometimes used before adverbs in the comparative _or the_ superlative degree."--_Lennie, Bullions, and Brace cor._ "The definite article THE is frequently applied to adverbs in the comparative _or the_ superlative degree."--_Lowth. Murray, et al, cor._ "Conjunctions usually connect verbs in the same mood _and_ tense." Or, more truly: "Verbs connected by _a conjunction, are_ usually in the same mood _and_ tense."--_Sanborn cor._ "Conjunctions connect verbs in the same style, and usually in the same mood, tense, _and_ form." Or better: "Verbs connected by _a conjunction_, are usually _of_ the same mood, tense, _and_ form, _as well as_ style."--_Id._ "The ruins of Greece _or_ Rome are but the monuments of her former greatness."--_P. E. Day cor._ "It is not improbably, _that in many of these cases_ the articles were used originally."--_Priestley cor._ "I cannot doubt that these objects are really what they appear to be."--_Kames cor._ "I question not _that_ my reader will be as much pleased with it."--_Spect. cor._ "It is ten to one _that_ my friend Peter is among them."--_Id._ "I doubt not _that_ such objections as these will be made"--_Locke cor._ "I doubt not _that_ it will appear in the perusal of the following sheets."--_Buchanan cor._ "It is not improbable, that in time these different constructions maybe appropriated to different uses."--_Priestley cor._ "But to forget _and_ to remember at pleasure, are equally beyond the power of man."--_Idler cor._ "The nominative case follows the verb, in interrogative _or_ imperative sentences."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? _or_ a vine, figs?"--_Bible cor._ "Whose characters are too profligate _for_ the managing of them _to_ be of any consequence."--_Swift cor._ "You, that are a step higher than a philosopher, a divine, yet have too much grace and wit to be a bishop."--_Pope cor._ "The terms _rich and poor_ enter not into their language."--_Robertson cor._ "This pause is but seldom, _if_ ever, sufficiently dwelt upon." Or: "This pause is seldom _or never_ sufficiently dwelt upon."--_Gardiner cor._ "There would be no possibility of any such thing as human life _or_ human happiness."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "The multitude rebuked them, _that_ they should hold their peace."--_Bible cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--THE CONJUNCTION THAN. "A metaphor is nothing _else than_ a short comparison." Or: "A metaphor is nothing _but_ a short comparison."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "There being no other dictator here _than_ use."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 364. "This construction is no otherwise known in English, _than_ by supplying the first or _the_ second person plural."--_Buchanan cor._ "Cyaxares was no sooner _on_ the throne, _than_ he was engaged in a terrible war."--_Rollin cor._ "Those classics contain little else _than_ histories of murders."--_Am. Mu. cor._ "Ye shall not worship any other _than_ God."--_Sale cor._ "Their relation, therefore, is not otherwise to be ascertained, _than_ by their place."--_Campbell cor._ "For he no sooner accosted her, _than_ he gained his point."--_Burder cor._ "And all the modern writers on this subject, have done little else _than_ translate them."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "One who had no other aim _than_ to talk copiously and plausibly."--_Id._ "We can refer it to no other cause _than_ the structure of the eye."--_Id._ "No more is required _than_ singly an act of vision."--_Kames cor._ "We find no more in its composition, _than_ the particulars now mentioned."--_Id._ "_He does not pretend_ to say, that it _has_ any other effect _than_ to raise surprise."--_Id._ "No sooner was the princess dead, _than_ he freed himself."--_Dr. S. Johnson cor._ "OUGHT is an imperfect verb, for it has no modification besides this one."--_Priestley cor._ "The verb is palpably nothing else _than_ the tie."--_Neef cor._ "Does he mean that theism is capable of nothing else _than_ of being opposed to polytheism or atheism?"--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Is it meant that theism is capable of nothing else _than of_ being opposed to polytheism or atheism?"--_L. Murray cor._ "There is no other method of teaching that of which any one is ignorant, _than_ by means of something already known."--_Ingersoll's Grammar, Titlepage: Dr. Johnson cor._ "O fairest flower, no sooner blown _than_ blasted!"--_Milton cor._ "Architecture and gardening cannot otherwise entertain the mind, than by raising certain agreeable emotions or feelings."--_Kames cor._ "Or, rather, they are nothing else _than_ nouns."--_Brit. Gram. cor._ "As if religion were intended For nothing else than to be mended."--_S. Butler cor._ UNDER NOTE V.--RELATIVES EXCLUDE CONJUNCTIONS. "To prepare the Jews for the reception of a prophet mightier than _himself, a teacher_ whose shoes he was not worthy to bear."--_Anon, or Mur. cor._ "Has this word, which represents an action, an object after it, on which _the action_ terminates?"--_Osborne cor._ "The stores of literature lie before him, from which he may collect for use many lessons of wisdom."-- _Knapp cor._ "Many and various great advantages of this grammar _over_ others, might be enumerated."--_Greenleaf cor._ "The custom which still prevails, of writing in lines from left to right, is said to have been introduced about the time of Solon, the Athenian legislator."--_Jamieson cor._ "The fundamental rule _for_ the construction of sentences, _the rule_ into which all others might be resolved, undoubtedly is, to communicate, in the clearest and most natural order, the ideas which we mean to _express_."--_Blair and Jamieson cor._ "He left a son of a singular character, who behaved so ill that he was put in prison."--_L. Murray cor._ "He discovered in the youth some disagreeable qualities which to him were wholly unaccountable."--_Id._ "An emphatical pause is made after something _of_ peculiar moment has been said, on which we _wish_ to fix the hearer's attention." Or: "An emphatical pause is made after something has been said _which is_ of peculiar moment, _and_ on which we _wish_ to fix the hearer's attention."--_Blair and Murray cor._ "But we have duplicates of each, agreeing in movement, though differing in measure, and _making_ different impressions on the ear,"--_Murray cor._ UNDER NOTE VI.--OF THE WORD THAT. "It will greatly facilitate the labours of the teacher, _and_, at the same time, it will relieve the pupil _from_ many difficulties."--_Frost cor._ "_While_ the pupil is engaged in the exercises just mentioned, it will be proper _for him_ to study the whole grammar in course."--_Bullions cor._ "On the same ground _on which_ a participle and _an_ auxiliary are allowed to form a tense."--_Beattie and Murray cor._ "On the same ground _on which_ the voices, moods, and tenses, are admitted into the English tongue."--_L. Murray cor._ "The five examples last mentioned, are corrected on the same principle that _is applied to the errors_ preceding _them_."--_Murray and Ingersoll cor._ "The brazen age began at the death of Trajan, and lasted till Rome was taken by the Goths."--_Gould cor._ "The introduction to the duodecimo edition is retained in this volume, for the same reason _for which_ the original introduction to the Grammar is retained in the first volume."--_L. Murray cor._ "The verb must also _agree in person with its subject or_ nominative."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The personal pronoun 'THEIR' is plural for the same reason _for which_ 'WHO' is plural."--_Id._ "The Sabellians could not justly be called Patripassians, in the same sense _in which_ the Noetians were so called."--_R. Adam cor._ "This is one reason _why_ we pass over such smooth language without suspecting that it contains little or no meaning."--_L. Murray cor._ "The first place _at which the two_ armies came _within_ sight of each other, was on the opposite banks of the river Apsus."--_Goldsmith cor._ "At the very time _at which_ the author gave him the first book for his perusal."--_Campbell cor._ "Peter will sup at the time _at which_ Paul will dine."--_Fosdick cor._ "Peter will be supping _when_ Paul will enter."--_Id._ "These, _while_ they may serve as models to those who may wish to imitate them, will give me an opportunity to cast more light upon the principles of this book."--_Id._ "Time was, like thee, they life _possess'd_, And time shall be, _when_ thou shalt rest."--_Parnell cor._ UNDER NOTE VII.--OF THE CORRESPONDENTS. "Our manners should be _neither_ gross nor excessively refined."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 165. "A neuter verb expresses neither action _nor_ passion, but being, or a state of being."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "The old books are neither English grammars, _nor in any sense_ grammars of the English language."--_Id._ "The author is apprehensive that his work is not yet _so_ accurate and _so_ much simplified as it may be."--_Kirkham cor._ "The writer could not treat some _topics so_ extensively as [it] was desirable [to treat them]."--_Id._ "Which would be a matter of such nicety, _that_ no degree of human wisdom could regulate _it_."--_L. Murray cor._ "No undertaking is so great or difficult, _that_ he cannot direct _it_."--_Duncan cor._ "It is a good which depends _neither_ on the will of others, nor on the affluence of external fortune."--_Harris cor._ "Not only his estate, _but_ his reputation too, has suffered by his misconduct."--_Murray and Ingersoll cor._ "Neither do they extend _so_ far as might be imagined at first view."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "There is no language so poor, but _that_ it _has_ (or, _as not to have_) two or three past tenses."--_Id. "So_ far as this system is founded in truth, language appears to be not altogether arbitrary in its origin."--_Id._ "I have not _such_ command of these convulsions as is necessary." Or: "I have not _that_ command of these convulsions _which_ is necessary."--_Spect. cor._ "Conversation with such _as_ (or, _those who_) know no arts _that_ polish life."--_Id._ "And which cannot be _either_ very lively or very forcible."--_Jamieson cor._ "To _such a_ degree as to give proper names to rivers."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "In the utter overthrow of such _as_ hate to be reformed."--_Barclay cor._ "But still so much of it is retained, _that it_ greatly injures the uniformity of the whole."--_Priestley cor._ "Some of them have gone to _such a_ height of extravagance, as to assert," &c.--_Id._ "A teacher is confined, not more than a merchant, and probably not _so_ much."--_Abbott cor._ "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, _nor_ in the world to come." Or: "It shall not be forgiven him, _either_ in this world, _or_ in the world to come."--_Bible cor._ "Which _nobody_ presumes, or is so sanguine _as_ to hope."--_Swift cor._ "For the torrent of the voice left neither time, _nor_ power in the organs, to shape the words properly."--_Sheridan cor._ "That he may neither unnecessarily waste his voice by throwing out too much, _nor_ diminish his power by using too little."--_Id._ "I have retained only such _as_ appear most agreeable to the measures of analogy."--_Littleton cor._ "He is a man both prudent and industrious."--_P. E. Day cor._ "Conjunctions connect either words or sentences."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 169. "Such silly girls _as_ love to chat and play, Deserve no care; their time is thrown away."--_Tobitt cor._ "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, _That_ to be hated _she_ but needs be seen."--_Pope cor._ "Justice must punish the rebellious deed; Yet punish so _that_ pity shall exceed."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER NOTE VIII.--IMPROPER ELLIPSES. "THAT, WHOSE, and AS, relate either to persons or _to_ things." Or better:--"relate _as well_ to persons _as to_ things."--_Sanborn cor._ "WHICH and WHAT, as adjectives, relate either to persons or _to_ things." Or better:--"relate to persons _as well as to_ things."--_Id._ "Whether of a public or _of a_ private nature."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "Which are included _among both_ the public and _the_ private wrongs."--_Id._ "I might extract, both from the Old and _from the_ New Testament, numberless examples of induction."--_Id._ "Many verbs are used both in an active and _in a_ neuter signification." Or thus: "Many verbs are used _in both_ an active and _a_ neuter signification."--_Lowth, Mur., et al., cor._ "Its influence is likely to be considerable, both on the morals and _on the_ taste of a nation."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The subject afforded a variety of scenes, both of the awful and _of the_ tender kind."--_Id._ "Restlessness of mind disqualifies us both for the enjoyment of peace, and _for_ the performance of our duty."--_Mur. and Ing. cor. "Pronominal adjectives_ are of a mixed nature, participating the properties both of pronouns and _of_ adjectives."--_Mur. et al. cor. "Pronominal adjectives_ have the nature both of the adjective and _of_ the pronoun."--_Frost cor._ Or: "[Pronominal adjectives] partake of the properties _of both_ adjectives _and_ pronouns."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 55. "Pronominal adjectives are a kind of compound part of speech, partaking the nature both of pronouns and _of_ adjectives."--_Nutting cor._ "Nouns are used either in the singular or _in the_ plural number." Or perhaps better: "Nouns are used _in either_ the singular or _the_ plural number."--_David Blair cor._ "The question is not, whether the nominative or _the_ accusative ought to follow the particles THAN and AS; but, whether these particles are, in such particular cases, to be regarded as conjunctions or _as_ prepositions"--_Campbell cor._ "In English, many verbs are used both as transitives and _as_ intransitives."--_Churchill cor._ "He sendeth rain both on the just and _on the_ unjust."--See _Matt._, v, 45. "A foot consists either of two or _of_ three syllables."--_David Blair cor._ "Because they participate the nature both of adverbs and _of_ conjunctions."--_L. Murray cor._ "Surely, Romans, what I am now about to say, ought neither to be omitted, nor _to_ pass without notice."--_Duncan cor._ "Their language frequently amounts, not only to bad sense, but _to nonsense_."--_Kirkham cor._ "Hence arises the necessity of a social state to man, both for the unfolding, and _for the_ exerting, of his nobler faculties."--_Sheridan cor._ "Whether the subject be of the real or _of the_ feigned kind."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "Not only was liberty entirely extinguished, but arbitrary power _was_ felt in its heaviest and most oppressive weight."--_Id._ "This rule is _also_ applicable both to verbal Critics and _to_ Grammarians."--_Hiley cor._ "Both the rules and _the_ exceptions of a language must have obtained the sanction of good usage."--_Id._ CHAPTER X.--PREPOSITIONS. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE NOTES TO RULE XXIII. UNDER NOTE I.--CHOICE OF PREPOSITIONS. "You have bestowed your favours _upon_ the most deserving persons."--_Swift corrected._ "But, to rise _above_ that, and overtop the crowd, is given to few."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This [also is a good] sentence [, and] gives occasion _for_ no material remark."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 203. "Though Cicero endeavours to give some reputation _to_ the elder Cato, and those who were his _contemporaries._" Or:--"to give some _favourable account_ of the elder Cato," &c.--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The change that was produced _in_ eloquence, is beautifully described in the dialogue."--_Id._ "Without carefully attending to the variation which they make _in_ the idea."--_Id._ "All _on_ a sudden, you are transported into a lofty palace."--_Hazlitt cor._ "Alike independent of one _an other._" Or: "Alike independent _one of an other_."--_Campbell cor._ "You will not think of them as distinct processes going on independently _of_ each other."--_Channing cor._ "Though we say to _depend on, dependent on_, and _dependence on_, we say, _independent of_, and _independently of._"--_Churchill cor._ "Independently _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 80; _Buchanan's_, 83; _Bullions's_, 110; _Churchill's_, 348.[545] "Because they stand independent _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Allen Fisk cor._ "When a substantive is joined with a participle, in English, independently _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Dr. Adam cor._ "CONJUNCTION comes _from_ the two Latin words _con_, together, and _jungo_, to join."--_Merchant cor._ "How different _from_ this is the life of Fulvia!"--_Addison cor._ "LOVED is a participle or adjective, derived _from_ the word _love_."--_Ash cor._ "But I would inquire _of_ him, what an office is."--_Barclay cor._ "For the capacity is brought _into_ action."--_Id._ "In this period, language and taste arrive _at_ purity."--_Webster cor._ "And, should you not aspire _to_ (or _after_) distinction in the _republic_ of letters."--_Kirkham cor._ "Delivering you up to the synagogues, and _into_ prisons."--_Luke_, xxi, 12. "_He_ that is kept from falling _into_ a ditch, is as truly saved, as he that is taken out of one."--_Barclay cor._ "The best _of_ it is, they are but a sort of French Hugonots."--_Addison cor._ "These last ten examples are indeed of a different nature _from_ the former."--_R. Johnson cor._ "For the initiation of students _into_ the principles of the English language."--_Ann. Rev. cor._ "Richelieu profited _by_ every circumstance which the conjuncture afforded."--_Bolingbroke cor._ "In the names of drugs and plants, the mistake _of_ a word may endanger life."--_Merchant's Key_, p. 185. Or better: "In _naming_ drugs _or_ plants, _to mistake_ a word, may endanger life."--_L. Murray cor._ "In order to the carrying _of_ its several parts into execution."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "His abhorrence _of_ the superstitious figure."--_Priestley._ "Thy prejudice _against_ my cause."--_Id._ "Which is found _in_ every species of liberty."--_Hume cor._ "In a hilly region _on_ the north of Jericho."--_Milman cor._ "Two or more singular nouns coupled _by_ AND require a verb _or_ pronoun in the plural."--_Lennie cor._ "Books should to one of these four ends conduce, _To_ wisdom, piety, delight, or use."--_Denham cor._ UNDER NOTE II.--TWO OBJECTS OR MORE. "The Anglo-Saxons, however, soon quarrelled _among_ themselves for precedence."--_Const. Misc. cor._ "The distinctions _among_ the principal parts of speech are founded in nature."--_Webster cor._ "I think I now understand the difference between the active verbs and those _which are_ passive _or_ neuter."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Thus a figure including a space _within_ three lines, is the real as well as nominal essence of a triangle."--_Locke cor._ "We must distinguish between an imperfect phrase _and_ a simple sentence, _and between a simple sentence_ and a compound sentence."--_Lowth, Murray, et al., cor._ "The Jews are strictly forbidden by their law to exercise usury _towards one an_ other."--_Sale cor._ "All the writers have distinguished themselves among _themselves_."--_Addison cor._ "This expression also better secures the systematic uniformity _of_ the three cases."--_Nutting cor._ "When two or more _infinitives_ or clauses _are connected disjunctively as the subjects of an affirmation_, the verb must be singular."--_Jaudon cor._ "Several nouns or pronouns together in the same case, require a comma _after_ each; [except the last, which must sometimes be followed by a greater point.]"--_David Blair cor._ "The difference between _one vowel and an other_ is produced by opening the mouth differently, and placing the tongue in a different manner for each."--_Churchill cor._ "Thus feet composed of syllables, being pronounced with a sensible interval between _one foot and an other_, make a more lively impression than can be made by a continued sound."--_Kames cor._ "The superlative degree implies a comparison, _sometimes_ between _two, but generally among_ three or more."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "They are used to mark a distinction _among_ several objects."--_Levizac cor._ UNDER NOTE III.--OMISSION OF PREPOSITIONS. "This would have been less worthy _of_ notice."--_Churchill cor._ "But I passed it, as a thing unworthy _of_ my notice."--_Werter cor._ "Which, in compliment to me, perhaps you may one day think worthy _of_ your attention."--_Bucke cor._ "To think this small present worthy _of_ an introduction to the young ladies of your very elegant establishment."-- _Id._ "There are but a few miles _of_ portage."--_Jefferson cor._ "It is worthy _of_ notice, that our mountains are not solitary."--_Id._ "It is _about_ one hundred feet _in_ diameter." [546]--_Id._ "Entering a hill a quarter or half _of_ a mile."--_Id._ "And herself seems passing to _an_ awful dissolution, whose issue _it_ is not given _to_ human foresight to scan."--_Id._ "It was of a spheroidical form, _about_ forty feet _in_ diameter at the base, and had been _about_ twelve feet _in_ altitude."--_Id._ "Before this, it was covered with trees of twelve inches _in_ diameter; and, round the base, _there_ was an excavation of five feet _in_ depth and _five in_ width."--_Id._ "Then thou _mayst_ eat grapes _to_ thy fill, at thine own pleasure."--_Bible cor._ "Then he brought me back _by_ the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary."--_Id._ "They will bless God, that he has peopled one half _of_ the world with a race of freemen."--_Webster cor._ "_Of_ what use can these words be, till their meaning is known?"--_Town cor._ "The tents of the Arabs now are black, or _of_ a very dark colour."--_The Friend cor._ "They may not be unworthy _of_ the attention of young men."--_Kirkham cor._ "The pronoun THAT is frequently applied to persons as well as _to_ things."--_Merchant cor._ "And '_who_' is in the same case that '_man_' is _in_."--_Sanborn cor._ "He saw a flaming stone, apparently about four feet _in_ diameter."--_The Friend cor._ "Pliny informs us, that this stone was _of_ the size of a cart."--_Id._ "Seneca was about twenty years of age in the fifth year of Tiberius, when the Jews were expelled _from_ Rome."--_L'Estrange cor._ "I was prevented _from_ reading a letter which would have undeceived me."--_Hawkesworth cor._ "If the problem can be solved, we may be pardoned _for_ the inaccuracy of its demonstration."--_Booth cor._ "The army must of necessity be the school, not of honour, but _of_ effeminacy."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Afraid of the virtue of a nation in its opposing _of_ bad measures:" or,--"in its _opposition to_ bad measures."--_Id._ "The uniting _of_ them in various ways, so as to form words, would be easy."--_Gardiner cor._ "I might be excused _from_ taking any more notice of it."--_Watson cor._ "Watch therefore; for ye know not _at_ what hour your Lord _will_ come."--_Bible cor._ "Here, not even infants were spared _from_ the sword."--_M'Ilvaine cor._ "To prevent men _from_ turning aside to _false_ modes of worship."--_John Allen cor._ "God expelled them _from_ the garden of Eden."--_Burder cor._ "Nor could he refrain _from_ expressing to the senate the agonies of his mind."--_Hume cor._ "Who now so strenuously opposes the granting _to_ him _of_ any new powers."--_Duncan cor._ "That the laws of the censors have banished him _from_ the forum."--_Id._ "We read not that he was degraded _from_ his office _in_ any other way."--_Barclay cor._ "To all _to_ whom these presents shall come, greeting."--_Hutchinson cor._ "On the 1st _of_ August, 1834."--_Brit. Parl. cor._ "Whether you had not some time in your life Err'd in this point _on_ which you censure him."--_Shak. cor._ UNDER NOTE IV.--OF NEEDLESS PREPOSITIONS. "And the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter."--_Barclay cor._; also _Acts_. "Adjectives, in our language, have neither case, _nor_ gender, nor number; the only variation they have, is comparison."--_Buchanan cor._ "'It is to you that I am indebted for this privilege;' that is, 'To you am I indebted;' or, 'It is you to whom I am indebted.'"--_Sanborn cor._ "BOOKS is a _common_ noun, of the third person, plural number, _and_ neuter gender."--_Ingersoll cor._ "BROTHER'S is a common _noun_, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and possessive case."--_L. Murray cor._ "VIRTUE'S is a common _noun_, of the third person, singular number, [neuter gender,] and possessive case."--_Id._ "When the authorities on one side greatly preponderate, it is vain to oppose the prevailing usage."--_Campbell and Murray cor._ "A captain of a troop of banditti, had a mind to be plundering Rome."--_Collier cor._ "And, notwithstanding its verbal power, we have added the TO and other signs of exertion."--_Booth cor._ "Some of these situations are termed CASES, and are expressed by additions to the noun, _in stead of_ separate words:" or,--"_and not by_ separate words."--_Id._ "Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and bow down his head like a bulrush?"--_Bacon cor._ Compare _Isa._, lviii, 5. "And this first emotion comes at last to be awakened by the accidental _in stead of_ the necessary antecedent."--_Wayland cor._ "About the same time, the subjugation of the Moors was completed."--_Balbi cor._ "God divided between the light and the darkness."--_Burder cor._ "Notwithstanding this, we are not against outward significations of honour."--_Barclay cor._ "Whether these words and practices of Job's friends, _ought_ to be our rule."--_Id._ "Such verb cannot admit an objective case after it."--_Lowth cor._ "For which, God is now visibly punishing these nations."--_C. Leslie cor._ "In this respect, Tasso yields to no poet, except Homer."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Notwithstanding the numerous panegyrics on the ancient English liberty."--_Hume cor._ "Their efforts seemed to anticipate the spirit which became so general afterwards."--_Id._ UNDER NOTE V.--THE PLACING OF THE WORDS. "But how short _of_ its excellency are my expressions!"--_Baxter cor._ "_In_ his style, there is a remarkable union _of_ harmony with ease."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "It disposes _of_ the light and shade _in_ the most artificial manner, _that_ every thing _may be viewed_ to the best advantage."--_Id._ "_For_ brevity, Aristotle too holds an eminent rank among didactic writers."--_Id._ "In an introduction, correctness _of_ expression should be carefully studied."--_Id._ "_In_ laying down a method, _one ought_ above all things _to study_ precision."--_Id._ "Which shall make _on_ the mind the impression _of_ something that is one, whole, and entire."--_Id._ "At the same time, there are _in_ the Odyssey some defects which must be acknowledged." Or: "At the same time, _it_ must be acknowledged _that_ there are some defects in the Odyssey."--_Id._ "_In_ the concluding books, however, there are beauties _of_ the tragic kind."--_Id._ "These forms of conversation multiplied _by_ degrees, and grew troublesome."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 44. "When she has made her own choice, she sends, _for_ form's sake, a conge-d'elire to her friends."--_Ib._, ii, 46. "Let us endeavour to establish to ourselves an interest in him who holds _in_ his hand the reins of the whole creation."--_Spectator cor._; also _Kames_. "Next to this, the measure most frequent _in_ English poetry, is that of eight syllables."--_David Blair cor._ "To introduce as great a variety _of_ cadences as possible."-- _Jamieson cor._ "He addressed _to_ them several exhortations, suitable to their circumstances."--_L. Murray cor._ "Habits _of_ temperance and self-denial must be acquired."--_Id._ "In reducing _to_ practice the rules prescribed."--_Id._ "But these parts must be so closely bound together, as to make _upon_ the mind the impression _of_ one object, not of many."--_Blair and Mur. cor._ "Errors _with_ respect to the use of _shall_ and _will_, are sometimes committed by the most distinguished writers."--_N. Butler cor._ CHAPTER XI.--PROMISCUOUS EXERCISES. CORRECTIONS OF THE PROMISCUOUS EXAMPLES. LESSON I.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "Such _a_ one, I believe, yours will be proved to be."--_Peet and Farnum cor._ "Of the distinction between the imperfect and the perfect _tense_, it may be observed," &c.--_L. Ainsworth cor._ "The subject is certainly worthy _of_ consideration."--_Id._ "By this means, all ambiguity and controversy _on this point are avoided_."--_Bullions cor._ "The perfect participle, in English, has both an active and _a_ passive signification." Better: "The perfect participle, in English, has _sometimes_ an active, and _sometimes_ a passive, signification."--_Id._ "The old house _has_ at length fallen down."--_Id._ "The king, the lords, and _the_ commons, constitute the English form of government."--_Id._ "The verb in the singular agrees with the person next _to_ it." Better: "The singular verb agrees _in_ person with _that nominative which is_ next _to_ it."--_Id._ "Jane found Seth's gloves in _James's_ hat."--_O. C. Felton cor._ "_Charles's_ task is too great."--_Id._ "The conjugation of a verb is the naming _of_ its several _moods_, tenses, numbers, and persons, _in regular order_."--_Id._ "The _long-remembered_ beggar was his guest."--_Id._ "Participles refer to nouns _or_ pronouns."--_Id._ "F has _a_ uniform sound, in every position, except in OF." Better: "F has _one unvaried_ sound, in every position, except in OF."--_E. J. Hallock cor._ "There are three genders; the masculine, the feminine, and _the_ neuter."--_Id._ "When SO _and_ THAT occur together, sometimes the particle SO is taken as an adverb."--_Id._ "The definition of the articles _shows_ that they modify [the import of] the words to which they belong."--_Id._ "The _auxiliary_, SHALL, WILL, or SHOULD, is implied."--_Id. "Single-rhymed_ trochaic omits the final short syllable."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 237. "_Agreeably_ to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's book."--_Burder, Hallock, and Webster, cor._ "The first person is _that which denotes the speaker_."--_Inst._, p. 32. "Accent is the laying _of_ a peculiar stress of the voice, on a certain letter or syllable in a word."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 235; _Felton's_, 134. "_Thomas's_ horse was caught."--_Felton cor._ "You _were_ loved."--_Id._ "The nominative and _the_ objective end _alike_."--_T. Smith cor._ "The _numbers_ of pronouns, like those of substantives, are two; the singular and the plural."--_Id._ "_I_ is called the pronoun of the first person, _because it represents_ the person speaking."--_Frost cor._ "The essential elements of the phrase _are_ an intransitive gerundive and an adjective."--_Hazen cor._ "_Wealth_ is no justification for such impudence."--_Id._ "_That he was_ a soldier in the revolution, is not doubted."--_Id._ "_Fishing_ is the chief employment of the inhabitants."--_Id._ "The chief employment of the inhabitants, is _the_ catching _of_ fish."--_Id._ "The cold weather did not prevent the _work from_ being finished at the time specified."--_Id._ "The _man's_ former viciousness caused _him to be_ suspected of this crime."--_Id._ "But person and number, applied to verbs, _mean_ certain terminations."--_Barrett cor._ "Robert _felled_ a tree."--_Id._ "Charles raised _himself_ up."--_Id._ "It might not be _a_ useless waste of time."--_Id._ "Neither will you have that implicit faith in the writings and works of others, which _characterizes_ the vulgar."--_Id._ "_I_ is _of_ the first person, because it denotes the speaker."--_Ib._ "I would refer the student to _Hedge's_ or _Watts's_ Logic."--_Id._ "Hedge's _Watts's_, Kirwin's, and Collard's Logic."--_Parker and Fox cor._ "Letters _that_ make a full and perfect sound of themselves, are called vowels." Or: "_The_ letters _which_ make," &c.--_Cutler cor._ "It has both a singular and _a_ plural construction."--_Id._ "For he _beholds_ (or _beholdeth_) thy beams no more."--_Id. Carthon._ "To this sentiment the Committee _have_ the candour to incline, as it will appear by their _summing-up_."--_Macpherson cor._ "This _reduces_ the point at issue to a narrow compass."--_Id._ "Since the English _set_ foot upon the soil."--_Exiles cor._ "The arrangement of its different parts _is_ easily retained by the memory."--_Hiley cor._ "The words employed are the most appropriate _that_ could have been selected."--_Id._ "To prevent it _from_ launching!"--_Id._ "Webster has been followed in preference to others, where _he_ differs from them." Or: "_Webster's Grammar_ has been followed in preference to others, where _it_ differs from them."--_Frazee cor._ "Exclamation and interrogation are often mistaken _the_ one _for the_ other."--_Buchanan cor._ "When all nature is hushed in sleep, and neither love nor guilt _keeps its_ vigils."--_Felton cor._ Or thus:-- "When all nature's hush'd asleep. Nor love, nor guilt, _doth_ vigils keep." LESSON II.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "A _Versifier_ and _a_ Poet are two different things."--_Brightland cor._ "Those qualities will arise from the _well-expressing_ of the subject."--_Id._ "Therefore the explanation of NETWORK is _not noticed_ here."--_Mason cor._ "When emphasis or pathos _is_ necessary to be expressed."--_Humphrey cor._ "Whether this mode of punctuation is correct, _or_ whether it _is_ proper to close the sentence with the mark of admiration, may be made a question."--_Id._ "But not every writer in those days _was_ thus correct."--_Id._ "The sounds of A, in English orthoepy, are no _fewer_ than four."--_Id._ "Our present code of rules _is_ thought to be generally correct." Or: "_The rules in_ our present code are thought to be generally correct."--_Id._ "To prevent _it from_ running into _an other_"--_Id._ "_Shakspeare_, perhaps, the greatest poetical genius _that_ England has produced."--_Id._ "This I will illustrate by example; but, _before doing so_, a few preliminary remarks may be necessary."--_Id._ "All such are entitled to two accents each, and some of _them_ to two accents nearly equal."--_Id._ "But some cases of the kind are so plain, that no one _needs_ to exercise (or, need exercise) his _judgement_ therein."--_Id._ "I have _forborne_ to use the word."--_Id._ "The propositions, 'He may study,' 'He might study,' 'He could study,' _affirm_ an ability or power to study."--_E. J. Hallock cor._ "The divisions of the tenses _have_ occasioned grammarians much trouble and perplexity."--_Id._ "By adopting a familiar, inductive method of presenting this subject, _one may render it_ highly attractive to young learners."--_Wells cor._ "The definitions and rules of different grammarians were carefully compared with _one an_ other:" or--"_one_ with _an_ other."--_Id._ "So as not wholly to prevent some _sound from_ issuing."--_Sheridan cor._ "Letters of the Alphabet, not yet _noticed_."--_Id._ "'IT _is sad_,' 'IT _is strange_,' &c., _seem_ to express only that _the thing_ is sad, strange, &c."--_Well-Wishers cor._ "The winning is easier than the preserving _of_ a conquest."--_Same_. "The United States _find themselves_ the _owners_ of a vast region of country at the west."--_H. Mann cor._ "One or more letters placed before a word _are_ a prefix."--_S. W. Clark cor._ "One or more letters added to a word, _are_ a Suffix."--_Id._ "_Two thirds_ of my hair _have_ fallen off." Or: "My hair has, two thirds of it, fallen off."--_Id._ "'Suspecting' describes _us, the speakers_, by expressing, incidentally, an act of _ours_."--_Id._ "Daniel's predictions are now _about_ being fulfilled." Or thus: "Daniel's predictions are now _receiving their fulfillment_"--_Id._ "His _scholarship_ entitles him to respect."--_Id._ "I doubted _whether he had_ been a soldier."--_Id._ "_The_ taking _of_ a madman's sword to prevent _him from_ doing mischief, cannot be regarded as _a robbery_."--_Id._ "I thought it to be him; but it was not _he_."--_Id._ "It was not _I_ that you saw."--_Id._ "Not to know what happened before you _were_ born, is always to be a boy."--_Id._ "How long _were_ you going? Three days."--_Id._ "The qualifying adjective is placed next _to_ the noun."--_Id._ "All went but _I_."--_Id._ "This is _a_ parsing _of_ their own language, and not _of_ the author's."--_Wells cor._ "_Those_ nouns which denote males, are of the masculine gender." Or: "Nouns _that_ denote males, are of the masculine gender."--_Wells, late Ed._ "_Those_ nouns which denote females, are of the feminine gender." Or: "Nouns _that_ denote females, are of the feminine gender."--_Wells, late Ed._ "When a comparison _among_ more than two objects of the same class is expressed, the superlative degree is employed."--_Wells cor._ "Where _d_ or _t goes_ before, the additional letter _d_ or _t_, in this contracted form, _coalesces_ into one letter with the radical _d_ or _t_."--_Dr. Johnson cor._ "Write words which will show what kind of _house_ you live in--what kind of _book_ you hold in your hand--what kind of _day_ it is."--_Weld cor._ "One word or more _are_ often joined to nouns or pronouns to modify their meaning."--_Id._ "_Good_ is an adjective; it explains the quality or character of every person _to whom_, or thing to which, it is applied." Or:--"of every person or thing _that_ it is applied to."--_Id._ "A great public as well as private advantage arises from every one's devoting _of_ himself to that occupation which he prefers, and for which he is specially fitted."--_Wayland, Wells, and Weld, cor._ "There was a chance _for_ him _to recover_ his senses." Or: "There was a chance _that he might recover_ his senses."--_Wells and Macaulay cor._ "This may be known by _the absence of_ any connecting word immediately preceding it."--_Weld cor._ "There are irregular expressions occasionally to be met with, which usage, or custom, rather than analogy, _sanctions_."--_Id._ "He added an anecdote of _Quin_ relieving Thomson from prison." Or: "He added an anecdote of _Quin_ as relieving Thomson from prison." Or: "He added an anecdote of Quin's relieving _of_ Thomson from prison." Or better: "He _also told how Quin relieved_ Thomson from prison."--_Id._ "The daily labour of her hands _procures_ for her all that is necessary."--_Id._ "_That it is I, should_ make no change in your determination."--_Hart cor._ "The classification of words into what _are_ called the Parts of Speech."--_Weld cor._ "Such licenses may be explained _among_ what _are_ usually termed Figures."--_Id._ "Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's _hand_."--_Beattie_. "They fall successive, and successive _rise_."--_Pope_. LESSON III.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH. "A Figure of Etymology is _an_ intentional deviation _from_ the usual form of a word."--_See Brown's Institutes_, p. 229. "A Figure of Syntax is _an_ intentional deviation _from_ the usual construction of a word."--_See Brown's Inst._, p. 230. "Synecdoche is _the naming_ of the whole of _any thing_ for a part, or a part for the whole."--_Weld cor._ "Apostrophe is a _turning-off_[547] from the regular course of the subject, to address some person or thing."--_Id._ "Even young pupils will perform such exercises with surprising interest and facility, and will unconsciously gain, in a little time, more knowledge of the structure of _language_, than _they_ can acquire by a drilling of several years in the usual routine of parsing."--_Id._ "A few _rules_ of construction are employed in this _part_, to guide _the pupil_ in the exercise of parsing."--_Id._ "The name of _any_ person, object, or thing, _that_ can be thought of, or spoken of, is a noun."--_Id._ "A dot, resembling our period, is used between every _two words_, as well as at the close of _each verse_."--_W. Day cor._ "_The_ casting _of_ types in matrices was invented by Peter Schoeffer, in 1452."--_Id._ "On perusing it, he said, that, so far [_was it_] _from_ showing the prisoner's guilt [that] it positively established his innocence."--_Id._ "By printing the nominative and verb in Italic letters, _we shall enable_ the reader to distinguish them at a glance."--_Id._ "It is well, no doubt, to avoid unnecessary words."--_Id._ "_I_ meeting a friend the other day, he said to me, 'Where are you going?'"--_Id._ "To John, apples _were_ first denied; then _they were_ promised _to him_; then _they were_ offered _to him_."--_Lennie cor._ "Admission was denied _him_."--_Wells cor._ "A pardon _was_ offered _to them_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 183. "A new _potato_ was this day shown me."--_Darwin, Webster, Frazee, and Weld, cor._ "_Those_ nouns or pronouns which denote males, are of the masculine gender."--_S. S. Greene, cor._ "There are three degrees of comparison; the positive, _the_ comparative, and _the_ superlative."--_Id._ "The first two refer to direction; the third _refers_ to locality."--_Id._ "The following are some of the verbs which take a direct and _an_ indirect object."--_Id._ "I was not aware _that he was_ the judge of the supreme court."--_Id._ "An indirect question may refer to _any_ of the five elements of a declarative sentence."--_Id._ "I am not sure that he will be present."--_Id._ "We left _New York_ on Tuesday."--_Id._ "He left _the city_, as he told me, before the arrival of the steamer."--_Id._ "We told him that he must leave _us_;"--_Id._ "We told him to leave _us_."--_Id._ "Because he was unable to persuade the multitude, he left _the place_, in disgust."--_Id._ "He left _the company_, and took his brother with him."--_Id._ "This stating, or declaring, or denying _of_ any thing, is called the indicative _mood_, or manner of speaking."--_Weld cor._ "This took place at our friend Sir Joshua _Reynolds's_."--_Id._ "The manner _in which_ a young _lady may employ_ herself usefully in reading, will be the subject of _an other_ paper."--_Id._ "Very little time is necessary for _Johnson to conclude_ a treaty with the bookseller."--_Id._ "My father is not now sick; but if he _were_, your services would be welcome."--_Chandler's Common School Gram., Ed. of 1847_, p. 79. "_Before_ we begin to write or speak, we ought to fix in our minds a clear conception of the end to be aimed at."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Length of days _is_ in her right hand; and, in her left hand, _are_ riches and honour."--See _Proverbs_, iii, 16. "The active and _the_ passive present express different ideas."--_Bullions cor._ "An _Improper Diphthong_, (_sometimes called a_ Digraph,) is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels _is_ sounded."--_Fowler cor._ (See G. Brown's definition.) "The real origin of the words _is_ to be sought in the Latin."--_Fowler cor._ "What sort of alphabet the Gothic languages possess, we know; what sort of alphabet they require, we can determine."--_Id._ "The Runic alphabet, whether borrowed or invented by the early Goths, is of greater antiquity than either the oldest Teutonic or the Moeso-Gothic _alphabet_."--_Id._ "Common to the masculine and neuter genders."--_Id._ "In the Anglo-Saxon, HIS was common to both the masculine and _the_ Neuter _Gender_."--_Id._ "When time, number, or dimension, _is_ specified, the adjective follows the substantive."--_Id._ "Nor pain, nor grief nor anxious fear, _Invades_ thy bounds."--_Id._ "To Brighton, the Pavilion lends a _lath-and-plaster_ grace."--_Fowler cor._ "From this consideration, _I have given to nouns_ but one person, the THIRD."--_D. C. Allen cor._ "For it seems to guard and cherish E'en the wayward dreamer--_me_."--_Anon. cor._ CHAPTER XII.--GENERAL REVIEW. CORRECTIONS UNDER ALL THE PRECEDING RULES AND NOTES. LESSON I.--ARTICLES. "And they took stones, and made _a_ heap."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xxxi, 46. "And I do know many fools, that stand in better place."--_Shak. cor._ "It is a strong antidote to the turbulence of passion, and _the_ violence of pursuit."--_Kames cor._ "The word NEWS may admit of either a singular or _a_ plural application."--_Wright cor._ "He has gained a fair and honourable reputation."--_Id._ "There are two general forms, called the solemn and _the_ familiar style." Or:--"called the solemn and familiar _styles_."--_Sanborn cor._ "Neither the article nor _the_ preposition can be omitted."--_Wright cor._ "A close union is also observable between the subjunctive and _the_ potential _mood_."--_Id._ "Should we render service equally to a friend, _a_ neighbour, and an enemy?"--_Id._ "Till _a_ habit is obtained, of aspirating strongly."--_Sheridan cor._ "There is _a_ uniform, steady use of the same signs."--_Id._ "A traveller remarks most _of the_ objects _which_ he sees."--_Jamieson cor._ "What is the name of the river on which London stands? _Thames_."--_G. B._ "We sometimes find the last line of a couplet or _a_ triplet stretched out to twelve syllables."--_Adam cor._ "_The_ nouns which follow active verbs, are not in the nominative case."--_David Blair cor._ "It is a solemn duty to speak plainly of _the_ wrongs which good men perpetrate."--_Channing cor._ "_The_ gathering of riches is a pleasant torment."--_L. Cobb cor._ "It is worth being quoted." Or better: "It is worth quoting."--_Coleridge cor._ "COUNCIL is a noun which admits of a singular and _a_ plural form."--_Wright cor._ "To exhibit the connexion between the Old _Testament_ and the New."--_Keith cor._ "An apostrophe discovers the omission of a letter or _of_ letters."--_Guy cor._ "He is immediately ordained, or rather acknowledged, _a_ hero."--_Pope cor._ "Which is the same in both the leading and _the_ following state."--_Brightland cor._ "Pronouns, as will be seen hereafter, have _three_ distinct _cases; the_ nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."--_D. Blair cor._ "A word of many syllables is called _a_ polysyllable."--_Beck cor._ "Nouns have two numbers; _the_ singular and _the_ plural."--_Id._ "They have three genders; _the_ masculine, _the_ feminine, and _the_ neuter."--_Id._ "They have three cases; _the_ nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."--_Id._ "Personal pronouns have, like nouns, two numbers; _the_ singular and _the_ plural;--three genders; _the_ masculine, _the_ feminine, and _the_ neuter;--_three_ cases; _the_ nominative, _the possessive_, and _the_ objective."--_Id._ "He must be wise enough to know the singular from _the_ plural"--_Id._ "Though they may be able to meet every reproach which any one of their fellows may prefer."--_Chalmers cor._ "Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such _a_ one as Paul the aged."--_Bible cor._; also _Webster_. "A people that jeoparded their lives unto death."--_Bible cor._ "By preventing too great _an_ accumulation of seed within too narrow _a_ compass."--_The Friend cor._ "Who fills up the middle space between the animal and _the_ intellectual nature, the visible and _the_ invisible world."--_Addison cor._ "The Psalms abound with instances of _the_ harmonious arrangement of words."--_Murray cor._ "On _an_ other table, were _a_ ewer and _a_ vase, likewise of gold."--_Mirror cor._ "TH is said to have two sounds, _a_ sharp and _a_ flat."--_Wilson cor._ "_The_ SECTION (Sec.) is _sometimes_ used in _the_ subdividing of a chapter into lesser parts."--_Brightland cor._ "Try it in a dog, or _a_ horse, or any other creature."--_Locke cor._ "But particularly in _the_ learning of languages, there is _the_ least occasion _to pose_ children."--_Id._ "_Of_ what kind is _the_ noun RIVER, and why?"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "Is WILLIAM'S a proper or _a_ common noun?"--_Id._ "What kind of article, then, shall we call _the_?" Or better: "What then shall we call the article _the_?"--_Id._ "Each burns alike, who can, or cannot write, Or with a rival's, or _a_ eunuch's spite."--_Pope cor._ LESSON II.--NOUNS, OR CASES. "And there _are_ stamped upon their imaginations _ideas_ that follow them with terror and _affright_."--_Locke cor._ "There's not a wretch that lives on common charity, but's happier than _I_."--_Ven. Pres. cor._ "But they overwhelm _every one who_ is ignorant of them."--_H. Mann cor._ "I have received a letter from my cousin, _her_ that was here last week."--_Inst._, p. 129. "_Gentlemen's_ houses are seldom without variety of company."--_Locke cor._ "Because Fortune has laid them below the level of others, at their _masters_' feet."--_Id._ "We blamed neither _John's_ nor Mary's delay."--_Nixon cor._ "The book was written by order _of Luther_ the _reformer_."--_Id._ "I saw on the table of the saloon Blair's sermons, and _somebody's_ else, (I forget _whose_,) and [_about the room_] a set of noisy children."--_Byron cor._ "Or saith he it altogether for our _sake_?"--_Bible cor._ "He was not aware _that the Duke was_ his competitor."--_Sanborn cor._ "It is no condition of an adjective, that _the word_ must be placed before a noun." Or: "It is no condition _on which a word becomes_ an adjective, that it must be placed before a noun."--_Id., and Fowle cor._ "Though their reason corrected the wrong _ideas which_ they had taken in."--_Locke cor._ "It was _he that_ taught me to hate slavery."--_Morris cor._ "It is _he_ and his kindred, who live upon the labour of others."--_Id._ "Payment of tribute is an acknowledgement of _him as_ being King--(of _him as_ King--or, _that he is_ King--) to whom we think it due."--_C. Leslie cor._ "When we comprehend what _is taught us_."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The following words, and parts of words, must be _noticed_."--_Priestley cor._ "Hence tears and commiseration are so often _employed_."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "JOHN-A-NOKES, _n._ A fictitious name _used_ in law proceedings."--_A. Chalmers cor._ "The construction of _words denoting_ matter, and _the_ part _grasped_."--_B. F. Fisk cor._ "And such other names as carry with them the _idea_ of _something_ terrible and hurtful."--_Locke cor._ "Every learner then would surely be glad to be spared _from_ the trouble and fatigue."--_Pike cor._ "_It_ is not the owning of _one's_ dissent from _an other_, that I speak against."--_Locke cor._ "A man that cannot fence, will be more careful to keep out of bullies and _gamesters'_ company, and will not be half so apt to stand upon _punctilios_."--_Id._ "From such persons it is, _that_ one may learn more in one day, than in a _year's_ rambling from one inn to _an other_."--_Id._ "A long syllable is generally considered to be twice _as long as_ a short one."--_D. Blair cor._ "I is of the first person, and _the_ singular number. THOU is _of the_ second person singular. HE, SHE, or IT, is _of the_ third person singular. WE is _of the_ first person plural. YE or YOU is _of the_ second person plural. THEY is _of the_ third person plural."--_Kirkham cor._ "This actor, doer, or producer of the action, is _denoted by some word in_ the nominative _case_."--_Id._ "_Nobody_ can think, _that_ a boy of three or seven years _of age_ should be argued with as a grown man."--_Locke cor._ "This was in _the house of_ one of the Pharisees, not in Simon the leper's."--_Hammond cor._ "Impossible! it can't be _I_."--_Swift cor._ "Whose grey top shall tremble, _He_ descending."--_Milton, P. L._, xii, 227. "_Of_ what gender is _woman_, and why?"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "_Of_ what gender, then, is _man_, and why?"--_Id._ "Who is _this I; whom_ do you mean when you say _I_?"--_R. W. Green cor._ "It _has_ a pleasant air, but _the soil_ is barren."--_Locke cor._ "You may, in three _days'_ time, go from Galilee to Jerusalem."--_W. Whiston cor._ "And that which is left of the meat-offering, shall be Aaron's and his _sons'_."--FRIENDS' BIBLE. "For none in all the world, without a lie, Can say _of_ this, '_'T_is mine,' but _Bunyan_, I."--_Bunyan cor._ LESSON III.--ADJECTIVES. "When he can be their remembrancer and advocate _at all assizes_ and sessions."--_Leslie cor._ "DOING denotes _every_ manner of action; as, to dance, to play, to write, &c."--_Buchanan cor._ "Seven _feet_ long,"--"eight _feet_ long,"--"fifty _feet_ long."--_W. Walker cor._ "Nearly the whole of _these_ twenty-five millions of dollars is a dead loss to the nation."--_Fowler cor._ "Two negatives destroy _each_ other."--_R. W. Green cor._ "We are warned against excusing sin in ourselves, or in _one an_ other."--_Friend cor._ "The Russian empire is more extensive than any _other_ government in the world."--_Inst._, p. 265. "You will always have the satisfaction to think it, of all _your expenses_, the money best laid out."--_Locke cor._ "There is no _other_ passion which all mankind so naturally _indulge_, as pride."--_Steele cor._ "O, throw away the _viler_ part of it."--_Shak. cor._ "He showed us _an easier_ and _more agreeable_ way."--_Inst._, p. 265. "And the _last four_ are to point out those further improvements."--_Jamieson and Campbell cor._ "Where he has not clear _ideas_, distinct and different."--_Locke cor._ "Oh, when shall we have _an other such_ Rector of Laracor!"--_Hazlitt cor._ "Speech must have been absolutely necessary _previously_ to the formation of society." Or better thus: "Speech must have been absolutely necessary to the formation of society."--_Jamieson cor._ "Go and tell _those_ boys to be still."--_Inst._, p. 265. "Wrongs are engraved on marble; benefits, on sand: _those_ are apt to be requited; _these_, forgot."--_G. B._ "_None_ of these several interpretations is the true one."--_G. B._ "My friend indulged himself in some freaks _not befitting_ the gravity of a clergyman."--_G. B._ "And their pardon is all that _any_ of their impropriators will have to plead."--_Leslie cor._ "But the time usually chosen to send young men abroad, is, I think, of all _periods_, that _at_ which _they are_ least capable of reaping those advantages."--_Locke cor._ "It is a mere figment of the human imagination, a rhapsody of the _transcendently_ unintelligible."--_Jamieson cor._ "It contains a greater assemblage of sublime ideas, of bold and daring figures, than is perhaps _anywhere else_ to be met with."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The order in which the _last two_ words are placed should have been reversed."--_Dr. Blair cor._; also _L. Murray_. "In Demosthenes, eloquence _shone_ forth with higher splendour, than perhaps in any _other_ that ever bore the name of _orator_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The circumstance of his _poverty_ (or, _that he is_ poor) is decidedly favourable."--_Todd cor._ "The temptations to dissipation are greatly lessened by his _poverty_."--_Id._ "For, with her death, _those_ tidings came."--_Shak. cor._ "The next objection is, that _authors of this sort_ are poor."--_Cleland cor._ "Presenting Emma, as Miss Castlemain, to these _acquaintances_:" or,--"to these _persons of her_ acquaintance."--_Opie cor._ "I doubt not _that_ it will please more _persons_ than the opera:" or,--"that it will be _more pleasing_ than the opera."--_Spect. cor._ "The world knows only two; _these are_ Rome and I."--_Ben Jonson cor._ "I distinguish these two things from _each_ other."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And, in this case, mankind reciprocally claim and allow indulgence to _one an_ other."--_Sheridan cor._ "The _last six_ books are said not to have received the finishing hand of the author."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The _best-executed_ part of the work, is the first six books."--_Id._ "To reason how can we be said to rise? So _hard the task for mortals to be_ wise!"--_Sheffield cor._ LESSON IV.--PRONOUNS. "Once upon a time, a goose fed _her_ young by a _pond's_ side:" or--"by a _pondside_."--_Goldsmith cor._ (See OBS. 33d on Rule 4th.) "If either _has_ a sufficient degree of merit to recommend _it_ to the attention of the public."--_J. Walker cor._ "Now W. _Mitchell's_ deceit is very remarkable."--_Barclay cor._ "My brother, I did not put the question to thee, for that I doubted of the truth of _thy_ belief."--_Bunyan cor._ "I had two elder brothers, one of _whom_ was a lieutenant-colonel."--_De Foe cor._ "Though James is here the object of the action, yet _the word James_ is in the nominative case."--_Wright cor._ "Here John is the actor; and _the word John_ is known to be _in_ the nominative, by its answering to the question, '_Who_ struck Richard?'"--_Id._ "One of the most distinguished privileges _that_ Providence has conferred upon mankind, is the power of communicating their thoughts to one _an other_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "With some of the most refined feelings _that_ belong to our frame."--_Id._ "And the same instructions _that_ assist others in composing _works of elegance_, will assist them in judging of, and relishing, the beauties of composition."--_Id._ "To overthrow all _that_ had been yielded in favour of the army."--_Macaulay cor._ "Let your faith stand in the Lord God, who changes not, _who_ created all, and _who_ gives the increase of all."--_Friends cor._ "For it is, in truth, the sentiment of passion which lies under the figured expression, that gives it _all its_ merit."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Verbs are words _that_ affirm the being, doing, or suffering of a thing, together with the time _at which_ it happens."--_A. Murray cor._ "The _bias_ will always hang on that side _on which_ nature first placed it."--_Locke cor._ "They should be brought to do the things _which_ are fit for them."--_Id._ "_The_ various sources _from which_ the English language is derived."--_L. Murray cor._ "This attention to the several cases _in which_ it is proper to omit _or_ to redouble the copulative, is of considerable importance."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Cicero, for instance, speaking of the cases _in which it_ is lawful _to kill an other in self-defence_, uses the following words."--_Id._ "But there is no nation, hardly _are there_ any _persons_, so phlegmatic as not to accompany their words with some actions, _or_ gesticulations, _whenever_ they are much in earnest."--_Id._ "_William's_ is said to be governed by _coat_, because _coat_ follows _William's_" Or better:--"because _coat_ is the name of the thing possessed by William."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "In life, there are many _occasions on which_ silence and simplicity are _marks of_ true wisdom."--_L. Murray cor._ "In choosing umpires _whose_ avarice is excited."--_Nixon cor._ "The boroughs sent representatives, _according to law_."--_Id._ "No man believes but _that_ there is some order in the universe."--_G. B._ "The moon is orderly in her changes, _and_ she could not be _so_ by accident."--_Id._ "_The riddles of the Sphynx_ (or, The _Sphynx's_ riddles) are generally _of_ two kinds."--_Bacon cor._ "They must generally find either their friends or _their_ enemies in power."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "For, of old, _very many_ took upon them to write what happened in their own time."--_Whiston cor._ "The Almighty cut off the family of Eli the high priest, for _their_ transgressions."--_The Friend_, vii, 109. "The convention then resolved _itself_ into a committee of the whole."--_Inst._, p. 269. "The severity with which _persons of_ this denomination _were_ treated, appeared rather to invite _them to the colony_, than to deter them from flocking _thither_."--_H. Adams cor._ "Many Christians abuse the Scriptures and the traditions of the apostles, to uphold things quite contrary to _them_."--_Barclay cor._ "Thus, a circle, a square, a triangle, or a hexagon, _pleases_ the eye by _its_ regularity, _and is a_ beautiful _figure_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Elba is remarkable for being the place to which Bonaparte was banished in 1814."--_Olney's Geog_. "The editor has the reputation of being a good linguist and critic."--_Rel. Herald_. "It is a pride _which_ should be cherished in them."--_Locke cor._ "And to restore _to_ us the _hope_ of fruits, to reward our pains in _their_ season."--_Id._ "The comic representation of Death's victim relating _his_ own tale."--_Wright cor._ "As for _Scioppius's_ Grammar, that wholly _concerns_ the Latin tongue."--_Wilkins cor._ "And chiefly _Thou_, O Spirit, _that_ dost prefer Before all temples _th'_ upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou _knowst_."--_Milton, P. L._, B. i, l. 17. LESSON V.--VERBS. "And there _were_ in the same country shepherds abiding in the field."--_Friends' Bible_; also _Bruce's, and Alger's_. "Whereof every one _bears_ [or _beareth_] twins."--BIBLE COR.: _Song_, vi, 6. "He strikes out of his nature one of the most divine principles that _are_ planted in it."--_Addison cor._ "GENII [i.e., the _word_ GENII] _denotes aerial_ spirits."--_Wright cor._ "In proportion as the long and large prevalence of such corruptions _has_ been obtained by force."--_Halifax cor._ "Neither of these _is set before any_ word of a general signification, or _before a_ proper name."--_Brightland cor._ "Of which, a few of the opening lines _are_ all I shall give."--_Moore cor._ "The _wealth_ we had in England, was the slow result of long industry and wisdom." Or: "The _riches_ we had in England _were_," &c.--_Davenant cor._ "The following expression appears to be correct: 'Much _public gratitude_ is due.'" Or this: "'_Great public_ thanks _are_ due.'"--_-Wright cor._ "He _has_ been enabled to correct many mistakes."--_Lowth cor._ "Which road _dost_ thou take here?"--_Ingersoll cor._ "_Dost_ thou _learn_ thy lesson?"--_Id._ "_Did_ they _learn_ their pieces perfectly?"--_Id._ "Thou _learned_ thy task well."--_Id._ "There are some _who_ can't relish the town, and others can't _bear_ with the country."--_Sir Wilful cor._ "If thou _meet_ them, thou must put on an intrepid mien."--_Neef cor._ "Struck with terror, as if Philip _were_ something more than human."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "If the personification of the form of Satan _were_ admissible, _the pronoun_ should certainly have been masculine."--_Jamieson cor._ "If only one _follows_, there seems to be a defect in the sentence."--_Priestley cor._ "Sir, if thou _hast_ borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him."--_Bible cor._ "Blessed _are_ the people that know the joyful sound."--_Id._ "Every auditory _takes_ in good part those marks of respect and awe _with which a modest speaker commences a public discourse_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Private causes were still pleaded in the forum; but the public _were_ no longer interested, nor _was_ any general attention drawn to what passed there."--_Id._ "Nay, what evidence can be brought to show, that the _inflections_ of the _classic_ tongues were not originally formed out of obsolete auxiliary words?"--_L. Murray cor._ "If the student _observe_ that the principal and the auxiliary _form but_ one verb, he will have little or no difficulty in the proper application of the present rule."--_Id._ "For the sword of the enemy, and fear, _are_ on every side."--_Bible cor._ "Even the Stoics agree that nature, _or_ certainty, is very hard to come at."--_Collier cor._ "His politeness, _his_ obliging behaviour, _was_ changed." Or thus: "His _polite_ and obliging behaviour was changed."--_Priestley and Hume cor._ "War and its honours _were_ their employment and ambition." Or thus: "War _was_ their employment; its honours _were their_ ambition."--_Goldsmith cor._ "_Do_ A and AN mean the same thing?"--_R. W. Green cor._ "When _several_ words _come_ in between the discordant parts, the ear does not detect the error."--_Cobbett cor._ "The sentence should be, 'When _several_ words _come_ in,' &c."--_Wright cor._ "The nature of our language, the accent and pronunciation of it, _incline_ us to contract even all our regular verbs."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 104. Or thus: "The nature of our language,--(_that is_, the accent and pronunciation of it,--) inclines us to contract even all our regular verbs."--_Lowth cor._ "The nature of our language, together with the accent and pronunciation of it, _inclines_ us to contract even all our regular verbs."--_Hiley cor._ "Prompt aid, and not promises, _is_ what we ought to give."--_G. B._ "The position of the several organs, therefore, as well as their functions, _is_ ascertained."--_Med. Mag. cor._ "Every private company, and almost every public assembly, _affords_ opportunities of remarking the difference between a just and graceful, and a faulty and unnatural elocution."--_Enfield cor._ "Such submission, together with the active principle of obedience, _makes_ up _in us_ the temper _or_ character which answers to his sovereignty."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "In happiness, as in other things, there _are_ a false and a true, an imaginary and a real."--_A. Fuller cor._ "To confound things that differ, and to make a distinction where there is no difference, _are_ equally unphilosophical."--_G. Brown_. "I know a bank wheron _doth_ wild thyme _blow_, Where oxlips and the nodding violet _grow_."--_Shak. cor._ LESSON VI.--VERBS. "Whose business or profession _prevents_ their attendance in the morning."--_Ogilby cor._ "And no church or officer _has_ power over _an other_."--_Lechford cor._ "While neither reason nor experience _is_ sufficiently matured to protect them."--_Woodbridge cor._ "Among the Greeks and Romans, _almost_ every syllable was known to have a fixed and determined quantity." Or thus: "Among the Greeks and Romans, _all syllables_, (or at least the far _greater_ number,) _were_ known to have _severally_ a fixed and determined quantity."--_Blair and Jamieson cor._ "Their vanity is awakened, and their passions _are_ exalted, by the irritation which their self-love receives from contradiction."--_Tr. of Mad. De Stael cor._ "_He and I were_ neither of us any great swimmer."--_Anon_. "Virtue, honour--nay, even self-interest, _recommends_ the measure."--_L. Murray cor._ (See Obs. 5th on Rule 16th.) "A correct plainness, _an_ elegant simplicity, is the proper character of an introduction."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "In syntax, there is what grammarians call concord or agreement, and _there is_ government."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "People find themselves able, without much study, to write and speak English intelligibly, and thus _are_ led to think _that_ rules _are_ of no utility."--_Webster cor._ "But the writer must be one who has studied to inform himself well, _who_ has pondered his subject with care, and who addresses himself to our _judgement_, rather than to our imagination."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "But practice _has_ determined it otherwise; and has, in all the languages with which we are much acquainted, supplied the place of an interrogative _mood_, either by particles of interrogation, or by a peculiar order of the words in the sentence."--_Lowth cor._ "If the Lord _hath_ stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering."--_Bible cor._ "But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and _she return_ unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's meat."--_Id._ "Since we never have _studied, and never_ shall study, your sublime productions."--_Neef cor._ "Enabling us to form _distincter_ images of objects, than can be _formed_, with the utmost attention, where these particulars are not found."--_Kames cor._ "I hope you will consider _that_ what is _spoken_ comes from my love."--_Shak. cor._ "We _shall_ then perceive how the designs of emphasis may be marred."--_Rush cor._ "I knew it was Crab, and _went_ to the fellow that whips the dogs."--_Shak. cor._ "The youth _was consuming_ by a slow malady."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 64; _Ingersoll's_, 45; _Fisk_, 82. "If all men thought, spoke, and wrote alike, something resembling a perfect adjustment of these points _might_ be accomplished."--_Wright cor._ "If you will replace what has been, _for a_ long _time_ expunged from the language." Or: "If you will replace what _was_ long _ago_ expunged from the language."--_Campbell and Murray cor._ "As in all those faulty instances _which_ I have _just_ been giving."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This mood _is_ also used _improperly_ in the following places."--_L. Murray cor._ "He seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to _have known_ what it was that nature had bestowed upon him."--_Johnson cor._ "Of which I _have_ already _given_ one instance, the worst indeed that occurred in the poem."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It is strange he never commanded you to _do_ it."--_Anon_. "History painters would have found it difficult, to _invent_ such a species of beings."--_Addison cor._ "Universal Grammar cannot be taught abstractedly; it must be _explained_ with referenc [sic--KTH] to some language already known."--_Lowth cor._ "And we might imagine, that if verbs had been so contrived as simply to express these, _no other tenses would have been_ needful."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To a writer of such a genius as _Dean Swift's_, the plain style _is_ most admirably fitted."--_Id._ "Please _to_ excuse my son's absence."--_Inst._, p. 279. "Bid the boys come in immediately."--_Ib._ "Gives us the secrets of his pagan hell, Where _restless ghosts_ in sad communion dwell."--_Crabbe cor._ "Alas! nor faith nor valour now _remains_; Sighs are but wind, and I must bear my _chains_."--_Walpole cor._ LESSON VII.--PARTICIPLES. "Of which the author considers himself, in compiling the present work, as merely laying the foundation-stone."--_David Blair cor._ "On the raising _of_ such lively and distinct images as are here described."--_Kames cor._ "They are necessary to the avoiding _of_ ambiguities."--_Brightland cor._ "There is no neglecting _of_ it without falling into a dangerous error." Or better: "_None can neglect_ it without falling," &c.--_Burlamaqui cor._ "The contest resembles Don Quixote's fighting _of_ (or _with_) windmills."--_Webster cor._ "That these verbs associate with _other_ verbs in all the tenses, is no proof _that they have_ no particular time of their own."--_L. Murray cor._ "To justify _myself in_ not following the _track_ of the ancient rhetoricians."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "The _putting-together of_ letters, so as to make words, is called Spelling."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "What is the _putting-together of_ vowels and consonants called?"--_Id._ "Nobody knows of their _charitableness_, but themselves." Or: "Nobody knows _that they are_ charitable, but themselves."--_Fuller cor._ "Payment was at length made, but no reason _was_ assigned for so long _a postponement of it_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Which will bear _to be_ brought into comparison with any composition of the kind."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To render vice ridiculous, is _to do_ real service to the world."--_Id._ "It is _a direct_ copying from nature, a plain rehearsal of what passed, or was supposed to pass, in conversation."--_Id._ "Propriety of pronunciation _consists in_ giving to every word that sound which the most polite usage of the language appropriates to it."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 200; and again, p. 219. "To occupy the mind, and prevent _us from_ regretting the insipidity of _a_ uniform plain."--_Kames cor._ "There are a hundred ways _in which_ any thing _may happen_."--_Steele cor._ "Tell me, _seignior, for_ what cause (or _why) Antonio sent_ Claudio to Venice yesterday."--_Bucke cor._ "As _you are_ looking about for an outlet, some rich prospect unexpectedly opens to view."--_Kames cor._ "A hundred volumes of modern novels may be read without _communicating_ a new idea." Or thus: "_A person may read_ a hundred volumes of modern novels without acquiring a new idea."--_Webster cor._ "Poetry admits of greater latitude than prose, with respect to _the_ coining, or at least _the_ new compounding, _of_ words."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "When laws were _written_ on brazen tablets, _and enforced_ by the sword."--_Pope cor._ "A pronoun, which saves the naming _of_ a person or thing a second time, ought to be placed as near as possible to the name of that person or thing."--_Kames cor._ "The using _of_ a preposition in this case, is not always a matter of choice."--_Id._ "To save _the_ multiplying _of_ words, I would be understood to comprehend both circumstances."--_Id._ "Immoderate grief is mute: _complaint_ is _a struggle_ for consolation."--_Id._ "On the other hand, the accelerating or _the_ retarding _of_ the natural course, excites a pain."--_Id._ "Human affairs require the distributing _of_ our attention."--_Id._ "By neglecting this circumstance, _the author of_ the following example _has made it_ defective in neatness."--_Id._ "And therefore the suppressing _of_ copulatives must animate a description."--_Id._ "If the _omission of_ copulatives _gives_ force and liveliness, a redundancy of them must render the period languid."--_Id._ "It skills not, _to ask_ my leave, said Richard."--_Scott cor._ "To redeem his credit, he proposed _to be_ sent once more to Sparta."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Dumas relates _that he gave_ drink to a dog."--_Stone cor._ "Both are, in a like way, instruments of our _reception of_ such ideas from external objects."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "In order to your proper handling _of_ such a subject."--_Spect. cor._ "For I do not recollect _it_ preceded by an open vowel."--_Knight cor._ "Such is _the setting up of_ the form above the power of godliness."--_Barclay cor._ "I remember _that I was_ walking once with my young acquaintance."--_Hunt cor._ "He did not like _to pay_ a debt."--_Id._ "I do not remember _to have seen_ Coleridge when I was a child."--_Id._ "In consequence of the dry _rot discovered in it_, the mansion has undergone a thorough repair."--_Maunder cor._ "I would not advise the following _of_ the German system _in all its parts_."--_Lieber cor._ "Would it not be _to make_ the students judges of the professors?"--_Id._ "Little time should intervene between _the proposing of them_ and _the deciding_ upon _them_."--_Verthake [sic--KTH] cor._ "It would be nothing less than _to find_ fault with the Creator."--_Lit. Journal cor._ "_That we were once friends_, is a powerful reason, both of prudence and _of_ conscience, to restrain us from ever becoming enemies."--_Secker cor._ "By using the word as a conjunction, _we prevent_ the ambiguity."--_L. Murray cor._ "He forms his schemes the flood of vice to stem, But _faith in Jesus has no part in_ them."--_J Taylor cor._ LESSON VIII.--ADVERBS. "Auxiliaries _not only can_ be inserted, but are really understood."--_Wright cor._ "He was _afterwards_ a hired scribbler in the Daily Courant."--_Pope's Annotator cor._ "In gardening, luckily, relative beauty _never need stand_ (or, perhaps better, _never needs to stand_) in opposition to intrinsic beauty."--_Kames cor._ "I _much_ doubt the propriety of the following examples."--_Lowth cor._ "And [we see] how far they have spread, in this part of the world, one of the worst languages _possible_"--_Locke cor._ "And, in this manner, _merely to place_ him on a level with the beast of the forest."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "_Whither_, ah! _whither_, has my darling fled."--_Anon_. "As for this fellow, we know not whence he is."--_Bible cor._ "Ye see then, that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."--_Id._ "The _Mixed_ kind is _that in which_ the poet sometimes speaks in his own person, and sometimes makes other characters speak."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "Interrogation is _a rhetorical figure in which_ the writer or orator raises questions, and, _if he pleases_, returns answers."--_Fisher cor._ "Prevention is _a figure in which_ an author starts an objection which he foresees may be made, and gives an answer to it."--_Id._ "Will you let me alone, or _not_?"--_W. Walker cor._ "Neither man nor woman _can_ resist an engaging exterior."-- _Chesterfield cor._ "Though the cup be _everso_ clean."--_Locke cor._ "Seldom, or _never_, did any one rise to eminence, by being a witty lawyer." Or thus: "Seldom, _if ever, has_ any one _risen_ to eminence, by being a witty lawyer."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The second rule which I give, respects the choice of _the_ objects from _which_ metaphors, and other figures, are to be drawn."--_Id._ "In the figures which it uses, it sets mirrors before us, _in which_ we may behold objects _reflected_ in their likeness."--_Id._ "Whose business _it_ is, to seek the true measures of right and wrong, and not the arts _by which he may_ avoid doing the one, and secure himself in doing the other."--_Locke cor._ "The occasions _on which_ you ought to personify things, and _those on which_ you ought not, cannot be stated in any precise rule."--_Cobbett cor._ "They reflect that they have been much diverted, but _scarcely_ can _they_ say about what."--_Kames cor._ "The eyebrows and shoulders should seldom or _never_ be remarked by any perceptible motion."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "And the left hand or arm should seldom or never attempt any motion by itself."--_Id., right_. "_Not_ every speaker _purposes_ to please the imagination."-- _Jamieson cor._ "And, like Gallio, they care for none of these things." Or: "And, like Gallio, they care _little_ for _any_ of these things."--_S. cor._ "They may inadvertently be _used_ where _their_ meaning would be obscure."--_L. Murray cor._ "Nor _can_ a man make him laugh."--_Shak. cor._ "The Athenians, in their present distress, _scarcely_ knew _whither_ to turn."--_Goldsmith cor._ "I do not remember where God _ever_ delivered his oracles by the multitude."--_Locke cor._ "The object of this government is twofold, _outward_ and _inward_."--_Barclay cor._ "In order _rightly_ to understand what we read"--_R. Johnson cor._ "That a design had been formed, to _kidnap_ or _forcibly abduct_ Morgan."--_Col. Stone cor._ "But such imposture can never _long_ maintain its ground."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "But _surely_ it is _as_ possible to apply the principles of reason and good sense to this art, as to any other that is cultivated among men."--_Id._ "It would have been better for you, to have remained illiterate, and _even_ to have been hewers of wood."--_L. Murray cor._ "Dissyllables that have two vowels which are separated in the pronunciation, _always_ have the accent on the _first_ syllable."--_Id._ "And they all turned their backs, _almost_ without drawing a sword." Or: "And they all turned their backs, _scarcely venturing to draw_ a sword."--_Kames cor._ "The principle of duty _naturally_ takes _precedence_ of every other."--_Id. "Not_ all that glitters, is gold."--_Maunder cor._ "Whether now, or _everso_ many myriads of ages hence."--_Edwards cor._ "England never did, nor _ever_ shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror."--_Shak. cor._ LESSON IX.--CONJUNCTIONS. "He readily comprehends the rules of syntax, their use in _the constructing of sentences_, and _their_ applicability _to_ the examples before him."--_Greenleaf cor._ "The works of AEschylus have suffered more by time, than _those of_ any _other_ ancient _tragedian_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "There is much more story, more bustle, and _more_ action, than on the French theatre."--_Id._ (See Obs. 8th on Rule 16th.) "Such an unremitted anxiety, _or such a_ perpetual application, as engrosses _all_ our time and thoughts, _is_ forbidden."--_Jenyns cor._ "It seems to be nothing else _than_ the simple form of the adjective."--_Wright cor._ "But when I talk of _reasoning_, I do not intend any other _than_ such as is suited to the child's capacity."--_Locke cor._ "Pronouns have no other use in language, _than_ to represent nouns."--_Jamieson cor._ "The speculative relied no farther on their own judgement, _than_ to choose a leader, whom they implicitly followed."--_Kames cor._ "Unaccommodated man is no more _than_ such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art."--_Shak. cor._ "A Parenthesis is a _suggestion which is_ introduced into the body of a sentence obliquely, _and which_ may be omitted without injuring the grammatical construction."--_Mur. et al. cor. "The_ Caret (marked thus ^) is placed where _something that happened_ to be left out, _is to be put into_ the line."--_Iid. "When_ I visit them, they shall be cast down."--_Bible cor._ "Neither our virtues _nor our_ vices are all our own."--_Johnson and Sanborn cor._ "I could not give him _so early_ an answer as he had desired."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "He is not _so_ tall as his brother."--_Nixon cor._ "It is difficult to judge _whether_ Lord Byron is serious or not."--_Lady Blessington cor._ "Some nouns are of _both_ the second and _the_ third declension."--_Gould cor._ "He was discouraged neither by danger _nor by_ misfortune."--_Wells cor._ "This is consistent neither with logic nor _with_ history."--_Dial cor._ "Parts of sentences are _either_ simple _or_ compound."--_David Blair cor._ "English verse is regulated rather by the number of syllables, than _by_ feet:" or,--"than by the number of feet."--_Id._ "I know not what more he can do, _than_ pray for him."--_Locke cor._ "Whilst they are learning, and _are applying_ themselves with attention, they are to be kept in good humour."--_Id._ "A man cannot have too much of it, nor _have it_ too perfectly."--_Id._ "That you may so run, as _to_ obtain; and so fight, as _to_ overcome." Or thus: "That you may so run, _that_ you may obtain; and so fight, _that_ you may overcome."--_Penn cor._ "It is the _artifice_ of some, to contrive false periods of business, _that_ they may seem men of despatch."--_Bacon cor._ "'A tall man and a woman.' In this _phrase_, there is no ellipsis; the adjective _belongs only to the former noun_; the quality _respects_ only the man."--_Ash cor._ "An abandonment of the policy is neither to be expected _nor to be_ desired."--_Jackson cor._ "Which can be acquired by no other means _than by_ frequent exercise in speaking."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The chief _or_ fundamental rules of syntax are common to the English _and_ the Latin tongue." Or:--"are _applicable_ to the English as well as _to_ the Latin tongue."--_Id._ "Then I exclaim, _either_ that my antagonist is void of all taste, or that his taste is corrupted in a miserable degree." Or thus: "Then I exclaim, that my antagonist is _either_ void of all taste, or _has a taste that is miserably_ corrupted."--_Id._ "I cannot pity any one who is under no distress _either_ of body _or_ of mind."--_Kames cor._ "There was much genius in the world, before there were learning _and_ arts to refine it."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Such a writer can have little else to do, _than_ to _new-model_ the paradoxes of ancient scepticism."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "Our ideas of them being nothing else _than collections_ of the ordinary qualities observed in them."--_Duncan cor._ "A _non-ens_, or negative, can give _neither_ pleasure nor pain."--_Kames cor._ "So _that_ they shall not justle and embarrass one an other."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "He firmly refused to make use of any other voice _than_ his own."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 113. "Your marching regiments, sir, will not make the guards their example, either as soldiers or _as_ subjects."--_Junius cor._ "Consequently they had neither meaning _nor_ beauty, to any but the natives of each country."--_Sheridan cor._ "The man of worth, _who_ has not left his peer, Is in his narrow house forever darkly laid."--_Burns cor._ LESSON X.--PREPOSITIONS. "These may be carried on progressively _beyond_ any assignable limits."--_Kames cor._ "To crowd different subjects _into_ a single member of a period, is still worse than to crowd them into one period."--_Id._ "Nor do we rigidly insist _on having_ melodious prose."--_Id._ "The aversion we have _to_ those who differ from us."--_Id._ "For we cannot bear his shifting _of_ the scene _at_ every line."--_Halifax cor._ "We shall find that we come by it _in_ the same way."--_Locke cor._ "_Against_ this he has no better _defence_ than that."--_Barnes cor._ "Searching the person whom he suspects _of_ having stolen his casket."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Who, as vacancies occur, are elected _by_ the whole Board."--_Lit. Jour. cor._ "Almost the only field of ambition _for_ a German, is science."--_Lieber cor._ "The plan of education is very different _from_ the one pursued in the sister country."--_Coley cor._ "Some writers on grammar have contended, that adjectives _sometimes_ relate to _verbs_, and modify _their_ action."--_Wilcox cor._ "They are therefore of a mixed nature, participating the properties both of pronouns and _of_ adjectives."-- _Ingersoll cor._ "For there is no authority which can justify the inserting _of_ the aspirate or _the_ doubling _of_ the vowel."--_Knight cor._ "The distinction and arrangement _of_ active, passive, and neuter verbs."-- _Wright cor._ "And see thou a hostile world spread its delusive snares."--_Kirkham cor._ "He may be precautioned, and be made _to_ see how those _join_ in the contempt."--_Locke cor._ "The contenting _of_ themselves in the _present_ want of what they wished for, is a _virtue_."-- _Id._ "If the complaint be _about_ something really worthy _of_ your notice."--_Id._ "True fortitude I take to be the quiet possession of a man's self, and an undisturbed doing _of_ his duty."--_Id._ "For the custom of tormenting and killing beasts, will, by degrees, harden their minds even towards men."--_Id._ "Children are whipped to it, and made _to_ spend many hours of their precious time uneasily _at_ Latin."--_Id. "On_ this subject, [the Harmony of Periods,] the ancient rhetoricians have entered into a very minute and particular detail; more particular, indeed, than _on_ any other _head_ that regards language."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 122. "But the one should not be omitted, _and the other retained_." Or: "But the one should not be _used without_ the other."--_Bullions cor. "From_ some common forms of speech, the relative pronoun is usually omitted."--_Murray and Weld cor._ "There are _very many_ causes which disqualify a witness _for_ being received to testify in particular cases."--_Adams cor._ "Aside _from_ all regard to interest, we should expect that," &c.--_Webster cor._ "My opinion was given _after_ a rather cursory perusal of the book."--_L. Murray cor._ "And, [_on_] the next day, he was put on board _of_ his ship." Or thus: "And, the next day, he was put _aboard_ his ship."--_Id._ "Having the command of no emotions, but what are raised by sight."--_Kames cor._ "Did these moral attributes exist in some other being _besides_ himself." Or:--"in some other being _than_ himself."--_Wayland cor._ "He did not behave in that manner _from_ pride, or [_from_] contempt of the tribunal."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 113. "These prosecutions _against_ William seem to have been the most iniquitous measures pursued by the court."--_Murray and Priestley cor._ "To restore myself _to_ the good graces of my fair critics."--_Dryden cor._ "Objects denominated beautiful, please not _by_ virtue of any one quality common to them all."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This would have been less worthy _of_ notice, had not a writer or two of high rank lately adopted it."--_Churchill cor._ "A Grecian youth, _of_ talents rare, Whom Plato's philosophic care," &c.--WHITEHEAD: E. R., p. 196. LESSON XI.--PROMISCUOUS. "To excel _has_ become a much less considerable object."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "My robe, and my integrity to _Heav'n_, are all I dare now call _my_ own."--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 347. "_For_ thou the garland _wearst_ successively."--_Shak. cor._; also _Enfield_. "If _then_ thou _art_ a _Roman_, take it forth."--_Id._ "If thou _prove_ this to be real, thou must be a smart lad indeed."--_Neef cor._ "And _an other_ bridge of four hundred _feet_ in length."--_Brightland cor._ "METONYMY is _the_ putting _of_ one name for _an other_, on account of the near relation _which_ there is between them."--_Fisher cor._ "ANTONOMASIA is _the_ putting _of_ an appellative or common name for a proper name."--_Id._ "_That it is I, should_ make no difference in your determination."--_Bullions cor._ "The first and second _pages_ are torn." Or. "The first and _the_ second _page_ are torn." Or: "The first _page_ and _the_ second are torn."--_Id._ "John's _absence_ from home occasioned the delay."--_Id._ "His _neglect of_ opportunities for improvement, was the cause of his disgrace."--_Id._ "He will regret his _neglect of his_ opportunities _for_ improvement, when it _is_ too late."--_Id._ "His _expertness at dancing_ does not entitle him to our regard."--_Id._ "Caesar went back to Rome, to take possession of the public treasure, which his opponent, by a most unaccountable oversight, had neglected _to carry away_ with him."--_Goldsmith cor._ "And Caesar took out of the treasury, _gold_ to the amount of three thousand _pounds'_ weight, besides an immense quantity of silver." [548]--_Id._ "Rules and definitions, which should always be _as_ clear and intelligible as possible, are thus rendered obscure."--_Greenleaf cor._ "So much both of ability and _of_ merit is seldom found." Or thus: "So much _of both_ ability and merit is seldom found."[549]--_L. Murray cor._ "If such maxims, and such practices prevail, what _has_ become of decency and virtue?"[550]--_Murray's False Syntax_, ii, 62. Or: "If such maxims and practices prevail, what _will_ become of decency and virtue?"--_Murray and Bullions cor._ "Especially if the subject _does not require_ so much pomp."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "However, the proper mixture of light and shade in such compositions,--the exact adjustment of all the figurative circumstances with the literal sense,--_has_ ever been _found an affair_ of great nicety."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 151. "And adding to that hissing in our language, which is so much _noticed_ by foreigners."--_Addison, Coote, and Murray, cor._ "_To speak_ impatiently to servants, or _to do_ any thing that betrays unkindness, or ill-humour, is certainly criminal." Or better: "Impatience, unkindness, or ill-humour, is certainly criminal."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "_Here are_ a _fullness_ and grandeur of expression, well suited to the subject."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "I single _out_ Strada _from_ among the moderns, because he had the foolish presumption to censure Tacitus."--_L. Murray cor._ "I single him out _from_ among the moderns, because," &c.--_Bolingbroke cor._ "This _rule is not_ always observed, even by good writers, _so_ strictly as it ought to be."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "But this gravity and assurance, which _are_ beyond boyhood, being neither wisdom nor knowledge, do never reach to manhood."--_Pope cor._ "The regularity and polish even of a turnpike-road, _have_ some influence upon the low people in the neighbourhood."--_Kames cor._ "They become fond of regularity and neatness; _and this improvement of their taste_ is displayed, first upon their yards and little enclosures, and next within doors."--_Id._ "The phrase, '_it is impossible to exist_,' gives us the idea, _that it is_ impossible for men, or any body, to exist."--_Priestley cor._ "I'll give a thousand _pounds_ to look upon him."--_Shak. cor._ "The reader's knowledge, as Dr. Campbell observes, may prevent _him from_ mistaking it."--_Crombie and Murray cor._ "When two words are set in contrast, or in opposition to _each_ other, they are both emphatic."--_L. Murray cor._ "The number of _the_ persons--men, women, and children--who were lost in the sea, was very great." Or thus: "The number of persons--men, women, and children--_that_ were lost in the sea, was very great."--_Id._ "Nor is the resemblance between the primary and _the_ resembling object pointed out."--_Jamieson cor._ "I think it the best book of the kind, _that_ I have met with."--_Mathews cor._ "Why should not we their ancient rites restore, And be what Rome or Athens _was_ before?"--_Roscommon cor._ LESSON XII.--TWO ERRORS. "It is labour only _that_ gives relish to pleasure."--_L. Murray cor._ "Groves are never _more_ agreeable _than_ in the opening of spring."--_Id._ "His Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas _of_ the Sublime and _the_ Beautiful, soon made him known to the literati."--See _Blair's Lect._, pp. 34 and 45. "An awful precipice or tower _from which_ we look down on the objects which _are_ below."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This passage, though very poetical, is, however, harsh and obscure; _and for_ no other cause _than_ this, that three distinct metaphors are crowded together."--_Id._ "I _purpose to make_ some observations."--_Id._ "I shall _here_ follow the same method _that_ I have all along pursued."--_Id._ "Mankind _at no other time_ resemble _one an_ other so much as they do in the beginnings of society."--_Id._ "But no ear is sensible of the termination of each foot, in _the_ reading _of a_ hexameter line."--_Id._ "The first thing, says he, _that_ a writer _either_ of fables or of heroic poems does, is, to choose some maxim or point of morality."--_Id._ "The fourth book has _always_ been most justly admired, and _indeed it_ abounds with beauties of the highest kind."--_Id._ "There is _in_ the poem no attempt towards _the_ painting _of_ characters."--_Id._ "But the artificial contrasting of characters, and the _constant_ introducing _of_ them in pairs and by opposites, _give_ too theatrical and affected an air to the piece."--_Id._ "Neither of them _is_ arbitrary _or_ local."--_Kames cor._ "If _the_ crowding _of_ figures _is_ bad, it is still worse to graft one figure upon _an other_."--_Id._ "The _crowding-together of_ so many objects lessens the pleasure."--_Id._ "This therefore lies not in the _putting-off of_ the hat, nor _in the_ making of compliments."--_Locke cor._ "But the Samaritan Vau may have been used, as the Jews _used_ the Chaldaic, both for a vowel and _for a_ consonant."--_Wilson cor._ "But if a solemn and _a_ familiar pronunciation really _exist_ in our language, is it not the business of a grammarian to mark both?"--_J. Walker cor._ "By making sounds follow _one an_ other _agreeably_ to certain laws."--_Gardiner cor._ "If there _were_ no drinking _of_ intoxicating draughts, there could be no drunkards."--_Peirce cor._ "Socrates knew his own defects, and if he was proud of any thing, it was _of_ being thought to have none."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Lysander, having brought his army to Ephesus, erected an arsenal for _the_ building of _galleys_."--_Id._ "The use of these signs _is_ worthy _of_ remark."--_Brightland cor._ "He received me in the same manner _in which_ I would _receive_ you." Or thus: "He received me _as_ I would _receive_ you."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "Consisting of _both_ the direct and _the_ collateral evidence."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "If any man or woman that believeth _hath_ widows, let _him_ or _her_ relieve them, and let not the church be charged."--_Bible cor._ "For _men's sake_ are beasts bred."--_W. Walker cor._ "From three _o'clock_, there _were_ drinking and gaming."--_Id._ "Is this he that I am seeking, or _not?_"--_Id._ "And for the upholding _of_ every _one's_ own opinion, there is so much ado."--_Sewel cor._ "Some of them, however, will _necessarily_ be _noticed_."--_Sale cor._ "The boys conducted themselves _very indiscreetly_."--_Merchant cor._ "Their example, their influence, their fortune,--every talent they possess,--_dispenses_ blessings on all _persons_ around them."--_Id. and Murray cor._ "The two _Reynoldses_ reciprocally converted _each_ other."--_Johnson cor._ "The destroying _of_ the _last two_, Tacitus calls an attack upon virtue itself."--_Goldsmith cor._ "_Moneys are_ your suit."--_Shak. cor._ "_Ch_ is commonly sounded like _tch_, as in _church_; but in words derived from Greek, _it_ has the sound of _k_."--_L. Murray cor._ "When one is obliged to make some utensil _serve for_ purposes to which _it was_ not originally destined."--_Campbell cor._ "But that a _baptism_ with water is a _washing-away_ of sin, thou canst not hence prove."--_Barclay cor._ "Being _spoken_ to _but_ one, it infers no universal command."--_Id._ "For if the _laying-aside of_ copulatives gives force and liveliness, a redundancy of them must render the period languid."--_Buchanan cor._ "James used to compare him to a cat, _which_ always _falls_ upon her legs."--_Adam cor._ "From the low earth aspiring genius springs, And sails triumphant _borne_ on _eagle's_ wings."--_Lloyd cor._ LESSON XIII.--TWO ERRORS "An ostentatious, a feeble, a harsh, or an obscure style, for instance, _is_ always _faulty_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Yet in this we find _that_ the English pronounce _quite agreeably_ to rule." Or thus: "Yet in this we find the English _pronunciation_ perfectly agreeable to rule." Or thus: "Yet in this we find _that_ the English pronounce _in a manner_ perfectly agreeable to rule."--_J. Walker cor._ "But neither the perception of ideas, nor knowledge of any sort, _is a habit_, though absolutely necessary to the forming of _habits_."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "They were cast; and _a_ heavy fine _was_ imposed upon them."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Without making this reflection, he cannot enter into the spirit _of the author, or_ relish the composition."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The scholar should be instructed _in relation_ to _the_ finding _of_ his words." Or thus: "The scholar should be _told how_ to _find_ his words."--_Osborn cor._ "And therefore they could neither have forged, _nor have_ reversified them."--_Knight cor._ "A dispensary is _a_ place _at which_ medicines are dispensed _to the poor_."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Both the connexion and _the_ number of words _are_ determined by general laws."--_Neef cor._ "An Anapest has the _first two_ syllables unaccented, and the last _one_ accented; as, c~ontr~av=ene, acquiesce."--_L. Mur. cor._ "An explicative sentence is _one in which_ a thing is said, _in a direct manner_, to be or not to be, to do or not to do, to suffer or not to suffer."--_Lowth and Mur. cor._ "BUT is a conjunction _whenever_ it is neither an adverb nor _a_ preposition." [551]--_R. C. Smith cor._ "He wrote in the name _of_ King _Ahasuerus_, and sealed _the writing_ with the king's ring."--_Bible cor._ "Camm and Audland _had_ departed _from_ the town before this time."--_Sewel cor._ "_Before they will relinquish_ the practice, they must be convinced."--_Webster cor._ "Which he had thrown up _before he set_ out."--_Grimshaw cor._ "He left _to him_ the value of _a_ hundred drachms in Persian money."--_Spect cor._ "All _that_ the mind can ever contemplate concerning them, must be divided _among_ the three."--_Cardell cor._ "Tom Puzzle is one of the most eminent immethodical disputants, of _all_ that _have_ fallen under my observation."--_Spect. cor._ "When you have once got him to think himself _compensated_ for his suffering, by the praise _which_ is given him for his courage."--_Locke cor._ "In all matters _in which_ simple reason, _or_ mere speculation is concerned."--_Sheridan cor._ "And therefore he should be spared _from_ the trouble of attending to anything else _than_ his meaning."--_Id._ "It is this kind of phraseology _that_ is distinguished by the epithet _idiomatical; a species that was_ originally the spawn, partly of ignorance, and partly of affectation."--_Campbell and Murray cor._ "That neither the inflection nor _the letters_ are such as could have been employed by the ancient inhabitants of Latium."--_Knight cor._ "In _those_ cases _in which_ the verb is intended to be applied to any one of the terms."--_L. Murray cor._ "But _these_ people _who_ know not the law, are accursed."--_Bible cor._ "And the magnitude of the _choruses has_ weight and sublimity."--_Gardiner cor._ "_Dares_ he deny _that_ there are some of his fraternity guilty?"--_Barclay cor._ "Giving an account of most, if not all, _of_ the papers _which_ had passed betwixt them."--_Id._ "In this manner, _as to both_ parsing and correcting, _should_ all the rules of syntax be treated, _being taken up_ regularly according to their order."--_L. Murray cor._ "_To_ Ovando _were_ allowed a brilliant retinue and a _body-guard_."--_Sketch cor._ "_Was_ it I or he, _that_ you requested to go?"--_Kirkham cor._ "Let _thee_ and _me_ go on."--_Bunyan cor._ "This I nowhere affirmed; and _I_ do wholly deny _it_."--_Barclay cor._ "But that I deny; and _it_ remains for him to prove _it_."--_Id._ "Our country sinks beneath the yoke: _She_ weeps, _she_ bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds."--_Shak. cor._ "Thou art the Lord who _chose_ Abraham and _brought_ him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees."--_Bible and Mur. cor._ "He is the exhaustless fountain, from which _emanate_ all these attributes that _exist_ throughout this wide creation."--_Wayland cor._ "I am he who _has_ communed with the son of Neocles; I am he who _has_ entered the gardens of pleasure."--_Wright cor._ "Such _were_ in ancient times the tales received, Such by our good forefathers _were_ believed."--_Rowe cor._ LESSON XIV.--TWO ERRORS. "The noun or pronoun that _stands_ before the active verb, _usually represents_ the agent."--_A. Murray cor._ "Such _seem_ to _have been_ the musings of our hero of the grammar-quill, when he penned the first part of his grammar."--_Merchant cor._ "Two dots, the one placed above the other [:], _are_ called Sheva, and _are used to represent_ a very short _e_."--_Wilson cor._ "Great _have_ been, and _are_, the obscurity and difficulty, in the nature and application of them" [: i.e.--of natural remedies].--_Butler cor._ "As two _are_ to four, so _are_ four to eight."--_Everest cor._ "The invention and use of arithmetic, _reach_ back to a period so remote, as _to be_ beyond the knowledge of history."-- _Robertson cor._ "What it presents as objects of contemplation or enjoyment, _fill_ and _satisfy_ his mind."--_Id._ "If he _dares_ not say they are, as I know he _dares_ not, how must I then distinguish?"--_Barclay cor._ "He _had_ now grown so fond of solitude, that all company _had_ become uneasy to him."--_Life of Cic. cor._ "Violence and spoil _are_ heard in her; before me continually _are_ grief and wounds."--_Bible cor._ "Bayle's Intelligence from the Republic of Letters, which _makes_ eleven volumes in duodecimo, _is_ truly a model in this kind."--_Formey cor._ "Pauses, to _be rendered_ pleasing and expressive, must not only be made in the right place, but also _be_ accompanied with a proper tone of voice."--_L. Murray cor._ "_To oppose_ the opinions and _rectify_ the mistakes of others, is what truth and sincerity sometimes require of us."--_Locke cor._ "It is very probable, that this assembly was called, to clear some doubt which the king had, _whether it were lawful for the Hollanders to throw_ off the monarchy of Spain, and _withdraw_ entirely their allegiance to that crown." Or:--"About the lawfulness of the Hollanders' _rejection of_ the monarchy of Spain, and _entire withdrawment of_ their allegiance to that crown."--_L. Murray cor._ "_A_ naming _of_ the numbers and cases of a noun in their order, is called _the_ declining _of_ it, or _its declension_."--_Frost cor._ "The embodying _of_ them is, therefore, only _a_ collecting _of_ such component parts of words."--_Town cor._ "The one is the voice heard _when Christ was_ baptized; the other, _when he was_ transfigured."--_Barclay cor._ "_An_ understanding _of_ the literal sense"--or, "_To have understood_ the literal sense, would not have prevented _them from_ condemning the guiltless."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "As if this were, _to take_ the execution of justice out of the hands of God, and _to give_ it to nature."--_Id._ "They will say, you must conceal this good opinion of yourself; which yet is _an_ allowing _of_ the thing, though not _of_ the showing _of_ it." Or:--"which yet is, _to allow_ the thing, though not the showing _of_ it."--_Sheffield cor._ "So as to signify not only the doing _of_ an action, but the causing _of_ it to be done."--_Pike cor._ "This, certainly, was both _a_ dividing _of_ the unity of God, and _a_ limiting _of_ his immensity."--_Calvin cor._ "Tones being infinite in number, and varying in almost every individual, the arranging _of_ them under distinct heads, and _the_ reducing _of_ them to any fixed and permanent rules, may be considered as the last refinement in language."--_Knight cor._ "The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he _hath_ done it, and until he _hath_ performed the intents of his heart."--_Bible cor._ "We seek for deeds _more_ illustrious and heroic, for events more diversified and surprising."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "We distinguish the genders, or the male and _the_ female sex, _in_ four different ways."--_Buchanan cor._ "Thus, _ch_ and _g_ are ever hard. It is therefore proper to retain these sounds in _those_ Hebrew names which have not been _modernized_, or changed by public use."--_Dr. Wilson cor._ "_A_ Substantive, or Noun, is the name of any thing _which is_ conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Murray and Lowth cor._ "_A_ Noun is the name of any thing _which_ exists, or of which we have, or can form, an idea."--_Maunder cor._ "A Noun is the name of any thing in existence, or _of any thing_ of which we can form an idea."--_Id._ "The next thing to be _attended to_, is, to keep him exactly to _the_ speaking of truth."--_Locke cor._ "The material, _the_ vegetable, and _the_ animal world, receive this influence according to their several capacities."--_Dial cor._ "And yet it is fairly defensible on the principles of the schoolmen; if _those things_ can be called principles, which _consist_ merely in words."--_Campbell cor._ "Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness, And _fearst_ to die? Famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression _starve_ in thy _sunk_ eyes."--_Shak. cor._ LESSON XV.--THREE ERRORS. "The silver age is reckoned to have commenced _at_ the death of Augustus, and _to have_ continued _till_ the end of Trajan's reign."--_Gould cor._ "Language _has indeed_ become, in modern times, more correct, and _more determinate_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It is evident, that _those_ words are _the_ most agreeable to the ear, which are composed of smooth and liquid sounds, _and in which_ there is a proper intermixture of vowels and consonants."--_Id._ "It would have had no other effect, _than_ to add _to_ the sentence _an unnecessary_ word."--_Id._ "But as rumours arose, _that_ the judges _had_ been corrupted by money in this cause, these gave _occasion_ to much popular clamour, and _threw_ a heavy odium on Cluentius."--_Id._ "A Participle is derived _from_ a verb, and partakes of the nature both of the verb and _of an_ adjective."--_Ash and Devis cor._ "I _shall_ have learned my grammar before you _will have learned yours_."--_Wilbur and Livingston cor._ "There is no _other_ earthly object capable of making _so_ various and _so_ forcible impressions upon the human mind, as a complete speaker."--_Perry cor._ "It was not the carrying _of_ the bag, _that_ made Judas a thief and _a_ hireling."--_South cor._ "As the reasonable soul and _the_ flesh _are_ one man, so God and man _are_ one Christ."--_Creed cor._ "And I will say to them _who_ were not my people, _Ye are_ my people; and they shall say, Thou art _our_ God."--_Bible cor._ "Where there is _in the sense_ nothing _that_ requires the last sound to be elevated or _suspended_, an easy fall, sufficient to show that the sense is finished, will be proper."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Each party _produce_ words _in which_ the letter _a_ is sounded in the manner _for which_ they contend."--_J. Walker cor._ "To countenance persons _that_ are guilty of bad actions, is scarcely one remove from _an actual commission of the same crimes_."--_L. Mur. cor._ "'To countenance persons _that_ are guilty of bad actions,' is a _phrase or clause_ which is _made_ the _subject of_ the verb 'is.'"--_Id._ "What is called _the_ splitting of particles,--_that is, the_ separating _of_ a preposition from the noun which it governs, is always to be avoided."--_Dr. Blair et al. cor._ (See Obs. 15th on Rule 23d.) "There is properly _but_ one pause, or rest, in the sentence; _and this falls_ betwixt the two members into which _the sentence_ is divided."--_Iid._ "_To go_ barefoot, does not at all help _a man_ on, _in_ the way to heaven."--_Steele cor._ "There is _nobody who does not condemn_ this in others, though _many_ overlook it in themselves."--_Locke cor._ "Be careful not to use the same word _in_ the same sentence _either_ too frequently _or_ in different senses."--_L. Murray cor._ "Nothing could have made her _more_ unhappy, _than to have married_ a man _of_ such principles."--_Id._ "A warlike, various, and tragical age is _the_ best to write of, but _the_ worst to write in."--_Cowley cor._ "When thou _instancest Peter's_ babtizing [sic--KTH] _of_ Cornelius."--_Barclay cor._ "To introduce two or more leading thoughts or _topics_, which have no natural _affinity_ or _mutual_ dependence."--_L. Murray cor._ "Animals, again, are fitted to one _an other_, and to the elements _or regions in which_ they live, and to which they are as appendices."--_Id._ "This melody, _however_, or so _frequent_ varying _of_ the sound of each word, is a proof of nothing, but of the fine ear of that people."--_Jamieson cor._ "They can, each in _its turn_, be _used_ upon occasion."--_Duncan cor._ "In this reign, lived the _poets_ Gower and Chaucer, who are the first authors _that_ can properly be said to have written English."--_Bucke cor._ "In translating expressions _of this_ kind, consider the [phrase] '_it is_' as if it were _they are_."--_W. Walker cor._ "The chin has an important office to perform; for, _by the degree of_ its activity, we disclose _either_ a polite or _a_ vulgar pronunciation."--_Gardiner cor._ "For no other reason, _than that he was_ found in bad company."--_Webster cor._ "It is usual to compare them _after_ the manner _of polysyllables_."--_Priestley cor._ "The infinitive mood is _recognized more easily_ than any _other_, because the preposition TO precedes it."--_Bucke cor._ "Prepositions, you recollect, connect words, _and so do_ conjunctions: how, then, can you tell _a conjunction_ from _a preposition_?" Or:--"how, then, can you _distinguish_ the _former_ from the _latter_?"--_R. C. Smith cor._ "No kind of work requires _a nicer_ touch, And, _this_ well finish'd, _none else_ shines so much." --_Sheffield cor._ LESSON XVI.--THREE ERRORS. "_On_ many occasions, it is the final pause alone, _that_ marks the difference between prose and verse: _this_ will be evident from the following arrangement of a few poetical lines."--_L. Murray cor._ "I shall do all I can to persuade others to take _for their cure_ the same measures _that_ I have _taken for mine_."--_Guardian cor._; also _Murray_. "It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, _that_ they will set _a_ house on fire, _as_ it were, but to roast their eggs."--_Bacon cor._ "Did ever man struggle more earnestly in a cause _in which_ both his honour and _his_ life _were_ concerned?"--_Duncan cor._ "So the rests, _or_ pauses, _which separate_ sentences _or_ their parts, are marked by points."--_Lowth cor._ "Yet the case and _mood are_ not influenced by them, but _are_ determined by the nature of the sentence."--_Id._ "_Through inattention_ to this rule, many errors have been committed: _several_ of which _are here_ subjoined, as a further caution and direction to the learner."--_L. Murray cor._ "Though thou _clothe_ thyself with crimson, though thou _deck_ thee with ornaments of gold, though thou _polish_ thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair." [552]--_Bible cor._ "But that the doing _of_ good to others, will make us happy, is not so evident; _the_ feeding _of_ the hungry, for example, or _the_ clothing _of_ the naked." Or: "But that, _to do_ good to others, will make us happy, is not so evident; _to feed_ the hungry, for example, or _to clothe_ the naked."--_Kames cor._ "There is no other God _than he_, no other light _than_ his." Or: "There is no God _but he_, no light _but_ his."--_Penn cor._ "How little reason _is there_ to wonder, that a _powerful_ and accomplished orator should be one of the characters that _are_ most rarely found."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Because they express _neither the_ doing nor _the_ receiving _of_ an action."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "To find the answers, will require an effort of mind; and, when _right answers are_ given, _they_ will be the result of reflection, _and show_ that the subject is understood."--_Id._ "'The sun rises,' is _an expression_ trite and common; but _the same idea_ becomes a magnificent image, when expressed _in the language of_ Mr. Thomson."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The declining _of_ a word is the giving _of its_ different endings." Or: "_To decline_ a word, is _to give_ it different endings."--_Ware cor._ "And so much are they for _allowing_ every _one to follow his_ own mind."--_Barclay cor._ "More than one overture for peace _were_ made, but Cleon prevented _them from_ taking effect."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Neither in English, _nor_ in any other language, is this word, _or_ that which corresponds to it in _meaning_, any more an article, than TWO, THREE, _or_ FOUR."--_Webster cor._ "But the most irksome conversation of all that I have met _with in_ the neighbourhood, has been _with_ two or three of your travellers."--_Spect. cor._ "Set down the _first two_ terms of _the_ supposition, _one under the other_, in the first place."--_Smiley cor._ "It is _a_ useful _practice_ too, to fix _one's_ eye on some of the most distant persons in the assembly."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "He will generally please _his hearers_ most, when _to please them_ is not his sole _or his_ chief aim."--_Id._ "At length, the consuls return to the camp, and inform _the soldiers, that_ they could _obtain for them_ no other terms _than those_ of surrendering their arms and passing under the yoke."--_Id._ "Nor _are_ mankind so much to blame, in _their_ choice thus determining _them_."--_Swift cor._ "These forms are what _are_ called _the Numbers_." Or: "These forms are called _Numbers_."--_Fosdick cor._ "In _those_ languages which admit but two genders, all nouns are either masculine or feminine, even though they designate beings _that_ are neither male _nor_ female."--_Id._ "It is called _Verb_ or _Word_ by way of eminence, because it is the most essential word in a sentence, _and one_ without which the other parts of speech _cannot_ form _any_ complete sense."--_Gould cor._ "The sentence will consist of two members, _and these will_ commonly _be_ separated from _each_ other by a comma."--_Jamieson cor._ "Loud and soft in speaking _are_ like the _forte_ and _piano_ in music; _they_ only _refer_ to the different degrees of force used in the same key: whereas high and low imply a change of key."--_Sheridan cor._ "They are chiefly three: the acquisition of knowledge; the assisting _of_ the memory to treasure up this knowledge; _and_ the communicating _of_ it to others."--_Id._ "_This_ kind of knaves I know, _who_ in this plainness Harbour more craft, and _hide_ corrupter ends, Than twenty silly ducking observants."--_Shak. cor._ LESSON XVII.--MANY ERRORS. "A man will be forgiven, even _for_ great errors, _committed_ in a foreign language; but, in _the use he makes of_ his own, even the least slips are justly _pointed out_ and ridiculed."--_Amer. Chesterfield cor._ "LET expresses _not only_ permission, but _entreaty, exhortation, and command_."--_Lowth cor._; also _Murray, et al._ "That death which is our leaving _of_ this world, is nothing else _than the putting-off of_ these bodies."--_Sherlock cor._ "They differ from the saints recorded _in either_ the Old _or the_ New _Testament_."--_Newton cor._ "The nature of relation, _therefore_, consists in the referring or comparing _of_ two things to _each_ other; from which comparison, one or both _come_ to be denominated."--_Locke cor._ "It is not credible, that there _is_ any one who will say, that _through_ the whole course of _his life he_ has kept _himself entirely_ undefiled, _without_ the least spot or stain of sin."--_Witsius cor._ "If _to act_ conformably to the will of our Creator,--if _to promote_ the welfare of mankind around us,--if _to secure_ our own happiness, _is an object_ of the highest moment; then are we loudly called upon to cultivate and extend the great interests of religion and virtue." Or: "If, to act conformably to the will of our Creator, to promote the welfare of mankind around us, _and_ to secure our own happiness, _are objects_ of the highest moment; then," &c.--_Murray et al. cor._ "The verb being in the plural number, it is supposed, that _the officer and his guard are joint agents. But this_ is not the case: the only nominative to the verb is '_officer_.' In the expression, '_with his guard_,' the _noun 'guard' is_ in the objective case, _being_ governed by the preposition _with_; and _consequently it_ cannot form the nominative, or any part of it. The prominent subject _for the agreement_, the true nominative _to_ the verb, _or the term_ to which the verb peculiarly refers, is the _word 'officer.'_"--_L. Murray cor._ "This is _an other_ use, that, in my opinion, contributes to make a man learned _rather_ than wise; and is _incapable_ of pleasing _either_ the understanding or _the_ imagination."--_Addison cor._ "The work is a dull performance; and is _incapable_ of pleasing _either_ the understanding _or_ the imagination."--_L. Murray cor._ "I would recommend the 'Elements of English Grammar,' by Mr. Frost. _The_ plan _of this little work is similar to that of Mr. L. Murray's smallest Grammar_; but, _in order_ to meet the understanding of children, _its_ definitions and language _are_ simplified, _so_ far as the nature of the subject will admit. It also embraces more examples _for_ Parsing, than _are_ usual in elementary treatises."--_S. R. Hall cor._ "More rain falls in the first two summer months, than in the first two _months_ of winter; but _what falls_, makes a much greater show upon the earth, in _winter_ than in _summer_, because there is a much slower evaporation."--_L. Murray cor._ "They often contribute also to _render_ some persons prosperous, though wicked; and, _what_ is still worse, to _reward_ some actions, though vicious; and _punish_ other actions, though virtuous."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Hence, to such a man, _arise_ naturally a secret satisfaction, _a_ sense of security, and _an_ implicit hope of somewhat further."--_Id._ "So much for the third and last cause of illusion, that was _noticed above; which arises_ from the abuse of very general and abstract terms; _and_ which is the principal source of the _abundant_ nonsense that _has_ been vented by metaphysicians, mystagogues, and theologians."--_Campbell cor._ "As to those animals _which are_ less common, or _which_, on account of the places they inhabit, fall less under our observation, as fishes and birds, or _which_ their diminutive size removes still further from our observation, we generally, in English, employ a single noun to designate both genders, _the_ masculine and _the_ feminine."--_Fosdick cor._ "Adjectives may always be distinguished by their _relation to other words: they express_ the quality, condition, _or number_, of whatever _things are_ mentioned."--_Emmons cor._ "_An_ adverb _is_ a word added to a verb, _a_ participle, _an_ adjective, or _an_ other adverb; _and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner_."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 29. "The _joining-together of_ two objects, _so_ grand, and the representing _of_ them both, as subject at one moment to the command of God, _produce_ a noble effect."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Twisted columns, for instance, are undoubtedly ornamental; but, as they have an appearance of weakness, they displease _the eye, whenever_ they are _used_ to support any _massy_ part of a building, _or what_ seems to require a more substantial prop."--_Id._ "_In_ a vast number of inscriptions, some upon rocks, some upon stones of a defined shape, is found an Alphabet different from the _Greeks', the Latins'_, and _the Hebrews'_, and also unlike that of any modern nation."--_W. C. Fowler cor._ LESSON XVIII.--MANY ERRORS. "The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated on the northeast side of Lilliput, from _which_ it is parted by a channel of _only_ 800 yards _in width_."--_Swift and Kames cor._ "The nominative case usually _denotes_ the agent or doer; and _any noun or pronoun which is_ the subject of a _finite_ verb, _is always in this case_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "There _are, in_ his allegorical personages, an originality, _a_ richness, and _a_ variety, which almost _vie_ with the splendours of the ancient mythology."--_Hazlitt cor._ "As neither the Jewish nor _the_ Christian revelation _has_ been universal, and as _each has_ been afforded to a greater or _a_ less part of the world at different times; so likewise, at different times, both revelations have had different degrees of evidence."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Thus we see, that, _to kill_ a man with a sword, _and to kill one_ with a hatchet, are looked upon as no distinct species of action; but, if the point of the sword first enter the body, _the action_ passes for a distinct species, called _stabbing_."--_Locke cor._ "If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour _concerning_ that which was delivered him to keep, or _deceive_ his neighbour, or _find_ that which was lost, and _lie_ concerning it, and _swear_ falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein, then it shall be," &c.--_Bible cor._ "As, _to do_ and _teach_ the commandments of God, is the great proof of virtue; so, _to break_ them, and _to teach_ others to break them, _are_ the great _proofs_ of vice."--_Wayland cor._ "The latter simile, _in_ Pope's terrific maltreatment of _it_, is true _neither_ to _the_ mind _nor to the_ eye."--_Coleridge cor._ "And the two brothers were seen, transported with rage and fury, like Eteocles and Polynices, _each endeavouring_ to plunge _his sword_ into _the other's heart_, and to assure _himself_ of the throne by the death of _his_ rival."--_Goldsmith cor._ "Is it not plain, therefore, that neither the castle, _nor_ the planet, nor the cloud, which you _here_ see, _is that_ real _one_ which you suppose _to_ exist at a distance?"--_Berkley cor._ "I have often wondered, how it comes to pass, that every body should love _himself_ best, and yet value _his neighbours'_ opinion about _himself_ more than _his_ own."--_Collier cor._ "Virtue, ([Greek: Aretae], _Virtus_,) as well as most of its species, _when sex is figuratively ascribed to it, is made_ feminine, perhaps from _its_ beauty and amiable appearance."--_Harris cor._ "Virtue, with most of its species, is _made_ feminine _when personified_; and so is Vice, _perhaps_ for being Virtue's opposite."--_Brit. Gram. cor._; also _Buchanan_. "From this deduction, _it_ may _easily_ be seen, how it comes to pass, that personification makes so great a figure in all compositions _in which_ imagination or passion _has_ any concern."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "An Article is a word _placed before a noun_, to point _it_ out _as such_, and to show how far _its_ signification extends."--_Folker cor._ "All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights;--among which are the _rights of_ enjoying and defending life and liberty; _of_ acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness."--_Const. of N. H. cor._ "From _those_ grammarians who form their ideas and make their decisions, respecting this part of English grammar, _from_ the principles and construction of _other_ languages,--_of languages_ which do not in these points _accord with_ our own, but _which_ differ considerably from it,--we may naturally expect grammatical schemes that _will be neither_ perspicuous nor consistent, and _that_ will tend _rather_ to perplex than _to_ inform the learner."--_Murray and Hall cor. "Indeed_ there are but very few who know how to be idle and innocent, or _who_ have a relish _for_ any pleasures that are not criminal; every diversion _which the majority_ take, is at the expense of some one virtue or _other_, and their very first step out of business is into vice or folly."--_Addison cor._ "Hail, holy Love! thou _bliss_ that _sumst_ all bliss! _Giv'st_ and _receiv'st_ all bliss; fullest when most Thou _giv'st_; spring-head of all felicity!"--_Pollok cor._ CHAPTER XIII--GENERAL RULE. CORRECTIONS UNDER THE GENERAL RULE. LESSON I.--ARTICLES. (1.) "_The_ article is a part of speech placed before nouns." Or thus: "_An_ article is a _word_ placed before nouns."--_Comly cor._ (2.) "_The_ article is a part of speech used to limit nouns."--_Gilbert cor._ (3.) "An article is a _word_ set before nouns to fix their vague signification."--_Ash cor._ (4.) "_The_ adjective is a part of speech used to describe _something named by a_ noun."--_Gilbert cor._ (5.) "A pronoun is a _word_ used _in stead_ of a noun."--_Id. and Weld cor.: Inst._, p. 45. (6.) "_The_ pronoun is a part of speech which is often used _in stead_ of a noun."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ (7.) "A verb is a _word_ which signifies _to be, to do_, or _to be acted upon_."--_Merchant cor._ (8.) "_The_ verb is a part of speech which signifies _to be, to act_, or _to receive an action_."--_Comly cor._ (9.) "_The_ verb is _the_ part of speech by which any thing is asserted."--_Weld cor._ (10.) "_The_ verb is a part of speech, which expresses action or existence in a direct manner."--_Gilbert cor._ (11.) "A participle is a _word_ derived from a verb, and expresses action or existence in an indirect manner."--_Id._ (12.) "_The_ participle is a part of speech derived from _the_ verb, and denotes being, doing, or suffering, and implies time, as a verb does."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ (13.) "_The_ adverb is a part of speech used to add _some modification_ to the meaning of verbs, adjectives, and participles."--_Gilbert cor._ (14.) "An adverb is an indeclinable _word_ added to a verb, [_a participle,] an_ adjective, or _an_ other adverb, to express some circumstance, _accident_, or manner of _its_ signification."--_Adam and Gould cor._ (15.) "An adverb is a _word added_ to a verb, an adjective, a participle, _or an_ other adverb, to express the circumstance of _time, place, degree, or manner_."--_Dr. Ash cor._ (16.) "An adverb is a _word added_ to a verb, _an_ adjective, _a_ participle, _or_, sometimes, _an_ other adverb, to express some _circumstance_ respecting _the sense_."--_Beck cor._ (17.) "_The_ adverb is a part of speech, which is _added_ to _verbs, adjectives, participles_, or to other _adverbs_, to express some modification or circumstance, quality or manner, of their signification."--_Buchanan cor._ (18.) "_The_ adverb is a part of speech _which we add_ to _the verb_, (whence the name,) _to the adjective or participle likewise_, and sometimes even to _an other adverb_."--_Bucke cor._ (19.) "A conjunction is a _word_ used to connect words _or_ sentences."--_Gilbert and Weld cor._ (20.) "_The_ conjunction is a part of speech that joins words or sentences together."--_Ash cor._ (21.) "_The_ conjunction is that part of speech which _connects_ sentences, or parts of sentences, or single words."--_D. Blair cor._ (22.) "_The_ conjunction is a part of speech that is used principally to connect sentences, so as, out of two, three, or more sentences, to make one."--_Bucke cor._ (23.) "_The_ conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect _words or_ sentences _together; but_, chiefly, _to join_ simple sentences into _such as are_ compound."--_Kirkham cor._ (24.) "A conjunction is a _word_ which joins _words or_ sentences together, and _shows_ the manner of their _dependence, as they stand in connexion_."--_Brit. Gram. et al. cor._ (25.) "A preposition is a _word_ used to show the relation between other words, _and govern the subsequent term_."--_Gilbert cor._ (26.) "A preposition is a _governing word_ which serves to connect _other_ words, and _to_ show the relation between them."--_Frost cor._ (27.) "A preposition is a _governing particle_ used to connect words and show their relation."--_Weld cor._ (28.) "_The_ preposition is that part of speech which shows the _various positions_ of persons or things, _and_ the _consequent relations_ that _certain words bear_ toward _one an_ other."--_David Blair cor._ (29.) "_The_ preposition is a part of speech, which, being added to _certain_ other parts of speech, serves to _show_ their state _of_ relation, or _their_ reference to each other."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ (30.) "_The_ interjection is a part of speech used to express sudden passion or _strong_ emotion."--_Gilbert cor._ (31.) "An interjection is an _unconnected word_ used in giving utterance to some sudden feeling or _strong_ emotion."--_Weld cor._ (32.) "_The_ interjection is that part of speech which denotes any sudden affection or _strong_ emotion of the mind."--_David Blair cor._ (33.) "An interjection is _an independent word or sound_ thrown into discourse, and denotes some sudden passion or _strong_ emotion of the soul."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ (34.) "_The_ scene might tempt some peaceful sage To rear _a lonely_ hermitage."--_Gent. of Aberdeen cor._ (35.) "Not all the storms that shake the pole, Can e'er disturb thy halcyon soul, And _smooth unalter'd_ brow."--_Barbauld's Poems_, p. 42. LESSON II.--NOUNS. "The _throne_ of every monarchy felt the shock."--_Frelinghuysen cor._ "These principles ought to be deeply impressed upon the _mind_ of every American."--_Dr. N. Webster cor._ "The _words_ CHURCH and SHIRE are radically the same."--_Id._ "They may not, in their present form, be readily accommodated to every circumstance belonging to the possessive _case_ of nouns."--_L. Murray cor. "Will_, in the second and third _persons_, only _foretells_."--_Id.; Lowth's Gram._, p. 41. "Which seem to form the true distinction between the subjunctive and the indicative _mood_."--_L. Murray cor._ "The very general approbation which this performance of _Walker's_ has received from the public."--_Id._ "Lest she carry her improvements _of this kind_ too far." Or thus: "Lest she carry her improvements _in_ this way too far."--_Id. and Campbell cor._ "Charles was extravagant, and by _his prodigality_ became poor and despicable."--_L. Murray cor._ "We should entertain no _prejudice_ against simple and rustic persons."--_Id._ "These are indeed the _foundation_ of all solid merit."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And his embellishment, by means of _figures, musical cadences_, or other _ornaments_ of speech."--_Id._ "If he is at no pains to engage us by the employment of figures, musical arrangement, or any other _ornament of style_."--_Id._ "The most eminent of the sacred poets, are, _David, Isaiah_, and the _author_ of the Book of Job."--_Id._ "Nothing in any _poem_, is more beautifully described than the death of old Priam."--_Id._ "When two vowels meet together, and are _joined in one syllable_, they are called _a diphthong_."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "How many _Esses_ would _goodness'_ then end with? Three; as _goodness's_."--_Id. "Birds_ is a noun; it is the _common_ name of _feathered animals_."--_Kirkham cor._ "Adam gave names to _all_ living _creatures_." Or thus: "Adam gave _a name_ to every living creature."--_Bicknell cor._ "The steps of a _flight of stairs_ ought to be accommodated to the human figure." Or thus: "_Stairs_ ought to be accommodated to the _ease of the users_."--_Kames cor._ "Nor ought an emblem, more than a simile, to be founded on _a_ low or familiar _object_."--_Id._ "Whatever the Latin has not from the Greek, it has from the _Gothic_."--_Tooke cor._ "The _mint_, and _the office of the secretary of state_, are neat buildings."--_The Friend cor._ "The scenes of dead and still _existence_ are apt to pall upon us."--_Blair cor._ "And Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, the angelical _doctor_ and the subtle, are the brightest stars in the scholastic constellation."--_Lit. Hist. cor._ "The English language has three methods of distinguishing the _sexes_."--_Murray et al. cor._; also _R. C. Smith_. "In English, there are the three following methods of distinguishing _the sexes_."--_Jaudon cor._ "There are three ways of distinguishing the _sexes_."--_Lennie et al. cor._; also _Merchant. "The sexes are_ distinguished in three ways."--_Maunder cor._ "Neither discourse in general, nor poetry in particular, can be called altogether an imitative _art_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Do we for this the gods and conscience brave, That one may rule and _all_ the rest _enslave_?"--_Rowe cor._ LESSON III.--ADJECTIVES. "There is a deal _more_ of heads, than _of_ either heart or horns."--_Barclay cor._ "For, of all villains, I think he has the _most improper name_."--_Bunyan cor._ "Of all the men that I met in my pilgrimage, he, I think, bears the _wrongest_ name."--_Id._ "I am _surprised_ to see so much of the distribution, and _so many of the_ technical terms, of the Latin grammar, retained in the grammar of our tongue."--_Priestley cor._ "Nor did the Duke of Burgundy bring him _any_ assistance."--_Hume and Priestley cor._ "Else he will find it difficult to make _an_ obstinate _person_ believe him."--_Brightland cor._ "Are there any adjectives which form the degrees of comparison _in a manner_ peculiar to themselves?"--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "Yet _all_ the verbs are of the indicative mood."--_Lowth cor._ "The word _candidate_ is _absolute_, in the _nominative_ case."--_L. Murray cor._ "An Iambus has the first syllable unaccented, and the _last_ accented."--_L. Murray, D. Blair, Jamieson, Kirkham, Bullions, Guy, Merchant_, and others. "A Dactyl has the first syllable accented, and the _last two [syllables_] unaccented."--_Murray et al. cor._ "It is proper to begin with a capital the first word of every book, chapter, letter, note, or[553] other piece of writing."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 195; _John Flint's_, 105. "Five and seven make twelve, and one _more_ makes thirteen."--_L. Murray cor._ "I wish to cultivate a _nearer_ acquaintance with you."--_Id._ "Let us consider the means _which are proper_ to effect our purpose." Or thus: "Let us consider _what_ means _are_ proper to effect our purpose."--_Id._ "Yet they are of _so_ similar a nature as readily to mix and blend."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The Latin is formed on the same model, but _is_ more imperfect."--_Id._ "I know very well how _great_ pains have been taken." Or thus: "I know very well how much _care has_ been taken."--_Temple cor._ "The management of the breath requires a _great_ deal of care."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Because the mind, during such a momentary stupefaction, is, in a _great_ measure, if not totally, insensible."--_Kames cor._ "Motives of reason and interest _alone_ are not sufficient."--_Id._ "To render the composition distinct in its parts, and on the whole _impressive_."--_Id._ "_A_ and _an_ are named _the Indefinite article_, because they denote _indifferently any_ one thing of a kind."--_Maunder cor._ "_The_ is named _the Definite article_, because it points out some particular thing _or things_."--_Id._ "So much depends upon the proper construction of sentences, that, in _any_ sort of composition, we cannot be too strict in our attention to it." Or:--"that, in _every_ sort of composition, we _ought to be very_ strict in our attention to it." Or:--"that, in _no_ sort of composition, _can we be_ too strict," &c.--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_Every_ sort of declamation and public speaking was carried on by them." Or thus: "All _sorts_ of declamation and public speaking, _were_ carried on by them."--_Id._ "The _former_ has, on many occasions, a sublimity to which the latter never attains."--_Id._ "When the words, _therefore, consequently, accordingly_, and the like, are used in connexion with conjunctions, they are adverbs."--_Kirkham cor._ "Rude nations make _few_ or no allusions to the productions of the arts."--_Jamieson cor._ "While two of her maids knelt on _each_ side of her." Or, if there were only two maids kneeling, and not four: "While two of her maids knelt _one_ on _each_ side of her."--_Mirror cor._ "The personal pronouns _of the third person_, differ from _one an_ other in meaning and use, as follows."--_Bullions cor._ "It was happy for the state, that Fabius continued in the command with _Minutius_: the phlegm _of the former_ was a check _on_ the vivacity _of the latter_."--_L. Murray and others cor._: see _Maunders Gram._, p. 4. "If it be objected, that the words _must_ and _ought_, in the preceding sentences, are _both_ in the present tense." Or thus: "If it be objected, that _in all_ the preceding sentences the words _must_ and _ought_ are in the present tense."--_L. Murray cor._ "But it will be well, if you turn to them now and then." Or:--"if you turn to them _occasionally_."--_Bucke cor._ "That every part should have a dependence on, and mutually contribute to support, _every_ other."--_Rollin cor._ "The phrase, '_Good, my lord_,' is not common, and _is_ low." Or:--"is _uncommon_, and low."--_Priestley cor._ "That brother should not war with brother, And _one_ devour _or vex an_ other."--_Cowper cor._ LESSON IV.--PRONOUNS. "If I can contribute to _our_ country's glory." Or:--"to _your glory_ and _that of my country_."--_Goldsmith cor._ "As likewise of the several subjects, which have in effect each _its_ verb."--_Lowth cor._ "He is likewise required to make examples _for_ himself." Or: "He _himself_ is likewise required to make examples."--_J. Flint cor._ "If the emphasis be placed wrong, _it will_ pervert and confound the meaning wholly." Or: "If the emphasis be placed wrong, the meaning _will be perverted_ and _confounded_ wholly." Or: "If _we place_ the emphasis wrong, we pervert and confound the meaning wholly."--_L. Murray cor._; also _Dr. Blair_. "It was this, that characterized the great men of antiquity; it is this, _that_ must distinguish the moderns who would tread in their steps."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "I am a great enemy to implicit faith, as well the Popish as _the_ Presbyterian; _for_, in that, _the Papists and the Presbyterians_ are _very_ much alike."--_Barclay cor._ "Will he thence dare to say, the apostle held _an other_ Christ than _him_ that died?"--_Id._ "_Why_ need you be anxious about this event?" Or: "What need _have_ you to be anxious about this event?"--_Collier cor._ "If a substantive can be placed after the verb, _the latter_ is active."--_A. Murray cor._ "_To see_ bad men honoured and prosperous in the world, is some discouragement to virtue." Or: "_It_ is some discouragement to virtue, _to see_ bad men," &c.--_L. Murray cor._ "It is a happiness to young persons, _to be_ preserved from the snares of the world, as in a garden enclosed."--_Id._ "_At_ the court of Queen Elizabeth, _where all_ was prudence and economy."--_Bullions cor._ "It is no wonder, if such a man did not shine at the court of Queen Elizabeth, who was _so remarkable_ for _her_ prudence and economy."--_Priestley, Murray, et al cor._ "A defective verb is _a verb_ that wants some parts. _The defective verbs_ are chiefly the _auxiliaries_ and _the_ impersonal verbs."--_Bullions cor._ "Some writers have given _to the_ moods a much greater extent than _I_ have assigned to them."--_L. Murray cor._ "The personal pronouns give _such_ information _as_ no other words are capable of conveying."--_M'Culloch cor._ "When the article _a, an_, or _the_, precedes the participle, _the latter_ also becomes a noun."--_Merchant cor._ "To some of these, there is a preference to be given, which custom and judgement must determine."--_L. Murray cor._ "Many writers affect to subjoin to any word the preposition with which it is compounded, or _that_ of which it _literally_ implies the idea."--_Id. and Priestley cor._ "Say, dost thou know Vectidius? _Whom_, the wretch Whose lands beyond the Sabines largely stretch?"--_Dryden cor._ LESSON V.--VERBS. "We _should_ naturally expect, that the word _depend_ would require _from_ after it."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 158. "A dish which they pretend _is_ made of emerald."--_L. Murray cor._ "For the very nature of a sentence implies _that_ one proposition _is_ expressed."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 311. "Without a careful attention to the sense, we _should_ be naturally led, by the rules of syntax, to refer it to the rising and setting of the sun."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "For any rules that can be given, on this subject, _must be_ very general."--_Id._ "He _would be_ in the right, if eloquence were what he conceives it to be."--_Id._ "There I _should_ prefer a more free and diffuse manner."--_Id._ "Yet that they also _resembled one an other, and agreed_ in certain qualities."--_Id._ "But, since he must restore her, he insists _on having an other_ in her place."--_Id._ "But these are far from being so frequent, or so common, as _they have_ been supposed _to be_."--_Id._ "We are not _led_ to assign a wrong place to the pleasant or _the_ painful feelings."--_Kames cor._ "Which are of greater importance than _they are_ commonly thought."--_Id._ "Since these qualities are both coarse and common, _let us_ find out the mark of a man of probity."--_Collier cor._ "Cicero did what no man had ever done before him; _he drew_ up a treatise of consolation for himself."--_Biographer cor._ "Then there can _remain_ no other doubt of the truth."--_Brightland cor._ "I have observed _that_ some satirists use the term." Or: "I have observed some satirists _to_ use the term."--_Bullions cor._ "Such men are ready to despond, or _to become_ enemies."--_Webster cor._ "Common nouns _are_ names common to many things."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "To make ourselves _heard_ by one to whom we address ourselves."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "That, in reading poetry, he may be the better able to judge of its correctness, and _may_ relish its beauties." Or:--"and _to_ relish its beauties."--_L. Murray cor._ "On the stretch to keep pace with the author, and _comprehend his meaning_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and _the money_ have been given to the poor."--_Bible cor._ "He is a beam that _has_ departed, and _has_ left no streak of light behind."--_Ossian cor._ "No part of this incident ought to have been represented, but _the whole should have been_ reserved for a narrative."--_Kames cor._ "The rulers and people debauching themselves, _a country is brought to ruin_." Or: "_When_ the rulers and people _debauch_ themselves, _they bring_ ruin on a country."--_Ware cor._ "When _a title_, (as _Doctor, Miss, Master_, &c.,) is prefixed to a name, the _latter only_, of the two words, is commonly _varied to form the_ plural; as, 'The _Doctor Nettletons_,'--'The two _Miss Hudsons_.'"--_A. Murray cor._ "Wherefore that field _has been_ called, '_The Field of Blood_,' unto this day."--_Bible cor._ "To comprehend the situations of other countries, which perhaps _it_ may be necessary for him to explore."--_Dr. Brown cor._ "We content ourselves now with fewer conjunctive particles than our ancestors _used_."--_Priestley cor._ "And who will be chiefly liable to make mistakes where others have _erred_ before them."--_Id._ "The voice of nature _and that of_ revelation _unite_." Or: "_Revelation and_ the voice of nature _unite_." Or: "The voice of nature _unites with revelation_." Or: "The voice of nature unites _with that of_ revelation."--_Wayland cor._ "This adjective, you see, we can't admit; But, changed to 'WORSE,' _the word is_ just and fit."--_Tobitt cor._ LESSON VI.--PARTICIPLES. "Its application is not arbitrary, _or dependent_ on the caprice of readers."--_L. Murray cor._ "This is the more expedient, _because the work is_ designed for the benefit of private learners."--_Id._ "A man, he tells us, ordered by his will, to have _a statue erected_ for him."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "From some likeness too remote, and _lying_ too far out of the road of ordinary thought."--_Id._ "In the commercial world, money is a _fluid, running_ from hand to hand."--_Dr. Webster cor._ "He pays much attention to _the_ learning and singing _of_ songs."--_Id._ "I would not be understood to consider _the_ singing _of_ songs as criminal."--_Id._ "It is a _case decided by Cicero_, the great master of writing."--_Editor of Waller cor._ "Did they ever bear a testimony against _the_ writing _of_ books?"-- _Bates's Rep. cor._ "Exclamations are sometimes _mistaken_ for interrogations."--_Hist. of Print, cor._ "Which cannot fail _to prove_ of service."--_Smith cor._ "Hewn into such figures as would make them _incorporate_ easily and firmly."--_Beat, or Mur. cor._ "_After_ the rule and example, _there_ are practical inductive questions."--_J. Flint cor._ "I think _it_ will be an advantage, _that I have_ collected _my_ examples from modern writings."--_Priestley cor._ "He was eager _to recommend_ it to his fellow-citizens."--_Id. and Hume cor._ "The good lady was careful _to serve_ me _with_ every thing."--_Id._ "No revelation would have been given, had the light of nature been sufficient, in such a sense as to render one _superfluous_ and useless."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Description, again, is _a representation which raises_ in the mind the conception of an object, by means of some arbitrary or instituted symbols."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Disappointing the expectation of the hearers, when they look for _an end_." Or:--"for _the termination of_ our _discourse_."--_Id._ "There is a distinction, which, in the use of them, is _worthy_ of attention."-- _Maunder cor._ "A model has been contrived, which is not very expensive, and _which_ is easily managed."--_Ed. Reporter cor._ "The conspiracy was the more easily discovered, _because the conspirators were_ many."--_L. Murray cor._ "Nearly ten years _had_ that celebrated work _been published_, before its importance was at all understood."--_Id._ "_That_ the _sceptre is_ ostensibly grasped by a female hand, does not reverse the general order of government."--_West cor._ "I have hesitated _about_ signing the Declaration of Sentiments."--_Lib. cor._ "The prolonging of men's lives when the world needed to be peopled, and _the subsequent_ shortening _of_ them when that necessity _had_ ceased."--_Rev. John Brown cor._ "Before the performance commences, we _see_ displayed the insipid formalities of the prelusive scene."--_Kirkham cor._ "It forbade the lending of money, or _the_ sending _of_ goods, or _the_ embarking _of_ capital in anyway, in transactions connected with that foreign traffic."--_Brougham cor._ "Even abstract ideas have sometimes the same important _prerogative conferred_ upon them."--_Jamieson cor._ "_Ment_, like other terminations, changes _y_ into _i_, when _the y is preceded_ by a consonant."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 25. "The term PROPER is from the French _propre_, own, or the Latin _proprius_; and _a Proper noun_ is _so called, because it_ is peculiar to the individual _or family_ bearing the name. The term COMMON is from the Latin _communis_, pertaining equally to several or many; and _a Common noun_ is _so called, because it is common_ to every individual comprised in the class."--_Fowler cor._ "Thus oft by mariners are _showed_ (Unless the men of Kent are liars) Earl Godwin's castles _overflowed_, And palace-roofs, and steeple- spires."--_Swift cor._ LESSON VII.--ADVERBS. "He spoke to every man and woman _who was there_."--_L. Murray cor._ "Thought and language act and react upon each other."--_Murray's Key_, p. 264. "Thought and expression act _and react_ upon each other."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 356. "They have neither the leisure nor the means of attaining any knowledge, except what lies within the contracted circle of their several professions."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 160. "Before they are capable of understanding _much_, or indeed any thing, of _most_ other branches of education."--_Olney cor._ "There is _no_ more beauty in one of them, than in _an other_."--_L. Murray cor._ "Which appear to be constructed according to _no_ certain rule."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The vehement manner of speaking became _less_ universal."--Or better:--"_less general_."--_Id._ "_Not_ all languages, however, agree in this mode of expression." Or: "This mode of expression, however, _is not common to all_ languages."--_Id._ "The great occasion of setting _apart_ this particular day."--_Atterbury cor._ "He is much more promising now, than _he was_ formerly."--_L. Murray cor._ "They are placed before a participle, _without dependence_ on the rest of the sentence."--_Id._ "This opinion _does not appear to have been_ well considered." Or: "This opinion appears to _have been formed without due consideration_."--_Id._ "Precision in language merits a full explication; and _merits it_ the more, because distinct ideas are, perhaps, _but rarely_ formed _concerning_ it."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "In the more sublime parts of poetry, he is _less_ distinguished." Or:--"he is not so _highly_ distinguished."--_Id._ "_Whether_ the author was altogether happy in the choice of his subject, may be questioned."--_Id._ "But, _with regard to this matter_ also, there is a great error in the common practice."--_Webster cor._ "This order is the very order of the human mind, which makes things we are sensible of, a means to come at those that are not _known_." Or:--"which makes things _that_ are _already known, its_ means _of finding out_ those that are not so."--_Foreman cor._ "Now, who is not discouraged, and _does not fear_ want, when he has no money?"--_C. Leslie cor._ "Which the authors of this work consider of little or no use."--_Wilbur and Liv. cor._ "And here indeed the distinction between these two classes begins to be _obscure_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "But this is a manner which deserves to be _avoided_." Or:--"which _does not deserve_ to be imitated."--_Id._ "And, in this department, a person effects _very_ little, _whenever_ he attempts too much."--_Campbell and Murray cor._ "The verb that signifies _mere_ being, is neuter."--_Ash cor._ "I hope to tire _but little_ those whom I shall not happen to please."--_Rambler cor._ "Who were utterly unable to pronounce some letters, and _who pronounced_ others very indistinctly."--_Sheridan cor._ "The learner may point out the active, passive, and neuter verbs in the following examples, and state the reasons _for thus distinguishing them_." Or: "The learner may point out the active, _the_ passive, and _the_ neuter verbs in the following examples, and state the reasons _for calling them so_."--_C. Adams cor._ "These words are _almost_ always conjunctions."--_Barrett cor._ "_How glibly_ nonsense trickles from his tongue! How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung!"--_Pope cor._ LESSON VIII.--CONJUNCTIONS. "Who, at least, either knew not, _or did not love_ to make, a distinction." Or better thus: "Who, at least, either knew _no distinction_, or _did not like_ to make _any_."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "It is childish in the last degree _to let_ this become the ground of estranged affection."--_L. Murray cor._ "When the regular, _and when_ the irregular verb, is to be preferred [sic--KTH], p. 107."--_Id._ "The books were to have been sold this day." Or:--"_on_ this day."--_Priestley cor._ "Do, _an_ you will." Or: "Do, _if_ you will."--_Shak. cor._ "If a man had a positive idea _either_ of infinite duration or _of infinite_ space, he could add two infinites together." Or: "If a man had a positive idea of _what is_ infinite, either _in_ duration or _in_ space, he could," &c.--_Murray's proof-text cor._ "None shall more willingly agree _to_ and advance the same _than_ I."--_Morton cor._ "That it cannot _but_ be hurtful to continue it."--_Barclay cor._ "A conjunction joins words _or_ sentences."--_Beck cor._ "The copulative conjunction connects words _or_ sentences together, and continues the sense."--_Frost cor._ "The _copulative_ conjunction serves to connect [_words or clauses_,] _and_ continue a sentence, by expressing an addition, a cause, or a supposition."--_L. Murray cor._ "All construction is either true or apparent; or, in other words, _either literal or_ figurative."--_Buchanan and Brit. Gram. cor._ "But the divine character is such _as_ none but a divine hand could draw." Or: "But the divine character is such, _that_ none but a divine hand could draw _it_."--_A. Keith cor._ "Who is so mad, that, on inspecting the heavens, _he_ is insensible of a God?"--_Gibbons cor._ "It is now submitted to an enlightened public, with little _further_ desire on the part of the _author_, than for its general utility."--_Town cor._ "This will sufficiently explain _why_ so many provincials have grown old in the capital without making any change in their original dialect."-- _Sheridan cor._ "Of these, they had chiefly three in general use, which were denominated ACCENTS, the term _being_ used in the plural number."--_Id._ "And this is one of the chief reasons _why_ dramatic representations have ever held the first rank amongst the diversions of mankind."--_Id._ "Which is the chief reason _why_ public reading is in general so disgusting."--_Id._ "At the same time _in which_ they learn to read." Or: "_While_ they learn to read."--_Id._ "He is always to pronounce his words with _exactly_ the same accent that he _uses in speaking_."--_Id._ "In order to know what _an other_ knows, and in the same manner _in which_ he knows it."--_Id._ "For the same reason _for which_ it is, in a more limited state, assigned to the several tribes of animals."--_Id._ "Were there masters to teach this, in the same manner _in which_ other arts are taught." Or: "Were there masters to teach this, _as_ other arts are taught."--_Id._ "Whose own example strengthens all his laws; _Who_ is himself that great sublime he draws."--_Pope cor._ LESSON IX.--PREPOSITIONS. "The word _so_ has sometimes the same meaning _as_ ALSO, LIKEWISE, _or_ THE SAME."--_Priestley cor._ "The verb _use_ relates not to 'pleasures of the imagination;' but to the terms _fancy_ and _imagination_, which he was to employ as synonymous."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It never can view, clearly and distinctly, _more than_ one object at a time."--_Id._ "This figure [Euphemism] is often the same _as_ the Periphrasis."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "All the _intermediate_ time _between_ youth and old age."--_W. Walker cor._ "When one thing is said to act _upon an other_, or do something to _it_."--_Lowth cor._ "Such a composition has as much of meaning in it, as a mummy has _of_ life." Or: "Such a composition has as much meaning in it, as a mummy has life."--_Lit. Conv. cor._ "That young men, from fourteen to eighteen _years of age_, were not the best judges."--_Id._ "This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and _of_ blasphemy."--_Isaiah_, xxxvii, 3. "Blank verse has the same pauses and accents _that occur in_ rhyme."--_Kames cor._ "In prosody, long syllables are distinguished by _the macron_ (-); and short ones by what is called _the breve_ (~)."--_Bucke cor._ "Sometimes both articles are left out, especially _from_ poetry."--_Id._ "_From_ the following example, the pronoun and participle are omitted." Or: "In the following example, the pronoun and participle are _not expressed_."--_L. Murray cor._ [But the example was faulty. Say.] "Conscious of his weight and importance,"--or, "_Being_ conscious of his own weight and importance, _he did_ not _solicit_ the aid of others."--_Id._ "He was an excellent person; _even in his_ early youth, a mirror of _the_ ancient faith."--_Id._ "The carrying _of_ its several parts into execution."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "Concord is the agreement which one word has _with_ an other, in gender, number, case, _or_ person."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 142. "It might perhaps have given me a greater taste _for_ its antiquities."--_Addison cor._ "To call _on_ a person, and to wait _on_ him."--_Priestley cor._ "The great difficulty they found in fixing just sentiments."--_Id. and Hume cor._ "Developing the _differences of_ the three."--_James Brown cor._ "When the singular ends in x, ch soft, sh, ss, or s, we add _es to form_ the plural."--_L. Murray cor._ "We shall present him a list or specimen of them." "It is very common to hear of the evils of pernicious reading, how it enervates the mind, or how it depraves the principles."--_Dymond cor._ "In this example, the verb _arises_ is understood before 'curiosity' and _before_ 'knowledge.'"--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "The connective is frequently omitted, _when_ several words _have the same construction_."--_Wilcox cor._ "He shall expel them from before you, and drive them _out from_ your sight."--_Bible cor._ "Who makes his sun _to_ shine and his rain to descend, upon the just and the unjust." Or thus: "Who makes his sun shine, and his rain descend, upon the just and the unjust."--_M'Ilvaine cor._ LESSON X.--MIXED EXAMPLES. "This sentence violates _an established rule_ of grammar."--_L. Murray cor._ "The words _thou_ and _shall_ are again reduced to _syllables of_ short _quantity_."--_Id._ "Have the _greatest_ men always been the most popular? By no means."--_Lieber cor._ "St. Paul positively stated, that 'He _that loveth an other, hath_ fulfilled the law.'"--_Rom._, xiii, 8. "More _organs_ than one _are_ concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant."--_M'Culloch cor._ "If the reader will pardon _me for_ descending so low."--_Campbell cor._ "To adjust them in _such a manner_ as shall consist equally with the perspicuity and the grace of the period." Or: "To adjust them so, _that they_ shall consist equally," &c.--_Dr. Blair and L. Mur. cor._ "This class exhibits a lamentable inefficiency, and _a great_ want of simplicity."--_Gardiner cor._ "Whose style, _in all its course_, flows like a limpid stream, _through which_ we see to the very bottom."--_Dr. Blair cor._; also _L. Murray_. "We _admit various ellipses_." Or thus: "An _ellipsis_, or _omission_, of some words, is frequently admitted."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 116. "The ellipsis, of _articles may occur_ thus."--_L. Murray cor._ "Sometimes the _article a_ is improperly applied to nouns of different numbers; as, 'A magnificent house and gardens.'"--_Id._ "In some very emphatical expressions, _no_ ellipsis should be _allowed_."--_Id._ "_Ellipses_ of the adjective _may happen_ in the following manner."--_Id._ "The following _examples show that there may be an_ ellipsis of the pronoun."--_Id._ "_Ellipses_ of the verb _occur_ in the following instances."--_Id._ "_Ellipses_ of the adverb _may occur_ in the following manner."--_Id._ "The following _brief expressions are all of them elliptical_." [554]--_Id._ "If no emphasis be placed on any words, not only will discourse be rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning _will_ often _be left_ ambiguous."--_Id._; also _J. S. Hart and Dr. Blair cor._ "He regards his word, but thou dost not _regard thine_."--_Bullions, Murray, et al., cor._ "I have learned my task, but you have not _learned yours_."--_Iid._ "When the omission of a word would obscure the _sense_, weaken _the expression_, or be attended with impropriety, _no ellipsis_ must be _indulged_."--_Murray and Weld cor._ "And therefore the verb is correctly put in the singular number, and refers to _them all_ separately and individually considered."--_L. Murray cor._ "_He was to me the most intelligible_ of all who spoke on the subject."--_Id._ "I understood him better than _I did_ any other who spoke on the _subject_."--_Id._ "The roughness found on the entrance into the paths of virtue and learning _decreases_ as we advance." Or: "The _roughnesses encountered in_ the paths of virtue and learning _diminish_ as we advance."--_Id._ "_There is_ nothing _which more_ promotes knowledge, than _do_ steady application and _habitual_ observation."--_Id._ "Virtue confers _on man the highest_ dignity _of which he is capable; it_ should _therefore_ be _the chief object of_ his desire."--_Id. and Merchant cor._ "The supreme Author of our being has so formed _the human soul_, that nothing but himself can be its last, adequate, and proper happiness."--_Addison and Blair cor._ "The inhabitants of China laugh at the plantations of our Europeans: 'Because,' _say they_, 'any one may place trees in equal rows and uniform figures.'"--_Iid._ "The divine laws are not _to be reversed_ by those of men."--_L. Murray cor._ "In both of these examples, the relative _which_ and the verb _was_ are understood."--_Id. et al. cor._ "The Greek and Latin languages, though for many reasons they cannot be called dialects of one _and the same tongue_, are nevertheless closely connected."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "To ascertain and settle _whether_ a white rose or a red breathes the sweetest fragrance." Or thus: "To ascertain and settle which _of the two_ breathes the _sweeter_ fragrance, a white rose or a red _one_."--_J. Q. Adams cor._ "To which he can afford to devote _but little_ of his time and labour."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Avoid extremes; and shun the fault of such _As_ still are pleased too little or too much."--_Pope cor._ LESSON XI.--OF BAD PHRASES. "He _might as well_ leave his vessel to the direction of the winds."--_South cor._ "Without good-nature and gratitude, men _might as well_ live in a wilderness as in society."--_L'Estrange cor._ "And, for this reason, such lines _very seldom_ occur together."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "His _greatness_ did not make him _happy_."--_Crombie cor._ "Let that which tends to _cool_ your love, be judged in all."--_Crisp cor._ "It is _worth_ observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death."--_Bacon cor._ "Accent dignifies the syllable on which it is laid, and makes it more _audible_ than the rest."--_Sheridan and Murray cor._ "Before he proceeds to argue on _either_ side."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The _general_ change of manners, throughout Europe."--_Id._ "The sweetness and beauty of Virgil's numbers, _through all_ his works."--_Id._ "The French writers of sermons, study neatness and elegance in _the division of their discourses._"--_Id._ "This _seldom_ fails to prove a refrigerant to passion."--_Id._ "_But_ their fathers, brothers, and uncles, cannot, as good relations and good citizens, _excuse themselves for_ not standing forth to demand vengeance."--_Murray's Sequel_, p. 114. "Alleging, that their _decrial_ of the church of Rome, was a _uniting_ with the Turks."--_Barclay cor._ "To which is added the Catechism _by the_ Assembly of Divines."--_N. E. Prim. cor._ "This treachery was always present in _the thoughts of both of them_."-- _Robertson cor._ "Thus far their words agree." Or: "Thus far _the words of both_ agree."--_W. Walker cor._ "Aparithmesis is _an_ enumeration _of the_ several parts of what, _as a whole_, might be expressed in few words."--_Gould cor._ "Aparithmesis, or Enumeration, is _a figure in which_ what might be expressed in a few words, is branched out into several parts."--_Dr. Adam cor._ "Which may sit from time to time, where you dwell, or in the vicinity."--_J. O. Taylor cor._ "Place together a _large-sized animal and a small one_, of the same species." Or: "Place together a large and a small animal of the same species."--_Kames cor._ "The weight of the swimming body is equal to that of the quantity of fluid displaced by it."--_Percival cor._ "The Subjunctive mood, in all its tenses, is similar to the Optative."--_Gwilt cor._ "No feeling of obligation remains, except that of _an obligation to_ fidelity."--_Wayland cor._ "Who asked him _why_ whole audiences should be moved to tears at the representation of some story on the stage."--_Sheridan cor._ "_Are you not ashamed_ to affirm that the best works of the Spirit of Christ in his saints are as filthy rags?"--_Barclay cor._ "A neuter verb becomes active, when followed by a noun of _kindred_ signification."--_Sanborn cor._ "But he has judged better in _forbearing_ to repeat the article _the_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Many objects please us, _and are thought_ highly beautiful, which have _scarcely any_ variety at all."--_Id._ "Yet they sometimes follow them."--_Emmons cor._ "For I know of nothing more _important_ in the whole subject, than this doctrine of mood and tense."--_R. Johnson cor._ "It is by no means impossible for an _error_ to be _avoided_ or _suppressed_."--_Philol. Museum cor._ "These are things of the highest importance to _children and youth_."--_Murray cor._ "He _ought to_ have omitted the word _many_." Or: "He _might_ better have omitted the word _many_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Which _might_ better have been separated." Or: "Which _ought rather to_ have been separated."--_Id._ "Figures and metaphors, therefore, should _never_ be _used_ profusely."--_Id. and Jam. cor._ "Metaphors, _or_ other figures, should _never_ be _used in_ too _great abundance_."--_Murray and Russell cor._ "Something like this has been _alleged against_ Tacitus."-- _Bolingbroke cor._ "O thou, whom all mankind in vain withstand, _Who with the blood of each_ must one day stain thy hand!" --_Sheffield cor._ LESSON XII.--OF TWO ERRORS. "Pronouns sometimes precede the _terms_ which they represent."--_L. Murray cor._ "Most prepositions originally _denoted relations_ of place."--_Lowth cor._ "WHICH is applied to _brute_ animals, and _to_ things without life."--_Bullions cor._ "What _thing_ do they describe, or _of what do they_ tell the kind?"--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "Iron _cannons_, as well as brass, _are_ now universally cast solid."--_Jamieson cor._ "We have philosophers, _more_ eminent perhaps _than those of_ any _other_ nation."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "This is a question about words _only_, and _one_ which common sense easily determines."--_Id._ "The low pitch of the voice, is _that which_ approaches to a whisper."--_Id._ "Which, as to the effect, is just the same _as to use_ no such distinctions at all."--_Id._ "These two systems, therefore, _really_ differ from _each_ other _but_ very little."--_Id._ "It _is_ needless to give many instances, as _examples_ occur so often."--_Id._ "There are many occasions _on which_ this is neither requisite nor proper."--_Id._ "Dramatic poetry divides itself into two forms, comedy _and_ tragedy."--_Id._ "No man ever rhymed _with more exactness_ than he." [I.e., than Roscommon.]--_Editor of Waller cor._ "The Doctor did not reap from his poetical labours a _profit_ equal to _that_ of his prose."--_Johnson cor._ "We will follow that which we _find_ our fathers _practised_." Or: "We will follow that which we _find to have been_ our _fathers'_ practice."--_Sale cor._ "And I _should_ deeply regret _that I had_ published them."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "Figures exhibit ideas _with more vividness and power_, than could be _given them_ by plain language."--_Kirkham cor._ "The allegory is finely drawn, _though_ the heads _are_ various."--_Spect. cor._ "I should not have thought it worthy _of this_ place." Or: "I should not have thought it worthy _of being placed_ here."--_Crombie cor._ "In this style, Tacitus excels all _other_ writers, ancient _or_ modern."--_Kames cor._ "No _other_ author, ancient or modern, possesses the art of dialogue _so completely as_ Shakspeare."-- _Id._ "The names of _all the things_ we see, hear, smell, taste, _or_ feel, are nouns."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor. "Of_ what number are _the expressions_, 'these boys,' 'these pictures,' &c.?"--_Id._ "This sentence _has faults_ somewhat _like those_ of the last."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Besides perspicuity, he pursues propriety, purity, and precision, in his language; which _qualities form_ one degree, and no inconsiderable one, of beauty."--_Id._ "Many critical terms have unfortunately been employed in a sense too loose and vague; none _with less precision_, than _the word_ sublime."--_Id._ "Hence no word in the language is used _with_ a more vague signification, than _the word_ beauty."--_Id._ "But still, _in speech_, he made use of general terms _only_."--_Id._ "These give life, body, and colouring, to the _facts recited_; and enable us to _conceive of_ them as present, and passing before our eyes."--_Id._ "Which carried an ideal chivalry to a still more extravagant height, than _the adventurous spirit of knighthood_ had _ever attained_ in fact."--_Id._ "We write much more supinely, and _with far less labour_, than _did_ the ancients."--_Id._ "This appears indeed to form the characteristical difference between the ancient poets, orators, and historians, _and_ the modern."--_Id._ "To violate this rule, as the English too often _do, shows_ great incorrectness."--_Id._ "It is impossible, by means of any _training_, to _prevent them from_ appearing stiff and forced."--_Id. "And it also gives to_ the speaker the disagreeable _semblance_ of one who endeavours to compel assent."--_Id._ "And _whenever_ a light or ludicrous anecdote is proper to be recorded, it is generally better to throw it into a note, than to _run the_ hazard _of_ becoming too familiar."--_Id. "It is_ the great business of this life, to prepare and qualify _ourselves_ for the enjoyment of a better."--_L. Murray cor. "From_ some dictionaries, accordingly, it was omitted; and in others _it is_ stigmatized as a barbarism."--_Crombie cor._ "You cannot see a thing, or think of _one, the name of which is not_ a noun."--_Mack cor. "All_ the fleet _have_ arrived, and _are_ moored in safety." Or better: "The _whole_ fleet _has_ arrived, and _is_ moored in safety."--_L. Murray cor._ LESSON XIII.--OF TWO ERRORS. "They have _severally_ their distinct and exactly-limited _relations_ to gravity."--_Hasler cor._ "But _where the additional s_ would give too much of the hissing sound, the omission takes place even in prose."--_L. Murray cor._ "After _o_, it [the _w_] is sometimes not sounded at all; _and_ sometimes _it is sounded_ like a single _u_."--_Lowth cor._ "It is situation chiefly, _that_ decides the _fortunes_ and characters of men."--_Hume cor._; also _Murray_. "The vice of covetousness is _that_ [vice] _which_ enters _more deeply_ into the soul than any other."--_Murray et al. cor. "Of all vices_, covetousness enters the _most deeply_ into the soul."--_Iid._ "_Of all the vices_, covetousness is _that which_ enters the _most deeply_ into the soul."--_Campbell cor._ "The vice of covetousness is _a fault which_ enters _more deeply_ into the soul _than_ any other."--_Guardian cor._ "WOULD primarily denotes inclination of will; and SHOULD, obligation: but _they_ vary their import, and are often used to express simple _events_." Or:--"but _both of them_ vary their import," &c. Or:--"but _both_ vary their import, and are used to express simple _events_."--_Lowth, Murray, et al. cor._; also _Comly and Ingersoll_; likewise _Abel Flint_. "A double _condition_, in two correspondent clauses of a sentence, is sometimes made _by the word_ HAD; as, '_Had_ he done this, he _had_ escaped.'"--_Murray and Ingersoll cor._ "The pleasures of the understanding are preferable to those of the imagination, _as well as to those_ of sense."--_L. Murray cor._ "Claudian, in a fragment upon the wars of the giants, has contrived to render this idea of their throwing _of_ the mountains, which in itself _has so much grandeur_, burlesque and ridiculous."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To which not only no other writings are to be preferred, but _to which_, even in divers respects, _none are_ comparable."--_Barclay cor._ "To distinguish them in the understanding, and treat of their several natures, in the same cool manner _that_ we _use_ with regard to other ideas."--_Sheridan cor._ "For it has nothing to do with parsing, or _the_ analyzing _of_ language."--_Kirkham cor._ Or: "For it has nothing to do with _the_ parsing, or analyzing, _of_ language."--_Id._ "Neither _has_ that language [the Latin] _ever been_ so _common_ in Britain."--_Swift cor._ "All that I _purpose_, is, _to give_ some openings into the pleasures of taste."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "But the following sentences would have been better _without it_."--_L. Murray cor._ "But I think the following sentence _would_ be better _without it_." Or: "But I think it _should be expunged from_ the following sentence."-- _Priestley cor._ "They appear, in this case, like _ugly_ excrescences jutting out from the body."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And therefore the fable of the Harpies, in the third book of the AEneid, and the allegory of Sin and Death, in the second book of Paradise Lost, _ought not to have been inserted_ in these celebrated poems."--_Id._ "Ellipsis is an elegant suppression, or _omission_, of _some_ word or words, _belonging to_ a sentence."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ "The article A or AN _is not very proper_ in this construction."--_D. Blair cor._ "Now suppose the articles had not been _dropped from_ these passages."--_Bucke cor._ "To _have given_ a separate _name_ to every one of those trees, would have been an endless and impracticable undertaking."--_Blair cor._ "_Ei_, in general, _has_ the same _sound_ as long and slender _a_." Or better: "_Ei generally has_ the _sound of_ long _or_ slender _a_."--_L. Murray cor._ "When a conjunction is used _with apparent redundance, the insertion of it_ is called Polysyndeton."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "EACH, EVERY, EITHER, _and_ NEITHER, denote the persons or things _that_ make up a number, as taken separately or distributively."--_M'Culloch cor._ "The principal sentence must be expressed by _a verb_ in the indicative, imperative, or potential _mood_"--_S. W. Clark cor._ "Hence he is diffuse, where he ought to _be urgent_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "All _sorts_ of subjects admit of _explanatory_ comparisons."--_Id. et al. cor._ "The present or imperfect participle denotes being, action, _or passion_, continued, _and_ not perfected."--_Kirkham cor._ "What are verbs? Those words which _chiefly_ express what _is said of things_."--_Fowle cor._ "Of all those arts in which the wise excel, _The very_ masterpiece is _writing-well_."--_Sheffield cor._ "Such was that muse whose rules and practice tell, _That art's_ chief masterpiece is _writing-well_."--_Pope cor._ LESSON XIV.--OF THREE ERRORS. "_From_ some words, the metaphorical sense has justled out the original sense altogether; so that, in respect _to the latter_, they _have_ become obsolete."--_Campbell cor._ "_Surely_, never any _other_ mortal was so overwhelmed with grief, as I am at this present _moment_."--_Sheridan cor._ "All languages differ from _one an_ other in their _modes_ of _inflection_."--_Bullions cor._ "_The noun_ and _the verb_ are the only indispensable parts of speech: the one, to express the subject spoken of; and the other, the predicate, or what is affirmed of _the subject_."--_M'Culloch cor._ "The words _Italicized in_ the _last three_ examples, perform the office of substantives."--_L. Murray cor._ "A sentence _so constructed_ is always _a_ mark of _carelessness in the writer_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Nothing is more hurtful to the grace or _the_ vivacity of a period, than superfluous _and_ dragging words at the conclusion."--_Id._ "When its substantive is not _expressed with_ it, but _is_ referred to, _being_ understood."--_Lowth cor._ "Yet they _always_ have _substantives_ belonging to them, either _expressed_ or understood."--_Id._ "Because they define and limit the _import_ of the common _names_, or general _terms_, to which they refer."--_Id._ "Every new object surprises _them_, terrifies _them_, and makes a strong impression on their _minds_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "His argument required _a_ more _full development_, in order to be distinctly apprehended, and to _have_ its due force."--_Id._ "_Those_ participles which are derived from _active-transitive_ verbs, will govern the objective case, as _do_ the verbs from which they are derived."--_Emmons cor._ "Where, _in violation of_ the rule, the objective case _whom_ follows the verb, _while_ the nominative _I_ precedes _it_."--_L. Murray cor._ "_To use, after_ the same conjunction, both the indicative and the subjunctive _mood_, in the same sentence, and _under_ the same circumstances, seems to be a great impropriety."--_Lowth, Murray, et al. cor._ "A nice discernment of _the import of words_, and _an_ accurate attention to the best usage, are necessary on these occasions."--_L. Murray cor._ "The Greeks and Romans, the former especially, were, in truth, much more musical than we _are_; their genius was more turned to _take_ delight in the melody of speech."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_In general, if_ the sense admits it _early_, the sooner _a circumstance is introduced_, the better; that the more important and significant words may possess the last place, _and be_ quite disencumbered."--_Murray et al. cor._; also _Blair and Jamieson_. "Thus we find it in _both_ the Greek and _the_ Latin _tongue_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_Several_ sentences, constructed in the same manner, and _having_ the same number of members, should never be allowed to _come in succession_."-- _Blair et al. cor._ "I proceed to lay down the rules to be observed in the conduct of metaphors; and _these, with little variation, will be applicable to_ tropes of every kind."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "By _selecting_ words _with_ a proper _regard to their sounds_, we may _often imitate_ other sounds which we mean to describe."--_Dr. Blair and L. Mur. cor._ "The disguise can _scarcely_ be so perfect _as to deceive_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The sense _does not admit_ of _any_ other pause, than _one_ after the second syllable 'sit;' _this_ therefore must be the only pause made in the reading."--_Id._ "Not that I believe North America to _have been first_ peopled so _lately_ as _in_ the twelfth century, the period of Madoc's migration."--_Webster cor._ "Money and commodities _will_ always flow to that country _in which_ they are most wanted, and _in which they will_ command the most profit."--_Id._ "That it contains no visible marks of _certain_ articles which are _of_ the _utmost importance_ to a just delivery."--_Sheridan cor._ "And _Virtue_, from _her_ beauty, we call a fair and favourite maid."--_Mack cor._ "The definite article may _relate to_ nouns _of either_ number."--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ LESSON XV.--OF MANY ERRORS. (1.) "Compound _words are_[, by L. Murray and others, improperly] included _among the derivatives_."--_L. Murray corrected._ (2.) "_The_ Apostrophe, _placed above the line_, thus ', is used to abbreviate or shorten _words. But_ its chief use is, to _denote_ the _possessive_ case of nouns."--_Id._ (3.) "_The_ Hyphen, _made_ thus -, _connects the parts of compound_ words. It is also used when a word is divided."--_Id._ (4.) "The Acute Accent, _made_ thus , _denotes the syllable on which stress is laid, and sometimes also, that the vowel is short_: as, '_Fancy_.' The Grave _Accent, made_ thus `, _usually denotes, (when applied to English words,) that the stress is laid where a vowel ends the syllable_: as, '_Favour_.'"--_Id._ (5.) "The stress is laid on long _vowels or_ syllables, and on short _ones_, indiscriminately. In order to distinguish the _long or open vowels_ from the _close or short ones_, some writers of dictionaries have placed the grave _accent_ on the former, and the acute on the latter."--_Id._ (6.) "_The_ Diaeresis, thus _made_ ", _is_ placed over one of two _contiguous_ vowels, _to show that they are not_ a diphthong."--_Id._ (7.) "_The_ Section, _made_ thus Sec., is _sometimes used to mark the subdivisions_ of a discourse or chapter."--_Id._ (8.) "_The_ Paragraph, _made thus_ , _sometimes_ denotes the beginning of a new subject, or _of_ a _passage_ not connected with the _text preceding_. This character is _now seldom_ used [_for such a purpose_], _except_ in the Old and New Testaments." Or better:--"except in the _Bible_."--_Id._ (9.) "_The_ Quotation _Points, written thus_ " ", _mark_ the beginning _and the end_ of _what_ is quoted or transcribed from _some_ speaker or author, in his own words. In type, they are inverted commas at the beginning, _apostrophes_ at the conclusion."--_Id._ (10.) "_The_ Brace _was formerly_ used in poetry at the end of a triplet, or _where_ three lines _rhymed together in heroic verse; it_ also _serves_ to connect _several terms_ with one, _when the one is common to all_, and _thus_ to prevent a repetition _of the_ common term."--_Id._ (11.) "_Several_ asterisks _put together_, generally denote the omission of some _letters belonging to_ a word, or of some bold or indelicate expression; _but sometimes they imply a_ defect in the manuscript _from which the text is copied_."--_Id._ (12.) "_The_ Ellipsis, _made thus_ ----, _or thus_ ****, is used _where_ some letters _of_ a word, or some words _of_ a verse, are omitted."--_Id._ (13.) "_The_ Obelisk, which is _made_ thus [Obelisk]; and _the_ Parallels, _which are made_ thus ||; _and sometimes_ the letters of the alphabet; and _also the Arabic_ figures; are used as references to _notes in_ the margin, or _at the_ bottom, of the page."--_Id._ (14.) "_The_ note of interrogation should not be employed, where it is only said _that_ a question has been asked, and where the words are not used as a question; _as_, 'The Cyprians asked me why I wept.'"--_Id. et al. cor._ (15.) "_The note_ of interrogation is improper after _mere_ expressions of admiration, or of _any_ other emotion, _though they may bear the form of_ questions."--_Iid._ (16.) "The parenthesis incloses _something which is thrown_ into the body of a sentence, _in an under tone; and_ which affects neither the sense, nor the construction, _of the main text_."--_Lowth cor._ (17.) "Simple members connected by _a relative not used restrictively, or by a conjunction that implies comparison_, are for the most part _divided_ by _the_ comma."--_Id._ (18.) "Simple members, _or_ sentences, connected _as terms of comparison_, are for the most part _separated_ by _the_ comma."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ (19.) "Simple sentences connected by _a comparative particle_, are for the most part _divided_ by the comma."--_Russell cor._ (20.) "Simple sentences _or clauses_ connected _to form a comparison_, should generally be _parted_ by _the_ comma."--_Merchant cor._ (21.) "The simple members of sentences that express contrast or comparison, should generally be divided by _the_ comma."--_Jaudon cor._ (22.) "_The_ simple members of _a comparative sentence, when_ they _are_ long, are separated by a comma."--_Cooper cor._ (23.) "Simple sentences connected _to form a comparison, or_ phrases placed in opposition, or contrast, are _usually_ separated by _the comma_."--_Hiley and Bullions cor._ (24.) "On _whichever_ word we lay the emphasis,--whether on the first, _the_ second, _the_ third, or _the_ fourth,--_every change of it_ strikes out a different sense."--_L. Murray cor._ (25.) "To _say to_ those who do not understand sea phrases, 'We tacked to the larboard, and stood off to sea,' would _give them little or no information_."--_Murray and Hiley cor._ (26.) "Of _those_ dissyllables which are _sometimes_ nouns and _sometimes_ verbs, _it may be observed, that_ the verb _is_ commonly _accented_ on the latter _syllable_, and the noun on the former."--_L. Murray cor._ (27.) "And this gives _to_ our language _an_ advantage _over_ most others, in the poetical _or_ rhetorical style."--_Id. et al. cor._ (28.) "And this gives _to_ the English _language_ an advantage _over_ most _others_, in the poetical and _the_ rhetorical style."--_Lowth cor._ (29.) "The second and _the_ third scholar may read the same sentence; or as many _may repeat the text_, as _are_ necessary to _teach_ it perfectly to the whole _class_."--_Osborn cor._ (30.) "Bliss is the _same_, in subject, _or in_ king, In who obtain defence, or who defend." --_Pope's Essay on Man_, IV, 58. LESSON XVI.--OF MANY ERRORS. "The Japanese, the Tonquinese, and the _Coreans_, speak languages _differing_ from one _an other_, and from _that of_ the inhabitants of China; _while all_ use the same written characters, and, by means _of them_, correspond intelligibly with _one an_ other in writing, though ignorant of the language spoken _by their correspondents_: a plain proof, that the Chinese characters are like hieroglyphics, _and essentially_ independent of language."--_Jamieson cor._; also _Dr. Blair_. "The curved line, _in stead_ of _remaining_ round, is _changed to a_ square _one_, for the reason _before mentioned_."--_Knight cor._ "Every _reader_ should content himself with the use of those tones only, that he is habituated to in speech; and _should_ give _to the words no_ other emphasis, _than_ what he would _give_ to the same words, in discourse. [Or, perhaps the author meant:--and _should_ give _to the emphatic words no_ other _intonation, than_ what he would _give_, &c.] Thus, whatever he utters, will be _delivered_ with ease, and _will_ appear natural."--_Sheridan cor._ "_A stop_, or _pause, is_ a total cessation of sound, during a perceptible, and, in _musical or poetical_ compositions, a measurable space of time."--_ Id._ "Pauses, or rests, in speaking _or_ reading, are total _cessations_ of the voice, during perceptible, and, in many cases, measurable _spaces_ of time."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "_Those derivative_ nouns which _denote_ small _things_ of the kind _named by their primitives_, are called Diminutive Nouns: as, lambkin, hillock, satchel, gosling; from lamb, hill, sack, goose."--_Bullions cor._ "_Why is it_, that nonsense so often escapes _detection, its character not being perceived either_ by the writer _or_ by the reader?"--_Campbell cor._ "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. _Interjections_ are so called, because they are generally thrown in between the parts of _discourse, and have no_ reference to the structure of _those_ parts."--_M'Culloch_ cor. "_The verb_ OUGHT _has no other inflection than_ OUGHTEST, _and this is nearly obsolete_."-- _Macintosh cor._ "But the _arrangement_, government, _and_ agreement _of words_, and _also their_ dependence upon _others_, are referred to our reason."--_Osborn cor._ "ME is a personal pronoun, _of the_ first person, singular _number_, and _objective_ case."--_Guy cor._ "The _noun_ SELF is _usually_ added to a pronoun; as, herself, himself, &c. _The compounds_ thus _formed are_ called reciprocal _pronouns_."--_ Id._ "One cannot _but think_, that our author _would have_ done better, _had he_ begun the first of these three sentences, with saying, '_It_ is novelty, _that_ bestows charms on a monster.'"--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The idea which they present to us, of _nature_ resembling art, of _art_ considered as an original, and nature as a copy, seems not very distinct, _or_ well _conceived_, nor indeed very material to our author's purpose."--_Id._ "_This faulty_ construction of the sentence, _evidently arose from haste and carelessness_."--_Id._ "Adverbs serve to modify _terms_ of action or quality, or to denote time, place, order, degree, _or_ some _other circumstance_ which we have occasion to specify."--_Id._ "We may naturally expect, _that_ the more any nation is improved by science, and the more perfect _its_ language becomes, _the_ more will _that language_ abound with connective particles."--_Id._ "Mr. Greenleaf's book is _far better_ adapted _to the capacity of_ learners, _than_ any _other_ that has yet appeared, on the subject."--_Feltus and Onderdonk's false praise Englished_. "Punctuation is the art of marking, in writing _or in print_, the several pauses, or rests, _which separate_ sentences, _or_ the parts of sentences; _so as to denote_ their proper quantity or proportion, as _it is exhibited_ in a just and accurate _delivery_."--_Lowth cor._ "A compound sentence must _generally_ be resolved into simple ones, and _these be_ separated by _the comma_." Or better: "A compound sentence _is generally divided_, by _the comma_, into _its_ simple _members_."--_Greenleaf and Fisk cor._ "Simple sentences should _in general_ be separated from _one an_ other by _the comma_, unless _a greater point is required_; as, 'Youth is passing away, age is approaching, and death is near.'"--_S. R. Hall cor._ "_V_ has _always_ one uniform sound, _which is that_ of _f flattened_, as in _thieve_ from _thief: thus v_ bears to _f_ the same relation _that b_ does to _p, d_ to _t_, hard _g_ to _k, or z_ to _s_."--_L. Murray and Fisk cor._; also _Walker_; also _Greenleaf_. "The author is explaining the _difference_ between sense and imagination, _as_ powers _of_ the human mind."--_L. Murray cor._ Or, if this was the critic's meaning: "The author is endeavouring to explain a very abstract point, the distinction between the powers of sense and _those of_ imagination, _as two different faculties of_ the human mind."--_ Id._; also _Dr. Blair cor._ "HE--(_from the_ Anglo-Saxon HE--) is a personal pronoun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, _and_ nominative case. Decline HE."--_Fowler cor._ CORRECTIONS UNDER THE CRITICAL NOTES. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE I.--OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. "The passive voice denotes _an action received_." Or: "The passive voice denotes _the receiving of an action_."--_Maunder corrected_. "Milton, in some of his prose works, has _many_ very _finely-turned_ periods."--_Dr. Blair and Alex. Jam. cor._ "These will be found to be _wholly_, or chiefly, of that class."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "All appearances of an author's _affecting of_ harmony, are disagreeable."--_Id. and Jam. cor._ "Some nouns have a double increase; that is, _they increase_ by more syllables than one: as _iter, itin~eris_."--_Adam et al. cor._ "The powers of man are enlarged by _progressive_ cultivation."--_Gurney cor._ "It is always important to begin well; to make a favourable impression at _the first setting out_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "For if one take a wrong method at _his first setting-out_, it will lead him astray in all that follows."--_ Id._ "His mind is full of his subject, and _all_ his words are expressive."--_ Id._ "How exquisitely is _all_ this performed in Greek!"--_Harris cor._ "How _unworthy_ is all this to satisfy the ambition of an immortal soul!"--_L. Murray cor._ "So as to exhibit the object in its _full grandeur_, and _its_ most striking point of view."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "And that the author know how to descend with propriety to the _plain style_, as well as how to rise to the bold and figured."--_ Id._ "The heart _alone_ can answer to the heart."--_ Id._ "Upon _the_ first _perception of it_." Or: "_As it is_ first perceived."--_Harris cor._ "Call for Samson, that he may make _sport for us_."--_Bible cor._ "And he made _sport before them_."--_ Id._ "The term '_to suffer_,' in this definition, is used in a technical sense; and means simply, _to receive_ an action, or _to be_ acted upon."--_Bullions cor._ "The text _only_ is what is meant to be taught in schools."--_Brightland cor._ "The perfect participle denotes action or _existence_ perfected or finished."--_Kirkham cor._ "From the intricacy and confusion which are produced _when they are_ blended together."--_L. Murray cor._ "This very circumstance, _that the word is_ employed antithetically renders it important in the sentence."--_Kirkham cor._ "It [the pronoun that,] is applied _both to_ persons and _to_ things."--_L. Murray cor._ "Concerning us, as being _everywhere traduced_."--_Barclay cor._ "Every thing _else_ was buried in a profound silence."--_Steele cor._ "They raise _fuller_ conviction, than any reasonings produce."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "It appears to me _nothing but_ a fanciful refinement." Or: "It appears to me _nothing_ more than a fanciful refinement"--_ Id._ "The regular _and thorough_ resolution of a complete passage."--_Churchill cor._ "The infinitive is _distinguished_ by the word TO, _which_ immediately _precedes it_."--_Maunder cor._ "It will not be _a gain of_ much ground, to urge that the basket, or vase, is understood to be the capital."--_Kames cor._ "The disgust one has to drink ink in reality, is not to the purpose, where _the drinking of it is merely figurative_."--_ Id._ "That we run not into the extreme of pruning so very _closely_."--See _L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 318. "Being obliged to rest for a _little while_ on the preposition itself." Or: "Being obliged to rest a _while_ on the preposition itself." Or: "Being obliged to rest [for] a _moment_ on the preposition _alone_."--_Blair and Jam. cor._ "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is _no_ abiding."--_Bible cor._ "There _may be attempted_ a more particular expression of certain objects, by means of _imitative_ sounds."--_Blair, Jam., and Mur. cor._ "The right disposition of the shade, makes the light and colouring _the more apparent_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "I _observe_ that a diffuse style _is apt to run into_ long periods."--_ Id._ "Their poor arguments, which they only _picked up in the highways_."--_Leslie cor._ "Which must be little _else than_ a transcribing of their writings."--_Barclay cor._ "That single impulse is a _forcing-out_ of almost all the breath." Or: "That single impulse _forces_ out almost all the breath."--_Hush cor._ "Picini compares modulation to the _turning-off_ from a road."--_Gardiner cor._ "So much has been written on and off almost every subject."--_Sophist cor._ "By _the_ reading _of_ books written by the best authors, his mind became highly improved." Or: "By _the study of the most instructive_ books, his mind became highly improved."--_L. Mur. cor._ "For I never made _a rich provision a_ token of a spiritual ministry."--_Barclay cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE II.--OF DOUBTFUL REFERENCE. "However disagreeable _the task_, we must resolutely perform our duty."--_L. Murray cor._ "The formation of _all_ English verbs, _whether they be_ regular _or_ irregular, is derived from the Saxon _tongue_."--_Lowth cor._ "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and nothing _do they affect_ more remarkably than language."--_Campbell cor._ "Time and chance have an influence on all things human, and on nothing _a_ more remarkable _influence_ than on language."--_Jamieson cor._ "_That_ Archytases, _who was_ a virtuous man, happened to perish once upon a time, is with him a sufficient ground." &c.--_Phil Mu. cor._ "He will be the better qualified to understand the meaning of _the_ numerous words _into_ which they _enter as_ material _parts_."--_L. Murray cor._ "We should continually have the goal in view, _that it may_ direct us in the race."--_ Id._ "But Addison's figures seem to rise of their own accord from the subject and constantly _to_ embellish it" Or:--"and _they_ constantly embellish it."--_Blair and Jam. cor._ "So far as _they signify_ persons, animals, and things that we can see, it is very easy to distinguish nouns."--_Cobbett cor._ "Dissyllables ending in _y_ or mute _e_, or accented on the _final_ syllable, may _sometimes_ be compared like monosyllables."--_Frost cor._ "_If_ the _foregoing_ objection _be admitted_, it will not overrule the design."--_Rush cor._ "These philosophical innovators forget, that objects, like men, _are known_ only by their actions."--_Dr. Murray cor._ "The connexion between words and ideas, is arbitrary and conventional; _it has arisen mainly from_ the agreement of men among themselves."--_Jamieson cor._ "The connexion between words and ideas, may in general be considered as arbitrary and conventional, _or as arising from_ the agreement of men among themselves."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "A man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and _who_ had great abilities to manage and multiply and defend his corruptions."--_Swift cor._ "They have no more control over him than _have_ any other men."--_Wayland cor._ "_All_ his old words are true English, and _his_ numbers _are_ exquisite."--_Spect. cor._ "It has been said, that _not Jesuits only_ can equivocate."--_Mur. in Ex. and Key, cor._ "_In Latin_, the nominative of the first _or_ second person, is seldom expressed."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "Some words _have_ the same _form_ in both numbers."--_Murray et al. cor._ "Some nouns _have_ the same _form_ in both numbers."--_Merchant et al. cor._ "Others _have_ the same _form_ in both numbers; as, _deer, sheep, swine_."--_Frost cor._ "The following list denotes the _consonant_ sounds, _of which there are_ twenty-two." Or: "The following list denotes the _twenty-two simple_ sounds of the consonants."--_Mur. et al. cor._ "And is the ignorance of these peasants a reason for _other persons_ to remain ignorant; or _does it_ render the subject _the_ less _worthy of our_ inquiry?"--_Harris and Mur. cor._ "He is one of the most correct, and perhaps _he is_ the best, of our prose writers."--_Lowth cor._ "The motions of a vortex and _of_ a whirlwind are perfectly similar." Or: "The motion of a vortex and _that of_ a whirlwind are perfectly similar."--_Jamieson cor._ "What I have been saying, throws light upon one important verse in the Bible; which _verse_ I should like to _hear some one read_."--_Abbott cor._ "When there are any circumstances of time, place, _and the like, by_ which the principal _terms_ of our sentence _must be limited or qualified_."--_Blair, Jam. and Mur. cor._ "Interjections are words _that_ express emotion, affection, or passion, and _that_ imply suddenness." Or: "Interjections express emotion, affection, or passion, and imply suddenness."--_Bucke cor._ "But the genitive _expressing_ the measure of things, is used in the plural number _only_."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "The buildings of the institution have been enlarged; _and an_ expense _has been incurred_, which, _with_ the increased price of provisions, renders it necessary to advance the terms of admission."--_L. Murray cor._ "These sentences are far less difficult than complex _ones_."--_S. S. Greene cor._ "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife _They_ sober _lived, nor ever wished_ to stray."--_Gray cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE III.--OF DEFINITIONS. (1.) "A definition is a _short and lucid_ description of _a thing, or species, according to its nature and properties_."--G. BROWN: _Rev. David Blair cor._ (2.) "Language, in general, signifies the expression of our ideas by certain articulate sounds, _or written words_, which are used as the signs of those ideas."--_Dr. Hugh Blair cor._ (3.) "A word is _one or more syllables_ used by common consent as the sign of an idea."--_Bullions cor._ (4.) "A word is _one or more syllables_ used as the _sign of an idea, or of some manner_ of thought."--_Hazen cor._ (5.) "Words are articulate sounds, _or their written signs_, used to convey ideas."--_Hiley cor._ (6.) "A word is _one or more syllables_ used _orally or in writing_, to represent some idea."--_Hart cor._ (7.) "A word is _one or more syllables_ used as the sign of an idea."--_S. W. Clark cor._ (8.) "A word is a letter or a combination of letters, _a sound or a combination of sounds_, used as the sign of an idea."--_Wells cor._ (9.) "Words are articulate sounds, _or their written signs_, by which ideas are communicated."--_Wright cor._ (10.) "Words are certain articulate sounds, _or their written representatives_, used by common consent as signs of our ideas."--_Bullions, Lowth, Murray, et al. cor._ (11.) "Words are sounds _or written symbols_ used as signs of our ideas."--_W. Allen cor._ (12.) "Orthography _literally_ means _correct writing_"--_Kirkham and Smith cor._ [The word _orthography_ stands for different things: as, 1. The art or practice of writing words with their proper letters; 2. That part of grammar which treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling.] (13.) "A vowel is a letter which _forms a perfect_ sound _when uttered alone_."--_Inst._, p. 16; _Hazen, Lennie, and Brace, cor._ (14-18.) "Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters."--G. BROWN: _Lowth and Churchill cor._; also _Murray, Ing. et al._; also _Comly_; also _Bullions_; also _Kirkham and Sanborn_. (19.) "A syllable is _one or more letters_, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word."--_Lowth, Mur., et al., cor._ (20.) "A syllable is a _letter or a combination of letters_, uttered in one complete sound."--_Brit. Gram. and Buch. cor._ (21.) "A syllable is _one or more letters representing_ a distinct sound, _or what is_ uttered by a single impulse of the voice."--_Kirkham cor._ (22.) "A syllable is so much of a word as _is_ sounded at once, _whether it_ be the whole _or a part_."--_Bullions cor._ (23.) "A syllable is _so many letters_ as _are_ sounded at once; _and is either_ a word, or a part of a word."--_Picket cor._ (24.) "A diphthong is _a_ union of two vowels _in one syllable_, as in _bear_ and _beat_."--_Bucke cor._ Or: "A diphthong is _the meeting_ of two vowels in one syllable."--_Brit. Gram._, p. 15; _Buchanan's_, 3. (25.) "A diphthong consists of two vowels _put together in_ one syllable; as _ea_ in _beat, oi_ in _voice_."--_Guy cor._ (26.) "A triphthong consists of three vowels _put together in_ one syllable; as, _eau_ in _beauty_."--_Id._ (27.) "But _a_ triphthong is the union of three vowels _in one syllable_."--_Bucke cor._ Or: "A triphthong is the meeting of three vowels in one syllable."--_British Gram._, p. 21; _Buchanan's_, 3. (28.) "What is a noun? A noun is the _name of something_; as, a man, a boy."--_Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor._ (29.) "An adjective is a word added to _a noun or pronoun_, to describe _the object named or referred to_."--_Maunder cor._ (30.) "An adjective is a word _added_ to a noun _or pronoun_, to describe or define _the object mentioned_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ (31.) "An adjective is a word _which, without assertion or time, serves_ to describe or define _something_; as, a _good_ man, _every_ boy."--_Wilcox cor._ (32.) "_An_ adjective is _a word_ added to _a_ noun _or pronoun, and generally expresses a_ quality."--_Mur. and Lowth cor._ (33.) "An adjective expresses the quality, _not_ of the noun _or pronoun_ to which it is applied, _but of the person or thing spoken of_; and _it_ may generally be known by _the_ sense _which it thus makes_ in connexion with _its noun_; as, 'A _good_ man,' 'A _genteel_ woman.'"--_Wright cor._ (34.) "An adverb is a word used to modify the sense of _a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb_."--_Wilcox cor._ (35.) "An adverb is a word _added_ to a verb, _a participle_, an adjective, or an other adverb, to modify _the sense_, or denote some circumstance."--_Bullions cor._ (36.) "A substantive, or noun, is a name given to _some_ object which the senses can perceive, the understanding comprehend, or the imagination entertain."--_Wright cor._ (37-54.) "_Genders are modifications that_ distinguish _objects_ in regard to sex."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 35: _Bullions cor._: also _Frost_; also _Perley_; also _Cooper_; also _L. Murray et al_.; also _Alden et al_.; also _Brit. Gram., with Buchanan_; also _Fowle_; also _Burn_; also _Webster_; also _Coar_; also _Hall_; also _Wright_; also _Fisher_; also _W. Allen_; also _Parker and Fox_; also _Weld_; also _Weld again_. (55 and 56.) "_A_ case, _in grammar_, is the state or condition of a noun _or pronoun_, with respect to _some_ other _word_ in _the_ sentence."--_Bullions cor._; also _Kirkham_. (57.) "_Cases_ are modifications that distinguish the relations of nouns and pronouns to other words."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 36. (58.) "Government is the power which one _word_ has over an other, _to cause_ it to _assume_ some particular _modification_."--_Sanborn et al. cor._ See _Inst._, p. 104. (59.) "A simple sentence is a sentence which contains only one _assertion, command, or question_."--_Sanborn et al. cor._ (60.) "Declension means _the_ putting _of_ a noun _or pronoun_ through the different cases _and numbers_."--_Kirkham cor._ Or better: "The declension of a _word_ is a regular arrangement of its numbers and cases."--See _Inst._, p. 37. (61.) "Zeugma is a _figure in which_ two or more _words refer_ in common _to an other_ which _literally agrees with_ only one of them."--_B. F. Fish cor._ (62.) "An irregular verb is _a verb that does not form the preterit_ and the perfect participle _by assuming d_ or _ed_; as, smite, smote, smitten."--_Inst._, p. 75. (63). "A personal _pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is_."--_Inst._, p. 46. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE IV.--OF COMPARISONS. "_Our language abounds_ more in vowel and diphthong sounds, than most _other tongues_." Or: "We abound more in vowel and _diphthongal_ sounds, than most _nations_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "A line thus accented has a more spirited air, than _one which takes_ the accent on any other syllable."--_Kames cor._ "Homer _introduces_ his deities with no greater ceremony, that [what] he uses towards mortals; and Virgil has still less moderation _than he_."--_Id._ "Which the more refined taste of later writers, _whose_ genius _was_ far inferior to _theirs_, would have taught them to avoid."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_As a poetical composition_, however, the Book of Job is not only equal to any other of the sacred writings, but is superior to them all, except those of Isaiah alone."--_Id._ "On the whole, Paradise Lost is a poem _which_ abounds with beauties of every kind, and _which_ justly entitles its author to _be equalled in_ fame _with_ any poet."--_Id._ "Most of the French writers compose in short sentences; though their style, in general, is not concise; commonly less so than _that_ of _most_ English writers, whose sentences are much longer."--_Id._ "The principles of the Reformation were _too deeply fixed_ in the prince's mind, to be easily eradicated."--_Hume cor._ "Whether they do not create jealousy and animosity, more than _sufficient to counterbalance_ the benefit derived from them."--_Leo Wolf cor._ "The Scotch have preserved the ancient character of their music more entire, than _have the inhabitants of_ any other country."--_Gardiner cor._ "When the time or quantity of one syllable exceeds _that of_ the rest, that syllable readily receives the accent."--_Rush cor._ "What then can be more obviously true, than that it should be made as just as we can _make it_."--_Dymond cor._ "It was not likely that they would criminate themselves more than, they could _not_ avoid."--_Clarkson cor._ "_In_ their understandings _they_ were the most acute people _that_ have ever lived."--_Knapp cor._ "The patentees have printed it with neat types, and upon better paper than was _used_ formerly."--_John Ward cor._ "In reality, its relative use is not exactly like _that of_ any other word."--_Felch cor._ "Thus, _in stead_ of _having to purchase_ two books,--the Grammar and the Exercises,--the learner finds both in one, for a price at _most_ not greater than _that of_ the others."--_Alb. Argus cor._ "_They are_ not improperly regarded as pronouns, though they are less _strictly_ such than the others."--_Bullions cor._ "We have had, as will readily be believed, _a much better_ opportunity of becoming conversant with the case, than the generality of our readers can be supposed to have had."--_Brit. Friend cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE V.--OF FALSITIES. "The long sound of _i_ is _like a very quick union_ of the sound of _a_, as heard in _bar_, and that of _e_, as heard in _be_."--_Churchill cor._ "The omission of a word necessary to grammatical propriety, is _of course an impropriety, and not a true_ ellipsis."--_Priestley cor._ "_Not_ every substantive, _or noun_, is _necessarily_ of the third person."--_A. Murray cor._ "A noun is in the third person, when the subject is _merely_ spoken _of_; and in the second person, when the subject is spoken _to_; _and_ in the first person, _when it names the speaker as such_."--_Nutting cor._ "With us, no nouns are _literally of the_ masculine _or the_ feminine gender, except the names of male and female creatures."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "_The_ apostrophe is a little mark, either _denoting the possessive case of nouns_, or signifying that something is shortened: as, '_William's_ hat;'--'the _learn'd_,' for 'the _learned_.'"--_Inf. S. Gram. cor._ "When a word beginning with a vowel coupled with one beginning with a consonant, the indefinite article must _not_ be repeated, _if the two words be adjectives belonging to one and the same noun_; thus, 'Sir Matthew Hale was _a_ noble and impartial judge;'--'Pope was _an_ elegant and nervous writer.'"--_Maunder cor._[555] "_W_ and _y_ are consonants, when they _precede a vowel heard in the same_ syllable: in every other situation, they are vowels."--_L. Mur. et al. cor._ See _Inst._, p. 16. "_The_ is _not varied_ before adjectives and substantives, let them begin as they will."--_Bucke cor._ "_A few English_ prepositions, _and many which we have borrowed from other languages_, are _often_ prefixed to words, in such a manner as to coalesce with them, and to become _parts of the compounds or derivatives thus formed_."--_Lowth cor._ "_H_, at the beginning of syllables not accented, is _weaker_, but _not_ entirely silent; as in _historian, widowhood_."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._ "_Not every_ word that will make sense with _to_ before it, is a verb; for _to_ may govern nouns, pronouns, or participles."--_Kirkham cor._ "_Most_ verbs do, in reality, express actions; but they are _not_ intrinsically the mere names of actions: _these must of course be nouns_."--_Id._ "The nominative _denotes_ the actor or subject; and the verb, the action _which is_ performed _or received_ by _this actor or subject_."--_Id._ "_But_ if only one creature or thing acts, _more than_ one action _may_, at the same instant, be done; as, 'The girl not only _holds_ her pen badly, but _scowls_ and _distorts_ her features, while she _writes_.'"--_Id._ "_Nor is each of these verbs of the singular number because it_ denotes but one action which the girl performs, _but because the subject or nominative_ is of the singular number, _and the words must agree_."--_Id._ "And when I say, '_Two men walk_,' is it not equally apparent, that _walk_ is plural because it _agrees with men_?"--_Id._ "The subjunctive mood is formed by _using the simple verb in a suppositive sense, and without personal inflection_."--_Beck cor._ "The possessive case _of nouns, except in instances of apposition or close connexion_, should always be distinguished by the apostrophe."--_Frost cor._ "'At these proceedings _of_ the Commons:' Here _of_ is _a_ sign of the _objective_ case; and '_Commons_' is of that case, _being_ governed _by this preposition_."--_A. Murray cor._ "Here let it be observed again, that, strictly speaking, _all finite_ verbs have numbers _and_ persons; _and so_ have _nearly all_ nouns _and_ pronouns, _even_ when they refer to irrational creatures and inanimate things."--_Barrett cor._ "The noun denoting the person or _persons_ addressed or spoken to, is in the nominative case independent: _except it be put in apposition with a pronoun of the second person_; as, 'Woe to _you lawyers_;'--'_You_ political _men_ are constantly manoeuvring.'"--_Frost cor._ "Every noun, when _used in a direct address and set off by a comma_, becomes of the second person, and is in the nominative case absolute; as, '_Paul_, thou art beside thyself."--_Jaudon cor._ "Does the conjunction _ever_ join words together? _Yes_; the conjunction _sometimes_ joins _words_ together, _and sometimes_ sentences, _or certain parts of sentences_."--_Brit. Gram. cor._; also _Buchanan_. "Every _noun of the possessive form_ has a _governing_ noun, expressed or understood: as, _St. James's_. Here _Palace_ is understood. _But_ one _possessive may_ govern an other; as, '_William's father's_ house.'"--_Buchanan cor._ "Every adjective (_with the exceptions noted under Rule_ 9th) belongs to a _noun or pronoun_ expressed or understood."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "_Not_ every adjective qualifies a substantive, expressed or understood."--_Bullions cor._ "_Not_ every adjective belongs to _a_ noun expressed or understood."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Adjectives belong to nouns _or pronouns, and serve to_ describe _things_."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "_English_ adjectives, _in general, have no modifications in which they can_ agree with the nouns _to_ which they _relate_."--_Allen Fisk cor._ "The adjective, _if it denote unity or plurality_, must agree with its substantive in number."--_Buchanan cor._ "_Not_ every adjective and participle, _by a vast many_, belongs to some noun or pronoun, expressed or understood."--_Frost cor._ "_Not_ every verb of the infinitive mood, supposes a verb before it, expressed or understood."--_Buchanan cor._ "_Nor_ has every adverb its verb, expressed or understood; _for some adverbs relate to participles, to adjectives, or to other adverbs_."--_Id._ "_A conjunction that connects one_ sentence to _an other, is not_ always placed betwixt the two propositions or sentences which _it unites_."--_Id._ "The words _for all that_, are by no means 'low;' but the putting of this phrase for _yet_ or _still_, is neither necessary nor elegant."--_L. Murray cor._; also _Dr. Priestley_. "The reader or hearer then understands from AND, that _the author adds one proposition, number, or thing, to an other_. Thus AND _often, very often_, connects one thing with an other thing, _or_ one word with an other word."--_James Brown cor._ "'Six AND six _are_ twelve.' Here it is affirmed, that _the two sixes added together are_ twelve."--_Id._ "'John AND his wife _have_ six children.' This is an instance _in which_ AND _connects two nominatives in a simple sentence_. It is _not_ here affirmed that John has six children, and that his wife has six _other_ children."--_Id._ "That 'Nothing can be great which is not right,' is itself a _great falsity_: there are great blunders, great evils, great sins."--_L. Murray cor._ "The highest degree of reverence should be paid to _the most exalted virtue or goodness_."--_Id._ "There is in _all_ minds _some_ knowledge, _or_ understanding."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "Formerly, the nominative and objective cases of our pronouns, were _more generally distinguished in practice_, than they now are."--_Kirkham cor._ "As it respects a choice of words and expressions, _the just_ rules of grammar _may_ materially aid the learner."--_S. S. Greene cor._ "_The name of_ whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, is a noun."--_Fowler cor._ "As _not all_ men are brave, _brave_ is itself _distinctive_."--_Id._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VI.--OF ABSURDITIES. (1.) "And sometimes two unaccented syllables _come together_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ (2.) "What nouns frequently _stand together_?" Or: "What nouns _are_ frequently _used one after an other_?"--_Sanborn cor._ (3.) "Words are derived from _other words_ in various ways."--_Idem et al. cor._ (4.) "_The name_ PREPOSITION _is_ derived from the two Latin words _prae_ and _pono_, which signify _before_ and _place_."--_Mack cor._ (5.) "He was _much_ laughed at for such conduct."--_Bullions cor._ (6.) "Every _pronominal adjective_ belongs to some noun, expressed or understood."--_Ingersoll cor._ (7.) "If he [Addison] fails in any thing, it is in strength and precision; _the want of_ which renders his manner not altogether a proper model."--_Dr. Blair cor._ (8.) "Indeed, if Horace _is_ deficient in any thing _his fault_ is this, of not being sufficiently attentive to juncture, _or the_ connexion of parts."--_Id._ (9.) "The pupil is now supposed to be acquainted with the _ten parts_ of speech, and their most usual modifications."--_Taylor cor._ (10.) "I could see, _feel_, taste, and smell the rose."--_Sanborn cor._ (11.) "The _vowels iou are_ sometimes pronounced distinctly in two syllables; as in _various, abstemious_; but not in _bilious_."--_Murray and Walker cor._ (12.) "The diphthong _aa_ generally sounds like _a_ short; as in _Balaam, Canaan, Isaac_; in _Baael_ and _Gaael_, we make no diphthong."--_L. Mur. cor._ (13.) "Participles _cannot be said to be_ 'governed by the article;' for _any_ participle, with _an_ article before it, becomes a substantive, or an adjective used substantively: as, _the learning, the learned_."--_Id._ (14.) "_From_ words ending with _y_ preceded by a consonant, _we_ form the plurals of nouns, the persons of verbs, _agent_ nouns, _perfect_ participles, comparatives, and superlatives, by changing the _y_ into _i_, and adding _es, ed, er, eth_, or _est_."--_Walker, Murray, et al. cor._ (15.) "But _y_ preceded by a vowel, _remains unchanged_, in the derivatives above named; as, _boy, boys_."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ (16.) "But when _the final y_ is preceded by a vowel, it _remains unchanged before an_ additional syllable; as, coy, _coyly_."--_Iid._ (17.) "But _y_ preceded by a vowel, _remains unchanged_, in _almost all_ instances; as, coy, _coyly_."--_Kirkham cor._ (18.) "Sentences are of _two kinds_, simple and compound."--_Wright cor._ (19.) "The neuter pronoun _it_ may be employed to _introduce a nominative_ of any person, number, or gender: as, '_It_ is _he_:'--'_It_ is _she_;'--'_It is they_;'--'_It_ is the _land_.'"--_Bucke cor._ (20 and 21.) "_It is_ and _it was_, are _always singular_; but they _may introduce words of_ a plural construction: as, '_It was_ the _heretics that_ first began to rail.' SMOLLETT."--_Merchant cor._; also _Priestley et al._ (22.) "_W_ and _y_, as consonants, have _each of them_ one sound."--_Town cor._ (23.) "The _word as_ is frequently a relative _pronoun_."--_Bucke cor._ (24.) "_From a series of_ clauses, the conjunction may _sometimes_ be omitted with propriety."--_Merchant cor._ (25.) "If, however, the _two_ members are very closely connected, the comma is unnecessary; as, 'Revelation tells us how we may attain happiness.'"--_L. Murray et al. cor._ (26-27.) "The mind has difficulty in _taking effectually_, in quick succession, so many different views of the same object."--_Dr. Blair cor._; also _L. Mur_. (28.) "_Pronominal adjectives_ are a kind of _definitives_, which _may either accompany their_ nouns, _or represent them understood_."--_Kirkham cor._ (29.) "_When the nominative or antecedent is a collective noun_ conveying _the idea of plurality, the_ verb or pronoun _must agree_ with it in the plural _number_."--_Id. et al. cor._ (30-34.) "A noun or _a_ pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the _name of the thing possessed_."-- _Brown's Inst._, p. 176; _Greenleaf cor._; also _Wilbur and Livingston_; also _Goldsbury_; also _P. E. Day_; also _Kirkham, Frazee, and Miller_. (35.) "Here the boy is represented as acting: _the word boy_ is therefore in the nominative case."--_Kirkham cor._ (36.) "_Do, be, have_, and _will_, are _sometimes_ auxiliaries, _and sometimes_ principal verbs."--_Cooper cor._ (37.) "_Names_ of _males_ are masculine. _Names_ of _females_ are feminine."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 10; _Beck cor._ (38.) "'To-day's lesson is longer than yesterday's.' Here _to-day's_ and _yesterday's_ are substantives."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ (39.) "In this example, _to-day's_ and _yesterday's_ are nouns in the possessive case."--_Kirkham cor._ (40.) "An Indian in Britain would be much surprised to _find by chance_ an elephant feeding at large in the open fields."--_Kames cor._ (41.) "If we were to contrive a new language, we might make any articulate sound the sign of any idea: _apart from previous usage_, there would be no impropriety in calling oxen _men_, or rational beings _oxen_."--_L. Murray cor._ (42.) "All the parts of a sentence should _form a consistent whole_."--_Id et al. cor._ (43.) "Full through his neck the weighty falchion sped, Along the pavement rolled the _culprit's_ head."--_Pope cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VII.--OF SELF-CONTRADICTION. (1.) "Though 'The king, _with_ the lords and commons,' _must have a singular rather than_ a plural verb, the sentence would certainly stand better thus: 'The king, the lords, _and_ the commons, _form_ an excellent constitution.'"--_Mur. and Ing. cor._ (2-3.) "_L_ has a soft liquid sound; as in _love, billow, quarrel_. _This letter_ is sometimes silent; as in _half, task [sic for 'talk'--KTH], psalm_."--_Mur. and Fisk cor._; also _Kirkham_. (4.) "The words _means_ and _amends_, though regularly derived from the singulars _mean_ and _amend_, are _not_ now, _even_ by polite writers, restricted to the plural number. Our most distinguished modern authors _often_ say, 'by _this means_,' as well as, 'by _these means_.'"--_Wright cor._ (5.) "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; an enemy, his crimes."--_Mur. cor._ (6.) "The auxiliary _have, or any form of_ the perfect tense, _belongs not properly to_ the subjunctive mood. _We suppose past facts by the indicative_: as, If I _have loved_, If thou _hast loved_, &c."--_Merchant cor._ (7.) "There is also an impropriety in _using_ both the indicative and the subjunctive _mood_ with the same conjunction; as, '_If_ a man _have_ a hundred sheep, and one of them _is_ gone astray,' &c. [This is Merchant's perversion of the text. It should be, 'and one of them _go_ astray:' or, '_be gone_ astray,' as in Matt., xviii. 12.]"--_Id._ (8.) "The rising series of contrasts _conveys transcendent_ dignity and energy to the conclusion."--_Jamieson cor._ (9.) "A groan or a shriek is instantly understood, as a language extorted by distress, a _natural_ language which conveys a meaning that _words_ are _not adequate_ to express. A groan or _a_ shriek speaks to the ear with _a_ far more thrilling effect than words: yet _even this natural_ language of distress may be counterfeited by art."--_Dr. Porter cor._ (10.) "_If_ these words [_book_ and _pen_] cannot be put together in such a way as will constitute plurality, then they cannot be '_these words_;' and then, also, _one and one_ cannot be _two_."--_James Brown cor._ (11.) "Nor can the real pen and the real book be _added or counted together_ in words, in such a manner as will _not_ constitute plurality in grammar."--_Id._ (12.) "_Our_ is _a personal_ pronoun, of the possessive _case. Murray does not_ decline it."--_Mur. cor._ (13.) "_This_ and _that_, and their plurals _these_ and _those_, are _often_ opposed to each other in a sentence. When _this_ or _that_ is used alone, i.e., _without contrast, this_ is _applied_ to _what is_ present or near; _that_, to _what is_ absent or distant."--_Buchanan cor._ (14.) "Active and neuter verbs may be conjugated by adding their _imperfect_ participle to the auxiliary verb _be_, through all its variations."--"_Be_ is an auxiliary whenever it is placed before either the perfect _or the imperfect_ participle of an other verb; but, in every other situation, it is a principal verb."--_Kirkham cor._ (15.) "A verb in the imperative mood is _almost_ always of the second person."--"The verbs, according to a _foreign_ idiom, or the poet's license, are used in the imperative, agreeing with a nominative of the first or third person."--_Id._ (16.) "A personal _pronoun, is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what_ person _it is_."--"Pronouns of the first person do not _disagree_ in person with the nouns they represent."--_Id._ (17.) "Nouns have three cases; _the_ nominative, _the possessive_, and _the_ objective."--"Personal pronouns have, like nouns, _three_ cases; _the_ nominative, _the_ possessive, and _the_ objective."--_Beck cor._ (18.) "In _many_ instances the preposition suffers _a_ change _and_ becomes an adverb by its _mere_ application."--_L. Murray cor._ (19.) "Some nouns are used only in the plural; as, _ashes, literati, minutiae_. Some nouns _have_ the same _form_ in both numbers; as, _sheep, deer, series, species_. Among the inferior parts of speech, there are some _pairs_ or _couples_."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._ (20.) "Concerning the pronominal adjectives, that may, _or_ may not, represent _their nouns_."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ (21.) "The _word a_ is in a few instances employed in the sense of a preposition; as, 'Simon Peter _saith unto them_, I go _a_ fishing;' i. e., I go _to_ fishing."--_Weld cor._ (22.) "So, _too_, verbs _that are commonly_ transitive, are used intransitively, when they have no object."--_Bullions cor._ (23.) "When first young Maro, in his boundless mind, A work t' outlast _imperial_ Rome design'd."--_Pope cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE VIII.--OF SENSELESS JUMBLING. "_There are two numbers_, called the singular and _the_ plural, _which_ distinguish nouns as _signifying either_ one _thing_, or many of the same kind."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "Here James Monroe is addressed, he is spoken to; _the name_ is _therefore_ a noun of the second person."--_Mack cor._ "The number and _person_ of _an English_ verb can _seldom_ be ascertained until its nominative is known."--_Emmons cor._ "A noun of multitude, or _a singular noun_ signifying many, may have _a_ verb _or a_ pronoun agreeing with it in _either_ number; yet not without regard to the import of the _noun_, as conveying _the idea of_ unity or plurality."--_Lowth et al. cor._ "To _form_ the present _tense_ and _the_ past imperfect of our _active_ or neuter _verbs_, the auxiliary _do, and its preterit did, are sometimes_ used: _as_, I _do_ now love; I _did_ then love."--_Lowth cor._ "If these _be_ perfectly committed _to memory, the learner_ will be able to take twenty lines for _his second_ lesson, and _the task_ may be increased each day."--_Osborn cor._ "_Ch is_ generally sounded in the same manner _as if it were tch_: as in _Charles, church, cheerfulness_, and _cheese_. But, _in Latin or Greek_ words, _ch is_ pronounced like _k_: as in _Chaos, character, chorus_, and _chimera_. _And_, in _words_ derived from the French, _ch is_ sounded like _sh_: as _in Chagrin, chicanery_, and _chaise_."--_Bucke cor._ "Some _nouns literally_ neuter, are _made_ masculine or feminine by a figure of speech."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "In the English language, words may be classified under ten general heads: the _sorts, or chief classes, of words_, are usually termed the ten parts of speech."--_Nutting cor._ "'Mercy is the true badge of nobility.' _Nobility_ is a _common_ noun, _of the_ third person, singular number, _neuter_ gender, and objective case; and is governed by _of_."--_Kirkham cor._ "_Gh is_ either silent, _as in plough_, or _has_ the sound of _f_, as in _laugh_."--_Town cor._ "Many _nations_ were destroyed, and as many languages or dialects were lost and blotted out from the general catalogue."--_Chazotte cor._ "Some languages contain a greater number of moods than others, and _each_ exhibits _its own as_ forms _peculiar to itself_."--_L. Murray cor._ "A SIMILE is a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by _like, as_, or _so_."--_Id._ See _Inst._, p. 233. "The word _what_ is sometimes improperly used for the conjunction _that_."--_Priestley, Murray, et al., cor._ "Brown makes _no_ ado _in condemning_ the _absurd_ principles of preceding works, in relation to the gender of pronouns."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "The nominative _usually_ precedes the verb, and _denotes the agent of_ the action."--_Wm. Beck cor._ "Primitive _words_ are those which _are not formed from other words_ more simple."--_Wright cor._ "In monosyllables, the single vowel _i_ always preserves its long sound before a single consonant with _e_ final; as _in thine, strive_: except in _give_ and _live_, which are short; and in _shire_, which has the sound of long _e_."--_L. Murray, et al. cor._ "But the person or thing _that is merely_ spoken of, being _frequently_ absent, and _perhaps_ in many respects unknown _to the hearer_, it is _thought more_ necessary, that _the third person_ should be marked by a distinction of gender."--_Lowth, Mur., et al., cor._ "_Both vowels of every diphthong were_, doubtless, originally _vocal_. Though in many instances _they are_ not _so_ at present, _the_ combinations _in which one only is heard_, still retain the name of diphthongs, _being distinguished from others_ by the term _improper_."--_L. Mur., et al. cor._ "_Moods are different forms_ of the verb, _each of which expresses_ the being, action, or passion, _in some particular_ manner."--_Inst._, p. 33; _A. Mur. cor._ "The word THAT is a demonstrative _adjective, whenever_ it is followed by a _noun_ to which it refers."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The _guilty soul by Jesus wash'd_, Is future glory's deathless heir."--_Fairfield cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE IX.--OF WORDS NEEDLESS. "A knowledge of grammar enables us to express ourselves better in conversation and in writing."--_Sanborn cor._ "And hence we infer, that there is no dictator here but use."--_Jamieson cor._ "Whence little is gained, except correct spelling and pronunciation."--_Town cor._ "The man who is faithfully attached to religion, may be relied on with confidence."--_Merchant cor._ "Shalt thou build me _a_ house to dwell in?" Or: "Shalt thou build _a_ house for me to dwell in?"--_Bible cor._ "The house was deemed polluted which was entered by so abandoned a woman."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The farther he searches, the firmer will be his belief."--_Keith cor._ "I deny not that religion consists in these things."--_Barclay cor._ "Except the king delighted in her, and she were called by name."--_Bible cor._ "The proper method of reading these lines, is, to read them as the sense dictates."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "When any words become obsolete, or are used _only in_ particular phrases, it is better to dispense with their service entirely, and give up the phrases."--_Campbell and Mur cor._ "Those savage people seemed to have no element but war."--_L. Mur. cor._ "_Man_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, masculine gender, and nominative case."--_J. Flint cor._ "The orator, as circumstances require, will employ them all."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "By deferring repentence [sic--KTH], we accumulate our sorrows."--_L. Murray cor._ "There is no doubt that public speaking became early an engine of government."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The different _meanings_ of these two words, may not at first occur."--_Id._ "The sentiment is well expressed by Plato, but much better by Solomon."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "They have had a greater privilege than we."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Every thing should be so arranged, that what goes before, may give light and force to what follows."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "So that his doctrines were embraced by great numbers."--_Hist. cor._ "They have taken _an other_ and shorter cut."--_South cor._ "The imperfect tense of a regular verb is formed from the present by adding _d_ or _ed_; as, _love, loved_."--_Frost cor._ "The pronoun _their_ does not agree in number with the noun '_man_', for which it stands."--_Kirkham cor._ "This mark [!] denotes wonder, surprise, joy, grief, or sudden emotion."--_Bucke cor._ "We all are accountable, each for himself."--_L. Mur. et al. cor._ "If he has commanded it, I must obey."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "I now present him a form of the diatonic scale."--_Barber cor._ "One after an other, their favourite rivers have been reluctantly abandoned." Or: "One after an other _of_ their favourite rivers have _they_ reluctantly abandoned."--_Hodgson cor._ "_Particular_ and _peculiar_ are words of different import."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Some adverbs admit of comparison; as, _soon, sooner, soonest_."--_Bucke cor._ "Having exposed himself too freely in different climates, he entirely lost his health."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The verb must agree with its nominative in number and person."--_Buchanan cor._ "Write twenty short sentences containing adjectives."--_Abbott cor._ "This general tendency of the language seems to have given occasion to a very great corruption."-- _Churchill's Gram._, p. 113. "The second requisite of a perfect sentence is _unity_."--_L. Murray cor._ "It is scarcely necessary to apologize for omitting their names."--_Id._ "The letters of the English alphabet are twenty-six."--_Id. et al. cor._ "He who employs antiquated or novel phraseology, must do it with design; he cannot err from inadvertence, as he may with respect to provincial or vulgar expressions."--_Jamieson cor._ "The vocative case, in some grammars, is wholly omitted; why, if we must have cases, I could never understand."--_Bucke cor._ "Active verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary verb _have_; passive verbs, with the auxiliary _am_ or _be_."--_Id._ "What then may AND be called? A conjunction."--_Smith cor._ "Have they ascertained who gave the information?"--_Bullions cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE X.--OF IMPROPER OMISSIONS. "All _words signifying concrete_ qualities of things, are called adnouns, or adjectives."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._ "The _macron_ [[=]] signifies _a_ long or accented syllable, and the breve [[~]] indicates a short or unaccented syllable."--_Id._ "Whose duty _it_ is, to help young ministers."--_Friends cor._ "The passage is closely connected with what precedes and _what_ follows."--_Phil. Mu. cor._ "The work is not completed, but _it_ soon will be."--_R. C. Smith cor._ "Of whom hast thou been afraid, or _whom hast thou_ feared?"--_Bible cor._ "There is a God who made, and _who_ governs, the world."--_Bp. Butler cor._ "It was this _that_ made them so haughty."--_Goldsmith cor._ "How far the whole charge affected him, _it_ is not easy to determine."--_Id._ "They saw _these wonders of nature_, and _worshiped_ the God that made them."--_Bucke cor._ "The errors frequent in the use of hyperboles, arise either from overstraining _them_, or _from_ introducing them on unsuitable occasions."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The preposition _in_ is set before _the names of_ countries, cities, and large towns; as, 'He lives _in_ France, _in_ London, or _in_ Birmingham.' But, before _the names of_ villages, single houses, _or foreign_ cities, _at_ is used; as, 'He lives _at_ Hackney.'"--_Id. et al. cor._ "And, in such recollection, the thing is not figured as in our view, nor _is_ any image formed."--_Kames cor._ "Intrinsic _beauty_ and relative beauty must be handled separately."--_Id._ "He should be on his guard not to do them injustice by disguising _them_ or placing them in a false light."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "In _perusing_ that work, we are frequently interrupted by _the author's_ unnatural thoughts."--_L. Murray cor._ "To this point have tended all the rules _which_ I have _just_ given."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "To _this point_ have tended all the rules which have _just_ been given."--_L. Murray cor._ "Language, as written, or _as_ oral, is addressed to the eye, or to the ear."--_Journal cor._ "He will learn, Sir, that to accuse and _to_ prove are very different."--_Walpole cor._ "They crowded around the door so as to prevent others _from_ going out."--_Abbott cor._ "_A word denoting_ one person or thing, is _of the_ singular number; _a word denoting_ more than one person or thing: is _of the_ plural number."--_J. Flint cor._ "Nouns, according to the sense or relation in which they are used, are in the nominative, _the_ possessive, or _the objective_ case: thus, Nom. man. Poss. man's, Obj. man."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._ "Nouns or pronouns in the possessive case are placed before the nouns which govern them, _and_ to which they belong."--_Sanborn cor._ "A teacher is explaining the difference between a noun and _a_ verb."--_Abbott cor._ "And therefore the two ends, or extremities, must directly answer to the north and _the_ south pole."--_Harris cor._ "WALKS or WALKETH, RIDES or RIDETH, _and_ STANDS or STANDETH, are of the third person singular."--_Kirkham cor._ "I grew immediately roguish and pleasant, to a _high_ degree, in the same strain."--_Swift cor._ "An _Anapest_ has the first _two_ syllables unaccented, and the last _one_ accented."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._; also _Kirkham et al_.; also _L. Mur. et al_. "But hearing and vision differ not more than words spoken and _words_ written." Or: "But hearing and vision _do not differ_ more than _spoken words_ and written."--_Wilson cor._ "They are considered by some _authors to be_ prepositions."--_Cooper cor._ "When those powers have been deluded and _have_ gone astray."--_Phil Mu. cor._ "They will understand this, and _will_ like it."--_Abbott cor._ "They had been expelled _from_ their native country Romagna."--_Hunt cor._ "Future time is expressed _in_ two different ways."--_Adam and Gould cor._ "Such as the borrowing _of some noted event_ from history."--_Kames cor._ "Every _finite_ verb must agree with its nominative in number and person."--_Bucke cor._ "We are struck, we know not how, with the symmetry of any _handsome_ thing we see."--_L. Murray cor._ "Under this head, I shall consider every thing _that is_ necessary to a good delivery."--_Sheridan cor._ "A good ear is the gift of nature; it may be much improved, but _it cannot be_ acquired by art."--_L. Murray cor._ "'_Truth_' _is a common_ noun, _of the third person_, singular _number_, neuter _gender_, and nominative _case_."--_Bullions cor._ by _Brown's Form_. "'_Possess_' _is a regular_ active-transitive verb, _found in_ the indicative mood, present _tense_, third person, _and_ plural number."--_Id._ "'_Fear_' is a _common_ noun, _of the third person_, singular _number_, neuter _gender_, and nominative _case_: and is the subject of _is: according to the Rule which says, 'A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case.'_ Because the meaning is--'_fear is_.'"--_Id._ "'_Is_' is an irregular _neuter_ verb, _from be_, was, _being_, been; _found_ in the indicative _mood_, present _tense_, third person, _and_ singular _number_: and agrees with its nominative _fear_; _according to the_ Rule _which says_, '_Every finite_ verb _must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and number_' Because the meaning is--'_fear is_.'"--_Id._ "_Ae in the word Gaelic_, has the sound of long _a_."--_Wells cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XI.--OF LITERARY BLUNDERS. "Repeat some adverbs that are composed of the _prefix or preposition a_ and nouns."--_Kirkham cor._ "Participles are so called, because _they participate or partake the properties of verbs and of adjectives or nouns_. The Latin word _participium_, which signifies _a participle, is_ derived from _participo_, to partake."--_Merchant cor._ "The possessive _precedes_ an other noun, and is known by the sign _'s_, or by this ', the apostrophe only."--_Beck cor._ "Reciprocal pronouns, _or compound personal pronouns_, are formed by adding _self_ or _selves_ to the _simple_ possessives _of the first and second persons, and to the objectives of the third person_; as, _myself, yourselves, himself, themselves_."--_Id._ "The word SELF, and its plural SELVES, _when used separately as names_, must be considered as nouns; _but when joined to the simple pronouns, they are not nouns, but parts of the compound personal pronouns_."--_Wright cor._ "The _Spondee 'rolls round_,' expresses beautifully the majesty of the sun in his course."--_Webster and Frazee cor._ "_Active-transitive verbs_ govern the objective case; as, 'John _learned_ his _lesson_.'"--_Frazee cor._ "Prosody primarily signified _accent_, or _the modulation of the voice_; and, as the name implies, related _to poetry, or song_."--_Hendrick cor._ "On such a principle of forming _them_, there would be as many _moods_ as verbs; and, _in stead_ of four moods, we should have _four thousand three hundred_, which is the number of verbs in the English language, according to Lowth." [556]--_Hallock cor._ "The phrases, 'To let _out_ blood,'--'To go _a_ hunting,' are _not_ elliptical; for _out_ is needless, and _a_ is a preposition, governing _hunting_."--_Bullions cor._ "In Rhyme, the last syllable of every _line corresponds in_ sound _with that of some other line or lines_."--_Id._ "The possessive case plural, _where the nominative ends in s_, has the apostrophe _only_; as, '_Eagles'_ wings,'--'_lions'_ whelps,'--'_bears'_ claws.'"--_Weld cor._ "'_Horses-manes_,' plural, should be written _possessively, 'horses' manes_:'" [_one "mane"_ is never possessed by many "_horses_."]--_Id._ "W takes its _usual_ form from the union of two _Vees_, V being the _figure_ of the Roman capital letter which was anciently called _U_."--_Fowler cor._ "In the sentence, 'I saw the lady who sings,' what word _is nominative to_ SINGS?"--_J. Flint cor._ "In the sentence, 'This is the pen which John made,' what word _expresses the object of_ MADE?"--_Id._ "'That we fall into _no_ sin:' _no_ is a definitive or pronominal _adjective_, not compared, and relates to _sin_."--_Rev. D. Blair cor._ "'That _all_ our doings may be ordered by thy governance:' _all_ is a pronominal adjective, not compared, and relates to _doings_."--_Id._ "'Let him be made _to_ study.' _Why is_ the sign _to_ expressed before _study_? Because _be made_ is passive; and passive verbs do not take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_."--_Sanborn cor._ "The following verbs have _both the preterit tense and the perfect participle like the present_: viz., Cast, cut, cost, shut, let, bid, shed, hurt, hit, put, &c."--_Buchanan cor._ "The agreement which _any_ word has with _an other_ in person, _number_, gender, _or_ case, is called CONCORD; and _the_ power which one _word_ has over _an other_, in respect to ruling its case, mood, or _form_, is called GOVERNMENT."--_Bucke cor._ "The word _ticks_ tells what the watch is _doing_."--_Sanborn cor._ "_The_ Breve ([~]) marks a short vowel or syllable, and the _Macron_ ([=]), a long _one_."--_Bullions and Lennie cor._ "'Charles, you, by your diligence, make easy work of the task given you by your preceptor.' The first _you_ is in the _nominative_ case, being the subject of the verb _make_."--_Kirkham cor._ "_Uoy_ in _buoy_ is a proper _triphthong; eau_ in _flambeau_ is an improper _triphthong_."--_Sanborn cor._ "'While I of things to come, As past rehearsing, sing.'--POLLOK. That is, 'While I sing of things to come, _as if I were rehearsing things that are_ past.'"--_Kirkham cor._ "A simple sentence _usually_ has in it but one nominative, and _but_ one _finite_ verb."--_Folker cor._ "An irregular verb is _a verb that does not form the preterit_ and _the_ perfect participle _by assuming d or ed_."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 75. "But, when the antecedent is used in a _restricted_ sense, a comma is _sometimes_ inserted before the relative; as, 'There is no _charm_ in the female sex, _which_ can supply the place of virtue.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 273. Or: "But, when the antecedent is used in a _restricted_ sense, no comma is _usually_ inserted before the relative; as, 'There is in the female sex no _charm which_ can supply the place of virtue.'"--_Kirkham cor._ "Two capitals _used_ in this way, denote _different words_; but _one repeated, marks_ the plural number: as, L. D. _Legis Doctor_; LL. D. _Legum Doctor_."--_Gould cor._ "Was any person _present besides_ the mercer? Yes; his clerk."--_L. Murray cor._ "The word _adjective_ comes from the Latin _adjectivum_; and this, from _ad_, to, and _jacio_, I cast."--_Kirkham cor._ "Vision, or _Imagery_, is a figure _by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination_, as actually before _his_ eyes, and _present to his senses_. Thus Cicero, in his fourth oration against Cataline: 'I seem to myself to behold this city, the ornament of the earth, and the capital of all nations, suddenly involved in one conflagration. I see before me the slaughtered heaps of citizens lying unburied in the midst of their ruined country. The furious countenance of Ceth[=e]'gus rises to my view, while with savage joy he is triumphing in your miseries.'"--_Dr. Blair cor._; also _L. Murray_. "When _two or more_ verbs follow the same nominative, _an_ auxiliary _that is common to them both or all_, is _usually expressed to_ the first, and understood to the rest: as, 'He _has gone_ and _left_ me;' that is, 'He _has gone_ and _has left_ me.'"--_Comly cor._ "When I use the word _pillar to denote a column that supports_ an edifice, I employ it literally."--_Hiley cor._ "_In poetry_, the conjunction _nor_ is often used for _neither_; as 'A stately superstructure, that _nor_ wind, Nor wave, nor shock of falling years, could move.'--POLLOK."--_Id._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XII--OF PERVERSIONS. "In the beginning God created the _heaven_ and the earth."--_Genesis_, i, 1. "Canst thou by searching find out _God_?"--_Job_, xi, 7. "Great _and marvellous are thy works_, Lord _God Almighty_; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."--_Rev._, xv. 3. "_Not_ every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."--_Matt._, vii, 21. "Though he was rich, yet for _your_ sakes he became poor."--_2 Cor._, viii, 9. "Whose foundation was _overthrown_ with a flood."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Job_, xxii, 16. "Take my yoke upon _you, and learn of me_;" &c.--_Matt._, xi, 29. "I _go_ to prepare a place for you."--_John_, xiv, 2. "_And you_ hath he quickened, who _were_ dead _in_ trespasses _and sins_."--_Ephesians_, ii, 1. "Go, flee thee away into the land of _Judah_."--_Amos_, vii, 12; _Lowth's Gram._, p. 44. Or: "Go, flee away into the land of _Judah_."--_Hart cor._ "Hitherto shalt thou come, _but_ no _further_."--_Job_, xxxviii, 11. "The day is thine, the night also is thine."--_Psal._, lxxiv, 16. "_Tribulation_ worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope."--_Romans_, v, 4. "_Then_ shall the dust return to _the earth as it was_; and the _spirit shall return unto God_ who gave it."--_Ecclesiastes_, xii, 7. "_At the last_ it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. _Thine eyes shall behold strange women_, and _thine heart shall_ utter perverse things: _Yea_, thou _shalt_ be _as he that_ lieth down in the midst of the sea."--_Prov._, xxiii, 32, 33, 34. "The memory of the just _is blessed_; but the name of the wicked shall rot."--_Prov._, x, 7. "He that is slow _to_ anger, is better than the mighty; _and_ he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city."--_Prov._, xvi, 32. "_For whom the Lord loveth_, he correcteth; _even_ as _a_ father the son in whom he delighteth."--_Prov._, iii, 12. "The _first-future_ tense _is that which expresses_ what _will_ take place hereafter."--_Brown's Inst. of E. Gram._, p. 54. "Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide _the fault_ I see."--_Pope's Univ. Prayer_. "Surely thou art one of them; for thou art a _Galilean_."--_Mark_, xiv, 70. "Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee."--_Matt._, xxvi, 73. "Strait is the gate, and narrow _is_ the way, _which leadeth_ unto life."--_Matt._, vii, 14. "Thou buildest the wall, that thou _mayest_ be their king."--_Nehemiah_, vi, 6. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou _mayest_ be feared."--_Psalms_, cxxx, 4. "But yesterday, the word _of Caesar_ might Have stood against the world."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 250. "The North-East spends _his_ rage."--_Thomson's Seasons_, p. 34. "Tells how the drudging _goblin_ swet."--_Milton's Allegro_, l. 105. "And to his faithful _champion_ hath in place _Borne_ witness gloriously."--_Milton's Sam. Agon._, l. 1752. "Then, if thou _fall'st_, O Cromwell, Thou _fall'st_ a blessed martyr."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 173. Better: "Then, if thou _fall_, O Cromwell! thou _fallst_ a blessed martyr."--_Shak. and Kirk. cor._ "I see the dagger-crest of Mar, I see the _Moray's_ silver star, _Wave_ o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake _comes_ winding far!"--_Scott's Lady of the Lake_, p. 162. "Each _beast_, each insect, happy in its own."--_Pope, on Man_, Ep. i, l. 185. "_And he that is_ learning to arrange _his_ sentences with accuracy and order, _is_ learning, at the same time, to think with accuracy and order."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 120. "We, then, as workers together with _him_, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."--_2 Cor._, vi, 1. "And on the _boundless_ of thy goodness calls."--_Young's Last Day_, B. ii, l. 320. "Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds _attentive_ to their own."--_Cowper's Task_, B. vi, l. 90. "_O_! let me listen to the _words_ of life!"--_Thomson's Paraphrase on Matt_. vi. "Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled _tower_." &c.--_Gray's Elegy_, l. 9. "_Weighs_ the _men's_ wits against the _Lady's hair_."--_Pope's Rape of the Lock_, Canto v, l. 72. "_Till_ the publication of _Dr_. Lowth's _small Introduction_, the grammatical study of our language formed no part of the ordinary method of instruction."--_Hiley's Preface_, p. vi. "Let there be no strife, _I pray thee, between_ me and thee."--_Gen._, xiii, 8. "What! canst thou not _forbear_ me half an hour?"--_Shakspeare_. "Till then who knew the force of those dire _arms_?"--_Milton_. "In words, as fashions, the _same_ rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new _are_ tried Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."--_Pope, on Criticism_, l. 333. UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIII.--OF AWKWARDNESS. "They slew Varus, _whom_ I mentioned before."--_L. Murray cor._ "Maria rejected Valerius, _whom_ she had rejected before." Or: "Maria rejected Valerius _a second time_."--_Id._ "_In_ the English _language, nouns have_ but two different terminations for cases."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 64. "Socrates and Plato were _the wisest men, and_ the most eminent philosophers _in_ Greece."--_Buchanan's Gram._, Pref., p. viii. "Whether more than one were concerned in the business, does not yet appear." Or: "_How many_ were concerned in the business, does not yet appear."--_L. Murray cor._ "And that, consequently, the verb _or_ pronoun agreeing with it, _can never_ with propriety be used in the plural number."--_Id. et al. cor._ "A second help may be, _frequent_ and _free converse_ with _others_ of your own sex who are like minded."--_Wesley cor._ "Four of the _semivowels_, namely, _l, m, n_, and _r_, are _termed_ LIQUIDS, _on account of the fluency of_ their sounds."--See _Brown's Inst._, p. 16. "Some conjunctions _are used in pairs_, so that _one_ answers to _an other, as its regular_ correspondent."--_Lowth et al. cor._ "The mutes are those consonants whose sounds cannot be protracted; the _semivowels have imperfect_ sounds _of their own_, which can be continued at pleasure."--_Murray et al. cor._ "HE _and_ SHE _are_ sometimes used as _nouns_, and, _as such, are_ regularly declined: as, 'The _hes_ in birds.'--BACON. 'The _shes_ of Italy.'--SHAK."--_Churchill cor._ "The separation of a preposition from the word which it governs, is [censured by some writers, as being improper."--_C. Adams cor._ "The word WHOSE, _according to some critics, should_ be restricted to persons; but good writers _still occasionally_ use it _with reference to_ things."--_Priestley et al. cor._ "New and surpassing wonders present themselves to our _view_."--_Sherlock cor._ "The degrees of comparison are often _inaccurately_ applied and construed."--_Alger's Murray_. Or: "_Passages_ are often found in which the degrees of comparison _have not an accurate construction_."--_Campbell cor._; also _Murray et al_. "The _sign of possession_ is placed too _far from the name_, to _form a construction that is_ either perspicuous or agreeable."--_L. Murray cor._ "_The simple tenses_ are those which are formed _by_ the principal verb without an auxiliary."--_Id._ "The _more intimate_ men _are_, the more _they affect one another's happiness_."--_Id._ "This is the machine that he _invented_."--_Nixon cor._ "To give this sentence the interrogative form, _we must express it_ thus." Or: "This sentence, _to have_ the interrogative form, should be expressed thus."--_L. Murray cor._ "Never employ words _that are_ susceptible of a sense different from _that which_ you intend _to convey_."--_Hiley cor._ "Sixty pages are occupied in explaining what, according to the ordinary method, would not require more than ten or twelve."--_Id._ "The participle in _ing_ always expresses action, suffering, or being, as continuing, _or in progress_."--_Bullions cor._ "The _first_ participle of all active verbs, has _usually_ an active signification; as, 'James is _building_ the house.' _Often_, however, it _takes_ a passive _meaning_; as, '_The house is building_.'"--_Id._ "_Previously_ to parsing this sentence, the young pupil may be _taught to analyze_ it, by such questions as the following: viz."--_Id._ "_Since_ that period, however, attention has been paid to this important subject."--_Id. and Hiley cor._ "A definition of a word is _a brief_ explanation _of_ what _it means_."--G. BROWN: _Hiley cor._ UNDER CRITICAL NOTE XIV.--OF IGNORANCE. "What is _a verb_? It is _a word_ which signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_." Or thus: "What is an _assertor_? Ans. 'One who affirms positively; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator.'--WEBSTER'S DICT."--_Peirce cor._ "Virgil wrote the _AEneid_."--_Kirkham cor._ "Which, to a supercilious or inconsiderate _native of Japan_, would seem very idle and impertinent."--_Locke cor._ "Will not a look of disdain cast upon you throw you into a _ferment_?"--_Say cor._ "Though only the conjunction _if_ is _here set before_ the verb, there are several others, (as _that, though, lest, unless, except_,) which may be _used with_ the subjunctive mood."--_L. Murray cor._ "When proper names have an article _before_ them, they are used as common names."--_Id. et al. cor._ "When a proper noun has an article _before_ it, it is used as a common noun."--_Merchant cor._ "Seeming to _rob_ the death-field of its terrors."--_Id._ "For the same reason, we might, without any _detriment_ to the language, dispense with the terminations of our verbs in the singular."--_Kirkham cor._ "It _removes_ all possibility of being misunderstood."--_Abbott cor._ "Approximation to _perfection_ is all that we can expect."--_Id._ "I have often joined in singing with _musicians_ at Norwich."--_Gardiner cor._ "When not standing in regular _prosaic_ order." Or:--"in _the_ regular order _of prose_."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "_Regardless_ of the dogmas and edicts of the philosophical umpire."--_Kirkham cor._ "Others begin to talk before their mouths are open, _prefixing_ the mouth-closing M to most of their words; as, '_M-yes_,' for '_Yes_.'"--_Gardiner cor._ "That noted close of his '_esse videatur_,' exposed him to censure among his _contemporaries_."--_Dr. Blair cor._ "A man's _own is_ what he _has, or possesses by right; the word own_ being a past participle of _the_ verb _to owe_, which formerly signified _to have or possess_."--_Kirkham cor._ "As requires so; expressing a comparison of _manner_; as, '_As_ the one dieth, _so_ dieth the other.'"--_L. Mur. et al. cor._ "To obey our parents, is _an obvious_ duty."--_Parker and Fox cor._ "_Almost_ all the political papers of the kingdom have touched upon these things."--_H. C. Wright cor._ "I shall take _the liberty_ to make a few observations on the subject."--_Hiley cor._ "His loss I have endeavoured to supply, _so_ far as _by_ additional vigilance and industry _I could_."--_Id._ "That they should make vegetation so _exuberant_ as to anticipate every want."--_Frazee cor._ "The _guillemets_, or _quotation points_, [""] denote that one or more words are extracted from an other author."--_P. E. Day cor._ "_Nineveh, the capital of_ Assyria, _was one_ of the most noted cities of ancient _times_."--_Id._ "It may, however, be rendered definite by _the mention of_ some _particular_ time; as, yesterday, last week, &c."--_Bullions cor._ "The last is called heroic measure, and is the same that is used by Milton, Young, _Thomson, Pollok_. &c."--_Id._ "_Perennial_ ones must be sought in the delightful regions above."--_Hallock cor._ "Intransitive verbs are those which are _inseparable_ from the effect produced." Or better: "Intransitive verbs are those which _express action without governing an object_."--_Cutler cor._ "_The Feminine_ gender belongs to women, and animals of the female kind."--_Id._ "_Wo_ unto you, scribes and _Pharisees_, hypocrites!"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Luke_, xi, 44. "A _pyrrhic_, which has both its syllables short."--_Day cor._ "What kind of _jessamine_? A _jessamine_ in flower, or a flowery _jessamine_."--_Barrett cor._ "LANGUAGE, _a word_ derived from LINGUA, the tongue, _now signifies any series of sounds or letters formed into words, and used for the expression of thought_."--_Id._ See _this Gram. of E. Grammars_, p. 145. "Say '_none_,' not '_ne'er a one_.'"--_Staniford cor._ "'_E'er a one_,' [is sometimes used for '_any_'] or '_either_.'"--_Pond cor._ "Earth loses thy _pattern_ for ever and aye; O sailor-boy! sailor-boy! peace to thy soul." --_Dymond_. "His brow was sad; his eye beneath Flashed like a _falchion_ from its sheath." --_Longfellow's Ballads_, p. 129. [Fist] [The examples exhibited for exercises under Critical Notes 15th and 16th, being judged either incapable of correction, or unworthy of the endeavour, are submitted to the criticism of the reader, without any attempt to amend them, or to offer substitutes in this place.] PROMISCUOUS CORRECTIONS OF FALSE SYNTAX. LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "_Why is_ our language less refined than that of Italy, Spain, or France?"--_L. Murray cor. "Why is_ our language less refined than _the French_?"--_Ingersoll cor._ "I believe your Lordship will agree with me, in the reason why our language is less refined than _that_ of Italy, Spain, or France."--_Swift cor._ "Even in this short sentence, 'why our language is less refined than _those_ of Italy, Spain, or France,' we may discern an inaccuracy; the _pronominal adjective 'those'_ is made plural, when the substantive to which it refers, or the thing for which it stands, 'the _language_ of Italy, Spain, or France,' is singular."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._ "The sentence _would_ have run much better in this way:--'why our language is less refined than the Italian, _the_ Spanish, or _the_ French.'"--_Id._ "But when arranged in an entire sentence, _as_ they must be to make a complete sense, they show it still more evidently."--_L. Murray cor._ "This is a more artificial and refined construction, than that in which the common connective is simply _used_."--_Id._ "_I_ shall present _to_ the reader a list of _certain_ prepositions _or prefixes_, which are derived from the Latin and Greek languages."--_Id. "A relative sometimes comprehends_ the meaning of a _personal_ pronoun and a copulative conjunction."--_Id._ "Personal pronouns, being used to supply the _places_ of nouns, are not _often_ employed in the same _clauses with_ the _nouns_ which they represent."--_Id. and Smith cor._ "There is very seldom any occasion for a substitute where the principal word is present."--_L. Mur. cor._ "We hardly consider little children as persons, because _the_ term _person_ gives us the idea of reason, _or intelligence_."--_Priestley et al. cor._ "The _occasions_ for exerting these _two_ qualities _are_ different."--_Dr. Blair et al. cor._ "I'll tell you _with whom_ time ambles withal, _with whom_ time trots withal, _with whom_ time gallops withal, and _with whom_ he stands still withal. I pray thee, _with whom_ doth he trot withal?"--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 122. "By greatness, I mean, _not_ the bulk of any single object _only_ but the largeness of a whole view."--_Addison cor._ "The question may then be put, What _more_ does he than mean?"--_Dr. Blair cor._ "The question might be put, What more does he than mean?"--_Id._ "He is surprised to find himself _at_ so great a distance from the object with which he _set_ out."--_Id._; also _Murray cor._ "Few rules can be given which will hold _good_ in all cases."--_Lowth and Mur. cor._ "Versification is the arrangement of _words into metrical lines_, according to the laws _of verse_."--_Johnson cor._ "Versification is the arrangement _of words into rhythmical lines of some particular length, so as to produce harmony by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity_."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "_Amelia's_ friend Charlotte, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her own vindication."--_L. Murray cor._ "Mr. Pitt's joining _of_ the war party in 1793, the most striking and the most fatal instance of this offence, is the one which at once presents itself."--_Brougham cor._ "To the framing _of_ such a sound constitution of mind."--_Lady cor._ "'I beseech you,' said St. Paul to his Ephesian converts, 'that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.' "--See _Eph._, iv, 1. "So as to prevent _it from_ being equal to that."--_Booth cor._ "When speaking of an _action_ as being performed." Or: "When speaking of _the performance of an action_."--_Id._ "And, in all questions of _actions_ being so performed, _est_ is added _for_ the second person."--_Id._ "No account can be given of this, _but_ that custom has blinded their eyes." Or: "No _other_ account can be given of this, _than_ that custom has blinded their eyes."--_Dymond cor._ "Design, or chance, _makes_ others wive; But nature did this match contrive."--_Waller cor._ LESSON II.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "I suppose each of you _thinks_ it is _his_ own nail."--_Abbott cor._ "They are useless, _because they are_ apparently based upon this supposition."--_Id._ "The form, _or_ manner, in which this plan may be adopted is various."--_Id. "The_ making _of_ intellectual effort, and _the_ acquiring _of_ knowledge, are always pleasant to the human mind."--_Id._ "This will do more than the best lecture _that_ ever was delivered."--_Id. "The_ doing _of_ easy things is generally dull work."--_Id._ "Such _are_ the tone and manner of some teachers."--_Id._ "Well, the fault is, _that some one was_ disorderly at prayer time."--_Id._ "Do you remember _to have spoken_ on this subject in school?"--_Id._ "The course above recommended, is not _the_ trying _of_ lax and inefficient measures"--_Id._ "Our community _agree_ that there is a God."--_Id._ "It prevents _them from_ being interested in what is said."--_Id._ "We will also suppose that I call an other boy to me, _whom_ I have reason to believe to be a sincere Christian."--_Id._ "Five _minutes'_ notice is given by the bell."--_Id._ "The Annals of Education _give_ notice of it." Or: "The _work entitled_ 'Annals of Education' _gives_ notice of it."--_Id. "Teachers'_ meetings will be interesting and useful."--_Id._ "She thought _a_ half hour's study would conquer all the difficulties."--_Id._ "The difference between an honest and _a_ hypocritical confession."--_Id._ "There is no point of attainment _at which_ we must stop."--_Id._ "Now six _hours' service_ is as much as is expected of teachers."--_Id._ "How _many_ are seven times nine?"--_Id._ "Then the reckoning proceeds till it _comes_ to ten hundred."--_Frost cor._ "Your success will depend on your own exertions; see, then, that you _be_ diligent."--_Id._ "Subjunctive Mood, Present Tense: If I _be_ known, If thou _be_ known, If he _be_ known;" &c.--_Id._ "If I be loved, If thou be loved, If he be loved;" &c.--_Frost right._ "An Interjection is a word used to express sudden emotion. _Interjections_ are so called because they are generally thrown in between the parts of _discourse_, without any reference to the structure of _those_ parts."--_Frost cor._ "The _Cardinal numbers_ are those which _simply tell how many_; as, one, two, three."--_Id._ "More than one organ _are_ concerned in the utterance of almost every consonant." Or thus: "More _organs_ than one _are_ concerned in the utterance of almost _any_ consonant."--_Id._ "To extract from them all the terms _which_ we _use_ in our divisions and subdivisions of the art."--_Holmes cor._ "And there _were_ written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."--_Bible cor._ "If I were to be judged as to my behaviour, compared with that of _John_."--_Whiston's Jos. cor._ "The preposition _to_, signifying _in order to_, was anciently preceded by _for_; as, 'What went ye out _for to see?_'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 184. "This makes the proper perfect tense, which in English is always expressed by the auxiliary verb _have; as_, 'I have written.'"--_Dr. Blair cor._ "Indeed, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second, and the third _virtue_."--_Sanders cor._ "The reducing _of_ them to the condition of the beasts that perish."--_Dymond cor._ "Yet this affords no reason to deny that the nature of the gift is the same, or that both are divine." Or: "Yet this affords no reason to _aver_ that the nature of the gift is not the same, or that both are not divine."--_Id._ "If God _has_ made known his will."--_Id._ "If Christ _has_ prohibited them, nothing else can prove them right."--_Id._ "That the taking _of_ them is wrong, every man who simply consults his own heart, will know."--_Id._ "_From these evils the world_ would be spared, if one did not write."--_Id._ "It is in a great degree our own _fault_."--_Id._ "It is worthy _of_ observation, that lesson-learning is nearly excluded."--_Id._ "Who spares the aggressor's life, even to the endangering _of_ his own."--_Id._ "Who advocates the taking _of_ the life of an aggressor."--_Id._ "And thence up to the intentionally and _voluntarily_ fraudulent."--_Id._ "And the contention was so _sharp between_ them, that they departed asunder one from _the_ other."--SCOTT'S, FRIENDS', ALGER'S, BRUCE'S BIBLE, AND OTHERS: _Acts_, xv, 39. "Here the man is John, and John is the man; so the words are _imagination_ and _fancy; but THE imagination_ and THE fancy are _not words_: they are intellectual powers."--_Rev. M. Harrison cor._ "The article, which is here so emphatic in the Greek, is _quite forgotten_ in our translation."--_Id._ "We have no _fewer_ than _twenty-four_ pronouns."--_Id._ "It will admit of a pronoun joined to it."--_Id._ "From intercourse and from conquest, all the languages of Europe participate _one_ with _an_ other."--_Id._ "It is not always necessity, therefore, that has been the cause of our introducing _of_ terms derived from the classical languages."--_Id._ "The man of genius stamps upon it any impression that pleases _him_." Or: "any impression that he _chooses_."--_Id._ "The proportion of names ending in SON _preponderates_ greatly among the Dano-Saxon population of the North."--_Id._ "As a proof of the strong similarity between the English _language_ and the Danish."--_Id._ "A century from the time _when_ (or _at which_) Hengist and Horsa landed on the Isle of Thanet."--_Id._ "I saw the colours waving in the wind, And _them_ within, to mischief how combin'd."--_Bunyan cor._ LESSON III.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "A ship excepted: of _which_ we say, '_She_ sails well.'"--_Jonson cor._ "Honesty is reckoned _of_ little worth."--_Lily cor._ "Learn to esteem life as _you_ ought."--_Dodsley cor._ "As the soundest health is less perceived than the lightest malady, so the highest joy toucheth us less _sensibly_ than the smallest sorrow."--_Id._ "_Youth_ is no apology for _frivolousness_."--_Whiting cor._ "The porch was _of_ the same width as the temple."--_Milman cor._ "The other tribes contributed _neither_ to his rise _nor to his_ downfall."--_Id._ "His whole religion, _with all its laws_, would have been shaken to its foundation."--_Id._ "The English has most commonly been neglected, and children _have been_ taught only _in_ the Latin syntax."--_J. Ward cor._ "They are not _noticed_ in the notes."-- _Id._ "He walks in righteousness, doing what he would _have others do to him_."--_Fisher cor._ "They stand _independent_ of the rest of the sentence."--_Ingersoll cor._ "My uncle _and_ his son were in town yesterday."--_Lennie cor._ "She _and_ her sisters are well."--_Id._ "His purse, with its contents, _was_ abstracted from his pocket."--_Id._ "The great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly _after_ the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of the next begins."--_Dickens cor._ "His disregarding _of_ his parents' advice has brought him into disgrace."--_Farnum cor._ "Can you tell me _why_ his father _made_ that remark?"--_Id._ "_Why does_ our teacher _detain_ us so long?"--_Id._ "I am certain _that_ the boy said so."--_Id._ "WHICH means any thing or things before named; and THAT may represent any person or persons, thing or things, _that_ have been speaking, spoken to, or spoken of."--_Perley cor._ "A certain number of syllables _occurring in a particular order_, form a foot. _Poetic feet_ are so called because it is by their aid that the voice, as it were, steps along."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "_Questions asked by_ a principal verb _only_--as, _'Teach I?' 'Burns he?'_ &c.,--are _archaisms_, and now _peculiar to the poets_."--_A. Murray cor._ "Tell whether the 18th, _the_ 19th, _the_ 20th, _the_ 21st, _the_ 22d, or _the_ 23d _rule is_ to be used, and repeat the rule."--_Parker and Fox cor._ "The resolution was adopted without much deliberation, _and consequently_ caused great dissatisfaction." Or: "The resolution, _which_ caused great dissatisfaction, was adopted without much deliberation."-- _Iid._ "The man is now much _noticed_ by the people thereabouts."--_Webb's Edward's Gram. cor._ "The sand prevents _them from_ sticking to one an other."--_Id._ "Defective verbs are those which are used only in some of _the_ moods and tenses."--_Greenleaf's Gram., p. 29; Ingersoll's, 121; Smith's, 90; Merchant's, 64; Nutting's, 68; L. Murray, Guy, Russell, Bacon, Frost, Alger, S. Putnam, Goldsbury, Felton, et al. cor._ "Defective verbs are those which want some of _the_ moods _or_ tenses."--_Lennie et al. cor._ "Defective verbs want some of _the_ parts _common to other verbs_."--_Bullions cor._ "A Defective verb is one that wants some of _the_ parts _common to verbs_."--_Id._ "To the irregular verbs _may_ be added the defective; which are not only irregular, but also wanting in some parts."--_Lowth cor._ "To the irregular verbs _may_ be added the defective; which are not only wanting in some parts, but are, when inflected, irregular."--_Churchill cor._ "When two or more nouns _occur together_ in the possessive case."--_Farnum cor._ "When several short sentences _come together_"--_Id._ "Words are divided into ten classes, called Parts of Speech."--_L. Ainsworth cor._ "A passive verb has its agent or doer always in the objective case, governed by a preposition."--_Id._ "I am surprised at your _inattention_."--_Id._ "SINGULAR: Thou lovest, _not_ You love. _You_ has always a plural verb."--_Bullions cor._ "How do you know that love is _of_ the first person? Ans. Because _we, the pronoun_, is _of_ the first _person_."--_Id. and Lennie cor._ "The lowing herd _winds_ slowly _o'er_ the lea."--_Gray's Elegy_, l. 2: _Bullions cor._ "Iambic verses have _their_ second, fourth, and other even syllables accented."--_Bullions cor._ "Contractions _that_ are not allowable in prose, are often made in poetry."--_Id._ "Yet to their general's voice they _soon obey'd_"-- _Milton_. "It never presents to his mind _more than_ one new subject at the same time."--_Felton cor._ "An _abstract noun_ is the name of some particular quality considered apart from its substance."--_Brown's Inst. of E. Gram._, p. 32. "_A noun is of_ the first person when _it denotes the speaker_."--_Felton cor._ "Which of the two brothers _is a graduate_?"-- _Hallock cor._ "I am a linen-draper bold, As all the world doth know."--_Cowper_. "_Oh_ the _pain_, the _bliss_ of dying!"--_Pope_. "This do; take _to_ you censers, _thou_, Korah, and all _thy_ company."--_Bible cor._ "There are _three_ participles; the _imperfect, the perfect_, and _the preperfect_: as, reading, read, having read. Transitive verbs have an _active and passive_ participle: that is, their form for the perfect is sometimes active, and sometimes passive; as, _read_, or _loved_."--_S. S. Greene cor._ "O _Heav'n_, in my connubial hour decree _My spouse this man_, or such a _man_ as he."--_Pope cor._ LESSON IV.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "The past tenses (of Hiley's subjunctive mood) represent conditional past _facts_ or _events_, of which the speaker is uncertain."--_Hiley cor._ "Care also should be taken that they _be_ not introduced too abundantly."--_Id._ "Till they _have_ become familiar to the mind." Or: "Till they _become_ familiar to the mind."--_Id._ "When once a particular arrangement and phraseology _have_ become familiar to the mind."--_Id._ "I have furnished the student with the plainest and most practical directions _that_ I could devise."--_Id._ "When you are conversant with the Rules of Grammar, you will be qualified to commence the study of Style."--_Id._ "_C before e, i, or y, always_ has a soft sound, like _s_."--_L. Murray cor._ "_G_ before _e, i, or y_, is _generally_ soft; as in _genius, ginger, Egypt_."--_Id._ "_C_ before _e, i, or y, always_ sounds soft, like _s_."--_Hiley cor._ "_G_ is _generally_ soft before _e, i, or y_; as in _genius, ginger, Egypt_."--_Id._ "A perfect alphabet must always contain _just_ as many letters as there are elementary sounds in the language: the English alphabet, _having fewer letters than sounds, and sometimes more than one letter for the same sound_, is both defective and redundant."--_Id._ "A common _noun is a name_, given to a whole class or species, and _is_ applicable to every individual of that class."--_Id._ "Thus an adjective has _usually_ a noun either expressed or understood."--_Id._ "Emphasis is _extraordinary force used in the enunciation of such words as we wish to make prominent in discourse_." Or: "Emphasis is _a peculiar stress of voice, used in the utterance of words specially significant_."--_Dr. H. Blair cor._; also _L. Murray_. "_So_ simple _a_ question as. 'Do you ride to town to-day?' is capable of _as many as_ four different acceptations, _the sense varying_ as the emphasis is differently placed."--_Iid._ "Thus, _bravely, for_ 'in a brave manner.' is derived from _brave-like_."--_Hiley cor._ "In _this_ manner, _several_ different parts of speech are _often_ formed from _one root_ by means of _different affixes_."--_Id._ "Words derived from _the same root_, are always more or less allied in signification."--_Id._ "When a noun of multitude conveys _the idea of unity_, the verb and pronoun should be singular; but when it conveys _the idea of plurality_, the verb and pronoun must be plural."--_Id._ "They have spent their whole time to make the sacred chronology agree with the profane."--_Id._ "I have studied my lesson, but you have not _looked at yours_."--_Id._ "When words _are connected_ in pairs, there is _usually_ a comma _after_ each pair."-- _Hiley, Bullions, and Lennie, cor._ "When words _are connected_ in pairs, the pairs should be marked by the comma."--_Farnum cor._ "His _book entitled_, 'Studies of Nature,' is deservedly a popular work."--_Biog. Dict. cor._ "Here _rests_ his head _upon the lap of earth_, A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown."--GRAY. "'_Youth_,' here, is in the _nominative case_, (the verb '_rests_' being, in this instance, _transitive_,) and is _the subject of the sentence_. The meaning is, '_A youth here rests his head_,' &c."--_Hart cor._ "The pronoun _I, as well as_ the interjection _O_, should be written with a capital." Or: "The pronoun _I, and_ the interjection _O_, should be written with _capitals_"--_Weld cor._ "The pronoun _I_ should _always_ be written with a capital."--_Id._ "He went from _London_ to York."--_Id._ "An adverb is a _word added_ to _a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an_ other _adverb_, to modify _its_ meaning."--_Id._ (See Lesson 1st under the General Rule.) "SINGULAR signifies, '_expressing only one;' denoting but_ one person or thing. PLURAL, (Latin _pluralis_, from _plus_, more,) signifies, '_expressing_ more than one.'"--_Weld cor._ "When the present ends in _e, d_ only is added to form the imperfect _tense_ and _the_ perfect participle of regular verbs."--_Id._ "Synaeresis is the contraction of two syllables into one; as, _seest_ for _seest, drowned_ for _drown-ed_."--_Id._ (See _Brown's Inst_. p. 230.) "Words ending in _ee are often inflected by mere consonants, and without_ receiving an additional syllable beginning with _e_: as, _see, seest, sees; agree, agreed, agrees_."--_Weld cor._ "_In_ monosyllables, final _f, l_, or _s_, preceded by a single vowel, _is_ doubled; as in _staff, mill, grass_."--_Id._ "_Before ing_, words ending _in ie_ drop the _e_, and _change the i into y; as, die, dying_."--_Id._" One number may be used for _the_ other--_or, rather, the plural may be used for the singular_; as, _we_ for _I, you_ for _thou_."--_S. S. Greene cor._ "STR~OB'ILE, _n._ A pericarp made up of scales that lie _one over an other_."--_Worcester cor._ "Yet ever, from the clearest source, _hath run_ Some gross _alloy_, some tincture of the man."--_Lowth cor._ LESSON V.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "The possessive case is _usually_ followed by _a_ noun, _expressed or understood_, which is the name of the thing possessed."--_Felton cor._ "Hadmer of Aggstein was as pious, devout, and praying a Christian, as _was_ Nelson, Washington, or Jefferson; or as _is_ Wellington, Tyler, Clay, or Polk."--_H. C. Wright cor._ "A word in the possessive case is not an independent noun, and cannot stand by _itself_."--_J. W. Wright cor._ "Mary is not handsome, but she is good-natured; _and good-nature_ is better than beauty."--_St. Quentin cor._ "After the practice of joining _all_ words together had ceased, _a note_ of distinction _was placed_ at the end of every word."--_L. Murray et al. cor._ "Neither Henry nor Charles _dissipates_ his time."--_Hallock cor._ "'He had taken from the _Christians above_ thirty small castles.' KNOLLES:"--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 200; _Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. What._ "In _what_ character Butler was admitted, is unknown." Or: "In _whatever_ character Butler was admitted, _that character_ is unknown."--_Hallock cor._ "How _are_ the agent of a passive and the object of an active verb often left?"--_Id._ "By SUBJECT, is meant the word of _whose object_ something is declared." Or: "By SUBJECT, is meant the word _which has_ something declared of _the thing signified_."--_Chandler cor._ "Care should also be taken that _a transitive_ verb _be_ not used _in stead_ of a _neuter or intransitive_; as, _lay_ for _lie, raise_ for _rise, set_ for _sit_, &c."--_Id._ "On them _depends_ the duration of our Constitution and our country."--_Calhoun cor._ "In the present sentence, neither the sense nor the measure _requires_ WHAT."--_Chandler cor._ "The Irish thought themselves oppressed by the _law_ that forbid them to draw with their _horses' tails_."--_Brightland cor._ "_So and willingly_ are adverbs. _So_ is _an_ adverb of _degree_, and qualifies _willingly. Willingly_ is an adverb of _manner_, and qualifies _deceives_."--_Cutler cor._ "Epicurus, for _experiment's_ sake, confined himself to a narrower diet than that of the severest prisons."--_Id._ "Derivative words are such as are _formed from_ other words _by prefixes or suffixes_; as, _injustice, goodness, falsehood_."--_Id._ "The distinction here insisted on is as old as Aristotle, and should not be lost _from_ sight." Or: "and _it_ should _still_ be _kept in view_."--_Hart cor._ "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and Potential Moods." Or: "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and _the_ Potential Mood."--_Id._ "A triphthong is a union of three vowels, uttered _by a single impulse of the voice_; as, _uoy_ in _buoy_"--_Pardon Davis cor._ "A common _noun is_ the _name_ of a species or kind."--_Id._ "The superlative degree _implies_ a comparison _either_ between _two_ or _among_ more."--_Id._ "An adverb is a word serving to give an additional idea _to_ a verb, _a participle, an adjective_, or _an other_ adverb."--_Id._ "When several nouns in the possessive case _occur in succession_, each showing possession _of things_ of the same _sort_, it is _generally_ necessary to add the sign of the possessive case to _each of them_: as, 'He sells _men's, women's_, and children's shoes.'--'_Dogs', cats'_, and _tigers'_ feet are digitated.'"--_Id._ "'A _rail-road_ is _being made_,' should be, 'A _railroad_ is _making_;' 'A _school-house_ is _being built_,' should be, 'A _schoolhouse_ is _building_.'"--_Id._ "Auxiliaries _are_ of themselves verbs; _yet_ they resemble, in their character and use, those terminational or other inflections _which_, in other languages, _serve_ to express the action in the _mood_, tense, _person_, and _number_ desired."--_Id._ "Please _to_ hold my horse while I speak to my friend."--_Id._ "If I say, 'Give me _the_ book,' I _demand_ some particular book."--_Noble Butler cor._ "_Here_ are five men."--_Id._ "_After_ the active _verb_, the object may be omitted; _after_ the passive, the name of the agent may be omitted."--_Id._ "The Progressive and Emphatic forms give, in each case, a different shade of meaning to the verb."--_Hart cor._ "THAT _may be called_ a Redditive Conjunction, when it answers to so _or_ SUCH."--_Ward cor._ "He attributes to negligence your _want of success_ in that business."--_Smart cor._ "_Do_ WILL and GO express but _one_ action?" Or: "_Does_ '_will go_' express but _one_ action?"--_Barrett cor._ "Language is the _principal_ vehicle of thought."--_G. Brown's Inst., Pref._, p. iii. "_Much_ is applied to things weighed or measured; _many_, to those that are numbered. _Elder_ and _eldest_ _are applied_ to persons only; _older_ and _oldest_, to _either_ persons or things."--_Bullions cor._ "If there are any old maids still extant, while _misogynists_ are so rare, the fault must be attributable to themselves."--_Kirkham cor._ "The second method, used by the Greeks, has never been the practice of any _other people_ of Europe."--_Sheridan cor._ "Neither consonant nor vowel _is_ to be dwelt upon beyond _its_ common quantity, when _it closes_ a sentence." Or: "Neither _consonants_ nor _vowels_ are to be dwelt upon beyond their common quantity, when they close a sentence." Or, better thus: "Neither _a_ consonant nor _a_ vowel, when _it closes_ a sentence, _is_ to be _protracted_ beyond _its usual length_."--_Id._ "Irony is a mode of speech, in which what is said, is the opposite of what is meant."--_McElligott's Manual_, p. 103. "The _person_ speaking, _and the person or persons_ spoken to, are supposed to be present."--_Wells cor._; also _Murray_. "A _Noun_ is _a name_, a word used to express the _idea_ of an object."--_Wells cor._ "A syllable is _such_ a word, or _part_ of a word, as is uttered by one articulation."--_Weld cor._ "Thus wond'rous fair; thyself how wond'rous then! Unspeakable, who _sitst_ above these heavens."--_Milton_, B. v, l. 156. "And feel thy _sovran_ vital lamp; but thou _Revisitst_ not these eyes, that roll in vain."--_Id._, iii, 22. "Before all temples _th'_ upright _heart_ and pure."--_Id._, i, 18. "In forest wild, in thicket, _brake_, or den."--_Id._, vii, 458. "The rogue and fool by fits _are_ fair and wise; And e'en the best, by fits, what they despise."--_Pope cor._ THE KEY.--PART IV.--PROSODY. CHAPTER I.--PUNCTUATION. SECTION I.--THE COMMA. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF SIMPLE SENTENCES. "A short simple _sentence_ should _rarely_ be _divided_ by _the_ comma."--_Felton cor._ "A regular and virtuous education is an inestimable blessing."--_L. Mur. cor._ "Such equivocal expressions mark an intention to deceive."--_Id._ "They are _this_ and _that_, with their plurals _these_ and _those_."--_Bullions cor._ "A nominative and a verb sometimes make a complete sentence; as, He sleeps."--_Felton cor._ "TENSE expresses the action _as_ connected with certain relations of time; MOOD represents it as _further_ modified by circumstances of contingency, conditionality, &c."--_Bullions cor._ "The word _noun_ means _name_."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The present or active participle I explained then."--_Id._ "Are some verbs used both transitively and intransitively?"--_Cooper cor._ "Blank verse is verse without rhyme."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 235. "A distributive adjective denotes each one of a number considered separately."--_Hallock cor._ "And may at last my weary age Find out the peaceful hermitage." --MILTON: _Ward's Gr._, 158; _Hiley's_, 124. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING SIMPLE SENTENCES. "A noun without an _article_ to limit it, is taken in its widest sense."--_Lennie_, p. 6. "To maintain a steady course amid all the adversities of life, marks a great mind."--_Day cor._ "To love our Maker supremely and our neighbour as ourselves, comprehends the whole moral law."--_Id._ "To be afraid to do wrong, is true courage."--_Id._ "A great fortune in the hands of a fool, is a great misfortune."--_Bullions cor._ "That he should make such a remark, is indeed strange."--_Farnum cor._ "To walk in the fields and groves, is delightful."--_Id._ "That he committed the fault, is most certain."--_Id._ "Names common to all things of the same sort or class, are called _Common nouns_; as, _man, woman, day_."--_Bullions cor._ "That it is our duty to be pious, admits not of any doubt."--_Id._ "To endure misfortune with resignation, is the characteristic of a great mind."--_Id._ "The assisting of a friend in such circumstances, was certainly a duty."--_Id._ "That a life of virtue is the safest, is certain."--_Hallock cor._ "A collective noun denoting the idea of unity, should be represented by a pronoun of the singular number."--_Id._ UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "When the sun had arisen, the enemy retreated."--_Day cor._ "If he _become_ rich, he may be less industrious."--_Bullions cor._ "The more I study grammar, the better I like it."--_Id._ "There is much truth in the old adage, that fire is a better servant than master."--_Id._ "The verb _do_, when used as an auxiliary, gives force or emphasis to the expression."--_P. E. Day cor._ "Whatsoever is incumbent upon a man to do, it is surely expedient to do well."--_Adams cor._ "The soul, which our philosophy divides into various capacities, is still one essence."--_Channing cor._ "Put the following words in the plural, and give the rule for forming it."--_Bullions cor._ "We will do it, if you wish."--_Id._ "He who does well, will be rewarded."--_Id._ "That which is always true, is expressed in the present tense."--_Id._ "An observation which is always true, must be expressed in the present tense."--_Id._ "That part of orthography which treats of combining letters to form syllables and words, is called SPELLING."--_Day cor._ "A noun can never be of the first person, except it is in apposition with a pronoun of that person."--_Id._ "When two or more singular nouns or pronouns refer to the same object, they require a singular verb and pronoun."--_Id._ "James has gone, but he will return in a few days."--_Id._ "A pronoun should have the same person, number, and gender, as the noun for which it stands."--_Id._ "Though he is out of danger, he is still afraid."--_Bullions cor._ "She is his inferior in sense, but his equal in prudence."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 6. "The man who has no sense of religion, is little to be trusted."--_Bullions cor._ "He who does the most good, has the most pleasure."--_Id._ "They were not in the most prosperous circumstances, when we last saw them."--_Id._ "If the day continue pleasant, I shall return."--_Felton cor._ "The days that are past, are gone forever."--_Id._ "As many as are friendly to the cause, will sustain it."--_Id._ "Such as desire aid, will receive it."--_Id._ "Who gave you that book, which you prize so much?"--_Bullions cor._ "He who made it, now preserves and governs it."--_Id._ "Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not _blest_ with all?"--_Pope_. UNDER THE EXCEPTIONS CONCERNING SIMPLE MEMBERS. "Newcastle is the town in which Akenside was born."--_Bucke cor._ "The remorse which issues in reformation, is true repentance."--_Campbell cor._ "Men who are intemperate, are destructive members of community."-- _Alexander cor._ "An active-transitive verb expresses an action which extends to an object."--_Felton cor._ "They to whom much is given, will have much, to answer for."--_L. Murray cor._ "The prospect which we have, is charming."--_Cooper cor._ "He is the person who informed me of the matter."--_Id._ "These are the trees that produce no fruit."--_Id._ "This is the book which treats of the subject."--_Id._ "The proposal was such as pleased me."--_Id._ "Those that sow in tears, shall reap in joy."--_Id._ "The pen with which I write, makes too large a mark."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Modesty makes large amends for the pain it gives the persons who labour under it, by the prejudice it affords every worthy person, in their favour."--_Id._ "Irony is a figure whereby we plainly intend something very different from what our words express."--_Bucke cor._ "Catachresis is a figure whereby an improper word is used in stead of a proper one."--_Id._ "The man whom you met at the party, is a Frenchman."--_Frost cor._ UNDER RULE III.--OF MORE THAN TWO WORDS. "John, James, and Thomas, are here: that is, John, _and_ James, and Thomas, are here."--_Cooper cor._ "Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 116. "To Nouns belong Person, Gender, Number, and Case."--_Id., ib._, p. 9. "Wheat, corn, rye, and oats, are extensively cultivated."--_Bullions cor._ "In many, the definitions, rules, and leading facts, are prolix, inaccurate, and confused."--_Finch cor._ "Most people consider it mysterious, difficult, and useless."--_Id._ "His father, and mother, and uncle, reside at Rome."--_Farnum cor._ "The relative pronouns are _who, which_, and _that_."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 23. "_That_ is sometimes a demonstrative, sometimes a relative, and sometimes a conjunction."--_Bullions cor._ "Our reputation, virtue, and happiness, greatly depend on the choice of our companions."--_Day cor._ "The spirit of true religion is social, kind, and cheerful."--_Felton cor._ "_Do, be, have_, and _will_, are sometimes principal verbs."--_Id._ "John, and Thomas, and Peter, reside at Oxford."--_Webster cor._ "The most innocent pleasures are the most rational, the most delightful, and the most durable."--_Id._ "Love, joy, peace, and blessedness, are reserved for the good."--_Id._ "The husband, wife, and children, suffered extremely."--_L. Murray cor._ "The husband, wife, and children, suffer extremely."--_Sanborn cor._ "He, you, and I, have our parts assigned us."--_Id._ "He moaned, lamented, tugged, and tried, Repented, promised, wept, and sighed."--_Cowper_. UNDER RULE IV.--OF ONLY TWO WORDS. "Disappointments derange and overcome vulgar minds."--_L. Murray cor._ "The hive of a city or kingdom, is in the best condition, when there is the least noise or buzz in it."--_Id._ "When a direct address is made, the noun or pronoun is in the nominative case, independent."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The verbs _love_ and _teach_, make _loved_ and _taught_, in the imperfect and participle."--_Id._ "Neither poverty nor riches were injurious to him."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 152. "Thou or I am in fault."--_Id._, p. 152. "A verb is a word that expresses action or being."--_P. E. Day cor._ "The Objective Case denotes the object of a verb or a preposition."--_Id._ "Verbs of the second conjugation may be either transitive or intransitive."--_Id._ "Verbs of the fourth conjugation may be either transitive or intransitive."--_Id._ "If a verb does not form its past indicative by adding _d_ or _ed_ to the indicative present, it is said to be _irregular_."--_Id._ "The young lady is studying rhetoric and logic."--_Cooper cor._ "He writes and speaks the language very correctly."--_Id._ "Man's happiness or misery is, in a great measure, put into his own hands."--_Mur. cor._ "This accident or characteristic of nouns, is called their _Gender_."--_Bullions cor._ "Grant that the powerful still the weak _control_; Be _man_ the _wit_ and _tyrant_ of the whole."--_Pope cor._ UNDER EXCEPTION I.--TWO WORDS WITH ADJUNCTS. "Franklin is justly considered the ornament of the New World, and the pride of modern philosophy."--_Day cor._ "Levity, and attachment to worldly pleasures, destroy the sense of gratitude to Him."--_L. Mur. cor._ "In the following Exercise, point out the adjectives, and the substantives which they qualify."--_Bullions cor._ "When a noun or pronoun is used to explain, or give emphasis to, a preceding noun or pronoun."--_Day cor._ "Superior talents, and _brilliancy_ of intellect, do not always constitute a great man."--_Id._ "A word that makes sense after an article, or _after_ the phrase _speak of_, is a noun."--_Bullions cor._ "All feet used in poetry, are reducible to eight kinds; four of two syllables, and four of three."--_Hiley cor._ "He would not do it himself, not let me do it."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 64. "The old writers give examples of the subjunctive _mood_, and give other _moods_ to explain what is meant by the words in the subjunctive."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ UNDER EXCEPTION II.--TWO TERMS CONTRASTED. "We often commend, as well as censure, imprudently."--_L. Mur. cor._ "It is as truly a violation of the right of property, to take a little, as to take much; to purloin a book or a penknife, as to steal money; to steal fruit, as to steal a horse; to defraud the revenue, as to rob my neighbour; to overcharge the public, as to overcharge my brother; to cheat the post-office, as to cheat my friend."--_Wayland cor._ "The classification of verbs has been, and still is, a vexed question."--_Bullions cor._ "Names applied only to individuals of a sort or class, and not common to all, are called _Proper nouns_."--_Id._ "A hero would desire to be loved, as well as to be reverenced."--_Day cor._ "Death, or some worse misfortune, now divides them." Better: "Death, or some _other_ misfortune, _soon_ divides them."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 151. "Alexander replied, 'The world will not permit two suns, nor two sovereigns.'"--_Goldsmith cor._ "From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, Tenth, or _ten-thousandth_, breaks the chain alike."--_Pope_. UNDER EXCEPTION III.--OF AN ALTERNATIVE OF WORDS. "_Metre_, or _Measure_, is the number of poetical feet which a verse contains."--_Hiley cor._ "The _Caesura_, or _division_, is the pause which takes place in a verse, and which divides it into two parts."--_Id._ "It is six feet, or one fathom, deep."--_Bullions cor._ "A _Brace_ is used in poetry, at the end of a triplet, or three lines which rhyme together."--_Felton cor._ "There are four principal kinds of English verse, or poetical feet."--_Id._ "The period, or full stop, denotes the end of a complete sentence."--_Sanborn cor._ "The scholar is to receive as many _jetons_, or counters, as there are words in the sentence."--_St. Quentin cor._ "_That_ [thing], or _the thing, which_ purifies, fortifies also the heart."--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "_That thing_, or _the thing_, which would induce a laxity in public or private morals, or indifference to guilt and wretchedness, should be regarded as the deadly Sirocco."--_Id._ "_What_ is, elliptically, _what thing_, or _that thing which_."--_Sanborn cor._ "_Demonstrate_ means _show_, or _point out precisely_."--_Id._ "_The_ man, or _that_ man, who endures to the end, shall be saved."--_Hiley cor._ UNDER EXCEPTION IV.--OF A SECOND COMMA. "That reason, passion, answer one great _aim_."--POPE: _Bullions and Hiley cor._ "Reason, virtue, answer one great aim."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 269; _Cooper's Murray_, 182; _Comly_, 145; _Ingersoll_, 282; _Sanborn_, 268; _Kirkham_, 212; _et al._ "Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above."--_James_, i, 17. "Every plant, and every tree, produces others after its kind."--_Day cor._ "James, and not John, was paid for his services."--_Id._ "The single dagger, or obelisk [Dagger], is the second."--_Id._ "It was I, not he, that did it."--_St. Quentin cor._ "Each aunt, each cousin, hath her speculation."--_Byron._ "'I shall see you _when_ you come,' is equivalent to, 'I shall see you _then_, or _at that time_, when you come.'"--_N. Butler cor._ "Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame; August her deed, and sacred be her fame."--_Pope cor._ UNDER RULE V.--OF WORDS IN PAIRS. "My hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, centre in you."--_Greenleaf or Sanborn cor._ "This mood implies possibility or liberty, will or obligation."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Substance is divided into _body_ and _spirit_, into _extended_ and _thinking_."--_Brightland cor._ "These consonants, [_d_ and _t_,] like _p_ and _b, f_ and _v, k_ and hard _g_, and _s_ and _z_, are letters of the same organ."--_J. Walker cor._ "Neither fig nor twist, pigtail nor Cavendish, _has_ passed my lips since; nor ever shall again."--_Cultivator cor._ "The words _whoever_ or _whosoever, whichever_ or _whichsoever_, and _whatever_ or _whatsoever_, are called Compound Relative Pronouns."--_Day cor._ "Adjectives signifying profit or disprofit, likeness or unlikeness, govern the dative."--_Bullions cor._ UNDER RULE VI.--OF WORDS ABSOLUTE. "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."--_Psalm_ xxiii 4. "Depart, ye wicked."--_J. W. Wright cor._ "He saith unto his mother. Woman, behold thy son!"--_John_, xix, 26. "Thou, God, seest me."--_Bullions cor._ "John, write me a letter. Henry, go home."--_O. B. Peirce cor., twice_. "Now, G. Brown, let us reason together."--_Id._ "_Mr._ Smith, _you_ say, on page 11th, '_The_ objective case denotes the object'"--_Id._ "Gentlemen, will you always speak as you mean?"--_Id._ "John, I sold my books to William, for his brothers."--_Id._ "Walter, and Seth, I will take my things, and leave yours."--_Id._ "Henry, Julia and Jane left their umbrella, and took yours."--_Id._ "John, harness the horses, and go to the mine for some coal."--_Id._ "William, run to the store, for a few pounds of tea."--_Id._ "The king being dead, the parliament was dissolved."--_Chandler cor._ "Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life." --_Pope, Brit. Poets_, vi, 317. "Forbear, great man, in arms renown'd, forbear." --_Hiley's Gram._, p. 127. "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted, and each wish resign'd." --_Pope, Brit. Poets_, vi, 335. UNDER RULE VII.--OF WORDS IN APPOSITION. "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice," &c.--_Constit. of U. S._ "The Lord, the covenant God of his people, requires it."--_A. S. Mag. cor._ "He, as a patriot, deserves praise."--_Hallock cor._ "Thomson, the watchmaker and jeweller from London, was of the party."--_Bullions cor._ "Every body knows that the person here spoken of by the name of '_the Conqueror_,' is William, duke of Normandy."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The words _myself, thyself, himself, herself, itself_, and their plurals, _ourselves, yourselves_, and _themselves_, are called Compound Personal Pronouns."--_Day cor._ "For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing, anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?"--GRAY: _Mur. Seq._ UNDER THE EXCEPTIONS CONCERNING APPOSITION. "Smith & _Williams's_ store; Nicholas the emperor's army."--_Day cor._ "He was named _William the Conqueror._"--_Id._ "John the Baptist was beheaded."--_Id._ "Alexander the coppersmith did me _much evil_."--_2 Tim._, iv, 14. "A nominative in immediate apposition: as, 'The boy _Henry_ speaks.'"--_Smart cor._ "A noun objective can be in apposition with some other; as, 'I teach the boy _Henry_.'"--_Id._ UNDER RULE VIII.--OF ADJECTIVES. "But he found me, not singing at my work, ruddy with health, vivid with cheerfulness; but pale," &c.--DR. JOHNSON: _Murray's Sequel_, p. 4. "I looked up, and beheld an inclosure, beautiful as the gardens of paradise, but of a small extent."--HAWKESWORTH: _ib._, p. 20. "_A_ is an article, indefinite, and belongs to '_book_.'"--_Bullions cor._ "The first expresses the rapid movement of a troop of horse over the plain, eager for the combat."--_Id._ "He [, the Indian chieftain, King Philip,] was a patriot, attached to his native soil; a prince, true to his subjects, and indignant of their wrongs; a soldier, daring in battle, firm in adversity, patient of fatigue, of hunger, of every variety of bodily suffering, and ready to perish in the cause he had espoused."--_W. Irving_. "For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead, Dost in these lines their artless tale relate." --GRAY: _Mur. Seq._, p. 258. "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest; Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood." --GRAY: _Enf. Sp._, p. 245. "Idle after dinner [,] in his chair, Sat a farmer, ruddy, fat, and fair." --_Murray's Gram._, p. 257. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING ADJECTIVES. "When an attribute becomes a title, or is emphatically applied to a name, it follows it: as, Charles the Great; Henry the First; Lewis the Gross."--_Webster cor._ "Feed me with food convenient for me."--_Prov._, xxx, 8. "The words and phrases necessary to exemplify every principle progressively laid down, will be found strictly and exclusively adapted to the illustration of the principles to which they are referred."--_Ingersoll cor._ "The Infinitive _Mood_ is that form of the verb which expresses _being or action_ unlimited by person or number."--_Day cor._ "A man diligent in his business, prospers."--_Frost cor._ "_Oh_ wretched state! oh bosom black as death!" --SHAK.: _Enfield_, p. 368. UNDER RULE IX.--OF FINITE VERBS. "The Singular denotes _one_; the Plural, _more_ than one."--_Bullions and Lennie cor._ "The _Comma_ represents the shortest pause; the _Semicolon_, a pause longer than the comma; the _Colon_, longer than the semicolon; and the _Period_, longer than the colon."--_Hiley cor._ "The Comma represents the shortest pause; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the Comma; the Colon, double that of the semicolon; and the Period, double that of the colon."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 266. "WHO is applied only to persons; WHICH, to animals and things; WHAT, to things only; and THAT, to persons, animals, and things."--_Day cor._ "_A_ or _an_ is used before the singular number only; _the_, before either singular or plural."--_Bullions cor._ "Homer was the greater genius; Virgil, the better artist."--_Day cor._; also _Pope_. "Words are formed of syllables; syllables, of letters."--_St. Quentin cor._ "The conjugation of an active verb is styled the ACTIVE VOICE; and that of a passive verb, the PASSIVE VOICE."--_Frost cor._; also _Smith: L. Murray's Gram._, p. 77. "The possessive is sometimes called the _genitive_ case; and the objective, the _accusative_."--_L. Murray cor._ "Benevolence is allied to few vices; selfishness, to fewer virtues."--_Kames cor._ "Orthography treats of Letters; Etymology, of words; Syntax, of Sentences; and Prosody, of Versification."--_Hart cor._ "Earth praises conquerors for shedding blood; Heaven, those that love their foes, and do them good."--_Waller_. UNDER RULE X.--OF INFINITIVES. "His business is, to observe the agreement or disagreement of words."--_Bullions cor._ "It is a mark of distinction, to be made a member of this society."--_Farnum cor._ "To distinguish the conjugations, let the pupil observe the following rules."--_Day cor._ "He was now sent for, to preach before the Parliament."--_E. Williams cor._ "It is incumbent on the young, to love and honour their parents."--_Bullions cor._ "It is the business of every man, to prepare for death."--_Id._ "It argued the sincerest candor, to make such an acknowledgement."--_Id._ "The proper way is, to complete the construction of the first member, and leave that of the second _elliptical_."--_Id._ "ENEMY is a name. It is a term of distinction, given to a certain person, to show the character in which he is represented."--_Peirce cor._ "The object of this is, to preserve the soft _sounds_ of _c_ and _g_."--_Hart cor._ "The design of grammar is, to facilitate the reading, writing, and speaking of a language."--_Barrett cor._ "Four kinds of type are used in the following pages, to indicate the portions that are considered more or less elementary."--_Hart cor._ UNDER RULE XI.--OF PARTICIPLES. "The chancellor, being attached to the king, secured his crown."--_Murray's Grammar_, p. 66. "The officer, having received his orders, proceeded to execute them."--_Day cor._ "Thus used, it is in the present tense."--_Bullions, E. Gr._, 2d Ed., p. 35. "The imperfect tense has three distinct forms, corresponding to those of the present tense."--_Bullions cor._ "Every possessive case is governed by some noun, denoting the thing possessed."--_Id._ "The word _that_, used as a conjunction, is [generally] preceded by a comma."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 114. "His narrative, being composed upon _so_ good authority, deserves credit."--_Cooper cor._ "The hen, being in her nest, was killed and eaten there by the eagle."--_Murray cor._ "Pronouns, being used _in stead_ of nouns, are subject to the same modifications."--_Sanborn cor._ "When placed at the beginning of words, they are consonants."--_Hallock cor._ "Man, starting from his couch, shall sleep no more."--_Young._ "_His_ and _her_, followed by a noun, are possessive pronouns; not followed by a noun, they are personal pronouns."--_Bullions cor._ "He, with viny crown advancing, First to the lively pipe his hand address'd."--_Collins_. UNDER THE EXCEPTION CONCERNING PARTICIPLES. "But when they convey the idea of many acting individually, or separately, they are of the plural number."--_Day cor._ "Two or more singular antecedents connected by _and_, [when they happen to introduce more than one verb and more than one pronoun,] require verbs and pronouns of the plural number."--_Id._ "Words ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant change _y_ into _i_, when a termination is added."--_N. Butler cor._ "A noun used without an article to limit it, is generally taken in its widest sense."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Two nouns meaning the same person or thing, frequently come together."--_Bucke cor._ "Each one must give an account to God for the use, or abuse, of the talents committed to him."--_Cooper cor._ "Two vowels united in one sound, form a diphthong."--_Frost cor._ "Three vowels united in one sound, form a triphthong."--_Id._ "Any word joined to an adverb, is a secondary adverb."--_Barrett cor._ "The person spoken _to_, is put in the _Second_ person; the person spoken _of_, in the _Third_ person."--_Cutler cor._ "A man devoted to his business, prospers."--_Frost cor._ UNDER RULE XII.--OF ADVERBS. "So, in indirect questions; as, 'Tell me _when_ he will come.'"--_Butler cor._ "Now, when the verb tells what one person or thing does to _an other, it_ is transitive."--_Bullions cor._ "Agreeably to your request, I send this letter."--_Id._ "There seems, therefore, to be no good reason for giving them a different classification."--_Id._ "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seeking good pearls."--_Scott's Bible, Smith's, and Bruce's_. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea."--_Same._ "_Cease_, however, is used as a transitive verb by our best writers."--_Webster cor._ "Time admits of three natural divisions; namely, Present, Past, and Future."--_Day cor._ "There are three kinds of comparison; namely, Regular, Irregular, and Adverbial"--_Id._ "There are five personal pronouns; namely, _I, thou, he, she_, and _it_."--_Id._ "Nouns have three cases: viz., the Nominative, _the_ Possessive, and _the_ Objective."--_Bullions cor._ "Hence, in studying Grammar, we have to study words."--_Frazee cor._ "Participles, like verbs, relate to nouns and pronouns."--_Miller cor._ "The time of the participle, like that of the infinitive, is estimated from the time of the leading verb."--_Bullions cor._ "The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting, like the bounding roe."--_Pope._ UNDER RULE XIII.--OF CONJUNCTIONS. "But he said, Nay; lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them."--_Scott's Bible et al._ "Their intentions were good: but, wanting prudence, they missed the mark at which they aimed."--_L. Mur. cor._ "The verb _be_ often separates the name from its attribute; as, '_War_ is expensive.'"--_Webster cor._ "_Either_ and _or_ denote an alternative; as, 'I will take _either_ road at your pleasure.'"--_Id._ "_Either_ is also a substitute for a name; as, '_Either_ of the roads is good.'"--_Id._ "But, alas! I fear the consequence."--_Day cor._ "Or, if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"--_Luke_, xi, 11. "Or, if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Luke, xi, 12_. "The infinitive sometimes performs the office of a nominative case; as, 'To enjoy is to obey.'--POPE."--_Cutler cor._ "The plural is commonly formed by adding _s_ to the singular; as, _book_, books."--_Bullions, P. Lessons_, p. 16. "As, 'I _were_ to blame, if I did it.'"--_Smart cor._ "Or, if it be thy will and pleasure, Direct my plough to find a treasure." UNDER RULE XIV.--OF PREPOSITIONS. "Pronouns agree with the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number, and person."--_Butler and Bullions cor._ "In the first two examples, the antecedent is _person_, or something equivalent; in the last [_one_], it is _thing_."--_N. Butler cor._ "In what character he was admitted, is unknown."--_Id._ "To what place he was going, is not known."--_Id._ "In the preceding examples, _John, Caesar_, and _James_, are the subjects."--_Id._ "_Yes_ is generally used to denote assent, _in answer_ to a question."--_Id._ "_That_, in its origin, is the passive participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb _thean_, [_thegan, thicgan, thicgean_, or _thigan_,] _to take_."--_Id._ "But, in all these sentences, _as_ and _so_ are adverbs."--_Id._ "After an interjection or _an_ exclamatory sentence, is _usually_ placed the mark of exclamation."--_D. Blair cor._ "Intransitive verbs, from their nature, can have no distinction of voice."--_Bullions cor._ "To the inflection of verbs, belong Voices, Moods, Tenses, Numbers, and Persons."--_Id._ "_As_ and _so_, in the antecedent member of a comparison, are properly Adverbs." Better: "_As_ OR _so_, in the antecedent member of a comparison, _is_ properly _an adverb_."--_Id._ "In the following Exercise, point out the words in apposition."--_Id._ "In the following Exercise, point out the noun or pronoun denoting the possessor."--_Id._ "_Its_ is not found in the Bible, except by misprint."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 49. "No one's interest is concerned, except mine."--_Hallock cor._ "In most of the modern languages, there are four concords."--_St. Quentin cor._ "In illustration of these remarks, let us suppose a case."--_Hart cor._ "On the right management of the emphasis, depends the life of pronunciation."--_J. S. Hart and L. Murray cor._ See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 330. UNDER RULE XV.--OF INTERJECTIONS. "Behold, he is in the desert."--_Friend's Bible_. "And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord."--_Alger's Bible_. "Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."--_Friend's Bible, and Alger's_. "Behold, I come quickly."--_Rev._, xxii, 7. "Lo, I am with you always."--_Day cor._ "And, lo, I am with you alway."--_Alger's Bible: Day cor._; also _Scott and Bruce_. "Ha, ha, ha; how laughable that is!"--_Bullions cor._ "Interjections of laughter; _ha, ha, Ha_."--_Wright cor._ UNDER RULE XVI.--OF WORDS REPEATED. "Lend, lend your wings!" &c.--_Pope._ "To bed, to bed, to bed. There is a knocking at the gate. Come, come, come. What is done, cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed."--SHAKSPEARE: _Burghs Speaker_, p. 130. "I will roar, that the duke shall cry, Encore, encore, let him roar, let him roar, once more, once more."--_Id., ib._, p. 136. "Vital spark of heavenly flame! Quit, oh quit this mortal frame!"--_Pope_. "O the pleasing, pleasing anguish, When we love, and when we languish."--_Addison_. "Praise to God, immortal praise, For the love that crowns our days!"--_Barbauld_. UNDER RULE XVII.--OF DEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "Thus, of an infant, we say, '_It_ is a lovely creature.'"--_Bullions cor._ "No being can state a falsehood in saying, '_I am_;' for no one can utter _this_, if it is not true."--_Cardell cor._ "I know they will cry out against this, and say, 'Should he pay,' means, 'If he should pay.'"--_O. B. Peirce cor._ "For instance, when we say, '_The house is building_,' the advocates of the new theory ask,--'building _what?_' We might ask in turn, When you say, 'The field _ploughs_ well,'--ploughs _what?_ 'Wheat _sells_ well,'--sells _what?_ If _usage_ allows us to say, 'Wheat _sells_ at a dollar,' in a sense that is not active; why may it not also allow us to say, 'Wheat is _selling_ at a dollar' in a sense that is not active?"--_Hart cor._ "_Man_ is accountable,' equals, '_Mankind_ are accountable.'"--_Barrett cor._ "Thus, when we say, 'He may be reading,' _may_ is the real verb; the other parts are verbs by name only."--_Smart cor._ "Thus we say, _an apple, an hour_, that two vowel sounds may not come together."--_Id._ "It would be as improper to say, _an unit_, as to say, _an youth_; to say, _an one_, as to say, _an wonder_."--_Id._ "When we say, 'He died for the truth,' _for_ is a preposition."--_Id._ "We do not say, 'I might go yesterday;' but, 'I might have gone yesterday.'"--_Id._ "By student, we understand, one who has by matriculation acquired the rights of academical citizenship; but, by _bursche_, we understand, one who has already spent a certain time at the university."--_Howitt cor._ SECTION II.--THE SEMICOLON. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF COMPLEX MEMBERS. "The buds spread into leaves, and the blossoms swell to fruit; but they know not how they grow, nor who causes them to spring up from the bosom of the earth."--_Day cor._ "But he used his eloquence chiefly against Philip, king of Macedon; and, in several orations, he stirred up the Athenians to make war against him."--_Bullions cor._ "For the sake of euphony, the _n_ is dropped before a consonant; and, because most words begin with a consonant, this of course is its more common form."--_Id._ "But if I say, 'Will _a_ man be able to carry this burden?' it is manifest the idea is entirely changed; the reference is not to number, but to the species; and the answer might be, 'No; but a horse will.'"--_Id._ "In direct discourse, a noun used by the speaker or writer to designate himself [in the special relation of speaker or writer], is said to be of the _first_ person; used to designate the person addressed, it is said to be of the _second_ person; and, when used to designate a person or thing [merely] spoken of, it is said to be of the _third_ person."--_Id._ "Vice stings us, even in our pleasures; but virtue consoles us, even in our pains."--_Day cor._ "Vice is infamous, though in a prince; and virtue, honourable, though in a peasant."--_Id._ "Every word that is the name of a person or thing, is a _noun_; because, 'A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing.'"--_Bullions cor._ "This is the sword with which he did the deed; And that, the shield by which he was defended."--_Bucke cor._ UNDER RULE II.--OF SIMPLE MEMBERS. "A deathlike paleness was diffused over his countenance; a chilling terror convulsed his frame; his voice burst out at intervals into broken accents."--_Jerningham cor._ "The Lacedemonians never traded; they knew no luxury; they lived in houses built of rough materials; they _ate_ at public tables; fed on black broth; and despised every thing effeminate or luxurious."--_Whelpley cor._ "Government is the agent; society is the principal."--_Wayland cor._ "The essentials of speech were anciently supposed to be sufficiently designated by the _Noun_ and the _Verb_; to which was subsequently added the _Conjunction_."--_Bullions cor._ "The first faint gleamings of thought in its mind, are but reflections from the parents' own intellect; the first manifestations of temperament, are from the contagious parental fountain; the first aspirations of soul, are but the warmings and promptings of the parental spirit."--_Jocelyn cor._ "_Older_ and _oldest_ refer to maturity of age; _elder_ and _eldest_, to priority of right by birth. _Farther_ and _farthest_ denote place or distance; _further_ and _furthest_, quantity or addition."--_Bullions cor._ "Let the divisions be _natural_; such as obviously suggest themselves to the mind; _such_ as may aid your main design; and _such as may_ be easily remembered."--_Goldsbury cor._ "Gently make haste, of labour not afraid; A hundred times consider what you've said."--_Dryden cor._ UNDER RULE III.--OF APPOSITION, &C. (1.) "Adjectives are divided [, in Frost's Practical Grammar,] into two classes; adjectives denoting _quality_, and adjectives denoting _number_."--_Frost cor._ (2.) "There are [, according to some authors,] two classes of adjectives; _qualifying_ adjectives, and _limiting_ adjectives."--_N. Butler cor._ (3-5.) "There are three genders; the _masculine_, the _feminine_, and the _neuter_."--_Frost et al. cor._; also _L. Mur. et al_.; also _Hendrick: Inst._, p. 35. (6.) "The Singular denotes _one_; the Plural, _more_ than one."--_Hart cor._ (7.) "There are three cases; viz., the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective."--_Hendrick cor._ (8.) "Nouns have three cases; the _nominative_, the _possessive_, and the _objective_."--_Kirkham cor._ (9.) "In English, nouns have three cases; the _nominative_, the _possessive_, and the _objective_."--_Smith cor._ (10.) "Grammar is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."--_Hazen_. (11.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."--_Mur. et al. cor._ (12.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography. Etymology, Syntax, Prosody."--_Bucke cor._ (13.) "It is divided into four parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Lennie, Bullions, et al_. (14.) "It is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Hendrick cor._ (15.) "Grammar is divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Chandler cor._ (16.) "It is divided into four parts; Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Cooper and Frost cor._ (17.) "English Grammar has been usually divided into four parts; viz., Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody."--_Nutting cor._ (18.) "Temperance leads to happiness; intemperance, to misery."--_Hiley and Hart cor._ (19, 20.) "A friend exaggerates a man's virtues; an enemy, his crimes."--_Hiley cor._; also _Murray_. (21.) "Many writers use a plural noun after the second of two numeral adjectives; thus, 'The first and second _pages_ are torn.'"--_Bullions cor._ (22.) "Of these, [i. e., of _Cases_,] the Latin has six; the Greek, five; the German, four; the Saxon, six; the French, three; &c."--_Id._ "In _ing_ it ends, when doing is expressed; In _d, t, n_, when suffering's confessed."--_Brightland cor._ MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "In old books, _i_ is often used for _j; v_, for _u; vv_, for _w_; and _ii_ or _ij_, for _y_."--_Hart cor._ "The forming of letters into words and syllables, is also called _Spelling_."--_Id._ "Labials are formed chiefly by the _lips_; dentals, by the _teeth_; palatals, by the palate; gutturals, by the _throat_; nasals, by the _nose_; and linguals, by the _tongue_."--_Id._ "The labials are _p, b, f, v_; the dentals, _t, d, s, z_; the palatals, _g_ soft and _j_; the gutturals, _k, q_, and _c_ and _g_ hard; the nasals, _m_ and _n_; and the linguals, _l_ and _r_."--_Id._ "Thus, '_The_ man, _having finished_ his letter, will carry it to the _post-office_.'"--_Id._ "Thus, in the sentence, '_He_ had a dagger concealed under his cloak,' _concealed_ is passive, signifying _being concealed_; but, in the former combination, it goes to make up a form the force of which is active."--_Id._ "Thus, in Latin, '_He_ had concealed the dagger,' would be, '_Pugionem abdiderat_;' but, '_He_ had the dagger concealed,' would be, '_Pugionem abditum habebat_."--_Id._ "_Here_, for instance, means, 'in this place;' _now_, 'at this time;' &c."--_Id._ "Here _when_ both declares the _time_ of the action, and so is an adverb; and also _connects_ the two verbs, and so _resembles_ a conjunction."--_Id._ "These words were all, no doubt, originally other parts of speech; viz., verbs, nouns, and adjectives."--_Id._ "The principal parts of a sentence, are the subject, the attribute, and the object; in other words, the nominative, the verb, and the objective."--_Id._ "Thus, the adjective is connected with the noun; the adverb, with the verb or adjective; _the pronoun_, with _its antecedent_; &c." "_Between_ refers to two; _among_, to more than two."--_Id._ "_At_ is used after a verb of rest; _to_, after a verb of motion."--_Id._ "Verbs are of three kinds; Active, Passive, and Neuter."--_L. Murray_. [Active] "Verbs are divided into two classes; Transitive and Intransitive."--_Hendrick cor._ "The Parts of Speech, in the English language, are nine; viz., _the_ Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Interjection, and Conjunction."--_Bullions cor._ See _Lennie_. "Of these, the Noun, Pronoun, and Verb, are declined; the rest are indeclinable."--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 18. "The first expression is called 'the _Active_ form;' the second, 'the _Passive_ form.'"--_Weld cor._ "O, 'tis a godlike privilege to save; And he that scorns it, is himself a slave."--_Cowper cor._ SECTION III.--THE COLON. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF ADDITIONAL REMARKS. "_Of_ is a preposition: it expresses the relation between _fear_ and _Lord_."--_Bullions cor._ "Wealth and poverty are both temptations to man: _that_ tends to excite pride; _this_, discontentment."--_Id. et al cor._ "Religion raises men above themselves; irreligion sinks them beneath the brutes: _this_ binds them down to a poor pitiable speck of perishable earth; _that_ opens for them a prospect to the skies."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 189. "Love not idleness: it destroys many."--_Ingersoll cor._ "Children, obey your parents: 'Honour thy father and mother,' is the first commandment with promise."--_Bullions cor._ "Thou art my _hiding-place_ and my shield; I hope in thy _word_."--_Psalm_ cxix, 114. "The sun shall not smite _thee_ by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord _shall_ preserve _thee_ from _all_ evil: _he shall preserve thy_ soul."--_Psalm_ cxxi, 6. "Here _to_ Greece is assigned the highest place in the class of objects among which she is numbered--the nations of antiquity: she is one of them."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 114. "From short (as usual) and disturb'd repose, I wake: how happy they who wake no more!"--_Young, N. T._, p. 3. UNDER RULE II.--OF GREATER PAUSES. "A taste _of_ a thing, implies actual enjoyment of it; but a tase [sic--KTH] _for_ it, implies only capacity for enjoyment: as, 'When we have had a true taste _of_ the pleasures of virtue, we can have no relish _for_ those of vice.'"--_Bullions cor._ "The Indicative mood simply declares a thing: as, 'He _loves_;' 'He _is_ loved:' or it asks a question; as, '_Lovest_ thou me?'"--_Id. and Lennie cor._; also _Murray_. "The Imperfect (or Past) tense represents an action or event indefinitely as past; as, 'Caesar _came_, and _saw_, and _conquered_:' or it represents the action definitely as unfinished and continuing at a certain time now entirely past; as, 'My father _was coming_ home when I met him.'"--_Bullions cor._ "Some nouns have no plural; as, _gold, silver, wisdom_: others have no singular: as, _ashes, shears, tongs_: others are alike in both numbers; as, _sheep, deer, means, news_."--_Day cor._ "The same verb may be transitive in one sense, and intransitive in an other: thus, in the sentence, 'He believes my story,' _believes_ is transitive; but, in this phrase, 'He believes in God,' it is intransitive."--_Butler cor._ "Let the divisions be _distinct_: one part should not include _an other_, but each should have its proper place, and be of importance in that place; and all the parts, well fitted together and united, should present a _perfect_ whole."--_Goldsbury cor._ "In the use of the transitive verb, there are always _three_ things implied; the _actor_, the _act_, and the _object_ acted upon: in the use of the intransitive, there are only _two_; the subject, or _the thing_ spoken of, and the _state_ or _action_ attributed to it."--_Bullions cor._ "Why labours reason? instinct were as well; Instinct, far better: what can choose, can err."--_Young_, vii, 622. UNDER RULE III.--OF INDEPENDENT QUOTATIONS. "The sentence may run thus: 'He is related to the same person, and is governed by him.'"--_Hart cor._ "Always remember this ancient proverb: 'Know thyself.'"--_Hallock cor._ "Consider this sentence: 'The boy runs swiftly.'"--_Frazee cor._ "The comparative is used thus: 'Greece was more polished than any other nation of antiquity.' The same idea is expressed by the superlative, when the word _other_ is left out: thus, 'Greece was the most polished nation of antiquity.'"--_Bullions and Lennie cor._ "Burke, in his speech on the Carnatic war, makes the following allusion to the well known fable of _Cadmus_ sowing dragon's teeth:--'Every day you are fatigued and disgusted with this cant: 'The Carnatic is a country that will soon recover, and become instantly as prosperous as ever.' They think they are talking to innocents, who believe that by the sowing of dragon's teeth, men may come up ready grown and ready made.'"--_Hiley and Hart cor._ "For sects he car'd not: 'They are not of us, Nor need we, brethren, their concerns discuss.'"--_Crabbe cor._ "Habit, with him, was all the test of truth: 'It must be right; I've done it from my youth.' Questions he answer'd in as brief a way: 'It must be wrong; it was of yesterday.'"--_Id._ MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "This would seem to say, 'I doubt nothing, save one thing; namely, that he will _fulfill_ his promise:' whereas that is the very thing not doubted."--_Bullions cor._ "The common use of language requires, that a distinction be made between _morals_ and _manners_: the former depend upon internal dispositions; the latter, _upon_ outward and visible accomplishments."--_Beattie cor._ "Though I detest war in each particular fibre of my heart, yet I honour the heroes among our fathers, who fought with bloody hand. Peacemakers in a savage way, they were faithful to their light: the most inspired can be no more; and we, with greater light, do, it may be, far less."--_T. Parker cor._ "The article _the_, like _a_, must have a substantive joined with it; whereas _that_, like _one_, may have it understood: thus, speaking of books, I may select one, and say, 'Give me that;' but not, 'Give me _the_;'--[so I may say,] 'Give me _one_;' but not, 'Give me _a_.'"--_Bullions cor._ "The Present tense has three distinct forms: the _simple_; as, I read: the _emphatic_; as, I do read: and the _progressive_; as, I am reading." Or thus: "The Present tense has three distinct forms;--the _simple_; as, 'I read;'--the _emphatic_; as, 'I do read;'--and the _progressive_; as, 'I am reading.'"--_Id._ "The tenses in English are usually reckoned six: the _Present_, the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, the _Pluperfect_, the _First-future_, and the _Second-future_."--_Id._ "There are three participles; the Present or Active, the Perfect or Passive, and the Compound Perfect: as, _loving, loved, having loved_." Or, better: "There are three participles from each verb; namely, the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, and the _Preperfect_; as, _turning, turned, having turned_."--_Murray et al. cor._ "The participles are three; the Present, the Perfect, and the Compound Perfect: as, _loving, loved, having loved_." Better: "The participles of each verb are three; the _Imperfect_, the _Perfect_, and the _Preperfect_: as, _turning, turned, having turned_."--_Hart cor._ "_Will_ is conjugated regularly, when it is a principal verb: as, present, I _will_; past, I _willed_; &c."--_Frazee cor._ "And both sounds of _x_ are compound: one is that of _gz_, and the other, that of _ks_."--_Id._ "The man is happy; he is benevolent; he is useful."--_L. Mur._, p. 28: _Cooper cor._ "The pronoun stands _in stead_ of the noun: as, 'The man is happy; _he_ is benevolent; _he_ is useful.'"--_L. Murray cor._ "A Pronoun is a word used _in stead_ of a noun, to _prevent_ too frequent _a_ repetition of it: as, 'The man is happy; _he_ is benevolent; _he_ is useful.'"--_Id._ "A Pronoun is a word used in the room of a noun, or as a substitute for one or more words: as, 'The man is happy; _he_ is benevolent; _he_ is useful.'"--_Cooper cor._ "A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or things; as, _Animal, tree, insect, fish, fowl_."--_Id._ "Nouns have three persons; the _first_, the _second_, and the _third_."--_Id._ "_So_ saying, her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she _eat_: Earth felt the wound; and _Nature_ from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of _woe_, That all was lost."--MILTON, P. L., Book ix, l. 780. SECTION IV.--THE PERIOD. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF DISTINCT SENTENCES. "The third person is the position of _a word by which an object is merely_ spoken of; as, 'Paul and Silas were imprisoned.'--'The earth thirsts.'--'The sun shines.'"--_Frazee cor._ "Two, and three, and four, make nine. If he were here, he would assist his father and mother; for he is a dutiful son. They live together, and are happy, because they enjoy each other's society. They went to Roxbury, and tarried all night, and came back the next day."--_Goldsbury cor._ "We often resolve, but seldom perform. She is wiser than her sister. Though he is often advised, yet he does not reform. Reproof either softens or hardens its object. He is as old as his classmates, but not so learned. Neither prosperity, nor adversity, has improved him. Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall. He can acquire no virtue, unless he make some sacrifices."--_Id._ "Down from his neck, with blazing gems array'd, Thy image, lovely Anna! hung portray'd; Th' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, Suspended in a golden chain was seen."--_Falconer._ UNDER RULE II.--OF ALLIED SENTENCES. "This life is a mere prelude to _an other_ which has no limits. _It_ is a little portion of duration. As death leaves us, so the day of _judgement_ will find us."--_Merchant cor._ "He went from Boston to New York.--He went (I say) from Boston; he went to New York. In walking across the floor, he stumbled over a chair."--_Goldsbury corrected_. "I saw him on the spot, going along the road, looking towards the house. During the heat of the day, he sat on the ground, under the shade of a tree."--_Goldsbury corrected_. "'George came home; I saw him yesterday.' _Here_ the word _him_ can extend only to the individual George."--_Barrett corrected_. "Commas are often used now, where parentheses were [adopted] formerly. I cannot, however, esteem this an improvement."--_Bucke's Classical Grammar_, p. 20. "Thou, like a sleeping, faithless sentinel, Didst let them pass unnotic'd, unimprov'd. And know, for that thou _slumberst_ on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar For every fugitive."--COTTON: _Hallock and Enfield cor._ UNDER RULE III.--OF ABBREVIATIONS. "The term _pronoun_ (Lat. _pronomen_) strictly means a word used _for_, or _in stead of_, a noun."--_Bullions corrected_. "The period is also used after abbreviations; as, A. D., P. S., G. W. Johnson."--_N. Butler cor._ "On this principle of classification, the later Greek grammarians divided words into eight classes, or parts of speech: viz., the Article, Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Participle, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction."-- _Bullions cor._ "'_Metre [Melody]_ is not confined to verse: there is a tune in all good prose; and Shakspeare's was a sweet one.'--_Epea Pter._, ii, 61. [_First American Ed._, ii, 50.] Mr. H. Tooke's idea was probably just, agreeing with Aristotle's; but [, if so, it is] not accurately expressed."-- _Churchill cor._ "Mr. J. H. Tooke was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, in which latter college he took the degree of A. M. Being intended for the established church of England, he entered into holy orders when young; and obtained the living of Brentford, near London, which he held ten or twelve years."--_Tooke's Annotator cor._ "I, nor your plan, nor book condemn; But why your name? and why A. M.?"--_Lloyd cor._ MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath," &c.--_Isaiah_, lviii, 13. "He that hath eeris of hervnge, _here he_."--WICKLIFFE: _Matt._, xi, 15. "See General Rules for Spelling, iii, v, and vii."--_N. Butler cor._ "False witnesses did rise up."--_Ps._, xxxv, 11. "An _explicative_ sentence is used for explaining; an _interrogative_ sentence, for inquiring; an _imperative_ sentence, for commanding."-- _Barrett cor._ "In October, corn is gathered in the field by men, who go from hill to hill with baskets, into which they put the ears.--Susan labours with her needle for a livelihood.--Notwithstanding his poverty, he is a man of integrity."--_Golds, cor._ "A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, a dissyllable; a word of three syllables, a trissyllable; a word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable."--_Frazee cor._ "If I say, '_If it did not rain_, I would take a walk;' I convey the idea that it _does_ rain at the time of speaking. '_If it rained_,' or, '_Did it rain_,' in [reference to] the present time, implies _that_ it does _not_ rain. '_If it did not rain_,' or, '_Did it not rain_,' in [reference to the] present time, implies that it _does_ rain. Thus, in this peculiar _application_, an affirmative sentence always implies a negation; and a negative sentence, an affirmation."--_Id._ "'_If I were loved_' and, '_Were I loved_;' imply I am _not_ loved: '_If I were not loved_,' and, '_Were I not loved_,' imply I _am_ loved. A negative sentence implies an affirmation, and an affirmative sentence implies a negation, in these forms of the subjunctive."--_Id._ "What is Rule III?"--_Hart cor._ "How is Rule III violated?"--_Id._ "How do you parse _letter_ in the sentence, 'James writes a letter?' Ans. _Letter_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, _neuter_ gender, and objective case; and is governed by the verb _writes_, according to Rule III, which says, 'A transitive verb governs the objective case.'"--_Id._ "Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the gen'ral pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause; An awful pause! prophetic of her end. And let her prophecy be soon fulfill'd: Fate, drop the curtain; I can lose no more."--_Young_. SECTION V.--THE DASH. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF ABRUPT PAUSES. "And there is something in your very strange story, that resembles--Does Mr. Bevil know your history particularly?"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 149. "Sir,--Mr. Myrtle--Gentlemen--You are friends--I am but a servant--But--"--_Ib._, p. 118. "An other man now would have given plump into this foolish story; but I--No, no, your humble servant for that."--GARRICK, _Neck or Nothing_. "Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou hasten thy trial; which if--Lord have mercy on thee for a hen!"--SHAKSPEARE, _All's Well_. "But ere they came,--O, let me say no more! Gather the sequel by that went before."--IDEM, _Com. of Errors_. UNDER RULE II.--OF EMPHATIC PAUSES. "M,--Malvolio;--M,--why, that begins my name."--SINGER'S SHAK., _Twelfth Night_. "Thus, by the creative influence of the Eternal Spirit, were the heavens and the earth finished in the space of six days--so admirably finished--an unformed chaos changed into a system of perfect order and beauty--that the adorable Architect himself pronounced it _very good_, and _all the sons of God shouted for joy_."--_Historical Reader_, p. 10. "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I never would lay down my arms--never, never, never."--_Pitt's Speech_. "Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,-- Nor your son Dorset;--Buckingham, nor you."--SHAK. UNDER RULE III.--OF FAULTY DASHES. "'You shall go home directly, Le Fevre,' said my uncle Toby, 'to my house; and we'll send for a doctor to see what's the matter; and we'll have an apothecary; and the corporal shall be your nurse: and I'll be your servant, Le Fevre.'"--_Sterne cor._ "He continued: 'Inferior artists may be at a stand, because they want materials.'"--_Harris cor._ "Thus, then, continued he: 'The end, in other arts, is ever distant and removed.'"--_Id._ "The nouns must be coupled with _and_; and when a pronoun is used, it must be plural, as in the example. When the nouns are _disjoined_, the pronoun must be singular."--_Lennie cor._ "_Opinion_ is a common noun, or substantive, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case."--_Wright cor._ "The mountain, thy pall and thy prison, may keep thee; I shall see thee no more, but till death I will weep thee." --_See Felton's Gram._, p. 93. MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "If to accommodate man and beast, heaven and earth--if this be beyond me, 'tis not possible.--What consequence then follows? Or can there be any other than this?--_if_ I seek an interest of my own, detached from that of others, I seek an interest which is chimerical, and can never have existence."--_Harris_. "Again: I must have food and clothing. Without a proper genial warmth, I instantly perish. Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itself?--_to_ the distant sun, from whose beams I derive vigour?"--_Id._ "Nature instantly ebbed again; the film returned to its place; the pulse fluttered--stopped--went on--throbbed--stopped again--moved--stopped.-- Shall I go on?--No."--_Sterne cor._ "Write ten nouns of the masculine gender;--ten of the feminine;--ten of the neuter; ten indefinite in gender."--_Davis cor._ "The infinitive _mood_ has two tenses; the indicative, six; the potential, _four_; the subjunctive, _two_; and the imperative, one."--_Frazee cor._ "Now notice the following sentences: 'John runs.'--'Boys run.'--'Thou runnest.'"--_Id._ "The Pronoun sometimes stands for a name; sometimes for an adjective, a sentence, _or_ a part of a sentence; and, sometimes, for a whole series of propositions."--_Peirce cor._ "The self-applauding bird, the peacock, see; Mark what a sumptuous pharisee is he!"--_Cowper cor._ SECTION VI.--THE EROTEME. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF QUESTIONS DIRECT. "When will his ear delight in the sound of arms? When shall I, like Oscar, travel in the light of my steel?"--_Ossian_, Vol. i, p. 357. "Will Henry call on me, while he shall be journeying south?"--_Peirce cor._ "An Interrogative Pronoun is one that is used in asking a question; as, '_Who_ is he? and _what_ does he want?'"--_P. E. Day cor._ "_Who_ is generally used when we would inquire _about_ some unknown person or persons; as, '_Who_ is that man?'"--_Id._ "_Your_ fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?"--_Zech._, i. 5. "It is true, that some of our best writers have used _than whom_; but it is also true that they have used _other_ phrases which we have rejected as ungrammatical: then why not reject this too?--The sentences in the exercises, with _than who_, are correct as they stand."--_Lennie cor._ "When the perfect participle of an active-intransitive verb is annexed to the neuter verb _to be_, what does the combination form?"--_Hallock cor._ "Those adverbs which answer to the question _where_? _whither_? or _whence_? are called adverbs of _place_."--_Id._ "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"--SCOTT, ALGER, BRUCE, AND OTHERS: _Job_, xi, 7 and 8. "Where, where, for shelter shall the wicked fly, When consternation turns the good man pale?"--_Young_. UNDER RULE II.--OF QUESTIONS UNITED. "Who knows what resources are in store, and what the power of God may do for thee?"--STERNE: _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 307. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"--SCOTT'S BIBLE, ALGER'S, FRIENDS', BRUCE'S, AND OTHERS: _Numb._, xxiii, 19. "Hath the Lord said it, and shall he not do it? hath he spoken it, and shall he not make it good?"--_Lennie and Bullions cor._ "Who calls the council, states the certain day, Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?"--_Pope's Essay_. UNDER RULE III.--OF QUESTIONS INDIRECT. "To be, or not to be;--that is the question."--_Shak. et al. cor._ "If it be asked, why a pause should any more be necessary to emphasis than to an accent,--or why an emphasis alone will not sufficiently distinguish the members of sentences from each other, without pauses, as accent does words,--the answer is obvious: that we are preacquainted with the sound of words, and cannot mistake them when distinctly pronounced, however rapidly; but we are not preacquainted with the meaning of sentences, which must be pointed out to us by the reader or speaker."--_Sheridan cor._ "Cry, 'By your priesthood, tell me what you are.'"--_Pope cor._ MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "Who else can he be?"--_Barrett cor._ "Where else can he go?"--_Id._ "In familiar language, _here, there_, and _where_, are used for _hither, thither_, and _whither_."--_N. Butler cor._ "Take, for instance, this sentence: 'Indolence undermines the foundation of virtue.'"--_Hart cor._ "Take, for instance, the sentence before quoted: 'Indolence undermines the foundation of virtue.'"--_Id._ "Under the same head, are considered such sentences as these: '_He_ that _hath ears to hear_, let him hear.'--'_Gad_, a troop shall overcome him.'"--_Id._ "Tenses are certain modifications of the verb, which point out the distinctions of time."--_Bullions cor._ "Calm was the day, and the scene, delightful."--_Id._ See _Murray's Exercises_, p. 5. "The capital letters used by the Romans to denote numbers, were C, I, L, V, X; which are therefore called Numeral Letters. I denotes _one_; V, _five_; X, _ten_; L, _fifty_; and C, _a hundred_."--_Bullions cor._ "'I shall have written;' viz., at or before some future time or event."--_Id._ "In Latin words, the liquids are _l_ and _r_ only; in Greek words, _l, r, m_, and _n_."--_Id._ "Each legion was divided into ten cohorts; each cohort, into three maniples; and each maniple, into two centuries."--_Id._ "Of the Roman literature previous to A. U. 514, scarcely a vestige remains."--_Id._ "And that which He delights in, must be happy. But when? or where? This world was made for Caesar."--CATO. "Look next on greatness. Say where greatness lies. Where, but among the heroes and the wise?"--_Pope_. SECTION VII--THE ECPHONEME. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF INTERJECTIONS, &c. (1.) "O! that he were wise!"--_Bullions cor._ (2.) "O! that his heart _were_ tender!"--_See Murray's Ex._ or _Key_, under Rule xix. (3 and 4.) "Oh! what a sight is here!"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 71; (Sec.37;) _Pract. Les._, p. 82; _Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 111. (5-9.) "O Virtue! how amiable thou art!"--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 12; _Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 111. (10.) "Oh! that I had been more diligent!"--_Hart cor._; and _Hiley_. (11.) "O! the humiliation to which vice reduces us!"--_Farnum_ and _Mur. cor._ (12.) "O! that he were more prudent!"--_Farnum cor._ (13 and 14.) "Ah me!"--_Davis cor._ (15.) "Lately, alas! I knew a gentle boy," &c.--_Dial cor._ (16 and 17.) "Wo is me, Alhama!"--_Byron's Poems: Wells cor._ UNDER RULE II.--OF INVOCATIONS. "Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O maid of Inistore!"--_Ossian_. "Cease a little while, O wind! stream, be thou silent a while! let my voice be heard around. Let my wanderer hear me! Salgar! it is Colma who calls. Here is the tree, and the rock. Salgar, my love! I am here. Why delayest thou thy coming? Lo! the calm moon comes forth. The flood is bright in the vale."--_Id._, Vol. i, p. 369. "Ah, stay not, stay not! guardless and alone: Hector! my lov'd, my dearest, bravest son!"--_Pope_, II., xxii, 61. UNDER RULE III.--OF EXCLAMATORY QUESTIONS. "How much better is wisdom than gold!"--See _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 272. "O Virtue! how amiable art thou!"--See _Murray's Grammar_, 2d Edition, p. 95. "At that hour, O how vain was all sublunary happiness!"--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 117; see _English Reader_, p. 135. "Alas! how few and transitory are the joys which this world affords to man!"--_P. E. Day cor._ "Oh! how vain and transitory are all things here below!"--_Id._ "And O! what change of state, what change of rank, In that assembly everywhere was seen!"--_Pollok cor._; also _Day_. MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "O _Shame_! where is thy blush?"--_Shak._[557] "_John_, give me my hat."--_Barrett cor._ "What! is Moscow in flames?"--_Id._ "_O_! what happiness awaits the virtuous!"--_Id._ "_Ah, welladay_! do what we can for him, said Trim, maintaining his point,--the poor soul will die."--_Sterne_ or _Enfield cor._; also _Kirkham_. "Will John return to-morrow?"--_Barrett cor._ "Will not John return to-morrow?"--_Id._ "John, return to-morrow."--_Id._ "Soldiers, stand firm."--_Id._ "If _mea_, which means _my_, is an adjective in Latin, why may not _my_ be so called in English? and if my is an adjective, why not _Barrett's_?"--_Id._ "O Absalom, my son!"--See _2 Sam._, xix, 4. "O star-eyed Science! whither hast thou fled?"--_Peirce cor._ "Why do you tolerate your own inconsistency, by calling it the present tense?"--_Id._ "Thus the declarative mood [i.e., the indicative mood] may be used in asking a question: as, '_What_ man _is_ frail?'"--_Id._ "What connection has motive, wish, or supposition, with the the term _subjunctive_?"--_Id._ "A grand reason, truly, for calling it a golden key!"--_Id._ "What '_suffering_' the man who can say this, must be enduring!"--_Id._ "What is Brown's Rule in relation to this matter?"--_Id._ "Alas! how short is life!"--_P. E. Day cor._ "Thomas, study your book."--_Id._ "Who can tell us who they are?"--_Sanborn cor._ "Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and sorely vexed."--See _Matt._, xvii, 15. "O ye wild groves! O where is now your bloom?"--_Felton cor._ "O who of man the story will unfold?"--_Farnum cor._. "Methought I heard Horatio say, To-morrow. Go to--I will not hear of it--to-morrow!"--COTTON. "How his eyes languish! how his thoughts adore That painted coat which Joseph never wore!" SECTION VIII.--THE CURVES. CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF PARENTHESES. "_Another_ [, better written as a phrase, _An other_,] is composed of the indefinite article _an_, (which etymologically means _one_,) and _other_; and denotes _one other_."--_Hallock cor._ "Each mood has its peculiar Tense, Tenses, or Times."--_Bucke cor._ "In some very ancient languages, (as the Hebrew,) which have been employed chiefly for expressing plain sentiments in the plainest manner, without aiming at any elaborate length or harmony of periods, this pronoun [the relative] occurs not so often."--_L. Murray cor._ "Before I shall say those things, O Conscript Fathers! about the public affairs, which are to be spoken at this time; I shall lay before you, in few words, the motives of the journey and the return."--_Brightland cor._ "Of well-chose words some take not care enough, And think they should be, like the subject, rough."--_Id._ "Then, having _showed_ his wounds, he'd sit him down."--_Bullions cor._ UNDER RULE II.--OF INCLUDED POINTS. "Then Jael smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it _into_ the ground: (for he was fast asleep, and weary:) so he died."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Judges_, iv, 21. "Every thing in the Iliad has manners, (as Aristotle expresses it,) that is, every thing is acted or spoken."--_Pope cor._ "Those nouns that end in _f_, or _fe_. (except some few _which_ I shall mention presently,) form plurals by changing those letters into _ves_: as, thief, _thieves_: wife, _wives_."--_Bucke cor._ "_As_ requires _as_; (expressing equality _of degree_;) _thus_, 'Mine is _as_ good _as_ yours.' _As_ [requires] _so_; (expressing equality _or proportion_;) _thus_, '_As_ the stars, _so_ shall thy seed be.' _So_ [requires] _as_; (with a negative expressing inequality;) _as_, 'He is _not so_ wise _as_ his brother.' _So_ [requires] _that_; (expressing _a_ consequence:) _as_, 'I am _so_ weak _that_ I cannot walk.'" [558]--_Bullions cor._ "A captious question, sir, (and yours is one,) Deserves an answer similar, or none."--_Cowper cor._ MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "Whatever words the verb TO BE serves to unite, referring to the same thing, must be of the same case; (Sec.61;) as, '_Alexander_ is a _student_.'"--_Bullions cor._ "When the objective is a relative _or_ [_an_] interrogative, it comes before the verb that governs it: (Sec.40, Rule 9:) Murray's 6th rule is unnecessary."--_Id._ "It is generally improper, except in poetry, to omit the antecedent to a relative; and always, to omit a relative, when of the nominative case."--_Id._ "In every sentence, there must be a verb and a nominative or subject, expressed or understood."--_Id._ "Nouns and pronouns, and especially words denoting time, are often governed by prepositions understood; or are used to restrict verbs or adjectives, without a governing word: (Sec.50, Rem. 6 and Rule:) as, 'He gave [to] me a full account of the affair.'"--_Id._ "When _should_ is used in stead of _ought_, to express _present_ duty, (Sec.20, 4,) it may be followed by the present; as, 'You _should_ study that you _may_ become learned.'"--_Id._ "The indicative present is frequently used after the words _when, till, before, as soon as, after_, to express the relative time of a future action: (Sec.24, I, 4;) as, 'When he _comes_, he will be welcome.'"--_Id._ "The relative is parsed, [_according to Bullions_,] by stating its gender, number, case, and antecedent; (the gender and number being always the same as those of the antecedent;) thus, 'The boy who'--'_Who_ is a relative pronoun, masculine, singular, the nominative; and refers to '_boy_' as its antecedent."--_Id._ "'Now, now, I seize, I clasp _thy_ charms; And now _you_ burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'--_Pope_. "Here is an unnecessary change from the second person singular to the second _person_ plural. _The text_ would have been better, thus:-- 'Now, now, I seize, I clasp _your_ charms; And now _you_ burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'"--_John Burn cor._ See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 35; _Churchill's_, 293. SECTION IX.--ALL POINTS. MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED. "The principal stops are the following: the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period, or Full Stop [.], the Note of Interrogation [?], the Note of Exclamation [!], the Parenthesis [()], and the Dash [--]."--_Bullions cor._ "The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English. The _chief_ marks employed are the Comma [,], _the_ Semicolon [;], _the_ Colon [:], _the_ Period [.], _the Note of_ Interrogation [?], _the Note of_ Exclamation (!), _the Parenthesis_ [()], _and the Dash_ [--]."--_Id._ "Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game, 'You chide me,' says the youth, 'for a trifling fault.' 'Custom,' replied the philosopher, 'is no trifle.' 'And,' adds _Montaigne_, 'he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy.'"--_Home cor._ "A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died. 'My father,' says the skipper, 'my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned.' 'Well,' replies the merchant, 'and are not you afraid of being drowned too?'"--_Id._ "The use of inverted commas derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and,] as an acknowledgement for the improvement, his countrymen call them after his name, GUILLEMETS."--_Hist. cor._ "This, however, is seldom if ever done, unless the word following the possessive begins with _s_; thus, we do not say, 'the _prince_' feather;' but, 'the _prince's_ feather.'"--_Bullions cor._ "And this phrase must mean, '_the feather of the prince_;' but '_prince's-feather_,' written as one word, [and with both apostrophe and hyphen,] is the name of a plant, a species of amaranth."--_G. Brown_. "Boethius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honours his country could bestow."--_Ingersoll cor._; also _L. Murray_. "When an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced, it is separated from the rest of the sentence either by a _comma_ or _by_ a colon; as, 'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _God is love_.'"--_Hiley cor._ "Either the colon or _the comma_ may be used, [according to the nature of the case,] when an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced; as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim: _Know thyself_.'--'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _God is love_.'"--_Bullions cor._ "The first word of a quotation introduced after a colon, or _of any sentence quoted_ in a direct form, must begin with a capital: as, '_Always_ remember this ancient maxim: _Know_ thyself.'--'Our great lawgiver says, _Take_ up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Bullions and Lennie cor._; also _L. Murray_; also _Weld_. See _Luke_, ix, 23. "Tell me, in whose house do you live?"--_N. Butler cor._ "He that acts wisely, deserves praise."--_Id._ "He who steals my purse, steals trash."--_Id._ "The antecedent is _sometimes_ omitted; as, 'Who steals my purse, steals trash.'--[_Shak._] That is, '_He_ who,' or, 'The _person_ who.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever steals my purse, steals trash;'--'Whoever does no good, does harm.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever sins, will suffer.' This means, that any one, without exception, who sins, will suffer."--_Id._ "Letters form syllables; syllables, words; words, sentences; and sentences, combined and connected, form discourse."--_Cooper cor._ "A letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered by itself, is called a vowel; as, _a, e, i_."--_Id._ "A proper noun is the name of an individual, [or of a particular people or place]; as, John, Boston, Hudson, America."--_Id._ "Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing; more, a cunning thing; but very few, a generous thing."--_Davis cor._ "In the place of an ellipsis of the verb, a comma must be inserted."--_Id._ "A common noun unlimited by an article, is sometimes understood in its broadest acceptation: thus, '_Fishes_ swim,' is understood to mean _all_ fishes; '_Man_ is mortal,' _all_ men."--_Id._ "Thus, those sounds formed principally by the throat, are called _gutturals_; those formed principally by the palate, _palatals_; those formed by the teeth, _dentals_; those by the lips, _labials; and_ those by the nose, _nasals_."--_Davis cor._ "Some adjectives are compared irregularly: as, _Good, letter, best; Bad, worse, worst; Little, less, least_."--_Felton cor._ "Under the fourth head of grammar, therefore, four topics will be considered; viz., PUNCTUATION, ORTHOEPY [sic--KTH], FIGURES, and VERSIFICATION."--_Hart cor._ "Direct her onward to that peaceful shore, Where peril, pain, and death, are felt no more!"--_Falconer cor._ GOOD ENGLISH RIGHTLY POINTED. LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "Discoveries of such a character are sometimes made in grammar also; and such, too, _are_ often their origin and their end."--_Bullions cor._ "TRAVERSE, [literally to _cross_,] To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, _or the like_, is to deny it."--_Id._ "The _Ordinal_ numerals denote the _order_, or _succession_, in which any number of persons or things _are_ mentioned; as, _first, second, third_, fourth, &c."--_Hiley cor._ "Nouns have three persons; _the_ First, _the_ Second, and _the_ Third. The First person is _that which denotes_ the speaker: the Second is _that which denotes the person or thing_ spoken to; the Third is _that which denotes_ the _person or thing merely_ spoken of."--_Hart cor._ "Nouns have three cases; _the_ Nominative, _the_ Possessive, and _the_ Objective. The _relations_ indicated by the _cases_ of a noun, _include_ three _distinct_ ideas; viz., those of subject, object, and ownership."--_Id._ "In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose sex is not known or not regarded, _we_ often _treat them_ as without sex: thus, we say of a cat, '_It_ is treacherous;' of an infant, '_It_ is beautiful;' of a deer, '_It_ was killed.'"--_Id._ "When THIS _and_ THAT, or THESE _and_ THOSE, refer to a preceding sentence; THIS or THESE _represents_ the latter member or term, _and_ THAT or THOSE, the former."--_Churchill cor._; and _Lowth_. "The rearing of them became his first care; their fruit, his first food; and _the_ marking _of_ their kinds, his first knowledge."--_N. Butler cor._ "After the period used with abbreviations, we should employ other points, if the construction demands _them_; thus, after 'Esq.,' in the last example, there should be, besides _the_ period, a comma."--_Id._ "In the plural, the verb _has_ the same _form_ in all the persons; _but still_ the principle in _Rem._ 5, under Rule iii, that the first or second person takes precedence, is applicable to verbs, _in parsing_."--_Id._ "Rex and Tyrannus are of very different characters. The one rules his people by laws to which they consent; the other, by his absolute will and power: that _government_ is called freedom; this, tyranny."--_L. Murray cor._ "A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, _that_ can be known or mentioned: as, George, London, America, goodness, charity."--See _Brown's Institutes_, p. 31. "Etymology treats of the classification of words, their various modifications, and _their derivation_"--_P. E. Day cor._ "To punctuate correctly, implies a thorough acquaintance with the meaning of words and phrases, as well as _with_ all their corresponding connexions."--_W. Day cor._ "All objects _that_ belong to neither the male nor _the_ female kind, are said to be of the neuter gender, _except certain things personified_."--_Weld cor twice_. "The Analysis of the Sounds in the English language, presented in the preceding statements, _is_ sufficiently exact for the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue _the subject_ further, can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, 'The Philosophy of the Human Voice.'"--_Fowler cor._ "Nobody confounds the name of _w_ or _y_ with _the_ sound _of the letter_, or _with its_ phonetic import."--_Id._ [[Fist] This assertion is hardly true. Strange as such a blunder is, it has actually occurred. See, in Orthography, Obs. 5, on the Classes of the Letters, at p. 156.--G. B.] "Order is Heav'n's first law; and, this _confess'd_, Some are, and must be, greater than the rest."--_Pope_. LESSON II--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "_From_ adjectives of one syllable, _and some of two_, the comparative is formed by adding _r_ or _er_ to the positive; and the superlative, by adding _st_ or _est_: as, _sweet, sweeter, sweetest_; _able, abler, ablest_."--_Bullions cor._ "_From_ monosyllables, _or from dissyllables ending with a vowel or the accent_, the comparative is formed by adding _er_ or _r_ to the positive; and the superlative, by adding _est_ or _st_: as, _tall, taller, tallest_; _wise, wiser, wisest_; _holy, holier, holiest_; _complete, completer, completest_."--_Id._ "By this method, the confusion and unnecessary labour occasioned by studying grammars, in these languages, constructed on different principles, _are_ avoided; the study of one is rendered a profitable introduction to the study of an other; and an opportunity is furnished to the _inquiring_ student, of comparing the languages in their grammatical structure, and _of_ seeing at once wherein they agree, and wherein they differ."--_Id._ "No larger portion should be assigned for each recitation, than the class can easily master; and, till _the previous lessons are well learned_, a new portion should not be given out."--_Id._ "The acquisitions made in every new lesson, should be _riveted_ and secured by repeated revisals."--_Id._ "The personal pronouns may be parsed briefly, thus: '_I_ is a personal pronoun, _of_ the first _person_, singular _number_, masculine _gender_, (feminine, if the speaker is a female,) _and_ nominative _case_.' '_His is_ a personal pronoun, _of_ the third _person_, singular _number_, masculine _gender, and_ possessive _case_.'"--_Id._ "When the male and _the_ female are expressed by distinct terms, as, _shepherd, shepherdess_, the masculine term has also a general meaning, expressing both male and female; and is always to be used when the office, occupation, _or_ profession, and not the sex, of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed; the feminine term being used only when the discrimination of sex is indispensably necessary. Thus, when it is said, 'The poets of this country are distinguished _for_ correctness of taste,' the term 'poets' clearly includes both male and female writers of poetry."--_Id._ "Nouns and pronouns connected by conjunctions, must be in the same _case_"--_Ingersoll cor._ "Verbs connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, must _generally_ be in the _same mood_ and _tense_; and, when _the tense has different forms_, they must be in the same form."--_Id._ "This will habituate him to reflection; exercise his _judgement_ on the meaning of the author; and, without any great effort on his part, impress indelibly on his memory the rules which he is required to give. After the exercises under _any_ rule have been gone through, _agreeably to the direction_ in the note _at the bottom of_ page _88th_, they may be read over again in a corrected state, the pupil making an emphasis on the correction made; or they may be presented in writing, at the next recitation."--_Bullions cor._ "Man, but for that, no action could attend; And, but for this, _were active_ to no end."--_Pope_. LESSON III.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES. "'Johnson, the bookseller and stationer' indicates that _bookseller_ and _stationer_ are _terms_ belonging to the same person; 'the bookseller and the stationer,' would indicate that they belong to different persons."--_Bullions cor._ "_Past_ is [commonly] an adjective; _passed_, the past tense or perfect participle of the verb: and they ought not (as _they_ frequently _are_) to be confounded with each other."--_Id._ "Not only the nature of the thoughts and sentiments, but the very selection _or_ arrangement of the words, gives English poetry a character which separates it widely from common prose."--_Id._ "Men of sound, discriminating, and philosophical minds--men prepared for the work by long study, patient investigation, and extensive acquirements--have laboured for ages to improve and perfect it; and nothing is hazarded in asserting, that, should it be unwisely abandoned, it will be long before an other, equal in beauty, stability, and usefulness, _will_ be produced in its stead."--_Id._, on the common "system of English Grammar." "The article _the_, on the other hand, is used to restrict; and is therefore termed _Definite_. Its proper office is, to call the attention to a particular individual or class, or to any number of such; and _accordingly it_ is used with nouns _of_ either number, singular or plural."--_Id._ "Hence, also, the infinitive mood, a participle _with its adjuncts_, a member of a sentence, or a _whole_ proposition, forming the subject of discourse, or the object of a verb or preposition, and being the name of an act or circumstance, _is_, in construction, regarded as a _noun_; and _is_ usually called, 'a substantive phrase:' as, '_To play_, is pleasant.'--'_That he is an expert dancer_, is no recommendation.'--'Let your motto be, _Honesty is the best policy_.'"--_Id._ "In accordance with his definition, Murray has divided verbs into three classes: _Active, Passive_, and _Neuter_;--and _included_ in the first class transitive verbs only; and, in the last, all verbs used intransitively"--_Id._ "Moreover, as the name of the speaker or _that of_ the person spoken to is seldom expressed, (the _pronoun_ I being used _for the former_, and THOU _or_ YOU _for the latter_,) a noun is very _rarely_ in the first person; not often in the second; and _hardly ever_ in either, unless it _is_ a proper noun, or a common noun _denoting an object_ personified."--_Id._ "In using the _parsing_ exercises, it will save much time, (_and this saving_ is _all-important_,) if the pupil be taught to say _all things_ belonging to the noun, in the fewest words possible; and to say them always in the same order, _after the example_ above."--_Id._ "In any phrase or sentence, the adjectives qualifying a noun may generally be found by prefixing the phrase, 'What kind of,' to the noun, in the form of a question; as, 'What kind of horse?' 'What kind of stone?' 'What kind of way?' The word containing the answer to the question, is an adjective."--_Id._ "In the following exercise, let the pupil first point out the nouns, and then the adjectives; and tell how he knows them to be _such_."--_Id._ "In the following sentences, point out the improper _ellipses_; _show_ why _they are_ improper; and correct _them_."--_Id._ "SINGULAR. PLURAL. 1. I am smitten, 1. We are smitten, 2. Thou art smitten, 2. You are smitten, 3. He is smitten; 3. They are smitten."--_Wright cor._ CHAPTER II.--UTTERANCE. The second chapter of Prosody, treating of articulation, pronunciation, elocution and the minor topics that come under Utterance, contains no exercises demanding correction in this Key. CHAPTER III.--FIGURES. In the third chapter of Prosody, the several Figures of speech are explained; and, as the illustrations embrace no errors for correction, nothing here corresponds to the chapter, but the title. CHAPTER IV.--VERSIFICATION. FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE, CORRECTED. LESSON I.--RHYTHM RESTORED. "Where thy true treasure? Gold says, 'Not in me.'" --_Young_. "Canst thou grow sad, thou _say'st_, as earth grows bright." --_Dana_. "It must be so;--Plato, thou _reason'st_ well" --CATO: _Enfield_, p. 321. "Slow rises _worth_ by poverty depressed." --_Wells's Gram., Late Ed._, p. 211. "Rapt _into_ future times, the bard begun." --POPE.--_Ib._, p. 165. "Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens To wash it white as snow? _Whereto_ serves mercy But to confront the visage of offence?" --_Shak., Hamlet_. "Look! in this place ran _Cassius_' dagger through." --_Id., J. Caesar_. "_And_ when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw." --_Milton, Lycidas_. "Did not great Julius bleed for _justice'_ sake?" --_Dodd and Shak. cor._ "May I _express thee' unblam'd? since_ God is light" --_Milton_, B. iii, l. 3. "Or _hear'st_ thou rather pure ethereal stream?" --_Id._, B. iii, l. 7. "Republics, kingdoms, empires, may decay; _Great_ princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought." --_Peirce or La-Rue cor._ "Thou _bringst_, gay creature as thou art, A solemn image to my heart." --_Hallock cor._ "Know _then_ thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is Man." --_Pope, on Man_, Ep. ii, l. 1. "Raised on _pilasters high_ of _burnished_ gold." --_Dr. S. Butler cor._ "Love in _Adalgise_' breast has fixed his sting." --_Id._ "Thirty days _each have_ September, April, June, and _old_ November; _Each_ of the rest _has_ thirty-one, Bating February alone, Which has twenty-eight in fine, Till leap-year gives it twenty-nine." --_Dean Colet cor._ LESSON II.--RHYTHM RESTORED. "'Twas not the fame of what he once had been, Or tales in _records old_ and annals seen." --_Rowe cor._ "And Asia now and Afric are explored For high-priced dainties and _the_ citron board." --_Rowe cor._ "Who knows not how the trembling judge beheld The peaceful court with _arm~ed_ legions fill'd?" --_Rowe cor._ "With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er, With thee _the_ burning Libyan sands explore." --_Rowe cor._ "Hasty and headlong, different paths they tread, As _impulse blind_ and wild distraction lead." --_Rowe cor._ "But Fate reserv'd _him_ to perform its doom, And be the minister of wrath to Rome." --_Rowe cor._ "Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus _express'd_ The sacred counsels of his inmost breast." --_Rowe cor._ "These were the _rigid_ manners of the man, This _was_ the stubborn course in which they ran; The golden mean unchanging to pursue, Constant to keep the _purpos'd_ end in view." --_Rowe cor._ "What greater grief can _on_ a Roman seize, Than to be forced to live on terms like these!" --_Rowe cor._ "He views the naked town with joyful eyes, While from his rage an _arm~ed_ people flies." --_Rowe cor._ "For planks and beams, he ravages the wood, And the tough _oak_ extends across the flood." --_Rowe cor._ "A narrow pass the horn~ed mole divides. Narrow as that where _strong Euripus_' tides Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides." --_Rowe cor._ "No force, no fears their hands _unarm~ed_ bear,"--or, "No force, no fears their hands unarm'd _now_ bear, But looks of peace and gentleness they wear." --_Rowe cor._ "The ready warriors all aboard them ride, And wait return of the retiring tide." --_Rowe cor._ "He saw those troops that long had faithful stood, Friends to his cause, and enemies to good, Grown weary of their chief, and _satiate_ with blood." --_Rowe cor._ END OF THE KEY. APPENDIX I. TO PART FIRST, OR ORTHOGRAPHY. OF THE SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS. In the first chapter of Part I, the powers of the letters, or the elementary sounds of the English language, were duly enumerated and explained; for these, as well as the letters themselves, are few, and may be fully stated in few words: but, since we often express the same sound in many different ways, and also, in some instances, give to the same letter several different sounds,--or, it may be, no sound at all,--any adequate account of the powers of the letters considered severally according to usage,--that is, of the sound or sounds of each letter, with its mute positions, as these occur in practice,--must, it was thought, descend to a minuteness of detail not desirable in the first chapter of Orthography. For this reason, the following particulars have been reserved to be given here as an Appendix, pertaining to the First Part of this English Grammar. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--A proper discrimination of the different vowel sounds by the epithets most commonly used for this purpose,--such as _long_ and _short, broad_ and _slender, open_ and _close_, or _open_ and _shut_,--is made difficult, if not impossible, by reason of the different, and sometimes directly contradictory senses in which certain orthoepists [sic--KTH] have employed such terms. Wells says, "Vowel sounds are called _open_ or _close_, according to the _relative size of the opening_ through which the voice passes in forming them. Thus, _a_ in _father_, and _o_ in _nor_, are called _open_ sounds, because they are formed by a _wide opening_ of the organs of speech; while _e_ in _me_, and _u_ in _rule_, are called _close_ sounds, because the organs are _nearly closed_ in uttering them."--_School Grammar_, 1850, p. 32. Good use should fix the import of words. How does the passage here cited comport with this hint of Pope? "These equal syllables alone require, _Though oft the ear the open_ vowels tire." --_Essay on Criticism_, l. 344. OBS. 2.--Walker, too, in his Principles, 64 and 65, on page 19th of his Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, mentions a similar distinction of vowels, "which arises from _the different apertures_ of the mouth in forming them;" and says, "We accordingly find vowels denominated by the French, _ouvert_ and _ferme_; by the Italians, _aperto_ and _chiuso_; and by the English [,] _open_ and _shut_. But whatever propriety there may be in the use of these terms in other languages, it is certain they must be used with caution in English for fear of confounding them with _long_ and _short_. Dr. Johnson and other grammarians call the _a_ in _father_ the _open a_: which may, indeed, distinguish it from the _slender a_ in _paper_; but not from the _broad a_ in _water_, which is still more _open_. Each of these letters [the seven vowels] has a _short_ sound, which may be called a _shut_ sound; but the _long_ sounds cannot be so properly denominated _open_ as more or less _broad_; that is, the _a_ in _paper_, the slender sound; the _a_ in _father_, the broadish or middle sound; and the _a_ in _water_, the broad sound. The same may be observed of the _o_. This letter has three long sounds, heard in _move, note, nor_; which graduate from slender to broadish, and broad [,] like [those three sounds of] the _a_. The _i_ also in _mine_ may be called the broad _i_, and that in _machine_, the slender _i_; though each of them is equally _long_; and though these vowels that are _long_ [,] may be said to be more or less _open_ according to the different apertures of the mouth in forming them, yet the _short_ vowels cannot be said to be more or less _shut_; for as _short_ always implies _shut_ (except in verse,) though _long_ does not always imply _open_, we must be careful not to confound _long_ and _open_, and _close_ and _shut_, when we speak of the quantity and quality of the vowels. The truth of it is," continues he, "all vowels either terminate a syllable, or are united with a consonant. In the first case, if the accent be on the syllable, the vowel is _long_, though it may not be _open_: in the second case, where a syllable is terminated by a consonant, except that consonant be _r_, whether the accent be on the syllable or not, the vowel has its _short_ sound, which, compared with its long one, may be called _shut_: but [,] as no vowel can be said to be _shut_ that is not joined to a consonant, _all vowels that end syllables_ may be said to be _open_, whether the accent be on them or not."--_Crit. Pron. Dict._, New York, 1827, p. 19. OBS. 3.--These suggestions of Walker's, though each in itself may seem clear and plausible, are undoubtedly, in several respects, confused and self-contradictory. _Open_ and _shut_ are here inconsistently referred first to one principle of distinction, and then to another;--first, (as are "_open_ and _close_" by Wells,) to "the _relative size_ of the opening," or to "the _different apertures_ of the mouth;" and then, in the conclusion, to the _relative position_ of the vowels with respect to other letters. These principles improperly give to each of the contrasted epithets two very different senses: as, with respect to aperture, _wide_ and _narrow_; with respect to position, _closed_ and _unclosed_. Now, that _open_ may mean _unclosed_, or _close_ be put _for closed_, is not to be questioned; but that _open_ is a good word for _wide_, or that _shut_ (not to say _close_) can well mean _narrow_, is an assumption hardly scholarlike. According to Walker, "_we must be careful_ not to confound" _open_ with _long_, or _shut_ with _short_, or _close_ with _shut_; and yet, if he himself does not, in the very paragraph above quoted, confound them all,--does not identify in sense, or fail to distinguish, the two words in each of these pairs,--I know not who can need his "caution." If there are vowel sounds which graduate through several degrees of openness or broadness, it would seem most natural to express these by regularly comparing the epithet preferred; as, _open, opener, openest_; or _broad, broader, broadest_. And again, if "all vowels that end syllables may be said to be open," then it is not true, that "the long sounds" of _a_ in _paper, father, water_, cannot be so "denominated;" or that to "call the _a_ in _father_ the _open a_, may, indeed, distinguish it from the slender _a_ in _paper_." Nor, on this principle, can it be said that "the broad _a_ in _water_ is still _more open_;" for this a no more "ends a syllable" than the others. If any vowel sound is to be called the _open_ sound because the letter ends a syllable, or is not shut by a consonant, it is, undoubtedly, the _primal_ and _most usual_ sound, as found in the letter when accented, and not some other of rare occurrence. OBS. 4.--Dr. Perley says, "It is greatly to be regretted that the different sounds of a vowel should be called by the names _long, short, slender_, and _broad_, which convey no idea of the nature of the sound, for _mat_ and _not_ are as long in poetry as _mate_ and _note_. The first sound of a vowel[,] as [that of _a_ in] _fate_[,] may be called _open_, because it is the sound which the vowel generally has when it ends a syllable; the second sound as [that of _a_ in] _fat_, may be called _close_, because it is the sound which the vowel generally has when it is joined with a consonant following in the same syllable, as _fat-ten_; when there are more than two sounds of any vowel[,] they may be numbered onward; as 3 _far_, 4 _fall_."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 73. OBS. 5.--Walker thought a long or short vowel sound essential to a long or short quantity in any syllable. By this, if he was wrong in it, (as, in the chapter on Versification, I have argued that he was,) he probably disturbed more the proper distinction of quantities, than that of vowel sounds. As regards _long_ and _short_, therefore, Perley's regret seems to have cause; but, in making the same objection to "_slender_ and _broad_," he reasons illogically. So far as his view is right, however, it coincides with the following earlier suggestion: "The terms _long_ and _short_, which are often used to denote certain vowel sounds; being also used, with a different import, to distinguish the quantity of syllables, are frequently misunderstood; for which reason, we have substituted for them the terms _open_ and _close_;--the former, to denote the sound usually given to a vowel when it _forms_ or _ends_ an accented syllable; as, _ba, be, bi, bo, bu, by_;--the latter, to denote the sound which the vowel commonly takes when closed by a consonant; as, _ab, eb, ib, ob, ub_"--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 285. I. OF THE LETTER A. The vowel A has _four_ sounds properly its own; they are named by various epithets: as, 1. The English, open, full, long, or slender _a_; as in _aid, fame, favour, efficacious_. 2. The French, close, curt, short, or stopped _a_; as in _bat, banner, balance, carrying_. 3. The Italian, broadish, grave, or middle _a_; as in _far, father, aha, comma, scoria, sofa_. 4. The Dutch, German, Old-Saxon, or broad _a_; as in _wall, haul, walk, warm, water_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Concerning the number of sounds pertaining to the vowel _a_, or to certain other particular letters, and consequently in regard to the whole number of the sounds which constitute the oral elements of the English language, our educational literati,--the grammarians, orthoepists [sic--KTH], orthographers, elocutionists, phonographers, and lexicographers,--are found to have entertained and inculcated a great variety of opinions. In their different countings, the number of our phonical elements varies from twenty-six to more than forty. Wells says there are "_about forty_ elementary sounds."--_School Gram._, Sec.64. His first edition was more positive, and stated them at "_forty-one_." See the last and very erroneous passage which I have cited at the foot of page 162. In Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary, there appear to be noted several _more_ than _forty-one_, but I know not whether this author, or Walker either, has anywhere told us how many of his marked sounds he considered to be severally different from all others. Sheridan and Jones admitted _twenty-eight_. Churchill acknowledges, as undisputed and indisputable, only _twenty-six_; though he enumerates, "Of simple vowel sounds, _twelve_, or _perhaps thirteen_" (New Grammar, p. 5,) and says, "The consonant sounds in the English language, are _nineteen_, or _rather twenty_."--P. 13. OBS. 2.--Thus, while Pitman, Comstock, and others, are amusing themselves with the folly of inventing new "Phonetic Alphabets," or of overturning all orthography to furnish "a character for each of the 38 elementary sounds," more or fewer, one of the acutest observers among our grammarians can fix on no number more definite or more considerable than _thirty-one, thirty-two_, or _thirty-three_; and the finding of these he announces with a "_perhaps_," and the admission that other writers object to as many as _five_ of the questionable number. Churchill's vowel sounds, he says, "may be found in the following words: 1. B_a_te, 2. B_a_t, 3. B_a_ll; 4. B_e_t, 5. B_e_; 6. B_i_t; 7. B_o_t, 8. B_o_ne, 9. B_oo_n; 10. B_u_t, 11. B_u_ll; 12. Lovel_y_; 13. _W_ool."--_New Grammar_, p. 5. To this he adds: "Many of the writers on orthoepy [sic--KTH], however, consider the first and fourth of the sounds above distinguished as actually the same, the former differing from the latter only by being lengthened in the pronunciation. They also reckon the seventh sound, to be the third shortened; the twelfth, the fifth shortened; and the eleventh, the ninth shortened. Some consider the fifth and sixth as differing only in length; and most esteem the eleventh and thirteenth as identical."--_Ib._ OBS. 3.--Now, it is plain, that these six identifications, or so many of them as are admitted, must diminish by six, or by the less number allowed, the thirteen vowel sounds enumerated by this author. By the best authorities, _W_ initial, as in "_W_ool." is reckoned a _consonant_; and, of course, its sound is supposed to differ in some degree from that of _oo_ in "B_oo_n," or that of _u_ in "B_u_ll,"--the ninth sound or the eleventh in the foregoing series. By Walker, Murray, and other popular writers, the sound of _y_ in "Lovel_y_" is accounted to be essentially the same as that of _e_ in "B_e_." The twelfth and the thirteenth, then, of this list, being removed, and three others added,--namely, the _a_ heard in _far_, the _i_ in _fine_, and the _u_ in _fuse_,--we shall have the _fourteen vowel sounds_ which are enumerated by L. Murray and others, and adopted by the author of the present work. OBS. 4.--Wells says, "_A_ has _six_ sounds:--1. Long; as in _late_. 2. Grave; as in _father_. 3. Broad; as in _fall_. 4. Short; as in _man_. 5. The sound heard in _care, hare_. 6. Intermediate between _a_ in _man_ and _a_ in _father_; as in _grass, pass, branch_."--_School Grammar_, 1850, p. 33. Besides these six, Worcester recognizes a seventh sound,--the "_A obscure_; as in _liar, rival_"--_Univ. and Crit. Dict._, p. ix. Such a multiplication of the oral elements of our first vowel.--or, indeed, any extension of them beyond four,--appears to me to be unadvisable; because it not only makes our alphabet the more defective, but is unnecessary, and not sustained by our best and most popular orthoepical [sic--KTH] authorities. The sound of _a_ in _liar_, (and in _rival_ too, if made "_obscure_") is a borrowed one, pertaining more properly to the letter _u_. In _grass, pass_, and _branch_, properly uttered, the _a_ is essentially the same as in _man_. In _care_ and _hare_, we have the first sound of _a_, made as slender as the _r_ will admit. OBS. 5.--Concerning his fifth sound of _a_, Wells cites authorities thus: "Walker, Webster, Sheridan, Fulton and Knight, Kenrick, Jones, and Nares, give _a_ in _care_ the _long_ sound of _a_, as in _late_. Page and Day give it the _short_ sound of _a_, as in _mat_. See Page's Normal Chart, and Day's Art of Elocution. Worcester and Perry make the sound of _a_ in _care_ a separate element; and this distinction is also recognized by Russell, Mandeville, and Wright. See Russell's Lessons in Enunciation, Mandeville's Elements of Reading and Oratory, and Wright's Orthography."--_Wells's School Grammar_, p. 34. Now the opinion that _a_ in _care_ has its long, primal sound, and is not properly "a separate element," is maintained also by Murray, Hiley, Bullions, Scott, and Cobb; and is, undoubtedly, much more prevalent than any other. It accords, too, with the scheme of Johnson. To count this _a_ by itself, seems too much like a distinction without a difference. OBS. 6.--On his sixth sound of _a_, Wells remarks as follows: "Many persons pronounce this _a_ incorrectly, giving it either the grave or the short sound. Perry, Jones, Nares, Webster, and Day, give to _a_ in _grass_ the grave sound, as in _father_; while Walker, Jamieson, and Russell, give it the short sound, as in _man_. But good speakers generally pronounce _a_ in _grass, plant_, etc., as a distinct element, intermediate between the grave and the short sound."--_School Gram._, p. 34. He also cites Worcester and Smart to the same effect; and thinks, with the latter, "_There can be no harm_ in avoiding the censure of both parties by _shunning the extreme_ that offends the taste of each."--_Ib._, p. 35. But I say, that a needless multiplication of questionable vowel powers difficult to be discriminated, _is_ "harm," or a fault in teaching; and, where intelligent orthoepists [sic--KTH] dispute whether words have "the _grave_ or the _short_ sound" of _a_, how can others, who condemn both parties, acceptably split the difference, and form "a distinct element" in the interval? Words are often mispronounced, and the French or close _a_ may be mistaken for the Italian or broadish _a_, and _vice versa_; but, between the two, there does not appear to be room for an other distinguishable from both. Dr. Johnson says, (inaccurately indeed,) "_A_ has _three_ sounds, the slender, [the] open, and [the] broad. _A_ slender is found in _most words_, as _face, mane_. _A_ open is the _a_ of the Italian, or nearly resembles it; as _father, rather, congratulate, fancy, glass_. _A_ broad resembles the _a_ of the German; as _all, wall, call_. [fist] The _short a_ approaches to the _a_ open, as _grass_."--_Johnson's Grammar, in his Quarto Dictionary_, p. 1. Thus the same word, _grass_, that serves Johnson for an example of "the _short a_" is used by Wells and Worcester to exemplify the "_a intermediate_;" while of the Doctor's five instances of what he calls the "_a open_," three, if not four, are evidently such as nearly all readers nowadays would call close or short! OBS. 7.--There are several grammarians who agree in ascribing to our first vowel _five_ sounds, but who nevertheless oppose one an other in making up the five. Thus, according to Hart, "A has five sounds of its own, as in fate, fare, far, fall, fat,"--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 26. According to W. Allen, "A has five sounds;--the long or slender, as in _cane_; the short or open, as in _can_; the middle, as in _arm_; the broad, as in _all_; and the _broad contracted_, as in _want_."--_Allen's E. Gram._, p. 6. P. Davis has the same sounds in a different order, thus: "a [as in] mane, mar, fall, mat, what."--_Davis's E. Gram._, p. xvi. Mennye says, "A has five sounds; as, 1 fame, 2 fat, 3 false, 4 farm, 5 beggar."--_Mennye's E. Gram._, p. 55. Here the fifth sound is the seventh of Worcester,--the "_A obscure_." DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH A. The only proper diphthong in which _a_ is put first, is the word _ay_, meaning _yes_: in which _a_ has its _middle_ sound, as in _ah_, and _y_ is like _open e_, or _ee_, uttered feebly--_ah-ee_. _Aa_, when pronounced as an improper diphthong, and not as pertaining to two syllables, usually takes the sound of _close a_; as in _Balaam, Canaan, Isaac_. In many words, as in _Baael, Gaael, Gaaesh_, the diaeresis occurs. In _baa_, the cry of a sheep, we hear the Italian sound of _a_; and, since we hear it but once, one _a_ or the other must be silent. _AE_, a Latin improper diphthong, common also in the Anglo-Saxon, generally has, according to modern orthoepists, the sound of _open e_ or _ee_; as in _Caesar, aenigma, paean_;--sometimes that of _close_ or _short e_; as in _aphaeresis, diaeresis, et caetera_. Some authors, judging the _a_ of this diphthong to be needless, reject it, and write _Cesar, enigma_, &c. _Ai_, an improper diphthong, generally has the sound of _open_ or _long a_; as in _sail, avail, vainly_. In a final unaccented syllable, it sometimes preserves the first sound of _a_; as in _chilblain, mortmain_: but oftener takes the sound of _close_ or _short i_; as in _certain, curtain, mountain, villain_. In _said, saith, again_, and _against_, it takes the sound of _close_ or _short e_; and in the name _Britain_, that of _close_ or _short u_. _Ao_, an improper diphthong, occurs in the word _gaol_, now frequently written as it is pronounced, _jail_; also in _gaoler_, which may be written _jailer_; and in the compounds of _gaol_: and, again, it is found in the adjective _extraordinary_, and its derivatives, in which, according to nearly all orthoepists, the _a_ is silent. The name _Pharaoh_, is pronounced _F=a'r=o_. _Au_, an improper diphthong, is generally sounded like _broad a_; as in _cause, caught, applause_. Before _n_ and an other consonant, it usually has the sound of _grave_ or _middle a_; as in _aunt, flaunt, gaunt, launch, laundry_. So in _laugh, laughter_, and their derivatives. _Gauge_ and _gauger_ are pronounced _gage_ and _gager_, and sometimes written so. _Aw_, an improper diphthong, is always sounded like _broad a_; as in _draw, drawn, drawl_. _Ay_, an improper diphthong, like _ai_, has usually the sound of _open_ or _long a_; as in _day, pay, delay_: in _sayst_ and _says_, it has the sound of _close_ or _short e_. TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH A. _Awe_ is sounded _au_, like _broad a_. _Aye_, an adverb signifying _always_, has the sound of _open_ or _long a_ only; being different, both in sound and in spelling, from the adverb _ay_, yes, with which it is often carelessly confounded. The distinction is maintained by Johnson, Walker, Todd, Chalmers, Jones, Cobb, Maunder, Bolles, and others; but Webster and Worcester give it up, and write "_ay_, or _aye_," each sounded _ah-ee_, for the affirmation, and "_aye_," sounded _=a_, for the adverb of time: Ainsworth on the contrary has _ay_ only, for either sense, and does not note the pronunciation. II. OF THE LETTER B. The consonant _B_ has but one sound; as in _boy, robber, cub_. _B_ is silent before _t_ or after _m_ in the same syllable; as in _debt, debtor, doubt, dumb, lamb, climb, tomb_. It is heard in _subtile_, fine; but not in _subtle_, cunning. III. OF THE LETTER C. The consonant _C_ has two sounds, neither of them peculiar to this letter; the one _hard_, like that of _k_, and the other _soft_, or rather _hissing_, like that of _s_. _C_ before _a, o, u, l, r, t_, or when it ends a syllable, is generally hard, like _k_; as in _can, come curb, clay, crab, act, action, accent, flaccid_. _C_ before _e, i_, or _y_, is always soft, like _s_; as in _cent, civil, decency, acid_. In a few words, _c_ takes the _flat_ sound of _s_, like that of _z_; as in _discern, suffice, sacrifice, sice_. _C_ before _ea, ia, ie, io_, or _eou_, when the accent precedes, sounds like _sh_; as in _ocean, special, species, gracious, cetaceous_. _C_ is silent in _czar, czarina, victuals, indict, muscle, corpuscle_, and the second syllable of _Connecticut_. _Ch_ is generally sounded like _tch_, or _tsh_, which is the same to the ear; as in _church, chance, child_. But in words derived from the learned languages, it has the sound of _k_; as in _character, scheme, catechise, chorus, choir, chyle, patriarch, drachma, magna charta_: except in _chart, charter, charity_. _Ch_, in words derived from the French, takes the sound of _sh_; as in _chaise, machine_. In Hebrew words or names, in general, _ch_ sounds like _k_; as in _Chebar, Sirach, Enoch_: but in _Rachel, cherub_, and _cherubim_, we have Anglicized the sound by uttering it as _tch_. _Loch_, a Scottish word, sometimes also a medical term, is heard as _lok_. "_Arch_, before a vowel, is pronounced _ark_; as in _archives, archangel, archipelago_: except in _arched, archer, archery, archenemy_. Before a consonant it is pronounced _artch_; as in _archbishop, archduke, archfiend_."--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 10. _Ch_ is silent in _schism, yacht_, and _drachm_. In _schedule_, some utter it as _k_; others, as _sh_; and many make it mute: I like the first practice. IV. OF THE LETTER D. The general sound of the consonant _D_, is that which is heard in _dog, eddy, did_. _D_, in the termination _ed_, preceded by a sharp consonant, takes the sound of _t_, when the _e_ is suppressed or unheard: as in _faced, stuffed, cracked, tripped, passed_; pronounced _faste, stuft, cract, tript, past. D_ before _ia, ie, io_, or _eou_, when the accent precedes, generally sounds like _j_; as in _Indian, soldier, tedious, hideous_. So in _verdure, arduous, education_. V. OF THE LETTER E. The vowel _E_ has _two_ sounds properly its own,--and I incline to think, _three_:-- 1. The open, long, full, or primal _e_; as in _me, mere, menial, melodious_. 2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _e_; as in _men, merry, ebony, strength_. 3. The obscure or faint _e_; as in _open, garden, shovel, able_. This third sound is scarcely perceptible, and barely sufficient to articulate the consonant and form a syllable. _E final_ is mute and belongs to the syllable formed by the preceding vowel or diphthong; as in _age, eve, ice, ore_. Except--1. In the words, _be, he, me, we, she_, in which it has the open sound; and the article _the_, wherein it is open before a vowel, and obscure before a consonant. 2. In Greek and Latin words, in which it has its open sound, and forms a distinct syllable, or the basis of one; as in _Penelope, Pasiphae, Cyanee, Gargaphie, Arsinoe, apostrophe, catastrophe, simile, extempore, epitome_. 3. In the terminations _ere, gre, tre_, in which it has the sound of _close_ or _curt u_, heard before the _r_; as in _acre, meagre, centre_. Mute _e_, after a single consonant, or after _st_ or _th_, generally preserves the open or long sound of the preceding vowel; as in _cane, here, pine, cone, tune, thyme, baste, waste, lathe, clothe_: except in syllables unaccented; as in the last of _genuine_;--and in a few monosyllables; as _bade, are, were, gone, shone, one, done, give, live, shove, love_. DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH E. _E_ before an other vowel, in general, either forms with it an _improper_ diphthong, or else belongs to a separate syllable. We do not hear both vowels in one syllable, except perhaps in _eu_ or _ew_. _Ea_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like _open_ or _long e_; as in _ear, fear, tea_; frequently like _close_ or _curt e_; as in _head, health, leather_: sometimes, like _open_ or _long a_; as in _steak, bear, forswear_: rarely, like _middle a_; as in _heart, hearth, hearken. Ea_ in an unaccented syllable, sounds like _close_ or _curt u_; as _in vengeance, pageant_. _Ee_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like one _open_ or _long e_; as in _eel, sheep, tree, trustee, referee_. The contractions _e'er_ and _ne'er_, are pronounced _air_ and _nair_, and not like _ear_ and _near. E'en_, however, preserves the sound of _open e. Been_ is most commonly heard with the curt sound of _i, bin_. _Ei_, an improper diphthong, mostly sounds like the _primal_ or _long a_; as in _reign, veil_: frequently, like _open_ or _long e_; as in _deceit, either, neither, seize_: sometimes, like _open_ or _long i_; as in _height, sleight, heigh-ho_: often, in unaccented syllables, like _close_ or _curt i_; as in _foreign, forfeit, surfeit, sovereign_: rarely, like _close e_; as in _heifer, nonpareil_. _Eo_, an improper diphthong, in _people_, sounds like _open_ or _long e_; in _leopard_ and _jeopard_, like _close_ or _curt e_; in _yeoman_, according to the best usage, like _open_ or _long o_; in _George, Georgia, georgic_, like _close o_; in _dungeon, puncheon, sturgeon_, &c., like _close u_. In _feoff_, and its derivatives, the _close_ or _short_ sound of _e_ is most fashionable; but some prefer the long sound of _e_; and some write the word "_fief." Feod, feodal, feodary, feodatory_, are now commonly written as they are pronounced, _feud, feudal, feudary, feudatory_. _Eu_ and _ew_ are sounded alike, and almost always with the diphthongal sound of _open_ or _long u_; as in _feud, deuce, jewel, dew, few, new_. These diphthongs, when initial, sound like _yu_. Nouns beginning with this sound, require the article _a_, and not _an_, before them; as, _A European, a ewer_. After _r_ or _rh, eu_ and _ew_ are commonly sounded like _oo_; as in _drew, grew, screw, rheumatism_. In _sew_ and _Shrewsbury, ew_ sounds like _open o_: Worcester, however, prefers the sound of _oo_ in the latter word. _Shew_ and _strew_, having the same meaning as _show_ and _strow_, are sometimes, by sameness of pronunciation, made to be the same words; and sometimes distinguished as different words, by taking the sounds _shu_ and _stroo_. _Ey_, accented, has the sound of _open_ or _long a_; as in _bey, prey, survey_: unaccented, it has the sound of _open e_; as in _alley, valley, money. Key_ and _ley_ are pronounced _kee, lee_. TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH E. _Eau_, a French triphthong, sounds like _open o_; as in _beau, flambeau, portmanteau, bureau_: except in _beauty_, and its compounds, in which it is pronounced like _open u_, as if the word were written _buty_. _Eou_ is a combination of vowels sometimes heard in one syllable, especially after _c_ or _g_; as in _crus-ta-ceous, gor-geous_. Walker, in his Rhyming Dictionary, gives one hundred and twenty words ending in _eous_, in all of which he separates these vowels; as in _ex-tra-ne-ous_. And why, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, he gave us several such anomalies as _fa-ba-ce-ous_ in four syllables and _her-ba-ceous_ in three, it is not easy to tell. The best rule is this: after _c_ or _g_, unite these vowels; after the other consonants, separate them. _Ewe_ is a triphthong having the sound of _yu_, and forming a word. The vulgar pronunciation _yoe_ should be carefully avoided. _Eye_ is an improper triphthong which also forms a word, and is pronounced like _open i_, or the pronoun _I_. VI. OF THE LETTER F. The consonant _F_ has one unvaried sound, which is heard in _fan, effort, staff_: except _of_, which, when simple, is pronounced _ov_. VII. OF THE LETTER G. The consonant _G_ has two sounds;--the one _hard_, guttural, and peculiar to this letter; the other _soft_, like that of _j. G_ before _a, o, u, l, r_, or at the end of a word, is hard; as in _game, gone, gull, glory, grace, log, bog_; except in _gaol. G_ before _e, i_, or _y_, is soft; as in _gem, ginger, elegy_. Except--1. In _get, give, gewgaw, finger_, and a few other words. 2. When a syllable is added to a word ending in g: as, _long, longer; fog, foggy_. _G_ is silent before _m_ or _n_ in the same syllable; as in _phlegm, apothegm, gnaw, design. G_, when silent, usually lengthens the preceding vowel; as in _resign, impregn, impugn_. _Gh_ at the beginning of a word has the sound of _g hard_; as in _ghastly, gherkin, Ghibelline, ghost, ghoul, ghyll_: in other situations, it is generally silent; as in _high, mighty, plough, bough, though, through, fight, night, bought. Gh final_ sometimes sounds like _f_; as in _laugh, rough, tough_; and sometimes, like _g hard_; as in _burgh_. In _hough, lough, shough_, it sounds like _k_, or _ck_; thus, _hock, lock, shock_. VIII. OF THE LETTER H. The sound of the consonant _H_, (though articulate and audible when properly uttered,) is little more than an aspirate breathing. It is heard in _hat, hit, hot, hut, adhere_. _H_ at the beginning of a word, is always sounded; except in _heir, herb, honest, honour, hospital, hostler, hour, humble, humour_, with their compounds and derivatives. _H_ after _r_, is always silent; as in _rhapsody, rhetoric, rheum, rhubarb. H final_, immediately following a vowel, is always silent; as in _ah, Sarah, Nineveh, Shiloh_. IX. OF THE LETTER I. The vowel _I_ has three sounds, each very common to it, and perhaps properly its own:-- 1. The open, long, full, or primal _i_; as in _life, fine, final, time, bind, child, sigh, pint, resign_. This is a diphthongal sound, equivalent to the sounds of _middle a_ and _open e_ quickly united. 2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _i_; as in _ink, limit, disfigure, mimicking_. 3. The feeble, faint, or slender _i_, accentless; as in _divest, doctrinal, diversity_. This third sound is equivalent to that of _open e_, or _ee_ uttered feebly. _I_ generally has this sound when it occurs at the end of an unaccented syllable: except at the end of Latin words, or of ancient names, where it is _open_ or _long_; as in _literati, Nervii, Eli, Levi_. In some words, (principally from other modern languages,) _i_ has the full sound of _open e_, under the accent; as in _Porto Rico, machine, magazine, antique, shire_. Accented _i_ followed by a vowel, has its open or primal sound; and the vowels belong to separate syllables; as in _pliant, diet, satiety, violet, pious_. Unaccented _i_ followed by a vowel, has its feeble sound; as in _expatiate, obedient, various, abstemious_. DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH I. _I_, in the situation last described, readily coalesces with the vowel which follows, and is often sunk into the same syllable, forming a proper diphthong: as in _fustian, quotient, question_. The terminations _cion, sion, and tion_, are generally pronounced _shun_; and _cious_ and _tious_ are pronounced _shus_. _Ie_ is commonly an improper diphthong. _Ie_ in _die, hie, lie, pie, tie, vie_, and their derivatives, has the sound of _open i. Ie_ in words from the French, (as _cap-a-pie, ecurie, grenadier, siege, bier_,) has the sound of _open e_. So, generally, in the middle of English roots; as in _chief, grief, thief_; but, in _sieve_, it has the sound of _close_ or _short i_. In _friend_, and its derivatives or compounds, it takes the sound of _close e_. TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH I. The triphthongs ieu and iew both sound like open or long u; as in lieu, adieu, view. The three vowels iou, in the termination ious, often fall into one syllable, and form a triphthong. There are two hundred and forty-five words of this ending; and more than two hundred deriva- tives from them. Walker has several puzzling inconsistencies in their pronunciation; such as fas-tid-i-ous and per-fid-ious, con-ta-gi-ous and sac-ri-le-gious. After c, g, t, or x, these vowels should coalesce: as in gra-cious, re-li-gious, vex-a-tious, ob-nox-ious, and about two hundred other words. After the other consonants, let them form two syllables; (except when there is a syn- seresis in poetry;) as in dw-bi-ou-s, o-di-ous, va-ri-ous, en-vi-ous. X. OF THE LETTER J. The consonant _J_, the tenth letter of the English alphabet, has invariably the sound of _soft g_, like the _g_ in _giant_, which some say is equivalent to the complex sound _dzh_; as, _jade, jet, jilt, joy, justice, jewel, prejudice_. XI. OF THE LETTER K. The consonant _K_, not silent, has uniformly the sound of _c_ hard; and occurs where _c_ would have its soft sound: as in _keep, looking, kind, smoky_. _K_ before _n_ is silent; as in _knave, know, knuckle_. In stead of doubling _c final_, we write _ck_; as in _lack, lock, luck, attack_. In English words, _k_ is never doubled, though two Kays may come together in certain compounds; as in _brickkiln, jackknife_. Two Kays, belonging to different syllables, also stand together in a few Scripture names; as in _Akkub, Bakbakkar, Bukki, Bukkiah, Habakkuk. Hakkoz, Ikkesh, Sukkiims_. _C_ before _k_, though it does not always double the sound which _c_ or _k_ in such a situation must represent, always shuts or shortens the preceding vowel; as in _rack, speck, freckle, cockle, wicked_. XII. OF THE LETTER L. The consonant _L_, the plainest of the semivowels, has a soft, liquid sound; as in _line, lily, roll, follow. L_ is sometimes silent; as in _Holmes, alms, almond, calm, chalk, walk, calf, half, could, would, should. L_, too, is frequently doubled where it is heard but once; as in _hill, full, travelled_. So any letter that is written twice, and not twice sounded, must there be once mute; as the last in _baa, ebb, add, see, staff, egg, all, inn, coo, err, less, buzz_. XIII. OF THE LETTER M. The consonant _M_ is a semivowel and a liquid, capable of an audible, humming sound through the nose, when the mouth is closed. It is heard in _map, murmur, mammon_. In the old words, _compt, accompt, comptroller_, (for _count, account, controller_,) the _m_ is sounded as _n. M_ before _n_, at the beginning of a word, is silent; as in _Mnason, Mnemosyne, mnemonics_. XIV. OF THE LETTER N. The consonant _N_, which is also a semivowel and a liquid, has two sounds;--the first, the pure and natural sound of _n_; as in _nun, banner, cannon_;--the second, the ringing sound of _ng_, heard before certain gutturals; as in _think, mangle, conquer, congress, singing, twinkling, Cen'chreae_. The latter sound should be carefully preserved in all words ending in _ing_, and in such others as require it. The sounding of the syllable _ing_ as if it were _in_, is a vulgarism in utterance; and the writing of it so, is, as it would seem by the usage of Burns, a Scotticism. _N final_ preceded by _m_, is silent; as in _hymn, solemn, column, damn, condemn, autumn_. But this _n_ becomes audible in an additional syllable; as in _autumnal, condemnable, damning_. XV. OF THE LETTER O. The vowel _O_ has _three_ different sounds, which are properly its own:-- 1. The open, full, primal, or long _o_; as in _no, note, opiate, opacity, Roman_. 2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _o_; as in _not, nor, torrid, dollar, fondle_. 3. The slender or narrow _o_, like _oo_; as in _prove, move, who, to, do, tomb_. _O_, in many words, sounds like _close_ or _curt u_; as in _love, shove, son, come, nothing, dost, attorney, gallon, dragon, comfit, comfort, coloration. One_ is pronounced _wun_; and _once, wunce_. In the termination _on_ immediately after the accent, _o_ is often sunk into a sound scarcely perceptible, like that of _obscure e_; as in _mason, person, lesson_. DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH O. _Oa_, an improper diphthong, has the sound of _open_ or _long o_; as in _boat, coal, roach, coast, coastwise_: except in _broad_ and _groat_, which have the sound of _broad a_. _Oe_, an improper diphthong, when _final_, has the sound of _open_ or _long o_: as in _doe, foe, throe_: except in _canoe, shoe_, pronounced _canoo, shoo_. _OE_, a Latin diphthong, generally sounds like _open e_; as in _Antoeci, foetus_: sometimes, like _close_ or _curt e_; as in _foetid, foeticide_. But the English word _f~etid_ is often, and perhaps generally, written without the _o_. _Oi_ is generally a proper diphthong, uniting the sound of _close o_ or _broad a_, and that of _open e_; as in _boil, coil, soil, rejoice_. But the vowels, when they appear together, sometimes belong to separate syllables; as in _Stoic, Stoicism. Oi_ unaccented, sometimes has the sound of _close_ or _curt i_; as in _avoirdupois, connoisseur, tortoise_. _Oo_, an improper diphthong, generally has the slender sound of _o_; as in _coo, too, woo, fool, room_. It has, in some words, a shorter or closer sound, (like that of _u_ in _bull_,) as in _foot, good, wood, stood, wool_;--that of _close u_ in _blood_ and _flood_;--and that of _open o_ in _door_ and _floor_. Derivatives from any of these, sound as their primitives. _Ou_ is generally a proper diphthong, uniting the sound of _close_ or _curt o_, and that of _u_ as heard in _bull_,--or _u_ sounded as _oo_; as in _bound, found, sound, ounce, thou. Ou_ is also, in certain instances, an improper diphthong; and, as such, it has _six_ different sounds:--(l.) That of _close_ or _curt u_; as in _rough, tough, young, flourish_. (2.) That of _broad a_; as in _ought, bought, thought_. (3.) That of _open_ or _long o_; as in _court, dough, four, though_. (4.) That of _close_ or _curt o_; as in _cough, trough, lough, shough_: which are, I believe, the only examples. (5.) That of _slender o_, or _oo_; as in _soup, you, through_. (6.) That of _u_ in _bull_, or of _oo_ shortened; only in _would, could, should_. _Ow_ generally sounds like the proper diphthong _ou_,--or like a union of _short o_ with _oo_; as in _brown, dowry, now, shower_: but it is often an improper diphthong, having only the sound of _open_ or _long o_; as in _know, show, stow_. _Oy_ is a proper diphthong, equivalent in sound to _oi_; as in _joy, toy, oyster_. TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH O. _OEu_ is a French triphthong, pronounced in English as _oo_, and occurring in the word _manoeuvre_, with its several derivatives. _Owe_ is an improper triphthong, and an English word, in which the _o_ only is heard, and heard always with its long or open sound. XVI. OF THE LETTER P. The consonant _P_, when not written before _h_, has commonly one peculiar sound; which is heard in _pen, pine, sup, supper_. The word _cupboard_ is usually pronounced _kubburd_. _P_, written with an audible consonant, is sometimes itself silent; as in _psalm, psalter, pseudography, psychology, ptarmigan, ptyalism, receipt, corps_. _Ph_ generally sounds like _f_; as in _philosophy_. In _Stephen_ and _nephew, ph_ has the sound of _v_. The _h_ after _p_, is silent in _diphthong, triphthong, naphtha, ophthalmic_; and both the _p_ and the _h_ are silent in _apophthegm, phthisis, phthisical_. From the last three words, _ph_ is sometimes dropped. XVII. OF THE LETTER Q. The consonant _Q_, being never silent, never final, never doubled, and not having a sound peculiar to itself, is invariably heard, in English, with the power of _k_; and is always followed by the vowel _u_, which, in words _purely English_, is sounded like the narrow _o_, or _oo_,--or, perhaps, is squeezed into the consonantal sound of _w_;--as in _queen, quaver, quiver, quarter, request_. In some words of _French_ origin, the _u_ after _q_ is silent; as in _coquet, liquor, burlesque, etiquette_. XVIII. OF THE LETTER R. The consonant _R_, called also a semivowel and a liquid, has usually, at the beginning of a word, or before a vowel, a rough or pretty strong sound; as in _roll, rose, roam, proudly, prorogue_. "In other positions," it is said by many to be "smooth" or "soft;" "as in _hard, ford, word_."--_W. Allen_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The letter _R_ turns the tip of the tongue up against or towards the roof of the mouth, where the sound may be lengthened, roughened, trilled, or quavered. Consequently, this element may, at the will of the speaker, have more or less--little or nothing, or even very much--of that peculiar roughness, jar, or whur, which is commonly said to constitute the sound. The extremes should here be avoided. Some readers very improperly omit the sound of _r_ from many words to which it pertains; pronouncing _or_ as _awe, nor_ as _knaw, for_ as _faugh_, and _war_ as the first syllable of _water_. On the other hand, "The excessive _trilling_ of the _r_, as practised by some speakers, is a great fault."--_D. P. Page_. OBS. 2.--Dr. Johnson, in his "Grammar of the English Tongue," says, "_R_ has the same _rough snarling sound_ as in other tongues."--P. 3. Again, in his Quarto Dictionary, under this letter, he says, "_R_ is called the _canine letter_, because it is uttered _with some resemblance to the growl or snarl of a cur_: it has _one constant sound_ in English, such as it has in other languages; as, _red, rose, more, muriatick_." Walker, however, who has a greater reputation as an orthoepist [sic--KTH], teaches that, "There is a distinction in the sound of this letter, which is," says he, "in my opinion, _of no small importance_; and that is, the [distinction of] the rough and [the] smooth _r_. Ben Jonson," continues he, "in his Grammar, says, 'It is sounded firm in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle and ends, as in _rarer, riper_; and so in the Latin.' The rough _r_ is formed by jarring the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth near the fore teeth: the smooth _r_ is a vibration of the lower part of the tongue, near the root, against the inward region of the palate, near the entrance of the throat."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 419; _Octavo Dict._, p. 48. OBS. 3.--Wells, with his characteristic indecision, forbears all recognition of this difference, and all intimation of the quality of the sound, whether smooth or rough; saying, in his own text, only this: "_R_ has the sound heard in _rare_."--_School Grammar_, p. 40. Then, referring the student to sundry authorities, he adds in a footnote certain "quotations," that are said to "present a general view of the different opinions which exist among orthoepists respecting this letter." And so admirably are these authorities or opinions balanced and offset, one class against an other, that it is hard to tell which has the odds. First, though it is not at all probable that Wells's utterance of "_rare_" exhibits twice over the _rough snarl_ of Johnson's _r_, the "general view" seems intended to confirm the indefinite teaching above, thus: "'_R_ has one constant sound in English.'--_Johnson_. The same view is adopted by Webster, Perry, Kendrick, Sheridan, Jones, Jameson, Knowles, and others."--_School Grammar_, p. 40. In counterpoise of these, Wells next cites about as many more--namely, Frazee, Page, Russell, Walker, Rush, Barber, Comstock, and Smart,--as maintaining or admitting that _r_ has sometimes a rough sound, and sometimes a smoother one. XIX. OF THE LETTER S. The consonant _S_ has a sharp, hissing, or hard sound; as in _sad, sister, thus_: and a flat, buzzing, or soft sound, like that of _z_; as in _rose, dismal, bosom, husband. S_, at the beginning of words, or after any of the sharp consonants, is always sharp; as in _see, steps, cliffs, sits, stocks, smiths_. _S_, after any of the flat mutes, or at the end of words when not preceded by a sharp consonant, is generally flat; as in _eyes, trees, beds, bags, calves_. But in the English termination _ous_, or in the Latin _us_, it is sharp; as _joyous, vigorous, hiatus_. _Ss_ is generally sharp; as in _pass, kiss, harass, assuage, basset, cassock, remissness_. But the first two Esses in _possess_, or any of its regular derivatives, as well as the two in _dissolve_, or its proximate kin, sound like two Zees; and the soft or flat sound is commonly given to each _s_ in _hyssop, hussy, and hussar_. In _scissel, scissible_, and _scissile_, all the Esses hiss;--in _scissors_, the last three of the four are flat, like _z_;--but in the middle of _scissure_ and _scission_ we hear the sound of _zh_. _S_, in the termination _sion_, takes the sound of _sh_, after a consonant; as in _aspersion, session, passion, mission, compulsion_: and that of _zh_, after a vowel; as in _evasion, elision, confusion_. In the verb _assure_, and each of its derivatives, also in the nouns _pressure_ and _fissure_, with their derivatives, we hear, according to Walker, the sound of _sh_ for each _s_, or twice in each word; but, according to the orthoepy of Worcester, that sound is heard only in the accented syllable of each word, and the vowel in each unaccented syllable is _obscure_. _S_ is silent or mute in the words, _isle, island, aisle, demesne, corps_, and _viscount_. XX. OF THE LETTER T. The general sound of the consonant _T_, is heard in _time, letter, set_. _T_, immediately after the accent, takes the sound of _tch_, before _u_, and generally also before _eou_; as in _nature, feature, virtue, righteous, courteous_: when _s_ or _x_ precedes, it takes this sound before _ia_ or _io_; as in _fustian, bastion, mixtion_. But the general or most usual sound of _t_ after the accent, when followed by _i_ and an other vowel, is that of _sh_; as in _creation, patient, cautious_. In English, _t_ is seldom, if ever, silent or powerless. In _depot_, however, a word borrowed from the French, we do not sound it; and in _chestnut_, which is a compound of our own, it is much oftener written than heard. In _often_ and _soften_, some think it silent; but it seems rather to take here the sound of _f_. In _chasten, hasten, fasten, castle, nestle, whistle, apostle, epistle, bustle_, and similar words, with their sundry derivatives, the _t_ is said by some to be mute; but here it seems to take the sound of _s_; for, according to the best authorities, this sound is beard twice in such words. _Th_, written in Greek by the character called _Theta_, ([Greek: th] or O capital, [Greek: th] or [Greek: th] small,) represents an elementary sound; or, rather, two distinct elementary sounds, for which the Anglo-Saxons had different characters, supposed by Dr. Bosworth to have been applied with accurate discrimination of "the _hard_ or _sharp_ sound of _th_," from "the _soft_ or _flat_ sound."--(See _Bosworth's Compendious Anglo-Saxon Dictionary_, p. 268.) The English _th_ is either sharp, as in _thing, ethical, thinketh_; or flat, as in _this, whither, thither_. "_Th initial_ is sharp; as in _thought_: except in _than, that, the, thee, their, them, then, thence, there, these, they, thine, this, thither, those, thou, thus, thy_, and their compounds."--_W. Allen's Grammar_, p. 22. _Th final_ is also sharp; as in _south_: except in _beneath, booth, with_, and several verbs formerly with _th_ last, but now frequently (and more properly) written with final _e_; as _loathe, mouthe, seethe, soothe, smoothe, clothe, wreathe, bequeathe, unclothe_. _Th medial_ is sharp, too, when preceded or followed by a consonant; as in _Arthur, ethnic, swarthy, athwart_: except in _brethren, burthen, farther, farthing, murther, northern, worthy_. But "_th_ between two vowels, is generally flat in words purely English; as in _gather, neither, whither_: and sharp in words from the learned languages; as in _atheist, ether, method_"--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 22. "_Th_, in _Thames, Thomas, thyme, asthma, phthisis_, and their compounds, is pronounced like _t_."--_Ib._ XXI. OF THE LETTER U. The vowel _U_ has three sounds which may be considered to be properly its own:-- 1. The open, long, full, primal, or diphthongal _u_; as in _tube, cubic, juvenile_. 2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _u_; as in _tub, butter, justice, unhung_. 3. The middle _u_, resembling a short or quick _oo_; as in _pull, pulpit, artful_. _U_ forming a syllable by itself or _U_ as naming itself is nearly equivalent in sound to _you_, and requires the article _a_, and not _an_, before it; as, _a U, a union_. _U_ sometimes borrows the sound of some other vowel; for _bury_ is pronounced _berry_, and _busy_ is pronounced _bizzy_. So in the derivatives, _burial, buried, busied, busily_, and the like. The long or diphthongal _u_, commonly sounded as _yu_, or as _ew_ in _ewer_,--or any equivalent diphthong or digraph, as _ue, ui, eu_, or _ew_.--when it follows _r_ or _rh_, assumes the sound of slender _o_ or _oo_; as in _rude, rhubarb, rue, rueful, rheum, fruit, truth, brewer_. DIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH U. _U_, in the proper diphthongs, _ua, ue, ui, uo, uy_, has the sound of _w_ or of _oo feeble_; as in _persuade, query, quell, quiet, languid, quote, obloquy_. _Ua_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _middle a_; as in _guard, guardian_. 2. Of _close a_; as in _guarantee, piquant_. 3. Of _obscure e_; as in _victuals_ and its compounds or kindred. 4. Of _open u_; as in _mantuamaker_. _Ue_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open u_; as in _blue, ensue, ague_. 2. Of _close e_; as in _guest, guesser_. 3. Of _close u_; as in _leaguer_. _Ue final_ is sometimes silent; as in _league, antique_. _Ui_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open i_; as in _guide, guile_. 2. Of _close i_; as in _conduit, circuit_. 3. Of _open u_; as in _juice, sluice, suit_. _Uo_ can scarcely be called an improper diphthong, except, perhaps, after _q_ in _liquor, liquorice, liquorish_, where _uor_ is heard as _ur_. _Uy_, an improper diphthong, has the sound--1. Of _open y_; as in _buy, buyer_. 2. Of _feeble y_, or of _ee feeble_; as in _plaguy, roguy_. TRIPHTHONGS BEGINNING WITH U. _Uai_ is pronounced nearly, if not exactly, like _way_; as in _guai-a-cum, quail, quaint_. _Uaw_ is sounded like _wa_ in _water_; as in _squaw_, a female Indian. _Uay_ has the sound of _way_; as in _Par-a-guay_: except in _quay_, which nearly all our orthoepists pronounce _kee_. _Uea_ and _uee_ are each sounded _wee_; as in _queasy, queer, squeal, squeeze_. _Uoi_ and _woy_ are each sounded _woi_; as in _quoit, buoy_. Some say, that, as _u_, in these combinations, sounds like _w_, it is a consonant; others allege, that _w_ itself has only the sound of _oo_, and is therefore in all cases a vowel. _U_ has, certainly, in these connexions, as much of the sound of _oo_, as has _w_; and perhaps a little more. XXII. OF THE LETTER V. The consonant _V_ always has a sound like that of _f flattened_; as in _love, vulture, vivacious_. In pure English, it is never silent, never final, never doubled: but it is often doubled in the dialect of Craven; and there, too, it is sometimes final. XXIII. OF THE LETTER W. _W_, when reckoned a _consonant_, (as it usually is when uttered with a vowel that follows it,) has the sound heard at the beginning of _wine, win, woman, woody_; being a sound less vocal than that of _oo_, and depending more upon the lips. _W_ before _h_, is usually pronounced as if it followed the _h_; as in _what, when, where, while_: but, in _who, whose, whom, whole, whoop_, and words formed from these, it is silent. Before _r_, in the same syllable, it is also silent; as in _wrath, wrench, wrong_. So in a few other cases; as in _sword, answer, two_. _W_ is never used alone as a _vowel_; except in some Welsh or foreign names, in which it is equivalent to _oo_; as in "_Cwm Cothy_," the name of a mountain in Wales; "_Wkra_" the name of a small river in Poland.--See _Lockhart's Napoleon_, Vol. ii, p. 15. In a diphthong, when heard, it has the power of _u_ in _bull_, or nearly that of _oo_; as in _new, now, brow, frown_. _Aw_ and _ow_ are frequently improper diphthongs, the _w_ being silent, the _a_ broad, and the _o_ long; as in _law, flaw,--tow, snow_. _W_, when sounded before vowels, being reckoned a _consonant_, we have no diphthongs or triphthongs beginning with this letter. XXIV. OF THE LETTER X. The consonant "_X_ has a _sharp_ sound, like _ks_; as in _ox_: and a _flat_ one, like _gz_; as in _example_. _X_ is sharp, when it ends an accented syllable; as in _exercise, exit, excellence_: or when it precedes an accented syllable beginning with a consonant; as in _expand, extreme, expunge_. _X_ unaccented is generally flat, when the next syllable begins with a vowel; as in _exist, exemption, exotic_. _X initial_, in Greek proper names, has the sound of _z_; as in _Xanthus, Xantippe, Xenophon, Xerxes_"--See _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 25. XXV. OF THE LETTER Y. _Y_, as a _consonant_, has the sound heard at the beginning of _yarn, young, youth_; being rather less vocal than the feeble sound of _i_, or of the vowel _y_, and serving merely to modify that of a succeeding vowel, with which it is quickly united. _Y_, as a vowel, has the same sounds as _i_:-- 1. The open, long, full, or primal _y_; as in _cry, crying, thyme, cycle_. 2. The close, curt, short, or stopped _y_; as in _system, symptom, cynic_. 3. The feeble or faint _y_, accentless; (like _open e feeble_;) as in _cymar, cycloidal, mercy_. The vowels _i_ and _y_ have, in general, exactly the same sound under similar circumstances, and, in forming derivatives, we often change one for the other: as in _city, cities; tie, tying; easy, easily_. _Y_, before a vowel heard in the same syllable, is reckoned a _consonant_; we have, therefore, no diphthongs or triphthongs _commencing_ with this letter. XXVI. OF THE LETTER Z. The consonant _Z_, the last letter of our alphabet, has usually a soft or buzzing sound, the same as that of _s flat_; as in _Zeno, zenith, breeze, dizzy_. Before _u primal_ or _i feeble, z_, as well as _s flat_, sometimes takes the sound of _zh_, which, in the enumeration of consonantal sounds, is reckoned a distinct element; as in _azure, seizure, glazier; osier, measure, pleasure_. END OF THE FIRST APPENDIX. APPENDIX II. TO PART SECOND, OR ETYMOLOGY. OF THE DERIVATION OF WORDS. Derivation, as a topic to be treated by the grammarian, is a species of Etymology, which explains the various methods by which those derivative words which are not formed by mere grammatical inflections, are deduced from their primitives. Most of those words which are regarded as primitives in English, may be traced to ulterior sources, and many of them are found to be compounds or derivatives in the other languages from which they have come to us. To show the composition, origin, and literal sense of these, is also a part, and a highly useful part, of this general inquiry, or theme of instruction. This species of information, though insignificant in those whose studies reach to nothing better,--to nothing valuable and available in life,--is nevertheless essential to education and to science; because it is essential to a right understanding of the import and just application of such words. All reliable etymology, all authentic derivation of words, has ever been highly valued by the wise. The learned James Harris has a remark as follows: "How useful to ETHIC SCIENCE, and indeed to KNOWLEDGE in general, a GRAMMATICAL DISQUISITION into the _Etymology_ and _Meaning_ of WORDS was esteemed by the chief and ablest Philosophers, may be seen by consulting _Plato_ in his _Cratylus; Xenophon's Memorabilia_, IV, 5, 6; _Arrian. Epict._ I, 17; II, 10; _Marc. Anton_. III, 11;" &c.--See _Harris's Hermes_, p. 407. A knowledge of the _Saxon, Latin, Greek_, and _French_ languages, will throw much light on this subject, the derivation of our modern English; nor is it a weak argument in favour of studying these, that our acquaintance with them, whether deep or slight, tends to a better understanding of what is borrowed, and what is vernacular, in our own tongue. But etymological analysis may extensively teach the origin of English words, their composition, and the import of their parts, without demanding of the student the power of reading foreign or ancient languages, or of discoursing at all on General Grammar. And, since many of the users of this work may be but readers of our current English, to whom an unknown letter or a foreign word is a particularly uncouth and repulsive thing, we shall here forbear the use of Saxon characters, and, in our explanations, not go beyond the precincts of our own language, except to show the origin and primitive import of some of our definitive and connecting particles, and to explain the prefixes and terminations which are frequently employed to form English derivatives. The rude and cursory languages of barbarous nations, to whom literature is unknown, are among those transitory things which, by the hand of time, are irrecoverably buried in oblivion. The fabric of the English language is undoubtedly of _Saxon_ origin; but what was the particular form of the language spoken by the _Saxons_, when about the year 450 they entered Britain, cannot now be accurately known. It was probably a dialect of the _Gothic_ or _Teutonic_. This _Anglo-Saxon_ dialect, being the nucleus, received large accessions from other tongues of the north, from the _Norman French_, and from the more polished languages of _Rome_ and _Greece_, to form the modern _English_. The speech of our rude and warlike ancestors thus gradually improved, as Christianity, civilization, and knowledge, advanced the arts of life in Britain; and, as early as the tenth century, it became a language capable of expressing all the sentiments of a civilized people. From the time of _Alfred_, its progress may be traced by means of writings which remain; but it can scarcely be called _English_, as I have shown in the Introduction to this work, till about the thirteenth century. And for two or three centuries later, it was so different from the modern English, as to be scarcely intelligible at all to the mere English reader; but, gradually improving by means upon which we need not here dilate, it at length became what we now find it,--a language copious, strong, refined, impressive, and capable, if properly used, of a great degree of beauty and harmony. SECTION I.--DERIVATION OF THE ARTICLES. 1. For the derivation of our article THE, which he calls "_an adjective_," Dr. Webster was satisfied with giving this hint: "Sax. _the_; Dutch, _de_."--_Amer. Dict._ According to Horne Tooke, this definite article of ours, is the Saxon _verb_ "THE," imperative, from THEAN, to _take_; and is nearly equivalent in meaning to _that_ or _those_, because our _that_ is "the past participle of THEAN," and "means _taken_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 49. But this is not very satisfactory. Examining ancient works, we find the word, or something resembling it, or akin to it, written in various forms, as _se, see, ye, te, de, the, tha_, and others that cannot be shown by our modern letters; and, tracing it as one article, or one and the same word, through what we suppose to be the oldest of these forms, in stead of accounting the forms as signs of different roots, we should sooner regard it as originating in the imperative of SEON, _to see_. 2. AN, our indefinite article, is the Saxon _oen, ane, an_, ONE; and, by dropping _n_ before a consonant, becomes _a_. Gawin Douglas, an ancient English writer, wrote _ane_, even before a consonant; as, "_Ane_ book,"--"_Ane_ lang spere,"--"_Ane_ volume." OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--The words of Tooke, concerning the derivation of _That_ and _The_, as nearly as they can be given in our letters, are these: "THAT (in the Anglo-Saxon Thaet, i.e. Thead, Theat) means _taken, assumed_; being merely the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Thean, Thegan, Thion, Thihan, Thicgan, Thigian; sumere, assumere, accipere; to THE, to _get_, to _take_, to _assume_. 'Ill mote he THE That caused me To make myselfe a frere.'--_Sir T. More's Workes, pag._ 4. THE (our _article_, as it is called) is the imperative of the same verb Thean: which may very well supply the place of the correspondent Anglo-Saxon article Se, which is the imperative of Seon, videre: for it answers the same purpose in discourse, to say.... _see_ man, or _take_ man."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 49. OBS. 2.--Now, between _Thaet_ and _Theat_, there is a considerable difference of form, for _ae_ and _ea_ are not the same diphthong; and, in the identifying of so many infinitives, as forming but one verb, there is room for error. Nor is it half so probable that these are truly one root, as that our article _The_ is the same, in its origin, as the old Anglo-Saxon _Se_. Dr. Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, gives no such word as _Thean_ or _Thegan_, no such participle as _Thead_ or _Theat_, which derivative is perhaps imaginary; but he has inserted together "Thicgan, thicgean, thigan, _to receive, or take_;" and separately, "Theon, _to thrive, or flourish_,"--"Thihan, _to thrive_,"--and "Thion, _to flourish_;" as well as the preterit "Theat, _howled_," from "Theotan, _to howl_." And is it not plain, that the old verb "THE," as used by More, is from Theon, _to thrive_, rather than from Thicgan, _to take_? "Ill mote he THE"--"Ill might he _thrive_," not, "Ill might he _take_." OBS. 3.--Professor Hart says, "The word _the_ was originally _thaet_, or _that_. In course of time [,] it became abbreviated, and the short form acquired, in usage, a shade of meaning different from the original long one. _That_ is demonstrative with emphasis; _the_ is demonstrative without emphasis."--_Hart's E. Grammar_, p. 32. This derivation of _The_ is quite improbable; because the shortening of a monosyllable of five letters by striking out the third and the fifth, is no usual mode of abbreviation. Bosworth's Dictionary explains THE as "An indeclinable article, often used for all the cases of Se, seo, thaet, especially in adverbial expressions and in corrupt Anglo-Saxon, as in the _Chronicle_ after the year 1138." OBS. 4--Dr. Latham, in a section which is evidently neither accurate nor self-consistent, teaches us--"that there exist in the present English two powers of the word spelled _t-h-e_, or of the so-called definite article;" then, out of sixteen Anglo-Saxon equivalents, he selects two for the roots of this double-powered _the_; saying, "Hence the _the_ that has originated out of the Anglo-Saxon _thy_ is one word; whilst the _the_ that has originated out of the Anglo-Saxon _the_, [is] another. The latter is the common article: the former the _the_ in expressions like _all the more, all the better--more by all that, better by all that_, and the Latin phrases _eo majus, eo melius_."--_Latham's Hand-Book_, p. 158. This double derivation is liable to many objections. The Hand-Book afterwards says, "That the, in expressions like _all the more, all the better_, &c., is _no article_, has already been shown."--P. 196. But in fact, though _the_ before comparatives or superlatives be no article, Dr. Latham's etymologies prove no such thing; neither does he anywhere tell us what it is. His examples, too, with their interpretations, are all of them fictitious, ambiguous, and otherwise bad. It is uncertain whether he meant his phrases for counterparts to each other or not. If _the_ means "_by that_," or _thereby_, it is an _adverb_; and so is its equivalent "_eo_" denominated by the Latin grammarians. See OBS. 10, under Rule I. SECTION II.--DERIVATION OF NOUNS. In _English_, Nouns are derived from nouns, from adjectives, from verbs, or from participles. I. Nouns are derived from _Nouns_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ship, dom, ric, wick, or, ate, hood_, or _head_: as, _fellow, fellowship; king, kingdom; bishop, bishopric; bailiff_, or _baily, bailiwick; senate, senator; tetrarch, tetrarchate; child, childhood; God, Godhead_. These generally denote dominion, office, or character. 2. By the adding of _ian_: as, _music, musician; physic, physician; theology, theologian; grammar, grammarian; college, collegian_. These generally denote profession. 3. By the adding of _r, ry_, or _ery_: as, _grocer, grocery; cutler, cutlery; slave, slavery; scene, scenery; fool, foolery_. These sometimes denote state or habit; sometimes, an artificer's wares or shop. 4. By the adding of _age_ or _ade_: as, _patron, patronage; porter, porterage; band, bandage; lemon, lemonade; baluster, balustrade; wharf, wharfage; vassal, vassalage_. 5. By the adding of _kin, let, ling, ock, el, erel_, or _et_: as, _lamb, lambkin; ring, ringlet; cross, crosslet; duck, duckling; hill, hillock; run, runnel; cock, cockerel; pistol, pistolet; eagle, eaglet; circle, circlet_. All these denote little things, and are called diminutives. 6. By the addition of _ist_: as, _psalm, psalmist; botany, botanist; dial, dialist; journal, journalist._ These denote persons devoted to, or skilled in, the subject expressed by the primitive. 7. By the prefixing of an adjective, or an other noun, so as to form a compound word: as, _foreman, broadsword, statesman, tradesman; bedside, hillside, seaside; bear-berry, bear-fly, bear-garden; bear's-ear, bear's-foot, goat's-beard_. 8. By the adoption of a negative prefix to reverse the meaning: as, _order, disorder; pleasure, displeasure; consistency, inconsistency; capacity, incapacity; observance, nonobservance; resistance, nonresistance; truth, untruth; constraint, unconstraint_. 9. By the use of the prefix _counter_, signifying _against_ or _opposite_: as, _attraction, counter-attraction; bond, counter-bond; current, counter-current; movement, counter-movement_. 10. By the addition of _ess, ix, or ine_, or the changing of masculines to feminines so terminating: as, _heir, heiress; prophet, prophetess; abbot, abbess; governor, governess; testator, testatrix; hero, heroine_. II. Nouns are derived from _Adjectives_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ness, ity, ship, dom_, or _hood_: as, _good, goodness; real, reality; hard, hardship; wise, wisdom; free, freedom; false, falsehood_. 2. By the changing of _t_ into _ce_ or _cy_: as, _radiant, radiance; consequent, consequence; flagrant, flagrancy; current, currency; discrepant, discrepance_, or _discrepancy_. 3. By the changing of some of the letters, and the adding of _t_ or _th_: as, _long, length; broad, breadth; wide, width; high, height_. The nouns included under these three heads, generally denote abstract qualities, and are called abstract nouns. 4. By the adding of _ard_: as, _drunk, drunkard; dull, dullard_. These denote ill character. 5. By the adding of _ist_: as, _sensual, sensualist; separate, separatist; royal, royalist; fatal, fatalist_. These denote persons devoted, addicted, or attached, to something. 6. By the adding of _a_, the Latin ending of neuter plurals, to certain proper adjectives in _an_: as, _Miltonian, Miltoniana; Johnsonian, Johnsoniana_. These literally mean, _Miltonian things, sayings_, or _anecdotes_, &c.; and are words somewhat fashionable with the journalists, and are sometimes used for titles of books that refer to table-talk. III. Nouns are derived from _Verbs_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ment, ance, ence, ure_, or _age_: as, _punish, punishment; abate, abatement; repent, repentance; condole, condolence; forfeit, forfeiture; stow, stowage; equip, equipage; truck, truckage_. 2. By a change of the termination of the verb, into _se, ce, sion, tion, ation_, or _ition_: as, _expand, expanse, expansion; pretend, pretence, pretension; invent, invention; create, creation; omit, omission; provide, provision; reform, reformation; oppose, opposition_. These denote either the act of doing, or the thing done. 3. By the adding of _er_ or _or_: as, _hunt, hunter; write, writer; collect, collector; assert, assertor; instruct, instructer_, or _instructor_. These generally denote the doer. To denote the person to whom something is done, we sometimes form a derivative ending in _ee_: as, _promisee, mortgagee, appellee, consignee_. 4. Nouns and Verbs are sometimes alike in orthography, but different in pronunciation: as, a _house_, to _house_; a _use_, to _use_; a _reb'el_, to _rebel'_; a _rec'ord_, to _record'_; a _cem'ent_, to _cement'_. Of such pairs, it may often be difficult to say which word is the primitive. 5. In many instances, nouns and verbs are wholly alike as to form and sound, and are distinguished by their sense and construction only: as, _love_, to _love; fear_, to _fear; sleep_, to _sleep_;--to _revise_, a _revise_; to _rebuke_, a _rebuke_. In these, we have but the same word used differently. IV. Nouns are often derived from _Participles_ in _ing_; as, a _meeting_, the _understanding, murmurings, disputings, sayings_, and _doings_: and, occasionally, one is formed from such a word and an adverb or a perfect participle joined with it; as, "The _turning-away_,"--"His _goings-forth_,"--"Your _having-boasted_ of it." SECTION III.--DERIVATION OF ADJECTIVES. In _English_, Adjectives are derived from nouns, from adjectives, from verbs, or from participles. I. Adjectives are derived from _Nouns_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ous, ious, eous, y, ey, ic, al, ical_ or _ine_: (sometimes with an omission or change of some of the final letters:) as, _danger, dangerous; glory, glorious; right, righteous; rock, rocky; clay, clayey; poet, poetic_, or _poetical; nation, national; method, methodical; vertex, vertical; clergy, clerical; adamant, adamantine_. Adjectives thus formed, generally apply the properties of their primitives, to the nouns to which they relate. 2. By the adding of _ful_: as, _fear, fearful; cheer, cheerful; grace, graceful; shame, shameful; power, powerful_. These come almost entirely from personal qualities or feelings, and denote abundance. 3. By the adding of _some_: as, _burden, burdensome; game, gamesome; toil, toilsome_. These denote plenty, but do not exaggerate. 4. By the adding of _en_: as, _oak, oaken; silk, silken; wheat, wheaten; oat, oaten; hemp, hempen_. Here the derivative denotes the matter of which something is made. 5. By the adding of _ly_ or _ish_: as, _friend, friendly; gentleman, gentlemanly; child, childish; prude, prudish_. These denote resemblance. The termination _ly_ signifies _like_. 6. By the adding of _able_ or _ible_: as, _fashion, fashionable; access, accessible_. But these terminations are generally, and more properly, added to verbs. See Obs. 17th, 18th, &c., on the Rules for Spelling. 7. By the adding of _less_: as, _house, houseless; death, deathless; sleep, sleepless; bottom, bottomless_. These denote privation or exemption--the absence of what is named by the primitive. 8. By the adding of _ed_: as, _saint, sainted; bigot, bigoted; mast, masted; wit, witted_. These have a resemblance to participles, and some of them are rarely used, except when joined with some other word to form a compound adjective: as, _three-sided, bare-footed, long-eared, hundred-handed, flat-nosed, hard-hearted, marble-hearted, chicken-hearted_. 9. Adjectives coming from proper names, take various terminations: as, _America, American; England, English; Dane, Danish; Portugal, Portuguese; Plato, Platonic_. 10. Nouns are often converted into adjectives, without change of termination: as, _paper_ currency; a _gold_ chain; _silver_ knee-buckles. II. Adjectives are derived from _Adjectives_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ish_ or _some_: as, _white, whitish; green, greenish; lone, lonesome; glad, gladsome_. These denote quality with some diminution. 2. By the prefixing of _dis, in_, or _un_: as, _honest, dishonest; consistent, inconsistent; wise, unwise_. These express a negation of the quality denoted by their primitives. 3. By the adding of _y_ or _ly_: as, _swarth, swarthy; good, goodly_. Of these there are but few; for almost all the derivatives of the latter form are adverbs. III. Adjectives are derived from _Verbs_ in several different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _able_ or _ible_: (sometimes with a change of some of the final letters:) as, _perish, perishable; vary, variable; convert, convertible; divide, divisible_, or _dividable_. These, according to their analogy, have usually a passive import, and denote susceptibility of receiving action. 2. By the adding of _ive_ or _ory_: (sometimes with a change of some of the final letters:) as, _elect, elective; interrogate, interrogative, interrogatory; defend, defensive; defame, defamatory; explain, explanatory_. 3. Words ending in _ate_, are mostly verbs; but some of them may be employed as adjectives, in the same form, especially in poetry; as, _reprobate, complicate_. IV. Adjectives are derived from _Participles_, not by suffixes, but in these ways:-- 1. By the prefixing of _un_, meaning _not_; as, _unyielding, unregarded, unreserved, unendowed, unendeared, unendorsed, unencountered, unencumbered, undisheartened, undishonoured_. Of this sort there are very many. 2. By a combining of the participle with some word which does not belong to the verb; as, _way-faring, hollow-sounding, long-drawn, deep-laid, dear-purchased, down-trodden_. These, too, are numerous. 3. Participles often become adjectives without change of form. Such adjectives are distinguished from participles by their construction alone: as, "A _lasting_ ornament;"--"The _starving_ chymist;"--"Words of _learned_ length;"--"With _counterfeited_ glee." SECTION IV.--DERIVATION OF THE PRONOUNS. I. The _English_ Pronouns are all of _Saxon_ origin; but, in them, our language differs very strikingly from that of the Anglo-Saxons. The following table compares the simple personal forms:-- Eng. I, My or Me; We, Our or Us. Mine, Ours, Sax. Ic, Min, Me or We, Ure or Us. Mec; User, Eng. Thou, Thy or Thee; Ye, Your You. Thine, or Yours, Sax. Thu, Thin, The or Ge Eower, Eow or Thec; Eowie. Eng. He, His Him; They, Their or Them. Theirs, Sax. He, His or Him or Hi or Hira or Heom or Hys, Hine; Hig, Heora, Hi. Eng. She, Her or Her; They, Their or Them. Hers, Theirs, Sax. Heo, Hire or Hi; Hi or Hira or Heom or Hyre, Hig, Heora, Hi. Eng. It, Its, It; They, Their or Them. Theirs, Sax. Hit, His or Hit; Hi or Hira or Heom or Hys, Hig, Heora, Hi. Here, as in the personal pronouns of other languages, the plurals and oblique cases do not all appear to be regular derivatives from the nominative singular. Many of these pronouns, perhaps all, as well as a vast number of other words of frequent use in our language, and in that from which it chiefly comes, were very variously written by the Middle English, Old English, Semi-Saxon, and Anglo-Saxon authors. He who traces the history of our language, will meet with them under all the following forms, (or such as these would be with Saxon characters for the Saxon forms,) and perhaps in more:-- 1. I, J, Y, y, i, ay, ic, che, ich, Ic;--MY, mi, min, MINE, myne, myn;--ME, mee, me, meh, mec, mech;--WE, wee, ve;--OUR or OURS, oure, ure, wer, urin, uren, urne, user, usse, usser, usses, ussum;--Us, ous, vs, uss, usic, usich, usig, usih, uz, huz. 2. THOU, thoue, thow, thowe, thu, tou, to, tu;--THY or THINE, thi, thyne, thyn, thin;--THEE, the, theh, thec;--YE, yee, yhe, ze, zee, ge, ghe;--YOUR or YOURS, youre, zour, hure, goure, yer, yower, yowyer, yorn, yourn, youre, eower;--You, youe, yow, gou, zou, ou, iu, iuh, eow, iow, geow, eowih, eowic, iowih. 3. HE, hee, hie, se;--His, hise, is, hys, ys, hyse, hus;--HIM, hine, hiene, hion, hen, hyne, hym, im;--THEY, thay, thei, the, tha, thai, thii, yai, hi, hie, heo, hig, hyg, hy;--THEIR or THEIRS, ther, theyr, theyrs, thair, thare, theora, hare, here, her, hir, hire, hira, hiora, hiera, heora, hyra;--THEM, thym, theym, thaym, thaim, thame, tham, em, hem, heom, hiom, eom, hom, him, hi, hig. 4. SHE, shee, sche, scho, sho, shoe, scae, seo, heo, hio, hiu, hoo, hue;--HER, (possessive,) hur, hir, hire, hyr, hyre, hyra, hera;--HER, (objective,) hire, hyre, hur, hir, hi. The plural forms of this feminine pronoun are like those of the masculine _He_; but the "_Well-Wishers to Knowledge_," in their small Grammar, (erroneously, as I suppose,) make _hira_ masculine only, and _heora_ feminine only. See their _Principles of Grammar_, p. 38. 5. IT, yt, itt, hit, hyt, hytt. The possessive _Its_ is a modern derivative; _His_ or _Hys_ was formerly used in lieu of it. The plural forms of this neuter pronoun, _It_, are like those of _He_ and _She_. According to Horne Tooke, who declares _hoet_ to have been one of its ancient forms, "this pronoun was merely the past participle of the verb HAITAN, _haetan_, nominare," _to name_, and literally signifies "_the said_;" (_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 46; _W. Allen's Gram._, p. 57;) but Dr. Alexander Murray, exhibiting it in an other form, not adapted to this opinion, makes it the neuter of a declinable adjective, or pronoun, inflected from the masculine, thus: "He, heo hita, _this_"--_Hist. of Lang._, Vol. i, p. 315. II. The relatives and interrogatives are derived from the same source, the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and have passed through similar changes, or varieties in orthography; but, the common relative pronoun of the Anglo-Saxons being like their article _the_,--or, with the three genders, _se, seo, thaet_,--and not like our _who, which_, and _what_, it is probable that the interrogative use of these words was the primitive one. They have been found in all the following forms:-- 1. WHO, ho, hue, wha, hwa, hua, wua, qua, quha;--WHOSE, who's, whos, whois, whoise, wheas, quhois, quhais, quhase, hwaes;--WHOM, whome, quham, quhum, quhome, hwom, hwam, hwaem, hwaene, hwone. 2. WHICH, whiche, whyche, whilch, wych, quilch, quilk, quhilk, hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, whilk, huilic, hvilc. For the Anglo-Saxon forms, Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary gives "_hwilc, hwylc_, and _hwelc_;" but Professor Fowler's E. Grammar makes them "_huilic_ and _hvilc_."--See p. 240. _Whilk_, or _quhilk_, is a Scottish form. 3. WHAT, hwat, hwet, quhat, hwaet. This pronoun, whether relative or interrogative, is regarded by Bosworth and others as a neuter derivative from the masculine or femine [sic--KTH] _hwa_, who. It may have been thence derived, but, in modern English, it is not always of the neuter gender. See the last note on page 312. 4. THAT, Anglo-Saxon Thaet. Tooke's notion of the derivation of this word is noticed above in the section on Articles. There is no certainty of its truth; and our lexicographers make no allusion to it. W. Allen reaffirms it. See his _Gram._, p. 54. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--In the Well-Wishers' Grammar, (p. 39,) as also in L. Murray's and some others, the pronoun _Which_ is very strangely and erroneously represented as being always "of the _neuter_ gender." (See what is said of this word in the Introduction, Chap. ix, 32.) Whereas it is the relative most generally applied to _brute animals_, and, in our common version of the Bible, its application to _persons_ is peculiarly frequent. Fowler says, "In its origin it is a Compound."--_E. Gram._, p. 240. Taking its first Anglo-Saxon form to be "_Huilic_," he thinks it traceable to "_hwa_, who," or its ablative "_hwi_," and "_lie_, like."--_Ib._ If this is right, the neuter sense is not its primitive import, or any part of it. OBS. 2.--From its various uses, the word _That_ is called sometimes a pronoun, sometimes an adjective, and sometimes a conjunction; but, in respect to derivation, it is, doubtless, one and the same. As a relative pronoun, it is of either number, and has no plural form different from the singular; as, "Blessed is the _man that_ heareth me."--_Prov._, viii, 34. "Blessed are _they that_ mourn."--_Matt._, v, 4. As an adjective, it is said by Tooke to have been formerly "applied indifferently to plural nouns and to singular; as, 'Into _that_ holy orders.'--_Dr. Martin_. 'At _that_ dayes.'--_Id. 'That_ euyll aungels the denilles.'--_Sir Tho. More_. 'This pleasure undoubtedly farre excelleth all _that_ pleasures that in this life maie be obteined.'--_Id_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, pp. 47 and 48. The introduction of the plural form _those_, must have rendered this usage bad English. SECTION V.--DERIVATION OF VERBS. In English, Verbs are derived from nouns, from adjectives, or from verbs. I. Verbs are derived from _Nouns_ in the following different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ize, ise, en_, or _ate_: as, _author, authorize; critic, criticise; length, lengthen; origin, originate_. The termination _ize_ is of Greek origin, and _ise_ is most probably of French: the former is generally preferable in forming English derivatives; but both are sometimes to be used, and they should be applied according to Rule 13th for Spelling. 2. Some few verbs are derived from nouns by the changing of a sharp or hard consonant to a flat or soft one, or by the adding of a mute _e_, to soften a hard sound: as, _advice, advise; price, prize; bath, bathe; cloth, clothe; breath, breathe; wreath, wreathe; sheath, sheathe; grass, graze_. II. Verbs are derived from _Adjectives_ in the following different ways:-- 1. By the adding of _ize_ or _en_: as _legal, legalize; immortal, immortalize; civil, civilize; human, humanize; familiar, familiarize; particular, particularize; deaf, deafen; stiff, stiffen; rough, roughen; deep, deepen; weak, weaken_. 2. Many adjectives become verbs by being merely used and inflected as verbs: as, _warm_, to _warm_, he _warms; dry_, to _dry_, he _dries; dull_, to _dull_, he _dulls; slack_, to _slack_, he _slacks; forward_, to _forward_, he _forwards_. III. Verbs are derived from _Verbs_ in the following modes, or ways:-- 1. By the prefixing of _dis_ or _un_ to reverse the meaning: as, _please, displease; qualify, disqualify; organize, disorganize; fasten, unfasten; muzzle, unmuzzle; nerve, unnerve_. 2. By the prefixing of _a, be, for, fore, mis, over, out, under, up_, or _with_: as, _rise, arise; sprinkle, besprinkle; bid, forbid; see, foresee; take, mistake; look, overlook; run, outrun; go, undergo; hold, uphold; draw, withdraw_. SECTION VI.--DERIVATION OF PARTICIPLES. All _English_ Participles are derived from _English_ verbs, in the manner explained in Chapter 7th, under the general head of Etymology; and when foreign participles are introduced into our language, they are not participles with us, but belong to some other class of words, or part of speech. SECTION VII.--DERIVATION OF ADVERBS. 1. In _English_, many Adverbs are derived from adjectives by the addition of _ly_: which is an abbreviation for _like_, and which, though the addition of it to a noun forms an adjective, is the most distinctive as well as the most common termination of our adverbs: as, _candid, candidly; sordid, sordidly; presumptuous, presumptuously_. Most adverbs of manner are thus formed. 2. Many adverbs are compounds formed from two or more English words; as, _herein, thereby, to-day, always, already, elsewhere, sometimes, wherewithal_. The formation and the meaning of these are, in general, sufficiently obvious. 3. About seventy adverbs are formed by means of the prefix, or inseparable preposition, _a_; as, _Abreast, abroach, abroad, across, afar, afield, ago, agog, aland, along, amiss, atilt_. 4. _Needs_, as an adverb, is a contraction of _need is; prithee_, or _pr'ythee_, of _I pray thee; alone_, of _all one; only_, of _one-like; anon_, of the Saxon _an on_; i.e., _in one_ [instant]; _never_, of _ne ever_; i.e., _not_ ever. Prof. Gibbs, in Fowler's Grammar, makes _needs_ "the Genitive case of the noun _need_."--P. 311. 5. _Very_ is from the French _veray_, or _vrai_, true; and this, probably, from the Latin _verus. Rather_ appears to be the regular comparative of the ancient _rath_, soon, quickly, willingly; which comes from the _Anglo-Saxon "Rathe_, or _Hrathe_, of one's own accord."--_Bosworth_. But the parent language had also "_Hrathre_, to a mind."--_Id._ That is, to _one's_ mind, or, perhaps, _more willingly_. OBSERVATIONS. OBS. 1.--Many of our most common adverbs are of Anglo-Saxon derivation, being plainly traceable to certain very old forms, of the same import, which the etymologist regards but as the same words differently spelled: as, _All_, eall, eal, or aell; _Almost_, ealmaest, or aelmaest; _Also_, ealswa, or aelswa; _Else_, elles; _Elsewhere_, elleshwaer; _Enough_, genog, or genoh; _Even_, euen, efen, or aefen; _Ever_, euer, aefer, or aefre; _Downward_, duneweard; _Forward_, forweard, or foreweard; _Homeward_, hamweard; _Homewards_, hamweardes; _How_, hu; _Little_, lytel; _Less_, laes; _Least_, laest; _No_, na; _Not_, noht, or nocht; _Out_, ut, or ute; _So_, swa; _Still_, stille, or stylle; _Then_, thenne; _There_, ther, thar, thaer; _Thither_, thider, or thyder; _Thus_, thuss, or thus; _Together_, togaedere, or togaedre; _Too_, to; _When_, hwenne, or hwaenne; _Where_, hwaer; _Whither_, hwider, hwyder, or hwyther; _Yea_, ia, gea, or gee; _Yes_, gese, gise, or gyse. OBS. 2.--According to Horne Tooke, "_Still_ and _Else_ are the imperatives _Stell_ and _Ales_ of their respective verbs _Stellan_, to put, and _Alesan_, to dismiss."--_Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 111. He afterwards repeats the doctrine thus: "_Still_ is only the imperative _Stell_ or _Steall_, of _Stellan_ or _Steallian_, ponere."--_Ib._, p. 146. "This word _Else_, formerly written _alles, alys, alyse, elles, ellus, ellis, ells, els_, and now _else_; is, as I have said, no other than _Ales_ or _Alys_, the imperative of _Alesan_ or _Alysan_, dimittere."--_Ib._, p. 148. These ulterior and remote etymologies are perhaps too conjectural. SECTION VIII.--DERIVATION OF CONJUNCTIONS. The _English_ Conjunctions are mostly of Anglo-Saxon origin. The best etymological vocabularies of our language give us, for the most part, the same words in Anglo-Saxon characters; but Horne Tooke, in his _Diversions of Purley_, (a learned and curious work which the advanced student may peruse with advantage,) traces, or professes to trace, these and many other English particles, to _Saxon verbs_ or _participles_. The following derivations, so far as they partake of such speculations, are offered principally on his authority:-- 1. ALTHOUGH, signifying _admit, allow_, is from _all_ and _though_; the latter being supposed the imperative of Thafian or Thafigan, _to allow, to concede, to yield_. 2. AN, an obsolete or antiquated conjunction, signifying _if_, or _grant_, is the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon verb Anan or Unan, _to grant, to give_. 3. AND, [Saxon, And,] _add_, is said by Tooke to come from "An-ad, the imperative of Ananad, _Dare congeriem_."--_D. of P._, Vol. i, p. 111. That is, "_To give the heap_." The truth of this, if unapparent, I must leave so. 4. AS, according to Dr. Johnson, is from the Teutonic _als_; but Tooke says that _als_ itself is a contraction for _all_ and the original particle _es_ or _as_, meaning _it, that_, or _which_. 5. BECAUSE, from _be_ and _cause_, means _by cause_; the _be_ being written for _by_. 6. BOTH, _the two_, is from the pronominal adjective _both_; which, according to Dr. Alexander Murray, is a contraction of the Visigothic _Bagoth_, signifying _doubled_. The Anglo-Saxons wrote for it _butu, butwu, buta_, and _batwa_; i. e., _ba_, both, _twa_, two. 7. BUT,--(in Saxon, _bute, butan, buton_, or _butun_--) meaning _except, yet, now, only, else than, that not_, or _on the contrary_,--is referred by Tooke and some others, to two roots,--each of them but a conjectural etymon for it. "BUT, implying _addition_," say they, "is from Bot, the imperative of Botan, _to boot, to add_; BUT, denoting _exception_, is from Be-utan, the imperative of Beon-utan, _to be out_."--See _D. of P._, Vol. i, pp. 111 and 155. 8. EITHER, _one of the two_, like the pronominal adjective EITHER, is from the Anglo-Saxon AEther, or Egther, a word of the same uses, and the same import. 9. EKE, _also_, (now nearly obsolete,) is from "Eac, the imperative of Eacan, _to add_." 10. EVEN, whether a noun, an adjective, an adverb, or a conjunction, appears to come from the same source, the Anglo-Saxon word Efen or AEfen. 11. EXCEPT, which, when used as a conjunction, means _unless_, is the imperative, or (according to Dr. Johnson) an ancient perfect participle, of the verb _to except_. 12. FOR, _because_, is from the Saxon preposition _For_; which, to express this meaning, our ancestors combined with something else, reducing to one word some such phrase as, _For that, For this, For this that_; as, "Fortha, Fortham, Forthan, Forthamthe, Forthan the."--See _Bosworth's Dict._ 13. IF, _give, grant, allow_, is from "Gif, the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon Gifan, _to give_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 111. 14. LEST, _that not, dismissed_, is from "Lesed, the perfect participle of Lesan, _to dismiss_." 15. NEITHER, _not either_, is a union and contraction of _ne either_: our old writers frequently used _ne_ for _not_; the Anglo-Saxons likewise repeated it, using _ne--ne_, in lieu of our corresponsives _neither--nor_; and our modern lexicographers still note the word, in some of these senses. 16. NOR, _not other, not else_, is supposed to be a union and contraction of _ne or_. 17. NOTWITHSTANDING, _not hindering_, is an English compound of obvious formation. 18. OR, an alternative conjunction, seems to be a word of no great antiquity. It is supposed to be a contraction of _other_, which Johnson and his followers give, in Saxon characters, either as its source, or as its equivalent. 19. PROVIDED, the perfect participle of the verb _provide_, becomes occasionally a disjunctive conjunction, by being used alone or with the particle _that_, to introduce a condition, a saving clause, a proviso. 20. SAVE, anciently used with some frequency as a conjunction, in the sense of _but_, or except is from the imperative of the English verb _save_, and is still occasionally turned to such a use by the poets. 21. SEEING, sometimes made a copulative conjunction, is the imperfect participle of the verb _see_. Used at the head of a clause, and without reference to an agent, it assumes a conjunctive nature. 22. SINCE is conjectured by Tooke to be "the participle of Seon, _to see_," and to mean "_seeing, seeing that, seen that_, or _seen as_."--_Diversions of P._, Vol. i, pp. 111 and 220. But Johnson and others say, it has been formed "by contraction from _sithence_, or _sith thence_, from _sithe_, Sax."--_Joh. Dict._ 23. THAN, which introduces the latter term of a comparison, is from the Gothic _than_, or the Anglo-Saxon _thanne_, which was used for the same purpose. 24. THAT, when called a conjunction, is said by Tooke to be etymologically the same as the adjective or pronoun THAT, the derivation of which is twice spoken of above; but, in Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, as abridged by Chalmers, THAT, the _conjunction_, is referred to "_thatei_, Gothic;" THAT, the _pronoun_, to "_that, thata_, Gothic; _thaet_, Saxon; _dat_, Dutch." 25. THEN, used as a conjunction, is doubtless the same word as the Anglo-Saxon _Thenne_, taken as an illative, or word of inference. 26. "THOUGH, _allow_, is [from] the imperative Thaf, or Thafig, of the verb Thafian or Thafigan, _to allow_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, pp. 111 and 150. 27. "UNLESS, _except, dismiss_, is [from] Onles, the imperative of Onlesan, _to dismiss_."--_Ib._ 28. WHETHER, a corresponsive conjunction, which introduces the first term of an alternative, is from the Anglo-Saxon _hwaether_, which was used for the same purpose. 29. YET, _nevertheless_, is from "Get, the imperative of Getan, _to get_."--_Tooke_. SECTION IX.--DERIVATION OF PREPOSITIONS. The following are the principal _English_ Prepositions, explained in the order of the list:-- 1. ABOARD, meaning _on board of_, is from the prefix or preposition _a_ and the noun _board_, which here means "_the deck_ of a ship" or vessel. _Abord_, in French, is _approach, arrival_, or a _landing_. 2. ABOUT, [Sax. Abutan, or Abuton,] meaning _around, at circuit_, or _doing_, is from the prefix _a_, meaning _at_, and the noun _bout_, meaning a _turn_, a _circuit_, or a _trial_. In French, _bout_ means end; and _about, end_, or _but-end_. 3. ABOVE, [Sax. Abufan, Abufon, A-be-ufan.] meaning _over_, or, literally, _at-by-over_, or _at-by-top_, is from the Saxon or Old English _a, be_, and _ufa_, or _ufan_, said to mean "_high, upwards_, or _the top_." 4. ACROSS, _at cross, athwart, traverse_, is from the prefix _a_ and the word _cross_. 5. AFTER, [Sax. AEfter, or AEftan,] meaning _behind, subsequent to_, is, in form, the comparative of _aft_, a word common to seamen, and it may have been thence derived. 6. AGAINST, _opposite to_, is probably from the Anglo-Saxon, Ongean, or Ongegen, each of which forms means _again_ or _against_. As prefixes, _on_ and _a_ are often equivalent. 7. ALONG, [i.e., _at-long_,] meaning _lengthwise of, near to_, is formed from _a_ and _long_. 8. AMID, [i. e., _at mid_ or _middle_,] is from _a_ and _mid_; and AMIDST [, i.e., _at midst_,] is from _a_ and _midst_, contracted from _middest_, the superlative of _mid_. 9. AMONG, _mixed with_, is probably an abbreviation of _amongst_; and AMONGST, according to Tooke, is from _a_ and _mongst_, or the older "Ge-meneged," Saxon for "_mixed, mingled_." 10. AROUND, _about, encircling_, is from _a_ and _round_, a circle, or circuit. 11. AT, _gone to_, is supposed by some to come from the Latin _ad_; but Dr. Murray says, "We have in Teutonic AT for AGT, touching or touched, joined, _at_."--_Hist. of Lang._, i, 349. 12. ATHWART, _across_, is from _a_ and _thwart_, cross; and this from the Saxon Thweor. 13. BATING, a preposition for _except_, is the imperfect participle of _bate_, to abate. 14. BEFORE, [i.e., _by-fore_,] in front of, is from the prefix _be_ and the adjective _fore_. 15. BEHIND, [i.e., _by-hind_,] in rear of, is from the prefix _be_ and the adjective _hind_. 16. BELOW, [i.e., _by-low_,] meaning _under_, or _beneath_, is from _be_ and the adjective _low_. 17. BENEATH [, Sax. or Old Eng. Beneoth,] is from _be_ and _neath_, or Sax. Neothe, _low_. 18. BESIDE [, i.e., _by-side_,] is probably from _be_ and the noun or adjective _side_. 19. BESIDES [, i.e., _by-sides_,] is probably from _be_ and the plural noun _sides_. 20. BETWEEN, [Sax. Betweonan, or Betwynan,] literally, _by-twain_, seems to have been formed from _be_, by, and _twain_, two--or the Saxon Twegen, which also means _two, twain_. 21. BETWIXT, meaning _between_, [Sax. Betweox, Betwux, Betwyx, Betwyxt, &c.,] is from _be_, by, and _twyx_, originally a "Gothic" word signifying "_two_, or _twain_."--See _Tooke_, Vol. i, p. 329. 22. BEYOND, _past_, [Sax. Begeond,] is from the prefix _be_, by, and _yond_, [Sax. Geond,] _past, far_. 23. BY [, Sax. Be, Bi, or Big,] is affirmed by Tooke to be "the imperative Byth, of the Anglo-Saxon verb Beon, _to be_."--_Diversions of P._, Vol. i, p. 326. This seems to be rather questionable. 24. CONCERNING, the preposition, is from the first participle of the verb _concern_. 25. DOWN, the preposition, is from the Anglo-Saxon Dune, down. 26. DURING, prep. of time, is from the first participle of an old verb _dure_, to last, formerly in use; as, "While the world may _dure_."--_Chaucer's Knight's Tale_. 27. ERE, _before_, prep. of time, is from the Anglo-Saxon AEr, a word of like sort. 28. EXCEPT, _bating_, is from the imperative, or (according to Dr. Johnson) the ancient perfect participle of the verb _to except_; and EXCEPTING, when a preposition, is from the first participle of the same verb. 29. FOR, _because of_, is the Anglo-Saxon preposition For, a word of like import, and supposed by Tooke to have come from a Gothic noun signifying _cause_, or _sake_. 30. FROM, in Saxon, _Fram_, is probably derived from the old adjective Frum, _original_. 31. IN, or the Saxon In, is the same as the Latin _in_: the Greek is [Greek: en]; and the French, _en_. 32. INTO, like the Saxon Into, noting entrance, is a compound of _in_ and _to_. 33. MID and MIDST, as English prepositions, are poetical forms used for _Amid_ and _Amidst_. 34. NOTWITHSTANDING, _not hindering_, is from the adverb _not_, and the participle _withstanding_, which, by itself, means _hindering_, or _preventing_. 35. OF is from the Saxon Of, or Af; which is supposed by Tooke to come from a noun signifying _offspring_. 36. OFF, opposed to _on_, Dr. Johnson derives from the "Dutch _af_." 37. ON, a word very often used in Anglo-Saxon, is traced by some etymologists to the Gothic _ana_, the German _an_, the Dutch _aan_; but no such derivation fixes its meaning. 38. OUT, [Sax. Ut, Ute, or Utan,] when made a preposition, is probably from the adverb or adjective _Out_, or the earlier _Ut_; and OUT-OF, [Sax. Ut-of,] opposed to _Into_, is but the adverb _Out_ and the preposition _Of_--usually written separately, but better joined, in some instances. 39. OVER, _above_, is from the Anglo-Saxon Ofer, _over_; and this, probably, from Ufa, _above, high_, or from the comparative, Ufera, _higher_. 40. OVERTHWART, meaning _across_, is a compound of _over_ and _thwart_, cross. 41. PAST, _beyond, gone by_, is a contraction from the perfect participle _passed_. 42. PENDING, _during_ or _hanging_, has a participial form, but is either an adjective or a preposition: we do not use _pend_ alone as a verb, though we have it in _depend_. 43. RESPECTING, _concerning_, is from the first participle of the verb _respect_. 44. ROUND, a preposition for _about_ or _around_, is from the noun or adjective _round_. 45. SINCE is most probably a contraction of the old word _Sithence_; but is conjectured by Tooke to have been formed from the phrase, "_Seen as_." 46. THROUGH [, Sax. Thurh, or Thurch,] seems related to _Thorough_, Sax. Thuruh; and this again to Thuru, or Duru, a _Door_. 47. THROUGHOUT, _quite through_, is an obvious compond of _through_ and _out_. 48. TILL, [Sax. Til or Tille,] _to, until_, is from the Saxon Til or Till, _an end, a station_. 49. TO, whether a preposition or an adverb, is from the Anglo-Saxon particle To. 50. TOUCHING, _with regard to_, is from the first participle of the verb _touch_. 51. TOWARD or TOWARDS, written by the Anglo-Saxons _Toweard_ or _Toweardes_, is a compound of _To_ and _Ward_ or _Weard_, a guard, a look-out; "Used in composition to express _situation_ or _direction_."--_Bosworth_. 52. UNDER, [Gothic, Undar; Dutch, Onder,] _beneath, below_, is a common Anglo-Saxon word, and very frequent prefix, affirmed by Tooke to be "nothing but _on-neder_," a Dutch compound = _on lower_.--See _Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 331. 53. UNDERNEATH is a compound of _under_ and _neath_, low; whence _nether_, lower. 54. UNTIL is a compound from _on_ or _un_, and till, or _til_, the end. 55. UNTO, now somewhat antiquated, is formed, not very analogically, from _un_ and _to_. 56. UP is from the Anglo-Saxon adjective, "Up or Upp, _high, lofty_." 57. UPON, which appears literally to mean _high on_, is from two words _up_ and _on_. 58. WITH comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon With, a word of like sort and import; which Tooke says is an imperative verb, sometimes from "Withan, _to join_," and sometimes from "Wyrthan, _to be_."--See his _Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 262. 59. WITHIN [, i.e., _by-in_,] is from _with_ and _in_: Sax. Withinnan, Binnan, or Binnon. 60. WITHOUT [, i.e., _by-out_,] is from _with_ and _out_: Sax. Withutan, -uten, -uton; Butan, Buton, Butun. OBSERVATION. In regard to some of our minor or simpler prepositions, as of sundry other particles, to go beyond the forms and constructions which present or former usage has at some period given them as particles, and to ascertain their actual origin in something ulterior, if such they had, is no very easy matter; nor can there be either satisfaction or profit in studying what one suspects to be mere guesswork. "How do you account for IN, OUT, ON, OFF, and AT?" says the friend of Tooke, in an etymological dialogue at Purley. The substance of his answer is, "The explanation and etymology of these words require a degree of knowledge in all the _antient_ northern languages, and a skill in the application of that knowledge, which I am very far from assuming; and though I am almost persuaded by some of my own conjectures concerning them, I am not willing, by an apparently forced and far-fetched derivation, to justify your imputation of etymological legerdemain."--_Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 370. SECTION X.--DERIVATION OF INTERJECTIONS. Those significant and constructive words which are occasionally used as Interjections, (such as _Good! Strange! Indeed_!,) do not require an explanation here; and those mere sounds which are in no wise expressive of thought, scarcely admit of definition or derivation. The Interjection HEY is probably a corruption of the adjective _High_;--ALAS is from the French _Helas_:--ALACK is probably a corruption of _Alas_;--WELAWAY or WELLAWAY, (which is now corrupted into WELLADAY,) is said by some to be from the Anglo-Saxon _Wa-la-wa_, i.e., _Wo-lo-wo_;--"FIE," says Tooke, "is the imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb _Fian_, to hate;"--_Heyday_ is probably from _high day_;--AVAUNT, perhaps from the French _avant_, before;--LO, from _look_;--BEGONE, from _be_ and _gone_;--WELCOME, from _well_ and _come_;--FAREWELL, from _fare_ and _well_. SECTION XI--EXPLANATION OF THE PREFIXES. In the formation of English words, certain particles are often employed as prefixes; which, as they generally have some peculiar import, may be separately explained. A few of them are of Anglo-Saxon origin, or character; and the greater part of these are still employed as separate words in our language. The rest are Latin, Greek, or French prepositions. The _roots_ to which they are prefixed, are not always proper English words. Those which are such, are called SEPARABLE RADICALS; those which are not such, INSEPARABLE RADICALS. CLASS I--THE ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON PREFIXES. 1. A, as an English prefix, signifies _on, in, at_, or _to_: as in _a-board, a-shore, a-foot, a-bed, a-soak, a-tilt, a-slant, a-far, a-field_; which are equal to the phrases, _on board, on shore, on foot, in bed, in soak, at tilt, at slant, to a distance, to the fields_. The French _a_, to, is probably the same particle. This prefix is sometimes redundant, adding little or nothing to the meaning; as in _awake, arise, amend_. 2. BE, as a prefix, signifies _upon, over, by, to, at_, or _for_: as in _be-spatter, be-cloud, be-times, be-tide, be-howl, be-speak_. It is sometimes redundant, or merely intensive; as in _be-gird, be-deck, be-loved, be-dazzle, be-moisten, be-praise, be-quote_. 3. COUNTER, an English prefix, allied to the French _Contre_, and the Latin _Contra_, means _against_, or _opposite_; as in _counter-poise, counter-evidence, counter-natural_. 4. FOR, as a prefix, unlike the common preposition _For_, seems generally to signify _from_: it is found in the irregular verbs _for-bear, for-bid, for-get, for-give, for-sake, for-swear_; and in _for-bathe, for-do, for-pass, for-pine, for-say, for-think, for-waste_, which last are now disused, the _for_ in several being merely intensive. 5. FORE, prefixed to a verb, signifies _before_; as in _fore-know, fore-tell_: prefixed to a noun, it is usually an adjective, and signifies anterior; as in _fore-side, fore-part_. 6. HALF, signifying _one of two equal parts_, is much used in composition; and, often, merely to denote imperfection: as, _half-sighted_, seeing imperfectly. 7. MIS signifies _wrong_ or _ill_; as in _mis-cite, mis-print, mis-spell, mis-chance, mis-hap_. 8. OVER denotes superiority or excess; as in _over-power, over-strain, over-large_. 9. OUT, prefixed to a verb, generally denotes excess; as in _out-do, out-leap, out-poise_: prefixed to a noun, it is an adjective, and signifies _exterior_; as in _out-side, out-parish_. 10. SELF generally signifies one's own person, or belonging to one's own person; but, in _self-same_, it means _very_. We have many words beginning with _Self_, but most of them seem to be compounds rather than derivatives; as, _self-love, self-abasement, self-abuse, self-affairs, self-willed, self-accusing_. 11. UN denotes negation or contrariety; as in _un-kind, un-load, un-truth, un-coif_. 12. UNDER denotes inferiority; as in _under-value, under-clerk, under-growth_. 13. UP denotes motion upwards; as in _up-lift_: sometimes subversion; as in _up-set_. 14. WITH, as a prefix, unlike the common preposition _With_, signifies _against, from_, or _back_; as in _with-stand, with-hold, with-draw, with-stander, with-holdment, with-drawal_. CLASS II.--THE LATIN PREFIXES. The primitives or radicals to which these are prefixed, are not many of them employed separately in English. The final letter of the prefix _Ad, Con, Ex, In, Ob_, or _Sub_, is often changed before certain consonants; not capriciously, but with uniformity, to adapt or assimilate it to the sound which follows. 1. A, AB, or ABS, means From, or Away: as, _a-vert_, to turn from, or away; _ab-duce_, to lead from; _ab-duction_, a carrying-away; _ab-stract_, to draw from, or away. 2. AD,--forming _ac, af, al, an, ap, as, at_,--means To, or At: as, _ad-vert_, to turn to; _ac-cord_, to yield to; _af-flux_, a flowing-to; _al-ly_, to bind to; _an-nex_, to link to; _ap-ply_, to put to; _as-sume_, to take to; _at-test_, to witness to; _ad-mire_, to wonder at. 3. ANTE means Fore, or Before: as, _ante-past_, a fore-taste; _ante-cedent_, foregoing, or going before; _ante-mundane_, before the world; _ante-date_, to date before. 4. CIRCUM means Round, Around, or About: as _circum-volve_, to roll round; _circum-scribe_, to write round; _circum-vent_, to come round; _circum-spect_, looking about one's self. 5. CON,--which forms _com, co, col, cor_,--means Together: as, _con-tract_, to draw together; _compel_, to drive together; _co-erce_, to force together; _col-lect_, to gather together; _cor-rade_, to rub or scrape together; _con-junction_, a joining-together. 6. CONTRA, or CONTRO, means Against, or Counter: as, _contra-dict_, to speak against; _contra-vene_, to come against; _contra-mure_, countermure; _contro-vert_, to turn against. 7. DE means Of, From, or Down: as, _de-note_, to be a sign of; _de-tract_, to draw from; _de-pend_, to hang down; _de-press_, to press down; _de-crease_, to grow down, to grow less. 8. DIS, or DI, means Away, or Apart: as, _dis-pel_, to drive away; _dis-sect_, to cut apart; _di-vert_, to turn away. 9. E, or Ex,--making also _ec, ef_,--means Out: as, _e-ject_, to cast out; _e-lect_, to choose out; _ex-clude_, to shut out; _ex-cite_, to summon out; _ec-stacy_, a raising out; _ef-face_, to blot out. 10. EXTRA means Beyond, or Out of: as, _extra-vagant_, syllabled _ex-trav'a-gant_, roving be-yond; _extra-vasate, ex-trav'a-sate_, to flow out of the vessels; _extra-territorial_, being out of the territory. 11. IN,--which makes also _il, im, ir_,--means In, Into, or Upon: as, _in-spire_, to breathe in; _il-lude_, to draw in by deceit; _im-mure_, to wall in; _ir-ruption_, a rushing in; _in-spect_, to look into; _in-scribe_, to write upon; _in-sult_, to jump upon. These syllables, prefixed, to English nouns or adjectives, generally reverse their meaning; as in _in-justice, il-legality, im-partiality, ir-religion, ir-rational, in-secure, in-sane_. 12. INTER means Between, or In between: as, _inter-sperse_, to scatter in between; _inter-jection_, something thrown in between; _inter-jacent_, lying between; _inter-communication_, communication between. 13. INTRO means In, Inwards, or Within: as, _intro-duce_, to lead in; _intro-vert_, to turn inwards; _intro-spect_, to look within; _intro-mission_, a sending-in. 14. OB,--which makes also _oc, of, op_,--means Against: as, _ob-trude_, to thrust against; _oc-cur_, to run against; _of-fer_, to bring against; _op-pose_, to place against; _ob-ject_, to cast against. 15. PER means Through or By: as, _per-vade_, to go through; _per-chance_, by chance; _per-cent_, by the hundred; _per-plex_, to tangle through, or to entangle thoroughly. 16. POST means After: as, _post-pone_, to place after; _post-date_, to date after. 17. PRAE, or PRE, means Before: as, _pre-sume_, to take before; _pre-position_, a placing-before, or thing placed before; _prae-cognita_, things known before. 18. PRO means For, Forth, or Forwards: as, _pro-vide_, to take care for; _pro-duce_, to bring forth; _pro-trude_, to thrust forwards; _pro-ceed_, to go forward; _pro-noun_, for a noun. 19. PRETER means By, Past, or Beyond: as, _preter-it_, bygone, or gone by; _preter-imperfect_, past imperfect; _preter-natural_, beyond what is natural; _preter-mit_, to put by, to omit. 20. RE means Again or Back: as, _re-view_, to view again; _re-pel_, to drive back. 21. RETRO means Backwards, Backward, or Back: as, _retro-active_, acting backwards; _retro-grade_, going backward; _retro-cede_, to cede back again. 22. SE means Aside or Apart: as, _se-duce_, to lead aside; _se-cede_, to go apart. 23. SEMI means Half: as, _semi-colon_, half a colon; _semi-circle_, half a circle. 24. SUB,--which makes _suf, sug, sup, sur_, and _sus_,--means Under, and sometimes Up: as, _sub-scribe_, to write under; _suf-fossion_, an undermining; _sug-gest_, to convey under; _sup-ply_, to put under; _sur-reption_, a creeping-under; _sus-tain_, to hold up; _sub-ject_, cast under. 25. SUBTER means Beneath: as, _subter-fluous_, flowing beneath. 26. SUPER means Over or Above: as, _super-fluous_, flowing over; _super-natant_, swimming above; _super-lative_, carried over, or carrying over; _super-vise_, to overlook, to oversee. 27. TRANS,--whence TRAN and TRA,--means Beyond, Over, To another state or place: as, _trans-gress_, to pass beyond or over; _trans-cend_, to climb over; _trans-mit_ to send to an other place; _trans-form_, to change to an other shape; _tra-montane_, from beyond the mountains; i.e., _Trans-Alpine_, as opposed to _Cis-Alpine_. CLASS III.--THE GREEK PREFIXES. 1. A and AN, in Greek derivatives, denote privation: as, _a-nomalous_, wanting rules; _an-ony-mous_, wanting name; _an-archy_, want of government; _a-cephalous_, headless. 2. AMPHI means Two, Both, or Double: as, _amphi-bious_, living in two elements; _amphi-brach_, both [sides] short; _amphi-theatre_, a double theatre. 3. ANTI means Against: as, _anti-slavery_, against slavery; _anti-acid_, against acidity; _anti-febrile_, against fever; _anti-thesis_, a placing-against. 4. APO, APH,--From: as, _apo-strophe_, a turning-from; _aph-aeresis_, a taking from. 5. DIA,--Through: as, _dia-gonal_, through the corners; _dia-meter_, measure through. 6. EPI, EPH,--Upon: as, _epi-demic_, upon the people; _eph-emera_, upon a day. 7. HEMI means Half: as, _hemi-sphere_, half a sphere; _hemi-stich_, half a verse. 8. HYPER means Over: as, _hyper-critical_, over-critical; _hyper-meter_, over measure. 9. HYPO means Under: as, _hypo-stasis_, substance, or that which stands under; _hypo-thesis_, supposition, or a placing-under; _hypo-phyllous_, under the leaf. 10. META means Beyond, Over, To an other state or place: as, _meta-morphose_, to change to an other shape; _meta-physics_, mental science, as beyond or over physics. 11. PARA means Against: as, _para-dox_, something contrary to common opinion. 12. PERI means Around: as, _peri-phery_, the circumference, or measure round. 13. SYN,--whence _Sym, Syl_,--means Together: as, _syn-tax_, a putting-together; _sym-pathy_, a suffering-together; _syl-lable_, what we take together; _syn-thesis_ a placing-together. CLASS IV.--THE FRENCH PREFIXES. 1. A is a preposition of very frequent use in French, and generally means _To_. I have suggested above that it is probably the same as the Anglo-Saxon prefix _a_. It is found in a few English compounds or derivatives that are of French, and not of Saxon origin: as, _a-dieu_, to God; i.e., I commend you to God; _a-larm_, from _alarme_, i e., _a l'arme_, to arms. 2. DE means Of or From: as in _de-mure_, of manners; _de-liver_, to ease from or of. 3. DEMI means Half: as, _demi-man_, half a man; _demi-god_, half a god; _demi-devil_, half a devil; _demi-deify_, to half deify; _demi-sized_, half sized; _demi-quaver_, half a quaver. 4. EN,--which sometimes becomes em,--means In, Into, or Upon: as, _en-chain_, to hold in chains; _em-brace_, to clasp in the arms; _en-tomb_, to put into a tomb; _em-boss_, to stud upon. Many words are yet wavering between the French and the Latin orthography of this prefix: as, _embody_, or _imbody; ensurance_, or _insurance; ensnare_, or _insnare; enquire_, or _inquire_. 5. SUR, as a French prefix, means Upon, Over, or After: as, _sur-name_, a name upon a name; _sur-vey_, to look over; _sur-mount_, to mount over or upon; _sur-render_, to deliver over to others; _sur-feit_, to overdo in eating; _sur-vive_, to live after, to over-live, to outlive. END OF THE SECOND APPENDIX APPENDIX III TO PART THIRD, OR SYNTAX. OF THE QUALITIES OF STYLE. Style, as a topic connected with syntax, is the particular manner in which a person expresses his conceptions by means of language. It is different from mere words, different from mere grammar, in any limited sense, and is not to be regulated altogether by rules of construction. It always has some relation to the author's peculiar manner of thinking; involves, to some extent, and shows his literary, if not his moral, character; is, in general, that sort of expression which his thoughts most readily assume; and, sometimes, partakes not only of what is characteristic of the man, of his profession, sect, clan, or province, but even of national peculiarity, or some marked feature of the age. The words which an author employs, may be proper in themselves, and so constructed as to violate no rule of syntax, and yet his style may have great faults. In reviews and critical essays, the general characters of style are usually designated by such epithets as these;--concise, diffuse,--neat, negligent,--terse, bungling,--nervous, weak,--forcible, feeble,--vehement, languid,--simple, affected,--easy, stiff,--pure, barbarous,--perspicuous, obscure,--elegant, uncouth,--florid, plain,--flowery, artless,--fluent, dry,--piquant, dull,--stately, flippant,--majestic, mean,--pompous, modest,--ancient, modern. A considerable diversity of style, may be found in compositions all equally excellent in their kind. And, indeed, different subjects, as well as the different endowments by which genius is distinguished, require this diversity. But, in forming his style, the learner should remember, that a negligent, feeble, affected, stiff, uncouth, barbarous, or obscure style is always faulty; and that perspicuity, ease, simplicity, strength, neatness, and purity, are qualities always to be aimed at. In order to acquire a good style, the frequent practice of composing and writing something, is indispensably necessary. Without exercise and diligent attention, rules or precepts for the attainment of this object, will be of no avail. When the learner has acquired such a knowledge of grammar, as to be in some degree qualified for the undertaking, he should devote a stated portion of his time to composition. This exercise will bring the powers of his mind into requisition, in a way that is well calculated to strengthen them. And if he has opportunity for reading, he may, by a diligent perusal of the best authors, acquire both language and taste as well as sentiment;--and these three are the essential qualifications of a good writer. In regard to the qualities which constitute a good style, we can here offer nothing more than a few brief hints. With respect to words and phrases, particular attention should be paid to three things--_purity, propriety_, and _precision_; and, with respect to sentences, to three others,--_perspicuity, unity_, and _strength_. Under each of these six heads, we shall arrange, in the form of short precepts, a few of the most important directions for the forming of a good style. SECTION I.--OF PURITY. Purity of style consists in the use of such words and phrases only, as belong to the language which we write or speak. Its opposites are the faults aimed at in the following precepts. PRECEPT I.--Avoid the unnecessary use of foreign words or idioms: such as the French words _fraicheur, hauteur, delicatesse, politesse, noblesse_;--the expression, "He _repented himself_;"--or, "It _serves_ to an excellent purpose." PRECEPT II.--Avoid obsolete or antiquated words, except there be some special reason for their use: that is, such words as _acception, addressful, administrate, affamish, affrontiveness, belikely, blusterous, clergical, cruciate, rutilate, timidous_. PRECEPT III.--Avoid strange or unauthorized words: such as, _flutteration, inspectator, judgematical, incumberment, connexity, electerized, martyrized, reunition, marvelize, limpitude, affectated, adorement, absquatulate_. Of this sort is O. B. Peirce's "_assimilarity_," used on page 19th of his _English Grammar_; and still worse is Jocelyn's "_irradicable_," for _uneradicable_, used on page 5th of his _Prize Essay on Education_. PRECEPT IV.--Avoid bombast, or affectation of fine writing. It is ridiculous, however serious the subject. The following is an example: "Personifications, however rich the depictions, and unconstrained their latitude; analogies, however imposing the objects of parallel, and the media of comparison; can never expose the consequences of sin to the extent of fact, or the range of demonstration."--_Anonymous_. SECTION II.--OF PROPRIETY. Propriety of language consists in the selection and right construction of such words as the best usage has appropriated to those ideas which we intend to express by them. Impropriety embraces all those forms of error, which, for the purpose of illustration, exercise, and special criticism, have been so methodically and so copiously posted up under the various heads, rules, and notes, of this extensive Grammar. A few suggestions, however, are here to be set down in the form of precepts. PRECEPT I.--Avoid low and provincial expressions: such as, "Now, _says I_, boys;"--"_Thinks I to myself;"--"To get into a scrape_;"--"Stay here _while_ I come back;"--"_By jinkers;"--"By the living jingoes_." PRECEPT II.--In writing prose, avoid words and phrases that are merely poetical: such as, _morn, eve, plaint, corse, weal, drear, amid, oft, steepy;--"what time_ the winds arise." PRECEPT III.--Avoid technical terms: except where they are necessary in treating of a particular art or science. In technology, they are proper. PRECEPT IV.--Avoid the recurrence of a word in different senses, or such a repetition of words as denotes paucity of language: as, "His own _reason_ might have suggested better _reasons_."--"Gregory _favoured_ the undertaking, for no other reason than this; that the manager, in countenance, _favoured_ his friend."--"I _want_ to go and see what he _wants_." PRECEPT V.--Supply words that are wanting: thus, instead of saying, "This action increased his former services," say, "This action increased _the merit of_ his former services."--"How many [_kinds of_] substantives are there? Two; proper and common."--See _E. Devis's Gram._, p. 14. "These changes should not be left to be settled by chance or by caprice, but [_should be determined_] by the judicious application of the principles of Orthography."--See _Fowlers E. Gram._, 1850, p. 170. PRECEPT VI.--Avoid equivocal or ambiguous expressions: as, "His _memory_ shall be lost on the earth."--"I long since learned to like nothing but what you _do_." PRECEPT VII.--Avoid unintelligible, inconsistent, or inappropriate expressions: such as, "I have observed that the superiority among these coffee-house politicians proceeds from _an opinion_ of gallantry and fashion."--"These words do not convey even an _opaque_ idea of the author's meaning." PRECEPT VIII.--Observe the natural order of things or events, and do not _put the cart before the horse_: as, "The scribes _taught and studied_ the Law of Moses."--"They can neither _return to nor leave_ their houses."--"He tumbled, _head over heels_, into the water."--"'Pat, how did you carry that quarter of beef?' 'Why, I thrust _it through a stick_, and threw _my shoulder over it_.'" SECTION III.--OF PRECISION. Precision consists in avoiding all superfluous words, and adapting the expression exactly to the thought, so as to say, with no deficiency or surplus of terms, whatever is intended by the author. Its opposites are noticed in the following precepts. PRECEPT I.--Avoid a useless tautology, either of expression or of sentiment; as, "When will you return _again_?"--"We returned _back_ home _again_."--"On entering _into_ the room, I saw _and discovered_ he had fallen _down_ on the floor and could not _rise_ up."--"They have a _mutual_ dislike to each other."--"Whenever I go, he _always_ meets me there."--"Where is he _at? In_ there."--"His faithfulness _and fidelity_ should be rewarded." PRECEPT II.--Repeat words as often as an exact exhibition of your meaning requires them; for repetition may be elegant, if it be not useless. The following example does not appear faulty: "Moral _precepts_ are _precepts_ the reasons of which we see; positive _precepts_ are _precepts_ the reasons of which we do not see."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 165. PRECEPT III.--Observe the exact meaning of words accounted synonymous, and employ those which are the most suitable; as, "A diligent scholar may _acquire_ knowledge, _gain_ celebrity, _obtain_ rewards, _win_ prizes, and _get_ high honour, though he _earn_ no money." These six verbs have nearly the same meaning, and yet no two of them can here be correctly interchanged. PRECEPT IV.--Observe the proper form of each word, and do not confound such as resemble each other. "Professor J. W. Gibbs, of Yale College," in treating of the "Peculiarities of the Cockney Dialect," says, "The Londoner sometimes confounds two different forms; as _contagious_ for _contiguous; eminent_ for _imminent; humorous_ for _humorsome; ingeniously_ for _ingenuously; luxurious_ for _luxuriant; scrupulosity_ for _scruple; successfully_ for _successively_."--See _Fowler's E. Gram._, p. 87; and Pref., p. vi. PRECEPT V.--Think clearly, and avoid absurd or incompatible expressions. Example of error: "To pursue _those_ remarks, would, _probably_, be of no further _service_ to the learner than _that of burdening his memory_ with a catalogue of dry and _uninteresting_ peculiarities; _which may gratify curiosity_, without affording information adequate to the trouble of the perusal."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 122. PRECEPT VI.--Avoid words that are useless; and, especially, a multiplication of them into sentences, members, or clauses, that may well be spared. Example: "If one could _really_ be a spectator of what is passing in the world _around us_ without taking part in the events, _or sharing in the passions and actual performance on the stage; if we could set ourselves down, as it were, in a private box of the world's great theatre, and quietly look on at the piece that is playing, no more moved than is absolutely implied by sympathy with our fellow-creatures, what a curious, what an amusing_, what an interesting spectacle would life present."--G. P. R. JAMES: "_The Forger_," commencement of Chap. xxxi. This sentence contains _eighty-seven_ words, "of which _sixty-one_ are entirely unnecessary to the expression of the author's idea, if idea it can be called."--_Holden's Review_. OBSERVATION. Verbosity, as well as tautology, is not so directly opposite to precision, as to conciseness, or brevity. From the manner in which lawyers usually multiply terms in order to express their facts _precisely_, it would seem that, with them, precision consists rather in the use of _many_ words than of _few_. But the ordinary style of legal instruments no popular writer can imitate without becoming ridiculous. A terse or concise style is very apt to be elliptical: and, in some particular instances, must be so; but, at the same time, the full expression, perhaps, may have more _precision_, though it be less agreeable. For example: "A word of one syllable, is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, _is called_ a dissyllable: a word of three syllables, _is called_ a trisyllable: a word of four or more syllables, _is called_ a polysyllable."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 19. Better, perhaps, thus: "A word of one syllable is called a _monosyllable_; a word of two syllables, a _dissyllable_; a word of three syllables, a _trissyllable_; and a word of four or more syllables, a _polysyllable_."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 17. SECTION IV.--OF PERSPICUITY. Perspicuity consists in freedom from obscurity or ambiguity. It is a quality so essential to every kind of writing, that for the want of it no merit of other name can compensate. "Without this, the richest ornaments of style, only glimmer through the dark, and puzzle in stead of pleasing the reader."--_Dr. Blair_. Perspicuity, being the most important property of language, and an exemption from the most embarrassing defects, seems even to rise to a degree of positive beauty. We are naturally pleased with a style that frees us from all suspense in regard to the meaning; that carries us through the subject without embarrassment or confusion; and that always flows like a limpid stream, through which we can "see to the very bottom." Many of the errors which have heretofore been pointed out to the reader, are offences against perspicuity. Only three or four hints will here be added. PRECEPT I.--Place adjectives, relative pronouns, participles, adverbs, and explanatory phrases near enough to the words to which they relate, and in a position which will make their reference clear. The following sentences are deficient in perspicuity: "Reverence is the veneration paid to superior sanctity, _intermixed_ with a certain degree of awe."--_Unknown_. "The Romans understood liberty, _at least_, as well as we."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 307. "Taste was never _made to cater_ for vanity."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, Vol. i, p. 119. PRECEPT II.--In prose, avoid a poetic collocation of words. For example: "Guard your weak side from being known. If it be attacked, the best way is, to join in the attack."--KAMES: _Art of Thinking_, p. 75. This maxim of prudence might be expressed more poetically, but with some loss of perspicuity, thus: "Your weak side guard from being known. Attacked in this, the assailants join." PRECEPT III.--Avoid faulty ellipses, and repeat all words necessary to preserve the sense. The following sentences require the words which are inserted in crotchets: "Restlessness of mind disqualifies us, both for the enjoyment of peace, and [_for_] the performance of our duty."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 166. "Double Comparatives and [_Double_] Superlatives should be avoided."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, p. 489. PRECEPT IV.--Avoid the pedantic and sense-dimming style of charlatans and new theorists, which often demands either a translation or a tedious study, to make it at all intelligible to the ordinary reader. For example: "RULE XL Part 3. An intransitive or receptive _asserter_ in the unlimited mode, depending on a word in the possessive case, may have, after it, a word in the subjective case, denoting the same thing: And, when it acts the part of an assertive name, depending on a relative, it may have after it a word in the subjective case. EXAMPLES:--John's being my _friend_, saved me from inconvenience. Seth Hamilton was unhappy in being a _slave_ to party prejudice."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, 1839, p. 201. The meaning of this _third part of a Rule_ of syntax, is, in proper English, as follows: "A participle not transitive, with the possessive case before it, may have after it a nominative denoting the same thing; and also, when a preposition governs the participle, a nominative may follow, in agreement with one which precedes." In doctrine, the former clause of the sentence is erroneous: it serves only to propagate false syntax by rule. See the former example, and a note of mine, referring to it, on page 531 of this work. SECTION V.--OF UNITY. Unity consists in avoiding needless pauses, and keeping one object predominant throughout a sentence or paragraph. Every sentence, whether its parts be few or many, requires strict unity. The chief faults, opposite to this quality of style, are suggested in the following precepts. PRECEPT I.--Avoid brokenness, hitching, or the unnecessary separation of parts that naturally come together. Examples: "I was, soon after my arrival, taken out of my Indian habit."--_Addison, Tattler_, No. 249. Better: "Soon after my arrival, _I_ was taken out of my Indian habit."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 326. "Who can, either in opposition, or in the ministry, act alone?"--_Ib._ Better: "Who can act alone, either in opposition, or in the ministry?"--_Ib._ "I, like others, have, in my youth, trifled with my health, and old age now prematurely assails me."--_Ib._, p. 327. Better: "Like others, I have trifled with my health, and old age now prematurely assails me." PRECEPT II.--Treat different topics in separate paragraphs, and distinct sentiments in separate sentences. Error: "The two volumes are, indeed, intimately _connected, and constitute_ one uniform system of English Grammar."--_Murray's Preface_, p. iv. Better thus: "The two volumes are, indeed, intimately connected. _They_ constitute one uniform system of English _grammar_." PRECEPT III.--In the progress of a sentence, do not desert the principal subjects in favour of adjuncts, or change the scene unnecessarily. Example: "After we came to anchor, they put me on shore, where I was welcomed by all my friends, who received me with the greatest kindness, which was not then expected." Better: "The vessel having come to anchor, I was put on shore; where I was unexpectedly welcomed by all my friends, and received with the greatest kindness."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 107. PRECEPT IV.--Do not introduce parentheses, except when a lively remark may be thrown in without diverting the mind too long from the principal subject. Example: "But (saith he) since I take upon me to teach the whole world, (it is strange, it should be so natural for this man to write untruths, since I direct my _Theses_ only to the Christian world; but if it may render me odious, such _Peccadillo's_ pass with him, it seems, but for _Piae Fraudes_:) I intended never to write of those things, concerning which we do not differ from others."--_R. Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii. p. 279. The parts of this sentence are so put together, that, as a whole, it is scarcely intelligible. SECTION VI.--OF STRENGTH. Strength consists in giving to the several words and members of a sentence, such an arrangement as shall bring out the sense to the best advantage, and present every idea in its due importance. Perhaps it is essential to this quality of style, that there be animation, spirit, and _vigour of thought_, in all that is uttered. A few hints concerning the Strength of sentences, will here be given in the form of precepts. PRECEPT I.--Avoid verbosity; a concise style is the most favourable to strength. Examples: "No human happiness is so pure as not to contain _any_ alloy."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 270. Better: "No human happiness is _unalloyed_." "He was so much skilled in the exercise of the oar, that few could equal him."--_Ib._, p. 271. Better: "He was so _skillful at_ the oar, that few could _match_ him." Or thus: "At the oar, he was _rarely equalled_." "The reason why they [the pronouns] are considered separately is, because there is something particular in their inflections."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 81. Better: "The pronouns are considered separately, because there is something peculiar in their inflections." PRECEPT II.--Place the most important words in the situation in which they will make the strongest impression. Inversion of terms sometimes increases the strength and vivacity of an expression: as, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."--_Matt._, iv, 9. "Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgements."--_Psalms_, cxix, 137. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."--_Ps._, cxvi, 15. PRECEPT III.--Have regard also to the relative position of clauses, or members; for a weaker assertion should not follow a stronger; and, when the sentence consists of two members, the longer should be the concluding one. Example: "We flatter ourselves with the belief that we have forsaken our passions, when they have forsaken us." Better: "When our passions have forsaken us, we flatter ourselves with the belief that we have forsaken them."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 117; _Murray's Gram._, p. 323. PRECEPT IV.--When things are to be compared or contrasted, their resemblance or opposition will be rendered more striking, if a pretty near resemblance in the language and construction of the two members, be preserved. Example: "The wise man is happy, when he gains his own approbation; the fool, when he recommends himself to the applause of those about him." Better: "The wise man is happy, when he gains his own approbation; the fool, when he gains the applause of others."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 324. PRECEPT V.--Remember that it is, in general, ungraceful to end a sentence with an adverb, a preposition, or any inconsiderable word or phrase, which may either be omitted or be introduced earlier. "For instance, it is a great deal better to say, 'Avarice is a crime of which wise men are often guilty,' than to say, 'Avarice is a crime which wise men are often guilty of.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 117; _Murray's Gram._, p. 323. END OF THE THIRD APPENDIX. APPENDIX IV. TO PART FOURTH, OR PROSODY. OF POETIC DICTION. Poetry, as defined by Dr. Blair, "is the language of passion, or of enlivened imagination, formed, most commonly, into regular numbers."--_Rhet._, p. 377. The style of poetry differs, in many respects, from that which is commonly adopted in prose. Poetic diction abounds in bold figures of speech, and unusual collocations of words. A great part of the figures, which have been treated of in one of the chapters of Prosody, are purely poetical. The primary aim of a poet, is, to please and to move; and, therefore, it is to the imagination, and the passions, that he speaks. He may also, and he should, have it in his view, to instruct and to reform; but it is indirectly, and by pleasing and moving, that such a writer accomplishes this end. The exterior and most obvious distinction of poetry, is versification: yet there are some forms of verse so loose and familiar, as to be hardly distinguishable from prose; and there is also a species of prose, so measured in its cadences, and so much raised in its tone, as to approach very nearly to poetic numbers. This double approximation of some poetry to prose, and of some prose to poetry, not only makes it a matter of acknowledged difficulty to distinguish, by satisfactory definitions, the two species of composition, but, in many instances, embarrasses with like difficulty the attempt to show, by statements and examples, what usages or licenses, found in English works, are proper to be regarded as peculiarities of poetic diction. It is purposed here, to enumerate sundry deviations from the common style of prose; and perhaps all of them, or nearly all, may be justly considered as pertaining only to poetry. POETICAL PECULIARITIES. The following are among the chief peculiarities in which the poets indulge, and are indulged:-- I. They not unfrequently omit the ARTICLES, for the sake of brevity or metre; as, "What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime, Like _shipwreck'd mariner_ on _desert_ coast!" --_Beattie's Minstrel_, p. 12. "_Sky lour'd_, and, muttering thunder, some sad drops Wept at _completing_ of the mortal sin." --_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, l. 1002. II. They sometimes abbreviate common NOUNS, after a manner of their own: as, _amaze_, for _amazement_; _acclaim_, for _acclamation_; _consult_, for _consultation_; _corse_, for _corpse_; _eve_ or _even_, for _evening_; _fount_, for _fountain_; _helm_, for _helmet_; _lament_, for _lamentation_; _morn_, for _morning_; _plaint_, for _complaint_; _targe_, for _target_; _weal_, for _wealth_. III. By _enallage_, they use verbal forms substantively, or put verbs for nouns; perhaps for brevity, as above: thus, 1. "Instant, without _disturb_, they took alarm." --_P. Lost: Joh. Dict., w. Aware._ 2. "The gracious Judge, without _revile_ reply'd." --_P. Lost, B. x, l. 118._ 3. "If they were known, as the _suspect_ is great." --_Shakspeare._ 4. "Mark, and perform it: seest thou? for the _fail_ Of any point in't shall be death." --_Shakspeare._ IV. They employ several nouns that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, _benison, boon, emprise, fane, guerdon, guise, ire, ken, lore, meed, sire, steed, welkin, yore_. V. They introduce the noun _self_ after an other noun of the possessive case; as, 1. "Affliction's semblance bends not o'er thy tomb, Affliction's _self_ deplores thy youthful doom."--_Byron._ 2. "Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's _self._"--_Thomson._ VI. They place before the verb nouns, or other words, that usually come after it; and, after it, those that usually come before it: as, 1. "No jealousy _their dawn of love_ o'ercast, Nor _blasted_ were _their wedded days_ with strife." --_Beattie._ 2. "No _hive_ hast _thou_ of hoarded sweets." --_W. Allen's Gram._ 3. "Thy chain _a wretched weight_ shall prove." --_Langhorne._ 4. "Follows the loosen'd aggravated _roar._" --_Thomson._ 5. "That _purple_ grows _the primrose pale._" --_Langhorne._ VII. They more frequently place ADJECTIVES after their nouns, than do prose writers; as, 1. "Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Show'rs on her kings _barbaric_, pearl and gold." --_Milton, P. L._, B. ii, l. 2. 2. "Come, nymph _demure_, with mantle _blue_." --_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 189. 3. "This truth _sublime_ his simple sire had taught." --_Beattie's Minstrel_, p. 14. VIII. They ascribe qualities to things to which they do not literally belong; as, 1. "The ploughman homeward plods his _weary way_." --_Gray's Elegy_, l. 3. 2. "Or _drowsy tinklings_ lull the distant folds." --_Ibidem_, l. 8. 3. "Imbitter'd more and more from _peevish day_ to day." --_Thomson_. 4. "All thin and naked, to the _numb_ cold _night_." --_Shakspeare_. IX. They use concrete terms to express abstract qualities; (i. e., adjectives for nouns;) as, 1. "Earth's meanest son, all trembling, prostrate falls, And on the _boundless_ of thy goodness calls." --_Young_. 2. "Meanwhile, whate'er of _beautiful_ or _new_, _Sublime_ or _dreadful_, in earth, sea, or sky, By chance or search, was offer'd to his view, He scann'd with curious and romantic eye." --_Beattie_. 3. "Won from the void and formless _infinite_." --_Milton_. 4. "To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart Contains of _good, wise, just_, the perfect shape." --_Id., P. R._, B. iii, l. 10. X. They often substitute quality for manner; (i. e., adjectives for adverbs;) as, 1. ----"The stately-sailing swan Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale, And, arching _proud_ his neck, with oary feet, Bears forward _fierce_, and guards his osier isle." --_Thomson_. 2. "Thither _continual_ pilgrims crowded still." --_Id., Cos. of Ind._, i, 8. 3. "Level at beauty, and at wit; The fairest mark is _easiest_ hit." --_Butler's Hudibras_. XI. They form new compound epithets, oftener than do prose writers; as, 1. "In _world-rejoicing_ state, it moves sublime." --_Thomson_. 2. "The _dewy-skirted_ clouds imbibe the sun." --_Idem_. 3. "By brooks and groves in _hollow-whispering_ gales." --_Idem_. 4. "The violet of _sky-woven_ vest." --_Langhorne_. 5. "A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd, Before the _always-wind-obeying_ deep Gave any tragic instance of our harm." --_Shakspeare_. 6. "'_Blue-eyed, strange-voiced, sharp-beaked, ill-omened_ fowl, What art thou?' 'What I ought to be, an owl.'" --_Day's Punctuation_, p. 139. XII. They connect the comparative degree to the positive, before a verb; as, 1. "_Near and more near_ the billows rise." --_Merrick_. 2. "_Wide and wider_ spreads the vale." --_Dyer's Grongar Hill_. 3. "_Wide and more wide_, the overflowings of the mind Take every creature in, of every kind." --_Pope_. 4. "_Thick and more thick_ the black blockade extends, A hundred head of Aristotle's friends." --_Id., Dunciad_. XIII. They form many adjectives in _y_, which are not common in prose; as, The _dimply_ flood,--_dusky_ veil,--a _gleamy_ ray,--_heapy_ harvests,--_moony_ shield,--_paly_ circlet,--_sheety_ lake,--_stilly_ lake,--_spiry_ temples,--_steely_ casque,--_steepy_ hill,--_towery_ height,--_vasty_ deep,--_writhy_ snake. XIV. They employ adjectives of an abbreviated form: as, _dread_, for _dreadful_; _drear_, for _dreary_; _ebon_, for _ebony_; _hoar_, for _hoary_; _lone_, for _lonely_; _scant_, for _scanty_; _slope_, for _sloping_: _submiss_, for _submissive_; _vermil_, for _vermilion_; _yon_, for _yonder_. XV. They employ several adjectives that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, _azure, blithe, boon, dank, darkling, darksome, doughty, dun, fell, rife, rapt, rueful, sear, sylvan, twain, wan._ XVI. They employ the personal PRONOUNS, and introduce their nouns afterwards; as, 1. "_It_ curl'd not Tweed alone, that _breeze_." --_Sir W. Scott_. 2. "What may _it_ be, the heavy _sound_ That moans old Branksome's turrets round?" --_Idem, Lay_, p. 21. 3. "Is it the lightning's quivering glance, That on the thicket streams; Or do _they_ flash on spear and lance, The sun's retiring _beams_" --_Idem, L. of L._, vi, 15. XVII. They use the forms of the second person singular oftener than do others; as, 1. "Yet I had rather, if I were to chuse, _Thy_ service in some graver subject use, Such as may make _thee_ search thy coffers round, Before _thou clothe_ my fancy in fit sound." --_Milton's Works_, p. 133. 2. "But _thou_, of temples old, or altars new, _Standest_ alone--with nothing like to thee." --_Byron, Pilg._, iv, 154. 3. "Thou seest not all; but piecemeal thou must break, To separate contemplation, the great whole." --_Id., ib._, iv, 157. 4. "Thou rightly deemst, fair youth, began the bard; The form then sawst was Virtue ever fair." --_Pollok, C. of T._, p. 16. XVIII. They sometimes omit relatives that are nominatives; (see Obs. 22, at p. 555;) as, "For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?" --_Thomson_. XIX. They omit the antecedent, or introduce it after the relative; as, 1. "_Who_ never fasts, no banquet e'er enjoys, _Who_ never toils or watches, never sleeps." --_Armstrong_. 2. "_Who_ dares think one thing and an other tell, My soul detests _him_ as the gates of hell." --_Pope's Homer_. XX. They remove relatives, or other connectives, into the body of their clauses; as, 1. "Parts the fine locks, her graceful head _that_ deck." --_Darwin_. 2. "Not half so dreadful rises to the sight Orion's dog, the year _when_ autumn weighs." --_Pope, Iliad_, B. xxii, l. 37. XXI. They make intransitive VERBS transitive, changing their class; as, 1. ----"A while he stands, _Gazing_ the inverted landscape, half afraid To _meditate_ the blue profound below." --_Thomson_. 2. "Still in harmonious intercourse, they _liv'd_ The rural day, and _talk'd_ the flowing heart." --_Idem_. 3. ----"I saw and heard, for we sometimes Who _dwell_ this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth." --_Milton, P. R._, B. i, l. 330. XXII. They make transitive verbs intransitive, giving them no regimen; as, 1. "The soldiers should have _toss'd_ me on their pikes, Before I would have _granted_ to that act." --_Shakspeare_. 2. "This minstrel-god, well-pleased, amid the quire Stood proud to _hymn_, and tune his youthful lyre." --_Pope_. XXIII. They give to the imperative mood the first and the third person; as, 1. "_Turn we_ a moment fancy's rapid flight." --_Thomson_. 2. "_Be_ man's peculiar _work_ his sole delight." --_Beattie_. 3. "And what is reason? Be _she_ thus _defin'd_: Reason is upright stature in the soul." --_Young_. XXIV. They employ _can, could_, and _would_, as principal verbs transitive; as, 1. "_What_ for ourselves we _can_, is always ours." --_Anon_. 2. "Who does the best his circumstance allows, Does well, acts nobly; angels _could_ no _more_." --_Young_. 3. "What _would_ this man? Now upward will he soar, And, little less than angel, would be more." --_Pope_. XXV. They place the infinitive before the word on which it depends; as, 1. "When first thy sire _to send_ on earth Virtue, his darling child, _design'd_" --_Gray_. 2. "As oft as I, _to kiss_ the flood, _decline_; So oft his lips ascend, to close with mine." --_Sandys_. 3. "Besides, Minerva, _to secure_ her care, _Diffus'd_ around a veil of thicken'd air." --_Pope_. XXVI. They place the auxiliary verb after its principal, by hyperbaton; as, 1. "No longer _heed_ the sunbeam bright That plays on Carron's breast he _can_" --_Langhorne_. 2. "_Follow_ I _must_, I cannot go before." --_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 147. 3. "The man who suffers, loudly may complain; And _rage_ he _may_, but he shall rage in vain." --_Pope_. XXVII. Before verbs, they sometimes arbitrarily employ or omit prefixes: _as, bide_, or _abide_; _dim_, or _bedim_; _gird_, or _begird_; _lure_, or _allure_; _move_, or _emove_; _reave_, or _bereave_; _vails_, or _avails_; _vanish_, or _evanish_; _wail_, or _bewail_; _weep_, or _beweep_; _wilder_, or _bewilder_:-- 1. "All knees to thee shall bow, of them that _bide_ In heav'n, or earth, or under earth in hell." --_Milton, P. L._, B. iii, l. 321. 2. "Of a horse, _ware_ the heels; of a bull-dog, the jaws; Of a bear, the embrace; of a lion, the paws." --_Churchills Cram._, p. 215. XXVIII. Some few verbs they abbreviate: as _list_, for _listen_; _ope_, for _open_; _hark_, for _hearken_; _dark_, for _darken_; _threat_, for _threaten_; _sharp_, for _sharpen_. XXIX. They employ several verbs that are not used in prose, or are used but rarely; as, _appal, astound, brook, cower, doff, ken, wend, ween, trow_. XXX. They sometimes imitate a Greek construction of the infinitive; as, 1. "Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew Himself _to sing_, and _build_ the lofty rhyme." --_Milton_. 2. "For not, _to have been dipp'd_ in Lethe lake, Could save the son of Thetis _from to die_." --_Spenser_. XXXI. They employ the PARTICIPLES more frequently than prose writers, and in a construction somewhat peculiar; often intensive by accumulation: as, 1. "He came, and, standing in the midst, explain'd The peace _rejected_, but the truce _obtain'd_." --_Pope_. 2. "As a poor miserable captive thrall Comes to the place where he before had sat Among the prime in splendor, now _depos'd, Ejected, emptied, gaz'd, unpitied, shunn'd_, A spectacle of ruin or of scorn." --_Milton, P. R._, B. i, l. 411. 3. "Though from our birth the faculty divine Is _chain'd_ and _tortured--cabin'd, cribb'd, confined_." --_Byron, Pilg._, C. iv, St. 127. XXXII. In turning participles to adjectives, they sometimes ascribe actions, or active properties, to things to which they do not literally belong; as, "The green leaf quivering in the gale, The _warbling hill_, the _lowing vale_." --MALLET: _Union Poems_, p. 26. XXXIII. They employ several ADVERBS that are not used in prose, or are used but seldom; as, _oft, haply, inly, blithely, cheerily, deftly, felly, rifely, starkly_. XXXIV. They give to adverbs a peculiar location in respect to other words; as, 1. "Peeping from _forth_ their alleys green." --_Collins_. 2. "Erect the standard _there_ of ancient Night" --_Milton_. 3. "The silence _often_ of pure innocence Persuades, when speaking fails." --_Shakspeare_. 4. "Where Universal Love _not_ smiles around." --_Thomson_. 5. "Robs me of that which _not_ enriches him." --_Shakspeare_. XXXV. They sometimes omit the introductory adverb _there_: as, "_Was_ nought around but images of rest." --_Thomson_. XXXVI. They briefly compare actions by a kind of compound adverbs, ending in _like_; as, "Who bid the stork, _Columbus-like_, explore Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?" --_Pope_. XXXVII. They employ the CONJUNCTIONS, _or--or_, and _nor--nor_, as correspondents; as, 1. "_Or_ by the lazy Scheldt _or_ wandering Po." --_Goldsmith_. 2. "Wealth heap'd on wealth, _nor_ truth, _nor_ safety buys." --_Johnson_. 3. "Who by repentance is not satisfied, Is _nor_ of heaven, _nor_ earth; for these are pleas'd." --_Shakspeare_. 4. "Toss it, _or_ to the fowls, _or_ to the flames." --_Young, N. T._, p. 157. 5. "_Nor_ shall the pow'rs of hell, _nor_ wastes of time, _Or_ vanquish, _or_ destroy." --_Gibbon's Elegy on Davies_. XXXVIII. They oftener place PREPOSITIONS and their adjuncts, before the words on which they depend, than do prose writers; as, "_Against_ your fame _with_ fondness hate _combines_; The rival batters, and the lover mines." --_Dr. Johnson_. XXXIX. They sometimes place a long or dissyllabic preposition after its object; as, 1. "When beauty, _Eden's bowers within_, First stretched the arm to deeds of sin, When passion burn'd and prudence slept, The pitying angels bent and wept." --_James Hogg_. 2. "The Muses fair, _these peaceful shades among_, With skillful fingers sweep the trembling strings." --_Lloyd_. 3. "Where Echo walks _steep hills among_, List'ning to the shepherd's song." --_J. Warton, U. Poems_, p. 33. XL. They have occasionally employed certain prepositions for which, perhaps, it would not be easy to cite prosaic authority; as, _adown, aloft, aloof, anear, aneath, askant, aslant, aslope, atween, atwixt, besouth, traverse, thorough, sans_. (See Obs. 10th, and others, at p. 441.) XLI. They oftener employ INTERJECTIONS than do prose writers; as, "_O_ let me gaze!--Of gazing there's no end. _O_ let me think!--Thought too is wilder'd here." --_Young_. XLII. They oftener employ ANTIQUATED WORDS and modes of expression; as, 1. "_Withouten_ that, would come _an_ heavier bale." --_Thomson_. 2. "He was, _to weet_, a little roguish page, _Save_ sleep and play, who minded nought at all." --_Id._ 3. "Not one _eftsoons_ in view was to be found." --_Id._ 4. "To number up the thousands dwelling here, _An_ useless were, and eke _an_ endless task." --_Id._ 5. "Of clerks good plenty here you _mote espy_." --_Id._ 6. "But these I _passen_ by with nameless numbers _moe_." --_Id._ THE END OF APPENDIX FOURTH INDEX TO THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. [Asterism] _In the following Index, the_ page _of the Grammar is directly referred to_: Obs. _or_ N. _before a numeral, stands for_ Observation _or_ Observations, _or for_ Note _or_ Notes _of the text_: R. _after a reference, stands for_ RULE. _The small letter_ n., _with an asterisk or other mark affixed to it, relates to a_ footnote _with such mark in the Grammar. Occasionally_, t., m., _or_ b., _or_ u., _or_ l., _accompanies a reference, to indicate the_ top, middle, _or_ bottom, _or the_ upper _or the_ lower half, _of the page referred to. Few abbreviations are employed beyond those of the ordinary grammatical terms. The Index is not intended to supersede the use of the_ Table of Contents, _which stands after the Preface. It is occupied wholly with the matter of the_ Grammar _proper; hence there are in it no references to the_ Introduction Historical and Critical, _which precedes the didactic portion of the work. In the Table before-mentioned must be sought the general division of English grammar, and matters pertaining to praxis, to examination, and to the writing of exercises_. A. A, lett., names itself --its plur. --sounds properly its own --numb. of sounds pertaining to, orthoepists differ concerning --diphthongs beginning with, --triphth. do. --its true sound to be carefully preserved at end of words, _A_, as prep, or prefix --before part, in _ing_. _A_ and _an_, in Gr. derivatives. _A_ or _an_, art., see _An, A_ _Abbreviations_, frequent in writt. lang. --rule of punct. for. C, M, D, &c., as numerals, see _Letters_. Needless abbreviations, to be avoided _Able, ible_, class of adjectives in, numerous in Eng.; difficulty with resp. to the prop. form and signif. of; to what _able_ most properly belongs --application of _able_ to nouns, its propriety doubtf. --_Able_ or _ible_, prop. application of, how far determined from Lat. etymol. --_Able_ and _ible_, words of the same meaning in, how formed from different roots, _About_, with infin., as substitute for Lat. fut. part, in _rus_ --_About_, with _of_ preced., ("OF ABOUT _one hundred feet_") --_About_, derivat. of, from Sax. _Abrupt_ transitions in the Bible _Absolute_, when, and in what _case_, a noun or a pron. is put --_Absol._, case, defect of the common rule for --in how many ways the nom. case is put --nom. case put, with part., to what often equivalent; what part. frequently understood after nouns put --case, its existence denied by what authors --words put, punct. of, _Abstract numbers_, synt. of the phraseology used in speaking of, ("_Twice two_ IS _four_," or "_Twice two_ ARE _four_") _Absurd_ or incompatible expressions, to be avoided _Absurdities_ of expression, Crit. N. concerning _Acatalectic_, when a line is said to be _Accent_ and quantity, critical observations on _Accent_, difficulty with respect to the import of the word --various definitions of, cited --_Accent_, confounded by some with _emphasis_ --defined, as commonly understood --chief or primary and secondary --_Accent_, by what regulated --compared with emphasis --as affected by do. --is distinct from quantity --as understood by DR. JOH. --SHERID. teachings concerning; mostly adopted by MURR. --what lett. of a word receives the mark of --stress on a monosyl. more properly _emphasis_ than --_Accents_, more than one on a word --DR. ADAM'S view of _Accentuation_, modern, of Gr. and Lat. words, by what regulated; SANCTIUS'S rule for, new vers. of _According to, as to_, resolved. _Accordingly_, whether may be said for the questionable _according_ _Accusative_ before infin., in Lat. and Gr., of what reckoned the subject --whether the construc. can in general be imitated in Eng. --who adopt the Lat. doctrine of --what our nearest approach to the Lat. construc. of _Active_, in reference to verbs, in what sense may be used _Active-transitive verb_, defined --_Act.-trans. verbs_ gov. obj. case --place of agent and object in respect to --_Act.-trans. verb_, or part., has some noun or pron. for its object --with two words in appos. ("_Proclaim_ THEE KING,") --with do., neither in appos. nor connected by conjunc., ("_I paid_ HIM _the_ MONEY,") --with redund. _me, thee, you_ --should not be used without an object --should not assume a governm. incompatible with its signif. _Active-intransitive verb_, defined --_Act.-intrans. verb_, with prep. and its object, put in the pass. form --in pass. form with neut. signif. ("_I_ AM COME,") --should not be used transitively _Addison_, undeservedly criticised by BLAIR, for his frequent use of _that_, as a relative _Addition, enumeration_, of numbers, by what _number_ of the verb to be expressed _Address_, ordinary fashion of, in Eng., the plur. numb. --has introduced the anomal. compound _yourself_ --_Address_, direct, nom. absol. by --terms of, _your Majesty, your Highness_, &c., in what construc. used --general usage of, in Fr.; in Span., Portug., or Germ. ADJECTIVES, Etymol. of --Classes of, named and defined --Modifications of --Comparison of, reg.; by adverbs; irreg. --_Adjectives_ in _able_ and _ible_, (see _Able, Ible_.) --_Adjectives_, number of, in Eng. --how have been otherwise called --how distinguished from nouns --other parts of speech may become --MURR., on nouns assuming the nature of --whether nouns plur. can assume the character of --_Adjectives_ that cannot be compared --that are compared by means of adverbs --(See _Comparison, Comparative Deg._, and _Superlative Deg._) --_Adjectives_ requiring the article _the_ --denoting place or situation, comparison of --become adverbs --use of, for adv., improper --with prep., ellipt., equivalent to adv. --poet., for nouns --do., for adverbs --_Adjectives_, Synt. of --do., in what consists --to what relate --substituted ellipt. for their abstr. nouns --relate to nouns or pronouns understood --used with def. art., ellipt., as nouns --two or more before a noun, order of --two, joined by hyphens --denoting unity or plurality, how agree with their nouns --connected, position of --differing in numb., connected without repetition of noun ("ONE _or more letters_,") --_much, little_, &c., preceded by _too, how_, &c., taken substantively --_Adjectives_, punct. of --derivation of, from nouns, from adjectives, &c. --poet. peculiarities in respect to --_Adjective_, taken abstractly with infin. or part. --following a finite verb, without a noun --do. an infin. or a part. --position of, in Eng. --when may either precede or follow its noun --Whether _adj._ or adv. is required, how determined --_Adjective_, one superadded to an other, without conjunc., position of --when the figure of, affects the sense, what to be done --should not be represented by a pronoun --ellipsis of, shown _Adjectives, common_, probable numb. of, in Eng. --enumeration of, according to their endings _Adjectives, compound_, analogies of their formation, traced --nouns derived from, generally disapproved _Adjectives, numeral_, kinds of, named --Cardinal numb. and its corresponding _numeral_, what denote --Construction and figure of the _numerals_ _Adjectives, participial_, what words to be referred to the class of --cannot be construed to govern obj. case _Adjectives, pronominal_, list of --which, sometimes used adverbially --which, sometimes used partitively, appar. as nouns --without nouns expressed, how parsed --distribution of, by CHURCH See _Other_, &c. _Adjectives, proper_, peculiarities of, considered --rule for initial capital in _Adjuncts_ of nominative in the agreement of a verb _Admitting, allowing_, &c., appar. independent, to what may relate ADVERBS, Etymol. of --_Adverb_, defined --_Adverbs_, serve to abbreviate expression --other classes of words sometimes take the nature of --appar. take the nat. of other parts of speech --how distinguished from adjectives --Classes of, named and defined --proper classification of, by what indicated --of time, place, and manner, with what connected; of degree, do. --_conjunctive_ (see _Conjunctive Adverb_:) --Modifications of --number of, in Eng. --Whether _adverb_ or adjective required, how determined --_Adverbs_, Synt. of --in what do. consists --to what relate --_Adverb_ before a prep. ("CONSIDERABLY _beyond_,") --_Adverbs_, whether sometimes qualify nouns --of participles which become nouns, how managed --_above, then_, &c., as relating directly to a noun, how parsed --_Adverbs_, of degree, to what adjectives not applicable --direct use of, for pronouns, inelegant --position of --needless use of, for adjectives --_hither_, &c., for _here_, &c., with verb of motion --_hence_, &c., with _from_ prefixed --_when_, &c., not to follow _is_ in a definition ("_Concord is_ WHEN," &c.,) --_ever_ and _never_, to be carefully distinguished --in _ly_, when preferable to other forms --_Adverb_, appar. made object of a prep. ("_At_ ONCE,") --emphatic, with verb of self-motion suppressed ("_I'll_ HENCE,") --_Adverb_ HOW, misuse of ("_He said_ HOW," &c.,) --NO, not to be used in reference to a verb or a part. --_Adverbial_ form or character, words of, how parsed --_Adverbs_, punct. of --_Adverb_, ellips. of, shown --_Adverbs_, derivation of, --many common Eng., of Anglo-Sax. origin --poet. peculiarities in the use of --peculiar use of those of two syllables in _ly_, by MILT. and his contemporaries --_Adverbial phrase_, a needless and improper designation in analysis _Affectation_ of fine writing, PREC. against _Ago_ and _since_, difference between AGREEMENT, of words, defined --with what synonymous --_Agreement_, how many of the parts of speech in Eng., incapable of; none necessary between words unrelated --as differing from relation --of words in the same construc., not easy to determine --rules of, as applied to articles, impertinent --_Agreements_, syntactical, in Eng., specified --_Agreement_, general principles of --figurative, of pronouns with antecedents _Ah_, sometimes departs from usage _Alexandrine verse_, description of _Alias_, for the equivocal _or_, use of, in judicial proceedings _All_, when may be reckoned a noun _Allegory_, defined --_Allegory_ includes most parables of Script., and some fables _Alphabet_, Eng., names and plur. numb. of the letters --Hebrew, names and characters of, given, --Greek, do. --Latin, names of the letters of, scarcely known even to the learned; account of its letters --A _perfect alphabet_ in Eng., what it would effect --Letters of the _alphabet_, when and how used in the sciences _Alphabetic writing_, its advantage over the syllabic _Ambiguous, construc._, with respect to the _class_ of a word --do., with resp. to the _case_ of a word --_expressions_, PREC. against _Amen_, use and import of _Among_ and _amongst, amid_ and _amidst_, different in sense and construc. from _between_ and _betwixt_ --incompatible with the distributive _one an other_ --derivation of, from Sax. _Amphibrach_, defined _Amphimac, amphimacer_, or _Cretic_, defined. _An_, conjunc., obsolete for _if_ ("_Nay_, AN _thou 'lt mouthe_," &c., SHAK.,) --derivation of, from Sax. _An, a_, art., one and the same --preferable form before a particular sound --_A_ or _an_ before _genus_ --how commonly limits the sense --belongs to sing. numb. only --with adjective of numb. --its effect upon proper and common nouns --is without agreem. --Whether _an_ is from _a_ or _a_ from _an_ --_An, a_, origin of --of proportion --with numerals --by what definitives superseded --implies unity; sometimes precedes collective noun conveying the idea of plurality --present usage of, how differs from that of ancient writers --use of, before _humble_, and its compounds and derivatives --erroneous use of, as relating to a plural --not to be used for _the_, to denote emphat. a whole kind _Analysis_, "to analyze a sentence," what --_Analysis_ of sentences shown in five different methods; which method BROWN calls "the best and most thorough" --_Analysis_, notices of the different methods of --importance of, in teaching grammar; the truest method of, _parsing_ _Anapest_, defined _Anapestic verse_, treated --what syll. of, has stress; first foot of, how may be varied --what variation of, produces composite verse --whether a surplus syll. in, may compensate for a deficient one --what number of syllables in the longest measure of --_Anapestic verse_ shown in its four measures --_Anapestic_, measures, why few --_poetry_, pieces in general short --(instance of a long piece, L. HUNT'S "Feast of the Poets,") _And_, discriminated from _or_ --when preferable to _with, or_, or _nor_ --whether emphatic of word or phrase following it ("_Part pays_, AND _justly_;" &c., POPE,) --derivation of, from Sax. _Anglo-Saxon_ dialect, and accessions thereto, as forming the modern Eng. lang. _An other_, see _Other_ _Antecedent_, proper sense of the term --sometimes placed after its pronoun --sometimes doubly restricted --of pron., applied figuratively --sing., with the adj. _many_, and a plur. pron. --suppressed --_Antecedents_ of different persons, numbers, and genders, disjunctively connected, how represented --joint, agreem. of pron. in ellipt. construct. of _Antibacchy_, or _hypobacchy_, defined _Antiquated_ words and modes of expression, more frequent in poetry than in prose _Antithesis_, defined _Aorist_, or indefinite, may be applied to imperf. tense pot. and subjunc. _Aphaeresis_, defined _Apocope_, defined _Apophasis_, or _paralipsis_, explained _Apostrophe_, mark, what denotes; for what sometimes used --at what period introduced into the poss. case _Apostrophe_, figure, defined _Apposition_, Synt. --agreement between words in --_Apposition_, what, and from whom received this name --different from _same cases_ put after verbs and participles not trans.; false teachings of MURR. _et al_. hereon --the rule for, to _which_ apposed term applied; whether words in, should be parsed separately --common rule and definition of, wherein faulty --which word of, the _explanatory_ term; _when_ explan. word placed _first_ --in what case of, either word may be taken as the explan. term, --why two possessive words cannot be in --two or more nouns in, where sign of possession put --whether compat. with, to supply relative and verb between the apposed words --_Apposition_, appar., of noun without poss. sign, _with_ pron. possess. ("YOUR _success as an_ INSTRUCTER,") --noun or pron. emphat. repeated ("_Cisterns, broken_ CISTERNS," &c.,) --appar., of a noun to a sentence --of words differing in numb. ("_Go_ YE _every_ MAN,") --of proper nouns with appellatives ("_The river_ THAMES,") --act. verb followed by two words in --whether requires any other agreem. than that of cases --words in, punct. of --of a common with a prop. name, use of capital lett. _Archaism_, what _Aristotle_, division of the Greek letters --what neoterics wiser than; how considers the compounding or non-compounding of terms _Arithmetical_ numbers, relation of the terms in ARRANGEMENT of words, term defined --_Arrang_. of words, of what importance in synt.; whether it affects the method of parsing words ARTICLES, Etymol. of --_Article_, defined --_Article_, common noun without; Eng. nouns without, taken indefinitely partitive --words of mere _being_, used without --_Articles_, how often inserted --needless, to be omitted --Classes of, named and defined --Modificat. (_an_ short, to _a_, the only,) --_Articles_, the frequent use of; freq. misapplication of --to be distinguished from adjectives, and from each other --appar. used for adverbs --_Article_, Eng., its demonstrative character --do., compared with the Gr. def. art.; no rule for _agreement of_, appropriate in Eng. --use of, before names of rivers --_Articles_, Synt. of --to what RELATE --_Article_, with _the poss. and its governing noun_, only _one_, used --one noun admits of one, only; before an adj., relates to a noun understood --why not repeated, as in Fr., before every noun of a series; why the omission of, cannot constitute a proper ellips. --position of, with respect to its noun; ditto, with respect to an adj. and noun --relative position of, and adj., not a matter of indifference --excluded by certain pronom. adjectives; what ones precede it; its position in respect to an adj. of quality, limited by _too, so, as_, or _how_ --position of, when an adj. is preceded by another adv. than _too, so, as_, or _how_ --do., when an adj. follows its noun --whether the insertion or the omission of, can greatly affect the import of a sentence --_Article_, repetition of, with nouns connected --do. with adjectives connected, and, oppos. --added to each of two or more nouns sing., or a plural put ("THE _nominative and_ THE _objective_ CASE," or "THE _nominative and objective_ CASES,") --use of, in special correspondence of phrases --do., in correspondence peculiar --do., in a series of terms --erroneous use of, before the _species_, for THE; do., when the _species_ is said to be of the _genus_ ("A JAY _is a sort of_ A BIRD,") --not used before names of the virtues, vices, &c., before limited terms, and before nouns of definite signif. --do. before titles or names mentioned merely as such --do. before a part. not taken as a noun --insertion or omission of, with respect to a comparison or an alternation made with two nouns --required in the construc. which converts a part. into a verbal noun --_Articles_, what the false synt. of, includes --Ellips. of _article_, shown --_Articles_, derivation of --frequently omitted by the poets See also _Definite Article_, and _An, A_ _Articulate_ or _elementary sound_, nature of _Articulation_, as defined by COMST.; do. by BOLLES --_Articulation_, how differs from pronunciation --the principles of, what they constitute --a good one, what, in the view of COMST.; do., in what consists, according to SHERID.; do. importance of; do., how delivers words _As_, as subject or object of a verb, _its_ CLASS --with a clause or sentence as anteced., do. _As_, as _relative_, WEBST. absurd explanation of; CHAND. do.; BULL. denial --to what construc. limited --peculiarities with respect to position --declined --derivation of, from Teuton., DR. JOH. --_As follow, as follows_, &c., construction of; MURR., himself perplexed by TOOKE and CAMPB., delivers dubious instructions concerning --Opinion of NIX. and CROMB. concerning. _As_, as a conjunc., uniting words in appos. --between adj. or part. and its noun ("_Actions_ AS _such_") --with ellips. of latter term of comparison ("_For such_ AS HE") --_As_ and _than_, character and import of --words connected by, generally put in the same case --_As --as; as --so; so_ (preceded by a negative,) --_as; so --as_ (with an infin. following;) correspondents _Asking_ and _exclaiming_, simple and appropriate _names_ for _the marks of_, desirable _Aspirates_, see _Semivowels_ _Asterisk_, use of. _Asterism_, do. _Ate_, particular words ending in, peculiarities of _Auxiliary_, defined --_Auxiliary_, form of a verb, when preferable to the simp. --verbs, are mostly defective --do., are needful in the conjug. of English verbs --do., inflection of, shown --_Auxiliaries_ used as expletives --_Auxiliary_, poet. placed after verb _Averse, aversion_, whether to be construed with _from_ or _to_ _Avoiding_, verbs of, with part. in stead of infin. _Awkwardness, literary_, Crit. N. censuring _Ay, I_, assentive adv. --_Ay_, sometimes improp. written for _ah_ B. B, its name and plur. number --its sound --in what situations silent _Bacchy_, described BE, how varied --CONJUGATED, affirmat. --Use of the form _be_ for the pres. indic. --_Be_, ellips. of the infin. often needlessly supposed by ALLEN _et al._ --whether it should be inserted after the verb _make_ --_Is_, contracted, giving its nom. the same form as that of the poss. case ("_A_ WIT'S _a feather_," &c., POPE) _Become_, &c., whether they demand the auxiliary _am_ or _have_ _Besides_, prep., in what cases proper to be used after _else_ or _other_, in lieu of _than_ _Between_, cannot refer to more than two things --_Between_ or _betwixt_, how differs in use from _among_ or _amongst_ --_Between, betwixt_, derivation of, from Sax. _Bible, the Holy_, application of the name --what is shown by Italics in the text of --quotations in, how indicated --abrupt transitions in --its general accuracy of lang. --in the lang. of, _ye_ and _you_, in what constructions not found _Bid_, as commanding, or as promising, its construction with the infin. _Blair, Dr._, unjustly censures Addison's frequent use of _that_, as a relative _Blank verse_, as distinguished from rhyme _Blunders_, as readily copied, as originated, by makers of school-books --_literary_, Crit. N. concerning _Bombast_, as opposed to purity, PREC. against _Books_, mentioned by name, rule for capitals _Both_, as conjunc., corresponding to _and_ --as adj. --derivation of, acc. to DR. MURR. _Brace_, its purpose _Breve_, or _stenotone_, for what used _Brevity_ of expression, sought in the ordinary business of life _Brokenness_, or _hitching_, as a fault of style, PREC. censuring _But, save, as well as_, construc. of two nouns connected by --_But_, how has acquired the signif. of _only_ --in ambiguous construc. ("_There cannot be_ BUT _one_," &c., KAMES) --as used for _that_, contrary to its import --derivation of, from Sax. --_But_ and _save_, whether they ever govern the obj. case as prepositions --_Cannot but_, construc. and signif. of --_Not but_, to what equivalent, and the class of _but_ C. C, name and plur. numb. of --sounds of --where silent --with cedilla placed under (c) --written for a number --_Ch_, sounds of --_Arch_, sound of, before a vowel, and before a conson. --_Ck_, final, for double _c_ _Cadence_, explained --faulty, precept against, by RIPP. --MURR. direction concerning _Cadmus_, carried the Phoenician alphabet into Greece _Caesura_, signif. and application of --_Caesural_ or _divisional pause_; _demi-caesuras_, or _minor rests_; (see _Pauses_) _Can_, verb, varied --derivation and signif. of --_Can not_ and _cannot_, with what distinction used --_Cannot_, with a verb of _avoiding_, or with BUT --_Can, could, would_, as principal verbs, by poet. use _Capital letters, capitals_, for what used; how marked for the printer, in manuscript --what things are exhibited wholly in, --Rules for the use of, --use of, in comp. prop, names, --needless, --lavish use of, its effect, --discrepancies with respect to, abound in books. _Cardinal numeral_, distinguished from its corresponding ordinal, --should _follow_ the ordinal, in a specification of a part of a series, ("_The first_ TWO,"). _Caret_, in what used, and for what purpose. _Cases_, in grammar, what, --named and defined, --nom. and obj., alike in form, how distinguished, --on what founded, and to what parts of speech belong. --(See _Nominative Case_, &c.) --_Cases_, whether infinitives, participles, &c., can take the nature of, --what is the proper number of, to be assigned to Eng. nouns, --what authorities for the true doctrine of three, --discordant doctrine of sundry grammarians concerning the numb, of, --WEBST. and MURR. opposite instructions concerning do. --_Cases_, whether personal pronouns have two, only, --rules for the construc. of, --whether a noun may be in two, at once, --whether Eng. verbs govern two, --whether in Eng., as in Lat., when a verb governs two, the pass. retains the latter case. --_Cases, same_, (see _Same Cases_.) --_Cases_, what kinds of words take different, after them. --_Case_ of noun or pron. after part. governed by prep., whether undetermined; err. of SANB. and BULL. hereon expos.; GREE. false teaching, do., --_doubtful_, after participles, in what kind of examples found; canon concerning do. _Case_, technical term with printers, ("Letters of the _lower case_.") _Catachresis_, how commonly explained, and what sort of fig. _Catalectic_, when a measure is said to be. _Cedilla_, from whom borrowed, and how applied. _Change_, of numb. in the second pers., ineleg., --of the connective of two nominatives appar. requiring a plur. verb, canon concerning. --_Changing_ the scene, or deserting the principal subj., in a sent., PREC. against. _Chaucer's_ imperfect measures, DRYDEN'S remarks on. _Cherokee_ alphabet, some account of. _Cherubim_ and _seraphim_, Heb. plurals, sometimes mistaken for singulars. _Chief terms_, or _principal parts_, of a verb, necessary to be first ascertained. --_Chief words_ may be distinguished by capitals. _Circumflex_, inflection, (see _Inflection_,) --mark, use of. _Classes_ under the parts of speech, what meant by. _Classification_ of words, explanations to assist beginners in making, --DR. WILSON'S observations on. _Clause_, see _Member_. _Climax_, defined. _Cognomination_, relation of the article, in instances of, ("_Alexander the Great_"). _Collective noun_, defined. --_Collective nouns_, forms of, sing. and plur.; how understood, --gend. of, how determined, --by what relative represented. --_Collec. noun_, represented by plur. pron., --in what two ways may be taken, and with what accord of pron.; the plur. construc. of, under what fig. of synt. ranked by the old grammarians, --whether with a sing. definitive, admits a plur. verb or pronoun. --_Collec. nouns_ generally admit of plur. form. --_Collect. noun_, represented by sing. pron. neut., --uniformity of numb. to be preserved in words constructed with, --agreem. of verb with, --how determined whether it conveys the idea of plurality or not, --strictures on the rules of ADAM, LOWTH, _et. al._, concerning, --NIX. notion of the construc. of verb and. --_Coll. nouns_, partitive of plur., construc. of, --as expressing collections of persons, or coll. of things, which most often taken plurally, --when not plur. in form, whether it admits of plur. adj. before it. _Colon_, from what takes its name, --for what used, --in what year adopted in England, --its utility maintained against some objectors, --Rules for the use of, --used by some between numb. of chap. and that of verse, in quotations from the Bible. _Comma_, from what takes its name, --what denotes, --less common in Germ. than in Eng., --its ancient form, --Rules for the use of, --use of, in a series of words. _Commanding, desiring, expecting_, &c., verbs of, to what actions or events, refer. _Commandments_, the ten, how expressed as to _forms_ of verb, --by what points divided in books, --example of, versified in iamb. hexameter, by DR. WATTS. _Common gender_, unnecessary and improper term in Eng. gram. _Common noun_, defined, --when admits of no art., --with def. art. sometimes becomes proper, --by personif. often do. --_Common nouns_ include the classes, _collective, abstract_, and _verbal_. --_Common nouns_, their nature and numerical distribution, as distinguished from proper. _Comparative degree_, defined. --_Compar. degree_, why BROWN presents a new definit. of, in place of his former one, --true nature of --whether always required in a comparison of two objects --with what construc. proper in exclusive comparisons, canon of BROWN --_Comparatives_, certain, not construed with the conjunc. _than_ --double, how to be considered and treated --_Comparative_ terminations, to what adjectives not to be applied --_Compar. degree_ in Gr. and in Lat., construc. of --poet. connected to the positive _Comparison_, defined --_Comparison, degrees of_, named and defined --what adjectives admit not of --CHURCH. on the different, (and BROWN on CHURCH.) --character of BROWN'S definitions of; do. of those of MURR. _et al._, exhibited --MURR. definitions of, criticised --relative nature of --_Comparison_, regular --to what adjectives applicable --when preferable to the comparison by adverbs --_Comparison_, HARR. on the degrees of; the positive a _degree_ --(in oppos. to HARR. _et al._) --_Comparison of equality_, what; sometimes involves solec., ("_Nothing_ SO _uncertain_ AS,") --_Comparison of equality and of ineq._, canon on --_Comparison_, adaptation of the terms of, to the deg. to be expressed --belongs chiefly to comm. adjectives --_Comparis._, irregular --_Comparis._, whether to be mentioned in parsing adverbs --inclusive, and exclusive --_Comparisons, extra_, their impropriety --Crit. N. on, See also _Comparative Degree_, and _Superlative Degree_. _Comparison_ or _contrast_ of things, the resemblance or opposition how rendered more striking _Complex prepositions_, how may be formed _Composite orders_ of verse, what uniformity of construc. they require --_Composite verse_ --description of; why requires rhythm --kinds of, unlimited; which preferable --liable to doubtful scansion _Composition_, the frequent practice of, necessary, in order to acquire a good style, _Composition_ of language, two kinds of _Compound_ or _progressive form_ of verb, how made --exemplified in the verb READ, conjugated, what verbs do not admit of; what it implies --verbs of, having a pass. signif. _Compound word_, defined, _Compounds_, permanent, consolidated; temporary, formed by hyphen --_Comp. words_, not to be needlessly broken --two or more, not to be split --when to be written with hyphen; when without it --_Compounding of words_, unsettled usage respecting; manner of, in Lat. and Gr.; arbitrary practice of, in Eng., its effect --does not necessarily preclude their separate use --propriety of, sometimes difficult to decide --_Compounds_, orthog. of --_Compounding_ the words of a reg. phrase, its impropriety --_Compound adjectives_, see _Adjectives, Compound_. _Concord_, (see _Agreement_.) --_Concords_ and _governments_, examples of false ones from the grammarians --in Lat., diversely enumerated by the Lat. grammarians _Concrete _terms for abstract qualities, poet. use of _Confusion_ of senses, in use of pron., to be avoided _Conjugation_ of a verb, defined --what some teachers choose to understand by --Conjugating a verb, four ways of, named --_Conjugation_ of an Eng. verb, what the simplest form of --_Conjug._ of verbs, shown in five Examples --(See also _Compound_ or _Progressive_, &c.) --_Conjugat._ negative, how made, interrogative, do. --interrog. and negative, do. CONJUNCTIONS, Etymol. of --_Conjunction_, defined --_Conjunctions_, how differ from other connectives --nature and office of; R. F. MOTT quot. --nature of the connexions made by --how many in common use --how parsed --as "connecting the same moods, &c.," strictures on the doctrine of MURR. _et al._, concerning --_Conjunctions_, classes of, named and defined --(See _Copulative Conjunction, Disjunc. Conj._, and _Corresp. Conjunc.) --Conjunctions_, List of --appar. used as adverbs --peculiar phrases having the force of --importance of, as copulative or as disjunctive, to be carefully observed --_Conjunctions_, Synt. of --do., in what consists, (MURR. _et al._ teaching erron.) --what connect --declinable words connected by, why in the same case --power and position of those that connect sentences or clauses --absurd and contradictory notions concerning the office of, by LENN., BULL., _et al._ --two or three coming together, how parsed --_Conjunction_, followed by a phrase, and not a whole member --connecting two terms to one --do. two terms the same in kind or quality --_Conjunctions_, to be used with due regard to import and idiom --punct. of --ellips. of, shown --derivation of --are mostly of Anglo-Sax. origin --H. TOOKE'S derivations of, given --poet. usage of _or --or_, and _nor --nor_ _Conjunctive adverbs_, what office perform; what classes of words embrace --often relate equally to two verbs in different clauses --list of --_whence, whither_, &c., sometimes partake of the nature of pronouns _Connected terms_, two, limited by a third, what both must be --should be the same in kind or quality. _Connected_ adjectives, how should be placed. _Connective_ words, or connectives, kinds of, named --do., how may be distinguished _Consonants_, divisions and subdivisions of --properties of, as _sharp, flat, labial_, &c. _Construing_, whether differs from parsing _Continuance_ of action, see _Compound_ or _Progressive_ _Contractions_, in the orthog. and the pronunciation of words --ocular, in printing poetry, not important _Correlatives_, combinations of, ("_Father's son_,") how to be regarded _Corresponding_, or _corresponsive conjunctions_, in what manner used --named and exemplified in their several pairs --nature of the terms standing in the relat. of --the former of two, how parsed --CHURCH. canon on the use of --_Or_ --_or_, and _nor_ --_nor_, by poet. usage _Crotchets_, or _brackets_, how used --confused and inaccurate teaching of WEBST. _et al._, concerning _Cum_ with an ablative, Lat., ("_Dux_ CUM _aliquibus_," &c.,) the construc. imitated in Eng. --canon on do. _Curves_, or _marks of parenthesis_ --have been in use for centuries --the use of, not to be discarded --confused teaching of WEBST. _et al._, respecting do. --what used to distinguish --clause enclosed by, how to be uttered; pause of do. --Rules for the application of _Customary_ actions require to be expressed by indic. pres. D. D, name and plur. numb. --sounds of --written for a number _Dactyl_, defined _Dactylic verse_ --stress, on what syll. laid; what rhyme it generally forms --is not very common; seldom pure and regular --shown in its eight measures --has been but little noticed by prosodists and grammarians --misconceived and misrepresented Rev. D. BLAIR _Dare_, construc. with infin. foll. --Use of the form DARE for the third pers. sing. _Dash_, the mark, explanation of --LOWTH _et al._ make no mention of --Rules for the application of --_Dash_, needless, how to be treated --between quotation and name of the author --applied to side-title --used to signify omission _Dates_, ordinarily abbreviated; how best written --objectives in, without their prepositions _Dative case_, faulty relic, in Eng., of old Sax., ("_It ascends_ ME _into_," &c., SHAK.) _Days_ of the week, names of, to be reckoned prop. names, and written with capital _Deaf and dumb_ --The _deaf and dumb_, to whom the letters represent no sounds, learn to read and write; what inferred herefrom _Defective verb_, what verb so called --which tenses of, wanting --_Defective verbs_, whether they should be reckoned a distinct class --_may, can, must_, and _shall_, not to be referred to the class of --_will, beware_, &c., construc. and import of explained --_Defec. verbs_, List of _Definite article_, defined --_Definite art._, its demonstrative character --used before names of rivers --do. by way of eminence --no rule of agreem. for, in Eng. --prefixed as an adv., to comparatives and superlatives --repeated before every term in a series of adjectives used ellipt. as nouns --used for a poss. pron., ("_Full in_ THE _face_") --position with respect to its noun --required before antecedent to a restricted relative. See also _The_ _Definition_, defined --A _perfect definition_, what --_Definitions_, needful qualities of certain, in gram. --bad, peculiar vice of --Crit. N. on _Definitives_, what, in Eng., and how to be classed --example to show what is meant by --_Definitive_ word required before antecedent to restricted relative _Degrees of comparison_, see _Comparison_ _Deity_, names of, use of capitals in --in all languages, masc.; direct names of, do.. The sing. numb, universally employed in reference to the Supreme Being _Demonstratives_, from the class, pronominal adjectives _Derivation_, as a topic of gram., what explains --importance of --a knowledge of what languages will throw light on the subject of Eng. _Desiring_, verbs of; see _Commanding_ _Desisting_, verbs of; with part., in stead of infin. _Despauter_, (Despauterius Joannes,) grammarian, when died --his Lat. Gram. --his remark on the origin of using plur. pron. of second pers. for sing. --gives the rule that the _verb governs the nominative before it_ _Diaeresis_, or _dialysis_, mark, place and use of --explained _Diesis_, or _double dagger_, for what purpose used. _Dimeter_, line, _iambic_, examples of --_trochaic_, do. --_anapaestic_, do. --_dactylic_, do. _Diphthong_, defined --_Diphthongs_, distinction of --enumeration and specification of the Eng. _Discourse_, or _narration_, its nature and requirements _Disjunctive conjunction_, defined --_Disjunctives_, List of --_Disjunctive_ OR, see _Or_ _Distance_, see _Time_, &c. _Distribution_, of words into classes, a matter of some difficulty; explanations concerning, for learners --of verbs in Lat., grammarians have disputed respecting _Distributives_, of the class _pronominal adjectives_ --_Distributive_ term sing. in apposit. with a plur. _Division, literary_, see _Literary Division_ _Do_, verb, how varied: --particular uses of --in what manner may be substituted for an other term _Double comparatives_ and _double superlatives_, how may be regarded; canon; (LATH. and CHILD) _Double negatives_, see _Negation_, and _Negatives_ _Doubling_ of the final consonant before additional syll.; not doubling, before do. --_Double_ letter retained --_Doubling_, certain letters incline to; others, do not _Doubtful case_ after a part., in what kind of examples found; the construc. to be avoided _Drink_, verb, grammarians greatly at variance respecting the pret. and the perf. part. of _Dual_ number, found in Gr. and in Arab., what denotes _Duplication_, see _Doubling_ _Du Vivier, G._, his _Grammaire des Grammaires_, and his _Traite des Participes_, a copious treatment of the Fr. participle E. E, (as A, O, I, and U,) self-naming: --how spoken and written --its plur. --sounds properly its own --final, mute, and to what belongs; exceptions --effect on preced. vowel, of _e_ mute after a sing. conson., or after _st_, or _th_ --diphthongs beginning with --triphthongs do. _Each_, pronom. adj., always of the third pers. sing.; its agreements. _Each other_, see _Other_ _Ecphoneme_, or note of exclamation --occasional introduction into the classics --diversely called by MURR. _et al._ --for what used, and of what a sign --Rules for the application of _Ecphonesis_, defined _Either_ and _neither_, pronom. adjectives, relate to two only --M. HARR. on the illegit. use of --their numb. and pers.; what agreements they require, when they are the leading words in their clauses --derivation of, from the Sax. _Either --or, neither --nor_, corresponsives: --transposed, with repeated disjunction or negat. _Elegiac stanza_, description of _Elementary sound_, or _elements of speech_, defined. See _Sounds_ _Ellipsis_, figure defined --either not defined by grammarians in general, or absurdly defined --frequent in comp. sentences --to be supplied in parsing --_supposed_, may change the construc. without affecting the sense --the principle of, as explaining several questionable but customary expressions, ("_Fair and softly_ GOES _far_") --MURR. on "THE _ellipsis_" --_Ellipsis supplied_, EXAMPLES of --Needless _ellipses_, the supposition of, to be avoided --_Ellipses_, faulty, as opposed to perspicuity, PREC. against. _Ellipsis_, or _suppression_, mark of, how figured, and what used to denote _Elliptical_ construction of nouns, ("_A horse, a horse_," &c., SHAK.) _Elocution_, defined _Else, other_, &c., with _than_, in exclusive comparisons --_Else_ or _other_, sometimes construed with _besides_ --_Else_, derivation of _Emphasis_, defined: --comparative view of accent and --as connected with quantity, MURR. --as affecting accent --what the guide to a right. --_Emphatic_ words, not to be multiplied _Enallage_, defined --signif. of the Gr. word --special application of the term --with what other terms synonymous --the most common forms of, in Eng. --examples of, how differ from solecisms --too much latitude was given to the fig. by Despauter, and by others _Enallixis_, see _Enallage_ _Ending_ of a sentence with an adv., a prep., or any inconsid. word or phrase, PREC. concerning _English Grammar_, see _Grammar_ _English language_, some account of its origin --its character --its simplicity and facility asserted by LOWTH --its chief defect, according to DR. JOH. _Enumeration_ of numbers, see _Addition_ _Epicene nouns_, see _Generic Names_ _Epithets_, new compound, poets frequently form _Equivalence_, the argument of, has often led into errors _Equivocal_, or _ambiguous construc._ of cases, to be avoided --of rel. pron., by misplacement --of prep. with converted part., how amended --of the word _but_, ("_There cannot be_ BUT _one_," &c.) --of words, leaving the classification doubtful, Crit. N. concerning --_Equiv._, or _ambig_. expressions, as opposed to propriety, PREC. against _Eroteme_, its form in Greek --derivation; fitness of the name --diversely called by MURR. _et al_. --its use --Rules for do. --its value as a sign of pause --retained by a quoted question _Erotesis_, explained _Errors, incorrigible_, Crit. N. concerning ETYMOLOGY --_Etymol._, of what treats --when and how should be taught --_figures of_, term defined; the principal do., named and defined --_Etymology_ and meaning of words, HARRIS on the usefulness of disquisitions into _Ever_, contrac., _e'er_; so in comp. rel. pronouns --_Ever a one_, contrac. by the comm. people into _e'er a one_ --_Ever_ and _never_, opposite to each other in sense, yet freq. confounded and misapplied; canon on the employment of --_Ever so_, (prop., _everso_,) signif. of --_Ever so wisely_, its propriety determined, against the false phraseology _never so wisely_ --_Ever_, derivation of, from Sax. _Example_, as used in teaching, meaning of --_Examples_, use of capitals in _Exception_, noun, and _except_, verb, whether more properly followed by _from_ or by _to_ _Exclamation_, note of, (see _Ecphoneme_) --_Exclamation_, nom. absolute by --the _case_ of nouns used in _Exclusive_ and _inclusive terms_ of a comparison _Exercise_, in grammar, what _Expecting_, &c., verbs of, see _Commanding_ _Extended_ compositions, gradation of the parts in F. F, its name and plur. numb. --final in monosyllables, to be doubled --formation of the plur. of nouns in, and in _ff_ --its sound _Fable_, how may be defined --What the term denotes in the Scriptures _Fall short of, make bold with_, &c., how the adjective in such phrases is to be explained in parsing _False identification_, (under synt. of SAME CASES,) Note exposing the error of _Falsities_ in sentences, Crit. N. directed against _Feel_, its construc. with the infin. _Few_ and _many_, form and construc. of. _Fewer_, see _Little_ FIGURES, treated --_Figure_, in gram., what --_Figures_, distinctive names of some; frequent occurrence of those of rhetoric --_Figure of words_, signif. of the term --_Figure of words_, Rules for --suggestions additional to do. --unsettled and variable usage in that which relates to --_Figure of orthog._, what; what the principal _figures of_ do. --_Figure of etymol._, what --_Figures of etymol._, the principal, named and defined --_Figure of synt._, what --_Figures of synt._, the principal, named and defined --_Figure of rhet._, what --_Figures of rhet._, why certain are called _tropes_ --on what mostly founded --the principal, named and defined --affect the agreem. of pronouns with their antecedents --_Figures_, how many BROWN deems it needful to define and illustrate --_Figures_, definitions of sundry, in the lang. of authors, _corrected_, KEY. _Figures_, Arabic, in what cases _pointed_ by some _Final f, l_, or _s_, in spelling; other finals than, in do. --_ck_ or _c_, use of --_ll_, to what confined --_e_ of a primitive, when omitted; when retained --_y_ of a prim. word before a terminat., how managed --_ise_ or _ize_, which termination to be taken --_Finals_, what letters may assume the position of; what may not, and why _Finite_ verbs, _agreem. of, with subjects_, a principle of Univ. Gram. --Rules concerning --_Fin. verb_ understood, punct. of _First words_, initial capital to --faulty practice of grammarians with respect to _Foot, poetic_, see _Poetic Feet_ _Foreign_ words or idioms, unnecessary use of, in opposition to purity _For_, with _all_, as equivalent to _although_ --_For as much as_, &c., having the nature of conjunctions --_For that_ --_For_, with perf. part., ("FOR _lost_") --with _ever_ --before TO _and infin._ --as introducing its object before an infin.. _For_, conj., _because_, from Sax.; anc. expressed _for that_ _Forever_, or _for ever_, its class _Former_ and _latter_, nature and applic. of _Forms of letters_, in type or character --_Forms_ OF VERBS, a knowledge of THE TRUE, nothing more important in gram. than _Forsooth_, signif. and use of _Friends_, the Society of; their employment, in familiar discourse, of the sing. pron. of the second pers. --generally neglect to compound their numeral names of the months and days --their misemployment of _thee_ for _thou_ --their manner of speaking, different from the solemn style --examples of their manner of forming the verb with the pron. _thou_; their simplificat. of the verb _From_, derivation of, from Sax. --_From forth, from out_, construc. of, explained --_Off from_, examp. of the use of _Full_, in permanent compounds, how written; in temporary do., do. --compounds in, (_spoonful, handful_, &c.,) how pluralized _Future, contingency_, how best expressed _Future tense_, FIRST, how formed, and what expresses --SECOND, do., do., and how varied _Futurity_, often denoted by the infin., ("_The world_ TO COME") G. G, its name and plur. --its sounds --when silent --_Gh_, sounds of, and silence _Gardiner, W._, his new analysis of the Eng. alphab., noticed _Genders_, term defined --_Genders_, the diff., named and defined --on what founded, and to what belong --_Gender_, inconsistent views of, as given by many of the grammarians; WELLS and MURR. criticised --confounded with _sex_ by some writers; others otherwise confuse the matter --_Common gender_, of the old grammarians, the term objectionable with respect to Eng. --_Gender_, how in many instances determined --figuratively ascribed, how indicated --denoted by _he_ and _she_ prefixed to nouns --denied by MURR. _et al_. to pronouns of the first and second persons --of pron., the _preference_ of, when joint antecedents are of different genders _General_ truths and customary actions, to be expressed by the indic. pres. _Generic_ names, sense and construc. of "_Genitives, double_," discovered by our grammarians, the true explanation of all such _Gentile names_, nature and construc. of _German language_, form of its type --use of the comma less freq. in, than in Eng. _Gerund_, Lat., explanation of --what form of an Eng. participle corresponds to --"Gerund in English," how becomes "a substantive," according to DR. ADAM _et al._, _Gerundives_, what _Giving, paying, procuring_, &c., verbs of, with ellips. of _to_ or _for_ before the objective of the person GOVERNMENT, of words, defined --to what parts of speech has respect --the rules of, whether to be applied to the governing or the governed words --do., how many in the best Lat. grammars; usual faults in the distribution of these --_Governments_ in Eng. synt. how many --false, examples of, cited from grammarians _Grecism_, literal, in Eng., ("_Before Abraham was_, I AM") comp. GRAMMAR, defined --An English Grammar, what professes to be --ENGLISH GRAMMAR, what in itself; what knowledge implies --when worthy to be named a science --_Grammar_, how to be taught, and its principles how made known --the true principles of, in whose possession --_a rule of_, what --_Grammar_, how divided; its parts, of what severally treat --what it requires --rightly learned, what ability it confers --what many vain pretenders to, have shown by their works --on questions of, the practice of authors should have more weight than the dogmatism of grammarians. _Grammars of different languages_, how far must needs differ; strictures on those of PROF. BULL., _A grammar designed for English_, the chief end of. _Grammatical doctrine_, the truth of, in what consists _Granting, supposing_, &c., see _Admitting_ _Grave accent_, as opposed to _acute_ --as preserving the vocality of _e_ _Greek_ alphabet, characters of, shown and named _Guillemets_, or _quotation points_, what words they distinguish --how applied to a quotation within a quotation --not used in our common Bibles; the defect in what measure relieved H. H, its name and plur. numb. --its sound --in what words silent --in what positions do. --_an_ used formerly before all words beginning with _Hand_, or _index_, use of _Handwriting_, script letters in _Harmonical pauses_, see _Pauses_ _Have_, verb, how varied --derivation of; with perf. part., import of the tense --_Had_, with _better, rather_, &c., before the infin. _He_ and _she_, sometimes used as nouns --as prefixed to nouns to denote gend. --whether to be connected by a hyphen to the nouns to which prefixed _Hear_, with objective, and an infin. without _to_ --with infin. alone, perhaps ellipt, ("_I_ HAVE HEARD TELL") --_Heard_, verb, why irregular --its pronunc. _Hebrew_ letters, some account of; names, characters, and significations of --whether they are, or are not, all consonants, long a subject of dispute --The _Hebrew_ names for the months, were prop. nouns --_Hebrew_, what pointing adopted in _Hence, thence, whence_, with _from_ prefixed. "_I'll_ HENCE," see _Adverbs_ _Heptameter_ line, _iambic_, examples of --_trochaic_, do --_dactylic_, do. _Here, there, where_, force of, when compounded with prepositions --with verb of motion, perh. allowable for _hither, thither, whither_. _Hereof, thereof, whereof_, placed after nouns, what to be called. _Herein, therein_, &c., their class and nature _Heroic verse_, see _Pentameter_ _Heterogeneous terms_, in general, two such not to be connected by a conjunc. _Hexameter_ line, _iambic_, examples of --_trochaic_, do --_dactylic_, do. _Hissing_ sounds, concurrence of, in forming the poss. case, how avoided _Hold_, noun, after _lay, take_, &c., whether preferably construed with _of, on_, or _upon_ _Hoping_, &c., verbs of, see _Commanding_ _How_, after nouns of manner, its nature --not to be used before _that_, or in stead of it --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _Hyperbaton_, explained --its frequency in poetry; how should be used --is diff. from synchysis _Hyperbole_, defined --_Hyperboles_, by what commonly expressed _Hypermeter_, meaning of, in scansion _Hyphen_, its uses --present use in compound names --Rules for the insertion of, in compounds --signif. of the name --_Hyphen_, abuse of --CHURCH, on the use of, in comp. words --in the _figure_ of an adj., with a change of the synt. and sense --necessary with a verbal noun and an adjunct --do. with comp. participles, converted _Hypobacchy_, or _antibacchy_, defined I. I, lett., self-naming; its plur. --its usual sounds --diphthongs beginning with; triphth. do., _I_, pron. with cap. lett., _I_, as written for a number. _I_, adv., see _Ay_ _Iambic verse_, treated --_Iamb. verse_, stress where laid in; effect of a short syll. added to a line of --shown in its eight measures --is seldom pure through a long succession of lines --some of its diversifications shown. See also _Dimeter, Trimeter_, &c. _Iambus_, or _iamb_, defined _Idea of unity_, and of _plurality_, how formed _Identity of words_, the principle of, considered --_Identity, proper_, RULE for, ("Same Cases.") _Identification_, false, N. concerning _Idioms_ or peculiarities of expression, when to be approved or valued _If_, the Biblical use of, to express an emphat. negation --its derivation from Sax. _Ignorance, literary_, Crit. N. concerning _Imagery_, or _Vision_, explained _Imperative mood_, defined --_Imperat. mood_, why so called; in what manner applied --its one tense, and the import of do --its inflection shown in the verb LOVE, conjugated --what nominatives only it takes --use of, in the Gr. lang.; do., in Lat., Ital., Fr., and Span --may have all the persons and numbers --poet. _Imperfect tense_, defined --_Imperf. tense_, the _form_, how far applicable to the Eng. tense so called --in its simple form is the _preterit_ --in the pot. and subj. moods, an aorist --of the indic. and the subj., how distinguished --of the sub., to express a mere supposition, with indef. time _Imperfect participle_, or _first part._, defined --its form --The _first part._, has been variously called --why rightly termed _imperfect participle_ --for what forms of the Lat. gram., stands --is applicable to time pres., past, or fut.; is not always active, even when derived from an act. verb --may be turned to a multiplicity of uses --appar. put absolute, (_Admitting, --Allowing_, &c.) --distinguished, with respect to governm., from a particip. noun --as equivalent to infin. mood; heads of regular equivalence --how compares with the Lat. gerund --its nature and construc. _Impersonal verbs_, so called, their peculiarity of use --called _monopersonal_ by some _Impropriety_ of language, what embraces _In_ and _into_, difference between; nature of the relation expressed by each; derivation of, from Sax. _Inclusive_ and _exclusive_ terms of a comparison _Incorrigible errors_, Crit. N. concerning _Indefinite article_, see _An, A_ _Indefinite pronouns_, of the class _pronom. adjectives_ _Independent_, see _Absolute_ _Index_, or _hand_, use of _Indicative mood_, defined --_Indic. mood_, why so called; its nature and use --use of its pres. tense --do. of its form of the pluperf. in lieu of the pot. pluperf. --wherein differs characteristically from the subj.; the two moods continually confounded by writers --_Indic. mood_, format, and inflec. of its tenses shown in the verb LOVE, conjug. --employed to express a conditional circumstance assumed as a fact _Inelegance_ of language, see _Awkwardness_. _Infinitive mood_, defined --_Infin. mood_, so called in oppos. to the other moods --usually distinguished by the prep. _to_ before it --its _pres._, the ROOT, or radical verb; what _time_ it expresses --archaic form in _en_ --its two tenses shown in the verb LOVE, conjug. --Synt. of --_Infin. mood_, by what governed; (see _To_:) --true construc. of, explained by the 18th Rule of the Synt. --why simple of solution in Eng.; whether ever governed by a prep, in Fr., Span., or Ital. --whimsical account of, given by NIX. --how expressed in the Anglo-Sax. of the 11th century --why may not, as some grammarians teach, be | considered a noun --DR. WILS. on the charac. and import of --to what other terms may be connected --what in its nature, and for what things chiefly may stand --taken abstractly, as subject of finite verb --Loose _infinitives_, improp. in precise language --_Infin. mood_, position of --misplacement of, to be avoided --distinction of voice in, often disregarded, ("_You are to_ BLAME;") hypercrit. teachings of SANB. and BLAIR hereon --_Infin._, after _bid, dare_, &c., without TO --whether used with TO after _have, help_, and _find_ --_Infin._, BY WHAT _governed_, often imposs. to say, according to the instructions of MURR. --_Infinitives_ connected, governed by one preposition --_Infinitive_, ellipsis of, after _to_, whether to be approved --sometimes doubtful whether transitive or intransitive --in pause, or in remote dependence, punct. of --poet. placing of --Greek construc. of, in poetic use _Inflections_, defined --rising and falling, explained; do., as applied to questions --_notation_ of, in writing and printing --the rising more numerous than the falling; predominance of the rising in oral lang.; the falling, for what used, COMST. --what kind of rules for, have been given by writers --the rising and the falling, to be used with prop. discrimination; what should determine the direction of --_Inflection_, what constitutes the _circumflex_ _Innovation_ extravagant, into the system of synt. or gram., a particular instance of, noticed _Inscriptions_ appear best in full capitals _Instead_, what reckoned, and how best written _Intending_, &c., verbs of, see _Commanding_. _Intensive_ nature of comparatives and superlatives, A. MURR. _Interrogative pronouns_, defined --what they severally demand --their use and construc. --in what differ from relatives --are always of the third pers. --declined --their place in a sentence --their construc. of cases, to what similar _Interrogative_ sentences, agreem. of verbs in INTERJECTIONS, Etymol. of --_Interjection_, defined --derivation and signif. of the term; LOWTH'S error in describing the _interjections_ --_Interjections_, numb. of, in common use --List of --_Interjections_, the frequent use of, an indication of thoughtlessness; expressiveness of some _interjections_ in earnest utterance, &c. --should be discriminatively used --chief characteristics of; referred to the class of _adverbs_ by the Gr. grammarians --significant words uttered as, ("_Out! out!_") --appar. taken substantively --Synt. of --absolute construc. of --have no construc. with cases, as in Lat. and Gr. --appar., sometimes connected to other words by a prep., or by _that_ --place of --punct. of --ellips. of, shown --derivation of --frequency of, in poet. lang. _Inversion_ of terms, sometimes of advantage, in respect to strength and vivacity of expression. _Irony_, figure explained _Is being_, with a perf. part., or the subject of the UNCO-PASSIVE _form of verbs_, canvassed _Ise_ or _ize_, which of these terminations to be taken in forming derivatives under Deriv. of Verbs _Ish_, termination, whether it may be accounted a degree of comparison _It_. its chief use --declined --to what creatures may be applied --put for the distance, ("_How far do you call_ IT?" &c., PRIESTL.,) --without definite reference to an anteced. --as explet., and referring to something expressed afterwards; faulty omission of, before verb, in such construc. --had formerly no variation of cases --its poss. form ITS, for _of it_, of recent origin, and not found in the text of the common Bible --wrongly excluded by some from the list of pers. pronouns: --its derivation from Sax., traced _Italic letters, Italics_, some account of --for what purpose used --how denoted in preparing manuscripts J. J, its name and plur. numb. --why never doubled --why never ends a word in Eng. --impropriety of dividing on the letter, in syllabication --sounds of, _Johnson, Dr. S._, his authority in Eng. orthography _Joint nominatives_, agreem. of verb with --whether words connected by _with_ can be used as. _Joint antecedents_, agreem. of pron. with --of different persons, agreem. of verb or pron. with, in ellipt. construc. _Jumbling_ together of the active voice and the passive, the manner of some --_Jumbling_, senseless, Crit. N. censuring K. K, its name and plur. --in general, not needed in words derived from the learned languages --its sounds --when silent --Two Kays standing together _Kind, sort_, with _these_ or _those_ improp. preceding L. L, its name and plur. numb. --of the class _liquids_ --final, monosyllables ending in --final double, to what words peculiar --its sound; in what words silent --where doubled --written for a number _Labial_ letters, how articulated _Language_, the primitive sense of the term, what embraced; signif. of do., as now used --in opposition to some grammarians, BROWN confines the term to speech and writing --loose explanations of the word by certain slack thinkers; WEBST. notion of --SHERID. idea of; KIRKH. wild and contradictory teachings concerning --_Language_, PROPRIETY of, in what consists; IMPROPRIETY of, what embraces --PRECISION of, in what consists; Precepts concerning its opposites --_Language_, Eng., (see _English Language_) --_Languages_, uniform SERIES OF GRAMMARS for teaching the Eng., Lat., and Gr., that of DR. BULL., noticed _Lay, pay_, and _say_, how written in the pret. and the perf. part. _Leading principles_ in the construc. of sentences, in what embraced in the Grammar _Least parts_ of language, as written, as spoken, &c., what constituents so called _Legal_ phraseology, in contrast with that of common life _Less_, improper use of, for _fewer_, ("_No_ LESS _than three dictionaries_," DR. WEBST.) _Lest_, use of, for THAT, without due regard to its import, ("_I feared_ LEST," &c.) --derivation of, from Sax. _Let_, verb, its construc, with an infin. following LETTERS, in the Eng. alphabet, numb. of, and numb. of sounds which they represent --a knowledge of, in what consists --infinite variety in, yet the letters always THE SAME --different sorts of types, or styles of, used in Eng. --names of, in Eng.; do., sing, and plur. --Classes of, named and defined --_powers_ of --the JUST POWERS of, (see _Power_) --Forms of, and their distinctions, in the Eng. lang. --different sorts of, to be kept distinct --slanting strokes of the Roman, described --_Italic_, chief use of --_capital_, employment of --_small_, do. --_Letters_, history of --the names of, are words of a peculiar kind --the names and powers of, not always identical --general neglect of learning to write the names of, in Eng. --importance of learning to write do. --erron. teaching with respect to certain names of --_Letters_ of the Heb. alphabet given, with their names, and the significations of do. --of the Gr. alphabet, with their names --of the Lat. alphab., their names nearly lost --of do., as now printed --_Letters_, the twenty-six, possible combinations and mutations of --of the alphab., _read by their names_, how taken --do., written _for numbers_, what their nature; omission of _period_ after such letters --DAY'S account of do. --_Letters_, the SOUNDS of, treated --_Letters_, the small, period of their adoption --used for references --_Letter_, definition of --_Letter_, the sound of, called its POWER; yet its _power_ not necessarily identified with its _sound_ --A _letter_, in what consists _Like, near, nigh_, appar., prepositions; why _not placed_ by BROWN with the prep. _Lily, W._, grammarian, his arrangement of Lat. syntax _Lines, poetic_, technical denominations of _Liquids_, what letters so called _Literary division_ of a work, common order of, downwards, and throughout; but all literary works not thus divided. _Literary blunders_, Crit. N. concerning --_awkwardness_, do. --_ignorance_, do. --_silliness_, do. _Little, lesser, less_, different uses and import of --_Little, much_, &c., preceded by _not, too_, or other such adv., how taken --_Less_, improp. used as an adj. of number; does not signify _fewer_; not to be used in the sense of do. --_Less, least_, adv., to be parsed separately, in the comparison of adjectives and adverbs LOVE, verb active-trans., CONJUGATED _affirmatively_ --BE LOVED, pass., do. --LOVE, conjug. negatively --do., interrogatively --do., interrogatively and negatively _Low_ and provincial expressions, use of, as opp. to purity, PREC. against _Ly_, most common terminal of Eng. adverbs; added to nouns to form adjectives (I,) u; 1055, b; 1053, L: --when adverbs ending in, are preferable to those of other forms. M. M, its name and plur. numb., --of the class _liquids_, --its sounds, --when silent, --as written for a number. _Macron_, or _macrotone_, mark, its use. _Make_, verb, whether _to_ should be suppressed, and _be_, inserted, after, ("MAKE _yourself_ BE _heard_," BLAIR,) --its construc. with infin. following. _Man_ and _woman_, comp. nouns in, (_man-servant, woman-servant_, &c.,) how pluralized. _Many a_, with noun sing. represented by a plur. pronoun. _Marks_, or _points_, used in literary composition, the principal; occasional. See _Punctuation_. _May_, verb, how varied, --derivation and uses of. _Mean, means_, use and construc. of. _Measure_, &c., see _Time. Measure, poetical_, see _Verse_. _Melody_ or beauty of a sentence, words necessary to, rarely to be omitted. _Member_, or _clause_, defined. --_Memb_. and _clause_, generally used as synonymous, are discriminated by some, --_Clause_ and _phrase_, confounded by some, --_Members_, simple, of a sent., punct. of, --complex, do., do., --_Members_ of a sentence, arrangem. of, as affecting STRENGTH. _Metaphor_, defined, --what commonly understood to be, --agreem. of pron. with antecedent in cases of. _Methinks_, explanation of; the lexicographers on the word. _Metonymy_, defined, --_Meton._, on what founded, --agreem. of pron. with its antecedent, in cases of. _Metres_, more found in actual use, than those acknowledged in the ordinary schemes of prosody. _Metre_, see _Verse_. _Milton_, MURR. proposed amendment of the "unintelligible" language of a certain passage of, criticised, --double solec. in a pass, of, noticed, --his poem, _L'Allegro_, what its versificat.; what the management of the orders of its verse, --do., _Il Penseroso_, what its extent and construction. _Miss_ or _Misses, Mr_. or _Messrs._, what the proper applicat. of, when _name and title_ are to be used together, in a plur. sense. _Mistaken, to be_, irregularity of the verb; its import as applied to persons, and as applied to things. _Mimesis_, explained; droll examples of. _Minus, plus, versus, via_, Lat., use of, in Eng., in partic. constructions. _Mixing_ of synt. with etymol., the manner of INGERS., KIRKH., _et al._, censured. _Mixture_ of the _forms_ of style, inelegance of. _Modifications_, defined, --sense of the term as employed by BROWN. _Moloss_, defined. _Monometer_, scarcely constitutes a line, yet is sometimes so placed. --_Monometer_ line, _iambic_, examples of, --_trochaic_, do., --_anapestic_, do., --_dactylic_, an examp. of. _Monopersonal_ verbs, see _Impersonal Verbs_. _Monotone_, what, and how produced in elocution. _Months and days_, names of, appar. proper names, and require capitals, --how best expressed in literary compositions. _Moods_ of a verb, term defined, --the five, named and defined, --_Mood_, or MODE, the name. See _Infinitive Mood, Indic. Mood_, &c. _More_ and _most_, in ambiguous construction, ("_Some people_ MORE _than them_," MURR.,) --how parsed in comparisons of adjectives and adverbs. _Moses_, in what characters, is supposed to have written. _Most_, for _almost_, by vulgarism. _Motion_, verbs of, with _hither_, &c., in stead of _here_. _Much, little, all_, &c., as nouns, --preceded by _not, too_, or other such adv., --_This much_, in stead of _thus much_, DR. BLAIR. _Mulkey, W._, strictures on his system of orthoepy. _Multiplication_, subject of the verb in, see _Abstract Numbers_. _Multiplicative_ numerals, as running on in a series; how written above decuple or tenfold. _Multitude_, noun of, see _Collective Noun_. _Mute_ or _silent_, epithet applied to what letters. --_Mutes_, what so reckoned; of these, which imperfect. --Where a letter must be _once mute_. _My_ and _mine, thy_ and _thine_, as duplicate forms of the poss. case, use of. N. N, its name and plur. numb., --of the class _liquids_, --its sounds, --in what position silent. _Name and title_, see _Proper Names_. _Naming_ the letters of the alphab., importance of. _Narration_, see _Discourse_. _Nasals_, what consonants so called. _Near_ and _nigh_, see _Like_. _Need_, as an uninflected third pers. sing. of the verb, --has perh. become an _auxiliary_ of the pot. mood, --to what tenses must be understood to belong, if to be recognized as an auxil. of the pot. mood, --that good writers sometimes inflect the verb, and sometimes do not, and that they sometimes use _to_ after it, and sometimes do not, how may be accounted for --three _authorized_ forms of expression, with respect to the verb. _Needs_, as an adv., its composition _Needless_, mixing of characters in printing, bad effect of --capitals; effect of --articles, to be omitted --ellipses, the supposition of, a common error among grammarians --use of participles for nouns, or nouns for participles --words, ineleg. --possessive or art. before a part., how corrected --periods, or other points, after certain numeral expressions --abbreviations, offend against taste --dashes inserted, how to be treated _Negation_, expressed in the early Eng. by multiplied negatives; such manner of expression now obsolete and improper --Effect on a _negation_, of two negatives in the same clause _Negatives_, the comm. rule of the grammars, that "two negatives, in Eng., destroy each other, or &c.," whether a correct one _Neither_, see _Either_ _Neuter verb_, defined --_Neuter verbs_, the _active-trans_. verbs are so called in most grammars and dictionaries; the absurdity of this --extent of this class of verbs; their existence in any lang. denied by some grammarians --Neut. verb BE, conjugated --_Neuter verbs_, made from active-transitives, (_am come, is gone_, &c.;) these called by some, "neuter passives" --of passive form, (_am grown, are flown_, &c.,) as errors of conjugat., or of synt. --do., how may be distinguished from pass. verbs --do., DR. PRIESTL. mistaken notions concerning their nature and propriety --_Neut. verbs_, and their participles, take the same case after as before them --_Neuter verb_ between two nominatives, its agreem. _Nevertheless_, its composition and class _No_ or _none_, pronom. adj. _No_, as negative adj., "remarkable ambiguity in the use of," noticed by PRIESTL., ("_No laws are better than the English_;") how the ambiguity may be avoided --as a simple negation, its construc. --as an adv. of deg., relating only to comparatives, ("NO _more_," --"NO _better_") --set before a noun, is an adj., corresponding to Lat. _nullus_ --In the phrases, _no longer, no more, no where_, DR. JOH. appar. suggests wrongly the class; its true class according to its several relations --_No_, or an other independent negative, _repeated_, its effect --_No_, adv., not to be used with reference to a verb or part. --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _Nominative case_, defined --_Nom. case_, how distinguished from the objective in nouns --as subj. of a finite verb --different ways of using --_Nominative_ and verb, usual position of, and when varied --_Nom. case_ and _object._, at the same time, noun placed in the relation of --_Nom_. following a verb or part, with what must accord in signif. See also _Subject_, &c. _Nominative sentences_, examples of what MURR. erron. so terms; the prop. construc. shown _Nor_, see _Or_. _Not_, its place in negative questions --how spoken in grave discourse, and how ordinarily --vulg. contractions of, with certain verbs --used with other negatives --do. with _nor_ (in stead of _or_) following, whether correctly, or not --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _Not but_, how resolved. _Not only, not merely_, to what are correspondents _Notwithstanding_, import and construc. of; misunderstood by DR. WEBST. --formation and signif. of NOUNS, Etymol. of --_Noun_, defined --_Nouns_, Classes of, named and defined --Modifications of, named --Persons of, named and defined; (see _Persons_) --Numbers of, do.; (see _Plural Number_) --Genders of, do.; (see _Genders_) --Cases of, do.; (see _Cases_) --Declension of --_Nouns_, number of, in Eng. --the sense of, how made indefinitely partitive --examples of words commonly belonging to other classes, used as --_collective, abstract_, and _verbal_ or _participial_, included among common nouns; (see _Collective Noun_, and _Particip. Noun_) --proper, (see _Proper Names_) --_Nouns_, Synt. of --_Noun_, why may not be put in the relation of two cases at once --taken figuratively sing. for literally plur. --required to be repeated, or inserted, in stead of a pronoun --ellips. of, shown --_Nouns_ of _time, measure, distance_, &c., (see _Time_) --_Nouns_, derivation of, from nouns, adjectives, verbs, or participles --poet. peculiarities of _Numbers_, the distinction of, to what belongs, and how applied. (See _Plural Number_.) _Numbers_, cardinal, ordinal, &c., (see _Cardinal Numbers_, &c.) --_Numbers_, abstract, expressions of multiplication in, ("_Twice one_ IS _two_," --"_Twice two_ ARE _four_," &c.,) seven different opinions of grammarians respecting, examined by BROWN; who determines the prop. forms of expression --_Numbers_, expressed by letters, how to be considered; whether to be marked by the period --combined arithmetical, one adjective relating to an other _Numerals, numeral adjectives_, see _Adjectives, Numeral_. _Numerical figures_ used for references O. O, lett., as A, E, I, and U, self-naming --its plural --formation of the plur. of nouns in --sounds properly its own --where sounded as short _u_ --do. as obscure _e_ --diphthongs beginning with --triphth. do. _O_, interj., with cap. lett. --what emotion indicates --differs from _oh_ --as denoting earnestness, before nouns or pronouns put absol. by direct address; is no positive index of the vocative --_O_, &c., MURR., erron. doctrine concerning, to what teaching it has given rise --_O_, &c., with a case following, Lat. construc. of, examined --_O_, not unfreq. confounded with _oh_, even by grammarians. _Obelisk_, or _dagger_, as mark of reference. _Objective case_, defined --_Obj. case_, how distinguished from the _nom._ in nouns --before the infin. mood, how taken in Eng. --as governed by active-trans. verb or part. --"Active verbs govern the _obj. case_," MURR., defect of this brief assertion; its uselessness as a RULE for "the syntax of verbs." --_Obj. case_, of how many constructions susceptible --whether infinitives, participles, &c., can be in --two nouns in, after a verb, how parsed, --Whether any verb in Eng. governs _two objectives_ not coupled --_Obj. case_ as governed by passive verbs, erron. allowed by some --what verbs not to be employed without --_Obj. case_ as governed by prep. --"Prepositions gov. the _obj. case_," why the brief assertion is exceptionable, as the sole RULE, in parsing prep. _Obsolete_ or antiquated words, use of, as opposed to purity, PREC. against --_Things obsolete_ in Eng., DR. LATHAM'S attempts to revive. _Ocean_, figurative representation of, as uttering his voice in tones of varied quantity. _Octometer_ line, may be reduced to tetrameter --iambic, examples of --_trochaic_, do --dactylic, example of --_Octometer_, trochaic, rhyme and termination of; its pauses, and how may be divided; the most common form of. _Of_ and _on_ or _upon_, difference between. _Old English_, characters of its alphabet, shown --occasional use of do. _Omissions_ of words that are needful to the sense, Crit. N. against. _Omitting_, verbs of, with part. in stead of infin. _One_, employment of, as a noun or as a substitute for a noun; how classed by some grammarians --may be preceded by the articles, or by adjectives --like Fr. _on_ or _l'on_, used indef. for any person; in this sense preferable to a _pers._ pron. applied indefinitely --CHURCH., citation ridiculing the too frequent use of, for pers. pron. --as pronom. adj., requires verb and pron. in the third pers. sing. to agree with it. _One an other_, see _Other. One_, or _a unit_, whether it is a _number_. _Only_, derivation of; class and meaning of, in its several different relations --strictures on the instructions of grammarians respecting the classification and placing of --ambiguous use of, (as also of _but_,) --use of, for _but_, or _except that_, not approved of by BROWN --_Not only, not merely --but_, &c., correspondents. _Onomatopoeia_ described and exemplified (extr. from SWIFT.) _Or_, as expressing an alternation of terms, (Lat., _sive_.) --in Eng., is frequently equivocal; the ambiguity how avoided --_Or_, perh. contracted from _other_ --_Or_ and _nor_ discriminated --_Or, nor_, grammarians dispute which of these words should be adopted after an other negative than _neither_ or _nor_; MURR., following PRIESTL., teaches that either word may be used with equal propriety; BURN'S doctrine; BROWN, after revising CHURCH., attempts to settle the question, --_Or ever_, ("OR EVER _the earth was_,") the term explained. _Or_ or _our_, terminat., number of Eng. words in; how many of these may be written with _our_; BROWN'S practice and views in respect to this matter. _Oral_ spelling, the advantage of, to learners. _Order_ of things or events, the natural, PREC. directing the observance of, in the use of lang. _Orders of verse_, see _Verse_. _Ordinal_ numeral, (see _Numerals._) --_Ordinal_ adjectives may qualify card. numbers; cannot properly be _qualified by_ do. _Orthoepy_, see _Pronunciation_. ORTHOGRAPHY --_Orthography_, of what treats --difficulties attending it in Eng. --DR. JOHNSON'S improvements in --DR. WEBSTER'S do., in a different direction --ignorance of, with respect to any word used, what betokens in the user (See also _Spelling._) _Orthography_, figures of, MIMESIS and ARCHAISM --its substantive or pronominal character; (with _one._) how classed by some; may be preceded by the articles --requires _than_ before the latter term of an exclusive comparison; yet sometimes perhaps better takes the prep. _besides. Each other one an other_, import and just application of, --misapplication of, frequent in books, --DR. WEBST. erron. explanation of _other_, as "a correlative to _each_," --_One_ and _other_, frequently used as terms relative and partitive, appar. demanding a plur. form, --_An other_, in stead of _another_. _Somehow_ or _other, somewhere_ or _other_, how _other_ is to be disposed of. _Ought_, principal verb, and not auxiliary, as called by MURR. _et al._, --originally part of the verb _to_ OWE; now used as defec. verb, --its tense, as limited by the infin. which follows. _Ourself_, anomalous form peculiar to the regal style, --peculiar construc. of. _Own_, its origin and import; its class and construc., --strangely called a _noun_ by DR. JOH. P. P, its name and plur. numb., --its sound, --when silent, --_Ph_, its sounds. _Pairs_, words in, punct. of. _Palatals_, what consonants so called. _Parables_, in the Scriptures, see _Allegory_. _Paragoge_, explained. _Paragraph_ mark, for what used. _Paralipsis_, or _apophasis_, explained. _Parallels_, as marks of reference. _Parenthesis_, signif. and twofold application of the term, --_Parenthesis_, marks of, (see _Curves_.) --What clause to be inclosed within the curves as a PARENTHESIS, and what should be its punct., --_Parentheses_, the introduction of, as affecting unity. _Parsing_, defined. --_Parsing_, its relation to grammar, --what must be considered in, --the distinction between etymological and syntactical, to be maintained, against KIRKH. _et al._, --character of the forms of etymological adopted by BROWN, --what implied in the right performance of, --whether different from analysis, --what to be supplied in. --_Parsing_, of a prep., how performed, --of a phrase, implies its separation, --the RULES OF GOVERNM., how to be applied in, --of words, is not varied by mere transposition. --_Parsing_, etymological and syntactical, in what order to be taken, --the SENSE, why necessary to be observed in; what required of the pupil in syntactical, --syntactical, EXAMPLE of. --_Parsing_ or CORRECTING, which exercise perh. the more useful. _Participial adjectives_, see _Adjectives, Participial_. _Participial_ or _verbal noun_, defined, --how distinguished from the participle. --_Participial noun_ and participle, the distinction between, ill preserved by MURR. and his amenders. --_Participial noun_, distinc. of VOICE in, sometimes disregarded, ("_The day of my_ BURYING,") --_with_ INFIN. _following_, strictures on MURR., LENN., and BULL., with respect to examples of. PARTICIPLES, Etymol. of. --_Participle_, defined. --_Participles_, whether they ought to be called verbs, --appropriate _naming_ of the kinds of, --often become adjectives, --become adjectives by composition with something not belonging to the verb, --number of, simp. and comp., --imply _time_, but do not divide it, --retain the _essential_ meaning of their verbs, but differ from them in the _formal_, --in Eng., from what derived, --H. TOOKE'S view of the time of; with whom BROWN differs. --_Participles_, Classes of, named and defined, --(See _Imperfect Participle_ and _Perfect Part_.) --_Participles_, grammarians differ in their opinion with respect to the time and voice of, --how have been called and treated by some, --explanation of the different, --how distinguished from particip. nouns, --elegantly taken as plur. nouns, ("_All his_ REDEEMED,") --appar. used for adverbs, --some become prepositions. --_Participle_ and ADJUNCTS, as forming "one name," and as such, _governing the poss._, whence the doctrine; PRIESTL. criticised; MURR. _et al_. adopt PRIESTL. doctrine, which they badly sustain; teachers of do. disagree among themselves, --governm. of possessives by, how BROWN generally disposes of; how determines with respect to such governm. --_Participles_, Synt. of, --regular synt. of, twofold; nature of the two constructions; OTHER _less regular_ constructions; which two constructions of all, are legitimate uses of the participle; which constructions are of doubtf. propriety. --_Participles_, to what RELATE, or in what state GOVERNED. --_Participle_, as relating to a phrase or sentence, --taken abstractly, --irregularly used in Eng. as substitute for infin. mood, --in irreg. and mixed construc. --_Participle_, transitive, what case governs, --nom. absol. with, to what equivalent, --each requires its appropriate FORM, --questionable uses of, admitted by MURR. _et al_.; why BROWN is disposed to condemn these irregularities. --_Participle_ and particip. noun, distinction between, with respect to governm. --_Participle_ in _ing_, multiplied uses of, lawful and forced, illustrated, --equivalence of do. to infin. mood, instances of, --every mixed construc. of, how regarded by BROWN, --the "double nature" of, CROMB. on; his views, how accord with those of MURR. _et al._, HILEY'S treatment of; BROWN'S strictures on do. --_Participles_, place of: --active, governm. of. --_Participle_, trans., converted to a noun: --converted, _when_ the expression should be changed: --followed by an adj., its conversion into a noun appar. improper: --comp. converted, how managed: --not to be used for infin., or other more appropriate term: --use of, for a nominative after _be, is, was_, &c., faulty: --following a verb of _preventing_, how to be managed. --_Participles_, converted, disposal of their adverbs: --must be construed with a regard to the leading word in sense: --should have a clear reference to their subjects: --needless use of, for nouns, to be avoided: --punct. of: --derivation of: --poet. peculiarities in the use of. _Parts of speech_, meaning of the term: --_Parts of speech_, named and defined: --what explanations may aid learners to distinguish the different: --why needful that learners be early taught to make for themselves the prop. distribution of: --WILS. on the distribution of: --the preferable _number_ with respect to; the office of, specifically stated. --The _parts of speech_, passage exemplifying all. --Examples of a partic. _part of speech_ accumulated in a sentence. --Etymol. and Synt. of the different _parts of speech_, see _Article, Noun, Adjective_, &c. _Passions_ of the mind, by what tones to be expressed. _Passive verb_, defined. --_Pass. verbs_ contrasted with active-trans, verbs, in respect to the object or the agent of the action; their compos, and construc.: --their FORM in Eng. --_Pass. verb_ BE LOVED, conjug. affirmatively. --_Pass. verbs_, how distinguished from neuters of the same form: --having active forms nearly equivalent to them, (_is rejoiced, rejoices_; _am resolved, know_, &c.,): --erroneously allowed by some to govern the obj. case in Eng.; CROMB. in this category, cited, canon, pseudo-canons. --_Pass. verb_, what should always take for its subj. or nom.: --takes the same case after as before it, when both words refer to the same thing: --between two nominatives, with which should be made to agree, ("_Words_ ARE wind,"). See _Unco-Passive_, &c. _Passive_ form of an active-intrans. verb followed by a prep. and its objective, ("_He_ WAS LAUGHED AT,"). _Passive_ sense of the act. form of the verb, ("_The books continue_ SELLING,"). _Past for future_, see _Prophecy_. _Pauses_, term defined. --_Pauses_, kinds of, named and explained: --the distinctive, duration of: --after what manner should be formed: --forced, unintentional, their effect: --emphatic or rhetorical, applicat. and office of: --harmonic, kinds of; these, essential to verse. --_Pauses_, abrupt, punct.: --emphatic, do. _Pedantic_ and sense-dimming style of charlatans &c., as offending against purity. _Pentameter_ line, _iambic_, examples of: --is the regular Eng. HEROIC; its quality and adaptation: --embraces the _elegiac stanza_: --_trochaic_, example of, said by MURR. _et al_. to be very uncommon; was unknown to DR. JOH. and other old prosodists: --the two examples of. in sundry grammars, whence came; a couplet of these scanned absurdly by HIL.; HART mistakes the metre of do.: --_dactylic_, example of, ("_Salutation to America_,"). _Perfect_, adj., whether admits of comparison; why its comparis. by adverbs not wholly inadmissible. _Perfect definition_, what. _Perfect participle_, or _second part._, defined: --its form: --how has been variously called: --its character and name as distinguished from the imperf. part: --why sometimes called the _passive part_.; why this name liable to objection: --how may be distinguished from the preterit of the same form: --should not be made to govern an objective term. ("_The characters_ MADE USE OF," MURR.,): --not to be used for the pret., nor confounded with the pres.: --what care necessary in the employment of; when to be distinguished from the preterits of their verbs. _Perfect tense_, defined. --_Perf. tense_ of indic., as referring to time relatively fut. _Period_, or _full stop_, its pause. --_Period_, or _circuit_, nature of. --_Period_, probably the oldest of the points; how first used: --how used in Hebrew: --what used to mark: --Rules for the use of: --not required when short sentences are rehearsed as examples: --whether to be applied to letters written for numbers: --with other points set after it: --whether proper after Arabic figures used as ordinals. --_Period of abbreviation_, whether always supersedes other points. _Permanent_ propositions, to be expressed in the pres. tense. _Permitting_, &c., verbs of, see _Commanding_. _Personal pronoun_, defined. --_Personal pronouns_, simple, numb, and specificat. of: --declension of: --often used in a reciprocal sense, ("_Wash_ YOU," &c.,). --(See also _It_.) --_Personal pronouns_, compound, numb. and specificat. of. 298: --explanat. and declension of: --CHURCH. account of: --of the first and second persons, placed before nouns to distinguish their persons. _Personification_, defined, --MURR. definition of, blamed, --what constitutes the purest kind of, --change of the gend. of inanimate objects by, --whether it always changes the gender of anteced. term, --agreem. of pronouns with their antecedents in cases of, --Rule for capitals in do., --comp., --_Personifications_, CHURCH, on the determination of gender in, --_Personified_ objects, names of, put in the second pers., and why, --how pronouns agree with, _Persons_, term defined, --_Persons_, named and defined, --the distinction of, on what founded, --_Persons, numbers_, &c., character of BROWN'S definitions of, --_Persons_, in gram., nature of; absurd teachings of some grammar-makers concerning, --distinctions of, in written lang., --_Person_ and _number_ of a verb, what, --_Persons_, second and third, of a verb, distinctive formations of, --do., in Lat., shown, --_Person_, nouns of the second, in Eng., in how many ways can be employed, --the _third_, put with the pron. _I_, by vulgarism, ("THINKS I _to myself_,") --the first, place of, --_Persons_, whether the imperat. mood may have three, --connected antecedents of different, agreem. of pron. with, --connected nominatives of different, agreem. of verb with, _Perspicuity_, as a quality of style, in what consists, --is essential in composition; BLAIR quoted, --the excellence of, --Precepts aiming at offences against, _Perversions of Eng. grammar_, the design, in part, of BROWN'S code of synt, is to make intelligent judges of, --_Perversions, literary_, Crit. N. concerning, _Phonetics, phonography, phonotopy_, BROWN'S estimate of; DR. JOH. cited, --account of, --TRENCH'S views of, --_Phonographic system_ of stenography, its practical value; _phonotopy_, to what may be advantageously applied, _Phrase_, defined, --_Phrase_ made the subject of a verb, how to be taken, --_Phrases_, distinct, conjunctively connected, agreem. of verb with, --distinct, disjunctively connected, do., --unconnected, do., --BAD _phrases_, examples of, from authors, --do., corrected, --_Phrases_ or _clauses_, ellips. of, shown, --_Adverbial phrase_, (so termed by some,) see _Adverb_. _Place_ or _position_ of the different parts of speech, see _Article, Noun, Adjective_, &c. _Pleonasm_, defined, --_Pleonasm_, when allowable with respect to a pron., --in what instances impressive and elegant; when, the vice of ill writing, --occurs sundry times in the Bible, _Pluperfect tense_, defined, --_Pluperf. tense_, what implies when used conditionally; what, in the negative form of supposition, --how formed in the indic. mood; do. in the potential, --indic. form of, put by enall. for pluperf. of the pot., --PLUPERFECT, signif. of the term; several innovators (as BULL., BUTL., _et al._) have been fain to discard it, _Plural number_, of nouns, how formed, --of most nouns in Eng., is simple and regular, --of nouns ending in a vowel preceded by a vowel, --of do. in _y_ preceded by a consonant, --of do. in _o_ preceded by a consonant, --construc. of, when several persons of the _same name_ are spoken of ("_The Stuarts_,") --of prop. names, its formation, --of nouns in _i, o, u_, or _y_, preceded by a consonant, --when _name_ and _title_ are to be used together, ("_The Miss Bells_,") --of nouns in _f_, --of nouns not formed in _s_ or _es_, --of compounds, --of certain compound terms, ("_Ave-Maries_," &c.,) --wanting to some nouns, --of nouns of multitude, --_Plural_, nouns made so by nature or art, --of foreign nouns, 253, --improperly formed by adding apostrophic _s_, --of mere characters, how denoted, _Plurality_, the idea of; see _Unity_, &c. _Poetic feet_, treated, --(See _Iambus, Trochee_, &c.) --_Poetic foot_, of what consists, --_Poet. feet_, number to be recognized in Eng., --principal Eng., named and defined, --kinds of, which form ORDERS OF VERSE, --what combinations of, severally form _dimeter, trimeter_, &c., --(See _Dimeter, Trimeter_, &c.) --_Poetic_ collocation of words, in prose, as offending against perspicuity, PREC. respecting, --_Poetic diction_, treated, --in what abounds, --_Poetical Peculiarities_, _Poetry_, as defined by BLAIR, --character of its style, --aim and end of, --exterior distinction of, --why difficult, by a definition, to be distinguished from prose, --inept directions of some grammatists respecting the parsing of, --_Poetry_, every line in, should begin with a capital, _Points_, or _stops_, the principal, named, and their forms shown, --the purpose of, --length of pauses denoted by, --often variously used in different editions of the same work, --origin of, See _Punctuation_. _Points_ of the compass, adjectives for; modes of varying them, _Possession_, relation of, see _Property_. _Possessive case_, defined, --_Poss. case_, how formed --disputes of the earlier grammarians respecting, --CARD. _et al._ attempt to revive exploded error concerning, --form of, --origin of, in Eng., --odd notions of some grammarians concerning the regular formation of --exceptions or irregularities in the formation of --_Poss. case_, PEI. on, criticised --ASH and PRIESTL. on the plur. --use of the two forms of, in pers. pronouns --_of the simp. pers. pronouns_, grammarians differ with respect to; should not be considered mere adjectives --are pronom. adjectives, according to DR. LOWTH and his followers, --whose doctrine BROWN canvasses, also, WEBSTER'S, WILSON'S, MURRAY'S --_Poss. case_, its equivalence to _of_ and the objective, not a _sameness of case_, (in oppos. to Nix.) --of pronouns, not to be written with apostrophe --of nouns in appos., application of the possessive sign to --by what _governed_ --whether the rule for, has true exceptions --appos. of one with an other, ("_For_ DAVID _my_ SERVANT'S _sake_,") the construc. examined --appar. in abstract construc., ("_All_ MINE _are_ THINE,") --as governed by a part, the construc. examined; COROL. --why the governm. of, should be limited to nouns only --whether before a real part., denotes the possession of something --_Possessive sign_, omission oL not a true ellips. --always implies a governing word, --how taken by compounds --liable to be added to adjunct of the former noun --whether it can be rightly added to separate adjectives, ("_The_ GUILTY'S _prayer_,") --_which_ noun of connected possessives takes --Poss. case, place and order of --generally equivalent to prep. _of_ and _the objective_, --governed by something not expressed, ("St. Paul's,") --_Possessives, connected_, how to be taken, --Poss. _singular_, with _s_ omitted, ("For CONSCIENCE' _sake_") --_Poss. case_ of nouns sing, in _ss_, false teaching of KIRKH. _et al._, respecting the formation of --MURR. rule for the construc. of, why objectionable, --compounds embracing, lack uniformity in writing, --peculiarity of, with respect to correlatives, ("Father's son,") --_Possessive_ relation between a portion of time and its correlative action, ("THREE YEARS' _hard work_" or, "_Three years_ OF HARD WORK,") --_Poss. case_, appropriate form of, to be observed, --plural, with a noun in forced agreem., ("For OUR PARTS,") ib., N. iv: --needless use of, before a participle, ("In THEIR _pronouncing the Greek_,") --_Possessive pronouns, my, thy, his_, &c., how often should be inserted, or repeated _Potential mood_, defined --_Potential mood_, why so called; by what _signs_ distinguished, --may, like the indic., be used in asking questions; why by some included in the subj. --in what tenses used; nature of the imperf. tense --formation and inflection of its tenses, shown in the verb LOVE, conjugated, _Power_ of a letter, the _powers_ of the letters, what meant by, when spoken of, --The _power_ of a letter is not its sound, as MURR. et al incorrectly teach --The _simple powers_ of the letters, many irreconcileable doctrines have been advanced thereon; GARDINER'S notions concerning, stated in brief, --RUSH'S explanations of, his pretentious scheme of the alphab. how estimated by BROWN --The _just powers_ of the letters, what, and how are to be learned, --_Powers_ of the letters, variable; how become so; WALK, cited _Praxis_, defined; lit. signif. of the word, as from the Gr. _Precision_, as a quality of style, in what consists, --Precepts aiming at offences against --conciseness, or brevity, as opposed to _Prefixes_, their management in syllabication, R.: --Explanation of --import and character of the particles used as, in Eng.; the _roots_ to which prefixed, not always proper Eng. words --_Prefixes_, ENG. or ANGLO-SAX., --_Prefixes_, poet, usage with respect to, _Preperfect participle_, defined --_Preperf. part._, its form --its nature and name, PREPOSITIONS, Etymol. of --_Preposition_ defined --importance of a right use, and a right explan. of --HARR. explanation of, as cited by LOWTH, stricture on HARR. --its simplicity among the parts of speech; how should be explained in parsing, --no sufficient RULE for the synt. of, in most of the Eng. grammars, _Prepositions_ and their objects, as preceding the words on which they depend, ("_Of man's first disobedience, &c., Sing_" MILC.,) --_Prepositions_, what it is, to find the terms of relations of; disput. text cited in illustration --the special _adaptation_ of; example of misuse by MURR., remarked on --HARR., on the purpose for which almost all _prepositions_ were orig. formed, and on the nature of their relations; his views controverted by BROWN, --Prepositions and their governed objects, the true determination of; examples of joint objects, and of joint antecedents, wrong views of MURR. and his followers concerning this matter. --_Prepositions_, two connected, for what different purposes used --two coming together, ("FROM AMONG the _just_,") --_Prepositions complex_, what their character, and how may be resolved; are occasionally compounded by the hyphen --_Prepositions_, how might be divided into classes; the inutility in parsing of the division into "_separable_ and _inseparable_;" HALL'S absurd idea of a divis., noticed --whether "two in immediate succession require a noun to be understood between them," (NUTT.) --words commonly reckoned, (_in, on, of_, &c.,) used after infinitives or participles, in adverbial construc., ("_Houses to eat and drink_ IN") --_Prepositions_, List of --grammarians differ considerably in their tables of; do. concerning the characteristics of; what BROWN supposes, in oppos. to the assertion that "Every _prep_. requires an obj. case after it" --LENN. and BULL. on "_prepositions becoming adverbs_," criticised --MURR. on "_prepositions_ appearing to be adverbs," criticised --_Preposition_, whether it can be justly said to take a sent. for its object --_Prepositions_, words in the list of, sometimes used as other parts of speech --extension of the list of --examples of the less usual, _a_, and others beginning with _a_ --do. of unusual ones beginning with _b, c_, or _d_ --_unusual_, quotations illustrating further the list of --_Preposition_, RULE of synt. for the _word governed by_ --_Prepositions_, in Eng., govern no other case than the obj.; most, may take the imperf. part. for their obj. --The brief assertion, that "_Prepositions_ govern the obj. case," wherein is exceptionable as the sole rule for both terms --_Prepositions_, ellipt. construc. of, with adjectives, (_in vain, in secret_, &c.) --sometimes appar. govern adverbs --_Preposition_, appar. governing a perf. part., ("_To give it up_ FOR LOST") --_Prepositions_, Synt. of --do., in what consists --what RELATIONS, show; (see _To_ and _For_) --the parsing of; why tolerable writers are liable to err most in their use of --_Preposition_, the true terms of the relat. of, how may be discovered --when beginning or ending a sent. or clause, what the construc. --the terms of relation of, what may be; both usually expressed --position of, with respect to the governed word --_Prepositions_, several, dependent on one anteced. term, ("_A declaration_ FOR _virtue and_ AGAINST _vice_," BUTL.) --two coming together between the same terms of relat.; do. in the same construc.; erron. remark of PRIESTL., MURR., _et al._, concerning the latter --_Preposition_, the separating of, from its noun, false doctrine of LOWTH, MURR., _et al._, concerning --_Prepositions_, prop, choice of --do., with respect to the allowable uses of --as adapted in meaning to _two_ objects, or to _more_ --_Preposition_, ellips. or omiss. of, where ineleg. --insertion of, when do. --_Prep. and its object_, position of, in respect to other words --do., punc. of --_Prep._, ellips. of, shown --_Prepositions_, derivation of --poet. usage with respect to _Present tense_, defined --_Pres. tense_, described --of the indic., used to express general truths --deceased authors spoken of in, and why --for the past, by Grecism; in animated narrative, for do., by enall. --of the indic. and the subj., when preceded by _as soon as_, &c., to what _time_, refers --of the infin., what time is expressed by; expedients used to express _fut_. time by --of the INFINITIVE, the ROOT, or RADICAL VERB --of the subj., its use, and how considered by some --_Pres. tense_, sometimes improp. with the conjunc. _that_, ("_Others said_, THAT _it is Elias_") _Preter, preterimperfect_, &c., disused terms for _past, imperfect_, &c. --_Preter_, prefix, its meaning _Preterit_, defined --_Preterit_, described --its form and variations --present tendency to a reg. orthog. of, to be encouraged --groundless rule of some, for forming second pers. of, when the pres. and the pret. are alike --not to be used in forming the comp. tenses of a verb _Preventing_, verbs of, with part., in stead of infin. --what construc. is proper for _Primitive word_, defined --_Primitive words_ regarded as such in Eng., may generally be traced to ulterior sources _Principal parts_, of a verb, (see _Chief Terms_) --of a sent., how many, and what _Priscian_, ancient grammarian, delivers the names of most of the Lat. letters _Progressive_ form of a verb, see _Compound_ &c. _Pronominal adjectives_, see _Adjectives, Pronominal_ PRONOUNS, Etymol. of --_Pronoun_, definition of --_Pronouns_ in Eng., number of, and their variations --nature of the representation by; are put substantively, relatively, or adjectively; difference in these three modes of substitution --Classes of, named, and defined; (see _Personal Pronoun, Relative Pron._, and _Interrogative Pron_.) --_Pronouns, compound_, constructional peculiarities of --_Pronouns_, faultiness and discordance of most Eng. grammars, with respect to the classification and treatment of; specification of different modes of distribution by diff. authors --Modifications of, named; these properties how distinguished in the personal pronouns; do. how ascertained in the relat. and interrog. pronouns --Declension of; simp. personals declined; comp. personals do.; comp. relatives do. --appar. used for adverbs --_Pronouns_, Synt. of --_Pronoun_, agreem. of, with its anteced. --do., with anteced. indefinite --plur., put by enall. for the sing., agreem. of --sometimes disagreeing with the anteced. in one sense, because taking it in an other --what the main point with respect to; what application of the rule of agreem., in parsing --_Pronouns_, agreem. of, with their antecedents, as affected by the figures of rhetoric --place of --_Pronoun_, as representing a phrase or sentence --under what circumstances can agree with either of two antecedents --the parsing of, commonly requiring the application of two rules --with suppressed anteced. --needless introduction of, ("PALLAS, HER _glass_," BACON) --with change of numb. in the second pers., or promisc. use of _ye_ and _you_ --must present the same idea as the anteced., and never confound the name with the thing signified --employment of _the same_, with respect to connected relative clauses --in what instances the _noun_ must be repeated, or inserted in stead of --should never be used to represent an adj., ("_Be_ ATTENTIVE; _without_ WHICH," &c.) --change of _anteced._ to accord with --agreem. with collective nouns --do. with joint antecedents --do. with connected antecedents in apposition --do. with connected antecedents emphat. distinguished --do. with connected antecedents preceded by _each, every_, or _no_ --do. with connected antecedents of different persons --agreeing with implied nominatives --agreem. with disjunct antecedents --what agreem. with disjunct. antecedents of different persons, numbers, and genders --do. with antecedents taken affirmatively and negatively --do. with two antecedents connected by _as well as_, &c. --ellips. of, shown --punct. of, without pause --_Pronouns_, derivation of, from Sax. --poet. peculiarities of _Pronunciation_, importance of an early habit of distinct --how best taught to children --_Pronunc._, as distinguished from elocution, what; how differs from articulation --_Pronunc._ of the Eng. lang., what knowledge requires; its difficulties; whether we have any system of, worthy to be accounted a STANDARD _Proof-texts_, not to be perverted in the quotation, Crit. N. --not _quoted_, but _invented_, by some, in their false illustrations of gram. _Proper names_ begin with capitals --_Comm._ and _proper name_ associated, how written --_Prop. names_, derivatives from, do. --(_Names_ of Deity, see _Deity_.) --_Prop. names_, application of rule concerning; distinc. between do. and common appellatives --of places, comparative difficulty of writing them --modern compound, sparing use of hyphen in --_Prop. names_, what their relative importance in lang. --structure and signif. of; how should be written --of plur. form, preceded by def. art. --_Prop. name_, with def. art., acquires the import of a comm. --_Proper_, from a comm. noun personified --_Prop. names_ of individuals, strictly used as such, have no plur.; _prop. name_, how made plur., and how then considered --when they form a plur., how form it --of persons, generally designate their sex --_Prop. name_, in appos. with an appellative --represented by _which_, ("_Herod_ --WHICH _is_," &c.) --_Prop. name_ and _title_, when taken together in a plur. sense, in what form to be written _Property_, the relation of, how may be otherwise expressed than by the poss. case _Prophecy_, the past tenses substituted for the fut., in the lang. of _Propositions_, permanent, in what tense should be expressed _Propriety_, as a quality of style, in what consists --its oppos., impropriety, what embraces --Precepts aiming at offences against _Prose_ and verse, in the composition of lang., how differ PROSODY --_Prosody_, of what subjects treats --etymol. and signif. of the word --_Prosody_, meagrely and immethodically treated in the works of many grammarians --undetermined usage as to what things belong to; how treated by some of the old prosodists; account of SMETIUS'S treatise of; do. GENUENSIS'S _Prosthesis_, explained _Proverbs_, their elliptical character _Provincial_ expressions, use of, as opposed to purity PUNCTUATION, arranged under the head of Prosody --_Punct._, what --principal marks of, named and shown; what they severally denote --RULES _of_: for Comma; for Semicolon; for Colon; for Period; for Dash; for Eroteme; for Ecphoneme; for Curves --description of the _other marks_ of --(See _Comma, Semicolon_, &c.) --_Punct._, the present system of, in Eng., common to many languages --why often found diverse, in diff. editions and diff. versions of the same work --duty of writers in respect to, and of publishers in reproducing ancient books --some account of the orig. and prog. of --"improvement" in, which is no improvement --confused and discordant explanations, by some, of certain of the marks of _Purity_, as a quality of style, in what consists --Precepts aiming at offences against _Pyrrhic_, defined Q. Q, its name and plur. numb. --has no sound peculiar to itself; its power --is always followed by _u_ _Quakers_, or Friends, their style of address, see _Friends_ _Qualities_ of style, treated --See _Style_ _Quantity_, or _time_ in pronunciation, explained --as defined by the lexicographers --its effect in the prolation of sounds --WALKER'S views of, unsatisfac. to BROWN --as regulated by emphasis, MURR. --_Quant_. of a syll., how commonly explained --by what marks may be indicated --_Quantities poetic_, how denominated, and how proportioned --What _quantity_ coincides with accent or emphasis --_Quantity_, on what depends --where variable, and where fixed, in Eng. --Crit. observations on accent and _quantity_ --_Quantity_, its distinction from _accent_ --Accent and _quantity_, differing views of authors relative to --_Quantity_, impropriety of affirming it to be the same as accent --DR. JOH. identification of accent with; such, also, that of others; (not so HARRIS;) NOEHD. rightly defines; so FISK, (in Eschenb. Man. Class. Lit.,) _et al_. --our grammarians seem not to have understood the distinc. of long and short, e. g., FISHER; so SHERID., WALK., MURR., _et al_. --CHAND. absurd and confused scheme of, noticed --suggestion of WEBST. on, approved _Questions_, can be asked only in the indic. or the pot. mood --direct, to be marked by the eroteme --united, how to be marked --indirect, do. --a series of, how may be united and marked --exclamatory, how to be marked --_Question, mentioned_ in due form, how marked --declaratively put, how uttered and marked --in _Spanish_, doubly marked, ("?Quien llama?";) in Greek, how _Quite_, with art. and adj., construc. how differs according to position of art. _Quotation_, direct, first word of, written with capital --_Quotations_ of proof-texts, &c., should be literally given --dependent, separated from _say_, &c., by comma --indep., preceded by colon --_Quotat. within a quotat._, how usually marked _Quoth_ and _quod_, signif. and use of, in ludicrous lang. or in the old writers R. R, name and plur. numb. --of the class liquids --sound of; do., how can be varied in utterance --what faults to be avoided in do. --DR. JOH. account of; WALK. do. _Radicals_, separable and inseparable, what are so called in Eng. derivation _Rath_, adv., used only in the compar. deg. --_Rather_, with the exclusive term of comparis. introduced by _than_ --derivation of _Reading, to read_, in gram., what the signif. of --READ, verb, CONJUGATED _affirmatively_ in Comp. Form _Reciprocal terms, reciprocals_, what pronom. adjectives may be so termed --_Reciprocals_, EACH OTHER, ONE AN OTHER, their nature and import --misapplicat. of, frequent in books; WEBST. errs in the signif. and applicat. of _other_. See also _Other_ _Reciprocal_ or reflected verbs, constructions in imitation of the French _Recurrence_ of a word in different senses, a fault opposed to propriety _Redundant verb_, defined --_Redund. verbs_, why made a separate class --treated --List of _Reference_, marks of, ASTERISK, OBELISK, &c., shown; in what _order_ are introduced --what other signs of, may be used. _Reference, doubtful_, Crit. N. concerning _Reformers_ of the Eng. alphabet and orthog., some account of _Rejoice, resolve, incline_, &c., import of, in the pass. form _Relations_ of things, their infinitude and diversity; the nature of RELATION --_Relation of words_, what --is diff. from agreem., but may coincide with it --_Relation_ according to _the sense_, an important principle in Eng. synt.; what _rules_ of relation commonly found in the grammars --Simple _relation_, what parts of speech have no other syntact. property than; what simp. _relations_ there are in Eng. --_Relation_, with respect to a prep., _anteced. term_, what may be; _subseq._, do. --_Relation_, do., _terms_ of, to be named in parsing a prep.; how the terms may be ascertained by a learner --_terms of_, to a prep., may be transposed; are very various; both usually expressed _Relative pronouns_, defined --_Relative pronouns_, and their _compounds_, named; declined --chief constructional peculiarities of --two faulty special rules given by the grammarians, for construc. of, noticed --construc. of, with respect to CASE --ellips. of, in famil. lang., ("_The man I trust_;") do., poet. --_Relative_ and prep. governing it, when should not be omitted --_Relative pron._, place of --clauses, connected, employment of, with _same_ pron. in each --_Rel. pronouns_, exclude conjunctions --derivat. of, from Sax. --poet, peculiarities with respect to. See also _Who, Which_, &c. _Repetition_, of a noun or pronoun, what construc. it produces --of words, emphatic, punct. --of words, through paucity of lang.; against propriety --of do., as demanded by precision --_Repetitions_, see _Pleonasm_ _Restrictive_ and _resumptive_ senses of the rel. pronouns, distinc. between, expl. --_Restrictive, relation_, most approp. expressed by the pron. THAT --admits not a comma before the relative --adj., admits not a comma before it --part., do. _Rhetoric, figure of_, defined --Figures of _rhetoric_, see _Figures_ _Rhetorical pauses_, see _Pauses_ _Rhode Island_, the name how acquired; peculiarity of its application _Rhyme_, defined --_Rhyming_ syllables, their nature and quality _Rhythm_, of verse, defined --Fancifully explained by E. A. POE, (who without intelligence derives the term from [Greek: hurithmos]) --sense and signif. of the word _Roman letters_, some account of _Rules_, of RELATION, what, commonly found in grammars --of SYNT., those common in grammars ill adapted to their purpose; examples of such --of do., exposition of the faulty charac. of those in Eng. grammars --_Rules of grammar_, advantage of, in the written language _Rush, Dr. J._, his new doctrine of the vowels and consonants, in oppos. to the old, how estimated by BROWN --his doctrine of a duplicity of the vocal elements, perstringed --his strange division of the vowels "into two parts," and conversion of most of them into diphthongs; his enumeration and specification of the alphabetic elements S. S, its name and plur. numb. --final, in monosyllables, spell. --of the poss. case, occas. dropping of; the elis. how to be regarded, and when to be allowed --its sounds --in what words silent --_Ss_, sound of _S_ or _es_, verbal termin., DR. LOWTH'S account of _Sans_, from Fr., signif., and where read _Sabaoth_, see _Deity_ _Same cases_, construc. of --do., on what founded --what position of the words, admitted by the construc. --_Same case_, after _what verbs_, except those which are pass., taken --_Same cases_, notice of the faulty rules given by LOWTH, MURR., _et al._, for the construc. of _Sameness_ of signif., what should be that of the nom. following a verb or part. --_Sameness_ of words, see _Identity_ _Sapphic_, verse, described --_stanza_, composition of; examp. from HOR. --_Sapphic verse_, difficulty of; Eng. Sapphics few; scansion of; "The Widow," of SOUTHEY, scanned --_Eng. Sapphic_, DR. WATTS'S ode, (in part.) "The Day of Judgement," "_attempted in_" --HUMPH. on, cited --_Sapphics_, burlesque, examples of _Save, saving_, as denoting exception, class and construc. of --_Save_, derivation of _Saxon_, alphabet, some account of --lang., its form about the year 450; do. subsequently _Scanning_, or _scansion_, explained --Why, in _scanning_, the principal feet are to be preferred to the secondary --The poetry of the earliest Eng. poets, not easy of _scansion_ _Script letters_, the alphabet exhibited in --the _forms_ of, their adaptation to the pen _Scripture names_, many discrepancies in, found in different editions of the Bible. _Scriptures_, see _Bible_ _Section_, mark, uses of SEE, verb, irreg., act., CONJUGATED affirmatively --takes infin. without prep. TO --its construc. with infin. without _to_ _Seeing_ and _provided_, as connectives, their class _Seldom_, adv., its comparison; use of, as an adj. _Self_, in the format, of the comp. pers. pronouns --CHURCH. explan. of --signif. and use of --as an Eng. prefix --after a noun poss., in poet. diction _Self-contradiction_, Crit. N. respecting _Self-naming letters_ _Semicolon_, point --for what purpose used --from what takes its name --_when_ adopted in England --is useful and necessary, though discarded by some late grammarians --Rules for the use of _Semivowel_, defined --_Semivowels_ named; nature of _w_ and _y_; sound of certain, as aspirates _Sense_ and construc. to be considered, in joining together or writing separately words otherw. liable to be misunderstood --_Sense_ or meaning, necessary to be observed in parsing _Senseless jumbling_, Crit. N. concerning _Sentence_, defined --_Sentence_, its parts, principal and subordinate --_Sentences_, the two kinds of, named and defined --whether a tripartite distribut. of is expedient --_Simple sent._, false notions amongst grammarians of what constitutes one; _the parsing of words_ not affected thereby --_Sentences_, simp. and comp., DR. WILS. explanation of --component parts of, what these are --whether all, can be divided into clauses --in what FIVE WAYS, can be analyzed --_Sentences_, simp., punct. of, --distinct, do., --allied, do., --short, rehearsed in close succession, how pointed. _Series_, of terms, proper use of the _articles_ in, --of words, how to be commaed. _Set_ and _sit_, signif. and employment of. _Sex_, to what persons ascribed; why a young child may be spoken of without distinc. of, --whether animals may be represented as of no, --inanimate objects fig. represented as having. --_Sexes_, distinction of, by _words_, in diff. ways, --denoted by _terminat_. of words, --designated by _proper names_. _Shall_, verb, how varied, --original signif. of, --explet. use of. --_Shall_ and _will_, discriminative application of, in the fut. indic. _Sheridan, T._, actor and orthoepist, his literary reputation; the worth of his writings. _Side_, noun, peculiarities of usage in regard to. _Silent_, or _mute_, when a letter is said to be. _Silliness, literary_, Crit. N. concerning. _Simile_, explained. _Since_, improp. use of, for _ago_, --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _Sit_ and _set_, use and signif. of. _So_, as expressing the sense of a preced. word or phrase, --derivation of, from Sax. --_So --as, as --so_, correspondents. _Soever_ or _soe'er_, whether a word or only a part of an other word; how explained by WEBST. _Solemn style_, as distinguished from the familiar, --should not be displaced from the paradigms in a grammar, --is not adapted to familiar discourse, --pres. and pret. terminations of, what, and how uttered, --examp. of, second pers. sing., negat., throughout the verb LOVE, conjugated. _Some_, classed, --vulg. used for _somewhat_, or _in some degree_, ("SOME _longer_," SANB.). _Somehow_ or _other, somewhere_ or _other_, what the construc. _Somewhere, nowhere, anywhere_, &c., their class, and how should be written. _Sort_, see _Kind_. _Sound_, of a letter, commonly called its _power_, --_elementary_, of the voice, defined. --_Sounds_, simp. or primary, numb. in Eng., --elementary, what meant by; are few in numb.; their _combinations_ may be innumerable. --_Vowel_ sounds, or vocal elements, how produced, and where heard; what those in Eng., and how may be modified in the format. of syllables; do., how may be written, and how uttered. --_Consonant sounds_, simp., in Eng., how many, and what; by what letters marked; in what words heard. --_Sounds_, long and short, SIGNS used to denote them. --_Sounds_, a knowledge of, how acquired, --importance of being early taught to pronounce those of one's native lang. --Passage exemplifying _all the letters_, and _all the_ SOUNDS, in Eng. --_Sounds of the Letters_, treated. _Speak, to speak_, what is meant by. _Speaker_, why often speaks of himself in the third pers., --represents himself and others by _we_, --in Eng., should mention himself last. --The _elegant speaker_, by what distinguished. _Species_ and _figure_ of words, what so called, --unsettled usage of the lang. with regard to what relates to the latter. _Species_ and _genus_ of things, how admits limitation by the article. SPELLING, defined. --_Spelling_, how to be acquired, --cause of the difficulty of its acquisition, --Rules for, --_usage_, as a law of, --uniformity and consistency in, how only can be attained. --The _right spelling_ of a word, what, PHILOLOG. Mus. --_Oral spelling_, how should be conducted. --Charac. of BROWN'S rules for _spelling_. _Spondee_, defined. _St_, unsyllab. suffix, whether, wherever found, is a modem contrac. of the syllable _est_. _Standards_ of English _orthog._, the books proposed as such, abound in errors and inconsistencies. --Whether we have a system of Eng. ORTHOEPY worthy to be accounted a STANDARD. _Stanza_, defined. --_Stanzas_, uniformity of, in the same poem, --varieties of, --_Elegiac stanza_, described. --_Stanzas, lyric_, examples of, --"A GOOD NAME," ("two beautiful little _stanzas_," BROWN). _Star_, or _asterisk_, use of. --_Three stars_, or _asterism_, _Stenotone_, or _breve_, for what used. _Stops_, in printing or writing, see _Points_. _Strength_, as a quality of style, in what consists, --essentials of, --Precepts aiming at offences against. _Strew_, whether, or not, an other mode of spelling _strow_; whether to be distinguished in utterance from do.; whether reg. or irreg. STYLE, qualities of, treated. --_Style_, as connected with synt., what, --differs from mere words and mere grammar; not regulated entirely by rules of construc., --what relation has to the author himself, and what shows, --general characters of, by what epithets designated. --What must be remembered by the learner, in forming his _style_; a good _style_ how acquired. --_Style, solemn, familiar_, &c., as used in gram., what meant by. --(See _Solemn Style_.) _Subaudition_, meaning of the term. _Subdisjunctive_ particle, of the Latins, expressed in Eng. by _or_ of alternat. _Subject_ of a finite verb, what, and how may be known, --must be the NOM. CASE, --what besides a noun or pronoun may be. --_Subject phrases_, joint, what agreements require. --_Subject_ and _predicate_, in analysis. See also _Nominative Case_. _Subjunctive mood_, defined. --_Subj. mood_, why so called; what denotes, --differing views of grammarians in regard to the numb. and form of its tenses. --The true _subj. mood_ rejected by some late grammarians; strictures on WELLS. --WELD'S erroneous teaching respecting the _subj._, noticed, --CHAND. do., do. --Chief characteristical diff. between the indic. and the _subj. mood_. --_Subj. mood_ described, --its two tenses do., and their forms shown, in the verb LOVE, conjugated, --whether ever put after a rel. pronoun, --proper limits of, --how properly employed. --_False subj_. --_Subj. mood_, not necessarily governed by _if, lest_, &c. _Such_, corresponding to _that_, with infin. foll., --with rel. _as_ following, in stead of _who_ or _which_. _Sui generis_, what thing is thus designated. _Superlative degree_, defined, --BROWN'S definit. of, and of the other degrees, _new_; the faulty charac. of those of MURR., shown, --the true nature of; how may be used; to what is applicable; the explanations of, by the copyists of MURR., criticised, --whether not applicable to _two_ objects, --_when employed_, what construc. of the latter term should follow. --_Double superlatives_, to be avoided. --_Superl. termination_, contractions of. _Supplied_, in parsing, what must be. See also _Ellipsis_. _Suppression_, mark of, see _Ellipsis_. _Syllabic_ writing, far inferior to the alphabetic, BLAIR. _Syllabication_, Rules of, --the doctrine of, why attended with difficulty, --object of; WALK. on; strictures on MULK. rules of, --which of the four purposes of, is preferable in spelling-books and dictionaries, --DR. LOWTH on, --nature of BROWN'S six Rules of; advantage of a system of, founded on the pronunciat., --LATH. and FOWL. fictitious dilemmas in. --_Syllabication_, erroneous, samples of, from MURR., WEBST., _et al_. SYLLABLES, treated. --_Syllable_ defined. --_Syllable_, cannot be formed without a vowel, --cannot be broken. --_Syllables_, numb. of, in a word, --words denominated from their numb. of, --the ear chiefly directs in the division of words into. --(See _Syllabication_.) --_Syllable_, its quantity in poetry, --do., on what depends. _Syllepsis_, explained, --literal signif. of the term; extended applicat. of do. by the grammarians and rhetoricians; BROWN, by his definition, gives it a more restricted applicat.; disapproves of WEBST. explanat. of the term, --what definition or what applicat. of the term is the most approp., has become doubtful. _Synaeresis_, explained. _Synchysis_, what was so termed by some of the ancients; is different from _hyperbaton_; its import in gram.; its literal signif. _Syncope_, explained. _Synecdoche_, (comprehension,) explained. --_Synecd._, agreem. of pron. with anteced., in cases of. _Synonymous_, words so accounted, PREC. concerning the use of. _Syntactical parsing_, see _Parsing_. SYNTAX. --_Synt._, of what treats, --the _relation_ of words, the most important principle of; defects of the grammars in treating of do., --false exhibitions of grammarians with respect to the scope and parts of, --character of the rules of, found in most grammars, --divided by some grammarians into _concord_ and _governm._, and yet treated by them without regard to such division, --common fault of grammarians, noticed, of joining together diff. parts of speech in the same rule of, --do., of making the rules of, double or triple in their form, --whether the principles of etymol. affect those of. --All _synt._, on what founded. --Why BROWN deemed it needful to add to his code of _synt_. a GENERAL RULE and CRITICAL NOTES. Figures of _syntax_. T. T, name and plur. numb. of, --substitution of, for _ed_, how far allowable, --sounds of, --is seldom silent; in what words not sounded. _Th_, ([Greek: Th], [Greek: alt-th], or [Greek: alt2-th], Gr.,) what represents; how was represented in Anglo-Sax., and to what sounds applied; the two sounds of. _To a Tee_, the colloq. phrase, explained. _Tautology_ of expression or of sentiment, a fault opposed to precision. _Teacher_, what should be his aim with respect to gram. _Technical_ terms, unnec. use of, as opposed to propriety. _Technically_, words and signs taken, how to be construed. _Tenses_, term defined. --_Tenses_, the difierent, named and defined, --whether the names of, are approp., or whether they should be changed, --whether all express time with equal precision, --who reckon only _three_, and who _two_; who still differently and variously name their tenses, --_Tenses_, past and present, occurring together. See _Present Tense_, _Imperf. Tense_, &c. _Terminating_ a sentence with a prep. or other small particle _Terminations_, of words, separated in syllabicat. --of verbs, numb. of different, in each tense --of the Eng. verb; DR. A. MURR. account of --tendency of the lang. to lay aside the least agreeable --usage of famil. discourse in respect to those of second pers. sing. --verbal or particip., how are found written in old books --the only reg. ones added to Eng. verbs; utterance of _ed_ and _edst_ --_ed_, participial, and _n_, verbal, WALK. on the contrac. of --_Termination t_, for _ed_, forced and irreg. _Terms_ of relation, see _Relation_. _Tetrameter_ line, _iambic_, examples of --a favorite with many Eng. writers; BUTL. Hudib., GAY'S Fab., and most of SCOTT'S poems, writt. in couplets of this meas. --admits the doub. rhyme adapted to familiar and burlesque style --_trochaic_, examples of --character of do. --EVERETT'S fanciful notions about do. --_anapestic_, examples of --L. HUNT'S "Feast of the Poets," an extended examp. of do. --_dactylic_, examples of _Than, as_, with ellips. in latter term of comparison --character and import of --declinable words connected by, put in same case --_Than_ WHOM, as Gr. genitive governed by comparat., MILT. --what grammarians have _inferred_ from the phrase --MURR. expedient to dispose of do. --CHURCH. makes the rel. in do. "the obj. case absol.," --BROWN determines with respect to the construc. --_Than_, as demanded after _else, other_, &c., and Eng. comparatives --derivation of, from Goth. or Anglo-Sax. _That_, its class determined --its various uses --as REL. PRONOUN, to what applied --as used in anomalous construc., --its peculiarity of construc. as a relative --its especial use as the restrictive relative --the frequent employment of, by Addison, wrongly criticised by BLAIR --as a relative, in what cases more appropriate than _who_ or _which_ --_That_, ellipt., repeating the import of the preceding words, ("_And_ THAT," --[Greek: kai tauta],) --_That_, in the phrases _in that_, &c., how to be reckoned --_That_, as introducing a dependent clause, how to be ranked --as introducing a sent. made the subj. or obj. of a finite verb --its power at the head of a sent. or clause --its derivation _The_, before the species, what may denote --how commonly limits the sense --applied to nouns of either numb. --before what _adjectives_, required --distinctive use of ("_The Psalmist_") --as relating to comparatives and superlatives --used for poss. pron. --repetition of, how avoided --derivation of, from Sax. --pronunc. of _e_ in. See also _Definite Article_. _Them_, in vulg. use as an adj., for _those_ _Thence_, &c., with _from_ prefixed, whether allowable _There_, introductory and idiomatic, notions of grammarians concerning; its posit. and use; is a regular _adv. of place_, and not "without signification," --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. --poet. omission of _They_, put indefinitely for _men_ or _people_ _This_ and _that_, as explained by CHURCH. --placed before conjoint singulars, ("THIS POWER AND WILL _do_," &c.,) --in contrasted terms _Three stars_, or asterism, use of _Time_, the order and fitness of, to be observed in constructions expressing it --nouns of, with adv. WHEN, as a special relative, following _Time, measure_, or _weight_, part made possessive of the whole, ("_An_ HOUR'S _time_") --noun of, not poss., immediately before an other, ("_A_ POUND WEIGHT,") _Time, place_, &c., the obj. case in expressions of, taken after the fashion of an adv. _Time, measure, distance_, or _value_, nouns of, their peculiarity of construc.; the parsing of _Time_, obj. noun of, qualifying a subsequent adj., ("A _child_ OF _ten years_ OLD,") _Four times, five times_, &c., how to be reckoned. TIMES, before an other noun, _by way of_ MULTIPLICATION, the nature and construc. of, discussed; decision. _Times_, in what construc. may be called the objective of _repetition_, or of _time repeated_. _Time_ in pronunciation, or _quantity_ _Titles_, of books, are printed in capitals --of office, &c., begin with do. --merely mentioned as such, are without art. --_Name and_ TITLE, (see _Proper Names_.) _Side-titles_, use of _dash_ in application to _Tmesis_, explained _To_, as governing infin. mood --do., variously explained by grammarians --is a sign of inf., but not a part of it --what BROWN claims for his RULE respecting the _infin. as gov. by the prep._ TO, &c.; he shows that the doctrine originated not with himself --TO _and the verb_, what FISHER (anno 1800) taught respecting; what, LOWTH, and what, absurdly, MURR., his copyist --_To_, as governing infin., traced from the Sax. to the Eng. of WICKL., --_To_, before infin., evasive teachings of the later grammarians concerning its class and construc. --do., how considered by most Eng. grammarians --do., how proved to be a prep. --do., preceded by _for_, anc. --after _what verbs_, omitted, --whether to be _repeated_ before infinitives in the same construe. --sometimes required, and sometimes excluded, after _than_ or _as_ --whether it may be _separated_ from its verb by an adv.; is placed more elegantly AFTER _an adv._, ("PROPERLY TO _respect_,") --in what cases has no prop, antec. term of relat. --_To_ suppressed and _be_ inserted after MAKE, whether correctly --_To_, prep, or adv., from Anglo-Sax. --_To_, as prefix to noun, (_to-day, to-night, to-morrow_,). _Tones_ of the voice, what; why deserving of j particular attention --what denominated by SHERID.; what should be their character --BLAIR'S remark on; HIL. do. --_Tones_ of the passions, WALK, observation on. _Topics_, different, to be treated in separate paragraphs, PREC. of _Unity_. _Transposition_, of the terms of relat., when a preposition begins or ends a sentence or clause --_rhetorical_, of words, or _hyperbaton_. _Tribrach_, defined. _Trimeter_ line, _iambic_, the measure seldom used alone; examples of, --and do., with diversifications --_trochaic_, examples of --_anapestic_, examples of --alternated with the tetram., examp., "The Rose," of COWP.; the same scanned --_dactylic_, examples of. _Triphthong_, defined --_proper_, do., the only, in Eng. --_improp._, do.; and the improp. _triphthongs_ named. _Trochaic verse_, treated --_Troch. verse_, the stress in --nature of the single-rhymed; error of MURR. _et al_. concerning the last syll. in --how may be changed to coincide with other measures; how is affected by retrenchment --confounded with _iambic_ by several gramm. and prosodists --Strictures on CHURCH., who doubts the existence of the _troch_. ord. of verse --_Troch. verse_ shown in its eight measures --_Trochaics_, Eng., the TETRAMETER the most common meas. of --DR. CAMPB. on --"_Trochaic_ of One foot," account of. _Trochee_, or _choree_, defined. _Tropes_, what figures of rhetoric are so called; signif. of the term. _Trow_, its signif., and where occurs; in what person and tenses read. _Truisms_ and senseless remarks, how to be dealt with in gram. _Tutoyant_, to what extent prevalent among the French. See _Youyouing_, &c. _Type_ or character, two forms of the letters in every kind of. U. U, lett., which (as A, E, I, or O) names itself --its plur. numb. --sounds properly its own --as self-naming, to what equivalent; requires art. _a_, and not _an_, before it --pronounced with borrowed sound --long or diphthongal sound, as _yu_; sound of slender _o_ or _oo_, after _r_ or _rh_. _Unamendable_ imperfections sometimes found in ancient writings, remarks in relation to. _Unauthorized_ words, use of, as opposed to purity, PREC. concerning. _Unbecoming_, adj., from participle compounded, error of using transitively words of this form; such error how corrected. _Uncertain_, the part of speech left, see _Equivocal_, &c. _Unco-passive_ voice, or form, of the verb, ("_Is being built_,") the use of. conflicts with the older and better usage of the lang. --the subject of, discussed by BROWN --the true principle with respect to, stated. _Underlining_ words, in preparing manuscripts, to denote Italics &c. _Understood_, words said, in technical phrase, to be, what such, (Lat., _subaudita_) _Ungrammatical_ language by which grammar itself is professedly taught, sample from MURR.; from PINNEO; _et al. e diversis_, Gram. of E. Gram., _passim_. _Unity_, as a quality of style, in what consists --required by every sentence --Precepts aiming at offences against. _Unity_, THE IDEA OF, how generally _determined_, in respect to a collect. noun, whether it conveys such idea or not. _Usage_, as a law of orthography for particular words --_Usage_, as it has been, and as it is, the advantage of an exhibition of, by the grammarian. _Useless_ words, employment of, as opposed to precision. UTTERANCE, treated --_Utterance_, what, and what includes. V. V, name and plur. of: --written for a number: --sound of, Value, &c., nouns of, see Time. Verbal or participial noun, (see Participial, &c.) --Verbal forms used substantively, by poet pecul. VERBS, Etymol. of; --Verb, defined: --why so called: --a perf. definition of, why difficult to form; --CHIEF TERMS, or PRINCIP. PARTS, of an Eng. verb, named and defined. --Verbs. Classes of, with respect to their FORM, named and defined: --do., with respect to their signif., do. --(See Active-Transitive Verb, &c.) _Verbs_, whole numb, of, in Eng.; the regular, far the most numerous; account of the others --how divided with respect to signif. in most grammars and dictionaries; BROWN'S division --divided by certain grammarians into act., pass., and neut. --MURR, on the distribution of --NIX. on do. --_Verbs_, in Lat., grammarians of old differed respecting the distribut. of --different methods of distribut. of, by several other authors, noticed --_Verbs_, most act., may be used either as trans. or as intrans. --some may be used either in an act. or a neut. sense --act. form of, used in a pass. sense; so also PART. in _ing_, ("_The books continue_ SELLING") --_Verbs_, Modifications of, named --Moods of, named and defined; (see _Infinitive Mood, Indic. Mood_, &c.) --Tenses of, named and defined; (see _Present Tense, Imperf. Tense_, &c.) --Persons and numbers of, what --Conjugations of --how principally conjugated --(See _Conjugation_) --_Verbs_, Irreg., List of --simp. irreg., numb. of; whence derived --Redundant, List of --Defective, do. --_Verbs irreg_. and _redund._, of what character all former lists of, have been --_Verbs_, of asking and teaching, construc. of --whether any, in Eng., can govern two cases --suppressed in exclamat. &c. --_Verbs_, Synt. of --_Verbs_ requiring a regimen, should not be used without an object --_Verb_, AGREEM. _of, with its subject_ --do., inferred --do., by sylleps., in plur., title of a book --do., in imperat. mood --_Verb_ of the third pers. sing. with a plur. noun of the neut. gend., the use of, a strange custom of the Greeks; such use not existent in Eng. --_Verb_, AGREEM. of, with infin. phrase or sentence as subject --do., with infin. subject limited, ("FOR MEN TO SEARCH _their own glory_, IS," &c.) --do., with a nom. in interrog. sentences --do., with a rel., according to the true anteced. of the pron.; (examp. of error from DR. BLAIR) --do., with a nom. limited by adjuncts --do., with composite or converted subjects --do., with _each, every, one_, &c., as leading words --do., by change of nominative --_Verb_, the _form of_, to be adapted to the style --when requires a separate nom. expressed --_Verb_, AGREEM. of, with a nom. noun collective --do., with joint nominatives --do., with two connected nominatives in appos. --do., with two conn. nominatives emphatically distinguished --do., with two conn. nominatives preceded by _each, every_, or _no_ --do., with nearest of connected nominatives, and understood to the rest; whether the usage is proper in Eng. --do., with connected nominatives of different persons --do., with connected subjects, one taken affirmat. and the other negat. --do., with two subjects connected by _as well as, but_, or _save_ --do., with connected subjects preceded by _each, every_, or _no_ --do., in ellipt. construc. of joint nominatives --do., with distinct subject phrases connected by _and_ --do., with disjunct. nominatives --do., with disagreeing nominatives connected disjunctively --do., when connected nominatives require different forms of the verb --do., with distinct phrases disjunct, connected --_Verbs_, connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, how must agree --discordant, how managed with respect to agreem. --_Verb_, mixture of the diff. styles of, ineleg. --diff. moods of, not to be used under the same circumstances --when two connected terms require diff. forms of, what insertion is necessary --_Verbs_ of _commanding, desiring, expecting_, &c., to what actions or events refer --of _desisting, omitting_, &c., with a part. following, rather than an infin. --of _preventing_, what should be made to govern --_Verb_, finite, punc. of --ellips. of, shown --derivation of, from nouns, adjectives, and verbs --poet. peculiarities in the use of _Verbosity_, as affecting strength _Verse_, in oppos. to prose, what --_Blank verse_, as distinguished from rhyme --_Verse_, general sense of the term; its derivation and literal signif.; the visible form of _verse_ --_Verse_, as defined by JOH., WALK., _et al_.; do. by WEBST. --_Verse_, Eng., the difficulty of treating the subject of, and from what this arises --A _verse_, or line of poetry, of what consists --_Verse_, or poetic measure, the kinds, or orders of, named; (see _Iambic Verse, Trochaic Verse_, &c.) --_Verse_, the proper reading of VERSIFICATION, treated --_Versification_, defined --_Versification_, POE'S (E. A.) notions concerning; his censure of BROWN'S former definition of; his rejection of the idea of versif. from the principle of rhythm; his unfortunate derivat. of _rhythm_ from [Greek: hurithmos,] and vain attempts to explain the term: the farrago summarily disposed of by BROWN --EVERETT'S "System of Eng. Versification," account of, and strictures on _Vision_, or _imagery_, explained _Vocative case_ of Lat. and Gr. gram., not known in Eng. _Voice_, ACTIVE, and PASSIVE, whether necessary terms in Eng. gram. _Vowel_, defined --_Vowels_ named --_W_ and _Y_, when vowels; comp. --_Vowel sounds_, or vocal elements, the different, how produced --what are those in Eng. --how each may be variously expressed by letters; notation of --_Vowels_, two coming together, where may be parted in syllabication. W. W, its name and plur. numb. --simpler term than _Double-u_ perhaps desirable; DR. WEBST. on the lett. --W, when a vowel --with vowel foll., sound of --before _h_, how pronounced --in Eng. never used alone as a vowel --no diphthongs or triphth. in Eng., beginning with. _Wages_, noun, plur. by formation; its construe, with a verb. _Walker, J._, estimate of his Critical Pronouncing Dictionary --in his lexicography how far followed DR. JOH. _Was_, contrary to usage preferred by some to _were_, in the imperf. sing, of the subj. _We_, plur., as representing the speaker and others; how sometimes used in stead of the sing.; sometimes preferred by monarchs to _I_. _Webster, Dr. N._, describes language as comprehending the voice of brutes --never named the Eng. letters rightly --his orthography as a _standard_; do. compared with that of DR. JOH. --the result to himself of his various attempts to reform our orthog.; the value of his _definitions_. _Weight, measure_, &c., see _Time_. _Wert_, as used in lieu of _wast_ --its mood not easy to determine; authorities for a various use of. _What_, its class and nature --to what usually applied; its twofold relat. explained --its numb.; example of solec. in the use of --as a mere adj., or as a pron. indef. --its use both as an adj. and as a relative at the same time; do. for _who_ or _which_, ludic. and vulg. --declined --how to be disposed of in etymolog. parsing; how to be parsed syntactically --how becomes an interj. --used appar. for an adv.; uttered exclamatorily before an adj., to be taken as an adj., ("WHAT PARTIAL _judges are our_," &c.,) --followed by _that_, by way of pleonasm, ("WHAT _I tell you in darkness_, THAT," &c.,) --with _but_ preceding, ("_To find a friend_, BUT WHAT" &c.,) --vulg. use of, for _that_ --derivation of, from Sax., shown. _Whatever_ or _whatsoever_, its peculiarities of construe., the same as those of _what_; its use in simp, relation --its construc. as a double relative; whether it may be supposed ellipt. --its declension. _When, where_, or _while_, in what instance not fit to follow the verb _is_ --_When, where, whither_, as partaking of the nature of a pron.; construc, of do., with antecedent nouns of time, &c., how far allowable --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _Whether_, as an interrog. pron.; as a disjunc. conjunc. --conjunc. corresponsive to _or_ --as do., its derivation from Sax. _Which_, relative --its former use; to what objects now confined --its use after a personal term taken by meton. for a thing; do., as still applicable to persons --is of all the genders, (in oppos. to MURR., WEBST., _et. al._,) --is less approp. than _who_, in all personifications --its construc. when taken in its discrim. sense, --how differs from the rel. _that_ --BLAIR'S incorrect remarks respecting --_Which_, as rel. or interrog., declined --_Which_, sometimes takes _whose_ for its poss., --represents a prop. name taken merely as a name, ("_Herod_ --WHICH _is but_," &c.,) --do. nouns of mult, expressing persons, when such are strictly of the neut. gend., ("The COMMITTEES WHICH" &c.,) --in what cases is less approp. than _that_ --does not fitly represent an indicative assertion, ('"Be ATTENTIVE, _without_ WHICH," &c.,) --its Sax. derivation shown --_The which_, obsol., --_Which_, interrog., what demands, --to what objects applied --now used for the obsol. _whether_. _Whichever, whichsoever_, signif. and construc. of --declension of. _Who_, relative --to what usually applied --has superseded _which_, formerly applied to persons, ("_Our Father_ WHO _art_" &c.,) --to be preferred to _which_, in all personifications --how differs from the rel. _that_ --_Who_, as rel. or interrog., declined, --_Whose_, use of, for the defec. poss., _of which_ --_Than whom_, (see _Than._) --_Who_, interrog., what demands --may be the anteced. of the rel. _that_ --_Who_, derivation of, from Sax. _Whoever_, and _whoso_ or _whosoever_, signif. and construc. of --declens. of --_Whoso_ and _whatso_, antiq., import and use of, _Whole_, improp. use of, for _all_. ("_Almost the_ WHOLE _inhabitants_," HUME.,). _Why_, after nouns of cause, (see _When_, &c.) --_Why, wherefore, therefore_, their class. _Will_, verb, how varied --use of, as a principal verb. _Wis_, verb, pret. _wist_, signif. and use of --_Had I wist_, _With_, for _and_, (see _Cum_:) --added to adv. of direc., with emphat. imperat. ("_Up_ WITH _it_"). _Withal_ its class and construc. _Without_, obsol. use of, for _unless_ or _except_. _Withouten_, paragog. and poet. form. _Withinside of_ _Won't_, whence formed; its pronunc. _Worcester, Dr. J. E._, his Universal and Critical Dictionary WORDS, treated. --_Word_, defined. --_Words_ distinguished, and the divisions of, defined. --(See _Compound Word_.) --_Words_, Rules for the figure of; --simp., _when_ compounding is to be avoided --when to be joined, or to be written separately --_Words_, the nature of, explained --the consid. of, as comm., and as prop., --brevity sought in the comm. use of --the identity of, in what consists --unsettled and variable usage with respect to the figure of --_Words_ that may constitute diff. parts of speech, their construc. not to be left doubtf. --the reference of, to other words, do. --senselessly jumbled, charac. of --entirely needless, how to be disposed of --unintelligently misapplied, what indicates, --_Words_, PUNCT. _of_: in pairs; alternated; put absol.; in appos.; repeated --_Words_, derivation of, treated --most of those regarded as primitives in Eng., may be traced to ulterior sources --the study of, its importance --how the knowledge of, may be promoted with respect to Eng. --_Words_, the use of, as affecting Purity --do., as affect. Propriety --do., as affect. Precision --do., as affect. Perspicuity --do., as affect. Strength _Worshiper_, whether properly written with a single or a double _p_ _Worth_, its class and construc. _Worthy_, admits not ellips. of prep, _of_ before obj. following _Writing, to write_, what meant by X. X, its name and plur. num. --format. of the plur. of nouns in --why never doubled --written for a number --its sounds Y. Y, its name and plur. numb.; --borrowed first by the Romans from the Greeks, by whom called Ypsilon --in Eng. is either a vowel or a conson. --classed with the semivowels --final, changed or unchanged before terminations --do., when, by former practice, retained in verbs ending in _y_, before conson. terminations --sounds of --in poet. format. of adjectives _Ye_, nom. plur., solemn style --its use as the obj. case --as a mere explet. in burlesque --its use in the lang. of tragedy --used for _thee_ --in the Eng. Bible not found in the obj. case --_Ye_ and _you_, promisc. use of, in the same case and the same style, ineleg. _Yes, yea_, in a simp. affirmation, construc. and class of --derivation of, from Anglo-Sax. _You_, use of, for thou --_You_, with _was_, ("YOU WAS BUILDING,") approved by DR. WEBST. _et al._, as the better form for the sing. numb. --_You_, and VERB PLUR., in reference to _one person_, how to be treated in parsing. _Your_, facet. in conversation, and how uttered ("_Dwells, like_ YOUR _miser_, sir," &c., SHAK.,) _Yourself_, its pecul. of construc. _Your Majesty, your Highness_, &c., see _Address_. _Youyouing_ and _theethouing_, history of Z. Z, its name and plur. --has been called by several names; WALK., on the name --peculiarity of its ordinary _form_ --its sounds described _Zeugma_, (i.e., JUGATIO, _vel_ CONNEXIO, _Sanct._,) the various forms of, were named and noticed, but not censured, by the ancient grammarians --constructions of _adjectives_, referred to the figure, ("ONE _or a_ FEW _judges_,"); do. of verbs, ("_But_ HE NOR I FEEL _more_," YOUNG,) THE END OF THE INDEX, AND OF THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS. FOOTNOTES: [1] Ben Jonson's notion of grammar, and of its parts, was as follows: "Grammar is the art of true and well-speaking a language: the writing is but an accident. The Parts of Grammar are Etymology \ which is / the true notation of words, Syntaxe / \ the right ordering of them. A word is a part of speech or note, whereby a thing is known or called; and consisteth of one or more letters. A letter is an indivisible part of a syllable, whose prosody, or right sounding, is perceived by the power; the orthography, or right writing, by the form. Prosody, and Orthography, are not parts of grammar, but diffused, like blood and spirits, through the whole."--_Jonson's Grammar_, Book I. [2] Horne Tooke eagerly seized upon a part of this absurdity, to prove that Dr. Lowth, from whom Murray derived the idea, was utterly unprepared for what he undertook in the character of a grammarian: "Dr. Lowth, when he undertook to write his _Introduction_, with the best intention in the world, most assuredly sinned against his better judgment. For he begins most judiciously, thus--'Universal grammar explains the principles which are common to _all_ languages. The grammar of any particular language, _applies_ those common principles to that particular language.' And yet, with _this clear truth_ before his eyes, he boldly proceeds to give a _particular_ grammar; without being himself possessed of one single principle of universal grammar."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. 1, p. 224. If Dr. Lowth discredited his better judgement in attempting to write an English grammar, perhaps Murray, and his weaker copyists, have little honoured theirs, in supposing they were adequate to such a work. But I do not admit, that either Lowth or Murray "_begins most judiciously_," in speaking of Universal and Particular grammar in the manner above cited. The authors who have started with this fundamental blunder, are strangely numerous. It is found in some of the most dissimilar systems that can be named. Even Oliver B. Peirce, who has a much lower opinion of Murray's ability in grammar than Tooke had of Lowth's, adopts this false notion with all implicitness, though he decks it in language more objectionable, and scorns to acknowledge whence he got it. See his _Gram._, p. 16. De Suey, in his Principles of General Grammar, says, "All rules of Syntax relate to two things, _Agreement and Government_."--_Foxdick's Tr._, p. 108. And again: "None of these rules properly belong to General Grammar, as each language follows, in regard to the rules of Agreement and Government, a course peculiar to itself."--_Ibid._, p. 109." "It is with Construction [i.e., Arrangement] as with Syntax. It follows no general rule common to all languages."--_Ibid._ According to these positions, which I do not admit to be strictly true, General or Universal Grammar has no principles of _Syntax_ at all, whatever else it may have which Particular Grammar can assume and apply. [3] This verb "_do_" is wrong, because "_to be contemned_" is passive. [4] "A very good judge has left us his opinion and determination in this matter; that he 'would take for his rule in speaking, not what might happen to be the faulty caprice of the multitude, but the consent and agreement of learned men.'"--_Creighton's Dict._, p. 21. The "good judge" here spoken of, is Quintilian; whose words on the point are these: "Necessarium est judicium, constituendumque imprimis, id ipsum quid sit, quod _consuetudinem_ vocemus. * * * In loquendo, non, si quid vitiose multis insederit, pro regula sermonis, amplendum est. * * * Ergo consuetudinem sermonis, vocabo _consensum eruditorum_ sicut vivendi, consenum honorum."--_De Inst. Orat._, Lib. i. Cap. 6, p. 57. [5] "The opinion of plenty is amongst the causes of want; and the great quantity of books maketh a show rather of superfluity than lack; which surcharge, nevertheless, is not to be removed by making no more books, but by making more good books, which, as the serpent of Moses, might devour the serpents of the enchanters."--_Bacon_. In point of style, his lordship is here deficient; and he has also mixed and marred the figure which he uses. But the idea is a good one. [6] Not, "_Oldham_, in Hampshire," as the Universal Biographical Dictionary has it; for _Oldham_ is in _Lancashire_, and the name of Lily's birthplace has sometimes been spelled "_Odiam_." [7] There are other Latin grammars now in use in England; but what one is most popular, or whether any regard is still paid to the ancient edict or not, I cannot say. Dr. Adam, in his preface, dated 1793, speaking of Lily, says: "His Grammar was appointed, by an act _which is still in force_, to be taught in the established schools of England." I have somehow gained the impression, that the act is now totally disregarded.--_G. Brown_. [8] For this there is an obvious reason, or apology, in what his biographer states, as "the humble origin of his Grammar;" and it is such a reason as will go to confirm what I allege. This famous compilation was produced at the request of _two or three young teachers_, who had charge of a _small female school_ in the neighbourhood of the author's residence: and nothing could have been more unexpected to their friend and instructor, than that he, in consequence of this service, should become known the world over, as _Murray the Grammarian_. "In preparing the work, and consenting to the publicaton, he had no expectation that it would be read, except by the school for which it was designed, and two or three other schools conducted by persons who were also his friends."--_Life of L Murray_, p. 250. [9] Grammatici namque auctoritas per se nulla est; quom ex sola doctissimorum oraturum, historicorum, poetarum, et aliorum ideonorum scriptorum observatione, constet ortam esse veram grammaticam. _Multa dicenda forent, si grammatistarum ineptias refellere vellem_: sed nulla est gloria praeterire asellos."--DESPAUTERII _Praef. Art. Versif._, fol. iii, 1517. [10] The Latin word for _participle_ is _participium_, which makes _participio_ in the dative or the ablative case; but the Latin word for _partake_ is _participo_, and not "_participio_."--G. BROWN. [11] This sentence is manifestly bad English: either the singular verb "_appears_" should be made plural, or the plural noun "_investigations_" should be made singular.--G. BROWN. [12] "What! a book have _no merit_, and yet be called for at the rate of _sixty thousand copies a year_! What a slander is this upon the public taste! What an insult to the understanding and discrimination of the good people of these United States! According to this reasoning, all the inhabitants of our land must be fools, except one man, and that man is GOOLD BROWN!"--KIRKHAM, _in the Knickerbocker_, Oct. 1837, p. 361. Well may the honest critic expect to be called a slanderer of "the public taste," and an insulter of the nation's "understanding," if both the merit of this vaunted book and the wisdom of its purchasers are to be measured and proved by the author's profits, or the publisher's account of sales! But, possibly, between the intrinsic merit and the market value of some books there may be a difference. Lord Byron, it is said, received from Murray his bookseller, nearly ten dollars a line for the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, or about as much for every two lines as Milton obtained for the whole of Paradise Lost. Is this the true ratio of the merit of these authors, or of the wisdom of the different ages in which they lived? [13] Kirkham's real opinion of Murray cannot be known from this passage only. How able is that writer who is chargeable with the _greatest want_ of taste and discernment? "In regard to the application of the final pause in reading blank verse, _nothing can betray a greater want of rhetorical taste and philosophical acumen_, than the directions of Mr. Murray."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 145. Kirkham is indeed no judge either of the merits, or of the demerits, of Murray's writings; nor is it probable that this criticism originated with himself. But, since it appears in his name, let him have the credit of it, and of representing the compiler whom he calls "_that able writer_" and "_that eminent philologist_," as an untasteful dunce, and a teacher of _nonsense_: "To say that, unless we 'make every _line_ sensible to the ear,' we mar the melody, and suppress the numbers of the poet, is _all nonsense_."--_Ibid._ See Murray's Grammar, on "Poetical Pauses;" 8vo, p. 260; 12mo, 210. [14] "Now, in these instances, I should be fair game, were it not for the _trifling_ difference, that I happen to present the doctrines and notions of _other writers_, and NOT my own, as stated by my learned censor."--KIRKHAM, _in the Knickerbocker_, Oct. 1837, p. 360. If the instructions above cited are not his own, there is not, within the lids of either book, a penny's worth that is. His fruitful copy-rights are void in law: the "learned censor's" pledge shall guaranty this issue.--G. B. 1838. [15] I am sorry to observe that the gentleman, Phrenologist, as he professes to be, has so little _reverence_ in his crown. He could not read the foregoing suggestion without scoffing at it. Biblical truth is not powerless, though the scornful may refuse its correction.--G. B. 1838. [16] Every schoolboy is familiar with the following lines, and rightly understands the words "_evil_" and "_good_" to be _nouns_, and not _adjectives_. "The _evil_ that men do, lives after them; The _good_ is oft interred with their bones."--SHAKSPEARE. _Julius Caesar, Act 3: Antony's Funeral Oration over Caesar's Body._ Kirkham has vehemently censured me for _omitting the brackets_ in which he encloses the words that be supposes to be _understood_ in this couplet. But he forgets two important circumstances: _First_, that I was quoting, not the bard, but the grammatist; _Second_, that a writer uses brackets, to distinguish _his own_ amendments of what he quotes, and not those of an other man. Hence the marks which he has used, would have been _improper_ for me. Their insertion does not make his reading of the passage _good English_, and, consequently, does not avert the point of my criticism. The foregoing Review of Kirkham's Grammar, was published as an extract from my manuscript, by the editors of the Knickerbocker, in their number for June, 1837. Four months afterwards, with friendships changed, they gave, him the "justice" of appearing in their pages, in a long and virulent article against me and my works, representing me, "with emphatic force," as "_a knave, a liar, and a pedant_." The _enmity_ of that effusion I forgave; because I bore him no personal ill-will, and was not selfish enough to quarrel for my own sake. Its _imbecility_ clearly proved, that in this critique there is nothing _with which he could justly find fault_. Perceiving that no point of this argument could be broken, he _changed the ground_, and satisfied himself with despising, upbraiding, and vilifying the writer. Of what _use_ this was, others may judge. This extraordinary grammarian survived the publication of my criticism about ten years, and, it is charitably hoped, died happily; while I have had, for a period somewhat longer, all the benefits which his earnest "_castigation_" was fit to confer. It is not perceived, that what was written before these events, should now be altered or suppressed by reason of them. With his pretended "defence," I shall now concern myself no further than simply to deny one remarkable assertion contained in it; which is this--that I, Goold Brown, "at the funeral of Aaron Ely," in 1830, "praised, and _highly_ praised, this self-same Grammar, and declared it to be 'A GOOD WORK!'"--KIRKHAM, _in the Knickerbocker_, Oct., 1837, p. 362. I treated him always courteously, and, on this solemn occasion, walked with him without disputing on grammar; but, if this statement of his has any reasonable foundation, I know not what it is.--G. B. in 1850. [17] See _Notes to Pope's Dunciad_, Book II, verse 140. [18] A modern namesake of the Doctor's, the _Rev. David Blair_, has the following conception of the _utility_ of these speculations: "To enable children to comprehend the _abstract idea_ that all the words in a language consist but of _nine kinds_, it will be found useful to explain how _savage tribes_ WHO _having no language_, would first invent one, beginning with interjections and nouns, and proceeding from one part of speech to another, as their introduction might successively be called for by necessity or luxury."--_Blair's Pract. Gram., Pref._, p. vii. [19] "Interjections, I _shewed_, or passionate exclamations, were the _first elements_ of speech. Men laboured to communicate their feelings to one another, by those expressive cries and gestures which nature taught them."--_Dr. Hugh Blair's Lectures_, p. 57. [20] "It is certain that the verb was invented before the noun, in all the languages of which a tolerable account has been procured, either in ancient or modern times."--_Dr. Alex. Murray's History of European Languages_, Vol. I, p. 326. [21] The Greek of this passage, together with a translation not very different from the foregoing, is given as a marginal note, in _Harris's Hermes_, Book III, Chap. 3d. [22] The Bible does not say positively that there was no diversity of languages _before the flood_; but, since the life-time of Adam extended fifty-six years into that of Lamech, the father of Noah, and two hundred and forty-three into that of Methuselah, the father of Lamech, with both of whom Noah was contemporary nearly six hundred years, it is scarcely possible that there should have occurred any such diversity, either in Noah's day or before, except from some extraordinary cause. Lord Bacon regarded the multiplication of languages at Babel as a general evil, which had had no parallel but in the curse pronounced after Adam's transgression. When "the language of all the earth" was "confounded," Noah was yet alive, and he is computed to have lived 162 years afterwards; but whether in his day, or at how early a period, "grammar" was thought of, as a remedy for this evil, does not appear. Bacon says, "Concerning speech and words, the consideration of them hath produced the science of grammar. For man still striveth to redintegrate himself in those benedictions, of which, by his fault, he hath been deprived; and as he hath striven against the first general curse by the invention of all other arts, so hath he striven to come forth from _the second general curse, which was the confusion of tongues, by the art of grammar_; whereof the use in a mother tongue is small, in a foreign tongue more, but most in such foreign tongues as have ceased to be vulgar tongues, and are turned only to learned tongues."--See _English Journal of Education_, Vol. viii, p. 444. [23] It should be, "_to all living creatures_;" for each creature had, probably, but one name.--G. Brown. [24] Some recent German authors of note suppose language to have sprung up among men _of itself_, like spontaneous combustion in oiled cotton; and seem to think, that people of strong feelings and acute minds must necessarily or naturally utter their conceptions by words--and even by words both spoken and written. Frederick Von Schlegel, admitting "the _spontaneous origin_ of language generally," and referring speech to its "_original source_--a deep feeling, and a clear discriminating intelligence," adds: "The oldest system of writing _developed itself_ at the same time, and in the same manner, as the spoken language; not wearing at first the symbolic form, which it subsequently assumed in compliance with the necessities of a less civilized people, but composed of certain signs, which, in accordance with the simplest elements of language, actually conveyed the sentiments of the race of men then existing."--_Millington's Translation of Schlegel's AEsthetic Works_, p. 455. [25] "Modern Europe owes a principal share of its enlightened and moral state to the restoration of learning: the advantages which have accrued to history, religion, the philosophy of the mind, and the progress of society; the benefits which have resulted from the models of Greek and Roman taste--in short, all that a knowledge of the progress and attainments of man in past ages can bestow on the present, has reached it through the medium of philology."--_Dr. Murray's History of European Languages_, Vol. II, p. 335. [26] "The idea of God is a development from within, and a matter of faith, not an induction from without, and a matter of proof. When Christianity has developed its correlative principles within us, then we find evidences of its truth everywhere; nature is full of them: but we cannot find them before, simply because we have no eye to find them with."--H. N. HUDSON: _Democratic Review, May_, 1845. [27] So far as mind, soul, or spirit, is a subject of natural science, (under whatever name,) it may of course be known naturally. To say to what extent theology may be considered a natural science, or how much knowledge of any kind may have been opened to men otherwise than by words, is not now in point. Dr. Campbell says, "Under the general term [_physiology_] I also comprehend _natural theology_ and _psychology_, which, in my opinion, have been most unnaturally disjoined by philosophers. Spirit, which here comprises only the Supreme Being and the human soul, is surely as much included under the notion of natural object as a body is, and is knowable to the philosopher purely in the same way, by observation and experience."--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 66. It is quite unnecessary for the teacher of languages to lead his pupils into any speculations on this subject. It is equally foreign to the history of grammar and to the philosophy of rhetoric. [28] "Except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh, a barbarian; and he that speaketh, shall be a barbarian unto me."--_1 Cor._, xiv. 9, 10, 11. "It is impossible that our knowledge of words should outstrip our knowledge of things. It may, and often doth, come short of it. Words may be remembered as sounds, but [they] cannot be understood as signs, whilst we remain unacquainted with the things signified."--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 160. "Words can excite only ideas already acquired, and if no previous ideas have been formed, they are mere unmeaning sounds."--_Spurzheim on Education_, p. 200. [29] Sheridan the elecutionist makes this distinction: "All that passes in the mind of man, may be reduced to two classes, which I call ideas and emotions. By ideas, I mean all thoughts which rise, and pass in succession in the mind. By emotions, all exertions of the mind in arranging, combining, and separating its ideas; as well as the effects produced on all the mind itself by those ideas; from the more violent agitation of the passions, to the calmer feelings produced by the operation of the intellect and the fancy. In short, thought is the object of the one; internal feeling, of the other. That which serves to express the former, I call the language of ideas; and the latter, the language of emotions. Words are the signs of the one: tones, of the other. Without the use of these two sorts of language, it is impossible to communicate through the ear, all that passes in the mind of man."--_Sheridan's Art of Reading; Blair's Lectures_, p. 333. [30] "Language is _the great instrument_, by which all the faculties of the mind are brought forward, moulded, polished, and exerted."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. xiv. [31] It should be, "_These are_."--G. B. [32] It should be, "_They fitly represent_."--G. B. [33] This is badly expressed; for, according to his own deduction, _each part_ has but _one sign_. It should be, "We express _the several parts by as many several signs_."--G. Brown. [34] It would be better English to say, "the _instruments_ and _the_ signs."--G. Brown. [35] "Good speakers do not pronounce above three syllables in a second of time; and generally only two and a half, taking in the necessary pauses."--_Steele's Melody of Speech_. [36] The same idea is also conveyed in the following sentence from Dr. Campbell: "Whatever regards the analysis of the operations of the mind, _which is quicker than lightning in all her energies_, must in a great measure be abstruse and dark."--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 289. Yet this philosopher has given it as his opinion, "that we really _think by signs_ as well as speak by them."--_Ib._, p. 284. To reconcile these two positions with each other, we must suppose that thinking by signs, or words, is a process infinitely more rapid than speech. [37] That generalization or abstraction which gives to similar things a common name, is certainly no laborious exercise of intellect; nor does any mind find difficulty in applying such a name to an individual by means of the article. The general sense and the particular are alike easy to the understanding, and I know not whether it is worth while to inquire which is first in order. Dr. Alexander Murray says, "It must be attentively remembered, that all terms run from a general to a particular sense. The work of abstraction, the ascent from individual feelings to classes of these, was finished before terms were invented. Man was silent till he had formed some ideas to communicate; and association of his perceptions soon led him to think and reason in ordinary matters."--_Hist. of European Languages_, Vol. I, p. 94. And, in a note upon this passage, he adds: "This is to be understood of primitive or radical terms. By the assertion that man was silent till he had formed ideas to communicate, is not meant, that any of our species were originally destitute of the natural expressions of feeling or thought. All that it implies, is, that man had been subjected, during an uncertain period of time, to the impressions made on his senses by the material world, before he began to express the natural varieties of these by articulated sounds. * * * * * * Though the abstraction which formed such classes, might be greatly aided or supported by the signs; yet it were absurd to suppose that the sign was invented, till the sense demanded it."--_Ib._, p. 399. [38] Dr. Alexander Murray too, In accounting for the frequent abbreviation of words, seems to suggest the possibility of giving them the celerity of thought: "Contraction is a change which results from a propensity to make the signs _as rapid as the thoughts_ which they express. Harsh combinations soon suffer contraction. Very long words preserve only the principal, that is, the accented part. If a nation accents its words on the last syllable, the preceding ones will often be short, and liable to contraction. If it follow a contrary practice, the terminations are apt to decay."--History of European Languages, Vol. I, p. 172. [39] "We cannot form a distinct idea of any moral or intellectual quality, unless we find some trace of it in ourselves."--_Beattie's Moral Science, Part Second, Natural Theology_, Chap. II, No. 424. [40] "Aristotle tells us that the world is a copy or transcript of those ideas which are in the mind of the first Being, and that those ideas which are in the mind of man, are a transcript of the world. To this we may add, that words are the transcripts of those ideas which are in the mind of man, and that writing or printing _are_ [is] the transcript of words."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 166. [41] Bolingbroke on Retirement and Study, Letters on History, p. 364. [42] See this passage in "The Economy of Human Life," p. 105--a work feigned to be a compend of Chinese maxims, but now generally understood to have been written or compiled by _Robert Dodsley_, an eminent and ingenious bookseller in London. [43] "Those philosophers whose ideas of _being_ and _knowledge_ are derived from body and sensation, have a short method to explain the nature of _Truth_.--It is a _factitious_ thing, made by every man for himself; which comes and goes, just as it is remembered and forgot; which in the order of things makes its appearance _the last_ of all, being not only subsequent to sensible objects, but even to our sensations of them! According to this hypothesis, there are many truths, which have been, and are no longer; others, that will be, and have not been yet; and multitudes, that possibly may never exist at all. But there are other reasoners, who must surely have had very different notions; those, I mean, who represent Truth not as _the last_, but as _the first_ of beings; who call it _immutable, eternal, omnipresent_; attributes that all indicate something more than human."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 403. [44] Of the best method of teaching grammar, I shall discourse in an other chapter. That methods radically different must lend to different results, is no more than every intelligent person will suppose. The formation of just methods of instruction, or true systems of science, is work for those minds which are capable of the most accurate and comprehensive views of the things to be taught. He that is capable of "originating and producing" truth, or true "ideas," if any but the Divine Being is so, has surely no need to be trained into such truth by any factitious scheme of education. In all that he thus originates, he is himself a _Novum Organon_ of knowledge, and capable of teaching others, especially those officious men who would help him with their second-hand authorship, and their paltry catechisms of common-places. I allude here to the fundamental principle of what in some books is called "_The Productive System of Instruction_," and to those schemes of grammar which are professedly founded on it. We are told that, "The _leading principle_ of this system, is that which its name indicates--that the child should be regarded not as a mere recipient of the ideas of others, but as an agent _capable of collecting, and originating, and producing_ most of the ideas which are necessary for its education, when presented with the objects or the facts from which they may be derived."--_Smith's New Gram., Pref., p. 5: Amer. Journal of Education, New Series_, Vol. I, No. 6, Art. 1. It ought to be enough for any teacher, or for any writer, if he finds his readers or his pupils ready _recipients_ of the ideas which he aims to convey. What more they know, they can never owe to him, unless they learn it from him against his will; and what they happen to lack, of understanding or believing him, may very possibly be more his fault than theirs. [45] Lindley Murray, anonymously copying somebody, I know not whom, says: "Words derive their meaning from the consent and practice of those who use them. _There is no necessary connexion between words and ideas_. The association between the sign and the thing signified, is purely arbitrary."--_Octavo Gram._, Vol. i, p. 139. The second assertion here made, is very far from being literally true. However arbitrary may be the use or application of words, their connexion with ideas is so necessary, that they cannot be words without it. Signification, as I shall hereafter prove, is a part of the very essence of a word, the most important element of its nature. And Murray himself says, "The understanding and language have a strict connexion."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 356. In this, he changes without amendment the words of Blair: "Logic and rhetoric have here, as in many other cases, a strict connexion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 120. [46] "The language which is, at present, spoken throughout Great Britain, is neither the ancient primitive speech of the island, nor derived from it; but is altogether of foreign origin. The language of the first inhabitants of our island, beyond doubt, was the Celtic, or Gaelic, common to them with Gaul; from which country, it appears, by many circumstances, that Great Britain was peopled. This Celtic tongue, which is said to be very expressive and copious, and is, probably, one of the most ancient languages in the world, obtained once in most of the western regions of Europe. It was the language of Gaul, of Great Britain, of Ireland, and very probably, of Spain also; till, in the course of those revolutions which by means of the conquests, first, of the Romans, and afterwards, of the northern nations, changed the government, speech, and, in a manner, the whole face of Europe, _this tongue was gradually obliterated_; and now subsists only in the mountains of Wales, in the Highlands of Scotland, and among the wild Irish. For the Irish, the Welsh, and the Erse, are no other than different dialects of the same tongue, the ancient Celtic."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, Lect. IX, p. 85. [47] With some writers, the _Celtic_ language is _the Welsh_; as may be seen by the following extract: "By this he requires an Impossibility, since much the greater Part of Mankind can by no means spare 10 or 11 Years of their Lives in learning those dead Languages, to arrive at a perfect Knowledge of their own. But by this Gentleman's way of Arguing, we ought not only to be Masters of _Latin_ and _Greek_, but of _Spanish, Italian, High- Dutch, Low-Dutch, French_, the _Old Saxon, Welsh, Runic, Gothic_, and _Islandic_; since much the greater number of Words of common and general Use are derived from _those Tongues_. Nay, by the same way of Reasoning we may prove, that the _Romans_ and _Greeks_ did not understand their own Tongues, because they were not acquainted with _the Welsh, or ancient Celtic_, there being above 620 radical _Greek_ Words derived from _the Celtic_, and of the Latin a much greater Number."--_Preface to Brightland's Grammar_, p. 5. [48] The author of this specimen, through a solemn and sublime poem in ten books, _generally_ simplified the preterit verb of the second person singular, by omitting the termination _st_ or _est_, whenever his measure did not require the additional syllable. But his tuneless editors have, in many instances, taken the rude liberty both to spoil his versification, and to publish under his name what he did not write. They have given him _bad prosody_, or unutterable _harshness of phraseology_, for the sake of what they conceived to be _grammar_. So _Kirkham_, in copying the foregoing passage, alters it as he will; and alters it _differently_, when he happens to write some part of it twice: as, "That morning, thou, that _slumberedst_ not before, Nor _slept_, great Ocean! _laidst_ thy waves at rest, And _hushed_ thy mighty minstrelsy."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 203. Again: "That morning, thou, that _slumberedst_ not before, Nor _sleptst_, great Ocean, _laidst_ thy waves at rest, And _hush'dst_ thy mighty minstrelsy."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 44. [49] _Camenes_, the _Muses_, whom Horace called _Camaenae_. The former is an English plural from the latter, or from the Latin word _camena_, a muse or song. These lines are copied from Dr. Johnson's History of the English Language; their _orthography_ is, in some respects, _too modern_ for the age to which they are assigned. [50] The Saxon characters being known nowadays to but very few readers, I have thought proper to substitute for them, in the latter specimens of this chapter, the Roman; and, as the old use of colons and periods for the smallest pauses, is liable to mislead a common observer, the punctuation too has here been modernized. [51] Essay on Language, by William S. Cardell, New York, 1825, p. 2. This writer was a great admirer of Horne Tooke, from whom he borrowed many of his notions of grammar, but not this extravagance. Speaking of the words _right_ and _just_, the latter says, "They are applicable only to _man; to whom alone language belongs_, and of whose sensations only words are the representatives."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 9. [52] CARDELL: _Both Grammars_, p. 4. [53] "_Quoties dicimus, toties de nobis judicatur_."--Cicero. "As often as we speak, so often are we judged." [54] "Nor had he far to seek for the source of our impropriety in the use of words, when he should reflect that the study of our own language, has never been made a part of the education of our youth. Consequently, the use of words is got wholly by chance, according to the company that we keep, or the books that we read." SHERIDAN'S ELOCUTION, _Introd._, p. viii, dated "July 10, 1762," 2d Amer. Ed. [55] "To Write and Speak correctly, gives a Grace, and gains a favourable Attention to what one has to say: And since 'tis _English_, that an English Gentleman will have constant use of, that is the Language he should chiefly Cultivate, and wherein most care should be taken to polish and perfect his Stile. To speak or write better _Latin_ than _English_, may make a Man be talk'd of, but he would find it more to his purpose to Express himself well in his own Tongue, that he uses every moment, than to have the vain Commendation of others for a very insignificant quality. This I find universally neglected, and no care taken any where to improve Young Men in their own Language, that they may thoroughly understand and be Masters of it. If any one among us have a facility or purity more than ordinary in his Mother Tongue, it is owing to Chance, or his Genius, or any thing, rather than to his Education or any care of his Teacher. To Mind what _English_ his Pupil speaks or writes is below the Dignity of one bred up amongst _Greek_ and _Latin_, though he have but little of them himself. These are the learned Languages fit only for learned Men to meddle with and teach: _English_ is the Language of the illiterate Vulgar."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 339; _Fourth Ed., London_, 1699. [56] A late author, in apologizing for his choice in publishing a grammar without forms of praxis, (that is, without any provision for a stated application of its principles by the learner,) describes the whole business of _Parsing_ as a "dry and uninteresting recapitulation of the disposal of a few parts of speech, and their _often times told_ positions and influence;" urges "the _unimportance_ of parsing, _generally_;" and represents it to be only "a finical and ostentatious parade of practical pedantry."--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, pp. 224 and 226. It would be no great mistake to imagine, that _this gentleman's system_ of grammar, applied in any way to practice, could not fail to come under this unflattering description; but, to entertain this notion of parsing in general, is as great an error, as that which some writers have adopted on the other hand, of making this exercise their sole process of inculcation, and supposing it may profitably supersede both the usual arrangement of the principles of grammar and the practice of explaining them by definitions. It is asserted in Parkhurst's "English Grammar for Beginners, on the Inductive Method of Instruction," that, "to teach the child a definition at the outset, is beginning at the _wrong end_;" that, "with respect to all that goes under the name of etymology in grammar, it is learned chiefly by practice in parsing, and scarcely at all by the aid of definitions."-- _Preface_, pp. 5 and 6. [57] Hesitation in speech may arise from very different causes. If we do not consider this, our efforts to remove it may make it worse. In most instances, however, it may be overcome by proper treatment, "Stammering," says a late author, "is occasioned by an _over-effort to articulate_; for when the mind of the speaker is so occupied with his subject as not to allow him to reflect upon his defect, he will talk without difficulty. All stammerers can sing, owing to the continuous sound, and the slight manner in which the consonants are touched in singing; so a drunken man can run, though he cannot walk or stand still."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 30. "To think rightly, is of knowledge; to speak fluently, is of nature; To read with profit, is of care; but to write aptly, is of practice." _Book of Thoughts_, p. 140. [58] "There is nothing more becoming [to] a _Gentleman_, or more useful in all the occurrences of life, than to be able, on any occasion, to speak well, and to the purpose."--_Locke, on Education_, Sec.171. "But yet, I think I may ask my reader, whether he doth not know a great many, who live upon their estates, and so, with the name, should have the qualities of Gentlemen, who cannot so much as tell a story as they should; much less speak clearly and persuasively in any business. This I think not to be so much their fault, as the fault of their education.--They have been taught _Rhetoric_, but yet never taught how to express themselves handsomely with their tongues or pens in the language they are always to use; as if the names of the figures that embellish the discourses of those who understood the art of speaking, were the very art and skill of speaking well. _This, as all other things of practice, is to be learned, not by a few, or a great many rules given; but by_ EXERCISE _and_ APPLICATION _according to_ GOOD RULES, _or rather_ PATTERNS, _till habits are got, and a facility of doing it well_."--_Ib._, Sec.189. The forms of parsing and correcting which the following work supplies, are "_patterns_," for the performance of these practical "_exercises_;" and _such patterns_ as ought to be implicitly followed, by every one who means to be a ready and correct speaker on these subjects. [59] The principal claimants of "the Inductive Method" of Grammar, are Richard W. Green, Roswell C. Smith, John L. Parkhurst, Dyor H. Sanborn, Bradford Frazee, and, Solomon Barrett, Jr.; a set of writers, differing indeed in their qualifications, but in general not a little deficient in what constitutes an accurate grammarian. [60] William C. Woodbridge edited the Journal, and probably wrote the article, from which the author of "English Grammar on the Productive System" took his "_Preface_." [61] Many other grammars, later than Murray's, have been published, some in England, some in America, and some in both countries; and among these there are, I think, a few in which a little improvement has been made, in the methods prescribed for the exercises of parsing and correcting. In most, however, _nothing of the kind has been attempted_. And, of the formularies which have been given, the best that I have seen, are still miserably defective, and worthy of all the censure that is expressed in the paragraph above; while others, that appear in works not entirely destitute of merit, are absolutely _much worse_ than Murray's, and worthy to condemn to a speedy oblivion the books in which they are printed. In lieu of forms of expression, clear, orderly, accurate, and full; such as a young parser might profitably imitate; such as an experienced one would be sure to approve; what have we? A chaos of half-formed sentences, for the ignorant pupil to flounder in; an infinite abyss of blunders, which a world of criticism could not fully expose! See, for example, the seven pages of parsing, in the neat little book entitled, "A Practical Grammar of the English Language, by the Rev. David Blair: Seventh Edition: London, 1815:" pp. 49 to 57. I cannot consent to quote more than one short paragraph of the miserable jumble which these pages contain. Yet the author is evidently a man of learning, and capable of writing well on some subjects, if not on this. "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" Form: "_Bless_, a verb, (repeat 97); active (repeat 99); active voice (102); _infinitive mood_ (107); _third person, soul being the nominative_ (118); present tense (111); conjugate the verb after the pattern (129); its object is Lord (99)."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 50. Of the paragraphs referred to, I must take some notice: "107. The _imperative_ mood commands or orders or intreats."--_Ib._, p. 19. "118. The _second person_ is always the pronoun _thou_ or _you_ in the singular, and _ye_ or _you_ in the plural."--_Ib._, p. 21. "111. The _imperative_ mood has no distinction of tense: and the _infinitive_ has no distinction of persons."--_Ib._, p. 20. Now the author should have said: "_Bless_ is a redundant active-transitive verb, from _bless, blessed_ or _blest, blessing, blessed_ or _blest_; found in the _imperative_ mood, present tense, _second_ person, and singular number:" and, if he meant to parse the word _syntactically_, he should have added: "and agrees with its nominative _thou_ understood; according to the rule which says, 'Every finite verb must agree with its subject or nominative, in person and number.' Because the meaning is--_Bless thou_ the Lord." This is the whole story. But, in the form above, several things are false; many, superfluous; some, deficient; several, misplaced; nothing, right. Not much better are the models furnished by _Kirkham, Smith, Lennie, Bullions_, and other late authors. [62] Of Dr. Bullions's forms of parsing, as exhibited in his English Grammar, which is a modification of Lennie's Grammar, it is difficult to say, whether they are most remarkable for their deficiencies, their redundancies, or their contrariety to other teachings of the same author or authors. Both Lennie and Bullions adopt the rule, that, "An _ellipsis_ is _not allowable_ when it would obscure the sentence, weaken its force, or be attended with an impropriety."--_L._, p. 91; _B._, p. 130. And the latter strengthens this doctrine with several additional observations, the first of which reads thus: "In general, _no word should be omitted_ that is necessary to the _full and correct construction_, or even _harmony_ of a sentence."--_Bullions, E. Gr._, 130. Now the parsing above alluded to, has been thought particularly commendable for its _brevity_--a quality certainly desirable, so far as it consists with the end of parsing, or with the more needful properties of a good style, clearness, accuracy, ease, and elegance. But, if the foregoing rule and observation are true, the models furnished by these writers are not commendably brief, but miserably defective. Their brevity is, in fact, such as renders them all _bad English_; and not only so, it makes them obviously inadequate to their purpose, as bringing into use but a part of the principles which the learner had studied. It consists only in the omission of what ought to have been inserted. For example, this short line, "_I lean upon the Lord_," is parsed by both of these gentlemen thus: "_I, the first personal_ pronoun, masculine, or feminine, singular, _the_ nominative--_lean_, a verb, _neuter_, first person singular, present, indicative--_upon_, a preposition--_the_, an article, the definite--_Lord_, a noun, masculine, singular, the objective, (governed by _upon_.)"--_Lennie's Principles of English Gram._, p. 51; _Bullions's_, 74. This is a little sample of their etymological parsing, in which exercise they generally omit not only all the definitions or "reasons" of the various terms applied, but also all the following particulars: first, the verb _is_, and certain _definitives_ and _connectives_, which are "necessary to the full and correct construction" of their sentences; secondly, the distinction of nouns as _proper_ or _common_; thirdly, the _person_ of nouns, _first, second_, or _third_; fourthly, the words, _number, gender_, and _case_, which are necessary to the sense and construction of certain words used; fifthly, the distinction of adjectives as belonging to _different classes_; sixthly, the division of verbs as being _regular_ or _irregular, redundant_ or _defective_; seventhly, sometimes, (Lennie excepted,) the division of verbs as _active, passive_, or _neuter_; eighthly, the words _mood_ and _tense_, which Bullions, on page 131, pronounces "quite unnecessary," and inserts in his own formule on page 132; ninthly, the distinction of adverbs as expressing _time, place, degree_, or _manner_; tenthly, the distinction of conjunctions as _copulative_ or disjunctive; lastly, the distinction of interjections as indicating _different emotions_. All these things does their completest specimen of etymological parsing lack, while it is grossly encumbered with parentheses of syntax, which "_must be omitted_ till the pupil get the _rules_ of syntax."--Lennie, p. 51. It is also vitiated with several absurdities, contradictions, and improper changes of expression: as, "_His, the third personal pronoun_;" (B., p. 23;)--"_me, the first personal pronoun_;" (_Id._, 74;)--"_A_, The indefinite article;" (_Id._, 73;)--"_a_, an article, the indefinite;" (_Id._, 74;)--"When the _verb is passive_, parse thus: '_A verb active_, in the passive voice, _regular, irregular_,' &c."--_Bullions_, p. 131. In stead of teaching sufficiently, as elements of etymological parsing, the definitions which belong to this exercise, and then dismissing them for the principles of syntax, Dr. Bullions encumbers his method of syntactical parsing with such a series of etymological questions and answers as cannot but make it one of the slowest, longest, and most tiresome ever invented. He thinks that the pupil, after parsing any word syntactically, "_should be requested to assign a reason for every thing contained in his statement!_"--_Principles of E. Grammar_, p. 131. And the teacher is to ask questions as numerous as the reasons! Such is the parsing of a text-book which has been pronounced "superior to any other, for use in our common schools"--"a _complete_ grammar of the language, and _available for every purpose_ for which Mr. Brown's can possibly be used."--_Ralph K. Finch's Report_, p, 12. [63] There are many other critics, besides Murray and Alger, who seem not to have observed the import of _after_ and _before_ in connexion with the tenses. Dr. Bullions, on page 139th of his English Grammar, copied the foregoing example from Lennie, who took it from Murray. Even Richard Hiley, and William Harvey Wells, grammarians of more than ordinary tact, have been obviously misled by the false criticism above cited. One of Hiley's Rules of Syntax, with its illustration, stands thus: "In _the use of the different tenses_, we must particularly _observe to use that tense_ which clearly and properly conveys the sense intended; thus, instead of saying, 'After I _visited_ Europe, I returned to America;' we should say, 'After I _had visited_ Europe, I returned to America."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 90. Upon this he thought it needful to comment thus: "'After I _visited_ Europe, I returned to America;' _this sentence is incorrect_; _visited_ ought to be _had visited_, because the action _implied_ by the verb _visited_ WAS COMPLETED _before_ the other past action _returned_."--_Ib._, p. 91. See nearly the same thing in _Wells's School Grammar, 1st Edition_, p. 151; but his later editions are wisely altered. Since "_visited_ and _was completed_" are of the same tense, the argument from the latter, if it proves any thing, proves the former to be _right_, and the proposed change needless, or perhaps worse than needless. "I _visited_ Europe _before_ I _returned_ to America," or, "I _visited_ Europe, _and afterwards returned_ to America," is good English, and not to be improved by any change of tense; yet here too we see the _visiting_ "_was completed before_" the return, or HAD BEEN COMPLETED _at the time_ of the return. I say, "The Pluperfect Tense is that which expresses what _had taken_ place _at_ some past time mentioned: as, 'I _had seen_ him, _when_ I met you.'" Murray says, "The Pluperfect Tense represents a _thing_ not only as past, but also as prior to some _other point of time_ specified in the sentence: as, I _had finished_ my letter _before_ he arrived." Hiley says, "The _Past-Perfect_ expresses an action or event which _was past before_ some _other past action or event_ mentioned in the sentence, _and to which_ it refers; as, I _had finished_ my lessons _before_ he came." With this, Wells appears to concur, his example being similar. It seems to me, that these last two definitions, and their example too, are bad; because by the help of _before_ or _after_, "_the past before the past_" _may_ be clearly expressed by the _simple past tense_: as, "I _finished_ my letter _before_ he _arrived_."--"I _finished_ my lessons _before_ he _came_." "He _arrived_ soon _after_ I _finished_ the letter."--"Soon _after_ it _was completed_, he _came in_." [64] Samuel Kirkham, whose grammar is briefly described in the third chapter of this introduction, boldly lays the blame of all his philological faults, upon our noble _language itself_; and even conceives, that a well-written and faultless grammar cannot be a good one, because it will not accord with that reasonless jumble which he takes every existing language to be! How diligently he laboured to perfect his work, and with what zeal for truth and accuracy, may be guessed from the following citation: "The truth is, after all _which_ can be done to render the definitions and rules of grammar comprehensive and accurate, they will still be found, when critically examined by men of learning and science, _more_ or _less_ exceptionable. _These exceptions and imperfections_ are the unavoidable consequence of the _imperfections of the language_. Language as well as every thing else _of human invention_, will always be _imperfect_. Consequently, a perfect system of grammatical principles, _would not suit it_. A perfect grammar will not be produced, until some perfect being writes it for a perfect language; and a perfect language will not be constructed, until _some super-human agency_ is employed in its production. All grammatical principles and systems which are not _perfect_ are _exceptionable_."--_Kirkham's Grammar_, p. 66. The unplausible sophistry of these strange remarks, and the palliation they afford to the multitudinous defects of the book which contains them, may be left, without further comment, to the judgement of the reader. [65] The phrase _complex ideas_, or _compound ideas_, has been used for the notions which we have of things consisting of different parts, or having various properties, so as to embrace some sort of plurality: thus our ideas of _all bodies_ and _classes of things_ are said to be complex or compound. _Simple ideas_ are those in which the mind discovers no parts or plurality: such are the ideas of _heat, cold, blueness, redness, pleasure, pain, volition_, &c. But some writers have contended, that the _composition of ideas_ is a fiction; and that all the complexity, in any case, consists only in the use of a _general term_ in lieu of many particular ones. Locke is on one side of this debate, Horne Tooke, on the other. [66] Dilworth appears to have had a true _idea_ of the thing, but he does not express it as a definition; "Q. Is _an_ Unit of one, a Number? A. _An_ Unit is a number, _because it may properly answer the question how many!_"--_Schoolmaster's Assistant_, p. 2. A number in arithmetic, and a number in grammar, are totally different things. The _plural_ number, as _men_ or _horses_, does not tell _how many_; nor does the word _singular_ mean _one_, as the author of a recent grammar says it does. The _plural_ number is _one_ number, but it is not _the singular_. "The _Productive System_" teaches thus: "What does the word _singular_ mean? It means _one_."--Smith's New Gram., p. 7. [67] It is truly astonishing that so great a majority of our grammarians could have been so blindly misled, as they have been, in this matter; and the more so, because a very good definition of a Letter was both published and republished, about the time at which Lowth's first appeared: viz., "What is a letter? A Letter is the Sign, Mark, or Character of a simple or uncompounded Sound. Are Letters Sounds? No. Letters are only the Signs or Symbols of Sounds, not the Sounds themselves."--_The British Grammar_, p. 3. See the very same words on the second page of _Buchanan's "English Syntax_," a work which was published as early as 1767. [68] In Murray's octavo Grammar, this word is _the_ in the first chapter, and _their_ in the second; in the duodecimo, it is _their_ in both places. [69] "The _definitions_ and the _rules_ throughout the Grammar, are expressed with neatness and perspicuity. They are as short and comprehensive as the nature of the subject would admit: and they are well adapted both to the understanding and the memory of young persons."--_Life of L. Murray_, p. 245. "It may truly be said that the language in every part of the work, is simple, correct, and perspicuous."--_Ib._, p. 246. [70] For this definition, see _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 40; _Duodecimo_, 41; _Smaller Gram._, 18; _Alger's_, 18; _Bacon's_, 15; _Frost's_, 8, _Ingersoll's_, 17; _A Teacher's_, 8; _Maltby's_, 14; _T. H. Miller's_, 20; _Pond's_, 18; _S. Putnam's_, 15; _Russell's_, 11; _Merchant's Murray_, 25; and _Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dictionary_. Many other grammarians have attempted to define number; with what success a few examples will show: (1.) "Number is the distinction of one from many."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 40; _Merchant's School Gram._, 28; _Greenleaf's_, 22; _Nutting's_, 17; _Picket's_, 19; _D. Adams's_, 31. (2.) "Number is the distinction of one from more."--_Fisher's Gram._, 51; _Alden's_, 7. (3.) "Number is the distinction of one from several or many."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 24. (4.) "Number is the distinction of one from more than one."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 24; _J. Flint's_, 27; _Wells's, 52_. (5.) "Number is the distinction of one from more than one, or many."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 7. (6.) "What is number? Number is the Distinction of one, from two, or many."--_British Gram._, p. 89; _Buchanan's_, 16. (7.) "You inquire, 'What is number?' Merely this: _the distinction_ of one from two, or many. Greek substantives have _three_ numbers."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 38. All these authors say, that, in English, "there are _two numbers_, the singular and the plural." According to their explanations, then, we have _two "distinctions of one from two, several, more, or many;"_ and the Greeks, by adding a dual number, have _three_! Which, then, of the two or three modifications or forms, do they mean, when they say, "Number is _the distinction_" &c.? Or, if none of them, _what else_ is meant? All these definitions had their origin in an old Latin one, which, although it is somewhat better, makes doubtful logic in its application: "NUMERUS est, unius et multorum distinctio. Numeri _igitur_ sunt _duo_; Singularis et Pluralis."-- _Ruddiman's Gram._, p. 21. This means: (8.) "Number is a distinction of one and many. The numbers _therefore_ are _two_; the Singular and the Plural." But we have yet other examples: as, (9.) "Number is the distinction of _objects_, as one or more."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 39. "The _distinction_ of _objects_ as _one_," is very much like "_the consideration_ of _an object_ as _more than one_." (10.) "Number distinguishes _objects_ as _one_ or more."--_Cooper's Murray_, p. 21; _Practical Gram._, p. 18. That is, number makes the plural to be either plural or singular for distinction's sake! (11.) "Number is the distinction of _nouns_ with regard to the _objects_ signified, _as one_ or more."--_Fisk's Murray_, p. 19. Here, too, number has "regard" to the same confusion: while, by a gross error, its "distinction" is confined to "_nouns_" only! (12.) "Number is _that property_ of a _noun_ by which it expresses _one_ or _more_ than one."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 12; _Analyt. Gram._, 25. Here again number is improperly limited to "_a noun_;" and is said to be one sign of two, or either of two, incompatible ideas! (13.) "Number shows _how many_ are meant, whether one or more."--_Smith's new Gram._, p. 45. This is not a _definition_, but a false assertion, in which Smith again confounds arithmetic with grammar! _Wheat_ and _oats_ are of different numbers; but neither of these numbers "means _a sum that may be counted_," or really "shows _how many_ are meant." So of "_Man_ in general, _Horses_ in general, &c."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 77. (14.) "Number is _the difference_ in a _noun or pronoun_, to denote either a single thing or more than one."--_Davenport's Gram._, p. 14. This excludes the numbers of a _verb_, and makes the singular and the plural to be essentially one thing. (15.) "Number is a modification of nouns and verbs, &c. according as the thing spoken of is represented, as, _one_ or _more_, with regard to number."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 32. This also has many faults, which I leave to the discernment of the reader. (16.) "What is number? Number _shows the distinction_ of one from many."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 6. This is no answer to the question asked; besides, it is obviously worse than the first form, which has "_is_," for "_shows_." (17.) "What is Number? It is _the_ representation of _objects_ with respect to singleness, or plurality." --_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 34. If there are two numbers, they are neither of them properly described in this definition, or in any of the preceding ones. There is a gross misconception, in taking each or either of them to be an alternate representation of two incompatible ideas. And this sort of error is far from being confined to the present subject; it runs through a vast number of the various definitions contained in our grammars. (18.) "_Number_ is _the inflection_ of a _noun_, to indicate _one object or more than one_. Or, _Number_ is _the expression_ of unity or of more than unity."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 14. How hard this author laboured to _think what number is_, and could not! (19.) "Number is the distinction of _unity and plurality_."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 40, Why say, "_distinction_;" the numbers, or _distinctions_, being two? (20.) "Number is _the capacity of nouns_ to represent either one or more than one object."--_Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 40. (21.) "Number is _a property_ of _the noun which_ denotes _one_ or _more_ than one."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 55. (22.) "Number is _a property_ of the _noun or pronoun_ [,] _by which it_ denotes _one, or more_ than one."--_Weld's Gram., Abridged Ed._, p. 49. (23.) "Number is _the property_ that distinguishes _one from more_ than one."--_Weld's Gram., Improved Ed._, p. 60. This, of course, excludes the plural. (24.) "Number is _a modification of nouns_ to denote whether one object is meant, or more than one."--_Butler's Gram._, p. 19. (25.) "Number is _that modification_ of the _Noun_ which distinguishes one from more than one."--_Spencer's Gram._, p. 26. Now, it is plain, that not one of these twenty-five definitions comports with the idea that the singular is one number and the plural an other! Not one of them exhibits any tolerable approach to accuracy, either of thought or of expression! Many of the grammarians have not attempted any definition of _number_, or of _the numbers_, though they speak of both the singular and the plural, and perhaps sometimes apply the term _number_ to _the distinction_ which is _in each_: for it is the property of the singular number, to distinguish unity from plurality: and of the plural, to distinguish plurality from unity. Among the authors who are thus silent, are Lily, Colet, Brightland, Harris, Lowth, Ash, Priestly, Bicknell, Adam, Gould, Harrison, Comly, Jaudon, Webster, Webber, Churchill, Staniford, Lennie, Dalton, Blair, Cobbett, Cobb, A. Flint, Felch, Guy, Hall, and S. W. Clark. Adam and Gould, however, in explaining the properties of _verbs_, say: "_Number_ marks _how many_ we suppose to be, to act, or to suffer."--_A._, 80; _G._, 78. [71] These are the parts of speech in some late grammars; as, Barrett's, of 1854, Butler's, Covell's, Day's, Frazee's, Fowle's New, Spear's, Weld's, Wells's, and the Well-wishers'. In Frost's Practical Grammar, the words of the language are said to be "divided into _eight_ classes," and the names are given thus: "_Noun, Article, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection_."--P. 29. But the author afterwards treats of the _Adjective_, between the _Article_ and the _Pronoun_, just as if he had forgotten to name it, and could not count nine with accuracy! In Perley's Grammar, the parts of speech are a different eight: namely, "_Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections_, and _Particles_!"--P. 8. S. W. Clark has Priestley's classes, but calls Interjections "Exclamations." [72] Felton, who is confessedly a modifier of Murray, claims as a merit, "_the rejection of several useless parts of speech_" yet acknowledges "_nine_," and treats of _ten_; "viz., _Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Participles, Prepositions, Adjectives_, [Articles,] _Adverbs, Conjunctions, Exclamations_."--_O. C. Felton's Gram._ p. 5, and p. 9. [73] Quintilian is at fault here; for, in some of his writings, if not generally, Aristotle recognized _four_ parts of speech; namely, verbs, nouns, conjunctions, and articles. See _Aristot. de Poetica_, Cap. xx. [74] "As there are ten different characters or figures in arithmetic to represent all possible quantities, there are also ten kinds of words or parts of speech to represent all possible sentences: viz.: article, noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, participle, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection."--_Chauvier's Punctuation_, p. 104. [75] _The Friend_, 1829, Vol. ii, p. 117. [76] _The Friend_, Vol. ii, p. 105. [77] See the Preface to my Compendious English Grammar in the American editions of _the Treasury of Knowledge_, Vol. i, p. 8. [78] Some say that Brightland himself was the writer of this grammar; but to suppose him the sole author, hardly comports with its dedication to the Queen, by her "most Obedient and Dutiful _Subjects_, the _Authors_;" or with the manner in which these are spoken of, in the following lines, by the laureate: "Then say what Thanks, what Praises must attend _The Gen'rous Wits_, who thus could condescend! Skill, that to Art's sublimest Orb can reach, Employ'd its humble Elements to Teach! Yet worthily Esteem'd, because we know To raise _Their_ Country's Fame _they_ stoop'd so low."--TATE. [79] Dr. Campbell, in his Philosophy of Rhetoric, page 158th, makes a difficulty respecting the meaning of this passage: cites it as an instance of the misapplication of the term _grammar_; and supposes the writer's notion of the thing to have been, "of grammar in the abstract, _an_ universal archetype by which the particular grammars of all different tongues ought to be regulated." And adds, "If this was his meaning, I cannot say whether he is in the right or in the wrong, in this accusation. I acknowledge myself to be entirely ignorant of this ideal grammar." It would be more fair to suppose that Dr. Swift meant by "_grammar_" the rules and principles according to which the English language ought to be spoken and written; and, (as I shall hereafter show,) it is no great hyperbole to affirm, that every part of the code--nay, well-nigh every one of these rules and principles--is, in many instances, violated, if not by what may be called _the language itself_, at least by those speakers and writers who are under the strongest obligations to know and observe its true use. [80] The phrase "_of any_" is here erroneous. These words ought to have been omitted; or the author should have said--"the least valuable of _all_ his productions." [81] This word _latter_ should have been _last_; for _three_ works are here spoken of. [82] With this opinion concurred the learned James White, author of a Grammatical Essay on the English Verb, an octavo volume of more than three hundred pages, published in London in 1761. This author says, "Our Essays towards forming an English Grammar, have not been very many: from the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to that of Queen Ann, there are but Two that the author of the Present knows of: one in English by the renown'd Ben Jonson, and one in Latin by the learn'd Dr. Wallis. In the reign of Queen Ann indeed, there seems to have arisen a noble Spirit of ingenious Emulation in this Literary way: and to this we owe the treatises compos'd at that period for the use of schools, by Brightland, Greenwood, and Maittaire. But, since that time, nothing hath appear'd, that hath come to this Essayist's knowledge, deserving _to be taken any notice of_ as tending to illustrate our Language by ascertaining the Grammar of it; except Anselm Bayly's Introduction to Languages, Johnson's Grammar prefix'd to the Abridgement of his Dictionary, and the late Dr. Ward's Essays upon the English Language.--These are all the Treatises he hath met with, relative to this subject; all which he hath perus'd _very_ attentively, and made the best use of them in his power. But notwithstanding all these aids, something still remains to be done, at least it so appears to him, _preparatory to attempting with success the Grammar of our Language_. All our efforts of this kind seem to have been render'd ineffectual hitherto, chiefly by the prevaliency of two false notions: one of which is, that our Verbs have no Moods; and the other, that our Language hath no Syntax."--_White's English Verb_, p. viii. [83] A similar doctrine, however, is taught by no less an author than "the Rev. Alexander Crombie, LL. D.," who says, in the first paragraph of his introduction, "LANGUAGE consists of intelligible signs, and is the medium, by which _the mind_ communicates _its thoughts_. It is either articulate, or inarticulate; artificial, or natural. The former is peculiar to man; the latter is _common to all animals_. By inarticulate language, we mean those instinctive cries, by which the several tribes of inferior creatures are enabled to express their sensations and desires. By articulate language is understood a system of expression, composed of simple _sounds_, differently modified by the organs of speech, and variously combined."--_Treatise on the Etymology and Syntax of the English Language_, p. 1. See the same doctrine also in _Hiley's Gram._, p. 141. The language which "is _common to all animals_," can be no other than that in which AEsop's wolves and weasels, goats and grasshoppers, talked--a language quite too unreal for _grammar_. On the other hand, that which is composed of _sounds_ only, and not of letters, includes but a mere fraction of the science. [84] The pronoun _whom_ is not properly applicable to beasts, unless they are _personified_: the relative _which_ would therefore, perhaps, have been preferable here, though _whom_ has a better sound.--G. B. [85] "The great difference between men and brutes, in the utterance of sound by the mouth, consists in the power of _articulation_ in man, and the entire want of it in brutes."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 8. [86] Strictly speaking, an _articulate sound_ is not a simple element of speech, but rather a complex one, whether syllable or word; for _articulate_ literally means _jointed_. But our grammarians in general, have applied the term to the sound of a letter, a syllable, or a word, indiscriminately: for which reason, it seems not very suitable to be used alone in describing any of the three. Sheridan says, "The essence of a syllable consists in _articulation only_, for every _articulate sound_ of course forms a syllable."--_Lectures on Elocution_, p. 62. If he is right in this, not many of our letters--or, perhaps more properly, none of them--can singly represent articulate sounds. The looseness of this term induces me to add or prefer an other. "The Rev. W. Allen," who comes as near as any of our grammarians, to the true definition of a _letter_, says: 1. "The sounds used in language are called _articulate sounds_." 2. "A letter is a character used in printing or writing, to represent an _articulate_ sound."--_Allen's Elements of E. Gram._, p. 2. Dr. Adam says: 1. "A letter is the mark of _a sound_, or of _an articulation of_ sound." 2. "A vowel is properly called a _simple sound_; and the sounds formed by the concourse of vowels and consonants, _articulate sounds_."--_Latin and English Gram._, pp. 1 and 2. [87] Of this sort of blunder, the following false definition is an instance: "A _Vowel_ is a letter, _the name of which_ makes a full open sound."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 5; _Brace's_, 7; _Hazen's_, 10. All this is just as true of a consonant as of a vowel. The comma too, used in this sentence, defeats even the sense which the writers intended. It is surely no description either of a vowel or of a consonant, to say, that it is a letter, and that the name of a letter makes a full open sound. Again, a late grammarian teaches, that the names of all the letters are nothing but _Roman capitals_, and then seems to inquire which of _these names_ are _vowels_, thus: "_Q_. How many letters are in the alphabet? _A_. Twenty-six. _Q_. What are their names? _A_. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. _Q_. Which of _these_ are called _Vowels_?"--_Fowle's Common School Gram., Part First_, p. 7. If my worthy friend Fowle had known or considered _what are the names_ of the letters in English, he might have made a better beginning to his grammar than this. [88] By the colloquial phrase, "to a Tee" we mean, "to a _nicety_, to a _tittle_, a _jot_, an _iota_. Had the British poet Cawthorn, himself a noted schoolmaster, known how to write the name of "T," he would probably have preferred it in the following couplet: "And swore by Varro's shade that he Conceived the medal to a T."--_British Poets_, Vol. VII, p. 65. Here the name would certainly be much fitter than the letter, because the text does not in reality speak of the letter. With the names of the Greek letters, the author was better acquainted; the same poem exhibits two of them, where the characters themselves are spoken of: "My eye can trace divinely true, In this dark curve a little Mu; And here, you see, there _seems_ to lie The ruins of a Doric Xi."--_Ibidem_. The critical reader will see that "_seems_" should be _seem_, to agree with its nominative "_ruins_." [89] Lily, reckoning without the H, J, or V, speaks of the Latin letters as "_twenty-two_;" but _says nothing_ concerning their names. Ruddiman, Adam, Grant, Gould, and others, who include the H, J, and V, rightly state the number to be "_twenty-five_;" but, concerning their names, are likewise _entirely silent_. Andrews and Stoddard, not admitting the K, teach thus: "The letters of the Latin language are _twenty-four_. They _have the same names_ as the corresponding characters in English."--_Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Gram._, p. 1. A later author speaks thus: "The Latin Alphabet consists of _twenty-five_ letters, _the same in name_ and form as the English, but without the _w_."--_Bullions's Latin Gram._, p. 1. It would probably be nearer to the truth, to say, "The Latin Alphabet, _like the French_, has no W; it consists of twenty-five letters, which are _the same in name_ and form _as the French_." Will it be pretended that the French names and the English do not differ? [90] The Scotch _Iz_ and the Craven _Izzet_, if still in use anywhere, are names strictly local, not properly English, nor likely to spread. "IZZET, the letter Z. This is probably the corruption of _izzard_, the old and common name for the letter, though I know not, says _Nares_, on what authority."--_Glossary of Craven, w. Izzet._ "_Z z, zed_, more commonly called _izzard_ or _uzzard_, that is, _s hard_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 1. "And how she sooth'd me when with study sad I labour'd on to reach the final Zad."--_Crabbe's Borough_, p. 228. [91] William Bolles, in his new Dictionary, says of the letter Z: "Its sound is uniformly that of a _hard_ S." The _name_, however, he pronounces as I do; though he writes it not _Zee_ but ze; giving not the _orthography_ of the name, as he should have done, but a mere index of its pronunciation. Walker proves by citations from Professor Ward and Dr. Wallis, that these authors considered the _sharp_ or _hissing_ sound of _s_ the "_hard_" sound; and the _flat_ sound, like that of _z_, its "_soft_" sound. See his _Dictionary_, 8vo, p. 53. [92] Dr. Webster died in 1843. Most of this work was written while he was yet in vigour. [93] This old definition _John L. Parkhurst_ disputes:--says it "is _ambiguous_;"--questions whether it means, "that the _name_ of such a letter, or the _simple sound_," requires a vowel! "If the latter," says he, "_the assertion is false._ The simple sounds, represented by the consonants, can be uttered separately, distinctly, and perfectly. It can be done with the _utmost ease_, even by a little child."--_Parkhurst's Inductive Gram. for Beginners_, p. 164. He must be one of these modern philosophers who delight to _make mouths_ of these voiceless elements, to show how much may be done without sound from the larynx. [94] This test of what is, or is not, a vowel sound or a consonant sound, is often appealed to, and is generally admitted to be a just one. Errors in the application of _an_ or _a_ are not unfrequent, but they do not affect the argument. It cannot be denied, that it is proper to use _a_, and not proper to use _an_, before the initial sound of _w_ or _y_ with a vowel following. And this rule holds good, whether the sound be expressed by these particular letters, or by others; as in the phrases, "_a wonder, a one, a yew, a use, a ewer, a humour, a yielding temper_." But I have heard it contended, that these are vowel sounds, notwithstanding they require _a_; and that the _w_ and _y_ are always vowels, because even a vowel sound (it was said) requires _a_ and not _an_, whenever an other vowel sound immediately follows it. Of this notion, the following examples are a sufficient refutation: _an aeronaut, an aerial tour, an oeiliad, an eyewink, an eyas, an iambus, an oaesis, an o'ersight, an oil, an oyster, an owl, an ounce_. The initial sound of _yielding_ requires _a_, and not _an_; but those who call the _y_ a vowel, say, it is equivalent to the unaccented long _e_. This does not seem to me to be exactly true; because the latter sound requires _an_, and not _a_; as, "Athens, as well as Thebes, had _an Eetion_." [95] Dr. Rush, in his Philosophy of the Human Voice, has exhibited some acuteness of observation, and has written with commendable originality. But his accuracy is certainly not greater than his confidence. On page 57th, he says, "The _m, n_, and _ng_, are _purely nasal_;" on page 401st, "Some of the tonic elements, and one of the subtonics, are made _by the assistance of the lips_; they are _o_-we, _oo_-ze, _ou_-r, and _m_." Of the intrinsic value of his work, I am not prepared or inclined to offer any opinion; I criticise him only so far as he strikes at grammatical principles long established, and worthy still to be maintained. [96] Dr. Comstock, by enumerating as elementary the sound of the diphthong _ou_, as in _our_, and the complex power of _wh_, as in _what_, (which sounds ought not to be so reckoned,) makes the whole number of vocal elements in English to be "_thirty-eight_." See _Comstock's Elocution_, p. 19. [97] This word is commonly heard in two syllables, _yune'yun_; but if Walker is right in making it three, _yu'ne-un_, the sound of _y_ consonant is heard in it but once. Worcester's notation is "_y=un'yun_." The long sound of _u_ is _yu_; hence Walker calls the letter, when thus sounded, a "semi-consonant diphthong." [98] Children ought to be accustomed to speak loud, and to pronounce all possible sounds and articulations, even those of such foreign languages as they will be obliged to learn; for almost every language has its particular sounds which we pronounce with difficulty, if we have not been early accustomed to them. Accordingly, nations who have the greatest number of sounds in their speech, learn the most easily to pronounce foreign languages, since they know their articulations by having met with similar sounds in their own language."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 159. [99] If it be admitted that the two semivowels _l_ and _n_ have vocality enough of their own to form a very feeble syllable, it will prove only that there are these exceptions to an important general rule. If the name of _Haydn_ rhymes with _maiden_, it makes one exception to the rule of writing; but it is no part of the English language. The obscure sound of which I speak, is sometimes improperly confounded with that of short _u_; thus a recent writer, who professes great skill in respect to such matters, says, "One of the most common sounds in our language is that of the vowel _u_, as in the word _urn_, or as the diphthong _ea_ in the word _earth_, for which we have no character. Writers have made various efforts to express it, as in _earth, berth, mirth, worth, turf_, in which all the vowels are indiscriminately used in turn. [Fist] _This defect has led_ to the absurd method of placing the vowel after the consonants, instead of between them, when a word _terminates with this sound_; as in the following, _Bible, pure, centre, circle_, instead of _Bibel, puer, center, cirkel_."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 498. "It would be a great step towards perfection to spell our words as they are pronounced!"--_Ibid._, p. 499. How often do the reformers of language multiply the irregularities of which they complain! [100] "The number of simple sounds in our tongue is twenty-eight, 9 Vowels and 19 Consonants. _H_ is no letter, but merely a mark of aspiration."--_Jones's Prosodial Gram. before his Dict._, p. 14. "The number of simple vowel and consonant sounds in our tongue is twenty-eight, and one pure aspiration _h_, making in all twenty-nine."--_Bolles's Octavo Dict._, Introd., p. 9. "The number of _letters_ in the English language is twenty-six; but the number of _elements_ is thirty-eight."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 18. "There are thirty-eight elements in the English alphabet, and to represent those elements by appropriate characters, we should have thirty-eight letters. There is, then, a deficiency in our alphabet of twelve letters--and he who shall supply this imperfection, will be one of the greatest benefactors of the human race."--_Ib._, p. 19. "Our alphabet is both redundant and defective. _C, q_, and _z_, are respectively represented by _k_ or _s, k_, and _ks_, or _gz_; and the remaining twenty-three letters are employed to represent _forty-one_ elementary sounds."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 36. "The simple sounds were in no wise to be reckoned of any certain number: by the first men they were determined to no more than ten, as spine suppose; as others, fifteen or twenty; it is however certain that mankind in general never exceed _twenty_ simple sounds; and of these only five are reckoned strictly such."--_Bicknell's Grammar_, Part ii, p. 4. [101] "When these sounds are openly pronounced, they produce the familiar assent _ay_: which, by the old English dramatic writers, was often expressed by _I_."--_Walker_. We still hear it so among the vulgar; as, "_I, I_, sir, presently!" for "_Ay, ay_, sir, presently!" Shakspeare wrote, "To sleepe, perchance to dreame; _I_, there's the rub." --_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 143. [102] Walker pronounces _yew_ and _you_ precisely alike, "_yoo_;" but, certainly, _ew_ is not commonly equivalent to _oo_, though some make it so: thus Gardiner, in his scheme of the vowels, says, "_ew_ equals _oo_, as in _new, noo_."--_Music of Nature_, p. 483. _Noo_ for _new_, is a _vulgarism_, to my ear.--G. BROWN. [103] "As harmony is an inherent property of sound, the ear should he first called to the attention of _simple sounds_; though, in reality, all are composed _of three_, so nicely blended as to _appear_ but as one."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 8. "Every sound is a mixture of three tones; as much as a ray of light is composed of three prismatic colours."--_Ib._, p. 387. [104] The titulary name of the sacred volume is "The Holy Bible." The word _Scripture_ or _Scriptures_ is a _common_ name for the writings contained in this inestimable volume, and, in the book itself, is seldom distinguished by a capital; but, in other works, it seems proper in general to write it so, by way of eminence. [105] "Benedictus es Domine Deus Israel patris nostri ab eterno in eternum."--_Vulgate_. "O Eternel! Dieu d'Israel, notre pere, tu es beni de tout temps et a toujours."--_Common French Bible_. "[Greek: Eulogaetos ei Kyrie ho theos Israel ho pataer haemon apo tou aionos kai heos tou aionos.]"--_Septuagint._ [106] Where the word "_See_" accompanies the reference, the reader may generally understand that the citation, whether right or wrong in regard to grammar, is not in all respects _exactly_ as it will be found in the place referred to. Cases of this kind, however, will occur but seldom; and it is hoped the reasons for admitting a few, will be sufficiently obvious. Brevity is indispensable; and some rules are so generally known and observed, that one might search long for half a dozen examples of their undesigned violation. Wherever an error is made intentionally in the Exercises, the true reading and reference are to be expected in the Key. [107] "Et irritaverunt ascendentes in mare, Mare rubrum."--_Latin Vulgate, folio, Psal._ cv, 7. This, I think, should have been "Mare Rubrum," with two capitals.--G. BROWN. [108] The printers, from the manner in which they place their types before them, call the small letters "_lower-case letters_," or "_letters of the lower case_." [109] I imagine that "_plagues_" should here be _plague_, in the singular number, and not plural. "Ero more ius, o mors; morsus tuus ero, inferne."--_Vulgate_. "[Greek: Pou hae dikae sou, thanate; pou to kentron sou, aidae;]"--_Septuagint, ibid._ [110] It is hoped that not many persons will be so much puzzled as are Dr. Latham and Professor Fowler, about the application of this rule. In their recent works on The English Language, these gentlemen say, "In certain words of more than one syllable, _it is difficult to say_ to which syllable the intervening Consonant belongs. For instance, _does_ the _v_ in _river_ and the _v_ in _fever_ belong to the first or to the second syllable? Are the words to be divided thus, _ri-ver, fe-ver_? or thus, _riv-er_, _fev-er_?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, Sec.85; _Latham's Hand-Book_, p. 95. Now I suppose it plain, that, by the rule given above, _fever_ is to be divided in the former way, and _river_ in the latter; thus, _fe-ver_, _riv-er_. But this paragraph of Latham's or Fowler's is written, not to disembarrass the learner, but just as if it were a grammarian's business to confound his readers with fictitious dilemmas--and those expressed ungrammatically! Of the two Vees, so illogically associated in one question, and so solecistically spoken of by the singular verb "_does_," one belongs to the former syllable, and the other, to the latter; nor do I discover that "it is difficult to say" this, or to be well assured that it is right. What an admirable passage for one great linguist to _steal_ from an other! [111] "The usual rules for dividing [words into] syllables, are not only _arbitrary_ but false and absurd. They contradict the very definition of a syllable given by the authors themselves. * * * * A syllable in pronunciation is an _indivisible_ thing; and strange as it may appear, what is _indivisible_ in utterance is _divided_ in writing: when the very purpose of dividing words into syllables in writing, is to lead the learner to a just pronunciation."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 156; _Philosophical Gram._, 221. [112] This word, like _distich_ and _monostich_, is from the Greek _stichos_, a verse; and is improperly spelled by Walker with a final _k_. It should be _hemistich_, with the accent on the first syllable. See _Webster, Scott, Perry, Worcester_, and others. [113] According to Aristotle, the compounding of terms, or the writing of them as separate words, must needs be a matter of great importance to the sense. For he will have the parts of a compound noun, or of a compound verb, to be, like other syllables, destitute of any distinct signification in themselves, whatever may be their meaning when written separately. See his definitions of the parts of speech, in his _Poetics_, Chapter 20th of the Greek; or Goulston's Version in Latin, Chapter 12th. [114] Whether _worshipper_ should follow this principle, or not, is questionable. If Dr. Webster is right in making _worship_ a _compound_ of _worth_ and _ship_, he furnishes a reason against his own practice of using a single _p_ in _worshiper, worshiped_, and _worshiping_. The Saxon word appears to have been _weorthscype_. But words ending in _ship_ are _derivatives_, rather than compounds; and therefore they seem to belong to the rule, rather than to the exception: as, "So we _fellowshiped_ him."--_Herald of Freedom: Liberator_, Vol. ix, p. 68. [115] When _ee_ comes before _e_, or may be supposed to do so, or when _ll_ comes before _l_, one of the letters is dropped that _three_ of the same kind may not meet: as, _free, freer, freest, freeth, freed_; _skill, skilless_; _full, fully_; _droll, drolly_. And, as _burgess-ship_, _hostess-ship_, and _mistress-ship_ are derivatives, and not compounds, I think they ought to follow the same principle, and be written _burgesship, hostesship, mistresship_. The proper form of _gall-less_ is perhaps more doubtful. It ought not to be gallless, as Dr. Webster has it; and galless, the analogical form, is yet, so far as I know without authority. But is it not preferable to the hyphened form, with three Ells, which has authority? "GALL-LESS, a. Without gall or bitterness. _Cleaveland_."--_Chalmers, Bolles, Worcester_. "Ah! mild and _gall-less_ dove, Which dost the pure and candid dwellings love, Canst thou in Albion still delight?"--_Cowley's Odes_. Worcester's Dictionary has also the questionable word _bellless_. _Treen_, for _trees_, or for an adjective meaning _a tree's_, or _made of a tree_, is exhibited in several of our dictionaries, and pronounced as a monosyllable: but Dr. Beattie, in his Poems, p. 84, has made it a dissyllable, with three like letters divided by a hyphen, thus:-- "Plucking from _tree-en_ bough her simple food." [116] _Handiwork, handicraft_, and _handicraftsman_, appear to have been corruptly written for _handwork, handcraft_, and _handcraftsman_. They were formerly in good use, and consequently obtained a place in our vocabulary, from which no lexicographer, so far as I know, has yet thought fit to discard them; but, being irregular, they are manifestly becoming obsolete, or at least showing a tendency to throw off these questionable forms. _Handcraft_ and _handcraftsman_ are now exhibited in some dictionaries, and _handiwork_ seems likely to be resolved into _handy_ and _work_, from which Johnson supposes it to have been formed. See _Psalm_ xix, 1. The text is varied thus: "And the firmament _sheweth_ his _handiwork_."--_Johnson's Dict._. "And the firmament _sheweth_ his _handy-work_."--_Scott's Bible_; _Bruce's Bible_; _Harrison's Gram._, p. 83. "And the firmament _showeth_ his _handy work_."--_Alger's Bible_; _Friends' Bible_; _Harrison's Gram._, p. 103. [117] Here a word, formed from its root by means of the termination _ize_, afterwards assumes a prefix, to make a secondary derivative: thus, _organ_, _organize, disorganize_. In such a case, the latter derivative must of course be like the former; and I assume that the essential or primary formation of both from the word _organ_ is by the termination _ize_; but it is easy to see that _disguise, demise, surmise_, and the like, are essentially or primarily formed by means of the prefixes, _dis, de_, and _sur_. As to _advertise, exercise, detonize_, and _recognize_, which I have noted among the exceptions, it is not easy to discover by which method we ought to suppose them to have been formed; but with respect to nearly all others, the distinction is very plain; and though there may be no _natural reason_ for founding upon it such a rule as the foregoing, the voice of general custom is as clear in this as in most other points or principles of orthography, and, surely, some rule in this case is greatly needed. [118] _Criticise_, with _s_, is the orthography of Johnson, Walker, Webster, Jones, Scott, Bolles, Chalmers, Cobb, and others; and so did Worcester spell it in his Comprehensive Dictionary of 1831, but, in his Universal and Critical Dictionary of 1846, he wrote it with _z_, as did Bailey in his folio, about a hundred years ago. Here the _z_ conforms to the foregoing rule, and the _s_ does not. [119] Like this, the compound _brim-full_ ought to be written with a hyphen and accented on the last syllable; but all our lexicographers have corrupted it into _brim'ful_, and, contrary to the authorities they quote, accented it on the first. Their noun _brim'fulness_, with a like accent, is also a corruption; and the text of Shakspeare, which they quote for it, is nonsense, unless _brim_, be there made a separate adjective:-- "With ample and _brimfulness_ of his force."--_Johnson's Dict._ _et al_. "With _ample_ and _brim fullness_ of his force," would be better. [120] According to Littleton, the _coraliticus lapis_ was a kind of Phrygian marble, "called _Coralius_ or by an other name _Sangarius_." But this substance seems to be different from all that are described by Webster, under the names of "_coralline_," "_corallinite_," and "_corallite_." See _Webster's Octavo Dict._ [121] The Greek word for _argil_ is [Greek: argilos], or [Greek: argillos], (from [Greek: argos], white,) meaning pure white earth; and is as often spelled with one Lamda as with two. [122] Dr. Webster, with apparent propriety, writes _caviling_ and _cavilous_ with one _l_, like _dialing_ and _perilous_; but he has in general no more uniformity than Johnson, in respect to the doubling of _l_ final. He also, in some instances, accents similar words variously: as, _cor'alliform_, upon the first syllable, _metal'liform_, upon the second; _cav'ilous_ and _pap'illous_, upon the first, _argil'lous_, upon the second; _ax'illar_, upon the first, _medul'lar_, upon the second. See _Webster's Octavo Dict._ [123] Perry wrote _crystaline, crystalize, crystalization, metaline, metalist, metalurgist_, and _metalurgy_; and these forms, as well as _crystalography, metalic, metalography_, and _metaliferous_, are noticed and preferred by the authors of the _Red Book_, on pp. 288 and 302. [124] "But if a diphthong precedes, or the accent is on the preceding syllable, the consonant remains single: as, to toil, toiling; to offer, an offering."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 24; _Walker's Rhym. Dict._, Introd., p. ix. [125] Johnson, Walker, and Webster, all spell this word _sep'ilible_; which is obviously wrong; as is Johnson's derivation of it from _sepio_, to hedge in. _Sepio_ would make, not this word, but _sepibilis_ and _sepible_, hedgeable. [126] If the variable word _control, controul_, or _controll_, is from _con_ and _troul_ or _troll_, it should be spelled with _ll_, by Rule 7th, and retain the _ll_ by Rule 6th. Dr. Webster has it so, but he gives _control_ also. [127] _Ache_, and its plural, _aches_, appear to have been formerly pronounced like the name of the eighth letter, with its plural, _Aitch_, and _Aitches_; for the old poets made "_aches_" two syllables. But Johnson says of _ache_, a pain, it is "now _generally_ written _ake_, and in the plural _akes_, of one syllable."--See his _Quarto Dict._ So Walker: "It is now _almost universally_ written _ake_ and _akes_."--See _Walker's Principles_, No. 355. So Webster: "_Ake_, less properly written _ache_."--See his _Octavo Dict._ But Worcester seems rather to prefer _ache_.--G. B. [128] This book has, probably, more _recommenders_ than any other of the sort. I have not patience to count them accurately, but it would seem that _more than a thousand_ of the great and learned have certified to the world, that they never before had seen so good a spelling-book! With personal knowledge of more than fifty of the signers, G. B. refused to add his poor name, being ashamed of the mischievous facility with which very respectable men had loaned their signatures. [129] _Scrat_, for _scratch._ The word is now obsolete, and may be altered by taking _ch_ in the correction. [130] "_Hairbrained, adj._ This should rather be written _harebrained_; unconstant, unsettled, wild as a _hare._"--_Johnson's Dict._ Webster writes it _harebrained_, as from _hare_ and _brain_. Worcester, too, prefers this form. [131] "The whole number of verbs in the English language, regular and irregular, simple and compounded, taken together, is about 4,300. See, in Dr. Ward's Essays on the English language, the catalogue of English verbs. The whole number of irregular verbs, the defective included, is about 176."--_Lowth's Gram._, Philad., 1799, p. 59. Lindley Murray copied the first and the last of these three sentences, but made the latter number "about 177."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 109; _Duodecimo_, p. 88. In the latter work, he has this note: "The whole number of _words_, in the English language, is about thirty-five thousand."--_Ib._ Churchill says, "The whole number of verbs in the English language, according to Dr. Ward, is about 4,300. The irregulars, including the auxilaries [sic--KTH], scarcely exceed 200."--_New Gram._, p. 113. An other late author has the following enumeration: "There are in the English language about twenty thousand five hundred nouns, forty pronouns, _eight thousand verbs_, nine thousand two hundred adnouns, two thousand six hundred adverbs, sixty-nine prepositions, nineteen conjunctions, and sixty-eight interjections; in all, above forty thousand words."--_Rev. David Blair's Gram._, p. 10. William Ward, M. A., in an old grammar _undated_, which speaks of Dr. Lowth's as one with which the public had "_very lately_ been favoured," says: "There are _four Thousand and about Five Hundred Verbs_ in the English [language]."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, p. 52. [132] These definitions are numbered here, because each of them is the first of a series now begun. In class rehearsals, the pupils may be required to give the definitions in turn; and, to prevent any from losing the place, it is important that the numbers be mentioned. When all have become sufficiently familiar with the _definitions_, the exercise may be performed _without them._ They are to be read or repeated till faults disappear--or till the teacher is satisfied with the performance. He may then save time, by commanding his class to proceed more briefly; making such distinctions as are required in the praxis, but ceasing to explain the terms employed; that is, _omitting all the definitions, for brevity's sake._ This remark is applicable likewise to all the subsequent praxes of etymological parsing.] [133] The _modifications_ which belong to the different parts of speech consist chiefly of the _inflections_ or _changes_ to which certain words are subject. But I use the term sometimes in a rather broader sense, as including not only _variations_ of words, but, in certain instances, their _original forms_, and also such of their _relations_ as serve to indicate peculiar properties. This is no questionable license in the use of the term; for when the position of a word _modifies_ its meaning, or changes its person or case, this effect is clearly a grammatical _modification_, though there be no absolute _inflection_. Lord Kames observes, "_That quality_, which distinguishes one genus, one species, or even one individual, from an other, is termed a _modification_: thus the same particular that is termed a _property_ or _quality_, when considered as belonging to an individual, or a class of individuals, is termed a _modification_, when considered as distinguishing the individual or the class from an other."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 392. [134] Wells, having put the articles into the class of adjectives, produces authority as follows: "'The words _a_ or _an_, and _the_, are reckoned by _some_ grammarians a separate part of speech; but, as they in all respects come under the definition of the adjective, it is unnecessary, as well as _improper_, to rank them as a class by themselves.'--Cannon." To this he adds, "The articles are also ranked with adjectives by Priestley, E. Oliver, Bell, Elphinston, M'Culloch, D'Orsey, Lindsay, Joel, Greenwood. Smetham, Dalton, King, Hort, Buchanan, Crane, J. Russell, Frazee, Cutler, Perley, Swett, Day. Goodenow, Willard, Robbins, Felton, Snyder, Butler, S. Barrett, Badgley, Howe, Whiting, Davenport, Fowle, Weld, and others."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 69. In this way, he may have made it seem to many, that, after thorough investigation, he had decided the point discreetly, and with preponderance of authority. For it is claimed as a "peculiar merit" of this grammar, that, "Every point of practical importance is _thoroughly investigated_, and reference is carefully made to the _researches_ of preceding writers, in all cases which admit of being determined by _weight of authority_."--WILLIAM RUSSELL, _on the cover_. But, in this instance, as in sundry others, wherein he opposes the more common doctrine, and cites concurrent authors, both he and all his authorities are demonstrably to the wrong. For how can they be right, while reason, usage, and the prevailing opinion, are still against them? If we have forty grammars which reject, the articles as a part of speech, we have more than twice as many which recognize them as such; among which are those of the following authors: viz., Adam, D. Adams, Ainsworth, Alden, Alger, W. Allen, Ash, Bacon, Barnard, Beattie, Beck, Bicknell, Bingham, Blair, J. H. Brown, Bucke, Bullions, Burn, Burr, Chandler, Churchill, Coar, Cobbett, Cobbin, Comly, Cooper, Davis, Dearborn, Ensell, Everett, Farnum, Fisk, A. Flint, Folker, Fowler, Frost, R. G. Greene, Greenleaf, Guy, Hall, Hallock, Hart, Harrison, Matt. Harrison, Hazen, Hendrick, Hiley, Hull, Ingersoll, Jaudon, Johnson, Kirkham, Latham, Lennie, A. Lewis, Lowth, Maltby, Maunder, Mennye, Merchant, T. H. Miller, Murray, Nixon, Nutting, Parker and Fox, John Peirce, Picket, Pond, S. Putnam, Russell, Sanborn, Sanders, R. C. Smith, Rev. T. Smith, Spencer, Tower, Tucker, Walker, Webber, Wilcox, Wilson, Woodworth, J. E. Worcester, S. Worcester, Wright. The articles characterize our language more than some of the other parts of speech, and are worthy of distinction for many reasons, one of which is the very great _frequency_ of their use. [135] In Murray's Abridgement, and in his "Second Edition," 12mo, the connective in this place is "_or_;" and so is it given by most of his amenders; as in _Alger's Murray_, p. 68; _Alden's_, 89; _Bacon's_, 48; _Cooper's_, 111; _A. Flint's_, 65; _Maltby's_, 60; _Miller's_, 67; _S. Putnam's_, 74; _Russell's_, 52; _T. Smith's_, 61. All these, and many more, repeat both of these ill-devised rules. [136] When this was written, Dr. Webster was living. [137] In French, the preposition _a, (to,)_ is always carefully distinguished from the verb _a, (has,)_ by means of the grave accent, which is placed over the former for that purpose. And in general also the Latin word _a, (from,)_ is marked in the same way. But, with us, no appropriate sign has hitherto been adopted to distinguish the preposition _a_ from the article _a_; though the Saxon _a, (to,)_ is given by Johnson with an acute, even where no other _a_ is found. Hence, in their ignorance, thousands of vulgar readers, and among them the authors of sundry grammars, have constantly mistaken this preposition for an article. Examples: "Some adverbs are composed of _the article a_ prefixed to nouns; as _a_-side, _a_-thirst, _a_-sleep, _a_-shore, _a_-ground, &c."--_Comly's Gram._, p67. "Repeat some [adverbs] that are composed of _the article a_ and nouns."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 89. "To go a fishing;" "To go a hunting;" i.e. "to go _on_ a fishing _voyage_ or _business_;" "to go _on_ a hunting _party_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 221; _Fisk's_, 147; _Ingersoll's_, 157; _Smith's_, 184; _Bullions's_, 129; _Merchant's_, 101; _Weld's_, 192, _and others._ That this interpretation is false and absurd, may be seen at once by any body who can read Latin; for, _a hunting, a fishing_, &c., are expressed by the supine in _um_: as, "_Venatum ire_."--Virg. AEn. I.e., "To go _a_ hunting." "_Abeo piscatum_."--Beza. I.e. "I go _a_ fishing."--_John_, xxi, 3. Every school-boy ought to know better than to call this _a_ an article. _A fishing_ is equivalent to the infinitive _to fish_. For the Greek of the foregoing text is [Greek: Hupago halieuein,] which is rendered by Montanus, "_Vado piscari_;" i.e., "_I go to fish_." One author ignorantly says, "The _article a_ seems to have _no particular meaning_, and is _hardly proper_ in such expressions as these. 'He went _a-hunting_,' She lies _a-bed_ all day.'"--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 59. No marvel that he could not find the meaning of an _article_ in this _a!_ With doltish and double inconsistency, Weld first calls this "The _article a_ employed _in the sense_ of a _preposition_," (_E. Gram._, p. 177,) and afterwards adopts Murray's interpretation as above cited! Some, too, have an absurd practice of joining this preposition to the participle; generally with the hyphen, but sometimes without: thus, "A-GOING, In motion; as, to set a mill _agoing_."--_Webster's Dict._ The doctor does not tell us what part of speech _agoing_ is; but, certainly, "to set the mill _to_ going," expresses just the same meaning, and is about as often heard. In the burial-service of the Common Prayer Book, we read, "They are even as _asleep_;" but, in the ninetieth Psalm, from which this is taken, we find the text thus: "They are as _a sleep_;" that is, as a dream that is fled. Now these are very different readings, and cannot both he right. [138] Here the lexicographer forgets his false etymology of _a_ before the participle, and writes the words _separately_, as the generality of authors always have done. _A_ was used as a preposition long before the article _a_ appeared in the language; and I doubt whether there is any truth at all in the common notions of its origin. Webster says, "In the words _abed, ashore_, &c., and before _the_ participles _acoming, agoing, ashooting_, [he should have said, 'and _before participles_; as, _a coming, a going, a shooting_,'] _a_ has been supposed a contraction of _on_ or _at_. It may be so _in some cases_; but with the participles, it _is sometimes_ a contraction of the Saxon prefix _ge, and sometimes_ perhaps of the Celtic _ag_."--_Improved Gram._, p. 175. See _Philos. Gram._, p. 244. What admirable learning is this! _A_, forsooth, is a _contraction_ of _ge!_ And this is the doctor's reason for _joining_ it to the participle! [139] The following construction may he considered an _archaism_, or a form of expression that is now obsolete: "You have bestowed _a_ many _of_ kindnesses upon me."--_Walker's English Particles_, p. 278. [140] "If _I_ or _we_ is set before a name, it [the name] is of the first person: as, _I, N-- N--, declare; we, N-- and M-- do promise_."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 83. "Nouns which relate to the person or persons _speaking_, are said to be of the _first_ person; as, I, _William_, speak to you."--_Fowle's Common School Gram._, Part ii, p. 22. The first person of nouns is admitted by Ainsworth, R. W. Bailey, Barnard, Brightland, J. H. Brown, Bullions, Butler, Cardell, Chandler, S. W. Clark, Cooper, Day, Emmons, Farnum, Felton, Fisk, John Flint, Fowle, Frazee, Gilbert, Goldsbury, R. G. Greene, S. S. Greene, Hall, Hallock, Hamlin, Hart, Hendrick, Hiley, Perley, Picket, Pinneo, Russell, Sanborn, Sanders, Smart, R. C. Smith, Spear, Weld, Wells, Wilcox, and others. It is denied, either expressly or virtually, by Alger, Bacon, Comly, Davis, Dilworth, Greenleaf, Guy, Hazen, Ingersoll, Jaudon, Kirkham, Latham, L. Murray, Maltby, Merchant, Miller, Nutting, Parkhurst, S. Putnam, Rev. T. Smith, and others. Among the grammarians who do not appear to have noticed the persons of nouns at all, are Alden, W. Allen, D. C. Allen, Ash, Bicknell, Bingham, Blair, Buchanan, Bucke, Burn, Burr, Churchill, Coar, Cobb, Dalton, Dearborn, Abel Flint, R. W. Green, Harrison, Johnson, Lennie, Lowth, Mennye, Mulligan, Priestley, Staniford, Ware, Webber, and Webster. [141] Prof. S. S. Greene most absurdly and erroneously teaches, that, "When the speaker wishes to represent himself, _he cannot use his name_, but _must_ use some other word, as, _I_; [and] when he wishes to represent the hearer, he _must_ use _thou_ or _you_."--_Greene's Elements of E. Gram._, 1853, p. xxxiv. The examples given above sufficiently show the falsity of all this. [142] In _shoe_ and _shoes, canoe_ and _canoes_, the _o_ is sounded slenderly, like _oo_; but in _doe_ or _does, foe_ or _foes_, and the rest of the fourteen nouns above, whether singular or plural, it retains the full sound of its own name, _O_. Whether the plural of _two_ should be "_twoes_" as Churchill writes it, or "_twos_," which is more common, is questionable. According to Dr. Ash and the Spectator, the plural of _who_, taken substantively, is "_whos_."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 131. [143] There are some singular compounds of the plural word _pence_, which form their own plurals regularly; as, _sixpence, sixpences_. "If you do not all show like gilt _twopences_ to me."--SHAKSPEARE. "The _sweepstakes_ of which are to be composed of the disputed difference in the value of two doubtful _sixpences._"--GOODELL'S LECT.: _Liberator_. Vol. ix, p. 145. [144] In the third canto of Lord Byron's Prophecy of Dante, this noun is used in the singular number:-- "And ocean written o'er would not afford Space for the _annal_, yet it shall go forth." [145] "They never yet had separated for their daylight beds, without a climax to their _orgy_, something like the present scene."--_The Crock of Gold_, p. 13. "And straps never called upon to diminish that long whity-brown interval between shoe and _trowser_."--_Ib._, p. 24. "And he gave them _victual_ in abundance."--_2 Chron._, xi, 23. "Store of _victual_."--_Ib._, verse 11. [146] The noun _physic_ properly signifies medicine, or the science of medicine: in which sense, it seems to have no plural. But Crombie and the others cite one or two instances in which _physic_ and _metaphysic_ are used, not very accurately, in the sense of the singular of _physics_ and _metaphysics_. Several grammarians also quote some examples in which _physics, metaphysics, politics, optics_, and other similar names of sciences are used with verbs or pronouns of the singular number; but Dr. Crombie justly says the plural construction of such words, "is more common, and more agreeable to analogy."--_On Etym. and Syntax_, p. 27. [147] "Benjamin Franklin, following the occupation of a compositor in a printing-office, at a limited weekly _wage_," &c.--_Chambers' Edinburgh Journal_, No. 232. "WAGE, Wages, hire. The singular number is still frequently used, though _Dr. Johnson_ thought it obsolete."--_Glossary of Craven_. 1828. [148] Our lexicographers generally treat the word _firearms_ as a close compound that has no singular. But some write it with a hyphen, as _fire-arms_. In fact the singular is sometimes used, but the way of writing it is unsettled. Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines a _carbine_ as, "a small sort of _fire arm_;" Webster has it, "a short gun, or _fire arm_;" Worcester, "a small _fire-arm_;" Cobb, "a sort of small _firearms_." Webster uses "_fire-arm_," in defining "_stock_." [149] "But, soon afterwards, he made a glorious _amend_ for his fault, at the battle of Plataea."--_Hist. Reader_, p. 48. [150] "There not _a dreg_ of guilt defiles."--_Watts's Lyrics_, p. 27. [151] In Young's Night Thoughts, (N. vii, l. 475.) _lee_, the singular of _lees_, is found; Churchill says, (Gram., p. 211,) "Prior has used _lee_, as the singular of _lees_;" Webster and Bolles have also both forms in their dictionaries:-- "Refine, exalt, throw down their poisonous _lee_, And make them sparkle in the bowl of bliss."--_Young_. [152] "The 'Procrustean bed' has been a myth heretofore; it promises soon to be _a shamble_ and a slaughterhouse in reality."--_St. Louis Democrat_, 1855. [153] J. W. Wright remarks, "Some nouns admit of no plural distinctions: as, _wine, wood_, beer, _sugar, tea, timber, fruit, meat_, goodness, happiness, and perhaps all nouns ending in _ness_."--_Philos. Gram._, p. 139. If this learned author had been brought up in the _woods_, and had never read of Murray's "richer _wines_," or heard of Solomon's "dainty _meats_,"--never chaffered in the market about _sugars_ and _teas_, or read in Isaiah that "all our _righteousnesses_ are as filthy rags," or avowed, like Timothy, "a good profession before many _witnesses_,"--he might still have hewed the _timbers_ of some rude cabin, and partaken of the wild _fruits_ which nature affords. If these nine plurals are right, his assertion is nine times wrong, or misapplied by himself seven times in the ten. [154] "I will not suppose it possible for my dear James to fall into either the company or the language of those persons who talk, and even write, about _barleys, wheats, clovers, flours, grasses_, and _malts_."-- _Cobbett's E. Gram._, p. 29. [155] "It is a general rule, that all names of things measured or weighed, have no plural; for in _them_ not number, but quantity, is regarded: as, _wool, wine, oil_. When we speak, however, of different kinds, we use the plural: as, the coarser _wools_, the richer _wines_, the finer _oils_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 41. [156] So _pains_ is the regular plural of _pain_, and, by Johnson, Webster, and other lexicographers, is recognized only as plural; but Worcester inserts it among his stock words, with a comment, thus: "Pains, _n._ Labor; work; toil; care; trouble. [Fist] According to the best usage, the word _pains_, though of plural form, is used in these senses as singular, and is joined with a singular verb; as, 'The pains they had taken _was_ very great.' _Clarendon_. 'No pains _is_ taken.' _Pope_. 'Great pains _is_ taken.' _Priestley_. '_Much_ pains.' _Bolingbroke_."--_Univ. and Crit. Dict._ The multiplication of anomalies of this kind is so undesirable, that nothing short of a very clear decision of Custom, against the use of the regular concord, can well justify the exception. Many such examples may be cited, but are they not examples of false syntax? I incline to think "the best usage" would still make all these verbs plural. Dr. Johnson cites the first example thus: "The _pains_ they had taken _were_ very great. _Clarendon_."--_Quarto Dict., w. Pain_. And the following recent example is unquestionably right: "_Pains have_ been taken to collect the information required."--_President Fillmore's Message_, 1852. [157] "And the _fish_ that _is_ in the river shall die."--_Exod._, vii, 18. "And the _fish_ that _was_ in the river died."--_Ib._, 21. Here the construction is altogether in the singular, and yet the meaning seems to be plural. This construction appears to be more objectionable, than the use of the word _fish_ with a plural verb. The French Bible here corresponds with ours: but the Latin Vulgate, and the Greek Septuagint, have both the noun and the verb in the plural: as, "The _fishes_ that _are_ in the river,"--"The _fishes_ that _were_," &c. In our Bible, _fowl_, as well _fish_, is sometimes plural; and yet both words, in some passages, have the plural form: as, "And _fowl_ that may fly," &c.--_Gen._, i, 20. "I will consume the _fowls_ of the heaven, and the _fishes_ of the sea."--_Zeph._, i, 3. [158] Some authors, when they give to _mere words_ the construction of plural nouns, are in the habit of writing them in the form of possessives singular; as, "They have of late, 'tis true, reformed, in some measure, the gouty joints and darning work of _whereunto's, whereby's, thereof's, therewith's_, and the rest of this kind."--_Shaftesbury_. "Here," says Dr. Crombie, "the genitive singular is _improperly_ used for the objective case plural. It should be, _whereuntos, wherebys, thereofs, therewiths_."-- _Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 338. According to our rules, these words should rather be, _whereuntoes, wherebies_, _thereofs, therewiths_. "Any word, when used as the name of itself, becomes a noun."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 26. But some grammarians say, "The plural of words, considered as words merely, is formed by the apostrophe and _s_; as, 'Who, that has any taste, can endure the incessant, quick returns of the _also's_, and the _likewise's_, and the _moreover's_, and the _however's_, and the _notwithstanding's_?'--CAMPBELL."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 54. Practice is not altogether in favour of this principle, and perhaps it would be better to decide with Crombie that such a use of the apostrophe is improper. [159] "The Supreme Being (_God, [Greek: Theos], Deus, Dieu_, &c.) is, in all languages, masculine; in as much as the masculine sex is the superior and more excellent; and as He is the Creator of all, the Father of gods and men."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 54. This remark applies to all the direct names of the Deity, but the abstract idea of _Deity itself_, [Greek: To Theion], _Numen, Godhead_, or _Divinity_, is not masculine, but neuter. On this point, some notions have been published for grammar, that are too heterodox to be cited or criticised here. See _O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 208. [160] That is, we give them sex, if we mean to represent them _as_ persons. In the following example, a character commonly esteemed feminine is represented as neuter, because the author would seem to doubt both the sex and the personality: "I don't know what a _witch_ is, or what _it_ was then."--_N. P. Rogers's Writings_, p. 154. [161] There is the same reason for doubling the _t_ in _cittess_, as for doubling the _d_ in _goddess_. See Rule 3d for Spelling. Yet Johnson, Todd, Webster, Bolles, Worcester, and others, spell it _citess_, with one _t_. "Cits and _citesses_ raise a joyful strain."--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict._ [162] "But in the _English_ we have _no Genders_, as has been seen in the foregoing Notes. The same may be said of _Cases_."--_Brightland's Gram._, Seventh Edition, Lond., 1746, p. 85. [163] The Rev. David Blair so palpably contradicts himself in respect to this matter, that I know not which he favours most, two cases or three. In his main text, he adopts no objective, but says: "According to the _sense_ or _relation_ in which nouns are used, they are in the NOMINATIVE or [the] POSSESSIVE CASE, thus, _nom._ man; _poss._ man's." To this he adds the following marginal note: "In the English language, the distinction of the objective case is observable only in the pronouns. _Cases_ being nothing but _inflections_, where inflections do not exist, there can be no grammatical distinction of cases, for the terms _inflection_ and _case_ are _perfectly synonymous_ and _convertible_. As the English noun has _only one change_ of termination, _so no other case_ is here adopted. The _objective_ case is noticed in the _pronouns_; and _in parsing nouns_ it is easy to distinguish _subjects_ from _objects_. A noun which _governs the verb_ may be described as in the _nominative_ case, and one governed by the verb, or following a preposition, as in the _objective_ case."--_Blair's Practical Gram., Seventh Edition_, London, 1815, p. 11. The terms _inflection_ and _case_ are not practically synonymous, and never were so in the grammars of the language from which they are derived. The man who rejects the objective case of English nouns, because it has not a form peculiar to itself alone, must reject the accusative and the vocative of all neuter nouns in Latin, for the same reason; and the ablative, too, must in general be discarded on the same principle. In some other parts of his book, Blair speaks of the objective case of nouns as familiarly as do other authors! [164] This author says, "We choose to use the term _subjective_ rather than _nominative_, because it is shorter, and because it conveys its meaning by its sound, whereas the latter word means, indeed, little or nothing in itself."--_Text-Book_, p. 88. This appears to me a foolish innovation, too much in the spirit of Oliver B. Peirce, who also adopts it. The person who knows not the meaning of the word _nominative_, will not be very likely to find out what is meant by _subjective_; especially as some learned grammarians, even such men as Dr. Crombie and Professor Bullions, often erroneously call the word which is governed by the verb its _subject_. Besides, if we say _subjective_ and _objective_, in stead of _nominative_ and _objective_, we shall inevitably change the accent of both, and give them a pronunciation hitherto unknown to the words.--G. BROWN. [165] The authorities cited by Felch, for his doctrine of "_possessive adnouns_," amount to nothing. They are ostensibly two. The first is a remark of Dr. Adam's: "'_John's book_ was formerly written _Johnis book_. Some have thought the _'s_ a contraction of _his_, but improperly. Others have imagined, with more justness, that, by the addition of the _'s_, the substantive is changed into a possessive adjective.'--_Adam's Latin and English Grammar_, p. 7."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 26. Here Dr. Adam by no means concurs with what these "_others have imagined_;" for, in the very same place, he declares the possessive case of nouns to be their _only_ case. The second is a dogmatical and inconsistent remark of some anonymous writer in some part of the "_American Journal of Education_," a work respectable indeed, but, on the subject of grammar, too often fantastical and heterodox. Felch thinks it not improper, to use the possessive case before participles; in which situation, it denotes, not the owner of something, but the agent, subject, or recipient, of the action, being, or change. And what a jumble does he make, where he attempts to resolve this ungrammatical construction!--telling us, in almost the same breath, that, "The agent of a _nounal_ verb [i. e. participle] is never expressed," but that, "Sometimes it [the _nounal_ or _gerundial_ verb] is _qualified_, in its _nounal capacity_, by a possessive _adnoun_ indicative _of its agent_ as a verb; as, there is _nothing like one's_ BEING useful he doubted _their_ HAVING it:" and then concluding, "_Hence it appears_, that the _present participle_ may be used _as agent or object_, and yet retain its character as a verb."--_Felch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. 81. Alas for the schools, if the wise men of the East receive for grammar such utter confusion, and palpable self-contradiction, as this! [166] A critic's accuracy is sometimes liable to be brought into doubt, by subsequent alterations of the texts which, he quotes. Many an error cited in this volume of criticism, may possibly not be found in some future edition of the book referred to; as several of those which were pointed out by Lowth, have disappeared from the places named for them. Churchill also cites this line as above; (_New Gram._, p. 214;) but, in my edition of the Odyssey, by Pope, the reading is this: "By _lov'd Telemachus's_ blooming years!"--Book xi, L 84. [167] _Corpse_ forms the plural regularly, _corpses_; as in _2 Kings_, xix, 35: "In the morning, behold, they were all dead _corpses_." [168] Murray says, "An _adjective_ put without a substantive, with the definite article before it, _becomes a substantive in sense and meaning_, and is _written as a substantive_: as, 'Providence rewards _the good_, and punishes _the bad_.'" If I understand this, it is very erroneous, and plainly contrary to the fact. I suppose the author to speak of _good persons_ and _bad persons_; and, if he does, is there not an ellipsis in his language? How can it be said, that _good_ and _bad_ are here substantives, since they have a plural meaning and refuse the plural form? A word "_written as a substantive_," unquestionably _is_ a substantive; but neither of these is here entitled to that name. Yet Smith, and other satellites of Murray, endorse his doctrine; and say, that _good_ and _bad_ in this example, and all adjectives similarly circumstanced, "may be considered _nouns_ in parsing."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 52. "An adjective with the definite article before it, becomes a _noun_, (of the third person, plural number,) and _must be parsed_ as such."--_R. G. Greene's Grammatical Text-Book_, p. 55. [169] Here the word _English_ appears to be used substantively, not by reason of the article, but rather because _it has no article_; for, when the definite article is used before such a word taken in the singular number, it seems to show that the noun _language_ is understood. And it is remarkable, that before the names or epithets by which we distinguish the languages, this article may, in many instances, be either used or not used, repeated or not repeated, without any apparent impropriety: as, "This is the case with _the_ Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 38. Better, perhaps: "This is the case with _the_ Hebrew, _the_ French, _the_ Italian, and _the_ Spanish." But we may say: "This is the case with Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish." In the first of these forms, there appears to be an ellipsis of the plural noun _languages_, at the end of the sentence; in the second, an ellipsis of the singular noun _language_, after each of the national epithets; in the last, no ellipsis, but rather a substantive use of the words in question. [170] The Doctor may, for aught I know, have taken his notion of this "_noun_," from the language "of Dugald Dalgetty, boasting of his '5000 _Irishes_' in the prison of Argyle." See _Letter of Wendell Phillips, in the Liberator_, Vol. xi, p. 211. [171] Lindley Murray, or some ignorant printer of his octavo Grammar, has omitted this _s_; and thereby spoiled the prosody, if not the sense, of the line: "Of Sericana, where _Chinese_ drive," &c. --_Fourth American Ed._, p. 345. If there was a design to correct the error of Milton's word, something should have been inserted. The common phrase, "_the Chinese_," would give the sense, and the right number of syllables, but not the right accent. It would be sufficiently analogous with our mode of forming the words, _Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen, Dutchmen_, and _Irishmen_, and perhaps not unpoetical, to say: "Of Sericana, where _Chinese-men_ drive, With sails and wind, their cany _wagons_ light." [172] The last six words are perhaps more frequently pronouns; and some writers will have well-nigh all the rest to be pronouns also. "In like manner, in _the_ English, there have been _rescued_ from the adjectives, and classed with the pronouns, any, aught, each, every, many, none, one, other, some, such, that, those, this, these; and by other writers, all, another, both, either, few, first, last, neither, and several."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 106. Had the author said _wrested_, in stead of "_rescued_," he would have taught a much better doctrine. These words are what Dr. Lowth correctly called "_Pronominal Adjectives_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 24. This class of adjectives includes most of the words which Murray, Lennie, Bullions, Kirkham, and others, so absurdly denominate "_Adjective Pronouns_." Their "Distributive Adjective Pronouns, _each, every, either, neither_;" their "Demonstrative Adjective Pronouns, _this, that, these, those_;" and their "Indefinite Adjective Pronouns, _some, other, any, one, all, such_, &c.," are every one of them here; for they all are _Adjectives_, and not _Pronouns_. And it is obvious, that the corresponding words in Latin, Greek, or French, are adjectives likewise, and are, for the most part, so called; so that, from General Grammar, or "the usages of other languages," arises an argument for ranking them as adjectives, rather than as pronouns. But the learned Dr. Bullions, after improperly assuming that every adjective must "express _the quality of a noun_," and thence arguing that no such definitives can rightly be called _adjectives_, most absurdly suggests, that "_other languages_," or "_the usages of_ other languages," generally assign to these _English words_ the place of _substitutes_! But so remarkable for self-contradiction, as well as other errors, is this gentleman's short note upon the classification of these words, that I shall present the whole of it for the reader's consideration. "NOTE. The distributives, demonstratives, and indefinites, cannot strictly be called _pronouns_; since they never stand _instead_ of nouns, but always _agree_ with _a noun_ expressed or understood: _Neither can they be properly_ called _adjectives_, since they never express _the quality of a noun_. They are here classed _with pronouns_, in accordance with _the usages of other languages_, which _generally assign them this place_. All these, together with the _possessives_, in parsing, may _with sufficient propriety_ be termed _adjectives_, being _uniformly regarded as such_ in syntax."--_Bullions's Principles of English Gram._, p. 27. (See also his _Appendix_ III, E. Gram., p. 199.) What a sample of grammatical instruction is here! The pronominal adjectives "cannot properly _be called adjectives_," but "they may with sufficient propriety be _termed adjectives_!" And so may "_the possessives_," or _the personal pronouns in the possessive case_! "Here," i.e., in _Etymology_, they are all "_classed with pronouns_;" but, "in _Syntax_," they are "uniformly _regarded as adjectives_!" Precious MODEL for the "Series of Grammars, English, Latin, and Greek, all on THE SAME PLAN!" [173] _Some_, for _somewhat_, or _in some degree_, appears to me a vulgarism; as, "This pause is generally _some_ longer than that of a period."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 271. The word _what_ seems to have been used adverbially in several different senses; in none of which is it much to be commended: as, "Though I forbear, _what_ am I eased?"--_Job_, xvi, 6. "_What_ advantageth it me?"--_1 Cor._, xv, 32. Here _what_, means _in what degree? how much?_ or _wherein?_ "For _what_ knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?"--_1 Cor._, vii, 16. Here _how_ would have been better. "The enemy, having his country wasted, _what_ by himself and _what_ by the soldiers, findeth succour in no place."--_Spenser_. Here _what_ means _partly_;--"wasted _partly_ by himself and _partly_ by the soldiers." This use of _what_ was formerly very common, but is now, I think, obsolete. _What_ before an adjective seems sometimes to denote with admiration the degree of the quality; and is called, by some, an adverb; as, "_What partial_ judges are our love and hate!"--_Dryden_. But here I take _what_ to be an _adjective_; as when we say, _such_ partial judges, _some_ partial judges, &c. "_What_ need I be forward with Death, that calls not on me?"--_Shakspeare_. Here _what_ seems to be improperly put in place of _why_. [174] Dr. Blair, in his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, often uses the phrase "_this much_;" but it is, I think, more common to say "_thus much_," even when the term is used substantively. [175] There seems to be no good reason for joining _an_ and _other_: on the contrary, the phrase _an other_ is always as properly two words, as the phrase _the other_, and more so. The latter, being long ago vulgarly contracted into _t'other_, probably gave rise to the apparent contraction _another_; which many people nowadays are ignorant enough to divide wrong, and mispronounce. See _"a-no-ther"_ in _Murray's Spelling-Book_, p. 71; and _"a-noth-er"_ in _Emerson's_, p. 76. _An_ here excludes any other article; and both analogy and consistency require that the words be separated. Their union, like that of the words _the_ and _other_, has led sometimes to an improper repetition of the article: as, "_Another_ such _a_ man," for, "An other such man."--"Bind my hair up. An 'twas yesterday? No, nor _the t'other_ day."--BEN JONSON: _in Joh. Dict._ "He can not tell when he should take _the tone_, and when _the tother_."--SIR T. MOORE: Tooke's D. P., Vol. 15, p. 448. That is--"when he should take _the one_ and when _the other_." Besides, the word _other_ is declined, like a noun, and has the plural _others_; but the compounding of _another_ constrains our grammarians to say, that this word "has no plural." All these difficulties will be removed by writing _an other_ as two words. The printers chiefly rule this matter. To them, therefore, I refer it; with directions, not to unite these words for me, except where it has been done in the manuscript, for the sake of exactness in quotation.--G. BROWN. [176] This is a misapplication of the word _between_, which cannot have reference to more than two things or parties: the term should have been _among_.--G. BROWN. [177] I suppose that, in a comparison of _two_, any of the degrees may be accurately employed. The common usage is, to construe the positive with _as_, the comparative with _than_, and the superlative with _of_. But here custom allows us also to use the comparative with _of_, after the manner of the superlative; as, "This is _the better of_ the two." It was but an odd whim of some old pedant, to find in this a reason for declaring it ungrammatical to say "This is _the best of_ the two." In one grammar, I find the former construction _condemned_, and the latter approved, thus: "This is the better book of the two. Not correct, because the comparative state of the adjective, (_better_,) can not correspond with the preposition, _of_. The definite article, _the_, is likewise improperly applied to the comparative state; the sentence should stand thus, This is the _best_ book of the two."--_Chandler's Gram._, Ed. of 1821, p. 130; Ed. of 1847, p. 151. [178] This example appears to have been borrowed from Campbell; who, however, teaches a different doctrine from Murray, and clearly sustains my position; "Both degrees are in such cases used _indiscriminately_. We say _rightly_, either 'This is the weaker of the two,' or--'the weakest of the two.'"--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 202. How positively do some other men contradict this! "In comparing _two_ persons or things, by means of an adjective, care must be taken, that the superlative state be not employed: We properly say, 'John is the _taller_ of the two;' but we _should not say_, 'John is the _tallest_ of the two.' The reason is plain: we compare but _two_ persons, and must _therefore_ use the comparative state."--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 143. Rev. Matt. Harrison, too, insists on it, that the superlative must "have reference to more than two," and censures _Dr. Johnson_ for not observing the rule. See _Harrison's English Language_, p. 255. [179] L. Murray copied this passage literally, (though anonymously,) as far as the colon; and of course his book teaches us to account "_the termination ish_, in some sort, _a degree of comparison_."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 47. But what is more absurd, than to think of accounting this, or any other suffix, "_a degree of comparison?_" The inaccuracy of the language is a sufficient proof of the haste with which Johnson adopted this notion, and of the blindness with which he has been followed. The passage is now found in most of our English grammars. Sanborn expresses the doctrine thus: "Adjectives terminating with _ish_, denote a degree of comparison less than the positive; as, _saltish, whitish, blackish_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 87. But who does not know, that most adjectives of this ending are derived from _nouns_, and are compared only by adverbs, as _childish, foolish_, and so forth? Wilcox says, "Words ending in _ish_, generally express a slight degree; as, _reddish, bookish_."--_Practical Gram._, p. 17. But who will suppose that _foolish_ denotes but a slight degree of folly, or _bookish_ but a slight fondness for books? And, with such an interpretation, what must be the meaning of _more bookish_ or _most foolish_? [180] "'A rodde shall come _furth_ of the stocke of Jesse.' _Primer, Hen. VIII_."--_Craven Glossary_. [181] _Midst_ is a contraction of the regular superlative _middest_, used by Spenser, but now obsolete. _Midst_, also, seems to be obsolete as an adjective, though still frequently used as a noun; as, "In the _midst_."--_Webster_. It is often a poetic contraction for the preposition _amidst_. In some cases it appears to be an adverb. In the following example it is equivalent to _middlemost_, and therefore an adjective: "Still greatest he _the midst_, Now dragon grown."--_Paradise Lost_, B. x, l. 528. [182] What I here say, accords with the teaching of all our lexicographers and grammarians, except one dauntless critic, who has taken particular pains to put me, and some three or four others, on the defensive. This gentleman not only supposes _less_ and _fewer, least_ and _fewest_, to be sometimes equivalent in meaning, but actually exhibits them as being also etymologically of the same stock. _Less_ and _least_, however, he refers to three different positives, and _more_ and _most_, to four. And since, in once instance, he traces _less_ and _more, least_ and _most_, to the same primitive word, it follows of course, if he is right, that _more_ is there equivalent to _less_ and _most_ is equivalent to _least_! The following is a copy of this remarkable "DECLENSION ON INDEFINITE SPECIFYING ADNAMES," and just one half of the table is wrong: "_Some, more, most; Some, less, least_; Little, less, least; Few, fewer _or less_, fewest _or least; Several, more, most_; Much, more, most; Many, more most."--_Oliver B Peirce's Gram._, p. 144. [183] Murray himself had the same false notion concerning six of these adjectives, and perhaps all the rest; for his indefinite _andsoforths_ may embrace just what the reader pleases to imagine. Let the following paragraph be compared with the observations and proofs which I shall offer: "Adjectives that have in themselves a superlative signification, do not properly admit of the superlative or [the] comparative form superadded: such as, 'Chief, extreme, perfect, right, universal, supreme,' &c.; which are sometimes improperly written, 'Chiefest, extremest, perfectest, rightest, most universal, most supreme,' &c. The following expressions are therefore improper. 'He sometimes claims admission to the _chiefest_ offices;' 'The quarrel became _so universal_ and national;' 'A method of attaining the _rightest_ and greatest happiness.' The phrases, so perfect, so right, so extreme, so universal, &c., are incorrect; because they imply that one thing is less perfect, less extreme, &c. than another, which is not possible."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 167. For himself, a man may do as he pleases about comparing these adjectives; but whoever corrects others, on such principles as the foregoing, will have work enough on his hands. But the writer who seems to exceed all others, in error on this point, is _Joseph W. Wright_. In his "Philosophical Grammar," p. 51st, this author gives a list of seventy-two adjectives, which, he says, "admit of _no variation of state_;" i. e., are not compared. Among them are _round, flat, wet, dry, clear, pure, odd, free, plain, fair, chaste, blind_, and more than forty others, which are compared about as often as any words in the language. Dr. Blair is hypercritically censured by him, for saying "_most excellent_," "_more false_," "the _chastest_ kind," "_more perfect_" "_fuller, more full, fullest, most full, truest_ and _most true_;" Murray, for using "_quite wrong_;" and Cobbett, for the phrase, "_perfect correctness_." "Correctness," says the critic, "does not admit of _degrees of perfection_."--_Ib._, pp. 143 and 151. But what does such a thinker know about correctness? If this excellent quality cannot be _perfect_, surely nothing can. The words which Dr. Bullions thinks it "improper to compare," because he judges them to have "an absolute or superlative signification," are "_true, perfect, universal, chief, extreme, supreme_, &c."--no body knows how many. See _Principles of E. Gram._, p. 19 and p. 115. [184] The regular comparison of this word, (_like, liker, likest_,) seems to be obsolete, or nearly so. It is seldom met with, except in old books: yet we say, _more like_, or _most like, less like_, or _least like_. "To say the flock with whom he is, is _likest_ to Christ."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 180. "Of Godlike pow'r? for _likest_ Gods they seem'd."--_Milton, P. L._ B. vi, l. 301. [185] This example, and several others that follow it, are no ordinary solecisms; they are downright Irish bulls, making actions or relations reciprocal, where reciprocity is _utterly_ unimaginable. Two words can no more be "_derived from each other_," than two living creatures can have received their existence from each other. So, two things can never "_succeed each other_," except they alternate or move in a circle; and a greater number in train can "_follow one an other_" only in some imperfect sense, not at all reciprocal. In some instances, therefore, the best form of correction will be, to reject the reciprocal terms altogether--G. BROWN. [186] This doctrine of punctuation, if not absolutely false in itself, is here very badly taught. When _only two words_, of any sort, occur in the same construction, they seldom require the comma; and never can they need _more than one_, whereas these grammarians, by their plural word "_commas_," suggest a constant demand for two or more.--G. BROWN. [187] Some grammarians exclude the word _it_ from the list of personal pronouns, because it does not convey the idea of that personality which consists in _individual intelligence_. On the other hand, they will have _who_ to be a personal pronoun, because it is literally applied to _persons only_, or intelligent beings. But I judge them to be wrong in respect to both; and, had they given _definitions_ of their several classes of pronouns, they might perhaps have found out that the word _it_ is always personal, in a grammatical sense, and _who_, either relative or interrogative. [188] "_Whoso_ and _whatso_ are found in old authors, but are now out of use."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 76. These antiquated words are equivalent in import to _whosoever_ and _whatsoever_. The former, _whoso_, being used many times in the Bible, and occasionally also by the poets, as by Cowper, Whittier, and others, can hardly be said to be obsolete; though Wells, like Churchill, pronounced it so, in his first edition. [189] "'The man is prudent which speaks little.' This sentence is incorrect, because _which_ is a pronoun of the neuter gender."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 18. "_Which_ is also a relative, but it is of [the] neuter gender. It is also interrogative."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 26. For oversights like these, I cannot account. The relative _which_ is of all the genders, as every body ought to know, who has ever heard of the _horse which_ Alexander rode, of the _ass which_ spoke to Balaam, or of any of the _animals_ and _things_ which Noah had with him in the ark. [190] The word _which_ also, when taken in its _discriminative_ sense (i.e. to distinguish some persons or things from others) may have a construction of this sort; and, by ellipsis of the noun after it, it may likewise bear a resemblance to the double relative _what_: as, "I shall now give you two passages; and request you to point out _which_ words are mono-syllables, _which_ dis-syllables, _which_ tris-syllables, and _which_ poly-syllables."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 16. Here, indeed, the word _what_ might be substituted for _which_; because that also has a discriminative sense. Either would be right; but the author might have presented the same words and thoughts rather more accurately, thus: "I shall now give you two passages; and request you to point out which words are monosyllables; which, dissyllables; which, trissyllables; and which, polysyllables." [191] The relative _what_, being equivalent to _that which_, sometimes has the demonstrative word _that_ set after it, by way of pleonasm; as, "_What_ I tell you in darkness, _that_ speak ye in light, and _what_ ye hear in the ear, _that_ preach ye upon the house-tops."--_Matt._, x, 27. In _Covell's Digest_, this text is presented as "_false syntax_," under the new and needless rule, "Double relatives always supply two cases."--_Digest of E. Gram._, p. 143. In my opinion, to strike out the word _that_, would greatly weaken the expression: and so thought our translators; for no equivalent term is used in the original. [192] As for Butler's method of parsing these words by _always recognizing a noun as being_ "UNDERSTOOD" _before them_,--a method by which, according to his publishers notice, "The ordinary unphilosophical explanation of this class of words is discarded, and a simple, intelligible, common-sense view of the matter now _for the first time_ substituted,"--I know not what novelty there is in it, that is not also just so much _error_. "Compare," says he, "these two sentences: 'I saw _whom_ I wanted to see;' 'I saw what I wanted to see. If _what_ in the latter is equivalent to _that which_ or _the thing which, whom_, in the former is equivalent to _him whom_, or _the person whom_."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 51. The former example being simply elliptical of the antecedent, he judges the latter to be so too; and infers, "that _what_ is nothing more than a relative pronoun, and includes nothing else."--_Ib._ This conclusion is not well drawn, because the two examples are _not analogous_; and whoever thus finds "that _what_ is nothing more than a relative," ought also to find it is something less,--a mere adjective. "I saw _the person whom_ I wanted to see," is a sentence that _can scarcely spare_ the antecedent and retain the sense; "I saw _what_ I wanted to see," is one which _cannot receive_ an antecedent, without changing both the sense and the construction. One may say, "I saw what _things_ I wanted to see;" but this, in stead of giving _what_ an _antecedent_, makes it an _adjective_, while it _retains the force of a relative_. Or he _may insert_ a noun before _what_, agreeably to the solution of Butler; as, "I saw _the things_, what I wanted to see:" or, if he please, both before and after; as, "I saw _the things_, what _things_ I wanted to see." But still, in either case, _what_ is no "simple relative;" for it here seems equivalent to the phrase, _so many as_. Or, again, he may omit the comma, and say, "I saw _the thing_ what I wanted to see;" but this, if it be not a vulgarism, will only mean, "I saw _the thing to be_ what I wanted to see." So that this method of parsing the pronoun what, is manifestly no improvement, but rather a perversion and misinterpretation. But, for further proof of his position, Butler adduces instances of what he calls "_the relative_ THAT _with the antecedent omitted_. A few examples of this," he says, "will help us to ascertain the nature of _what_. 'We speak _that_ we do know,' _Bible_. [_John_, iii, 11.] 'I am _that_ I am.' _Bible_. [_Exod._, iii, 14.] 'Eschewe _that_ wicked is.' _Gower_. 'Is it possible he should know what he is, and be _that_ he is?' Shakespeare. 'Gather the sequel by _that_ went before.' _Id._ In these examples," continues he, "_that_ is a relative; and is _exactly synonymous_ with _what_. No one would contend that _that_ stands for itself and its antecedent at the same time. The antecedent is omitted, _because it is indefinite_, OR EASILY SUPPLIED."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 52; _Bullions's Analytical and Practical Gram._, p. 233. Converted at his wisest age, by these false arguments, so as to renounce and gainsay the doctrine taught almost universally, and hitherto spread industriously by himself, in the words of Lennie, that, "_What_ is a compound relative, including both the relative and the antecedent," Dr. Bullions now most absurdly urges, that, "The truth is, _what_ is a _simple_ relative, having, wherever used, _like all other relatives_, BUT ONE CASE; but * * * that it always refers to a _general antecedent, omitted_, BUT EASILY SUPPLIED _by the mind_," though "_not_ UNDERSTOOD, _in the ordinary sense_ of that expression."--_Analyt. and Pract. Gram._ of 1849, p. 51. Accordingly, though he differs from Butler about this matter of "_the ordinary sense_," he cites the foregoing suggestions of this author, with the following compliment: "These remarks appear to me _just_, and _conclusive on this point_."--_Ib._, p. 233. But there must, I think, be many to whon they will appear far otherwise. These elliptical uses of _that_ are all of them bad or questionable English; because, the ellipsis being such as may be supplied in two or three different ways, the true construction is doubtful, the true meaning not exactly determined by the words. It is quite as easy and natural to take "_that_" to be here a demonstrative term, having the relative _which_ understood after it, as to suppose it "a relative," with an antecedent to be supplied before it. Since there would not be the same uncertainty, if _what_ were in these cases substituted for _that_, it is evident that the terms are _not_ "_exactly synonymous_;" but, even if they were so, exact synonymy would not evince a sameness of construction. [193] See this erroneous doctrine in Kirkham's Grammar, p. 112; in Wells's, p. 74; in Sanborn's, p. 71, p. 96, and p. 177; in Cooper's, p. 38; in O. B. Peirce's, p. 70. These writers show a great fondness for this complex mode of parsing. But, in fact, no pronoun, not even the word _what_, has any double construction of cases from a real or absolute necessity; but merely because, the noun being suppressed, yet having a representative, we choose rather to understand and parse its representative doubly, than to supply the ellipsis. No pronoun includes "both the antecedent and the relative," by virtue of its own _composition_, or of its own derivation, as a word. No pronoun can properly be called "_compound_" merely because it has a double construction, and is equivalent to two other words. These positions, if true, as I am sure they are, will refute sundry assertions that are contained in the above-named grammars. [194] Here the demonstrative word _that_, as well as the phrase _that matter_, which I form to explain its construction, unquestionably refers back to Judas's confession, that he had sinned; but still, as the word has not the connecting power of a relative pronoun, its true character is _that_ of an adjective, and not _that_ of a pronoun. This pronominal adjective is very often mixed with some such ellipsis, and _that_ to repeat the import of various kinds of words and phrases: as, "God shall help her, and _that_ right early."--_Psal._, xlvi, 5. "Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and _that_ your brethren."--l Cor., vi, 8. "I'll know your business, _that_ I will."--_Shakespeare._ [195] Dr. Bullions has undertaken to prove, "That the word AS should not be considered a relative in any circumstances." The force of his five great arguments to this end, the reader may well conceive of, when he has compared the following one with what is shown in the 22d and 23d observations above: "3. As _can never be used as a substitute for another relative pronoun, nor another relative pronoun as a substitute for it_. If, then, it is a relative pronoun, it is, to say the least, a very unaccommodating one."--_Bullions's Analytical and Practical Gram. of_ 1849, p. 233. [196] The latter part of this awkward and complex rule was copied from Lowth's Grammar, p. 101. Dr. Ash's rule is, "_Pronouns_ must _always agree_ with the _nouns_ for which they _stand_, or to which they _refer_, in _Number, person_, and _gender_."--_Grammatical Institutes_, p. 54. I quote this _exactly as it stands_ in the book: the Italics are his, not mine. Roswell C. Smith appears to be ignorant of the change which Murray made in his fifth rule: for he still publishes as Murray's a principle of concord which the latter rejected as early as 1806: "RULE V. Corresponding with Murray's Grammar, RULE V. _Pronouns must agree with the nouns for which they stand, in gender, number_, AND PERSON."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 130. So _Allen Fisk_, in his "Murray's English Grammar Simplified," p. 111; _Aaron M. Merchant_, in his "_Abridgment_ of Murray's English Grammar, Revised, _Enlarged_ and Improved," p. 79; and the _Rev. J. G. Cooper_, in his "Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar," p. 113; where, from the titles, every reader would expect to find the latest doctrines of Murray, and not what he had so long ago renounced or changed. [197] L. Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 51; 12mo, 51; 18mo, 22; D. Adams's, 37; Alger's, 21; Bacon's, 19; Fisk's, 20; Kirkham's, 17; Merchant's Murray, 35; Merchant's American Gram., 40; F. H. Miller's Gram., 26; Pond's, 28; S. Putnam's, 22; Russell's, 16; Rev. T. Smith's, 22. [198] Dr. Crombie, and some others, represent I and thou, with their inflections, as being "masculine and feminine." Lennie, M'Culloch, and others, represent them as being "masculine or feminine." But, if either of them can have an antecedent that is _neuter_, neither of these views is strictly correct. (See Obs. 5th, above.) Mackintosh says, "We use _our, your, their_, in speaking of a thing or things belonging to plural nouns of any gender."--_Essay on English Gram._, p. 149. So William Barnes says, "_I, thou, we, ye_ or _you_, and _they_, are of _all_ genders,"-- _Philosophical Gram._, p. 196. [199] "It is perfectly plain, then, that _my_ and _mine_ are but different forms of the same word, as are _a_ and _an_. _Mine_, for the sake of euphony, or from custom, stands for the possessive case without a noun; but must be changed for _my_ when the noun is expressed: and _my_, for a similar reason, stands before a noun, but must be changed for _mine_ when the noun is dropped. * * * _Mine_ and _my, thine_ and _thy_, will, therefore, be considered in this book, as different forms of the possessive case from _I_ and _Thou_. And the same rule will be extended to _her_ and _hers, our_ and _ours, your_ and _yours, their_ and _theirs_."--_Barnard's Analytic Grammar_, p. 142. [200] It has long been fashionable, in the ordinary intercourse of the world, to substitute the plural form of this pronoun for the singular through all the cases. Thus, by the figure ENALLAGE, "_you are_," for instance, is commonly put for "_thou art_." See Observations 20th and 21st, below; also Figures of Syntax, in Part IV. [201] The original nominative was _ye_, which is still the only nominative of the solemn style; and the original objective was _you_, which is still the only objective that our grammarians in general acknowledge. But, whether grammatical or not, _ye_ is now very often used, in a familiar way, for the objective case. (See Observations 22d and 23d, upon the declensions of pronouns.) T. Dilworth gave both cases alike: "_Nom_. Ye _or_ you;" "_Acc._ [or _Obj._] Ye _or_ you."--His _New Guide_, p. 98. Latham gives these forms: "_Nom._ ye _or_ you; _Obj._ you or ye."--_Elementary Gram._, p. 90. Dr. Campbell says, "I am inclined to prefer that use which makes _ye_ invariably the nominative plural of the personal pronoun _thou_, and _you_ the accusative, when applied to an actual plurality."--_Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 174. Professor Fowler touches the case, rather blindly, thus: "Instead of the true nominative YE, we use, with few exceptions, _the objective case_; as, 'YOU _speak_;' 'YOU _two are speaking_.' In this we _substitute_ one case _for_ another."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.478. No other grammarian, however, discards _you_ as a nominative of "actual plurality;" and the present casual practice of putting _ye_ in the objective, has prevailed to some extent for at least two centuries: as, "Your change approaches, when all these delights Will vanish and deliver _ye_ to woe." --_Milton_, P. L., B. iv, l. 367. [202] Dr. Young has, in one instance, and with very doubtful propriety, converted this pronoun into the _second person_, by addressing himself thus:-- "O _thou, myself I_ abroad our counsels roam And, like ill husbands, take no care at home." --_Love of Fame_, Sat. II, l. 271. [203] The fashion of using the plural number for the singular, or _you_ for _thou_, has also substituted _yourself_ for _thyself_, in common discourse. In poetry, in prayer, in Scripture, and in the familiar language of the Friends, the original compound is still retained; but the poets use either term, according to the gravity or the lightness of their style. But _yourself_, like the regal compound _ourself_, though apparently of the singular number, and always applied to one person only, is, in its very nature, an anomalous and ungrammatical word; for it can neither mean more than one, nor agree with a pronoun or a verb that is singular. Swift indeed wrote: "Conversation is but carving; carve for all, _yourself is starving_." But he wrote erroneously, and his meaning is doubtful: probably he meant, "To carve for all, is, _to starve yourself_." The compound personals, when they are nominatives before the verb, are commonly associated with the simple; as, "I _myself_ also _am_ a man."--_Acts_, x, 16. "That _thou thyself art_ a guide."--_Rom._, ii, 19. "If it stand, as _you yourself_ still _do_"--_Shakspeare_. "That _you yourself_ are much condemned."--_Id._ And, if the simple pronoun be omitted, the compound still requires the same form of the verb; as, "Which way I fly is Hell; _myself am_ Hell."--_Milton_. The following example is different: "I love mankind; and in a monarchy myself _is_ all that I _can_ love."--_Life of Schiller, Follen's Pref._, p. x. Dr. Follen objects to the British version, "Myself _were_ all that I _could_ love;" and, if his own is good English, the verb _is_ agrees with _all_, and not with _myself_. _Is_ is of the third person: hence, "_myself is_" or, "_yourself is_," cannot be good syntax; nor does any one say, "_yourself art_," or, "_ourself am_," but rather, "_yourself are_:" as, "Captain, _yourself are_ the fittest."--_Dryden_. But to call this a "_concord_," is to turn a third part of the language upsidedown; because, by analogy, it confounds, to such extent at least, the plural number with the singular through all our verbs; that is, if _ourself_ and _yourself_ are singulars, and not rather plurals put for singulars by a figure of syntax. But the words are, in some few instances, written separately; and then both the meaning and the construction are different; as, "Your _self_ is sacred, profane _it_ not."--_The Dial_, Vol. i, p. 86. Perhaps the word _myself_ above ought rather to have been two words; thus, "And, in a monarchy, _my self is all_ that I can love." The two words here differ in person and case, perhaps also in gender; and, in the preceding instance, they differ in person, number, gender, and case. But the compound always follows the person, number, and gender of its first part, and only the case of its last. The notion of some grammarians, (to wit, of Wells, and the sixty-eight others whom he cites for it,) that _you_ and _your_ are actually made singular by usage, is demonstrably untrue. Do _we, our_, and _us_, become actually singular, as often as a king or a critic applies them to himself? No: for nothing can be worse syntax than, _we am, we was_, or _you was_, though some contend for this last construction. [204] _Whose_ is sometimes used as the possessive case of _which_; as, "A religion _whose_ origin is divine."--_Blair_. See Observations 4th and 5th, on the Classes of Pronouns. [205] After _but_, as in the following sentence, the double relative _what_ is sometimes applied to persons; and it is here equivalent _to the friend who_:-- "Lorenzo, pride repress; nor hope to find A friend, but _what_ has found a friend in thee."--_Young_. [206] Of all these compounds. L. Murray very improperly says, "They are _seldom used_, in modern style."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 54; also _Fisk's_, p. 65. None of them are yet obsolete, though the shorter forms seem to be now generally preferred. The following suggestion of Cobbett's is erroneous; because it implies that the shorter forms are innovations and faults; and because the author carelessly speaks of them as _one thing only_: "We _sometimes_ omit the _so_, and say, _whoever, whomever, whatever_, and even _whosever_. _It is_ a mere _abbreviation_. The _so_ is understood: and, it is best not to omit to write it."--_Eng. Gram._, 209. R. C. Smith dismisses the compound relatives with three lines; and these he closes with the following notion: "_They are not often used!_"--_New Gram._, p. 61. [207] Sanborn, with strange ignorance of the history of those words, teaches thus: "_Mine_ and _thine_ appear to have been formed from _my_ and _thy_ by changing _y_ into _i_ and adding _n_, and then subjoining _e_ to retain the long sound of the vowel."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 92. This false notion, as we learn from his guillemets and a remark in his preface, he borrowed from "Parkhurst's Systematic Introduction." Dr. Lowth says, "The Saxon _Ic_ hath the possessive case _Min; Thu_, possessive _Thin; He_, possessive _His_: From which our possessive cases of the same pronouns are taken _without alteration_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 23. [208] Latham, with a singularity quite remarkable, reverses this doctrine in respect to the two classes, and says, "_My, thy, our, your, her_, and _their_ signify possession, because they are possessive cases. * * * _Mine, thine, ours, yours, hers, theirs_, signify possession for a different reason. They partake of the nature of _adjectives_, and in all the allied languages are declined as such."--_Latham's Elementary E. Gram._, p. 94. Weld, like Wells, with a few more whose doctrine will be criticised by-and-by, adopting here an other odd opinion, takes the former class only for forms of the possessive case; the latter he disposes of thus: "_Ours, yours, theirs, hers_, and generally _mine_ and _thine_, are POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, used in either the _nominative or objective_ case,"--_Weld's Gram., Improved Ed._, p. 68. Not only denying the possessives with ellipsis to be instances of the possessive case, but stupidly mistaking at once two dissimilar things for a third which is totally unlike to either,--i. e., assuming together for _substitution_ both an _ellipsis_ of one word and an _equivalence_ to two--(as some others more learned have very strangely done--) he supposes all this class of pronouns to have forsaken every property of their legitimate roots,--their person, their number, their gender, their case,--and to have assumed other properties, such as belong to "the thing possessed!" In the example, "_Your_ house is on the plain, _ours_ is on the hill," he supposes _ours_ to be of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case; and not, as it plainly is, of the first person, plural number, masculine gender, and possessive case. Such parsing should condemn forever any book that teaches it. [209] This word should have been _numerals_, for two or three reasons. The author speaks of the _numeral adjectives_; and to say "the _numbers_ must agree in _number_ with their substantives," is tautological--G. Brown. [210] Cardell assails the common doctrine of the grammarians on this point, with similar assertions, and still more earnestness. See his _Essay on Language_, p. 80. The notion that "these _pretended possessives_ [are] uniformly used as _nominatives_ or _objectives_"--though demonstrably absurd, and confessedly repugnant to what is "_usually considered_" to be their true explanation--was adopted by Jaudon, in 1812; and has recently found several new advocates; among whom are Davis, Felch, Goodenow, Hazen, Smart, Weld, and Wells. There is, however, much diversity, as well as much inaccuracy, in their several expositions of the matter. Smart inserts in his declensions, as the only forms of the possessive case, the words of which he afterwards speaks thus: "The following _possessive cases_ of the personal pronouns, (See page vii,) _must be called_ PERSONAL PRONOUNS POSSESSIVE: _mine, thine, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs_. For these words are always used _substantively_, so as to include the meaning of some noun in the third person singular or plural, in the nominative or the objective ease. Thus, if _we are speaking_ of books, and say [,] '_Mine_ are here,' _mine_ means _my books_, [Fist] and it must be deemed a personal pronoun _possessive_ in the _third_ person _plural_, and _nominative_ to the verb _are_."--_Smart's Accidence_, p. xxii. If to say, these "_possessive cases_ must be called a _class_ of _pronouns_, used _substantively_, and deemed _nominatives_ or _objectives_," is not absurd, then nothing can be. Nor is any thing in grammar more certain, than that the pronoun "_mine_" can only be used by the speaker or writer, to denote himself or herself as the owner of something. It is therefore of the _first_ person, _singular_ number, _masculine_ (or feminine) gender, and _possessive case_; being governed by the name of the thing or things possessed. This name is, of course, always _known_; and, if known and not expressed, it is "understood." For sometimes a word is repeated to the mind, and clearly understood, where "it cannot properly be" expressed; as, "And he came and sought _fruit_ thereon, and found _none_."--_Luke_, xiii, 6. Wells opposes this doctrine, citing a passage from Webster, as above, and also imitating his argument. This author acknowledges three classes of pronouns--"personal, relative, and interrogative;" and then, excluding these words from their true place among personals of the possessive case, absurdly makes them a _supernumerary class of possessive nominatives_ or _objectives_! "_Mine, thine, his_, _ours, yours_, and _theirs_, are POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, used in construction either as _nominatives_ or _objectives_; as, 'Your pleasures are past, _mine_ are to come.' Here the word _mine_, which is used as a substitute for _my pleasures_, is _the subject_ of the verb _are_."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 71; 113 Ed., p. 78. Now the question to find the subject of the verb _are_, is, "My _what_ are to come?" Ans. "_pleasures_." But the author proceeds to argue in a note thus: "_Mine, thine_, etc. are often parsed as pronouns in the possessive case, _and governed by nouns understood._ Thus, in the sentence, 'This book is mine,' the _word mine_ is said to _possess book_. That the word _book_ is _not here understood_, is obvious from the fact, that, when it is supplied, the phrase becomes not '_mine_ book,' but '_my_ book,' the pronoun being changed from _mine_ to _my_; so that we are made, by this practice, to parse _mine_ as _possessing a word_ understood, before which it cannot properly be used. The word _mine_ is here evidently employed as a substitute for the two words, _my_ and _book_."--_Wells, ibid._ This note appears to me to be, in many respects, faulty. In the first place, its whole design was, to disprove what is true. For, bating the mere difference of _person_, the author's example above is equal to this: "Your pleasures are past, _W. H. Wells's_ are to come." The ellipsis of "_pleasures_", is evident in both. But _ellipsis_ is not _substitution_; no, nor is _equivalence. Mine_, when it suggests an ellipsis of the governing noun, is _equivalent_ to _my and that noun_; but certainly, not "_a substitute for the two words_." It is a substitute, or pronoun, for the _name of the speaker or writer_; and so is _my_; both forms representing, and always agreeing with, that name or person only. No possessive agrees with what governs it; but every pronoun ought to agree with that for which it stands. Secondly, if the note above cited does not aver, in its first sentence, that the pronouns in question _are "governed by nouns understood_," it comes much nearer to saying this, than a writer should who meant to deny it. In the third place, the example, "This book is mine," is not a good one for its purpose. The word "_mine_" may be regularly parsed as a possessive, without supposing any ellipsis; for "_book_," the name of the thing possessed, is given, and in obvious connexion with it. And further, the matter affirmed is _ownership_, requiring _different cases_; and not the _identity_ of something under different names, which must be put in the _same case_. In the fourth place, to mistake regimen for possession, and thence speak of _one word "as possessing" an other_, a mode of expression occurring twice in the foregoing note, is not only unscholarlike, but positively absurd. But, possibly, the author may have meant by it, to ridicule the choice phraseology of the following Rule: "A noun or pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by _the noun it possesses_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 181; _Frazee's_, 1844, p. 25. [211] In respect to the _numbers_, the following text is an uncouth exception: "Pass _ye_ away, _thou_ inhabitant of Saphir."--_Micah_, i, 11. The singular and the plural are here strangely confounded. Perhaps the reading should be, "Pass _thou_ away, _O_ inhabitant of Saphir." Nor is the Bible free from _abrupt transitions_ from one number to the other, or from one person to an other, which are neither agreeable nor strictly grammatical; as, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, _ye which [who]_ are spiritual, restore such _an [a]_ one in the spirit of meekness; considering _thyself_, lest _thou_ also be tempted."--_Gal._, vi, 1. "_Ye_ that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch _themselves_ upon _their_ couches," &c--_Amos_, vi, 9. [212] "The solemn style is used, chiefly, in the Bible and in prayer. The Society of Friends _retain it in common parlance_. It consists in using _thou_ in the singular number, and _ye_ in the plural, instead of using _you_ in both numbers as in the familiar style. * * * The third person singular [of verbs] ends with _th_ or _eth_, which affects only the present indicative, and _hath_ of the perfect. The second person, singular, ends with _st, est_, or _t_ only."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 58. "In [the] solemn and poetic styles, _mine, thine_, and _thy_, are used; and THIS _is the style adopted by the Friends' society_. In common discourse it appears very stiff and affected."--_Bartlett's C. S. Man'l_, Part II, p. 72. [213] "And of the History of his being _tost_ in a Blanket, _he saith_, 'Here, Scriblerus, _thou lessest_ in what _thou assertest_ concerning the blanket: it was not a blanket, but a rug.--Curlliad, p. 25."--_Notes to Pope's Dunciad_, B. ii, verse 3. A vulgar idea solemnly expressed, is ludicrous. Uttered in familiar terms, it is simply vulgar: as, "_You lie_, Scriblerus, in what _you say_ about the blanket." [214] "Notwithstanding these verbal mistakes, the Bible, for the size of it, is the most accurate grammatical composition that we have in the English language. The authority of several eminent grammarians might be adduced in support of this assertion, but it may be sufficient to mention only that of Dr. Lowth, who says, 'The present translation of the Bible, is _the best standard_ of the English language.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 166. I revere the Bible vastly too much to be pleased with an imitation of its peculiar style, in any man's ordinary speech or writing.--G. BROWN. [215] "_Ye_, except in the solemn style, is _obsolete_; but it is used in the language of tragedy, to express contempt: as, 'When _ye_ shall know what Margaret knows, _ye_ may not be so thankful.' Franklin."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 57. "The second person plural had _formerly_ YE _both in the nominative and the objective._ This form is _now obsolete in the objective_, and nearly obsolete in the nominative."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 55. [216] So has Milton:-- "To waste it all myself, and leave _ye_ none! So disinherited how would _you_ bless me!"--_Par. Lost_, B. x, l. 820. [217] "The word _what_ is a _compound of two specifying adjectives_, each, of course, referring to a noun, expressed or understood. It is equivalent to _the which_; _that which_; _which that_; or _that that_; used also in the plural. At different periods, and in different authors, it appears in the varying forms, _tha qua, qua tha, qu'tha, quthat, quhat_, _hwat_, and _what_. This word is found in other forms; but it is needless to multiply them."--_Cardell's Essay on Language_, p. 86. [218] This author's distribution of the pronouns, of which I have taken some notice in Obs. 10th above, is remarkable for its inconsistencies and absurdities. First he avers, "Pronouns are _generally_ divided into three kinds, the _Personal_, the _Adjective_, and the _Relative_ pronouns. _They are all known by the lists._"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 96. These short sentences are far from being accurate, clear, or true. He should have made the several kinds known, by a good definition of each. But this was work to which he did not find himself adequate. And if we look to his _lists_ for the particular words of each kind, we shall get little satisfaction. Of the _Personal_ pronouns, he says, "There are _five_ of them; _I, thou, he_, _she, it_."--_Ib._, p. 97. These are _simple_ words, and in their declension they are properly multiplied to forty. (See _Ib._, p. 99.) Next he seems to double the number, thus: "When _self_ is added to the personal pronouns, as himself, myself, itself, themselves, &c. _they_ are called _Compound Personal Pronouns_."--_Ib._, p. 99. Then he asserts that _mine_, _thine, his, hers, ours, yours_, and _theirs_, are compounds of _ne_ or _s_ with _mi, thi, hi_, &c.: that their application invariably "gives them a compound character:" and that, "They may, therefore, be properly denominated _Compound Personal Pronouns_."--_Ib._, p. 101. Next he comes to his _Adjective_ pronouns; and, after proving that he has grossly misplaced and misnamed every one of them, he gives his lists of the three kinds of these. His _Relative_ pronouns are _who, which_, and _that_. "_What_ is generally a _compound_ relative."--_Ib._, p. 111. The compounds of _who, which, and_ _what_, with _ever_ or _soever_, he calls "compound _pronouns_, but not compound relatives."--_Ib._, pp. 110 and 112. Lastly he discovers, that, "Truth and simplicity" have been shamefully neglected in this his third section of pronouns; that, "Of the words called '_relatives_,' _who_ only is a pronoun, and this is strictly _personal_;" that, "It ought to be classed with the personal pronouns;" and that, "_Which, that_, and _what_, are always adjectives. They _never stand for_, but always _belong to_ nouns, either expressed or implied."--_Ib._, p. 114. What admirable teachings are these! [219] "It is now proper to give some _examples of the manner_ in which the learners should be exercised, in order to improve their knowledge, and to render it familiar to them. This is called _parsing_. The nature of the subject, as well as the adaptation of it to learners, requires _that it should be divided_ into two parts: viz. parsing, as it respects etymology alone; and parsing, as it respects both etymology and syntax."--_Murray's Gram., Octavo_, Vol. 1, p. 225. How very little real respect for the opinions of Murray, has been entertained by these self-seeking magnifiers and modifiers of his work! What Murray calls "_Syntactical Parsing_" is sometimes called "_Construing_," especially by those who will have _Parsing_ to be nothing more than an etymological exercise. A late author says, "The practice of _Construing_ differs from that of parsing, in the extension of its objects. Parsing merely indicates the parts of speech and their accidents, but construing searches for and points out their syntactical relations."--_D. Blair's Gram._, p. 49. Here the distinction which Murray judged to be necessary, is still more strongly marked and insisted on. And though I see no utility in restricting the word _Parsing_ to a mere description of the parts of speech with their accidents, and no impropriety in calling the latter branch of the exercise "_Syntactical Parsing_;" I cannot but think there is such a necessity for the division, as forms a very grave argument against those tangled schemes of grammar which do not admit of it. Blair is grossly inconsistent with himself. For, after drawing his distinction between Parsing and Construing, as above, he takes no further notice of the latter; but, having filled up seven pages with his most wretched mode of "PARSING," adds, in an emphatic note: "_The Teacher should direct the Pupil to_ CONSTRUE, IN THE SAME MANNER, _any passage from_ MY CLASS-BOOK, _or other Work, at the rate of three or four lines per day_."--_D. Blair's Gram._, p. 56. [220] This is a comment upon the following quotation from Milton, where _Hers_ for _His_ would be a gross barbarism:-- "Should intermitted vengeance arm again _His_ red right hand to plague us."--_Par. Lost_, B. ii, l. 174. [221] The Imperfect Participle, _when simple_, or when taken as one of the four principal terms constituting the verb or springing from it, ends _always_ in _ing_. But, in a subsequent chapter, I include under this name the first participle of the passive verb; and this, in our language, is always a compound, and the latter term of it does not end in _ing_: as, "In all languages, indeed, examples are to be found of adjectives _being compared_ whose signification admits neither intension nor remission."--CROMBIE, _on Etym. and Syntax_, p. 106. According to most of our writers on English grammar, the Present or Imperfect Participle Passive is _always_ a compound of _being_ and the form of the perfect participle: as, _being loved, being seen_. But some represent it to have _two_ forms, one of which is always simple; as, "PERFECT PASSIVE, obeyed _or_ being obeyed."--_Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 55. "Loved _or_ being loved."--_Parkhurst's Grammar for Beginners_, p. 11; _Greene's Analysis_, p. 225. "Loved, or, _being_ loved."--_Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 83. I here concur with the majority, who in no instance take the participle in _ed_ or _en_, alone, for the Present or Imperfect. [222] In the following example, "_he_" and "_she_" are converted into verbs; as "_thou_" sometimes is, in the writings of Shakspeare, and others: "Is it not an impulse of selfishness or of a depraved nature to _he_ and _she_ inanimate objects?"--_Cutler's English Gram._, p. 16. Dr. Bullions, who has heretofore published several of the worst definitions of the verb anywhere extant, has now perhaps one of the best: "A VERB is a word used to express the _act, being_, or _state_ of its subject. "--_Analyt. & Pract. Gram._, p. 59. Yet it is not very obvious, that "_he_" and "_she_" are here verbs under this definition. Dr. Mandeville, perceiving that "the usual definitions of the verb are extremely defective," not long ago helped the schools to the following: "A verb is a word which describes _the state or condition_ of a _noun or pronoun_ in relation to _time_,"--_Course of Reading_, p. 24. Now it is plain, that under this definition too, Cutler's infinitives, "to _he_ and _she_" cannot be verbs; and, in my opinion, very small is the number of words that can be. No verb "describes the state or condition of a _noun or pronoun_," except in some form of _parsing_; nor, even in this sort of exercise, do I find any verb "which describes the state or condition" of such a word "_in relation to time_." Hence, I can make of this definition nothing but nonsense. Against my definition of a verb, this author urges, that it "excludes neuter verbs, expresses _no relation_ to subject or time, and uses terms in a vague or contradictory sense."--_Ib._, p. 25. The first and the last of these three allegations do not appear to be well founded; and the second, if infinitives are verbs, indicates an excellence rather than a fault. The definition assumes that the mind as well as the body may "_act_" or "_be acted upon_." For this cause, Dr. Mandeville, who cannot conceive that "_to be loved_" is in any wise "_to be acted upon_," pronounces it "fatally defective!" His argument is a little web of sophistry, not worth unweaving here. One of the best scholars cited in the reverend Doctor's book says, "Of mental powers we have _no conception_, but as certain capacities of _intellectual action_." And again, he asks, "Who can be conscious of _judgment, memory_, and _reflection_, and doubt that man was made _to act_!"--EVERETT: _Course of Reading_, p. 320. [223] Dr. Johnson says, "English verbs are active, as _I love_; or neuter, as _I languish_. The neuters are formed like the actives. The passive voice is formed by joining the participle preterit to the substantive verb, as _I am loved_." He also observes, "Most verbs signifying _action_ may likewise signify _condition_ or _habit_, and become _neuters_; as, _I love_, I am in love; _I strike_, I am now striking."--_Gram. with his Quarto Dict._, p. 7. [224] The doctrine here referred to, appears in both works in the very same words: to wit, "English Verbs are either Active, Passive, or Neuter. There are two sorts of Active Verbs, viz. _active-transitive_ and _active-intransitive_ Verbs."--_British Gram._, p. 153; _Buchanan's_, 56. Buchanan was in this case the copyist. [225] "The distinction between verbs absolutely neuter, as _to sleep_, and verbs active intransitive, as _to walk_, though _founded_ in NATURE _and_ TRUTH, is of little use in grammar. Indeed it would rather perplex than assist the learner; for the difference between verbs active and [verbs] neuter, as transitive and intransitive, is easy and obvious; but the difference between verbs absolutely neuter and [those which are] intransitively active is not always clear. But however these latter may differ in nature, the construction of them both is the same; and grammar is not so much concerned with their _real_, as with their _grammatical_ properties."--_Lowth's Gram_; p. 30. But are not "TRUTH, NATURE, and REALITY," worthy to be preferred to any instructions that contradict them? If they are, the good doctor and his worthy copyist have here made an ill choice. It is not only for the sake of these properties, that I retain a distinction which these grammarians, and others above named, reject; but for the sake of avoiding the untruth, confusion, and absurdity, into which one must fall by calling all active-intransitive verbs _neuter_. The distinction of active verbs, as being either transitive or intransitive, is also necessarily retained. But the suggestion, that this distinction is more "_easy and obvious_" than the other, is altogether an error. The really neuter verbs, being very few, occasion little or no difficulty. But very many active verbs, perhaps a large majority, are sometimes used intransitively; and of those which our lexicographers record as being always transitive, not a few are occasionally found without any object, either expressed or clearly suggested: as, "He _convinces_, but he does not _elevate nor animate_,"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 242. "The child _imitates_, and _commits_ to memory; whilst the riper age _digests_, and thinks independently."--_Dr. Lieber, Lit. Conv._, p. 313. Of examples like these, three different views maybe taken; and it is _very questionable_ which is the right one: _First_, that these verbs are here _intransitive_, though they are not commonly so; _Second_, that they are _transitive_, and have objects understood; _Third_, that they are used _improperly_, because no determinate objects are given them. If we assume the second opinion or the last, the full or the correct expressions may be these: "He convinces _the judgement_, but he does not elevate _the imagination_, or animate _the feelings_."--"The child imitates _others_, and commits _words_ to memory; whilst the riper age digests _facts or truths_, and thinks independently." These verbs are here transitive, but are they so above? Those grammarians who, supposing no other distinction important, make of verbs but two classes, transitive and intransitive, are still as much at variance, and as much at fault, as others, (and often more so,) when they come to draw the line of this distinction. To "_require_" an objective, to "_govern_" an objective, to "_admit_" an objective, and to "_have_" an objective, are criterions considerably different. Then it is questionable, whether infinitives, participles, or sentences, must or can have the effect of objectives. One author says, "If a verb has any objective case _expressed_, it is transitive: if it has none, it is intransitive. _Verbs which_ appear transitive in their nature, may frequently be used intransitively."-- _Chandler's Old Gram._, p. 32; his _Common School Gram._, p. 48. An other says, "A transitive verb _asserts_ action which does or can, terminate on some object."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 29. An other avers, "There are two classes of verbs _perfectly distinct_ from each other, viz: Those which _do_, and those which _do not_, govern an objective case." And his definition is, "A _Transitive Verb_ is one which _requires_ an _objective case_ after it."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 63. Both Frazee and Hart reckon the _passive_ verb _transitive!_ And the latter teaches, that, "_Transitive_ verbs in English, are sometimes used _without an objective case_; as, The apple _tastes_ sweet!"--_Hart's Gram._, p, 73. [226] In the hands of some gentlemen, "the Principles of Latin Grammar," and "the Principles of English Grammar,"--are equally pliable, or changeable; and, what is very remarkable, a comparison of different editions will show, that the fundamental doctrines of a whole "Series of Grammars, English, Latin, and Greek," may so change in a single lustrum, as to rest upon authorities altogether different. Dr. Bullions's grammars, a few years ago, like those of his great oracles, Adam, Murray, and Lennie, divided verbs into "three kinds, _Active, Passive_, and _Neuter_." Now they divide them into two only, "_Transitive_ and _Intransitive_;" and absurdly aver, that "_Verbs in the passive form are really transitive as in the active form_."--_Prin. of E. Gram._, 1843, p. 200. Now, as if no verb could be plural, and no transitive act could be future, conditional, in progress, or left undone, they define thus: "A _Transitive_ verb expresses an _act done_ by one person or thing to another."--_Ib._, p. 29; _Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 60; _Latin Gram._, 77. Now, the division which so lately as 1842 was pronounced by the Doctor to be "more useful than any other," and advantageously accordant with "most dictionaries of the English language," (see his _Fourth Edition_, p. 30,) is wholly rejected from this notable "_Series_." Now, the "_vexed question_" about "the classification of verbs," which, at some revision still later, drew from this author whole pages of weak arguments for his faulty _changes_, is complacently supposed to have been _well settled_ in his favour! Of this matter, now, in 1849, he speaks thus: "The division of verbs into transitive and intransitive has been so generally adopted and approved by the best grammarians, that any discussion of the subject is now unnecessary."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 59. [227] This late writer seems to have published his doctrine on this point as a _novelty_; and several teachers ignorantly received and admired it as such: I have briefly shown, in the Introduction to this work, how easily they were deceived. "By this, that Question may be resolv'd, whether every Verb not Passive governs always an Accusative, at least understood: '_Tis the Opinion of some very able_ GRAMMARIANS, but for _our_ Parts _we_ don't think it."--_Grammar published by John Brightland_, 7th Ed., London, 1746, p. 115. [228] Upon this point, Richard Johnson cites and criticises Lily's system thus: "'A Verb Neuter endeth in _o_ or _m_, and cannot take _r_ to make _him_ a Passive; as, _Curro_, I run; _Sum_, I am.'--_Grammar, Eng_. p. 13. This Definition, is founded upon the Notion abovementioned, viz. That none but Transitives are Verbs Active, which is contrary to the reason of Things, and the common sense of Mankind. And what can shock a Child more, of any Ingenuity, than to be told, That _Ambuto_ and _Curro_ are Verbs Neuter; that is, to speak according to the common Apprehensions of Mankind, that they signifie neither to do, nor suffer."--_Johnson's Grammatical Commentaries_, 8vo, London, 1706, p. 273. [229] Murray says, "_Mood_ or _Mode_ is a particular form of the verb, showing the manner in which the being, action, or passion is represented."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 63. By many grammarians, the term _Mode_ is preferred to _Mood_; but the latter is, for this use, the more distinctive, and by far the more common word. In some treatises on grammar, as well as in books of logic, certain _parts of speech_, as _adjectives_ and _adverbs_, are called _Modes_, because they qualify or modify other terms. E.g., "Thus all the parts of speech are reducible to four; viz., _Names, Verbs, Modes, Connectives_."--_Enclytica, or Universal Gram._, p. 8. "_Modes_ are naturally divided, by their attribution to names or verbs, into _adnames_ and _adverbs_."--_Ibid._, p. 24. After making this application of the name _modes_, was it not improper for the learned author to call the moods also "_modes_?" [230] "We have, in English, no genuine subjunctive mood, except the preterimperfect, if I _were_, if thou _wert_, &c. of the verb _to be_. [See Notes and Observations on the Third Example of Conjugation, in this chapter.] The phrase termed _the subjunctive mood_, is elliptical; _shall, may_, &c. being understood: as, 'Though hand (shall) join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.' 'If it (may) be possible, live peaceably with all.' Scriptures."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, p. 61. Such expressions as, "If thou _do love_, If he _do love_," appear to disprove this doctrine. [See Notes and Remarks on the Subjunctive of the First Example conjugated below.] [231] "Mr. Murray has changed his opinion, as often as Laban changed Jacob's wages. In the edition we print from, we find _shall_ and _will_ used in each person of the _first_ and _second_ future tenses of the subjunctive, but he now states that in the second future tense, _shalt, shall_, should be used instead of _wilt, will_. Perhaps this is _the only improvement_ he has made in his Grammar since 1796."--_Rev. T. Smith's Edition of Lindley Murray's English Grammar_, p. 67. [232] Notwithstanding this expression, Murray did not teach, as do many modern grammarians, that _inflected_ forms of the present tense, such as, "If he _thinks_ so," "Unless he _deceives_ me," "If thou _lov'st_ me," are of the subjunctive mood; though, when he rejected his changeless forms of the other tenses of this mood, he _improperly_ put as many indicatives in their places. With him, and his numerous followers, the ending determines the mood in one tense, while the conjunction controls it in the other five! In his syntax, he argues, "that in cases wherein contingency and futurity do not occur, it is not proper to turn the verb from its signification of present time, _nor to vary_ [he means, _or to forbear to change_] its form or termination. [Fist] _The verb would then be in the indicative mood, whatever conjunctions might attend it_."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 208: 12mo, p. 167. [233] Some grammarians--(among whom are Lowth, Dalton, Cobbett, and Cardell--) recognize only three tenses, or "_times_," of English verbs; namely, _the present, the past_, and _the future_. A few, like Latham and Child, denying all the compound tenses to be tenses, acknowledge only the first two, _the present_ and _the past_; and these they will have to consist only of the simple or radical verb and the simple preterit. Some others, who acknowledge six tenses, such as are above described, have endeavoured of late to _change the names_ of a majority of them; though with too little agreement among themselves, as may be seen by the following citations: (1.) "We have six tenses; three, the _Present, Past_, and _Future_, to represent time in a general way; and three, the _Present Perfect, Past Perfect_, and _Future Perfect_, to represent the precise time of _finishing_ the action."--_Perley's Gram._, 1834, p. 25. (2.) "There are six tenses; the _present_, the _past_, the _present-perfect_, the _past-perfect_, the _future_, and the _future-perfect_."--_Hiley's Gram._, 1840, p. 28. (3.) "There are six tenses; the _Present_ and _Present Perfect_, the _Past_ and _Past Perfect_, and the _Future_ and _Future Perfect_."--_Farnum's Gram._, 1842, p. 34. (4.) "The names of the tenses will then be, _Present, Present Perfect; Past, Past Perfect; Future, Future Perfect_. They are _usually_ named as follows: _Present, Perfect, Imperfect, Pluperfect, Future, Second Future_."--_N. Butler's Gram_, 1845, p. 69. (5.) "We have six tenses;--the _present_, the _past_, the _future_, the _present perfect_, the _past perfect_, and the _future perfect_."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1846. p. 82. (6.) "The tenses in English are six--the _Present_, the _Present-perfect_, the _Past_, the _Past-perfect_, the _Future_, and the _Future-perfect_."--_Bullions's Gram._, 1849. p. 71. (7.) "Verbs have _Six Tenses_, called the _Present_, the _Perfect-Present_, the _Past_, the _Perfect-Past_, the _Future_, and the _Perfect-Future_."--_Spencer's Gram._, 1852, p. 53. (8.) "There are six tenses: the _present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect_, and _future perfect_."--_Covell's Gram._, 1853, p. 62. (9.) "The tenses are--the _present_, the _present perfect_; the _past_, the _past perfect_; the _future_, the _future perfect_."--_S. S. Greene's Gram._, 1853, p. 65. (10.) "There are six tenses; _one present_, and _but one, three past_, and _two future_." They are named thus: "_The Present, the First Past, the Second Past, the Third Past, the First Future, the Second Future_."--"For the sake of symmetry, to call _two_ of them _present_, and _two_ only past, while _one_ only is _present_, and _three_ are _past_ tenses, is to sacrifice truth to beauty."--_Pinneo's Gram._, 1853, pp. 69 and 70. "The old names, _imperfect, perfect_, and _pluperfect_," which, in 1845, Butler justly admitted to be the _usual_ names of the three past tenses. Dr. Pinneo, who dates his copy-right from 1850, most unwarrantably declares to be "_now generally discarded_!"--_Analytical Gram._, p. 76; _Same Revised_, p. 81. These terms, still predominant in use, he strangely supposes to have been suddenly superseded by others which are no better, if so good: imagining that the scheme which Perley or Hiley introduced, of "_two present, two past_, and _two future_ tenses,"--a scheme which, he says, "has no foundation in truth, and is therefore to be rejected,"--had prepared the way for the above-cited innovation of his own, which merely presents the old ideas under new terms, or terms partly new, and wholly unlikely to prevail. William Ward, one of the ablest of our old grammarians, rejecting in 1765 the two terms _imperfect_ and _perfect_, adopted others which resemble Pinneo's; but few, if any, have since named the tenses as he did, thus: "_The Present, the First Preterite, the Second Preterite, the Pluperfect, the First Future, the Second Future_."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 47. [234] "The infinitive mood, as '_to shine_,' may be called the name of the verb; it carries _neither time nor affirmation_; but simply expresses that attribute, action, or state of things, which is to be the subject of the other moods and tenses."--_Blair's Lectures_, p. 81. By the word "_subject_" the Doctor does not here mean the _nominative to_ the other moods and tenses, but the _material of_ them, or that which is formed into them. [235] Some grammarians absurdly deny that persons and numbers are properties of verbs at all: not indeed because our verbs have so few inflections, or because these authors wish to discard the little distinction that remains; but because they have some fanciful conception, that these properties cannot pertain to a verb. Yet, when they come to their syntax, they all forget, that if a verb has no person and number, it cannot agree with a nominative in these respects. Thus KIRKHAM: "_Person_, strictly speaking, is a quality that belongs _not to verbs_, but to nouns and pronouns. We say, however, that the verb _must agree_ with its nominative in _person_, as well as in number."--_Gram. in Familiar Lect._, p. 46. So J. W. WRIGHT: "In truth, number and person _are not properties of verbs_. Mr. Murray grants that, 'in philosophical strictness, both number and person might (say, _may_) be excluded from every verb, as they are, in fact, the properties of substantives, not a part of the essence of the verb.'"--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 68. This author's rule of syntax for verbs, makes them agree with their nominatives, not in person and number, but in _termination_, or else in _nobody knows what_: "A verb _must vary its terminations_, so as to agree with the nominative to which it is connected."--_Ib._, p. 168. But Murray's rule is, "A verb must agree with its nominative case in _number and person_:" and this doctrine is directly repugnant to that interpretation of his words above, by which these gentlemen have so egregiously misled themselves and others. Undoubtedly, both the numbers and the persons of all English verbs might be abolished, and the language would still be intelligible. But while any such distinctions remain, and the verb is actually modified to form them, they belong as properly to this part of speech as they can to any other. De Sacy says, "The distinction of number _occurs_ in the verb;" and then adds, "yet this distinction does not properly _belong to_ the verb, as it signifies nothing which can be numbered."--_Fosdick's Version_, p. 64. This deceptive reason is only a new form of the blunder which I have once exposed, of confounding the numbers in grammar with numbers in arithmetic. J. M. Putnam, after repeating what is above cited from Murray, adds: "The terms _number_ and _person_, as applied to the verb are _figurative_. The properties which belong to one thing, for convenience' sake are ascribed to another."--_Gram._, p. 49. Kirkham imagines, if ten men _build_ a house, or _navigate_ a ship round the world, they perform just "_ten actions_," and no more. "Common sense teaches you," says he, "that _there must be as many actions as there are actors_; and that the verb when it has no form or ending to show it, is as strictly plural, as when it has. So, in the phrase, '_We walk_,' the verb _walk_ is [of the] first person, because it expresses the _actions_ performed by the _speakers_. The verb, then, when correctly written, always agrees, _in sense_, with its nominative in number and person."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 47. It seems to me, that these authors do not very well know what persons or numbers, in grammar, are. [236] John Despauter, whose ample Grammar of the Latin language appeared in its third edition in 1517, represents this practice as a corruption originating in false pride, and maintained by the wickedness of hungry flatterers. On the twentieth leaf of his Syntax, he says, "Videntur hodie Christiani superbiores, quam olim ethnici imperatores, qui dii haberi voluerunt; nam hi nunquam inviti audierunt pronomina _tu, tibi, tuus_. Quae si hodie alicui monachorum antistiti, aut decano, aut pontifici dicantur aut scribantur, videbitur ita loquens aut scribens blasphemasse, et anathemate dignus: nec tamen Abbas, aut pontifex, tam aegre feret, quam Malchi, aut famelici gnathones, his assistentes, et vociferantes, _Sic loqueris, aut scribis, pontifici?_ Quintilianus et Donatus dicunt barbarismum, aut soloecismum esse, siquis uni dicat. _Salvete._" The learned Erasmus also ridiculed this practice, calling those who adopted it, "_voscitatores_," or _youyouers_. [237] "By a _perversion of language_ the pronoun _you_ is almost invariably used for the second person singular, as well as plural; always, however, retaining the plural verb; as, 'My friend, _you write_ a good hand.' _Thou_ is confined to a solemn style, or [to] poetical compositions."--_Chandler's Grammar_, Edition of 1821, p. 41; Ed. of 1847, p. 66. [238] In regard to the inflection of our verbs, William B. Fowle, who is something of an antiquarian in grammar, and who professes now to be "conservative" of the popular system, makes a threefold distinction of style, thus: "English verbs have three _Styles_[,] or _Modes_,[;] called [the] _Familiar_, [the] _Solemn_[,] and [the] _Ancient_. The _familiar style_, or mode, is that used in common conversation; as, you _see_, he _fears_. The _solemn style_, or mode, is that used in the Bible, and in prayer; as, Thou _seest_, he _feareth_. The _ancient style_, or mode, now little used, _allows no change_ in the second and third person, [_persons_,] singular, of the verb, and generally follows the word _if_, _though, lest_, or _whether_; as, if thou _see_; though he _fear_; lest he _be_ angry; whether he _go_ or _stay_."--_Fowle's Common School Grammar_, Part Second, p. 44. Among his subsequent examples of the _Solemn style_, he gives the following: "Thou _lovest_, Thou _lovedst_, Thou _art_, Thou _wast_, Thou _hast_, Thou _hadst_, Thou _doest_ or _dost_, Thou _didst_." And, as corresponding examples of the _Ancient style_, he has these forms: "Thou _love_, Thou _loved_, Thou _or you be_, Thou _wert_, Thou _have_, Thou _had_, Thou _do_, Thou _did_."--_Ib._, pp. 44-50. This distinction and this arrangement do not appear to me to be altogether warranted by facts. The necessary distinction of _moods_, this author rejects; confounding the _Subjunctive_ with the _Indicative_, in order to furnish out this useless and fanciful contrast of his _Solemn_ and _Ancient styles_. [239] In that monstrous jumble and perversion of Murray's doctrines, entitled, "English Grammar on the Productive System, by Roswell C. Smith," _you_ is everywhere preferred to _thou_, and the verbs are conjugated _without the latter pronoun_. At the close of his paradigms, however, the author inserts a few lines respecting "_these obsolete conjugations_," with the pronoun _thou_; for a further account of which, he refers the learner, _with a sneer_, to the common grammars in the schools. See the work, p. 79. He must needs be a remarkable grammarian, with whom Scripture, poetry, and prayer, are all "_obsolete_!" Again: "_Thou_ in the singular _is obsolete_, except among the Society of Friends; and _ye_ is an _obsolete_ plural!"--_Guy's School Gram._, p. 25. In an other late grammar, professedly "constructed upon the _basis of Murray's_, by the _Rev. Charles Adams_, A. M., Principal of Newbury Seminary," the second person singular is everywhere superseded by the plural; the former being silently dropped from all his twenty pages of conjugations, without so much as a hint, or a saving clause, respecting it; and the latter, which is put in its stead, is falsely called _singular_. By his pupils, all forms of the verb that agree only with _thou_, will of course be conceived to be either obsolete or barbarous, and consequently ungrammatical. Whether or not the reverend gentleman makes any account of the Bible or of prayer, does not appear; he cites some poetry, in which there are examples that cannot be reconciled with his "System of English Grammar." Parkhurst, in his late "Grammar for Beginners," tells us that, "Such words as are used in the Bible, and not used in common books, are called _obsolete!_"--P. 146. Among these, he reckons all the distinctive forms of the second person singular, and all the "peculiarities" which "constitute what is commonly called the _Solemn Style_."--_Ib._, p. 148. Yet, with no great consistency, he adds: "This style _is always used_ in prayer, and _is frequently used_ in poetry."--_Ibid._ Joab Brace, Jnr., may be supposed to have the same notion of what is obsolete: for he too has perverted all Lennie's examples of the verb, as Smith and Adams did Murray's. [240] Coar gives _durst_ in the "Indicative mood," thus: "I durst, _thou durst_, he durst;" &c.--_Coar's E. Gram._, p. 115. But when he comes to _wist_, he does not know what the second person singular should be, and so he leaves it out: "I wist, ------, he wist; we wist, ye wist, they wist."--_Coar's E. Gram._, p. 116. [241] Dr. Latham, who, oftener perhaps than any other modern writer, corrupts the grammar of our language by efforts to revive in it things really and deservedly obsolete, most strangely avers that "The words _thou_ and _thee_ are, except in the mouths of Quakers, obsolete. The plural forms, _ye_ and _you_, have replaced them."--_Hand-Book_, p. 284. Ignoring also any current or "vital" process of forming English verbs in the second person singular, he gravely tells us that the old form, as "_callest_" (which is still the true form for the solemn style,) "is becoming obsolete."--_Ib._, p. 210. "In phrases like _you are speaking_, &c.," says he rightlier, "even when applied to a single individual, _the idea is really plural_; in other words, the courtesy consists in treating _one_ person as _more than one_, and addressing him as such, rather than in using a plural form in a singular sense. It is certain that, grammatically considered, _you=thou_ is a plural, since the verb with which it agrees is plural."--_Ib._, p. 163. If these things be so, the English Language owes much to the scrupulous conservatism of the Quakers; for, had their courtesy consented to the grammar of the fashionables, the singular number would now have had but two persons! [242] For the substitution of _you_ for _thou_, our grammarians assign various causes. That which is most commonly given in modern books, is certainly not the original one, because it concerns no other language than ours: "In order _to avoid the unpleasant formality_ which accompanies the use of _thou_ with a correspondent verb, its plural _you_, is usually adopted to familiar conversation; as, Charles, _will you_ walk? instead of--_wilt thou_ walk? _You read_ too fast, instead of--_thou readest_ too fast."--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 33. [243] This position, as may be seen above, I do not suppose it competent for any critic to maintain. The use of _you_ for _thou_ is no more "contrary to grammar," than the use of _we_ for _I_; which, it seems, is grammatical enough for all editors, compilers, and crowned heads, if not for others. But both are _figures of syntax_; and, as such, they stand upon the same footing. Their only contrariety to grammar consists in this, that the words are not the _literal representatives_ of the number for which they are put. But in what a posture does the grammarian place himself, who condemns, as _bad English_, that phraseology which he constantly and purposely uses? The author of the following remark, as well as all who have praised his work, ought immediately to adopt the style of the Friends, or Quakers: "The word _thou_, in grammatical construction, is preferable to _you_, in the second person singular: however, custom has familiarized the latter, and consequently made it more general, though BAD GRAMMAR. To say, '_You are a man_.' is NOT GRAMMATICAL LANGUAGE; the word _you_ having reference to _a plural noun only_. It should be, '_Thou art a man_.'"--_Wright's Philosoph. Gram._, p. 55. This author, like Lindley Murray and many others, continually calls _himself_ WE; and it is probable, that neither he, nor any one of his sixty reverend commenders, _dares address_ any man otherwise than by the above-mentioned "BAD GRAMMAR!" [244] "We are always given to cut our words short; and, _with very few exceptions_, you find people writing _lov'd, mov'd, walk'd_; instead of _loved, moved, walked._ They wish to make the _pen_ correspond with the _tongue._ From _lov'd, mov'd, walk'd_, it is very easy to slide into _lovt, movt, walkt._ And this has been the case with regard to _curst, dealt, dwelt, leapt, helpt_, and many others in the last inserted list. It is just as proper to say _jumpt_, as it is to say _leapt_; and just as proper to say _walkt_ as either; and thus we might go on till the orthography of the whole language were changed. When the love of contraction came to operate on such verbs as _to burst_ and _to light_, it found such a clump of consonants already at the end of the words, that, it could add none. It could not enable the organs even of English speech to pronounce _burstedst, lightedst._ It, therefore, made really short work of it, and dropping the last syllable altogether, wrote, _burst, light_, [rather, _lit_] in the past time and passive participle."--_Cobbett's English Gram._, 169. How could the man who saw all this, insist on adding _st_ for the second person, where not even the _d_ of the past tense could he articulated? Am I to be called an innovator, because I do not like in conversation such _new_ and _unauthorized_ words as _littest, leaptest, curstest_; or a corrupter of the language, because I do not admire in poetry such unutterable monstrosities as, _light'dst, leap'dst, curs'dst_? The novelism, with the corruption too, is wholly theirs who stickle for these awkward forms. [245] "You _were_, not you _was_, for you _was_ seems to be as ungrammatical, as you _hast_ would be. For the pronoun you being confessedly plural, its correspondent verb ought to be plural."--_John Burn's Gram._, 10th Ed., P. 72. [246] Among grammarians, as well as among other writers, there is some diversity of usage concerning the personal inflections of verbs; while nearly all, nowadays, remove the chief occasion for any such diversity, by denying with a fashionable bigotry the possibility of any grammatical use of the pronoun _thou_ in a familiar style. To illustrate this, I will cite Cooper and Wells--two modern authors who earnestly agree to account _you_ and its verb literally singular, and _thou_ altogether erroneous, in common discourse: except that _Wells_ allows the phrase, "_If thou art_," for "_Common style_."--_School Gram._, p. 100. 1. Cooper, improperly referring _all_ inflection of the verb to the grave or solemn style, says: "In the colloquial or familiar style, we observe _no change_. The same is the case in the plural number." He then proceeds thus: "In the second person of the present of the indicative, in the _solemn style_, the verb takes _st_ or _est_; and in the third person _th_ or _eth_, as: _thou hast, thou lovest, thou teachest; he hath, he loveth, he goeth_. In the colloquial or _familiar style_, the verb _does not vary_ in the second person; and in the third person, it ends in _s_ or _es_, as: _he loves, he teaches, he does_. The indefinite, [i. e. the preterit,] in the second person singular of the indicative, in the _grave style_, ends in _est_, as: _thou taughtest, thou wentest_. [Fist] But, _in those verbs, where_ the sound of _st_ will unite with the last syllable of the verb, the vowel is omitted, as: _thou lovedst, thou heardst, thou didst_."--_Cooper's Murray_, p. 60; _Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 59. This, the reader will see, is somewhat contradictory; for the colloquial style varies the verb by "_s_ or _es_," and _taught'st may_ be uttered without the _e_. As for "_lovedst_," I deny that any vowel "_is omitted_" from it; but possibly one _may_ be, as _lov'dst_. 2. Wells's account of the same thing is this: "In the simple form of the present and past indicative, the second person singular of the _solemn style_ ends regularly in _st_ or _est_, as, thou _seest_, thou _hearest_, thou _sawest, thou heardest_; and the third person singular of the present, in _s_ or _es_, as, he _hears_, he _wishes_, and also in _th_ or _eth_, as, he _saith_, he _loveth_. In the simple form of the present indicative, the third person singular of the _common_ or _familiar style_, ends in _s_ or _es_; as, he _sleeps_; he _rises_. The first person singular of the _solemn style_, and the first and second persons singular of the _common style_, have _the same form_ as the three persons plural."--_Wells's School Grammar_, 1st Ed. p. 83; 3d Ed. p. 86. This, too, is both defective and inconsistent. It does not tell when to add _est_, and when, _st_ only. It does not show what the _regular preterit_, as _freed_ or _loved_, should make with _thou_: whether _freedest_ and _lovedest_, by assuming the syllable _est; fre-edst_ and _lov-edst_, by increasing syllabically from assuming _st_ only; or _freedst_ and _lov'dst_, or _lovedst_, still to be uttered as monosyllables. It absurdly makes "_s_ or _es_" a sign of two opposite styles. (See OBS. 9th, above.) And it does not except "_I am, I was, If I am, If I was, If thou art, I am loved_," and so forth, from requiring "the same form, [_are_ or _were_,] as the three persons plural." This author prefers "_heardest_;" the other, "_heardst_," which I think better warranted: "And _heardst_ thou why he drew his blade? _Heardst_ thou that shameful word and blow Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe?"--_Scott_, L. L., C. v, st. 6. [247] Better, as Wickliffe has it, "the day _in which_;" though, after nouns of time, the relative _that_ is often used, like the Latin ablative _quo_ or _qua_, as being equivalent to _in which_ or _on which_. [248] It is not a little strange, that some men, who _never have seen or heard_ such words as their own rules would produce for the second person singular of many hundreds of our most common verbs, will nevertheless pertinaciously insist, that it is wrong to countenance in this matter any departure from the style of King James's Bible. One of the very rashest and wildest of modern innovators,--a critic who, but for the sake of those who still speak in this person and number, would gladly consign the pronoun _thou_, and all its attendant verbal forms, to utter oblivion,--thus treats this subject and me: "The Quakers, or Friends, however, use _thou_, and its attendant form of the _asserter_, in conversation. FOR THEIR BENEFIT, _thou_ is given, in this work, in all the varieties of inflection; (in some of which it could not properly be used in an address to the Deity;) for THEY ERR MOST EGREGIOUSLY in the use of _thou_, with the form of the _asserter_ which follows _he_ or _they_, and are countenanced in their errors by G. Brown, who, instead of 'disburdening _the language_ of 144,000 useless _distinctions, increases_ their number just 144,000."--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 85 Among people of sense, converts are made by teaching, and reasoning, and proving; but this man's disciples must yield to the balderdash of a _false speller, false quoter_, and _false assertor!_ This author says, that "_dropt_" is the past tense of "_drop_;" (p. 118;) let him prove, for example, that _droptest_ is not a clumsy _innovation_, and that _droppedst_ is not a formal archaism, and then tell of the egregious error of adopting neither of these forms in common conversation. The following, with its many common contractions, is the language of POPE; and I ask this, or any other opponent of my doctrine, TO SHOW HOW SUCH VERBS ARE RIGHTLY FORMED, either for poetry or for conversation, _in the second person singular_. "It _fled_, I _follow'd_; now in hope, now pain; It _stopt_, I _stopt_; it _mov'd_, I _mov'd_ again. At last it _fix't_,'twas on what plant it _pleas'd_, And where it _fix'd_, the beauteous bird I _seiz'd_." --_Dunciad_, B. IV, l. 427. [249] The Rev. W. Allen, in his English Grammar, p. 132, says: "_Yth_ and _eth_ (from the Saxon laeth [sic--KTH]) were formerly, _plural terminations_; as, 'Manners _makyth_ man.' William of Wykeham's motto. 'After long advisement, they _taketh_ upon them to try the matter.' Stapleton's Translation of Bede. 'Doctrine and discourse _maketh_ nature less importune.' Bacon." The use of _eth_ as a plural termination of verbs, was evidently earlier than the use of _en_ for the same purpose. Even the latter is utterly obsolete, and the former can scarcely have been _English_. The Anglo-Saxon verb _lufian_, or _lufigean_, to love, appears to have been inflected with the several pronouns thus: Ic lufige, Thu lufast, He lufath, We lufiath, Ge lufiath, Hi lufiath. The form in Old English was this: I love, Thou lovest, He loveth, We loven, Ye loven, They loven. Dr. Priestley remarks, (though in my opinion unadvisedly,) that, "Nouns of a plural form, but of a singular signification, require a singular construction; as, mathematicks _is_ a useful study. This observation will likewise," says he, "_in some measure_, vindicate the grammatical propriety of the famous saying of William of Wykeham, Manners _maketh_ man."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 189. I know not what _half-way_ vindication there can be, for any such construction. _Manners_ and _mathematics_ are not nouns of the singular number, and therefore both _is_ and _maketh_ are wrong. I judge it better English to say, "Mathematics _are_ a useful study."--"Manners _make_ the man." But perhaps both ideas may be still better expressed by a change of the nominative, thus: "The _study_ of mathematics _is_ useful."--"_Behaviour makes_ the man." [250] What the state of our literature would have been, had no author attempted any thing on English grammar, must of course be a matter of mere conjecture, and not of any positive "conviction." It is my opinion, that, with all their faults, most of the books and essays in which this subject has been handled, have been in some degree _beneficial_, and a few of them highly so; and that, without their influence, our language must have been much more chaotic and indeterminable than it now is. But a late writer says, and, with respect to _some_ of our verbal terminations, says wisely: "It is my _sincere conviction_ that fewer irregularities would have crept into the language had no grammars existed, than have been authorized by grammarians; for it should be understood that the first of our grammarians, finding that good writers differed upon many points, instead of endeavouring to reconcile these discrepancies, absolutely perpetuated them by _citing opposite usages, and giving high authorities for both_. To this we owe all the irregularity which exists in the personal terminations of verbs, some of the best early writers using them _promiscuously_, some using them _uniformly_, and others making _no use_ of them; and really _they are of no use_ but to puzzle children and foreigners, perplex poets, and furnish an awkward dialect to that exemplary sect of Christians, who in every thing else study simplicity."--_Fowle's True E. Gram._, Part II, p. 26. Wells, a still later writer, gives this unsafe rule: "_When the past tense is a monosyllable not ending in a single vowel_, the second person singular of the solemn style is generally formed by the addition of _est_; as _heardest, fleddest, tookest_. _Hadst, wast, saidst, and didst_, are exceptions."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 106; 3d Ed., p. 110; 113th Ed., p. 115. Now the termination _d_ or _ed_ commonly adds no syllable; so that the regular past tense of any monosyllabic verb is, with a few exceptions, a monosyllable still; as, _freed, feed, loved, feared, planned, turned_: and how would these sound with _est_ added, which Lowth, Hiley, Churchill, and some others erroneously claim as having pertained to such preterits anciently? Again, if _heard_ is a contraction of _heared_, and _fled_, of _fleed_, as seems probable; then are _heardst_ and _fledtst_, which are sometimes used, more regular than _heardest, fleddest_: so of many other preterits. [251] Chaucer appears not to have inflected this word in the second person: "Also ryght as _thou were_ ensample of moche folde errour, righte so thou must be ensample of manifold correction."--_Testament of Love_. "Rennin and crie as _thou were_ wode."--_House of Fame_. So others: "I wolde _thou were_ cold or hoot."--WICKLIFFE'S VERSION OF THE APOCALYPSE. "I wolde _thou were_ cold or hote."--VERSION OF EDWARD VI: _Tooke_, Vol. ii, p. 270. See Rev., iii, 15: "I would thou _wert_ cold or hot."--COMMON VERSION. [252] See evidence of the _antiquity_ of this practice, in the examples under the twenty-third observation above. According to Churchill, it has had some local continuance even to the present time. For, in a remark upon Lowth's contractions, _lov'th, turn'th_, this author says, "These are _still in use in some country places_, the third person singular of verbs in general being formed by the addition of the sound _th_ simply, not making an additional syllable."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 255 So the _eth_ in the following example adds no syllable:-- "Death _goeth_ about the field, rejoicing mickle To see a sword that so surpass'd his sickle." _Harrington's Ariosto_, B. xiii: see _Singer's Shak._, Vol. ii, p. 296. [253] The second person singular of the simple verb _do_, is now usually written _dost_, and read _dust_; being permanently contracted in orthography, as well as in pronunciation. And perhaps the compounds may follow; as, Thou _undost, outdost, misdost, overdost_, &c. But exceptions to exceptions are puzzling, even when they conform to the general rule. The Bible has _dost_ and _doth_ for auxilliaries, and _doest_ and _doeth_ for principal verbs. [254] N. Butler avers, "The only regular terminations added to verbs are _est, s, ed, edst_, and _ing_."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 81. But he adds, in a marginal note, this information: "The third person singular of the present formerly ended in _eth_. This termination is still sometimes used in the solemn style. Contractions sometimes take place; as, _sayst_ for _sayest_."--_Ibid._ This statement not only imposes a vast deal of _needless irregularity_ upon the few inflections admitted by the English verb, but is, so far as it disagrees with mine, a causeless innovation. The terminations rejected, or here regarded as _irregular_, are _d, st_, _es, th_, and _eth_; while _edst_, which is plainly a combination of _ed_ and _st_,--the past ending of the verb with the personal inflection,--is assumed to be one single and regular termination which I had overlooked! It has long been an almost universal doctrine of our grammarians, that regular verbs form their preterits and perfect participles by adding _d_ to final _e_, and _ed_ to any other radical ending. Such is the teaching of Blair, Brightland, Bullions, Churchill, Coar, Comly, Cooper, Fowle, Frazee, Ingersoll, Kirkham, Lennie, Murray, Weld, Wells, Sanborn, and others, a great multitude. But this author alleges, that, "_Loved_ is not formed by adding _d_ to _love_, but by adding _ed_, and dropping _e_ from _love_."--_Butler's Answer to Brown_. Any one is at liberty to think this, if he will. But I see not the use of playing thus with _mute Ees_, adding one to drop an other, and often pretending to drop two under one apostrophe, as in _lov'd, lov'st_! To suppose that the second person of the regular preterit, as _lovedst_, is not formed by adding _st_ to the first person, is contrary to the analogy of other verbs, and is something worse than an idle whim. And why should the formation of the third person be called _irregular_ when it requires _es_, as in _flies, denies_, _goes, vetoes, wishes, preaches_, and so forth? In forming _flies_ from _fly_, Butler changes "_y_ into _ie_," on page 20th, adding _s_ only; and, on page 11th, "into _i_" only, adding _es_. Uniformity would be better. [255] Cooper says, "The termination _eth_ is _commonly_ contracted into _th_, to prevent the addition of a syllable to the verb, as: _doeth_, _doth_."--_Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 59. This, with reference to modern usage, is plainly erroneous. For, when _s_ or _es_ was substituted for _th_ or _eth_, and the familiar use of the latter ceased, this mode of inflecting the verb without increasing its syllables, ceased also, or at least became unusual. It appears that the inflecting of verbs with _th_ without a vowel, as well as with _st_ without a vowel, was more common in very ancient times than subsequently. Our grammarians of the last century seem to have been more willing to _encumber_ the language with syllabic endings, than to _simplify_ it by avoiding them. See Observations, 21st, 22d, and 23d, above. [256] These are what William Ward, in his Practical Grammar, written about 1765, denominated "the CAPITAL FORMS, or ROOTS, of the English Verb." Their number too is the same. "And these Roots," says he, "are considered as _Four_ in each verb; although in many verbs two of them are alike, and in some few three are alike."--P. 50. Few modern grammarians have been careful to display these Chief Terms, or Principal Parts, properly. Many say nothing about them. Some speak of _three_, and name them faultily. Thus Wells: "The three _principal parts_ of a verb are the _present tense_, the _past tense_, and the _perfect participle_."--_School Gram._, 113th Ed., p. 92. Now a whole "_tense_" is something more than one verbal form, and Wells's "perfect participle" includes the auxiliary "_having_." Hence, in stead of _write, wrote, writing, written_, (the true principal parts of a certain verb,) one might take, under Wells's description, either of these threes, both entirely false: _am writing, did write_, and _having written_; or, _do write, wrotest_, and _having written_. But _writing_, being the root of the "Progressive Form of the Verb," is far more worthy to be here counted a chief term, than _wrote_, the preterit, which occurs only in one tense, and never receives an auxiliary. So of other verbs. This sort of treatment of the Principal Parts, is a very grave defect in sundry schemes of grammar. [257] A grammarian should know better, than to exhibit, _as a paradigm_ for school-boys, such English as the following: "I do have, Thou dost have, He does have: We do have, You do have, They do have."--_Everest's Gram._, p. 106. "I did have, Thou didst have, He did have: We did have, You did have, They did have."--_Ib._, p. 107. I know not whether any one has yet thought of conjugating the verb _be_ after this fashion; but the attempt to introduce, "_am being, is being_," &c., is an innovation much worse. [258] Hiley borrows from Webster the remark, that, "_Need_, when intransitive, is formed _like an auxiliary_, and is followed by a verb, without the prefix _to_; as, 'He _need go_ no farther.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 90; _Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 127; _Philos. Gram._, p. 178. But he forbears to class it with the auxiliaries, and even contradicts himself, by a subsequent remark taken from Dr. Campbell, that, for the sake of "ANALOGY, '_he needs_,' _he dares_,' are preferable to '_he need_,' '_he dare_,'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 145; _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 175 [259] This grammarian here uses _need_ for the third person singular, designedly, and makes a remark for the justification of the practice; but he neither calls the word an auxiliary, nor cites any other than anonymous examples, which are, perhaps, of his own invention. [260] "The substantive form, or, as it is commonly termed, _infinitive mood_, contains at the same time the essence of verbal meaning, and the literal ROOT on which all inflections of the verb are to be grafted. This character being common to the infinitive in all languages, it [this mood] ought to precede the [other] moods of verbs, instead of being made to follow them, as is absurdly practised in almost all grammatical systems."--_Enclytica_, p. 14. [261] By this, I mean, that the verb in all the persons, both singular and plural, is _the same in form_. But Lindley Murray, when he speaks of _not varying_ or _not changing_ the termination of the verb, most absurdly means by it, that the verb _is inflected_, just as it is in the indicative or the potential mood; and when he speaks of _changes_ or _variations_ of termination, he means, that the verb _remains the same_ as in the first person singular! For example: "The second person singular of the imperfect tense in the subjunctive mood, is also _very frequently varied in its termination_: as, 'If thou _loved_ him truly, thou wouldst obey him.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 209. "The auxiliaries of the potential mood, when applied to the subjunctive, _do not change_ the termination of the second person singular; as, 'If thou _mayst_ or _canst_ go.'"--_Ib._, p. 210. "Some authors think, that the termination of these auxiliaries _should be varied_: as, I advise thee, that thou _may_ beware."--_Ib._, p. 210. "When the circumstances of contingency and futurity concur, it is proper _to vary_ the terminations of the second and third persons singular."--_Ib._, 210. "It may be considered as a rule, that _the changes_ of termination _are necessary_, when these two circumstances concur."--_Ib._, p. 207. "It may be considered as a rule, that _no changes_ of termination _are necessary_, when these two circumstances concur."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 264. Now Murray and Ingersoll here _mean_ precisely the same thing! Whose fault is that? If Murray's, he has committed many such. But, in this matter, he is contradicted not only by Ingersoll, but, on one occasion, by himself. For he declares it to be an opinion in which he concurs. "That the definition and nature of the subjunctive mood, have _no reference_ to change of termination."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 211. And yet, amidst his strange blunders, he seems to have ascribed the _meaning_ which a verb has in this mood, _to the inflections_ which it receives _in the indicative_: saying. "That part of the verb which grammarians call the present tense of the subjunctive mood, has a future signification. _This_ is effected by _varying the terminations_ of the second and third persons singular of _the indicative_!"--_Ib._, p. 207. But the absurdity which he really means to teach, is, that the subjunctive mood _is derived from the indicative_,--the primitive or radical verb, _from it's derivatives or branches_! [262] _Wert_ is sometimes used in lieu of _wast_; and, in such instances, both by authority and by analogy, it appears to belong here, if anywhere. See OBS. 2d and 3d, below. [263] Some grammarians, regardless of the general usage of authors, prefer _was_ to _were_ in the singular number of this tense of the subjunctive mood. In the following remark, the tense is named "_present_" and this preference is urged with some critical extravagance: "_Was_, though the past tense of the indicative mood, expresses the _present_ of the hypothetical; as, 'I wish that I _was_ well.' _The use of this hypothetical form_ of the subjunctive mood, _has given rise to_ a form of expression _wholly unwarranted by the rules of grammar_. When the verb _was_ is to be used in the _present tense singular_, in this form of the subjunctive mood, the ear is often pained with a _plural were_, as, '_Were I_ your master'--'_Were he_ compelled to do it,' &c. This has become so common that some of the best grammars of the language furnish authority for the barbarism, and even in the second person supply _wert_, as a convenient accompaniment. If such a conjugation is admitted, we may expect to see Shakspeare's '_thou beest_' in full use."--_Chandler's Gram._, Ed. of 1821, p. 55. In "_Chandler's Common School Grammar_," of 1847, the language of this paragraph is somewhat softened, but the substance is still retained. See the latter work, p. 80. [264] "If I were, If _thou were_. If he were."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 31. "If, or though, I were loved. If, or though, _thou were_, or _wert_ loved. If, or though, he were loved."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part i, p. 69. "If, though, &c. I were burned, _thou were_ burned or you were burned, he were burned."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 53. "Though _thou were_. Some say, 'though thou _wert_.'"--_Mackintosh's Gram._, p. 178. "If or though I were. If or though _thou were_. If or though he were."--_St. Quentin's General Gram._, p. 86. "If I was, Thou wast, or You was or were, He was. Or thus: If I were, Thou wert, or you was or were, He were."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 95; _Improved Gram._, p. 64. "PRESENT TENSE. Before, &c. I _be_; thou _beest_, or you _be_; he, she, or it, _be_: We, you or ye, they, _be_. PAST TENSE. Before, &c. I _were_; thou _wert_, or you _were_; he, she, or it, _were_; We, you or ye, they, _were_."--WHITE, _on the English Verb_, p. 52. [265] The text in Acts, xxii, 20th, "I also _was standing_ by, and _consenting_ unto his death," ought rather to be, "I also _stood_ by, and _consented_ to his death;" but the present reading is, thus far, a literal version from the Greek, though the verb "_kept_," that follows, is not. Montanus renders it literally: "Et ipse _eram astans, et consentiens_ interemptioni ejus, et _custodiens_ vestimenta interficientium illum." Beza makes it better Latin thus: "Ego quoque _adstabam_, et una _assentiebar_ caedi ipsius, et _custodiebam_ pallia eorum qui interimebant eum." Other examples of a questionable or improper use of the progressive form may occasionally be found in good authors; as, "A promising boy of six years of age, _was missing_ by his parents."--_Whittier, Stranger in Lowell_, p. 100. _Missing, wanting_, and _willing_, after the verb to be, are commonly reckoned participial _adjectives_; but here "_was missing_" is made a passive verb, equivalent to _was missed_, which, perhaps, would better express the meaning. _To miss_, to perceive the absence of, is such an act of the mind, as seems unsuited to the compound form, _to be missing_; and, if we cannot say, "The mother _was missing_ her son," I think we ought not to use the same form passively, as above. [266] Some grammarians, contrary to the common opinion, suppose the verbs here spoken of, to have, not a _passive_, but a _neuter_ signification. Thus, Joseph Guy, Jun., of London: "Active verbs often take a _neuter_ sense; as, A house is building; here, is _building_ is used in a _neuter_ signification, because it has no object after it. By this rule are explained such sentences as, Application is wanting; The grammar is printing; The lottery is drawing; It is flying, &c."--_Guy's English Gram._, p. 21. "_Neuter_," here, as in many other places, is meant to include the _active-intransitives_. "_Is flying_" is of this class; and "_is wanting_," corresponding to the Latin _caret_, appears to be neuter; hut the rest seem rather to be passives. Tried, however, by the usual criterion,--the naming of the "_agent_" which, it is said, "a verb passive necessarily implies,"--what may at first seem progressive passives, may not always be found such. "_Most_ verbs signifying _action_" says Dr. Johnson, "may likewise signify _condition_, or _habit_, and become _neuters_, [i. e. _active-intransitives_;] as _I love_, I am in love; _I strike_, I am now striking."--_Gram. before Quarto Dict._, p. 7. So _sell, form, make_, and many others, usually transitive, have sometimes an active-intransitive sense which nearly approaches the passive, and of which _are selling, is forming, are making_, and the like, may be only equivalent expressions. For example: "It is cold, and ice _forms_ rapidly--is _forming_ rapidly--or _is formed_ rapidly."--Here, with little difference of meaning, is the appearance of both voices, the Active and the Passive; while "_is forming_," which some will have for an example of "the _Middle_ voice," may be referred to either. If the following passive construction is right, _is wanting_ or _are wanting_ may be a verb of three or four different sorts: "Reflections that may drive away despair, _cannot be wanting by him_, who considers," &c.--_Johnson's Rambler_, No. 129: _Wright's Gram._, p. 196. [267] Dr. Bullions, in his grammar of 1849, says, "Nobody would think of saying, 'He is being loved'--'This result is being desired.'"--_Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 237. But, according to J. W. Wright, whose superiority in grammar has sixty-two titled vouchers, this unheard-of barbarism is, for the present passive, precisely and solely what one _ought_ to say! Nor is it, in fact, any more barbarous, or more foreign from usage, than the spurious example which the Doctor himself takes for a model in the active voice: "I _am loving_. Thou _art loving_, &c; I _have been loving_, Thou _hast been loving_, &c."--_A. and P. Gr._, p. 92. So: "James _is loving_ me."--_Ib._, p 235. [268] "The predicate in the form, '_The house is being built_,' would be, according to our view, 'BEING BEING _built_,' which is manifestly an absurd tautology."--_Mulligan's Gram._, 1852, p. 151. [269] "Suppose a criminal to be _enduring_ the operation of binding:--Shall we say, with Mr. Murray,--'The criminal is binding?' If so, HE MUST BE BINDING SOMETHING,--a circumstance, in effect, quite opposed to the fact presented. Shall we then say, as he does, in the _present tense_ conjugation of his passive verb,--'The criminal is bound?' If so, the _action_ of binding, which the criminal is suffering, will be represented as completed, --a position which the _action its self_ will palpably deny." See _Wright's Phil. Gram._, p. 102. It is folly for a man to puzzle himself or others thus, with _fictitious examples_, imagined on purpose to make _good usage seem wrong_. There is bad grammar enough, for all useful purposes, in the actual writings of valued authors; but who can show, by any proofs, that the English language, as heretofore written, is so miserably inadequate to our wants, that we need use the strange neologism, "The criminal _is being bound_," or any thing similar? [270] It is a very strange event in the history of English grammar, that such a controversy as this should have arisen; but a stranger one still, that, after all that has been said, more argument is needed. Some men, who hope to be valued as scholars, yet stickle for an odd phrase, which critics have denounced as follows: "But the history of the language scarcely affords a parallel to the innovation, at once unphilosophical and hypercritical, pedantic and illiterate, which has lately appeared in the excruciating refinement '_is being_' and its unmerciful variations. We hope, and indeed believe, that it has not received the sanction of any grammar adopted in our popular education, as it certainly never will of any writer of just pretensions to scholarship."--_The True Sun_. N. Y., April 16, 1846. [271] Education is a work of continuance, yet completed, like many others, as fast as it goes on. It is not, like the act of loving or hating, so complete at the first moment as not to admit the progressive form of the verb; for one may say of a lad, "I _am educating_ him for the law;" and possibly, "He _is educating_ for the law;" though not so well as, "He _is to be educated_ for the law." But, to suppose that "_is educated_" or "_are educated_" implies unnecessarily a _cessation of the educating_ is a mistake. That conception is right, only when _educated_ is taken adjectively. The phrase, "those who _are educated_ in our seminaries," hardly includes such as _have been educated_ there in times past: much less does it apply to these exclusively, as some seem to think. "_Being_," as inserted by Southey, is therefore quite _needless_: so it is _often_, in this new phraseology, the best correction being its mere omission. [272] Worcester has also this citation: "The Eclectic Review remarks, 'That a need of this phrase, or an equivalent one, is felt, is sufficiently proved by the extent to which it is used by educated persons and respectable writers.'"--_Gram. before Dict._, p. xlvi. Sundry phrases, equivalent in sense to this new voice, have long been in use, and are, of course, still needed; something from among them being always, by every accurate writer, still preferred. But this awkward innovation, use it who will, can no more be justified by a plea of "_need_," than can every other hackneyed solecism extant. Even the Archbishop, if quoted right by Worcester, has descended to "uncouth English," without either necessity or propriety, having thereby only misexpounded a very common Greek word--a "perfect or pluperfect" participle, which means "_beaten, struck_, or _having been beaten_"--G. Brown. [273] Wells has also the following citations, which most probably accord with his own opinions, though the first is rather extravagant: "The propriety of these _imperfect passive tenses_ has been _doubted by almost all_ our grammarians; though I believe but few of them have written many pages without condescending to make use of them. Dr. Beattie says, 'One of the greatest defects of the English tongue, with regard to the verb, seems to be the want of an _imperfect passive participle_.' And yet he uses the _imperfect participle_ in a _passive sense_ as often as most writers."--_Pickbourn's Dissertation on the English Verb_. "Several other expressions of this sort now and then occur, such as the new-fangled and most uncouth solecism, 'is being done,' for the good old English idiomatic expression, 'is doing,'--an absurd periphrasis, driving out a pointed and pithy turn of the English language."--_N. A. Review_. See _Wells's Grammar_, 1850, p. 161. The term, "_imperfect passive tenses_," seems not a very accurate one; because the present, the perfect, &c., are included. Pickbourn applies it to any passive tenses formed from the simple "imperfect participle;" but the phrase, "_passive verbs in the progressive form_," would better express the meaning. The term, "_compound passive participle_," which Wells applies above to "_being built_," "_being printed_," and the like, is also both unusual and inaccurate. Most readers would sooner understand by it the form, _having been built, having been printed_, &c. This author's mode of naming participles is always either very awkward or not distinctive. His scheme makes it necessary to add here, for each of these forms, a third epithet, referring to his main distinction of "_imperfect_ and _perfect_;" as, "the compound _imperfect_ participle passive," and "the compound _perfect_ participle passive." What is "_being builded_" or "_being printed_," but "an _imperfect passive participle_?" Was this, or something else, the desideratum of Beattie? [274] _Borne_ usually signifies _carried_; _born_ signifies _brought forth_. J. K. Worcester, the lexicographer, speaks of these two participles thus: "[Fist] The participle _born_ is used in the passive form, and _borne_ in the active form, [with reference to birth]; as, 'He was _born_ blind,' _John_ ix.; 'The barren hath _borne_ seven,' I _Sam_. ii. This distinction between _born_ and _borne_, though not recognized by grammars, is in accordance with common usage, at least in this country. In many editions of the Bible it is recognized; and in many it is not. It seems to have been more commonly recognized in American, than in English, editions."--_Worcester's Universal and Critical Dict., w. Bear_. In five, out of seven good American editions of the Bible among my books, the latter text is, "The barren hath _born_ seven;" in two, it is as above, "hath _borne_." In Johnson's Quarto Dictionary, the perfect participle of _bear_ is given erroneously, "_bore_, or _born_;" and that of _forbear_, which should be _forborne_, is found, both in his columns and in his preface, "_forborn_." [275] According to Murray, Lennie, Bullions, and some others, to use _begun_ for _began_ or _run_ for _ran_, is improper; but Webster gives _run_ as well as _ran_ for the preterit, and _begun_ may be used in like manner, on the authority of Dryden, Pope, and Parnell. [276] "And they shall pass through it, hardly _bestead_, and hungry."--_Isaiah_, viii, 21. [277] "_Brake_ [for the preterit of _Break_] seems now obsolescent."--_Dr. Crombie, Etymol. and Syntax_, p. 193. Some recent grammarians, however, retain it; among whom are Bullions and M'Culloch. Wells retains it, but marks it as, "_Obsolete_;" as he does also the preterits _bare, clave, drove, gat, slang, spake, span, spat, sware, tare, writ_; and the participles _hoven, loaden, rid_ from _ride, spitten, stricken, and writ_. In this he is not altogether consistent. Forms really obsolete belong not to any modern list of irregular verbs; and even such as are archaic and obsolescent, it is sometimes better to omit. If "_loaden_," for example, is now out of use, why should "_load, unload_, and _overload_," be placed, as they are by this author, among "irregular verbs;" while _freight_ and _distract_, in spite of _fraught_ and _distraught_, are reckoned regular? "_Rid_," for _rode_ or _ridden_, though admitted by Worcester, appears to me a low vulgarism. [278] _Cleave_, to split, is most commonly, if not always, irregular, as above; _cleave_, to stick, or adhere, is usually considered regular, but _clave_ was formerly used in the preterit, and _clove_ still may be: as, "The men of Judah _clave_ unto their king."--_Samuel_. "The tongue of the public prosecutor _clove_ to the roof of his mouth."--_Boston Atlas_, 1855. [279] Respecting the preterit and the perfect participle of this verb, _drink_, our grammarians are greatly at variance. Dr. Johnson says, "preter. _drank_ or _drunk_; part. pass, _drunk_ or _drunken_." Dr. Webster: "pret. and pp. _drank_. Old pret. and pp. _drunk_; pp. _drunken_." Lowth: "pret. _drank_; part, _drunk_ or _drunken_." So Stamford. Webber, and others. Murray has it: "Imperf. _drank_, Perf. Part, _drunk_." So Comly, Lennie, Bullions, Blair, Butler. Frost, Felton, Goldsbury, and many others. Churchill cites the text, "Serve me till I have eaten and _drunken_;" and observes, "_Drunken_ is now used only as an adjective. The impropriety of using the preterimperfect [_drank_] for the participle of this verb is very common."--_New Gram._, p. 261. Sanborn gives both forms for the participle, preferring _drank_ to _drunk_. Kirkham prefers _drunk_ to _drank_; but contradicts himself in a note, by unconsciously making _drunk_ an adjective: "The men were _drunk_; i. e. inebriated. The toasts were _drank_."--_Gram._, p. 140. Cardell, in his Grammar, gives, "_drink, drank, drunk_;" but in his story of Jack Halyard, on page 59, he wrote, "had _drinked_:" and this, according to Fowle's True English Grammar, is not incorrect. The preponderance of authority is yet in favour of saying, "had _drunk_;" but _drank_ seems to be a word of greater delicacy, and perhaps it is sufficiently authorized. A hundred late writers may be quoted for it, and some that were popular in the days of Johnson. "In the choice of what is fit to be eaten and _drank_."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, Vol. 1, p. 51. "Which I had no sooner _drank_."--_Addison, Tattler_, No. 131. "Thy brother's blood the thirsty earth hath drank, Broach'd with the steely point of Clifford's lance."--_Shakspeare_. [280] "_Holden_ is not in general use; and is chiefly employed by attorneys."--_Crombie, on Etymology and Synt._, p. 190. Wells marks this word as, "Obsolescent."--_School Gram._, p. 103. L. Murray rejected it; but Lowth gave it alone, as a participle, and _held_ only as a preterit. [281] "I have been found guilty of killing cats I never _hurted_."--_Roderick Random_, Vol. i, p. 8. [282] "They _keeped_ aloof as they passed her bye."--_J. Hogg, Pilgrims of the Sun_, p. 19. [283] _Lie_, to be at rest, is irregular, as above; but _lie_, to utter falsehood, is regular, as follows: _lie, lied, lying, lied_. "Thus said, at least, my mountain guide, Though deep, perchance, the villain _lied_." --_Scott's Lady of the Lake_. [284] Perhaps there is authority sufficient to place the verb _rend_ among those which are redundant. "Where'er its cloudy veil was _rended_." --_Whittier's Moll Pitcher_. "Mortal, my message is for thee; thy chain to earth is _rended_; I bear thee to eternity; prepare! thy course is ended." --_The Amulet_. "Come as the winds come, when forests are _rended_." --_Sir W. Scott_. "The hunger pangs her sons which rended." --NEW QUARTERLY REVIEW: _Examiner_, No. 119. [285] We find now and then an instance in which _gainsay_ is made regular: as, "It can neither be _rivalled_ nor _gainsayed_."--_Chapman's Sermons to Presbyterians_, p. 36. Perhaps it would be as well to follow Webster here, in writing _rivaled_ with one _l_: and the analogy of the simple verb _say_, in forming this compound irregularly, _gainsaid_. Usage warrants the latter, however, better than the former. [286] "Shoe, _shoed_ or shod, shoeing, _shoed_ or shod."--_Old Gram., by W. Ward_, p. 64; and _Fowle's True English Gram._, p. 46. [287] "A. Murray has rejected _sung_ as the _Preterite_, and L. Murray has rejected _sang_. Each _Preterite_, however, rests on good authority. The same observation may be made, respecting _sank_ and _sunk_. Respecting the _preterites_ which have _a_ or _u_, as _slang_, or _slung, sank_, or _sunk_, it would be better were the former only to be used, as the _Preterite_ and Participle would thus be discriminated."--_Dr. Crombie, on Etymology and Syntax_, p. 199. The _preterits_ which this critic thus prefers, are _rang, sang, stung, sprang, swang, sank, shrank, slank, stank, swam_, and _span_ for _spun_. In respect to them all, I think he makes an ill choice. According to his own showing, _fling, string_, and _sting_, always make the preterit and the participle alike; and this is the obvious tendency of the language, in all these words. I reject _slang_ and _span_, as derivatives from _sling_ and _spin_; because, in such a sense, they are obsolete, and the words have other uses. Lindley Murray, _in his early editions_, rejected _sang, sank, slang, swang, shrank, slank, stank_, and _span_; and, at the same time, preferred _rang, sprang_, and _swam_, to _rung, sprung_, and _swum_. In his later copies, he gave the preference to the _u_, in all these words; but restored _sang_ and _sank_, which Crombie names above, still omitting the other six, which did not happen to be mentioned to him. [288] _Sate_ for the preterit of _sit_, and _sitten_ for the perfect participle, are, in my opinion, obsolete, or no longer in good use. Yet several recent grammarians prefer _sitten_ to _sat_; among whom are Crombie, Lennie, Bullions, and M'Culloch. Dr. Crombie says, "_Sitten_, though formerly in use, is now obsolescent. Laudable attempts, however, have been made to restore it."--_On Etymol. and Syntax_, p. 199. Lennie says, "Many authors, both here and in America, use _sate_ as the Past time of _sit_; but this is improper, for it is apt to be confounded with _sate_ to glut. _Sitten_ and _spitten_ are preferable [to _sat_ and _spit_,] though obsolescent."--_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 45. Bullions says, "_Sitten_ and _spitten_ are nearly obsolete, though preferable to _sat_ and _spit_."--_Principles of E. Gram._, p. 64. M'Culloch gives these verbs in the following form: "Sit, sat, sitten _or_ sat. Spit, spit _or_ spat, spit _or_ spitten."--_Manual of E. Gram._, p. 65. [289] "He will find the political hobby which he has _bestrided_ no child's nag."--_The Vanguard, a Newspaper_. "Through the pressed nostril, spectacle-_bestrid_."--_Cowper_. "A lank haired hunter _strided_."--_Whittier's Sabbath Scene_. [290] In the age of Pope, _writ_ was frequently used both for the participle and for the preterit of this verb. It is now either obsolete or peculiar to the poets. In prose it seems vulgar: as, "He _writ_ it, at least, published it, in 1670."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 77. "He, who, supreme in judgement, as in wit, Might boldly censure, as he boldly _writ_."--_Pope, Ess. on Crit._ Dr. Crombie remarked, more than thirty years ago, that, "_Wrote_ as the Participle [of _Write_,] is generally disused, and likewise _writ_."--_Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 202. [291] A word is not necessarily _ungrammatical_ by reason of having a rival form that is more common. The regular words, _beseeched, blowed, bursted, digged, freezed, bereaved, hanged, meaned, sawed, showed, stringed, weeped_, I admit for good English, though we find them all condemned by some critics. [292] "And the man in whom the evil spirit was, _leapt_ on them."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Acts_, xix, 16. In Scott's Bible, and several others, the word is "_leaped_." Walker says, "The past time of this verb is _generally_ heard with the diphthong short; and if so, it ought to be spelled _leapt_, rhyming with _kept_."--_Walker's Pron. Dict., w. Leap_. Worcester, who improperly pronounces _leaped_ in two ways, "l~ept or l=ept," _misquotes_ Walker, as saying, "it ought to be spelled _lept_."--_Universal and Critical Dict., w. Leap_. In the solemn style, _leaped_ is, of course, two syllables. As for _leapedst_ or _leaptest_, I know not that either can be found. [293] _Acquit_ is almost always formed regularly, thus: _acquit, acquitted, acquitting, acquitted._ But, like _quit_, it is sometimes found in an irregular form also; which, if it be allowable, will make it redundant: as, "To be _acquit_ from my continual smart."--SPENCER: _Johnson's Dict._ "The writer holds himself _acquit_ of all charges in this regard."--_Judd, on the Revolutionary War_, p. 5. "I am glad I am so _acquit_ of this tinder-box."--SHAK. [294] "Not know my voice! O, time's extremity! Hast thou so crack'd and _splitted_ my poor tongue?" --SHAK.: _Com. of Er._ [295] _Whet_ is made redundant in Webster's American Dictionary, as well as in Wells's Grammar; but I can hardly affirm that the irregular form of it is well authorized. [296] In S. W. Clark's Practical Grammar, first published in 1847--a work of high pretensions, and prepared expressly "for the education of Teachers"--_sixty-three_ out of the foregoing ninety-five Redundant Verbs, are treated as having no regular or no irregular forms. (1.) The following twenty-nine are _omitted_ by this author, as if they were _always regular_; belay, bet, betide, blend, bless, curse, dive, dress, geld, lean, leap, learn, mulet, pass, pen, plead, prove, rap, reave, roast, seethe, smell, spoil, stave, stay, wake, wed, whet, wont. (2.) The following thirty-four are _given_ by him as being _always irregular_; abide, bend, beseech, blow, burst, catch, chide, creep, deal, freeze, grind, hang, knit, lade, lay, mean, pay, shake, sleep, slide, speed, spell, spill, split, string, strive, sweat, sweep, thrive, throw, weave, weep, wet, wind. Thirty-two of the ninety-five are made redundant by him, though not so called in his book. In Wells's School Grammar, "the 113th Thousand," dated 1850, the deficiencies of the foregoing kinds, if I am right, are about fifty. This author's "List of Irregular Verbs" has forty-four Redundants, to which he assigns a regular form as well as an irregular. He is here about as much nearer right than Clark, as this number surpasses thirty-two, and comes towards ninety-five. The words about which they differ, are--_pen, seethe_, and _whet_, of the former number; and _catch, deal, hang, knit, spell, spill, sweat_, and _thrive_, of the latter. [297] In the following example, there is a different phraseology, which seems not so well suited to the sense: "But we _must be aware_ of imagining, that we render style strong and expressive, by a constant and multiplied use of epithets"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 287. Here, in stead of "_be aware_," the author should have said, "_beware_," or "_be ware_;" that is, be _wary_, or _cautious_; for _aware_ means _apprised_, or _informed_, a sense very different from the other. [298] Dr. Crombie contends that _must_ and _ought_ are used only in the present tense. (See his _Treatise_, p. 204.) In this he is wrong, especially with regard to the latter word. Lennie, and his copyist Bullions, adopt the same notion; but Murray, and many others, suppose them to "have both a present and [a] past signification." [299] Dr. Crombie says, "This Verb, as an auxiliary, is _inflexible_; thus we say, 'he _will_ go;' and 'he _wills to_ go.'"--_Treatise on Etym. and Syntax_, p. 203. He should have confined his remarks to the _familiar style_, in which all the auxiliaries, except _do, be_, and _have_, are inflexible. For, in the solemn style, we do not say, "Thou _will_ go," but, "Thou _wilt_ go." [300] "HAD-I-WIST. A proverbial expression, _Oh_ that I had known. _Gower_."--_Chalmers's Dict._, also _Webster's_. In this phrase, which is here needlessly compounded, and not very properly explained, we see _wist_ used as a perfect participle. But the word is obsolete. "_Had I wist_," is therefore an obsolete phrase, meaning. If I had known, or, "_O_ that I had known." [301] That is, passive verbs, as well as others, have three participles for each; so that, from one active-transitive root, there come _six_ participles--three active, and three passive. Those numerous grammarians who, like Lindley Murray, make passive verbs a distinct class, for the most part, very properly state the participles of a _verb_ to be "_three_;" but, to represent the two voices as modifications of one species of verbs, and then say, "The Participles are _three_," as many recent writers do, is manifestly absurd: because _two threes should be six_. Thus, for example, Dr. Bullions: "In English [,] the _transitive_ verb has always _two voices_, the Active and [the] Passive."--_Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 33. "The Participles are _three_, [:] the Present, the _Perfect_, and the _Compound Perfect_."--_Ib._, p. 57. Again: "_Transitive_ verbs have two voices, called the _Active_ and the _Passive_."--_Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, p. 66. "Verbs have _three_ participles--the _present_, the _past_, and the _perfect_; as, _loving, loved, having loved_, in the active voice: AND _being loved, loved, having been loved_, in the passive."--_Ib._, p. 76. Now either not all these are the participles of _one_ verb, or that verb has _more than three_. Take your choice. Redundant verbs usually have _duplicate forms_ of all the participles except the Imperfect Active; as, _lighting, lighted_ or _lit, having lighted_ or _having lit_; so again, _being lighted_ or _being lit, lighted_ or _lit, having been lighted_ or _having been lit_. [302] The diversity in the _application_ of these names, and in the number or nature of the participles recognized in different grammars, is quite as remarkable as that of the names themselves. To prepare a general synopsis of this discordant teaching, no man will probably think it worth his while. The following are a few examples of it: 1. "How many Participles, are there; There are two, the Active Participle which ends in (ing), as burning, and the Passive Participle which ends in (ed) as, burned."--_The British Grammar_, p. 140. In this book, the participles of _Be_ are named thus: "ACTIVE. Being. PASSIVE. Been, having been."--_Ib._, p. 138. 2. "How many _Sorts_ of Participles are there? _A_. Two; the Active Participle, that ends always in _ing_; as, _loving_, and the Passive Participle, that ends always in _ed, t_, or _n_; as, _loved, taught, slain_."--_Fisher's Practical New Gram._, p. 75. 3. "ACTIVE VOICE. _Participles_. Present, calling. Past, having called. Future, being about to call. PASSIVE VOICE. Present, being called. Past, having been called. Future, being about to be called."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, pp. 55 and 59. 4. ACT. "Present, loving; Perfect, loved; Past, having loved."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 39. The participles _passive_ are not given by Lowth; but, by inference from his rule for forming "the passive verb," they must be these: "Present, being loved; Perfect, loved, or been loved; Past, having been loved." See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 44. 5. "ACT. V. _Present_, Loving. _Past_, Loved. _Perfect_, Having loved. PAS. V. _Pres_. Being loved. _Past_, Loved. _Perf_. Having been loved."--_Lennie's Gram._, pp. 25 and 33; _Greene's Analysis_, p. 225; _Bullions's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, pp. 87 and 95. This is Bullions's _revised_ scheme, and much worse than his former one copied from Murray. 6. ACT. "_Present._ Loving. _Perfect._ Loved. _Compound Perfect_, Having loved." PAS. "_Present._ Being loved. _Perfect or Passive._ Loved. _Compound Perfect._ Having been loved."--_L. Murray's late editions_, pp. 98 and 99; _Hart's Gram._, pp. 85 and 88; _Bullions's Principles of E. Gram._, pp. 47 and 55. No form or name of the first participle passive was adopted by Murray in his early editions. 7. ACT. "Present. Pursuing. Perfect. Pursued. Compound perfect. Having pursued." PAS. "_Present and Perfect_. Pursued, or being pursued. _Compound Perfect_. Having been pursued."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, pp. 88 and 93. Here the first two passive forms, and their names too, are thrown together; the former as equivalents, the latter as coalescents. 8. "TRANSITIVE. _Pres._ Loving, _Perf._ Having loved. PASSIVE. _Pres._ Loved or Being loved, _Perf._ Having been loved."--_Parkhurst's Gram. for Beginners_, p. 110. Here the second active form is wanting; and the second passive is confounded with the first. 9. ACT. "_Imperfect_, Loving [;] _Perfect_, Having loved [.]" PAS. "_Imperfect_, Being loved [;] _Perfect_, Loved, Having been loved."--_Wells's School Gram._, pp. 99 and 101. Here, too, the second active is not given; the third is called by the name of the second; and the second passive is confounded with the _third_, as if they were but forms of the same thing. 10. ACT. "_Imperfect_, (_Present_,) Loving. _Perfect_. Having loved. _Auxiliary Perfect_, Loved." PAS. "_Imperfect_, (_Present_,) Being loved. _Perfect_, Having been loved. _Passive_, Loved."--_N. Butler's Pract. Gram._, pp. 84 and 91. Here the common order of most of the participles is very improperly disturbed, and as many are misnamed. 11. ACT. "Present, Loving [;] Perfect, Loved [;] Comp. Perf. Having loved [.]" PAS. "Present, Being loved [;] Perfect, Loved, or been loved [;] Compound Perfect, Having been loved."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, 63 and 73. Here the second participle passive has two forms, one of which, "_been loved_," is not commonly recognized, except as part of some passive verb or preperfect participle. 12. ACT. V. "_Imperfect_, Seeing. _Perfect_, Seen. _Compound_, Having seen." PAS. V. "_Preterimperfect_, Being seen. _Preterperfect_, Having been seen."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 102. Here the chief and radical passive participle is lacking, and neither of the compounds is well named. 13. ACT. "_Present_, Loving, [;] _Past_, Loved, [;] _Com. Past_, Having loved." PAS. "_Present_, Being loved. [;] _Past_, Loved. [;] _Com. Past._ [,] Having been loved."--_Felton's Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, of 1843, pp. 37 and 50. 14. ACT. "Present. [,] Loving. [;] Perfect. [,] Loved. [;] Compound Perfect. [,] Having loved." PAS. "Perfect or Passive. Loved. Compound Perfect. Having been loved."--_Bicknell's Gram. Lond._, 1790, Part I, pp. 66 and 70; _L. Murray's_ 2d _Edition, York_, 1796, pp. 72 and 77. Here "_Being loved_," is not noticed. 15. "_Participles. Active Voice. Present._ Loving. _Past_. Loved, or having loved. _Participles. Passive Voice. Present._ Being loved. _Past_. Having been loved."--_John Burn's Practical Gram._, p. 70. Here the chief Passive term, "Loved," is omitted, and two of the active forms are confounded. 16. "_Present_, loving, _Past_, loved, _Compound_, having loved."--_S. W. Clark's Practical Gram._, of 1848, p. 71. "ACT. VOICE.--_Present_ ... Loving [;] _Compound_ [,] Having loved...... _Having been loving_."--_Ib._, p. 81. "PAS. VOICE.--_Present_..... Loved, or, being loved [;] _Compound_..... Having been loved."--_Ib._, p. 83. "The Compound Participle consists of _the_ Participle of a principal verb, added to the word _having_, or _being_, or to the two words _having been_. Examples--Having loved--_being loved_--having been loved."--_Ib._, p. 71. Here the second extract is _deficient_, as may be seen by comparing it with the first; and the fourth is _grossly erroneous_, as is shown by the third. The participles, too, are misnamed throughout. The reader may observe that the _punctuation_ of the foregoing examples is very discrepant. I have, in brackets, suggested some corrections, but have not attempted a general adjustment of it. [303] "The _most unexceptionable_ distinction which grammarians make between the participles, is, that the one points to the continuation of the action, passion, or state denoted by the verb; and the other, to the completion of it. Thus, the present participle signifies _imperfect_ action, or action begun and not ended: as, 'I am _writing_ a letter.' The past participle signifies action _perfected_, or finished: as, 'I have _written_ a letter.'--'The letter is written.'"--_Murray's Grammar_, 8vo, p. 65. "The first [participle] expresses a _continuation_; the other, a _completion_."--_W. Allen's Grammar_, 12mo, London, 1813. "The idea which this participle [e.g. '_tearing_'] really expresses, is simply that of the _continuance_ of an action in an _incomplete_ or _unfinished_ state. The action may belong to time _present_, to time _past_, or to time _future_. The participle which denotes the _completion_ of an action, as _torn_, is called the _perfect_ participle; because it represents the action as _perfect_ or _finished_."--_Barnard's Analytic Gram._, p. 51. Emmons stealthily copies from my Institutes as many as ten lines in defence of the term '_Imperfect_' and yet, in his conjugations, he calls the participle in _ing_, "_Present_." This seems inconsistent. See his "_Grammatical Instructer_," p. 61. [304] "The ancient termination (from the Anglo-Saxon) was _and_; as, 'His _schynand_ sword.' Douglas. And sometimes _ende_; as, 'She, between the deth and life, _Swounende_ lay full ofte.' Gower."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 88. "The present Participle, in Saxon, was formed by _ande, ende_, or _onde_; and, by cutting off the final _e_, it acquired a Substantive signification, and extended the idea to the agent: as, _alysende_, freeing, and _alysend_, a redeemer; _freonde_, loving or friendly, and _freond_, a lover or a friend."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 75. [305] William B. Fowle, a modern disciple of Tooke, treats the subject of grammatical time rather more strangely than his master. Thus: "How many times or tenses have verbs? _Two_, [the] present and [the] _past_," To this he immediately adds in a note: "We _do not believe_ in a _past_ any more than a future tense of verbs."--_The True English Gram._, p. 30. So, between these two authors, our verbs will retain no tenses at all. Indeed, by his two tenses, Fowle only meant to recognize the two simple forms of an English verb. For he says, in an other place, "We repeat our conviction that no verb in itself expresses time of any sort."--_Ib._, p. 69, [306] "STONE'-BLIND," "STONE'-COLD," and "STONE'-DEAD," are given in Worcester's Dictionary, as compound _adjectives_; and this is perhaps their best classification; but, if I mistake not, they are usually accented quite as strongly on the latter syllable, as on the former, being spoken rather as two emphatic words. A similar example from Sigourney, "I saw an infant _marble cold_," is given by Frazee under this Note: "Adjectives sometimes belong to other adjectives; as, '_red hot_ iron.'"--_Improved Gram._, p. 141. But Webster himself, from whom this doctrine and the example are borrowed, (see his Rule XIX,) makes "RED'-HOT" but one word in his Dictionary; and Worcester gives it as one word, in a less proper form, even without a hyphen, "RED'HOT." [307] "OF ENALLAGE.--The construction which may be reduced to this figure in English, chiefly appears when one part of speech, is used with the power and effect of another."--_Ward's English Gram._, p. 150. [308] _Forsooth_ is _literally_ a word of affirmation or assent, meaning _for truth_, but it is now almost always used _ironically_: as, "In these gentlemen whom the world _forsooth_ calls wise and solid, there is generally either a moroseness that persecutes, or a dullness that tires you."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 24. [309] In most instances, however, the words _hereof, thereof_, and _whereof_, are placed after _nouns_, and have nothing to do with any _verb_. They are therefore not properly _adverbs_, though all our grammarians and lexicographers call them so. Nor are they _adjectives_; because they are not used adjectively, but rather in the sense of a pronoun governed by _of_; or, what is nearly the same thing, in the sense of the possessive or genitive case. Example: "And the fame _hereof_ went abroad."--_Matt._, ix, 26. That is, "the fame _of this miracle_;" which last is a better expression, the other being obsolete, or worthy to be so, on account of its irregularity. [310] _Seldom_ is sometimes compared in this manner, though not frequently; as, "This kind of verse occurs the _seldomest_, but has a happy effect in diversifying the melody."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 385. In former days, this word, as well as its correlative _often_, was sometimes used _adjectively_; as, "Thine _often_ infirmities."--_1 Tim._, v, 23. "I hope God's Book hath not been my _seldomest_ lectures."--_Queen Elizabeth_, 1585. John Walker has regularly compared the adverb _forward_: in describing the latter L, he speaks of the tip of the tongue as being "brought a little _forwarder_ to the teeth."--_Pron. Dict., Principles_, No. 55. [311] A few instances of the _regular inflection_ of adverbs ending in _ly_, may be met with in _modern_ compositions, as in the following comparisons: "As melodies will sometimes ring _sweetlier_ in the echo."--_The Dial_, Vol. i, p. 6. "I remember no poet whose writings would _safelier_ stand the test."--_Coleridge's Biog. Lit._, Vol. ii, p. 53. [312] De Sacy, in his Principles of General Grammar, calls the relative pronouns "_Conjunctive Adjectives_." See _Fosdick's Translation_, p. 57. He also says, "The words _who, which_, etc. are not the only words which connect the function of a Conjunction with another design. There are Conjunctive _Nouns_ and _Adverbs_, as well as Adjectives; and a characteristic of these words is, that we can substitute for them another form of expression in which shall be found the words _who, which_, etc. Thus, _when, where, what, how, as_, and many others, are Conjunctive words: [as,] 'I shall finish _when_ I please;' that is, 'I shall finish _at the time at which_ I please.'--'I know not _where_ I am;' i.e. 'I know not _the place in which_ I am.'"--_Ib._, p. 58. In respect to the conjunctive _adverbs_, this is well enough, so far as it goes; but the word _who_ appears to me to be a pronoun, and not an adjective; and of his "_Conjunctive Nouns_," he ought to have given us some examples, if he knew of any. [313] "Now the Definition of a CONJUNCTION is as follows--_a Part of Speech, void of Signification itself, but so formed as to help Signification by making_ TWO _or more significant Sentences to be_ ONE _significant Sentence_."--_Harris's Hermes_, 6th Edition, London, p. 238. [314] Whether these, or any other conjunctions that come together, ought to ho parsed together, is doubtful. I am not in favour of taking any words together, that can well be parsed separately. Goodenow, who defines a phrase to be "the union of two or more words having the _nature and construcion [sic--KTH] of a single word_," finds an immense number of these unions, which he cannot, or does not, analyze. As examples of "a _conjunctional phrase_," he gives "_as if_ and "_as though_."--_Gram._, p. 25. But when he comes to speak of _ellipsis_, he says: "After the conjunctions _than, as, but_, &c., some words are generally understood; as, 'We have more than [_that is which_] will suffice;' 'He acted _as_ [_he would act_] _if_ he were mad.'"--_Ib._, p. 41. This doctrine is plainly repugnant to the other. [315] Of the construction noticed in this observation, the Rev. Matt. Harrison cites a good example; pronounces it elliptical; and scarcely forbears to condemn it as bad English: "_In_ the following sentence, the relative pronoun is three times omitted:--'Is there a God to swear _by_, and is there none to believe _in_, none to trust _to_?'--_Letters and Essays, Anonymous_. _By, in_, and _to_, as prepositions, stand alone, _denuded of the relatives_ to which they apply. The sentence presents no attractions worthy of imitation. It exhibits a license carried to the extreme point of endurance."--_Harrison's English Language_, p. 196. [316] "An ellipsis of _from_ after the adverb _off_ has caused the latter word sometimes to be inserted _incorrectly_ among the prepositions. Ex. 'off (from) his horse.'"--_Hart's Gram._, p. 96. _Off_ and _on_ are opposites; and, in a sentence like the following, I see no more need of inserting "_from_" after the former, than _to_ after the latter: "Thou shalt not come down _off_ that bed _on_ which thou art gone up."--2 _Kings_, i, 16. [317] "_Who consequently_ reduced the _greatest_ part of the island TO their own power."--_Swift, on the English Tongue_. "We can say, that _one nation reduces another_ TO _subjection_. But when _dominion_ or _power_ is used, we always, _as_ [so] far as I know, say, _reduce_ UNDER _their power_" [or _dominion_]--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 229. [318] "_O foy_, don't misapprehend me; I don't say so."--DOUBLE DEALER: _Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 305. [319] According to Walker and Webster, _la_ is pronounced _law_; and, if they are right in this, the latter is only a false mode of spelling. But I set down both, because both are found in books, and because I incline to think the former is from the French _la_, which is pronounced _lah_. Johnson and Webster make _la_ and _lo_ synonymous; deriving _lo_ from the Saxon _la_, and _la_ either from _lo_ or from the French _la_. "_Law_, how you joke, cousin."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 178. "_Law_ me! the very ghosts are come now!"--_Ibid._ "_Law_, sister Betty! I am glad to see you!"--_Ibid._ "_La_ you! If you speak ill of the devil, How he takes it at heart!"--SHAKESPEARE: _Joh. Dict., w. La._ [320] The interjection of interrogating, being placed independently, either after a question, or after something which it converts into a question, is usually marked with its own separate eroteme; as, "But this is even so: eh?"--_Newspaper_. "Is't not drown'd i' the last rain? Ha?"--_Shakespeare_. "Does Bridget paint still, Pompey? Ha?"--_Id._ "Suits my complexion--_hey_, gal? so I think."--_Yankee Schoolmaster_. Sometimes we see it divided only by a comma, from the preceding question; as, "What dost thou think of this doctrine, Friend Gurth, ha?"--SCOTT'S IVANHOE: _Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.29. [321] Though _oh_ and _ah_ are most commonly used as signs of these depressing passions, it must be confessed that they are sometimes employed by reputable writers, as marks of cheerfulness or exultation; as, "_Ah_, pleasant proof," &c.--_Cowper's Task_, p. 179. "Merrily _oh!_ merrily _oh!_"--_Moore's Tyrolese Song_. "Cheerily _oh!_ cheerily _oh!_"--_Ib._ But even if this usage be supposed to be right, there is still some difference between these words and the interjection _O_: if there were not, we might dispense with the latter, and substitute one of the former; but this would certainly change the import of many an invocation. [322] This position is denied by some grammarians. One recent author says, "The _object_ cannot properly be called one of the principal parts of a sentence; as it belongs only to some sentences, and then is dependent on the verb, which it modifies or explains."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 87. This is consistent enough with the notion, that, "An infinitive, with or without a substantive, may be _the object of a transitive verb_; as, 'I wish _to ride_;' 'I wish _you to ride_.'"--_Ib._, p. 37. Or, with the _contrary_ notion, that, "An infinitive may be _the object of a_ _preposition_, expressed or understood; as, 'I wish _for you to ride_.'"--_Ibid._ But if the object governed by the verb, is always a mere qualifying adjunct, a mere "explanation of the attribute," (_Ib._, p. 28,) how differs it from an adverb? "Adverbs are words _added to verbs_, and sometimes to other words, to _qualify_ their meaning."--_Ib._, p. 23. And if infinitives and other mere _adjuncts_ may be the objects which make verbs transitive, how shall a transitive verb be known? The fact is, that the _true_ object of the transitive verb _is one of the principal_ _parts_ of the sentence, and that the infinitive mood cannot properly be reckoned such an object. [323] Some writers distinguish sentences as being of _three_ kinds, _simple_, and _complex_, and _compound_; but, in this work, care has not in general been taken to discriminate between complex sentences and compound. A late author states the difference thus: "A sentence containing but one proposition is _simple_; a sentence containing two propositions, one of which modifies the other, is _complex_; a sentence containing two propositions which in no way modify each other, is _compound_."--_Greene's Analysis_, p. 3. The term _compound_, as applied to sentences, is not _usually_ so restricted. An other, using the same terms for a very different division, explains them thus: "A _Simple Sentence_ contains but one subject and one attribute; as, 'The _sun shines_.' A _Complex Sentence_ contains two or more subjects of the same attribute, or two or more attributes of the same subject; as, 'The _sun_ and the _stars_ shine.' 'The sun _rises_ and _sets_.' 'The _sun_ and the _stars rise_ and _set_.' A _Compound Sentence_ is composed of two or more simple or complex sentences united; as, 'The _sun shines_, and the _stars twinkle_.' 'The _sun rises_ and _sets_, as the _earth revolves_.'"--_Pinneo's English Teacher_, p. 10; _Analytical Gram._, pp. 128, 142, and 146. This notion of a _complex sentence_ is not more common than Greene's; nor is it yet apparent, that the usual division of sentences into two kinds ought to give place to any tripartite distribution. [324] The terms _clause_ and _member_, in grammar, appear to have been generally used as words synonymous; but some authors have thought it convenient to discriminate them, as having different senses. Hiley says, "Those parts of a sentence which are separated by commas, are called _clauses_; and those separated by semicolons, are called _members_."--_Hiley' s Gram._, p. 66. W. Allen too confines the former term to simple members: "A compound sentence is formed by uniting two or more simple sentences; as, Man is mortal, and life is uncertain. Each of these simple sentences is called a _clause_. When the _members_ of a compound sentence are complex, they are _subdivided_ into _clauses_; as, Virtue leads to honor, and insures true happiness; but vice degrades the understanding, and is succeeded by infamy."--_Allen's Gram._, p. 128. By some authors, the terms _clause_ and _phrase_ are often carelessly confounded, each being applied with no sort of regard to its proper import. Thus, where L. Murray and his copyists expound their text about "the pupil's composing frequently," even the minor phrase, "_composing frequently_," is absurdly called a _clause_; "an entire _clause_ of a sentence."--See _Murray's Gram._, p. 179; _Alger's_, 61; _Fisk's_, 108; _Ingersoll's_, 180; _Merchant's_, 84; _R. C. Smith's_, 152; _Weld's_, 2d Ed., 150. The term _sentence_ also is sometimes grossly misapplied. Thus, by R. C. Smith, the phrases "_James and William_," "_Thomas and John_," and others similar, are called "sentences."--_Smith's New Gram._, pp. 9 and 10. So Weld absurdly writes as follows; "A _whole sentence_ is frequently the object of a preposition; as, 'The crime of being a young man.' _Being a young man_, is the object of the preposition _of_."--_Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Edition, p. 42. The phrase, "_being a young man_," here depends upon "_of_;" but this preposition governs nothing but the participle "_being_." The construction of the word "_man_" is explained below, in Obs. 7th on Rule 6th, of Same Cases. [325] In the very nature of things, all _agreement_ consists in concurrence, correspondence, conformity, similarity, sameness, equality; but _government_ is direction, control, regulation, restrain, influence, authoritative requisition, with the implication of inequality. That these properties ought to be so far distinguished in grammar, as never to be supposed to co-exist in the same terms and under the same circumstances, must be manifest to every reasoner. Some grammarians who seem to have been not always unaware of this, have nevertheless egregiously forgotten it at times. Thus Nutting, in the following remark, expresses a true doctrine, though he has written it with no great accuracy: "A word _in parsing_ never governs the same word _which_ it qualifies, or with which it agrees."--_Practical Gram._, p. 108. Yet, in his syntax, in which he pretends to separate agreement from government, he frames his first rule under the better head thus: "The nominative case _governs_ a verb."--_Ib._ p. 96. Lindsey Murray recognizes no such government as this; but seems to suppose his rule for the agreement of a verb with its nominative to be sufficient for both verb and nominative. He appears, however, not to have known that a word does not agree syntactically with another that governs it; for, in his Exercises, he has given us, apparently from his own pen, the following _untrue_, but otherwise not very objectionable sentence: "On these occasions, the pronoun is governed by, _an consequently agrees with_, the preceding word."--_Exercises_, 8vo, ii, 74. This he corrects thus: On these occasions, the pronoun is governed by the preceding word, _and consequently agrees with it_."--_Key_, 8vo, ii, 204. The amendments most needed he overlooks; for the thought is not just, and the two verbs which are here connected with one and the same nominative, are different in form. See the same example, with the same variation of it, in _Smith's New Gram._, p. 167; and, without the change, in _Ingersoll's_, p. 233; _and Fisk's_, 141. [326] It has been the notion of some grammarians, that _the verb governs the nominative before it_. This is an old rule, which seems to have been very much forgotten by modern authors; though doubtless it is as true, and as worthy to be perpetuated, as that which supposes the nominative to govern the verb: "Omne verbum personale finiti modi regit ante se expresse vel subaudite ejusdem numeri et personae nominativum vel aliquid pro nominativo: ut, _ego scribo, tu legis, ille auscultat_."--DESPAUTERII SYNT. fol. xvi. This Despauter was a laborious author, who, within fifty years after the introduction of printing, complains that he found his task heavy, on account of the immense number of books and opinions which he had to consult: "Necdum tamen huic operi ultimam manum aliter imposui, quam Apelles olim picturis: siquidem aptius exire, quum in multis tum in hac arte est difficillimum, _propter librorum legendorum immensitatem_, et opinionum innumeram diversitatem."--_Ibid., Epist. Apologetica_, A. D. 1513. But if, for this reason, the task was heavy _then_, what is it _now_! [327] Nutting's rule certainly implies that _articles_ may relate to _pronouns_, though he gives no example, nor can he give any that is now good English; but he may, if he pleases, quote some other modern grammatists, who teach the same false doctrine: as, "RULE II. _The article refers to its noun_ (OR PRONOUN) _to limit its signification_."--R. G. Greene's Grammatical Text-Book, p. 18. Greene's two grammars are used extensively in the state of Maine, but they appear to be little known anywhere else. This author professes to inculcate "the principles established by Lindley Murray." If veracity, on this point, is worth any thing, it is a pity that in both books there are so many points which, like the foregoing parenthesis, belie this profession. He followed here Ingersoll's RULE IV, which is this: "_The article refers to a noun_ OR PRONOUN, _expressed or understood, to limit its signification_."-- _Conversations on E. Gram._, p. 185. [328] It is truly a matter of surprise to find under what _titles_ or _heads_, many of the rules of syntax have been set, by some of the best scholars that have ever written on grammar. In this respect, the Latin and Greek grammarians are particularly censurable; but it better suits my purpose to give an example or two from one of the ablest of the English. Thus that elegant scholar the Rev. W. Allen: "SYNTAX OF NOUNS. 325. A verb agrees with its nominative case in number and person."--_Elements of E. Gram._, p. 131. This is in no wise the syntax of _Nouns_, but rather that of _the Verb_. Again: "SYNTAX OF VERBS. 405. Active Verbs govern the accusative case; as, I love _him_. We saw _them_. God rules the _world_."--_Ib._, p. 161. This is not properly the syntax of _Verbs_, but rather that of _Nouns_ or _Pronouns_ in the accusative or objective case. Any one who has but the least sense of order, must see the propriety of referring the rule to that sort of words to which it is applied in parsing, and not some other. Verbs are never parsed or construed by the latter of these rules nor nouns by the former. [329] What "the Series of Grammars, English, Latin, and Greek, ON THE SAME PLAN," will ultimately be,--how many treatises for each or any of the languages it will probably contain,--what uniformity will be found in the distribution of their several sorts and sizes,--or what _sameness_ they will have, except that which is bestowed by the binders,--cannot yet be stated with any certainty. It appears now, in 1850, that the scheme has thus far resulted in the production of _three remarkably different grammars_, for the English part of the series, and two more, a Latin grammar and a Greek, which resemble each other, or any of these, as little. In these works, abound changes and discrepances, sometimes indicating a great _unsettlement_ of "principles" or "plan," and often exciting our wonder at the extraordinary _variety_ of teaching, which has been claimed to be, "as nearly in the same words as the as the _genius of the languages_ would permit!" In what _should_ have been uniform, and easily _might_ have been so, these grammars are rather remarkably diverse! Uniformity in the order, number, or phraseology of the Rules of Syntax, even for our own language, seems scarcely yet to have entered this "SAME PLAN" at all! The "onward progress of English grammar," or, rather, of the author's studies therein, has already, within "fifteen years," greatly varied, from the _first model_ of the "_Series_," his own idea of a good grammar; and, though such changes bar consistency, a future progress, real or imaginary, may likewise, with as good reason, vary it yet as much more. In the preface to the work of 1840, it is said: "This, though _not essentially different_ from the former, is yet in some respects a new work. It has been almost _entirely rewritten_." And again: "The Syntax is _much fuller_ than in the former work; and though _the rules are not different_, they are arranged in a _different order_." So it is proved, that the model needed remodelling; and that the Syntax, especially, was defective, in matter as well as in order. The suggestions, that "_the rules are not different_," and the works, _"not essentially" so_, will sound best to those who shall never compare them. The old code has thirty-four chief, and twenty-two "special rules;" the new has twenty chief, thirty-six "special," and one "general rule." Among all these, we shall scarcely find _exact sameness_ preserved in so many as half a dozen instances. Of the old thirty-four, _fourteen only_ were judged worthy to remain as principal rules; and two of these have no claim at all to such rank, one of them being quite useless. Of the _twenty_ now made chief, five are new to "the Series of Grammars," and three of these exceedingly resemble as many of mine; five are slightly altered, and five greatly, from their predecessors among the old: one is the first half of an old rule; one is an old subordinate rule, altered and elevated; and _three are as they were before_, their numbers and relative positions excepted! [330] "The grammatical predicate is a verb."--_Butler's Pract. Gram._, 1845, p. 135, "_The grammatical predicate_ is a finite verb."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1850, p. 185. "The grammatical predicate is either a verb alone, or the copula _sum_ [some part of the verb _be_] with a noun or adjective."--_Andrews and Stoddard's Lat. Gram._, p. 163. "The _predicate_ consists of two parts,--the verb, or _copula_, and that which is asserted by it, called the _attribute_; as 'Snow _is white_.'"--_Greene's Analysis_. p. 15. "The _grammatical_ predicate consists of the _attribute_ and _copula_ not modified by other word."--_Bullions, Analyt, and Pract. Gram._, P. 129. "The _logical_ predicate is the grammatical, with all the words or phrases that modify it." _Ib._ p. 130. "The _Grammatical predicate_ is the word or words containing the simple affirmation, made respecting the subject."--_Bullions, Latin Gram._, p. 269. "Every proposition necessarily consists of these three parts: [the _subject_, the _predicate_, and the _copula_;] but then it is not alike needful, that they be all severally expressed in words; because the copula _is often included_ in the term of the predicate; as when we say, _he sits_, which imports the same as, _he is sitting_."--_Duncan's Logic_, p 105. In respect to this Third Method of Analysis. It is questionable, whether a noun or an adjective which follows the verb and forms part of the assertion, is to be included in "the grammatical predicate" or not. Wells says, No: "It would destroy at once all distinction between the grammatical and the logical predicate."--_School Gram._, p. 185. An other question is, whether the _copula_ (_is, was_ or the like,) which the _logicians_ discriminate, should be included as part of the _logical_ predicate, when it occurs as a distinct word. The prevalent practice of the _grammatical_ analyzers is, so to include it,--a practice which in itself is not very "logical." The distinction of subjects and predicates as "_grammatical_ and _logical_," is but a recent one. In some grammars, the partition used in logic is copied without change, except perhaps of _words_: as "There are, in sentences, a _subject_, a _predicate_ and a _copula_." JOS. R. CHANDLER, _Gram. of_ 1821, p. 105; _Gram. of_ 1847, p. 116. The logicians, however, and those who copy them, may have been hitherto at fault in recognizing and specifying their "_copula_." Mulligan forcibly argues that the verb of _being_ is no more entitled to this name than is every other verb. (See his _Exposition_," Sec.46.) If he is right in this, the "_copula_" of the logicians (an in my opinion, his own also) is a mere figment of the brain, there being nothing that answers to the definition of the thing or to the true use of the word. [331] I cite this example from Wells, for the purpose of explaining it without the several errors which that gentleman's _"Model"_ incidentally inculcates. He suggests that _and_ connects, not the two relative _clauses_, as such, but the two verbs _can give_ and _can take_; and that the connexion between _away_ and _is_ must be traced through the former, and its object _which._ These positions, I think, are wrong. He also uses here, as elsewhere, the expressions, _"which relates it"_ and, _"which is related by,"_ each in a very unusual, and perhaps an unauthorized, sense. His formule reads thus: "_Away_ modifies _can take_; _can take_ is CONNECTED with _can give_ by _and_; WHICH is governed by CAN GIVE, and relates to _security_; _security_ is the object of _finding_, _which_ is RELATED BY _of_ to _conviction_; _conviction_ is the object of with, _which_ RELATES IT to _can look_; _to_ expresses the relation between _whom_ and _can look_, and _whom_ relates to _Being_, which is the subject of _is."_ --_Wells's School Gram._, 113th Ed., p. 192. Neither this nor the subsequent method has been often called _"analysis;"_ for, in grammar, each user of this term has commonly applied it to some one method only,--the method preferred by himself. [332] The possessive phrase here should be, "_Andrews and Stoddard's_," as Wells and others write it. The adding of the apostrophe to the former name is wrong, even by the better half of Butler's own absurd and self-contradictory Rule: to wit, "When two or more nouns in the possessive case are connected by _and_, the possessive termination _should be added to each of them_; as, 'These are _John's and Eliza's_ books.' But, if objects are possessed in common by two or more, and the nouns are closely connected without any intervening words, the possessive termination is _added to the last noun only_; as, 'These are _John and Eliza's_ books.'"--_Butler's_ _Practical Gram._, p. 163. The sign twice used implies two governing nouns: "John's and Eliza's books." = "John's books and Eliza's;" "Andrews' and Stoddard's Latin Grammar," = "Andrews' (or Andrews's) Latin Grammar and Stoddard's" [333] In Mulligan's recent "Exposition of the Grammatical Structure of the English Language,"--the work of an able hand,--this kind of "Analysis," being most improperly pronounced "_the chief business of the grammarian_," is swelled by copious explanation under minute heads, to a volume containing more than three times as much matter as Greene's; but, since school-boys have little relish for long arguments, and prolixity had here already reached to satiety and disgust, it is very doubtful whether the practical utility of this "Improved Method of Teaching Grammar," will be greater in proportion to this increase of bulk.--G. B., 1853. [334] "I will not take upon me to say, whether we have any Grammar that sufficiently instructs us by rule and example; but I am sure we have none, that in the manner here attempted, teaches us what is right, by showing what is wrong; though this perhaps may prove _the more useful and effectual method_ of Instruction."--_Lowth's Gram., Pref._, p. viii. [335] With the possessive case and its governing noun, we use but _one article_; and sometimes it seems questionable, to which of the two that article properly relates: as, "This is one of _the_ Hebrews' children."--_Exodus_, ii, 6. The sentence is plainly equivalent to the following, which has two articles: "This is one of _the_ children of _the_ Hebrews." Not because the one article is equivalent to the two, or because it relates to both of the nouns; but because the possessive relation itself makes one of the nouns sufficiently definite. Now, if we change the latter construction back into the former, it is the noun _children_ that drops its article; it is therefore the other to which the remaining article relates. But we sometimes find examples in which the same analogy does not hold. Thus, "_a summer's day_" means, "_a day of summer_;" and we should hardly pronounce it equivalent to "_the day of a summer_." So the questionable phrase, "_a three days' journey_," means, "_a journey of three days_;" and, whether the construction be right or wrong, the article _a_ cannot be said to relate to the plural noun. Possibly such a phrase as, "_the three years' war_," might mean, "_the war of three years_;" so that the article must relate to the latter noun. But in general it is the latter noun that is rendered definite by the possessive relation: thus the phrase, "_man's works_" is equivalent to "_the works_ of man," not to "_works of the man_;" so, "_the man's works_," is equivalent, not to "the works of man," but to "the works of _the_ man." [336] Horne Tooke says, "The _use_ of A after the word MANY is a corruption for _of_; and has _no connection_ whatever with the _article_ A, i. e. _one_."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p. 324. With this conjecture of the learned etymologist, I do not concur: it is hardly worth while to state here, what may he urged pro and con. [337] "Nothing can be more certain than that [in Greek syntax] all words used for the purpose of definition, either stand between the article and the noun, or have their own article prefixed. Yet it may sometimes happen that an apposition [with an article] is parenthetically inserted instead of being affixed."--J. W. DONALDSON: _Journal of Philology_, No. 2, p. 223. [338] _Churchill_ rashly condemns this construction, and still more rashly proposes to make the noun singular without repeating the article. See his _New Gram._, p. 311. But he sometimes happily forgets his own doctrine; as, "In fact, _the second and fourth lines_ here stamp the character of the measure."--_Ib._, p. 391. O. B. Peirce says, "'Joram's _second_ and _third daughters_,' must mean, if it means any thing, his _second daughters_ and _third daughters_; and, 'the _first_ and _second verses_.' if it means any thing, must represent the _first verses_ and the _second verses_."-- _Peirce's English Gram._, p. 263. According to my notion, this interpretation is as false and hypercritical, as is the rule by which the author professes to show what is right. He might have been better employed in explaining some of his own phraseology, such as, "the _indefinite-past and present_ of the _declarative mode_."--_Ib._, p. 100. The critic who writes such stuff as this, may well be a misinterpreter of good common English. It is plain, that the two examples which he thus distorts, are neither obscure nor inelegant. But, in an alternative of single things, the article _must be repeated_, and a plural noun is improper; as, "But they do not receive _the_ Nicene _or the_ Athanasian _creeds_."--_Adam's Religious World_, Vol. ii, p. 105. Say, "_creed_." So in an enumeration; as, "There are three participles: _the_ present, _the_ perfect, and _the_ compound perfect _participles_"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 42. Expunge this last word, "_participles_." Sometimes a sentence is wrong, not as being in itself a solecism, but as being unadapted to the author's thought. Example: "Other tendencies will be noticed in the Etymological and Syntactical part."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, N. Y., 1850, p. 75. This implies, what appears not to be true, that the author meant to treat Etymology and Syntax _together_ in a single part of his work. Had he put an _s_ to the noun "part," he might have been understood in either of two other ways, but not in this. To make sure of his meaning, therefore, he should have said--"in the Etymological _Part_ and _the_ Syntactical." [339] Oliver B. Peirce, in his new theory of grammar, not only adopts Ingersoll's error, but adds others to it. He supposes no ellipsis, and declares it grossly improper ever to insert the pronoun. According to him, the following text is wrong: "My son, _despise not thou_ the chastening of the Lord."--_Heb._, xii, 5. See _Peirce's Gram._, p. 255. Of this gentleman's book I shall say the less, because its faults are so many and so obvious. Yet this is "_The Grammar of the English Language_," and claims to be the only work which is worthy to be called an English Grammar. "The first and only Grammar of the English Language!"--_Ib._, p. 10. In punctuation, it is a very _chaos_, as one might guess from the following Rule: "A _word_ of the _second person_, and in the _subjective_ case, _must have_ a _semicolon_ after it; as, John; hear me."--_Id._, p. 282. Behold his practice! "John, beware."--P. 84. "Children, study."--P. 80. "Henry; study."--P. 249. "Pupil: parse."--P. 211; and many other places. "Be thou, or do thou be writing? Be ye or you, or do ye or you be writing?"--P. 110. According to his Rule, this tense requires six semicolons; but the author points it with two commas and two notes of interrogation! [340] In Butler's Practical Grammar, first published in 1845, this doctrine is taught as a _novelty_. His publishers, in their circular letter, speak of it as one of "the _peculiar advantages_ of this grammar over preceding works," and as an important matter, "_heretofore altogether omitted by grammarians_!" Wells cites Butler in support of his false principle: "A verb in the infinitive is _often_ preceded by a noun or pronoun in the objective, which has _no direct dependence_ on any other word. Examples:--'Columbus ordered a strong _fortress_ of wood and plaster _to be erected_.'--_Irving_. 'Its favors here should make _us tremble_.'-- _Young_." See _Wells's School Gram._, p. 147. [341] "Sometimes indeed _the verb hath two regimens_, and then _the preposition is necessary_ to one of them; as, 'I address myself _to_ my judges.'"--_Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric_, p. 178. Here the verb _address_ governs the pronoun _myself_, and is also the antecedent to the preposition _to_; and the construction would be similar, if the preposition governed the infinitive or a participle: as, "I prepared myself _to_ swim;" or, "I prepared myself _for_ swimming." But, in any of these cases, it is not very accurate to say, "_the verb has two regimens_;" for the latter term is properly the regimen of the _preposition_. Cardell, by robbing the prepositions, and supposing ellipses, found _two regimens for every verb_. W. Allen, on the contrary, (from whom Nixon gathered his doctrine above,) by giving the "accusative" to the infinitive, makes a multitude of our active-transitive verbs "_neuter_." See _Allen's Gram._, p. 166. But Nixon absurdly calls the verb "active-transitive," _because it governs the infinitive_; i. e. as he supposes--and, except when _to_ is not used, _erroneously_ supposes. [342] A certain _new theorist_, who very innocently fogs himself and his credulous readers with a deal of impertinent pedantry, after denouncing my doctrine that _to_ before the infinitive is a _preposition_, appeals to me thus: "Let me ask you, G. B.--is not the infinitive in Latin _the same_ as in _the English?_ Thus, I desire _to teach Latin_--Ego Cupio _docere_. I saw Abel _come_--Ego videbam Abelem _venire_. The same principle is recognized by the Greek grammars and those of most of the modern languages."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 358. Of this gentleman I know nothing but from what appears in his book--a work of immeasurable and ill-founded vanity--a whimsical, dogmatical, blundering performance. This short sample of his Latin, (_with six puerile errors in seven words_,) is proof positive that he knows nothing of that language, whatever may be his attainments in Greek, or the other tongues of which he tells. To his question I answer emphatically, NO. In Latin, "One verb governs an other in the infinitive; as, _Cupio discere_, I desire _to_ learn."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 181. This government never admits the intervention of a preposition. "I saw Abel come," has no preposition; but the Latin of it is, "_Vidi Abelem venientem_," and not what is given above; or, according to St. Jerome and others, who wrote, "_Abel_," without declension, we ought rather to say, "_Vidi Abel venientem_." If they are right, "_Ego videbam Abelem venire_," is every word of it wrong! [343] Priestley cites these examples as _authorities_, not as _false syntax_. The errors which I thus quote at secondhand from other grammarians, and mark with double references, are in general such as the first quoters have allowed, and made themselves responsible for; but this is not the case in every instance. Such credit has sometimes, though rarely, been given, where the expression was disapproved.--G. BROWN. [344] Lindley Murray thought it not impracticable to put two or more nouns in apposition and add the possessive sign to each; nor did he imagine there would often be any positive impropriety in so doing. His words, on this point, are these: "On the other hand, the application of the _genitive_ sign to both or all of the nouns in apposition, would be _generally_ harsh and displeasing, and _perhaps in some cases incorrect_: as, 'The Emperor's Leopold's; King George's; Charles's the Second's; The parcel was left at Smith's, the bookseller's and stationer's."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 177. Whether he imagined _any of these_ to be "_incorrect_" or not, does not appear! Under the next rule, I shall give a short note which will show them _all_ to be so. The author, however, after presenting these uncouth fictions, which show nothing but his own deficiency in grammar, has done the world the favour not to pronounce them very _convenient_ phrases; for he continues the paragraph as follows: "The rules which _we_ have endeavoured to elucidate, will prevent the _inconveniences_ of both these modes of expression; and they appear to be _simple, perspicuous_, and _consistent_ with the idiom of the language.'--_Ib._ This undeserved praise of his own rules, he might as well have left to some other hand. They have had the fortune, however, to please sundry critics, and to become the prey of many thieves; but are certainly very deficient in the three qualities here named; and, taken together with their illustrations, they form little else than a tissue of errors, partly his own, and partly copied from Lowth and Priestley. Dr. Latham, too, and Prof. Child, whose erroneous teaching on this point is still more marvellous, not only inculcate the idea that possessives in form may be in apposition, but seem to suppose that two possessive endings are essential to the relation. Forgetting all such English as we have in the phrases, "_John the Baptist's head_,"--"_For Jacob my servant's sake_,"--"_Julius Caesar's Commentaries_,"--they invent sham expressions, too awkward ever to have come to their knowledge from any actual use,--such as, "_John's the farmer's wife_,"--"_Oliver's the spy's evidence_,"--and then end their section with the general truth, "For words to be in apposition with each other, they must be in the same case."--_Elementary Grammar, Revised Edition_, p. 152. What sort of scholarship is that in which _fictitious examples_ mislead even their inventors? [345] In Professor Fowler's recent and copious work, "The English Language in its Elements and Forms," our present _Reciprocals_ are called, not _Pronominal Adjectives_, but "_Pronouns_," and are spoken of, in the first instance, thus: "Sec.248. A RECIPROCAL PRONOUN is _one_ that implies the mutual action of different agents. EACH OTHER, and ONE ANOTHER, are our reciprocal forms, _which are treated exactly as if they were compound pronouns_, taking for their genitives, _each other's, one another's_. _Each other_ is properly used of _two_, and _one another_ of _more_." The definition here given takes for granted what is at least disputable, that "_each other_," or "_one another_," is not a phrase, but is merely "_one pronoun_." But, to none of his three important positions here taken, does the author himself at all adhere. In Sec.451, at Note 3, he teaches thus: "'They love each other.' Here _each_ is in the nominative case in apposition with _they_, and _other_ is in the objective case. 'They helped one another.' Here _one_ is in apposition with _they_, and _another_ is in the objective case." Now, by this mode of parsing, the reciprocal terms "are treated," not as "compound pronouns," but as phrases consisting of distinct or separable words: and, as being separate or separable words, whether they be Adjectives or Pronouns, they conform not to his definition above. Out of the sundry instances in which, according to his own showing, he has misapplied one or the other of these phrases, I cite the following: (1.) "The _two_ ideas of Science and Art differ from _one another_ as the understanding differs from the will."--_Fowler's Gram._, 1850, Sec.180. Say,--"from _each_ other;" or,--"_one_ from _the_ other." (2.) "THOU, THY, THEE, are etymologically related to _each_ other."--_Ib._, Sec.216. Say,--"to _one an_ other;" because there are "_more_" than "_two_." (3.) "Till within some centuries, the Germans, like the French and the English, addressed _each_ other in familiar conversation by the Second Person Singular."--_Ib._, Sec.221. Say,--"addressed _one an_ other." (4.) "Two sentences are, on the other hand, connected in the way of co-ordination [,] when they are not thus dependent one upon _an_other."--_Ib._, Sec.332. Say,--"upon _each_ other;" or,--"one upon _the_ other;" because there are but two. (5.) "These two rivers are at a great distance from one _an_other."--_Ib._, Sec.617. Say,--"from _each_ other;" or,--"_one from the_ other." (6.) "The trees [in the _Forest of Bombast_] are close, spreading, and twined into _each other_."--_Ib._, Sec.617. Say,--"into _one an_ other." [346] For this quotation, Dr. Campbell gives, in his margin, the following reference: "Introduction, &c., Sentences, Note on the 6th Phrase." But in my edition of Dr. Lowth's Introduction to English Grammar, (a Philadelphia edition of 1799,) I _do not_ find the passage. Perhaps it has been omitted in consequence of Campbell's criticism, of which I here cite but a part.--G. BROWN. [347] By some grammarians it is presumed to be consistent with the nature of _participles_ to govern the possessive case; and Hiley, if he is to be understood _literally_, assumes it as an "_established principle_," that they _all_ do so! "_Participles govern_ nouns and pronouns in the possessive case, and at the same time, if derived from transitive verbs, _require_ the noun or pronoun following to be in the objective case, _without the intervention of the preposition of_; as 'Much depends on _William's observing the rule_, and error will be the consequence of _his neglecting it_;' or, 'Much _will_ depend on the _rule's being observed by William_, and error will be the consequence of _its being neglected_.'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 94. These sentences, without doubt, are _nearly_ equivalent to each other in meaning. To make them exactly so, "_depends_" or "_will depend_" must be changed in tense, and "_its being neglected_" must be "_its being neglected by him_." But who that has looked at the facts in the case, or informed himself on the points here in dispute, will maintain that either the awkward phraseology of the latter example, or the mixed and questionable construction of the former, or the extensive rule under which they are here presented, is among "the established principles and best usages of the English language?"--_Ib._, p. 1. [348] What, in Weld's "Abridged Edition," is improperly called a "participial _noun_," was, in his "original work," still more erroneously termed "a participial _clause_." This gentleman, who has lately amended his general rule for possessives by wrongfully copying or imitating mine, has also as widely varied his conception of the _participial_--"_object possessed_;" but, in my judgement, a change still greater might not be amiss. "The possessive is often governed by a participial clause; as, much will depend on the _pupil's_ composing frequently. _Pupil's_ is governed by the _clause_, '_composing frequently_.' NOTE.--The sign ('s) should be annexed to the word governed by the _participial clause_ following it."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d _Edition_, p. 150. Again: "The possessive is often governed by a participial _noun_; as, Much will depend on the _pupil's_ composing frequently. _Pupil's_ is governed by the participial _noun composing_. NOTE.--The sign ('s) should be annexed to the word governed by the participial _noun_ following it."--_Weld's Gram., Abridged_, p. 117. Choosing the possessive case, where, both by analogy and by authority, the objective would be quite as grammatical, if not more so; destroying, as far as possible, all syntactical distinction between the participle and the participial noun, by confounding them purposely, even in name; this author, like Wells, whom he too often imitates, takes no notice of the question here discussed, and seems quite unconscious that participles partly made nouns can _produce_ false syntax. To the foregoing instructions, he subjoins the following comment, as a marginal note: "_The participle used as a noun_, still _retains its verbal properties_, and may govern the objective case, or be modified by an adverb or adjunct, like the verb from which it is derived."--_Ibid._ When one part of speech is said to be _used as an other_, the learner may be greatly puzzled to understand _to which class_ the given word belongs. If "_the participle used as a noun_, still retains its verbal properties," it is, manifestly, not a noun, but a participle still; not a participial noun, but a _nounal participle_, whether the thing be allowable or not. Hence the teachings just cited are inconsistent. Wells says, "_Participles_ are often used _in the sense of nouns_; as, 'There was again the _smacking_ of whips, the _clattering_ of hoofs, and the _glittering_ of harness.'--IRVING."--_School Gram._, p. 154. This is not well stated; because these are participial _nouns_, and not "_participles_." What Wells calls "participial nouns," differ from these, and are _all_ spurious, _all_ mongrels, _all_ participles rather than nouns. In regard to possessives before participles, no instructions appear to be more defective than those of this gentleman. His sole rule supposes the pupil always to know when and why the possessive is _proper_, and only instructs him _not to form it without the sign!_ It is this: "When a noun or a pronoun, preceding a _participle used as a noun_, is _properly_ in the possessive case, the sign of possession should not be omitted."--_School Gram._, p. 121. All the examples put under this rule, are inappropriate: each will mislead the learner. Those which are called "_Correct_," are, I think erroneous; and those which are called "_False Syntax_," the adding of the possessive sign will not amend. [349] It is remarkable, that Lindley Murray, with all his care in revising his work, did not see the _inconsistency_ of his instructions in relation to phrases of this kind. First he copies Lowth's doctrine, literally and anonymously, from the Doctor's 17th page, thus: "When the thing to which _another is said to belong_, is expressed by a circumlocution, or by _many terms_, the sign of the possessive case _is commonly added to the last_ term: as, 'The _king of Great Britain's_ dominions.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 45. Afterwards he condemns this: "The word in the genitive case is frequently PLACED IMPROPERLY: as, 'This fact appears from _Dr. Pearson of Birmingham's_ experiments.' _It_ should be, 'from the experiments of _Dr. Pearson_ of Birmingham.' "--_Ib._, p. 175. And again he makes it necessary: "A phrase in which the words are so connected and dependent, as to admit of no pause before the conclusion, _necessarily requires_ the genitive sign _at or near_ the end _of the phrase_: as, 'Whose prerogative is it? It is the _king of Great Britain's_;' 'That is the _duke of Bridgewater's_ canal;' " &c.--_Ib._, p. 276. Is there not contradiction in these instructions? [350] A late grammarian tells us: "_In_ nouns ending in _es_ and _ss_, the other _s_ is not added; as, _Charles'_ hat, _Goodness'_ sake."--_Wilcox's Gram._, p. 11. He should rather have said, "_To_ nouns ending in _es_ or _ss_, the other _s_ is not added." But his doctrine is worse than his syntax; and, what is remarkable, he himself forgets it in the course of a few minutes, thus: "Decline _Charles_. Nom. _Charles_, Poss. _Charles's_, Obj. _Charles_."--_Ib._, p. 12. See the like doctrine in Mulligan's recent work on the "_Structure of Language_," p. 182. [351] VAUGELAS was a noted French critic, who died in 1650. In Murray's Grammar, the name is more than once mistaken. On page 359th, of the edition above cited, it is printed "_Vangelas_"--G. BROWN. [352] Nixon parses _boy_, as being "in the possessive case, governed by distress understood;" and _girl's_, as being "coupled by _nor_ to _boy_," according to the Rule, "Conjunctions connect the same cases." Thus one word is written wrong; the other, parsed wrong: and so of _all_ his examples above.--G. BROWN. [353] Wells, whose Grammar, in its first edition, divides verbs into "_transitive, intransitive_, and _passive_;" but whose late edition absurdly make all passives transitive; says, in his third edition, "A _transitive verb_ is a verb that _has some noun or pronoun_ for its object;" (p. 78;) adopts, in his syntax, the old dogma, "Transitive verbs govern the objective case;" (3d Ed., p. 154;) and to this rule subjoins a series of remarks, so singularly fit to puzzle or mislead the learner, and withal so successful in winning the approbation of committees and teachers, that it may be worth while to notice most of them here. "REM. 1.--A sentence or phrase _often supplies the place_ of a noun or pronoun in the objective case; as, 'You see _how few of these men have returned.'"--Wells' s School Gram._, "Third Thousand," p. 154; late Ed. Sec.215. According to this, must we not suppose verbs to be often transitive, when _not made so_ by the author's _definition_? And if _"see"_ is here transitive, would not other forms, such as _are told, have been told_, or _are aware_, be just as much so, if put in its place? "REM. 2.--An _intransitive_ verb may be used to _govern an objective_, when the verb and the noun depending upon it are of kindred signification; as, '_To live_ a blameless _life;'--'To run_ a _race.'"--Ib._ Here verbs are absurdly called "_intransitive_," when, both in fact and by the foregoing definition, they are clearly transitive; or, at least, are, by many teachers, supposed to be so. "REM. 3.--Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur in which _intransitive_ verbs are followed by _objectives depending upon them_; as, 'To _look_ the _subject_ fully in the face.'--_Channing_. 'They _laughed him_ to scorn.'--_Matt_. 9:24. 'And _talked_ the _night_ away.'--_Goldsmith_."-- _Ib._ Here again, verbs evidently _made transitive by the construction_, are, with strange inconsistency, called "_intransitive_." By these three remarks together, the distinction between transitives and intransitives must needs be extensively _obscured_ in the mind of the learner. "REM. 4.--Transitive verbs of _asking, giving, teaching_, and _some others_, are often employed to govern two objectives; as, '_Ask him_ his _opinion_;'--'This experience _taught me_ a valuable _lesson_.'--'_Spare me_ yet this bitter _cup.'--Hemans_. 'I thrice _presented him_ a kingly _crown_.'--_Shakspeare_."--_Ib._ This rule not only jumbles together several different constructions, such as would require different cases in Latin or Greek, but is evidently repugnant to _the sense_ of many of the passages to which it is meant to be applied. Wells thinks, the practice of supplying a preposition, "is, in many cases, arbitrary, and does violence to an important and well established _idiom_ of the language."--_Ib._ But how can any idiom be violated by a mode of parsing, which merely expounds its _true meaning_? If the dative case has the meaning of _to_, and the ablative has the meaning of _from_, how can they be expounded, in English, but by suggesting the _particle_, where it is omitted? For example: "Spare me yet [_from_] this bitter cup."--"Spare [_to_] me yet this joyous cup." This author says, "_The rule_ for the government of two objectives by a verb, without the aid of a preposition, is adopted by Webster, Murray, Alexander, Frazee, Nutting, Perley, Goldsbury, J. M. Putnam, Hamlin, Flower, Crane, Brace, and many others."--_Ib._ Yet, if I mistake not, the weight of authority is vastly against it. _Such a rule as this_, is not extensively approved; and even some of the names here given, are improperly cited. Lindley Murray's remark, "Some of our verbs appear to govern two words in the objective case," is applied only to _words in apposition_, and wrong even there; Perley's rule is only of "_Some_ verbs of _asking_ and _teaching_;" and Nutting's note, "It _sometimes happens_ that one transitive verb governs two objective cases," is so very loose, that one can neither deny it, nor tell how much it means. "REM. 5.--Verbs of _asking, giving, teaching_, and _some others_, are often employed in the passive voice _to govern_ a noun or pronoun; as, 'He _was asked_ his _opinion.'--Johnson_. 'He _had been refused shelter_.'-- _Irving_."--_Ib._, p. 155, Sec.215. Passive _governing_ is not far from absurdity. Here, by way of illustration, we have examples of _two sorts_; the one elliptical, the other solecistical. The former text appears to mean, "He was asked _for_, his opinion;"--or, "He was asked _to give_ his opinion: the latter should have been, "_Shelter had been refused_ him;"--i.e., "_to_ him." Of the seven instances cited by the author, five at least are of the latter kind, and therefore to be condemned; and it is to be observed, that when they are _corrected_, and the right word is made nominative, the passive government, by Wells's own showing, becomes nothing but the ellipsis of a preposition. Having just given a _rule_, by which all his various examples are assumed to be regular and right, he very inconsistently adds this not: "_This form_ of expression is _anomalous_, and _might_, in many cases, be improved. Thus, _instead_ of saying, 'He was offered a seat on the council,' it would be preferable to say 'A seat in the council was offered [to] him.'"--_Ib._, p. 155, Sec. 215. By admitting here the ellipsis of the preposition _to_, he evidently refutes the doctrine of his own text, so far as it relates to _passive government_, and, by implication, the doctrine of his fourth remark also. For the ellipsis of _to_, before "_him_," is just as evident in the active expression, "I thrice _presented him_ a kingly crown," as in the passive, "A kingly crown _was thrice presented him_." It is absurd to deny it in either. Having offset _himself_, Wells as ingeniously balances his _authorities, pro and con_; but, the _elliptical_ examples being _allowable_, he should not have said that I and others "_condemn this usage altogether_." "REM. 6.--The passive voice of a verb is sometimes used in connection with a _preposition_, forming a _compound passive verb_; as 'He _was listened to_.'--'Nor is this _to be scoffed at_.'--'This is a tendency _to be guarded against_.'--'A bitter persecution _was carried on_.'--_Hallam_."-- _Ib._, p. 155, Sec. 215. The words here called "_prepositions_," are _adverbs_. Prepositions they cannot be; because they have no subsequent term. Nor is it either necessary or proper, to call them parts of the verb: "_was carried on_," is no more a "compound verb," than "_was carried off_," or "_was carried forward_," and the like. "REM. 7.--Idiomatic expressions sometimes occur in which a noun in the objective is preceded by a passive verb, and followed by _a preposition used adverbially_. EXAMPLES: 'Vocal and instrumental music _were made use of_.'--_Addison_. 'The third, fourth, and fifth, _were taken possession of_ at half past eight."--_Southey_. 'The Pinta _was soon lost sight of_ in the darkness of the night.'--_Irving_."--_Ib._, p. 155, Sec. 215. As it is by the manner of their use, that we distinguish prepositions and adverbs, it seems no more proper to speak of "_a preposition used adverbially_," than of "_an adverb used prepositionally_." But even if the former phrase is right and the thing conceivable, here is no instance of it; for "_of_" here modifies no verb, adjective, or adverb. The construction is an unparsable synchysis, a vile snarl, which no grammarian should hesitate to condemn. These examples may each be corrected in several ways: 1. Say--"_were used;"--"were taken into possession_;"--"_was soon lost from sight_." 2. Say--"_They_ made use of music, _both_ vocal and instrumental."--"Of the third, _the_ fourth, and _the_ fifth, _they took_ possession at half past eight."--"Of the Pinta _they_ soon list sight," &c. 3. Say--"Use _was also_ made of _both_ vocal and instrumental music."--"Possession of the third, _the_ fourth, and _the_ fifth, _was_ taken at half past eight."--"The Pinta soon _disappeared_ in the darkness of the night." Here again, Wells puzzles his pupil, with a note which half justifies and half condemns the awkward usage in question. See _School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 147; 3d Ed., 156; late Ed., Sec. 215. "REM. 8.--There are _some_ verbs which may be used either transitively or intransitively; as, 'He _will return_ in a week,' 'He _will return_ the book.'"--_Ib._, p. 147; 156; &c. According to Dr. Johnson, this is true of "_most_ verbs," and Lindley Murray asserts it of "_many_." There are, I think, but _few_ which may _not_, in some phraseology or other, be used both ways. Hence the rule, "Transitive verbs govern the objective case," or, as Wells now has it, "Transitive verbs, in the active voice, govern the objective case," (Sec. 215,) rests only upon a distinction which _itself creates_, between transitives and intransitives; and therefore it amounts to little. [354] To these examples, Webster adds _two others_, of a _different sort_, with a comment, thus: "'Ask _him_ his _opinion_?' 'You have asked _me_ the _news_.' Will it be said that the latter phrases are elliptical, for 'ask _of_ him his opinion?' I apprehend this to be a mistake. According to the true idea of the government of a transitive verb, _him_ must be the _object_ in the phrase under consideration, as much as in this, 'Ask _him_ for a guinea;' or in this, 'ask him to go.'"--_Ibid, ut supra_; _Frazee's Gram._, p. 152; _Fowler's_, p. 480. If, for the reason here stated, it is a "mistake" to supply _of_ in the foregoing instances, it does not follow that they are not elliptical. On the contrary, if they are analogous to, "Ask him _for_ a guinea;" or, "Ask him _to go_;" it is manifest that the construction must be this: "Ask him [_for_] his opinion;" or, "Ask him [_to tell_] his opinion." So that the question resolves itself into this: What is the best way of _supplying the ellipsis_, when two objectives thus occur after ask?--G. BROWN. [355] These examples Murray borrowed from Webster, who published them, with _references_, under his 34th Rule. With too little faith in the corrective power of grammar, the Doctor remarks upon the constructions as follows: "This idiom is outrageously anomalous, but perhaps incorrigible."-- _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 180; _Imp. G._, 128. [356] This seems to be a reasonable principle of syntax, and yet I find it contradicted, or a principle opposite to it set up, by some modern teachers of note, who venture to justify all those abnormal phrases which I here condemn as errors. Thus Fowler: "Note 5. When a Verb with its Accusative case, _is equivalent to a single verb_, it may take this accusative after it in the passive voice; as, 'This _has been put an end to_.'"--_Fowler's English Language_, 8vo, Sec.552. Now what is this, but an effort to teach bad English by rule?--and by such a rule, too, as is vastly more general than even the great class of terms which it was designed to include? And yet this rule, broad as it is, does not apply at all to the example given! For "_put an end_," without the important word "_to_," is not equivalent to _stop_ or _terminate_. Nor is the example right. One ought rather to say, "This has been _ended_;" or, "This has been _stopped_." See the marginal Note to Obs. 5th, above. [357] Some, however, have conceived the putting of the same case after the verb as before it, to be _government_; as, "Neuter verbs occasionally _govern_ either the nominative or [the] objective case, after them."--_Alexander's Gram._, p. 54. "The verb _to be, always governs_ a Nominative, unless it be of the Infinitive Mood."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 94. This latter assertion is, in fact, monstrously untrue, and also solecistical. [358] Not unfrequently the conjunction _as_ intervenes between these "same cases," as it may also between words in apposition; as, "He then is _as_ the head, and we _as_ the members; he the vine, and we the branches."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. ii, p. 189. [359] "'Whose house is that?' This sentence, before it is parsed, _should be transposed_; thus, 'Whose is that house?' The same observation applies to every sentence of a similar construction."--_Chandler's old Gram._, p. 93. This instruction is worse than nonsense; for it teaches the pupil to parse every word in the sentence _wrong_! The author proceeds to explain _Whose_, as "qualifying _house_, understood;" _is_, as agreeing "with its nominative, _house_;" _that_, as "qualifying _house_;" and _house_, as "nominative case to the verb, _is_." Nothing of this is _true_ of the original question. For, in that, _Whose_ is governed by _house; house_ is nominative after _is; is_ agrees with _house_ understood; and _that_ relates to _house_ understood. The meaning is, "Whose house is that house?" or, in the order of a declarative sentence, "That house is whose house?" [360] 1: In Latin, the accusative case is used after such a verb, because an other word in the same case is understood before it; as, "Facere quae libet, ID est [_hominem_] esse _regem_."--SALLUST. "To do what he pleases, THAT is [for a _man_] to be a _king_." If Professor Bullions had understood Latin, or Greek, or English, as well as his commenders imagine, he might have discovered what construction of cases we have in the following instances: "It is an honour [for a _man_] to be the _author_ of such a work."--_Bullions's Eng. Gram._, p. 82. "To be _surety_ for a stranger [,] is dangerous."--_Ib._ "Not to know what happened before you were born, is to be always a _child_."--_Ib._ "Nescire quid acciderit antequam natus es, est semper esse _puerum_."--_Ib._ "[Greek: Esti tion aischron ...topon, hon haemen pote kurioi phainesthai proiemenous]." "It is a shame to be seen giving up countries of which we were once masters."--DEMOSTHENES: _ib._ What support these examples give to this grammarian's new notion of "_the objective indefinite_" or to his still later seizure of Greene's doctrine of "_the predicate-nominative_" the learned reader may judge. All the Latin and Greek grammarians suppose an _ellipsis_, in such instances; but some moderns are careless enough of that, and of the analogy of General Grammar in this case, to have seconded the Doctor in his absurdity. See _Farnum's Practical Gram._, p. 23; and _S. W. Clark's_, p. 149. 2. Professor Hart has an indecisive remark on this construction, as follows: "Sometimes a verb in the infinitive mood has a noun after it without any other noun before it; as, 'To be a good _man_, is not so easy a thing as many people imagine.' Here '_man_' may be parsed as used _indefinitely_ after the verb _to be_. It is not easy to say in what _case_ the noun is in such sentences. The analogy of the Latin would seem to indicate the _objective_.--Thus, 'Not to know what happened in past years, is to be always a _child_,' Latin, 'semper esse puerum.' _In like manner_, in English, we may say, '_Its_ being _me, need_ make no change in your determination.'"--_Hart's English Gram._, p. 127. 3. These learned authors thus differ about what certainly admits of no other solution than that which is given in the Observation above. To parse the nouns in question, "_as used indefinitely_," without case, and to call them "_objectives indefinite_," without agreement or government, are two methods equally repugnant to reason. The last suggestion of Hart's is also a false argument for a true position. The phrases, "_Its being me_," and "_To be a good man_," are far from being constructed "_in like manner_." The former is manifestly bad English; because _its_ and _me_ are not in the _same case_. But S. S. Greene would say, "_Its being I_, is right." For in a similar instance, he has this conclusion: "Hence, in _abridging_ the following proposition, 'I was not aware _that it was he_,' we should say '_of its being he_,' not '_his_' nor '_him_.'"--_Greene's Analysis_, 1st Ed., p. 171. When _being_ becomes a noun, no case after it appears to be very proper; but this author, thus "_abridging_" _four syllables into five_, produces an anomalous construction which it would be much better to avoid. [361] Parkhurst and Sanborn, by what they call "A NEW RULE," attempt to determine the doubtful or unknown case which this note censures, and to justify the construction as being well-authorized and hardly avoidable. Their rule is this: "A noun following a neuter or [a] passive participial noun, is in the _nominative independent_. A noun or pronoun in the _possessive_ case, always precedes the participial noun, either _expressed_ or _understood_, signifying the same thing as the noun does that follows it." To this new and exceptionable' dogma, Sanborn adds: "This form of expression is one of the most common idioms of the language, and _in general composition_ cannot be well avoided. In confirmation of the statement made, various authorities are subjoined. Two grammarians only, to our knowledge, have remarked OH this phraseology: 'Participles are sometimes preceded by a possessive case and followed by a nominative; as, There is no doubt of _his_ being a great _statesman_.' B. GREENLEAF. 'We sometimes find a participle that takes the same case after as before it, converted into a verbal noun, and the latter word retained unchanged in connexion with it; as, I have some recollection of his _father's_ being a _judge_.' GOOLD BROWN."--_Sanborn's Analytical Gram._, p. 189. On what principle the words _statesman_ and _judge_ can be affirmed to be in the nominative case, I see not; and certainly they are not nominatives "_independent_" because the word _being_, after which they stand, is not itself independent. It is true, the phraseology is common enough to be good English: but I dislike it; and if this citation from me, was meant for a confirmation of the reasonless dogmatism preceding, it is not made with fairness, because my _opinion_ of the construction is omitted by the quoter. See _Institutes of English Gram._, p. 162. In an other late grammar,--a shameful work, because it is in great measure a tissue of petty larcenies from my Institutes, with alterations for the worse,--I find the following absurd "Note," or Rule: "An infinitive or participle is often followed by a substantive _explanatory_ of an _indefinite_ person or thing. The substantive is then in the _objective_ case, and may be called the _objective after the infinitive_, or _participle_; [as,] It is an honor to be the _author_ of such a work. His being a great _man_, did not make him a happy man. By being an obedient _child_, you will secure the approbation of your parents."--_Farnum's Practical Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 25. The first of these examples is elliptical; (see Obs. 12th above, and the Marginal Note;) the second is bad English,--or, at' any rate, directly repugnant to the rule for same cases; and the third parsed wrong by the rule: "_child_" is in the nominative case. See Obs. 7th above. [362] When the preceding case is not "_the verb's nominative_" this phrase must of course be omitted; and when the word which is to be corrected, does not literally follow the verb, it may be proper to say, "_constructively follows_," in lieu of the phrase, "_comes after_." [363] The author of this example supposes _friend_ to be in the nominative case, though _John's_ is in the possessive, and both words denote the same person. But this is not only contrary to the general rule for the same cases, but contrary to his own application of one of his rules. Example: "_Maria's_ duty, as a _teacher_, is, to instruct her pupils." Here, he says, "_Teacher_ is in the _possessive_ case, from its relation to the name _Maria_, denoting the same object."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 211. This explanation, indeed, is scarcely intelligible, on account of its grammatical inaccuracy. He means, however, that, "_Teacher_ is in the possessive case, from its relation to the name _Maria's_, the two words denoting the same object." No word can be possessive "from its relation to the name _Maria_," except by standing immediately before it, in the usual manner of possessives; as, "_Sterne's Maria_." [364] Dr. Webster, who was ever ready to justify almost any usage for which he could find half a dozen respectable authorities, absurdly supposes, that _who_ may sometimes be rightly preferred to _whom_, as the object of a preposition. His remark is this: "In the use of _who_ as an interrogative, there is an _apparent deviation_ from regular construction--it being used _without distinction of case_; as, '_Who_ do you speak _to?_' '_Who_ is she married _to?_' '_Who_ is this reserved _for?_' '_Who_ was it made _by?_' This _idiom_ is not merely colloquial: it is found in the writings of our best authors."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 194; his _Improved Gram._, p. 136. "In this phrase, '_Who_ do you speak _to?_' there is a _deviation_ from regular construction; but the practice of thus using _who_, in certain familiar phrases, seems to be _established_ by the best authors."--_Webster's Rudiments of E. Gram._, p. 72. Almost any other solecism may be quite as well justified as this. The present work shows, in fact, a great mass of authorities for many of the incongruities which it ventures to rebuke. [365] Grammarians differ much as to the proper mode of parsing such nouns. Wells says, "This is _the case independent by ellipsis_."--_School Gram._, p. 123. But the idea of _such_ a case is a flat absurdity. Ellipsis occurs only where something, not uttered, is implied; and where a _preposition_ is thus wanting, the noun is, of course, its _object_; and therefore _not independent_. Webster, with too much contempt for the opinion of "Lowth, followed by the _whole tribe of writers_ on this subject," declares it "a palpable error," to suppose "prepositions to be understood before these expressions;" and, by two new rules, his 22d and 28th, teaches, that, "Names of measure or dimension, followed by an adjective," and "Names of certain portions of time and space, and especially words denoting continuance of time or progression, are used _without a governing word_."--_Philos. Gram._, pp. 165 and 172; _Imp. Gram._, 116 and 122; _Rudiments_, 65 and 67. But this is no account at all of the _construction_, or of the _case_ of the noun. As the nominative, or the case which we may use independently, is never a subject of government, the phrase, "_without a governing word_," implies that the case is _objective_; and how can this case be known, except by the discovery of some "governing word," of which it is the _object?_ We find, however, many such rules as the following: "Nouns of time, distance, and degree, are put in the objective case without a preposition."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 100. "Nouns which denote time, quantity, measure, distance, value, or direction are often put in the objective case without a preposition."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 153; "Abridged Ed.," 118. "Numes signifying duration, extension, quantity, quality, and valuation, are in the objective case without a governing word."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 154. _Bullions_, too, has a similar rule. To estimate these rules aright, one should observe how often the nouns in question are found _with_ a governing word. Weld, of late, contradicts himself by _admitting the ellipsis_; and then, inconsistently with his admission, most absurdly _denies the frequent use_ of the preposition with nouns of _time, quantity_, &c. "Before words of this description, the _ellipsis of a preposition is obvious_. But it is _seldom proper to use_ the preposition before such words."--_Weld's "Abridged Edition,"_ p. 118. [366] Professor Fowler absurdly says, "_Nigh, near, next, like_, when followed by the objective case, _may be regarded either_ as Prepositions or as Adjectives, _to_ being understood."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, Sec.458, Note 7. Now, "_to_ being understood," it is plain that no one of these words can be accounted a preposition, but by supposing the preposition to be complex, and to be partly suppressed. This can be nothing better than an idle whim; and, since the classification of words as parts of speech, is always positive and exclusive, to refer any particular word indecisively to "_either_" of two classes, is certainly no better _teaching_, than to say, "I do not know of which sort it is; call it what you please!" With decision prompt enough, but with too little regard to analogy or consistency, Latham and Child say, "The adjective _like governs a case_, and it is the only adjective that does so."--_Elementary Gram._, p. 155. In teaching thus, they seem to ignore these facts: that _near_, _nigh_, or _opposite_, might just as well be said to be an adjective governing a case; and that the use of _to_ or _unto_ after _like_ has been common enough to prove the ellipsis. The Bible has many examples; as, "Who is _like to_ thee in Israel?"--_1 Samuel_, xxvi, 15. "Hew thee two tables of stone _like unto_ the first."--_Exodus_, xxxiv, 1; and _Deut._, x, 1. But their great inconsistency here is, that they call the case after like "_a dative_"--a case unknown to their etymology! See _Gram. of E. Gram._, p. 259. In grammar, a _solitary_ exception or instance can scarcely be a _true one_. [367] The following examples may illustrate these points: "These verbs, and all others _like to_ them, were _like_ TIMAO."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 128. "The old German, and even the modern German, are much _liker to_ the Visigothic than they are to the dialect of the Edda."--_Ib._, i, 330. "Proximus finem, _nighest_ the end."--_Ib._, ii, 150. "Let us now come _nearer to_ our own language."--_Dr. Blair's Rhet._, p. 85. "This looks _very like_ a paradox."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 113. "He was _near_ [to] falling."--_Ib._, p. 116. Murray, who puts _near_ into his list of prepositions, gives this example to show how "_prepositions become adverbs!_" "There was none ever before _like unto_ it."--_Stone, on Masonry_, p. 5. "And earthly power doth then show _likest_ God's, When mercy seasons justice."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 45. [368] Wright's notion of this construction is positively absurd and self-contradictory. In the sentence, "My cane is worth a shilling," he takes the word _worth_ to be a noun "in _apposition_ to the word _shilling_." And to prove it so, he puts the sentence successively into these four forms: "My cane is _worth_ or _value_ for a shilling;"--"The _worth_ or _value_ of my cane is a shilling;"--"My cane is a _shilling's worth_;"--"My cane is _the worth of_ a shilling."--_Philosophical Gram._, p. 150. In all these transmutations, _worth_ is unquestionably a noun; but, in none of them, is it in apposition with the word _shilling_; and he is quite mistaken in supposing that they "indispensably prove the word in question to be a _noun_." There are other authors, who, with equal confidence, and equal absurdity, call _worth_ a _verb_. For example: "A noun, which signifies the price, is put in the objective case, without a preposition; as, 'my book is _worth_ twenty shillings.' _Is worth_ is a _neuter verb_, and answers to the _latin_ [sic--KTH] verb _valet_."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 138. I do not deny that the phrase "_is worth_" is a just version of the verb _valet_; but this equivalence in import, is no proof at all that _worth_ is a verb. _Prodest_ is a Latin verb, which signifies "_is profitable to_;" but who will thence infer, that _profitable to_ is a verb? [369] In J. R. Chandler's English Grammar, as published in 1821, the word _worth_ appears in the list of prepositions: but the revised list, in his edition of 1847, does not contain it. In both books, however, it is expressly parsed as a preposition; and, in expounding the sentence, "The book is worth a dollar," the author makes this remark: "_Worth_ has been called an adjective by some, and a noun by others: _worth_, however, in this sentence expresses a relation by value, and is so far a preposition; and no ellipsis, which may be formed, would change the nature of the word, without giving the sentence a different meaning."--_Chandler's Gram._, Old Ed., p. 155; New Ed., p. 181. [370] Cowper here purposely makes Mrs. Gilpin use bad English; but this is no reason why a school-boy may not be taught to correct it. Dr. Priestley supposed that the word _we_, in the example, "_To poor we_, thine enmity," &c., was also used by Shakespeare, "in a droll humorous way."--_Gram._, p. 103. He surely did not know the connexion of the text. It is in "Volumnia's _pathetic_ speech" to her victorious son. See _Coriolanus_, Act V, Sc. 3. [371] Dr. Enfield misunderstood this passage; and, in copying it into his Speaker, (a very popular school-book,) he has perverted the text, by changing _we_ to _us_: as if the meaning were, "Making us fools of nature." But it is plain, that all "fool's of nature!" must be fools of nature's own making, and not persons temporarily frighted out of their wits by a ghost; nor does the meaning of the last two lines comport with any objective construction of this pronoun. See _Enfield's Speaker_, p. 864. [372] In Clark's Practical Grammar, of 1848, is found this NOTE: "The Noun should correspond in number with the Adjectives. EXAMPLES--A two feet ruler. A ten feet pole."--P. 165. These examples are wrong: the doctrine is misapplied in both. With this author, _a_, as well as _two_ or _ten_, is an _adjective_ of number; and, since these differ in number, what sort of concord or construction do the four words in each of these phrases make? When a numeral and a noun are united to form a _compound adjective_, we commonly, if not always, use the latter in its primitive or singular form: as, "A _twopenny_ toy,"--"a _twofold_ error,"--"_three-coat_ plastering," say, "a _twofoot_ rule,"--"a _tenfoot_ pole;" which phrases are right; while Clark's are not only unusual, but unanalogical, ungrammatical. [373] Certain adjectives that differ in number, are sometimes connected disjunctively by _or_ or _than_, while the noun literally agrees with that which immediately precedes it, and with the other merely by implication or supplement, under the figure which is called _zeugma_: as, "Two or more nouns joined together by _one_ or _more_ copulative conjunctions."-- _Lowth's Gram._, p. 75; _L. Murray's_, 2d Ed., p. 106. "He speaks not to _one_ or a _few_ judges, but to a large assembly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 280. "_More_ than _one_ object at a time."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 301. See Obs. 10th on Rule 17th. [374] Double comparatives and double superlatives, such as, "The _more serener_ spirit,"--"The _most straitest_ sect,"--are noticed by Latham and Child, in their syntax, as expressions which "we occasionally find, even in good writers," and are truly stated to be "_pleonastic_;" but, forbearing to censure them as errors, these critics seem rather to justify them as pleonasms allowable. Their indecisive remarks are at fault, not only because they are indecisive, but because they are both liable and likely to mislead the learner.--See their _Elementary Grammar_, p. 155. [375] The learned William B. Fowle strangely imagines all pronouns to be _adjectives_, belonging to nouns expressed or understood after them; as, "We kings require _them_ (subjects) to obey _us_ (kings)."--_The True English Gram._, p. 21. "_They_ grammarians, [i. e.] _those_ grammarians. _They_ is an other spelling of _the_, and of course means _this, that, these, those_, as the case may be."--_Ibid._ According to him, then, "_them grammarians_," for "_those grammarians_," is perfectly good English; and so is "_they grammarians_," though the vulgar do not take care to _vary this adjective_, "as _the case_ may be." His notion of subjoining a noun to every pronoun, is a fit counterpart to that of some other grammarians, who imagine an ellipsis of a pronoun after almost every noun. Thus: "The personal _Relatives_, for the most part, _are suppressed_ when the Noun is expressed: as, Man (he) is the Lord of this lower world. Woman (she) is the fairest Part of the Creation. The Palace (it) stands on a Hill. Men and Women (they) are rational Creatures."--_British Gram._, p. 234; _Buchanan's_, 131. It would have been worth a great deal to some men, to have known _what an Ellipsis is_; and the man who shall yet make such knowledge common, ought to be forever honoured in the schools. [376] "An illegitimate and ungrammatical use of these words, _either_ and _neither_, has lately been creeping into the language, in the application of these terms to a plurality of objects: as, '_Twenty_ ruffians broke into the house, but _neither_ of them could be recognized.' 'Here are _fifty_ pens, you will find that _either_ of them will do.'"--MATT. HARRISON, _on the English Language_, p. 199. "_Either_ and _neither_, applied to any number more than _one_ of _two_ objects, is a mere solecism, and one of late introduction."--_Ib._, p. 200. Say, "_Either_ OR _neither_," &c.--G. B. [377] Dr. Priestley censures this construction, on the ground, that the word _whole_ is an "_attribute of unity_," and therefore improperly added to a plural noun. But, in fact, this adjective is not _necessarily_ singular, nor is _all_ necessarily plural. Yet there is a difference between the words: _whole_ is equivalent to _all_ only when the noun is singular; for then only do _entireness_ and _totality_ coincide. A man may say, "_the whole thing_," when he means, "_all the thing_;" but he must not call _all things, whole things_. In the following example, _all_ is put for _whole_, and taken substantively; but the expression is a quaint one, because the article and preposition seem needless: "Which doth encompass and embrace the _all_ of things."--_The Dial_, Vol. i, p. 59. [378] This is not a mere repetition of the last example cited under Note 14th above; but it is Murray's interpretation of the text there quoted. Both forms are faulty, but not in the same way.--G. BROWN. [379] Some authors erroneously say, "A _personal_ pronoun does not always agree in person with its antecedent; as, 'John said, _I_ will do it.'"--_Goodenow's Gram._ "When I say, 'Go, and say to those children, you must come in,' you perceive that the noun children is of the _third_ person, but the pronoun you is of the _second_; yet _you_ stands for _children_,"--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 54. Here are different speakers, with separate speeches; and these critics are manifestly deceived by the circumstance. It is not to be supposed, that the nouns represented by one speaker's pronouns, are to be found or sought in what an other speaker utters. The pronoun _I_ does not here stand for the noun _John_ which is of the third person; it is John's own word, representing himself as the speaker. The meaning is, _"I myself, John, of the first person, will do it."_ Nor does _you_ stand for _children_ as spoken _of_ by Ingersoll; but for _children_ of the _second person_, uttered or implied in the address of his messenger: as, "_Children_, you must come in." [380] The propriety of this construction is questionable. See Obs. 2d on Rule 14th. [381] Among the authors who have committed this great fault, are, Alden, W. Allen, D. C. Allen, C. Adams, the author of the British Grammar, Buchanan, Cooper, Cutler, Davis, Dilworth, Felton, Fisher, Fowler, Frazee, Goldsbury, Hallock, Hull, M'Culloch, Morley, Pinneo, J. Putnam, Russell, Sanborn, R. C. Smith, Spencer, Weld, Wells, Webster, and White. "_You is plural_, whether it refer to only one individual, or to more."--_Dr. Crombie, on Etym. and Synt._, p. 240. "The word _you_, even when applied to one person, is plural, and should never he connected with a singular verb."--_Alexander's Gram._, p. 53; _Emmons's_, 26. "_You_ is of the Plural Number, even though used as the Name of a single Person."--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 88. "Altho' the Second Person Singular in both Times be marked with _thou_, to distinguish it from the Plural, yet we, out of Complaisance, though we speak but to one particular Person, use _the Plural you_, and never thou, but when we address ourselves to Almighty God, or when we speak in an emphatical Manner, or make a distinct and particular Application to a Person."--_British Gram._, p. 126; _Buchanan's_, 37. "But _you_, tho' applied to a single Person, requires a _Plural Verb_, the same as ye; as, _you love_, not _you lovest_ or _loves_; you _were_, not _you was_ or _wast_."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 37. [382] "Mr. Murray's 6th Rule is unnecessary."--_Lennie's English Gram._, p. 81; _Bullions's_, p. 90. The two rules of which I speak, constitute Murray's Rule VI; Alger's and Bacon's Rule VI; Merchant's Rule IX; Ingersoll's Rule XII; Kirkham's Rules XV and XVI; Jaudon's XXI and XXII; Crombie's X and XI; Nixon's Obs. 86th and 87th: and are found in Lowth's Gram., p. 100; Churchill's, 136; Adam's, 203; W. Allen's, 156; Blair's, 75; and many other books. [383] This rule, in all its parts, is to be applied chiefly, if not solely, to such relative clauses as are taken in the _restrictive_ sense; for, in the _resumptive_ sense of the relative, _who_ or _which_ may be more proper than _that_: as, "Abraham solemnly adjures his _most faithful_ servant, _whom_ he despatches to Charran on this matrimonial mission for his son, to discharge his mission with all fidelity."--_Milman's Jews_, i, 21. See Etymology, Chap. 5th, Obs. 23d, 24th, &c., on the Classes of Pronouns. [384] Murray imagined this sentence to be bad English. He very strangely mistook the pronoun _he_ for the object of the preposition _with_; and accordingly condemned the text, under the rule, "Prepositions govern the objective case." So of the following: "It is not I he is engaged with."--_Murray's Exercises_, R. 17. Better: "It is not I _that_ he is engaged with." Here is no violation of the foregoing rule, or of any other; and both sentences, with even Murray's form of the latter, are quite as good as his proposed substitutes: "It was not _with him_, that they were so angry."--_Murray's Key_, p. 51. "It is not _with me_ he is engaged."--_Ib._ In these fancied corrections, the phrases _with him_ and _with me_ have a very awkward and questionable position: it seems doubtful, whether they depend on _was_ and _is_, or on _angry_ and _engaged_. [385] In their speculations on the _personal pronouns_, grammarians sometimes contrive, by a sort of abstraction, to reduce all the persons to the _third_; that is, the author or speaker puts _I_, not for himself in particular, but for any one who utters the word, and _thou_, not for his particular hearer or reader, but for any one who is addressed; and, conceiving of these as persons merely spoken of by himself, he puts the verb in the third person, and not in the first or second: as, "_I is_ the speaker, _thou_ [_is_] the hearer, and _he, she_, or _it_, is the person or thing spoken of. All denote _qualities of existence_, but such qualities as make different impressions on the mind. _I is_ the being of _consciousness, thou_ [_is_ the being] of _perception_, and _he_ of _memory_."--_Booth's Introd._, p. 44. This is such syntax as I should not choose to imitate; nor is it very proper to say, that the three persons in grammar "denote _qualities_ of existence." But, supposing the phraseology to be correct, it is no _real_ exception to the foregoing rule of concord; for _I_ and _thou_ are here made to be pronouns of the _third_ person. So in the following example, which I take to be bad English: "I, or the person who speaks, _is_ the first person; you, _is_ the second; he, she, or it, is the third person singular."--_Bartlett's Manual_, Part ii, p. 70. Again, in the following; which is perhaps a little better: "The person '_I_' _is spoken of_ as acted upon."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, 2d Edition, p. 29. But there is a manifest absurdity in saying, with this learned "Professor of Languages," that the pronouns of the different persons _are_ those persons: as, "_I is the first person_, and denotes the speaker. _Thou is the second_, and denotes the person spoken to."--_Ib._, p. 22. [386] (1.) Concerning the verb _need_, Dr. Webster has the following note: "In the use of this verb there is another irregularity, which is peculiar, the verb being _without a nominative_, expressed or implied. 'Whereof here _needs_ no account.'--_Milt., P. L._, 4. 235. There is no evidence of the fact, and there _needs_ none. This is an established use of _need_."--_Philos. Gram._, p. 178; _Improved Gram._, 127; _Greenleaf's Gram. Simp._, p. 38; _Fowler's E. Gram._, p. 537. "Established use?" To be sure, it is "an established use;" but the learned Doctor's comment is a most unconscionable blunder,--a pedantic violation of a sure principle of Universal Grammar,--a perversion worthy only of the veriest ignoramus. Yet Greenleaf profitably publishes it, with other plagiarisms, for "Grammar Simplified!" Now the verb "_needs_," like the Latin _eget_, signifying _is necessary_, is here not active, but neuter; and has the nominative set _after it_, as any verb must, when the adverb _there_ or _here_ is before it. The verbs _lack_ and _want_ may have the same construction, and can have no other, when the word _there_, and not a nominative, precedes them; as, "Peradventure _there shall lack five_ of the fifty righteous."--_Gen._, xviii, 28. There is therefore neither "_irregularity_," nor any thing "_peculiar_," in thus placing the verb and its nominative. (2.) Yet have we other grammarians, who, with astonishing facility, have allowed themselves to be misled, and whose books are now misleading the schools, in regard to this very simple matter. Thus Wells: "The _transitive_ verbs _need_ and _want_, are sometimes employed in a general sense, _without a nominative_, expressed or implied. Examples:--'There _needed_ a new dispensation.'--_Caleb Cushing_. 'There _needs_ no better picture.'--_Irving_. 'There _wanted_ not patrons to stand up.'--_Sparks_. 'Nor did there _want_ Cornice, or frieze.'--_Milton_."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 141: 113th Ed., p. 154. In my edition of Milton, the text is, "Nor did _they want_ Cornice or frieze."--_P. L._, B. i, l. 715, 716. This reading makes _want_ a "transitive" verb, but the other makes it neuter, with the nominative following it. Again, thus Weld: "_A verb in the imperative mode_, and the _transitive_ verbs _need, want_, and _require_, sometimes appear to be used indefinitely, _without a nominative_; as, _let_ there be light; There _required_ haste in the business; There _needs_ no argument for proving, &c. There _wanted_ not men who would, &c. The last expressions have an _active form with a passive sense_, and should perhaps rather be considered _elliptical_ than _wanting a nominative_; as, _haste is required, no argument is needed_, &c."--_Weld's English Grammar Illustrated_, p. 143. Is there anywhere, in print, viler pedantry than this? The only elliptical example, "_Let_ there be light,"--a kind of sentence from which the nominative is _usually suppressed_,--is here absurdly represented as being full, yet without a subject for its verb; while other examples, which are full, and in which the nominative _must follow_ the verb, because the adverb "_there_" precedes, are first denied to have nominatives, and then most bunglingly tortured with false ellipses, to prove that they have them! (3.) The idea of a command _wherein no person or thing is commanded_, seems to have originated with Webster, by whom it has been taught, since 1807, as follows: "In some cases, the imperative verb is used without a definite nominative."--_Philos. Gram._, p. 141; _Imp. Gram._, 86; _Rudiments_, 69. See the same words in _Frazee's Gram._, p. 133. Wells has something similar: "A verb in the imperative is sometimes used _absolutely_, having no direct reference to any particular subject expressed or implied; as, 'And God said, _Let_ there be light.'"--_School Gram._, p. 141. But, when this command was uttered to the dark waves of primeval chaos, it must have meant, "_Do ye let light be there._" What else could it mean? There may frequently be difficulty in determining what or who is addressed by the imperative _let_, but there seems to be more in affirming that it has no subject. Nutting, puzzled with this word, makes the following dubious and unsatisfactory suggestion: "Perhaps it may be, in many cases, equivalent to _may_; or it may be termed itself an _imperative mode impersonal_; that is, containing a command or an entreaty addressed to no particular person."--_Nutting's Practical Gram._, p. 47. (4.) These several errors, about the "Imperative used Absolutely," with "no subject addressed," as in "_Let there be light_," and the Indicative "verbs NEED and WANT, employed without a nominative, either expressed or implied," are again carefully reiterated by the learned Professor Fowler, in his great text-book of philology "in its Elements and Forms,"--called, rather extravagantly, an "English Grammar." See, in his edition of 1850, Sec.597, Note 3 and Note 7; also Sec.520, Note 2. Wells's authorities for "Imperatives Absolute," are, "Frazee, Allen and Cornwell, Nutting, Lynde, and Chapin;" and, with reference to "NEED and WANT," he says, "See Webster, Perley, and Ingersoll."--_School Gram._, 1850, Sec.209. (5.) But, in obvious absurdity most strangely overlooked by the writer, all these blunderers are outdone by a later one, who says: "_Need_ and _dare_ are sometimes used in _a general sense without a nominative_: as, 'There _needed_ no prophet to tell us that;' 'There _wanted_ no advocates to secure the voice of the people.' It is better, however, to supply _it_, as a nominative, than admit an _anomala_. Sometimes, when intransitive, they have the _plural form_ with a singular _noun_: as, 'He need not fear;' 'He dare not hurt you.'"--_Rev. H. W. Bailey's E. Gram._, 1854, p. 128. The last example--"_He dare_"--is bad English: _dare_ should be _dares_. "He _need_ not _fear_," if admitted to be right, is of the potential mood; in which no verb is inflected in the third person. "_He_," too, is not a "_noun_;" nor can it ever rightly have a "_plural_" verb. "To supply _it_, as a nominative," where the verb is declared to be "_without a nominative_," and to make "_wanted_" an example of "_dare_" are blunders precisely worthy of an author who knows not how to spell _anomaly!_ [387] This interpretation, and others like it, are given not only by _Murray_, but by many other grammarians, one of whom at least was earlier than he. See _Bicknell's Gram._, Part i, p. 123; _Ingersoll's_, 153; _Guy's_, 91; _Alger's_, 73; _Merchant's_, 100; _Picket's_, 211; _Fisk's_, 146; _D. Adams's_, 81; _R. C. Smith's_, 182. [388] The same may be said of Dr. Webster's "_nominative sentences_;" three fourths of which are nothing but _phrases_ that include a nominative with which the following verb agrees. And who does not know, that to call the adjuncts of any thing "an _essential part_ of it," is a flat absurdity? An _adjunct_ is "something added to another, but _not essentially a part_ of it."--_Webster's Dict._ But, says the Doctor, "Attributes and other words often make an _essential part_ of the nominative; [as,] '_Our_ IDEAS _of eternity_ CAN BE nothing but an infinite succession of moments of duration.'--LOCKE. 'A _wise_ SON MAKETH a glad father; but a _foolish_ SON IS the heaviness of his mother.' Abstract the name from its attribute, and the proposition cannot always be true. 'HE _that gathereth in summer_ is a wise son.' Take away the description, '_that gathereth in summer_,' and the affirmation ceases to be true, or becomes inapplicable. These sentences or clauses thus _constituting_ the subject of an affirmation, may be termed _nominative sentences_."--_Improved Gram._, p. 95. This teaching reminds me of the Doctor's own exclamation: "What strange work has been made with Grammar!"--_Ib._, p. 94; _Philos. Gram._, 138. In Nesbit's English Parsing, a book designed mainly for "a Key to Murray's Exercises in Parsing," the following example is thus expounded: "The smooth stream, the serene atmosphere, [and] the mild zephyr, are the proper emblems of a gentle temper, and a peaceful life."--_Murray's Exercises_, p. 8. "_The smooth stream, the serene atmosphere, the mild zephyr_, is part of a sentence, _which_ is the _nominative case_ to the verb '_are_.' _Are_ is an irregular verb neuter, in the indicative mood, the present tense, the third person plural, and _agrees with the aforementioned part of a sentence_, as its nominative case."--_Introduction to English Parsing_, p. 137. On this principle of _analysis_, all the rules that speak of the nominatives or antecedents connected by conjunctions, may be dispensed with, as useless; and the doctrine, that a verb which has a phrase or sentence for its subject, must be _singular_, is palpably contradicted, and supposed erroneous! [389] "No Relative can become a Nominative to a Verb."--_Joseph W. Wright's Philosophical Grammar_, p. 162. "A _personal_ pronoun becomes a nominative, though a _relative_ does not."--_Ib._, p. 152. This teacher is criticised by the other as follows: "Wright says that 'Personal pronouns may be in the nominative case,' and that 'relative pronouns _can not be_. Yet he declines his relatives thus: 'Nominative case, _who_; possessive, _whose_; objective, _whom!"--Oliver B. Peirce's Grammar_, p. 331. This latter author here sees the palpable inconsistency of the former, and accordingly treats _who, which, what, whatever_, &c., as relative pronouns of the nominative case--or, as he calls them, "connective substitutes in the subjective form;" but when _what_ or _whatever_ precedes its noun, or when _as_ is preferred to _who_ or _which_, he refers both verbs to the noun itself, and adopts the very principle by which Cobbet and Wright erroneously parse the verbs which belong to the relatives, _who, which_, and _that_: as, "Whatever man will adhere to strict principles of honesty, will find his reward in himself."--_Peirce's Gram._, p. 55. Here Peirce considers _whatever_ to be a mere adjective, and _man_ the subject of _will adhere_ and _will find_. "Such persons as write grammar, should themselves be grammarians."--_Ib._, p. 330. Here he declares _as_ to be no pronoun, but "a modifying connective," i.e., conjunction; and supposes _persons_ to be the direct subject of _write_ as well as of _should be_: as if a conjunction could connect a verb and its nominative! [390] Dr. Latham, conceiving that, of words in apposition, the first must always be the leading one and control the verb, gives to his example an other form thus: "_Your master, I, commands you_ (not _command_)."--_Ib._ But this I take to be bad English. It is the opinion of many grammarians, perhaps of most, that nouns, which are ordinarily of the third person, _may be changed in person_, by being set in apposition with a pronoun of the first or second. But even if terms so used do not _assimilate_ in person, the first cannot be subjected to the third, as above. It must have the preference, and ought to have the first place. The following study-bred example of the Doctor's, is also awkward and ungrammatical: "_I, your master, who commands you to make haste, am in a hurry_."--_Hand-Book_, p. 334. [391] Professor Fowler says, "_One_ when contrasted with _other_, sometimes represents _plural nouns_; as, 'The reason why the _one_ are ordinarily taken for real qualities, and the _other_ for bare powers, seems to be.'--LOCKE.", _Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 242. This doctrine is, I think, erroneous; and the example, too, is defective. For, if _one_ may be _plural_, we have no distinctive definition or notion of either number. "_One_" and "_other_" are not here to be regarded as the leading words in their clauses; they are mere adjectives, each referring to the collective noun _class_ or _species_, understood, which should have been expressed after the former. See Etym., Obs. 19, p. 276. [392] Dr. Priestley says, "It is a rule, I believe, in all grammars, that when a verb comes between two nouns, either of which may be understood as the subject of the affirmation, that it may agree with either of them; but some regard must be had to that which is more naturally the subject of it, as also to that which stands next to the verb; for if no regard be paid to these circumstances, the construction will be harsh: [as,] _Minced pies was_ regarded as a profane and superstitious viand by the sectaries. _Hume's Hist._ A great _cause_ of the low state of industry _were_ the restraints put upon it. _Ib._ By this term was understood, such _persons_ as invented, or drew up rules for themselves and the world."--_English Gram. with Notes_, p. 189. The Doctor evidently supposed all these examples to be _bad English_, or at least _harsh in their construction_. And the first two unquestionably are so; while the last, whether right or wrong, has nothing at all to do with his rule: it has but one nominative, and that appears to be part of a definition, and not the true subject of the verb. Nor, indeed, is the first any more relevant; because Hume's "_viand_" cannot possibly be taken "as _the subject_ of the affirmation." Lindley Murray, who literally copies Priestley's note, (all but the first line and the last,) rejects these two examples, substituting for the former, "His meat _was_ locusts and wild honey," and for the latter, "The wages of sin _is_ death." He very evidently supposes all three of his examples to be _good English_. In this, according to Churchill, he is at fault in two instances out of the three; and still more so, in regard to the note, or rule, itself. In stead of being "a rule in all grammars," it is (so far as I know) found only in these authors, and such as have implicitly copied it from Murray. Among these last, are Alger, Ingersoll, R. C. Smith, Fisk, and Merchant. Churchill, who cites it only as Murray's, and yet expends two pages of criticism upon it, very justly says: "To make that the nominative case, [or subject of the affirmation,] which happens to stand nearest to the verb, appears to me to be on a par with the blunder pointed out in note 204th;" [that is, of making the verb agree with an objective case which happens to stand nearer to it, than its subject, or nominative.]-- _Churchill's New Gram._, p. 313. [393] "If the excellence of Dryden's works was _lessened_ by his indigence, their number was increased."--_Dr. Johnson_. This is an example of the proper and necessary use of the indicative mood after an _if_, the matter of the condition being regarded as a fact. But Dr. Webster, who prefers the indicative _too often_, has the following note upon it: "If Johnson had followed the common grammars, or even his own, which is prefixed to his Dictionary, he would have written _were_--'If the excellence of Dryden's works _were_ lessened'--Fortunately this great man, led by usage rather than by books, wrote _correct English, instead of grammar_."-- _Philosophical Gram._, p. 238. Now this is as absurd, as it is characteristic of the grammar from which it is taken. Each form is right sometimes, and neither can be used for the other, without error. [394] Taking this allegation in one sense, the reader may see that Kirkham was not altogether wrong here; and that, had he condemned the _solecisms_ adopted by himself and others, about "_unity of idea_" and "_plurality of idea_," in stead of condemning the _things intended to be spoken of_, he might have made a discovery which would have set him wholly right. See a footnote on page 738, under the head of _Absurdities_. [395] In his _English Reader_, (Part II, Chap. 5th, Sec. 7th,) Murray has this line in its proper form, as it here stands in the words of Thomson; but, in his _Grammar_, he corrupted it, first in his _Exercises_, and then still more in his _Key_. Among his examples of "_False Syntax_" it stands thus: "What black despair, what horror, _fills_ his _mind_!" --_Exercises_, Rule 2. So the error is propagated in the name of _Learning_, and this verse goes from grammar to grammar, as one that must have a "_plural_" verb. See _Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 242; _Smith's New Gram._, p. 127; _Fisk's Gram._, p. 120; _Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 189; Imp. Ed., p. 196. [396] S. W. Clark, by reckoning "_as_" a "_preposition_," perverts the construction of sentences like this, and inserts a wrong case after the conjunction. See _Clark's Practical Grammar_, pp. 92 and 178; also _this Syntax_, Obs. 6 and Obs. 18, on Conjunctions. [397] Murray gives us the following text for false grammar, under the head of _Strength_: "And Elias with Moses appeared to them."--_Exercises_, 8vo, p. 135. This he corrects thus: "And _there appeared to them_ Elias with Moses."--_Key_, 8vo, p. 266. He omits the comma after _Elias_, which some copies of the Bible contain, and others do not. Whether he supposed the verb _appeared_ to be singular or plural, I cannot tell; and he did not extend his quotation to the pronoun _they_, which immediately follows, and in which alone the incongruity lies. [398] This order of the persons, is _not universally_ maintained in those languages. The words of Mary to her son, "Thy _father and I_ have sought thee sorrowing," seem very properly to give the precedence to her husband; and this is their arrangement in St. Luke's Greek, and in the Latin versions, as well as in others. [399] The hackneyed example, "_I and Cicero are well,"--"Ego et Cicero valemus_"--which makes such a figure in the grammars, both Latin and English, and yet is ascribed to Cicero himself, deserves a word of explanation. Cicero the orator, having with him his young son Marcus Cicero at Athens, while his beloved daughter Tullia was with her mother in Italy, thus wrote to his wife, Terentia: "_Si tu, et Tullia, lux nostra, valetix; ego, et suavissimus Cicero, valemus_."--EPIST. AD FAM. Lib. xiv, Ep. v. That is, "If thou, and Tullia, our joy, are well; I, and the sweet lad Cicero, are likewise well." This literal translation is good English, and not to be amended by inversion; for a father is not expected to give precedence to his child. But, when I was a boy, the text and version of Dr. Adam puzzled me not a little; because I could not conceive how _Cicero_ could ever have said, "_I and Cicero are well_." The garbled citation is now much oftener read than the original. See it in _Crombie's Treatise_, p. 243; _McCulloch's Gram._, p. 158; and others. [400] Two singulars connected by _and_, when they form a part of such a disjunction, are still equivalent to a plural; and are to be treated as such, in the syntax of the verb. Hence the following construction appears to be inaccurate: "A single consonant or _a mute and a liquid_ before an accented vowel, _is_ joined to that vowel"--_Dr. Bullions, Lat. Gram._ p. xi. [401] Murray the schoolmaster has it, "_used_ to govern."--_English Gram._, p. 64. He puts the verb in a _wrong tense_. Dr. Bullions has it, "_usually governs_."--_Lat. Gram._, p. 202. This is right.--G. B. [402] The two verbs _to sit_ and _to set_ are in general quite different in their meaning; but the passive verb _to be set_ sometimes comes pretty near to the sense of the former, which is for the most part neuter. Hence, we not only find the Latin word _sedeo, to sit_, used in the sense of _being set_, as, "Ingens coena _sedet_," "A huge supper _is set_," _Juv._, 2, 119; but, in the seven texts above, our translators have used _is set, was set, &c._, with reference to the personal posture of _sitting_. This, in the opinion of Dr. Lowth and some others, is erroneous. "_Set_," says the Doctor, "can be no part of the verb _to sit_. If it belong to the verb _to set_, the translation in these passages is wrong. For _to set_, signifies _to place_, but without any designation of the _posture_ of the person placed; which is a circumstance of importance, expressed by the original."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 53; _Churchill's_, 265. These gentlemen cite three of these seven examples, and refer to the other four; but they do not tell us how they would amend any of them--except that they prefer _sitten_ to _sat_, vainly endeavouring to restore an old participle which is certainly obsolete. If any critic dislike my version of the last two texts, because I use the present tense for what in the Greek is the first aorist; let him notice that this has been done in both by our translators, and in one by those of the Vulgate. In the preceding example, too, the same aorist is rendered, "_am set_," and by Beza, "_sedeo_;" though Montanus and the Vulgate render it literally by "_sedi_," as I do by _sat_. See _Key to False Syntax_, Rule XVII, Note xii. [403] Nutting, I suppose, did not imagine the Greek article, [Greek: to], _the_, and the English or Saxon verb _do_, to be equivalent or kindred words. But there is no knowing what terms conjectural etymology may not contrive to identify, or at least to approximate and ally. The ingenious David Booth, if he does not actually identify _do_, with [Greek: to], _the_, has discovered synonymes [sic--KTH] and cognates that are altogether as unapparent to common observers: as, "_It_ and _the_," says he, "when Gender is not attended to, are _synonymous_. Each is expressive of Being in general, and when used Verbally, signifies to _bring forth_, or to _add_ to what we already see. _The, it, and, add, at, to_, and _do_, are _kindred words_. They mark that an _addition_ is made to some collected mass of existence. _To_, which literally signifies _add_, (like _at_ and the Latin _ad_,) is merely a different pronunciation of _do_. It expresses the _junction_ of an other thing, or circumstance, as appears more evidently from its varied orthography of _too_."--_Introd. to Analyt. Dict._, p. 45. Horne Tooke, it seems, could not persuade this author into his notion of the derivation and meaning of _the, it, to_, or _do_. But Lindley Murray, and his followers, have been more tractable. They were ready to be led without looking. "To," say they, "comes from _Saxon and Gothic_ words, which signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 183; _Fisk's_, 92. What an admirable explanation is this! and how prettily the great Compiler says on the next leaf: "Etymology, when it is guided by _judgment_, and [when] _proper limits_ are set to it, certainly merits great attention!"--_Ib._, p. 135. According to his own express rules for interpreting "a substantive _without any article to limit it_" and the "relative pronoun _with a comma before it_," he must have meant, that "_to_ comes from Saxon and Gothic words" _of every sort_, and that _the words of these two languages_ "signify action, effect, termination, to act, &c." The latter assertion is true enough: but, concerning the former, a man of sense may demur. Nor do I see how it is possible not to despise _such_ etymology, be the interpretation of the words what it may. For, if _to_ means _action_ or _to act_, then our little infinitive phrase, _to be_, must mean, _action be_, or _to act be_; and what is this, but nonsense? [404] So, from the following language of three modern authors, one cannot but infer, that they would parse the verb _as governed by the preposition_; but I do not perceive that they anywhere expressly say so: (1.) "The Infinitive is the form of the supplemental verb that always has, or admits, the _preposition_ TO before it; as, to _move_. Its general character is to represent the action in _prospect_, or _to do_; or in _retrospect_, as _to have done_. As a verb, it signifies _to do_ the action; and as _object of the preposition_ TO, it stands in the place of a noun for _the doing_ of it. The infinitive verb and its prefix _to_ are used much like a preposition and its noun object."--_Felch's Comprehensive Gram._, p. 62. (2.) "The action or other signification of a verb may be expressed in its widest and most general sense, without any limitation by a person or agent, but _merely as the end or purpose_ of some other action, state of being, quality, or thing; it is, from this want of limitation, said to be in the _Infinitive mode_; and is expressed by the verb with the _preposition_ TO before it, to denote _this relation of end or purpose_; as, 'He came _to see_ me;' 'The man is not fit _die_;' 'It was not right for him _to do_ thus.'"--_Dr. S. Webber's English Gram._, p. 35. (3.) "RULE 3. A verb in the Infinitive Mode, is _the object_ of the preposition TO, expressed or understood."--_S. W. Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 127. [405] Rufus Nutting, A. M., a grammarian of some skill, supposes that in all such sentences there was "_anciently_" an ellipsis, not of the phrase "_in order to_," but of the preposition _for_. He says, "Considering this mode as merely a _verbal noun_, it might be observed, that the infinitive, when it expresses the _object_, is governed by a _transitive_ verb; and, when it expresses the _final cause_, is governed by an _intransitive_ verb, OR ANCIENTLY, BY A PREPOSITION UNDERSTOOD. Of the former kind--'he learns _to read_.' Of the latter--'he reads _to learn_,' i. e. '_for_ to learn.'"--_Practical Gram._, p. 101. If _for_ was anciently understood in examples of this sort, it is understood now, and to a still greater extent; because we do not now insert the word _for_, as our ancestors sometimes did; and an ellipsis can no otherwise grow obsolete, than by a continual use of what was once occasionally omitted. [406] (1.) "La preposition, est un mot indeclinable, place devant les noms, les pronoms, et les _verbes_, qu'elle _regit_."--"The preposition is an indeclinable word placed before the nouns, pronouns, and _verbs_ which it _governs_."--_Perrin's Grammar_, p. 152. (2.) "Every verb placed immediately after _an other verb_, or after _a preposition_, ought to be put in the _infinitive_; because it is then _the regimen_ of the verb or preposition which precedes."--See _La Grammaire des Grammaires, par Girault Du Vivier_, p. 774. (3.) The American translator of the Elements of General Grammar, by the Baron De Sacy, is naturally led, in giving a version of his author's method of analysis, to parse the English infinitive mood essentially as I do; calling the word _to_ a preposition, and the exponent, or sign, of a _relation_ between the verb which follows it, and some other word which is antecedent to it. Thus, in the phrase, "_commanding_ them _to use_ his power," he says, that "'_to_' [is the] Exponent of a relation whose Antecedent is '_commanding_,' and [whose] Consequent [is] '_use_.'"--_Fosdick's De Sacy_, p. 131. In short, he expounds the word _to_ in this relation, just as he does when it stands before the objective case. For example, in the phrase, "_belonging to him alone: 'to_,' Exponent of a relation of which the Antecedent is '_belonging_,' and the Consequent, '_him alone.'"--Ib._, p. 126. My solution, in either case, differs from this in scarcely any thing else than the _choice of words_ to express it. (4.) It appears that, in sundry dialects of the north of Europe, the preposition _at_ has been preferred for the governing of the infinitive: "The use of _at_ for _to_, as the sign of the infinitive mode, is Norse, not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and Feroic. It is also found in the northern dialects of the Old English, and in the particular dialect of Westmoreland at the present day."--_Fowler, on the English Language_, 8vo, 1850, p. 46. [407] Here is a literal version, in which two infinitives are governed by the preposition _between_; and though such a construction is uncommon, I know not why it should be thought less accurate in the one language than in the other. In some exceptive phrases, also, it seems not improper to put the infinitive after some other preposition than _to_; as, "What can she do _besides sing_?"--"What has she done, _except rock_ herself?" But such expressions, if allowable, are too unfrequent to be noticed in any general Rule of syntax. In the following example, the word _of_ pretty evidently governs the infinitive: "Intemperance characterizes our discussions, that is calculated to embitter in stead _of conciliate_."--CINCINNATI HERALD: _Liberator_, No. 986. [408] This doctrine has been lately revived in English by William B. Fowle, who quotes Dr. Rees, Beauzee, Harris, Tracy, and Crombie, as his authorities for it. He is right in supposing the English infinitive to be generally governed by the preposition _to_, but wrong in calling it a _noun_, or "the _name_ of the verb," except this phrase be used in the sense in which every verb may be the name of itself. It is an error too, to suppose with Beauzee, "that the infinitive never in any language _refers to a subject_ or nominative;" or, as Harris has it, that infinitives "_have no reference at all to persons or substances_." See _Fowle's True English Gram._, Part ii, pp. 74 and 75. For though the infinitive verb never _agrees_ with a subject or nominative, like a finite verb, it most commonly has a very obvious _reference_ to something which is _the subject_ of the being, action, or passion, which it expresses; and this reference is one of the chief points of difference between the infinitive and a noun. S. S. Greene, in a recent grammar, absurdly parses infinitives "_as nouns_," and by the common rules for nouns, though he begins with calling them _verbs_. Thus: "_Our honor is to be maintained. To be maintained_, is a _regular passive_ VERB, infinitive mode, present tense, and is _used as a_ NOUN _in the relation of predicate_; according to Rule II. A _noun or pronoun_ used with the copula to form the _predicate_, must be in the _nominative_ case."--_Greene's Gram._, 1848. p. 93. (See the Rule, ib. p. 29.) This author admits, "The '_to_' seems, like the preposition, to perform the office of a _connective_:" but then he ingeniously imagines, "The infinitive _differs from the preposition and its object_, in that the '_to_' is _the only preposition_ used with the verb." And so he concludes, "The _two_ [or more] _parts_ of the infinitive are taken together, and, _thus_ combined, may _become a_ NOUN _in any relation_."--_Ib._, 1st Edition, p. 87. S. S. Greene will also have the infinitive to make the verb before it _transitive_; for he says, "The only form [of phrase] used as the _direct object of a transitive verb_ is the _infinitive_; as, 'We intend (What?) _to leave_ [town] to-day:' 'They tried (What?) _to conceal_ their fears.'"--_Ib._, p. 99. One might as well find transitive verbs in these equivalents: "_It is our purpose to leave_ town to-day."--"They _endeavoured to conceal_ their fears." Or in this:--"They _blustered_ to conceal their fears." [409] It is remarkable that the ingenious J. E. Worcester could discern nothing of the import of this particle before a verb. He expounds it, with very little consistency, thus: "To, _or_ To, _ad_. A particle employed as the usual sign or prefix of the infinitive mood of the verb; and it might, in such use, be deemed _a syllable of the verb_. It is used _merely as a sign of the infinitive_, without having any distinct or separate meaning: as, 'He loves _to_ read.'"--_Univ. and Crit. Dict._ Now is it not plain, that the action expressed by "_read_" is "that _towards_ which" the affection signified by "_loves_" is directed? It is only because we can use no other word in lieu of this _to_, that its meaning is not readily seen. For calling it "a syllable of the verb," there is, I think, no reason or analogy whatever. There is absurdity in calling it even "a _part_ of the verb." [410] As there is no point of grammar on which our philologists are more at _variance_, so there seems to be none on which they are more at _fault_, than in their treatment of the infinitive mood, with its usual sign, or governing particle, _to_. For the information of the reader, I would gladly cite every explanation not consonant with my own, and show wherein it is objectionable; but so numerous are the forms of error under this head, that such as cannot be classed together, or are not likely to be repeated, must in general be left to run their course, exempt from any criticism of mine. Of these various forms of error, however, I may here add an example or two. (1.) "What is the meaning of the word _to?_ Ans. _To_ means _act_. NOTE.--As our verbs and nouns _are spelled in the same manner_, it was formerly _thought best_ to prefix the _word_ TO, to words _when used as verbs_. For there is no difference between the NOUN, _love_; and the VERB, _to love_; but what is shown by the _prefix_ TO, which signifies _act_; i. e. to _act_ love."--_R. W. Greene's Inductive Exercises in English Grammar_, N. Y., 1829, p. 52. Now all this, positive as the words are, is not only fanciful, but false, utterly false. _To_ no more "means _act_," than _from_ "means _act_." And if it did, it could not be a sign of the infinitive, or of a verb at all; for, "_act love_," is imperative, and makes the word "_love_" a _noun_; and so, "_to act love_," (where "_love_" is also a noun,) must mean "_act act love_," which is tautological nonsense. Our nouns and verbs are not, _in general_, spelled alike; nor are the latter, _in general_, preceded by _to_; nor could a particle which may govern _either_, have been _specifically intended_, at first, to mark their difference. By some, as we have seen, it is argued from the very sign, that the infinitive is always essentially a noun. (2.) "The _infinitive mode_ is the _root_ or _simple form_ of the verb, used to express an action or state _indefinitely_; as, _to hear, to speak_. It is generally distinguished by the sign _to_. When the particle _to_ is employed in _forming_ the infinitive, it is to be regarded as _a part of the verb_. In _every other case_ it is a _preposition_."--_Wells's School Grammar_, 1st Ed., p. 80. "A _Preposition_ is a word which is used to express the relation of a _noun_ or _pronoun_ depending upon it, to some other word in the sentence."--_Ib._, pp. 46 and 108. "The passive form of a verb is sometimes used in connection with a _preposition_, forming a _compound passive verb_. Examples:--'He _was listened to_ without a murmur.'--A. H. EVERETT. 'Nor is this enterprise _to be scoffed at_.'--CHANNING."--_Ib._, p. 146. "A verb in the infinitive _usually relates_ to some noun or pronoun. Thus, in the sentence, 'He desires to improve,' the verb _to improve_ relates to the pronoun _he_ while it is governed by _desires_."--_Ib._, p. 150. "'The _agent_ to a verb in the infinitive mode must be in the _objective_ case.'--NUTTING."--_Ib._, p. 148. These citations from Wells, the last of which he quotes approvingly, by way of authority, are in many respects self-contradictory, and in nearly all respects untrue. How can the infinitive be only "the _root_ or _simple form_ of the verb," and yet consist "generally" of two distinct words, and often of three, four, or five; as, "_to hear_,"--"_to have heard_,"--"_to be listened to_,"--"_to have been listened to_?" How can _to_ be a "_preposition_" in the phrase, "_He was listened to_," and not so at all in "_to be listened to_?" How does the infinitive "express an action or state _indefinitely_," if it "_usually relates to some noun or pronoun_?" Why _must_ its _agent_ "be in the _objective_ case," if "_to improve_ relates to the pronoun _he_?" Is _to "in every other case a preposition_," and not such before a verb or a participle? Must every preposition govern some "_noun or pronoun_?" And yet are there some prepositions which govern nothing, precede nothing? "The door banged _to_ behind him."--BLACKWELL: _Prose Edda_, Sec.2. What is _to_ here? (3.) "The _preposition_ TO _before_ a verb is the sign of the Infinitive."--_Weld's E. Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 74. "The preposition is _a part of speech_ used to connect words, and show their relation."--_Ib._, p. 42. "The perfect infinitive is formed of the perfect participle and the auxiliary HAVE _preceded_ by the _preposition_ TO."--_Ib._, p. 96. "The infinitive mode _follows_ a _verb, noun_, or _adjective_."--_Ib._, pp. 75 and 166. "A verb in the Infinitive _may follow_: 1. _Verbs_ or _participles_; 2. _Nouns_ or _pronouns_; 3. _Adjectives_; 4. _As_ or _than_; 5. _Adverbs_; 6. _Prepositions_; 7. The _Infinitive_ is often used _independently_; 8. The Infinitive mode is often used in the office of a _verbal noun_, as the _nominative case_ to the verb, and as the _objective case_ after _verbs_ and _prepositions_."--_Ib._, p. 167. These last two counts are absurdly included among what "the Infinitive _may follow_;" and is it not rather queer, that this mood should be found to "_follow_" every thing else, and _not_ "the preposition TO," which comes "_before_" it, and by which it is "_preceded_?" This author adopts also the following absurd and needless rule: "The Infinitive mode has an objective case before it _when_ [the word] THAT _is omitted_: as, I believe _the sun_ to be the centre of the solar system; I know _him_ to be a man of veracity."--_Ib._, p. 167; _Abridged Ed._, 124. (See Obs. 10th on Rule 2d, above.) "_Sun_" is here governed by "_believe_;" and "_him_," by "_know_;" and "_be_," in both instances, by "the preposition TO:" for this particle is not only "the _sign_ of the Infinitive," but its _governing word_, answering well to the definition of a preposition above cited from Weld. [411] "The infinitive is sometimes governed by a preposition; as, 'The shipmen were _about to flee_.'"--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 149; 3d Ed., p. 158. Wells has altered this, and for "_preposition_" put "_adverb_."--Ed. of 1850, p. 163. [412] Some grammatists, being predetermined that no preposition shall control the infinitive, avoid the conclusion by absurdly calling FOR, a _conjunction_; ABOUT, an _adverb_; and TO--no matter what--but generally, _nothing_. Thus: "The _conjunction_ FOR, is inelegantly used before verbs in the infinitive mood; as, 'He came _for_ to study Latin.'"--_Greenleaf's Gram._, p. 38. "The infinitive mood is sometimes _governed_ by _conjunctions_ or _adverbs_; as, 'An object so high _as to be_ invisible;' 'The army is _about to march_.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 188. This is a note to that extra rule which Kirkham proposes for our use, "_if we reject the idea of government_, as applied to the verb in this mood!"--_Ib._ [413] After the word "_fare_," Murray put a semicolon, which shows that he misunderstood the mood of the verb "_hear_." It is not always necessary to repeat the particle _to_, when two or more infinitives are connected; and this fact is an other good argument against calling the preposition _to_ "a part of the verb." But in this example, and some others here exhibited, the repetition is requisite.--G. B. [414] "The Infinitive Mood is not confined to a trunk or nominative, and is always preceded by _to_, expressed or implied."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, 1854, p. 43. [415] Lindley Murray, and several of his pretended improvers, say, "The infinitive sometimes _follows_ the word AS: thus, 'An object so high _as to be_ invisible.' The infinitive occasionally _follows_ THAN _after_ a comparison; as, 'He desired _nothing more than to know_ his own imperfections.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 184; _Fisk's_, 125; _Alger's_, 63; _Merchant's_, 92. See this second example in _Weld's Gram._, p. 167; _Abridg._, 124. Merchant, not relishing the latter example, changes it thus: "I wish _nothing more, than to know_ his fate." He puts a comma after _more_, and probably means, "I wish nothing _else_ than to know his fate." So does Fisk, in the other version: and probably means, "He desired nothing _else_ than to know his own imperfections." But Murray, Alger, and Weld, accord in punctuation, and their meaning seems rather to be, "He desired nothing _more heartily_ than [_he desired_] to know his own imperfections." And so is this or a similar text interpreted by both Ingersoll and Weld, who suppose this infinitive to be "_governed by another verb, understood_: as, 'He desired nothing _more than to see_ his friends;' that is, 'than he _desired_ to see,' &c."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 244; _Weld's Abridged_, 124. But obvious as is the _ambiguity_ of this fictitious example, in all its forms, not one of these five critics perceived the fault at all. Again, in their remark above cited, Ingersoll, Fisk, and Merchant, put a comma before the preposition "_after_," and thus make the phrase, "_after a comparison_," describe the place _of the infinitive_. But Murray and Alger probably meant that this phrase should denote the place of the conjunction "_than_." The great "Compiler" seems to me to have misused the phrase "_a comparison_," for, "_an adjective or adverb of the comparative degree_;" and the rest, I suppose, have blindly copied him, without thinking or knowing what he ought to have said, or meant to say. Either this, or a worse error, is here apparent. Five learned grammarians severally represent either "_than_" or "_the infinitive_," as being AFTER "a _comparison_;" of which one is the copula, and the other but the beginning of the latter term! Palpable as is the _absurdity_, no one of the five perceives it! And, besides, no one of them says any thing about the _government_ of this infinitive, except Ingersoll, and he supplies a _verb_. "_Than_ and _as_," says Greenleaf, "sometimes _appear to govern_ the infinitive mood; as, 'Nothing makes a man suspect _much more, than_ to know little;' 'An object so high _as_ to be invisible."--_Gram. Simp._, p. 38. Here is an other fictitious and ambiguous example, in which the phrase, "_to know little_," is the subject of _makes_ understood. Nixon supposes the infinitive phrase after _as_ to be always the subject of a finite verb _understood_ after it; as, "An object so high as to be invisible _is_ or, _implies_." See _English Parser_, p. 100. [416] Dr. Crombie, after copying the substance of Campbell's second Canon, that, "In doubtful cases _analogy_ should be regarded," remarks: "For the same reason, '_it needs_' and '_he dares_,' are better than '_he need_' and '_he dare._'"--_On Etym. and Synt._, p. 326. Dr. Campbell's language is somewhat stronger: "In the verbs _to dare_ and _to need_, many say, in the third person present singular, _dare_ and _need_, as 'he _need_ not go: he _dare_ not do it.' Others say, _dares_ and _needs_. As the first usage is _exceedingly irregular_, hardly any thing less than uniform practice could authorize it."--_Philosophy of Rhet._, p. 175. _Dare_ for _dares_ I suppose to be wrong; but if _need_ is an auxiliary of the potential mood, to use it without inflection, is neither "irregular," nor at all inconsistent with the foregoing canon. But the former critic notices these verbs a second time, thus: "'He _dare_ not,' 'he _need_ not,' may be justly pronounced _solecisms_, for 'he _dares_,' 'he _needs_.'"--_Crombie, on Etym. and Synt._, p. 378. He also says, "The verbs _bid, dare, need, make, see, hear, feel, let_, are _not_ followed by the sign of the infinitive."--_Ib._, p. 277. And yet he writes thus: "These are truths, of which, I am persuaded, the author, to whom I allude, _needs_ not _to_ be reminded."--_Ib._, p. 123. So Dr. Bullions declares against _need_ in the singular, by putting down the following example as bad English: "He _need_ not be in so much haste."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 134. Yet he himself writes thus: "A name more appropriate than the term _neuter, need_ not be desired."--_Ib._, p. 196. A school-boy may see the inconsistency of this. [417] Some modern grammarians will have it, that a participle governed by a preposition is a "_participial noun_;" and yet, when they come to parse an adverb or an objective following, their "_noun_" becomes a "_participle_" again, and _not_ a "_noun_." To allow words thus to _dodge_ from one class to an other, is not only unphilosophical, but ridiculously absurd. Among those who thus treat this construction of the participle, the chief, I think, are Butler, Hurt, Weld, Wells, and S. S. Greene. [418] Dr. Blair, to whom Murray ought to have acknowledged himself indebted for this sentence, introduced _a noun_, to which, in his work, this infinitive and these participles refer: thus, "It is disagreeable _for the mind_ to be _left pausing_ on a word which does not, by itself, produce any idea."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 118. See Obs. 10th and 11th on Rule 14th. [419] The perfect contrast between _from_ and _to_, when the former governs the participle and the latter the infinitive, is an other proof that this _to_ is the common preposition _to_. For example, "These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth _from standing_ before the Lord of all the earth."--_Zech._, vi, 5. Now if this were rendered "which go forth _to stand_," &c., it is plain that these prepositions would express quite opposite relations. Yet, probably from some obscurity in the original, the Greek version has been made to mean, "going forth _to stand_;" and the Latin, "which go forth, _that they may stand_;" while the French text conveys nearly the same sense as ours,--"which go forth _from the place where they stood._" [420] _Cannot_, with a verb of _avoiding_, or with the negative _but_, is equivalent to _must_. Such examples may therefore be varied thus: "I _cannot but mention_:" i.e., "I _must_ mention."--"I _cannot help exhorting_ him to assume courage."--_Knox_. That is, "I _cannot but exhort_ him." [421] See the same thing in _Kirkham's Gram._ p. 189; in _Ingersoll's_, p. 200; in _Smith's New Grammar_, p. 162; and in other modifications and mutilations of Murray's work. Kirkham, in an other place, adopts the doctrine, that, "_Participles_ frequently govern nouns _and_ pronouns in the possessive case; as, 'In case of his _majesty's dying_ without issue, &c.; Upon _God's having ended_ all his works, &c.; I remember _its being reckoned_ a great exploit; At my _coming_ in he said, &c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 181. None of these examples are written according to my notion of elegance, or of accuracy. Better: "In case his _Majesty die_ without issue."--"_God_ having ended all his works."--"I remember _it was_ reckoned a great exploit."--"At my _entrance_, he said," &c. [422] We have seen that Priestley's doctrine, as well as Lowth's, is, that when a participle is taken _substantively_, "it ought not to govern another word;" and, for the same reason, it ought not to have an _adverb_ relating to it. But many of our modern grammarians disregard these principles, and do not restrict their "_participial nouns_" to the construction of nouns, in either of these respects. For example: Because one may say, "_To read superficially_, is useless," Barnard supposes it right to say, "_Reading superficially_ is useless." "But the _participle_," says he, "will also take the adjective; as, '_Superficial reading_ is useless.'"--_Analytic Gram._, p. 212. In my opinion, this last construction ought to be preferred; and the second, which is both irregular and unnecessary, rejected. Again, this author says: "We have laid it down as a rule, that the possessive case belongs, like an adjective, to a _noun_. What shall be said of the following? 'Since the days of Samson, there has been no instance of _a man's_ accomplishing a task so stupendous.' The _entire clause_ following _man's_, is taken as a noun. 'Of a man's _success_ in a task so stupendous.' would present no difficulty. A part of a sentence, or even a single participle, _thus often_ stands _for a noun_. 'My going will depend on my father's giving his consent,' or 'on my father's consenting.' A participle _thus used_ as a noun, may be called a PARTICIPIAL NOUN."--_Ib._, p. 131. I dislike this doctrine also. In the first example, _man_ may well be made the leading word in sense; and, as such, it must be in the objective case; thus: "There has been no instance of a _man accomplishing_ a task so stupendous." It is also proper to say. "_My going_ will depend on my _father's consenting_," or, "on my _father's consent_." But an action possessed by the agent, ought not to be transitive. If, therefore, you make this the leading idea, insert _of_: thus, "There has been no instance of a _man's accomplishing of_ a task so stupendous." "My going will depend on my _father's giving of_ his consent."--"My _brother's acquiring [of_] the French language will be a useful preparation for his travels."--_Barnard's Gram._, p. 227. If participial nouns retain the power of participles, why is it wrong to say, "A superficial reading books is useless?" Again, Barnard approves of the question, "What do you think of my _horse's running to-day_?" and adds, "Between this form of expression and the following, 'What do you think of my _horse running_ to-day?' it is sometimes said, that we should make a distinction; because the former implies that the horse had actually run, and the latter, that it is in contemplation to have him do so. _The difference of meaning certainly exists_; but it would seem more judicious to treat _the latter_ as an improper mode of speaking. What can be more uncouth than to say, 'What do you think of _me_ going to Niagara?' We should say _my_ going, notwithstanding the ambiguity. We ought, _therefore_, to introduce something explanatory; as, 'What do you think _of the propriety_ of my going to Niagara?"--_Analytic Gram._, p. 227. The propriety of a past action is as proper a subject of remark as that of a future one; the explanatory phrase here introduced has therefore nothing to do with Priestley's distinction, or with the alleged ambiguity. Nor does the uncouthness of an objective pronoun with the leading word in sense improperly taken as an adjunct, prove that a participle may properly take to itself a possessive adjunct, and still retain the active nature of a participle. [423] The following is an example, but it is not very intelligible, nor would it be at all amended, if the pronoun were put in the possessive case: "I sympathize with my sable brethren, when I hear of _them being spared_ even one lash of the cart-whip."--REV. DR. THOMPSON: _Garrison, on Colonization_, p. 80. And this is an other, in which the possessive pronoun would not be better: "But, if the slaves wish, to return to slavery, let them do so; not an abolitionist will turn out to stop _them going_ back."--_Antislavery Reporter_, Vol. IV, p. 223. Yet it might be more accurate to say--"to stop them _from_ going back." In the following example from the pen of Priestley, the objective is correctly used with _as_, where some would be apt to adopt the possessive: "It gives us an idea of _him_, as being the only person to whom it can be applied."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 151. Is not this better English than to say, "of _his_ being the only person?" The following is from the pen of a good scholar: "This made me remember the discourse we had together, at my house, about _me drawing_ constitutions, not as proposals, but as if fixed to the hand."--WILLIAM PENN: _Letter to Algernon Sidney_, Oct. 13th, 1681. Here, if _me_ is objectionable, _my_ without _of_ would be no less so. It might be better grammar to say, "about _my drawing of_ constitutions." [424] Sometimes the passive form is adopted, when there is no real need of it, and when perhaps the active would be better, because it is simpler; as, "Those portions of the grammar are worth the trouble of _being committed_ to memory."--_Dr. Barrow's Essays_, p. 109. Better, perhaps:--"worth the trouble of _committing_ to memory:" or,--"worth the trouble _committing them_ to memory." Again: "What is worth being uttered at all, is worth _being spoken_ in a proper manner."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 68. Better, perhaps: "What is worth _uttering_ at all, is worth _uttering_ in a proper manner."--G. Brown. [425] "RULE.--When the participle expresses something of which the noun following is the DOER, it should have the article and preposition; as, 'It was said in _the hearing of_ the witness.' When it expresses something of which the noun following is _not the doer_, but the OBJECT, both should be omitted; as, 'The court spent some time in _hearing_ the witness.'"--BULLIONS, _Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 108; _Analyt. and Pract. Gram._, 181. [426] This doctrine is far from being true. See Obs. 12th, in this series, above.--G. B. [427] "Dr. Webster considers the use of _then_ and _above_ as ADNOUNS, [i. e., adjectives,] to be 'well authorized and very convenient;' as, the _then_ ministry; the _above_ remarks."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 108. Dr. Webster's remark is in the following words: "_Then_ and _above_ are often used as ATTRIBUTES: [i. e., adjectives; as,] the _then_ ministry; the _above_ remarks; nor would I prescribe this use. It is well authorized and very convenient."--_Philos. Gram._, p. 245; _Improved Gram._, p. 176. Of this use of _then_, Dr. Crombie has expressed a very different opinion: "Here _then_," says he, "the adverb equivalent to _at that time_, is solecistically employed as an adjective, agreeing with _ministry_. This error seems to gain ground; it should therefore be vigilantly opposed, and carefully avoided."--_On Etym. and Synt._, p. 405. [428] W. Allen supposes, "An adverb sometimes qualifies a whole sentence: as, _Unfortunately_ for the lovers of antiquity, _no remains of Grecian paintings have been preserved_."--_Elements of Eng. Gram._, p. 173. But this example may be resolved thus: "_It happens_ unfortunately for the lovers of antiquity, _that_ no remains of Grecian paintings have been preserved." [429] This assertion of Churchill's is very far from the truth. I am confident that the latter construction occurs, even among reputable authors, ten times as often as the former can be found in any English books.--G. BROWN. [430] Should not the Doctor have said, "_are_ there _more_," since "_more than one_" must needs be plural? See Obs. 10th on Rule 17th. [431] This degree of truth is impossible, and therefore not justly supposable. We have also a late American grammarian who gives a similar interpretation: "'_Though never so justly deserving of it_.' Comber. _Never_ is here an emphatic adverb; as if it were said, so justly _as was never_. Though well authorized, it is disapproved by most grammarians of the present day; and the word _ever_ is used instead of _never_."--_Felch's Comp. Gram._, p. 107. The text here cited is not necessarily bad English as it stands; but, if the commenter has not mistaken its meaning, as well as its construction, it ought certainly to be, "Though _everso justly_ deserving of it."--"_So justly as was never_," is a positive degree that is not imaginable; and what is this but an absurdity? [432] Since this remark was written, I have read an other grammar, (that of the "_Rev. Charles Adams_,") in which the author sets down among "the more frequent _improprieties_ committed, in conversation, '_Ary one_' for _either_, and '_nary one_' for _neither_."--_Adams's System of Gram._, p. 116. Eli Gilbert too betrays the same ignorance. Among his "_Improper Pronunciations_" he puts down "_Nary_" and "_Ary_" and for "_Corrections_" of them, gives "_neither_" and "_either_."--_Gilbert's Catechetical Gram._, p. 128. But these latter terms, _either_ and _neither_, are applicable only to _one of two_ things, and cannot be used where _many_ are spoken of; as, "Stealing her soul with _many_ vows of faith, And _ne'er_ a true one."--_Shakspeare_. What sense would there be in expounding this to mean, "And _neither_ a true one?" So some men both write and interpret their mother tongue erroneously through ignorance. But these authors _condemn_ the errors which they here falsely suppose to be common. What is yet more strange, no less a critic than Prof. William C. Fowler, has lately exhibited, _without disapprobation_, one of these literary blunders, with sundry localisms, (often descending to slang,) which, he says, are mentioned by "Mr. Bartlett, in his valuable dictionary [_Dictionary] of Americanisms_." The brief example, which may doubtless be understood to speak for both phrases and both authors, is this: "ARY = either."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, N. Y., 1850, p. 92. [433] The conjunction _that_, at the head of a sentence or clause, enables us to assume the whole preposition as one _thing_; as, "All arguments whatever are directed to prove one or other of these _three things: that_ something is true; _that_ it is morally right or fit; or _that_ it is profitable and good."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 318. Here each _that_ may be parsed as connecting its own clause to the first clause in the sentence; or, to the word _things_ with which the three clauses are in a sort of apposition. If we conceive it to have no such connecting power, we must make this too an exception. [434] "Note. Then _and_ than are _distinct Particles_, but use hath made the using of _then_ for _than_ after a Comparative Degree at least _passable_. See _Butler's_ Eng. Gram. Index."--_Walker's Eng. Particles_, Tenth Ed., 1691, p. 333. [435] "When the relative _who_ follows the preposition _than_, it must be used as in the _accusative_ case."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 93. Dr. Priestley seems to have imagined the word _than_ to be _always a preposition_; for he contends against the common doctrine and practice respecting the case after it: "It is, likewise, said, that the nominative case ought to follow the _preposition than_; because the verb _to be_ is understood after it; As, _You are taller than he_, and not _taller than him_; because at full length, it would be, _You are taller than he is_; but since it is allowed, that the oblique case should follow _prepositions_; and since the comparative degree of an adjective, and the particle _than_ have, certainly, between them, the force _of a preposition_, expressing the relation of one word to another, _they ought to require the oblique case_ of the pronoun following."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 105. If _than_ were a preposition, this reasoning would certainly be right; but the Doctor begs the question, by assuming that it _is_ a preposition. William Ward, an other noted grammarian of the same age, supposes that, "ME _sapientior es_, may be translated, _Thou art wiser_ THAN ME." He also, in the same place, avers, that, "The best English Writers have considered _than_ as a Sign of an oblique Case; as, 'She suffers more THAN ME.' Swift, i.e. more than I suffer. 'Thou art a Girl as much brighter THAN HER, As he was a Poet sublimer THAN ME.' Prior. i.e. Thou art a Girl as much brighter _than she was_, as he was a Poet sublimer _than I am_."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, p. 112. These examples of the objective case after _than_, were justly regarded by Lowth as _bad English_. The construction, however, has a modern advocate in S. W. Clark, who will have the conjunctions _as, but, save, saving_, and _than_, as well as the adjectives _like, unlike, near, next, nigh_, and _opposite_, to be _prepositions_. "After a _Comparative_ the _Preposition than_ is commonly used. Example--Grammar is more interesting _than_ all my other studies."--_Clark's Practical Gram._, p. 178. "_As, like, than_, &c., indicate a relation of _comparison_. Example 'Thou hast been _wiser_ all the while _than me_.' _Southey's Letters._"--_Ib._, p. 96. Here correct usage undoubtedly requires _I_, and not _me_. Such at least is my opinion. [436] In respect to the _case_, the phrase _than who_ is similar to _than he, than they_, &c., as has been observed by many grammarians; but, since _than_ is a conjunction, and _who_ or _whom_ is a relative, it is doubtful whether it can be strictly proper to set two such connectives together, be the case of the latter which it may. See Note 5th, in the present chapter, below. [437] After _else_ or _other_, the preposition _besides_ is sometimes used; and, when it recalls an idea previously suggested, it appears to be as good as _than_, or better: as, "_Other_ words, _besides_ the preceding, may begin with capitals."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i. p. 285. Or perhaps this preposition may be proper, whenever _else_ or _other_ denotes what is _additional_ to the object of contrast, and not exclusive of it; as, "When we speak of any _other_ quantity _besides_ bare numbers."--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 215. "Because he had no _other_ father _besides_ God."--_Milton, on Christianity_, p. 109. Though we sometimes express an addition by _more than_, the following example appears to me to be _bad English_, and its interpretation still worse: "'The secret was communicated to _more men than him_.' That is, (when the ellipsis is duly supplied,) 'The secret was communicated to more _persons_ than _to_ him.'"--Murray's Key, 12mo, p. 61; his _Octavo Gram._, p. 215; _Ingersoll's Gram._, 252. Say rather,--"to _other_ men _besides_ him." Nor, again, does the following construction appear to be right: "Now _shew_ me _another_ Popish rhymester _but he_."--DENNIS: _Notes to the Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 268. Say rather, "Now _show_ me _an other_ popish rhymester _besides him_." Or thus: "Now show me _any_ popish rhymester _except_ him." This too is questionable: "Now pain must here be intended to signify something _else besides_ warning."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 121. If "warning" was here intended to be included with "something else," the expression is right; if not, _besides_ should be _than_. Again: "There is seldom any _other_ cardinal in Poland _but him_."--_Life of Charles XII_. Here "_but him_" should be either "_besides him_," or "_than he_;" for _but_ never rightly governs the objective case, nor is it proper after _other_. "Many _more_ examples, _besides_ the foregoing, might have been adduced."--_Nesbit's English Parsing_, p. xv. Here, in fact, no comparison is expressed; and therefore it is questionable, whether the word "_more_" is allowably used. Like _else_ and _other_, when construed with _besides_, it signifies _additional_; and, as this idea is implied in _besides_, any one of these adjectives going before is really pleonastic. In the sense above noticed, the word _beside_ is sometimes written in stead of besides, though not very often; as, "There are _other_ things which pass in the mind of man, _beside_ ideas."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 136. [438] A few of the examples under this head might be corrected equally well by some preceding note of a more specific character; for a general note against the improper omission of prepositions, of course includes those principles of grammar by which any particular prepositions are to be inserted. So the examples of error which were given in the tenth chapter of Etymology, might nearly all of them have been placed under the first note in this tenth chapter of Syntax. But it was thought best to illustrate every part of this volume, by some examples of false grammar, out of the infinite number and variety with which our literature abounds. [439] "The Rev. _Joab Goldsmith Cooper_, A. M.," was the author of two English grammars, as well as of what he called "A New and Improved Latin Grammar," with "An Edition of the Works of Virgil, &c.," all published in Philadelphia. His first grammar, dated 1828, is entitled, "_An Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar, and Exercises_." But it is no more an abridgement of Murray's work, than of mine; he having chosen to steal from the text of my Institutes, or supply matter of his own, about as often as to copy Murray. His second is the Latin Grammar. His third, which is entitled, "_A Plain and Practical English Grammar_," and dated 1831, is a book very different from the first, but equally inaccurate and worthless. In this book, the syntax of interjections stands thus: "RULE 21. The interjections _O, oh_ and _ah_ are followed by _the objective case_ of a noun or pronoun, as: 'O me! ah me! oh me!' In the second person, they are _a mark_ or _sign_ of an address, made to a person or thing, as: O thou persecutor! Oh, ye hypocrites! O virtue, how amiable thou art!"--Page 157. The inaccuracy of all this can scarcely be exceeded. [440] "_Oh_ is used to express the emotion of _pain, sorrow_, or _surprise_. _O_ is used to express _wishing, exclamation_, or a direct _address_ to a person."--_Lennie's Gram._, 12th Ed., p. 110. Of this distinction our grammarians in general seem to have no conception; and, in fact, it is so often disregarded by other authors, that the propriety of it may be disputed. Since _O_ and _oh_ are pronounced alike, or very nearly so, if there is no difference in their application, they are only different modes of writing the same word, and one or the other of them is useless. If there is a real difference, as I suppose there is, it ought to be better observed; and _O me!_ and _oh ye!_ which I believe are found only in grammars, should be regarded as bad English. Both _O_ and _oh_, as well as _ah_, were used in Latin by Terence, who was reckoned an elegant writer; and his manner of applying them favours this distinction: and so do our own dictionaries, though Johnson and Walker do not draw it clearly, for _oh_ is as much an "_exclamation_" as _O_. In the works of Virgil, Ovid, and Horace, we find _O_ or _o_ used frequently, but nowhere _oh_. Yet this is no evidence of their sameness, or of the uselessness of the latter; but rather of their difference, and of the impropriety of confounding them. _O, oh, ho_, and _ah_, are French words as well as English. Boyer, in his Quarto Dictionary, confounds them all; translating "O!" only by "_Oh!_" "OH! _ou_ HO!" by "_Ho! Oh!_" and "AH!" by "_Oh! alas! well-a-day! ough! A! ah! hah! ho!_" He would have done better to have made each one explain itself; and especially, not to have set down "_ough!_" and "_A!_" as English words which correspond to the French _ah!_ [441] This silence is sufficiently accounted for by _Murray's_; of whose work, most of the authors who have any such rule, are either piddling modifiers or servile copyists. And Murray's silence on these matters, is in part attributable to the fact, that when he wrote his remark, his system of grammar denied that nouns have any first person, or any objective case. Of course he supposed that all nouns that were uttered after interjections, whether they were of the second person or of the third, were in the nominative case; for he gave to nouns _two_ cases only, the nominative and the possessive. And when he afterwards admitted the objective case of nouns, he did not alter his remark, but left all his pupils ignorant of the case of any noun that is used in exclamation or invocation. In his doctrine of two cases, he followed Dr. Ash: from whom also he copied the rule which I am criticising: "The _Interjections, O, Oh_, and _Ah_, require the _accusative_ case of a pronoun in the _first_ Person: as, O _me_, Oh _me_, Ah _me_: But the _Nominative_ in the _second_: as, O _thou_, O _ye_."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 60. Or perhaps he had Bicknell's book, which was later: "The _interjections O, oh_, and _ah_, require the accusative case of a pronoun in the _first_ person after them; as, _O, me! Oh, me! Ah, me!_ But the nominative case in the _second_ person; as, _O, thou that rulest! O, ye rulers of this land!_"--_The Grammatical Wreath_, Part I, p. 105. [442] See _2 Sam._, xix, 4; also xviii, 33. Peirce has many times _misquoted_ this text, or some part of it; and, what is remarkable, he nowhere agrees either with himself or with the Bible! "O! Absalom! my son!"--_Gram._, p. 283. "O Absalom! my son, my son! would _to_ God I had died for thee."--_Ib._, p. 304. Pinneo also misquotes and perverts a part of it, thus: "Oh, Absalom! my son"--_Primary Gram._, Revised Ed., p. 57. [443] Of this example, Professor Bullions says, "This will be allowed to be _a correct English sentence_, complete in itself, and requiring nothing to be supplied. The phrase, '_being an expert dancer_,' is the subject of the verb '_does entitle_;' but the word '_dancer_' in that phrase is neither the subject of any verb, nor is governed by any word in the sentence."--_Eng. Gram._, p. 52. It is because this word cannot have any regular construction after the participle when the possessive case precedes, that I deny his first proposition, and declare the sentence _not_ "to be correct English." But the Professor at length reasons himself into the notion, that this indeterminate "_predicate_," as he erroneously calls it, "is properly in the _objective case_, and in parsing, may correctly be called the _objective indefinite_;" of which case, he says, "The following are also examples: '_He_ had the honour of being a _director_ for life.' 'By being a _diligent student, he_ soon acquired eminence in his profession.'"--_Ib._, p. 83. But "_director_" and "_student_" are here manifestly in the _nominative_ case: each agreeing with the pronoun _he_, which denotes the same person. In the latter sentence, there is a very obvious transposition of the first five words. [444] Faulty as this example is, Dr. Blair says of it: "Nothing can be more elegant, or more finely turned, than this sentence. It is neat, _clear_, and musical. We could hardly _alter one word_, or disarrange one member, without _spoiling_ it. Few sentences are to be found, more finished, or more happy."--_Lecture_ XX, p. 201. See the _six_ corrections suggested in my Key, and judge whether or not they _spoil_ the sentence.--G. B. [445] This Note, as well as all the others, will by-and-by be amply illustrated by citations from authors of sufficient repute to give it some value as a grammatical principle: but one cannot hope such language as is, in reality, incorrigibly bad, will always appear so to the generality of readers. Tastes, habits, principles, judgements, differ; and, where confidence is gained, many utterances are well received, that are neither well considered nor well understood. When a professed critic utters what is incorrect beyond amendment, the fault is the more noteworthy, as his professions are louder, or his standing is more eminent. In a recent preface, deliberately composed for a very comprehensive work on "English Grammar," and designed to allure both young and old to "a thorough and extensive acquaintance with their mother tongue,"--in the studied preface of a learned writer, who has aimed "to furnish not only a text-book for the higher institutions, but also a reference-book for _teachers_, which may give breadth and exactness to their views,"--I find a paragraph of which the following is a part: "Unless men, at least occasionally, bestow their attention upon the science and the laws of the language, they are in some danger, amid the excitements of professional life, of losing the delicacy of their taste and giving sanction to vulgarisms, or to what is worse. On this point, listen to the recent declarations of two leading men in the Senate of the United States, both of whom understand the use of the English language in its power: 'In truth, I must say that, in my opinion, the vernacular tongue of the country has become greatly vitiated, depraved, and corrupted by the style of our Congressional debates.' And the other, in courteous response remarked, 'There _is_ such a _thing_ as _an_ English and _a_ parliamentary _vocabulary_, and I have never heard _a worse_, when circumstances called it out, on this side [_of_] Billingsgate!'"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo. 1850, Pref., p. iv. Now of these "two leading men," the former was Daniel Webster, who, in a senatorial speech, in the spring of 1850, made such a remark concerning the style of oratory used in Congress. But who replied, or what idea the "courteous response," as here given, can be said to convey, I do not know. The language seems to me both unintelligible and solecistical; and, therefore, but a fair sample of the _Incorrigible_. Some intelligent persons, whom I have asked to interpret it, think, as Webster had accused our Congress of corrupting the English language, the respondent meant to accuse the British Parliament of doing the same thing in a greater degree,--of descending yet lower into the vileness of slang. But this is hardly a probable conjecture. Webster might be right in acknowledging a very depraving abuse of the tongue in the two Houses of Congress; but could it be "courteous," or proper, for the answerer to jump the Atlantic, and pounce upon the English Lords and Commons, as a set of worse corrupters? The gentleman begins with saying, "There _is_ such _a thing_"--as if he meant to describe some _one_ thing; and proceeds with saying, "as _an_ English _and a_ parliamentary vocabulary," in which phrase, by repeating the article, he speaks of _two "things"--two vocabularies_; then goes on, "and I have never heard _a worse_!" A worse _what_? Does he mean "_a worse vocabulary_?" If so, what sense has "_vocabulary_?" And, again, "a worse" _than_ what? Where and what is this "_thing_" which is so bad that the leading Senator has "never heard a worse?" Is it some "_vocabulary_" both "English and parliamentary?" If so, whose? If not, what else is it? Lest the wisdom of this oraculous "declaration" be lost to the public through the defects of its syntax,--and lest more than one rhetorical critic seem hereby "in some danger" of "giving sanction to" _nonsense_,--it may be well for Professor Fowler, in his next edition, to present some elucidation of this short but remarkable passage, which he values so highly! An other example, in several respects still more remarkable,--a shorter one, into which an equally successful professor of grammar has condensed a much greater number and variety of faults,--is seen in the following citation: "The verb is so called, because it means _word_; and as there can be no sentence without it, it is called, emphatically, _the word_."--_Pinneo's Analytical Gram._, p. 14. This sentence, in which, perhaps, most readers will discover no error, has in fact faults of so many different kinds, that a critic must pause to determine under which of more than half a dozen different heads of false syntax it might most fitly be presented for correction or criticism. (1.) It might be set down under my Note 5th to Rule 10th; for, in one or two instances out of the three, if not in all, the pronoun "_it_" gives not the same idea as its antecedent. The faults coming under this head might be obviated by three changes, made thus: "The verb is so called, because _verb_ means _word_; and, as there can be no sentence without _a verb, this part of speech_ is called, emphatically, _the word_." Cobbett wisely says, "Never put an _it_ upon paper without thinking well of what you are about."--_E. Gram._, 196. But (2.) the erroneous text, and this partial correction of it too, might be put under my Critical Note 5th, among _Falsities_; for, in either form, each member affirms what is manifestly untrue. The term "_word_" has many meanings; but no usage ever makes it, "_emphatically_" or otherwise, a name for one of the classes called "parts of speech;" nor is there nowadays any current usage in which "_verb_ means _word_." (3.) This text might be put under Critical Note 6th, among _Absurdities_; for whoever will read it, as in fairness he should, taking the pronoun "_it_" in the exact sense of its antecedent "_the verb_," will see that the import of each part is absurd--the whole, a two-fold absurdity. (4.) It might be put under Critical Note 7th, among _Self-Contradictions_; for, to teach at once that "_the verb_ is _so_ called," and "is called, emphatically," _otherwise_,--namely, "_the word_,"--is, to contradict one's self. (5.) It might be set down under Critical Note 9th, among examples of _Words Needless_; for the author's question is, "Why is the verb so called?" and this may be much better answered in fewer words, thus: "THE VERB is so called, because in French it is called _le verbe_ and in Latin, _verbum_, which means _word_." (6.) It might be put under Critical Note 10th, as an example of _Improper Omissions_; for it may be greatly bettered by the addition of some words, thus: "The verb is so called, because [in French] it [is called _le verbe_, and in Latin, _verbum_, which] means _word_: as there can be no sentence without _a verb, this_ [most important part of speech] is called, emphatically, [_the verb_,--q.d.,] _the word_." (7.) It might be put under Critical Note 11th, among _Literary Blunders_; for there is at least one blunder in each of its members. (8.) It might be set down under Critical Note 13th, as an example of _Awkwardness_; for it is but clumsy work, to teach _grammar_ after this sort. (9.) It might be given under Critical Note 16th, as a sample of the _Incorrigible_; for it is scarcely possible to eliminate all its defects and retain its essentials. These instances may suffice to show, that even gross errors of grammar may lurk where they are least to be expected, in the didactic phraseology of professed masters of style or oratory, and may abound where common readers or the generality of hearers will discover nothing amiss. [446] As a mere assertion, this example is here sufficiently corrected; but, as a _definition_, (for which the author probably intended it,) it is deficient; and consequently, in that sense, is still inaccurate. I would also observe that most of the subsequent examples under the present head, contain other errors than that for which they are here introduced; and, of some of them, the faults are, in my opinion, very many: for example, the several definitions of an _adverb_, cited below. Lindley Murray's definition of this part of speech is not inserted among these, because I had elsewhere criticised that. So too of his faulty definition of a _conjunction_. See the _Introduction_, Chap. X. paragraphs 26 and 28. See also _Corrections in the Key_, under Note 10th to Rule 1st. [447] In his explanation of _Ellipsis_, Lindley Murray continually calls it "_the_ ellipsis," and speaks of it as something that is "_used_,"--"_made use of_,"--"_applied_,"--"_contained in_" the examples; which expressions, referring, as they there do, to the mere _absence_ of something, appear to me solecistical. The notion too, which this author and others have entertained of the figure itself, is in many respects erroneous; and nearly all their examples for its illustration are either questionable as to such an application, or obviously inappropriate. The absence of what is _needless_ or _unsuggested_, is _no ellipsis_, though some grave men have not discerned this obvious fact. The nine solecisms here quoted concerning "_the ellipsis_," are all found in many other grammars. See _Fisk's E. Gram._, p. 144; _Guy's_, 91; _Ingersoll's_, 153; _J. M. Putnam's_, 137; _R. C. Smith's_, 180; _Weld's_, 190. [448] Some of these examples do, _in fact_, contain _more_ than two errors; for mistakes in _punctuation_, or in the use of _capitals_, are not here reckoned. This remark may also he applicable to some of the other lessons. The reader may likewise perceive, that where two, three, or more improprieties occur in one sentence, some one or more of them may happen to be such, as he can, if he choose, correct by some rule or note belonging to a previous chapter. Great labour has been bestowed on the selection and arrangement of these syntactical exercises; but to give to so great a variety of literary faults, a distribution perfectly distinct, and perfectly adapted to all the heads assumed in this digest, is a work not only of great labour, but of great difficulty. I have come as near to these two points of perfection in the arrangement, as I well could.--G. BROWN. [449] In Murray's sixth chapter of Punctuation, from which this example, and eleven others that follow it, are taken, there is scarcely a single sentence that does not contain _many errors_; and yet the whole is literally copied in _Ingersoll's Grammar_, p. 293; in _Fisk's_, p. 159; in _Abel Flint's_, 116; and probably in some others. I have not always been careful to subjoin the great number of references which might be given for blunders selected from this hackneyed literature of the schools. For corrections, or improvements, see the Key. [450] This example, or L. Murray's miserable modification of it, traced through the grammars of Alden, Alger, Bullions, Comly, Cooper, Flint, Hiley, Ingersoll, Jaudon, Merchant, Russell, Smith, and others, will be found to have a dozen different forms--all of them no less faulty than the original--all of them obscure, untrue, inconsistent, and almost incorrigible. It is plain, that "_a_ comma," or _one_ comma, cannot divide more than _two_ "simple members;" and these, surely, cannot be connected by more than _one relative_, or by more than _one_ "comparative;" if it be allowable to call _than, as_, or _so_, by this questionable name. Of the multitude of errors into which these pretended critics have so blindly fallen, I shall have space and time to point out only a _very small part_: this text, too justly, may be taken as a pretty fair sample of their scholarship! [451] The "_idea_" which is here spoken of, Dr. Blair discovers in a passage of Addison's Spectator. It is, in fact, as here "_brought out_" by the critic, a bald and downright absurdity. Dr. Campbell has criticised, under the name of _marvellous nonsense_, a different display of the same "_idea_," cited from De Piles's Principles of Painting. The passage ends thus: "In this sense it may be asserted, that in Rubens' pieces, Art is above Nature, and Nature only a copy of that great master's works." Of this the critic says: "When the expression is _stript_ of the _absurd meaning_, there remains nothing but balderdash."--_Philosophy of Rhet._, p, 278. [452] All his rules for the comma, Fisk appears to have taken unjustly from Greenleaf. It is a _double shame_, for a grammarian to _steal_ what is so _badly written_!--G. BROWN. [453] Bad definitions may have other faults than to include or exclude what they should not, but this is their great and peculiar vice. For example: "_Person_ is _that property_ of _nouns_ and _pronouns_ which distinguishes the speaker, the person or thing addressed, and the person or thing spoken of."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 51; 113th Ed., p. 57. See nearly the same words, in _Weld's English Gram._, p. 67; and in his _Abridgement_, p. 49. The three persons of _verbs_ are all improperly excluded from this definition; which absurdly takes "_person_" to be _one property that has all the effect of all the persons_; so that each person, in its turn, since each cannot have all this effect, is seen to be excluded also: that is, it is not such a property as is described! Again: "An _intransitive verb_ is a verb which _does not have_ a noun or pronoun for its object."--_Wells_, 1st Ed., p. 76. According to Dr. Johnson, "_does not have_," is not a scholarly phrase; but the adoption of a puerile expression is a trifling fault, compared with that of including here all passive verbs, and some transitives, which the author meant to exclude; to say nothing of the inconsistency of excluding here the two classes of verbs which he absurdly calls "intransitive," though he finds them "followed by objectives depending upon them!"--_Id._, p. 145. Weld imitates these errors too, on pp. 70 and 153. [454] S. R. Hall thinks it necessary to recognize "_four distinctions_" of "_the distinction_ occasioned by sex." In general, the other authors here quoted, suppose that we have only "_three distinctions_" of "_the distinction_ of sex." And, as no philosopher has yet discovered more than two sexes, some have thence stoutly argued, that it is absurd to speak of more than two genders. Lily makes it out, that in Latin there are _seven_: yet, with no great consistency, he will have _a gender_ to be _a_ or _the_ distinction of _sex_. "GENUS est sexus discretio. Et sunt genera numero septem."--_Lilii Gram._, p. 10. That is, "GENDER is the distinction of _sex_. And _the genders_ are _seven_ in number." Ruddiman says, "GENUS est, discrimen _nominis_ secundum sexum, vel _ejus_ in structura grammatica imitatio. Genera nominum sunt _tria_."--_Ruddimanni Gram._, p. 4. That is, "GENDER is the diversity of the _noun_ according to sex, or [it is] the imitation _of it_ in grammatical structure. The genders of nouns are _three_." These old definitions are no better than the newer ones cited above. All of them are miserable failures, full of faults and absurdities. Both the nature and the cause of their defects are in some degree explained near the close of the tenth chapter of my Introduction. Their most prominent errors are these: 1. They all assume, that _gender_, taken as one thing, is in fact two, three, or more, _genders_, 2. Nearly all of them seem to say or imply, that _words_ differ from one an other _in sex_, like animals. 3. Many of them expressly confine _gender_, or _the genders_, to _nouns_ only. 4. Many of them confessedly _exclude the neuter gender_, though their authors afterwards admit this gender. 5. That of Dr. Webster supposes, that words differing in gender never have the same "_termination_." The absurdity of this may be shown by a multitude of examples: as, _man_ and _woman, male_ and _female, father_ and _mother, brother_ and _sister_. This is better, but still not free from some other faults which I have mentioned. For the correction of all this great batch of errors, I shall simply substitute in the Key one short definition, which appears to me to be exempt from each of these inaccuracies. [455] Walker states this differently, and even repeats his remark, thus: "But _y_ preceded by a vowel is _never_ changed: as coy, coyly, gay, gayly."--_Walker's Rhyming Dict._, p.x. "Y preceded by a vowel is _never_ changed, as boy, boys, I cloy, he cloys, etc."--_Ib._, p viii. Walker's twelve "Orthographical Aphorisms," which Murray and others republish as their "Rules for Spelling," and which in stead of amending they merely corrupt, happened through some carelessness to contain _two_ which should have been condensed into _one_. For "words ending with y preceded by a consonant," he has not only the absurd rule or assertion above recited, but an other which is better, with an exception or remark under each, respecting "_y_ preceded by a vowel." The grammarians follow him in his errors, and add to their number: hence the repetition, or similarity, in the absurdities here quoted. By the term "_verbal nouns_," Walker meant nouns denoting agents, as _carrier_ from carry; but Kirkham understood him to mean "_participial nouns_," as _the carrying_. Or rather, he so mistook "that able philologist" Murray; for he probably knew nothing of Walker in the matter; and accordingly changed the word "_verbal_" to "_participial_;" thus teaching, through all his hundred editions, except a few of the first, that participial nouns from verbs ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant, are formed by merely "changing the _y_ into _i_." But he seems to have known, that this is not the way to form the participle; though he did not know, that "_coyless_" is not a proper English word. [456] The _idea of plurality_ is not "_plurality of idea_," any more than the _idea of wickedness_, or the _idea of absurdity_, is absurdity or wickedness of idea; yet, behold, how our grammarians copy the blunder, which Lowth (perhaps) first fell into, of putting the one phrase for the other! Even Professor Fowler, (as well as Murray, Kirkham, and others,) talks of having regard "_to unity or plurality of idea_!"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo. 1850, Sec.513,--G. BROWN. [457] In the Doctor's "New Edition, Revised and Corrected," the text stands thus: "The _Present participle_ of THE ACTIVE VOICE has an active signification; as, James is _building_ the house. _In many of these_, however, _it_ has," &c. Here the first sentence is but an idle truism; and the phrase, "_In many of these_," for lack of an antecedent to _these_, is utter nonsense. What is in "the active voice," ought of course to be _active_ in "signification;" but, in this author's present scheme of the verb, we find "the active voice," in direct violation of his own definition of it, ascribed not only to verbs and participles either neuter or intransitive, but also, as it would seem by this passage, to "many" that are _passive!_--G. BROWN. [458] One objection to these passage is, that they are _examples_ of the very construction which they describe as a _fault_. The first and second sentences ought to have been separated only by a semicolon. This would have made them _"members"_ of one and the same sentence. Can it be supported that one _"thought"_ is sufficient for two periods, or for what one chooses to point as such, but not for two members of the same period?--G. BROWN. [459] (1.) "_Accent_ is the _tone_ with which one speaks. For, in speaking, the voice of every man is sometimes _more grave_ in the sound, and at other times _more acute_ or shrill."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 25. "_Accent_ is _the tone_ of the voice with which a syllable is pronounced."--_Dr. Adam's Latin and English Gram._, p. 266. (2.) "_Accent_ in a peculiar _stress_ of the voice on some syllable in a word to distinguish it from the others."--_Gould's Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 243. (3.) "The _tone_ by which one syllable is distinguished from another is the _accent_; which is a greater _stress and elevation_ of voice on that particular syllable."--_Bicknell's Eng. Gram._, Part II, p. 111. (4.) "_Quantity_ is the Length or Shortness of Syllables; and the Proportion, generally speaking, betwixt a long and [a] short Syllable, is two to one; as in _Music_, two _Quavers_ to one _Crotchet_.--_Accent_ is the _rising_ and _falling_ of the Voice, above or under its usual Tone, but an Art of which we have little Use, and know less, in the _English_ Tongue; nor are we like to improve our Knowledge in this Particular, unless the Art of _Delivery_ or _Utterance_ were a little more study'd."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 156. (5.) "ACCENT, s. m. (_inflexion_ de la voix.) Accent, _tone_, pronunciation."--_Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel_, 4to, Tome Premier, sous le mot _Accent_. "ACCENT, _subst._ (_tone_ or _inflection_ of the voice.) Accent, _ton_ ou _inflexion_ de voix."--_Same Work, Garner's New Universal Dictionary_, 4to, under the word _Accent_. (6.) "The word _accent_ is derived from the Latin language and signifies _the tone of the voice_."--_Parker and Fox's English Gram._, Part III, p. 32. (7.) "The unity of the word consists in the _tone or accent_, which binds together the two parts of the composition."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.360. (8.) "The accent of the ancients is the opprobrium of modern criticism. Nothing can show more evidently the fallibility of the human faculties, than the _total ignorance_ we are in at present of the nature of the Latin and Greek accent."--_Walker's Principles_, No. 486; Dict., p. 53. (9.) "It is not surprising, that the accent and quantity of the ancients should be so obscure and mysterious, when two such learned men of our own nation as Mr. Foster and Dr. Gaily, differ about the very existence of quantity in our own language."--_Walker's Observations on Accent_, &c.; Key, p. 311. (10.) "What these accents are has puzzled the learned so much that they seem neither to understand each other nor themselves."--_Walker's Octavo Dict., w. Barytone_. (11.) "The ancients designated the _pitch_ of vocal sounds by the term _accent_; making three kinds of accents, the acute (e), the grave (e), and the circumflex (e), which signified severally the rise, the fall, and the turn of the voice, or union of acute and grave on the same syllable."--_Sargent's Standard Speaker_, p. 18. [460] "Interrogatio, Graece _Erotema_, Accentum quoque transfert; ut, Ter. _Siccine ais Parmeno?_ Voss. Susenbr."--_Prat's Latin Grammar_, 8vo, Part II, p. 190. [461] In regard to the admission of a comma before the verb, by the foregoing exception, neither the practice of authors nor the doctrine of punctuators is entirely uniform; but, where a considerable pause is, and must be, made in the reading, I judge it not only allowable, but necessary, to mark it in writing. In W. Day's "Punctuation Reduced to a System," a work of no inconsiderable merit, this principle is disallowed; and even when the adjunct of the nominative is a _relative clause_, which, by Rule 2d below and its first exception, requires a comma after it but none before it, this author excludes both, putting no comma before the principal verb. The following is an example: "But it frequently happens, that punctuation is not made a prominent exercise in schools; and the brief _manner_ in which the subject is there dismissed _has proved_ insufficient to impress upon the minds of youth a due sense of its importance."--_Day's Punctuation_, p. 32. A pupil of mine would here have put a comma after the word _dismissed_. So, in the following examples, after _sake_, and after _dispenses_: "The _vanity_ that would accept power for its own sake _is_ the pettiest of human passions."--_Ib._, p. 75. "The generous _delight_ of beholding the happiness he dispenses _is_ the highest enjoyment of man."--_Ib._, p, 100. [462] When several nominatives are connected, some authors and printers put the comma only where the conjunction is omitted. W. Day separates them all, one from an other; but after the last, when this is singular before a plural verb, he inserts no point. Example: "Imagination is one of the principal ingredients which enter into the complex idea of genius; but _judgment, memory, understanding, enthusiasm_, and _sensibility_ are also included."--_Day's Punctuation_, p. 52. If the points are to be put where the pauses naturally occur, here should be a comma after _sensibility_; and, if I mistake not, it would be more consonant with current usage to set one there. John Wilson, however, in a later work, which is for the most part a very good one, prefers the doctrine of Day, as in the following instance: "_Reputation, virtue_, and _happiness_ depend greatly on the choice of companions."--_Wilson's Treatise on Punctuation_, p. 30. [463] Some printers, and likewise some authors, suppose a series of words to require the comma, only where the conjunction is suppressed. This is certainly a great error. It gives us such punctuation as comports neither with the _sense_ of three or more words in the same construction, nor with the _pauses_ which they require in reading. "John, James and Thomas are here," is a sentence which plainly tells John that James and Thomas are here; and which, if read according to this pointing, cannot possibly have any other meaning. Yet this is the way in which the rules of _Cooper, Felton, Frost, Webster_, and perhaps others, teach us to point it, when we mean to tell somebody else that all three are here! In his pretended "Abridgment of Murray's English Grammar," (a work abounding in small thefts from Brown's Institutes,) Cooper has the following example: "John, James or Joseph intends to accompany me."--Page 120. Here, John being addressed, the punctuation is right; but, to make this noun a nominative to the verb, a comma must be put after _each of the others_. In Cooper's "Plain and Practical Grammar," the passage is found in this form: "John, James, or Joseph intends to accompany us."--Page 132. This pointing is doubly wrong; because it is adapted to neither sense. If the three nouns have the same construction, the principal pause will be immediately before the verb; and surely a comma is as much required by that pause, as by the second. See the Note on Rule 3d, above. [464] In punctuation, the grammar here cited is unaccountably defective. This is the more strange, because many of its errors are mere perversions of what was accurately pointed by an other hand. On the page above referred to, Dr. Bullions, in copying from Lennie's syntactical exercises _a dozen consecutive lines_, has omitted _nine needful commas_, which Lennie had been careful to insert! [465] Needless abbreviations, like most that occur in this example, are in _bad taste_, and _ought to be avoided_. The great faultiness of this text as a model for learners, compels me to vary the words considerably in suggesting the correction. See the _Key_.--G. B. [466] "To be, or not to be?--that's the question."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 220. "To be, or not to be, that is the question."--_Singer's Shak._, ii. 488. "To be, or not to be; that is the Question."--_Ward's Gram._, p 160. "To be, or not to be, that is the Question."--_Brightland's Gram._, p 209. "To be, or not to be?"--_Mandeville's Course of Reading_, p. 141. "To be or not to be! That is the question."--_Pinneo's Gram._, p. 176. "To _be_--or _not_ to be--_that_ is the question--"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 179. [467] In the works of some of our older poets, the apostrophe is sometimes irregularly inserted, and perhaps needlessly, to mark a prosodial synsaeresis, or synalepha, where no letter is cut off or left out; as, "Retire, or taste thy _folly'_, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with _spir'its_ of Heaven." --_Milton, P. L._, ii, 686. In the following example, it seems to denote nothing more than the open or long sound of the preceding vowel _e_: "That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour, Even till a _lethe'd_ dulness." --_Singer's Shakspeare_, Vol. ii, p. 280. [468] The breve is properly a mark of _short quantity_, only when it is set over an unaccented syllable or an unemphatic monosyllable, as it often is in the scanning of verses. In the examples above, it marks the close or short power of the _vowels_; but, _under the accent_, even this power may become part of a _long syllable_; as it does in the word _raven_, where the syllable _rav_, having twice the length of that which follows, must be reckoned _long_. In poetry, _r=av-en_ and _r=a-ven_ are both _trochees_, the former syllable in each being long, and the latter short. [469] 1. The signs of long and short sounds, and especially of the former, have been singularly slow in acquiring _appropriate names_--or any appellatives suited to their nature, or such as could obtain the sanction of general use. The name _breve_, from the French _breve_, (which latter word came, doubtless, originally from the neuter of the Latin adjective _brevis_, short,) is now pretty generally applied to the one; and the Greek term _macron_, long, (also originally a neuter adjective,) is perhaps as common as any name for the other. But these are not quite so well adapted to each other, and to the things named, as are the substitutes added above. 2. These signs are explained in our grammars under various names, and often very unfit ones, to say the least; and, in many instances, their use is, in some way, awkwardly stated, without any attempt to name them, or more than one, if either. The Rev. T. Smith names them "Long (=), and Short (~)."--_Smith's Murray_, p. 72. Churchill calls them "The _long_ = and the _short_ ~."--_New Gram._, p. 170. Gould calls them "a horizontal line" and "a curved line."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 3. Coar says, "Quantity is distinguished by the characters of - long, and ~ short."--_Eng. Gram._, p. 197. But, in speaking of the _signs_, he calls them, "_A long syllable_ =," and "_A short syllable_ ~."--_Gram._, pp. 222 and 228. S. S. Greene calls them "the _long sound_," and "the _breve_ or _short sound_."--_Gram._, p. 257. W. Allen says, "The _long-syllable mark_, (=) and the _breve_, or _short-syllable mark_, (~) denote the quantity of _words_ poetically employed."--_Gram._, p. 215. Some call them "the _Long Accent_," and "the _Short Accent_;" as does _Guy's Gram._, p. 95. This naming seems to confound accent with quantity. By some, the _Macron_ is improperly called "a _Dash_;" as by _Lennie_, p. 137; by _Bullions_, p. 157; by _Hiley_, p. 123; by _Butler_, p. 215. Some call it "a _small dash_;" as does _Well's_, p. 183; so _Hiley_, p. 117. By some it is absurdly named "_Hyphen_;" as by _Buchanan_, p. 162; by _Alden_, p. 165; by _Chandler_, 183; by _Parker and Fox_, iii, 36; by _Jaudon_, 193. Sanborn calls it "the _hyphen_, or _macron_."--_Analyt. Gr._, p. 279. Many, who name it not, introduce it to their readers by a "_this_ =," or "_thus_ ~;" as do _Alger, Blair, Dr. Adam, Comly, Cooper, Ingersoll, L. Murray, Sanders, Wright_, and others! [470] "As soon as language proceeds, from mere _articulation_, to coherency, and connection, _accent_ becomes the guide of the voice. It is founded upon an obscure perception of symmetry, and proportion, between the different sounds that are uttered."--_Noehden's Grammar of the German Language_, p. 66. [471] According to Johnson, Walker, Webster, Worcester, and perhaps all other lexicographers, _Quantity_, in grammar, is--"The measure of _time_ in pronouncing a _syllable_." And, to this main idea, are conformed, so far as I know, all the different definitions ever given of it by grammarians and critics, except that which appeared in Asa Humphrey's English Prosody, published in 1847. In this work--the most elaborate and the most comprehensive, though not the most accurate or consistent treatise we have on the subject--_Time_ and _Quantity_ are explained separately, as being "_two distinct things_;" and the latter is supposed not to have regard to _duration_, but solely to the _amount_ of sound given to each syllable. This is not only a fanciful distinction, but a radical innovation--and one which, in any view, has little to recommend it. The author's explanations of both _time_ and _quantity_--of their characteristics, differences, and subdivisions--of their relations to each other, to poetic numbers, to emphasis and cadence, or to accent and non-accent--as well as his derivation and history of "these technical terms, _time_ and _quantity_"--are hardly just or clear enough to be satisfactory. According to his theory, "Poetic numbers are composed of _long_ and _short_ syllables alternately;" (page 5;) but the difference or proportion between the times of these classes of syllables he holds to be _indeterminable_, "because their lengths are various." He began with destroying the proper distinction of quantity, or time, as being _either long or short_, by the useless recognition of an indefinite number of "_intermediate lengths_;" saying of our syllables at large, "some are LONG, some SHORT, and some are of INTERMEDIATE LENGTHS; as, _mat, not, con_, &c. are short sounds; _mate, note, cone_, and _grave_ are long. Some of our diphthongal sounds are LONGER STILL; as, _voice, noise, sound, bound_, &c. OTHERS are seen to be of INTERMEDIATE _lengths_."--_Humphrey's Prosody_, p. 4. On a scheme like this, it must evidently be impossible to determine, with any certainty, either what syllables are _long_ and what _short_, or what is the difference or ratio between _any two_ of the innumerable "lengths" of that time, or quantity, which is _long, short, variously intermediate_, or _longer still_, and again _variously intermediate_! No marvel then that the ingenious author scans some lines in a manner peculiar to himself. [472] It was the doctrine of Sheridan, and perhaps of our old lexicographers in general, that no English word can have more than one _full accent_; but, in some modern dictionaries, as Bolles's, and Worcester's, many words are marked as if they had two; and a few are given by Bolles's as having three. Sheridan erroneously affirmed, that "_every word_ has an accent," even "all monosyllables, the particles alone excepted."--_Lecture on Elocution_, pp. 61 and 71. And again, yet more erroneously: "The _essence_ of English words consisting in accent, as that of syllables in articulation; we know that there are _as many syllables as we hear articulate sounds_, and _as many words as we hear accents_."-- _Ib._, p. 70. Yet he had said before, in the same lecture: "The longer polysyllables, have frequently _two accents_, but one is so much stronger than the other, as to shew that it is but one word; and the inferior accent is always less forcible, than any accent that is the single one in a word."--_Ib._, p. 31. Wells defines accent as if it might lie on _many_ syllables of a word; but, in his examples, he places it on no more than one: "_Accent_ is _the stress_ which is laid on _one or more syllables_ of a word, in pronunciation; as, re_ver_berate, under_take_."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 185. According to this loose definition, he might as well have accented at least one other syllable in each of these examples; for there seems, certainly, to be some little stress on _ate_ and _un_. For sundry other definitions of accent, see Chap. IV, Section 2d, of _Versification_; and the marginal note referring to Obs. 1st on _Prosody_. [473] According to Dr. Rush, Emphasis is--"a stress of voice on one or more words of a sentence, distinguishing them by intensity or peculiarity of meaning."--_Philosophy of the Voice_, p. 282. Again, he defines thus: "Accent is the fixed but inexpressive distinction of syllables _by quantity and stress_: alike both in place and nature, whether the words are pronounced singly from the columns of a vocabulary, or connectedly in the series of discourse. _Emphasis_ may be defined to be the _expressive_ but occasional distinction of a syllable, and consequently of the whole word, by one or more of the specific modes of _time, quality, force_, or _pitch_."--_Ibid._ [474] 1. This doctrine, though true in its main intent, and especially applicable to the poetic quantity of _monosyllables_, (the class of words most frequently used in English poetry,) is, perhaps, rather too strongly stated by Murray; because it agrees not with other statements of his, concerning the power of _accent_ over quantity; and because the effect of accent, as a "regulator of quantity," _may_, on the whole, be as great as that of emphasis. Sheridan contradicts himself yet more pointedly on this subject; and his discrepancies may have been the efficients of Murray's. "The _quantity_ of our syllables is perpetually varying with the sense, and is _for the most part regulated by_ EMPHASIS."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 65. Again: "It is by the ACCENT _chiefly_ that the _quantity_ of our syllables is regulated."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 57. See Chap. IV, Sec. 2d, Obs. 1; and marginal note on Obs. 8. 2. Some writers erroneously confound _emphasis_ with _accent_; especially those who make accent, and not quantity, the foundation of verse. Contrary to common usage, and to his own definition of accent, Wells takes it upon him to say, "The term _accent_ is also applied, in poetry, to the stress laid on monosyllabic words; as, 'Content is _wealth, the riches of the mind.'--Dryden_." --_Wells's School Grammar_, p. 185. It does not appear that stress laid on monosyllables is any more fitly termed accent, when it occurs in the reading of poetry, than when in the utterance of prose. Churchill, who makes no such distinction, thinks accent essential alike to emphasis and to the quantity of a long vowel, and yet, as regards monosyllables, dependent on them both! His words are these: "Monosyllables are sometimes accented, sometimes not. This depends chiefly on _their_ being _more or less emphatic_; and on the vowel _sound_ being _long or short_. We cannot give _emphasis_ to any word, or it's [_its_] proper duration to a _long vowel_, without _accenting_ it."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 182. [475] Not only are these inflections denoted occasionally by the accentual marks, but they are sometimes expressly _identified with accents_, being called by that name. This practice, however, is plainly objectionable. It confounds things known to be different,--mere stress with elevation or depression,--and may lead to the supposition, that to accent a syllable, is to inflect the voice upon it. Such indeed has been the guess of many concerning the nature of Greek and Latin accents, but of the English accent, the common idea is, that it is only a greater force distinguishing some one syllable of a word from the rest. Walker, however, in the strange account he gives in his Key, of "what we mean by _the accent and quantity_ of our own language," charges this current opinion with error, dissenting from Sheridan and Nares, who held it; and, having asserted, that, "in speaking, the voice is continually _sliding_ upwards or downwards," proceeds to contradict himself thus: "As high and low, loud and soft, forcible and feeble, are comparative terms, words of one syllable pronounced alone, and without relation to other words or syllables, _cannot be said to have any_ ACCENT. The only distinction to which such words are liable, is an _elevation or depression_ of voice, when we compare the beginning with the end of the word or syllable. Thus a monosyllable, considered singly, rises from a lower to a higher tone in the question _No? which_ may therefore be called _the acute_ ACCENT: and falls from a higher to a lower tone upon the same word in the answer _No, which_ may therefore be called _the grave_ [ACCENT]."--_Walker's Key_, p. 316. Thus he tells of different accents on "_a monosyllable_," which, by his own showing, "cannot be said to have any accent"! and others read and copy the text with as little suspicion of its inconsistency! See _Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary_, p. 934. [476] In Humphrey's English Prosody, _cadence_ is taken for the reverse of _accent_, and is obviously identified or confounded with _short quantity_, or what the author inclines to call "_small_ quantity." He defines it as follows: "Cadence is the reverse or counterpart _to_ accent; a falling or depression of voice on syllables unaccented: _and by which_ the sound is shortened and depressed."--P. 3. This is not exactly what is generally understood by the word _cadence_. Lord Kames also contrasts _cadence_ with _accent_; but, by the latter term, he seems to have meant something different from our ordinary accent. "Sometimes to humour the sense," says he, "and sometimes the melody, a particular syllable is sounded _in a higher tone_; and this is termed _accenting a syllable_, or gracing it with an accent. Opposed to the accent, is the _cadence_, which I have not mentioned as one of the requisites of verse, because it is entirely regulated by the sense, and hath no peculiar relation to verse."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 78. [477] The Latin term, (made plural to agree with _verba, words_,) is _subaudita, underheard_--the perfect participle of _subaudio_, to _underhear_. Hence the noun, _subauditio, subaudition_, the recognition of ellipses. [478] "Thus, in the Proverbs of all Languages, many Words are usually left to be supplied from the trite obvious Nature of what they express; as, _out of Sight out of Mind; the more the merrier_, &c."--_W. Ward's Pract. Gram._, p. 147. [479] Lindley Murray and some others say, "As _the ellipsis occurs in almost every sentence in the English language_, numerous examples of it might be given."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 220; _Weld's_, 292; _Fisk's_, 147. They could, without doubt, have exhibited many true specimens of Ellipsis; but most of those which they have given, are only fanciful and false ones; and their notion of the frequency of the figure, is monstrously hyperbolical. [480] Who besides Webster has called syllepsis "_substitution_," I do not know. _Substitution_ and _conception_ are terms of quite different import, and many authors have explained syllepsis by the latter word. Dr. Webster gives to "SUBSTITUTION" two meanings, thus: "1. The act of putting one person or thing in the _place_ of another to _supply_ [his or] _its_ place.--2. In _grammar_, syllepsis, or the use of one word for another."--_American Dict._, 8vo. This explanation seems to me inaccurate; because it confounds both substitution and syllepsis with _enallage_. It has signs of carelessness throughout; the former sentence being both tautological and ungrammatical.--G. B. [481] Between Tropes and Figures, some writers attempt a full distinction; but this, if practicable, is of little use. According to Holmes, "TROPES affect only single _Words_; but FIGURES, whole _Sentences_."--_Rhetoric_, B. i, p. 28. "The CHIEF TROPES in Language," says this author, "are seven; a _Metaphor_, an _Allegory_, a _Metonymy_, a _Synecdoche_, an _Irony_, an _Hyperbole_, and a _Catachresis_."--_Ib._, p. 30. The term _Figure_ or _Figures_ is more comprehensive than _Trope_ or _Tropes_; I have therefore not thought it expedient to make much use of the latter, in either the singular or the plural form. Holmes's seven tropes are all of them defined in the main text of this section, except _Catachresis_, which is commonly explained to be "an _abuse_ of a trope." According to this sense, it seems in general to differ but little from impropriety. At best, a Catachresis is a forced expression, though sometimes, perhaps, to be indulged where there is great excitement. It is a sort of figure by which a word is used in a sense different from, yet connected with, or analogous to, its own; as, "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, as heaven's cherubim _Hors'd_ upon the sightless _couriers_ of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind."--_Shak., Macbeth_, Act i, Sc. 7. [482] Holmes, in his Art of Rhetoric, writes this word "_Paraleipsis_" retaining the Greek orthography. So does Fowler in his recent "English Grammar," Sec.646. Webster, Adam, and some others, write it "_Paralepsis_." I write it as above on the authority of Littleton, Ainsworth, and some others; and this is according to the analogy of the kindred word _ellipsis_, which we never write either _ellepsis_, or, as the Greek, _elleipsis_. [483] To this principle there seems to be now and then an exception, as when a weak dissyllable begins a foot in an anapestic line, as in the following examples:-- "I think--let me see--yes, it is, I declare, As long _ago now_ as that Buckingham there."--_Leigh Hunt_. "And Thomson, though best in his indolent fits, Either slept himself weary, or blasted his wits."--_Id._ Here, if we reckon the feet in question to be anapests, we have dissyllables with both parts short. But some, accenting "_ago_" on the latter syllable, and "_Either_" on the former, will call "_ago now_" a bacchy, and "_Either slept_" an amphimac: because _they make them such_ by their manner of reading.--G. B. [484] "Edgar A. Poe, the author, died at Baltimore on Sunday" [the 7th].--_Daily Evening Traveller_, Boston Oct. 9, 1849. This was eight or ten months after the writing of these observations.--G. B. [485] "Versification is the art of arranging words into lines of correspondent length, so as to produce harmony by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity"--_Brown's Institutes of E. Gram._, p. 235. [486] This appears to be an error; for, according to Dilworth, and other arithmeticians, "_a unit is a number_;" and so is it expounded by Johnson, Walker, Webster, and Worcester. See, in the _Introduction_, a note at the foot of p. 117. Mulligan, however, contends still, that _one is no number_; and that, "to talk of the _singular number_ is absurd--a contradiction in terms;"--because, "in common discourse," a "_number_" is "always a _plurality_, except"--when it is "_number one_!"--See _Grammatical Structure of the E. Language_, Sec.33. Some prosodists have taught the absurdity, that two feet are necessary to constitute _a metre_, and have accordingly applied the terms, _monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter_, and _hexameter_,--or so many of them as they _could so misapply_,--in a sense very different from the usual acceptation. The proper principle is, that, "One foot constitutes a metre."--_Dr. P. Wilson's Greek Prosody_, p. 53. And verses are to be denominated _Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter_, &c., according to "THE NUMBER OF FEET."--See _ib._ p. 6. But Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary has the following not very consistent explanations: "MONOMETER, _n._ One metre. _Beck_. DIMETER, _n._ A poetic measure of _four feet_; a _series of two_ meters. _Beck_. TRIMETER, _a_. Consisting of three poetical _measures_, forming an _iambic_ of _six feet_. _Tyrwhitt_. TETRAMETER, _n._ A Latin or Greek verse consisting of _four feet_; a series of four metres. TETRAMETER, _a_. Having _four_ metrical _feet_. _Tyrwhitt_. PENTAMETER, _n._ A Greek or Latin verse of _five feet_; a series of five metres. PENTAMETER, _a_. Having _five_ metrical _feet_. _Warton_. HEXAMETER, _n._ A verse or line of poetry, having _six feet_, either dactyls or spondees; the heroic, and most important, verse among the Greeks and Romans;--a rhythmical series of six metres. HEXAMETER, _a_. Having _six_ metrical _feet_. _Dr. Warton_." According to these definitions, Dimeter has as many feet as Tetrameter; and Trimeter has as many as Hexameter! [487] It is common, at any rate, for prosodists to speak of "the _movement_ of the voice," as do Sheridan, Murray, Humphrey, and Everett; but Kames, in treating of the Beauty of Language from Resemblance, says "There is _no resemblance_ of sound to motion, nor of sound to sentiment."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 63. This usage, however, is admitted by the critic, had cited to show how, "causes that have no resemblance may produce resembling effects."--_Ib._ 64. "By a number of syllables in succession, an emotion is sometimes raised extremely similar to that raised by successive motion: which may be evident even to those who are defective in taste, from the following fact, that the term _movement_ in all languages is equally applied to both."--_Ib._ ii. 66. [488] "From what has been said of accent and quantity in our own language, we may conclude them to be essentially distinct _and perfectly separable_: nor is it to be doubted that they were _equally separable_ in the learned languages."--_Walkers's Observations on Gr. and Lat. Accent and Quantity_, Sec.20; Key, p. 326. In the speculative essay here cited, Walker meant by _accent_ the rising or the falling _inflection_,--an upward or a downward _slide_ of the voice: and by _quantity_, nothing but the open or close sound of some vowel; as of "the _a_ in _scatter_" and in "_skater_," the initial syllables of which words be supposed to differ in quantity as much as any two syllables can!--_Ib._, Sec.24; Key, p. 331. With these views _of the things_, it is perhaps the less to be wondered at, that Walker, who appears to have been a candid and courteous writer, charges "that excellent scholar Mr. Forster--with a _total ignorance_ of the accent and quantity of his own language," (_Ib., Note on Sec.8_; Key, p. 317;) and, in regard to accent, ancient or modern, elsewhere confesses his own ignorance, and that of every body else, to be _as_ "_total_." See marginal note on Obs. 4th below. [489] (1.) "We shall now take a view of sounds when united into _syllables_. Here a beautiful variation of _quantity_ presents itself as the next object of our attention. The knowledge of _long_ and _short_ syllables, is the most excellent and most neglected quality in the whole art of pronunciation. The disputes of our modern writers on this subject, have arisen chiefly from an absurd notion that has long prevailed; viz. that there is no difference between the _accent_ and the _quantity_, in the English language; that the accented syllables are always _long_, and the unaccented always _short_. An absurdity so glaring, does not need refutation. Pronounce any one line from Milton, and the ear will determine whether or not the accent and quantity always coincide. Very seldom they do."--HERRIES: _Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 108. (2.) "Some of our Moderns (especially Mr. _Bishe_, in his _Art of Poetry_) and lately Mr. _Mattaire_, in what he calls, _The English Grammar_, erroneously use _Accent_ for _Quantity_, one signifying the Length or Shortness of a Syllable, the other the raising or falling of the Voice in _Discourse_."--_Brightland's Gram._, London, 1746, p. 156. (3.) "Tempus cum accentu a nonnullis male confunditur; quasi idem sit acui et produci. Cum brevis autem syllaba acuitur, elevatur quidem vox in ea proferenda, sed tempus non augetur. Sic in voce _hominibus_ acuitur _mi_; at _ni_ quae sequitur, aequam in efferendo moram postulat."--_Lily's Gram._, p. 125. Version: "By some persons, _time_ is improperly confounded with _accent_; as if to acute and to lengthen were the same. But when a short syllable is acuted, the voice indeed is raised in pronouncing it, but the time is not increased. Thus, in the word _hominibus, mi_ as the acute accent; but _ni_, which follows, demands equal slowness in the pronunciation." To English ears, this can hardly seem a correct representation; for, in pronouncing _hominibus_, it is not _mi_, but _min_, that we accent; and this syllable is manifestly as much longer than the rest, as it is louder. [490] (1.) "Syllables, with respect to their _quantity_, are either _long, short_, or _common_."--_Gould's Adam's Lat. Gram._, p. 243. "Some syllables are _common_; that is, sometimes long, and sometimes short."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 252. _Common_ is here put for _variable_, or _not permanently settled in respect to quantity_: in this sense, from which no third species ought to be inferred, our language is, perhaps, more extensively "_common_" than any other. (2.) "Most of our Monosyllables either take this Stress or not, according as they are more or less emphatical; and therefore English Words of one Syllable may be considered as _common_; i.e. either as long or short in certain Situations. These Situations are chiefly determined by the Pause, or Cesure, of the Verse, and this Pause by the Sense. And as the English abounds in Monosyllables, there is probably no Language in which the Quantity of Syllables is more regulated by the Sense than in English."--_W. Ward's Gram._, Ed. of 1765, p. 156. (3.) Bicknell's theory of quantity, for which he refers to Herries, is this: "The English _quantity_ is divided into _long, short_, and _common_. The longest species of syllables are those that end in a vowel, and are under the accent; as, _mo_ in har_mo_nious, _sole_ in con_sole_, &c. When a monosyllable, which is unemphatic, ends in a vowel, it is always short; but when the emphasis is placed upon it, it is always long. _Short_ syllables are such as end in any of the six mutes; as cu_t_, sto_p_, ra_p_i_d_, ru_g_ge_d_, lo_ck_. In _all such syllables_ the sound cannot be lengthened: they are necessarily and invariably _short_. If another consonant intervenes between the vowel and mute, as re_nd_, so_ft_, fla_sk_, the syllable is rendered _somewhat longer_. The other species of syllables called _common_, are such as terminate in a half-vowel or aspirate. For instance, in the words ru_n_, swi_m_, cru_sh_, pu_rl_, the concluding sound can be continued or shortened, as we please. This scheme of quantity," it is added, "is founded on fact and experience."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 109. But is it not a _fact_, that such words as _cuttest, stopping, rapid, rugged_, are _trochees_, in verse? and is not _unlock_ an _iambus_? And what becomes of syllables that end with vowels or liquids and are not accented? [491] I do not say the mere absence of stress is _never_ called _accent_; for it is, plainly, the doctrine of some authors that the English accent differs not at all in its nature from the accent of the ancient Greeks or Romans, which was distinguished as being of three sorts, _acute, grave, inflex_; that "the stronger breathing, or higher sound," which distinguishes one syllable of a word from or above the rest, is _the acute accent_ only; that "the softer breathing, or lower sound," which belongs to an _unacuted_ (or _unaccented_) syllable, is _the grave accent_; and that a combination of these two sounds, or "breathings," upon one syllable, constitutes the _inflex or circumflex accent_. Such, I think, is the teaching of Rev. William Barnes; who further says, "English verse is constructed upon sundry orders of _acute and grave accents_ and matchings of rhymes, while the poetic language of the Romans and Greeks is formed upon rules of the sundry clusterings of _long and short syllables_."--_Philological Grammar_, p. 263. This scheme is not wholly consistent, because the author explains accent or accents as being applicable only to "words of two or more syllables;" and it is plain, that the accent which includes the three sorts above, must needs be "some other thing than what we call accent," if this includes only the acute. [492] Sheridan used the same comparison, "To illustrate the difference between the accent of the ancients and that of _ours_" [our tongue]. Our accent he supposed, with Nares and others, to have "no reference to _inflections_ of the voice."--See _Art of Reading_, p. 75; _Lectures on Elocution_, p. 56; _Walker's Key_, p. 313. [493] (1.) It may in some measure account for these remarkable omissions, to observe that Walker, in his lexicography, followed Johnson in almost every thing but pronunciation. On this latter subject, his own authority is perhaps as great as that of any single author. And here I am led to introduce a remark or two touching _the accent and quantity_ with which he was chiefly concerned; though the suggestions may have no immediate connexion with the error of confounding these properties. (2.) Walker, in his theory, regarded the _inflections_ of the voice as pertaining to _accent_, and as affording a satisfactory solution of the difficulties in which this subject has been involved; but, as an English orthoepist, he treats of accent in no other sense, than as _stress laid on a particular syllable of a word_--a sense implying contrast, and necessarily dividing all syllables into accented and unaccented, except monosyllables. Having acknowledged our "_total ignorance_ of the nature of the Latin and Greek accent," he adds: "The accent of the English language, which is constantly sounding in our ears, and every moment open to investigation, seems _as much a mystery_ as that accent which is removed almost two thousand years from our view. Obscurity, perplexity, and confusion, run through every treatise on the subject, and nothing could be so hopeless as an attempt to explain it, did not a circumstance present itself, which at once accounts for the confusion, and affords a clew to lead us out of it. Not one writer on accent has given such a definition of the voice as acquaints us with its essential properties. * * * But let us once divide the voice into its rising and falling inflections, the obscurity vanishes, and accent becomes as intelligible as any other part of language. * * * On the present occasion it will be sufficient to observe, that _the stress we call accent_ is as well understood as is necessary for the pronunciation of single words, which is the object of this treatise."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 53, _Princip._ 486, 487, 488. (3.) Afterwards, on introducing _quantity_, as an orthoepical topic, he has the following remark: "In treating this part of pronunciation, it will not be necessary to enter into the nature of _that quantity which constitutes poetry_; the quantity here considered will be that which relates to words taken singly; and this is _nothing more than the length or shortness of the vowels_, either as they stand alone, or as they are differently combined with the vowels or consonants." _Ib._, p. 62, _Princip._ 529. Here is suggested a distinction which has not been so well observed by grammarians and prosodists, or even by Walker himself, as it ought to have been. So long as the practice continues of denominating certain mere _vowel sounds_ the _long_ and the _short_, it will be very necessary to notice that these are not the same as the _syllabic quantities_, long and short, which constitute English verse. [494] (1.) In the Latin and Greek languages, this is not commonly supposed to be the case; but, on the contrary, the quantity of syllables is professedly adjusted by its own rules independently of what we call accent; and, in our English pronunciation of these languages, the accentuation of all long words is regulated by the quantity of the last syllable but one. Walker, in the introduction to his Key, speaks of "The English pronunciation of Greek and Latin [as] injurious to quantity." And no one can deny, that we often accent what are called short syllables, and perhaps oftener leave unaccented such as are called long; but, after all, were the quantity of Latin and Greek syllables always judged of by their actual time, and not with reference to the vowel sounds called long and short, these our violations of the old quantities would be found much fewer than some suppose they are. (2.) Dr. Adam's view of the accents, acute and grave, appears to be peculiar; and of a nature which may perhaps come nearer to an actual identity with the quantities, long and short, than any other. He says, "1. The _acute_ or _sharp_ accent raises the voice in pronunciation, and is thus marked []; _profero, profer_. [The English word is written, not thus, but with two Effs, _proffer_.--G. B.] "2. The _grave_ or _base_ accent depresses the voice, or keeps it in its natural tone; and is thus marked [`]; as, docte. [Fist] _This accent properly belongs to all syllables which have no other_. "The accents are hardly ever marked in English books, except in dictionaries, grammars, spelling-books, or the like, where the acute accent only is used. The accents are likewise seldom marked in Latin books, unless for the sake of distinction; as in these adverbs, _aliquo, continuo, docte, una_, &c."--_Adam's Latin and English Grammar_, p. 266. (3.) As stress naturally lengthens the syllables on which it falls, if we suppose the grave accent to be the opposite of this, and to belong to all syllables which have no peculiar stress,--are not enforced, not acuted, not circumflected, not emphasized; then shall we truly have an accent with which our short quantity may fairly coincide. But I have said, "the mere absence of stress, which produces short quantity, we do not call _accent_;" and it may be observed, that the learned improver of Dr. Adam's Grammar, B. A. Gould, has totally rejected all that his predecessor taught concerning _accent_, and has given an entirely different definition of the thing. See marginal notes on page 771, above. Dr. Johnson also cites from _Holder_ a very different explanation of it, as follows: "_Accent_, as in the Greek names and usage, seems to have regarded the tune of the voice; the acute accent, raising the voice in some certain syllables, to a higher, (_i.e._ more acute) pitch or tone; and the grave, depressing it lower; [Fist] _and both having some emphasis_, i.e. _more vigorous pronunciation_. HOLDER."--_Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Accent_. [495] (1.) "Amongst them [the ancients,] we know that accents were marked by certain _inflexions_ [inflections] of the voice like musical notes; and the grammarians to this day, with great formality inform their pupils, that the acute accent, is the raising [of] the voice on a certain syllable; the grave, a depression of it; and the circumflex, a raising and depression both, in one and the same syllable. _This jargon they constantly preserve_, though they have no sort of ideas annexed to these words; for if they are asked to shew how this is to be done, they cannot tell, and their practice always belies their precept."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Eloc._, p. 54. (2.) "It is by the accent chiefly that the quantity of our syllables is regulated; but not according to the _mistaken rule_ laid down by _all who have written_ on the subject, that the accent _always makes the syllable long_; than which _there cannot be any thing more false_."--_Ib._, p. 57. (3.) "And here I cannot help taking notice of a circumstance, which shews in the strongest light, the _amazing deficiency_ of those, who have hitherto employed their labours on that subject, [accent, or pronunciation,] _in point of knowledge_ of the true genius and constitution of our tongue. Several of the compilers of dictionaries, vocabularies, and spelling books, have undertaken to mark the accents of our words; but so _little acquainted_ were they with the nature of our accent, that they thought it necessary only to mark _the syllable_ on which the stress is to be laid, without marking the _particular letter_ of the syllable to which the accent belongs."--_Ib._, p. 59. (4.) "The mind thus taking a bias under the prejudice of false rules, never arrives at a knowledge of the true nature of _quantity_; and accordingly we find that _all attempts hitherto_ to settle the prosody of our language, have been vain and fruitless."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 52. [496] In the following extract, this matter is stated somewhat differently: "The _quantity_ depends upon the seat of the accent, whether it be on the vowel or [on the] consonant; if on the vowel, the syllable is necessarily long: as it makes the vowel long; if on the consonant, _it may be either long or short_, according to the nature of the consonant, or _the time taken up_ in dwelling upon it."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Eloc._, p. 57. This last clause shows the "distinction" to be a very weak one.--G. BROWN. [497] "If the consonant be in its nature a short one, the syllable is necessarily short. If it be a long one, that is, one whose sound is capable of being lengthened, it _may be long or short_ at the will of the speaker. By a short consonant I mean one whose sound cannot be continued after a vowel, such as c or k p t, as ac, ap, at--whilst that of long consonants _can_, as, el em en er ev, &c."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 58. Sheridan here forgets that "_bor'row_" is one of his examples of short quantity. Murray admits that "accent on a _semi-vowel_" may make the syllable long; and his semivowels are these: "_f, l, m, n, r, v, s, z, x_, and _c_ and _g_ soft." See his _Octavo Gram._, p. 240 and p. 8. [498] On account of the different uses made of the breve, the macron, and the accents, one grammarian has proposed a new mode of marking poetic quantities. Something of the kind might be useful; but there seems to be a reversal of order in this scheme, the macrotone being here made light, and the stenotone dark and heavy. "Long and short syllables have _sometimes_ been designated by the same marks _which_ are used for accent, tones, and the quality of the vowels; but it will be better[,] to prevent confusion[,] to use different marks. This mark may represent a long syllable, and this . a short syllable; as, . . deg. . . deg. . . deg. . deg. 'At the close of the day when the hamlet is still.'" --_Perley's Gram._, p. 73. [no . over 'let', sic--KTH] [499] _Dr. Adam's Gram._, p. 267; _B. A. Gould's_, 257. The Latin word _caesura_ signifies "_a cutting_, or _division_." This name is sometimes Anglicized, and written "_Cesure_." See _Brightland's Gram._, p. 161; or _Worcester's Dict., w. Cesure_. [500] "As to the long quantity arising from the succession of two consonants, which the ancients are uniform in asserting, if it did not mean that the preceding vowel was to lengthen its sound, _as we should do_ by pronouncing the _a_ in _scatter_ as we do in _skater_, (one who skates,) _I have no conception of what it meant_; for if it meant that only the _time of the syllable_ was prolonged, the vowel retaining the same sound, I must confess as ut er [sic--KTH] an inability of _comprehending this source_ of quantity in the Greek and Latin as in English."--_Walker on Gr. and L. Accent_, Sec.24; Key, p. 331. This distinguished author seems unwilling to admit, that the consonants occupy time in their utterance, or that other vowel sounds than those which _name_ the vowels, can be protracted and become long; but these are _truths_, nevertheless; and, since every letter adds _something_ to the syllable in which it is uttered, it is by consequence a "_source of quantity_," whether the syllable be long or short. [501] Murray has here a marginal note, as follows: "Movement and measure are thus distinguished. _Movement_ expresses the progressive order of sounds, whether from strong to weak, from long to short, or vice versa. _Measure_ signifies the proportion of time, both in sounds _and pauses_."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 259. This distinction is neither usual nor accurate; though Humphrey adopts it, with slight variations. Without some species of _measure_,--Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic, Dactylic, or some other,--there can be no regular _movement_, no "progressive _order_ of sounds." Measure is therefore too essential to movement to be in contrast with it. And the movement "from _strong_ to _weak_, from _long_ to _short_," is but one and the same, a _trochaic_ movement; its reverse, the movement, "_vice versa_," from _weak_ to _strong_, or from _short_ to _long_, is, of course, that of _iambic_ measure. But Murray's doctrine is, that _strong_ and _long, weak_ and _short_, may be separated; that _strong_ may be _short_, and _weak_ be _long_; so that the movement from _weak_ to _strong_ may be from _long_ to _short_, and _vice versa_: as if a trochaic movement might arise from iambic measure, and an iambic movement from trochaic feet! This absurdity comes of attempting to regulate the _movement_ of verse by accent, and not by quantity, while it is admitted that quantity, and not accent, forms the _measure_, which "signifies _the proportion of time_." The idea that _pauses belong to measure_, is an other radical error of the foregoing note. There are more pauses in poetry than in prose, but none of them are properly "_parts_" of either. Humphrey says truly, "_Feet_ are the _constituent parts_ of verse."--_English Prosody_, p. 8. But L. Murray says, "_Feet and pauses_ are the constituent parts of verse."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 252. Here Sheridan gave bias. Intending to treat of verse, and "the pauses peculiarly belonging to it," the "_Caesural_" pause and the "_Final_," the rhetorician had _improperly_ said, "The constituent _parts_ of verse are, feet, and pauses."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 64. [502] "But as many Ways as Quantities may be varied by Composition and Transposition, so many different Feet have the _Greek_ Poets contriv'd, and that under distinct Names, from two to six Syllables, to the Number of 124. But it is the Opinion of some Learned Men in this Way, that Poetic Numbers may be sufficiently explain'd by those of two or three Syllables, into which the rest are to be resolv'd."--_Brightland's Grammar_, 7th Ed., p. 161. [503] "THE BELLS OF ST. PETERSBURGH." "Those ev'ning bells, those ev'ning bells, _How_ many a tale their music tells!"--_Moore's Melodies_, p. 263. This couplet, like all the rest of the piece from which it is taken, is iambic verse, and to be divided into feet thus:-- "Those ev' | -ning bells, | those ev' | -ning bells, How man | -y a tale | their mu | -sic tells!" [504] Lord Kames, too, speaking of "English Heroic verse," says: "Every line consists of ten syllables, _five short and five long_; from which [rule] there are but two exceptions, both of them rare."--_Elements of Criticism_, Vol. ii, p. 89. [505] "The Latin is a far more _stately_ tongue than our own. It is essentially _spondaic_; the English is as essentially _dactylic_. The _long_ syllable is the spirit of the Roman (and Greek) verse; the _short_ syllable is the essence of ours."--_Poe's Notes upon English Verse; Pioneer_, Vol. i, p. 110. "We must search for _spondaic words_, which, in English, are rare indeed."--_Ib._, p. 111. [506] "There is a rule, in Latin prosody, that a vowel _before two consonants_ is long. We moderns have not only no such rule, but profess inability to comprehend its _rationale_."--_Poe's Notes: Pioneer_, p. 112. [507] The opponents of capital punishment will hardly take this for a fair version of the sixth commandment.--G. B. [508] These versicles, except the two which are Italicized, are _not iambic_. The others are partly trochaic; and, according to many of our prosodists, wholly so; but it is questionable whether they are not as properly amphimacric, or Cretic. [509] See exercises in Punctuation, on page 786, of this work.--G. B. [510] The Seventieth Psalm is the same as the last five verses of the Fortieth, except a few unimportant differences of words or points. [511] It is obvious, that these two lines may easily be reduced to an agreeable stanza, by simply dividing each after the fourth foot--G. B. [512] In Sanborn's Analytical Grammar, on page 279th, this couplet is ascribed to "_Pope_;" but I have sought in vain for this quotation, or any example of similar verse, in the works of that poet. The lines, one or both of them, appear, _without reference_, in _L. Murray's Grammar, Second Edition_, 1796, p. 176, and in subsequent editions; in _W. Allen's_, p. 225; _Bullions's_, 178; _N. Butler's_, 192; _Chandler's New_, 196; _Clark's_, 201; _Churchill's_, 187; _Cooper's Practical_, 185; _Davis's_, 137; _Farnum's_, 106; _Felton's_, 142; _Frazee's_, 184; _Frost's_, 164; _S. S. Greene's_, 250; _Hallock's_, 244; _Hart's_, 187; _Hiley's_, 127; _Humphrey's Prosody_, 17; _Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part iii, p. 60; _Weld's_, 211; _Ditto Abridged_, 138; _Wells's_, 200; _Fowler's_, 658; and doubtless in many other such books. [513] "Owen succeeded his father Griffin in the principality of North Wales, A. D. 1120. This battle was fought near forty years afterwards. North Wales is called, in the fourth line, '_Gwyneth_;' and 'Lochlin,' in the fourteenth, is Denmark."--_Gray_. Some say "Lochlin," in the Annals of Ulster, means Norway.--G. B. [514] "The red dragon is the device of Cadwallader, which all his descendants bore on their banners."--_Gray_. [515] This passage, or some part of it, is given as a trochaic example, in many different systems of prosody. Everett ascribes it entire to "_John Chalkhill_;" and Nutting, more than twenty years before, had attached the name of "_Chalkhill_" to a part of it. But the six lines "of three syllables," Dr. Johnson, in his Grammar, credits to "_Walton's Angler_;" and Bicknell, too, ascribes the same to "_Walton_." The readings also have become various. Johnson, Bicknell, Burn, Churchill, and Nutting, have "_Here_" for "_Where_" in the fifth line above; and Bicknell and Burn have "_Stop_" in the eighth line, where the rest read "_Stops_." Nutting has, for the ninth line, "_Others'_ joys," and not, "_Other_ joys," as have the rest.--G. B. [516] OBS.--Of this, and of every other example which requires no amendment, let the learner simply say, after reading the passage, "This sentence is correct as it stands."--G. BROWN. [517] OBSERVATION.--In the Bible, the word LORD, whenever it stands for the Hebrew name JEHOVAH, not only commences with a full capital, but has small or half capitals for the other letters; and I have thought proper to print both words in that manner here. In correcting the last example, I follow Dr. Scott's Bible, except in the word "_God_," which he writes with a small _g_. Several other copies have "_first_" and "_last_" with small initials, which I think not so correct; and some distinguish the word "_hosts_" with a capital, which seems to be needless. The sentence here has eleven capitals: in the Latin Vulgate, it has but six, and one of them is for the last word, "_Deus_," God.--G. B. [518] OBS.--This construction I dislike. Without hyphens, it is improper; and with them it is not to be commended. See Syntax, Obs 24th on Rule IV.--G. B. [519] On the page here referred to, the author of the Gazetteer has written "_Charles city_," &c. Analogy requires that the words be compounded, because they constitute three names which are applied to _counties_, and not to _cities_. [520] OBS.--The following words, _as names of towns_, come under Rule 6th, and are commonly found correctly compounded in the books of Scotch geography and statistics; "Strathaven, Stonehaven, Strathdon, Glenluce, Greenlaw, Coldstream, Lochwinnoch, Lochcarron, Loehmaber, Prestonpans, Prestonkirk, Peterhead, Queensferry, Newmills," and many more like them. [521] Section OBS.--This name, in both the Vulgate and the Septuagint, is _Pharao Nechao_, with two capitals and no hyphen. Walker gives the two words separately in his Key, and spells the latter _Necho_, and not _Nechoh_. See the same orthography in _Jer._, xlvi, 2. In our common Bibles, many such names are needlessly, if not improperly, compounded; sometimes with one capital, and sometimes with two. The proper manner of writing Scripture names, is too little regarded even by good men and biblical critics. [522] "[Marcus] Terentius Varro, vir Romanorum eruditissimus."--QUINTILIAN. Lib. x, Cap. 1, p. 577. [523] NOTE.--By this amendment, we remove a multitude of errors, but the passage is still very faulty. What Murray here calls "_phrases_," are properly _sentences_; and, in his second clause, he deserts the terms of the first to bring in "_my_," "_our_," and also "_&c._," which seem to be out of place there.--G. BROWN. [524] _An other_ is a phrase of two words, which ought to be written separately. The transferring of the n to the latter word, is a gross vulgarism. Separate the words, and it will be avoided. [525] _Mys-ter-y_, according to Scott and Cobb; _mys-te-ry_, according to Walker and Worcester. [526] Kirkham borrowed this doctrine of "Tonics, Subtonics, and Atonies," from Rush: and dressed it up in his own worse bombast. See Obs. 13 and 14, on the Powers of the Letters.--GB. [527] There is, in most English dictionaries, a contracted form of this phrase, written _prithee_, or _I prithee_; but Dr. Johnson censures it as "a familiar _corruption_, which some writers have _injudiciously_ used;" and, as the abbreviation amounted to nothing but the slurring of one vowel sound into an other, it has now, I think, very deservedly become obsolete.--G. BROWN. [528] This is the doctrine of Murray, and his hundred copyists; but it is by no means generally true. It is true of adverbs, only when they are connected by conjunctions; and seldom applies to _two_ words, unless the conjunction which may be said to connect them, be suppressed and understood.--G. BROWN. [529] Example: "Imperfect articulation comes not so much from bad _organs_, as from the abuse of good ones."--_Porter's Analysis_. Here _ones_ represents _organs_, and prevents unpleasant repetition.--G. BROWN. [530] From the force of habit, or to prevent the possibility of a false pronunciation, these ocular contractions are still sometimes carefully made in printing poetry; but they are not very important, and some modern authors, or their printers, disregard them altogether. In correcting short poetical examples, I shall in general take no particular pains to distinguish them from prose. All needful contractions however will be preserved, and sometimes also a capital letter, to show where the author commenced a line. [531] The word "_imperfect_" is not really necessary here; for the declaration is true of _any phrase_, as this name is commonly applied.--G. BROWN. [532] A _part of speech_ is a _sort of words_, and not _one word only_. We cannot say, that every pronoun, or every verb, is _a part of speech_, because the parts of speech are _only ten_. But every pronoun, verb, or other word, is _a word_; and, if we will refer to this genus, there is no difficulty in defining all the parts of speech in the singular, with _an_ or _a_: as, "A _pronoun_ is _a word_ put for _a noun_." Murray and others say, "_An Adverb_ is _a part of speech_," &c., "A _Conjunction_ is _a part of speech_," &c., which is the same as to say, "_One adverb_ is _a sort of words_," &c. This is a palpable absurdity.--G. BROWN. [533] The propriety of this conjunction, "_nor_," is somewhat questionable: the reading in both the Vulgate and the Septuagint is--"_they, and_ their wives, _and_ their sons, _and_ their daughters." [534] All our lexicographers, and all accurate authors, spell this word with an _o_; but the gentleman who has furnished us with the last set of _new terms_ for the science of grammar, writes it with an _e_, and applies it to the _verb_ and the _participle_. With him, every verb or participle is an "_asserter_;" except when he forgets his creed, as he did in writing the preceding example about certain "_verbs_." As he changes the names of all the parts of speech, and denounces the entire technology of grammar, perhaps his innovation would have been sufficiently broad, had he for THE VERB, the most important class of all, adopted some name which he knew how to spell.--G. B. [535] It would be better to omit the word "_forth_," or else to say--"whom I _brought forth from_ the land of Egypt." The phrase, "_forth out of_," is neither a very common nor a very terse one.--G. BROWN. [536] This _doctrine_, that participles divide and specify time, I have elsewhere shown to be erroneous.--G. BROWN. [537] Perhaps it would be as well or better, in correcting these two examples, to say, "There _are_ a generation." But the article _a_, as well as the literal form of the noun, is a sign of unity; and a complete uniformity of numbers is not here practicable. [538] Though the pronoun _thou_ is not much used in _common discourse_, it is as proper for the grammarian to consider and show, what form of the verb belongs to it _when it is so used_, as it is for him to determine what form is adapted to any other pronoun, when a difference of style affects the question. [539] "_Forgavest_," as the reading is in our common Bible, appears to be wrong; because the relative _that_ and its antecedent _God_ are of the third person, and not of the second. [540] All the corrections under this head are directly contrary to the teaching of William S. Cardell. Oliver B. Peirce, and perhaps some other such writers on grammar; and some of them are contrary also to Murray's late editions. But I am confident that these authors teach erroneously; that their use of indicative forms for mere suppositions that are contrary to the facts, is positively ungrammatical; and that the potential imperfect is less elegant, in such instances, than the simple subjunctive, which they reject or distort. [541] This is what Smith must have _meant_ by the inaccurate phrase, "_those_ in the first." For his first example is, "He went to school;" which contains only the _one_ pronoun "He."--See _Smith's New Gram._, p. 19. [542] According to modern usage, _has_ would here be better than _is_,--though _is fallen_ is still allowable.--G. BROWN. [543] From this opinion, I dissent. See Obs. 1st on the Degrees of Comparison, and Obs. 4th on Regular Comparison, in the Etymology of this work, at pp. 279 and 285.--G. BROWN. [544] "The country _looks beautiful_;'" that is, _appears_ beautiful--_is_ beautiful. This is right, and therefore the use which Bucke makes of it, may be fairly reversed. But the example was ill chosen; and I incline to think, it may also be right to say, "The country _looks beautifully_;" for the _quality_ expressed by _beautiful_, is nothing else than the _manner_ in which the thing _shows_ to the eye. See Obs. 11th on Rule 9th.--G. BROWN. [545] Many examples and authorities may be cited in favour of these corrections; as, "He acted independently _of_ foreign assistance."-- _Murray's Key, Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 222. "Independently _of_ any necessary relation."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i. p. 275. "Independently _of_ this peculiar mode of construction."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 473. "Independent _of_ the will of the people."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 13. "Independent one _of_ an other."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 84. "The infinitive is often independent _of_ the rest of the sentence."--_Lennie's Gram._, p. 85. "Some sentences are independent _of_ each other."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 277. "As if it were independent _of_ it"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 186. "Independent of appearance and show."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 13. [546] The preposition _of_ which Jefferson uses before _about_, appears to me to be useless. It does not govern the noun _diameter_, and is therefore no substitute for the _in_ which I suppose to be wanting; and, as the preposition _about_ seems to be sufficient between _is_ and _feet_, I omit the _of_. So in other instances below.--G. BROWN. [547] Murray, Jamieson, and others, have this definition with the article "a," and the comma, but without the hyphen: "APOSTROPHE is _a turning off_ from the regular course," &c. See errors under Note 4th to Rule 20th. [548] This sentence may be written correctly in a dozen different ways, with precisely the same meaning, and very nearly the same words. I have here made the noun _gold_ the object of the verb _took_, which in the original appears to govern the noun _treasure_, or _money_, understood. The noun _amount_ might as well be made its object, by a suppression of the preposition _to_. And again, for "_pounds' weight_," we may say, "_pounds in_ weight." The words will also admit of many other positions.--G. BROWN. [549] See a different reading of this example, cited as the first item of false syntax under Rule 16th above, and there corrected differently. The words "_both of_," which make the difference, were probably added by L. Murray in some of his _revisals_; and yet it does not appear that this popular critic ever got the sentence _right_.--G. BROWN. [550] "If such maxims, and such practices prevail, what _has become_ of national liberty?"--_Hume's History_. Vol. vi, p. 254; _Priestley's Gram._, p. 128. [551] According to my notion, _but_ is never a preposition; but there are some who think otherwise.--G. BROWN. [552] "Cum vestieris te coccino, cum ornata fueris monili aureo, et _pinxeris stibio oculos tuos_, frustra componeris."--_Vulgate_. "[Greek: Ean peribalae[i] kokkinon, kai kosm'aesae[i] kosmw[i] chrys~w[i]. ean egchrisae[i] stibi tous ophthalmous sou eis mataion wraismos sou.]"--_Septuagint_. "Quoique tu te revetes de pourpre, que tu te pares d'ornemens d'or, et _que tu te peignes les yeux avec du fard_, tu t'embellis en vain."--_French Bible_. [553] The word "_any_" is here omitted, not merely because it is _unnecessary_, but because "_every any other piece_,"--with which a score of our grammarians have pleased themselves,--is not good English. The impropriety might perhaps be avoided, though less elegantly, by _repeating the preposition_, and saying,--"or _of_ any other piece of writing."--G. BROWN. [554] This correction, as well as the others which relate to what Murray says of the several forms of ellipsis, doubtless conveys the sense which he intended to express; but, as an assertion, it is by no means true of all the examples which he subjoins, neither indeed are the rest. But that is a fault of his which I cannot correct.--G. BROWN. [555] The article _may_ be repeated in examples like these, without producing _impropriety_; but then it will alter the construction of the adjectives, and render the expression more formal and emphatic, by suggesting a repetition of the noun.--G. BROWN. [556] "The whole number of verbs in the English language, regular and irregular, simple and compounded, taken together, is about 4300."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 59; _Murray's_, 12mo, p. 98; 8vo, p. 109; _et al._ [557] In Singer's Shakspeare, Vol. ii, p. 495, this sentence is expressed and pointed thus: "O, shame! where is thy blush?"--_Hamlet_, Act III, Sc. 4. This is as if the speaker meant, "O! it is a shame! where is thy blush?" Such is not the sense above; for there "_Shame_" is the person addressed. [558] If, in each of these sentences, the colon were substituted for the latter semicolon, the curves might well be spared. Lowth has a similar passage, which (bating a needful variation of guillemets) he pointed thus: "_as_ ----, _as_; expressing a comparison of equality; '_as_ white _as_ snow:' _as_ ----, _so_; expressing a comparison sometimes of equality; '_as_ the stars, _so_ shall thy seed be;' that is, equal in number: but" &c.--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 109. Murray, who broke this passage into paragraphs, retained at first these semicolons, but afterwards changed them _all_ to colons. Of later grammarians, some retain the former colon in each sentence; some, the latter; and some, neither. Hiley points thus: "_As_ requires _as_, expressing equality; as, 'He is _as_ good _as_ she.'"--_Hiley's E. Gram._, p. 107. 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