The Grammar of English Grammars
by
Gould Brown
Part 19 out of 54
_appearance and effect_ of conjunctions: as, '_After_ their prisons were
thrown open,' &c. '_Before_ I die;' 'They made haste to be prepared
_against_ their friends arrived:' but if the noun _time_, which is
_understood_, be added, they will lose their _conjunctive form_: as, 'After
[_the time when_] their prisons,' &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 119. Here,
_after, before_, and _against_, are neither conjunctions nor prepositions,
but conjunctive _adverbs of time_, referring to the verbs which follow
them, and also, when the sentences are completed, to others antecedent. The
awkward addition of "_the time when_," is a sheer perversion. If _after,
before_, and the like, can ever be adverbs, they are so here, and not
conjunctions, or prepositions.
OBS. 5.--But the great Compiler proceeds: "The _prepositions, after,
before, above, beneath_, and several others, sometimes _appear to be
adverbs_, and may be _so considered_: as, 'They had their reward soon
_after_;' 'He died not long _before_;' 'He dwells _above_;' but if the
nouns _time_ and _place_ be added, they will lose their adverbial form: as,
'He died not long _before that time_,' &c."--_Ib._ Now, I say, when any of
the foregoing words "_appear_ to be adverbs," they _are_ adverbs, and, if
adverbs, then not prepositions. But to consider prepositions to be adverbs,
as Murray here does, or seems to do; and to suppose "the NOUNS _time_ AND
_place_" to be understood in the several examples here cited, as he also
does, or seems to do; are singly such absurdities as no grammarian should
fail to detect, and together such a knot of blunders, as ought to be
wondered at, even in the Compiler's humblest copyist. In the following
text, there is neither preposition nor ellipsis:
"Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found."--_Pope, on Fame_.
OBS. 6.--It comports with the name and design of this work, which is a
broad synopsis of grammatical criticism, to notice here one other
absurdity; namely, the doctrine of "_sentential nouns_." There is something
of this in several late grammars: as, "The prepositions, after, before,
ere, since, till, and until, frequently govern _sentential_ nouns; and
after, before, since, notwithstanding, and some others, frequently govern a
noun or pronoun _understood_. A preposition governing a sentential noun,
is, by Murray and others, considered a _conjunction_; and a preposition
governing a noun understood, an _adverb_."--J. L. PARKHURST: _in Sanborn's
Gram._, p. 123. "Example: 'He will, _before he dies_, sway the sceptre.'
_He dies_ is a sentential noun, third person, singular number; and is
governed by _before_; _before he dies_, being equivalent in meaning to
_before his death_."--_Sanborn, Gram._, p. 176. "'_After they had waited_ a
long time, they departed.' After _waiting_."--_Ib._ This last solution
supposes the phrase, "_waiting a long time_," or at least the participle
_waiting_, to be a _noun_; for, upon the author's principle of equivalence,
"_they had waited_," will otherwise be a "_sentential_" _participle_--a
thing however as good and as classical as the other!
OBS. 7.--If a preposition can ever be justly said to take a sentence for
its object, it is chiefly in certain ancient expressions, like the
following: "For _in that_ he died, he died unto sin once; but _in that_ he
liveth, he liveth unto God."--_Rom._, vi, 10. "My Spirit shall not always
strive with man, _for that_ he also is flesh."--_Gen._, vi, 3. "For, _after
that_, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."--_1 Cor._,
i, 21. Here, _in, for_, and _after_, are all followed by the word _that_;
which Tooke, Webster, Frazee, and some others, will have to be "a
substitute," or "pronoun," representing the sentence which follows it, and
governed by the preposition. But _that_, in this sense, is usually, and
perhaps more properly, reckoned a conjunction. And if we take it so, _in,
for_, and _after_, (unless the latter be an adverb,) must either be
reckoned conjunctions also, or be supposed to govern sentences. The
expressions however are little used; because "_in that_" is nearly
equivalent to _as_; "_for that_" can be better expressed by _because_; and
"_after that_," which is equivalent to [Greek: epeide], _postquam_, may
well be rendered by the term, _seeing that_, or _since_. "_Before that_
Philip called thee," is a similar example; but "_that_" is here needless,
and "_before_" may be parsed as a conjunctive adverb of time. I have one
example more: "But, _besides that_ he attempted it formerly with no
success, it is certain the Venetians keep too watchful an eye,"
&c.--_Addison_. This is good English, but the word "_besides_" if it be not
a conjunction, may as well be called an adverb, as a preposition.
OBS. 8.--There are but few words in the list of prepositions, that are not
sometimes used as being of some other part of speech. Thus _bating,
excepting, concerning, touching, respecting, during, pending_, and a part
of the compound _notwithstanding_, are literally participles; and some
writers, in opposition to general custom, refer them always to their
original class. Unlike most other prepositions, they do not refer to
_place_, but rather to _action, state_, or _duration_; for, even as
prepositions, they are still allied to participles. Yet to suppose them
always participles, as would Dr. Webster and some others, is impracticable.
Examples: "They speak _concerning_ virtue."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._,
p. 69. Here _concerning_ cannot be a participle, because its antecedent
term is a _verb_, and the meaning is, "they _speak_ of virtue." "They are
bound _during life_." that is, _durante vita_, life continuing, or, as long
as life lasts. So, "_Notwithstanding this_," i.e., "_hoc non obstante_,"
this not hindering. Here the nature of the construction seems to depend on
the order of the words. "Since he had succeeded, _notwithstanding them_,
peaceably to the throne."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 31. "This is a
correct English idiom, Dr. Lowth's _criticism_, to the contrary
_notwithstanding_."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 85. In the phrase,
"_notwithstanding them_," the former word is clearly a preposition
governing the latter; but Dr. Webster doubtless supposed the word
"_criticism_" to be in the nominative case, put absolute with the
participle: and so it would have been, had he written _not withstanding_ as
two words, like "_non obstante_;" but the compound word _notwithstanding_
is not a participle, because there is no verb _to notwithstand_. But
_notwithstanding_, when placed before a nominative, or before the
conjunction _that_, is a conjunction, and, as such, must be rendered in
Latin by _tamen_, yet, _quamvis_, although, or _nihilominus_, nevertheless.
OBS. 9.--_For_, when it signifies _because_, is a conjunction: as, "Boast
not thyself of to-morrow; _for_ thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth."--_Prov._, xxvii, 1. _For_ has this meaning, and, according to Dr.
Johnson, is a conjunction, when it precedes _that_; as, "Yet _for that_ the
worst men are most ready to remove, I would wish them chosen by discretion
of wise men."--_Spenser._ The phrase, as I have before suggested, is almost
obsolete; but Murray, in one place, adopts it from Dr. Beattie: "For _that_
those parts of the verb are not properly called tenses."--_Octavo Gram._,
p. 75. How he would have parsed it, does not appear. But both words are
connectives. And, from the analogy of those terms which serve as links to
other terms, I should incline to take _for that, in that, after that_, and
_besides that_, (in which a known conjunction is put last,) as complex
conjunctions; and also, to take _as for, as to_, and _because of_, (in
which a known preposition is put last,) as complex prepositions. But there
are other regular and equivalent expressions that ought in general to be
preferred to any or all of these.
OBS. 10.--Several words besides those contained in the list above, are (or
have been) occasionally employed in English as prepositions: as, _A_,
(chiefly used before participles,) _abaft, adown, afore, aloft, aloof,
alongside, anear, aneath, anent, aslant, aslope, astride, atween, atwixt,
besouth, bywest, cross, dehors, despite, inside, left-hand, maugre, minus,
onto, opposite, outside, per, plus, sans, spite, thorough, traverse,
versus, via, withal, withinside_.
OBS. 11.--Dr. Lowth says, "The particle _a_ before participles, in the
phrases _a_ coming, _a_ going, _a_ walking, _a_ shooting, &c. and before
nouns, as _a_-bed, _a_-board, _a_-shore, _a_-foot, &c. seems to be _a true
and genuine preposition_, a little disguised by familiar use and quick
pronunciation. Dr. Wallis supposes it to be the preposition _at_. I rather
think it is the preposition _on_."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 65; _Churchill's_,
268. There is no need of supposing it to be either. It is not from _on_;
for in Saxon it sometimes accompanied _on_: as in the phrase, "_on a
weoruld_;" that is, "_on to ages_;" or, as Wickliffe rendered it, "_into
worldis_;" or, as our version has it, "_for ever_." See _Luke_, i, 55. This
preposition was in use long before either _a_ or _an_, as an article,
appeared in its present form in the language; and, for ought I can
discover, it may be as old as either _on_ or _at_. _An_, too, is found to
have had at times the sense and construction of _in_ or _on_; and this
usage is, beyond doubt, older than that which makes it an article. _On_,
however, was an exceedingly common preposition in Saxon, being used almost
always where we now put _on, in, into, upon_, or _among_, and sometimes,
for _with_ or _by_; so, sometimes, where _a_ was afterwards used: thus,
"What in the Saxon Gospel of John, is, 'Ic wylle gan _on_ fixoth,' is, in
the English version, 'I go _a_ fishing.' Chap, xxi, ver. 3." See _Lowth's
Gram._, p. 65; _Churchill's_, 269. And _a_ is now sometimes equivalent to
_on_; as, "He would have a learned University make Barbarisms a
purpose."--_Bentley, Diss. on Phalaris_, p. 223. That is,--"_on_ purpose."
How absurdly then do some grammarians interpret the foregoing text!--"I go
_on_ a fishing."--_Alden's Gram._, p. 117. "I go _on_ a fishing voyage or
business."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 221; _Merchant's_, 101. "It may not be
improper," says Churchill in another place, "to observe here, that the
preposition _on_, is too frequently pronounced as if it were the vowel _a_,
in ordinary conversation; and this corruption _is_ [has] become so
prevalent, that I have even met with 'laid it _a oneside_' in a periodical
publication. It should have been '_on one side_,' if the expression were
meant to be particular; '_aside_,' if general."--_New Gram._, p. 345. By
these writers, _a_ is also supposed to be sometimes a corruption of _of_:
as, "Much in the same manner, Thomas _of_ Becket, by very frequent and
familiar use, became Thomas _a_ Becket; and one _of the_ clock, or perhaps
_on the_ clock, is written one o'clock, but pronounced one _a_ clock. The
phrases with _a_ before a participle are out of use in the solemn style;
but still prevail in familiar discourse. They are established by long
usage, and good authority; and there seems to be no reason, why they should
be utterly rejected."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 66. "Much in the same manner,
John _of_ Nokes, and John _of_ Styles, become John _a_ Nokes, and John _a_
Styles: and one _of the_ clock, or rather _on the_ clock, is written one
_o_'clock, but pronounced one _a_ clock. The phrases with a before
participles, are out of use in the solemn style; but still prevail in
familiar discourse."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 269.
OBS. 12.--The following are _examples_ of the less usual prepositions, _a_,
and others that begin with _a_: "And he set--three thousand and six hundred
overseers to set the people a work."--_2 Chron._, ii, 18. "Who goeth _a_
warfare any time at his own charges?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 7. "And the mixed
multitude that was among them fell _a_ lusting."--_Num._, xi, 4.
"And sweet Billy Dimond, _a_ patting his hair up."
--_Feast of the Poets_, p. 17.
"The god fell _a_ laughing to see his mistake."
--_Ib._, p. 18.
"You'd have thought 'twas the bishops or judges _a_ coming."
--_Ib._, p. 22.
"A place on the lower deck, _abaft_ the mainmast."--_Gregory's Dict._ "A
moment gazed _adown_ the dale."--_Scott, L. L._, p. 10. "_Adown_
Strath-Gartney's valley broad."--_Ib._, p. 84. "For _afore_ the harvest,
when the bud is perfect," &c.--_Isaiah_, xviii, 5. "Where the great
luminary _aloof_ the vulgar constellations thick,"--See _Milton's Paradise
Lost_, B. iii, l. 576. "The great luminary _aloft_ the vulgar
constellations thick."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Aloft_. "Captain Falconer
having previously gone _alongside_, the Constitution."--_Newspaper_.
"Seventeen ships sailed for New England, and _aboard_ these above fifteen
hundred persons."--_Robertson's Amer._, ii, 429. "There is a willow grows
_askant_ the brook:" Or, as in some editions: "There is a willow grows
_aslant_ the brook."--SHAK., _Hamlet_, Act iv, 7. "_Aslant_ the dew-bright
earth."--_Thomson_. "Swift as meteors glide _aslope_ a summer
eve."--_Fenton_. "_Aneath_ the heavy rain."--_James Hogg_, "With his magic
spectacles _astride_ his nose."--_Merchant's Criticisms_.
"_Atween_ his downy wings be furnished, there."
--_Wordsworth's Poems_, p. 147.
"And there a season _atween_ June and May."
--_Castle of Indolence_, C. i, st. 2.
OBS. 13.--The following are examples of rather unusual prepositions
beginning with _b, c_, or _d_; "Or where wild-meeting oceans boil _besouth_
Magellan."--_Burns_. "Whereupon grew that _by-word_, used by the Irish,
that they dwelt _by-west_ the law, _which_ dwelt beyond the river _of the_
Barrow."--DAVIES: in _Joh. Dict._ Here Johnson calls _by-west_ a noun
substantive, and Webster, as improperly, marks it for an adverb. No hyphen
is needed in _byword_ or _bywest_. The first syllable of the latter is
pronounced _be_, and ought to be written so, if "_besouth_" is right.
"From Cephalonia _cross_ the surgy main
Philaetius late arrived, a faithful swain."
--_Pope, Odys._, B. xx, l. 234.
"And _cross_ their limits cut a sloping way,
Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway."
--_Dryden's Virgil_.
"A fox was taking a walk one night _cross_ a village."--_L'Estrange_. "The
enemy had cut down great trees _cross_ the ways."--_Knolles_. "DEHORS,
prep. [Fr.] Without: as, '_dehors_ the land.' Blackstone."--_Worcester's
Dict._, 8vo. "You have believed, _despite_ too our physical
conformation."--_Bulwer_.
"And Roderick shall his welcome make,
_Despite_ old spleen, for Douglas' sake."
--_Scott, L. L._, C. ii, st. 26.
OBS. 14.--The following quotations illustrate further the list of unusual
prepositions: "And she would be often weeping _inside_ the room while
George was amusing himself without."--_Anna Ross_, p. 81. "Several nuts
grow closely together, _inside_ this prickly covering."--_Jacob Abbot_. "An
other boy asked why the peachstone was not _outside_ the peach."--_Id._ "As
if listening to the sounds _withinside_ it."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_,
p. 214. "Sir Knight, you well might mark the mound, _Left hand_ the
town."--_Scott's Marmion_. "Thus Butler, _maugre_ his wicked intention,
sent them home again."--_Sewel's Hist._, p. 256. "And, _maugre_ all that
can be said in its favour."--_Stone, on Freemasonry_, p. 121. "And,
_maugre_ the authority of Sterne, I even doubt its benevolence."--_West's
Letters_, p. 29.
"I through the ample air in triumph high
Shall lead Hell captive _maugre_ Hell."
--_Milton's P. L._, B. iii, l. 255.
"When Mr. Seaman arose in the morning, he found himself _minus_ his coat,
vest, pocket-handkerchief, and tobacco-box."--_Newspaper_. "Throw some
coals _onto_ the fire."--FORBY: _Worcester's Dict., w. Onto_. "Flour, at $4
_per_ barrel."--_Preston's Book-Keeping_. "Which amount, _per_ invoice, to
$4000."--_Ib._ "_To Smiths_ is the substantive _Smiths, plus_ the
preposition _to_."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, Sec.33. "The Mayor of Lynn _versus_
Turner."--_Cowper's Reports_, p. 86. "Slaves were imported from Africa,
_via_ Cuba."--_Society in America_, i, 327. "_Pending_ the discussion of
this subject, a memorial was presented."--_Gov. Everett_.
"Darts his experienced eye and soon _traverse_
The whole battalion views their order due."--_Milton_.
"Because, when _thorough_ deserts vast
And regions desolate they past."--_Hudibras_.
OBS. 15.--_Minus_, less, _plus_, more, _per_, by, _versus_, towards, or
against, and _via_, by the way of, are Latin words; and it is not very
consistent with the _purity_ of our tongue, to use them as above. _Sans_,
without, is French, and not now heard with us. _Afore_ for _before, atween_
for _between, traverse_ for _across, thorough_ for _through_, and _withal_
for _with_, are obsolete. _Withal_ was never placed before its object, but
was once very common at the end of a sentence. I think it not properly a
preposition, but rather an adverb. It occurs in Shakspeare, and so does
_sans_; as,
"I did laugh, _sans_ intermission, an hour by his dial."
--_As You Like It_.
"I pr'ythee, _whom_ doth he trot _withal_?"
--_Ib._
"_Sans_ teeth, _sans_ eyes, _sans_ taste, _sans_ every thing."
--_Ib._
OBS. 16.--Of the propriety and the nature of such expressions as the
following, the reader may now judge for himself: "In consideration of what
passes sometimes _within-side of_ those vehicles."--_Spectator_, No. 533.
"Watch over yourself, and let nothing throw you _off from_ your
guard."--_District School_, p. 54. "The windows broken, the door _off from_
the hinges, the roof open and leaky."--_Ib._, p. 71. "He was always a
shrewd observer of men, _in and out of_ power."--_Knapp's Life of Burr_, p.
viii. "Who had never been broken _in to_ the experience of sea
voyages."--_Timothy Flint_. "And there came a fire _out from before_ the
Lord."--_Leviticus_, ix, 24. "Because eight readers _out of_ ten, it is
believed, forget it."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 32. "Fifty days after the
_Passover_, and _their coming out of_ Egypt."--_Watts's Script. Hist._, p.
57. "As the mountains are _round about_ Jerusalem, so the Lord is _round
about_ his people."--_Psal._, cxxv, 2. "Literally, 'I proceeded _forth from
out of_ God and am come.'"--_Gurney's Essays_, p. 161. "But he that came
_down from_ (or _from out of_) heaven."--_Ibid._
"Here none the last funereal rights receive;
To be cast _forth the camp_, is all their friends can give."
--_Rowe's Lucan_, vi, 166.
EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS X.--ETYMOLOGICAL.
_In the Tenth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and
define the different parts of speech, and the classes and modifications of
the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PRONOUNS, VERBS, PARTICIPLES, ADVERBS,
CONJUNCTIONS, _and_ PREPOSITIONS.
_The definitions to be given in the Tenth Praxis, are, two for an article,
six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven for a verb
finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and sometimes
three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction, one for a preposition, and one
for an interjection. Thus_:--
EXAMPLE PARSED.
"Never adventure on too near an approach to what is evil."--_Maxims_.
_Never_ is an adverb of time. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a
participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time,
place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the
question, _When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these
which ask.
_Adventure_ is a regular active-intransitive verb, from _adventure,
adventured, adventuring, adventured_; found in the imperative mood, present
tense, second person, singular (or it may be plural) number. 1. A verb is a
word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. A regular
verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by
assuming _d_ or _ed_. 3. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that
expresses an action that has no person or thing for its object. 4. The
imperative mood is that form of the verb which is used in commanding,
exhorting, entreating, or permitting. 5. The present tense is that which
expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The second person is that
which denotes the hearer, or the person addressed. 7. The singular number
is that which denotes but one.
_On_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some
relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally
placed before a noun or a pronoun.
_Too_ is an adverb of degree. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a
participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time,
place, degree, or manner. 2. Adverbs of decree are those which answer to
the question, _How much? How little?_ or to the idea of _more or less_.
_Near_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared, _near,
nearer, 2.[sic--KTH] nearest_ or _next_. 1. An adjective is a word added
to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. A common adjective
is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The
positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple
form.
_An_ is the indefinite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or
_a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The
indefinite article is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a kind, but
not any particular one.
_Approach_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter
gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or
thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a
sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that
which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number
is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes
things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form
or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the object of a verb,
participle, or preposition.
_To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some
relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally
placed before a noun or a pronoun.
_What_ is a relative pronoun, of the third person, singular number, neuter
gender, and nominative case. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a
noun. 2. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that represents an antecedent word
or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence. 3. The third
person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The
singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that
which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative
case is that form or stats of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the
subject of a finite verb.
_Is_ is an irregular neuter verb, from be, was, being, been; found in the
indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A
verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. An
irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect
participle by assuming d or ed. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses
neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The
indicative mood is that form of a verb, which simply indicates or declares
a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses
what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which
denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is
that which denotes but one.
_Evil_ is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared irregularly,
bad, evil, or ill, worse, worst. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun
or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any
ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The
positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple
form.
LESSON I.--PARSING.
"My Lord, I do here, in the name of all the learned and polite persons of
the nation, complain to your Lordship, as first minister, that our language
is imperfect; that its daily improvements are by no means in proportion to
its daily corruptions; that the pretenders to polish and refine it, have
chiefly multiplied abuses and absurdities; and that, in many instances, it
offends against every part of grammar."--_Dean Swift, to the Earl of
Oxford_.
"Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter; to which
he was himself very attentive, both in his own writings, and in his remarks
upon those of his friends: He is one of the most correct, and perhaps [he
is] the best, of our prose writers. Indeed the justness of this complaint,
_as_ far as I can find, _hath_ never yet been questioned; and yet no
effectual method _hath_ hitherto been taken to redress the grievance which
was the object of it."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. iv.
"The only proper use to be made of the blemishes which occur in the
writings of such authors, [as Addison and Swift--authors whose 'faults are
overbalanced by high beauties'--] is, to point out to those who apply
themselves to the study of composition, some of the rules which they ought
to observe for avoiding such errors; and to render them sensible of the
necessity of strict attention to language and style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
233.
"Thee, therefore, and with thee myself I weep,
For thee and me I mourn in anguish deep."--_Pope's Homer_.
LESSON II.--PARSING.
"The southern corner of Europe, comprehended between the thirty-sixth and
fortieth degrees of latitude, bordering on Epirus and Macedonia towards the
north, and on other sides surrounded by the sea, was inhabited, above
eighteen centuries before the Christian era, by many small tribes of
hunters and shepherds, among whom the Pelasgi and Hellenes were the most
numerous and powerful."--_Gillies, Gr._, p. 12.
"In a vigorous exertion of memory, ideal presence is exceedingly distinct:
thus, when a man, entirely occupied with some event that made a deep
impression, forgets himself, he perceives every thing as passing before
him, and has a consciousness of presence, similar to that of a
spectator."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 88.
"Each planet revolves about its own axis in a given time; and each moves
round the sun, in an orbit nearly circular, and in a time proportioned to
its distance. Their velocities, directed by an established law, are
perpetually changing by regular accelerations and retardations."--_Ib._, i,
271.
"You may as well go about to turn the sun to ice by fanning in his face
with a peacock's feather."--_Shak_.
"_Ch. Justice_. I sent for you, when there were matters against you for
your life, to come speak with me. _Falstaff_. As I was then advised by my
learned counsel in the laws of this land-service, I did not come."--_Id._,
2. Hen. IV, Act i, Sc. 2.
"It is surprising to see the images of the mind stamped upon the aspect; to
see the cheeks take the die of the passions and appear in all the colors of
thought."--_Collier_.
----------"Even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made."--_Byron_.
LESSON III.--PARSING.
"With a mind weary of conjecture, fatigued by doubt, sick of disputation,
eager for knowledge, anxious for certainty, and unable to attain it by the
best use of my reason in matters of the utmost importance, I _have_ long
ago turned my thoughts to an impartial examination of the proofs on which
revealed religion is grounded, and I am convinced of its truth."--_Bp.
Watson's Apology_, p. 69.
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people
be."--_Gen._, xlix, 10.
"Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou
shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's
throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem;
for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head;
because thou canst not make one hair white or black."--_Matt._, v, 33--36.
"Refined manners, and polite behaviour, must not be deemed altogether
artificial: men who, inured to the sweets of society, cultivate humanity,
find an elegant pleasure in preferring others, and making them happy, of
which the proud, the selfish, scarcely have a conception."--_Kames, El. of
Crit._, i, 105.
"Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine."--_Milton_.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
ERRORS RESPECTING PREPOSITIONS.
"Nouns are often formed by participles."--_L. Murray's Index, Octavo
Gram._, ii, 290.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the relation here intended, between _are
formed_ and _participles_, is not well signified by the preposition by.
But, according to Observation 7th, on this part of speech, "The
prepositions have, from their own nature, or from custom, such an
adaptation to particular terms and relations, that they can seldom be used
one for an other without manifest impropriety." This relation would be
better expressed by _from_; thus, "Nouns are often formed _from_
participles."]
"What tenses are formed on the perfect participle?"--_Ingersoll's Gram._,
p. 104. "Which tense is formed on the present?"--_Ibid._ "When a noun or
pronoun is placed before a participle, independently on the rest of the
sentence," &c.--_Ib._, p. 150; _Murray_, 145; and others. "If the addition
consists in two or more words."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 176; _Ingersoll's_,
177. "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on
the rest of the sentence."--_Mur._, p. 184; _Ing._, 244; and others. "For
the great satisfaction of the reader, we shall present him with a variety
of false constructions."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 189. "For your satisfaction,
I shall present you with a variety of false constructions."--_Ingersoll's
Gram._, p. 258. "I shall here present you with a scale of
derivation."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 81. "These two manners of representation
in respect of number."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 15; _Churchill's_, 57; "There
are certain adjectives, which seem to be derived without any variation from
verbs."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 89. "Or disqualify us for receiving
instruction or reproof of others."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 253. "For being
more studious than any other pupil of the school."--_Ib._, p. 226. "From
misunderstanding the directions, we lost our way."--_Ib._, p. 201. "These
people reduced the greater part of the island to their own power."--_Ib._,
p. 261.[317] "The principal accent distinguishes one syllable in a word
from the rest."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 236. "Just numbers are in unison to
the human mind."--_Ib._, p. 298. "We must accept of sound instead of
sense."--_Ib._, p. 298. "Also, instead for _consultation_, he uses
_consult_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 143. "This ablative seems to be
governed of a preposition understood."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 268. "That
my father may not hear on't by some means or other."--_Ib._, p. 257. "And
besides, my wife would hear on't by some means."--_Ib._, p. 81. "For
insisting in a requisition is so odious to them."--_Robertson's Amer._, i,
206. "Based in the great self-evident truths of liberty and
equality."--_Scholar's Manual_. "Very little knowledge of their nature is
acquired by the spelling book."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 21. "They do not cut
it off: except in a few words; as, _due, duly_, &c."--_Ib._, p. 24.
"Whether passing in such time, or then finished."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 31.
"It hath disgusted hundreds of that confession."--_Barclay's Works_, iii,
269. "But they have egregiously fallen in that inconveniency."--_Ib._, iii,
73. "For is not this to set nature a work?"--_Ib._, i, 270. "And surely
that which should set all its springs a-work, is God."--ATTERBURY: _in
Blair's Rhet._, p. 298. "He could not end his treatise without a panegyric
of modern learning."--TEMPLE: _ib._, p. 110. "These are entirely
independent on the modulation of the voice."--_Walker's Elocution_, p. 308.
"It is dear of a penny. It is cheap of twenty pounds."--_Walker's
Particles_, p. 274. "It will be despatched, in most occasions, without
resting."--_Locke_. "'0, the pain the bliss in dying.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._,
p. 129. "When [he is] presented with the objects or the facts."--_Smith's
Productive Gram._, p. 5. "I will now present you with a synopsis."--_Ib._,
p. 25. "The conjunction disjunctive connects sentences, by expressing
opposition of meaning in various degrees."--_Ib._, p. 38. "I shall now
present you with a few lines."--_Bucke's Classical Gram_, p. 13. "Common
names of Substantives are those, which stand for things generally."--_Ib._,
p. 31. "Adjectives in the English language admit no variety in gender,
number, or case whatever, except that of the degrees of
comparison."--_Ib._, p. 48. "Participles are adjectives formed of
verbs."--_Ib._, p. 63. "I do love to walk out of a fine summer's
evening."--_Ib._, p. 97. "An _Ellipsis_, when applied to grammar, is the
elegant omission of one or more words in a sentence."--_Merchant's Gram._,
p. 99. "The prefix _to_ is generally placed before verbs in the infinitive
mood, but before the following verbs it is properly omitted; (viz.) _bid,
make, see, dare, need, hear, feel_, and _let_; as, He _bid_ me _do_ it; He
_made_ me _learn_; &c."--_Ib., Stereotype Edition_, p. 91; _Old Edition_,
85. "The infinitive sometimes follows _than_, after a comparison; as, I
wish nothing more, _than to know_ his fate."--_Ib._, p. 92. See _Murray's
Gram._, 8vo, i, 184. "Or by prefixing the adverbs _more_ or _less_, in the
comparative, and _most_ or _least_, in the superlative."--_Merchant's
Gram._, p. 36. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun."--_Ib._, p. 17;
_Comly_, 15. "In monosyllables the Comparative is regularly formed by
adding _r_ or _er_."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 21. "He has particularly named
these, in distinction to others."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. vi. "To revive the
decaying taste of antient Literature."--_Ib._, p. xv. "He found the
greatest difficulty of writing."--HUME: _in Priestley's Gram._, p. 159.
"And the tear that is wip'd with a little address
May be followed perhaps with a smile."
_Webster's American Spelling-Book_, p. 78;
and _Murray's E. Reader_, p. 212.
CHAPTER XI--INTERJECTIONS.
An Interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or
sudden emotion of the mind: as, _Oh! alas! ah! poh! pshaw! avaunt! aha!
hurrah!_
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--Of pure interjections but few are admitted into books.
Unimpassioned writings reject this part of speech altogether. As words or
sounds of this kind serve rather to indicate feeling than to express
thought, they seldom have any definable signification. Their use also is so
variable, that there can be no very accurate classification of them. Some
significant words, perhaps more properly belonging to other classes, are
sometimes ranked with interjections, when uttered with emotion and in an
unconnected manner; as, _strange! prodigious! indeed!_ Wells says, "_Other
parts of speech_, used by way of exclamation, are _properly regarded as
interjections_; as, _hark! surprising! mercy!_"--_School Gram._, 1846, p.
110. This is an evident absurdity; because it directly confounds the
classes which it speaks of as being different. Nor is it right to say,
"_Other parts of speech_ are frequently used _to perform the office_ of
interjections."--_Wells_, 1850, p. 120.
OBS. 2.--The word _interjection_ comes to us from the Latin name
_interjectio_, the root of which is the verb _interjicio_, to throw
between, to interject. Interjections are so called because they are usually
thrown in between _the parts of discourse_, without any syntactical
connexion with other words. Dr. Lowth, in his haste, happened to describe
them as a kind of natural sounds "thrown in between the parts _of a
sentence_;" and this strange blunder has been copied into almost every
definition that has been given of the Interjection since. See Murray's
Grammar and others. Webster's Dictionary defines it as, "A word thrown in
between _words connected in construction_;" but of all the parts of speech
none are less frequently found in this situation.
OBS. 3.--The following is a fair sample of "Smith's _New Grammar_,"--i.e.,
of "English Grammar on the _Productive System_,"--a new effort of quackery
to scarf up with cobwebs the eyes of common sense: "Q. When I exclaim, 'Oh!
I have ruined my friend,' 'Alas! I fear for life,' _which words_ here
appear to be thrown in _between the sentences_, to express passion or
feeling? Ans. _Oh! Alas!_ Q. What does _interjection_ mean? Ans. _Thrown
between_. Q. What name, then, shall we give such words as _oh! alas! &c._?
Ans. INTERJECTIONS. Q. What, then, are interjections? Ans. Interjections
are words thrown in _between the parts of sentences_, to express the
passions or sudden feelings of the speaker. Q. How may an interjection
generally be known? Ans. By _its taking_ an exclamation _point_ after it:
[as,] '_Oh!_ I have alienated my friend.'"--_R. C. Smith's New Gram._, p.
39. Of the interjection, this author gives, in his examples for parsing,
_fifteen_ other instances; but nothing can be more obvious, than that not
more than one of the whole fifteen stands either "between sentences" or
between the parts of any sentence! (See _New Gram._, pp. 40 and 96.) Can he
be a competent grammarian, who does not know the meaning of _between_; or
who, knowing it, misapplies so very plain a word?
OBS. 4.--The Interjection, which is idly claimed by sundry writers to have
been the first of words at the origin of language, is now very constantly
set down, among the parts of speech, as the last of the series. But, for
the name of this the last of the ten sorts of words, some of our
grammarians have adopted the term _exclamation_. Of the old and usual term
_interjection_, a recent writer justly says, "This name is preferable to
that of _exclamation_, for some exclamations are not interjections, and
some interjections are not exclamations."--GIBBS: _Fowler's E. Gram._,
Sec.333.
LIST OF THE INTERJECTIONS.
The following are the principal interjections, arranged according to the
emotions which they are generally intended to indicate:--1. Of joy; _eigh!
hey! io!_--2. Of sorrow; _oh! ah! hoo! alas! alack! lackaday! welladay!_ or
_welaway!_--3. Of wonder; _heigh! ha! strange! indeed!_--4. Of wishing,
earnestness, or vocative address; (often with a noun or pronoun in the
nominative absolute;) _O!_--5. Of praise; _well-done! good! bravo!_--6. Of
surprise with disapproval; _whew! hoity-toity! hoida! zounds! what!_--7. Of
pain or fear; _oh! ooh! ah! eh! O dear!_--8. Of contempt; _fudge! pugh!
poh! pshaw! pish! tush! tut! humph!_--9. Of aversion; _foh! faugh! fie! fy!
foy!_[318]--10. Of expulsion; _out! off! shoo! whew! begone! avaunt!
aroynt!_--11. Of calling aloud; _ho! soho! what-ho! hollo! holla! hallo!
halloo! hoy! ahoy!_--12. Of exultation; _ah! aha! huzza! hey! heyday!
hurrah!_--13. Of laughter; _ha, ha, ha; he, he, he; te-hee, te-hee._--14.
Of salutation; _welcome! hail! all-hail!_--15. Of calling to attention;
_ho! lo! la! law![319] look! see! behold! hark!_--16. Of calling to
silence; _hush! hist! whist! 'st! aw! mum!_--17. Of dread or horror; _oh!
ha! hah! what!_--18. Of languor or weariness; _heigh-ho!
heigh-ho-hum!_--19. Of stopping; _hold! soft! avast! whoh!_--20. Of
parting; _farewell! adieu! good-by! good-day!_--21. Of knowing or
detecting; _oho! ahah! ay-ay!_--22. Of interrogating; _eh? ha? hey?_[320]
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--With the interjections, may perhaps be reckoned _hau_ and _gee_,
the imperative words of teamsters driving cattle; and other similar sounds,
useful under certain circumstances, but seldom found in books. Besides
these, and all the foregoing, there are several others, too often heard,
which are unworthy to be considered parts of a cultivated language. The
frequent use of interjections savours more of thoughtlessness than of
sensibility. Philosophical writing and dispassionate discourse exclude them
altogether. Yet are there several words of this kind, which in earnest
utterance, animated poetry, or impassioned declamation, are not only
natural, but exceedingly expressive: as, "Lift up thy voice, _O_ daughter
of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, _O_ poor Anathoth."--_Isaiah_,
x, 30. "_Alas, alas_, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one
hour is thy judgement come."--_Rev._, xviii, 10.
"_Ah me!_ forbear, returns the queen, forbear;
_Oh!_ talk not, talk not of vain beauty's care."
--_Odyssey_, B. xviii, l. 310.
OBS. 2.--Interjections, being in general little else than mere natural
voices or cries, must of course be adapted to the sentiments which are
uttered with them, and never carelessly confounded one with an other when
we express them on paper. The adverb _ay_ is sometimes improperly written
for the interjection _ah_; as, _ay me!_ for _ah me!_ and still oftener we
find _oh_, an interjection of sorrow, pain, or surprise,[321] written in
stead of _O_, the proper sign of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address:
as,
"_Oh_ Happiness! our being's end and aim!"
--_Pope, Ess. Ep._ iv, l. 1.
"And peace, _oh_ Virtue! peace is all thy own."
--_Id., ib., Ep._ iv, l. 82.
"_Oh_ stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!
O cease thy course, and listen to our lay!"
--_Odys._, B. xii, 1 222.
OBS. 3.--The chief characteristics of the interjection are independence,
exclamation, and the want of any definable signification. Yet not all the
words or signs which we refer to this class, will be found to coincide in
all these marks of an interjection. Indeed the last, (the want of a
rational meaning,) would seem to exclude them from the language; for
_words_ must needs be significant of something. Hence many grammarians deny
that mere sounds of the voice have any more claim to be reckoned among the
parts of speech, than the neighing of a horse, or the lowing of a cow.
There is some reason in this; but in fact the reference which these sounds
have to the feelings of those who utter them, is to some extent
instinctively understood; and does constitute a sort of significance,
though we cannot really define it. And, as their use in language, or in
connexion with language, makes it necessary to assign them a place in
grammar, it is certainly more proper to treat them as above, than to follow
the plan of the Greek grammarians, most of whom throw all the interjections
into the class of _adverbs_.
OBS. 4.--Significant words uttered independently, after the manner of
interjections, ought in general, perhaps, to be referred to their original
classes; for all such expressions may be supposed elliptical: as, "_Order!_
gentlemen, _order!_" i.e., "Come to order,"--or, "Keep order." "_Silence!_"
i.e., "Preserve silence." "_Out! out!_" i.e., "Get out,"--or, "Clear out!"
(See Obs. 5th and 6th, upon Adverbs.)
"Charge, Chester, charge! _On_, Stanley, _on_!
Were the last words of Marmion."--_Scott_.
OBS. 5.--In some instances, interjections seem to be taken substantively
and made nouns; as,
"I may sit in a corner, and cry _hey-ho_ for a husband."--_Shak_.
So, according to James White, in his Essay on the Verb, is the word _fie_,
in the following example:
"If you deny me, _fie_ upon your law."--SHAK.: _White's Verb_, p. 163.
EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS XI.--ETYMOLOGICAL.
_In the Eleventh Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and
define the different parts of speech, and_ ALL _their classes and
modifications.
The definitions to be given in the Eleventh Praxis, are, two for an
article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a pronoun, seven
for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, two for a participle, two (and
sometimes three) for an adverb, two for a conjunction, one for a
preposition, and two for an interjection. Thus_:--
EXAMPLE PARSED.
"O! sooner shall the earth and stars fall into chaos!"--_Brown's Inst._, p.
92.
_O_ is an interjection, indicating earnestness. 1. An interjection is a
word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of
the mind. 2. The interjection of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address,
is _O_.
_Sooner_ is an adverb of time, of the comparative degree; compared, _soon,
sooner, soonest_. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an
adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree,
or manner. 2. Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question,
_When? How long? How soon?_ or, _How often?_ including these which ask. 3.
The comparative degree is that which is more or less than something
contrasted with it.
_Shall_ is an auxiliary to _fall_. 1. An auxiliary is a short verb prefixed
to one of the principal parts of an other verb, to express some particular
mode and time of the being, action, or passion.
_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_,
which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite
article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.
_Earth_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter
gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or
thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a
sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that
which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number
is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes
things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that
form or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a
finite verb.
_And_ is a copulative conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to
connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of
the terms so connected. 2. A copulative conjunction is a conjunction that
denotes an addition, a cause, a consequence, or a supposition.
_Stars_ is a common noun, of the third person, plural number, neuter
gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or
thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a
sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that
which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The plural number is
that which denotes more than one. 5. The neuter gender is that which
denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is
that form or state of a noun or pronoun which usually denotes the subject
of a finite verb.
_Fall_, or _Shall fall_, is an irregular active-intransitive verb, from
_fall, fell, falling, fallen_; found in the indicative mood, first-future
tense, third person, and plural number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies
_to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon_. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that
does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming _d_ or
_ed_. 3. An active-intransitive verb is a verb that expresses an action
which has no person or thing for its object. 4. The indicative mood is that
form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a
question. 5. The first-future tense is that which expresses what will take
place hereafter. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or
thing merely spoken of. 7. The plural number is that which denotes more
than one.
_Into_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some
relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally
placed before a noun or a pronoun.
_Chaos_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter
gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or
thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a
sort, kind, or class, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that
which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number
is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes
things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form
or state of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the object of a verb,
participle, or preposition.
LESSON I.--PARSING.
"Ah! St. Anthony preserve me!--Ah--ah--eh--eh!--Why--why--after all, your
hand is not so co-o-o-old, neither. Of the two, it is rather warmer than my
own. Can it be, though, that you are not dead?" "Not I."--MOLIERE: _in
Burgh's Speaker_, p. 232.
"I'll make you change your cuckoo note, you old philosophical humdrum,
you--[_Beats him_]--I will--[_Beats him_]. I'll make you say somewhat else
than, 'All things are doubtful; all things are uncertain;'--[_Beats
him_]--I will, you old fusty pedant." "Ah!--oh!--ehl--What, beat a
philosopher!--Ah!--oh!--eh!"--MOLIERE: _ib._, p. 247.
"What! will these hands never be clean?--No more of that, my lord; no more
of that. You mar all with this starting." * * * "Here is the smell of blood
still.--All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh!
oh! oh!"--_Shak., Macbeth_, Act V, Sc. 1.
"Ha! at the gates what grisly forms appear!
What dismal shrieks of laughter wound the ear!"--_Merry._
LESSON II.--PARSING.
"Yet this may be the situation of some now known to us.--O frightful
thought! O horrible image! Forbid it, O Father of mercy! If it be possible,
let no creature of thine ever be the object of that wrath, against which
the strength of thy whole creation united, would stand but as the moth
against the thunderbolt!"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 289.
"If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."--_Daniel_, iii, 17
and 18.
"Grant me patience, just Heaven!--Of all the cants which are canted in this
canting world--though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst--the cant of
criticism is the most tormenting!"--_Sterne_.
"Ah, no! Achilles meets a shameful fate,
Oh! how unworthy of the brave and great."--_Pope_.
LESSON III.--PARSING.
"O let not thy heart despise me! thou whom experience has not taught that
it is misery to lose that which it is not happiness to possess."--_Dr.
Johnson_.
"Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter
draught; and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee,
thou art no less bitter on that account."--_Sterne_.
"Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character; and if any
body reports you not to be an honest or a good man, let your practice give
him the lie. This is all very feasible."--_Antoninus_.
"Oh that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their
brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform
ourselves into beasts!"--_Shakspeare_.
"All these afar off stood, crying, Alas!
Alas! and wept, and gnashed their teeth, and groaned;
And with the owl, that on her ruins sat,
Made dolorous concert in the ear of Night."--_Pollok_.
"Snatch'd in thy prime! alas, the stroke were mild,
Had my frail form obey'd the fate's decree!
Blest were my lot, O Cynthio! O my child!
Had Heaven so pleas'd, and I had died for thee!"--_Shenstone_.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
ERRORS RESPECTING INTERJECTIONS.
"Of chance or change, oh let not man complain."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._,
p. 85.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the interjection _oh_, a sign of sorrow,
pain, or surprise, is here used to indicate mere earnestness. But,
according to the list of interjections, or OBS. 2d under it, the
interjection of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address, is _O_, and not
_oh_. Therefore, _oh_ should here be _O_; thus, "Of chance or change, _O_
let not man complain."--_Beattie's Minstrel_, B. ii, l. 1.]
"O thou persecutor! Oh ye hypocrites."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 99; _et al_.
"Oh! thou, who touchedst Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire."--_Ib._,
(_Key_,) p. 197. "Oh! happy we, surrounded by so many blessings."--_Ib._,
(_Exercises_,) p. 138. "Oh! thou, who art so unmindful of thy
duty."--_Ib._, (_Key_,) p. 196. "If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find
that better way."--_Pope's Works_. "Heus! evocate hue Davum. _Ter_. Hoe!
call Davus out hither."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 155. "It was represented
by an analogy, (Oh, how inadequate!) which was borrowed from the religion
of paganism."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 281. "Oh that Ishmael might live before
thee!"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xvii, 18. "And he said unto him, Oh let not
the Lord be angry, and I will speak."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Gen._, xviii, 30.
"And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry."--ID., and SCOTT'S: _ib._, ver.
32. "Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word."--FRIENDS'
BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Gen._, xliv, 18. "Oh, Virtue! how amiable thou art! I
fear, alas! for my life."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 89. "Ay me, they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain."--_Milton's P. L._, B. iv, l. 86.
"Oh! that I had digged myself a cave."--FLETCHER: _in Bucke's Gram._, p.
78. "O, my good lord! thy comfort comes too late."--SHAK.: _ib._, p. 78.
"The vocative takes no article; it is distinguished thus: _O Pedro_, Oh
Peter! _O Dios_, Oh God!"--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 43. "Oh, o! But, the
relative is always the same."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 127.
"Oh, oh! But, the relative is always the same."--_Id._, Edition of 1832, p.
116. "Ah hail, ye happy men!"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 116. "Oh that I had
wings like a dove!"--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Ps._, lv, 6. "Oh
Glorious hope! O Blessed abode!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 183. "Alas,
Friends, how joyous is your presence."--_Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 87.
"Oh, blissful days! Ah me! how soon ye pass!"--_Parker and Fox's Gram._,
Part I, p. 16; Part III, p. 29.
"Oh golden days! oh bright unvalued hours!
What bliss (did ye but know that bliss) were yours!"--_Barbauld_.
"Ay me! what perils do eviron
The man that meddles with cold iron."--_Hudibras_.
CHAPTER XII.--QUESTIONS.
ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.
PART SECOND, ETYMOLOGY.
[Fist] [The following questions refer almost wholly to the main text of the
Etymology of this work, and are such as every student should be able to
answer with readiness and accuracy, before he proceeds to any subsequent
part of the study or the exercises of English grammar.]
LESSON I.--PARTS OF SPEECH.
1. Of what does Etymology treat? 2. What is meant by the term, "_Parts of
Speech?_" 3. What are _Classes_, under the parts of speech? 4. What are
_Modifications?_ 5. How many and what are the parts of speech? 6. What is
an article? 7. What is a noun? 8. What is an adjective? 9. What is a
pronoun? 10. What is a verb? 11. What is a participle? 12. What is an
adverb? 13. What is a conjunction? 14. What is a preposition? 15. What is
an interjection?
LESSON II.--PARSING.
1. What is _Parsing?_ and what relation does it bear to grammar? 2. What is
a _Praxis?_ and what is said of the word? 3. What is required of the pupil
in the FIRST PRAXIS? 4. How many definitions are here to be given for each
part of speech? 5. How is the following example parsed? "The patient ox
submits to the yoke, and meekly performs the labour required of him."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _First Chapter_, or
the _First Praxis_.]
LESSON III.--ARTICLES.
1. What is an ARTICLE? 2. Are _an_ and _a_ different articles, or the same?
3. When ought _an_ to be used, and what are the examples? 4. When should
_a_ be used, and what are the examples? 5. What form of the article do the
sounds of _w_ and _y_ require? 6. Can you repeat the alphabet, with _an_ or
_a_ before the name of each letter? 7. Will you name the ten parts of
speech, with _an_ or _a_ before each name? 8. When does a common noun not
admit an article? 9. How is the sense of nouns commonly made indefinitely
partitive? 10. Does the mere being of a thing demand the use of articles?
11. Can articles ever be used when we mean to speak of a whole species? 12.
But how does _an_ or _a_ commonly limit the sense? 13. And how does _the_
commonly limit the sense? 14. Which number does _the_ limit, the singular
or the plural? 15. When is _the_ required before adjectives? 16. Why is
_an_ or _a_ not applicable to plurals? 17. What is said of _an_ or _a_
before an adjective of number? 18. When, or how often, should articles be
inserted? 19. What is said of needless articles? 20. What is the effect of
putting one article for the other, and how shall we know which to choose?
21. How are the two articles distinguished in grammar? 22. Which is the
definite article, and what does it denote? 23. Which is the indefinite
article, and what does it denote? 24. What modifications have the articles?
LESSON IV.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the SECOND PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting
and urging an indolent class, is worse than his who drives lazy horses
along a sandy road."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Second Chapter_, or
the _Second Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
five lessons of _bad English_, with which the Second Chapter concludes.]
LESSON V.--NOUNS.
1. What is a NOUN, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what general
classes are nouns divided? 3. What is a proper noun? 4. What is a common
noun? 5. What particular classes are included among common nouns? 6. What
is a collective noun? 7. What is an abstract noun? 8. What is a verbal or
participial noun? 9. What modifications have nouns? 10. What are _Persons_,
in grammar? 11. How many persons are there, and what are they called? 12.
What is the first person? 13. What is the second person? 14. What is the
third person? 15. What are _Numbers_, in grammar? 16. How many numbers are
there, and what are they called? 17. What is the singular number? 18. What
is the plural number? 19. How is the plural number of nouns regularly
formed? 20. How is the regular plural formed without increase of syllables?
21. How is the regular plural formed when the word gains a syllable? LESSON
VI--NOUNS.
1. What are _Genders_, in grammar? 2. How many genders are there, and what
are they called? 3. What is the masculine gender? 4. What is the feminine
gender? 5. What is the neuter gender? 6. What nouns, then, are masculine?
what, feminine? and what, neuter? 7. What inflection of English nouns
regularly changes their gender? 8. On what are the different genders
founded, and to what parts of speech do they belong? 9. When the noun is
such as may be applied to either sex, how is the gender usually determined?
10. What principle of universal grammar determines the gender when both
sexes are taken together? 11. What is said of the gender of nouns of
multitude? 12. Under what circumstances is it common to disregard the
distinction of sex? 13. In how many ways are the sexes distinguished in
grammar? 14. When the gender is figurative, how is it indicated? 15. What
are _Cases_, in grammar? 16. How many cases are there, and what are they
called? 17. What is the nominative case? 18. What is the subject of a verb?
19. What is the possessive case? 20. How is the possessive case of nouns
formed? 21. What is the objective case? 22. What is the object of a verb,
participle, or preposition? 23. What two cases of nouns are alike in form,
and how are they distinguished? 24. What is the declension of a noun? 25.
How do you decline the nouns, _friend, man, fox_, and _fly?_
LESSON VII--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the THIRD PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example to be parsed? "The writings of Hannah More appear to me
more praise-worthy than Scott's."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Third Chapter_, or
the _Third Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Third Chapter concludes.]
LESSON VIII.--ADJECTIVES.
1. What is an ADJECTIVE, and what are the examples given? 2. Into what
classes may adjectives be divided? 3. What is a common adjective? 4. What
is a proper adjective? 5. What is a numeral adjective? 6. What is a
pronominal adjective? 7. What is a participial adjective? 8. What is a
compound adjective? 9. What modifications have adjectives? 10. What is
comparison, in grammar? 11. How many and what are the degrees of
comparison? 12. What is the positive degree? 13. What is the comparative
degree? 14. What is the superlative degree? 15. What adjectives cannot be
compared? 16. What adjectives are compared by means of adverbs? 17. How are
adjectives regularly compared? 18. What principles of spelling must be
observed in the comparing of adjectives? 19. To what adjectives is the
regular method of comparison, by _er_ and _est_, applicable? 20. Is there
any other method of expressing the degrees of comparison? 21. How are the
degrees of diminution, or inferiority, expressed? 22. Has the regular
method of comparison any degrees of this kind? 23. Do we ever compare by
adverbs those adjectives which can be compared by _er_ and _est_? 24. How
do you compare _good? bad, evil_, or _ill? little? much? many?_ 25. How do
you compare _far? near? fore? hind? in? out? up? low? late?_ 26. What words
want the positive? 27. What words want the comparative?
LESSON IX.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the FOURTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "The best and most effectual method of teaching
grammar, is precisely that of which the careless are least fond: teach
learnedly, rebuking whatsoever is false, blundering, or unmannerly."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Fourth Chapter_, or
the _Fourth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
three lesons of _bad English_, with which the Fourth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON X.--PRONOUNS.
1. What is a PRONOUN, and what is the example given? 2. How many pronouns
are there? 3. How are pronouns divided? 4. What is a personal pronoun? 5.
How many and what are the simple personal pronouns? 6. How many and what
are the compound personal pronouns? 7. What is a relative pronoun? 8. Which
are the relative pronouns? 9. What peculiarity has the relative _what_? 10.
What is an interrogative pronoun? 11. Which are the interrogative pronouns?
12. Do _who, which_, and _what_, all ask the same question? 13. What
modifications have pronouns? 14. Why are not these things defined under the
head of pronouns? 15. What is the declension of a pronoun? 16. How do you
decline the pronoun _I? Thou? He? She? It?_ 17. What is said of the
compound personal pronouns? 18. How do you decline the pronoun _Myself?
Thyself? Himself? Herself? Itself?_ 19. Are the interrogative pronouns
declined like the simple relatives? 20. How do you decline _Who? Which?
What? That? As?_ 21. Have the compound relative pronouns any declension?
22. How do you decline _Whoever? Whosoever? Whichever? Whichsoever?
Whatever? Whatsoever?_
LESSON XI.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the FIFTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest
against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast
thou made me thus?"
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Fifth Chapter_, or
the _Fifth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Fifth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XII.--VERBS.
1. What is a VERB, and what are the examples given? 2. Why are verbs called
by that name? 3. Respecting an English verb, what things are to be sought
in the first place? 4. What is _the Present_? 5. What is _the Preterit_? 6.
What is _the Imperfect Participle_? 7. What is the _Perfect Participle_? 8.
How are verbs divided, with respect to their form? 9. What is a regular
verb? 10. What is an irregular verb? 11. What is a redundant verb? 12. What
is a defective verb? 13. How are verbs divided, with respect to their
signification? 14. What is an active-transitive verb? 15. What is an
active-intransitive verb? 16. What is a passive verb? 17. What is a neuter
verb? 18. What modifications have verbs? 19. What are _Moods_, in grammar?
20. How many moods are there, and what are they called? 21. What is the
infinitive mood? 22. What is the indicative mood? 23. What is the potential
mood? 24. What is the subjunctive mood? 25. What is the imperative mood?
LESSON XIII.--VERBS.
1. What are _Tenses_, in grammar? 2. How many tenses are there, and what
are they called? 3. What is the present tense? 4. What is the imperfect
tense? 5. What is the perfect tense? 6. What is the pluperfect tense? 7.
What is the first-future tense? 8. What is the second-future tense? 9. What
are the _Person_ and _Number_ of a verb? 10. How many persons and numbers
belong to verbs? 11. Why are not these things defined under the head of
verbs? 12. How are the second and third persons singular distinctively
formed? 13. How are the person and number of a verb ascertained, where no
peculiar ending is employed to mark them? 14. What is the conjugation of a
verb? 15. What are the PRINCIPAL PARTS in the conjugation of a verb? 16.
What is a verb called which wants some of these parts? 17. What is an
auxiliary, in grammar? 18. What verbs are used as auxiliaries? 19. What are
the inflections of the verb _do_, in its simple tenses? 20. What are the
inflections of the verb _be_, in its simple tenses? 21. What are the
inflections of the verb _have_, in its simple tenses? 22. What are the
inflections and uses of _shall_ and _will_? 23. What are the inflections
and uses of _may_? 24. What are the inflections and uses of _can_? 25. What
are the uses of _must_, which is uninflected? 26. To what style is the
inflecting of _shall, will, may, can, should, would, might_, and _could_,
now restricted?
LESSON XIV.--VERBS.
1. What is the simplest form of an English conjugation? 2. What is the
first example of conjugation? 3. What are the principal parts of the verb
LOVE? 4. How many and what tenses has the _infinitive_ mood?--the
_indicative_?--the _potential_?--the _subjunctive_?--the _imperative_? 9.
What is the verb LOVE in the _Infinitive_, present?--perfect?--
_Indicative_, present?--imperfect?--perfect?--pluperfect?--first-future?--
second-future?--_Potential_, present?--imperfect?--perfect?--pluperfect?--
_Subjunctive_, present?--imperfect?--_Imperative_, present? 24. What are
its participles?
LESSON XV.--VERBS.
1. What is the synopsis of the verb LOVE, in the first person
singular?--second person singular, solemn style?--third person
singular?--first person plural?--second person plural?--third person
plural? 7. If the second person singular of this verb be used familiarly,
how should it be formed?
LESSON XVI.--VERBS.
1. What is the second example of conjugation? 2. What are the principal
parts? 3. How is the verb SEE conjugated throughout? 4. How do you form a
synopsis of the verb _see_, with the pronoun _I? thou? he? we? you? they?_
LESSON XVII.--VERBS.
1. What is the third example of conjugation? 2. What are the principal
parts? 3. How is the verb BE conjugated? 4. How do you form a synopsis of
the verb _be_, with the nominative _I? thou? he? we? you? they? the man?
the men?_
LESSON XVIII.--VERBS.
1. What is the compound form of conjugating active or neuter verbs? 2. What
peculiar meaning does this form convey? 3. What is the fourth example of
conjugation? 4. What are the principal parts of the simple verb READ? 5.
How is the verb READ conjugated in the compound form? 6. How do you form a
synopsis of the verb BE READING, with the nominative _I? thou? he? we? you?
they? the boy? the boys?_
LESSON XIX.--VERBS.
1. How are passive verbs formed? 2. What is the fifth example of
conjugation? 3. How is the passive verb BE LOVED conjugated throughout? 4.
How do you form a synopsis of the verb BE LOVED, with the nominative _I?
thou? he? we? you? they? the child? the children?_
LESSON XX.--VERBS.
1. How is a verb conjugated negatively? 2. How is the form of negation
exemplified by the verb _love_ in the first person singular? 3. What is the
form of negation for the solemn style, second person singular? 4. What is
the form for the familiar style? 5. What is the negative form of the verb
_love_ with the pronoun _he_? 6. How is the verb conjugated
interrogatively? 7. What is the interrogative form of the verb _love_ with
the pronoun _I_? 8. What is the form of question in the solemn style, with
this verb in the second person singular? 9. How are such questions asked in
the familiar style? 10. What is the interrogative form of the verb _love_
with the pronoun _he_? 11. How is a verb conjugated interrogatively and
negatively? 12. How is the negative question exemplified in the first
person plural? 13. How is the negative question exemplified in the second
person plural? 14. How is the like synopsis formed in the third person
plural?
LESSON XXI.--VERBS.
1. What is an irregular verb? 2. How many simple irregular verbs are there?
3. What are the principal parts of the following verbs: Arise, be, bear,
beat, begin, behold, beset, bestead, bid, bind, bite, bleed, break, breed,
bring, buy, cast, chide, choose, cleave, cling, come, cost, cut, do, draw,
drink, drive, eat, fall, feed, feel, fight, find, flee, fling, fly,
forbear, forsake, get, give, go, grow, have, hear, hide, hit, hold, hurt,
keep, know, lead, leave, lend, let, lie, lose, make, meet, outdo, put,
read, rend, rid, ride, ring, rise, run, say, see, seek, sell, send, set,
shed, shoe, shoot, shut, shred, shrink, sing, sink, sit, slay, sling,
slink, smite, speak, spend, spin, spit, spread, spring, stand, steal,
stick, sting, stink, stride, strike, swear, swim, swing, take, teach, tear,
tell, think, thrust, tread, wear, win, write?
LESSON XXII.--VERBS.
1. What is a redundant verb? 2. How many redundant verbs are there? 3. What
are the principal parts of the following verbs: Abide, awake, belay, bend,
bereave, beseech, bet, betide, blend, bless, blow, build, burn, burst,
catch, clothe, creep, crow, curse, dare, deal, dig, dive, dream, dress,
dwell, freeze, geld, gild, gird, grave, grind, hang, heave, hew, kneel,
knit, lade, lay, lean, leap, learn, light, mean, mow, mulet, pass, pay,
pen, plead, prove, quit, rap, reave, rive, roast, saw, seethe, shake,
shape, shave, shear, shine, show, sleep, slide, slit, smell, sow, speed,
spell, spill, split, spoil, stave, stay, string, strive, strow, sweat,
sweep, swell, thrive, throw, wake, wax, weave, wed, weep, wet, whet, wind,
wont, work, wring? 4. What is a defective verb? 5. What verbs are
defective?
LESSON XXIII.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the SIXTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "The freedom of choice seems essential to
happiness; because, properly speaking, that is not our own which is imposed
upon us."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Sixth Chapter_, or
the _Sixth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Sixth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XXIV.--PARTICIPLES.
1. What is a PARTICIPLE, and how is it generally formed? 2. How many kinds
of participles are there, and what are they called? 3. What is the
imperfect participle? 4. What is the perfect participle? 5. What is the
preperfect participle? 6. How is the first or imperfect participle formed?
7. How is the second or perfect participle formed? 8. How is the third or
preperfect participle formed? 9. What are the participles of the following
verbs, according to the simplest form of conjugation: Repeat, study,
return, mourn, seem, rejoice, appear, approach, suppose, think, set, come,
rain, stand, know, deceive?
LESSON XXV.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the SEVENTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed: "Religion, rightly understood and practised, has
the purest of all joys attending it."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Seventh Chapter_, or
the _Seventh Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
three lessons of _bad English_, with which the Seventh Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XXVI.--ADVERBS.
1. What is an ADVERB, and what is the example given? 2. To what general
classes may adverbs be reduced? 3. What are adverbs of time? 4. What are
adverbs of place? 5. What are adverbs of degree? 6. What are adverbs of
manner? 1. What are conjunctive adverbs? 8. Are all the conjunctive adverbs
included in the first four classes? 9. How may the adverbs of time be
subdivided? 10. How may the adverbs of place be subdivided? 11. How may the
adverbs of degree be subdivided? 12. How may the adverbs of manner be
subdivided? 13. What modifications have adverbs? 14. How do we compare
_well, badly_ or _ill, little, much, far_, and _forth_? 15. Of what degree
is the adverb _rather_? 16. What is said of the comparison of adverbs by
_more_ and _most, less_ and _least_?
LESSON XXVII.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the EIGHTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "When was it that Rome attracted most strongly
the admiration of mankind?"
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Eighth Chapter_, or
the _Eighth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
lesson of _bad English_, with which the Eighth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XXVIII.--CONJUNCTIONS.
1. What is a CONJUNCTION, and what is the example given? 2. Have we any
connective words besides the conjunctions? 3. How do relative pronouns
differ from other connectives? 4. How do conjunctive adverbs differ from
other connectives? 5. How do conjunctions differ from other connectives? 6.
How do prepositions differ from other connectives? 7. How are the
conjunctions divided? 8. What is a copulative conjunction? 9. What is a
disjunctive conjunction? 10. What are corresponsive conjunctions? 11. Which
are the copulative conjunctions? 12. Which are the disjunctive
conjunctions? 13. Which are the corresponsive conjunctions?
LESSON XXIX.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the NINTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "If thou hast done a good deed, boast not of it."
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Ninth Chapter_, or
the _Ninth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
lesson of _bad English_, with which the Ninth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XXX.--PREPOSITIONS.
1. What is a PREPOSITION, and what is the example given? 2. Are the
prepositions divided into classes? 3. Have prepositions any grammatical
modifications? 4. How are the prepositions arranged in the list? 5. What
are the prepositions beginning with _a_?--with _b_?--with _c_?--with
_d_?--with _e_?--with _f_?--with _i_?--with _m_?--with _n_?--with
_o_?--with _p_?--with _r_?--with _s_?--with _t_?--with _u_?--with _w_? 21.
Does this list contain all the words that are ever used in English as
prepositions?
LESSON XXXI.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the TENTH PRAXIS? 2. How many
definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the
following example parsed? "Never adventure on too near an approach to what
is evil?"
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Tenth Chapter_, or
the _Tenth Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
lesson of _bad English_, with which the Tenth Chapter concludes.]
LESSON XXXII.--INTERJECTIONS.
1. What is an INTERJECTION, and what are the examples given? 2. Why are
interjections so called? 3. How are the interjections arranged in the list?
4. What are the interjections of joy?--of praise?--of sorrow?--of
wonder?--of wishing or earnestness?--of pain or fear?--of contempt?--of
aversion?--of calling aloud?--of exultation?--of laughter?--of
salutation?--of calling to attention?--of calling to silence?--of surprise
or horror?--of languor?--of stopping?--of parting?--of knowing or
detecting?--of interrogating?
LESSON XXXIII.--PARSING.
1. What is required of the pupil in the ELEVENTH PRAXIS? How many
definitions are here given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following
example parsed? "O! sooner shall the earth and stars fall into chaos!"
[Now parse, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Eleventh Chapter_, or
the _Eleventh Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the
lesson of _bad English_, with which the Eleventh Chapter concludes.]
CHAPTER XIII.--FOR WRITING.
EXERCISES IN ETYMOLOGY.
[When the pupil has become familiar with the different parts of speech, and
their classes and modifications, and has been sufficiently exercised in
etymological parsing and correcting, he should write out the following
exercises; for speech and writing afford us different modes of testing the
proficiency of students, and exercises in both are necessary to a complete
course of English Grammar.]
EXERCISE I.--ARTICLES.
1. Prefix the definite article to each of the following nouns: path, paths;
loss, losses; name, names; page, pages; want, wants; doubt, doubts; votary,
votaries.
2. Prefix the indefinite article to each of the following nouns: age,
error, idea, omen, urn, arch, bird, cage, dream, empire, farm, grain,
horse, idol, jay, king, lady, man, novice, opinion, pony, quail, raven,
sample, trade, uncle, vessel, window, youth, zone, whirlwind, union, onion,
unit, eagle, house, honour, hour, herald, habitation, hospital, harper,
harpoon, ewer, eye, humour.
3. Insert the definite article rightly in the following phrases: George
Second--fair appearance--part first--reasons most obvious--good man--wide
circle--man of honour--man of world--old books--common people--same
person--smaller piece--rich and poor--first and last--all time--great
excess--nine muses--how rich reward--so small number--all ancient
writers--in nature of things--much better course.
4. Insert the indefinite article rightly in each of the following phrases:
new name--very quick motion--other sheep--such power--what instance--great
weight--such worthy cause--to great difference--high honour--humble
station--universal law--what strange event--so deep interest--as firm
hope--so great wit--humorous story--such person--few dollars--little
reflection.
EXERCISE II.--NOUNS.
1. Write the plurals of the following nouns: town, country, case, pin,
needle, harp, pen, sex, rush, arch, marsh, monarch, blemish, distich,
princess, gas, bias, stigma, wo, grotto, folio, punctilio, ally, duty, toy,
money, entry, valley, volley, half, dwarf, strife, knife, roof, muff,
staff, chief, sheaf, mouse, penny, ox, foot, erratum, axis, thesis,
criterion, bolus, rebus, son-in-law, pailful, man-servant, fellow-citizen.
2. Write the feminines corresponding to the following nouns: earl, friar,
stag, lord, duke, marquis, hero, executor, nephew, heir, actor, enchanter,
hunter, prince, traitor, lion, arbiter, tutor, songster, abbot, master,
uncle, widower, son, landgrave.
3. Write the possessive case singular, of the following nouns: table, leaf,
boy, torch, park, porch, portico, lynx, calf, sheep, wolf, echo, folly,
cavern, father-in-law, court-martial, precipice, countess, lordship.
4. Write the possessive case plural, of the following nouns: priest, tutor,
scholar, mountain, city, courtier, judge, citizen, woman, servant, writer,
grandmother.
5. Write the possessive case, both singular and plural, of the following
nouns: body, fancy, lady, attorney, negro, nuncio, life, brother, deer,
child, wife, goose, beau, envoy, distaff, hero, thief, wretch.
EXERCISE III.--ADJECTIVES.
1. Annex a suitable noun to each of the following adjectives, without
repeating any word: good, great, tall, wise, strong, dark, dangerous,
dismal, drowsy, twenty, true, difficult, pale, livid, ripe, delicious,
stormy, rainy, convenient, heavy, disastrous, terrible, necessary.
Thus--good _manners_, &c.
2. Place a suitable adjective before each of the following nouns, without
repeating any word: man, son, merchant, work, fence, fear, poverty,
picture, prince, delay, suspense, devices, follies, actions. Thus--_wise_
man, &c.
3. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared by
inflection, or change of form: black, bright, short, white, old, high, wet,
big, few, lovely, dry, fat, good, bad, little, much, many, far, true, just,
vast.
4. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared, using
the adverbs of increase: delightful, comfortable, agreeable, pleasant,
fortunate, valuable, wretched, vivid, timid, poignant, excellent, sincere,
honest, correct.
5. Write the forms in which the following adjectives are compared, using
the comparative adverbs of inferiority or diminution: objectionable,
formidable, forcible, comely, pleasing, obvious, censurable, prudent,
imprudent, imperfect, pleasant, unpleasant.
EXERCISE IV.--PRONOUNS.
1. Write the nominative plural of the following pronouns: I, thou, he, she,
it, who, which, what, that, as.
2. Write the objective singular of the following pronouns: I, thou, he,
she, it, who, which, what, that, as.
3. Write the following words in their customary and proper forms: he's,
her's, it's, our's, your's, their's, who's, myself, hisself, theirselves.
4. Write together in declension the following pronouns, according to the
agreement of each two: I myself, thou thyself, he himself, she herself it
itself.
5. Rewrite the following sentences, and make them good English: "Nor is the
criminal binding any thing: but was, his self, being bound."--_Wrights
Gram._, p. 193. "The writer surely did not mean, that the work was
preparing its self."--_Ib._ "_May_, or _can_, in its self, denotes
possibility."--_Ib._, p. 216. "Consequently those in connection with the
remaining pronouns respectively, should be written,--he, _his self_;--she,
_her self_;--ye or you, _your selves_; they, _their selves_."--_Ib._, p.
154. "Lest their beacons be lost to the view, and their selves wrecked on
the shoals of destruction."--_Ib._, p. 155. "In the regal style, as
generally in the second person, the singular noun is added to the plural
pronoun, _ourself_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 78. "Each has it's peculiar
advantages."--_Ib._, p. 283. "Who his ownself bare our sins in his own body
on the tree."--_The Friend_, iv, 302. "It is difficult to look inwardly on
oneself."--_Journal of N. Y. Lit. Convention_. p. 287.
EXERCISE V.--VERBS.
1. Write the four principal parts of each of the following verbs: slip,
thrill, caress, force, release, crop, try, die, obey, delay, destroy, deny,
buy, come, do, feed, lie, say, huzza, pretend, deliver, arrest.
2. Write the following preterits, each in its appropriate form: exprest,
stript, dropt, jumpt, prest, topt, whipt, linkt, propt, fixt, crost, stept,
distrest, gusht, confest, snapt, skipt, kist, discust, tackt.
3. Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, present tense, second
person singular: move, strive, please, reach, confess, fix, deny, survive,
know, go, outdo, close, lose, pursue, defend, surpass, conquer, deliver,
enlighten, protect, polish.
4. Write the following verbs in the indicative mood, present tense, third
person singular: leave, seem, search, impeach, fear, redress, comply,
bestow, do, woo, sue, view, allure, rely, beset, release, be, bias, compel,
degrade, efface, garnish, handle, induce.
5. Write the following verbs in the subjunctive mood, present tense, in the
three persons singular: serve, shun, turn, learn, find, wish, throw, dream,
possess, detest, disarm, allow, pretend, expose, alarm, deprive,
transgress.
EXERCISE VI.--VERBS.
1. Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the active verb
_amuse_, conjugated affirmatively.
2. Write a synopsis of the second person singular of the neuter verb _sit_,
conjugated affirmatively in the solemn style.
3. Write a synopsis of the third person singular of the active verb
_speak_, conjugated affirmatively in the compound form.
4. Write a synopsis of the first person plural of the passive verb _be
reduced_, conjugated affirmatively.
5. Write a synopsis of the second person plural of the active verb _lose_,
conjugated negatively.
6. Write a synopsis of the third person plural of the neuter verb _stand_,
conjugated interrogatively.
7. Write a synopsis of the first person singular of the active verb
_derive_, conjugated interrogatively and negatively.
EXERCISE VII.--PARTICIPLES.
1. Write the simple imperfect participles of the following verbs: belong,
provoke, degrade, impress, fly, do, survey, vie, coo, let, hit, put, defer,
differ, remember.
2. Write the perfect participles of the following verbs: turn, burn, learn,
deem, crowd, choose, draw, hear, lend, sweep, tear, thrust, steal, write,
delay, imply, exist.
3. Write the preperfect participles of the following verbs: depend, dare,
deny, value, forsake, bear, set, sit, lay, mix, speak, sleep, allot.
4. Write the following participles each in its appropriate form: dipt,
deckt, markt, equipt, ingulft, embarrast, astonisht, tost, embost, absorpt,
attackt, gasht, soakt, hackt.
5. Write the regular participles which are now generally preferred to the
following irregular ones: blent, blest, clad, curst, diven, drest, graven,
hoven, hewn, knelt, leant, leapt, learnt, lit, mown, mulct, past, pent,
quit, riven, roast, sawn, sodden, shaven, shorn, sown, striven, strown,
sweat, swollen, thriven, waxen.
6. Write the irregular participles which are commonly preferred to the
following regular ones: abided, bended, builded, bursted, catched, creeped,
dealed, digged, dwelled, freezed, grinded, knitted, layed, meaned, payed,
reaved, slided, speeded, splitted, stringed, sweeped, throwed, weaved,
weeped, winded.
EXERCISE VIII.--ADVERBS, &c.
1. Compare the following adverbs: soon, often, long, fast, near, early,
well, badly _or_ ill, little, much, far, forth.
2. Place the comparative adverbs of increase before each of the following
adverbs: purely, fairly, sweetly, earnestly, patiently, completely,
fortunately, profitably, easily.
3. Place the comparative adverbs of diminution before each of the following
adverbs: secretly, slily, liberally, favourably, powerfully, solemnly.
4. Insert suitable conjunctions in place of the following dashes:
Love--fidelity are inseparable. Be shy of parties--factions. Do well--boast
not. Improve time--it flies. There would be few paupers--no time were lost.
Be not proud--thou art human. I saw--it was necessary. Wisdom is
better--wealth. Neither he--I can do it. Wisdom--folly governs us. Take
care--thou fall. Though I should boast--am I nothing.
5. Insert suitable prepositions in place of the following dashes:
Plead--the dumb. Qualify thyself--action--study. Think often--the
worth--time. Live--peace--all men. Keep--compass. Jest not--serious
subjects. Take no part--slander. Guilt starts--its own shadow. Grudge
not--giving. Go not--sleep--malice. Debate not--temptation. Depend not--the
stores--others. Contend not--trifles. Many fall--grasping--things--their
reach. Be deaf--detraction.
6. Correct the following sentences, and adapt the interjections to the
emotions expressed by the other words: Aha! aha! I am undone. Hey! io! I am
tired. Ho! be still. Avaunt! this way. Ah! what nonsense. Heigh-ho! I am
delighted. Hist! it is contemptible. Oh! for that sympathetic glow! Ah!
what withering phantoms glare!
PART III.
SYNTAX.
Syntax treats of the relation, agreement, government, and arrangement, of
words in sentences. The _relation_ of words is their reference to other
words, or their dependence according to the sense.
The _agreement_ of words is their similarity in person, number, gender,
case, mood, tense, or form.
The _government_ of words is that power which one word has over an other,
to cause it to assume some particular modification.
The _arrangement_ of words is their collocation, or relative position, in a
sentence.
CHAPTER I.--SENTENCES.
A _Sentence_ is an assemblage of words, making complete sense, and always
containing a nominative and a verb; as, "Reward sweetens labour."
The _principal parts_ of a sentence are usually three; namely, the SUBJECT,
or nominative,--the attribute, or finite VERB,--and the case put after, or
the OBJECT[322] governed by the verb: as, "_Crimes deserve punishment_."
The _other_ or _subordinate parts_ depend upon these, either as primary or
as secondary _adjuncts_; as, "_High_ crimes _justly_ deserve _very severe_
punishments."
Sentences are usually said to be of two kinds, _simple_ and
_compound_.[323]
A _simple sentence_ is a sentence which consists of one single assertion,
supposition, command, question, or exclamation; as, "David and Jonathan
loved each other."--"If thine enemy hunger."--"Do violence to no man."--"Am
I not an apostle?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 1. "What immortal glory shall I have
acquired!"--HOOKE: _Mur. Seq._, p. 71.
A _compound sentence_ is a sentence which consists of two or more simple
ones either expressly or tacitly connected; as, "Send men to Joppa, _and_
call for Simon, _whose_ surname is Peter; _who_ shall tell thee words,
_whereby_ thou and all thy house shall be saved."--_Acts_, xi, 13. "The
more the works of Cowper are read, the more his readers will find reason to
admire the variety and the extent, the graces and the energy, of his
literary talents."--HAYLEY: _Mur. Seq._, p. 250.
A _clause_, or _member_, is a subdivision of a compound sentence; and is
itself a sentence, either simple or compound: as, "If thine enemy be
hungry, give him bread to eat; if he be thirsty, give him water to
drink."--_Prov._, xxv, 21.[324]
A _phrase_ is two or more words which express some relation of different
ideas, but no entire proposition; as, "By the means appointed."--"To be
plain with you."--"Having loved his own."
Words that are omitted by _ellipsis_, and that are necessarily understood
in order to complete the construction, (and only such,) must be supplied in
parsing.
The _leading principles_ to be observed in the construction of sentences,
are embraced in the following twenty-four rules, which are arranged, as
nearly as possible, in the order of the parts of speech.
THE RULES OF SYNTAX.
RULE I.--ARTICLES.
Articles relate to the nouns which they limit.
RULE II.--NOMINATIVES.
A Noun or a Pronoun which is the subject of a finite verb, must be in the
nominative case.
RULE III.--APPOSITION. A Noun or a personal Pronoun used to explain a
preceding noun or pronoun, is put, by apposition, in the same case.
RULE IV.--POSSESSIVES.
A Noun or a Pronoun in the possessive case, is governed by the name of the
thing possessed.
RULE V.--OBJECTIVES.
A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or
participle, is governed by it in the objective case.
RULE VI.--SAME CASES.
A Noun or a Pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees
in case with a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing.
RULE VII.--OBJECTIVES.
A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in
the objective case.
RULE VIII.--NOM. ABSOLUTE.
A Noun or a Pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case
depends on no other word.
RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES.
Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns.
RULE X.--PRONOUNS.
A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it
represents, in person, number, and gender.
RULE XI--PRONOUNS.
When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality,
the Pronoun must agree with it in the plural number.
RULE XII.--PRONOUNS.
When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _and_, it must
agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together.
RULE XIII.--PRONOUNS.
When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by _or_ or _nor_, it
must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together.
RULE XIV.--FINITE VERBS.
Every finite Verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person and
number.
RULE XV.--FINITE VERBS.
When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality,
the Verb must agree with it in the plural number.
RULE XVI.--FINITE VERBS.
When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _and_, it must agree
with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together.
RULE XVII.--FINITE VERBS.
When a Verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must
agree with them singly, and not as if taken together.
RULE XVIII.--INFINITIVES.
The Infinitive Mood is governed in general by the preposition TO, which
commonly connects it to a finite verb.
RULE XIX.--INFINITIVES.
The active verbs, _bid, dare, feel, hear, let, make, need, see_, and their
participles, usually take the Infinitive after them without the preposition
TO.
RULE XX.--PARTICIPLES.
Participles relate to nouns or pronouns, or else are governed by
prepositions.
RULE XXI.--ADVERBS.
Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs.
RULE XXII.--CONJUNCTIONS.
Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences.
RULE XXIII.--PREPOSITIONS.
Prepositions show the relations of words, and of the things or thoughts
expressed by them.
RULE XXIV.--INTERJECTIONS.
Interjections have no dependent construction; they are put absolute, either
alone, or with other words.
GENERAL OR CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SYNTAX.
OBS. 1.--An explanation of the relation, agreement, government, and
arrangement, of words in sentences, constitutes that part of grammar which
we call _Syntax_. But many grammarians, representing this branch of their
subject as consisting of two parts only, "_concord_ and _government_" say
little or nothing of the _relation_ and _arrangement_ of words, except as
these are involved in the others. The four things are essentially different
in their nature, as may be seen by the definitions given above, yet not so
distinct in practice that they can well be made the basis of any perfect
division of the rules of syntax. I have therefore, on this occasion,
preferred the order of the parts of speech; each of which will form a
chapter in the Syntax of this work, as each forms a chapter in the
Etymology.
OBS. 2.--_Agreement_ and _concord_ are one and the same thing. _Relation_
and _agreement_, though different, may yet coincide, and be taken together.
The latter is moreover naturally allied to the former. Seven of the ten
parts of speech are, with a few exceptions, incapable of any agreement; of
these the _relation_ and _use_ must be explained in parsing; and all
_requisite agreement_ between any of the rest, is confined to words that
_relate_ to each other. For one word may _relate_ to an other and not
_agree_ with it; but there is never any _necessary agreement_ between words
that have not a _relation_ one to the other, or a connexion according to
the sense. Any similarity happening between unconnected words, is no
syntactical concord, though it may rank the terms in the same class
etymologically.
OBS. 3.--From these observations it may be seen, that the most important
and most comprehensive principle of English syntax, is the simple
_Relation_ of words, according to the sense. To this head alone, ought to
be referred all the rules of construction by which our articles, our
nominatives, our adjectives, our participles, our adverbs, our
conjunctions, our prepositions, and our interjections, are to be parsed. To
the ordinary syntactical use of any of these, no rules of concord,
government, or position, can at all apply. Yet so defective and erroneous
are the schemes of syntax which are commonly found in our English grammars,
that _no rules_ of simple relation, none by which any of the above-named
parts of speech can be consistently parsed, are in general to be found in
them. If there are any exceptions to this censure, they are very few, and
in treatises still marked with glaring defects in regard to the syntax of
some of these parts of speech.
OBS. 4.--Grammarians, of course, do not utter falsehoods intentionally; but
it is lamentable to see how often they pervert doctrine by untruths uttered
ignorantly. It is the design of this pandect, to make every one who reads
it, an intelligent judge of the _perversions_, as well as of the true
doctrines, of English grammar. The following citations will show him the
scope and parts which have commonly been assigned to our syntax: "The
construction of sentences depends principally upon the _concord_ or
_agreement_, and the _regimen_ or _government_, of words."--_Lowth's
Gram._, p. 68; _Churchill's_, 120. "Words in sentences have a _twofold
relation_ to one another; namely, that of _Concord_ or Agreement; and that
of _Government_ or Influence."--_Dr. Adam's Latin and English Grammar_, p.
151. "The third part of Grammar is SYNTAX, which treats of the _agreement
and construction_ of words in a sentence."--_E. G. Greene's Grammatical
Text-Book_, p. 15. "Syntax principally consists of two parts, _Concord_ and
_Government_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 142; _Ingersoll's_, 170; _Alger's_,
51; _R. C. Smith's_, 119; and many others. "Syntax consists of two parts,
_Concord_ and _Government_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 175; _Wright's_, 124.
"The Rules of Syntax may all be included under three heads, _Concord,
Government_, and _Position_."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 87. "_Position_
means the _place_ which a word occupies in a sentence."--_Ib._ "These rules
may be mostly ranked under the two heads of _agreement_ and _government_;
the remainder may be termed _miscellaneous_."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 92.
"Syntax treats of the agreement, government and proper arrangement of words
in _a sentence_."--_Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 43. This last-named author,
in touching the text of my books, has often _corrupted_ it, as he does
here; but my definitions of _the tenses_ he copied without marring them
much. The borrowing occurred as early as 1828, and I add this notice now,
lest any should suppose _me_ the plagiarist.
OBS. 5.--Most of our English grammars have _more_ rules of syntax than are
needed, and yet are very deficient in _such_ as are needed. To say, as some
do, that articles, adjectives, and participles, _agree_ with nouns, is to
teach Greek or Latin syntax, and not English. To throw, as Nutting does,
the whole syntax of adverbs into a remark on _such a rule of agreement_, is
to choose disorder for its own sake. To say, with Frost, Hall, Smith,
Perley, Kirkham, Sanborn, Rand, and others, "The nominative case _governs_
the verb in number and person," and again, "A verb must _agree_ with its
nominative case in number and person," is to confound the meaning of
_government_ and _agreement_, to say the same thing in different words, and
to leave the subject of a verb still without a rule: for rules of
government are applicable only to the words governed, and nothing ever
agrees with that which governs it.[325] To say, with Murray and others,
"Participles have the same government as the verbs from which they are
derived," is to say nothing by which either verbs or participles may be
parsed, or any of their errors corrected: those many grammarians,
therefore, who make this their only rule for participles, leave them all
without any syntax. To say, with Murray, Alger, and others, "Adverbs,
_though they have no government of case, tense, &c._, require an
appropriate _situation_ in the sentence," is to squander words at random,
and leave the important question unanswered, "To what do adverbs relate?"
To say again, with the same gentlemen, "Conjunctions connect _the same
moods and tenses of verbs, and cases_ of nouns and pronouns," is to put an
ungrammatical, obscure, and useless assertion, in the place of an important
rule. To say merely, "Prepositions govern the objective case," is to rest
all the syntax of prepositions on a rule that never applies to them, but
which is meant only for one of the constructions of the objective case. To
say, as many do, "Interjections _require_ the objective case of a pronoun
of the first person after them, and the nominative case of the second," is
to tell what is utterly false as the words stand, and by no means true in
the sense which the authors intend. Finally, to suppose, with Murray, that,
"the Interjection _does not require a distinct, appropriate rule_," is in
admirable keeping with all the foregoing quotations, and especially with
his notion of what it _does_ require; namely, "the _objective case_ of the
first person:" but who dares deny that the following exclamation is good
English?
"_O_ wretched _we!_ why were we hurried down
This lubric and adulterate age!"--_Dryden_.
Back to Full Books
|