A SENTENCE is an assemblage of words, expressed in proper form, and
ranged in proper order, and concurring to make a complete sense.
Concord, or agreement of words, is when one word is required to be in
like case, number, gender, or person, with another.
Regimen, or government, is when a word causeth a following word to be in
some case, or mode.
Sentences are Simple, or Compounded.
A Simple Sentence hath in it but one Subject, and one Finite Verb; that
is, a Verb in the Indicative, Imperative, or Subjunctive Mode.
A Phrase is two or more words rightly put together in order to make a
part of a Sentence; and sometimes making a whole Sentence.
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The most common PHRASES used in simple Sentences are as follows:
1st Phrase: The Substantive before a Verb Active, Passive, or Neuter;
when it is said what thing _is_, _does_, or _is done_: as, “I am;” “Thou
writest;” “Thomas is loved:” where _I_, _Thou_, _Thomas_, are the
Nominative[42] Cases; and answer to the question _who_, or _what?_ as,
“Who is loved? Thomas.” And the Verb agrees with the Nominative Case in
number and person[43]; as, _Thou_ being the Second Person Singular, the
Verb _writest_ is so too.
2d Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Neuter or Passive; when it is
said, that such a thing _is_, or _is made_, or _thought_, or _called_,
such _another thing_; or, when the Substantive after the Verb is spoken
of the same thing or person with the Substantive before the Verb: as,
“a calf becomes an ox;” “Plautus is accounted a Poet;” “I am He.” Here
the latter Substantive is in the Nominative Case as well as the former;
and the Verb is said to govern the Nominative Case: or, the latter
Substantive may be said to agree in Case with the former.
3d Phrase: The Adjective after a Verb Neuter or Passive, in like manner:
as, “Life _is short_, and Art _is long_.” “Exercise _is esteemed
wholesome_.”
4th Phrase: The Substantive after a Verb Active, or Transitive: as
when one thing is said to _act_ upon, or _do_ something to another:
as, “to open a door;” “to build a house;” “Alexander conquered the
Persians.” Here the thing acted upon is in the Objective[44] Case; as it
appears plainly when it is expressed by the Pronoun, which has a proper
termination for that Case; “Alexander conquered _them_;” and the Verb is
said to govern the Objective Case.
5th Phrase: A Verb following another Verb; as, “boys love to play:” where
the latter Verb is in the Infinitive Mode.
6th Phrase: When one thing is said to belong to another; as, “Milton’s
poems:” where the thing to which the other belongs is placed first, and
is in the Possessive Case; or else last with the Preposition _of_ before
it; as, “the poems of Milton.”
7th Phrase: When another Substantive is added to express and explain the
former more fully; as, “Paul the Apostle;” “King George:” where they are
both in the same case; and the latter is said to be put in Apposition to
the former.
8th Phrase: When the quality of the Substantive is expressed by adding
an Adjective to it: as, “a wise man;” “a black horse.” Participles have
the nature of Adjectives; as, “a learned man;” “a loving father.”
9th Phrase: An Adjective with a Verb in the Infinitive Mode following it:
as, “worthy to die;” “fit to be trusted.”
10th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb, or to an Adjective,
by an Adverb: as, “you read well;” “he is very prudent.”
11th Phrase: When a circumstance is added to a Verb or an Adjective by
a Substantive with a Preposition before it: as, “I write for you;” “he
reads with care;” “studious of praise;” “ready for mischief.”
12th Phrase: When the same Quality in different Subjects is compared;
the Adjective in the Positive having after it the Conjunction _as_,
in the Comparative the Conjunction _than_, and in the Superlative the
Preposition _of_: as, “white as snow;” “wiser than I;” “greatest of all.”
* * * * *
The PRINCIPAL PARTS of a Simple Sentence are the Agent, the Attribute,
and the Object. The Agent is the thing chiefly spoken of; the Attribute
is the thing or action affirmed or denied of it; and the Object is the
thing affected by such action.
In English the Nominative Case denoting the Agent, usually goes before
the Verb, or Attribution, and the Objective Case, denoting the Object,
follows the Verb; and it is the order that determines the cases in Nouns:
as, “Alexander conquered the Persians.” But the Pronoun, having a proper
form for each of those cases, sometimes when it is in the Objective Case
is placed before the Verb, and when it is in the Nominative Case follows
the Object and Verb: as, “Whom ye ignorantly worship, _him declare I_
unto you.” And the Nominative Case is sometimes placed after a Verb
Neuter: as, “Upon thy right hand _did stand the Queen_:” “On a sudden
_appeared the King_.” And frequently with the Adverbs _there_ and then:
as, “There _was a man_:” “Then _came_ unto him _the Pharisees_.” The
reason of it is plain: the Neuter Verb not admitting of an Objective Case
after it, no ambiguity of case can arise from such a position of the Noun.
_Who_, _which_, _what_, and the Relative _that_, though in the Objective
Case, are always placed before the Verb; as are also their Compounds,
_whoever_, _whosoever_, &c: as, “He _whom_ you _seek_.” “This is _what_,
or the thing _which_, or _that_, you _want_.” “_Whomsoever_ you please
_to appoint_.”
When the Verb is a Passive, the Agent and Object change places in the
Sentence; and the thing acted upon is in the Nominative Case, and the
Agent is accompanied with a Preposition: as, “The Persians were conquered
by Alexander.”
A Noun of Multitude[45], or signifying many; and two Nouns in the
Singular Number, joined together by a Conjunction Copulative; have Verbs,
Nouns, and Pronouns, agreeing with them in the Plural Number: as, “When
the King’s trump, the _mob are_ for the King.” Dryden. “_Socrates and
Plato were_ wise; _they were_ the most eminent _Philosophers_ of Greece.”
If the Singulars so joined together are of several Persons, in making the
Plural Pronoun agree with them in Person, the second Person takes place
of the third, and the first of both: “_He and You and I_ won it at the
hazard of _our_ lives: _You and He_ shared it between _you_.”
The Verb _to Be_ has always a Nominative Case after it; as, “it _was I_,
and not _He_, that did it:” unless it be in the Infinitive Mode; “though
you took it _to be Him_[46].”
The Adverbs _when_, _while_, _after_, &c. being left out, the Phrase is
formed with the Participle independently of the rest of the Sentence: as,
“The doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst.” This is called the Case
Absolute. And the Case is in English always the Nominative: as,
“God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
Shall tremble, _He descending_[47], will himself,
In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound,
Ordain them laws.”
Milton, P. L. xii. 227.
_To_ before a Verb is the sign of the Infinitive Mode: but there are some
few Verbs, which have other Verbs following them in the Infinitive Mode
without the sign _to_: as, bid, dare, need, make, see, hear; and, let,
have, not used as Auxiliaries: as, “I bade him do it; you dare not do
it; I saw him[48] do it; I heard him say it.”
The Infinitive Mode has much of the nature of a Substantive, expressing
the Action itself which the Verb signifies; as the Participle has the
nature of an Adjective. Thus the Infinitive Mode does the office of a
Substantive in different cases; in the Nominative; as, “_to play is_
pleasant:” in the Objective; as, “boys _love to play_.” In Greek it
admits of the Article through all its cases, with the Preposition in the
Oblique cases: in English the Article is not wanted, but the Preposition
may be used: “For _to will is_ present with me; but _to perform_ that
which is good I find not[49].” “All their works they do _for to be seen_
of men[50].”
“For not _to have been dip’d_ in Lethe’s lake
Could save the Son of Thetis _from to die_.”
Spenser.
Perhaps therefore the Infinitive and the Participle might be more
properly called the Substantive Mode and the Adjective Mode[51].
The Participle with a Preposition before it, and still retaining its
Government, answers to what is called in Latin the Gerund: as, “Happiness
is to be attained, by avoiding evil, and by doing good; by seeking peace,
and by pursuing it.”
The Participle, with an Article before it, and the Preposition _of_ after
it, becomes a Substantive, expressing the action itself which the Verb
signifies[52]: as, “These are the Rules of Grammar, by _the observing
of_ which you may avoid mistakes.” Or it may be expressed by the
Participle, or Gerund; “by _observing_ which:” not, “by _observing of_
which;” nor, “by _the observing_ which:” for either of those two Phrases
would be a confounding of two distinct forms.
I will add another example, and that of the best authority: “The middle
station of life seems to be the most advantageously situated for _the
gaining of_ wisdom. Poverty turns our thoughts too much upon _the
supplying of_ our wants, and riches _upon enjoying our_ superfluities.”
Addison, Spect. Nᵒ 464.
The Participle frequently becomes altogether an Adjective; when it is
joined to a Substantive merely to denote its quality; without any respect
to time; expressing, not an Action, but a Habit; and as such it admits
of the degrees of Comparison: as, “a learned, a more learned, a most
learned, man; a loving, more loving, most loving, father.”
Simple Sentences are 1. Explicative, or explaining: 2. Interrogative, or
asking: 3. Imperative, or commanding[53].
1. An Explicative Sentence is when a thing is said to be, or not to be;
to do, or not to do; to suffer, or not to suffer; in a direct manner; as
in the foregoing examples. If the Sentence be Negative, the Adverb _not_
is placed after the Auxiliary, or after the Verb itself when it has no
Auxiliary: as, “it _did not_ touch him;” or, “it _touched_ him _not_[54].”
2. In an Interrogative Sentence, or when a Question is asked, the
Nominative Case follows the Principal Verb, or the Auxiliary: as, “_was
it_ he?” “_did Alexander_ conquer the Persians?” So that the Question
depends intirely on the order of the words[55].
3. In an Imperative Sentence, when a thing is commanded to be, to do, to
suffer, or not, the Nominative Case follows the Verb or the Auxiliary:
as, “Go, thou traytor;” or, “do thou go:” or the Auxiliary _let_ with the
Objective[56] Case after it is used: as, “Let us be gone[57].”
The Adjective in English, having no variation of Gender or Number,
cannot but agree with the Substantive in those respects; some of the
Pronominal Adjectives only excepted, which have the Plural Number: as,
_these_, _those_, and _they_; which must agree in Number[58] with their
Substantives.
The Adjective generally goes before the Noun: as, “a wise man; a good
horse;” unless something depend on the Adjective; as, “food convenient
for me:” or the Adjective be emphatical; as, “Alexander the great.” And
the Article goes before the Adjective: except the Adjectives _such_ and
_many_, and others subjoined to the Adverbs _so_, _as_, and _how_: as,
“_such a_ man;” “_many a_ man;” “so _good a_ man;” “as _good a_ man as
ever lived;” “how _beautiful a_ prospect is here!” And sometimes when
there are two or more Adjectives joined to the Noun: as, “a man learned
and religious.”
* * * * *
Every Verb, except in the Infinitive or the Participle, hath its
Nominative Case, either expressed or implied[59]; as,
“Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n:”
that is, “Awake _ye_, &c.”
Every Nominative Case, except the Case Absolute, and when an address is
made to a Person, belongs to some Verb, either expressed or implied[60]:
as in the answer to a Question; “Who wrote this book; Cicero:” that is,
“Cicero _wrote it_.” Or when the Verb is understood; as, “To whom thus
Adam:” that is, _spake_.
Every Possessive Case supposes some Noun to which it belongs: as when we
say, “St. Paul’s, or St. James’s,” we mean St. Paul’s _Church_, or St.
James’s _Palace_.
Every Adjective has relation to some Substantive, either expressed or
implied: as, “The Twelve,” that is, _Apostles_; “the wife, the elect,”
that is, _persons_.
In some instances the Adjective becomes a Substantive, and has an
Adjective joined to it: as, “the chief Good;” “Evil, be Thou my
Good!”[61]
* * * * *