participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time,
place, degree, or manner.
_Performs_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_,
or _to be acted upon._
_The_ is an article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we
put before nouns to limit their signification.
_Labour_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing,
that can be known or mentioned.
_Required_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb,
participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and
is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.
_Of_ 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.
_Him_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.
LESSON I.--PARSING.
"A nimble tongue often trips. The rule of the tongue is a great attainment.
The language of truth is direct and plain. Truth is never evasive. Flattery
is the food of vanity. A virtuous mind loathes flattery. Vain persons are
an easy prey to parasites. Vanity easily mistakes sneers for smiles. The
smiles of the world are deceitful. True friendship hath eternal views. A
faithful friend is invaluable. Constancy in friendship denotes a generous
mind. Adversity is the criterion of friendship. Love and fidelity are
inseparable. Few know the value of a friend till they lose him. Justice is
the first of all moral virtues. Let justice hold, and mercy turn, the
scale. A judge is guilty who connives at guilt. Justice delayed is little
better than justice denied. Vice is the deformity of man. Virtue is a
source of constant cheerfulness. One vice is more expensive than many
virtues. Wisdom, though serious, is never sullen. Youth is the season of
improvement."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, pp. 4-27.
"Oh! my ill-chang'd condition! oh, my fate!
Did I lose heaven for this?"--_Cowley's Davideis._
LESSON II.--PARSING.
"So prone is man to society, and so happy in it, that, to relish perpetual
solitude, one must be an angel or a brute. In a solitary state, no creature
is more timid than man; in society, none more bold. The number of offenders
lessens the disgrace of the crime; for a common reproach is no reproach. A
man is more unhappy in reproaching himself when guilty, than in being
reproached by others when innocent. The pains of the mind are harder to
bear than those of the body. Hope, in this mixed state of good and ill, is
a blessing from heaven: the gift of prescience would be a curse. The first
step towards vice, is to make a mystery of what is innocent: whoever loves
to hide, will soon or late have reason to hide. A man who gives his
children a habit of industry, provides for them better than by giving them
a stock of money. Our good and evil proceed from ourselves: death appeared
terrible to Cicero, indifferent to Socrates, desirable to Cato."--Home's
Art of Thinking, pp. 26-53.
"O thou most high transcendent gift of age!
Youth from its folly thus to disengage."--_Denham's Age_.
LESSON III.--PARSING.
"Calm was the day, and the scene, delightful. We may expect a calm after a
storm. To prevent passion is easier than to calm it."--_Murray's Ex._, p.
5. "Better is a little with content, than a great deal with anxiety. A
little attention will rectify some errors. Unthinking persons care little
for the future."--See _ib._ "Still waters are commonly deepest. He laboured
to still the tumult. Though he is out of danger, he is still
afraid."--_Ib._ "Damp air is unwholesome. Guilt often casts a damp over our
sprightliest hours. Soft bodies damp the sound much more than hard
ones."--_Ib._ "The hail was very destructive. Hail, virtue! source of every
good. We hail you as friends."--_Ib._, p. 6. "Much money makes no man
happy. Think much, and speak little. He has seen much of the world."--See
_ib._ "Every being loves its like. We must make a like space between the
lines. Behave like men. We are apt to like pernicious company."--_Ib._
"Give me more love, or more disdain."--_Carew_. "He loved Rachel more than
Leah."--_Genesis_. "But how much that more is; he hath no distinct
notion."--_Locke_.
"And my more having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more."--_Shakspeare_.
CHAPTER II.--ARTICLES.
An Article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to
limit their signification: as, _The_ air, _the_ stars; _an_ island, _a_
ship.
_An_ and _a_, being equivalent in meaning, are commonly reckoned _one and
the same_ article. _An_ is used in preference to _a_, whenever the
following word begins with a vowel sound; as, _An_ art, _an_ end, _an_
heir, _an_ inch, _an_ ounce, _an_ hour, _an_ urn. _A_ is used in preference
to _an_, whenever the following word begins with a consonant sound; as, _A_
man, _a_ house, _a_ wonder, _a_ one, _a_ yew, _a_ use, _a_ ewer. Thus the
consonant sounds of _w_ and _y_, even when expressed by other letters,
require _a_ and not _an_ before them.
A common noun, when taken in its _widest sense_, usually admits no article:
as, "A candid temper is proper for _man_; that is, for _all
mankind_."--_Murray_.
In English, nouns without any article, or other definitive, are often used
in a sense _indefinitely partitive_: as, "He took _bread_, and gave
thanks."--_Acts_. That is, "_some bread_." "To buy _food_ are thy servants
come."--_Genesis_. That is, "_some food_." "There are _fishes_ that have
wings, and are not strangers to the airy region."--_Locke's Essay_, p.
322. That is, "_some fishes_."
"Words in which nothing but the _mere being_ of any thing is implied, are
used without articles: as, 'This is not _beer_, but _water_;' 'This is not
_brass_, but _steel_.'"--See _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 5.
_An_ or _a_ before the genus, may refer to _a whole species_; and _the_
before the species, may denote that whole species emphatically: as, "_A
certain bird_ is termed _the cuckoo_, from _the sound_ which it
emits."--_Blair_.
But _an_ or _a_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _unknown_, or as
not specially distinguished from others: as, "I see _an object_ pass by,
which I never saw till now; and I say, 'There goes _a beggar_ with _a long
beard_.'"--_Harris_.
And _the_ is commonly used to denote individuals as _known_, or as
specially distinguished from others: as, "_The man_ departs, and returns a
week after; and I say, 'There goes _the beggar_ with _the long
beard_.'"--_Id._
The article _the_ is applied to nouns of cither number: as, "_The_ man,
_the_ men;" "_The_ good boy, _the_ good boys."
_The_ is commonly required before adjectives that are used by ellipsis as
nouns: as, "_The young_ are slaves to novelty; _the old_, to custom."--_Ld.
Kames._
The article _an_ or _a_ implies _unity_, or _one_, and of course belongs to
nouns of the singular number only; as, _A_ man,--_An_ old man,--_A_ good
boy.
_An_ or _a_, like _one_, sometimes gives a collective meaning to an
adjective of number, when the noun following is plural; as, _A few days,--A
hundred men,--One hundred pounds sterling_.
Articles should be _inserted_ as often as the sense requires them; as,
"Repeat the preterit and [_the_] perfect participle of the verb _to
abide_."--Error in _Merchant's American School Grammar_, p. 66.
_Needless articles_ should be omitted; they seldom fail to pervert the
sense: as, "_The_ Rhine, _the_ Danube, _the_ Tanais, _the_ Po, _the_ Wolga,
_the_ Ganges, like many hundreds of similar _names_, rose not from any
obscure jargon or irrational dialect."--Error in _Dr. Murray's Hist. of
Europ. Lang._, Vol. i, p. 327.
The articles can seldom be put _one for the other_, without gross
impropriety; and of course either is to be preferred to the other, as it
better suits the sense: as, "_The_ violation of this rule never fails to
hurt and displease _a_ reader."--Error in _Blair's Lectures_, p. 107. Say,
"_A_ violation of this rule never fails to displease _the_ reader."
CLASSES.
The articles are distinguished as the _definite_ and the _indefinite_.
I. The _definite article_ is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or
things; as, _The_ boy, _the_ oranges.
II. The _indefinite article_ is _an_ or _a_, which denotes one thing of a
kind, but not any particular one; as, _A_ boy, _an_ orange.
MODIFICATIONS.[133]
The English articles have no modifications, except that _an_ is shortened
into _a_ before the sound of a consonant; as, "In _an_ epic poem, or _a_
poem upon _an_ elevated subject, _a_ writer ought to avoid raising _a_
simile on _a_ low image."--_Ld. Kames._
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--No other words are so often employed as the articles. And, by
reason of the various and very frequent occasions on which these
definitives are required, no words are oftener misapplied; none, oftener
omitted or inserted erroneously. I shall therefore copiously illustrate
both their _uses_ and their _abuses_; with the hope that every reader of
this volume will think it worth his while to gain that knowledge which is
requisite to the true use of these small but important words. Some parts of
the explanation, however, must be deferred till we come to Syntax.
OBS. 2.--With the attempts of Tooke, Dalton, Webster, Cardell, Fowle,
Wells,[134] Weld, Butler Frazee, Perley, Mulligan, Pinneo, S. S. Greene,
and other writers, to _degrade_ the article from its ancient rank among the
parts of speech, no judicious reader, duly acquainted with the subject,
can, I think, be well pleased. An article is not properly an "_adjective_,"
as they would have it to be; but it is a word of a peculiar sort--a
_customary index_ to the sense of nouns. It serves not merely to show the
extent of signification, in which nouns are to be taken, but is often the
principal, and sometimes the only mark, by which a word is known to have
the sense and construction of a noun. There is just as much reason to deny
and degrade the Greek or French article, (or that of any other language,)
as the English; and, if those who are so zealous to reform our _the, an_,
and _a_ into _adjectives_, cared at all to appear consistent in the view of
Comparative or General Grammar, they would either set about a wider
reformation or back out soon from the pettiness of this.
OBS. 3.--First let it be understood, that _an_ or _a_ is nearly equivalent
in meaning to the numeral adjective _one_, but less emphatic; and that
_the_ is nearly equivalent in meaning to the pronominal adjective _that_ or
_those_, but less emphatic. On _some_ occasions, these adjectives may well
be substituted for the articles; but _not generally_. If the articles were
generally equivalent to adjectives, or even if they were generally _like_
them, they would _be_ adjectives; but, that adjectives may occasionally
supply their places, is no argument at all for confounding the two parts of
speech. Distinctions must be made, where differences exist; and, that _a,
an_, and _the_, do differ considerably from the other words which they most
resemble, is shown even by some who judge "the distinctive name of
_article_ to be useless." See _Crombie's Treatise_, Chap. 2. The articles
therefore must be distinguished, not only from adjectives, but from each
other. For, though both are _articles_, each is an index _sui generis_; the
one definite, the other indefinite. And as the words _that_ and _one_
cannot often be interchanged without a difference of meaning, so the
definite article and the indefinite are seldom, if ever, interchangeable.
To put one for the other, is therefore, in general, to put one _meaning_
for an other: "_A_ daughter of _a_ poor man"--"_The_ daughter of _the_ poor
man"--"_A_ daughter of _the_ poor man"--and, "_The_ daughter of _a_ poor
man," are four phrases which certainly have four different and distinct
significations. This difference between the two articles may be further
illustrated by the following example: "That Jesus was _a_ prophet sent from
God, is one proposition; that Jesus was _the_ prophet, _the_ Messiah, is an
other; and, though he certainly was both _a_ prophet and _the_ prophet, yet
_the_ foundations of _the_ proof of these propositions are separate and
distinct."--_Watson's Apology_, p. 105.
OBS. 4.--Common nouns are, for the most part, names of large classes of
objects; and, though what really constitutes the species must always be
found entire in every individual, the several objects thus arranged under
one general name or idea, are in most instances susceptible of such a
numerical distribution as gives rise to an other form of the noun,
expressive of plurality; as, _horse, horses_. Proper nouns in their
ordinary application, are, for the most part, names of particular
individuals; and as there is no plurality to a particular idea, or to an
individual person or thing as distinguished from all others, so there is in
general none to this class of nouns; and no room for _further restriction
by articles_. But we sometimes divert such nouns from their usual
signification, and consequently employ them with articles or in the plural
form; as, "I endeavoured to retain it nakedly in my mind, without regarding
whether I had it from _an Aristotle_ or _a Zoilus, a Newton_ or _a
Descartes_."--_Churchill's Gram._, Pref., p. 8. "It is not enough to have
_Vitruviuses_, we must also have _Augustuses_ to employ them."--_Bicknell's
Gram._, Part ii, p. 61.
"_A Daniel_ come to judgment! yea, _a Daniel_!"
--SHAK. _Shylock_.
"Great Homer, in _th' Achilles_, whom he drew,
Sets not that one sole Person in our View."
--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 183.
OBS. 5.--The article _an_ or _a_ usually denotes one out of several or
many; one of a sort of which there are more; any one of that name, no
matter which. Hence its effect upon a particular name, or proper noun, is
_directly the reverse_ of that which it has upon a common noun. It varies
and fixes the meaning of both; but while it restricts that of the latter,
it enlarges that of the former. It reduces the general idea of the common
noun to any one individual of the class: as, "_A man_;" that is, "_One
man_, or _any man_." On the contrary, it extends the particular idea of the
proper noun, and makes the word significant of a class, by supposing others
to whom it will apply: as, "_A Nero_;" that is, "_Any Nero_, or _any cruel
tyrant_." Sometimes, however, this article before a proper name, seems to
leave the idea still particular; but, if it really does so, the propriety
of using it may be doubted: as, "No, not by _a John the Baptist_ risen from
the dead."--_Henry's Expos., Mark_, vi. "It was not solely owing to the
madness and depravity of _a Tiberius, a Caligula, a Nero_, or _a
Caracalla_, that a cruel and sanguinary spirit, in their day, was so
universal."--_M'Ilvaine's Evid._, p. 398.
OBS. 6.--With the definite article, the noun is applied, sometimes
specifically, sometimes individually, but always _definitely_, always
distinctively. This article is demonstrative. It marks either the
particular individual, or the particular species,--or, (if the noun be
plural,) some particular individuals of the species,--as being
distinguished from all others. It sometimes refers to a thing as having
been previously mentioned; sometimes presumes upon the hearer's familiarity
with the thing; and sometimes indicates a limitation which is made by
subsequent words connected with the noun. Such is the import of this
article, that with it the singular number of the noun is often more
comprehensive, and at the same time more specific, than the plural. Thus,
if I say, "_The horse_ is a noble animal," without otherwise intimating
that I speak of some particular horse, the sentence will be understood to
embrace collectively _that species_ of animal; and I shall be thought to
mean, "Horses are noble animals." But if I say, "_The horses_ are noble
animals," I use an expression so much more limited, as to include only a
few; it must mean some particular horses, which I distinguish from all the
rest of the species. Such limitations should be made, whenever there is
occasion for them; but needless restrictions displease the imagination, and
ought to be avoided; because the mind naturally delights in terms as
comprehensive as they may be, if also specific. Lindley Murray, though not
uniform in his practice respecting this, seems to have thought it necessary
to use the plural in many sentences in which I should decidedly prefer the
singular; as, "That _the learners_ may have no doubts."--_Murray's Octavo
Gram._, Vol. i, p. 81. "The business will not be tedious to _the
scholars_."--_Ib._, 81. "For the information of _the learners_."--_Ib._,
81. "It may afford instruction to _the learners_."--_Ib._, 110. "That this
is the case, _the learners_ will perceive by the following
examples."--_Ib._, 326. "Some knowledge of it appears to be indispensable
to _the scholars_."--_Ib._, 335.
OBS. 7.--Proper names of a plural form and signification, are almost always
preceded by the definite article; as, "_The Wesleys_,"--"_The twelve
Cæsars_,"--"_All the Howards_." So the names of particular nations, tribes,
and sects; as, _The Romans, the Jews, the Levites, the Stoics_. Likewise
the plural names of mountains; as, _The Alps, the Apennines, the Pyrenees,
the Andes_. Of plural names like these, and especially of such as designate
tribes and sects, there is a very great number. Like other proper names,
they must be distinguished from the ordinary words of the language, and
accordingly they are always written with capitals; but they partake so
largely of the nature of common nouns, that it seems doubtful to which
class they most properly belong. Hence they not only admit, but require the
article; while most other proper names are so definite in themselves, that
the article, if put before them, would be needless, and therefore improper.
"_Nash, Rutledge, Jefferson_, in council great,
And _Jay_, and _Laurens_ oped the rolls of fate;
_The Livingstons_, fair freedoms generous band,
_The Lees, the Houstons_, fathers of the land."--_Barlow_.
OBS. 8.--In prose, the definite article is always used before names of
rivers, unless the word _river_, be added; as, _The Delaware, the Hudson,
the Connecticut_. But if the word _river_ be added, the article becomes
needless; as, _Delaware river, Hudson river, Connecticut river_. Yet there
seems to be no impropriety in using both; as, _The Delaware river, the
Hudson river, the Connecticut river_. And if the common noun be placed
before the proper name, the article is again necessary; as, _The river
Delaware, the river Hudson, the river Connecticut_. In the first form of
expression, however, the article has not usually been resolved by
grammarians as relating to the proper name; but these examples, and others
of a similar character, have been supposed elliptical: as, "_The_ [river]
_Potomac_"--"_The_ [ship] _Constitution_,"--"_The_ [steamboat] _Fulton_."
Upon this supposition, the words in the first and fourth forms are to be
parsed alike; the article relating to the common noun, expressed or
understood, and the proper noun being in apposition with the appellative.
But in the second form, the apposition is reversed; and, in the third, the
proper name appears to be taken adjectively. Without the article, some
names of rivers could not be understood; as,
"No more _the Varus_ and _the Atax_ feel
The lordly burden of the Latian keel."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. i. l. 722.
OBS. 9.--The definite article is often used by way of eminence, to
distinguish some particular individual emphatically, or to apply to him
some characteristic name or quality: as, "_The Stagirite_,"--that is,
Aristotle; "_The Psalmist_," that is, David; "_Alexander the Great_,"--that
is, (perhaps,) Alexander the Great _Monarch_, or Great _Hero_. So,
sometimes, when the phrase relates to a collective body of men: as, "_The
Honourable, the Legislature_,"--"_The Honourable, the Senate_;"--that is,
"The Honourable _Body_, the Legislature," &c. A similar application of the
article in the following sentences, makes a most beautiful and expressive
form of compliment: "These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, O
Lyttleton, _the friend_."--_Thomson_. "The pride of swains Palemon was,
_the generous_ and _the rich_."--_Id._ In this last example, the noun _man_
is understood after "_generous_," and again after "_rich_;" for, the
article being an index to the noun, I conceive it to be improper ever to
construe two articles as having reference to one unrepeated word. Dr.
Priestley says, "We sometimes _repeat the article_, when the epithet
precedes the substantive; as He was met by _the_ worshipful _the_
magistrates."--_Gram._, p. 148. It is true, we occasionally meet with such
fulsome phraseology as this; but the question is, how is it to be
explained? I imagine that the word _personages_, or something equivalent,
must be understood after _worshipful_, and that the Doctor ought to have
inserted a comma there.
OBS. 10.--In Greek, there is no article corresponding to our _an_ or _a_,
consequently _man_ and _a man_ are rendered alike; the word, [Greek:
anthropos] may mean either. See, in the original, these texts: "There was
_a man_ sent from God," (_John_, i, 6,) and, "What is _man_, that thou art
mindful of him?"--_Heb._, ii, 6. So of other nouns. But the _definite_
article of that language, which is exactly equivalent to our _the_, is a
declinable word, making no small figure in grammar. It is varied by
numbers, genders, and cases; so that it assumes more than twenty different
forms, and becomes susceptible of six and thirty different ways of
_agreement_. But this article in English is perfectly simple, being
entirely destitute of grammatical modifications, and consequently incapable
of any form of grammatical agreement or disagreement--a circumstance of
which many of our grammarians seem to be ignorant; since they prescribe a
rule, wherein they say, it "_agrees_," "_may agree_," or "_must agree_,"
with its noun. Nor has the indefinite article any variation of form, except
the change from _an_ to _a_, which has been made for the sake of brevity or
euphony.
OBS. 11.--As _an_ or _a_ conveys the idea of unity, of course it applies to
no other than nouns of the singular number. _An eagle_ is one eagle, and
the plural word _eagles_ denotes more than one; but what could possibly be
meant by "_ans eagles_," if such a phrase were invented? Harris very
strangely says, "The Greeks have no article correspondent to _an_ or _a_,
but _supply its place by a NEGATION of their article_. And even in English,
_where_ the article _a_ cannot be used, as _in_ plurals, _its force is
exprest by the same_ NEGATION."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 218. What a sample
of grammar is this! Besides several minor faults, we have here a
_nonentity_, a NEGATION _of the Greek article_, made to occupy a place in
language, and to express _force!_ The force of what? Of a plural _an_ or
_a,!_ of such a word as _ans_ or _aes!_ The error of the first of these
sentences, Dr. Blair has copied entire into his eighth lecture.
OBS. 12.--The following rules of agreement, though found in many English
grammars, are not only objectionable with respect to the sense intended,
but so badly written as to be scarcely intelligible in any sense: 1. "The
article _a_ or _an agrees_ with nouns _in_ the singular number _only,
individually, or collectively_: as, A Christian, an infidel, a score, a
thousand." 2. "The definite article _the_ may _agree_ with nouns _in the
singular_ AND[135] _plural number_: as, The garden, the houses, the
stars."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170; 12mo, 139; _Fish's Murray_, 98; _a
Teacher's_, 45. For the purpose of preventing any erroneous construction of
the articles, these rules are utterly useless; and for the purpose of
syntactical parsing, or the grammatical resolution of this part of speech,
they are awkward and inconvenient. The syntax of the articles may be much
better expressed in this manner: "_Articles relate to the nouns which they
limit_," for, in English, the bearing of the articles upon other words is
properly that of simple _relation_, or dependence, according to the sense,
and not that of _agreement_, not a similarity of distinctive modifications.
OBS. 13.--Among all the works of earlier grammarians, I have never yet
found a book which taught correctly the _application_ of the two forms of
the indefinite article _an_ or _a_. Murray, contrary to Johnson and
Webster, considers _a_ to be the original word, and _an_ the euphonic
derivative. He says: "_A_ becomes _an_ before a vowel, and before a silent
_h_. But if _the h be_ sounded, _the a only_ is to be used."--_Murray's
Gram._, p. 31. To this he adds, in a marginal note, "_A instead of an_ is
_now_ used before words beginning with _u_ long. It is used before _one.
An_ must be used before _words_ WHERE _the h_ is not silent, if the accent
is on the second syllable; as, _an heroic action, an historical
account_."--_Ib._ This explanation, clumsy as it is, in the whole
conception; broken, prolix, deficient, and inaccurate as it is, both in
style and doctrine; has been copied and copied from grammar to grammar, as
if no one could possibly better it. Besides several other faults, it
contains a palpable misuse of the article itself: "_the h_" which is
specified in the second and fifth sentences, is the "_silent h_" of the
first sentence; and this inaccurate specification gives us the two obvious
solecisms of supposing, "_if the [silent] h be sounded_," and of _locating
"words WHERE the [silent] h is not silent!_" In the word _humour_, and its
derivatives, the _h_ is silent, by all authority except Webster's; and yet
these words require _a_ and not _an_ before them.
OBS. 14.--It is the _sound_ only, that governs the form of the article, and
not the _letter_ itself; as, "Those which admit of the regular form, are
marked with _an_ R."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 101. "_A_ heroic poem, written
by Virgil."--_Webster's Dict._ "Every poem of the kind has no doubt _a_
historical groundwork."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 457. "A poet
must be _a_ naturalist and _a_ historian."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p.
111. Before _h_ in an unaccented syllable, either form of the article may
be used without offence to the ear; and either may be made to appear
preferable to the other, by merely aspirating the letter in a greater or
less degree. But as the _h_, though ever so feebly aspirated has
_something_ of a consonant sound, I incline to think the article in this
case ought to conform to the general principle: as, "_A historical_
introduction has, generally, _a happy_ effect to rouse attention."--
_Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "He who would write heroic poems, should make his
whole life _a heroic_ poem."--See _Life of Schiller_, p. 56. Within two
lines of this quotation, the biographer speaks of "_an_ heroic multitude!"
The suppression of the sound of _h_ being with Englishmen a very common
fault in pronunciation, it is not desirable to increase the error, by using
a form of the article which naturally leads to it. "How often do we hear
_an air_ metamorphosed into _a hair_, a _hat_ into a _gnat_, and a _hero_
into _a Nero!_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 205. Thus: "Neither of them had
that bold and adventurous ambition which makes a conqueror _an
hero._"--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 174.
OBS. 15.--Some later grammarians are still more faulty than Murray, in
their rules for the application of _an_ or _a_. Thus Sanborn: "The vowels
are _a, e, i, o_, and _u_. _An_ should be used before words beginning with
_any of these letters_, or with a silent _h._"--_Analytical Gram._, p. 11.
"_An_ is used before words beginning with _u_ long or with _h not silent_,
when the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an united_ people, _an
historical_ account, _an heroic_ action."--_Ib._, p. 85. "_A_ is used when
the next word begins with a _consonant; an_, when it begins with a _vowel_
or silent _h_."--_lb._, p. 129. If these rules were believed and followed,
they would greatly multiply errors.
OBS. 16.--Whether the word _a_ has been formed from _an_, or _an_ from _a_,
is a disputed point--or rather, a point on which our grammarians dogmatize
differently. This, if it be worth the search, must be settled by consulting
some genuine writings of the twelfth century. In the pure Saxon of an
earlier date, the words _seldom occur_; and in that ancient dialect _an_, I
believe, is used only as a declinable numerical adjective, and _a_ only as
a preposition. In the thirteenth century, both forms were in common use, in
the sense now given them, as may be seen in the writings of Robert of
Gloucester; though some writers of a much later date--or, at any rate,
_one_, the celebrated Gawin Douglas, a Scottish bishop, who died of the
plague in London, in 1522--constantly wrote _ane_ for both _an_ and _a_:
as,
"Be not ouer studyous to spy _ane_ mote in myn E,
That in gour awin _ane_ ferrye bot can not se."
--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 124.
"_Ane_ uthir mache to him was socht and sperit;
Bot thare was _nane_ of all the rout that sterit."
--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 160.
OBS. 17.--This, however, was a _Scotticism_; as is also the use of _ae_ for
_a_: Gower and Chaucer used _an_ and _a_ as we now use them. The Rev. J. M.
M'Culloch, in an English grammar published lately in Edinburgh, says, "_A_
and _an_ were originally _ae_ and _ane_, and were probably used at first
simply to convey the idea of unity; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Manual of E.
Gram._, p. 30. For this idea, and indeed for a great part of his book, he
is indebted to Dr. Crombie; who says, "To signify unity, or one of a class,
our forefathers employed _ae_ or _ane_; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Treatise
on Etym. and Synt._, p. 53. These authors, like Webster, will have _a_ and
_an_ to be _adjectives_. Dr. Johnson says, "_A_, an _article_ set before
nouns of the singular number; as, _a_ man, _a_ tree. This article has no
plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written
_an_; as, _an_ ox, _an_ egg; of which _a_ is the contraction."--_Quarto
Dict., w. A_.
OBS. 18.--Dr. Webster says, "_A_ is also an abbreviation of the Saxon _an_
or _ane, one_, used before words beginning with an articulation; as, _a_
table, _instead_ of _an_ table, or one table. _This is a modern change_;
for, in Saxon, _an_ was used before articulations as well as vowels; as,
_an tid, a_ time, _an gear_, a year."--_Webster's Octavo Dict., w. A_. A
modern change, indeed! By his own showing in other works, it was made long
before the English language existed! He says, "_An_, therefore, is the
original English adjective or ordinal number _one_; and was never written
_a_ until after the Conquest."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 20; _Improved
Gram._, 14. "_The Conquest_," means the Norman Conquest, in 1066; but
English was not written till the thirteenth century. This author has long
been idly contending, that _an_ or _a_ is not an _article_, but an
_adjective_; and that it is not properly distinguished by the term
"_indefinite_." Murray has answered him well enough, but he will not be
convinced.[136] See _Murray's Gram._, pp. 34 and 35. If _a_ and _one_ were
equal, we could not say, "_Such a one_,"--"_What a one_,"--"_Many a
one_,"--"_This one thing_;" and surely these are all good English, though
_a_ and _one_ here admit no interchange. Nay, _a_ is sometimes found before
_one_ when the latter is used adjectively; as, "There is no record in Holy
Writ of the institution of _a one_ all-controlling monarchy."--_Supremacy
of the Pope Disproved_, p. 9. "If not to _a one_ Sole Arbiter."--_Ib._, p.
19.
OBS. 19.--_An_ is sometimes a _conjunction_, signifying _if_; as, "Nay,
_an_ thou'lt mouthe, I'll rant as well as thou."--_Shak._ "_An_ I have not
ballads made on you all, and sung to fifty tunes, may a cup of sack be my
poison."--_Id., Falstaff_. "But, _an_ it were to do again, I should write
again."--_Lord Byron's Letters_. "But _an_ it be a long part, I can't
remember it."--SHAKSPEARE: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 136.
OBS. 20.--In the New Testament, we meet with several such expressions as
the following: "And his disciples were _an hungred_."--SCOTT'S BIBLE:
_Matt_, xii, 1. "When he was _an hungred._"--_Ib._ xii, 3. "When he had
need and was _an hungered._"--_Ib. Mark_, ii, 25. Alger, the improver of
Murray's Grammar, and editor of the Pronouncing Bible, taking this _an_ to
be the indefinite article, and perceiving that the _h_ is sounded in
_hungered_, changed the particle to _a_ in all these passages; as, "And his
disciples were _a hungered_." But what sense he thought he had made of the
sacred record, I know not. The Greek text, rendered word for word, is
simply this: "_And his disciples hungered_." And that the sentences above,
taken either way, are _not good English_, must be obvious to every
intelligent reader. _An_, as I apprehend, is here a mere _prefix_, which
has somehow been mistaken in form, and erroneously disjoined from the
following word. If so, the correction ought to be made after the fashion of
the following passage from Bishop M'Ilvaine: "On a certain occasion, our
Saviour was followed by five thousand men, into a desert place, where they
were _enhungered_."--_Lectures on Christianity_, p. 210.
OBS. 21.--The word _a_, when it does not denote one thing of a kind, is not
an article, but a genuine _preposition_; being probably the same as the
French à, signifying _to, at, on, in_, or _of_: as, "Who hath it? He that
died _a_ Wednesday."--_Shak_. That is, _on_ Wednesday. So sometimes before
plurals; as, "He carves _a_ Sundays."--_Swift_. That is, _on_ Sundays. "He
is let out _a_ nights."--_Id._ That is, _on_ nights--like the following
example: "A pack of rascals that walk the streets _on_ nights."--_Id._ "He
will knap the spears _a_ pieces with his teeth."--_More's Antid._ That is,
_in_ pieces, or _to_ pieces. So in the compound word _now-a-days_, where it
means _on_; and in the proper names, Thomas _à_ Becket, Thomas _à_ Kempis,
Anthony _à_ Wood, where it means _at_ or _of_.
"Bot certainly the daisit blude _now on dayis_
Waxis dolf and dull throw myne unwieldy age."--_Douglas._
OBS. 22.--As a preposition, _a_ has now most generally become a _prefix_,
or what the grammarians call an inseparable preposition; as in _abed_, in
bed; _aboard_, on board; _abroad_, at large; _afire_, on fire; _afore_, in
front; _afoul_, in contact; _aloft_, on high; _aloud_, with loudness;
_amain_, at main strength; _amidst_, in the midst; _akin_, of kin; _ajar_,
unfastened; _ahead_, onward; _afield_, to the field; _alee_, to the
leeward; _anew_, of new, with renewal. "_A-nights_, he was in the practice
of sleeping, &c.; but _a-days_ he kept looking on the barren ocean,
shedding tears."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 162.
Compounds of this kind, in most instances, follow verbs, and are
consequently reckoned adverbs; as, _To go astray,--To turn aside,--To soar
aloft,--To fall asleep_. But sometimes the antecedent term is a noun or a
pronoun, and then they are as clearly adjectives; as, "Imagination is like
to work better upon sleeping men, than _men awake_."--_Lord Bacon._ "_Man
alive_, did you ever make a _hornet afraid_, or catch a _weasel asleep?_"
And sometimes the compound governs a noun or a pronoun after it, and then
it is a preposition; as, "A bridge is laid _across_ a river."--_Webster's
Dict._, "To break his bridge _athwart_ the Hellespont."--_Bacon's Essays._
"Where Ufens glides _along_ the lowly lands,
Or the black water of Pomptina stands."--_Dryden._
OBS. 23.--In several phrases, not yet to be accounted obsolete, this old
preposition _à_ still retains its place as a separate word; and none have
been more perplexing to superficial grammarians, than those which are
formed by using it before participles in _ing_; in which instances, the
participles are in fact governed by it: for nothing is more common in our
language, than for participles of this form to be governed by
prepositions. For example, "You have set the cask _a_ leaking," and, "You
have set the cask _to_ leaking," are exactly equivalent, both in meaning
and construction. "Forty and six years was this temple _in_
building."--_John, ii, 20._ _Building_ is not here a noun, but a
participle; and _in_ is here better than _a_, only because the phrase, _a
building_, might be taken for an article and a noun, meaning _an
edifice_.[137] Yet, in almost all cases, other prepositions are, I think,
to be preferred to _à_, if others equivalent to it can be found. Examples:
"Lastly, they go about to apologize for the long time their book hath been
_a coming_ out:" i.e., _in_ coming out.--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p.
179. "And, for want of reason, he falls _a railing_::" i.e., _to_
railing.--_Ib._, iii, 357. "That the soul should be this moment busy _a
thinking_:" i.e., _at_ or _in_ thinking.--_Locke's Essay_, p. 78. "Which,
once set _a going_, continue in the same steps:" i.e., _to_ going.--_Ib._,
p. 284. "Those who contend for four per cent, have set men's mouths _a
watering_ for money:" i.e., _to_ watering.--LOCKE: _in Johnson's Dict._ "An
other falls _a ringing_ a Pescennius Niger:" i.e., _to_ ringing.--ADDISON:
_ib._ "At least to set others _a thinking_ upon the subject:" i.e., _to_
thinking.--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 300. "Every one that could reach it,
cut off a piece, and fell _a eating_:" i.e., _to_ eating.--_Newspaper._ "To
go _a mothering_,[138] is to visit parents on Midlent Sunday."--_Webster's
Dict., w. Mothering._ "Which we may find when we come _a fishing_
here."--_Wotton._ "They go _a begging_ to a bankrupt's door."--_Dryden._
"_A hunting_ Chloë went."--_Prior._ "They burst out _a laughing_."--_M.
Edgeworth._ In the last six sentences, _a_ seems more suitable than any
other preposition would be: all it needs, is an accent to distinguish it
from the article; as, _à_.
OBS. 24.--Dr. Alexander Murray says, "To be _a_-seeking, is the relic of
the Saxon to be _on_ or _an_ seeking. What are you a-seeking? is
_different_ from, What are you seeking? It means more fully _the going on_
with the process."--_Hist. Europ. Lang_,, Vol. ii, p. 149. I disapprove of
the hyphen in such terms as "_à_ seeking," because it converts the
preposition and participle into I know not what; and it may be observed, in
passing, that the want of it, in such as "_the going on_," leaves us a
loose and questionable word, which, by the conversion of the participle
into a noun, becomes a nondescript in grammar. I dissent also from Dr.
Murray, concerning the use of the preposition or prefix _a_, in examples
like that which he has here chosen. After a _neuter verb_, this particle is
unnecessary to the sense, and, I think, injurious to the construction.
Except in poetry, which is measured by syllables, it may be omitted without
any substitute; as, "I am _a walking_."--_Johnson's Dict., w. A_. "He had
one only daughter, and she lay _a_ dying."--_Luke_, viii, 42. "In the days
of Noah, while the ark was _a_ preparing."--_1 Pet._, iii, 20. "Though his
unattentive thoughts be elsewhere _a_ wandering."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 284.
Say--"be wandering elsewhere;" and omit the _a_, in all such cases.
"And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is _a_ ripening--nips his root."--_Shak_.
OBS. 25.--"_A_ has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one
thing to an other. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred _a_ year; the
ship's crew gained a thousand pounds _a_ man."--_Johnson's Dict._ "After
the rate of twenty leagues _a_ day."--_Addison_. "And corn was at two
sesterces _a_ bushel."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 82. Whether _a_ in this
construction is the article or the preposition, seems to be questionable.
Merchants are very much in the habit of supplying its place by the Latin
preposition _per_, by; as, "Board, at $2 _per_ week."--_Preston's
Book-Keeping_, p. 44. "Long lawn, at $12 _per_ piece."--_Dilworth's_, p.
63. "Cotton, at 2s. 6d. _per_ pound."--_Morrison's_, p. 75. "Exchange, at
12d. _per_ livre."--_Jackson's_, p. 73. It is to be observed that _an_, as
well as _a_, is used in this manner; as, "The price is one dollar _an_
ounce." Hence, I think, we may infer, that this is not the old preposition
_a_, but the article _an_ or _a_, used in the distributive sense of _each_
or _every_, and that the noun is governed by a preposition understood; as,
"He demands a dollar _an_ hour;" i. e., a dollar _for each_ hour.--"He
comes twice _a_ year:" i. e., twice _in every_ year.--"He sent them to
Lebanon, ten thousand _a_ month by courses:" (_1 Kings_, v, 14:) i. e., ten
thousand, _monthly_; or, as our merchants say, "_per month_." Some
grammarians have also remarked, that, "In mercantile accounts, we
frequently see _a_ put for _to_, in a very odd sort of way; as, 'Six bales
marked 1 _a_ 6.' The merchant means, 'marked _from_ 1 to 6.' This is taken
to be a relic of the Norman French, which was once the law and mercantile
language of England; for, in French, _a_, with an accent, signifies _to_ or
_at_."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 73. Modern merchants, in stead of accenting
the _a_, commonly turn the end of it back; as, @.
OBS. 26.--Sometimes a numeral word with the indefinite article--as _a few,
a great many, a dozen, a hundred, a thousand_--denotes an aggregate of
several or many taken collectively, and yet is followed by a plural noun,
denoting the sort or species of which this particular aggregate is a part:
as, "A few small fishes,"--"A great many mistakes,"--"A dozen bottles of
wine,"--"A hundred lighted candles,"--"A thousand miles off." Respecting
the proper manner of explaining these phrases, grammarians differ in
opinion. That the article relates not to the plural noun, but to the
numerical word only, is very evident; but whether, in these instances, the
words _few, many, dozen, hundred_, and _thousand_, are to be called nouns
or adjectives, is matter of dispute. Lowth, Murray, and many others, call
them _adjectives_, and suppose a peculiarity of construction in the
article;--like that of the singular adjectives _every_ and _one_ in the
phrases, "_Every_ ten days,"--"_One_ seven times more."--_Dan._, iii, 19.
Churchill and others call them _nouns_, and suppose the plurals which
follow, to be always in the objective case governed by _of_, understood:
as, "A few [of] years,"--"A thousand [of] doors;"--like the phrases, "A
_couple of_ fowls,"--"A _score of_ fat bullocks."--_Churchill's Gram._, p.
279. Neither solution is free from difficulty. For example: "There are a
great many adjectives."--_Dr. Adam_. Now, if _many_ is here a singular
nominative, and the only subject of the verb, what shall we do with _are_?
and if it is a plural adjective, what shall we do with _a_ and _great?_
Taken in either of these ways, the construction is anomalous. One can
hardly think the word "_adjectives_" to be here in the objective case,
because the supposed ellipsis of the word _of_ cannot be proved; and if
_many_ is a noun, the two words are perhaps in apposition, in the
nominative. If I say, "_A thousand men_ are on their way," the men _are the
thousand_, and the thousand _is nothing but the men_; so that I see not why
the relation of the terms may not be that of _apposition_. But if
_authorities_ are to decide the question, doubtless we must yield it to
those who suppose the whole numeral phrase to be taken _adjectively_; as,
"Most young Christians have, in the course of _half a dozen_ years, time to
read _a great many_ pages."--_Young Christian_, p. 6.
"For harbour at _a thousand doors_ they knock'd;
Not one of all _the thousand_ but was lock'd."--_Dryden_.
OBS. 27.--The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally
adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of
them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such
in the examples which have been cited. _Dozen_, or _hundred_, or
_thousand_, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often
speak of _dozens, hundreds_, and _thousands_. _Few_ and _many_ never assume
the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and _a
few_ or _a great many_ is not a collection so definite that we can well
conceive of _fews_ and _manies_; but both are sometimes construed
substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by
ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of _the judicious few_ is an
ample compensation for the neglect of _the illiterate many_."--_Churchill's
Gram._, p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word _many_ is remarkable in Saxon
for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he
calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal _many_
ran."--_Spenser_. "O thou fond _many_."--_Shakspeare_. "A care-craz'd
mother of a _many_ children."--_Id._ "And for thy sake have I shed _many_ a
tear."--_Id._ "The vulgar and the _many_ are fit only to be led or
driven."--_South_. "He is liable to a great _many_ inconveniences every
moment of his life."--_Tillotson_. "Seeing a great _many_ in rich gowns, he
was amazed."--_Addison_.
"There parting from the king, the chiefs divide,
And wheeling east and west, before their _many_ ride."--_Dryden_.
OBS. 28.--"On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar
use of the article with the adjective _few_, and some other diminutives. In
saying, 'A _few_ of his adherents remained with him;' we insinuate, that
they constituted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an
aggregate: while, if the article be omitted, as, '_Few_ of his adherents
remained with him;' this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by
representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up. A similar
difference occurs between the phrases: 'He exhibited _a little_ regard for
his character;' and 'He exhibited _little_ regard for his
character.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. The word _little_, in its most
proper construction, is an adjective, signifying _small_; as, "He was
_little_ of stature."--_Luke_. "Is it not a _little_ one?"--_Genesis_. And
in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though
the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or
perhaps it may be taken as relating to them both: "Yet _a little_ sleep, _a
little_ slumber, _a little_ folding of the hands to sleep."--_Prov._, vi,
10; xxiv, 33. But by a common ellipsis, it is used as a noun, both with and
without the article; as, "_A little_ that a righteous man hath, is better
than the riches of many wicked."--_Psalms_, xxxvii, 16. "Better is _little_
with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble
therewith."--_Prov._, xv, 16. "He that despiseth little things, shall
perish by _little_ and _little_."--_Ecclesiasticus_. It is also used
adverbially, both alone and with the article _a_; as, "The poor sleep
_little_."--_Otway_. "Though they are _a little_ astringent."--_Arbuthnot_.
"When he had gone _a little_ farther thence."--_Mark_, i, 19. "Let us vary
the phrase [in] _a very little_" [degree].--_Kames_, Vol. ii, p. 163.
OBS. 29.--"As it is the nature of the articles to limit the signification
of a word, they are applicable only to words expressing ideas capable of
being individualized, or conceived of as single things or acts; and nouns
implying a general state, condition, or habit, must be used without the
article. It is not vaguely therefore, but on fixed principles, that the
article is omitted, or inserted, in such phrases as the following: 'in
terror, in fear, in dread, in haste, in sickness, in pain, in trouble; in
_a_ fright, in _a_ hurry, in _a_ consumption; _the_ pain of his wound was
great; her son's dissipated life was _a_ great trouble to
her."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 127.
OBS. 30.--Though _the, an_, and _a_, are the only articles in our language,
they are far from being the only definitives. Hence, while some have
objected to the peculiar distinction bestowed upon these little words,
firmly insisting on throwing them in among the common mass of adjectives;
others have taught, that the definitive adjectives--I know not how
many--such as, _this, that, these, those, any, other, some, all, both,
each, every, either, neither_--"are much more properly articles than any
thing else."--_Hermes_, p. 234. But, in spite of this opinion, it has
somehow happened, that these definitive adjectives have very generally, and
very absurdly, acquired the name of _pronouns_. Hence, we find Booth, who
certainly excelled most other grammarians in learning and acuteness,
marvelling that the _articles_ "were ever separated from the class of
_pronouns_." To all this I reply, that _the, an_, and _a_, are worthy to be
distinguished as _the only articles_, because they are not only used with
much greater _frequency_ than any other definitives, but are specially
restricted to the limiting of the signification of nouns. Whereas the other
definitives above mentioned are very often used to supply the place of
their nouns; that is, to represent them understood. For, in general, it is
only by ellipsis of the noun after it, and not as the representative of a
noun going before, that any one of these words assumes the appearance of a
pronoun. Hence, they are not pronouns, but adjectives. Nor are they "more
properly articles than any thing else;" for, "if the essence of an article
be to define and ascertain" the meaning of a noun, this very conception of
the thing necessarily supposes the noun to be used with it.
OBS. 31.--The following example, or explanation, may show what is meant by
definitives. Let the general term be _man_, the plural of which is _men: A
man_--one unknown or indefinite; _The man_--one known or particular; _The
men_--some particular ones; _Any man_--one indefinitely; _A certain
man_--one definitely; _This man_--one near; _That man_--one distant; _These
men_--several near; _Those men_--several distant; _Such a man_--one like
some other; _Such men_--some like others; _Many a man_--a multitude taken
singly; _Many men_--an indefinite multitude taken plurally; _A thousand
men_--a definite multitude; _Every man_--all or each without exception;
_Each man_--both or all taken separately; _Some man_--one, as opposed to
none; _Some men_--an indefinite number or part; _All men_--the whole taken
plurally; _No men_--none of the sex; _No man_--never one of the race.
EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.
PRAXIS II--ETYMOLOGICAL.
_In the Second Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and
define the different parts of speech, and to explain the_ ARTICLES _as
definite or indefinite.
The definitions to be given in the Second Praxis, are two for an article,
and one for a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a verb, a participle, an
adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:--
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."--_G.
Brown_.
_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.
_Task_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing,
that can be known or mentioned.
_Of_ 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.
_A_ 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.
_Schoolmaster_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or
thing, that can be known or mentioned.
_Laboriously_ is an adverb. 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.
_Prompting_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb,
participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and
is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.
_And_ is a 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.
_Urging_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb,
participating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and
is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.
_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.
_Indolent_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or
pronoun, and generally expresses quality.
_Class_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing,
that can be known or mentioned.
_Is_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to
be acted upon_.
_Worse_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or
pronoun, and generally expresses quality.
_Than_ is a 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.
_He_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.
_Who_ is a pronoun. 1. A pronoun is a word used in stead of a noun.
_Drives_ is a verb. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or
_to be acted upon_.
_Lazy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or
pronoun, and generally expresses quality.
_Horses_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing,
that can be known or mentioned.
_Along_ 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.
_A_ 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.
_Sandy_ is an adjective. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or
pronoun, and generally expresses quality.
_Road_ is a noun. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing,
that can be known or mentioned.
LESSON I.--PARSING.
"The Honourable, the Corporation of the city, granted the use of the common
council chamber, for holding the Convention; generously adding the
privilege of occupying the rotunda, or the new court-room, if either would
better suit the wishes of the committee."--_Journal of Literary
Convention_, N. Y., 1830.
"When the whole is put for a part, or a part for the whole; the genus for a
species, or a species for the genus; the singular number for the plural, or
the plural for the singular; and, in general, when any thing less, or any
thing more, is put for the precise object meant; the figure is called a
Synecdoche."--See _Blair's Rhet._, p. 141.
"The truth is, a representative, as an individual, is on a footing with
other people; but, as a representative of a State, he is invested with a
share of the sovereign authority, and is so far a governor of the
people."--See _Webster's Essays_, p. 50.
"Knowledge is the fruit of mental labour--the food and the feast of the
mind. In the pursuit of knowledge, the greater the excellence of the
subject of inquiry, the deeper ought to be the interest, the more ardent
the investigation, and the dearer to the mind the acquisition of the
truth."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 15.
"Canst thou, O partial Sleep! give thy repose
To the wet seaboy in an hour so rude?"--_Shakspeare_.
LESSON II.--PARSING.
"Every family has a master; (or a mistress--I beg the ladies' pardon;) a
ship has a master; when a house is to be built, there is a master; when the
highways are repairing, there is a master; every little school has a
master: the continent is a great school; the boys are numerous, and full of
roguish tricks; and there is no master. The boys in this great school play
truant, and there is no person to chastise them."--See _Webster's Essays_,
p. 128.
"A man who purposely rushes down a precipice and breaks his arm, has no
right to say, that surgeons are an evil in society. A legislature may
unjustly limit the surgeon's fee; but the broken arm must be healed, and a
surgeon is the only man to restore it."--See _ib._, p. 135.
"But what new sympathies sprung up immediately where the gospel prevailed!
It was made the duty of the whole Christian community to provide for the
stranger, the poor, the sick, the aged, the widow, and the
orphan."--_M'Ilvaine's Evi._, p. 408.
"In the English language, the same word is often employed both as a noun
and as a verb; and sometimes as an adjective, and even as an adverb and a
preposition also. Of this, _round_ is an example."--See _Churchill's
Gram._, p. 24.
"The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket, arose from the well."--_Woodworth_.
LESSON III.--PARSING.
"Most of the objects in a natural landscape are beautiful, and some of them
are grand: a flowing river, a spreading oak, a round hill, an extended
plain, are delightful; and even a rugged rock, and a barren heath, though
in themselves disagreeable, contribute by contrast to the beauty of the
whole."--See _Kames's El. of Crit._, i, 185.
"An animal body is still more admirable, in the disposition of its several
parts, and in their order and symmetry: there is not a bone, a muscle, a
blood-vessel, a nerve, that hath not one corresponding to it on the
opposite side; and the same order is carried through the most minute
parts."--See _ib._, i, 271. "The constituent parts of a plant, the roots,
the stem, the branches, the leaves, the fruit, are really different
systems, united by a mutual dependence on each other."--_Ib._, i, 272.
"With respect to the form of this ornament, I observe, that a circle is a
more agreeable figure than a square, a globe than a cube, and a cylinder
than a parallelopipedon. A column is a more agreeable figure than a
pilaster; and, for that reason, it ought to be preferred, all other
circumstances being equal. An other reason concurs, that a column connected
with a wall, which is a plain surface, makes a greater variety than a
pilaster."--See _ib._, ii, 352.
"But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee!
Go, count the busy drops that swell the sea."--_Rogers_.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
ERRORS RESPECTING ARTICLES.
LESSON I.--ADAPT THE ARTICLES.
"Honour is an useful distinction in life."--_Milnes's Greek Grammar_, p.
vii.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is used before _useful_,
which begins with the sound of _yu_. But, according to a principle
expressed on page 225th, "_A_ is to be used whenever the following word
begins with a consonant sound." Therefore, _an_ should here be changed to
_a_; thus, "Honour is _a_ useful distinction in life."]
"No writer, therefore, ought to foment an humour of
innovation."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 55. "Conjunctions require a situation
between the things of which they form an union."--_Ib._, p. 83. "Nothing is
more easy than to mistake an _u_ for an _a_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, i,
130. "From making so ill an use of our innocent expressions."--_Wm. Penn_.
"To grant thee an heavenly and incorruptible crown of glory."--_Sewel's
Hist., Ded._, p. iv. "It in no wise follows, that such an one was able to
predict."--_Ib._, p. viii. "With an harmless patience they have borne most
heavy oppressions,"--_Ib._, p. x. "My attendance was to make me an happier
man."--_Spect._, No. 480. "On the wonderful nature of an human
mind."--_Ib._, 554. "I have got an hussy of a maid, who is most craftily
given to this."--_Ib._, No. 534. "Argus is said to have had an hundred
eyes, some of which were always awake."--_Classic Stories_, p. 148.
"Centiped, an hundred feet; centennial, consisting of a hundred
years."--_Town's Analysis_, p. 19. "No good man, he thought, could be an
heretic."--_Gilpin's Lives_, p. 72. "As, a Christian, an infidel, an
heathen."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 50. "Of two or more words, usually joined by
an hyphen."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 7. "We may consider the whole space of an
hundred years as time present."--BEATTIE: _Murray's Gram._, p. 69. "In
guarding against such an use of meats and drinks."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 138.
"Worship is an homage due from man to his Creator."--_Annual Monitor for_
1836. "Then, an eulogium on the deceased was pronounced."--_Grimshaw's U.
S._, p. 92. "But for Adam there was not found an help meet for
him."--_Gen._, ii, 20. "My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are
burned as an hearth."--_Psalms_, cii, 3. "A foreigner and an hired servant
shall not eat thereof"--_Exod._, xii, 45. "The hill of God is as the hill
of Bashan; an high hill, as the hill of Bashan."--_Psalms_, lxviii, 15.
"But I do declare it to have been an holy offering, and such an one too as
was to be once for all."--_Wm. Penn_. "An hope that does not make ashamed
those that have it."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. i, p. 15. "Where there is not
an unity, we may exercise true charity."--_Ib._, i, 96. "Tell me, if in any
of these such an union can be found?"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16.
"Such holy drops her tresses steeped,
Though 'twas an hero's eye that weeped."--_Sir W. Scott_.
LESSON II.--INSERT ARTICLES.
"This veil of flesh parts the visible and invisible world."--_Sherlock_.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is omitted before
_invisible_, where the sense requires it. But, according to a suggestion on
page 225th, "Articles should be inserted as often as the sense requires
them." Therefore, _the_ should be here supplied; thus, "This veil of flesh
parts the visible and the invisible world."]
"The copulative and disjunctive conjunctions operate differently on the
verb."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 286. "Every combination of a
preposition and article with the noun."--_Ib._, i, 44. "_Either_ signifies,
'the one or the other;' _neither_ imports _not either_, that is, 'not one
nor the other.'"--_Ib._, i, 56. "A noun of multitude may have a pronoun, or
verb, agreeing with it, either of the singular or plural number."--_Bucke's
Gram._, p. 90. "Copulative conjunctions are, principally, and, as, both,
because, for, if, that, then, since, &c."--See _ib._, 28. "The two real
genders are the masculine and feminine."--_Ib._, 34. "In which a mute and
liquid are represented by the same character, _th_."--_Music of Nature_, p.
481. "They said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee."--_Luke_, vii, 20.
"They indeed remember the names of abundance of places."--_Spect._, No.
474. "Which created a great dispute between the young and old
men."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. ii, p. 127. "Then shall be read the
Apostles' or Nicene Creed."--_Com. Prayer_, p. 119. "The rules concerning
the perfect tenses and supines of verbs are Lily's."--_King Henry's Gram._,
p. iv. "It was read by the high and the low, the learned and
illiterate."--_Johnson's Life of Swift_. "Most commonly, both the pronoun
and verb are understood."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. viii. "To signify the
thick and slender enunciation of tone."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p.
9. "The difference between a palatial and guttural aspirate is very
small."--_Ib._, p. 12. "Leaving it to waver between the figurative and
literal sense."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 154. "Whatever verb will not admit
of both an active and passive signification."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p.
31. "_The_ is often set before adverbs in the comparative or superlative
degree."--_Ib._, p. 15; _Kirkham's Gram._, 66. "Lest any should fear the
effect of such a change upon the present or succeeding age of
writers."--_Fowle's Common School Gram._, p. 5. "In all these measures, the
accents are to be placed on even syllables; and every line is, in general,
more melodious, as this rule is more strictly observed."--_L. Murray's
Octavo Gram_, p. 256; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 307. "How many numbers do nouns
appear to have? Two, the singular and plural."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8.
"How many persons? Three persons--the first, second, and third."--_Ib._, p.
10. "How many cases? Three--the nominative, possessive and
objective."--_Ib._, p. 12.
"Ah! what avails it me, the flocks to keep,
Who lost my heart while I preserv'd sheep."
POPE'S WORKS: _British Poets_, Vol. vi, p. 309: Lond., 1800.
LESSON III.--OMIT ARTICLES.
"The negroes are all the descendants of Africans."--_Morse's Geog_.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ before _descendants_, is
useless to the construction, and injurious to the sense. But, according to
a principle on page 225th, "Needless articles should be omitted; they
seldom fail to pervert the sense." Therefore, _the_ should be here omitted;
thus, "The negroes are all _descendants_ of Africans."]
"A Sybarite was applied as a term of reproach to a man of dissolute
manners."--_Morse's Ancient Geog._, p. 4. "The original signification of
knave was a boy."--_Webster's El. Spell._, p. 136. "The meaning of these
will be explained, for the greater clearness and precision."--_Bucke's
Gram._, p. 58. "What Sort of a Noun is Man? A Noun Substantive
common."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 166. "Is _what_ ever used as three kinds
of a pronoun?"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 117. "They delighted in the having
done it, as well as in the doing of it."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 344.
"Both the parts of this rule are exemplified in the following
sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 174. "He has taught them to hope for
another and a better world."--_S. L. Knapp_. "It was itself only
preparatory to a future, a better, and perfect revelation."--_Keith's
Evid._, p. 23. "_Es_ then makes another and a distinct syllable."--
_Brightland's Gram._, p. 17. "The eternal clamours of a selfish and a
factious people."--_Brown's Estimate_, i, 74. "To those whose taste in
Elocution is but a little cultivated."--_Kirkham's Eloc._, p. 65. "They
considered they had but a Sort of a Gourd to rejoice in."--_Bennet's
Memorial_, p. 333. "Now there was but one only such a bough, in a spacious
and shady grove."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 75. "Now the absurdity of this
latter supposition will go a great way towards the making a man
easy."--_Collier's Antoninus_ p. 131. "This is true of the mathematics,
where the taste has but little to do."--_Todd's Student's Manual_, p. 331.
"To stand prompter to a pausing, yet a ready comprehension."--_Rush, on the
Voice_, p. 251. "Such an obedience as the yoked and the tortured negro is
compelled to yield to the whip of the overseer."--_Chalmers's Serm._, p.
90. "For the gratification of a momentary and an unholy
desire."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 288. "The body is slenderly put
together; the mind a rambling sort of a thing."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p.
26. "The only nominative to the verb, is, _the officer_."--_Murray's
Gram._, ii, 22. "And though in the general it ought to be admitted,
&c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 376. "Philosophical writing admits of a polished,
a neat, and elegant style."--_Ib._, p. 367. "But notwithstanding this
defect, Thomson is a strong and a beautiful describer."--_Ib._, p. 405. "So
should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives
saved."--SHAK.: _Hen._ v.
"Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took the alarm,
Appeal'd to Law, and Justice lent her arm."--_Pope_, p. 406.
LESSON IV.--CHANGE ARTICLES.
"To enable us to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same
word."--_Bucke's Gr._, p, 52.
[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _the_ is used to limit the
meaning of "repetition," or "too frequent repetition," where _a_ would
better suit the sense. But, according to a principle on page 225th, "The
articles can seldom be put one for the other, without gross impropriety;
and either is of course to be preferred to the other, as it better suits
the sense." Therefore, "_the_" should be _a_, which, in this instance,
ought to be placed after the adjective; thus, "To enable us to avoid _too
frequent a repetition_ of the same word."]
"The former is commonly acquired in the third part of the time."--_Burn's
Gram._, p. xi. "Sometimes the adjective becomes a substantive, and has
another adjective joined to it: as, 'The chief good.'"--_L. Murray's
Gram._, i, 169. "An articulate sound is the sound of the human voice,
formed by the organs of speech."--_Ib._, i, 2; _Lowth's Gram._, 2; _T.
Smith's_, 5. "Tense is the distinction of time: there are six
tenses."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 6. "In this case, the ellipsis of the last
article would be improper."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 218. "Contrast has
always the effect to make each of the contrasted objects appear in the
stronger light."--_Ib._, i, 349; _Blair's Rhet._, p. 167. "These remarks
may serve to shew the great importance of the proper use of the
article."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 12; _Murray's_, i, 171. "'Archbishop
Tillotson,' says an author of the History of England, 'died in this
year.'"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107. "Pronouns are used instead of
substantives, to prevent the too frequent repetition of them."--_Alex.
Murray's Gram._, p. 22. "_That_, as a relative, seems to be introduced to
save the too frequent repetition of _who_ and _which_."--_Ib._, p. 23. "A
pronoun is a word used instead of a noun to avoid the too frequent
repetition of the same word."--_L. Murray's Gram._, i, p. 28. "_That_ is
often used as a relative, to prevent the too frequent repetition of _who_
and _which_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 109; _L. Murray's_, i, 53; _Hiley's_,
84. "His knees smote one against an other."--_Logan's Sermons_. "They stand
now on one foot, then on another."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 259. "The Lord
watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another."--_Gen._,
xxxi, 49. "Some have enumerated ten [parts of speech], making a participle
a distinct part."--_L. Murray's Gram_, i, p. 29. "Nemesis rides upon an
Hart, because a Hart was a most lively Creature."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 50.
"The transition of the voice from one vowel of the diphthong to
another."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 29. "So difficult it is to
separate these two things from one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 92.
"Without the material breach of any rule."--_Ib._, p. 101. "The great
source of a loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use
of those words termed synonymous."--_Ib._, p. 97. "The great source of a
loose style, in opposition to precision, is the injudicious use of the
words termed _synonymous_."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 302. "Sometimes one
article is improperly used for another."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 197.
"Satire of sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"--_Pope_, p. 396.
LESSON V.--MIXED EXAMPLES.
"He hath no delight in the strength of an horse."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p.
311. "The head of it would be an universal monarch."--_Butler's Analogy_,
p. 98. "Here they confound the material and formal object of
faith."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 57. "The Irish and Scotish Celtic
are one language; the Welsh, Cornish, and Armorican, are another."--_Dr.
Murray's Hist._, Vol. ii, p. 316. "In an uniform and perspicuous
manner."--_Ib._, i, 49. "SCRIPTURE, _n._ Appropriately, and by way of
distinction, the books of the Old and New Testament; the
Bible."--_Webster's Dict._ "In two separate volumes, entitled the Old and
the New Testaments."--_Wayland's Mor. Sci._, p. 139. "The Scriptures of the
Old and New Testament contain a revelation."--_Ib._ "Q has ever an u after
it; which is not sounded in words derived from the French."--_Wilson's
Essay_, p. 32. "What should we say of such an one? That he is regenerate?
No."--_Hopkins's Prim. Ch._, p. 22. "Some grammarians subdivide vowels into
the simple and the compound."--_Murray's Gram._, i, p. 8. "Emphasis has
been further distinguished into the weaker and stronger emphasis."--_Ib._,
i, 244. "Emphasis has also been divided into superior and the inferior
emphasis."--_Ib._, i, 245, "Pronouns must agree with their antecedents, or
nouns which they represent, in gender, number, and person."--_Merchant's
Gram._, pp. 86, 111, and 130. "The adverb _where_, is often improperly
used, for the relative pronoun and preposition."--_Ib._, 94. "The
termination _ish_ imports diminution, or lessening the quality."--_Ib._,
79. "In this train all their verses proceed: the one half of the line
always answering to the other."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 384. "To an height of
prosperity and glory, unknown to any former age."--_Murray's Sequel_, p.
352. "HWILC, who, which, such as, such an one, is declined as
follows."--_Gwilt's Saxon Gram._, p. 15. "When a vowel precedes _y_, an _s_
only is required to form a plural."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 40. "He is asked
what sort of a word each is, whether a primitive, derivative, or
compound."--_British Gram._, p. vii. "It is obvious, that neither the 2d,
3d, nor 4th chapter of Matthew is the first; consequently, there are not
_four first_ chapters."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 306. "Some thought, which
a writer wants art to introduce in its proper place."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.
109. "Groves and meadows are most pleasing in the spring."--_Ib._, p. 207.
"The conflict between the carnal and spiritual mind, is often
long."--_Gurney's Port. Ev._, p. 146. "A Philosophical Inquiry into the
Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful."--_Burke's Title-page_.
"Silence, my muse! make not these jewels cheap,
Exposing to the world too large an heap."--_Waller_, p. 113.
CHAPTER III.--NOUNS.
A Noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or
mentioned: as, _George, York, man, apple, truth_.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--All words and signs taken _technically_, (that is, independently
of their meaning, and merely as things spoken of,) are _nouns_; or, rather,
are _things_ read and construed _as nouns_; because, in such a use, they
temporarily assume the _syntax_ of nouns: as, "For this reason, I prefer
_contemporary_ to _cotemporary_."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 175; _Murray's
Gram._, i, p. 368. "I and J were formerly expressed by the same character;
as were U and V."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 3. "_Us_ is a personal
pronoun."--_Murray_. "_Th_ has two sounds."--_Ib._ "The _'s_ cannot be a
contraction of _his_, because _'s_ is put to _female_ [feminine] nouns; as,
_Woman's beauty, the Virgin's delicacy_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._ "_Their_
and _theirs_ are the possessives likewise of _they_, when _they_ is the
plural of _it_."--_Ib._ "Let B be a _now_ or instant."--_Harris's Hermes_,
p. 103. "In such case, I say that the instant B is the end of the time A
B."--_Ib._, 103. "_A_ is sometimes a noun: as, a great _A_."--_Todd's
Johnson_. "Formerly _sp_ was cast in a piece, as _st's_ are now."--_Hist.
of Printing_, 1770. "I write to others than he will perhaps include in his
_we_."--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p. 455. "Here are no fewer than eight
_ands_ in one sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112; _Murray's Gram._, Vol.
i, p. 319. "Within this wooden _O_;" i. e., circle.--_Shak._
OBS. 2.--In parsing, the learner must observe the sense and use of each
word, and class it accordingly. Many words commonly belonging to other
parts of speech are occasionally used as nouns; and, since it is the manner
of its use, that determines any word to be of one part of speech rather
than of an other, whatever word is used directly as a noun, must of course
be parsed as such.
1. Adjectives made nouns: "The _Ancient_ of days did sit."--_Bible_. "Of
the _ancients_."--_Swift_. "For such _impertinents_."--_Steele_. "He is an
_ignorant_ in it."--_Id._ "In the luxuriance of an unbounded
_picturesque_."--_Jamieson_. "A source of _the sublime_;" i. e., of
sublimity.--_Burke_. "The vast _immense_ of space:" i. e.,
immensity.--_Murray_. "There is none his _like._"--_Job_, xli, 33. "A
_little_ more than a _little_, is by _much_ too _much_."--_Shakspeare_.
"And gladly make _much_ of that entertainment."--_Sidney_. "A covetous man
makes _the most_ of what he has."--_L'Estrange_. "It has done _enough_ for
me."--_Pope_. "He had _enough_ to do."--_Bacon_.
"_All_ withers here; who _most_ possess, are losers by their gain,
Stung by full proof, that bad at best, life's idle _all_ is vain."
--_Young_.
"Nor grudge I thee _the much_ the Grecians give,
Nor murm'ring take _the little_ I receive."
--_Dryden_.
2. Pronouns made nouns: "A love of seeing the _what_ and _how_ of all about
him."--STORY'S LIFE OF FLAXMAN: _Pioneer_, Vol. i, p. 133. "The nameless
HE, whose nod is Nature's birth."--_Young_, Night iv. "I was wont to load
my _she_ with knacks."--_Shak. Winter's Tale_. "Or any _he_, the proudest
of thy sort."--_Shak_. "I am the happiest _she_ in Kent."--_Steele_. "The
_shes_ of Italy."--_Shak_. "The _hes_ in birds."--_Bacon_. "We should soon
have as many _hes_ and _shes_ as the French."--_Cobbet's E. Gram._, Para.
42. "If, for instance, we call a nation a _she_, or the sun a
_he_."--_Ib._, Para. 198. "When I see many _its_ in a page, I always
tremble for the writer."--_Ib._, Para. 196. "Let those two questionary
petitioners try to do this with their _whos_ and their _whiches_."--SPECT:
_Ash's Gr._, p. 131.
"Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
Is death to any _he_ that utters them."--_Shak_.
3. Verbs made nouns: "Avaunt all attitude, and _stare_, and _start_
theatric."--_Cowper_. "A _may-be_ of mercy is sufficient."--_Bridge_.
"Which _cuts_ are reckoned among the fractures."--_Wiseman_. "The officer
erred in granting a _permit_."--"Feel darts and charms, _attracts_ and
flames."--_Hudibras_. "You may know by the falling off of the _come_, or
sprout."--_Mortimer_. "And thou hast talk'd of _sallies_ and
_retires_."--_Shak_.
"For all that else did come, were sure to fail;
Yet would he further none, but for _avail_."--_Spenser_.
4. Participles made nouns: "For the _producing_ of real
happiness."--_Crabb_. "For the _crying_ of the poor and the _sighing_ of
the needy, I will arise."--_Bible_. "Surely the _churning_ of milk bringeth
forth butter, and the _wringing_ of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the
_forcing_ of wrath bringeth forth strife."--_Prov._, xxx, 33. "_Reading,
writing_, and _ciphering_, are indispensable to civilized man."--"Hence was
invented the distinction between _doing_ and _permitting_."--_Calvin's
Inst._, p. 131. "Knowledge of the _past_ comes next."--_Hermes_, p. 113. "I
am my _beloved's_, and his desire is toward me."--_Sol. Song_, vii, 10.
"Here's--a simple _coming-in_ for one man."--_Shak_.
"What are thy rents? What are thy _comings-in_?
O Ceremony, show me but thy worth."--_Id._
5. Adverbs made nouns: "In these cases we examine the _why_, the _what_,
and the _how_ of things."--_L'Estrange_. "If a point or _now_ were
extended, each of them would contain within itself infinite other points or
_nows_."--_Hermes_, p. 101. "The _why_ is plain as way to parish
church."--_Shak_. "'Tis Heaven itself that points out _an
hereafter_."--_Addison_. "The dread of _a hereafter_."--_Fuller_. "The
murmur of the deep _amen_."--_Sir W. Scott_. "For their _whereabouts_ lieth
in a mystery."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 14. Better: "Their _whereabout_
lieth," or, "Their _whereabouts lie_," &c.
"Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind;
Thou losest _here_, a better _where_ to find."--_Shak_.
6. Conjunctions made nouns: "The _if_, which is here employed, converts the
sentence into a supposition."--_Blair's Rhet._ "Your _if_ is the only
peacemaker; much virtue is in _if_."--_Shak_.
"So his Lordship decreed with a grave solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one _if_ or _but_--
That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on,
By daylight or candlelight--Eyes should be shut."--_Cowper_.
7. Prepositions made nouns: "O, not like me; for mine's beyond
_beyond_."--_Shakspeare: Cymb._, iii, 2. "I. e., her longing is _further
than beyond_; beyond any thing that desire can be said to be
beyond."--_Singer's Notes_. "You whirled them to the back of _beyont_ to
look at the auld Roman camp."--_Antiquary_, i. 37.
8. Interjections or phrases made nouns: "Come away from all the _lo-heres_!
and _lo-theres_!"--_Sermon_. "Will cuts him short with a '_What
then_?'"--_Addison_. "With _hark_ and _whoop_, and wild
_halloo_."--_Scott_. "And made a _pish_ at chance and sufferance."--_Shak_.
"A single look more marks th' internal wo,
Than all the windings of the lengthen'd _oh_."--_Lloyd_.
CLASSES.
Nouns are divided into two general classes; _proper_ and _common_. I. A
_proper noun_ is the name of some particular individual, or people, or
group; as, _Adam, Boston_, the _Hudson_, the _Romans_, the _Azores_, the
_Alps_.
II. A _common noun_ is the name of a sort, kind, or class, of beings or
things; as, _Beast, bird, fish, insect,--creatures, persons, children_.
The particular classes, _collective, abstract_, and _verbal_, or
_participial_, are usually included among common nouns. The name of a thing
_sui generis_ is also called common.
1. A _collective noun_, or _noun of multitude_, is the name of many
individuals together; as, _Council, meeting, committee, flock_.
2. An _abstract noun_ is the name of some particular quality considered
apart from its substance; as, _Goodness, hardness, pride, frailty_.
3. A _verbal_ or _participial noun_ is the name of some action, or state of
being; and is formed from a verb, like a participle, but employed as a
noun: as, "The _triumphing_ of the wicked is short."--_Job_, xx, 5.
4. A thing _sui generis_, (i. e., _of its own peculiar kind_,) is something
which is distinguished, not as an individual of a species, but as a sort by
itself, without plurality in either the noun or the sort of thing; as,
_Galvanism, music, geometry_.
OBS. 1.--Through the influence of an article, a proper name sometimes
acquires the import of a common noun: as, "He is _the Cicero_ of his age;"
that is, _the great orator_. "Many _a fiery Alp_;" that is, _high volcanic
mountain_. "Such is the following application of famous names; a Solomon
for a wise man, a Croesus for a rich man, a Judas for a traitor, a
Demosthenes for an orator, and a Homer for a poet."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p.
326.
"Consideration, like an angel, came,
And whipp'd _th' offending Adam_ out of him."--_Shak_.
OBS. 2.--A common noun, with the definite article before it, sometimes
becomes proper: as, _The Park; the Strand; the Gharmel; the Downs; the
United States_.
OBS. 3.--The common name of a thing or quality personified, often becomes
proper; our conception of the object being changed by the figure of speech:
as, "My power," said _Reason_, "is to advise, not to compel."--_Johnson_.
"Fair _Peace_ her olive branch extends." For such a word, the form of
parsing should be like this: "_Peace_ is a _common noun, personified
proper_; of the third person, singular number, feminine gender, and
nominative case." Here the construction of the word as a proper noun, and
of the _feminine gender_, is the result of the personification, and
contrary to the literal usage.
MODIFICATIONS.
Nouns have modifications of four kinds; namely, _Persons, Numbers,
Genders_, and _Cases_.
PERSONS.
Persons, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish the speaker, the
hearer, and the person or thing merely spoken of.
There are three persons; the _first_, the _second_, and the _third_.
The _first person_ is that which denotes the speaker or writer; as, "_I
Paul_ have written it."
The second person is that which denotes the hearer, or the person
addressed; as, "_Robert_, who did this?"
The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken
of; as, "_James_ loves his book."
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--The distinction of persons is founded on the different relations
which the objects mentioned in any discourse may bear to the discourse
itself. The speaker or writer, being the mover and maker of the
communication, of course stands in the nearest or _first_ of these
relations. The hearer or hearers, being personally present and directly
addressed, evidently sustain the next or _second_ of these relations; this
relation is also that of the reader, when he peruses what is addressed to
himself in print or writing. Lastly, whatsoever or whosoever is merely
mentioned in the discourse, bears to it that more remote relation which
constitutes the _third_ person. The distinction of persons belongs to
nouns, pronouns, and finite verbs; and to these it is always applied,
either by peculiarity of form or construction, or by inference from the
principles of concord. Pronouns are like their antecedents, and verbs are
like their subjects, in person.
OBS. 2.--Of the persons, numbers, genders, cases, and some other
grammatical modifications of words, it should be observed that they belong
not exclusively to any one part of speech, but jointly and equally, to two
or three. Hence, it is necessary that our _definitions_ of these things be
such as will apply to each of them in full, or under all circumstances; for
the definitions ought to be as general in their application as are the
things or properties defined. Any person, number, gender, case, or other
grammatical modification, is really but one and the same thing, in whatever
part of speech it may be found. This is plainly implied in the very nature
of every form of syntactical agreement; and as plainly contradicted in one
half, and probably more, of the definitions usually given of these things.
OBS. 3.--Let it be understood, that _persons, in grammar_, are not _words_,
but mere forms, relations, or modifications of words; that they are things,
thus named by a _figure_; _things_ of the neuter gender, and not living
souls. But persons, in common parlance, or in ordinary life, are
_intelligent beings_, of one or the other sex. These objects, different as
they are in their nature, are continually confounded by the makers of
English grammars: as, "The _first_ person is _the person who
speaks_."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 17. So Bicknell, of London: "The _first
person_ speaks of _himself_; as, _I John take thee Elizabeth_. The _second_
person has the speech directed to _him_, and is supposed to be present; as,
_Thou Harry art a wicked fellow_. The _third_ person is spoken of, or
described, and supposed to be _absent_; as, _That Thomas is a good man_.
And in the same manner the plural pronouns are used, when more than one are
spoken of."--_Bicknell's Grammatical Wreath_, p. 50. "The person speaking
is the first person; the person spoken to, the second; and the person
spoken of, the third."--_Russell's Gram._, p. 16. "The first person is the
speaker."--_Parker & Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 6. "Person is that, which
distinguishes a noun, that speaks, one spoken to, or one spoken
about."--_S. B. Hall's Gram._, p. 6. "A noun that speaks!" A noun "spoken
to!" If ever one of Father Hall's nouns shall speak for itself, or answer
when "spoken to," will it not reprove him? And how can the _first person_
be "the _person_ WHO _speaks_," when every word of this phrase is of the
_third_ person? Most certainly, _it is not_ HE, nor any one of his sort. If
any body can boast of being "_the first person in grammar_," I pray, _Who_
is it? Is it not _I_, even _I_? Many grammarians say so. But nay: such
authors know not what the first person in grammar is. The Rev. Charles
Adams, with infinite absurdity, makes the three persons in grammar to be
never any thing but _three nouns_, which hold a confabulation thus: "Person
is defined to be _that_ which distinguishes a _noun that speaks, one spoken
to, or one spoken of_. The _noun_ that speaks [,] is the first person; as,
_I, James_, was present. The _noun_ that is spoken to, is the second
person; as, _James_, were you present? The _noun_ that is spoken of is the
third person; as, _James_ was present."--_Adams's System of English Gram._,
p. 9. What can be a greater blunder, than to call the first person of a
verb, of a pronoun, or even of a noun, "_the noun that speaks?_" What can
be more absurd than are the following assertions? "_Nouns_ are _in_ the
first person when _speaking_. Nouns are _of_ the second person when
_addressed_ or _spoken to_."--_O. C. Felton's Gram._, p. 9.
OBS. 4.--An other error, scarcely less gross than that which has just been
noticed, is the very common one of identifying the three grammatical
persons with certain _words_, called personal pronouns: as, "_I_ is the
first person, _thou_ the second, _he, she_ or _it_, the third."--_Smith's
Productive Gram._, p. 53. "_I_ is the first person, singular. _Thou_ is the
second person, singular. _He, she_, or _it_, is the third person, singular.
_We_ is the first person, plural. _Ye_ or _you_ is the second person,
plural. _They_ is the third person, plural."--_L. Murray's Grammar_, p. 51;
_Ingersoll's_, 54; _D. Adams's_, 37; _A. Flint's_, 18; _Kirkham's_, 98;
_Cooper's_, 34; _T. H. Miller's_, 26; _Hull's_, 21; _Frost's_, 13;
_Wilcox's_, 18; _Bacon's_, 19; _Alger's_, 22; _Maltby's_, 19; _Perley's_,
15; _S. Putnam's_, 22. Now there is no more propriety in affirming, that
"_I is the first person_," than in declaring that _me, we, us, am,
ourselves, we think, I write_, or any other word or phrase _of_ the first
person, _is_ the first person. Yet Murray has given us no other definitions
or explanations of the persons than the foregoing erroneous assertions;
and, if I mistake not, all the rest who are here named, have been content
to define them only as he did. Some others, however, have done still worse:
as, "There are _three_ personal pronouns; so called, because they denote
the three persons, _who_ are the subjects of a discourse, viz. 1st. _I, who
is_ the person _speaking_; 2d _thou, who is_ spoken to; 3d _he, she_, or
_it, who_ is spoken of, and their plurals, _we, ye_ or _you,
they_."--_Bingham's Accidence_, 20th Ed., p. 7. Here the two kinds of error
which I have just pointed out, are jumbled together. It is impossible to
write _worse English_ than this! Nor is the following much better: "Of the
personal pronouns there are five, viz. _I_, in the first person, speaking;
_Thou_, in the second person, spoken to; and _He, she, it_, in the third
person, spoken of."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 25.
OBS. 5.--In _written_ language, the _first person_ denotes the writer or
author; and the _second_, the reader or person addressed: except when the
writer describes not himself, but some one else, as uttering to an other
the words which he records. This exception takes place more particularly in
the writing of dialogues and dramas; in which the first and second persons
are abundantly used, not as the representatives of the author and his
reader, but as denoting the fictitious speakers and hearers that figure in
each scene. But, in discourse, the grammatical persons may be changed
without a change of the living subject. In the following sentence, the
three grammatical persons are all of them used with reference to one and
the same individual: "Say ye of _Him whom_ the Father hath sanctified and
sent into the world, _Thou blasphemest_, because _I said I am_ the _Son_ of
_God?_"--_John_, x, 36.
OBS. 6.-The speaker seldom refers to himself _by name_, as the speaker;
and, of the objects which there is occasion to name in discourse, but
comparatively few are such as can ever be supposed to speak. Consequently,
_nouns_ are rarely used in the first person; and when they do assume this
relation, a pronoun is commonly associated with them: as, "_I John_,"--"_We
Britons_." These words I conceive to agree throughout, in person, number,
gender, and case; though it must be confessed, that agreement like this is
not always required between words in apposition. But some grammarians deny
the first person to nouns altogether; others, with much more consistency,
ascribe it;[140] while very many are entirely silent on the subject. Yet it
is plain that both the doctrine of concords, and the analogy of general
grammar, require its admission. The reason of this may be seen in the
following examples: "_Themistocles ad te veni_." "I Themistocles have come
to you."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 72. "_Adsum Troius Æneas_."--_Virgil_.
"_Romulus Rex regia arma offero_."--Livy. "_Annibal peto pacem_."--Id.
"_Callopius recensui._"--See _Terence's Comedies, at the end_. "_Paul_, an
apostle, &c., unto Timothy, _my_ own son in the faith."--_1 Tim._, i, 2.
Again, if the word _God_ is of the second person, in the text, "_Thou,
God_, seest me," why should any one deny that _Paul_ is of the first
person, in this one? "_I Paul_ have written it."--_Philemon_, 19. Or this?
"The salutation by the hand of _me Paul_."--_Col._, iv, 18. And so of the
plural: "Of _you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, 11. "Of _us the apostles_."--_2
Pet._, iii, 2. How can it be pretended, that, in the phrase, "_I Paul_,"
_I_ is of the first person, as denoting the speaker, and _Paul_, of some
other person, as denoting something or somebody that is _not_ the speaker?
Let the admirers of Murray, Kirkham, Ingersoll, R. C. Smith, Comly,
Greenleaf, Parkhurst, or of any others who teach this absurdity, answer.
OBS. 7.--As, in the direct application of what are called Christian names,
there is a kind of familiarity, which on many occasions would seem to
indicate a lack of proper respect; so in a frequent and familiar use of the
second person, as it is the placing of an other in the more intimate
relation of the hearer, and one's self in that of the speaker, there is a
sort of assumption which may seem less modest and respectful than to use
the third person. In the following example, the patriarch Jacob uses both
forms; applying the term _servant_ to himself, and to his brother Esau the
term _lord_: "Let _my lord, I_ pray _thee_, pass over before _his servant_:
and _I_ will lead on softly."--_Gen._, xxxiii, 14. For when a speaker or
writer does not choose to declare himself in the _first_ person, or to
address his hearer or reader in the _second_, he speaks of both or either
in the _third_. Thus Moses relates what _Moses_ did, and Cæsar records the
achievements of _Cæsar_. So Judah humbly beseeches Joseph: "Let _thy
servant_ abide in stead of the lad a bondman to _my lord_."--_Gen._, xliv,
33. And Abraham reverently intercedes with God: "Oh! let not _the Lord_ be
angry, and I will speak."--_Gen._, xviii, 30. And the Psalmist prays:
"_God_ be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause _his_ face to shine
upon us."--_Ps._, lxvii, 1. So, on more common occasions:--
"As will the rest, so _willeth Winchester_."--_Shak_.
"Richard of York, how _fares_ our dearest _brother_?"--_Id._[141]
OBS. 8.--When inanimate things are spoken to, they are _personified_; and
their names are put in the second person, because by the figure the objects
are _supposed_ to be capable of hearing: as, "What ailed thee, _O thou
sea_, that thou fleddest? _thou Jordan_, that thou wast driven back? _Ye
mountains_, that ye skipped like rams; and _ye little hills_, like lambs?
Tremble, _thou earth_, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the
God of Jacob."--_Psalms_, cxiv, 5-7.
NUMBERS.
Numbers, in grammar, are modifications that distinguish unity and
plurality.
There are two numbers; the _singular_ and the _plural_.
The _singular number_ is that which denotes but one; as, "The _boy
learns_."
The _plural number_ is that which denotes more than one; as, "The _boys
learn_."
The plural number _of nouns_ is regularly formed by adding _s_ or _es_ to
the singular: as, _book, books; box, boxes; sofa, sofas; hero, heroes_.
When the singular ends in a sound which will unite with that of _s_, the
plural is generally formed by adding _s only_, and the number of syllables
is not increased: as, _pen, pens; grape, grapes_.
But when the sound of _s_ cannot be united with that of the primitive word,
the regular plural adds _s_ to final _e_, and _es_ to other terminations,
and forms a separate syllable: as, _page, pages; fox, foxes_.
OBSERVATIONS.
OBS. 1.--The distinction of numbers serves merely to show whether we speak
of one object, or of more. In some languages, as the Greek and the Arabic,
there is a _dual_ number, which denotes _two_, or a _pair_; but in ours,
this property of words, or class of modifications, extends no farther than
to distinguish unity from plurality, and plurality from unity. It belongs
to nouns, pronouns, and finite verbs; and to these it is always applied,
either by peculiarity of form, or by inference from the principles of
concord. Pronouns are like their antecedents, and verbs are like their
subjects, in number.
OBS. 2.--The most common way of forming the plural of English nouns, is
that of simply adding to them an _s_; which, when it unites with a sharp
consonant, is always sharp, or hissing; and when it follows a vowel or a
flat mute, is generally flat, like _z_: thus, in the words, _ships, skiffs,
pits, rocks, depths, lakes, gulfs_, it is sharp; but in _seas, lays,
rivers, hills, ponds, paths, rows, webs, flags_, it is flat. The
terminations which always make the regular plural in _es_, with increase of
syllables, are twelve; namely, _ce, ge, ch_ soft, _che_ soft, _sh, ss, s,
se, x, xe, z_, and _ze_: as in _face, faces; age, ages; torch, torches;
niche, niches; dish, dishes; kiss, kisses; rebus, rebuses; lens, lenses;
chaise, chaises; corpse, corpses; nurse, nurses; box, boxes; axe, axes;
phiz, phizzes; maze, mazes._ All other endings readily unite in sound
either with the sharp or with the flat _s_, as they themselves are sharp or
flat; and, to avoid an increase of syllables, we allow the final _e_ mute
to remain mute after that letter is added: thus, we always pronounce as
monosyllables the words _babes, blades, strifes, tithes, yokes, scales,
names, canes, ropes, shores, plates, doves_, and the like.
OBS. 3.--Though the irregular plurals of our language appear considerably
numerous when brought together, they are in fact very few in comparison
with the many thousands that are perfectly simple and regular. In some
instances, however, usage is various in writing, though uniform in speech;
an unsettlement peculiar to certain words that terminate in vowels: as,
_Rabbis_, or _rabbies; octavos_, or _octavoes; attornies_, or _attorneys_.
There are also some other difficulties respecting the plurals of nouns, and
especially respecting those of foreign words; of compound terms; of names
and titles; and of words redundant or deficient in regard to the numbers.
What is most worthy of notice, respecting all these puzzling points of
English grammar, is briefly contained in the following observations.
OBS. 4.--It is a general rule of English grammar, that all singular nouns
ending with a vowel preceded by an other vowel, shall form the plural by
simply assuming an _s_: as, _Plea, pleas; idea, ideas; hernia, hernias;
bee, bees; lie, lies; foe, foes; shoe, shoes; cue, cues; eye, eyes; folio,
folios; bamboo, bamboos; cuckoo, cuckoos; embryo, embryos; bureau, bureaus;
purlieu, purlieus; sou, sous; view, views; straw, straws; play, plays; key,
keys; medley, medleys; viceroy, viceroys; guy, guys._ To this rule, the
plurals of words ending in _quy_, as _alloquies, colloquies, obloquies,
soliloquies_, are commonly made exceptions; because many have conceived
that the _u_, in such instances, is a mere appendage to the _q_, or is a
consonant having the power of _w_, and not a vowel forming a diphthong with
the _y_. All other deviations from the rule, as _monies_ for _moneys,
allies_ for _alleys, vallies_ for _valleys, chimnies_ for _chimneys_, &c.,
are now usually condemned as errors. See Rule 12th for Spelling.
OBS. 5.--It is also a general principle, that nouns ending in _y_ preceded
by a consonant, change the _y_ into _i_, and add _es_ for the plural,
without increase of syllables: as, _fly, flies; ally, allies; city, cities;
colony, colonies_. So nouns in _i_, (so far as we have any that are
susceptible of a change of number,) form the plural regularly by assuming
_es_: as, _alkali, alkalies; salmagundi, salinagundies._ Common nouns
ending in _y_ preceded by a consonant, are numerous; and none of them
deviate from the foregoing rule of forming the plural: thus, _duty,
duties_. The termination added is _es_, and the _y_ is changed into _i_,
according to the general principle expressed in Rule 11th for Spelling.
But, to this principle, or rule, some writers have supposed that _proper
nouns_ were to be accounted exceptions. And accordingly we sometimes find
such names made plural by the mere addition of an _s_; as, "How come the
_Pythagoras'_, [it should be, _the Pythagorases_,] the _Aristotles_, the
_Tullys_, the _Livys_, to appear, even to us at this distance, as stars of
the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, Vol.
i, p. 131. This doctrine, adopted from some of our older grammars, I was
myself, at one period, inclined to countenance; (see _Institutes of English
Grammar_, p. 33, at the bottom;) but further observation having led me to
suspect, there is more _authority_ for changing the _y_ than for retaining
it, I shall by-and-by exhibit some examples of this change, and leave the
reader to take his choice of the two forms, or principles.
OBS. 6.--The vowel _a_, at the end of a word, (except in the questionable
term _huzza_, or when silent, as in _guinea_,) has always its Italian or
middle sound, as heard in the interjection _aha!_ a sound which readily
unites with that of _s_ flat, and which ought, in deliberate speech, to be
carefully preserved in plurals from this ending: as, _Canada, the Canadas;
cupola, cupolas; comma, commas; anathema, anathemas_. To pronounce the
final _a_ flat, as _Africay_ for _Africa_, is a mark of vulgar ignorance.
OBS. 7.--The vowel _e_ at the end of a word, is generally silent; and, even
when otherwise, it remains single in plurals from this ending; the _es_,
whenever the _e_ is vocal, being sounded _eez_, or like the word _ease_:
as, _apostrophe, apostrophes; epitome, epitomes; simile, similes_. This
class of words being anomalous in respect to pronunciation, some authors
have attempted to reform them, by changing the _e_ to _y_ in the singular,
and writing _ies_ for the plural: as, _apostrophy, apostrophies; epitomy,
epitomies; simily, similies_. A reformation of some sort seems desirable
here, and this has the advantage of being first proposed; but it is not
extensively adopted, and perhaps never will be; for the vowel sound in
question, is not exactly that of the terminations _y_ and _ies_, but one
which seems to require _ee_--a stronger sound than that of _y_, though
similar to it.
OBS. 8.--For nouns ending in open _o_ preceded by a consonant, the regular
method of forming the plural seems to be that of adding _es_; as in
_bilboes, umboes, buboes, calicoes, moriscoes, gambadoes, barricadoes,
fumadoes, carbonadoes, tornadoes, bravadoes, torpedoes, innuendoes,
viragoes, mangoes, embargoes, cargoes, potargoes, echoes, buffaloes,
volcanoes, heroes, negroes, potatoes, manifestoes, mulattoes, stilettoes,
woes_. In words of this class, the _e_ appears to be useful as a means of
preserving the right sound of the _o_; consequently, such of them as are
the most frequently used, have become the most firmly fixed in this
orthography. In practice, however, we find many similar nouns very
frequently, if not uniformly, written with _s_ only; as, _cantos, juntos,
grottos, solos, quartos, octavos, duodecimos, tyros_. So that even the best
scholars seem to have frequently doubted which termination they ought to
regard as the _regular_ one. The whole class includes more than one hundred
words. Some, however, are seldom used in the plural; and others, never.
_Wo_ and _potato_ are sometimes written _woe_ and _potatoe_. This may have
sprung from a notion, that such as have the _e_ in the plural, should have
it also in the singular. But this principle has never been carried out;
and, being repugnant to derivation, it probably never will be. The only
English appellatives that are established in _oe_, are the following
fourteen: seven monosyllables, _doe, foe, roe, shoe, sloe, soe, toe_; and
seven longer words, _rockdoe, aloe, felloe, canoe, misletoe, tiptoe,
diploe_. The last is pronounced _dip'-lo-e_ by Worcester; but Webster,
Bolles, and some others, give it as a word of two syllables only.[142]
OBS. 9.--Established exceptions ought to be enumerated and treated as
exceptions; but it is impossible to remember how to write some scores of
words, so nearly alike as _fumadoes_ and _grenados, stilettoes_ and
_palmettos_, if they are allowed to differ in termination, as these
examples do in Johnson's Dictionary. Nay, for lack of a rule to guide his
pen, even Johnson himself could not remember the orthography of the common
word _mangoes_ well enough to _copy_ it twice without inconsistency. This
may be seen by his example from King, under the words _mango_ and
_potargo_. Since, therefore, either termination is preferable to the
uncertainty which must attend a division of this class of words between the
two; and since _es_ has some claim to the preference, as being a better
index to the sound; I shall make no exceptions to the principle, that
common nouns ending in _o_ preceded by a consonant take _es_ for the
plural. Murray says, "_Nouns which_ end in _o_ have sometimes _es_ added,
to form the plural; as, cargo, echo, hero, negro, manifesto, potato,
volcano, wo: and sometimes only _s_; as, folio, nuncio, punctilio,
seraglio."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 40. This amounts to nothing, unless it is to
be inferred from his _examples_, that others like them in form are to take
_s_ or _es_ accordingly; and this is what I teach, though it cannot be said
that Murray maintains the principle.
OBS. 10.--Proper names of _individuals_, strictly used as such, have no
plural. But when several persons of the same name are spoken of, the noun
becomes in some degree common, and admits of the plural form and an
article; as, "_The Stuarts, the Cæsars_."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 41.
These, however, may still be called _proper nouns_, in parsing; because
they are only inflections, peculiarly applied, of certain names which are
indisputably such. So likewise when such nouns are used to denote
character: as, "_Solomons_, for wise men; _Neros_, for tyrants."--_Ib._
"Here we see it becomes a doubt which of the two _Herculeses_, was the
monster-queller."--_Notes to Pope's Dunciad_, iv, 492. The proper names of
_nations, tribes_, and _societies_, are generally plural; and, except in a
direct address, they are usually construed with the definite article: as,
"_The Greeks, the Athenians, the Jews, the Jesuits_." But such words may
take the singular form with the indefinite article, as often as we have
occasion to speak of an individual of such a people; as, "_A Greek, an
Athenian, a Jew, a Jesuit_." These, too, may be called _proper nouns_;
because they are national, patrial, or tribal names, each referring to some
place or people, and are not appellatives, which refer to actual sorts or
kinds, not considered local.
OBS. 11.--Proper names, when they form the plural, for the most part form
it regularly, by assuming _s_ or _es_ according to the termination: as,
_Carolina_, the _Carolinas_; _James_, the _Jameses_. And those which are
only or chiefly plural, have, or ought to have, such terminations as are
proper to distinguish them as plurals, so that the form for the singular
may be inferred: as, "The _Tungooses_ occupy nearly a third of
Siberia."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 379. Here the singular must certainly be _a
Tungoose_. "The principal tribes are the _Pawnees_, the _Arrapahoes_, and
the _Cumanches_, who roam through the regions of the Platte, the Arkansaw,
and the Norte."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here the singulars may be supposed to be a
_Pawnee_, an _Arrapaho_, and a _Cumanche_. "The Southern or Floridian
family comprised the _Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles_,
and _Natchez_."--_Ib._, p. 179. Here all are regular plurals, except the
last; and this probably ought to be _Natchezes_, but Jefferson spells it
_Natches_, the singular of which I do not know. Sometimes foreign words or
foreign terminations have been improperly preferred to our own; which last
are more intelligible, and therefore better: as, _Esquimaux_, to
_Esquimaus_; _Knistenaux_, to _Knistenaus_, or _Crees; Sioux_, to _Sious_,
or _Dahcotahs; Iroquois_, to _Iroquoys_, or _Hurons_.
OBS. 12.--Respecting the plural of nouns ending in _i, o, u_, or _y_,
preceded by a consonant, there is in present usage much uncertainty. As any
vowel sound may be uttered with an _s_, many writers suppose these letters
to require for plurals strictly regular, the _s_ only; and to take _es_
occasionally, by way of exception. Others, (perhaps with more reason,)
assume, that the most usual, regular, and proper endings for the plural, in
these instances, are _ies, oes, and ues_: as, _alkali, alkalies; halo,
haloes; gnu, gnues; enemy, enemies_. This, I think, is right for common
nouns. How far proper names are to be made exceptions, because they are
proper names, is an other question. It is certain that some of them are not
to be excepted: as, for instance, _Alleghany_, the _Alleghanies_; _Sicily_,
the Two _Sicilies_; _Ptolemy_, the _Ptolemies_; _Jehu_, the _Jehues_. So
the names of tribes; as, The _Missouries_, the _Otoes_, the _Winnebagoes_.
Likewise, the _houries_ and the _harpies_; which words, though not strictly
proper names, are often written with a capital as such. Like these are
_rabbies, cadies, mufties, sophies_, from which some writers omit the _e_.
Johnson, Walker, and others, write _gipsy_ and _gipsies_; Webster, now
writes _Gipsey_ and _Gipseys_; Worcester prefers _Gypsy_, and probably
_Gypsies_: Webster once wrote the plural _gypsies_; (see his _Essays_, p.
333;) and Johnson cites the following line:--
"I, near yon stile, three sallow _gypsies_ met."--_Gay_.
OBS. 13.--Proper names in _o_ are commonly made plural by _s_ only. Yet
there seems to be the same reason for inserting the _e_ in these, as in
other nouns of the same ending; namely, to prevent the _o_ from acquiring a
short sound. "I apprehend," says Churchill, "it has been from an erroneous
notion of proper names being unchangeable, that some, feeling the necessity
of obviating this mispronunciation, have put an apostrophe between the _o_
and the _s_ in the plural, _in stead of an e_; writing _Cato's, Nero's_;
and on a similar principle, _Ajax's, Venus's_; thus using the possessive
case singular for the nominative or objective plural. Harris says very
properly, 'We have our _Marks_ and our _Antonies_: _Hermes_, B. 2, Ch. 4;
for which those would have given us _Mark's_ and _Antony's_."--_New Gram._,
p. 206. Whatever may have been the motive for it, such a use of the
apostrophe is a gross impropriety. "In this quotation, ['From the
Socrates's, the Plato's, and the Confucius's of the age,'] the proper names
should have been pluralized like common nouns; thus, From the _Socrateses_,
the _Platoes_, and the _Confuciuses_ of the age."--_Lennie's Gram._, p.
126; _Bullions's_, 142.
OBS. 14.--The following are some examples of the plurals of proper names,
which I submit to the judgement of the reader, in connexion with the
foregoing observations: "The Romans had their plurals _Marci_ and
_Antonii_, as we in later days have our _Marks_ and our
_Anthonies_."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 40. "There seems to be more reason for
such plurals, as the _Ptolemies, Scipios, Catos_: or, to instance in more
modern names, the _Howards, Pelhams, and Montagues_."--_Ib._, 40. "Near the
family seat of the _Montgomeries_ of Coil's-field."--_Burns's Poems_, Note,
p. 7. "Tryphon, a surname of one of the _Ptolemies_."--_Lempriere's Dict._
"Sixteen of the _Tuberos_, with their wives and children, lived in a small
house."--_Ib._ "What are the _Jupiters_ and _Junos_ of the heathens to such
a God?"--_Burgh's Dignity_, i, 234. "Also when we speak of more than one
person of the same name; as, the _Henries_, the _Edwards_."--_Cobbetts E.
Gram._, ¶ 40. "She was descended from the _Percies_ and the
_Stanleys_."--_Loves of the Poets_, ii, 102. "Naples, or the _Two
Sicilies_."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 273. The word _India_, commonly makes the
plural _Indies_, not _Indias_; and, for _Ajaxes_, the poets write _Ajaces_.
But Richard Hiley says, "Proper nouns, when pluralized, follow the same
rules as common nouns; as, Venus, the _Venuses_; Ajax, the _Ajaxes_; Cato,
the _Catoes_; Henry, the _Henries_."--_Hiley's E. Gram._, p. 18.
"He ev'ry day from King to King can walk,
Of all our _Harries_, all our Edwards talk."--_Pope's Satires_, iv.
OBS. 15.--When a name and a title are to be used together in a plural
sense, many persons are puzzled to determine whether the name, or the
title, or both, should be in the plural form. For example--in speaking of
two young ladies whose family name is Bell--whether to call them the _Miss
Bells_, the _Misses Bell_, or the _Misses Bells_. To an inquiry on this
point, a learned editor, who prefers the last, lately gave his answer thus:
"There are two young ladies; of course they are 'the Misses.' Their name is
Bell; of course there are two 'Bells.' Ergo, the correct phrase, in
speaking of them, is--'the Misses Bells.'"--_N. Y. Com. Adv_. This puts the
words in apposition; and there is no question, that it is _formally_
correct. But still it is less agreeable to the ear, less frequently heard,
and less approved by grammarians, than the first phrase; which, if we may
be allowed to assume that the two words may be taken together as a sort of
compound, is correct also. Dr. Priestley says, "When a name has a title
prefixed to it, as _Doctor, Miss, Master_, &c., the plural termination
affects only the latter of the two words; as, 'The two _Doctor
Nettletons_'--'The two _Miss Thomsons_;' though a strict analogy would
plead for the alteration of the former word, and lead us to say, 'The two
_Doctors Nettleton_'--'The two _Misses Thomson_.'"--_Priestley's Gram._, p.
59. The following quotations show the opinions of some other grammarians:
"Two or more nouns in concordance, and forming one complex name, or a name
and a title, have the plural termination annexed to the last only; as, 'The
_Miss Smiths_'--'The three _Doctor Simpsons_'--'The two _Master
Wigginses_.' With a few exceptions, and those not parallel to the examples
just given, we almost uniformly, in complex names, confine the inflection
to the last or the latter noun."--_Dr. Crombie_. The foregoing opinion from
Crombie, is quoted and seconded by Maunder, who adds the following
examples: "Thus, Dr. Watts: 'May there not be _Sir Isaac Newtons_ in every
science?'--'You must not suppose that the world is made up of _Lady Aurora
Granvilles_.'"--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 2.
OBS. 16.--These writers do not seem to accord with W. L. Stone, the editor
above quoted, nor would his reasoning apply well to several of their
examples. Yet both opinions are right, if neither be carried too far. For
when the words are in apposition, rather than in composition, the first
name or title must be made plural, if it refers to more than one: as, "The
_Misses Bell and Brown_,"--"_Messrs. Lambert and Son_,"--"The _Lords
Calthorpe and Erskine_,"--"The _Lords Bishops_ of Durham and St.
David's,"--"The _Knights Hospitalers_,"--"The _Knights Templars_,"--"The
_Knights Baronets_." But this does not prove the other construction, which
varies the last word only, to be irregular; and, if it did, there is
abundant authority for it. Nor is that which varies the first only, to be
altogether condemned, though Dr. Priestley is unquestionably wrong
respecting the "_strict analogy_" of which he speaks. The joining of a
plural title to one singular noun, as, "_Misses Roy_,"--"_The Misses
Bell_,"--"_The two Misses Thomson_," produces a phrase which is in itself
the _least analogous_ of the three; but, "_The Misses Jane and Eliza
Bell_," is a phrase which nobody perhaps will undertake to amend. It
appears, then, that each of these forms of expression may be right in some
cases; and each of them may be wrong, if improperly substituted for either
of the others.
OBS. 17.--The following statements, though erroneous in several
particulars, will show the opinions of some other grammarians, upon the
foregoing point: "Proper nouns have the plural only when they refer to a
race or family; as, _The Campbells_; or to several persons of the same
name; as, _The eight Henrys; the two Mr. Sells; the two Miss Browns_; or,
without the numeral, _the Miss Roys._ But in addressing letters in which
both or all are equally concerned, and also when the names are different,
we pluralize the _title_, (Mr. or Miss,) and write, _Misses_ Brown;
_Misses_ Roy; _Messrs_, (for Messieurs, Fr.) Guthrie and Tait."_--Lennie's
Gram._, p. 7. "If we wish to distinguish the _unmarried_ from the _married_
Howards, we call them _the Miss Howards._ If we wish to distinguish these
Misses from other Misses, we call them the _Misses Howard_."--_Fowle's
Gram._ "To distinguish several persons of the same name and family from
others of a different name and family, the _title_, and not the _proper
name_, is varied to express the distinction; as, the _Misses_ Story, the
_Messrs._ Story. The elliptical meaning is, the Misses and Messrs, _who are
named_ Story. To distinguish _unmarried_ from _married_ ladies, _the proper
name_, and not the _title_, should be varied; as, the _Miss_ Clarks. When
we mention more than one person of different names, the title should be
expressed before each; as, _Miss_ Burns, _Miss_ Parker, and _Miss_
Hopkinson, were present."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 79. In the following
examples from Pope's Works, the last word only is varied: "He paragons
himself to two _Lord Chancellors_ for law."--Vol. iii, p. 61. "Yearly
panegyrics upon the _Lord Mayors_."--_Ib._, p. 83.
"Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris
Of wrongs from Duchesses and _Lady Maries_."_--Dunciad_, B. ii, L 135.
OBS. 18.--The following eleven nouns in _f_, change the _f_ into _v_ and
assume _es_ for the plural: _sheaf, sheaves; leaf, leaves; loaf, loaves;
leaf, beeves; thief, thieves; calf, calves; half, halves; elf, elves;
shelf, shelves; self, selves; wolf, wolves_. Three others in _fe_ are
similar: _life, lives; knife, knives; wife, wives._ These are specific
exceptions to the general rule for plurals, and not a series of examples
coming under a particular rule; for, contrary to the instructions of nearly
all our grammarians, there are more than twice as many words of the same
endings, which take _s_ only: as, _chiefs, kerchiefs, handkerchiefs,
mischiefs, beliefs, misbeliefs, reliefs, bassreliefs, briefs, feifs,
griefs, clefs, semibrefs, oafs, waifs, coifs, gulfs, hoofs, roofs, proofs,
reproofs, woofs, califs, turfs, scarfs, dwarfs, wharfs, fifes, strifes,
safes._ The plural of _wharf_ is sometimes written _wharves_; but perhaps
as frequently, and, if so, more accurately, _wharfs_. Examples and
authorities: "_Wharf, wharfs_."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 80; _Ward's_, 24;
_Goar's_, 26; _Lennie's_, 7; _Bucke's_, 39. "There were not in London so
many _wharfs_, or _keys_, for the landing of merchants' goods."--CHILD: _in
Johnson's Dict._ "The _wharfs_ of Boston are also worthy of
notice."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 37. "Between banks thickly clad with
dwelling-houses, manufactories, and _wharfs_."_--London Morn. Chronicle_,
1833. Nouns in _ff_ take _s_ only; as, _skiffs, stuffs, gaffs_. But the
plural of _staff_ has hitherto been generally written _staves_; a puzzling
and useless anomaly, both in form and sound: for all the compounds of
_staff_ are regular; as, _distaffs, whipstaffs, tipstaffs, flagstaffs,
quarterstaffs_; and _staves_ is the regular plural of _stave_, a word now
in very common use with a different meaning, as every cooper and every
musician knows. _Staffs_ is now sometimes used; as, "I saw the husbandmen
bending over their _staffs_."--_Lord Carnarvon_. "With their _staffs_ in
their hands for very age."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 16. "To distinguish
between the two _staffs_."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 43. In one instance,
I observe, a very excellent scholar has written _selfs_ for _selves_, but
the latter is the established plural of _self_:
"Self-love would cease, or be dilated, when
We should behold as many _selfs_ as men."_--Waller's Poems_, p. 55.