OBS. 7.--An active-intransitive or a neuter participle in _ing_, when

governed by a preposition, is often followed by a noun or a pronoun the

case of which depends not on the preposition, but on the case which goes

before. Example: "The _Jews_ were in a particular manner ridiculed _for

being_ a credulous _people_."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 28. Here _people_

is in the nominative case, agreeing with _Jews_. Again: "The learned pagans

ridiculed the _Jews_ for _being_ a credulous _people_." Here _people_ is in

the objective case, because the preceding noun _Jews_ is so. In both

instances the preposition _for_ governs the participle _being_, and nothing

else. "The atrocious crime of _being_ a young _man_, I shall neither

attempt to palliate _or_ deny."--PITT: _Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 82; _S. S.

Greene's_, 174. Sanborn has this text, with "_nor_" for

"_or_."--_Analytical Gram._, p. 190. This example has been erroneously

cited, as one in which the case of the noun after the participle is _not

determined_ by its relation to any other word. Sanborn absurdly supposes it

to be "in the _nominative independent_." Bullions as strangely tells us,

"it may correctly be called the _objective indefinite_"--like _me_ in the

following example: "He was not sure of _its being me_."--_Bullions's E.

Gram._, p. 82. This latter text I take to be _bad English_. It should be,

"He was not sure _of it as being me_;" or, "He was not sure _that it was

I."_ But, in the text above, there is an evident transposition. The

syntactical order is this: "_I_ shall neither deny _nor_ attempt to

palliate the atrocious crime of being a young _man_." The words _man_ and

_I_ refer to the same person, and are therefore in the same case, according

to the rule which I have given above.

OBS. 8.--S. S. Greene, in his late Grammar, improperly denominates this

case after the participle _being_, "the _predicate-nominative_," and

imagines that it necessarily remains a nominative even when the possessive

case precedes the participle. If he were right in this, there would be an

important exception to Rule 6th above. But so singularly absurd is his

doctrine about "_abridged predicates_," that in general the _abridging_

shows an _increase_ of syllables, and often a conversion of good English

into bad. For example: "_It_ [the predicate] remains _unchanged in the

nominative_, when, with the participle of the copula, _it_ becomes _a

verbal noun_, limited by the possessive case of the subject; as, 'That he

was a foreigner prevented his election,'='_His_ being a _foreigner_

prevented his election.'"--_Greene's Analysis_, p. 169. Here the number of

syllables is unaltered; but _foreigner_ is very improperly called "a verbal

noun," and an example which only lacks a comma, is changed to what Wells

rightly calls an "_anomalous expression_," and one wherein that author

supposes _foreigner_ and _his_ to be necessarily in the same case. But

Greene varies this example into other "_abridged forms_," thus: "I knew

_that he was a foreigner_," = "I knew _his being_, or _of his being a

foreigner_." "The fact _that he was a foreigner_, = _of his being a

foreigner_, was undeniable." "_When he was first called a foreigner_, = _on

his being first called a foreigner_, his anger was excited."--_Ib._, p.

171. All these changes _enlarge_, rather than abridge, the expression; and,

at the same time, make it questionable English, to say the least of it.

OBS. 9.--In some examples, the adverb _there_ precedes the participle, and

we evidently have nothing by which to determine the case that follows; as,

"These judges were twelve in number. Was this _owing to there being_

twelve primary _deities_ among the Gothic nations?"--_Webster's Essays_, p.

263. Say rather: "Was this _because there were_ twelve primary deities

among the Gothic nations?" "How many are injured by Adam's fall, that know

nothing of _there ever being_ such a man in the world!"--_Barclay's

Apology_, p. 185. Say rather,--"_who know not that there ever was_ such a

man in the world!"

OBS. 10.--In some other examples, we find a possessive before the

participle, and a doubtful case after it; as, "This our Saviour himself was

pleased to make use of as the strongest argument of _his_ being the

promised _Messiah_"--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 81. "But my chief affliction

consisted in _my_ being singled out from all the other boys, by a lad about

fifteen years of age, as a proper _object_ upon whom he might let loose the

cruelty of his temper."--_Cowper's Memoir_, p. 13. "[Greek: Tou patros

[ontos] onou euthus hypemnæsthæ]. He had some sort of recollection of his

_father's_ being an ass"--_Collectanea Græca Minora, Notæ_, p. 7. This

construction, though not uncommon, is anomalous in more respects than one.

Whether or not it is worthy to form an exception to the rule of _same

cases_, or even to that of _possessives_, the reader may judge from the

observations made on it under the latter. I should rather devise some way

to avoid it, if any can be found--and I believe there can; as, "This our

Saviour himself was pleased to _advance_ as the strongest _proof that he

was_ the promised Messiah."--"But my chief affliction consisted in _this,

that I was_ singled out," &c. The story of the mule is, "_He seemed to

recollect on a sudden that his father was an ass_." This is the proper

meaning of the Greek text above; but the construction is different, the

Greek nouns being genitives in apposition.

OBS. 11.--A noun in the nominative case sometimes follows a finite verb,

when the equivalent subject that stands before the verb, is not a noun or

pronoun, but a phrase or a sentence which supplies the place of a

nominative; as, "That the barons and freeholders derived their authority

from kings, is wholly a _mistake_."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 277. "To speak

of a slave as a member of civil society, may, by some, be regarded a

_solecism_."--_Stroud's Sketch_, p. 65. Here _mistake_ and _solecism_ are

as plainly nominatives, as if the preceding subjects had been declinable

words.

OBS. 12.--When a noun is put after an abstract infinitive that is not

transitive, it appears necessarily to be in the objective case,[360] though

not governed by the verb; for if we supply any noun to which such

infinitive may be supposed to refer, it must be introduced before the verb

by the preposition _for_: as, "To be an _Englishman_ in London, a

_Frenchman_ in Paris, a _Spaniard_ in Madrid, is no easy matter; and yet it

is necessary."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p. 89. That is, "_For a

traveller_ to be an _Englishman_ in London," &c. "It is certainly as easy

to be a _scholar_, as a _gamester_."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 425. That is,

"It is as easy _for a young man_ to be a _scholar, as it is for him to be a

gamester_." "To be an eloquent _speaker_, in the proper sense of the

_word_, is far from being a common or easy _attainment._"--_Blair's Rhet._,

p. 337. Here _attainment_ is in the nominative, after _is_--or, rather

after _being_, for it follows both; and _speaker_, in the objective after

_to be_. "It is almost as hard a thing [for a _man_] to be a poet in

despite of fortune, as it is [for _one_ to be a _poet_] in despite of

nature."--_Cowley's Preface to his Poems_, p. vii.

OBS. 13.--Where precision is necessary, loose or abstract infinitives are

improper; as, "But _to be precise_, signifies, that _they_ express _that

idea_, and _no more_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94; _Murray's Gram._, 301;

_Jamieson's Rhet._, 64. Say rather: "But, _for an author's words to be

precise_, signifies, that they express _his exact_ idea, and _nothing_ more

_or less_."

OBS. 14.--The principal verbs that take the same case after as before them,

except those which are passive, are the following: to be, to stand, to sit,

to lie, to live, to grow, to become, to turn, to commence, to die, to

expire, to come, to go, to range, to wander, to return, to seem, to appear,

to remain, to continue, to reign. There are doubtless some others, which

admit of such a construction; and of some of these, it is to be observed,

that they are sometimes transitive, and govern the objective: as, "To

_commence_ a suit."--_Johnson_. "O _continue_ thy loving kindness unto

them."--_Psalms_, xxxvi, 10. "A feather will _turn_ the scale."--_Shak._

"_Return_ him a trespass offering."--_1 Samuel_. "For it _becomes_ me so to

speak."--_Dryden_. But their construction with like cases is easily

distinguished by the sense; as, "When _I_ commenced _author_, my aim was to

amuse."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 286. "_Men_ continue men's

_destroyers_."--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 56. "'Tis most just, that thou turn

rascal"--_Shak., Timon of Athens_. "He went out _mate_, but _he_ returned

_captain_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 182. "After this event _he_ became

_physician_ to the king."--_Ib._ That is, "When I _began to be_ an author,"

&c.

"Ev'n mean _self-love_ becomes, by force divine,

The _scale_ to measure others' wants by thine."--_Pope_.

OBS. 15.--The common instructions of our English grammars, in relation to

the subject of the preceding rule, are exceedingly erroneous and defective.

For example: "The verb TO BE, has _always_ a nominative case after it,

_unless it be_ in the infinitive mode."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 77. "The verb

TO BE _requires_ the same case after it as before it."--_Churchill's

Gram._, p. 142. "The verb TO BE, through all its variations, _has_ the same

case after it, _expressed or understood_, as _that_ which _next_ precedes

it."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 181; _Alger's_, 62; _Merchant's_, 91;

_Putnam's_, 116; _Smith's_, 97; and many others. "The verb TO BE has

_usually_ the same case after it, as that which _immediately_ precedes

it."--_Hall's Gram._, p. 31. "_Neuter verbs have_ the same case after them,

as that which _next_ precedes them."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 14. "Passive

verbs _which signify naming_, and others of a _similar nature_, have the

same case _before and after_ them."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 182. "A Noun or

Pronoun used in predication with a verb, is in the Independent Case.

EXAMPLES--'Thou art a _scholar_.' 'It is _I_.' 'God is _love_.'"--_S. W.

Clark's Pract. Gram._, p. 149. So many and monstrous are the faults of

these rules, that nothing but very learned and reverend authority, could

possibly impose such teaching anywhere. The first, though written by Lowth,

is not a whit wiser than to say, "The preposition _to_ has _always_ an

infinitive mood after it, _unless it be_ a preposition." And this latter

absurdity is even a better rule for all infinitives, than the former for

all predicated nominatives. Nor is there much more fitness in any of the

rest. "The verb TO BE, _through all_," or even _in any_, of its parts, has

neither "_always_" nor _usually_ a case "_expressed_ or _understood_" after

it; and, even when there is a noun or a pronoun put after it, the case is,

in very many instances, not to be determined by that which "_next_" or

"_immediately_" precedes the verb. Examples: "A _sect of freethinkers_ is a

_sum_ of ciphers."--_Bentley_. "And _I_ am this _day_ weak, though anointed

_king_."--_2 Sam._, iii, 39. "_What_ made _Luther_ a great _man_, was _his_

unshaken _reliance_ on God."--_Kortz's Life of Luther_, p. 13. "The devil

offers his service; _He_ is sent with a positive _commission_ to be a lying

_spirit_ in the mouth of all the prophets."--_Calvin's Institutes_, p. 131.

It is perfectly certain that in these four texts, the words _sum, king,

reliance_, and _spirit_, are _nominatives_, after the verb or participle;

and not _objectives_, as they must be, if there were any truth in the

common assertion, "that the two cases, which, in the construction of the

sentence, are _the next_ before and after it, must always be

alike."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 98. Not only may the nominative before the

verb be followed by an objective, but the nominative after it may be

preceded by a possessive; as, "Amos, the herdsman of _Tekoa_, was not a

_prophet's_ son."--"It is the _king's_ chapel, and it is the _king's_

court."--_Amos_, vii, 13. How ignorant then must that person be, who cannot

see the falsity of the instructions above cited! How careless the reader

who overlooks it!

NOTES TO RULE VI.

NOTE I.--The putting of a noun in an unknown case after a participle or a

participial noun, produces an anomaly which it seems better to avoid; for

the cases ought to be _clear_, even in exceptions to the common rules of

construction. Examples: (1.) "WIDOWHOOD, _n._ The state _of being a

widow_."--_Webster's Dict._ Say rather, "WIDOWHOOD, _n._ The state of a

widow."--_Johnson, Walker, Worcester_. (2.) "I had a suspicion of the

_fellow's_ being a _swindler_/" Say rather, "I had a suspicion _that the

fellow was a swindler_." (3.) "To prevent _its_ being a dry _detail_ of

terms."--_Buck_. Better, "To prevent it _from_ being a dry detail of

terms." [361]

NOTE II.--The nominative which follows a verb or participle, ought to

accord in signification, either literally or figuratively, with the

preceding term which is taken for a sign of the same thing. Errors: (1.)

"_To be convicted_ of bribery, was then a crime altogether

unpardonable."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 265. To be convicted of a crime, is not

the crime itself; say, therefore, "_Bribery_ was then a _crime_ altogether

unpardonable." (2.) "The second person is the _object_ of the

Imperative."--_Murray's Gram., Index_, ii, 292. Say rather, "The second

person is the _subject_ of the imperative;" for the _object_ of a verb is

the word governed by it, and not its nominative.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VI.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF PROPER IDENTITY.

"Who would not say, 'If it be _me_,' rather than, If it be

_I_?"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 105.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the

pronoun _me_,--which comes after the neuter verb _be_, is in the objective

case, and does not agree with the pronoun _it_, the verb's nominative,[362]

which refers to the same thing. But, according to Rule 6th, "A noun or a

pronoun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with

a preceding noun or pronoun referring to the same thing." Therefore, _me_

should be _I_; thus, "Who would not say, 'If it be _I_,' rather than, 'If

it be _me_?'"]

"Who is there? It is me."--_Priestley, ib._, p. 104. "It is him."--_Id.,

ib._, 104. "Are these the houses you were speaking of? Yes, they are

them."--_Id., ib._, 104. "It is not me you are in love with."--_Addison's

Spect._, No. 290; _Priestley's Gram._, p. 104; and _Campbell's Rhet._, p.

203. "It cannot be me."--SWIFT: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 104. "To that which

once was thee."--PRIOR: _ib._, 104. "There is but one man that she can

have, and that is me."--CLARISSA: _ib._, 104. "We enter, as it were, into

his body, and become, in some measure, him."--ADAM SMITH: _ib._, p. 105.

"Art thou proud yet? Ay, that I am not thee."--_Shak., Timon_. "He knew not

whom they were."--_Milnes, Greek Gram._, p. 234. "Who do you think me to

be?"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 108. "Whom do men say that I, the Son of man,

am?"--_Matt._, xvi, 13. "But whom say ye that I am?"--_Ib._, xvi,

15.--"Whom think ye that I am? I am not he."--_Acts_, xiii, 25. "No; I am

mistaken; I perceive it is not the person whom I supposed it was."--_Winter

in London_, ii, 66. "And while it is Him I serve, life is not without

value."--_Zenobia_, i, 76. "Without ever dreaming it was him."--_Life of

Charles XII_, p. 271. "Or he was not the illiterate personage whom he

affected to be."--_Montgomery's Lect._ "Yet was he him, who was to be the

greatest apostle of the Gentiles."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 540. "Sweet was

the thrilling ecstacy; I know not if 'twas love, or thee."--_Queen's

Wake_, p. 14. "Time was, when none would cry, that oaf was me."--_Dryden,

Prol._ "No matter where the vanquish'd be, nor whom."--_Rowe's Lucan_, B.

i, l. 676. "No, I little thought it had been him."--_Life of Oration_.

"That reverence and godly fear, whose object is 'Him who can destroy both

body and soul in hell.'"--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 312. "It is us that they

seek to please, or rather to astonish."--_West's Letters_, p. 28. "Let the

same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac."--_Gen._, xxiv,

14. "Although I knew it to be he."--_Dickens's Notes_, p. 9. "Dear gentle

youth, is't none but thee?"--_Dorset's Poems_, p. 4. "Whom do they say it

is?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, §493.

"These are her garb, not her; they but express

Her form, her semblance, her appropriate dress."--_Hannah More_.

UNDER NOTE I.--THE CASE DOUBTFUL.

"I had no knowledge of there being any connexion between them."--_Stone, on

Freemasonry_, p. 25. "To promote iniquity in others, is nearly the same as

being the actors of it ourselves."--_Murray's Key_, p. 170. "It must arise

from feeling delicately ourselves."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 330; _Murray's

Gram._, 248. "By reason of there not having been exercised a competent

physical power for their enforcement."--_Mass. Legislature_, 1839.

"PUPILAGE, _n._ The state of being a scholar."--_Johnson, Walker, Webster,

Worcester_. "Then the other part's being the definition would make it

include all verbs of every description."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 343.

"John's being my friend,[363] saved me from inconvenience."--_Ib._, p. 201.

"William's having become a judge, changed his whole demeanor."--_Ib._, p.

201. "William's having been a teacher, was the cause of the interest which

he felt."--_Ib._, p. 216. "The being but one among many stifleth the

chidings of conscience."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 131. "As for its being

esteemed a close translalation [sic--KTH], I doubt not many have been led

into that error by the shortness of it."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "All

presumption of death's being the destruction of living beings, must go upon

supposition that they are compounded, and so discerptible."--_Butler's

Analogy_, p. 63. "This argues rather their being proper

names."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 382. "But may it not be retorted, that its

being a gratification is that which excites our resentment?"--_Campbell's

Rhet._, p. 145. "Under the common notion, of its being a system of the

whole poetical art."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 401. "Whose time or other

circumstances forbid their becoming classical scholars."--_Literary

Convention_, p. 113. "It would preclude the notion of his being a merely

fictitious personage."--_Philological Museum_, i, 446. "For, or under

pretence of their being heretics or infidels."--_The Catholic Oath_; Geo.

III, 31st. "We may here add Dr. Home's sermon on Christ's being the Object

of religious Adoration."--_Relig. World_, Vol. ii, p. 200. "To say nothing

of Dr. Priestley's being a strenuous advocate," &c.--_Ib._, ii, 207. "By

virtue of Adam's being their public head."--_Ib._, ii, 233. "Objections

against there being any such moral plan as this."--_Butler's Analogy_, p.

57. "A greater instance of a man's being a blockhead."--_Spect._, No. 520.

"We may insure or promote its being a happy state of existence to

ourselves."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 86. "By its often falling a victim to

the same kind of unnatural treatment."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 41.

"Their appearing foolishness is no presumption against this."--_Butler's

Analogy_, p. 189. "But what arises from their being offences; _i. e_. from

their being liable to be perverted."--_Ib._, p. 185. "And he entered into a

certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God."--_Acts_,

xviii, 7.

UNDER NOTE II.--OF FALSE IDENTIFICATION.

"But to be popular, he observes, is an ambiguous word."--_Blair's Rhet._,

p. 307. "The infinitive mood, or part of a sentence, is often the

nominative case to a verb."--_L. Murray's Index, Octavo Gram._, Vol. ii, p.

290. "When any person, in speaking, introduces his own name, it is the

first person; as, 'I, James, of the city of Boston.'"--_R. C. Smith's New

Gram._, p. 43. "The name of the person spoken to, is the second person; as,

'James, come to me.'"--_Ibid._ "The name of the person or thing spoken of,

or about, is the third person; as, 'James has come.'"--_Ibid._ "The object

[of a passive verb] is always its subject or nominative case."--_Ib._, p.

62. "When a noun is in the nominative case to an active verb, it is the

actor."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 44. "And the person commanded, is its

nominative."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 120. "The first person is that who

speaks."--_Pasquier's Lévizac_, p. 91. "The Conjugation of a Verb is its

different variations or inflections throughout the Moods and

Tenses."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 80. "The first person is the speaker. The

second person is the one spoken to. The third person is the one spoken

of."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part i, p. 6; _Hiley's_, 18. "The first

person is the one that speaks, or the speaker."--_Sanborn's Gram._, pp. 23

and 75. "The second person is the one that is spoken to, or

addressed."--_Ibid._ "The third person is the one that is spoken of, or

that is the topic of conversation."--_Ibid._ "_I_, is the first person

Singular. _We_, is the first person Plural."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 51;

_Alger's, Ingersoll's_, and _many others_. "_Thou_, is the second person

Singular. _Ye_ or _you_, is the second person Plural."--_Ibid._ "_He, she_,

or _it_, is the third person Singular. _They_, is the third person

Plural."--_Ibid._ "The nominative case is the actor, or subject of the

verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 43. "The noun _John_ is the actor, therefore

John is in the nominative case."--_Ibid._ "The actor is always the

nominative case."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 62. "The nominative case is

always the agent or actor."--_Mack's Gram._, p. 67. "Tell the part of

speech each name is."--_J. Flint's Gram._, p. 6. "What number is _boy_?

Why? What number is _pens_? Why?"--_Ib._, p. 27. "The speaker is the first

person, the person spoken to, the second person, and the person or thing

spoken of, is the third person."--_Ib._, p. 26. "What nouns are masculine

gender? All males are masculine gender."--_Ib._, p. 28. "An interjection is

a sudden emotion of the mind."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 62.

RULE VII.--OBJECTIVES.

A Noun or a Pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by it in

the objective case: as, "The temple of _fame_ stands upon the _grave_: the

flame that burns upon its _altars_, is kindled from the _ashes_ of great

_men_"--_Hazlitt_.

"Life is His gift, from _whom_ whate'er life needs, With ev'ry good and

perfect _gift_, proceeds."--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 95.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VII.

OBS. 1.--To this rule there are no exceptions; for prepositions, in

English, govern no other case than the objective.[364] But the learner

should observe that most of our prepositions may take the _imperfect

participle_ for their object, and some, the _pluperfect_, or _preperfect_;

as, "_On opening_ the trial they accused him _of having defrauded_

them."--"A quick wit, a nice judgment, &c., could not raise this man _above

being received_ only upon the foot _of contributing_ to mirth and

diversion."--_Steele_. And the preposition _to_ is often followed by an

_infinitive verb_; as, "When one sort of wind is said _to whistle_, and an

other _to roar_; when a serpent is said _to hiss_, a fly _to buzz_, and

falling timber _to crash_; when a stream is said _to flow_, and hail _to

rattle_; the analogy between the word and the thing signified, is plainly

discernible."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. But let it not be supposed that

participles or infinitives, when they are governed by prepositions, are

therefore in the _objective case_; for case is no attribute of either of

these classes of words: they are indeclinable in English, whatever be the

relations they assume. They are governed _as participles_, or _as

infinitives_, and not _as cases_. The mere fact of government is so far

from _creating_ the modification governed, that it necessarily presupposes

it to exist, and that it is something cognizable in etymology.

OBS. 2.--The brief assertion, that, "Prepositions govern the objective

case," which till very lately our grammarians have universally adopted as

their sole rule for both terms, the governing and the governed,--the

preposition and its object,--is, in respect to both, somewhat

exceptionable, being but partially and lamely applicable to either. It

neither explains the connecting nature of the preposition, nor applies to

all objectives, nor embraces all the terms which a preposition may govern.

It is true, that prepositions, when they introduce declinable words, or

words that have cases, always govern the objective; but the rule is liable

to be misunderstood, and is in fact often misapplied, as if it meant

something more than this. Besides, in no other instance do grammarians

attempt to parse both the governing word and the governed, by one and the

same rule. I have therefore placed the _objects_ of this government here,

where they belong in the order of the parts of speech, expressing the rule

in such terms as cannot be mistaken; and have also given, in its proper

place, a distinct rule for the construction of the preposition itself. See

Rule 23d.

OBS. 3.--Prepositions are sometimes _elliptically_ construed with

_adjectives_, the real object of the relation being thought to be some

objective noun understood: as, _in vain, in secret, at first, on high_; i.

e. _in a vain manner, in secret places, at the first time, on high places_.

Such phrases usually imply time, place, degree, or manner, and are

equivalent to adverbs. In parsing, the learner may supply the ellipsis.

OBS. 4.--In some phrases, a preposition seems to govern a _perfect

participle_; but these expressions are perhaps rather to be explained as

being elliptical: as, "To give it up _for lost_;"--"To take that _for

granted_ which is disputed."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 109. That is,

perhaps, "To give it up for _a thing_ lost;"--"To take that for _a thing_

granted," &c. In the following passage the words _ought_ and _should_ are

employed in such a manner that it is difficult to say to what part of

speech they belong: "It is that very character of _ought_ and _should_

which makes justice a law to us; and the same character is applicable to

propriety, though perhaps more faintly than to justice."--_Kames, El. of

Crit._, Vol. i, p. 286. The meaning seems to be, "It is that very character

of _being owed_ and _required, that_ makes justice a law to us;" and this

mode of expression, as it is more easy to be _parsed_, is perhaps more

grammatical than his Lordship's. But, as preterits are sometimes put by

_enallage_ for participles, a reference of them to this figure may afford a

mode of explanation in parsing, whenever they are introduced by a

preposition, and not by a nominative: as, "A kind of conquest Cæsar made

here; but made not here his brag Of, _came_, and _saw_, and

_overcame_"--_Shak., Cymb._, iii, 1. That is,--"of _having come_, and

_seen_, and _overcome_." Here, however, by assuming that a _sentence_ is

the object of the preposition, we may suppose the pronoun _I_ to be

understood, as _ego_ is in the bulletin referred to, "_Veni, vidi, vici_."

For, as a short sentence is sometimes made the subject of a verb, so is it

sometimes made the object of a preposition; as,

"Earth's highest station ends _in, 'here he lies;'_

And '_dust to dust_,' concludes her noblest song."--_Young_.

OBS. 5.--In some instances, prepositions precede _adverbs_; as, _at once,

at unawares, from thence, from above, till now, till very lately, for once,

for ever_. Here the adverb, though an indeclinable word, appears to be made

_the object_ of the preposition. It is in fact used substantively, and

governed by the preposition. The term _forever_ is often written as one

word, and, as such, is obviously an adverb. The rest are what some writers

would call _adverbial phrases_; a term not very consistent with itself, or

with the true idea of _parsing_. If different parts of speech are to be

taken together as having the nature of an adverb, they ought rather to

coalesce and be united; for the verb to _parse_, being derived from the

Latin _pars_, a _part_, implies in general a distinct recognition of the

elements or words of every phrase or sentence.

OBS. 6.--Nouns of _time, measure, distance_, or _value_, have often so

direct a relation to verbs or adjectives, that the prepositions which are

supposed to govern them, are usually suppressed; as, "We rode _sixty miles_

that day." That is,--"_through_ sixty miles _on_ that day." "The country is

not a _farthing_ richer."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 122. That is,--"richer

_by_ a farthing." "The error has been copied _times_ without

number."--_Ib._, p. 281. That is,--"_on_ or _at_ times _innumerable_." "A

row of columns _ten feet_ high, and a row _twice that height_, require

different proportions." _Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 344. That is,--"high

_to_ ten feet," and, "a row _of_ twice that height." "_Altus sex pedes_,

High _on_ or _at_ six feet."--_Dr. Murray's Hist of Europ. Lang._, ii, 150.

All such nouns are in the _objective case_, and, in parsing them, the

learner may supply the ellipsis;[365] or, perhaps it might be as well, to

say, as do B. H. Smart and some others, that the noun is an objective of

time, measure, or value, taken _adverbially_, and relating directly to the

verb or adjective qualified by it. Such expressions as, "A board of six

feet _long_,"--"A boy _of_ twelve years _old_," are wrong. Either strike

out the _of_, or say, "A board of six feet _in length_,"--"A boy of twelve

years _of age_;" because this preposition is not suited to the adjective,

nor is the adjective fit to qualify the time or measure.

OBS. 7.--After the adjectives _like, near_, and _nigh_, the preposition

_to_ or _unto_ is often understood;[366] as, "It is _like_ [_to_ or _unto_]

silver."--_Allen_. "How _like_ the former."--_Dryden_. "_Near_ yonder

copse."--_Goldsmith_. "_Nigh_ this recess."--_Garth_. As similarity and

proximity are _relations_, and not _qualities_, it might seem proper to

call _like, near_, and _nigh_, prepositions; and some grammarians have so

classed the last two. Dr. Johnson seems to be inconsistent in calling

_near_ a preposition, in the phrase, "_So near_ thy heart," and an

adjective, in the phrase, "Being _near_ their master." See his _Quarto

Dict._ I have not placed them with the prepositions, for the following four

reasons: (1.) Because they are sometimes _compared_; (2.) Because they

sometimes have _adverbs_ evidently relating to them; (3.) Because the

preposition _to_ or _unto_ is sometimes expressed after them; and (4.)

Because the words which _usually_ stand for them in the learned languages,

are clearly _adjectives_.[367] But _like_, when it expresses similarity of

_manner_, and _near_ and _nigh_, when they express proximity of _degree_,

are _adverbs_.

OBS. 8.--The word _worth_ is often followed by an objective, or a

participle, which it appears to govern; as, "If your arguments produce no

conviction, they are _worth_ nothing to me."--_Beattie_. "To reign is

_worth_ ambition."--_Milton_. "This is life indeed, life _worth_

preserving."--_Addison_. It is not easy to determine to what part of speech

_worth_ here belongs. Dr. Johnson calls it an _adjective_, but says nothing

of the _object_ after it, which some suppose to be governed by _of_

understood. In this supposition, it is gratuitously assumed, that _worth_

is equivalent to _worthy_, after which _of_ should be expressed; as,

"Whatsoever is _worthy of_ their love, is _worth_ their anger."--_Denham_.

But as _worth_ appears to have no certain characteristic of an adjective,

some call it a _noun_, and suppose a double ellipsis; as, "'My knife is

worth a shilling;' i. e. 'My knife is _of the_ worth of a

shilling.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 163. "'The book is worth that sum;' that

is, 'The book is (_the_) worth (_of_) that _sum_;' 'It is worth _while_;'

that is, 'It is (_the_) worth (_of the_) while.'"--_Nixon's Parser_, p. 54.

This is still less satisfactory;[368] and as the whole appears to be mere

guess-work, I see no good reason why _worth_ is not a _preposition_,

governing the noun or participle.[369] If an _adverb_ precede _worth_, it

may as well be referred to the foregoing verb, as when it occurs before any

other preposition: as, "It _is richly worth_ the money."--"It _lies

directly before_ your door." Or if we admit that an adverb sometimes

relates to this word, the same thing may be as true of other prepositions;

as, "And this is a lesson which, to the greatest part of mankind, is, I

think, _very well worth_ learning."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 303. "He sees let

down from the ceiling, _exactly over_ his head, a glittering sword, hung by

a single hair."--_Murray's E. Reader_, p. 33. See Exception 3d to Rule

21st.

OBS. 9.--Both Dr. Johnson and Horne Tooke, (who never agreed if they could

help it,) unite in saying that _worth_, in the phrases, "Wo _worth_ the

man,"--"Wo _worth_ the day," and the like, is from the imperative of the

Saxon verb _wyrthan_ or _weorthan_, to _be_; i. e., "Wo _be_ [_to_] the

man," or, "Wo _betide_ the man," &c. And the latter affirms, that, as the

preposition _by_ is from the imperative of _beon_, to _be_, so _with_,

(though admitted to be sometimes from _withan_, to join,) is often no other

than this same imperative verb _wyrth_ or _worth_: if so, the three words,

_by, with_, and _worth_, were originally synonymous, and should now be

referred at least to one and the same class. The _dative case_, or oblique

object, which they governed as _Saxon verbs_, becomes their proper object,

when taken as _English prepositions_; and in this also they appear to be

alike. _Worth_, then, when it signifies _value_, is a common noun; but when

it signifies _equal in value to_, it governs an objective, and has the

usual characteristics of a preposition. Instances may perhaps be found in

which _worth_ is an adjective, meaning _valuable_ or _useful_, as in the

following lines:

"They glow'd, and grew more intimate with God,

_More worth to_ men, more joyous to themselves."

--_Young_, N. ix, l. 988.

In one instance, the poet Campbell appears to have used the word

_worthless_ as a preposition:

"Eyes a mutual soul confessing,

Soon you'll make them grow

Dim, and _worthless your possessing_,

Not with age, but woe!"

OBS. 10.--After verbs of _giving, paying, procuring_, and some others,

there is usually an ellipsis of _to_ or _for_ before the objective of the

person; as, "Give [_to_] _him_ water to drink."--"Buy [_for_] _me_ a

knife."--"Pay [_to_] _them_ their wages." So in the exclamation, "Wo is

_me_!" meaning, "Wo is _to_ me!" This ellipsis occurs chiefly before the

personal pronouns, and before such nouns as come between the verb and its

direct object; as, "Whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth [_to_]

_God_ service."--_John_, xvi, 2. "Who brought [_to_] her _masters_ much

gain by soothsaying."--_Acts_, xvi, 16. "Because he gave not [_to_] _God_

the glory."--_Ib._, xii, 23. "Give [_to_] _me_ leave to allow [_to_]

_myself_ no respite from labour."--_Spect._, No. 454. "And the sons of

Joseph, which were born [_to_] _him_ in Egypt, were two souls."--_Gen._,

xlvi, 27. This elliptical construction of a few objectives, is what remains

to us of the ancient Saxon dative case. If the order of the words be

changed, the preposition must be inserted; as, "Pray do my service _to_ his

majesty."--_Shak_. The doctrine inculcated by several of our grammarians,

that, "Verbs of _asking, giving, teaching_, and _some others_, are often

employed to govern two objectives," (_Wells_, §215,) I have, under a

preceding rule, discountenanced; preferring the supposition, which appears

to have greater weight of authority, as well as stronger support from

reason, that, in the instances cited in proof of such government, a

preposition is, in fact, understood. Upon this question of ellipsis,

depends, in all such instances, our manner of parsing one of the objective

words.

OBS. 11.--In _dates_, as they are usually written, there is much

abbreviation; and several nouns of place and time are set down in the

objective case, without the prepositions which govern them: as, "New York,

Wednesday, 20th October, 1830."--_Journal of Literary Convention_. That is,

"_At_ New York, _on_ Wednesday, _the_ 20th _day of_ October, _in the year_

1830."

NOTE TO RULE VII.

An objective noun of time or measure, if it qualifies a subsequent

adjective, must not also be made an adjunct to a preceding noun; as, "To an

infant _of_ only two or three years _old_."--_Dr. Wayland_. Expunge _of_,

or for _old_ write _of age_. The following is right: "The vast army of the

Canaanites, _nine hundred chariots strong_, covered the level plain of

Esdraelon."--_Milman's Jews_, Vol. i, p. 159. See Obs. 6th above.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VII. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--OF THE OBJECTIVE IN

FORM.

"But I do not remember who they were for."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 265.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _who_ is in the nominative case,

and is made the object of the preposition _for_. But, according to Rule

7th, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of a preposition, is governed by

it in the objective case." Therefore, _who_ should be _whom_; thus, "But I

do not remember _whom_ they were for."]

"But if you can't help it, who do you complain of?"--_Collier's Antoninus_,

p. 137. "Who was it from? and what was it about?"--_Edgeworth's Frank_, p.

72. "I have plenty of victuals, and, between you and I, something in a

corner."--_Day's Sandford and Merton_. "The upper one, who I am now about

to speak of."--_Hunt's Byron_, p. 311. "And to poor we, thine enmity's most

capital."--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 201. "Which thou dost confess, were

fit for thee to use, as they to claim."--_Ib._, p. 196. "To beg of thee, it

is my more dishonour, than thou of them."--_Ib._, p. 197. "There are still

a few who, like thou and I, drink nothing but water."--_Gil Blas_, Vol. i,

p. 104. "Thus, I _shall_ fall; Thou _shalt_ love thy neighbour; He _shall_

be rewarded, express no resolution on the part of _I, thou,

he_."--_Lennie's E. Gram._, p. 22; _Bullions's_, 32. "So saucy with the

hand of she here--What's her name?"--_Shak., Ant. and Cleop._, Act iii, Sc.

11. "All debts are cleared between you and I."--_Id., Merchant of Venice_,

Act iii, Sc. 2. "Her price is paid, and she is sold like thou."--_Milman's

Fall of Jerusalem_. "Search through all the most flourishing era's of

Greece."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 16. "The family of the Rudolph's had been

long distinguished."--_The Friend_, Vol. v, p. 54. "It will do well enough

for you and I."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 120. "The public will soon

discriminate between him who is the sycophant, and he who is the

teacher."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 10. "We are still much at a loss who

civil power belongs to."--_Locke_. "What do you call it? and who does it

belong to?"--_Collier's Cebes_. "He had received no lessons from the

Socrates's, the Plato's, and the Confucius's of the age."--_Hatter's

Letters_. "I cannot tell who to compare them to."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p.

128. "I see there was some resemblance betwixt this good man and

I."--_Pilgrim's Progress_, p. 298. "They by that means have brought

themselves into the hands and house of I do not know who."--_Ib._, p. 196.

"But at length she said there was a great deal of difference between Mr.

Cotton and we."--_Hutchinson's Mass._, ii, 430. "So you must ride on

horseback after we." [370]--MRS. GILPIN: _Cowper_, i, 275. "A separation

must soon take place between our minister and I."--_Werter_, p. 109. "When

she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I."--_Shakspeare_. "To who? to thee?

What art thou?"--_Id._ "That they should always bear the certain marks who

they came from."--_Butler's Analogy_, p. 221.

"This life has joys for you and I,

And joys that riches ne'er could buy."--_Burns_.

UNDER THE NOTE--OF TIME OR MEASURE.

"Such as almost every child of ten years old knows."--_Town's Analysis_, p.

4. "One winter's school of four months, will carry any industrious scholar,

of ten or twelve years old, completely through this book."--_Ib._, p. 12.

"A boy of six years old may be taught to speak as correctly, as Cicero did

before the Roman Senate."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 27. "A lad of about

twelve years old, who was taken captive by the Indians."--_Ib._, p. 235.

"Of nothing else but that individual white figure of five inches long which

is before him."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 288. "Where lies the fault, that

boys of eight or ten years old, are with great difficulty made to

understand any of its principles."--_Guy's Gram._, p. v. "Where language of

three centuries old is employed."--_Booth's Introd. to Dict._, p. 21. "Let

a gallows be made of fifty cubits high."--_Esther_, v. 14. "I say to this

child of nine years old bring me that hat, he hastens and brings it

me."--_Osborn's Key_, p. 3. "He laid a floor twelve feet long, and nine

feet wide; that is, over the extent _of_ twelve feet long, and _of_ nine

feet wide."--_Merchants School Gram._, p. 95. "The Goulah people are a

tribe of about fifty thousand strong."--_Examiner_, No. 71. RULE

VIII.--NOM. ABSOLUTE.

A Noun or a Pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case

depends on no other word: as, _"He failing, who shall meet

success?"_--"Your _fathers_, where are they? and the _prophets_, do they

live forever?"--_Zech._, i, 5. "Or _I_ only and _Barnabas_, have not we

power to forbear working?"--_1 Cor._, ix, 6. "Nay but, O man, who art thou

that repliest against God?"--_Rom._, ix, 20. "O rare _we!_"--_Cowper_.

"Miserable _they!_"--_Thomson_.

"The _hour_ conceal'd, and so remote the _fear_, Death still draws nearer,

never seeming near."--_Pope_.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VIII.

OBS. 1.--Many grammarians make an idle distinction between the nominative

_absolute_ and the nominative _independent_, as if these epithets were not

synonymous; and, at the same time, they are miserably deficient in

directions for disposing of the words so employed. Their two rules do not

embrace more than one half of those _frequent_ examples in which the case

of the noun or pronoun depends on no other word. Of course, the remaining

half cannot be parsed by any of the rules which they give. The lack of a

comprehensive rule, like the one above, is a great and glaring defect in

all the English grammars that the author has seen, except his own, and such

as are indebted to him for such a rule. It is proper, however, that the

different forms of expression which are embraced in this general rule,

should be discriminated, one from an other, by the scholar: let him

therefore, in parsing any nominative absolute, tell _how it is put so_;

whether with a _participle_, by direct _address_, by _pleonasm_, or by

_exclamation_. For, in discourse, a noun or a pronoun is put absolute in

the nominative, after _four modes_, or under the following _four

circumstances_: (of which Murray's "case absolute," or "nominative

absolute," contains only the first:)

I. When, _with a participle_, it is used to express a cause, or a

concomitant fact; as, "I say, _this being so_, the _law being broken_,

justice takes place."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27. _"Pontius Pilate being_

governor of Judea, and _Herod being_ tetrarch of Galilee, and his _brother_

Philip tetrarch of Iturea." &c.--_Luke_, iii, 1. "I _being_ in the way, the

Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren."--_Gen._, xxiv, 27.

---------"While shame, _thou looking on_,

Shame to be overcome or overreach'd,

Would utmost vigor raise."--_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, 1, 312.

II. When, _by direct address_, it is put in the second person, and set off

from the verb, by a comma or an exclamation point; as, "At length, _Seged_,

reflect and be wise."--_Dr. Johnson._ "It may be, _drunkard, swearer, liar,

thief_, thou dost not think of this."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27.

"_This said_, he form'd thee, _Adam!_ thee, O _man!_

_Dust_ of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd

The breath of life."--_Milton's Paradise Lost_, B. vii, l. 524.

III. When, by _pleonasm_, it is introduced abruptly for the sake of

emphasis, and is not made the subject or the object of any verb; as, "_He_

that hath, to him shall be given."--_Mark_, iv, 25. "_He_ that is holy, let

him be holy still."--_Rev._, xxii, 11. "_Gad_, a troop shall overcome

him."--_Gen._, xlix, 19. "The _north_ and the _south_, thou hast created

them."--_Psalms_, lxxxix, 12. "And _they_ that have believing masters, let

them not despise them."--_1 Tim._, vi, 2. "And the _leper_ in whom the

plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare."--_Levit._, xiii,

45. "_They_ who serve me with adoration,--I am in them, and they [are] in

me."--R. W. EMERSON: _Liberator_, No. 996.

-------------------------"What may this mean,

That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel,

Revisitst thus the glimpses of the moon,

Making night hideous; and, we fools of nature,[371]

So horribly to shake our disposition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?"--_Shak. Hamlet._

IV. When, _by mere exclamation_, it is used without address, and without

other words expressed or implied to give it construction; as, "And the Lord

passed by before him, and proclaimed, _the Lord, the Lord God_, merciful

and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."

_Exodus_, xxxiv, 6. "O _the depth_ of the riches both of the wisdom and

knowledge of God!"--_Rom._, xi, 33. "I should not like to see her limping

back, Poor _beast_!"--_Southey_.

"Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repose,

The dawn of bliss, the _twilight_ of our woes!"--_Campbell_.

OBS. 2.--The nominative put absolute with a participle, is often equivalent

to a dependent clause commencing with _when, while, if, since_, or

_because_. Thus, "I being a child," may be equal to, "When I was a child,"

or, "Because I was a child." Here, in lieu of the nominative, the Greeks

used the genitive case, and the Latins, the ablative. Thus, the phrase,

"[Greek: Kai hysteræsantos oinou]," "_And the wine failing_," is rendered

by Montanus, "_Et deficiente vino_;" but by Beza, "_Et cum defecisset

vinum_;" and in our Bible, "_And when they wanted wine_."--_John_, ii, 3.

After a noun or a pronoun thus put absolute, the participle _being_ is

frequently understood, especially if an adjective or a like case come after

the participle; as,

"They left their bones beneath unfriendly skies,

His worthless absolution [_being_] all the prize."

--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 84.

"Alike in ignorance, _his reason_ [------] _such_,

Whether he thinks too little or too much."--_Pope, on Man_.

OBS. 3.--The case which is put absolute in addresses or invocations, is

what in the Latin and Greek grammars is called _the Vocative_. Richard

Johnson says, "The only use of the Vocative Case, is, to call upon a

Person, or a thing put Personally, which we speak to, to give notice to

what we direct our Speech; and this is therefore, properly speaking, the

_only Case absolute or independent_ which we may make use of without

respect to any other Word."--_Gram. Commentaries_, p. 131. This remark,

however, applies not justly to our language; for, with us, the vocative

case, is unknown, or not distinguished from the nominative. In English, all

nouns of the second person are either put absolute in the nominative,

according to Rule 8th, or in apposition with their own pronouns placed

before them, according to Rule 3d: as, "This is the stone which was set at

nought of _you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, 11. "How much rather ought _you

receivers_ to be considered as abandoned and execrable!"--_Clarkson's

Essay_, p. 114.

"Peace! _minion_, peace! it boots not me to hear

The selfish counsel of _you hangers-on_."

--_Brown's Inst._, p. 189.

"Ye _Sylphs_ and _Sylphids_, to your chief give ear;

_Fays, Faries, Genii, Elves_, and Dæmons, hear!"

--_Pope, R. L._, ii, 74.

OBS. 4.--The case of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and

abbreviated sayings, often depends, or may be conceived to depend, on

something _understood_; and, when their construction can be satisfactorily

explained on the principle of ellipsis, they are _not put absolute_, unless

the ellipsis be that of the participle. The following examples may perhaps

be resolved in this manner, though the expressions will lose much of their

vivacity: "A _horse_! a _horse_! my _kingdom_ for a horse!"--_Shak._ "And

he said unto his father, My _head_! my _head_!"--_2 Kings_, iv, 19. "And

Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, _heaps_ upon heaps, with the jaw

of an ass, have I slain a thousand men."--_Judges_, xv, 16. "Ye have heard

that it hath been said, An _eye_ for an eye, and a _tooth_ for a

tooth."--_Matt._, v, 38. "_Peace_, be still."--_Mark_, iv, 39. "One God,

_world_ without end. Amen."--_Com. Prayer_.

"_My fan_, let others say, who laugh at toil;

_Fan! hood! glove! scarf!_ is her laconic style."--_Young_.

OBS. 5.--"Such Expressions as, _Hand to Hand, Face to Face, Foot to Foot_,

are of the nature of Adverbs, and are of elliptical Construction: For the

Meaning is, _Hand_ OPPOSED _to Hand_, &c."--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 100. This

learned and ingenious author seems to suppose the former noun to be here

put absolute with a participle understood; and this is probably the best

way of explaining the construction both of that word and of the preposition

that follows it. So Samson's phrase, "_heaps upon heaps_," may mean, "heaps

_being piled_ upon heaps;" and Scott's, "_man to man_, and _steel to

steel_," may be interpreted, "_man being opposed_ to man, and _steel being

opposed_ to steel:"

"Now, man to man, and steel to steel,

A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."--_Lady of the Lake_.

OBS. 6.--Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the

whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors,

apprentices, and ploughboys," that, "The supposition, that there can be a

noun, or pronoun, which has reference to _no_ verb, and _no preposition_,

is certainly a mistake."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, ¶ 201. To sustain his

position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips

himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the

matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out '_an absolute

case_,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in

these words: '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of

this sentence is this: '_It being_, or _the state of things being such,

that_ shame _is_ lost, all virtue is lost.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, ¶ 191.

Again: "There must, you will bear in mind, always be a verb expressed or

understood. One would think, that this was not the case in [some instances:

as,] '_Sir_, I beg you to give me a bit of bread.' The sentence which

follows the _Sir_, is complete; but the _Sir_ appears to stand wholly

without connexion. However, the full meaning is this: 'I beg you, _who are

a Sir_, to give me a bit of bread.' Now, if you take time to reflect a

little on this matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those

detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented _vocative cases_

and _cases absolute_, and a great many other appellations, with which they

puzzle themselves, and confuse and bewilder and torment those who read

their books."--_Ib._, Let. xix, ¶¶ 225 and 226. All this is just like

Cobbett. But, let his admirers reflect on the matter as long as they

please, the two _independent_ nominatives _it_ and _state_, in the text,

"_It being_, or the state of things _being_ such," will forever stand a

glaring confutation both of his doctrine and of his censure: "the _case

absolute_" is there still! He has, in fact, only converted the single

example into a double one!

OBS. 7.--The Irish philologer, J. W. Wright, is even more confident than

Cobbett, in denouncing "_the case absolute_;" and more severe in his

reprehension of "Grammarians in general, and Lowth and Murray in

particular," for entertaining the idea of such a case. "Surprise must

cease," says he, "on an acquaintance with the fact, that persons who imbibe

such fantastical doctrine _should be destitute of sterling information_ on

the subject of English grammar.--The English language is a stranger to this

case. We speak thus, with confidence, conscious of the justness of _our_

opinion:--an opinion, not precipitately formed, but one which is the result

of mature and deliberate inquiry. '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost:'

The meaning of this is,--'_When_ shame _is being lost_, all virtue is

lost.' Here, the words _is being lost_ form _the true present tense_ of the

passive voice; in which voice, all verbs, thus expressed, are

_unsuspectedly_ situated: thus, agreeing with the noun _shame_, as the

nominative of the first member of the sentence."--_Wright's Philosophical

Gram._, p. 192. With all his deliberation, this gentleman has committed one

oversight here, which, as it goes to contradict his scheme of the passive

verb, some of his sixty venerable commenders ought to have pointed out to

him. My old friend, the "Professor of _Elocution_ in Columbia College," who

finds by this work of "superior excellence," that "the nature of the

_verb_, the most difficult part of grammar, has been, at length,

_satisfactorily explained_," ought by no means, after his "very attentive

examination" of the book, to have left this service to me. In the clause,

"all virtue _is lost_," the passive verb "_is lost_" has the form which

Murray gave it--the form which, till within a year or two, _all men_

supposed to be the only right one; but, according to this new philosophy of

the language, all men have been as much in error in this matter, as in

their notion of the nominative absolute. If Wright's theory of the verb is

correct, the only just form of the foregoing expression is, "all virtue _is

being lost_." If this central position is untenable, his management of the

nominative absolute falls of course. To me, the inserting of the word

_being_ into all our passive verbs, seems the most monstrous absurdity ever

broached in the name of grammar. The threescore certifiers to the accuracy

of that theory, have, I trow, only recorded themselves as so many

_ignoramuses_; for there are more than threescore myriads of better

judgements against them.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VIII.

NOUNS OR PRONOUNS PUT ABSOLUTE.

"Him having ended his discourse, the assembly dispersed."--_Brown's Inst._,

p. 190.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the pronoun _him_, whose case depends on no

other word, is in the objective case. But, according to Rule 8th, "A noun

or a pronoun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no

other word." Therefore, _him_ should be _he_; thus, "_He_ having ended his

discourse, the assembly dispersed."]

"Me being young, they deceived

me."--_Inst. E. Gram._, p. 190. "Them refusing to comply, I

withdrew."--_Ib._ "Thee being present, he would not tell what he

knew."--_Ib._ "The child is lost; and me, whither shall I go?"--_Ib._ "Oh!

happy us, surrounded with so many blessings."--_Murray's Key_, p. 187;

_Merchant's_, 197; _Smith's New Gram._, 96; _Farnum's_, 63. "'Thee, too!

Brutus, my son!' cried Cæsar, overcome."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 190. "Thee!

Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?"--_New-York Mirror_, Vol. x,

p. 353. "How swiftly our time passes away! and ah! us, how little concerned

to improve it!"--_Comly's Gram., Key_, p. 192.

"There all thy gifts and graces we display,

Thee, only thee, directing all our way."

CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES.

The syntax of the English Adjective is fully embraced in the following

brief rule, together with the exceptions, observations, and notes, which

are, in due order, subjoined.

RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives relate to nouns or pronouns: as, "_Miserable_ comforters are ye

_all_"--_Job_, xvi, 2. "_No worldly_ enjoyments are _adequate_ to the

_high_ desires and powers of an _immortal_ spirit."--_Blair_.

"Whatever faction's _partial_ notions are,

_No_ hand is wholly _innocent_ in war."

--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. vii, l. 191.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

An adjective sometimes relates to a _phrase_ or _sentence_ which is made

the subject of an intervening verb; as, "_To insult the afflicted_, is

_impious_"--_Dillwyn_. "_That he should refuse_, is not _strange_"--"_To

err_ is _human_." _Murray_ says, "_Human_ belongs to its substantive

'nature' understood."--_Gram._, p. 233. From this I dissent.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

In combined arithmetical numbers, one adjective often relates _to an

other_, and the whole phrase, to a subsequent noun; as, "_One thousand four

hundred and fifty-six_ men."--"Six dollars and _eighty-seven and a half_

cents for _every five_ days' service."--"In the _one hundred and

twenty-second_ year."--"_One seven_ times more than it was wont to be

heated."--_Daniel_, iii, 19.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the

abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is,

without reference to any particular noun, pronoun, or other subject;) as,

"To be _sincere_, is to be _wise, innocent_, and _safe_."--_Hawkesworth_.

"_Capacity_ marks the abstract quality of being _able_ to receive or

hold."--_Crabb's Synonymes_. "Indeed, the main secret of being _sublime_,

is to say great things in few and plain words."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 215.

"Concerning being _free_ from sin in heaven, there is no

question."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 437. Better: "Concerning _freedom_ from

sin," &c.

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

Adjectives are sometimes substituted for their corresponding abstract

nouns; (perhaps, in most instances, _elliptically_, like Greek neuters;)

as, "The sensations of _sublime_ and _beautiful_ are not always

distinguished by very distant boundaries."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 47. That

is, "of _sublimity_ and _beauty_." "The faults opposite to _the sublime_

are chiefly two: _the frigid_, and _the bombast_"--_Ib._, p. 44. Better:

"The faults opposite to _sublimity_, are chiefly two; _frigidity_ and

_bombast_." "Yet the ruling character of the nation was that of _barbarous_

and _cruel_."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 26. That is, "of _barbarity_ and

_cruelty_." "In a word, _agreeable_ and _disagreeable_ are qualities of the

objects we perceive," &c.--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 99. "_Polished_, or

_refined_, was the idea which the author had in view."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

219.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE IX.

OBS. 1.--Adjectives often relate to nouns or pronouns _understood_; as, "A

new sorrow recalls _all_ the _former_" [sorrows].--_Art of Thinking_, p.

31. [The place] "_Farthest_ from him is best."--_Milton, P. L._ "To whom

they all gave heed, from the _least_ [person] to the _greatest_"

[person].--_Acts_, viii, 10. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of

lords, a great God, a _mighty_ [God], and a _terrible_" [God].--_Deut._, x,

17. "Every one can distinguish an _angry_ from a _placid_, a _cheerful_

from a _melancholy_, a _thoughtful_ from a _thoughtless_, and a _dull_ from

a penetrating, countenance."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 192. Here the

word _countenance_ is understood seven times; for eight different

countenances are spoken of. "He came unto his _own_ [possessions], and his

_own_ [men] received him not."--_John_, i, 11. The _Rev. J. G. Cooper_, has

it: "He came unto his own (_creatures_,) and his own (_creatures_) received

him not."--_Pl. and Pract. Gram._, p. 44. This ambitious editor of Virgil,

abridger of Murray, expounder of the Bible, and author of several "new and

improved" grammars, (of different languages,) should have understood this

text, notwithstanding the obscurity of our version. "[Greek: Eis ta idia

ælthe. kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon]."--"In _propria_ venit, et

_proprii_ eum non receperunt."--_Montanus_. "Ad _sua_ venit, et sui eum non

exceperunt."--_Beza_. "Il est venu _chez soi_; et _les siens_ ne l'ont

point reçu."--_French Bible_. Sometimes the construction of the adjective

involves an ellipsis of _several words_, and those perhaps the principal

parts of the clause; as, "The sea appeared to be agitated more than [in

that degree _which_ is] _usual_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 217. "During the

course of the sentence, the scene should be changed as little as [in the

least] _possible_" [degree].--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 107; _Murray's Gram._,

8vo, p. 312.

"Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find,

Why [_thou art_] form'd so _weak_, so _little_, and so _blind_"

--_Pope_.

OBS. 2.--Because _qualities_ belong only to _things_, most grammarians

teach, that, "_Adjectives_ are capable of being added _to nouns

only_."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 26. Or, as Murray expresses the doctrine:

"Every adjective, and every adjective pronoun, _belongs to a substantive_,

expressed or understood."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 161. "The adjective _always_

relates to a _substantive_."--_Ib._, p. 169. This teaching, which is alike

repugnant to the true _definition_ of an adjective, to the true _rule_ for

its construction, and to _all the exceptions_ to this rule, is but a sample

of that hasty sort of induction, which is ever jumping to false conclusions

for want of a fair comprehension of the facts in point. The position would

not be tenable, even if all our _pronouns_ were admitted to be _nouns_, or

"_substantives_;" and, if these two parts of speech are to be

distinguished, the consequence must be, that Murray supposes a countless

number of unnecessary and absurd _ellipses._ It is sufficiently evident,

that in the construction of sentences, adjectives often relate immediately

to _pronouns_, and only through them to the nouns which they represent.

Examples: "I should like to know who has been carried off, except _poor

dear me_."--_Byron_. "To _poor us_ there is not much hope

remaining."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p 204. "It is the final pause _which

alone_, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and

verse."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 260. "And sometimes after _them

both_."--_Ib._, p. 196. "All men hail'd _me happy_."--_Milton_. "To receive

_unhappy me_."--_Dryden_. "Superior to _them all_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

419. "_They_ returned to their own country, _full_ of the discoveries which

they had made."--_Ib._, p. 350. "_All ye_ are brethren."--_Matt._, xxiii,

8. "And _him only_ shalt thou serve."--_Matt._, iv, 10.

"Go _wiser thou_, and in thy scale of sense

Weigh thy opinion against Providence."--_Pope_.

OBS. 3.--When an adjective follows a finite verb, and is not followed by a

noun, it generally relates to the subject of the verb; as, "_I_ am _glad_

that the _door_ is made _wide_."--"An unbounded _prospect_ doth not long

continue _agreeable_."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 244. "Every thing which

is _false, vicious_, or _unworthy_, is _despicable_ to him, though all the

world should approve it."--_Spectator_, No. 520. Here _false, vicious_, and

_unworthy_, relate to _which_; and _despicable_ relates to _thing_. The

practice of Murray and his followers, of supplying a "substantive" in all

such cases, is absurd. "When the Adjective forms the _Attribute_ of a

Proposition, it belongs to the noun [or pronoun] which serves as the

_Subject_ of the Proposition, and cannot be joined to any other noun, since

it is of the Subject that we affirm the quality expressed by this

Adjective."--_De Sacy, on General Gram._, p. 37. In some peculiar phrases,

however, such as, _to fall short of, to make bold with, to set light by_,

the adjective has such a connexion with the verb, that it may seem

questionable how it ought to be explained in parsing. Examples: (1.) "This

latter mode of expression falls _short_ of the force and vehemence of the

former."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 353. Some will suppose the word _short_

to be here used _adverbially_, or to qualify _falls_ only; but perhaps it

may as well be parsed as an adjective, forming a predicate with "_falls_,"

and relating to "_mode_," the nominative. (2.) "And that I have made so

_bold_ with thy glorious Majesty."--_Jenks's Prayers_, p. 156. This

expression is perhaps elliptical: it may mean, "that I have made _myself_

so bold," &c. (3.) "Cursed be he that _setteth light_ by his father or his

mother: and all the people shall say, Amen."--_Deut._, xxvii, 16. This may

mean, "that setteth light _esteem_ or _estimation_," &c.

OBS. 4.--When an adjective follows an infinitive or a participle, the noun

or pronoun to which it relates, is sometimes before it, and sometimes after

it, and often considerably remote; as, "A real gentleman cannot but

practice those virtues _which_, by an intimate knowledge of mankind, he has

found to be _useful_ to them."--"He [a melancholy enthusiast] thinks

_himself_ obliged in duty to be _sad_ and _disconsolate_."--_Addison_. "He

is scandalized at _youth_ for being _lively_, and at _childhood_ for being

playful."--_Id._ "But growing _weary_ of one who almost walked him out of

breath, _he_ left him for Horace and Anacreon."--_Steele._

OBS. 5.--Adjectives preceded by the definite article, are often used, by

_ellipsis_, as _nouns_; as, _the learned_, for _learned men_. Such phrases

usually designate those classes of persons or things, which are

characterized by the qualities they express; and this, the reader must

observe, is a use quite different from that _substitution_ of adjectives

for nouns, which is noticed in the fourth exception above. In _our_

language, the several senses in which adjectives may thus be taken, are not

distinguished with that clearness which the inflections of other tongues

secure. Thus, _the noble, the vile, the excellent_, or _the beautiful_, may

be put for three extra constructions: first, for _noble persons, vile

persons_, &c.; secondly, for _the noble man, the vile man_, &c.; thirdly,

for the abstract qualities, _nobility, vileness, excellence, beauty_. The

last-named usage forms an exception to the rule; in the other two the noun

is understood, and should be supplied by the parser. Such terms, if

elliptical, are most commonly of the plural number, and refer to the word

_persons_ or _things_ understood; as, "_The careless_ and _the imprudent,

the giddy_ and _the fickle, the ungrateful_ and _the interested_,

everywhere meet us."--_Blair_. Here the noun _persons_ is to be six times

supplied. "Wherever there is taste, _the witty_ and _the humorous_ make

themselves perceived."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 21. Here the author meant,

simply, the qualities _wit_ and _humour_, and he ought to have used these

words, because the others are equivocal, and are more naturally conceived

to refer to persons. In the following couplet, the noun _places_ or

_things_ is understood after "_open_," and again after "_covert_," which

last word is sometimes misprinted "_coverts_:"

"Together let us beat this ample field,

Try what _the open_, what _the covert_, yield."--_Pope, on Man._

OBS. 6.--The adjective, in English, is generally placed immediately _before

its noun_; as, "_Vain_ man! is grandeur given to _gay_ attire?"--_Beattie_.

Those adjectives which relate to _pronouns_, most commonly follow them; as,

"They left _me weary_ on a grassy turf."--_Milton._ But to both these

general rules there are many exceptions; for the position of an adjective

may be varied by a variety of circumstances, not excepting the mere

convenience of emphasis: as, "And Jehu said, Unto _which_ of _all us_?"--_2

Kings_, ix, 5. In the following instances the adjective is placed _after

the word_ to which it relates:

1. When other words depend on the adjective, or stand before it to qualify

it; as, "A mind _conscious of right_,"--"A wall _three feet thick_,"--"A

body of troops _fifty thousand strong_."

2. When the quality results from an action, or receives its application

through a verb or participle; as, "Virtue renders _life happy_."--"He was

in Tirzah, drinking _himself drunk_ in the house of Arza."--_1 Kings_, xvi,

9. "All men agree to call _vinegar sour, honey sweet_, and _aloes

bitter_."--_Burke, on Taste_, p. 38. "God made _thee perfect_, not

_immutable_."--_Milton_.

3. When the quality excites admiration, and the adjective would thus be

more clearly distinctive; as, "Goodness _infinite_,"--"Wisdom

_unsearchable_."--_Murray_.

4. When a verb comes between the adjective and the noun; as, "Truth stands

_independent_ of all external things."--_Burgh_. "Honour is not _seemly_

for a fool."--_Solomon_.

5. When the adjective is formed by means of the prefix _a_; as, _afraid,

alert, alike, alive, alone, asleep, awake, aware, averse, ashamed, askew_.

To these may be added a few other words; as, _else, enough, extant,

extinct, fraught, pursuant_.

6. When the adjective has the nature, but not the form, of a participle;

as, "A queen _regnant_,"--"The prince _regent_,"--"The heir

_apparent_,"--"A lion, not _rampant_, but _couchant_ or _dormant_"--"For

the time then _present_."

OBS. 7.--In some instances, the adjective may

_either precede or follow_ its noun; and the writer may take his choice, in

respect to its position: as, 1. In _poetry_--provided the sense be obvious;

as,

------------------"Wilt thou to the _isles

Atlantic_, to the _rich Hesperian clime_,

Fly in the train of Autumn?"

--_Akenside, P. of I._, Book i, p. 27.

-----------------------------"Wilt thou fly

With laughing Autumn to _the Atlantic isles_,

And range with him th' _Hesperian field_?"

--_Id. Bucke's Gram._, p. 120.

2. When technical usage favours one order, and common usage an other; as,

"A notary _public_," or, "A _public_ notary;"--"The heir _presumptive_,"

or, "The _presumptive_ heir."--See _Johnson's Dict._, and _Webster's_.

3. When an adverb precedes the adjective; as, "A Being _infinitely_ wise,"

or, "An _infinitely wise_ Being." Murray, Comly, and others, here approve

only the former order; but the latter is certainly not ungrammatical.

4. When several adjectives belong to the same noun; as, "A woman, _modest,

sensible_, and _virtuous_," or, "A _modest, sensible_, and _virtuous_

woman." Here again, Murray, Comly, and others, approve only the former

order; but I judge the latter to be quite as good.

5. When the adjective is emphatic, it may be _foremost_ in the sentence,

though the natural order of the words would bring it last; as, "_Weighty_

is the anger of the righteous."--_Bible_. "_Blessed_ are the pure in

heart."--_Ib._ "_Great_ is the earth, _high_ is the heaven, _swift_ is the

sun in his course."--_1 Esdras_, iv, 34. "_The more laborious_ the life is,

_the less populous_ is the country."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 151.

6. When the adjective and its noun both follow a verb as parts of the

predicate, either may possibly come before the other, yet the arrangement

is _fixed by the sense intended_: thus there is a great difference between

the assertions, "We call the _boy good_," and, "We call the _good boy_"

OBS. 8.--By an ellipsis of the noun, an adjective with a preposition before

it, is sometimes equivalent to an adverb; as, _"In particular;"_ that is,

_"In a particular manner;"_ equivalent to _particularly_. So _"in general"_

is equivalent to _generally_. It has already been suggested, that, in

parsing, the scholar should here supply the ellipsis. See Obs. 3d, under

Rule vii.

OBS. 9.--Though English adjectives are, for the most part, incapable of any

_agreement_, yet such of them as denote unity or plurality, ought in

general to have nouns of the same number: as, _this man, one man, two men,

many men_.[372] In phrases of this form, the rule is well observed; but in

some peculiar ways of numbering things, it is commonly disregarded; for

certain nouns are taken in a plural sense without assuming the plural

termination. Thus people talk of many _stone_ of cheese,--many _sail_ of

vessels,--many _stand_ of arms,--many _head_ of cattle,--many _dozen_ of

eggs,--many _brace_ of partridges,--many _pair_ of shoes. So we read in

the Bible of "two hundred _pennyworth_ of bread," and "twelve _manner_ of

fruits." In all such phraseology, there is, in regard to the _form_ of the

latter word, an evident disagreement of the adjective with its immediate

noun; but sometimes, (where the preposition _of_ does not occur,)

expressions that seem somewhat like these, may be elliptical: as when

historians tell of _many thousand foot_ (soldiers), or _many hundred horse_

(troops). To denote a collective number, a singular adjective may precede a

plural one; as, "_One_ hundred men,"--"_Every_ six weeks." And to denote

plurality, the adjective many may, in like manner, precede _an_ or _a_ with

a singular noun; as, "The Odyssey entertains us with _many a wonderful

adventure_, and _many a landscape_ of nature."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 436."

There _starts up many_ a writer."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 306.

"Full _many a flower is born_ to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air."--_Gray_.

OBS. 10.--Though _this_ and _that_ cannot relate to plurals, many writers

do not hesitate to place them before singulars taken conjointly, which are

equivalent to plurals; as, "_This power and will_ do necessarily produce

that which man is empowered to do."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 229. "_That

sobriety and self-denial_ which are essential to the support of

virtue."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 218. "_This modesty and decency_ were

looked upon by them as a law of nature."--_Rollin's Hist._, ii, 45. Here

the plural forms, _these_ and _those_, cannot be substituted; but the

singular may be repeated, if the repetition be thought necessary. Yet, when

these same pronominal adjectives are placed _after_ the nouns to suggest

the things again, they must be made plural; as, "_Modesty and decency_ were

thus carefully guarded, for _these_ were looked upon as being enjoined by

the law of nature."

OBS. 11.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs is improper; but, in

poetry, an adjective relating to the noun or pronoun, is sometimes

elegantly used in stead of an adverb qualifying the verb or participle; as;

"_Gradual_ sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm."--_Thomson's Seasons_, p.

34. "To Thee I bend the knee; to Thee my thoughts _Continual_

climb."--_Ib._, p. 48. "As on he walks _Graceful_, and crows

defiance."--_Ib._, p. 56. "As through the falling glooms _Pensive_ I

stray."--_Ib._, p. 80. "They, _sportive_, wheel; or, sailing down the

stream, Are snatch'd _immediate_ by the quick-eyed trout."--_Ib._, p. 82.

"_Incessant_ still you flow."--_Ib._, p. 91. "The shatter'd clouds

_Tumultuous_ rove, the interminable sky _Sublimer_ swells."--_Ib._, p. 116.

In order to determine, in difficult cases, whether an adjective or an

adverb is required, the learner should carefully attend to the definitions

of these parts of speech, and consider whether, in the case in question,

_quality_ is to be expressed, or _manner_: if the former, an adjective is

always proper; if the latter, an adverb. That is, in this case, the adverb,

though not always required in poetry, is specially requisite in prose. The

following examples will illustrate this point: "She looks _cold_;"--"She

looks _coldly_ on him."--"I sat _silent_;"--"I sat _silently_

musing."--"Stand _firm_; maintain your cause _firmly_." See _Etymology_,

Chap, viii, Obs. 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th, on the Modifications of Adverbs.

OBS. 12.--In English, an adjective and its noun are often taken as a sort

of compound term, to which other adjectives may be added; as, "An _old

man_; a _good_ old man; a very _learned, judicious_, good old man."--_L.

Murray's Gram._, p. 169; _Brit. Gram._, 195; _Buchanan's_, 79. "Of an

_other determinate positive new_ birth, subsequent to baptism, we know

nothing."--_West's Letters_, p. 183. When adjectives are thus accumulated,

the subsequent ones should convey such ideas as the former may consistently

qualify, otherwise the expression will be objectionable. Thus the ordinal

adjectives, _first, second, third, next_, and _last_, may qualify the

cardinal numbers, but they cannot very properly be qualified by them. When,

therefore, we specify any part of a series, the cardinal adjective ought,

by good right, to follow the ordinal, and not, as in the following phrase,

be placed before it: "In reading the _nine last chapters_ of

John."--_Fuller_. Properly speaking, there is but one last chapter in any

book. Say, therefore, "the _last nine_ chapters;" for, out of the

twenty-one chapters in John, a man may select several different nines. (See

_Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 7th, on the Degrees of Comparison.) When one of

the adjectives merely qualifies the other, they should be joined together

by a hyphen; as, "A _red-hot_ iron."--"A _dead-ripe_ melon." And when both

or all refer equally and solely to the noun, they ought either to be

connected by a conjunction, or to be separated by a comma. The following

example is therefore faulty: "It is the business of an epic poet, to form a

_probable interesting_ tale."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 427. Say, "probable

_and_ interesting;" or else insert a comma in lieu of the conjunction.

"Around him wide a sable army stand,

A _low-born, cell-bred, selfish, servile band_."

--_Dunciad_, B. ii, l. 355.

OBS. 13.--Dr. Priestley has observed: "There is a remarkable ambiguity in

the use of the negative adjective _no_; and I do not see," says he, "how it

can be remedied in any language. If I say, '_No laws are better than the

English_,' it is only my known sentiments that can inform a person whether

I mean to praise, or dispraise _them_."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 136. It

may not be possible to remove the ambiguity from the phraseology here

cited, but it is easy enough to avoid the form, and say in stead of it,

"_The English laws are worse than none_," or, "_The English laws are as

good as any_;" and, in neither of these expressions, is there any

ambiguity, though the other may doubtless be taken in either of these

senses. Such an ambiguity is sometimes used on purpose: as when one man

says of an other, "He is no small knave;" or, "He is no small fool."

"There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record)

A worthy member, _no small fool, a lord_."--_Pope_, p. 409.

NOTES TO RULE IX.

NOTE I.--Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree with their

nouns in number: as, "_That sort, those sorts_;"--"_This hand, these

hands_." [373]

NOTE II.--When the adjective is necessarily plural, or necessarily

singular, the noun should be made so too: as, "_Twenty pounds_" not,

"Twenty _pound_;"--"_Four feet_ long," not, "_Four foot_ long;"--"_One

session_" not, "One _sessions_."

NOTE III.--The reciprocal expression, _one an other_, should not be applied

to two objects, nor _each other_, or _one the other_, to more than two; as,

"Verse and prose, on some occasions, run into _one another_, like light and

shade."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 377; _Jamieson's_, 298. Say, "into _each

other_" "For mankind have always been butchering _each other_"--_Webster's

Essays_, p. 151. Say, "_one an other_" See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs.

15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th, on the Classes of Adjectives.

NOTE IV.--When the comparative degree is employed with _than_, the latter

term of comparison should _never include_ the former; nor the former the

latter: as, "_Iron is more useful_ than _all the metals_"--"_All the metals

are less useful_ than _iron_." In either case, it should be, "all the other

metals,"

NOTE V.--When the superlative degree is employed, the latter term of

comparison, which is introduced by _of_, should _never exclude_ the former;

as, "A fondness for show, is, of all _other_ follies, the most vain." Here

the word _other_ should be expunged; for this latter term must _include_

the former: that is, the fondness for show must be one of the follies of

which it is the vainest.

NOTE VI.--When equality is denied, or inequality affirmed, neither term of

the comparison should _ever include_ the other; because every thing must

needs be equal to itself, and it is absurd to suggest that a part surpasses

the whole: as, "_No writings whatever_ abound _so much_ with the bold and

animated figures, _as the sacred books_."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 414. Say,

"No _other_ writings whatever;" because the sacred books are "_writings_"

See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, Obs. 6th, on Regular Comparison.

NOTE VII.--Comparative terminations, and adverbs of degree, should not be

applied to adjectives that are not susceptible of comparison; and all

double comparatives and double superlatives should be avoided: as, "_So

universal_ a complaint:" say rather, "_So general_."--"Some _less nobler_

plunder:" say, "_less noble_"--"The _most straitest_ sect:" expunge _most_.

See _Etymology_, Chap, iv, from Obs. 5th to Obs. 13th, on Irregular

Comparison.[374]

NOTE VIII.--When adjectives are connected by _and, or_, or _nor_, the

shortest and simplest should in general be placed first; as, "He is _older_

and _more respectable_ than his brother." To say, "_more respectable_ and

_older_" would be obviously inelegant, as possibly involving the inaccuracy

of "_more older_."

NOTE IX.--When one adjective is superadded to an other without a

conjunction expressed or understood, the most distinguishing quality must

be expressed next to the noun, and the latter must be such as the former

may consistently qualify; as, "An _agreeable young_ man," not, "A _young

agreeable_ man."--"The art of speaking, like _all other practical_ arts,

may be facilitated by rules,"--_Enfield's Speaker_, p. 10. Example of

error: "The Anglo-Saxon language possessed, for the _two first_ persons, a

_Dual_ number."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, p. 59. Say, "the _first two_

persons;" for the _second_ of three can hardly be one of the _first_; and

"_two first_" with the _second_ and _third_ added, will clearly make _more_

than three. See Obs. 12th, above.

NOTE X.--In prose, the use of adjectives for adverbs, is a vulgar error;

the adverb alone being proper, when _manner_ or _degree_ is to be

expressed, and not _quality_; as, "He writes _elegant_;" say,

"_elegantly_."--"It is a _remarkable_ good likeness;" say, "_remarkably

good_."

NOTE XI.--The pronoun _them_ should never be used as an adjective, in lieu

of _those_: say, "I bought _those_ books;" not, "_them_ books." This also

is a vulgar error, and chiefly confined to the conversation of the

unlearned.[375]

NOTE XII.--When the pronominal adjectives, _this_ and _that_, or _these_

and _those_, are contrasted; _this_ or _these_ should represent the latter

of the antecedent terms, and _that_ or _those_ the former: as,

"And, reason raise o'er instinct as you can,

In _this_ 'tis God directs, in _that_ 'tis man."--_Pope_.

"Farewell my friends! farewell my foes!

My peace with _these_, my love with _those_!"--_Burns_.

NOTE XIII.--The pronominal adjectives _either_ and _neither_, in strict

propriety of syntax, relate to two things only; when more are referred to,

_any_ and _none_, or _any one_ and _no one_, should be used in stead of

them: as, "_Any_ of the three," or, "_Any one_ of the three;" not,

"_Either_ of the three."--"_None_ of the four," or, "_No one_ of the four;"

not, "_Neither_ of the four." [376]

NOTE XIV.--The adjective _whole_ must not be used in a plural sense, for

_all_; nor _less_, in the sense of _fewer_; nor _more_ or _most_, in any

ambiguous construction, where it may be either an adverb of degree, or an

adjective of number or quantity: as, "Almost the _whole_ inhabitants were

present."--HUME: see _Priestley's Gram._, p. 190.[377] Say, "Almost _all_

the inhabitants." "No _less_ than three dictionaries have been published to

correct it."--_Dr. Webster_. Say, "No _fewer_." "This trade enriched some

_people more_ than them."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 215. This passage

is not clear in its import: it may have either of two meanings. Say, "This

trade enriched some _other_ people, _besides_ them." Or, "This trade

enriched some _others_ more than _it did them_."

NOTE XV.--Participial adjectives retain the termination, but not the

government of participles; when, therefore, they are followed by the

objective case, a preposition must be inserted to govern it: as, "The man

who is most _sparing of_ his words, is generally most _deserving of_

attention."

NOTE XVI.--When the figure of any adjective affects the syntax and sense of

the sentence, care must be taken to give to the word or words that form,

simple or compound, which suits the true meaning and construction.

Examples: "He is _forehead bald_, yet he is clean."--FRIENDS' BIBLE:

_Lev._, xiii, 41. Say, "_forehead-bald._,"--ALGER'S BIBLE, and SCOTT'S.

"From such phrases as, '_New England scenery_,' convenience requires the

_omission_ of the hyphen."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 89. This is a false

notion. Without the hyphen, the phrase properly means, "_New scenery in

England_;" but _New-England scenery_ is scenery in New England. "'_Many

coloured wings_,' means _many wings which are coloured_; but

'_many-coloured wings_' means _wings of many colours_."--_Blair's Gram._,

p. 116.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE IX.

EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES.

"I am not recommending these kind of sufferings to your liking."--BP.

SHERLOCK: _Lowth's Gram._, p. 87.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adjective _these_ is plural, and does

not agree with its noun _kind_, which is singular. But, according to Note

1st under Rule 9th: "Adjectives that imply unity or plurality, must agree

with their nouns in number." Therefore, _these_ should be _this_; thus, "I

am not recommending _this_ kind of sufferings."]

"I have not been to London this five years."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p.

152. "These kind of verbs are more expressive than their radicals."--_Dr.

Murray's Hist. of Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 163. "Few of us would be less

corrupted than kings are, were we, like them, beset with flatterers, and

poisoned with that vermin."--_Art of Thinking_, p. 66. "But it seems this

literati had been very ill rewarded for their ingenious

labours."--_Roderick Random_, Vol. ii, p. 87. "If I had not left off

troubling myself about those kind of things."--_Swift_. "For these sort of

things are usually join'd to the most noted fortune."--_Bacon's Essays_, p.

101. "The nature of that riches and long-suffering is, to lead to

repentance."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 380. "I fancy they are these kind of

gods, which Horace mentions."--_Addison, on Medals_, p. 74. "During that

eight days they are prohibited from touching the skin."--_Hope of Israel_,

p. 78. "Besides, he had not much provisions left for his

army."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 86. "Are you not ashamed to have no other

thoughts than that of amassing wealth, and of acquiring glory, credit, and

dignities?"--_Ib._, p. 192. "It distinguisheth still more remarkably the

feelings of the former from that of the latter."--_Kames, El. of Crit._,

Vol. i, p. xvii. "And this good tidings of the reign shall be published

through all the world."--_Campbell's Gospels, Matt._, xxiv, 14. "This

twenty years have I been with thee."--_Gen._, xxxi, 38. "In these kind of

expressions some words seem to be understood."--_Walker's Particles_, p.

179. "He thought these kind of excesses indicative of greatness."--_Hunt's

Byron_, p. 117. "These sort of fellows are very numerous."--_Spect._, No.

486. "Whereas these sort of men cannot give account of their

faith."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 444. "But the question is, whether that be

the words."--_Ib._, iii, 321. "So that these sort of Expressions are not

properly Optative."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 276. "Many things are not

that which they appear to be."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 176. "So that every

possible means are used."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. iv.

"We have strict statutes, and most biting laws,

Which for this nineteen years we have let sleep."--_Shak_.

"They could not speak; and so I left them both,

To bear this tidings to the bloody king."--_Id., Richard III_.

UNDER NOTE II.--OF FIXED NUMBERS.

"Why, I think she cannot be above six foot two inches high."--_Spect._, No.

533. "The world is pretty regular for about forty rod east and ten

west."--_Ib._, No. 535. "The standard being more than two foot above

it."--BACON: _Joh. Dict., w. Standard_. "Supposing (among other Things) he

saw two Suns, and two Thebes."--_Bacon's Wisdom_, p. 25. "On the right hand

we go into a parlour thirty three foot by thirty nine."--_Sheffield's

Works_, ii, 258. "Three pound of gold went to one shield."--_1 Kings_, x,

17. "Such an assemblage of men as there appears to have been at that

sessions."--_The Friend_, x, 389. "And, truly, he hath saved me this

pains."--_Barclay's Works_, ii, 266. "Within this three mile may you see it

coming."--SHAK.: _Joh. Dict., w. Mile_. "Most of the churches, not all, had

one or more ruling elder."--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Mass._, i, 375. "While a

Minute Philosopher, not six foot high, attempts to dethrone the Monarch of

the universe."--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p. 151. "The wall is ten foot

high."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 50. "The stalls must be ten foot

broad."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 201. "A close prisoner in a room twenty

foot square, being at the north side of his chamber, is at liberty to walk

twenty foot southward, not to walk twenty foot northward."--LOCKE: _Joh.

Dict., w. Northward_. "Nor, after all this pains and industry, did they

think themselves qualified."--_Columbian Orator_, p. 13. "No less than

thirteen _gypsies_ were condemned at one Suffolk assizes, and

executed."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 333. "The king was petitioned to appoint

one, or more, person, or persons."--MACAULAY: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 194.

"He carries weight! he rides a race! 'Tis for a thousand pound!"--_Cowper's

Poems_, i, 279. "They carry three tire of guns at the head, and at the

stern there are two tire of guns."--_Joh. Dict., w. Galleass_. "The verses

consist of two sort of rhymes."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 112. "A

present of 40 camel's load of the most precious things of Syria."--_Wood's

Dict._, Vol. i, p. 162. "A large grammar, that shall extend to every

minutiæ."--_S. Barrett's Gram._, Tenth Ed., Pref., p. iii.

"So many spots, like næves on Venus' soil,

One jewel set off with so many foil."--_Dryden_.

"For, of the lower end, two handful

It had devour'd, it was so manful."--_Hudibras_, i, 365.

UNDER NOTE III.--OF RECIPROCALS.

"That _shall_ and _will_ might be substituted for one

another."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 131. "We use not _shall_ and _will_

promiscuously for one another."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 110. "But I wish

to distinguish the three high ones from each other also."--_Fowle's True

Eng. Gram._, p. 13. "Or on some other relation, which two objects bear to

one another."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 142. "Yet the two words lie so near to

one another in meaning, that in the present case, any one of them, perhaps,

would have been sufficient."--_Ib._, p. 203. "Both orators use great

liberties with one another."--_Ib._, p. 244. "That greater separation of

the two sexes from one another."--_Ib._, p. 466. "Most of whom live remote

from each other."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 39. "Teachers like to see their

pupils polite to each other."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 28. "In a

little time, he and I must keep company with one another only."--_Spect._,

No. 474. "Thoughts and circumstances crowd upon each other."--_Kames, El.

of Crit._, i, 32. "They cannot see how the ancient Greeks could understand

each other."--_Literary Convention_, p. 96. "The spirit of the poet, the

patriot, and the prophet, vied with each other in his breast."--_Hazlitt's

Lect._, p. 112. "Athamas and Ino loved one another."--_Classic Tales_, p.

91. "Where two things are compared or contrasted to one another."--_Blair's

Rhet._, p. 119. "Where two things are compared, or contrasted, with one

another."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 324. "In the classification of

words, almost all writers differ from each other."--_Bullions, E. Gram._,

p. iv.

"I will not trouble thee, my child. Farewell;

We'll no more meet; no more see one another."--_Shak. Lear_.

UNDER NOTE IV.--OF COMPARATIVES.

"Errours in Education should be less indulged than any."--_Locke, on Ed._,

p. iv. "This was less his case than any man's that ever wrote."--_Pref. to

Waller_. "This trade enriched some people more than it enriched

them." [378]--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 215. "The Chaldee alphabet, in

which the Old Testament has reached us, is more beautiful than any ancient

character known."--_Wilson's Essay_, p. 5. "The Christian religion gives a

more lovely character of God, than any religion ever did."--_Murray's Key_,

p. 169. "The temple of Cholula was deemed more holy than any in New

Spain."--_Robertson's America_, ii, 477. "Cibber grants it to be a better

poem of its kind than ever was writ."--_Pope_. "Shakspeare is more faithful

to the true language of nature, than any writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 468.

"One son I had--one, more than all my sons, the strength of

Troy."--_Cowper's Homer_. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his

children, because he was the son of his old age."--_Gen._, xxxvii, 3.

UNDER NOTE V.--OF SUPERLATIVES.

"Of all other simpletons, he was the greatest."--_Nutting's English

Idioms_. "Of all other beings, man has certainly the greatest reason for

gratitude."--_Ibid., Gram._, p. 110. "This lady is the prettiest of all her

sisters."--_Peyton's Elements of Eng. Lang._, p. 39. "The relation which,

of all others, is by far the most fruitful of tropes, I have not yet

mentioned."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 141. "He studied Greek the most of any

nobleman."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 231. "And indeed that was the

qualification of all others most wanted at that time."--_Goldsmith's

Greece_, ii, 35. "Yet we deny that the knowledge of him, as outwardly

crucified, is the best of all other knowledge of him."--_Barclay's Works_,

i, 144. "Our ideas of numbers are of all others the most accurate and

distinct."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 35. "This indeed is of all others the case

when it can be least necessary to name the agent."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._,

i, 231. "The period, to which you have arrived, is perhaps the most

critical and important of any moment of your lives."--_Ib._, i, 394.

"Perry's royal octavo is esteemed the best of any pronouncing Dictionary

yet known."--_Red Book_, p. x. "This is the tenth persecution, and of all

the foregoing, the most bloody."--_Sammes's Antiquities_, Chap. xiii. "The

English tongue is the most susceptible of sublime imagery, of any language

in the world."--See _Bucke's Gram._, p. 141. "Homer is universally allowed

to have had the greatest Invention of any writer whatever."--_Pope's

Preface to Homer_. "In a version of this particular work, which most of any

other seems to require a venerable antique cast."--_Ib._ "Because I think

him the best informed of any naturalist who has ever written."--

_Jefferson's Notes_, p. 82. "Man is capable of being the most social of any

animal."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 145. "It is of all others that which

most moves us."--_Ib._, p. 158. "Which of all others, is the most necessary

article."--_Ib._, p. 166.

"Quoth he 'this gambol thou advisest,

Is, of all others, the unwisest.'"--_Hudibras_, iii, 316.

UNDER NOTE VI.--INCLUSIVE TERMS. "Noah and his family outlived all the

people who lived before the flood."--_Webster's El. Spelling-Book_, p. 101.

"I think it superior to any work of that nature we have yet had."--_Dr.

Blair's Rec. in Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 300. "We have had no

grammarian who has employed so much labour and judgment upon our native

language, as the author of these volumes."--_British Critic, ib._, ii, 299.

"No persons feel so much the distresses of others, as they who have

experienced distress themselves."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo., p. 227. "Never was

any people so much infatuated as the Jewish nation."--_Ib._, p. 185;

_Frazee's Gram._, p. 135. "No tongue is so full of connective particles as

the Greek."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 85. "Never sovereign was so much beloved

by the people."--_Murray's Exercises_, R. xv, p. 68. "No sovereign was ever

so much beloved by the people."--_Murray's Key_, p. 202. "Nothing ever

affected her so much as this misconduct of her child."--_Ib._, p. 203;

_Merchant's_, 195. "Of all the figures of speech, none comes so near to

painting as metaphor."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 142; _Jamieson's_, 149. "I know

none so happy in his metaphors as Mr. Addison."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 150.

"Of all the English authors, none is so happy in his metaphors as

Addison."--_Jamieson's, Rhet._, p. 157. "Perhaps no writer in the world was

ever so frugal of his words as Aristotle."--_Blair_, p. 177; _Jamieson_,

251. "Never was any writer so happy in that concise spirited style as Mr.

Pope."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 403. "In the harmonious structure and

disposition of periods, no writer whatever, ancient or modern, equals

Cicero."--_Blair_, 121; _Jamieson_, 123. "Nothing delights me so much as

the works of nature."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. i, p. 150. "No person was

ever so perplexed as he has been to-day."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 216. "In no

case are writers so apt to err as in the position of the word

_only_."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 15. "For nothing is so tiresome as

perpetual uniformity."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 102.

"No writing lifts exalted man so high,

As sacred and soul-moving poesy."--_Sheffield_.

UNDER NOTE VII.--EXTRA COMPARISONS.

"How much more are ye better than the fowls!"--_Luke_, xii, 24. "Do not

thou hasten above the Most Highest."--_2 Esdras_, iv, 34. "This word _peer_

is most principally used for the nobility of the realm."--_Cowell_.

"Because the same is not only most universally received," &c.--_Barclay's

Works_, i, 447. "This is, I say, not the best and most principal

evidence."--_Ib._, iii, 41. "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows

unto the Most Highest."--_The Psalter_, Ps. 1, 14. "The holy place of the

tabernacle of the Most Highest."--_Ib._, Ps. xlvi, 4. "As boys should be

educated with temperance, so the first greatest lesson that should be

taught them is to admire frugality."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 152. "More

universal terms are put for such as are more restricted."--_Brown's

Metaphors_, p. 11. "This was the most unkindest cut of all."--_Dodd's

Beauties of Shak._, p. 251; _Singer's Shak._, ii, 264. "To take the basest

and most poorest shape."--_Dodd's Shak._, p. 261. "I'll forbear: and am

fallen out with my more headier will."--_Ib._, p. 262. "The power of the

Most Highest guard thee from sin."--_Percival, on Apostolic Succession_, p.

90. "Which title had been more truer, if the dictionary had been in Latin

and Welch."--VERSTEGAN: _Harrison's E. Lang._, p. 254. "The waters are more

sooner and harder frozen, than more further upward, within the

inlands."--_Id., ib._ "At every descent, the worst may become more

worse."--H. MANN: _Louisville Examiner_, 8vo, Vol. i, p. 149.

"Or as a moat defensive to a house

Against the envy of less happier lands."--_Shakspeare_.

"A dreadful quiet felt, and worser far

Than arms, a sullen interval of war."--_Dryden_.

UNDER NOTE VIII.--ADJECTIVES CONNECTED.

"It breaks forth in its most energetick, impassioned, and highest

strain."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 66. "He has fallen into the most gross

and vilest sort of railing."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 261. "To receive that

more general and higher instruction which the public affords."--_District

School_, p. 281. "If the best things have the perfectest and best

operations."--HOOKER: _Joh. Dict._ "It became the plainest and most

elegant, the most splendid and richest, of all languages."--See _Bucke's

Gram._, p. 140. "But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is,

to mark the divisions of the sense."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 331; _Murray's

Gram._, 248. "That every thing belonging to ourselves is the perfectest and

the best."--_Clarkson's Prize Essay_, p. 189. "And to instruct their pupils

in the most thorough and best manner."--_Report of a School Committee_.

UNDER NOTE IX.--ADJECTIVES SUPERADDED.

"The Father is figured out as an old venerable man."--_Dr. Brownlee's

Controversy_. "There never was exhibited such another masterpiece of

ghostly assurance."--_Id._ "After the three first sentences, the question

is entirely lost."--_Spect._, No, 476. "The four last parts of speech are

commonly called particles."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 14. "The two last

chapters will not be found deficient in this respect."--_Student's Manual_,

p. 6. "Write upon your slates a list of the ten first nouns."--_Abbott's

Teacher_, p. 85. "We have a few remains of other two Greek poets in the

pastoral style, Moschus and Bion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 393. "The nine

first chapters of the book of Proverbs are highly poetical."--_Ib._, p.

417. "For of these five heads, only the two first have any particular

relation to the sublime."--_Ib._, p. 35. "The resembling sounds of the two

last syllables give a ludicrous air to the whole."--_Kames, El. of Crit._,

ii, 69. "The three last are arbitrary."--_Ib._, p. 72. "But in the phrase

'She hangs the curtains,' the verb _hangs_ is a transitive active

verb."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 30. "If our definition of a verb, and the

arrangement of transitive or intransitive active, passive, and neuter

verbs, are properly understood."--_Ib._, 15th Ed., p. 30. "These two last

lines have an embarrassing construction."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 160.

"God was provoked to drown them all, but Noah and other seven

persons."--_Wood's Dict._, ii, 129. "The _six first_ books of the Æneid are

extremely beautiful."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 27. "A few more

instances only can be given here."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 131. "A few more

years will obliterate every vestige of a subjunctive form."--_Nutting's

Gram._, p. 46. "Some define them to be verbs devoid of the two first

persons."--_Crombie's Treatise_, p. 205. "In such another Essay-tract as

this."--_White's English Verb_, p. 302. "But we fear that not such another

man is to be found."--REV. ED. IRVING: _on Horne's Psalms_, p. xxiii.

"Oh such another sleep, that I might see

But such another man!"--SHAK., _Antony and Cleopatra_.

UNDER NOTE X.--ADJECTIVES FOR ADVERBS.

"_The_ is an article, relating to the noun _balm_, agreeable to Rule

11."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 133. "_Wise_ is an adjective relating to the noun

_man's_, agreeable to Rule 11th."--_Ibid._, 12th Ed., often. "To whom I

observed, that the beer was extreme good."--_Goldsmith's Essays_, p. 127.

"He writes remarkably elegant."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 152. "John

behaves truly civil to all men."--_Ib._, p. 153. "All the sorts of words

hitherto considered have each of them some meaning, even when taken

separate."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 44. "He behaved himself

conformable to that blessed example."--_Sprat's Sermons_, p. 80.

"Marvellous graceful."--_Clarendon, Life_, p. 18. "The Queen having changed

her ministry suitable to her wisdom."--_Swift, Exam._, No. 21. "The

assertions of this author are easier detected."--_Swift_: censured in

_Lowth's Gram._, p. 93. "The characteristic of his sect allowed him to

affirm no stronger than that."--_Bentley: ibid._ "If one author had spoken

nobler and loftier than an other."--_Id., ib._ "Xenophon says

express."--_Id., ib._ "I can never think so very mean of him."--_Id., ib._

"To convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds,

which they have ungodly committed."--_Jude_, 15th: _ib._ "I think it very

masterly written."--_Swift to Pope_, Let. 74: _ib._ "The whole design must

refer to the golden age, which it lively represents."--_Addison, on Medals:

ib._ "Agreeable to this, we read of names being blotted out of God's

book."--BURDER: approved in _Webster's Impr. Gram._, p. 107; _Frazee's_,

140; _Maltby's_, 93. "Agreeable to the law of nature, children are bound to

support their indigent parents."--_Webster's Impr. Gram._, p. 109. "Words

taken independent of their meaning are parsed as nouns of the neuter

gender."--_Maltby's Gr._, 96.

"Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 236.

UNDER NOTE XI.--THEM FOR THOSE.

"Though he was not known by them letters, or the name Christ."--_Wm.

Bayly's Works_, p. 94. "In a gig, or some of them things."--_Edgeworth's

Castle Rackrent_, p. 35. "When cross-examined by them lawyers."--_Ib._, p.

98. "As the custom in them cases is."--_Ib._, p. 101. "If you'd have

listened to them slanders."--_Ib._, p. 115. "The old people were telling

stories about them fairies, but to the best of my judgment there's nothing

in it."--_Ib._, p. 188. "And is it not a pity that the Quakers have no

better authority to substantiate their principles than the testimony of

them old Pharisees?"--_Hibbard's Errors of the Quakers_, p. 107.

UNDER NOTE XII.--THIS AND THAT.

"Hope is as strong an incentive to action, as fear: this is the

anticipation of good, that of evil."--_Brown's Institutes_, p. 135. "The

poor want some advantages which the rich enjoy; but we should not therefore

account those happy, and these miserable."--_Ib._

"Ellen and Margaret fearfully,

Sought comfort in each other's eye;

Then turned their ghastly look each one,

This to her sire, that to her son."

_Scott's Lady of the Lake_, Canto ii, Stanza 29.

"Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids,

In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades;

These by Apollo's silver bow were slain,

Those Cynthia's arrows stretched upon the plain."

--_Pope, Il._, xxiv, 760.

"Memory and forecast just returns engage,

This pointing back to youth, that on to age."

--See _Key_.

UNDER NOTE XIII.--EITHER AND NEITHER.

"These make the three great subjects of discussion among mankind; truth,

duty, and interest. But the arguments directed towards either of them are

generically distinct."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 318. "A thousand other

deviations may be made, and still either of them may be correct in

principle. For these divisions and their technical terms, are all

arbitrary."--_R. W. Green's Inductive Gram._, p. vi. "Thus it appears, that

our alphabet is deficient, as it has but seven vowels to represent thirteen

different sounds; and has no letter to represent either of five simple

consonant sounds."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 19. "Then neither of these

[five] verbs can be neuter."--_Oliver B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 343. "And the

_asserter_ is in neither of the four already mentioned."--_Ib._, p. 356.

"As it is not in either of these four."--_Ib._, p. 356. "See whether or not

the word comes within the definition of either of the other three simple

cases."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Neither of the ten was there."--_Frazee's Gram._,

p. 108. "Here are ten oranges, take either of them."--_Ib._, p. 102. "There

are three modes, by either of which recollection will generally be

supplied; inclination, practice, and association."--_Rippingham's Art of

Speaking_, p. xxix. "Words not reducible to either of the three preceding

heads."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, pp. 335 and 340. "Now a sentence

may be analyzed in reference to either of these [four] classes."--_Ib._, p.

577.

UNDER NOTE XIV.--WHOLE, LESS, MORE, AND MOST.

"Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates the whole departments

of the state?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 278. "A messenger relates to Theseus

the whole particulars."--_Kames. El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 313. "There are

no less than twenty dipthhongs [sic--KTH] in the English language."--_Dr.

Ash's Gram._, p. xii. "The Redcross Knight runs through the whole steps of

the Christian life."--_Spectator_ No. 540. "There were not less than fifty

or sixty persons present."--_Teachers' Report._ "Greater experience, and

more cultivated society, abate the warmth of imagination, and chasten the

manner of expression."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 152; _Murray's Gram._, i, 351.

"By which means knowledge, much more than oratory, is become the principal

requisite."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 254. "No less than seven illustrious

cities disputed the right of having given birth to the greatest of

poets."--_Lemp. Dict., n. Homer._ "Temperance, more than medicines, is the

proper means of curing many diseases."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 222. "I do

not suppose, that we Britons want genius, more than our

neighbours."--_Ib._, p. 215. "In which he saith, he has found no less than

twelve untruths."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 460. "The several places of

rendezvous were concerted, and the whole operations fixed."--HUME: see

_Priestley's Gram._, p. 190. "In these rigid opinions the whole sectaries

concurred."--_Id., ib._ "Out of whose modifications have been made most

complex modes."--LOCKE: _Sanborn's Gram._, p. 148. "The Chinese vary each

of their words on no less than five different tones."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

58. "These people, though they possess more shining qualities, are not so

proud as he is, nor so vain as she."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 211. "'Tis

certain, we believe ourselves more, after we have made a thorough Inquiry

into the Thing."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 244. "As well as the whole

Course and Reasons of the Operation."--_Ib._ "Those rules and principles

which are of most practical advantage."--_Newman's Rhet._, p. 4. "And there

shall be no more curse."--_Rev._, xxii, 3. "And there shall be no more

death."--_Rev._, xxi, 4. "But in recompense, we have more pleasing pictures

of ancient manners."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 436. "Our language has suffered

more injurious changes in America, since the British army landed on our

shores, than it had suffered before, in the period of three

centuries."--_Webster's Essays_, Ed. of 1790, p. 96. "The whole

conveniences of life are derived from mutual aid and support in

society."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. 166.

UNDER NOTE XV.--PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES.

"To such as think the nature of it deserving their attention."--_Butler's

Analogy_, p. 84. "In all points, more deserving the approbation of their

readers."--_Keepsake_, 1830. "But to give way to childish sensations was

unbecoming our nature."--_Lempriere's Dict., n. Zeno._ "The following

extracts are deserving the serious perusal of all."--_The Friend_, Vol. v,

p. 135. "No inquiry into wisdom, however superficial, is undeserving

attention."--_Bulwer's Disowned_, ii, 95. "The opinions of illustrious men

are deserving great consideration."--_Porter's Family Journal_, p. 3. "And

resolutely keeps its laws, Uncaring consequences."--_Burns's Works_, ii,

43. "This is an item that is deserving more attention."--_Goodell's

Lectures._

"Leave then thy joys, unsuiting such an age, To a fresh comer, and resign

the stage."--_Dryden._

UNDER NOTE XVI.--FIGURE OF ADJECTIVES.

"The tall dark mountains and the deep toned seas."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p.

278. "O! learn from him To station quick eyed Prudence at the

helm."--ANON.: _Frost's El. of Gram._, p. 104. "He went in a one horse

chaise."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 113. "It ought to be, 'in a one horse

chaise.'"--_Dr. Crombie's Treatise_, p. 334. "These are marked with the

above mentioned letters."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "A many headed

faction."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 18. "Lest there should be no authority in any

popular grammar for the perhaps heaven inspired effort."--_Fowle's True

English Gram._, Part 2d, p. 25. "Common metre stanzas consist of four

Iambic lines; one of eight, and the next of six syllables. They were

formerly written in two fourteen syllable lines."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p.

69. "Short metre stanzas consist of four Iambic lines; the third of eight,

and the rest of six syllables."--_Ibid._ "Particular metre stanzas consist

of six Iambic lines; the third and sixth of six syllables, the rest of

eight."--_Ibid._ "Hallelujah metre stanzas consist of six Iambic lines; the

last two of eight syllables, and the rest of six."--_Ibid._ "Long metre

stanzas are merely the union of four Iambic lines, of ten syllables

each."--_Ibid._ "A majesty more commanding than is to be found among the

rest of the Old Testament poets."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 418.

"You sulphurous and thought executed fires, Vaunt couriers to oak cleaving

thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all shaking thunder Strike

flat the thick rotundity o' the world!"--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 264.

CHAPTER V.--PRONOUNS.

The rules for the agreement of Pronouns with their antecedents are four;

hence this chapter extends from the tenth rule to the thirteenth,

inclusively. The _cases_ of Pronouns are embraced with those of nouns, in

the seven rules of the third chapter.

RULE X.--PRONOUNS.

A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it

represents, in person, number, and gender:[379] as, "This is the friend _of

whom I spoke_; he has just arrived."--"This is the book _which I_ bought;

it is an excellent work."--"_Ye_, therefore, _who_ love mercy, teach _your_

sons to love _it_ too."--_Cowper._

"Speak _thou, whose_ thoughts at humble peace repine,

Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end be _thine_?"--_Dr. Johnson_.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

When a pronoun stands for some person or thing _indefinite_, or _unknown to

the speaker_, this rule is not _strictly_ applicable; because the person,

number, and gender, are rather assumed in the pronoun, than regulated by an

antecedent: as, "I do not care _who_ knows it."--_Steele_. "_Who_ touched

me? Tell me _who_ it was."--"We have no knowledge how, or by _whom_, it is

inhabited."--ABBOT: _Joh. Dict._

EXCEPTION SECOND.

The neuter pronoun _it_ may be applied to a young child, or to other

creatures masculine or feminine by nature, when they are not obviously

distinguishable with regard to sex; as, "Which is the real friend to the

_child_, the person who gives _it_ the sweetmeats, or the person who,

considering only _its_ health, resists _its_ importunities?"--_Opis._ "He

loads the _animal_ he is showing me, with so many trappings and collars,

that I cannot distinctly view _it_"--_Murray's Gram._, p. 301. "The

_nightingale_ sings most sweetly when _it_ sings in the night."--_Bucke's

Gram._, p. 52.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

The pronoun _it_ is often used without a definite reference to any

antecedent, and is sometimes a mere expletive, and sometimes the

representative of an action expressed afterwards by a verb; as, "Whether

she grapple _it_ with the pride of philosophy."--_Chalmers._ "Seeking to

lord _it_ over God's heritage."--_The Friend_, vii, 253. "_It_ is not for

kings, O Lemuel, _it_ is not for kings _to drink_ wine, nor for princes

strong drink."--_Prov._, xxxi, 4. "Having no temptation to _it_, God cannot

_act unjustly_ without defiling his nature."--_Brown's Divinity_, p. 11.

"Come, and trip _it_ as you go, On the light fantastic toe."--_Milton._

EXCEPTION FOURTH.

A singular antecedent with the adjective _many_, sometimes admits a plural

pronoun, but never in the same clause; as, "Hard has been the fate of

_many_ a great _genius_, that while _they_ have conferred immortality on

others, _they_ have wanted themselves some friend to embalm their names to

posterity."--_Welwood's Pref. to Rowe's Lucan._

"In Hawick twinkled _many a light_,

Behind him soon _they_ set in night."--_W. Scott._

EXCEPTION FIFTH.

When a plural pronoun is put by enallagè for the singular, it does not

agree with its noun in number, because it still requires a plural verb; as,

"_We_ [Lindley Murray] _have followed_ those authors, who appear to have

given them the most natural and intelligible distribution."--_Murray's

Gram._, 8vo, p. 29. "_We shall close our_ remarks on this subject, by

introducing the sentiments of Dr. Johnson respecting it."--_Ib._ "My lord,

_you know_ I love _you_"--_Shakspeare._

EXCEPTION SIXTH.

The pronoun sometimes disagrees with its antecedent in one sense, because

it takes it in an other; as, "I have perused Mr. Johnson's _Grammatical

Commentaries_, and find _it_[380] a very laborious, learned, and useful

Work."--_Tho. Knipe_, D. D. "_Lamps_ is of the plural number, because _it_

means more than one."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 8. "_Man_ is of the

masculine gender, because _it_ is the name of a male."--_Ib._ "The _Utica

Sentinel_ says _it_ has not heard whether the wounds are

dangerous."--_Evening Post_. (Better: "The _editor_ of the Utica Sentinel

says, _he_ has not heard," &c.) "There is little _Benjamin_ with _their_

ruler."--_Psalms_, lxviii, 27.

"_Her_ end when _emulation_ misses,

_She_ turns to envy, stings, and hisses."--_Swift's Poems_, p. 415.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE X.

OBS. 1.--Respecting a pronoun, the main thing is, that the reader perceive

clearly _for what it stands_; and next, that he do not misapprehend _its

relation of case_. For the sake of completeness and uniformity in parsing,

it is, I think, expedient to apply the foregoing rule not only to those

pronouns which have obvious antecedents expressed, but also to such as are

not accompanied by the nouns for which they stand. Even those which are put

for persons or things unknown or indefinite, may be said to agree with

whatever is meant by them; that is, with such nouns as their own properties

indicate. For the reader will naturally understand something by every

pronoun, unless it be a mere expletive, and without any antecedent. For

example: "It would depend upon _who_ the forty were."--_Trial at

Steubenville_, p. 50. Here _who_ is an indefinite relative, equivalent to

_what persons_; of the third person, plural, masculine; and is in the

nominative case after were, by Rule 6th. For the full construction seems to

be this: "It would depend upon _the persons who_ the forty were." So

_which_, for _which person_, or _which thing_, (if we call it a pronoun

rather than an adjective,) may be said to have the properties of the noun

_person_ or _thing_ understood; as,

"His notions fitted things so well,

That _which_ was _which_ he could not tell."--_Hudibras_.

OBS. 2.--The pronoun _we_ is used by the speaker or writer to represent

himself and others, and is therefore plural. But it is sometimes used, by a

sort of fiction, in stead of the singular, to intimate that the speaker or

writer is not alone in his opinions; or, perhaps more frequently, to evade

the charge of egotism; for this modest assumption of plurality seems most

common with those who have something else to assume: as, "And so lately as

1809, Pope Pius VII, in excommunicating his 'own dear son,' Napoleon, whom

he crowned and blessed, says: '_We_, unworthy as _we_ are, represent the

God of peace.'"--_Dr. Brownlee_. "The coat fits _us_ as well as if _we_ had

been melted and poured into it."--_Prentice_. Monarchs sometimes prefer

_we_ to _I_, in immediate connexion with a singular noun; as, "_We

Alexander_, Autocrat of all the Russias."--"_We the Emperor_ of China,"

&c.--_Economy of Human Life_, p. vi. They also employ the anomalous

compound _ourself_, which is not often used by other people; as, "Witness

_ourself_ at Westminster, 28 day of April, in the tenth year of _our_

reign. CHARLES."

"_Cæs._ What touches _us ourself_, shall be last serv'd."

--_Shak., J. C._, Act iii, Sc. 1.

"_Ourself_ to hoary Nestor will repair."

--_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 65.