A Handbook of the English Language Part 52

1. French.--_Ils_ (i.e., A. and B.) _se battaient--l'un l'autre._ _Ils_ (A.

B. C.) _se battaient--les uns les autres._ In Spanish, _uno otro_ = _l'un l'autre_, and _unos otros_ = _les uns les autres_.

2. Danish.--_Hin_ander = the French _l'un l'autre_; whilst _hverandre_ = _les uns les autres_.

CHAPTER XII.

THE INDETERMINATE p.r.o.nOUNS.

-- 463. Different nations have different methods of expressing indeterminate propositions.

Sometimes it is by the use of the pa.s.sive voice. This is the common method in Latin and Greek, and is also current in English--_dicitur_, ???eta?, _it is said_.

Sometimes the verb is reflective--_si dice_ = _it says itself_, Italian.

Sometimes the plural p.r.o.noun of the third person is used. This also is an English locution--_they say_ = _the world at large says_.

Finally, the use of some word = _man_ is a common indeterminate expression.

The word _man_ has an indeterminate sense in the Modern German; as _man sagt_ = _they say_.

The word _man_ was also used indeterminately in the Old English, although it is not so used in the Modern.

In the Old English, the form _man_ often lost the -n, and became _me_.--"Deutsche Grammatik." This form is also extinct.

-- 464. The present indeterminate p.r.o.noun is _one_; as _one says_ = _they say_ = _it is said_ = _man sagt_, German = _on dit_, French = _si dice_, Italian.

It has been stated, that the indeterminate p.r.o.noun _one_ has no etymological connection with the numeral _one_; but that it is derived from the French _on_ = _homme_ = _h.o.m.o_ = _man_; and that it has replaced the Old English _man_ or _me_.

-- 465. Two other p.r.o.nouns, or, to speak more in accordance with the present habit of the English language, one p.r.o.noun, and one adverb of p.r.o.nominal origin, are also used indeterminately, viz., _it_ and _there_.

-- 466. _It_ can be either the subject or the predicate of a sentence,--_it is this_, _this is it_, _I am it_, _it is I_. When _it_ is the subject of a proposition, the verb necessarily agrees with it, and can be of the singular number only; no matter what be the number of the predicate--_it is this_, _it is these_.

When _it_ is the predicate of a proposition, the number of the verb depends upon the number of the subject. These points of universal syntax are mentioned here for the sake of ill.u.s.trating some anomalous forms.

-- 467. _There_ can only be the predicate of a subject. It differs from _it_ in this respect. It follows also that it must differ from _it_ in never affecting the number of the verb. This is determined by the nature of the subject--_there is this_, _there are these_.

When we say _there is these_, the a.n.a.logy between the words _these_ and _it_ misleads us; the expression being illogical.

Furthermore, although a predicate, _there_ always stands in the beginning of propositions, i.e., in the place of the subject. This also misleads.

-- 468. Although _it_, when the subject, being itself singular, absolutely requires that its verb should be singular also, there is a tendency to use it incorrectly, and to treat it as a plural. Thus, in German, when the predicate is plural, the verb joined to the singular form _es_ ( = _it_) is plural--_es sind menschen_, literally translated = _it are men_; which, though bad English, is good German.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ARTICLES.

-- 469. The rule of most practical importance about the articles is the rule that determines when the article shall be repeated as often as there is a fresh substantive, and when it shall not.

When two or more substantives following each other denote the same object, the article precedes the first only. We say, _the secretary and treasurer_ (or, _a secretary and treasurer_), when the two offices are held by one person.

When two or more substantives following each other denote different objects, the article is repeated, and precedes each. We say, _the_ (or _a_) _secretary and the_ (or _a_) _treasurer_, when the two offices are held by different persons.

This rule is much neglected.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE NUMERALS.

-- 470. The numeral _one_ is naturally single. All the rest are naturally plural.

Nevertheless such expressions--_one two_ ( = _one collection of two_), _two threes_ ( = _two collections of three_) are legitimate. These are so, because the sense of the word is changed. We may talk of several _ones_ just as we may talk of several _aces_; and of _one two_ just as of _one pair_.

Expressions like _the thousand-and-first_ are incorrect. They mean neither one thing nor another: 1001st being expressed by _the thousand-and-first_, and 1000th + 1st being expressed by _the thousandth and the first_.

Here it may be noticed that, although I never found it to do so, the word _odd_ is capable of taking an ordinal form. The _thousand-and-odd-th_ is as good an expression as the _thousand-and-eight-th_.

The construction of phrases like the _thousand-and-first_ is the same construction as we find in the _king of Saxony's army_.

-- 471. It is by no means a matter of indifference whether we say the _two first_ or the _first two_.

The captains of two different cla.s.ses at school should be called the _two first boys_. The first and second boys of the same cla.s.s should be called the _first two boys_. I believe that when this rule is attended to, more is due to the printer than to the author: such, at least, is the case with myself.

CHAPTER XV.

ON VERBS IN GENERAL.

-- 472. For the purposes of syntax it is necessary to divide verbs into the five following divisions: transitive, intransitive, auxiliary, substantive, and impersonal.

_Transitive verbs._--In transitive verbs the action is never a simple action. It always affects some object or other,--_I move my limbs_; _I strike my enemy_. The presence of a transitive verb implies also the presence of a noun; which noun is the name of the object affected. A transitive verb, unaccompanied by a noun, either expressed or understood, is a contradiction in terms. The absence of the nouns, in and of itself, makes it intransitive. _I move_ means, simply, _I am in a state of moving_.

_I strike_ means, simply, _I am in the act of striking_. Verbs like _move_ and _strike_ are naturally transitive.

_Intransitive verbs._--An act may take place, and yet no object be affected by it. _To hunger_, _to thirst_, _to sleep_, _to wake_, are verbs that indicate states of being, rather than actions affecting objects. Verbs like _hunger_ and _sleep_ are naturally intransitive.

Many verbs, naturally transitive, may be used as intransitive,--e.g., _I move_, _I strike_, &c.

Many verbs, naturally intransitive, may be used as transitives,--e.g., _I walked the horse_ = _I made the horse walk_.