A Handbook of the English Language Part 54

-- 479. _Plural subjects with singular predicates._--- The wages of sin _are_ death.--Honest men _are_ the salt of the earth.

_Singular subjects with plural predicates._--These constructions are rarer than the preceding: inasmuch as two or more persons (or things) are oftener spoken of as being equivalent to one, than one person (or thing) is spoken of as being equivalent to two or more.

Sixpence _is_ twelve halfpennies.

He _is_ all head and shoulders.

Vulnera totus _erat_.

Tu _es_ deliciae meae.

??t??, ?t?? s? ?? ?ss? pat?? ?a? p?t??a ?t??, ?d? ?as????t??, s? d? ?? ?a?e??? pa?a???t??.

CHAPTER XVII.

ON THE GOVERNMENT OF VERBS.

-- 480. The government of verbs is of two sorts, (1.) _objective_, and (2.) _modal_.

It is objective where the noun which follows the verb is the name of some object affected by the action of the verb,--as _he strikes me_; _he wounds the enemy_.

It is modal when the noun which follows the verb is not the name of any object affected by the verb, but the name of some object explaining the manner in which the action of the verb takes place, the instrument with which it is done, the end for which it is done, &c.

The government of all transitive verbs is necessarily objective. It may also be modal,--_I strike the enemy with the sword_ = _ferio hostem gladio_.

The government of all intransitive verbs can only be modal,--_I walk with the stick_. When we say, _I walk the horse_, the word _walk_ has changed its meaning, and signifies _make to walk_, and is, by the very fact of its being followed by the name of an object, converted from an intransitive into a transitive verb.

The modal construction may also be called the _adverbial construction_; because the effect of the noun is akin to that of an adverb,--_I fight with bravery_ = _I fight bravely_: _he walks a king_ = _he walks regally_. The modal (or adverbial) construction, sometimes takes the appearance of the objective: inasmuch as intransitive verbs are frequently followed by a substantive, e.g., _to sleep the sleep of the righteous_. Here, nevertheless, this is no proof of government. For a verb to be capable of governing an objective case, it must be a verb signifying an action affecting an object; which is not the case here. The sentence means, to _sleep as the righteous sleep_, or _according to the sleep of the righteous_.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ON THE PARTICIPLES.

-- 481. The present participle, or the participle in -ing, must be considered in respect to its relations with the substantive in -ing.

_Dying-day_ is, probably, no more a participle than _morning-walk_. In respect to the syntax of such expressions as the forthcoming, I consider that they are _either_ participles or substantives.

1. When substantives, they are in regimen, and govern a genitive case--_What is the meaning of the lady's holding up her train?_ Here the word _holding_ = _the act of holding_.--_Quid est significatio elevationis pallae de parte fminae._

2. When participles, they are in apposition or concord, and would, if inflected, appear in the same case with the substantive, or p.r.o.noun, preceding them--_What is the meaning of the lady holding up her train?_ Here the word _holding_ = _in the act of holding_, and answers to the Latin _fminae elevantis_.--_Quid est significatio fminae elevantis pallam?_

-- 482. The past participle corresponds not with the Greek form t?pt?e???, but with the form tet?????. _I am beaten_ is essentially a combination, expressive not of present but of past time, just like the Latin _sum verberatus_. Its Greek equivalent is not e?? t?pt?e??? = _I am a man in the act of being beaten_, but e?? tet????? = _I am a man who has been beaten_. It is past in respect to the action, though present in respect to the state brought about by the action. This essentially past element in the so-called present expression, _I am beaten_, will be again referred to.

CHAPTER XIX.

ON THE MOODS.

-- 483. The infinitive mood is a noun. The current rule that _when two verbs come together the latter is placed in the infinitive mood_, means that one verb can govern another only by converting it into a noun--_I begin to move_ = _I begin the act of moving_. Verbs, _as verbs_, can only come together in the way of apposition--_I irritate_, _I beat_, _I talk at him_, _I call him names_, &c.

-- 484. The construction, however, of English infinitives is two fold. (1.) Objective. (2.) Gerundial.

When one verb is followed by another without the preposition _to_, the construction must be considered to have grown out of the objective case, or from the form in -an.

Such is the case with the following words, and, probably, with others:

I may go, _not_ I may _to_ go.

I might go, -- I might _to_ go.

I can move, -- I can _to_ move.

I could move, -- I could _to_ move.

I will speak, -- I will _to_ speak.

I would speak, -- I would _to_ speak.

I shall wait, -- I shall _to_ wait.

I should wait, -- I should _to_ wait.

Let me go, -- Let me _to_ go.

He let me go, -- He let me _to_ go.

I do speak, -- I do _to_ speak.

I did speak, -- I did _to_ speak.

I dare go, -- I dare _to_ go.

I durst go, -- I durst _to_ go.

This, in the present English, is the rarer of the two constructions.

When a verb is followed by another, preceded by the preposition _to_, the construction must be considered to have grown out of the so-called gerund, i.e., the form in -nne, i.e., the dative case--_I begin to move_. This is the case with the great majority of English verbs.

-- 485. _Imperatives_ have three peculiarities. (1.) They can only, in English, be used in the second person--_go thou on_, _get you gone_, &c.: (2.) They take p.r.o.nouns after, instead of before them: (3.) They often omit the p.r.o.noun altogether.

CHAPTER XX.

ON THE TENSES.

-- 486. Notwithstanding its name, the present tense in English does not express a strictly _present_ action. It rather expresses an habitual one.

_He speaks well_ = _he is a good speaker_. If a man means to say that he is in the act of speaking, he says _I am speaking_.

It has also, especially when combined with a subjunctive mood, a future power--_I beat you_ ( = _I will beat you_) _if you don't leave off_.

-- 487. The English praeterite is the equivalent, not to the Greek perfect but the Greek aorist. _I beat_ = ?t??a not t?t?fa. The true perfect is expressed, in English, by the auxiliary _have_ + the past participle.

CHAPTER XXI.