English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 27

What did the _evening_ do? The evening _came on_. Gray _twilight_ had clad what? Twilight had clad all _things_ in her sober livery.

_Evening_, then, is nom. to _came_, and the noun _things_ is in the objective case, and gov. by _had clad_: RULE 20. What did _she_ bear?

She bore thy rigid _lore_ with patience, _for_, or _during_, many a year. Hence you find, that _lore_ is in the objective case, and governed by _bore_, according to RULE 20. _Year_ is gov. by _during_ understood: RULE 32.

A noun is frequently nominative to a verb understood, or in the objective, and governed by a verb understood; as, "Lo, [_there is_] the poor _Indian!_ whose untutored mind." "O, the _pain_ [_there is!_] the _bliss_ [_there is_] in dying!" "All were sunk, but the wakeful _nightingale_ [_was not sunk_."] "He thought as a _sage_ [_thinks_,]

though he felt as a _man_ [_feels_."] "His hopes, immortal, blow them by, as _dust_ [_is blown by_."] Rule 35 applies to these last three examples.

In the next place I will explain several cases of nouns and p.r.o.nouns which have not yet come under our notice. Sometimes a noun or p.r.o.noun may be in the nominative case when it has no verb to agree with it.

OF THE NOMINATIVE CASE INDEPENDENT.

Whenever a direct address is made, the person or thing spoken to, is in the _nominative case independent_; as, "_James_, I desire you to study."

You notice that, in this expression, I address myself to _James_ that is, I speak to him; and you observe, too, that there is no verb, either expressed or implied, to which James can be the nominative; therefore you know that _James_ is in the nom. case independent, according to Rule 5. Recollect, that _whenever a noun is of the second person_, it is in the nom. case independent; that is, independent of any verb; as, _Selma_, thy halls are silent; Love and meekness, my _lord_, become a churchman, better than ambition; O _Jerusalem, Jerusalem_, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!--For a farther ill.u.s.tration of this case, see Note 2, under the 5th Rule of Syntax.

NOTE. When a p.r.o.noun of the _second_ person is in apposition with a noun independent, it is in the same case; as, "_Thou traitor_, I detest thee."

OF THE NOMINATIVE CASE ABSOLUTE.

A noun or p.r.o.noun placed before a participle, without any verb to agree with it, is in the nominative case _absolute_; as, "The _sun being risen_, we pursued our journey."

_Sun_ is here placed before the participle "being risen," and has no verb to agree with it; therefore it is in the nominative case absolute, according to RULE 6.

NOTE 1. A noun or p.r.o.noun in the nominative case independent, is always of the _second_ person; but, in the case absolute, it is generally of the _third_ person.

2. The case absolute is always nominative; the following sentence is therefore incorrect; "Whose top shall tremble, _him_ descending," &c.; it should be, _he_ descending.

OF NOUNS IN APPOSITION.

Two or more nouns or p.r.o.nouns signifying the same person or thing, are put, by _apposition_, in the same case; as, "_Cicero_, the great _orator, philosopher_, and _statesman_ of Rome, was murdered by Antony."

_Apposition_, in a grammatical sense, means something added, or names added, in order more fully to define or ill.u.s.trate the sense of the first name mentioned.

You perceive that _Cicero_, in the preceding example, is merely the proper name of a man; but when I give him the three additional appellations, and call him a great _orator, philosopher_, and _statesman_, you understand what kind of a man he was; that is, by giving him these three additional names, his character and abilities as a man are more fully made known. And, surely, you cannot be at a loss to know that these four nouns must be in the same case, for they are all names given to the same person; therefore, if _Cicero_ was murdered, the _orator_ was murdered, and the _philosopher_ was murdered, and the _statesman_ was murdered, because they all mean one and the same person.

Nouns and p.r.o.nouns in the objective case, are frequently in _apposition_; as, He struck _Charles_ the _student_. Now it is obvious, that, when he struck _Charles_, he struck the _student_, because Charles was the _student_, and the _student_ was _Charles_; therefore the noun _student_ is in the objective case, governed by "struck," and put by apposition with Charles, according to RULE 7.

Please to examine this lecture very attentively. You will then be prepared to pa.r.s.e the following examples correctly and systematically.

PARSING.

"Weep on the rocks of roaring winds, O _maid_ of Inistore."

_Maid_ is a noun, the name of a person--- com. the name of a sort--fem.

gender, it denotes a female--second pers. spoken to--sing. num. it implies but one--and in the nominative case independent, because it is addressed, and has no verb to agree with it, according to

RULE 5. _When an address is made, the noun or p.r.o.noun addressed, is put in the nominative case independent_.

"The _general_ being ransomed, the barbarians permitted him to depart."

_General_ is a noun, the name, &c. (pa.r.s.e it in full:)--and in the nominative case absolute, because it is placed before the participle "being ransomed," and it has no verb to agree with it, agreeably to

RULE 6. _A noun or p.r.o.noun placed before a participle, and being independent of the rest of the sentence, is in the nominative case absolute_.

_"Thou man_ of G.o.d, flee to the land of Judah."

_Thou_ is a p.r.o.noun, a word used instead of a noun--personal, it personates "man"--second pers. spoken to--mas. gender, sing. num.

because the noun "man" is for which it stands; RULE 13 (Repeat the Rule.)--_Thou_ is in the nominative case independent and put by _apposition_ with _man_, because it signifies the same thing, according to

RULE 7. _Two or more nouns, or nouns and p.r.o.nouns, signifying the same thing, are put, by apposition, in the same case_.

_Man_ is in the nominative case independent, according to Rule 5. _Flee_ agrees with _thou_ understood.

"Lo! _Newton, priest_ of Nature, shines afar, Scans the wide world, and numbers every star."

_Newton_ is a noun, (pa.r.s.e it in full,) and in the nominative case to "shines." RULE 3.

_Priest_ is a noun, (pa.r.s.e it in full,) and in the nom. case, it is the actor and subject of the verb "shines," and put by apposition with "Newton," because it signifies the same thing, agreeably to Rule 7.

(Repeat the Rule.)

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

_Turn_ from your evil ways, O house of Israel! Ye fields of light, celestial plains, ye scenes divinely fair! proclaim your Maker's wondrous power. O king! _live_ for ever. The murmur of thy streams, O Lora, brings back the memory of the past. The sound of thy woods, Garmallar, is lovely in my ear. Dost thou not behold, Malvina, a rock with its head of heath? Three aged pines bend from its face; green is the plain at its feet; there the flower of the mountain grows, and shades its white head in the breeze.

The General being slain, the army was routed. Commerce having thus got into the legislative body, privilege must be done away. Jesus had conveyed himself away, a mult.i.tude being in that place. I being in great haste, he consented. The rain having ceased, the dark clouds rolled away. The Son of G.o.d, while clothed in flesh, was subject to all the frailties and inconveniences of human nature, sin excepted; (that is, sin being excepted.)

In the days of Joram, king of Israel, flourished the prophet Elisha.

Paul the apostle suffered martyrdom. _Come_, peace of mind, delightful guest! and _dwell_ with me. Friends, Romans, countrymen, _lend_ me your ears.

Soul of the just, companion of the dead!

Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled?

Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour, There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bower:-- The world was sad, the garden was a wild, And man the hermit sighed, till woman smiled.

NOTE. Those verbs in _italics_, in the preceding examples, are all in the imperative mood, and _second_ person, agreeing with _thou, ye_, or _you_, understood. _House of Israel_ is a noun of mult.i.tude.

_Was routed_ and _must be done_ are pa.s.sive verbs. _Art fled_ is a neuter verb in a pa.s.sive form. _Clothed_ is a perfect participle.

_Till_ is an adverbial conjunction.

When you shall have a.n.a.lyzed, systematically, every word in the foregoing exercises, you may answer the following

QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED IN PARSING.

Repeat the list of interjections.--Repeat some interjective phrases.--Repeat the order of parsing an interjection.--In order to find the verb to which a noun is nom. what question do you put?--Give examples.--Is the nominative case ever placed after the verb?--When?--Give examples.--Does the objective case ever come before the verb?--Give examples.--Is a noun ever nom. to a verb understood?--Give examples.--When is a noun or p.r.o.noun in the nom. case independent?--Give examples.--Are nouns of the _second_ person always in the nom. case independent?--When a p.r.o.noun is put by apposition with a noun independent, in what case is it?--When is a noun or p.r.o.noun in the nom. case absolute?--Give examples.--When are nouns or nouns and p.r.o.nouns put, by apposition, in the same case?--Give examples.--In parsing a noun or p.r.o.noun in the nom. case independent, what Rule should be applied?--In parsing the nom. case absolute, what Rule?--What Rule in parsing nouns or p.r.o.nouns in apposition?--Do real interjections belong to written language?--(_Phil. Notes_.)--From what are the following words derived, _pish, fy, lo, halt, farewell, welcome, adieu!_

PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

The term INTERJECTION is applied to those _inarticulate_ sounds employed both by men and brutes, not to express distinct ideas, but emotions, pa.s.sions, or feelings. The sounds employed by human beings in groaning, sighing, crying, screaming, shrieking, and laughing, by the dog in barking, growling, and whining, by the horse in snorting and neighing, by the sheep in bleating, by the cat in mewing, by the dove in cooing, by the duck in quacking, and by the goose in hissing, we sometimes attempt to represent by words; but, as _written_ words are the ocular representatives of _articulate_ sounds, they cannot be made clearly to denote _inarticulate_ or _indistinct noises_. Such indistinct utterances belong to natural language; but they fall below the bounds of regulated speech. Hence, _real_ interjections are not a part of written language.

The meaning of those words commonly called interjections, is easily shown by tracing them to their roots.