The Grammar of English Grammars Part 125

C. D."--See _Brown's Inst.i.tutes_, p. 151.

"Will martial flames forever fire thy mind, And never, never be to Heaven resign'd?"--_Pope, Odys._, xii, 145.

UNDER NOTE IX.--APPLICATION OF MOODS.

_First Clause of the Note.--For the Subjunctive Present._

"He will not be pardoned, unless he repents."--_Brown's Inst.i.tutes_, p.

191.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _repents_, which is here used to express a future contingency, is in the indicative mood. But, according to the first clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A future contingency is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive present." Therefore, _repents_ should be _repent_; thus, "He will not be pardoned, unless he _repent_."]

"If thou findest any kernelwort in this marshy meadow, bring it to me."--_Neef's Method of Teaching_, p. 258. "If thou leavest the room, do not forget to shut that drawer."--_Ib._, p. 246. "If thou graspest it stoutly, thou wilt not be hurt."--_Ib._, p. 196. "On condition that he comes, I will consent to stay."--_Murray's Exerc._, p. 74. "If he is but discreet, he will succeed."--_Inst._, p. 191. "Take heed that thou speakest not to Jacob."--_Ib._ "If thou castest me off, I shall be miserable."-- _Ib._ "Send them to me, if thou pleasest."--_Ib._ "Watch the door of thy lips, lest thou utterest folly."--_Ib._ "Though a liar speaks the truth, he will hardly be believed."--_Common School Manual_, ii, 124. "I will go unless I should be ill."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 300. "If the word or words understood are supplied, the true construction will be apparent."-- _Murray's Exercises in Parsing_, p. 21. "Unless thou shalt see the propriety of the measure, we shall not desire thy support."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "Unless thou shouldst make a timely retreat, the danger will be unavoidable."--_Ib._, p. 209. "We may live happily, though our possessions are small."--_Ib._, p. 202. "If they are carefully studied, they will enable the student to pa.r.s.e all the exercises."--_Ib., Note_, p.

165. "If the accent is fairly preserved on the proper syllable, this drawling sound will never be heard."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 242. "One phrase may, in point of sense, be equivalent to another, though its grammatical nature is essentially different."--_Ib._, p. 108. "If any man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man."--_Dr. Webster's Bible_. "Thy skill will be the greater, if thou hittest it."--_Putnam's a.n.a.lytical Reader_, p. 204. "Thy skill will be the greater if thou hit'st it."--_Cobb's N. A. Reader_, p. 321. "We shall overtake him though he should run."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 113; _Murray's_, 207; _Smith's_, 173.

"We shall be disgusted if he gives us too much."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 388.

"What is't to thee, if he neglect thy urn, Or without spices lets thy body burn?"--DRYDEN: _Joh. Dict., w. What._

_Second Clause of Note IX.--For the Subjunctive Imperfect._

"And so would I, if I was he."--_Brown's Inst.i.tutes_, p. 191.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _was_, which is here used to express a mere supposition, with indefinite time, is in the indicative mood. But, according to the second clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A mere supposition, with indefinite time, is best expressed by a verb in the subjunctive imperfect." Therefore, _was_ should be _were_; thus, "And so would I, if I _were_ he."]

"If I was a Greek, I should resist Turkish despotism."--_Cardell's Elements of Gram._, p. 80. "If he was to go, he would attend to your business."--_Ib._, p. 81. "If thou feltest as I do, we should soon decide."--_Inst._, p. 191. "Though thou sheddest thy blood in the cause, it would but prove thee sincerely a fool."--_Ib._ "If thou lovedst him, there would be more evidence of it."--_Ib._ "If thou couldst convince him, he would not act accordingly."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "If there was no liberty, there would be no real crime."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 118.

"If the house was burnt down, the case would be the same."--_Foster's Report_, i, 89. "As if the mind was not always in action, when it prefers any thing!"--_West, on Agency_, p. 38. "Suppose I was to say, 'Light is a body.'"--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 78. "If either oxygen or azote was omitted, life would be destroyed."--_Gurney's Evidences_, p. 155. "The verb _dare_ is sometimes used as if it was an auxiliary."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 132.

"A certain lady, whom I could name, if it was necessary."--_Spectator_, No.

536. "If the _e_ was dropped, _c_ and _g_ would a.s.sume their hard sounds."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 10. "He would no more comprehend it, than if it was the speech of a Hottentot."--_Neef's Sketch_, p. 112. "If thou knewest the gift of G.o.d," &c.--_John_, iv, 10. "I wish I was at home."--_O.

B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 260. "Fact alone does not const.i.tute right; if it does, general warrants were lawful."--_Junius_, Let. xliv, p. 205. "Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessest it."--_Putnam's a.n.a.lytical Reader_, p. 202. "Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessedst it."--_Cobb's N. A. Reader_, p. 320. "He fought as if he had contended for life."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 92. "He fought as if he had been contending for his life."--_Ib._, 92.

"The dewdrop glistens on thy leaf, As if thou seem'st to shed a tear; As if thou knew'st my tale of grief, Felt all my sufferings severe."--_Alex. Letham_.

_Last Clause of Note IX.--For the Indicative Mood._

"If he know the way, he does not need a guide."--_Brown's Inst.i.tutes_, p.

191.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _know_, which is used to express a conditional circ.u.mstance a.s.sumed as a fact, is in the subjunctive mood.

But, according to the last clause of Note 9th to Rule 14th, "A conditional circ.u.mstance a.s.sumed as a fact, requires the indicative mood." Therefore, _know_ should be _knows_; thus, "If he _knows_ the way, he does not need a guide."]

"And if there be no difference, one of them must be superfluous, and ought to be rejected."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 149. "I cannot say that I admire this construction, though it be much used."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 172.

"We are disappointed, if the verb do not immediately follow it."--_Ib._, p.

177. "If it were they who acted so ungratefully, they are doubly in fault."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 223. "If art become apparent, it disgusts the reader."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 80. "Though perspicuity be more properly a rhetorical than a grammatical quality, I thought it better to include it in this book."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 238. "Although the efficient cause be obscure, the final cause of those sensations lies open."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 29. "Although the barrenness of language, and the want of words be doubtless one cause of the invention of tropes."--_Ib._, p. 135. "Though it enforce not its instructions, yet it furnishes us with a greater variety."--_Ib._, p. 353. "In other cases, though the idea be one, the words remain quite separate"--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 140. "Though the Form of our language be more simple, and has that peculiar Beauty."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. v. "Human works are of no significancy till they be completed."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 245. "Our disgust lessens gradually till it vanish altogether."--_Ib._, i, 338. "And our relish improves by use, till it arrive at perfection."--_Ib._, i, 338.

"So long as he keep himself in his own proper element."--c.o.kE: _ib._, i, 233. "Whether this translation were ever published or not I am wholly ignorant."--_Sale's Koran_, i, 13. "It is false to affirm, 'As it is day, it is light,' unless it actually be day."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 246. "But we may at midnight affirm, 'If it be day, it is light.'"--_Ibid._ "If the Bible be true, it is a volume of unspeakable interest."--_d.i.c.kinson_.

"Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."--_Heb._, v, 8. "If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"--_Matt._, xxii, 45.

"'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill."--_Pope, Ess. on Crit._

UNDER NOTE X.--FALSE SUBJUNCTIVES.

"If a man have built a house, the house is his."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p. 286.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _have built_, which extends the subjunctive mood into the perfect tense, has the appearance of disagreeing with its nominative _man_. But, according to Note 10th to Rule 14th, "Every such use or extension of the subjunctive mood, as the reader will be likely to mistake for a discord between the verb and its nominative, ought to be avoided as an impropriety." Therefore, _have built_ should be _has built_; thus, "If a man _has built_ a house, the house is his."]

"If G.o.d have required them of him, as is the fact, he has time."--_Ib._, p.

351. "Unless a previous understanding to the contrary have been had with the Princ.i.p.al."--_Berrian's Circular_, p. 5. "O if thou have Hid them in some flowery cave."--_Milton's Comus_, l. 239. "O if Jove's will Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay."--_Milton, Sonnet_ 1.

"SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: If thou love, If thou loved, If thou have loved, If thou had loved, If thou shall or will love, If thou shall or will have loved."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 71; _Cooper's Murray_, 58; _D.

Adams's Gram._, 48; and others. "Till religion, the pilot of the soul, have lent thee her unfathomable coil."--_Tupper's Thoughts_, p. 170. "Whether nature or art contribute most to form an orator, is a trifling inquiry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 338. "Year after year steals something from us; till the decaying fabric totter of itself, and crumble at length into dust."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 225. "If spiritual pride have not entirely vanquished humility."--_West's Letters_, p. 184. "Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter."--_Exodus_, xxi, 31. "It is doubtful whether the object introduced by way of simile, relate to what goes before, or to what follows."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 45.

"And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answer'd have."--_Milt., Comus_, l. 887.

RULE XV.--FINITE VERBS.

When the nominative is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the Verb must agree with it in the plural number: as, "The _council were divided_."--"The _college_ of cardinals _are_ the electors of the pope."--_Murray's Key_, p. 176. "Quintus Curtius relates, that a _number_ of them _were drowned_ in the river Lycus."--_Home's Art of Thinking_, p.

125.

"Yon _host come_ learn'd in academic rules."

--_Rowe's Lucan_, vii, 401.

"While heaven's high _host_ on hallelujahs _live_."

--_Young's N. Th._, iv, 378.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE XV.

OBS. 1.--To this rule there are _no exceptions_; because, the collective noun being a name which even in the singular number "signifies _many_," the verb which agrees with it, can never properly be singular, unless the collection be taken literally as one aggregate, and not as "conveying the idea of plurality." Thus, the collective noun singular being in general susceptible of two senses, and consequently admitting two modes of concord, the form of the verb, whether singular or plural, becomes the princ.i.p.al index to the particular sense in which the nominative is taken. After such a noun, we can use either a singular verb, agreeing with it literally, strictly, formally, according to Rule 14th; as, "The whole _number_ WAS two thousand and six hundred;" or a plural one, agreeing with it figuratively, virtually, ideally, according to Rule 15th; as, "The whole _number_ WERE two thousand and six hundred."--_2 Chron._, xxvi, 12. So, when the collective noun is an antecedent, the relative having in itself no distinction of the numbers, its verb becomes the index to the sense of all three; as, "Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the _remnant that_ IS _left._"--_Isaiah_, x.x.xvii, 4. "Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the _remnant that_ ARE _left_."--_2 Kings_, xix, 4. Ordinarily the word _remnant_ conveys no idea of plurality; but, it being here applied to persons, and having a meaning to which the mere singular neuter noun is not well adapted, the latter construction is preferable to the former. The Greek version varies more in the two places here cited; being plural in Isaiah, and singular in Kings. The Latin Vulgate, in both, is, "_pro reliquiis quae repertae sunt_:" i.e., "for the _remains_, or _remnants_, that are found."

OBS. 2.--Dr. Adam's rule is this: "A collective noun may be joined with a verb either of the singular or of the plural number; as, _Mult.i.tudo stat_, or _stant_; the mult.i.tude stands, or stand."--_Latin and English Gram._ To this doctrine, Lowth, Murray, and others, add: "Yet not without regard to the _import of the word_, as conveying _unity or plurality of idea_."--_Lowth_, p. 74; _Murray_, 152. If these latter authors mean, that collective nouns are permanently divided in import, so that some are invariably determined to the idea of unity, and others to that of plurality, they are wrong in principle; for, as Dr. Adam remarks, "A collective noun, when joined with a verb singular, expresses many considered as one whole; but when joined with a verb plural, it signifies many separately, or as individuals."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 154. And if this alone is what their addition means, it is entirely useless; and so, for all the purposes of parsing, is the singular half of the rule itself. Kirkham divides this rule into two, one for "unity of idea," and the other for "plurality of idea," shows how each is to be applied in parsing, according to his "_systematick order_;" and then, turning round with a gallant tilt at his own work, condemns both, as idle fabrications, which it were better to reject than to retain; alleging that, "The existence of such a thing as 'unity or plurality of idea,' as applicable to nouns of this cla.s.s, is _doubtful_."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 59.[394] How then shall a plural verb or p.r.o.noun, after a collective noun, be pa.r.s.ed, seeing it does not agree with the noun by the ordinary rule of agreement? Will any one say, that every such construction is _bad English_? If this cannot be maintained, rules eleventh and fifteenth of this series are necessary. But when the noun conveys the idea of unity or takes the plural form, the verb or p.r.o.noun has no other than a literal agreement by the common rule; as,

"A _priesthood_, such _as_ Baal's _was_ of old, A _people_, such _as_ never _was_ till now."--_Cowper_.

OBS. 3.--Of the construction of the verb and collective noun, a late British author gives the following account: "Collective nouns are substantives _which_ signify _many in the singular number_. Collective nouns are of two sorts: 1. Those which cannot become plural like other substantives; as, n.o.bility, mankind, &c. 2. Those which can be made plural by the usual rules for a substantive; as, 'A mult.i.tude, mult.i.tudes; a crowd, crowds;' &c. Substantives which imply plurality in the singular number, and consequently have no other plural, generally require a plural verb. They are cattle, cavalry, clergy, commonalty, gentry, laity, mankind, n.o.bility, peasantry people, populace, public, rabble, &c. [;] as, 'The public _are_ informed.' Collective nouns which form a regular plural, such as, number, numbers; mult.i.tude, mult.i.tudes; have, like all other substantives, a singular verb, when they are in the singular number; and a plural verb, when they are in the plural number; as, 'A number of people _is_ a.s.sembled; Numbers _are_ a.s.sembled.'--'The fleet _was_ dispersed; a _part_ of it _was_ injured; the several _parts are_ now collected.'"-- _Nixon's Pa.r.s.er_, p. 120. To this, his main text, the author appends a note, from which the following pa.s.sages are extracted: "There are few persons acquainted with Grammar, who may not have noticed, in many authors as well as speakers, an irregularity in supposing collective nouns to have, at one time, a singular meaning, and consequently to require a singular verb; and, at an other time, to have a plural meaning, and therefore to require a plural verb. This irregularity appears to have arisen from the want of a clear idea of the nature of a collective noun. This defect the author has endeavoured to supply; and, upon his definition, he has founded the two rules above. It is allowed on all sides that, hitherto, no satisfactory rules have been produced to enable the pupil to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, when a collective noun should have a singular verb, and when a plural one. A rule that simply tells its examiner, that when a collective noun in the nominative case conveys the idea of unity, its verb should be singular; and when it implies plurality, its verb should be plural, is of very little value; for such a rule will prove the _pupil's being in the right_, whether he _should_ put the verb in the singular or the plural."--_Ibid._

OBS. 4.--The foregoing explanation has many faults; and whoever trusts to it, or to any thing like it, will certainly be very much misled. In the first place, it is remarkable that an author who could suspect in others "the _want of a clear idea_ of the nature of a collective noun," should have hoped to supply the defect by a definition so ambiguous and ill-written as is the one above. Secondly, his subdivision of this cla.s.s of nouns into two sorts, is both baseless and nugatory; for that plurality which has reference to the individuals of an a.s.semblage, has no manner of connexion or affinity with that which refers to more than one such aggregate; nor is there any interference of the one with the other, or any ground at all for supposing that the absence of the latter is, has been, or ought to be, the occasion for adopting the former. Hence, thirdly, his two rules, (though, so far as they go, they seem not untrue in themselves,) by their limitation under this false division, exclude and deny the true construction of the verb with the greater part of our collective nouns.

For, fourthly, the first of these rules rashly presumes that any collective noun which in the singular number implies a plurality of individuals, is consequently dest.i.tute of any other plural; and the second accordingly supposes that no such nouns as, council, committee, jury, meeting, society, a.s.sembly, court, college, company, army, host, band, retinue, train, mult.i.tude, number, part, half, portion, majority, minority, remainder, set, sort, kind, cla.s.s, nation, tribe, family, race, and a hundred more, can ever be properly used with a plural verb, except when they a.s.sume the plural form. To prove the falsity of this supposition, is needless. And, finally, the objection which this author advances against the common rules, is very far from proving them useless, or not greatly preferable to his own. If they do not in every instance enable the student to ascertain with certainty which form of concord he ought to prefer, it is only because no rules can possibly tell a man precisely when he ought to entertain the idea of unity, and when that of plurality. In some instances, these ideas are unavoidably mixed or a.s.sociated, so that it is of little or no consequence which form of the verb we prefer; as, "Behold, the _people_ IS _one_, and _they have all_ one language."--_Gen._, xi, 6.

"Well, if a king's a lion, at the least The _people_ ARE a many-headed _beast_."--_Pope_, Epist. i, l. 120.

OBS. 5.--Lindley Murray says, "On many occasions, _where_ a noun of mult.i.tude is used, it is very difficult to decide, whether the verb should be in the singular, or in the plural number; and this difficulty has induced some grammarians to cut the knot at once, and to a.s.sert that every noun of mult.i.tude must always be considered as conveying the idea of unity."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 153. What these occasions, or who these grammarians, are, I know not; but it is certain that the difficulty here imagined does not concern the application of such rules as require the verb and p.r.o.noun to conform to the sense intended; and, where there is no apparent impropriety in adopting either number, there is no occasion to raise a scruple as to which is right. To cut knots by dogmatism, and to tie them by sophistry, are employments equally vain. It cannot be denied that there are in every mult.i.tude both a unity and a plurality, one or the other of which must be preferred as the principle of concord for the verb or the p.r.o.noun, or for both. Nor is the number of nouns small, or their use unfrequent, which, according to our best authors, admit of either construction: though Kirkham a.s.sails and repudiates _his own rules_, because, "Their application is quite limited."--_Grammar in Familiar Lectures_, p. 59.

OBS. 6.--Murray's doctrine seems to be, not that collective nouns are generally susceptible of two senses in respect to number, but that some naturally convey the idea of unity, others, that of plurality, and a few, either of these senses. The last, which are probably ten times more numerous than all the rest, he somehow merges or forgets, so as to speak of _two cla.s.ses_ only: saying, "Some nouns of mult.i.tude certainly convey to the mind an idea of plurality, others, that of a whole as one thing, and others again, sometimes that of unity, and sometimes that of plurality. On this ground, it is warrantable, and consistent with the nature of things, to apply a plural verb and p.r.o.noun _to the one cla.s.s_, and a singular verb and p.r.o.noun _to the other_. We shall immediately perceive the _impropriety_ of the following constructions: 'The clergy _has_ withdrawn _itself_ from the temporal courts;' 'The a.s.sembly _was_ divided in _its_ opinion;'

&c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 153. The simple fact is, that _clergy, a.s.sembly_, and perhaps every other collective noun, may sometimes convey the idea of unity, and sometimes that of plurality; but an "_opinion_" or a voluntary "_withdrawing_" is a _personal_ act or quality; _wherefore_ it is here more consistent to adopt the plural sense and construction, in which alone we take the collection as individuals, or persons.

OBS. 7.--Although a uniformity of number is generally preferable to diversity, in the construction of words that refer to the same collective noun: and although many grammarians deny that any departure from such uniformity is allowable; yet, if the singular be put first, a plural p.r.o.noun may sometimes follow without obvious impropriety: as, "So Judah _was_ carried away out of _their_ land."--_2 Kings_, xxv, 21. "Israel is reproved and threatened for _their_ impiety and idolatry."--_Friends'

Bible, Hosea_, x. "There _is_ the enemy _who wait_ to give us battle."--_Murray's Introductory Reader_, p. 36. When the idea of plurality predominates in the author's mind, a plural verb is sometimes used _before_ a collective noun that has the singular article _an_ or _a_; as, "There _are a sort_ of authors, _who seem_ to take up with appearances."-- _Addison_. "Here _are a number_ of facts or incidents leading to the end in view."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 296. "There _are a great number_ of exceedingly good writers among the French."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 11.