The Grammar of English Grammars Part 131

65. "He will tell you, that whatever _is, is_ right." Sometimes the present tense is improper with the conjunction _that_, though it would be quite proper without it; as, "Others said, _That_ it _is_ Elias. And others said, _That_ it _is_ a prophet."--_Mark_, vi, 15. Here _That_ should be omitted, or else _is_ should be _was_. The capital _T_ is also improper.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XVII.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY OR.

"We do not know in what either reason or instinct consist."--_Rambler_, No.

41.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the verb _consist_ is of the plural number, and does not correctly agree with its two nominatives, _reason_ and _instinct_, which are connected by _or_, and taken disjunctively. But, according to Rule 17th, "When a verb has two or more nominatives connected by _or_ or _nor_, it must agree with them singly, and not as if taken together." Therefore, _consist_ should be _consists_; thus, "We do not know in what either reason or instinct _consists_."]

"A noun or a p.r.o.noun joined with a participle, const.i.tute a nominative case absolute."--_Bicknell's Gram._, Part ii, p. 50. "The relative will be of that case, which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, use to govern."--_Dr. Adam's Gram._, p. 203. "Which the verb or noun following, or the preposition going before, usually govern."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 200.[401] "In the different modes of p.r.o.nunciation which habit or caprice give rise to."--_Knight, on the Greek Alphabet_, p. 14.

"By which he, or his deputy, were authorized to cut down any trees in Whittlebury forest."--_Junius_, p. 251. "Wherever objects were to be named, in which sound, noise, or motion were concerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "The pleasure or pain resulting from a train of perceptions in different circ.u.mstances, are a beautiful contrivance of nature for valuable purposes."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 262. "Because their foolish vanity or their criminal ambition represent the principles by which they are influenced, as absolutely perfect."--_Life of Madame De Stael_, p. 2. "Hence naturally arise indifference or aversion between the parties."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 37.

"A penitent unbeliever, or an impenitent believer, are characters no where to be found."--_Tract_, No. 183. "Copying whatever is peculiar in the talk of all those whose birth or fortune ent.i.tle them to imitation."--_Rambler_, No. 194. "Where love, hatred, fear, or contempt, are often of decisive influence."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 119. "A lucky anecdote, or an enlivening tale relieve the folio page."--_D'Israeli's Curiosities_, Vol. i, p. 15.

"For outward matter or event, fashion not the character within."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "Yet sometimes we have seen that wine, or chance, have warmed cold brains."--_Dryden's Poems_, p. 76. "Motion is a Genus; Flight, a Species; this Flight or that Flight are Individuals."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 38. "When _et, aut, vel, sine_, or _nec_, are joined to different members of the same sentence."--_Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram._, p. 206; _Gould's Lat. Gram._, 203; _Grant's_, 266. "Wisdom or folly govern us."--_Fisk's English Gram._, 84. "_A_ or _an_ are styled indefinite articles."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "A rusty nail, or a crooked pin, shoot up into prodigies."--_Spectator_, No. 7. "Are either the subject or the predicate in the second sentence modified?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 578, --589.

"Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know."

--_Pope, Iliad_, B. x, l. 293.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--NOMINATIVES CONNECTED BY NOR.

"Neither he nor she have spoken to him."--_Perrin's Gram._, p. 237. "For want of a process of events, neither knowledge nor elegance preserve the reader from weariness."--JOHNSON: _in Crabb's Syn._, p. 511. "Neither history nor tradition furnish such information."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol.

i, p. 2. "Neither the form nor power of the liquids have varied materially."--_Knight, on the Greek Alph._, p. 16. "Where neither noise nor motion are concerned."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 55. "Neither Charles nor his brother were qualified to support such a system."--_Junius_, p. 250. "When, therefore, neither the liveliness of representation, nor the warmth of pa.s.sion, serve, as it were, to cover the trespa.s.s, it is not safe to leave the beaten track."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 381. "In many countries called Christian, neither Christianity, nor its evidence, are fairly laid before men."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p. 269. "Neither the intellect nor the heart are capable of being driven."--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 20. "Throughout this hymn, neither Apollo nor Diana are in any way connected with the Sun or Moon."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 199. "Of which, neither he, nor this Grammar, take any notice."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 346. "Neither their solicitude nor their foresight extend so far."--_Robertson's Amer._, Vol.

i, p. 287. "Neither Gomara, nor Oviedo, nor Herrera, consider Ojeda, or his companion Vespucci, as the first discoverers of the continent of America."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 471. "Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms, have been thought worthy of a moment's consideration."--_Junius_, p. 174.

"Nor War nor Wisdom yield our Jews delight, They will not study, and they dare not fight."

--_Crabbe's Borough_, p. 50.

"Nor time nor chance breed such confusions yet, Nor are the mean so rais'd, nor sunk the great."

--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. iii, l. 213.

UNDER NOTE I.--NOMINATIVES THAT DISAGREE.

"The definite article _the_, designates what particular thing or things is meant."--_Merchant's School Gram._, p. 23 and p. 33. "Sometimes a word or words necessary to complete the grammatical construction of a sentence, is not expressed, but omitted by ellipsis."--_Burr's Gram._, p. 26. "Ellipsis, or abbreviations, is the wheels of language."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 12.

"The conditions or tenor of none of them appear at this day."--_Hutchinson's Hist. of Ma.s.s._, Vol. i, p. 16. "Neither men nor money were wanting for the service."--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 279. "Either our own feelings, or the representation of those of others, require frequent emphatic distinction."--_Barber's Exercises_, p. 13. "Either Atoms and Chance, or Nature are uppermost: now I am for the latter part of the disjunction,"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 181. "Their riches or poverty are generally proportioned to their activity or indolence."--_Ross c.o.x's Narrative_. "Concerning the other part of him, neither you nor he seem to have entertained an idea."--_Bp. Horne_. "Whose earnings or income are so small."--_N. E. Discipline_, p. 130. "Neither riches nor fame render a man happy."--_Day's Gram._, p. 71. "The references to the pages, always point to the first volume, unless the Exercises or Key are mentioned."--_Murray's Gram._, Vol. ii, p. 283.

UNDER NOTE II.--COMPLETE THE CONCORD.

"My lord, you wrong my father; nor he nor I are capable of harbouring a thought against your peace."--_Walpole_. "There was no division of acts; no pauses or interval between them; but the stage was continually full; occupied either by the actors, or the chorus."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 463.

"Every word ending in B, P, F, as also many in V, are of this order."--_Dr.

Murray's Hist. of Lang._, i, 73. "As proud as we are of human reason, nothing can be more absurd than the general system of human life and human knowledge."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 347. "By which the body of sin and death is done away, and we cleansed."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 165. "And those were already converted, and regeneration begun in them."--_Ib._, iii, 433. "For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."--_Luke_, i, 18. "Who is my mother, or my brethren?"--_Mark_, iii, 33. "Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering."--_Isaiah_, xl, 16. "Information has been obtained, and some trials made."--_Society in America_, i, 308. "It is as obvious, and its causes more easily understood."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 84. "All languages furnish examples of this kind, and the English as many as any other."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 157. "The winters are long, and the cold intense."--_Morse's Geog._, p. 39. "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!"--_Prov._, v, 12. "The vestals were abolished by Theodosius the Great, and the fire of Vesta extinguished."--_Lempriere, w.

Vestales_. "Riches beget pride; pride, impatience."--_Bullions's Practical Lessons_, p. 89. "Grammar is not reasoning, any more than organization is thought, or letters sounds."--_Enclytica_, p. 90. "Words are implements, and grammar a machine."--_Ib._, p. 91.

UNDER NOTE III.--PLACE OF THE FIRST PERSON.

"I or thou art the person who must undertake the business proposed."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 184. "I and he were there."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 51. "And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he."--_Gen._, xli, 11. "If my views remain the same as mine and his were in 1833."--GOODELL: _Liberator_, ix, 148. "I and my father were riding out."--_Inst._, p. 158. "The premiums were given to me and George."--_Ib._ "I and Jane are invited."--_Ib._ "They ought to invite me and my sister."--_Ib._ "I and you intend going."--_Guy's Gram._, p. 55. "I and John are going to Town."--_British Gram._, p. 193. "I, and he are sick. I, and thou are well."--_James Brown's American Gram._, Boston Edition of 1841, p. 123. "I, and he is. I, and thou art. I, and he writes."--_Ib._, p.

126. "I, and they are well. I, thou, and she were walking."--_Ib._, p.

127.

UNDER NOTE IV.--DISTINCT SUBJECT PHRASES.

"To practise tale-bearing, or even to countenance it, are great injustice."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 159. "To reveal secrets, or to betray one's friends, are contemptible perfidy."--_Ib._ "To write all substantives with capital letters, or to exclude them from adjectives derived from proper names, may perhaps be thought offences too small for animadversion; but the evil of innovation is always something."--_Dr. Barrow's Essays_, p.

88. "To live in such families, or to have such servants, are blessings from G.o.d."--_Family Commentary_, p. 64. "How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, or what wars they maintained, are utterly unknown."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, Vol. i, p. 4. "To speak or to write perspicuously and agreeably, are attainments of the utmost consequence to all who purpose, either by speech or writing, to address the public."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 11.

UNDER NOTE V.--MAKE THE VERBS AGREE.

"Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?"--_Matt._, xviii, 12. "Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had p.r.o.nounced?"--_Jer._, xxvi, 19. "And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgement with thee?"--_Job_, xiv, 3. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."--_James_, i, 26.

"If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one an other."--_Leviticus_, xxv, 14. "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee, shall have become poor, and be sold to thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant."--WEBSTER'S BIBLE: _Lev._, xxv, 39. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee," &c.--_Matt._, v, 23.

"Anthea was content to call a coach, and crossed the brook."--_Rambler_, No. 34. "It is either totally suppressed, or appears in its lowest and most imperfect form."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 23. "But if any man be a worshiper of G.o.d, and doeth his will, him he heareth."--_John_, ix, 31. "Whereby his righteousness and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and is made ours."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 164. "Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had aught against me."--_Acts_, xxiv, 19.

"Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land, shall see That man hath yet a soul, and dare be free."--_Campbell_.

UNDER NOTE VI.--USE SEPARATE NOMINATIVES.

"_H_ is only an aspiration or breathing; and sometimes at the beginning of a word is not sounded at all."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 4. "Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good will to all men."--_Ib._, p. 12; _Murray's_, i, 170. "There is, and must be, a supreme being, of infinite goodness, power, and wisdom, who created and supports them."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, p. 201. "Were you not affrighted, and mistook a spirit for a body?"--_Watson's Apology_, p. 122. "The latter noun or p.r.o.noun is not governed by the conjunction _than_ or _as_, but agrees with the verb, or is governed by the verb or the preposition, expressed or understood."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 214; _Russell's_, 103; _Bacon's_, 51; _Alger's_, 71; _R. C. Smith's_, 179. "He had mistaken his true interests, and found himself forsaken."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p. 201. "The amputation was exceedingly well performed, and saved the patient's life."--_Ib._, p. 191.

"The intentions of some of these philosophers, nay, of many [,] might have been, and probably were good."--_Ib._, p. 216. "This may be true, and yet will not justify the practice."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 33. "From the practice of those who have had a liberal education, and are therefore presumed to be best acquainted with men and things."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 161. "For those energies and bounties which created and preserve the universe."--_J. Q. Adams's Rhet._, i, 327. "I shall make it once for all and hope it will be afterwards remembered."--_Blair's Lect._, p. 45. "This consequence is drawn too abruptly, and needed more explanation."--_Ib._, p.

229. "They must be used with more caution, and require more preparation."-- _Ib._, p. 153. "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_, which was formerly inserted, and made an addition of a syllable to the word."-- _Priestley's Gram._, p. 67. "The succession may be rendered more various or more uniform, but in one shape or an other is unavoidable."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i. 253. "It excites neither terror nor compa.s.sion, nor is agreeable in any respect."--_Ib._, ii, 277.

"Cheap vulgar arts, whose narrowness affords No flight for thoughts, but poorly stick at words."--_Denham_.

UNDER NOTE VII.--MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT STYLES.

"Let us read the living page, whose every character delighteth and instructs us."--_Maunder's Gram._, p. 5. "For if it be in any degree obscure, it puzzles, and doth not please."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 357.

"When a speaker addresseth himself to the understanding, he proposes the instruction of his hearers."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 13. "As the wine which strengthens and refresheth the heart."--_H. Adams's View_, p. 221. "This truth he wrappeth in an allegory, and feigns that one of the G.o.ddesses had taken up her abode with the other."--_Pope's Works_, iii, 46. "G.o.d searcheth and understands the heart."--_Thomas a Kempis_. "The grace of G.o.d, that brings salvation hath appeared to all men."--_Barclays Works_, i, 366. "Also we speak not in the words, which man's wisdom teaches; but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."--_Ib._, i, 388. "But he hath an objection, which he urgeth, and by which he thinks to overturn all."--_Ib._, iii, 327. "In that it gives them not that comfort and joy which it giveth unto them who love it."--_Ib._, i, 142. "Thou here misunderstood the place and misappliedst it."--_Ib._, iii, 38. "Like the barren heath in the desert, which knoweth not when good comes."--_Friends' Extracts_, p. 128; _N. E.

Discip._, p. 75. "It speaketh of the time past, but shews that something was then doing, but not quite finished."--_E. Devis's Gram._, p. 42. "It subsists in spite of them; it advanceth un.o.bserved."--PASCAL: _Addison's Evidences_, p. 17.

"But where is he, the Pilgrim of my song?-- Methinks he cometh late and tarries long."--_Byron_, Cant. iv, St. 164.

UNDER NOTE VII.--CONFUSION OF MOODS.

"If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray, &c."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 227 with 197. "As a speaker advances in his discourse, especially if it be somewhat impa.s.sioned, and increases in energy and earnestness, a higher and louder tone will naturally steal upon him."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 68. "If one man esteem a day above another, and another esteemeth every day alike; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 439. "If there be but one body of legislators, it is no better than a tyranny; if there are only two, there will want a casting voice."--_Addison, Spect._, No. 287. "Should you come up this way, and I am still here, you need not be a.s.sured how glad I shall be to see you."--_Ld. Byron_. "If he repent and becomes holy, let him enjoy G.o.d and heaven."--_Brownson's Elwood_, p. 248. "If thy fellow approach thee, naked and dest.i.tute, and thou shouldst say unto him, 'Depart in peace; be you warmed and filled;' and yet shouldst give him not those things that are needful to him, what benevolence is there in thy conduct?"--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 108.

"Get on your nightgown, lost occasion calls us.

And show us to be watchers."

--_Beauties of Shakspeare_, p. 278.

"But if it climb, with your a.s.sisting hands, The Trojan walls, and in the city stands."

--_Dryden's Virgil_, ii, 145.