The Grammar of English Grammars Part 142

NOTE X.--Adverbs that end in _ly_, are in general preferable to those forms which, for want of this distinction, may seem like adjectives misapplied.

Example: "There would be _scarce_ any such thing in nature as a folio."--_Addison_. Better:--"_scarcely_."

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XXI.

EXAMPLES UNDER NOTE I.--THE PLACING OF ADVERBS.

"All that is favoured by good use, is not proper to be retained."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, p. 296.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the adverb _not_ is not put in the most suitable place. But, according to Note 1st under Rule 21st, "Adverbs must be placed in that position which will render the sentence the most perspicuous and agreeable." The sentence will be improved by placing _not_ before _all_; thus, "_Not all_ that is favoured by good use, is proper to be retained."]

"Every thing favoured by good use, [is] not on that account worthy to be retained."--_Ib._, i, 369; _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 179. "Most men dream, but all do not."--_Beattie's Moral Science_, i, 72. "By hasty composition, we shall acquire certainly a very bad style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 191. "The comparisons are short, touching on one point only of resemblance."--_Ib._, p. 416. "Having had once some considerable object set before us."--_Ib._, p. 116. "The positive seems improperly to be called a degree."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 69; _Gould's_, 68. "In some phrases the genitive is only used."--_Adam_, 159; _Gould_, 161. "This blunder is said actually to have occurred."--_Smith's Inductive Gram._, p. 5. "But every man is not called James, nor every woman Mary."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 15. "Crotchets are employed for the same purpose nearly as the parenthesis."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 167. "There is still a greater impropriety in a double comparative."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 78. "We have often occasion to speak of time."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 39. "The following sentence cannot be possibly understood."--_Ib._, p. 104. "The words must be generally separated from the context."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 155. "Words ending in _ator_ have the accent generally on the penultimate."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 239. "The learned languages, with respect to voices, moods, and tenses, are, in general, differently constructed from the English tongue."--_Ib._, i, 101. "Adverbs seem originally to have been contrived to express compendiously in one word, what must otherwise have required two or more."--_Ib._, i, 114. "But it is only so, when the expression can be converted into the regular form of the possessive case."--_Ib._, i, 174.

"Enter, (says he) boldly, for here too there are G.o.ds."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 8. "For none work for ever so little a pittance that some cannot be found to work for less."--_Sedgwick's Economy_, p. 190. "For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again."--_Luke_, vi, 34. "They must be viewed exactly in the same light."--_Murray's Gram._, ii, 24. "If he does but speak to display his abilities, he is unworthy of attention."--_Ib., Key_, ii, 207.

UNDER NOTE II.--ADVERBS FOR ADJECTIVES.

"Motion upwards is commonly more agreeable than motion downwards."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 48. "There are but two ways possibly of justification before G.o.d."--_Dr. c.o.x, on Quakerism_, p. 413. "This construction sounds rather harshly."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 194; _Ingersoll's_, 199. "A clear conception in the mind of the learner, of regularly and well-formed letters."--_Com. School Journal_, i, 66. "He was a great hearer of * * * Attalus, Sotion, Papirius, Fabia.n.u.s, of whom he makes often mention."--_Seneca's Morals_, p. 11. "It is only the Often doing of a thing that makes it a Custom."--_Divine Right of Tythes_, p. 72.

"Because W. R. takes oft occasion to insinuate his jealousies of persons and things."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 570. "Yet often touching will wear gold."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 18. "Uneducated persons frequently use an adjective, when they ought to use an adverb: as, 'The country looks _beautiful_;' instead of _beautifully_."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 84. "The adjective is put absolutely, or without its substantive."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 57. "A noun or p.r.o.noun in the second person, may be put absolutely in the nominative case."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 45. "A noun or p.r.o.noun, when put absolutely with a participle," &c.--_Ib._, p. 44; _Jaudon's Gram._, 108. "A verb in the infinitive mood absolute, stands independently of the remaining part of the sentence."--_Wilbur and Livingston's Gram._, p. 24.

"At my return lately into England, I met a book int.i.tuled: 'The Iron Age.'"--_Cowley's Preface_, p. v. "But he can discover no better foundation for any of them, than the practice merely of Homer and Virgil."--_Kames, El. of Criticism, Introd._, p. xxv.

UNDER NOTE III--HERE FOR HITHER, &c.

"It is reported that the governour will come here to-morrow."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 196. "It _has been_ reported that the governour will come here to-morrow."--_Ib., Key_, p. 227. "To catch a prospect of that lovely land where his steps are tending."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 244. "Plautus makes one of his characters ask another where he is going with that Vulcan shut up in a horn; that is, with a lanthorn in his hand."--_Adams's Rhet._ ii, 331. "When we left Cambridge, we intended to return there in a few days."--_Anonym_. "Duncan comes here to-night."--_Shak., Macbeth_. "They talked of returning here last week."--_J. M. Putnam's Gram._, p. 116.

UNDER NOTE IV.--FROM HENCE, &c.

"From hence he concludes that no inference can be drawn from the meaning of the word, that a _const.i.tution_ has a higher authority than a law or statute."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 67. "From whence we may likewise date the period of this event."--_Murray's Key_, ii, p. 202. "From hence it becomes evident, that LANGUAGE, taken in the most comprehensive view, implies certain Sounds, having certain Meanings."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 315. "They returned to the city from whence they came out."--_Alex. Murray's Gram._, p. 135. "Respecting ellipses, some grammarians differ strangely in their ideas; and from thence has arisen a very whimsical diversity in their systems of grammar."--_Author_. "What am I and from whence? i.e. what am I, and from whence _am_ I?"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 171.

UNDER NOTE V.--THE ADVERB HOW.

"It is strange how a writer, so accurate as Dean Swift, should have stumbled on so improper an application of this particle."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112. "Ye know how that a good while ago G.o.d made choice among us,"

&c.--_Acts_, xv, 7. "Let us take care _how_ we sin; i.e. _that_ we _do not_ sin."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 135. "We see by these instances, how prepositions may be necessary to connect those words, which in their signification are not naturally connected."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 118.

"Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"--_2 Cor._, xiii, 5. "That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's."--_Exod._, ix, 29.

UNDER NOTE VI.--WHEN, WHILE, OR WHERE.

"Ellipsis is when one or more words are wanting, to complete the sense."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 235; _Gould's_, p. 229; _B. F. Fisk's Greek Gram._. 184. "Pleonasm is when a word more is added than is absolutely necessary to express the sense."--_Same works_. "Hyst~eron prot~eron is when that is put in the former part of the sentence, which, according to the sense, should be in the latter."--_Adam_, p. 237; _Gould_, 230.

"Hysteron proteron, _n._ A rhetorical figure when that is said last which was done first."--_Webster's Dict._ "A Barbarism is when a foreign or strange word is _made use_ of."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 242; _Gould's_, 234. "A Solecism is when the rules of Syntax are transgressed."--_Iidem, ib._ "An Idiotism is when the manner of expression peculiar to one language is used in another."--_Iid., ib._ "Tautology is when we either uselessly repeat the same words, or repeat the same sense in different words."--_Adam_, p. 243; _Gould_, 238. "Bombast is when high sounding words are used without meaning, or upon a trifling occasion."--_Iid., ib._ "Amphibology is when, by the ambiguity of the construction, the meaning may be taken in two different senses."--_Iid., ib._ "Irony is when one means the contrary of what is said."--_Adam_, p. 247; _Gould_, 237. "The Periphrasis, or Circ.u.mlocution, is when several words are employed to express what might be expressed in fewer."--_Iid., ib._ "Hyperbole is when a thing is magnified above the truth,"--_Adam_, p. 249; _Gould_, 240. "Personification is when we ascribe life, sentiments, or actions, to inanimate beings, or to abstract qualities."--_Iid., ib._ "Apostrophe, or Address, is when the speaker breaks off from the series of his discourse, and addresses himself to some person present or absent, living or dead, or to inanimate nature, as if endowed with sense and reason."--_Iid., ib._ "A Simile or Comparison is when the resemblance between two objects, whether _real_ or _imaginary_, is expressed in form."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 223. "Simile, or Comparison, is when one thing is ill.u.s.trated or heightened by comparing it to another."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 250; _Gould's_, 240. "Ant.i.thesis, or Opposition, is when things contrary or different are contrasted, to make them appear in the more striking light."--_Iid., ib._ "Description, or Imagery, [is] when any thing is painted in a lively manner, as if done before our eyes."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 250. "Emphasis is when a particular stress is laid on some word in a sentence."--_Ib._ "Epanorthosis, or Correction, is when the speaker either recalls or corrects what he had last said."--_Ib._ "Paralepsis, or Omission, is when one pretends to omit or pa.s.s by, what he at the same time declares."--_Ib._ "Incrementum, or Climax in sense, is when one member rises above another to the highest."--_Ib._, p. 251. "A Metonymy is where the cause is put for the effect, or the effect for the cause; the container for the thing contained; or the sign for the thing signified."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 223. "Agreement is when one word is like another in number, case, gender, or person."--_Frost's Gram._, p.

43; _Greenleaf's_, 32. "Government is when one word causes another to be in some particular number, person, or case."--_Webster's Imp. Gram._, p. 89; _Greenleaf's_, 32; _Frost's_, 43. "Fusion is while some solid substance is converted into a fluid by heat."--_B._ "A Proper Diphthong is where both the Vowels are sounded together; as, _oi_ in _Voice, ou_ in _House_."-- _Fisher's Gram._, p. 10. "An Improper Diphthong is where the Sound of but one of the two Vowels is heard; as _e_ in _People_."--_Ib._, p. 11.

UNDER NOTE VII.--THE ADVERB NO FOR NOT.

"An adverb is joined to a verb to show how, or whether or no, or when, or where one is, does, or suffers."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 62. "We must be immortal, whether we will or no."--_Maturin's Sermons_, p. 33. "He cares not whether the world was made for Caesar or no."--_American Quarterly Review_. "I do not know whether they are out or no."--_Byron's Letters_.

"Whether it can be proved or no, is not the thing."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p.

84. "Whether or no he makes use of the means commanded by G.o.d."--_Ib._,, p.

164. "Whether it pleases the world or no, the care is taken."-- _L'Estrange's Seneca_, p. 5. "How comes this to be never heard of nor in the least questioned, whether the Law was undoubtedly of Moses's writing or no?"--_Bp. Tomline's Evidences_, p. 44. "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not."--_John_, ix, 25. "Can I make men live, whether they will or no?"--_Shak._

"Can hearts, not free, be try'd whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must?"--_Milton, P. L._

UNDER NOTE VIII.--OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES.

"We need not, nor do not, confine the purposes of G.o.d."--_Bentley_. "I cannot by no means allow him that."--_Idem_. "We must try whether or no we cannot increase the Attention by the Help of the Senses."--_Brightland's Gram._, p. 263. "There is nothing more admirable nor more useful."--_Horne Tooke_, Vol. i, p. 20. "And what in no time to come he can never be said to have done, he can never be supposed to do."--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p.

345. "No skill could obviate, nor no remedy dispel, the terrible infection."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 114. "Prudery cannot be an indication neither of sense nor of taste."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 21. "But that scripture, nor no other, speaks not of imperfect faith."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 172. "But this scripture, nor none other, proves not that faith was or is always accompanied with doubting."--_Ibid._ "The light of Christ is not nor cannot be darkness."--_Ib._, p. 252. "Doth not the Scripture, which cannot lie, give none of the saints this testimony?"--_Ib._, p. 379.

"Which do not continue, nor are not binding."--_Ib._, Vol. iii. p. 79. "It not being perceived directly no more than the air."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p.

331. "Let's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, I pray."--_Shak., Shrew_. "Where there is no marked nor peculiar character in the style."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 175. "There can be no rules laid down, nor no manner recommended."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 163.

"_Bates_. 'He hath not told his thought to the king?'

_K. Henry_. 'No; nor it is not meet he should.'"--_Shak_.

UNDER NOTE IX.--EVER AND NEVER.

"The prayer of Christ is more than sufficient both to strengthen us, be we never so weak; and to overthrow all adversary power, be it never so strong."--_Hooker_. "He is like to have no share in it, or to be ever the better for it."--_Law and Grace_, p. 23. "In some parts of Chili, it seldom or ever rains."--_Willetts's Geog_. "If Pompey shall but never so little seem to like it."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 346. "Latin: 'Si Pompeius _paulum_ mod ostenderit sibi placere.' _Cic_. i, 5."--_Ib._ "Though never such a power of dogs and hunters pursue him."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: '_Quamlibet_ magna canum et venantium urgente vi.' _Plin_. l. 18, c.

16."--_Ib._ "Though you be never so excellent."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: '_Quantumvis_ licet excellas.' _Cic. de Amic_."--_Ib._ "If you do amiss never so little."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: 'Si _tantillum_ pecca.s.sis.'

_Plaut. Rud._ 4, 4"--_Ib._ "If we cast our eyes never so little down."--_Walker, ib._ "Latin: 'Si _tantulum_ oculos dejecerimus.' _Cic. 7.

Ver_."--_Ib._ "A wise man scorneth nothing, be it never so small or homely."--_Book of Thoughts_, p. 37. "Because they have seldom or ever an opportunity of learning them at all."--_Clarkson's Prize-Essay_, p. 170.

"We seldom or ever see those forsaken who trust in G.o.d."--_Atterbury_.

"Where, playing with him at bo-peep, He solved all problems, ne'er so deep."--_Hudibras_.

UNDER NOTE X.--OF THE FORM OF ADVERBS.

"One can scarce think that Pope was capable of epic or tragic poetry; but within a certain limited region, he has been outdone by no poet."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 403. "I, who now read, have near finished this chapter."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 82. "And yet, to refine our taste with respect to beauties of art or of nature, is scarce endeavoured in any seminary of learning."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. i, p. viii. "By the Numbers being confounded, and the Possessives wrong applied, the Pa.s.sage is neither English nor Grammar."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 123. "The letter G is wrong named _jee_."--_Creighton's Dict._, p. viii. "Last; Remember that in science, as in morals, authority cannot make right, what, in itself, is wrong."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 194. "They regulate our taste even where we are scarce sensible of them."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 96.

"Slow action, for example, is imitated by words p.r.o.nounced slow."--_Ib._, ii, 257. "Sure, if it be to profit withal, it must be in order to save."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 366. "Which is scarce possible at best."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 67. "Our wealth being near finished."--HARRIS: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 80.

CHAPTER IX.--CONJUNCTIONS.

The syntax of Conjunctions consists, not (as L. Murray and others erroneously teach) in "their power of determining the mood of verbs," or the "cases of nouns and p.r.o.nouns," but in the simple fact, that they link together such and such terms, and thus "mark the connexions of human thought."--_Beattie_.

RULE XXII.--CONJUNCTIONS.

Conjunctions connect words, sentences, or parts of sentences: as, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me _and_ thee, _and_ between my herdmen _and_ thy herdmen; _for_ we are brethren."--_Gen._, xiii, 8.

"Ah! _if_ she lend not arms _as well as_ rules.