The Grammar of English Grammars Part 153

16. "The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart."--_Jeremiah_, x.x.x, 24. "We seek for more heroic and ill.u.s.trious deeds, for more diversified and surprising events."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 373. "We distinguish the Genders, or the Male and Female s.e.x, four different Ways."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 20. "Thus, ch and g, are ever hard. It is therefore proper to retain these sounds in Hebrew names, which have not been modernised, or changed by public use."--_Wilson's Essay on Gram._, p. 24. "The Substantive or noun is the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Lindley Murray's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 26. "The SUBSTANTIVE, or NOUN; being the name of any thing conceived to subsist, or of which we have any notion."--_Dr. Lowth's Gram._, p. 6. "The _Noun_ is the name of any thing that exists, or of which we have, or can form, an idea."--_Maunders Gram._, p. 1. "A noun is the name of any thing in existence, or of which we can form an idea."--_Ib._, p. 1. (See False Syntax under Note 7th to Rule 10th.) "The next thing to be taken Care of, is to keep him exactly to speaking of Truth."--_Locke, on Ed._, p. 254. "The material, vegetable, and animal world, receive this influence according to their several capacities."--_The Dial_, i, 59. "And yet, it is fairly defensible on the principles of the schoolmen; if that can be called principles which consists merely in words."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 274.

"Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, And fears to die? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes."--_Beaut. of Shak._, p. 317.

LESSON XV.--THREE ERRORS.

"The silver age is reckoned to have commenced on the death of Augustus, and continued to the end of Trajan's reign."--_Gould's Lat. Gram._, p. 277.

"Language is become, in modern times, more correct, indeed, and accurate."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 65. "It is evident, that words are most agreeable to the ear which are composed of smooth and liquid sounds, where there is a proper intermixture of vowels and consonants."--_Ib._, p. 121.

See _Murray's Gram._, i, 325. "It would have had no other effect, but to add a word unnecessarily to the sentence."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 194. "But as rumours arose of the judges having been corrupted by money in this cause, these gave occasions to much popular clamour, and had thrown a heavy odium on Cluentius."--_Ib._, p. 273. "A Participle is derived of a verb, and partakes of the nature both of the verb and the adjective."--_Dr. Ash's Gram._, p. 39; _E. Devis's_, 9. "I will have learned my grammar before you learn your's."--_Wilbur and Liv. Gram._, p. 14. "There is no earthly object capable of making such various and such forcible impressions upon the human mind as a complete speaker."--_Perry's Dict., Pref._ "It was not the carrying the bag which made Judas a thief and an hireling."--_South_. "As the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so G.o.d and man is one Christ."--_Athanasian Creed_. "And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my G.o.d."--_Hosea_, ii, 23. "Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound to be elevated or emphatical, an easy fall, sufficient to show that the sense is finished, will be proper."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 250. "Each party produces words where the letter _a_ is sounded in the manner they contend for."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 1. "To countenance persons who are guilty of bad actions, is scarcely one remove from actually committing them."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 233. "'To countenance persons who are guilty of bad actions,' is part of a sentence, which is the nominative case to the verb 'is.'"--_Ibid._ "What is called splitting of particles, or separating a preposition from the noun which it governs, is always to be avoided."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 112; _Jamieson's_, 93. See _Murray's Gram._, i, 319. "There is, properly, no more than one pause or rest in the sentence, falling betwixt the two members into which it is divided."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 125; _Jamieson's_, 126; _Murray's Gram._, i, 329. "Going barefoot does not at all help on the way to heaven."--_Steele, Spect._, No. 497. "There is no Body but condemns this in others, though they overlook it in themselves."--_Locke, on Ed._, --145. "In the same sentence, be careful not to use the same word too frequently, nor in different senses."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 296. "Nothing could have made her so unhappy, as marrying a man who possessed such principles."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 200. "A warlike, various, and a tragical age is best to write of, but worst to write in."--_Cowley's Pref._, p. vi. "When thou instances Peter his baptizing Cornelius."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 188. "To introduce two or more leading thoughts or agents, which have no natural relation to, or dependence on one another."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 313. "Animals, again, are fitted to one another, and to the elements where they live, and to which they are as appendices."--_Ibid._ "This melody, or varying the sound of each word so often, is a proof of nothing, however, but of the fine ear of that people."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 5. "They can each in their turns be made use of upon occasion."--_Duncan's Logic_, p. 191. "In this reign lived the poet Chaucer, who, with Gower, are the first authors who can properly be said to have written English."--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 144. "In the translating these kind of expressions, consider the IT IS, as if it were _they_, or _they are_."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 179. "The chin has an important office to perform; for upon its activity we either disclose a polite or vulgar p.r.o.nunciation."--_Music of Nature_, p. 27. "For no other reason, but his being found in bad company."--_Webster's Amer.

Spelling-Book_, p. 96. "It is usual to compare them in the same manner as Polisyllables."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 77. "The infinitive mood is recognised easier than any others, because the preposition _to_ precedes it."--_Bucke's Gram._, p, 95. "Prepositions, you recollect, connect words as well as conjunctions: how, then, can you tell the one from the other?"--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 38.

"No kind of work requires so nice a touch, And if well finish'd, nothing shines so much"

--_Sheffield, Duke of Buck._

LESSON XVI--THREE ERRORS.

"It is the final pause which alone, on many occasions, marks the difference between prose and verse; which will be evident from the following arrangement of a few poetical lines."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 260. "I shall do all I can to persuade others to take the same measures for their cure which I have."--GUARDIAN: see _Campbell's Rhet._, p. 207. "I shall do all I can, to persuade others to take the same measures for their cure which I have taken."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 215. "It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, and [or _an_] it were but to roast their eggs."--_Ld. Bacon_. "Did ever man struggle more earnestly in a cause where both his honour and life are concerned?"--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 15. "So the rests and pauses, between sentences and their parts, are marked by points."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 114. "Yet the case and mode is not influenced by them, but determined by the nature of the sentence."--_Ib._, p. 113. "By not attending to this rule, many errors have been committed: a number of which is subjoined, as a further caution and direction to the learner."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 114. "Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair."--_Jeremiah_, iv, 30. "But that the doing good to others will make us happy, is not so evident; feeding the hungry, for example, or clothing the naked."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, i, 161. "There is no other G.o.d but him, no other light but his."--_William Penn_. "How little reason to wonder, that a perfect and accomplished orator, should be one of the characters that is most rarely found?"--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 337. "Because they neither express doing nor receiving an action."--_Infant School Gram._, p. 53. "To find the answers, will require an effort of mind, and when given, will be the result of reflection, showing that the subject is understood."--_Ib._, p. vii. "To say, that 'the sun rises,' is trite and common; but it becomes a magnificent image when expressed as Mr. Thomson has done."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 137. "The declining a word is the giving it different endings."--_Ware's Gram._, p. 7. "And so much are they for every one's following their own mind."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 462. "More than one overture for a peace was made, but Cleon prevented their taking effect."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 121. "Neither in English or in any other language is this word, and that which corresponds to it in other languages, any more an article, than _two, three, four_."--DR. WEBSTER: _Knickerbocker of 1836_. "But the most irksome conversation of all others I have met within the neighbourhood, has been among two or three of your travellers."--_Spect._, No. 474. "Set down the two first terms of supposition under each other in the first place."--_Smiley's Arithmetic_, p. 79. "It is an useful rule too, to fix our eye on some of the most distant persons in the a.s.sembly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 328. "He will generally please most, when pleasing is not his sole nor chief aim."--_Ib._, p. 336. "At length, the consuls return to the camp, and inform them they could receive no other terms but that of surrendering their arms, and pa.s.sing under the yoke."--_Ib._, p. 360. "Nor is mankind so much to blame, in his choice thus determining him."--SWIFT: _Crombie's Treatise_, p 360. "These forms are what is called Number."--_Fosd.i.c.k's De Sacy_, p. 62. "In languages which admit but two Genders, all Nouns are either Masculine or Feminine, even though they designate beings which are neither male or female."--_Ib._, p. 66. "It is called a _Verb_ or _Word_ by way of eminence, because it is the most essential word in a sentence, without which the other parts of speech can form no complete sense."--_Gould's Adam's Gram._, p. 76. "The sentence will consist of two members, which are commonly separated from one another by a comma."--_Jamieson's Rhet._, p. 7. "Loud and soft in speaking, is like the _forte_ and _piano_ in music, it only refers to the different degrees of force used in the same key; whereas high and low imply a change of key."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 116. "They are chiefly three: the acquisition of knowledge; the a.s.sisting the memory to treasure up this knowledge; or the communicating it to others."--_Ib._, p. 11.

"These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness, Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, Than twenty silly ducking observants."--_Beauties of Shak._, p. 261.

LESSON XVII.--MANY ERRORS.

"A man will be forgiven, even great errors, in a foreign language; but in his own, even the least slips are justly laid hold of, and ridiculed."--_American Chesterfield_, p 83. "_Let_ does not only express permission; but praying, exhorting, commanding."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 41.

"_Let_, not only expresses permission, but entreating, exhorting, commanding."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 88; _Ingersoll's_, 135. "That death which is our leaving this world, is nothing else but putting off these bodies."--_Sherlock_. "They differ from the saints recorded both in the Old and New Testaments."--_Newton_. "The nature therefore of relation consists in the referring or comparing two things one to another; from which comparison, one or both comes to be denominated"--_Locke's Essay_, i, 220.

"It is not credible, that there hath been any one who through the whole course of their lives will say, that they have kept themselves undefiled with the least spot or stain of sin."--_Witsius_. "If acting conformably to the will of our Creator;--if promoting the welfare of mankind around us;--if securing our own happiness;--are objects of the highest moment:--then we are loudly called upon to cultivate and extend the great interests of religion and virtue"--_Murray's Gram._, i, 278; _Comly's_, 163; _Ingersoll's_, 291. "By the verb being in the plural number, it is supposed that it has a plural nominative, which is not the case. The only nominative to the verb, is, _the officer_: the expression _his guard_, are in the objective case, governed by the preposition _with_; and they cannot consequently form the nominative, or any part of it. The prominent subject, and the true nominative of the verb, and to which the verb peculiarly refers, is _the officer_."--_Murray's Parsing_, Cr. 8vo, ii, 22. "This is another use, that, in my opinion, contributes rather to make a man learned than wise; and is neither capable of pleasing the understanding, or imagination."--ADDISON: _Churchill's Gram._, p. 353. "The work is a dull performance; and is capable of pleasing neither the understanding, nor the imagination."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 210. "I would recommend the Elements of English Grammar, by Mr. Frost. Its plan is after Murray, but his definitions and language is simplified as far as the nature of the subject will admit, to meet the understanding of children. It also embraces more copious examples and exercises in Parsing than is usual in elementary treatises."--_Hall's Lectures on School-Keeping_, 1st Ed., p. 37. "More rain falls in the first two summer months, than in the first two winter ones: but it makes a much greater show upon the earth, in these than in those; because there is a much slower evaporation."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 189. See _Priestley's Gram._, p. 90. "They often contribute also to the rendering some persons prosperous though wicked: and, which is still worse, to the rewarding some actions though vicious, and punishing other actions though virtuous."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p. 92. "From hence, to such a man, arises naturally a secret satisfaction and sense of security, and implicit hope of somewhat further."--_Ib._, p. 93. "So much for the third and last cause of illusion that was taken notice of, arising from the abuse of very general and abstract terms, which is the princ.i.p.al source of all the nonsense that hath been vented by metaphysicians, mystagogues, and theologians."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 297. "As to those animals whose use is less common, or who on account of the places which they inhabit, fall less under our observation, as fishes and birds, or whom their diminutive size removes still further from our observation, we generally, in English, employ a single Noun to designate both Genders, Masculine and Feminine."--_Fosd.i.c.k's De Sacy_, p. 67. "Adjectives may always be distinguished by their being the word, or words, made use of to describe the quality, or condition, of whatever is mentioned."--_Emmons's Gram._, p.

20. "Adverb signifies a word added to a verb, participle, adjective, or other adverb, to describe or qualify their qualities."--_Ib._, p. 64. "The joining together two such grand objects, and the representing them both as subject, at one moment, to the command of G.o.d, produces a n.o.ble effect."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 37. "Twisted columns, for instance, are undoubtedly ornamental; but as they have an appearance of weakness, they always displease when they are made use of to support any part of a building that is ma.s.sy, and that seems to require a more substantial prop."--_Ib._, p. 40. "Upon a vast number of inscriptions, some upon rocks, some upon stones of a defined shape, is found an Alphabet different from the Greeks, Latins, and Hebrews, and also unlike that of any modern nation."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, p. 176.

LESSON XVIII--MANY ERRORS.

"'The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the northeast side of Lilliput, from whence it is parted only by a channel of 800 yards wide.'

_Gulliver's Travels_. The ambiguity may be removed thus:--'from whence it is parted by a channel of 800 yards wide only.'"--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 44. "The nominative case is usually the agent or doer, and always the subject of the verb."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 47. "There is an originality, richness, and variety in his [Spenser's] allegorical personages, which almost vies with the splendor of the ancient mythology."--_Hazlitt's Lect._, p. 68. "As neither the Jewish nor Christian revelation have been universal, and as they have been afforded to a greater or less part of the world at different times; so likewise, at different times, both revelations have had different degrees of evidence."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_, p. 210. "Thus we see, that killing a man with a sword or a hatchet, are looked upon as no distinct species of action: but if the point of the sword first enter the body, it pa.s.ses for a distinct species, called _stabbing_."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 314. "If a soul sin, and commit a trespa.s.s against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or hath deceived his neighbour, or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein, then it shall be,"

&c.--_Lev._, vi, 2. "As the doing and teaching the commandments of G.o.d is the great proof of virtue, so the breaking them, and the teaching others to break them, is the great proof of vice."--_Wayland's Moral Science_, p.

281. "In Pope's terrific maltreatment of the latter simile, it is neither true to mind or eye."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 14. "And the two brothers were seen, transported with rage and fury, endeavouring like Eteocles and Polynices to plunge their swords into each other's hearts, and to a.s.sure themselves of the throne by the death of their rival."--_Goldsmith's Greece_, i, 176. "Is it not plain, therefore, that neither the castle, the planet, nor the cloud, which you see here, are those real ones, which you suppose exist at a distance?"--_Berkley's Alciphron_, p 166. "I have often wondered how it comes to pa.s.s, that every Body should love themselves best, and yet value their neighbours Opinion about themselves more than their own."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 226. "VIRTUE ([Greek: Aretahe], Virtus) as well as most of its Species, are all Feminine, perhaps from their Beauty and amiable appearance."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 55. "Virtue, with most of its Species, are all Feminine, from their Beauty and amiable Appearance; and so Vice becomes Feminine of Course, as being Virtue's natural opposite."--_British Gram._, p. 97. "Virtue, with most of its Species, is Feminine, and so is Vice, for being Virtue's opposite."--_Buchanan's Gram._, p. 22. "From this deduction, may be easily seen how it comes to pa.s.s, that personification makes so great a figure in all compositions, where imagination or pa.s.sion have any concern."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 155.

"An Article is a word prefixed to a substantive to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends."--_Folker's Gram._, p. 4. "All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights--among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness."--_Const.i.tution of New Hampshire_. "From Grammarians who form their ideas, and make their decisions, respecting this part of English Grammar, on the principles and construction of languages, which, in these points, do not suit the peculiar nature of our own, but differ considerably from it, we may naturally expect grammatical schemes that are not very perspicuous, or perfectly consistent, and which will tend more to perplex than inform the learner."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 68; _Hall's_, 15. "There are, indeed, very few who know how to be idle and innocent, or have a relish of any pleasures that are not criminal; every diversion they take, is at the expense of some one virtue or another, and their very first step out of business is into vice or folly."--ADDISON: _Blair's Rhet._, p.

201.[444]

"Hail, holy love! thou word that sums all bliss!

Gives and receives all bliss: fullest when most Thou givest; spring-head of all felicity!"

--_Pollok, C. of T._, B. v, 1, 193.

CHAPTER XIII.--GENERAL RULE.

The following comprehensive canon for the correction of all sorts of nondescript errors in syntax, and the several critical or general notes under it, seem necessary for the completion of my design; which is, to furnish a thorough exposition of the various faults against which the student of English grammar has occasion to be put upon his guard.

GENERAL RULE OF SYNTAX.

In the formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent construction should be preserved throughout.

CRITICAL NOTES TO THE GENERAL RULE.

CRITICAL NOTE I.--OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

Words that may const.i.tute different parts of speech, must not be left doubtful as to their cla.s.sification, or to what part of speech they belong.

CRITICAL NOTE II.--OF DOUBTFUL REFERENCE.

The reference of words to other words, or their syntactical relation according to the sense, should never be left doubtful, by any one who means to be understood.

CRITICAL NOTE III.--OF DEFINITIONS.

A definition, in order to be perfect, must include the whole thing, or cla.s.s of things, which it pretends to define, and exclude every thing which comes not under the name.

CRITICAL NOTE IV.--OF COMPARISONS.

A comparison is a form of speech which requires some similarity or common property in the things compared; without which, it becomes a solecism.

CRITICAL NOTE V.--OF FALSITIES.

Sentences that convey a meaning manifestly false, should be changed, rejected, or contradicted; because they distort language from its chief end, or only worthy use; which is, to state facts, and to tell the truth.

CRITICAL NOTE VI.--OF ABSURDITIES.

Absurdities, of every kind, are contrary to grammar, because they are contrary to reason, or good sense, which is the foundation of grammar.

CRITICAL NOTE VII.--OF SELF-CONTRADICTION.

Every writer or speaker should be careful not to contradict himself; for what is self-contradictory, is both null in argument, and bad in style.

CRITICAL NOTE VIII.--OF SENSELESS JUMBLING.

To jumble together words without care for the sense, is an unpardonable negligence, and an abuse of the human understanding.

CRITICAL NOTE IX.--OF WORDS NEEDLESS.

Words that are entirely needless, and especially such as injure or enc.u.mber the expression, ought in general to be omitted.

CRITICAL NOTE X.--OF IMPROPER OMISSIONS.

Words necessary to the sense, or even to the melody or beauty of a sentence, ought seldom, if ever, to be omitted.

CRITICAL NOTE XI.--OF LITERARY BLUNDERS.