The Grammar of English Grammars Part 248

"Methought I heard Horatio say, To-morrow.

Go to--I will not hear of it--to-morrow!"--COTTON.

"How his eyes languish! how his thoughts adore That painted coat which Joseph never wore!"

SECTION VIII.--THE CURVES.

CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF PARENTHESES.

"_Another_ [, better written as a phrase, _An other_,] is composed of the indefinite article _an_, (which etymologically means _one_,) and _other_; and denotes _one other_."--_Hallock cor._

"Each mood has its peculiar Tense, Tenses, or Times."--_Bucke cor._

"In some very ancient languages, (as the Hebrew,) which have been employed chiefly for expressing plain sentiments in the plainest manner, without aiming at any elaborate length or harmony of periods, this p.r.o.noun [the relative] occurs not so often."--_L. Murray cor._

"Before I shall say those things, O Conscript Fathers! about the public affairs, which are to be spoken at this time; I shall lay before you, in few words, the motives of the journey and the return."--_Brightland cor._

"Of well-chose words some take not care enough, And think they should be, like the subject, rough."--_Id._

"Then, having _showed_ his wounds, he'd sit him down."--_Bullions cor._

UNDER RULE II.--OF INCLUDED POINTS.

"Then Jael smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it _into_ the ground: (for he was fast asleep, and weary:) so he died."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Judges_, iv, 21.

"Every thing in the Iliad has manners, (as Aristotle expresses it,) that is, every thing is acted or spoken."--_Pope cor._

"Those nouns that end in _f_, or _fe_. (except some few _which_ I shall mention presently,) form plurals by changing those letters into _ves_: as, thief, _thieves_: wife, _wives_."--_Bucke cor._

"_As_ requires _as_; (expressing equality _of degree_;) _thus_, 'Mine is _as_ good _as_ yours.' _As_ [requires] _so_; (expressing equality _or proportion_;) _thus_, '_As_ the stars, _so_ shall thy seed be.' _So_ [requires] _as_; (with a negative expressing inequality;) _as_, 'He is _not so_ wise _as_ his brother.' _So_ [requires] _that_; (expressing _a_ consequence:) _as_, 'I am _so_ weak _that_ I cannot walk.'"

[558]--_Bullions cor._

"A captious question, sir, (and yours is one,) Deserves an answer similar, or none."--_Cowper cor._

MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED.

"Whatever words the verb TO BE serves to unite, referring to the same thing, must be of the same case; (--61;) as, '_Alexander_ is a _student_.'"--_Bullions cor._ "When the objective is a relative _or_ [_an_]

interrogative, it comes before the verb that governs it: (--40, Rule 9:) Murray's 6th rule is unnecessary."--_Id._ "It is generally improper, except in poetry, to omit the antecedent to a relative; and always, to omit a relative, when of the nominative case."--_Id._ "In every sentence, there must be a verb and a nominative or subject, expressed or understood."--_Id._ "Nouns and p.r.o.nouns, and especially words denoting time, are often governed by prepositions understood; or are used to restrict verbs or adjectives, without a governing word: (--50, Rem. 6 and Rule:) as, 'He gave [to] me a full account of the affair.'"--_Id._ "When _should_ is used in stead of _ought_, to express _present_ duty, (--20, 4,) it may be followed by the present; as, 'You _should_ study that you _may_ become learned.'"--_Id._ "The indicative present is frequently used after the words _when, till, before, as soon as, after_, to express the relative time of a future action: (--24, I, 4;) as, 'When he _comes_, he will be welcome.'"--_Id._ "The relative is pa.r.s.ed, [_according to Bullions_,] by stating its gender, number, case, and antecedent; (the gender and number being always the same as those of the antecedent;) thus, 'The boy who'--'_Who_ is a relative p.r.o.noun, masculine, singular, the nominative; and refers to '_boy_' as its antecedent."--_Id._

"'Now, now, I seize, I clasp _thy_ charms; And now _you_ burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'--_Pope_.

"Here is an unnecessary change from the second person singular to the second _person_ plural. _The text_ would have been better, thus:--

'Now, now, I seize, I clasp _your_ charms; And now _you_ burst, ah cruel! from my arms.'"--_John Burn cor._ See _Lowth's Gram._, p. 35; _Churchill's_, 293.

SECTION IX.--ALL POINTS.

MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED.

"The princ.i.p.al stops are the following: the Comma [,], the Semicolon [;], the Colon [:], the Period, or Full Stop [.], the Note of Interrogation [?], the Note of Exclamation [!], the Parenthesis [()], and the Dash [--]."--_Bullions cor._ "The modern punctuation in Latin is the same as in English. The _chief_ marks employed are the Comma [,], _the_ Semicolon [;], _the_ Colon [:], _the_ Period [.], _the Note of_ Interrogation [?], _the Note of_ Exclamation (!), _the Parenthesis_ [()], _and the Dash_ [--]."--_Id._

"Plato reproving a young man for playing at some childish game, 'You chide me,' says the youth, 'for a trifling fault.' 'Custom,' replied the philosopher, 'is no trifle.' 'And,' adds _Montaigne_, 'he was in the right; for our vices begin in infancy.'"--_Home cor._

"A merchant at sea asked the skipper what death his father died. 'My father,' says the skipper, 'my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, were all drowned.' 'Well,' replies the merchant, 'and are not you afraid of being drowned too?'"--_Id._

"The use of inverted commas derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and,] as an acknowledgement for the improvement, his countrymen call them after his name, GUILLEMETS."--_Hist. cor._

"This, however, is seldom if ever done, unless the word following the possessive begins with _s_; thus, we do not say, 'the _prince_' feather;'

but, 'the _prince's_ feather.'"--_Bullions cor._ "And this phrase must mean, '_the feather of the prince_;' but '_prince's-feather_,' written as one word, [and with both apostrophe and hyphen,] is the name of a plant, a species of amaranth."--_G. Brown_. "Boethius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honours his country could bestow."--_Ingersoll cor._; also _L. Murray_.

"When an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced, it is separated from the rest of the sentence either by a _comma_ or _by_ a colon; as, 'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _G.o.d is love_.'"--_Hiley cor._ "Either the colon or _the comma_ may be used, [according to the nature of the case,] when an example, a quotation, or a speech, is introduced; as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim: _Know thyself_.'--'The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _G.o.d is love_.'"--_Bullions cor._

"The first word of a quotation introduced after a colon, or _of any sentence quoted_ in a direct form, must begin with a capital: as, '_Always_ remember this ancient maxim: _Know_ thyself.'--'Our great lawgiver says, _Take_ up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Bullions and Lennie cor._; also _L. Murray_; also _Weld_. See _Luke_, ix, 23.

"Tell me, in whose house do you live?"--_N. Butler cor._ "He that acts wisely, deserves praise."--_Id._ "He who steals my purse, steals trash."--_Id._ "The antecedent is _sometimes_ omitted; as, 'Who steals my purse, steals trash.'--[_Shak._] That is, '_He_ who,' or, 'The _person_ who.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever steals my purse, steals trash;'--'Whoever does no good, does harm.'"--_Id._ "Thus, 'Whoever sins, will suffer.' This means, that any one, without exception, who sins, will suffer."--_Id._

"Letters form syllables; syllables, words; words, sentences; and sentences, combined and connected, form discourse."--_Cooper cor._ "A letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered by itself, is called a vowel; as, _a, e, i_."--_Id._ "A proper noun is the name of an individual, [or of a particular people or place]; as, John, Boston, Hudson, America."--_Id._

"Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing; more, a cunning thing; but very few, a generous thing."--_Davis cor._ "In the place of an ellipsis of the verb, a comma must be inserted."--_Id._ "A common noun unlimited by an article, is sometimes understood in its broadest acceptation: thus, '_Fishes_ swim,' is understood to mean _all_ fishes; '_Man_ is mortal,'

_all_ men."--_Id._

"Thus, those sounds formed princ.i.p.ally by the throat, are called _gutturals_; those formed princ.i.p.ally by the palate, _palatals_; those formed by the teeth, _dentals_; those by the lips, _l.a.b.i.als; and_ those by the nose, _nasals_."--_Davis cor._

"Some adjectives are compared irregularly: as, _Good, letter, best; Bad, worse, worst; Little, less, least_."--_Felton cor._

"Under the fourth head of grammar, therefore, four topics will be considered; viz., PUNCTUATION, ORTHOEPY [sic--KTH], FIGURES, and VERSIFICATION."--_Hart cor._

"Direct her onward to that peaceful sh.o.r.e, Where peril, pain, and death, are felt no more!"--_Falconer cor._

GOOD ENGLISH RIGHTLY POINTED.

LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"Discoveries of such a character are sometimes made in grammar also; and such, too, _are_ often their origin and their end."--_Bullions cor._

"TRAVERSE, [literally to _cross_,] To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, _or the like_, is to deny it."--_Id._

"The _Ordinal_ numerals denote the _order_, or _succession_, in which any number of persons or things _are_ mentioned; as, _first, second, third_, fourth, &c."--_Hiley cor._

"Nouns have three persons; _the_ First, _the_ Second, and _the_ Third. The First person is _that which denotes_ the speaker: the Second is _that which denotes the person or thing_ spoken to; the Third is _that which denotes_ the _person or thing merely_ spoken of."--_Hart cor._

"Nouns have three cases; _the_ Nominative, _the_ Possessive, and _the_ Objective. The _relations_ indicated by the _cases_ of a noun, _include_ three _distinct_ ideas; viz., those of subject, object, and ownership."--_Id._

"In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose s.e.x is not known or not regarded, _we_ often _treat them_ as without s.e.x: thus, we say of a cat, '_It_ is treacherous;' of an infant, '_It_ is beautiful;' of a deer, '_It_ was killed.'"--_Id._