The Grammar of English Grammars Part 77

_Begone_ is a needless coalition of _be_ and _gone_, better written separately, unless Dr. Johnson is right in calling the compound an _interjection_: as,

"Begone! the G.o.ddess cries with stern disdain, Begone! nor dare the hallow'd stream to stain!"--_Addison_.

_Beware_ also seems to be a needless compound of _be_ and the old adjective _ware_, wary, aware, cautious. Both these are, of course, used only in those forms of expression in which _be_ is proper; as, "_Beware_ of dogs, _beware_ of evil workers, _beware_ of the concision."--_Philippians_, iii, 2. "But we _must beware_[297] of carrying our attention to this beauty too far."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 119. These words were formerly separated: as, "Of whom _be_ thou _ware_ also."--_1 Tim._, iv, 15. "They _were ware_ of it."--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Acts_, xiii, 6. "They were _aware_ of it."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: ib. "And in an hour _that_ he is not _ware_ of him."--_Johnson's Dict., w. Ware_. "And in an hour that he is not _aware_ of."--COMMON BIBLES: _Matt._, xxiv, 50. "Bid her well _be ware_ and still erect."--MILTON: _in Johnson's Dict._ "That even Silence _was took_ ere she _was ware_."--_Id., Comus_, line 558. The adjective _ware_ is now said to be "_obsolete_;" but the propriety of this a.s.sertion depends upon that of forming such a defective verb. What is the use of doing so?

"This to disclose is all thy guardian can; _Beware_ of all, but most _beware_ of man."--_Pope_.

The words written separately will always have the same meaning, unless we omit the preposition _of_, and suppose the compound to be a _transitive_ verb. In this case, the argument for compounding the terms appears to be valid; as,

"_Beware_ the public _laughter_ of the town; Thou springst a-leak already in thy crown."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 4. The words _ought_ and _own_, without question, were originally parts of the redundant verb _to owe_; thus: _owe, owed_ or _ought, owing, owed_ or _own_. But both have long been disjoined from this connexion, and hence _owe_ has become regular. _Own_, as now used, is either a p.r.o.nominal adjective, as, "my _own_ hand," or a regular verb thence derived, as, "to _own_ a house." _Ought_, under the name of a _defective verb_, is now generally thought to be properly used, in this one form, in all the persons and numbers of the present and the imperfect tense of the indicative and subjunctive moods. Or, if it is really of one tense only, it is plainly an aorist; and hence the time must be specified by the infinitive that follows: as, "He _ought_ to _go_; He _ought_ to _have gone_." "If thou _ought_ to _go_; If thou _ought_ to _have gone_." Being originally a preterit, it never occurs in the infinitive mood, and is entirely invariable, except in the solemn style, where we find _oughtest_ in both tenses; as, "How thou _oughtest_ to _behave_ thyself."--_1 Tim._, iii, 15.

"Thou _oughtest_ therefore to _have put_ my money to the exchangers."--_Matt._, xxiv, 27. We never say, or have said, "He, she, or it, _oughts_ or _oughteth_." Yet we manifestly use this verb in the present tense, and in the third person singular; as, "Discourse _ought always to begin_ with a clear proposition."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 217. I have already observed that some grammarians improperly call _ought_ an auxiliary. The learned authors of Brightland's Grammar, (which is dedicated to Queen Anne,) did so; and also affirmed that _must_ and _ought_ "have only the _present time_," and are alike _invariable_. "It is _now_ quite obsolete to say, _thou oughtest_; for _ought_ now changes its ending no more than _must_."--_Brightland's Gram._, (approved by _Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq._,) p.

112.

"_Do, will_, and _shall, must_, OUGHT, and _may_, _Have, am_, or _be_, this Doctrine will display."--_Ib._, p. 107.

OBS. 5.--_Wis_, preterit _wist_, to know, to think, to suppose, to imagine, appears to be now nearly or quite obsolete; but it may be proper to explain it, because it is found in the Bible: as, "I _wist_ not, brethren, that he was the high priest."--_Acts_, xxiii, 5. "He himself '_wist_ not that his face shone.'"--_Life of Schiller_, p. iv. _Wit_, to know, and _wot_, knew, are also obsolete, except in the phrase _to wit_; which, being taken abstractly, is equivalent to the adverb _namely_, or to the phrase, _that is to say_. The phrase, "_we do you to wit_," (in 2 Cor., viii, 1st,) means, "we _inform_ you." Churchill gives the present tense of this verb three forms, _weet, wit_, and _wot_; and there seems to have been some authority for them all: as, "He was, _to weet_, a little roguish page."--_Thomson_. "But little _wotteth_ he the might of the means his folly despiseth."--_Tupper's Book of Thoughts_, p. 35. _To wit_, used alone, to indicate a thing spoken of, (as the French use their infinitive, _savoir, a savoir_, or the phrase, _c'est a savoir_,) is undoubtedly an elliptical expression: probably for, "_I give you to wit_;" i. e., "I give you _to know_." _Trow_, to think, occurs in the Bible; as, "I _trow_ not."--_N. Test_. And Coar gives it as a defective verb; and only in the first person singular of the present indicative, "_I trow_." Webster and Worcester mark the words as obsolete; but Sir W. Scott, in the Lady of the Lake, has this line:

"Thinkst thou _he trow'd_ thine omen ought?"--_Canto_ iv, stanza 10.

_Quoth_ and _quod_, for _say, saith_, or _said_, are obsolete, or used only in ludicrous language. Webster supposes these words to be equivalent, and each confined to the first and third persons of the present and imperfect tenses of the indicative mood. Johnson says, that, "_quoth you_," as used by Sidney, is irregular; but Tooke a.s.sures us, that "The _th_ in _quoth_, does not designate the third person."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. ii, p.

323. They are each invariable, and always placed before the nominative: as, _quoth I, quoth he_.

"Yea, so sayst thou, (_quod_ Troylus,) alas!"--_Chaucer_.

"I feare, _quod_ he, it wyll not be."--_Sir T. More_.

"Stranger, go! Heaven be thy guide!

_Quod_ the beadsman of Nith-side."--_Burns_.

OBS. 6.--_Methinks_, (i. e., _to_ me _it_ thinks,) for I think, or, it seems to me, with its preterit _methought_, (i. e., _to_ me _it_ thought,) is called by Dr. Johnson an "ungrammatical word." He imagined it to be "a Norman corruption, the French being apt to confound _me_ and _I_."--_Joh. Dict._ It is indeed a puzzling anomaly in our language, though not without some Anglo-Saxon or Latin parallels; and, like its kindred, "me _seemeth_," or "_meseems_," is little worthy to be countenanced, though often used by Dryden, Pope, Addison, and other good writers. Our lexicographers call it an _impersonal verb_, because, being compounded with an objective, it cannot have a nominative expressed. It is nearly equivalent to the adverb _apparently_; and if impersonal, it is also defective; for it has no participles, no "_methinking_," and no participial construction of "_methought_;" though Webster's American Dictionary, whether quarto or octavo, absurdly suggests that the latter word may be used as a participle. In the Bible, we find the following text: "_Me thinketh_ the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz."--_2 Sam._, xviii, 27. And Milton improperly makes _thought_ an impersonal verb, apparently governing the separate objective p.r.o.noun _him_; as,

"_Him thought_ he by the brook of Cherith stood."

--_P. R._, B. ii, l. 264.

OBS. 7.--Some verbs from the nature of the subjects to which they refer, are chiefly confined to the third person singular; as, "It _rains_; it _snows_; it _freezes_; it _hails_; it _lightens_; it _thunders_." These have been called _impersonal verbs_; because the neuter p.r.o.noun it, which is commonly used before them, does not seem to represent any noun, but, in connexion with the verb, merely to express a state of things. They are however, in fact, neither impersonal nor defective. Some, or all of them, may possibly take some other nominative, if not a different person; as, "The _Lord rained_ upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire."--_Gen._, xix, 24. "The _G.o.d_ of glory _thundereth_."--_Psalms_, xxix, 3. "_Canst thou thunder_ with a voice like him?"--_Job_, xl, 9. In short, as Harris observes, "The doctrine of Impersonal Verbs has been justly rejected by the best grammarians, both ancient and modern."--_Hermes_, p. 175.

OBS. 8.--By some writers, words of this kind are called _Monopersonal Verbs_; that is, verbs of _one person_. This name, though not very properly compounded, is perhaps more fit than the other; but we have little occasion to speak of these verbs as a distinct cla.s.s in our language. Dr. Murray says, "What is called an impersonal verb, is not so; for _lic-et, juv-at_, and _oport-et_, have _Tha, that thing_, or _it_, in their composition."--_History of European Languages_, Vol. ii, p. 146. _Ail, irk_, and _behoove_, are regular verbs and transitive; but they are used only in the third person singular: as, "What _ails_ you?"--"It _irks_ me."--"It _behooves_ you." The last two are obsolescent, or at least not in very common use. In Latin, _pa.s.sive_ verbs, or neuters of the pa.s.sive form, are often used impersonally, or without an obvious nominative; and this elliptical construction is sometimes imitated in English, especially by the poets: as,

"Meanwhile, ere thus _was sinn'd_ and _judg'd_ on earth, Within the gates of h.e.l.l sat Sin and Death."

--_Milton, P. L._, B. x, l. 230.

"Forthwith on all sides to his aid _was run_ By angels many and strong, who interpos'd."

--_Id._, B. vi, l. 335.

LIST OF THE DEFECTIVE VERBS.

_Present. Preterit._ Beware, ------ Can, could.

May, might.

Methinks, methought.

Must, must.[298]

Ought, ought.[298]

Shall, should, Will[299] would.

Quoth, quoth.

Wis, wist.[300]

Wit, wot.

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS VI--ETYMOLOGICAL.

_In the Sixth Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and the cla.s.ses and modifications of the_ ARTICLES, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, p.r.o.nOUNS, _and_ VERBS.

_The definitions to be given in the Sixth Praxis, are two for an article, six for a noun, three for an adjective, six for a p.r.o.noun, seven for a verb finite, five for an infinitive, and one for a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:--

EXAMPLE Pa.r.s.eD.

"The freedom of choice seems essential to happiness; because, properly speaking, that is riot our own which is imposed upon us."--_Dillwyn's Reflections_, p. 109.

_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.

_Freedom_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or cla.s.s, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or p.r.o.noun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.

_Of_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a p.r.o.noun.

_Choice_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is; the name of any person, place, or thing, that can he known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or cla.s.s, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or p.r.o.noun, which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition.

_Seems_ is a regular neuter verb, from _seem, seemed, seeming, seemed_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. A regular verb is a verb that forms the preterit and the perfect participle by a.s.suming _d_ or _ed_. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor pa.s.sion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one. _Essential_ is a common adjective, compared by means of the adverbs; _essential, more essential, most essential_; or, _essential, less essential, least essential_. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or p.r.o.noun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. Those adjectives which may be varied in sense, but not in form, are compared by means of adverbs.

_To_ is a preposition. 1. A preposition is a word used to express some relation of different things or thoughts to each other, and is generally placed before a noun or a p.r.o.noun.

_Happiness_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and objective case. 1. A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, that can be known or mentioned. 2. A common noun is the name of a sort, kind, or cla.s.s, of beings or things. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5. The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The objective case is that form or state of a noun or p.r.o.noun which usually denotes the object of a verb, participle, or preposition.

_Because_ is a conjunction. 1. A conjunction is a word used to connect words or sentences in construction, and to show the dependence of the terms so connected.

_Properly_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.

_Speaking_ is a participle. 1. A participle is a word derived from a verb, partic.i.p.ating the properties of a verb, and of an adjective or a noun; and is generally formed by adding _ing, d_, or _ed_, to the verb.

_That_ is a p.r.o.nominal adjective, not compared; standing for _that thing_, in the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case.

[See OBS. 14th, p. 290.] 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or p.r.o.noun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A p.r.o.nominal adjective is a definitive word which may either accompany its noun, or represent it understood. 3. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 4. The singular number is that which denotes but one. 5.

The neuter gender is that which denotes things that are neither male nor female. 6. The nominative case is that form or state of a noun or p.r.o.noun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.

_Is_ is an irregular neuter verb, from _be, was, being, been_; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies _to be, to act_, or _to be acted upon._ 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by a.s.suming _d_ or _ed._ 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor pa.s.sion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of the verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one.

_Not_ is an adverb. 1. An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner.