English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 9

a.n.a.lYSIS, OR PARSING.

Do you recollect the meaning of the word _a.n.a.lysis?_ If you do not, I will explain if: and first, I wish you to remember, that a.n.a.lysis is the reverse of synthesis. _Synthesis_ is the act of combining simples so as to form a whole or compound. Thus, in putting together letters so as to form syllables, syllables so as to form words, words so as to form sentences, and sentences so as to form a discourse, the process is called synthetic. _a.n.a.lysis_, on the contrary, is the act of decomposition; that is, the act of separating any thing compounded into its simple parts, and thereby exhibiting its elementary principles.

Etymology treats of the a.n.a.lysis of language. To a.n.a.lyze a sentence, is to separate from one another and cla.s.sify the different words of which it is composed; and to a.n.a.lyze or _pa.r.s.e_ a word, means to enumerate and describe all its various properties, and its grammatical relations with respect to other words in a sentence, and trace it through all its inflections or changes. Perhaps, to you, this will, at first, appear to be of little importance; but, if you persevere, you will hereafter find it of great utility, for parsing will enable you to detect, and correct, errors in composition.

SYSTEMATIC ORDER OF PARSING.

The _order of parsing_ a NOUN, is--a noun, and why?--common, proper, or collective, and why?--gender, and why?--person, and why?--number, and why?--case, and why?--RULE:--decline it.

_The order of parsing_ a VERB, is--a verb, and why?--active, pa.s.sive, or neuter, and why?--if _active_--transitive or intransitive, and why?--if _pa.s.sive_--how is it formed?--regular, irregular, or defective, and why?--mood, and why?--tense, and why?--person and number, and why?--with what does it agree?--RULE:--conjugate it.

I will now pa.r.s.e two nouns according to the order, and, in so doing, by applying the definitions and rules, I shall answer all those questions given in the order. If you have _perfectly committed_ the order of parsing a noun and verb, you may proceed with me; but, recollect, you cannot pa.r.s.e a verb _in full_, until you shall have had a more complete explanation of it.

_John's hand trembles_.

_John's_ is a noun, [because it is] the name of a person--proper, the name of an individual--masculine gender, it denotes a male--third person, spoken of--singular number, it implies but one--and in the possessive case, it denotes possession--it is governed by the noun "hand," according to

RULE 12. _A noun or p.r.o.noun in the possessive case, is governed by the noun it possesses_.

Declined--Sing. nom. John, poss. John's, obj. John. Plural--nom.

Johns, poss. Johns', obj. Johns.

_Hand_ is a noun, the name of a thing--common, the name of a sort or species of things--neuter gender, it denotes a thing without s.e.x--third person, spoken of--sing. number, it implies but one--and in the nominative case, it is the actor and subject of the verb "trembles," and governs it agreeably to

RULE 3. _The nominative case governs the verb:_--that is, the nominative determines the number and person of the verb.

Declined--Sing. nom. hand, poss. hand's, obj. hand. Plur. nom. hands, poss. hands', obj. hands.

_Trembles_ is a verb, a word which signifies to do--active, it expresses action--third person, singular number, because the nominative "hand" is with which it agrees, according to

RULE 4. _The verb must agree with its nominative in number and person_.

You must not say that the verb is of the third person because _it is spoken of_. The verb is never spoken of; but it is of the third person, and singular or plural number, because its nominative is.

Conjugated--First pers. sing. I tremble, 2 pers. thou tremblest, 3 pers.

he trembles, or, the hand trembles. Plural, 1 pers. we tremble, 2 pers.

ye or you tremble, 3 pers. they or the hands tremble.

Government, in language, consists in the power which one word has over another, in causing that other word to be in some _particular case, number, person, mood_, or _tense_.

ILl.u.s.tRATION.

RULE 3. _The nominative case governs the verb_.

If you employ the p.r.o.noun _I_, which is of the _first_ person, singular number, as the nominative to a verb, the verb must be of the first pers.

sing, thus, I _smile_; and when your nominative is _second_ pers. sing, your verb must be; as, thou smil_est_. Why, in the latter instance, does the ending of the verb change to _est_? Because the nominative changes.

And if your nominative is _third_ person, the verb will vary again; thus, he smiles, the man smiles. How clear it is, then, that _the nominative governs the verb_; that is, the nominative has power to change the _form_ and _meaning_ of the verb, in respect to num. and person. Government, thus far, is evinced in the _form_ of the words, as well as in the sense.

RULE 4. _The verb must agree with its nominative in number and person_.

It is improper to say, thou _hear_, the men _hears_. Why improper?

Because _hear_ is _first_ pers. and the nominative _thou_ is _second_ pers. _Hears_ is singular, and the nom. _men_ is _plural_. Rule 4th says, _The verb must agree with its nominative_. The expressions should, therefore, be, thou hear_est_, the men _hear_; and then the verb would _agree_ with its nominatives. But _why_ must the verb agree with its nominative? Why must we say, thou talk_est_, the man talks, men _talk_?

Because the genius of our language, and the common consent of those who speak it, _require_ such a construction: and this _requisition_ amounts to a _law_ or _rule_. This _rule_, then, is founded in _the nature of things_, and sanctioned by _good usage_.

RULE 12. _A noun or p.r.o.noun in the possessive case, is governed by the noun which it possesses_.

It is correct to say, The _man_ eats, _he_ eats; but we cannot say, the _man_ dog eats, _he_ dog eats. Why not? Because the man is here represented as the _possessor_, and _dog_, the _property_, or _thing possessed_; and the genius of our language requires, that when we add to the possessor, the _thing_ which he is represented as possessing, the possessor shall take a particular form to show its _case_, or _relation to the property_; thus, The _man's_ dog eats, _his_ dog eats. You perceive, then, that the _added_ noun, denoting the thing possessed, has power _to change the form_ of the noun or p.r.o.noun denoting the possessor, according to RULE 12. thus, by adding dog in the preceding examples, _man_ is changed to _man's_, and _he_, to _his_.

Now pa.r.s.e the sentence which I have pa.r.s.ed, until the manner is quite familiar to you; and then you will be prepared to a.n.a.lyze correctly and _systematically_, the following exercises. When you pa.r.s.e, you may spread the Compendium before you; and, if you have not already committed the definitions and rules, you may read them on that, as you apply them.

This mode of procedure will enable you to learn _all_ the definitions and rules by applying them to practice.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

Rain descends--Rains descend--Snow falls--Snows fall--Thunder rolls--Thunders roll--Man's works decay--Men's labors cease--John's dog barks--Eliza's voice trembles--Julia's sister's child improves--Peter's cousin's horse limps.

In the next place, I will pa.r.s.e a noun and a _neuter_ verb, which verb, you will notice, differs from an active only in one respect.

_"Birds repose_ on the branches of trees."

_Birds_ is a noun, the name of a thing or creature--common, the name of a genus or cla.s.s--masculine and feminine gender, it denotes both males and females--third person, spoken of--plural number, it implies more than one--and in the nominative case, it is the _subject_ of the verb "repose," and governs it according to RULE 3. _The nominative case governs the verb_. Declined--Sing. nom. bird, poss. bird's, obj. bird.

Plural, nom. birds, poss. birds', obj. birds.

_Repose_ is a verb, a word that signifies to _be_--neuter, it expresses neither action nor pa.s.sion, but a state of being--third person, plural number, because the nominative "birds" is with which it agrees, agreeably to RULE 4. _The verb must agree with its nominative in number and person_.

Declined--1. pers. sing. I repose, 2. pers. thou reposest, 3. pers. he reposes, or the bird reposes. Plur. 1. pers. we repose, 2. pers. ye or you repose, 3. pers. they repose, or birds repose.

Now pa.r.s.e those nouns and neuter verbs that are distinguished by _italics_, in the following

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

The _book lies_ on the desk--The _cloak hangs_ on the wall--_Man's days are_ few--_Cathmor's warriors sleep_ in death--_Caltho reposes_ in the narrow house--Jocund _day stands_ tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. The _sunbeams rest_ on the grave where her _beauty sleeps_.

You may pa.r.s.e these and the preceding exercises, and all that follow, _five or six times over_, if you please.

OBJECTIVE CASE.--ACTIVE-TRANSITIVE VERBS.

The _objective_ case expresses the object of an action or of a relation. It generally follows a transitive verb, a participle, or a preposition.

A noun is in the objective case when it is the _object_ of something. At present I shall explain this case only as the object of an _action_; but when we shall have advanced as far as to the preposition, I will also ill.u.s.trate it as the object of a _relation_.

An active verb is _transitive_ when the action pa.s.ses over from the subject or nominative to an object; as, Richard _strikes_ John.

_Transitive_ means _pa.s.sing_. In this sentence the action of the verb _strikes_ is _transitive_, because it _pa.s.ses over_ from the nominative Richard to the object John; and you know that the noun John is in the _objective_ case, because it is _the object of the action_ expressed by the active-transitive verb strikes. This matter is very plain. For example: Gallileo invented the telescope. Now it is evident, that Gallileo did not exert his powers of invention, without some object in view. In order to ascertain that object, put the question, Gallileo invented what? The telescope. _Telescope_, then, is the real object of the action, denoted by the transitive verb invented; and, therefore, telescope is in the objective case. If I say, The horse _kicks_ the servant--Carpenters _build_ houses--Ossian _wrote_ poems--Columbus _discovered_ America--you readily perceive, that the verbs _kick, build, wrote_, and _discovered_, express transitive actions; and you cannot be at a loss to tell which nouns are in the objective case:--they are _servant, houses, poems_, and _America_.

The nominative and objective cases of nouns are generally known by the following rule: the nominative _does something_; the objective _has something done to it_. The nominative generally comes _before_ the verb; and the objective, _after_ it. When I say, George struck the servant, _George_ is in the nominative, and _servant_ is in the objective case; but, when I say, The servant struck George, _servant_ is in the nominative case, and _George_ is in the objective. Thus you perceive, that _Case_ means the different state or situation of nouns with regard to other words.

It is sometimes very difficult to tell the case of a noun. I shall, therefore, take up this subject again, when I come to give you an explanation of the participle and preposition.

Besides the three cases already explained, nouns are sometimes in the nominative case _independent_, sometimes in the nominative case absolute, sometimes in apposition in the same case, and sometimes in the nominative or objective case after the neuter to _be_, or after an active-intransitive or pa.s.sive verb. These cases are ill.u.s.trated in Lecture X. and in the 21 and 22 rules of Syntax.