The English Language Part 84

When _it_ is the predicate of a proposition, the number of the verb depends upon the number of the subject. These points of universal syntax are mentioned here for the sake of ill.u.s.trating some anomalous forms.

-- 545. _There_ can only be the predicate of a subject. It differs from _it_ in this respect. It follows also that it must differ from _it_ in never affecting the number of the verb. This is determined by the nature of the subject--_there is this_, _there are these_.

When we say _there is these_, the a.n.a.logy between the words _there_ and _it_ misleads us; the expression being illogical.

Furthermore, although a predicate, _there_ always stands in the beginning of propositions, _i.e._, in the place of the subject. This also misleads.

-- 546. Although _it_, when the subject, being itself singular, absolutely requires that its verb should be singular also, there is a tendency to use it incorrectly, and to treat it as a plural. Thus, in German, when the predicate is plural, the verb joined to the singular form _es_ (=_it_) is plural--_es sind menschen_, literally translated=_it are men_; which, though bad English, is good German.

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CHAPTER XIII.

THE ARTICLES.

-- 547. The rule of most practical importance about the articles is the rule that determines when the article shall be repeated as often as there is a fresh substantive, and when it shall not.

When two or more substantives following each other denote the same object, the article precedes the first only. We say _the secretary and treasurer_ (or, _a secretary and treasurer_), when the two offices are held by one person.

When two or more substantives following each other denote different objects, the article is repeated, and precedes each. We say _the_ (or _a_) _secretary and the_ (or _a_) _treasurer_, when the two offices are held by different persons.

This rule is much neglected.

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CHAPTER XIV.

THE NUMERALS.

-- 548. The numeral _one_ is naturally single. All the rest are naturally plural.

Nevertheless such expressions--_one two_ (=_one collection of two_), _two threes_ (=_two collections of three_), are legitimate. These are so because the sense of the word is changed. We may talk of several _ones_ just as we may talk of several _aces_; and of _one two_ just as of _one pair_.

Expressions like _the thousandth-and-first_ are incorrect. They mean neither one thing nor another: 1001st being expressed by _the thousand-and-first_, and 1000th + 1st being expressed by _the thousandth and the first_.

Here it may be noticed that, although I never found it to do so, the word _odd_ is capable of taking an ordinal form. The _thousand-and-odd-th_ is as good an expression as the _thousand-and-eight-th_.

The construction of phrases like the _thousand-and-first_ is the same construction as we find in the _king-of-Saxony's army_.

-- 549. It is by no means a matter of indifference whether we say the _two first_ or the _first two_.

The captains of two different cla.s.ses at school should be called the _two first boys_. The first and second boys of the same cla.s.s should be called the _first two boys_. I believe that when this rule is attended to, more is due to the printer than to the author: such, at least, is the case with myself.

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CHAPTER XV.

ON VERBS IN GENERAL.

-- 550. For the purposes of syntax it is necessary to divide verbs into the five following divisions: transitive, intransitive, auxiliary, substantive, and impersonal.

_Transitive verbs._--In transitive verbs the action is never a simple action. It always affects some object or other,--_I move my limbs_; _I strike my enemy_. The presence of a transitive verb implies also the presence of a noun; which noun is the name of the object affected. A transitive verb, unaccompanied by a noun, either expressed or understood, is a contradiction in terms. The absence of the nouns, in and of itself, makes it intransitive. _I move_ means, simply, _I am in a state of moving_.

_I strike_ means, simply, _I am in the act of striking_. Verbs like _move_ and _strike_ are naturally transitive.

_Intransitive verbs._--An act may take place, and yet no object be affected by it. _To hunger_, _to thirst_, _to sleep_, _to wake_, are verbs that indicate states of being, rather than actions affecting objects. Verbs like _hunger_, and _sleep_, are naturally intransitive.

Many verbs, naturally transitive, may be used as intransitive,--_e.g._, _I move_, _I strike_, &c.

Many verbs, naturally intransitive, may be used as transitives,--_e.g._, _I walked the horse_=_I made the horse walk_.

This variation in the use of one and the same verb is of much importance in the question of the government of verbs.

A. Transitive verbs are naturally followed by some noun or other; and that noun is _always_ the name of something affected by them _as an object_.

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B. Intransitive verbs are not naturally followed by any noun at all; and when they are so followed, the noun is _never_ the name of anything affected by them _as an object_.

Nevertheless, intransitive verbs may be followed by nouns denoting the manner, degree, or instrumentality of their action,--_I walk with my feet_=_incedo pedibus_.

-- 551. _The auxiliary verbs_ will be noticed fully in Chapter XXIII.

-- 552. The verb _substantive_ has this peculiarity, _viz._ that for all purposes of syntax it is no verb at all. _I speak_ may, logically, be reduced to _I am speaking_; in which case it is only the _part_ of a verb.

Etymologically, indeed, the verb substantive is a verb; inasmuch as it is inflected as such: but for the purposes of construction, it is a copula only, _i.e._, it merely denotes the agreement or disagreement between the subject and the predicate.

This does not apply to the infinitive mood. The infinitive mood of the so-called verb substantive is a noun; not, however, because it is a verb substantive, but because it is an infinitive mood.

For the _impersonal_ verbs see Part IV., Chapter 27.

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CHAPTER XVI.

THE CONCORD OF VERBS.

-- 553. The verb must agree with its subject in person, _I walk_, not _I walks_: _he walks_, not _he walk_.