The Grammar of English Grammars Part 110

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE V.

UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.--THE OBJECTIVE FORM.

"Who should I meet the other day but my old friend!"--_Spectator_, No. 32.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the p.r.o.noun _who_ is in the nominative case, and is used as the object of the active-transitive verb _should meet_. But, according to Rule 5th, "A noun or a p.r.o.noun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." Therefore, _who_ should be _whom_; thus, "_Whom_ should I meet,"

&c.]

"Let not him boast that puts on his armour, but he that takes it off."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 262. "Let none touch it, but they who are clean."--_Sale's Koran_, 95. "Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."--_Psalms_, xcviii, 7. "Pray be private, and careful who you trust."--_Mrs. Goffe's Letter_. "How shall the people know who to entrust with their property and their liberties?"-- _District School_, p. 301. "The chaplain entreated my comrade and I to dress as well as possible."--_World Displayed_, i, 163. "He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."--_Tract_, No. 3, p. 6. "Who, during this preparation, they constantly and solemnly invoke."--_Hope of Israel_, p. 84. "Whoever or whatever owes us, is Debtor; whoever or whatever we owe, is Creditor."--_Marsh's Book-Keeping_, p. 23. "Declaring the curricle was his, and he should have who he chose in it."--_Anna Ross_, p. 147. "The fact is, Burke is the only one of all the host of brilliant contemporaries who we can rank as a first-rate orator."--_The Knickerbocker, May_, 1833.

"Thus you see, how naturally the Fribbles and the Daffodils have produced the Messalina's of our time:"--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 53. "They would find in the Roman list both the Scipio's."--_Ib._, ii, 76. "He found his wife's clothes on fire, and she just expiring."--_New-York Observer_. "To present ye holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 353. "Let the distributer do his duty with simplicity; the superintendent, with diligence; he who performs offices of compa.s.sion, with cheerfulness."--_Stuart's Romans_, xii, 9. "If the crew rail at the master of the vessel, who will they mind?"--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 106. "He having none but them, they having none but hee."--DRAYTON'S _Polyolbion_.

"Thou, nature, partial nature, I arraign! Of thy caprice maternal I complain!"--_Burns's Poems_, p. 50. "Nor knows he who it is his arms pursue With eager clasps, but loves he knows not who."--_Addison's_, p. 218.

UNDER NOTE I.--OF VERBS TRANSITIVE.

"When it gives that sense, and also connects, it is a conjunction."--_L.

Murray's Gram._, p. 116. "Though thou wilt not acknowledge, thou canst not deny the fact."--_Murray's Key_, p. 209. "They _specify_, like many other adjectives, and _connect_ sentences."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 114. "The violation of this rule tends so much to perplex and obscure, that it is safer to err by too many short sentences."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 312. "A few _Exercises_ are subjoined to each important definition, for him to _practice_ upon as he proceeds in committing."--_Nutting's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. vii. "A verb signifying actively governs the accusative."--_Adam's Gram._, p. 171; _Gould's_, 172; _Grant's_, 199; and others. "Or, any word that will _conjugate_, is a verb."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 44. "In these two concluding sentences, the author, hastening to finish, appears to write rather carelessly."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 216. "He simply reasons on one side of the question, and then finishes."--_Ib._, p. 306. "Praise to G.o.d teaches to be humble and lowly ourselves."--ATTERBURY: _ib._, p. 304. "This author has endeavored to surpa.s.s."--_Green's Inductive Gram._, p. 54.

"Idleness and plezure fateeg az soon az bizziness."--_Noah Webster's Essays_, p. 402. "And, in conjugating, you must pay particular attention to the manner in which these signs are applied."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 140.

"He said Virginia would have emanc.i.p.ated long ago."--_The Liberator_, ix, 33. "And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience."--_2 Cor._, x, 6. "However, in these cases, custom generally determines."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 50. "In proof, let the following cases demonstrate."--_Ib._, p.

46. "We must surprise, that he should so speedily have forgotten his first principles."--_Ib._, p. 147. "How should we surprise at the expression, 'This is a _soft_ question!'"--_Ib._, p. 219. "And such as prefer, can pa.r.s.e it as a possessive adjective."--_Goodenow's Gram._, p. 89. "To a.s.sign all the reasons, that induced to deviate from other grammarians, would lead to a needless prolixity."--_Alexander's Gram._, p. 4. "The Indicative mood simply indicates or declares."--_Farnum's Gram._, p. 33.

UNDER NOTE II.--OF VERBS INTRANSITIVE.

"In his seventh chapter he expatiateth himself at great length."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 350. "He quarrelleth my bringing some testimonies of antiquity, agreeing with what I say."--_Ib._, iii, 373.

"Repenting him of his design."--_Hume's Hist._, ii, 56. "Henry knew, that an excommunication could not fail of operating the most dangerous effects."--_Ib._, ii, 165. "The popular lords did not fail to enlarge themselves on the subject."--_Mrs. Macaulay's Hist._, iii, 177. "He is always master of his subject; and seems to play himself with it."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 445. "But as soon as it comes the length of disease, all his secret infirmities shew themselves."--_Ib._, p. 256. "No man repented him of his wickedness."--_Jeremiah_, viii, 6. "Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left."--_Ezekiel_, xxi, 16. "He lies him down by the rivers side."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 99. "My desire has been for some years past, to retire myself to some of our American plantations."--_Cowley's Pref. to his Poems_, p. vii. "I fear me thou wilt shrink from the payment of it."--_Zen.o.bia_, i, 76. "We never recur an idea, without acquiring some combination."--_Rippingham's Art of Speaking_, p.

x.x.xii.

"Yet more; the stroke of death he must abide, Then lies him meekly down fast by his brethren's side."--_Milton_.

UNDER NOTE III.--OF VERBS MISAPPLIED.

"A parliament forfeited all those who had borne arms against the king."--_Hume's Hist._, ii, 223. "The practice of forfeiting s.h.i.+ps which had been wrecked."--_Ib._, i, 500. "The nearer his military successes approached him to the throne."--_Ib._, v, 383. "In the next example, _you_ personifies _ladies_, therefore it is plural."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 103.

"The first _its_ personates vale; the second _its_ represents stream."--_Ib._, p. 103. "p.r.o.nouns do not always avoid the repet.i.tion of nouns."--_Ib._, p. 96. "_Very_ is an adverb of comparison, it compares the adjective _good_."--_Ib._, p. 88. "You will please to commit the following paragraph."--_Ib._, p. 140. "Even the Greek and Latin pa.s.sive verbs require an auxiliary to conjugate some of their tenses."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 100.

"The deponent verbs, in Latin, require also an auxiliary to conjugate several of their tenses."--_Ib._, p. 100. "I have no doubt he made as wise and true proverbs, as any body has done since."--_Ib._, p. 145. "A uniform variety a.s.sumes as many set forms as Proteus had shapes."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 72. "When words in apposition follow each other in quick succession."--_Nixon's Pa.r.s.er_, p. 57. "Where such sentences frequently succeed each other."--_L. Murray's Gram._, p. 349. "Wisdom leads us to speak and act what is most proper."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 99; _Murray's Gram._, i, 303.

"_Jul_. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

_Rom_. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike."--_Shak_.

UNDER NOTE IV.--OF Pa.s.sIVE VERBS.

"We too must be allowed the privilege of forming our own laws."--_L.

Murray's Gram._, p. 134. "For we are not only allowed the use of all the ancient poetic feet," &c.--_Ib._, p. 259; _Kirkham's Elocution_, 143; _Jamieson's Rhet._, 310. "By what code of morals am I denied the right and privilege?"--_Dr. Bartlett's Lect._, p. 4. "The children of Israel have alone been denied the possession of it."--_Keith's Evidences_, p. 68. "At York fifteen hundred Jews were refused all quarter."--_Ib._, p. 73. "He would teach the French language in three lessons, provided he was paid fifty-five dollars in advance."--_Chazotte's Essay_, p. 4. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of G.o.d should come."--_Luke_, xvii, 20. "I have been shown a book."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 392. "John Horne Tooke was refused admission only because he had been in holy orders."--_Diversions of Purley_, i, 60. "Mr. Horne Tooke having taken orders, he was refused admission to the bar."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 145.

"Its reference to place is lost sight of."--_Bullions's E. Gram._, p. 116.

"What striking lesson are we taught by the tenor of this history?"--_Bush's Questions_, p. 71. "He had been left, by a friend, no less than eighty thousand pounds."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 112. "Where there are many things to be done, each must be allowed its share of time and labour."--_Johnson's Pref. to Dict._, p. xiii. "Presenting the subject in a far more practical form than it has been heretofore given."--_Kirkham's Phrenology_, p. v. "If a being of entire impartiality should be shown the two companies."--_Scott's Pref. to Bible_, p. vii. "He was offered the command of the British army."--_Grimshaw's Hist._, p. 81. "Who had been unexpectedly left a considerable sum."--_Johnson's Life of Goldsmith_.

"Whether a maid or a widow may be granted such a privilege."--_Spectator_, No. 536. "Happily all these affected terms have been denied the public suffrage."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 199. "Let him next be shewn the parsing table."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. viii. "Thence, he may be shown the use of the a.n.a.lyzing Table."--_Ib._, p. ix. "Pittacus was offered a great sum of money."--_Sanborn's Gram._, p. 228. "He had been allowed more time for study."--_Ib._, p. 229. "If the walks were a little taken care of that lie between them."--_Addison's Spect._, No. 414. "Suppose I am offered an office or a bribe."--_Pierpont's Discourse_, Jan. 27, 1839.

"Am I one chaste, one last embrace deny'd?

Shall I not lay me by his clay-cold side?"

--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. ix, l. 103.

UNDER NOTE V.--Pa.s.sIVE VERBS TRANSITIVE.

"The preposition _to_ is made use of before nouns of place, when they follow verbs and participles of motion."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 203; _Ingersoll's_, 231; _Greenlef's_, 35; _Fisk's_, 143; _Smith's_, 170; _Guy's_, 90; _Fowler's_, 555. "They were refused entrance into the house."--_Murray's Key_, ii, 204. "Their separate signification has been lost sight of."--_Horne Tooke_, ii, 422. "But, whenever _ye_ is made use of, it must be in the nominative, and never in the objective, case."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, 58. "It is said, that more persons than one are paid handsome salaries, for taking care to see acts of parliament properly worded."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 334. "The following Rudiments of English Grammar, have been made use of in the University of Pennsylvania."--DR. ROGERS: _in Harrison's Gram._, p. 2. "It never should be lost sight of."--_Newman's Rhetoric_, p. 19. "A very curious fact hath been taken notice of by those expert metaphysicians."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 281. "The archbishop interfered that Michelet's lectures might be put a stop to."--_The Friend_, ix, 378. "The disturbances in Gottengen have been entirely put an end to."--_Daily Advertiser_. "Besides those that are taken notice of in these exceptions."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 6. "As one, two, or three auxiliary verbs are made use of."--_Ib._, p. 24. "The arguments which have been made use of."--_Addison's Evidences_, p. 32. "The circ.u.mstance is properly taken notice of by the author."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 217. "Patagonia has never been taken possession of by any European nation."--_c.u.mming's Geog._, p. 62. "He will be found fault withal no more, i. e. not hereafter."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 226. "The thing was to be put an end to somehow."--_Leigh Hunt's Byron_, p. 15. "In 1798, the Papal Territory was taken possession of by the French."--_Pinnock's Geog._, p.

223. "The idea has not for a moment been lost sight of by the Board."--_Common School Journal_, i, 37. "I shall easily be excused the labour of more transcription."--_Johnson's Life of Dryden_. "If I may be allowed that expression."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 259, and 288. "If without offence I may be indulged the observation."--_Ib._, p. 295. "There are other characters, which are frequently made use of in composition."-- _Murray's Gram._, p. 280; _Ingersoll's_, 293. "Such unaccountable infirmities might be in many, perhaps in most, cases got the better of."--_Seattle's Moral Science_, i, 153. "Which ought never to be had recourse to."--_Ib._, i, 186. "That the widows may be taken care of."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 499. "Other cavils will yet be taken notice of."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "Which implies, that all Christians are offered eternal salvation."--_West's Letters_, p. 149. "Yet even the dogs are allowed the crumbs which fall from their master's table."--_Campbell's Gospels, Matt._, xv. 27. "For we say the light within must be taken heed unto."--_Barclay's Works_, i, 148. "This sound of a is taken notice of in Steele's Grammar."--_Walker's Dict._, p. 22. "One came to be paid ten guineas for a pair of silver buckles."--_Castle Rackrent_, p. 104. "Let him, therefore, be carefully shewn the application of the several questions in the table."--_Nutting's Gram._, p. 8, "After a few times, it is no longer taken notice of by the hearers."--_Sheridan's Lect._, p. 182. "It will not admit of the same excuse, nor be allowed the same indulgence, by people of any discernment."--_Ibid._ "Inanimate things may be made property of."--_Beanie's M. Sci._, p. 355.

"And, when he's bid a liberaller price, Will not be sluggish in the work, nor nice."--_Butler's Poems_, p. 162.

UNDER NOTE VI.--OF PERFECT PARTICIPLES.

"All the words made use of to denote spiritual and intellectual things, are in their origin metaphors."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 380. "A reply to an argument commonly made use of by unbelievers."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 293.

"It was heretofore the only form made use of in the preter tenses."--_Dr.

Ash's Gram._, p. 47. "Of the points, and other characters made use of in writing."--_Ib._, p. xv. "If _thy_ be the personal p.r.o.noun made use of."--_Walker's Dict._ "The Conjunction is a word made use of to connect sentences."--_Burn's Gram._, p. 28. "The points made use of to answer these purposes are the four following."--_Harrison's Gram._, p. 67. "_Incense_ signifies perfumes exhaled by fire, and made use of in religious ceremonies."--_Murray's Key_, p. 171. "In most of his orations, there is too much art; even carried the length of ostentation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p.

246. "To ill.u.s.trate the great truth, so often lost sight of in our times."--_Common School Journal_, I, 88. "The princ.i.p.al figures, made use of to affect the heart, are Exclamation, Confession, Deprecation, Commination, and Imprecation."--_Formey's Belles-Lettres_, p. 133.

"Disgusted at the odious artifices made use of by the Judge."--_Junius_, p.

13. "The whole reasons of our being allotted a condition, out of which so much wickedness and misery would in fact arise."--_Butler's a.n.a.logy_ p.

109. "Some characteristieal circ.u.mstance being generally invented or laid hold of."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, ii, 246.

"And _by_ is likewise us'd with Names that shew The Means made use of, or the Method how."--_Ward's Gram._, p. 105.

UNDER NOTE VII.--CONSTRUCTIONS AMBIGUOUS.

"Many adverbs admit of degrees of comparison as well as adjectives."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 133. "But the author, who, by the number and reputation of his works, formed our language more than any one, into its present state, is Dryden."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 180. "In some States, Courts of Admiralty have no juries, nor Courts of Chancery at all."--_Webster's Essays_, p, 146. "I feel myself grateful to my friend."--_Murray's Key_, p. 276. "This requires a writer to have, himself, a very clear apprehension of the object he means to present to us."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 94. "Sense has its own harmony, as well as sound."--_lb._, p. 127. "The apostrophe denotes the omission of an _i_ which was formerly inserted, and made an addition of a syllable to the word."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 67. "There are few, whom I can refer to, with more advantage than Mr. Addison."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 139. "DEATH, in _theology_, [is a] perpetual separation from G.o.d, and eternal torments."--_Webster's Dict._ "That could inform the _traveler_ as well as the old man himself!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 345.

UNDER NOTE VIII.--YE AND YOU IN SCRIPTURE.

"Ye daughters of Rabbah, gird ye with sackcloth."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Jer._, xlix, 3. "Wash ye, make you clean."--_Brown's Concordance, w. Wash_. "Strip ye, and make ye bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Isaiah_, x.x.xii, 11. "You are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange to me."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Job_, xix, 3. "You are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me."--ALGER'S BIBLE: _ib._ "If you knew the gift of G.o.d."--_Brown's Concordance, w. Knew_. "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I know ye not."--_Penington's Works_, ii, 122.

RULE VI.--SAME CASES.

A Noun or a p.r.o.noun put after a verb or participle not transitive, agrees in case with a preceding noun or p.r.o.noun referring to the same thing: as, "_It_ is _I_."--"_These_ are _they_."--"The _child_ was named _John_."--"_It_ could not be _he_."--"The _Lord_ sitteth _King_ forever."--_Psalms_, xxix, 10.

"What war could ravish, commerce could bestow, And _he_ return'd a _friend, who_ came a _foe_."

--_Pope_, Ep. iii, l. 206.

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VI.

OBS. 1.--Active-transitive verbs, and their imperfect and preperfect participles, always govern the objective case; but active-intransitive, pa.s.sive, and neuter verbs, and their participles, take the same case after as before them, when both words refer to the same thing. The latter are rightly supposed _not to govern_[357] any case; nor are they in general followed by any noun or p.r.o.noun. But, because they are not transitive, some of them become connectives to such words as are in the same case and signify the same thing. That is, their finite tenses may be followed by a nominative, and their infinitives and participles by a nominative or an objective, _agreeing_ with a noun or a p.r.o.noun which precedes them. The cases are the same, because the person or thing is one; as, "_I_ am _he_."--"_Thou_ art _Peter_."--"Civil _government_ being the sole _object_ of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent."--_Jefferson's Notes_, p. 129. Ident.i.ty is both the foundation and the characteristic of this construction. We chiefly use it to affirm or deny, to suggest or question, the _sameness_ of things; but sometimes _figuratively_, to ill.u.s.trate the relations of persons or things by comparison:[358] as, "_I_ am the true _vine_, and my _Father_ is the _husbandman_."--_John_, xv, 1. "_I_ am the _vine, ye_ are the _branches_."--_John_, xv, 5. Even the names of direct opposites, are sometimes put in the same case, under this rule; as,