The Grammar of English Grammars Part 113

OBSERVATIONS ON RULE VIII.

OBS. 1.--Many grammarians make an idle distinction between the nominative _absolute_ and the nominative _independent_, as if these epithets were not synonymous; and, at the same time, they are miserably deficient in directions for disposing of the words so employed. Their two rules do not embrace more than one half of those _frequent_ examples in which the case of the noun or p.r.o.noun depends on no other word. Of course, the remaining half cannot be pa.r.s.ed by any of the rules which they give. The lack of a comprehensive rule, like the one above, is a great and glaring defect in all the English grammars that the author has seen, except his own, and such as are indebted to him for such a rule. It is proper, however, that the different forms of expression which are embraced in this general rule, should be discriminated, one from an other, by the scholar: let him therefore, in parsing any nominative absolute, tell _how it is put so_; whether with a _participle_, by direct _address_, by _pleonasm_, or by _exclamation_. For, in discourse, a noun or a p.r.o.noun is put absolute in the nominative, after _four modes_, or under the following _four circ.u.mstances_: (of which Murray's "case absolute," or "nominative absolute," contains only the first:)

I. When, _with a participle_, it is used to express a cause, or a concomitant fact; as, "I say, _this being so_, the _law being broken_, justice takes place."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27. _"Pontius Pilate being_ governor of Judea, and _Herod being_ tetrarch of Galilee, and his _brother_ Philip tetrarch of Iturea." &c.--_Luke_, iii, 1. "I _being_ in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren."--_Gen._, xxiv, 27.

---------"While shame, _thou looking on_, Shame to be overcome or overreach'd, Would utmost vigor raise."--_Milton, P. L._, B. ix, 1, 312.

II. When, _by direct address_, it is put in the second person, and set off from the verb, by a comma or an exclamation point; as, "At length, _Seged_, reflect and be wise."--_Dr. Johnson._ "It may be, _drunkard, swearer, liar, thief_, thou dost not think of this."--_Law and Grace_, p. 27.

"_This said_, he form'd thee, _Adam!_ thee, O _man!_ _Dust_ of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd The breath of life."--_Milton's Paradise Lost_, B. vii, l. 524.

III. When, by _pleonasm_, it is introduced abruptly for the sake of emphasis, and is not made the subject or the object of any verb; as, "_He_ that hath, to him shall be given."--_Mark_, iv, 25. "_He_ that is holy, let him be holy still."--_Rev._, xxii, 11. "_Gad_, a troop shall overcome him."--_Gen._, xlix, 19. "The _north_ and the _south_, thou hast created them."--_Psalms_, lx.x.xix, 12. "And _they_ that have believing masters, let them not despise them."--_1 Tim._, vi, 2. "And the _leper_ in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare."--_Levit._, xiii, 45. "_They_ who serve me with adoration,--I am in them, and they [are] in me."--R. W. EMERSON: _Liberator_, No. 996.

-------------------------"What may this mean, That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, Revisitst thus the glimpses of the moon, Making night hideous; and, we fools of nature,[371]

So horribly to shake our disposition With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?"--_Shak. Hamlet._

IV. When, _by mere exclamation_, it is used without address, and without other words expressed or implied to give it construction; as, "And the Lord pa.s.sed by before him, and proclaimed, _the Lord, the Lord G.o.d_, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."

_Exodus_, x.x.xiv, 6. "O _the depth_ of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of G.o.d!"--_Rom._, xi, 33. "I should not like to see her limping back, Poor _beast_!"--_Southey_.

"Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repose, The dawn of bliss, the _twilight_ of our woes!"--_Campbell_.

OBS. 2.--The nominative put absolute with a participle, is often equivalent to a dependent clause commencing with _when, while, if, since_, or _because_. Thus, "I being a child," may be equal to, "When I was a child,"

or, "Because I was a child." Here, in lieu of the nominative, the Greeks used the genitive case, and the Latins, the ablative. Thus, the phrase, "[Greek: Kai hysteraesantos oinou]," "_And the wine failing_," is rendered by Monta.n.u.s, "_Et deficiente vino_;" but by Beza, "_Et c.u.m defecisset vinum_;" and in our Bible, "_And when they wanted wine_."--_John_, ii, 3.

After a noun or a p.r.o.noun thus put absolute, the participle _being_ is frequently understood, especially if an adjective or a like case come after the participle; as,

"They left their bones beneath unfriendly skies, His worthless absolution [_being_] all the prize."

--_Cowper_, Vol. i, p. 84.

"Alike in ignorance, _his reason_ [------] _such_, Whether he thinks too little or too much."--_Pope, on Man_.

OBS. 3.--The case which is put absolute in addresses or invocations, is what in the Latin and Greek grammars is called _the Vocative_. Richard Johnson says, "The only use of the Vocative Case, is, to call upon a Person, or a thing put Personally, which we speak to, to give notice to what we direct our Speech; and this is therefore, properly speaking, the _only Case absolute or independent_ which we may make use of without respect to any other Word."--_Gram. Commentaries_, p. 131. This remark, however, applies not justly to our language; for, with us, the vocative case, is unknown, or not distinguished from the nominative. In English, all nouns of the second person are either put absolute in the nominative, according to Rule 8th, or in apposition with their own p.r.o.nouns placed before them, according to Rule 3d: as, "This is the stone which was set at nought of _you builders_."--_Acts_, iv, 11. "How much rather ought _you receivers_ to be considered as abandoned and execrable!"--_Clarkson's Essay_, p. 114.

"Peace! _minion_, peace! it boots not me to hear The selfish counsel of _you hangers-on_."

--_Brown's Inst._, p. 189.

"Ye _Sylphs_ and _Sylphids_, to your chief give ear; _Fays, Faries, Genii, Elves_, and Daemons, hear!"

--_Pope, R. L._, ii, 74.

OBS. 4.--The case of nouns used in exclamations, or in mottoes and abbreviated sayings, often depends, or may be conceived to depend, on something _understood_; and, when their construction can be satisfactorily explained on the principle of ellipsis, they are _not put absolute_, unless the ellipsis be that of the participle. The following examples may perhaps be resolved in this manner, though the expressions will lose much of their vivacity: "A _horse_! a _horse_! my _kingdom_ for a horse!"--_Shak._ "And he said unto his father, My _head_! my _head_!"--_2 Kings_, iv, 19. "And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an a.s.s, _heaps_ upon heaps, with the jaw of an a.s.s, have I slain a thousand men."--_Judges_, xv, 16. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An _eye_ for an eye, and a _tooth_ for a tooth."--_Matt._, v, 38. "_Peace_, be still."--_Mark_, iv, 39. "One G.o.d, _world_ without end. Amen."--_Com. Prayer_.

"_My fan_, let others say, who laugh at toil; _Fan! hood! glove! scarf!_ is her laconic style."--_Young_.

OBS. 5.--"Such Expressions as, _Hand to Hand, Face to Face, Foot to Foot_, are of the nature of Adverbs, and are of elliptical Construction: For the Meaning is, _Hand_ OPPOSED _to Hand_, &c."--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 100. This learned and ingenious author seems to suppose the former noun to be here put absolute with a participle understood; and this is probably the best way of explaining the construction both of that word and of the preposition that follows it. So Samson's phrase, "_heaps upon heaps_," may mean, "heaps _being piled_ upon heaps;" and Scott's, "_man to man_, and _steel to steel_," may be interpreted, "_man being opposed_ to man, and _steel being opposed_ to steel:"

"Now, man to man, and steel to steel, A chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel."--_Lady of the Lake_.

OBS. 6.--Cobbett, after his own hasty and dogmatical manner, rejects the whole theory of nominatives absolute, and teaches his "soldiers, sailors, apprentices, and ploughboys," that, "The supposition, that there can be a noun, or p.r.o.noun, which has reference to _no_ verb, and _no preposition_, is certainly a mistake."--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, -- 201. To sustain his position, he lays violent hands upon the plain truth, and even trips himself up in the act. Thus: "For want of a little thought, as to the matter immediately before us, some grammarians have found out '_an absolute case_,' as they call it; and Mr. Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in these words: '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost.' The full meaning of this sentence is this: '_It being_, or _the state of things being such, that_ shame _is_ lost, all virtue is lost.'"--_Cobbett's E. Gram._, -- 191.

Again: "There must, you will bear in mind, always be a verb expressed or understood. One would think, that this was not the case in [some instances: as,] '_Sir_, I beg you to give me a bit of bread.' The sentence which follows the _Sir_, is complete; but the _Sir_ appears to stand wholly without connexion. However, the full meaning is this: 'I beg you, _who are a Sir_, to give me a bit of bread.' Now, if you take time to reflect a little on this matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented _vocative cases_ and _cases absolute_, and a great many other appellations, with which they puzzle themselves, and confuse and bewilder and torment those who read their books."--_Ib._, Let. xix, ---- 225 and 226. All this is just like Cobbett. But, let his admirers reflect on the matter as long as they please, the two _independent_ nominatives _it_ and _state_, in the text, "_It being_, or the state of things _being_ such," will forever stand a glaring confutation both of his doctrine and of his censure: "the _case absolute_" is there still! He has, in fact, only converted the single example into a double one!

OBS. 7.--The Irish philologer, J. W. Wright, is even more confident than Cobbett, in denouncing "_the case absolute_;" and more severe in his reprehension of "Grammarians in general, and Lowth and Murray in particular," for entertaining the idea of such a case. "Surprise must cease," says he, "on an acquaintance with the fact, that persons who imbibe such fantastical doctrine _should be dest.i.tute of sterling information_ on the subject of English grammar.--The English language is a stranger to this case. We speak thus, with confidence, conscious of the justness of _our_ opinion:--an opinion, not precipitately formed, but one which is the result of mature and deliberate inquiry. '_Shame being lost_, all virtue is lost:'

The meaning of this is,--'_When_ shame _is being lost_, all virtue is lost.' Here, the words _is being lost_ form _the true present tense_ of the pa.s.sive voice; in which voice, all verbs, thus expressed, are _unsuspectedly_ situated: thus, agreeing with the noun _shame_, as the nominative of the first member of the sentence."--_Wright's Philosophical Gram._, p. 192. With all his deliberation, this gentleman has committed one oversight here, which, as it goes to contradict his scheme of the pa.s.sive verb, some of his sixty venerable commenders ought to have pointed out to him. My old friend, the "Professor of _Elocution_ in Columbia College," who finds by this work of "superior excellence," that "the nature of the _verb_, the most difficult part of grammar, has been, at length, _satisfactorily explained_," ought by no means, after his "very attentive examination" of the book, to have left this service to me. In the clause, "all virtue _is lost_," the pa.s.sive verb "_is lost_" has the form which Murray gave it--the form which, till within a year or two, _all men_ supposed to be the only right one; but, according to this new philosophy of the language, all men have been as much in error in this matter, as in their notion of the nominative absolute. If Wright's theory of the verb is correct, the only just form of the foregoing expression is, "all virtue _is being lost_." If this central position is untenable, his management of the nominative absolute falls of course. To me, the inserting of the word _being_ into all our pa.s.sive verbs, seems the most monstrous absurdity ever broached in the name of grammar. The threescore certifiers to the accuracy of that theory, have, I trow, only recorded themselves as so many _ignoramuses_; for there are more than threescore myriads of better judgements against them.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE VIII.

NOUNS OR p.r.o.nOUNS PUT ABSOLUTE.

"Him having ended his discourse, the a.s.sembly dispersed."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 190.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the p.r.o.noun _him_, whose case depends on no other word, is in the objective case. But, according to Rule 8th, "A noun or a p.r.o.noun is put absolute in the nominative, when its case depends on no other word." Therefore, _him_ should be _he_; thus, "_He_ having ended his discourse, the a.s.sembly dispersed."]

"Me being young, they deceived me."--_Inst. E. Gram._, p. 190. "Them refusing to comply, I withdrew."--_Ib._ "Thee being present, he would not tell what he knew."--_Ib._ "The child is lost; and me, whither shall I go?"--_Ib._ "Oh!

happy us, surrounded with so many blessings."--_Murray's Key_, p. 187; _Merchant's_, 197; _Smith's New Gram._, 96; _Farnum's_, 63. "'Thee, too!

Brutus, my son!' cried Caesar, overcome."--_Brown's Inst._, p. 190. "Thee!

Maria! and so late! and who is thy companion?"--_New-York Mirror_, Vol. x, p. 353. "How swiftly our time pa.s.ses away! and ah! us, how little concerned to improve it!"--_Comly's Gram., Key_, p. 192.

"There all thy gifts and graces we display, Thee, only thee, directing all our way."

CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES.

The syntax of the English Adjective is fully embraced in the following brief rule, together with the exceptions, observations, and notes, which are, in due order, subjoined.

RULE IX.--ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives relate to nouns or p.r.o.nouns: as, "_Miserable_ comforters are ye _all_"--_Job_, xvi, 2. "_No worldly_ enjoyments are _adequate_ to the _high_ desires and powers of an _immortal_ spirit."--_Blair_.

"Whatever faction's _partial_ notions are, _No_ hand is wholly _innocent_ in war."

--_Rowe's Lucan_, B. vii, l. 191.

EXCEPTION FIRST.

An adjective sometimes relates to a _phrase_ or _sentence_ which is made the subject of an intervening verb; as, "_To insult the afflicted_, is _impious_"--_Dillwyn_. "_That he should refuse_, is not _strange_"--"_To err_ is _human_." _Murray_ says, "_Human_ belongs to its substantive 'nature' understood."--_Gram._, p. 233. From this I dissent.

EXCEPTION SECOND.

In combined arithmetical numbers, one adjective often relates _to an other_, and the whole phrase, to a subsequent noun; as, "_One thousand four hundred and fifty-six_ men."--"Six dollars and _eighty-seven and a half_ cents for _every five_ days' service."--"In the _one hundred and twenty-second_ year."--"_One seven_ times more than it was wont to be heated."--_Daniel_, iii, 19.

EXCEPTION THIRD.

With an infinitive or a participle denoting being or action in the abstract, an adjective is sometimes also taken _abstractly_; (that is, without reference to any particular noun, p.r.o.noun, or other subject;) as, "To be _sincere_, is to be _wise, innocent_, and _safe_."--_Hawkesworth_.

"_Capacity_ marks the abstract quality of being _able_ to receive or hold."--_Crabb's Synonymes_. "Indeed, the main secret of being _sublime_, is to say great things in few and plain words."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 215.

"Concerning being _free_ from sin in heaven, there is no question."--_Barclay's Works_, iii, 437. Better: "Concerning _freedom_ from sin," &c.