The Grammar of English Grammars Part 148

OBS. 19.--I like my position of the word "_alas_" better than that which Peirce supposes to be its only right place; and, certainly, his rule for the location of words of this sort, as well as his notion that they must stand alone, is as false, as it is new. The obvious misstatement of Lowth, Adam, Gould, Murray, Churchill, Alger, Smith, Guy, Ingersoll, and others, that, "Interjections are words thrown in between the parts of _a sentence_," I had not only excluded from my grammars, but expressly censured in them. It was not, therefore, to prop any error of the old theorists, that I happened to set one interjection "_where_" according to this new oracle, "_it never belonged_." And if any body but he has been practically misled by their mistake, it is not I, but more probably some of the following authors, here cited for his refutation: "I fear, _alas!_ for my life."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 89. "I have been occupied, _alas_! with trifles."--_Murray's Gr., Ex. for Parsing_, p. 5; _Guy's_, p. 56. "We eagerly pursue pleasure, but, _alas!_ we often mistake the road."--_Smith's New Gram._, p. 40, "To-morrow, _alas!_ thou _mayest_ be comfortless!"--_Wright's Gram._, p. 35. "Time flies, _O!_ how swiftly."--_Murray's Gram._, i, 226. "My friend, _alas!_ is dead."--_J.

Flint's Gram._, p. 21. "But _John, alas! he_ is very idle."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 22. "For pale and wan he was, _alas_ the while!"--SPENSER: _Joh.

Dict._ "But yet, _alas! O_ but yet, _alas!_ our haps be but hard haps."--SYDNEY: _ib._ "Nay, (what's incredible,) _alack!_ I _hardly_ hear a woman's clack."--SWIFT: _ib._ "Thus life is spent (_oh fie_ upon't!) In being touch'd, and crying--Don't!"--_Cowper_, i, 231. "For whom, _alas!_ dost thou prepare The sweets that I was wont to share"--_Id._, i, 203. "But here, _alas!_ the difference lies."--_Id._, i. 100. "Their names, _alas_!

in vain reproach an age," &c.--_Id._, i, 88. "What nature, _alas!_ has denied," &c.--_Id._, i, 235. "A. _Hail_ Sternhold, then; and Hopkins, _hail!_ B. Amen."--_Id._, i 25.

"These Fate reserv'd to grace thy reign divine, Foreseen by me, but _ah!_ withheld from mine!"--_Pope, Dun._, iii, 215.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX PROMISCUOUS. [Fist] [The following examples of bad grammar, being similar in their character to others already exhibited, are to be corrected, by the pupil, according to formules previously given.]

LESSON I.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH.

"Such an one I believe yours will be proved to be."--PEET: _Farnum's Gram._, p. 1. "Of the distinction between the imperfect and the perfect tenses, it may be observed," &c.--_Ainsworth's Gram._, p. 122. "The subject is certainly worthy consideration."--_Ib._, p. 117. "By this means all ambiguity and controversy is avoided on this point."--_Bullions, Principles of Eng. Gram., 5th Ed., Pref._, p. vi. "The perfect participle in English has both an active and pa.s.sive signification."--_Ib._, p. 58. "The old house is at length fallen down."--_Ib._, p. 78. "The king, with the lords and commons, const.i.tute the English form of government."--_Ib._, p. 93.

"The verb in the singular agrees with the person next it."--_Ib._, p. 95.

"Jane found Seth's gloves in James' hat."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 15.

"Charles' task is too great."--_Ibid._, 15. "The conjugation of a verb is the naming, in regular order, its several modes tenses, numbers and persons."--_Ib._, p. 24. "The long remembered beggar was his guest."--_Ib._, 1st Ed., p. 65. "Participles refer to nouns and p.r.o.nouns."--_Ib._, p. 81. "F has an uniform sound in every position except in _of_."--_Hallock's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 15. "There are three genders; the masculine, the feminine and neuter."--_Ib._, p. 43. "When _so that_ occur together, sometimes the particle _so_ is taken as an adverb."--_Ib._, p.

124. "The definition of the articles show that they modify the words to which they belong."--_Ib._, p. 138. "The auxiliaries _shall, will_, or _should_ is implied."--_Ib._, p. 192. "Single rhyme trochaic omits the final short syllable."--_Ib._, p. 244. "Agreeable to this, we read of names being blotted out of G.o.d's book,"--BURDER: _ib._, p. 156; _Webster's Philos. Gram._, 155; _Improved Gram._, 107. "The first person is the person speaking."--_Goldsbury's Common School Gram._, p. 10. "Accent is the laying a peculiar stress of the voice on a certain letter or syllable in a word."--_Ib._, Ed. of 1842, p. 75. "Thomas' horse was caught."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 64. "You was loved."--_Ib._, p. 45. "The nominative and objective end the same."--_Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 18. "The number of p.r.o.nouns, like those of substantives, are two, the singular and the plural."--_Ib._, p. 22. "_I_ is called the p.r.o.noun of the _first_ person, which is the person speaking."--_Frost's Practical Gram._, p. 32. "The essential elements of the phrase is an intransitive gerundive and an adjective."--_Hazen's Practical Gram._, p. 141. "Being rich is no justification for such impudence."--_Ib._, p. 141. "His having been a soldier in the revolution is not doubted."--_Ib._, p. 143. "Catching fish is the chief employment of the inhabitants. The chief employment of the inhabitants is catching fish."--_Ib._, p. 144. "The cold weather did not prevent the work's being finished at the time specified."--_Ib._, p. 145.

"The former viciousness of that man caused his being suspected of this crime."--_Ib._, p. 145. "But person and number applied to verbs means, certain terminations."--_Barrett's Gram._, p. 69. "Robert fell a tree."--_Ib._, p. 64. "Charles raised up."--_Ib._, p. 64. "It might not be an useless waste of time."--_Ib._, p. 42. "Neither will you have that _implicit faith_ in the writings and works of others which characterise the vulgar,"--_Ib._, p. 5. "_I_, is the first person, because it denotes the speaker."--_Ib._, p. 46. "I would refer the student to Hedges' or Watts'

Logic."--_Ib._, p. 15. "Hedge's, Watt's, Kirwin's, and Collard's Logic."--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part III, p. 116. "Letters are called vowels which make a full and perfect sound of themselves."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 10. "It has both a singular and plural construction."--_Ib._, p.

23. "For he beholdest thy beams no more."--_Ib._, p. 136. "To this sentiment the Committee has the candour to incline, as it will appear by their summing up."--_Macpherson's Ossian, Prelim. Disc._, p. xviii. "This is reducing the point at issue to a narrow compa.s.s."--_Ib._, p. xxv. "Since the English sat foot upon the soil."--_Exiles of Nova Scotia_, p. 12. "The arrangement of its different parts are easily retained by the memory."--_Hiley's Gram._, 3d Ed., p. 262. "The words employed are the most appropriate which could have been selected."--_Ib._, p. 182. "To prevent it launching!"--_Ib._, p. 135. "Webster has been followed in preference to others, where it differs from them."--_Frazee's Gram._, p. 8. "Exclamation and Interrogation are often mistaken for one another."--_Buchanan's E.

Syntax_, p. 160. "When all nature is hushed in sleep, and neither love nor guilt keep their vigils."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 96.

"When all nature's hushed asleep, Nor love, nor guilt, their vigils keep."--_Ib._, p. 95.

LESSON II.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH.

"A VERSIFYER and POET are two different Things."--_Brightland's Gram._, p.

163. "Those Qualities will arise from the well expressing of the Subject."--_Ib._, p. 165. "Therefore the explanation of _network_, is taken no notice of here."--_Mason's Supplement_, p. vii. "When emphasis or pathos are necessary to be expressed."--_Humphrey's Punctuation_, p. 38. "Whether this mode of punctuation is correct, and whether it be proper to close the sentence with the mark of admiration, may be made a question."--_Ib._, p.

39. "But not every writer in those days were thus correct."--_Ib._, p. 59.

"The sounds of A, in English orthoepy, are no less than four."--_Ib._, p.

69. "Our present code of rules are thought to be generally correct."-- _Ib._, p. 70. "To prevent its running into another."--_Humphrey's Prosody_, p. 7. "Shakespeare, perhaps, the greatest poetical genius which England has produced."--_Ib._, p. 93. "This I will ill.u.s.trate by example; but prior to which a few preliminary remarks may be necessary."--_Ib._, p. 107. "All such are ent.i.tled to two accents each, and some of which to two accents nearly equal."--_Ib._, p. 109. "But some cases of the kind are so plain that no one need to exercise his judgment therein."--_Ib._, p. 122. "I have forbore to use the word."--_Ib._, p. 127. "The propositions, 'He may study,' 'He might study,' 'He could study,' affirms an ability or power to study."--_Hallock's Gram. of_ 1842, p. 76. "The divisions of the tenses has occasioned grammarians much trouble and perplexity."--_Ib._, p. 77. "By adopting a familiar, inductive method of presenting this subject, it may be rendered highly attractive to young learners."--_Wells's Sch. Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 1; 3d, 9; 113th, 11. "The definitions and rules of different grammarians were carefully compared with each other."--_Ib., Preface_, p.

iii. "So as not wholly to prevent some sounds issuing."--_Sheridan's Elements of English_, p. 64. "Letters of the Alphabet not yet taken notice of."--_Ib._, p. 11. "IT _is sad_, IT _is strange_, &c., seems to express only that _the thing_ is sad, strange, &c."--_The Well-Wishers' Gram._, p.

68. "THE WINNING is easier than THE PRESERVING a conquest."--_Ib._, p. 65.

"The United States finds itself the owner of a vast region of country at the West."--_Horace Mann in Congress_, 1848. "One or more letters placed before a word is a Prefix."--_S. W. Clark's Pract. Gram._, p. 42. "One or more letters added to a word is a Suffix."--_Ib._, p. 42. "Two-thirds of my hair has fallen off."--_Ib._, p. 126. "'Suspecting,' describes 'we,' by expressing, incidentally, an act of 'we.'"--_Ib._, p. 130. "Daniel's predictions are now being fulfilled."--_Ib._, p. 136. "His being a scholar, ent.i.tles him to respect."--_Ib._, p. 141. "I doubted his having been a soldier."--_Ib._, p. 142. "Taking a madman's sword to prevent his doing mischief, cannot be regarded as robbing him."--_Ib._, p. 129. "I thought it to be him; but it was not him."--_Ib._, p. 149. "It was not me that you saw."--_Ib._, p. 149. "Not to know what happened before you was born, is always to be a boy."--_Ib._, p. 149. "How long was you going? Three days."--_Ib._, 158. "The qualifying Adjective is placed next the Noun."--_Ib._, p. 165. "All went but me."--_Ib._, p. 93. "This is parsing their own language, and not the author's."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 73. "Nouns which denote males, are of the masculine gender."--_Ib._, p. 49. "Nouns which denote females, are of the feminine gender."--_Ib._, p. 49. "When a comparison is expressed between more than two objects of the same cla.s.s, the superlative degree is employed."--_Ib._, p. 133. "Where _d_ or _t_ go before, the additional letter _d_ or _t_, in this contracted form, coalesce into one letter with the radical _d_ or _t_."--_Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 9. "Write words which will show what kind of a house you live in--what kind of a book you hold in your hand--what kind of a day it is."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 7. "One word or more is often joined to nouns or p.r.o.nouns to modify their meaning."--_Ib., 2d Ed._, p.

30. "_Good_ is an adjective; it explains the quality or character of every person or thing to which it is applied."--_Ib._, p. 33; _Abridg._, 32. "A great public as well as private advantage arises from every one's devoting himself to that occupation which he prefers, and for which he is specially fitted."--WAYLAND: _Wells's Gram._, p. 121; _Weld's_, 180. "There was a chance of his recovering his senses. Not thus: 'There was a chance of him recovering his senses.' MACAULEY."--See _Wells's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 121; 113th, 135. "This may be known by its not having any connecting word immediately preceding it."--_Weld's Gram., 2d Edition_, p. 181. "There are _irregular_ expressions occasionally to be met with, which usage or custom rather than a.n.a.logy, sanction."--_Ib._, p. 143. "He added an anecdote of Quinn's relieving Thomson from prison."--_Ib._, p. 150. "The daily labor of her hands procure for her all that is necessary."--_Ib._, p. 182. "Its being _me_, need make no change in your determination."--_Hart's Gram._, p.

128. "The cla.s.sification of words into what is called the Parts of Speech."--_Weld's Gram._, p. 5. "Such licenses may be explained under what is usually termed Figures."--_Ib._, p. 212.

"Liberal, not lavish, is kind nature's hands."--_Ib._, p. 196.

"They fall successive and successive live."--_Ib._, p. 213.

LESSON III.--ANY PARTS OF SPEECH.

"A figure of Etymology is the intentional deviation in the usual form of a word."--_Weld's Gram., 2d Edition_, p. 213. "A figure of Syntax is the intentional deviation in the usual construction of a word."--_Ib._, 213.

"Synecdoche is putting the name of the whole of anything for a part or a part for the whole."--_Ib._, 215. "Apostrophe is turning off from the regular course of the subject to address some person or thing."--_Ib._, 215. "Even young pupils will perform such exercises with surprising interest and facility, and will unconsciously gain, in a little time, more knowledge of the structure of Language than he can acquire by a drilling of several years in the usual routine of parsing."--_Ib., Preface_, p. iv. "A few Rules of construction are employed in this Part, to guide in the exercise of parsing."--_Ibidem_. "The name of every person, object, or thing, which can be thought of, or spoken of, is a noun."--_Ib._, p. 18; _Abridged Ed._, 19. "A dot, resembling our period, is used between every word, as well as at the close of the verses."--_W. Day's Punctuation_, p.

16; _London_, 1847. "Casting types in matrices was invented by Peter Schoeffer, in 1452."--_Ib._, p. 23. "On perusing it, he said, that, so far from it showing the prisoner's guilt, it positively established his innocence."--_Ib._, p. 37. "By printing the _nominative_ and _verb_ in _Italic_ letters, the reader will be able to distinguish them at a glance."--_Ib._, p. 77. "It is well, no doubt, to avoid using unnecessary words."--_Ib._, p. 99. "Meeting a friend the other day, he said to me, 'Where are you going?'"--_Ib._, p. 124. "John was first denied _apples_, then he was promised _them_, then he was offered _them_."--_Lennie's Gram._, 5th Ed., p. 62. "He was denied admission."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 146. "They were offered a pardon."--_Pond's Murray_, p. 118; _Wells_, 146. "I was this day shown a new potatoe."--DARWIN: _Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 179; _Imp. Gram._, 128; _Frazee's Gram._, 153; _Weld's_, 153. "Nouns or p.r.o.nouns which denote males are of the masculine gender."--_S. S. Greene's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 211. "There are three degrees of comparison--the positive, comparative, and superlative."--_Ib._, p. 216; _First Les._, p. 49. "The first two refer to direction; the third, to locality."--_Ib., Gr._, p. 103. "The following are some of the verbs which take a direct and indirect object."--_Ib._, p. 62. "I was not aware of his being the judge of the Supreme Court."--_Ib._, p. 86. "An indirect question may refer to either of the five elements of a declarative sentence."--_Ib._, p. 123. "I am not sure _that he will be present_ = _of his being present_."--_Ib._, p. 169. "We left on Tuesday."--_Ib._, p. 103.

"He left, as he told me, before the arrival of the steamer."--_Ib._, p.

143. "We told him _that he must leave_ = We told him _to leave_."--_Ib._, p. 168. "Because he was unable to persuade the mult.i.tude, he left in disgust."--_Ib._, p. 172. "He _left_, and _took_ his brother with him."--_Ib._, p. 254. "This stating, or declaring, or denying any thing, is called the indicative mode, or manner of speaking."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 72; _Abr. Ed._, 59. "This took place at our friend Sir Joshua Reynold's."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 150; _Imp. Ed._, 154. "The manner of a young lady's employing herself usefully in reading will be the subject of another paper."--_Ib._, 150; or 154. "Very little time is necessary for Johnson's concluding a treaty with the bookseller."--_Ib._, 150; or 154.

"My father is not now sick, but if he _was_ your services would be welcome."--_Chandler's Grammar_, 1821, p. 54. "When we begin to write or speak, we ought previously to fix in our minds a clear conception of the end to be aimed at."--_Blair's Rhetoric_, p. 193. "Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor."--_Bullions's a.n.a.lytical and Practical Grammar_, 1849, p. 59. "The active and pa.s.sive present express different ideas."--_Ib._, p. 235. "An _Improper Diphthong_, or Digraph, is a diphthong in which only one of the vowels are sounded."--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 8vo, 1850, --115. "The real origin of the words are to be sought in the Latin."--_Ib._, --120. "What sort of an alphabet the Gothic languages possess, we know; what sort of alphabet they require, we can determine."--_Ib._, --127. "The Runic Alphabet whether borrowed or invented by the early Goths, is of greater antiquity than either the oldest Teutonic or the Moeso-Gothic Alphabets."--_Ib._, --129.

"Common to the Masculine and the Neuter Genders."--_Ib._, --222. "In the Anglo-Saxon _his_ was common to both the Masculine and Neuter Genders."--_Ib._, --222. "When time, number, or dimension are specified, the adjective follows the substantive."--_Ib._, --459. "Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear Invade thy bounds."--_Ib._, --563. "To Brighton the Pavilion lends a _lath and plaster_ grace."--_Ib._, --590. "From this consideration nouns have been given but one person, the THIRD."--_D. C. Allen's Grammatic Guide_, p. 10.

"For it seems to guard and cherish Even the wayward dreamer--I."--_Home Journal_.

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS XIII.--SYNTACTICAL.

_In the following Lessons, are exemplified most of the Exceptions, some of the Notes, and many of the Observations, under the preceding Rules of Syntax; to which Exceptions, Notes, or Observations, the learner may recur, for an explanation of whatsoever is difficult in the parsing, or peculiar in the construction, of these examples or others._

LESSON I.--PROSE.

"_The_ higher a bird flies, _the_ more out of danger he is; and _the_ higher a Christian soars above the world, _the_ safer are his comforts."--_Sparke_.

"_In_ this point of view, and _with_ this explanation, _it_ is supposed by some grammarians, that our language contains _a_ few Impersonal Verbs; that is, _verbs_ which declare the existence of some action or state, but _which_ do not refer to any animate being, or any determinate particluar subject."--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 109.

"Thus in England and France, a great landholder possesses _a_ hundred _times_ the property that is necessary for the subsistence of a family; and each landlord has perhaps _a_ hundred families dependent on him for subsistence."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 87.

"_It_ is as possible to become _pedantick_ by fear of pedantry, as to be _troublesome_ by ill timed civility."--_Johnson's Rambler_, No. 173.

"_To_ commence _author, is_ to claim praise; and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace."--_Ib._, No. 93.

"_For_ ministers to be silent in the cause of Christ, _is_ to renounce it; and to fly _is_ to desert it."--SOUTH: _Crabb's Synonymes_, p. 7.

"Such instances shew how much _the sublime_ depends upon a just selection of circ.u.mstances; and _with_ how great care every circ.u.mstance must be avoided, which _by_ bordering _in the least_ upon _the mean_, or even upon _the gay_ or _the trifling_, alters the tone of the emotion."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 43.

"This great poet and philosopher, _the_ more _he_ contemplated the nature of the Deity, _found_ that _he_ waded _but the_ more out of his depth, and that _he_ lost _himself_ in the thought _instead_ of finding an end to it."--_Addison_. "_Odin, which_ in Anglo-Saxon was _Woden_, was the supreme G.o.d of the Goths, answering to the Jupiter of the Greeks."--_Webster's Essays_, p. 262.

"Because confidence, that _charm_ and _cement_ of intimacy, _is_ wholly wanting in the intercourse."--_Opie, on Lying_, p. 146.

"Objects of hearing may be compared together, as also _of_ taste, _of_ smell, and _of_ touch: but the chief _fund_ of comparison _are objects_ of sight."--_Kames, El. of Crit._, Vol. ii, p. 136.

"The various relations of the various Objects exhibited by this (I mean relations of _near_ and _distant, present_ and _absent, same_ and _different, definite_ and _indefinite_, &c.) made it necessary that _here there_ should not be one, but many p.r.o.nouns, such as _He, This, That, Other, Any, Some_, &c."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 72.

"Mr. Pope's Ethical Epistles _deserve_ to be mentioned with signal honour, _as_ a _model_, next to _perfect, of_ this kind of poetry."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 402.

"The knowledge _of why_ they so exist, must be the last act of favour _which_ time and toil will bestow."--_Rush, on the Voice_, p. 253.

"_It_ is unbelief, and _not faith, that_ sinks the sinner into despondency.--Christianity disowns such characters."--_Fuller, on the Gospel_, p. 141.

"That G.o.d created the universe, [and] that men are accountable for their actions, _are frequently mentioned_ by logicians, as instances of the mind judging."