The Grammar of English Grammars Part 91

"What! will these hands never be clean?--No more of that, my lord; no more of that. You mar all with this starting." * * * "Here is the smell of blood still.--All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh!

oh! oh!"--_Shak., Macbeth_, Act V, Sc. 1.

"Ha! at the gates what grisly forms appear!

What dismal shrieks of laughter wound the ear!"--_Merry._

LESSON II.--PARSING.

"Yet this may be the situation of some now known to us.--O frightful thought! O horrible image! Forbid it, O Father of mercy! If it be possible, let no creature of thine ever be the object of that wrath, against which the strength of thy whole creation united, would stand but as the moth against the thunderbolt!"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 289.

"If it be so, our G.o.d, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy G.o.ds, nor wors.h.i.+p the golden image which thou hast set up."--_Daniel_, iii, 17 and 18.

"Grant me patience, just Heaven!--Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world--though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst--the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!"--_Sterne_.

"Ah, no! Achilles meets a shameful fate, Oh! how unworthy of the brave and great."--_Pope_.

LESSON III.--PARSING.

"O let not thy heart despise me! thou whom experience has not taught that it is misery to lose that which it is not happiness to possess."--_Dr.

Johnson_.

"Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught; and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account."--_Sterne_.

"Put it out of the power of truth to give you an ill character; and if any body reports you not to be an honest or a good man, let your practice give him the lie. This is all very feasible."--_Antoninus_.

"Oh that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!"--_Shakspeare_.

"All these afar off stood, crying, Alas!

Alas! and wept, and gnashed their teeth, and groaned; And with the owl, that on her ruins sat, Made dolorous concert in the ear of Night."--_Pollok_.

"s.n.a.t.c.h'd in thy prime! alas, the stroke were mild, Had my frail form obey'd the fate's decree!

Blest were my lot, O Cynthio! O my child!

Had Heaven so pleas'd, and I had died for thee!"--_Shenstone_.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS RESPECTING INTERJECTIONS.

"Of chance or change, oh let not man complain."--_Bucke's Cla.s.sical Gram._, p. 85.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the interjection _oh_, a sign of sorrow, pain, or surprise, is here used to indicate mere earnestness. But, according to the list of interjections, or OBS. 2d under it, the interjection of wis.h.i.+ng, earnestness, or vocative address, is _O_, and not _oh_. Therefore, _oh_ should here be _O_; thus, "Of chance or change, _O_ let not man complain."--_Beattie's Minstrel_, B. ii, l. 1.]

"O thou persecutor! Oh ye hypocrites."--_Merchant's Gram._, p. 99; _et al_.

"Oh! thou, who touchedst Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire."--_Ib._, (_Key_,) p. 197. "Oh! happy we, surrounded by so many blessings."--_Ib._, (_Exercises_,) p. 138. "Oh! thou, who art so unmindful of thy duty."--_Ib._, (_Key_,) p. 196. "If I am wrong, oh teach my heart To find that better way."--_Pope's Works_. "Heus! evocate hue Davum. _Ter_. Hoe!

call Davus out hither."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 155. "It was represented by an a.n.a.logy, (Oh, how inadequate!) which was borrowed from the religion of paganism."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 281. "Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!"--ALGER'S BIBLE: _Gen._, xvii, 18. "And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak."--FRIENDS' BIBLE: _Gen._, xviii, 30.

"And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry."--ID., and SCOTT'S: _ib._, ver.

32. "Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word."--FRIENDS'

BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Gen._, xliv, 18. "Oh, Virtue! how amiable thou art! I fear, alas! for my life."--_Fisk's Gram._, p. 89. "Ay me, they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain."--_Milton's P. L._, B. iv, l. 86.

"Oh! that I had digged myself a cave."--FLETCHER: _in Bucke's Gram._, p.

78. "O, my good lord! thy comfort comes too late."--SHAK.: _ib._, p. 78.

"The vocative takes no article; it is distinguished thus: _O Pedro_, Oh Peter! _O Dios_, Oh G.o.d!"--_Bucke's Gram._, p. 43. "Oh, o! But, the relative is always the same."--_Cobbett's Eng. Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 127.

"Oh, oh! But, the relative is always the same."--_Id._, Edition of 1832, p.

116. "Ah hail, ye happy men!"--_Jaudon's Gram._, p. 116. "Oh that I had wings like a dove!"--FRIENDS' BIBLE, and ALGER'S: _Ps._, lv, 6. "Oh Glorious hope! O Blessed abode!"--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 183. "Alas, Friends, how joyous is your presence."--_Rev. T. Smith's Gram._, p. 87.

"Oh, blissful days! Ah me! how soon ye pa.s.s!"--_Parker and Fox's Gram._, Part I, p. 16; Part III, p. 29.

"Oh golden days! oh bright unvalued hours!

What bliss (did ye but know that bliss) were yours!"--_Barbauld_.

"Ay me! what perils do eviron The man that meddles with cold iron."--_Hudibras_.

CHAPTER XII.--QUESTIONS.

ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.

PART SECOND, ETYMOLOGY.

[Fist] [The following questions refer almost wholly to the main text of the Etymology of this work, and are such as every student should be able to answer with readiness and accuracy, before he proceeds to any subsequent part of the study or the exercises of English grammar.]

LESSON I.--PARTS OF SPEECH.

1. Of what does Etymology treat? 2. What is meant by the term, "_Parts of Speech?_" 3. What are _Cla.s.ses_, under the parts of speech? 4. What are _Modifications?_ 5. How many and what are the parts of speech? 6. What is an article? 7. What is a noun? 8. What is an adjective? 9. What is a p.r.o.noun? 10. What is a verb? 11. What is a participle? 12. What is an adverb? 13. What is a conjunction? 14. What is a preposition? 15. What is an interjection?

LESSON II.--PARSING.

1. What is _Parsing?_ and what relation does it bear to grammar? 2. What is a _Praxis?_ and what is said of the word? 3. What is required of the pupil in the FIRST PRAXIS? 4. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 5. How is the following example pa.r.s.ed? "The patient ox submits to the yoke, and meekly performs the labour required of him."

[Now pa.r.s.e, in like manner, the three lessons of the _First Chapter_, or the _First Praxis_.]

LESSON III.--ARTICLES.

1. What is an ARTICLE? 2. Are _an_ and _a_ different articles, or the same?

3. When ought _an_ to be used, and what are the examples? 4. When should _a_ be used, and what are the examples? 5. What form of the article do the sounds of _w_ and _y_ require? 6. Can you repeat the alphabet, with _an_ or _a_ before the name of each letter? 7. Will you name the ten parts of speech, with _an_ or _a_ before each name? 8. When does a common noun not admit an article? 9. How is the sense of nouns commonly made indefinitely part.i.tive? 10. Does the mere being of a thing demand the use of articles?

11. Can articles ever be used when we mean to speak of a whole species? 12.

But how does _an_ or _a_ commonly limit the sense? 13. And how does _the_ commonly limit the sense? 14. Which number does _the_ limit, the singular or the plural? 15. When is _the_ required before adjectives? 16. Why is _an_ or _a_ not applicable to plurals? 17. What is said of _an_ or _a_ before an adjective of number? 18. When, or how often, should articles be inserted? 19. What is said of needless articles? 20. What is the effect of putting one article for the other, and how shall we know which to choose?

21. How are the two articles distinguished in grammar? 22. Which is the definite article, and what does it denote? 23. Which is the indefinite article, and what does it denote? 24. What modifications have the articles?

LESSON IV.--PARSING.

1. What is required of the pupil in the SECOND PRAXIS? 2. How many definitions are here to be given for each part of speech? 3. How is the following example pa.r.s.ed? "The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent cla.s.s, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road."

[Now pa.r.s.e, in like manner, the three lessons of the _Second Chapter_, or the _Second Praxis_; and then, if you please, you may correct orally the five lessons of _bad English_, with which the Second Chapter concludes.]