GEFT OF 
 Miss Sue Dunbar 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2008 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/compreliensivegraOOenglricli 
 
/ 
 
 COMPREHENSIVE GRfMlAR 
 
 OP THE 
 
 ENGLISH LANaUAGE. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS, 
 
 BY SIMON KERL, A.M. 
 
 " Pungar vice cotis, acutum 
 Beddere quae ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PHINNEY, BLAKEMAN, AND MASON. 
 
 BUFFALO: BREED, BUTLER & CO. 
 1861. 
 
C&^, /vv t^'. >2»V^ 
 
 K E R L ' S 
 
 SERIES OF ENGLISH GRAMMARS, 
 
 Kerl'§ Primary Eiig^lish Orammar. — This little book 
 is designed for beginners, and as an introduction to the Comprehensive Gram- 
 mar. Since variety in his text-books on the same subject, always causes a loss 
 of time and labor to the learner, this little work, excepting the last few pages, 
 is made identical, page for page, with the first part of the larger Grrammar. It 
 is also made in accordance with what seem to be the latest and best opinions on 
 the science of grammar and the art of teaching. 72 pp., 12 mo, well bound. 
 Price 25 cents. 
 
 KerIN Compretiensive £iiglish Orammar. — This book 
 is designed to be a thorough Practical Grammar, for the use of Common Scliools. 
 Nearly all that it contains beyond what the generality of grammars have, will 
 be new and useful. To its sections on Yebbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, 
 Parsing, Analysis, Versification, Punctuation, Capital Letters, Rhe- 
 torical Figures, and False Syntax, particular attention is directed ; and also 
 to the arrangement of matter, and to the copious Illustrations and Exercises 
 360 pp., 12mo. Price 75 cents. 
 
 Kerl's Treatise on tlie Eiiglasli L<anguage. — This book 
 is designed for the use of High-Schools, Colleges, and Private Students. It will 
 embrace, so far as practicable, the History, Etymology, Grammar, and 
 Structure of the Language, with copious Illustrations and Critical Re- 
 marks, an Essay on Composition, an Essay on Delivery, and a Collection 
 of Synonyms. Large 8vo. {In Press.) 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, 
 
 By SIMON KERL, 
 
 In the Clerk's Oflace of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 
 
 Stereotyped by Smith & McDougal, 82 & 84 Beekman-street. 
 J. M. .Johnson. Printer ^nd Binder, Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
PREFACE. ^^^ 
 
 It i3 generally admitted, at least by those persons who frequently have occa- 
 sion to write the English language, that the knowledge of this subject, obtained 
 in our schools, is not sufficient for the various requirements of life. In the fol- 
 lowing pages we therefore offer to the public an English Grammar that is do- 
 signed to bo, for practical purposes, more thorough than any other we have seen, 
 the very largest not excepted. 
 
 In its matter, it does not differ much from other grammars, except that it has 
 more, and th it much of it is fresh from the original sources of the science. What- 
 ever others have written on the subject, I have endeavored to ascertain ; though 
 I trust I have treated them less piratically and censoriously than most of them 
 have treated their predecessors. The incidental remarks on grammar, made by 
 reviewers, philologists, and other writers, have been diligently sought and con- 
 sidered. The best grammars of foreign languages have also been consulted, 
 especially those of Becker, Vivier, Andrews, Crosby, and Kiihner. Of the exer- 
 cises to be corrected, about one half are the best of those which form the com- 
 mon inheritance of the science; and for the others I have read some work or 
 works from every State in the Union, in order that the book may show all the 
 various kinds of errors which are now current, like undetected counterfeit money, 
 in the various parts of our country. If children imbibed no errors at home, it 
 were well to exclude such exercises from grammars : but when a person has 
 already caught a disease, I suppose it is best to convince him of his condition, 
 and show him how to get rid of it. Errors in spelling, and errors manufactured 
 by grammarians, are of course objectionable ; but errors that are gathered from 
 the usage of good writers, are a very different thing. Besides, parsing and an- 
 alysis, when used alone, become too monotonous and wearisome, and hardly 
 suffice to teach the correct use of the language. 
 
 In regard to the arrangement of matter, — an important item, — I venture to 
 claim for the book a superiority over every other of its kind. It is well known 
 that science and literature languished, until Bacon and Shakespeare emancipated 
 them from the thralldom of ancient opinions ; and, as Latin Grammars were first 
 made, and English Grammars modelled atl;er them, the latter have probably suf- 
 fered from a similar dominion. A language that has many inflections, may well 
 have its etymology taught as a separate branch ; but a language, like ours, 
 whose actual inflections might all be printed on two or three pages, needs no 
 such treatment. Besides, words have etymology because they have syntax — the 
 very existence of the one implying the other ; and to stop with etymology, is 
 to leave the work half finished. The greatest stickler for separating them in our 
 language, has failed to draw the dividing line; and much of the etymology 
 taught in our grammars — as in the cases of nouns — is sheer syntax. Every 
 teacher of experience, too, must have observed how wearisome to pupils is the 
 long desert of etymology, before they see its application in syntax ; and then 
 they often do not get the full benefit of this, because they have but a faint and 
 confused recollection of the other. Moreover, by the usual system, almost the 
 whole grammar must be learned before any practical benefit is derived from it ; 
 and, as children in many parts of the country can attend school only a part of 
 each year, the consequence is, that they begin their grammar from year to year, 
 get tired of its technical jargon, and, finally, derive little benefit from the study. 
 13y the arrangement in this treatise, each section bears its own fruit, and will 
 be, if learned, of permanent value, whether any further progress is made or 
 not. The book, too, can be more conveniently resumed at the beginning of any 
 section. 
 
 M515998 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 Parsing and Analysis have not only been made full, but stripped of much 
 superfluous machinery. Doctrines and classifications have, in many places, been 
 simplified and abridged ; and for some of tlie insufficient articles in our grammars 
 have been substituted others that are altogether more substantial. The book 
 comprises both a Primary and a Higher Grrammar, and is, in the highest sense, 
 progressive and philosophical. It is built up by a regular synthesis from the 
 alphabet to Versification ; then follows the article on Analysis, which relates to 
 all that precedes it, and is of the utmost importance to the next and last article, 
 namely, Punctuation. In other grammars, most of the doctrine is printed in small 
 type, and the exercises are printed in larger. This may be more agreeaV)le to the 
 teacher, but it is less so to the learner. I have given the main principles first, 
 in large type, and apart from the examples ; then the exercises in type sufficiently 
 large; and, lastly, the unimportant doctrine in smaller type, under the head of. 
 Observations, and at the end of each section. The best modes of learning and 
 teaching have been constantly kept in mind ; but, of course, no perfectly sane 
 teacher or learner will imagine, that the grammar of a mighty language — of a 
 language that reaches into every fibre of human knowledge, can be learned with- 
 out labor, or in "six lessons 1" A full preface, explanatory and defensive, would 
 require many pages. I therefore leave the work, without further remark, to the 
 candor, judgment, and research of the reader. 
 
 TO TEACHERS. 
 
 Since almost every teacher has his own views about teaching, it is probably 
 needless to add any suggestions. It may be proper, however, to state, that the 
 pupil should learn, of the irregular verbs, only those forms which are in good 
 present use, the others having been inserted merely for reference. The exer- 
 cises from p. 36 to p. 44, should be used constantly with the recitations on the 
 parts of speech. While the pupil is engaged in the parsing exercises, pp. 47 — 57, 
 it may be well for him to strengthen himself by reviewing several times what 
 precedes them. The numbers over words show the Rules of Syntax. The in- 
 terrogation-points on the left of paragraphs in Part Second, are used in stead of ■ 
 questions. They are a sort of substitute for the pencil-marks of teachers. The 
 section on the Derivation of Words may be omitted, if taught in some other book. 
 For a few of its Words, the pupil will have to consult his dictionary. It would 
 be a useful exercise for the pupil to copy the ^ntences given as examples in 
 Part Second. He would thus learn to spell, to punctuate, to use capital letters, 
 and would become familiar with all the various sentences which make language. 
 The exercises for correction, it is probably best for the pupil to write off cor- 
 rected, and bring them to school as a part of his evening task. If they be cor- 
 rected orally, I would recommend that it be not done with too much ceremony 
 or mechanical mannerism. In the sentence, " Him and me are of the same age," 
 for instance, the pupil may simply say, " Incorrect : Mm and me, in the objective 
 case, should be he and /, in the nominative case, because ' A pronoun used as 
 the subject of a finite verb, must be in the nominative case.' " For additional 
 examples in analysis and parsing, may be used the numerous examples from p. 
 257 to the end. The section on Analysis, though near the end, should be studied 
 as soon as possible, and reviewed frequently. A Key to the Exercises will be 
 furnished, if it should be found necessary. It was my design to add an article 
 on Composition, but as this is not necessarily a part of grammar, and as it would 
 have much erdarged the size of the book, I have omitted it. Should the present 
 work be favorably received, however, I may add, as a sequel to this book, a 
 small but adequate treatise on Composition ; so that the two books will make a 
 course of Grammar, Rhetoric and Composition. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 wm 
 
 ABBireviations, 317, 321 
 
 Accent, . . 62-3 ; Poetic, . . 275-6 
 
 Adjectives, 10, 149-64 
 
 Adjectives, Principles, .... 149-56 
 Adjectives, Pronominal, . . . 153-55 
 Adjectives, Exercises, .... 157-61 
 Adjectives, Observations, . . . 161-4 
 
 Adjuncts, 33, 217-8 
 
 Adverbs, 30-2, 208-17 
 
 Adverbs, List of, 31-2 
 
 Adverbs, Principles, 208-11 
 
 Adverbs, Exercises, 211-15 
 
 Adverbs, Observations, .... 215-17 
 Analysis of Sentences, . . . 298-314 
 
 Arrangement, 258-9 
 
 Articles, 9, 140-9 
 
 Articles, Principles, 140-2 
 
 Articles, Exercises, 142-6 
 
 Articles, Observations, .... 147-9 
 
 Articulation, 66 
 
 Brackets, 342 
 
 Cases, 7, 112-9 
 
 Clauses, 3, 298-300 
 
 Colon, 318-21 
 
 Comma, 323-30 
 
 Comparison, Degrees of, . . 11, 150-3 
 
 Conjugation, 23-9, 187-8 
 
 Conjunctions, .... 33-5, 230-40 
 Conjunctions, List of, .... 34-5 
 Conjunctions, Principles, . . . 230-2 
 Conjunctions, Illustrations, . . 232-5 
 Conjunctions, Exercises, - . . 236-9 
 Conjunctions, Observations, . . 239^0 
 
 Ourves, 340-2 
 
 Dash, 335-9 
 
 Declension, 8-9 
 
 Derivation of "Words, .... 83-90 
 
 Discourse, 3, 298, 310-11 
 
 Ellipsis, 260 
 
 Emphasis, 66 
 
 Equivalent Expressions, . . . 258-9 
 
 Etymology, 60 
 
 Exclamation-point, 342-4 
 
 Exercises, General, . . 86-44, 243-50 
 Figures, Ehetorical, .... 262-71 
 Forms of the Verb, . . 20, 24-9, 189 
 
 Genders, 5-6, 101-4 
 
 Grammar, 59 
 
 Hyphen, 343-5 
 
 Infinitives, ... 12, 21-2, 165, 182-6 
 
 Interjections, 35-6, 240-2 
 
 Interrogation-point, 231-2 
 
 Letters, . 60-2 ; Capital, . . . 67-77 
 Marks, Miscellaneous, .... 351-4 
 Moods, .... 17-8, 168-71, 175-6 
 Nouns, 4, 91-140 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Nouns, Principles, 91-118 
 
 Nouns, Exercises, 119-33 
 
 Nouns, Observations, .... 134-40 
 Numbers, 6, 105-12 ; of Verbs, 177-80 
 Observations, General, .... 25-7 
 
 Orthography, 60, 67-83 
 
 Parsing, 47-57 
 
 Participles, ... 12, 21-2, 165, 182-6 
 
 Parts of Speech, 2,90 
 
 u u u Words of Different, 242-3 
 Pauses, . . 67 ; Poetic, ... 274 
 
 Period, 316-18 
 
 Persons, 6, 104-5 ; of Verbs, . 177-80 
 
 Phrase, 3, 311 
 
 Pleonasm, 260-1 
 
 Poetry, 272, 296 
 
 Predicates, 2-3, 300 
 
 Prefixes, 84-6 
 
 Prepositions, 32-3, 217-30 
 
 Prepositions, Principles, . . . 217-8 
 Prepositions, Illustrations, . . 219-23 
 Prepositions, Constructions, . . 223-6 
 Prepositions, Exercises, . . . 226-9 
 Prepositions, Observations, . . 229-30 
 
 Pronouns, 4r-5, 94-140 
 
 Pronouns, Principles, .... 94-119 
 
 Pronouns, Exercises 119-33 
 
 Pronouns, Observations, . . . 134-40 
 
 Pronunciation, 60-6 
 
 Propositions, 3, 298-313 
 
 Prosody, 60 
 
 Punctuation, 315-54 
 
 Quantity, 275 
 
 Quotation-marks, 346-7 
 
 Rhetorical Devices, 258-62 
 
 Roots of Words, 83-9 
 
 Scanning, 279-96 
 
 Semicolon, 321-23 
 
 Sentences, 3, 298-313 
 
 Spelling, 78-83 
 
 Subiects, 2-3, 300 
 
 Suflixes, 87-90 
 
 Syllables, 77-8 
 
 Svntax, . . 60 ; Rules of, . . 44-7 
 
 Tenses, 18-9, 171-6 
 
 Tones, 66 
 
 Underscore, 347-8 
 
 Verbs, 12-30, 164-208 
 
 Verbs, Auxiliary, .... 22-3, 180-2 
 Verbs, Irregular, List of, . . . 13-16 
 
 Verbs, Principles, 164-88 
 
 Verbs, Exercises, 189-204 
 
 Verbs, Observations, .... 204^8 
 
 Versification, 272-98 
 
 Voices, 167-8 
 
 Words, . . • 1-2 
 
 For any thing not found among the general principles, see the Observations 
 at the end of the section. 
 
SII«MIS m PMT flMT, 
 
 1. Ifiitrodiietory View, or a synthetic outline. — Letters, 
 syllables, words, subjects, predicates, phrases, propositions, clauses, 
 sentences, discourse. 
 
 2. JVoiiiiK and ProiBOims. — Classes : nouns, — proper and 
 common ; pronouns, — personal, relative, and interrogative. Proper- 
 ties : genders, — masculine, feminine, common, and neuter ; persons, — 
 first, second, and third ; numbers, — singular and plural ; cases, — 
 nominative, possessive, and objective. Declension. Exercises. 
 
 3. Articles. — Kinds ; definite and indefinite. How a and an 
 should be used. 
 
 4. Adjectives. — Classes: descriptive and definitive; definitive, 
 with sub-classes. Degrees of comparison ; positive, comparative, 
 superlative. List of adjectives irregularly compared. 
 
 5. Verbs. — Classes: verbs finite, participles, infinitives, regular 
 verbs, irregular verbs, list of irregulai- verbs ; transitive or passive, 
 intransitive or neuter. Properties : voices, — active, passive ; moods, 
 — indicative, subjunctive, potential, imperative, infinitive; tenses, — 
 present, past, future, perfect, plupei-fect, future-perfect, \i\\h. forms — 
 common, emphatic, progressive, passive ; persons and numbers. Par- 
 ticiples and infinitives. Auxiliary verbs. Conjugation. Exercises. 
 
 6. Adverbs.— Their chief characteristics. Full list carefully 
 classified. 
 
 7. Prepositions. — Their chief characteristics. Adjuncts. 
 List of prepositions. 
 
 §. Coaajuaietions. — Classes; coordinate, subordinate, corres- 
 ponding. List of conjunctions classified according to their meanings. 
 
 9. Iiftterjections. — List, classified according to the emotions. 
 
 10. Exercises on all the Parts of Speech. 
 
 11. Rules of Syntax. — The relations of words to one another 
 in the construction of sentences. 
 
 12. Parsing. — Formulas, models, and examples. 
 
PART FIRST. 
 
 1. INTRODUCTORY VIEW. 
 
 "What is a letter f 
 
 A letter is a character that denotes one or more of the 
 elementary sounds of language. 
 
 Examples : A, b, c ; a ge, « t, a rt, a 11 ; IniUe ; cent, cart. 
 
 a®" Always read the examples carefully, reflecting upon each, so that jon may learn clearly and 
 fully what is meant by the definition or description- 
 How many elementary sounds has our language, and how many letters to represent them ? 
 
 About forty elementary sounds, and twenty-six letters to 
 represent them. 
 
 Into what two classes are the letters divided ? 
 
 Into vowels and consonants. 
 
 Which are the vowele ? 
 
 A, e, i, 0, u, and sometimes w and y. 
 
 What is a syllable f 
 
 A syllable is a letter, or two or more combined, pro- 
 nounced as one unbroken sound. 
 
 Ex. — A, I, on, no, not, stretched, barb'dst, a-e-ri-al, pro-fa-sion. 
 What is a word t 
 
 A word is a syllable, or two or more combined, used as 
 the sign of some idea. 
 
 Ex. — Man, tree, world, sky, pink, beauty, strikes, well, fair, alas, because. 
 
 An idea is the picture or notion of a thing, in the mind. 
 
 How are words classified according to the number of syllables composing them ? 
 
 Into monosyllables, dissyllables, trisyllables, and polysyl- 
 lables. 
 
 Define these classes. 
 
 A monosyllable is a word of one syllable ; a dissyllable, 
 of two ; a trisyllable, of three ; and a polysyllable, of four 
 or more. 
 
 Ex. — I, song ; baker, railroad ; ornament, commandment ; cnstomary, incom- 
 prehensibility. 
 
 How are words classified according as they are formed, or not formed, from one another t 
 
 Into primitive, derivative, and compound. 
 
2 INTEODUCTOEY VIEW. 
 
 Define these classes. 
 
 A primitive word is not formed from another ; a deriva- 
 tive word is formed from another ; and a compound word is 
 composed of two or more others. 
 
 Ex. — Frimitiv e: Breeze, man, good, build, up. Derivativ e : Breezy, 
 manful, goodness, builder, rebuild. Vo 7np oun d: Sea-breeze, mankind, dew- 
 drop, newspaper, upon, sewing-machine. 
 
 How are words divided according to what they denote ? ■' 
 
 Into nine classes, called parts of speech. 
 
 Name them. 
 
 Nouns, Pronouns J Articles, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, 
 Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. 
 
 Familiar Explanation. — ^I might present to your mind, by vrords alone, aL 
 that I have ever seen or experienced. To do this, I would have to use nouna and 
 pronouns, to denote objects ; articles, to aid the nouns ; adjectives, to express the 
 qualities, conditions, or circumstances of objects ; verbs, to express their actions, 
 or states of existence ; adverbs, to describe their actions, or to show the nature or 
 degree of their qualities ; prepositions, to express their positions or relations to one 
 another ; conjunctions, to continue the discourse, or to connect its parts ; and inter- 
 jections, to give vent to any feeling or emotion springing up suddenly within me. 
 
 Ex. — Nouns: "In spring, the sun shines pleasantly upon the earth, leaves 
 and Jiowers come forth, and birds sing in the woods^ 
 
 Fronouns: " Koses encircle mj, window, and ^^^^7'' Sm^^^ '^'"?.'''^''' 
 Articles : " The church stands on a hill." 
 
 Adjectives: " Jiipe strawberries are good.''"' " That man owns two farms." 
 Verbs : "Rivers jlow, stars shine, men worJc, and boys study and^toy." 
 Adverbs: " Below us, a most beautiful river flowed very smoothly.'''' 
 Fr epositions: " There are cedars on the hill beyond the river." 
 Conjunctions: " John and James are happy , because they are good." 
 Interjections: "We all seek for happiness; but, alas! how few of us 
 obtain it." 
 
 Suggestion to the Teachee. — Take a walk with your class, during some leis- 
 ure interval, and teach them the parts of speech, from the surrounding scenery. 
 
 Since the world furnishes thousands and thousands of objects for us to consider, or think 
 about, and since we never speak without having something in mind, what is essential to every 
 thought or saying ? 
 
 A Subject and a Predicate. 
 
 What is meant by the stibject t 
 
 The siaSljjcct denotes that of which something is said or 
 affirmed. 
 
 Ex. — " The cannons were fired." " The leaves and jiowers in the garden 
 have been killed by the frost." 
 What is meant by the predicate f 
 
 The predicate denotes what is said or affirmed. 
 
 Ex. — "The cannons were jiredy "The leaves and flowers in the garden 
 
 have been killed hy thefrost.'''' 
 
 How are subjects and predicates classified ? 
 
 Into simple and compound. 
 
INTRODUCTORY VIEW. 8 
 
 Define simple subjects and compound subjects. 
 
 A simple subject has but one nominative to which the 
 predicate refers ; a compound subject has more than one. 
 
 Ex, — Simple: '■'■ T7iehoy learns;" '•'' TJie hoy wTio is studious, learns." 
 
 Compound: '■'■lice hoy and his sister learn." '■*■ Jlie boys and girls who 
 
 are studious, learn." 
 
 Define simple predicates and compound predicates. 
 
 A simple predicate has but one finite verb referring to the 
 subject ; a compound predicate has more than one. 
 
 Ex. — »S^imj3Z<?; " Boys study f "Boys study the lessans which 
 
 iire given to themy Compound: "Boys study, recite, and play f 
 
 " Boys study and recite the lessons which are given to them:'''' 
 
 Sibject, from siJijectus, thrown under, because viewed ns being tbe foundation on wbicb the propo- 
 sition or sentence is based. Predioate, from prcedico, 1 speak or say. 
 
 What is a lyhrase t 
 
 A phra»$e is two or more words rightly put together, but 
 not making a proposition. 
 
 Ex. — " In the next place." " To show you the fragrant blossoms of spring." 
 What is a proposition T 
 
 A propoi^iiion is a subject combined with its predi- 
 cate. 
 
 Ex.—" Stars shine." " Even if ray hopes should perish." 
 
 A proposition may be a clause, or not ; or it may be a sentence, or 1§S8 than a scntouce. It is not 
 necessarily either a clause or a sentence. 
 
 What is a clause t 
 
 A clause is any one of two or more propositions which 
 together make a sentence. 
 
 Ex. — "The morning was pure and sunny, the fields were white with daisies, 
 the hawthorn was covered with its fragrant blossoms, the bee hummed about every 
 bank, and the swallow played high in air about the village steeple." — Irving. This 
 sentence has five clauses, separated by the comma. 
 
 What is a sentence t 
 
 A sentence is a thought expressed by words. 
 
 Ex. — "Everyman is the architect of his own fortune." "Happy is he who 
 finds a true friend, and happy is he who possesses the true qualities to be a friend." 
 
 How are sentences classified ? 
 
 Into Simple and compound. 
 
 What is a simple sentence ? 
 
 A simple sentence contains but one proposition. 
 
 Ex. — "Wasps sting." " No man knows his destiny." " Eeturn (thou) quickly.*' 
 What Ls a compound sentence ? 
 
 A compound sentence contains two or more clauses. 
 
 Ex. — " As every thread of gold is precious, so is every moment of time ; and as 
 it would be folly to shoe horse.-* (as Nero did) with gold, so it is to spend time in 
 
 triiics." — Mason. 
 
 Wliat is discourse f 
 
 Uiscoiirse is any series of properly related sentences, 
 expressing continuous thought. See your Reader. 
 
4 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 
 2. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 
 What is a Tioun ? 
 
 A iioaiii is a name. 
 
 Examples : God, Mary, man, men, George Washington, instructor, sky, snn, 
 Btars, clouds, town, St. Louis, street, flock, flower, soul, feeling, sense, motion, 
 behavior. 
 
 Names are given to persons or other spiritual beings, to brute animals, and to 
 things. The word olyects may be used as a general term for all these classes. 
 
 Tell me which are the nouns in the following sentences ;— 
 
 Lions and ostriches are found in Africa. 
 
 John and Joseph drove the horses to the pasture. 
 
 Pinks and roses are blooming in the garden. 
 
 Care, sorrow, and disco itent, destroy happiness. 
 
 Apples, peaches, melons, corn, and potatoes, are brought to market. 
 
 "What is a. proper noun ? 
 
 A proper noun is an individual name. 
 
 Ex.— George, Solomon, Susan, William Shakespeare, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lon- 
 don, New YorK, Niagara, Mississippi, the Andrew Fulton, Monday, January. 
 
 What is a covimon noun ? 
 
 A comition noun is a generic name. 
 
 Ex. — Boy, girl, tree, house, river, city, town, road, path, bucket, horse, cow, 
 hog, chair, wagon, book, pen, boat, ink, bird, blackbird. 
 
 Generic means belongmg to a class ; and individual,^ belonging to one object or 
 group only, as distinguished from others of the same kind, AH the objects in the 
 world may be divided into a limited number of classes; as, rivers, valleys, hills, 
 cities, leaves, flowers. A few of these classes — namely, persons, places, months, 
 days, ships, boats, horses, oxen, rivers, mountains, and some others — are of so 
 much importance to us in our daily affairs, that we have an extra name for each 
 object of tlie class ; as, Thomas, Smith, Ckicago, Missauri. The names of the former 
 kind are common nouns ; those of the latter, proper nouns. A proper noun begins 
 with a capital letter. 
 
 How many kinds of nouns are there, and what are they t 
 
 Wliat is a pronoun f 
 
 A proiiouai is a word that supplies the place of a noun. 
 
 Ex. — " William promised Mary that William would lend Mary William's 
 grammar, that Mary might study the grammar," is expressed with greater ficility 
 and more agreeably, by saying, " William promised Mary that he would lend her 
 Jds grammar, that she might study it. 
 
 Pro means for, or in stead of; hence ^onoun means for a nown. The word substantive 
 is often used as a general term to denote either a noun or a pronoun, or whatever is used in 
 the sense of a noun. 
 
 What is a personal pronoun ? 
 
 4- personal pronoun is one of a class of pronouns whose 
 ghief use is, to distinguish the different persons. 
 
 Ex. — " /told you he was not at home." " We told him you were not at home." 
 
 Persom, in grammar, are properties of words to distinguish the speaker, what is spoken to, and 
 lyliat is spoken of, from one another. 
 
 Wliich are the personal pronouns ? 
 
 7, my, mine, myself, me; we, our, ours, {our self,) ourselves, 
 Us;—^thou, thy, thine, thyself, thee; you, ye, your, yours, 
 yourself, yourselves; — he, his, him, himself; she, her, hers, 
 herself; it, its, itself; they, their, theirs, them, and themselves- 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. O 
 
 What is a relative pronoun ? 
 
 A relative pronoun is one that makes its clause depend- 
 ent on another clause. 
 
 Ex. — "There is the man whom you saw;" "From the side of a mountain 
 gushed forth a little rivulet, which lay, like a silver thread, across the meadow." " I 
 do not know who took your hat" : " No one knows what ails the child." Observe 
 that tlie Italic words with what lollows each, can make sense only in connection 
 with the other words, and hence they are said to be dependent. 
 
 Which are the relative pronouns ? 
 
 Who, whoever, whosoever; whose, whosever, whosesoever; 
 whom, whomever, whomsoever; which, whichever, whichso- 
 ever; what, whatever, whatsoe'der; that; and as. 
 
 Whoso and whatso are sometimes found as shortened forms of whosoever and 
 whatsoever. 
 
 What is an interrogative pronoun ? 
 
 An interrog^ative pronoun is one used to ask a ques- 
 tion. 
 
 Ex.—" Who took my hat ?" " Which is yours ?" " What ails the child ?" 
 Which are the interrogative pronouns ? 
 
 Who, whose, whom; lohich; and what. 
 
 What other words are frequently used as pronouns ? 
 
 One, ones, oneself, none; other, others; that, those; each 
 other, one another. 
 
 Which of the foregoing pronouns are oompownd, or what is a compound pronoun ? 
 
 A compound pronoun is a simple pronoun with self, 
 selves, ever, so, or soever, annexed to it ; or it is a pronoun 
 consisting of two words. 
 
 Ex. — My, myself; your, yourself; them, themselves ; who, whoever ; each other. 
 How many chief kinds 0/ pronouns are there, and what are theyt 
 What properties have nouns and pronouns f 
 
 €render§, persons, numbers, and eases. 
 
 Just as every apple, for instance, must be of soma size, hava some kind of color, have some kind 
 of flavor, be hard or mellow, &c. 
 
 a. The pupil should constantly bear in mind, that language is made to suit the 
 world, and not the world to suit language. The properties of words arise generally 
 from the nature or relations of objects. 
 
 We can readily observe that the objects around us are either males, females, or 
 neither ; and to enable us to be sufficiently definite in these respects, words have 
 what grammarians call genders. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the masculine gender, or what does the masculine gender 
 denote ? 
 
 The masculine gender denotes males. 
 
 Ex. — Man, Charles, brother, horse, ox, drake, instructor, he, his, him. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the feminine gender, or what does the feminine gender 
 tlenote ? 
 
 The feminine gender denotes females. 
 
 Ex. — Woman, Susan, nifice, cow, duck, instructress, she, her. 
 
6 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the common gender, or -what does this gender denote ? 
 
 The coiiiSiiOBA gender denotes either males or females, 
 or both. 
 
 Ex. — Parent, child, friend, cousin, people, bird, animal, I, we, our, your, who. 
 
 Common means applicable to either sex : Tieuter means applicable to neither sex. 
 
 "When is a noun or pronoun of the neuter gender, or what does the neuter gender denoi:e ? 
 
 The neaiter gender denotes neither males nor females. 
 
 Ex. — Book, rock, rose, wisdom, vice, cloud, happiness, it, what. 
 How many genders are there, and wliat are they f 
 
 W» In speaking, we may refer either to ourselves, to something spoken to, or 
 to something spoken of, and there are no other ways of speaking ; hence words 
 have what grammarians cali persons. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the first person, or what does the first person denote ? 
 
 The fir§t person denotes the speaker. 
 
 Ex. — "/ Andrew Jackson, President of the United States." '-^ I Paul have 
 written it." " We, Xho, people of these colonies." 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the seeoiid person, or what does the second person denote f 
 
 The second person represents an object as spoken to. 
 
 Ex. — " Thomas, come to me." " GenMemen of the jury." " O Happiness ! our 
 being's end and aim." " Tlioa, tliou, art the man." " Wave your tops, ye pines,'''* 
 
 When is a noun or pronoxm of the third person, or Arhat does the third, person denote ? 
 
 The third person represents an object as spoken of. 
 
 Ex. — " Experience and hope, pleasure and pain, Ufe and death, money and power, 
 have a mighty influence on the actions of mankind." " He knew it was what she 
 wanted hirn to buy." 
 
 How many persons are there, and what are they f 
 
 C. There are more than one of almost every kind of objects ; and in speakin<* 
 we are continually referring either to one object or to more, of the different kinds 
 with which we have to do ; hence words have what grammarians call numbers. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the singular number, or what does the singular number 
 denote ? 
 
 The singular number denotes but one. 
 
 Ex. — Desk, key, leaf, boy, Arthur, deer, sheep, swarm, armv, I, my, me, thou, 
 thee, thyself, yourself, he, him, she, her, it, itself. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun of the plural number, or what does the plural number denote? 
 
 The plural number denotes more than one. 
 
 Ex. — Desks, keys, leaves, boys, deer, sheep, ashes, swarms, armies, we, our, 
 us, ye, they, them. 
 
 How is the plural number of nouns generally formed ? 
 
 By adding s, sometimes es, to the singular. 
 
 Ex. — Glove, (/loves; chair, chairs ; church, churches; busli, hushes ; ^ox, foxes; 
 chimney, chimneys; negro, negroes; nation, nations. 
 
 What is a collective noun ? 
 
 A collective noun is a noun denoting, in the singular 
 form, more than one object of the same kind. 
 
 Ex. — Family, army, swarm, crowd, multitude, congregation, pair, tribe, class. 
 How many numbers are there, and what are tliey f 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 7 
 
 CI. If I say, ** Your brother's friend sent James to me ; 
 
 Your friend's brotlier sent me to James ; 
 
 My brotlaer's friend sent James to you ; 
 
 James sent your brother's friend to me ; 
 
 I sent your friend's brother to James ; 
 
 You sent James to my friend's brother;" you can easily see that 
 lUl these sentences differ much from one another in meaning. The difference of 
 meaning arises from the different relations of the words to one another, and these 
 different relations are called cases. That objects exist or act, that objects are owned, 
 or make parts of other objects, and that objects are acted upon, are the three chiet 
 conditions of things, on which cases are founded. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun in the nominative case, or what does the nominative case 
 denote ? 
 
 1. The nominative case is the case of a noun or pro- 
 noun to which a predicate directly refers. 
 
 Ex. — ^^ John strikes James." '■'•Joseph swims." " Tiie,;?^^ is 
 
 ploughed." " Tlie rose is beautiful." " Fishes swim in the sea, and 
 
 hirds fly in the air." " Mary's bunch of flowers is fading." 
 
 2. The nominative case is the case of a noun or pro- 
 noun used independently or absolutely. 
 
 Ex. — Independently : ^^ John, come to me;^^ ^^ Aim, foor Torick P^ "The 
 Pilgrim Fathers, — where are they?" "Merchant's Bank^ Absolutely: 
 "The tree having fallen, we returned;" '■''Bonaparte being banished, peace was 
 restored; " To become a scholar^ requires exertion." 
 
 Independently ; used in addressing persons or other objects, in exclaiming, or in simply directing 
 attention to an object. Absolutely ; used before a participle, or after a participle or an infinitive, witU- 
 ont being governed by it or controlled by any other word. 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun in the possessive case, or what does the possessive case 
 denote? 
 
 The possessive case denotes possession. 
 
 Ex.— ^'John's horse ;" " My slate ;" " The children's books ;" " The ffirls' 
 room." 
 
 What is the regular sign of the possessive case ? 
 
 An apostrophe, or comma above the line, followed by 
 the letter s. 
 
 Ex.—^^Marfs slate;" ^^ Burns' s poems;" "The soldier's grave;" ^^ Men's 
 affairs." 
 
 Is the possessive s always expressed ? 
 
 It is omitted from plural nouns ending with s, and some- 
 times also from singular nouns ending with s, or an s-sound. 
 
 Ex. — " The pigeons' roosting-place ;" " The soldiers' camp ;" " For conscience' 
 sake." 
 
 When is a noun or pronoun in the objective case, or what does the objective case 
 denote ? 
 
 The objective case is the case of a noun or pronoun 
 used as the object of a verb or preposition. 
 
 Ex. — "The horse eato hay ;" "This stream turns a mill'' "The water flows 
 OVER the damf "I saw her wrrn him;" "He saw me with her." 
 
 The object of a verb or preposition is the noun or pronoun required after it to make sense ; ag, 
 "I rolled a stone down the Mil." Here slone is the object of the verb rolled, and MU is the object 
 of the preposition down. 
 
 How mantf cases are there, and what are they T 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 
 When must a noun or pronoun agree in case with another noun or pi-onoun? 
 
 When it is but a repetition of the other, or when it de- 
 notes, by way of explanation, the same thing. 
 
 Ex. — " I, /, am the man.'''' " Friends, ii\\?.& friends, have ruined me." "Smith 
 is a barber.'''' " Smith the barber is my neighbor.'''' 
 
 How can the different cases of nouns be distinguished ? 
 
 By their meanings : or, the nominative may be found 
 by asking a question with who or what before the verb ; the 
 objective, with ivhom or ivhat after the verb ; and the pos- 
 sessive is known by the apostrophe. 
 
 Ex. — "Mary plucked flowers for John's sister." Who jilucked? — plucked 
 what ? — ^for whom? 
 
 C. Having now shown you what properties nouns and pronouns have, I shall 
 next show you, briefly and regularly, how the different nouns and pronouns are 
 written to express these properties. This process is called declension. 
 
 What, then, is it, to decline a noun or pronoun ? 
 
 To decline a noun or pronoun, is to show, in some regu- 
 lar way, what forms it has to express its grammatical prop- 
 erties. 
 
 Observe that nouns sometimes remain unchanged, and that pronouns are sometimes wholly 
 changed, to express their properties. 
 
 DECLENSION OF NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 Nouns. 
 
 
 SlNGUIxA.K. 
 
 
 PLrBAX. 
 
 Ifommathe. Possessive. Objective. 
 
 Mominative. Possessive. Objective, 
 
 Boy, 
 
 boy's, boy ; 
 
 boys. 
 
 boys', boys. 
 
 Man, 
 
 man's, man ; 
 
 men, 
 
 men's, men. 
 
 Lady, 
 
 lady's, lady; 
 
 ladies, 
 
 ladies', ladies. 
 
 Fox, 
 
 fox's, fox ; 
 
 foxes, 
 
 foxes', foxes. 
 
 John, 
 
 John's, John. 
 
 
 
 
 Pronouns. 
 
 
 
 Singular. 
 
 
 Plural. 
 
 
 Mm. Poss. 
 
 Obj. 
 
 Mmt. Poss. Obj, 
 
 1st Pees. 
 
 I, my or mine. 
 
 me; 
 
 we, our 07' ours, us. 
 
 2u Pees. 
 
 _, thy or thine, ) , 
 Thou..you,y^^^^y^^^Jthee 
 
 s or you; 
 
 ye or you, your or yours, you. 
 
 
 Mas. He, his, 
 
 him; \ 
 
 
 SdPebs. 
 
 Fern. She, her or hers, 
 
 her; ■ 
 
 they, their or theirs, thein, 
 
 
 , Mut. It, its, 
 
 it; ) 
 
 
 
 Mm. or ObJ. 
 
 
 M/m. or Obj. 
 
 1. 
 
 Myself (or ourself) ; 
 
 
 ourselves. 
 
 2. 
 
 Thyself or yourself; 
 
 
 yourselves. 
 
 8. 
 
 Himself, herself, itself; 
 
 
 themselves. 
 
 
 M)m. Poss. Ohj. 
 
 Mm. 
 
 Poss. Obj. 
 
 
 One, one's, one ; 
 
 ones, 
 
 ones', ones. 
 
 
 Other, other's, other ; 
 
 others, 
 
 others', others. 
 
Sing, or Plur. ■ 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 Mm. Poss. Obj. 
 
 '■ Who, whose, whom. ( — ever or soever.) 
 
 Which, whose, which. " 
 
 That, whose, that. 
 
 What, what. " 
 
 As, as. 
 
 , None, none. 
 
 Decline John^ man, toy, lady, fox, farmer, Benjamin, city. 
 Decline /. thou, you, Tie, she, it, myself, thyself, yourself, himself, herself, itself^ 
 one, oth&r, who, whoever, whosoever, which, what, that, as, none. 
 
 Tell me the gender of each of the following words, and why : — 
 Theodore, Theodora, he, hers, she, I, they, it, who, which, what. 
 Tell me the person of each of the following pronouns, and why : — 
 i, we, my, myself, thou, thyself, she, he, it, its, himself, one, other, that, who. 
 Tell Trie the number of each of the following pronouns, and why : — 
 I, you, he, me, we, my, us, thee, yourselves, them, herself, themselves, it, she, 
 hers, which, what, others. 
 
 Tell me the case of each of the following pronouns : — 
 I, me, we, us, thou, thee, thyself, they, them, who, whom. 
 Of what gendc/; person, number, and case is each of the following pronouns t — 
 Him, his, its, he, them, it, I, you, thy, their, she, thou, me, your, us, they, my, 
 mine, thine, yours, it, hers, theirs, we, thee, our, ours, ye, them, myself, ourself, 
 tuemselves, ourselves, thyself, vourselves, yourself, himself, itself, herself, one, 
 iiune, one's, ones', other, others^, who, what, which, whatever. 
 
 3. ARTICLES. 
 
 If I say, " Give me a book," you understand that any book will answer my 
 purpose ; but if I say, " Give me the book." you understand that I want some par- 
 ticular book. If I say, '* Missouri is nortu of Arkansas," I mean States ; but if I 
 say, " 2'he Missouri is north of the Arkansas," I mean rivers. These little words. 
 a and the, which often have so important an effect on the sense of nouns, are called 
 urticles. 
 
 What, then, is an article t 
 
 An article is a word placed before a noun to show how 
 it is applied. 
 
 Ex. — "Man is made for society; but a man naturally prefers ^Ae man whose 
 temper and inclinations best suit his own." 
 
 How many articles are there, and what are they ? 
 
 Two: the, the definite article; and a or an, ih.Q indef- 
 inite article. 
 
 What does the definite article show? 
 
 The deHnite article shows that some particular object 
 or objects are meant. 
 
 Ex. — '■'•The horse, the horses, the stage, the Connecticut, the lion; the green 
 meadows ; the iron-bound bucket; the brave Pulaski." 
 
 What does the indefinite article show ? 
 
 The indeHnite article shows that no particular one of 
 the kind is meant. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■A bkd, a mouse, an apple, a cherry, a carriage ; an idle boy." 
 
1 6 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 Ho\»- do a and an diflTer ? 
 
 In application only ; in meaning, they are tlie same. 
 
 Where is an used ? 
 
 Before words beginning with a vowel sound. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■An article, an enemy, an in,ch, an urn, o/ii hour; an honest man." 
 Where is a used ? 
 
 Before words beginning with a consonant sound. 
 
 Ex. — "^ banquet, a cucumber, a dunce, a fox, a horse, a jug, a king, a lion, a 
 youth, a university, a eulogy ; a one-horse carriage." 
 
 Place the proper indefinite article be/ore each of the following icords or phrases:^ 
 Eazor, house, knife, humming-bird, chicken, ounce, insult, unit, ox, ball, hun- 
 dred, African ; interesting story ; humble cottage. 
 
 4. ADJECTIVES. 
 
 The nouns and pronouns, as you remember, denote objects. But our regard 
 for objects depends not a little on their qualities and circmnstances ; and hence 
 there is a large class of words to express these, for all the various purposes of life. 
 The word river, for instance, denotes something that may be cool, deep, clear, swift, 
 hroad, winding. Apple denotes something that may be red, large, ripe, mellow, 
 juicy. And when 1 say, " that apple, this apple, every apple, four apples, the 
 fourth apple," the slanting words show, without expressing quality, more precisely 
 what I mean. These qualifying and designating — these descriptive and definitive 
 words, which generally add an idea to that ol'the noun, are thereiore called adjectives. 
 
 What, then, is an adjective t 
 
 An adjective is a word used to qualify or limit thtj 
 meaning of a substantive. 
 
 Ex. — White, green, good, lazy, tall, shrill, religious. " A hay horse • a sharp 
 knife ; a sharper knife ; a bright day ; a stormy night ; golden clouds ; a gmd watch ; 
 Missouri apples ; a quivering aspen ; that sun-tipped elm ; a boy nine years old.'''' 
 Wliat is a descriptive adjective ? 
 
 A descriptive adjective describes or qualifies. 
 
 Ex. — "A rapid river; the Uue sky; a modest woman." "She is ieauiiful, 
 amiable, and intelligent.'''' '■'■ The rippling brook; the twinkling stars; waving 
 woods; a. roaring ■g.torm; a Jro/cea pitcher." The last five adjectives, and others 
 like them, are usually c-dilei participial adjectives. 
 
 What is a deji)iitive adjective ? 
 
 A deiiraiiive adjective merely limits or modifies. 
 
 Ex. — "i'Lw?* peaches ; a^i peaches; some poaches ; <Ais peach ; v/o^tier peaches." 
 Which are the principal definitive adjectives ? 
 
 All, any, both, certain, each, every, either, else, few, many, 
 many a, much, neither, no, one, other, own, same, some, such, 
 that, this, very, what, ivhich, and yon or yonder. One, two, 
 three, four, etc.; frst, second, third, etc. 
 
 Nearly all the adjectives of the first class are usually called pronominal adjec- 
 tives, some of them being occasionally used as pronouns ; and those of the second 
 class are called numeral adjectives, bince we may refer to o\)^qc%% definitely, if def- 
 i'litely, or distributi/cely, the pronominal adjectives are accordingly, some ot them, 
 definite or demonstrative, as this, that, yonder; some, indefinite, as any, some, other ; 
 and some, d'tstribui/ive, as each, every, either, neither, many a. And suice we may 
 either coant or number, some of the numeral adjectives are called cardinal, as utu^ 
 Uvo, three ; and the others, ordinal, ixs first, second, third. 
 
ADJECTIVES. ll' 
 
 Since the same quality may exist in different objects, and in the same degree or 
 m different degreeSj — as, ^^red cheeks, red roses, red hair, redder cheeks, the red- 
 dest roses," — adjectives have what grammarians call the degrees of comparison ; the 
 positive, the comparative, and the superlative. 
 
 When is an adjective iu tha positive degree, or what does t)iQ positive degree express? 
 
 The positive degree ascribes the quality simply, or it 
 ascribes it in an equal degree. 
 
 Ex. — High, strong, rocky, polite, black, prudent ; " as wMte as snow." 
 
 When is an adjective in the comparaMve degree, or what does the comparative degree 
 express ? 
 
 The comparative degree ascribes the quality in a 
 higher or a lower degree. 
 
 Ex. — Higher, stronger, rockier, politer, better, more prudent, less prudent. 
 
 When is an adjective in the superlative degree, or what does the superlative degree 
 express ? 
 
 The superlative degree ascribes the quality in the 
 
 highest or the lowest degree. 
 
 Ex. — Highest, strongest, rockiest, politest, best, most prudent, least prudent. 
 
 How are adjectives of one syllable, and some of two syllables, compared, when we wish 
 to express increase of the quality ? 
 
 By adding r or er, st or estj to the word in the positive 
 degree. 
 
 Ex. — Pos. wise, comp. wiser, superl. wisest ; great, greater, greatest ; lovely, 
 lovelier, loveliest; serene, serener, serenest. 
 
 How are all adjectives of more than two syllables, and some of two syllables, compared? 
 
 By more and most. 
 
 Ex. — Pos. beautiful, comp. more leautiful, superl. most leautiful; active, more 
 active, most active ; unlucky, more unlucky, most unlucky. 
 
 How are adjectives compare^ when we wish to express decrease of the quality ? 
 
 By less and least. 
 
 Ex. — Wise, less toise, least wise ; arrogant, less arrogant, least arrogant. 
 
 Some adjectives are not compared according to the foregoing rules, and are 
 therefore said to be irregular. The following is a hst : — 
 
 Positive. Compar. 
 
 Good, better, 
 
 Bad, ill, or evil, worse. 
 
 Much or many, more. 
 
 Little, less. 
 
 Fore, former, 
 
 Can all adjectives be compared ? 
 
 Some can not be compared with propriety. 
 
 Ex. — Eternal, straight, dead, equal, square, perpendicular, two-edged, speech- 
 less. 
 
 Is the word yhich the adjective qualifies or limits, always expressed ? 
 
 It is not ; but, in parsing, it must be supplied. 
 
 Ex. — "These apples are oetter than those" [apples]. "The idle [persons] are 
 generally mischievous." 
 
 Superl. 
 
 Posit. 
 
 Compar. 
 
 Superl. 
 
 best. 
 
 Hind, 
 
 hinder. 
 
 hindmost. 
 
 worst. 
 
 Far, 
 
 farther. 
 
 farthest. 
 
 most. 
 
 Near, 
 
 nearer, 
 
 nearest, or next. 
 
 least. 
 
 Late, 
 
 later. 
 
 Litest, or lasf. 
 
 foremost, or 
 
 Old, 
 
 older, or elder 
 
 oldest, or eldest. 
 
 first. 
 
 
 
 
1? VERBS. 
 
 5. VERBS. 
 
 [f we look into the world, we shall find, that, to the many different beings and 
 things denoted by nouns and pronouns, belong not only many different qualities, 
 denoted by adjectives, but also many different motions, actions, and states of ex- 
 istence, which are expressed by certain words called verbs ; as, John reads, writea^ 
 runs, and plays. 
 
 What, then, is a verb, or what is its chief use in language ? 
 
 A verb is a word used to affirm something of a subject. 
 
 Ex. — " The wind Z»Zow«." " The rose &Zww«." "There is an endless world." 
 " The tree is dead." " If I should go.'''' " Brutus stabled Caesar." " Caesar was 
 stabbed by Brutus," " Do you not study?''* " Do (you) study diligently." 
 
 Verb means word, or,pre-eminently, the word. Grammariuns have called this part of speech so, be- 
 cause it makes the chief part of every grammar, or because it is the chief word of language. 
 
 Every verb denotes some kind of action or state. And affirmatiom, with gram- 
 /iiarians, mean all kinds of assertions ; also commands and questions. 
 Tell which are the verbs in the following sentences, and why : — 
 
 Birds sing. Mother sews, knits, and spins. Columbus discovered America. 
 Jesus wept. The dew glistens. Go where the men are reaping. 
 The problems should have been solved. The water is frozen. 
 
 When verbs are actually used to express aflSirmations, they are called ^finite 
 verbs ; but tliere are two forms of the verb which do not express aflBrmations', and 
 are called the participle and the infinitive : as, Writing, written, being written, hav- 
 ing written, having been written ; to write, to have written, to be written, to have been 
 written. 
 
 What, then, is & participle t 
 
 A participle is generally an inflected form of the 
 verb, construed like an adjective, and expressing no affirma- 
 tion. 
 
 Ex. — "A tree, full of fruit;" ^^ A tree, bending with fruit." "He said few 
 thmgs INDICATIVE of wisdom ;" "He said few things indicating wisdom." " The 
 man was found dead ;" " The man was found murdered.'''' 
 
 Inflected — changed in form ; as, ' write,' writing. Conctrued — arranged with other words. 
 What is an infinitive f 
 
 An infinitive is a form of the verb beginning generally 
 with to, and expressing no affirmation. 
 
 Ex. — " An opportunity to study.'''' " He is obliged to selV " He seems to have 
 been disappointed.'''' 
 
 Of how many words may a verb consist? 
 
 Of as many as four. 
 
 Ex. — " Eagles soar.'''' "The house was built.'''' " The mail may have arrived.'^'' 
 " These lessons should have been learned.'''' " Having written.'''' '■'■To have been 
 writmg. 
 
 Almost every verb mav be expressed in a great variety^ of ways or forms ; thus, 
 from WRITE we have writing, wrote, written, writes, writeth, writest, to write, to 
 have written, to be wr'itten, to have been written, to be writing, to have been, trn'ttin^g, 
 having written, having been written, is written, was written, should be written, is 
 writing, was writing, can write, must write, will write, shall write, loould write, 
 should writs, could write, may write, might write,_ may be written^ may be writing, 
 may have been writing, might have been tvritten, might have been writing, mightst have 
 been writing, &c., &c. 
 
 Now,that we may be enabled to master all these different forms, — understand 
 their meaning, and thus be enabled \o use them correctly, — grammarians have 
 found it best to divide verbs into certain classes, and also to "regard them a^ Laving 
 certain properties. 
 
l» 
 
 preterit played, perfect participle played ; move, moved, 
 
 How are verbs classified ? 
 
 Into regular and irregular, with reference to their form. 
 
 Into transitive and intransitive, with reference to their 
 meaning or use ; and the former are often used as passive, 
 and some of the latter are always neuter. 
 
 What is a regular verb ? 
 
 A reg"ular verb takes the ending ec?, to form its preterit 
 
 and its perfect participle. 
 
 Ex. — Present 
 moved. 
 
 E, at the end of a word, is dropped before au ending that begins with a vowel.— In stead of preterit 
 the pupil may also say past, a less appropriate but more euphonic word. 
 What is an irregular verb ? 
 
 An irreg'ular verb does not take the ending ed, to form 
 its preterit and its perfect participle. 
 
 Ex. — Present see, preterit smc, perfect participle seen' speak, spohe, spoTcen. 
 
 Which are the pnwczpal parts of the verb, or those from which all the other parts are 
 formed ? 
 
 The principal parts are the present, or the simplest form 
 as registered in a dictionary; the preterit, or the simplest 
 form affirming past matter of fact ; and the perfect parti- 
 ciple, or the form making sense with the word having or 
 heing. 
 
 Ex. — Pres. (to) walk, write; pret. (I) walked, (I) wrote; perf. part, having 
 walked, having written. 
 
 List of Irregular Verbs. 
 
 The following catalogue exhibits the principal parts of all the irregular verbs. 
 Having learned these, the student also knows the principal parts of all the other 
 verbs, which must be regular. He must not infer, however, from the word irregu- 
 lar, that these verbs are a mere straggling offshoot of the language ; for they are 
 really the very core or pith of it. 
 
 In using irregular verbs, we are liable to error for the most part only in the use of those 
 whose preterit and perfect participle are not alike. These verbs have therefore been given 
 first, and separate from the rest, that they may be learned perfectly. R. denotes that the 
 regular form may also be used in stead of the others. * denotes that the form under it is 
 seldom used, being either ancient, poetic, or of late introduction. The form supposed to be 
 of the best present usage, is placed first The second form of some verbs is preferable, when 
 applied in a certain way; as, " /'"eij/Zitei with spices and silks," "/»*aw<7/ii with mischief ;" 
 " thundersiTifcA;," " sorrow-siricfcen." 
 
 1. The Two Past Forms Diffeeent. 
 Present. Preterit, or Past. Perfect Participle. Present. Preterit, or Past. Perfect Part. 
 
 begotten, 
 besfot. 
 
 Arise, 
 Awake, 
 
 5"' .. . 
 
 arose, 
 awoke, r., 
 
 was. 
 
 arisen, 
 awaked, 
 awoke.* 
 been. 
 
 Beget, 
 Begin, 
 
 begot, 
 begat;* 
 began, 
 begun,* 
 
 Bear (bring 
 
 forth). 
 Bear (carry). 
 
 Beat, 
 
 Become, 
 Befall, 
 
 bore, bare. 
 
 born. 
 
 Bid, 
 
 bid, bade, 
 
 bore, 
 
 beat, 
 
 became, 
 befell. 
 
 borne. 
 
 beaten, 
 
 beat. 
 
 become. 
 
 bet'allen. 
 
 Bite, 
 
 Blow, 
 
 Break, 
 
 bit, 
 
 blew, r.,* 
 
 broke, 
 
 brake,* 
 
 bid, 
 
 bidden. 
 
 bitten, 
 
 bit. 
 
 blown, r.* 
 
 broken, 
 
 broke.* 
 
VERKS. 
 
 Present Preterit, or PasL Perfect Participle. 
 Chide, claid, ^^i^den, 
 
 Choose, chose, chosen. 
 
 Cleave (ad- cleaved, „i„„„„j 
 
 here), clave,^* ^1^^^«^- 
 
 cleft, clove, cleft 
 
 Cleave (split), ^j^^^^' 
 
 Come, 
 
 Crow, 
 
 Daro (ven- 
 ture), 
 
 (Dare — chal- 
 lenge, 
 
 Dive, 
 
 Do (^princi- 
 pal verb). 
 
 Draw, 
 
 Drink, 
 
 Drive, 
 
 Eat, 
 Fall, 
 
 Forbear, 
 
 Forget, 
 
 Forsake, 
 Freeze, 
 
 Freight, 
 
 Get, 
 
 Give, 
 
 Go, 
 
 Grave, 
 Grow, 
 
 Heave, 
 
 Hew, 
 
 Hide, 
 
 Hold, 
 
 Know, 
 Lade (load), 
 
 Lean, 
 
 Leaj', 
 
 Lie (repose), 
 (Lie- -speak 
 
 fahety, 
 Mow, 
 
 Prove, 
 Rend, 
 
 came, 
 
 crowed, 
 
 crew, 
 
 dared,'' 
 
 durst, 
 
 dared, 
 
 dived, dove, dived. 
 
 cloven, 
 come. 
 
 crowed. 
 
 dared. 
 
 dared.) 
 
 did, 
 
 drew, 
 
 drank, 
 
 drove, 
 
 ate, eat, 
 fell, 
 flew, 
 forbore, 
 
 forgot, 
 
 forsook, 
 froze, 
 
 freighted, 
 
 got, 
 
 gave, 
 
 went, 
 
 graved, 
 
 grew, 
 
 heaved, 
 
 hove, 
 
 hewed, 
 
 hid, 
 
 held, 
 
 knew, 
 
 laded, 
 
 leaned, 
 
 leant, 
 
 leaped, 
 
 leapt,* 
 
 lay, 
 
 lied, 
 
 mowed, 
 
 proved, 
 
 rent. 
 
 done. 
 
 drawn. 
 
 drunk, 
 
 drank.* 
 
 driven. 
 
 eaten, eat.* 
 
 fallen. 
 
 flown. 
 
 forborne. 
 
 forgotten, 
 
 forgot. 
 
 forsaken. 
 
 frozen. 
 
 freighted, 
 
 fraught. 
 
 got, 
 
 gotten. 
 
 given. 
 
 gone. 
 
 graven, r. 
 
 grown, 
 
 heaved, 
 
 hoven,* 
 
 hewn, r. 
 
 hidden, 
 
 hid. 
 
 held, 
 
 holden."^* 
 
 known. 
 
 laden, r. 
 
 leaned, 
 
 leant. 
 
 leaped, 
 
 leapt.* 
 
 lain. 
 
 hed.) 
 
 mown, r. 
 
 proved, 
 
 proven.* 
 
 rent, 
 
 reuded.-^* 
 
 . Present. 
 Eide, 
 
 King, 
 Kise, 
 Eive, 
 Eun, 
 Saw, 
 See, 
 
 Seethe, 
 
 Shake, 
 
 Shape, 
 
 Shave, 
 
 Shear, 
 
 Show, 
 
 Shrink, 
 
 Slay, 
 
 Slide, 
 
 Smite, 
 
 Sing, 
 
 femk. 
 
 Sow (scatter) f 
 
 Speak, 
 
 Spit, 
 
 Spring, 
 
 Steal, 
 
 Stride, 
 
 Strike, 
 
 Strive, 
 Strow, 
 
 Swear, 
 
 Swell, 
 
 Swim, 
 
 Take, 
 Tear, 
 
 Thrive, 
 
 Throw, 
 
 Tread, 
 
 Wax, 
 
 Wear, 
 
 Weave, 
 
 Write, 
 
 Preterit, or Past. 
 rode, 
 
 rang, rung, 
 
 rose, 
 
 rived, 
 
 ran, run,* 
 
 sawed, 
 
 saw, 
 
 seethed, 
 
 sod, 
 
 shook, 
 
 shaped, 
 
 shaved, 
 
 sheared, 
 shore,* 
 showed, 
 shrunk, 
 shrank, 
 slew, 
 
 slid, r., 
 smote. 
 
 Perfect Pai-t. 
 
 rode, 
 
 ridden. 
 
 rung. 
 
 risen. 
 
 riven, r.* 
 
 run. 
 
 sawn, r. 
 
 seen. 
 
 seethed, 
 
 sodden. 
 
 shaken. 
 
 shaped, 
 
 shapen. 
 
 shaved, 
 
 shaven. 
 
 shorn, r. 
 
 shown, r. 
 
 shrunk, 
 
 shrunken.* 
 
 slain. 
 
 slidden, 
 
 slid, r. 
 
 smitten, 
 
 smit. 
 
 sung, sang, sung. 
 
 sunk, sank, sunk. 
 
 sowed, 
 
 spoke, 
 
 spake,* 
 
 spit, spat,* 
 
 sprung, 
 
 sprang, 
 
 stole, 
 
 strode, 
 
 strid, 
 
 struck, 
 
 strove, r., 
 
 strewed, 
 
 swore, 
 
 sware, 
 
 swelled, 
 
 swum, 
 
 swam, 
 
 took, 
 
 tore, 
 
 thrived, 
 
 throve, 
 
 threw, r., 
 
 trod, 
 
 trode,* 
 
 waxed, 
 
 wore, 
 wove, r. 
 wrote, 
 writ* 
 
 sown, r. 
 
 spoken. 
 
 spit, 
 spitten.* 
 
 sprung. 
 
 stolen. 
 
 stridden, 
 
 strid. 
 
 struck, 
 
 stricken. 
 
 striven, r. 
 
 strown, r. 
 
 sworn. 
 
 swollen, r, 
 
 swum. 
 
 taken. 
 
 torn. 
 
 thrived, 
 
 thriven. 
 
 thrown, r.* 
 
 trodden, 
 
 trod. 
 
 waxed, 
 
 waxen. 
 
 worn. 
 
 woven, r. 
 
 (o.) " My tongue ctowe to the roof of my moath." —Dickens, (b.) "This Hue he darea 
 not cross." — Macaulay. (c.) Beholden; withholden.* (d.) " Come aa the winds come whea 
 foTeataa.rQrended."—W. Scott. 
 
VELRBS. 
 
 le 
 
 2. TuE Two Past os tub Thkeb Fobms Alikk. 
 Present. Preterit, or Past. Perfect Participle. Present. Preterit, or Past. Perfect Part. 
 
 laid, 
 led. 
 
 learned, 
 learnt, 
 left, 
 lent, 
 let. 
 
 lighted, 
 lit. 
 lost, 
 made, 
 meant, 
 met. 
 passed, 
 past.'" 
 paid, 
 penned, 
 pent, 
 penned.) 
 pleaded, 
 plead, 
 pled, 
 put. 
 quit, r. 
 rapped, 
 rapt.c 
 r§ad. 
 reft, r.* 
 rid. 
 said, 
 sought, 
 sold, 
 sent, 
 set. 
 shed, 
 shone, r.* 
 shod, 
 shot, 
 shred, 
 shut, 
 sat. 
 slept, 
 slung, 
 slunk, 
 slit, r. 
 smelt, r. 
 sped, n* 
 spelled, 
 spelt, 
 spent, 
 spilt, r. 
 spun, 
 split, r.* 
 spoiled, 
 spoilt.* 
 spread, 
 stuid, r.*! 
 strung, r. 
 
 (a.) Hang, hanged, hanged ; to suspend by tlie neck with intent, to kill : but the distinction 
 is not always observed, (b.) Past is used as an adjective or as a noun, (c.) Rap, rapt, rapt : 
 to seize with rapture, (d.) Stay, stayed, stayed ; to cause to slop. 
 
 Abide, 
 Behold, 
 
 abode, ?•.,* 
 
 abode, r.* 
 
 i^ay? 
 
 laid. 
 
 beheld, 
 
 beheld. 
 
 Lead, 
 
 led. 
 
 Belay, 
 Bena, 
 
 belaid, r., 
 bent, r., 
 
 belaid, r. 
 bent, r. 
 
 Learn, 
 
 learned, 
 learnt, 
 
 Bereave, 
 
 bereft, n. 
 
 bereft, r. 
 
 Leave, 
 
 left. 
 
 Beseech, 
 
 besought, 
 
 besoufrht. 
 
 Lend, 
 
 lent. 
 
 Bestead,* 
 
 bestead,* 
 
 bestead.* 
 
 Let, 
 
 let, 
 
 Bet, 
 
 bet, r.. 
 
 bet, r. 
 
 Light, 
 
 lighted, 
 
 Betide, 
 
 betided, 
 
 betided. 
 
 lit, 
 
 betid,* 
 
 betid.* 
 
 Lose, 
 
 lost. 
 
 Bind, 
 Bleed, 
 
 bound, 
 
 bound. 
 
 Make, 
 
 made. 
 
 bled. 
 
 bled. 
 
 Mean, 
 
 meant, 
 
 Blend, 
 
 blended, 
 
 blended, 
 
 Meet, 
 
 met. 
 
 blent,* 
 
 blent.* 
 
 Pass 
 
 passed. 
 
 Bless, 
 
 blessed. 
 
 blessed. 
 
 
 past,* 
 
 blest, 
 
 blest. 
 
 I'ay, 
 
 paid, 
 
 Breed, 
 
 la; 
 
 bred, 
 brought, 
 
 bred, 
 brought. 
 
 Pen (fence in 
 
 N penned, 
 ^' pent. 
 
 built, r., 
 
 built, r. 
 
 (Pen — writej 
 
 penned. 
 
 Barn, 
 
 burned. 
 
 burned. 
 
 
 pleaded, 
 
 burnt. 
 
 burnt. 
 
 Plead, 
 
 plead, 
 
 Burst, 
 
 burst, ?•.,* 
 
 burst, r.* 
 
 
 pled. 
 
 Boy,' 
 
 bought. 
 
 bought. 
 
 Put, 
 
 put. 
 
 Cast. 
 Catch, 
 
 cast. 
 
 cast. 
 
 Quit, 
 
 quit, r., 
 
 caught, r., 
 
 * caught, r.* 
 
 Rap, 
 
 rapped. 
 
 CUng, 
 
 clung. 
 
 clung. 
 
 rapt, 
 read, 
 
 Clothe, 
 
 clothed, 
 
 clothed. 
 
 Read, 
 
 clad, 
 
 clad. 
 
 Reave, 
 
 reft, r.* 
 
 Cost, 
 
 cost. 
 
 cost. 
 
 Rid, 
 
 rid,' 
 
 Creep, 
 
 crept, 
 
 crept. 
 
 Say 
 Seek, 
 
 said, 
 
 Cut, 
 
 cut, 
 dealt, r.* 
 
 cut. 
 
 sought, 
 sold. 
 
 Deal, 
 
 dealt, r. 
 
 Sell, 
 
 Dig, 
 
 dug, r.. 
 
 dug, r. 
 dwelt, r. 
 
 Send, 
 
 sent. 
 
 DweU, 
 
 dwelt, r., 
 
 Set, 
 
 set. 
 
 Dream, 
 
 dreamed, 
 
 dreamed. 
 
 Shed, 
 
 shed, 
 
 dreamt. 
 
 dreamt. 
 
 Shine, 
 
 shone, r.,* 
 
 Dress, 
 
 dressed. 
 
 dressed, 
 
 Shoe, 
 
 shod. 
 
 drest,* 
 
 drest.* 
 
 Shoot, 
 
 shot, 
 
 Feed, 
 
 fed. 
 
 fed. 
 
 Shred, 
 
 shred, 
 
 Feel, 
 
 felt. 
 
 felt. 
 
 Shut, 
 
 shut, 
 
 Fight, 
 
 fought, 
 
 fought. 
 
 Sit, 
 
 sat. 
 
 Find, 
 
 found. 
 
 found. 
 
 Sleep, 
 
 slept. 
 
 Flee, 
 
 fled. 
 
 fled. 
 
 Sling, 
 
 slung, 
 
 Fling, 
 
 flung. 
 
 flung. 
 
 Slink 
 
 slunk. 
 
 Gild 
 
 gilded. 
 
 gilded, 
 
 Slit, 
 
 slit, r., 
 
 
 giit, 
 
 gilt. 
 
 Smell, 
 
 smelt, r., 
 sped, r.* 
 
 Gird, 
 
 girt, r.. 
 
 girt, r. 
 
 Speed, 
 
 Grind, 
 Hang, 
 
 ground, 
 hung, r., 
 
 ground, 
 hung, r." 
 
 Spell, 
 
 spelled, 
 spelt. 
 
 Have (pnnci 
 
 ■ iia(j 
 
 had. 
 
 Spend, 
 
 spent. 
 
 pal verb), 
 
 
 Spill, 
 
 spilt, r., 
 
 Hear, 
 
 heard, 
 
 heard. 
 
 Spin, 
 
 spun, 
 
 Hit, 
 
 hit, 
 
 hit. 
 
 Split, 
 
 split, r., 
 
 Hurt, 
 
 hurt, 
 
 hurt. 
 
 Spoil, 
 
 spoiled, 
 
 Keep, 
 
 kept. 
 
 kept. 
 
 spoilt,* 
 
 Kneel, 
 
 knelt, 
 
 knelt. 
 
 Spread, 
 
 spread. 
 
 kneeled. 
 
 kneeled. 
 
 Stay, 
 
 staid, r.. 
 
 Knit, 
 
 knit, r., 
 
 knit, r. 
 
 String, 
 
 strung, r.,* 
 
16 
 
 Present. 
 
 Slave, 
 
 Stand, 
 
 Stick, 
 
 Stinff, 
 
 Stink, 
 
 Sweat, 
 
 Sweep, 
 
 Swin£^, 
 
 Teacii, 
 
 Tell, 
 
 Think, 
 
 Thrust, 
 
 Wake, 
 
 Wed, 
 
 Weep, 
 Wet, 
 Win, 
 Wind, 
 
 Pi eterit, or Past. 
 Rtove, r., 
 stood, 
 • Btuck, 
 stun^, 
 stunk, 
 sweat, r., 
 swet, 
 swept, 
 swung, 
 taught, 
 told, 
 thought, 
 thrust, 
 woke, ?*., 
 wedded, 
 wed,* 
 wept, 
 ■wet, n, 
 won, 
 wound, r. 
 
 Perfect Particip. 
 stove, r. 
 stood, 
 stuck, 
 stung, 
 stunk, 
 sweat, r. 
 swet. 
 swept, 
 swung, 
 taught, 
 told, 
 thought, 
 thrust, 
 woke, r. 
 wedded, 
 wed.* 
 wept, 
 wet, r. 
 won. 
 ,,* wound, r.* 
 
 Present. 
 Work, 
 Wring, 
 
 Beware, 
 
 Can, could. 
 
 Do (auxil'y'), did. 
 Have (auxil'y), had. 
 
 May, might. 
 
 Must, must. 
 
 Ought, ought, 
 
 quoth, 
 
 Shall, should, 
 
 Will (auxil'y), would. 
 
 Preterit, or Past. Perfect Part 
 worked, worked, 
 wrought, wrought, 
 wrung, r.,* wrung, r.* 
 
 (Will— wis//, 
 
 willed, 
 
 Wit, 
 Wis,* 
 Weet,* 
 Wot,* J 
 
 wot,* 
 
 wist 
 
 wote, 
 
 
 willed.) 
 
 What are the last few verbs usually termed? 
 
 Defective, because some of the parts are wanting ; and 
 verbs having more parts than are absolutely necessary, are 
 termed redundant, as bereave, slide, swim. 
 
 How are formed the principal parts of verbs derived from others by means of prefixes ? 
 
 Generally in the same way as those of their primitives. 
 
 Ex. — Take, tooh, taken ; mistake, mistook, mistaken. 
 
 When is a verb transitive, or what is a transitive verb? 
 
 A transitive verb has an object. 
 
 Ex. — "John struck James." "Cats devour raib and mice." "I know him— 
 
 the LESSON." 
 
 Transitive means passing over: there is generally an act passing from the doer to what is acteo 
 on. Intransitive m^ims not passing over. Passive melons suffering or receiving. Neuter menus neither , 
 and neuter verbs were so named because they are neither active nor passive. 
 
 What is a passive verb ? 
 
 A passive verb is a transitive verb so used that it rep- 
 resents its subject as acted upon. 
 
 Ex. — " John struck James." " James was struck by John." 
 When is a verb intransitive, or what is an intransitive verb ? 
 
 An intransitive verb does not have an object. 
 
 Ex. — '■^ Johnwalks.^'' " The child cries." " The rose Jfoom«." " Webster «w!* 
 eloquent." " Webster was an orator." "Alice reads and writes well." 
 
 What is a neuter verb ? 
 
 A neuter verb is an intransitive verb that does not imply 
 action or exertion. 
 
 Ex. — "Troy tea*." " There w a land of every land the pride." "The span 
 lay on the shelf." " The baby sleeps.''' " The plants look green and fresh." 
 
17 
 
 What properties have verbs ? 
 
 Toiccs, nioodi^, tenses, persons, and numbers. 
 
 2l» A transitive verb can generally be expressed in two different vrays ; as» 
 " Farmers raise corn," " Corn is raised by farmers": and hence they are "said tc 
 have two voices, — the active and the passive. 
 
 When is a verb in the active voice, or what does this voice denote ? 
 
 The active voice represents the subject as acting, or the 
 verb as relating to an object. 
 
 Ex. — "David slew Goliath." "John resembles his father." "They owned 
 this farm." 
 
 When is a verb in the passive voice, or what does this voice denote ? 
 
 The passive voice represents the subject as acted upon, 
 or the verb as having the object for its subject. 
 
 Ex, — " Goliath was slain by David." " This farm was owned by them." 
 
 1>. If I say, ^^ J write.,'''' I express a matter of fact; "I mayor can write,'''' I 
 express what is not matter of fact, yet may become so; "If I were writing,'''' " If 
 I fiad written,'''' I express a mere supposition ; " Wr'ite,'''' I req^uest it to be done ; 
 " To write,'''' " Writing,'''' I simply speak of the act. These difterent modes of ex- 
 pressing the verb in reference to its subject, may give you some idea of what gram- 
 marians call moods. 
 
 When is a verb in the indicative mood, or what does the indicative mood express ? 
 
 The indicative mood affirms something as an actual 
 occurrence or fact. 
 
 Ex. — "John has caught some fish." " God created this beautiful world." " Cork 
 jioats:'' " The guilty are not happy." " Far away in the South is a beautiful isle." 
 
 Indicative means declHring; sut>jiinctive, joined to; potential^ having power; imperative, com- 
 mandiag; and infinitive, left free. 
 
 How does the subjunctive mood express the act or state ? 
 
 The subjunctive mood affirms something as a future 
 contingency, or as a mere supposition, wish, or conclusion. 
 
 Ex. — " If it raiii to-night, our plants will live." " Beware lest he deceive you." 
 "He talked to me as if I were a widow." " Were 1 a lawyer, I should not li'ke to 
 plead a rogue's case." " 0, had I the wings of a dove." — Oowper. " But if I asked 
 your papa, he would only say you had better [to] stay at home." — Bulwer. '■ But 
 I should wrong my friend, if I concealed it.'' — Jd. " If conscience had had as 
 strong a hold on his mind as honor, he had still been innocent." — British Essayists, 
 
 What words often precede this mood, or indicate it ? 
 
 //", though, that, lest, except, unless, provided, &c. 
 
 What does a verb in the subjunctive mood suggest, when it refers to present oi 
 past time? 
 
 That the contrary of what is supposed, or something dif- 
 ferent, is the true state of the case. See above. 
 
 What other mood does the subjunctive resemble in its form, and what one in its 
 meaning ? 
 
 In its form, the indicative ; but in meaning, the potential, 
 with which it is also most frequently associated in sen- 
 tences. See above. 
 
18 VERBS. 
 
 How does the potential represent the act or state? 
 
 The potential mood affirms merely the power, libei-ty, 
 liability, necessity, will, duty, or some other relation of the 
 subject to the act or state. 
 
 Ex.—" God can destroy this world." " You may play:' " Youth may he trifled 
 away." " They who would be happy, must be virtuous." " Children should obey 
 their teachers." 
 
 How can this mood be known, or what words are used to express it? 
 
 May^ can, must, might, could, would, and sliould. 
 
 When is a verb in the imperative mood, or what does the imperative mood express? 
 
 The imperative mood expresses command, exhorta- 
 tion, entreaty, or permission. 
 
 Ex.—" John, study your lesson." " Go where glory waits thee." " Oh 1 then 
 reinember me." " Return to your friends." 
 
 "We command inferiors, exhort equals, entreat superiors, and permit in compliance with the will 
 of others. 
 
 What is the subject of every verb in the imperative mood ? 
 
 Thou, you, or ye, usually understood. 
 
 Ex.—" Know thyself "== Know thou thyself. "My young friends, be pure and 
 cautiou8"=My young friends, be ye pure and cautious. 
 
 When is a verb in the infinitive mood, or how does this mood express the act or state? 
 
 The infinitive mood does not affirm the act or state. 
 It comprised the participle and the infinitive. 
 
 Ex.— '' Corn to grind:' ^' The clonda dispersing:' ^^ Be caxeM to avoid the 
 
 jr." 
 
 Which of the moods can be used interrogatively ? 
 
 The indicative and the potential. 
 
 Ex.— ">SAaM we slight this decisive moment?" "Who is the culprit?" 
 "How canlV 
 • How are they made interrogative ? 
 
 By placing the subject after the verb, or after some part of it. 
 
 Ex.— "Thou art he;" "Akt thou hel" "You can help us;" "Can you 
 
 HELP US ?" 
 
 How mamj moods, and what are they ? 
 
 C. Time may naturally be divided into present, past, and future- and we may 
 consider an act or state as simply taking place in eacn of these periods, or as com- 
 pleted : thus, " I write, I have written /" " I wrote, I had written ;" I shaU wriU, 
 I ^Jiall have written:' Hence verbs have what grammarians call temes. 
 
 When is a verb in the present tense, or what does this tense express? 
 
 The present tense expresses the act or state in present 
 time. 
 
 Ex.—" I wHte:' " I am wHting:' " It snwvs:' " You may commence:' "Let 
 me see ;rour new book." "«t. Louis is situated on a plain iordermg on the Mis- 
 Bissippi." 
 
VEEBS. 19 
 
 In wliat peculiar sense is this tenss sometimes used ? 
 
 To express what is always so from the very nature oi con- 
 dition of things. 
 
 Ex. — " Heat melts ice." " A fool and his money are soon parted.'''' " Moles bur- 
 ro?« in the ground." " Traveling i^ expensive." "People mttst dieJ'^ "Man *s 
 i/iade to mourn.'''' 
 
 When is a verh in the past tense, or what is the moaning of this tense ? 
 
 The past tense refers the act or state simply to past time. 
 
 Ex. — " God created the world." "Troy was, but is no more." " Away went 
 Gilpin." " Bonaparta was hanisJied to St. Ileletia," " She died this morning." 
 " i soon saw that lie covld not see." " The ship arrived before day." 
 
 This tense is usually called the imperfect tense, but inappropriately. It may be well to call it 
 the aoriist tense, in the subjunctive and the potential mood, whenever it does not denote past time. 
 
 When is a verh in the future tense, or what is the meaning of this tense ? 
 
 The Iftiture tense refers the act or state simply tq future 
 time. 
 
 Ex. — "The cars will come this evening." " Merit wi^Z he rewarded.'''' "The 
 trees w'lll shed their leaves." " There will he a final judgment day." 
 
 When is a verh in the perfect tense, or what does this tense express ? 
 
 The perfect tense represents something as past, but 
 still connected with present time. 
 
 Ex. — " This magnificent city /iffs been huilt within one hundred years." "He 
 has practised law two years." " I have just sold my liorse." " The mail may have 
 arrived.^'' " This house appears to have been a clmrch." " Though severely wounded. 
 he still lives." 
 
 When is a verh in the pluperfect tense, oj what does this tense express? 
 
 The pluperfect tense represents something as finished 
 or ended by a^ certain past time. 
 
 Ex. — " I had already sent my trunk to the river, when I received your letter." 
 " A fish had been on the hook." " A fish might have been on the hook." 
 
 When is a verh in the future-perfect tense, or what does this tense express ? 
 
 The fiitaire-perfect tense represents something as fin- 
 ished or ended by a certain future time. 
 
 Ex. — " The flowers will have withered, when winter returns." 
 
 GENERA.L iLLtrsTEATiON. — I wrfte (now). I havc written (just now). I wrote 
 fat some past time). I had written (by or before a certain past time). I shall write 
 (at some time hereafter). I shall have written (by or before a certain future time). 
 t>o, The tree blossoms — has blossomed — blossomed — had blossomed — will blossom 
 — will have blossomed. The three perfect tenses are sometimes called the relative 
 tenses, because they relate from one point of time to another ; and the other three 
 tenses, which have not this relation, are called the absolute tenses. 
 
 Every perfect tense, except sometimes a participle, must have what two parts? 
 
 Have^ or some one of its variations, and the perfect par- 
 ticiple of some verb. 
 
 Ex. — Have written ; having written ; to have written ; ma> have written: has been 
 writing ; should have been writing ; had written ; shall have Avrittcn ; shall have 
 been written. 
 
20 VERBS. 
 
 How does tie present, the past, or the future tense, sometimes express an act or state ? 
 
 As something habitual or customary in present, past, or 
 future time. 
 
 Ex. — " He chews tobacco." " People go to churcli on Sunday." " The dead are 
 put into the ground." " There would he spend his earnings." " The wolf also 
 shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." 
 
 When the act or state is expressed as ideal rather than real, as in the subjunctive mood, 
 and frequently in the potential, what may be observed of the tenses,. in respect to the time of 
 the event ? 
 
 That they move forward, one tense or more, in time. 
 
 Ex. — " If I am" — ^now ; " If I Z-e" — hereafter. " If I was'''' — at any past time ; 
 " If I were''' — ^now. " I had leen there" — before that time ; " Had 1 been there"— 
 at that time. '• I am paying you" — now; " I may or can pay you" — next Christ- 
 mas. " I paid you" — then'; " I might or could pay_ you" — now. " I had paid you" 
 — before a certain past time ; " I might have paid you" — at a certain past time. 
 " Such governments could not last, if they contained ever so much wisdom and 
 virtue." — F. Henry. At any time. See 2a def. of present teuse. 
 
 In most of the tenses, a verb may be expressed in several different ways : as, 
 '•'■1A.'& strikes f '■'■ 'B.q does strike •''' '■'■ lie is strilc'mg f " VLq is struck \'''' '■^ He striketk.^'' 
 These, grammarians usually distinguish, by calling them, emphatically, the i-obms 
 of the verb. 
 
 When is a verb in the common form, or what is the common form ? 
 
 The common form is the verb expressed in the most 
 Kimple and ordinary manner. 
 
 Ex. — " He went home." " Time ji^ie*." " No man has ever been too honest." 
 When is a verb in the emplmtic form, or what is the emphatic form ? 
 
 The emphatic form has do or did as a part of the 
 verb, to give it greater force. 
 
 Ex. — " I did say so." " Keally, it does 'move.'''' " Do come to see me." 
 ■\Vhen is a verb in the progressive form, or what is the progressive form ? 
 
 The progressive form is he, or some variation of it, 
 combined with the participle that ends in ing. It denotes 
 continuance of the act or state. 
 
 Ex. — " I wrote ;" " I was writingJ*^ " She goes to church ;" " She is going tt 
 church," 
 
 When is a verb in the passive form, or what is the passive form ? 
 
 The passive form is he, or some variation of it, combined 
 writh the perfect participle. It is generally passive in sense. 
 
 Ex. — " The oak was shattered by lightning." " The melancholy days are come.'''' 
 When is a verb in the ancient form, or solemn style, or how may this form be known? 
 
 The ancient form has the ending f, st, or est, and th or 
 eth, and generally uses thou or ye in stead of you. 
 
 Ex.—" Thou barVdst the dart that wounds thee." " Adve'-sity Jiattereth no 
 man." 
 
 Hoio many tenses, and what are they f— how many forms, and lohat are tlien f 
 
 d. When I say, " I am, thou art, he i«;" " I write, thou wr'vfest, he writ.es ;" 
 you see that the verb varies with the person of its subject : and when I say, "I 
 am, we are;'''' " He is, they are f " fie tvrites, tb 7 ivrite ,•" you see tliat the verb 
 
VERBS. 21 
 
 varies with the rowmber of its subject. Hence the verb is said to have person aud 
 nunitjer ; that is, it is so expressed as to indicate the person and number of its sub- 
 ject, and thereby the subject itself. 
 
 What, then, is meant by the person and nuniber of a verb ? 
 
 The pefson and eiaiBfiil)er of a verb are its form as being 
 suitable to the person and number of its subject. 
 
 The term " Afwrn of the verb," signifies, in its widest sense, any mode of expressing it. 
 When is a verb singular, and when plural t 
 
 It is singular, when its form is proper for predicating of a 
 singular subject; ixndi plural^ when proper for predicating of 
 a plural subject. 
 
 Ex. — "The NIGHT ^^a•? serene, and the stars we/'e ^ifiw./tZmp' most brilliantly in 
 tlieir blue depths." 
 
 Define singrwtor subjects auA. plural subjects. 
 
 A singular subject denotes one object, or more objects taken 
 singly or separately; a plural subject denotes more than one, 
 l)ut not taken as one single thing. 
 
 Ex. — Singular: '■'■Theboy is studious;" '■'■Eoery tree is known by 
 
 its fruit;" "Jr>An., Jam^s, or Joseph^ is studying ;" ^'■Neither John, Jamss, nor 
 
 Joseph, is studying." Plural: '■'• The boys are studious;" '■'■John, 
 
 James, and Joseph, are studious ;" " The people are fickle." 
 
 in correct discourse, of what person and number is the verb always said to be ? 
 
 Of the same as its subject, or nominative. 
 
 Ex. — " I aw." Here am is said to be of the first person and singular number, 
 because its pubject, /, is of this person and number. 
 
 PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. 
 
 What is a participle ? What is an infinitive ? See p. 12. 
 
 How many and what participles are there, and how many and what infinitives are there ? 
 
 Two of each, — the present and the perfect; and also a 
 third participle, the compound. 
 
 How does i\x& present participle represent the act or state ? 
 
 The present participle represents the act or state as 
 present and continuing at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — " We saw the moon rlshigP " Who goes borrowing, goes sorrowing^ 
 How does the present infinitive represent the act or statu? 
 
 The present infinitive represents the act or state as 
 present at the time referred to, but oftener, as future. 
 
 Ex. — "He seems to study.'''' "Man never is, but always to Je, blest." — Pope. 
 " I intended to say less, and certainly expected to hear more liberal sentiments of- 
 fered on the other side." 
 
 Hoir does the perfect participle or infinitive represent the act or state ? 
 
 The perfect participle or infinitive represents the 
 act or state as past or ended at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — "A fox, caught in a trap." "The river appears to have risen.''^ "The 
 Indians are supposed ',^0 have come from Asia or Siberia." 
 
22 VEKBS. 
 
 The perfect participle Ls sometimes present iu sense ; as, " He Hves hved 
 by all." The present infinitive sometimes denotes simply the aci or state ; and 
 the perfect infinitive, the completed act or state. 
 
 What is a compound participle ? 
 
 A compound participle coDsists of two or more par- 
 ticiples ; and it is in sense generally a perfect, but sometimes 
 a present, participle. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■ Having vurclmneil a farm, lie retired to the country." " The terms l)emg 
 «e^^ZeciI, he produced the ca.^li." "He, liamng leen previously engaged, and le'mg 
 then engaged^ in making surveys of the country, was the most tiuitable marr»we 
 could find." 
 
 How is the participle sometimes used ? 
 
 As an adjective, and then called a participial adjective. 
 
 Define & participial adjective. 
 
 A participial adjective ascribes the act or state to its 
 subject as a quality. 
 
 Ex. — " A leaping and. murmuring rivulet ;" " Written laws." 
 Participles and infinitives are frequently used as what other parts of speech ? 
 
 As nouns, and then often called verbal nouns. 
 
 When should a participle or an infinitive be considered a noun? 
 
 When it evidently takes the place, and is used in the sense, 
 of a noun. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■ To live vf\^\o\\\, leing annoyed^ y^ pleasant." What is pleasant? with- 
 out what? — Life without annoyance is pleasant. "Successful studying requires 
 exertion." "^o have learned so beautiful an art, will be ever a pleasure to me." 
 " My ^72^w?^^ him was of great advantage to me." "His Jiavvng leen there, was 
 the ground of suspicion." " To live temperately, to avoid excitement, and to take 
 alternate exercise and rest, are essential to health.'' ''=■ Temperance, tranquillity, and 
 alternate exercif^e and rest, are essential to health. " Boyslike to play.'''' (Boys like 
 apples.) " He began to wwi." (He began his work.) '•'■To love is to oleyr '■'•To be 
 —or not to Se,— that is the question !" {Life— or death,— l\ia.t is the question !) 
 
 AUXILIARY VERBS. 
 
 No complete verb in our language can express all its properties, or be expressed 
 in all its forms, without the aid of certain other little verbs. Thuy, to express 
 " strike" in future time, we say, " shall or will strike ;" in the potential mood, 
 ^'■may, can, must, might., could, "would, or should strike;" in the passive voice, "if 
 struck, was struck, heing struck," &c. These little helping verbs aa-e tljereforo 
 called auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary means helping. 
 
 How, then, would you defindSn auxiliarij verb ? 
 
 An atixiliai'y verb helps another verb to express its 
 meaning in a certain manner or time. 
 
 Which are the auxiliary verbs ? 
 
 Be, and all its variations ; do., did; can, could; have, 
 had; may., might; must; shall, should; ivill, would. 
 
 For what are the auxiliaries he and its variations used ? 
 
 They are used to express the verb progressively or pas- 
 sively. 
 
 Ex.— "The farmor tV ploughing hltJ field." " The field ix ploughed.'''' 
 
VERBS. 23 
 
 For trhaf; are the auxiliaries da and did, used ? 
 
 They areused to express the verb with emphasis, or with 
 greater force. 
 
 Ex. — " I do assure you, I shall be here in time." " He did say so. 
 What do can and could imply ? 
 
 Power or ability. 
 
 Ex. — " I can lift the stone." " I can learn the lesson." " I could not gl^^e my 
 uonseut." 
 
 What do have and had imply, and for what are they uiscd? 
 
 They imply possession, and are used to express the act or 
 state as finished or ended at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — '* I have gathered the plums, which the wind had llmcn down." 
 What meaning in conveyed hy may and tnight t 
 
 Permission, possibility, or probability ; sometimes reason- 
 ableness. 
 
 Ex. — " You map go to play." " But remember the horse mai/ die.'''' " It may 
 ram this evening." " But the question might be asked, wlietiier the tax is legal." 
 
 What do must, shall, and should denote ? 
 
 Duty or injunction : but shall, more frequently compul- 
 sion ; and must, generally necessity. 
 
 Ex. — " We should care for others' feelings." " Thou shall not swem\'''' *' You 
 mast not look for me before next week." " Pupils must obey.'''' " Naughty boy 1 
 you i^hall be punished.^'' 
 
 What do will and icould denote ? 
 
 Willitigness, adaptation, or tendency. 
 
 Ex. — " He would pay if he could." " This will do.'''' " Weeds will grow where 
 there is no cultivation." " Eoses will fade. ^'' 
 
 For what purpose are all the auxiliaries more or less used ? 
 
 To express the verb interrogatively. For this purpose, 
 they are placed before the nominative. 
 
 Ex. — " \ou are wounded." '"'• Are you wounded?" '•'•Does he know you?" 
 
 COXJUGATIOX AND SYNOPSIS. 
 
 What is it, to conjugate a verb ? 
 
 To conjugate a verb is to show, in a regular way, how 
 some or all of its parts are correctly expressed. 
 
 Ex. — £e and write in the present tense, indicative mood. 
 
 Singular. Plural 
 
 First Pees. I am, FmsT Pers. We are, 
 
 Second Pers. You are, Second Pers. You are, 
 
 Third Peks. He, she, or it, is; Third Pers. They are. 
 
 1. I write, 1. We write, 
 
 2. You write, 2. You write, 
 
 3. He, she, or it, writes ; 3. They write. 
 
 Conj'igniinn probably signified, in old times, the joining of vfirions endings ar.d prefixes to th« 
 eWef parts of ve;-!)s,, called the roots ; but, with lis, the word rather sigailios the jo-niug of t> e varioui 
 ^bms to their ditiereiit nominatives. 
 
24 
 
 VERBS. 
 
 What is it, to give the synopsis of a verl) ? 
 
 To giva the synopsis of a verb, is to express it correotly, 
 ia a single person and number, or in a particular form, through 
 some or all of its moods and tenses. 
 
 Ex. — Synopsis of write, with /, through the indicative mood: Presetit, I write; past, 
 I wrote ; future, / ^'haU or will wrlt>: ; perfect, / have written; pluperfect, iTiad written , 
 future-perfect, I Huall or wUlhave written. 
 
 The word ni/nop^i.i means a looJt, at th<i whole ; and as we are apt to see only the chief or nosi striking 
 parts, by looking' at all at once, the word hiis come to signify the chief parts or the outline cf tne whale 
 Of' a thing. 
 
 CONJUGATION EXEMPLIFIED. 
 
 I have here presented to you the very irregular verb he, tlie regular verb move,*' and 
 the irregular verb take, in all the forms in which they can be expressed. Like them, or 
 by their means, may all other verbs be expressed in all their forms ; and for /, yo-u, he, 
 s}ie, it, we, you, and. they, can be used any other nominatives having the same person and 
 number, that is, all nominatives whatsoever ; so that the following conjugation is suffl- 
 (.ent to teach all the correct forms of all the verbs, for all the propositions that have been 
 spoken or written, and all that can be spoken or written, in the English language. 
 
 Recite the following paradigm, across the page ; and the synopsis with thou, down the page. 
 C. stands for Common Form ; E., for Emphatic; iV., for Progressive ; and P., for Passive. 
 
 Observe that the verb, like the nouns and pronouns in thdr d-oleusio'i, verna;ns sometimes unchanged is 
 sometimes partly changed, and is sometimes wholly changed, to express its dilt'erent properties ; and that 
 it sometimes calls m the help of the auxiliary verbs. 
 
 Be. 
 
 Present. 
 Be, 
 Move, 
 Take, 
 
 Move. 
 
 Principal Parts. 
 
 Preterit, or Past. 
 was, 
 moved, 
 took, 
 
 Take. 
 
 Perfect Participle. 
 been, 
 moved, 
 taken. 
 
 INDICATIVE MOOD. 
 
 ABSOLUTE TENSES. 
 
 Present Tense. 
 
 
 {Singular. 
 
 
 
 Phcral. 
 
 First Person. 
 
 Second Person. 
 
 Third Person. 
 
 Ut Pers. 
 
 2d Pers. 
 
 Bd Pers. 
 
 
 I 
 
 You He, She, or It, 
 
 We 
 
 You 
 
 They 
 
 
 am, 
 
 are. 
 
 is; 
 
 are. 
 
 are, 
 
 are. 
 
 a 
 
 move, 
 
 move, 
 
 moves ; 
 
 move, 
 
 move. 
 
 move. 
 
 K 
 
 do move, 
 
 do move. 
 
 does move ; 
 
 do move. 
 
 do move. 
 
 do move. 
 
 Pr 
 
 . am moving, 
 
 are moving. 
 
 is moving ; 
 
 are moving, 
 
 are moving. 
 
 are moving. 
 
 P. 
 
 am moved, 
 
 are moved. 
 
 is moved ; 
 
 are moved. 
 
 are moved. 
 
 are moved. 
 
 c 
 
 take, 
 
 take, 
 
 takes ; 
 
 take. 
 
 take, 
 
 take. 
 
 M. 
 
 do take. 
 
 do take, 
 
 does take ; 
 
 do take, 
 
 do take, 
 
 do take. 
 
 Pr 
 
 . am taking, 
 
 are taking, 
 
 is taking ; 
 
 are taking. 
 
 are taking, 
 
 are taking. 
 
 P. 
 
 am taken, 
 
 are taken, 
 
 is taken ; 
 
 are taken. 
 
 are taken. 
 
 are taken. 
 
 * Since love can not be used in the progressive form, and is objectionable also for other reasons, 
 move has been preferred. It is very difficult to find a suitable verb. Tho next b»6t that occur to 
 me, arorow, call, ti>7id, aid,rule. 
 
VERBS. 
 
 25 
 
 dingular. 
 
 2. 
 You 
 
 Past Tense. 
 
 He, She, or It, 
 
 C. moved, moved, moved; 
 
 E. did move, did move, did move ; 
 
 Fr. was moving, were moving, was moving ; 
 
 P. was moved, were moved, was moved ; 
 
 C. took, took, took; 
 
 K did take, did take, did take ; 
 
 Pr. was taking, were taking, was taking ; 
 
 P. was taken, were taken, was taken ; 
 
 1. 
 We 
 were, 
 moved, 
 did move, 
 were moving, 
 were moved, 
 took, 
 did take, 
 were taking, 
 were taken, 
 
 2. 
 You 
 
 (Imperfect.) 
 
 Plwral. 
 
 They 
 
 were, were, 
 
 moved, moved, 
 
 did move, did move, 
 were moving, weie moving, 
 were moved, were moved, 
 took, took, 
 
 did take, did take, 
 
 were taking, wore taking, 
 were taken, were taken. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 be, 
 C. move, 
 Pr. be moving, 
 P. be moved, 
 C. take, 
 Pr. be taking, 
 P. be taken, 
 
 2, 
 
 You 
 
 be, 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken, 
 
 Future Tense. 
 
 3. 1. 
 
 He, She, or It, We 
 shall or wiU — 
 
 be ; be, 
 move; 
 , be moving 
 be moved ; 
 
 be taking ; 
 be taken ; 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 You 
 
 (First-Future.) 
 Plural. 
 3. 
 They 
 
 be, 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 be. 
 
 move. 
 
 be moving. 
 
 be moved. 
 
 take. 
 
 be taking. 
 
 be taken. 
 
 RELATIVE TENSES. 
 
 Perfect Tense. 
 
 singular. 
 
 Plural. 
 
 I 
 
 You 
 
 have — 
 
 haver— 
 
 been, 
 
 been. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved, 
 
 3. 
 
 He, She, or It, 
 
 has — 
 
 been; 
 
 moved; 
 Pr. been moving, been nioving, been moving ; been moving, 
 P. been moved, been moved, been moved ; been moved, 
 G. taken, taken, taken ; taken, 
 
 Pr. been taking, been taking, been taking ; been taking, 
 P. been taken, been taken, been taken ; been taken. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 We 
 
 You 
 
 They 
 
 have — 
 
 have— 
 
 have — 
 
 been. 
 
 been. 
 
 been. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved. 
 
 been moving, been moving, 
 been moved, been moved, 
 taken, taken, 
 
 been taking, • been taking, 
 been taken, been taken. 
 
 Singular. 
 1. 2. 
 
 [ You 
 
 Pluperfect Tense. 
 
 3. 1. 
 
 Plural. 
 
 He, She, or It, We 
 had — 
 been, been, been ; been, 
 
 C. moved, moved, moved ; 
 
 Pr. been moving, been moving, been moving 
 P. been moved, been moved, been moved ; 
 
 0. taken, taken, taken ; 
 Pr. been taking, been taking, been taking ; 
 
 1. hena taken, been taken, been taken; 
 
 You 
 
 moved, 
 been moving, 
 
 been, 
 moved, 
 been moving, 
 
 been moved, been moved, 
 taken, taken, 
 
 been taking, been taking, 
 been taken, Deen taken. 
 
 They 
 
 been, 
 moved, 
 been moving, 
 been moved, 
 taken, 
 been taking, 
 bean taken. 
 
VERBS. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 Future-perfect Tense. 
 
 2. 8. 1. 
 
 YoD He, She, or It, We 
 
 shall or will have — 
 
 been, been ; been, 
 
 C. moved, _ moved, moved ; moved, 
 
 Pr. been moving, been moving, been moving ; been moving, 
 P. been moved, been moved, been moved ; been moved, 
 G. taken, taken, taken ; taken, 
 
 I*r. been taking, been taking, been taking ; been taking, 
 P. been taken, been taken, been taken ; been taken, 
 
 (Seoond-Futube.) 
 
 Pliirnl. 
 2. 3. 
 
 You Thet 
 
 been, been, 
 
 moved, moved, 
 
 been moving, been moving 
 
 been moved, been moved, 
 
 taken, taken, 
 
 been taking, been taking, 
 
 been taken, been taken. 
 
 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 Present Tense. 
 
 1. 
 
 If I 
 be, 
 move, 
 do move, 
 be moving, 
 be moved. 
 
 take, 
 
 do take, 
 Pr. be taking, 
 P. be taken, 
 
 2. 
 
 If you 
 
 be, 
 move, 
 do move, 
 be moving, 
 be moved, 
 take, 
 do take, 
 be taking, 
 be taken. 
 
 3. 
 
 If he, she, or rr, 
 be; 
 move ; 
 do move ; 
 be moving ; 
 be moved ; 
 take ; 
 do take ; 
 be taking ; 
 be taken ; 
 
 Singular. 
 
 1. 
 
 If we 
 be, 
 
 move, 
 do move, 
 be moving, 
 be moved, 
 take, 
 do take, 
 be taking, 
 be taken, 
 
 Past or Aorist Tense. 
 
 Plural. 
 2. 3. 
 
 If you If they 
 
 be, be. 
 
 move, 
 do move, 
 be moving, 
 be moved, 
 take, 
 do take, 
 be taking, 
 be taken, 
 
 move, 
 do move, 
 be moving, 
 bo moved, 
 take, 
 do take, 
 be taking, 
 be taken. 
 
 1. 
 If I 
 
 were, 
 C. moved, 
 K did move, 
 Pr. were moving, 
 P. were moved, 
 G. took, 
 K did take, 
 Pr. were taking, 
 P. were taken' 
 
 2. 
 If you If 
 were, 
 moved, 
 did move, 
 were moving 
 were moved, 
 took, 
 did take, 
 were taking, 
 were talteii. 
 
 (Imperfect.) 
 
 Plural. 
 
 HE, she, or IT, 
 
 were; 
 
 moved ; 
 
 did move ; 
 , were moving ; 
 
 were moved ; 
 
 took; 
 
 did take ; 
 
 were takmg ; 
 
 were taken : 
 
 1. 
 
 If we 
 
 moved, 
 did move, 
 were moving, 
 were moved, 
 took, 
 did take, 
 were taking, 
 were taken. 
 
 If you 
 were, 
 moved, 
 did move, 
 were moving, 
 were moved, 
 took, 
 did take, 
 were takincr, 
 were taken, 
 
 If they 
 were, 
 moved, 
 did move, 
 were movmg. 
 were moved, 
 took, 
 did take, 
 were taking, 
 were taken. 
 
 1. 
 If I 
 
 Singular. 
 
 Pluperfect Tense. 
 
 Plural. 
 
 2. 3. 1. 
 
 If you If he, she, or rr, If wf 
 had — 
 
 2. 
 If YOU 
 
 If they 
 
 been, been, 
 
 G. moved, moved, 
 
 Pr. been moving, been moving 
 P. been moved, been moved, 
 G. taken, taken, 
 
 Pr. been taking, been taking, 
 P. been taken, been taken, 
 "We can also say, " Were I," 
 for, "If I were," "Iflhadbej 
 
 been ; been, been, been. 
 
 moved ; moved, moved, moved. 
 
 , been moving ; been moving, been moving, been moving. 
 
 been moved ; been moved, been moved, been moved. 
 
 taken ; taken, taken, taken. 
 
 been taking ; been talcing, been taking, been taking. 
 
 been taken; been taken, been taken^ been take q. 
 " Had I been," " Bo it ever so fine, I would not buv It ;" 
 n," "Though it bo ever so fine, I would not buy it." 
 
VERBS. 
 
 27 
 
 POTENTIAL MOOD. 
 Present Tense. 
 
 
 Singula 
 1. 
 I 
 
 2. 
 You 
 
 3. 
 Hk, She, or It, 
 
 1. 
 
 We 
 
 Fl 
 2. 
 You 
 
 urai. 
 3. 
 They 
 
 
 be, 
 
 be, 
 
 may, can, or miist — 
 be; be, 
 
 be, 
 
 be. 
 
 c. 
 
 Pr 
 I'. 
 G. 
 Fr 
 P 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken, 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 move ; 
 , be moving ; 
 be moved ; 
 take; 
 be taking ; 
 be taken ; 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 move. 
 
 be moving. 
 
 be moved. 
 
 take. 
 
 be taking. 
 
 be taken. 
 
 
 Singula/ 
 
 
 Past or Aorist Tense. 
 
 (Imperfect.) 
 
 Plural. 
 
 be, 
 i7. move, 
 Pr. be moving, 
 P. be movetf, 
 O. take, 
 Pr. be taking, 
 P. be taken. 
 
 2. 
 You 
 
 be, 
 
 3. 1. 2. 
 
 iiE, She, or It, We You 
 
 might, could, would, or should — 
 
 move, 
 
 be moving, 
 
 be moved, 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 be ; 
 
 move ; 
 
 be moving ; 
 
 be moved ; 
 
 take; 
 
 be taking ; 
 
 be taken ; 
 
 be, 
 
 be. 
 
 They 
 
 be. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 You 
 
 move, 
 
 move, 
 
 move. 
 
 be moving, 
 be moved, 
 
 be moving, 
 be moved. 
 
 be moving, 
 be moved. 
 
 take, 
 
 be taking, 
 
 be taken, 
 
 take, 
 
 be talcing, 
 
 be taken. 
 
 take. 
 
 be taking. 
 
 be taken. 
 
 'ense. 
 
 Plural 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 We 
 
 You 
 
 Thet 
 
 ust have — 
 
 
 
 been. 
 
 been, 
 
 been. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved. 
 
 He, She, or It, 
 may, can, or - 
 been, been, been ; 
 
 o'. moved, moved, moved ; 
 
 J'r. been moving, been moving, been moviner ; been moving, been moving, been moving, 
 /'. been moved, been moved, been movecf ; been moved, been moved, been moved. 
 C taken, taken, taken; taken, taken, taken. 
 
 Pr. been taking, been taking, been taking ; been taking, been taking, been taking. 
 P. been taken, been taken, been taken; 
 
 been taken, been taken, been taken. 
 
 Singular. 
 
 been, 
 C. movec 
 
 You 
 
 been, 
 moved, 
 
 Pluperfect Tense. 
 
 Plural. 
 
 3. 1. 2. 
 
 He, She, or It, We You 
 
 ', could, would, or should have — 
 been ; been, been, 
 
 moved ; moved, moved, 
 
 Thet 
 
 been, 
 moved. 
 
 Pr. been moving, been moving, been moving ; been moving, been moving, been moving. 
 P been moved, been moved, been moved ; been moved, been moved, been nioved, 
 0. taken, taken, taken; taken, taken, taken. 
 
 Pr. been taking, been taking, been taking ; been taking, been taking, been taking, 
 P been taken, been taken, been taken"; been taken, been taken, been taken. 
 
28 VERBS. 
 
 IMPERATIVE MOOD. 
 Present Tense. 
 
 Singular. Plural. 
 
 2. 2. 
 
 G. Bo, ar be thou ; be, or be ye. 
 
 E. Do be, or do thou be ; do be, or do ye be. 
 
 G. Move, or move thou ; move, or move ye. 
 
 E. Do move, or do thou move ; do move, or do ye move. 
 
 Pr. Be moving, or be thou moving ; be moving, or be ye moving. 
 
 P. Be moved, or be thou moved ; be moved, or be ye moved. 
 
 G. Take, or take thou ; take, or take ye. 
 
 E. Do take, or do thou take ; do take, or do ye take. 
 Pr. Be taking, or be thou taking ; be taking, or be ye taking. 
 P. Be taken, or be thou taken ; be taken, or be ye taken. 
 
 You is used in the singular, as well as thou ; and in the plural it is quite as commou 
 as ye. When the imperative is to denote gentleness and entreaty ratlier than harshnesji 
 and authority, you is perhaps preferable to thou. 
 
 INFINITIVE MOOD. 
 Present Infinitive. Perfect Infinitive. 
 
 To be. To have been. 
 
 G. To move. To have moved. 
 
 Pr. To be moving. To have been moving. 
 
 P. To be moved. To have been moved. 
 
 G. To take . To have taken. 
 
 Pr. To be taking. To have been taking. 
 
 P. To be taken. To have been taken. 
 
 Present Participle. Perfect Participle. 
 
 Being. Been. 
 
 Moving. Moved. 
 
 Taking. Taken. 
 
 Compound Participle. 
 
 Neuter. Having been. 
 Passive. Being moved. 
 Active. Having moved. 
 Passive. Having been moved. 
 Passive. Being taken. 
 Active. Having taken. 
 Passive. Having been taken. 
 To. the sign of the infinitives, is omitted after lid^ make^ need, hear^ \ let^ see, feel, and 
 dctre^ in the active voice. 
 
 ANCIENT FOBM, OR SOLEMN STYLE.— THOU. 
 INDICATIVE MOOD. 
 
 Present. Past. Future. Perfect. Pluperfect.Future-perfect. 
 
 Tiiou Thou Thou Thou Thou Tnou 
 
 shalt or wilt — hast — hadst — ehalt or wilt /cave — 
 
 art ; wast, or wert ; be , been ; been ; been ; 
 
 G. movest, movedst, move, moved, moved, moved, 
 
 F. dost move, didst move, 
 
 Pr. art moving, wast moving, be moving, been moving, been moving, been moving, 
 
 P. art moved ; wast moved ; be moved ; been moved ; been moved ; been moved ; 
 
 G. takest, tookst, take, taken, taken, taken, 
 E. dost take, didst take, 
 
 Pr. art taking, wast taking, be taking been taking, been taking, been taking, 
 P. art taken. wast taken, be taken, been taken, been taken, been taken. 
 
29 
 
 Present. 
 
 Iv THOU 
 
 be ; 
 C move, 
 ^. do move, 
 J^r. be moving 
 T. be moved ; 
 C. take, 
 ^ do take, 
 J* '. be taking, 
 2\ be taken. 
 
 We can also say, 
 * Hadst thou moved , 
 
 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 
 
 
 Past or Aorist. 
 
 Pluperfect. 
 
 If thou 
 
 If thou 
 
 
 Aadst^ 
 
 wert, or were ; 
 
 been; 
 
 moved, 
 
 moved, 
 
 did move, or didst move, 
 
 
 wert moving. 
 
 been moving, 
 
 wert moved ; 
 
 been moved ; 
 
 took, 
 
 taken, 
 
 did take, or didst take, 
 
 
 wert taking. 
 
 been taking, 
 
 wert taken. 
 
 been taken. 
 
 Wert thou," " Wert thou moved," " Hadst thou been," 
 for, " If thou wert," *' If thou hadst been," etc. * 
 
 POTENTIAL MOOD. 
 
 Present. 
 
 Past 
 
 or Aorist. 
 
 Perfect. 
 
 Pluperfect. 
 
 Thou 
 
 
 Thou 
 
 Thou 
 
 Thou 
 
 mai/si, canst^ 
 
 migUst, couldst, 
 
 mayst^ canst^ 
 
 mightsL couUst, vmddsU 
 or shouUst Kj,v6— 
 
 or mvst — wouliht 
 
 or shouldst — 
 
 or must have — 
 
 be; 
 
 
 be; 
 
 been; 
 
 been; 
 
 G. move. 
 
 
 move. 
 
 moved. 
 
 moved. 
 
 Pr, be moving 
 
 
 be moving. 
 
 been moving. 
 
 been moving, 
 
 P. be moved ; 
 
 
 be moved ; 
 
 been moved ; 
 
 been moved; 
 
 a take, 
 
 
 take, 
 
 taken, 
 
 taken, 
 
 Pr, betaking, 
 
 
 be taking, 
 
 been taking. 
 
 been takirg, 
 
 P. betaken. 
 
 
 be taken. 
 
 been taken. 
 
 been taken. 
 
 The Ancient Form has the ending eth, in stead of s or en, in the third person 
 singular ; and ye in stead of you, in the second person plural. 
 
 Ex. — "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he liathy — Shakespeare. " Ye 
 are the salt of the earth."— Jf^Z/Ze. 
 
 Doth is used for the auxiliary does, and doeth for the verb does. Hath and saith 
 are contractions of haveth and sayeth. 
 
 How many aud what tenses has the indicative mood? — the subjunctive f — the potential f 
 —the imperati've f What participles are there ?— what infinitives f 
 
 In what mood and tense do you find do t — did f — have ? — had f— shall or tvill t — sMll or 
 will have? — inay, can, or must? — ma]/, can, or must have? — might, could, would, or should? 
 — might, could, would, or should liave f 
 
 Does the subjunctive mood vary in its forms, through the different persons and numbers ? 
 Can you show how some of its forms differ from the corresponding forms of the indicative 
 mood ? 
 
 Tell of what mood and tense ; then conjugate throughout the tense, beginning with the 
 first person singular: — 
 
 I ima^;-ine. He suffered. We have gained. I had been ploughing. I will visit. 
 Were I. Had I been. If he were. Were 1 invited. Had I been invited. If I bo 
 invited. They shall have finished. I lay. We read. It may pass. You should 
 have come. XVe may have been robbed. I was speaking. It is rising. You 
 might be prepai-ing. She had been singinsr. Had you been studying. Do you 
 hope ? Did she smile ? If I do fall. If thou rely. Thou art. Art thou ? He 
 forgiveth. Dost thou not forgive ? It must have happened. They are gone. Thou 
 art going. We were proceeding. 
 
 Predicate each of the following verbs correctly of thoit ; then of he, and of thky :— 
 
 Am, was, have been, would have been, are deceived, had been, do say, did 
 maintain, gave, touched, cast, amass, recommend, be discouraged, shall have been, 
 will pardon, may have been rejoicing, was elected, should have been elected, 
 wrapped, consider, considered, have been loitering:, 
 
30 ADVERBS. 
 
 Change into the ether tenses of the same mood : — 
 
 I write, I unxy write, If I write, If I be writing, To write. 
 
 Give the synojtsis of the verb be, with the nominative I ; — with tou ; — thott ; — he ;— w« 
 
 — TUEY ; — THE MAN ; — THE MEN. 
 
 In like manner give the synopsis of each of the following verbs : — 
 Bind, arrest, liave, do, be known, be proved, be conversing. 
 Give THOU with each aucsilianj except be and its variations ; — give nE. 
 
 6. ADVERBS. 
 
 If I eay, "He reasons correctly, B-pesiks Jluentli/, and jiersuades earnestl// '^^ 
 "Walk np, walk doiv?i,, walk i/i, walk out, walk slowly, walk »oi;" '■'■Very tall, 
 horribly ugly, sternly inc^uisitive, suiyrisingly abrupt,, moj^e ingenious, most elo- 
 quent, very powet fully, quite fast f you see that the Italicized words tell Jioio, when, 
 where, or to what degree, a thing is done ; also how or in what degree a quality or 
 property exists ; and being most generally applied or added to oerbs, they are 
 called adverbs. 
 
 What is an adverb f 
 
 An adverb is a word used to modify the meaning of a 
 verb, an adjective, or an adverb. See above. 
 
 Some entire phrases, as long ago, in vain, to and fro, by and hy, the more, the 
 less, sooner or later, are generally used as adverbs, and called adverbial phrases. 
 Perhaps they may as well be called simply adverbs. 
 
 We have said that adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; but what other parts 
 do they sometimes modify ? 
 
 Phrases, entire sentences, and sometimes perhaps nouns or 
 pronouns. 
 
 Ex. — " He sailed neakly round the world.'''* " The murdered traveller's bop.es 
 were found fab down a narrow glen.'''' — Bryant. " Do you knoxo him ? — N'o." '' Can 
 you not go ?" " Can not you go ?" " The immortality of the soul has been evinced 
 to almost a DEMONSTiiATioN." — Addison. " And the kajie hereof went abroad." — 
 
 Whether an adverb, as such, may ever be said to modify a substantive, is questionable. 
 But there is a ditference, for instance, between " Can you not go?" and " Can not you 5^0 '•" 
 And somotimes tlio adverb seems to relate to the verb lurking in the noun. Perhaps it is 
 best to parse such words, sometimes as adjectives, and soinetiint'S as adverbs modifyiay the 
 VERB with reference to the subject, the object, the adjunct, or whatever part is affeded. 
 
 If adverbs describe or limit as well as adjectives, can they also be compared ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 How do they differ from adjectives in comparison ? 
 
 A smaller portion of them can be compared ; and they are 
 more frequently compared by more and 7nost. 
 
 Ex. — Thus, v*'e can say, '■'■Slow, slower, slowest 1 lively, livelier, livellest''\- but 
 we must say, " So, moi'e so, most so ; iv'isely, m,are Wisely, m/)st wisely?'' 
 
 What do most adverbs express ? 
 
 Manner, Place, Time, or Degree. 
 
 Ex. — Elegantly, well, merrily, gayly ; here, there; now, then; very, more, 
 most. 
 
 List of Adverbs. 
 
 BinpB it is not vjnfrequently difScult to determine whether a given word is ar 
 adverb or not, or to what class of adverbs it should be referred, a full catalogue is 
 
ADVERBS. 3 1 
 
 given below, wliich must be carefaUy and thoronghly studied. The classiflcation, 
 too, is more minnte than it usually is ; because it is supposed that the nature and 
 various powers of the adverbs may be better learned by this means. 
 
 Manner, Mode, or Quality. ITow? 
 
 So, thus, well, ill, how, wisely, foolishly, justly, slowly, somehow, anyhow, 
 'lowever, howsoever, otherwise, else, likewise, like, alike, as, extempore , head- 
 ■01112:, lengthwise, crosswise, across, aslant, astride, astraddle, adrift, amain, afloat, 
 apace, apart, asunder, amiss, anew, fast, together, separately, aloud, accordingly, 
 agreeably, necessarily, in vain, in brief, at oacc, in sliort, foot by foot, so so, so 
 and so, helter-skelter, hurry-skurry, namely, suddenly, silently, feelingly, sur- 
 prisingly, touehingly, trippingly, lovingly, hurriedly, mournfully, sweetly, propor- 
 tioually," exactly, heavily, lightly; and mauy others ending in ly^ and formed from 
 adjectives or present participles. 
 
 Place. W7iere ? Whence ? Whither ? 
 
 Of place aUolute: Here, there, yonder, where, everywhere, somewhere, uni- 
 versally, nowhere, wherever, wheresoever, anywhere, herein, therein, wherein, 
 hereabouts, thereabouts, whereabouts, hereabout, thereabout, abed, aground, on 
 high, all over, here and there. 
 
 Of place rechoned YRoi^ some point: "Whence, hence, thence, elsewhere, other- 
 Avhere, away, far, afor, far off, out, remotely, abroad, above, forth, below, ahead, 
 aloof, outwards, about, around, beneath, before, behhid, over, under, within, with- 
 out, from within, from without. 
 
 Of place reckoned to some point: Whither, thither, hither, in, up, down, up- 
 warrls, downwards, inwards, backwards, forwards, hitherward, thitherward, home- 
 ward, aside, ashore, afield, aloft, aboard, aground, nigh. — The forms upward^ 
 downward^ backward, &c., are also used as adverbs. 
 
 Of order: First, secondly, thirdly, &c., next, lastly, finally, at last, in fine. 
 
 Time. When ? How long ? Hoio often ? How soon ? How 
 long ago ? 
 
 Of time absolute: Ever, never, always, eternally, perpetually, continually, con- 
 stantly, endlessly, forever, incessantly, everlastingly, evermore, aye. 
 
 Of time relative, i. e., reckoned with, to, or from some other time: When, when- 
 ever, then,, meanwhile, meantime, as, while, whilst, till, until, otherwhile, after, 
 afterward, afterwards, subsequently, before, late, early, betimes, seasonably. 
 
 Of time repeated : Again, often, oft, oftentimes, sometimes, occasionally, sel- 
 dom, rarely, frequently, now and then, ever and anon, daily, weekly, hourly, 
 monthly, yearly, annually, anew, once, twice, thrice, four times, etc. 
 
 Of time present : Now, to-day, nowadays, at present, yet (=heretofore and 
 now), as yet. 
 
 Of time past: Yesterday, heretofore, rece"ntly, lately, of late, already, for- 
 merly, just now, just, anciently, since, hitherto, long since, long ago, ere while, 
 till now. 
 
 Of tim^ future : Hereafter, henceforth, henceforward, saon, to-morrow, shortly, 
 erelong, by and by, presently, instantly, immediately, straightway, straightways, 
 directly, forthwith, not yet, anon. 
 
 Degree. Hou^ much? How little? To ivhat extent ? 
 
 Adverbs of degree are not easily classified ; for adverbs from several other classes may 
 sometimes be used to express degree. The following adverbs, to the dash-line, are not all 
 strictly adverbs of degree. 
 
 Adverbs showing how much, to what extent, or in what degree : Much, more, most, 
 greatly, far, furtlier, very, too, little, less, least, extra, mostly, entirely, chiefly, 
 principally, mainly, generally, commonly, usually, in general, fully, full, com- 
 pletely, totally, wholly, perfectly, all, altogether, quite, exceedingly, extravagantly, 
 nximeasurably, immensely, excessively, boundlessly, infinitely, iuconceivably, clear, 
 stark, nearly, well-nigh, partly, partially, intensely, scarcely, scantily, precisely 
 enough, exactly, even, everso, just, equally, sufiBciently, adequately, proportion- 
 ately, competently, as, so, how, however, howsoever, somewhat, a"-, all. 
 
•32 PRKPOS[TIONS. 
 
 Of exclusion yr emphasis: Merely, only, but, alone, simply, barely, just, particu- 
 larly, especially, in particular. 
 
 Adverbs imflying sometliing additional to what has been mentioned, or something 
 beyond what might be expected : Also, besides, else, still, yet, too, likewise, -withal, 
 moreover, furthermore, however, extra, eke, even, nevertheless, anyhow. 
 
 Adverbs implying cause or means : Why, wherefore, therefore, hence, thence, 
 consequently, accordingly, whereby, hereby, thereby. 
 
 Of negation : Not, nay, no, nowise, noway, noways, by no means. 
 
 Of affirmation or admittance : Truly, doubtless, undoubtedly, unquestionably, 
 forsooth, indeed, well, very well, well tnen, yes, yea, ay, verUy, surely, certainly, 
 really, assuredly, certes, amen, of course, to be sure. 
 
 Of doubt or uncertainty : Perhaps, probably, possibly, perchance, peradvent- 
 ure, haply, mayhap, may-be. 
 
 The adverbs of the last three classes are sometimes termed modal adverbs. 
 They are said to show "the manner of the assertion." They have a more direct 
 reference to the mind of the speaker than the others have. We may deny or re- 
 fuse, hesitate, consent ; disbelieve, doubt, believe ; pass from strong negation 
 through doubt into strong positive assertion, and vice versa. 
 
 Expletive Advkbbs. These serve merely to begin sentences, in order to render them 
 less blunt or more sprightly ; as, There, well, why. 
 
 Conjunctive Adverbs. These connect as well as modify. They are usually ad- 
 verbs of time, place, or manner ; as. When, where, while, till, as, etc. 
 
 Interrogative Adverbs. These are those adverbs of the foregoing classes, which 
 are used to ask questions ; as. What ? where ? how ? whither ? 
 
 From the foregoing list, it may be seen that the same word may sometimea 
 be referred to one class of adverbs, and sometimes to another, according to its 
 meaning. 
 
 Ex. — " I have JMst come." {Time.) "It is jwsi full;" i. e., neither more nor less. 
 {Extent or degree.) 
 
 It is supposed that the student, after having carefully studied the foregoing 
 catalogue, will be able to refer any adverb not in it to its proper class. In parsing, 
 when an adverb can not be easily referred to some special class, it may be more 
 convenient to refer it to the general class to which it belongs, — to call it simply an 
 adverb of manner, place, time, or degree. 
 
 Will you mention si,x adverbs of manner f — three of place where f — three of place 
 whence t— three of place whither f — three of order f — three of time absolute t — three of tivi^ 
 relative f —three of time rejyeated f— three of time present? — three of time past? — three of 
 time future? — six of degree? —three implying exclusion? — three implying something addi- 
 tional ? — three of cause ? — three of negation ? — three of affirmation ?— three of doubt ?— three 
 expletive adverbs ? — six conjunctive adverbs ? — one interrogative adverb of manner, one of 
 place, and one of time ? — sis adverbial phrases ? 
 
 7. PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 When I say, " The horses are in the ferry-boat, the ferry-boat is on the river, 
 and the river is between the hills ; you see that the words in, on, and between, show 
 how different objects are to one another. They are called prepositions ; for the 
 word means placing before, and these little words must generally be placed before 
 nouns, to make the nouns capable of being used as descriptive words. 
 
 What is a jtreposition ? 
 
 A preposition is a word used to show the relation be- 
 tween different things. 
 
 Ex. — In, on, under, above, over, around, at, from, to, through. 
 
 Two prepositions are sometimes combined, and some phrases are constantly 
 ased in the sense of prepositions. Tiie former expressions may be called complex 
 prepositions; the latter, prepositional phrases ; or both may be termed simply pre- 
 positions. See the List. 
 
PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 33 
 
 What does a preposition usually join to some other word or part of the sentence? 
 
 A substantive denoting the place, time, doer, possessor, 
 cause, source, means, manner, or some other circumstance. 
 
 Ex. — "The apples hang on the tree.'''' " We have snow in winter.'''' "He 
 was stabbed by a 'voiurdeer^ with the sword of a Kentuck'ian,.^'' " To write with 
 mse and rapidity.'''' 
 
 What is an adjunct t 
 
 An adjunct is a preposition with its object, or with the 
 words required after it to complete the sense. See above. 
 
 Is the preposition always expressed ? 
 
 It is sometimes understood. 
 
 Ex. — " Give him his book"==Give his book to him. " I stood near him" I 
 Htood near to him. " He is like his father" =-Ho is like to or unto his father. 
 
 List of Prepositions. 
 
 A, 
 
 bating. 
 
 ere, 
 
 respecting. 
 
 up. 
 
 atwetju, 
 
 aboard. 
 
 before, 
 behind, 
 
 except. 
 
 round. 
 
 upon. 
 
 atwixt, 
 
 about. 
 
 excepting, 
 
 save. 
 
 versus. 
 
 cross. 
 
 above. 
 
 below, 
 
 for. 
 
 saving. 
 
 withj 
 withm. 
 
 dehors, 
 
 across, 
 
 beneath, 
 
 from. 
 
 since. 
 
 inside. 
 
 after, 
 
 beside, ) 
 besides, S 
 
 in. 
 
 through. 
 
 without 
 
 maugre, 
 
 against. 
 
 into. 
 
 throughout. 
 
 
 minus. 
 
 along, 
 amid, ) 
 an^dst, j 
 
 between, 
 betwixt, 
 
 notwith- 
 standing, 
 
 till, 
 to, 
 
 N„TCo..o.v.-«^ 
 
 beyond, 
 
 of. 
 
 touching. 
 
 Abaft, 
 
 sans, 
 
 among, 
 amongst. 
 
 but, 
 
 off. 
 
 toward, 
 
 towards. 
 
 adown. 
 
 than. 
 
 by, 
 
 on, 
 
 afore. 
 
 tliorough, 
 
 around, 
 
 concerning, over, 
 
 under, 
 
 aloft, 
 
 via. 
 
 aslant, 
 
 despite. 
 
 past. 
 
 underneath, 
 
 alongside, withal, 
 
 athwart, 
 
 down. 
 
 pending. 
 
 until. 
 
 aloo^ 
 
 withinside. 
 
 during, 
 of, 
 
 per, 
 
 unto. 
 
 aneath, 
 pixt, 
 
 
 Aboard 
 
 as to. 
 
 from betv 
 
 from out of. 
 
 according to. 
 
 because of. 
 
 from beyond. 
 
 from under, 
 
 along with, 
 
 from among, 
 
 from off. 
 
 
 out of. 
 
 aa for. 
 
 
 from before. 
 
 from out. 
 
 
 round about. 
 
 Can you repent the prepositions that begin with af— 
 
 lf—c.f—df-ef—ff~it-^nt 
 
 8. CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 When I say, " John and James write ;" " John writes and ciphers ;" " John 
 writes fast and well ;" " John spilt his ink on the desk and on the floor ;" " John 
 writes twice every day, and I generally look at his writing:" you see that the word 
 and brings on something more to what has been said, or joins together two words, 
 two phrases, or two propositions ; and as conjunction means joining together, thia 
 word, and others like it, have been called conjunctions. 
 
 What definition, then, may he given of a conjunction? 
 
 A coiijaanction is a Avord that joins something to an- 
 other part of the discourse, and shows how the parts so con- 
 nected are viewed with respect to each other. 
 
 Ex. — " Grain will b5 cheap, and perhaps unsalable." " Grain will be cheap. 
 for the harvest is abundant." " Grain will be cheap, if the winter continue mild." 
 ' Grain will be cheap, but now it is dear." " He rides, if he is sick." " He rides, 
 thaugh he is sick." " He rides, because he is sick." 
 
 3 
 
34 CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 Two conjunctions are sometimes combined, and certain phrases aro sometimes 
 used in the sense of conjunctions : as, " His health, as well as his estate, is ruined : 
 and yet lie still persists in his course." The former expressions may be calletl 
 complex conjunctions ; and the lattor, conjuruitlve phrases ,' or both may be termed 
 simply conjunctions. 
 
 What is ii coordinate conjunction? 
 
 A cojiircliiiate conjunction connects parts of equal rank. 
 
 Ex. — And, but, or. " The woods are sprouting, and the dove is cooing." 
 ILtc and connects clauses which do not depend on eaph other, and therefore they 
 are said to be coordinate^ which means of equal rank. 
 
 Wliat is a subordinate conjunction ? 
 
 A subordinate conjunction connects parts of unequal 
 rank. 
 
 Ex.— If, that, since', because. " I will work for you, if you pay me.'" Here 
 if connects two clauses, of which one depends on the other, and therefore the de- 
 pendent one is said to be subordinate, which means ranking under. 
 
 What is a corresponding or correlative conjunction ? 
 
 A cora'cspouadlBBg' conjunction suggests another con- 
 junction, and assists it in connecting the same parts. 
 
 Ex.— "I will neither buy nob sell," '•'•Thoug'k he reproves me, yet I esteem 
 him." 
 
 Can you mention tlie chief ideas conveyed by the diffarent conjunctions in reference to 
 the parts connected ? 
 
 Addition, separation, contrariety, cause, consequence, pur- 
 pose, condition, concession, and comparison. 
 
 By examining the beginning of this section, what words would you infer may be con- 
 nected by conjunctions? 
 
 Words of almost any part of speech. 
 
 Where are conjunctions mostly used ? 
 
 In connecting the parts of compound sentences. 
 
 Are conjunctions ever understood? 
 
 Sometimes they are ; and other words are generally under- 
 stood after them. 
 
 Ex. — "Kout, [and] ruin, [and] panic, seized them all." "I knew [that] he 
 had lost it." " You may first read this sentence, and then [you may] parse it." 
 
 How may adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions be distinguished, or what is the chief 
 characteristic of each class ? 
 
 Of the adverb^ to modify or limit ; of the preposition, to 
 govern a substantive in the objective case ; and of the con- 
 junction, to connect. 
 
 Ex. — "He took iw^ one apple." "I saw all but him." "I saw h'un, but he 
 would not come.' ' 
 
 List of Conjunctions. 
 
 1. Conjunctions implying continuance oraddition, simpli/ or emphatically : And^ 
 as well as, again, also, besides, both, moreover, furthermore^ even, nay, so (="al3o). 
 {Gopulatlve conjunctions.) 
 
 2. Separation or choice : Or, nor, either, neither, or else. {Alternative or dls" 
 junctive conjunctions.) 
 
INTERJKCTIOXS. 36 
 
 8. Contrariety^ restriction, or reservation: But, yet, still, however, howsoever, 
 nevertheless, notwithstanding-, unless (=but not . . . if), except that, save. {Ad- 
 versative or restrictive conjunctions.) 
 
 4. Comparison: llhan, ii&. {Comparative conj unctions ) 
 
 5. Concession: Although, though, even if, even though, notwithstanding, albeit. 
 {Concessive conjunctions.) 
 
 6. Condition or doubt : If, unless (=ifnot), whether, provided, provided that, 
 in case that, so, except, lest. {Conditional or contingent conjunctions.) 
 
 7. Cause or reason: Because, for, since, as, seeing, inasmuch as, forasmuch as, 
 whereas. ( Causal conjunctions. ) 
 
 8. Consequence or inference: Then, so, therefore, wherefore. {Illative con- 
 junctions.) 
 
 9. Purpose or motive. That, so that, in order that, lest, so as. 
 
 10. Corresponding conjunctions: Either — or; neither — nor; whether — or; if- 
 then ; though, or although — yet ; both — and ; as — ^so ; as — as. 
 
 Coniunctions are sometimes accumulated, or take adverbial particles, merely to 
 strengthen or to modify slightly the connection between the parts. Sometimes, 
 phrases even, or adverbial particles, may be treated simply as conjunctions, unless 
 great accuracy is required ; or else they may be analyzed more rigidly otherwise, 
 especially by supplying such words as may be reasonably supposed to have been 
 omitted. 
 
 The conjunctions of the first three classes are chiefly coordinate; the others, to 
 the tenth class, subordinate. The former rather indicate the movements and turns 
 of thought ; the latter subjoin parts that are used more or less in the sense of 
 parts of speech. 
 
 Can you mention two copulative conjunctions? — two alternative? (rass thus through 
 . the List.) 
 
 9. INTERJECTIONS. 
 
 In every language, there are certain words used when the mind is suddenly ot 
 greatly excited, in order to give vent to some strong feeling or sudden emotion ; 
 as, Oh! alas! These words ai'e called interjections, a word that means thrown 
 among ; for they are so loosely combined with the other words of a sentence, that 
 they seem thrown among them. 
 
 What is an interjection ? 
 
 An isiierjectiona is a word that expresses an emotion 
 only, and is not connected in construction with any other 
 word. 
 
 Ex.— Alas 1 fie! O! oh! ah I hurrah! hail! .adieu ! " 6> Grave! where is 
 thy victory ?" *' Tlioso were happy days ; but, alas ! they are no more !" '■'■Fshiw ! 
 never mind it." 
 
 Where are interjections most frequently found, and \7hat may aid us in discovering them ? 
 
 In poetry and in oratory : they are generally followed by 
 the exclamation-point. 
 
 As the heart is susceptible of many different emotions or feelings, the interjec- 
 tions may be divided into various classes. 
 
 List of Interjections. 
 
 1. Of sorrow, grief, or pity : Oh! alas! ah! alack! hoo! welladay ! 
 
 2. Of earnestneis or joy : O! eigb ! hey! eh! ha! 
 
 3. Of surmise, wonder, or horror : Ilah! ha! what! h'ra ! height 8t range ! in 
 deed! hey-dey! la! wliow ! zounds! eh! ah! oh! hoity-toity! 
 
36 EXERCISES ON ALL 
 
 4. Of contempt or aversion : Pshaw ! pish ! tut ! tush ! poh ! foh ! bah ! humph 1 
 faugh r whew! off! begone! avaunt I 
 
 6. Of exultation or approlation : Aha ! ah ! hey ! huzzah ! hurrah ! good ! bravo'. 
 
 6. Of attention or calling : Ho! lo! behold! look! see! hark! la! heigh-ho! 
 soho ! hollo ! halloa ! hoy 1 hold ! whoh ! halt ! 'st ! 
 
 7. Of silence : Hush ! hist ! whist ! 'st ! aw ! mum 1 
 
 8. Of interrogating : Eh? hem, or h'm? (The opposite of the preceding class.) 
 
 9. Of detection : Aha ! oho ! ay-ay ! 
 
 10. Of laugJiter : Ha, ha, ha ! he, he, he ! 
 
 11. Of saluting or parting : Welcome! hail! all -hail ! adieu! good-by! and per- 
 haps good-day ! good-night ! good-morning ! good-evening ! 
 
 It is difficult to make a satisfactory classification of interjections. Most of them 
 are used with great latitude of meaning; that is, in various senses. When the 
 learner meets with an interjection, it is perhaps best that he should determine its 
 meaning from the spirit of the sentence or discourse. 
 
 If a man cultivates the earth, he may be styled a farmer; if the same 
 man should engage in the business of buying and selling goods, a merchant; 
 if in preaching the gospel, a preacher : even so the same vs^ord, according 
 to its use, is sometimes of one part of speech, and sometimes of another. 
 
 Ex.— "A WacA; horse ;" " To Z>^ac/c boots ;" " ^tocA is a color." 
 
 The first Mack is an adjective ; the second, a verb ; and the third, a noun. 
 
 Can you mention two interjections of grief f — two of joy ? (Pass thus through the List. 
 
 10. EXERCISES ON ALL THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 
 
 The nouns, and why : — 
 
 A green tree. A house of marble. Laura brought a fresh rose. The farmer 
 ploughs his field. Love and fidelity are inseparable. Pompey being vanquished, 
 Csesar returned triumphant.to Eome. The groves were God's first temples. Col- 
 onel Thomas H. Benton died in the year 1858. 
 
 The pear and quince lay squandered on the grass ; 
 
 The mould was purple with unheeded showers 
 Of bloomy plums ; — a wilderness it was 
 
 Of fruits, and weeds, and flowers ! — JTood. 
 
 *'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter. Place me on Sunium's marbled 
 steep. The rich man's joys increase the poor's decay. Learn the how and the 
 why. You is a pronoun. + denotes addition. I like to skate. It would be non- 
 sense for us to buy it. There was some Indian fighting in settling this country. 
 Why he did not go, is obvious. I believe that the people of a republic may abuse 
 their liberty, as well as a despot his power. (Believe what ?) 
 
 Whether proper or common, and why : — 
 
 Susan, girl, George, boy, Europe, country, day, month, Saturday, September, 
 hoUday, Christmas, river, Mississijppi, mountains, Andes, island, Cuba, bird, black- 
 bird, chain, Jane, Louis, Louisa, city. New York, year, 1860. General Alexander 
 Hamilton, Montauk Point, *8oil, hope, soul, poetry, president, Webster, Mrs. 
 Amelia Welby, Tliomson's Seasons, heaven, earth, sun, stars. Isabella and Fer- 
 dinand, the queen and king of Spain, enabled Columbus to discover America. 
 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico is worth a careful perusal. The Laurenses, the 
 Sumpters, the Itutledircs, and the Marions, — Americans all. The Bahamas and 
 the Antilles. And Freedom shrieked — as Kosciusko fell. / is a pronoun. The 
 l>ronominals each, every, and either. The clamor of most politicians is but an et- 
 lort to get the ins out and the outs in. 
 
 • The exercises following the stars, may be omitted or deferred. When able to cope with 
 them, the pupil may try his learning and ingenuity upon them ; but they properly belong to 
 Part Second of a book having the foregoing instructions as Part First. 
 
THE PARTS OF SPEECH. %% 
 
 Jell whether collective, abstract, or material, and why : — 
 
 *Tribe, nations, anger, pity, caucus, adversity, sand, navy, extent, party, party- 
 epirit, bacon, company, wine, snow, coldness, corn, people, law, jury, commerce, 
 clergy, science. 
 
 The pronouns, and why ; what kind, and why : — 
 
 He saw me. We love tliera. She deceived herself. Know thyself. When a 
 laudy has squandered his estate, he is not apt to regain it. The lady who had been 
 ■ek, received the peaches which were ripe. This is the same marble that you 
 i;ive me, and it is the best that I have. Who came ? We bought only such mules 
 lis suited us. ( — the mules which — ) Love what is worthy ot love. ( — the thing 
 which- ■) *This apple is neither yours nor mine, but hers. ( — your apple nor my 
 npple, Hut her apple.) By others' faults, wise men correct their own. {By other men's 
 jaults, etc.) None are completely happy. (iVb persons are — ) Our poetry, I be- 
 lieve, and not our morals, has been worse than that of the Eomans. ( — than the 
 poetry qf^ the Eomaris.) Who is he ? Which is he? What is he ? Do you know 
 who he is ? Whatever comes from the heart, goes to the heart. Teach me what 
 truth is. The girls love one another. 
 
 The gender, and why : — 
 
 Brother, seamstress, Julius, Julia, lion, lioness, joy, contentment, master, mis- 
 tress, parent, fatlier, mother, child, son, daughter, he, him, hymn, she, it, they, we, 
 you, its, itself, himself, lierself, *person, man, woman, nation, party, game, partner, 
 God, deity, divinity, angel, corpse, corps, ghost, spirit, writer, marquess, lady's 
 hand, lady's-alipper, soul, steer, Turk, Jew, Jews, nothing, none, nobody, tliyself, 
 themselves, which, who, others, whatsoever, whose. John is a noun, and she is a 
 pronoun. 
 
 Spell the corresponding feminine : — 
 
 *Administrator, Instructor, tutor, director, hero, executor, gander, count, earl, 
 emperor, sultan, duke, prophet, sir, Don, gentleman. 
 
 Spell the corresponding inasGuline : — 
 
 *Wife, queen, heiress, Josephine, lady, lass, maid, miss, mistress, signora, 
 marchioness, nun, Harriet, Frances, Joanna, hind, roe, spawner. 
 
 The person, and why: — 
 
 I, you, he, we, my, us, thee, yourselves, mine, thine, thyself, himself, them- 
 selves, it, she, hers ; the drooping willow ; my dictionary ; your grammar ; her 
 needle and tai-ead ; Washington's birthday. 
 
 My mother ! when I learned that thou wast dead, 
 Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed ? 
 Hovered thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son. 
 Wretch even then, life's journey iust begun ? — Gowper. 
 *I Joseph Eogers hold myself responsible. Mary, you are a lazy girl. We pas- 
 sengers have poor fare. A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse I Come, Peace 
 of tidnd, delightful guest. And peace, O Virtue, peace is all thy own. We are old 
 acquaintances. You are quite a philosopher. I am the captain, sir. Well, my little 
 friend, how fare the schoolboys 'i The good man and woman are long since in their 
 graves, who used to plan the welfare ot us their children. 
 
 Said I to myself, and myself said to me. 
 " Take care of thyself, for none care for thee." 
 
 Change into the other persons : — 
 
 *John writes. The girls study. Henry, you may play. I Augustus would do 
 so. Is Guatamozin to be burned on glowing coals ? 
 
 Number, and why : — 
 
 Book, books, rose, roses, razor, partridge, friends, geese, lilies, family, scissors, 
 mice, oats, key, letters, anger, love, swarm, ashes, honey, molasses, I, we, you, 
 thou, him, they, this, these, that, those, several, eight, an eight, *oue, ones, our, 
 ours, my, stimulus, stimuli, cherubim, physics, mathematics, a, an, each man, 
 either man, every man, neither road, two, a two, two twos, who, which, that, what, 
 as, pens, reads, is, has, was demolished, a twin, a pair. 
 
38 KXERCISES ON ALL 
 
 Spell the plural :— 
 *Sofa, dogma, peninsula, lamina, minutia, vertebra, stigma, orb, cherub, critia 
 bed, feather-bed, crowd, noose, goose, simile, wife, fife, knife, wolf, statf, flagstaff, 
 bluff, leaf, turf, hoof, handkerchief, egg, orang-outang, booth, tooth, eye-tooth, 
 Eandolph, sketch, alkali, cadi, rabbi, Missouri, lark, bell, acquittal, custom, lus- 
 trum, forum, stratum, eulogium, nostrum, aphorism, pendulum, pen, stamen, oc 
 tagon, phenomenon, man, juryman, talisman, Mussulman, negro, tyro, trio, cameo, 
 zero, buffalo, motto, canto, embryo, seraglio, torpedo, potato, cargo, palmotto, mu- 
 latto, manifesto, Scipio, Plato, top, thunderclap, Philip, master, quartermaster, 
 class, census, focus, genus, genius, iambus, ignoramus, axis, iris, duchess, series, 
 trellis, ellipsis, ephemeris, oasis, apparatus, chorus, denarius, Kufus, Venus, Soc- 
 rates, Gracchus, root, foot, fox, ox, six, sea-mew, gun, alley, ally, money, valley, 
 city, Henry, cousin-merman, court-martial, coming-in, out-pouring, Miss Sprague, 
 Mr. Phinney, Lord Chancellor, Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Spell the singular : — 
 
 *Appendices, arcana, antitheses, desiderata, series, virtuosi, nebulaj, volcanoes, 
 apostrophes, apparatus, igues fatui. 
 
 The noun or pronoun ; then the case, and ivhy : — 
 
 John found Mary's book, Lucy's lamb nips the grass. The sun illuminates 
 
 the world. Fair blooms the lily. lie wrote his name in his book. John shot some 
 
 squirrels in your fit'aer's field. The Greeks were more ingenious than the Ro- 
 
 . mans. In peace, he was the gale of spring ; in war, the mountain-storm. The 
 
 plough, the sword, the pen, and the needle, — how mighty ! 
 
 On that day of desolation. 
 
 Lady, I was captive made ; 
 Bleeding for my Christian nation. 
 By the walls of high Belgrade. — Campbell. 
 *Then rushed the steeds to battle driven. Sweet fountain, once again I visit 
 thee. To venture iu was to die. I know that you can learn. I hurt myself. I 
 myself hurt him. Promising and performing are two different things. To be a 
 busy-body is a mean occupation. A piece of candy ten inclies long, is worth a 
 dime. John Jones, — and what of him ? 
 
 Chiefs, sages, heroes, bards, and seers, 
 
 That live in story and in song. 
 Time for the last two thousand years 
 
 Has raised, and shown, and swept along. — Anonymous. 
 Bear witness, Greece ; thy living page 
 Attest it many a deathless age. — Byron. 
 
 Gender, person, number, and case : — 
 
 My, be, she, it, they, us, our, yours, your, them, me, we, you, hers, its, your- 
 pelf, ourselves, themselves, *who, whose, whom, wnat, which, whoever, others, 
 one's, that, none, as. 
 
 What is the nominative correnpoTiding to — 
 
 Me ? — us ? — thee ? — him ? — whom ? — her ? — hers ? — them ? — themselves 'i — hor- 
 selfil— it? 
 
 What is the objective corresponding to — 
 
 I ? — thou ? — we ? — ye ? — he ? — she ? — they ? — who 'i 
 
 Form the compound pronoun : — 
 
 My, our, thy, your, him, her, it, one, than, who, which, what. 
 
 Spell the possess'i/ve singular; then the possessive plural, if the word eati hwce it: — 
 
 Sister,t John, day. Sparks, prince, horse, St. James, John Henry Thomson, ho, 
 one, who, other, slie, it, court-mnrtial, brother-in-law, book-keeper, alumua*, 
 alumna ; Allen and Baker ; Morris, tlie bookseller. 
 
 Change into the other form, and notice the eject : — 
 
 Ajax's shield. The company's control. The company's management. The doc- 
 tor's treatment. God's love. Knowledge of the man. My friend's nomination, 
 
 t Thus: S-i-s-STs — t-c-r-apcstroi.hc-s-tei's — Sister'a 
 
THE PAKTS OF SPJCECH. 39 
 
 A.usrus.tvcs the Roman emperor's friend. Prentice's poems. Hope's pleasures. 
 V\'iiiiain's brother's wife's sister. Nature's, custom's, reason's, passion's strife. 
 The rumor of tlie death of the wife of the President. 
 
 Tell which are the pronoun.% and their antecedents when it can he detennined; also 
 diipose of both no una and pronouns in regard to case : — 
 
 Liberty iuis God on her side. Let every man take care of himself. John, you, 
 nd J, must water our garden. Neither John nor James knows his lesson. Henry, 
 ^ oil must study. He who created me, whose I am, and wiiom 1 serve, is eternal. 
 And there her'brood the partridge led. Tlie two brothers love each other. All 
 nir pupils are kind to one another. We are prone to sin. Your situation is not 
 :.uch a one as nime, *Hail ! ye men of Altorf. Said William to Joseph, " I will 
 go with you." Is the book yours, or mine 'i Where is it, Jack, where is it ? It is 
 easy to spend money. It rained the whole night. It was Henry that said it. You 
 are very sick, and 1 am sorry for it. You wrofe to me, which was all you did. His 
 praise is lost who waits till all commend. Take my advice, or that ot your father. 
 Whoever violates this rule, shall suffer the penalty. Tell me what you want. 
 Who knows yfh.o he is ? Can you tell which is which ? Whom do you take me to 
 be i I knovr not who he is. I know not who the candidate will be ? Which is 
 Shylock, and which is Antonio ? Whatever he undertakes, he performs. What- 
 ever is, is right. What in me is dark, illumine ; what is low, raise and support. 
 -Whatever i am, I tremble to think what I may be. I hope what 1 say will have an 
 etfect upon him, and prevent the impression which Avhat he says may have upon 
 others. Select whatever man is most suitable. And if thou saidst 1 'm not a peer, 
 Lord Angus, thou hast lied ! 
 
 lime writes no wrinkles on thine azure brow; 
 
 Sucn as creation's dawn beheld thee, such tuou rollest now. — Byron. 
 
 Heaven hides from brutes what men, from men what spirits, know. — Pope. 
 
 Insert tlie nouns and pronouns that will preserve the sense, and make the expression full : — 
 
 1 have lost the letter you wrote. Who bets, should be willing to lose. The 
 door opens to whoever knocks. 1 want such as hear me, to take warning. His 
 principles are such as a good man should blush to own. His principles are those 
 which a good man should blush to own. Whom slie loves so much 1 never could 
 fancy. Here are the marbles : take which is yours. 
 
 The article, and why; whether definite or indefinite, and ichij: — 
 
 The roses in the garden. The rose is a beautiful flower. A fish from the river. 
 A daughter of a duke. Tlie daughter of a duke. A daughter of the duke. A 
 portrait of the notorio us Barnum. 
 
 Place the proper indefinite article before each of the foUoioing words or phrasss : — 
 *Arrow, yard, university, hundred, hostler, harpoon, heathen, hotel, humble 
 
 request, hero, heroic poem, hexameter, habitual drunkard, eulogy, ewe, unit, 
 
 union ; united people ; ubiquitous quack. 
 
 The adjective, and why ; whether descriptive or definitive, and why ; and to what it 
 belongs : — 
 
 The blue sky. The sky is blue. An aspiring man. A modest and beautiful 
 woman, with eyes bright, blue, and affectionate. The night grew darker and 
 darker. That field has been in cultivation four years. Tiie first car is not full, 
 having but one man in it. The earth was green with grass, fresh with dew, and 
 bright with morning light. The rosy-fingered Morn. The star-powdered galaxy. 
 *The apples boiled soft. Now t\urer blooms the rose. His hammock swung loose 
 at the sport of the wind. He is asleep. Let me alone : I feel somewhat tigerish. 
 The fear of being awkward makes us awkward. To be indolent in youth, is 
 ruinous. 
 
 Whether participial, proper, compound, distributive, demonstrative or definite, indeflr 
 nite, numeral — and whether cardinal or ordinU, — and lohy: — 
 
 ~ Every, each, this, that, yonder, any, one, four, fourth; two men; second man: 
 tinkling bells ; howlmg winds ; African monkeys ; Pindaric verse ; two-edged 
 Bwords ; one dollar for every two living white-featbered turkeys. 
 
 Compare, of the following adjectives, those which can be compared with propriety : — 
 
 Wise, studious, near, good, evil, melodious, high, tuneful, saucy, eloquent, ex- 
 
 riressive, lively, nimble, late, many, ranch, few, little, old, shallow -brained, glow- 
 
40 EXERCISES ON" 4LL 
 
 inj^, *knowiasr, accomphslied, expert, half-flnished, full, counterfeit, graceful, 
 meagre, worthless, bottomless, fundamental, ornameutal, vernal, green, sluggish, 
 suu-burut, free, lirst. 
 
 3fention and spell the three degrees of comparison : — 
 
 Strong, weak, light, gay, rough, nice, coarse, fierce, white, ripe, thin, slim, dim, 
 lit, hot, fat, glad, big, droll, dry, sprightly, manly, gentle, feeble, able, idle, serene, 
 discreet, severe, polite, sublime, intense, profound. 
 
 Compare iy using less and least : — 
 
 Broad, convenient, confident, lively, troublesome, thick, joyful, sorrowful, ex- 
 orbitant, exact, indulgent, handsome. 
 
 Join suitahle adjectives to each of the follotoing nouns :— 
 
 Moon, field, fountain, trees, garden, horse, willow, man, woman, mule, pen, 
 ink, day, wood, boys, thoughte, reelings, actions, conduct. 
 
 7%e verbs, and why : — 
 
 The sun rises. Hope deceives us. Saddle your horse. Bees collect honey. 
 Honey is collected by bees. The bird flutters. The trees wave. The workmen 
 have built the house. The Indians bound their prisoners. The prisoners were 
 bound. Pinks are fragrant. The thunder was rolling. Lips, however rosy, must 
 be fed. The mill can not grind with the water that has passed. Think ot ease, 
 but work on. 'Kiches are got with pain, kept with care, and lost with grief. We 
 are loved for our gifts, but respected for the use we make of them. 
 
 The jyartioiples and the infiniiives, and why : — 
 
 Planting, planted, being planted, having planted, having been planted, to plant, 
 to be planted, to be planting, to have planted, to have been planted, to have been 
 planting. Columbus became wearied and disheartened by impediments thrown in 
 his way. The Indians fled, leaving their mules tied to the bushes. We saw the 
 sun rising. We saw the sun rise. — When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for 
 the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dis- 
 honored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States severed, discordant, and 
 belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, with fraternal 
 blood ! — Webster. 
 
 Give the principal parts, and tell whether the verb is regular or irregiUar; — 
 Form, attack, strip, deny, bow, sow, grow, sew, sin, win, spin, authorize, crit- 
 icise, skim, swim, heal, steal, fling, bring, spread, dread, twit, sit, fit, hit, die, lie, 
 mold, hold, close, lose, choose, blind, find, fine, spurn, burn, reel, feel,, blend, 
 rend, lend, loan, tend, tent, need, feed, blight, nght, wink, drink, slink, sneak, 
 speak, steep, sleep, cleave, weave, leave, reach, teach, fret, get, let, set, whet, 
 smut, put, agree, free, see, flee, fly, cry, spite, bite, write, take, make, bake, bare, 
 dare, stray, pay, slay, trick, click, stick, call, fall, fell, bind, bound, grind, ground, 
 heat, eat," roam, come, welcome, hold, uphold, withhold, give, misgive, undergo, 
 undo, counteract, say, gainsay, will, shall, have, may, can, land, stand, am, be, 
 rise, raise, tell, swell, spell, quell, lie, lay, sit, seat, set. 
 
 Oive, in the order of the Conjugation, the participles, then the inJiniUves : — 
 *Move, rise, spring, degrade, growl, find, conclude, undermine, reinstate, write, 
 invigorate, bleed, overwhelm, drown, weave, see. 
 
 The verbs, and whether transitive, passive, intransitive, or neuter, and why : — 
 Tlie horse carries his rider. The horses are hitched to the wagon. The water 
 turned the wheel. The wheel was turned by the water. Mary reads. The book 
 IS read. The m;in kicked the horse. The man was kicked by the horse. The 
 horse kicks. Such as 1 am, I have always been, and always shall be. To teach, 
 having taught, having been taught, to have been taught. *Since these men could 
 no^be convinced, it was determined that they should be persecuted. He talks weU. 
 He talks nonsense. If he thinks as he speaks, lie may be safely trusted. If you 
 arc able to help, wait not to be asked. He seated himself. He sat in a corner.^ He 
 set a trap for partridges. Lay the book where it lay before. Your leaders hissed 
 their indignation, a id shouted—" KtiL !" The workmen are building the house. 
 The house is building. Our chains are forging. Q-reen maple cuts easily. An as 
 to grind. He was never heard of afterwards. 
 
THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 41 
 
 Air, water, earth, 
 By fowl, fisli, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked. — Milton. 
 
 Ohange the following sentences so as to make the active verbs passive, and the passfoo 
 verbs active ;— 
 
 The sun adorns the world. Indolence produces misery. My neighbor has 
 planted some apple-trees. The dog bit the stranger. The distance was measured 
 by a surveyor. Morse invented the telegraph. The boat was built by Lucas. Tlie 
 lawyer sliould pay the debt. Can the river be forded at this place, by a man on 
 Horseback 'i *He paid for the carriage. The ministers speak of peace. He was 
 i^'xpected to strike. He saw and conquered. He knows to govern. To write, to 
 t*iuoke ; drying. 
 
 The verb ; then the atcxUiary, what it implies, and what mood and ten^e it expresses : 
 John can read. Mary may write. Die I must. He does improve rapidly. Do 
 you know him ? The sun has risen. The thief had left the tavern when his pur- 
 suers came. I have a knife, and it is sharp. You shall obey me. Ye will not 
 come, that ye may have life. He would not learn himself, nor could he teacii 
 others. *I will come if I can. It should not be, and it shall not be. He will go. 
 if it should be necessary. Whoever shall desert, shall be handed. Whoever would 
 desert, should be hanged. They were to sail with Columbus, m whatever direction 
 he should be sent by royal command. May God ever protect the right. 
 
 The verbs ; then ths mood, and why : — 
 
 William is writing. The rosemary nods on the grave, and the lily lolls on the 
 wave. He caught some fish. It will rain this evening. I may command, but you 
 must obey. He could and should have assisted us, but he would not. Do not 
 value a gem by what it is set in. If William study, he will soon know his lesson. 
 If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Train up a child in the way he should 
 go ; and, when he is old, he will not depart from it. The violet soon will cease to 
 smile, the whippoorwill to chant. Whatever thy hands find to do, do it with all 
 thy might. Discovered and surprised, he started up. May you be happy. If you 
 are disappointed, blame not me. If you be disappointed, blame not me. If I were 
 you, I would sell. *If the mail has come, bring my letters. He would rob others, 
 if there were no law to restrain him. O, that he were wiser. He is as merry as if 
 nothing were troubling him. If the line is drawn bisecting the angle, the seg- 
 ments are equal. If the line be drawn bisecting the angle, the segments will be 
 equal. This government will fall, if it lose the confidence of the people. This 
 government would tall, if it lost the confidence of the people. This government 
 would have fallen, had it lost the confidence of the people. Had you forborne, 
 you had still been happy. Turn we now to another part. Lot us now turn to an- 
 uther part. Heaven defend me from that Welsh fairy. Be it so. Say they who 
 can advise. Somebody call my wife. 
 
 The verbs ; then the tense, and why : — 
 
 Billows are murmuring on the hollow shore. Hushed now are the whirlwinds 
 that rurtied the deep. The rose seemed to weep for the buds it had left. The 
 storin had ceased before I reached a shelter. The storm ceased before we reached 
 a shelter. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. He who is a stranger to indus- 
 try, may possess, but he can not enjoy. Men must be taught as if you taught 
 them not. How dense and bright you pearly clouds reposing lie. Then thou shalt 
 iind tliat thou must lose thy life. It would have grieved your heart to see tiie 
 ^ight. He sank exhausted on the bloody field. Strike! for the green graves of 
 vour sires. Honor thy father and thy mother. Hallowed be thy name. I may 
 Lave made some mistake. I had heard that the spirit of discontent was very preva- 
 lent here ; but with pleasure I find that 1 have oeen grossly misinformed. Had 
 the Turkish empire then risen in opposition, it could not, at that moment, have 
 deterred them. Your character will have been forme! at the age of twenty. He 
 is supposed to have wriiten the book. I said. Go; and he went. If it were really 
 80, then I would say, Quit your business. Having received an invitation, he was 
 expected to come. I had to sell it. I had rather sell it. I would rather sell it. As 
 soon as I have learned my lesson, I will play with you. 
 
 l^ow choAige the verbs in some of fis foregoing sentences into all the other moods, then 
 itvtu all the othe: tenses. 
 
42 EXERCISES ON ALL 
 
 .V 
 
 The verbs ; then the forms, and why : — 
 
 Twilight is weeping o'er the pensive rose. As we were coming home, we saw 
 a most beautiful ruinbow. It does amaze me. Ye know not what ye say. Learn- 
 iug_ taketh away the barbarity of men's minds. Gone, forever gone, are the lovelv 
 vibious of youth. 
 
 The verbs; and of what person and number, to agree with ; — 
 
 I stud^^ We write. lie stutters. Grass grows. They w^ere. You might im- 
 prove. Tliou art the man. It is. Ye are. Thou hast been. The wind has risen. 
 Cows are lowing. The cricket cliirps. Sing, heavenly I,tuse. Seek we the shade. 
 It is I. It is they. 1 myself saw him. The general himself was slain. *Down 
 went the ship and her gal^aat crew. Down went the ship, with her gallant crew. 
 T!ie public r-re invited. The colony was injured by civil dissensions. Many a 
 man has been ruined by speculation. Be it enacted. John, bring me some water. 
 Kiso, and defend thyself. To complain is useless. What signifies your complain- 
 ing ? It is useless to complain. Is it he? There are some persons at the door. 
 Either your horse or mine is gone. Neither the woman nor her child was hurt. 
 Thou or I am to blame. He, as well as I, is to blame. 
 
 Conjugate each of the following verbs, beginning with the first person svngulcir, OAid 
 stopping with the subject :— 
 
 The boy learns. (Thus: Singular, 1st person, Ilearn ; 2d person, You learn; 
 idl>ey6on, Iley or tJieoo^, learns.) The leaves are falling. Flowers must fade. Jane 
 reads. Jane and Eiiza read. Jane or Eliza reads. The lands may have been sold. 
 Tne horse has been eating. The horses have been fed. 
 
 Covjug ate fully the verbs tittle, permit, cakey, strike, see. 
 
 The verbs; regular or irregular ; transitive, passive, intransitive, or neuter ; mood, 
 tense, and form ; 2)erso7i and number, — and why : — 
 
 He reads. We have slept. She died. Were we surpassed? Were we s^iirpassed. 
 You had seen. Had you seen ? Take care, lest thou lose it. My time might have 
 been improved better. The strawberries are ripening. 1 wish I were a careless child. 
 Now, now, while my strength and my youth are in bloom, 
 Let me think what will serve me when sickness shall come, 
 
 And pray that my sins be forgiven : 
 Let me read in good books, and believe and obey. 
 That, when Death turns me out of this cottage of clay, 
 I may dwell in a palace in heaven. — Watts. 
 
 The adverbs ; of what kind, and what they modify : — 
 
 Now, wisely, here, there, foi*wards, always, sometimes, very, long ago; wonder- 
 fully made ; to'^ofast; rather slender. The horse runs swiftly. Godis everywhere. 
 Never before did I see her look so pale. These things have always been so. You 
 do not know him a,s well as I do. I just now saw hiin here. He read aloud. The 
 hall was biilliantly illuminated, and densely crowded with hearers. He is poor 
 enough that is not lovC'l. Play is good while it is play. Perhaps you have not 
 noticed quite all the adverbs in the sentence which I have just read. The women 
 especially were well provided for. Your book is more beautiful ; mine is more 
 useful. 1 have been too idle heretofore ; but henceforth I will study more dili- 
 gently. *Not to us, bat to thy name, be all the praise. However pleasant it 
 may be, we can tarry no longer. The cooler the water, the better I like it. There 
 lived a man whose name was Dan. Secondly, there is no honorable way of retreat- 
 ing. Why, off again ? I consulted him once or twice ; not oftener. Did you ever 
 tell a lie ? — No, indeed. The flowers are no more. We have marched not quite 
 far enough as yet perhaps. The monkey at once took up the violin, and tried it 
 all over, but could not find where the tune lay. And thou hast hob-a-nobbed with 
 Pharaoh, glass to glass. 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 Late, soon, early, much, little, well, ill, long, far, proudly, heroically, partio- 
 ularly. 
 
 Mention the corresponding adverb :— 
 
 True, new, sure, good, glaring, studious, ardent, bad, patient, noblCj gentle, 
 lazv, profuse, slavish, richer, richest, plainer, severest, *nece8saiy, graphic, critic, 
 or<Ier, grammar, histoi-y, aiithmrtic, a!;;rebr;i. 
 
THE PARTS OP SPEECH. -^ 
 
 With vigor ; in a careless manner ; without care ; with pride j with scorn ; in 
 what place ; from what place ; from what cause ; in this place ; in that place ; in 
 this manner; in such a manner; to that place ; in all places j at all times ; at tho 
 present time ; as occasion requires ; to such a degree ; m a higher degree ; in the 
 lowest degree; in any degree whatever r=at uU) ; into equal parts; without 
 doubt; it maybe that; in an instant; at tnat time ; at what time; onetime; in 
 the second place ; at whatever time ; in whatever place ; from instinct ; for the 
 future ; by the year. 
 
 Wuit. phrases correspond to the following adverbs:— 
 
 Modestly, properly, angrily, disdarnfally, here, there, where, hither, thither, 
 wliither, hence, thence, whence, now, then, when, yet, monthly, successively, 
 t^uccessfully, twice, amen, more forcibly, most harmoniously. 
 
 77i-e prepositions, and between what they shoto the relation : — 
 
 Flowers are growing along the rivulet. Above, around, and beneath him were 
 clouds. I sawliim, through the window. The bear was attacked by the dogs, 
 r.nd chased through the cane-brake into the river. My dinner is in my basket un- 
 C.ax the bench. Beneath the oak lie acorns in abundance. There was a sound of 
 revelry by night. By assisting me, you will confer a great fovor on me. It hap- 
 pened since morning*, and before eleven o'clock. He came from beyond Jordan. 
 He was rowing up the river; but I, down. 
 
 Change the adjuncts into adjectives : — 
 
 These are productions of nature. He is a man of honesty and industry. This 
 is a garden for the use of the kitchen. A fellow without worth. The orphan 
 without friends. The gate of the prison. 
 
 Change the relative clauses into adjuncts, then the adjuncts into adjectives: — 
 The man who is temperate, will live long. The horse which ran most swiftly, 
 fell over a precipice that is very high. The trees which bloom earliest, are gen- 
 erally the first that die. 
 
 Change the adjuncts into adjterhs : — 
 
 They advanced with caution. Arrayed in splendor. Fast in a moderate de- 
 gree. Collecting with rapidity. At this time. Let me tell you for what reason. 
 
 Expand into adjuncts: — 
 
 Worldly cares. Ethereal realms. A hazel thicket. Skillfully performed. 
 Neatly dressed. Spread profusely. Flashing clouds thundered afar. 
 
 T!ie conjunctions, what they imply, and xchat they connect : — 
 
 And, also, because, since, yet, but, however, if, though, that, unless, inasmuch 
 :;s, notwithstanding, or, nor. You must study, if you would be wise. I did not, 
 because I could not. John is industrious, but Charles is indolent. He is neither 
 !e;iriied nor naturally sagacious. I will either, come or send. Unless you are 
 economical, you will never bacome rich. 'Tis true, but yet in vain. 
 
 Tlie interjections, and of what hind: — 
 
 ! oh ! alas ! welcome ! hail ! ho ! ah ! tush ! hurrah ! Deluded hopes ! — oh, 
 worse than death! Tut! such aristocracy. La you! if you speak ill of the 
 Devil, how he takes it at heart I Aha 1 caught at last. Adieu ! adieu ! dear 
 native land. 
 
 Tell ofiohatpart of speech each word is, and show its relation to the other words: — 
 The storms of time that prostrated the proudest monuments of the world, 
 fscemed to have left their vibrations in the still, solemn air ; ages of history passed 
 before me ; the mighty processions of nations, kings, consuls, «mperors, empires, 
 and generations, had passed over that sublime theatre. — Travels in Italy. 
 'Tis the star-spangled banner ! 0, long may it wave 
 O'er the laud of the free and the home of the brave. — Key. 
 And there lay the rider distorted and pale. 
 With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail. — Byron. 
 Supply the words omitted : — 
 
 A man and woman were drowned. You may write, and then cipher. Give 
 him bi8 hook. He is like you. A book of my sister's. John knows more than 
 
44 KULES OF SYNTAX. 
 
 Rufua. Tlie first tree and the fourth are dead. I shall call for you at Smith's. 
 You have the horse I want. Let it be. Arm, soldiers ! How now, Tul al ; what 
 news from Genoa? Sweet the pleasure, rich the treasure. Strange indeed, he 
 should have known me ! Will you go there? — I go there? Never. Soon ripe, 
 soon rotten. 
 
 Cliange the position of the words, without changing the meaning : — 
 After a painful struggle, I yielded to my fate. Sweet songs were heard the 
 leafy dells along. Me elory summons to the martial scene. Various, sincere, 
 and constant are the efforts of men to produce that happiness which the mind 
 requires. 
 
 "^ell which is the subject, and which in the predicate : — 
 ^ Birds sing. The grass is growing. The bird Tias been singing. The clothes 
 will have been dried. Read. Hark ! they whisper ; angels say, Sister-spirit, come 
 away. The sun shines and warms. The sun and moon shine". 
 
 77*6 entire suhject end the entire predicate ; then the subject-nominative and by what 
 modified, and the predicate-verb and by what modified .•— 
 
 The dog barks. The dog is watchful. The dog is a quadruped. An angry bee 
 stings. The soul can not die. The parrot is a noisy bird. Gold is the miser's 
 delight. x\ lamp without oil is useless. Her eyes are blue. The reed bends un- 
 der the wind. The leaves fall off. The passengers crossed the mountains, on 
 mules. A servant comes running. The thrush sings merrily in the morning, from 
 the top of the tree. The sick man needs a physician. The man who is sick, needs 
 a physician. There is new offered you an opportunity to see your uncle. 
 
 Point out the clauses : — 
 
 If we must fail, be it so •, but we shall not fail. 
 
 Because I eat and drink without luxury, banislung all foreign superfluity ; be- 
 cause I dress myself in a way at once comfortable, and pleasing to the eye ; because 
 I reinstate the manly beard "in its lost honor; because I withstand privileges and 
 
 {)reiudices, and would pass for no more than I am worth ; because I will not estab- 
 ish my character by a duel, or bear about the insignia of real or feigned services ; 
 because I forswear deceit, and assert the truth without fear, — am I therefore to be 
 treated, in the nineteenth century, as a fool ? 
 
 11. RULES OF SYNTAX. 
 
 THE RELATIONS OF WORDS TO ONE ANOTHER, IN THE STRUCTURE OF 
 
 SENTENCES. 
 
 Words axe used to express thoughts ; but every thought requires two 
 or more words to be associated or grouped together, in order to express 
 it Almost every word, therefore, is so made or modified, or is of such a 
 nature, that it looks to some other word for complete sense, and would 
 be as unmeaning and useless by itself as a detached piece of a steam- 
 engine. 
 
 Ex. — " The white house gleaming on yonder hill, was built long ago for me 
 and my family to live in it." The relates to house, siiowing that some particular 
 one is meant; t^Me relates to Ao?Ase, describing it; house relates io was huill, 
 the thing said of it; gleaming relates to Jioase, describing it ; on relates to gleam- 
 ing and hill, showing where ; hill relates to on, showing on what ; wiis built, 
 relates to hoic-se, showing what is said of it ; long ago relates to was built, show- 
 ing when ; for relates to was built and me and my family, showing the purpose ; 
 me and my family relates to /or; and cotjnects me and family, showing that tho 
 two are to be taken together ; my relates to family, showing what fiimily ; to 
 live relates to me and family, showing what we do ; in relates to it and to live. 
 
iiUhKH OF SYNTAX. 45 
 
 sl lowing whore ; :iiul it relates to house aa the thing meant, and to in as de- 
 noting where. Tliia iUustration may teach you, to some extent, what the fol- 
 lowing Rules mean. 
 
 Jl;^- To illustrate tho relaiions or offices of -words still better, (he teacher may do well to -write on 
 the biack board, in conne-.od or deiached order, the foreHToinp: sentence, and the most suitable of the 
 1- Mlences -which accompany tho following Kules; and then join the related parts bj connecting lines 
 drawn above or below. 
 
 IvULE I. — A NOUN or PRON(^UN Used as the subject of a 
 finite verb, must be in the nominative case. 
 
 Kx.— "//eis." y They are.'' "/am." " IFe are." ^^ Thou dar'^t not."" "Tho 
 man, who is industrious, can earn what he needs." "/ have less than he (has)." 
 '•/y lie IS disgmceful." 
 
 liuLE II. — A NOUN or PRONOUN used independently or ab- 
 solutely, must be in the nominative case. 
 
 Ex, — Independently: "Go, Tubal, ^o."" ^'■Plato, thou reasonst -well." "Three 
 thousand ducats ! 'tis a good round siun." " To he — or not to he, — that is the 
 question!" "The Pilgrim Fathers, — where are they?" "My hanhs they are 
 furnished with bees." " Worcester's D'/i'Jormrjj, QnabridTo I." Absolutely : 
 "The coat fitting, I 'bought it." "To become a thorough scholar, requires great 
 application." " No one suspected his being ^foreigner.'''' 
 
 EuLE III. — A NOUN or pronoun that limits the meaning 
 of another by denoting possession, 7nust be in the possessive 
 case. 
 
 Ex. — " Jolm^s horse." That is, not any horse, but the one that belongs to 
 John. "&> WaV.er ScotVs works." " Whoie book is it, if not mine \=my book] ? 
 " Smiths [store] and Barton's store." " Smith, Allen, and Barton's store." " Call 
 at tSmUh''s, the oooJcseller.''' That is, at Smith's house or store. "The captain of 
 the Neptune's wife." 
 
 Rule IV. — A noun or pronoun used as the object of a trans- 
 itive verb in the active voice, must be in the objective case. 
 
 Ex. — " I saw Am, and he saw wje." " Whom did you hft ?" "David slew 
 Goliath.'''' " Most cliildren like to play — like skat'iug and sleiglbing.'" " Do you 
 K^ow how to do it ?^' "No one knows how much he is in ddt.'" "By reading 
 good hooks, you will improve." 
 
 Rule V. — A noun or pronoun used as the object of a prep- 
 osition, must be in the objective case. 
 
 Ex. — " It was sent bt me to Aim." That is, we could not say, when speaking 
 correctly, It was sent by /to he. "An apple fob & peach.'''' "By reading in 
 good hooks, you will improve." 
 
 Rule VI. — A noun or pronoun used without a governing 
 word, but modifying like an adverb or adjunct some other 
 word, must be in the objective case. 
 
 Ex. — " The street is a mile long, and forty feet wide." " The horse ran six 
 niiles.'" " The knife is wokth a dollar." " The amphibious thing now tkips a 
 lady, and now strl'ts a l&rd.'" — Pope. " I do not care a straw.'''' "He is nothing 
 TOO good for it." " The milk is a little sour." 
 
 Rule YII. — A noun or pronoun that does not bring an- 
 other person or thing into the sentence, and is used merely for 
 explanation, emphasis, or description, must be in the same 
 case as the noun or prono^in denoting the person or thing. 
 
40 RULES OF SYNTAX. 
 
 Ex. — " The axBANGEK-was jonr/riendjheth&t afterwards became mj instritctor.''* 
 " Taxes, endless taxes, are the consequences of corruption." '' He struts a dandy.'''' 
 " They made him captain.'''' " He was made captain.'''' 
 
 KuLE VIII. — The relative what, and other expressions of 
 the same kind, may have a twofold construction in regard 
 to case. 
 
 Ex. — " I TOOK what STTITED me." " Whoever siss, will suffer." " Take which- 
 ever horse you like." " The Hon will kill whatever man tououes him." 
 
 EuLE IX. — A PRONOUN must agree with its aiitecederit, 
 in gender, person, and number. 
 
 Ex. — "Thomas found his dog with Henry's dogs, and ^Aey were all chasing a 
 DEER which had leaped out of the wheat-iield. The antecedent is the substantive in 
 reference to which the pronoun is used; as, "Mary lost her book." Here Mary 
 is the antecedent of her. It is not necessary to apply the Eule, unless it is definitely 
 known what the antecedent is. 
 
 Rule X. — An article or an adjective belongs to the 
 substantive to luhich it relates. 
 
 Ex. — A r tides : " Bring a rose from the garden." " A gardener's wages." 
 " Once upon a summer's day." " A noun and pronoun." " The house and lot." 
 *■*■ An industrious people, having a great many curious inventions." Adjec- 
 tives: " T'his APPLE is ripe.'''' " The truly good [people] are happy^ " The ap- 
 ples boiled soft.'''' " To live comfortably, is desirable.^'' (What is desirable ?) 
 
 Note X. — An adjective is sometimes used absolutely after a preceding 
 participle or infinitive. 
 
 Ex. — " To BE good is to be happy?'' " The dread of being poor.'''' 
 
 Rule XI. — A finite verb must agree with its subject, in 
 person and number. 
 
 Ex.— "He is.'" "They are:'' "Thou art:'' "I am." "Tea and silk are 
 brought from the East." "' A week or a month soon passes away." " Our people 
 are enterprising." "No nation »s at war with us." '■'■ Believe [thou] and obey:'' 
 '_' To write ten lines a day,| is sufficient." " That so many are ruined in large cities,] 
 is owing to bad examples." 
 
 Note XI. — In a few peculiar expressions, knite verbs are used without 
 a suitable subject, or without any subject. 
 
 Ex.—" MethinJcs:'' 
 
 " Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run 
 By angels many and strong." — M'dton's P. L., B. VI. 
 And perhaps, " God said, Let us make man in our own image." 
 
 XII. — A participle or an infinitive relates to a noun or 
 pronoun as its subject; and the infinitive may besides modify 
 the meaning or complete the construction of some other word 
 or part of the sentence. 
 
 Ex. — " Wk I WALKED out to scc tho Moox rising:'' "A mountain so high as to be 
 perpetually covered with snow." A noun'or pronoun, used as such a subject, may 
 1)6 either in the nominative case or in the objective case; and it denotes the object 
 to which the act or state belongs. 
 
 NoTK XII. — A PARTICIPLE ov an iNri:^iTiVE is sometimes used absolutely 
 or independently. 
 
PARSING. 47 
 
 Ex. — " Generally speaking, youn^ men are better for business than old men are." 
 " To L'O about, seeking employment, is irksome." " But, to proceed: It has been fre- 
 quently remarked," etc. " h)very man has, so to speak, several strings by which he 
 may be pulled." But suitable words can generally be supplied, to avoid the neces- 
 sity of using this Note. 
 
 Rule XIII. — An adverb belongs to the word, phrase, or 
 proposition, which it modifies. 
 
 Ex. — " A most BEAUTIFUL horso galloped very 'Rkvidly up the road." 
 
 Note XIII. — A conjunctive adverb joins on something that usually 
 
 expresses the time, place, or manner, or that is used in the sense of an adverb 
 
 an adjective^ or a noun. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■Giowhenjoxi. please." "The grave where our hero was buried." "I 
 
 know how you got it." 
 
 Remark XIII. — An adverb appears to he sometirriies used independently. 
 
 Ex. — " Well, I really don't know what to do." " Why, that is a new idea.'' 
 Adverbs thus used partake somewhat of the nature of conjunctions and interjec- 
 tions. 
 
 Rule XI Y. — A preposition shoios the relation of an an- 
 tecedent term, to a subsequent term in the objective case. 
 
 Ex. — " The trees most beautiful in spring, blossomed along the bank on the 
 otliersiUE of the river," " He took the slate //-o/^ me and him, and gave it to her 
 for WHOM he had bought it." Antecedent means going before; subsequent means 
 following : the terms are usually so arranged, unless inverted, whioli sometimes 
 happens. Tlie antecedent term maybe a noun, ^pronoun, an adjective, a verb, an 
 adverb, or even & phrase ; the subsequent term must be a substantive. 
 
 Rule XV. — Conjunctions connect clauses or sentences ; 
 and also words or phrases in the same construction. 
 
 Ex. — ^^ And there lay the rider distorted and pale," 
 
 " Weeds and briers now grow in the field, because it is not cultivated. 
 
 Rule XVI. — Interjections have no grammatical con- 
 nection with other words. 
 
 Canyon repeat Rule Istf— 9df—?>df—4thr— 6th f—ethl—lthf-Sth f—'^thf— 10th f-^ 
 nth f—nth f—mh f—Uth f—lUh f—16th f 
 
 12. PARSING. 
 
 General Formula. — The part of speech, and why ; the kind, and why ; 
 the properties, and wliy ; the relation to other words, and according to 
 what Rule. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Formula.— An article, and why; ^^^l^^ \ and why; to what it belongs, 
 
 and according to what Rule. 
 
 "The river." 
 
 " The'''' is an article, — a word placsd before a noun to show how it is applied ; 
 dejj/nite, it shows that some particular river is meant ; and it belongs to " river,''^ ac- 
 cording to Rule X : '■^An article belongs to the substantive to which it relates.''^* 
 
 " Biver'''' is a noun, it is a name ; common, it is a name common to all_ objects o{ 
 the same kind ; neuter gender, it denotes neither a male nor a female ; third person^ 
 it represents an object as spoken of; singular number, it means but one. 
 
 • Tt Is not necessary, in parsinij, to repeat of a Rule more than th« oxamp'e -"^quires. 
 
4 8 PARSING. 
 
 In like manner parse the following phrases : — ' 
 
 The man. The men. A rose. An arrow. 
 
 The horse. The horses. A melon. An island. 
 
 The child. The children. A university. An uncle. 
 
 ^ " A man's hat." 
 
 " ^" is an article, — a word placed before a noun to show liow ii is applied ; i7i- 
 dejinite, it shows tliat no particular man is meant, and it belongs to '■'•inan's,'''' ac- 
 cording to Eule X. (Repeat it.) 
 
 *' Man's'''' is a noun^ it is a name ; common, it is a generic name; masculine gerv- 
 der, it denotes a male; third person, it represeuts an object as spoken of; sln'juldr 
 nutaler, it means but one ; and in i\\Q possessive case, it limits the meanmg of '■'•hat,'''' 
 according to Eule III. (Jiepeat it.) 
 
 " Hat"'' is parsed like " river.'''' 
 
 Ill like onamner parse the following phrases : — 
 
 A neighbor's farm. The sun's splendor. 
 
 An Indian's hatchet. The boy's book. 
 
 A teamster's whip. The boys' books. 
 
 A lady's fan. Women's fancies. 
 
 Adjectives. 
 
 Formula. — An adjective, and why ; ^f^% *^'^' [ and why ; whether com- 
 
 pared or not, and how ; the degree, and why ; to what it belongs, and accord- 
 ing to what Rule. 
 
 " A beautiful morning." 
 
 *'' BeautifuV is an adjective, — a word used to qualify or Ihnit the meaning of a 
 Bubstantive ; descriptive, it describes or qualifies tlie morning ; compared pos. 
 beautiful, comp. more heautiful, super), most leautiful : iu the pmtive degree, it 
 ascribes the quality simply ; and it belongs to " morning,'''' according to Rule X. 
 (Repeat it.) 
 
 "All men." 
 
 Formula. — An adjective, and why ; the kind, and \k\\j ; to what it belongs, 
 and according to what Rule. 
 
 " AlV is an adjective, — a word used to qualify or limit the meaning of a sub- 
 stantive; definit'ive, it limits or modifies the meaning of "me«.;" and it belongs to 
 " m^/i," according to Eule X. (Repeat it.) 
 
 Parse the following phrases : — 1 . 
 
 A* ripe melon. An early riser. The black-winged redbird. 
 
 A dark night. An older man. The red-winged blackbird. 
 
 The dearest whistle. The whitest rose. The fairest lady. 
 
 Delightful scenery. A most,^ ingenious story. 
 
 Flowery meadows. The most** eloquent preacher. 
 
 Elegant furniture. The less'' objectionable place. 
 
 A more'' beautiful day. The least'' troublesome servant. 
 
PAESINQ. 49 
 
 3. 
 
 The obedient, kind, cheerful, and"* The besb gift. 
 
 industrious pupil. John's bay horse. 
 
 A large, black, and** fiery The worst condition. 
 
 cloud. The last interview. 
 
 A man bold, sensible, sensitive, A good boy's mother. 
 
 proud, energetic, and'' ambitious. Webster's most'' eloquent speech. 
 
 4. 
 
 Yonder house. Bach pupil. G-round corn. 
 
 This tree. Such a person. Every fourth man. 
 
 That barn. PurUng streams. Those two benches. 
 
 These trees. Whispering breezes. The lawyer's own case. 
 
 Twelve* Spartan virgins, noble, young, and fair, 
 
 With violet wreaths adorned their flowing hair. — Dryden. 
 
 («.) "J." shows that no particular " ripe melon" is meant. (&.) To be omitted in parsing^ 
 (*) Parse the adjectives and the nouns. 
 
 Nouns. 
 
 Formula. — A noun^ and why ; "^J,^^ [■ and why ; collective, and wtijr j 
 
 gender^ and why ; person, and why ; number, and why ; case, and Rule. 
 
 " Snow is falHng." 
 
 " Snow'''' is a nmm, it is a name ; common, it is a generic name ; neuter gender, it 
 denotes neither male nor female ; th'ird per-ion,, it represents an object as spoken 
 of; singular number, it means but one ; and in the Twrnlnative case — it is tho sub- 
 ject of "the verb is falling — according to Eule I. (Repeat it.) 
 
 Parse the arUcles, the adjectives, and the notons : — 
 
 1. 
 David slew Groliath". Mr. Holmes taught Henry* arithmetic. 
 
 Cattle eat grass. With Sarah's pen. 
 
 Cats catch fi^ice. James the coachman'' is sick. 
 
 Across the road''. The poet Milton was blind. 
 
 Around the fire. Bancroft the historian was made chairman^ . 
 
 Th golden ringlets. Greorge is a gentleman and a scholar. 
 
 2. 
 
 Alice®, bring your books, slate, and paper. 
 The boy® — ! where was he ? 
 To be a scholar® requires mind and labor. 
 My mother* being sick, I remained at home. 
 The canal is 4 feet'' deep, and 36 feet wide. 
 
 in.) " Goliath" is a noun, etc. • * • and in the objective case — it is the object of the vertr 
 $lew — according to Rule IV. — The Italicized words determine the parsing of other words. 
 
 (?>.) " Eoad'" is a noun, etc. • * * and in the objective case — ^it is the object of the prep- 
 osition around — according to Rule V. 
 
 (0.) arid in the nominative case to agree with " Jimes" according to Rule VII. 
 
 ('-/.) and in the nominative case to agree with " Bancroft,''^ according to Rule VII. 
 
 («?.) . and in the nominative easo, according to Rule II. 
 
 (/.) and ill the objecLivj case — ^liniiti.ig " deejf — according to Rule VI. 
 
50 . PARSING. 
 
 Pronouns. 
 
 relative, J 
 
 FoRMDiiA, — A pronoun, — definition ; personal, > and wiiy ; gender, and 
 
 interrogative, ) 
 why; person, and why; number, and why; case, and Rule. 
 
 ''I myself saw John and his brother," 
 
 " /" is a pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun ; personal, it is ono 
 of the pronouns that serve to distinguish the diiferent persons ; of the common gen- 
 der, it may denote either a male or a female ; Jirst person, it denotes tlie speaker ; 
 dngular number, it means but one ; and in the nominative case — it is the subject of 
 tiie verb saw — according to Kule I. 
 
 '■'■Myself'' is a pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun ; compound, it 
 is compounded of my and self; personal, etc. * * * and in the nominative case to 
 agree with " /," according to Rule VII. 
 
 " Ill'i''' is a pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun ; personal, it is 
 one of tiie pronouns tliat serve to distinguish the ditferent persons ; of the masoa- 
 Une gender, third person, and singular number, to agree with " John,'''' according to 
 Kule IX ; (renaut it ;) and in i\x<i p;)ssesdoe case, it limits the meaning of " 'brother^'' 
 according to Kule III. (Repeat it.) 
 
 " Read thy doom in the flowers, which fade and die." 
 
 " Which^^ is a pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun ; relative, it 
 makes its clause dependent on another ; ot the neuter gender, third person, and 
 plural numher, to agree witli ''' fiowers,'''' according to Rule IX ; (repeat it ;) and in 
 the nominative case — it is the subject of the werhs fade and die — according to Rule I. 
 
 " Whom did you see ?" 
 
 " Whom'''' is a pronoun, — a word that takes the place of a noun; interrogative, it 
 is used to ask a question ; of the common gender, it may denote eitlier a male or a 
 female; third person,^ it represents an object as spoken of; singular number, it 
 means hut one ; and in the objective case — it is the object of the verb d'bd see — ac- 
 cording to Rule IV. 
 
 " James reads what pleases him." 
 
 '* WhaV \'i ?i pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun; relative, it 
 makes its clause dependent on another ; of the neuter gender, it denotes neither a 
 male nor a female ; third person, it represents an object as spoken of; singular num- 
 ber, it means but one ; and it is here used as the object of " reads''' and the subject 
 of '■'pleases,'''' — because it takes the place of tJiat which or thlTig which, — according to 
 Rule VIII. (Repeat it.) 
 
 " Nature deigns to bless whatever man will use her gifts aright." 
 
 " Whatever'''' is an adjective, — a word that qualifies or limits the meaning of n 
 substantive ; definitive, it limits or modifies the meaning of " man,'" and it belongs 
 to "man,'''' according to Rule X. 
 
 " Man''' is a noun, it is a name ; common, it is a generic name, etc. * * * and 
 it is used here as the object of '' to blebs'''' and the subject of " will use,'''' — because 
 the phrase whatever m^n takes the place of any or every man that, — according to 
 Rule VIII. 
 
 " I do not know what he is doing." 
 
 '* Whaf'' is ii pronoun, — a word that supplies the place of a noun ; rehrfive, it 
 makes its clause dependent on another ; of the ne'uler gender, it denotes neither a 
 male nor a female ; third person, it represents an object as spoken of; s'tngular 
 number, it means but one ; and in the objeotive case — it is the object of the verb ia 
 doing — according to Rule IV. 
 
PARSING. 51 
 
 " The Gaul offered bis own head to whoever should bring him that of 
 Nero." " The old bird feeds her young ones." " These horses I received 
 for the others." 
 
 " Whoever''^ is a2^ronoun,—a, word that supplies the place of a noun ; compound, 
 it is compounded of who and ever ; relative, it makes its clause dependent on an- 
 other; oi Xj\\q common gender, third person, singular number, to agree with '■'■ per 
 son,'''' or " any person,'''' understood before it, — according to Kule IX; and in the 
 nominutive case — it is the subject of the verb should give — according to Eule I. 
 
 " Thaf'' is aprono'un, — a word that suppnes the place of a noun ; it is here used 
 in the place of " the head,'''' and is therefore of the neuter gender, third person, sin- 
 gular nMuher ' and in the oljective case — being the object of the verb bring — ac- 
 curtliug to Kule IV. " Ones'''' and " others'''' are parsed in a similar way. 
 
 Parse the articles, the ad^ectmes, the nowns, and tTie pronouns ;— 
 
 1. We caught him. Alfred dressed himself'. Martha has recited her'' 
 lesson. A dutiful son is the dehght of his parents. And thou" majestic 
 Ooean**! Ye golden clouds ? With me^. ^o them, ^mon.^' themselves. 
 From their abhorrence of each other*" . I saw your brother, who^ was sick. 
 She who«f studies her glass, neglects her heart. It was I<^ thaf* went. 
 
 2. He was such a talker as' could delight us alU. What^ costs nothing, 
 is worth^" nothing*. He found what he sought. Take whatever you like. 
 Whatever you like, take. I will leave what is useless. Who' was Blen- 
 nerhasset ? Who" is my neighbor ? Do you know what democracy is ? 
 Others may he more intelligent, but none" are more amiable, than she is. 
 Your horse trots well, but mine" paces. Whoever gives to the poor, lends 
 to the Lord. 
 
 Art thou"" thatJ traitor J angel'^, art thou™ he', 
 Who* first broke peace in Heaven? — Milton. 
 
 (a.) Rule IV. (&.) Rules IX and III. (c.) Rule II. (d.) Rule VII. (e.) Rule V. 
 
 (/.) '■•Each other'' is a. pronoun, a word that supplies the place of a noun; compound, 
 it consists of two words ; of the common gender, etc. 
 
 {g.) Rules IX and I. (A.) That='Who ; hence a relative pronoun, (i.) . was such 
 
 a talker = — was a talker that or who . {j ) Adjective, (/f.) Rule VIII. (l.) 
 
 Rule VII. Who was Blennerhasset?=Blennerhasset was who? (m.) Rule I. To apply 
 Rule VII to «c/w, would give a different meauiag to the sentence, (n.) Pronoun, (o.) Say, 
 "ifcTi/fe" is here used for "»iy horse.'^ My is a pronouu, etc. (Parse the two words as 
 usual.) 
 
 Vert>s. 
 
 Finite Verbs. 
 
 farts ; '^^S'^'^^i L and why ; the mood, and why ; the tense, and why, — with 
 
 form (emphatic or progressive), and why ; the person and nwnber, to agree with 
 its subject , according to Rule XL 
 
 " My father is ploughing the field which was bought last year." 
 
 " Is ploughing''' is a verb, — a word used to afiirm something of a subject ; prin- 
 clpal parts, — pres. plough, past ploughed, perf. 'p&.rt. ploughed ; regular, it takes the 
 inflection ed ; transitive, it has an object (field) ; indicative mood, it aflBrms some- 
 thing as an actual occurrence or fact ; present tense, it expresses the act in present 
 time, — and progressive form, it represents it as continuing ; third person an<i sin- 
 gular number, — to agree with its subject father, — according to Kule XI. (Repeat 
 
 " "Was houghV is a verb, — a word used to affirm something of a subject ; priT*- 
 cipal parts, — pres. buy, past bought, perf. part. l>ougkt; irregular, it does not take the 
 
 3* 
 
52 PARSING. 
 
 inflection ed ; passive, it afflrmg the act of the object acted upon ; indicative mom/., 
 It asserts something as an actual occurrence or fact ; past tense, it refers the act 
 simply to past time ; third person aad singular number, — to agree with its subject 
 which, — according to Rule XI. 
 
 Participles and Infinitives. 
 
 -p K participle, ) (i i . transitive or passive, }_ ^ h > 
 
 An infinitive, ) ^"^ "^ y> intransitive or neuter, J ^^ w y , 
 
 mrfect \ ^^^ ^^^' — with /or/?i, and why ; to what it relates, and according to 
 
 what Rule. (XII.) 
 
 In parsing a present participle, oraXtform; and in general omit of the Formitlas whatever 
 18 not applicable. 
 
 " The traveler having been robbed, was obliged to sell his horse." 
 
 " Raving heen rohhed''^ is a participle, — an inflected form of the verb, construed 
 like an adjective, and expressing no affirmation; compound, it consists of tliree 
 participles ; passive, it represents its subject as acted upon; perfect in sense, it ex- 
 presses the act or state as past and finished at the time referred to ; and it relates to 
 '■'■traveler,'''' according to Rule XII. (Repeat it.) 
 
 " To selV is an infinitive, — a form of the verb beginning usually with to, and 
 expressing no affirmation ; transitice, it has an object ; present, it denotes the act 
 simply ; and it relates to " traveler,'" and completes the sense of " was obliged,'''' ac- 
 cording to Rule XII. 
 
 " To betray is base." " I insist on writing the letter." 
 "7b 'betray''' is an intransitive, active, present infimtive, from the verb betray, be- 
 trayed, betrayed. It is here used also as a noun of the neuter gender, third person, 
 singular r^umber ' and in the nominative case — being the subject of the verb is — 
 according to Rule I. 
 
 " Writing'''' is a transitive, active, present participle, from the verb write, wrote, 
 written. It is here used also as a noun of the neuter gender, third person, singukir 
 number ; and in the objective case — being the object of' the preposition on — accord- 
 ing to Rule V. 
 
 " It affords us pleasure to have seen the rising sun attended by so many 
 beautiful clouds." 
 
 " To have seen''' is a transitive, active, perfect infinitive, from the verb see, saw, 
 seen. It is here used also as a noun of the neuter gender, third person, singular 
 number ,' and in the nominative case, to agree with " /i," according to Rule VII. 
 
 " Bising'''' is an adjective, — a word used to qualify or limit the meaning of a sub- 
 stantive; participial, it is a participle — from the verb rise, rose, risen — ascribing 
 the act or state to its subject as a quality ; it can not be compared with propriety, 
 and belongs to " sw/i" according to Rule X. 
 
 " Attended'''' is a participle, — an inflected form of the verb, construed like an 
 adjective, and expressing no affirmation ; passive, it represents its subject as acted 
 upon ; perfect in form — but present in sense, for it represents the act or state as 
 present aiid continuing at the time referred to ; and it relates to " sun,'''' according 
 to Rule XII. 
 
 Parse the articles, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, finite verbs, participles, and infini- 
 tives : — 
 
 1. 
 Columbus discovered Ana erica. The storm roars. 
 We love our friends. Birds fly. It was I*. 
 
 Susan spilt the ink. The leaves quiver, 
 
 fortune favors him. Rivers flow, and stars twinkle. 
 
 They struck rae. The sunny stream glitters. 
 
 Tl^e tall pines rustle. The tall pines are rustling. 
 
PAKSING. 53 
 
 The rose is beautiful. Ponds may be deep. 
 
 Fierce was the conflict. You might have been more unfortunate. 
 
 John will become rich. The horses might have been fed. 
 
 Have you been sick ? The lady may kave been handsome. 
 
 He was the leader. The apples may have been eaten. 
 
 Horace struts a dandy". Washington was patriotic. 
 
 She was named Mary*. The soldiers will be attacked. 
 
 ] was asked some questions^. Reckless youth makes rueful age. 
 
 They made him captain*. Joseph has lost his hat. 
 
 He was made captain*. The tailor will have finished your coat. 
 
 He is said to be'' the captain*. Be sincere. (Be thou sincere.) 
 
 Man is made to mourn". Move your desk. 
 
 Pompey was stabbed. Hope and persevere. 
 
 The summer day is closed — the sun is set"^. 
 
 The highest branch is not the safest roost*. 
 
 The young twig has spread its flowerets to the sun. 
 
 Do you venture a small fish to catch a great one®. 
 
 3. 
 
 The distant hills look blue. You must write a composition, William 
 can read Latin. Can you spell ^'phthisic''? James would go. Mary could 
 have learned her lessons. We should love our neighbors. Did you go ? 
 Has the instructor left the room ? Time and thinking tame the strongest 
 grief. To err' is human ; to forgive, divine. Of making many books, 
 there is no end. Reprove not a scorner, lost he hate thee. If he were 
 economical, he would prosper. 
 
 While he went trudging* on foot, wearying himself and wasting his 
 time, people came, grew weary, and would not wait. Here was an op- 
 portunity«f to grow rich. I ordered him"" to be brought. It is the duty of 
 every one, to cultivate* the heart and mind. Little meddUng makes fair 
 parting. How are the mighty J fallen ! Let Love** have" eyes, and Beauty 
 will have ears. silvery streamlet' of the fields, that flovvest full and free. 
 Now May, with life and music, the blooming valley fills. To die', — it is 
 an awful thing I — Had Homer and Yirgil changed^ subjects, they had cer- 
 tainly been worse poets at G-reece and Rome, whatever they had been 
 esteemed by the rest of mankind. — Pope. 
 
 (a.) Rule Vir, (&.) Rule VI. (c.) Rule XII. (d.) " is set" =has set. (e.) 
 
 " one" is used in the place of "^s/i " (/.) Rule I. (g.) That is, an opportunity /or 
 
 Wm or ctn^ o?ie to grow rich. (A.) Rule IV. (i.) Rule II. {j.) ■ ^' the miglitir' = the- 
 
 mighty raea. (k.) •■'■Had, changed," " Aii been" {=wo\i\i have been), and '■'■ fuid been 
 enUemed'' (=might have been esteemed), are in the subjunctive mood. 
 
 Adverbs. 
 
 Formula. — An adverb, and why ; if it may be compared, say so, and how , 
 oiwhat kind; to what it belongs, and according to what Rule or Note. 
 
 " The trees are waving beautifully." 
 
 ^'•Beautifully''' ia an adverb, it modifies the meaning of a verb (are waving) ; it 
 may be compared,— -pos. beautifally, comp. more beautifully, superl. mo^t beaati- 
 fvUy' it is an adverb of manner or quality ; and it belongs to tlie verb a/re waving 
 according to Rule XIII. (Kepeat of tiie Kale as much, us is applicable.) 
 
54 PAESING. 
 
 " G-ather roses while they bloom." 
 
 " WTiile''' is an adverb, — a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an ad- 
 jective, or an adverb ; it is a conjunctive adverb of time ; and it belongs to both the 
 verb gather and the verb lloom, according to Eule XIII. Or say, — 
 
 " WldW'' is an advert, — a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an ad- 
 jective, or an adverb ; conjunctive, it connects its own clause to another to express 
 the time, according to Note XIII. 
 
 " Can not you go too ?" 
 
 '■'■ NoV is an admrl, — a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjec- 
 tive, or an adverb ; it is an adverb of negation ; and it modifies the verb can go 
 with reference to '■'•you,'''' and therefore belongs to them, according to Eule Xlli. 
 (Repeat it.) 
 
 Parse the articles, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, verts, and adverts : — 
 1. Adverbs Modifying Verbs. 
 The horse galloped gracefully. My father has just come. 
 
 The birds sung sweetly. The leaves must soon fall. 
 
 The water flows rapidly. God rules everywhere. 
 
 Mary sews and" knits well. Here will I stand. 
 
 2. Adverbs Modifying Adjectives. 
 Her child was very young. He is perfectly honest. 
 
 The music rose softly sweet. My hat is almost new. 
 
 John is most studious. The wound was intensely painful. 
 
 3. Adverbs Modifying Adverbs. 
 
 Some horses can run very fast. Thomas is not very industrious. 
 He stutters nearly always. The field is not entirely planted. 
 
 You must come very soon. She had been writing very carefully. 
 
 4 3fisceUan60tis IXnamples. 
 
 Smack went the whip, round went the wheels. Be always sincere. 
 Flowers come forth early. As** you sow, so"* you shall reap. In vain Ve 
 seek for' perfect happiness'^ . Sadly and slowly we laid him down. We 
 carved not^ a line, we raised not a stone. But* he lay Uke a warrior" 
 taking his rest. The soldier died where he fell. 
 
 You have advanced not far enough yet Even^ from the tomb tlie 
 voice of nature cries. These scenes, once so*" delightful, no longer please 
 him. The dew glitters when the sun rises. Joseph behaved as I requested 
 him to behave. 
 
 Yainly but well that chief had fought, 
 
 Pie was a captive now ; 
 Yet* pride that* fortune humbles not. 
 
 Was written on» his brow. — Bryant. 
 
 (a.) Words belonging to the parts of speech not yet learned by the pupil, may be omitted. 
 (b.) Manner, (c.) Rule V. (rf.) "■Not" limits the meaning of '■'■carved" in respect to 
 " a line." (e.) " Even" modifies the phrase '■'■from the tomb" or. rather, it moflifics the 
 Terb cries with reference to the phras>3 '■'■from the tomb." Adjuncts=adverbs or adjectives- 
 hence, of course, adverbs can modify them, and not, as some grammarians teach, the prepo- 
 iitjoa onl^. (/.) Degree. 
 
PARSING. 55 
 
 Prepositions. 
 
 Formula. — A preposition, — definition ; between what it shows the relation : 
 Rule. 
 
 " The water flows over the dam." 
 
 "C>»(?r" is a preposition,— o. word used to show the relation between different 
 things ; it here shows the relation of '■'• flows''' to " dam,'''' according to Kule XIV 
 (Eepeat it.) 
 
 Parse all the words except the conjunctions : — 
 
 1. 
 
 I found a dollar in the road. In spring, the leaves come forth. We 
 should not live beyond our means. I stuck a thorn into my thumb. He 
 f^truggled manfully against the evils of fortune. An eagle rose near* the 
 city, and flew over it far away beyond the distant hills. We traveled from 
 New York to Washington City, by railroad, in eight hours. As to the 
 policy of the measure, I shall vsay nothing. The river is washing the soil 
 from under the tree. I caught a turtle instead'' of a fish. 
 
 2. 
 A line of woody hills stretched into the vast level prairie, like a prom- 
 ontory into the bosom of the ocean. — Irving. 
 
 There stood a forest on the mountain's brow, 
 
 Which overlooked the shaded plains below ; 
 
 No sounding axe presumed those trees to bite, 
 
 Coeval with the world, a venerable sighf^. — Dry den's Virgil. 
 
 (a.) Rule X. (b.) '■'Instead of" is better written and parsed as three words, (c.) 
 Rule VII. 
 
 ConjuEictiojns. 
 
 Formula. — A conjunction, and why ; its peouliar nature : what it eonnocts ; 
 Rule XV. 
 
 " The meadow produces grass and flowers." 
 
 " AniV is a conjunction, — a word that joins something to d,nother part of the 
 discourse, and shows how the parts so connected are viewed with respect to each 
 other ; it implies simply continuance, or that somethinsr more i.-* added ; ani it con- 
 nects the words grass a,nd flowers, according to Rule XV. 
 
 " You must either buy mine or sell yours." 
 
 " EitJier'''' is a conjunction, a word, etc. * * * it corresponds to "or", and assists 
 it in co-meeting two phrases according to Rule XV. 
 
 ^ *' C>r" is a conjunction, etc. * * * it is alternative, or allows but one of the 
 things offered, to the exclusion of the rest; it liere corresponds to "■ e'ither''\ and 
 connects two phrases according to Rule XV. 
 
 Parse all the words : — 
 
 Learning refines and elevates the mind. Eagles generally go alone, but 
 little birds go in flocks. I know this peach is good, because it is ripe. I 
 know' this peach is good, because I have tasted it. The silk was light- 
 
56 PARSING. 
 
 blue, or sky-colored, though it should have been white or black. Unless 
 you Uve virtuously, you can not be happy. You must write immediately, 
 unless you have already written. Again, every man is entitled to com- 
 pensation for his services. If it rain to-morrow, we shall have to remain 
 at home. 
 
 He was always courteous to wise and gifted men ; for he knew that 
 talents, though in poverty, are more glorious than birth or riches [are]. 
 Sin may give momentary pleasure ; but the pain is sure to follow''. 
 Whether my brother come or not, I will either buy or rent the farm. 
 Neither precept nor discipUne is so forcible as example [is]. Though he is 
 poor, yet he is honest. If you can not resist sin, then avoid temptation. 
 The mother, as well as the father, should be inteUigent. I will pardon you, 
 inasmuch as you repent. He has labored long and diligently, and yet he 
 is still poor. 
 
 I have no mother, for she died 
 When I was very young ; 
 
 But her memory still around my heart, 
 Like morning mists, has hung. 
 
 (a.) Transitive. " This peach is good" or that this peach is good, is here used as a noun 
 of the neuter gender, third person, singular number, and in the objective case — being the 
 object of '■'■knou}" — according to iiule IV. Now parse " this," etc., as before. (6.) li. XII. 
 
 Interjections. 
 
 Formula. — An interjection, and why ; its peculiar nature or meaning ; 
 Ilule. 
 
 " Alas ! no hope for me remains." 
 
 " Alas'''' is an interjection, it expresses an emotion only, and is not connected in 
 construction with any other word ; it liere implies grieJt'or dejection ; and it is used 
 independently, according to Kule XVI. 
 
 Parse all the words : — 
 
 0, young Lochinvar is come out of the West. Ah ! *few^''A shall part 
 where many^o^ meet! Desdemona'' 1 Desdemona ! dead"? Dead I 
 Oh! oh! oh! 
 
 The tree blossoms sweetly. Sweet blossoms adorn the tree. Grive 
 what" you can spare. What' is that yonder ? I know not wiiat' it is. 
 What^" a simpleton. he is! PFAa^'is a pronoun. Is is is^ WhaL^M shall 
 we never liave any rest ? The train from out the castle drew ; but Mar- 
 mion stopped to bid adieu. 
 
 (a.) Art thou dead? 
 
 For abridged or " skeleton" parsing, proceed precisely m the same way 
 as heretofore siiown, with the exception of omitting the reasons. 
 
 "John is reading." "JoA/i" is a noun ; proj^er ; masculine gender; tliird person ; 
 singular number ; and in the nominative case — it is the subject of the verb is reading 
 • — according to Eule I. 
 
 "/« reading^'' is a verb ; principal parts, — read, read, read 5 irregular; intransi- 
 tice ; indicative tnood ; present tense, and ^rogressive/orm ; thvrd person and singu- 
 lar number, to agree with " John,'''' according 10 Rule XI. 
 
 * In these and all future parsing lessons, a number placed over a word, indicates tli« 
 RuJe to be applied to it; uad a caret shows where words are to be supplied. 
 
PARSINQ. 57 
 
 Miscellaneous Examples. 
 1. 
 I have found violets, fresh young violets^ — Willis. 
 Our Hfe i3 one long lesson. — Boker. 
 
 Self-love is not so great a sin as" self-neglecting^ — Shakespeare. 
 He should consider often, who* * * can choose but** once. 
 It is knowledge enough for some people, to know^ how far they can 
 proceed in mischief with impunity. — British Essayists. 
 
 The question of what* °'" *•* are to be the powers^ of the crown, is supe- 
 rior to that* of who* is to wear" it. — Fox. 
 
 It was very prettily said, " We may learn the little value of fortune, 
 by the persons on whom Heaven is pleased to bestow it." — Steele. 
 Talent is full of thoughts; but G-enius^, full of thought. 
 Sweet clime^ of my kindred, blest land of my birth 1 
 The fairest A, the dearest a, the brightest a, on earth I 
 Accordingly, a company assembled** armed*'' and accoutred, and, hav- 
 ing procured*^ a fieldpiece, appointed** Major Harrison commander^, and 
 proceeded to accomplish*'' their design. — History of Ohio. 
 
 The Assyrian came down*^ hke** the wolf on the fold. 
 And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold ; 
 And the sheen of their spears was like*" stars on the sea, 
 When the blue waves roll nightly on deep Gralilee. — Byron. 
 
 My warriors fell around me ; it began to look dismal. I saw my evil 
 day at hand. The sun rose dim on us in the morning ; and at night it 
 wank in a dark cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. That*" was the last 
 sun that" * * shone on Black Hawk. His heart is dead, and no*^* longer 
 beats quick*" in his bosom. He is now a prisoner to the white men ; they 
 will do with him as they wish. But he can stand torture, and is not 
 afraid*" of death. He is no*" coward. Black Hawk is an Indian, — Black 
 Hawk. 
 
 3. 
 Though the world smile on you blandly. 
 
 Let** your friends be*'' choice*" and few ; 
 Choose your course, pureue it grandly. 
 
 And achieve what'' you pursue. — T. B. Read. 
 
 4. 
 
 Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising* a sweet 
 With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the Sun, 
 When first on this delightful land he spreads 
 His orient beams — on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, 
 Glisteniug with dew ; fragrant the fertile Earth 
 Ai'ter soft ehowers ; and sweet the coming-on 
 Of grateful Evening mild ; then silent Night, 
 With this her solemn bird, and this fair Moon, 
 And these the gems of Heaven, her stairy train. — Milton. 
 3* 
 
SITOl'SIS #f MIT S1€«I». 
 
 1. Introductory Vi«;w. — Grammar; English Grammar; its 
 parts. 
 
 2. ProniinciatiOBi* — Letters and elementary sounds ; accent ; 
 exercises ; observations. 
 
 3. Orthography. — Capital letters, with exercises; syllables; 
 rules of spelling, with exercises. 
 
 4. Derivation of Words. — Prefixes and suffixes, with exer- 
 cises. 
 
 5. IVouns and Pronouns. — Classes of each; properties; 
 exercises ; observations. See Synopsis of Part First. 
 
 6. Article§. — Principles; exercises; observations. 
 
 T. Adjectives. — Classes; degrees of comparison; pronominal 
 adjectives defined ; exercises ; observations. 
 
 8. Verbs. — Classes ; properties ; auxiliary verbs ; participles and 
 infinitives ; conjugation ; exercises ; observations. See Synopsis of 
 Part First. 
 
 9. Adverbs. — Principles ; exercises ; observations. 
 
 10. Prepositions. — Principles; illustrations; constructions; 
 exercises ; observations. 
 
 11. Conjunctions. — Principles; illustrations; exercises; ob- 
 servations. 
 
 12. Interjections. — Principles; exercises; observations. 
 
 13. Rhetorical Devices. — Equivalent expressions ; arrange- 
 ment ; ellipsis ; pleonasm ; exercises. 
 
 14. Rhetorical Figures. — Definitions and illustrations; 
 exercises ; observations. 
 
 15. Versification. — Principles ; more than one hundred and 
 fifty difi"erent specimens of verse, scanned ; observations. 
 
 16. Analysis of Sentences. — Principles, with exercises ; sen- 
 tences analyzed ; exercises; summary of analysis and description. 
 
 17. Punctuation. — Period; colon; semicolon; comma; in- 
 terrogation-point; exclamation-point; dash; curves; brackets; hy- 
 phen; underscore; observations; miscellaneous marks. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 1. INTRODUCTORY VIEW. 
 
 Orammar treats of language. Taken in its widest 
 sense, the Grammar of a language shows how its words 
 are formed, modilied, and arranged, to express thoughts, 
 either in speaking or in writing, according to established 
 usage. 
 
 The word Guammar means marks or writing ; because mankind did not feel the necessity ofstu.lv- 
 ing languiise, till they came to write it, and so lirstdevised the science of writing. SciKNCii is method- 
 ised linotcledge. 
 
 Language, so far as Grammar is concerned with it, pertains to words, and is 
 citlier spoken or written. Objects, actions, and sounds not articulate, may also be 
 occasionally used as language, which is sometimes termed natural or symbolic 
 language. 
 
 Language not only exists, but lives, grows, and decays. It is not a dead mech- 
 anism, but a living organism. Words, and modes of expression, are constantly 
 coming into use ; others, passing out of use ; and others, assuming new burdens 
 of meaning, and perhai^s losing their old. 
 
 Not only Grammar, but also Logic and Khetoric treat of langu:ige. Gram- 
 mar looks to the vehicle, Logic and Rhetoric regard rather what is conveyed : 
 these, learned in one language, generally suffice for any other ; but it is not so 
 with Grammar, Logic, in reference to language, teaches how thoughts are 
 rightly expressed in regard to truth and reason ; Rhetoric, how they are ex- 
 pressed so as to make the most vivid and effectual impressioa. A geometry 
 displays most logic, and a book of poems most rhetoric. 
 
 EaiglisSi $xra»iaiiar teaches how to speak and write the 
 English language correctly. This is the practical view. 
 
 It is a thorough analysis, or anatomy, of the language, completely 
 laying open its nature in general principles^ and especially teaching 
 those properties in respect to which we are liable to misuse it, or at 
 least those on which its right construction depends. This is the 
 philosophical view. 
 
 English Grammar may be divided into five parts ; Pronuncia- 
 tion, Orthograpy, Etymology^ Syntax, and Prosody. 
 
 PiiONUNCiATiON means uttering forth, aloud ; oiiTHOGRAPnY, correct writing ; ettmologt, tk» 
 tr-iir. nature of words ; syntax, placing together ; and pkosody, tone added, aud thence, whatever in 
 added to the least adorned language, to make it clearer or more expressive. 
 
 What is Baid of Grammar? English Grammar? Into how many parts divided? 
 
60 PRONUNCIATION. ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 
 
 ProBiusiclatioii treats of the sounds of the letters, and of 
 the sounds and stress of syllables in the utterance of separate words. 
 
 Orthography treats of the forms of letters, and teaches how 
 to spell words correctly. 
 
 IGtyamology, in its popular sense, is the history of words; but 
 in grammar it merely denotes the part which classifies words, and 
 teaches those properties and modifications which adapt them to the 
 formation of sentences. 
 
 Syaitax treats of the relations and proper arrangement of words 
 in the formation of sentences. 
 
 Prosody, in its narrowest sense, treats of versification ; in its 
 widest sense, of figures, versification, utterance, and punctuation. 
 
 9. PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 Our language has about forty elementary sounds, which are 
 represented by twenty-six letters, called the alphabet. 
 
 The Vhon&Xid&n^ rni\kQ forty-three eleraentary soxindiA. Loxa vowels: eel, ale, 
 arm, «11, ope, food. Shout vowels, in, ell, an, add, -wp, foot. Shade vowels: 
 eaxih., air, ask. Diphthongs : isle, oil, owl, raulQ. Coalescents : yea, way. As, 
 piKATE : Aay. Explodents : rojoe, ro5e, tiite, fa^^e, etcA, ed^e, locA;, lo^. Continu- 
 ants : sa/e, save, wrea^A, wreat'Ae, bus-?, \)nzz, vicious, vision. Liquids : iidl, ior. 
 Nasal Liquids : seew, see», ^Ing. Of these, a in add and a in an are the same ; 
 and oi and oil or ow are coinpouads equivalent to a-i and a-oo ; so that we have 
 but forty elementary sounds. If c as heard in citron, is more slender than s as 
 heard in sister ; and if o as heard in form, is broader than a as heard in all, — then 
 there are forty-two elementary sounds in all. 
 
 The parts of the throat and mouth, by means of which the letters are 
 pronounced, are called the organs of speech. These are the glottis, palate, 
 tongue, teeth, and lips. 
 
 The elemeaitary souaids are either inarticulate or articulate. 
 
 The inarticulate sounds are simple sounds formed by keeping the 
 organs of speech more or less apart or open. 
 
 The articulate sounds are simple sounds that begin or end in a 
 closing of some of the organs of speech. 
 
 ArticiMte means "jointed;" inarticulate, "not jointed." These words are Rpplied to speech, 
 from a fancied resemblance of the syllables in a word to the parts of a jointed plant; thus, in-wi- 
 ic-al, en-ter-tain-i/ient. Here the sound, like the pith, is trolcen or stopped at certain points ; and 
 n, m, c, I, and t, serve as partitions iu the sound, like the joints in the pith of a reed or stalk. 
 
 A letter is a character used to represent one or more of the 
 elementary sounds of language ; or it is the least distinct part of a 
 written word. 
 
 A letter generally has for its name one of the munds, or powers, which it represents. 
 
 Sometimes two or more letters represent but one elementary 
 sound. 
 
 Ex. — T*'h'=f, as Ivifldeme', eau='0, as in heau ; ch, in church; th, in tho'ii. 
 
 What is said of Pronunciation? Orthoj^raphy? Etymolo,?y? Syntax? Prosody? 
 What do you Itnow of the original meaning of these terras ? Our language has how many 
 elemimtary sounds? Elementary sounds are of what two kinds ? What is an inarticulate 
 p )Utid ? An articulate sound ? A loiter t 
 
PRONUNCIATION. LETTERS AND THEIR SOUNDS, 61 
 
 The letters are divided into vowels and consonants ; the conso- 
 nants, into mutes and semivowels ; and some of the semivowels are 
 called liquids. 
 
 This division of the letters not only distingulslies them according to their na- 
 ture, but is the basis of many valuable rules. 
 
 The voivels are a, e, i^ o, u/ also w and y, when not followed 
 by a vowel sound in the same syllable. 
 
 They can be sounded alone, and represent each several inarticu- 
 late elementary sounds. (Except w.) 
 
 Ex. — Fate, fare, fat, far, fall ; me, met ; fine, fin, fatigue ; no, not, dove, 
 prove, book; Mse, as, fi^U ; city, cry; brow, dew, hot/. 
 
 The eoiiKOfiiants are all the letters except the vowels. 
 
 They are so called because they can not be sounded alone ; or 
 rather, when they are uttered alone, the sound of a vowel is always 
 heard with them. 
 
 Ex. — B, c, d,f, m, h, are pronounced as if written be, se, de, ef, em, ka. 
 
 TF" or y is a consonant when a vowel sound follows it in the same 
 syllable ; as in water, young, year, Iowa, Banyan. 
 
 Z7"and i are consonants when equivalent to the consonants w and y ; as in per- 
 suade, poniard. — X=lcs, gz, or z; as in tax, exalt, Xerxes. 
 
 The tnutes have no sound whatever without the aid of a vowel, 
 and at the end of a syllable stop the voice entirely. 
 
 They are h, p, d, t, k, q\i {:=kw) ; also c and (/ when hard, as in 
 lac, gig. 
 
 The semivowels -are all the consonants except the mutes; 
 They are so called, because they are, in their nature, between vowels 
 and mutes ; having some sound by themselves. 
 
 The liquids are I, m, n, r, and perhaps s ; so called from their 
 soft sound, which easily flows into and unites with that of other 
 letters. 
 
 Ex. — Lily, million, brilliant, Albion, Columbia, mammon, Alps, pearl, stamp, 
 bring, volleying. 
 
 " Lull with Amelia's liquid name the Nine." — Fope. 
 
 A diphthongs is two vowels joined and blended in one sound. 
 
 Ex. — Blood, doom, boy, rownd, earn, crow, now, vain, play. 
 
 A diphthong is proper, if the two vowels are heard, or form a 
 
 sound different from that of either ; improper^ if only one vowel is 
 
 hoard. 
 
 Ex. — 6>il, grownd, room, joy, hrow, fraud, ^agle, heart, mowrn, fair, sleight, 
 deceit. 
 
 A triphthong is three vowels joined and blended in one sound. 
 Ex. — Beauty, bureau, view, huoy. 
 
 How are the letters classified ? What can you say of vowels ? Consonants ? W and y f 
 Mates? Liquids? Dix)hthongs? Triphthongs? 
 
CS PRONUNCIATION. ACCENT. 
 
 Triphthongs are also divided, like diphthono-s, into proper and 
 imp>roper, according as the vowels are all sounded or not all sounded. 
 
 A letter is said to be silent, when it is suppressed in pronuncia- 
 tion. 
 
 Ex. — Wafk, kil», mghi, for^i^n, vwtoals, Aour. 
 
 The pronunciation of discourse by means of letters, may be compared to raupic from a flute or 
 other similar instrument. The vowels are analogous to the diiferent notes or tones: they nlToid tho 
 sound. The consonants resemble the stoppages by means of the tinkers. Not any or every airanKu- 
 ment of letters makes lansuajre ; nor will any or every mode of playing produce music. — In singiug, 
 vowel sounds are made most prominent. 
 
 Mention the voweU, consonants, mutes, semivowels, liquids, silent letters ; also tlie diph- 
 thongs and triphthongs, and of wliat kind : — 
 
 0, b, d, e, i, f, a, m, u, r, s, f, 1, q, y, g, z, announcement, analytical, history, 
 czar, revolution, youthful, years, gorgeous, colorings, clang, oyster, weight, sleight, 
 Btreak, steak, phthisic; sparkling fountains. — Kome was an ocean of flame. Height 
 and depth were covered with rod surges, that rolled before the blast like an end- 
 less tide. 
 
 Letters are formed into syUahle^, and syllables into words. 
 
 The simple or obvious sounds of language as we hear it spoken, are 
 
 When more syllables than one make a word, we admit into the pro- 
 nunciation what is called accent. 
 
 ACCENT. 
 
 Accent is a distinguishing stress on some syllable of a word 
 having two or more syllables. 
 
 Ex. — Ba'-ker, a-muse'', con'-ti-nent, con-tent''-ment, coun-ter-aet'', tem^-per-a- 
 ment, ge-o-graph'-ic-al ; to con-tract', a con'-tract. " Not the les-sor^, but the les- 
 see''." " An au-gust' procession, in the month of Au'-gust." 
 
 The common or word accent seems to have been introduced into lan^age to distinguish 
 syllables that are themselves words, from those which are only parts of words. An accented 
 syllable at once indicates, that there are other syllables about it forming a part of the same 
 word. _ Accent, moreover, contributes to eciphony, and to ease of utterance. It also serves 
 to distinguish words from others in some way related to them ; and sometimes, to show the 
 most important part of the word. An eminent German grammarian says, " As soon as lan- 
 guage proceeds from mere articulation to coherency and connection, accent becomes the 
 guide of the voice." 
 
 Words of three or more syllables generally have a chief accent, 
 
 called the primary accent ; and one or more inferior accents, called 
 
 the secondary accent or accents. 
 
 Ex. — Lu'-mi-n^-ry, coun-ter-act', kn-te-ce'-dent, ep-i-gram-mat'-ic, in-dein- 
 ni-fi-ca'-tion, in-com-pre-hen-si-biF-i-ty. 
 
 Some words, mostly compounds, have two accents of nearly equal 
 
 stress. 
 
 Ex.— A'-men', fare'-well'! down'-falF, knit'ting-nee'dle, e^vea-hand'ed, lin'- 
 Bey-wooFsey. 
 
 To pronounce well, it is important to know the elementary sounds and their 
 combinations, to divide words accurately into syllables, and to know which syllable 
 
 What can you say of triphthongs ? When is a letter silent? What is said of letters, syl- 
 lables, and accent? What is accent? What are some of its advantages? What is said ol 
 primary and of secondary accent ? What of two equal accents ? What is needed, to pro. 
 nounce well ? 
 
PllONUKClATION. ACCENT. 6fip 
 
 of a word lias the chief accent. To know where the chief accent should be placed, 
 is sufficient ; for the others then naturally fall into their places. 
 
 Most words used in our language have the chief accent either on 
 the penult or on the antepenult; that is, on the second or the third 
 syllable from the end. 
 
 Ex. — Val'-ley, con'-quest, at-tor-'-ney, tem'-per-ate, mu-ta-bil'-i-ty. 
 
 Latin, Greek, or Scriptural names, always have the chief accent on 
 the penult or on the antepenult. 
 
 Ex. — Cor-i-o-la'-nus, Ar-is-toph'-a-nes, Jer-e-mi'-ah, Je-ru'-sa-lem. 
 
 Ordinary English words sometimes have the chief accent as far back as 
 on the fourth or even the fifth syllable from the end. 
 
 Ex.— Co-tem'-po-ra-ry, oV-li-ga-io-ry. But when on the fifth syllable from 
 the end, the pronunciation becomes so difficult that there is a strong tendency to 
 tiirow the chief accent on some syllable nearer the end ; and hence we often bear 
 oh'-li ga-to-ry^ for instance, pronounced ob-lig'-a-to-ry. 
 
 Words ending in the sound of shun, zhun, or chun, or in any 
 kindred sound, have the chief accent on the penult. 
 
 Ex. — Conven'-tion, popula'-tion, posses'-sion, combus'-tion, complexMon, am- 
 bro'-sia, uiusi'-cian, poiiti'-cian, purtina'-cious, circumstan'-tial,*^rtin'-ciid, coura'- 
 goous, iusuffi'-cient. 
 
 Words ending in cive, sive, ic, ics, or tive preceded by a consonant, 
 have the chief accent on the penult. 
 
 Ex.— Condu'-cive, eva'-sive, hero'-ic, sulphu'-ric, cbaracterist'-ic, philanthrop'- 
 ic, phonet'-ics, harmon'-ics, calistlien'-ics, consump'-tive. 
 
 Exceptions: Arith'-metic, ar'-senic (noun), ad'-jectivCj bish'-opric, catli'- 
 olic, chol'-eric, ephem'-eric, her'-etic, lu'-iiatic, polMtic, pol'-itics, rhet'-oric, suV- 
 stantive, tur'-meric, and perhaps pleth'-oric and splen'-etic. 
 
 Words ending in acal, aq/, athy ; e-al, e-an, e-ous ; efy, ety, erous; 
 Jluous, Jiuent ; gonal, graphy ; i-a, i-ac, i-al ; i-an, ical, i-ous ; 
 inous, ify, ity ; logy, loquy, lysis ; meter, metry ; orous, ulous ; 
 phony, tomy, or thropy, — have the chief accent on the antepenult. 
 
 Ex. — Heli'-acal, theoc'-racy, sym'-pathy, empyr'-eal, or'-deal, HercuMean, 
 ceru'-lean, sponta'-neous, stu'-pefy, sati'-ety> armig'-erous, aurif -erous, super/- 
 fluous, circum'-fluent, diag'-onal, "ortho_g'-raphy, lithog'-raphy, rega'-lia, ammo'- 
 niac, armo'-rial, trage'-dian, astronom'-ical, coutume'-lious, om'-inous, volu'-min- 
 ous, person'-ify, anal'-ogy, col'-loquy, paral'-ysis, barom'-eter, trigonom'-etry, 
 o'-dorous, carniv'-orous, sed'-ulous, eu'-phony, anat'-omy, misan'-thropy. 
 
 JExceptions : Adamante'-an, antipode'-an, colosse'-an, cano'-rous, empyre'- 
 an, Epicure''-an, hymene'-al, bymeue'-an, pygme'-an. 
 
 Words of three or more syllables, ending in ative, have the accent 
 on the antepenult, or on the preceding syllable. 
 
 Ex. — Ab'-lative, demon'-strative, commu'-nicative, op'-erative, pal'-liative, 
 spec'-ulative. 
 
 Exceptions : Crea'-tive, colla'-tive, dila'-tive. 
 
 Some words may be .pronounced in different ways, with good 
 authority for each pronunciation. 
 
 Ex. — Adver'-tisement, or advertise'-ment ; dcco'-rous, or dec'-orous. 
 
 On what syllables are most of our words accented ? How are Latin, Greek, or Scriptural 
 names accented ? What is said of words ending in the sound of shun, etc. ? In cive, etc ? 
 In acal, etc ? In ative, etc. ? What is said of words pronounced in different ways i 
 
W PRONUNCIATION. EXERCISES. 
 
 ^ Exercises in Pronunciation. 
 
 The following: exercises may serve to guard (he student against the chief current faults of Pronnn- 
 elation. The words are those most frequently mispronouuced in the dilfereut parts of the United Slates. 
 
 1. Give to every syllable its proper sound. 
 
 Pronounce the following words correctly : Been, were, ofj for, nor, and, catch, 
 caught, shut, bloat, such, get, can, little, end, gather, rather, cart, cow, sky, new, 
 view, attitude, Tuesday, girl, gird, guise, garden, regard, wliere, there, bear, 
 dau^-liter, hearth, again, against, hinder, James, general, learn, sauce, sauc)', 
 saucer, touch, pert, because, umbrella, district lord, God, dog, scarce, boil, spoil, 
 join, joist, point, disappoint, my, myself, thy, thvself, earth, pretty, brethren, 
 children, into, covered, roof, hoof, good, to, tassel, nature, future, once, hundred, 
 image, twice, natural, national, rational, terrors, husband, different, wliole, drove, 
 Btone, kettle, rinse, wince, licorice, enthusiast, tune, gratitude, beauteous, im- 
 mediate, unctuous, tedious, guardian, crystal, distich, pronunciation, since, yes, 
 ear, are, another, cross-wis3, chewing-tobacco, passage, steady, spectacle, stretch, 
 education, speculation, contributed, diminutive, calculate, either, creature, pa- 
 rent, sword, daunt, haunt, hurricane, leisure, geography, extraordinary, often, 
 soften, hasten, raspberry, subtle, disfranchise, sacrifice, auxiliary, irradiate, 
 ignoramus, philosophy, diploma, divert, divest, dilemma, dilapidate, stupendous, 
 tremendous, mountainous, proposal, verbatim, apparatus, afflatus, your, tour, 
 going, after, parsoift parse, yon, yonder, yours, theirs, his, ours, half, calf, cer- 
 tainly, sudden, suddenly, yellow, meadow, widow, window, shallow, hollow, 
 Africa, Asia, America, magnolia, fought, might, Indians, negro, onions, have, 
 boiler, engine, service, when, what, where, whet, which, while, sit, set, sat, 
 liberty, Saturday, daguerreotype, stereotype, haven't, ask, asked, women, 
 Athens, Themistocles, method, records, attacked, continually, interest, latent, 
 patent, chimney, bayonet, cupola, fiend, shook, books, inquiries, search, sorc 
 of, kind o^ give me, draught, reiterated, isolated, acorn, vermin, precede, 
 prevent, predict, perhaps, only, prairie, personage, potatoes, coquet, fortune, 
 massacred, helped, curds, mercy, drowned, partaker, iniquities, heinous, vio- 
 lent, extremities, recoil, instead, instrument, thousands, tremble, sarcasm, 
 chasm, prism, film, elm, audacious, kitchen, foreigners, spirits, heard, beard, 
 decisive, drain, figure, preface, designate, Italian, stamp, sleek, slake, sieve, 
 verdigris, does, dost, doth, feminine, masculine, clandestine, genuine, crystal- 
 line, favorite, respite, hostile, fertile, mercantile, profile. Englishmen say hit 
 for it, and arse for horse. 
 
 2. Be careful not to omit any letter or letters of a syllable, nor any 
 syllable or syllables of a vrord, that are not silent. 
 
 Pronounce correctly : Kept, slept, nests, lists, costly, conquests, consonants, 
 door, floor, and, idea, first, worth, months, clothes, sixths, old, must, guests, 
 texts, adopts, bounds, minds, perfectly, shred, shrewd, shrub, shriek, shrink, 
 shroud, shrill, strength, length, something, fold, child, held on, hands, stand, 
 grinds, oV)ject, transcript, tempests, worse, curse, nursling, real, poem, horses, 
 history, hickory, victory, several, emperor, salary, artery, separate, believe, 
 temporarilj^, general, particular, nursery, boundary, flattery, governor, nomi- 
 native, usually, excellency, purity, government, expect, suppose, attend, 
 against, esteem, surface, astonished, waistband, waistcoat, according, clothing, 
 morning, evening, entering, playing, Washington. 
 
 3. Place the accent on the proper syllable. 
 
 Difficult, opponent, component, fanatic, heretic, towards, into, abstractly, 
 interesting, interested, arable, orchestra, contemplative, superfluous, exqui- 
 site, indissolubly, deficit, discipline, inexorably, mischievous, alabaster, im- 
 
 What is the first direction in regard to pronunciation ? The second ? The third? 
 
PRONUNCIATION. EXERCISES. 66 
 
 petus, mipcellany, sepulchre, condolence, mandamus, quinine, pantheon, 
 horizon, precedents, precedence, discourse, concourse, dessert, inquiry, idea, 
 .•incestor, artificer, posthumous, burlesque, chagrin, placard, recess, diversely, 
 industry, interference, envious, retributive, hospitable, computable, hospital, 
 theatre, museum, lyceum, compromise, commissary, hydropathy, hydropathic. 
 
 4. Bear in mind that derivatives are not always accented or pro- 
 nounced like their primitives. 
 
 Pronounce correctly : Pyramid, pyramidal ; revoke, revocable, rovokable ; 
 repair, reparable, reparation; converse, conversant; oblige, obligatory; com- 
 pare, comparable, incomparable ; Europe, European ; Hercules, Herculean ; 
 organic, organizable ; depose, deposition ; respire, respiratory ; circulate, circu- 
 latory ; transfer, transferable, transference ; lament, lamentable ; metallic, met- 
 allurgy; preserve, preservation ; depute, deputy, deputable ; detest, detestation ; 
 sagacious, sagacity; tenacious, tenacity; crystal, crystallizable, crystalUzation, 
 crystallurgy ; present, presentation; perforate, perforative; parallelepiped, par- 
 allelopipedon ; calculate, calculatory ; sacrifice, sacriflcatory ; conter, confer- 
 ence; iliac, iliacal; defalcate, defalcation; aspire, aspirate, aspirant; cyanic, 
 cyanate, cyanean ; colossus, colossean ; comment, commentative, commenta- 
 ries; supplicate, suppHcatory; assign, assigner, assignee; lithograph, lithog- 
 raphy ; apostrophe, apostrophic ; philanthropy, philanthropic ; supplement, 
 supplemental; condemn, condeinner, condemnation; damn, damning; solemn, 
 solemnize ; allopathy, allopathic ; homoeopathy, homoeopathic. 
 
 V A change in the part of speech often requires a change in the pro- 
 
 '' nunciation ; as, To pro-duce', the prod'-uce, prod'-ucts; to pro-gress', 
 
 the prog'-ress; to u$e, the use. Such words, when used as nouns or 
 adjectives, generally have the accent on the first syllable; and when 
 used as verbs, on the second or last. 
 
 Pronounce correctly : To absent, — to be absent, abject ; to abstract, — an ab- 
 stract, abstract qualities; to accent, affix, augment, — the accent, affix, aug- 
 ment. To colleague, collect, compact, complot, compound, compress, concert, 
 concrete, conduct, confine, conflict, conserve, consort, contest, contract, con- 
 trast, convert, converse, convict, convoy, countercharge, countermarch, counter- 
 sign, etc. ; a colleague, collect, compact, complot, compound, compress, concert, 
 concrete, the conduct, confines, a conflict, conserve, consort, contest, contract, con- 
 trast, convert, converse, convict, convoy, countercharge, countermarch, counter- 
 sign, etc. To desert, descant, digest, discount; a desert, descant, digest, 
 discount. To escort, essay, export, extract, exile; an escort, essay, export, 
 extract, exile. To fisrment, forecast, foretell, foretaste, frequent; a ferment, 
 foretaste, with forecast, frequent notices. To import, impress, incense, in- 
 crease, inlay, insult, interchange, interdict ; an import, impres:!, incense, in- 
 crease, inlay, insult, interchange, interdict. To object, outlaw, overcharge, 
 overfiovv, overthrow, ete#; an object, outlaw, overcharge, overflow, overthrow, 
 etc. To perfume, permit, prefix, prelude, premise, presage, present, project, 
 protest ; a perfume, permit, prefix, prelude, premise, presage, present, project, 
 protest. To rebel, record, refuse, retail, reprimand ; a rebel, record, the refuse, 
 by retail, a reprimand. To subject, suffix, survey; a subject, suffix, survey. 
 To torment, transfer, transport; a torment, transfer, transport. To undress, 
 upstart; an undress, upstart. 
 
 Prec'-edents, prece'-dent statutes ; with ar'-senic, arsen'-ic acid ; to be su 
 pine', mi-nute', au-gusi', corn-pact', to be in-stinct' with life, to be inval'-id, 
 gal'-lant, — an in'-valid, a gal-lant', in Au'-gust. 
 
 What is the fourth direction? The fifth ? What is said of words used in different spn«?P8 ? 
 
66 PRONUNCIATION AND UTTERANCE. 
 
 To ally, an ally ; to release, a release ; to discourse, a discourse ; to design, 
 a design; to intrigue, an intrigue; to descend, ascend, — the descent, ascent ; 
 to assent, consent, — my assent, consent. 
 
 jTJie following are some of the governing principles of Pronunciation: — 
 !• Pronounce words according to their spelling, or according to analogy, unless 
 custom is decidedly against such a pronunciation. 
 
 2. Indicate difference in meaning by difference in pronunciation. 
 
 3. Use accent in such a way that it may contribute to ease of utterance, or 
 serve to distiugiiish and enforce the meaning. 
 
 English projiundation has a hasty air, tends to brevity, and slides its accents toward the 
 left. An om«i7;w8 has become a mere '6ms,' a. balco'-ny ImshecomQ a, baV-cony. WorceMer is 
 pronounced Wiister ; Brougham, Brum ; and Michilimacbinaa loses its serpentine length in 
 Mak'-e-nuw. The verbal ending ed is yet lieard in the speech of some very old people ; but 
 unless the word is used adjectively, this ending is now generally blended with the preceding 
 syllable, when it will coalesce with it in sound. Most of our final e's are but the remains of 
 syllables that were once pronounced. 
 
 In regard to Utterance^ it may be well to nvtice the foUowing particulars : — 
 
 1. Articulation ; 2. Degree of Loudness ; 3. Degree of Eapidity ; 4. Inflections ; 
 5. Tones; 6. Emphasis; 7. Pauses. 
 
 1. Good articulation requires the words to be uttered with their proper sound, 
 clearly, fully in all their syllables, and distinctly from one another. It is opposed 
 to mumbling, mouthing, mincing, muttering, slurring, drawling, clipping, lisping, 
 hesitating, stammering, miscalling, and recalling. 
 
 " Words should drop from the lips as beautiful coins newly issued from the 
 mint, — deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the 
 proper organs, distinct, sharp, in due succession, and of due weight." — Austin. 
 
 That we have many words nearly alike in sound, yet widely different in mean-- 
 ing, is alone a sufficient reason for exact articulation. Thus, cheer and chair / pint 
 midpoint^ home., horn : genus, gndus ', i/mminent. eminent ; satire, satyr ; burst, 
 bust y beer, hear, pear • close, clothes / false, faults / %dle, idol ; gluten, glutton ,' critic, 
 critique / antic, antique ; just,, jest / real, reel ,• rear,, rare • turnip, turn up. 
 
 2 and 3. The degree of loudness or rapidity must depend on the speaker, the 
 hearer, the discourse, the place, or other circumstances. Scarcely any thing else 
 is so disagreeable as utterance too rapid, low, and jumbled, to be intelligible, and 
 rather suggesting that the speaker is ashamed to let others know what he is saying. 
 
 4. Infections refer to the passage of the voice from one key or pitch to an- 
 other. There are three : the rising inflection, which implies elevation of tlie 
 voice; the/aZZi/?.^ inflection, which implies^ a sinking of the voice ; and tlm circum- 
 fex, which combines the other two. '■'■ Was it yoii, or JteP^ "Madam, yoic have 
 my father much offended." 
 
 5. The ^o«.e.<! are voice as modulated by feeling. They fshould be adapted to 
 the general discourse, and also to its distmct sentiments. Tones aim to awaken, 
 by sympathy, the intended emotions in the hearer ; and they may also give a 
 favorable opinion of the speaker's heart and feelings. 
 
 " In exordiums, the voice should be low, yet clear ; in' narrations, distinct ; in 
 reasoning, slow ; in persuasions, strong : it should thunder in anger ^ soften in sor- 
 row, tremble in fear, and melt in love.^'' — Hiley. 
 
 6. Emphasi,s is an elevation of the voice on some words, word, or part of a 
 word, by which the meaning is brought out more precisely or forcibly. Emphasis, 
 
 Eroperly used, adds greatly to the vigor of discourse. It tends to impress on the 
 earer how clearly and fully the speaker comprehends the meaning of his dis- 
 course, or the importance of the subject. It gives a favorable opinion of the 
 speaker's understanding. A judicious union of emphasis and tone has sometimes 
 a powerful effect. Emphasis : " We must fight ; I repeat it, sir, we must fight." 
 
 What are some of the governing principles of Pronunciation? "What is the tendency 
 ol Englinh pronunciation ? What can you say of articulation 'i Degree of loudness or ra- 
 pidity? Inllections y Tones? Emphasis? Pauses? 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPIl'AL LETTERS. 67 
 
 7. lUuses are of three kinds : sentential or grammatical pauses, which, show 
 the grammatical sense ; rhetorical pauses, which are used for emphasis, or for effect 
 on the hearer ; and Tiarmonw or metrical pauses, which are used in poetry. The 
 last two kinds are essentially the same. An emphatic pause is made before or 
 after the utterance of something of great importance ; and it may sometimes be 
 far more eloquent than the most expressive words. 
 
 3. ORTHOGRAPHY. 
 
 ? Tlie letters are used in various styles; as, — 
 
 Eoman, Italic, (Mu/a. QDlb QEnglisl), "©S^ia^llEa^^Etosla 
 
 Modem Black. 
 
 ? The letters are printed in types of various sizes ; as, — 
 
 H-rpnf Prim or Small Pica, ^i^i^^. 
 English, B,4eois, 
 
 Pica, Brevier, 
 
 Agate, 
 
 Pearl, 
 
 Diamond, 
 
 ? The letters are used either as capital letters or as lower-case 
 or small letters. 
 
 CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 ?* 1. Capital letters should not be used without good reason, 
 or when small letters wil? express the sense as well or better. 
 
 1 In the German language, every noun begins with a capital letter ; and in 
 Old English, capital letters are used about as often, and less definitely. 
 
 Capital letters seem to have been at the highest flood-mark in the time of Queen Eliza- 
 beth ; at the lowest ebb, in the time of Queen Anne ; and they rose again amazingly with the 
 German notions of Carlyle, Wordsworth, and other similar writers. I have seen pages of 
 our periodical literature so full of these letters, or so disfigured with them, as to have almost 
 a hieroglyphic appearance; and I have also noticed that illiterate people are apt to put 
 a capital letter wherever they think it will look well, especially when it is one that they can 
 make well. 
 
 A capital letter sbould begin — 
 
 ? 2. The first word of any wfiting whether long or short. 
 Ex. — " Know all men by these presents," &c. " Of man's first disobedience 
 and the fruit," &c. 
 
 ? 3. The first word of every complete sentence ; and the first 
 word after a ., ?, or !, denoting a full pause. 
 
 Ex. — " It must be filled up, — this terrible chasm. But how ? Here is a list of 
 proprietors. Choose from the wealthiest, in order that the smallest number of citi- 
 zens may be sacrificed. But choose ! Strike ! Immolate, without mercy, these 
 unfortunate victims !" — Mirabea,u. But a parenthetic word that explains an initial 
 capitalized word, is not therefore capitalized. " Guerillas ["bands of robbers] in- 
 fest the mountainous districts of Mexico." 
 
 * The interrogation-points on the left of the page are used In stead of questions at the 
 bottom. The numbers are designed for future reference, and they also point out the parts 
 for exercises to be written. Every student of the class should have a blank copy-book, and 
 write in it at least one original example to illustrate each important principle. 
 
 4 
 
68 ORTHOGRAPY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 ? 4. The first word of tlie latter part of a line broken to be- 
 gin anew, and even the first word after an inferior point, — to show 
 more definitely the beginning of something to which the writer 
 means to draw particular attention. See the preceding page. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■ Eesolved^ That we approve," &e. '■'•Beit enacted hy the Legislature of 
 New Yorlc, That a tax," &c. " One truth 13 clear : Whatever is, is right." — Pope. 
 '^ Capital letters should be used in the following instances : At the beginning," 
 &c. — Epes Sargent. 
 
 " I am, Sir, with sincere esteem, 
 
 "Your faithful servant, 
 
 "KoBERT Peel." 
 
 ? 5. The first word of every separate or independent phrase, 
 especially in enumeration, or when used for a complete sentence. 
 
 Ex. — " The erunpowder overboard. Out with the boat ! Here." "The friend- 
 ship of Holland ! The independence of Spain." — Grattan. " Indeed ! What 
 then?" " Select Poems of Mrs. Si<?oarney. 8vo. Philadelpliia. 1842. Price $1.00." 
 "To Joseph E. Brown, Esq." "Very respectfully, yours." " For Rent or Sale." 
 "Total, $25." "Balance, $9.25." "Strata and laminae may be distinguished from 
 joints : 1. By the alternations of different material in the former. 2. By a differ- 
 ence of organic remains in the latter. 3. By ripple-marks and tortuosities. 4. By 
 a difference in color of successive portions of rock." — Hitclicoeld s Oeology. 
 
 "To Schools, $5,785.50; 
 
 » To Bridges, 2,120.25." 
 
 A series of elliptic questions, implying intermediate answers, may be put into one sen- 
 tence with but one capital; as, "Will you repeat the prepositions beginning with at — 
 with b f — with c? — Goold Brown. But when the dash cannot well be used, as in mathematics, 
 it nt^iy be better to use capitals; though some writers do not use them. "What is ^ of 6? 
 Of 11? Of 15? Of 7? Oi9r—Qreenlea/. " What are the factors of 20 ? of 21 ? of '22 ?" 
 — Davies. 
 
 ? 6. The first word of every line of poetry, written as such, un- 
 less the line is viewed as being but a part of the preceding line. 
 
 Ex. — " Now the smiles are thicker, 
 
 Wonder what they mean ? 
 Faith, he's got the Knicker- 
 Bocker magazine !" — J. G. Saxe. 
 " Go to the isle whose green, beautiful border is girdled by Ocean's 
 sonorous white 
 
 Whether verse written in the form of prose should retain its capitals, usage has not pos- 
 itively determined. Mr. Goold Brown sometimes retains them, and sometimes not; as, 
 "For whom, alas I dost thou prepare The sweets that I was wont to share." — Cowper. 
 " To spin and to weave, to knit and to sew, were once a girl's employments; but now to 
 dress, and to catch a beau, are all she calls enjoyments." — Kimball. But most other 
 writers do not retain them. It is generally better, unless we wish to save space, or to pre- 
 sent verse iu the form of prose, to avoid such arrangement of poetic lines altogether. 
 
 ? 7. Every word, phrase, or sentence, comprising an entire saying 
 of some other person, when quoted and introduced at once as it 
 was sraid by him, or so as to imply a change of speakers. 
 
 Ex. — "Solomon said, 'Pride goeth before destruction.'" " Eemember this 
 ancient maxim : ' Know thyself.' " " He shouted, ' Victory.' " " They sent back 
 the reply, 'Independence or death!'" "And, 'This to me,' he said." — Sir W. 
 Saott. "Every tongue shall exclaim with heart-felt joy. Welcome! welcome! La 
 Fayette." — Eoerett. "Caesar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink.' " *_' Jesus an- 
 swered them. Is it not written in your law, — I said. Ye are Gods ?" — Bible. " Tlie 
 jury brought iu a verdict of Not guilty." — Macaalay. " He answered. No." " The 
 question, then, will naturally arise, How is the desired improvement to be effecteil i 
 now are the theory and practice of the art to be obtained? We answer. By the 
 most simple means ; by the very means which are so well adapted to other sub- 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 09 
 
 iects of learning."— TriZi(o;i's PunctvMion. "Thus Cobbett ob3erve3, that ' The 
 French, in their Bible, say Le Verbe where we say The Word.'' " — Goold Brown. 
 " Christianity does not spread a feast before us, and then come with a 'Touch not, 
 taste not, handle not.' " — Bishop Porteus. 
 
 ? 8. It is perhaps unnecessary to add, that indirect quotations or 
 questions, resumed quotations, and quoted words or phrases that were 
 not initial, should not begin with capitals. 
 
 Ex. — "Solomon says, that 'pride goeth before destruction.'" "That there 
 must be some such relation, is obvious ; but what is it ? and how is it to be 
 known ?" " With Mr. Headly, an event always ' transpires.' " — E, A. Foe. " This 
 indeed is, as Chatham says, ' a perilous and tremendous moment.' " 
 
 As to words, phrases, or sentences, introduced for illustration, usage is unsettled. Pro- 
 fessors G. W. Gibbs and Gessner Harrison use small letters. " To denote the second coin- 
 plemont; as, ' the Bible teaches us that God is love.' " — Gibbs. " E. g., nan poterat effuqere, 
 ' he could not escape.' " — Harrison. But the practice of most modern wi iters is other- 
 wise. Professor Harrison seems to use capitals wherever he quotes, out of the litera- 
 ture, parts from their beginning; but not if he quotes otherwise, or draws from his 
 own invention. " So, Ita est, ' it is even so.' " — Harrison. " Thi;se are called active or 
 transitive -verhB ; e. gr., multa verba dicsit, 'he spoke many words.' " — Id. Worcester, in his 
 Dictionary, uses capital letters. "Any covering; as, ' The coa/Is of an onion;' 'A coat 
 of paint.'" — Worcester. " To carry or possess as a mark of authority or distinction; as, 
 'To bear the sword;' ' To bear a date or name.'" — Id. Professor Fowler also prefera 
 capitals ; but Mr. Goold Brown sometimes uses them, and sometimes not. It is evident that 
 much depends on the unity or compactness the writer means to give to his sentences, and 
 also on what prominence he means to give to his illustrations. Diatincl sentences, even 
 when not separated by a full point, should generally begin with capitals. When words or 
 phrases are given as altogether from the writer himself, and merely to complete his sen 
 tence, or when they are rather suggested incidentally than formally quoted, capitals are un- 
 necessary, though sometimes used. " Such are irregular verbs ; as, see, saw, seen ; write, 
 wrote, written." 
 
 1 9. Every term or appellation denoting tlie Deity. 
 
 Ex. — " God ; the Supreme ; the Most High ; the Infinite One ; Providence ; 
 Divine Providence ; great Parent of good ; the Lord of Sabaoth ; the Savior ; the 
 Messiah ; the Son of man ; our Lord Jesus Christ ; the Holy Spirit ; in Christ our 
 Lord. Amen; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." "I turn to Thee." 
 "Watched by the Divine eye." " Oh, give relief, and Heaven will bless your 
 store." 
 
 An ordinary adjunct, used as a part of a name denoting the Deity, usually has 
 no ciipital; as, "the Savior of sinners," " the Author of all good." When a word 
 denotes something as merely pertaining or belonging to the Deity, it does not 
 usually need a capital; as, " lay wisdom and power made them all: they are the 
 works of Thy hand.'''' 
 
 ? 10. When a pronoun, denoting the Deity, occurs in connection with its noun, 
 it needs no capital, and seldom has one in American books : as, " Thy ownership 
 and workmanship are God's; and thou art Aw, and he made thee." — Qreenwcod. 
 When the words god., goddess, de'ity, divinity, and similar terms, are applied to the 
 heathen deities, they do not begin with capitals. 
 
 ? 11. Every proper name, or each chief word of a proper name; 
 also the title, if any, preceding or following, especially when this 
 stands as a part of the name. 
 
 Ex. — "John Henry Bolton; George Washington ; General George Washing- 
 ton ; Judge Wells ; 'Dr. Juo. B. Joanson ; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Browning ; tlie 
 Countess of Blessington ; K. G. Woodson, Esq. ; Arthur Price, Jun., Esq. ; the 
 Kev. Mr. Brookes; Washington City." "So Master Dick went off on his trav- 
 els." — 0. W. Holmes. " ' You are old, Father William,' the young man replied." — 
 Houthey. 
 
 ? 12. Common words denoting, in the same way as personal 
 proper names, personified objects, or used as permanent individual 
 
70 ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 names ; and phrases so used, as the titles of books, associations, or 
 other objects, — are proper nouns in sense, and written accordingly. 
 
 Ex. — "Hail, Liberty!" "0 Happiness! our being's end and aim." "The 
 entrance into the garden 'of Hope, was by two gates ; one of which was l^ept by 
 Reason, and the other by Fancy." "Thy name is Hasty Pudding? — thus our 
 sires were wont to greet thee fuming from the lires." — Barlow. " There lay Ma- 
 dam Partlet, basking in the sun, breast-liigh in sand." — Dryden. " This struck 
 tlie Oak with a thought of admu'ation, and he could not forbear asking tiie 
 Keed, how became to be so secure," etc. — ^'iop' s Fables : Best Edition. "They went 
 to the Butterfly's ball and the Grasshopper's feust." "Tlie Commons, the Central 
 Park, the Bay of Biscay" — Worcester ; "the Pacitic Ocean" — Everett ; "in West- 
 minster Hall" — Macautay: " Baffin's Bay, Bristol Bay, the Wliite Sea, the Sea ol 
 Jamn, the Isle of Man, Hudson's Strait, the Gulf Stream, the Gulf of Guinea, on 
 LaKe Tchad" — Oxford Professor ; " Olotfc the Dreamer, Alexander the Great, the 
 Lake of Nicaragua, to Long and Staten Islands, in Long Island Sound, on Bunker 
 Hill, to Mount Vernon, near the Cupe of Good Hope, near the Five Points, the 
 Rocky Mountains, the East River" — Irving; "from Prospect Hill, on Breed's 
 Hill, at Moultrie's Point, beyond Charistovvn Neck" — Bancroft ; "to Pilot's Knob, 
 to Council Bluffs, Fort Charles, Vancouver's Island, near Great Bear Lake, the 
 "White Sulphur Springs, on the Fourth, on New Year's Day, tlie dissensions be- 
 tween the North and the South, the Know Nothings, the Radicals, the Friends, 
 the Sisters of Charity, the Union Literary Society, the Milky Way, Scott's Lady 
 of the Lake, Campbell's Battle of Hohenlinden, Mi. ton's Paradise Lost and Para- 
 dise Regained, the first Number of the New Monthly, Dr. Mitchell's Popular As- 
 tronomy" — Sundry Authorities. Such Scotch or Irish names of mountains or lakes 
 as Ben Lomond, Loch Gyle, &c., should always be written as two words, and capi- 
 talized. A letter or a word used as the name of itself, is not usually capitalized. 
 Mr. Goold Brown capitalizes letters so used, but not words : as, " Tee, Tees ; Ess, 
 Esses ;" " The pronoun who.'''' i 
 
 . 13. It is worthy of notice, that not every personified noun is writ- 
 ten with a capital, but only those which have the sense of proper names. 
 
 Ex. — "Wave your tops^ ye pines." — Milton. "Ye eagles, playmates of the 
 mountain storm." — Coleridge. (Ye men of Altorf.) "Thus liberty, partially, in- 
 deed, and transiently, revisited Italy." — Macaulay. (?) 
 
 ? 14. Words derived from proper names, should begin with 
 capitals. 
 
 Ex. — " American, Americanize, Americanisms, Columbian, French, Genoese, 
 Latinize, Grecian, Italicize, Italics, (these two words are frequently not capitalized,) 
 Christians, Christianize, Gallicisms, Hebraisms, Jesuits, Franciscans, Jacobites, a 
 Cherokee, Wesleyan, Roman, Irishman, Weisii. Scotchman." "A Southern man 
 aa well as a Northern man." 
 
 ? 15. But when such a word has lost its reference to the proper 
 name, and has taken its place and a meaning among the common 
 words of the language, it is not written with a capital. 
 
 Ex. — " In academic halls ;" "champagne, china-ware, cashmere shawls, colos- 
 sal, daguerreotype, damask cheeks, godlike, a guinea, sandwiches, a good bilboa, 
 to galvanize, to hector, hymeneal, lalap, laconic, laconicism, prussic acid, solar, 
 lunar, turkey ;'■• "most socratically'' — Jroing. Unchristian, and similar words, ©an 
 not receive neatly a capital within. 
 
 ? 16. Words of special emphasis or importance, or words pecu- 
 liarly or technically applied, and not sufficiently definite if writ- 
 ten otherwise, sliould begin with capitals. 
 
 Ex. — " The General Assembly ; the excellence of our Constitution ; our State ; 
 the Coal Measures, lying next; William Penn with several Friends; the War 
 Department; the Auditor of Public Accounts;" "the Reform Bill"— Z«?»fifen 
 Times ; " the Missouri Compromise" — Congressional Globe. (See also above, 12.) 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 71 
 
 " Education is the great business of the Institute." — 0. W. Holmes. " The other 
 member of the Committee was the Reverend Mr. Butters, who was to make the 
 prayers before the Exercises of the Exhibition."— /<i. "Every American-bora 
 husband is a possible President of the United States." — Id. "The Medical Col- 
 lege in Mason Street." — Everett. " The disasters which this little band of Pilgrims 
 encountered." — Id. "The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts." — Id. "The 
 Governor of the Cape." — British Quarterly. " The guests were entertained by 
 Mayor Eice, at his residence, No. 34, Union Place." — A Boston Journal. In a 
 drafc written by an intelli<^ent gentleman, I see that the sum of money is capital- 
 ized — " Five Hundred and Fifty-five Dollars." A large banner floats over Broad- 
 way, with this motto : " The llnion, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the 
 Laws. — H. Clay." 
 
 ? 17. Writers often take greater liberty in designating by capitals 
 the chief objects of their own science, art, or profession, than is 
 allowed to other persons treating of such things only incidentally. 
 
 Ex. — " The Blue Bird [letter — Blue-bird] of America," etc., says Audubon ; be- 
 cause birds made his business of life, and so in treating of each he capitalizes the 
 name. An astronomer, in treating of the solar system, says, " The Sun is the centre 
 of the System." Fowler records his phrenological speculations thus : " His mu- 
 sical talent is great ; for Time, Order, Calculation, and Tune, are largely developed." 
 And merchants over all parts of our country do and may capitalize, in their ac- 
 counts, the names of those things which constitute their business. It seems to be 
 also becoming rather fashionable, to capitalize words in stead of Italicizing them ; 
 and in school-books and scientific treatises, we often see their peculiar vocabulaiy 
 made particularlv prominent in this way. Perhaps the printers, to whom this 
 mode of distinction gives less trouble than any other, are those who have chiefly 
 introduced it. The practice is apt to run to excess, and is then akin to that of 
 using the dash excessively. 
 
 ? 18. Names, titles, mottoes, or other expressions, when very 
 emphatic, or when designed to catch the eye from a distance, are 
 frequently printed or painted wholly in capitals. And in Advertise- 
 ments and Notices, the liberty of capitalizing is carried to a great 
 and almost indefinite extent. 
 
 Ex. — Advertisement: "Just published. A Collection of Songs, Duets, Trios, 
 and Choruses. Together with a New and Complete Course of Elementary Instruc- 
 tion, and Lessons in Singing, for the School-room and the Social Circle. Price 
 62i cents." 
 
 ? 19. The pronoun / and the interjection should always be 
 capitals. 
 
 Finally, the following rule may aid in deciding doubtful cases generally. 
 
 ? 20. Whenever any term or terms of a certain import in the 
 language, are employed as a title, or merely to designate a particular 
 person or thing rather than to characterize the same by their mean- 
 ing, capitals are used ; otherwise not. 
 
 Ex. — " The Infinite One ;" " the design of an infinite Creator, the law of the 
 Almighty God." — John Wilson. " Either the world had a creator, or it existed by 
 chance." — Prof. Gibhs. " The Green-Mountain Boys were allowed to choose their 
 own officers." — Bancroft. " To Professor Longfellow, that is, to the poet Long- 
 fellow." " In his Public Despatches." — Macaulay. Whether I should write, 
 " Webster's Speeches" or " Webster's speeches,'.' " Burus's Poems" or " Burns'a 
 poems," depends altogether on whether I am thinking of the title or simply of the 
 speeches or poems. " Gray hardly tools more pains with his Elegy," not elegy. 
 "I do not know, sir." " I am. Sir, very sincerely, your friend." " The Doctor 
 now heard the approach of clattering hoofs." — 0. W. Holmes. " In the preface of 
 his work, he says," <fec. — O Brown. " In his Preface, he says," &c. — Id. 
 
)/r) 
 
 ORTHOefRAPny. CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 voast Survey Gewftpskay of the U/ilted States ; the Hadson Bay Company; 
 
 Iry of the Interior ; NewEndand; Mount Vernon; Fort Riley; Capa May; 
 ^:«nvij xiuuk; Long Island Sound ; Little Egg Harbor; Lake Erie, Lake Ontario; 
 along lakes Erie, Ontario, and Superior ; a house in Laurel Grove — at Harper's 
 Ferry (toivns) ; the Senate, and the House of Representatives ; earth to earth ; the 
 productions of the earth; the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, etc. ; the sun 
 and the moon ; robed in Luna's silver mantle ; the vault of heaven ; a heaven of 
 bliss* ; protected by Heaven ; my brother John ; John Bull to Brother Jonathan • 
 
 scenes of nature ; according to nature ; and Nature sighed that all was lost.'' 
 
 "I have hope;" "Eternal Hope! thy joyous youth began." "We had much 
 pleasure ;" " My name is Pleasure." " I reside at a French village — at a place 
 called French Village." " See Rale 8th, and the Notes under it." 
 
 Familiar Illustrations and Critical Remarks. — A chapter in your 
 history refers to your life ; but a chapter in your History refers rather to a book 
 written and so named by you. The new Lucy is not so old a boat as the old 
 L?M:y. but the New Lucy may be an old boat. When I speak of the principal of 
 a school, I refer to his duties; but when I speak of the Principal of a school, 1 
 refer to liis title. The Monticello academy is an academy, in Monticello, that 
 bears the name of Montrose Academy. A person may be educated at a university, 
 and, while in Virginia, may visit the University. The punctuation of a book 
 refers to its sentential points, but its Paactuation is one of the subjects of which 
 it treats. Callaway county is usually called Callaway, but Kansas City is not 
 usually called Kansas. The Ohio river is as well denoted by the Ohio, which is 
 a sufficient name to call it by : but the Bed Rivev is not usually called the Red, 
 nor is the Blue Ridge ever called the Blue ; for it takes the two words to make 
 the name. (This, I was told in the Globe Office at Washington City, is the dis- 
 tinction observed there ; and I see but this objection to it, namely, that the 
 phrases "the Ohio river," "the Mississippi river," for instance, might be under- 
 stood as meaning, like the phrase " tho Virginia militia," simply the river be- 
 longing to Ohio or Mississippi. " And it contiuues to be called Hudson river 
 unto this day." — Irving. Mr. Geo. Bancroft writes, inconsistently, " in Mystic 
 river, on the Neuse River, the Savannah River, within the limits of the present 
 Greene county." The city of New York or New York city is generally called 
 New York ; but Jersey City or Jefferson City needs both words to make tlio 
 name. The Indian always says, " Groat Spirit," or uses both words to denote 
 God; but when Pope wrote, "Thou great First Cause," he used great in its or- 
 dinary descriptive sense. The Ki7ig of kings shows preeminently God's relation 
 to worldly kings ; but the Angel of Death does not show the relation of any 
 angel to death. The Devil denotes Satan ; but a devil may be simply a bad per- 
 son or spirit. Macaulay writes, "They have coined out of Machiavelli's Christ- 
 ian name a nickname [tTickl for the Devil;" also, "The Tempter, or the Evil 
 Principle." " 'Will yon walk into my parlor?' said the Spider to the Fly," de- 
 notes tho two as if they were Mr. A and Mr. B, or as the chief subject oi" the 
 composition. But JE^op^s foxes, lions, mice, crows, etc., are not, in all books, hon- 
 ored with capitals. A Methodist, a Republican, a Mussulman, or a Roarer, be- 
 longs to some religious, political, or social sect or party. " William Penn with a 
 few Friends," is very different from "WilUam Penn v/ith a few friends." "The 
 First and the Second Sandstone," implies scientific distinction. Prof. Lyell, of 
 England, writes, "the Old Red sandstone," "the Secondary series;" because, 
 I suppose, in these capitalized words lies the technical distinction, and no other 
 capitals are needed. The gospel deaotei^the Christian doctrines; bat the Gos- 
 pels and the Revelation denote parts of the New Testament. Tiie phrase "Di- 
 vine assistance" refers directly to God, but tho phrase "divine beauty" does not. 
 Missouri is a part of the South, thougli it Is west. Such is the union of the 
 States, that they are often called the Union or the United States. Van Diem en's 
 Land is not the land belonging to Van Diemen. Grabhe's Prairie once waa 
 Crabbe's prairie. Suiter's Mill is now a little town, and tlio mill is washed 
 
^ ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. Y8 
 
 away. BoUori's F^rry is a place on the Osage at ■which there is now no ferry 
 The London Times is a newspaper ; London times are something else. The 
 Planter'' s House is a hotel ; the planter's hoicse is noted for hospitality. " Monthly 
 Meetings" are sometimes held by large and important religious societies ; and 
 are considered, I suppose, more definite, formal, and important than " monthly 
 meetings." When I speak of the Company or the Convention, I mean to guard 
 you against thinking of the wrong one, or to make you think of a particular one. 
 The Battle of the Books refers to a celebrated literary controversy. The Insur- 
 rection was printed with a capital letter, only while the excitement lasted; but 
 the Revoludon and the Reformation are still matters of interest, and retain their 
 capitals. 
 
 So, as the world advances, and new and stirring events are continually 
 thrown up to the surface, any common word or phrase may yield itself up aa a 
 sort of temporary proper name ; and, when no longer needed as such, be deprived 
 of its capital, and returned to the common arsenal of speech. 
 
 Philadelphia has a mint and several colleges. I visited the Mint this morning, 
 and also the College [G-irard's]. " Tlie city contains an Asylum for the Deafj 
 Dumb, and Blind, a Mint, and a City Hall," was written as if the names had 
 been transcribed from the buildings tliemselves. The Lunatic Asylum is a partic- 
 ular and distinguished institution in our State, but there are lunatic asylums in 
 most parts of the world. " The expulsion of our first parents from the Garden ;" 
 I. e., from Eden. I went with him to visit the Lakes ; i. e., a celebrated group 
 of kikes. The "lake of the Woods" is a lake in some famous woods, the " Lake 
 of the woods" is a famous lake in woods, but the " Lake of the Woods" is sim- 
 ply a lake so called. "The Erie Canal" is wholly a name ; but the " Erie and 
 Ohio canal" is understood as being the canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio 
 river. The Missouri railroad is a railroad in Missouri ; but the Missouri Bail- 
 road could be located anywhere. We can see white mountains in almost any 
 mountainous country ; but the White Mountains are in New Hampshire. The 
 South Pass denotes not only a pass, but is extended in application to the sur- 
 rounding country, so as to denote a locality besides. Niagara Falls means not 
 merely a fall of water. Lord Jotfrey, in stead of saying, " Sliakespeare," says, 
 " the Poet." The phrase Old Dominion is put for the proper name Virginia. 
 Macaulay writes, " The mercenary warriors of the Peninsula,'' applying the word 
 in a specific sense, or to Spain and Portugal. The phrase " Elegy in a Country 
 Church Yard" is as much the proper name of a poem as John may be the proper 
 name of a boy. " I saw his Excellency the Governor at the party ;" i. e., I saw 
 Mr. A. there. Were I, however, to call Goldsmith's Deserted Village Gold- 
 smith's great poem, I would not capitalize the latter phrase. (See 20.) " To the 
 honorable legislature" is a less definite and complimentary phrase than " To 
 the Honorable Legislature." The London Times says, " Her Majesty, the Prince 
 Consort, the Bride, the Prince of Wales, and the other members of the Royal 
 Family were there." Common folks would not have boon thus honored with 
 capitals. I should rather speak of myself as the author than as the Author, for 
 fear people should think I set too high a value on my production, or on the class 
 of persons to which I belong. But, if I were president of the United States, I 
 should, considering the great and admitted dignity of the office, speak of myself 
 {IS the President. I should begin my letter with this address, — " My dear 
 Friend," " My dear Sir," " Dear Sir," " Dear Uncle," or '• My dear Aunt Mary,'' 
 &c. Judge Story writes, " My dear Sir :", '* My Dear Sir :", " My dear Wile :"; 
 Dr. Holmes, "My dear Professor, — "; Sydney Smith, "Dear Jefirey,", " My 
 dear Mr. Jeffrey,"; the Quarterly Review has, " My Dear Friend,". 
 
 A Cambridge Professor speaks of his Essay in referring to a book called 
 Cambridge Essays ; and, having introduced Captain Marryatt, he afterwards 
 speaks of him as the Captain, and not as the captain. Our Club, President, 
 Secretary, and Treasurer, are such in title as well as in fact. " Book T, Part 
 
74 ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 Second, Etymology, Remark, Observation, Names of Deity, Rules concerning 
 Examples and Quotations," refer to particular parts or headings of the book. 
 An accurate grammarian writes, " Murray, in his G-rammar, says, &e. — The 
 Critic, a Newspaper." An Act of Congress is not like an act of a rope-dancer, 
 and of greater importance. A governor is not necessarily a Governor ; nor a 
 supreme court, a Supremo Court; nor the fifth street, Fifth Street. " Our Con- 
 stitution" does not refer to our health, nor does " our State" refer to our condi- 
 tion. We may speak, however, in general terms, of the states, empires, and 
 kingdoms of the earth ; and dukes, kings, emperors, queens, consuls, presidents, 
 judges, mayors, directors, commissioners, councilmen, etc., are all subject to tho 
 same rules in respect to capital letters. I am aware that it is rather dangerous 
 to admit the principle of capitalizing words merely because they are deflected in 
 sense; but, to some extent, the principle must be admitted, or, I should rather 
 say, is already established. I find, in my reading, " the cane-brakes of the state 
 of Louisiana" — Bancroft; " the union of the States" — Everett; "used in Louisi- 
 ana and some neighboring states"— Worcester ; " the people in his own state" — 
 Bryant; "the States of Italy" — Macaulay ;" "in the service of a single state" — 
 Id. : but, if the North, South. East, and West, make the United States, I think 
 one of tlaese is a State, especially as " the state of Virginia," for instance, ma^ 
 mean how Virginia is. I find also, — when the idea is universally considerecl, 
 or "unified," — " He is a member of the bar" — Worcester; " For the Bar or the 
 Pulpit" — Mandeville ; " Who kills by the sword, shall die by the sword" — Bible ; 
 " The Song is in poetry, what tho Essay is In prose" — Atlantic Monthly ; " In 
 ancient times, the State supported the Oracle" — Oxford Professor; "These con- 
 templative views of Nature and Man" — Id. : but such capitalizing should be in- 
 dulged in very sparingly. " Have we lilted up our eyes to Him who is Love, 
 Light, and Truth, and Bliss" — Prof. Wilson. (See also 9.) Mr. Hawthorne says 
 of an ItaUan statue, " Here, likewise, is seen a symbol (as apt at this moment as 
 it was two thousand years ago) of the Human Soul, with its choice of Innocence 
 or Evil close at hand, in the pretty figure of a child clasping a dove to her bo- 
 som, but assaulted by a snake." (See also 12.) Prof. Silliman writes, " The 
 Flora of Australia has justly been regarded the most remarkable in the world ;" 
 " The European and Australian floras seem to me to be essentially distinct." I 
 find, furthermore, "from Catharine-street" — London Times; "near William 
 street, in Mulberry-street" — Irving ; "in Chatham-street" — Greeley ; "hi Grand 
 street" — Bryant ; " at the corner of Union street and Hanover street" — Everett ; 
 "No. 22, School Street" — John Wilson, of Boston; "at a lawyer's office, in 
 Nassau Street, New York" — Atlantic Monthly. The compounding of the two 
 words makes the most exact term ; tho use of two capitals is more in accord- 
 ance with analogy; (see 12 ;) but the last mode of expression is becoming per- 
 haps most common. What I have shown and said in reference to streets, may 
 also be noticed in reference to several other kinds of not very important objects, 
 especially when the ordinary meaning of the word is still prominent. "We 
 passed the Antelope hills, G-ray creek, and Rocky Dell creek." — U. S. Survey of 
 E. R. Route to the Pacific. (?) In English newspapers I generally find such 
 words compounded ; as, Spring-gardens, Leicester -place, Hampden-street, Fourth- 
 street ; ^^Arklow-house, Gomiaughi-place, June 18th." There seems to be a tend- 
 ency to consider what figure the object makes in the writer's composition, or in 
 the great affairs of the world ; and, it it is not a matter of much interest or im- 
 portance, to use small letters, or not more capitals than are absolutely necessary 
 to distinguish the object from others of the same kind. 
 
 When earth, heaven, and hell, are spoken of as habitations, small letters gen- 
 erally begin the words ; though some writers urge that when tho latter two 
 places denote the abodes of the blessed and of the miserable, they are always 
 proper names, and should begin with capitals; and I find, in my reading, 
 " Sleep on, and dream of Heaven a while ;" " Frail child of earth 1 high heir of 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 75 
 
 heaven 1" Heaven and Eell, and some other such terms, as used by Milton, iii 
 Paradise Lost, should doubtless begin with capitals, being used in a somewhat 
 unusually apecihc sense: they form a part of his "machinery." When Muses, 
 Graces, Naiads, etc., are conceived in the splendor of ancient imagination, they 
 are generally favored with capitals ; but our own fairies, fays, gnomes, sylphs, 
 hobgoblins, etc., are rather too puny in idea to be thus distinguished. The 
 words spring, summer, fall, autmnn, winter, time, eternity, seasons, morning, 
 eveiiing, noon, day, night, and many other individual terms, — such as earth, 
 heaven, hell, sun, moon, stars, wo^ld, uriiverse, nature, space, equator, zodiac, 
 ecliptic, north, south, east, west, etc., — when used in their most ordinary sense, or 
 wlien their meaning predominates, are not usually capitalized; but when they 
 ^ve used in a somewhat technical or peculiar sense, when they are personified, 
 or when the objects are to be honorably distinguished, the words are capitalized. 
 The terms Pandemonium, Tartarus, Elysium,, Gardens of the Hesperides, Ely- 
 sian Fields, are of course proper names. Lord^s Bay is equivalent to Sunday. 
 New Yearns Day, the Fourth, Good Friday, or any other holiday, is as much a 
 particular day as Sunday, Monday, or any other day of the week. 
 
 After all, something must be left to taste, or to the nice intuitive perceptions 
 of the writer ; and the two extremes of custom in regard to capital letters, may 
 be briefly summed up thus : — 
 
 a. Any particular place, time, object, office, officer or functionary, asso- 
 ciation, writing, building, science, art, or great event, should be distinguisiied 
 by capital letters. 
 
 h. Only initial words, /and 0, titles and proper names, or what is used 
 in the same way, should be thus distinguished. 
 
 The following principles may he added in regard to phrases and sentences : — 
 
 1 21. A new proper name made from an old one, by the addition of 
 some common word. Capitals. 
 
 Ex. — " Orleans, New Orleans; Cambridge, East Cambridge ; New Hampshire ; 
 Governor Clinton ; Jetferson City; Eiiode IsLind ; Miller's Landing ; Upper Can- 
 ada ; Astor House; Mount Mitchell; Kansas Territory; Japan Sea; Lisle 
 Town ; the Gulf of Mexico." This and the following are ruling principles, and 
 fail to hold good only when the objects are rather insignificant. 
 
 ? 22. One or more common words, — usually, a noun and an adjective, 
 a noun and an adjunct, a noun and a possessive, a noun and its appositive, 
 a phrase or a sentence, — raised to the dignity of a proper name for a par- 
 ticular object. Capitals. 
 
 Ex.— "The Park; Salt River; Salt Lake; Big Sandy; Sandy Hook; Land' a 
 End ; the Cape of Good Hope ; the Mountains of the Moon ; the Laurel Hills ; i\ 
 hill called Cedar Crest ; the United States; the Western States; the Little Bait; 
 the Old Sonth Church; City Police; Post Office; the Know Nothings; a hool^ 
 called— The Temple of Truth." 
 
 ? 23. In capitalizing entire sentences or Italic head -lines, distin-. 
 giiish, by capitals, the nouns ; for the sake of greater distinction, the 
 nouns, the qualifying adjectives, the participles, and other prominent 
 words, and always write the mere particles small. 
 
 Ex. — " Our observations may be comprised under the following heads : Proper 
 Loudness of Voice ; Distinctness ; Slowness ; Propriety of Pronunciation ; Emphasis ; 
 Tones l and Mode of Reading Versed — K. G. Paiiker. " Episcopal Innovation ; or^ 
 the Test of Modern Orthodoxy in Eighth-seven Questions, im,posed as Articles of 
 Faith, upon Ou?ididates for Licenses and Bolv Orders, ir^ the Diocese of Petersl>oro ugh ; 
 with a distinct Answer to each Question, ana General Reflections rdative t.-' their Il- 
 legal Structure and Pernicious Tendency^ — SvuifEy Sittrrn. 
 
 4* 
 
76 ORTIIOGIIAPJIY. CAPITAL LETTERS. 
 
 General Direction for CoRRECTiNa. — First, read distinctly, as it is, what 
 is to be corrected: condemn it-; take a convenient erroneous portion, say what it 
 should be, and give the reason by stating the principle violated ; and, finally, read 
 the corrected example. For greater fullness, say, wlien convenient, that the er- 
 roneous part with such properties or sucii a meaning, should be so with such 
 properties, such a meaning, or for such a purpose ; because, etc. 
 
 Examples to be Corrected. 
 
 Formula. — Incorrect : the word , beginning with a small , should 
 
 begin with a capital ; because . (Give the precept violated, as pre- 
 sented on some preceding page; and vary the Formula wnen a variation is 
 needed.) 
 
 Congress authorized gen. "Washington to appoint an officer to take charge of 
 the southern district. When Laud was arraigned, "can any one believe me a 
 traitor," exclaimed the astonished prelate. — Bancroft. The blood of those who 
 have Fallen at concord, lexington, and bunker's hill, cries aloud, " it is time to 
 part." Three cheers were given for the " champion of the south." The bible 
 says, children, obey your parents. A hundred presbytorian ministers preached 
 every sunday in Middlesex. There was no Church to-day at middle grove. In 
 Benton's thirty years you can And this Statement. All these pleas are overruled 
 the moment a lady adduces her irrefragable argument, you must. Daniel Web- 
 ster, secretary of state. At fort black Hawk. He Knew general la Fayette 
 and captain Phipps. He was first a Captain and tlien a General. This Cliief 
 had the sounding appellation of white thunder. Washington city, the Capital 
 of the United states, is in the district of Columbia. He is now president of 
 Westminster college, and was formerly principal of Montrose academy. While 
 every honest tongue "stop thief!" resounds. To this I answer, no. The answer 
 may be, yes or no. The president lives in the white housi. These Birds go 
 South in Winter, but return in i:rpring or Summer. I saw, at the same time, 
 a person called fraud, behind the count t, with false scales, light weights, and 
 scanty measures. Falsehood let the arms of .sophistry fall from her grasp, and, 
 holding up the shield of impudence with both hjr hands, sheltered herself among 
 the passions. — id. The first melting of Lead Ore in this county was in a rude 
 log furnace. This is especially true of Elm and Hickory land. Dam spiro, 
 spero ; while I breathe, I hope. The question is. which of them can best pay 
 the penalty ? Be it enacted by the legislature of Ohio, that the taxes, etc. Lind- 
 ley murray says, "when a quotation is brought in obliquely after a comma, a 
 Capital is unnecessary ; as, solomon observes, ' That Priae goeth before destruc- 
 tion.'" — octavo grammar, P. 28-1. At length, the comprehension bill was sent 
 down to the commons. To the honorable the presi Jent and the house of convetj- 
 tion. He was President of the massachusetts historical society, the Editor of 
 a few volumes of its historical colleccion.s, and a Contributor to the Boston daily 
 advertiser. The author of the Task was a good Poet. Some welsh emigrauis 
 who were zealous christians. Put the first hue in roman letters, and italicize 
 the other. Tiie mexican leader was don autonio de lo|iez de santa anna. She 
 is gone to him that comforteth as a mother comforteth. The hand that made us, 
 id divine. Here is the village of beaver meadow ; also mauch chunk, or bear 
 mountain, broad and spring mountains, bald ridge, and pine hills, are here. 
 This swamp was called the shades of death, by the sufferers fiom Wyoming. 
 There dwelt a sage called discipline. He flattered himself that the tories might 
 bo induced to make some concessions to the dissenters, on conuition tliat the 
 whigs would be lenient to the Jacobites. Men may be divided, intellectually, 
 into the following classes : the great, the extraordinary, the ordinary, t!ie imita- 
 tive, the energetic, the mediocre, the feeble, the small, and tlw dull. Monroo 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. SYLLABLES. 77 
 
 house ; Martha's vineyard ; lake Champlain ; little Peedee ; Cook's inlet ; Pe- 
 nobscot bay; mourxt Zion; mount Vernon; east indies; the white sea; the 
 Indian ocean; Bunker hill: Harper's ferry; Jersey city; Oharleston City ; the 
 City of Cincinnati ; in the County of Cole ; Appollo garden ; Lafayette place ; 
 Boone County ; the Propliet Isaiah ; King Solomon ; the Evangehst Matthew. 
 The Gulf stream ; the G-ulf-Stream waters ; the New-york Fire insurance Com- 
 pany. Some of the Bottom Prairies of the Missouri are thirty miles long. 
 The work is admirably adapted to the use of common schools, — 
 by thorough and varied exercises ; 
 by frequent and complete reviews ; 
 by simplicity of terms and arrangement. 
 See art's fair Empire o'er our shores advance. 
 I hate when vice can bolt her arguments, 
 and virtue has no tongue to check her pride. — Milton. 
 Fair science frowned not on his bumble birth, 
 And melancholy marked him for her own. — Gray. 
 Our Clifford was a noble Youth. — Wordsworth. 
 
 SYLLABLES. 
 
 Wlmt is a syllable? A word? A monosyllable ? A dissyllable? A trisyllable ? A poly- 
 syllable ? See p. 1. 
 
 ? 24. Every syllable must consist of one or more vowels, or of 
 one or more vowels enclosed on one or both sides by one or more 
 consonants. 
 
 Ex. — 0, i-dle, au-ger, ba-ker, broil; an, ants; dot, shrill, breasts, shat-tered. 
 
 ? 25. What is put to the beginning of a word to modify its 
 
 meaning, is termed a prefix ; to the end, a suffix ; and the part 
 
 which receives the prefix or the suffix, is called the root^ or radical. 
 
 Ex. — ^Plant, re-plant, ^m«.*-plant, *m-plant; act, act-or, act-iwe, &GtrivU^; great, 
 gre&t-eat,' friend, tnend-ship ; form, re-form-atio/i. 
 
 ? In dividing words into their syllables, we are guided chiefly by 
 the ear. 
 
 ? 26. We should give to every syllable precisely those letters 
 which the correct pronunciation of the word gives to it. 
 
 Ex. — Su-prem-a-cy, il-lit-er-ate, pro-cras-tin-ate, mil-li-ner-y, pref-ace, as-tron- 
 o-my, rev-e-la-tion, oth-er, es-quire, val-e-tu-di-na-ri-an, ma-ter-nal, bas-ket, bar-ber, 
 bur-uish, twin-kle, ho-ri-zon, men-tal, Hel-en, Rob-ert, E-liz-a-beth. 
 
 To write hurn-ish, blanlc-et, e-nqnire, as Webster sometimes divides these and similar words, might 
 suggest that the words are derived from hum, blank, and squire. 
 
 t 27. Words should generally be divided according to their pre- 
 fixes, suffixes, or grammatical endings, if they have any ; and com- 
 pound words should be divided into their simple ones. 
 
 Ex. — Ee-new, ring-let, great-er, wis-est, sin-fal, ful-ly, skil-less, grass-y, rent. 
 ed, drill-ing, weav-er, mill-wheel, boat-swain, fore-most, whos-ever, wher-ever, 
 aa-otlier. 
 
 ? 28. When derivation and pronunciation conflict, the division 
 must be made according to the pronunciation. 
 
 Ex. — Ap-a-thy, not a-path-y ; rec-ol-lec-tion (remembrance), big-a-my, as-oribe, 
 pred-i-cate, in-det-i-nite, tner-mom-e-ter. 
 
78 OHTHOGRAPPIY. SPELLING. 
 
 ? 29. A word having more syllables than one, may be divided at 
 the end of a line, but only at the close of a syllable. See this page. 
 
 ? The part in either line should consist of at least more letters than one, 
 and be of such a nature that it is not likely to be misconceived at the 
 first impression. 
 
 Such words as a-long^ a-gain^ o-Uo, craft-v, read-y, curve-d, curv-e,d, give-n, 
 safe-r^ and rhyme-r^ should rather stand -wholly in one hne ; and such words as 
 accomplices J accompli-ces, advantages^ should rather be divided accom-plices, advan- 
 tages. 
 
 ? 30. Two or more words expressing but one conception, or 
 habitually used together as the term for one object or idea, should 
 be compounded. 
 
 Ex. — Steamboat, railroad, starlight, beehive, knitting-needle, spelling-book. 
 
 Tell whether primitive, derivative, or compound; also whether a monosyllable, a dissyl- 
 lable, a, trisyllable, or a polysyllable : — 
 
 Man, manhood, man-eater, management, confidential, uninformed, uninflam- 
 mable, penitentiary, nevertheless, horseman, Mussulman, nightingale, whereabout. 
 
 From what derived : — 
 
 Lilies, knives, greater, authorize, farthest, speaks, speaking, applied, written, 
 frosty, inequality, unprepared, happiest, personification, insensibleness. 
 
 Mention the prefixes and the suffi,xes ;— 
 
 Unbousfht, unworthy, imperftict, artist, artful, reconstruct, fortify, fortification, 
 overflow, bespattering, tascination, disproportionably, uapremeditated. 
 
 Divide into syllables : — 
 
 Another, luscious, varnish, tickle, musket, extraordinary, possession, monkey, 
 western, paternal, reformation, recollect, recreate, impetus, impotence, grafter, 
 rafter, charter, chanter, waiter, traitor, colony, felony, pitcher, lounger, noisy, 
 sorcery, gallery, artery, chilling, willing, killing, azure, nation, siren, brisket, 
 associate, pronunciation, athwart, Ariadne, Diana. 
 
 Correct the following : — 
 
 Plan-ting, un-loa-ding, ma-keth, sto-ring, or-ga-ni-zing, e-squire, syst-era, raig 
 ht, swif-test, go-vern, cons-ti-tu-tion, va-le-tu-di-na-ri-an, mark-et, stor-my. 
 
 A white washed house. Double entry book keeping. I saw a humming bird 
 and heard a mocking bird. A white oak, a sugar tree, and a slippery elm. Five 
 gallon kegs and three foot measures. Some glass-houses are made in glass houses. 
 
 SPELLING. 
 
 ? jSpelling is the art of expressing words by their proper let- 
 ters. This art must be learned chiefly from spelling-books, dictiona- 
 ries, and observation in reading. 
 
 Our language having been formed from several others, its words are often 
 Bpelled very irregularly, and sometimes difter widely from the pronunciation; so 
 that scarcely any useful rules can be given, except a few for spelling derivative 
 words. 
 
 Rule I.— Doubling^. 
 
 ? 31. Words of one syllable, ending in a single consonant pre- 
 ceded by a single vowel ; and words of more syllables, ending in the 
 same way, with the accent fixed on the last syllable, — double the 
 consonant before a vowel in the derivative word. 
 
 In other cases, no doubling takes place. 
 
 Ex. — 1. Sad, sadder, saddest; rebel, rebelled, reseller, rebelling, rebell'wn ; fop. 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. SPELLING. 79 
 
 foppish, foppeT^ ; quit, quitting, acquittal; in, inner i up, upper; wit, witty, witti- 
 cmn ; quiz, quizzed, Ex ception: Gas, gases or gasses. 
 
 2. Seal, sealed ; call, called; gild, gilded; hard, Tiarder, liardest ; infer, infer- 
 ence ; travel, traveled, traveling, traveler ; bias, biased ; worship, worshiping ; tax, 
 ea^W, ^a.i-«s. X final = two consonants, A;s or ^^ ; therefore it is never dxjubled. 
 
 Tell the difference between — 
 
 Bohed. and robbed; striped and stripped; hoping and hopping ; lared and larred ; 
 doting and dotting ; sparing and sparring ; fated and fatted^ pining and pinning ; 
 puling and pulling ; raged and ragged ; waging and wagging ; planing and jpZoTi- 
 ?>.iw^ ; M/;^r and hatter ; spiting and spitting ; spited and spitted; scared and scarred ; 
 hiding and bidding. 
 
 Some good writers double Z in the derivatives of the following words : — 
 
 Apparel, bevel, bowel, cancel, carol, cavil, channel, chisel, counsel, cudgel, dishevil, 
 flrivel, duel, enibowel, enamel, empanel, equal, gambol, gravel, grovel, handsel, hatchel, 
 impanel, imperil, jewel, kennel, label, level, libel, marshal, marvel, model, panel, parcel, 
 pencil, peril, pistol, pommel, quarrel, ravel, revel, rival, rowel, shovel, shrivel, snivel, 
 tassel, trammel, travel, tunnel, unravel, victual, "Traveller" — Prescott, Bryant; •'mar- 
 vellous, carolled" — Irving; "worshipping" — Bancroft. These writers were so taught in 
 youth; hence their practice: but such doubling is against analogy, and generally un- 
 
 Soraetimes, however, I, and perhaps p, may be doubled, to prevent the lia- 
 bility of mistaking the word for some other ; as, Gravelly Irom gravel, — gravely 
 from grave ; kidnapper from kidnap. 
 
 A few words from the Latin are derived according to the Latin primitive, 
 and not according to the English ; as, Metal (Lat. raetallum), metallic, metal- 
 lurgy ; inflame, inflammation ; excel, excellent ; appeal, appellant. 
 
 Rule IL-Final Y. 
 
 ? 32. Y final, preceded by a consonant and followed by any 
 letter except i, is changed into i in the derivative word. 
 
 Ex. — Fly, flies ; glory, glories, glorify, _ glorified, glorifying, glorification ; try, 
 trial; bury, turial ; merry, merrily, merriment; ^'ity, pitiable; ivy, ivied. 
 
 Excep tions : The derivatives of sly, dry, and shy ; as, slyly, dryly, shyness ; 
 but Noah Webster and Goold Brown prefer to make these conform with the Kule. 
 
 ? 33. Y final, preceded by a vowel, or followed by *, remains 
 unchanged in the derivative word. 
 
 Ex. — Boy, boys ; gay, gayer, gayest, gayety ; cry, cried, cryiny, crier ; alhiy, al- 
 layed, allaying; buoy, buoyant, buoyancy ; destroy, destroyer, destroying; annoy, 
 annoyance ; chimney, chimneys ; joy, joyful. 
 
 Exceptions : V&y, paid; Bay, said ; lay, laid; day, daily ; stay, staid {yg- 
 mained, stayed (checked). 
 
 Rule III.— Final E. 
 
 ! 34. E final, when silent, is rejected before a vowel in the de- 
 rivative word. 
 
 Ex. — Bite, biting; force, forced, forcing, forcible' grieve, grievance, grievous ; 
 blue, bluish; rogue, roguish ; rattle, rattling ; but be, being. 
 
 1 35. But when necessary to preserve the pronunciation or iden- 
 tity of the word, it is retained. 
 
 Ex. — Y\ee, fleeing ; agree, agreeable ; singe, singeing; trace, traceable; swingo. 
 su^ingeing ; courage, courageous ; mile, mileage ; blue, blaey=bluish ; suo, " sueing.''^ 
 Better,—" suing,'''' as we always write construe, construing. 
 
 Tell the difference between — 
 
 Dying and dyaing ; singing and singeing ; swinging and swingeing. 
 
80 ORTHOGRAPHY.— 'SPELLING. 
 
 ? 36. Words ending in ie change i into y, before i, to prevent the 
 doubhng of ^. 
 
 Ex. — Die, dying ; vie, vyin^ ; tie, tying ; lie, lying. 
 
 ? 37. E final is retained before a consonant in the derivative 
 word. 
 
 Ex. — Base, baseless, hasement ; rue, rueful i definite, definitely, definiteness , 
 eye, eyelet ,' shoe, shoeless ,' Tperverse, j)erver$ely ,' whole, wholesome, wholesomely, 
 wliolesale ; release, releaseraent. 
 
 ? 38. But when not necessary to preserve the pronunciation of 
 the word, it is sometimes rejected. 
 
 Ex. — Due, duly ; true, truly ; awe, awful: also ^ judge,'' Judgment ,' lodge, lodg- 
 ment, &c. ; because the d always softens the g, and renders the e unnecessary. 
 
 Rule IV.— Whetlier Ize or Ise. 
 
 ? 39. If the word has a kindred meaning without the ending, or 
 with a different ending, add ize; if nq,t, ise. 
 
 Ex. — Author, authorize ; civil, civilize ; theory, theorize ; dramatist, dramatize; 
 organ, organize. JRevise, compromise, enterprise, surprise. 
 
 This Rule has some exceptions, as criticise, exercise, assize ; yet I think it may well be 
 applied to all words of this class still unsettled in orthography, and to such as maybe formed 
 hereafter. Some highly respectable modern British authors, perhaps to show their learning, 
 use ise in almost every instance. 
 
 Rule v.— No Trebling^. 
 
 ? 40. The final letter may remain or be doubled, but not trebled, 
 
 in the derivative word. 
 
 Ex. — Harmless, harmlessly ; odd, oddly ; possess, possession, not possesssion ; 
 faU, fully, not fullly ; stiff, stiffness ; chan, chaffinch; bliss, blissful; ill, illness' 
 dull, dullness ; tall, tallness. 'We find treeen and gallless ; but these words shoula 
 have the hyphen, — tree-en, gall-less. 
 
 Rule VI.— Compounds. 
 
 ? 41. When simple words form compounds, they generally retain 
 
 their own letters, especially if a hyphen still separates them. 
 
 Ex. — Barefoot, housewife, lady-like, party-spirit, well-grounded, hasty-pud- 
 ding, thereabouts, juryman, whereby, wherein, whereunto, wherefore, wherewith, 
 whereon. But 'where', wherever; whose, whosever ; sheep, shepherd; feet, fet- 
 lock ; pass, pastime ; newly made, new-made. 
 
 ? 42. One I from II is frequently dropped ; and the apostrophe 
 
 in possessives always, when there is no hyphen. 
 
 Ex. — Always, welcome, handful, fulfiU, heartshorn, boatsman : and according to 
 Dr. Worcester, and some of the best of our old living writers, wilful, skilful, ful- 
 n£S8, d/ulness, chilness, instalm£nt, inthralment ; but I should rather be governed 
 here by analogy, and prefer, as Dr. Webster does, skillful, willful, fullness, dull- 
 ness, chillness, installment, inthrallrnent. See the preceding Kule. 
 
 Rule VII.— Final F, L, or S. 
 
 ? 43. Monosyllables ending with /, Z, ors, preceded by a single 
 vowel, double the final consonant. All other words ending with any 
 other consonant, in the same way, do not. 
 
 Ex. — Skiff, off, hil], shall, bliss, grass ; car, drug, nod, mob. 
 
ORTHOGRAPHY. — SPELLING. 81 
 
 Excettoons: As, gas, lias, was, yes, Ms, is, this, us, pus, thus, nil, sol, sal 
 (salt), bul (flounder). 
 
 Exceptions : Abb (yarn), ebb, add, odd, e<^g', jagg, ragg (stone), inn, err, 
 burr, purr, butt, buzz, fuzz, yarr ^ and some proper names, as Bodd, Hogg, Pitt, 
 P/vscott. The verbs mimic, 'physiC, and traffic, mast assume k with an ending that 
 needs it to preserve the sound ; as, Mimicked, trajiching. 
 
 % F\s sometimes changed into v, in derivatives ; as, Knife, knives ; mischief, 
 viisdiievous. 
 
 ? An apostrophe prevents the effect of a Rule; as, Fancy, fancied, fancy^d; 
 Mary, Mary^s ; ii.y,fly^s. 
 
 Always c-ei, never c-i«; always c-ian for the person who ; eleven e-fies — obrefy. 
 calefy, defy, humefy, liquefy, madefy, putrefy, rarefy, 8twvefy,tabefy, torrefy; all 
 the others are i-Jies ; and as to a-llea and i-bles, look sharply and remember. 
 
 ? Some words may be spelled in two or more different ways, with 
 good authority for each. 
 
 Ex. — Keg, cag; plough, plow; inquire, enquire ; flection, flexion ; connection, 
 connexion; bight, heigiit; centre, center; metre, meter; hominy, homony, hom- 
 mony ; moccasin, moccason ; masquito, mosquito, muscheto, &c. 
 
 ? 44. Some letter or letters of a word are sometimes omitted, 
 and what is left is sometimes changed and combined with another 
 word. Such shortening is called contraction. 
 
 An apostrophe (') is usually put iu the place of the letter or letters omitted. 
 
 Ex. — Th' or t', for the ; 'm, am ; 'rt, art; 're, are ; 's, is, us, or has ; 've, have; 
 'd, liadoY would ; '11, will ; ma'am, madam ; n't, not ; don't, do not; won't, will notj 
 doesn't, does not ; shan't, shall not — Addmon ; can't, can not ; 't, it; 'tis n't, it is 
 not; 'tis or it's, it is; 'gan, began; pr'ythee, I pray thee; couldn't, could not ; 
 'cause, because; e'en, even; e'er, ever; ne'er, never ; o'er, over ; whate'er, what- 
 ever; 'em, them; 'gainst, against ; 'bove, above; 'midst, amidst; 'neath, beneath ; 
 wi', with; i', in; o', of; o'clock, of the clock. 
 
 ? 45. A word is sometimes severed by an intervening word. Sach 
 
 separation is called tmesis. 
 
 Ex. — " To us icari" =Toward us. " On which side soever''"' ='0n whichsoever 
 fiide. " The live day ^;ip'"=The livelong day. 
 
 ? Generally speaking, spelling and pronunciation are the better, 
 the better they agree, and serve to distinguish words that differ in 
 meaning. 
 
 Exercises in Spelling^. 
 
 Most of the following words are those which I have found spelled erroneously in the compositions 
 oT students, on sign-boards, in letters received, and in the newspapers and other hasty literature ot 
 our country. The exercises may also teach the student where the dangers of spelling lurk. 
 
 Spdl the following words, and occasionally give the Rule where one applies : — 
 
 Skating, sliding, striving, druggist, forcible, pottage, quarries, rubbed, 
 equaled, hoarseness, agonized, profited, benefited, allotted, gayety, witticisms, 
 confessedly, valuable, usage, chastisement, steadily, steadfast, laziness, tUl, un- 
 til, ruling, dreaded, truly, recurred, recurrence, conferred, conference, prefer- 
 red, preferable, preference, embodiment, whiggery, fulfilled, lodging, listlessly, 
 dronisli, almost, very, welcome, villain, vilify, shipped, paid, ceaseless, daily, 
 servilely, irreconcilably, affiance, denial, syllabic, parallelogrammical, parallel- 
 ogrammatic, improvements, moneyed, chillness, referred, reference. Italicize, 
 modorniz&d, wagon, offered, colonized, hackneyed, movables, desirable, bap- 
 
82 ORTHOGRAPHY. SPELLING. 
 
 tized, valleys, wearisome, seated, quizzed, galloped, civilization, ranner, use- 
 ful, intermittent, realize, vying, unshrubbed, salable, aggregate, indispensably,, 
 belligerent, plausible, privilege, accompaniment, buzz, hum, replied, loneliness, 
 portrayed, regretted, getting, transferable, transferree, messmate, parish, snap- 
 pish, millinery, slavish, curable, tunable, tamable, welfare, thereby, wherever, 
 thereafter, pastime, sometimes, something, opportunity, misstate, misspell, mis- 
 spend, gemmed, webbed, haggard, sinner, snobbish, terseness, fringing, corse 
 let, fusible, sedgy, smoky, ridgy, swimmer, dragged, bluish, stylish, gluing, 
 blurred, smutty, hedge-row, festering, disbursement, piquant, obliquely, pro- 
 peller, pommel, remittance, revival, contrivance, rehearsal, debatable, com- 
 muning, pennyweight, perversely, alcoholize, generalissimo, clergyman, per- 
 sonification, thriftily, fortieth, whetted, demurrer, sluggish, grievous, proselyt- 
 isra, parallelism, vandalism, galvanize, magnetize, anglicize, knobby, liqueflable, 
 charmer, visitor, realist, squatter, broad-brimmed, dullness, pitiable, penniless, 
 likelihood, handicraft, merchandise, organization, worshipers, cities, jockeys, 
 dizziness, gruffly, scaly, solely, wholly, doubUngs, hying, spied, spy-glass. 
 
 Equivalent Sounds. 
 
 ? In orthograpny, we are most liable to err wherever a different spell- 
 ing would produce the same, or nearly the same, sound, 
 
 ? Different vowels or different vowel combinations frequently produce 
 the same sound. 
 
 ? Different consonants are sometimes equivalent in sound. 
 
 ? The single and the doubled consonant are often equivalent in sound. 
 
 Spell the following words: Brier, friar, actor, instructor, arbiter, parlor 
 survivor, fibre, inventor, cellar, elixir, proprietor, scholar, martyr, mortar, 
 receiver, conqueror, regulator, grammar, brazier, grasier, beverage, porridge^ 
 selvage, dependent, defendant, tranquillity, gentility, vitiate, vicious, ancient, 
 transient, noxious, musician, conscious, cetaceous, provincial, prudential, inured, 
 encroaching, incumbent, encountered, inculcate, include, entirely, intrude, en- 
 joyment, gem, jet, dressed, distressed, chest, assessed, relinquish, extinguish, 
 bombasin, magazine, submarine, mandarin, chancellor, shalloon, control, en- 
 roll, patrol, appellant, membranous, tyrannous, herring, harass, embarrass, sense, 
 pence, defense, license, district, description, sacrifice, criticise, conducive, de- 
 fensive, intercede, supersede, fleece, geese, idiosyncrasy, secrecy, hypocrisy, 
 nutritious, delicious, sententious, reflection, complexion, chronology, crystal, 
 chocolate, saccharine, kitchen, martin, curtain, fragment, raiment, separate, 
 degenerate, exhilarate, dereliction, predilection, irreligious, sacrilegious, repent- 
 ance, dependence, succeed, precede, secede, proceed, regale, prevail, prepare, 
 impair, despair, compare, sneak, shriek, brevier, veneer, revere, buccaneer, 
 financier, shote, float, dote, naught, groat, sought, awkward, though, through, 
 tough, slough, cough, hiccough, miscellaneous, ceremonious, weasel, weeviJ, 
 extirpate, foeman. yeoman, nuisance, sieve, receive, mien, relieve, seize, receipt,, 
 lien, ceihng, genteel, repeal, tearful, cheerful, screecli-owl, lurched, pexhed, 
 searched, gauge, business, gourd, hoard, horde, sword, brew, glue, labor, error, 
 deposit, composite, dactyl, ductile, chlorite, formula, anomaly, paroxysm, caus- 
 able, vendible, feasible, seizable, boisterous, disastrous, incumbrance, protuber- 
 ance, cemetery, cerulean, ethereal, grandeur, nucleus, odious, analysis, paralysis, 
 soothe, smooth, blowze, chouse, rheumatism, diphthong, public, monastic, logic, 
 click, target, braggard, exaggerate, refrigerate, garrison, orison, partisan, parti- 
 sanship, visible, admissible, copy, poppy, radish, reddish, declamatory, inflam- 
 matory, pontiff, pontifical, retaliate, palliate, diligence, intelligence, ballad, 
 salad, balance, bilious, billiards, postillion, vermilion, rebellion, battalion, fallacy, 
 polioy, millennial, iniquity, impanel, innuendo, cabin, cabbage, recounotte'r. 
 
DERIVATION OF WORDS. 88 
 
 recommend, centre, theatre, horrid, florid, crystallize, immortalize, satellite, 
 tyrannize, drizzly, grisly, tansy, frenzy, buttress, mattress, matrass, caterpillar, 
 rapper, rapid, bigot, maggot, garret, claret, stopper, proper, copper, fodder, 
 soder, valid, pallid, dissyllable, trisyllable, tussle, rustle, tenant, pennant, tiny, 
 finny, gizzard, wizard, threshold. 
 
 ? The most ludicrous blunders are usually made by the misapplication 
 of those words which agree in pronunciation, but differ in spelling and 
 meaning. 
 
 Formula. — Incorrect : the -word (speZZ, jrronounce, and define)^ is here mistaken for 
 
 {spell, pronounce, and define). 
 
 Correct the errors : The Roman augers pretended to foretell future events. 
 He sold all his manners for a small sum. Miners are not allowed to vote here. 
 The weather may be easily distinguished by a small belle. The benches were 
 all in tears, one above another. My boots are well-souled, and full of tax. We 
 intend to start a weakly paper here. I used my toe for wadding. The oar was 
 completely melted. The wind blue away the blew smoke. His bier was to 
 him, not only drink, but food and lodging. The apothecary sold him six pains 
 for fifty cents. Hawks pray on other birds. The beach stood on the beech. 
 The flour was kept fresh in a pitcher of water. Cleaning and dying done here, 
 according to order. The cobbler put his all into his pocket. My dear A nt. 
 She had many airs to inherit the estate. She went with lier bow to church. 
 Do you hke currents with cream and sugar ? He sewed all the seed. They 
 drank all the champaign. The judge immediately baled the prisoner. The mar- 
 tial had a very marshal look. He put the whole prophet into his pocket. The 
 capital is always situated in the capitol. The bridal was in the barn. Tlie 
 desert was brought in by a sprightly mulatto. His reward was greater than 
 his dessert. The principle is sick. I will right the write word. His chin was 
 soon heeled. She rung all the close. The quire sung very well. Every bol' 
 on the jdace is fiUed with milk. His vices were all bought by some other black- 
 smith. The veins are governed by the wind. All these barrels are tor sail, at 
 ten o'clock. He was bread for the church. 
 
 , 4. DERIVATION OF WORDS. 
 
 This section belongs partly to Orthogrophy and partly to Etymology, or lies between them. 
 
 ? Words are either primitive (or radical)^ derivative^ or com- 
 pound. 
 
 ? The elements of words, in regard to meaning, are roots^ prefixes^ 
 and suffixes. 
 
 ? Roots are either native or foreign, an(3 sometimes much dis- 
 guised. 
 
 We have not room in this book to treat of the roots of our language, except to define Incident- 
 Rlly and briefly a few of the most common. 
 
 ? 46. The same root may frequently be combined with several 
 different prefixes or suffixes, or have more than one at the same time, 
 or be combined with some other root. 
 
 Ex. — Struct (build), instruct, construct, re-construct ; thermos (heat), metron 
 (measure), thermometer. 
 
 ? Prefixes usually modify the sense, without changing the part 
 of speech. 
 
94r DERIVATION OF WORDS. PREFIXES. 
 
 ? Suffixes usually modify the part of speech, without materially 
 affecting the sense in other respects. 
 
 Ex.— De (from, separation), (ie-stroy, de-stroj-er, de-straat-ive, de-strxxct' 
 ive-ly, de-fAtmat^ve-ness, de-struct-ion, in-de-strnct-ive, in-de-strnat-ible, in-de-iitr\xctr 
 ibU-ity. 
 
 ? 47. There are different prefixes capable of expressing the same 
 sense, and there are also different suffixes capable of expressing the 
 same sense ; because the choice is to be determined not merely by 
 the meaning of the appendage, but also by euphony, analogy, and 
 the character of the root. 
 
 Ex. — Generous, -Mw.-generous ; accurate, ■iw-accurate ; throne, ie-tlirone, un- 
 tlirone ; confess, confess-iow. ; acknowledge, acknowledg-men.^. 
 
 ? 48. The meaning of a prefix is sometimes very obvious, some- 
 times obscure, and sometimes it has faded altogether. 
 
 Ex. — C^-hold, ^m/is-plant, iTj^correct ; ^mns-act, jper-fect, w/iier-stand ; com- 
 plete, be-%t\r. 
 
 ? 49. In making a combined form, some of the parts frequently 
 undergo a change for the sake of euphony or analogy. This consists 
 in the change, omission, or insertion of some letter or letters. The 
 initial consonant of the root often requires the final letter of the 
 prefix to be like it. 
 
 Ex. — Con-lect, col-lect ; dis-fer, dlf-fer ; in-moderate, im-moderate ; con-operate, 
 co-operate; dis-vulge, di-vulge ; a-archy, an-archy ; mucilage-ous, mucilag-inous. 
 
 PREFIXES. 
 
 The prefixes In Roman letters are Latin ; in Italic, Greek ; in black, Saxon or native. 
 
 A ; on, OT, at, to. In a few words it is merely intensive. 
 Form., sjjell, and define : — 
 Bed, ground, shore, cross, sleep, pace, slant, field, side, wake, rise 
 Thus: Abed; a — ^b-e-d-bed — abed ; on or in bed. 
 
 A, AB, ABS; from, separation. 
 
 Yert (turn) ; solve (loosen), rupt (broken), sorb (suck) ; tract (draw), tain (hold). 
 
 Ad, a, AC, AF, AG, AL, AN, AP, AR, AS, AT ; to, at. 
 
 Join, judge ; mount, scend (climb) ; cord, cuse (charge) ; fix, fusion (pouring) ; 
 gress (step), gravato (heavy) ; lot, luvial (washing) ; nex (join), nihilato 
 (nothing) ; portion, predate (price) ; rogate (lay claim) ; sure, sail (leap) ; 
 tract (draw), tribute (give). 
 A, AN; without, privation. 
 
 Theist (God), chromatic (color), pathy (feeling), torn (cut) ; archy (government). 
 AMPHI; two, double. Theatre, bious (living). 
 
 AN'A ; up, throughout, parallel, back, again. 
 
 Tomy (cutting), lysis (separation), logy (discourse), gram (letter), baptist. 
 AxTE ; fore, before. Chamber, date, meridian (noon), cedent (going). 
 A NT I, ANT; against, opposition. 
 
 Bilious, febrile, pathy (foeUng), dote (given); arctic, agonist (contend). 
 APO, AP; from, off. 
 
 Geo (earth), strophe (turning), logy ; h(;lion (sun). 
 
DERIVATION OF WORDS. PREFIXES. 85 
 
 Be ; action directed to an object; intensity ; by, near. 
 
 Daub, dew, moan, lie, set, siege, cloud, spatter, take ; side, fore, cause. 
 Bbn"e ; good, well Pit (deed), volent (wishing), factor (doer), diction (saying). 
 Bis, bi; twice, two. 
 
 Cuit (baked ; angular, valve, gamy (marriage), sect (cut), ped (foot). 
 €ATA, CAT; down, against, throughout. (The opposite of ajja.) 
 
 Ract (flowing), strophe, chresis (use) ; hedral (seat), holic (whole), 
 Cliigum, cirou; round, about. 
 
 Navigate, jacent (lyiug), spect (looking), stance (standing) ; late (borne), 
 itous (going), 
 CiS ; on this side. Alpine, Atlantic. 
 
 Con, go, cog, col, com, cor ; with, together, jointly. 
 
 Join, tract, fuse (pour), veno (come), ceive (take), flict (strike) ; extent, heir, 
 operate; nate (born); league, lect (gather); press, mingle, pose (place); 
 respond, relative. 
 Contra, ccntro, counter ; against, in opposition, answering to. 
 
 Diet (say), vene, distinguish ; vert ; part, pressure, feit (make), act, plead. 
 Db ; from, down, destruction. 
 
 Tract, "press, throne, scend, tact (cover), tach (tie), spise (look), moralize. 
 DIA, DI; through, across. Meter, logue (speech), gonal (angle). 
 
 Dis, or, DIF; away, apart, undoing, negation. 
 
 Join, organize, appear, ease, sect, tract, cover, perse (scatter), please, inter, 
 order; verge (inchne), stance, gress; fer (bear), fuse (,pour). 
 E, EX, EC, EP ; out, out of, from. 
 
 Ject (throw), lect (pick), vade (go), mit (send) ; pectorant (breast), press, pand 
 (spread), tort (twist), pire (breathe) ; centric (centre), stasy (standing); fuse, 
 feet (done), fulgence (shining). 
 JEW (Greek or French), EM; in, into, upon. 
 
 Tangle, shrine, rage, gulf, largo, grave (write), tomb ; broider, blazon, bark, 
 bitter, brace (arm). 
 EPI, EP; upon, after. Taph (tomb), demic (people), logue; ode. 
 
 Extra ; beyond. Ordinary, vagant (going), mural (wall). 
 
 JFor, fore ; from, against, the contrary. Bid, get, sake (seek), give, swoar; go 
 Fore, for ; before. 
 
 Tell, run, see, know, taste, man, father, noon, arm ; ward. 
 HYPER; beyond, over, excess. Borean (north), critical, meter (measure). 
 
 HYPO ; under-. Thesis (placing), sulphuric, crite (thoughts). 
 
 In, ig, lu, IL, IR ; not, privation, the contrary. 
 
 Human, discreet, elastic, consistent ; noble ; modest, mortal, patient ; legal, 
 liberal; reverent, regular, resolute. 
 In, im, il, ir; in, into, upon. 
 
 Flame, struct, lay, here (stick), fleet (bend), wrought; plant, pearl, print, 
 press ; luminate or .lustrate (throw light) ; radiate (throw rays). 
 Inter; between. Weave, Une, cede, regnum (reigo), mix marriage. 
 
 Intro; inwards, within. Duce (lead), mission (sending). 
 
 META, METH; over, beyond, with, change. 
 
 Thesis, raorphose (form), physics, phor (convey) ; od (way). 
 
 M is ; wrong, ill -A.pply, call, deed, use, spell, take, fortune. 
 
 NON ; negation. Conductor, conformity, sense, resideAt, payment. 
 
86 DERIVATION OF WORDS. PREFIXES. 
 
 Ob, oc, of, op ; in the way, to, against 
 
 Trude (thrust), ject (throw), tain ; cur, casion (falling) ; fer ; pose, press. 
 
 ©lit ; heyond, not within. Bid, grow, last, live, let, skirt, side, law, cast. 
 
 Over; above, beyond, excess. 
 
 Balance, hang, top, leap, spread, do, flow, look, wise, load, shoot, value. 
 FAEA, FAR ; beside, against, from. 
 
 Box (opinion), graph (writing), phrase, site (food) ; helion, ody (song). 
 Per, pel ; through, by. 
 
 Use, form, enuial (year), ceive, sist (stand), feet, chance, cent (hundred) ; liieicJ 
 (shining). 
 Peri ; around, about, near. 
 
 Patetic (walking), helion, od, phery (bearing), cranium, style (pUlar). 
 Post ; after. Script (writing), humous (ground), pone (place), mortem (death), 
 
 meridian. 
 Pre ; before. 
 
 Judge, mature, engage, dispose, sentiment, fer, sume (take), vent (come), side- 
 (sit), text (weaving). 
 Preter ; past, beyond. Natural, imperfect, mission. 
 
 Pro, prof ; for, forth, forwards, before. 
 
 Noun, ceed (go), gresa, tect, pel (drive), spect (look), logue ; fer. 
 Re; again, back. 
 
 Build, call, enter, new, view, pel, sonant (sounding), strain (draw), bound. 
 Retro ; backwards. Cede, vert, spect, grade (walk). 
 Se ; aside, apart. Cede, elude (shut), cant (cutting), duce (lead), lect. 
 Semi, demi, hemi; half. 
 
 Annual, circle, colon, diameter, vowel ; god, cannon ; sphere. 
 Sine ; without. Cure (care). 
 
 Sub, sue, SUF, sug, sup, bur, SUS, — subter; under, underneath, inferior. 
 
 Soil, divide, marine; cor (run), cumb (lie down); fer, fuse; gest (briug)- 
 plant, press ; rogate (ask) ; tain ; fuge (fly), fluent (flowing). 
 Super, supra, sur-; above, over and above. 
 
 Cargo, crescent (growing), fluous, natural ; mundane ; pass, charge. 
 SYIi, SYL, STM; with, together. 
 
 Thesis, tax (placing), opsis (view), agogue (lead); lablo (taking), logism. 
 (counting) ; phony (sound), patl:iy (feeling): 
 Trans, tran, tra ; through, across, over, on the other side of. 
 
 Act, plant, gress, Atlantic, pose, form, it (going); scribe (write), scend* 
 dition (giving). 
 Tri; three. ^ Colored, angular, meter, foliate (leaf), ennial. 
 
 IJai ; not, negation, privation, undoing. 
 
 Able, aided, bar, chain, happy, truth, wise, ship, do, twist, horse. 
 
 BJiidLer ; beneath, inferior. 
 
 Agent, brush, current, ground, rate, sell, hand, go, mine, sign. 
 Uni ; one. Corn (horn), form, florous (flowering), parous (producing), valve. 
 
 Up ; motion upwards, above, subversion. 
 
 Turn, raise, rise, hold, laud, hill, right, start, set, root. 
 
 With; against, from, back. Hold, draw, stand. 
 
DERIVATION (>F WOIIDS. — SUFFIXES. 99 
 
 SUFFIXES. 
 
 ? The derivatives of this class consist almost entirely of nouns^ 
 adjectives^ verbs, and adverbs. 
 
 NOUNS. 
 
 Person or Instrument : Ard, ary, ee, ess, ine, ist, ite, ive, ix, 
 n, nt, r. 
 
 Things, Act, or State: Ade, agfe, al, dom, hood, ice, ics, ion, 
 ism, ment, ness, nee, ncy, ry, ship, t, th, ude, ure, y. 
 
 ? A derived noun may denote either a person, a thing, an act, or a 
 state ; or it may denote the abstract of any of these. The " person who" 
 must be either a doer of an act, a recipient of an act, or simply one in some 
 way related to or concerned with that from which the name is formed. 
 From the thing, the mind naturally passes to whatever is obviously related 
 to it ; and the meaning of the word is also extended accordingly. From 
 the act, the mind and the meaning readily pass to what caused the act, — 
 often a concrete object, or an abstract, or some faculty, skill, or principles, 
 — or else to the result of the act, or to the manner. From the state, the 
 passage is as easy to what causes it, to what Ibllows from it, to what sus- 
 tains it, or to what necessarily accompanies it. The same ending is not 
 usually confined to one meaning, but ranges with the principles given un- 
 der the head of Figures, See pp. 263. 
 
 Form and spell, making the requisite euphonic changes ; and define : — 
 
 Ard. — Drunk, dote, slug, dull, cow (verb), Spain, Savoy. 
 
 Ary. — Adverse, statute, note, mission. 
 
 Ee. (Generally passive ; the person to whom.) — Indorse, pay, patent, a.<*- 
 sign, consign, trust, commit, legate, mortgage, lease, less; absent, refuge. 
 
 E§§, iiie, ix; female. — Lion, heir; hero, Joseph; administrator. 
 
 l§t. — Copy, tour, journal, natural, novel, algebra, drug, duel, art, violin, 
 pian-o; drama, -tist ; enthusiasm, -ast, encomium. 
 
 Ite. — Favor, Israel, Moab, Jacob. 
 
 Ive. — Capture, operate. 
 
 N. — America, Africa, Virginia, Kentucky, college, music. 
 
 IVt. — Claim, -ant, account^ inhabit, combat, dispute, confide, protest, assist, 
 assail, appeal ; study, -ent, preside ; oppose, -ponent ; act, -gent ; receive, -cipient. 
 
 R. — Oversee ; lie, -ar, beg, school ; farm, -er, hunt, make, plaster, settle, 
 pipe, widow, hat, foreign ; visit, -or, edit, profess, survive, speculate ; conspire, 
 •ator; compete, -iter; auction, -eer, mountain, gazette, pamphlet, chario;; cash, 
 -ier, cannon, finance, cloth, glaze; save, -ior ; law, -yer, saw; team, -sier, web; 
 poke, -er (thing), revolve, shut, boil, read, speak. 
 
 Diminutives. (These often imply endearment or contempt.) — Man, -ikin ; 
 lamb, -kin ; ring, -let, stream, leaf, cover ; lock, -et, mall ; lord, -ling, hire, suckle. 
 Globe, globi*Ze ; grain, grauwfe ; ball, buUet ; cat, kitten ; island, isle ; isle, isleL 
 
 Ade. — Gascon, stock, lemon, baluster; stamp, -ede. 
 
 Age, — Use, marry, mile, post, equip, folium (leaf), bond, pupil, parson, 
 hermit, anchor. 
 
 AI. — Peruse, remove, recite, requite, deny, propose, refuse, dismiaa 
 
 I>Oiii. — Free, wise, martyr, king, duke. 
 
^ DERIVATION OF WORDS. SUFFIXES. 
 
 Hood. — Child, brother, man, woman, boy, sister, hardy, hyely. 
 
 Ice. — Serve, just, lath, lat-tice. 
 
 Ics. — Poet, harmony, mechanic, statist (state), phys (nature). 
 
 Ion. — Commune, precise, act, reflect, possess, expand; and many other 
 words, in which the ending shows itself' in the form of Hon or sion. 
 
 l!«ill. — Fanatic, despot, critic, hero, baptize, heathen. 
 
 MeBit. — Move, pave, content, case, punish, acquire, agree, arm, battle, com- 
 plete, refresh. 
 
 J%ce, iicy. — Acquaint, -ance, concord, resist, observ-e, convey; innocent, 
 •ence, resident, diifer, precede; pliant, -ancy, constant; despond, -ency, ascend. 
 
 I¥ess. — Good, bad, white, bold, happy, busy, comprehensive. 
 
 iShip. — Partner, scholar, town, workman, hard, friend, lord, court. See -HOOD. 
 
 T, th. — Constrain, join, restrain ; warm, wide, long, strong. 
 
 Ude. — Disquiet, serve, solitary, right, red-. 
 
 Ure. — Please, depart, moist, architect, seize, legislate, sign-ature, nourish, nur-. 
 
 Y. — Honest, modest, discover, grocer, injure; lunatic, -acy, private, pirate; 
 secret, -cy ; hypocrite, -sy ; pedant, -ry, gallant, revel, bigot,- master ; brew, -&> y, 
 witch, mocii, hsh, crock ; null, -ity^ dense, pure, opportune, secure, elastic. 
 
 "Words ending in y or ry, are often collective in sense, denoting groups of 
 objects or acts; as, Orange-ry, shrub-&er?/, soldier-^/, sorcer-^/, trigonometry. 
 So is the ending ing not unfrequently collective in sense ; as, Bed, bedding ; 
 shop, s/wpping ; bagging, carpeting, hedging, gunning (elements of science or 
 science as drawn from a multitude of acts or experiments). 
 
 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 Al, an, ar, ate, ble, en, ern, full, ic, (ific,) ile, ine, ish, ive, 
 nt, ous, some, ward, y, (ly, ary, cry). 
 
 ? Derivative adjectives generally signify — 
 
 Having of or having the nature of, more or less ; or that the object 
 described, in some way belongs or is related to that from whose name tlio 
 adjective is formed. 
 
 The same word may frequently be used either as an adjective or as a noun. 
 
 Form and spell, making the requisite eupJio-nic changes ; and define: — 
 
 Al. — Nature, nation, origin, parent, ornament, music, autumn; senator, -ial^ 
 manor, matter, part, commerce; spirit, -ual, sense, habit; consequence, -tial, in 
 fluence, essence ; benetit, -cial ; no.se, nas-, pope, pap-, feast, /est-. 
 
 All. — Africa, America, Italy, suburbs. 
 
 Ar. — Column, pole, consul; globe, -vlar, circle, muscle, title, particle. 
 
 Ate, — Rose, globe, affection, consider, compassion. 
 
 Die. (Passive, if from a transitive verb.) — Detest, -able, cure, eat, change, 
 tionor, tolerate, utter, value, fashion ; corrupt, -ible, resist, sense, destroy, desiruct-, 
 accede, access-, perceive, percept-, divide, divis-. 
 
 En. (Of what substance made.) — Beech, hemp, silk, gold, wood. 
 
 Em. — North, south, cast, west. 
 
 Ful. (Opposed to -LESS.) — Mind, peace, hope, brim, care, waste, cheer, 
 youth, play, sin, wake, law, mourn, truth. 
 
 Ic. — Angel, hero, poet, sphere, lyre; vertex, -ical, dropsy; sympathy, -eiic, 
 pathos, theory; barometer, -etric, diameter; emblem, -atic, problem, system. 
 
DERIVATION OF WORDS. SUF'S'IXES. if 
 
 drama ; color, -ific, dolor ; science, -tific ; romance, -tic ; pharisee, -saic ; tragedy, 
 'fjic ; Plato, -nic. 
 
 He. — Infant, serve, merchant, mercanU, puer (boy). 
 
 Ine. — Serpent, adamant, alkali ; crystal, -line. 
 
 IsIb. — Salt, black, yellow, boy, fop, wolf, snap, scare, skit-, Spain, Ireland. 
 
 Ive. (G-enerally active.) — Create, abuse, progress, retain, reteni-, attend; 
 perceive, -ceptive ; presume, -sumptive ; produce, product-, disjoin, disjunct- ; 
 adliero, -Icesive, corrode, intrude, decide ; expel, -pulsive, repel. 
 
 IV t. (Grenerally active.) — Tolerate, -ant, please, buoy, triumph, luxury; 
 solve, -ent, consist, abhor ; compose, -ponent. 
 
 Ou§. — Bulb, pore, pomp, fame, joy, ruin, peril, murder, mountain; bile, 
 •ious, perfidy, malice; pity, -eous, beauty, duty; tempest, -loous, contempt; 
 enoiTnity, -mou^s ; merit, -orious ; mucilage, -inous. 
 
 Sotne. — Toil, tire, dark, glad, quarrel, weary. See -ish. 
 
 Y. — Grass, hill, shade, swamp, meal, flower, mud, cloud, wealth, grease, 
 Bleep, pearl, wire ; friend, -ly, beast, brother, heaven, man, time ; residue, -ary, 
 imagine, element ; subsidy, -iary ; contradict, -ory, conciliate, declare, satisfy. 
 
 Upw;arcZ, OMiward, bulbi/erozw, &xmigerous, globose, spheroz'c?, Arabesg^e, sta- 
 ixxesque, gvotesque. 
 
 YERBS. 
 
 AtC) eii) fy, ish, ize, ise. 
 
 ? Derivative verbs generally signify — 
 
 To make or become ; to impart the thing or quality to, or to exercise 
 it; to make the ordinary use of; an act or state consisting of some com- 
 mon or permanent relation between the subject of the verb and the thing. 
 
 Form and spell, making the requisite euphonic changes ; and define : — 
 
 Ate* — Alien, germ, origin, populous, luxury, fabric, facility, spoil, spoli-, 
 grain, granu-, stimulous, office, vacant, circular. 
 
 Ell. — Black, white, sharp, red, soft, moist, less, sweet, bright, strength, haste, 
 glad, sad, ripe, quick, thick, fright. 
 
 Fy. — Beauty, pure, just, simple, glory, class, sign, clear, clari-, right, recti-, 
 peace, pact-, special, sped-, example, exempli-, fvnit, fructi- ; prophet, -esy. 
 
 Ish. — Brand, bland, public, famine, languid. 
 
 Ize, ise. (These generally signify to make, to apply, to azt the part of.)— 
 Legal, theory, modern, moral, organ, botany, tyrant, melody, familiar, character, 
 apology ; critic. 
 
 Sharp ending to flat or rough. — Cloth, breath, wreath, bath, price, ad 
 vice, grass, excuse, abuse, grief, half, thief. 
 
 Accent changed. — Abstract, conflict, absent, frequent, rebel. 
 
 Word unchanged. (To make that use of which mankind generallj 
 make; some customary or habitual act or state; some active relation to.) — Hoe, 
 shoe, shovel, plane, chisel, hammer, smoke, garden, farm, weed, plant, coop, 
 soap, shear, gem, fire, lance, and instrumental things generally. 
 
90 PARTS OF SPEECH. 
 
 ADVERBS. 
 
 Ly, ward or wards, wise or ways. 
 
 Form, spell, and define: — 
 
 E«y 5 like, manner, quality. — Bitter, strange, bright, plain, faint, fierce, swift, 
 playful, studious, mere, scarce, in, one, on-, spiral, fearless, infallible. 
 
 Ward, ivards ; direction. — Back, in, out, up, down, home, heaven, 
 east, lee, wind. 
 
 Wise, '%"yays ; manner, loay. — ^Length, cross, other, side, edge ; straight. 
 
 People sometimes commit errors in deriving words ; as, Maintuiiiance, prevent- 
 ative, proposial, for maintenance, preventive, propasal, from maintain, prevent, 
 propose. 
 
 Write down all the words you can think of as being derived from fobsi. 
 
 PARTS OF SPEECH. 
 
 Nearly all that we shall say from this page to page 258, belongs to Etymology and Syntax. 
 
 ? There are nine Parts of Speech ; JVouns, Pronouns, Articles., 
 Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Inter- 
 jections. 
 
 To this list, some grammarians would add the Participles, separating them 
 from the Verbs ; and some would reject from it the Articles, classing them with 
 the Adjectives. But participles seem to have no better claim to being ranked a 
 separate part of speech than inflaitives have ; and the two articles, considering 
 that they can not be always construed like adjectives, that they are used at least 
 as much as all the adjectives, that thev are liable to as many errors, that they 
 are recognized in other languages, and that they merely aid nouns somewhat 
 in the direction of their distinction into proper and common, are worthy of being 
 made a separate class. Language, as we shall see, is a most ingenious instrument ; 
 wonderfully adapted to the myriad-minded human race, and enabling them to lay 
 hold of the world and manage it intellectually in every conceivable way. The 
 above classification of words, however, exhausts it, and all its capabilities. The 
 substantives and the verls are the chief classes, and next to them are the adjectives 
 and the adverbs. These four classes have, to some extent, what are called infiec- 
 imns ; that is, they are sometimes changed in form to express a modification in the 
 idea. Inflections abound most about the core or most ancient part of a language. 
 In the course of time, they are often dropped, or detach themselves, their meaning 
 being assumed by new and small words; so that the language becomes collocative 
 rather than inflected. Such is the case with our language. It is properly the ofB.ce 
 of Grammar to treat of the classes of words, and of "their properties which produce 
 inflections ; but,as the properties of words must also be regarded in the collocation 
 ot words, we usually treat of all those properties necessary to be regarded in the 
 structure of sentenceSj whether they cause an entire change, a sligtit change, o 
 even no change at all m the form of the word. Inflections, especially ancient ones, 
 consist sometunes of a vowel change in the word ; as, mouse, mice ; cling, clung, 
 sometimes of a different ending ;^ hb, fox, foxes ; ox, oxen; great, greater: sometimes 
 oi something prefixed ; as, beautiful, more beautiful ; write, may write, did write. 
 
 Words have sometimes been divided into substantives, attributives, and particles. 
 Dr. Becker divides all words into notional words, and form-words. The former de- 
 note our notions, conceptions, or rather somewhat independent idefts ; and virtually 
 take up the gross of the world. They are thanouns, the principal verbs, and most 
 of the adjectives and adverbs. The latter rather denote the ligatures, substitutes, 
 and appendages, — the relations of our conceptions or notional ideas, — the various 
 turns and windings of thought, — and give to language its adequate flexibility and 
 fbrce. They are articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, interjections, auxiliary 
 verbs, and some adjectives and adverbs. Briefly, the former comprise conception- 
 words, — thing-words, quality-words, and acl-ion-words ; and the latter, substitutes 
 and auxiliary words in general. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NOUNS. 91 
 
 5. NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 
 Nouns. 
 
 ? 50. A noBiii is a name. 
 
 Ex. — George, Martha, Columbus, water, river, air, wind, farm, farmer, angel, 
 world, mind, judgment, thought, joy, fitness, labor, laborer, laboriousness, Mary- 
 Jane Porter. " The signs +, — , X , and -+-." " The mwiouns he and wAo." " MM 
 or any other sAe." " To study reading, writing, and ciphering.''^ " To attack tlio 
 enemy being resolved upon." *' I prefer green, to yellow.'''' " The clause, ' that man 
 is horn to trouble.'' " " With his ' How do you do f and ' What can 1 do for you P " 
 " It would be improper, for us to do so." (What would be improper ?) " That 
 all things good and beautiful must pass away, is a sorrowful reflection." (What 
 is a sorrowful reflection ?) i 
 
 ? Words from almost every other part of speech, also phrases 
 and sentences, are sometimes used in the sense of nouns, and should 
 then be parsed accordingly. 
 
 ? 51. When two or more words form but one name, or are habit- 
 ually used so, they may all be parsed together as one noun. 
 
 Ex. — Henry Hudson, Juan Fernandez, New Orleans, Jefferson City, Brigadier 
 General Commandant, Messrs. Harper, Misses Lewis, Gen. George Washington ; 
 and perhaps as well, Duke of Northumberland, Charles II, Alexander the Great. 
 '•'■ Ijord Bacon, Sir Walter Eale'igk, Br. Samuel Clarke, and the Duhe of Marl- 
 borough, were not brought up in public schools." — Sydney Smith. 
 
 Classes. 
 
 ? Nouns are divided into two classes, — proper and common ; and 
 a part of the common nouns may be divided into collective nouns, 
 abstract nouns, and material nouns. 
 
 Proper means one^s own ; common, belonging to several or many ; colli5Ctite, gathering into 
 one ; abstract, drawn from something else ; aud material, pertaining to substance or matter. 
 
 ? 52. A proper noun is an individual name. 
 
 Ex. — Mary, Alexander Hamilton, California, Washington City, St. Petersburg, 
 Missouri, Paradise Lost ; the Missouri ; the Iliad ; the Alleghanies ; the Azores. 
 And according to some authorities, "The Eomans ; the Cherokees ; the Messrs. 
 Harris.'''' 
 
 When we find plural capitalized names that distinguish groups in the same 
 way as singular proper names distinguish individuals, it is perhaps best to parse 
 tiiem always as proper nouns. 
 
 ? Proper nouns do not admit of definition. When first applied to objects, 
 they are generally given at pleasure ; and they serve to distinguish one indi- 
 vidual of a kind, from others of the same kind. Most of the names on maps, 
 and the names of persons, are proper nouns. The number of proper nouns is 
 almost unlimited: that of places alone is said to exceed 70,000. 
 
 Most proper nouns had originally some meaning, which, however, was not de- 
 signed to make the word applicable to all other sinular objects, but to distinguish 
 and exclude the object named, from all others. Examples: Jerusalem, habitation 
 of peace ; Christ, anointed; Margaret, pearl; Thatcher, Harper, Smith, occupa- 
 iion; White, Jjong, 8ton.t, quality ; Brooks, Woods, Hill, Dale, locality; West- 
 cott, Westcote, Northcutt, west cottage, north cottage ; Mississippi, all the rivers ; 
 Minnesota, sky-tinted ; Stienandoah, daughter of the stars ; Winnipiseogee, smile 
 of the Great Sp)irit. The meaning of most proper nouns is lost, or is not taken into 
 consideration in applying them. 
 
 5 
 
92 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NOUNS. 
 
 ? 53. Wlien a common noun denotes an object in the sense ol 
 a proper noun, it becomes a proper noun. 
 
 Ex. — The Park ; the Commons ; the Bhie Eidge ; Niagara Falls ; Mammoth 
 Cave. " Aud Hope eachauting smiled." These words are viewed as merely de- 
 noting particular objects rather than as characterizing them by the ordinary mean- 
 ings of the words. 
 
 ? 54. A coniaBioii noun is a generic name. 
 
 Ex. — Man, boy, engineer, hunter, woman, horse, foxes, hill, oak, white-oak, 
 apple, steamboat, anger, happiness, reason, sun, moon, earth, winter. 
 
 Gommon nouns have meaning, and admit of definition. They distinguish dif- 
 ferent kinds or sorts from one another, by reference to their nature. A common 
 noun is applied to more objects than one on account of something in which they 
 resemble, and from which the same name is given to them all. Those nouns in 
 a dictionary which are defined, are common nouns. Of these, our language la 
 said to have about 30,000, 
 
 ? 55. When a proper noun assumes a meaning, or implies other 
 objects having the same name, rather than similar objects having 
 different names, it becomes a common noun. 
 
 Ex. — " He is neither a Solomon nor a Samson.^'' " Bolivar was the Washinaton 
 of South America." " No Alexander or GiBsar ever did so." *' Some mute, inglori- 
 ous Milton here may rest." •' Alps on Alps [great diiSculties] arise." " Massa- 
 chusetts lias produced her Demosthenes.'''' " 1 saw tlie Russians, and also a Turk 
 and several Persians, at the Astor House." 
 
 It is sometimes very difficult to determine whether a given noun is proper or 
 common. The same word is sometimes a proper, and sometimes a common, 
 noun. 
 
 Ex. — Pr over: " Sunday precedes Monday.''^ " B follows ^." " 7 is a pro- 
 noun." "The planets are ^ewyn/, Venus, Farth,''^ &c. Gommon: "We have 
 preaching on every Sunday.^'' "The b is followed by an a." " An / or a yoM." 
 " The sun shines upon the earth.'''' When a word is used to name itself, univer- 
 sally considered, Mr. Goold Brown calls it a common noun, similar to such words 
 as water and virtue denoting the objects universally ; but when a letter is used to 
 name itself, he calls it a proper noun. The distinction is very nice, — perhaps too 
 much so. 
 
 A proper noun can not, as such, be "extended in its application to any other 
 similar objects : it is deaianative and exclusive. But a common noun is descriotioe 
 and inclus'ive ; that is, when we have once named an object by it, we are ready to 
 give the same name to any other similar object as soon as it appears to us ; as, 
 " Jupiter has four moons.'''' According to Mr. Mills, the former denotes ; the lat- 
 ter, '•'•connotes?'' The ordinary household names tnat denote the objects which 
 permanently and necessarily make the world, are considered common nouns, even 
 when the word can denote but one object, or the thing universally ; as. The sun, 
 the earth, the moon, the stars, the angels ; time, space, spring, wmter, grass, vir- 
 tue, beauty, man. Such plurals as Alps^ Alleahanies, Andes, Orkneys, denoting 
 contiguous parts rather than similar individuals, are undoubtedly proper nouns, 
 analogous to the common nouns ashes, scissors, assets, minutice. Such terms as 
 " the Goma.nches, the Mohawks, the Qauls, the Belgians, the Spaniards, the Mexi- 
 cans, the Jews, the Israelites, the Janizaries, the Mamelukes, the two Adamses, the 
 Marslialls of Virginia, the Muses, the Sirens, the Sibyls, the Graces, the Naiads, are 
 considered proper nouns by some grammarians ; and common nouns by others, 
 who argue that whenever a proper noun is so used as to imply more objects than 
 one having the same name, it becomes common. 
 
 ? 56. A collective noun is a noun denoting, in the singular 
 form, more than one object of the same kind. 
 
 Ex. — Assembly, swarm, flock, crowd, pair, family ; "a hundred head.'''' 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NOUNS. 93 
 
 ? 57. But a noun in the singular number, that denotes a collection of 
 things resembling in their general character, but differing in their particu- 
 lar character, is not a collective noun. 
 
 Ex. — Furniture, jewelry, machinery, finery, baggage, clothing. 
 
 ? An ab§tract noun denotes a quality, an action, or a mode 
 of being. 
 
 Abstract signifies drawn from, and these nouns are so termed because they are 
 not the names of certain substantive objects or things in the world, but the names 
 of certain notions which the mind has drawn from them, or conceived concerning 
 them. Thus, as we advance from childhood, in our acquaintance with the world, 
 we form some idea of what is meant by time, space, life, death, hope, virtue, wis- 
 dom, 7). ' ' " 
 sorrow, 
 
 dom, nuvjnltude, disease, war, peace, government, goodness, youth, happiness, beauty, 
 sorrow, mvrJjer, revenge, cold, heat, whiteness, softness, hardness, brightness, ditrk- 
 ness, motion, rest, flight,^ silence, existence, height, depth, growth, custom, fashion, 
 
 strife, honor, glory, industry, economy, inlolcnce, grandeur, religion, knowledge, 
 honesty, deception, drunkenness, poverty , destiny, ambition, power. These and such 
 nouns are abstract. 
 
 t 58. Most abstract nouns readily pass into concrete nouns. 
 
 Ex. — " The sisters were famous beauties.^^ "• Pride, Poverty, and 'Fashion, once 
 undertook to keep house together." Gonorete, including the substance with its 
 qualities. 
 
 ? 59. A material noun denotes some kind of matter or sub- 
 stance. 
 
 Ex. — Bread, meat, water, wood, stone, wheat, flour, metal, gold, cabbage. 
 
 • Abstract nouns and material nouns have a universal, indivisible ap- 
 plication, and generally also special applications. Some writers consider 
 them abstract or material, only when used in the former sense. 
 
 Ex. — 1. *' Beauty is attractive ;" " Kain moistens the ground ;" " Vice, fire, 
 whiteness." 2. " The beauty of the rose ;" " The whiteness of snow ;" " The rain 
 that fell last night ;" " A vice, a fire, vices, fires." 
 
 ? 60. To the classes of nouns already given, some grammarians add 
 verbal nouns, — participles and infinitives used in the sense of nouns, the 
 former of which are sometimes called gerundives ,or participial nouns ; 
 correlative nouns, — such as father and son, husband and wife, master and 
 servant ; and diminutive nouns, — or such as gosling from goose, hillock from 
 hill, lambkin from lamb, floweret from flower. 
 
 The foregoing classification is in accordance with the teachiags of grammarians gen- 
 erally. The two following classifications are perhaps more philosophical. 
 
 1. Nouns are either concrete or abstract. 
 
 CoTicre^ nouns denote self-existent objects, or objects having attributes; as, 
 God, earth, rose. 
 
 Abstract nouns denote attributes; as, Goodness, power, wisdom, color, fra- 
 grance, motion, existence. 
 
 2. Nouns may be divided into the following classes: proper, abstract, mali' 
 rial, verbal, all of which imply unity or oneness, and common including collective^ 
 both of which imply plurality. 
 
 A proper noun is such a name of an object or a group, as is not applicable to 
 every other similar object or group. 
 
 An abstract noun denotes an attribute universally considered ; as, Truth, 
 duration. 
 
 A material noun denotes a kind of substance universally considored; as, 
 Water, com. 
 
94 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 
 
 A verbal noun is a participle or an infiniiive used us a noun. The abstract 
 nouns include the verbal nouns. 
 
 A common noun is such a name given to one or more objects, as is applicablo 
 to any others like them. 
 
 Collective nouns denote groups of similar objects, as other nouns denote 
 single objects. The common nouns include the collective nouns. 
 
 The common nouns come near to the other clauses in such exprebsious as, " The li.mi is 
 courageous;" " The onk is an emblem of strength." 
 
 Abstract or material nouns denoting objects personified^ and commo/i nouns 
 deprived oi "connotation,^^ generally become proper. 
 
 Proper, absi7'act, material, or verbal nouns, when modified, become common. 
 The modilication at once suggests plurality of objects. The modification may be 
 effected by plurahzing the noun, or by using an article, adjective, adverb, ad- 
 junct, or other modifying expression. 
 
 Ex. — "There were Macphersons and Macdonalds." "The hauling of the stones and 
 other materials, was a heavy expense," " The honors of the society." " To think always 
 correctly, is a great accomplishment." " The Hudson, the Pyrenees," &c."=The river Hud- 
 son, or the Hudson river, &c. ; or they may be deemed exceptions. 
 
 JProsiouns. 
 
 ? 61. A proitoiiii is a word that supplies the place of a noun. 
 
 Ex. — " The father and his son cultivated the farm which they had purchased." 
 
 There are three great classes of names in all; pronouns, common nouns, and proper 
 nouns. The pronouns are the fewest in number, only about sixty-six, and the most com- 
 prehensive in application ; the common noun« are the next greater in number and less com- 
 prehensive in application ; and the proper nouns are the most numerous and least compre- 
 hensive. It seems not improbable that pronouns were the first names, being the simplest 
 words for denoting, under all circumstances, whatever was about the persons conversing ; 
 and that they were afterwards adopted almost wholly as substitutes for nouns. Their nature 
 and very Irregular declension indicate great antiquity, and sometimes pronouns — especially 
 the personal pronouns-of the first and second persons, the neuter pronoun it, and the relative 
 pronoun lo/iat — are even yet so used as to refer, not so much to the names of objects, as to 
 the objects themselves. 
 
 ? To avoid tiresome and disagreeable repetition of nouns, pro- 
 nouns are used to represent persons or things already mentioned, 
 inquired after, or easily recognized by them. 
 
 Ex. — Alexander told Elizabeth that Elizabeth might -write Elizabeth's name 
 in Elizabeth's book with Alexander's pen=" Alexander told Elizabeth that sh^, 
 might write her name in her book with his pen." " Who was it /" " ^ is a fine 
 scholar." 
 
 ? 62. The antecedent of a pronoun is the substantive in 
 reference to which the pronoun is used. It usually precedes the 
 pronoun, but sometimes follows it. 
 
 Ex. — "John obeys his instructor." Here John is the antecedent ofJiis. 
 " Can storied urn or animated bust 
 
 Back to ITS mansion call the fleeting breath T' — Grai/. 
 
 ? 63. The antecedent may be a different pronoun, a phrase, or a 
 clause, as well as a noun. 
 
 Ex. — " He WHO is well, undervalues health." " Who that is strictly honest, 
 would flatter ?" " 1 wished to return, but it was impossible." " It is the novelty 
 and delicacy of the design, that makes the picture so beautiful." " It is danger- 
 ous to wake a sleeping lion.'''' " He sold his farm, and now he regrets rr." 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 95 
 
 ? It is worthy of notice, that when a pronoun has a modifieJ 
 
 antecedent, it represents it with all its modifications. 
 
 Ex. — " The largest tree of the grove spread its shade over us." Here its repre- 
 sents not tree merely, but l^he largest tree of the grove. 
 
 "When a pronoun is used, we may nearly always pnt some noun in its place. It is not, 
 however, custoniary to regard this word as its antecedent, but the corresponding word else- 
 where used, which it represents. To a pronoun having an antecedent, Rule 9th, of page 
 46lh, should be applied in parsing. When a pronoun is applied directly to tlie object itself ; 
 when the speaker can not be thought to have the supposed antecedent in his mind ; and when 
 the supposed antecedent does not firxt present, in the order of the sense, the object meant, — 
 I doubt the necessity or even the propriety of applying Rule 9th. Hence the Rule may gen- 
 erally be dispensed with, in parsing inteiTogatives, pronominals, responsives. and frequently, 
 pergonal pronouns and relative pronouns. Even in such sentences as, " Who knows himself 
 H braggart, let him fear this ;" " Whomsoever you can not manage, hhn you need not send ;" 
 " Whatever you do, do it well," — him and it ai-e probably not antecedents: the relatives do 
 not refer to them ; but more directly, or as directly as they, to the objects themselves. 
 
 ? Pronouns are divided into three chief classes ; personal^ relative^ 
 and interrogative. 
 
 i 64. The personal pronouns are those whose chief use is, to 
 distinguish the different grammatical persons. 
 
 ? G5. They are /, thou or yow, he^ she, and ^7, with their declined 
 forms, and their compounds. See p. 8. 
 
 ? 66. You^ your^ yours^ yourself, are now preferred, in familiar or 
 popular discourse, to the otlier forms. 
 
 ? 67. Thou, thy, thine, thee, thyself, and ye, may rather be regarded as 
 antiquated forms. Tliey generally have an antique, scriptural, or poetic 
 air. They are much used in the Bible, and frequently in other sacred 
 writings and in poetry. They are also habitually used by the Friends, or 
 Quakers. They seem, too, at one time, to have occasionally carried with 
 them something of a blunt or insulting air; of which use, traces are still 
 visible in our hterature. 
 
 Ex.—" Ye are the salt of the earth." — Bible. " TTiou Almighty Euler, hal- 
 lowed be thy name." — Book of Prayers. " Ye angels and ministers of grace, de- 
 fend us !" — Shak. " Thy words had such a melting flow." " Ye winds, ye waves, 
 ye elements!" — Byron. "All that Lord Cobham did, was at thy instigation, 
 thou, viper! for I thou thee, thou traitor!" — Lord Coke : Trial of Essex. 
 " I have no words, my voice is in my sword ; 
 Thou bloodier villain than terms can let thee out !" — Shakespeare. 
 
 ? 68. He, she, and they, sometimes refer to any one or any ones of a 
 certain class of persons. 
 
 Ex. — " He who trifles away his life, will never be rich in honors." " She who 
 knows merely how to dress, dance, and flirt, will never make a good wife." ^'■They 
 who deserve most blame, are apt to blame first." 
 
 ? 69. The pronoun it is sometimes used to denote what the speaker 
 can not well designate in any other way, or what he deems sufficiently 
 obvious when thus mentioned ; and often to introduce at once what is 
 more definitely denoted by some following word or words. 
 
 Ex.—" It rains." " It thunders." " It was moonlight on the Persian sea." 
 *' Who is itf " Who is it that calls the dead ?" " It ran into a hollow tree, but 
 
W NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 
 
 I do not know what it was." " Lo ! there it comes !" — Shakespeare's Eandet. 
 *' How goes it with you?" "/<{ is not well with me to-day." "Come and trip it 
 as you go." " It is he." " It is I." " It was you." " It was they.' ' ''It is idle- 
 ness that leads to vice." " It is now well known that the earth is round." " It 
 is mean to take advantage of another's distress." The following remark tells the 
 truth in many instances : " It denotes the state or condition of things." 
 
 ? 70. The compound personal pronouns are used to denote persons 
 or things as emphatically distinguished from others. 
 
 Ex. — " I will go myself • you may stay." " I spoke with the man Jiimselfy 
 " I once felt a little inclined to marry her myself.'''' 
 " Hereditary bondsmen ! know ye not, 
 Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow ?" — Campbell. 
 
 ? 71. These pronouns are further used, when that which is denoted by 
 the subject of the verb, is also that on which the act or state terminates. 
 
 Ex. — " They drew themselves up by ropes." " She saw herself in the glass.* 
 *♦ He killed himself.'''' " Said 1 to myself, ' 1 am myself again.' " 
 
 ? 72. A relative pronoun makes its clause dependent on an- 
 other clause, or on a preceding word. 
 
 Ex. — " There is the man ] whom you saw." " Nobody knows | who invented 
 the letters." " I have 2/;Aa^ you need." " I can not tell w^a^ ails him." "Spirit 
 that breathest through my lattice, thou," &c. — Bryant. Here, "whom you saw,*' 
 for instance, can not stand by itself, and make seiise. 
 
 ? 73. The relative pronoun stands at or near the head of its 
 clause, and the clause itself generally performs the office of an ad- 
 jective or of a substantive. 
 
 Ex. — " The boy who studies, will learn"=-The stud'ious boy will learn. " I know 
 who he is.'''' (Know what ?) " I will do what I promised to do"="I will do the thing 
 which I promised to do. 
 
 ? The relative pi-onouns are who, which, what, that, and as, with 
 their declined forms and their compounds. See p. 8. 
 
 ? 74. Who is applied to persons, and to other objects when regarded 
 as persons. 
 
 Ex. — " The MAX who feels truly noble, will become so." " And Avarice, who 
 sold himself to hell." — Spenser. " Now a faint tick was heard below, from the 
 Pendulum, who thus spoke." — Jane Taxjlor. 
 
 " ' Dear Madam, I pray,' quoth a Maorpie one day. 
 
 To a Monkey, who happened to come in her way." — Sargenfs Speaker. 
 
 ? 75. Which is applied to things, or to what we regard so, to brute ani- 
 mals, to groups of persons denoted by collective nouns when all the indi- 
 viduals of the collection are vie»ved together as one thing; and frequently 
 to children. 
 
 Ex. — "The ROSE which f "The ^xku which f " The elephant wAicA ;" "The 
 "WORLD which f "The army which.''' " He was the soul which animated the party," 
 "The nations whicli encompass the Mediterranean." "Congress, wh't^h is a body 
 of wise men." " The oiiilu wh'ich we met." 
 
 ? 76. Which is used in connection with some word denoting the object 
 referred to, or when the object is present, or has been already mentioned 
 or brought to mind. 
 
 Ex. — " The misfortunes which cruf bed him." " I can not tell which is which.''^ 
 " 1 do not know which you mean." 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 97 
 
 ? 77. What is applied to things, and sometimes to other objects when 
 regarded as things. 
 
 Ex.—" I will take what you send." *' There is in ray carriage lohat has liib, 
 soul, and beauty." 
 
 ? 78. What is used when the objects spoken of may be represented 
 by the indefinite term thing or things and which. It represents them both, 
 and does not have, in modern usage, the word thing or things understood 
 before it. See Language, p. 59. 
 
 ? 79. That is used in preference to who or which when both persons 
 and other objects are referred to ; nearly always when the relative clause 
 is restrictive — especially after the superlative degree, after who, some, very, 
 no, all, any, each, every, and frequently after the personal pronouns, or 
 after predicate-nominatives referring to it; and generally where who or 
 which would seem less proper, or would not sound so well. 
 
 Ex. — " The SHIP and passengebs that were lost at sea." " In woeds tJiat breathe, 
 and THOUGHTS that burn." " This is the hardest lesson that we have yet had." 
 " Who that respects himself, would tell a lie '^" " The same star that we saw last 
 night." "No MAN that knows him, would credit him." "And all that wealth 
 or beauty ever gave." " It is selfishuess and vanity, that makes a woman a coquet." 
 
 ? 80. The relative pronoun or relative clause is restrictive, when 
 it makes the word to which it refers denote only such objects as are 
 described by the relative clause : in the restrictive sense, it modifies 
 an idea ; in the other, it adds an idea. 
 
 Ex. — "Eiches that are ill gotten, are seldom enjoyed." Of course not all 
 riches. "Read thy doom in the flowers, ^^>A^tf7^ fade and die." Not restrictive. 
 " He was a man whom nothing could turn aside from the path which duty pointed 
 out." Restrictive. " God must be conscious of every motion that arises in the 
 material universe, which he thus essentially pervades." The first relative is re- 
 strictive ; the other is not. " They enacted guou i^vws as were needed." " Catch 
 what comes." 
 
 It is often difficult to determine whether that should be preferred to who or 
 which. Sometimes either may be used with equal propriety. When the ante- 
 cedent is so fixed or definite by itself, or so limited by other definite words, — such 
 as the, that, those, — that the relative clause can not vary its meaning, wlio or which 
 may be allowable or even preferable ; when the antecedent is an indefinite term, 
 or is made indefinite by such modifying words as a, some, any, every, &c., that 
 may be preferable, or even necessary to make the meaning sufficiently definite, or 
 to show precisely what objects are meant. 
 
 " He is engaged in speculations tohich are very profitable," might suggest that all specu- 
 lations are very profitable : say, "in speculations that.''' "He is a man who cheats every 
 body," may be understood to mean, that rascality is the essential quality of a man or of a 
 gentleman: say, "a man tfiat." "It is the thought or sentiment which lies under the 
 figured expression, that gives it its merit." Here no change could be made without injuring 
 the sentence : which and that, as here used, (though both restrictive,) well show the sub- 
 ordinate character of the middle clause, and the restrictive character of the last clause. " I 
 don't doubt you'll like my friend, whom I have sent with a most trusty and faithful serv- 
 ant, w?iO deserves your friendship and favor." This sentence is not so clear as it might be : 
 had the author said, '•'■and who deserves," the reference would have been clearly to 
 "frieud;" had he said, " tAaf deserves," to " servant." 
 
 ? 81. That is often used as an adjective or as a conjunction ; so that yon 
 must regard it a pronoun, only when who or wliich can be put for it without 
 destroying the sense. 
 
 Ex.—-" Thatio man said that^s he knows your father." " The ablest man that 
 [who] spoke on the subject." " The same horse tluit [which] I rode." 
 
98 N0U1?S AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 
 
 ? 82. As is generally a relative pronoun, when it is used after such, 
 many, or same. 
 
 Ex, — "He pursued such a course as ruined him." "He deceived as many as 
 trusted him." " The daughter has the same inclinations as the mother." 
 
 As, at bottom, is perhaps a conjunction; but since a relative must then be always sup- 
 plied to complete the sense of the following clause, it may as well be parsed as a relative. 
 ^oule grammarians maintain that it is never a relative , others, that it is always a relative 
 after such, many, or same. The truth lies perhaps between the two extremes. As is used 
 la two different senses. It may recall the identical objects mentioned before, or it may pre- . 
 sent only similar objects. "When, by supplying the necessary words, the meaning would be 
 changed, as should certainly be parsed as a relative. " I bought, at the auction, such mules 
 OS were sold — as many mules as were sold" = I bought the mules that were sold — all the 
 mules Wia^ were sol J ; but, "I bouglit, at the auction, such mules as the mules were that 
 were sold — as mauy mules as the mules were that were sold," suggests rather that there 
 were two distinct parcels of mules, or that I bought other mules than those which were sold 
 at the auction. Observe also, that, above, some other relative can be substituted for as, es- 
 pecially by changing the preceding such or as mawj into the, those, or all. So, " He took as 
 viaay as ho could get" = He took all that he could get. " He took such apples as pleased 
 him." "She played such tunes as were called for." "He was the father of all such as 
 play on the harp and organ." " As many as came, were baptized." "I will come at such an 
 hour as I can spare." But when 1 say, "I bought such mules as you have for sale;" " We 
 do not want such men as he is ;" as should perhaps be considered a conjunction. In the last 
 example, if parsed as a relative, it can not agree, as a predicate-nominative, with Ac ; we can 
 not say, " He is such men." Locke, however, has the following sentence: " There be some 
 ■inen loliom you would rather have your son to be, with five hundred pounds a year, tlian 
 some other with five thousand pounds." Whom, is here used very much like as in the previ- 
 ous example. — This latter sense of as is also analogous to that of than in such sentences as, 
 " I have more money than you have ;" " He wanted more than he got." In these sentences, 
 tlian should never be parsed as a relaiive, for it never expresses, when so used, the identitij 
 Bometimes denoted by as. Most teachers, to avoid difficult distinctions, deem it best to parso 
 as, construed after such, m,any, or same, always as a relative pronoun. 
 
 ? 83. The compound relative pronouns are preferred to the simple 
 ones, when the speaker means to indicate more forcibly that he refers to 
 an object considered as general or undetermined. Sometimes they are 
 almost equivalent to the simple pronouns. 
 
 Ex. — " Whoever [any person that] despises the lowly, knows not the fickleness 
 of fortune"=Who despises the lowly, etc. "Take whlohever [any one that] you 
 like." " I'll do whatever [any or every thing that] is right." " Who steals my 
 purse, steals trash." 
 
 These pronouns are parsed like the corresponding simple pronouns ; but, as 
 th-ey never refer to a definite or particular object, they have rarely or never an 
 expressed antecedent. The indefinite ever or soever partly represents the ante- 
 cedent, by being a sort of substitute for the indefinite adjective which must pre- 
 cede the antecedent ; hence when the antecedent is expressed or supplied, the 
 ever or soever must generally be dropped ; as, " Whoever cares not for others, should 
 not expect their favor"==.4/iy person who care? not for others, should not expect 
 their favor. Ever, from denoting time indefinitely, was naturally extended to 
 place and time, and thence of course to objects. 
 
 ] 84. An iaitcrrogiitive pronoun is used to ask a question. 
 Ex.—" Who came with you!" " What do you want ?" " Which is yours ?" 
 
 ? The interrogative pronouns are ivho, which, what, and their 
 declined forms. 
 
 ? Each of them may be applied to any person or thing what- 
 soever ; except who, which is applicable to persons only. 
 
 ? 85. Who inquires for the name or some other appellation; and 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PRONOUNS. 99 
 
 when the name is in the; quo-'.i.i:', it inquires for the character or some 
 description of the perso*. 
 
 Ex. — '* PF,^o wrote the book ?" " Whose glory did he emulate?" " Whom do 
 you take me to be?" " W/io was Blennerhasset ?" 
 
 . 86. Which supposes the name known, or disregards it, but seeks 
 further to distinguish a certain individual from others. 
 
 Ex. — " Which of you will go with me ?" " Which is the Governor ?" " Which 
 is the ti<jre33? 'Which must I take? Which is your daujjhter?" " Which is 
 which ?" 
 
 ? 87. What goes still further, and inquires into the character or occu- 
 pation. 
 
 Ex.—" What is that fellow ?" 
 
 Briefly, who seeks to designate; which, to distinguish; and what, 
 to describe. 
 
 Ex.—" Wh/) is that gentleman? — Mr. Everett. — Which one ? — Edward Everett. — 
 JVhat is he ? — An eminent scholar and statesman." 
 
 Sometimes either- who or what may be used in speaking of persons : but in most 
 such instances, who is perhaps a little more respectful. 
 
 88. When who, which, or what, occurs in a claugo that is in answer or 
 apparently in answer to the same clause used interrogatively, it is neither an 
 interrogative pronoun, nor a relative pronoun in the sense of other relative pro- 
 nouns : but, according to some grammarians, it is a responsive or an indefinite 
 pronoun. It may, however, be considered a relative pronoun ; for it makes its 
 clause dependent as the common relatives do. 
 
 Ex. — Interrogative: " TF/jo broke the window ?" Responsive rela- 
 tive: " I do not know who broke it." — " Do you know who broke it ?" 
 
 The following sentences illustrate the different uses of who, which, and what ;— 
 
 luterrogativs. Responsive Relative. Common Relative. 
 
 Wlu> can.e? Lfyr?no7^:tct;"S \ ' ^« -* '^-^ *^« -- «"^ — 
 
 Which is the lesson? I remember to/iic/i is the lesson. I remember the lesson lohich I recited. 
 
 Tr/ia^ did he buy? I know to/ia< he bought. I admire wAa< he bought. 
 
 ip;.«* j„ t—.fT, 9 Teach me what is truth. ) rp r, .„i,„* ,-„ + 
 
 WJuit IS truth ? ^^j^^. T^^^i^ ^^^ ^^f^ tj.^tj^ ig_ I Teach me what is true. 
 
 Hence, when these words are interrogative pronouns, they must stand at or 
 near the beginning of the question ; when responsive relative pronouns, the verb or 
 preposition (usually preceding) governs the entire clause, or depends on it ; and 
 when common relative pronouns, it relates only to what is denoted by them. 
 
 ? 89. The chief other words used occasionally as pronouns, are 
 orie, oneself, none, other, another, each other, one another, and tkat^ 
 with their declined forms. 
 
 Ex. — " Some one has said, 'A blush is the color of virtue.' " " The best ones.^^ 
 *' Several others.'''' ^'■One should not think too highly of oneself.''^ " The old bird 
 feeds her young ones^ " The brother and sister love each other y " The girls 
 love one another.'''' " Wives and husbands are, indeed, incessantly complaining of 
 each other.'''' — Johnson. "Put the dozen cups within one another.'''' '■'■None [no 
 jiersons] are completely happy." " The age of modest, industrious, and meritori- 
 ous yeomanry is gone; ana that [the age] of pining, office-seeking aristocracy ia 
 at hand." 
 
 Dr. Whately writes "oneseZ/" in a form analogous to herae\f, himael/, and better, I 
 think, than "one's ael/.'" 
 
 5* 
 
100 NOUNS aNO PKONOUNS. — PRONOUNS. 
 
 ? 90. One often refers to mankind indefinitely, or to a class of objects 
 already brought to mind, or c/ovious from the modifying word or words. 
 
 • 91. Each other and one another are often called reciprocal lironouns. 
 They have a reflexive sense, and represent the I'eiation between any two 
 of the objects as being that between any and every other two of the en- 
 tire series. 
 
 Some grammarians, by supplying words, parse each of the foregoing terms as 
 two words, the first one in apposition with the whole group, and the other as an 
 objective ; as, "The two girls love each [one^ loves the] other''' [one'']. But " The 
 bad boys threw stones at one another,'''' may mean, each one at the others, as well as, 
 each one at the other one. The Greek language ejcpresses one another by one word, 
 and the German also by one inseparable, word that is precisely analogous to our 
 phrase. 
 
 " "Wie zwei Flammen sich ergreifen, wie 
 
 Harfentone in einander spielen." — Schiller. 
 Here einander could not be parsed separately ; for ein in ander would be a solecism. 
 
 There are several other words, of the pronominal or definitive adjectives, which 
 are also frequently parsed as pronouns, especially when they refer distributively or 
 emphatically to what has been already introduced. "They fled; some to the 
 woods, and some to the r'ver." " They had two horses each.'''' " Peace, order, 
 and justice, were all destroyed." " I like neither.'''' It will be best to consider 
 such words pronouns, when they can not be so well disposed of in any other way : 
 but they are frequently parsed as pronouns or adverbs when they might as well 
 or better be parsed as adjectives. 
 
 The last group of pronouns which we have considered, do not fall within any 
 one of our three great classes of pronouns. If deemed necessary, they may be 
 called reciprocal, indefinite, distributive, or demonstrative pronouns, according to 
 their sense. 
 
 ? 92. In the place of a pronoun, we may frequently put a noun 
 
 with the same pronoun, or with a word of the same class or nature, 
 
 placed as an adjective before the noun. 
 
 Ex. — " TTAo is he ?"= JFAfl^i person is he? "Show me what it i8"=Show me 
 what thing it is. " Which of the horses will you take ?" — Which horse will you 
 take? "I will ride one horse to drive the others;'' i. e., the other horses. "The 
 pleasures of vice are momentary; those of virtue, everlasting"=The pleasures of 
 vice are momentary; the pleasures of virtue, everlasting. 
 
 ? 93. The pronoun is sometimes omitted. 
 
 Ex. — "'Tis Heaven [that] has brought me to the state {whichl you see." 
 *' There is the man [whom] I saw." \_Thou\ " Thyself shalt see the act.'' 
 
 ? 94. An antecedent may be supplied, when it is needed for the 
 sake of other words, or even when it can be easily supplied, and 
 without producing harshness. 
 
 Ex. — " Give it to whoever [any one that] needs it ;" or, "Give it to [any person] 
 who (ever) needs it." "Let such [persons] as hear, take heed." [lie] "Who livea 
 to fancy, never can be rich." 
 
 JPfoperties. 
 
 I' Nouns and Pronouns have genders, persons nnni" 
 l>er§, and ca§es. 
 
 ? 95. Pronouns agree with their antecedents, in gender^ person^ 
 and number. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. GENDERS. 101 
 
 Genders. 
 
 ? The gender of a word is its meaning in regard to sex. 
 
 ? There are four genders ; the masculine, the feminine, the com- 
 mon, and the neuter. 
 
 Genders meant originally kind^ or fiorts ; thence, Mndx in reference to sex ; and thence,the senat 
 and farm of words as adapted to distinguish objects in regard to sex. 
 
 ? 96. The masciilisie gender denotes males. 
 
 Ex. — Uncle, father, son, governor, Mr. Kobertson, executor, dog, he, himself. 
 
 ? 97. The fefitiiiiine gender denotes females. 
 
 Ex. — Aunt, mother, daughter, girl, hen, goose, heroine, seamstress, she, herself. 
 
 ? 98. Tlie coinfinoii gender denotes either males or females, 
 or both. 
 
 Ex. — Persons, parents, children, cat, insects, I, you, they, who. 
 
 ? 99. The neuter gender denotes neither males nor females. 
 
 Ex, — Tree, house, city, heaven, beauty, body, size, manhood, soul, it, what. 
 The neuter gender pertains chiefly to things, and to qualities or other attributes. 
 
 Gommon gender of course does not imply common sex, but is the character- 
 istic of those substantives which denote living beings, without showing in them- 
 selves whether males or females are meant, being equally applicable to both. 
 The sex may, however, be sometimes ascertained from some other word in the 
 sentence ; and then the words should be parsed accordingly. 
 
 Ex. — " The child and his mother were in good health." Here cMld is mascu- 
 line, as shown by his. 
 
 Some grammarians reject the " common gender," and would parse such words as parents and 
 friends, as "of the masculine and feminine gender," "of the masculine or feminine gender," 
 ''of the masculine gender," or "of the feminine gender," according to the sense. I see no valid 
 objection to the term common gender, provided gender and «ex be not, as they frequently are. con- 
 founded. They are distinct in meaning : gender is a property belonging to words only ; and sex, 
 to qt^ecta. 
 
 ? 100. Nouns strictly applicable to males only, or to females only, 
 are sometimes used to denote both. This usually occurs when the 
 speaker aims at brevity of speech, and when the sex is not impor- 
 tant to his design. The masculine term is generally preferred. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■Horses axQ fond of green pastures;" i.e., horses, &nA mares too. "The 
 e/cjf's are scattered over the whole world." ^'■Ilelrs are often disappointed." "I 
 saw geese and ducks in the pond," " The poets of England," But in connection 
 with a proper name, only the appropriate term will harmonize in sense ; as, " The 
 poet Homer;" " The poetess Sappho." 
 
 ? 101. Sometimes animals are regarded as male or female, not 
 from their sex, but from their general character — from having mas- 
 culine or feminine qualities. 
 
 Ex.— " The ZioTi meets Ais foe boldly." " The /«c made his escape," "The 
 npider weaves Aer web." " The Jove smooths her feathers." "The timid hare 
 leaps from Aer covert." " Every Jee minds her own business." — Addison. "The 
 ant is a very cleanly insect, and throws out of her nest all the remains of the corn 
 on which *Ae feeds." — Id. Had these bees and ants appeared to Addison as un- 
 interesting, ordinary things, he would probably have used " it" and "its;" but 
 their attractive, ami-able, and almost rational qualities made the adoption of the 
 femine gender peculiarly elegant. 
 
102 
 
 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. GENDERS. 
 
 ? 102. So, inanimate objects are sometimes regarded by the 
 imagmation as living beings, and have then a suitable sex ascribed 
 to them. The objects, in such cases, are said to be personified^ tliat 
 is, endowed with personal qualities ; and the nouns denoting such 
 objects, may be parsed as masculine or feminine by personification. 
 
 Ex. — " The sun rose, and filled the earth with Ms glory." " The moon took her 
 station still higher, and looked brighter than before." " The boat has lost lier 
 rudder." "There lay the city before us, in all Jier beauty." "Behold the Aforn 
 in amber clouds arise / see, with her rosy hands she paints the skies." — Lee. 
 " Then Anger rushed — his eyes on fire." — GolUns. See his Ode on the Passions. 
 
 ? 103. A collective noun, when used in the plural form, or when 
 
 it represents the collection as an aggregate or a whole, is of the 
 
 neuter gender; when used otherwise, its gender corresponds with the 
 
 sex of the individuals composing the collection. 
 
 Ex. — " Six /amities settled on this river." " Every ^e«,em^ion. has its peculiar 
 ities." " The audience were much pleased." 
 
 104 Some words may vary much in gender, according to the very differ- 
 ent meanings which they have. 
 
 Ex. — " A game at ball ;" " I saw no game in my hunt." " A brilliant geniits ;" 
 " He has genius.'''' " The same man tlhat — woman that — person that — apple that.'''' 
 
 ? The English language has three methods of distinguishing 
 the two sexes. 
 
 ? 105. 
 
 Bachelor, 
 
 Beau, 
 Boy, 
 
 Boar, 
 
 Bridegroom, 
 
 Brother, 
 
 Bull, 
 
 Bullock, 
 
 Cock, I 
 
 Booster, ) 
 
 Colt, 
 
 Dog 
 
 Drake, 
 
 Earl, 
 
 Father, 
 
 Eriar, 
 
 a. By different words. 
 
 maid, \ 
 
 spinster. 
 
 belle. 
 
 girl. 
 
 sow. 
 
 bride. 
 
 sister. 
 
 cow. 
 
 heifer. 
 
 hen. 
 
 filly. 
 
 bitch. 
 
 duck. 
 
 countess. 
 
 mother. 
 
 nun. 
 
 Gander, 
 
 Gentleman, 
 
 Hart, 
 
 Horse, 
 
 Husband, 
 
 King, 
 
 Lad, 
 
 Lord, 
 
 Male, 
 
 Man, 
 
 Master, 
 
 Master, 
 
 Mr., 
 
 Milter, 
 
 Monk, 
 
 Monsieur, 
 
 Monsieur, 
 
 goose. 
 
 lady. 
 
 roe. 
 
 mare. 
 
 wife. 
 
 queen. 
 
 lass. 
 
 lady. 
 
 female. 
 
 woman. 
 
 mistress. 
 
 miss. 
 
 Mrs. 
 
 spawner. 
 
 nun. 
 
 mademoiselle. 
 
 madame. 
 
 Nephew, 
 
 Fapa, 
 
 Kake, 
 
 Earn, 
 
 Sire, 
 
 niece. 
 
 mamma. 
 
 jilt. 
 
 ewe. 
 
 madam.e. 
 
 Sire (ahorse), dam. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Sloven, 
 
 Son, 
 
 Stag, 
 
 Steer, 
 
 Swain, 
 
 Uncle, 
 
 Wizard, 
 
 madam. 
 
 slut. 
 
 daughter. 
 
 hind. 
 
 heifer. 
 
 nymph. 
 
 aunt. 
 
 witch. 
 
 damsel, ) 
 
 maiden. J 
 
 Caroline. 
 
 Youth, 
 Charles, 
 
 ? 106. b. By difference of termination. 
 
 Most words of this class are appellations of office, occupation, or 
 rank, and the feminine generally ends in ess or trix. 
 
 rait, archer, viscount,' author* canoii,^^ diviner, doctor*, tailor, Hebrew, Jesuit, 
 regent, soldier, warrior. Change ter ar tou into tress, and der into drms : 
 Actor, doctor, arbiter, benefactor, auditor, enchanter, elector, instructor, ciianter, 
 songster, conductor, embassador, hunter, mister, protector, traitor, commander, 
 demander, detractor, victor, suitor, director*, proprietor, t^eamster, idolater, edi- 
 
 I* Words marked with a star, have also some other form to denote the female. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. GENDERS. 
 
 103 
 
 tor, progenitor, fornicator, porter, painter, orator*, mediator*, offender, solicitor, 
 rector, spectator*, creator, emulator, exactor, founder, tutor, huckster, sempster, 
 inhabiter, minister, waiter, monitor, deserter*, inheritor*, inventor, competitor, 
 executor*. Chcmge tok into trix: Administrator, executor, adjutor, testator, 
 prosecutor, inheritor, director, arbitrator. Change eer into Rtss: Adulterer, 
 adventurer, caterer, cloisterer, hucksterer, murderer, sorcerer. 
 
 Emperor, 
 
 Negro, 
 
 Governor, 
 
 Votary, 
 
 Tiger, 
 
 Ivigle, 
 
 Launderer, 
 
 Duke, 
 
 Tyrant, 
 
 I'ythonist, 
 
 Anchorite, ) 
 
 Anchoret, j 
 
 Hero, 
 
 empress, ) 
 
 emperess. ) 
 
 negress. 
 
 governess. 
 
 votaress. 
 
 tigress. 
 
 eagless. 
 
 laundress. 
 
 duchess. 
 
 tyranness. 
 
 pythoness. 
 
 anchoress. 
 
 heroine. 
 
 TVOEDS NOT SO REGULAR. 
 
 Carl, carline. Don, 
 
 Landgrave, langravine. Infant, 
 
 Margrave, margravine. Tzar, 
 
 Palsgrave, palsgravine. Sultan, 
 
 Joseph, Josephine. Augustus, 
 
 Tragedian, tragedienne. Cornelius, 
 
 Chamberlain, chambermaid. George, 
 
 Goodman 
 
 Widower, 
 
 Lover, ) 
 
 Love, ) 
 
 Signore, 
 
 Marquis, 
 
 Marquess, 
 
 goody, 
 widow. 
 
 love. 
 
 signora. 
 
 marchioness. 
 
 Henry, 
 
 Julius, 
 
 Louis, 
 John, 
 Frank, 
 Francis 
 
 ,\ 
 
 donna. 
 
 infanta. 
 
 tzarina. 
 
 sultana. 
 
 Augusta. 
 
 Cornelia. 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 Henrietta. 
 
 Julia, I 
 
 Juliet. ) 
 
 Louisa. 
 
 Joanna. 
 
 Frances.' 
 
 ? 107. When, for either sex, the appropriate term is so seldom 
 used as to be uncouth, the other term may be preferred; and 
 wherever there is a term for but one of the sexes, it may be used 
 for the other, if necessary. 
 
 ? 108. Words derived or compounded from others, usually express 
 render in the same way. 
 
 Ex. — " Coheir, 
 
 archduke, archduchess ; grandsire, grandam ; laud- 
 
 lord, landlady ; schoolmaster, schoolmistress ; schoolboy, schoolgirl; merman, 
 maid ; grandfather, grandmother ; slep-son, ste^p-daaghter ; peacock, peahen.'''' 
 
 ? 109. c. By using a distinguishing word. 
 
 Ex. — ^e-bear, she-'h&ax ; A^-goat, she-gooX ; Z»'McA;-rabbit, ioe-rabbit ; coc^-sparrow, 
 ^<?ft-sparrow ; wta/4-servant, ma it/-servaut; mcile descendants, female descendants ; 
 Mr. Barton, Mrs. Barton ; Mr. Reynolds, Miss Reynolds. 
 
 ? 110. For some very common objects we have a common-gender 
 term, as well as a masculine term and a feminine. 
 
 Ex. — Parent., father, mother ; child, son, daughter ; person, man, woman. 
 
 ? 111. Some descriptive terms are so rarely needed to denote women, 
 that they have no corresponding feminine terms. 
 
 Ex.— Printer, carpenter, robber, baker, brewer, hostler, lawyer, fop, drummer, 
 colonel. 
 
 ? 112. Others have rarely or never corresponding masculine terms. 
 Ex.— Laundress, seamstress, brunette, coquet, jilt, dowdy, vixen, termagant, 
 liag. 
 
 Creaiders of Proaionaas. 
 
 The speaker, and the person addressed, being mutually present, or generallf 
 known to each other in regard to sex, it was not thought necessary, in the Ibrnia- 
 tiou of speecli, to make different pronouns for distinguishing them in regard to 
 sex. The personal pronouns of the first or the second person should therefore 
 be parsed as of tlio common gender, unless the sex becomes morn defluitely 
 
104 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. PERSONS. 
 
 known by some other word in the sentence. In the third person singular, how- 
 ever, the different sexes are distinguished by personal pronouns adapted in gen- 
 der to each. See p. 11. 
 
 • 113. The pronoun it^ usually regarded neuter only, is, I suspect, also of 
 the common gender, when it stands for nouns of this gender, and sometimes 
 when it denotes objects slightly personified. 
 
 Ex. — " The ^i^er broke /^« chain." " Tiie c,^tW has sini^ed i^ frock." "The 
 mouse ran back when it saw me." " Sleep never visits sorrow ; when it does, it is 
 a comforter." — Shakespeare. 
 
 i 114. Indeed, it seems that the three pronouns he, she, and it, may some- 
 times refer to objects without special regard to sex ; he being preferred for what 
 is large, bold, or preeminent ; she, for what is efieminate or dependent ; and it, 
 for what is small, unimportant, or imperfectly known. I think I have noticed 
 this principle often, especially in oar mode of speaking of laboring animals and 
 of pets. 
 
 Ex. — '* The elephant writhed ?ds lithe proboscis." " The swan with her beauti- 
 ful curving neck." ^ ^ The sea-bird ^vi.th. its Wild scream." " ^er young the par- 
 tridge led." — Brya7d. In this last sentence, the other words make the feminine 
 proi^un preferable. 
 
 Persons. 
 
 ? The per§OBS of a word shows whether it refers to the speaker, 
 the object spoken to, or the object spoken of. 
 
 ? There are three persons; i\iQ first, the second, and the third. 
 
 The word persons is borrowed from Ptage-playing, and meant originally masks, characters, 
 actors, or speakers on the stage; and thence is derived its sense as used in grammar. 
 
 ? 115. The first person denotes the speaker. 
 
 Ex. — "/ William Jones here certify, that," &c. "/mjAo command you, am the 
 general." " Many evils beset us mortals.'''' 
 
 ? 116. The secoaid person represents an object as spoken to. 
 
 Ex. — "Henry, shut the door." ^^Friends, Bomans, countrymen! lend me your 
 ears." " thou Almighty God, who didst create this wondrous world." " Forbid 
 it. Justice.'''' "0 Liberty ! what crimes are committed in thy name !" — Mad. Roland. 
 When inanimate objects are addressed, they are of course personified. 
 
 ? 11*7. The tliird person represents an object as spoken of. 
 
 Ex. — " The c% is in a bowl oi mountains?'' "I have read Webster^s reply to 
 Bayne.'''' " I am the man whom you wish to see." "7b fail is disgraceful." 
 
 The naming of the diflferent persons as shown above, first, second, and third, is in nccord- 
 ance with the natural order of full discourse ; as, " I James Bennett certify to you, William 
 Morrison, that Timothy Flirit is the legal owner of this farm.'" It is also obvious, that wo 
 can refer, in speaking, only to ourselves, to something spoken to, or to something spoken of. 
 
 ? 118. When a noun comes after a verb to explain the nomina- 
 tive, it is of the third person, though the nominative may be of the 
 first or the second person. 
 
 Ex. — "We are fhe patrons that will support you." "You are the pej'son 
 wanted." " I am sAer^ of the county." "We are strangers here." " You are 
 heroes. ^^ 
 
 Person rather disappears from the words sheriff, strangers, and heroes, as here 
 used without an article. Sheriff, for instance, does not seem to denote the speaker 
 as such, nor a person spoken of as such, but is simply descriptive somewhat like 
 an adjective. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NUMBERS. 105 
 
 ? 119. A word used in speaking of one or of a. part of the persons 
 speaking or addressed, is in tlie third person. 
 
 Ex. — " Each o)ie of us is studyinff his lesson." " Every one of you knows Tiis 
 duty." "/S'owe of you have lost their places." (Speaking to a spelling-class.) 
 **Some of you have lost your places," sounds perhaps better to some ears ; yet the 
 former is the correct expression according to principle. 
 
 ? 120. The third person is sometimes elegantly used for the first 
 or the second. 
 
 Ex. — "The king is always willing to listen to tlie just complaints of his sub- 
 jects ;" for, " I am always," &c. " Surely, my mother does not mean to marry me 
 to such an old miser ;" for, " Surely, mother, you do not," &c. 
 
 S'ersons of pronouns. 
 
 ? 121. The pronouns of the first person plural, we, our, ours, etc., 
 are used when the speaker includes others with himself; and some- 
 times, to represent two or more persons as uttering the same thing 
 together. 
 
 Ex.— "Let -ws go." " John, Mary, and T, must learn o«r lessons." " TFe, the 
 people," &c. — GonstUvtion, of the U, S. " We are going to the mountains." — Rocky' 
 Mountain Song. 
 
 ? 122. The pronouns of the second person plural, you, your, etc., 
 
 are used to denote two or more persons addressed, or one only with 
 
 others included. 
 
 Ex. — " My countrymen, I appeal to you.'''' ''Tou boys may go and play." " Jbt^, 
 sir, you were the boys that threw rocks' through the windows." "J^m mechanics 
 [speaking to one only] are required to work only ten hours per day." 
 
 ? 123. Hence it is, perhaps, that we and you, as well as they, 
 sometimes refer to mankind generally. 
 
 Ex. — " We are apt to love those who love us." " Tou may as well seek honey 
 in gall, as happiness in vice." " Shakespeare presents to you the universal world." 
 *'They say that Buchanan will be elected." "T/iey say that free governments will 
 ultimately be established in all parts of the world." 
 
 ? When a pronoun refei-s to two or more substantives taken 
 together, and of different persons, it prefers the first person to the 
 second, and the second to the third. 
 
 Ex,—" James and I have lost our horses." " James and yqu have lost ymr 
 Inarses." 
 
 ]\uiiibei*§. 
 
 ? The number of a word shows whether the word refers to 
 one object or to more than one. 
 
 ? There are two numbers ; the singular and the plural. 
 t 124, The singular number denotes but one. 
 Ex.— Apple, knife, pin, grain, flower, I, he, one, an, this, that. 
 
 t 125. The plural number denotes more than one. 
 
 Ex.— Apples, knives, grains, mice, flowers, we, they, ones, these, those. 
 
100 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NUMBERS. 
 
 ? 126. Two or more singulars connected merely by anjt, are 
 equivalent to a plural. 
 
 Ex. — " John^ James, and TJwmas, are studying" =Tlie toys are studying. 
 
 ? 127. Two or more objects viewed one by one, or separately, 
 
 have words referring to tbem in the singular number. 
 
 Ex. — " Every heart best hnows its own sorrows." " Neither Mary nor Mar- 
 tha has studied her lesson." 
 
 ? 128. A possession or attribute relating in common to several 
 
 objects, should generally be expressed by a singular word. 
 
 Ex. — " It was done for our sake,''' no'C sokes. " Let tliem be content with their 
 Zoi," not lots. " You and I have the s,!xmQ purpose, but ditferent judgments." 
 
 ? 129. A proper noun, when pluralized, denotes a race or family, 
 
 or two or more objects as having the same name or character. 
 
 Ex. — " The Dixons and the Boltons." " The twelve Caesars." " Her Marions, 
 Sumpters, Eutledges, and Finkneys." 
 
 ? 130. Abstract or material nouns, as such, are never plural, ex- 
 cept a few that have no singular form. 
 
 Ex. — Pride, ambition, hope, motion, duration, business ; gold, copper, meat, 
 hay, straw, specie, butter, cider, beer, molasses, ivy, fire, snow, mud, water, flax, 
 silk, dust; ashes, oats. 
 
 ? 131. Sometimes they are pluralized to denote more kinds 
 than one. 
 
 Ex. — Diseases, fevers, vices, airs, wines, teas, cottons, silks, satins, taxes. 
 
 ? 132. Sometimes they denote two or more objects having the 
 quality or substance, or else something as composed of parts. 
 
 Ex. — Curiosities, slates, straws, timbers, proceedings, liberties, rights. *' All 
 the sisters are beauties.'''' "The heights of Abraham, at Quebec."' "My marlles.'''' 
 " I had only a few coppers left." " I heard the waters roar down the cataract." 
 
 ? 133. Some nouns that denote objects consisting of two parts, or 
 conceived to consist of many parts or individuals, are always plural. 
 
 Ex. — Tongs, scissors, lungs, embers, ashes, pincers, breeches, trousers, draw- 
 ers, hose, bowels, entrails, intestines, billiards, calends, ides, nones, annals, 
 archives, clothes, goggles, snuffers, stairs, head-quarters, poetics, riches, victuals, 
 assets, teens, matins, vespers, hemorrhoids, iiy3ter''ics, dreg'-"-, bitters, filings, 
 remains, obsequies, nuptials, chops, spatterdashes, st:itisties, folks, aborlg'ines, 
 afBtip'odes, mammalia, grallse, passeres, sporades, regalia, paraphernalia, vetches, 
 cattle, hustings, belles-lettres (bel-let'tr). Except, however, the class, fwrnHwre^ 
 jewelry, hosiery, etc., which are singular. 
 
 • 134. Sometimes such a word may be used in the singular number to denote 
 a part, or to denote the object as an individual, or to denote the entire collectiuu 
 us one thing. 
 
 Ex. — " The left lung was diseased." " A stair ; a bellows ; the annal ; a valu- 
 able statistic." 
 
 1 135. Some nouns have the same form for either number. 
 Ex. — Deer, sheep, swine, grouse, series, species, superficies, corps, apparatus, 
 means. 
 
 ? 136, A collective noun is plural, even when singular in form 
 yet plural in idea. 
 
 Ex. — " The American people are jealous- and watchful of their liberties." 
 
.-xUUNS AND PRONOUNS. NUMBERS. 107 
 
 In a few instances, the same collective noun is used in both numbers in the 
 same sentence, and perhaps not improperly. " Each ITouse shall keep a iournal of 
 its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as 
 may in iAeir judgment require secrecy."— Constitution of the United States. " There 
 M a tribe in these mountains, who are fairer and more intelligent than the other 
 Indians." — Irving. The first view refers to the whole ; and the other, to the 
 individuals. 
 
 ? 137. Some nouns denoting animals, and also words of number 
 preceded by a numeral adjective, are sometimes used in the sin- 
 gular form to express a plural sense. 
 
 Ex. — " This creek abounds in trout and perch.'''' — Exploring Expedition. To 
 sav, " in trouts and perches^'' might mean ditfereut kincfs. " FowL and fish for 
 sale." ^^ Two pair ; three dozen; threescore; &ve hv/idred.''^ Here the numeral 
 adjective seems of itself sufficient to determine or express the number. 
 
 138. Foot and horse, in the sense of troops, and sail, in the sense of ships, 
 are plural. Sometimes cannon and shot are plural : also head; as, "forty head." 
 
 ? 139. In a word, the singular form of some words is some- 
 times used for the plural form, though the latter may also be in 
 good use. 
 
 Ex. — "The/oe.' they come; they come." — Byron. "Where the heithen, in 
 their blindness, bow down to stocks and stones." — Heher. " All manner of evil." 
 " To mould brick and burn them." " We have caught some ^sA." 
 
 " They had herrings and mackerels.^* '■'■IVoids and salmons swim against the 
 stream." ^'' Fowls and fishes.'''' "In scores and dozens.'''' "By hundreds and 
 thousands^'' " Cannons and muskets.'''' 
 
 ? 140. In using the singular form, the mind dwells perhaps 
 rather on the nature than on the number of the objects, — on what 
 is meant rather than on how many are meant. 
 
 ? 141. The singular form and the plural sometimes differ in 
 sense, or are different words. 
 
 Ex. — Arm, arms (weapons) ; letter, letters (literature) ; pain, pains (care) ; color, 
 colors (banner) ; means, m/inners, morals, physics, ashes. 
 
 ? 142. Some nouns, though always plural in form, are considered 
 to be either singular or plural, according as the mind conceives 
 the thing as composed of parts, or as a single object of thought. 
 
 Ex. — News, odds, means, amends, alms, suds, mathematics, politics, etliics, 
 physics, optics, mechanics, hydraulics, apocrypha, muinp.^, measles, rickets. " The- 
 measles havk broken out thick upon him." " The measles is sometimes a danger- 
 ous disease." " There the diffei-ent politics of the day were discussed." ^'■Tol'i- 
 tics 13 an uncertain profession." " Can all that optics tuaoii unfold thy form to 
 please me so?" — Campbell's Bainbow. The tendency ratlier is, to construe such 
 words plurally, except a few of the most common ones. Writers sometimes slum 
 the doubtful construction, by saying, for instance, " The science of mathematics 
 is" ; " Physical science is" . 
 
 It is the sense rather than the form, that determines the number; honce mo- 
 lasses, jeans, &c., are singular, though they end in s. A noun that makes sense 
 with a or an before it, or is after it, is singular; a noun that makes sense with ixoo 
 or these before it, or are atter it, is plural. 
 
 ll»\fr tlie plural niiinber Is expres^ied. 
 
 ? 143. Most nouns become plural by adding s to the singular. 
 
 'Ex.— Book, books; street, streets ; hat, hats ; river, rivers; village, villages. 
 
108 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NUMBERS. 
 
 ? 144. When s alone annexed, could not be easily pronounced; 
 and when the singular ends in 2, o, w, or y, preceded each by a 
 consonant, — the plural is formed by adding es. 
 
 Ex. — Church, churches; bench, benches; blush, Mushes' miss, misses; atlas, 
 atlases; isthmus, isthmuses; topaiS, topazes; tax, taxes ; alkali, alkalies ; rabbi, 
 rabbles; halo, haloes; negro, negroes; gnu, gnues ; story, stories; "the Winneba- 
 go~es ; the Missouri-es.'''' 
 
 ? 145. Proper nouns, foreign nouns, and unusual nouns, are 
 changed as little as possible, and hence often assume s only. 
 
 Ex. — Henry, Henrys ; Tally, Tullys ' Mary, Marys; Cicero, Giceros ; Scipio, 
 Scipios ; Nero, JVeros. " The two Miss Foots." Teocalli (Mexican temple), " teo- 
 cauis ;^' major-domo, '■'■ major-do rnos.'''' — Prescott. " The novel is fall of ohs, lys, 
 whys, alsos, and noes.'''' — Review. And, owing to their foreign tinge, we still find 
 in good use, cantos, grottos, juntos, m,ementos, octavos, porticos, quartos, solos, tyros, 
 zeros, in steud of catitoes from canto, grottoes from grotto, juntoes from junto, etc., 
 which are also coming into use. 
 
 But when words of these classes are so familiarly known as to be easily recog- 
 nized in almost any form, they are often pluralized like ordinary nouns ; as, Har- 
 ries, Henries, Maries, Ptolemies, Neroes, whies, noes. 
 
 ? 146. The following nouns change their ending into ves : — 
 
 Beef, beeves; calf, calves; elf, elves; half, halves; knife, halves; leaf , leaves ; 
 life, lives; loaf, loaves; selt, selves; sheaf, sheaves; shelf, shelves; thief, thieves; 
 wife, wives ; wolf, wolves. Wharf has sometimes wharves — a heavier word for pro- 
 nunciation. Staff has staves, when not compounded; but it should always have 
 staffs, to distinguish its plural from staves, the plural of stave. 
 
 ? 147. For forming the plural of some words, no general rule 
 can be given, and they are therefore said to be irregular. 
 
 Man, men. Foot, feet. Ox, oxen. Cow, cows. L we. 
 
 "Woman, women. Goose, geese. Mouse, mice. Cow has also klne. Thou, you. 
 
 Child, children. Tooth, teeth. Louse, hce. the old or poetic plural. He, they. 
 
 The words ending in man, that are not compounds of man, are regular and take 
 s; as, German, Germans; talisman, talismans; y[.\x^s,vl-axan, Mussulmans. 
 
 ? 148. Some nouns have both a regular and an irregular plu- 
 ral, but with a difference in meaning. 
 
 Brother, brothers (of the same family), brethren ('of the same society). 
 
 Die, dies (8tamj)s for coining), di^ce (small cubes for gaming). 
 
 Fish, fishes (individuals), fish (quantity, or the species). 
 
 Genius, geniuses (men of genius), genii (spirits). 
 
 Index, indexes (tables of contents), indices (algebraic signs). 
 
 Fenny, j9e/i/iies (pieces of money), j06wce (^how much in value). 
 
 Fea, peas (individuals — two or more), pease (m distinction from other vegetables). 
 
 ? 149. Most compound words are pluralized, by making plural 
 only that part of the word which is described by the rest. 
 
 Ex. — " Mouse-traps, ox-carts, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, billets-doux, 
 courts-martial, aids-de-camp, capfuls, spoonfuls, coachfuls, wagon-loads, com- 
 manders-in-ciiietj cestuis qut; trust." It is generally the first part of a compound 
 word, that is descriptive, or is used in the sense of a prefix. 
 
 J 150. When the compound word is a foreign term or other 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. NUMBERS. 109 
 
 phrase, of whicb. the descriptive part is not very obvious, the 
 whole word is generally pluralized like a simple one. 
 
 Ex. — "Piano-fortes, camera-obscuras, auto-dft-fes, cong4-d'-t^Iires, louis-d'ors, 
 flower-de-luces, tete-a-tetes, ipse-dixits, habeas-corpuses, scire-faciases, jack-a- 
 lan terns." 
 
 ? 151. A few compound words have both parts made plural. 
 Ex. — Man-servant, men-servants; woman-servant, women-servants; knight- 
 templar, knights-templars (better, knights tenvplar) ; ignis-fatuua, ignes-fatui." 
 
 ? 152. A term composed of a proper name preceded by a 
 title, is pluralized by annexing the plural termination to either, 
 the name or the title, but not to both. 
 
 Ex. — "The Misses Davidson; the Miss Browns; the Drs. Edmondson* the 
 Messrs. Harper." "The Misses Warner." — Morris and Willis. "The Misses 
 Smith." — Bryant. "The Miss Hornecks.'''' — Irving. "With respect to the Miss 
 TJiompsons^ or the Misses Thompson^ I am decidedly for the Miss Thompsons. — Ar- 
 nold'' s Grammar: London. " Some persons would say the Miss Thompsons, others 
 the Misses Thompson : the former mode is clearly more in keeping witn the general 
 practice of the language, and one's leaning at first would be toward it; but those 
 who plume themselves on their accuracy adopt the latter." — Ih. " From Duchesses 
 and Lad >/ Maries.''^ — Pope. "I went to the Ladies Butler.''^ — Swift. "May there 
 be Sir Isaac Newtons in every science." — Watts. 
 
 ? 153. But when the title is Mrs., or is preceded by a nume- 
 ral, the latter noun is always pluralized. 
 
 Ex.— "The Mrs. Welbys:' "The two Mr. Barlmvs.'' "The two Miss Scotts 
 had been gathering flowers."— //-ym^. " The two beautiful Miss Glarks." The 
 word Miss, in such phrases, bears more resemblance to an adjective than to a 
 noun : its use is similar to that of the adjectives in such phrases as, " The stingy 
 old miser;" " The two stingy old misers." 
 
 ? 154. And the title is always pluralized, when it refers to two 
 or more different or separate persons. 
 
 Ex. — "Z'rs. Bruns, Edwards, and Johnson ;" ^^ Misses Mary and Julia Harrison." 
 In regard to the plural of names involving titles, there has been not a little of di- 
 versity in practice and doctrine. Some always pluralize the title ; others,^ the 
 name ; and a few venture to pluralize both. The previdling custom is, I believe, 
 not to phiralize that word of the term which the speaker means to use as explana- 
 tory or descriptive of the other. It would be an elegant distinction, and in the 
 analogy of such plurals as teas, silks, wines, &c., to pluralize the title only, when 
 brothers or sisters are meant ; and the name only, when the persons belong to dif- 
 ferent families of the same name,— to say " the Misses Brown'' when the ladies are 
 sisters, and " the Miss Browns'' when they are not. But as this distinction would 
 sometimes perplex the writer in addressing persons whose family relations he does 
 not know, it will probably never be adopted. To persons wishing a plain and 
 positive rule, I would say. Always pluralize the title only, when it is Mister, Miss, 
 or Doctor, not preceded by a numeral ; as, " Tiie Messrs. Morton ;" " The Misses 
 Dixon;" ''The Drs. Bolton ;" '' Drs. Bolton." This mode of pluraliziiig such 
 terms will, I believe, ultimately prevail in this country ; and I rather think it has 
 the best right to do so. It is a law of our language to vary. proper names as little 
 as possible ; some proper names can not well be pluralized ; many proper names 
 have both the singular and the plural form, yet are singular in each, and mean dit- 
 ferent persons. "Drs. Mott. Office," plainly denotes two men; but " Dr. Motts. 
 Office," would probably be understood as denoting but one man. Besides, we 
 always pluralize the title when but once used in speaking of several persons taken 
 distributively ; as, " The Messrs. John and Thomas Wharton ;" " 'ihQ Messra. 
 Newman and Patterson;" "The Mess7's. Branch & Co.;" "James and VVilham 
 Simms, Esquires ;" and, to add the strongest argument in conclusion, 1 wmud say 
 that almost all the advertisements which I have seen— at least thirty or lorty— of 
 
110 
 
 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS, NUMBERS. 
 
 eminent schools condacted by an association of ladies or gentlemen of the same 
 name, begin with "The Misses''' , or, "The Messrs. , will recom- 
 mence," &c. 
 
 Our language has many words adopted from other languages. These 
 usually retain the same plural in ours that thoy have in the languages 
 from which they were taken. Some, however, take tlie English plural 
 only ; some, the foreign only ; and some, either. No certain rule cau 
 be given for forming such plurals, but the following may be of some 
 assistance : — 
 
 ? 155. The termination us is changed to i; iim or o?2, to a; «*, 
 to es or ides ; a, to ce or ata ; and x or ex., to ces or ices., 
 
 Those nouns of the followitig list, which have become so far naturalized as to have also a regu- 
 lar plural like that of the natives, in addition to their original plural, are distinguished by ItnlicB. 
 
 Change final 
 
 to ^: — 
 Larva, 
 Lam'ina, 
 Mac'ala, ' 
 Minu'tia, 
 Neb'ula, 
 Sil'iqua, 
 Sim'ia, 
 Sco'ria, 
 Alumna, 
 Alu'mina, 
 Are'na, 
 Form' aid. 
 
 A to ATA : — 
 
 Dogma., 
 Stigma., 
 Mias'ma. 
 
 Us to I :— 
 
 Alumnus, 
 
 Focus, 
 
 Fungus^ 
 
 Genius., 
 
 Ma'gns, 
 
 Ob'olns, 
 
 PoVyp'us^ 
 
 Ra'd%us, 
 
 Stim'ulus, 
 
 Cal'culus, 
 
 Echi'nus, 
 
 Nau'tilus., 
 
 Nu'deus, 
 
 Sarcoph''agu3, 
 
 Hippopof'Hmus. 
 
 Um, on, to a: — 
 
 AnimMl'culum, 
 
 Arca'num, 
 
 A utom'aton, 
 
 Crite'rton, 
 
 Corrigen-'dum, 
 
 Da'tum, 
 
 Desidera'tum, 
 
 Efflu'vium, 
 
 Ephem'eron, 
 
 Enco'talum^ 
 
 Erra-'tum, 
 
 Gym,na'sium., 
 
 Jlerha'riuvi^ 
 
 Me'dium., 
 
 Memoran'dum, 
 
 Afometi'tum., 
 
 Pheuom'enon, 
 
 Scli&lium., 
 
 Spec'ulum, 
 
 SLra'tum.! 
 
 Men'struum, 
 
 Sp:^ctrum, 
 
 Vin'culnm, 
 
 Trape'zium, 
 
 ParUe'liou, 
 
 xVphe'lton, 
 
 Periiie'liou. 
 
 Is to ES : — 
 
 Axis, 
 
 Amanuen'sis, 
 
 Analysis, 
 
 Antith'esis, 
 
 Basis, 
 
 Crisis, 
 
 Diser'esis, 
 
 Ellipsis, 
 
 Emphasis, 
 
 O'asis, 
 
 Borea'Iis, 
 
 Thesis, 
 
 Phasis, 
 
 Praxis, 
 
 Fascis, 
 
 Di'esis, 
 
 Metiimor'phos 
 
 Synopsis, 
 
 Paren'thesis, 
 
 Hypoth'esis, 
 
 Sva'thesis, 
 
 Is to IDES : — 
 
 Chry8''alis, 
 
 Ephem'eris, 
 
 Can'tharis, 
 
 Epider'mis, 
 
 A'phis, 
 
 Apsis, 
 
 Iris, 
 
 Frohoscis. 
 
 X to CEs : — 
 
 Appendix., 
 
 Galx^ 
 
 Ca'hx, 
 
 Cic'atrix, 
 
 imix, 
 
 Ma'triXy 
 
 Ba'dix, 
 
 Quincunx., 
 
 PhaVanXy 
 Lar'ynx, 
 Beau, 
 Gher'-ub, 
 Ser'aph, 
 Sta'men, 
 Tegmcu, 
 3, Legu'men, 
 Bandit, 
 Virtuo'so, 
 Gicero'ne, 
 Litterateur'. 
 Ge-'nus, 
 Monsieur, 
 Madame, 
 Mr. 
 
 Ignis-fat'wjs., 
 ITia'tus, 
 Appara'tus, 
 Ver'tigo, 
 Billet-doux, 
 Ma'lum prohib'- 
 itum, 
 
 Va'rix. 
 
 Ex to ICES : — 
 
 Apex, 
 
 Vertex, 
 
 Vortexy 
 Index. 
 Caudex. 
 
 phalan'ges. 
 
 laryn'ges. 
 
 beaux. 
 
 cher-'ubim. 
 
 ser'aphim. 
 
 stam'ina. 
 
 teg'mina. 
 
 legu'mina. 
 
 banditti. 
 
 virtu o'si. 
 
 cicero'ni. 
 
 literati. 
 
 gen'era. 
 
 Messieurs. 
 
 Mesdames. 
 
 Messrs. 
 
 ignes-fatui. 
 
 hiatus. 
 
 apparatus. 
 
 vertig'ines. 
 
 billets-doux. 
 
 mala prohibits. 
 
 I believe the tendency is, to give the preference to the English phiral in 
 familiar language ; to the foreign, in technical or scientific language. 
 
 ? 156. Letters, figures, and otlier characters, are pluralized by 
 addinaj V 
 
 Ex. — " The «'« and n's in the first line." " By 5's and 7's." " What meon 
 those 5 's ftnd G. '» ^" Tlie apostrophe is used to prevent ambiguity ; thus, " Crosa 
 your fs and dot your i's," is not the same as " Cross your t» ana dot your w." Ct» 
 might mean 5 Bh'illingB or five times s. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. XUMBERS. Ill 
 
 !ViimS>er» of Pronouns. 
 
 ? 157. In editorials, speeches, and proclamations, we^ our, etc., 
 are frequently used to denote apparently but one. 
 
 Ex. — '* We trust these sentiments -will meet with approbation." " We believe 
 provisions will be scarce." " We shall not yield to our rebellious subjects." 
 
 This manner of speakina: gives generally an air of modesty or authority to the 
 assertion ; the speaker seeming to deliver his own sentiments as if they were also 
 entertained, or could be enforced, by others as well as by himself. Let a writer in 
 an influential periodical say, " / believe there is an impending crisis in the money 
 market," and who cares for or heeds his assertion ? but let him say, " We believe 
 there is an impending crisis in the money market," and the expression will at once 
 strike alarm and terror into the hearts of thousands. The one is presented as the 
 opinion of the writer only, the other as that of the community. 15ut the palpable 
 use of we for /, is, like some other politeness, unsupported by nature and good 
 pense. Some one has said, that it is as if the person were ashamed to show his face. 
 It is generally assumed as a veil of modesty, or to avoid " the charge of egotism." 
 Many of the greatest masters of our language, namely, Johnson, Whateley, Web- 
 ster, and others, have not been afraid or ashamed to use the abhorred 7. An 
 author may sometimes use we, not in reference to his party, or the world generally, 
 but simply in reference to his reader as going along with him, — a sort of grandpa 
 style ; but when there is no reference whatever to any others than himself, the use of 
 we for /may be more polite, yet it is certai:;ly less correct. Authors often avoid the 
 dilemma, by speaking of themselves in the third person. When responsibility or an 
 unenviable position is to be assumed, it is obviously more polite to use /than we. 
 
 To the foregoing manner of speaking, ourself is peculiarly adapted, and it is 
 sometimes used accordingly* but yowrmf is strictly singular. " What then re- 
 mains? Ourself.'''' — Pope's Vunciad ; The Goddess of DuUness. 
 
 ? 158. You, your, yours, etc., are now singular as well as plural. 
 
 " It is altogether absurd to consider you as exclusively a plural pronoun in the 
 modern English language. It may be a matter of history, that it was originally 
 used as a plural only; and it may be a matter of theory, that it was first applied 
 to individuals on a principle of ilattery ; but the fact is, that it is now our second 
 person singular. When applied to an individual, it never excites any idea either 
 of plurality or of adulation ; but excites, precisely and exactly, the idea that was 
 excited "by thou, in an earlier stage of the language." — Lord Jeffrey: Ed'cnburgh 
 Review. 
 
 The Quakerism of Murray and Brown accounts for their partiality to Thou. 
 
 ? 159. When a pronoun stands for two or mors nouns taken 
 together, that are equivalent in sense to a plural, or when any 
 one of the substantives referred to is plural, the pronoun must be 
 plural; but when it refers to a singular implying more than one 
 object, or to several singulars taken separately or individually, it 
 must be singular. 
 
 Ex. — " John and Jame^ are studying their lessons." " Neither the father nor 
 ths sons ever surrendered their riglits.'' '•'•Eoery one should have his own pUce." 
 '■'■A person should never be very sanguine in his expectations." 
 
 ? 160. Each other applies to two only, or to pairs; one another^ 
 to more than two. 
 
 Ex. — " The brother and sister love each other.'''' " Wives and husbands are, in- 
 deed, incessantly complaining o^ each other.'''' — Johnson. "Put the dozen cv/p» 
 within one another.'''' " The several Indian chiefs made peace with one another.^^ 
 
112 'nouns and pronouns. CASES. 
 
 ? 161. JVIuit, in close connection with a plural, is sometimes 
 used in the plural number. 
 
 Ex. — " We were now at the mercy of what are called gjierillas." — Travels in 
 Mexico. " I must now turn to the faults, or what appear such to me." — Byron. 
 
 Other was formerly sometimes used for others. 
 
 Another==an other ; hence, singular. 
 
 ? None (no-one) is singular or plural, and it is generally used for no and a 
 noun. 
 
 For more in regard to the Numbers of Pronouns, see page 8. See also pp. 178-9, 
 
 Cases. 
 
 ? The ca§e§ are the relations of substantives to the other words 
 of a sentence. 
 
 ? There are three cases ; the nominative, the possessive, and the 
 objective. 
 
 Some grammarians give another case, — the independent, or absolute ; but there i 
 
 to be no more propriety in distinguishing this case from the nominative, than there would be 
 in dividing the differently governed objective cases into two or three classes. 
 
 ? 162. The 11 OBiii native case is the case of a substantive to 
 which a predicate directly refers. , 
 
 Ex. — " The moon shines beautifully upon the garden." " John and James ark 
 PLAYING, but jrow and /are studying." '■^ The murderer yi^As hanged." "Dear 
 ARE the recollections of youth." " The sum of live thousand dollars was paid." 
 The nominative can always be found by asking a question with who or what before 
 the verb. " The river is deep." What is deep ? The river. 
 
 ? 163. The nominative case is the case of a substantive that 
 is used independently or absolutely, or whose case depends on no 
 other word. 
 
 Ex. — In dependently : '•'■John, you may go for some water." " You may 
 recite, Mary.'''' " Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of 
 Hope." "Rise, fellow-men ! our countrv yet I'einains." " Ye flowers that cluster 
 by eternal frosts." " And Harry's ^^es/i it "fell away." '•'•He that hath ears to hear, 
 let him hear." " O Absalom ! Absalom ! my son, my son !" '•'• Reputat'ion ! repu- 
 tation ! oh, I have lost it!" " And then she died, poor thing !" ''^Webster's Dic- 
 tionary, Unabridged." California : what can you say about it !" " His bed and 
 hoard! he never had any !" 
 
 " The isles of Greece ! the isles of Greece I 
 Where burning Sappho loved and sung." — Byron. 
 
 The student can observe, that the Italicized words neither govern other words 
 nor are they governed by other words. Such substantives generally occur in ad- 
 dresses or in exclamations ; or,rather, they are used to direct the attention of some 
 one addressed, to what the speaker says, or else to draw attention to what the 
 word denotes. Sometimes, as in the last example above, they imply that the 
 speaker's feelings are so enkindled by the contemplation of the object, that the 
 ffood of accumulated feeling bursts forth at once, and without an effort on his part. 
 
 In the sentence, " Fiddle-sticks ! who cares for what he thinks ?" fiddle-sticka 
 is simply an interjection, because it is used as the mere index of a sudden emo- 
 tion, and is not uttered to draw attention to the musical implements themselves. 
 
 Absolutely: '■'•Shame being lost, all virtue is lost. " / being sick, the busi- 
 ness was neglected." " Flash following flash, we had but little hope." " The 
 work being done, we wont to the river to fi8h"=When the work was done, &c. 
 " His being & foreigner, was the cause of his defeat" == He was defeated because he 
 was a foreigner. " Ko one was aware of his being a runaway ;" better, " No one 
 was aware that he was a runaway." " To become a spendthrift, is easy"-=A per- 
 son may easily become a spendthrift. *' To be a respectable preacher or doctor, is 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. CASES. 113 
 
 easier than to be a respectable lawi/e?'^ *' The wolf [being] at bay, the dogs barked 
 the more." " What more could they do, a yonth [being] their leader." " My 
 duty as [being] her instructor.'''' " His nomination, as [to be] bishop J^Gerraan, ' als 
 Bischof zu sein'="a8 bishop to be], was confirmed." By a more strained supply of 
 words, Kule 7th may be applied in the last two examples : " My duty, considered 
 as being her mstructor^s^^ [duty]. " His nomination, considered as to be the fti«A- 
 (>p'5" [nomination], &c. 
 
 By carefully examining the foregoing examples, the student can observe that 
 the phrases having substantives used absolutely, ai-e but abridged expressions for 
 clauses beginning with when, while, since, because, or inasmuch as, &c. ; and that 
 when they are converted into clauses, they become nominatioes according to Kule 
 1st or 7th. 
 
 The early tendency of our language rather was, to express substantives used absolutely, 
 in the objective case, according to the analogy of Greek and Latin; and Milton wrote, " Hiin 
 [being] destroyed, or won to what may work his utter loss." But modern custom is de- 
 cidedly in favor of the nominative. 
 
 ? A noun of the first or the second person, is never used as the subject of 
 a verb. 
 
 Ex. — "I William Smith believe," &c. "Children, obey your parents." Be- 
 lieve agrees with /, as its nominative ; and obey with ye, or you, understood. 
 
 ? 164. The possessive case denotes an object to which some- 
 thing belongs or pertains. 
 
 The word in the possessive case may denote the originator, or the first 
 owner, or the full owner, or a partial owner, or a temporary owner, or an 
 intended owner, or the whole object comprising the thing possessed as a 
 part. The other substantive may denote a material object, a quality, an 
 action, or a state, 
 
 Ex. — " Irving's works ; Harper's Ferry: my horse; my father; my country; 
 my cup and saucer ; men's and boys' boots lor sale here ; my head; my sufferings." 
 "John's brother — happiness — haste — running — sleeping." " Nature's gifts." " He 
 bought a place in Boone's settlement, called Kemper's farm." " The master's 
 slave and the slave's master." "Ambition's rise may be virtue's fall." " The lily's 
 beauty." " India's coral strand." " John's head is large." 
 
 ? 165. The possessive case of every noun not ending iu the 
 sound of 5, is indicated by annexing 's, 
 
 Ex. — " Harry's slate ; the children's books ; Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progrests ; for 
 the Atridae's sake." The '« is a contraction of the old possessive sign, e« or i« ; 
 as, *' The kingis crowne ;" " In widdowes habite." — Chaucer. 
 
 ? 166. To plurals ending in s, only the apostrophe (') is added; 
 and to nouns of the singular number, ending in the sound of «, 'a 
 is added, but sometimes the apostrophe only. 
 
 Ex. — '■'•Boys'' sports;" '■'•Mechanics' Bank." '■'■ Charles'' s affairs." — Preseott. 
 "Louis's reign." — Macaulay. "Mr. Brooks's integrity." — E. Eoerett. "King 
 James's Bible." — Geo. P. Marsh. " Brookes's translation." — Td. " Morris and 
 Willis's Office."— A". P. Willis. "The title of Philhps's dictionary."— «/". ^. Wor- 
 cester. " Confucius's system." — Oxford Prof essar : En^nd. "Some of ^schy- 
 las's and Euripides's plays open in this manner." — Blair^s Rhetoric. " Demos- 
 theues's life." — lb. " From Stiles's pocket into Nokes's." — Hudibras. " Dennis's 
 Works." — Pope. " Miss's fine lunardi." — Burns. "Adonis's death." — Mrs. Brawn- 
 ing. " In Kin^ James' Version." — B. G. White. "In the Countess's speech." — 
 Id. " BuUions" Grammar." — Bullions. " Sanders' Series of Readers." — Sanders. 
 " Davies' Mathematics." — Davies. 
 
 The phrases "For conscience' sake," "For goodness' sake," " For Jesus' 
 sake," are rather idiomatic exceptions than fair illustrations of a general principle. 
 It has been said that the possessive s may be omitted, when each of the last two 
 syllables of the possessive word begins with an «-80und, and the next word also be- 
 gins with an s-sound ; ae, " Augustas' speech." 
 
114 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. — CASES. 
 
 In poetry, when the singular ends in a hissing sound, the s may be used or 
 omitted to suit the poet's convenience; but in prose, I think it should gen- 
 erally bo used where it is omitted. If not too many hissing sounds come to- 
 gether, and if the possessive s would not be too far removed from an accented 
 syllable, it should doutbless be used ; and in other cases, of is probably always 
 preferable. People do not hesitate to write, " The horse's heels;" " The young 
 prince's father." And, if sound is to determine the use or the omission of the 5, 
 I can not see why many other words are less entitled to the s than such words 
 as these. Few full possessives would be harsher or heavier than such plural* 
 words as glasses, carcasses, atlases, duchesses, actresses, &c., which nobody hes' 
 tates to use when needed. Besides, the s is often needed to make the sense clear. 
 "Watt's works" and "Watts' works" are intelligible only to the eye, and 
 should be '• Watt's works" and "Watts's works." I can not concur with Dr. 
 Bullions, in the propriety of omitting the s in written language, but retaining it 
 in spoken. Let language be written as it is spoken ; at least, let us not intro- 
 duce any more anomalies in this respect. 
 
 A harsh possessive may often be avoided by converting it into an adjective, or 
 by usin:T qf. "A ibx's tail"=A fox tail ; " Blinker Hill" is now more commonly 
 used than "Banker's Hill ;" and " Lucas Place" is q^uite as intelligible as " Lu- 
 cas's Place;" "Hastings' trial" or "Hastings's trial"=The trial of Hastings. 
 "Socrates's life and death"=The life and death of Socrates; " John's brother's 
 wife's 8ister"=The sister of John's brother's wife. But " A summer's day" is 
 not necessarily equivalent to "A summer day:" nor does of always imply posses- 
 sion ; as, " A spring of clear water ;" " To have some idea of the subject." 
 
 ? 161. When two or more consecutive words, taken together, are 
 used to denote but one possessor, or when the same object belongs 
 to several in common, the possessive sign is usually annexed but 
 once, and immediately before the name of the object possessed, but 
 not always to the word in the possessive case. 
 
 Ex. — "William Henry Harrison's election;" "Her Majesty Queen Victoria's 
 government;" "The Bishop of Landafl''s residence ;" " At Hall's, the baker." 
 " The captain of the Fulton's wife died yesterday." Plere captain is in the posses- 
 Bive case, governed by wife ; and Fulton in the objective case, governed by oJ\ "The 
 Duke of Wellington's achievements." Here Duhe of Wellingtori's may be parsed 
 as one noun, so also raiy Bishop of La,ndiW''s, and rnost such expressions, " Bar- 
 ton, Hutchinson, and Spotswood's store." Here Birton, Hutchinson,, and Spots- 
 wood's, are each in the possessive case, governed by store. " Barton's, Hutcbin- 
 son's, and Spotswood's store" =-Barton'8 store, Hutchinson's store, and Spotswood'a 
 store ; or, Barton^s and Hutchinson's are governed by store understood. 
 
 The various sorts of terms or phrases that may denote possessors, and the best 
 modes of expressing the sense of the possessive case wherever diflB.culties present 
 themselves, may be briefly noticed as follows : — 
 
 Monosyllables ending with the sound of s, — 's ; dissyllahles, — 's or of, 
 rarely ' ; words of more syllables, — of, rarely ', or else 's, when the last 
 syllable thus formed is not too far from the primary or the secondary 
 accent. 
 
 Ex.— " Sparks's Washington;" " Edwards's West Indies;" "The landing of 
 Cornwallis;" " Euphrates' banks." 
 
 Compound names, — sign to the last word. " Edward Everett's Works." 
 
 Complex names, or single terms with single adjuncts, — sign to the 
 
 last word, or use of; with adjuncts or compound adjuncts, — of. 
 
 Ex. — " The Duke of Wellington's residence ;" " The Report of the Secretary of 
 
 the Navy ;" " The wife of a member of Congress ;" " An Act of the Legislature of 
 
 the State of New York." 
 
 Apposition, the two terms used like one name, — sign at the end ; priu- 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. CASES. 115 
 
 cipal term, wilh explanatory part short, — sign to either, but not to both ; 
 explanatory part long, or consisting of two or more nouns, — sign to the 
 first, or use of. 
 
 Ex. — " The Emperor Napoleon's grave ;" " At Smith's, the bookseller ;" " At 
 Smith the bookseller's;" "Mr. Crawford's Report, the Secretary of the Trea- 
 sury;" better, "The Report of Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury ;" "The 
 psahns of David, the kin^, priest, aad poet of the Jews ;" " From the death of Ed- 
 ward the Third to the rei^n of Queeu Elizabeth ;" " Tiie residence of George Clin- 
 ton, ex-governor of New York, and vice-president of the United States." 
 
 Series of terms ^ and common possession, — sign to the last term; but 
 not common possession, — sign to each term. 
 
 Ex. — " Bolton, Dixon, and Glover's farm;" " Bolton's, Dixon's, and Glover's 
 farm." " Bolton, Dixon, and Glover's farms," rather implies joint or common pos- 
 session. " Bolton's, Dixon's, and Glover's farms," implies that each man owns two 
 or more farms. 
 
 ? 168. The objective case is the case of a substantive used 
 as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition. 
 
 Ex. — "Mary plucked a fresh rose." "I saw Mary pluckin& a fresh rose." 
 " Mary went to pluck a fresh rosey " A clear stream from the mounbain flowed 
 DOWN the valley.'''' " WJiom do you see?" "I saw him gathering apples.^'' "I 
 came to heab hiin, or wmi the expectatmi of hearing Ai?/i." TLie word in the ob- 
 jective case can be readily found by asking a question with whoin or what after the 
 verb or preposition. Thus, " The soldiers carried their bleeding companion to the 
 river." Carried whom ? Oompanion. To what ? Jiiver. 
 
 1 169. The object may be a verbal noun, or consist of an entire 
 phrase or clause. 
 
 Ex. — " My brother likes to study, but I like running and jump'mg better than 
 studying.'''' "He knew to build the lofty rhyme." " You do not consider Aoi« 
 little most people care for wJiat is not to their interest.^'' "I ordered the horse to he 
 brought.'''' To determine whether a verb followed by a clause or a phrase is transi- 
 tive, we must consider whether a noun or a pronoun put in the place of the phrase 
 or clause, would be governed by the verb or preposition. 
 
 As an entire clause may be the object of a verb or preposition, so may an 
 entire phrase beginning with a substantive followed by an infinitive. The 
 governing word does not govern the noun or pronoun alone, yet it has sufficient 
 influence over it, as a part of its object, (a part otherwise uncontroUed.) to de- 
 ter i nine its case ; and this influence is sufficient for the application of Kule 4th 
 or 5th. 
 
 Ex.—" Let me finish the problem:'' " I desire you to go?'' " I supposed him to 
 he your brother.'''' "He commanded the hone to he brought:'' "One word is too 
 often profaned for me toprofane it:'' 
 
 The effort has been made several times, to implant from the Latin into the English, 
 a Rule for " the subject of the infinitive ;" but. most grammarians have discarded the 
 innovation without even deigning to give it a critical notice or a formal rcycction. I too in- 
 cline to reject it. " Rule XI. The infinitive hau sometimes a subject in tlie objective case." — 
 Butler's Grammar. Ojbjeotions : — 1. The English language never allows an object before 
 an infinitive, unless there is at the same time a governing word before the object ; but 
 tlie Latin sometimes allows an intransitive verb before such an object, and therefore dif- 
 fers from onr language, and requires a Rule for the subject of the infinitive. Wo can say, 
 " Gaudco te valere ;" but not, " I rejoice thee to be well." 2. Though Mr. Butler's few ex- 
 amples are plain and plausible enough, as examples made or selected for a Rule usually are, 
 yet it is impossible to tell, in every instance, whether the object should be parsed as the 
 "subject" of the infinitive or as the " object" of the preceding verb. 3. The participlii has 
 sometimes as good a right to such a subject as the infinitive ; thus, " I saw the sun ^''[l 
 and "I saw the sua rising" differ no more than " The sua rises'' and " The sun is rising.'* 
 
 ? lYO. A passive verb, since it converts its object into its subject, 
 can not have an object. 
 
116 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. CASES. 
 
 ? lYl. A few verbs may have two different objects at once, pro- 
 vided they can govern them as well separately. 
 
 Ex. — " He asked me a question"=" He asked me" and " He askod a ques- 
 tion ;" but " He gave me a question," is not equivalent to " He gave me" and " Ho 
 gave a question." 
 
 "When a verb governing two object3 is made passive, either object, but not 
 both, may be made the nominative. The other object remains in the objective 
 case ; but as a passive verb can not govern an object, the other object, if it de- 
 notes the person, is governed by a preposition expressed or understood ; and if 
 it denotes the thing, it may be referred to Rule 6th. 
 
 Ex. — " My mother taught me arithmetic"=I was taught arithmetic by my 
 mother, or, Arithmetic was taught (to) me by my mother. Observe the diference : 
 " James struck him* a blow*;'''' "James wrote Tii/m^ a letter*;'''' " James called Am* 
 his/rie^i'^." 
 
 '? 172. The o5>Jective case is the case of a substantive used 
 without a governing word, and limiting or modifying like an ad- 
 verb or adjunct some other word. 
 
 Ex. — "I do not care a straw f^ Care not how much? "The wall was 1200 
 feet long, and 40 feet high." How long? how higli ? " It was richly worth a dol- 
 lar.'''' Worth liow mucTi? " We went Aome." Whither? " The slippered pan- 
 taloon, a v)orld too wide." — Shak. How much too wide ? " He is head and heels in 
 debt." To what extent? "She walks [like] a queen.'''' " Now he trips a ^fltay. 
 and now he struts a lord.'''' — Pope. " He wore his coat cloak fashion^ How ? 
 "He is nothing too good for such conduct." " I was taught grammar.'''' Taught 
 as to wliat ? Sometimes a substantive may be referred to the foregoing principle, 
 or parsed at once as an adverb. Some grammarians prefer to consider such ex- 
 pressions elliptical, and to supply a preposition, which can generally be done with- 
 out straining the matter very far. 
 
 ? 173. There are expressions, however, obviously elliptical. 
 
 Ex.— " Dr. Eush, No. 340, Pearl Street, Philadelphia, Penn."=7b Dr. Rush, 
 at No. 340, on Pearl Street, in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania. "Jan. 1st, 1860"= 
 On the first day of January, in the year 1860. " Ah me!"=Ah, what has hap- 
 pened to me ! So, " Me miserable !" or else it may be considered simply a Latin- 
 ism, used by Milton for the nominative absolute. 
 
 Same Ca§e. 
 
 ? 174. A substantive that does not bring another person or thing 
 into the sentence, and is used merely for explanation, emphasis, or 
 description, must be in the same case as the one denoting the person 
 or thing. 
 
 Ex. — " CoMPANT, villainous eompa^v, has been the ruin of me." " I Joseph 
 Walter, a jtbstiee of the peace, certify," &c. " Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, 
 was a brave man.'''' " I, also /, am an American.'''' " The Emperor N'apoleon'a 
 grave." " This book is John's, ray classmate.'''' "It was /." " We will go oti,r- 
 seVses.'''' "They crowned him ^*«^." " His purse was M'«tZi!A, his word a Jo»dI." 
 " Will sneaks a scrivener, an exceeding hnaoe.''^ The one substantive may be called 
 the pi'incipal term ; and the other, the explanatory term. 
 
 ? 175. Frequently, the explanatory term is predicated or assumed 
 of the other, by means of some neuter, intransitive, or passive verb. 
 The explanatory term is then usually called a predicate-substantive. 
 The verb, if any other than 6e, shows how the title or character- 
 istic is acquired or made known. 
 
 Ex. — " The world is but astaae. and all the men and women [are] merely ptoy- 
 «•«." "My friend was nppomted judge.''^ "Tom struts a soldier.'''' " The soldiers 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS.— CASES. 11*7 
 
 Bent a petition requesting him to become their leader — a petition for him to become 
 their leader.'''' Such a predicate-substantive after verbs not finite, is in the nomi- 
 native case whenever there is no preceding object to control its case. 
 
 ? 176. When not attached to the other term by means of a verb, 
 the explanatory term is said to be in apposition., and is called the 
 appositive. 
 
 Ex. — " Webster, the orator and statesman., was related to Webster the lexi- 
 cographer.'''' " At Smith's, the bookseller.'''' " A firth, or frith V " As a state&man, 
 he had great ability." 
 
 Predication and apposition are fundamentally the same. When the explana- 
 tory term is predicated, it seems to be first made known that such an attribute 
 t)elong3 to the person or thing. Afterwards we use apposition, ; or when the 
 attribute is already well known or easily perceived, and we wish to assert some- 
 thing else. Thus, " Mr. Jones was a saddler, but now he is a merchant.'''' After- 
 wards we may say, " Mr. Jones the merchant, is a bankrupt." 
 
 ? Apposition frequently enables us to distinguish different per- 
 sons of the same name, by means of their profession, occupation, or 
 character. 
 
 ? 177. Sometimes two objects follow certain verbs : the one 
 simply denoting the person or thing; and the other, as affected 
 by the act. 
 
 Ex.—" They named 7ier Mary.'''' " They elected him Mayor.'''' 
 
 That the latter substantive is rather in apposition with the former than governed by the 
 verb, seems evident tome from the following consideration: " They named her Mary" — 
 Make her the nominative, and Mir a at once becomes a nominative too, so as to agree with 
 it; as, "/S/ie was named 3/ar^." But, " Ho taught me grammar" — Make we the nomina- 
 tive, and grammar still remains in the objective case ; as, "/was taught grammar.''^ 
 
 ? 178. The explanatory term sometimes precedes the other, or 
 the verb. 
 
 Ex. — ^^ Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes." " Who is he ?" " A man 
 he was to all the country dear." " Who is his friend?" This last is an ambiguous 
 expression. If friend is the explatiatory term, the sentence means, " Is any one 
 friendly to him ? has he any friends at all ?" If uh/) is explanatory, the meaning 
 is, " What sort of man is his friend ?" 
 
 ? 179. It is not always necessary that the explanatory term should 
 agree with the other in any thing else than case. 
 
 Ex. — " Our liberties, our greatest Uessinq, we shall not give up so easily." 
 " His meat was locusts and wild honey.'''' " l^es was /to the blind, and feet to the 
 lame." 
 
 ? 180. The whole is sometimes again mentioned by a distributive 
 word, or by words denoting the parts; and sometimes the separate 
 persons or things are summed up in one emphatic word denoting 
 the whole. 
 
 Ex. — "They bore each a banner." "The words pleasure and pain.'''' "The 
 two love each [loves tlie] other." (See Pronouns, p. 100.) "Time, labor, money. 
 all were lost." Or else Rule 7th may be applied to time, labor, and money, end 
 Eule 1st to all. 
 
 " But those that sleep, and think not of their sins. 
 Pinch THEM, arms, Ugs, backs, shoulders, sides, and shins.'''' — Shakespeare. 
 To this head, also such expressions as " The stars disappeared one by one," 
 " They perished man by man," mav sometimes be more properlv referred.— See 
 Adverb, p. 208. ' r r . 
 
118 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS, CASES. 
 
 ? 181. The principal or the explanatory terra may be any ordi- 
 nary noun, a verbal noun, a pronoun, a phrase, or a clause. 
 
 Ex. — " Music, sphere-descended maid.'''' '■'It was mj p^'ule [ to govern justly.'* 
 '■'■Promising is not paying,'''' '■'■It is an admitted truth, \ that honesty is the test 
 mlioy.'''' '^ Who is A^ I"' " The phrase, \ ' not at all\ is an idiom.'''' " Oar doom is, 
 ^ Earth to earth, and dust to d/ast P " '•'■t resolved to pay as I go, — a resolution whicli 
 I have ever kept." 
 
 ? 182. The explanatory term is sometimes cut off from tlie other 
 by a governing word, and may then be different in case. 
 
 Ex. — '* In the moxth of September.'''' " Yonder is the city of St. Louis.'''' " Ho 
 was sent with us for a guide.''^ " I hurt myself.'''' 
 
 ? 183. The explanatory term is essentially an adjective element. 
 
 Ex. — "He was a Aero"=He was Aewic. " Every heart was yo_y"= Every heart 
 was joyful. *' They called him a patriot ;" " They called him patriotic.^'' '■'■Shig- 
 g'lsh in youth, he," &c.=A sluggard in youth, he, '&c. 
 
 Ca«<es of Projiomsis. 
 
 For the Declension of Pronouns, see p. 8. 
 
 ? Oars, yours, ho's, and theirs, should always, and inine and thine 
 should generally, be considered equivalent to the other possessive 
 23ronoun and the name of the object possessed, and then be parsed 
 accordingly. 
 
 Ex. — " He ate his apple, you ate yours [your apple], and I ate mine''^ [my ap- 
 ple]. Yours is not iioverned by a noun understood, for the noun could not be put 
 after it ; but it is equivalent to your and a noun. 
 
 In familiar language, these words are sometimes used in a peculiar idiomatic 
 way: thus, " This law of yours," may mean, " This law of your laws;" but, "Tliis 
 head of yours," " That ftvther of yours," " Tliis poor self of mine," are not equi- 
 valent to "This head of your heads," "This father of your fathers," " This poor 
 self of my selves." Perhaps we may, in parsing, treat such phrases thus : " This 
 head of yours" =-" This head of yowr possession f^ or in some other similar way. 
 
 ? 184. Before vowel sounds or the aspirate A, mine and thine are 
 sometimes preferred, in the solemn style, to my and thy. 
 
 Ex. — " Blot out all mine iniquities." — Bible. '•'■Thine altar." — WMttier. 
 
 ? 185. The compound personal pronouns are used only in the nomi- 
 native and the objective case ; and for both they have the same form. 
 
 ? 186. To express emphatic distinction in the possessive case, we 
 use the word own instead of self or selves. 
 
 Ex. — " Let every man attend to his own business, and every woman goflsip 
 about Ae;* ow» faults." " Selfish men always take care of themselves, and their 
 own, property." 
 
 ? In the objective case, the simple pronoun is sometimes used for 
 the compound, especially in poetry. 
 
 Ex. — " I thither went, and laid me down on the green bank." — Milton. " I set 
 me down a pensive hour to spend." — Goldsmith. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that the compound pronouns of the first and second 
 persons take the possessive simple pronoun ; and those of the third person, the 
 objective. 
 
 ? Who and which are declined, and have the same form in both 
 numbers. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 119 
 
 ? 187. Whose may be used as the possessive oUvhich or that, when 
 needed. 
 
 Ex. — " A parly whose leaders are corrupt"=A party of wliicli the leaders are 
 corrupt. " It is the eame man whose horse we caught." 
 
 ? 188. What, that, and as, are used in two cases only ; the nomi- 
 native and the objective. 
 
 ? 189. What is never changed in form. 
 
 ? 1 90. What, used as a common relative pronoun, and other ex- 
 pressions of the same kind, may have a twofold construction in re- 
 gard to case. 
 
 ? This is the substance of Kule 8th, which applies to what, its compounds, 
 to some nouns preceded by such adjectives as what or which, and to any other 
 relative whenever the sense requires two cases, and the FORM of the word does NOT 
 prevent it from being adapted to express both. 
 
 S>iould Rule 8th seem & peculiar one, we answer that it applies to a class of peculiar ex- 
 pressions. There is not room here to present an array of arf^uments in favor of our position. 
 Suffice it to say, that we endeavor to accept the languaj^a, so far as possible, as we find it ; 
 and that what such expressions were in former or ancient times, is no proof of what they are 
 now. There was a time when every steamboat-engine had a balance-wheel, but now the 
 water-wheel performs the office of that wheel too ; and who would think of putting a balance- 
 wheel into a drawing of such an ejigine, when the wheel is no longer needed or used? Be- 
 jiides, the kindred words, when, where, and while, are usually parsed as modifying a word in 
 «uch of two dififurent clauses ; and participial nouns are frequently parsed as performing a 
 double office. Furthermore, the parsing is much simplified, 
 
 1 191. When what is interrogative or responsive, it is needed in but one case, 
 depending in construction on some word in its own clause. When the form of 
 the relative prevents it from furnishing two cases, it must take the form required 
 for its own clause, and a suitable antecedent must be supplied for the other 
 clause ; but then the eoer or soever must be omitted. See Compound Rela- 
 tives, p. 98. 
 
 ? Reuiember, in parsing, that the antecedent never relates to a word 
 in the relative clause, but frequently refers to one beyond it. 
 
 Ex. — " The boy who trifles away his time, will be wretched in manhood." Boy 
 is in the nominative case, not to trifies, bat to will be. 
 
 192. One, other, and another, are declined like nouns. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Bxrse the nouns and ike pronouns : — 
 
 1. 
 
 A fisherman's" boat^ carried the passengers* to a small island^ iJTapo- 
 leon Bonaparte defeated the allies at the battle of Austerlitz. Milton's 
 Paradise Lost and Young's Night Thoughts are great poems'. Fifty painted 
 Indians from Minnesota went down the Mississippi, on the Black Hawk. 
 Education expands and elevates the mind. Rehgion refines and purifies 
 the affections. Spices are brought from the East Indies. 
 
 2. 
 
 I will use John's book, and you may use Mary's. Great hypocrisy 
 characterized a part of Louis XIV's reign. John's wife's sister is in town. 
 I have read Charles de Moor's Remorse, and the Introduction to Loomis's* 
 
120 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 
 
 Legendre's Geometry. The literati of Europe are famous for profound eru- 
 dition. Mexico lies between the Pacific Ocean^ and the Gulf of Mexico\ 
 The little company then sailed to the Azores. I have just heard a lecture 
 on the usefuP. Rome from her throne of beauty ruled the world. The 
 clouds''^ dispersing, we renewed our journey. Scotland^! there is magic in 
 the sound. 
 
 Prefer, my son^, the toils of Hercules, 
 To dalliance, banquets, and ignoble ease. 
 3. 
 
 I' will never forsake you^ We sjbould always prefer our' duty to our 
 pleasure. He is not content with his situation. I seated myself next" to 
 the window. Joseph bought the book for himself* *^ Man'^! know thy- 
 self » * 4 : all wisdom centres there. The Indians often paint themselves. 
 Tiie party reposed themselves on the shady lavvn. 
 
 4 
 
 The poor widow lost her^ * ^ only son. John and James know their« * » 
 lessons. Neither John nor James knows his» * ^ lesson. Where confidence 
 has been destroyed, it seldom revives. The deer waved its branchy head. 
 It is wicked to scoffs at rehgion. It is too early for flowers. It happened 
 on a lovely summer's day. It rains. It went hard with him. She is 
 handsome, and she knows it"^^ My heart beats yet, but hers'' I can 
 not feel I 
 
 6. Antecedeiit Expressed. 
 
 The man who° * ^ neglects his* * * business, will soon be without busi- 
 ness. That* man is enslaved who can not govern himself How beautiful 
 are yonder willows, which overshadow the little river ! Sarah has plucked 
 the prettiest rose that* ''' ' bloomed in the garden. The traveler described 
 very accurately such things as he remembered. She has already as many 
 troubles as she can bear. The sister has the same traits of character as** 
 her brothers. 
 
 6. Antecedent not Expressed. 
 
 Many blessings has the world derived from those whose origin v/as 
 humble. Assist such<^ as need thy assistance. Who^ has not virtue, is 
 not truly wise. I saw whom^ I wanted to see, I love whoever' loves 
 me. Whoever^ violates this rule, shall pay a fine. Whomsoever^ you 
 send, I will cheerfully instruct. 
 
 I remember what* was said. He reads whatever^ is instructive. Fops 
 are more attentive to what^ is showy, than mindful of what® is necessaiy. 
 Whatever purifies the heart, also fortifies it. Whatever he found, he took. 
 Whatsoever he doeth, shall prosper. Whatever money® I had, I spent. 
 Conscience wakes the bitter memory of ^what' he^ was, what he is, and 
 what must be. 
 
 8. \ 
 
 Who^ first crossed the Alps ? — HannibaP. What constitutes a State ? 
 My countrymen, oh what" a fall was there I Whaf means this martial 
 array? Which belongs to you ? Do you know « who' said so? 1 know 
 not who said so. Who can tell «whom* he meant? Whaf is it' that*** 
 you want ? I never heard what® it was that brought him here. What 
 country is better than ours^ ? — None'. Which man was hurt? What'" 
 man® but enters, dies. Take whichever horse® you like. On whichsoever 
 side we cast our eyes, we saw nothing but'* ruins. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 121 
 
 G-entle reader, whoever'' thou^ art, remember this. I believe no other 
 author whatever^" would advance the same doctrines. I tell you whaf, 
 my son, those friends of ours have forgotten us. My son, whatever"* the 
 world may say, adhere to what** is right. Whatever you undertake, do it 
 well. Whomsoever he finds, him he wiU send. 
 
 10. 
 
 She took the good ones, and left the others. ITbne are perfectly good. 
 Mankind slay one another in cruel wars. They deemed each other* 
 oracles' of law. Pity from you is dearer than that from another. Who 
 is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one. 
 
 11. 
 Johnson the doctor' is a brother' of Johnson the lawyer'. Wait for 
 me at Barnum's, the barber. Shakespeare hved in Queen EUzabeth's 
 reign. The Misses Lewis are amiable young ladies. Messrs.' Lucas^ and 
 Simonds^ are bankers in St. Louis. Ah 1 Warwick, Warwick, wert thou 
 as we are. The Spanish general presented the young prince to them as 
 their future sovereign', and as the true heir to the Peruvian sceptre. My 
 wife, the sweet soother of my cares, fell a victim' to despair. The inferior 
 animals are divided into five classes ; quadrupeds', fowls, fishes, reptiles, 
 and insects. Officer, soldier, friend, and foe, were all^ shoveled into a 
 common grave. It was I, your friend, that** became his protector. He 
 led the troops himself. She is modest and virtuous ; [and modesty and 
 virtue are] qualities ever to be esteemed. 
 
 12. 
 
 And all our knowledge is ourselves* to know'. " To be good is to be 
 happy," is a tiuth' never to be forgotten by those commencing the jour- 
 ney of life. Far other scene was Thrasemen6 now. This life is the spring- 
 time of eternity, — the time to sow^^ the seeds of woe or the seeds of bUss. 
 She walks [has become] a queen. Queen' of flowers the fair hly blooms. 
 Now, what' is your text ? I see you what' you are. Whom do you take 
 him to be ? He made us wiser^" — made us walk^'-* — made us scholars'. 
 An elm, says the poet Holmes, is a forest waving on a single tree. Such a 
 one* as' I was, this picture presents. Death is the wages of sin. That 
 Louis XIV" was crafty, does not make him a great ruler. 
 
 See the bhnd beggar* dance''*, the cripple sing, 
 
 The sot* a hero', lunatic a king. — Pope. 
 
 13. 
 
 Friends'*, 'Romans'*, countrymen'*! lend me your ears. — Shakespeare. 
 Young ladies, put not your trust in money, but put your money in 
 trust. — 0. W. Holmes. 
 
 His praise, ye^ winds^, that from four quarters blow. 
 Breathe soft or loud ; and wave your tops, ye pines. — Milton. 
 My friends, do they now and then send 
 A wish or a thought after me. — Cowper. 
 To arms ! they come ! the Greek' ! the Greek ! — Hallech. 
 " Come back! come back 1" he cried in grief, 
 " Across this stormy water ; 
 And I'll forgive your Highland chief, — 
 
 My daughter! oh, my daughter!" — Camphell. 
 
122 NOUN^ AND PRONOUNS. — EXERCISES. 
 
 14. 
 
 The sun having risen, we began our journey. 
 
 Bonaparte being banished, peace was restored to Europe. 
 
 Forth he walked, the Spirit'^ leading and his deep thoughts'^. 
 
 He'' being a boy'', the Indians spared him. He\ being a boy^, was not 
 killed. 
 
 Her wheel at rest, the matron thrills no more 
 With treasured tales, and legendary lore. — Rogers. 
 
 To be a great historian, is easier than to be a great poet. 
 
 His being a foreigner, should not induce us to underrate him. 
 
 15. 
 
 The sailors, in wandering over the island, found several trees bearing 
 delicious fruit*. I forgot to telP [to] him the story. Boys like to play*. 
 I was about to express'^ my opinion, when he spoke to suggest'^ to me to 
 remain* silent. I can not permit him* to go''^. He taught us* arithmetic*, 
 reading*, and writing*. He taught us to cipher, to read, and to write. 
 He was taught to walk^'^ on the rope. The horse I bought, is five years 
 old. We were taught arithmetic, reading, and writing. The profit is 
 hardly worth" the troubIe^ The Atlantic Ocean is three thousand miles 
 wide. 
 
 (ft,) "Loomts's" limits the meaning, not of "(Jeomeiry," but of '■'■Legendre's Oeometni.'" 
 (h.) '•'Hers" —her heart, (c.) ''■As" is the object of Jiave, understood: when the governing 
 word is expressed, " as" sliould be Utnt. (d.) "■Such" =8uch persons, (e.) " Wliat he was," 
 is a substantive clause, of the neuter gender, tliird person, singular number, and in the ob- 
 jective case— being the object of the preposition "o/" — according to RuleV. Now parse each 
 word as before. (/.) After "■what" supply / think, or something equivalent, (.g.) "■All" 
 as here used, is usually parsed as a pronoun ; but it may perhaps be as well considered an 
 adjective, (/t.) '■'■That" properly refers to '•'It" as its antecedent, (i.) Not Rule VII, for each 
 subsequent term is meant to be more comprehendve. (j.) Rule VII may be applied to either 
 word ; but some grammarians think, better to ye, as being the strengthening word, {k.) A 
 noun is never the subject of an imperative verb ; and a pronoun is tlie subject, only when ib 
 comes immediately after the verb and is joined to it. C^.) Rule VI 1 is sometimes not inap- 
 plicable, and may be preferred. 
 
 Examples to be Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to nouns and proaouns, may be reduced 
 to the following heads : — 
 
 1. \. Usurpation hy the adverb. 2. Genders. 3. Persons. ^.Num- 
 bers. 5. Nominative case. 6. Possessive case. 7. Objective case. 
 8. Same case. 9. Position in regard to case. 
 
 n. 1. Choice of pronouns. 2. Agreement of pronouns with 
 antecedents^ in gender, person, and number. 3. Position of pro- 
 noun in regard to antecedent. 4. Pronoun inadequate to represent 
 antecedent. 5. Inelegant insertion of pronoun. 6. Inelegant omis- 
 sion of pronoun. 1. Relative pronoun improperly used in its con- 
 junctive capacity only. 
 
 j\ouiis and Proiiouui!*;. 
 
 1. Usurpation by the Adverb. 
 
 We should avoid the inelegant use of adverbs in the place of nouns or 
 pronouns. 
 
NOUNS AXD PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 123 
 
 A diphthonsc is where two vowels are united in one sound, — (he union 
 of- — A diphthonj? is when two vowels are united in one sound. Fusion is 
 while a solid is converted into a liquid bv heat. When a letter or a syllable is 
 transposed, it is called Metathesis. Tiie transposition of a letter, &c. Personi- 
 fication is when we ascribe life, sentiments, or actions, to inanimate beings, or 
 to abstract qualities. — is a figure hy which — A deed of trust is a deed where 
 the lender has power to sell to secure himself, — is a deed giving — Man- 
 slaughter is where a man is killed without malice or previous ill-will. He drew 
 up a petition where he too freely represented his own merits. The occasions 
 where a man has the v\%\\t to take the law into his own hands, are but few. 
 The manner how it was done, I never could ascertain. The plural of these 
 Douns is formed as in the languages whence they are derived. 
 
 2. Genders. 
 
 Substantives should be properly used in geader, according to the sex, 
 the general nature of the object, or the particular view of the author. 
 
 a. Unworthy objects should not be personified as male or female. 
 
 h. Care should be taken to ascribe to a personified object the most apr- 
 propriate sex. 
 
 She is administrator. The marquess was celebrated for her wit and beauty. 
 He was married to a most beautiful Jew. She was the tallest woman I ever 
 saw: she was really a giant. Mrs. Lydia Smith, the editor, lately turned actor, 
 at Memphis. She is considered the best bakercss in the establishment. She 
 is not so great a prophet as to scare me into belief. (Is a governess the wife 
 of a governor, or is she a woman that governs ?) The tiger broke from its 
 cage. A weasel put his head out from an old stone wall. How can a call 
 distinguish his mother's lowing from that of a thousand other cows? How 
 timidly the rabbit looks out from his bushy covert, and how briskly the squirrel 
 oiiatters on the limb near her nest in a hole of some tall tree. The sun, in ita 
 bright career round the world, does not look down upon a lovelier or livelier 
 land; uor dos;s the moon tlirow, auywhere else, its silver mantle more softly or 
 beautifully upon the slumbering world below. Alas! we know only that the 
 ship sailed from England, but that to P^ngland it never returned again. They 
 who seek wisdom, will certainly find her. (Not personified.) His form had 
 not yet lost all her original brightness. — Milton. Her form extends o'er all 
 things that have breath ; a cruel tyrant, and her name is Death. — Slieffield. 
 While Spring shall pour his showers. — Collins. 
 
 3. Persons. 
 
 Politeness usually require.? that the speaker shall mention the addressed 
 person first, and himself last. 
 
 I, Mary, and you, are to go next Sunday. If James and you take the 
 horses, I and Martha will have nothing to riilo. Mother said that I and you 
 must stay at home. Wo and they studied Latin together. When he and you 
 are married, I will come to see you. This law, fellow-citizens, bears hard upon 
 me, upon you, and upon every other laboring rnaa. (Proper or not proper,- de- 
 pending on the sense.) 
 
 4. Numbers. 
 
 Nouns and pronouns should be correctly us?d in number, according to 
 the sense, and the proper form of the word. 
 
 The room is eighteen foot long, and sixteen foot wide. T measured the log 
 with a pole ten foot long — with a ten-feet pole. The lot has 25 foot front, and 
 
124 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 
 
 is 8 rod deep. The teamster hauled four cord of wood, and three ton of liar, 
 in nine hour. St. Louis is seven mile long and two mile wide. Five quintil- 
 lion, six quadrillion, seven trillion, eight billion, nme million, two thousand, thrco 
 hundred and forty-tive. Five billions six millions twentj-five thousands two 
 hundred and three. For this dog he paid five pound and ten shilling. She 
 gathered a few handful of flowers. The corpse of the Mexicans were left to the 
 wolf and the vulture. The work embraces every minutiae — all the minutia of 
 the science. If six apples cost three pence, two apples will cost one pence. 
 The prairie-hens were sold by score and dozen. I bought two pairs of socks. 
 The Swede are a patriotic people, as well as the Swiss. The whole fleet con- 
 sists of twelve sail. — ships. Of his oxens, he had just sold six or seven 
 heads. He used his influence as a mean for destroying the party. In the 
 early settlement of Missouri, beaver and water-fowl were abundant about the 
 rivers and creeks. He never took two shot at a deer. A bag of shots will last 
 us a year. 
 
 We now came to a region where buffalo, turkeys, elk, and bear, were to bo 
 found. Several chimnies were blown down by the last storm. The vermina 
 were so numerous that we could raise no fowl. As we emerged from the 
 woods, we saw three deers standing on a small eminence in the prairie. These 
 are desideratas not found every day. I will take no more of his nostra, be the 
 consequences what they may. Of these plants, there are several genuses. 
 The garden of Eden contained all kind of fruit. The heathen are those people 
 who worship idols. He is a chemist, and has many apparatuses in his office. 
 — much apparatus — or, 7nany kinds of apparatus — The Mussulmen are Ma- 
 hometans, but the Germans are not. The ay''s and nay''s were then taken. 
 How many 6s in nine 8s? Your zs and ys are not weU shaped. (Write out 
 in words j\ and ■^-^.) No familys stand higher than the Winthrop's, Web- 
 ster's, and Everett's, of New England. The fowls were sold at nine pennies a 
 piece. Byron was one of the greatest poetic genii that ever lived. The sheata 
 were carried away by thiefs. The cargos consisted chiefly of calicos, mangos, 
 and potatos. Two folioes. The angelic Peri's. Two of his aid-de-camps 
 were killed. His brother-in-laws were educated at the same university. The 
 deserters were tried by court-martials. 
 
 The Doctors Stevensons and the Misses Arnolds seem to be on very good 
 terras. The two Misses Cheevers, the Misses Boltons, the Messrs. Hays, and 
 the Mrs. Talbots, were all at the party. The second, third, and filth story, 
 were filled with goods. The Old and the New Testaments — the Old and New 
 Testament, in one large volume, called the Bible. You may learn the ninth 
 and tenth page — the ninth and the tenth pages, and review the first or second 
 pages. The English, French, and German nation — the English, the French, 
 and the German nations, are the most enlightened. Nouns have the nomina- 
 tive, the possessive, and the objective cases; the singular and the plural num- 
 bers; the masculine, feminine, common, and neuter gender ; and the first, sec- 
 ond, and third person. Bushnell's, Halsall's, and Woodward's stores occupy the 
 next three buildings. Bushnell's store, HalsaWs, &c. Ho and 1 were neither 
 of us any great talkers. The sermon produced a deep impression on the hearts 
 of every hearer. We shall give but a short Preface. (There was but one 
 author.) It was for our sakes that Jesus died upon the cross. Very few per- 
 sons are contented with their lots. They were trained together in their cluld- 
 hoods. The members will regard their reputations, and not demand exorbitant 
 wages. It is not worth our whiles, to study stenography. — our time — Let 
 us drive on, and get our suppers at the next house. The directors did little on 
 their parts, to relieve the bank. We shall advocate these measures, not in the 
 names of our constituents, but on our own responsibilities. All these treea 
 send J,heir tap-roots deep into the ground. — the tap-root — 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 125 
 
 5. Nominative Case. 
 
 •A noun or a pronoun must be in the nominative case, — 
 
 1. When it is the subject of a finite verb. 
 
 2. When it is used absolutely or independently. 
 
 a. The object of the active verb, and not of the preposition, should bo 
 made the subject of the passive verb. 
 
 7. Objective Case. 
 
 A noun or a pronoun must be in the objective case, — 
 
 1. When it is the object of a verb. 
 
 2. When it is the object of a preposition. 
 
 8. Same Case. 
 
 A noun or a pronoun used to explain or identify another, must be 
 in the same case. 
 
 ' Him and me wont to the same church. Thorn that seek wisdom, will find 
 it. You and him are of the same age. Gentle reader, let you and I, in like 
 manner, walk in the paths of virtue. Them are not worth having?. Let there 
 be none but thee and I. The whole need not a physician, but them that are 
 sick. He can not write as well as me. I sorrowed as them that have no 
 hope. He is taller than me, but I am as tall as her. I do not think such 
 persons as him competent to judge. You did fully as well as me. It is not 
 tit for such as us to sit with the rulers of the land. You can fiad no better 
 man than him. "We are as good arithmeticians as them, but they are better 
 grammarians than us. Few persons would do as much for him as he and me 
 have done. This is a small matter between you and I. All, save I, were at 
 rest aud enjoyment. There was no one in the room except she. Her price 
 is paid, aud she is sold like thou. The Lee's were distinguished officers in the 
 Revolution. Such a man, in the sight of angels, is more illustrious than all the 
 Alexander's, Caisar's, and iBonaparte's, that ever lived. He and they we know, 
 but who art thou? ilsteeming theirselves wise, they became fools. Let each 
 one help hissehl He said so hisself. 
 
 If people will put theirselves into danger, they should be willing to bear the 
 consequences. She that is idle and mischievous, reprove sharply. Y'e only 
 have I known. Who should I meet the other day but my old friend ! Who 
 did she marry? Tell me, in sadness, whom is she you love? — Shakespeare. 
 To poor we, thine enmity is most capital. — Shakespeare^ s Goriolamis. Him I 
 accuse, has entered. Who spilt this ink ? — N'ot me ; it wasn't me. Who 
 can work this sum ? — Me. Who rode in the buggy ? — Him and her. Who 
 broke this pitcher ? — Not her ; it was me. Who is that boy speaking to ? 
 To whom, &c. Who did you send for ? Who did you buy it of? They who 
 niach is given to, will have much to answer for. He who committed the of- 
 fense, thou shouldst correct ; not I, who am innocent. Who shall we send ? — 
 Whomsoever will go. Whom do you think stands head in our class ? That 
 is the boy whom we think deserves the prize. I should like to assist a young 
 man who I think to be so worthy of assistance. Can not a gentleman take 
 into his buggy to ride with him, whosoever he pleases? Never tie yourself to 
 any one, before knowing whom the person is you are choosing. But, first, 
 I must show who I moan by the administration. — Benton. He offered his 
 daughter in marriage to whomsoever might subdue the place. — Irving. This 
 excited the curiosity of the Recorder as to whom tne consequential darkey might 
 bo. — Mo. RtpuhUcan. Let the people elect whom they think is best quahfied 
 to lead them — whomsoever is best qualiflod to lead them — whosoever they 
 
126 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 
 
 know to be best qualified to lead them. He supported those whom he thought 
 were of his party — ^who he thought true to his party. Ho attacked the enemy. 
 whom he saw were crossing the river — who he saw crossing the river. * 
 
 I was offered a soat. He was offered the control of the entire school. He 
 was left a large estate by his uncle. We were shown a sweet-potato that 
 weighed 25 pounds. I was shown into the parlor. (Allowable.) Let him 
 be shown the method we have adopted. I have been promised a better situa- 
 tion in the South. You were paid a high compliment by the young lady. 
 Pupils expelled from other colleges, will not be allowed admittance here. By 
 such a course of proceeding, I am refused that protection which every citizen 
 has a right to expect. We were allowed the use of a large pasture near the 
 mansion. These documents were had recourse to in the course of the debate. 
 
 Him losing the way, we were obliged to remain in the woods till morning. 
 Me being absent, the young folks lived high. Tiieir refusing to comply, I with- 
 drew. Oh! happy us, surrounded by so many blessings. And me, what 
 shall I do ? Him who had led them to battle being killed, they immediately 
 retreated. The whole family believed in spiritual rappings, us excepted. Her 
 being the only daughter, no expense had been spared in her education. Whose 
 gray top shall tremble, Him descending. The bleating sheep with my com- 
 plaints agree ; them parched with heat, and me inflamed by thee. I mean 
 Noah Webster, be who wrote the dictionary. The man has just arrived, him 
 whom we expected yestei'day. Believing the man to be a doctor, or he who had 
 cured the others, we applied to him for assistance. We will go at once, — him 
 and me. And do you thus speak to me, I who have so often' befriended you ? 
 These are the volunteers from Texas, them who fought so bravely in Mexico. 
 
 Christ, and him crucified, is the corner-stone of our Faith. Let the pupils 
 be divided into several classes ; especially they who read, they who study gram- 
 mar, and they who study arithmetic. — sspecially those — I dread this man, 
 being he that has so often injured me. — hecaubse he is the one who — To John 
 and James, they who had misspent their time at school, their father left nothing. 
 (Omit they.) Whom being dead, there was no one to check him in his wild 
 career. I would say so, were it ho or any other person whomsoever. — what- 
 soever. 
 
 It was not me ; it was them or her. Is it me you mean ? Was it him, or 
 me, that you called ? If I were him, I would send for the doctor. If it were 
 me, I would act differently. 'Twas thee I sought. I knew it was him — it 
 to be he. But whom say ye that I am ? It is him whom you said it was 
 Who did you take us to be ? She is the person who I understood it to havo 
 been. — that I — He is a man who I am far from considering happy. I 
 would not be the man whom he now is. It was not me, that said so. I caro 
 not, let him be whom he may. No matter where the vanquished be, nor 
 whom. What you saw was but a picture of him, and not him. It was not 
 us, that made the noise. I knew it to be they. If is them and their poster- 
 ity who are to be the sufferers. He did not prove to be the man whom 
 he was recommended to be. Its being mo siiould make no difference in 
 your determination. (Better : That it is I, &o.) There was no ^Q\xh^ qt its 
 being him. 
 
 6. Possessive Case. 
 
 1. The relation of possession or property should be expressed in the 
 most appropriate manner, according to custom and euphony. 
 
 2. The possessive sign should be used but once, to express one pos- 
 session^ whatever number of vy^ords denote the possessor. 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 127 
 
 His misfortunes awaken nobody's pity, though no ones ability ever went 
 firther for others good. A mothers tenderness and a fathers care are natures 
 gifts for mans advantage. John Norton his book. We used Pierce' Trigo- 
 nometry, Loomis' Greoraetry, and Wells' Grammar. How do you like Doug- 
 las' bill ? Achaia's sons at Ilium slain for the Atridse' sake. Your's, our's, 
 her's, their's, who's, hisself, theirselves, yourn, hern, ourn, his'n. Adams' Ad- 
 ministration. Essex death haunted the conscience of Queen Elizabeth. Five 
 year's interest remained unpaid. Three days time was given to the debtors. 
 Six months wages will then be duo. I will not destroy the city for ten sake. 
 Rubens' pictures. Horace'* satires — Horace's satires=. (Find a dilFerent 
 but equivalent expression.) Terence' plays — Terence's plays=. Socrates's 
 death=. Demosthenes' orations — Demosthenes's orations. Hortonsius' 
 wonderful memory. For Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. The Gov- 
 ernor of Missouri's message. Marcy's letter, the Secretary of War, is a mas- 
 terly reply=. John's brother's wife's sister married a mechanic=. Was it 
 your book, or somebody else's ? The wife of the captain of the Tropic=-. (Al- 
 lowable.) 
 
 The Commons' House represents tlie yeomanry ; and the Lords', the nobil- 
 ity. Sunday is also called the day of the Lord. God's love==. The world's 
 government is not left to chance. The extent of the prerogative of the king 
 of England. A list of some of the books of each of tlje classes of literature 
 will be given. — in each. Daniel Boone of Kentucky's adventures. Edward 
 the Second of England's queen. He is Clay the great orator's youngest son. 
 Geo. McDufQe was nominated by John Calhoun tlie Senator's request. These 
 works are Cicero's, the most eloqueut of men's. The opiuionative man thinks 
 his opinions better than any one's else opinions — any one else's opinions. 
 This picture of your mother's is a very good likeness. This last work of Long- 
 fellow will add little to his reputation. Jack's the Giaut-kiiler's wonderful ex- 
 ])loits. We deposited our money at Wiggins's, the banker's and commission 
 merchant's. It was the men's, women's, and children's lot, to suffer great ca- 
 lamities. Linton's, Pope's, and Company's library is large=. Allen's, Thom- 
 son's, and Hardcastle's store is opposite to ours. Alljn, Tiiomson, and Hard- 
 castle's stores, are not joint possessions. Albert's and Samuel's heads are shaped 
 like teapots. Peter's and Andrew's occupation was that of tisherman. 
 
 Morrison's and Fletcher's (arms are the next two on the road. Morrison' -i 
 farm and Fleicher^s are, &c. Morrison and FLteher's larm will be occupies! 
 by the respective owners. I have no time to listen to either John or Joseph's 
 lesson. It was necessary to have both the surgeon and the pliysician's advice. 
 Neither the lawyer nor the doctor's aid was ever needed in this happy valley. 
 Louis the Fourteenth and Bonaparte's reign are distinguished periods in the his- 
 tory of France. He disobeyed his fatlier as well as his mother's advice. 
 Brown, Smith, and Jones' wife, usually went sh(,'ppiug together. The bill iiad 
 the cashier, but not the president's, signature. vV'hose dictionary do you pre- 
 fer, — Johnson. Webster, or Worcester ? The horse got away in consequence 
 of me neglecting to fasten the gate. — my neglediag — or, because I had nc- 
 ghcted — ■ He was averse to the nation involving itself in war. There is some 
 talk of us getting into a war. Much depends on the pupil composing frequently. 
 — on how frequently — He being a rich man, did not make him a happy man. 
 Thai he loa.^ a rich, &c. The time for us beginning to plough, is at hand. The 
 time for VrS to begin, &c. The time tor him making the speech, had nearly 
 passed away. What is the reason of you not having gone to school ? — that 
 you ho.ve not gone — There is nothing to prevent him going — his going — 
 your going. — him from going ; or, — you from going. Such will ever be tlio 
 consequences of youth associating with vicious companions. — wloen your.g per- 
 sons associate — From him having always assisted me, I again applied to him 
 ibr help. Because hi — or, laasmtich as he, &c. The situation euabicd hiiu to 
 
1^ NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. — EXERCISES. 
 
 earn something, without him losing too much tirao from his studies. — without 
 losing — 
 
 9. Position in regard to Case. 
 
 Nouns and pronouns should be so construed with other words, as 
 not to leave the case uncertain or ambiguous. 
 
 The settler here the savage slew. (Which slew the other?) I do not love 
 him better than you. And thus the son the fervent sire addressed. And all the 
 air a solemn stillness holds. Our hunters caught the orang-outangs themselves. 
 He suffered himself to betray his friend. Poetry has a measure as well as 
 music, Forrest plays these pieces better than all others. She acted her part 
 better than any other one. I would rather give her to thee than another. 
 
 ProBioiiic§. 
 
 1. Choice of Pronouns. 
 
 In the use of pronouns, great care should be taken to select the most 
 appropriate. 
 
 a. In the selection of pronouns, we are governed by the sense, rather 
 than by the nouns which they are to represent. 
 
 J). It is inelegant to use pronouns of different kinds for the same object, 
 and in the same connection, when we naturally expect uniformity. 
 
 I gave all what I had. I sent every thing what you ordered. I am the 
 boy what is not afraid to go. There is the same man whom we saw a while 
 ago. There is the same wagon of apples which was at the market. In her 
 looks, she is the same as she always was. Tlie same objects which pleased the 
 boy, will not always please the man. The objects which, &c. We prepared us 
 to die. — ourselves — Give that which you can spare to the poor. — what 
 you — We speak that we do know. I am that I am. I am happy in the 
 friend which I have long proved. Those which are rich, should assist the poor 
 and helpless. The heroic souls which defended the Alamo. She was a con- 
 spicuous flower, whicli he had sensibility to love, ambition to attempt, and skill 
 to win. My dogs now came upon the tracks of the lion, who had cauglit 
 and eaten the man during the night. So I gave the reins to ray horse, who 
 knew the way much bettor than I knew it. Who of those ladies do you 
 like best ? 
 
 Moses was the meekest man whom we read of in the Old Testament. Hu- 
 mility is one of the most amiable virtues which we can possess. He was the 
 first man who came. This is the most fertile part of the State which we have 
 as yet seen. Marcy was perhaps the ablest secretary who ever was in this de- 
 partment. He sold his best horse, which had been given to him. (Proper ; 
 the relative clause not being restrictive.) Who who has the feelings of a man, 
 would submit to such treatment ? Who is she who comes clothed in a robe of 
 light green ? By this speculation he lost all which ho had promised to his 
 daughter. All wiio ever knev/ him, spoke well of him. A most ungrateful 
 return for all which I have done for him. Of all the congregations whom I 
 ever saw, this was certainly the largest. The very night as suits a melancholy 
 temperament. He was devoured by the very dogs which he had reared. They 
 are such persons tl)at 1 do not like to associate with. These are the same sums 
 as we had before. He is like a beast of pr.y who destroys without pity. la 
 a street in Cincinnati is a parrot who has been taught to repeat a line of a song 
 which many of you have heard. The monkey which had been appohited ad 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 12? 
 
 the orator on the occasion, then addressed the assembly. There was a little 
 do;z whose name was Fido. and who was very fond of his master. — dog named 
 Fido, that — Yarico soon became a general favorite, who never foiled to re- 
 ceive the crumbs from the hfeakfast-table. The little ant, which had a plenti- 
 ful store, thus spoke to the little cricket : " We ants never borrow, we ants 
 never lend." 
 
 With the return of spring came four martins, who were evidently the same 
 which had been bred un^ler those eaves the previous year. The witnesses and 
 documents which we wanted, ^ve been obtained. The passengers and steamer 
 which we saw yesterday, are iiow buried in the ocean. Was it the wind, or 
 you, who shut the door ? The land on the east side of the river, was claimed 
 by tlie chiefs and tribes who inhabited the land on the other side. Even the 
 corpses who were found, could not be recognized. The character whom he 
 represented, was by much the best in the play. This lubberly boy we usually 
 call Falstaff, who is but another name for fat and fun. It is I, who will go with 
 
 you. That man is wisest ^keeps his own secrets. It is this alone, which 
 
 has induced me to accept the office. Was it you, or he, who made so much 
 noise ? Is it I, or he, whom you want to see ? It was the frankness and 
 nobleness of his disposition, whicli I admired. Would any man who cares for 
 himself, accept such a situation ? Let us not mingle in every dissipation, nor 
 enjoy every excitement, which we can. 
 
 He is a man who is very wealthy. — that is — or, He is a very wealthy man. 
 She is a woman who is never contented. The misfortunes of a man who would 
 not listen to his wife. I hate persons who never do a generous action. Nouns 
 of the common gender denote objects which are males or females. People who 
 are always denouncing others, are often no better themselves. Principles 
 which have been long established, are not easily eradicated. The tribes whom 
 we have described, inhabited the Mississippi Yalley. The nations who have 
 Kood governments, are happy. I joined a large crowd who was moving to- 
 wards the Capitol. He was a member of the legislature who passed this bill. 
 He instructed and fed the crowds who surrounded hinu The committee which 
 was appointed to examine the students, was hardly competent to do so. Wilt 
 thou help me drive these horses to the pasture? Will you, &c. Do you be 
 careful that all thy actions be honest and honorable. Do thou— or, that all your 
 actions — Thou shouldst never forsake the friend who has ever been faithful 
 to you. Ere you remark another's fault, bid thy own conscience look within. 
 You have mine, but I have thine. Thou, who hast preserved us, and that 
 wilt continue to preserve us. There is the same boat tliat came last evening, 
 and which will go away again this morning. 
 
 The poor man who can read, and that possesses a taste for reading, can find 
 entertainment at home. The man who came with us, and that is dressed in 
 black, is the preacher. Is it possible that he should know what he is, and be 
 that he is ? But what wo saw last, and which pleased us most, was the char- 
 acter of the old miser in the farce. It is such a method as has never been 
 thought of before, and which, we believe, will be generally adopted. They are 
 such apples as ours, or which you bought. — or such as you — Policy keeps 
 coining truth in her mints — such truth as it can tolerate ; and every die except 
 its own, she breaks, and casts away. Learning has its infancy, when it is luxu- 
 riant and juvenile ; and lastly his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust. — 
 Bacon. Is reputable, national, and present use, which, for brevity's sake, I shall 
 simply denominate good use, always uniform in her decisions? One does not 
 like to liave one's self disparaged by those who know one not. A person. . . 
 himself .... know him, not. 
 
130 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 
 
 2. Agreement of Pronouns with Antecedents. 
 
 Pronouns must agree with their antecedents, in gender, person, an^l 
 number. 
 
 a. When the pronoun can not strictly' or fully represent its antecedent 
 in gender, it prefers tlie masculine. 
 
 b. The person and number of the antecedent to a pronoun, are al- 
 ways what they would be if the antecedent were the subject of a 
 finite verb. 
 
 Every person should try to improve their mind and lieart. Each of our 
 party carried a knapsack with them, for their private convenience. Not one- 
 of the boys shouM come without their books. Many a man looks back on the 
 days of their youth, with melancholy regret. A person who is resolute, ener- 
 getic, and watchful, will be apt to succeed in their undertakings. An orator's 
 tongue should be agreeable to the ears of their hearers. I do not think any 
 one sliould incur censure for being tender of their reputation. If we deprive 
 an animal of instinct, he will no longer be able to take care of himself. Wlion 
 a bird is caught in a trap, they of course try to get out. Scarcely any person 
 is so stupid as not to know when they are made sport of. If any member of the 
 congregation wishes to connect themselves 'vvith [to] this church, they will please 
 [to] come forward, while the brethren sing. Take up the ashes, and put it into 
 the large tnb behind the kitchen. If you have any victuals left, we will help 
 you to eat it. His pulse did not beat so fast as they should beat. Grains of 
 sand they might be, tliose hoarded moments, but it was golden sand. I like 
 those molasses, for tliey are almost as good as honey. 
 
 I have sowed all my oats, and it is growing finely. Our language is not 
 less refined than those of Italy, France, or Spain. There lay the paraphernalia 
 other toilet, just as she had left it. The simiae can stand erect on its hind feet. 
 "Where the early blue-bird sung its lay. (The male among birds, and not tho 
 female, usually sings.) The heron built its nest among the reeds. The pea- 
 cock is fond of displaying its gorgeous plumage. Tho hen looked very dis;/on- 
 solate, when it saw its whole brood rush into the pond. The Earth is my 
 mother, and I will recline upon its bosom. John studies; — John denotes 
 the agent or doer, and he is therefore in the nominative case. Horses is of the 
 plural number, because they denote more than one. ' To persecute a truly 
 religious denomination, will only make them flourish the better. The people 
 can not be long deceived by its demagogues and selfish politicians. The mob 
 soon dispersed, after their leaders were captured. Egypt was glad at their de- 
 parture, for they were afraid of them. The first object of tho multitude was, to 
 organize itself into a body. The Society wih hold their meetings in the highest 
 room of the building. Each tribe is governed by a ciiief whom they have 
 chosen. (Perhaps allowable.) 
 
 Tho government will have cause to change their orders. The cabinet 
 seemed to be divided in its sentiments. The cabinet was distinguished for their 
 wise and vigorous measures. The corps of teachers should have its duties 
 properly distributed and arr.tnged. Tho board of directors, for its own emol- 
 ument, located the road through this part of the country. The board of 
 directors should have their powers defined and limited by a charter. Tho 
 regiment was much reduced in their number. The court, in their wisdom, de- 
 cided otherwise. Send the multitude away, that it may go and buy itself 
 food. The army, being abandoned by its chief, pursued meanwhile their mi- 
 serable march. (Let the construction be either singular thoughout, or plural 
 throughout, but not both.) Tlie party, though disgraced by the selfishness and 
 corruption of its leaders, made nevertheless a vigorous and successful struggle to 
 regain their former ascendency. The Almighty cut off the family of Eli tho 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 131 
 
 high priest, for its transgressions. The twins resemble one another so much as 
 to be scarcely distinguishable. People should be kind to each other. 
 
 Neither of us is willing to give up our claim. (Say, "7m claim," if not pos- 
 sessed in common; "oiw claim" if denoting common possession.) He and I 
 love their parents. If none of you will bring your horses to the camp, I will 
 let mine stay too. I did not notice which of the men finished their work first. 
 The tongue is like a race-horse, which runs the faster, the less weight it carries. 
 — he ruiis — or, race-horse : it runs, Sec. John, thou, and I, are attached to 
 their country. You and your playmates must learn their lessons. Two or 
 three of us have lost our hats. The sister, as well as the brother, should per- 
 form their share of ilie household duties. The industrious boy, and the indo- 
 lent one too, shall find their proper reward. Every soldier and every olficer 
 remained awake at their station during the night. Every herb, every flower, 
 and every animal, shows the wisdom of Him who made them. Let every gov- 
 ernor and legislature do as it thinks best. Every half a dozen boys should 
 have its own bench. If any boy or girl be absent, they will have to go to the 
 
 foot ol the class. I borrow one peck, or eight quarts, and add to the 
 
 upper term. Discontent and sorrow manilested itself in his countenance. No 
 man or woman ever got rid of their vices, without a struggle. One or the 
 other must relinquish their claim. John or James will favor us with their 
 company. 
 
 Neitiier the fatlier nor the son had ever been distinguished for their business 
 qualifications. A man may see a metaphor or an allegory in a picture, as well 
 as T^ad them in a description. Poverty and wealth have each their own temp- 
 tations. No thought, no word, no action, whether they be good or evil, can 
 escape the nocice of Grod. Both minister and magistrate are sometimes com- 
 pelled to choose between his duty and his reputation. Coifee and sugar are 
 imported fi-om the Indies; and great quantities of it are consumed annually. 
 Avoid self-conceit and insolence: it wdl never increase your wealth or your 
 happiness. If you should see my horse or mule, I wish you would have ihein 
 tm-ned inco your pasture. If any gentleman or lady wish [wishes] to have 
 their fortune told, they now have an opportunity. — his or her . ... he or sJoe 
 now has — I do not see why I or any other man should not have a [the] right, 
 to express our — his — my opinioios of public affairs. (Avoid the use of the pro- 
 noun altogether; say, '• the opinion which either of us may," &c.) My horse is a 
 little darker than yours ; but, in every other respect, they are exactly alike. 
 — he is exactly like him ; or, — your hori>e . ... he ... . yours. My horse 
 is a httle darker than yours; buL, in every other respect, they are a perfect match. 
 (Allowable. Parse they.) Notice is hereby given to every person to pay their 
 taxes. (Change the antecedent ; say, "to all persons^', &c.) Our teacher does not 
 let any one of us do as they please. If any person thinks it is easy to write books, 
 let them try it. Neither the negro boy nor the coach was ever restored to his 
 owner. — to the owner ; or, Both tiie negro .... were never .... their owner. 
 Every person and thing had its proper place assigned to it. — the proper — 
 
 3. Position of Pronoun in regard to Antecedent. 
 
 4. Inadequacy of Pronoun to represent Antecedent. 
 
 A pronoun should not be so used as to leave it obscure or doubtful 
 what antecedent it represents. 
 
 It is generally inelegant to make a pronoun needlessly represent an 
 adjective, a phrase, or a sentence. 
 
 The king dismissed his minister, without any inquiry, who had never before 
 done so unjust an action. He should not maiTy a woman in high life, that has 
 no money. Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound 
 
132 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 
 
 to be elevated, a pause will be proper. A man has no right to judge another, 
 who is a party concerned. I am the jailor who have come to take you. The 
 jailor am I, who will guard you safely. Lysias promised his father, that ho 
 would never forsake his friends. Thou art a friend indeed, who hast often re- 
 lieved me. We admire the beauty of the rainbow, and are led to consider 
 the cause of it. John told James that his horse had run away. The lord 
 can not refuse to admit the heir of hia tenant upon his death ; nor can he remove 
 his present tenant so long as he lives. 
 
 The law is inoperative, which is not right. — and that it is so, is not right. 
 Some men are too ignorant to be humble, without which there can be no docil- 
 ity. — and without humility — An old man, bent with years, was languidly 
 digging, or attempting it. — to dig. A bird is that which has feathers. — an 
 animal that — Every seat is to bo occupied by the one before it. — by the 
 person — A compound sentence is one composed of two or more others. — is 
 a sentence — This rule is not strictly true, and a few examples will show it. 
 — as a few examples will show. When a man kills another from malice, it is 
 called murder. — the deed is called mv/rder. The servant took away the horse, 
 which was unnecessary. The accent is laid upon the last syllable of a word, 
 which is favorable to the melody. The man brought the whole package, which 
 was more than we expected. The prisoners rebelled against the regulations of 
 the establishment, of which we shall presently give an account. There is 
 among all people a belief of immortahty, arising from the natural desire of liv- 
 ing, and strengthened by uniform tradition, which has certainly some influence 
 on practice. 
 
 5. Inelegant Insertion of Pronoun. 
 
 When a pronoun can add nothing to the sense, it should not be 
 needlessly inserted to usurp the place of a better word. 
 
 Henry Holmes his book. These lots, if they had been sold sooner, they 
 would have brought more money. If these lots had been, &c. John he went, 
 James he went, and Mary she went ; but the rest they all staid at home. Two 
 nouns, when they come together, and signify the same thing, they must be put 
 in the same case. The Latin and the Grreek, though they are much neglected, 
 yet competent judges know that our language can hardly be perfectly under- 
 stood without them. The river rising very rapidly, it overflowed its banks. 
 These wild horses having been once captured, they were soon tamed. I would 
 like to have it now, what I had then. (Omit " e^.") Whatsoever you learn 
 perfectly, you will never forget it. It is not to the point, what he said. What- 
 soever she found, she took it with her. Whoever thinks so, he judges errone- 
 ously. Whom, when she had seen, she invited him to dinner. — seen him, . . . 
 invited to dinner. It is indisputably true, his assertion, though it seems er- 
 roneous. Mis assertion is, &c. It is marvelous what tricks jugglers sometimes 
 play. — to observe what — Every thing whatsoever ho could spare, he gave 
 away. (Omit "every thing.''^} 
 
 6. Inelegant Omission of Pronoun. 
 
 1. The omission of the relative adjunct, or of the relative in the nomi- 
 native case, is generally inelegant. 
 
 2. Parts that are to be contrasted, emphatically distinguished, or 
 kept distinct in thought, must usually be expressed with fullness. 
 
 3. The omission of the nominative is inelegant, unless the verb is in 
 the imperative mood, or in the same connection with another finite verb. 
 
 He is not now in the condition he was. Yonder is the place I saw IL 
 A few remarks as to the manner it should be done, must sutfice. The money 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. EXERCISES. 133 
 
 has not been used for the purpose it was appropriated. There is Miss Liddy, 
 can dance a jig, raise paste, write a good letter, keep an account, give a reason- ' 
 able answer, and do as she is bid. Ho was a man had no influence. Whose 
 own example strengthens all his laws, and is himself the great sublime he draws. 
 Will martial flames for ever fire thy mind, and never, never be to heaven re- 
 signed ? — and wilt thou never — There is not a man here, would not do the 
 pame thing. There is no man knows better how to make money. It was 
 tlie man sat next to you. It was this jnduced me to send for you. Who is 
 there so base that would be a bondman ? — that he — The word depends on 
 what precedes and follows. There are who can not bear to see their friends 
 surpass them. If there are any have been omitted, they must say so. 
 
 They were rich once, but are poor now. He is a man of corrupt principles, 
 but has great talents. This is a style of dress to which I am partial ; but is not 
 now fashionable. I approve your plan so far as relates to our friend. The 
 arrangement is very good; at least, so far as relates to my convenience. If the 
 privileges to which he was entitled, and had been so long enjoying, should now, 
 Ac. All the young trees which I planted last year, and were growing finely, 
 have been destroyed by rabbits. Any of these prisoners knowing the facts of 
 the case, and will give his testimony in full to the court, siaall be pardoned by 
 the State. Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath-days ? 
 — which itis not — The show- bread, which is not lawful to eat but for the 
 priests only. From these proceedings may be readily inferred, how such men 
 beex>me rich. (Perhaps allowable.) 
 
 Neither my poverty nor ambition could induce me to accept such an ofiSce. 
 — nor my — This part of California is the loveliest country in the world, 
 whether we regard its climate or soil. He was related to some of the first 
 families of the State, both by his father's and mother's side. God punishes the 
 vices of parents in themselves or children. The future should excite not only 
 our hopes, but fears too. Dr. Jones and wife occupy the front room. His 
 own and father's farm were adjacent to each other. My inability to get em- 
 ployment, and destitute condition, pressed heavily upon my feelings. My duty, 
 my interest, and inclinations, all urge me to the undertaking. This is a posi- 
 tion I condemn, and must be better established to gain the faith of any one. 
 The mail came this morning, and wiU leave again this evening. (Allowable; 
 also " leave," which begins to be generally used, as a less formal word, for depart.) 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Have received your manuscript, but not had time to examine it ; will 
 do so in a few days, and may have it published if good. Tours, &c. 
 
 7. Pronoun Improperly Used as a Connective. 
 
 A relative pronoun should never be used as a mere conuective. 
 
 These evils were caused by Catiline, who, if he had been punished, the re- 
 public would not have been exposed to so great dangers. — tJte punishment of 
 whom would have prevented the republic from, being exposed to dangers so great. 
 There is no doubt but what he is mistaken, — that — There are few things 
 so difficult but what they may be overcome by perseverance and zeal. — that 
 they may not — There was no profit, though ever so small, in any thing, but 
 what he took the pains to obtain it. He lived in the same house that we now 
 live, — in which — The boat will leave at the same time that the cars do. — wiU 
 have with the cars. The passive verb will always be of the same mood, tense, 
 ] person, and number, tliat the verb to be is, before it is incorporated with the par- 
 ticiple. Sir Alexander arrived at Charleston, about the time that Governor 
 Burrington reached Edenton. At the same time that men are giving their 
 orders, God is also giving his. While men, &c. He has never preached, that 
 I have heard of I have never heard, &c. He has never gone to see her, that 
 I know oL 
 
134 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. 0BSERVATI0N3. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The Observations should always be read orer carefully by the student, in connection 
 with the preceding Exercises. 
 
 1. Where may be used in place of which and a preposition, wlien place is the 
 predominant idea. ^'' The gravQ where [in which] our hero was buried." — Wolfe. 
 " The ancient house where I was born." — O. W. Holmes. But to say, " The battle 
 where he was killed," would be less elegant than to say, " The battle in which hw 
 was killed." In poetry and in the familiar style, greater indulgence is generally 
 allowed; and words of time or cause are sometimes used in con aection with ad- 
 verbs exactly corresponding in sense. Such compounds as hereof, iJiereof., wherecf, 
 therewith, wherewith, are not so common as they were formerly. 
 
 2. Terms of masculine terminations, or terms that have been formed to denote 
 males, and that are usually applied so, inay occasionally be applied also to females, 
 when there are no peculiar terms for these, or whea we wish to include the females 
 with the males, and do not speak of them especially in regard to sex. It would be 
 correct to say, " She is a better farmer^ and ma,nager, and penman than her hin- 
 band w.is." Also, "She is my accuser, although our language has the uncotnmoii 
 wor^ acauseress. " The poets of America" may include the poetesses. When I 
 say, "She is the best poetess,'''' I compare her with female poets only; but when I 
 say, "She is the best poet,'''' I compare her with both male and female poets. To 
 brute animals and even to spiritual beings we sometimes apply it or its, when we 
 speak of them as things, or when the sex is unimportant or not obvious. " Every 
 creature loves its like." Here neither his nor her would express the sense so well. 
 " Lo I there it [a ghost] comes !" — Shakespeare. 
 
 Tliere is a peculiar nature or disposition that belongs to each sex, and on the- 
 analogy of this we ascribe life and sex to abstract qualities or to inanimate objects, 
 wiiich, in reality, have no sex. Even it and its are sometimes used in slight per- 
 ponifications, in a sense analogous to that which they have when applied to animals 
 or other living objects. In accordance with the foregoing principles, we sometimes 
 speak of a mannish woman as of a man, and of an effaminate man as of a woman ; 
 and of a hare, for instance, in the feminine gender ; of a fox, in the mii^cu- 
 line; &c. 
 
 The following examples may serve as further illustrations of the subject t 
 "When Pf«r to Britain bent Aw'iron car." "i^ace rears her oYive for industrious 
 brows." '■'■ In thQ monarch Thoughfs 6.om\n\on9,.'''' "i?emorse, that tortures with 
 his scorpion lash." " Or if Virtue feeble were, Heaven itself would stoop to her.'''* 
 " Why peeps your coward sword half afraid from its sheath." " While Vengeance 
 in thelurid air lifts her red arm, exposed and bare." — Collins. This last sentence 
 is allowable, as alluding to the Euries. 
 
 In personifications, we are sometimes aided in ascribing the proper sex by re- 
 ference to the gender of the corresponding terras in the Classic languaijes. But 
 this is not always a safe rule. The principles mentioned above, should also be 
 taken into consideration. The sex to be ascribed in per-ioaiflcatioa, is sometiiuea 
 a matter of great nicety, and must be determined from the peculiar glow or senti- 
 mental color of the writer's conceptions. 
 
 3. Eor a person to speak of himself before speaking of others, is much the same 
 as if he should help himself first at table, and then wait upon others. Instances, 
 however, may occur, in which it would be proper, or even polite, to mention him- 
 self first; as^when the parties ditfer much in rank, or when the assertion implies 
 something burdensome or not desirable. 
 
 To address otliers and speak of them and ourselves in the third person, usu- 
 ally implies greater reserve, courtesy, and politeness; as in cards of invitation, 
 and the like : but where no such reserve or courtesy can be meant, as in business 
 letters between familiar acquaintances, the style of writing in the third person may 
 ratlier tend to suggest contempt. 
 
 Just here may as well be said a few words about titles. Sir, applied to 
 strangers, and also wlieii used after such wonls as yes, no, well, why, O, &c., is 
 rather respectful ; but when it is applied to friends or familiars, it may seem to dis- 
 own the triendship or familiarity, and to req_uest the person to keep at a proper or 
 respectful distance : it is apt to'^be in the spirit of tiie young lady's remark to her 
 long-wooing and finally rejected lover, " I know nothing abb it you, sir." MiateVf 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. OBSERVATIONS. 135 
 
 ■without the name, is rather conteinptnous — it is nimilar to the conteoiptuous Sir ; 
 ■with tiie name of a stranger, it is rather respectful. When it is omitted from a 
 name, the expression may imply that a very ordinary fellow is meant — a fellow of 
 little importance — of no high respectability — of rather low standing in society, — it 
 is somewhat similar in spirit to the word Jack; or it may imply that the person is 
 a very well-known, intimate, and familiar acquaintance or favorite, not only to the 
 speaker, but to all present, — suggesting tliat great cordiality, and entire want of 
 formality, which are peculiar to the family circle ; or else it may imply ttiat the 
 person is of general or universal fame. Dr. Johnson spoke very conternptuously 
 of a certain man's taste, who had indexed his " Lives of the Poets" thus : " MU- 
 ton, Mr. John ; Shakespeare, Mr. William." It also indicates sometimes a better 
 state of feelings, to address a person by the Christian name than by the surname. 
 So, if I am on very intimate terms with Prof. Mitchel, for instance, I should rather 
 prefer to call him, in familiar and private conversation, Mr. Mitchel. To write 
 one's name with Mr. before it, would be self-conceited and ridiculous, but to title 
 oneself as in the following expressions, — " I have no card; please to tell Gov. Ed- 
 wards that Mr. Eichardson — Mr. Phelps from Springfield — Capt. Mitchell — called 
 to see him," -would be more appropriate and polite than to give the name simply. 
 See above. 
 
 The same remarks apply, in general, to the titles Miss and Mrs. To mention a 
 ■woman by her surname only, is apt to have a very contemptuous air : it usually 
 presents her as an insignificant or masculine personage. At parties, bulls, &c., we 
 always say, " gentleman and tetZy/," and we generally call the mistress of the house 
 *' the ladij of the house;" bat a family that should send out cards with " Mr. and 
 Mrs. Morgan send their compliments," &c., would, I think, show better taste than 
 if the words were, " Mr. Morgan and lady send," &c. 
 
 Should we give to a married lady or to a widow her own Christian name, or 
 that of her husband^ I think the lady's name should be preferred, unless there 
 is some special reason for using the hasbund's. Tiie husband's Christian name 
 may sometimes be more definite, better known, or better suited to the end in view. 
 When there are two or more Catharine Johnsons, they may be best distinguished 
 by using their husbands' Christian names. Our merchants, I believe, nearly al- 
 •ways use the husband's Christian name, in directing parcels to married ladies ; not 
 merely, I suppose, because the husband is better kno"wn, but also because the 
 responsibility usually rests upon him. In England, it is more common, I am told, 
 than in the United States, to use the husband's Christian name. 
 
 Never, in addressing a person, put a title both before and after the name. 
 
 4. It is not always necessary to make a noun plural, merely because it denotes 
 «omething belonging to more than one, or that it may agree in number with the 
 governing word. "God has given us our reasons for our own good." This sen- 
 tence hardly expresses the intended meaning. Better: " God has given us Reason 
 for our own good." Who would say, " It'was for their goods that I did it," in 
 stead of "It was for their good that I did it" \ To say, " These plants have their 
 ■flowers at the top," is ambiguous : it may mean that each plant has but one top 
 with but one flower, or, that it has a plurality of either or of both. Better: 
 " These plants have the jlower at the top, or — " the flowers at the tops,'''' or — " the 
 Jlowers at the top,'''' according to the sense. Language is not a perfect instrument ; 
 at least, we can not always find expressions that are exact or satisfactory ; and 
 therefore must content ourselves when we have the best expression the language 
 affords. Writers generally aim to make substantives that must vary alike in num- 
 ber, agree in this respect. Mr. Goold Brown writes, " Proper names, of every 
 description, should always begin with capitals f i. e., each name with but one 
 -capital. Lord Jetfrey writes, " These same circumstances have also perverted our 
 Judgments with respect to their characters f for we have different judgments, and 
 they different characters. But, "Iambic lines may occasionally begin with tro- 
 chees," may suggest that each line begins with two or more trochees ; therefore 
 say, " Occasionally, an iambic line may begin with a trochee.'^'' 
 
 Two nouns making one term, should never be both made plural, unless the idea 
 of apposition is very prominent; as, "The lords proprietors," "Knights Tem- 
 plars," {'■'■Knights Templar'' — Mitchell's Histoky of Fbeemasonby,) " men-serv- 
 ants, women-servants.'' We sometimes find such condensed plurals as these : 
 " The governors of Virginia, South Carolina, and Missouri ;" " Tne earls of Arun- 
 •del and Buckingham," i. e., the earl of Arundel and the earl of Buckingham. The 
 
136 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 sense is obvious, and hence the expressions are allowable ; Dilt " Prescott's and 
 Bancroft's Histories''' is not necessarily equivalent to "Prescott's History and 
 Bancroft's History," and is hardly allowable. " Prescott and Bancroft's Histo- 
 ries" is as good a phrase as " The Old and New Testaments," and is perhaps 
 allowable. 
 
 In imitation of an idiom in the Classic languages, we sometimes prefer the 
 plural to the singular, in order to give the expression the greatest comprehensive- 
 ness possible, and hence greater force ; as, " He gained her affections,'''' i. <?., her 
 whole heart. Sometimes there is also a variation in sense. " When it was asked 
 whether a wealthy lawyer had acquired his riches by his practice, there was a ter- 
 rible satire in the answer : ' Yes, by his practices.'' " — G. P. Marsh. 
 
 The plural, in some instances, guards us against ambiguity ; thus, "The oat- 
 pouring of the heart," may suggest either the ad of pouring or the thing poured, 
 but " outpourings'''' is apt to suggest " the things poured,^'' and nothing else. 
 
 Such expressions as "A ten^/bo^ pole," "A twenty-ce«.i5 piece," &c., are proper; 
 but a hyphen should always be used to connect the parts. The noun, in such ex- 
 pressions, being used as an adjective, loses the properties of a noun. If these sin- 
 fulars should be plural, then it would not seem unreasonable to require he to be 
 im or them in the following example : " They brought Ae-goats." 
 The singular is usually preferred in forming compounds, but sometimes the 
 plural; as, "A watch-xmk.&c (=-a maker of watches), a Ao/'se-stealer ;" but, "A 
 «a^s-man, a draughts-msm, a savings-ha,nk.^^ 
 
 Since we say two-thirds, three-fourths, four-jifths, &c., it is more in accordance 
 with analogy, and also best, to read such fractions as _5_^ J-^ ^ five tiventy-firstsy 
 seven thirty-seconds. (Unhyphened : so are large ordinals ; &&,"'•'■ Om hundred and 
 twenty-five.'''') 
 
 ^ As to the mode of expressing certain numeral terras, especially if long and com- 
 posite, there is not a little diversity of practice. " Five thousand seven hundred 
 and two." — Dav'ies. "Fifty-nine millions three hundred and ten." — Id. "Five 
 million.^'' — R. R. Report. " Five millions.'''' — I'o. The sense of nouns and that of 
 adjectives meet, in such terms, like the colors of the rainbow : it is almost impossi- 
 ble to tell where one ends or the other begins. The form of the term must evi- 
 dently depend on whether the number is conceived adject'ively or substantively, that 
 is, whether in refereace to a noun, or abstractly. " Eighty thousand, two hundred 
 and one." — Ray. " Four hundreds, three tens, and five units." — Id. " Forty-two 
 m'iUi/)ns ivfo thousand and five." — Qreenleaf. '■'•I'ens of Thousands of Trillions.'''' 
 — Id. To decide the matter briefly, I would say. Let the words be singular in 
 form, when the whole is conceived as one numeral, or has no intermediate com- 
 mas or points; but let them be plural in form, when the number is broken into 
 parts, and the phrase has commas or points. "Five hundred and thirty-six mil- 
 tow- three hundred and forty-seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-two." — 
 Robinson's Mathematics. " Forty-seven quadrillions, sixty-nine billions, four hun- 
 dred and sixty-five thousands, two hundred and seven" [units]. — Davies. " The 
 number of his subjects must have been about five million two hundred thousand.'''' 
 — Maeaulay. "To enslave five millions of Englishmen," — Id. "The population 
 of China in 1743 was fifteen millions twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
 five." — Wilson's Treatise on Punctuation. Custom, in the United States, perhaps 
 prefers s from millions up, but not down • especially in round numbers. " The 
 Croton Aqueduct cost nine millions.^^ " His house cost him five thousand.^' 
 
 The plural of words that are spoken of merely as words, is sometimes written 
 with the apostrophe ; as, " Your composition has too many and's, therefore's, and 
 wherefore's." But all such words are better expressed by pluralizin^ them regu- 
 larly, and Italicizing them ; as, " Your composition has too manv anas, there/ores, 
 and wherefores.^'' Here the meaning is sufficiently obvious. Yet if the regular 
 plural should render the word or its meaning liable to be mistaken, then I see no 
 good reason for not using the apostroplie, or any other means, to avoid the diffi- 
 culty. " The extract is full of fti«.«." Full of what? Perhaps hya ox &y'« would 
 have been more intelligible. " The poem is full o{ fiies and cries,^^ is perhaps not 
 BO obvious in sense as, " The poem is full of fifs and cry'' 8.^'' 
 
 Words euding in i or o preceded by a consonant, if they are native, perfectly 
 naturalized, or well known, always take es to express the plural ; as. Wo, woes.^ 
 
NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. OBSERVATIONS. 137 
 
 iiero, heroes; alkiji, alkaUes : but if the words are foreign rather than English, good 
 writers have, in many iaatances, added s only, to form the plural ; as, Teocalli, 
 teocallis ; mufti, muftis ; stiletto, stilettos. This mode of pluralizing has this ad- 
 vantage : The word not being generally known, by annexiu;^ simply s, the reader 
 at once sees what the singular is. Yet I think the regular plural is always prefer- 
 able, when there is no liability of mistaking the singular form, or when the word 
 is so far naturalized as to have already found its way into our dictionaries. We 
 Americans do not begrurlge an e to mulattoes^ yet clip mwsquitos ; but the English 
 are more consistent, and treat mulattoes ana '■'■ mosquitoes^ alike, not even regard- 
 ing toes. 
 
 5 & 7. As there is sometimes an ellipsis of the finite verb, it is necessary to 
 ' bear in mind what verb is omitted, in order to determine readily what the case 
 sliould be. " He is wiser than I", [am]. " She is as good as he" [*5]. " Who will 
 go ? I" [will go]. " Who was it ? Not V^It was not I. 
 
 6. The sense of the possessive case is usually expressed either by giving a cer- 
 tain form to the word denoting the possessor, or by using o/'and the objective case. 
 These two forms should be interchanged in such a way as to relieve each other, 
 and avoid the inadequacy and inelegance of either. I should always endeavor to 
 use, in prose, '^ with singular possessive nouns, or else of. Though, " The defeat 
 of Xerxes' army was the downfall, of Persia,*' for instance, could hardly be im- 
 proved. 
 
 A noun or pronoun, before a participle, maybe put in the possessive case, when 
 the sense requires it, and a better expression can not be readily found. Such a 
 phrase is sometimes a very convenient one, if not the most appropriate that can be 
 used to convey the sense. Much depends on which word conveys the idea upper- 
 most in the speaker's mind. " What do you think of my pl^\.ntino corn?" Is it 
 proper ? You being a farmer as well as I, would you plant ? " What do you 
 think of -ME planting corn ?" Am I not out of my proper line of business ? What 
 sort of farmer do I, or would I, make? "I well' remember Peyton Randolph'' s m- 
 FoRMi.vG me of the crossing of our messengers." — Jefferson. "But what »ave it 
 most interest, was its bei.vo in some way coxneoted with the pirate ship." — Irving. 
 "There is no doubt of m?/ seeing him." But such uncouth possessives as, " One 
 of them's falling into a ditch was an accident" — G-reenleafs Grammar ; "A place's 
 being at a distance" — II. ; " Instead of the mind's beings made to go through with 
 
 this tedious process" — Ih., — should be avoided: say, " That one of them fell" ; 
 
 " The distance of a place" ; " Instead of making the mind go through" . 
 
 Finally, the possessive sign should be used wherever there is a noun expressed 
 or understood denoting the thing possessed ; and a phrase explanatory of the pos- 
 sessor, should never be placed between the possessing and the governing noun. 
 Sense, custom, and euphony, should be carefully consulted. 
 
 " They praised the farmer's, as they called him. excellent understanding, 
 Bhould be, " They praised the excellent understanaing of the farmer, as they 
 called him." The '" Lord's day" is Sunday, but " the day of the Lord" sometimes 
 means the Judgment Day; " A picture of Washington" is a likeness of him ; but 
 "A picture of Washington's" is one of the pictures belonging to him. " Lee's and 
 Allen's store"=Lee's store and Allen's store; " Lee's and Allen's stores"=Lee's 
 stores and Allen's stores ; Lee and Allen's stores," is ambiguous, as it may signify 
 either joint or separate possessions. " At Halsall's, the bookseller's, and station- 
 er's," may suggest three different places ; but, " At Halsall's, the bookseller and 
 stationer," can suggest but one place. 
 
 Poets write— " Shiraz' walls," " Pelides' wrath," "x\.jax' seven-fold shield," 
 " Douglas's command," "Providence's sway," " The lance's crash," "Thebes's 
 streets." 
 
 9. The nominative most frequently precedes its verb ; and the objective most 
 frequently follows the ffoverning word. Both should be so placed as to avoid am- 
 biguity, and promote elegance and force. " I love him as well as you," may mean 
 either "Hove him as well as I love you," or, "I love him as well as you love 
 him." 
 
 Proiiouus. 
 
 The use of you for thou is said to have originated in this, that it was formerly a 
 custom and an honor for persons of rank and respectability to have attendants 
 about them, and to be addressed accordingly. 
 
 I . I'hou., thy, thine, thee, tJiyself. ye, and you, your, yours, &e., should never be 
 
138 NOUNS AND PRONOUNS. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 interminj^lecl, or used promiscaously ia the same sentence. The same remark ap- 
 plies to the eliffjreut relatives. But when one relative claime is subordinate to an- 
 other, the relatives miy diifer. '■''Thou, must take care v,i Ihy^ielf ;'''' '■'■You, must 
 take care of yourself. " Tney worship ' the Great ;Spirit,' who has created them, 
 wlio preserves theni, and to whom they pxpect to ^o after death." Bat, " There are 
 men that have nothin;^, who are happier than he." 
 
 The predominant sense of who is, to sui^^gjast persons or other objects viewed as 
 having the rea-t >a, sympathy^ and indiokluality of human beings ; of whioh^ brute 
 animals, or things, or other objects viewel as things. That is usually restrictive. 
 Whether it is to b3 preferrei \o who or lohioh, may sometimes be determined by 
 some precedin:;^ word that fixes the application of the antecedent, but more fre- 
 quently by tiie sense. ^Fho and which are generic ; that is speclac. TF/w and 
 which may sometimes suggest the entire class of objects ; that perhaps never does, 
 but only the part described by its own clause. " I do not like men who do mean 
 little actions," may imply that all men do mean little actions ; but, " I do not like 
 men that do mean little actions," expresses the intended meaning. " I took the 
 pigeons which W3re white," " He is like a beast of prey which destroys without 
 pity," " He is a man who is rich," are not equivalent to — " I took the pigeons that 
 were white," " He is like a beast of prey that destroys without pity," " He is a man 
 that is rich," better " He is a rich man." In general, that is preferable when it h 
 doubtful whether who or which sliould be used; also, when the mtention is, to show 
 that a preceding word is restricted to something particular, or to sometiung viewed 
 in a particular light. But when the adjective or the conjunction that stands near, 
 euphony may sometimes exclude the relative that. Whether as or that should bo 
 used after same^ depends often on whether the verb of the latter clause is omitted 
 or expressed. " Yours is the same as mine ;" " You have the same that I liave." 
 
 The doctrine of the relative that^ in reference to who and which, as taught in our 
 grammars, seems to rest on a rather sandy foundation, if we appeal to the practice 
 of our best writers. I have met with well-read people " who" contend that who 
 should alwajjs be used in speaking of persons. And Lord Macaulay, a remarkably 
 accurate writer, nearly always uses it so, regardless of grain. nar. " A strange 
 question was raise! by tlio very la^t pbrjox who ought to have raised it." — Micaa- 
 lay. " The highkst churchmen who still remained were Doctor William Beveridge, 
 Archdeacon of Colchester, who many years later became bishop of St. Asaph .... 
 and Doctor John Scott, the samk who had prayed by the deathbed of Jeffreys." — 
 11. " No MAN ^AaiJ ever lived was," &c.— /(i. "'The Bishop of Salisbury,' said 
 Tillotson, ' is one of the BUST anl WORST FRiEXDS that I know.'" — Id. "The first 
 WORDS which he spoke," &o. — Id. " T:ie same atrocities which had," &c. — Id. 
 
 The relative which was formerly applied to persons as well as to things. " I 
 know that ye seek Jksus, which was crucified." — Bible. 
 
 Whether was formerly used as an interrogative pronoun, in referring to one of 
 two; but, in this sense, which or whicheoer supplies irs place now, and it is em- 
 ployed only as a conjunction that usually corresponds to or. " Whether of the 
 twain"= Which of the two. " Whether lie will or not." 
 
 A very practical rule in regard to personiAcation is the following : "Objects 
 represented as persons, take pronouns denoting persons." When a pronoun re- 
 fers to a figurative antecedent, great care should be taken to ascertain whether 
 the literal or the figurative sense prevails, and to select the pronoun accordinglv. 
 " He was the aoat. which animated the party." " Brave souls ! who died for 
 liberty." Wordsworth says, of a Highland beauty, " She was a conspicuous 
 FLOWER, whom he had sensibility to love, ambition to attempt, and skill to win." 
 Macaulay writes, "Several epigrams were written on the double-faced Janus [the 
 name of a statue, applied to a man], who, having got a professorship by looking 
 one way, hoped to get a bishopric by looking another." 
 
 2. A collective noun, when used to denote a group of persons or other beings 
 as one whole, is of the neuter gender, and singular number. Such nouns are 
 properly represented by the pronouns applicable to things ; as, " The mob which 
 assailed the palace, soon lost its leader." 
 
 Our language is defective in not bavin?, in the third person, a singular pro- 
 noun for the common gender. Trds often leads to an improper use of the plural 
 pronouns they, their, &c. ; as, " Every member of the church should have their own 
 pews." In siioh cases, we must use either the singular masculine pronoun for both 
 sexes, or both the masctiline and the feminine, or the neuter, (if we are speaking 
 of small aaim!i!s,) or wc must jdurulize the antecedent. " Every servant knew his 
 
NOUNS AN'D PRONOUNS. OBSERVATIONS. 139 
 
 duty. " " Every memlier of the cliurch should have Ids or her own pew." " Every 
 animil loves its like." " Trie child loves iU mother." " All the members should 
 have their pews," &c. To avoid difficulties of construction, it may sometimes be 
 bust to recast gnarly sentences, and express the meaning in some other way. 
 
 ^^ Fallmifi'/ ajlower 13 born to blush unseen, and waste its' sweetness on the 
 desert air." — Grajfs EUgy. " In Ilawick twinkled 7n.%rhy a light, behind him soon 
 they set in night." — Scott. *' Full many a lady have I eyed with best regard ; and 
 many a time the harmony of their tongues hath into bondage brought my too dili- 
 gent ear." — Shakespeare: Tempest., Act iii, Seem 1. Hence, grammarians have said, 
 that when m%ny a, and the pronoun relating to it, occur in the same clause, the 
 latter should be singular; if in different clauses, the latter should [may'] be plural. 
 The plural structure seems to violate the general principle that governs the syntax 
 of every, each, no, nor, &c. : but the example quoted from Shakespeare, stands 
 doubtless best as it is ; for the singular pronoun would seem to refer to one partic- 
 ular lady, and " many ladies''^ would not suggest that the person " fell in love" 
 from time to time. In the following example, however, quoted and justified by 
 Mr. Goold Brown, I should rather use the singular structure throughout: "Hard 
 has been the fate o? mxny a great genius, that [,] while they have conferred immor- 
 tality on others, they have wanted them'ielves some friend to embalm tJieir names to 
 posterity." — Welwood. I should prefer the plural pronoun, only when it obviously 
 conveys the sense better. 
 
 3 & 4. The relative properly relates to the nearest substantive, before it, that 
 it can represent so as to make sense ; and it should generally stand as near as pos- 
 sible to its antecedent. " Tiiere'was very little theory in the discourse that pleased 
 me." "The man forsook his wife, who had always been kind and affectionate." 
 The ambiguity of these sentences might have been avoided by a ditferent arrange- 
 ment of the parts. " There was, in the discourse, very little theory that pleased 
 me ;" " There was very little theory that pleased me, in the discourse ;" " In the 
 discourse that pleased me, there was very little theory." " The man, who had al- 
 ways been kind and affectionate, forsook his wife ;" " His wife, who had always 
 been kind and affectionate, the man forsook." When ambiguity can not be 
 avoided by the arrangement of the words, the noun itself must be used, or the 
 meaning must be expressed by a different sentence. "The lad can not leave his 
 father ; for if he should leave his father, the father would die." When two or 
 more antecedents are introduced into a sentence, which denote different objects, 
 and are not capable of being distinguished by the pronouns relating to them, it 
 is sometimes difficult to avoid the entangling of the pronouns, or to make the 
 structure satisfactory. By judicious arrangement and repetition, the difficulty may 
 generally be avoided ; and rather than make the sentence clumsy by repetition, I 
 think it may sometimes be better even to let the pronouns stand, provided the 
 meaning, though liable to gramm/itical ambiguity, is yet sufficiently obvious to 
 ordinary common sense. To avoid obscurity, it is sometimes better to use a suit- 
 able no'un, than a pronoun representing the noun as suggested by the use of an 
 adjective, a phrase, or a clause. " I admit he is sagacious in trouble, but it can 
 not save him now." Say, " but his sagacity^'''' &c. 
 
 In such expressions as "It was not I, that said so," " It was he, that said so," 
 the genuine antecedent of that is undoubtedly "A" But sometimes, by a sort of 
 attraction, the relative agrees with the nearest substantive. " 'Tis these that early 
 taint the female mind." " It is thex" and their posTKitixr who are to suffer." Some"- 
 titnes, however, there is evidently a difference in sense : as, " It is not I, that 
 does it ; " It is not I that do it." 
 
 The following sentences differ in meaning : " I am the general, who give orders 
 to-viav ;" " I am the general, who gives orders to-day." By the first, you learn 
 that lam the general; by the second, that it is my business to give the orders. Mr. 
 hutler's Remark, "A relative pronoun which modifies the subject, should not be 
 placed after a noun in the pi'edicate," is too stringent on the liberty of writers, 
 and would condemn sentences that are good English. At least, Spenser's "Fairy 
 Queen" condemns the doctrine. 
 
 The position of pronouns is sometimes rather troublesome. Suppose I wish 
 to say, "In the Athens of America," with an emphasis, on " Athens," expressed 
 by "itself." I can not say, "In the Athens itself of America," nor, "In the 
 Athens of America itself," but must avoid the expi-ession, and say, " In the very 
 Athans of America." 
 
 7 
 
140 ARTICLES. 
 
 5. The pronoun may Bometimes be elegantly used with the noun, when we 
 wish first to draw the attention emphatically to the object itself, and then to sav 
 Bomethmg of it. "Beautiful Mary Porter, — where is she now!" "My bank.-4 
 they are furnished with bees." " Harry's flesh it fell away." This phraseology 
 is more allowable in poetry or impassioned discourse than in any other kind. 
 
 Compound relatives suggest by means of their termination au indefinite or uni- 
 versal antecedent, and hence they are not usually accompanied by an antecedent ; 
 as, " Whoever lives temperately, will be apt to live long." Even the simple rela- 
 tive sometimes sufficiently suggests the antecedent ; as, " WJio steals my purse, 
 steals trash." A relative pronoun, in the objective case, may sometimes be el-e- 
 gantly omitted ; as, "There is the man I want to see," for, " There is the man 
 who?n I want to see." " I have brought a basket to cai-ry it -i/i." " There is 
 nothing to judge %." But to omit the preposition and the relative, is inelegant 
 or improper; as, "In the condition I was tlien," better, "In the condition in 
 which I was then." . The relative that is frequently used improperly, without a 
 governing word, as a mere connective. " At the "^same time that the meat was 
 roasting, the bread was baking ;" better, " While the meat was roasting," &c. 
 What or but what should not be used in the place of tJuit. " I could not believe 
 but what [otherwise than that] you had been sick ;" " I have no doubt but what 
 [that] you will succeed." 
 
 Some grammarians condemn such use of the personal pronouns as is shown in 
 the following sentence : '■^Falstuf. It [sack] ascends me into the brain ; dries me 
 there all the foolish and dull, and crudy vapors which environ it, makes it appre- 
 hensive, quick, and inventive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes." — 
 Shakespeare. But I think such sentences should not be disturbed. The usage was 
 good in its time,, and the pronoun imparts a peculiar earnestness and quaiiitness, 
 that could not be expressed so weU by any other means. 
 
 6. Poets sometimes omit the nominative relative; as, "It was a tall young oys- 
 termau a lived by the river-side" — 0. W. Holmes ; and in certain kinds of sen- 
 tences, the nominative pronoun is usually omitted after hut or than; as, " There ia 
 not a child but knows the way," " You have broaght more than is needed." 
 
 It is not necessary to repeat the subject before" the second of two connected 
 verbs that differ in mood or tense, or imply contrast, unless the parts are unusually 
 long, or the contrast is marked and emphatic. " Many of them were of good fami- 
 lies, and had held commissions in the civil war. Their pav ivas far higher than that 
 of the most favored regiment of our time, and would in that ag:e have been thought a 
 respectable provision for the son of a country gentleman." — Macaulay. " So large 
 a sum was expended, but expended in vain." — Id. 
 
 We sometnnes find hasty letters, especially from business men, written with- 
 out personal pronouns in the nominative case, wherever these can be inferred from 
 the context. This style is condemned by all grammarians, and therefore should 
 be avoided. Yet in favor of it may be urged — 1. Some foreign languages usually 
 omit the nominative pronouns from their verbs; 2. Tiresome repetition and an 
 egotistical air are somewhat avoided, without leaving the sense obscure ; 3. Good 
 authors sometimes use this style, or what is equivalent to it, when their discourse 
 is fragmentary, and designed to appear hasty, or full of sprightliness and vivacity. 
 
 Ex. — " Tender-eyed blonde. Long ringlets. Cameo pin. Locket. Bracelet. 
 Album. Beads Byron, Tupper, and Sylvanus Cobb, junior, while her mother 
 makes the puddings. Says, ' Yes?' when yoa tell her anything." — 0. W. Holmes. 
 
 6. ARTICLES. 
 
 ? 193. An article is a word placed before a substantive to 
 show how it is applied. 
 
 Ex. — Horses ; the horse, a horse, the horses. A good one ; the others. 
 " From liberty each nobler science sprung, 
 A Bacon brightened, and a Spenser sung." — Savage. 
 
 Article literally means joint. The Greeks, who Riivo the name, frequently used nouns wilt iM» 
 cle on each side ; lust as we might say, " I saw tltat steam ' , , . .. 
 
 thus used, is not unlike the pait of a limb between two johits. 
 
ARTICLES. 
 
 141 
 
 • Only two words in our language are called articles: the, the 
 definite article ; and a or an, the indefinite. 
 
 ? 194. The points out a particular object or class, or a par- 
 ticular one or portion of a class. 
 
 Ex. — The man, the men ; the large wagon. " The sun and the moon." " The 
 fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea." "The Hon is nobler than the hyena." 
 *' The statesman should be honored, as well as the soldier." " Tlie Delawares and 
 the Cherokees are Indiana almost civilized." " The poor and the rich, the wise 
 and the ignorant." 
 
 ? 195. It sometimes precedes a proper noun, to render it suf- 
 
 ficiently definite ; or else it points out a certain object as already 
 
 known or heard of, or as preeminently distinguished. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■Missonri and Ohio mean States ; but the Missouri and the Ohio mean 
 rivers." "The Fulton went up the river this morning." " The Turk was dream- 
 ing of the hour." " The generous Lafayette and the noble Washington." 
 
 ? 196. The may relate to either a singular or a plural word. 
 Ex. — The river, the rivers ; the four men, the fourth man ; the one, the others. 
 
 ? 197. A or an shows that no particular one of a class is meant. 
 
 Ex. — A man, a bird, a wagon, an owl, a plum; a small picture. "He was a 
 merchant." It siiargests that there are others of the same kind, and also that there 
 are other kinds of objects. 
 
 ? 198. Sometimes the predominant idea is any, sometimes one. 
 Ex. — "^ man may lose all his property in a year"=»^7iy man may lose all his 
 property in one year. 
 
 ? 199. A or an can be used to point out one only, or one 
 aggregate. Sometimes more are spoken of, but they are still con- 
 sidered one by one. 
 
 Ex. — " A penf not, A pens. " An idler ; a large orange ; a dozen apples ; a 
 wealthy people ; a few dimes." " I gave for the marbles a dime a dozen." " We 
 paid for the mules a hundred dollars a head.' ' 
 
 When a noun is limited by other words, the indefinite article affects not the 
 noun alone, but the noun thus limited. "A yoang man," "A man of fine sense," 
 do not mean no particular man ; but, no particular yoang man, no particular man 
 of fine sense. 
 
 ? A and an are both called the indefinite article, because they 
 are but a later and an earlier form of the same word, have the same 
 meaning, and differ in use only. 
 
 ? 200 Before words beginning with a vowel sound, an should 
 be usedi Before a, e, «, o, u not equivalent to yu, y articulated 
 with a consonant after it, silent A, and h faintly sounded when 
 the next syllable has the chief accent. 
 
 Ex. — "^«- arm ; an ear of corn ; an idle boy ; an orange ; an urn ; an hour ; 
 an heroic deed." 
 
 ? 201. Before words beginning with a consonant sound, a should 
 be used. U long, eu, w, o in one, and y articulated with a vowel 
 after it, have each a consonant sound. 
 
 Ex.- ''^ brother, a oup, a union ; a eulogy ; a yearling ; a word ; a one-horse 
 carriage. 
 
142 ARTICLES. EXERCISES. 
 
 ? 202. No article is used when we refer chiefly to the nature of 
 the object, to the class generally, or to only a part indefinitely ; also 
 when the substantive is sufficiently definite itself, or is rendered so 
 by other words. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■Meat is dearer than Sreosi." "Goldh heavier than siZ«er." "He took 
 waUr^ and changed it into wine.'''' '•'Peaches are better than apjjles.'''' " Virtue and 
 v'w^ii are O'pposites.'''' " Work'mg is better than steaUng or starving.'''' "Man is en 
 dowed with r<?a*o/2.." " There are ,^.s'A<?s with ■wings.'''' " Jolin, George, '76 ; that 
 tree; this tree; every tree ; some 'trees ; all trees; Post Office." '■'Words that 
 breathe." "They were the means by which ;" not, the ivhich. 
 
 General Illustration. — " From the beorinning of the world, an uninterrupted 
 series of predictions had announced and prepared the long-expected coming of 
 the Messiali, who, in compliance with the gross apprehensions ^of t\w Jews, had 
 been more frequently represented under the character of a king and conqueror, than 
 under that of a prophet, a martyr, or the son of God." — Gibbon's Borne. 
 
 ? Articles, being used to aid nouns, are said to belong to them. When 
 the article stands only before the first of two or more connected nouns, 
 It belongs to them jointly, if they denote but one person or thing, or 
 more viewed as one ; if not, it belongs to the first noun, aud is understood 
 before the others. 
 
 Ex.— "I saw Webster, the great statesman and orator." "Of books I ^m a 
 borrower and lender." " A man and horse passed by the house aad lot." " A 
 man, a woman, and a child were drowned." 
 
 ? Tiie is socQetiraes an adverb ; a, a preposition ; and an, a conjunction. 
 
 Ex. — "The stronger^the better." " To go a [at] hunting." "Falstaef. An 1 
 have not tunes made on you all, and sung to fifty tunes, may a cup of sack bo 
 my poison." — Shakespeare. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Parse the articles : — 
 
 The cat caught a mouse. A crow flew over the valley. The oxen 
 are grazing on the meadow. The" lion roams in Africa. The lion killed 
 his keeper. The** Grasconade is exceedingly clear and beautiful. The 
 Highland Mary leaves St. Louis to-day. The ancients did not know the 
 use of the compass. A° beautiful white house gleamed from the summit 
 of the adjacent hill. A free people should be jealous of their liberties. 
 I have bought a<* dozen chickens. The lambs were sold for a dollar a 
 head. The" bright stars without number adorn the sky. We send ex- 
 ports to the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 (a.) iefimte, it refers to '* lio'n^* as denoting a particular kind of animals ; and belonps 
 
 to " lion" &c. (b.) definite, it refers to "Gasconade" ag denoting a particubir river ; and 
 
 belonKS to it, &c. (c.) indefinite, it does not refer to " beautiful lohite house" as denoting 
 
 a particular one of the kind ; and belongs to " house," according to Rule X. (d.) in- 
 definite, no particular "dozen chickens" are meant : &c. (e.) definit-e, the reference is 
 
 to " stars" as denoting a particular class of things. 
 
ARTICLES. EXERCISES. 
 
 143 
 
 Examples to bo Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to articles, may bo reduced to the follow- 
 ing heads : — 
 
 1. When not used. 2. When the definite article should he 
 used. 3. When the indefinite article should be used. 4. Whether 
 A or AN should he used. 5. Improper use q/" a or an hefore plu- 
 rals. 6. When the article should not he repeated. 1. When the 
 article should he repeated. 
 
 1. When not Used. 
 
 No article is used, — 
 
 1. When the mind considers an object in reference to its nature or 
 character, rather than as an individual to be distinguished from others, or 
 from something else. Or: When the noun answers to what rather than 
 to who or which. 
 
 2. When the mind refers to the whole species generally, or to only a 
 part indefinitely. 
 
 3. When the substantive is sufficiently definite by itself, or is rendered 
 so by other limiting words. 
 
 a. The article is sometimes elegantly omitted from titular phrases or 
 from other familiar expressions, when the omission can lead to no miscon- 
 ception of the meaning. 
 
 What sort of a man is he? He is a different sort of a man. What kind 
 of an article, then, would you call a? We found him a very worthy good sort 
 of an old man. — a very worthy good old man. Such a man does not deserve 
 the name of a gentleman. The highest officer of a State is styled a G-overnor. 
 They hated tlie name of a Stuart. Santa Anna ruled over the nation, under 
 the title of a Dictator. The original signification of knave was a boy. The 
 pink, the rose, and the lily, are the names of certain species of a flower. The 
 weather is getting cool enough for a fire. Of these twins, I never can tell the 
 one from the other. He was drowned in the attempting to cross the Missis- 
 sippi. A wise man will avoid the showing any excellence in trifles. This 
 tree is worth the planting — the being planted. The stray horses are posted at 
 this place. (Of course not all ; nor can they be contrasted with any otlier class 
 of horses.) Reason was given to a man to control his passions. (Of course to 
 more than one.) I had a reference to the other. You may avoid offensive 
 expressions by a circumlocution. These foreigners, in the general, are peaceful 
 and industrious. You may send the letter by the mail. (No particular mail 
 was meant.) The whites of America are the descendants of the Europeans ; 
 but the blacks are the descendants of the Africans. A neuter verb can not be- 
 come a passive. These sketches are not imaginary, but taken from the life. 
 The law by the which they were condemned. It would take a half a day to 
 do it. The ancients believed the fire, the air, the earth, and the water, to be 
 the elements of all other material things. 
 
 2. When the Definite Article should he Used, 
 
 The definite article is used, — 
 
 1. To make the following noun sufficiently definite for denoting a par- 
 ticular object as distinguished from others of the same kind, or from some- 
 thing else. 
 
 2. To show that the whole is meant, or that all of the kind are meant. 
 
144 ARTICLES. EXERCISES. 
 
 "Women who never take any exercise, necessarily become invalids. Tha 
 women who — or, Women that, &c. Persons who have been instructed in col- 
 leges, are said to have a collegiate education. The work is designed for the 
 use of persons who may think it merits a place in their libraries. No account 
 is given of such an event by historians who lived at that time. Modes of 
 traveling in the last century were far inferior to ours. Wisest and best men 
 sometimes commit errors. John Simonds [a boat] left for New Orleans yester- 
 day. They forbid wearing of rings and jewels. Convert sinners without shed- 
 ding of blood. Great benefit may be derived from reading of good books. A. 
 neglecting of our own affairs, and a meddUng with those of others, are the 
 sources of many troubles. The Indians are descendants of tlie aborigines of 
 this country. A pronoun is a part of speech used as a substitute for a noun. 
 A violet is an emblem of modesty. A lion is bold, a cat is treacherous, and a 
 dog is faithful. Sometimes one article is improperly used for another. "Who 
 breaks a butterfly upon a wheel ? ( WJieel here means a peculiar engine for tor- 
 turing. Tliere is also reference to other kinds of punishment.) I have a right 
 to do it. (The universal abstract was meant.) 
 
 3. When the Indefinite Article should he Used, 
 
 The indefinite article is used — 
 
 To show that no particular one is meant, implying that there are or may- 
 be others. Its various meanings range through the substitutes owe, any, 
 all, each, every, and the phrase — this, and not any thing else. 
 
 a. When a is used before few or little, the meaning is, some at least. 
 
 h. "When no article is used before few or little, the meaning is, none, or 
 almost none. 
 
 The profligate man \?. seldom or never found to be the good husband, the 
 good father, or the beneficent neighbor. In Holland, great part of the land has 
 been rescued from the sea. He received only the fourth part of the estate. The 
 interest is the tenth part of the sum. A pronoun is the word used for a noun. 
 A librarian is the person who has charge of a hbrar3\ Avoid the too frequent 
 repetition of the same word. Sometimes the adjective becomes a substantive, 
 and has another adjective joined to it. An articulate sound is the sound of the 
 human voice, formed by the organs of speech. Contrast makes each of the 
 contrasted objects appear in the stronger light. To the business of others I 
 give but a little attention. A httle respect should be paid to those wlio deserve 
 none. Are not my days a few ? A few men of his age enjoy so good health. 
 So bold a breach of conduct called for little severity in punishing the oflender. 
 
 4. Whether A or An should he Used. 
 
 1. A should be used before consonant sounds. 
 
 2. An should be used before vowel sounds. 
 
 a. A word beginning with the consonant sound of w or of y, is to be 
 treated as if beginning with a consonant ; as, One, union, eulogy. 
 
 b. A word beginning with h sounded, and having the accent on the 
 second syllable, is usually treated as if beginning with a vowel; as, Heroic^ 
 hyena, hiatus, hereditary. 
 
 Ho had a interest in the matter. It was a humble and dutiful petition to 
 the throne. Argus is said to have had an hundred eyes. An African or sax 
 European. An heretic ; a heretical opinion. A harangue. A hyena. A hia- 
 tus. A harmonious flow of words. Is it an i or an u ? An history ; a histo- 
 rical account ; a historian. A heroic poem. A hyperbole. A hypothesis. 
 
ARTICLES. EXERCISES. 145 
 
 An hexagon ; a hexagonal figure. There was not an human bomg on the place. 
 An hopeful young man. An unity of interest. I would not make such an 
 use of it. It was not such an one as I wanted. 
 
 5. Improper Use of k. or An before Plurals. 
 
 The indefinite article should never be so used as to appear to have a 
 plural signification. Insert words, omit words, or change the term. 
 
 A winding stairs led us to the Senate Chamber. A flight of, &c. I saw her 
 trim her nails with a scissors. — a pair of — The next object was, to provide 
 a head-quarters. The farm was a long ways from town. The right wing en- 
 camped behind a small woods. I saw a snuffers lying on the mantel-piece. 
 This idiom is a remains of the Saxon dialect. Let us make a little memoranda 
 of it. A few miles from the river is a large swamp, or flats. The problem 
 can not be solved from such a data. A long minutiaj of detail made the story 
 very tedious. About a two days afterwards the legates returned to CjBsar. 
 Tlie child was not a three weeks old, when it died. The Jews were permitted 
 to return to their country, after a seventy years of captivity at Babylon. — a 
 captivity of seventy years — An eight years' war was the consequence. "With 
 such a spirit and intrigues was the war carried on. — and such intrigues — 
 Tlie cottage was fringed by a very handsome eaves. A mother and children 
 were captured by the Indians. — and her children — A neat house and gar- 
 dens were thus sold for a trifle. My friend bought a house and lots in the 
 suburbs of St. Louis. 
 
 Kemark. — Allowdble: "Never did a set of rascals travel further to find a gal- 
 loiDs.'''' —Irving. "The draught of air performed the function of a bellows.'''' — Br. 
 Bobertson. Irving also has the phrase " a tongd." See Number.s, p. 106. 
 
 6. When the Article should not he Repeated. 
 
 7. When the Article should be Repeated. 
 
 1. When the repetition of the article would suggest more objects than 
 are meant, the article should be omitted. 
 
 2. When tlie omission of the article would not suggest all the objects 
 meant, the article should be repeated. 
 
 3. The article is elegantly omitted to show that the objects are joined, or 
 comprehended in one view. 
 
 4. The article is elegantly inserted to show that the objects are separate, 
 distinct, or opposite ; or that they are viewed so. 
 
 5. When the article relates to a series of terms, it should precede the 
 whole series, or else each term of the series. 
 
 The forsaken may find another and a better friend. My friend was married 
 to a sensible and an amiable woman. The matter deserves an impartial, a 
 careful, and a thorough investigation. Everett, the scholar, the statesman, and 
 the orator, should be invited. The white and black inhabitants amount to 
 several thousands. A hot and cold spring issued from the same mountain. 
 The sick and wounded were left at this place. The Eastern and the "Western 
 ('ontiuents. The Eastern and Western Continent. The first and the last pay- 
 ments are the two in dispute. Give the possessive and the objective cases of 
 who — the possessive and objective case of who. . The Old and New Testament. 
 The Old and the New Testaments. Macaulay is not so good a poet as an his- 
 torian. He is not so good a statesman as a soldier. She is not so good a 
 cook as a washerwoman. I am a better arithmetician than a grammarian. 
 The figure is a globe, a ball, or a sphere. Is this a v, a, or u? A Philosoph- 
 
146 , ARTICLES. EXERCISES. 
 
 ical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful. The 
 Latin introduced between the Conquest and reign of Henry the Eighth. {"Gon- 
 quesV refers to William the Conqueror, not to Henry.) In my last lecture I 
 treated of the concise and diftuse, the nervous and feeble manner. The black 
 and red soil will produce the best crops. (Two kinds of soil were meant.) A. 
 horse and a buggy went up to the house. Here, at different times, the parents 
 had buried a sou and daughter. He understands neither the Latin or Greek 
 languages. — neither the Latin language nor the Greek. (Parts compared, con- 
 trasted, or distinctly noticed, should be expressed with equal fullness.) The 
 poor as well as rich, the liigh and low, the wise and ignorant, would be beue- 
 lited by such a law. Both the house and barn were consumed by fire. He 
 has distinguished himself both as a teacher and scholar. Neither the poor nor 
 rich are completely happy. You must shoot a bear either through the heart 
 or brain. — or through the hrain. Let us make a distinction between the loss 
 and expense. There is little difference between a catamount and leopard-cat. 
 It is not difficult to distinguish the demagogue from statesman. Not the use, 
 but abuse, of worldly things, is sinful. The young, as well as old, may sicken 
 and die. It was not the loss, but dishonor, that grieved him. We are the 
 Mends, not enemies, of tlie Institution, I would rather pluck a lily than 
 rose. I would rather hear the whippoorwill than katydid. The one or other . 
 of the two. There is not a tree in the yard, nor flower in the garden. The 
 hum of bees, and songs of birds, fell sweetly upon my ear. Was the man fined, 
 and damage paid ? The oak, ash, maple, elm, and the hickory, are the prin- 
 cipal trees of this State, Such a law would be injurious to the farmer, me- 
 chanic, and the merchant. Gome is an irregular transitive verb ; found in tlie 
 indicative mood, the present tense, third person, and singular number. 
 
 Remark. — Avoid such an arrangement of terms as will make the article relate 
 to some to which you do not mean to apply it. Example : " I was thinking of the 
 Bolar system, time, and space ;" i. ^,, tne solar system, the solar time, and the so- 
 lar space. But the author meant to say, " 1 was thinking of time, space, and the 
 solar system." 
 
 Miscellaneous Examples. 
 
 I have had a dull sort of a headache all day. The Tennessee, the Missis- 
 sippi, and the Missouri, are all the names derived from the Indian languages. 
 The violation of this ruie never fails to displease a reader. A or an is sometimes 
 used to convey an idea of unity. By adding s to dove, we make it a plural. 
 When a whole is put for the part, or the part for a whole ; a genus for the spe- 
 cies, or the species for a genus ; a singular for a plural, or a plural for a singu- 
 lar, the figure is called a synecdoche. Surely there is little satisfaction in the 
 having caused another's ruin. She contributed a thousand dollars to build- 
 ing of a college edifice. The virtues like his are not easily acquired : such 
 qualities honor the nature of a man. I bought a vest-pattern and trimmings, 
 lor five dollars. This caused an universal consternation throughout tlie colo- 
 nies. — Burke. We stopped at a hotel on Broadway, Apostrophe [ ' ] is used 
 in the place of a letter lett out. The day and night succeed eacli other. All 
 the chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus, to put him to death. 
 You may measure the time by a watch, clock, or dial. Beware, of drunken- 
 ness: it impairs understanding, wastes an estate, destroys a reputation, consumes 
 the body, and renders the man of the brightest parts the common jest of tl)o 
 meanest clown. True charity is not the meteor which occasionally glares, but 
 the luminary which, in its orderly and regular course, dispenses benignant in- 
 fluence. Purity has its seat in the heart, but extends its influence over so 
 much of the outward conduct, as to form the great and material part of a 
 character. 
 
ARTICLES. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 147 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 From the Saxon ane are derived our an, a, and one. Hence an is the older 
 form, which hus become a for the sake of euphony. Even in Enijhsh written ita 
 the last century, we not uufrequently find an used where a would now be prefer- 
 red. An or a is now sometimes equivalent to one; but generally it differs from it 
 by a shade of meaning. " It weighs a pound, or one pound ;" but when I say, 
 " The whole community rose like one man, and built a bridge over the river," one 
 and a are not interchangeable. "Will you take a horse?'' — or something else? 
 " Will you take one horse ?" — or two? The is akin to that, but less emphatic ; and 
 formerly it was sometimes used even before relative pronouns, " Northumber- 
 land, tli'ou ladder, by the which my cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne." — 
 Shal~esi)eare. 
 
 As a general thing, substantives must have or assume meaning, or must have 
 meaning liable to be widened or contracted, before the articles can be applied to 
 taem ; and substantives must be without meaning, or have meaning not liable to 
 be widened or contracted, or must be fixed in application, before they can dispense 
 with the articles. Substantives denoting material or abstract substances sui gene- 
 ris, or having themselves the accessory idea of distinction from other things, do 
 not require the article. The article generally has a double reference : the one, to 
 other objects of the same kind ; and the other, to other kinds. _ " Give me an 
 apple," refers not only to other apples, but also, by way of exclusion, to oranges, 
 peaches, plums, cakes, or other objects. 
 
 I'he often suggests that there is but one object or group of the kind, supposed, 
 by the speaker, to be generally known ; a or an always implies that there are or 
 may be other similar objects. The imphes that the speaker and the hearer have 
 in common a knowledge of the individual as well as of the class, — such a knowl- 
 edge as enables the speaker to suggest at once to the hearer, by means of the ar- 
 ticle, the object meant; but a or an. does not necessarily require that they have 
 in common more than a knowledge of tlie class. 
 
 The article may be definite, indefinite, or omitted, according to many different 
 views : — 
 
 1. Definite, as referrina: to the general knowledge of mankind. " The sun, the 
 earth, the Messiah, the dyspepsy, the sword, the Sabbath." 
 
 2. Definite, as referring to the general knowledge of a community, — to things 
 often noticed, or often thought of. "J'Ae Missouri Compromise." "I'Ae Legis- 
 lature." '■'■The never-failing brook, the busy mill, the decent church that topped the 
 neighboring hill." 
 
 3. Definite, as referring to the knowledge of the family circle. " Go to the well 
 — ^to the barn." " Where is the washbowH'' '■'•The old oaken backet." 
 
 4. Definite, as referring to the knowledge of the person addressed. " Give me 
 the letter." 
 
 5. Definite, as referring to what has been mentioned, spoken of, or already 
 brought to the notice of the person addressed. *' Go along till you come to a 
 bridge ; and just beyond the bridge, turn to the right." These last two principles 
 are often violated ; speakers or writers presumingtoo much on the knowledge of 
 their hearers or readers, or speaking of objects unknown as if other people were 
 as well acquainted with them as they themselves are. " I will now give you an 
 account of the great hurricane which passed over our village, when I waa a boy." 
 Say, "(i great." 
 
 6. Definite, as referring to the class to which t!ie object belongs, ^^The [boat] 
 Fulton went up the Hudson" [river]. " Alexander the Great." "Bolivar was ih« 
 Washinofton of Soutli America." 
 
 7. Definite, by way of preeminence. (See the preceding paragraph.) "27^e man 
 of men," " The Bible is the book of books." '■^The generous Latayette," 
 
 8. Definite, as comprehending the whole class, or as referring to other classes 
 of objects. " The horse is a useful animal." '■'The letters are divided," &c, '■'■The 
 beautiful." " The Stuarts," " One or the other of two," 
 
 9. i)e/-?/2.ire, as referring to the other parts associated with the object. " 27t« 
 neck connects the head and tlve trunk," 
 
 10. Definite, as being a necessary part or accompaniment, and as being there- 
 fore known to some extent to the hearer, '■'■The weather was fine." " The fare 
 was good : the coffee and rolls were particularly excellent." " Andre stood beside 
 the coffin." " The enemy were on the other sicle." 
 
 7* 
 
148 ARTICLES. — OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 11. Definite, as being alone, or all, and known to be so. '•'■The eartb is sotn?- 
 what flat at the poles." '■'•T'he first and the last." 
 
 12. Definite^ as bein^ m:ide so by some accompanying descriptive words. " The 
 BLUE-EYiiD damsel." "T^Ae winds of AUTaM>r." '•'■The mail who is upright." 
 
 1. Indefinite, as first introducing an object of a known class, or as implying that 
 there are or may be other objects of the same kind. '•^An old manuscript, ibund 
 in Rome, has," &c. " He is a saddler." "^ Homer." In this sense, the noun 
 may be even to some extent made definite by other words. 
 
 2. Indefinite, as being used in the sense oi any, each, or every. '■'■A conjunction 
 connects words." *'^4 dollar a pair." 
 
 3. Indefinite, to exclude the ambiguous sense which the would give. " She re- 
 ceived a third of the estate." '■'•The third" might suggest a particular third. " A 
 librarian is a person who has charge of a library." '•'•The person" might suggest 
 that '■'•person''' is the subject-nominative. 
 
 1. .Omitted, because the mind does not individualize the object, or conceive it 
 with definite limits. " Orthography treats of the forms of letters and words.'''' 
 *' The oak is a species octree.'''' 
 
 2. Om'itted, because, by frequent notice of the object, the word has acquired al- 
 most the definiteness of a proper name, or because it is merely descriptive. 
 " Where is /ci^/^er .^" " At ^aWe." " With 5oa{y and sow?." "On/oo^." "Go 
 to ied.'''' " Boston Common.'''' 
 
 3. Omitted, because if used it might imply too much importance or emphasis. 
 " Notice." '•'■A Notice" might suggest, Now look here ; for this is a notice that is 
 a notice. 
 
 4. Omitted, because it might give a wrong impression. " He was then sheriff.''^ 
 " Use essence of peppermint." " She is heir to a little fortune." 
 
 5. Omitted, for the sake of poetic measure. " The why is plain as way to 
 parish church." — Shalcespeare. 
 
 Always consider carefully, in the use of words, what the sense requires. " A 
 pine is a species of a tree," is improper; because one tree is not a class, nor is a 
 whole class a part of one tree. 2'he pine is a species of tree. " Bear Worcester to 
 the death." — Shak. Improper, because no particular kind of death was meant. 
 — to death — to his death. " A half eagle," and " half an eagle," are not necessarily 
 equivalent. What is true of all, is usually true of each: hence we can say, "^ 
 wise man may be more useful than a rich man ;" "^4 good pupil never disobeys his 
 instructor-" — or, "2%ewise man maybe more useful than Z^Ae rich man;" " 2^/te 
 good pupil never disobeys his instructor." There are some things that may be con 
 ceived either in the gross or as individuals ; and hence the article may be either 
 omitted or used. " It fell with loud noise ;" " It fell with a loud noise.'''' " I see a 
 farm." first observance ; iust enough knowledge of it to tell what it is. *' I see the 
 farm." Previous knowledge. ''CiBsar, a Ctesar;" "From liberty each nobler 
 science sprung, a Bacon brightened, and a Spenser sung." Meaning assumed, 
 application extended. " Dar'st thou, then, to beard the lion in his den, — the Dou- 
 glas in his hall ?" — Scott. " Tiiese are the sacred feelings of thy heart, O Lyttle- 
 ton, the friend." — 2 homion. " I am surprised that lie should have treated coldly a 
 man so much the gentleman." Preeminence, j'he is sometimes an elegant substi- 
 tute for the possessive pronoun. " He took me by the hand" — my hand. " You 
 may always know the tree by the fruit" — 'ots fruit. " They had never bowed the 
 knee to a tyrant." 
 
 " There are few mistakes in his composition" — almost none. " There are a few 
 mistakes in his composition" — some — many. " There are not a few mistakes in his 
 composition" — very many. So, " She has i'dtle vanitv ;" " She has a Little vanity;" 
 "She has not a little vanity." A noun limited by the indefinite article, may 
 often be made plural in the same sense, by omitting the article : as, " He was 
 a representative from St. Louis ;" " They were rnpresentatiues from St. Louis." 
 Elegance requires, — "He paid neither the principal nor the interest — both the 
 principal and tlie interest — the principal as well as the interest — the principal, but 
 not the interest — principal and interests. We usually say, "Too good a man," 
 " Too large an apple," &c. ; accordingly, it is better to say, " Too nice a woman," 
 ^' Too frequent a repetition," than, " A too nice woman," "A too frequent re p- 
 /Btitioij." " He is a better poet than painter." He is not so good a painter. " He 
 js a better painter than a Poet." In painting, he excels poets. " The black and 
 white on\r^-^^ne calf. "The black and the white calf" — two. " He wrote for a 
 light Q,ijd a strong wagon" — two. " He wrote for a light and strong wagon" — one. 
 
ADJECTIVES. 149 
 
 " He married a handsome, a seusible, and an accomplished woman" — married 
 three. Say, " a handsome, sensible, and accoinpUshed woman." " A farmer, 
 lawyer, and politician, addressed the assembly" — one person. " I saw the editor, 
 the printer, and the proprietor of the paper" — three 2)ersons. But, for the sake of 
 emphasis, and when the meaning can not be misconceived, the article is some- 
 times repeated ; as, " There sat the wise, the eloquent, and the patriotic Chatham." 
 " Give me the fourtli and the last," may not be equivalent to " Give me the fourth 
 and last." We can not say, " The definite and the indefinite articles," nor, 
 "The definite and indefinite article;" but we must say, " The definite and the in- 
 definite article," "The definite and indefiaiite articles," or, " The definite article and 
 t;ie indefinite." The last is generally tlie best mode of expression. The omission 
 of the article sometimes implies a unity in the objects, or in the view taken ; the 
 repetition of it, separation. " The soul and body." Viewed as one. "The soul 
 and the body." Vievved separately and distinctly. "The day, the hour, and the 
 minute, were specified." Emphasis. " I have just sold a house and lot — a horse 
 and buggy." One belonged to the other. " I have just sold a house and a lot — 
 a horse and a buggy." One did not belong to the other. " He is a poet and a 
 mathematician." Qualifications seldom found in the same person. " He is a 
 physician and surgeon — a lawyer and politician." Qualifications usually found in 
 the same person, " A singular and plural antecedent require a plural verb." — 
 Wells. Eeqalre., in the plural number, shows the sense ; but the article should 
 rather have been repeated. "There are three persons* the first, second, and 
 third." Mr. Brown contends that this should be, " There are three persons ; 
 the first, the second, and the third." I think he is hypercritical in regard to such 
 e.xpressions. Query. — Should the indefinite article be repeated before each one of 
 a series of substantives, merely because a different form of the article is required ? 
 Mr. Murray thinks it should ; the other grammarians treat the difficulty with char- 
 acteristic evasion. I should not hesitate to omit the article to avoid a clumsier 
 expression. I should rather say, " A preposition shows the relation of a noun, 
 adjective, verb, or adverb, to an objective," than, " A preposition shows the rela- 
 tion of a noun, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb, to an objective." Some of the 
 best authors favor the former mode of expression. Such expressions as " A histo- 
 riiii'i,'' "A harmonic scale," have occasionally been countenanced by the best writers 
 and critics ; and it would seem that euphony sometimes allows the a, when the 
 first syllable is closed by a consonant sound, or when the h is heard with con- 
 siderable distinctness. 
 
 7. ADJECTIVES. 
 
 ? 203. An adjective is a word used to qualify or limit the 
 meaning of a substantive. 
 
 Ex. — "A mellow apple ; a leautifal woman ; a brilliant star ; five carriages ; yon- 
 der mountains ; brass buttons ; hoary-headed men ; a large, red, and juicy apple ; 
 eyes bright, blue, and affectianate.'''' " He is industrious and fru^gaV " To slight 
 the poor is mean.'''' 
 
 Our language has about 7,000 adjectives; and they give to it not a little of 
 its beauty, energy, and precision. 
 
 ? 204. Words from other parts of speech are frequently used as 
 adjectives. 
 
 Ex. — "A gold ring; a mahogany table; state revenue; Gali^ornia gold; she 
 politicians ; a would-be scholar ; parsing exercises ; rolling prairies ; the far-ojf 
 future; the above remarks; & farewell address." "The lightnings flashed 'ver- 
 milion.'''' — Dante. (" The rose looks red.'''') " The West is as truly American, as 
 genuinely Jonathan, as any other part of our country." — Wise. 
 
 ? 205. Adjectives may be divided into two chief classes ; descrip- 
 tive and definitive. 
 
 ? 206. A <le!«criptive adjective describes or qualifies. 
 
 Ex. — Good, white, square. "The green forest was bathed in golden light," 
 
%50 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 ? 207. A defuiiilive adjective merely limits or modifies. 
 
 Ex. — " There are mdny wealthy farmers in tlm country." 
 
 ? Adjectives may be divided also into several smaller classes : namely, 
 common; participial; compound; numeral, comprising cardinal, ordinal, 
 and multiplicative; and pronominal, comprising distributive, demonstrative, 
 and indefinite. 
 
 ' 208. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet of the language ; 
 as, Good, upper. 
 
 ? 209. A proper adjective is an adjective derived from a proper 
 noun; as, American., English, Newtonian. 
 
 ? 210. A participial adjective is a participle ascribing the act or 
 state to its subject as a quality; as, '^ TwinJcling stars." 
 
 In the phrase " his dyin^ day," df/in^ is^ a mere adjective ; and it is plain, for 
 instance, that unepita^hed — "without epitaph," and unhorsed — "deprived of 
 horse,'' differ radically in sense. A participial adjective is derived directly from 
 a verb, is nearly always placed before its noun, and generally expresses a per- 
 manent or habitual act or state. 
 
 ? 211. A compound adjective is a compound word used as an adjective ; 
 as, " ThicJc-warbled songs." 
 
 ? 212. A numeral adjective expresses number definitely ; as. Two, 
 second, twofold. 
 
 ? Tho cardinal numerals tell how many, as one, two ; the ordinal, which 
 one, as first, second; and the multiplicative, how many fold, as single, double, 
 twofold. A long or composite numeral is parsed as one word. 
 
 ? 213. The pronominal adjectives are a class of definitive adjectives 
 of which some are occasionally used as pronouns ; as, T/iat, this, other. 
 
 ? The distributive point out objects as taken separately; as, Each, every, 
 cither, neither, many a. 
 
 ? The demonstrative, or definite, point out objects definitely ; as, Tliis, yonder. 
 
 i Tho indefinite point out objects indefinitely ; as, Any, some. 
 
 Degrees off CompariMOiii. 
 
 ? Since the same quality may exist in different objects and in 
 different degrees, adjectives are modified to express higher or lower 
 degrees, or the highest or the lowest degrees, of the quality. Hence 
 adjectives have what are called the degrees of comparison. 
 
 Ex. — " Lime is white ; milk is whiter; but snow is the whitest of all." 
 
 ? Adjectives liave three degrees of comparison; the positive., the 
 comparative^ and the superlative. 
 
 ? 214. a. The positive degree ascribes the quality simply. 
 
 Ex. — " A young orchard ; a large fann." " The fields look green and/re*A." 
 
 ? 215. h. It ascribes an equal degree of the quality, without refer- 
 ence to lower or higher degrees of the same quality. 
 
 Ex. — " She is as good as he." " A woman as modest as she is heautifuV 
 
 '? 216. a. The comparative degree ascribes the quality in a 
 
ADJECTIVES. 151 
 
 higher or a lower degree to one object, or set of objects, than to 
 another. 
 
 Ex. — " A younger 'brotlier ; more important affairs ; a boy less studlousy 
 
 ? 217. 6. It ascribes the qnality in a higher or a lower degree, as 
 reckoned from some other condition or quality of the same object or 
 of a different object. 
 
 Ex. — " A nation is happier in peace than in war." " I am better than I was." 
 " She is more accomplished than wise." " My horse is wJiiter than yours is black." 
 
 ? The comparative degree always implies two considered distinct from each 
 other ; and it either refers to the same quality in two different objects or in two 
 different conditions of the same object, or it refers to one quality as contrasted 
 with a different one. That from which it is reckoned, is sometimes understood, 
 or exists only in the mind. 
 
 Ex. — " A more e^ip'i/>Z6 situation" [than some other one]. "What is letter is 
 always preferred." 
 
 The comparative de^^rae may be construed with than after it ; therefore such 
 words as super jor, inferior, interior, preferable, previous, &c., are not in the com- 
 l)arative degree. And I doubt very much whether such words as inner, outer, 
 upper, hinder, can be properly said to be in the comparative degree. They do 
 not admit than after them, and they refer to an opposite rather than to a positive 
 state; thus, upper refers to loiver, ratlier than to up; inner, to outer. Inner and 
 outer differ very little from internal and external. 
 
 ? 218. a. The swperlative degree ascribes the quality in the 
 highest or the lowest degree in which such objects have it. 
 
 Ex. — " The loveliest flowers were there." " The m^st skillful rider could do no 
 better." "The least skillful rider could do no worse." " Two kindest souls alone 
 must meet; 'tis friendship makes the bondage sweet." — Watts. 
 
 1 219. b. It ascribes the quality in the highest or the lowest de- 
 gree to one object, or group of objects, as compared with the rest, or 
 with other conditions of the same object. 
 
 Ex. — "The largest sjoamore on the river." " The best peaches are taken from 
 the tree." " He sat highest on Parnassus." " I am happiest at home." 
 
 ? The superlative degree implies three or more objects classed together ; or 
 else it implies other similar conditions of the same object. 
 
 ? 220. An adjective can not be compared with propriety, wlien 
 it denotes a quality or property that can not exist in different de- 
 grees. 
 
 Ex. — ^Equal, level, perpendicular, square, naked, round, straight, first, second, 
 one, two, blind, deaf, dead, empty, perfect, right, honest, sincere, hollow, four- 
 footed. 
 
 ? 221. Good writers, however, sometimes use such adjectives in 
 the comparative or the superlative degree ; but then they do not 
 take them in their full sense. 
 
 Ex. — " Our sight is the ntost perfect of our senses." — Addison. This means that 
 it approaches nearer, than the rest, to perfection. " And love is still an emptier 
 name." — OoHsmith. Almost all descriptive or qualifying adjectives may be used 
 either as absolute, in their meaning, or as relative. And hence the comparative and 
 superlative de^jrees may sometimes express even less of the quality than the posi- 
 tive degree expresses. " John's apple may be better than mine, and William may 
 have the best apple, yet not one of them may be really good.''"' " Your largest horsa 
 is a mere pony." 
 
162 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 ? 222. A little of the quality may be expressed by adding isk 
 to the positive, or by placing before it such words as rather, some- 
 what j &c. 
 
 Ex. — Black, blackish; saltish; yellowish; somewhat disagreeable; rather young. 
 
 ? 223. A high degree of the quality, without implying direct 
 comparison, is expressed by very, exceedingly, a most, &c. 
 
 Ex. — " Very respectful ; exceedingly polite ; a most distinguished soldier." 
 
 Hour a<l|ective§ are rompared. 
 
 ? 224. To express inferiority, we use less and least. 
 
 Ex. — Pos. good, comp. less good, superl. least good ; important, less important, 
 least iinportant. 
 
 ? 225. To express superiority, the comparison is formed by adding 
 er and est to the positive, or by placing more and most before it. 
 
 Ex. — Pos. large, comp. larger^ superl, largest; rich, richer, richest ; cheerful, 
 more cheerful, most cheerful. See Eules for Spelling. 
 
 J Which of these methods should be used, depends chiefly on the sound of 
 the word, or on the number of its syllables. 
 
 ? 226. Adjectives of one syllable are compared by adding er for 
 
 the comparative, and est for the superlative. 
 
 Ex. — Deep, deeper, deepest ; wise, wiser ^ wised; sad, sadder, saddest ; dry, drier, 
 driest. 
 
 ? 227. Adjectives of three or more syllables must always be com- 
 pared by more and most. 
 
 Ex. — Beautiful, more heautifal, most heautifal. 
 
 ? Adjectives of two syllables follow some of them one method, and some the 
 other. 
 
 ? 228. Adjectives of two syllables ending in y, or in le after a 
 consonant, or accented on the second syllable, are generally com- 
 pared by er and est. 
 
 Ex. — Happy, happier, happiest ; feeble, feehler, feeblest ; polite, politer, politest. 
 
 ? 229. Some other adjectives of two syllables are sometimes com- 
 pared in like manner; especially if they end in a vowel or a liquid 
 sound. 
 
 Ex. — ^^ 'Narrow, narrower, narrowest ; handsome, handsomer, handsomest ; ten- 
 der, tenderer, tenderest.^'' " The metaphor is the commonest figure." — Blair's Rhe- 
 toric. " Philosophers are but a soberer sort of madmen." — Irving. 
 
 ? 230. Some words are expressed in the superlative degree, by 
 annexing most to them. 
 
 Ex. — Foremost, utmost, inmost, innermost, hindmost, nethermost. 
 
 ? 231. To express superiority, any adjective may sometimes be 
 
 compared by more and most. 
 
 Ex. — " A foot more light, a step more true, 
 
 Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew." — Scott. 
 
ADJECTIVES. 153 
 
 ? 232. When two or more adjectives come together, of which some 
 are properly compared by er and est, and others by more and most, the 
 smaller are generally placed first, and all are compared as one, by more 
 and most. 
 
 Ex. — " The more nice and elegant parts y — Johnson. " Homer's imaginatioa was 
 by far the most rich and copiousP — Pope. 
 
 Mure, most, less, and least, when used to compare other words, should be 
 parsed separately, and as adverbs. 
 
 ? The adjectives whose comparison can not be learned by means of a 
 general rule, are said to be irregular. 
 
 Ex. — *' Good, better, lest; bad, worse, worst.'''' See p. 11. 
 
 1% limber. 
 
 ? Some adjectives express number. 
 
 Ex. — This, these ; that, those ; few ; many. 
 
 ? One, first, second, etc. ; each, every, either, neither ; this, that, another ; 
 much, all (the whole), whole (all the), — denote but one object or one ag- 
 gregate. 
 
 Ex. — " Thii first MAN." *' HhQ first ten men." '•'■Every creature loves its like.' ' 
 ^'■Neither combatant recovered from his wounds." 
 
 1 The numerals above one, (as two, three, etc.,) and these, those, all 
 (number), /ew, several, many, divers, sundry, refer to more objects than one. 
 
 ? 233. Adjectives implying number, must agree in this respect 
 with the substantives to which they relate. 
 
 Ex.—" Four feet ;" not, " Four /oo«." •' That kind of trees," or, '* Trees of 
 that KIND ;" not, " Those kind of tree's." 
 
 Pronominal asid otlier definitive adjeetlves. 
 
 All takes in the whole number spoken ofj or the entire object or clnss. "J.?Z 
 men." ^'AU the years of man's life." " If all the year were playing holidays." 
 *' He is the best of them olV 
 
 Any strongly denotes an indefinite object. It denotes it as opposed to a 
 particular one or to none. "There is little honor in what any body can do." 
 " Have you amj foreigners in your county?" 
 
 Both means the two. It is usually emphatic, implying not only the one, but 
 the other also. ''Both horses are lame." " Wis father and mother are both dead." 
 
 Certain indefinitely describes what the speaker more definitely knows. "A 
 certain man planted a vineyard." " I will not vote for a certain candidate." 
 
 Divers=several or many + different. '* Divers philosophers hold that the 
 lips are part and parcel of the mind." — Shak. Ever so many different philoso- 
 phers, etc. 
 
 Each means both or all considered separately. It implies two or more. 
 ''Each one of the twins has a horse." ''■Each pupil must use his own books." 
 
 Either means one or the other of two, but not both. Sometimes it de- 
 notes the two in the sense of each, but with greater distinctness. " I will sell 
 either one of my two horses." ''■Either road leads to town." " On either side 
 they found impassable barriers." — Irving. That is, if they turned to one side, 
 they found them there ; and if they turned to the other side, tlfcy also found 
 them there. 
 
 E'lther is sometimes applied to more than two, but with very questionable pro- 
 priety. '■'■ Either or ne'dner, applied to any number greater than one of two objects 
 
154 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 IS a mere solecism,* and one of late mtrodnotlon.'' ~Eirrison''8 English Tjaiiguagp. 
 " The pronominal adjectives either and neither^ in Ptnct propriety ot" syntax, rchito 
 to two only ; when more are referred to, any and none^ or anjf one and n^ one, 
 iiiould be used in stead of them." — Ooold Brown. The following sentence from 
 Geo. P. Marsh, however, could hardly be improved : " DryJen, Pope, and Words- 
 worth have not scrupled to lay a profane hand upon Gha"ucer, a mightier genius 
 ihan eithery 
 
 Else excludes what is ascertained, from something indefinite. " What else ?" 
 "Any one eZse." "Who else have seen him?" 
 
 Every means all considered separately. It implies several or many. ^^Every 
 apple in the basket is frozen." " Pick up every one." 
 
 Few denotes a comparatively small number. ^'•Few shall part wiiere many 
 meet." 
 
 Former. See This and Tliat. 
 
 Latter. See This and That 
 
 Many denotes a comparatively large number. 
 
 Many a means many considered separately. It differs from every, only in 
 not denoting all. Many a is to mamj, as every is to all. " Many a man has 
 been ruined by intemperance." 
 
 Much denotes a comparatively large quantity. ^'Much money." 
 
 Neither means not the one nor the other. It is opposed to each denoting 
 two, or to either in this sense ; sometimes to both. ^'Each of yours is good, but 
 neither of mine is." " Shall I take both, one, or neither ?" 
 
 No means not any, or not a, or it denies of all separately. Sometimes it de- 
 nies a certain character of an object. "iVb man knows his destiny." " She is 
 no friend of mine." " Even Sunday shines no Sabbath-day to me." — Pope. 
 
 One may be applied indefinitely to any person or other object. 
 
 One corresponds to another, when the meaning is not that there are but two ; 
 one or the one, to the other of two. One=eiiher of two ; the one=a particular 
 one of two. "First came one daiighter, and then another.''^ "Tiiey marched one 
 after another.''^ "He went from one extreme to the other.''^ One sometimes de- 
 notes a person as not well known, or as of not much importance. Hence it is 
 sometimes very contemptuous. "Ow,e Peter Simmons was tlie defendant." "Au 
 attack upon me by one Reid." — Benton. 
 
 Other or another denotes something different or distinct from something 
 else, yet of the same class or name. With allusion to something known or 
 mentioned, it denotes something else. " An other overflow." " Take the oUiery 
 " They are meant for us ; they can be meant for no other.'''' — P. Henry. 
 
 Own implies possession with emphasis or distinction. " My own.'''' " Use 
 your own book." " Our own Webster." 
 
 Same means not another or not different. It denotes tlie identical object or 
 a similar object. "It is the same boat that we saw an hour ago." "This 
 church is built of the same stones as the other." 
 
 Several denotes more than two and fewer than many. "Several boys." 
 
 Some denotes one or a portion indefinitely. It is opposed to all, a particu- 
 lar one, or the tvhole. "-Some of the robbers were caught." "Some one said so." 
 ^'■Some of his money was stolen." When two indefinite portions are spoken of 
 or are contrasted, some is often applied to one, and o^Aer^ to the other; when 
 more than two are spoken of, some is generally used throughout. Sometimes 
 others is used to continue the sentence after the first some. " Some of tlie men 
 were without coats, and otfiers without shoes." "Some of the papils are indo- 
 lent, some are mischievous, and some are stupid." 
 
 * Errors of pfraitimar are oomtnonly called solerisvia, from Soli, tlie nmiie of a Grecian col- 
 ony, noted for the misuse of their mother-toiii^uii. "The harbarium is an oflfence against 
 etymology, the aoledsm against syntax, and tlie impropriety agauist lexicogi-aphy." — 
 CatnpbelVa Rhetoric. 
 
ADJECTIVES. 155 
 
 Such refers to an object as being of the same nature, character, or descrip- 
 tion, as some thing else. " Alodesty, meekness, and such virtues." "Such men 
 as he is." "Such principles as we approve." It is sometimes so used as to in- 
 clude both the objects or classes to which the comparison relates. "It is so 
 used by such waiters as Swift and Addison;" i. e., by Swift and Addison, and 
 other writers hke them. Sometimes it denotes identity in stead of similarity, 
 and is then generally in the way of a better expression. "Such nouns as end in 
 X assume es;" say, "77ie nouns which,^'' &c. 
 
 Suiidry=cZwer5, but it is not quite so emphatic. " So teach sundry gram- 
 marians." — Brawn. 
 
 This (plu. these) strongly and distinctly points out something as near the 
 speaker, in place or time. " This house and these fields, are they not yours ?" 
 "27^^5 subject has been frequently discussed." 
 
 That (pin. those) strongly and distinctly points out something as not near the 
 speaker, or as not so near as something else. Hence, in speaking of two, that 
 may be applied to the former, and thi^ to the latter. ^'That cloud is exceedingly 
 beautiful." " These roses will bloom longer than thosej' " TJiai question which 
 we were yesterday discussing." 
 
 "Some put the bliss in action, some in ease : 
 Those call it pleasure ; and contentment, these.^^ — Pope. 
 
 In. such cases, former and latter, one and other, ones and others, may also fre- 
 quently be used. Former and latter are the most obvious in their reference. 
 '♦ The cry of danger to the Union was raised to divert their assaults upon the Con- 
 stitution. It was the latter, and not the former, that was in danger." — Benton. 
 In the explanatory phrase "that is,''^ that often seems to be used in the sense of 
 this. Sometimes that is simply more forcible than the. "Tliat man who said so, 
 is mistaken." " I trust I have none of that other spirit which would drag an- 
 gels down." — Webster. 
 
 Very is nearly equivalent to a compound personal pronoun, or to the word 
 even. " Our very existence depends upon it"==Our existence itself, etc. 
 
 What and which, whether interrogative or responsive, and also their com- 
 pounds, point out objects definitely, and sometimes indefinitely. "What man 
 among you?" "Whatever motives govern him." "All persons whatsoever.'^ 
 ^'■What money he earned, she spent." "By which charter, certain rights were 
 secured to us." 
 
 Yon or yonder strongly points out something insight, " Fori hawthorn 
 bush." "Yonder hills, robed in misty blue, were the haunts of my childhood." 
 
 ? 234. Since every quality or attribute must belong to some object, 
 adjectives are said to belong to the substantives which they qualify or 
 limit. 
 
 ? 235. When an adjective relates equally to two or more substan- 
 tives, it should be parsed accordingly. 
 
 Ex. — " The APPLES, PEAPvS, and peacues, are ripe.'''' "A man of great sensibil- 
 rry and genius." " That house and lot." "The cow and calf are while.'''' "A 
 wh'ite cow and calf." But, "A white cow and a calf,'' "A white cow and her calf," 
 do not mean that the calf is white too. " He is a venerable old man." Here vene- 
 rahle qualifies old man, rather than man only. 
 
 . 236. When two or more adjectives come between an article and a 
 plural noun, they sometimes qualify each only a part of what the noun 
 denotes. 
 
 Ex.—" The New and Old Testament ^"=The New Testament and the Old Tes- 
 tament ; not, The New Testameuts and the Old Testaments. 
 
150 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 ? 237. An adjective is sometimes used without a substantive, to com- 
 plete the sense of a preceding participle or infinitive. The adjective re- 
 lates in sense to the object suggested by a previous possessive ; or else it 
 relates indefinitely to some being, or to all beings whatsoever. 
 
 Ex. — " To BE good is to be happy.'''' " These are the consequences of being too 
 fond of glory." " Ilis being rich was the cause of his ruin." " There is nothing 
 lost by BEING careftiV The phrase is equivalent to a noun, or to an adjective and 
 noun : also, a noun that will preserve the sense, can generally be supplied. 
 ^'■Goodness is happiness.^'' " These are the consequences of too mu^h fondness for 
 glory." " His riches were the cause of his ruin." " To be a good person^ is, to be 
 &, happy pet'son;'''' or, "To be good people, is, to be happy people.'''' "These are 
 the consequences of being a nation too fond of glory." " His being a rich young 
 man, was the cause of his ruin." " There is nothing lost by being a careful person 
 — by being careful persons.''^ 
 
 . A word that is usually an adjective, has sometimes the sense or mo- 
 difications of a noun or a pronoun, and may then be parsed accordingly . 
 
 Ex. — " Burke wrote on the heautiftd and the suU'ime.'''' " O'er the vast ab- 
 rupV — Milton. " We crossed the mighty deep.'''' " In the dead of night." 
 " Companion of the dead.'''' — Campbell. " Children are afraid to go into the dark.'''' 
 " I_ prefer green to red.'''' "The past, at least, is secure." — Webster. "These 
 primitives have no derivatives,^'' " Between the nohWs palace and the hut." 
 " Where cither's fall determines both tlierr fates." "Every one must have heard 
 of the tragical fate of Etnmett." — Irv'mg. 
 
 ? Such a word, when used as a noun, expresses the quality by a gen- 
 eral reference to some or all objects possessing it ; or it sets forth some 
 particular object or class as characterized by it. 
 
 When an adverb is joined to such a word, the word must be parsed as an ad- 
 jective, belonging to such a substantive understood as will make sense ; namely, 
 th'mg, things, persons, people, place, style, one, on£s, &c. : as, " The truly wise are 
 not avaricious ;" " How much have you got ?" " Nearly all were captured ;" " A 
 fine instance of the truly sublime,'''' better, — " of true subllmity.^^ 
 
 So, indeed, should every such word be parsed, when the word denoting the 
 person or thing referred to, is obviously understood, or can be supplied without 
 injuring the sense; as, " Of the apples he took the larger [ones] and left the 
 smaller^'' [ones], " Turn to the ?e/i!" [hand or side]. It is generally better to parse 
 the adjective as a substantive, only when it has so far usurped the character of one 
 that the expression with the most suitable word supplied, would not exactly con- 
 vey the same sense, or else would be tedious and clumsy. Many grammarians, 
 though perhaps needlessly, parse as pronouns most of the definitive adjectives 
 above described, when the modified substantive is omitted. Such parsing is ob- 
 jectionable, furthermore, inasmuch as the words generally may be, and frequently 
 are, modified by adverbs. 
 
 When an adjective is used substantively, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether 
 it sliould be parsed as a noun or as a pronoun. This will depend on whether the 
 word is descriptive of a class, like a common noun, or is merely designative — 
 belonging to the class called form-words, and applicable to objects tliat differ in 
 kind. 
 
 . An adjective sometimes becomes an adverb, without a change of form. 
 Ex. — " I like it lest.'''' " Go, get you to my lady's chamber ; and tell her that 
 if she PAINT an inch thick, yet to this favor will she come at lasV^—AShahespeare. 
 
ADJEOTIVES. EXERCISES. 157 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Ihrse the > 
 
 1. 
 
 *A dark cloud came over the city. The summer* breezes blow soft*" 
 
 and cooP". The annual, autumnal, desolating'' fires have almost destroyed 
 
 this well-timbered country. Horses are as^^ valuable'' as'^ mules [are]. 
 
 Homer was a greater*^ poet than Virgil. Here the valleys are more^' 
 
 autiful, and the mountains [are] less'^ rugged'" and more fertile. Then 
 
 nies an elevated rolling prairie country. The sweetest® flowers fringed 
 
 'i little stream. The river is highest in June. The cedars highest on the 
 
 ountain, are the smallest [cedars]. The last blow was more fatal. The 
 
 remost horse is superior to the rest. 
 
 2. 
 Up'^ springs the lark, shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger' of morn. 
 ITc treated poor' and rich alike. To be' poor^ is more honorable'' than to 
 ijc dishonorably rich [is honorable]. 
 
 The beautiful' fields and forests now in view, were very extensive'", 
 :ind governed" by some Peruvian prince or princess. — Prescott. 
 
 On the grassy bank stood a tall waving ash, sound to the very top. — 
 Dkkens. 
 
 How brilliant and mirthful the light' of her eye, 
 Like'" a star^ glancing''-* out'^ from the blue^ of the sky ! — Whittier. 
 There brighter suns dispense serener light, 
 • And milder moons imparadise the night. — Montgomery. 
 Where smiling spring' its earliest visit* paid. 
 And parting summer's lingering blooms' delayed. — Goldsmith. 
 3, 
 There are two^ pear-trees in the second row. Any man can carry the 
 whole limb with all its apples. Would any man defend infidelity by 
 such or any other arguments ? No man is perfectly independent of all 
 others". There is a horse for each man. Many a fine intellect is "buried 
 in poverty. Neither course is proper. This chair is nearer to me than 
 that'". Who else came ? One story is good until another'" is told. Silver 
 and gold have I none^^. These resolutions reasserted the sole right of 
 the colonies to tax themselves in all cases whatsoever'". 
 
 • It may be -well, when time allows it, for the pupil to descend, in parsing, according 
 
 to our clas.sifieation of adjectives : thus, adjective ; descriptive or definitive : common 
 
 proper, compound, 2ifono7ninal, &c. ; distributive, demonstrative, &c. It may also be well 
 
 to say, in parsing some descriptive adjectives, "it can not be compared with ijroprioty; 
 
 and belongs," etc. 
 
 (a.) "/Swrw-jjier" is an adjective, — a -word *** definitive, etc. (?/.) ^^ Desolating''' is an 
 adjective, — a word * * * participial, it is a participle ascribing * * * and belongs, etc. (c.) 
 
 in the positive degree, it ascribes an equal degree of the quality ; and b(dongs, etc. 
 
 id.) comparative degree, it ascribes the quality in a higher d(>gree to one object as com- 
 pared with another; and belongs, etc. (e.) in th& superlative degree, it ascribes the 
 
 quality, etc. (See definitions of tlie supeilative degree.) (/.) and belongs to people un- 
 derstood, according to Rule X. (g.) and belongs ta jterson or persons understood, ai"- 
 
 cording to Rale X. Or saij, '" and is here used without a substantive, according to Note 
 
 X." (A.) and it belongs to the phrase "To be poor," according to Rule X. (i.) — —and 
 
 belongs to '■'■fields andforents" according to Rule X. (j.) '■'■Two" is an adjective * * * dvfini- 
 Use * * * numeral * * * cardinal * * * and belongs, etc. (fc.) " Kone^' is hire perhaps parsed 
 best as an adjective belonging to " silver" and " gold," notwithstanding it can not be phieed 
 next to them. "We shall have none end." — Bacon. It is not essential that an adjective 
 must always be capable of standing next to its substantive. 
 
168 ADJECTIVES. EXERCISES. 
 
 Examples to bo Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to adjectives, may bo reduced to the 
 following heads : — 
 
 1. Choice. 2. Numher. 3. Comparison. 4. Position. 
 1. Choice. 
 
 1. In the use of adjectives, care should be taken to select the most ap- 
 propriate for the meaning intended. 
 
 2. Adverbs should not be unnecessarily used as adjectives. 
 
 3. Them should not be used for those. 
 
 Them boys are very idle. "What do you ask for them apples ? Let s omo 
 of them boys sit on them other benches. I have three horses, and you may 
 ride either of them. Neither of my dozen razors is worth a cent. Further 
 information may be obtained from either of the [eight] professors. Neither of 
 the [six] hats is large enough for my head. None of tlie two pleases me. 
 Any one of the two roads will take you to town. Tall pines grew on either 
 side of the river. Each one of the tliousand soldiers received a guinea. You 
 may take e'er a one or ne'er a one, just as you please. That very point which 
 we are now discussing, was lately decided in Kentucky. These very men with 
 whom you traveled yesterday, are now in jail. There seems to be little glory 
 in doing what every body can do. — any body — Memory and forecast just 
 returns engage; this pointing back to youth, that on ti age. — Pope. The 
 whole school were at play ; some at marbles, others at ball, these at racing, 
 those at jumping the rope, and some few at mumble-peg. (Use some^ and'lastly 
 say, "a%£? a few at mumhle-peg.'''') Such capers are unbefitting a man of his 
 age. — unsuitable to — Such verbs as assume ec?, are regular. Such persons 
 as are unprovided, will please to apply at the ofBee. All persons that are, &c. 
 
 There are not less than fifteen banks in the city of New York that suspended 
 to-day. I have caught less fish than you. A proper fraction is less than one, 
 because it expresses less parts than it takes to make a unit. — D. P. Golhurn. 
 The summit of the hill was covered with stinted trees. (Say "s^Mn^et?," for 
 stinted is usually restricted to eating and drinking.) It all tends to show, that 
 
 our whole plans had been discovered. The whole tends that all our^ &c. We 
 
 stand the last, and, if we fall, the latest experiment of self-government. His 
 now wife is a cousin of his former wife. The then minister was unusually 
 talented. Our bullets glanced harmlessly from the alligator's back. Open the 
 door widely. We were all sitting quietly and comfortably round the fire. 
 The shutters were painted greenly. We arrived safely, after all our misfortunes. 
 Tins rose blooms most fairly. Velvet feels smoothly. I live freely from care. 
 John reads too loudly, and James reads too lowly. {I. e., John is too loud,, 
 when .... James is too low in voice, when — ) Yet often touching will wear 
 gold. — frequent— It is the often doing of a thing, that makes it a haiiit. 
 He makes seldom mention of his relatives. He seldom mentions, &c. Motion 
 upwards is more agreeable than motion downwards. Upward motion, &c. II;;- 
 made a soon and prosperous voyage. You jump too highly when you dance. 
 The news of my marriage is a rumor merely. — a mere rumor. When a noun 
 stands independently or absolutely of the rest of the sentence, it is in the nomi- 
 native case. The relative should be placed as nearly as possible to its ante- 
 CKlent. A regularly and well-constructed sentence. The symptoms are two* 
 f'tld, inwards and outwards. Apples are more plenty than peaches. — N. Wehster. 
 
ADJECTIVES. — EXERCISER. 159 
 
 2. Nainber. 
 
 Adjectives implying number, must agree in this respect with the sub- 
 ;:-iantives to which they belong. 
 
 a. The nouns which are not changed in form to express number, are sin- 
 ;^ular when they denote one object, and plural when they denote more. 
 
 You have been playing this two hours. This oats, I fear, "will never come 
 up. Give him this memoranda. How do you like these sort of things? 
 You will always see those kind of men sitting and loafering about taverns. 
 — men of that kind — I never wear those sort of hoops. Take up this ashes. 
 liiose molasses I bought yesterday. That tongs should be left in the kitchen. 
 Tiiat victuals will last us to-day and to-morrow. "We have not much provi- 
 sions for the journey. — not many provisions — or, riot much provision—' 
 She was very extravagant in dressing, and by these means became poor. He 
 was indolent and extravagant, and by that means became a pauper. He had 
 no other thoughts than that of amassing money and hoarding it. There are no 
 thoughts more paiufal than that of suspense and disappointment. If that be 
 the facts of the case, he shall not escape from punishment. Every reasonable 
 amends have been made. All reasonable amends^ &c. 
 
 3. Comparison. 
 
 a. The mode of comparing, b. Double comparison, c. Adjectives that 
 should not he compared, d. The terms denoting the objects compared. 
 
 a. Adjectives should be compared in the best manner according to 
 usage and euphony. 
 
 It was the powerfuUest speech I ever heard. I think the rose is the beauti 
 fullest of flowers. Omar was the faithfuUest of his followers. — Irving. The 
 fox is the cunningest of animals. Tliero are few bachelors soberer than ho is. 
 A cleverer man is not to be found. You are welcomer now than you were 
 then. He is the awkwardest, backwardest fellow we have over had. This 
 la a reasonabler proposition than the other. By silence, many a dunderpate, 
 like the owl, the stupidest of birds, comes to be considered the very type of wis- 
 dom. — Irving. They unfortunately escaped to the insecurest places. I never 
 was at a ploasanter party. This pink is more red than the other. Young 
 folks never had a more merry time. This is the baddest accident that ever 
 happened to us. The furthermost and the hindermost wagons are in the 
 greatest danger. The upmost room was occupied by the gentlemen, and the 
 lowermost by the ladies. He is a profoundest philosopher. (Observe that the 
 idiom of our language allows us to say, " a most profound,''^ but not, " a pro- 
 , foundesty) A clearer, more rapid and impetuous stream, flows from no other 
 part of these mountains. A more clear, rapid, and impetuous, &c. The com- 
 missioners selected the firmest, narrowest, and shallowest part of the river, for 
 the bridge. 
 
 b. Adjectives should not be doubly compared. 
 
 More greater calamities yet await us. After the most strictest sect of our 
 religion I Uved a pharisee. The duke of Milan, and his more braver daughter. 
 — Shakespeare. This was the most unkindest cut of all. How much are ye 
 letter than the fowls. There are few more politer men than he. The Most 
 Highes;fc shall judge between me and thee. Worser misfortunes yet await us. 
 If he told that tale on me, he is the most meanest boy that ever was. I never 
 heard a more truer saying. I think her less fairer than her sister. You came 
 more earlier than I expected. A farmer's life is the most happiest of all. 
 
ItJO ADJECTIVES. EXERCISES. 
 
 Those woro the least happiest days of my life. The worst may become 
 more worse, —still worse. Tlie most hindmost man was captured by the 
 Indians. He was the most unluckiest of the speculators. The lesser quan- 
 tity I remove to the other side of the equation. This was the most unwisest 
 thing you could have done. She always dressed in the most costliest and finest 
 silks. He fished at the most quiet and deepest place. — tlie deepest and most 
 quiet place ; or, — the most deep and quiet pkice. 
 
 C. A word that usually has an absolute meanincr, should never be used 
 in a limited sense, unless the language does not afford a better expression 
 for the intended meaning. 
 
 His performance was the most perfect of all. — best — These artificial 
 flowers are the most perfect I ever saw. (Perhaps allowable.) Virtue confers 
 supremest dignity on man, and should be his chiefest desire. — supreme .... 
 chief desire. A more rectangular figure would hold more. A rectangular — 
 or, A figure more nearly rectangular, &c. I would rather have a squarer box. 
 The roundest pebbles are found on the extremest part of the sand-bar. The 
 heath-peach is more preferable than the Indian-peach. The report was not so 
 universally spread as was supposed. — not so generally or widely — The most 
 universal customs are apt to last longest. He has a most spotless reputation. 
 Cotton and sugar are most principally raised in the Southern States. — mostly 
 raised — or, principally raised — Her insolence is most insutferable. — almost 
 insufferable. Aristides was the least unjust of the Athenians, Angelina is 
 the least imperfect of her sex. I trust the people are more uncorrupted than 
 their leaders. — less corrupted — I hope they will be more undeceivable in 
 future. The side of a hill is more ineligible for a house, than the summit. 
 
 d. 1. The superlative must be used, when three or more are compared ; 
 and the comparative is usually required, when but two are compared. 
 
 The oldest of the two boys was sent to college. The youngest of the two 
 sisters is the handsomest. He is the stouter of all the boys in our school. 
 Which is the largest number, — the minuend or the subtrahend? SeUm is the 
 liveliest horse of the pair. The latter one of the three had forgotten his books. 
 The house has but two stories, and the uppermost rooms are not yet finished. 
 Women are the weakest sex. Which can run the fastest, — ^your horse or mine ? 
 His wife is the best manager; therefore let her rule him. Of the two Latin 
 poets, Virgil and Horace, the first is the most celebrated. A trochee has the 
 former syllable accented, and the latter unaccented. 
 
 2. The superlative degree represents the described objects as being a 
 part of the others. 
 
 3. All comparisons without the superlative degree, do not strictly rep- 
 resent the objects denoted by one terra, as being a part of those denoted 
 by the other. 
 
 a. Tlie word other, and similar terms, imply two distinct parts, and but 
 one kind or general class. 
 
 That boy is the brightest of all his classmates. China has the greatest 
 population of any nation on earth. Solomon was wiser than any of the an- 
 cient kings. Jiicob loved Joseph more than all his chUdren. Webster's 
 spelling-book is the most popular of any yet published. Youth is the most 
 important period of any in life. That grove is the shadiest and coolest place 
 of any— of any others— of all others. Webster is one of the greatest orators 
 of any country. — may well be ran/ced among the greatest orators of any country. 
 Our grammar lessons are the hardest of any we have. This is a better-furnishr d 
 
ADJECTIVES. — OBESRVATICrS. 161 
 
 room than any in the house. This is the best-furnished room of any in the 
 house. There is nothing so good for a sprain as cold water. — nothing 
 else — He was less partial than any historian that ever wrote. — any other — 
 It is a better treatise on this subject than any that ever was written. (The 
 treatise could not be better than itself) None of our magazines is so interest- 
 ing to me as Harper's. No other one of, &c. Natural scenery pleases me the 
 best of any thing else. Nothing pleases me so much as natural scenery. In 
 no case is man so apt to act unjustly, as where his love or hatred interferes. 
 Noah and his family outlived all the people who lived before the flood, — N. 
 Webster. (They did not outlive themselves.) That tree overtops aU the trees 
 m the forest. 
 
 Adam, the goodliest of men since born, 
 
 His sons ; the fairest of her daughters, Eve. — Milton. 
 
 4. Position. ^ i 
 
 1. Adjectives should be placed where they will show clearly what 
 word or words they are to qualify or limit. The sense is the best guide. 
 
 a. Such an arrangement of words should be avoided, as will make the 
 adjective modify any other than its proper word. 
 
 b. Of a series of coordinate adjectives that may be differently com- 
 pared, it is generally more elegant to place the shorter ones before the 
 longer. 
 
 Remark. — A noun with its adjective may be limited or qualified by another 
 adjective, and these again by another, and so on. In such cases, the adjectives 
 denoting the more casual qualities, usually precede the others. " An old man "" 
 " A good old man ;" " A venerable good old man ;" " A stout venerable good old 
 man;" "Two stout venerable good old men;" "The first two stout venerably 
 good old men." 
 
 The congregation will please to sing the three first and the two last stanzas 
 of the hymn. The four first benches are reserved for pupils ; the others are 
 for visitors. The three last mails brought me no letter. I have just bought 
 a new pair of gloves. — a pair of new gloves. This is an excellent tract of 
 land. The heads of the horses were all adorned with ribbons. He is a very 
 young tall man. All were drowned except the captain and other three offi- 
 cers. If I be served such another trick, I'll have my brains taken out. — Shak. 
 In a few more years, not even an Indian burial mound will be lefl untouched. 
 The dress had a row of silk fancy green buttons, and strings of satin pink rib- 
 bon. He is one of the most influential and richest men in the city. There is 
 not a more fertile, fairer, and more dehghtful valley west of the Mississippi. 
 The eagle soared above the mountain high. He is the apparent heir to the 
 crown. The convent is surrounded by a fifteen feet high and a three feet thick 
 wall. — a wall fifteen — A large reward and pardon will be oftered to the 
 informer. Pardon and a large reward, &c. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 All and whole are sometimes misapplied, one for the other ; and less is frequently 
 misused for /ewer. "Tiie whole woi-ld"=All the world : but the plural phrases 
 "All the apples," " The whole apples," are not equivalent ; all being opposed to 
 a part of the number, and whole to a part of each object. "The bear received no 
 less than six balls." Say, " no fewer," or, "not fewer." Zes« is apt to suggest 
 qtcantiti/, while fewer can suggest number only. Such phrases as *^one or more per- 
 sons,''^ which Murray said should be ^'one person, or more than one.'' are now con- 
 
152 JVPJEOTIVFP. OBSEKVA.TIONS. 
 
 sidered allowable. " Every village or gurrisoa li;\3 one, or more scape-goats of this 
 kind." — Irving. . 1,-0 • ^ 1 
 
 Much that we now consider erroneous English, is merely old Eagli.sn that wad 
 once in fiishion and in good repute. Of this kind are such forms as " heautiful&r, 
 powerfulest, mrtuoasesV " Benedict is not the vii?ioj)e/uUest husband that I know." 
 — Shakespeare. ... 
 
 Most adjectives may be taken either m an absolute or in a relative sense. lu 
 the former they suggest that the object has the quality ia full, or, in what is usu- 
 ally considered the full state ; in the latter, that it merely has of the qualiti/. The 
 latter sense must often be inferred from certain uses of the comparative or the 
 
 _. , „__ , . , ^ y 
 
 good.'''' " I feel somewhat letter to-day, though I am by no means toelV ^'■Sadder 
 XM&aihQ saddest mghV— Byron. '' Who canst the w'vsest iwis-e/- make, and babes 
 as ww« as they." — Gowper. "The poor man that loves Christ, is ricAer than the 
 richest man that hates him." — Bunyan. '• It is almost as thin as the thinnest pa- 
 per." — Chambers. "And in the lowest deep a lower deep, still threatening to de- 
 vour me, opens wide." — Milton. From the.se examples, whicli are all correct, we 
 may infer that the comparative may sometimes be estimated from the superlative 
 or the comparative ; and that these degrees may occasionally be considered, equal 
 to or even below the positive, as well as above it. 
 
 1. The comparative may be estimated from the positive taken in the full or ab- 
 solute sense; as, " Girard is rich, but Astor is still richer.'''' " The pipers loud and 
 louder blew, the dancers quick and quicker flew." — Burns. 2. It may imply a pos- 
 itive taken in a relative, or not in the full, sense ; as, " If you have but five dol- 
 lars, you are rkher than I am." '•'■K fuller explanation ;" "A less thorough investi- 
 gation ;" "A more perfect system ;" "A less perfect system." 3. Sometimes it is 
 estimated from the comj:)arative or the superlative ; as, " My kite rose h'lgher, h'lgher^ 
 higher, and higher^ until it was highest, and far higher than the highest of all the 
 otlier kites." 4. Tne comparative may be estimated from the positive of some other 
 quality or stat6 ; as, "He is more intelligent than rich.'''' " They are letter clothed than 
 fed.'''' 5. Sometimes it seems to be estimated from the comparative of the opposite 
 quality; as, " The wealthier citizens were disposed to make peace, but the poorer 
 were not." "The higher classes are generally well educated, but the lower are 
 not." 6. Sometimes it implies that the increase or decrease of one quality proceeds 
 uniformly with that of another; as, " The older the wine, the letter it is." " The 
 sooner, the better.^'' 
 
 1. Superlative estimated from the positive absolute ; as, "The bravest of the 
 brave.''"' 2. Superlative estimated from the positive taken in a relative or limited 
 sense ; as, " Tlie creek was too shallow for dipping with a backet, even where it 
 
 was deepest." 3. Superlative estimated from the comparative or the superlative 
 as, "The ripest of the ri^er peaches were delicious." ^^T'ne^nest of t'ne fnest 
 horses took the sweepstakes." (I think that the last two sentences are proper.) 
 
 The superlative degree seems not always to imply an intervening comparative, 
 but sometimes to be estimated directly from the positive of the same quality ; as, 
 " The last years of his practice were more lucrative than the frat.^^ "The highest 
 classes are generally rich and haughty " [but the lowest classes are poor and hum- 
 ble]. " He sold the largest apples, and made the others into cider." In fact, this 
 degree seems to be allowable in speaking of two, when the design is not so much 
 to show that one is superior to the other, as to suggest that there is none above it 
 or beyond it that is superior to it ; in other words, when we do not look back to 
 the inferior objects, but rather look for superior objects and And none. "Tlio 
 fartfie«t house on tlio peninsula is my residence," could be said if there were but 
 two houses on the peninsula. "An iambus has the /irst syllable unaccented, and 
 the i(M< accented." ^^This refers to the nearest object; that, to something more 
 distant." " His antagonist made the ablest speech ;"*' i. e., 1 heard none that was 
 better. Sometimes, also, the comparative tends to suggest pi'oportion. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that many qualities or attributes e.\ist in more degrees, or 
 In much greater variety, than the degrees of comparison can express. Other modeb 
 of expression are therefore often used to show degrees or varieties of the quality, 
 and frequently with fine etfect. "A lig?U-<in'on—dark-<r\\'an—e.meraU-f:Ye/^ii— 
 p«^grecn color." ''Pink rod, cri7n8on red', safron red, strawberr;/ red, Uueish red 
 
ADJECTIVES. OBSERVATIONS. 163 
 
 (—purple)." '^Boiling hot, starh mad, stone dead, dead drunk." "She ia most 
 beaatifal — ineomporaUy beautiful — angelic.'''' " Slie appeared in a snow-white dresa, 
 and a rich saffron-colored shawl." Poets take greater liberty, in the use of adjec- 
 tives, than is allowed to prose writers ; as, "That heavenliest hour of Heaven is 
 worthiest thee !" — Byron. "And you shall see who ha^ the properest notion." 
 — Id. "A foot more light, a step more trae.'''' — Scott. Perhaps in light literature, 
 such expressions as the following are quite proper : " Her husband was none of 
 the soberest.''' — Dickens. " None of the most sober,''' would here, I tliink, sound 
 rather stiff and affected. More and most are sometimes preferred in prose, for 
 greater empiiasis, or to express the degree of a shorter and a longer adjective in 
 the briefest uniform manner ; as, " He is more bold and actioe,''^ for, " He is bolder 
 and more active.''^ " She is a most bright, polished, and amiable young lady." 
 Most is usually required after a or an, or to express the superlative of eminence ; 
 as, "A most polite gentleman;" "A most queer sight." Such adjectives aa per- 
 fect, round, extreme, correct, blind, and still, are sometimes compared when not 
 used in their full sense. " More perfect" ^-^-eare/- to perfection ; " most perfect"= 
 nearest to perfection : both implying less than perfect. It has been well argued, 
 that if '''■ greater perfection'''' is an allowable phrase, why should not '•'•m^re perfecir 
 be allowable. To say, " She is the least imperfect of her sex," would imply that 
 tlie whole sex is quite imperfect. " Aristides was the least unjust of the Athe- 
 nians," is as mucii as to say, "The Athenians were all unjust, — a set of knaves, of 
 whom Aristides was only not the worst one." The adjectives should have been 
 " most perfect," "most just." Such expressions as "the most unconquerable," 
 " the less imperfect," "the least imperfect," " the more unnecessary," " the most 
 unbecoming," " the most unnatural," "most uncertain," " a most superior," "a 
 most inferior," " the most blameless," "the most worthless," "a fuller," "the 
 most complete," "the completest," "a most thorough," "the straightest," "a 
 straighter," " a more reddish," " a less yellowish," &o., are all, in certain cases, 
 allowable. 
 
 Mdny, more, most, have for their o'^^o^S.tes few, fewer, fewest ; much, more, most, 
 have Vittle, less, least ; great, greater, greatest, have little, small, smaller, lesser 
 (implying dignity), smallest, leait. Lesser should generally be rejected ; though it 
 is sometimes used, by good writers, in opposition to greater. Also the phrase 
 " Lesser Asia," is sometimes used for the more elegant phrase "Asia Minor." 
 Worse is itself a comparative, therefore worser must be a double comparative, 
 which is improper. So is "most happiest," for instance, a double superlative, 
 and therefore improper. Adjectives should not even seem to be doubly compared ; 
 thus, " A more elegant and simpler method," mi^ht be supposed to mean, "A 
 more elegant and more simpler method." It should be, "A simpler and more ele- 
 gant metliod," or, " A more simple and elegant method." 
 
 "A tobacco-seed is the least of any other seed — of all other seeds — of any seed 
 — ^less than any seed :" "There is no seed so small as a tobacco-seed." That is, a 
 tobacco -seed is a seed of some other kind of seed, or it is smaller than itself— ab- 
 surdities. " The weakest of the two." That is, one is weaker than the other ; 
 therefore say, " The weaker of the two." 
 
 "An old pair of shoes." The meaning is not that the pair is old, but that the 
 shoes are old; hence say, "A pair of old shoes." There are some ambiguities in 
 regard to adjectives, that must be left to the discernment of common sense, for 
 they can not be well avoided unless we use the hyphen ; and this mark would gen- 
 erally make the expressions too uncouth. Said a gentleman to a lady, " That is a 
 beautiful eh:\\d'» cap;" and she replied, "If it is not bought for an ugly one." 
 ' Large Bread Bakery." Is the bread large, or the bakery f " Cincinnati Boys' 
 School." A critical wag said, that only the boys beloiigiug to Cincinnati could at- 
 tend the school. " A child's beautiful cap," seems affected, and ma^ imply that 
 every child has also an ugly cap: though we must say, " A child's black cap. 
 When I say, ''Five thousand two hundred and thirty-five dollars," each small nu- 
 meral relates to the larger next to it, and the entire phrase to the noun ; and when 
 I say, " That distinguished venerable old man," each adjective modifies all that 
 follows it : hence an adjective may relate either to the next word or to the next 
 two or more words. " The American Artificial Teeth Company." And even, 1 
 have just bought a fine suit of clothes," is perhaps allowable ; for fine may relate 
 10 the Jit, correspondence, and chth. "A fine collection of gems."— Jfocawjay. 
 
 When such words as first and last are used with plural numerals, the sense 
 
 8 
 
184 VERBS. 
 
 usually requires them before the plurals; as, "The firat three," "The last four;" 
 not, "The three first," " The four last." So. " Tlie first six men," " The last 
 two men," " The last ten rows," even if there should not be enough for twice the 
 number, or for "A last six," "A first two," "A first ten." But usage, or the 
 state or things, may sometimes allow a different arrangement ; for instance, it 
 would certainly be correct to say, *' The four first trees of the four rows." If " The 
 first six French kings," should suggest the idea of six kings ruling at once, I would 
 rather say, " The six first French kings ;" but, if this phrase should express tlio 
 meaning no better than the other, I would prefer the other. We usually say, 
 " For tlie next five years " " The last two out of three," "The best six out of 
 eleven;" and not, " For the five next years," " The two last," &o. But we say, 
 " The two hindmost wheels ;" for one is as far back as the other. " The two fore- 
 most horses," is also correct. We would hardly say, " The laziest two boys," but, 
 " The two laziest boys ;" for the former phrase would suggest that they are in some 
 way united as a pair, which is not our meaning. 
 
 In favor of "Tne first two — three — five," " The last four — six," &c., may be 
 urged — 1. Analogy: we always say, in speaking of large numbers, "The "first 
 twenty — last twenty," &c. ; not, "The twenty first — thirty last;" we ako say, 
 " The next five." 2. Aath'jrity ; grammarians, and good writers generally, give 
 this form the preference. Against : The expressions may suggest that the entire 
 number is divided into at least two such groups, which may be neither true rwr 
 possible : as, " The first four acts of the play." (The whole play having but five 
 acta.) In favor of " The two first," " The last four," &c., may be ur^ed — 1. That 
 they avoid the grouping ; 2. That many good writers not unfrequently use them. 
 Against : That the phraseology is apt to suggest, that there can be niore firsts or 
 lasts than one when this is not strictly true. In short, all other things being equal, 
 I should prefer the first form given above ; but, if the latter would express my 
 meaning better, I should not hesitate to use it. The German language, I believe, 
 favors the Litter form. 
 
 Adjectives may either precede or follow the substantives, but their position has 
 Bometimes a great influence on the energy of the sentence ; as, '■'■Excellent as the 
 present version of the Bible is, still we believe," &c. ^^ Great is Diana of the Eplie- 
 sians." '•^BrigM fiashed the clouds, and loud the thunder rolled." '■'•Young s!ie 
 was, and ritfA, and beautiful '■'-Sitblirne on radiant spheres he trod." " It was a 
 clear morning, bright and balmy^ " So that our whole company, young and old, 
 rotten audi sound, did not amount to more than fifty men." " The scattered clouds 
 twmuUuous rove." "The interminable sky subllmer swells." "Goodness in- 
 finite.^'' " Woe unutterable.^^ " She was a woman heartless, talented, and ambi- 
 tious.^^ ^'■Saaadous in policy and prompt in action, his whole life was a brilliant 
 career." Observe that the adjective, preceded by the and not followed by a 
 noun, sometimes denotes persons, and sometimes the abstract quality ; as, " The 
 humorous may please us more than the witty.-'' This may mean, " The humorous 
 man, or humorous people in general, may please," &c. ; or, " Humor may please 
 us better than wit." ^ «* > j i- > , j j v 
 
 _ An adjective immediately preceding two or more nouns in thie same construc- 
 tion, is usually understood as qualifyuig them all; hence, " His luncheon was a 
 small biscmt and cheese," was perhaps meant for, " His luncheon was cheese and 
 a small biscuit." 
 
 8. VERBS. 
 
 ? 238. A verto is a word used to affirm something of a 
 subject. ♦ 
 
 ■ 239. The verb is the part of speech whose chief use is, to make the 
 predjoates of propositions. Almost every verb denotes some kind of ac- 
 tion or state. And affirmations, with grammarians, mean all kinds of 
 assertions ; also commands and questions. 
 
 t>,«'?!!;7'r^!lfi*'?'^® ''''1 "J' *^*^ «*'•««*•" " The thunder rolls^' " Sweet llooms 
 toe rose. ; Sodom and ^omorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven." '* L'roy 
 wu, bat M no more." " Fairies are beings of the fancy." " The clouds iMrtina. 
 
VERBS. CLASSES. 166 
 
 the moon shone through." " Some are horn to creepy '* I mw her weeping?"* " He 
 did not order the carnage to he sent away." *' I said, Go ; and he went.'''' " Who 
 would not have resisted^ if he had heen thus attacked f 
 
 The essential or chief .characteristic of the verb is, to predicate, or to aay some- 
 thing of something ; and hence the Germans call it the say-word. 
 
 . 240. The verb &e, then, when used aflfirmatively, to bind together a subject 
 and an attribute, must be the piorest and greatest or fundamental verb. If I 
 say, "God love," "The world beautiful," the words are lifeless; but the mo- 
 ment is is inserted, it indicates at once the presence of an observing and rational 
 being, animates the lifeless parts, and a thought, judgment, or truth, is born 1 
 " God is love." " The world is beautiful." 
 
 ? 241. The verb be, when used to bind together the subject and 
 its attribute into a proposition, is called the copula. 
 
 As we can not well conceive an abstract relation between two objects, without 
 aiding to it something else belonging to them, or forraiii<| a complex idea, most 
 verbs comprise the sense of the verb he, and something additional, that is, some 
 kind of actum or state. 
 
 When a verb is actually used to express affirmation, it is called a, finite verb; 
 but there are two forms of the verb which do not express atTirmations, and are 
 called the participle and the infinitive. For we may also conceive an act or state 
 abstractly, or else without predicating it. A.nd it is chiefly by means of these 
 two forms, or parts, that the verb passes out into other parts of speech; that is, 
 not only retains, to some extent, the nature of a verb, but also participates that 
 of an adjective, an adverb, or a noun. 
 
 ? 242. The participle is generally an inflected form of the 
 verb, construed like an adjective, and expressing no affirmation. 
 
 Ex. — " I saw the oak wnrrE with snow ;" "I saw the oak riven by a thunder- 
 bolt." " The grass is OBEEN ;"" The grass is p-roziJiw^." 
 
 ? 243. The iaifinitive is a form of the verb beginning gen- 
 erally with to, and expressing no affirmation. 
 
 Ex.—" The farm is to he sold:'' " The jailor is supposed to have let the prisoner 
 [to] 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Verbs are classified, according to their form, and their construction in sen- 
 tences, — 
 
 ? Into regular and irregular. 
 
 ? Into transitive and intransitive ; and the transitive verbs are 
 
 often used as passive, and some of the intransitive are always neuter. 
 
 ? 244. A reg^nlar verb takes the ending ed to form its pre- 
 terit and its perfect participle. 
 
 Ex. — " Plant, planted, planted ; carry, carried, carried; rebel, rebelled, rehMed. 
 
 ? 245. An irregular verb does not take the ending ed, to 
 form its preterit and its perfect participle. See pp. 13-16. 
 
 Ex. — "Sweep, swept, swept; cling, clung, clung ; cut, cui, cut. 
 
 ? The principal parts of a verb are the present, or the simplest form 
 as registered in a dictionary ; the preterit, or the simplest form of the past 
 indicative; and tho perfect participle^ or the form that will make sense 
 
166 VERBS. CLASSES. 
 
 with the word having or hdng before it. To these may be added the 
 present participle, which, as it ends always in ing^ Is too well known to 
 need mentioning. 
 
 ? By means of these parts and the auxiliary verbs, all the other 
 parts of verbs are formed., 
 
 The present, if traced back in dictionaries, is the present infinitive or the present indica- 
 tive form ; but it would perhaps be as well to consider it the present imperative. 
 
 The irregular verbs are the oldest, and perhaps the heart of the language. 
 
 Regular verbs never become irregular, except that ed is sometimes shortened 
 into t 
 
 Irregular verbs sometimes become regular. 
 
 All newly made verbs brought into the language, assume the regular ending. 
 
 ? 240. A prefix, joined to a verb, does not change the form of the 
 principal parts. 
 
 Ex. — '■^ Qo, undergo, underwent, undergone; give, misgive, forgive; do, undo; 
 hold, withhold; act, counteract; say, gainsay. Exception: Welcome. 
 
 ? 247. A transitive verb has an object, or requires one to 
 complete the sense. 
 
 Ex. — '* The lightning s^?vic^ the OAK." ""WnoMC^i^? you seef'' " The garden 
 A<M FLOWERS." "I knew HIM well, and every truant knew.'''' '"''Avoid diving of- 
 FEX3E." " I dislike TO DO it." " He cominanded \ the soldier to be brought." " I 
 know \ how deeply liberty is rooted in the hearts of these people." 
 
 ? 248. A passive verb is a transitive verb so used that it repre- 
 sents its subject as acted upon,* or has the object for its subject. 
 
 Ex, — " James killed a snake; "A snake was killed by James." '* I will plant 
 a cedar over her grave ;" "A cedar shall he planted over her grave." 
 
 ? 249. An intransitive verb does not require an object to com- 
 plete the sense. 
 
 Ex. — "Birds ^/^y." " Rosea bloom.'''' " Martha learns fast." '■^Acquire m youth, 
 that you may enjoy in age." " Gamblers cheat.'''' 
 
 ? 250. A neuter verb is an intransitive verb that does not im- 
 ply action or exertion. 
 
 Ex.— "The ocean is deep." " The hook lies on the table." " Here sleep the 
 brave." Since existence is a more general idea than action or motion, the neuter 
 verbs, though few in number, range farther than all the active verbs. 
 
 ? 251. The same word is sometimes used as a transitive, and 
 
 Bometimes as an intransitive, verb. 
 
 „ Ex.— "The prince succeeds the king;''' " In every undertaking lae succeeds.'''' 
 " To SET trees in a row ;" " The sun «e^." 
 
 ? 252. A verb usually transitive, sometimes becomes intransitive. 
 The intention, in such cases, is to ascribe simply a certain act or 
 state, and to leave the object desiornedly unknown or indefinite : the 
 mind dwells upon the act, rather than upon the object afi'ected by it. 
 ,, _ f ^•~!'.^^® *'*'^ well." " He studies in the morning, and rides in the evening." 
 1 keep hw house, and I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat, and make the 
 beds, and do all my»e\V'— Shakespeare. 
 
 ? 253. A verb usually intransitive, sometimes becomes transitive. 
 
VERBS. PROPERTIES. VOICES. 167 
 
 This occurs, when the verb is used in a causative sense ; when the 
 
 object is like the verb in meaning ; and in certain poetic expressions. 
 
 Ex. — " To march armies ;" i. e., to cause them to march. '■'•To live a righteous 
 life." "2b ^ie a miserable death." "2'o /^^ow a louder blast." "2b fco^ daggers." 
 (See also Kule VI.) '■'■^y^^ hoked love — looked pity." "Death grinned a gliastlv 
 smile." '•'• T1\\Q Yightmngi fl'xshed a brighter curve." " The streams raw- nectar." 
 lu many such instances, the verb shows how the object is expressed or made ; 
 or else the object cliaracterizes the verb. 
 
 ? From some intransitive verbs are derived corresponding transi- 
 tive verbs. 
 
 Ex. — Lie, lciy;^fL set, seat ; fall, /eZ^/ rise, raise; drink, drench. 
 
 ? 254. Sometimes the object is combined with the verb so closely 
 as to make in sense almost a part of it ; and sometimes the object is 
 identical with the subject, merely completes the sense, and implies 
 no transfer of the act. 
 
 Ex. — "To take care of; to lose sight of; to lay hold of." "To bestir oneself; 
 to bethink oneself ; to conduct oneself well ; to feign oneself sick • to laugh oneself 
 hoarse ;" "He slept himself weary ;" "He drank /wwweZ/dead drunk." 
 
 Properties. 
 
 ? Verbs have voices, moods, teiise«, persons, and 
 Eiimibers. 
 
 Voices, in general, relate to action ; moods, to reality ; tense.9, to time ; and per- 
 sons and numbers show the nominative, wherever in the sentence it may be. 
 
 Voices. 
 
 The voices are rather absorbed in the foregoing classification of verbs ; yet, considering the im 
 portance of the subject, and its treatment in the grammars of other languages, I have retained them. 
 
 ? The voices are two modes of expressing transitive verbs. 
 
 ? They are called the active voice and the passive. 
 
 ? 255. The active voice represents the subject as acting, or 
 the verb as relating to an object. 
 
 Ex.— "The laborers gather corn." " The frost hroke the pitcher." " The girls 
 are learning their lessons." "John resembles his father." "The house Tuts a 
 portico." 
 
 ? 256. The passive voice represents the subject as acted upon, 
 or the verb as having the object for its subject. 
 
 Ex.—" The pitcher was broken:' " Many hogs are driven to market." " The 
 bridge is building:^ '■'■To be ridiculed is unjileasant." 
 
 ? 257. Transitive verbs may sometimes be used as passive verbs, 
 even in the active form. Such verbs often denote, not so much the 
 receiving of the act, as the capacity to receive it in a certain way. 
 
 Ex.—" This timber saws well." " Sycamore splits badly." " This field pl/yugh» 
 well." " Linen wears belter than cotton." " Your poem reads smoothlv." 
 
 bel." " I could easily see what 
 
 Wheat seZ^s — is selling — ia sold for a dollar a bushel. 
 was doing on the other side of the river." "Virgil describes some spirits as 
 bleaching in the winds, others as cleansing under great falls of water, and others as 
 P'urging in fire, to recover tlie primitive beauty and purity of their nature." — Ad- 
 
168 VERBS. MOODS. 
 
 dison. " Be assured he has an ax to gnndy " There is no work to doy Such 
 iufinitive expressions, however, may be considered elliptical ; as, " There is no 
 work [for us] to do.'''' 
 
 ? 258. The present participle, when not combined with any 
 other verbal form, is generally active ; and the perfect participle^ 
 passive. 
 
 Ex.—" Close beside her, faintly moaning, fair and young, a soldier lay, 
 
 Torn with shot, and pierced with lances, bleeding slow his life awav." 
 
 Whittle^. 
 
 tl 
 
 m a passive 
 form. This is a French idiom ; and the verbs are ^t passive. 
 
 Ex. — "He vi fallen.'''' "She is gone.''^ "The melancholy days are come.'' 
 Equivalent to has fallen, Ms gone, have come ; but, " John is struck,''' is not the 
 same as, " John his struck.'''' The passive form seems to ditfer from the active, by 
 an elegant shade of meaning : in the former, the mind dwells rather on the state 
 of things after the act ; in the latter, on the act itself. 
 
 ? 260. A few intransitive verbs may be made passive, when their 
 meaning is combined with a following preposition or other word. Such 
 a verb with the modification may be termed a compound passive verb. 
 
 ^ Ex. — " Col. Butler was accordingly written to, and ordered to hasten forward 
 with the volunteers." — Irving. '•'■Had Monmouth really heen sent for to tlia 
 Hague?" — Macaulay. "An honest man wiU be well thought of, and looked up to." 
 "If you wear such a coat, you w'bll he laughed af'^^ridiculed. " He was smiled on 
 "hy fortune" ^/auoretZ. " He was justly clealt with'^=treated. " My claim was lost 
 sight of." The modification is so closely combined in sense with the verb, that it 
 seems to make a part of it. 
 
 ? 261. Hence we see that the object of the active verb, sometimes 
 that of the preposition, is made the subject of the passive verb. 
 
 _ Bat when the object of the preposition or that of the infinitive is made the sub- 
 ject, the expression is sometimes too inelegant to bo allowed. " Weights and mea- 
 sures were now attempted to be established."— Carlyle. 
 
 . 26^. Transitive verbs may be used, at pleasure, either actively or passively. 
 By having both forms, language is enriched in variety of expression. The act- 
 ive voice, however, sets forth chiefly the doer with the kind of action performed 
 by him; the passive voice, the object with the kind of action affecting it, an I 
 also enables us to avoid changing the subject. The active can be used without 
 tlie object, the passive without the agent ; each of which it is sometimes not 
 possible, not important, or not desirable, to mention. 
 
 Ex.— "Washington defended ovlv country;" "Oar oo0>rrRY wis defended bv 
 Washington^ '' Bascom preached in Kentucky, and Campbell d'isouted in Vir- 
 ginia f (Who did ? and did what ?) " Tiie work was done, notwithsUmding he 
 refused U) touch it. ' " I went to the river, was ferried over, and saw the proces- 
 sion." "My MOTIVES were slandered." "The ship was stranded." 
 
 moods. 
 
 ? The mood** are certam modes of expressino- the verb in 
 regard to its subject. ° 
 
 ? There are five moods ; the indicative, the subjunctive, the wo. 
 tenttal, the imperative^ and the infinitive. 
 
, VERBS. MOODS. Iid9 
 
 ? 263. The indicative mood affirms something as an actual 
 occurrence or fact. 
 
 Ex. — " Columbus discovered America." " The bank Ms failed.''^ " The tree3 
 are budding:'' " The peaches will he ripe." " If the bank Tias failed:'' " If the 
 I)eaohes shall he ripe." '■'■Are you sick V " Who never fasts^ no banquet e'er e/i- 
 joys:^ " Then, ijr thou faWst, thou falVst a blessed martyr." 
 
 A proposition, having? a verb in the indicative mood, may be declarative^ inter- 
 rogative^ or negative. It may also express a condition or an inference ; for what is 
 not known as being actually in existence, may nevertheless be assumed as matter 
 of fact. 
 
 ? 264. The ^fojunctive mood affirms something as a future 
 contingency, or as a mere supposition, wish, or conclusion. See p. 175, 
 
 Ex. — "If he be studious, he will excel." " If he were studious, lie would ex- 
 cel." "If he AaJ Je6» studious, he would have excelled." "If you be rich" — 
 a condition not improbable. " If ^ou were rich" — a supposition without fact. " 0, 
 that you were rich" — a mere ■wbsh. " Though he deceive me, yet will I trust in 
 him.'' It is not certain that he will deceive me. " Till the owner present himself, 
 I will keep it." I do not think it certain that he will. " Except ye be horn again, 
 ye can not enter the kingdom of heaven." Ye may be born again, or ye may not. 
 " Beware, lest thou be led into temptation." There is not a certainty, yet a liabil- 
 ity. So, "See that no one go astray — he forgotten,.'''' " If a common bottle were 
 filled with water, and plu?iged under the oil until it reached .... it would remain," 
 &c. — Dr. Arnot. It may be done, or it may not ; the actual occurrence is not de- 
 nied. " The wicked sometimes conduct themselves in such a manner as if they 
 ei^ected no punishment for their sins." — Addison. They may expect it, or they 
 may not ; the author does not positively deny that they do. " If all hnew their 
 duty, and appreciated their responsibilities, there would be less calamity in the 
 world." — Dr. Shannon. The author denies that they do. " 0, that I were as when 
 my mother pressed me to her bosom, and sung the warlike deeds of the Mo- 
 hawks." But I am not. '■'■Had I heard of the aif.iir sooner, this accident had not 
 happened:'' But I did not, and it happened. " I had rather pay [infinitive] the 
 debt at once, than be his security." An ideal view : it is not said that I do pay. 
 (" I had [suhjunctive] rather [to] have lost [infinitive] my money, than my manu- 
 script," is not elegant English, though perhaps hardly incorrect.) " Were it so, 
 I would consent," A mere supposition. " It were useless," &c. "It had been use- 
 less," (fee. A mere conclusion. " If it rains,'''' is indicative, and implies that the 
 speaker does not know whether it is nmo actually raining or not. "If it mi»," is 
 
 subjunctive, referring to a present act denied, and implies that the speaker is merely 
 supposing a case. "If this is treason, make the most of it," is indicative, and de- 
 cides the matter now, or supposes it decided. " If tliis be treason, make the most of 
 it," is subjunctive, and refers the matter io future decision or judicial investigation. 
 
 ? The subjunctive mood has three tenses: the present, the past or 
 aorist (=indefimte), and the pluperfect; generally equivalent in lime to a 
 future, a present, and a past tense, — tenses sufficient, yet needed, for all 
 the purposes of this mood. See pp. 20 and 26. 
 
 ? It remains almost entirely unchanged throughout the same tense, and shows 
 its peculiarity of form chiefly in the verb he. See p. 26. 
 
 265. In its form, it is most hke the indicative mood; in sense, more like the 
 potential, with which it is also most frequently associated, and inio which it may 
 often be converted. See above, also pp. 25-26. 
 
 When a verb in this mood refers to past or present time, it generally, but not 
 always, implies a denial of the fact ; when to future time, that the fact is un- 
 certain or contingent. See the examples above. 
 
J70 VERBS. MOODS. 
 
 ? 266. To a verb in this mood, some auxiliary verb — shall, will, may, 
 should— may in most instances be understood, without materially varying 
 ihe sense; provided the auxiliary be conceived as expressing time or con- 
 tingence, and not resolution, necessity, obligation, &c. 
 
 Ex.—" If he Ic at home, I shall go to see him"=If he shall be at home, &c. 
 ^^ If thon ever return, thou shouldst be thankful" =If thou shovldst ever retvrn 
 &c. "Beware that thou come not to poverty;" *. e., that thou mayst not come to 
 poverty. 
 
 ? 267 A verb in the subjunctive mood generally has, or may have, if, 
 though, unless, except, whether, that, till, or some equivalent word before 
 it. The clause perhaps always implies another, expressed or understood ; 
 and hence the mood is called subjunctive, which means^yomecZ to. 
 
 It should not be supposed, however, that these preceding •words produce the mood, or 
 change the form of the verb. It is rather the state of mind, under which the verb is set 
 forth, that produces the mood, and requires or allows the conditional word before it. 
 
 ? 268. The potential mood affirms merely the power, liberty, 
 liability, necessity, will, duty, or some other relation of the subject 
 to the act or state. 
 
 Ex. — " It may rain." " You can go — could go — must go — should go — would go — 
 mioht go.'''' " I would go with you, if 1 could spare the time." " When John Gilpin 
 ri^es again, rnay 1 le there to see." 
 
 When an act or state is expressed in this mood, it may take place, or not. It is 
 not the business of the mood to show whether it does or not, but merely what re- 
 lation the subject bears to it. 
 
 ? 269. To express this mood, we combine with the verb — the infinitive 
 form without the sign to — the word may, can, must, might, could, would, 
 or should, and sometimes perhaps shall in the sense of mztst, or will in 
 the sense of would or to be willing. 
 
 This mood is, in fact, composite; its forms being composed of indicative and infinitive, 
 of subjunctive and infinitive, or of imperative and infinitive, elements. Tlie sign to of the 
 infinitive being omitted in combination. Indie. + injin. : "I knew he cordd | learn it;" 
 "He would I go then ;" " We must | endure it ;" " I can | pay him." Subjunc. -\- infin. : 
 "She could \ King if she would;'' "I might | learn the lesson;" "I should \ hardly believe 
 
 ?'ou even then ;" " I might \ have written to him, had I known it ;" " Study, that you muy | 
 earn.'" Imper. -\- infin. : "i/ay you | prosper ;" '■'May it | please your honors." When the 
 auxiliary element adheres to the time usually given to its tense, it is indicative ; but when 
 it does not, or, like subjunlives, moves forward in time, or becomes indefinite in time, it is 
 tubjunctive. 
 
 ? 270. The imperative mood expresses command, exhorta- 
 tioM, entreaty, or permission. 
 
 Ex.—" Charge, Chester, charge!'^ "Do nothing that your heart tells you is 
 wrong." "i>o come to see us." "Depart in peace." 
 
 Tho act or state may or may not take place. If it takes place, it must be 
 after the command itself, which is always expressed in present time, or in what 
 is considered so at the time referred to. As we always speak to some person 
 or thing when wo eommund, this mood has the second person only; and the 
 subject of the verb is thou, you, or ye, which is nearly always understood. But 
 Boinetimua this mood is used in other persons or in the perfect tense. 
 .,_E''-— "-/^^^f, done tliy charms, thou hateful, withered hare.''— Shakespeare. 
 "8onjebodyfu//myvvife."-i(i "This mortal house I'll ruin, Jo Cuesar what he 
 can. —Id. ' iMugh tho^<e who can, weep those who may.'''— Scott. " ' Now tread 
 we a meiujure I' suid young Lochinvar."— /tZ. (Now let us tread, etc.) " Fall ho 
 that must, beneatli his rival's arms."— Pojoe. " Whoever comes this way— hehnld 
 and tremble. —FoUok. " Be '\i iWxa d&y enacted."" "Be \t&o:'— Webster. "PerJ-^h 
 my name, and penah my memory, provided Switzerland may be frae."— Jell. 
 
VERBS. TEN3ES. l7l 
 
 " Kuin seize thee, ruthless khig ; confusion on thy banners waiV — Gray. Whether 
 such verbs as some of the hist should be parsed as imperative, or as potential having 
 may understood, it is not always easy to decide. Perhaps it is best to parse them 
 as iMPEKATivEs expressing a mingled wish and command. The speaker conmiands in 
 what he proposes to bear a part himself; or he commands, so far as he can, what 
 is absent, inanimate, unknown to him, or not under his absolute control. The ex- 
 pressions are all rather poetical or rhetorical. 
 
 ? 271. The imperative mood is sometimes used when there is but a 
 slight or no reference to a person addressed, to express more modestly 
 the intention or will of the speaker. 
 
 Ex. — God said, ^'■Let there be light." '■^ Allow me to congratulate you." 
 
 ? 272. The iiifiiiitive mood expresses the act or state with- 
 out afRrrning it. It comprises the participle and the infinitive. 
 
 Ex. — To slay ; to have slain ; to be slain ; to have been slain. Slaying ; having 
 slain; being slain; having been slain. '''■Having spoken^ he arose." "He arose 
 speaking.'''' "He arose to speah." "The deer, having seen me, tried to escape.''^ 
 
 " The infinitive mode so called is the crude-form of the verb. It is the verb di- 
 vested of all modality. It is no mode at all." — /. W. Gibbs. Again, " The infini- 
 tive and participle have no claim to be considered as modes. They are particip- 
 ials." — la. And, "Under the general name of participial we include the parti- 
 ciples, the infinitive mode, the gerund, and the supine." — Id. 
 
 The following reasons why I have classed participles and infinitives together, must 
 suffice : 1. They are both without affirmation. 2. They are similarly combined with the 
 auxiliary verbs to form the compound tenses. 3. They may both be used as substantives^ 
 4. They are sometimes interchangeable. 5. They both express time relatively, and not, like 
 finite verbs, absolutely. 6. The infinitive sometimes supplies the place of a future participle. 
 7. Other languages sometimes use one form where we would use the other. 8. The remarks 
 of eminent grammarians and scholars, on the subject. See Kuhner, Whately, Anthon, 
 Becker. 
 
 1 273. Almost the same sense may sometimes be expressed by a dif- 
 ferent mood. 
 
 Ex.—" I came that I might assist yon— to assist you." "Jfay you always love 
 virtue ;" "Do always love virtue.'' " You will not hurt him ?" " Do not hurt him." 
 Mild imperatives. " It would be useless ;" " It were useless." ^'■Deny uspleasure, 
 und you unfit us for business ;" '■'■If you deny us," etc. Emphatic condition. 
 
 Should the subjunctive mood ever disappear entirely from our language, then 
 the best classification of moods will be into three ; tlie indicative^ the imperative, 
 and the infinitive. 
 
 Tenses. 
 
 ?The tenses are the forms and meanings of the verb in -regard 
 to time. 
 
 ? There are six tenses; the present, the past, the future, the per- 
 fect, the pluperfect, and the future-perfect. 
 
 Time may be divided into present, past, and future. Present time, strictly 
 speaking, can denote but a iBoment of duration; yet longer periods, exteudmg 
 into both the future and the past, are often considered present; as when we say, 
 this day, this week, this year, this century, in our lifetime. Past time begins from 
 the present, and extends back as far as our thoughts can wander ; /«/!wre ^me be- 
 gins from tlie same point, and goes forward to a similar extent. In each of these 
 periods, an act may be considered as merely occurring or continumg, or as com^ 
 pkted or ended,— thus making six tenses. To each period belongs also a sort of 
 future tense, expressed by about and the infinitive, and sometimes called the pen- 
 fhrasHc future ; as, " I was about to studyf But the following— to he read bctl» 
 down und across the page— may be more intelligible to the learner :— 
 
 8* 
 
172 
 
 PBE8ENT. PAST. FUTUBE. 
 
 I write I ■wrote I shall write 
 
 I have written * I had written _ I shall have written 
 
 I am about to write I was about to write I shall be about to write 
 
 I am writing I was writing I shall be writing 
 
 I have been writing I had been writing I shall have been writmg. 
 
 It seems best to define the tenses according to their forma, and in every mood. 
 
 t 274. The present indicative denotes what now exists, or 
 
 is going on. 
 
 Ex. — *' This is a warm day." " The grass is growing in the meadow." 
 
 ? What is now habitual or customary. 
 
 Ex. — " He chews tobacco." " People go to church on Sunday." 
 
 ? Universal truths. 
 
 Ex. — "Heat melts snow." ^^Yirtne produces happiness." "Drunkards sel- 
 dom reform.^"* 
 
 ? Past or future transactions with greater vividness or certainty. 
 
 Ex. — " The combat deepens. On, ye brave 1" " Do this, and thou diest /" 
 
 ? Future events, in connection with words that carry the scene 
 into future time. Generally after relatives, xohen., as soon as, &c. 
 
 Ex.—" When he comes, I will go." " Catch whatever comes.^^ 
 * ? The actions or qualities of authors as observed in their works 
 now existing. 
 
 Ex. — " Seneca reasons and moralizes well." " Milton is sublime." 
 
 ? 2*75. The present subjunctive implies future time. 
 
 Ex. — "If it rain, our flowers will live." Physical. "If this be true." Mental. 
 
 ? 276. The present potential is present or future in regard to 
 both the mood and the act or state. 
 
 Ex.—" He may \ he cominy.'''' " I can \ pay you next Christmas." 
 
 ? 277. The present imperative is present in regard to the 
 mood, and future in regard to the act or state. 
 
 Ex. — ^^Return soon." '■'■Pour out the rich juices still bright with the sun." 
 "I said, fi'w." So vivid is this mood, that it can easily and readily set forth a 
 scene as present in any period of time. 
 
 ? 278. The present participle denotes continuance of the act 
 or state, at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — "Before us lay the lake glittering in the sun." 
 
 ? 279. The present infinitive denotes simply the act or state, 
 or as present or future at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex.— "A lesson hard to learn:'' " She seems to sleep.'^ " I intended to say less." 
 
 ? 280. The pa<%t iiidieativc denotes simply what occurred in 
 past time. 
 
 Ex.—" He was fishing when I saw him." " If he ever was there." 
 
 ? What was habitual or customary. 
 . ^^-r- ** The good times, when the farmer entertained the traveler without pay." 
 
VERBS. — TEXSES. 173 
 
 ? 281. The past subjunctive denote? present or indefinite time, 
 seldom past or future ; and it generally denies the act or state. 
 
 Ex.—" If I were rich, I would give freely." " He ran as if he were running for 
 life." " If I were to admit tiie pledge, he would then say," &c. See p. 20. 
 
 ? 282. The past potential may be present, past, or future in 
 regard to both the mood and the act or state. It presents the act 
 or state as real, contingent, or denied. 
 
 Ex.— "He wovld | go:' " I should \ then hvy it." " If I could \ luy it, I would.'''' 
 
 It denotes what was habitual or customary. 
 
 Ex. — " There would she sit and weep for hours." 
 
 When this tense does not denote past time, it may be called aorist, wMcli means 
 
 ? 283. The ffiitwre tense denotes simply what will take place 
 hereafter. 
 
 Ex. — " The snow will melt.'''' " I shall he at home this evening." 
 
 What will be habitual or customary. 
 
 Ex. — " You will then leg.'''' "The steer and lion at one crib shall meet.'''' 
 
 ? 284. The perfect indicative represents something as past, 
 but still connected with present time. 
 
 Ex. — " I have lost my knife." " They have been married twenty years." 
 
 a. It implies that the doer, or what the subject denotes, yet exists, and 
 that the act or state may be repeated. 
 
 Ex. — " I have read Virgil many times." " Gen. Scott has gained several vic- 
 tories." 
 
 b. That the act or state (begun in the past), and of course that to which 
 it belongs, yet exist. 
 
 Ex. — " This HOUSE has stood twelve years." " Thus has jt flowed for ages." 
 
 c. That the result yet exists, though the actor or act may be no more. 
 
 Ex. — " Cicero has written orations." " Washington has left his example to the 
 world." 
 
 This tense is peculiarly well adapted to express many of the relations wliicb 
 past things have to preseiit things. It shows that past eVents, without any thing 
 intervening, come down to us in their consequences, causes, or circumstances. It 
 usually implies that the time in which the act occurred or began, and the present 
 time, with perhaps some of the future, are viewed as one unbroken period. 
 " Many who have been saluted with the huzzas of the crowd one day, have received 
 it-s execrations the next; and many, who, by the popularity of their own tunes, 
 ?i'iiie been held up as spotless patriots, have, nevertheless, appeared on the histo- 
 ri m's page, when truth has triumphed over delusion, the assa'^sins of liberty." — 
 Mansjield. That is to say, Things "nave always been so, and will continue to be so, 
 while human nature remains what it is. "And where the Atlantic rolls, wide 
 continents have bloomed.'''' — Bjfron. That is to say, In the great chain of events ex- 
 tending through all time, this remarkable one actually occurred ; and who shall 
 say what strange things may yet happen ? In stead of taking a day, a year, or a 
 lifetime, as present time, the poet grasps, and glances over, all duration as one 
 unbroken period in which he speaks. Or the sentences may imply that theso 
 things have been handed down historically or traditionally to even the present time. 
 
174 VERBS. TENSES. 
 
 ? 285. This tense, preceded by relatives, when^ as soon as, <fec., 
 may sometimes express future events. 
 
 Ex. — " When you fiave seen Niagara Falls, write to me." 
 
 ? The perfect imperative commands the ending of something begun. 
 
 Ex.— "ifa»e done thy charms."— .S'MA. "Do" = Begin and do. "fiare done" = Make an 
 end of what you are now doing. This perfect is very seldom used. 
 
 ? 286. The perfect potential is present or future in regard to 
 the mood, and presents the act or state as relatively past. 
 
 Ex.—" The child may | have fallen into the well." "Then he may \ have gone 
 ahead of you." 
 
 ? 287. The perfect participle and the compound denote the 
 completion, sometimes the continuance, of the act or state, at the 
 time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — " This is a coat made by the machine." " He lives loved by all." '■'■Being 
 already enlisted, and having bought my outiit, I refused to turn back." 
 
 ? The compound participle which has the auxiUary having, is generally 
 equivalent in time to the pluperfect, the perfect, or the future-perfect indicative. 
 
 Ex.— "The sun having risen, we departed" = When the sun_ had risan, we departed. 
 '■^Having found a pleasant home, he is content and happy." '•'•Having succeeded in this spec- 
 ulation, you will then of course venture upon a greater." 
 
 ? 288. The perfect infinitive represents the act or state as past 
 at the time referred to. 
 
 Ex. — "My business shall appear to have leen well conducted.'''' 
 
 ? 289. The plBif>erfect indicative represents something as 
 finished or ended by a certain past time. 
 
 Ex. — "Here a small cabin had leen erected.'''' " The cars had started when we 
 came there," 
 
 I It is not always necessary to use this tense, merely because the act or state 
 was finished or ended by a certain past time. 
 
 Ex.—" Little John teas up before daylight;" " The horse jumped into the field, and soon 
 
 afterwards began to eat the corn,'' — are proper, and not the same as, " had been up" ; 
 
 ——''■'■ had jumped" 
 
 ? 290. The pluperfect subjunctive or potential denotes simply 
 past time, and denies the act or state. 
 
 Ex. — " We might have sailed.''^ " If I had been at home, I should have gone.'''' 
 The illiterate, whose sagacity is sometimes greater than that of philosophers, freqneTitlv 
 endeavor to express this mood in pluperfect time ; thus. . "ffad I ov [have] knoron it ;" '■^Had 
 he ov touchfd me." Observe also that we can say, " The tree bears better fruit than if it 
 had been grafted ;" and, having gone into the past, we still say, " The tree bore better fruit 
 than if it luxd been grafted." 
 
 ? 291. The future-perfect tense represents something as 
 finished or ended by a certain future time. 
 
 Ex.—" The house, when finished, w'dl have cost a fortune." 
 
 ? A tense is sometimes used emphatically, to deny the same state or 
 act of the person or thing in a neip^hboring tense. 
 
 Ex.—" He km been rich." But he is not so now. " He had been rich." But he 
 WM not 8o then, " But you wiU come to this." Though you ave not in such a 
 
VERBS. TENSES, J 75 
 
 ? The present, the past, and the future, are sometimes called the absolute 
 tenses ; and the perfect, the pluperfect, and the future-perfect, the relative tenses 
 for these generally relate from one point of time to anotlier. ' 
 
 Sometimes the prominent idea in the absolute tenses is, the existence of a cer- 
 tain act or state; in the relative tenses, the completion of the act or state. 
 
 ? Since the perfect passive participle generally implies completion a 
 passive verb, in the absolute tenses,^ is often equivalent in time to the cor- 
 responding relative tenses of the active voice. 
 
 Ex. — My rose-bush in destro(/ed •''' "Some one haa destroyed my rose-bush." 
 " My coat ?<;i^Z then be fini^^hed ;'"' "The t-AWov will tlien have finished my coat." 
 " Corn appears to he gathered ;'''' " Tlie farmers appear to ham gathered their coni." 
 Hence such forms as may be loved, may be taken, must be loved, must be taken is 
 tftught, &c., are ambiguous. " He is well taaghf'^lle has been well educated or 
 He 'is now receiving good instruction. " Tlie fleet 7nu,st have been Gaptured"=^lt is 
 now necessary to believe it has been captured, or, it is necessary to capture it. 
 Hence, too, the present passive is often used to express the present results of past 
 actions. " The church is built of granite." " This book is well printed.''^ 
 
 ? The forms may properly bo considered subdivisions to the 
 tenses. See p. 20. 
 
 * , 
 
 Moods and Tenses. — The subject of moods and tenses, though apparently a 
 mystery, has perhaps a beautiful philosophy running througli it, that well shows 
 man may sometimes be wiser in his instincts than in his reason or learning. I 
 have room for but a few and therefore incoherent remarks, wliich are designed to 
 bear chiefly upon the subjunctive mood, and the apparent incongruity of tho 
 tenses in regard to time. According to Mr. Bancroft, the verbs, in some rude In- 
 dian lansruages, express, by means of inflections, entire propositions. It is known, 
 too, that tlie Emperor Augustus sometimes required, in his documents, in aliquern 
 in preference to alicui, alleging that it was " more definite." The natural growth, 
 then, of a language, in simplicity and improvement, is from inflections to par 
 tides ; fur a separate word arrests the attention better to an idea than if the idea 
 were expressed along with the idea of another word. Our subjunctive mood, ac- 
 cordingly, has been well-nigh absorbed by conjuneti^ns, adverbs, and auxiliaries. 
 Aorain, there are two worlds, — tlie mental and the material. What is of the former, 
 is subjective ; of tlie latter, ohjecti've. The mind, though dependent on matter, is 
 still, as poets say, " its own kingdom," in wliicli " an eternal noio does always last." 
 The mental, therefore, often predominates over the material ; and hence the moods 
 often prevail over the tenses. Tlie moods properly relate to the mind of the 
 speaker, and express what is real, ideal, contingent, or willed ; the inflnitive mood 
 being tolerated only as we tolerate a neuter gender. About our aifairs we are con- 
 tinually reasoning and conjecturing; anrl, consequently, language abounds with 
 sentences havins: conditions and conclusions. A condition may be assumed as a 
 fact, as that which may become a tact, as a mere supposition without regard to fact, 
 or as a mere supposition contrary to fact; and the conclusion is about as variable. 
 (See p. 170.) Sucli sentences require something like our suBJUNorrvE mood. But 
 siiall we make the mood depend on the conjunction f or on the subjective sense of 
 the verb? If on the conjunction, we then have the novelty of making mood a 
 property of conjunctions, the forms of the verb are disregarded, and our mood 
 floods the two otner declarative moods. But if on the subjective sense of the verb, 
 nnd on the peculiar forms, then we shall at least be in the analogy of all the sister 
 hmguages, and readily find a province for our mood. It will then have two peculiar 
 forms, — the present tense and the past, whicii furnish a beautiful distinction where 
 there is an obvious and important difference, and which have been regarded, by 
 our best writers, at least in the proportion of nine to one. " If love be rough with 
 you, be rouRrh with love." — Shakespeare. "If all the year were playing holidays, 
 lo play would be as tedious as to work." — //. " He brags as if he were of note.'* 
 — /•/. " If thou warn tho wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, he shall 
 die in his iniquity." — Bible. "If the husbandman relax his labors, and his fieldu 
 be left untillcd,""&c. — E. Everett. "If I wtre to repeat the names .... I sho-jid," 
 
]76 VERBS. — TENSES. 
 
 &G.—I(l. " If I were to doubt I should," &e.— i>. WebsUr. "If xtwere . . . 
 
 I would say," &o.—IiL " If it be proved that he also was an accomplice," &C.—M. 
 "If the question we?-e,'' Sia.— Jeffrey. "If the natural course of a stream ^e ob- 
 structed,''^&c.—Jd. Lord Macaulay, I believe, never fails to distinguish the subjunc- 
 tive forms from the indicative. Some grammarians, however, would abolish them, 
 or merge them into the indicative ; but, since our language is already barren ot in- 
 flections, it were a pity that these few important ones should also be dropped. 1 
 am aware that the subjunctive mood is often disregarded in popular usage ; yet, 
 because people often overlook or blur in the bustle of worldly pursuits the delicate 
 logic which runs through languasre, is it a sufficient reason to degrade the lan- 
 guage itself to a level with their practice or ignorance ? To the two tenses of this 
 mood, already given, may be added the pluperfect, which has tlie same form as in 
 the indicative mood, yet differs from it so much in sense that it is otten parsed as 
 potential by eqdivalence ! 
 
 " Oh ! had your fate been joined with mine, 
 
 As once this pledge appeared the token ; 
 These follies had not then been mine, — 
 
 My early vows had not been brolcen?'' — Byron. 
 
 Compare with—" Thy name is princely : though no poet's magic 
 
 Could make Ked Jacket grace an English rhyme ; 
 Unless he had a genius for the tragic. 
 
 And introduced it into pantomime." — Hqlleck : Old Edition. 
 
 The latter pluperfect above is subjunctive, and not indicative : Because it is con- 
 strued like the admitted forms of the subjunctive; it is equivalent to a potential 
 form; in time, it is not antecedent, but concomitant or subsequent ; a conclusion, 
 even if more certain than a supposition, is still mental, and not matter of fact ; 
 literally put into German, the form would be an unquestioned subjunctive ; the two 
 langusxges are precisely analogous in this construction. It is surprising that more 
 than 500 grammarians have overlooked this point for two or three centuries. 
 
 Now, as to the tenses. The moods often prevail over them ; and afiy deviation 
 from the strict time of the latter, may be considered modal. Let us suppose that 
 we have the present and the pad indicative. These will express whatever is now 
 taking place, and whatever has taken place ; and these are all the events that wo 
 know with certainty. Now, suppose that our chief concern is, to express, not 
 time, but the nature of the act or state, and mood, or modality, from reality or the 
 greatest certainty as far as pure ideality, — how shall we get forms of the verb ? 
 We are surest of what we are now witnessing ; and hence the present indicative 
 expresses not only present events, but also the greatest certainty. Suppose we 
 wish to express past or future events with greater than ordinary certainty, of 
 course the present tense is the best form we can find. What depends on the or- 
 ganization or inherent nature of things, not only exists now, but has a high degree 
 of certainty ; therefore the present tense expresses also universal truths. Suppose 
 now that we wish to state future or contingent events ; what can be more natural 
 than to exnress with the act the will, authority, obligation, power, necessity, etc., 
 on which Its development into reality depends 'i and hence, will, shall, can, may, 
 must, etc., is adopted as a part of the verb. Now suppose that we wish to exclude 
 the auxiliary sense, but to retain that of uncertainty. By dropping the auxiliary, 
 we get a new form, which will answer for this purpose, and may be called the 
 present subjunctive. Since doing precedes having, and since striving is apt to 
 cease with possession, have was naturally adapted to express completion ; and so we 
 get the perfect tenses. Lastly, suppose that we wish to express acts or states as 
 merely ideal. None of the forms that we have made, will answer. But we can 
 not now, or in future, do a past act. So what could be more ingenious or natural 
 than that the mind stiould go back, and take the past tense and the pluperfect, 
 and convert them into the needed tenses ? — the past tense to denote merely the act 
 or state, and present or indefinite tiuiej and the i>luperJect to denote the completed 
 act or state, and past time. The particii)les and the infinitives express but the 
 Btate of the act as relatively continuing, finished, or purposed. This seems to me 
 to be the general phiiosopliy of the teases ; the minor shades of expression being 
 but flgarative aooommodations to the necessities of language. 
 
■ VERBS. PERSONS AND NUMBERS. 177 
 
 Persons and Mstiaibers. 
 
 ? The per!^oai and siuiii'ber of a verb are its form as being 
 suitable to the person and number of its subject. 
 Ex. — I am. Thou art. He is. We are. They are. 
 
 Excepting the verb he and some auxiliaries, English verbs have but few 
 variations to express persons and numbers ; and hence these properties must 
 generally be inferred from the subject. It is worthy of notice, too, that only 
 the first part of the verb, or that which predicates, expresses the person and 
 number. 
 
 ? A finite verb must ai^ree with its subject in person and number. 
 
 That is, it must be expressed according to the Conjugation, pp. 24-29, which 
 
 shows how the best writers and speakers express the verb in regard to it^ subject. 
 
 ? The subject of every finite verb, in regard to person and num- 
 ber, either is, or may be represented by, /, thou., he., she., it., we., you, 
 or they. 
 
 ? 294. TJiou generally requires the verb, or the first auxiliary, to end 
 an est^ si, or i. 
 
 Ex. — " Thou hnoicest — want— hast — sitst.'^'' " Thou art the man." " Hhowshalt 
 not hilV Wert is used as well as wast, and is analogous to art. " That riches 
 rarely purchase friends, thou didst soon discover, when thou ivert left to stand tliy 
 trial uncountenanced and alone." — Johnson. " To her who sits wliere thou wert 
 laid," — Bryant. " 'Tis aU too late — thou wert, thou art, the cherished madness of 
 my heart." — Byron. 
 
 ? 295. As the termination required by thou, is sometimes harsh, there 
 as some tendency to drop it, especially in poetry. 
 
 Ex. — *' thou my voice inspire who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire." — 
 Pofe. " Perhjips thou noticed on thv way a little orb, attended by one moon — her 
 Samp by mg\\V—Follok. " But thou shall bind,:''— Spr ague. 
 
 ? 296. He, she, or it, often requires the verb or the first auxiliary to end 
 m s or th. See pp. 24-29 & 180. ' 
 
 Ex.— "He writes f '< He wrlteth.'' "She controls;'' "She controUeth.'' "It 
 ■does become you ;" It doth become you." 
 
 ? 297. We, you, or they, never allows s or th to be annexed to the 
 Terb. In other words, plural verbs never assume s or th, and have the 
 •same form for all the persons. 
 
 Ex.— "We learn,'' not learns. "They learn," not learns. "You learn.'^ 
 ■** 3^ohn, James, and William, [=they,] learn." 
 
 ■Since it is not always easy to determine the person aud number of the subject 
 when it is variable in sense or complicated in its words, let us consider, first, the 
 person of the entire subject; secondly, the number of the entire subject; and, 
 iivsthy;, what terms do not affect the form of the verb. 
 
 ? "298. Person. — When two or more nominatives, differing in per- 
 son, are taken collectively, or are connected merely by and, the verb pre- 
 fers the fii'st person to the second, and the second to the third ; when they 
 are taken separately, or are connected by or or nor, it prefere that of the 
 nominative next to it. " Tou and /," or, " You, he, and i"= We. " You 
 and he"= Yen. 
 
 ■ Ex.—" T&n, -he, and 7, I have to recite our lessons." " Tou and A« | have to recito 
 your lessons.''' " Fan or Jam mistaken ;" better, " Either you are mistaken, or I 
 w.m," ^'TJtmi^rthy /?'i^ds are to make reparation." Courtesy usually requires 
 
178 VERBS. PERSONS AND NUMBERS. 
 
 tlie first place to be given to the second person, and the last to the first. "1^>^«, A<?, 
 and/;" "Fowand/;" ''She and I^ 
 
 ? 299. Singular. — A single object denoted by a singular nomina- 
 tive ; a united group of objects viewed as one thing, and denoted by a 
 singular collective or other noun ; an object conceived as a whole or unit, 
 though denoted by a plural nominative, or by several nominatives or 
 words which may be connected by and; two or more distinct or different 
 objects taken individually, and denoted by a singular nominative, or by 
 several nominatives, — ^require the verb to be in the singular number. The 
 word, or phrase, each, every, no, many a, or, nor, and not, hut not, as well 
 as, &c., commonly makes a part of such a subject, and modifies its sense. 
 
 Ex. "Fire | "burns." "The army of Xerxes was 'vanquished by the Greeks." 
 
 " His familv \ is large." " The 'Pleasures of Hope' was written by Campbell." "Gold- 
 smith"'8 'Mwin and Angelina' is a fine little poem." " In yonder house lives a great 
 scholar and celebrated writer.'^ " The saint, the father, and the husband, vraysP 
 — Burns. "Why is\dast and «?/<(?*• [man] proud?" " Tlie twenty dollars [a 
 twenty-dollar bill] li/is heen duly received.'''' " Fifty feet of the second square was 
 reserved for a church." The last two verbs should probably be plural ; and yet 
 the singular implies a unity — a compactness in one— which the plural would not 
 necessarily express, " Descent and fall to us is adverse." — Mdton. Here is is 
 more expressive than are would be. It implies that the fall is so connected with 
 tlie descent, or follows it so closely, that the two may be considered one thing. And 
 unites the two in form, but is strengthens the union by uniting tiiein also in sense, 
 " Wooing, wedding, and repenting, is a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace." 
 — Shakespeare. Here is seems to be proper as referring to the three things taken 
 in a certain order as one whole. "Down comes the tree, nest, eagles, and alV — 
 Fontaine. But I question whether even poetic license can protect the following 
 couplet: '•'Here's no war-steed's ne'igh and champing, shouting clans or squadrou?* 
 stamping." — Scott. "Every house \ was burned, and every man, woman, and child, 
 was killed.'''' " Tuesdaij, Wednesday, or Thursday, was the appointed day." " To 
 forsake a friend, or to divulge his secrets, is mean." "Neither precept nor disci- 
 pline I is so forcible as example." " No rtouse and no fence | was left.^' " Many a 
 man \ has fallen a victim to intemperance." " There is Concord, and a Lexington, 
 and A Bunker Hill, — and there they will remain for ever." — Webster. Empliatic 
 arrangement. " For thine is the k'mgdom, and the power, and the glory." — B'dtle. 
 
 ? 300. Plural. — Two or more objects denoted by a plural nomina- 
 tive ; a single object or group conceived as to its parts or individuals, eveu 
 when denoted by a collective or other noun singular in form ; objects denoteii 
 by a plural nominative in company with singular nominatives, taken sepa- 
 rately, or connected by or or nor ; two or more distinct or ditferent ob- 
 jects taken collectively, and denoted by different nominatives connecteil 
 by and, — require the verb to be in the plural number. 
 
 Ex.—" The fires \ burn.''^ " The ashes | are hot." " The council | were di- 
 vided in opinion." " The multitude eagerly pursue pleasure." " Forty head of 
 cattle I are grazing on yonder meadow." " John, James, and William, are study- 
 in^" —The boys are studying. "You, he, and /, are allowed to go." "To love our 
 enemies, to mind our own business, and to relieve the distressed, are things ofteiier 
 praised than practised." " Either the magistrate or the laws are at fault." Tht» 
 plural nominative should generally be placed nearest to the verb; or else each 
 nominative should have its own verb expressed or understood. " Either the laws 
 are at fault, or else tlie magistrate" [is]. Sometimes the verb agrees with the nearest 
 nominative. " Wlien there is an ir^'ant or infants who \ are yet," tfec. — Mo. Satutea. 
 
 ? Terms that do not affect the form of the verb. — Adjuncts ta 
 the nominative, explanatory terras, parenthetical terras, terras to which. 
 Others are compared, terras excluded or excepted, terras apparently set. 
 aside for a more expressive or import'int one, and tcjrras mentioned as if 
 
VERBS. — PERSONS AND NUMBERS. l79 
 
 the objects had not been thought of till one assertion was already made,— 
 do not affect the form of the verb. 
 
 Ex. — "The long row of elms was luxuriantly groen." "Star after star ap- 
 
 Eears." " Death is the wages of sin." " The wages of sin are deaths " Peace and 
 onor are the crown of virtue." " Yi\% pavilion were dark waters and thick clouds." 
 Which term is explanatory, will depend on the sense, or on the conception of the 
 person using the expression. 
 
 Consider carefully what is chiefly to be said, and of which thing it is to be 
 said. "The Bible, or IMij Scriptures, is the best book." "This man (and in- 
 deed all such men) deserves death." " Our statesmen, especially John Admns^ 
 have reached a good old age." " The carriage, as well as the horses, was much 
 injured." "Industry, and not mean savings, produces wealth." "Since none 
 hul thou can end it." — Milton, " What black despMr, what horror fills his mind." 
 — Tliornson. '■'■Honor and virtue, nay, even interest demands a different course." 
 " Not only ihQ father, but the son "^also, was imprisoned." " Well, there rs Bar- 
 dolph, and Smith, and Jones, and loho else f ' 
 
 It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a collective noun that is singu- 
 lar in form, expresses unity or plurality of idea, or whether its verb should be 
 singular or plural. This wiU depend, in most instances, on the particular view 
 or conception of the speaker. Jn the plural sense, a collective noun may be 
 compared to a rope having its strands or threads untwisted ; in the singular, to 
 the same in a twisted state. Collective nouns denoting persons, are more 
 commonly made plural than those denoting things ; and we may say, as a gen- 
 eral rule for all cases, that whenever the term implies a separation, or distribu- 
 tion, or diversity, in regard to the place, the time, the action, or the state, the 
 verb should be plural, but not in other cases. Hence I should say, " The public 
 are respectfully invited;''^ " My family are in the country" — some here, same 
 there; '' M.y family is in the country" — all in one place; ''The committee wai 
 large;" "The committee were not unanimous;" " Congress has adjourned ;" " A 
 number of boats [from time to time] have passed up the river this spring, and 
 the number [as a whole] is daily increasing." This last example shows tiio 
 distinction of unity and plurality of idea, in its greatest nicety. 
 
 ? 301. It is sometimes necessary to supply a substantive, to com- 
 plete the entire subject. 
 
 Ex.—" Little and often fills the purse"== To put in little and often, etC;^ " Poor 
 and content is rich, and rich enough"= 2b be poor and content, etc. " Slow and 
 steady often outtravels ha3te"= What is slow and steady, etc. " Upwards of forty 
 houses were burned"=^ gi'oup, amounting to, etc. 
 
 ? 302. Most verbs in the imperative mood are in the second 
 person, agreeing with thou, you, or ye, understood, and sometimes 
 expressed. 
 
 Ex.— "Go where glory waits thee"=6Jo thou, G^ia. " Strike— for _ the srreen 
 graves of your sires"=.S7/'iA;e ye, qIq. "'Guard tlwu the pass." "- Q\x\i,, do yoa 
 gather the strawberries." 
 
 Verbs of this mood are sometimes found, especially in poetry, of the first or tjie 
 third person. When thus used, the nominative is always expressed. See p. ITU. 
 
 ? 303. A verb is sometimes made to agree with t7, in order to 
 express a well-known act or state of something not easily discerned 
 or named, or named by several words in the subsequent part of the 
 sentence. 
 
 Ex.—" It snows." " It rains." " It cleared off." "-It behooves us to improve 
 our time." " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole warld and lose Aw own 
 soulP' When such verbs denote states of the weather, or the fitness ot tinner*, 
 thev are usually called impersonal or unipersonal verbs, thouerh rather unnecessa. 
 rily so ; for the diflaculty lies in the import of it, and not in the agreement ot tlie 
 
180 AUXILIARY VERBS. 
 
 verb. Only such expressions as meseems., meseemed, metJiinks, methovp7d, should 
 be termed impersonal, or rather, a/wmalous ; because they have no nominatives 
 with which they can properly agree. So, " Forthwith on all sides to his aid uas 
 run bv angels many and strong," — Milton ; (a Latinism ;) and perhaps, " God said, 
 Lei there be light, and there was light," for the verb let hardly refers to any being 
 addressed. Meseema is abridged from " To me it seems ;" and metUnls perhaps 
 from " To me it thinks," i. e., it causes me to think. " Prince. Where shall we 
 soioiirne till our coronation? Gloucester. Where ii tJiinks best unto your royal 
 ^eW'—S^iakeiipeare : Old EUtion. In the sentence, "■Thinks I to myself, I'll stop" 
 — Jane Taylok, tJdnks may be parsed according to Note XI, or as put for tJiink 
 by enaUag'e. 
 
 Person-and-D amber inflections belong to the indicative mood and the poten- 
 tial, mostly to the in iicalive. The subjunctive mood is varied, only to agree 
 witli thou, and then not always. Whether 5 or &s should be added, should al- 
 ways be determined in accordance with the regular mode of forming the plural 
 of nouns; hence the forms " wooes," '" cooes," &c., which are sometimes found, 
 should be woos, coos. Most auxiliaries are not varied in the third person sin- 
 gular. Thou requires the termination t, si, or est. Are, were, shall, and will, 
 take t; the other auxiliaries, st. Other verbs take, in the indicative present, st 
 or est, according as they require s or es in the third person singular ; though 
 sometimes est is preferred even to st. A few verbs, which end in vowel sounds, 
 always assume est ; as, wooest. In the past tense, the verbs assume st only, 
 if it will coalesce in sound ; if not, est. Poets and preachers sometimes reject 
 either, to avoid harsh or difficult pronunciation. In general, st only should be 
 added, when this is sufficient ; and when the verb already ends in the sound of 
 st, or in a cluster of consonants not oalescing well with st, the termination may 
 be rejected. In the solemn stylo, in stead of s or 65, th is added, if it will coa- 
 lesce in sound ; if not, eth. 
 
 AUXILIARY VERBS. 
 
 ? An auxiliary verb helps another verb to express its meaning 
 in a certain manner or time. Verbs, not auxiliary, are called prin- 
 cipal verbs. 
 
 ? The auxiliary verbs are he and all its variations; do., did ; can., 
 could; have., had; may, might; must; shall, should ; ivill, would. 
 See p. 16. 
 
 ? 304. Sometimes he, do, have, will, would, or even can, is used as a 
 principal verb. When so used, it is not combined with a principal verb 
 expressed or understood, Do=-aci{, perform ; EXYE==own, possess ; will 
 •^wvih, bequeath. 
 
 Ex.— " It M easy to Z>6 idle." "lie /io.? <f one the work." ^^ Rq tvUled hx^, prop- 
 erty to his sister." " I would I could please you." " In evil, the best condition is, 
 not to will ; the second, not to can.'''' — Bacon. 
 
 ? 305. Auxiliary verbs are often convenient when we wish to ex- 
 press the verb interrogatively, negatively, or elliptically. 
 
 Ex.—" Do you know Lyd.a Flare ?" Placed before the nominative, '■^Gun von 
 ^of" " I do not want his company." " If man will not do justice, God tvilV'ldf) 
 justice]. " He could have done it, and so cmld you," "They herd cattle and raise 
 corn, juat ns we used to do;''' i. e., to herd cattle and raise corn. Do is frequently 
 thus used as a sort of pro-verh, to represent an active verb already mentioned. 
 Some (grammarians condemn this use of it; yet, as it often enables us to avoid the 
 repetition of n loug and tedious phrase, our Tanguage can not well spare it. 
 
AUXILIARY VERBS. 181 
 
 ? Be primarily signifies predication or existence; do, action in general, 
 which is limited to a particular kind by the principal verb ; can, to know ; 
 have, to possess; maij, ability; must, necessity; shall, proceeding frora 
 another's will or from our circumstances ; and will, proceeding from our 
 own will But the primitive or literal sense can not always be traced. 
 
 Ex.—" The corn is planted." " He does study." " I can [know how to] read." 
 (To con a le3son=to study it. Out of *e/»=beyond perception.) "I have been 
 hurt." ^'Imay buy it;" "You might help us." {A might>/ storm.) "He shall 
 study." " He will study." 
 
 ? 306. Be is used chiefly to express the verb in the passive and pro- 
 gressive forms. See p. 184. 
 
 Ex.— "The house is luilt:'' "The leaves are falling y It shows when and 
 how the person or thing exists in the state denoted by the rest of the verb. 
 
 ? 307. I>o or did generally adds force to the predicate, or expresses 
 the emphatic form. See p. 184. 
 
 Ex. — " I do really lelleve it." "Do you treat him well, nevertheless." 
 
 ? 308. Can or could expresses ability or possibility, — physical, 
 mental, or moral. 
 
 Ex. — " I can carry the bucket." '■'■Gan you write a composition ?" " I can not 
 JjreaTc my promise." " It can not snow here in July." " It can not heP " Such 
 a man could not live in our neighborhood." It is morally impossible. 
 
 • 309. Have or Esad makes a part of every perfect tense. 
 
 ? 310. ITIay or nii^ht expresses ability, possibility, probability, per- 
 mission, wishing. 
 
 Ex. — "I rnigJit have bought this valuable lot then." "It might be answered 
 thus." " It may rain this evening." " We may not live to see it." " You may 
 all go out to play." '''■May jom. prosper.'''' " 0, tiiat he might return ,^" 
 
 ? 311. Must expresses necessity, — physical, mental, or moral. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■Die I must.'''' " But for a little tube of mercury, the whole crew must 
 have sunk.'''' " There must have been a heavy rain in these parts." It is necessary 
 to believe there was. "Your promise wws^ be kept.'''' "My votem«.9^ uoc he re- 
 gistered in favor of such a bill." It ought not to be, and shall not be. 
 
 When we look into the world, we can readily observe that the acts or states 
 ascribed to objects, proceed eitlier from their own will or nature, or else are 
 caused by other agents or things. The former province is chiefly that for will 
 and would, the latter for shaU and should. 
 
 1 312. Shall or should sets forth the act or state, not as depend- 
 ing on the doer's will, but on that of another; or as proceeding from 
 authority, influence, or circumstances perhaps out of his control. Hence, 
 shall often implies compulsion ; and should, duty or obligation. Frequently, 
 they denote sometliing as simply future or subsequent, or an assertion 
 modestly set forth as being somewhat a condition or inference. 
 
 Ex. — " You shall stay at home to-day." " Thou sJmU love tliy neighbor as thy- 
 self." "I shall be drowned; for nobody will help m ." "I resolved that he 
 i^hould go.'''' " He vowed that I should repent of it." " Whoever shall violate this 
 law, shall be punished.'''' " Our children shall celehi'ate this day with bonfires and 
 illamluations." It will come to pass. " Yes, my sou ; yon shall often find the 
 rich.'St men the meanest." In your course through life, this will necessarily in- 
 trude itself upon your notice. (A use somewhat obsolescent, but good.) " Go and 
 see him, and you shaU never want to see him again." '■'■Should you ^nd any pa- 
 paws, halloo to us." "I should be obliged to him, if he would gratify me." '■ I 
 aJiould be pleased to have his company" [if he would condescend to wait upon mej. 
 
182 VERBS. PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. 
 
 "Do vou think the book will sell?— I should tUnk so" [judging from Its qualities, 
 and the wants of the public]. 
 
 ? 314, Will or would sots forth the act or state as depending on 
 the will or the nature of what is denoted by the subject of the verb.'^ 
 Hence this auxiliary often implie3 repetition of the act. Frequently, it 
 denotes the act or state as simply future or subsequent. 
 
 Ex.— "If he will go to California in spite of remoustranee. I will furnuJi him, 
 an outfit ; but I fear he will find but little gold there, and will never hring buck as 
 much as he took with him." " The cause will raise up armies.'' " He would not-' 
 </o without his father's word." "TMsm^omW answer our purpose." " He knew 
 that this would have teen wrong." "There will she sit and weep for houi-s." 
 "But still the house affairs would draw her thence." 
 
 ? 315. In a dependent proposition, shaU or should must nearly always 
 be used to express simple futurity or contingence ; for, in such a proposi- 
 tion, will or would generally refers to the will of what the subject denotes. 
 
 Ex.—" If I shall have heen^ " If you shall have leenP " When he shall goy 
 " Whoever shall say so." 
 
 Since shall and vnll are often misapplied, the following rules may all be found useful : — 
 
 1. Our own voluntary actions are denoted by will^ and our contingent 
 ones hj shall; the contingent actions of others are expressed by will^ and 
 their compulsatory ones by shall. 
 
 2. Shall, in the first person of dependent propositions, and will, in the 
 second and third persons, foretell. Will, in the first person, implies voli- 
 tion or promise ; and shall, in the second and third persons, implies com- 
 pulsion or force. Shall, in dependent propositions, foretells ; and will 
 implies volition. Should is generally preferable to would, where shall 
 would be preferable to will; and vice versa. 
 
 3. Will or would excludes the voHtion or control of the speaker over 
 the act or state, unless he is also what the subject of the verb denotes. 
 Shall or should excludes the volition or control of what the subject denotes, 
 over the act or state. 
 
 The first and second rules are simple but inadequate ; the last reaches all cases. 
 The auxiliaries may, can, must, will, and shall, generally accord best with 
 one another, and with the present tenses; the auxiliaries might, could, would, 
 and should, generally accord best with one another, and with tiie past tensos. 
 
 PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. 
 
 What is a participle ? What is an infinitive? See p. 165. 
 
 ? Participles and infinitives also express the acts or states ex- 
 pressed by other forms of the verb. 
 
 ? They likewise have voices. 
 
 ? They do not have moods ; or rather, they are themselves a mood. 
 
 ? 316. They express tense relatively and in any period of time, 
 and not absolutely, like finite verbs, in fixed periods of time. 
 
 Ex. — " He CAMK wounded ;" " He oame woundingj" " He came to wound.''"' " Ho 
 ooitEs— WILL ooMK wounded. " " I intend to go;"" " I intended to go:' 
 
 ? They do not have person and nmnber, and therefore do not 
 express afHrmatioo. 
 
VERBS. — PARTICIPLHS AND INFINITIVES. 18-'} 
 
 ? 317. While they have the general meaning of verbs, they 
 also partake of the nature of noans, adjectives, and adverbs. 
 
 They form a circuit of expressions between predicate-verb3, and o*-.her parts of 
 speecli ; and hence they enrich language in variety and power of expression. 
 
 ? 318. Since they have not person or number, or do not predicate, they 
 ascribe acts or states to substantives, and yet leave them free in their case 
 construction with other words ; thus enabling us to abridge clauses, con- 
 dense the sentence, and give suitable prominence to each of its parts. 
 
 Ex. — " Tlie man, turning round as if to seek a passenger of whom to make in- 
 c 'Jiry, beheld, on the other side of the way, another man apparently engaged in the 
 same search." " The man, when he turned round as if he sought a passenger of 
 whom he might make inquiry, beheld, on the other side of the way, another man 
 who was apparently engaged in the same search," is more tedious than the pre- 
 ceding sentence, and does not even express precisely the same sense. " His body, 
 dropping from the horse, was found, after several days, stretched upon the ground, 
 with the faithful animal still standing at its side." Observe here how the finding 
 of the body is made most prominent, and how all other parts become duly sub- 
 ordinate. 
 
 ? Their brevity gives force ; besides, participles are often the most vivid 
 and expressive of terms. 
 
 Ex. — " The rising sun, o'er Galston moors, with glorious light was glinting.'''' 
 
 1 There are three participles ; the present^ the perfect, and the 
 compound. 
 
 t There are two infinitives ; the present and the perfect. 
 
 ? 319. The present participle ends in ing, and denotes 
 continuance of the act or state. It is active, if from an active verb; 
 sometimes passive. 
 
 ? 320. The perfect participle ends in ed, or is formed as 
 shown in the list of irregular verbs ; and it denotes completion, 
 sometimes continuance. It is passive, except when combined with 
 the auxiliary have. 
 
 ? §21. The coiiipousid participSe consists of bein(/, having, 
 or having been, and some present or perfect participle placed after it. 
 
 ? The words being, having, having been, are needed and inserted to ex- 
 clude predication ; to express voice, time, cause, &c. ; or to bring out the 
 sense of the participle more exactly, clearly, or forcibly. 
 
 Ex.—" This proved, the conclusion is irresistible." Proved is apparently finite, 
 and the sense is obscure or ambiguous. " This being proved, the conclusion is 
 irresistible." " The old chief, warned by these few words, departed immediately." 
 Passive. " The old chief, having warned by these few words, departed imme- 
 diately." Active. " He comes attended by his friends." Present. " He comes, 
 having heen attended by his friends." Past. "The army did not march ill pro- 
 vided.'''' State. " The army did not march, &ei«^7 ill /?/'ot;i<:^eJ." Cause. " I saw 
 the man ndmitted,'''' is not equivalent to " I aiiw the man, beina admitted.'''' " The 
 man skilled in the business, was appointed." Kestrictive. " The man, be'ing skilled 
 in the business, was appointed." Not restrictive. The compound participle ia 
 never restrictive. " Santa Anna kept no prisoners ; it haoing been decreed so." 
 Voice, time, and cause. 
 
 The nature of our compound participles is misunderstood in all the English grammars I 
 have seen. 
 
184 VERBS. — PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. 
 
 1 322. The preseait iialiiistive begins with to, and is rela- 
 tively present or future in time. 
 
 ? 323. The perfect iaifiaiitive bogins with to have, and de- 
 notes completion, or past time. 
 
 Ex. — " I hoped to see you." " He appears to be rich." " He appeai-s to have 
 been rich." 
 
 ? We may consider participles and infinitives, Jirst, as combined 
 vvith auxiliaries to make finite or other verbs ; secondly, as being 
 participles and infinitives proper; and, thirdly, as having become 
 words of other parts of speech. 
 
 ? 324. Participles are corabii-ed with participles to make com- 
 pound participles. 
 
 Ex, — Having been; being worn; having been standing. "Being standing;" 
 rarely used. 
 
 ? 325. The present participle is combined with ttie auxiliary he 
 and its variations, to make the progressive form. 
 
 Ex. — To be writing ; to have been writing. " The bells are tolling.'''' 
 
 ? 226. The perfect participle is combined with the auxiliary be 
 and its variations, to make the passive form or voice, 
 
 Ex. — To be written ; to have been written. " He is gone.'''' " He was struck.'''' 
 
 ? 327. The perfect participle is combined with the auxiliary have 
 and its variations, to express the perfect tenses. It is then active, if 
 from a transitive verb. 
 
 Ex. — To have written ; to have been writing. I Jiai written. 
 
 ? 328. The compound j^cirticiple is not properly combined, with 
 any auxiliary, as a part of a finite verb. 
 
 Ex. — "A new party is now being formed^'''' should be, "A new party is now 
 forming.'''' "The church was theii being built,'''' should be, " The church was then 
 huilding .^'' 
 
 ? 329. The present infinitive, without the sign to, is confined 
 with the auxiliaries do, can, may, must, will, and shall, and with 
 their past forms, to express absolute tenses. 
 
 Ex-—" He does [to] study:'' ^'■lcan\ study^l am able to study. " I shall \ 
 ttvdy:'' " I would \ study:'' 
 
 The orijjinal infinitive properly has not to ; the form with to is made from the 
 other, and is needed, in construction, to distinguish the infinitive from the present 
 indicative or imperative. Thus the preposition to has become a sort of auxiliary 
 to the infinitive, though not an auxiliary verb ; for the infinitive, not expressing 
 affirmation, needed not a verb for its auxiliary. 
 
 ? 330. The infinitive is also construed, without the sign to, after 
 the active verba bid, make, need, hear, | let, see, feel, and dare ; 
 sometimes after find, have, help, please, and equivalents of see ; and 
 sometimes after a conjunction or in colloquial expressions. 
 , Ex.—" Let D8 sing:' " I heard him say it." " You had better go.'' " They 
 learn to read and [to] write. [It is] " Better [to] lose than [to] be disgraced." 
 
VERBS. PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. X85 
 
 ? 331. Tlie participle may express something subordinate — 
 
 As the cause. " John, being tired, went to bed." [fore feet. 
 
 As the means. "The horse charged upon the wolves, striking them with his 
 
 As the manner. " The cars came rattling.''^ See Southey's Lodore. 
 
 As the time. ^'Having taken shelter here, he saw an ant," &c. 
 
 As the state. "He became attached to us." 
 
 As the accompaniment. " She sat near, reading a book." 
 
 As the condition. '^Circling round, you may approach on the other side." 
 
 As the respect wherein. " I consider him as having lost his right." 
 
 ? 332. It is sometimes used — 
 
 Absolutely with a substantive. "The bolls having rung, we went to church." 
 
 Absolutely after an infinitive. " To go prepared, is necessary." 
 
 ? 333. The infinitive may express something — 
 As the cause. "I grieve to hear of your bad conduct." 
 As the purpose. " And they who came to scoff, remained to pray.'" 
 As simply a future or subsequent event. " He fell to rise no more." 
 As the respect wherein. "Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike." 
 As a determination or obligation. " I am to go.^' " It is to be deplored, that," &c. 
 As the manner. "All things went to suit me." 
 
 As the supplement of a comparison. " Good enough to sell." " So high as to 
 be invisible," '' He knows better than to veiiture." 
 
 ? 334. It is sometimes used — 
 
 As a subject. ^'To cultivate the earth is the most pleasant occupation." 
 
 As an object. " He is learning to read." " The ship is about to sail." 
 
 As a predicate-nominative. " To sin is to suffer.'''' 
 
 As an appositive. " Delightful task! to rear the tender thought." 
 
 There are several less important uses of participles and infinitives. 
 ? 335. The infinitive may be construed with — 
 ^^ivoun. " He has the courage to venture." 
 A pronx)un. " Hear him speak." 
 An adjective. " He is anxious to start." 
 A verb. " He seems to prosper." " I came to remain." 
 An adverb. " He knows when to purchase." 
 A preposition. " He is about to sell his farm." 
 A conjunction. " He is wiser than to beheve it." 
 An interjection, elliptically. " 0, to be in such a condition I" 
 
 ? The participle leans to the adjective, and the infinitive to the 
 noun. 
 
 Ex. — "I am studying'''' =1 am in the state of studying ; but, "I can study'''' '-~\ 
 am able to do the thing called studying. 
 
 ? 336. Since every act or state must belong to some object, par- 
 ticiples and infinitives relate to substantives ; and since they partake 
 
186 VERBS. PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES. 
 
 of tlie nature of other parts ot speech, they may, especially the in- 
 finitive, modify other words besides, 
 
 Ex.—" The Passions oft, to hear her shell, thronj^ed around her magic cell." To 
 hear relates to Passions, and also modifies thron/fed, by showing the purpose. 
 Sometimes the principal verb is omitted. "To tell the truth, [I must confess] I 
 was in fault." Sometimes participles and infinitives are used absolutely or in- 
 dependently ; though words by which we muy avoid this construction, can often 
 h)e supphed. " To become c?Mm?'i5eri^iZ, is ruinous." [We] '■'■ Considering hia youth, 
 [think] he is very prudent." See p. 47. 
 
 The fore^oinp: paragraph is substantially Rule XII. In the syntax of verbs, the most ob- 
 vious distinction is into verbs finite and verbs not finite. Since finite verbs are always re- 
 ferred to subjects, since every act or state must belong to some object, and Gince participles 
 and infinitives "partake the nature of verbs," why should their rfelation to a Bubject be dis- 
 regarded, or less regarded in one than in the other ? Our rule exhausts the syntax of parti- 
 ciples and infinitives, whether used in combination, or as participles and infinitives proper. 
 To p trticiples proper, it is sufficient to apply only the first portion of the Rule. 
 
 ? 33*7. Participles and infinitives become nouns, when they as- 
 sume cases ; and they may then be used in any case except the 
 possessive. 
 
 Ex. — " To love is natural." " Mary is learning to read.'''' " There is little glory 
 m hiving been detected in a mean action." " It is better to suffer than to injure^'' 
 " No sooner has he peeped into the world than he has done his do^ — Hadibras. 
 Bere the infinitive has become entirely a noun. 
 
 1 338. By virtue of their verbal sense, verbal nouns may govern 
 other substantives in the objective case, or be modified adverbially; 
 and by virtue of its substantive sense, the participle may govern an- 
 other substantive in the possessive case. 
 
 Ex — " To love our neiqlilors, is our duty." "^is having sometimes written to 
 me, is no evidence of Mary's corresponding with him." Sucli possessives are 
 authorized by good writers: it is often better, however, to use an ordinary noun, 
 or a clause beginning with that. 
 
 ? 339. The infinitive always remains abstract, and is never g^\- 
 erned by a preposition, except sometimes by about or except. 
 
 ? 340. The participle may so far lose the nature of the verb as 
 to assume the modifications of a noun, or become even concrete. 
 
 Ex.—" Painting and sculpture." " Good lodgings.'''' " In the arranging of his 
 affairs"— In the arrangement of his affairs. The* participle, with an article before 
 it and o/" after it, is always a noun ; and, as such, converts adverbs into adjectives, 
 or is compounded with them. "By carefully reading your composition;" " Bv 
 the careful reading of your composition." " In setting forth his system ;" " In the 
 aetting-forth of his system."; 
 
 ? Participles and infinitives lose, with their verbal nature, the 
 idea of time. 
 
 ? 341. The participle sometimes becomes a participial adjective ; 
 that is, it ascribes the act or state to its subject as a quality. 
 
 Ex.— "A shattered oak." " Life's fleeting moments." Sometimes it becomes a 
 mere adjective. " This is surprising''^— wonderful. 
 
 Participles sometimes become adverbs, prepositions, or conjwictions. 
 
 Ex.— " It is freezing cold." Concerning, respecting. Provided. ' 
 
VERBS. CONJUGATION. 187 
 
 CONJUGATION. 
 
 ? The coiijiigatioii of a verb is the proper combination and 
 regular arrangement of its parts, to express voices, moods, tenses, 
 persons, and numbers. 
 
 ? 342. Most forms of the verb consist of auxiliaries combined 
 with participles or infinitives. See the preceding section. 
 
 ? 343. Only the present, the preterit, and a few other forms, can 
 be used without auxiliaries. 
 
 ? 344. The preterit can not be properly combined with any 
 other part of the verb. 
 
 Ex. — " I had went,'''' "He was foo^," should be, " I had gone,'''' "He was taken.''^ 
 
 ? A verb that has assumed an auxiliary, is sometimes callea 
 compound. 
 
 ? A few verbs want most of their parts, or have no participles, 
 and are therefore termed defective. 
 
 ? These are beware^ methinks, ought, quoth, wit, and most of the 
 auxiliary verbs. 
 
 ? Beware, derived from he and aware, may be used wherever he would oc- 
 cur in the conjugation of the verb he. ^^Beware of pickpockets." " 'Tis wisdom 
 to beware, and better to avoid the bait than struggle in the snare." — Dryden. 
 " If angels fell, why should not men beware."" — Young. 
 
 ? Ought, said to be an old preterit of owe, is, without regard to the infini- 
 tive after it, in the present tense when it refers to present tune, and" in the past 
 tense when it refers to past time. So is also micst. Present : " I know he ought 
 to go ;" "I know he ought to have gone." No s is added. Past: "I knew he 
 aught to surrender" [then] ; "I knew he ought to have surrendered," 
 
 ? Quoth is sometimes used, in familiar or humorous language, for said- 
 *' ' Not I,' quoth Sancho." 
 
 ? Wit, in the sense of know, is yet used in the phrase to wit='namely. The 
 other forms are nearly obsolete. See p. 16. 
 
 ? 345. The form§ are certain modes of expressing the verb, 
 which may be considered subdivisions to the tenses. 
 
 ? In general, verbs branch out thus : They have moods ; moods 
 have tenses ; tenses have forms ; and forms have persons and num- 
 bers. 
 
 ? There are five forms ; the common, the emphatic, the progres- 
 sive, the passive, and the ancient, or solemn style. See pp. 20-29. 
 
 Define the forms. See p. 20. 
 
 ? The common form should be used in familiar discourse. 
 
 ? The em,phatic form often implies an opposite opinion which it aims 
 to remove. When do or did is excluded by some other auxiliary, we 
 simoly lay a greater stress on the latter. 
 
 9 
 
188 VERBS. CONJUGATION. 
 
 ? The progressive form can generally be applied only to acts or states 
 that may have intermissions and renewals. Permanent mental acts or 
 states can therefore be seldom expressed in it. " I respect him;" not, "I 
 am respecting him." This form is sometimes highly vivid and expressive. 
 
 ? The ancient form, or solemn style, is used in the Bible, by the religious 
 denomination called Friends, frequently in religious worship, sometimes in 
 poetry, and sometimes in burlesque. 
 
 Since the chief purpose of Conjugation is the mailing of predicates, we may add the 
 following : — 
 
 ? 346. Be is often combined with about and the infinitive, to ex- 
 press something as future or impending at the time referred to. 
 Ex. — " We were about to starts 
 
 ? 34*7. Be, in some of the tenses, may be combined with the 
 infinitive to express determination or design. 
 Ex. — "I wa8 to go early." " They are to he sold.'''' 
 
 ? 348. Have is often combined with the infinitive to express obli- 
 gation or necessity. 
 
 Ex. — " I have to go.''"' " I Md to do every thing." 
 
 ? 349. The verbs seem, appear, suppose, &c., are often combined 
 with the infinitive to modify or soften the assertion. 
 Ex. — " She seeim to hnow but little." 
 
 ? 350. A proposition is made interrogative, generally by placing 
 the verb or some part of it after the nominative. 
 Ex. — " Know YE the land ?" " Have you seen him ?" 
 
 351. A verb is made negative, by placing not after it or after the 
 
 first auxiliary. Participles and infinitives generally require not to 
 
 be placed before them. 
 
 Ex. — "I hnow not.'''' "I did not know'iV '■'■ Not to hnow some things, is an 
 hoHor." '•'■Not finding me, he went away." 
 
 ? 352. Some propositions are both interrogative and negative. 
 Negative questions imply something adverse to the speaker's belief, 
 or ask for confirmation; affirmative questions ask for information. 
 The former often suppose an affirmative answer in the hearer ; and 
 the latter, a negative answer. Both kinds are answered by yes or 
 Tk^j alike. 
 
 ^^•~!''^^ ^^ carriage not come yet ?" "7s Tiot Philip master of Thermopylae ?" 
 «fcc. '■'■Slum wo gather strength by irresolution and inaction V &c. '■'-Did you go ? 
 —No." '■'Did. you not gof—No.''' "And did they not catch you?— No, thank 
 Heavwi.— You were not kicked, then?— No, sir.— Nor caned?— No, sir.— Nor 
 dragged through a horse-pond ?—0 Lord ! no, sir.''— Garrick. 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. 189 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Ihrse the verbs, including participles and infinitives : — 
 
 1. 
 
 A fierce dog caught* the robber. A cloud is** passing over us. The 
 place was covered with a profusion of flowers. Misers hoard money. 
 Money is hoarded by misers. That noisy marsh is now draining. Man 
 becomefindolent in a warm climate. Thou didst create this wondrous world. 
 
 2. 
 
 You do not understand me. We have learned our lessons. The hunt- 
 ers had killed a bear. I shall remain at home when it rains. When I 
 have completed this grammar, I will visit you. The turkeys will have 
 left the field, before you can get there. I will not beg favors of you, as 
 others have done. " Will you walk into my parlor ?" said a Spider to 
 a Fly 
 
 3. 
 
 You may walk" into the garden,' but you must not pluck*' the flowers. 
 The storm may have broken down the old apple-tree. I could not carry 
 the trunk. A good resolution should not be broken. If a horse could 
 have been procured, we would have sent him. If you should write to her, 
 it might appear that I had requested it. 
 
 4 
 
 Who would refuse to reward<i them* ? Does any man believe that this 
 giant aggregate of states can be preserved by force ? Shall we submit to 
 chains and slavery ? If he be chosen, he will become insolent. I would 
 I were with him. If he valued it highly, he would not sell it so cheap. 
 He smiled as if he knew me. He was spoken® of for Congress. The vic- 
 toiy had been ours, had they fought more bravely. 
 
 6. 
 
 Revere thyself, and yet thyself despise. Do not give a poor man a 
 stone, after he has died for want of bread. Go, wash your face, and get 
 ready for school. Seek we now some deeper shade. Lead he the way 
 who knows the spot. Hallowed be thy name ; thy kingdom come. 
 
 6. 
 
 He was born to be' great. I came here to works, not to play. The 
 poem was to be published. We like to please our teacher. You behave 
 too badly to go into company. The house is estimated to have cost fifty 
 thousand dollars. To work^ is better than to starve'. He is afraid, me- 
 thinks^, to hear you tell it. There let the laurel spread'^, the cypress wave. 
 
 T. 
 
 James ran fast, pursuing' John, and pursued by us. The machinery, 
 being oiled J, runs well. Having written his letter, he sealed it. Spring 
 comes robed in silken green. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. 
 A word can send the crimson color hurrying to the cheek with many 
 meanings. The falling'" leaves remind us of declining years. There 
 tyrants, uncrowned''^, unepitaphed'", shall rot. 
 
190 VERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 8. 
 
 Considering'' liis age, he is far advanced. To conclude, I shall oppose 
 the sending of the navy there. By fearing to attempt something, you will 
 do nothing. There is much to do. She was punished for having torn 
 her book. I wept a last adieu. 
 
 9. 
 The flax often failed, and the sheep were destroyed by wolves. The 
 mansion, with its gardens and groves, extends over a large area. The 
 seasons, each in its turn, cheer the soul. Every twenty- four hours make 
 a day. Every people have some kind of religion. Each privata^ flxmily 
 pays a tax of five dollars for water, A remnant of cloth was left' \ A 
 remnant of the tribe were left". 5 from 7 leave 2. 5 from 7 leaves 2. 
 Two-fifths are greater than one-fourth [is]. A portion of these Indians 
 have some education. 
 
 10. 
 The Rhine' and the Rhone rise"* in Switzerland. Lofty mountains, 
 enormous glaciers, and wild, romantic valleys, successively appear. Tower 
 and temple, hut and palace^ were consumed by fire. A log-rolling, a 
 quilting, or a wedding, was a time of general festivity. Every horse and 
 every ox was stolen. You" or he is in fault. You, he, and I, [we,] are" 
 invited. Continued exertion, and not hasty efforts, leads to success. 
 Every doubtful or chimerical speculation was forbidden. 
 
 11. 
 The howling of the wolf, and the shrill screaming of the panther, were 
 mingled in nightly concert with the war-whoop of the savages. Where 
 now is peace, sobriety, order, and love ? To have suffered the inhabitants 
 to escape, would have prolonged the evils of war. ThatP Cortes with 
 but a handful of adventurers should have conquered so great an empire, 
 is a fact little short of the miraculous. 
 
 [To have] All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy''. 
 All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. 
 The sun hath set in folded clouds, — 
 
 Its twilight rays are gone ; 
 And, gathered in the shades of night, 
 The storm is rolling on. 
 
 12. 
 
 We ought not to sacrifice the sentiments of the soul, to gratify the 
 appetites of the body. The conclusion, ^that this river must be the out- 
 pouring of a continent, was acute and striking. She does not spend her 
 time in making herself look more advantageously what she TeaWy is. 
 
 Observe also the effect on the mind of Richard, of Palmer's being ar- 
 rested, and committed to prison. — B. Webster, 
 
 Delightful taskl to rear'' the tender thought. 
 
 To tench'' the young idea how to shoot*"''. — TJiomson. 
 
 (a.) ^'CarujhC is a verb, it affi/ms something of a subjoct; principal parts, — catnh, cavght, 
 eatchimj, caught ; irregular, it doi«8 not assuiiio ed; transitive, it has an object • active, it 
 rBprennnts th« dog as acting; indicative ?ftoo(/, it dciclares sometliing as an actual occur- 
 rence or fact; pant teruie, it niftjrs the act simply to past time ; and of the Sd 2)er8on, sin- 
 gular number, to agree with its nominative, or subject, '■'■doq,"" according to Rule XI. 
 (Kepeat it.) 0.) "/«" is an avxiliary verb,— a verb that helps another to express the act 
 In a certain manner or time ; It hero expresBcs the affirmation, indicative mood, and present 
 tsnue, of the verb "i« jmnidngr "i« passing" is a verb, etc. (c.) Say, potential mood. 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. 191 
 
 It expresses the permission to walk. potential mood, it erprcsaes the moral necessity nt 
 
 plucking. (<•'.) " To reward " is a transitive, active, present infinitive, from the verb re- 
 ward, rewarded, rewarded. It is here used as a noun of the neuter gender, ^d jierson, sin- 
 aular number ; and in the objective case — being the object of the verb " would refuse" — ac- 
 cording to Rule IV. (e.) "TFa-s spoken of" is a verb, it affirms * * * compound, it is composed 
 of a verb and a preposition ; prin. pts., etc. ( /.) "Tb be" is an infinitive,— a. form of the verb 
 
 * » * neuter, it does not imply action ; present, it does not express completion at the time re- 
 ferred to ; and it relates to " he," and modifies " was born," according to Rule XII. (g.) 
 
 it relates to " 7," and modifies " came" by expressing the purpose, according to Rule XII. 
 (A.) "principal parts, — methinks, methouqht ; defective, it has not all the parts of a full verb 
 
 * * * and impersonal, being used only in the 3d person, sinqulnr number, without a suitable 
 subject, according to Note XI. (z.) '•'Pursuing'^ is a participle, — an inflected form * * * tran- 
 sitive, it hiis an object ; active, it represents James as acting: present, it expresses the con- 
 tinuance of the act at the time referred to ; and it relates to " James,'''' according to Rule 
 XVI. ( j.) '■'■Being oiled''' is a participle, * * * compound, it is composed of the auxiliary 
 participle " being" and the perfect participle '■'■oiled;'" passive, it assumes the act of the ob- 
 j ct acted upon, etc. (k.) Equivalent to " We, considering his age, think,'" etc. ; or apply 
 
 Note XII. (I.) and one of the nominatives to '■'•■rise," accordi"g to Rule I. (m.) and 
 
 of the 3rf person, plural number, to agree with " Rhine and Rhone'' — a plural subject — 
 
 according to Rule XI. (n.) and in the nominative case to are understood, etc. (o.) 
 
 and of the \st person, plural number, to agree with '■'■You, he, and I,'" — equivalent to 
 
 we, a plural subject, — according to Rale XI. {p.) " That Cortes with," etc., is a clause used 
 as a noun of the neuter gender, 3d person * * * and in the nominative ca^e to " is," according 
 to Rule I. (Now parse the -y^ords separately.) 
 
 Examples to bo Correct3d. 
 
 All the liabilitios to error in regard to verbs, may be reduced to the fol- 
 lowing heads : — 
 
 1. Choice of verbs. 2. Choice of forms. S. Choice of auxiliaries. 
 4. Promiscuous use of different forms in the same connection. 5. Im- 
 proper omissions or substitutions. 6. Verbs improperly made tran- 
 ntive, intransitive^ or passive. 7. Moods and tenses. 8. Persons 
 and numbers. 9. Participles and infinitives. 
 
 In correcting the following examples, the principles already given should also be applied; 
 jnd sometimes au example will occur that must be referred to the first precepts of this eutiie 
 section, 
 
 1. Choice of Verbs. 
 
 The true or most appropriate verb should always be selected. 
 
 We -were all setting round the fire. At the last setting of our legislature. 
 He set up a short time, then lay himself down again. After laying a while, 
 he raised up. He laid down to take a nap. He flew with his fomily to 
 America. They shall fly from the wrath to come. All the lands near tho 
 Mississippi were overflown. Can you learn me to write ? I waked early. 
 The thief illuded the police. He was much effected by the news. I spent 
 much time to advance my interest, but affected nothing. I expect it rained 
 yesterday. We suspect the trip will afford us great pleasure. I love milk 
 better than coffee. — like — Morse discovered the telegraph, and Harvey in- 
 vented the circulation of the blood. The garment was neatly sown. A verb 
 ought to agree with its subject, in person and number. (Say, '^ should agree,^^ 
 for ought implies moral obligation.) Carry the horse to water. Ho was raised 
 in the South. What large rivers from the west empty into tho Mississippi ? 
 After dilating a while on the subject, the learned judge took his seat. — expa- 
 iiating — With Mr. Headley, an event always "transpires." — Poe. The 
 queen, whom it highly imported that the monarch shoQld be at peace, acted the 
 part of a mediator. i calculate to invest my money in something else. — in- 
 tend — or, expect — I didn't go to do it. .1 have made a thousand bushels of 
 Dotatoes this year. I am neci\ssitateJ to go. We were falling trees to build 
 
192 VERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 a house. His property was forfeited to the State. — confiscated— (Suppose 
 you are away from home, would you, in your letters, speak of going or of coming 
 
 home ?) Write for me no more, for I will certainly . If I can absent myself; 
 
 I will to see you. She is now getting the better of her sickness. He was 
 
 taken hold of by a ruffian, —seized— We were found fault with, —cen- 
 sured— One of the ships was lost sight of. And resolutely keep its laws, 
 uncaring consequences. — Burns. — not heeding — or, not fearing — So and 
 so got among horses, and it was all up with him. — Tattler. — began to trade in 
 liorses, and lost all he had ; or, — !xpt a coach, and soon became a ' ' 
 
 2. Choice of Forma. 
 
 The true or most appropriate form of the verb should always be 
 selected. 
 
 a. The past indicative should not be used as a participle. 
 
 6. The perfect participle should not be used for the past indicative. 
 
 c. A compound participle should not be used as a part of a finite verb. 
 
 He knowed more than he said. The blacksmith shoed my horse yesterday. 
 He shewed me his library. I clomb the tree, and my brother holp me. What 
 he writ, I never read. — Byron. A Une was drawed under it. She is possessed 
 of a large estate. — -possesses — or, owns — She is possessed of a very amiable 
 disposition, —has — I have this day parted possession with my finest horse. 
 — dispossessed myself of — The accident was not taken notice of — was not 
 noticed. The young aspirant made use of every expedient to insure success. 
 The warning was not taken heed of The landlady says, our nocturnal carous- 
 ings must be put a stop to. Troubles in Kansas have not as yet been put an 
 end to. The book was give to me. Had I have known his design, I should 
 not have let him have my horse. Had I known .... I would not have loaned^ 
 &c. Had I but have staid at home. You had not ought to have done so. 
 — You ought not to have — or, should not have — 
 
 Loud quackt the ducks. It is a fixt fact. The hay was stackt. The 
 goods were shipt yesterday. The want of money has checkt trade, and, in 
 some instances, entirely stopt it. Grog is whiskey mixt with water. John 
 alit from his horse. The wind swepped by. I stept in. Dipt, equipt, whipt, 
 annext, attackt, dropt, stript, crusht, nurst, elapst, absorpt, linkt, distrest. Be- 
 dropt with azure, jet, and gold. — Gay. Rather than thus be overtopt, would 
 you not wish their laurels cropt ? — Swift. 
 
 Thou didd'st adore him. — didst — Spirit of freedom! once on Phyle's 
 brow thou satt'st. — Byron. Thou mayest — mightest depart. How well thou 
 reaa'nest— reasoa'st, time alone can show. Tliou rememberest — preservst. 
 Thou noticed.st. — didst notice. Thou indulgedst — indulged'st — indulg'dst. 
 And long he try'd, but try'd in vain. — tried— 
 
 Waflt thou chopping wood? (Say, ''Were you,'' &c. ; for, in familiar language, 
 the grave form8 are not becoming.) Knowest thou where my books are ? Do 
 you knoWf ko. Learns she her lesson ? He readeth pretty well. A drive into 
 the country delighteth and invigorates us. Tiie child had just been falUng 
 over board, —had juM fallenr— She is loving him. We be all of us from 
 York State. I do not think you be in need of silk. 
 
 Yoa might have went yourself. Mary has tore her book. My coat is 
 completely wore out. Having swam the river, he was took by some Indians. 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. IQS 
 
 He begun well, but euded badly. I never seen any thing of it. The win© 
 was all drank up, though I drunk but little. Our candidate run well, though 
 he was beat. The tree had fell, and all its branches were broke. The apples 
 were shook off by the wind. They done the best they could. I have done 
 written. — already written. I have done done it. She was chose on my 
 side. Somebody has took ray book. The deer had ran into the bottom, and 
 swam across the river. The language spoke in this section of country, is not 
 the best of English. I seen the limb tore off by the wind. 
 
 "Wheat is now being sold for a dollar a bushel. — is now selling — The 
 new capitol is now being completed. He gave me an account of all the books 
 now being written or published in Europe. My predictions are now being ful- 
 filled. He knew nothing of what was then being done. The timbers are 
 now being hewed for a new bridge. Another Methodist church is now being 
 built in the upper part of the city. The statutes were tlien being revised. 
 My coat is now being made by the tailor. The tailor is now making, &c. His 
 anticipations are now being realized. Dramshops are' now being closed on 
 Sundays. — are closed — Here certain chemical mysteries are being secretly 
 carried on by some engineers. — Harper's Magazine. More than 20,000 children 
 are being gratuitously educated in this city. — are receiving gratuitous education — 
 The daughter is being accomplished at one of the most fashionable schools. 
 Two Irishmen are being tried for flghting. — are on trial — Such a poem as 
 this is worth being committed to memory. — committing — Whatever is worth 
 being done, is worth being done well. The apple-tree will bear being pruned 
 more, —^more pruning. Such a body can not be overthrown without the cen- 
 tre of gravity being lifted. — without lifting — 
 
 3. Choice of Auxiliaries. 
 
 (The following examples come under both the foregoing heads, and may be 
 corrected according to either.) 
 
 We will suffer from cold, unless we go better protected. The drowning 
 foreigner said, " I will be drowned ; nobody shall help me." Will I find you 
 
 at home? You find me there. Queen Isabella promised a pension to 
 
 the first seaman that would discover land. (As if he could discover it at plea- 
 sure.) I left orders that every one would remain at his station. Shall he 
 find any gold there ? (As if it were in your power to grant the finding.) Will 
 we find any ? Would we hear a good lecture, ff we would go ? Surely good- 
 ness and mercy shall follow me aU the days of my life, and I will dwell in the 
 house of the Lord forever. Death was threatened to the first man who would 
 rebel. (The overt act was meant.) I would have been much obhged to him, 
 if he had have sent it. — had sent it. He should be obliged to you, if you 
 would assist him. On the other hand, would they consult their safety, and 
 turn back, who should blame them ? We would be ruined, would they dis- 
 appoint us. Whoever will marry that woman, will find her a Tartar. You 
 may be sure that we will be paid, when it will be in his power. You might 
 have known that we would have been paid, if the treasurer should have allowed 
 it. We believed all the workmen should be paid, when our employer should 
 have received his money. (Perhaps belter, — 'had received''' — ) I had much 
 rather do it myself — would — I desired the lady should walk in. Be that 
 as it will, I shall not despair yet. — as it is — or, as it may be — I would 
 not be surprised to see him any day. I would think no reasonable man could 
 object to such a proposition. I was thinking what a happy life we woidd lead 
 together. Were I to go with you, I would get a whipping. In that other 
 world, what reflections shall not probably arise ! By relieving him, we will 
 do him a great favor, I was afraid I would lose all the capital I bad invested. 
 
194 VERBS. — EXERCISES. 
 
 4. Promiscuous Use of Different Forms in the Same Connection. 
 The promiscuous use of different forms of verbs, in the same connec- 
 tion, is inelegant. 
 
 Educating is to develop the faculties of the mind. To refrain from luxu- 
 ries, is better than going in debt for them. To strip oif old habits, is being 
 flayed alive. To profess regard, and acting differently, discovers a base mind. 
 Professing regard, and to act differently, discovers a base mind. So much ex- 
 planation tends to obscure instead of elucidating the subject. — rather than to 
 elucidate — or, and not to elucidate — (" It tended rather to confuse than to en- 
 lighten his understanding." — Macaulay.) This had served to increase instead of 
 alleviating the inflammation. — Murray. We can find the product of two num- 
 bers, by multiplying one of them by the parts into which we choose to separate 
 the other, and then add the products together. Fierce as he moved, his silver 
 shafts resound. Spelling is easier than to parse or cipher. Scanning is to 
 divide poetic hues into their feet. To scan is the dividing of poetic lines into 
 their feet. 
 
 He giveth, and he takes away. — Uarper^s Magazine. He was playing, 
 and does yet play. Does he not behave well, and gets his lessons as well as 
 any other boy in school ? Did you not borrow so much of me, and promised 
 to repay it the next day? If these remedies be applied, and the patient im- 
 proves not, the case may be considered hopeless. If the signature or indorse- 
 ment be in the usual form, but the party receiving it knows that it is given by- 
 way of suretyship, he must prove the assent of the parties. — Parsons on Con- 
 tracts. Thou who didst call the Furies from the abyss, and round Orestes bade 
 them howl and hiss. — Byron. He comforteth the widow, and becomes a father 
 to the orphan. For their sake, human law hath interposed in some countries, 
 and has endeavored to make good the deficiency of nature. He was either 
 misunderstood, or represented in a false light. — or misrepresented. 
 
 5. Improper Omissions or Substitutions. 
 
 When the omission of a verb, or the representing of it by an auxi- 
 liary word, would lead to impropriety or obscurity, the verb itself should 
 be used. 
 
 The winter is departing, and the wild-geese flying northward. — are flying — 
 Be quiet ; for neither he nor I am disposed to harm you. — neither is he, nor 
 am I— A room has been secured, and all other preparations made. Money 
 is scarce, and times hard. The extremes of heat and cold are great; but the 
 climate, nevertheless, salubrious. Our breakfast was ready, and our horses 
 saddled. A doUar was oflered for it, but five dollars asked. The ground was 
 covered with forests, and the ravines completely hidden. I never have and 
 never will assist such a man. —have assisted— All those who have or do 
 j)urcha80 any ot those books, shall receive a present. 
 
 _ As you have made the first, so you may do the rest, —way make— The 
 intentions of some of these philosophers might, and probably were, good. His 
 sermons must have and certainly should produce a reformation. Keither does 
 ho nor any other persons suspect so much dissimulation. No man can bo more 
 v/retchod than I. —than I am. I can not go, but I want to. —to go. (Such 
 expressions, I think, are sometimes allowable, in light colloquial language ; at 
 least, the best authors sometimes use tiiera.) Such a law, I believe, has been 
 enacted; but if it has not, I think it ought to. I have not subscribed, nor do I 
 inteud to. Tins must be my excuse for seeing a letter which neither inelina- 
 tiou nor time prompted mo to.— Washington. IIo does pursue the course many 
 
VERBS. — KXEKCISES, 1^5 
 
 Others have done. — have pursued. No one ever sustained such mortifications 
 as I have done to-day. I shall persuade others to take the same remedies for 
 their cure that I have. A shower of rain refreshes vegetation more than can 
 be done by ever so much watering. 
 
 6. Verbs Imprajjerly made Transitive^ Intransitive, or Passive. 
 
 Verbs should not be needlessly made transitive, intransitive, or passive, 
 contrary to their general use, or contrary to analogy. 
 
 He had fled his native land. And Pharaoh and his host pursued after them. 
 San Francisco connects with the sea, by an entrance one mile wide. A verb 
 signifying actively, governs the accusative. — Adam^s Lat. Gram. Any word 
 that will conjugate, is a verb. I must premise with two or three oircumptances. 
 Go, flee thee away into the land of Judea. It now repents me that I did not 
 go. They finally agreed the matter among themselves. Well, I suppose, we 
 nre agreed on this point. Such as prefer, may rise from their seats. — prefer 
 in do so — Sit thee down, and rest thee. We had just entered into the house. 
 He is entered on the duties of his office. 
 
 We are swerved far from the policy of our fatlinrs. My friend is returned— 
 is arrived. All the flowers are perished. His time of imprisonment was 
 nearly elapsed. He is possessed of great talents. The tumult was then en- 
 tirely ceased. A few were deserted, and more killed. This is true power : 
 it approaches men to Gods. She is become more fretful than she used to be. 
 Brutus and Cassius are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. His 
 profits will diminish from yours. She sat herself down on the sofa. He in- 
 gratiates with some by traducing others. His estate will not allow of such 
 extravagance. You shall not want for any thing while I have it. The car- 
 riage is so full as not to admit of another passenger. I will consider of the 
 matter, and let you know by morning. What is Uvi difference of meaning f " To 
 eat an apple ;" " To eat of an apple." 
 
 7. Moods and Tenses. 
 
 1. Every verb should be in the mood and tense best adapted to ex- 
 press the meaning intended. 
 
 2. In mood and tense, all the verbs of a sentence should be consist- 
 ent with one another, and also with the otlier words of the sentence. 
 
 a. The indicative mood expresses matter of fact, or what is assumed 
 as such. 
 
 h. The subjunctive mood is used to express what is both doubtful and 
 future, or a mere wish, supposition, or conclusion. 
 
 c. The subjunctive mood sometimes has the sense of the past or the 
 pluperfect potential, but it should not take the place of these forms whei-e 
 they would be more elegant. 
 
 d. The infinitivp leans to the noun, and most frequently expresses the 
 purpose, or shows the respect wherein; the participle rather resembles the 
 adjective in sense and construction. 
 
 e. Universal truths are expressed in the present tense, regardless of the 
 construction, or the other words used. 
 
 She were as good buried, iis married to him. — might as well be — • T had bet- 
 ter staid where I was. — might have better — You had better have let those 
 wasps alone. — might better — He had better remain on the small farm, 
 Ji would be, &c. Bad bovs had better be without too much money. — shou'4 
 
 9* 
 
196 VERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 not he indulged with— Tho Glenn family will try and requite the favor. If 
 he acquires riches, they will corrupt his mind. I shall go into the country to- 
 day, ualess it raias. If he speak only to display his talents, he is unworthy of 
 attention. I wish I was at home. He talked to me as if I was a widow. 
 Should you como up this way, and I am still here, you need not be assured how 
 glad I shall be to see you. — Byron's Letters. I would be surprised if this mar- 
 riage will take piace. Make haste, lest the dinner cools. Beware that thou 
 sinaest not. If I am at home, I will go with you. If he be safe, I am con- 
 tent. If the book be in my library, I will send it immediately. If the book 
 is found in my Ubrary, I will send it immediately. If the book was in my 
 library, I would send it. If the book were in my hbrary, some one must have 
 borrowed it. See that every thing is put in the right place. (Right or wrong, 
 depending on the sense.) I can not tell whether the opossum be dead or alive. 
 Will you tell us who they be ? Try I will, whatsoever oppose. (Say, "o^- 
 poses/' if opposition is considered certain; '^ may oppose,^' if doubtful.) He in- 
 deed would be a useful policeman, that should detect all the rogues that were 
 found in every part of this city. 
 
 If the hand is removed, the air immediately fills the vessel. If. . . .he. . . . 
 will immediately fill — or, When the hand is removed. . . .fills, &c. (I think that 
 "yi&" might also be allowed to stand with " &e removed,''' and that it would 
 make the expression merely a little more spirited.) If a man smites his serv- 
 ant, and he dies, he shall surely be put to death. — smite and the servant 
 
 die, the man shall — Though he be poor and helpless now, you may rest as- 
 sured that he will not remain so. He will maintaiu his suit, though it costs 
 him his whole estate. (Here tho latter verb impUes, or should imply, both doubt 
 and future time.) Though a liar speaks the truth, he will hardly be believed. 
 If he was to be elected, he would disgrace the parly. — were elected — Sup- 
 pose only one side with the adjacent angles were given, how would you find the 
 other parts ? I will keep this, provided there be no better one in your store. 
 The work will be carried on vigorously, until it be completed. These hypo- 
 crites would deceive, if it was possible, the Deity himself. If any member ab- 
 sents himself, he shall pay a dollar for the use of the Society. The mother 
 hurried her httle children up a ladder for safety, in case she was overcome by 
 the bear. — Pioneer History. 
 
 Saxony was left defenceless, and, if it was conquered, might be plundered. 
 — if it should he conquered — Nay. Father Abraham, but if one went unto 
 them from the dead, &c. If they did not believe Moses, they will not believe, 
 though one rose from the dead. — rise — Though self-government produce 
 some uneasiness, it is light when compared with the consequences of vicious 
 indulgence. No one engages in that business, unless he aim at reputation, or 
 hopes for some singular advantage. Micaiah said, " If thou certainly return in 
 peace, then hath not the Lord spoken by me." — thou return — In moving 
 bodies, if the quantities of matter are equal, the momenta will be as the veloci- 
 ties. If tiie body A be equal to the body B, but A has twice the velocity of B, 
 then A has twice as much motion as B. If a telescope is inverted, objects 
 seen through it will be diminished. If a telescope be inverted, objects seen 
 through it are dimini.shed. If the two mirrors were separated, it is obvious 
 that the number of images will be increased. Was there not another evil, I 
 would object.— P. Henry. If the new Constitution takes place, the duties on 
 imported articles will go into the general treasury. — A. Hamilton. A corpora- 
 tion is liable for the tortuous acts of its agent, though he were not appointed un- 
 der seal. — Parsons on Oontracts. (Perhaps allowable ; though I should rather 
 have said, "«;e» if he was not appointed," or, ^Hhough he may not have been 
 appointed,'" &c.) If the debtor pays tho debt, he shall be discharged. — Id. But, 
 if lie have moved out of the State, the demand may be made at his former resi- 
 doijco, — Id, 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. 197 
 
 Tne Lord hath given, find the Lord hath taken away. I know the family 
 more than twenty years. Knowing him for many years, I confidently recom- 
 •nend him. They coutinuo with us now three days. All the family have been 
 much indebted for their present greatness, to their noble ancestor. In the city 
 of Mexico are preserved, for hundreds of years, relics of the Aztec monarchy. 
 I am now two years in St. Louis, He has lately lost his only daughter. (Al- 
 lowable, if there is also reference to the existing bereavement.) This stylo has 
 been formerly much in fashion. He that was dead, sat up, and began to speak. 
 I will pay him what I l>ave promised him when I was with him. The work- 
 men will finish the work by midsummer. Next Christmas I shall be at school 
 a year. This was four years ago next August. — liejyort of Normal School Con- 
 vention. It has been a common prejudice, that persons thus instructed had 
 their attention too much divided, and could know nothing perfectly. — lb. I 
 have been frequently asked what we teachers did at our meetings. — B). (J. e., 
 at all times.) I should be obliged to him, if he will gratify me. Ye will not 
 come unto me, that ye might have life. It is proper and humane to wear a 
 habit suitable to mourning, while those we loved and honored are mouldering in 
 the grave. It will be useless for you to raise so many grapes, unless you knew 
 how to make wine. 
 
 The most glorious hero that ever desolated nations might have mouldered 
 into oblivion, did not some historian take him into favor, — Irving. If I lend 
 yc'U my horse, I should have to borrow one myself. I thought it had been you 
 that was bidding. Yet, if I should pay his debts, and get employment for him, 
 he will not do any better in future. (Say, ^^ would do" if you refer simply to 
 your own conclusion; but I tliink ^^wlU do" may stand, if you mean to express 
 
 greater certainty in regard to his conduct.) To-morrow Saturday. If wo 
 
 would examine into the springs of action in the prudent and the imprudent, we 
 siiall find that they move upon very diflerent principles. I was going out to 
 tea at dear mother's to-morrow. — Mrs. Oaudle. (Allowable; for it expresses 
 merely a past determination.) I told him that the cars leave in half an hour — 
 left in half an hour. — would leave — (The first expression is probably allow- 
 able, as referring to an established order of things, — to a certain, punctual, daily 
 occurrence.) As I never saw a play before, it was very entertaining to me. 
 All church members should be pure in heart, tliat they might not be a reproaoh 
 to Christianity. When I shaU have heard from you, I will write immediately. 
 As soon as he shall bring the horses, we shall leave. When the workmen 
 completed our new house, wo removed into it. As soon as our new house had 
 been completed, we removed into it. 
 
 Our teacher told us that the air had weight. Prof. Silliman's experiments 
 plainly proved that the gas was combustible. He showed clearly what powers 
 belonged to Congress. He insisted that the Constitution was certain and fixed, 
 and contained the permanent will of the people, and was the supreme law, and 
 could be revoked only by the authority that made it.— Kent Keats said, that 
 beauty was truth, and truth was beauty. The doctor said that fever always 
 produced thirst. Plato maintained that the Deity was the soul of the world. 
 He remarked that the word had several diiFerent meanings. He insisted that 
 the article was a mere adjective. If T should use the clause, " When spring 
 returns," you would perceive that something more was wanting to make a state- 
 ment. Without the name, I could not liave told that this was a picture of 
 him. 1 asked the quack whether calomel was not his remedy for every dis- 
 ease. He knew not that I was a foreigner. When I studied the classics, I 
 observed that many a moral lurked in the mythology of the ancients. I have 
 always thought that little was ever gained by marrying for wealth. A lato 
 writer on horses supposed that a horse could perform the labor of six men. He 
 «aid it was a great misfortune, that men of letters seldom looked on the practical 
 
198 VERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 side of life. He said it was 125 miles from St. Louis to Jefferson City. Where 
 did you say the church -was ? for I wish to hear its minister. 
 
 At Athens, he who killed another accidentally, was not deemed guilty. He 
 13 supposed to be bom about three centuries ago. To be disappointed by him 
 now, would have broken her heart. I very much wished to have gone, but 
 mother could not spare me. We hoped to have had the pleasure of a visit 
 from you. I intended to have sent your horse home yesterday, that you might 
 not have been obliged to send for hira yourself. I feared I should have lost it 
 before I reached home. We have done no more than it was our duty to have 
 done. It would liave given me great pleasure to see you. (Allowable.) 
 How could you forbear to have punished him? It was a pity I was the only 
 child; for my mother had fondness of heart enough to have spoiled a dozen. — 
 Irving. I was then disposed to have given twice as much. I was under no 
 obligation to have adhered to a party that deserted its own principles. The 
 furniture was to have been sold at auction. When I saw into her coquetry, 
 thinks I to myself I will let you know that you are not the only woman in the 
 world. (Say, '^thought I to myself;''^ yet '^thinks,'' as a light, colloquial ex- 
 pression, is not without good authority to sustain it.) Well, says I, there is, 
 after all, much genuine goodness and solid happiness in the world. What is the 
 difference in meaning f "Achilles is said to be buried at the foot of this hill;" 
 "Achilles is said to have been buried at the foot of this hill." 
 
 8. Persons and Numbers. 
 Every finite verb must agree with its subject, in person and number. 
 
 I called, but you was not at home. Was you there? My outlays is 
 greater than my income. I says to him, Be your own friend. He dare not 
 say it to my face. Such a temper need to be corrected. You who has earned 
 it, is best entitled to it. Thou who are the author of life, can restore it. 
 thou pale orb that silent shines. — Burns. Thou art the friend that hast often 
 relieved me. Thou art a friend indeed that has so often relieved me. Thou 
 can pardon us if thou will. That which yourself has asked. 'Tis so ; myself 
 has seen it. I, who has done most of the work, should receive most of the 
 pay. The molasses are excellent. His pulse are beating too fast. If a man 
 have built a house, the house is his. Unless better bail have been given, he 
 shall not be set at liberty. There are not many children in this city whoso 
 education have been entirely neglected. Has the horses been fed ? What 
 signifies fair words without good deeds? What have become of your promises ? 
 What avails the best maxims if we do not live suitably to them ? On each 
 side of the river was ridges of hills. Not more than one man was hurt. Prom 
 this Indian girl has sprung some of the first families of Virginia. Six is too 
 many to ride in the canoe at one time. Hence comes so many unhappy 
 marriages. 
 
 There seems to be no others included. There was more than one of us. 
 There's two or three of us. There appears to have been some buffaloes here 
 last night. There was no memoranda kept of the sales. The victuals was 
 cold. The wages was paid. There is no tidings. Th have two sounds. Ph 
 are pronounced like /. In the following words, sion are pronounced zhun. 
 Boys are a common noun. Here as well as are used in the sense of a con- 
 junction. 
 
 Every one of the witne.sses testify to the same thing. Everv body are dis- 
 posed to help hira. Evoiy twenty-four hours affords to us day and night. 
 Every ten tens makes one hundred. Many an Indian were laid low on that 
 day. Not one of them whom tliou sees clothed in purple, are completely happy. 
 One, added to nineteen, make twenty. Nothing but vain and foolish pursuits 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. IQ^ 
 
 delight some persons. Enough of the com and potatoes have been sold, to pay 
 the debt. The derivation of these words are uncertain. Each one of us have 
 as much as he can do. Each one of the vowels represent several sounds. 
 Either one of the schools afford facihties sufficiently good. Neither of us have 
 a dollar left. Neither of these hypotheses are well founded, though they have 
 each of them their advocates. Which one of these soldiers were wounded at 
 Monterey ? A variety of pleasing objects charm the eye. Six months' in- 
 terest are due on the bonds. The sum of twenty thousand dollars have been 
 expended on this bridge, A hundred thousand dollars of revenue is now in 
 the treasury. The spirit of our forefathers still animate their descendants. 
 The expense for repairs render it necessary to raise the tuition. This poem, 
 together with those which accompany it, were written several years ago. The 
 mother, with her daughter, have spent the summer here. The captain, with 
 most of the other officers, were killed. The captain and, &c. 
 
 y*T are not the first one that have been deceived in the same way. She is 
 one oithe women that is always hankering after towns, crowds, and parties. He 
 is one of the preachers that belongs to the church militant, and takes consider- 
 able interest in politics. The book is one of the best that ever was written. 
 Such accommodations as was necessary, was provided. Goethe and Schiller 
 are men of such genius as have but seldom appeared in the human race. It is 
 either the rain or the sun that cause this corn to grow so fast. It is the rain 
 and the sun that this corn to grow so fast. 
 
 A committee were appointed to exa:niue the accounts. The committee dis- 
 agrees. In France, the peasantry goes barefoot, while the middle sort makes 
 use of wooden shoes. The greater part of the audience was. pleased. The 
 greater part of the exports consist of cotton. The public is respectfully in- 
 vited. The fleet were seen sailing up the channel. The jury was not unan- 
 imous. All the world is spectators of your conduct. The regiment consist 
 of a thousaad men. There go a gang of deer. The legislature have adjourned. 
 Never were any other nation so infatuated as the Jewish people. Generation 
 after generation pass away. The company were chartered last winter. (Al- 
 ways consider carefully whether the reference is to the individuals composing 
 the group, or to the group itself. There is plainly a difference between the two 
 in regard to states or actions.) The corporation is individually responsible. 
 At least half of the members was absent. The higlier class looks with scorn on 
 those below them. Our youth is not everywhere properly educated. The 
 immber of inhabitants in tlie United States now amount to thirty-two millions. 
 The Society hold their meetings on Fridays, The House were called to order. 
 The railroad company was rather uneasy — were rather unsafe. The multitude 
 eagerly pursues pleasure. This sort of men is always sensitive. Men of this 
 sort, &c. Five pair was sold. Fifty head was drowned. Our horse was 
 routed with great slaughter by the Russian foot. Our cavalry. . . .infantry. 
 An exploring party that was sent to the north, were appalled by the aspect ol 
 the Appalachian chain, and pronouuced the mountains impassable. — Geo. Ban- 
 croft. (Structure seldom found, but allowable, I think ; for the one verb refers 
 to the party as a whole, and the other refers rather to the individuals com- 
 posing it.) 
 
 8 apples is no part of 1 2 pears. 8 are what part of 12 ? (If such a subject 
 is viewed as an abstract whole, the verb should bo singular ; if viewed in refer- 
 ence to the composing units, or to concrete individuals, the verb should bo plu- 
 ral.) As 2 are to 4, so 4 are to 8, 4 times 8 is 32. — Bullions. If | of a sheep is 
 worth I of a calf; and iff of a calf is worth | of a hog, how many sheep are 8 
 hogs worth ? (When a numeral subject must be read plurally, I should prefer 
 the plural verb.) What part of 1 A. is 18 R. 18 P. 3 sq. yds. '?—D. P. Colbnni. 
 ([should rather say, ^^are;" for, though such a subject must be viewed as a 
 
200 VERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 whole, it does not therefore necessarily require the verb to be singular; as, "The 
 mule, horse, and cow, \ were sold for $200." Furthermore, the subject must be 
 read plv/rally. 
 
 Mary and her cousin was at our house last week. Neither Mary nor her 
 cousin were at our house last week. When sickness, infirmity, or misfortune, 
 afflict us, the sincerity of friendship is proved. So much of abiUty and merit 
 are seldom found. Enough ingenuity and labor has been bestowed, to make 
 the machine a good one. When the memories and hopes of youth is embittered 
 by past misfortuues, future happiness and usefulness becomes uncertain. Man's 
 happiness or. misery are, in a great measure, put into his own hands. Time 
 and tide waiTs for no man. What signifies the care and counsel of preceptors, 
 when youth think they have ito need of assistance ? Wisdom, virtue, and 
 happiness, dwells with the golden mediocrity. The planetary system, bound- 
 less space, and immense ocean, affacts the mind with sensations of astonishment. 
 In all her movements, there is grace and dignity. And so was also you dtid I. 
 Her beauty, intelligence, and amiability, was praised even by her own sex. 
 Four and two is six, and one is seven. John, you, and I, am going to visit my 
 uncle. The legality and utility of this law has never been called in question. 
 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. What is the gender, person, and num- 
 ber of the following words? In unity con.sists the welfare and happiness of 
 every society. 
 
 There was not a little wit and sarcasm in his reply. There is a right and a 
 wrong in human actions. There was a man and a woman on our ship, who 
 were natives of Borneo. There seems to be war and disturbance in Kansas. 
 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. On the same square 
 has since been budt a large hotel and a museum — a large warehouse and store. 
 Hence comes the early decay and misery of such persons. Both vocal and in - 
 strumental music was heard every night. This and that house belongs to him. 
 in every room there was a large and a small bed. In him were happily blended 
 true dignity with gentleness of manner. 
 
 Either Thomas or George have to stay at home. The violin or the banjo, 
 played by some merry old negro, beguile the summer evenings. Neither the 
 syntax nor the general scope of the paragraph are obvious. Neither Holmes, 
 Forbes, nor Jenkins, were classmates of mine. When or, nor, or as well as, 
 connect the nominatives, &c. The vanity, the ambition, the pride, or the sen- 
 sitiveness of some men, keep them always in trouble. Luxurious living and 
 excessive pleasure begets a languor and satiety that destroys all enjoyment. 
 •' The Sword, the Needle, and the Pen," have been selected by her as the sub- 
 i'jct of her composition. It is honor, false honor, that produce so many quar- 
 rels. What black despair, what horror fill his mind 1 — .Murray. That dis- 
 tinguished patriot and statesman have retired from public life. To be moderate 
 
 in our views, and to proceed temperately ^the best ways to insure success. 
 
 To be of pure and humble mind, to exercise benevolence toward others, and to 
 cultivate piety toward God, is the sure means of becoming happy. * To livo 
 Boberly, righteously, and piously, are required of all men. To do unto all men 
 as we would that they, under similar circumstances, should do unto us, consti- 
 tute the great principle of virtue. To be old and destitute, are truly deplorable. 
 To possess true merit and yet be humble and obliging, are the true way to gain 
 the esteem of the world. To buy such a lot, and build such a house upon it, 
 require money. That it is our duty to relieve wretchedness and check oi)pres- 
 sion, admit not of any doubt. That a beUe should be vain, or a fop ignorant, 
 are not to he woudoi-ed at. 
 
 Every person are hereby notified to pay his or her taxes. All persons 
 
 Ouiir taxes. (It is sometimes better to change the subject than to change the 
 verb.) The horse, saddle, and bridle, was sold for $100. Tlie horse, with the 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. 201 
 
 sad'Ue, &c. Every one of these houses have been lately built. Great pains 
 lias been taken to make the work accurate, Grreat care, &c. The sagacity and 
 learning of that boy surpasses the rest. In sagacity and learning, that boy, &c. 
 At the camp-meetiug were all manner of folks and viands. — all kinds — The 
 doctors' and mothers' giving calomel for every little illness, is one cause of so 
 many puny women and children. The practice of giving calomel, &c. There is 
 an elegance and simplicity in Addison's style, that will always please. — an 
 elegance, as well as a simplicity — or, an elegance, a simplicity, in — The clerk, 
 as well as the captain, own the entire boat. — and — He, and not I, am 
 responsible. I, and not he, is responsible. Not honor, but emoluments, have 
 induced him to accept the offer. Economy, as well as industry, are necessary 
 to make us wealthy. The land, as well as the personal property, were sold 
 at auction. 
 
 Books, and not pleasure, occupies his mind. Pleasure, and not books, oc- 
 cupy his mind. Not honor, but emoluments, has induced him to accept the 
 offer. Not only the sails, but also the mainmast, were torn away by the storm. 
 
 He, not less than you, deserve punishment. He, and his brother too, 
 
 in the battle of Bueua Vista. The fother, and the son also, imprisoned 
 
 for many years. No one but yourself and the lecturer believe such doctrines. 
 Nothing, save the chimneys of the boat, were visible. {Are both the following 
 sentences correct ? " Happiness, honor, yea, life itselfj are sacrificed in the pursuit 
 of riches ;" "Happiness, honor, yea, life itself is sacrificed in the pursuit of riches." 
 What is the difference in meaning ?) Every tall tree and every steeple were 
 blown down. Every leaf, every twig, and every drop of water, teem with 
 delighted existence. Every man's heart and temper is productive of much in- 
 ward joy or misery. Every person and every occurrence were viewed in the 
 most unf ivorable light. Every seven days makes a week. No wife, no mother, 
 and no child, were there to comfort him. No lazy boy or girl love their books. 
 Every skiff and canoe were loaded almost to the water's edge. Here lie buried 
 every chief and every warrior of the tribe. 
 
 For the sake of brevity and force, one or more words is sometimes omitted. 
 Neither beauty, wealth, nor talents, was injurious to his modesty. Whether 
 one or more persons was concerned in the transaction, does not appear. Neither 
 he nor you was mentioned. Either thou or I art much mistaken. Neither 
 he nor I intends to be present Either you or James have spilt my ink. Either 
 tliey or I are responsible. Neither thou nor I art to blame. Neither tliou a/rt 
 lo blame, nor am I. The forest, or the hunting-grounds, was deemed the prop- 
 erty of the tribe. (Here '' forest'" seems to be rejected for the more appropriate 
 term ^^hunting-grounds,'" which, therefore, becomes the nominative to the verb 
 -'•was,'''' and this should accordingly be "iwere.") Lafayette Place, or Gardens, 
 occupy several acres. (Here " Gardens'" is merely parenthetical.) Neither 
 the potatoes nor the corn are as good as usual. (Make the verb agree with the 
 noare.gt nominative or the most important.) Riding on horseback, or rowing a 
 skiff, are good exercises. His food were locusts and wild honey. (What am I 
 oliiefly speaking o^ — his food, or locusts and wild honey ?) The quarrels of 
 lovers is a renewal of love. The difference between 8 and 12 are 4. Eight 
 npples is the difference between twelve apples and twenty. Eive dimes is half 
 a dollar. The timber are walnut, elm, mulberry, and linden. — is — or, con- 
 sists of — A great cause of sickness in cities are lilthiness and bad food. 
 
 Two parallel horizontal Unes is the sign of equality. The sign of equality 
 are two parallel horizontal lines. — consists of — First, ascertain what is the 
 texture, color, and weight ? The few dollars which he owes me, is a matter 
 of small consequence. Twelve single things, viewed as an aggregate, is called 
 a dozen. Divers philosophers hold that the lips is parcel of the mind.— Shak. 
 Said the burning CaniJle, " Mj use and beauty is my deatli." Virtue and 
 mutual confidence is the soul of friendship. To do good to them that hate ua, 
 
202 VERBS. EXEUCISES. 
 
 and on no occasion to seek revenge the duty of a Christian. Temperance, 
 
 more than medicines, are the proper means of curing many diseases. What a 
 fortune does the thick lips owe, if he can carry her thus. — SliaJc. (Proper ; for 
 " thick lips'' is here put for the Moor Othello.) Here is the Republican, the 
 Herald, and the Leader. — Newspaper-hoy. (Proper ; for the design is to keep 
 the objects distinct.) On a sudden, off breaks the limb, and down tumbles 
 negro, raccoon, and all. (Proper; for the design is to represent the objects as 
 most intimately united — so intimately that they may appear as but one thing.) 
 Proper, or not? " A coach and six is in our time never seen, except as a part of 
 some pageant." — Macaulay. " Two thousand a year was a large revenue for a 
 barrister." — Id. 
 
 9. Participles and Infinitives. 
 
 1. The participle or the infinitive should never be so used as to make 
 the sentence clumsy, obscure, or ambiguous. 
 
 2. To, the sign of the infinitive, is omitted after the active verbs hid, 
 make, need, hear, \ let, see, feel, and dare ; and occasionally after a few 
 other verbs that are like some of these in sense. 
 
 3. Since the participle and the infinitive are much aUke in sense and 
 construction, great care should always be taken to select that which is 
 more appropriate. 
 
 4. A participial noun should never be so used that it may be mistJiken 
 for an adjective, a participle, or a part of a compound verb. 
 
 5. When a participial noun from a transitive verb is limited by a 
 preceding article, adjective, or possessive, it generally becomes intran- 
 sitive, and requires of after it. 
 
 6. When a participial noun from a transitive verb is not hmited by 
 a preceding word, it may generally govern the objective case. 
 
 . 7. Of the four modes of expression, — the ordinary noun, the particip- 
 ial noun, the infinitive, and the substantive clause, — great care should be? 
 taken to select the most appropriate the language affords. 
 
 "We saw the lady while passing down the street. (Who passed ?) H© 
 pleaded tlie case in such a manner as to become tedious and disagreeable. 
 (Change the entire sentences if necessary.) I ihink of you alone more frequently 
 tiian when surrounded by others. While sleeping under a largo tree, my horse 
 was stolon. I heard the noise of a carriage, eating my supper. 
 
 You will please send them back immediately, if you can not sell them. We 
 ought not speak ill of others, unless tliere is a necessity for it. If I bid you ta 
 study, dare you to be idle ? To go I could not, but to remain I would not. 
 That old raiser was never seen give a cent to the poor. Not a single complaint 
 was heard escape the lips of any individual. We made her to believe it. She 
 was made believe it. We durst not to approach any nearer to the elephant. 
 His father compelled him return to his school. It is better live on a little than 
 outlive a great deal. Will you please answer my letter immediately? I would 
 Jiavo you read all the books on the subject. 1 have, known young men spend 
 more in a week than they earned in a year. 
 
 P:xceptions.— " My horse bids fair to take the premium ; "He was let go;" 
 " I dared him to bet ;" "I feci it to be my duty;" " How could you make out to 
 got along?" I' She needed only to have told us that she was unwell;" " 1 can 
 not see to write this letter,"— are all correct or allowable. "He can show his 
 moral courage, only by daring do riglit. "—■(?. Brown. Mr. Brown has written 
 thw sentence for good English ; but, to my ear, "6y daring to do right;' sounds 
 better. 
 
VERBS. EXERCISES. ^09 
 
 I WQuld not have let her gone to such a place, —go — He neglected 
 doing his duty. — to do — Ho faQed reciting his lesson. I intended giving 
 him a piece of my mind. He chose building in another place. I preferrod 
 staying at home. You have no right meddling with my property. No nation 
 should be allowed interfering with the domestic affairs of another. We should 
 never undertake doing too much at once. I never desired having such a man 
 for a friend. No one likes being in debt. It is easier asking questions than 
 answering them. G-oing to law is giving the matter in dispute to the lawyers. 
 I was about seuding for you when you arrived. Solomon says, " It is as sport 
 to a fool doing mischief" Tliero is no telling what he would do if left to him- 
 self It is impossible to tell what, &c. The being branded with such a piece of 
 iron, would make the horse run away. To brand the horse, &c. We considered 
 ourselves to be badly treated. Ho was seen to ride along the road. Relieving 
 misery is a pleasure to the good. Compromising conflicting opinions, will ever 
 be necessary in a large repubhc. What prevents our going immediately ? 
 — lis from going — What is to prevent us going together ? I had bolted the 
 door to prevent it being opened — its being opened. What prevents such 
 worthless fellows passing for fine gentlemen but the good sense of other men ? — 
 Addison. The mother's good sense prevents the daughter's having her head 
 made giddy by fops, beaus, and riches. 
 
 His being industrious and frugal will make him rich. His industry, &c. 
 Paying visits will be losing time. Barter is exchanging different commodities. 
 Is not this abusing the privileges of the House? The mind soon becomes 
 weary by its being intensely applied to one subject. The most important busi- 
 ness is determining the boundary line. 
 
 There is a strong necessity for us being more frugal This measure is taking 
 a bold step. This punctuation is giving the sentence a different meaning from 
 the true one. Such a law would not be giving all the States an equal right to 
 the territories. Scanning is dividing poetic lines into their feet. The highwa; 
 of the upright is departing from evil. His whole speech was begging thj 
 question. His being acquainted with influential men was of great service to 
 him. What is called a compound pronoun, from its usually representing two 
 words. — becaiise it — She was much opposed to him rioting with bad 
 companions. Your being left was altogether accidental. That you were, &c. 
 The common saying of every one's being tiie architect of his own fortune, is 
 hardly true. Nothing that she has done, can justify your having treated her 
 so contemptuously. — you in having treated — There are not many instances 
 of creditors not being disposed to be oppressive to their debtors. — instances in 
 which — Her lameness was caused by a horse's running away with her. — by 
 a horse that ran — It is not proper to speak of a river's emptying itself. — river 
 as eraptying — We were speaking of the congregation's being so much affected 
 by the sermon. The servant's being negligent has caused the losing of the 
 horse. In order to our correctly understanding the subject, let us suppose, &c. 
 The fact of he being a partner — of him being a partner, gave credit to the firm. 
 
 By speaking of truth, you will command esteem. By the obtaining wisdom, 
 you will command esteem. By obtaining of wisdom, you will command es- 
 teem. By reading of good books, his mind became improved. Learning of 
 languages is difficult. It is an overvaluing ourselves, to reduce every tiling to 
 our own standard of judging. Poverty turns our attention too much upon the 
 supplying our wants ; riches, upon the enjoying luxuries. This was a cowardly 
 foisaking his party. By the vigorously pursuing his studies, he will soon be 
 competent. By vigorously pursuing his, &c. We were agreeably entertained 
 by the visiting of our friends. — by a visit from — or, by a visit to — This 
 money was used in feathering of his own nest. Luxury, indolence, and a fan- 
 tastic sease of propriety, are the chief causes which tend to tho enorvatitig and 
 
204 VERBS. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 enfeebling our women. The taking things by force is apt to produce reaction. 
 This was in fact a converting the deposits to his own use. The placing your- 
 self in the most conspicuous situation will tend to render you contemptible. 
 (The infinitive is sometimes preferable to the participle, and the ordinary noun 
 is sometimes preferable to either.) 
 
 Multiplication is the repeating a number a given number of times. — is 
 the repetition of — Emphasis is the laying a greater stress on some par- 
 ticular word or words. The cutting evergreens for Christmas was fashion- 
 able when I was a boy. The saying what we think, is not always prudent. 
 To say what, &c. The inviting them will not put us to any more trouble. The 
 not having invited them to the party, she afterwards regretted. That she had 
 not, &c. There is no keeping such children in the house. — no keeping of — 
 or. It is impossible to keep, &c, A more careful guarding the prisoners would 
 have prevented this accident. For the better regulating our governments in 
 the territories. This amounts to a full relinquishing her dowry. His neglect- 
 ing my affairs, has been very injurious to me. The separating large numbers 
 into periods, facilitates the reading them correctly. Is each of the following sen- 
 tences correct ? " Your building so fine a house, may excite the envy of your 
 neighbors;" " My seeing him, will be sufficient ;" "My seeing of him, will be 
 sufficient;" " My having seen him, will be sufficient ;" " My having seen of him, 
 will be sufficient ;" " The soldiers deserted oa account of the captain's ordering 
 him to be whipped ;" " The soldiers deserted on account of the captain's order- 
 ing of him to be whipped." 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 I & 2. In Old English, be was often used where other parts of this verb are 
 liow used. " In other pleasures there is satiety ; and, soon after tliey be used, their 
 verdure fadeth," — Bacon. Verbs differing in sense, are sometimes nearly iden- 
 tical either in their primitive forms or in their derived forms, as set, sit; overflowed, 
 overflown: and hence they are often ridiculously misapplied. " I can but go," im- 
 plies that I can do nothing more ; " I can not but go," implies that I can not do 
 otherwise, but most go: hence both forms should be retained, since they are both 
 needed. Dare, let, Tieed, and ought, are considered principal verbs, and not auxilia- 
 ries, though they seem to be in a middle or transition state, especially need, which 
 is sometimes found without inflection. " She need not make herself uneasy." — 
 Irving. Can not should rather be written as two words, unless we mean to prevent 
 ufjt from qualifying some other word than the verb ; as, " You cannot consistently 
 deny it." 
 
 _ When the ordinary passive form implies completion, habit, or custom, tlie word 
 being is sometimes inserted to express continuance. "To other stations where the 
 new rifle-praotiee was being introduced:^ — Atlantic MontJily. "The materials of 
 discontent were gradually being concentrated.'''' — lb. " The evaporation dish of the 
 the philosopher was be'ing used by an irreverent sparrow." — Harper'^s Magazine, 
 ^^ Y oar tYieiviis being bur led.^^ — lb. Such forms are avoided by the best writers. 
 " While tliese affairs were transacting in Europe,'' — Bancroft. "Where anew 
 church is now buiULng.'''—E. Everett. "The medley of monuments with which 
 KenA'mg-zreen i8 filling.'^— F. Sargent. "The shocking neologism, 'The ship ?;« 
 hidng amOeed: " — G. P. Marsh. We should combine the simple present or perfect 
 participle with the auxiliary, or, if neither of these forms will give the sense, use 
 the active voice, or recast the sentence. Oar language occasionally needs forms to 
 express in the continuativo passive sense those verbs whose perfect participles im- 
 ply completion ; and, as necessity makes slaves of us all, the foregoing uncouth 
 passive forma are rather gaining ground. But, if the perfect participle implies 
 coinpletioii, tlie compound participle also does : therefore, is being built, for in- 
 sUuice, is literally the same in time as is built, and has the progressive sense merely 
 Vjy adoption. The uncouth forms are used only in the present and the past indica- 
 tive ; tor such forms as fuil been being built, might be being built, migM have been 
 bemg built, die of sheer ugliness. 
 
VERBS. OBSERVATIONS. 205 
 
 3. So veiy often are the auxiliaries needed and misapplied, that the following 
 fhll explanation will perhaps not seem too len;^thy to the reader. ^''Shall Igor' 
 Is it your wish or determination? Are you willing? ''Shall I find you when I 
 return ?" Will it come to pass ? Will you have it so ? " Will I go ?" Ordinarily 
 absui-d, unless taken up and repeated as another's question. "■Shall you go ?" la 
 it so determined ? Will it take place ? "■Will hQ go V Is he willing to go? Is 
 he likely to go ? "/S'/^a?^ we be married ?" Are you willing? Will it take place ? 
 (Where the plural is not given, it agrees with the corresponding singular.) "SMU 
 I be elected?" ''Shall I suffer?" Will it come to pass ? Is that to be my fate? 
 ■'■Will you be elected ? Are you willing ? More frequently^ Will it come to pass ? 
 ^'iS'AaZZ you be elected?" Will it come to pass? (Seldom so used in the West.) 
 ^'ShaU he be elected ?" "Shall he suffer ?" Is that the determination ? " Will he 
 be elected ?" " Will he suffer ?" Will it come to pass ? 
 
 " 1 shall go.^'' " I a/wt^^ be elected." "1 shall anWar.^'' It will come to pass — 
 I foretell it. "1 will go.'''' "Iwill be elected." " I wiK suffer." I am willing ; 
 I promise it ; I am resolved upon it. It is in my power, and I am determined to 
 have it so. " You shall go." " You shall be elected." " You shall suffer." It ia 
 so determined. It is to be so in spite of your will or of obstacles. " He shall goJ^ 
 *' He shall be elected." " He shall suffer." The same in sense as the preceding. 
 *' You will go." " You ivlU love him." " Y'"ou will come to this at latst." It will 
 come to pass, and probably be voluntary. " You tvUl be elected." " You will 
 suffer." It will come to pass. " He will go.'''' " He will assist you." " He will 
 be elected." " He w/?^ suffer." Same as the second person. " It z/^i^^ cost blood 
 and treasure." Simple futurity. " It A^^aW cost neither." Determination to pre- 
 vent. " Hickory will make a good fire." It is adapted thereto. " This will do." 
 " This will never do." Adaptation ; adequacy. " i will be pleased with his com- 
 pany." I will try to make it agreeable to myself, even if it should tend to be other- 
 wise. " I shall be pleased with his company." It will be agreeable, whatever it 
 be. Will may denote a future certainty, depending on ability ; shall, a future cer- 
 tainty assuming the ability. " Philip will hang Astor, if he [Philip] takes the 
 city." — Ancient History. ''I shall then trample on all those forms in which wealth 
 and dignity intrench themselves." — Chatham. Shall, being authoritative, is some- 
 times preferred in emphatic prediction. " It shall come in empire's groans, burn- 
 ing temples, tram plea thrones." — Groly. 
 
 " If any one shall subscribe." " Whoever shall subscribe." Simply, if it take 
 place. " If any one will subscribe. "Whoever w'dl subscribe." "If you wiU 
 subscribe." " When you will subscribe." " Unless we will give our consent." 
 To be willing, and do so. In this sense, s'hall or should often refers tothe overt 
 act ; and wUl or would, simply to the intention. I would say, " I promise that I 
 
 tvill you shall he shalV ; " I resolved that I would ^,you should he 
 
 should'''' ; where I have or mean to use authority : " I believe that I shall 
 
 you will he wilV ; " I believe that I should you would he would'''' ; 
 
 "I assured him that you would— —he wouW ; where the matter is not in my 
 
 control. And so in the other persons : " You are determined that I shall you 
 
 will he shair ; " You were determined that I should that you would 
 
 that he should''' . " He is determined that I shall that you shall that ha 
 
 ^vilV ; "He was determined that I should that you should that be 
 
 wouW' . "You think I shall suffer you shall he wilV ; "You 
 
 thought that I should suffer that you should that he would'^ . "He 
 
 thinks that I shall be killed that you will that he shall or will that our 
 
 friend wiW^ . " He hoped that I should be sent that you should that he 
 
 himself sAww-W or would that our friend would" . " He requested that our 
 
 friend should be sent for." 
 
 "Do you think I shall go?" That it will come to pass. "Do you think I 
 sJiould go ?" That I ought to go ; or, that my going would take place, if certain 
 things should happen, whether I might be willing or not. " Did you think that I 
 should go ?" That it would come to pass ; or, that it was my duty to go. " Do 
 you think, or did you think, that I should have gone ?" That it would have hap- 
 pened ; or, that it was my duty to go. " Do you think I will ? — I would V " Did 
 you think I would f'' refer to my will— my motives. " I am surprised that he wiU 
 
 fo." At his going under such circumstances. " I am surprised that he would go." 
 'rom what I know of his general character. " I am surprised that ho shall ro." 
 That it is so determined. " I am surprised that he should go." I am surprised at 
 
206 VERBS, OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 the mere occurrence of the act, without reference to any motives or necessity. 
 " John wiis afraid tliat he imidd not succeed." " John was afraid that he shonli 
 not succeed." The former impUes a stronger reference to the adaptation of the 
 
 means to the end ; the latter imphes more of chance. " I, you, he, it, should'''' . 
 
 It is a matter of duty, right, or propriety. " I, you, he, it, should .... (/" . 
 
 Something to take place on condition ; or else, the same as the preceding. '■'■Should 
 
 I, you, he, it ... . then" ; " If I, vou, he, it, should .... then" . If it were to 
 
 take place. . . .then . " I, you, he, slie, it, wouW . Inclination, proneness, 
 
 custom, tendency; or, consequence, result. "If I wovld study." If I were will- 
 ing. "If I should study." Were it to take place; a mere supposition. "If I 
 would have written." I was unwihing, and did not. " If I should have written." 
 Had I done so. " If I would betray him, he should forsake me," is very ditferent 
 from " If I should betray him, he would forsiike me." So, " If he should leave 
 you, you would suffer ;" " If he would leave you, you should suffer." " If it would 
 rain." Wished. " If it should rain." Feriiaps not wished. " He was to rem:iiii 
 until he should be sent for." Bare event. " Until he mifjfht be sent for." Greater 
 contingency; or possibility. In a moral sense, c*/i is a little stronger t\mn ma?/. 
 "I tnai/ not do so." I have not permission, or it would be improper. " I can not 
 violate my oath." My conscience forbids it. ^^It must have been so." Present 
 necessity of belief. "Had the river risen, he must have droioned /^ pluperfect. 
 Past necessity. 
 
 Most of the auxiliary verbs usually set forth the act or state as not absolutely cer- 
 tain ; hut as tinged with allusion to the condition, time, or circumstanees, on which it 
 depends, and as expressing, accordingly, a correspondiruf degree of certainty. Hence, 
 they may sometimes be used to express softened commands or assertions. " You 
 wiU not hurt him, will you?" for, "Do not hurt him." " It m>o«W seem so" [if 
 you should examine the evidence; or rather, the evidence tends to persuade one to 
 this belief], for, " It seems so." '■'■It should seem so" [from the deference natu- 
 rally due to evidence of such authority], for, " It seems so." " I should think not'^ 
 [from what you tell me], for, " I think not." " I should hardly believe it" [were 
 It told to me; or, scarcely any thing is sufficient to cause such belief], for, "I 
 hardly believe it." Sometimes the sense of the auxiliaries in the potential mood is 
 nearly lost, and the mood becomes almost indicative in meaning. " He knew not 
 how far the ramifications of the conspiracy might extend.'''' — D. Webster. — did ex- 
 tend. When the time is suflaeiently indicated without the auxiliary, then the 
 auxiliary must denote something else, or be superfluous. "When he will come '^'' 
 >' When I slmll have arrived.'''' If will and shall were here inserted merelv to ex- 
 press the time, the expressions would have been better without them. " When he 
 comes ;" " When I haoe arrived?'' Will, when put into such clauses, relates 
 directly to the will of the subject; and shall implies determination, resolution, 
 contingency. "They should remember that England entered India from the se-i, 
 and that until she shall have been subdued on that element, it would be idle to think 
 of dispossessing her of her Oriental suDreinacy."— ^iSto/iZlw Monthly. That is, un- 
 tU resolved upon and accomplished, 'i'he author rather believes or intimates that 
 this is not easy or likely to ba done. 
 
 6* In imitation of a French idiom, the passive forms of such verbs as become^ 
 arrive, rejoice, sit, &c., were formerly much used ; but the present tendency is, to 
 preter the active forms. Mr. Brown says, that a few verbs are yet thus used, to 
 Bignity that a person's own mind is the cause that actuates him ; as, " He was re- 
 mloed on gomg to the city to reside ;" " He is inclined to go ;" " He is determined 
 to go. When a passive sense can not be conceived, or when the active form 
 seems ejiually proper, this should generally be preferred. Thus, "I incline to 
 thmk, IS now generally preferred to " I am inclined to think." Mistake, in the 
 passive torm, is still iu good use; as, "I am mistaken:''' but the active form is 
 also used; as, "I mistake: it is your bull that has killed one of my oxen." 
 ' You are mistaken,'' is probably a delicate euphemism for, " I misconceive your 
 meaning." 
 
 '''•. The selection of moods and tenses is sometimes a matter of great nicetv, 
 especially in arguuiontative discourse. The conditional present indicative ex- 
 presses doubt only. The conditional present subjunctive expresses both doubt 
 and tuture time ; and the conclusion belonging to it, is generally expressed in the 
 tuture indicative. Indicative foi-ms are sometimcb preferred aa being a little 
 •pnghtner, or as relating to permanent or universul truths. " I vill keep it till 
 
VEUBS. OBSERVATIONS. 207 
 
 he returm:'' I am sure he will return. " I will keep it till he return:' I doubt 
 that he will ever return. " If Consifress Tia7)e not the granted right, it can not exer- 
 cise it." Said before the Constitution was made. " If Concfress has not the granted 
 right, it can not exercise it." Said after the Constitution was made. " If the 
 government of Virginia passes a law contrary to the bill of rights, it is nugatory." 
 — P. Henry. At any time ; and there is no doubt as to the coackision. " If gentle- 
 men are willing to run the hazard, let them run it." — Id. They seem to be quite 
 willing. The orator referred to existing facts then before his mind ; but had he 
 not been aware of the existence of any such willingness at the time, and supposed 
 it merely probable, he would have said, " If gentlemen be willing," etc. " If a 
 piece of paper he laid on the table of the discharger, and a powerful shock directed 
 through it, it wUl he torn in pieces." — Arnot. ^'•Be laid" accords best with '-'•will he 
 torn." " If a fresh quantity of water is thrown upon the remaining fragments, it is 
 absorbed with a hissing sound." — Id. '■'- Is thrown" accords best with " i^ ab- 
 sorbed ;" besides, the tbrmer verb here denotes what is often done, and the latter, 
 what certainly follows. " If the earth is at H, and the planet at I, the outermost 
 satellite will be in conjunction with its primary." — Bowdltch. Allowable ; for will 
 expresses merely the natural consequence. " If an object is [or he'] in the principal 
 focus, it will ap]3ear brighter." The present subjunctive is now applied merely to 
 future and contingent matter of fact, rather than' to present matter of fact of which 
 our knowledge is future and contingent. " If this he true, I shall," &c. It eitlier 
 is true, or is not true ; but there is a mental contingency in regard to ascertaining 
 its truth hereafter. "If this is true," etc., is better authorized. And, " If this is 
 treason, make the most of it." The time involved in the tenses, may relate to the 
 speaker, to the doer, to the beginning, state, or end of the act, or to any of its cir- 
 cumstances ; and hence the many niceties in regard to tenses. The perfect infini- 
 tive is antecedent, in time, to the leading verb ; hence verbs of hoping^ intending, 
 commanding, &c., generally require the present; but it is wron^ to teach that 
 none of them ever admit the perfect. " Dr. Kush hopes to have laid the foundation 
 of a system which, if adopted, will," &c. — G. Brown. (Correct.) 
 
 8. Sometimes the form of the subject, but more commonly the sense, controls 
 the form of the verb. When a verb relates to two nominatives, of which one is a 
 predicate-nominative, it is not always easy to decide which should be considered 
 the subject. If both stand after the verb, the nearer one is its subject. When the 
 arrangement is otherwise, the student, if he has been well drilled in Analysis, will 
 generallj^ be able to determine without much difficulty. When two or more infini- 
 tives, or infinitive phrases, or substantive clauses, are connected by and, it is also 
 sometimes difficult to decide wliether the verb should be singular or plural. The 
 writer or speaker best knows his own meaning: let him consider whether he refers 
 to all as one thing, or whether he refers to each, and accordingly make the verb sin- 
 gular or plural. The phrases-" as follows," "as regards," " as appears," " as con- 
 cerns," should generally be used as they are here ^iven, unless they occur so 
 closely in connection with a plural substantive as to be Influenced by it ; as, " The 
 exceptions are as follow.'''' — Wilson's Punctuation. Mr. Wilson uses tiiis mode oi 
 expression frequently, though other writers generally prefer the singular form. 
 Mr. Brown's doctiine of Thou, and its "familiar forms" of the verb, is evidently 
 erroneous. 
 
 Nominatives involving numbers, or arithmetical nominatives, are not yet well 
 settled in regard to their syntactical structure. Most of them may be classed with 
 collective nouns. In addition, the verb must of course he plural; in subtraction, 
 division, or proportion., it may be sinaular or plural, accordmg to the view takeix : 
 infractions and compound numbers that must oe read plarallv, the verb should, I 
 think, be generally plural, though the principle that a plural term sometimes de- 
 notes a single object, or that two or more singular nominatives connected by and 
 denote but one person or thing, sometimes operates in favor of the singular verb. 
 As to multiplication, I believe the prevailing custom is this : When the word t'tmes 
 is used, it controls the form of the verbj when once, twice, or thrice is used, the 
 verb should be singular or plural, according as the expression involves the idea of 
 time or times. Mr. Brown says, that the multiplicand should be considered the 
 nominative ; and that when this is one, naught, or any other singular, the verb 
 should be singular ; and when it rises above one, the verb should be plural. This 
 is certainly the most rational view, and can be best sustained by tlie grammatical 
 analysis of the subject, and also by analogy. It accords best with such expressions 
 
WBn ADVERBS. 
 
 as, " Twice the sum is insufficient to pay ray debts ;" " Four timea the son's ago 
 is equal to the father's;" " Ten times the amount was refused ;" " Five times the 
 quantity was sold ;" which are perhaf)3 too well established to be condemned. 
 The German language also confirms this latter opinion, except, I believe, that it 
 more frequently regards the multiplicand a singular collective noun. 
 
 9. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the participle or the infinitive 
 should be preferred. Sometimes either may be used. Tne present participle de- 
 notes an act or state as accompanying that of the principal verb, while the infinitive 
 commonly implies that the acts or states are successive. The infinitive is generally 
 better adapted, than the particij)le, to express the act or state substantively. When 
 a substantive participle or infinitive ie to be used in connection with the substan- 
 tive denoting the object to which the act or state belongs, it is often better to use 
 the clause beginning with that. When a verbal appositive relates to an initial it, 
 it should rather be the infinitive than the participle ; as, " It is useless trying,'''' 
 should be, " It is useless to try.'''' After verbs oH trying ov intending, the infinitive 
 should be used. After the verbs hear, see, and feel, either may be used. After 
 verbs of omitting, avoidiny, or preventing, the participle should generally be used. 
 After verbs of beginning, continuing, or desisting, the participle may generally be 
 used, though the infinitive is sometimes more elegant. Whether a substantive 
 associated with a participle should be made possessive, depends on which term 
 conveys the more prominent idea. " The fair wind is the cause of the vessel's 
 sailing ;" not, " The fair wind is the cause of the vessel sailing," When a parti- 
 ciple is limited by such a preceding word as usually requires o/' after the participle, 
 the of may sometimes be omitted before pronouns, when it rather affects the sense 
 of the participle than corresponds to the antecedent limiting word. " Your eating 
 of it made you sick," is not equivalent to " Your eating it made you sick." " He 
 said it in hearing his father," "He said it in the hearing of his father," differ in 
 sense : the word hearing, in the former, relates to He ; in the latter, io father. " He 
 was killed by galloping a horse." He himself rode the horse. " He was killed by 
 the galloping of a horse." Some other person, or else no one, rode the horse. 
 
 9. ADVERBS. 
 
 ? 353. An adverb is a word used to modify the meaning of 
 a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. Sometimes an adverb modifies a 
 phrase or an entire proposition. 
 
 Ex.— "She is homely, but she sings 'beautifully:'' " The lake is wr^^ deep." 
 '■'■Yonder lies your book." " I will write to-morrow.'''' " He speaks tolerably well:'' 
 " He sailed nearly round the world." Nearly modifies not the preposition round, but 
 the adjunct round the world, for an adjunct==.an adjective or an adverb. " The book ii* 
 soiled only on the outside." " He was so young, so intelligent, so | every thing that 
 we are apt to like in a young man."— /ryira^. Here the entire part of the sentence 
 after the last so, has the sense of an adjective modified by so. " Have you seen 
 him ?— iVb." Here it is simplest to regard No as modifying the question. Words 
 ft-om other parts of speech are also occasionally used as adverbs. " Carnation red ; 
 marble cold; somewhat better; none the worse; passing strange; dripping wet; 
 dcaldin^ }ioV' "It fell down.'' ''Above, armmd, beneath, within, the lurid fires 
 gleamed." "You have paid dear for the whistle." ''Tramp, tramp, across the 
 land they speed ; splash, splash across the sea."— ,S'co«. " The stronger the mind, 
 th£ greater Its ambition."— ^iJwoft. Degree. " His heart went p'lt-a-pat, but hers 
 \rent pity Zekle.''—Lawea. How? 
 
 ? 354. Some entire phrases are customarily used as adverbs. 
 Such are termed adverbial phrases, and parsed like adverbs. 
 
 Ex.— "In general';— (7e«<?m%; " by and hf =^ soon, shortly ; "at alV'^in any 
 degree. 'At least; in short ; on high; in fine; at present ; at last; on the con- 
 trary ; out and out ; through and through ; no more ; at most ; for the most part ; 
 three times ; four times ; man by man— Lat. viritim ; foot by foot ; glass to glass.'* 
 He said it ogam and again:' " Whose brisk awakening sound he loved ihe best:'* 
 
ADVERBS. 209 
 
 " iiepresentation and taxation should go Jiand in Ttandy " Tlie argument was 
 carried against him all hollowy — Irving. A phrase should not be parsed as a 
 whole, when its words can be parsed separately with as much propriety. 
 
 ? 855. An adverb modifies by expressing manner, degree, plac(\ 
 time, or some other circumstance. See above. 
 
 ? 356. Sometimes an adverb modifies its word, in relation to a 
 substantive in the same clause or proposition. 
 
 Ex. — " Not only he must go, but you fco." "And chiefly thou, Spirit, instruct 
 me," — Milton. " 'Twas better so to close, than longer wait to part entirely foes." — ■ 
 Byron. "John only \ borrowed the horse." No other person assisted. "John | 
 onZy borrowed the horse." He did not buy him. "John borrowed the horse 
 only;'''' "John borrowed I o»Zw the horse." He borrowed nothing more. "And 
 leave the world for me to bustle i»." 
 
 ? 357. Some adverbs connect two clauses, and modify a word in 
 each. Such are called conjunctive adverbs. The clause with the 
 adverb has the sense of an adverb, an adjective, or a noun. 
 
 Ex. — " Make hay wMle the sun shines." When. " He rode the horse lefor« 
 he bought him." '" You speak of it as you understand it." How? ^^ Go where 
 glory waits thee." Whither i " In the grave where our hero was buried." In 
 what grave? " The reason it'^j' it has been negected, is obvious." What reason? 
 " I saw how a pin is made." I saw what? Sometimes the antecedent or correla- 
 tive adverb is expressed, and then the latter adverb merely joins on and modifies 
 its own part. " 1 was there \ where it happened." Where it happened is explanatory 
 of there somewhat like an appositive. 
 
 ? 358. Sometimes adverbs so little affect the sentence that it 
 would not seem improper to say they are used independently. 
 
 Ex. — Yes, no, ay, amen, accordingly, consequently, &c. " Nay, such was the 
 general clamor, that," &c. " Why, you must be crazy." " Well, I hardly know 
 what to say." " So, so, and this is the way you liave spent your time." " There 
 were three in all; namely, John, James, and Joseph," ^^ Secondly, he could go 
 there if he would," " There is none righteous, no, not one." '■''Thus, in France, 
 common carriers are not liable for robbery." — Kent. Adverbs thus used partake 
 of the nature of conjunctions or interjections. Most of them may be parsed as ad- 
 verbs modifying the entire proposition, or the preceding sentence or discourse, 
 or else something understood ; and some of them are always best parsed as con- 
 junctions. 
 
 ? 359. Adverbs, like adjectives, may be divided into classes, and 
 they have also comparison. Many adverbs may be compared like 
 adjectives ; but derivative adverbs ending in ly, are nearly always 
 compared by more and most, or by less and least. See pp. 30-32. 
 
 Ex. — Soon, sooner, soonest; early, earlier, earliest; wisely, more wisely, rmst 
 
 Frequently, an adverb denotes manner, when it modifies a verh ; and degree, 
 when it modifies an adjective or an adverb: as, "He thinks «0j*" "He writes so 
 awkwardly." '■'■How did you do it ?" " I know not how deep it is." 
 
 ? 360. Most adverbs are formed by annexing ly to adjectives or 
 
 participles. Sometimes s is annexed. 
 
 Ex.— Firm, /rwZy; noble, too%; united, unitedly j snaring, sparingly ; out- 
 w-ard, outwards. Ly (Saxon lie, Germ, lich) is origmally the same as like, OJ 
 simply another form oilike. Gentleman, gentleman-like, gentlemanly 
 
210 ADVERBS. 
 
 ? 361. Some adverbs are compounded of two or more words; 
 and adverbs are often used to form other compound words. 
 
 Ex. — Indeed, forever, Jierenpon, wh.eYe7vUhRl, aboarcl=on board, ahead=at the 
 head, fiemdier, fovevermore, whither,wever, helter-skelter. Well-bred, /a?'-fetched, 
 downtrodden; w/ipunished, untrue, impure. The common prefix un, and its 
 equivalents, are adverbial, signifying not. 
 
 1 362. Adverbs promote brevity. The sense of almost every ad- 
 verb can bo conveyed by an adjunct or some other expression. A 
 conjunctive adverb is nearly always equivalent to two adjuncts; 
 and most adverbial phrases and some adverbs are but imperfect 
 adjuncts. 
 
 Ex. — Wisely =m a wise manner, with wisdom; rapidl?/=vr\th. rapidity; ^ere=' 
 at or in this place ; thus=-in this manner ; 'ver//'=in a high degree ; wh>/=i'or what 
 reason ; never=at no time. " Whence [from toJiai place] is he ?" " She was buried 
 when the sun was setting"=She was buried at the time in which the sun was set- 
 ting. The seed grew up where it fell ; i. e., from the place on which it fell. WJien 
 may stand for then when ; where, for there where; as, for so as. At present=ut the 
 present time ; yesterday=ou yesterday ; in vain=m a vain manner ; long «!7o=at a 
 time long gone by. Sometimes it is better to use the adjunct. " In a silly man- 
 ner," is a better expression than sillily ; " in a small way or degree," than smally ; 
 "in concord," than concordantly ; " by which," "with which," than wherewith. 
 
 ? 363. Adverbs supply the inadequacy of tenses, and they have 
 also some affinity with moods. 
 
 Ex. — " I will study | presently — fty and hy — to-morrow — henceforth^ " He will 
 certainly come." Indicative mood strengthened. ^^Perhaps he will _come"=IIe 
 may come. Some adverbs need not the verb, to express commands in the most 
 forcible manner. "C>/i, Stanley, o?i.'"=March ow., <fec. Z7^, warder, ho ! '■^Away 
 with it." Down with tyranny. Out with him. '■'■Hence, or thou diest." 
 
 ? 364. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish adverbs from ad- 
 jectives. 
 
 Some words retain the same form in either sense; but, gen 
 erally, the ending ly or s is made the sign of the adverb. 
 
 Ex.— No, well, better, best, much, more, most, rery, wide (=ajar), long, first, 
 all, even, just, like, right (==very, directly), else, next, pretty (=tolerably), little, 
 1638, least, still, ill, worse, worst, enough, full (=very), only, hard (=laboriously), 
 fast, yonder, early, late, likely, daUy, weakly, weekly, monthly, yearly, gentle- 
 manly, manly, comely, princely, dea'dly, kingly, nightly; "no man," adj.; '■'"no 
 deeper," adv. Brave, hraoely ; witty, wittily ; able, ably; upward, upwards. 
 
 1 365. In poetry and in compound words, the adjective form of 
 the word, or the adjective mode of comparison, is allowed to a 
 greater extent than elsewhere. 
 
 Ex.—" The swallow sings sweet from her nest in the w&lV'—Dimond. " Drink 
 deep, or touch not the Pierian spring:'— Pope. " Ten censure wrong for one that 
 writes amiss. —Id. "Though thou vrert firmlier fastened than a rock.''— Milton. 
 High-colored, smooth- f^Wding : yet, even in most such compounds, the reference is 
 BtiU to a noun rather than to a verb ; as, sweet-scented-^of sweet scent ; highrsoaring 
 —high m soaring ; and we can not say high-polislied, but must say highly polished. 
 
 ? 366. An adjective may be affected by a verb, and still remain 
 an adjective, provided the verb shows merely how the quality is 
 acquired or made known. The quality may often be conceived as 
 
ADVERBS. EXERCISES. 211 
 
 beloiigin|2: to the person or thing, regjardless of the act; 'or else as 
 belonging to the former in the way shown by the verb. 
 
 Ex. — "Who PAINTS the lily lohite^ the violet hluef'' " The clay burns wMte.''' 
 " The waves dashed high.'''' '"' The fields look jjleasant.'''' " I feel cold ;" i. e., I am 
 cold. State or quality. *' She looks coldly on him." Manner. "The rose smells 
 ftweeV " Mary appears neaV She is always so, or in regard to every thing : 
 neatness is a trait m her character. " Mary dresses neatly?'' She is neat.^ so far as 
 dressing is concerned. " The apple tastes sowr." Here we could not say, '■'■in a 
 sour manner.'''' "The trees stand thick ;'''' i. e., they are thick, dense, or numerous. 
 "He stood _y?;'7n." "We arrived safe.'''' '■'■Wamade merry over his loss;" i.e., 
 was merry, or made himself merry, etc. ^'■Sqft blows the breeze." {^^Scft is the 
 breeze that blows o'er Ceylon's isle.") " Velvet feels smooth.^'' " His hammock 
 swunir loose at the sport of the wind." "The wind blew the colder, the longer it 
 blew." So, when the word expresses state or condition in relation to the subject, 
 rather than manner, place, or time in relation to the verb ; as, athirst, and com- 
 monly asleep, alone, alike, ablaze, afoot, afloat, adrift. 
 
 ? 367. Generally speaking, the adverb approaches the adjective 
 as the verb approaches a neuter signification, or that of the verb he. 
 Ex. — " He spoke Je^^e/* ;" adv. " He seemed Je^^er y" " He felt fte^^e?* ;" adj. 
 
 ? 368. ^'yer=at any time, at all times. It is often a very expressive 
 "word, and is much used in composition ; as, evergreen, everlasting. Now — 
 no i^= sometimes — sometimes. Then sometimes implies rather condition 
 than time. There does not always denote place, but sometimes elegantly 
 introduces the sentence, or makes a convenient handle to it. ThiLS and so 
 may each sometimes represent a preceding or a following word, phrase, or 
 sentence. So occasionally represents a noun, though not always elegantly. 
 Yes and no are each equivalent to a sentence. 
 
 Ex. — " Did you ever see the like ?" ^^Nbw loud, now low, now swift, now slow, 
 o'er hill and vale they winding go." Suppose your parents should die ; how would 
 you make a living then f^^in that condition. " 2'here came to the beach a poor 
 exile of Erin." " There was nothing there that I waated." " Thus has it ever 
 been." " He is a great scholar.— 6b I was told." " The lord treasurer was often 
 a bishop. The lord chancellor was almost always so.^^—Macaulay. "You saw 
 him ? — Jes"==I saw him. 
 
 ? 369. Adverbs are sometimes used as nouns, 
 
 Ex.— "For once.''' "By /ar the best." "And closed for aye the sparkling 
 glance." " We have caught enough:^ " We have played enough;'] adv. Such 
 words as much, more, enough, little, are nouns when used after transitive verbs. 
 
 ? 370. Adverbs are said to belong to whatever they modify. 
 
 See p. 47. ^ 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Parse the adverbs and adjectives. 
 
 The clouds move slowly. Now came still evening on. She gazed long 
 upon the clouds in the west, while they were slowl]/ passing away. As 
 the year blooms and fades, so does human life. So great a man could not 
 be always kept in obscurity.. Having duly arranged his affairs, be de- 
 parted immediately. You are yet young enough to learn the French lan- 
 guage very easily. The most worthless things are sometimes most 
 esteemed. Where was there ever an army that iiad served their country 
 more faithfully ? 
 
212 ADVERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the 
 misty mountain's top. In vain we seek for perfect happiness. We lived 
 there long ago. The more I study grammar, the better I like it. Man by 
 man, and foot by foot, did the soldiers proceed over the Alps. It was 
 not at all strange, that he should at last defend himself Only the young 
 men were sent to war. The field had only been ploughed. The wretched 
 fugitives were pursued even to the churches. Briefly, we rely on you 
 alone. Finally, the war is already begun, and we must either'* conquer 
 or perish. Shall this colossal Union be broken asunder? No; never, 
 never 1 They are most firmly good that best know why. 
 
 3. 
 
 Friends, but'^ few on earth, and therefore' ' dear ; 
 Sought oft, and sought almost as^^ oft in vain. — Pollok. 
 Now they wax, and now they dwindle, 
 
 WhirUng with the whirling spindle ; 
 Twist ye, twine ye ! even so 
 
 Mingle human bliss and woe. — W. Scoit. 
 The piper loud and louder blew, 
 The dancers quick and quicker flew. — Burns. 
 
 Examples to be Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to adverbs, may be reduced to the fol- 
 lowing heads : — 
 
 1. Choice. 2. Form. 3. Position. 
 
 1. Choice. 
 
 The most appropriate adverb should be selected to express the mean- 
 ing intended. 
 
 A wicked man is not happy, be he never so hardened in conscience. "We 
 do not want the sound of these charmers [organ-grinders], charm they never so 
 sweetly. — Harper'' s Magazine. Snow seldom or ever falls in the southern part 
 of Texas. Whether you are willing or no, you will have to pay the debt. The 
 road is so muddy that we can proceed no further. Nothing farther was said 
 about the matter. It rains most every day. This wheat stands most too 
 thick. He is a mighty insignificant follow. Where shall I flee? Who 
 brought me here, will also take me from hence. We remained a week at Gal- 
 veston, and proceeded from thence to Indianola. Such cloaks were in fashion 
 about five years since. — ago. About two weeks since, two grocery -keepers 
 at Doniphan liad a fight. Related not only by blood, but likewise by marriage. 
 — hut (dso — James is studious, but Thomas is studious also. — too. I am 
 some bettor than I was. — someuohai — He felt something encouraged on 
 receiving the news. No other tree, iu its old age, is as beautiful as the elm. 
 Have you done like he directed you? —as — Directly he comes, Ave shall 
 go. (Say, ".4s soon as,'" for directly is not a conjunctive adverb.) Immediately 
 when they arrive, we shall go. I never before saw sucli large trees. — trees 
 thai were so large. She is such a good woman. — so good a woman. 
 
ADVERBS. EXERCISES. 2fl8 
 
 2. Form. 
 Adverbs should be expressed in their true or most appropriate form. 
 
 Speak slow and distinct. You have behaved very bad. This pen does 
 not write good. He behaved manhly. She behaved very siUily. At this 
 place, the mountains are extraordinary high and steep. — History of Virginia. 
 He lived an extreme hard life. She is a remarkable pretty girl. An abomina- 
 ble ugly little woman officiated at the table. I am only tolerable well, sir. 
 It is wonderful to see how preposterous the affairs of this world are sometimea 
 managed. The fox is an exceeding artful animal. He is doing fine. She 
 
 was dressed as fl as silk could make her. People say he is independent 
 
 rich. He struggled manful, and became independent. You have been wrong 
 informed on the subject. Sure he is as fine a gentleman as can be found any- 
 where. She dresses suitable to her station and means. "We went direct to 
 the cave. 
 
 I shall first notice why we should worship God ; and, second, how we should 
 worship him. Fifth and last, I would remark that he never succeeded at any 
 thing. Agreeable to the present arrangement, I shall have to recite my Greek 
 during the first hour. Previous to our arrival, the captain was taken ill. The 
 insolent proud soon acquire enemies. We have near finished our work. You 
 did the work as good as I could expect. The Irishman was so bruised that he 
 said he scarce knew himself again. As like as not you love her yourself Push 
 the wagou backward. • — backwards. Come hitherward. I received the gift 
 with pleasure, but I shall now gladlier resign it. — ^nore gladly — These are 
 the things highliest important. I can easier raise a croj) of hemp than a crop 
 of tobacco. Abstract principles are easiest learned when clearest illustrated. 
 
 3. Position. 
 
 Adverbs should be so placed in the sentence as to make it correct, clear, 
 and elegant. 
 
 This precept is also applicable to adjuncts and to some conjunctions. 
 
 Every man can not afford to keep a coach. Not every man, &c All their 
 neighbors were not invited. All that we hear, we should not believe. There 
 could not be found one man that was willing to enlist. They became even 
 grinders of knives and razors. The two young ladies came to the party, nearly 
 dressed aUke. I only recited one lesson during the whole day. In promoting 
 the public good, we only discharge our duty. Theism can only be opposed to 
 polytheism. He is only so when he is drunk. I only bought the horse, and 
 not the buggy. I have borrowed this horse only, yet I intend to buy him. 
 Sucli prices are only paid in times of great scarcity. These words were not 
 only uttered by a mortal man, but by one who was constantly exposed to death, 
 and expecting it. The word couple can only be properly applied to objects in 
 connection. The interest not only had been paid, but the greater part of the 
 principal also. Bibulus could only escape outrage, by not only avoiding all 
 assemblies of the people, but every solemn and important meeting of tlie senate. 
 If you have only learned to spend money extravagantly at college, you may stay 
 at home. If you have learned, at college, only to spend money extravagantly, &c 
 The future tense simply expresses future time. Corn should be generally 
 planted in April. He is thought to be generally honest. For beginners and 
 generally young men. The farmers sell their produce generally to the mer- 
 chants. 
 
 In other countries, where the fate of the poor is wretched indeed, of- 
 fices are merely created for the emolument of certain classes. How much 
 
214 ADVERBS. EXERCISES. 
 
 would the difficulty be increased, were wf» solely to depend upon their gen- 
 ero^ty 1 I am not as attentive to the studies I even like, as I should be. Most 
 nations, not even excepting the Jews, were prone to idolatry. He can not 
 show me where ever I voted ditterent. No man has ever so much that he does 
 not wish to accumulate more. "We do those things frequently which we re- 
 pent of afterwards. There was another man still, who had lost his horse also. 
 — was still another man — There is still a shorter method. — a still shorter — 
 My opinion was given after rather a cursory perusal of the book. feuch con- 
 duct rather will make him sulky and stupid than amiable and sprightly. I my- 
 self was a little incUned to visit her once. Having lost once a thousand dollars 
 by speculation, he would never venture again. Having almost lost a thousand 
 dollars by the speculation, he was able only to pay a part of the debt. Sextus 
 the Fourth, if I mistake not, was a great collector of books, at least. By hasty 
 composition, we shall acquire certainly a very bad style. The argument is 
 very plausible, certainly, if not conclusive. Having not known, or having not 
 considered the measures proposed, he failed of success. Our boat had fortun- 
 ately left the ship, previous to the explosion. He promised to send to me as 
 much again as he had borrowed, the next day. They were almost cut off to a 
 man. There is nothing more pleases him than to praise his performances. 
 There is nothing that pleases him more, than for others to praise, &c. We may 
 happily live, though our possessions are small. Not only he found her em- 
 ployed, but pleased and tranquil also. She will be always discontented. The 
 following bet is said actually to have been made between an Adams man and a 
 Jackson man. — is said to have actually been made — 
 
 I occupy the same political position nearly, that I occupied five years ago. The 
 words should be arranged so that harmony may be promoted. — so arranged — 
 The law does not undertake to compel him so to do, or punish him for not so 
 doing. — Kent. The front part of the house was very differently built from tiie 
 back part. The goods could not be possibly shipped any sooner. He seems 
 clearly to have understood this part of the Constitution. — seems to have clearly — 
 He seems early to have applied himself to the study of law. We should 
 not be overcome totally by present events. It can not be impertinent or ridi- 
 culous therefore to remonstrate. It is impossible continually to be at work. 
 We have often opportunities to do good. It seems but three miles distant, and 
 yet it perhaps is twenty. He determined to invite back the king, and to call 
 together his friends. Nature mixes the elements variously and curiously some- 
 times, it is true. The Secretary was soon expected to resign — was expected 
 daily to resign. A school must carefully be conducted to please such patrons. 
 They managed so as completely to elude their pursuers. We are not inclined 
 to unnecessarily place ourselves in so perilous a situation. You are to slowly 
 raise the trap, while I hold the sack. The sealing of the documents up, ai.so 
 delayed me. T/ie sealing-up of, &c. Spelling is the putting of letters together, 
 80 as to make words. 
 
 I^egatives. 
 
 When two negatives contradict each other they can not express a 
 negation. 
 
 It is hardly proper, though according to custom, to place this class of errors under Ad- 
 verbs ; for sometimes neither one of the negatives is an adverb. 
 
 I will never do so no more. We didn't find nobody at home. I don't 
 know notiiing about your affairs. There can not be nothing more contemptible 
 than hypocrisy. The scene was truly terrific ; nothing never affected me so 
 much. But, 1 the greedy thirst of royal crown, that knows no kindred, nor 
 regards no ri'^ht.— Spenser. Congress has not, nor never had, the Constitu- 
 tiormi power to intermeddle thus. Ho wondered tiiat none of the members had 
 
ADVERBS. OBSERVATIONS. 915 
 
 *4ever thought of it. Be honest, nor take no shape nor semblance of disguise. 
 Do not let no one disturb me. Never was a fleet more completely equipped, 
 nor never had a nation more sanguine hopes of success. Neither that nor no 
 such thing was said in my hearing. Tliere was no bench, nor no seat of any 
 kind, that was not crowded with people. Neither he, nor nobody else, ever 
 raised, in one year, so many bushels of potatoes on one acre. She will never 
 grow no taller. For hence I will not, can not, no, nor must not. Death 
 never spared no one. "And yet say nothing neither;" "And yet say nothing 
 either." (Usage is unsettled as to this phraseology.) 
 
 OBSEEVATIONS. 
 
 1, M), in such expressions as "whether or no," should be not. Everso prop- 
 erly expresses indefinite or unlimited degree ; its place, therefore, should not be 
 usurped by never so. Most means in the highest degree^ and it is often improperly 
 used for almost or rather, or as a contraction of the former. Nearly should rather 
 be applied to (quantity, time, or space ; and almost, to degree. So, entirely^ and 
 scarcely rather imply quantity; completely and hardly, degree. Hither, thither^ 
 and whither, are now preferred, only m the grave style, to here, there, and 
 where, when the principal idea is motion to or from a place. Hence, thence, and 
 •whence, imply the idea of from something ; hence, to place from before them, 
 makes the expressions tautological and generally inelegant. Likewise strictly im- 
 plies sanuthing more in like manner ; also, something more ; and too, sometMng more 
 of the same act, state, or kind of things. But these distinctions are not always ob- 
 served. " I have done like he directed," should be, " I have done as he directed." 
 Like suergests a similarity of manner in the two actions ; but as properly expresses 
 their connection and correspondence. So, with a modifying word, expresses de- 
 gree ; and, in this sense, such or as is sometimes incorrectly or inelegantly used in 
 the place of it. "She is not such an amiable woman as her sister;" i. e., not an 
 amiable woman of the same kind as her sister. " She is not so amiable a woman 
 as her sister;" i. e., not amiable in the same degree. But, since different grades 
 are often tlie same as different kinds, the two modes of expression are often equi- 
 valent, and are so used by many good writers. Tlie same remark applies to sen- 
 tences of this kind : *' She is not as amiable as her sister." Better : "She is not so 
 amiable as her sister." But, without the preceding negative, we might properly 
 say, " She is as amiable as her sister ;" " It is as good as the other." Farther^' 
 heyond this place ; further=in addition, and is not usually applied to place. 
 
 2. Adjectives and adverbs are often confounded, because they resemble in sig- 
 nification; because some words are used iu either capacity, v/hile others are not; 
 >)ecause most adverbs are derived frotn adjectives, and because they are sometimes 
 really interchangeable without 'injuring the sense, for the nature of every act is 
 intimately connected with the objects on which it depends. Grammarians have 
 tried to guard pupils against errors, by the precept, ^^ Adjectives should be used to 
 qualify nouns, or pronouns ; hut adverbs, to qualify vei-bs, adjectives, or adverbs. 
 
 Different Forms : Well, for instance, is the adverb corresponding to the adjec- 
 tive good. Same Forms : Better, best, worse, toorst, &c., are used either as adverbs 
 or as adjectives. Derived Forms: Previous, previously; easier, more easily; <fec. 
 The ending ly or s should be preferred, wlien it will distinguish the adverb from 
 the corresponding adjective ; as, scarcely, upwards, downimrds. Licensed Forms : 
 Tlie adjective may sometimes be used in stead of the adverb ; or rather, the form 
 of the adjective, especially the comparative or the superlative preceded by «n ar- 
 ticle, may be used as an adverb. " He lives best who acts the noblest.'^'' '■'■Swjft to 
 the breach his comrades fly"=They are swift in flying to the breach. ^'•Swiftly to 
 the breach his comrades fly"=They r?^ swiftly to the breach. Perhaps the adjec- 
 tive in most such expressions implies a fixed and permanent quality or attribute, 
 and the adverb only a temporary state. '■'■Soft sighed tiie flute ;" i. e., with that 
 sweetness and softness which are peculiar to it, — ^which it always has.^ " Softly 
 sighed the flute" [in that particular instance]. When the adverbial ending would 
 change the meaning, the adjective form must be used. " To stop <fAr>r^," differs 
 from " To stop shortly.'''' "' lie came contrary to my expectatioua ;" not, contrariiy. 
 
216 ADVERBS. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 " For gentlemen who speak me fair.'''' Sometimes the adjective form is proper, 
 because tlie expression is, in thought at least, elliptical, or is but the adjective rem- 
 nant of an adjunct or other phrase that performed the office of an adverb. 
 "Though she paint an inch thick;'''' L e,, paint her face with rouge an inch thick. 
 " You have paid dear for the whistle ;" ^. e., a dear price for the whistle. " You 
 work late ;" *, e., till a late hour. " It happeiled, contrary to my expectations" ==It 
 happened; which thing was contrary to my expectations. "He hit the tree wide 
 from the mark ;" i. e., a wide distance. " Speak true ;" *. e., what is true. If I say, 
 " The machinery works sraootJily,'''' I refer simply to its operation ; but if I say, " It 
 works smooth, I refer to its parts as affected by its operation. So, " The mahogany 
 polishes finely,''^ expresses the sense better than " The mahogany polishes fine ;" 
 for the meaning is, that it not only becomes fine, but admits polish better than 
 most otlier things. Should we say, " I feel had, or hadly .?" Butler and Clark 
 have decided in favor of had. Our best writers seem to have avoided the expres- 
 sion altogether. We say, "I feel coM," "I felt mean,;''' buf the best popular 
 usage seems to be in favor of saying, "I feel hadly,'''' which, moreover, is not 
 equivalent to " I am had''' 
 
 When the meaning is a mongrel of adjective and adverb, I believe general usage, 
 in most instances, prefers the adjective form. 
 
 To avoid the disagreeable termination lily, we sometimes use a synonymous 
 word; as, piously for hoUly : sometimes we use the corresponding adjunct; as, 
 "In a wily manner," for wilily: and there is some tendency to use the adjective 
 form for both the adjective and the adverb; as, "A manly act it was;" "He 
 aeted manly.''' 
 
 To poets is allowed great liberty in the use of adverbs ; especially in the form.. 
 But neither poets nor any other persons are allowed to use them so as to pervert 
 their meaning. A poot may say, " The swallow sings sweet from her nest in the 
 wall ;" or, " To slowly trace the" forest's shady scenes ;" or, '■'■From thence to other 
 scenes he passed ;" for we understand him. But, " His visage to the view was 
 only bare," does not convey the meaning intended; and should be, "His visage 
 Duly to the view was bare." 
 
 3. The position of adverbs is regulated, in the first place, by the sense ; and 
 next, by emphasis and melody. 
 
 Adverhs are generally placed after the verb, or after tJie first auxiliary, before ot 
 after participles, and before adjectives or adverhs. 
 
 Enough follows its adjective or adverb ; as, " A place good encyughP Every 
 nsver, sometimes, often^ always^ most frequently precede the verb. Such adverbs as 
 only, merely, solely, diiefiy, at least, &c., maybe used to limit almost any part of the 
 sentence, and should therefore be placed near to the parts which they are intended 
 to modify. Some of the most common adverbs are very dilFasive in their shades 
 of meanmg, and their capability of modifying. " He is generally at home" — time. 
 ^J' Cro\m are generally good" — time or place. " The sennon was <7^«e/'aWy interest- 
 ing." Were most of its parts good ? or did it please most of the people ? or did the 
 person often preach good sermons ? The effect of inserting sucn adverbs can not 
 be too carefully scrutinized. T7ie is sometimes elegantly required before a com- 
 parative or a superlative adverb, to express emphasis ; as, " Whose sweet en- 
 trancing tones he loved the best."— Collins. 
 
 Emphatio Position : " Then never saw I charity before." " In their prosperity, 
 my friends shall never hear of me ; in their adversity, always." 
 
 Metrical PosmoN ; " Peeping from forth their alleys green ;" "To smftly glide 
 o'er hill and dale." 
 
 _ 4. Two negatives make an affirmation, as in the following sentence: " I never 
 said nothing to him about it"=I said somelninjr to him about it. The sentence 
 should have been, "I never said any thing to him about it;" or, "I said nothing 
 to him about it." Not, followed "hy only, or by some equivalent word, modifies this, 
 a,nd does not affect the negative coming after it ; so that a sentence with two nega- 
 tives thus situated, is still negative; as, "I not only never said so, but never 
 thought so." Two negatives independent of each other, a negative repeated, or a 
 nej^ative strengthened by its correlative, do not destroy the negation; as. "iVb, 
 never.'J " I will n^er, never give mv consent." " There was no peace, rto happi- 
 ncM, in the family." "I have seen Christians that had neither love nor charity." 
 
PREPOSITIONS. 217 
 
 " It may not be popular neither to take away any of tlie privileges of Parlia- 
 ment." — Mansfield. " I do not understand this business. — Nor I neither.''^ 
 
 Garrich. Here either^ I think, would be incorrect ; for neither is the proper cor- 
 relative of nor. 
 
 Two negatives are sometimes preferred to express a modest, an elegant, or a 
 forcible aflirraaton ; as, " He is not ttascliooled in the ways of the world;" i. «., 
 he is shrewd enough. " I mean the riding-habit, which some have not wjudiciously 
 styled the hermaphroditical, by reason of its masculine and feminine composition." 
 — Gai/. " There is no climate that is not a witness of their toils." — JBurke. 
 "iV^r did they not perceive the evil plight 
 In which they were, or the fierce pain rwt feel." — Milton. 
 
 10. PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 ? 371. A preposition is a word used to show the relation 
 between different things. 
 
 Ex. — '' A rabbit in a hollow tree." "What in what ? " How sweetly bloom the 
 violets on yonder bank !" " The wind glides in waves over the bristling barley.'" 
 
 ? Two prepositions are sometimes combined and used as one, and 
 some phrases are customarily used as prepositions. 
 
 Ex. — ^Upon, according to, as to, as for. " The river flowed//'om under the pal- 
 aces." ^'■Over against the church stood the hospital." " The lady sits genteelly, 
 the niore heaause o/" company." 
 
 ? 372. Prepositions subjoin the place, time, doer, possessor, cause, 
 source, purpose, means, manner, condition, or some other circum- 
 stance. They show where., whither., whence., when., how long, by 
 what means, to what extent, in what way, of what kind, &c. 
 
 Ex.—" The fox was caught under a bluff, he/ore sunrise, h/ the dogs of our 
 neighbor." " To be punished for mischief." " The light of the sun." " To 
 work for pay." " To chop with an ax." " To write with elegance." " To be in 
 poverty." " Done against law." 
 
 ? 373. An adjunct is a preposition with its object, or with 
 the words required after it to complete the sense. 
 
 Ex. — " This large melon grew on a slender vine.''"' " He was shot in his cabin, \ 
 on Wednesday, \ with an arrow, \ ly an Indian \ of the Comanche tribe:'' " The 
 same man that I came withf i. e., with whom. "The ship was about to be 
 wrecled:'' " Anxious for him to he caught:'' " The labor of clearing land depends 
 on how much timher there is grooving on It:'' " Reason and justice have been jury- 
 men since before Noah was a sailor.'''' — Shakespeare. 
 
 ? 374. Some adjuncts may be inverted or parted, especially in 
 poetry. 
 
 Ex.—" Whom was it given to?'''' better, 'To whom was it given ?" " From crag 
 to crag, the rattling peaks among ;" i. e., among the rattling peaks. " Come, walk 
 with me the jungle through:'' — Heber. 
 
 ? 375. Two or more prepositions may govern the same sub- 
 stantive ; two or more substantives may be governed by tbe same 
 preposition ; and two or more adjuncts are often combined into one. 
 
 Ex.—" He walked up and dawn the hall." " He approved of and voted for, 
 the measure ;" better, " He approved of the measure, and voted for U. A 
 battle between the S'loux and the Comanches.'" " He bequeathed his estate^ to his 
 wife, children, and friends.'' " The gold ] in a piece of quartz from t/ie 7mnes of 
 Californi^t:'' 
 
218 PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 ? 376. An adjunct may relate to an object, an act or state, or a 
 quality; tliat is, it may modify a substantive, an adjective, a verb, 
 or an adverb. 
 
 Ex.— "Cases in the mountains." " The river rises in the mountains." " The 
 river is clear in the mountains. 
 
 The modified term, which commonly precedes, is called the antecedent term ; 
 and the governed substantive, the subsequent term^ which may sometimes be even 
 a participle, an infinitive, a phrase, or a clause. See adjuncts, above. 
 
 ? 377. Adjuncts extend over nearly all the ground occupied by 
 adjectives, adverbs, and the possessive case, and even beyond, sup- 
 plying their deficiencies. 
 
 Ex. — "A man of wUdom and virtue''' =^ A. wise and virtuous man. "A ship with-, 
 out motion''' = A. moticnless ship." " To stand 7ie/'6"=To stand in this place. ^'■Ah- 
 mlom's heanty^^=The heauty of Absalom. ^^Aland of Uberti/.^^ No adjective. "To 
 stand on the shores of Mw j^ngland.^^ No adverb. 
 
 ? 478. When a preposition has no word to govern, it becomes an 
 adverb. 
 
 Ex. — " The eagle fiew up, then aro'und.thQn down again." " It fell from above ;" 
 "It came //"cm within— :from witJiout.^^ Kqtq above, within, and without, are per- 
 haps best parsed as nouns. 
 
 ? 379. Sometimes the object is merely omitted ; and sometimes 
 the antecedent term is omitted, or there is none. 
 
 Ex. — " The man you s^oke o/";" i.e., of whom you spoke. "Vengeance on 
 whoever has killed him;" *. e., on him who. " Industrious all, from the youngest 
 to the oldest ;" i. e., reckoning from the youngest. ^^ As for riches, they are not 
 worth so much care and anxiety." "Sold at the rate of from fifty cents to a dol- 
 lar;" i. e., of prices varying from fifty cents to a dollar ; or, when but one indef- 
 inite thing is meant, the first preposition may be parsed as governing all the rest 
 of the phrase, and the second as having no antecedent term. 
 
 ? 380. The preposition itself is sometimes omitted ; especially for, to, 
 or unto. These prepositions are usually omitted after like, unlike, near, 
 nigh, opposite, or such verbs as maybe followed in the active voice by two 
 objects ; the one governed by the verb, and the other denoting the person 
 to whom the act refers, — sometimes called, for distinction, the direct object, 
 and the indirect. 
 
 Ex. — " The house was near [to] the river — nearer [to] the river — next to ours." 
 "The son is like [to or unto] his father." " Opposite- [to] the market." " Lend 
 him your in-i/'e"— Lend your hnife to him. 
 
 ? 381. Prepositions, as modifying or qualifying words, make in 
 part hundreds of our most expressive compound words. 
 
 Ex. — Overdhoot, owerspread, overthrow ; undermmQ, underhrxis.h., w/iierstrapper ; 
 -wphold, ttjpheave ; Jy-stander ; aftert\io\xgh.\, ; implant {in-). 
 
 Some prepositions show wiiere : In, on, under, over, above, before, behind, 
 below, around, between, among, by, beyond, at. Some show whithee : To, 
 toward, into, up, down, for. Some show wuence: Out of, from, of. Some 
 show whek : At, in, on, after, before. Some show how long: During, for, till. 
 Some imply contact or union : On, upon, with. Some refer to inner parts : 
 In, into, within, among, amid, throujjh. Some., to outer parts : On, around, 
 about, over, to. Some have opposites : To — from ; over, on — under ; above — 
 below, beneath; with— without ; up — down; for— against; along— across ; 
 
PREPosrrroNS. ^^1$ 
 
 through — around; before — behind; on — off; before— after, since (time); till- 
 after ; within — without. Some are allied in meaning : Over, above ; on, upon ; 
 under, below, beneath; from, o^ out of; behind, after; across, athwart; about, 
 around; in, within; at, by (place); by, with (means); to, for. 
 
 The prepositions have been too superficially treated by most of our gram- 
 marians. There is no object, act, quality, or condition, not exclusively described 
 by otlier words, that may not be described by adjuncts in any conceivable way; 
 and hence the correctness, clearness, and vigor of discourse, depend not a little 
 upnift them. There are a few grand ideas, namely, those of space, time, cause, 
 means, purpose, manner, &c., which control and limit the mind in its acquisi- 
 tions, encompass and pervade all its other knowledge, and tincture speech uni- 
 versally, but especially prepositions. Hence, nearly all the prepositions may 
 express relations of place; a smaller number may be applied to tim6 ; and a 
 still smaller number to cav^se, purpose, means, manner, &c. Some relations are of 
 the external world, but many others rather lie in the judgments or views taken 
 by the mind. Prepositions are often extended from the most obvious relations 
 of place, to the most abstruse and delicate maneiivres of the mind itself; but, as 
 they are generally extended figuratively (see pp. 2G2-71) from relations of place 
 to relations of time, cause, means, manner, &c., any meaning apparently different 
 from the primitive, generally resembles it, is readily suggested by it, or can be 
 traced to it. The following exposition of prepositions will be valuable to the 
 studious learner. 
 
 Most of the examples are taken from Lord Macaulay. 
 
 A, said to be from at, on, or in, is now rarely used as a separate word, except 
 sometimes before a participial noun ; as, " Towards evening we went a fishing." 
 
 Aboard. " To go or be aboard a ship." 
 
 About is less precise than a/round or at. It is applicable to place, time, quan- 
 tity, number, acts, and states. "A girdle about the waist;" "To be about the 
 house;" "To go about the country, making speeches;" "J[&£>m^ noon;" "Costs 
 a^owi so much;" ^^ About a dozen;" "Engaged about one's business;" "Angry 
 about something;" '■'■About to be hanged" — nearness to an act not yet done. 
 
 Above. "The room — the stars above us;" "A tree rising above the bouse ;'* 
 "A city above another on the same river ;" " To be above in rank — above suspi- 
 cion ;" " To feel oneself above others — above labor;" "To be above reach — above 
 comprehension." 
 
 According to, taken from music, means harmonizing with. "According to 
 reason — law — rules;" "^ccorc^mg^ fc> the dictates of conscience;" "■According to 
 weight — value." 
 
 Across= at cross, in a cross. ^'Across the road — river ;" "Arras across 
 each other." 
 
 After. " To come after another ;" "A day after the time ;" ''After the de- 
 bate;" ''Dogs after a fox;" "A hankering after pleasure;" ''To inquire after 
 some one ;" "To write after a copy." 
 
 Against. » To sit over against another ;" "A ladder against a wall ;" " Be 
 ready against to-morrow morning;" "Ants provide against winter;" "To set one 
 oQconnt against another ;'' "To tug agaimi the stream;" " To be a^-ajrwi nature;" 
 "Against one's feelings ;" "Against law." 
 
 Along, following the length of "Treea along the river;" "Fringed along 
 the edges ;" "To drive cattle along the road." "Along with"=-in company with. 
 
 Amid, amidst, akin to middle. "A lark reared her br(X)d amid the corn;'* 
 '' Oranges gleaming afuidst leaves and blossoms," or among ; " Firm amidsi th^ 
 
 10* 
 
220 PREPOSITIONfS. 
 
 storm," not among ; " Undaunted amidst insults and mockeries." Amid usnally 
 implies quantity, and something more overwhelming than in ; among, numbei". 
 "In the flames; ^'Amid the flames." 
 
 Among, amongst, akin to mingle and many. " Flowers among weeds j" 
 " The f jols among men ;" ''A tradition among the Indians." See Between. 
 
 Around, round=encompassing like a ring or like a globe. It is local, and 
 more precise than about. ^'Around the neck;" ^'Around the fire ;" ^'Around the 
 kernel;" '^ lie went round the country, making speeches;" "He sailed round 
 the world." 
 
 As to=respecting, concerning, in reference to. ^'As to the law itself, T have 
 nothing to say." 
 
 At. "At the door" — nearness in place; "At church;" "At nine o'clock" — 
 7iearness in time; "At the election" — nearness in both or either; "^i work" — 
 act; "^^ war," "At best," — state; "To be at the expense" — nearness and bur- 
 den; " To be a< one's service" — nearness and control; "Attorney a^ law;" "To 
 estimate at a certain price" — nearness in thought, for judging; ''Sold at a dollar 
 per bushel" — nearness and exchange; "To take offense at what is said" — near- 
 ness, in time, of the saying and the offense, — thence, cause ; " To come at a 
 wink ;" " To laugh at some one ;" " To aim at a mark." See In. 
 
 Ath"\vart=aeross -\- opposition. " Thou that dar'st advance thy miscreated 
 front athwart my way." — Alilton. 
 
 Before=&y and fore. "Before the house" — place; "Before night" — time 
 ".Be/ore the war" — action; " To be before another in rank ;" "To appear btfore 
 court" — -place, and something more. 
 
 Behind* "Behind the house" — place; "To be behind the curtain.';*" — 
 filacer ; " He died, and left no property behind him" — place and time; "Behind 
 m excellence;" "The ministry behind the throne" — place and inferiority or 
 influence. 
 
 Below implies under, in place, rank, or quantity. " Beloio the eaves,'* 
 "Below another;" "Below fifty." We can say, "A city below another on the same 
 river," but not beneath, — "Below fifty," not beneath. " To be below considera- 
 tion," is very different from " To be under consideration." 
 
 Beneath often implies greater distance, and less possibility of approach, than 
 below. ''A horrid chasm feeAieaiJy'i. us;" " He is fee/iea^/i notice.'" 
 
 Beside, besides. "X tree beside the river;" "Something besides accom- 
 plishments;" "It is beside my purpose;" "He is beside himself "=c»m^ of his wits. 
 
 BetWQen, from by and twain, has a twofold reference ; among, a manifold. 
 '^Between the house and the river;" "Between one and the rest;" ^'Between dawn 
 and sunrise;" "Between hoTpe and fear;" "Two travelers, with but one dollar 
 between them;" "To distinguish between good and bad." "To divide between one 
 and aTzoi/ier," is correct: " To divide a>no«,gr one another^'' ^one among another; 
 therefore say, "among themselves:'' "To divide between themselves,'' not each 
 other. "A combat between twenty English against forty I'rench;" say, "be- 
 tween. . . .and, or, of. . . .against." "Between the intellectual and moral worlds" 
 — Professors Fowler & Gibbs ; better, "Between the intellectual and the moral 
 world," or, "the intellectual world and the moral." 
 
 Betwixt is rather local ; and it is not so widely extended in significations 
 as between. This word shows remarkably how variable English orthography has 
 been. Its genealogy runs thus : Betwuh, betuh, betwy, betwih, betwyh, betweoh, 
 hetweohs, betux, betweox, betwuxt, betwixt. 
 
 Beyond. "The liills beyond the river;" " To look beyond the present;" 
 ••jBeyond a hundred;" "Beyond the evidence;" '^Beyond temptation;" "Beyorui 
 reach ;" "Beyond comprehension." 
 
PREPOSITIONS. 221 
 
 But ia a preposition when equivalent to except^ and construed with the ob- 
 jective case; as, "The boy stood on the burning deck whence all hut him had 
 fled." — Hemans. It is sometimes, however, construed with the nominative case, 
 and is then a conjunction. *' Should all the race of mortals die, and none be left 
 
 hut he and V— Scott. 
 
 By. "A flower hy a rivulet" — nearness in place] "To come hy sea" — place 
 6nd means ; "Related hy marriage," "Achieved hy valor," — means; "To work 
 hy day," " To be ready hy morning," — time. *' To take hy the hand"— p^ace and 
 manner; hence, "To demolish by cities." "One by one," ^^ By pairs," "i5y 
 degrees, '^ By little and little," — manner. ^' By oneself "=alone ; "It makes 
 sense hy itself — of itself- — is complete in itself'' " To hew a log by a line," "To 
 travel hy moonlight," " To prove by the Scriptures," — nearness to something for 
 judging or sanction; thence, "To try by law," " To swear hy the gods," "Too 
 heavy by six pounds." An act received is naturally ascribed to something near, 
 and hence hy is used in reference to the agent ; as, " He was kicked by a horse." 
 By and with are often confounded. By rather directs the mind to the cause or 
 the indirect means ; with frequently implies accompaniment : by annexes the 
 agent or the remoter means; with, the immediate means or the manner. "I 
 was favorably impressed hy his remarks;" "I was impressed with great esteem 
 for him ;" " It was luith great difficulty that we succeeded;" "He walks with a 
 staff 6y moonlight;" "Punished with death" — Macaulay ; '* The vermin which he 
 could not kill with his sword, he killed by poison" — Johnson. " Killed with a 
 hmb," implies an agent not mentioned ; " Killed hy a limb," impUes no other 
 agent, unless it denotes place merely; " Struck with a palsy," implies that the 
 disease has become a part of the person. When with would not express the 
 means, hy must be used: "To burst with violence" — manner; "To burst hy 
 violence" — means. ^'By the stream,"" does not denote so close a union as " With 
 the stream;" hy also implies authority, as, "Condemned hy the law:" hence, 
 '^By these [swords] we gained our hberties, and with these we will defend them." 
 With here refers to the immediate and instrumental use. Our school geog- 
 raphies have ^^ distinguished for ;" i. e., the distinction is caused by the following 
 things: but Macaulay writes, " dcsiinguislied hy ;" i. e., the distinction lies in the 
 following particulars. 
 
 Concerning. "A law conx^erning religion;" "He spoke concerning virtue." 
 According, hating, excepting, respecting, regarding, pending, touching, etc., gen- 
 erally show their participial tinge, and may sometimes be parsed as participles. 
 
 Down. " To come down the tree — the river;" " To live down town," hardly 
 elegant. 
 
 During. "During the summer;" said to be an inverted mode of expression 
 for "The summer^ during," i. e., while the summer lasts. 
 
 Except and save are primarily imperative verbs. Save belongs rather to 
 poetry ; and except seems to be stronger and more definite than hut. 
 
 For. " Muddy for several miles"— p/oce ; " In jail for life"— ime ; " To 
 give money /or provisions" — exchange; "Sold /or sound;" " To inquh-e /or iu- 
 tbrmation" — something in view; "Done /or him;" "To send /or a doctor;" 
 " Sent for a guide," better as; " Wise for his ago ;" "Fit for service ;" "Some 
 were for the law" — in favor of; " Honored for his services" — cav^se, past time ; 
 •' Equipped for battle" — purpose, future time ; "A man's a man for all that"= 
 notwithstanding ; ''^ As for me," &c. ; ^^For me to go," &c. 
 
 From. "A part /rom the whole ;" "A wind from the mountains ;" "From 
 morning till night;" " To judge /rom the description;" "Secure from winds 
 and waves" — out of their reach ; '' Secure against winds and waves" — able to 
 mtlista/nd them; " Disabled /rom voting," prospective; "Disheartened from 
 seeing the obstacle3"==o/i acco^mt of, retrospective. 
 
222 PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 In. "/ti a meadow" — circular surrounding; ''In the dumpling" — globular 
 swrounding ; ''In a eiiair — corner" — angular surrounding; ^'In the morning;" 
 '//idebt;" '-//chaste;" "//i pairs;" " One m a dozen ;""/« reach ;" "Pleasure 
 n studying;" ''In all probability;" "Warms mthe sun. refreshes in the breeze" 
 ^by means of, a Grecism. In and at are often used in speaking of places or 
 residences. In is more generally applied to countries and large cities ; and at to 
 single houses, small places, or foreign cities. In implies enclosure, or something 
 surrounding ; at rather implies nearness to a point or border. " To touch, arrive, 
 or land at Boston ;" " To live in St. Louis — in New York — at Saratoga — at or on 
 the next farm ;" " To stay at the tavern;" " To stop at or in the next town ;" 
 " To have a store on Broadway, at No. 40." *' This produced a great sensation, 
 not only in England, but also at Paris, at A^ienna, and at the Hague." — Macaulay. 
 The choice often depends on the distance : remote places dwindle, in the mental 
 vision, to a mere point; so that at becomes sufSciently definite. In is more de- 
 finite than at : it vouches for an exact knowledge of the relation. When I say, 
 " He is in the tavern — in Constantinople," I assume to know that he is within 
 these places, and not outside of them ; but when I say, " He is at the tavern — 
 at Constantinople," I suggest simply that he is somewhere about these places— 
 occasionally within them. 
 
 Into is an inverted expression for to-in. The natural order is to, into, in ; to 
 approaches a boundary, into passes a boundary, and in does not pass out of a 
 boundary. "To step into a carriage, and then ride in it;" "To flow *nto the 
 sea;" " Made into cloth;" " Driven into opposition ;" "Adopted in my school," 
 or, "into my school," according to the sense. "To cut in two;" "To get on a 
 horse;" "To dash to pieces;" "Office up stairs," — are all allowable as being 
 figurative (see Metonymy and Synecdoche, p. 263). 
 
 Notwithstanding implies unsuccessful opposition, and is milder than despite. 
 
 Of is used nearly as much as all the other prepositions together. It gener- 
 ally serves to limit the antecedent term by a subsequent term whose meaning 
 is not exhausted or expressed by the former. It is the most general word for 
 showing whence something coines, or else to what it belongs or pertains. "The 
 rivers of America"— ^/ace ; " Within ten feet o/me ;" " The first month of the year 
 — ime;" "Days c/yore;" "A pitcher made o/ silver" — material; "The exploits 
 of Don Quixote" — source; "The house o/ my father"==My father's house ; "The 
 brother o/the senator;" "A man c^/ woalth"=e»cor/ipassed hy ; " A man o/ wis- 
 dom ;" " The pleasure of thinking of homo'^ =drawn from ; " It makes sense oj 
 itself '==ow^ of ; "The city o/ Loudon"=conswfo'w^ of. 
 
 On. " On the floor"— ^^oce; " On the wall;" "On the ceiling;" " A boat on 
 the river ;" " A city on the river ;" " On the left — right ;" " To stand on pillars ;" 
 "Blow ori blow;" "To play ow the flute"— pZace + ; " On New Year's Day" — 
 time ;" " To pay on sight ;" " She wept on hearing the report" — time and cause; 
 "To keep the eye — the mind on something;" "Chitty ora Contracts;" "To bo 
 on the wing" — support; "To rely on a person's veracity" — support; "To take on 
 oath ;" " To live on fruits — hy sowing ;" " To go on a voyage ;" " To be on fire :" 
 " My blessing on you ;" " To take pity on some one ;" " To have on trial ;" " To 
 wait on some one ;" " To be on hand ;" " To be on the alert ;" " On a sudden." 
 
 Out of. "Drawn out of a. well;" "Out of joint;" "Out of tune;" " Out of 
 taste;" "Made ouf o/ wax;" "Done om^ o/ spite." 
 
 Over is allied to cover. It is sometimes to on as a surface is to a point. 
 "Over my head;" "Over logs and creeks;" "Over a spell of sickness"— an ob- 
 stacle, as it were, in the journey of life ; "To look ov&r a book ;" " Over a 
 month;" "Over a dozen;" "To grieve over calamities;" "To rule oyer a na- 
 tion." A higher position generally gives advantage ; hence superiority is often 
 compared to iieight, and inferiority to lownesa. 
 
PREPOSITIONS. t%9 
 
 Since reckons from a point of time. " Since last Christmas." 
 
 Till reckons to a point of time. " TiU next Christmas." 
 
 Through, ^^ Through the woods" — -place; ^^ Through many ages" — timei 
 "To escape through a crevice" — -place and means; and thus, cause, as, "To i\y 
 through fear." Hence through approaches by and with so nearly as to be otteu 
 used for suggesting the intermediate or appointed channel for eflfecting some- 
 thing. " I will send you the money through the bank." 
 
 Throughout is a little more forcible than through ; signifying through in 
 every part, through to the very end, or tlirough and passing out. " Throughout 
 the universe — the entire process — the day." 
 
 To implies tendency or approach. 7b, toward, and into, have something in 
 view; along, up, and dow7i, do not. " To the river" — an object; " From morn 
 to noon" — time; " To a dozen" — number ; " To a bushel'' — quantity ; "Reduced 
 fo poverty" — state ; ** Led to slaughter" — act; "Anxious to learn" — in what respect; 
 '• To dance to the violin" — cau^e or agreement. (See p. 184.) To, with the in- 
 finitive, implies a closer connection than in order to. "Politicians endeavor to 
 please, in order to obtain as many votes as possible." Here to and in order to 
 are not interchangeable. To a question asked me by a surveyor, I answer : 
 " Parallel to ;" "At right angles with.'''' 
 
 Toward, towards, less direct than to. " Towards me :" *' Toward noon ;" 
 " Toward the close of the war ;" " To contribute toward a sufficient sum." 
 
 Under. " t/wcZer foot — water;" "They crept aloug under the walls of the 
 fort;" '■'■ Under a dozen;" '''■Under age;" "To pass under inspection;" "To 
 groan under a burden ;" hence power over, — " To be under restraint — under 
 alflictions;" " Given under ray signature" — by my authority; sometimes, " Over 
 my signature." " Under the garb of friendship ;" " Innocence presented under 
 the figure of a dove." 
 
 Up. Up, upon, on, are analogous to to, into, in. The prominent idea of 
 up is elevation; o? on, ^lace : upon unites both meanings, and is sometimes used 
 as a stronger term for on. " U[i the ladder — river." See On. 
 
 With. See 5;/ and /w. "The ^\w^ ivith its cargo;" " Girls w;^^^ spark- 
 ling eyes;" "A soldier with a musket;" "Enameled with flowers;" "To act 
 with firmness." " tie died with a fever," impUes that both died : say, " o/." " To 
 dwell in security," not iolt?h. " To grow rich by working," not with. " To 
 end with a consonant;" "To end in a consonant, &c. :" the former is perhaps 
 better authorized. 
 
 Within. ''Within or in the house." "Within six months," diflfers from 
 " In six months." " Within a year ago," not in. 
 
 Without. " Without money — friends — beauty — hope." 
 
 The longer or fuller prepositions are often merely a little more forcible than 
 the short ones, or slightly modify the sense ; as, Until, amongst, alongside, under- 
 neath, unto, excepting. 
 
 The remaining prepositions are most of them either poetic, antique, technical, 
 or comic. 
 
 The teacher may interrogate his pupils thus : Abandoned t Ans. To. 
 
 A. — Abandoned to; abatement of; abhorrent to, from; abhorrence of; abide 
 in, at, with, by ; abominable to; abound in, with; abridge /ro/n ; abridgment oj; 
 absent from ; abstain from ; abut on, upon ; accede to ; acceptable to ; access to ; 
 accommodate to, with lodgings ; accord with, a thing to ; accordance with ; ac- 
 countable to a person, for a thing; accuse of ; acquaint with ; acquiesce in ; ac- 
 quit of; adapted to; add to; address to; adhere to; adjacent to; adjourn to; 
 adjudge to ; adjust to ; admonish of; admission to (access), into (entrance) ; ad- 
 vantage over, of; advise of, to; advocate /(3r ; affection /ar ; affinity to, wii\ 
 
S24 PREPOSITIONS. 
 
 between ; affection /or ; agree with a person, to what is proposed, upon something 
 determined ; agreeable to ; alienate, alien, from ; allude to ; alter to, alteration in ; 
 amenable to; analogous to; analogy to, between; angry with a person, at a 
 thing; annex to; animadvert 07i, upon; answer /or, to; antecedent to ; antipathy 
 to, against; anxious about, for; apology, apologize, for; appeal to; apply, ap- 
 plicable, to; apprehensive of; appropriate to; approve of; avgne with, against; 
 array with, in ; arrive at ; ask of a person, for what is wanted ; aspire to ; assent 
 to; assimilate to ; associate with; assure of; atone /or; attach to ; attain to ; at- 
 tend, attentive, to ; averse, aversion, to, from. 
 
 B. — Banish from one place — to another; bare of; based on, upon; beguile of 
 with (the means) ; believe, belief, in, on ; bereave of; bestow on, upon ; betray 
 to a person, into a thing ; betroth to ; bigoted to ; bind to, in, upon ; blame for ; 
 blush at ; boast, brag, of; border on, upon. 
 
 C. — Call on, upon, or for a person, at a house, for something ; capable of; 
 capacity /or; careless, careful, of, in, about; carp at; catch at; caution against; 
 certify fo ; change for, to, into ; charge on or against a person, with a thing ; clear 
 of; coaleacQ with ; coincide with; commnne with ; commute (a punishment) to, 
 for ; commit to ; communicate to, with ; compare to (to liken unto), with (to view 
 in connection with) ; compelled to ; comply, comphance, with ; concede to ; con- 
 ceive of; concur with a person, in a measure, to an effect; condemned for a 
 crime, to a punishment; condescend to ; conduce to; confer on, upon; confide in; 
 conform, conformable, to, with; congenial to, with; congratulate on, upon; con- 
 -secrate to ; consent to ; consign to ; consist of (composed of), in (comprised in), 
 with (to agree) ; consistent with ; consonant with ; contend vjith, against ; contest 
 with ; contiguous to ; contrast with ; contrary to ; contradistinction to ; conver- 
 sant with persons, in things {about and among are inelegant) ; convert to, into ; 
 convict of; convince of; copy after actions, from things ; correspond with (con- 
 sistent), to (answering) ; correspondence with, to ; cured of. 
 
 D. — Deal in, by, with ; debar /rom, of ; decide on, upon; defend (others) /rom, 
 (ourselves) against ; deficient in ; defraud of ; demand of ; denounce against a 
 person; depend, dependent, on, upon; deprive of; derived /row ; derogate /wn ; 
 derogatory to; derogation /ro7?i, to; descended /ro?n; desirous o/; desist /ro?w; 
 despair o/; despoil of; destined to; destitute of; detach /row; detract from; 
 deviate from; devolve on, upon; devote to; dictate to; die of a disease, by an 
 instrument, or by violence, for another ; differ with a person in opinion ; differ, 
 diflerent, from; difficulty in; diminish /rom ; diminution of; disagree with, to 
 something proposed ; disagreeable to ; disabled from ; disappointed of wliat I 
 fiiiled to get, in something obtained; disapprove of ; discourage from; discou- 
 ragement to; disengaged /rom ; disgusted at, with; dislike to; dismission /rom ; 
 disparagement to; dispose of; disposed to (inclined), for; dispossess of; dis- 
 qualify for, from ; dispute with ; dissatisfied with ; dissent from ; distinct, in dis- 
 tinction, /rom ; distinguish /rom, Z*eiM;ee«. ; distrustful o/; divested o/; divide 6e- 
 tween two, among more; dote on ; doubt of, about; dwelUn, at, on. 
 
 B.— Eager ira, for, after; embark in, for; embellished wiY/i ; emerged /ro?» ; 
 employ in, on, upon, about; enamored of with; encounter with; encouragement 
 to ; encroach on, upon ; endeared to ; endeavor after a thing ; endowed, endued, 
 with; engaged in (work), with, for ; enjoin on, upon; enter, entrance, on, upon, 
 into ; envious of, at ; equal to, with ; equivalent to ; espouse to ; estimated at , 
 estranged from ; exception from, to, against ; exclude, exclusion, from ; ex- 
 clusive of; expelled /rom; expert in, at; extracted /row ; expressive of 
 
 F- — Fall under notice, &c. ; familiar to me, I am familiar with ; fawn on, upon ; 
 feed on, upon; ^^\\iwith, against, for; tilled with; followed by; fond of; fondness 
 for; foreign to. from; formed from (another word); founded upon, on, in; free 
 from; friendly to, towards; frightened at; frown at, upon; fruitful in, of; 
 full of. 
 
PREPOSITIONS. 225 
 
 O. — Grlad o/, at — applied sometimes to what concerns another; glance at, 
 upon ; glow with ; grapple with ; grateful to a person, for a lavor ; grieve at, for ; 
 guard agaitist. 
 
 H. — Hanker a/ifer ; happen to, on; healed of; hinder /rom; hissai; hold o;i, 
 of, in. 
 
 I. — Immersed in ; impatient at, for, of; impenetrable to, by ; impervious to ; im- 
 pose on, upon ; inaccessible to ; incentive to ; incorporate with, into ; inconsistent 
 with ; inculcate on, upon ; independent, independently, of; indulge with occa- 
 sionally, in habitually ; indulgent to ; influence over, on, with ; inform of, about, 
 concerning ; initiate into, in; inquire of, after, for, into; inroad into; insensible to, 
 of; inseparable /rom ; insinuate into; insist ore, upon; inspection w<o, over; in- 
 struct in ; intent on, upon ; interfere, intermeddle, with ; intermediate between ; 
 intervene between ; introduce into a place, to a person ; intrude on, upon, into some- 
 thing enclosed ; inured to ; invested with, in, 
 
 J. — Jealous o/; join with, to. 
 
 K. — Knock at, on; known, unknown, to. 
 
 Is. — Laden with ; lame of; land at; lean on, upon, against; level with; liberal 
 of, to ; liken to ; live in, at, with, on, upon ; long for, after ; look on (in order to 
 8ee), for (in order to find), after — to follow witii the eye ; long for, after. 
 
 M. — Made of; marry to ; meddle with; mediate between; meditate on, upon ; 
 martyr /or; mihtate against; mingle with; minister to ; mistrustful of; mix with. 
 
 N. — Necessary- to, for ; need of; neglectful of; negotiate with. 
 
 O. — Obedient fo; object to, against; observant, observation, o/; obtrude on, 
 upon ; offend against ; offensive to ; omitted from ; operate on, upon ; opposition 
 to ; overwhelmed with, by. 
 
 P. — Part/rom, with ; partake of; participate in, of; partial to ; partiality to, for ; 
 patient in, with, of; paj for, to, with; peculiar to ; penetrate into ; persevere in; 
 pertinent to ; pitch upon, on ; pleasant to ; pleased with ; plunge into ; possessed 
 of; prefer to, before, above; preferable to; preference to, over, before, above; prefix 
 to; prejudice a^ai/i-s^ ; prejudiciaHo ; preserve /rom; preside over; pressor, upon; 
 presume on, upon ; present things to a person ; pretend to ; prevail on, upon, with, 
 (to persuade,) over or against (to overcome) ; prevent from ; prey on, upon ; prior 
 to; productive of ; profit by ; profitable to; prone to ; pronounce against a person, 
 091 a thing; protect others /rom, ourselves against; protest agaiiist ; proud o/; 
 provide witli, for, against ; purge of, from ; pursuant to ; pursuance of 
 
 Q. — Quarrel with ; quarter on, upon, among ; questioned on, upon, by. 
 
 R. — Reckon on, up)on, loith ; recline on, upon; reconcile to (friendship), with 
 (consistency); recover from; reduce to, under (subjection); reflect on, upon; re- 
 frain from ; to have regard for, to pay regard to, in or with regard to ; rejoice at, 
 in; relation to ; reh.sh of, for ; (see taste;) release, relieve, /ro?n ; rely on, upon; 
 remark on, upon ; remit to ; remove from ; repent of; replete with; reproached 
 fyr ; resemblance to, between; resolve 07i, upon; rest in, at, on, upon; respect to, 
 in or with respect to; restore to; restrain /rom; retire from; return to; rise 
 above ; rich, poor, in ; rid of; rob of; rove about, over ; rub against ; rule over. 
 
 S. — Satiate, saturate, with ; save f-om ; seek for, after ; share in, of, with an- 
 other; send to, for ; sick of; significant o/; similar to; sink into, in, beneath; sit 
 on, upon, in; skillful in; smile at, on, upon; snap, snatch, sneer, at; solicitude 
 about, for ; sorry for ; stay in, at, with; stick to, by ; strip of; strive witfi, against; 
 subject to ; submit, submissive, to ; substitute for ; subtract from ; subside into ; 
 suitable to, for ; surprised at ; suspected of by ; swerve from ; sympathize with. 
 
 T. — Taste of something enjoyed, taste (=«desire or capacity) /or; tax with 
 something done, for something in view ; tend to, towards ; thankful of, about, 
 vpon^ on ; touch ai, on, upon ; transmit to ■ troublesome to ; true to ; trust in, to. 
 
226 PREPOSITIONS. EXERCISES. 
 
 XT. — Unite with^ something to; unison with; useful /or, io. 
 
 V. — Yalue upon, on ; variation in a plan ; vest in a person, with, in, a thing ; 
 void of. 
 
 "W. — Wait on, upon, for, at; want o/; weary of; weep at, far; witness of; 
 worthy, unworthy, of. 
 
 T. — Yearn /or, towards ; yield to ; yoke with, to. 
 
 The same preposition that is required after a primitive word, is generally re- 
 quired after its derivatives ; as, " To comply wi/i," "Incompliance wiih;'^ but, 
 " Dependent o«," " Independent o/." What preposition should be used, often 
 depends on the following word, as well as on the preceding ; as, " To speak to 
 an audience ;" " To speak about the war ;" " To speak with eloquence." 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Ihrse tJu prepositions and the adverls: — 
 
 1. 
 The waters issued from* a cave, and spread into a liquid plain. The 
 stars retire at the approach of day. We searched for violets on yonder 
 hill. A plain path leads through the bottom, between the river and the 
 bluffs. The Rhone flows out''' from'' among the Alps. As to the ex- 
 penses, we will help to defray them. From virtue to vice, the prog- 
 ress is gradual. 
 
 2. 
 Washington died at his residence, on the 19th of December, 1797, and 
 was buried near the Potomac, among his relatives. The robin and the 
 wren are flown, and from the shrub the jay. From crag to crag, the 
 rattling peaks among, leaps the live thunder. Hold up'^ the flag. Turn 
 over'" anotlier leaf. 
 
 The window jingled in its crumbled frame ; 
 
 And, through its many gaps of destitution, 
 Dolorous moans and hollow sighings came, 
 Like those of dissolution. — Hood. 
 
 Overhead the dismal hiss 
 Of fiery darts in flaming volleys ^^iw— Milton. 
 
 (a.) Quea.What from? Ans. Issued from. Q?*3s. From whatf Ans. From a cat)«. 
 Etc. (b.) " From among" is a complex preposition, it consists of two prepositions oombiaed 
 and used to show the complex relation between '•'■Jloios" and '■'■Alps." 
 
 Examples to bo Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to prepositions, may be reduced to the 
 following heads : — 
 
 1. Choice. 2. Position. 3. Insertion or omission. 4. Repetition, 
 
 1. Choice. 
 
 In the use of prepositions, great care should be taken to select the 
 most appropriate. 
 
 The sultry evening was followed, at night, with a heavy storm of rain. Tlie 
 Hoii la adapted for hemp and tobacco. Congress consists in a Senate and u 
 
PREPOSITIONS. EXERCISES. 
 
 227 
 
 House of Representatives. Of what does happiness consist ? Not any syllable 
 in a word may take the accent. In some derivative words the e is omitted. 
 The e is left out in some of the derivative words. The government is based in 
 republican principles. The Saxons reduced the Britons to their own power. 
 Said client believes that said judge is prejudiced to his cause. The case lias no 
 resemblance with the otlier. Some of the warriors wore an extra tuft of feath- 
 ers, in distinction to those who had brought in no scalps. In contradistinc- 
 tion from the other. Religion and membership may differ widely with each 
 other. The judge is disqualified from deciding in this case. — disqualified 
 for — He was accused with having acted unfairly. He died for thirst — with 
 the bilious fever. Col. Washington was very ill with a fever. — Irving. You 
 may rely in what I say, and confide on his honesty. I have little influence 
 with him. — over him. These bonnets wore brought in fashion last year. 
 This is a very different dinner to what we had yesterday. The bird flew up in 
 the tree. Charles let his dollar drop in the creek. The persecutions of these 
 wretched people were truly barbarous. — against these — It is an affair on 
 which I am not interested. Above this, who shall fix a limit to his cares ? 
 
 He made the order in authority of the instructions he had received. — by 
 authority of- — But what is my grief in comparison of that whicli she bears ? 
 He ended with a panegyric of modern sciences. I have an abhorrence to such 
 politicians. It was no diminution to his greatness. He came of a sudden. 
 About two months ago, he went out of a fine morning with a bundle in his hand. 
 — Irving. I take a walk of evenings, —a walk every evening ; or, — a walk 
 almost every evening. He swerved out of the true course. He does not as- 
 pire at political distinction. I was disappointed in the pleasure of meeting 
 you. l''here is no need for so much preparation. His hardships produced 
 little change on his appearance. I have been to New Orleans, and I am 
 now going for New York. We remained at the South, in a little village. 
 You will find me in No. 25, at Olive Street. He was eager of making a dis- 
 play. — eager to make — I find no difficulty of keeping up with my class. 
 — in keeping up — or, find it no difficulty to keep up — Among every class of 
 people, self-interest prevails. Tliey quarreled amongst one another. — with — 
 There is constant hostility between these several tribes. He divided his estate 
 between his son, daughter, and nephew. Such a series of words generally 
 have a comma between each. — after each word. A combat between twentj 
 Texans against fifty Mexicans. — of . . . against — or, between . . . and — Th 
 space between the three lines is the area of the triangle. — within — 
 
 2. Position. 
 
 1. Adjuncts should be so placed in the sentence as to make it cor- 
 rect, clear, and elegant. 
 
 2. A needless separation of the preposition from the word which it 
 governs, is generally inelegant. 
 
 3. Terms that express time or measure, should not be joined, by a prep- 
 osition, to a word which they are not designed to limit. 
 
 There we saw some fellows digging gold from China. A Lecture on the 
 methods of teaching Geography at 10 o'clock. Ho obtained a situation of great 
 profit, in the beginning of his career. These verses wore written by a young 
 man who has long since lain in the grave, for his amusement. Wanted — -A 
 young man to take care of some horses, of a religious turn of mind. He went 
 to see his friends on horseback. Habits must be acquired of temperance and 
 .self-denial. In every church it must be admitted there are some unworthy 
 members. The customs and laws are very different from ours in some coun- 
 tries. Many act so directly contrary to this method, that, from a habit of sav- 
 
2^8 PREPOSITIONS. EXERCISES. 
 
 ing time and paper, which they acquired at the university, they write in so 
 diminutive a character that they can hardly read what they have written. Are 
 these designs which any man who is born a Briton, in any circumstances or in 
 any situation, ought to be ashamed or afraid to avow ? Such boatman may re- 
 cover, against such master or commander, the wages justly due him, according to 
 the service rendered, notwithstanding such contract may be entire, in any court 
 having jurisdiction. — K. S. of Mo. 
 
 Whom did he give it to ? To whom did he, &c. I never could ascertain 
 what it was useful for. Whom was the message directed to ? Which of the 
 books can I find it in ? How much did you send him to market with ? He 
 rushed into, and expired in, the flames. — rtished into the flames, and expired in 
 them. The first law is diff"erent from, and much inferior to, the second. The 
 cost of the carriage was added to, and greatly increased, my account. 
 
 My mistress had a daughter of nine years old. — Smft. (Omit " of;" for " nine 
 years'' limits "oZd," and not " daughter.'') Almost any boy of tvi^elve years old 
 knows as much. They enclosed the garden with a wall of six feet high. A 
 monument of several centuries old. A room of twenty feet long and eighteen 
 feet wide. 
 
 3. Insertion or Omission. 
 
 1. We should not insert or cinit prepositions so as to destroy the proper 
 connection between other words. Prepositions should not be omitted, 
 when required by the sense. 
 
 2. Prepositions should not be inserted or omitted contrary to long 
 and general usage. 
 
 It was to your brother to whom I was mostly indebted. It was your 
 brother, &c. It was in vain to remonstrate. Allow me to present you with 
 a gold watch. — to you a — or, you a — I will now present you with a syn- 
 opsis. — Smith'j Gram. The performance was approved of by all who saw it. 
 Women are governed by fancy in stead of by reason. It stands in the propo- 
 sition introduced by toi, instead of in a preceding sentence. — and not in— or 
 else allowable. The proper course of action, in this case, is by assumpsit. 
 — is assumpsit. By a deed of trust there will be a less troublesome security 
 than by a mortgage. A deed of trust will, &c. What wen£ ye out for to see ? 
 At about what time will you come again? What use is it to me? The 
 horned frog is nearly the size of a lizard. The sycamore was fifteen feet diame- 
 ter. From having heard of his distress, I sent him relief. From abusing his 
 constitution in youth, he became prematurely old. Having abused, &c. My 
 business prevented me attending the last meeting of the Society. He refused 
 taking any further notice of it. — refused to take — She could not refrain shed- 
 ding tears. I shall oppose the granting this company any more privileges. J 
 bhall oppose the granting of any more privileges to, &c. There was no disputing the 
 point. — Irving. 
 
 The remark is worthy the fool that made it. The attack is unworthy your 
 notice. San Francisco is the other side the Rocky Mountains. The spring is 
 near to the house. She sat next ua He was banished the country — ex- 
 pelled the college. Many talented men have deserted from the party. The 
 court of France or England was to be the umpire. I will consider of your prop- 
 osition. I admit of what you say. You have anticipated on what I was 
 going to say. It was rather the want of customers than money that induced 
 him i^ abandon his business. — than that of money — Ignorance is the mother 
 of fear as well as admiration. I put some apples into the buggy and my 
 hat. California is not more noted for its gold than bears. The calf followed 
 on after its mother. The passion of angor leads to repentance. Anger leads, 
 
PREPOSITIONS. OBSERVATIONS. 220 
 
 Ac. Wanted — A young man of from 16 to 21 years of age. The distance from 
 before one ear to before the other, is 15 inches. (Change the sentence.) He 
 was right in that which you blame him. — for which — She took it more to 
 heart than I thought for. — than I thought she would. Let us consider the 
 works of nature and art, witli proper attention. An event so unexpected to 
 my mind and many others. One should not be omitted without the other. 
 Tfiey should be either both omitted or both inserted. You will seldom find a dull 
 fellow of good education, but (if he happen to have some leisure on his hands) 
 will turn his head to one of those two amusements for all fools of eminence 
 politics or poetry. — British Essayists. — to politics or to poetry. 
 
 4. Repetition. 
 
 A preposition, relating to a series of objects, must be used but once 
 before the entire series, or be repeated before each term of the series. 
 
 He is a man of sagacity, experience, and of honesty. By industry, by econ- 
 omy, and good luck, he soon accumulated a fortune. Their hearts are torn by 
 the worst, most troublesome and insatiable of all passions, — by avarice, by ambi- 
 tion, by fear, and jealousy. — Burke. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 1, What preposition is most appropriate in any eriven instance, does not always 
 depend on the preceding or on the following term, but on the relation of the terms, 
 or on the view that is taken of them. A different preposition may sometimes express 
 the meaning as well, or more forcibly; or it may be sufficiently detiuite by the aid 
 of some principle in the Figures, to suggest the relation intended. To be able to 
 use prepositions and conjunctions rightly, requires not only a thorough knowledge 
 of them, but also an extensive and sagacious insight into the whole fabric of lan- 
 guage. 
 
 2« Adiuncts may often be variously placed in sentences, though they should 
 generally be placed as near as possible to the words to which they relate. A trouble- 
 some adjunct is sometimes placed most advantageously at the beginning, seldom 
 at the end. Adjuncts should not be needlessly inverted. " Of whom did you buy 
 it?" is a better expression than " Whom did you buy it ofp'' But when the relative 
 is omitted, the preposition must be put at the end ; as, " I have nothing to tie him 
 «;*^7^," i. e., I have nothing with which to tie him. To place an object common to 
 both, after a transitive verb and a preposition, or after two or more prepositions 
 separated by several intervening words, sometimes produces a disagreeable hiatus 
 in the sense. When the objective term is short, it is better to place it after the first 
 governing word, and its pronoun after the second; but when it is long, it may be 
 allowed to stand after all tlie governing words. " Here he saw, and was soon after 
 surrounded by, several Indians f better, "Here he saw several Indians, ly whom 
 he was soon afterwards surrounded." " The second proposal was different from, 
 and inferior to, the first f better, " The second proposal was different /rom the 
 f,rst, and inferior to it:' " He has quarreled with and betrayed every friend^ that 
 he ever had. " He was descended /rom, and allied to, some of the best families of 
 the State." 
 
 We may say, "A child of six years," or, "A child of six years of age," or rather. 
 *'A child six years old;" but not, "A child of six years old," for " six years" 
 should modify " old," and not " child." A necessary modifying phrase or clause 
 may sometimes be allowed to separate the adjunct from the preceding term ; as, 
 *' In this dialect we find written nearly the whole of what remains to us of ancient 
 Greek literature."— Cw%. Adjuncts, in regard to position as well as signification, 
 are much like adverbs and adjectives. 
 
 When not emphatically distinguished, the indirect object usually precedes 
 the other ; as, " Give me tlie knife :" but when placed after the other, tlie preposi- 
 tion must be expressed ; as, " Give the knife to me'' [not to some other person]. 
 
 3. When the insertion or the omission of the preposition would cause a slight 
 vai-iation in the sense, we should be very careful to select the most appropriate ex- 
 
230 CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 pression. To know diffiirs from to Ttnow of' and to meet, from to meet toUTi. " I m«i 
 vnth an old friend, who showed me all the curiositiea of the city." " I met the 
 stranger, but passed on without stoppinpr." For can not, accordinff to modern, 
 usage, be properly used before the infinitive. "What went ye out /or to see T"" 
 should be, " What Avent ye out to see V When the antecedent term relates to two 
 or more adjuncts after it, the preposition must, in many cases, be repeated, to 
 show this common relation ; as. " Keligion is a comfort in youth as well as old 
 age." — as in old age. " Wealtn is more conducive to wickedness than piety." 
 — than to piety. 
 
 4. Judicious repetition adds sometimes mucb to the vigor and solemnity of the 
 sentence. "This bill, though rejected here, will make its way to the public, to the 
 nation, to the remotest wilds of America." — Chatham. " All his talents and virtues 
 did not save \\\mfrom unpopularity— //"om civil •^'AX—from a prison— ^/Vowi a bar — 
 -^rom a scaflfold !" — Macaulay. To avoid the tediousness caused by placing many ob- 
 jects after the same preposition, or by repeating the same preposition very often, a 
 Jong series of terms is sometimes elegantly separated into groups, as in the follow- 
 ing sentence: " I could demonstrate that the whole of your political conduct has 
 been one continued series of weakness, temerity, and despotism ; of blundering ig- 
 norance and wanton negligence ; and of the most notorious servility, incapacity, 
 and corruption." — Chatham. 
 
 11. CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 ? 382. A conjmictioii is a word that joins something to 
 another part of the discourse, and shows how the parts so connected 
 are viewed with respect to each other. 
 
 Ex.—" The chain will gall, though wreathed with roses." "7/ you would enjoy 
 the fruit, pluck not the blossom." " John and James are happy, hecause they 
 are good.'' > 
 
 ? 383. Two conjunctions are sometimes combined, and some 
 phrases are customarily used as conjunctions. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■And yet I would not get riches thus, eoen if I were a beggar." " John, 
 as well as Arthur, must be punished, inasmuch as they have both been dis- 
 obedient." But when the words of a phrase can be parsed as well according to 
 their literal meaning, or when the conjunctions have each a separate influeuce over 
 the sentence, they should be parsed separatelv. "A man's a man for all that.'' 
 '■'■But, if he fails, all is lo3t"=^Mi! all is lost, t/he fails. 
 
 ? Conjunctions maybe divided into three chief classes; coordi- 
 nate, subordinate, and corresponding. 
 
 ? 384. A coordinate conjunction connects parts of equal rank, 
 or parts of which one does not modify the other. 
 
 ? 385. A ^subordinate conjunction connects parts of unequal 
 rank, or parts of which one modifies the other. 
 
 ? 386. A corre^pondiugp conjunction suggests another con- 
 junction, and assists it in connecting the same parts. 
 
 Ex.— And, but, or, nor ; if, that, because, therefore ; either— or, neither— nor. 
 Ihe corresponding conjunctions are included in the other classes, and are easily 
 distinguiaheM ; the coordinate conjunctions are all the others, except the subordi- 
 nate ; and the Bubordmate are tiiose which join on parts that have the sense of sub- 
 stantives, atliectiyes, or adverbs, or that answer to the questions implying these 
 elements. "7%a(!_he is strictly honest, is true." What is true? "'The belief 
 that the soul 18 immortal." What belief? "I came thai I might hear him." 
 Came why t ° 
 
 \ 387. And^ or^ and nor, are the conjunctions most frequently 
 
CONJUNCTIONS. 231 
 
 used for connecting single words. And takes all together ; or, one 
 at a time, or else any one to the exclusion of the rest; and nor, one 
 at a time, and negatively. 
 
 Ex.—" Bring your book, slate, and atlas." " Brin^ your book, slate, or atlas." 
 "God bids the ocean roar, or bids its roaring cease." ' " The house has neither 
 doors nor windows." 
 
 ? 388. But, if, and that, are the next most important conjunc- 
 tions, and they are mostly used in connecting propositions. But 
 implies opposition of meaning; if. something conditional ; and that 
 is often a sort of handle to a group of words conceived as a whole. 
 
 Ex. — "Milton has fine descriptions of morning; but not so many as Shake- 
 speare." "Tjf' spring has no blossoms, autumn will have no fruit." " It is strange 
 tJiat he never writes to us." 
 
 ? 389. One conjunction may sometimes be used in place of an- 
 other ; but never when a meaning different from the one intended, 
 can be inferred. 
 
 Ex. — " I know him, for I went to school with him." " I know him, heeause I 
 went to school Avith him," " God bids the ocean roar, or bids its roarin? cease." 
 " God bids the ocean roar, and bids its roaring cease." " He sowed little, and 
 reaped much." " He sowed little, but reaped much." " Conjunctions connect 
 words and sentences together," should be, "Conjunctions connect words or 
 sentences." 
 
 ? 390. For the sake of brevity, elegance, or vigor, conjunctions 
 are sometimes omitted, when the mind can connect the parts and see 
 their dependence. 
 
 Ex. — "'Twas certain [tJiat] he could write, and cipher too." " Had I been at 
 home, you should have staid" =7/" I had been at home, you should have staid. 
 " The woods are hushed, [and] the waters rest, 
 [And] The lake is dark and still." — Mrs. Hemam. 
 " The king to Oxford sent a troop of horse ; 
 [ For\ The Tories own no argument but force." 
 
 ? 391. Conjunctions are usually first omitted, and then expressed ; 
 other words are usually first expressed, and then omitted. 
 
 Ex. — John, [and] James, and Thomas, were drowned. You may go, or \yov, 
 may\ stay. 
 
 ? 392. The conjunction is sometimes used where it is usually 
 omitted. 
 
 1. At the beginning of a sentence, to make its introduction less 
 abrupt ; 2. In the body of a sentence, when the speaker moans to 
 dwell on particulars, in order that the hearer may duly appreciate 
 what he says. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■And tell me, I charge you, ye clan of my spouse. 
 
 Why fold ye your mantles, why cloud ye your brows V— Campbell. 
 
 " Italy teems with recollections of every kind ; for courage, and wisdom, and 
 power, and arts, and science, and beauty, and music, and desolation have all made 
 it their dwelling-place." See also p. 234. 
 
 ? 393. When conjunctions connect words or phrases, these are 
 nearly always in the same construction. 
 
 Ex. — "J/ary, Jane, and Alke^ \ went into the garden, and brought some large^ 
 ripe, and juicy peaches." Here the connected nouns are nominatives to the samfl 
 
232 CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 verbs, the connected verbs or phrases have the same subject, and the connected 
 adjectives quality the same noun. 
 
 Most of the conjunctions have evidently emigrated from other 
 parts of speech. 
 
 Ex. — Both, either, that, adj.; then, yet, as, adv.; except, if (=give), provided,— 
 
 seeing, verbs. . . 
 
 •■'1 
 
 Connectives may, in general, be divided into pure conjunctions, 
 conjunctive adverbs, conjunctive phrases, and conjunctive or relative 
 pronouns. 
 
 And is the chief conjunction, and implies addition. It either connects parts 
 that may be referred separately to a third, or it connects parts that must be re- 
 ferred conjointly to a third. To avoid this latter sense, we must sometimes uso 
 or or some other connective. " John and James study"==John studies, and James 
 studies. "John and Kate are a smiling couple;" not, John is a smiling couple, 
 and Kate is a smiling couple. " Conjunctions connect words aad sentences," may 
 mean, "Conjunctions connect words to sentences;" hence we should say, ''Con- 
 junctions connect words or sentences." 
 
 As. '■'■As you have come, I will go with you"==»since. " You are welcome 
 OS flowers in May" — co^mparison. "A letter represents an elementary sound ; 
 as, a, b, c ;" i. e., such a sound as a, b, or c, represents. " This is your duty as an 
 instructor" — apposition And so, perhaps, in this somewhat anomalous sentence, 
 "England can spare such men as him" — Brougham, it is best to parse ?iim as in 
 apposition with men, being comprised in it. As should be used after such im- 
 plying similarity or comparison, and soraethnes after same used in the sense of 
 siich. As should be used before the infinitive expressing a consequence. '' l^& 
 behaved so badly as to be expelled"=!!/tai he was expelled. As, before a parti- 
 ciple, sometimes implies cause, or points to the special view to be taken. " He 
 was tried as having passed counterfeit money." " He was represented to us 
 as being well educated in mathematics." "The soldiers were unprovided, as 
 were also the officers"=anci so. As — as, as — so, so — as, such — as, imply com- 
 parison. 
 
 Although. See Though. 
 
 Becanse=.by cause of. " The water is cool, becaicse I put ice into the 
 pitcher" — natural cause. " The water is cool, because there is moisture on the 
 pitcher" — logical cause, reason. The one shows why it is so, and the other why 
 I know it. "A man should not be despised because he is poor." 
 
 As is most incidental, or takes the slightest notice of an admitted cause; since 
 is more formal and serious, and invites attention to the alleged cause or reason ; 
 for is less formal than because ; because is the most formal and expressive word ; 
 inasmuch as implies an inference drawn only to the extent of a limited cause. 
 
 Both — a»(Z— the one as well as the other ; not only the one, but also the 
 other. 
 
 But. "Wide will wear, but narrow will tear"=.ow the contrary. "He never 
 could have been elected, but by my exertions in his behalf "=»e;xcep^. "I could 
 not but notice how nmch he was confu3od"=c;o otherwise than. "The postboy 
 is not so tired but that ho can whistle"( — Gr. BRows)=-that not. 
 
 But is either a pure adversative or a reserving adversative ; however is mUder, 
 takes the least notice of objections, or simply waives thom ; yet admits to some 
 extent, but holds on to some weighty offset or obstacle ; still implies that the 
 position is unmoved after all ; notwithstanding braves all opposition; and never- 
 theless is the strongest term, implying that the position is not weakened iu 
 the least. 
 
CONJUNCTIONS. 233 
 
 £ither corresponds to or ; and neither, to nor. It is sometimes necessary to 
 apply them to more than two. The connected parts should be equally full, and 
 as nearly alike as they can conveniently be. This last remark applies also to 
 both, and sometimes to whether. 
 
 Except. " He took no further notice of him, except when he happened to 
 meet him''=iake out. ''Except ye be born again, ye can not enter the kingdom 
 of lieaven"==i ' 
 
 For has all the meanings of because, except the last. See Because. 
 
 If, derived from give==gTant, allow. ''If it continue to rain, the river will 
 rise" — natural consequence. "If Virgil was the better artist, Homer was the 
 greater genius" — logical consequence. " It has not been decided if the war is to 
 continue or not;" better, whether. If the condition is granted, the inference is 
 established ; thus, "// A=B, C=D ; A=B ; therefore C==D." "If ^schines 
 joined in the public rejoicing, he is inconsistent; if he did not, he is unpatriotic; 
 but he either joined or did not join, therefore he is either inconsistent or un- 
 patriotic." — Demosthenes. Such an argument is called a dilemma. There is 
 sometimes nice choosing between if and when. When always has a tincture of 
 time ; if, never. "A diphthong is proper if both the vowels are sounded ;" not, 
 "A diphthong is proper when both the vowels are sounded;" for the latter may 
 imply that the same diphthong is sometimes proper, and so.netimes improper. 
 
 Lest. "I will write to him, lest he neglect my business"=^^ai{ not. " Cain's 
 apprehensions were excited, lest he should meet the retribution of his crime"=- 
 for fear that. "Afraid lest" — Johnson ; " Fearful lest^' — Prescott ; better, that. 
 
 "Moreover and furthermore appear to connect only paragraphs." — G. W. 
 Gibbs. "Moreover, by them is thy servant warned." — Bible. This is generally, 
 though not always, true. 
 
 Nevertheless. " It is true that Homer sometimes nods ; nevertheless, he is 
 still the greatest of ancient poets." 
 
 NotAvithstanding. " Great quantities of grain were raised, notwithstanding 
 the soil is so poor." 
 
 Or is either exclusive or diMributive. " The punishment is $100, or imprison- 
 ment in jail for three months ;" not both. " Sheep are white or black;" i. e., 
 some are white, and some are black. " The relative pronoun is resumptive or 
 restrictive ; i. e., sometimes resumptive, and sometimes restrictive. Or may 
 imply either a difference in things, or merely a difference in words. " In a cabin 
 or in a palace ;" "In an Indian hut, or wigwam." In this latter sense, either 
 can not be used ; and hence either is often used or needed to exclude this latter 
 sense. Sometimes else is added to or, for the same purpose. To avoid the am- 
 biguous sense of or, lawyers use alias, when there is a mere change of names. 
 See Whereas. 
 
 N either is the proper correlative of nor ; sometimes it is used as a correla- 
 tive to other negatives, and sometimes it is used as an independent conjunction. 
 " She is neither handsome nor amiable." " My brows become nothing else, nor 
 that well nei^/ier." — Shak. "Be not too tamo neither." — Shak. "He had no 
 money, neither could he find any employment." Whether, in two of the fore- 
 going examples, either or neither should be used after nor, custom has not decided 
 as yet, though I incline to think neither should be considered the proper 
 strengthening or correlative word. 
 
 Nor. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether or or nor should be used 
 to continue a negative sense after a preceding negative. Usage seems to give 
 the preference to nor ; especially when the parts connected are long, or em 
 phatically distinguished, or do not have a common dependence en the firat negsv 
 live. " The King has no arbitrary power to give him ; your Lordships have 
 not ; nor the Commons ; nor the whole Legislature." — Burke. " Nevf-r cal'im- 
 
234 CONJUNCTIONS. 
 
 niate any man, nor give the least encouragement to calumniators." Here or 
 could not have been used. " Yet Paul did not. waste all his hours in this idle 
 vaporing, nor in the pleasures of the table." — Prescott. "But not thieves; 'oor 
 robbers; nor mobs; nor rioters, insurgents, or rebels." — Parsons on Gontracts. 
 "I can not see better than another, nor walk so well." — Garrick. " I can not 
 tell which way his Majesty went, nor whether there is any one with him."— 
 Fielding. 
 
 But or may be preferable to nor, when the parts are short and closely con- 
 nected, or when the preceding negative plainly affects all the parts, or when the 
 parts are not emphatically distinguished, or when the latter part is merely ex- 
 planatory or alternative. "No senator or representative shall be appointed to," 
 &G. " This was not to be ascribed chiefly or solely to political animosity." — 
 Macaulay. "JVb tie of gratitude or of honor could bind lum." — Id. "So long 
 as they did not meddle with polities or religiou." — Prescott. -'No special words, 
 or form, are necessary to make the contract binding." — Parsons. Nor sometimes 
 cuts off preceding, modifying, or other words, and then or must be used ; as, 
 " You can not be too exact or honest in your business," i e., nor too lionest. 
 "You can not be too exact nor honest in your business," implies that it is im- 
 possible to be honest. " These syllables are nxit always sounded or accented in 
 the same way." " There was wo excess of fraud or cruelty, of which he was not 
 capable." — Macaulay. Here nor would suggest "no cruelty," and not, " no ex- 
 cess of cruelty." Nor soraethnes allows the word after it to have the widest 
 application ; as, "There is tm person nor law to prevent him," i. e., nor law in 
 general. Better: " There is no person, no law," etc., or, " There is no person or 
 law," etc., or, " There is no person nor any law," etc. When or would suggest 
 that the latter part is merely alternative when it really is not so, nor must be 
 used, or else som.e other mode of expression ; as, " No dependent proposition, 
 nor clause," &c., or, "iVb dependent proposition, or other clause," &c. 
 "Seasons return, but not to me returns Seasons return, but not to me returns 
 
 Day, or the sw€«jt approach of even or morn, Day, nor the sweet approach of even or morn. 
 Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Jfor sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, 
 Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine." Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine. 
 
 Milton. OoolcL BrowiVs E)n&ndution. 
 
 Or and nor are sometimes used by poets in stead of either and neither. "-Or 
 floating loose, or stiff with mazy gold." — Milton. "Nor in sheet nor in shroud 
 we wound him." — Wolfe. 
 
 Provided. "At the father's death the property is divided equally, provided 
 there is no will to the contrary." 
 
 Since. The cause or motive always precedes in time ; hence since may be 
 used as a conjunction. " Since you have brought your hounds, wo will take 
 a hunt." 
 
 Still. "Though theu- homes were laid waste, still the spirit of the people 
 was invh.cible"=— j/e< even then. 
 
 Than sliould be used after comparatives, and after other, else, otherwise^ 
 rathir. and words of similar meaning. Besides may also be used after else or 
 other, when the sense requires it. It joins on something as additional, or to be 
 included with what has been previously mentioned. "He will hold the land 
 against all others ^/ian the king;" i.e., but not against him. "He will hold 
 the land against all others besides the king;" i. e., not merely against him, but 
 against all othei-s too. 
 
 That properly introduces a consequence or purpose; sometimes it heads a 
 group of words that form an expanded explanation in reference to some other 
 word. " There was such a noise that we could not study." " I came that I 
 might assist you." " The Bible is such that a child can understand it, and yet 
 a philosopher may study it all his life." After words of fearing, doubting, deny- 
 ing, and some others, hu*, but wJi/ii, but that, lest, or lest that, should not be used 
 
CONJUNCTIONS. 235 
 
 for that ** I do not doubt hut that you will succeed," seems to except the very 
 thing not excepted: say, "I do not doubt that you will succeed." 
 
 Therefore. " It has rained, therefore the grass will gro\v'^=mnatural conse- 
 qmncfl. " The dust is laid, therefore it has raiued" — logical consequence, conclusion. 
 
 Then is less formal than therefare, and so is still less formal ; hence refers to 
 a cause near at hand ; thence to a remoter one ; wherefore to something imme- 
 diately preceding ; therefore deduces an important conclusion, and often refers to 
 a series of causes or reasons ; accordingly introduces what ciiimes in with nature 
 and reason or some admitted statement ; and consequently sums up matters in the 
 most formi^i style. 
 
 Though, although, imply admission or opposition. (See the preceding 
 paragraph.) " The Spaniards pushed on, although the barbarians clambered up, 
 and broke in upon their ranks" notwithstanding. — " though the barbarians" 
 =the barbarians, however — As though is often improperly used for as if. 
 
 Unless attaches to a clause the exception which would establish the oppo- 
 site clause. "A man can not be convicted, unless he is guilty" ==if not. "The 
 accused is set at liberty, unless he has been convicted'"==6wi not. . . .if. 
 
 Whereas. ^^WTiereas it doth appear that one Isaac Bertram, alias "William 
 Burton," &.c.=since, or, inasmuch as. " His good deeds are never thought of, 
 whereas his evil ones are everywhere told and exaggeva,ted!^=while, on the 
 contrary. 
 
 Whether, ^qq If oxid Either. 
 
 Yet. " Though resistance to the tyrant spread desolation over our lands, 
 yet future industry may repair them"-=future industry, however, may, &c. 
 
 Again, also, however, now, nay, even, farther, furthermore, namely, therefore, 
 wherefore, otherwise, likewise, so, still, thtbs, else, accordingly, consequently, and a 
 few other such words, though originally adverbs, are considered by many gram- 
 marians conjunctions when they stand near the beginning of a clause or sen- 
 tence, or when they introduce something. Most of them have acquired their 
 conjunctive sense by ellipsis. The pupil should consider whether they modify 
 according to their usual meaning, or connect like conjunctions, and then parse 
 them accordingly. It may sometimes be a matter of httle consequence to which 
 class they are referred, provided their meaning, or force in the sentence, is fully 
 , understood. 
 
 Some of these words are occasionally used to avoid a too frequent repetition 
 of some very common conjunctions; such as and, or, but. Sometimes they 
 merely assist or strengthen the conjunction. " He has a laborious profession ; 
 but it is very lucrative." " He has a laborious profession ; however, it is very 
 lucrative." "The corn was sold, and also dehvered, before we saw it, or even 
 heard of it." 
 
 Conjunctive adverbs have already been considered. See p. 209. 
 
 Conjunctive phrases are such as, on the contrary, on the other hand, the moment 
 that, as well as. Most of them are often used to relieve or strengthen the ordi- 
 nary connectives. Some clauses are connected simply by having a correlative 
 sense ; and the phrases which give them this sense, may also be termed conjunc- 
 tive phrases. ^^The more we have, the more we want." 
 
 The longer conjunctions or expressions are sometimes merely a little more 
 emphatic or forcible. 
 
 All the relative pronouns attach clauses in the sense of adjectives or nouns. 
 (See pp. 95-98.) Hence and is often improperly used before relative clauses. 
 " The windmill on the hill, and which was built last year, has been blown 
 down." Omit and. "Here lies buried Thomas Brown, who founded this city, 
 and who died in 1797." Here and is proper, for it joins the relative clause to 
 tlie one preceding it, while who joins it to the dutecedent 
 
£36 CONJUNCTIONS. EXERCISES. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Po/rse the conjunctions, prepositions, and adverbs : — 
 
 1. 
 
 Her eyes are bright and* blue. The ship carried off a load of ice, and^ 
 brought back sugar, coffee, and spices. Never show your teeth, unless 
 you can bite. Talk not too much, nor of thyself. Fear G-od, and keep 
 his commandments ; for this comprehends the whole duty of man. To 
 learn in youth, is less painful tiian to be ignorant in old age. No other 
 persons are so'^ blind as^"* those'" who will not see. 
 
 2. 
 
 He supposed that his defeat gave us hope that he would yield to our 
 forces, inasmuch" as he beUeved we were sure that he could now receive 
 no reenforcements. — Washington. 
 
 However, since the best of us have too many infirmities to answer for, 
 we ought not to be too severe upon those of others ; and therefore, if our 
 brother is in trouble, we ought to help him, without inquiring over seriously 
 what produced it. — Swift. 
 
 We are annoyed either^ by our own foHies, vices, and misfortunes, or 
 by those of others ; so that the greater part of life, with the many, con- 
 sists of suffering and sorrow. — Johnson. 
 
 (a.) is a conjunction (def.) ; coordinate, it connects parts of -whicli one does not mod- 
 ify the other; co^jJiJatiwe, it implies addition ; and here connects "6n(/Wand " 6Zwe," ac- 
 cording to Kule XV. (6.) is a conjunction, etc. ; it implies addition; and here connects 
 
 two phrases, according to Rule XV. (c.) '■'Inasmuch as" is a conjunctive phrase, or simply a 
 conjunction, etc. ; it implies cause or reason ; and here connects clauses or sentences, accord- 
 ing to Rule XV. id.) is a corresponding conjunction, it assists another coryunction, etc 
 
 Examples to be Corrected. 
 
 All the liabilities to error in regard to conjunctions or connectives, may be.^, 
 reduced to the folk) wing heads : — 
 
 1. Choice. 2. Position, 3. Insertion or omission. 4. The 
 parts connected. 
 
 1. Choice, 
 
 1. The amplest and miost appropriate connective should always be 
 selected, 
 
 2. Two or more connectives occupying different places in the sentence, 
 and serving to unite the same parts, should exactly correspond. 
 
 Your notions are too refined, so as we are not likely to agree, —so that— 
 He was dismissed, not so much because he was too young, but because he was 
 too unskiUfuL —as because- A conjunction connects words, plirases, and 
 clauses. I he land la equally adapted to farming or to pasturage. To borrow 
 or to lend may be equally imprudent. Proportion is simple and compound. 
 —either. . • -or— 1 can not conceive how my horse got away, without some- 
 body untied hira. —unless— I do not know why he should have bought the 
 lot, without he bought it for speculation. The report is the sam ■ with that 
 
CONJUNCTIONS. EXERCISES. 237 
 
 which I heard. — the same as that — I Imve the same opinion of the matter 
 with my friend. A man of great ability, but for all that he is not successful. 
 — and yet — They told us how that it happened. — how it — He is too reck- 
 less and indolent that we should put confidence in him. —for us to put — The 
 multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. The donation 
 was the more acceptable, that it was given without solicitation. I will see if 
 it snows or not. — whether — Do you know if the mail has arrived ? If a 
 body moves in a curve, the curve is in one plane. When, &c. The last of 
 the horses had scarcely crossed the bridge, tlian the head of the third battalion 
 appeared on the other side — Harper's Magazine. I will go except I should be 
 ill. I saw them all unless two or three. So as that his doctrines were em- 
 braced by great numbers. To go by water will be equally as expensive as to 
 go by land. 
 
 He looked as though he could eat up an ox, and pick his teeth with the horns. 
 — Irving. — as if — I wUl assist you, if that you can not do the work your- 
 self. Some useful maxims, and which I shall never forget, I learned from him. 
 — maxions, which — Some of the land, and for which he paid the highest price, 
 was subject to overflow. He soon discovered some qualities in her, of a dis- 
 agreeable nature, and which gradually implanted aversion. The money was 
 stolen at the time that the boat was landing. At the time that I saw her, she 
 was young and beautiful. ('ajsar wrote in the same manner that he fought. 
 This is one reason that he will not comply. — lohy — A wise man will be 
 contented that his glory shall be deferred till such a time as he shall be truly 
 glorified. — till the time at which — He holds no opinion but what is supported 
 by authority and reason. — Kent. This passion arises from much the same cause 
 zs sympathy. — Burke. Bruce spoke of himself and his compeers as being 
 neither Scottish or English, but Norman, barons. — Scott. I could not buy it 
 nor borrow it. — neither ... .nor — His life is neither tossed in boisterous 
 soas or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease. He has no love nor vene- 
 ration for his superiors. Neither flatter or contemn the rich or the great. 
 There was no place so hidden nor remote as the plague did not find it. We 
 need not, nor do not, confine the purposes of Grod. — and — I will defraud 
 nobody, nor nobody shall defraud me. No problem is so difficult which he can 
 not solve. — that he can not solve it. No occupation is so easy and simple, but 
 it requires some care and cultivation. 
 
 He could not deny but what he borrowed the money. — deny thai — There 
 is no question but the universe has certain bounds to it. — Addison. I have no 
 doubt but that the pistol is a relic of the buccaneers. — Irving. A corrupt gov- 
 ernor is nothing else but a reigning sin. — than a — She thinks of little else 
 but dressing and visiting. He is fond of nothing else but play and mischief. 
 This is none other but tne gate of Paradise. fairest flower, no sooner blown 
 but blasted I — -Milton. Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, 
 forked animal as thou art. — Shak. I can not otherwise reduce these fractions 
 but by multiplying by the denominators. There is no other umbrella here but 
 mine. The book is not as accurate as I wished it to be. — so accurate — He 
 is, as far as I can judge, well qualified. So still he sat as those who wait till 
 judgment speak the doom of fate. His weakness is such as that he can not 
 sit up. Do your work so as that you will not be obliged to do it again. There 
 is no disposition naturally so good as that it does not require cultivation. I will 
 not go away till your brother returns. (Perhaps allowable; though fee/ore seems 
 preferable to till.) The loafer seems to be created for no other purpose but to 
 keep up the ancient and honorable order of idlenviss. — Irving. — other. . . , tlian — 
 or, no purpose except — Such writers have no other standard but what ap- 
 pears to be fashionable and popular. — Blair's Rhetoric 
 
238 CONJUNCTIONS. EXERCISES. 
 
 2. Position. 
 
 (See page 213.) 
 
 He is unqualified for either teaching mathematics or languages. I shall 
 neither depend on you nor on him. — neither on you nor on Mm. The farm 
 will then either be rented or sold. Some nouns are either used in the singular 
 or in the plural number. Some nouns are used either in the singialar or the 
 plural number. Mules are both imported from Kentucky and Missouri. Mules 
 are imported both from Kentucky and Missouri. Mules are imported from 
 both Kentucky and from Missouri 
 
 3. Insertion or Omission. 
 
 1. Connectives should not be used so frequently as to encumber the 
 sentence. 
 
 2. Connectives should not be used so seldom that the discourse is ren- 
 dered too fragmentary, or the connection between the parts obscure. 
 
 John, and Mary, and William, and Susan, went to visit their uncle. He is 
 a man of visionary notions, unacquainted with the world, unfit to live in it. 
 The important relations of masters and servants, and husbands and wives, and 
 brothers and sisters, and friends and citizens. While the earth remaineth, seed- 
 time and harvest, cold, heat, summer, winter, day and night, shall not cease. 
 It happened one day he went out of curiosity to see the great Duke's lions. — 
 Addison. Surely no man is so infatuated to wish for a government diftereut 
 from that which we have. 
 
 4. The Parts Connected. 
 
 1. To vary connected or related parts needlessly, in kind or form, w 
 generally inelegant. 
 
 2. When a part has a common dependence on two connected parts 
 before it or after it, it should be proper when construed with each. 
 
 He managed the affair wisely and with caution. — wisely and cautiously — or, 
 with wisdom and caution. In the morning of life we set out with joy and hope- 
 fully, but we soon pursue our journey sorrowfully and with despondence. En- 
 joying health, and to live in peace, are great blessings. You may take some 
 or all the apples in the basket. (Hardly allowable ; say rather, " You may take 
 some of Vie apples in the basket, or all of themy) He either could not, nor wished, 
 to refute the argument. It is grammatically independent, but referring logic- 
 ally to some indefinite person. To borrow is easier than paying. — than to 
 pay. She was a young lady of great beauty, and possessing an ample fortune. 
 — and an ample fortune. The author is more remarkable for strength of senti- 
 ment than harmonious language. — than for harmony of language. He did 
 not meutioa Leonora, nor that her father was dead. — nor her father's death. 
 He can bribe, but he is not able to seduce ; he can buy, but he has not the power 
 of gaining; he can Ho, but no one is deceived by him. — hut he can not — He 
 embraced the cause of liberty faintly, and pursued it without resolution ; he grew 
 tired of it when he had much to hope, and gave it up when there was no 
 ground of apprehension. 
 
 He ought and will go this evening. — ought to go and will go — He can 
 and ought to give more attention to his business. Cedar is not so hard but 
 more durable than oak. so hard as oak, but more durable. She is fairer, 
 but not 80 amiable, as her sister. It is different but better than the old. The 
 court of chancery frequently mitigates and breaks tho teeth of the common law. 
 
CONJUNCTIONS. OBSERVATIONS. 29^ 
 
 — Addison. We could not find the place nor the persons by whom the goods 
 nad been concealed. That lot is preferable and cheaper than the other. The 
 opinions of the few must be overruled and submit to the opinions of the many. 
 Into this cave we luckily found the way, and a comfortable shelter. — and it 
 afforded iis a comfortable shelter. The comparison depends on the sound or the 
 number of syllables composing the word. Whatever we do, shall be displayed 
 and heard in the clearest light. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 1. By means of conjunctions, the speaker or writer intimates that his discourse 
 is to be continued, and generally how he means what he is about to say to be re- 
 garded in reference to what he has already said. They serve to unite, or bind 
 together, the several parts of sentences, or to attach additional sentences to the pre- 
 ceding discourse. It has been said that tiiey are to other parts of discourse what 
 aails and mortar are to other building materials. 
 
 Conjunctions depend perhaps more on the mind than on the external world, or 
 .'ess on the outward world than most otlier words ; and hence those of one language 
 can perhaps never be all precisely translated by those of another. If I say to you, 
 " Our tea is brouiiht from China, and our coffee from the Indies," I bring together, 
 into one sentence, things not necessarily connected by nature : if I suspect that 
 vou believe both are brought from China, I would be apt to say, " Our tea is 
 brought from China, hut our coffee is brought from the Indies;" or, '■^Tliough our 
 tea is brought from China, yet our coffee is brought from the Indies.'" The speaker 
 or writer has always something in view, or snpposes a certain tendency in the 
 minds of those whom he addresses ; and he selects his conjunctions accordingly. 
 As the number of conjunctions is comparatively small for all the windings and 
 labyrinths of thought, we may infer that conjunctions are used with considerable 
 vagueness, and have various shades of meaning, which must often be inferred 
 rather from the parts connected, tha \ from any definition that can be given. la 
 reasoning, the effect of the conjunctions, and the meaning of the parts connected, 
 should always be very carefully examined. 
 
 3. TIcat, if, and some other conjunctions, are frequently omitted to avoid heavi- 
 ness or harshness of expression, or when the connection and dependence of the 
 parts is sufiiciently obvious. " 1 am satisfied that is the proper plan"=I am sati»- 
 iied tkat that is the proper plan. " Were it so"=i5^" it were so. The judicious in- 
 sertion or omission of conjunctions sometimes contributes much to the elegance or 
 expressiveness of sentences. Kepetition implies deliberation, or a desire to make 
 the most of the matter. The omission of the conjunction usually implies rapidity, 
 haste, or so deep an interest, on the part of the speaker, in what is uttered, that he 
 can not pay attention to connectives or unimportant words. A series of terms are 
 sometimes elegantly connected in pairs or groups. See pp. 327, 3^8. 
 
 The following paragraphs exhibit, the one, frugality, the other, profusion, in the 
 use of connectives, carried perhaps to the farthest point of endurance : — 
 
 " Morning came : we rushed to the fight ; from wing to wing is the rolling 
 strife. They fell like the thistle's head beneath the autumnal wmds. In armor 
 came a stately form : I mixed my strokes with the chief. By turns our shields 
 are pierced:' loud rung our steely mails. His helmet fell to the ground. In 
 brightness siione the foe. His eyes, two pleasant flames, rolled between his wan- 
 dering locks. I knew Cathmor of Atha ; I threw my sbear on the earth. Bark 
 we turned, and silent passed to mix with other foes." — Ossian. 
 
 " And then the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, 
 and held the lamps in their hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow 
 withal. And they cried. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And they stood 
 every man in his place round about tlie camp : and all the host ran, and cried, and 
 tQ\V'— Bible. 
 
 4. When the mind naturally ezpects uniformity of structure, a deviation is 
 generally harsh, and should be avoided. Hence, for instance, "He went to plun^ 
 der, instead of governing, the colony," though a mode of expression used by good 
 writers, would probably be better expressed bv saying, " to plunder, aud not to 
 gooern,^' or, " ratlier to plunder than to govern.''^ But when the sense or even the 
 
240 INTKRJECTIONS. 
 
 melody of the sentence requires a difference of structure, a deviation is allowable : 
 as, " He has merely strung together words graminuticuUy, and without absurdity.'' 
 To say, '* He has merely strung together words grammatically, and not absurdly," 
 might convey a different meaning. 
 
 Apart relating to two or more connected parts, is usually construed in tho 
 mind with each, and hence it should make sense with each, " He can and ougM 
 to go this evening"=He can to and oagJit to go this evening. " It is different and 
 inferior to the second"=It is different to and in ferior to the second. Therefore 
 say, *' He can go and oaght to go this evening ;" ' It is dlferent from the second, 
 and inferior to it." ''He was as much bele 'ed, but 'less admired, than his 
 brother"=He was as much beloved than his biother, but less admired than his 
 brother : say, " He was as much beloved as his brother, but less admired." In 
 such sentences, it is customary to make the third part relate to only one of the 
 connected parts, by completing the construction with the first connected part, and 
 requiring the reader to supply tlie third part, in a suitable form, after the second 
 connected part. When the two connected parts are very short, and the other part 
 is very long, I question the impropriety of placing the latter after the other two, 
 and requiring the reader to supply it in its proper form after the first of the con- 
 nected parts. Why not supply a proper expression after the first, as well as after 
 the second, of the connected parts? "An improper fraction is equal to, or greater 
 than, 1, because it expresses as many or more parts than it takes to equal a unity — 
 D. P. Colhurn. To put the latter part of this sentence in a different form, would 
 make the sentence rather stiff, affected, and pedantic. Besides, the construction 
 seems to be no worse than that of such well-established expressions as, " Preceded 
 by one or more consonants^ 
 
 12. INTERJECTIONS. 
 
 ? 394. An interjection is a word that expresses an emotion 
 only, and is not connected in construction with any other word. 
 
 Ex.—" '6>, stay,' the maiden said, ' and rest.' " "^Ziis, alas ! fair Ines." "PoA / 
 never trouble thy head with such fancies." 
 
 " Few, few, shall part where many meet ! '■'■Ah ! few shall part where many meet I 
 
 The snow shall be their winding-sheet, The snow shall be their winding-sheet, 
 
 And every clod beneath their feet And every clod beneath their feet 
 
 Shall be a soldier's sepulchre !" Shall be a soldier's sepulchre !" 
 
 The latter stanza is the first as it was afterwards improved. Ah indicates much 
 better tlie transition from the storm of battle to the wail of woe. See also p. 56. 
 
 ? 395. Words from ahnost every other part of speech, and some- 
 times entire phrases, when abruptly uttered to express emotion, may 
 become interjections. 
 
 Ex. — Strange! behold! what I why! indeed! mercy! away! "Why, there^ 
 ihere^ there /" ^'■Flre and brimstone I what have you been doing ?" 
 
 ? 396. But when it is not the chief purpose of the word to ex- 
 press emotion, and when the omitted words are obvious, it may be 
 better to parse the word as usual. 
 
 Ex.— ^^ Patience, good lady! comfort, gentle Constance V^—ShaJsespeare. 
 
 Have patience, good lady 1 receive comfort, [=be consoled,] gentle Constance. 
 
 ? 397. Words used in speaking to the inferior animals, and imi- 
 tative words that are uttered with emotion, are generally inter- 
 'ections. 
 
 Ex.— Ilnw I gee 1 whoh ! sca*, ! whist ! 'st, 'st ! " The words are fine, but as to 
 the seaso— i-a-A P'— Newspaper. " Up comes a man on a sudden, slap .' dash / 
 
INTERJECTIONS. EXERCISES. OBSERVATIONS. 241 
 
 Buuffd out the candle, and carries away all the cash." Interjections. " When, 
 click ! the string the latch did draw, and, jee ! the door went to the wa'." — Bums, 
 Interjections rather than adverbs. " The lark that tirra-lirra chants." — Shak. Ad- 
 verb, shovvinff how. " With a lengthened, loud halloo, tu-who, tu-whit, tu- 
 whoo-o-o^ — Tennyson. A noun, descriptive of halloo. 
 
 " Go, get you to bed and repose — 
 To sit up as late is a scandal ; 
 But, ere you have ta'en off your clothes, 
 Be sure that you blow out the candle. 
 Bi fol de rol tol de rot loV — Horace Smith. 
 
 If such an expression can be parsed at all, it must be parsed as an interjection : 
 it may be said to indicate pleasurable emotions. 
 
 ? 398. The case of a substantive after an interjection, often de- 
 pends on some word understood. 
 
 Ex. — " Ah ?w6/"==Ah ! fity me; or, Ah ! what has happened to me ! or, Ah ! 
 wo is to me ! or, Ah! it grieves ms. "Ah ! luckless /"=Ah ! luckless am I! " 0, 
 happy we .■'"=0, happy are we ! See also p. 112. 
 
 ? 399. When an interjection is used, it is generally placed at the 
 beginning of the sentence ; but sometimes within the sentence, or 
 even at the end ; and sometimes it stands alone. In its syntax, it is 
 always independent of other words. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Examples to be Analyzed and Parsed. 
 
 Furse all the words: — 
 
 Alas ! the way is wearisome and long. Adieu, and let me hear from you 
 soon again. Grods"! if I could but paint a dying groan. Ah me ! Hist I 
 hush I within the gloom of yonder trees, methonght a figure passed. 
 Ha, ha, ha'' 1 well° said. Welcome, ^Velcome, Lafayette! Out upon 
 hei^ I thou torturest me, Tubal. 
 
 The Armory. — Ah ! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary, 
 
 When the Death Angel touches those swift keys ! 
 
 (a.) "Gods" is here used as an interjection, it is abruptly uttered to express an emotion, 
 etc. (b.) ''Ha, ha, ha /" is an interjection, etc. (c.) That thing was " well said." {d.) ''Out 
 ttpon herT is an inter jectional x>hrase, it is abruptly uttered to express an emotion ; it de- 
 notes anger, etc. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Some interjections may be uttered by the speaker when alone, as alas ; others 
 always have reference to another being, as farewell. Some denote painful emo- 
 tions, as p'^h ; others pleasurable emotions, as hurrah. Some indicate intense 
 feeling, as oh ; others, slight emotion, as eh. Some, depressed feelings, as alas ; 
 others, buoyant emotions, as helgho. Some of tliem. as 0, ah, are, like laughter 
 and weeping, universal expressions for certain feelings: they are found in all 
 languages. 
 
 Interjections are most apt to occur when the mind is agitated or suddenly ex- 
 cited ; and hence we meet with them most frequently in poems, orations, novels, 
 and dramatic writings. They do not imply thought or reflection, like other words ; 
 but spring instantaneously from the sensibihties or the will, with but little refer- 
 ence, if any, to the intellect ; and hence they are more capricious or less logical 
 
242 WORDS BELONGING TO TWO 
 
 than other words, and not so fixed in form and signification. Thua, and oh de- 
 note a variety of emotions, and are used by some writers indifferently, one for the 
 other. Perhaps it would be better to make denote only such emotions as are 
 lively and joytul ; and o\ such as are violent and sorrowful. " Peace be with thee, 
 our brother." — Whittier. " Oh my heart's love ! oh my dear one ! . . . . mercy ! 
 mercy I all is o'er !" — Id. Some writers recommend that should always be pre- 
 ferred when an address is made. This is a plain and convenient distinction, but 
 it is not always observed. Some of the very common emotions, as wonder, auger, 
 or joy, we find expressed iuterjectionally by everso many diflFerent words, lu 
 fact, interjections being to some extent instinctive sounds, their propriety does not 
 always depend on conventional usage, but often somewhat on the peculiar charac- 
 ter and condition of the person using them. Frequently, a speaker takes merely 
 some word or words of tlie previous speaker, — those which chiefly excited the sur- 
 prise, approbation, or indignation, — and uses them iuterjectionally. " Consider, 
 bir Charles is upon a visit to his bride. — Bride ! he is titter for the gallows." — 
 jBntish Lrania. As a general thing, however, interjections should be selected with 
 great care, and not used too frequently nor too seldom. When properly used, 
 tliey have sometimes a fine effect ; but it must not be inferred that they alone can 
 make discourae sprightly or pathetic. They must grow naturally out of the sub- 
 ject or the sentiment. They may, like the overspreading vine, deepen the shade 
 of feeling, but they can not supply the jjlace of the tree. When I see them 
 standing thick on a page, I am generally reminded of the well-known line of 
 Dry den : — 
 
 " He whistled, as he went, for want of thought." 
 
 It is perhaps needless to add tliat the words of swearing or cursing, which 
 rowdies use for grace and emphasis, are interjections as superfliuous as ungentle- 
 manly. 
 
 WORDS BELONaiNG TO TWO OR MORE PARTS OF SPEECH. 
 
 400. The part of speech to which a given word belongs, should al- 
 ways be determined by the sense in which the word is used. When I 
 say, " Our well is deep," well is a noun ; " The man is well^' well is an 
 adjective; "John writes well^' well is an adverb: "The waters well firom 
 the ground," well is a verb. 
 
 All is used — 
 
 As an adjective. '■'■All flowers must fade." 
 
 As a noun. "Not all that glistens, is gold." 
 
 As an adverb. ''All [altogether] listless roamed a shepherd swain." 
 As is used— ["^5 cold as \gq''— degree. 
 
 As an adverb. " Skato as I skate" — manner. " It fell as I entered" — time. 
 
 As a conjunction. ''As [since] wo all must die, why not be charitable ?" 
 
 As a pronoun. " Let such as hear, take heed." 
 Before is used — 
 
 As an adverb. '* I came before it rained." 
 
 As a preposition. •' He stood before me." 
 So arc also used above, after, below, ere, etc. 
 Both is used — 
 
 As an adjective. " Both trees are in blossom." 
 
 As a conjunction. " She is both handsome and intelligent." 
 So are also used either, neither, etc. 
 
OR MORE PARTS OP SPEECH. 248 
 
 But is used — 
 
 As a conjunction. " Sin may gratify, hut repentance stings." 
 As a proposition. " Whence all hat [except] iiim had fled." 
 As an adverb. " Words are but [pnlyl leaves." 
 
 For is used — 
 
 As a preposition. " He works for me." 
 As a conjunction. " Improve each day, for life is short" 
 So is also used notwitlistanding. 
 
 Much is used — 
 
 As an adjective. ^^ Much money is often an evil." 
 As an adverb. " He is inuch better than he was." 
 As a noun. " Where 7nuch is given, 7nuch is required." 
 So are also used more, little, less, etc. 
 
 Since is used — 
 
 As a preposition. '^ Since last year." 
 
 As an adverb. " It happened long since." 
 
 As a conjunction. ^^ Since no one claims it, I will keep it." 
 
 That is used — * 
 
 As an adjective. ^^That book belongs to me." [years." 
 
 As a conjunction. " Few people know that some crows live a hundred 
 As a relative pronoun. " The same flag that \whicK\ we saw before." 
 As a demonstrative pronoun. " The court of England or that [the court'] ot 
 
 What is used — [France." 
 
 As an interrogative pronoun. " Wiat ails you ?" 
 As a relative pronoun with one case. " I know what ails you." 
 As a relative pronoun with two cases. " Take what I offer." 
 As an adjective. " What news from Genoa ?" 
 
 A.'a a^n adverb. ^^What [partly] by entreaty, and zf/ia^ by threatening, I 
 succeeded." What, I think, for somewhat ; an unusual and inelegant 
 expression. 
 As an interjection. '^What ! take my money, and my life too ?" 
 
 When doubtful cases occur, a large dictionary may be consulted ; and the teacher may 
 Bometiraes translate the expression literally into some foreign language, and decide ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 GENERAL EXERCISES. 
 
 All the remaining errors in regard to grammar, may be summed up under the 
 three following heads : — 
 
 1. Sentences having too many wordfi. 2. Sentences wanting words, 
 3. Sentences in any other respect faulty, 
 
 1. Sentences having too many Words. 
 
 No word should be used that is not needed to express the meaningf 
 correctly, clearly, and forcibly. 
 
 The first quahfication required, is a genms. — Pope. Old age wiU proyp 
 a joyless and a dreary season, if we arrive at it with an unimpvoY^''d c^ 
 
244 UENKRAL EXERCISES. 
 
 with a corrupted mind. Tiiese counsels were the dictates of virtue, and 
 the dictates of true honor. Avarice and cunning may gain an estate, but 
 avarice and cunning can not gain friends. His two sisters were both of 
 them handsome. Thought and language act and react upon each other mutu- 
 ally. The neck connects the head and trunk together. These savage people 
 seemed to have no other element but that of war. The more that you give him, 
 the mure will he want. They returned back to the city from whence tiiey had 
 come forth. If I mistake not, I think I have seen you before. Whenever he 
 sees me, he always inquires concerning my health. These are rights that Con- 
 gress can not infringe upon. Uur debts and our sins are generally greater than 
 we think for. — Franklin. Their situation can scarcely be conceived of at the 
 present day. The continental army moved down to Charleston in the latter 
 end of the year. — liamsay. These things had great and politic ends in their 
 being established. Tiiat there snath will not lit this here scythe. 
 
 Such have no other law but the will of their prince. — Kent. How different 
 is the conduct of the prosecutors from tliat of yours 1 The passion of anger, tho 
 passion of envy, and the passion of avarice. And he pursued after the children 
 of Israel. Those nice sliades by which virtues and vices approach each one 
 another. — Murray. The other book is equally as good. All of my time. 
 These examples serve to explain both the parts of the rule. He died in less 
 than two hours' time. Failing in his first ettbrt, he again repeated it. James 
 is tall, but Henry is taller than he. We sought in vain to find the path. He 
 succeeded in gaining the universal love of all men. Let us be ready according 
 as opportunities present themselves, to make a prudent investment of our means. 
 The umbrageous shade of the woody forest. Ho is temperute, he is disinterested, 
 and he is benevolent ; he is an ornament to his family, and a credit to his pro- 
 fession. Perseverance, in laudable pursuits, will reward all our toils, and will 
 produce effects beyond our calculation. The Incas, or kings of Peru, and all 
 those partaking of, or being within a certain degree of consanguinity to them . . . 
 were allowed this privilege. — all tliose within a certain degree — Being con- 
 tent with deserving a trmmph, he refused the honor of it. Having been reared 
 Id affluence, he could not endure poverty. (Allowable ; though " having been" 
 may be omitted.) 
 
 His happ3^, cheerful temper, remote from discontent, keeps up a kind of day- 
 light in his mind, excludes every gloomy prospeet, and fills it with a perpetual 
 serenity. ^Ey a multiplicity and variety of words, the thoughts and sentiments are 
 not set off and accommodated ; but, like David dressed out and equipped in Saul's 
 armor, they are encumbered and oppressed. There is a sweetness and sacred 
 holiness in a mother's tears, when they are dropped and fall on the face of her 
 dying and expiring babe, which no eye can see, and no one can behold, with a 
 heart untouched and unaffected. 
 
 2. Sentences wanting Words. 
 
 No word should be omitted that is needed to expre.ss the irieaning 
 correctly, clearly, and forcibly. 
 
 How shall wo, any other way, account for it ? It is not only the duty, but 
 interest, of young persons, to be studious and virtuous. Such a law would in- 
 volve the good and bad, the innocent and guilty, in the same calamity. It is 
 education which almost entirely forms the cliaracter, the freedom or slavery, 
 the happiness or misery, of the world. Let us avoid the making such amoud- 
 menta as will bo needless. As much propriety must be observed in tho dress 
 of the old as young.— Addison. Chancery will treat it as a personal matter, so 
 far as respects the rights of creditors. Transitive verbs have an active and pas- 
 sive participle. The speculation will produce great gain or loss. — or grcai 
 
GENERAL EXERCISES. 245 
 
 loss. The people of this country possess a healthy climate and soil. By these 
 happy labors, they who sow and reap, will rejoice together. The court of 
 France or England was to be the umpire. He regards his word, but you do 
 not. The natural abilities of some men much exceed others. I think his 
 works more classical than all our other liistorians. We were at the fair, and 
 saw every thing there. — that was there. We speak that We do know, and 
 testify to that we have seen. A servant whose duty was to take care of the 
 children. — duty it was — Which road should be taken, was not easy to de- 
 termine. This is what best became us to do. — Swift. He met with such a 
 reception as those only deserve who are content to take. — Id. 
 
 I do not remember any place where he said so. — he ever said so. It is 
 foreign to the present purpose, to more than allude to these facts. You can not 
 read too much of the classics, nor too well. — nor read it — Simon, son of 
 Jonah, lovest thou me more than these ? (Ambiguous.) At that place we 
 were neither well paid nor fed. Not a fence or fruit-tree was to be seeii. — 
 Irving. — nor a — Groves, fields, and meadows, are at any season of the 
 year pltasant to look upon, but never so much as in the opening of spring. — 
 Addison. — so much so — I am inclined to adopt your book, and encourage 
 others to do likewise. — and to encourage — The scribes made it their pro- 
 fession to study and teach the laws of Moses. The sale of one farm or several 
 will take place to-day. English verse is regulated rather by the number of 
 syllables than of feet. There is no situation so good anywhere. — is not any- 
 where else a — How can I distinguish the good from bad ? He was a warrior by 
 necessity, if not choice. I believe that when things are at worst they will cer- 
 tainly mend ; and when they are at best, they will soon deteriorate. 
 
 His honor, interest, and religion, were all embarked in the undertaking. 
 (Repeat his.) I suppose iie preters her, because she possesses more beauty, 
 more accomphshments, and wealth, than the other. By this habitual indeli- 
 cacy, tlie virgins smiled at what they blushed before. — blushed at — By 
 such a course, the progress of the pupil will be greatly facilitated, and many diffi- 
 culties a^'oided. Such were the first settlements in Texas, claiming to be 
 civilized, but have now passed away. It was neither the buying lands, nor 
 dealing in mules, but extravagance of his wife, that made him a bankrupt. 
 Neither my brother nor sister went to the fair. He did not know whether it 
 would be best to sell his lot or farm. The hawk was chased by the martins, as 
 well as crows. Whether we take the upper or lower route, we can not get 
 there in two days. The cholera is said to be in ^ew Orleans and vicinity. 
 He is eminent both as a lawyer and politician. Not only the peace of the 
 family was broken, but tlieir dignity considerably diminished, by this alliance. 
 
 3. Sentences faulty in Thought or Expression. 
 
 1. The words, the modes of expression, and the arrangement, should 
 be the best the language affords for the author's meaning. 
 
 2. We should always think with clearness, vigor, and a full compre- 
 hension of the subject, and speak or write accordingly. 
 
 3. What is said or written, should be sensible and becoming, — or in 
 accordance with nature, truth, and reason. 
 
 "All the parts of a sentence should correspond with one another: 
 a regular and dependent construction, throughout, should be carefully 
 preserved." — Murray. 
 
 You may as well spend the balance of the evening with us. I do not, how 
 ever, imagine that tlie water-spout would have endangered the loss of the sb ip 
 
246 GENERAL EXERCISES. 
 
 "Will you fix the clock so that it will run ? The business will suit any one 
 who enjoys bad health. Religion will afford us pleasure, when others forsake 
 us. I am willing to pay a hundred or two dollars. The more I see of his 
 conduct, I like him better. Form your measures with prudence, but all anxiety 
 about the issue divest yourself of. Though virtue borrows no assistance from, 
 yet it may be accompanied by, the advantages of fortune. The Greeks, fear- 
 ing to be surrounded on all sides, \\ heeled about and halted, with the river on 
 their backs. — Goldsmith. Replevin is when suit is brought to recover properly 
 in the possession of another.* The mill stood between the old and new bridges. 
 He wrote the recommendations both of the first and last editions. The man- 
 ner of these authors' writing books so fist, 1 will now explain, I can not find 
 one of my books.'' We have not the least right to your protection. I want 
 to see what he wants. When if precedes a verb, it is in the subjunctive mood. 
 Porter, however, lired some three or four times at Jones, before he fell. The 
 Romans stipulated with the Cartliagiuians, to furnish them with ships for trans- 
 port and war, — Arbuthnot. Solomon, the son of David, who built tne temple 
 of Jerusalem, was the richest monarch that ever reigned over the Jewish 
 people. 
 
 He has little regard for your and my friend's welfare. White sheep are 
 much more common than black. The heads of a panther and a cat are similar 
 in shape. He is not rich,<= and incompetent for business. The furniture is 
 more sliowy than useful ; but tliat, I suppose, was not takei;i into considera- 
 tion.^ He came on the boat, which his friends expected.^ He sent me 
 the books, which he had promised.'' The magistrate punished him for 
 some misdemeanor, wiiich was approved.^ Be honest, for it certainly is 
 the best pohcy,'' He was thougiit to be very polite, which indeed he wa.s 
 to those of whom he expected favors.> He is always still and grave, which 
 makes him to be thouglit wisej I was thinking of the best place for an 
 office,'' This can be made an objection against one government as well as an- 
 other. The valley of the Amazon is perhaps as large as the Mississippi; but 
 more of it is overflown. I have that that will keep you. There is not a harder 
 part in human nature, than becoming wealth and greatness. This letter being 
 too long for the present paper, I intend to print it by itself It mattered little 
 what the nature of the task was ; whether it were organizing an opposition to a 
 political faction, or a troop of cavalry to resist invasion. — Prescott. 
 
 The acceptance must also be absolute, and not in any respect diflfering from 
 the bill, A paniciple is a word derived from a verb, and which denotes action, 
 or a state of being. There is no vice which mankind carry to such wild ex- 
 tremes as that of avarice. It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that 
 we should die in the wilderness.' — Bible. This victory seemed to be like a res- 
 urrection from the dead, to the Eastern States, John Rutledgo and John Jay 
 were nearly of an age. The people had not the wherewith to pay their debts. 
 The supplying an army by contractors, Gen. Jackson had objected to, as iiighly ob- 
 jectionable. Here it is rare for throe fair days to follow each other. Tlie pre- 
 tenders to polish and roline the English language, have chiefly multiplied abuses 
 and absurdities. God heapeth favors on his servants, ever hberal and f uthful. 
 The work, iu its full extent, being now afflicted with an asthma, and finding tlie 
 powers of life gradually declining, he had no longer courage to undertake.— 
 Johmon. _ Dryden makes a very handsome observation on Ovid's writing a let- 
 ter from Dido lo -(Eneas, iu the Ibllovving words. Tlie perplexity that attends 
 
 » is a mode of trial for the recovery of b even one of, or, can find all but one ; 
 
 c nor Ih ho competent, or, and he is incompetent 
 
 •1 but its utility, I spppose, was not taken into consideration c according to the expectation 
 
 ' as he liad promised to do, or, according to promise . if and the punishment 
 
 !■ for honesty in 'and indeed he was so to those j and therefore he is thought 
 
 w wlmt place would be best 1 than to die in 
 
GENERAL EXERCISES. 247 
 
 a multiplicity of criticisms by various hands, many of which are sure to be futile, 
 many of them ill-founded, and some of them contradictory to others, is incon- 
 ceivable.™ 
 
 It is an acknowledged fact by some of our most experienced teachers, &c." 
 I never heard mentioned that fellow's being a poet before." The long, undis- 
 turbed possession implies the title to be good.? The hyena, they pretend, to 
 have been brought from Abyssinia. By analyzing is meant the resolving cf 
 a sentence into its elements. The book is meant to be adapted to the capacity 
 of children. {A. clumsy mode of expression; change the sentence.) The 
 hosts stood stih. (Want of euphony.) We were exceedingly kindly treated. 
 They died and fought for liberty. (Unnatural arrangement.) Intemperance 
 ]:roduces death, misery, and want. Tiie merciful are blessed, for they shall ob- 
 laiu mercy. The family treated me in the same way that they treat their own 
 sons.q What is the reason that you are here yet ?■" By agitating and dis- 
 cussion, the truth is elicited. Some governments forfeit the property of out- 
 laws. When there is no heir, tha estate of course f )rfeits to the state.' I 
 wish to cultivate a farther acquaintance with you. Thursday is set aside for 
 thanksgiving day.* And this is it men mean by distributive justice, and is 
 properly termed equity." It was an unsuccessful undertaking, which, although 
 it has failed, is no objection to an enterprise so well concerted. And he entered 
 into a certain man's house named Justus, one that worshiped God. At the 
 same time, there are some defects which must be acknowledged, in his Odyssey. 
 — Blair. They were refused entrance into, and forcibly driven from, the house. 
 As the denominator is greater, the value must be less. 
 
 Between grammar, logic, and rhetoric, there exists a close and happy con- 
 nection ; which reigns through all science, and extends to all the powers of elo- 
 quence.'' — Mahan. (Observe that which here can not properly represent theji^ 
 identical connection mentioned before it.) No other employment beside a book- 
 seller suited his inclinations. There is no talent so useful toward rising in the 
 world, or which puts men more out of the reach of fortune, than that quality 
 generally possessed by the dullest sort of people, and is, in common language, 
 called discretion.'' Many would gladly exchange riches and honors for that 
 more quiet and humbler station which you are now dissatisfied with. As the 
 guilt of an officer will be greater than that of a common servant, if he prove 
 negligent ; so the reward of his fidelity will prove proportionably greater. At 
 first, he was received with great favorableness, but his stupidness soon appeared. 
 Tlie greatest masters of critical learning differ among one another. An elo- 
 quent speaker may give more, but not more convmcing arguments, than this 
 plain man offered. I favored him, because in looks he favored my brother. 
 
 The wealthy merchant and the journeyman tradesman were seen marching 
 side by side, and often exchanged the contents of their canteens with each other.* 
 — Hist of U. S. In seeking to dig up one fact, it is incredible the number of facts 
 I unearthed. — Irving. The asylum was founded upwards of two centuries since, 
 on an old monastic establishment. — Id. By this system, money became plenty 
 — such as it was. — Id. A letter written by an inhabitant of that place, speaks 
 of the sudden apparition of the enemy. — Irving^s Washington. The blunder 
 was detected on an order being issued for a new supply of cartridges.' — Id. 
 So they sat drinking, and smoking, and telling stories, and singing Dutch and 
 Irish songs, without understanding a word each other said. — Irving. I know 
 
 J" of which many n a fact acknowledged ^ heard that fellow mentioned 
 
 as being a poet, or, heard it mentioned that that fellow is v that the title is good 
 
 H me as they ^ Why are you ' escheats t set apart " is what 
 
 men mean .... and what v Grammar .... have .... and such a connection reigns, indeed 
 through >■ which Is generally .... and which ia ^ shared the contents 
 
 when an order was issued. 
 
248 GENERAL EXERCISES. 
 
 that all words which are signs of complex ideas furnish matter of mistake and 
 cavil. — Locke. No nation can or have any right to look for respect abroad as 
 being just, that is not first honest at home. — Swift. Which when Beelzebub 
 perceived, than whom none higher sat. (An uncouth knarl; rather say, ^Hhan 
 who," or, " than /le," or, " none higher sat than Ae.") 
 
 I beg the favor of your acceptance of a copy of a view of the manufactories of the 
 West Riding of the county of York. When one gives one's self the liberty to 
 range and run over in one's thoughts the difiereut geniuses of men which one 
 meets in the world, one can not but observe, that most of the indirection and 
 artifice, which is used among men, does not proceed so much from a degeneracy 
 in nature, as an affectation of appearing men of consequence by such practices.* 
 — British Essayists. (Too many ones ; there are also other faults.) The awful 
 distance which wo bear towards her in all our thoughts of her, and that cheerful 
 familiarity with which we approach her, are certain instances of her being the 
 truest object of love of any of her sex. — lb. Never delay till to-morrow, (for 
 to-morrow is not yours; and, though you should hve to enjoy it, you must not 
 overload it with a burden not its own,) what reason and conscience tell you 
 ought to be performed to-day. (Take out the parenthesis, and put it after the 
 rest of the sentence, in a separate, distinct sentence.) The discontented man 
 (as his spleen irritates and sours his temper, and leads him to discharge his venom 
 on all with whom he stands connected) ia never without a great share of ma- 
 lignity. 
 
 Last Saturday a gang of highwaymen broke into an empty house, and strip- 
 ped it of all its furniture. — Newspaper. It is always objectionable to use the 
 same word too often. In familiar conversation we frequently make use of eUip- 
 sis.»* (To make use of a nonentity, or of the absence of a thing, is absurd.) A 
 vest which from a naked Pict his grandsire had won. When a person is 
 spoken to, he is of the second person.'''' The use of which accents [Greek and 
 Koman] we have now entirely lost.'"^ — Blair. (We never had them to lose.) 
 Our modern pronunciation must have appeared to them [the G-reeks and Romans] 
 a hfeless monotony.'^'' — Id. (They never heard it.) To be convicted of bribery, 
 was then a crime altogether unpardonable.® « Orthography means word-mak- 
 ing, or spelling.'"'" — Smithes Grammar. Abercrombie had still nearly four times 
 the number of the enemy.s^ — Irving. The Latin tongue, in its purity, never 
 was in this country.'''' The notions of Lord Sunderland were always good; 
 but he was a man of extravagant habits. 
 
 The following erroneous sentences, which are taken from Whatley's Logic, 
 belong to the class called fallacies. Most fallacies arise because the same word 
 has often several different meanings, or because it may be applied to objects 
 of the same general class, with greater or less comprehensiveness. 
 
 None but whites are civilized: the ancient Germans were whites: therefore 
 tliey were civilized. (Observe here that the whites referred to in the second 
 proposition are uoue of the whites referred to in the first proposition.) Nothing 
 is heavier than platina : feathers are heavier than nothing : therefore feathers 
 are heavier than platina. (My dog has more legs than no dog : no dog has 
 twelve legs: therefore my dog has more than twelve legs.) All cold is ex- 
 polled by heat: this person's disorder is a cold: therefore it is to be expelled 
 by heat. He who is most hungry, eats most : he who eats least, is most hungry : 
 therefore he who eats least, eats most. Whatever body is m motion, must move 
 eitber m the place where it is, or in a place where it is not: neither of these 
 18 possible : therefore there is no such thing as motion. 
 
 » When a person, &c. an ellipses are frequently allowed W' Wlien a 
 
 person is apolcen to, the noun or pronoun used for addressing him is c.- is 
 
 J^^^M «,^H„ '"''"'I- ^'^''f. appeared • e Bribery was (f means, literally. 
 
 correct writing tfg four times as many men hu was never spoken, in its purity, in. 
 
GENERAL EXERCISES. 249 
 
 Miscellaneous Examples to be Corrected. 
 
 Honor or reputation are dearer than life. — Bouvier. 
 
 Mr. Burke was offered a very important and lucrative ofiice. — Goodrich. 
 
 The protest laid quietly on the table. — Irving. 
 
 To this, in a great measure, has been attributed the successes of the Moslems. 
 — /rf. 
 
 You have chose the worse. — Id. 
 
 The greater part of tlie forces were retired into winter-quarters. — Id. 
 
 Wa.^hington was given the command of a division partly composed of his own 
 men. — Id. ' 
 
 She doubted whether this were not all delusion, and whether she was not 
 Htill in the palace. — Id. 
 
 The Indian chief and his son, being a small distance from the line of march, 
 was surrounded and taken. — Id. 
 
 Where will we find such merry groups now-a-days ? — Id. 
 
 Sir Walter speaks to every one as if they were his blood relations. — Id. 
 
 The right wing was composed of Glover's, Mason's, and Patterson's regi- 
 ments. — Id. 
 
 Burgoyne was stated as being arrived at Quebec to command the forces in an 
 invasion from Canada. — Id. 
 
 Were Aristotle or I'lato to come among us, thej- would find no contrast more 
 complete than between the workshops of their Athens and those of New York. 
 — Bancroft. 
 
 On rather a narrow strip of land. — E. Everett. 
 
 We had fortunately engaged rooms at the only decent inn at Melrose, and 
 after supper went out at nine o'clock to see the abbey. — Id. 
 
 To the antiquary and artist, these columns are a source of inexhaustible ob- 
 servations and designs. — Byron. 
 
 That fortune, fame, power, life, hath named themselves a star. — Id. 
 
 He knew not what it was to die. — Id. 
 And goodly sons grew by his side. 
 But none so lovely and so brave 
 As him who withered in the grave. — Id. 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton used to say that critics were like brushers of noblemen's 
 clothes. — Bacon. 
 
 Let them the state adorn, and he defend. — Cowletj. 
 
 A steed comes at morning ; no rider is there. 
 
 But its bridle is red with the sign of despair. — Campbell. 
 
 His curse be on him. He who knovveth where 
 
 The lightnings hide. — Mrs. Sigourney. 
 
 My robe, and my integrity to Heaven, is all I now dare call my own. — 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 A silk dress or a flowered bonnet were then great rarities. — History of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Thomas Penn, soon after his arrival, aided by seven special commissioners, 
 entered upon the adjustment of the southern boundary, and running the line be- 
 tween the proprietaries and Lord Baltimore. — lb. (Recast the sentence.) 
 
 Mr. Dana asked Mr. Gore's leave to say a few words, which he did ; after 
 which he retired from the Convention. — Elliofs Debates. 
 
 What is seventy-five cents, or even a dollar, an acre ? — lb. 
 
 The miller was bound to have returned the flour. — Kent. 
 
 The true rule was stated to be that the seller was liable to an action of deceit, 
 if he fraudulently misrepresent the thing sold. — Id. 
 
250 GENERAL EXERCISES. 
 
 To inquire whether or no the party be an idiot or lunatic. — Mo. Statutes. 
 The constable shall execute such jury summons fairly and impartially, and 
 shall not summon any person whom he has reason to believe is biased or prej- 
 udiced for or against either of the parties. — lb. 
 
 It is a full two hours to dinner. — Harper^s Magazine. 
 The two electric fluids neutralized each others' effects. — lb. 
 My suspicions were being more and more confirmed every minute. — lb. 
 Now, then, what should you think water was composed of? — //;. 
 Of the other two there exists only the first book, and the plan of the 
 second. — lb. 
 
 It is a little child of two years old. — lb. 
 He knew not which to most admire. — lb. 
 "We have other two remarks to ofler. — lb. 
 
 Barnabas and his brother became, as companions in crime usually do, sus- 
 picious of one another. — lb. 
 
 In England, every one is free as soon as they touch the land. — lb. 
 
 There was the house and out-buildings, all of an unfashionable kind. — lb. 
 
 It was I who destroyed Ehrenberg's theory that the volvox globator was an 
 animal. — Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 Which phrase, if it mean anything, means paper money. — fb. 
 
 Some virtues are only seen in adversity. — Eclectic Magazine. 
 
 I shall be happy always to see my friends. — lb. 
 
 lie not only watched a good opportunity to liberate his prisoner, but swam 
 with him across the river on his back. — Beligiom Memoirs. 
 
 The queen bore all her duties stoutly, as she expected others to bear 
 them. — Hist, of Netherlands. 
 
 Each occupied their several premises, and farmed their own land. — Jefferson. 
 
 New York, with several posts in the neighborhood, were in possession of tho 
 enemy. — Id. 
 
 My residence is at present at his lordship's, where I might, was my heart dis- 
 engaged, pass my time very agreeably, as there is a very amiable young lady 
 lives at the same house. — Washington's Letters. 
 
 We have much to say on the subject of this Life, and wiU often find ourselves 
 to dissent from the opinions of the biographer. — Macaulay. 
 
 If we examine with minuteness the falling snow, we will observe that each 
 flake consists of a number of exceedingly delicate particles of ice. — E. Sargent. 
 
 But we willjEiil of our conviction, if we have not made it evident, &c. — Gritiqtie 
 on Worcester. 
 
 A squirrel can climb a tree quicker than a boy. — Webster. 
 
 Parents are of all other people tiio very worst judges of their childreii's merits ; 
 for what they reckon such, is seldom any thing else but a repetition of their own 
 faults. — Addison. 
 
 The having a grammar of our mother-tongue first taught, would facilitate our 
 youths learning their Latin and Greek grammars. — Id. 
 
 We have the power of retaining, altering, and compounding tho^e images 
 which we have received, into all the varieties of picture and vision. — Id. 
 
 Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, 
 the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. — Murray's Gram. 
 
 By intercourse with wise and experienced persons, who know the world, we 
 may improve and rub off the rust of a private education. — lb. 
 
 Prepositions, you recollect, connect words, as well as conjunctions ; how, tlien, 
 can you tc U the one from the other ? — Smith. 
 
 Precept L Avoid low and provincial expressions. Precept 8. Observe 
 tlio natural order of things or events, and do not put the cart before ilia 
 liorse. — Goold Browri. 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 251 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 In speaking or writing, we should avoid redundancy, deficiency, tautology, 
 ambiguity, obscurity, affectation, pedantry, vulgarity, silliness, falseness, absurdity, 
 nonsense, self-contradiction, and any phraseology that is not the best the lan- 
 guage affords. 
 
 In general, the fewer the words we use to express our meaning, the better. 
 Many of the most esteemed and durable paragraphs in our hterature, are such 
 as tell much in very tew words. It is easy to multiply words ; but it is dis- 
 agreeable to be obliged to read through a large volume, to get what might have 
 been told u& as well in a small pamphlet. 
 
 To the abundant or excessive use of words, we commonly apply the terms 
 verbosity, pleonasm, redundancy, and tautology. Verbosity implies the use of 
 circuitous expressions, or it is the telling of things in a round-about way : it is 
 opposed to sententiousness or conciseness. " Tliey who first settled in the country, 
 made choice of the most desirable lands;" better, " The first settlers took the 
 best lands." Pleonasm is the use of some word or expression that is not es- 
 sential, but still adds to the vigor of the sentence; as, "I saw it with my own 
 eyes;" "Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride;" " One of the few, the im- 
 mortal names, that were not born to die." Redundancy is a needless repetition of 
 words, or a needless fullness of expression ; as, " We both of us went on the same 
 day, and, besides, moreover, we both of us returned back on the same day;" cor- 
 rected, "Both of us went and returned the same day." Tautology is the telling 
 of the same thing, or nearly the same thing, again and again, in other ways. 
 " The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, and heavily in clouds brings on the 
 day." — Addison, as quoted and criticised by Johnson. " Let observation, with ex- 
 tensive view, survey mankind from China to Peru." — Johnson himself. As much 
 as to say, "Let observation, with extensive observation, observe mankind from 
 China to Peru. Law and lawyers abound in tautology and redundancy, and 
 sometimes in needless technical terms. 
 
 It is generally much easier to find other ways of teUing the same thing, than 
 to add more new thoughts to what is already said ; hence it very often happens 
 that persons, in order to fill up the time or paper, add new words and expression' 
 without adding new ideas : they string together synonymous terms and ex 
 pressions, just as if they meant to repeat what they have learned in some dic- 
 tionary. It is said that Daniel Webster resolved — " Never to use a word th;it 
 does not add some new idea, or modify some idea already expressed." Those 
 words may in general be omitted, which are readily inferred, by the hearer or 
 reader, from the words that are given ; and those thoughts may be left unex- 
 pressed, which are readily inferred from the thoughts that are expressed. The 
 chief faults to be guarded against in seeking for brevity of expression, are ob- 
 scurity and deficiency ; which frequently arise from the use of very general and 
 comprehensive terms, and from the omission of words. The allowable or elegant 
 omission of words is termed ellipsis. Dialogue, and discourse uttered under the 
 influence of great excitement, are most frequently elliptical. 
 
 Coleridge, to give his notion of a perfect style, once said that he had lately 
 read, of Southey's prose, several pages so well written that nothing in them 
 presented itself to his mind except the author's meaning,— that no word, no 
 mode of expression, and no jar in the train of thought, diverted or drew his at- 
 tention. A perfect style, then, is so transparent a medium for the thought as to 
 become itself mvisible, — a train of words presenting the meaning so well and im- 
 pressively that it passes by itself unobserved. It has been truly said, "Nature's 
 chief masterpiece is writing-well." A person's skill in style depends chiefly on 
 his knowledge, judgment, and taste, and his practice in composition. His dis- 
 course should be, throughout, one entire, consistent, congruous, and perfect pic- 
 ture of all that is pertinent to the subject, his aim, and the reader's capacity; 
 
2&2 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 presenting neitlier too much nor too little. Nothing important should be left 
 cut, and nothing useless should be allowed to come in. In short, the piece 
 should be such that no word, phrase, clause, senteucG, or paragraph, can bo 
 omitted, inserted, transposed, or changed, without injuring the excellence of the 
 whole. The natural order of things shoul i be observed, or such an order as will 
 make the greatest impression. If thoughtful of what we are saying, we would 
 hardly say, "He dressed and washed himself;" " He tumbled, head over heols, 
 into the river;" " He will kill, steal, cheat, and lie, for gold." Things that have 
 no connection, should not be jumbled together; as, "I am well, and hope you 
 have got my last letter." We should not be so flighty as to say something on 
 one topic, then pass to another topic, then come again to the first topic ; nor should 
 we, in a subsequent part of the discourse, tell, as if we had not told, what we 
 have already told ; nor make any statement inconsistent with some other state- 
 ment at some distance before it. 
 
 The transition from one topic to another should be natural and easy. Not 
 80 many different subjects should be introduced into one sentence as wUl make 
 it confused. The most important parts should be placed where they wU.1 make 
 the strongest impression. Modifying parts should be so placed or distributed as 
 to encumber the discourse as little as possible, and to show clearly and readily 
 what they are intended to modify. The longer and more important parts of a 
 sentence should generally follow the shorter and less important parts. To con- 
 clude a sentence with an insignificant word or phrase, is always inelegant. 
 
 When a serial structure has been adopted, it is generally disagreeable to dis- 
 continue or to change it, before the entire enumeration is made. Parts con- 
 trasted or emphatically distinguished, should generally be expressed with full- 
 ness. " It is not by indolence, but by diligence, that you wiU succeed." 
 " Spring borrowed a now charm from its undulating grounds, its luxuriant wood- 
 lands, its sportive streams, its vocal birds, and its blushing fiowers." Parts con- 
 nected by correlative words, and parts implying contrast or comparison, must 
 generally be expressed so nearly alike as possible. Observe the elegance of ar- 
 rangement and expresssion in the following sentence : " Homer hurries us with 
 a commanding impetuosity; Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty: Homer 
 scatters with a generous profusion ; Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence." 
 — Pope. 
 
 Short sentences and long ones should be properly intermixed. Many short 
 sentences, in succession, are apt to have a disagreeable hitching or jerking eflfect ; 
 and long-winded sentences also displease, by becoming tiresome or tedious. Most 
 of the best modern writers rather prefer short sentences and simple structure, to 
 long and complicated sentences. Long and involved sentences should generally 
 bo avoided, by expressing the same meaning in two or more shorter sentences. 
 A long parenthesis within a sentence is generally better expressed by taking it 
 out, and putting it after or before the other part, as a distinct sentence. It is 
 sometimes better to recast a disagreeable sentence altogether ; or to dismiss it, 
 and to express the meaning in some other way. Mr. Bancroft says, in his His- 
 tory, " Private interest, directed to the culture of a valuable staple, was more 
 productive than the patronage of England; and tobacco enriched Virginia." 
 Here the tobacco clause is hitched on very abruptly and awkwardly ; just as if the 
 author did not know what to do with it. Perhaps Macaulay would have said : 
 " Private interest, directed to the culture of a valuable staple, was more pro- 
 ductive than the patronage of England. The Virginians turned their attention 
 to tobacco ; and tobacco enriched them." 
 
 In sele{;ting words, or modes of expression, the question is not whether they 
 are perfectly adapted to express the meaning, but whether they are the best the 
 language affords for the moaning ; if they are, then they are proper. The pref- 
 erence should, in general, be given to tliose words and expressions which arc 
 most popular, or understood by the greatest number of people: and whose 
 
GENERAL OBSERVATIOI^S. ^8^ 
 
 fundamental meaning, when they are analyzed, or traced to their etymology, ac- 
 cords best with the sense in which we mean to use them. 
 
 Our little words of one or two syllables, and our pithy idioms, are generally 
 the best. A great master of language says : " Saxon words can not be used too 
 frequently. They abridge and condense, and smack of life and experience, and 
 form the nerve and sinew of the best writings of the day; while the Latin is the 
 fat. The Saxon puts small and convenient handles to things, handles that are 
 easy to grasp; while your ponderous Johnsonian phraseology extends and ex- 
 aggerates, and never peels the chaff from the wheat." Dr. Johnson said, " The 
 Rehearsal has not life enough to keep it sweet;" but immediately recollecting 
 himself, he added, " It possesses not sufficient vitality to preserve it from putre- 
 faction." He defines net-work so that no lady can fail to have a clearer idea of 
 it than she ever had before : " Any thing reticulated or decussated, with inter- 
 stices at equal distances between the intersections." 
 
 "We should never use foreign words, expressions, or idioms, when we have 
 native ones that wiU express the meaning as well. Such a use of languages is 
 nonsensical, affected, and pedantic. " Is Lizzie on the carpet adhiu: f Are things 
 still in statu quo f I shall put out in a few days, and go quo animus feri ; — ^you 
 know where." — From a Letter. *' Tres humble serviteur. Et comment sa porte. 
 Mademoiselle ? Why you look divinely. But, mou enfant, they have dressed 
 you out most diabolically. Why, what a coiffure must you have ! and, oh mou 
 Dieu ! a total absence of rouge. But perhaps you are out." — Foote : Englishman 
 retwrned from, Paris. 
 
 The following paragraph is composed in the French idiom : " I no sooner 
 found myself here than I visited my new apartments, which are composed of 
 five pieces; the small room, which gives upon the garden, is practised through 
 the great one, and there is no other issue. As I was exceeded with fatigue, 1 
 no sooner made my toilette tlian I let myself fall upon a bed of repo.se, where 
 sleep came to surprise me." 
 
 It is not always easy to determine what is genuine English idiom. Our lan- 
 guage, being formed from several others, has idioms from them all. To what 
 extent foreign idioms may be allowed in our poetry, it is not easy to determine, 
 I inchne to think, that in the whole of our poetry — Euglish, Welsh, Scotch, 
 Irish, and American — may be found all the naturally intelligible idioms from all 
 the foreign languages that our writers ever studied. 
 
 It is possible to make discourse out of words merely ; that is, without having 
 vivid ideas of things themselves. Words are often strung together gram- 
 matically, and with just enough sense or propriety to avoid absurdity. Such 
 emptiness of expression may be termed nonsense. It comes from dull minds, or 
 from indolent or vacant states of the mind. Thus it happened that a certain 
 Spanish poet could not tell what his own sonnet meant, and thus have been 
 produced hundreds of unmeaning paragraphs in our htorature. Hence we can 
 not be too careful, or use too great, efforts, in getting at clear and distinct ideas. 
 Indeed, vivid, statuesque ideas are the greatest charm, or that which, above all 
 things else, enchains the hearer or reader. Truth — truth wortli learning and 
 remembering, is the first quality ; and the next is beauty, 
 
 A common species of nonsense and pedantry is the grandiloquent use of 
 learned language, when the speaker or writer has nothing to say, or does not 
 Jiimself comprehend, or only in a shadowy way, what he protends to explain or 
 prove to others. 
 
 Ex. — "The thinkable, even when compelled by analysis to make the nearest 
 approach that is possible to a negation of intelligibility, thus impUes phenom- 
 ena objectified by thought, and conceived to exist in space and time." ("If 
 thou hast any tidings," says Falstaflfto Pistol, "prithee, deliver them like a man 
 of this world.") 
 
 Language of this kind is mostly found in spiritual or transcendentiil writers 
 
254 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 and speakers; especially divines and metaphysicians. In fact, we are all liable 
 to use language thus, whenever we attempt to draw forth into light what is 
 beyond the reach of the limited faculties of the soul. 
 
 Another species of pedantry or affectation is the excessive or needless use or 
 technical language. " Lay in your oars, my lads ; step the short mast — close- 
 reef the storm-lug, and beach the galley under canvas."— i^rom a Novel. None 
 but a seaman knows what is meant here. Most people are too indolent to search 
 out the meanings of the words they do not understand, nor is it always con- 
 venient to do so. In writing a scientific treatise, or in addressing scientific per-, 
 sons, technical language may sometimes be necessary or most appropriate. 
 
 Another species of pedantry, or rather, of affectation, is the ridiculous aping, 
 in fine or pompous language, of those people who are deemed worthy of 
 imitation. 
 
 Ex. — "Administer your proposition; you will have my concurrence, sir, in 
 any thing that does not derogate from the regulations of conduct ; for it would 
 be most preposterous in one of my character to deviate from the strictest atten- 
 tion. Nor would there. Sir Gregory, did circumstances concur as j'ou insinuate, 
 be so absolute a certitude, that I, who have rejected so many matches, should 
 instantaneously succumb. And had not Penelope Trifle framed irrefra.j:able res- 
 olutions, she need not so long have retained her fomily name." — Foote, ridi- 
 culing an old maid. 
 
 Much akin to the foregoing fault is silliness, wliich also should bo carefully 
 avoided. 
 
 A popular book on physic, thus describes the process of eating : — 
 
 " Prehension, or the taking of food into the mouth, is performed mainly by 
 the hand, assisted by the lips and cheeks, as well as the anterior teeth and the 
 tongue. The contact of the solid food with the interior of the mouth, excites 
 the act of mastication, performed by alternating contractions of the muscles 
 which pull the lov.^er jaw upward, downward, backward, forward, and iatorally, 
 by acting on the bone in which they are implanted." v 
 
 To defer the main subject in order to define the meaning of words, borders 
 frequently upon silliness ; and so does most of the unbecomingly florid or figura- 
 tive language. These two faults may be termed the sophomoric style, as being 
 naturally and generally found in the half-green and half-ripe age of college sopho- 
 mores. Similar to silliness of expression is another fault, which I have often 
 noticed, and which sometimes affects whole communities as well as individuals. 
 It is the hackneyed use of some particular word, phrase, or sentence. 
 
 Some people are always guessing; some, reckoning ; some, calculating; and 
 Bome, ^spodng : some find everything sweet; some, first-rate; some, mighty 
 good ; some, mighty bad ; and others have all things in the superlative degree : 
 some always respond with a "Tliat'sso," '' Did you ever 1" "Yes?" " Well, to 
 be sure I" or, "That's a fact." A certain poHtician was never known to make a 
 speech without having ''our great and glorious Union" in it. Some speeches 
 are flooded with "my fellow-citizens." In England, whatever pleases, is "m'ce;" 
 in the United States, ''fine:' Poets often exhibit this fault in their use of 
 rhymes. In fact, the fault seems to be a natural infirmity of the human mind, 
 whenever it becomes morbid or indolent, or when it comes to a stand in the 
 growth of its knowledge. Wo are often annoyed by remembered scraps buzzing 
 in the head Uke gadfiies, especially if they find there something of a Pegasus. 
 
 Low, vulgar, or provincial expressions should bo avoided. Such are, " To 
 get into a scrape," "To play the 'possum," "To acknowledge the corn," 
 "To cut shmes," "To bark up the wrong tree," "To get the hang of," "To 
 liave a fiiir shake at," and many others, which we decline to quote for fear 
 the l§arner should catch them. Some of these low yet current expressions are 
 bo well founded and so energetic that they should ratiier be regarded as gold 
 
GENRRAL OBSERVATIONS. 255 
 
 in bullion, that has not yet received the stamp ; and there are many of them 
 wliieh our people, especially the politicians, could hardly spare. 
 
 A departure from grammatical accuracy, or from elegance, is sometimes al- 
 lou-ed, in order to represent more faithfully the language or character of another. 
 *^ Child. Once, when I sat upon her lap, I felt a beating at her side ; and she 
 told me 'twas her heart that beat, and bade me feel for mine, and they both beat 
 alike, only mine beat the quickest And I feel my heart beating yet — but hers 
 lean not feel I" Had the author here said "more quickly,'''' he would have 
 shown at once, not the pathetic prattle of the child over iis dead mother, but 
 his own counterfeiting, and tlius spoibd the dramatic effect. Hence, too, 
 Cowper makes Mrs. Gilpin say: "So you must ride on horseback after we" 
 To this head may also be referred the imitations of brogues and dialects. 
 
 All uncouth, harsh, antiquated, obsolete, unauthorized, or new-fangled terms 
 should generally be avoided, unless they are meant to be imitative, or are pecu- 
 liarly appropriate and expressive. 
 
 ignorant people often pervert words, or confound words that resemble in 
 sound, or imagine that words belong to the language that are not in it, or not 
 authorized ; as, critter for creature ; disgracious for ungracious ; prehaps for per- 
 haps ; contagious for contiguous. "He was much effected by the operation." 
 "They got out a capeas horpus." A certain man " meant to run a revenue up 
 to his house, build a pizarro in front, a portorico behind, a conservatory on top, 
 and treat his friends in the most hospital manner." 
 
 The same word or the same mode of expression should not be so often 
 used as to indicate poverty of language ; nor in so maiiy different senses as 
 to render the meaning doubtful, or disappoint disagreeably the expectation of 
 the reader. 
 
 "When there are several synonymous words or expressions, great care sliould 
 be taken to select the most appropriate one. "An idle boy is unwilling to be 
 employed :" say rather, "A lazy boy," &c. Idle means not doing, or not effecting 
 much ; lazy means unwilling to do. " The proud pile is of great magnitude, and 
 soars grandly up with its numerous towers and splendid terraces." — Travels in 
 Europe. I believe soars is applied only to what leaves its support ; therefore it 
 can not be applied to an editice : say, " n'ses." If our language had no word 
 nearer to the meaning than soars, then soars would be proper. In order to dis- 
 criminate words, it may be useful to the student to keep in mind the three fol- 
 lowing observations : — ■ 
 
 1. Learn the principles of language, or of synonymy, and endeavor to apply 
 them judiciously. For example : Some words are more comprehensive or less 
 specific than others. Every river is a stream, but not every stream is a river. 
 Some words are active, and others are passive. Force affects, strength sustains ; 
 fickle men waver, pr'icQS fl,ioduate ; reasonable men exorcise reason, rational men 
 have reason. Some words are positive, and others are negative. A fault is 
 something positively bad ; a defect is a mere want of something needed. Some 
 words differ in degrea; as, damp, moist, wet; delicacy, dainty. Some words 
 relate more directly to nature ; others, to art. Gentleness may be the gift of 
 nature, but iameness is the result of art. Some words are rather spiritual or 
 heavenly; others, worldly or material : soul, mind; spirit, vigor; delightful, 'Vi- 
 cious. Some words rather have reference to something inward ; and others, to 
 something outward ; as, dignity, decorum. Some words are the names of things 
 themselves; others are but the names of the sfgns of things; as, idea, ward. 
 
 2. Consider what distinctions the differences in things require ; look through 
 your knowledge, look into the world around you — into other men's knowledge 
 and practice, and into the relations of things, and discriminate accordingly. For 
 example : Genius is rather inward, creative, and angelic ; talent, outward, prac- 
 tical, and worldly. Genius disdains and defies imitation ; talent is often the re- 
 sult of imitation in respect to every thing that may contribute to the desired 
 
256 GENERAL OBScIRVATIONS. 
 
 excellence. Genius has quick and strong sympathies, and is sometimes given to 
 revery and vision ; talent is cool and wise, seldom losing sight of " common 
 sense." GenvMs is born for a particular pursuit, in which it surpasses ; talent is 
 versatile, and may make a respectable figure at almost any thing. To genius 
 are due about all the achievements that distinguish enlightened from savage life ; 
 iaitnt has merely preserved, polished, and enjoyed the productions of genius, but 
 created nothing. Men of talent are but time-servers : they usually carry on the 
 world, and get the best of it while they are in it ; but tlieir glory generally ends 
 at the grave. Men of genius sometimes starve for want of bread; though they 
 are generally appreciated and honored by posterity. 
 
 Discriminate words as you find them used in sentences written by good 
 authors. If I sa,y, " When the disciples saw the Savior arisen on the morning 
 of the resurrection, they gazed upon him with astonishment and rapture;" " I 
 have often seen impudent fellows station themselves at the doors of churches, 
 and i-tore at the women;" you can easily see the difference between gaze and 
 sta7'e. 
 
 Every word has a peculiar set of associations belonging to it ; and in the 
 proper discrimination of words with reference to their secondary ideas, lie chiefly 
 the precision and elegance of language. 
 
 We should rather choose the words and expressions already in common use^ 
 and employ them in their ordinary signification, thaa coin new words or ex- 
 pressions, or use old ones in a peculiar sense ; for, if we were at liberty in these 
 respects, soon every man's writings would need a glossary. Ex, — " We may 
 recognize this construction by the name of the accusative and infinitive con- 
 tracted objective accessory." — Mulligan. 
 
 Another fault is ambiguity, which arises chiefly from the several different 
 meanings which some words have, from the position of words, and from the 
 omission of words. '• He is mady " The governor had several fast friends in 
 the Territory." — Bwnefs Northwest T-irriiory. What sort of friends does ho 
 mean? '^Jirrn friends," I suppose. "The rising tomb a lofty column bore." 
 Which bore the other ? "While the sun was gently sinking below the horizon 
 in the west, with much beauty, the bright moon rose serenely above it in 
 the east." 
 
 Rhymes, poetical words, and poetic structure should be avoided in prose: — 
 
 Ex. — " He pulled out his purse to Teimburse the unfortunate man." " The 
 mom was cloudy and darksome, but the eve was serenely beautiful." 
 
 " The gallant warrior starts from soft repose, from golden visions dnd volup- 
 tuous ease ; where, in the dulcet piping time of peace, he sought sweet solace 
 after all his toils. No more in beauty's siren lap reoUned, he weaves fair gar- 
 lands for his lady's brows; no more entwines with flowers his shining sword, 
 nor through the livelong lazy summer's day chants forth his love-sick soul in 
 madrigals. To manhood roused, he spurns the amorous flute ; dofi's from hia 
 brawny back the robes of peace, and clothes his pampered hmbs in panoply of 
 steeL O'er liis dark brow where late the myrtle waved, where wanton roses 
 breathed enervate love, he rears the beaming casque and nodding plume; 
 grasps the bright shield and shakes the ponderous lauce ; or mounts, with eager 
 pride, his flery steed, and burns for deeds of glorious chivAlvy.^^- Irving : KnickeT' 
 backer. Possibly, the foregoing was meant in ridicule of the turgid or bombastic 
 style. The golden-mouthed author, however, not unfrequently transgresses, by 
 passing into poetic grounds. 
 
 In accordance with Dr. Blair's system of rhetoric, we may briefly sum up the 
 most important qualities of style, in the six following terms : purity, propriety, 
 and />rt!cmon, chiefly in regard to words and phrases; and perspicuity, unity, 
 and strength, in regard to sentences. He who writes with purity, avoids all 
 phraseology that is foreign, uncouth, or ill-derived ; he who writes with propr/Aity, 
 
OENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 357 
 
 eelocts the most appropiiate, the very b^t expressions, and generally displays 
 sound judgment and good taste , he who writes with precision, is careful to 
 state exactly what he means — all that he means or that is necessary, and nothing 
 more; he who writes with perspicuity^ aims to present his meaning so clearly 
 and obviously that no one can fail to understand him at once : he who observes 
 unity, follows carefully the most agreeable order of nature, and does not jumble 
 together incongruous things, nor throw out his thoughts in a confused or chaotic 
 mass ; and he who writes with strength, so disposes or marshals all the parts of 
 each sentence, and all the parts of the discourse, as to make the strongest im- 
 pression. A person's style, according as it is influenced by taste and imagina- 
 tion, may be dry, plaiUy neat, elegant, ornamental, florid, or turgid The most 
 common faulty style is that which may be described as being stiff, cramped, 
 labored, heavy, and tiresome; its opposite is the easy, flowing, graceful, 
 sprightly, and interesting style. One of the greatest beauties of style, one too 
 little regarded, is simplicity or naturalness ; that easy, unaffected, earnest, and 
 highly impressive language which indicates a total ignorance, or rather, inno- 
 cence, of all the trickery of art. It seems to consist of tlie pure promptings of 
 nature ; though, in most instances, it is not so much a natural gift as it is the 
 perfection of art. 
 
 Dr. Campbell gives the following excellent laws of language, which should 
 bo ever kept in mind, and which will best exemplify themselves in the course 
 of the student's life and experience: — 
 
 1. When the usage is divided as to any particular words or phrases, and 
 when one of the expressions is susceptible of different meanings, while the 
 other admits of only one signification, the expression which is strictly univ- 
 ocal should be preferred. 
 
 2. In doubtful cases, analogy should be regarded. 
 
 3. When expressions are in other respects equal, that should be pre- 
 ferred which is most agreeable to the ear. 
 
 4. When none of the preceding rules takes place, regard should be had 
 to simplicity. 
 
 a. All words and phrases, particularly harsh and not absolutely neces- 
 sary, should be dismissed. 
 
 h. When the etymology plainly points to a different signification from 
 what the word bears, propriety and simplicity require its dismission. 
 
 c. When words become obsolete, or are never used but in particular 
 phrases, they should be repudiated, as they give the style an air of vulgar- 
 ity and cant, when this general disuse renders them obscure. 
 
 d. All words and phrases which, analyzed grammatically, include a sole- 
 cism, should be dismissed. 
 
 e. All expressions which, according to the established rules of language, 
 either have no meaning, or involve a contradiction, or, according to the 
 fair construction of the words, convey a meaning different from the inten- 
 tion of the speaker, should be dismissed. 
 
 Note. — The remainder of the book, except the article on Analy- 
 sis, might be termed Part Third. In the foregoing pages, we have 
 shown what the most ordinary language must have ; in most of the 
 following pages, we shall endeavor to show how language acquires 
 force and beauty. 
 
268 RHETORICAL DEVICES. EQUIVALENT EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 13. RHETORICAL DEVICES. 
 
 EQUIVALENT EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 An expression is equivalent to another, when it conveys the same 
 meaning in different words. 
 
 Language often affords us the choice of either a single word, a 
 phrase, or an entire clause. 
 
 Ex. — " Pleasant scene3"=Scenes of pleasure=^CGne9 that please. Now=at the 
 present time. Sharp-ed.o:ed=havmor a sharp edge. " The book, containing the 
 stnry^ is in my library"=The book which contains the story^ is in my library. " We 
 expected him to make a «peec^"=We expected that he would make a speech. *' The 
 river was so deep as to be impassahle — that it was impassable — that it could not be 
 passed over.'''' 
 
 Transitive verbs may be used in either voice. 
 
 Ex. — "Cain kitted Abel"==Abel was killed by Cain. 
 
 We may sometimes express an assertion modestly by substituting 
 a denial of the opposite. 
 
 Ex. — "I remember your promise"=I have not forgotten your promise. " He ia 
 wise;" "He is not ignorant ;" "He is no fool." "She is handsome;" "She is 
 not homely." 
 
 It or there is often used to introduce a sentence more elegantly. 
 
 Ex. — ^^ It is not probable that those who are vicious in youth, will become vir- 
 tuous in old age." '■'■ There never was a time when labor was more in demand or 
 better rewarded." 
 
 Frequently, we may use an entirely different word, or mode of 
 expression, with equal or even greater propriety. 
 
 Ex. — "The gentleman does not possess the necessary qualiflcation8"=He is 
 unfit for the business. "She died;" " God released her from her pain." "The 
 one was a horse, namsd Pound-cake / the other, a mule that wagged his long ears to 
 the call of ^John'.'''' " My opponent does perhaps not see that he has contradicted 
 himself;" " The honorable beiiator does not seem to know that he is caught tight 
 and fast in the fixed fact of a killing contradiction." 
 
 The shortest and most familiar expressions are generally the best. 
 The longer or more unusual ones are more ceremonious, and, to be 
 appropriate, should imply greater importance of matter, or greater 
 accuracy, clearness, or elegance. 
 
 The use of one part of speech, or form, for another, is called 
 enal'lage. 
 
 Ex.—" The swallow sings sweet from her nest in the ^dlV—Dlmond. So, we 
 ased for /. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 " Forth rushed with whirlwind sound 
 The chariot of paternal Db\ty:'— Milton. 
 " Up rose the sun, and up rose 'E.m\YiB:'—Chamer. 
 •• Silver and gold have I uone." — Bible. 
 
 " We set him loose, and away he run." — Swift's Gulliveo-'s Travels. 
 How spirited does tl)e arran;:eineut of the words make the foregoing sentences. 
 
RHETORICAL DEVICES. ARRANGEMENT. 259 
 
 Arrangement may be considered with reference to words, phrases, 
 and clauses. 
 
 The place most important in a sentence, is usually its beginning ; 
 the next most important is the ending. 
 
 Hence the subject, which is the germ or source of the whole 
 sentence, naturally takes the first place ; and, in some languages, the 
 verb is generally reserved for the end. 
 
 Ex. — "^ maintained a large army at his own expense." "Home was an ocean 
 of flame." — Oroli/. " Him the Almighty hurled.'''' — MiUan. 
 
 An adjective, an adverb, a verb, or a substantive, may sometimes 
 usurp tho place of the subject, or be brought out at the close of the 
 sentence; especially when it sets forth what is most striking, or 
 what is uppermost in the speaker's mind. 
 
 'Ex.—^^Zouder and lauder the deep thunder rolled, as through the myriad halls 
 of some vast temple in the sky ; fiercer and brighter became the lightning ; more 
 and more heavily the rain poured down.'''' — Dickens. What a sentence ! " Then 
 never saw I charity before." " Then rushed the steed to battle driven." " The 
 goods he sent away, and the money he put into his pocket." " Strait is the gate, 
 and narrow is the way, that lead to life eternaV '■^Long was the way and dreary. 
 — Milton. By placing long at the beginning, and dreary at the end, how admirably 
 has Milton expressed what must have been most striking and disheartening to 
 Satan, who was about to undertake his journey over Chaos. 
 
 Frequently, an adjunct, a participial phrase, or an infinitive phrase, 
 may be transposed. 
 
 Ex. — ^'■In proportion to the increase of luxury, the Koman State evidently de- 
 clined" ==TheKoman State, in proportion to the increase of luxury., evidently declined 
 =The Koman State evidently declined in proportion to the increase of luxury. 
 
 Frequently, the clauses may change places, or one be placed 
 within another. 
 
 Ex.— "i)^ you desire it, I will accompany you ;" "I will accompany you, if you 
 desire it;'' " I will, if you desire it, accompany you." 
 
 Some regard should he paid to the importance and the natural 
 order of things. 
 
 Ex.— " The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all that it inherit, shall dissolve ; 
 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 Leave not a rack hohindL." — Shakespeare. 
 
 But the mind sometimes disregards the natural order of time or 
 place, and puts forth first what is first or most thought of. 
 
 Ex.—" Where I was Ired and lorn.'''— Shakespeare. 
 
 A sentence so constructed that the meaning is suspended till the 
 close, is called a period. 
 
 Ex.—" When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
 people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another 
 * * * a decent respect to the opinion of mankind requires, that they should 
 declare the causes which impel them to separation." — Jefferson. 
 
 The transposition of words, grammarians call hyper'haton. 
 
 Ex.—" From crag to cra§, the rattling peaks among, leaps the live thunder."— 
 Byron. »2 
 
260 RHETORICAL DEVICES. ELLIPSIS. PLEONASM. 
 
 ELLIPSIS, OR OMISSION OF WORDS. 
 
 For the sake of brevity and force, words not necessary to convey 
 the meaning are sometimes omitted. 
 
 Ex.— "A horse ! a horse 1 my kingdom for a horse !" is much more forcible 
 than, Fetch me a horse ! fetch me a horse ! I would now give my kingdom for a 
 horse. "A boy and [a] girl." " The old bridge and the new [&ntZ<76]." "Sweet 
 [is] the pleasure, rich [is] the treasure." — Dryden. 
 
 In the following stanza, the omission of which is quite elegant : — 
 
 " I hear a voice — thou canst not hear, 
 
 Which says I must not stay ; 
 
 I see a hand — thou canst not see. 
 
 Which beckons me away." 
 
 Omitted words are such as have already been mentioned, or else 
 such as may be readily inferred from the words used. 
 
 Suppose you should see merely a horse's head projecting from behind a stable, 
 would you not, from your knowledge, know what animal is there even without 
 seeing him? The same principle allows ellipsis, or the omission of words. 
 
 In analyzing arid parsing, only such words should be supplied 
 
 as are necessary to complete the construction. 
 
 PLEONASM, OR REPETITION OF WORDS. 
 
 Sometimes more words may be used than are absolutely necessary. 
 Ex.—" I saw it with my own eyesy " The vessel sailed for Cuba, and not for 
 N&w York.'''' " Our boat sunk down to the very bottom." 
 " One of the few, the immortal names, 
 That were not born to die." — HallecJc. 
 
 The same word or the same construction may sometimes be 
 repeated. 
 
 " Strike — till the last arm foe expires ! 
 Strike — for your altars and your fires ! 
 Strike — for the green graves of your sires ! 
 
 God, and your native land !" — Ealleclc. 
 " No employment for industry— no demand for labor— no sale of the produce of 
 the farm— no sound of the hammer, but that of the auctioneer knocking down 
 property V'— Benton. How well here does no indicate the utter prostration of busi- 
 ness and prosperity. 
 
 " The endless sands yield nothing but small stunted shrubs— even these fail 
 after the first two or three days : and from that time you pass over broad plains — 
 vou pass over newly reared hills- you pass through valleys that the storm of the 
 last week has dug— and the hills and the valleys are sand, sand, still sand, and 
 only sand, and sand, and sand again."— ^o^Ae;^ .- Grossing the Desert. How well 
 here does repetition indicate the todiousness and weariness felt by the traveler. 
 " Ifowbeit, the door I opened, or so I dreamed ; 
 Which slowly, slowly gaped."— i%06?'« Hmmted House. 
 Here slowly, repeated, very ingeniously intimates the fear and hesitation of the 
 opener. 
 
 "Mourn, hOT)le98 Caledonia, mourn." "Fal'n, fal'n, fal'n, fal'n, fal'n from his 
 high estate, and weltering in his blood." " Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
 honors." " There is but one, one Mary in the world for me." 
 " She winks, and giggles, and simpers. 
 And simpers, jmd giggles, and wmks ; 
 And though she talks but little. 
 'Tia a groat deal more than sne thinks." — Stark, 
 
RHETORICAL DEVICES. EXERCISES. 261 
 
 "Explain upon a thing till all men doubt it; 
 
 And write about it, and about it." — Fbpe'a Dunciad. 
 " By foreign bands tby dying eyes were closed ; 
 
 By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed ; 
 
 By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned ; 
 
 By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned." — Pope. 
 "Must I then leave you ? Must I needs forego 
 ^ So good, so noble, and so true a master ? 
 
 The king shall have my service, but my prayers 
 
 For ever and for ever shall be yours." — Shakespeare. 
 
 Authors sometimes consider it a beauty to begin two or more 
 words of the same line, or in the same construction, with the same 
 letter. This is called alliteration. 
 
 " In friendship false, implacable in hate, 
 
 Eesolved to ruin or to rule the state." — Dryden, 
 " Fields forever fresh, and groves forever green.'''' 
 " Round rugged rocks, rude ragged rascals ran.'''' 
 " Alike for feast and fight prepared, 
 • Battle and banquet both they shared." — W. Scott. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 Change the voice : — 
 
 John fed the horse. Cornwallis was defeated by Washington. He made 
 it. His friends will recommend him. I offered him a situation. 
 
 Change the participial and tlie infinitive phrases into clauses : — 
 
 The teacher being in sight, all the boys ran to their books. He came to 
 examine the matter himself. His views are so extravagant as to be ridiculous. 
 Having paid his clerk, he dismissed him. 
 
 Use rr : — 
 
 To devise any apology for such conduct, is utterly impossible. 
 
 Use THERE : — 
 
 Not one man was in the country, unwilling to defend it. Thorns are to rosea. 
 
 CJiange into compound adjectives : — 
 
 My boots with red tops. Violets of sweet scent fringed the bank. The 
 live-oaks of the South, that are curtained with moss. 
 
 Change the words, or the mode of expression : — 
 
 Every one who hunts after pleasure, or fame, or fortune, is still restless and 
 uneasy till he has hunted down his game. — Swift. I bore the diminution of 
 my riches without any outrages of sorrow, or pusillanimity of dejection. — John- 
 son. Suspenders were abandoned with the first intimation of the present 
 summer solstice. — Willis. 
 
 Change the arrangement, and occasionally the mode of expression : — 
 
 A person gains more by obliging his inferior, than by disobliging hire. The 
 murmurs of the people were loud, as their sufferings increased. Various, sin- 
 cere, and constant are the eflforts of men, to produce that happiness which the 
 mind requires. The necessary ingredients of friendship are confidenco and 
 benevolence. If beasts could talk, they might often tell us a cruel story. For 
 many a returning autumn, a lone Indian was seen standing at the consecrated 
 spot we have mentioned ; but, just thirty years after the death of Soonseetah, he 
 was noticed for the last time. 
 
 Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade. 
 
 Where heaves the turf with many a mouldering heap. 
 Each in his narrow cell forever laid. 
 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sle^p.—Gh-ay. 
 
262 RHETORICAL FIGURES. 
 
 Change to prose : — 
 
 For see, ah I see, while yet her ways, 
 
 With doubtful steps, I tread, 
 A hostile world its terrors raise, 
 
 Its snares delusive spread. — Merrick. 
 Supply all the omittei words : — 
 
 The large and the little man were great friends. Stay longer. Arm, sol- 
 diers 1 Vain — vain — give o'er. How now, Tubal, what news from Genoa? 
 A diamond gone, cost me three thousand ducats in Frankfort ! The combat 
 deepens. — On, ye brave. But gone was every Indian we had seen. The 
 more, the better. Heaven hides from brutes what men, from men what spirits, 
 know. He offered a reward to whoever could solve the problem. He has 
 behaved as well as you. He has behaved better than you. The honor, and 
 not the profits, is what he values most. Quick at meals, quick at work. Better 
 long something, than soon nothing. Soon ripe, soon rotten. 
 
 "When pain and sorrow wring the brow, 
 A ministering angel thou. — Scott. 
 
 14. rJIETORICAL FIGURES. 
 
 The expressiveness of language may be increased or extended, by 
 the judicious use of the rhetorical figures. They promote clear- 
 ness^ beauty, brevity , and force. 
 
 Some Southern orator has thus extolled the moral influence of woman : — 
 " Woman wields the Archimedean lever whose fulcrum is childhood, whose 
 weight is the world, whose length is all time, and whose sweep — is eternity 1" 
 '* Burns thus laments the vanished happy days of youth: — 
 " Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, 
 And fondly broods with miser care ; 
 Time but the impression deeper makes. 
 As streams their channels deeper wear." 
 Dryden speaks thus of the inventress of the church-organ : — 
 " He raised a mortal to the skies, 
 She drew an angel down." 
 That is, the organ, at divine service, is as an angel that has just hastened down 
 from heaven, to instruct and lead the choir in praising God. 
 
 Grattan closes his character of Chatham with this sublime sentence : — 
 " He struck a blow in the world, that resounded through the universe." 
 All these examples owe their beauty and vigor chiefly to the figures which they 
 contain. _ A perfect classification of the rhetorical figures is perhaps impossible; 
 for sometimes several set the same expression aglow at once. Some rhetoricians 
 
 Eretend to have seen more than 250 different ones ; the following classification, 
 owever, will about exhaust the subject. 
 
 1. A §iinilc is an express comparison. 
 
 Ex. — "The music of Carryl was, like the memory of joys that are past^ sweet 
 and mournful to the SiOXjXy—Ossian. "The child reclined on its mother's bosom 
 (M soTM infant blossom on its parent stem.'''' — Mrs. Sigourney. " He [the steed] 
 looked as if the speed of thought were in his limbs." — Byron. " Too much gov- 
 ernment may be a greater evil than no government. 77te sheep are happier among 
 themselves titan under the care of the wolves.^'' — Jefferson. Sometimes we find such 
 condensed similes as this : "A fal^e friend and a shadow attend only while the 
 8im shines." 
 
RHETORICAL FIGURES. 263 
 
 2. A metaphor is an implied comparison. It is a word or 
 an expression applied from one object or attribute to another, on 
 account of some resemblance. It sometimes comprises several words. 
 
 Ex. — " Life is an isthmus between two eternities." " Her disdain stung him 
 to the heart," " Bonaparte called burning Moscow an ocean of flame." " TJhe 
 morning of life." '' The storms of life." " Some mute, inglorious Milton herp may 
 rest." — Gray. " Man ! thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear." — Byron. " You 
 are ahvuy^ putting your nose into my affairs." " A heart I a cushion to stick pins 
 into. For so the world has it." — Jerrold. " Sin is a hitter sweet, and the tithe colors 
 of the serpent by no means m/ihe amends for the poison of his sting.'''' — South. 
 
 3. An allegory is a fictitious discourse on one thing, sug'gestive 
 of a train of thoughts, usually instructive, on another. It has been 
 called continued metaphor. 
 
 Ex. — " Thou hast brought a vine [the Jewish nation] out of Egypt : thou hast 
 cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst 
 cause it to take deep root, and it filled the laud. The hills were covered with the 
 shadow of it, and tlie bouglis tliereof were like the goodly cedars." — Bible. See 
 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Addison's Vision of Mirza, Johnson's Journey of a 
 Day, iTonteneile's Empire of Poetry, Poe's Haunted Palace, Milton's Sin and Death. 
 
 The allegory includes parables and fables. Similes, metaphors, and allegories, 
 are all founded on resemblaiice ; but some allegories imply personification. Re- 
 semblance may be either in the appearance of objects, or in their relations or 
 effects. The latter is commonly called analogy. " Far through the rosy deptlis /" 
 i. e., sunset sky. Appearance. " Have you a A;e2/ to this arithmetic ?" Anal- 
 ogy. 
 
 4. Persoiiificatiou represents as persons, or as rational or 
 
 living beings, objects that are not such in reality. 
 
 Ex. — " How sweet the Moonlight sleeps upon this bank !" — Shahespeare. 
 "Cheered with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles." — MUton. "There Honor 
 comes a pilgrim gray." — Collins. " Greece cries to us from the convulsed lips of her 
 poisoned Demosthenes ; and Rome pleads with us in the mute persuasion of her 
 mangled Tally." — Eoerett. " How does God reveal himself in nature? She an- 
 swers thee with loud voices, and a thousand tongues : 'God is love.' " — Sherloclc. 
 
 Speino. — " And buds that yet the blasts of winter fear. 
 
 Stand at the door of life, and ask to clothe the year." — Dryden. 
 
 The slight personification which merely represents a noun naturally neuter as 
 masculine or feminine, is sometimes called syllepsis. " The ship was delayed on 
 her voyage." 
 
 Personification is probably the noblest, the most creative, of all the figures ; 
 being the very soul of poetry. It is closely allied to metaphor, and sometimes it 
 is based on metonymy or synecdoche. 
 
 5. A metoii'ymy is the proper word or expression for one thing, 
 applied to another, different in kind, but so related that the mind 
 readily perceives what is meant. It is founded on the relations of 
 cause, effect, contiguity in place, and contiguity in time. The cause, 
 the effect, and the circumstances; the container, and the thing con- 
 tained ; the sign, and the thing signified ; the whole and its parts, — 
 are naturally associated in the memory, and readily suggest one 
 another. 
 
264 RHETORICAL FIGURES. . 
 
 Ex. — "They have Moses and the prophets •'^ i. e., their writings. " I have read 
 Homer and VirgiV " The women antt children were put to the sword f i. e., to 
 death. " The husbandman has lost his sweat ;" i. e., the reward of his labor. ^'-Qray 
 hmrs should be respected ;" i. e., old age. " He was the sigh of her secret soul ;" 
 i. e., the youth for whom she sighed in secret. " We drank but one bottle.'''' 
 '■'■Pennsylvania passed certain resolutions," " He assumed the sceptre ;'''' i. e., the 
 regal authority. Sign for thing signitied. We often use this figure to avoid dis- 
 agreeable cir3amlocution. When a grammarian says, " The predicate is that which 
 is affirmed of the subject," he means, " The predicate denotes that which is affirm- 
 ed of what the subject denotes." 
 
 '■'- My adventurous song." Attribute transferred from one object to an accompany- 
 ing object. '■'•Drowsy night ; musing midnight ; jovial wine ; giddy heigiits ; the 
 fearful^ dizzy brink ; bleating mountains." " The ploughman homeward plods his 
 weary way." " You have a very impudent mule," said a young man to another 
 who had just rode between him and a young lady. 
 
 6. A syiiec'doclie is a term or an expression applied to more or 
 less than it strictly denotes. Some grammarians say, " Synecdoche 
 is the naming of a part for the whole, or of the whole for a part." 
 
 Ex. — " Give us our daily bread j''^ i. e., food. " We bought a hundred head of 
 sheep." " The same day were added unto them three thousand souls.'''' Observe 
 that the preaching was to save souls, and hence the selection of this part for the 
 whole. " I am glad we are under roof^ " Stay thy avenging steel f i. e., sword. 
 " Here lies buried William e/tme*;" i. e., the body. "The Assyrian came down 
 like the wolf on the fold." " So thought the countries of Demosthenes and the 
 Spartan, yet Leonidas is trampled by the timid slave." " Youth and beauty shall 
 be laid in dust." The character, qualitv, or attribute of a person is of course a 
 part of him. " To his Excellency the Governor." " 'Crate'rus,' said Alexander, 
 ' loves the king ; but Hephsestion loves Alexander.' " " He remained silent, and 
 thus wisely kept the/oo^ within." " Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ;'* 
 i. e., a large number. " The thirsty Texan pointed his finger down his open mouth, 
 and said to the Mexican woman, ' E't,o Grande ! Eio Grande /' " 
 
 Metonym.y and synecdoche are founded, not on resemblance;, but on relation ; 
 and they sometimes approach each other so nearly as not to be readily distin- 
 guished. They enable the speaker to be more definite, by confining the attention 
 to that only which is most obvious or intelligible, or to that which necessarily im- 
 plies the rest; they enable him to be more impressive, by drawing the attention 
 especially to that on which the fact or action immediately depends ; and fre- 
 quently they enable him to avoid circumlocution. 
 
 Ex. — " He addressed the CAair," is more definite than, " He addressed the 
 President ;" for it must mean, " He addressed the President in his offic'ial capacity P 
 " We descried a sad"' [a ship] ; but, " Our keels [ships] ploughed" the deep ;" be- 
 cause the former accords better with seeing; and the latter, with ploughing. 
 " The fruit of th&t forbidden tree, whose mortal taste," is a very artful expression. 
 Eve had an unconquerable curiosity to taste the fruit which was forbidden under 
 tlie penalty of death. 
 
 ■y. .Aiitith'oKis sets different objects or attributes in contrast. 
 
 Ex. — " Sink ot swim); live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and heart to 
 this vote."— Webster. " Though deep, yet clear.'^' "At his touch, crowns crumbled, 
 beggars reigned, systems vanished."— PAi^^^ps. "As when a husband or a lap- 
 dog dies." — Po^e. " The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive specu- 
 lation; those ot Pope, by minute observation. Dryden is read with frequent as- 
 tonishment ; Pope, with perpetual delight."— /oATWon.. See the first two stanzaa 
 of Halleok's Bozzaris. 
 
 " To-day man's dressed in gold and silver bright. 
 Wrapped in a shroud before to-morrow night.'^ 
 
 " They heard the clarion's iron clang. 
 The breeze which through the roses sang."— CroZ^. 
 
RHETORICAL FIGURES. 265 
 
 8. Irony sneeringly means tlie reverse of what the words liter- 
 ally denote. It is usually mockery uttered for the sake of ridicule 
 or sarcasm. It has the finest effect when the speaker seems to fall 
 into the real sentiments of those whom he attacks. 
 
 Ex. — To call a fool a Solomon, or to praise what we mean to disparage, is irony. 
 *' Have not the Indians been kindly and justly treated? Have not the temporal 
 things, the vain baubles and filthy lucre of this world, which were too apt to en- 
 gage their worldly and selfish thoughts, been benevolently taken from them ; and 
 have they not instead thereof, been taught to set their afliections on things above?" 
 — Irmcg. 
 
 9. Paralip'sis pretends to conceal or omit what it really ex- 
 presses or suggests. 
 
 Ex. — '■'■I will not call 1dm villain, because it would be unparliamentary. IioiU 
 not call him fool, because he happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer." — Grattan. 
 "Boys, you would not throw stones at the Police, — would you?" — 0'' Connelly 
 thus putting into their heads what he wants them to do, — inciting the mob to a riot. 
 " Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts : she needs 
 none. There she is, — behold her and judge for yourselves. There is her history, 
 — the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, 
 and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill, — and there they will remain for 
 ever." — Webster. 
 
 " Must I remember ? Why, she should hang on him 
 As if increase of appetite had grown 
 By what it fed on ; yet, within a month — 
 Let me not think — Frailty, thy name is woman." — ShaJcespeare. 
 
 10. Hyper'bole greatly exaggerates what is founded in truth. 
 To be proper, it should imply strong emotion in the speaker, or 
 the apprehension that the hearer would not otherwise attach suffi- 
 cient importance to what is said. 
 
 Ex.—" Brougham is a thunderbolt.^' " He was the owner, of a piece of land not 
 larger than a £acede?nonian letter:' " That fellow is so tall that he does n't know 
 when his feet are cold." 
 
 " Some Curran, who, when thrones were crumbled, and dynasties forgotten, 
 might stand the landmark of his country's genius, rearing himself amid regal 
 ruins and national dissolution, a mental pyramid in the solitude of tiine,_ beneath 
 whose shade things might moulder, and around whose summit eternity must 
 play." — PhiUips. 
 
 "Falstatt; thou globe of flesh, spotted o'er with continents of sin:'— Shakespeare. 
 " Here Orpheus sings ; trees, moving to the sound. 
 Start from their roots, and form a shade axoxmd:'— Pope. 
 
 11. Climax means ladder. It is a gradual climbing, or rise 
 of thought, from things inferior to greater or better. When re- 
 versed, it is called anticlimax. 
 
 Ex. — " The stream of hterature has swollen into a torrent — augmented into a 
 river— expanded into a sea."— //•smp'. " Here I stand for impeachment or trial 1 
 I dare accusation ! I defy the honorable gentleman ! I defy the government 1 I 
 defy their whole phalanx'!" — Grattan. 
 
 *"A Scotch mist becomes a shower; and a shower, a flood; and a flood, a 
 storm; and a storm, a tempest; and a tempest, thunder and lightning; and thun- 
 der and lightning, heaven-quake and eartbx[uake."— Prof. Wilson. 
 
 Anticlimax: "Great men— such as Washington, Adams. Jefierson, Aaron 
 Burr, Stephen Arnold, and the friend of my worthy opponent?'— Political Speech. 
 See Irony. 
 
26d ' RHETORICAL FIGURES. 
 
 12. Allusion is such a use of some word or words as will 
 recall some interesting fact, custom, writing, or saying. It is usually 
 founded on resemblance or contrast. 
 
 Ex. — " Give them Saratoga in New York, and we'll give them TorUown in 
 Virginia." — Political Speech. " When you go into the museum, be Argu«, but not 
 Briareu3." " The excesses of our youth are drafts upon our old age, payable about 
 tiiirty years after date." 
 
 "Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed. 
 Close at my elbow stir their lemonade." — Holmes. 
 
 A continued allusion or resemblance in style, is termed jmrody. 
 There may, at the same time, be a contrast in sentiment. A play 
 on the sound or meanings of a word, is termed a pun. 
 
 Ex. — " 'Tis the last rose of summer, left blooming alone ; 
 
 All its lovely companions are withered and strown ; 
 
 No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh, 
 
 To reflect back her blushes, or give sigh for siglu 
 
 I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem ; 
 
 Since the lovely are sleeping, go, sleep thou with them. 
 
 Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed 
 
 Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead," &c. 
 Pakodt : " Tis the last golden dollar, left shining alone ; 
 
 All its brilliant companions are squandered and gone. 
 
 No coin of its mintnge reflects back its hue, 
 
 They went in mint-juleps, and this will go too ! 
 
 I'll not keep thee, thou lone one, too long in suspense ; 
 
 Thy brothers were melted, and melt thou, to pence ! 
 
 I'll ask for no quarter, I'll spend and not spare, 
 
 Till my old tattered pocket hangs centless and bare," &c. 
 PiTN : " Ancient maiden lady anxiously remarks. 
 
 That there must be peril 'mong so many sparlcs ; [fire ;] 
 
 Koguish-looking fellow, turning to the stranger. 
 
 Says it's his opinion she is out of danger." — Saxe. 
 
 l:j. Eu'pheiti3<iisii is a softened mode of speech for what would 
 be offensive or disagreeable if told in downright plain language. 
 It is often based on other figures, but it is effected most frequently 
 by circumlocution ; that is, by a round-about mode of expression. 
 
 Ex. — '* You labor iinder a mistake," for, " You lie." " He does not keep very 
 exact accounts ;" " He cheats when he can." " She certainly displays as little 
 vanity, in regard to her personal appearance, as any young lady I ever saw;" " She 
 is an intolerable slattern." " Slaves are often called sermntsy " Sweet child 1 
 lovely child ! your parents are no moreP Cushi did not say to David, " Absalom 
 M hilled-^'' but he avoided wounding his feelings as much as possible, by saying, 
 " May all the enemies of the king he as that yowng man is.'''' 
 
 1 4. Interrogation is an animated mode of speech, by which 
 the speaker prefers to put forth, in the form of question, what he 
 neither doubts, nor expects to be answered. 
 
 Ex.—" But when shall we be stronger ? Will it bo the next week, or the next 
 year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall ba 
 stationed HI every honse V * * * Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to ba 
 purchased at the price of chains and slavery V—F. Henry. 
 " Can storied urn or animated bust 
 
 Back to its miusiou call the fleeting breath? 
 Can Honor's voice provoke tlie silent dust. 
 Or Flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death V—Gra/y. 
 
RHETORICAL FIGURES. 267 
 
 This fi.^ire fixes the attention more stronjrly on some important point, than 
 a simple declaration would ; and sometimes it implies a defiance to the adver- 
 sary or hearer, to deny if he can. 
 
 15. ExclaTniitioii is usually an abrupt or broken mode of 
 speech, designed to express more strongly the emotions of the 
 speaker. 
 
 Ex. — " Dr. Cams. What business could the honest man have in my room I" 
 for, "The honest man could have no business in my room." 
 
 "Oh ! that I could return once more to peace and innocence I that I hung an 
 infant on the breast ! that I were born a beggar— a peasant of the field ! I would 
 toil till the sweat of blood dropped from my brow, to purchase the luxury of one 
 sound sleep, the rapture of a smgle tear!" — Schiller. 
 
 " How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
 How complicate, how wonderful is man ! 
 Distinguished link in being's endless chain I 
 Midway from nothing to the Deity ! 
 A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorbed ! 
 Though sullied and dishonored, still divine ! 
 An heir of glory ! a frail child of dust! ^ 
 
 A worm ! a god I I tremble at myself, 
 And in myself am lost," — Foung'. See Antithesis. 
 There seems to be a peculiar elegance in the use of this figure, when the 
 speaker means to show that tlie object produces at least some interest or ex- 
 citement in his own feelings, though others may not appreciate it so fully. 
 Ex. — " How glad from the cool mossy brim to receive it, 
 
 As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips !" 
 Here the author slyly intimates that there are persons who underrate the ex- 
 cellence of water, as a beverage. 
 
 16. Apo«'trop1ie is a sudden turning-away in the fullness of 
 emotion, to address some person or other otgect. 
 
 Ex. — "Death is swallowed up in victory. Death/ where if thy sting? O 
 Gi^aoe! where is thy victory fy — Bible. " But — ah ! — him ! the first great martyr in 
 this great cause I him ! the premature victim of his own self-devoting heart ! 
 * * * him! cut off by Providence, in the hour of overwhelmhig anxiety and 
 thick gloom, falling ere he saw the star of his country rise ! how shall I struggle 
 with the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy name! — Our work may perish : hut 
 thine shall endure ! this monument may moulder away, bat thy memory shaU not 
 f ail. "'— Webster. _ ' ' 
 
 " Thou ling'ring star,, with less'ning ray. 
 That lov'st to greet the early morn,' 
 Again thou usher'st in the day 
 My Mary from my soul was torn. 
 O Mary ! dear departed shade !" etq. — Bums. See Yision. 
 
 IT. Vision represents something that is past^ future, absent, 
 or simply imagined, as if it were really present, 
 
 Ex. — " One morning, while they were at breakfast, up gallops a troop of horse, 
 and presents an order for the arrest of the whole party. ^^—Jefrey. 
 
 " Frederick immediately sent relief; and, in an ir\stant, ail Saxony is ovev" 
 flowed -with armed nien.^''—Macaulay. 
 
 " Advance, then, ye future generations ! We would hail you as you rise \v^ 
 vour long succession! * * * we bid you welcome in this pleasant land of tho 
 i'athers." — Webster. 
 
 "Soldiers ! from yonder pyramids, forty genemtions of men look down upoq 
 you !" — Bonaparte. 
 
 12* 
 
268 RHETORICAL FIGURES. 
 
 1§. Oiiomatope'ia is such an imitation by the sound of the 
 words, as may correspond to or suggest the sense. Sound, motion, 
 and even sentiment, may be imitated by this figure. 
 
 Ex. — "Away they went, pell-mell, hurry-skurry, wild buffalo, wild horse, wild 
 huntsman, with clang and clatter, and whoop and halloo, that made the forests 
 ring !" — Irving, 
 
 " On a sudden open fly. 
 With impetuous recoil and jarnnw sound, 
 Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate 
 Harsh thunder." — Milton. 
 
 " Heaven opened wide 
 Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound 
 On golden hinges turning." — Milton. 
 " When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 
 The line too labors, and the words move slow." — Fope. 
 To this figure may also be referred such new-coined expressions as these : 
 " He was hamhoozled.'''' " He oflered me the whole capoodle for three hundred 
 dollars." " Now she gallivants it with another." " I mean that curve, flash, 
 flourish,— or circumbendibus — if you please — which he always sticks to his name." 
 
 Two or more figures are sometimes involved in the same ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Meton. and Meta. : " Here the sword and sceptre rust ; 
 
 Earth to earth, and dust to dust." — Groly. 
 MiiTON. AND Person. : " All Switzerland is in the field ; 
 
 . She will not fly, she can not yield." — Muntgoviery. 
 
 Exclamation, Interrogation, Climax, and Antithesis : "I — a foreigner! Yes, 
 gentlemen ! But who was De Kalb i Who was McDonald ? Who was Pulaski ? 
 Who was La Euyette ? and — who was Arnold !" — Dr. Shaniion. 
 
 The figures underlie the entire fabric of language. The principles 
 which they involve, have produced, and continue to produce, most of 
 the various meanings or applications of words, and often, the words 
 themselves. Nearly one half of the meanings of words, as given in 
 our dictionaries, are hxii faded figures, — -faded metaphors, /aG?e<i me- 
 tonymies, SiW^ faded synecdoches. 
 
 Ex. — "The blooming rose," is literal ; " The hlooming damsel," is metaphorical. 
 *' A clear brook," literal; "A clear sky," metaphor; ''A clear denioustration," 
 meLaphor : "A clear head." metaphor or meioiiyniy. "A hard rock," literal; 
 " A hara lesson," metaphor ; "A hard heart," metaphor. " To apprehend u 
 thief," literal ; " To apprehend the meaning," metaphor ; " To apprehend [fear] 
 danger,"_ metapJior and metonymy. ^^Imagination'''' — " the making of images or 
 idols," literal and obsolete ; "the making of images in the mind," metaphor ; " the 
 faculty," metonymy (cause) ; " the result" (as, " strange imaginations'''), metonymy. 
 
 Tlie faculty, its action, the manner of its action, the result of its 
 action, and whatever exhibits or concerns any of these, have all, 
 frequently, but one name in common. 
 
 From the material world around us, or from the world of the 
 senses, the mind has borrowed nearly all the words in which it ha.«* 
 clothed its own or peculiar possessions ; that is, many words, applied 
 first to material things, have been extended to things intellectual or 
 abstract. 
 
RHETORICAL FIGURES. — EXERCISES. 269 
 
 " The spirit in its literal import is breath or wind. Its states are st^andlngs, its 
 emotions are movements, its sensibilities &xq feelings, its ■yie-z^* and ideas are siglits, its 
 conceptions and perceptions are takings, its apprehension and comprehension are a 
 holding, its reflection is a turning back, its purpose is an exhibition, its inferen^ is a 
 bringing in, and its conclusion is a shutting up?'' — Prof. Gibbs. " Bectitude is 
 straightness, error is a wandering, transgression is a going over, education is a draw- 
 ing out, a language is a tongue, and heaven is what is heaved or arched.'''' — /tiJ. 
 '■^Bright hopes, unshaken confidence, corroding cares." — /<;?. 
 
 By frequent use, the figurative sense of words and phrases be- 
 comes literal, or is considered so. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 Pfli/ii OM^ the figures, and define them: — 
 
 Ambition often puts men upon performing the meanest ofBces : so climbing 
 and creeping are performed in the same posture. — Swift. No, Orlando ; men 
 are April when they woo, December when they are wed ; and maids are May 
 while they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. — Shakespeare. 
 What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties I 
 in action, how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a God 1 — Id. Honor 
 travels in a way so narrow, where but one goes abreast — Id. "What's this ? a 
 sleeve ? 'Tis like a demi-cannon. Here's snip, and nip, and cut, and shsh, and 
 slash. — Id. The lover can see a Helen in a brow of Egypt. — Id. When sor- 
 rows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions. — Id. Where Midnight 
 listens to the lion's roar. Must I leave thee, Paradise ? — Milton. One, with 
 God on his side, is a majority. He sells, he buys, he steals, he kills, for gold. 
 Humbled, but not dispirited ; disappointed, but not despairing. But when they 
 shook the thirty pieces of silver at you, you took them. A life on the ocean 
 wave, a home on the rolling deep. Yes, this [a scull] was once ambition's airy- 
 hall, the dome of thought, the palace of the soul. — Byron. Canst thou send the 
 Lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, ''Here we are 1" — Bible. Moses 
 the lawgiver and God's first pen. — Bacon. 
 
 1. Figures should be well founded, becoming, striking, congi-uous 
 throughout, not too numerous, and not overstrained or carried too far, 
 
 2. Figurative language should be preferred to plain language, only 
 when it will express the meaning better, or improve the discourse. 
 
 Improprieties. — " The colonies were not yet ripe to bid adieu to British con- 
 nection." — Jefferson. Incongruous ; mixed metaphor. " There is not a single 
 view of human nature that is not sufficient to extinguish the seeds of pride." — 
 Addison. How can a view extinguish, — and worse, extinguish seeds. "The 
 commercial liberties of rising states were shackled by paper chains." — Bancroft. 
 The phrase paper chains suggests nothing formidable. " When the mustang is 
 caught in a lasso, all his struggles serve only to rivet his chains, and deprive him 
 of breath." — Hist of Texas. Where did the author get the "chains ?" " Flowers 
 are tbe sweetest things that God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into." — Rev. 
 II. W. Beecher. Quite ianciful, though rather puerile and fantastic. " We kneeled 
 for the last time by that wonderful old furnace [a volcano], where the hand of 
 God works the bellows." — R^. Geo. Oheever. A figure that represents God as a 
 bellows-blower, seems to me undignified and unbecoming. " A shower had 
 just parenthesized the way before us." — Willis. The resemblance is not so ob- 
 vious as it should be. " Ho had as numerous an offspring as a Greek verb."— 
 Travels. Farfetched and obscure. "Omaid! thou art so beauteous that yon 
 bright sun is rising all in haste, to gaze upon thee." — Novel, Overstrained. 
 
270 RHETORfCAL FIGURES. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 "Why, beautiful nymph, do you close the curtain that fringes your eyes?" — 
 Newspaper Poem. Worse. " U)) to the stars the sprawhng mastiffs fly, and 
 add new monsters to the frighted sky." — Blacklock. Terrible dog-barking, truly ! 
 "No flower of its kindred, no rose-bud is nigh, to give back blush for blush, or 
 exchange sigh for sigh." — Moore. Here the two roses are all at once ciianged 
 into persons,— into a pair of blushing, sighing lovers. " Let's grasp the fore- 
 lock of this apt occasion, to greet the victor in his flow of glory." — British 
 Drama. Could this sentence be expressed by a congruous picture ? To con- 
 ceive all the imagery as grouped into one visible picture, is often the best way 
 to judge of its accuracy, propriety, or beauty. 
 
 Point out tlie errors : — 
 
 No human happiness is so serene as not to contain some alloy. These nro 
 the first fruits of my unfledged eloqueuce, of which thou hast often complained 
 that it was buried in the shade. Since the time that reason began to bud, and 
 put forth her shoots, thought during our waking hours has been active in every 
 breast. The current of ideas has been always moving. The wheels of the 
 spiritual ocean have been exerting themselves with perpetual motion. (Buds, 
 currents, and wheels, are all jumbled together.) At length Erasmus, that great 
 injured name .... curbed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. — stemmed — 
 
 On the wide sea of letters, 'twas thy boast. 
 To crowd each sail, and touch at every coast ; 
 Prom that rich mine, how often hast thou brought 
 The pure and precious pearls of splendid thought. 
 
 OBSEKVATIONS. 
 
 A figure may be contamed in a single word; or it may comprise a phrase, 
 a claibse, a sentence, or the entire discourse. Sometimes the literal and the 
 figurative language are interwoven throughout the sentence; sometimes each 
 occupies a distinct part of the sentence ; sometimes they ai-e consecutive in dis- 
 tinct sentences ; and sometimes the figurative takes up the entire sentence or 
 discourse, leaving the literal to be inferred. 
 
 Most figures are a sort of emblems or pictures, — a universal language, 
 favorably received, readily understood, and easily remembered. All hterature, 
 especially that which has lived longest and delighted the world most, abounds 
 in figures. Figures, however, should be used sparingly and judiciously. An 
 abuse of them is very apt to render the person so using them ridiculous, and 
 thus to diminish at once the dignity and effect of his entire discourse. He that 
 forsakes the common path to show his superior adroitness by walking on the 
 wire, naturally raises our laughter if he falls. Figures are designed to adorn, to 
 illustrate, or to abridge discourse ; and particular regard should therefore be had 
 to the subject of the discourse, and to the persons for whom it is meant. Some 
 of our Indian agents have very properly addressed Indians in a figurative style 
 that would be quite ridiculous if used in addressing their own countrymen. 
 Poetry too, being founded in esthetic principles, admits of much more ornament 
 than prosa. The figures used, should be such as would naturally arise to a per- 
 son whose mind and heart have fully grasped the subject in all its bearings. 
 They should never indicate that he left the main subject to search for tliem. 
 Not the cheek that is daubed over with glaring cosmetics is the one to please us, 
 but that which glows with a native, healthy, roseate beauty of its own. The 
 briefer a figure is, and the more it expresses that is to the point, the bettor it is. 
 How excellent is that figure of Dean Swift's, in which he compares the holding 
 of high public offices to dancing on a wire I It suggests at once the vanity of 
 worldly glory, the hankoriug and folly of ambition, the tact and labor required 
 to sustain oneself, the liability to a fall, the stare and hu/za of the crowd, and 
 their contempt and mockery after a fall. 
 
RHETORICAL FIGURES. OBSERVATIONS. 271 
 
 Figures should be not only graphic, and in harmony with the sentiment, but 
 they should be so perfect as to bear study or criticism. The very use of figures 
 implies an aim to express some thought or sentiment with more adequate aud 
 becoming simplicity, clearness, beauty, and force. Tliey can therefore be con- 
 sidered hardly proper, or preferable to plain language, unless they express the 
 meaning better. 
 
 Figures should be new, if possible. When they are already well known, 
 they are not striking, and will generally appear stale and insipid. But figures 
 should not be drawn from arts or sciences not well known, or from any knowl- 
 edge remote from common observation ; for when so derived, they generally in- 
 dicate pedantry, and are seldom understood or fully appreciated. Sometimes, 
 however, a figure can be veiled in a certain indirectness, or in a little obscurity, 
 with a very happy ettect. A single word may sometimes show a delicate and 
 highly expressive figure lurking along the entire sentence. 
 
 As the same object may often be compared to several different things, care 
 must be taken, in using metaphors, not to represent it partly by one comparison 
 and partly by another. Thus, — 
 
 " I bridle in my struggling muse in vain, 
 That longs to launch into a bolder strain." — Addison. 
 
 That is, his muse is a monster, partly horse and partly ship. 
 
 When several consecutive metaphors are used, they must be congruous with 
 one another, or make a perfect picture. Different perfect pictures may, however, 
 be successively presented to the mind. Hence different similes or metaphors 
 are sometimes used in succession, to illustrate the same subject ; as, — 
 "But pleasures are like poppies spread, — 
 You seize the flower, its bloom is shed ; 
 Or like the snow-falls in the river, — 
 A moment white, then melt forever," &c. — Burns: Tarn O^SJuinter. 
 
 But the same picture must not be monstrous, — partly one thing and partly 
 another. The same thought should not be expressed partly figurative and partly 
 literal ; unless the figurative words are mere tropes, or unless a complete and 
 proper figure at once suggests itself throughout the entire sentence or paragraph. 
 Such a mixture of figurative aud of plain language, or of concrete and of abstract 
 objects, as is contained in the following sentences, is inelegant: "Her cheeks 
 were blooming with roses and health;'' "The harvest early, but mature the 
 praise.^' 
 
 Style should not be overloaded with figures ; especially if they do not form 
 an allegorical picture throughout. Young, imaginative speakers and writera are 
 somethnes ridiculously extravagant in the use of figurative language, and thua 
 acquire a habit of fustianizing, spouting, or frothing, which they never entirely 
 lose. The following is a specimen : — 
 
 " The marble-hearted marauder might seize the throne of civil authority, and 
 hurl into thraldom the votaries of ratiouai liberty. Crash after crash would be 
 heard in quick succession, as the strong pillars of the republic give way, and 
 Despotism would shout in heUish triumph among the crumbling ruins. Anarchy 
 would wave her bloody sceptre over the devoted land, and the bloodhounds of 
 civil war would lap the gore of our most worthy citizens. The shrieks of women 
 aud the screams of children would be drowned amid the clash of swords and the 
 cannon's peal ; and Liberty, mantling her face from the horrid scene, would 
 spread her golden-tinted pinions, and wing her flight to some far-distant land, 
 never again to revisit our peaceful shores 1" — From a Fourth-of-Juiy Qraiion. 
 This is the ranting, bombastic, or Asiatic style. The proper and opposite qual- 
 ity is terseness. A terse style indicates sound common sense. It is not too 
 adorned or elaborate, nor extravagant in any respect ; but manly, correct, neat, 
 and expres^'ive. 
 
272 VERSIFICATION. — FEET. 
 
 15. VERSIFICATION. 
 
 Poetry,* in its highest perfection, is tlionght, feeling, imagery, 
 
 and music, expressed in language. 
 
 The spirit of music in the poet causes not only the selection of words agreeable 
 in sound, but makes the language metrical. 
 
 Deficiency in any of these must be compensated by greater ex- 
 cellence in the rest. 
 
 Tersification is either the act or the art of making verse. 
 Sometimes it denotes the result^ or that peculiar structure of lan- 
 guage which distinguishes poetry from prose. 
 
 Verse has rhythm and rhyme. 
 
 Rhythm is essential, but rhyme is not. 
 
 " Thou art, God, the life and light 
 Of all this wondrous world we see."— ifoore. 
 "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold. 
 And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold." — Byron. 
 " Lives of great men all remind us 
 We can make our Hves sublime." — Longfellow. 
 " Come as the winds come when forests are rended ; 
 Come as the waves come when navies are stranded." — Scott. 
 " O'nce upon a midnight dreary^ while I pondered, weak and weary, 
 O'ver many a quaint and ciirious volume of forgotten I6re — 
 While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
 As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 
 ' 'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, * tapping at my chamber door — 
 Only this, and nothing moreJ' " — E. A. Foe. 
 
 From these lines it is easy to see, that in poetry the voice or the 
 mind passes along the words by a sort of regular pulsations, which 
 constitute the rhythm^ metre, or measure. The correspondence or 
 similarity of sound at equal or proportionate intervals, or in im- 
 mediate succession, is termed rhyme. 
 
 Verse is beautiful language, keeping time like music ; or, syl- 
 lables arranged according to accent, quantity, and, generally, rhyme ; 
 and 80 divided into lines as to promote harmony. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Feet are the smallest rhythmical divisions of the lines. 
 
 • PoBTRY means, literally, a making ; vkrse, a turning, i. e., at the end of a line to 
 make anotlier line; iambus, attacking, being first used In satire; trochke, tripping, run- 
 ning ; DACTYi., finger ; anapmt, reversed, i. e., reversed dactyl; CjKscra, chitting, divid- 
 ing; BPosvKK., solemn ; pyrhiiio, a loar-dance, thence, lively; iiypermeter, a measure 
 over, KLUP8I8, a leaving-ovt; vimova^vi, more than enough. Figurk, « form of Ian- 
 ffitage; similk, likeness; mktai'hor, transfer; allegory, speaking in another thing; 
 METONYMY, c/uinge of names; SYNEonocuE, understanding one thing with anotlier ; an- 
 TiTHiais, setting against ; inoTny , dixsembling ; VKv.Ki.\vs,\i, passing hy or over ; hyper- 
 bole, throwing beyond, overshooting ; KVPur.Miayi, speaking well ; aposteopiie, f«/'«i«o 
 away; omumatopkia, making or cUning worda. 
 
VERSIFICATION. — FEET. 273 
 
 Oraramarians say they are called /eei, because they show how the voice "^ stevH^'' along 
 the lines. I rather think the name was at first given from the fact that men, especially in a 
 primitive state of society, naturally use the/ooif,~to mark or beat time in music. 
 
 Feet, in the English language, are formed according to accent and 
 quantity. 
 
 A simple foot comprises not more than three syllables. 
 
 There are four principal feet, — the iambus, the anapest, the tro- 
 chee, and the dactyl ; and three secondary feet, — the ccesura, the 
 ,spondee, and the pyrrhic. 
 
 An ianibu§ consists of two syllables, and has the poetic accent 
 on the second. 
 
 Ex.— " The curfew tolls the kn^ll of parting day." 
 
 " The fi^ld is heaped with bleeding steeds, and flags, and cloven mail." 
 
 An anapest consists of three syllables, and has the poetic accent 
 on the last. 
 
 Ex.— " O'er the land of the fr^e and the home of the hrave." 
 
 A trochee consists of two syllables, and has the poetic accent 
 on the first. 
 
 Ex. — " S6e the distant forest dark and waving." 
 
 A dactyl consists of three syllables, and has the poetic accent on 
 the first. 
 
 Ex.- " Bachelor's hall,— what a qu4er-looking place it is !" 
 
 The iambus and the anapest are kindred feet, and hence they are 
 
 sometimes used promiscuously. 
 
 Ex. — " F6r the winds &nd the waves a,re absent there. 
 
 And the sands are bright ks the stars that glow." 
 
 The trochee and the dactyl are kindred feet, and hence they are 
 sometimes used promiscuously. 
 
 Ex.— " Bounding S,way 6ver hill &nd valley." 
 
 A caesM'ra is a long or accented syllable used as one foot. 
 
 Ex.— " Kestless mortals toil for naught.'^ 
 
 " Thou wast that all to m6, love, 
 For which my soul did pine — 
 A green isle in the sea, love, 
 A fountain and a shrine."— Po«. 
 
 ^*G61d ! gold ! gold ! g61d ! „ , (* 5^et) ) ,^^ ^ ^ 
 
 H6avy to get Ld. light to ho\d:'~Bhod. (4 feet) \ ^^"^^ ^"^""^-^ 
 
 A spoMdee consists of two long syllables about equally accented. 
 Sometimes only the first syllable is a long one. 
 
 Ex.— " Ngar the lake where drooped the willow. 
 
 Long time hgo V^— Morns. 
 '< O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, , , , „ ,^.7^ 
 
 Kocks, eaves, lakes, tens, bogs, dens, S,nd shades eif dtaih.''—MtUan. 
 
 A pyrrhic is a foot of two syllables left unaccented. Some- 
 times the accent in iambic verse, to avoid resting on a short syllable, 
 
274 VERSIFICATION. POETIC PAUSES. 
 
 passes to the first syllable (if long) of the next foot, making this foot 
 a spondee, and leaving the other unaccented. 
 
 Ex. — " Of the low sunset clouds, and the blue sky." — Willis. 
 
 " Presently in the edge of the last tint." — Id. 
 *' TO the faint golden mellowness, a star." — Id. 
 
 Pyrrhics and spondees are not always thus produced ; but they are generally 
 best when made on the compensation principle. 
 
 The secondary feet are sometimes allowed to break the regular 
 measure, in order to avoid a tedious sameness in the rhythm, or for 
 the sake of onomatopeia. 
 
 Poetic Pau§es. 
 
 To improve the rhythm or the verse still further, there are also 
 two pauses ; the final and the ccesural. 
 
 The filial pause is a slight pause made at the end of each line 
 even when the grammatical sense does not require it. 
 
 Ex. — " Ye who have anxiously and fondly watched 
 
 Beside a fading friend, unconscious that 
 The cheek's bright crimson, lovely to the view, 
 Like nightshade, with unwholesome beauty bloomed." 
 
 The caBsiiral pau§e occurs within the line ; most frequently 
 about the middle of it. It belongs chiefly to long lines. It not only 
 improves the rhythm, but, like emphasis, it often serves to arrest, 
 with fine effect, the attention to the meaning. Sometimes a line 
 has two or more csesural pauses, one of which is commonly greater 
 than the rest. 
 
 Ex. — ^ •' But not to m^ returns 
 
 Day, I or the sw^et approach of 6ven or morn." — Wilton. 
 
 " Then her cheek | was pale, and thinner | | than should be | for one so voung ; 
 And her eyes, | on all my motions, | | with a mute observance hung." — ^hmyson. 
 
 " Warms | in the sun, | | refreshes | in the breeze. 
 Glows 1 in the stars, | | and blossoms | in the trees." — Pope. 
 
 " No sooner had the Almighty ceased, | than all 
 The multitude of angels, | with a shout 
 Loud I as from numbers without number, J sweet 
 As from blest voices | uttering joy," etc. — Milton. 
 
 What a fine effect on the sense have the pauses after loud and sweet. Milton 
 has generally shown remarkable skill in his management of the poetic pauses. 
 
 Good poets generally aim to construct their verse in such a way 
 that the final and ccesural pauses may properly fall cohere the sense^ 
 in expressive common speech, naturally requires pauses. The same is 
 true in regard to poetic accent., with reference to common accent and to 
 emphasis. See stanza 22, p. 281. 
 
 Thts Ib a very important principle; for natural, smooth, and easy versification depends 
 tnainly upon it. 
 
VERSIFICATION. QUANTITY. POETIC ACCENT. 276 
 
 (Quantity. 
 
 The quantity of a syllable is its relative quantity of sound ; or, 
 what is equivalent to the same thing, it is the relative time occupied in 
 uttering it. 
 
 Quantity and accent are two different things, and shonld never be, as they usually are, 
 confounded. Not every long syllable is accented, nor is every short syllable unaccented. 
 
 In respect to quantity, all the syllables in the language may be divided 
 into three classes ; long, short, and variable. 
 
 The quantity of many syllables depends on the manner of uttering them, 
 and on their association with other syllables ; yet we may safely say, thai 
 some syllables are always long, and others always short. 
 
 A syllable having a long vowel or diphthongal sound, especially when 
 closed by one or more consonant sounds, is long. 
 
 Ex.— Dry, warm, proud, flashed. " Eound us roars the tempest louder." 
 
 A syllable having a short vowel sound, but closed or followed by con- 
 sonants in such a way as to retard pronunciation, is generally long. 
 Ex. — "When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw." 
 A syllable ending with a short vowel sound, is short. 
 Ex. — The, a, to, qnantity, salary. 
 
 A syllable next to an accented syllable of the same word, is often made 
 short by the greater stress on the accented syllable. 
 
 Ex. — B-omeward, piiaw^ment. 
 
 An unimportant monosyllable, ending with a single consonant preceded 
 by a single short vowel, and joined immediately to the more important 
 word to which it relates, is short; as, *'a^ war." 
 
 A few syllables in the language may be pronounced either as one syl- 
 lable or as two. 
 
 Ex. — Hour, our, fire, lyre, choir. 
 
 Two syllables may sometimes be contracted into one, either by the 
 pronunciation or by omission. 
 
 Ex. — Fie-ry for fi-e-ry, His for it is, threafning for threatming. 
 
 Poetic Accent. 
 
 The poetic accent, which divides the lines into feet, corre- 
 sponds to the heat in music. It controls the position of words ac- 
 cording to quantity and word-accent. 
 
 There is perhaps no word so long or so uncouth, that it may not, 
 by some arrangement, be brought into some kind of verse. 
 
 Any monosyllable may receive the poetic accent. 
 Ex.— " Blue w4s the lake, the clouds were gone." 
 " Gone w^re the clouds, the lake was blue." 
 
 But it is generally inelegant, and sometimes perhaps incorrect, to 
 place it on a short syllable. 
 
 Ex.— We can not read, "As 4 friend thank him, 4nd witli joy see hini." 
 But we may read, " Se6 Mm with joy, and thank him as a friend." 
 
276 VERSIFICATION. LINES, OR VERSES. 
 
 Monosyllables, being unencumbeied by word-accent, are the words 
 most easily reduced to feet. 
 
 When words of more than one syllable are introduced into verse, 
 the poetic accent must take the place of the primary or the secondary 
 accent. 
 
 Should the poetic accent fall on a different syllable, the word 
 must be rejected, or the arrangement must be so varied as to admit 
 it. (To this rule we find in our poets a very few exceptions ; chiefly 
 in the use of compound words.) 
 
 Ex. — " Perhaps like m^ lie flounders oiit a line, 
 
 And begins another — there stops " (Erroneous.) 
 
 A long syllable of a word, next to an accented syllable, never 
 receives the poetic accent, or it is made short. (There are a very 
 few exceptions.) 
 
 Ex. — " Westward the course of Empire takes its way." 
 
 It should not, however, be inferred, that every syllable having 
 the word-accent, must also receive the poetic accent. Only this is 
 necessary, — that the poetic accent, in its proper march through the 
 verse, shall never supersede the other accent, by resting on a diflfer- 
 ent syllable of the same word. 
 
 Ex. — " Whilst our maidens shall dance with their white waving arms, 
 Smging joy to the brave that delivered their charms. — Campbell. 
 
 The poetic accent generally passes in some regular order through 
 the entire poem. Accented syllables demand it; long syllables 
 naturally tend to draw it upon themselves ; and short syllables in- 
 cline to refuse it. 
 
 When it comes in collision with the common accent, the harshness is gen- 
 erally greater than when it rests on a short syllable. It sometimes accommo- 
 dates itself to the common accent, where the sense and melody allow a consider- 
 able pause ; that is, at the end, at the beginning, or near the middle of the line, 
 though rarely the last. It seems, indeed, to be a general principle, to allow the 
 poet most liberty at these places, not only as to accent, but also as to extra short 
 syllables. (See pp. 271-18). To accommodate itself to quantity, the poetic ac- 
 cent may sometimes vary from its regular stations, either by preferring the 
 previous or the subsequent syllable, or by passing over one more syllable than 
 the regular number, or by resting on each of several successive long syllables. 
 See pp. 277-78. 
 
 .Verse is generally most melodious when the regularly accented 
 syllables are long, and the unaccented short. 
 Ex.— "At the close of the day when the hamlet is still." 
 
 fjincN, or Verses. 
 
 A line; or verse, is the shortest finished portion from which 
 the poet may turn to make another. 
 
 A lino, according to its number of feet, is sometimes called a monom'eter (one 
 
VERSIFICATION. — LINES, OR VERSES. 277 
 
 foot), a dim'eter, a irim'eter, a ietram/eter, a pentam'eter, a Jieosam'eter, a Jieptam'- 
 eter, or an octomfeter. 
 
 Iambic or anapestic lines sometimes end with one or two addi- 
 tional unaccented short syllables, called supernumerary or hy per- 
 imeter syllables. Such lines are called hyper meters. 
 
 Trochaic or dactylic lines often end with the caesura. 
 
 Iambic lines may occasionally begin with a trochee, a dactyl, or 
 a spondee. 
 
 Ex. — ^'■Bursts the wild cry of terror and dismay." — Gampbell. 
 ^'■Hovering a space till winds the signal blow." — Milton. 
 '■'■Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand." — Beatiie. 
 *' Weep, weep, and rend your hair for those who n6ver shaU return." — Macaulay. 
 
 A trochee may sometimes be admitted within an iambic line, 
 where the rhythm and sense allow a considerable pause. 
 Ex. — " Of goodliest trees loaden with fairest fruit." — Milton. 
 "These [prairies] are the gardens of the desert, these 
 
 The iiashorn fields, boundless and beautiful." — Bryant. 
 " The song is hushed, the laughing nymphs are flown ; 
 And he is left, musmg of bliss, alone." — T. Moore. 
 
 Iambic lines occasionally admit an anapest, provided it is such 
 a one as might be contracted, or one that has no consonant be- 
 tween the unaccented syllables, or only a liquid, or such a conso- 
 nant as very little obstructs utterance. 
 
 Ex.— "With Heave«-'« artillery fraught, come rdttling on." — Milton. 
 " And many a youtli, and many a maid.'''' — Id. 
 "That binds him to a woman's delicate love.'''' — Willis. 
 
 It is sometimes a beauty to lengthen out a line a little by short, 
 tripping syllables. 
 
 Ex- — "Where ^rst the jay within the 61m's tall crgst, 
 
 Made gdrruUnis trouble round her unfledged young." — T. B. Bead. 
 "And ray native land ! whose magical name 
 Thrills to my heart like electric flame." — Pringle. 
 
 Anapestic lines may occasionally begin with an iambus or a 
 spondee. 
 
 Ex.— " Their swords are a thousand,— their bosoms are 6ne.''''—Caniphell. 
 '■^Olflf to the prairie, sweet maiden, with m^ ; 
 'Tis as gr^en, and as wide, and as wild, as the s^a." 
 
 Some anapestic verse occasionally admits a spondee or an iambus. 
 
 Ex.— " The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade, [the poem. 
 
 And the whispering sounds of the cool colonnade."— Coi^-joer. See 
 
 A pleasant rhythm is sometimes produced by throwing, one 
 anapest, or even two, into each iambic line. 
 Ex. — " I come ! I come ! yS have called me 16ng ; 
 
 I come 6'er thS mountains with light §Jid song."— J/r«. Eemana. 
 "Afar in thS desgrt I love to ride, 
 With thg silent Biish-bSy Sione by my side."— Prm^Ze. 
 
27ft VERSIFICATION. STANZAS. VERSE. 
 
 To preserve equality or proportion in time, seems to he a, gov- 
 erning principle in versification ; and variations in the position of 
 the poetic accent or in the number of unaccented syllables, are allo^v- 
 able where the chief poetic pauses occur,— at the beginnings or the 
 ends of lines, and at the ccesural pause. 
 
 Ex. — " Andgive me for my bushel sown 
 
 Twice ten for one:'' (Prolong the sound as you read.) 
 
 " Keeping time, time, time, 
 In a sort of Eunic rhyme." — Poe. 
 »» Ye've trailed me through the forest; \ ye've trailed me o'er the stream ; 
 And struggling through the everglade | your bristling bayonets gleam."— Pai^on.. 
 
 This is a very important principle ; for by means of it most of the apparent irregu- 
 larities in versification may be explained. 
 
 stanzas. 
 
 Lines are formed into stanzas. 
 
 A Ktaiiza is a complete group of lines constructed in a cer- 
 tain way with respect to one another. 
 
 Two consecutive lines form a couplet or distich ; three, a triplet. 
 Such lines are usually understood as rhyming together. 
 
 Short lines are seldom formed into stanzas, unless in combina- 
 tion with long lines. 
 
 The greater portion of our poetry consists of lines of medium length. 
 
 Long lines are sometimes broken at the csesural pause, and 
 written in two lines each. 
 
 Rhymes must begin with different letters, but end with the same 
 or nearly the same sound. 
 
 Rhymes that are not exact, yet authorized, are called allowable rhymes. 
 
 Rhymes may run back into the lines as far as three syllables. 
 Hence they are classified thus : Single rhymes, double I'liymes, 
 and triple rhymes. 
 
 A rhyming element usually corresponds to but one other one; 
 but sometimes to more. 
 
 Lines are sometimes so formed as to have rhyming syllables 
 within them, as well as at the end. See p. 272. 
 
 Some verse has no rhyme. Such is styled blanh verse. 
 
 Blank verse, being without the music of rhyme, must usuallv, 
 to sustain the dignity of poetry, excel in other respects. 
 
 Verse. 
 
 The word vers« is properly applicable to any single line'o' 
 poetry ; but, by synecdoche, it may be applied to a stanza, or to 
 poetry in general, as a modest terra, meaning something that has 
 at lea.st the form, if not the spirit, of poetry. 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 279 
 
 Verse, according to what foot prevails in it, is usually divided 
 into four kinds ; iambic, anapestic, trochaic, and dactylic. 
 
 Verse that is very irregular in its feet, or in the combination of 
 its lines, has been styled composite. 
 
 SCANNING. 
 
 To scan verse is to show how it is formed in respect to its feet, 
 — to analyze its versification. 
 
 Each line is usually scanned by itself; but it seems best to scan 
 continuously from one line into another, when we can thus avoid 
 irregularities. 
 
 Ex. — " 'Tis the last rose of summer 
 
 Left blooming alone ; (4 feet.) 
 
 All its lovely companions 
 
 Are faded and gone." (4 feet.) 
 
 Sometimes more than one mode of scanning, may be applied to 
 the same poem. 
 
 That mode is always preferable which is simplest or most musical. 
 
 $3. 
 
 aah c ch 
 
 i + 
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY COMBINATIONS OF LINES IN ENGLISH POETRY. 
 
 To a person wishing to write verse, perhaps nothing can be presented more 
 useful than a general circuit of the combinations of poetic lines, with their scaji- 
 sion ; especially if so selected as to embrace all the various deviations, or licenses, 
 of which poets may avail themselves. 
 
 B^" The letters/, i, a, t, d, and c, placed on the left of the stanzas, denote respectively 
 feet, iarnbics, anapests, trochees, dactyls, and caesuras ; the letters above the stanzas show 
 the rhyme ; the sign plus (+) denotes hypermeter syllables ; accentual marks are used to 
 aid in showing the versification, and sometimes they show irregular versification ; and up- 
 right dashes are sometimes used to show caesural pauses. 
 
 1. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 1. 
 
 ah ah 
 % "His wit. 
 
 With smart. 
 Has hit 
 My heart."- 
 
 3. 
 
 ahah 
 2 i "Love miist, in short, 
 Keep fond and triie. 
 Through good report. 
 And' evil too." — T. Moore. 
 
 5. 
 
 aah cch 
 2 > "0 precious 6ne, 
 
 Let thy tongue run 
 
 In S. sweet fret ; 
 And this will give 
 A chance to live 
 A long time yet." 
 
 " The 16sse3, 
 The crosses, 
 3 i That Active men engage ; 
 
 The fears all. 
 The tears all. 
 Of dim declining age."— .Burn"». 
 4. 
 ab ah 
 2i+ "To halls of splendor, 
 2 i Let gr^at ones hie ; 
 
 Through light more tender, 
 Our pathways lie." — Moort, 
 
 6. 
 
 aah cch 
 2 1 " The pibroch r4ng 
 With b61der clang 
 8 i + A16ng the hills of heather ; 
 And fresh and strong 
 The thistle sprung. 
 That had begun to wither."— .BE>^^. 
 
280 
 
 VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 2i 
 
 8/' 
 2i 
 i 
 8/ 
 
 2i 
 Si 
 
 Si 
 
 8/ 
 
 8/ 
 8i 
 
 Ah 
 4/ 
 
 8i 
 
 8» 
 41 
 
 7. 
 
 " Hi3 gifts divine 
 
 THrough all appear, 
 And round the year 
 His glories shine.'' — Songster. 
 8. 
 alh a 
 " No :— 'T(8 a fast to dole 
 Thy sheaf of wheat, 
 And meat, 
 ■(Jnto thS hungry soul." — Herrick. 
 10. 
 aahc ch 
 " The 86ul refined 
 Is most inclined 
 To ^very moral excellence ; 
 All vice is dull, 
 A knave's a fool ; 
 And Virtue is the chUd of Sense. " 
 Young. 
 12. 
 at a b 
 " When thoii art nigh, it seems 
 A new creation round ; 
 The sun has fairest beams. 
 The lute a softer sound." — Moore. 
 14. 
 alccl 
 " Tread softly, — ^bow the hdad, — 
 In reverent silence bow ; 
 No passing bell doth toll, — 
 Yet an immortal soul 
 
 Is passing now." — Mrs. Sovthey. 
 16. 
 aah c ch 
 ' Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
 Thou dost not bite so nigh 
 
 As benefits forgot ; 
 Though thou the waters warp, 
 Thy sting is not so sharp 
 As fiiends rememb'ring not." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 18. 
 aabb 
 " Whene'er a noble deed is wr6ught, 
 Whene'er is spokgu a noble thought, 
 Our hearts, with glad surprise, 
 To higher levels rise." — Atlantic 
 Monthly. 
 19. 
 ab ab c d d c 
 "An infant on its m6ther'8 br6ast — 
 A boiiucing boy at play — 
 A youth by maiden fair caressed — 
 An old man silver gray — 
 Is all of life we know : 
 A joy — a fear ; 
 A smile — a tear ; — 
 And all is o'er below 1 — Shaw. 
 
 9. ..;..i 
 
 aaab c ccb 
 2 i + " Could love for(5ver 
 Eun like a river, 
 And Time's endeavor 
 2 1 Be tried in vain, — 
 
 No other pleasure 
 With this could measure ; 
 And like a treasure 
 We'd hug the chain." — Byron. 
 
 11. 
 
 ab ab c ccb 
 
 2 /" " Dream, baby, dream ! 
 2*+ Thine eyelids quiver. 
 
 Know'st thou the theme 
 
 Of yon bright river ? 
 It saith, * Be calm, be sure, 
 
 3 i Unfailing, gentle, pure : 
 
 So shall thy life endure, 
 Like mine, for ever.' " — CornwaU* 
 
 13. Gay's Stanza. 
 abab 
 3 * + " From Greenland's icy m6untaiu8, 
 From India's coral strand. 
 Where Afric's sunny fountains 
 3/ Koll down their golden sand.'* 
 
 Eeber. 
 15. 
 ab cb 
 3*+ " 'Tis swe^t to love in childhood, 
 3/ When the souls that w6 bequeath, 
 Si + Are beautiful in freshness, 
 Sf As thS coronals we wreathe." 
 
 This stanza may also be scanned con- 
 tinuously, without irregularity; and it 
 may be written as well in two lines. 
 
 17. 
 
 abab 
 Si " Flv swift, my li^ht gazelle, 
 3 i + To her who now lies waking 
 To hear thy silver bell 
 The midnight silence breaking, 
 Moore. 
 
 20. 
 
 ab ab c c 
 
 Sf " G6, S5ul, the b6dy'8 gu6st, 
 Si-V Upon a thankless Errand ; 
 Fear not to touch the best. 
 
 The truth shall bo thy warrant : 
 Sf Go, since I n^eds must die, 
 
 3 i And give the world the lie.*** 
 
 3 i+ Tell arts they have not soundness, 
 8 i + But vary by esteeming ; 
 
 Tell schools they want profoundness, 
 And stand too much on seeming. 
 If arts and schools reply, 
 Give arts and schools tne lie. 
 Barniield. 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 281 
 
 31. See 19. 
 
 a ahh 
 8 4 *' "What 8C(5ne8 of glory rise 
 
 Before my dazzled eyes 1 
 4i Youn^ zephyrs wave their wanton 
 winffs, 
 Aud melody celestial rings." — Croly. 
 
 33. Shokt-metee Stanza. 
 ah al) 
 Zi " The hurricane hath might 
 
 Along the Indian shore ; 
 4i And far, by Ganges' banks, at 
 night, 
 Is heard the tiger's roar." 
 Hemans. 
 
 35. 
 
 aal cch 
 4 1 " If solid happiness we ]5rize. 
 
 Within our breast the jewel lies ; 
 8 i And they are fools who roam : 
 
 The world has nothing to bestow ; 
 From our own selves our joys must 
 flow. 
 And that dear hut — our home." 
 Cotton. 
 
 (ISIartial.) 
 
 ar. 
 
 33. 
 ah all 
 2/ " Go, lovely rose ! 
 
 4 i Tell her that wastes her time and me, 
 
 2 i ^ That now she knows, 
 4 i When I resemble her to thee, 
 
 4 i How sweet and fair she seems to be." 
 WaUer. 
 This stanza forcibly illustrates several 
 of the chief principles laid down under 
 Versiflcatioa. 
 
 3*. 
 ah ah 
 2/ " Gay. guiltless pair, 
 
 4i+ What seek ye from the fields of 
 
 heaven ? 
 3 1 + Ye have no need of prayer. 
 
 Ye have no sins to be forgiven." 
 Sprague. 
 36. 
 a bch d d 
 
 3 i4- " It was a siimmer Evening, — 
 
 3 i Old Kaspar's work was done, 
 4» And he, before his cottage door, 
 Was sitting in the sun ; 
 And by him sported on the green. 
 His little grandchild Wilhelmine.'' 
 SoutJiey. 
 
 CoMMON-METKB StANZA. 
 
 ah ch 
 4i "To hunt the d^er with hoiind and 
 
 horn, 
 8 i Earl P^rcy took his way ; 
 
 The child that's yet unborn, may rwe 
 The hunting of that day." 
 
 Chevy Chase. 
 
 Or thus: — 
 
 " To hunt the deer with hound and horn, Earl Percy took his way 
 The child that's yet unborn, may rue the hunting of that day." 
 
 38. 
 
 ah ch 
 
 4/ *' Fair scenes for childood's opening 
 
 bloom, 
 8 1 + For sportive youth to stray in ; 
 For manhood to enjoy his strength. 
 And age to wear away in." 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 30, LoNG-METBE Stanza. 
 ah ah 
 ' So bWe yon windi^ river flows, 
 It sdems an outlfet from the sky, 
 Where, waiting till the west-wind 
 blows. 
 The freighted clouds at anchor 
 lie." — Longfellow. 
 33. 
 aaa 
 'Aroiind Sebago's lonely 14ke, 
 There lingers not a breeze to break 
 The mirror which its waters make." 
 Whittier. 
 
 4i 
 
 4i 
 
 ah ah. (Sentimental.) 
 4/ "A violet by a mossy stone, 
 3 i Half-hidden from the eye, 
 Fair as a star, when only one 
 Is shining in the sky." 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 ah ab 
 4t + " The Ocean looketh lip to heaven, 
 
 3 * As 'tw(5re a living thing ; 
 The homage of its waves is given, 
 
 In ceaseless worshiping." 
 Whittier, 
 
 31. 
 
 ah a b 
 Her heart is like a faded fl6wer. 
 Whose beauty's lost and sweet- 
 ness flown ; 
 Forgot, neglected in the bower. 
 And left by all to die alone.'' 
 Songster. 
 
 33. 
 
 ah ah 
 
 4 i " There is a cd,lm for those who w6ep, 
 A r^st for weary pilgrims foiind ; 
 
 They softly lie, aiid sweetly sleep, 
 2 f Low in the ground y~Monf^om. 
 
 4i + 
 4i 
 
282 
 
 VBBSIFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 34, 
 
 aahh 
 4i "Those Evening bells! those Evening 
 b^lls ! 
 How many S, tale their music tella 
 Of youth and home, and that sweet 
 
 time 
 "When last I heai'd their soothing 
 chime." — Moore. 
 
 36. 
 
 a a ah 
 4i " Who fed me from her gentle breast, 
 And hushed nae in her arms to rest, 
 And on my cheeks sweet kisses 
 ji-ressed ? 
 i+ My Mother." — Thomson, 
 
 The expression " My Mother," closes 
 each stanza of the poem. A part thus 
 repeated, or making the burden of the 
 poem, is called a r^rain, 
 
 39. BmtNs's Stakza. 
 
 aa ab ah 
 
 4i "When ripened fields and azure 
 
 skies, 
 
 Call forth the reaper's rustling 
 
 noise, 
 I saw thee leave their evening joys, • 
 
 2 i And lonely stalk, 
 
 To vent thy bosom's swelling rise 
 In pensive walk."— ^«r«^. 
 
 41. 
 
 aahcch 
 4i4- "Two spirits reached this world of 
 ours: 
 The lightning's locomotive powers 
 
 3 i + or 4^ Were slow to their agility : 
 
 In broad daylight they moved 
 
 incog.. 
 Enjoying, withovlt mist or fog, 
 Entire invisibility." 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 43, 
 
 a a ah 
 4i " When maidens siich as Hdster die. 
 Their place ye may not well supply, 
 Thousfh ye among" a thousand try, 
 2i+ With v4in enddavor." 
 
 Lamb. 
 
 44. 
 
 4 i " By torch and tr\impet fast arrayed. 
 
 Each horseman drew his battle- 
 blade, 
 ^f And fiirious ^s^rf ch&rger n^ighei 
 • » + To join the dreadful revelry." 
 
 'vawnff^ 
 
 I 35. 
 
 ah ch 
 4 i "All thoughts, all passions, 411 de- 
 lights. 
 Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 
 Are all but ministers of love, 
 3i And feed his sacred flame." 
 
 Coleridge. 
 37. 
 4/ " <5h, never talk again to m6 
 4 i + Of northern climes and British 
 ladies ; 
 It has not been your lot to see, 
 Like me, the charming girl of 
 Cadiz." — Byron. 
 38. 
 ah c ch 
 Aii "To horse! to horse! the standard 
 
 flies, 
 3 i The bugles sound the c&ll ; 
 
 The Gallic navy stems the seas. 
 The voice of battle 's on the breeze, — 
 Arouse ye, one and all !" — Soott. 
 40. 
 ab ah c G 
 4 1 " You have the Pyrrhic dance ns ydt, 
 4/ Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx 
 gone? 
 Of two such lessons why forget 
 The nobler and the manlifer 6ne ? 
 4i You have the letters Cadmus gave — 
 Think you he meant them for a 
 slave V— Byron. 
 
 42. 
 
 4i + 
 
 Thou art not fals3, but thou art 
 fickle, 
 4 i To those thyself so fondly sought ; 
 
 The tears that thou hast forced to 
 trickle. 
 Are doubly bitter from that 
 thought : 
 4t+ 'Tis this whitih breaks the he4rt 
 thou grievest, — 
 Too well thou lov'st, too soon 
 thou leavest." — Byron. 
 45. 
 aah c c ch 
 4/ " Thou grewest & goodly trde, with 
 shoots [roots 
 
 4/ Fanning, thg sky, and darth-bound 
 2iJr So grappled linder, 
 4 i " That thou, whom perching birds 
 could swing. 
 And zephyrs roct with lightest 
 
 wing. 
 From thy firm trunk unmoved 
 didst fling 
 2/4- Tempest ^nd thunder." 
 
 Magazine: Charter-oak. 
 Observe how the change of feet in the 
 last line, improves the vigor of the stanza. 
 
V15R8IFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 288 
 
 46. 
 
 aabb c 
 4 i " His br6w vraa sad • his eye beneath 
 
 Flashed like a falchion from its sheath ; 
 4/ And like a silver clarion r&ng 
 
 The accents of that mountain tongue, 
 »*+ or 2 4 Excelsior V^—ZonsfeUmo. 
 
 47. 
 
 a abb e c, &c. 
 
 4/ " Swift to the breach his comrades fly, — 
 
 4 i ' Make way for liberty !' they cry, 
 
 And throiigh the Austrian phalanx dart 
 
 As rushed the spears through Arnold's heart ; 
 
 While, instantaneous as his fall, 
 
 Kout, ruin, panic, seized them kll." — Montgomery. 
 
 4 * + " The tiirkman Iky beside the river ; 
 
 The wind played loose through bow and quiver; 
 
 4 * The charger on the bank fed fr^e : 
 
 4/ The shield hung glittering from the tr^e. * * * 
 
 Wild burst the burning element 
 
 O'er man and courser, flood and tent ! 
 
 And through the blaze the Greeks outsprang, 
 
 Like tigers, — bloody, foot and fang 1 
 
 With dagger-stab and falchion-sweep. 
 Delving the stunned and staggering n^ap, 
 
 Till lay the slave by chief and Khan, 
 
 And all was gone that once was man 1" — Groli/. 
 The iambic tetrameter is a sprightly, vigorous measure, in which much of our 
 poetry is written. See Scott, Byron, Moore, Butler, Swift, Gay, Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 48. 
 
 ab ah 
 3/ *' Leaves have their time to fall, 
 
 6/ AudJELowers to wither at the north-wind's breath, 
 
 8 i And stars to s6t ; but all — 
 
 5/ Thou hast all seasons for thine own, Oh Death V— Hemans. 
 
 40. 
 
 ababcc 
 3/ " 'Tis sweet, in thg green spring 
 
 5/ To gaze upon the wakgning fluids aroiind ; 
 
 Birds in the thicket sing, 
 
 5 i Winds whisper, waters prattle from the ground ; 
 8 » A thousand odors rise, 
 
 Breathed up from blossoms of a thousand djQS.^''— Bryant. 
 
 50. 
 
 abhacc 
 8/ "Ah ! thSre 's a deathless name !— 
 
 5/ A spirit that the smothgring vault shall spurn, 
 
 5 i And like a steadfast planet mount and burn— 
 
 Si And though its crown of flame 
 
 5 i + Consumed my brain to ashes as it won me. 
 
 By all the fiery stars I I'd pluck it on me !"— WiUis. 
 
 51. 
 
 ab ab 
 5/ " We mourn for th6e when blind blank night 
 
 2 i The chkmber fills ; 
 
 6 i We pine for thee when morn's first light 
 2/ EMdSns thS hiUs." 
 
 13 
 
284 VERSIFICATION. — SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 abba 
 5 4 "A long way off Lucinda strikes the men ; 
 
 2/ As shS draws near, 
 
 2 i And one sees clear, — 
 
 A long way off one wishes her again." 
 
 53, 
 
 abab 
 5f^ « It is the Khine ! our mountain vineyards laving ; . 
 
 Si I see the proud flood shine. 
 
 Sing on the march, with every banner waving, 
 Sing, brothers 1 'tis the Khine."— ifeman*. 
 
 54. • 
 
 abab 
 6/ " Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 
 
 4» The first four acts already passed, 
 
 5 i A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; — 
 
 Time's noblest offspring is the last." — Berkeley. 
 
 55, Pentametees, ok Hekoic MEAstntE. 5ior5i+. 
 
 In this measure, by far the greatest and most valuable part of our poetry is 
 ^" all our blanh verse and epic poetry, and all our 
 
 written. It comprises nearly all our blanh verse and epic ^ 
 
 dramatic poetry. See Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, "Milton, Dryden, Pope 
 
 Thomson, Cowper, Pollok, Eogers, Byron, Campbell, Crab be, etc. 
 
 Blmik. 
 5f+ ♦« The p6et's eye, in k fine frenzy r611ing, 
 
 Doth glance from heaven to 6arth, from ^arth to heaven : 
 
 And, as imagination bodies forth 
 6* The forms of things unknown, the poet's p6n 
 
 Turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing 
 
 A local habitation and a name." — Shakespeare. 
 
 " Yet, higher than their tops 
 5/ The v^rdiiroils walls of Paradise upspning. 
 
 Which to our general sire gave- prospect large, 
 6/1 Into his ndther Empire neighboring round. 
 
 5 * And higher than that wall, a circling row 
 
 Of goodliest tr^es, 16ad§n with fairest friiit, 
 Blossoms a,nd friiits at once of golden hue. 
 Appeared, with gay enamelled colors mixed ; 
 Of which the sun more glad impressed his beams 
 Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow. 
 When God hath showered earth." — Milton. 
 
 a abb cc d d, &c. 
 5/ " Oh 1 had he be^n content to serve the crown. 
 
 With virtues proper only for the gown ; 
 Or had the rankness of the soil been freed, 
 From cockle that oppressed the noble seed ; 
 D4vid for Mm his tuneful harp had strung. 
 And h6aven had wanted 6ne immortal song." — Dryden. 
 
 56, Elegiac Stanza. 
 abab 
 
 6 i " The br6ezv c411 of iBcense-br^athing m6rn. 
 
 The swallow twittering from the straw-built 8h6d, 
 The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn. 
 No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed." — Oroff. 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. — IAMBIC VERSE. 286 
 
 57. 
 
 6 i + " For thou wast monarch bom. Tradition's pages 
 
 6 i TeJl not the planting of thy forest tree, 
 
 But that the forest tribes have bent for ages 
 ♦ To thee, ana to thy sires, the subject knee." — HaUeck. 
 
 58. 
 bf " Harp of the North, farewell ! the hills grow dark, 
 
 6 i On purple p^aks a deeper shade descending ; 
 
 In twilight copse the glowworm lights her spark. 
 The deer half-seen are to the covert wending." — Scott. 
 
 59. 
 
 6»+ " Philosophers may teach thy whereabouts and nature ; 
 
 6 » + But wise, as all of us, perforce, must think 'em. 
 
 The schoolboy best has fixed thy nomenclature : 
 And poets, too, must call thee Bob-o-linkum." — Hoffman. 
 
 60. 
 
 ah ah c c 
 5 i + " And th6ti hast walked about — how strange a story — 
 
 Si In Th^bes's streets, three thousand y^ars ago ; 
 
 Wh^n th6 Memnoniiim was in all its glory, 
 
 And time had not begun to overthrow 
 Those monuments and piles stupendous. 
 Of which the very ruins are tremendous." — H. Smith. 
 
 61. Btkon's Stanza. 
 ah ah ah c c 
 5 * + " 0,that I had the art of easy writing. 
 
 What should be easy reading ! could I scale 
 Parnassus, where the Muses sit inditing 
 
 Those pretty poems never known to tail. 
 How quickly would I print (the world delighting) 
 
 A Grecian, Syrian, or Assyrian tale ; 
 And sell you, mixed with Western sentimentalism. 
 Some samples of the finest orientalism." — Byron. 
 
 When iambic hypermeters of moderate length occur only now and then in the 
 poem, they are more commonly humorous than serious. 
 
 62. The Sonnet. 
 ahh a a c c a de e dff 
 Hi « And canst thou. Mother, for a moment think 
 
 That we, thy children, when old age shall shed 
 
 Its blanching honors on thy weary head. 
 Could from our best of duties ever shrink ? 
 Sooner the sun from his high sphere should sink, 
 
 Than w6, ungrateful, l^ave tliee in that day, 
 
 To pine in solitude tliy life away. 
 Or shun thee tottering on the grave's cold brink. 
 Banish the thought ! — where'er our steps may roam, 
 
 O'er smiling plains, or wastes without a tree. 
 
 Still will foncl memory point our hearts to thee, 
 And paint the pleasures of thjr peaceful home ; 
 While duty bids us all thy griels assuage. 
 And smooth the pillow of thy sinking age." — H. K. White. 
 
 63. Spenserian Stanza. 
 ah ahhchcc 
 Ci " There is a pleasure in the pathless w6od8, 
 
 There is a rapture on the lonely shore, 
 There is society, where noua intrudes, 
 
99$ VSBSIFICATION. SCANNING. IAMBIC VERSE. 
 
 By the deep sea, and music in its roar. 
 
 I love not Man the less, but Nature more, 
 From these our interviews, in which I steal 
 
 From all I may be, or have been before, 
 To mingle with the universe, and feel 
 f i What 1 can ne'er express, | yet can not all conceal." — Byron. 
 
 An iambic hexameter is usually called an Alexandrine. 
 
 64. 
 
 a abb 
 6 i " The d^w was falling fast, | the stars began to blink,— 
 
 I heard a voice ; it said, j ' Drink, pretty creature, drink !' 
 And looking o'er the hedge, j before me I espied 
 6/ A snow-white mountain lamb j with a maiden at its side." — W&rdsworth. 
 
 65. 
 
 ab ab c c 
 
 6 i " For 4ges, on the silent forest here, 
 
 Thy beams did fall before the red man came 
 To dwell beneath them ; in their shade the deer 
 
 Fed and feared not the arrow's deadly aim. 
 Nor tree was felled, | in all that world of woods, 
 6i Save by the beaver's tooth, | or winds, or rush of floods." — Bryant. 
 
 66. 
 
 a abb 
 6/ •* I s^e the valleys, Spain ! ] where thy mighty rivers run. 
 
 And thg hills that lift thy harvests | and vineyards to the sun, ^ 
 And the flocks that drink thy brooKs | and sprinkle all the green, 
 7/ Where lie thy plains, | with sheep-walks seamed, | and olive shades 
 
 [between." — Bryant 
 
 67. Lines Divisiblb. 
 
 7 * " The melancholy days are come, [ The saddest of the y^ar, 
 
 Of wailing winds and naked woods, | And meadows brown and sear." 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 7* "0, bdtter that her shattered hiilk | Should sink beneath the w^ve 1 
 
 Her thunder shook the mighty deep, | And there should be her grave I 
 
 Nail to th6 mast her holy flag, — set every threadbare sail. 
 
 And give her to the god of storms, — [ the lightning and the gale 1 " 
 
 Holmes. 
 68.* 
 
 7/+ " No ; — the joke has been a good one, | But I'm getting fond of quiet ; 
 And I don't like deviations | from my customary diet ; 
 So I think 1 will not go with you | to hear the toasts and speeches. 
 But stick to old Montgomery Place, | and have some pig and peaches." 
 
 Jlolmes. 
 " Fkthfir &nd I went down to town | Along with Captain Gooding, 
 And th6re we s6e the mdn and boys | As thick as hasty pudding." 
 
 Dr. Shackburg : Yankee Boodle. 
 
 The quantity of iambic verse in English literature, far exceeds that of all the 
 other kinds of verse. 
 
 ♦ There Is also a sort of dof?gerel stanza, usually iambic, ending with a long prosy line, and 
 frequently found in newspapers ; as, — 
 
 "Now Eedben wds a nice young mkn 
 As kny in the. t6wn ; 
 And Phoebe loved him very dear, 
 But, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he 
 never could make himself agreeable to old Mr. and Mis. Brown. 
 
YBRSIFICATION. SCANNING. — ANAPESTIC VERSE. 
 
 2Q1 
 
 2. ANAPESTIC VERSE. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 abab 
 
 
 " Move your feet 
 To our soiind, 
 Whilst we greet 
 AU the ground."- 
 
 Or, tc Move your feet 
 To our sound, 
 Whilst we greet 
 -Fletcher. AU the ground. 
 
 Or,d M6ve your feet 
 To our sound, 
 Whilst we greet 
 All the ground 
 
 2/ 
 
 a + 
 
 2/+ 
 2a + 
 
 abacdb dc 
 
 ' Now, mortal, prepare, 
 
 For thy fate is at hand ; 
 Now, mortal, prepare, 
 
 And surrender. 
 For Love shall arise. 
 
 Whom no pow'r can withstand, 
 Who rules from the skies 
 To the centre." — Granville. 
 
 ab al 
 The aiitumn winds rushing 
 
 Waft the leaves that are searest ; 
 But our flow'r was in flushing. 
 When blighting was nearest. 
 Scott. 
 
 a ab c ch 
 2 a " Come, my mates, let us work, 
 
 And all hands to the fork, 
 8 a While the sun shines, our haycocks 
 
 to make : 
 2/ So fine is the day, 
 
 And so fragrant the hay. 
 That the meadow 's as blithe as the 
 wake." — Smart. 
 
 ab ab c c dede 
 2a" When, in rage, he came th^re, 
 2/ Beholding how steep 
 2/ The sides did appear. 
 
 And the bottom how d4ep ; 
 2y4- His torments projecting, 
 
 And sadly reflecting, 
 2 a + That a lover forsaken, 
 2/ A n^w love may g6t ; 
 
 But a neck, when once broken. 
 Can never be set," etc. — Walsh, 
 5, 
 aahb 
 a " Our life is a dr^am, 
 
 2 a Our time, as a stream, 
 
 2/ Glides swiftly aw^y ; 
 
 4 a And the fugitive m6ment refuses to 
 [stay." — Wesley. 
 7. 
 a ah bb 
 " Let the stupid be grave, 
 'Tis the vice of the slave; 
 But can never agree 
 With a maiden nke me, 
 4 a Who is born in a country that 'a happy 
 and free." 
 
 8a 
 8/ 
 
 abab 
 " I am monarch of all I survey. 
 
 My right there is none to dispiite ; 
 From the centre aU round to the sea, 
 I am lord of the fowl and the brute.' 
 
 -Gowper. 
 
 Sa + 
 8a 
 
 " Though the day of my d(Sstiny 's over. 
 And the star of my fate has declined. 
 Thy soft heart refused to discover. 
 The faults which so many could find.' 
 
 -Byron, 
 
 8 a + » " The strawberries grow in the mowing. Mill May, 
 
 8 a And the bob-o-link sings on the tree ; 
 
 On the knolls the red clover is growing. Mill May, 
 Then come to the meadowa with me." — Eastman. 
 
 8/ 
 4a + 
 aa 
 
 11. 
 
 ■ How fS,iT is the rose ! what a beaiitiful flower I 
 The glory of A'pril and May ! 
 But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour, 
 And they wither and die m a day." — Wattt. 
 
'Siffi VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. ANAPESTIC VERSE. 
 
 13, 
 
 ab abb 
 Zf "ToKiches? Alas! 'tis in vain; 
 
 3/ Who hid in their turns have been hid ; 
 
 Their treasures are squandered again ; 
 A/ And here in the grave are all metals forbid 
 
 4 a Save the tinsel that shines on the dark coflan-lid." — Knowlea, 
 
 13. 
 
 ab ab c c 
 Zf " The music of stream and of bird 
 
 8 a Shall come back when the winter is o'er ; 
 
 4 a But the voice that was dearest to us, shall be h^ard 
 
 In our desolate chambers no more ! 
 if The siinlight of May on the waters shall quiver — 
 
 4a But the light of her eye hath departed forever !" — Burdell. 
 
 14. 
 
 aabb 
 4 a "When the flowers of friendship or love have decayed 
 
 In the heart that has trusted and once been betrayed, 
 4if No siinshine of kindness their bloom can restore : 
 
 "For the verdure of feeUng wiU quicken no more V^—Eoffman, 
 
 4a + " So I h6pe, from henceforward vou ne'er will ask, can I maul 
 
 4/+ This teasing, conceited, rude, insolent animal. 
 
 And if tliis rebuke might be turned to his benefit, 
 
 (For I pity the man,) I should be glad th6n otit:'— Swift. 
 
 ab a ab 
 4/ "A warrior so bold, and a virgin so bright, 
 
 Zf Conversed as they sat on die green ; 
 
 They gazed on each other with tender delight, — 
 Alonzo the Brave was the name of the knight, 
 The maid — ^was the fair Imogene." — Le%m. 
 
 aabb c c dde e 
 Zf+ ■ " A bre&th of submission we breathe not ; 
 
 The sword that we've drawn we wiU sheathe not ; 
 4/ Its scabbard is 16ft where our martyrs are laid, 
 
 And the vengeance of ages has whetted its blade. 
 8a + Earth may hide, waves ingulf, fire consume us ; 
 
 But they shall not to slavery doom us : 
 4a If they rule, it shall be o'er our ashes and graves ; 
 
 But we've smote them already with fire on the waves, 
 8 a+ And new triumphs on land are before us ; 
 
 To the charge I — Heaven's banner is o'er us." — Ga/mphell. 
 
 ab ab 
 ia+ " When the bl&ck-lettered list to the gods Avas presented, 
 4/ (Th6 list of what Fate for each mortal intends,) 
 
 At the long string of ills a kind goddess relented. 
 
 And slipped in three blessings — wife, children, and friends." 
 
 Spene«r, 
 17. 
 4a " Should the tdmpest of war oversh&dow our 14nd, 
 
 4/+ Its b61t8 could ne'er rdnd Freedom's temple asunder ; 
 
 For unmoved at its portals would Washington stand, 
 And repulse with liia breast the assaults of the thunder." — Paints 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. TROCHAIC VKRSK. 
 
 289 
 
 4a + 
 4a + 
 
 4/ 
 
 18. 
 
 ahah c ccb 
 
 "When a prince to the fate of the peasant has yielded. 
 The tap'stry waves dark round the dim-liffhted hall ; 
 
 With 'scutcheons of silver the coffin is shielded, 
 And p^ges stand mute by the canopied pall : 
 
 Through the c6urts, at deep midnight, the torches are gl6amii^ ; 
 
 In the proudly-arched chapel the banners are beaming ; 
 
 Far adown the long isle sacred music is streaming, 
 Lamenting a chief of the people should fell." — Scott. 
 
 19, Lines Divisible. 
 ahah 
 
 " The captive usurper, [ Hurled down from the thr6ne, 
 Lay buried in torpor, | Forgotten and lone." — Byron. 
 
 3. TROCHAIC VERSE. 
 
 aalhc 
 
 t Turning, 
 
 Burning, 
 
 Chinking, 
 
 Eangmg, 
 Ztc " FiiU of gri6f and fiiU of pMn." 
 Addison, 
 
 3. 
 
 aalcch 
 
 2t " 'Tis most certain, 
 
 By their flirting, 
 Stc W6men have most envy shown ; 
 
 Pleased to ruin 
 
 Others' wooing. 
 Never happy in their own." 
 
 5. 
 
 aa ai c c cl) 
 
 2t " Clear wells spring not, 
 
 Sw6et birds sing not, 
 
 Loud bells ring not 
 d Cheerfully ; 
 
 Herds stand weeping, 
 
 Flocks all sleeping, 
 
 Nymphs back creeping 
 
 YearMly. ^^—Shake^eare. 
 
 8 f tf " Woo the fair one, wh^n aro^d 
 8 1 E4rly birds are singing ; 
 
 When o'er all the fragrant ground 
 Early herbs are springing." 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 a a lice, &c. 
 t c " S6e him stride 
 
 Valleys wide, 
 
 Over woods. 
 
 Over floods ; 
 
 So shall I 
 Ztc (Lofty p6et !) toiichthe sky." — S^Dift. 
 
 4. 
 
 al ch 
 
 '■ Whizzing through the moiintains. 
 
 Buzzing o'er the vale ; 
 Bless me I this is pleasant. 
 
 Biding on a rail." — /Saxe. 
 
 6. 
 
 ab al 
 
 *' Can I c^ase to care, 
 
 C4n I cdase to languish, 
 While my darhng fair 
 Is 6n the coiich of anguish ?'* 
 Burns. 
 
 7, 
 
 4:t "Th6ugh we charge to-day with 
 
 fl^etness, 
 Ztc Th6ugh we dread to-m6rrow'8 
 sky. 
 There 's a melancholy sweetness 
 In the name of days gone by." 
 
 Tvj>per, 
 
 9, 
 
 " Hiisband, hiSsband, c^aBeyour strife, 
 7/ Nor longer idly rave, sir ; 
 
 Though I km your wedded wife, 
 7/ Y6t I'm n6t your slave, sir."— Burnt. 
 
 2tc 
 
 2tc 
 
 Bt 
 
 6/ 
 
290^ 
 
 VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. TROCHAIC VlflRSE. 
 
 10. 
 
 8 ^ c *' Now the pine-tree's waving top 
 Btc _ Gently greets the morning gale : 
 Kidliugs now begin to crop 
 Daisies in the dewy vale." 
 
 Cunningham. 
 
 13. 
 
 At " QkW not this the month of roses — 
 2tc There are none to bloom ; 
 
 Morning light, alas ! discloses 
 8 t c But the winter of the tomb." 
 
 Ztc 
 
 Ztc 
 
 4t 
 
 2to 
 
 13. 
 
 aaabccob, &e. 
 • Scots who have with Wallace bled. 
 Scots whom Bruce has often led, 
 Welcome to the gory bed, 
 
 a\ntr\rv " 
 
 Compare 
 
 Or to victory." — 
 t c with 4 *. 
 
 15. 
 
 aabhc c, &o. 
 
 3^c "It shall come in 
 
 empire's groans, 
 
 Burning temples, trampled thrones ! 
 Then, Ambition, rue thy lust. — 
 Earth to earth ! and dust to dust 1" 
 Groli/. 
 17. 
 ababc do d 
 4« " In the greenest of our valleys 
 8 to By good angels tenanted. 
 Once a fair and stately palace 
 (Snow-white palace) reared its head ; 
 In the monarch Thought's dominion, 
 
 It stood there ; 
 Never seraph spread a pinion 
 Over fabric half so fair " — Foe. 
 
 19. 
 
 ab ab 
 
 "P6et6ftheheart, 
 Delving in its mine. 
 From mankind apart. 
 
 Yet where jewels shine ; 
 Hdaving Upwards to the light. 
 Precious wealth that charms the 
 Bight."— Zoo/{;e. 
 
 30. 
 
 " H6 that loves a rosy chfiek, 
 Or a coral lip admires. 
 Or from starlike eyes doth seek 
 
 Fuel to maintain'his fires ; 
 As old time makes these decay 
 So his flames must melt away'.'' 
 Ciirew. 
 
 3t 
 
 2to 
 
 3/ 
 
 '■2to 
 Ztc 
 
 Zt 
 
 Ue 
 
 Sto 
 
 ite 
 
 4:t 
 
 11. 
 
 ' Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er. 
 Sleep the sleep that knows not 
 breaking- 
 Dream of battle-fields no more, 
 Days of danger, nights of wak- 
 ing."— >&o^^. 
 
 a a ab cb 
 
 " Oft as summer closes. 
 When thine eye reposes 
 On its lingering roses, 
 
 Once so loved by thee, 
 Think of her who wove them. 
 Her who made thee love them ; 
 Oh ! then remember me." 
 
 Moore. 
 
 16. 
 
 a a ab refrain 
 
 " Whdn the Alhambra walls he 
 gained. 
 On the moment he ordained 
 That the trumpet straight should 
 
 sound 
 With the silver clarion round. 
 Wo is me, Alhama !" 
 
 Byron. 
 
 18. 
 
 ab a aab 00 d d 
 
 " In a valley thkt I know, 
 Happy scene ! 
 There are meadows sloping 
 
 low, 
 There the fairest flowers blow. 
 And the brightest waters flow, 
 
 All serene ; 
 But the sweetest thing to see. 
 If you ask the dripping tree. 
 Or the harvest-hoping swain, 
 Is the rain." — Hoyt. 
 
 ai. 
 
 aabb 
 
 " Sde the ruddy morning smiling. 
 Hear the grove to bliss beguiling ; 
 Zephyrs through the woodland 
 
 playing. 
 Streams along the valleys stray- 
 ing."— (?oZc?smi^A. 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. TROCHAIC VERSE. 
 
 291 
 
 a a ah ah 
 4 < " N6ver -wadding, ever wooing, 
 Still a lovelorn heart pursuing, 
 Eead you not the wrong you're 
 doing, 
 itc In my cheek's pale hue ? 
 
 All my life with sorrow strewing, — 
 Wed or cease to woo." 
 
 CarwpbeU. 
 
 Uc 
 
 6t 
 
 4te 
 
 13. 
 
 ab ccah ab 
 
 4:t " Ah ! my heart is ever waiting, 
 2tc Waitmg for the May, — 
 
 Waiting for the pleasant rambles 
 Where the fragrant hawthorn 
 
 brambles. 
 With the woodbine alternating, 
 
 Scent the dewy way. 
 Ah 1 mj heart is weary waiting, 
 Waitmg for the May." 
 
 Dublin Magazine. 
 
 34. 
 
 aabb 
 
 " Then, methought, I heard a hollow sound, 
 Gathering lip from all the lower ground ; 
 Narrowing in to where they sat assembled. 
 Low vcttiiptuous music, winding, trembled." — Tennyson. 
 
 25. 
 
 ab ab 
 
 " Moiintain-winds ! oh ! whither do ye c^ll me, 
 Vainly, vainly, would my steps pursue : 
 Chains of care to lower earth enthrall me, — 
 Wherefore thus my weary spirit woo." — Bemans. 
 
 tt 
 
 It 
 
 i36. Lines Divisible. 
 a a, &e. 
 
 " Wh6re the wood is waving, | Steady, gr(5en, and high, 
 Fauns and dryads, nightly, ] Watch the starry sky." 
 
 27. 
 
 abab 
 
 " tTp the d^wy m6untain, J Health is bounding lightly ; 
 On her brow a garland, | twined with richest posies : 
 Gay is she, | elate with hope, \ and smiling sprightly ; 
 Kedder is her cheek | and sweeter than the rose is." — G. Brown, 
 
 aabb, &c. 
 
 "Th^n in th^e let those rejoice, | who seek thee, s61f-denying, 
 All who thy salvation love, | thy name be glorifying." 
 
 7tc " Come, and tell us, our Ximena. | looking northward far away 
 
 O'er the camp of the invaders, ( o'er the Mexican array. ^^—Whittier. 
 
 "Softly blow the dvening breezes, | Softly fall the dews of night : 
 Yonder walks the Moor Alcanzor, | Shunning every glare of lighV— Percy. 
 
 30. 
 
 8 < " Bdams of n6on, like burning lances, | through the trde-tops fl4sh 8Jad 
 
 glisten 
 As she stands before her lover | with raised eyes to look and listen.'* 
 
 Whitii0r» 
 13* 
 
292 
 
 \ ERSIFIC ATION. SCANNING. — DACTYLIC VERSE. 
 
 4. DACTYLIC YERSE. 
 
 Our literature has but little regular or pure dactylic verse. 
 
 a a ah 
 
 2d " L&nd of the Pilgrim's pride, 
 Land where my fathers died, 
 From ev'ry mountain-side 
 
 2 » Let freedom ring." — Smith. 
 
 3. 
 
 a a ab c c ch 
 
 2 </ *' Bright in her father's hall 
 
 Shields gleamed upon the wall, 
 Loud sang the minstrels all, 
 
 d t Chanting his glory ; 
 
 "When of old Hildebrand 
 I asked his daughter's hand, 
 Mute did the minstrel stand 
 
 2 i+or dt To hear my story." 
 
 aa ah 
 'id " Free from satiety 
 
 Care and anxiety, 
 Charms in variety, 
 d e Fall to Ms share." 
 
 4. 
 
 ah ah 
 2 d "Take her up tenderly, 
 d c Lift her with care ; 
 
 Fashioned so slenderly. 
 Young, and so lair !" — Hood. 
 
 2d " Where shall the lover rest, 
 d t Whom the fates 8(Jver 
 
 From his true maiden's breast- 
 Parted forever." — Scott. 
 
 Zde 
 
 2dto 
 2dt 
 
 a ah c ch 
 " Bird of the wilderness, 
 Blithesome and cumberless, 
 Light be thy matin o'er moorland and lea ; 
 Emblem of happiness. 
 Blest is thy dwelling-place — 
 0, to abide in the desert with thee !" — Hogg. 
 
 7. 
 
 ahah 
 " C6me from the mount of the leopard, spouse, 
 C6me from the den of the lion ; 
 Come to the tent of thy shepherd, spouse, 
 Como to the mountain of Zion." — G. Brecon. 
 
 aaah c cch 
 Zd " B6v8 will anticipate, | lavish, and dissipate 
 
 Zde All that your busy pate I hoarded with care ; 
 
 And, in their foolishness^ | passion, and mulishness, 
 Charge you with churlishness, | spurning your prayer. 
 
 aaah occh 
 Zdt " Paiise not to dr6am of the future before us ; 
 
 Pause not to weep the wild cares that come o'er us ; 
 Hark, how Creation's deep, musical chorus, 
 ijnintermitting, goes ;ip into heaven I 
 N6ver the ocean-wave falters in flowing ; 
 Never the little seed stops in its growing ; 
 More and more richly the rose-heart keeps glowmg, 
 Till from its nourisliing stem it is riven." — Osgood. 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. — COMPOSITE VERSE. 293 
 
 10, LmE9 Divisible. 
 a ahh 
 Sdt " See, in his waywardness, How his fist doiibles ; 
 
 Thus pugilistical, daring Hfe's troubles : 
 Strange, that the neophyte enters existence, 
 In such an attitude, feigning resistance." — Ebod. 
 11 
 a abb, &c. 
 4 c? c " Often had moiintain-side, moiintain-side, br6ad lake and stream. 
 
 Gleamed on my waking thought, waking thought, crowded my dream." 
 
 12. 
 
 ah aic c d e e d 
 Sdt " Gr6en be the graves where her martyrs are lying ! 
 
 Zdc Shroudless and tombless they sunk to their rest, 
 
 While o'er their ashes the starry fold flying 
 Wrapt the proud eagle they roused from his nest. 
 2 d Borne on her northern pine, 
 
 Long o'er the foaming brine 
 Spread her broad banner to storm and to sun ; 
 Heav'n keep her ever free. 
 Wide as o'er land and sea 
 Floats the fair emblem her heroes have won." — Eolmes. 
 
 13, Lines Divisible. 
 ah ab 
 6dt " Time, thou art 6ver in motion 1 On wheels of the days, years, and ages ; 
 Restless as waves of the ocean, | when Earns or Boreas rages." 
 
 (r. Brown's Gram. 
 14. 
 aabh 
 Id " Oiit of the kingdom of Christ shall be gathered, by &ngels o'er Satan 
 victorious. 
 All that offendeth, that lieth, that faileth to honor his name ever glorious." 
 
 Ih. 
 15. 
 7dc ^^ Nimrod the hunter was mighty in hunting, and fumed as the niler of cities 
 of yore; 
 Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, from Shinar's fair region his 
 name afar bore." — 3. 
 
 5. COMPOSITE YERSE. 
 
 Iambics and Anapests. 
 1. 3. 
 
 ** Our fr^e fl&g is dancing " With a laugh and song we glide al6ng, 
 
 In the free mountain air, Across the fleeting snow ; 
 
 And burnished arms are glancing. With fri(5nds beside, how switit we ride 
 
 And warriors gathering there." On the beautiful track below." 
 
 Bryant. Fidda. 
 
 Throughout this composite verse, show what feet compose each of the lines. 
 3. 
 " We biiried him darkly, at dead of night. 
 The sods with our bayonets tiirning ; 
 By the striiggling moonbeams' misty licrht. 
 And the lantern dimly burning."— Wolfe. 
 
 " 'Twas the battle-fi^ld ; and the cold, pale moon 
 Looked down on the dead and dving ; 
 And the wind passed 6'er with a dirge and a wail. 
 Where the young and brave were lying." — Landon. 
 
294 VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. COMPOSITE VERSE. 
 
 4. 
 
 "I know where the yoiing May violet grows, 
 
 In its lone and lowly nook ; 
 On its mossy bank, where the large tree throws 
 Its broad dark boughs, in solemn repose, 
 
 Far over the silver brook." — Bryant. 
 
 5. 
 
 " Thy heart was a river | Without a main — 
 Would I had loved thee never, | Florence Vane." — Penaileton Gooke. 
 
 6. 
 
 " There was once a little fbuntain I That flowed away unseen 
 In the bosom of a mountain, | Where man had nevei been." — G. Young. 
 
 7. 
 " Let us go, lassie, go to the braes of Balq uhither. 
 Where the blae-berries grow 'mong the bonny highland heather." — TannaWl. 
 
 8. ' 
 
 *' 0, the 61d, old cloclc, of the household stock, | Was the brightest thing and neatest ; 
 
 The hands, though old, had a touch of gold,] And its chime rang still the sweetest." 
 
 9. 
 
 " It was many and many a year ago, I In a kingdom by the sea. 
 That a maiden there lived whom you may know, | By the name of Annabal L^e : 
 And this maiden she lived with no other thought | Than to love and be loved 
 by me." — Poe. 
 
 All the Feet. 
 10. 11. 
 
 " Night sinks on the wave ; " 66 where glory waits thee, 
 
 Hollow gusts are sighing ; But when fame elates thee. 
 
 Sea-birds, to their cave. Oh ! still remember me," etc. 
 
 Through the gloom are flying." — Eemans. Moore. 
 
 13. 13. 
 
 " It is written on the rose, " The departed ! the departed ! 
 
 In its glory's full array, — They visit lis in dreams ; 
 
 Bead what those buds disclose — And they glide above our memories 
 
 Passing 5. way." — Eemans. Like shadows over streams." 
 
 14, 15. 
 
 " Oft In th5 stilly nisrht, " G6ntle and lovely form. 
 
 Ere sMmber's chain has b6und What didst thou liere ?" &c. 
 me. 
 
 Fond M6m6ry brings the light -16. 
 
 Of 6ther ddys around me ; " Ndar the lake where drooped the willow, 
 
 The smiles, the t^ars, Long time ^go ; 
 
 Of boyhood's years. Where the rock threw back the billow 
 
 The words of love then spoken ; Brighter than snow ; 
 
 The eyes that shone. Dwelt a maid beloved and cherished 
 
 Now dim and gone. By high ^nd low ; 
 
 The cheerful hearts now broken." But with autumn's leaf she jjerished, 
 
 Moore. Long time ago." — Morris. 
 
 ir. 
 
 " M&ny &re the thmights that come to m6 I In ray lonely mxising ; 
 Or : Many &re thfe thoughts th&t come to rn6 in mjr lonel^ miising ; 
 
 And they drift so 8tr6,nge and swift, | Thdre 's no time for choosing 
 Which to follow, for to leave any seems a losing." — Cranch. 
 
 18. 
 
 " M&rch—m&rch— march I Earth gr6ans as they tread I 
 Each carries a skiill ; going down to the d6ad.'" 
 
VERSIFICATION. SCANNING. COMPOSITE VERSE. 295 
 
 19. 
 
 " Kn6w ye the land where the cypress and myrtle 
 
 Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime— 
 
 Where the rage of the vulture, the 16 ve of the turtle, 
 Now melt into softness, now madden to crime ? 
 
 Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, 
 
 Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine," qIc— Byron, 
 
 20. 
 
 " Busk ye, busk ye, ray bonny, bonny bride, 
 Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow I 
 Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bride, 
 And think no more on the braes of Yknovfy— Hamilton, 
 
 31. 
 
 " Wild roved an Indian girl, I Bright Alfarata, 
 Where sweep the waters | Of tne blue Juniata. 
 Swift as an antelope | Through the forest going. 
 Loose were her j6tty locks | In wavy tresses flowing." 
 
 33, 
 
 " Merrily swinging on brier and weed. 
 Near to the nest of his little dame. 
 Over the mountain-side or mead, 
 Kobert of Lincoln is telling his n^me — 
 B6b-o-link, B6b-o-link ; 
 Spink, spank, spink ; 
 Snug and safe is that nest of ours 
 Hidden among the summer flowers. 
 Chee, chee, chee V'— Bryant. 
 
 This beautiful stanza is remarkable for a skillful combination of nearly all 
 the feet. 
 
 Many songs are composite in their versification ; and odes are frequently not 
 only composite in metre, but very irregular in the length and rhyming of the lines. 
 
 Ex. — " 'Twas at the royal feast for Persia won 
 
 By Philip's warlike 86n ; 
 Aloft, in awful state. 
 The godlike hero sate 
 
 On his imperial throne : 
 His valiant peers were placed ar6und. 
 Their brows with roses and with myrtle bound ; 
 So should desert in arms be crowned. 
 The lovely Thais by his side 
 Sat like a blooming Eastern bride, 
 In flower of yoiith and beauty's pride. 
 Happy, happy, happy pair ; 
 None but the brave. 
 None but the brave. 
 None biit the brave deserves the fair," etc. — Dryden. 
 
 See Dryden's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, Poe's Bells, CoUins's Ode on the Passions, and 
 Gray's Odes. 
 
 We sometimes meet with scraps of verse, formed chiefly with the design of 
 being mechanically ingenious. 
 
 *' She drove her fiocTc o'er mountains^ " Now, O, now I needs must jpar^, 
 
 By grove^ or roch^ or fountains.'''' Ihrting though I absent mourn; 
 
 • < Lightly and Iriqhtly breaks away Absence can no joy impart. 
 
 The morning from her mantle gray.''— Byron. 'toy once fled can ne er return. 
 
 This is line-rhyming or loord-matching. 
 
296 VERSIFICATION. FAULTY LINES. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 " Toward yon t owered castle, " E vening drawa her rosy veil 
 
 T'me-and-r^me-renowned, L ovely o'er the western sky ; 
 
 L igUly I et thy waves then L ingering clouds in beautv sail 
 
 L eap the steepj I edges, E re the night withdraws their dye. 
 
 P our in p ureal silver i\r ot a wavelet," etc. 
 
 P roudly, I oudly over, g^^^ ^g^gg makes what is called an 
 
 D ancing d (rwn with laughter, acrostic 
 
 D ashing, flashing onward," etc. 
 
 Marsh's Lectures. „ ^^^^ sharpness shows the 8weetest/m?irf, 
 This is line-rhyming and allitera- Such cuttings rather heal than rend. 
 tion combined. See page 261. And such beginnings touch their end. 
 
 cur- f- w- d- dis- and p- 
 
 A -sed -lend -ronght -eath -ease -ain. 
 
 bles- fr- b- br- and a^- 
 
 *' A cursed fiend wrought death, disease, and pam ; 
 A blessed friend brought breath and ease again." 
 Such verses have been called task poetry. 
 
 Faulty Lines. 
 
 Point out the errors : — 
 Faulty measure : " And the mountains will echo industry's glad song." 
 *' Low shall they lie while ages after ages flee, 
 But their tomb shall stand a proud Thermopylae." 
 Faulty rhyme : " Should every hopeful prospect fade on life's uncertain way ; 
 Should every tie that love has made, be rudely torn away." 
 " Another story all the town will tell ; 
 Phillis paints fair to look like an angel." 
 Both : " And now, where shade and fountain meet, 
 
 Herds of horses and cattle feed." 
 Inelegant rhyme : " Above the woody vales, on high 
 
 The eagle soars in majesty." 
 Too MANY epithets : "Dark-rolling, high in eddying wreaths uprising, 
 
 Awfully grand, majestically awful." 
 Bad IMAGERY : " Balmy zephyr, lightly flitting. 
 
 Shade me with your azure wing." 
 Faulty thoughts : " The smiles of joy, the tears of woe. 
 Deceitful shine, deceitful flow — 
 
 There's nothing true but Heaven," — T. Moore. 
 Smiles and tears may be deceitful ; but smiles of joy, and tears of woe, are 
 never so. 
 
 *' Back from Miami, like a star he flies, 
 Meigs to assist to hurry the supplies." — Fredoniad. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 1. Poetry is closely allied to music, painting, statuary, and, indeed, to all the 
 fine art.s, of which it is the greatest. Its master passion is love, in the most en- 
 larged sense of the term. In some poetry, thought predominates, as in Pope's 
 Kssay on Man ; in some, feeling, as in Wolfe's Burial of Sir John Moore ; in some 
 the imagery, as in Moore's Lalla Ilookb ; in some the music, as in songs, which 
 often have but little to recommend them, except that they are good vehicles for 
 pretty tunes or airs. In some poetry are happily combined all the excellencies. 
 
 2. Poetry must be composed in accordance with the principles of correctness, 
 and the traits of excellence, required in good prose ; that is, it must possess fun- 
 
VERSIFICATION. OBSERVATIONS. 297 
 
 dameiitally all the good qualities of good prose, and all deviations must be such 
 as make it poetry, and elevate it above prose, or such as impart to it some pe- 
 culiar poetic excellence. 
 
 3. Poetry should be composed in a lofty or ardent glow of spirit ; and a 
 deficiency allowed in any of its essential qualities, should generally be atoned 
 for by superior excellence in the other qualities. 
 
 4. Poetry, in its feet, csesural pauses, rhymes, words, modes of expression, 
 arrangement of words, and licenses, should be in accordance with the usage 
 of the best poets, or in accordance with the principles in which the art itself 
 is founded. 
 
 5. Such a mode of versification should always be chosen, as will best corre- 
 spond with the sentiments of the intended poem. 
 
 6. When a certain stanza, or a certain mode of versification, has been adopted, 
 there should not be, throughout the same poem, any departure from it, either in 
 the kind of feet, in the number of feet to the respective fines, or in the mode 
 of arranging the lines that rhyme. Eegularity is one of the chief beauties of 
 poetry. 
 
 Rhyming lines should not be allowed to come occasionally into blank verse ; 
 HOT should lines of blank verse be occasionally interspersed among rhyming 
 lines. 
 
 7. Rhymes should exactly correspond, or at least be allowable; that is, corre- 
 spond sufficiently to be authorized by the usage of good poets. 
 
 8. When the merit of poetry is to depend on its structure as to quantity and 
 accent alone, there must be regularity and great melody, or great excellence of 
 thought, sentiment, and expression, to atone for the qualities that are wanting. 
 Therefore most of our "Sapphics," "hexameters," and other fantastic imitations 
 of what is found in ancient or in foreign languages, are hardly poetry according 
 to the genius of our literature. 
 
 9. Songs are not always so regular as other poems. To write a good song 
 requires great art, unless the mind happens to be one of those rare and fine ones 
 in which nature has combined the poet and the musical compositor. The best 
 songs are written by learning the air, tone, or music first, and then setting it to 
 words, or, rather, wedding it to words. 
 
 10. In the composition of odes, the poet may, in general, pursue whatever 
 variety of versification he pleases, in order that he may express a varying train 
 of feelings in rhythm suiting the different parts, and thus produce a much richer 
 and better harmony than unvaried regularity could afibrd. 
 
 11. It seems to be a prevailing opinion among the people of western and of 
 southern Asia, that poems — especially long ones— should be varied in versifica- 
 tion, in order to produce tlie highest degree of pleasure. Scott, Byron, and 
 Moore, have written many of their cantos thus, and successfully. The privilege, 
 however, of using different feet promiscuously, or of varying ^ the versification, 
 can be allowed only to relieve monotony, or when such diversity will make the 
 verse more expressive, or decidedly more agreeable than regular structure would 
 make it. 
 
 12. We sometimes find, even in shorter poems that are not odes, a sort of 
 wayward irregularity in the length and rhyming of fines. The propriety of such 
 structure must, I suppose, be judged by the effect; and if it proves to be really 
 the inborn music of genius, of course it is allowable. But perhaps the reader 
 would rather hear a poet's opinion of it : — 
 
 " He [Halleck] is familiar with those general rules and principles which are 
 the basis of metrical harmony ; and his own unerring taste has taught him the 
 exceptions which a proper attention to variety demands. He understands that 
 the rivulet is made musical by obstructions in its channel In no poet can be 
 found passages which flow with more sweet and liquid smoothness ; but ho 
 
298 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 knows very well that to make this smoothness perceived, and to prevent it from 
 degenerating into monotony, occasional roughness must bo interposed." — Bryant. 
 
 13. Poets take unusual Hberties with language, which are called poetic 
 licenses. Greater liberty is allowed to them than to prose writers, chiefly in the 
 choice of words, in the number of words, and in the arrangement of words. 
 They sometimes use antiquated words, spelling, or pronunciation ; they often 
 shorten words, sometimes lengthen them, and sometimes exchange them for 
 kindred words or forms. They sometimes adopt obsolete or foreign idioms. 
 They allow unusual eUipses, unusual pleonasms, and frequent and sometimes 
 violent inversions. In general, any arrangement of words is allowed that will 
 preserve the sense. 
 
 14. Poetry may be faulty in the measure, in the rhyme, in the imagery, in 
 the modes of expression, in the quality of the thoughts. But the worst and 
 most common fault is that of making poetry out of gaudy language merely, or 
 out of remembered poetic scraps and phrases. Such is most of the newspaper 
 poetry, in which we have often been obliged to see the waves of the Pacific 
 rolling about in the Mississippi Yalley ; rose-bushes blooming in January ; buds, 
 violets, roses, juicy peaches, golden apples, and twinkling stars, all flourishing 
 promiscuously together. We have also heard nightingales sing on the Ohio 
 river, and larks where surely they never were. True poetry does not consist in 
 a jumbling-together of the images, words, and poetic expressions of other poets, 
 but in exact copies or daguerreotypes of interesting parts of the world of nature 
 or the world of soul, as conceived with a warm heart, a sprightly intellect, and 
 a glowing imagination. 
 
 16. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 Discourse* is composed of propositions. 
 A proposition is a subject combined with its predicate. 
 The subject denotes that of which something is affirmed. 
 The predicate denotes what is affirmed. 
 
 Discourse may be divided into paragraphs. ■ 
 
 Paragraphs are composed of sentences. 
 
 A sentence is a thought expressed by words. 
 
 Sentences are either simple or compound, 
 
 A simple sentence contains but one proposition. 
 
 The sentence is still considered simple, if its nominative is a proposition; hut 
 not 80, if it contains a subordinate proi)03ition in any other relation. Some gram- 
 marians supply words so as to make with each finite verb a proposition or simple 
 sentence ; but, wlienever we can do so conveniently, it is best to regard a series of 
 finite verbs as but one predicate. 
 
 A compound sentence contains two or more propositions, or simple 
 sentences. If one of the propositions modifies another, the sentence 
 is, by some grammarians, called complex. 
 
 A clause is any one of two or more propositions which together 
 make a sentence. 
 
 * Dtsooubbk, literally, rc/er.s to. Me run or flow of thought ; p::oro8iTiON means some- 
 tninn placed be.fort ; paragraph, written beside; sentence, thought; clause, what closes^ 
 or flllsuuf; coHnniyxTK, ranking with ; suJiOEuiNATE, ranking under; analysis, separ- 
 ating; SYNTHESIS, putting together. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 299 
 
 Exercises, 
 
 Faint (nit tie proposiUom oi- clauses, and tell whether the sentences are simple or 
 
 The flowers are gemmed with dew. The maple on the hill-side has lost its 
 bright green, and its leaves have the hue of gold. As you come near, they 
 spring up, fly a little distance, and hght again. Suspicion ever haunts the 
 guilty mind. Hard things become easy by use ; and skill is gained by little 
 and little. The weight of years has bent him, and the winter of age rests upon 
 his head. He touched his harp, and nations heard entranced. The union is 
 the vital sap of the tree ; if we reject the Constitution, we girdle the tree ; its 
 leaves will wither, its branches drop off, and the mouldering trunk will be torn 
 down by the tempest. The good times, when the farmer entertained the 
 traveler without pay ; when he invited him to tarry, and join in the chase ; 
 when Christmas and Fourth of July were seasons of general festivity, — have 
 passed away, "Thy worldly hopes," said the hermit, "shall have faded, thy 
 castles of ambition crumbled, and thy fiery passions subdued, ere thou' hast 
 reached the meridian of life." Read this Declaration at the head of the army, 
 — every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered, to 
 maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. A grain of musk wiU scent a 
 room for twenty years, and will have lost but a small part of its weight. "What 
 costs nothing, is worth nothing. That he must fail, is certain. 'Tis liberty 
 alone that gives the flowers of fleeting life their lustre and perfume. Gro, and 
 assist him, that the work may be finished. He who is false to God, is not true 
 to man. Though thy slumbers may be deep, yet thy spirit shall not sleep ; 
 there are shades that will not vanish, there are thoughts thou canst not banish. 
 To dress, to visit, to gossip, and to thrum her piano, are the chief employments 
 of the modern belle. 
 
 Every proposition is either declarative, interrogative, imperative, 
 or exclamatory. Every sentence is the same, or a composite of these. 
 
 A declarative proposition expresses a declaration ; an interroga- 
 tive proposition, a question ; an imperative proposition, a command ; 
 and an exclamatory proposition, an exclamation. 
 
 Ex. — " John rides that wild horse." " Does John ride that wild horse ?" 
 " John, ride that wild horse." " John rides that wild horse !" An exclamatory 
 sentence is merely a declarativej an interrogative, or an imperative sentence ut- 
 tered chiefly to express the emotion of the speaker. 
 
 Exer cises. 
 
 The 'propositions ; and whether declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamxir 
 tory, and why : — 
 
 A waving willow was bending over the fountain. Rise, and defend thyself. 
 Shall I assist you ? How beautiful is yonder sunset ! If James has a hun- 
 dred marbles, why does he never show us any of them ? Men may, I find, be 
 honest, though they difier. JSTow Twilight lets her curtain down, and pins it 
 with a star. Green be the turf above thee, friend of my better days. What 
 shall I say ? What a piece of work is man I She is busy in the garden, 
 among the' posies. The entire fence is burned down 1 Hear him I hear him ! 
 There can be no study without time ; and the mind must abide, and dwell upon 
 things, or be always a stranger to the inside of them. The fly sat upon the 
 axle-tree of the chariot- wheel, and said, " What a dust do I raise I" 
 
 Every proposition is either independent or dependent. 
 
300 ANALYSTS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 An independent proposition makes complete sense by itself. 
 
 A dependent proposition depends on another for complete sense. 
 
 The clause of a complex sentence on which the other clauses depend, is often 
 called the principal or l€a,dim,g clause ; its subject and predicate, the principal or 
 leading subject and predicate; and the dependent clauses, subordinate clauses. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 The propositions; and whether independent or dependent, and why :— 
 The morning dawns, and the clouds disperse. The dew glistens when the 
 sun rises. I would not enter on my list of friends the man who needlessly sets 
 foot upon a worm. Stillest streams oft water fairest meadows ; and the bird 
 that flutters least, is longest on the wing. The path of sorrow leads to the land 
 where sorrow is unknown. If the mind be curbed and humbled too much in 
 children, if their spirits be abased and broken much by too strict a hand over 
 them, — they lose all their vigor and industry. Come ye in peace here, or come 
 ye in war ? In one place we saw a gang of sixty-five horses ; but the buffaloes 
 seemed absolutely to cover the ground. " Come," says Puss, " without any 
 more ado ; 'tis time to go to breakfast: cats don't live upon dialogues." 
 
 Every proposition may be divided into the entire subject and the 
 entire predicate. 
 
 The entire subject must have one or more subject-nominatives to 
 the same verb or verbs. 
 
 The entire predicate must have one or more finite verbs agreeing 
 with the same subject, which may be called the predicate-verbs. 
 
 Hence both subjects and predicates are either simple or compound. 
 
 The subject-nominative may be a ivord, a phrase, or an entire claurse; the predi- 
 cate-verb is simply a verb. 
 
 Most grammarians call the entire subject the logical subject ; the entire predi- 
 cate, the logical predicate ; the subject-nominative, the grammatical subject ; and 
 the predicate-verb, the grammatical predicate. This mode of naming is not so 
 simple aiS the one we have given. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 T%e propositions ; the entire subjects, and then the subjeet^nominatives ; the entire 
 predicates, and then the predicate-verbs : — 
 
 Men work. Most men work daUy. The leaves rustle. The leaves rustle 
 in the passing breeze. Leaves and flowers must perish. Flowers bloom and 
 fade. Leaves and flowers flourish and decay. Poplars and alders ever quiv- 
 ering played, and nodding cypress formed a fragrant shade. In youth alone, 
 unhappy mortals live ; but, ah I the mighty gift is fugitive. The same errors 
 nin through all families in which there is wealth enough to afford that their 
 sons may be good for nothing. Depart. In concert act, like modern friends, 
 since one can servo the other's ends. That it is our duty to be kind and 
 obliging, admits of no doubt. The division and quavering which please so 
 much in music, have a resemblance to the glittering of light, as when the moon- 
 beams play upon the water. It is often the fault of parents, guardians, and 
 teachers, that so many persons miscarry. (Here either " It" or the clause " that 
 so many," etc., may be considered the subject of " is," and the other term may 
 be parsed as agreeing with the subject in case.) It is hardly practicable for the 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 301 
 
 human mind to obtain a clear and familiar knowledge of an art, without illustra- 
 tions and exemplifications. Ah me ! the blooming pride of May, and that of 
 beauty, are but one. 
 
 The parts into which sentences are divided in analysis, are called 
 elements. Subject-nominatives and predicate-verbs are the principal 
 elements ; and they may be modified by words, phrases, or clauses. 
 
 A part that modifies another, adds something to its meaning, or takes away 
 something. 
 
 What modifies, is either explanatory or restrictive. 
 
 Ex. — "The town lay at the foot of a hill, which we climbed.^'' " The town lay at 
 the foot of the hill which we dimhed.^^ 
 
 Whatever modifies a substantive, is an adjective element. 
 
 Ex — " Solomon's Temple." What temple ? *' David, the king and psalmist." 
 What David? "The land o/oa^»w." What land? "A hill crowned with ma- 
 jestic trees.^^ What kind of hill ? "A proposition to sell tJte farm." What prop- 
 osition ? " The store which is on the corner.^'' What store ? "A request that you 
 will go with t*«." What kind of request ? 
 
 What modifies, may itself be modified. 
 
 A NOUN may be modified — 
 
 1. By an article. " The man is intelligent." 
 
 2. 'Qj 3ia adjective. " A ieautiful ROS^ f " A UOSE, red and heautifid.^^ 
 
 3. By a possessive, ^^ John's horse ;" "ify slate." 
 
 4. By an appositive. " John the saddler ;" " The poet Milton.'''' 
 
 5. By a. participle, with what belongs to it. " A law relating to taoces.^^ 
 
 6. By an infinitive, with what belongs to it. " A path to guide us." 
 1. By sia adjunct. "A UA'¥! of wisdom." 
 
 8. By a clause. " The willow that stands by the spring ;" " A request that 
 you will go with us to-morrow." 
 
 A pronoun may be modified in the same ways, except not by a possessive. 
 A modified word has frequently several modifications at once. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 77ie nmuu and pronauns, and hy what they are modifi£d : — 
 
 A dewy rose. The land of oranges. Lurking evils. Evils lurking near. 
 Evils that lurk near. A house situated on the river. An opportunity to 
 study. The sun's beams. Milton the poet. The deer which ran out of the 
 field, and which I shot. A bright morning, fresh and balmy, that refreshed us 
 all. The calumet was produced, and the two forlorn powers smoked eternal 
 friendship between themselves, and vengeance upon their common spoilers, the 
 Crows. The silence of the night ; the calmness of the sea ; the lambent radi- 
 ance of the moon, trembling on the surface of the waves; and the deep azure of 
 the sky, spangled with a thousand stars, — concurred to heighten the beauty of the 
 scene. With loss of Eden, till one greater man restore us, and regain the bliss- 
 fiil seat. Numerous small lakes lie inland, round which, on beaten trails, roam 
 herds of red deer. Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, the bridal of the earth 
 and sky. 
 
302 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 Whatever modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, or may be 
 given in answer to an interrogative adverb, or as the complement of 
 a predicate, is an adverbial element. 
 
 Ex. — " The house was sold yesterday.'''' When? "The house contains mvch 
 furniture.'''' Contains what ? " The house was « w^re ca^m." Was what? "The 
 house fell, crushing its inmates.'''' Fell how ? " The house was sold to pay the 
 owner's debtsJ'^ Why? "The house was sold because the mvner was in debt.'''' 
 Why? 
 
 A modified verb may be a finite verb, a participle, or an infinitive. 
 
 A VERB may be modified— 
 
 1. By an object. " Men build houses.''^ 
 
 2. "Bj 3. predicate-nominative. "John has BECOME a/ar/ner." 
 
 3. By an adjective. " To be wise ;" " James is M?Ze." 
 
 4. "Bj sio. adverb. "The horse ran /os^." 
 
 5. By a participle+. " The stone rolled thundering down the hill." 
 
 6. By an infinitive^. " I have concluded to remain with you." 
 1. By an adjunct. "Apples grow on trees.'" 
 
 8. By a clause. " She thinks he is rich ;" " He studies that he may leam.^* 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 27ie verbs, and by what modified : — 
 
 A light beaming brightly. He writes with care. Cast not pearls before 
 swine. He became a partner. She is industrious. I intend to go. I be- 
 lieve he will succeed, when he makes a vigorous effort. Among the flowering 
 vines is one deserving of particular notice. Each flower is composed of six 
 leaves about three inches in length, of beautiful crimson, the inside spotted with 
 white. Its leaves of fine green are oval, and disposed by threes. This plant 
 grows upon the trees without attaching itself to them ; when it has reached the 
 topmost branches, it descends perpendicularly, and, as it continues to grow, ex- 
 tends from tree to tree, until its various stalks interlace the grove like the rig- 
 ging of a ship. Nature from the vStorm shines out afresh. Not even a philoso- 
 pher can endure the toothache patiently. There never yet were hearts or 
 skies, clouds might not wander through. Chaucer said, " If a man's soul is in 
 his pocket, he should be punished there." 
 
 An ADJECTIVE may be modified — 
 
 1. By an adverb. "She '\b foolishly proud." 
 
 2. By an infinitive. " The fruit is good to eat." 
 
 3. By an adjunct " He is careful of his booJcs." 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 The adjectives, and by what modified : — 
 
 She was uncommonly beautiful. Ho is poor in money, but rich in knowl- 
 edge. Be quick to hear, but slow to speak. The visions of my youth are 
 past — too bright, too beautiful to last. How dear to my heart are the scenes of 
 my cliildhood 1^ That father, faint in death below, his voice no longer heard. 
 Wise in council and brave in war, he soon became the most successful leader. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 303 
 
 An ADVERB may be modified — 
 
 1. By an adverb. " The horse ran very past." 
 
 2. By an adjunct. *' He has acted inconsistently with his professions." 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 The adverbs, and by what modified : — 
 
 It is very badly done. She studies most dihgently. You can not come 
 too soon. He has written agreeably to your directions. 
 
 When a dependent clause is abridged into a phrase, having a 
 
 nominative absolute, the phrase retains the modifying sense of the 
 
 clause. 
 
 Some grammarians call such also independent phrases, though perhaps need- 
 lessly. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 The absolute phrases, and what they modify : — 
 
 My trunk being packed, I sent for a carriage. (Sent why or when ?) The 
 sun having set, we returned home. His father having been imprisoned, he went 
 to rescue him. Along he sauntered, his musing fancies absorbing his whole 
 souL 
 
 « 
 
 Nominatives independent, or the phrases containing them, and 
 interjections, are independent elements. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 Point out the independent words or phrases : — 
 
 Liberty I can man resign thee, once having felt thy glorious flame ! "Weep 
 on the rocks of roaring winds, maid of Inistore 1 Milan 1 the golden bells 
 which oft at eve so sweetly tolled 1 Alas, alas! fair In^s, she's gone into the 
 West. The land of the heart is the land of the West ; oho boys 1 oho boys ! 
 oho I Hist, Romeo, hist. My stars 1 what a fish I Ha, ha, ha ! a fine 
 gentleman, truly. 
 
 ' » 
 
 Connecting words are conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, and 
 relative pronouns. Sometimes phrases. 
 
 Sometimes connectives are omitted, or the connection is sufficiently 
 obvious by the position of the parts. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 Point out the connectives, tell of what kind, and what they connect : — 
 The sun has set, and the moon and stars begin to appear. He took the 
 horse which I had brought. When I behold a fashionable table set out, I fancy 
 that gouts, fevers, and lethargies, lie in ambush among the dishes. He that 
 knows not how to suffer, has no greatness of soul. Though deep, yet clear ; 
 though gentle, yet not dull. The moment I touched it, down it fell. The 
 deeper the water, the smoother it flows. (Connected by the correlative sense of 
 the clauses.) A corporation, whether commercial or proprietary, is perhaps the 
 worst of sovereigns. Gain is the object which leads to the formation of these 
 companies, and which constitutes the interest most hkely to be fostered. Where 
 an individual is the sovereign, there is room for appeal to magnanimity, to be- 
 
304 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 nevolence, to the love of glory ; but corporate ambition is deaf to mercy and in* 
 sensible to shame. To be happy is not only to be free from the pains and dis- 
 eases of the body, but also from the cares and diseases of the mind. 
 
 " Who steals my purse, steals trash ; 'tis something, nothing ; 
 
 'Twas mme, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands : 
 ' But he who filches from me my good name, 
 Eobs me of that which not enriches him, 
 And makes me poor indeed 1" * ■ 
 
 Propositions are sometimes elliptical or inverted. 
 Exercises. 
 
 Point out the elliptical parts, supply the omitted words, and restore the logical ar- 
 rangement : — 
 
 And jokes went round, and careless chat. No mate, no comrade, Lucy 
 knew. Oh, how damp, and dark, and cold I "Then why do'nt you go," 
 said I. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold. The woman 
 (strange circumstance!) remained 'obstinately silent. Out of debt; out ot 
 danger. On the cool and shady hills, coffee shrubs and tamarinds grow. Alas 
 for love, if thou wert all, and naught beyond, earth 1 Of all the thousand stirs 
 not one. " Sir, I can not. — What, my lord ? — Make you a wholesome answer." 
 
 First, Fear his hand, its skill to try, 
 
 Amid the chords bewildered laid ; 
 And back recoiled, he knew not why, 
 
 E'en at the sound himself had made. 
 
 Sentences, propositions, and phrases, may be analyzed according 
 to the following 
 
 Formulas. 
 
 A sentence, and why; simple or compound, and why; declarative, interrogative^ 
 imperative, exclamatory, or a composite of, and why. 
 
 ___ j^ a phrase ; the chief word • modified hv ■ 
 
 an iudependent phrase ; the independent substantive ' ^ 
 
 —is the entire ^-^ ^ the ^SlSS^^ "' ^« — • ^^^^^^ ^^ — 
 
 —is the entire ^^Sle ; *^« prSte- "iT^'-^-' — ^^"^ ^^^ -^ ^^^^^^ ^y- 
 
 ANALYSIS EXEMPLIFIED. 
 
 Simple Sentences Analyzed. 
 
 "Sin degrades." 
 
 This is a sentence, it is a thought expressed by words ; simple, it contains but 
 one proposition ; declarative, it expresses a declaration. 
 
 Sin is the subject, because it denotes that of which something is affirmed ; and 
 degrades is the predicate, because it denotes what is affirmed of sin. Sin is also the 
 Bubjcct-nominative ; and degrades, the predicate-verb. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 305 
 
 " My friend, were these houses and lands purchased and improved 
 by our old senator, David Barton ?" 
 
 This is a sentence^ it is a collection of words making complete sense; simple^ it 
 contains but one proposition, or but one subject and one predicate ; interrogative, 
 it asks a question. 
 
 My friend is an independent phrase, because it has no grammatical connection 
 with the rest of the sentence. Friend is the principal word, and it is modified or 
 limited by the possessive My. 
 
 The phrase these houses and lands, is the subject, because it denotes that of which 
 something is affirmed. 
 
 The phrase were purchased and improved hyour old senator, David Barton, is the 
 predicate, because it denotes what is affirmed of the subject. 
 
 Houses and lands are the subject-nominatives, connected by the word and, and 
 modified by the adjective these. 
 
 Were purchased and [were] improved are the predicate-verbs, connected by and 
 and modified by the phrase by our old senator, David Barton. Our old senator is 
 modified by David Barton ; old senator is modified or limited by the possessive 
 our ; and senator is modified by old. 
 
 Or thus : Was is the copula ; purchased and improved are the attributives, modi- 
 fied by (as before). 
 
 Compcond Sentences Analyzed. 
 
 " A man who saves the fragments of time, will accomplish much 
 in the course of his life." 
 
 This is a sentence, it is a complete thought expressed by words ; compound, it 
 contains more propositions than one ; (or, complex, it contains two propositions, of 
 which one modifies the other ;) declarative, it expresses a declaration. 
 
 A man who saves the fragments of time, is the entire subject of the principal 
 clause, because it denotes that of which something is affirmed ; and wiU accomplish 
 rmich in the course of his life, is the entire predicate, because it denotes what is af- 
 firmed of the subject. Man is the subject-nominative ; and it is modified by the 
 article A, and the clause who saves the fragments of time : wiU accomplish is the 
 predicate-verb, and is modified by the object much and the adjunct in the course 
 of his life. 
 
 Who saves the fragments of time, is a proposition connected to man, by the rela- 
 tive who, as a subordinate clause performing the office of an adjective. 
 
 Who is the entire subject and the subject-nominative : saves the fragments of 
 time, is the entire predicate ; saves is the predicate-verb, and is modified by its ob- 
 ject fragments, which is itself modified by the article the and the adjunct oftim^. 
 
 " What pleases the palate, is not always good for the constitu- 
 tion." 
 
 This is a sentence, it is a collection of words making complete sense ; twnponnd, 
 consisting of two propositions ; (or, complex, it contains two propositions of which 
 one modifies the other ;) declarative, it expresses a declaration. 
 
 " What is equivalent to that which. What, or tJiat which, pleases the palate, is the 
 entire subject of the principal clause ; aud is Twt always good for the constitution, is 
 
306 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 the entire predicate. That is the subject-nominative, and is modified by the clause 
 vihich pleases the palate; is is the predicate-verb, and is modified by the adjective 
 ffood, which is itself modified by the adjunct for the constitution and the adverb 
 always^ and always is modified by the adverb not. 
 
 Which pleases the palate, is a proposition connected to that^ by the relative tt^Aic/^, 
 as a subordinate clause performing the office of an adjective. 
 
 Which is the entire subject and the subject-nominative ; jjZeo^es the palate, is the 
 entire predicate ; pleases is the predicate-verb, modified by the object palate, which 
 is itself modified by the. 
 
 [" What causes mildew, lias not yet been ascertained with cer- 
 tainty." 
 
 This is a simple sentence, having the incorporated clause What causes mildew 
 as the entire subject and the subject-nominative. Has not yet been ascertained 
 with certainty, is the entire predicate, etc. 
 
 What causes mildew, is a subordinate clause incorporated into the sentence as 
 a substantive in the nominative case. What is the entire subject and the subject- 
 nominative, etc.] 
 
 " My son, if thou wouldst receive my words, and hide my com- 
 mandments with thee, so that thou mayst gain wisdom ; yea, if thou 
 wouldst seek it as silver, and search for it as hidden treasure, — then 
 live in the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." 
 
 This is a sentence, it is a collection of words making complete sense ; compound, 
 it consists of several propositions ; a composite of declarative, or conditional de- 
 clarative, and imperative clauses, but rather an imperative sentence, for its chiet 
 wm is to express a command or an exhortation. 
 
 " Jfy 50 W," 
 
 This is an independent phrase, because it has no grammatical connection with 
 
 the rest of the sentence, etc. (Proceed as before.) 
 
 '^ If thou wouldst receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee,"— 
 This is a proposition connected as a dependent clause, by the conjunction if, to 
 
 the last clause of the sentence, etc. (Analyze these clauses in the same way as the 
 
 clauses and sentences above were analyzed.) 
 
 " So thai thou m^yest gain wisdom ;" — 
 
 This is a clause dependent on the clause preceding it, to which it is connected 
 by 80 that, etc. 
 
 ^^Tea, if thou wouldst seek it as silver, and search for it as hidden treasure;" — 
 This is a clause coordinate with the member preceding it, to which it is con- 
 nected by the emphatic yea ; and dependent on the last clause of the sentence, to 
 which it is connected by if. 
 
 " As silver,''— "^s for hidden treasure ;"— 
 
 As silver is put for as you would seek for silver, and is therefore a clause con- 
 nected to the preceding predicate by as -as a subordinate clause, performing the 
 office of an adverb of manner, etc. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 307 
 
 "JTim live in the fear of the Lord, and find the TcnowUdge of God." 
 This is the principal or independent clause, connected hy then to the rest of the 
 Beutonce. Thou, understood, is the entire subject and the suhject-nominative, etc. 
 
 Note. — Long sentences are generally most easily analyzed, by commencing at 
 the beginning of the sentence, and taking not more than one clause, independent 
 •word or phrase, at a time, and proceeding thus until the entire sentence is ex- 
 hausted. It is generally better to defer dependent clauses, till their principal 
 clauses are analyzed. 
 
 " There is strong reason to suspect that some able "Whig poli- 
 ticians, who thought it dangerous to relax, at that moment, the 
 laws against political offenses, but who could not, without incur- 
 ring the charge of inconsistency, declare themselves adverse to 
 relaxation, had conceived a hope that they might, by fomenting the 
 dispute about the court of the lord high steward, defer for at least 
 a year the passing of a bill which they disliked, and yet could 
 not decently oppose." — Macaulay. 
 
 Analysis. — ^This is a complex declarative sentence, or a compound declarative 
 sentence of which some of the clauses are dependent. There is strong reason to 
 suspect^ is the principal clause, of which strong reason to suspect^ is the entire sub- 
 ject ; and There is, the entire predicate ; reason is the snbject-nominative, modified 
 by the adjective strong, and the infinitive to suspect performing the office of an ad- 
 jective ; is is the predicate-verb, modified by Tliere. 
 
 That some able Whig politicians had conceived a hope, is the next simple declara- 
 tive clause, performing the office of a substantive in the objective case governed by 
 to suspect, to which it is connected by that. Some able Whig politicians, is the entire 
 subject ; and had conceived a hope, is the entire predicate : politicians is the subject 
 nominative, modified by the adjectives some, able, and Whig ; and had conceived ia 
 the predicate-verb, modified by the object hope, which is itself modified by the 
 article a. 
 
 }Vho thought it dangerous, etc., (read to but,) is a subordinate relative clause, 
 connected to politicians by who, and performing the office of an adjective. Who is 
 the entire subject and subject-nominative ; thought it dangerous, etc., is the entire 
 predicate, of which thought is the predicate-verb, modified by the object it, which is 
 modified by dangerous, and the appositive to relax, etc., of which to relax is modi- 
 fied by the adjunct at that moment, an adverbial element whose principal word is 
 moment, modified by that, and connected to the verb by at ; to relax is further modi- 
 fied by the object the laws, and laws is modified by the adjunct against political 
 offences, performing the office of an adjective. 
 
 But who could not, without, etc, (to had), is a relative clause also modifying 
 politicians, siadi couuQQtQd. as a coordinate clause to the clause before it, by the 
 adversative conjunction but. Who is the entire subject and the subject-nominative ; 
 could mt, without incurring, etc., is the entire predicate, of which could^ declare is 
 the predicate-verb, modified by the negative adverb not, the adverbial^ adjunct 
 withmt incurring the charge of i/nconsistency, the object themselves, which is modi- 
 fled by the adjective adverse, and adverse is modified by the adverbial adjunct to 
 relaxation. 
 
 14 
 
308 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 That ihey mighty etc. (to which), is the next simple clause, — dependent, con- 
 nected to hope by that, and performing the office of an adjective. Thei/ is the entire 
 subject and the subject-nominative ; might defer, etc., is the entire predicate, of 
 which might defer is the predicate-verb, modified by the adverbial elements hy fo- 
 menting the dAspute about the court of the lord high steward (means), /or a year (time), 
 and the objective element the passing of a biU ; fomenting is joined to might defer by 
 ly and modified by dispute, dispute is modified by the and ahout the court, court is 
 joined to dispute by about and modified by the and of the lord high steward, lord is 
 joined to court by of and modified by the and the appositive high steward ; for a 
 yewr is modified by the adverbial phrase at least; passing is modified by the and 
 the adjunct of a hill. 
 
 Which they dislihed, etc. (to the end), is a relative clause, — declarative, depend- 
 ent, connected to bill by which, and performing the office of an adjective. They is 
 the entire subject and the subject-nominative, disliked and could oppose are the 
 predicate-verbs, connected by and yet, and modified, both, by the objective which, 
 and the latter verb by the adverb decently, which is itself modified by the nega- 
 tive adverb not. 
 
 The sentence consists of six clauses, very finely bound together, of which the 
 subject of the principal clause is branched out into a cluster of dependent clauses. 
 — The student will seldom find a sentence more difficult to analyze. 
 
 Paragraphs or sentences may be briefly analyzed by simply 
 pointing out the clauses or propositions in their logical order. 
 Parsing, also, may be much abrido^ed. 
 
 Sx. — " Man hath his daily work of body or mind 
 Appointed, which declares his dignity. 
 And the regard of Heaven on all his ways ; 
 While other animals inactive range. 
 And of their doings God takes no account." — Milton. 
 Man hath his daily work of body or mind appointed. 
 Which declares his dignity, and the regard of Heaven on all his ways. 
 While other animals range inactive. 
 And God takes no account of their doings. 
 Man is a common nouUj in the nominative case to hath ; hath is an irre<rulnr 
 transitive verb agreeing with Man ; his is a personal pronoun, relating to Man, as 
 its Antecedent, and possessing work, etc. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 Tho SMALL CAPITALS and the Italics show the nominatives and the finite verbs, or the 
 principal elements. 
 
 Analyze the following sentences : — 
 
 Stars shine. 
 
 The SUN RISES. 
 
 Woodman, spare that tree. 
 
 Rome was not built in one day. 
 
 The WORLD IS bright before thee. 
 
 The spreading orange waves a load of gold. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 309 
 
 The VIOLET HAS MOURNED above their graves a hundred springs. 
 In slumbers of midnight the sailor-boy lay. 
 No MAN FORGETS his Original trade. 
 Violent fires burn out themselves. 
 Out of every grove the voice of pleasure warbles. 
 In darkness dissolves- the gay frost-work of bliss. 
 Days, months, years, and ages, shall circle away, 
 And still the vast waters above thee shall roll. 
 Death saw the floweret to the desert given. 
 Plucked it from earth, and planted it in heaven. 
 My hopes, — their starry light is gone. 
 The mellow eve is gliding 
 
 Serenely down the west. 
 Use books as hees use flowers. 
 iTo hope and strive is the way to thrive. 
 The LAPSE to indolence is soft and imperceptible ; but the return 
 to diligence is difficult. 
 
 How poor are they that have not patience ! 
 What wound did ever he At. but by degrees? 
 Large streams from little fountains flow. 
 Now bright the sunbeam on St. Lawrence smiles, 
 Her million lilies, and her thousand isles. 
 On thy fair bosom, silver lake. 
 
 The wild swan spreads his snowy sail ; 
 And round his breast the ripples break, 
 As down he hears before the gale. 
 The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower. 
 
 Which Mary to Anna conveyed ; 
 A delicate moisture encumbered the flower. 
 And weighed down its beautiful head. 
 
 Here rests his head, upon the lap of earth, 
 A youth to fortune and to fame unknown. 
 Much must be borne which it is hard to bear. 
 The diamond 's a jewel, on earth though it lie ; 
 And DUST still is dust, when His Mown to the sky. 
 If this great western sun he struck out of the firmament, at what 
 other fountain shall the lamp of liberty hereafter be lighted? 
 Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne. 
 In ray less majesty, now stretches forth 
 Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world. 
 Sadly and slowly they climb the distant mountains, and reap 
 their doom in the setting sun. 
 
310 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 At midnight, in liis guarded tent, 
 
 The Turk was dreaming of the hour 
 
 When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, 
 Should tremble at his power. 
 
 What in me is dark, illumine ; what is low, raise and support. 
 
 For contemplation he, and valor, formed ; 
 For virtue she, and sweet attractive grace. 
 
 Eternal Hope ! when yonder spheres sublime 
 Pealed their first notes to sound the march of Time, 
 Thy joyous youth began, but not to fade : 
 When all the sister ^:)Zawe^5 have decayed^ 
 When wrapt in flames the realms of ether glow. 
 And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below. 
 Thou, undismayed, shalt o'er the ruins smile. 
 And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile. 
 
 4 
 
 SUxMMARY OF ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION. 
 
 [This section is c^igned for reference only.] 
 
 ^ A perfect or entirely satisfactory analysis of speech has never been made ; and 
 it is perhaps even less possible than a perfect analysis of the material world. Yet 
 our knowledge of either may be much extended by such analyses as can be made. 
 
 Analysis is the separating of a whole into its parts. 
 
 Synthesis is the combining of parts into a whole. 
 
 The an9,lysis of sentences with reference to the entire thoughts 
 expressed by them, is called Analysis ; and the analysis of words 
 with reference to their ideas in the structure of sentences, is called 
 Parsing. 
 
 Language is any series of words or signs by which we express 
 or communicate thoughts. 
 
 Discourse is the embodying of thought with language, or it is 
 some train of thought embodied in language. Discourse is to 
 language what buildings are to building-materials. 
 
 Discourse, according to its subject-matter, to the manner in which 
 is developed, or to the end in view, has been variously divided. The 
 most obvious division is into prose and poetry. 
 
 The chief divisions of prose are science, jjhilosophy, history, trav- 
 els, novels, essays, addresses, critiques, and letters. 
 
 The chief divisions of poetry are epic poetry, dramatic poetry 
 {tragedies and comedies), lyric poetry (odes, songs, and sonnets), sat- 
 ires, epistles, epigrams, and epitaphs. 
 
 Discourse is either direct, indirect, or representative. 
 
AXALYSI8 OF SENTENCES. 311 
 
 Direct discourse represents the speaker as giving his own thoughts 
 in his own language. 
 
 Indirect discourse represents the speaker as relating in his own 
 language what he ascribes to another. 
 
 Representative discourse^ or dialogue, enables the author to rep- 
 ;esent, by assumed characters, either his own sentiments or those of 
 others. 
 
 The great advantage of representative discourse, and also to some extent 
 of indirect discourse, is, that it enables the author to conceal or disguise his own 
 opinions. Who shall say, for instance, to what extent Shakespeare is morally or 
 critically responsible for his writings ? See also Dr. Franklin's account of what 
 a wise old Indian chief thought of the whites. 
 
 Perhaps the most rational division of discourse is the following: — 
 a. That which depends chiefly on place, and is termed description, 
 h. That which depends chiefly on time, and is termed narrative. 
 
 c. That which aims to unfold or exhibit the nature or rationale 
 of things, and prevails in works of science and philosophy. 
 
 d. What accompanies each of these for the sake of illustration, 
 or to render the speaker's meaning more intelligible or impressive. 
 
 Any of the first three mentioned, may predominate in the dis- 
 course, but they are not unfrequently combined. 
 
 1. Discourse may usually be divided into paragraphs. 
 
 2. A paragraph is a portion distinct in form and sense. Para- 
 graphs often consist of two or more sentences. 
 
 3. A sentence is a thought expressed by words. A sentence must 
 comprise words sufficient to be of itself complete in sense and gram- 
 matical construction. (A nominative in one sentence, for instance, 
 can never be the subject of a verb in another sentence.) 
 
 The beginning of a sentence is denoted by a capital letter ; and the end, usually by a 
 period, fin interrogation-point, or an exclamation-point. 
 
 4. Sentences are either simple or compound ; and their consti- 
 tuent parts are words, phrases, and propositions. 
 
 5. A proposition may be either declarative, imperative, interroga- 
 tive, or exclamatory ; actual or contingent ; positive ov negative ; in- 
 dependent, principal, subordinate, or coordinate ; it comprises but 
 one subject and one predicate, though either or both may be com- 
 pound or modified to any extent whatsoever. 
 
 6. A phrase consists of two or more words rightly put together, 
 but not making a proposition ; and it generally depends on some- 
 thing else for complete sense. 
 
 1. A word without grammatical relation to other words, or a 
 phrase in which such a word is the principal one, is said to bo 
 independent; and, if it implies an address, it is sometimes called a 
 compellative, — a word that means forcing attention. 
 
312 ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 
 
 8. A simple sentence contains but one proposition ; a compound 
 sentence^ two or more propositions, termed clauses. 
 
 9. Two or more clauses, forming a distinct part of a compound 
 sentence, may be termed a member ; and so may the remaining, 
 words, or group of clauses. 
 
 10. A member or a sentence that has a dependent clause, may be 
 termed a complex member or sentence. 
 
 11. A sentence not making sense before it is read to the end, is 
 said to be compact or periodic in structure ; a sentence making sense 
 before it is read to the end, is said to be loose in structure ; and 
 parts too closely connected to admit even the comma, may be said 
 to be close or restrictive in structure. 
 
 12. The distinct, consecutive sentences of discourse are coor- 
 dinate ; that is, they stand on an equal footing, or are not conceived 
 as modifying one another. 
 
 13. The words, phrases, or clauses of sentences, may be viewed 
 as principal, subordinate, or coordinate parts. 
 
 14. Principal parts are modified ; subordinate or dependent parts 
 modify ; coordinate parts are generally the same in kind, and do not 
 modify one another — or they perform the same office, are construed 
 alike, and have a common dependence on something else. 
 
 15. Coordinate parts are generally construed in pairs or series^ 
 and connected by such words as and, or, but. 
 
 16. A phrase without a connective, or word to show its depend- 
 ence, may be said to be connected by its position ; a sentence or 
 clause, by simple succession ; and a clause so intimately connected 
 with a finite verb — (as a subject-nominative, predicate-nominative, 
 objective) — that it must be read with it in order ta analyze the 
 clause, may be said to be incorporated into the sentence. 
 
 IV. The compellative, subject, or predicate, taken with its modifi- 
 cations, grammarians usually call the logical compellative, subject, 
 or predicate ; without them, the grammatical compellative, subject, 
 or predicate. 
 
 Every proposition or clause should be separated, as soon as possible, into its 
 grammatical subject and predicate ; and all the dependent parts should tliou be 
 referred, according to the sense, to the one or to the other. 
 
 • 18. The syntax of sentences is best considered under four heads ; 
 relation, government, agreement, and position. 
 
 19. The relation of words is their reference to one another ac- 
 cording to the sense. 
 
 20. Government is the power which one word has over another 
 in determining its case, person, number, or some other property. 
 
 21 Agreement is the correspondence of one word with another 
 in case, person, number, or some other property. 
 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 9}9 
 
 22. Position refers to the place which a word occupies in refer- 
 ence to other words. 
 
 THE SrX ELEMENTS. 
 
 23. Discourse may be most conveniently analyzed, by resolving 
 it into six elements; two principal elements, two modifying ele- 
 ments, a connecting element, and an independent element. 
 
 24. The two principal elements are the subject-nominatives and 
 the predicate-verbs ; both of which are easily distinguished, by their 
 form and sense, from the other parts. 
 
 25. Subject-nominatives may even be clauses, but predicate -verbs 
 can never be clauses. 
 
 26. The modifying elements are either adjective elements or ad- 
 verbial elements. 
 
 27.^ Any word, phrase, or clause, that modifies a substantive, is 
 an adjective element. It shows of what kind or nature the object is. 
 
 28. Any word, phrase, or clause, that modifies a verb, (participle, 
 infinitive,) adjective, adverb, or entire predicate, is an adverbial ele- 
 ment. It generally shows the place, time, manner, degree, condition, 
 cause, efi'ect, purpose, reason, inference, consequence, object, kind, 
 quality, respect wherein, etc., or expresses affirmation or negation. 
 Its chief use is, to make with the predicate-verb the predicate. 
 For the sake of greater precision, the objective elements may be dis- 
 criminated, as such, from the other adverbial elements. 
 
 29. The connecting elements are the conjunctions, the preposi- 
 tions, some adverbs, and the relative pronouns. Connectives may 
 perform, additionally, some office in the parts to which they be- 
 long ; they may be expressed or omitted ; they may be used singly 
 or in pairs ; they may consist of one word each, or of a phrase. 
 
 30. The independent element may be a substantive denoting what 
 is addressed, or w^hat is the mere subject of thought ; or it may be 
 an interjection ; or it may be something that represents an entire 
 sentence, or stands as the fragment of a sentence. 
 
 31. A part used singly, is called a simple element ; a. pair or 
 series of parts is called a compound element ; and a part that is 
 modified by another, makes with it a complex element. 
 
 32. What is inverted or elliptical, should generally be analyzed 
 as if it stood in its logical order or fullness. 
 
 33. It is sometimes not easy to determine whether an adjunct, an adjective, or 
 an adjective plirase ; a participle or a participial phrase ; an infinitive or an infini- 
 tive phrase, — should be referred to the subject or to the predicate. Consider 
 carefully what constitutes the whole of that of which the affirmation is made; 
 next consider what constitutes the whole of that which is strictly affirmed. 
 When even this mode of judging is inadequate, id will probably be a matter of 
 little consequence, to which part the modification is referred. 
 
314 ANALYSIS OP SENTENCES. 
 
 GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION. 
 
 1. Read a paragraph, and be sure that you clearly and fully comprehend it. 
 If it is expressed not in the most ordinary manner, show how it has been raised 
 (by equivalent expressions, arrangement, ellipsis, repetition, expansion, &c., 
 figures, versification. — See pp. 258-98,) from the plain, logical sense and order, 
 to the rhetorical. Next sliow how the sense has been brought out to the best 
 advantage by the aid of punctuation and of capital letters. 
 
 2. Read the first sentence. Is it simple or compound f Is it declarative, inter- " 
 rogaiive, imperative, exclamatory, or a composite of these? consisting of what 
 members, and how connected ? Find the compellative ; find the principal clause 
 by considering carefully what it was that was chiefly to be said ; (in exclama- 
 torj^, imperative, or interrogative sentences, the principal clause is generally 
 mere easily found by imagiuing them to be declarative ;) and dispose of all the 
 rest of the sentence as adverbial or adjective modifications. Every clause that can 
 not be treated as a modifying element, must be considered a coordinate clause ; 
 and when two clauses so modify each other that it can not be told which is the 
 principal, the two may be treated as mutually dependent, or as correlative. 
 
 Begin with the distinct clauses or independent phrases ; take not more than 
 is sufficient for one analysis; invert parts, if necessary, and supply whatever 
 words are needed ; and then state what kind of clause it is, connected by what 
 •^(word, simple succession, incorporated into the sentence) — to what, as a co- 
 ordinate or as a subordinate element ; and, if subordinate, whether it performs 
 the ollice of a sub.stantive, an adjective, or an adverb. 
 
 3. Next proceed according to the i'ormulas on p. 304, 
 
 4. Analyze the sub-parts ; then take the next clause, and proceed in a similar 
 manner, and so on until the sentence is exhausted. A series of finite verbs, 
 however long or modified, should generally be treated as one predicate, if not 
 parted by a nominative expressed. By doing so, the process of analysis will be 
 much simplified. The same remark applies to a series of nominatives. "When 
 the sentence is analyzed, parse the words according to the Formulas heretofore 
 given ; that is, mention the part of speech, the kind, the properties, the relations 
 to other words, the Rule. This is the analysis of words, viewed as constructive 
 elements of sentences. They may, after they are parsed, be further analyzed and 
 described as follows : — 
 
 Tell whether primitive, derivative, or compound; from what derived, of 
 v/hat compounded ; the radical, the prefix, the suffix, their meaning, euphonic 
 changes ; the primary meaning, and thence by what figure or figures the mean- 
 ing of the word aa used in the paragraph before you ; mention the conjugates ; 
 the synonyms, and how it dilfers fi-om them; tell, if compound, why it is 
 hyphened or consolidated. Is the word the best the author could have used ? 
 
 5. Tell whether a monosyllable, dissyllable, etc. ; which syllable has the chief 
 accent, and which the weaker ; whether the word is of Saxon origin, of Latin, 
 Greek, French, etc. ; whether it is harsh, soft, imitative, familiar, uncommon, 
 popular, technical, etc. 
 
 6. Verse, as such, may be analyzed and described thus : — 
 
 Say that it is verse, and why ; tell whether it is blank verso or rhyming verse, 
 and why ; whether composed in couplets, triplets, or stanzas ; how many lines 
 to the stanza, how they rhyme together, and — if it has a name — what is the 
 stanza called ; of how many and what feet does each line consist, and to what 
 does it rhyme, with what sort of rhyme ; what hcenses or deviations. 
 
 When any word or expression of such a mongrel or peculiar nature occurs, 
 that no principle of grammar applies directly to it, it will bo sufficient simply to 
 show its iiae in the sentence; that is, its meaning, and its relation to the other 
 porta. 
 
PUNCTUATION. 815 
 
 i 7 PUNCTUATION.* 
 
 Puiactuatsoti is the art of applying certain points or marks to 
 literary composition, in such a way as will present the sense and de- 
 livery to the best advantage. The chief use of points is to denote 
 pauses. 
 
 The division into sentences, and parts of sentences, is made chiefly according 
 to the grammatical sense, though it is sometimes influenced by delivery; as, 
 "Approach, and behold, while I lift from his sepulchre its covering!" — Dr. 
 
 It may be well to remark, at the outset, that punctuation must necessarily 
 vary with all the varieties of style; and that sometimes the same paragraph may 
 be difl'erently punctuated, and correctly too, according to the view that is taken 
 of it. Indeed, it seems that capitals, Italics, and punctuation-marks generally, 
 have acquired, like words, various meanings ; so that we are at liberty to use 
 them, and do use them, much in the same way as we use words ; every person 
 presenting his thoughts by their aid, of course with more or less advantage, ac- 
 cording to his knowledge of their various meanings and uses. Uniformity, bow- 
 ever, is a primary law; and the entire subject of punctuation is certainly some- 
 thing more than " a matter of taste." We should at least be careful not to use 
 any notation unnecessarily, not to use one notation where a difl'erent one would 
 express the sense better, and not to use the same notation — ^aa the dash is some- 
 times used — hx contradictory senses. 
 
 The principal marks of punctuation are the following twelve : — 
 
 The dash ( 
 
 The curves ( 
 
 The period ( . ), 
 
 The semicolon ( 5 ), 
 
 The colon ( :), The curves ( ())> 
 
 The brackets ([]), 
 
 The hyphen ( - ), 
 
 The quotation-marks. , .( '' " or ' ' ), 
 The underscore . . ( ,„..«„a„«_„a«,..«. ) . 
 
 The comma ( , ) 
 
 The interrogation-point . ( ? ), 
 The exclamation-point. . ( ! ), 
 
 In applying these marks, discourse may be viewed as composed 
 of paragraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, v^ords, and parts of words ; 
 all of which may be briefly termed parts. 
 
 The pauses are relative rather than absolute. The semicolon requires a pause 
 double that of the comma ; the colon, double that of the semicolon ; and the 
 period, double that of the colon, and sometimes even longer. Most of the other 
 points require pauses that depend chiefly on the sen^e. Grave or solemn dis- 
 course requires longer pauses than that which is lively and spirited. 
 
 The division of his discourse into volumes, books, parts, cantos, 
 verses, chapters, sections, paragraphs, and sentences, is left chiefly to 
 every writer's own taste and judgment. 
 
 * It 13 said that Aldus Manutius and his grandson, two printers of Venice, devised Italics 
 and the four principal points, about the beginning.of tlie flt'teenth century. The interroeatioo 
 and exclamation points are ascribed to SnaDish printers, and the dash has been aticribed It^ 
 the French.— Period means, literally, a circuit of words; oolon. a tnembjer i RKH^cojifOi^ 
 lull/ a member; and comma, apart cut of. See Metonymy, p. 268. 
 
 14* 
 
319 PUNCTUATION. PERIOD. 
 
 A paragraph always begins anew, and consists of one or more sentences, com- 
 prising usually all that relates to one subject. Paragraphs are commonly kept 
 apart by short breaks, or blank spaces. 
 
 A sentence must be complete, in sense and construction, with reference to 
 what precedes it or follows it. It is, in general, so much of the author's dis- 
 course as be cliooses to present as one thought. 
 
 1. PERIOD. 
 
 1. The period is put at the end of every complete sentence that 
 is not interrogative or exclamatory. 
 
 Ex. — " Begin and end with God." 
 
 " If the counsel is good, no matter who gave it." 
 
 " As yet, the forests stand clothed in their dress of undecayed magnificence. 
 The winds, that rustle through theu- tops, scarcely disturb the silence of the 
 shades below. The mountains and the vaUeys glow in warm green, of lively 
 russet."— J". Story. 
 
 Exercises.* — " He that wants health, wants every thing" 
 " Give, then, generously and freely recollect, that, m so doing, you are ex- 
 ercising one of the most godlike qualities in your nature go homo, and look at 
 your families, smiling in rosy health, and then think of the pale, famine-pinched 
 cheeks of the poor children of Ireland" — S. S. Prentiss 
 
 2. It is sometimes used to separate sentences closely allied in 
 sense and construction. 
 
 Ex. — " The character of Washington is among the most cherished contem- 
 plations of my life. It is a fixed star in the firmament of great names, shining with- 
 out twinkling or obscuration, with clear, steady, beneficent light. It is associated 
 with all our reflections on things near and dear to us." — Webster. 
 
 Such sentences were formerly often separated by the colon, and are now some- 
 times separated by the semicolon. 
 
 Exercises. — " No man ever lived under a more abiding sense of responsi- 
 bility no man strove more faithfully to use time and talent as ever in the great 
 Taskmaster's eye no man, so richly endowed, was ever less ready to trust in 
 his own powers, or more prompt to own his dependence oa his Maker" — Review : 
 Milton 
 
 3. It sometimes separates sentences even when connected by con- 
 junctions. 
 
 Ex. — " It may be that the submissive loyalty of our fathers was preferable to 
 that inquiring, censuring, resisting spirit that is abroad. And so it may be that 
 infancy is a happier period than manhood, and manhood than old age. But 
 (iod has decreed that old age shall succeed to manhood, and manhood to infancy. 
 Even so societies have their law of growth." — Afacaulay. 
 
 Sentences of this structure are also sometimes separated by the semicolon, or, 
 where a greater point is needed, by the colon. 
 
 Exercises. — " This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic yet here, 
 as in the neighborhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed theif 
 lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments 
 of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken the earth 
 itself to its centre" — Jefferson 
 
 ♦ Insort poUiW and capital letters, or whatever is needed to inak« the examples correct. 
 
PUNCTUATION. PERIOD. 31? 
 
 4. It is sometimes put modestly after a sentence that is expressed, 
 for the sake of greater force, in the interrogative or exclamatory 
 form, though declarative in sense ; or when the interrogation or ex- 
 clamation point would be too forcible. 
 
 Ex. — " To be a rebel or a schismatic, was surely not all that ought to be re- 
 quired of a man in high employment. What would become of the finances, 
 what of the marine, if the Whigs who could not understand the plainest balance- 
 sheet were to manage the revenue, and Whigs who had never walked over a 
 dock -yard to fit out the fleet." — Macaulay. 
 
 Exercises — "I thought my new acquirements would enable me to seethe 
 ladies with tolerable intrepidity ; but, alas 1 how vain are all the hopes of theory, 
 when unsupported by habitual practice" — Eclectic Magazine 
 
 5. It is used to separate words and phrases, when put for such en- 
 tire sentences as any of the foregoing. 
 
 Ex. — "^t. 19 +. Tender-eyed blonde. Long ringlets. Cameo pin. Gold 
 pencil-case on a chain. Locket. Bracelet. Album. Autograph book. Ac- 
 cordion. Reads Byron, Tupper, and Sylvanus Cobb, junior, while her mother 
 makes the puddings. Says, 'Yes?' when you tell her anything." — 0. W. 
 Holmes. 
 
 Exercises. — " Out with the boat here to the left that will do" 
 
 6. It is put after any word or phrase complete by itself, or suffi- 
 ciently significant alone ; as, headings, signatures, titles, directions, 
 imprints, advertisements, etc. 
 
 Ex. — "For Sale." "Opinions of the Press." "Dr. B. Bruns, Chairman." 
 " To the Honorable the Legislature of Virginia." "St. Louis, Aug. 1st, 1857." 
 " The History of £]ngland, from the Accession of James the Second. By Thomas 
 Babington Macaulay. , Volume L Philadelphia : E. H. Butler & Co. 1860." 
 
 Exercises.— " Contents" "ApoUo Garden" "Prom Punch" "Yours, 
 truly, John Griscom" " To the Hon Edward Bates" " H Clay, Select Speeches 
 of 8vo Price $1 00" " Popular Astronomy By M Mitchell, LLD New 
 York: Phinney, Blakeman, and Mason 1860" 
 
 " Archbishop What is your business, friend ? 
 
 " Gil Bias I am the young man who was recommended to you" 
 
 V. The period is put after every abbreviation, and then supersedes 
 no point except itself. 
 
 Ex.— "Albany, N. Y., Sept., 1860." "Henry Holmes, Esq., addressed the 
 assembly." "Sir David Brewster, K. H., LL.D., P.R.S., L. & E." 
 
 Exercises.— "T S Glover, Esq, was called to the chair" "To Mr and Mrs 
 Lindsay" " Dr I P Vaughan" "At 7 o'clock, 'P M" "To the Hon Wra B 
 Stark, Sup't of Com Schools" " On the 4tli inst he disappeared" 
 
 a. In compound numbers, the period usually supersedes the comma. 
 Ex.—" 7 T. 3 cwt. 2 qr. 8 lb. 3 oz."— i). P. GoVmrn. " £1. 10s. 6d."— 
 
 Wilson. 
 
 b. When the abbreviation becomes itself a word, the period is 
 not used. 
 
 Ex.—" Will Hardman had three sons ; Tom, Ned, and George.''— Eawkes- 
 worth. " 20 per cent advance." 
 
 Exercises.—" Rare Ben Johnson" "Gen Tom Thumb" "Pants were made 
 for geiiis" "On the 1st ipst, stocks were 5 per cent below par" 
 
318 PUNCTUATION. — COLON. 
 
 Such expressions as 1st, 2d, 2dly, 4th, 5th, do not take the abbreviating period ; 
 tor they are not so much abbreviations as they are cardinal numbers made ordinal. 
 
 8. The period is put at the end of figures or letters that introduce 
 enumerated parts. 
 
 Ex.—" 125. The Discontented Pendulum." "Lesson LXL— On the Govern- 
 ment of the Tongue." "I have two good reasons: 1. I can not give my atten- 
 tion to it; 2. I have no money to invest in it." " Of this species there are two 
 varieties : (a.) The preposition and present participle ; (6.) The preposition and 
 perfect participle." — S. S. Greene. 
 
 Exercises. — "lis Practical Jokes" "Let us consider — 1 Its soil; 2 Its 
 climate." 
 
 a. The period is generally preferred, for the sake of neatness, after 
 Roman or Arabic numerals, though the comma or the semicolon would 
 often be more accurate ; as, " Isa. Iv. 3 ; Ezek. xviii. 20." 
 
 9. The period separates decimals from whole numbers. 
 Ex.—" 42.75 yds., for $9,055 +." 
 
 Exercises. — "The young lady at the blackboard answered, that 40 chickens, 
 at 12 cents each, cost $480." 
 
 2. COLON. 
 
 1. The colon is tlie intermediate point between the period and 
 tbe semicolon. 
 
 Ex. — " Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few 
 to be chewed and digested : that is, some books are to be read only in parts ; 
 others to be read, but not curiously ; and some few to be read wholly and with 
 dihgence." — Bacon. 
 
 Exercises. — A wicked man, in his iniquitous plans, either fails or suc- 
 ceeds if he fails, disappointment is embittered by reproach ; if he succeeds, suc:- 
 cess is without pleasure, for, when he looks around, he sees no smile of con- 
 gratulation. — Ecvrper's Magazine, 
 
 We have but faith we can not know^ . 
 For knowledge is of things we see; 
 And yet we trust it comes from thee 
 A beam in darkness lot it grow. — Tennyson. 
 
 2. It is put at the end of a sentence, complete in sense, to which 
 is annexed some additional remark or further explanation ; especially 
 when the conjunction is omitted. In this sense it answers to How 
 BO ? Why so? Explain more fully what you mean. 
 
 Ex. — "Our good and evil proceed from ourselves: death appeared terrible 
 to Cicero, indifferent to Socrates, desirable to Cato." — Britifih EssayiaLs. 
 "Princes have courtiers, and merchants have partners; the voluptuous have 
 companions, and tlie wicked have accomplices : none but the virtuous can havo 
 friends. ' ' — Johnson. 
 
 "With diadem and sceptre high advanced, 
 The lower still I fall ; only supreme 
 In misery : such joy ambition finds." — Milton. 
 Exercises. — What a fool am I to drudge any more at this woollen trade I 
 for a lawyer I was born, and a lawyer I will be one is never too old to learn. 
 —Arhuthnot. With regard to the faults of others, however, we say 'fear' " I 
 ^orhe may be led into such and such an action." — Whaiely. 
 
PUNCTUATION. — COLON. 319 
 
 Dear "Welsted, mark, in dirty hole, 
 ■ That painful animal, the mole 
 
 Above ground never born to grow, 
 What mighty stir he keeps below i — Pope. 
 
 3. It is put at tbe end of whatever formally promises or introduces 
 something, and ends with as follows, the following, thisy these, thus, 
 or suggests such a meaning. 
 
 Ex. — " Of cruelty to animals, let the reader take the following specimen : — 
 Running an iron hook into the intestines of a live animal ; presenting this ani- 
 mal to another as his food ; and then pulling up this second creature, and sus- 
 pending him by the barb in his stomach." — Sydney Smith. 
 
 "There are two questions which grow out of this subject: 1st, How far is 
 any sort of classical education useful ? 2dly, How far is that particular classi- 
 cal education adopted in this country useful ?" — Id. 
 
 Exercises. — This is the state of man to-day he puts forth 
 
 ' The tender leaves of hope ; to-morrow blossoms, 
 And bears his blushing honors thick upon him ; 
 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost. — Shakespeare. 
 Mr. "Wirt then rose, and began thus 
 ^^ Alumni of the University, ladies, and gentlemen 
 " The occasion," etc. 
 
 4. Hence it is generally used to introduce a quoted paragraph 
 or discourse. 
 
 Ex. — " ' The Press I— What is the Press ?' I cried ; 
 
 When thus a wondrous voice replied : 
 ' In me all human knowledge dwells, 
 The oracle of oracles,'" etc. — Montgomery. 
 "He said to the men who carried away his trunk to the boat: ' G-o, and 
 fetch back my trunk ; I will not go if my mother is to be made unhappy by 
 it.' " — Irving^s Washington. 
 
 The comma should be preferred, when there is a close dependence, and but a 
 single quoted sentence ; as, " He said, ' I will abide the consequences.' 
 Exercises. — But Douglas round him drew his cloak, 
 Folded his arms, and thus he spoke 
 My manors, hulls, and towers, shall still 
 Be open at my sovereign's will, etc. — Scott. 
 
 5. It has been frequently used to separate a figure from what 
 
 it illustrates. 
 
 Ex.— " Ambition often puts men upon performing the meanest offices: so 
 climbing and creeping are performed in the same posture."— /Su;?/!!. 
 Exercises.— Small service is true service while it lasts ; 
 Of friends, however humble, scorn not ono 
 The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, ^ ^ ^, 
 
 Protects the lingering dew-drop from the sua— Wordsworih. 
 
 6 It was formerly much used, and is now sometimes used, to 
 separate complete sentences that are more closely allied to one 
 another than to what precedes or follows them. In this sense, 
 the semicolon or the period is now often preferred.- 
 
 Kx -" Property is private, individual, absolute. Trade is an extended and 
 complicated consideration: it reaches as far as ships can sinl or wmds can blow: 
 
320 PUNCTUATION. COLON. 
 
 it is a great and various machine. To regulate the numberless movements,' 
 etc. — Ohatham. 
 
 "That was enough : the spark had fallen : the tram was ready : the explo- 
 sion was immediate and terrible." — Macaulay. 
 
 " It is an intensely cold chmate that is sufficient to freeze quicksilver : the 
 chmate of Siberia is sufficient to freeze quicksilver : therefore the climate of Si- 
 beria is intensely cold." — Whately. 
 
 But Sir William Hamilton writes, " He who conscientiously performs his dnty 
 is a truly good man ; Socrates conscientiously performs his duty ; therefore Socra- 
 tes is a good man." 
 
 Exercises. — Lightning takes the readiest and best conductor ; so does the 
 electrical fluid lightning bums ; so does electricity lightning sometimes destroys 
 life animals have also been killed by lightning. — Eclectic Magazine. 
 
 *1. In the grave or formal style, it is used after the address 
 which. stands next to the beginning of a letter or other writing. 
 
 Ex. — " Hon. Edward Everett. 
 
 ''Dear Sir: 
 
 " I thank you for your, etc. 
 
 " Joseph Story." 
 In the familiar style, the comma, or the comma with the dash, is often preferred. 
 Ex.—" Deak SiE, 
 
 " The latest news from Boston, giving information, etc. 
 
 " James Madison." 
 There is great diversity as to the mode of punctuating such phrases. When 
 the period is put after tlie first address, it shows simply to whom the letter is sent, 
 which then begins with the next address ; but when an inferior point is placed 
 after the first phrase, the person is addressed by name as if he were present to the 
 writer. The neatest form seems to be that of putting a period after the first ad- 
 dress, and a comma after the second, if the phrases occupy different lines ; and a 
 period with a dash after the first, and a colon after the second, if they are in the 
 same line with the beginning of the letter. 
 " George W. Tayloe, Esq. 
 
 '■'• Dear Sir, 
 
 " As you write me to give," etc. 
 " George W. Taylor, Esq. — Dear Sir /'As you write mo, to give my opinion," 
 etc. — The Printer. 
 
 8. It is used after words or phrases that stand at the beginning 
 of sentences, and have the sense referred to in the third rule of this 
 section. Indeed, the chief use of the colon is, to show that the 
 part before it is incomplete and promissory, and that the part after 
 it contains the main thought, or an important appendage to it. 
 
 Ex. — "For example: 'When the verb is a passive, the agent and object 
 cliange places.' Better: When the verb is passive^ the agent and the object 
 change places." — G. Brown. 
 
 "No: this is not learning: it is chemistry or political economy — not learn- 
 ing." — Eclectic Magazine. 
 
 Exercises.— To sum up all if we must, etc. 
 
 Terms Three Dollars a Year, invariably in Advance. 
 
 It is sometimes put between a subject and what is said of it. 
 
 Ex. — " Kansas : wliat can you say of it ?" — School Geography. This usage 
 does not seem to be well established. 
 
 9. It is sometimes used to separate the name of a person or thing 
 from that of the locality ; or a second reference from a first. 
 
PUNCTUATION. — SEMICOLON. 821 
 
 Ex.— "A layer of Slate ia Hornblende : Cornwall, England:'— Hitchcock. 
 Exercises.— " London Partridge & Co." "EdgarA. PoB The Pioneer:^ 
 But, in phrases like the following, the comma ia used : " To Wm. Holmes, 
 No 25, Spruce Street." 
 
 It is sometimes used, though improperly, as a mark of abbreviation. 
 
 Ex.— "To Chas: D. Drake, Esq."; better, "To Chas. D. Drake, Esq." 
 
 10. It is used as the sign of proportion. 
 
 Ex. — 2 : 4 : : 3 : 6 = As two is to four, so three is to six. 
 
 The colon, in most of its senses, is akin to the dash ; and hence, when the 
 pause wliich accompanies the colon would be too long, the dash is sometimea 
 preferred. 
 
 3. SEMICOLON. 
 
 1. The semicolon is used as the next greater point than the cora- 
 ma, or as intermediate between the comma and the colon or period. 
 
 It is often used when related parts already have the comma, and 
 a greater point is needed. 
 
 Ex. — ""Without dividing, he destroyed party; without corrupting, he made 
 a venal age unanimous." — Grattan. 
 
 " The Indians are taken by surprise : some are shot down in their cabins ; 
 others rush to the river, and are drowned; others push from the shore in their 
 birchen canoes, and are hurried down the cataract," — Bancroft. 
 
 Exercises. — if it was intended for us as well as for you, why has not the 
 Great Spirit given it to us and not only to us, but why did he not give to our 
 forefothers the knowledge of that book with the means of rightly understanding 
 iVl—E. Everett. 
 
 A love of equality is another strong principle in a republic therefore it does 
 not tolerate hereditary honor or wealth and all the effect produced on the minds 
 of the people by this fictitious power is lost, and the government weakened but, 
 in proportion as the government is less able to command, the people should be 
 more willing to obey. — British Essayists. 
 
 2. It frequently separates two clauses, connected by hut, for ^ and, 
 or some other connective, when they are not very closely dependent 
 on each other. 
 
 Ex. — '• That the world is overrun with vice, can not be denied ; but vice, 
 however predominant, has not yet gained ualimited dominion." — Johnson. 
 
 " Keep thine heart with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life." — 
 Bible. 
 
 " He is, indeed, a horse ; and all the other jades you may call beasts." — 
 Shalcespeare. 
 
 a. The conjunction or connective is sometimes omitted. 
 
 Ex. — " The miser grows rich by seeming poor ; an extravagent man grows 
 poor by seeming rich." — Proverb. 
 
 Exercises. — " The town was set on fire and a witness of the scene relates 
 that two thousand Indians were slain, suffocated, or burned." — Bancroft. 
 
 Napoleon was an early riser so were Frederick the Great, Charles the 
 Twelfth, and "Washington. 
 
 When the latter part is a mere phrase, the comma is preferred before it, even 
 when the part itself is subdivided by the comma. 
 
 Ex.—" And therefore will I take the Nevil's part, and, when I spy advantage, 
 claim the crown." — Shalcespeare. 
 
322 PUNCTUATION. — SEMICOLON. 
 
 3. It is used to separate short related sentences, when two or 
 more of these are gathered into one sentence. 
 
 Ex. — " Listen to the advice of^your parents ; treasure up their precepts ; re- 
 spect their riper judgment ; and endeavor to merit the approbation of the wise 
 and good." 
 
 " On the land were large flocks of magpies and American robins ; whole 
 fleets of ducks and geese navigated the river, or flew off in long streaming files ; 
 while the frequent establishment of the pains- taking beaver showed that the 
 solitudes of these waters were seldom disturbed even by the all-pervading savage." 
 — Irving. 
 
 Exercises. — He suffered much oppression he was often imprisoned he was 
 finally compelled to go into exile. — Macaulay. 
 
 Epic poetry recites the exploits of heroes tragedy represents disastrous events 
 comedy ridicules the vices and follies of mankind pastoral poetry describes 
 rural life and elegy displays the tender emotions of the heart. 
 
 4. Either of the principal elements, and, generally, any of the 
 modifying elements, can be so extended as to make a loose series, 
 whose parts may be separated by the semicolon, especially if any of 
 them are subdivided by the comma. This has been called the enu- 
 merative sense. The dash is sometimes used, though less properly. 
 
 Ex. — "To give an early preference to honor above gain, when they stand in 
 competition ; to despise every advantage which can not be gained without dis- 
 honest arts ; to brook no meanness, and stoop to no dissimulation, — are the in- 
 dications of a great mind." 
 
 " As a traveler, Smith had roamed over Prance ; had visited the shores of 
 Egypt ; had returned to Italy ; and, pautmg for glory, had sought the borders of 
 Hungary, where had long existed an heredtary warfare with the followers of Ma- 
 homet." — Bancroft 
 
 "'I have always,' says Ledyard, 'remarked that women in all countries aro 
 civil and obliging, tender and humane ; that they are ever inclined to be gay and 
 cheerful, timorous and modest ; and that they do not hesitate, like men, to per- 
 form a generous action.' " 
 
 Exercises. — The disposition to insult and mockery is awakened by the 
 softness of foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity 
 of grj^ndeur by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, the formal strut, and the 
 lofty mien by gestures intended to catch the eye, and looks elaborately formed 
 as evidence of importance. — Johnson. 
 
 A salad should be, as to its contents, multifarious as to its proportions, an 
 artistic harmony as to its flavor, of a certain pungent taste. — Ec. Magazine. 
 
 False in institutions, for he retrograded false in policy, for he debased false in 
 morals, for he corrupted false in civilization, for he debased. — Lama/rtine. 
 
 5_. An explanatory or appositive phrase, an adjective phrase, a 
 participial phrase, or any other phrase, especially when elliptical, or 
 subdivided by the comma, is often set off by the semicolon. 
 
 Ex. — "It was a voyage of discovery; a circumnavigation of charity."— 
 Burke. 
 
 '' Mercer was upright, intelligent, and brave ; esteemed as a soldier and be- 
 loved as a man, and by none more so than by Washington." — Irving. 
 
 " Charles the TweU'th, of Sweden; born, 1682 ; killed by a cannon-ball, ITIS." 
 
 Exercises. — Eloquence is action noble, sublime, godlike action. — Webster. 
 
 I assure you I will never go to see her no, not l.—Edgeworth. 
 
 There are three persons tlie first, the second, and the third. — 0. Brown. 
 
PUNCTUATION. — COMMA. 819 
 
 This lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions, are ours oura 
 to enjoy,' ours to preserve, ours to transmit. — Webster. 
 
 I will never give my consent to such an undertaking never, never, never 1 — 
 Chatham. 
 
 He is my major-domo that is, my steward, or superintendent over household 
 afifairs. — Prescott. 
 
 Among the oaks, I observed many of the most diminutive size some not 
 above a foot high, yet bearing bunches of small acorns. — Irving. 
 
 6. It is generally used before as, introducing an example. 
 Ex.—" Can signifies ability; as, 'I can read.' " 
 
 Exercises. -Not wet as, "Dry hay" "Dry wood." — Worcester. 
 
 7. The semicolon, considered simply as a greater point than the 
 comma, is much applied to phrases, or series of phrases, that are not 
 emotional. See p. ^30. 
 
 Ex. — " The Minstrel ; or, The Progi-ess of Genius." — Beattie. 
 
 " State vs. John O'Neal, larceny ; dismissed." — Newspaper. 
 
 "Inestimable. Too valuable or excellent to be rated ; beuig above all price.; 
 as, 'inestimable rights.' " — N. Webster. 
 
 " A dress of blue silk ; plain, high body ; the waist and point of a moderate 
 length ; the skirt long and full, with two broad flounces pinked at the edge." — 
 Harper's Magazine. 
 
 "Contents: Fate; Power; Wealth; Culture; Behavior; Worship; Con- 
 siderations by the Way; Beauty; Illusion." — Atlantic Monthly. Here the com- 
 ma would have slurred over the matter too lightly, or not given it the desired 
 importance. 
 
 Exercises. — Rio, 9 cents Maracaibo, 12 cents Java, 15 cents. 
 
 In sight of Santa Fe made an early start came to a fine spring shot an 
 antelope saw a herd of wild horses, etc., etc. 
 
 Contributo7-s Dr. 0. W. Holmes Mrs. Sigourney Gilmore Sims, Esq. 
 
 4. COMMA. 
 
 1. The comma is generally used where the sense requires a short 
 pause, but not sufficiently great for the semicolon. 
 
 Ex. — " It was supposed to be an island, and received the name of Florida 
 from the day on which it was discovered, and from the aspect of the forests, 
 which were then brilliant with a profusion of blossoms, and gay with the fresh 
 verdure of early spring." — Bancroft. 
 
 Exercises, — There upon a point of land at the entrance of the haven a lofty 
 cross was erected bearing a shred with the lihes of France and an appropriate 
 inscription. — Id. 
 
 From the hUls in his jurisdiction he could behold across the clear waters of a placid 
 sea the magnificent vegetation of Porto Rico which distance rendered still raoi-e 
 admirable as it was seen through the transparent atmosphere of the tropics. — Id. 
 
 Perhaps almost all punctuation in regard to the comma, might be reduced to 
 the four following heads : — 
 
 1. The serial sense. Two parts, connective, — no comma ; more parts, or 
 
 2. The parenthetic sense. Comma. [two without connective, — comma. 
 
 3. The explanatory sense. Comma. 
 
 4. The restrictive sense. No comma. 
 
 If auy one will examine the punctuation of a well-pointed book, he will pro'-abiy 
 
324 PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 
 
 ue surprised to see how far these four principles reach. We might easily enlarff* 
 on this view of the subject, but, to make as little innovation as possible, we shall 
 consider the comma, — 
 
 First, with reference to compound sentences. 
 
 Secondly, with reference to simple sentences, and smaller parts. 
 
 2. The comma is used to separate the clauses of a compound sen- 
 tence, when they are too closely connected for the semicolon. 
 
 Ex. — "There mountains rise, and circling oceans flow." — Pope. "How 
 wretched, were I mortal, were my state." — Id. " The beautiful fern lies in rusty 
 patches on the open hill-side, though within the woods it is still fresh and green.' 
 — Cooper. "Columbus, who discovered America, was a Genoese." "But oc- 
 casions are past, the hotir of their reclioning is nigh at hand, even now my twi- 
 light is coming on, and my hopes are darkening into regrets." — Ec. Magazirie. 
 
 Exercises. — Since hfe is short let us not be too solicitous about the future. 
 I can not succeed unless my friends assist me. Where the carcass is there will 
 the buzzards be gathered. Either a sterner course must be pursued with him 
 or he must be sent to some other school. What you leave at your death let it 
 be without controversy else the lawyers will be your heirs. Wealth is of no 
 real use except it be well employed. Such was the terrible explosion of the 
 boat that not a life was saved. So violent were the wind and rain that our 
 wheat was destroyed. I go but I return. Whatever we ardently wish to gain 
 we must in the same degree be afraid to lose. Her mouth costs her nothing for 
 she never opens it but at others' expense. And yet after all it is man it is mind 
 it is iutelhgent spirit that gives to this grand theatre of the material universe all 
 its worth all its glory. The farmer who had never been in a city before and who 
 was therefore most easily duped at once bid on the watch. When public bodies 
 are to be addressed on momentous occasions when great interests are at stake 
 and strong passions excited nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is con- 
 nected with high moral and intellectual endowments. If it be in the spring of 
 the year and the young grass has just covered tlie ground with a carpet of deli- 
 cate green and especially if the sun is rising from behind a distant swell of the 
 plain no scene can be more lovely to the eye. 
 
 a. The clauses are sometimes elliptical, but punctuated as if they 
 were not so. 
 
 Ex. — " The wind was the keenest, and the snow the deepest, that ever an- 
 noyed a traveler." " Husbands were torn from their wives, and children fi-ora 
 their parents." " Say, shall my bark attendant sail ?" " A peal of gunpowder 
 was hoard on the water, and another, and another." 
 
 Exercises. — If so the worst might well be expected. My pen diverged to 
 the right then to the left. And there was now no talk no sport no rest but dig 
 gold wash gold refine gold load gold. There was a greater variety of colors in 
 the embroidery of the meadows a more lively green in the loaves and grass a 
 brighter crystal in the streams than I met with elsewhere. 
 
 3. A clause is not set off when restrictive, or when it depends 
 closely on something else, and has the sense of a noun, an adjective, 
 or an adverb. Such are — 
 
 a. liestrictive relative clauses. 
 
 Ex. — " He was a man whom nothing could turn aside from the path which 
 duty pointed out." "I plucked such plums as were ripe." "I will sell you 
 whatever you wish to buy." 
 
 b. Clauses beginning with as, because, how, if, lest, than, that, 
 
PUNCTUATION. — COMMA. 326 
 
 when^ where, whether, while, why, or other adverbs of time, place, or 
 manner, and closely depending on the preceding clause. 
 
 Ex. — " He lias acted as an honorable man should act." " He is not the less 
 a gentleman because he is poor." "Edwin saw how happy the old bird was 
 with her nestlings." " Tell me when it was that you saw him." " There is 
 nothing humbler than ambition when it is about to climb." " Do you know 
 whether he is at home ?" 
 
 c. Clauses from which the antecedent or the relative is omitted, 
 or the conjunction that, to make the connection still closer. Indeed, 
 restrictive clauses, like other clauses, are frequently elliptical. 
 
 Ex. — " Take which you like." " I saw the book you mentioned." " He 
 thought he had never seen any thing quite so beautiful before." "A good namo 
 is rather to be chosen than great riches." 
 
 Exercises. — He deserved neither the reproaches which had been c ist upon 
 him while the event was doubtful nor the praises which he received when it 
 bad proved successful. It is such men as he is that bring the party into dis- 
 repute. Avoid a slanderer as you would a scorpion. Tory writers have with 
 justice remarked that the language of these compositions was as servile as any 
 thing that could be found in the most florid eulogies pronounced by bishops on 
 the Stuarts. He informed them whence we came whither we were going who 
 we were. The rain fell in sheets the thunder rolled the lightning flashed fierce 
 and lurid and the wind swept in gusts over the tliieket as if it would uproot it 
 altogether. We weep over the dead because they have no life and over the 
 living because they have no perfection. The variety of wild fruits and flower- 
 ing shrubs is so great and such the profusion of blossoms with which they are 
 bowed down that the eye is regaled almost to satiety. 
 
 4. A word or phrase having the sense of a clause that would be 
 set off by the comma, is also set off by the comma. 
 
 Such are frequently participial or adjective phrases, when they are explanatory, 
 or not restrictive. 
 
 Ex. — "By assisting him, you will benefit yourself;" i. e., " If you assist him," 
 etc. " Ores are natural compounds, being produced by nature." " I disUke all 
 misery, voluntary or involuntary." 
 
 Exercises. — No child's play to make a breach here. Some Cromwell guilt- 
 less of his country's blood. It is moining and a morning sweet fresh and beauti- 
 ful. There was a Grecian liberty bold and powerful fufl of spirit eloquence and 
 fire. The blast seemed to bear away the sound of the voice permitting noth- 
 ing to be heard but its own wild howling mingled with the creaking and rat- 
 tling of the cordage and the hoarse thunder of the surges striving like savage 
 beasts for our destruction. 
 
 5. Simple sentences do not usually require the comma. 
 
 Ex. — " The real security of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent moral- 
 ity." " Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid some heart once pregnant wiih 
 celestial fire." — Gray. 
 
 Exercises. — To be, contents his natural desire. The blossoms of spring 
 and the fruits of autumn, give pleasure to the sixd. 
 
 6. When the entire subject is a clause, or a long participial or 
 infinitive phrase ; when it has a clause, a long adjunct or other simi- 
 lar phrase, or parts requiring the comma ; when it ends with a verb, 
 or with a noun that might improperly be read as the nominative ; 
 
326 PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 
 
 or when a word precedes the verb, that would otherwise be of doubt- 
 ful character or reference, — it seems best to separate the subject from 
 its predicate. 
 
 Ex. — " That one bad example spoils many good precepts, is well known.' 
 " He that has much nose, thinks every one speaks of it." " Whatever improves 
 him, delights him." " To be totally indifferent to praise or ceasure, is a real de- 
 fect in character." "For me to furnish him so large and expensive an outfit, is 
 utterly impossible." "His having been seen in the neighborhood, was the 
 ground of suspicion." " Honor, affluence, and pleasure, seduce the heart." 
 " Necessity, that great excuse for human frailty, breaks through all law." 
 
 There is a strong tendency to omit the comma from before the predicate of such 
 sentences as the first seven of the foregoing. 
 
 Exercises. — He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals. "What- 
 ever is is right. Who does nothing knows nothing. To maintain a steady 
 course amid all the adversities of life marks a great mind. What the design of 
 these men was has never been ascertained. Family feuds violated friendships 
 and litigations with neighbors are the banes of sopiety. Flames above around 
 beneath and within devour the edifice. Divide and conquer is a principle 
 equally just in science and in policy. 
 
 7. When the predicate-nominative is a long clause or infinitive 
 phrase, and immediately follows the verb be, it is usually set off, 
 especially when it has the air of importance, and might be made 
 the subject. 
 
 Ex. — " One of the greatest secrets in composition is, to know when to be 
 simple." — Blair. " Their service was, to grind the corn and carry the baggage.'- 
 — Irving. "But the question is, are the examples correct in syntax?"— 
 G. Brown. " The consequence is, that most animals have acquired a fear of 
 man." — Nat. History. 
 
 Exercises. — The great mystery about the theft was that the door vs^as found 
 still locked as before. All that a man gets by lying is that he is not believed 
 when he speaks the truth. The question that is to be discussed to-night by the 
 speakers is " Would the Extension of our Territory endanger our Liberties ?" 
 
 8. Three or more serial terms, or two without their connective, 
 are separated by the comma. 
 
 . An adjective qualifyincr others after it with a noun, is not set oflf; as, "Two 
 large black horses." " The little, round buds unfolded iuto broad white bloasoms." 
 
 Ex. — "No virtue, no eminence, conferred security." 
 
 " Hedges, trees, groves, gardens, orchards, woods, farm-houses, huts, halls, 
 mansions, palaces, spires, steeples, towers, and temples, all go wavering by, as 
 the steed skims along, to the swelling or sinking music of the hounds, now loud 
 as a regimental band, now faint as an echo." — Prof. Wilson. 
 
 " Far above us towered an iron-bound coast, dark, desolate, barren, precipi- 
 tous, against which the long, rolling sweU of the Pacific broke with a dull, dis- 
 heartening roar." — California. 
 
 Exercises.— A virgin of eighteen tall and straight bright blooming and 
 balmy seems to our old ago a very beautiful and delightful object.— Pro/. Wil- 
 son. But in truth that amplitude and acuteness of intellect that vivacity of 
 fancy that terse and energetic style that placid dignity half courtly half phi- 
 losophical which the utmost excitement of conflict could not for a moment de- 
 range belonged to Halifax and to Ilahfax alono —Macaulay. 
 
PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 327 
 
 9. When the terms of a series are joined in pairs, they should 
 be separated in pairs by the comma. 
 
 Ex.— "I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated, till the sixty- 
 second year made me ashamed of wishing to marry." — Johnson. 
 
 Exercises. — The poor and the rich the weak and the strong have all one 
 Fatlier. Neither time nor distance neither weal nor woe can separate us. 
 
 10. Two terms connected by and, or, or nor, are not separated by 
 the comma. 
 
 Ex. — "Seed-time and harvest shall not fail." "Did a father or a mother 
 ever watch over him ?" " To feel no guilt and to fear no accusation, is the pre- 
 rogative of innocence." 
 
 Exercises. — Here thy temple was, and is. The proper authorities were 
 overlooked, or slightly regarded. Neither the love of fame, nor the fear of shame 
 can make him stoop to an unjust action. 
 
 11. But when a part of one of the terms might improperly be 
 referred to the other ; when or adds a substantive in the explanatory 
 sense merely ; when the terms are unusually long ; or when the latter 
 term is strongly emphatic or parenthetic, — the two are separated by 
 the comma. 
 
 Ex. — "The gleam of the ocean, and vast prairies of verdure, were before us." 
 " The skull, or cranium, protects the brain." " That the king would retreat, or 
 that the people would lay down their arms, was not to be expected." " Ap- 
 proach, and behold, while I lift from his sepulchre its covering 1" 
 
 Exercises. — 'Twas certain he could write and cipher too. He went and 
 addressed the crowd. The English dove or cushat is also noted for its cooing or 
 murmuring. Othello and Prince Hamlet. "There was now no way left but to 
 retreat and load his gun." — Willson^s Readers. 
 
 12. Repeated words or expressions are generally separated by the 
 comma. 
 
 Ex. — " Home, home I sweet, sweet home!" " Verily, verily, I say unto you." 
 Exercises. — 1 1 1 am the man. Quickly quickly come away 
 The old oaken bucket the iron-bound bucket 
 The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well ! 
 
 13. Two terms contrasted, or emphatically distinguished, are gene- 
 rally separated by the comma. 
 
 Ex. — " It is used so, but erroneously." " Though poor, luxurious ; though 
 submissive, vain." "He was impulsive, yet prudent." "To soften, not to 
 wound, the heart." " He read novels, in stead of law." 
 
 Exercises. — By honor and dishonor by evil report and good report as 
 chastened and not killed as sorrowful yot always rejoicing as poor yet making 
 many rich, 
 
 14. The comma often cuts off a part, to show its common de- 
 pendence on two or more parts which are themselves separated by 
 the comma. 
 
 A predicate is thus set oflF, when it relates to separated nominatives preceding 
 it; a restrictive relative clause, when it relates to separated antecedents ; a substan- 
 tive, when it is preceded by two adjectives or prepositions that are separated bv 
 intervening matter; and parts generally that relate to separated words from wliieh 
 the connective is omittoa. 
 
328 PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 
 
 Ex. — "The benches, chairs, and tables, were thrown down." "The wheat, 
 corn, and hay, which it produces, are of the best quahty." "They were re- 
 ceived without distinction in public, and consequently in private, payments." — 
 Macaulay. "Such implied covenants as are annexed to, and of course run with, 
 the reversion." — Ghitty. 
 
 Exercises. — The water was as bright and pure and seemed as precious as 
 liquid diamonds. But no such rule had ever been or ever would be formed. 
 And all that beauty all that wealth e'er gave. The classics possess a peculiar 
 charm from the circumstance that they have been the models I might almost 
 say the masters of composition and thought in all ages. 
 
 When a negative and an affirmative phrase stand loosely after anotlier part, 
 both are set off by the comma; if the former phrase is in close combination with 
 the verb, only the latter phrase is set off by the comma. " The pedant was there- 
 fore heard by him, not only with weariness, but with malignity ;" *' The pedant wa» 
 therefore heard not only with weariness, but with mahgnity." 
 
 15. A word, phrase, or clause, that is parenthetic, or that breaks 
 
 the connection of parts closely connected, is set off by the comma. 
 
 A part thus set off stands most frequently after a conjunction, an adjective, or 
 au adverb, between a nominative and its verb, between the parts of a verb, or be- 
 tween a verb and its object or adjunct. 
 
 Ex. — "They set out early, and, hefore the dawn of day, arrived at the des- 
 tined place." " Prudence, as well as courage, is necessary to overcome ob- 
 Btecles." "Burns, to be rightly judged, must be estimated by the times in 
 which he lived." " Adjectives, when something depends on them, or when they 
 have the import of a dependent clause, should, with their adjuncts, be set off by 
 the comma." 
 
 Exercises. — Her magnificent hair black and glossy as a raven's wing fell 
 in thick clusters almost to her knees. Bodily exercise especially in the open 
 air is of the greatest importance to health. No disturbance however took 
 place. The mother to save her infant sacrificed herself. Halitax mortified by 
 his mischances in public life began to pine for his seat in Nottinghamshire. 
 Cover your flowers for if they are unprotected to-night the frost will kill i,hem. 
 They knew their powers not or as they learned to know perverted them 
 to evil. 
 
 When such parts stand at the beginning or the end of a sentence or member, 
 they are also generally set off by the comma. 
 
 The most common parenthetic expressions are however, surely, indeed, perhapSf 
 also, then, too, therefore, likewise, vioreover, fwrl}y>.rmore, consequently, nevertheless^ 
 accordingly, unquestionably, doubtless, meanwhile, lastly, finally, namely, of course, 
 in fact, to be sure, no doubt, in short, in general, in reality, in a loord, in that case, 
 in the mean time, in the first place, in every respect, for the most part, without doubt, 
 beyond question, now and then, on the contra/ry, on the other hand, generally »peahing, 
 as it were. 
 
 The chief of those set off that usually stand at the beginning, are yes, no, well, 
 why, now, again, first, secondly, etc. 
 
 When a parenthetic part is short, or but slightly interrupts the flow of other 
 words, it is not set off'; as, " It is perhaps true ;" " Gladly would we pour into thp 
 bosom the balm of consolation." 
 
 16. But when the part is restrictive, it is not set off from that 
 which it modifies. 
 
 Ex. — " He was one day in a field near a pond in which several geese were 
 swimming," " The work is not worth the care and labor expended upon it." 
 " The tree fell thundering to the ground." 
 
PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 329 
 
 Exercises. — Trees growing at the base of mountains are taller than those 
 on the summit. The carriage and horses necessary to conduct you there will 
 be here early in the morning. The horse ran two miles, in five minutes and 
 thirty seconds. How dare you breathe that air, which wailed to Heaven the 
 curses of those who fell a sacrifice to your ambition ? When statesmen heroes 
 kings in dust repose. Our recruits stood, shivering and rubbing their hands. 
 
 lY. An adjunct, an adjective phrase, a participial phrase, an in- 
 finitive phrase, or a clause, that stands by inversion at the beginning 
 of a sentence or member, is generally set off by the comma. 
 
 The comma is also placed after a surname -wiien it precedes the Christian name ; 
 as, " Pope, Alexander ; a British poet." " Smith, John H." 
 
 Ex. — " To her, many a soldier, on the point of accomplishing his ambition, 
 sacrifices the opportunity." " On that plain, in rosy youth, they had fed their 
 father's flocks." " Calm, attentive, and cheerful, he confutes more gracefully 
 than others compliment." " Having nothing else to do, I went." " To make 
 this clear, I must tell you an old story." " When spring returns, the flowers 
 will bloom." 
 
 Exercises. — Of making many books there is no end. Large ripe and de- 
 licious were the plums. Large ripe delicious were the plums. Tired of his 
 toilsome flight and parched with heat he spied at length a cavern's cool retreat. 
 To meet to check to curb to stand up against him we want arms of the same 
 kind. Whether he is the man I do not know. 
 
 If the extremities are related, or if the adjunct is short and unemphatic, or 
 stands next to the verb, the comma is generally omitted ; as, '■'■ Such ahorse I would 
 not buy.'''' " WTiat is now called a ministry, he did not think oi f wining.'''' '■'■Fur 
 them no more the blazing hearth shall burn.'''' " At the comer of the garden stood 
 a tall poplar." 
 
 18. A part is often set off by the comma, that it may not affect 
 something next to it ; or to show its dependence on something re- 
 mote, from which it is separated by intervening matter ; or when it 
 stands at the beginning or the end, and adds an idea rather than 
 modifies an idea. 
 
 An adjunct, following another, or removed from what it madifles, is thus fre- 
 quently set off; also an infinitive phi-ase, when it is removed a considerable dis- 
 tance from what it modifies. 
 
 Ex. — " Why, were you not there ?" " He applied for the situation, with- 
 out a recommendation." " No society, of which moral men are not the stamina, 
 can exist long." " Whoever fives wickedly, must perish." " He is so young 
 and inexperienced in the business, as to be unqualified." •' He bought up all 
 the mules he could find, to sell them again." 
 
 Exercises. — The relations of nouns verbs or modifying words to other 
 words. The ancients separated the corn firom the ear by causing an ox to 
 trample on the sheaves. And why did you not go then ? No sir never. To 
 these bears seldom go. Is it not a melancholy thing to see a mari clothed in 
 soft raiment lodged in a pubhc palace and endowed with a rich portion of other 
 men's industry usuig all the infiuence of his splendid situation however uncon- 
 sciously to deepen the ignorance or inflame the fury of his fellow-creatures? 
 
 19. Independent or absolute words, with what belongs to them, 
 are generally set off by the comma. 
 
 Such parts are nominatives independent, nominatives absolute, and sometimes 
 interjections or adverbs. 
 
330 PUNCTUATION. COMMA. 
 
 Ex. — " And so, Don Gomez, you wUl accompany us." "And now, sir, what 
 is your conclusion ?" " N"octurnal silence reigning, a nightingale began." " 0, 
 yes, I do." " Shame being lost, all virtue is lost." 
 
 Exercises. — Friend John what 's wanted? To you Osman I consign half 
 the city to you Mustapha the remainder. Thou whining budget of quack medi- 
 cines why not take up thy boarding at once in an apothecary's shop 1 To be a 
 merchant the art consists more in getting paid than in making sales. The work 
 being done we returned home. Front to front their horns locked every muscle 
 strained they were fighting as bulls only can fight. Why what 's the matter ? 
 Again we conceive that natural theology though not a demonstrative is yet a pro- 
 gressive science. 
 
 20. When an appositive, or a phrase having an appositive, is af- 
 fected by a preceding verb, or when it rather completes an idea than 
 adds an idea, it is not set off; otherwise it is, especially when paren- 
 thetic or explanatory. 
 
 Of parts not separated, we have — noun, with noun or adjective; as, " The Kiver 
 Hudson," " Kead the artist," "Alexander the Great : pronoun with pronotin ; as, 
 '■'■He himself went : pronoun with noun j as, " Ye men of Altorf." 
 
 Ex. — "They made him captain." "The nation regarded him as the proper 
 chief of the administration." "I myself saw it." " His Excellency the Gov- 
 ernor." "The terms reason and instinct." "It is foolish to lay out money in a 
 purchase of repentance." " It is through inward health that we enjoy all out- 
 ward things." 
 
 " It is related of Tecumseh, the Indian warrior, that he would keep a promise 
 even toward an enemy." "Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles." "The greatest 
 Roman orator, Cicero, was distinguished for his patriotism." "As a race, they 
 have withered from the land." " This vastly more significant idea, that the earth 
 is a globe, had by no means become incorporated into the general intelligence of 
 the world." 
 
 Exercises. — The darkness he called night. Plutarch calls lying, the vice of 
 slaves. At Eushnell's the bookseller. At Bushnell, the bookseller's. Walter 
 the second son is a captain in the navy. The poet Burns. Matthew the pub- 
 lican. Thou traitor hence 1 Moses the lawgiver, and God's first pen. 
 
 21. The comma is often inserted where a finite verb is omitted. 
 Ex. — " From law arises security ; from security, curiosity ; and from curiosity, 
 
 knowledge." 
 
 The comma is omitted, when the interruption is but slight, and when the ellip- 
 tical clauses depend in common on a part set off by the comma ; as, " The weather 
 was fine, the sleigh new, and the road good." 
 
 Exercises. — Hamilton was more declamatory imaginative and poetical. 
 Burr clear pointed concise and compact. Shakespeare wrote his poetry and 
 Bacon his philosophy in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 22. A quotation closely depending on a verb or other word, is 
 generally set off by the comma. 
 
 Ex. — " 'Knowledge is power,' says the father of modem philosophy." 
 Exercises. — I say unto all Watch. Out spoke the hardy Highland wight 
 " I'll go my chief— I'm ready." There is much truth in the proverb " Without 
 pains no gains." It hurts a man's pride to say " I do not know." 
 
 To facilitate the reading of large numbers that are not dates, the comma is itsed 
 to Beparate them into periods; as, "The population of the United States is 
 82,727^645." It is generally omitted when the numbers are expressed in words ; 
 as, " live million six thousjaud four hundred and twenty.'" 
 
PUNCTUATION. INTERROGATION-POINT. 331 
 
 5. INTERROGATION-POINT. 
 
 1. The interrogation-point is put at the end of every 
 direct question. 
 
 Ex. — " Well, James, what have you got there ?" 
 
 Exercises.— Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction shall 
 we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely upon our backs 
 until our enemies have bound us hand and foot is life so dear or peace so sweet 
 as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery 
 
 2. Indirect questions are not distinguished by this point, nor by 
 capital letters ; but, when quoted, or made direct, both are used. 
 
 Ex. — " He asked me why I wept." Indirect. " He asked me, • Why do you 
 weep ?' " Direct. 
 
 Exercises. — T do not know who he is whence he came or whither he is 
 going Do you know who he is whence he came or whither he is going 
 Let us consider first of what use it will be and secondly what it wUl cost 
 Let us consider first of what use will it be and secondly what will it cost 
 Is the law constitutional is the question for discussion to-night Whether the law 
 is constitutional is the question for discussion I said to Defamation " who will 
 hear thee " " When Diogenes was asked what wine he liked best ? he answered, 
 * That which is drunk at the expense of others.' " — Johnson's Rambler. 
 
 3. Interrogative sentences may sometimes be closely related in 
 sense, or be elliptical, or be declarative in form. 
 
 Ex. — "Is this reason? Is it law? Is it humanity?" — Wirt. "Does he 
 hunt ? Does he shoot ? Is he in debt ? Is he temperate ? Does he attend to 
 his parish ?" — Sydney Smith. " They say if the bUl is rejected. Government 
 must stop. What must stop ? The laws ? The judicial tribunals ? The legis- 
 lative bodies ? The institutions of the country ? No, no, sir ! all these will 
 remain, and go on." — Gritienden. Surely, sir, I have seen you before? 
 
 4. The interrogation-point may supersede not only the period, 
 bnt it may be used also within the sentence, so as to supersede the 
 comma, the semicolon, or the colon. 
 
 Ex. — " Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray;" "If any among you is 
 afflicted, let him pray." " What have you to say, Charles? for I am waiting;" 
 "Say what you have to say, Charles; for I am waiting." "Who will not 
 cherish the following sentiment of Clay ? ' I would rather be right than Presi- 
 dent ;' " " Let us ever cherish the following sentiment of Clay : ' I would rather 
 be right than President." But when the quoted sentence is needed to make the 
 question complete, the interrogation-point is put at the end ; as, " Then, why 
 did you not say at once, 'It is a cold day'? " — John Wilson. 
 
 Exercises. — " Will you go " said he " or will you stay " 
 What say you will you yield and this avoid 
 Or guilty in defence be thus destroyed — ShaJcespcan 
 
 5. When two or more questions admit of different or distinc- 
 answers, and have connectives ; or are used elliptical ly, with such 
 dependence on something in common that they can not stand alone, 
 — they may all be gathered into one sentence, with the interrogation- 
 point after each. 
 
332 PUNCTUATION. EXCLAMATION-POINT. 
 
 Ex.^ — " Is my name Talbot ? and am I your son ? and shall I fly ?" — Shake- 
 speare. " Is there no honor in generosity? nor in preferring the lessons of oca- 
 science to the impulses of passion ? nor in maintaining the supremacy of moral 
 principle, and paying reverence to Christian truth?" — G. Broion. "What are 
 the interjections of joy ? — of praise ? — of sorrow ? — of grief ?" — Id. 
 
 Exercises. — To purchase heaven has gold the power 
 
 Can gold remove the mortal hour — Johnson. 
 
 As the gentleman has thus settled the definition of aristocracy I trust that 
 no man will think it a term of reproach for who among us would not be wise 
 who would not be virtuous who would not be above want — Livingston. 
 "Was it not a delusion had it been really accomplished and could it be done 
 again — Andrew Fulton. 
 
 6. When a question is not complete before the end is reached ; 
 when the whole sentence is rather one question than several ; or 
 when the comma, the semicolon, or the colon, can as well be used 
 within the sentence, — the interrogation-point should be put only at 
 the end. 
 
 Ex. — ""Will you go, or stay?" ""Which is more, — three-fourths or four- 
 fifths ?" " Doth thy heart heave with emotions of thankfulness to God, for 
 making the earth so fair, so redolent of beauty in its garniture of flowers ; and 
 for having scattered these silent teachers up and down the world as orators of 
 perfume, and links of beauty, to bind our souls to nature in all times and where- 
 soever we may be?" — Parker. Here some punctuators would have put an 
 interrogation-point after flowers ; but the semicolon is better. 
 
 Exercises. — Did he travel for health or for pleasure Who is worse he 
 who cheats or he who steals Where are your gibes now your gambols your 
 songs your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table in roar 
 
 v. The interrogation-point is sometimes inserted with curves, to 
 doubt the truth of something without formally saying so. 
 
 Ex. — " If the immortal Bacon — the wisest, greatest, meanest (?), of mankind— 
 disgraced the judgment-seat," etc. — Edinburgh Review. 
 
 6. EXCLAMATION-POINT. 
 
 1. The excSaiiiatioii-poiiit is put after parts expressing 
 emotion, — such as surprise, joy, grief, anger, etc. — very much as the 
 interrogation-point is put after parts denoting inquiry. 
 Ek. — " Lo ! Newton, priest of nature, shines afar, 
 
 Scans the wide world, and numbers every star!" — Campbell. 
 " Fair star of evening I splendor of the west ! 
 Star of my country I on the horizon's brink 
 Thou hangest." 
 " Now press them 1 now, ye Trojans, steed-renowned. 
 Rush on ! break through the Grecian rampart, hurl 
 At once devouring flames into the fleet!" — Gowper^s Homer. 
 " Such a chirping and twittering ! Such diving down from the nest, and 
 flying up again! Such a wheeling round in circles^ and talking to the young 
 ones all the while 1" — Sydney Smith. "O thou disconsolate widow ! robbed, so 
 cruelly robbed, and in so short a time, botli of a husband and a son! what must 
 be the plenitude of thy suffering I"— Z>r. Nott : Funeral of Hamilton. 
 
 Hence wo see that exclamatory sentences may be either declarative, interroga- 
 tive, or imperative in form ; and they are also often elliptical or fratjinentarv. 
 
PUNCTUATION. ^EXCLAMATION-POINT. 333 
 
 Exercises. — " What was the cause of our wasting forty millions of money 
 and sixty thousand lives The American war What was it that produced the 
 French rescript and a French war The Americau war For what are we 
 about to incur an additional debt of twelve or fourteen millions This cursed 
 cruel diabolical American war " — Fox,. 
 
 " Gentlemen what does this mean Chops and tomato sauce Tours Pick- 
 wick Chops Grracious heavens And tomato sauce Is the happiness of a sensi- 
 tive and confiding female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as these " 
 
 2. It is used after unusually solemn and earnest invocations or 
 addresses. 
 
 Ex. — " blessed Health I thou art above all gold and treasure !" " Spare me, 
 merciful God !" " Conscript Fathers I I do not rise to spend the night in words." 
 
 Exercises. — Thy doom is sealed presumptuous slave Truth friendship my 
 country sacred objects sentiments dear to my heart accept my last sacrifice 
 
 3. The point is generally used after an interjection. 
 
 Ex. — " Yoho ! yoho I through lanes, groves, and villages." — Dickens. 
 
 But that the point must be placed after every interjection except 6>, eh, and Tiey, 
 is not true. 0, immediately preceding the name of something addressed, has usu- 
 ally no point. When interjections are spoken of as mere words, they should not 
 be followed by the exclamation-point ; as, Ah, 0, alas, ho. 
 
 4, Weoften find fra2;ments quoted and made exclamatory or inteijec- 
 tional ; and sometimes parts are quoted with their exclamatory sense. 
 
 Ex. — "'Tried and convicted traitor!' Who says this?" " ' Traitor!' I go ; 
 but I return," " We should realize, by act, the words ' awake ! arise !' in as 
 quick and immediate succession as they were uttered by the poet." 
 
 Exercises. — " * To the guillotine to the guillotine ' exclaimed the female 
 part of the rabble " " Then the first sound went forth ' They ctome they 
 come '" '" Tramp tramp ' was suddenly heard on the stairs Who could it be " 
 
 5, It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the exclamation-point 
 should supersede other points ; but the writer, knowing his own meaning, 
 can best decide for himself. He should first consider whether the sen- 
 tence is sufficiently emotional for the point ; and then, in what part, or in 
 how much of the sentence, the emotion is chiefly comprised, putting the 
 point at the end of such part. 
 
 As to the length of the sentence, or as to how ranch shall be put into one ex- 
 clamation, the same principles will apply here that apply to interrogative sen- 
 tences. 
 
 Ex.—" Well, to be sure, how much I have fagged through !— the only won- 
 der is, that one head can contain it all!" "And then there are my Italian 
 songs! which every body allows I sing with taste." 
 
 " ' Strange,' murmurs the dying invalid, looking out from his window upon 
 the world—' strange ! how the beauty and mystery of all nature are heightened 
 by the near prospect of that coming darkness which will sweep them all away!" 
 
 Exercises. — How ugly a person appears upon whoso reputation some awk- 
 ward aspersion hangs and how suddenly his countenance clears up with his 
 character home magical all powerful home how strong must have been thy 
 influence when thy faintest memory could cause these bronzed heroes of a thou- 
 sand fights to weep like tearful women 
 
 To justify the use of this point after each of the several parts of a sentence, 
 they must be deeply emotional ; as, " What ! attribute the sacred sanction ot God 
 and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalpinsr-knife ! to the cannibal savage, 
 torturiutr, murdering, devouriner, drinking the blood of his man-.:lea victims . 
 
334 PUNCTUATION. EXCLAMATION-POINT. 
 
 6. When an interjection or other emotional word is to be expressive 
 chiefly in connection with other words, it is better to defer the exclama- 
 tion-point as nearly as possible to the end. When deep emotion belongs 
 chiefly to the whole of a phrase or sentence, it is generally better expressed 
 by one point at the end, than by the hitching and interrupting caused by 
 a multitude of points within. 
 
 Ex. — " Charge, Chester, charge 1 Ou, Stanley, on I" " How meek, how 
 patient, the mild creature lies!" "But, thou best of parents! wipe thy 
 tears," "Ah me!" not, "Ah! me." "Ha, ha, ha!" " Alas, my noble boy I 
 that thou shouldst die !" 
 
 "Oh! you went with him, did you?" — Goodrich. 
 "0, what a sweet place graadraother's orchard is!" — E. Sargent. 
 Exercises. — Under such circumstances I never would lay down my arms 
 never never never Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth beware Macduff Frieuds 
 Romans countrymen lend me your ears William William (can't you hear 
 me ) bring the gun Alas sir how fell you beside your five wits 
 " Rejoice ! rejoice ! the summer months are coming ; 
 Rejoice 1 rejoice ! the birds begin to sing!" 
 " Gentle river, gentle river! tell us whither do you glide. 
 Through the green and sunny meadows, with your sweetly murmuring tide ?" 
 In the former couplet, one exclamatory word requires as great a pause as the 
 other, and the parts express much joy; in the latter, the second phrase requires 
 a greater pause than the first, and tue parts express less emotion than those of 
 the otiier. 
 
 1. The exclamation-point is preferred to the interrocjation-point, 
 when the idea of emotion predominates over that of inquiry. 
 
 Ex. — " Where is the man, where is the philosopher, who could so live, suffer, 
 and die, without weakness and without ostentation !" — Rousseau. 
 
 This is not addressed to any particular person for an answer ; the author ex- 
 pects no answer, and means to give none himself. The sentence expresses his 
 feelings rather than his doubts, or the interrogative arrangement is bat a stronger 
 mode of stating a declarative exclamation ; hence marked !, and not '?. 
 
 There is sometimes nice choosing between these two points, and it is then a 
 matter of little consequence which is preferred. 
 
 " Canst thou command the Lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, ' Here Tre are ?' *' 
 " Canst thou command the Lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, ' Here we are I' " 
 
 Perhaps the latter punctuation is preferable, for the form of the sentence is 
 but a stronger mode of saying. You can not do this. 
 
 To make a declarative sentence a little more emphatic than usual, it is some- 
 times stated in the interrogative or exclamatory form, without the interrogation 
 or exclamation point. See p. 317. 
 
 8. To express great wonder, irony, or contempt, two or more ex- 
 clamation-points are sometimes used together. 
 
 Ex. — " Selling off below cost! I great sacrifices II!" "Arrest a gentleman I ! I 
 take a warrant out against a gentleman ! I — ^you villain I What do you mean ?" 
 "Reduce Providence to an alternaLivel 1 1" — Sydney Smith. 
 
 9. The exclamation-point is also used sometimes like the inter- 
 rogation-point, to denote sneeringly the unbelief of the speaker. 
 
 Ex. — "The measures whicli ho introduced to Congress, and wdiich ought in 
 have been carried by overwhelming majorities ( ? ), proved him to have been to 
 •very sense a great statesman ( ! )." 
 
PUNCTUATION. DASH. 335 
 
 1. DASH. 
 
 The dash seems to be used, in many modern books, wherever the author, from 
 ignorance of the laws of punctuation, does not precisely know what point should 
 be used. We sometimes find pages on which it is used so often that a lively 
 fancy might easily conceive them to have been printed from a gridiron. But it 
 seems that even long ago the world was very dcbshy ; for an old poet says, — 
 
 "AH modem trash is 
 Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes." 
 
 The dash is generally a sort of graphic or emotional mark, indicating such a 
 suspense in the sense as will have a peculiar or important eil'ect on the memory, 
 curiosity, or expectation of the reader. It has sometimes the force of a semi- 
 exclamation-point used within the sentence. The Germans call it the thought- 
 stroJce, that is, the mark which aims to set the reader to thinking. 
 
 Dr. Mandeviile says, it denotes unusual structure or significance ; we should 
 rather say, it denotes transition or emotion. 
 
 Though much abused, the dash is nevertheless an excellent point when put 
 in its right places, all of which we shall endeavor to show. 
 
 1. The da!«h is often preferred to the comma, the semicolon, or 
 the colon, to express unusual emphasis or suppressed emotion. When 
 thus used, it appeals to the reader's reflection. 
 
 Ex. — " They conquered — but Bozzaris fell, 
 
 Bleeding at every vein." — Halleck. 
 " And the best plan to silence and admonish them. 
 Would be 10 give a 'party' — and astonish them." — Id. 
 
 It is thus often used to show witty transition. 
 
 Exercises. — This world 'tis true was made for Caesar but for Titus too. 
 
 a. In this sense also, it sometimes supersedes, within the sentence, 
 the interrogation-point or the exclamation-point, or is simply a little 
 weaker. 
 
 Ex. — "Have I not seen you leaden-eyed — clay-pated — almost dumb with 
 pain hammering at your temples — degraded by nausea tugging at your stomach 
 — }0ur hand shaking hke a leaf— your mouth like the mouth of an oven— and 
 vour tongue, I'm sure of it, like burnt shoe-leather ?" — D. Jerrold. That is to 
 say, Deny it, if you can I The dash here appeals with great fbrco to the con- 
 science of his drunken companion. 
 
 2. In its emotional sense, it is also sometimes inserted between 
 parts too closely related for any grammatical point. 
 
 Ex. — "Yet this — is Rome, that sat on her seven hills, and from her throne q\ 
 beauty ruled the world 1 " — Mitford. 
 
 " Is it like ? — like whom ? — 
 The things that mount the rostrum with a skip, 
 And then — skip down again." — Gowper. 
 Exercises. — This bond doth give thee here no jot oCUood-ShaJcespeare. 
 And life's piano now for me hath lost its sweetest tones sir 
 Since my MatUda Brown became some fellow's Mrs. Jouos sir 
 
 3. In its emotional sense, it is sometimes added to other point* 
 
336 PUNCTUATION. DASH. 
 
 Sometimes it is added merely to lengtlien the pause a little, or to 
 mark transition. 
 
 Ex. — " He saw — whatever thou hast seen ; 
 
 Enjoyed, — but his delights are fled." — Montgomery. 
 " It thunders; — but it thunders to preserve." — Young. 
 Such double points as the foregoing are now often avoided, by using simply 
 the dash or the next greater common point. The comma with the dash is more 
 emphatic than the semicolon ; the semicolon with the dash is more emphatic than 
 the colon; but the semicolon and the colon are neater points. 
 
 "He said; then full before their sight produced the beast, and lo ! — 'twas 
 white." — Merrick. " I pause for a reply. — None ? Then none have I offended. — 
 I have done no more to Caesar, than you should do to Brutus." — Shakespeare. 
 "And enterprises of great pith and moment. 
 With this regard their currents turn awry, 
 And lose the name of action. — Soft, you now 1 
 The fair Ophelia. — Nymph, in thy orisons 
 Be all my sins remembered." — Shak. : Hamlet (Transition.) 
 The dash here avoids the commencement of a new paragraph. 
 
 " Who next ? — 0, my little friend, you are just let loose from school, and 
 come hither to scrub your blooming face, and drown the memory of certain taps 
 of the ferule, and of other schoolboy troubles, in a draught from the Town Pump." 
 — Hawthorne. 
 
 " The principal parts of a sentence are usually three ; namely, the subject, 
 or nominative, — the attribute, or finite verb, — and the case put after, or the ob- 
 ject governed by the verb: as, ' Crimes deserve punishment.^ " — Goold Brown. 
 
 " The possessive case may denote the relation of persons ; as, * William's 
 cousin; — or the relation of the doer to the thing done; as, 'Solomon's Temple ;' 
 —or the relation of a whole to its parts ; as, ' a horse's head.' " — Greene, 
 
 Here Mr. Brown needed a point greater than the comma and less than the semi- 
 colon, and so he added the dash to the comma. Mr. Greene needed a point greater 
 than the semicolon, and so he added the dash to it ; he might better have used the 
 colon. There is a tendency to avoid double points. 
 
 4. When elliptical or heterogeneous parts are brought emotionally 
 into one sentence, they are generally separated by the dash. 
 
 Ex. — " Came home solus — very high wind — lightning — moonshine — solitary 
 stragglers muffled in cloaks — white houses — clouds hurrying over the sky — 
 altogether very poetical." — Byron. 
 
 Exercises. — But you are hungry want a breakfast turn into a restaurant 
 call for ham eggs and coflee then y^mr bill six dollars California. 
 
 6. It is used to show suspense or delay. 
 
 Ex. — " The pulse fluttered — stopped — went on — throbbed — stopped again — 
 moved — stopped.— Shall I go on ? — No." — Sterne. 
 
 Exercises. — One pressed his antagonist back back back tUl there was but 
 another step of plank behind him between him and nothing. 
 
 6. It is sometimes imitative, and has, besides, the emotional sense 
 which was first mentioned. 
 
 Ex. — "Pop! There — the cork 's drawn. Gurgle — gurgle — gurgle — good— 
 good — good — No I it is in vain ; there is no type — there are no printed sounds 
 (allow me the concetto) — to describe the melody, the cadence, of the out- pouring 
 bottle."— i). Jerro^d 
 
PUNCTUATION. DASH. 337 
 
 Exercises.— The clock went tick tick tick tick and I went nid-nod nod- 
 ding nidding tni -suddenly the door-beU rang and startled me from my 
 oi'ovvsmess ^ 
 
 1. It is used to show hesitation or faltering. 
 ■^^•— " I— I myself— was in \oyq— with— PmsQih-LkV— Hawthorne. 
 Exercises. — He was very sorry for it was extremely concerned it should 
 happen so but as it was necessary a 
 
 8. It is put at the end of a sentence left unfinished, whether from 
 interruption, faltering, or any other cause. 
 
 Ex.— " ' She was ' 
 
 * A great fool.' said a trooper." 
 " * Here lies the great' — False marble I where ?" — Young. 
 " It was to inquire by what title General — but, catching himself— Mr. Wash- 
 ington chose to be addressed." — Irving. 
 
 Exercises. — These are ah no these were the gazetteers. 
 
 "■Gil Bias. Your Grace's sermons never fail to he admired but 
 
 *^ Archbishop. It lacked the strength the Do you not agree with me sir" 
 
 9. It is also used before and after each interruption, and before 
 echoes, that is, expressions emphatically resumed. 
 
 Ex. — "I take — eh! ohl — as much exercise — eh! — as I can, Madam Gout. 
 You know my sedentary state." — FranJclin. " All seemed very well ; but — for 
 there was one of those dreadful ' buts' in the case — but he had a very small 
 amount of money to provide a home." "No, sir; I always thought Robertson 
 would be crushed by his own weight — would be buried uuder his own orna- 
 ments." — Qttarterly lieview. 
 
 10. In its transition sense, it is used to enclose a parenthesis, es- 
 pecially when this is rather long, and has other points within it. 
 
 Ex. — " Their female companion — faded, though still young — possessed, never- 
 theless, a face whose expression frequeutly drew my gaze." — Bulwer. 
 
 Exercises. — Tom Moore -wrote politics at times pointed bitter rankling 
 politics but he was really no politician at heart Setting aside a nire virtue 
 in this cUmeher aristocratic antecedents she setup as a baker for the public 
 
 11. If the sentence is broken by the parenthesis where it required 
 some ordinary point, this point is phiced before each parenthetic 
 dash ; otherwise, simply the dashes are used. 
 
 Ex. — " If the immortal Bacon — ' the wisest, greatest, meanest ( ? ), of man- 
 kind' — disgraced the judgment-seat, and stained his own great name, — not, we 
 believe, to prevent, but to expedite, justice, — was not bribery, which stained 
 the ermine on infinitely meaner shoulders, also the vice of his time ? — Edinburgh 
 Jieview. 
 
 " I was an auditor— auditreas, I mean— of one of his leGtmes.^—Bdwtliorne. 
 Here the latter dash has superseded the comma, "Though 1 have civen eight 
 pounds a year,— would you believe it ?— I have never once succeeded."— t/er/'oW. 
 '' But the curate — alas, poor man 1 — he has been to college, and is a gentleman." 
 —Id. The interrogation and exclamation points are not superseded. 
 
 12. It shows the transition of structure when a sentence is drop- 
 ped in one form, and resumed in another. 
 
 Rx. — " The noble indignation with which Emmett repelled the charge of 
 
338 PUNCTUATION. — DASH, 
 
 treason aprainst hia countrj, the eloquent vindication of his name, and hia pa- 
 thetic appeals to posterity, — all these entered deeply into every generous breast." 
 — Irving. 
 
 At these culminating points of sentences, the colon was formerly often used. 
 
 Exercises. — The crisp snow and the woolly clouds the delightful rustle of 
 the summer forest and the waving of the autumn corn the glory of the sunset 
 and the wonder of the rainbow the world would have wanted these had not 
 the winds been taught to do their Master's bidding Dickens. 
 
 13. It is used where that is or namely can be conceived to be 
 omitted. 
 
 Ex. — " The story is not deficient in that which all stories should have, to be 
 perfectly delightful, — a fortunate conclusion." 
 
 Exercises. — On this was he willing to stake all he had character and life 
 It had literally nothing to do beyond what I have said to flow to bubble to look 
 limpid to murmur amid flowers and sweet perfumes 
 
 In this sense it is also often used alone ; as, " It is just what might have been 
 expected from its aixthor — a very juvenile performance." — Edinburgh Jieview. 
 When the purts are long, the semicolon is often preferred. 
 
 14. It is placed, with the comma, after a loose series of nomina- 
 tive terms leading to an important predicate. 
 
 Ex. — " The same vigor of thought ; the same form of expression ; the short 
 sentences ; the calm, bold, and collected manner ; the air of solemn dignity ; the 
 deep, sepulchral, unimpassioned voice, — have all been developed, not changed, 
 even to the intenser bitterness of his irony." — Wilde : Webster. 
 
 15. On the same principle it is sometimes placed before a term 
 relating to a series of others, to show its common dependence on all 
 of them. 
 
 Ex. — "All business ceased, the towns in silence lay, 
 Men brooded deep in vengeance and dismay. 
 And naught was heard save woman's wail of woe, — 
 As spread the tidings from the Alamo." 
 Without the dash, it might seem that the last line relates only to the line pre- 
 cediug it. 
 
 a. But when the parts of a series are very long or very numer- 
 ous, it may be best to use the dash after each of them, to show their 
 common dependence on something remote. 
 Ex. — '* When lawyers take what they would give. 
 
 And doctors give what they would take, — 
 When city lathers eat to live. 
 
 Save when they fast for conscience' sake," — etc. — Holmes. 
 This stanza, with seven others like it, depends on a concluding one. 
 
 16. The dash is sometimes used at the beginning of renewed dis- 
 course viewed as the continuance of previous discourse loft un- 
 finished, or after a digression. 
 
 Ex. " But to return to my mother," etc.— >S^ee Sterne's Works; Holmes's 
 
 Autocrat. It here has its transition sense. 
 
 In imitation of a French custom, we now often see it at the left of newspaper 
 paragniphs, to show that they are new. When thus used, it has both its eino- 
 tional and transition neuse or is simply a little more modest than the hand used 
 in show-bills, etc. 
 
PUNCTUATION. DASH. $89 
 
 17. In dialogue not having the speaker's name, nor distinguished 
 by breaks, it is generally used to show the transition from one 
 speaker's saying to that of another. 
 
 Ex. — "You have been my two-fisted valet these thirty years. — Hera! — 
 Hem ? What do you mean by hem ?" — Coleman. 
 
 Exercises. — "in combustibihty it agrees with eannel coal It does. Have 
 you examined its fracture I have." 
 
 So, when but one person fictitiously represents two ; as, " When arrived ? — 
 this evening. How long do I stay? — uncertain. What are my plans? — ^let ns 
 discuss them." (Questions of a friend anticipated and answered.) 
 
 18. Hence it is also placed between sentences which are not the 
 consecutive thoughts of their author on the same subject. 
 
 Ex. — " 'The wound,' said Lord Bacon, 'is not dangerous, unless we poison 
 it with our remedies. — The wrongs of the Puritans may hardly be dissembled or 
 excused. — On subjects of religion he was always for moderate counsels.' "^ 
 Bancroft. "Both subjects sometimes come before the verb ; as, " I know not 
 who he is." — " Who did you say it was ?" — " I know not how to tell thee who I 
 am." — Goold Brown. 
 
 When examples are each enclosed by quotation-marks, I do not think they need 
 the dash. 
 
 19. In books, it is placed after each period that separates the head- 
 ings of a series ; in newspapers, it is thus nsed without any other point. 
 
 Ex. — Heavy Rain. — Camp. — Buffalo Hunt. — Osage Indians.— /mn^. 
 *^ Arrival of the Great Eastern — ITews from Europe — State of the Money Market,''' etc. 
 
 20. It is placed after side-heads; and also before the authority or 
 credit, when in the same line with the end of the paragraph. 
 
 Ex. — "The Abuse of the Imagination.— He who can not command his 
 thoughts, must not hope to control his actions. All mental superiority originates 
 in habits of thinking." — Jane Taylor. 
 
 " Howard— iSitWce. WAtoi^— Quarterly Bevieio."—E. Sargent. 
 
 In these senses it is not always needed, and is often omitted. 
 
 21. It is used after a line, or a part of a line, when connected with 
 something begun or resumed in the line below : — 
 
 Ex. — " My Dear Boy, — 
 
 " Do you choose your friend, like an orange, by its golden 
 outside, and the fpwer of yielding much when well squeezed," otc— Punch. 
 
 In this sense it is generally not needed, and is often omitted. 
 
 22. It is often used to separate the number of a lesson, chapter, 
 or section, from the title placed after it. 
 
 Ex— "Lesson LXII.— The Power of Music." 
 
 In this sense it is not always needed, and is sometimes omitted. 
 
 It is used to show the omission of letters or figures. 
 
 Ex.-" See pages 250—258;" i. e., all the pages, beginning with 250 to 258 
 inclusive. " See pp. 250-58." See p. 352. 
 
 In arithmetic, it should rather not be used, especially when it might be mis- 
 taken for the minus sign. . « . ^ ♦!, ♦v...^ 
 
 It is sometimes used when none of the four chief pomts, or none ot tne inree 
 minor points, is altogetlier appropriate ; or so as to supply wlxatever pomt tUe 
 punctuation system may happen to need. 
 
340 PUNCTUATION. CURVES. 
 
 8. CURVES. 
 
 1. The curves are used to enclose something hastily thrown 
 in, which is merely incidental or explanatory, and may be omitted 
 without injuring the grammatical construction. What is enclosed, 
 is called a parenthesis. A parenthesis is like a by-path to the 
 main road. 
 
 Ex. — " Mr. Plausible (to borrow a name from John Bunyan) wishes the Hon. 
 Mr. Spendthrift to represent the county of •." — Eclectic Magazine. 
 
 " Next day the landlord inquires (and all landlords are inquisitive), and after 
 inquiry talks (and all landlords are tallcative), concerning the private business of 
 his new guest." — lb. 
 
 " I send you, my dear child, (and you will not doubt) very sincerely, ihe 
 wishes of the season." — Chesterfield. 
 
 The first and the last example tend to show that curves are sometimes indis- 
 pensable, for setting olf what might otherwise be viewed as a part of the sentence 
 itself. 
 
 2. Letters or figures, used as marks of reference or for number- 
 ing, are often enclosed by curves, especially when their meaning 
 might otherwise be uncertain or ambiguous. 
 
 Ex. — "(1.) By using different words; (2.) By difference of termination," etc. 
 — S. S. Greene, "(a.) What it does; {b.) What it is." — Id. Curves thns used, 
 are often unnecessary ; and whenever they are so, they should be omitted. 
 
 3. The curves are now often preferred to brackets, for enclosing 
 explanations or incidental remarks, whether given by the author or 
 the copyist, especially when they stand within the paragraph. See 
 under Brackets. 
 
 Ex — " Orthoepy, a word derived from the Greek orthon (upright) and epo 
 (I speak), signifies the right utterance of words." — Sargent. " The Comma (,) de- 
 notes," etc. — Id. " But it is objected by tlie Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy), 
 that the construction which I contend for, &c., &c. (Applause.)" — Cong. Globe. 
 
 " * If they persist in reading this book to a conclusion, {impossible !) they 
 will no doubt have to struggle with feehngs of awkwardness ; (hal ha! ha!) 
 they will look round for poetry, (ha! ha! hal) and will be induced to inquire 
 by what species of courtesy these attempts have been permitted to assume that 
 tide.' Hal hal ha!" — E. A. Poe, laughing as he reads. 
 
 The dash is now often used, and also the comma, in stead of the 
 curves. 
 
 The dash should be preferred when the parenthesis coalesces rather 
 closely, in sense and grammatical construction, with the rest of the sen- 
 tence ; or when it is rather emotional or emphatic. 
 
 The curves should be preferred when the parenthesis coalesces little or 
 least, in sense and grammatical construction, with the rest of the seu- 
 j^nce; or when the parenthesis is to be read in a very perceptible 
 undertone. 
 
 ^he aomma should be preferred when it will serve as well as either of 
 fhe other m^rka. 
 
 Ex.—" I ha(| given a third part of ray wealth — four cents — for it." (Emo- 
 pioaal or emphatic: it dravss the attention strongly to how great the sura was.) 
 
PUNCTUATION. CURVES. 341 
 
 "I had given a third part of my wealth (four cents) for it." This takes the 
 least notice of the sum ; it may even imply that the person addressed, already 
 knew how much that third was. 
 
 " I had given a tlnrd part of my wealth, four cents, for it." This is inter- 
 mediate, in. sense, between the other two. 
 
 4. When a parentliesis occurs within another, curves are usually 
 applied to one, and dashes to the other ; the less coalescent one 
 taking the curves. But this rule is not always observed. 
 
 Ex' — " The little party were still lingering in the deep recess of the large 
 bay-window — which (in itself of dimensions that would have swallowed up a 
 moderate-sized London parlor) held the great round tea-table with all appliances 
 and means to boot — to behold the beautiful summer moon shed on the sward so 
 silvery a lustre, and the trees cast so quiet a shadow." — Harper's Magazine. 
 
 " The branches of knowledge taught in our schools, — reading — in which I 
 include the spelling of our language — a firm, sightly, legible hand-writing, and 
 the elemental rules of arithmetic, — are of greater value than all the rest which 
 is taught at school." — E. Everett. 
 
 5. The parts embosoming a parenthesis, are punctuated as if 
 they had it not. 
 
 Ex. — *' The good man (and good men not only think good thoughts, but do 
 good deeds) hves more in a year, than a selfish, covetous man in a century." 
 {The good man lives, etc.) 
 
 " It behooves me to say that these three (who, by the way, are all dead) pos- 
 sessed great general abihty, and had respectively received a good education." — 
 Harper^s Magazine. 
 
 6. If a point is required at the end of the first part, it may be 
 placed before each curve, if the structure will allow it. Though 
 many punctuators prefer to insert the point but once, and imme- 
 diately after the latter curve. 
 
 Ex. — " This book is written, or supposed to be written, (for we would speak 
 timidly of the mysteries of superior beings,) by the celebrated Mrs. Hannah 
 More." — Sydney Smith. 
 
 " My sisters wont to the best schools in town; (and here let me acknowl- 
 edge, that, knowing our former position and present difficulties, everywhere 
 friends turned up for us;) they had all they wanted, as far as books and masters 
 were concerned." — Eclectic Reviev). 
 
 "Pride, in some disguise or other (often a secret to the proud man himself), 
 is the most ordinary spring of action among men." — John Wilson. 
 
 7. But when the parenthesis is too closely related to the former 
 part to be cut off from it by the point, then the point must be 
 placed after the latter curve. 
 
 Ex. — " Gladiator (Lat. gladius, a sword) ; a sword-player, a prize-fighter." — 
 Sargent " The Nominative independent or absolute (absolutus, released^ free, 
 from grammatical structure). " — S. S. Greene. 
 
 8. The parenthesis is punctuated, within itself, as usual ; and if 
 it requires, at its end, an interrogation or exclamation point, or a 
 different point from that of the part before it, each part takes its 
 proper point and before the curve. 
 
342 PUNCTUATION. BRACKETS. 
 
 Bx, — " For the bee never idles, but labors all day, 
 
 And thinks (wise little bee !) work better than play." 
 " I gave (and who wouM not have given ?) my last dollar to the miserable 
 
 " The Frenchman, first in literary fame, 
 (Mention him, if you please. Voltaire ? — The same.) 
 With spirit, genius, eloquence, supplied, 
 
 Lived long, wrote much, laughed heartily, and died." — Coioper. 
 "My mother grew worse, and France also (Moscow — 1813 1); we were in 
 extreme penury." — Eclectic Review. The punctuation of the foregoing sentence 
 is questionable, yet I believe it brings out the sense to the best advantage. 
 
 9. When a dash, relating to either the first broken part or the 
 parenthesis, is placed after the first broken part, it is also generally 
 placed before the second broken part. 
 
 Ex. — " I received an office as junior clerk in — (one name will do as well as 
 another) — in Her Majesty's Waste-Paper OflQce." — British Rtview. (Significant 
 or emphatic dash, relating to the parts separated, and showing reiteration.) 
 
 10. When an entire and distinct sentence or phrase is ma(]e 
 parenthetic, the period or other point should be placed before, not 
 after, the latter curve. See the last example. 
 
 9. BRACI^TS. 
 
 1. The brackets are properly used to enclose what one person 
 puts into the writing of another. 
 
 Ex. — " Yours [the British] is a nation of unbounded resources, — a nation 
 from whose empire (and it has been your proudest boast) the sun never dis- 
 appears." (Explanation.) 
 
 " Do you know if [whether] he is at home ?" (Correction.) 
 Abbotsford, May 12th, [1820]. (Omission.) 
 
 " Lessox LV. — Llewellyn and his Dog. 
 
 " [A true story, showing the lamentable effects of hasty wrath.] 
 " The spearman heard the bugle sound, and cheerily smiled the morn, 
 And many a brach and many a hound attend Llewellyn's horn," etc.. 
 " [Here Mr. Clay was interrupted by the Senator from Michigan.]" 
 
 2. The writer himself may sometimes use the brackets to enclose 
 some explanation, direction, or observation ; especially when it 
 stands apart by itself, and has so little connection with the text 
 that it can hardly be considered a part of it. 
 
 Ex. — "Rosina. [Between the scenes.] To work, my hearts of oak, to work I 
 Here the sun is half an hour high, and not a stroke struck yet. 
 
 [Enters singing, followed by reapers.]" 
 But thus in the latest books : — 
 "i>o» Luis. Kopose awhile, I will return with speed. 
 
 [Exit hastily.'] 
 "Oliver. (Advancing.) How fell Don Luis to such poverty ?" — Boker. 
 SometimcB but one bracket is used, as in Wliite's Shakespeare. 
 " Now, like to whelps, we crying run away. 
 
 [A iliort alarum.^^ 
 " Dismission, (— mish'-un,) n. [Lat. dlsmissio.Y — N. Webster. 
 
PUNCTUATION. — HYPHEN. 343 
 
 3. The writer himself may sometimes use brackets to show what 
 is digression or interpolation. 
 
 Ex. — See Dr. Holmes's " Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table." 
 " I never liked him, never, in ray days !" 
 [" 0, yes I you did," said Ellen with a sob.] 
 " There always was a something in his ways — " 
 [''So sweet — so kind," said Ellen with a throb.] — Hood. 
 Brackets are so uncouth that there is some tendency to use the curves in their 
 stead, when the interpolated part, though within the paragraph, is not liable to be 
 misuudersrood, if distinguished by the curves. 
 
 Ex.—" Patrick Henry wound up by one of those daring flights of declamation 
 for which he was so remarkable, and startled the House by a warning flash from 
 history : 'Caesar had his Brutus ; Charles, his Cromwell ; and George the Third—' 
 ('Treason! treason I' resounded from the neiirhborhood of the Chair) — 'may 
 profit by their example,' added Henry. 'Sir, if this be treason (bowing to the 
 speaker), make the most of it.' " — Irving. 
 
 10. HYPHEN. 
 
 1. The hyphen is placed at the end of a syllable of a word so 
 long that a part must be put into the next line. Words are divided 
 into syllables according to their pronunciation and composition, 
 the latter yielding to the former whenever they plainly disagree. 
 See pp. 77-8. 
 
 It is sometimes used to show the syllables of a word ; as, Dis-grace-ful, co-operate. 
 
 2. The hyphen joins the parts of compound words that do not 
 coalesce sufficiently to be united without it. 
 
 Ex. — " Look at pretty, ten-year-old, rosy -cheeked, golden haired Mary, gazing 
 with all the blue brightness of her eyes, at that large dew-drop." — Pro/. Wilsoji. 
 
 The compounding of words depends on the sense ; the con- 
 solidation on the pronunciation ; and both depend somewhat on 
 custom. 
 
 3. A compound word should denote one idea rather than two or 
 more, or it should have a meaning different from that of the separated 
 words, or it should imply a change in the part of speech, or it should 
 be known as the familiar term for a certain object or attribute. 
 
 Ex. — "Horse-fly, orang-outang, gooseberry, to-night, wild-rose, slippery-elm, 
 iipple-orchard, sewing-machine, humming-bird; a black-bearded man ; a s'uie-qua- 
 nnn condition ; the end-all and be-all ; a settiug-forth of." 
 
 There is generally the greatest difficulty in deciding, when the former word has 
 somewhat the nature of an adjective. If it denotes the substance, or is merely de- 
 horiptive, and not a part of the name, there is no compounding ; as, a gold cup, moun- 
 fitln. billows, saltwater fisfi, village bells : but, if otherwise, there is ; as, school-room, 
 uialering-place. When the former word may suggest either the idea of composing, 
 or else that of belonging to, relating to, or connected with, the latter sense is usualfy 
 distinguished from tlie former by compounding ; as, a glass house, a glass-house. 
 Tn general, when the terms have passed into the nomenclature of some particular 
 art, science, or occupation, the elements are compounded. There are some excep- 
 tions to this ei; tire paragraph. 
 
344 PUNCTUATION. HYPHEN. 
 
 4. A part common to two or more consecutive compounds, 
 should either be left separate, o)-, to avoid ambiguity, be made a 
 part of each. 
 
 Ex. — " Eiding and dancing schools ;" or, " Eiding-schools and dancing-schools;" 
 not, " Eiding and dancing-schools," uor, " Eiding- and dancing-schools." 
 
 An epithet already compound, is not usually joiaed to its noun ; as, " high- 
 water mark ;" " whalebone rody "When there is a bunch of compounds, it is often 
 better to separate or to consolidate some of them ; as, " master^ quarter-master, 
 quartermaster-general ;'''' '■'■ creeh, mill-creelc, mill-creek coal-Jield, mill-creek cannelr 
 coal, mill-creek cannelcoal-Jield.'''' 
 
 ' Pronunciation relates to the letters, syllables, and accents. 
 
 5. If the parts coalesce with the smooth flow of syllables making 
 
 one word ; if there is no liability of improperly joining letters of 
 
 one to the other ; if there is one chief accent, the other being no 
 
 stronger than an ordinary secondary accent ; if the parts are not 
 
 too long ; and if the parts are not too new in combination to be 
 
 easily understood, — they are consolidated. 
 
 Ex. — " Everlasting, graveyard, gentleman, highwayman, forthcoming, bare- 
 faced." But, " Soul-stirring, ant-hill, peep-hole, sand-eel, remainder-man, knit- 
 ting-needle, spelling-book, ciieese-press." " Home'sickness," accent yielded by the 
 longer word to the shorter ; " council-room," accent not yielded, nor next to the 
 hyphen-place. 
 
 a. A phrase made an epithet, is always compounded. 
 Ex. — " A two-foot ruler ;" " The tree-and-chud-shadowed river." 
 But when the former word can not be conceived otherwise than as an adverb 
 modifying the next word, the two are not compounded ; as, '■'■Newly varnished fur- 
 niture;" ^'' Love ill requited.^^ 
 
 h. Idiomatic phrases are usually not compounded. 
 Ex. — ' ' By and by ; to and fro ; tit for tat ; out and out." 
 
 c. A foreign phrase that is made an epithet, or that has so lost the mean- 
 ing of its parts as to be Anglicized, is hyphened ; but if its words remain 
 separately significant as they stand, it is left uncompounded, and often 
 expressed in Italics. 
 
 Ex.—" Piano-forte, camera-obscura, billet-doux, ex-post-facto laws ; habeas cor- 
 pus ; scire facias ; nux vomica." 
 
 d. A phrase, having a possessive, and used as a proper name, remains 
 uncompounded ; if it is a somewhat unusual common name, with a change 
 of the original meaning, the apostrophe and hyphen are used ; and if it is 
 a very common term, the parts are consolidated, and the hyphen is omitted. 
 
 Ex.—" Cook's Inlet, Barrow's Strait ; Eupert's-drops, lamb's-wool ; ratsbane, 
 beeswax." Capital letters are sometimes a sort of substitute for the hyphen. 
 
 c. Cardinal numerals are hyphened from twenty to hundred. With 
 ordinals used as nouns, they are usually compounded, though sometimes 
 needlessly. 
 
 Ex.—" One thousand two hundred and eighty-seven." " Two-thirds, three- 
 fourths, five twenty-sixths." 
 
 /. Certain words consisting of rhymes, or of syllables combined for the 
 sake of the sound, are generally consolidated if the parts are two mono- 
 
PUNCTUATION. HYPHEN. 346 
 
 ?!yllables ; and sometimes if they are dissyllables. They are hyphened in 
 other cases. 
 
 Ex. — "Picnic, hodgepodge, powwow, zigzag, chitchat, huggemiugger, helter- 
 skelter, wishy-washy, hurdy-gurdy, ninuy-hamiuer." 
 
 g. A prefix is generally consolidated with the rest of the word, 
 Ex. — "(>!>erflow, undergr&dia&tQ^ «e»iicircle." 
 
 h. Prefixes, or similar parts, are not consolidated with the rest of the 
 word, if they stand before a capital letter ; if they are followed by a greater 
 pause than ordinary syllables thus situated, or by a pause showing the 
 separate significance of the pails ; or if they should be kept apart to pre- 
 serve the sense or pronunciation. 
 
 Ex. — "Anti-Benton, pre-Adamite, Anglo-Saxon, Neo-Platonic, concavo-convex, 
 proto-sulphuret, vice-admiral, electro-magnetism, reformation, re-formation, rec'- 
 reation, re-creation, re-revise, co-operate (also cooperate), semi-cylindrical, co-tan- 
 gent, nou-essential." 
 
 i. When a writer makes a new compound, or chooses one that he sup- 
 poses not well known to his reader, he should generally use the hyphen. 
 JBut, by long and general usage, compound words tend to lose the hyphen. 
 
 Ex. — "Some of us have killed ''brown-backs'' axidi '■yellow-legs' [birds], on the 
 marshes." " Since railroads and steamboats have driven all the romance out of 
 travel." — Irving. 
 
 In doubtful cases, especially when the parts are monosyllables, it is better to 
 consolidate them ; for tue analogy of some eminent foreign languages — tlie Ger- 
 man and the Greek — favors this mode of writing words. 
 
 Familiar Explanations. — Many -colored birds have many colors each ; 
 mari/y cokyred birds are numerous, though they may all be of one color. A light 
 armed soldier is a light soldier with arms ; a light-armed soldier has light arms. 
 A live oak is simply a living oak ; a live-oak is a speeios of evergreen oak. A 
 sugar tree is made of sugar ; a sugar-tree is a maple that yields sugar. So, a 
 ylass house is made of glass ; a glass-hov^e is a house in which glass is manufac- 
 tured. A dancing master is a master that dances; a dancing-master teacher 
 dancing. A boarding-house has boarders ; a boarding fiouse may seem to board 
 Lady's slipper is a shoe ; lady's-slipper is a plant. A dog's-ear is the comer of a 
 ieaf turned over ; a dog's ear is tiie ear of a dog. A bull's-eye is a small round 
 window; a hull's eye is the eye of a bull. A crow is a black bird, but not a 
 blackbird. Six and seventeen=23 ; sixteen and seventeen='d3. Twenty-five cent 
 pieces=25 cents; twenty five-cent pieces=$I.OO. A horse racing is a horse in 
 the act of running ; a horse-racing is a running of horses. '''■Time tutored age and 
 love exalted youth," is very difierent from, ''■Tcme-tutortd age and love-exalted 
 jouth." So is touch me not from touch-me-not. "The deep-tar.gled wild- 
 wood;" "■Battle-hymns and dirges." Without the hyphen, deep would quality 
 wiidzvood, not tangled ; and Battle would also refer to dirges. Hence when two 
 adjectives stand before a noun, each of which might qualify it, they must be joinef 
 to show that one is used adverbially to modify the other. 
 
 Exercises. — There are four footed animals. Watch makers and glass cut- 
 tors. He is a free mason. Texas abounds in humming birds and mocking birds. 
 A red headed high tempered woman. The corn fields and the walnut trees. A 
 paper mill is not made of paper, nor a tin peddler of tin. A white oak, a black 
 oak. and a go cart. Five gallon kegs and three foot measures. The twenty- 
 third and fourtli trees are the best in the row. The twenty-third and twenty- 
 fourth trees, &c. Steamships and boats are propelled by steam. The what and 
 liow much. " Crops have been much injured by the cut worm." — Newspaper 
 
346 PUNCTUATION. — QUOTATION-MARKS. 
 
 11. QUOTATION-MARKS. 
 
 1. Quotatioii-iiiai'ks enclose what is to be presented as tlie 
 identical word or words of some other person or writin g. 
 
 Ex. — " I rise for information," said a member of Congress. " I am very glad 
 to hear it," cried another sitting by ; "for no one needs it more." 
 
 2. A quotation within another, is enclosed by single quotation- 
 marks. 
 
 If I wished to represent the entire foregoing paragraph as something quoted 
 by me, I sliould write it thus : — 
 
 " ' I rise for information,' said a member of Congress. ' I am very glad to hear 
 it,' cried another sitting by ; ' for no one needs it more.' " 
 
 3. When the double and the single marks have both been used, 
 they are, if needed, repeated in the same order. 
 
 4. When many quotations occur within one another, it is better 
 to leave the inner ones undistinguished by quotation-marks; espe- 
 cially if capitals can be used to show the beginning of each. 
 
 Ex. — " Jesus answered.the Jews, ' Is it not written in your law, — I said, 
 Te are gods?'" — New Teslameni: John x. 34. 
 
 Mr. Wilson very properly prefers the foregoing mode of pointing to the follow- 
 ing : " Jesus answered the Jews, ' Is it not written in your law, — " I said, ' Ye are 
 gods' " V " 
 
 5. When an extract of two or more paragraphs is quoted, the in- 
 troductory quotation-marks are placed before each paragraph, and 
 the closing ones only after the last. 
 
 Ex. — Some of Jefferson's rules of life are these : — 
 " Never spend your money before you have it. 
 " Never trouble others for what you can do yourself. 
 " Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day." 
 
 6. When something already interrogative or exclamatory is quoted, 
 the closing quotation-marks follow the point ; but when something is 
 quoted, and made interrogative or exclamatory afterwards, the closing 
 marks precede the point. The four common points, to avoid un- 
 couth blank spaces, are always placed before the closing quotation- 
 marks. 
 
 Ex. — He asked me, " Why do you weep ?" Why did you not say at once, 
 *' I can not go" ? 
 
 " ' Banished from Rome' I What 's banished but set free 
 From daily contact of the things I loathe." 
 Cauijou spell " phthisic" ? 
 
 " Went home yesterday" ? Then I must write to him." 
 Or : " ' Went home yesterday' ? Then I must write to him." 
 A quotation is punctuated within itself as if it stood alone. 
 
 7. Quotation-marks are often used in speaking of words, phrases, 
 or sentences. Some writers, when quoting words from popular 
 usage, insert but single quotation-marks. Italics and quotation-marks 
 are often used arbitrarily, as means of distinguishing words or phrases. 
 
PUNCTUATION. UNDERSCORE.' 847 
 
 Ex. — The phrase " not at all," is an idiom. 
 
 What is ' secret', may be accidentally or intentionally so : ' hidden' and * con- 
 cealed' imply something intentionally kept secret. We speak of ' a hidden plot,' 
 ' a conceakd intention'. ' Covert' is something not avowed. It may be intended 
 to be seen ; ' a covert allusion' is meant to be understood, but is not openly ex- 
 pressed. — Whaiely. 
 
 8. Quotation-marks are not needed, when we present in our own 
 language the saying of another. 
 
 Ex. — Randolph said, " Pay as you go." Randolph said, that we should pay 
 as we go. 
 
 Quotation-marks may be used even when the authority itself is annexed. They 
 may also be used when an author furnishes from himself such illustrations as 
 might be thus distinguished if taken from other writers, Quotatiou-marks may 
 be omitted, when deemed unnecessary or too cumbersome. In the, Bible they are 
 generally omitted, when the quotation stands within the sentence, and begins with 
 a capital. 
 
 12. UNDERSCORE. 
 
 1. The underscore is used in writing, being drawn under 
 what should be printed in Italics or in capitals. 
 
 Italics are slanting letters; and they were so called because the Italians not 
 only invented them, but immediately gave to the world an edition of v'lrgil printed 
 wholly iu these letters. 
 
 2. Italics denote, in general, emphasis or distinction. They 
 direct particular attention to some word or words, or show in what 
 part the point or pith of the sentence chiefly lies. 
 
 Ex. — "We must Jlght; I repeat it, sir, we micst fight." "Here /reign king, 
 and, to enrage thee more, thy king and lord." 
 
 " An hour or two, and forth she goes, 
 The school she brightly seeks; 
 She carries in her hand a rose, 
 
 And two upon her cheeks^ — Southern Literary Messenger. 
 ^^ OH course a race-course isn't coarse, a, fine is far from^lrie." — Hood. 
 
 3. They are generally used to distinguish foreign words intro- 
 duced among English. 
 
 Ex. — " He was secretary pro tempore.''^ '■ 
 
 " My foohsh heart beats pit-a-pat — sic omnia vindt amor.^^ 
 
 4. They are generally used to distinguish what is spoken of as a 
 mere letter, word, phrase, or sentence. 
 
 Ex. — "J. does want ye to make it aye, — 
 
 There 's but one p in peas." — Hood. 
 
 " Which may be applied to phrases or clauses, but that only to nouns or pro- 
 nouns." " That he should be more careful is a substantive clause, in tlio 
 
 nominative case," etc. 
 
 5. The names of boats, ships, newspapers, and magazines, or other 
 periodical literature, are usually printed in Italics ; the names of books 
 seldom need this mode of distinction, but they are sometimes quoted. 
 
 Ex. — "The Neptune sailed yesterday." "An article in the New- Tork Mer- 
 cury ^ " Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Thomson's "Seasons." 
 
 Credits and authorities anuexed to quoted paragraphs, are also generally j rinted 
 in Italics or in small capitals. 
 
'848 PUNCTUATION. 0BS3RVATI0NS. 
 
 In the common English Bible, Italics show what words were not in the original 
 When a sentence or paragraph is to be expressed in Italics, Roman or 
 capital letters must be used to distinguish any part of it. 
 
 Ex. — " Time is a measured portion of indefinite darationy — Olmsted. 
 
 To denote still greater emphasis or distinction than Italics would express, 
 capital letters should be used. Italics show what is emphatic ; small capitals, 
 what is more emphatic ; and capitals, what is very emphatic. Draw the line under 
 once, to denote /to/ics ; twice, to denote small capitals; three times, to de- 
 
 note CAPITALS; and four times, to denote ITALIG CAPITALS, or orna- 
 mental letters. ~ 
 
 OB'SERVATIONS. 
 
 There is probably not, in the compass of human knowledge, a more chaotic 
 subject thin punctuation ; and we might present many critical and useful re- 
 marks upon it, but our want of space will allow only a few. 
 
 Punctuation is influenced — 1. By the sense; 2. By the delivery, or the pause 
 required ; 3. By the points elsewhere required ; 4. By the connectives or sup- 
 pressed words; 5.' By the length of the parts to be punctuated; 6. By the posi- 
 tion of the parts. 1. " The troops landed and killed a hundred Indians," im- 
 plies that they brought the Indians with them ; " The troops landed, and killed 
 a hundred Indians," expresses the true meaning. "Alphonso Karr, a celebrated 
 writer, distinguished for his taste and knowledge in botany," implies taste in 
 botany; "Alphonso Karr, a celebrated writer, distinguished for his taste, and 
 knowledge in botany," refers only the knowledge to botany. " I said he is dis- 
 honest, it is true ; and I am sorrj'^ for it," differs widely from, "I said he is dis- 
 honest ; it is true, and I am sorry for it." " I can not violate my oath to support 
 the Constitution," implies that the oath relates to the Constitution ; " I can not 
 violate my oath, to support the Constitution," imphes some other oath. " Why 
 did you not come to us in the beginning of the night ?" inquires about the 
 cause ; " Why, did you not come to us in the beginning of the night ?" inquires 
 about the fact. " The groat principles of government which are easily under- 
 stood, are known everywhere," refers to some of the great principles only ; " The 
 great principles of government, which are easily understood, are known every- 
 where," refers to all of them. " Shame I where is thy blush ?" is an address 
 to shame. "0, shame 1 where is thy blush?" is an address to something else. 
 a, " Yes, you shall." "Yes; and for you too." "Yes: he has done all this, 
 and yet you are not satisfied." 3. " Since our journey began, it had rained in 
 torrents ; and now both horse and rider refused to go a step farther : the beast, 
 because he sank up to his knees in mud ; and the rider, because he was wet to 
 the bone." 4. " Study to promote the happiness of mankind : it is the true end 
 of your creation;" "Study to promote the happiness of mankind; for it is the 
 true end of your creation." " Let it appear so; make your vaunting true ;" " Let 
 it appear so, and make your vaunting true." " The cool, sequestered paths of 
 life ;" " The cool and sequestered paths of life." 5. " There was fire above and 
 below the house ;" " Good men are not always found in union with, but some- 
 times in opposition to, tlio views and conduct of one another." "Teach, urge, 
 threaten, lecture Mm ;" " Wo would oppose, resist, repel, such intrusion^ 
 a, ''To God, nothing is impossible;" "Nothing is impossible to God." "7b 
 stcure his election, it is said that votes were bought ;" " I J is said that votes were 
 bought to secure his election.'''' 
 
 In discourse occurs frequently what is called the rhetorical pause, — a slight 
 
PUNCTUATION. OBSERVATIONS. 349 
 
 suspension in the sense, requiring no point, but often mistaken for the sense 
 which requires a point. "The love of liberty, is in every breast," should be, 
 "The love of liberty is in every breast." When emphasis or the rhetorical 
 pause coincides with the grammatical sense, it may induce the insertion of a 
 point ; as, " A sentence is compound, when it contains two or more clauses." 
 There seems to be in use a redundant and also a sparing mode of punctuating, 
 called dose punctuation and free punctuation, of which the difference is particu- 
 larly obvious in the use of the comma. The following are extreme specimens : 
 *' He then, with great effort, did, by sheer strength, move the mass from the po- 
 sition, it, at first, occupied, to one, at least forty yards distant, and, but for im- 
 pediments, would, iiad time been given him, have moved it, with ease, and 
 precision, to the position, where, for the progress of the work, it was required." 
 — Punctuation made Plain. " A cool and philosophical observer would un- 
 doubtedly have pronounced that all the evil arising from the intolerant laws 
 which Parliament had framed was not to be compared to the evil which would 
 be produced by a transfer of the legislative power from the Parliament to the 
 sovereign." — Macaulay. The best mode is a medium between the two ; but 
 they are often improperly mixed, especially by pointing parenthetic parts on 
 one side only. "Go, and without hesitation, pay the sum." Either insert a 
 comma after and, or omit the comma after hesitation. '' The dog having seen 
 him, went in pursuit," should be, " The dog, having seen him, went in pursuit." 
 
 " : such is war," can refer to the rest of the same sentence only; but 
 ■". Such is war," may refer to all the discourse before it. "The pride of wealth 
 is contemptible; the pride of learning is pitiable; the pride of dignity is ridicu- 
 lous ; but the pride of bigotry is insupportable." Here the dash would have 
 been too sentimental; the comma would have slurred the matter over too 
 lightly ; the colon would have suggested a different connection in thought ; the 
 period would have been too deliberate; but the semicolon gives due distinc- 
 tion to the parts, and the greatest energy to the whole sentence. Mr. Wilson, 
 :ho\vever, prefers ithe comma. "My comrade, on the contrary, made himself 
 ■quite one of the family; laughed and chatted with them." Here the insertion 
 •of and before "laughed," would require the comma; the insertion of he, the 
 colon. ^ The bill passed without amendment ; though it never received the 
 royal assent;" "The bill passed without amendment, though it never received 
 ithe royal assent." The semicolon rather gives " though" the sense of however; 
 and the comma, the sense of notwithstanding. " None but the brave, none but 
 the brave, none but the brave deserves the fair." — Dryden. Ordinary repeti- 
 tion. "Arm! arm! it is — it is— the cannon's opening roar!" — Byron. Sus- 
 pense and emotion. "Wherever he [the bobolink] goes, pop! pop! pop I the 
 ■rusty firelocks of the country are cracking on every side." — Irving. Greater 
 emotion. Observe how the repeated parts are differently punctuated as the 
 -emotion rises. " Another wave lifts the schooner — another fearful crash — she 
 rolls over — her decks are rent asunder — her crew are struggling in the water— 
 ■all is over!" — Harper's Magazine. "A dress of blue silk; plain, high body; skirt 
 of moderate length," etc. — lb. The dasli, if inserted in the latter sentence, would 
 make it a matter of wonder that there is such a thing as a blue silk dress. 
 
 The dash and the curves are generally used to set off a parenthesis between a 
 .part and its reiteration. " They call us angels — (though I am proud to say, no 
 man ever so insulted my understanding) — angels, that they may make us slaves!" 
 —Jerroli. In general, the punctuation should stand right when the entire pa- 
 renthesis is omitted. " Thou idol of thy parents— (Hang the boy ! there goes 
 my ink.)" And double points should not be used needlessly. Curves and 
 'brackets so much break the connection that they have almost the force of a point. 
 •'Amid, \i. e., at mid or middle,'] is from a and mzd" — Goold Brown. "Amidst 
 [, i. e., at midst,] is from a and midst— Id. I think, better thus : "Amid [i. e., 
 ■at mid or middd^} is from a and mid;'' * AMiDsr [i. e., at midst] ia from a and 
 
350 PUNCTUATION. OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 midst." " ' The highest classes are rich and haughty' [but the loweM classes are 
 poor and humble]." "The most certain plan of success (I have it from a woman, 
 and, I believe, an excellent authority,) is any way to interest them. In my own 
 case — (I thought your poor mother had a deal of money, but — well, never mind,) 
 — I at last atiected consumption." — Jerrold. Here 1 should have omitted the 
 comma from the latter curve ; and the dashes and curves together are perhaps 
 not both needed. The point is often better put after the latter curve only. "And 
 the worse the case is about my companions — my fellow-paupers (for I must boar 
 the word) — the greater are my chances of finding something for them — some- 
 thing which may prevent my feeling myself utterly useless in the world." Lord 
 Macaulay, I believe, has never used a parenthesis. 
 
 A word is frequently set off by the comma, or not set off by it, according as 
 it has the sense of a conjunction or that of an adverb. " You did not see him, 
 ihenf '' You did not see him theiif^ ^'■However, I will not shrink, hoioever 
 grea,t the responsibility may be." "He gave the ideal, too, of truth and beauty;" 
 " He is too bad to be sent there too." '''■Therefore have 1 written to him ;" " 1 
 liave, therefore^ written to him." "*S'o pleased at first, the towering Alps we 
 try ;" ">S'o, pleased at first, the towering Alps we try." The pointing sometimes 
 depends on how smoothly the part flows with the other words. " Perhaps we 
 shall never see him again." *' We shall perhaps never see him again." " We 
 shall never, perhaps, see him again." Also, too, perhaps, and therefore, often do 
 not require a point. Mere and there are sometimes set off, when emphatic or 
 contrasted. As well as with a nominative, between another nominative and the 
 verb, is set off. Parts compared or slightly contrasted, and closely depending on 
 something after them, are often not separated; as, " It is a small but thrifty tree." 
 An intermediate phrase beginning with if not, is always set off. When two or 
 more modifying parts are parenthetic, the less coalescent are sot off " And her 
 eyes on all my motions, with a mute observance, hung." — Goold Brown. Better : 
 "And her eyes, on all my motions, with a mute observance hung." A restrictive 
 relative clause seldom needs a comma before it, even when separated from its 
 antecedent ; as, " He preaches sublimely who lives a righteous and pious Ufe.^' 
 " It was the scarcity ot the peaches that made them so dear." When that begins a 
 clause depending closely on it, preceding it, or on a governing or controlling 
 verb, or on so or siu:h, the clause does not require the comma. " It is reported 
 that he is coming." ''I know that he is honest." " He does it that you may praise 
 him." " It was so heavy that I could not carry it." When such or so begins the 
 previous clause, the latter is set off; also, when the latter is emphatic. When 
 two connected phrases, of moderate length, begin with articles, or are bound to- 
 gether by both — and, either — or, neither — nor, they seldom need the comma be- 
 tween them. When or connects adjectives or adverbs that are alternative in 
 sense, they need not be separated. " Answers that are given in a careless, or in- 
 different manner." — Wdlson^s Readers. Omit the comma. A noun quaUfied or gov- 
 erned by adjectives or verbs before it, is not usually set off from them, " It was a 
 bright, lovely day." "He soils, tears, and loses his books; "So, adverbs, when 
 followed by what they modify. '• We are tearfully, wonderfully made." Also, the 
 antecedents of adjuncts; as, "The leaves, blossoms, and roots of the tree." 
 But when the connecting word is omitted before an adjunct or object, the com- 
 ma is inserted ; as, " He soils, tears, loses, his books." " The leaves, blossom.s, 
 roots, of the tree." But adjectives like the following, and separated nominatives, 
 should bo set olf. " The former are called voluntary, and the latter involuntary 
 muscles." — Wdlson^s Readers. " Industry, honesty, and temperance are essential 
 to happiness." — John Wilson. Here a comma should be placed after "involun- 
 tary," and also one after " temperance." The punctuation of the former sentence 
 is so common an error, and that of the latter is so well authorized, that we shall 
 quote some strong authority against both : — 
 
 " 1 perceive one mistake in your manner of pointing. When there are sev- 
 
PUNCTUATION. OBSERVATIONS. MISCELLANEOUS MARKS. 351 
 
 eral nouns of th e nominative case to one verb, you admit no comma after the 
 la.st of them previous to the verb. Or when there are several distinct short 
 members of the sentence verging into one concluding one, you admit no stop 
 between the last of them and this concluding one. In this, I am persuaded you 
 are wrong, according to the dictates of reason, as well as the highest authority. 
 Of the authority I am quite certain. A passage or two where you have intro- 
 duced this correction, will tell what I mean. 'A new train of ideas, presenting 
 the possible, and magnifying the certain, difficulties of the situation.' ' Though 
 a man is obedient, and probably will be obedient, to habit,' &c. * They are 
 mistaken if they imagine that the influences which guide, or the moral prin- 
 ciples which impel, this self-applauding progress,' &c. Now, I feel most certain 
 that the comma ought to remain in all such cases, and that the contrary manner 
 is a vulgar mode only of pointing. The authority of Gibbon is decisive, and he 
 invariably points, in such instances, as I have shown." — Foster's Life and Cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 Repeated parts are not usually set off when they govern an objective or 
 qualify something immediately after them. The comma is often improperly 
 omitted before and^ when this connects the last two terms of a series ; as, "A, B 
 and Co." The Company does not belong more to B than to A ; therefore the 
 comma should be inserted ; as, "A, B, and Co." The com.ma is, however, generally 
 omitted when the short and (&) is used. " John, James and "William are com- 
 ing," implies that I am telling John what the other two boys are doing. Insert 
 the comma, and the sense is clear. Mr. Wilson omits the comma when and or 
 nor is inserted after each term. It is generally best to insert the comma ; as, 
 "The health, and streng-th, and freshness, and sweet sleep of youth, are yours." 
 — R. G. Parker. The comma, however, may be so used elsewhere as to exclude 
 the use of it in the series. " The voyages of Grosnold and Smith and Hudson, 
 the enterprise of Raleigh and Delaware and G-orges," etc. — Bancroft. " Divid- 
 ing and gliding and sliding, and falling and brawling and sprawling, " etc. — 
 Southey. Indeed, the comma is sometimes excluded within, because a greater 
 point can not be admitted at the end. In the United States the comma is usu- 
 ally omitted between the number and the name of a street ; as, " No. 75 Spruce 
 Street." The sense, however, requires it ; though when " No." is omitted, the fig- 
 ures may perhaps be conceived as an adjective, like upper, for instance, in the 
 phrase, "on the upper Mississippi," which shows on what part, and requires no com- 
 ma. In the United States, the comma is generally not inserted between the word 
 price and the number, tho\igh the strict sense requires it; as, " Price $5." Dr. Bul- 
 lions writes, " I, Paul, have written it." This may imply that Paul is addressed, 
 and should therefore be, " I Paul have written it." Mr. Butler writes, " Words 
 ending in y, preceded by a consonant, change," etc. This implies that the words 
 are preceded by a consonant, and should therefore be, " Words ending in y 
 preceded by a consonant, change," etc. Mr. Goold Brown writes, " To carve 
 for others, is, to starve yourself." " So that the term, language, now signifies, any 
 series,^^ etc. All these commas are superfluous or wrong. Mr. Brown frequently 
 punctuates too closely, and sometimes contradicts himself. His system is in- 
 adequate; Dr. Maudeville's is, radically, partly sound and partly unsomid ; Mr. 
 Wilson's is, upon the whole, the best extant ; though it is both deficient and too 
 volummous. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS MARKS. 
 
 1. Marks of Omission. 
 
 Blank space, Ditto ( " " or ' ' ), Dots ( ), 
 
 Apostrophe ( ' ), Long dash ( ), 
 
 Caret ( * ). Stars f * * * * *). Hyphens ( ), 
 
8S2 PUNCTUATION. MISCELLANEOUS MARKS. 
 
 Ex. — " Why do you repeat 
 
 ' My words, as if you feared to trust your own I" Blank space, at tho 
 
 bcgiuning or the end of a line of poetry, best shows omission. 
 " Columbus 1 'tis day, and the darkness is o'er!" 
 " What o'clock ?" " Daniel O'Connel." " M'c Donald." " McDonald." 
 (Contractions.) 
 
 f ie the evil 
 
 " SufAiCxUt for the day isAthereof" (Accidental omission.) 
 
 " 10 lbs. of coffee, @ 10 cts. per pound, $1.00. 
 
 12 " " sugar, " 8^ " " " 1.00. 
 
 " We have come into the den of a " 
 
 " But he married yet if he had married " 
 
 " And Mrs. g * * * * ? is she as beautiful as ever ?" 
 
 " *D — n the vagabond !' said he, in such a tone that I positively startled." 
 
 " Poor Mrs. C (why should I not 
 
 Declare her name ? — her name was Cross) — 
 Was one of those ' the common lot' 
 Had left to mourn no ' common loss.' " — Hood. 
 '* The next shall tell thee, bitterly shall tell, 
 Thoughts that ***** 
 ******** 
 Thoughts that — could patience hold — 'twere better far. 
 To leave still hid and burning where they are." — T. Moore : Fudge 
 
 [^Family. 
 
 "No. 
 
 I promise to pay to , or bearer, dollars," etc. 
 
 Mr. Wilson seems to recommend the dash for omitted letters, the periods for 
 omitted words, and the stars for omitted sentences. But the distinction is not 
 always regarded. 
 
 2. Marks of Pronunciation or Utterance. 
 
 Acute ( ' )j Diaeresis (••)> Webster's Notation, 
 
 Accents ; -^ Grave ( ), Hyphen ( - ), (See his Dictionary,) 
 
 Circumflex ( ^ ), Separatrix ( | ), Worcester's Notation, 
 Macron ( - ), Cedilla (under 9=s), (See his Dictionary.) 
 Breve (>-'), Tilde (over n=ny), 
 
 Ex.—" To conflict, a conflict." " Will you w4lk, or ride ?" 
 
 " Madam, you have my father much offended." (Stress, inflection, modula- 
 tion, etc.) 
 
 "Machine, Miongo, Montreal, f§te, la." (Long sound.) 
 
 " Ye shepherds, so cheerful and gay." — Fowler. 
 
 "Holy, I holy, | holy, | all the | saints a | dore thee." — Broion. (Poetic ac- 
 cents and feet.) 
 
 " G16-ri-ous, soul-dls-eased, im-pru-dent." (Quantity.) 
 
 "And hearken to the bird's love-learned .song — love-learned song." " Reap- 
 pear, re-appear; coordinate, co-ordinate; aerial, Menelaus, Antinoiis, Danae," 
 These marks show that a suppressed syllable must be pronounced, or they 
 prevent two syllables from being improperly made one. The hyphen is often 
 preferred when the tirst part is a prefix, or when each of the parts is significant. 
 
 " Fagade, ghaise, gargon, (generally placed before a or o,) seiior." " Where 
 the troop of Mifton [Minyun] wheels." 
 
PUNCTUATION. — MISCELLANEOUS MARKS. 353 
 
 3. Marks of Reference, 
 
 ih ( * ), 1st reference ; Paragraph ( IT ) ; 
 Dagger^ or obelisk ( t ), 2d " Then doubled (**, ft, etc.) ; 
 
 Double dagger, or diesis ( J ) ; Then trebled (***, fft, etc.) ; 
 
 Section ( § ) ; Also superiors — letters or figures (■, *•, 
 
 Parallels ( 1| ) ; % S ', ')• 
 
 These marks are placed, in the order we have shown, over words from 
 which reference is made, and also at the head of those, in the margin, to 
 which the reference is made. 
 
 4. Marks Directing Attention. 
 
 The index, or hand ( H^^ ), directs special attention to something. 
 Ex. — " ^^ All orders by mail must be accorapanied hj the cash." 
 
 The asierism, or three stars (***), precedes a note that has a general 
 reference. 
 
 Ex. — " * * * The Teacher should require his pupils to spell and define the 
 most important words in every lesson that is read." 
 
 n,i 7 / 3 ^ unites two or more parts, and generally refers them in 
 ^ \ * common to something else. It should open toward 
 the more numerous parts. 
 
 " Not that my verse should blemish all the fair ; 
 Yet some are bad, — "tis wisdom to beware, 
 
 And better to avoid the bait, than struggle in the snare," ) — Dryden. 
 (A triplet introduced arnoug couplets.) 
 
 The paragraph ( 1 ) usually marks the longer divisions of a large divi- 
 sion : it shows where something new begins. 
 
 The section ( § ) usually marks the smaller divisions of a long divisioa 
 
 Both these marks are conveniently used with numbers, to abridge 
 references. 
 
 Ex. — "^^T. Pure Verbs. Second Aoristsy — Crosby. 
 
 " § 219. A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun," Qic.—Id. 
 
 Leaders ( ) lead the eye from one part to another over a 
 
 blank space. 
 
 Page 
 
 Ex.—" Naples, 63 
 
 Pompeii — Hercnlaneum, 65." (Index.) 
 
 " George is a noun, it is a name," etc. 
 
 *^Has been rewarded is a verb," etc. 
 
 5. Marks Used in Correcting Proof-Sheets. 
 
 Peter Schoeffer is said to be the person who Caps. 
 
 invented cast metal types, having learned 
 
 (^V the art -ef of cM«m^ the letters fryin the Got- o 
 
 tembergs, he is also sup/osed to have been "y 
 
 ^ the first whoengraved on copper jplatea The - 1 
 
 .[-. 
 
S64 MARKiS USED IN CORRECTING PROOF-SHEETS. 
 
 following testimony is preseveJ in the family, r 
 ^\ by Jo. Fred. Faustus of Ascheflenburg: it 
 ^ .Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim, perceiving his S.cap-t. 
 \/ master Fausta design, and being himself 
 tr. (desiroua\ ardently) to improve the art, found 
 out (by the good providence of God) the 
 + pethod of cutting (incidondl ) the characters stel. 
 
 in a matrix, that the letters might easily be 
 ,1 singly cast /instcdd of bieng cut. He pri- eil 
 y^ vately CM< maf fvcesj for the whole alphabet :)A 
 Faust was so pleased with the contrivance 
 /^j^at he promised Jpeter to give him^is only w.f 
 /jgUghter Christina in maTrmgc, a promise ^(aL 
 /^jj^ich he soon after perfo^lfied^ iVb 7. 
 
 as (But there were oTany difficulties at first 
 Horn, with these lettcr^aa there had be en before ^^1 
 
 Ital. with woofl;?ff ones, the metal being by mixing outa.c- 
 "TT 2 1 " 
 
 tr. the a^bstance with metal which hardened itJ O 
 
 (and when he showed his master the letters 
 cast from these matrices. 
 
 ^ 
 
 EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 dele — take out the superfluous word "of." 
 
 0) turn the reversed letter "p." 
 
 ^ insert a space between " who" and " engraved.'* 
 
 *^ less space between the words. 
 
 IF make a new paragraph. 
 
 tr. transpose the words " desirous" and " ardently." 
 
 ttet. let incidendi (accidentally erased) remain. 
 
 vj.f. " wrong fount" type to be changed. 
 
 out 8.0. " out, see copy." The words omitted being too 
 numerous for the margin, the compositor is 
 referred to the original copy for them. 
 The oth(!r marks are self-explanatory. 
 
'D <5h^b<: 
 
 IVI5159S8