The Grammar of English Grammars Part 160

"The possessive case is always followed by the noun which is the name of the thing possessed, expressed or understood."--_Felton's Gram._, p. 61; _Revised Edition_, pp. 64 and 86. "Hadmer of Aggstein was as pious, devout, and praying a Christian, as were Nelson, Was.h.i.+ngton, or Jefferson; or as are Wellington, Tyler, Clay, or Polk."--H. C. WRIGHT: _Liberator_, Vol. xv, p. 21. "A word in the possessive case is not an independent noun, and cannot stand by its self."--_Wright's Gram._, p. 130. "Mary is not handsome, but she is good-natured, which is better than beauty."--_St.

Quentin's Gram._, p. 9. "After the practice of joining words together had ceased, notes of distinction were placed at the end of every word."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 267; _Hallock's_, 224. "Neither Henry nor Charles dissipate his time."--_Hallock's Gram._, p. 166. "'He had taken from the Christians' abode thirty small castles.'--_Knowles._"--_Ib._, p.

61. "In _whatever_ character Butler was admitted, is unknown."--_Ib._, p.

62. "How is the agent of a pa.s.sive, and the object of an active verb often left?"--_Ib._, p. 88. "By _subject_ is meant the word of which something is declared of its object."--_Chandler's Gram._, 1821, p. 103. "Care should also be taken that an intransitive verb is not used instead of a transitive: as, I lay, (the bricks) for, I lie down; I raise the house, for I rise; I sit down, for, I set the chair down, &c."--_Ib._, p. 114. "On them depend the duration of our Const.i.tution and our country."--_J. C.

Calhoun at Memphis_. "In the present sentence neither the sense nor the measure require _what_."--_Chandler's Gram._, 1821, p. 164. "The Irish thought themselves oppress'd by the Law that forbid them to draw with their Horses Tails."--_Brightland's Gram._, Pref., p. iii. "So _willingly_ are adverbs, qualifying deceives."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 90. "Epicurus for experiment sake confined himself to a narrower diet than that of the severest prisons."--_Ib._, p. 116. "Derivative words are such as are compounded of other words, as common-wealth, good-ness, false-hood."--_Ib._, p. 12. "The distinction here insisted on is as old as Aristotle, and should not be lost sight of."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 61. "The Tenses of the Subjunctive and the Potential Moods."--_Ib._, p. 80. "A triphthong is a union of three vowels uttered in like manner: as, _uoy_ in buoy."--_P. Davis's Practical Gram._, p. xvi. "Common nouns are the names of a species or kind."--_Ib._, p. 8. "The superlative degree is a comparison between three or more."--_Ib._, p. 14. "An adverb is a word or phrase serving to give an additional idea of a verb, and adjective, article, or another adverb."--_Ib._, p. 36. "When several nouns in the possessive case succeed each other, each showing possession of the same noun, it is only necessary to add the sign of the possessive to the last: as, He sells men, women, and _children's_ shoes. Dog. cat, and _tiger's_ feet are digitated."--_Ib._, p. 72. "A rail-road is making _should be_ A rail-road is _being made_. A school-house is building, _should be_ A school-house is _being_ built."--_Ib._, p. 113. "Auxiliaries are not of themselves verbs; they resemble in their character and use those terminational or other inflections in other languages, _which we are obliged to use in ours_ to express the action in the mode, tense, &c., desired."--_Ib._, p. 158. "Please hold my horse while I speak to my friend."--_Ib._, p. 159. "If I say, 'Give me _the_ book,' I ask for some _particular_ book."--_Butler's Practical Gram._, p. 39. "There are five men here."--_Ib._, p. 134. "In the active the object may be omitted; in the pa.s.sive the name of the agent may be omitted."--_Ib._, p. 63. "The Progressive and the Emphatic forms give in each case a different shade of meaning to the verb."--_Hart's Gram._, p. 80. "_That_ is a Kind of a Redditive Conjunction, when it answers to _so_ and _such._"--_W. Ward's Gram._, p. 152. "He attributes to negligence your failing to succeed in that business."--_Smart's Accidence_, p. 36. "Does _will_ and _go_ express but _our_ action?"--_S. Barrett's Revised Gram._, p. 58. "Language is the _principle_ vehicle of thought. G. BROWN."--_James Brown's English Syntax_, p. 3. "_Much_ is applied to things weighed or measured; _many_, to those that are numbered. _Elder_ and _eldest_, to persons only; _older_ and _oldest_, either to persons or things."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 20; _Pract. Les._, 25. "If there are any old maids still extant, while mysogonists are so rare, the fault must be attributable to themselves."--_Kirkham's Elocution_, p. 286. "The second method used by the Greeks, has never been the practice of any part of Europe."--_Sheridan's Elocution_, p. 64. "Neither consonant, nor vowel, are to be dwelt upon beyond their common quant.i.ty, when they close a sentence."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 54. "IRONY is a mode of speech expressing a _sense contrary_ to that which the speaker or writer intends to convey."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 196; 113th Ed., p. 212. "IRONY is _the intentional_ use of words _in a sense contrary_ to that which the writer or speaker _intends_ to convey."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 215; Imp. Ed., 216. "The persons speaking, or spoken to, are supposed to be present."--_Wells_, p. 68. "The persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 51. "A _Noun_ is a word used to express the _name_ of an object."--_Wells's School Gram._, pp. 46 and 47.

"A _syllable_ is a word, or such a part of a word as is uttered by one articulation."--_Weld's English Gram._, p. 15; "_Abridged Ed._," p. 16.

"Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!

Unspeakable, who sits above these heavens."

--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 131.

"And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou Revisitest not these eyes, that roll in vain."

--_Felton's Gram._, p. 133.

"Before all temples the upright and pure."

--_Butler's Gram._, p. 195.

"In forest wild, in thicket, break or den."

--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 130.

"The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise; And e'en the best, by fits, what they despise."

--_Pope's Ess._, iii, 233.

CHAPTER XIV.--QUESTIONS.

ORDER OF REHEARSAL, AND METHOD OF EXAMINATION.

PART THIRD, SYNTAX.

[Fist][The following questions, which embrace nearly all the important particulars of the foregoing code of Syntax, are designed not only to direct and facilitate cla.s.s rehearsals, but also to develop the acquirements of those who may answer them at examinations more public.]

LESSON I.--DEFINITIONS. 1. Of what does Syntax treat? 2. What is the _relation_ of words? 3. What is the _agreement_ of words? 4. What is the _government_ of words? 5. What is the _arrangement_ of words? 6. What is a _sentence_? 7. How many and what are the _princ.i.p.al parts_ of a sentence?

8. What are the other parts called? 9. How many kinds of sentences are there? 10. What is a _simple_ sentence? 11. What is a _compound sentence_?

12. What is a _clause_, or _member_? 13. What is a _phrase_? 14. What words must be supplied in parsing? 15. How are the leading principles of syntax presented? 16. In what order are the rules of syntax arranged in this work?

LESSON II.--THE RULES.

1. To what do articles relate? 2. What case is employed as the subject of a finite verb? 3. What agreement is required between words in apposition? 4.

By what is the possessive case governed? 5. What case does an active-transitive verb or participle govern? 6. What case is put after a verb or participle not transitive? 7. What case do prepositions govern? 8.

When, and in what case, is a noun or p.r.o.noun put absolute in English? 9. To what do adjectives relate? 10. How does a p.r.o.noun agree with its antecedent? 11. How does a p.r.o.noun agree with a collective noun? 12. How does a p.r.o.noun agree with joint antecedents? 13. How does a p.r.o.noun agree with disjunct antecedents?

LESSON III.--THE RULES.

14. How does a finite verb agree with its subject, or nominative? 15. How does a verb agree with a collective noun? 16. How does a verb agree with joint nominatives? 17. How does a verb agree with disjunctive nominatives?

18. What governs the infinitive mood? 19. What verbs take the infinitive after them without the preposition _to_? 20. What is the regular construction of participles, as such? 21. To what do adverbs relate? 22.

What do conjunctions connect? 23. What is the use of prepositions? 24. What is the syntax of interjections?

LESSON IV.--THE RULES.

1. What are the several t.i.tles, or subjects, of the twenty-four rules of syntax? 2. What says Rule 1st of _Articles_? 3. What says Rule 2d of _Nominatives_? 4. What says Rule 3d of _Apposition_? 5. What says Rule 4th of _Possessives_? 6. What says Rule 5th of _Objectives_? 7. What says Rule 6th of _Same Cases_? 8. What says Rule 7th of _Objectives_? 9. What says Rule 8th of the _Nominative Absolute_? 10. What says Rule 9th of _Adjectives_? 11. What says Rule 10th of _p.r.o.nouns_? 12. What says Rule 11th of _p.r.o.nouns_? 13. What says Rule 12th of _p.r.o.nouns_? 14. What says Rule 13th of _p.r.o.nouns_? 15. What says Rule 14th of _Finite Verbs_? 16.

What says Rule 15th of _Finite Verbs_? 17. What says Rule 16th of _Finite Verbs_? 18. What says Rule 17th of _Finite Verbs_? 19. What says Rule 18th of _Infinitives_? 20. What says Rule 19th of _Infinitives_? 21. What says Rule 20th of _Participles_? 22. What says Rule 21st of _Adverbs_? 23. What says Rule 22d of _Conjunctions_? 24. What says Rule 23d of _Prepositions_?

25. What says Rule 24th of _Interjections_?

LESSON V.--THE a.n.a.lYZING OF SENTENCES.

1. What is it, "to a.n.a.lyze a sentence?" 2. What are the component parts of a sentence? 3. Can all sentences be divided into clauses? 4. Are there different methods of a.n.a.lysis, which may be useful? 5. What is the first method of a.n.a.lysis, according to this code of syntax? 6. How is the following example a.n.a.lyzed by this method? "Even the Atheist, who tells us that the universe is self-existent and indestructible--even he, who, instead of seeing the traces of a manifold wisdom in its manifold varieties, sees nothing in them all but the exquisite structures and the lofty dimensions of materialism--even he, who would despoil creation of its G.o.d, cannot look upon its golden suns, and their accompanying systems, without the solemn impression of a magnificence that fixes and overpowers him." 7. What is the second method of a.n.a.lysis? 8. How is the following example a.n.a.lyzed by this method? "Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. Ra.s.selas could not catch the fugitive, with his utmost efforts; but, resolving to weary, by perseverance, him whom he could not surpa.s.s in speed, he pressed on till the foot of the mountain stopped his course." 9.

What is the third method of a.n.a.lysis? 10. How is the following example a.n.a.lyzed by this method? "Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment, that we are always impatient of the present. Attainment is followed by neglect, and possession, by disgust. Few moments are more pleasing than those in which the mind is concerting measures for a new undertaking. From the first hint that wakens the fancy, to the hour of actual execution, all is improvement and progress, triumph and felicity." 11. What is the fourth method of a.n.a.lysis? 12. How are the following sentences a.n.a.lyzed by this method? (1.) "Swift would say, 'The thing has not life enough in it to keep it sweet;'

Johnson, 'The creature possesses not vitality sufficient to preserve it from putrefaction.'" (2.) "There is one Being to whom we can look with a perfect conviction of finding that security, which nothing about us can give, and which nothing about us can take away." 13. What is said of the fifth method of a.n.a.lysis?

[Now, if the teacher choose to make use of any other method of a.n.a.lysis than full syntactical parsing, he may direct his pupils to turn to the next selection of examples, or to any other accurate sentences, and a.n.a.lyze them according to the method chosen.]

LESSON VI.--OF PARSING.

1. Why is it necessary to observe _the sense_, or _meaning_, of what we pa.r.s.e? 2. What is required of the pupil in syntactical parsing? 3. How is the following long example pa.r.s.ed in Praxis XII? "A young man studious to know his duty, and honestly bent on doing it, will find himself led away from the sin or folly in which the mult.i.tude thoughtlessly indulge themselves; but, ah! poor fallen human nature! what conflicts are thy portion, when inclination and habit--a rebel and a traitor--exert their sway against our only saving principle!"

[Now pa.r.s.e, in like manner, and with no needless deviations from the prescribed forms, the ten lessons of the _Twelfth Praxis_; or such parts of those lessons as the teacher may choose.]

LESSON VII.--THE RULES.

1. In what chapter are the rules of syntax first presented? 2. In what praxis are these rules first applied in parsing? 3. Which of the ten parts of speech is left without any rule of syntax? 4. How many and which of the ten have but one rule apiece? 5. Then, of the twenty-four rules, how many remain for the other three parts,--nouns, p.r.o.nouns, and verbs? 6. How many of these seventeen speak of _cases_, and therefore apply equally to nouns and p.r.o.nouns? 7. Which are these seven? 8. How many rules are there for the agreement of p.r.o.nouns with their antecedents, and which are they? 9. How many rules are there for finite verbs, and which are they? 10. How many are there for infinitives, and which are they? 11. What ten chapters of the foregoing code of syntax treat of the ten parts of speech in their order?

12. Besides the rules and their examples, what sorts of matters are introduced into these chapters? 13. How many of the twenty-four rules of syntax are used both in parsing and in correcting? 14. Of what use are those which cannot be violated in practice? 15. How many such rules are there among the twenty-four? 16. How many and what parts of speech are usually pa.r.s.ed by such rules only?

LESSON VIII.--THE NOTES.

1. What is the essential character of the _Notes_ which are placed under the rules of syntax? 2. Are the different forms of false construction as numerous as these notes? 3. Which exercise brings into use the greater number of grammatical principles, parsing or correcting? 4. Are the principles or doctrines which are applied in these different exercises usually the same, or are they different? 5. In etymological parsing, we use about seventy _definitions_; can these be used also in the correcting of errors? 6. For the correcting of false syntax, we have a hundred and fifty-two _notes_; can these be used also in parsing? 7. How many of the rules have no such notes under them? 8. What order is observed in the placing of these notes, if some rules have many, and others few or none? 9.

How many of them are under the rule for _articles_? 10. How many of them refer to the construction of _nouns_? 11. How many of them belong to the syntax of _adjectives_? 12. How many of them treat of _p.r.o.nouns_? 13. How many of them regard the use of _verbs_? 14. How many of them pertain to the syntax of _participles_? 15. How many of them relate to the construction of _adverbs_? 16. How many of them show the application of _conjunctions_? 17.

How many of them expose errors in the use of _prepositions_? 18. How many of them speak of _interjections_?

[Now correct orally the examples of _False Syntax_ placed under the several Rules and Notes; or so many texts under each head as the teacher may think sufficient.]

LESSON IX.--THE EXCEPTIONS.

1. In what exercise can there be occasion to cite and apply the _Exceptions_ to the rules of syntax? 2. Are there exceptions to all the rules, or to how many? 3. Are there exceptions in reference to all the parts of speech, or to how many of the ten? 4. Do articles always relate to nouns? 5. Can the subject of a finite verb be in any other case than the nominative? 6. Are words in apposition always supposed to be in the same case? 7. Is the possessive case always governed by the name of the thing possessed? 8. Can an active-transitive verb govern any other case than the objective? 9. Can a verb or participle not transitive take any other case after it than that which precedes it? 10. Can a preposition, in English, govern any other case than the objective? 11. Can "the case absolute," in English, be any other than the nominative? 12. Does every adjective "belong to a substantive, expressed or understood," as Murray avers? 13. Can an adjective ever relate to any thing else than a noun or p.r.o.noun? 14. Can an adjective ever be used without relation to any noun, p.r.o.noun, or other subject? 15. Can an adjective ever be subst.i.tuted for its kindred abstract noun? 16. Are the person, number, and gender of a p.r.o.noun always determined by an antecedent? 17. What p.r.o.noun is sometimes applied to animals so as not to distinguish their s.e.x? 18. What p.r.o.noun is sometimes an expletive, and sometimes used with reference to an infinitive following it?

LESSON X.--THE EXCEPTIONS.