The Grammar of English Grammars Part 179

"The use of inverted comma's derives from France, where one Guillemet was the author of them; [and] as an acknowledgement for the improvement his countrymen call them after his name GUILLEMETS."--_History of Printing_, (London, 1770,) p. 266.

"This, however, is seldem [sic--KTH] if ever done unless the word following the possessive begins with _s_; thus we do not say, 'the prince' feather,'

but, 'the prince's feather.'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 17. "And this phrase must mean _the feather of the prince_ but _princesfeather_ written as one word is the name of a plant: a species of amaranth."--See _Key_.

"Boethius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honour his country could bestow."--_Ingersoll's Gram._ 12mo., p. 279. "Boethius soon had," &c.--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, Vol. ii., p. 83.

"When an example, a quotation, or a speech is introduced, it is separated from the rest of the sentence either by a semicolon or a colon; as, 'The scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words; _G.o.d is love._'"--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 116. "Either the colon or semicolon may be used when an example, a quotation, or a speech is introduced; as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim; _Know thyself._' 'The scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity, in these words: _G.o.d is love._'"--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 155.

"The first word of a quotation, introduced after a colon [, must begin with a capital]; as, always remember this ancient maxim: '_Know_ thyself.'"-- _Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 159; _Lennie's Gram._, p. 106. [Lennie has _"Always"_ with a capital.] "The first word of a quotation, introduced after a colon, or _when it is_ in a direct form: as, 'Always remember this ancient maxim: _Know thyself_.' 'Our great lawgiver says, Take up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 284. "8. The first word of a quotation, _introduced after a colon_, or _when it is_ in a direct form. EXAMPLES.--'Always remember this ancient maxim, 'Know thyself.' 'Our great Lawgiver says, Take up thy cross daily, and follow me.'"--_Weld's Gram., Abridged._, p. 17

"Tell me in whose house do you live."--_N. Butler's Gram._, p. 55. "He, that acts wisely, deserves praise."--_Ib._, p. 50 "He, who steals my purse, steals trash."--_Ib._, p. 51. "The antecedent is sometimes omitted, as, 'Who steals my purse, steals trash;' that is, _he_ who, or _person_ who."--_Ib._, p. 51. "Thus, 'Whoever steals my purse steals trash;'

'Whoever does no good does harm.'"--_Ib._, p. 53 "Thus, 'Whoever sins will suffer.' This means that any one without exception who sins will suffer."--_Ib._, p. 53.

"Letters form syllables, syllables words, words sentences, and sentences, combined and connected form discourse."--_Cooper's Plain and Practical Gram._, p. 1. "A letter which forms a perfect sound, when uttered by itself, is called a vowel, as: _a, e, i_."--_Ib._, p. 1. "A proper noun is the name of an individual, as: John; Boston: Hudson; America."--_Ib._, p.

17.

"Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 96. "In the place of an ellipsis of the verb a comma must be inserted."--_Ib._, p. 121. "A common noun unlimited by an article is sometimes understood in its broadest acceptation: thus, '_Fishes_ swim' is understood to mean _all_ fishes.

'_Man_ is mortal,' _all_ men."--_Ib._, p. 13.

"Thus those sounds formed princ.i.p.ally by the throat are called _gutturals_.

Those formed princ.i.p.ally by the palate are called _palatals_. Those formed by the teeth, _dentals_--those by the lips, _l.a.b.i.als_--those by the nose, _nasals_, &c."--_P. Davis's Gram._, p. 113.

"Some adjectives are compared irregularly; as, _Good, better, best. Bad, worse, worst. Little, less, least._"--_Felton's Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 63; Ster. Ed., p. 66.

"Under the fourth head of grammar, therefore, four topics will be considered, viz. PUNCTUATION, ORTHOEPY, FIGURES, and VERSIFICATION."-- _Hart's Gram._, p. 161.

"Direct her onward to that peaceful sh.o.r.e, Where peril, pain and death are felt no more!"

_Falconer's Poems_, p. 136; _Barrett's New Gram._, p. 94

BAD ENGLISH BADLY POINTED.

LESSON I.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"Discoveries of such a character are sometimes made in grammar also, and such, too, is often their origin and their end."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p.

191.

"_Traverse_, (to cross.) To deny what the opposite party has alleged. To traverse an indictment, &c. is to deny it."--_Id., ib._, p. 216.

"The _Ordinal_ [numerals] denote the _order_ or _succession_ in which any number of persons or things is mentioned, as _first, second, third, fourth_, &c."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 22.

"Nouns have three persons, FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD. The First person is the speaker, the Second is the one spoken to, the Third is the one spoken of."--_Hiley's Gram._, p. 44.

"Nouns have three cases, NOMINATIVE, POSSESSIVE, and OBJECTIVE. The relation indicated by the case of a noun includes three ideas, viz: those of _subject, object_, and _owners.h.i.+p_."--_Ib._, p. 45.

"In speaking of animals that are of inferior size, or whose s.e.x is not known or not regarded, they are often considered as without s.e.x: thus, we say of a _cat 'it_ is treacherous,' of an infant '_it_ is beautiful,' of a _deer 'it_ was killed.'"--_Ib._, p. 39.

"When _this_ or _these, that_ or _those_, refers to a preceding sentence; _this_, or _these_, refers to the latter member or term; _that_, or _those_, to the former."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 136; see _Lowth's Gram._, p. 102.

"The rearing of them [i. e. of plants] became his first care, their fruit his first food, and marking their kinds his first knowledge."--_N. Butler's Gram._, p. 44.

"After the period used with abbreviations we should employ other points, if the construction demands it; thus, after Esq. in the last example, there should be, besides a period, a comma."--_Ib._, p. 212.

"In the plural, the verb is the same in all the persons; and hence the principle in _Rem._ 5, under Rule iii. [that the first or second person takes precedence,] is not applicable to verbs."--_Ib._, p. 158.

"Rex and Tyrannus are of very different characters. The one rules his people by laws to which they consent; the other, by his absolute will and power: _that_ is called freedom, this, _tyranny_."--_Murray's Key_, 8vo, p.

190.

"A noun is the name of any person, place, or thing, which can be known, or mentioned, as: George; London; America; goodness; charity."--_Cooper's Plain and Pract. Gram._, p. 17.

"Etymology treats of the cla.s.sification of words; their various modifications and derivations."--_Day's School Gram._, p. 9. "To punctuate correctly implies a thorough acquaintance with the meaning of words and phrases, as well as of all their corresponding connexions"--_W. Day's Punctuation_, p. 31.

"All objects which belong to neither the male nor female kind are called neuter."--_Weld's Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 57. "All objects, which belong to neither the male nor female kind, are said to be of the neuter gender."--_Weld's Gram., Abridged_, p. 51.

"The a.n.a.lysis of the Sounds in the English language presented in the preceding statements are sufficiently exact for the purpose in hand. Those who wish to pursue it further can consult Dr. Rush's admirable work, 'The Philosophy of the Human Voice.'"--_Fowlers E. Gram._, 1850, --65. "n.o.body confounds the name of _w_ or _y_ with their sound or phonetic import."--_Ib._, --74.

"Order is Heaven's first law; and this confest, Some are and must be, greater than the rest."--_Ib._, p. 96.

LESSON II.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"In adjectives of one syllable, the Comparative is formed by adding _-er_ to the positive; and the Superlative by adding _-est_; as, _sweet, sweeter, sweetest_."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, p. 19.

"In monosyllables the comparative is formed by adding _er_ or _r_ to the positive, and the superlative by adding _est_ or _st_; as, _tall, taller, tallest; wise, wiser, wisest_."--_Id., Pract. Les._, p. 24.

"By this method the confusion and unnecessary labor occasioned by studying grammars in these languages, constructed on different principles is avoided, the study of one is rendered a profitable introduction to the study of another, and an opportunity is furnished to the enquiring student of comparing the languages in their grammatical structure, and seeing at once wherein they agree, and wherein they differ."--_Bullions, Prin. of E.

Gram._, Pref. to 5th Ed., p. vii.

"No larger portion should be a.s.signed for each recitation than the cla.s.s can easily master, and till this is done, a new portion should not be given out."--_Id., ib._, p. viii. "The acquisitions made in every new lesson should be rivetted and secured by repeated _revisals_."--_Id., ib._, p.

viii.

"The personal p.r.o.nouns may be pa.r.s.ed briefly thus; _I_, the first personal p.r.o.noun, masculine (or feminine), singular, the nominative. _His_, the third personal p.r.o.noun, masculine, singular, the possessive, &c."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 23: _Pract. Les._, p. 28.

"When the male and female are expressed by distinct terms; as, _shepherd, shepherdess_, the masculine term has also a general meaning, expressing both male and female, and is always to be used when the office, occupation, profession, &c., and not the s.e.x of the individual, is chiefly to be expressed. The feminine term is used only when the discrimination, of s.e.x is indispensably necessary. Thus, when it is said 'the Poets of this country are distinguished by correctness of taste,' the term 'Poet' clearly includes both male and female writers of poetry."--_Id., E. Gram._, p. 12; _his a.n.a.lyt. and Pract. Gram._, 24.

"Nouns and p.r.o.nouns, connected by conjunctions, must be in the same cases."--_Ingersoll's Gram._, p. 78. "Verbs, connected by conjunctions, must be in the same moods and tenses, and, when in the subjunctive present, they must be in the same form."--_Ib._, p. 112.

"This will habituate him to reflection--exercise his judgment on the meaning of the author, and without any great effort on his part, impress indelibly on his memory, the rules which he is required to give. After the exercises under the rule have been gone through as directed in the note page 96, they may be read over again in a corrected state the pupil making an emphasis on the correction made, or they may be presented in writing at the next recitation."--_Bullions, Prin. of E. Gram._, 2d Ed. Revised and Cor., p. viii.

"Man, but for _that_, no action _could_ attend And but for _this_, be _thoughtful_ to no end."

--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, Pref. p. 5.

LESSON III.--UNDER VARIOUS RULES.

"'Johnson the bookseller and stationer,' indicates that the bookseller and the stationer are epithets belonging to the same person; 'the bookseller and the stationer' would indicate that they belong to different persons."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 127.

"_Past_ is an adjective; _pa.s.sed_, the past tense or perfect participle of the verb, and they ought not, as is frequently done, to be confounded with each other."--_Id., ib._, p. 148.