The Grammar of English Grammars Part 246

Neither prosperity, nor adversity, has improved him. Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall. He can acquire no virtue, unless he make some sacrifices."--_Id._

"Down from his neck, with blazing gems array'd, Thy image, lovely Anna! hung portray'd; Th' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, Suspended in a golden chain was seen."--_Falconer._

UNDER RULE II.--OF ALLIED SENTENCES.

"This life is a mere prelude to _an other_ which has no limits. _It_ is a little portion of duration. As death leaves us, so the day of _judgement_ will find us."--_Merchant cor._

"He went from Boston to New York.--He went (I say) from Boston; he went to New York. In walking across the floor, he stumbled over a chair."--_Goldsbury corrected_.

"I saw him on the spot, going along the road, looking towards the house.

During the heat of the day, he sat on the ground, under the shade of a tree."--_Goldsbury corrected_.

"'George came home; I saw him yesterday.' _Here_ the word _him_ can extend only to the individual George."--_Barrett corrected_.

"Commas are often used now, where parentheses were [adopted] formerly. I cannot, however, esteem this an improvement."--_Bucke's Cla.s.sical Grammar_, p. 20.

"Thou, like a sleeping, faithless sentinel, Didst let them pa.s.s unnotic'd, unimprov'd.

And know, for that thou _slumberst_ on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar For every fugitive."--COTTON: _Hallock and Enfield cor._

UNDER RULE III.--OF ABBREVIATIONS.

"The term _p.r.o.noun_ (Lat. _p.r.o.nomen_) strictly means a word used _for_, or _in stead of_, a noun."--_Bullions corrected_.

"The period is also used after abbreviations; as, A. D., P. S., G. W.

Johnson."--_N. Butler cor._

"On this principle of cla.s.sification, the later Greek grammarians divided words into eight cla.s.ses, or parts of speech: viz., the Article, Noun, p.r.o.noun, Verb, Participle, Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction."-- _Bullions cor._

"'_Metre [Melody]_ is not confined to verse: there is a tune in all good prose; and Shakspeare's was a sweet one.'--_Epea Pter._, ii, 61. [_First American Ed._, ii, 50.] Mr. H. Tooke's idea was probably just, agreeing with Aristotle's; but [, if so, it is] not accurately expressed."-- _Churchill cor._

"Mr. J. H. Tooke was educated at Eton and at Cambridge, in which latter college he took the degree of A. M. Being intended for the established church of England, he entered into holy orders when young; and obtained the living of Brentford, near London, which he held ten or twelve years."--_Tooke's Annotator cor._

"I, nor your plan, nor book condemn; But why your name? and why A. M.?"--_Lloyd cor._

MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED.

"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath," &c.--_Isaiah_, lviii, 13.

"He that hath eeris of hervnge, _here he_."--WICKLIFFE: _Matt._, xi, 15.

"See General Rules for Spelling, iii, v, and vii."--_N. Butler cor._ "False witnesses did rise up."--_Ps._, x.x.xv, 11.

"An _explicative_ sentence is used for explaining; an _interrogative_ sentence, for inquiring; an _imperative_ sentence, for commanding."-- _Barrett cor._ "In October, corn is gathered in the field by men, who go from hill to hill with baskets, into which they put the ears.--Susan labours with her needle for a livelihood.--Notwithstanding his poverty, he is a man of integrity."--_Golds, cor._

"A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable; a word of two syllables, a dissyllable; a word of three syllables, a trissyllable; a word of four or more syllables, a polysyllable."--_Frazee cor._

"If I say, '_If it did not rain_, I would take a walk;' I convey the idea that it _does_ rain at the time of speaking. '_If it rained_,' or, '_Did it rain_,' in [reference to] the present time, implies _that_ it does _not_ rain. '_If it did not rain_,' or, '_Did it not rain_,' in [reference to the] present time, implies that it _does_ rain. Thus, in this peculiar _application_, an affirmative sentence always implies a negation; and a negative sentence, an affirmation."--_Id._ "'_If I were loved_' and, '_Were I loved_;' imply I am _not_ loved: '_If I were not loved_,' and, '_Were I not loved_,' imply I _am_ loved. A negative sentence implies an affirmation, and an affirmative sentence implies a negation, in these forms of the subjunctive."--_Id._

"What is Rule III?"--_Hart cor._ "How is Rule III violated?"--_Id._ "How do you pa.r.s.e _letter_ in the sentence, 'James writes a letter?' Ans. _Letter_ is a common noun, of the third person, singular number, _neuter_ gender, and objective case; and is governed by the verb _writes_, according to Rule III, which says, 'A transitive verb governs the objective case.'"--_Id._

"Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the gen'ral pulse Of life stood still, and nature made a pause; An awful pause! prophetic of her end.

And let her prophecy be soon fulfill'd: Fate, drop the curtain; I can lose no more."--_Young_.

SECTION V.--THE DASH.

CORRECTIONS UNDER RULE I.--OF ABRUPT PAUSES.

"And there is something in your very strange story, that resembles--Does Mr. Bevil know your history particularly?"--_Burgh's Speaker_, p. 149.

"Sir,--Mr. Myrtle--Gentlemen--You are friends--I am but a servant--But--"--_Ib._, p. 118.

"An other man now would have given plump into this foolish story; but I--No, no, your humble servant for that."--GARRICK, _Neck or Nothing_.

"Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou hasten thy trial; which if--Lord have mercy on thee for a hen!"--SHAKSPEARE, _All's Well_.

"But ere they came,--O, let me say no more!

Gather the sequel by that went before."--IDEM, _Com. of Errors_.

UNDER RULE II.--OF EMPHATIC PAUSES.

"M,--Malvolio;--M,--why, that begins my name."--SINGER'S SHAK., _Twelfth Night_.

"Thus, by the creative influence of the Eternal Spirit, were the heavens and the earth finished in the s.p.a.ce of six days--so admirably finished--an unformed chaos changed into a system of perfect order and beauty--that the adorable Architect himself p.r.o.nounced it _very good_, and _all the sons of G.o.d shouted for joy_."--_Historical Reader_, p. 10.

"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I never would lay down my arms--never, never, never."--_Pitt's Speech_.

"Madam, yourself are not exempt in this,-- Nor your son Dorset;--Buckingham, nor you."--SHAK.

UNDER RULE III.--OF FAULTY DASHES.

"'You shall go home directly, Le Fevre,' said my uncle Toby, 'to my house; and we'll send for a doctor to see what's the matter; and we'll have an apothecary; and the corporal shall be your nurse: and I'll be your servant, Le Fevre.'"--_Sterne cor._

"He continued: 'Inferior artists may be at a stand, because they want materials.'"--_Harris cor._ "Thus, then, continued he: 'The end, in other arts, is ever distant and removed.'"--_Id._

"The nouns must be coupled with _and_; and when a p.r.o.noun is used, it must be plural, as in the example. When the nouns are _disjoined_, the p.r.o.noun must be singular."--_Lennie cor._

"_Opinion_ is a common noun, or substantive, of the third person, singular number, neuter gender, and nominative case."--_Wright cor._

"The mountain, thy pall and thy prison, may keep thee; I shall see thee no more, but till death I will weep thee."

--_See Felton's Gram._, p. 93.

MIXED EXAMPLES CORRECTED.

"If to accommodate man and beast, heaven and earth--if this be beyond me, 'tis not possible.--What consequence then follows? Or can there be any other than this?--_if_ I seek an interest of my own, detached from that of others, I seek an interest which is chimerical, and can never have existence."--_Harris_.

"Again: I must have food and clothing. Without a proper genial warmth, I instantly perish. Am I not related, in this view, to the very earth itself?--_to_ the distant sun, from whose beams I derive vigour?"--_Id._