The Grammar of English Grammars Part 35

OBS. 9.--The definite article is often used by way of eminence, to distinguish some particular individual emphatically, or to apply to him some characteristic name or quality: as, "_The Stagirite_,"--that is, Aristotle; "_The Psalmist_," that is, David; "_Alexander the Great_,"--that is, (perhaps,) Alexander the Great _Monarch_, or Great _Hero_. So, sometimes, when the phrase relates to a collective body of men: as, "_The Honourable, the Legislature_,"--"_The Honourable, the Senate_;"--that is, "The Honourable _Body_, the Legislature," &c. A similar application of the article in the following sentences, makes a most beautiful and expressive form of compliment: "These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, O Lyttleton, _the friend_."--_Thomson_. "The pride of swains Palemon was, _the generous_ and _the rich_."--_Id._ In this last example, the noun _man_ is understood after "_generous_," and again after "_rich_;" for, the article being an index to the noun, I conceive it to be improper ever to construe two articles as having reference to one unrepeated word. Dr.

Priestley says, "We sometimes _repeat the article_, when the epithet precedes the substantive; as He was met by _the_ wors.h.i.+pful _the_ magistrates."--_Gram._, p. 148. It is true, we occasionally meet with such fulsome phraseology as this; but the question is, how is it to be explained? I imagine that the word _personages_, or something equivalent, must be understood after _wors.h.i.+pful_, and that the Doctor ought to have inserted a comma there.

OBS. 10.--In Greek, there is no article corresponding to our _an_ or _a_, consequently _man_ and _a man_ are rendered alike; the word, [Greek: anthropos] may mean either. See, in the original, these texts: "There was _a man_ sent from G.o.d," (_John_, i, 6,) and, "What is _man_, that thou art mindful of him?"--_Heb._, ii, 6. So of other nouns. But the _definite_ article of that language, which is exactly equivalent to our _the_, is a declinable word, making no small figure in grammar. It is varied by numbers, genders, and cases; so that it a.s.sumes more than twenty different forms, and becomes susceptible of six and thirty different ways of _agreement_. But this article in English is perfectly simple, being entirely dest.i.tute of grammatical modifications, and consequently incapable of any form of grammatical agreement or disagreement--a circ.u.mstance of which many of our grammarians seem to be ignorant; since they prescribe a rule, wherein they say, it "_agrees_," "_may agree_," or "_must agree_,"

with its noun. Nor has the indefinite article any variation of form, except the change from _an_ to _a_, which has been made for the sake of brevity or euphony.

OBS. 11.--As _an_ or _a_ conveys the idea of unity, of course it applies to no other than nouns of the singular number. _An eagle_ is one eagle, and the plural word _eagles_ denotes more than one; but what could possibly be meant by "_ans eagles_," if such a phrase were invented? Harris very strangely says, "The Greeks have no article correspondent to _an_ or _a_, but _supply its place by a NEGATION of their article_. And even in English, _where_ the article _a_ cannot be used, as _in_ plurals, _its force is exprest by the same_ NEGATION."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 218. What a sample of grammar is this! Besides several minor faults, we have here a _nonent.i.ty_, a NEGATION _of the Greek article_, made to occupy a place in language, and to express _force!_ The force of what? Of a plural _an_ or _a,!_ of such a word as _ans_ or _aes!_ The error of the first of these sentences, Dr. Blair has copied entire into his eighth lecture.

OBS. 12.--The following rules of agreement, though found in many English grammars, are not only objectionable with respect to the sense intended, but so badly written as to be scarcely intelligible in any sense: 1. "The article _a_ or _an agrees_ with nouns _in_ the singular number _only, individually, or collectively_: as, A Christian, an infidel, a score, a thousand." 2. "The definite article _the_ may _agree_ with nouns _in the singular_ AND[135] _plural number_: as, The garden, the houses, the stars."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 170; 12mo, 139; _Fish's Murray_, 98; _a Teacher's_, 45. For the purpose of preventing any erroneous construction of the articles, these rules are utterly useless; and for the purpose of syntactical parsing, or the grammatical resolution of this part of speech, they are awkward and inconvenient. The syntax of the articles may be much better expressed in this manner: "_Articles relate to the nouns which they limit_," for, in English, the bearing of the articles upon other words is properly that of simple _relation_, or dependence, according to the sense, and not that of _agreement_, not a similarity of distinctive modifications.

OBS. 13.--Among all the works of earlier grammarians, I have never yet found a book which taught correctly the _application_ of the two forms of the indefinite article _an_ or _a_. Murray, contrary to Johnson and Webster, considers _a_ to be the original word, and _an_ the euphonic derivative. He says: "_A_ becomes _an_ before a vowel, and before a silent _h_. But if _the h be_ sounded, _the a only_ is to be used."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 31. To this he adds, in a marginal note, "_A instead of an_ is _now_ used before words beginning with _u_ long. It is used before _one.

An_ must be used before _words_ WHERE _the h_ is not silent, if the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an heroic action, an historical account_."--_Ib._ This explanation, clumsy as it is, in the whole conception; broken, prolix, deficient, and inaccurate as it is, both in style and doctrine; has been copied and copied from grammar to grammar, as if no one could possibly better it. Besides several other faults, it contains a palpable misuse of the article itself: "_the h_" which is specified in the second and fifth sentences, is the "_silent h_" of the first sentence; and this inaccurate specification gives us the two obvious solecisms of supposing, "_if the [silent] h be sounded_," and of _locating "words WHERE the [silent] h is not silent!_" In the word _humour_, and its derivatives, the _h_ is silent, by all authority except Webster's; and yet these words require _a_ and not _an_ before them.

OBS. 14.--It is the _sound_ only, that governs the form of the article, and not the _letter_ itself; as, "Those which admit of the regular form, are marked with _an_ R."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 101. "_A_ heroic poem, written by Virgil."--_Webster's Dict._ "Every poem of the kind has no doubt _a_ historical groundwork."--_Philological Museum_, Vol. i, p. 457. "A poet must be _a_ naturalist and _a_ historian."--_Coleridge's Introduction_, p.

111. Before _h_ in an unaccented syllable, either form of the article may be used without offence to the ear; and either may be made to appear preferable to the other, by merely aspirating the letter in a greater or less degree. But as the _h_, though ever so feebly aspirated has _something_ of a consonant sound, I incline to think the article in this case ought to conform to the general principle: as, "_A historical_ introduction has, generally, _a happy_ effect to rouse attention."-- _Blair's Rhet._, p. 311. "He who would write heroic poems, should make his whole life _a heroic_ poem."--See _Life of Schiller_, p. 56. Within two lines of this quotation, the biographer speaks of "_an_ heroic mult.i.tude!"

The suppression of the sound of _h_ being with Englishmen a very common fault in p.r.o.nunciation, it is not desirable to increase the error, by using a form of the article which naturally leads to it. "How often do we hear _an air_ metamorphosed into _a hair_, a _hat_ into a _gnat_, and a _hero_ into _a Nero!_"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 205. Thus: "Neither of them had that bold and adventurous ambition which makes a conqueror _an hero._"--_Bolingbroke, on History_, p. 174.

OBS. 15.--Some later grammarians are still more faulty than Murray, in their rules for the application of _an_ or _a_. Thus Sanborn: "The vowels are _a, e, i, o_, and _u_. _An_ should be used before words beginning with _any of these letters_, or with a silent _h._"--_a.n.a.lytical Gram._, p. 11.

"_An_ is used before words beginning with _u_ long or with _h not silent_, when the accent is on the second syllable; as, _an united_ people, _an historical_ account, _an heroic_ action."--_Ib._, p. 85. "_A_ is used when the next word begins with a _consonant; an_, when it begins with a _vowel_ or silent _h_."--_lb._, p. 129. If these rules were believed and followed, they would greatly multiply errors.

OBS. 16.--Whether the word _a_ has been formed from _an_, or _an_ from _a_, is a disputed point--or rather, a point on which our grammarians dogmatize differently. This, if it be worth the search, must be settled by consulting some genuine writings of the twelfth century. In the pure Saxon of an earlier date, the words _seldom occur_; and in that ancient dialect _an_, I believe, is used only as a declinable numerical adjective, and _a_ only as a preposition. In the thirteenth century, both forms were in common use, in the sense now given them, as may be seen in the writings of Robert of Gloucester; though some writers of a much later date--or, at any rate, _one_, the celebrated Gawin Douglas, a Scottish bishop, who died of the plague in London, in 1522--constantly wrote _ane_ for both _an_ and _a_: as,

"Be not ouer studyous to spy _ane_ mote in myn E, That in gour awin _ane_ ferrye bot can not se."

--_Tooke's Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 124.

"_Ane_ uthir mache to him was socht and sperit; Bot thare was _nane_ of all the rout that sterit."

--_Ib._, Vol. i, p. 160.

OBS. 17.--This, however, was a _Scotticism_; as is also the use of _ae_ for _a_: Gower and Chaucer used _an_ and _a_ as we now use them. The Rev. J. M.

M'Culloch, in an English grammar published lately in Edinburgh, says, "_A_ and _an_ were originally _ae_ and _ane_, and were probably used at first simply to convey the idea of unity; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Manual of E.

Gram._, p. 30. For this idea, and indeed for a great part of his book, he is indebted to Dr. Crombie; who says, "To signify unity, or one of a cla.s.s, our forefathers employed _ae_ or _ane_; as, _ae_ man, _ane_ ox."--_Treatise on Etym. and Synt._, p. 53. These authors, like Webster, will have _a_ and _an_ to be _adjectives_. Dr. Johnson says, "_A_, an _article_ set before nouns of the singular number; as, _a_ man, _a_ tree. This article has no plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written _an_; as, _an_ ox, _an_ egg; of which _a_ is the contraction."--_Quarto Dict., w. A_.

OBS. 18.--Dr. Webster says, "_A_ is also an abbreviation of the Saxon _an_ or _ane, one_, used before words beginning with an articulation; as, _a_ table, _instead_ of _an_ table, or one table. _This is a modern change_; for, in Saxon, _an_ was used before articulations as well as vowels; as, _an tid, a_ time, _an gear_, a year."--_Webster's Octavo Dict., w. A_. A modern change, indeed! By his own showing in other works, it was made long before the English language existed! He says, "_An_, therefore, is the original English adjective or ordinal number _one_; and was never written _a_ until after the Conquest."--_Webster's Philos. Gram._, p. 20; _Improved Gram._, 14. "_The Conquest_," means the Norman Conquest, in 1066; but English was not written till the thirteenth century. This author has long been idly contending, that _an_ or _a_ is not an _article_, but an _adjective_; and that it is not properly distinguished by the term "_indefinite_." Murray has answered him well enough, but he will not be convinced.[136] See _Murray's Gram._, pp. 34 and 35. If _a_ and _one_ were equal, we could not say, "_Such a one_,"--"_What a one_,"--"_Many a one_,"--"_This one thing_;" and surely these are all good English, though _a_ and _one_ here admit no interchange. Nay, _a_ is sometimes found before _one_ when the latter is used adjectively; as, "There is no record in Holy Writ of the inst.i.tution of _a one_ all-controlling monarchy."--_Supremacy of the Pope Disproved_, p. 9. "If not to _a one_ Sole Arbiter."--_Ib._, p.

19.

OBS. 19.--_An_ is sometimes a _conjunction_, signifying _if_; as, "Nay, _an_ thou'lt mouthe, I'll rant as well as thou."--_Shak._ "_An_ I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to fifty tunes, may a cup of sack be my poison."--_Id., Falstaff_. "But, _an_ it were to do again, I should write again."--_Lord Byron's Letters_. "But _an_ it be a long part, I can't remember it."--SHAKSPEARE: _Burgh's Speaker_, p. 136.

OBS. 20.--In the New Testament, we meet with several such expressions as the following: "And his disciples were _an hungred_."--SCOTT'S BIBLE: _Matt_, xii, 1. "When he was _an hungred._"--_Ib._ xii, 3. "When he had need and was _an hungered._"--_Ib. Mark_, ii, 25. Alger, the improver of Murray's Grammar, and editor of the p.r.o.nouncing Bible, taking this _an_ to be the indefinite article, and perceiving that the _h_ is sounded in _hungered_, changed the particle to _a_ in all these pa.s.sages; as, "And his disciples were _a hungered_." But what sense he thought he had made of the sacred record, I know not. The Greek text, rendered word for word, is simply this: "_And his disciples hungered_." And that the sentences above, taken either way, are _not good English_, must be obvious to every intelligent reader. _An_, as I apprehend, is here a mere _prefix_, which has somehow been mistaken in form, and erroneously disjoined from the following word. If so, the correction ought to be made after the fas.h.i.+on of the following pa.s.sage from Bishop M'Ilvaine: "On a certain occasion, our Saviour was followed by five thousand men, into a desert place, where they were _enhungered_."--_Lectures on Christianity_, p. 210.

OBS. 21.--The word _a_, when it does not denote one thing of a kind, is not an article, but a genuine _preposition_; being probably the same as the French a, signifying _to, at, on, in_, or _of_: as, "Who hath it? He that died _a_ Wednesday."--_Shak_. That is, _on_ Wednesday. So sometimes before plurals; as, "He carves _a_ Sundays."--_Swift_. That is, _on_ Sundays. "He is let out _a_ nights."--_Id._ That is, _on_ nights--like the following example: "A pack of rascals that walk the streets _on_ nights."--_Id._ "He will knap the spears _a_ pieces with his teeth."--_More's Antid._ That is, _in_ pieces, or _to_ pieces. So in the compound word _now-a-days_, where it means _on_; and in the proper names, Thomas _a_ Becket, Thomas _a_ Kempis, Anthony _a_ Wood, where it means _at_ or _of_.

"Bot certainly the daisit blude _now on dayis_ Waxis dolf and dull throw myne unwieldy age."--_Douglas._

OBS. 22.--As a preposition, _a_ has now most generally become a _prefix_, or what the grammarians call an inseparable preposition; as in _abed_, in bed; _aboard_, on board; _abroad_, at large; _afire_, on fire; _afore_, in front; _afoul_, in contact; _aloft_, on high; _aloud_, with loudness; _amain_, at main strength; _amidst_, in the midst; _akin_, of kin; _ajar_, unfastened; _ahead_, onward; _afield_, to the field; _alee_, to the leeward; _anew_, of new, with renewal. "_A-nights_, he was in the practice of sleeping, &c.; but _a-days_ he kept looking on the barren ocean, shedding tears."--_Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang._, Vol. ii, p. 162.

Compounds of this kind, in most instances, follow verbs, and are consequently reckoned adverbs; as, _To go astray,--To turn aside,--To soar aloft,--To fall asleep_. But sometimes the antecedent term is a noun or a p.r.o.noun, and then they are as clearly adjectives; as, "Imagination is like to work better upon sleeping men, than _men awake_."--_Lord Bacon._ "_Man alive_, did you ever make a _hornet afraid_, or catch a _weasel asleep?_"

And sometimes the compound governs a noun or a p.r.o.noun after it, and then it is a preposition; as, "A bridge is laid _across_ a river."--_Webster's Dict._, "To break his bridge _athwart_ the h.e.l.lespont."--_Bacon's Essays._

"Where Ufens glides _along_ the lowly lands, Or the black water of Pomptina stands."--_Dryden._

OBS. 23.--In several phrases, not yet to be accounted obsolete, this old preposition _a_ still retains its place as a separate word; and none have been more perplexing to superficial grammarians, than those which are formed by using it before participles in _ing_; in which instances, the participles are in fact governed by it: for nothing is more common in our language, than for participles of this form to be governed by prepositions. For example, "You have set the cask _a_ leaking," and, "You have set the cask _to_ leaking," are exactly equivalent, both in meaning and construction. "Forty and six years was this temple _in_ building."--_John, ii, 20._ _Building_ is not here a noun, but a participle; and _in_ is here better than _a_, only because the phrase, _a building_, might be taken for an article and a noun, meaning _an edifice_.[137] Yet, in almost all cases, other prepositions are, I think, to be preferred to _a_, if others equivalent to it can be found. Examples: "Lastly, they go about to apologize for the long time their book hath been _a coming_ out:" i.e., _in_ coming out.--_Barclay's Works_, Vol. iii, p.

179. "And, for want of reason, he falls _a railing_::" i.e., _to_ railing.--_Ib._, iii, 357. "That the soul should be this moment busy _a thinking_:" i.e., _at_ or _in_ thinking.--_Locke's Essay_, p. 78. "Which, once set _a going_, continue in the same steps:" i.e., _to_ going.--_Ib._, p. 284. "Those who contend for four per cent, have set men's mouths _a watering_ for money:" i.e., _to_ watering.--LOCKE: _in Johnson's Dict._ "An other falls _a ringing_ a Pescennius Niger:" i.e., _to_ ringing.--ADDISON: _ib._ "At least to set others _a thinking_ upon the subject:" i.e., _to_ thinking.--_Johnson's Gram. Com._, p. 300. "Every one that could reach it, cut off a piece, and fell _a eating_:" i.e., _to_ eating.--_Newspaper._ "To go _a mothering_,[138] is to visit parents on Midlent Sunday."--_Webster's Dict., w. Mothering._ "Which we may find when we come _a fis.h.i.+ng_ here."--_Wotton._ "They go _a begging_ to a bankrupt's door."--_Dryden._ "_A hunting_ Chloe went."--_Prior._ "They burst out _a laughing_."--_M.

Edgeworth._ In the last six sentences, _a_ seems more suitable than any other preposition would be: all it needs, is an accent to distinguish it from the article; as, _a_.

OBS. 24.--Dr. Alexander Murray says, "To be _a_-seeking, is the relic of the Saxon to be _on_ or _an_ seeking. What are you a-seeking? is _different_ from, What are you seeking? It means more fully _the going on_ with the process."--_Hist. Europ. Lang_,, Vol. ii, p. 149. I disapprove of the hyphen in such terms as "_a_ seeking," because it converts the preposition and participle into I know not what; and it may be observed, in pa.s.sing, that the want of it, in such as "_the going on_," leaves us a loose and questionable word, which, by the conversion of the participle into a noun, becomes a nondescript in grammar. I dissent also from Dr.

Murray, concerning the use of the preposition or prefix _a_, in examples like that which he has here chosen. After a _neuter verb_, this particle is unnecessary to the sense, and, I think, injurious to the construction.

Except in poetry, which is measured by syllables, it may be omitted without any subst.i.tute; as, "I am _a walking_."--_Johnson's Dict., w. A_. "He had one only daughter, and she lay _a_ dying."--_Luke_, viii, 42. "In the days of Noah, while the ark was _a_ preparing."--_1 Pet._, iii, 20. "Though his unattentive thoughts be elsewhere _a_ wandering."--_Locke's Essay_, p. 284.

Say--"be wandering elsewhere;" and omit the _a_, in all such cases.

"And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is _a_ ripening--nips his root."--_Shak_.

OBS. 25.--"_A_ has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one thing to an other. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred _a_ year; the s.h.i.+p's crew gained a thousand pounds _a_ man."--_Johnson's Dict._ "After the rate of twenty leagues _a_ day."--_Addison_. "And corn was at two sesterces _a_ bushel."--_Duncan's Cicero_, p. 82. Whether _a_ in this construction is the article or the preposition, seems to be questionable.

Merchants are very much in the habit of supplying its place by the Latin preposition _per_, by; as, "Board, at $2 _per_ week."--_Preston's Book-Keeping_, p. 44. "Long lawn, at $12 _per_ piece."--_Dilworth's_, p.

63. "Cotton, at 2s. 6d. _per_ pound."--_Morrison's_, p. 75. "Exchange, at 12d. _per_ livre."--_Jackson's_, p. 73. It is to be observed that _an_, as well as _a_, is used in this manner; as, "The price is one dollar _an_ ounce." Hence, I think, we may infer, that this is not the old preposition _a_, but the article _an_ or _a_, used in the distributive sense of _each_ or _every_, and that the noun is governed by a preposition understood; as, "He demands a dollar _an_ hour;" i. e., a dollar _for each_ hour.--"He comes twice _a_ year:" i. e., twice _in every_ year.--"He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand _a_ month by courses:" (_1 Kings_, v, 14:) i. e., ten thousand, _monthly_; or, as our merchants say, "_per month_." Some grammarians have also remarked, that, "In mercantile accounts, we frequently see _a_ put for _to_, in a very odd sort of way; as, 'Six bales marked 1 _a_ 6.' The merchant means, 'marked _from_ 1 to 6.' This is taken to be a relic of the Norman French, which was once the law and mercantile language of England; for, in French, _a_, with an accent, signifies _to_ or _at_."--_Emmons's Gram._, p. 73. Modern merchants, in stead of accenting the _a_, commonly turn the end of it back; as, @.

OBS. 26.--Sometimes a numeral word with the indefinite article--as _a few, a great many, a dozen, a hundred, a thousand_--denotes an aggregate of several or many taken collectively, and yet is followed by a plural noun, denoting the sort or species of which this particular aggregate is a part: as, "A few small fishes,"--"A great many mistakes,"--"A dozen bottles of wine,"--"A hundred lighted candles,"--"A thousand miles off." Respecting the proper manner of explaining these phrases, grammarians differ in opinion. That the article relates not to the plural noun, but to the numerical word only, is very evident; but whether, in these instances, the words _few, many, dozen, hundred_, and _thousand_, are to be called nouns or adjectives, is matter of dispute. Lowth, Murray, and many others, call them _adjectives_, and suppose a peculiarity of construction in the article;--like that of the singular adjectives _every_ and _one_ in the phrases, "_Every_ ten days,"--"_One_ seven times more."--_Dan._, iii, 19.

Churchill and others call them _nouns_, and suppose the plurals which follow, to be always in the objective case governed by _of_, understood: as, "A few [of] years,"--"A thousand [of] doors;"--like the phrases, "A _couple of_ fowls,"--"A _score of_ fat bullocks."--_Churchill's Gram._, p.

279. Neither solution is free from difficulty. For example: "There are a great many adjectives."--_Dr. Adam_. Now, if _many_ is here a singular nominative, and the only subject of the verb, what shall we do with _are_?

and if it is a plural adjective, what shall we do with _a_ and _great?_ Taken in either of these ways, the construction is anomalous. One can hardly think the word "_adjectives_" to be here in the objective case, because the supposed ellipsis of the word _of_ cannot be proved; and if _many_ is a noun, the two words are perhaps in apposition, in the nominative. If I say, "_A thousand men_ are on their way," the men _are the thousand_, and the thousand _is nothing but the men_; so that I see not why the relation of the terms may not be that of _apposition_. But if _authorities_ are to decide the question, doubtless we must yield it to those who suppose the whole numeral phrase to be taken _adjectively_; as, "Most young Christians have, in the course of _half a dozen_ years, time to read _a great many_ pages."--_Young Christian_, p. 6.

"For harbour at _a thousand doors_ they knock'd; Not one of all _the thousand_ but was lock'd."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 27.--The numeral words considered above, seem to have been originally adjectives, and such may be their most proper construction now; but all of them are susceptible of being construed as nouns, even if they are not such in the examples which have been cited. _Dozen_, or _hundred_, or _thousand_, when taken abstractly, is unquestionably a noun; for we often speak of _dozens, hundreds_, and _thousands_. _Few_ and _many_ never a.s.sume the plural form, because they have naturally a plural signification; and _a few_ or _a great many_ is not a collection so definite that we can well conceive of _fews_ and _manies_; but both are sometimes construed substantively, though in modern English[139] it seems to be mostly by ellipsis of the noun. Example: "The praise of _the judicious few_ is an ample compensation for the neglect of _the illiterate many_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 278. Dr. Johnson says, the word _many_ is remarkable in Saxon for its frequent use. The following are some of the examples in which he calls it a substantive, or noun: "After him the rascal _many_ ran."--_Spenser_. "O thou fond _many_."--_Shakspeare_. "A care-craz'd mother of a _many_ children."--_Id._ "And for thy sake have I shed _many_ a tear."--_Id._ "The vulgar and the _many_ are fit only to be led or driven."--_South_. "He is liable to a great _many_ inconveniences every moment of his life."--_Tillotson_. "Seeing a great _many_ in rich gowns, he was amazed."--_Addison_.

"There parting from the king, the chiefs divide, And wheeling east and west, before their _many_ ride."--_Dryden_.

OBS. 28.--"On the principle here laid down, we may account for a peculiar use of the article with the adjective _few_, and some other diminutives. In saying, 'A _few_ of his adherents remained with him;' we insinuate, that they const.i.tuted a number sufficiently important to be formed into an aggregate: while, if the article be omitted, as, '_Few_ of his adherents remained with him;' this implies, that he was nearly deserted, by representing them as individuals not worth reckoning up. A similar difference occurs between the phrases: 'He exhibited _a little_ regard for his character;' and 'He exhibited _little_ regard for his character.'"--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 279. The word _little_, in its most proper construction, is an adjective, signifying _small_; as, "He was _little_ of stature."--_Luke_. "Is it not a _little_ one?"--_Genesis_. And in sentences like the following, it is also reckoned an adjective, though the article seems to relate to it, rather than to the subsequent noun; or perhaps it may be taken as relating to them both: "Yet _a little_ sleep, _a little_ slumber, _a little_ folding of the hands to sleep."--_Prov._, vi, 10; xxiv, 33. But by a common ellipsis, it is used as a noun, both with and without the article; as, "_A little_ that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked."--_Psalms_, x.x.xvii, 16. "Better is _little_ with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith."--_Prov._, xv, 16. "He that despiseth little things, shall perish by _little_ and _little_."--_Ecclesiasticus_. It is also used adverbially, both alone and with the article _a_; as, "The poor sleep _little_."--_Otway_. "Though they are _a little_ astringent."--_Arbuthnot_.

"When he had gone _a little_ farther thence."--_Mark_, i, 19. "Let us vary the phrase [in] _a very little_" [degree].--_Kames_, Vol. ii, p. 163.

OBS. 29.--"As it is the nature of the articles to limit the signification of a word, they are applicable only to words expressing ideas capable of being individualized, or conceived of as single things or acts; and nouns implying a general state, condition, or habit, must be used without the article. It is not vaguely therefore, but on fixed principles, that the article is omitted, or inserted, in such phrases as the following: 'in terror, in fear, in dread, in haste, in sickness, in pain, in trouble; in _a_ fright, in _a_ hurry, in _a_ consumption; _the_ pain of his wound was great; her son's dissipated life was _a_ great trouble to her."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 127.

OBS. 30.--Though _the, an_, and _a_, are the only articles in our language, they are far from being the only definitives. Hence, while some have objected to the peculiar distinction bestowed upon these little words, firmly insisting on throwing them in among the common ma.s.s of adjectives; others have taught, that the definitive adjectives--I know not how many--such as, _this, that, these, those, any, other, some, all, both, each, every, either, neither_--"are much more properly articles than any thing else."--_Hermes_, p. 234. But, in spite of this opinion, it has somehow happened, that these definitive adjectives have very generally, and very absurdly, acquired the name of _p.r.o.nouns_. Hence, we find Booth, who certainly excelled most other grammarians in learning and acuteness, marvelling that the _articles_ "were ever separated from the cla.s.s of _p.r.o.nouns_." To all this I reply, that _the, an_, and _a_, are worthy to be distinguished as _the only articles_, because they are not only used with much greater _frequency_ than any other definitives, but are specially restricted to the limiting of the signification of nouns. Whereas the other definitives above mentioned are very often used to supply the place of their nouns; that is, to represent them understood. For, in general, it is only by ellipsis of the noun after it, and not as the representative of a noun going before, that any one of these words a.s.sumes the appearance of a p.r.o.noun. Hence, they are not p.r.o.nouns, but adjectives. Nor are they "more properly articles than any thing else;" for, "if the essence of an article be to define and ascertain" the meaning of a noun, this very conception of the thing necessarily supposes the noun to be used with it.

OBS. 31.--The following example, or explanation, may show what is meant by definitives. Let the general term be _man_, the plural of which is _men: A man_--one unknown or indefinite; _The man_--one known or particular; _The men_--some particular ones; _Any man_--one indefinitely; _A certain man_--one definitely; _This man_--one near; _That man_--one distant; _These men_--several near; _Those men_--several distant; _Such a man_--one like some other; _Such men_--some like others; _Many a man_--a mult.i.tude taken singly; _Many men_--an indefinite mult.i.tude taken plurally; _A thousand men_--a definite mult.i.tude; _Every man_--all or each without exception; _Each man_--both or all taken separately; _Some man_--one, as opposed to none; _Some men_--an indefinite number or part; _All men_--the whole taken plurally; _No men_--none of the s.e.x; _No man_--never one of the race.

EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS II--ETYMOLOGICAL.

_In the Second Praxis, it is required of the pupil--to distinguish and define the different parts of speech, and to explain the_ ARTICLES _as definite or indefinite.

The definitions to be given in the Second Praxis, are two for an article, and one for a noun, an adjective, a p.r.o.noun, a verb, a participle, an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, or an interjection. Thus_:--

EXAMPLE Pa.r.s.eD.

"The task of a schoolmaster laboriously prompting and urging an indolent cla.s.s, is worse than his who drives lazy horses along a sandy road."--_G.

Brown_.

_The_ is the definite article. 1. An article is the word _the, an_, or _a_, which we put before nouns to limit their signification. 2. The definite article is _the_, which denotes some particular thing or things.