The Grammar of English Grammars Part 44

LESSON I.--NUMBERS.

"All the ablest of the Jewish Rabbis acknowledge it."--_Wilson's Heb.

Gram._, p. 7.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the word _Rabbi_ is here made plural by the addition of _s_ only. But, according to Observation 12th on the Numbers, nouns in _i_ ought rather to form the plural in _ies_. The capital _R_, too, is not necessary. Therefore, _Rabbis_ should be _rabbies_, with _ies_ and a small _r_.]

"Who has thoroughly imbibed the system of one or other of our Christian rabbis."--_Campbell's Rhet._, p. 378. "The seeming singularitys of reason soon wear off."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 47. "The chiefs and arikis or priests have the power of declaring a place or object taboo."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 460. "Among the various tribes of this family, are the Pottawatomies, the Sacs and Foxes, or Saukis and Ottogamis."--_Ib._, p.

178. "The Shawnees, Kickapoos, Menomonies, Miamis and Delawares, are of the same region."--_Ib._, p. 178. "The Mohegans and Abenaquis belonged also to this family."--_Ib._, p. 178. "One tribe of this family, the Winnebagos, formerly resided near lake Michigan."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The other tribes are the Ioways, the Otoes, the Missouris, the Quapaws."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The great Mexican family comprises the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Tarascos."--_Ib._, p. 179. "The Mulattoes are born of negro and white parents; the Zambos, of Indians and negroes."--_Ib._, p. 165. "To have a place among the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Lewis', or the Charles', the scourges and butchers of their fellow-creatures."--_Burgh's Dignity_, i, 132. "Which was the notion of the Platonic Philosophers and Jewish rabbii."--_Ib._, p. 248.

"That they should relate to the whole body of virtuosos."--_Gobbett's E.

Gram._, -- 212. "What thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them."--_Luke_, vi, 32. "There are five ranks of n.o.bility; dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 228. "Acts, which were so well known to the two Charles's."--_Payne's Geog._, ii, 511.

"Court Martials are held in all parts, for the trial of the blacks."--_Observer_, No. 458. "It becomes a common noun, and may have a plural number; as, the two _Davids_; the two _Scipios_, the two _Pompies_."--_Staniford's Gram._, p. 8. "The food of the rattlesnake is birds, squirrels, hare, rats, and reptiles."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 177. "And let fowl multiply in the earth."--_Genesis_, i, 22. "Then we reached the hill-side where eight buffalo were grazing."--_Martineau's Amer._, i, 202.

"_Corset, n._ a pair of bodice for a woman."--_Worcester's Dict._, 12mo.

"As the _be's_; the _ce's_, the _doubleyu's_."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p.

40. "Simplicity is the means between ostentation and rusticity."--_Pope's Pref. to Homer_. "You have disguised yourselves like tipstaves."--_Gil Blas_, i, 111. "But who, that hath any taste, can endure the incessant quick returns of the _also_'s, and the _likewise_'s, and the _moreover_'s, and the _however_'s, and the _notwithstanding_'s?"--_Campbell's Rhet._, p.

439.

"Sometimes, in mutual sly disguise, Let Aye's seem No's, and No's seem Aye's."--_Gay_, p. 431.

LESSON II.--CASES.

"For whose name sake, I have been made willing."--_Wm. Penn_.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the noun _name_, which is here meant for the possessive case singular, has not the true form of that case. But, according to a principle on page 258th, "The possessive case of nouns is formed, in the singular number, by adding to the nominative _s preceded by an apostrophe_; and, in the plural, when the nominative ends in _s_, by adding _an apostrophe only_." Therefore, name should be _name's_; thus, "For whose _name's_ sake, I have been made willing."]

"Be governed by your conscience, and never ask anybodies leave to be honest."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 105. "To overlook n.o.bodies merit or misbehaviour."--_Ib._, p. 9. "And Hector at last fights his way to the stern of Ajax' s.h.i.+p."--_Coleridge's Introd._, p. 91. "Nothing is lazier, than to keep ones eye upon words without heeding their meaning."-- _Philological Museum_, i, 645. "Sir William Joneses division of the day."--_Ib., Contents_. "I need only refer here to Vosses excellent account of it."--_Ib._, i, 465. "The beginning of Stesichoruses palinode has been preserved."--_Ib._, i, 442. "Though we have Tibulluses elegies, there is not a word in them about Glycera."--_Ib._, p. 446. "That Horace was at Thaliarchuses country-house."--_Ib._, i, 451. "That Sisyphuses foot-tub should have been still in existence."--_Ib._, i, 468. "How every thing went on in Horace's closet, and in Mecenases antechamber."--_Ib._, i, 458. "Who, for elegant brevities sake, put a participle for a verb."--_Walker's Particles_, p. 42. "The countries liberty being oppressed, we have no more to hope."--_Ib._, p. 73. "A brief but true account of this peoples'

principles."--_Barclay's Pref._ "As, the Churche's Peace, or the Peace of the Church; Virgil's Eneid, or the Eneid of Virgil"--_British Gram._, p.

93. "As, Virgil's aeneid, for the aeneid of Virgil; the Church'es Peace, for the Peace of the Church."--_Buchanan's Syntax_, p. 18. "Which, with Hubner's Compend, and Wells' Geographia Cla.s.sica, will be sufficient."-- _Burgh's Dignity_, i, 155. "Witness Homer's speaking horses, scolding G.o.ddesses, and Jupiter enchanted with Venus' girdle."--_Ib._, i, 184. "Dr.

Watts' Logic may with success be read and commented on to them."--_Ib._, p.

156. "Potter's Greek, and Kennet's Roman Antiquities, Strauchius' and Helvicus' Chronology."--_Ib._, p. 161. "_Sing_. Alice' friends, Felix'

property; _Plur._ The Alices' friends, The Felixes' property."--_O. B.

Peirce's Gram._, p. 46. "Such as Bacchus'es company,"--"at Bacchus'es festivals."--_Ainsworth's Dict., w. Thyrsus._ "Burn's inimitable _Tam o'Shanter_ turns entirely upon such a circ.u.mstance."--_Scott's Lay, Notes_, p. 201. "Nominative, Men. Genitive, Mens. Objective, Men."--_Cutler's Gram._, p. 20. "Mens Happiness or Misery is most part of their own making."--_Locke, on Education_, p. 1. "That your Sons Cloths be never made strait, especially about the Breast."--_Ib._, p. 15. "Childrens Minds are narrow and weak."--_Ib._, p. 297. "I would not have little Children much tormented about Punctilio's, or Niceties of Breeding."--_Ib._, p. 90. "To fill his Head with suitable Idea's."--_Ib._, p. 113. "The Burgusdiscius's and the Scheiblers did not swarm in those Days, as they do now."--_Ib._, p.

163. "To see the various ways of dressing--a calve's head!"--_Shenstone_, Brit. Poets, Vol. vii, p. 143.

"He puts it on, and for decorum sake Can wear it e'en as gracefully as she."--_Cowper's Task_.

LESSON III.--MIXED.

"Simon the witch was of this religion too."--_Bunyan's P. P._, p. 123.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the feminine name _witch_ is here applied to a man. But, according to the doctrine of genders, on page 254th, "Names of males are masculine; names of females, feminine;" &c. Therefore, _witch_ should be _wizard_; thus, "Simon the _wizard_," &c.]

"Mammodis, n. Coa.r.s.e, plain India muslins."--_Webster's Dict._ "Go on from single persons to families, that of the Pompeyes for instance."--_Collier's Antoninus_, p. 142. "By which the ancients were not able to account for phaenomenas."--_Bailey's Ovid_, p. vi. "After this I married a wife who had lived at Crete, but a Jew by birth."--_Josephus's Life_, p. 194. "The very heathen are inexcusable for not wors.h.i.+pping him."--_Student's Manual_, p.

328. "Such poems as Camoen's Lusiad, Voltaire's Henriade, &c."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 422. "My learned correspondent writes a word in defence of large scarves."--SPECT.: in _Joh. Dict._ "The forerunners of an apoplexy are dulness, vertigos, tremblings."--ARBUTHNOT: _ib._ "_Vertigo_ changes the _o_ into _~in=es_, making the plural _vertig~in=es_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 59. "_Noctambulo_ changes the _o_ into _=on=es_, making the plural _noctambul=on=es_."--_Ib._, p. 59. "What shall we say of noctambulos?"--ARBUTHNOT: _in Joh. Dict._ "In the curious fretwork of rocks and grottos."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 220. "_Wharf_ makes the plural _wharves_."--_Smith's Gram._, p. 45; _Merchant's_, 29; _Picket's_, 21; _Frost's_, 8. "A few cent's worth of maccaroni supplies all their wants."--_Balbi's Geog._, p. 275. "C sounds hard, like _k_, at the end of a word or syllables."--_Blair's Gram._, p. 4. "By which the virtuosi try The magnitude of every lie."--_Hudibras_. "Quartos, octavos, shape the lessening pyre."--_Pope's Dunciad_, B. i, l. 162. "Perching within square royal rooves."--SIDNEY: _in Joh. Dict._ "Similies should, even in poetry, be used with moderation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 166. "Similies should never be taken from low or mean objects."--_Ib._, p. 167. "It were certainly better to say, 'The house of lords,' than 'the Lord's house.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 177. "Read your answers. Unit figure? 'Five.' Ten's? 'Six.'

Hundreds? 'Seven.'"--_Abbott's Teacher_, p. 79. "Alexander conquered Darius' army."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 58. "Three days time was requisite, to prepare matters."--_Brown's Estimate_, ii, 156. "So we say that Ciceros stile and Sall.u.s.ts, were not one, nor Cesars and Livies, nor Homers and Hesiodus, nor Herodotus and Theucidides, nor Euripides and Aristophanes, nor Erasmus and Budeus stiles."--_Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie_, iii, 5. "_Lex_ (i.e. _legs_) is no other than our ancestors past participle _laeg, laid down_."--_Tooke's Diversions_, ii, 7. "Achaia's sons at Ilium slain for the Atridae' sake."--_Cowper's Iliad_. "The corpse[167] of half her senate manure the fields of Thessaly."--_Addison's Cato_.

"Poisoning, without regard of fame or fear: And spotted corpse are frequent on the bier."--_Dryden_.

CHAPTER IV.--ADJECTIVES.

An Adjective is a word added to a noun or p.r.o.noun, and generally expresses quality: as, A _wise_ man; a _new_ book. You _two_ are _diligent_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--Adjectives have been otherwise called attributes, attributives, qualities, adnouns; but none of these names is any better than the common one. Some writers have cla.s.sed adjectives with verbs; because, with a neuter verb for the copula, they often form logical predicates: as, "Vices _are contagious_." The Latin grammarians usually cla.s.s them with nouns; consequently their nouns are divided into nouns substantive and nouns adjective. With us, substantives are nouns; and adjectives form a part of speech by themselves. This is generally acknowledged to be a much better distribution. Adjectives cannot with propriety be called _nouns_, in any language; because they are not _the names_ of the qualities which they signify. They must be _added_ to nouns or p.r.o.nouns in order to make sense.

But if, in a just distribution of words, the term "_adjective nouns_" is needless and improper, the term "_adjective p.r.o.nouns_" is, certainly, not less so: most of the words which Murray and others call by this name, are not p.r.o.nouns, but adjectives.

OBS. 2.--The noun, or substantive, is a _name_, which makes sense of itself. The adjective is an adjunct to the noun or p.r.o.noun. It is a word added to denote quality, situation, quant.i.ty, number, form, tendency, or whatever else may characterize and distinguish the thing or things spoken of. Adjectives, therefore, are distinguished _from_ nouns by their _relation to_ them; a relation corresponding to that which qualities bear to things: so that no part of speech is more easily discriminated than the adjective. Again: English adjectives, as such, are all indeclinable. When, therefore, any words usually belonging to this cla.s.s, are found to take either the plural or the possessive form, like substantive nouns, they are to be pa.r.s.ed as nouns. To abbreviate expression, we not unfrequently, in this manner, convert adjectives into nouns. Thus, in grammar, we often speak of _nominatives, possessives_, or _objectives_, meaning nouns or p.r.o.nouns of the nominative, the possessive, or the objective case; of _positives, comparatives_, or _superlatives_, meaning adjectives of the positive, the comparative, or the superlative degree; of _infinitives, subjunctives_, or _imperatives_, meaning verbs of the infinitive, the subjunctive, or the imperative mood; and of _singulars, plurals_, and many other such things, in the same way. So a man's _superiors_ or _inferiors_ are persons superior or inferior to himself. His _betters_ are persons better than he. _Others_ are any persons or things distinguished from some that are named or referred to; as, "If you want enemies, excel _others_; if you want friends, let _others_ excel you."--_Lacon_. All adjectives thus taken substantively, become _nouns_, and ought to be pa.r.s.ed as such, unless this word _others_ is to be made an exception, and called a "_p.r.o.noun_."

"Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke Our _stronger_, some worse way his wrath may find."

--_Milton, P. L._, B. ii, l. 82.

OBS. 3.--Murray says, "Perhaps the words _former_ and _latter_ may be properly ranked amongst the demonstrative p.r.o.nouns, _especially in many of their applications_. The following sentence may serve as an example: 'It was happy for the state, that Fabius continued in the command with Minutius: the _former's_ phlegm was a check upon the _latter's_ vivacity.'"--_Gram._, 8vo, p. 57. This I take to be bad English. _Former_ and _latter_ ought to be adjectives only; except when _former_ means _maker_. And, if not so, it is too easy a way of multiplying p.r.o.nouns, to manufacture two out of one single anonymous sentence. If it were said, "The deliberation of _the former_ was a seasonable chock upon the fiery temper of _the latter_" the words _former_ and _latter_ would seem to me not to be p.r.o.nouns, but adjectives, each relating to the noun _commander_ understood after it.

OBS. 4.--The sense and relation of words in sentences, as well as their particular form and meaning, must be considered in parsing, before the learner can say, with certainty, to what cla.s.s they belong. Other parts of speech, and especially nouns and participles, by a change in their construction, may become adjectives. Thus, to denote the material of which a thing is formed, we very commonly make the name of the substantive an adjective to that of the thing: as, A _gold chain_, a _silver spoon_, a _gla.s.s pitcher_, a _tin basin_, an _oak plank_, a _ba.s.swood slab_, a _whalebone rod_. This construction is in general correct, whenever the former word may be predicated of the latter; as, "The chain is gold."--"The spoon is silver." But we do not write _gold beater_ for _goldbeater_, or _silver smith_ for _silversmith_; because the beater is not gold, nor is the smith silver. This principle, however, is not universally observed; for we write _s...o...b..ll, whitewash_, and many similar compounds, though the ball is snow and the wash is white; and _linseed oil_, or _Newark cider_, may be a good phrase, though the former word cannot well be predicated of the latter. So in the following examples: "Let these _conversation_ tones be the foundation of public p.r.o.nunciation."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 334. "A _muslin_ flounce, made very full, would give a very agreeable _flirtation_ air."--POPE: _Priestley's Gram._, p. 79.

"Come, calm Content, serene and sweet, O gently guide my _pilgrim_ feet To find thy _hermit_ cell."--_Barbauld_.

OBS. 5.--Murray says, "Various nouns placed before other nouns a.s.sume the nature of adjectives: as, sea fish, wine vessel, corn field, meadow ground, &c."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 48. This is, certainly, very lame instruction. If there is not palpable error in all his examples, the propriety of them all is at least questionable; and, to adopt and follow out their principle, would be, to tear apart some thousands of our most familiar compounds.

"_Meadow ground_" may perhaps be a correct phrase, since the ground is meadow; it seems therefore preferable to the compound word meadow-ground.

What he meant by "_wine vessel_" is doubtful: that is, whether a s.h.i.+p or a cask, a flagon or a decanter. If we turn to our dictionaries, Webster has _sea-fish_ and _wine-cask_ with a hyphen, and _cornfield_ without; while Johnson and others have _corn-field_ with a hyphen, and _seafish_ without.

According to the rules for the figure of words, we ought to write them _seafish, winecask, cornfield_. What then becomes of the thousands of "adjectives" embraced in the "&c." quoted above?

OBS. 6.--The p.r.o.nouns _he_ and _she_, when placed before or prefixed to nouns merely to denote their gender, appear to be used adjectively; as, "The male or _he_ animals offered in sacrifice."--_Wood's Dict., w. Males_.

"The most usual term is _he_ or _she, male_ or _female_, employed as an adjective: as, a _he bear_, a _she bear_; a _male elephant_, a _female elephant_."--_Churchill's Gram._, p. 69. Most writers, however, think proper to insert a hyphen in the terms here referred to: as, _he-bear, she-bear_, the plurals of which are _he-bears_ and _she-bears_. And, judging by the foregoing rule of predication, we must a.s.sume that this practice only is right. In the first example, the word _he_ is useless; for the term "_male animals_" is sufficiently clear without it. It has been shown in the third chapter, that _he_ and _she_ are sometimes used as nouns; and that, as such, they may take the regular declension of nouns, making the plurals _hes_ and _shes_. But whenever these words are used adjectively to denote gender, whether we choose to insert the hyphen or not, they are, without question, indeclinable, like other adjectives. In the following example, Sanborn will have _he_ to be a noun in the _objective_ case; but I consider it rather, to be an adjective, signifying _masculine_:

"(_Philosophy_, I say, and call _it He_; For, whatsoe'er the painter's fancy be, It a male-virtue seems to me.")--_Cowley_, Brit. Poets, Vol. ii, p. 54.

OBS. 7.--Though verbs give rise to many adjectives, they seldom, if ever, become such by a mere change of construction. It is mostly by a.s.suming an additional termination, that any verb is formed into an adjective: as in _teachable, moveable, oppressive, diffusive, prohibitory_. There are, however, about forty words ending in _ate_, which, without difference of form, are either verbs or adjectives; as, _aggregate, animate, appropriate, articulate, aspirate, a.s.sociate, complicate, confederate, consummate, deliberate, desolate, effeminate, elate, incarnate, intimate, legitimate, moderate, ordinate, precipitate, prostrate, regenerate, reprobate, separate, sophisticate, subordinate_. This cla.s.s of adjectives seems to be lessening. The participials in _ed_, are superseding some of them, at least in popular practice: as, _contaminated_, for _contaminate_, defiled; _reiterated_, for _reiterate_, repeated; _situated_, for _situate_, placed; _attenuated_, for _attenuate_, made thin or slender. _Devote, exhaust_, and some other verbal forms, are occasionally used by the poets, in lieu of the participial forms, _devoted, exhausted_, &c.

OBS. 8.--Participles, which have naturally much resemblance to this part of speech, often drop their distinctive character, and become adjectives.

This is usually the case whenever they stand immediately _before_ the nouns to which they relate; as, A _pleasing_ countenance, a _piercing_ eye, an _accomplished_ scholar, an _exalted_ station. Many participial adjectives are derivatives formed from participles by the negative prefix _un_, which reverses the meaning of the primitive word; as, _undisturbed, undivided, unenlightened_. Most words of this kind differ of course from participles, because there are no such verbs as _to undisturb, to undivide_, &c. Yet they may be called participial adjectives, because they have the termination, and embrace the form, of participles. Nor should any participial adjective be needlessly varied from the true orthography of the participle: a distinction is, however, observed by some writers, between _past_ and _pa.s.sed, staid_ and _stayed_; and some old words, as _drunken, stricken, shotten, rotten_, now obsolete as participles, are still retained as adjectives. This sort of words will be further noticed in the chapter on participles.

OBS. 9.--Adverbs are generally distinguished from adjectives, by the form, as well as by the construction, of the words. Yet, in instances not a few, the same word is capable of being used both adjectively and adverbially. In these cases, the scholar must determine the part of speech, by the construction alone; remembering that adjectives belong to nouns or p.r.o.nouns only; and adverbs, to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs, only. The following examples from Scripture, will partially ill.u.s.trate this point, which will be noticed again under the head of syntax: "Is your father well?"--_Gen._, xliii, 27. "Thou hast well said."--_John_, iv, 17.

"He separateth very friends."--_Prov._, xvii, 9. "Esaias is _very_ bold."--_Rom._, x, 20. "For a pretence, ye make _long_ prayer."--_Matt._, xxiii, 14. "They that tarry _long_ at the wine."--_Prov._, xxiii, 30. "It had not _much_ earth."--_Mark_, iv, 5. "For she loved _much_."--_Luke_, vii, 47.

OBS. 10.--Prepositions, in regard to their _construction_, differ from adjectives, almost exactly as active-transitive participles differ syntactically from adjectives: that is, in stead of being mere adjuncts to the words which follow them, they govern those words, and refer back to some other term; which, in the usual order of speech, stands before them.

Thus, if I say, "A spreading oak," _spreading_ is an adjective relating to oak; if, "A boy spreading hay," _spreading_ is a participle, governing _hay_, and relating to _boy_, because the boy is the agent of the action.

So, when Dr. Webster says, "The _off_ horse in a team," _off_ is an adjective, relating to the noun _horse_; but, in the phrase, "A man _off_ his guard," _off_ is a preposition, showing the relation between _man_ and _guard_, and governing the latter. The following are other examples: "From the _above_ speculations."--_Harris's Hermes_, p. 194. "An _after_ period of life."--MARSHALL: _in Web. Dict._ "With some other of the _after_ Judaical rites."--_Right of Tythes_, p. 86. "Whom this _beneath_ world doth embrace and hug."--_Shak._ "Especially is _over_ exertion made."--_Journal of Lit. Conv._, p. 119. "To both the _under_ worlds."--_Hudibras_. "Please to pay to A. B. the amount of the _within_ bill." Whether properly used or not, the words _above, after, beneath, over, under, and within_, are here unquestionably made _adjectives_; yet every scholar knows, that they are generally prepositions, though sometimes adverbs.

CLa.s.sES.

Adjectives may be divided into six cla.s.ses; namely, _common, proper, numeral, p.r.o.nominal, participial_, and _compound_.