The Grammar of English Grammars, Goold Brown [ebook reader for manga txt] 📗

form or stats of a noun or pronoun, which usually denotes the subject of a finite verb.

Is is an irregular neuter verb, from be, was, being, been; found in the indicative mood, present tense, third person, and singular number. 1. A verb is a word that signifies to be, to act, or to be acted upon. 2. An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed. 3. A neuter verb is a verb that expresses neither action nor passion, but simply being, or a state of being. 4. The indicative mood is that form of a verb, which simply indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question. 5. The present tense is that which expresses what now exists, or is taking place. 6. The third person is that which denotes the person or thing merely spoken of. 7. The singular number is that which denotes but one.

Evil is a common adjective, of the positive degree; compared irregularly, bad, evil, or ill, worse, worst. 1. An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses quality. 2. A common adjective is any ordinary epithet, or adjective denoting quality or situation. 3. The positive degree is that which is expressed by the adjective in its simple form.

LESSON I.—PARSING.

"My Lord, I do here, in the name of all the learned and polite persons of the nation, complain to your Lordship, as first minister, that our language is imperfect; that its daily improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily corruptions; that the pretenders to polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied abuses and absurdities; and that, in many instances, it offends against every part of grammar."—Dean Swift, to the Earl of Oxford.

"Swift must be allowed to have been a good judge of this matter; to which he was himself very attentive, both in his own writings, and in his remarks upon those of his friends: He is one of the most correct, and perhaps [he is] the best, of our prose writers. Indeed the justness of this complaint, as far as I can find, hath never yet been questioned; and yet no effectual method hath hitherto been taken to redress the grievance which was the object of it."—Lowth's Gram., p. iv.

"The only proper use to be made of the blemishes which occur in the writings of such authors, [as Addison and Swift—authors whose 'faults are overbalanced by high beauties'—] is, to point out to those who apply themselves to the study of composition, some of the rules which they ought to observe for avoiding such errors; and to render them sensible of the necessity of strict attention to language and style."—Blair's Rhet., p. 233.

   "Thee, therefore, and with thee myself I weep,
    For thee and me I mourn in anguish deep."—Pope's Homer.

LESSON II.—PARSING.

"The southern corner of Europe, comprehended between the thirty-sixth and fortieth degrees of latitude, bordering on Epirus and Macedonia towards the north, and on other sides surrounded by the sea, was inhabited, above eighteen centuries before the Christian era, by many small tribes of hunters and shepherds, among whom the Pelasgi and Hellenes were the most numerous and powerful."—Gillies, Gr., p. 12.

"In a vigorous exertion of memory, ideal presence is exceedingly distinct: thus, when a man, entirely occupied with some event that made a deep impression, forgets himself, he perceives every thing as passing before him, and has a consciousness of presence, similar to that of a spectator."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 88.

"Each planet revolves about its own axis in a given time; and each moves round the sun, in an orbit nearly circular, and in a time proportioned to its distance. Their velocities, directed by an established law, are perpetually changing by regular accelerations and retardations."—Ib., i, 271.

"You may as well go about to turn the sun to ice by fanning in his face with a peacock's feather."—Shak.

"Ch. Justice. I sent for you, when there were matters against you for your life, to come speak with me. Falstaff. As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the laws of this land-service, I did not come."—Id., 2. Hen. IV, Act i, Sc. 2.

"It is surprising to see the images of the mind stamped upon the aspect; to see the cheeks take the die of the passions and appear in all the colors of thought."—Collier.

    —————"Even from out thy slime
    The monsters of the deep are made."—Byron.

LESSON III.—PARSING.

"With a mind weary of conjecture, fatigued by doubt, sick of disputation, eager for knowledge, anxious for certainty, and unable to attain it by the best use of my reason in matters of the utmost importance, I have long ago turned my thoughts to an impartial examination of the proofs on which revealed religion is grounded, and I am convinced of its truth."—Bp. Watson's Apology, p. 69.

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."—Gen., xlix, 10.

"Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head; because thou canst not make one hair white or black."—Matt., v, 33—36.

"Refined manners, and polite behaviour, must not be deemed altogether artificial: men who, inured to the sweets of society, cultivate humanity, find an elegant pleasure in preferring others, and making them happy, of which the proud, the selfish, scarcely have a conception."—Kames, El. of Crit., i, 105.

   "Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
    Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine."—Milton.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION. ERRORS RESPECTING PREPOSITIONS.

"Nouns are often formed by participles."—L. Murray's Index, Octavo
Gram., ii, 290.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the relation here intended, between are formed and participles, is not well signified by the preposition by. But, according to Observation 7th, on this part of speech, "The prepositions have, from their own nature, or from custom, such an adaptation to particular terms and relations, that they can seldom be used one for an other without manifest impropriety." This relation would be better expressed by from; thus, "Nouns are often formed from participles."]

"What tenses are formed on the perfect participle?"—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 104. "Which tense is formed on the present?"—Ibid. "When a noun or pronoun is placed before a participle, independently on the rest of the sentence," &c.—Ib., p. 150; Murray, 145; and others. "If the addition consists in two or more words."—Murray's Gram., p. 176; Ingersoll's, 177. "The infinitive mood is often made absolute, or used independently on the rest of the sentence."—Mur., p. 184; Ing., 244; and others. "For the great satisfaction of the reader, we shall present him with a variety of false constructions."—Murray's Gram., p. 189. "For your satisfaction, I shall present you with a variety of false constructions."—Ingersoll's Gram., p. 258. "I shall here present you with a scale of derivation."—Bucke's Gram., p. 81. "These two manners of representation in respect of number."—Lowth's Gram., p. 15; Churchill's, 57; "There are certain adjectives, which seem to be derived without any variation from verbs."—Lowth's Gram., p. 89. "Or disqualify us for receiving instruction or reproof of others."—Murray's Key, 8vo, p. 253. "For being more studious than any other pupil of the school."—Ib., p. 226. "From misunderstanding the directions, we lost our way."—Ib., p. 201. "These people reduced the greater part of the island to their own power."—Ib., p. 261.[317] "The principal accent distinguishes one syllable in a word from the rest."—Murray's Gram., p. 236. "Just numbers are in unison to the human mind."—Ib., p. 298. "We must accept of sound instead of sense."—Ib., p. 298. "Also, instead for consultation, he uses consult."—Priestley's Gram., p. 143. "This ablative seems to be governed of a preposition understood."—Walker's Particles, p. 268. "That my father may not hear on't by some means or other."—Ib., p. 257. "And besides, my wife would hear on't by some means."—Ib., p. 81. "For insisting in a requisition is so odious to them."—Robertson's Amer., i, 206. "Based in the great self-evident truths of liberty and equality."—Scholar's Manual. "Very little knowledge of their nature is acquired by the spelling book."—Murray's Gram., p. 21. "They do not cut it off: except in a few words; as, due, duly, &c."—Ib., p. 24. "Whether passing in such time, or then finished."—Lowth's Gram., p. 31. "It hath disgusted hundreds of that confession."—Barclay's Works, iii, 269. "But they have egregiously fallen in that inconveniency."—Ib., iii, 73. "For is not this to set nature a work?"—Ib., i, 270. "And surely that which should set all its springs a-work, is God."—ATTERBURY: in Blair's Rhet., p. 298. "He could not end his treatise without a panegyric of modern learning."—TEMPLE: ib., p. 110. "These are entirely independent on the modulation of the voice."—Walker's Elocution, p. 308. "It is dear of a penny. It is cheap of twenty pounds."—Walker's Particles, p. 274. "It will be despatched, in most occasions, without resting."—Locke. "'0, the pain the bliss in dying.'"—Kirkham's Gram., p. 129. "When [he is] presented with the objects or the facts."—Smith's Productive Gram., p. 5. "I will now present you with a synopsis."—Ib., p. 25. "The conjunction disjunctive connects sentences, by expressing opposition of meaning in various degrees."—Ib., p. 38. "I shall now present you with a few lines."—Bucke's Classical Gram, p. 13. "Common names of Substantives are those, which stand for things generally."—Ib., p. 31. "Adjectives in the English language admit no variety in gender, number, or case whatever, except that of the degrees of comparison."—Ib., p. 48. "Participles are adjectives formed of verbs."—Ib., p. 63. "I do love to walk out of a fine summer's evening."—Ib., p. 97. "An Ellipsis, when applied to grammar, is the elegant omission of one or more words in a sentence."—Merchant's Gram., p. 99. "The prefix to is generally placed before verbs in the infinitive mood, but before the following verbs it is properly omitted; (viz.) bid, make, see, dare, need, hear, feel, and let; as, He bid me do it; He made me learn; &c."—Ib., Stereotype Edition, p. 91; Old Edition, 85. "The infinitive sometimes follows than, after a comparison; as, I wish nothing more, than to know his fate."—Ib., p. 92. See Murray's Gram., 8vo, i, 184. "Or by prefixing the adverbs more or less, in the comparative, and most or least, in the superlative."—Merchant's Gram., p. 36. "A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun."—Ib., p. 17; Comly, 15. "In monosyllables the Comparative is regularly formed by adding r or er."—Perley's Gram., p. 21. "He has particularly named these, in distinction to others."—Harris's Hermes, p. vi. "To revive the decaying taste of antient Literature."—Ib., p. xv. "He found the greatest difficulty of writing."—HUME: in Priestley's Gram., p. 159.

   "And the tear that is wip'd with a little address
    May be followed perhaps with a smile."
        Webster's American Spelling-Book, p. 78;
          and Murray's E. Reader, p. 212.

CHAPTER XI—INTERJECTIONS.

An Interjection is a word that is uttered merely to indicate some strong or sudden emotion of the mind: as, Oh! alas! ah! poh! pshaw! avaunt! aha! hurrah!

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Of pure interjections but few are admitted into books. Unimpassioned writings reject this part of speech altogether. As words or sounds of this kind serve rather to indicate feeling than to express thought, they seldom have any definable signification. Their use also is so variable, that there can be no very accurate classification of them. Some significant words, perhaps more properly belonging to other classes, are sometimes ranked with interjections, when uttered with emotion and in an unconnected manner; as, strange! prodigious! indeed! Wells says, "Other parts of speech, used by way of exclamation, are properly regarded as interjections; as, hark! surprising! mercy!"—School Gram., 1846, p. 110. This is an evident absurdity; because it directly confounds the classes which it speaks of as being different. Nor is it right to say, "Other parts of speech are frequently used to perform the office of interjections."—Wells, 1850, p. 120.

OBS. 2.—The word interjection comes to us from the Latin name interjectio, the root of which is the verb interjicio, to throw between, to interject. Interjections are so called because they are usually thrown in between the parts of discourse, without any syntactical connexion with other words. Dr. Lowth, in his haste, happened to describe them as a kind of natural sounds "thrown in between the parts of a sentence;" and this strange blunder has been copied into almost every definition that has been given of the Interjection since. See Murray's Grammar and others. Webster's Dictionary defines