The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown (free ebook reader .txt) 📕

   "To this, one pathway gently-winding leads,
    Where march a train with baskets on their heads."
        —Pope, Iliad, B. xviii, l. 657.

OBS. 1.—The collective noun, or noun of multitude, being a name that signifies many, may in general be taken in either of two ways, according to the intention of the user: that is, either with reference to the aggregate as one thing, in which sense it will accord with the neuter pronoun it or which; or with reference to the individuals, so as to accord with a plural pronoun they, their, them, or who, masculine, or feminine, as the individuals of the assemblage may happen to be. The noun itself, being literally singular both in form and in fact, has not unfrequently some article or adjective before it that implies unity; so that the interpretation of it in a plural sense by the pronoun or verb, was perhaps not improperly regarded by the old grammarians as an example of the figure syllepsis:.as, "Liberty should reach every individual of a people, as they all share one common nature."—Spectator, No. 287.

   "Thus urg'd the chief; a generous troop appears,
    Who spread their bucklers and advance their spears."
        —Pope, Iliad, B. xi, l. 720.

OBS. 2.—Many of our grammarians say, "When a noun of multitude is preceded by a definitive word, which clearly limits the sense to an aggregate with an idea of unity, it requires a verb and pronoun to agree with it in the singular number."—Murray's Gram., p. 153; Ingersoll's, 249; Fisk's, 122; Fowler's, 528. But this principle, I apprehend, cannot be sustained by an appeal to general usage. The instances in practice are not few, in which both these senses are clearly indicated with regard to the same noun; as, "Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgement require secrecy."—Constitution of the United States, Art. i, Sec. 5. "I mean that part of mankind who are known by the name of women's men, or beaux."—Addison, Spect., No. 536. "A set of men who are common enough in the world."—Ibid. "It is vain for a people to expect to be free, unless they are first willing to be virtuous."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 397. "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed."—Matt., xiii, 15. "This enemy had now enlarged their confederacy, and made themselves more formidable than before."—Life of Antoninus, p. 62.

   "Thus from the tents the fervent legion swarms;
    So loud their clamour, and so keen their arms."
        —Pope, Iliad, B. xvi, l. 320.

OBS. 3.—Most collective nouns of the neuter gender, may take the regular plural form, and be represented by a pronoun in the third person, plural, neuter; as, "The nations will enforce their laws." This construction comes under Rule 10th, as does also the singular, "The nations will enforce its laws;" for, in either case, the agreement is entirely literal. Half of Murray's Rule 4th is therefore needless. To Rule 11th above, there are properly no exceptions; because the number of the pronoun is itself the index to the sense in which the antecedent is therein taken. It does not follow, however, but that there may be violations of the rule, or of the notes under it, by the adoption of one number when the other would be more correct, or in better taste. A collection of things inanimate, as a fleet, a heap, a row, a tier, a bundle, is seldom, if ever, taken distributively, with a plural pronoun. For a further elucidation of the construction of collective nouns, see Rule 15th, and the observations under it.

NOTE I.—A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a pronoun in the third person, singular, neuter; as, "When a legislative body makes laws, it acts for itself only; but when it makes grants or contracts, it acts as a party."—Webster's Essays, p. 40. "A civilized people has no right to violate its solemn obligations, because the other party is uncivilized."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 314.

NOTE II.—When a collective noun is followed by two or more words which must each in some sense agree with it, uniformity of number is commonly preferable to diversity, and especially to such a mixture as puts the singular both before and after the plural; as, "That ingenious nation who have done so much honour to modern literature, possesses, in an eminent degree, the talent of narration."—Blair's Rhet., p. 364. Better: "which has done."

"The jury will be confined till it agrees on a verdict."—Brown's Inst., p. 145.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the pronoun it is of the singular number, and does not correctly represent its antecedent jury, which is a collective noun conveying rather the idea of plurality. But, according to Rule 11th, "When the antecedent is a collective noun conveying the idea of plurality, the pronoun must agree with it in the plural number." Therefore, it should be they; thus, "The jury will be confined till they agree on a verdict."]

"And mankind directed its first cares towards the needful."—Formey's Belles-Lettres, p. 114. "It is difficult to deceive a free people respecting its true interest."—Life of Charles XII, p. 67. "All the virtues of mankind are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable."—Swift. "Every sect saith, 'Give me liberty:' but give it him, and to his power, he will not yield it to any body else."—Oliver Cromwell. "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion."—Numbers, xxiii, 24. "For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."—Gen., vi, 12. "There happened to the army a very strange accident, which put it in great consternation."—Goldsmith.

"The meeting went on in their business as a united body."—Foster's Report, i, 69. "Every religious association has an undoubted right to adopt a creed for themselves."—Gould's Advocate, iii, 405. "It would therefore be extremely difficult to raise an insurrection in that State against their own government."—Webster's Essays, p. 104. "The mode in which a Lyceum can apply themselves in effecting a reform in common schools."—New York Lyceum. "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?"—Jeremiah, ii, 11. "In the holy scriptures each of the twelve tribes of Israel is often called by the name of the patriarch, from whom they descended."—J. Q. Adams's Rhet., ii, 331.

"A nation, by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever give."—J. Q. Adams. "The English nation, from which we descended, have been gaining their liberties inch by inch."—Webster's Essays, p. 45. "If a Yearly Meeting should undertake to alter its fundamental doctrines, is there any power in the society to prevent their doing so?"—Foster's Report, i, 96. "There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother."—Proverbs, xxx, 11. "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness."—Ib., xxx, 12. "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them."—Numb., xxiii, 21. "My people hath forgotten me, they have burnt incense to vanity."—Jer., xviii, 15. "When a quarterly meeting hath come to a judgment respecting any difference, relative to any monthly meeting belonging to them," &c.—Extracts, p. 195; N. E. Discip., p. 118. "The number of such compositions is every day increasing, and appear to be limited only by the pleasure or conveniency of the writer."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 37. "The church of Christ hath the same power now as ever, and are led by the same Spirit into the same practices."—Barclay's Works, i, 477. "The army, whom the chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile their miserable march."—Lockhart's Napoleon, ii, 165.

When a Pronoun has two or more antecedents connected by and, it must agree with them jointly in the plural, because they are taken together: as, "Minos and Thales sung to the lyre the laws which they composed."—STRABO: Blair's Rhet., p. 379. "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."—2 Sam., i, 23.

"Rhesus and Rhodius then unite their rills, Caresus roaring down the stony hills."—Pope, Il., B. xii, l. 17.

When two or more antecedents connected by and serve merely to describe one person or thing, they are either in apposition or equivalent to one name, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "This great philosopher and statesman continued in public life till his eighty-second year."—"The same Spirit, light, and life, which enlighteneth, also sanctifieth, and there is not an other."—Penington. "My Constantius and Philetus confesseth me two years older when I writ it."—Cowley's Preface. "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel! for thou art my servant."—Isaiah, xliv, 21. "In that strength and cogency which renders eloquence powerful."—Blair's Rhet., p. 252.

When two antecedents connected by and are emphatically distinguished, they belong to different propositions, and, if singular, do not require a plural pronoun; as, "The butler, and not the baker, was restored to his office."—"The good man, and the sinner too, shall have his reward."—"Truth, and truth only, is worth seeking for its own sake."—"It is the sense in which the word is used, and not the letters of which it is composed, that determines what is the part of speech to which it belongs."—Cobbett's Gram., ¶ 130.

When two or more antecedents connected by and are preceded by the adjective each, every, or no, they are taken separately, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "Every plant and every tree produces others after its own kind."—"It is the cause of every reproach and distress which has attended your government."—Junius, Let. xxxv. But if the latter be a collective noun, the pronoun may be plural; as, "Each minister and each church act according to their own impressions."—Dr. M'Cartee.

OBS. 1.—When the antecedents are of different persons, the first person is preferred to the second, and the second to the third; as, "John, and thou, and I, are attached to our country."—"John and thou are attached to your country."—"The Lord open some light, and show both you and me our inheritance!"—Baxter. "Thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood."—Numbers, xviii, 1.

   "For all are friends in heaven; all faithful friends;
    And many friendships in the days of Time
    Begun, are lasting here, and growing still:
    So grows ours evermore, both theirs and mine."
        —Pollok, C. of T., B. v, l. 335.

OBS 2.—The gender of pronouns, except in the third person singular, is distinguished only by their antecedents. In expressing that of a pronoun which has antecedents of different genders, the masculine should be preferred to the feminine, and the feminine to the neuter. The parser of English should remember, that this is a principle of General Grammar.

OBS 3.—When two words are taken separately as nominatives, they ought not to be united in the same sentence as antecedents. In the following example, therefore, them should be it: "The first has a lenis, and the other an asper over them."—Printer's Gram., p. 246. Better thus: "The first has a lenis over it, and the other an asper."

OBS. 4.—Nouns that stand as nominatives or antecedents, are sometimes taken conjointly when there is no conjunction expressed; as, "The historian, the orator, the philosopher, address themselves primarily to the understanding: their direct aim is, to inform, to persuade, to instruct."—Blair's Rhet., p. 377. The copulative and may here be said to be understood, because the verb and the pronouns are plural; but it seems better in general, either to introduce the connective word, or to take the nouns disjunctively: as, "They have all the copiousness, the fervour, the inculcating method, that is allowable and graceful in an orator; perhaps too much of it for a writer."—Blair's Rhet., p. 343. To this, however, there may be exceptions,—cases in which the plural form is to be preferred,—especially in poetry; as,

   "Faith, justice, heaven itself, now quit their hold,
    When to false fame the captive heart is sold."—Brown, on Satire.

OBS. 5.—When two or more antecedents connected by and are nominally alike, one or more of them may be understood; and, in such a case, the pronoun must still be plural, as agreeing with all the nouns, whether expressed or implied: as, "But intellectual and moral culture ought to go hand in hand; they